Arodin Chronicles

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As we approached the end I could see the light of day piercing the darkness of the tunnel. We walked out into the sunlight only to be greeted with shrubbery and another cave entrance. "This is the cave that should lead to Sigris's resting place. Ironic how the world was saved all those years ago, so close to civilization, and yet no one noticed." Melgo muttered to himself. Iren looked down the long cavern. "It's so dark down there...how will we see?" Melgo stepped up to the entrance and held out his had. Suddenly, there was a spark in his palm and a flam burst to life from his hand. "How did you,...?" I exclaimed. "Ah yes,"Melgo said."This is magic. I shall have to teach you when this is over."
"I've never see a golem be able to use magic before. Or any golem for that matter..." I said.
"Oh," he replied. "Your grandfather taught me a while back before..."
"G-guys? Can we just get this o-over with?" Jonathan said meekly.
"Ah, I suppose. Let us continue."
We slowly entered the dark cavern and tried our best not to make any noise in case someone was listening. As we continued on, the cavern seemed to take some... form, and started to seem more as if it were a giant tomb. We started to hear voices coming from deeper within the tomb, speaking an odd language which I could not understand. Melgo gathered us closer to him. "I believe that we are near. Fredrick, I'm afraid I cannot continue on from here, I would surely attract too much attention. Take the potion," Melgo handed me the ink-black liquid. "You must find some way to get this on him. We do not have another, nor the time to make one." I took the potion and did my best not to drop it. "Now go. If something goes wrong, call for me and run, I will be just outside here." Melgo said.
"Wait!" I heard Iren say behind me. "I'm coming too!"
Jonathan floated out briefly from behind Melgo.
"Good luck you guys! The safety of the entire world rests on this! No pressure..."
"Actually John, you should go with them. They will have a need of your knowledge on Sigris."
"What?! B-b-but I can't do anything! I'll just get in the way..."
"Nonsense! Sigris can't even touch you. You'll be fine."
"But..."
"We have no time to argue. You must go with them." Melgo finished. Iren stepped forward and said. "Well, it's now or never...".
"I'm going to regret this..." I heard Jonathan say under his breath. Part of me couldn't help but agree with him.

Me, Iren, and Jonathan slowly creeped down the dark hallway until we reached what appeared to be the main room. It was surprisingly well lite for being a tomb. Other than a throne, weird pillars and carvings on the walls, the room was completely empty except for what appeared to be a large crystal. It was hard to make out, but there also seemed to be some kind of of jagged figure in the crystal with the top of its head pointing out, giving full access to its crown. The figure seemed somehow...familiar.
"So I guess that's Sigris?" I whispered.
"Yes. That is him. Can we please hurry?" Jonathan whimpered.
"Wait, what's that?" Iren said and turned around to listen.
"Quick! Behind these pillars." Iren said pointing to the pillars.
Each of us grabbed one and hide behind it. We silently waited there until we heard something. I slowly peeked from behind my hiding spot to see what was happening. It was those ghouls! And they were joined by that rat thing that kept opening my windows. The small creature was carrying the crystal that I found in my grandfather's boxes. What would that thing need with the crystal? The ghoul came up to the small creature and demanded the crystal from it. It reluctantly surrendered it to him and scampered off. The ghoul admired the gem for a moment, then floated up to the top of the crystal and put the gem  in Sigris's crown. As it placed the gem in place, the crystal remained dormant for a few moments before the entire place started to shake violently. Amongst the shaking, we saw the crystal crack at the top and slowly move down the crystal until...
*CRACK!*
The crystal broke, freeing its captor. The giant crystal like creature staggered and fell to its knees. While it was still on the ground, it reached out, and grabbed one of his ghouls.
"What....year is it? How long have I been in there?" Sigris demanded.
The ghoul said something I couldn't understand. It must have been in a different language.
Sigris let go of the ghoul and laughed.
"Yes, and what of Daniel? Did you do as I asked? "
The ghoul once again something in a different language then drew his boney finger across his throat.
"Well done..." He replied before standing back up.
I was just now recognizing how huge he was. He had to be at least 8 feet tall! I had to grab a hold of myself, the world was depending on it! I took one last look to see where everything was. There was one ghoul guarding the entrance to the cave, then there were two more by the other pillars. And then the last four were next to Sigris. If I could sneak around the throne I could at least get a better vantage point on him. All I needed to do was sneak from pillar too pillar until I was close enough, hen get behind the throne, then get close enough to throw the poison at Sigris. Remembering the layout of the room, and the placement of everything, I took a deep breath and quickly stepped out from the pillar until, my heart stopped as I saw what lie in front of me. Sigris was right next to me, bending over the side of the pillar, just starring straight into my eyes. I stared back at his cursed, blank stare out of pure horror. He smiled, freakishly at me, but I felt as if he was somehow disappointed in me? He grabbed me by the neck in his huge crystal claw and held me up. "Fredrick!" I heard Iren exclaim. I watched as she was too, captured by ghouls and held against her will.
"Well, Hello. Mr. Fredrick Krubwitz," Sigris said, "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." I tried to free myself, but with each struggle I felt his grip closing around me tighter, and tighter. He spoke to me once more, "You know, your grandfather caused quite a lot of trouble for me in the past. Let's  make sure that that doesn't happen this generation, and just kill you now..." I saw him tightening up his fist, like he was about to beat me to death. At the last second I managed to free my arm. With my open arm, I grabbed the poison and threw it directly into Sigris's face. He gave a screech unlike anything I had ever heard and dropped me to the ground. I quickly scanned the room and saw that there was something wrong with the ghouls. They seemed suddenly dazed and injured as if they could feel what their master felt and dropped Iren. I grabbed her quickly and called out; "MELGO!" Before I even shouted, I could hear him thundering down the hall. Jonathan, who had been hiding quietly in the corner for most of the time, glided to the doorway and shouted; "This way! Hurry!" Suddenly we heard Sigris start to laugh. "Hehehehahaha Ha Ha ha HA HA! HOW PATHETIC. YOU THOUGHT THIS BOTTLE OF OLD SWAMP WATER COULD KILL ME?! YOU HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT TRUE POWER IS!" Melgo barged into the room, smacking as many of the ghouls as he could along the way as he got closer to Sigris. "Get out now! You have to get to safety!" We took his advice and started to run. At the last second, I watched and saw as Melgo was suddenly Incased in crustal. The last words I heard him say were, "Go...North,...Find...Grilleck..." And then, nothing. I had to keep running. I saw Iren and Jonathan at the entrance of the tunnel up ahead. I caught up with them and started to run frantically out of the forest.

