CREED, The Fiery Storm

Silent Song Of the Land...

"We can neither see nor experience the future, we can only imagine it..."-Constino

But then the wind blew towards the beast and a massive slash on its neck threw it on its back. Oh how it growled in pain... 

 "You should pick on someone your size!" Jim bragged as he posed with his sword inclined to his right shoulder-very proud of his accomplishment. Breala looked at him silently for a while relieved that she had been saved. He looked back at her awaiting some sort of appreciation after all; he had just saved the girl! 

 "Idiot!!"She said to his surprise, "I told you to run!" 

 "You are welcome." He responded. But the party was over very soon as the beast got back on its feet angrier and more aggressive than before. Its screams were deafening.

 "It appears you did a great job!" She said sarcastically amidst all the noise. "Again, I'm telling you to run and be sure this is the last time I'll be doing so."

 "That was a really long statement!" Jim noticed but Breala just kept running quietly. Their pursuer was motivated and for the very first time seemed to be taking the fight seriously. It hopped and pecked when the targets were close. The cracks formed in the ground by the beak were massive and so were the prints left by the feet!! It appeared they would survive another day but their pursuer realised that too and that was not something it intended to let happen. Suddenly, the beast stopped running after them... 

 "It stopped chasing us..."Jim noticed and said to Breala. She looked back but didn't say a word. She continued running and Jim followed silently. Breala knew in her mind that it was about to get worse and the only way they could survive was if they found a shelter-the arena perhaps. The creature opened its mouth and if you looked at it carefully, you would see that it was female- a scorned one to be exact. No sound came out of the open mouth but that turned out not to be such a good thing. Before long, they both froze in their spots and could not move a muscle. Her silent scream froze their muscles but didn't take away their fear or reason-they continued to be aware that they were doomed but well as there had been little they could do about it earlier; there was nothing they could do about it now! After she was done screaming, the beast graciously advanced towards her prey-she had all the time in the world after all! They had been in a number of near demise situations this very day but this was going to be a hard one to escape. Strost was not fully aware of his abilities and Duke was badly injured. Perhaps this time Sormesa would have mercy and intervene. The third possibility became the sole basis of their hope with every hop the beast made towards them. But maybe hope was too vain and giving up was the only logical option. Perhaps it was a stupid idea to think they could save anyone if they were not even capable of saving themselves. Perhaps the only special thing about having a blank scroll was that you got the benefit of doubt even when you were completely useless...

              The giant creature unexpectedly disintegrated into smaller creatures and they dispersed into different directions. Jim and Breala unfroze when all the beasts had disappeared. They had no idea how it happened but they were free and they were glad. The way forward was now quite simple; moving forward to the arena... 

 "What just happened back there?!"Jim asked Breala as they moved forward-he was not really expecting her to reply. She continued to move as if she had not heard his question. 

 "We survived..."she finally answered. Of course that is not the kind of answer to he wanted but he was glad he had got a response.

 "And now we will thrive." He added to her statement. They were now completing each other's statements! How awesome was that?! He had the last word and they jogged silently for the rest of the distance to the arena... 

 "When did Duke wake up?!" Were the first words Jim spoke when they finally arrived at the arena, they were to Strost. 

 "A few minutes back..."Strost responded. Duke seemed to be very well; perfect in fact!-but how?! "Hey Duke...how are you doing?!" Jim asked Duke. He had been looking at the door to the arena but turned and politely spoke to Jim. 

 "I'm fine, thank you" He replied with a smile. But how?! He wondered, but did it matter?! Probably not. 

 "So...what are you doing?!"He asked a more relevant question. 

 "I'm trying to read the writings... "Duke answered pointing to the lettering on the door. "I think they can tell us how we can get into the arena." 

 "A door knob would have been better!" Jim commented. The passage seemed quite long as the language was not familiar, not to Jim anyway...

Xalfow yav navgazo, xalfow yav dallaw, nazab yav malgasramat ru rag xalfow. Ragah balfi dazab ram, balfi dazab lafag. Gazpav lamav hagvak, nazpav rag xalfamag. Yav rag mafnayvih, yav rag galfas~x. Zoo gasav haznav yafag malag jafragv gaszag. Yafag gsaviv rah malgasramat balaf x~zam slow, nazpav balfi nalev ru balf iv ylow. Yafag gasviv rah lamov jafvahgralm;; Daszag rah gaszag\?\ 

"What is that?!"Jim asked when he was done trying to read the writings. 

 "It is a Helamet riddle..."Duke responded, "We have to solve it to gain access to the arena." 

 "What exactly is Helamet?!"He asked another question. Was he ever going to stop with these questions? But then again...this was a good one.

Hey!! The 'weird' passage above is in a language I created called HELAMET which means Song or Melody. The English translation of the  riddle is;

"Could be metal, could be wood, may be nothing if it could. It's your way in, your way out. Take a step, make it count. Be it numbers, be it touch. All the same but not quite that. But there is nothing you can hold, make your move if you're bold. But there is a question, what is this?"  

May be you could try to solve the riddle before Jim and his friends do;) Thanks for your time, have a great day...

-Constino