CREED, The Fiery Storm

Tallaw Oratsag

"...perhaps the only limits to the human mind are those we believe in."-Unknown

It all began with a thick forest stretching up to about five hundred metres from where they stood. Deep within the forest was something shiny-what was that?!

"In case you're wondering what the shiny article is..." Sormesa spoke addressing the issue that was on everyone's mind. "It's not a tree..."

He could be humorous whenever he wanted to but obviously not at the right time. At that moment, they all wanted to know what was deep in the forest-that shine in the green. But they were not getting any answers from where they stood, the answers lay far ahead and that's exactly where they were going to get them. Without saying a word,they all took their first steps towards the forest...

"Wait." Sormesa called out unto the advancing crew.

"I don't think you want to go unarmed." he added as he pointed to a big chest that appeared out of nowhere. They all took the caution seriously and returned to get weapons from the chest. Duke picked a bow and arrows, Breala chose two identical blades. Jim selected two small fire arms and a sword that looked a lot like his shattered sword. He unsheathed just to be sure and indeed it was not the one.

"What about me?!"Strost neighed on realising that there was no weapon in the box that suited him. Jim looked into the box to find one for him but there was none.

"I guess you'll just trust us to cover you." He replied. Strost might not have liked that response but there was nothing much he could do.

                Now they were all, but one, armed and ready to tackle the jungle. The trees kept growing bigger and taller as they moved closer to the forest and when they were inside, they could see the different canopies. The sight was lovely but only for a moment then the aves flew away and the woods went silent.

"What just happened?!"Jim asked in an almost whispery voice.

"Why are you asking me?!!!"Breala responded with a question not nearly as quietly.

"Who said I was asking you?" he retaliated in the same tone as earlier.

"You never said you weren't asking me!" She defended her earlier assumption. But then they heard faint animal sounds. They were all alarmed and became more cautious then the animals growled again this time clearer and evidently closer.

"What is that?!"Strost asked. Jim knew exactly what it was and everyone else would too, soon enough...

"It is a Zatvig!" Duke yelled when the first beast stepped out of the shadows.

"And what's the plural for that?" Breala asked as more Zatvigs appeared. They drew their weapons and got ready to kill but Jim knew better...

"What do you think you're doing?!"He asked them knowing very well what killing any of the beasts would lead to.

"Getting ready to kill them, what else?!"Breala responded, oblivious of the effect such an act would have. Three of the animals attacked simultaneously and Breala grabbed her two blades ready to kill. She held them tight and swung at the first Zatvig that attacked.

"Breala!!!" Jim screamed watching as she was about to commit a grave mistake and there was nothing he could do to prevent her from doing so. The beast jumped up to attack and the blade in her right hand swung. It was too late from where Jim stood; the blade would definitely hit the beast...

     When the blade was millimetres away from the beast's flesh, a miracle happened. The beast just fell aside. Looking at it, they could see three arrows that had hit it in the head.There was only one person who had a bow...Duke. They all turned and looked at him; his hands were still in firing position, the glove on his right hand was severely damaged. But there was something else...his body seemed to be evaporating and a thick steam was radiating off it!

"What the hell is happening to you?!" Jim asked with sincere shock.

"You were right..."Duke responded, "...proo lamob ru balf ziv lavzwab gal wrav."

"What did you just say?!" Jim asked having no idea what the statement meant or if it meant anything. Breala was pretty shaken up...the second time she had had a close call that day.

"Kill only if you are ready to die..."She translated, "It's what the legends say about the Zatvig."

"You swung your blades even when you knew that!!" Jim scolded her-a rare change in roles! She didn't answer immediately but she eventually did...

"I heard the stories...I never thought they were true." She explained. The situation hadn't got any easier, they were still faced with a big group of advancing beasts that they could not kill or, were not supposed to kill. Strost was beginning to feel useless and helpless...

"What do we do?!" Jim asked, "We can't let Duke kill all of them. He will evaporate completely!!"

"It's alright..."Duke replied, "That's what I'm here for."

Strost felt even more helpless so, he closed his eyes. All the beasts attacked at the same time and they were very many! Hundreds, possibly a thousand! There was no way even the most skilled of archers could beat them all. At this rate, they were all going to die. The only decision they had to make was how they would die. Duke continued to shoot arrows so rapidly that his hands began to bleed, the steam out of his body was even more intense, but his efforts were all in vain. Jim and Breala drew their blades and got ready to fight to their deaths. What was this?! It was supposed to be training but what was it?! Strost was closing his eyes cursing his helplessness. Then something happened...his horn began to glow and when he opened his eyes, they were glowing too! Just when Jim and Breala were about to make their first kills, the horn gave off a very bright explosion of light that blew away most of the beasts and scared the rest away. Duke collapsed and fell down finally letting go of the bow which was smeared with blood. It was finally over and the passage was clear. Strost had saved the day but even he was not sure how he had done. To think that this was only the outskirt of the forest! After this very initial stage of their training, they could only hope that the actual mission was a lot less dangerous. But that is the very nature of hope, it is seldom within the bounds of reason...       

Hey!! In this part i unveiled the language i was working on. Duke uses it to emphasize something...the sentence construction is really simple and i hope you will all figure out the 'grammar' ;) Oh and by the way; the title is a reference to what Strost brings to this part, it means 'good light'. It would be really cool if you gave me your thoughts about the language...you could even suggest a name;) Thanks for your time, have a great day:)

-Constino