We must have ran for a full half hour before stopping to catch our breath. "Are they still following us?" Iren asked. I equipped the goggles again and looked back at the trail, which was clear. "Looks all clear to me." I said. "Oh heavens, what do we do now?" Iren asked, slouching next to a tree. "Melgo said we need to head North and find someone named Grilleck? I don't know what he can do but he's the best chance we got." I didn't get much of a response from anyone. Everyone seemed to tired to even stand. I then realized again what Iren must be going through... "Iren...you don't need to come with us... I don't want anything" "Stop!" She exclaimed. "I know that it's dangerous, and I know that you're worried about me, but I'm fine. I can handle myself, and I don't want to leave you alone. Besides...I doubt that it's safe to stay in one place anymore." She gave me a weak smile then slouched back down. "Alright then..." I sighed. "We should at least head back home and tell your dad that were going. He might not be to keen on it, but he should at least know where you are, right?" "Right..." She agreed quietly. We sat there for a few more minutes before we decided to head back out. After a few more minutes of walking, we reached the ship. I thought I could ,again, hear odd voices and bushes trembling, so we got on as quietly and quickly as possible. I started up the ship and hurried away from the island as fast as we could.

It was dark by the time we returned to our town. I parked the airship just outside of my small house. Iren and I hopped out, and Jonathan decided to stay in the ship. We both went into my house really quickly to get Dione things for our upcoming trip. I opened a couple of draws and my pantry looking for supplies before I actually realized what I would need for such a grand scale trip. "Umm, Iren? What do we actually need to go north?" I asked. "Perhaps we can help..." I heard a deep voice say behind us. It was was Marcus, carrying two large bags. "Hello you two. You seemed to have stumbled upon something quite troublesome" He said. "How did you know?" I asked. "I will tell you in a minute for now, let us step outside so that we can discuss our next plan of action." Marcus stepped out of the doorway and we both stepped outside. We were met with Iren's father standing outside, with crossed arms, and a sword at his side. If I didn't know any better, I would say that he was here to challenge me. However, he loosened his arms and relaxed. "Alright, it seems that we are all here." Marcus began, and dropped the bags he was carrying. "Melgo told me everything and, after some very extreme convincing, I managed to inform your father Iren. So, Sigris has returned after all these years I thought we were rid of him for sure. Fredrick, Sigris is an ancient, extremely dangerous creature with an unbelievable lust for destruction. And I hate to have to put you through this but, you are the last living descendant in your bloodline, so you are the only one who can defeat him." Iren's father interrupted him, "And usually, Iren, I would tell you to stay here, safe with me. But..." He sighed. "I can no longer guarantee that you will be safe if you stay here. Those...things...would know to look for you here and there's no way I could defend you against them. So, the best way to keep you safe is to have you go with Fredrick." I saw Marcus nod his head in agreement. He picked up the two bags and handed each one to us. "Those bags have some supplies that should suffice for a few days. I suggest that you go North and find a man named Grilleck. He's a bit...off...but he knew your grandfather and should be able to help you. He may even have a way to stop Sigris." Marcus reached into his pocket and pulled out two odd looking stones. "These are message stones. I used these to be able to contact Melgo. You write a message on the stone, and then whoever has the other will be able to see what you wrote." He held up his own and then gave the other to me. "Grilleck lives somewhere in Minudragg, write to me when you arrive there." I put the stone in my pocket. "Marcus, I can't thank you enough for helping me and taking care of me all these years." I told him. "Think nothing of it." He said with a big jolly grin. "Come! Let us load up your airship." I took both the bags around the house to the airship. As I was doing that, Iren talked with her father. "Iren!" He said, "One last thing...I may not be able to protect you out there, but this is the best I could do." He pulled out the sword from his holster. It was a beautifully crafted rapier.He handed it to Iren and said; "Stay safe for me, please. I couldn't even comprehend what it would be like without you..." Iren took the sword and gave her father a hug. " I love you." She said. "I love you too honey." He replied. We finished loading the ship and hopped back on board. "Before you leave", Marcus said to me, "you may want to consider using you goggles to continue your grandfather's work. There are many quite amazing creatures out there. But be warned, not all of them are as beautiful as they seem. Some can be quite dangerous. And for the worlds sake, be safe." I took those words to heart. Jonathan had apparently fallen asleep below deck, so I told him that we were going. We waved goodbye to Marcus and Iren's father and headed off north.