"It is the end! Crystalia's ruin, we shall all burn!" screamed out an elderly man from the crowd that sent a wave of murmuring and panic through the people.
The eyes of the Owls mirrored the fire advancing towards Crystalia and they stared speechless.
"Genffaine! Crystalia is not strong for this. Hell is coming and we are not ready! Let them flee, let them save themselves!" screamed the youngest of the Owls, they called Angul. His wings sprung out just when his sentence had ended, but Genffaine moving surprisingly swiftly for his age sprung to him from the left side of Angul and struck his left wing with the back of his staff, causing Angul who was about to lift off shriek with pain, he proceeded to tackle him to the ground and trapped his remaining wing under one foot, towering over Angul like a frail lamppost with a look of disdain. "Pathetic!" said Genffaine and grabbed Angul's long blonde locks, "Even the children show more composure than you..."Genffaine hissed.
"A word with the stewards of the land..." came a calm young voice from below the staircase. The people drew away from the teenagers who suddenly stood in their midst and gave them a way to climb up to the Order. They were in sackcloth and had their waists girded with the vines of dead rose beasts. They had also smeared themselves with mud and carried in their hands burning coals. From their grimacing one could see that they felt the pain of the burn, yet the fire did not consume the flesh.
Some onlookers recognized who they were and started imploring their intercession, asking that they pray for Thyeseus' aid.
"Who are they?" a young man whispered to a crystalian woman as the mystical teenagers passed them.
The woman turned to look at him surprised; "Really-where have you been?" she asked, "I've heard of dummies but I never -"
"I swear, never seen them before " the man said looking defensively around .
"They are the pristine Iherlax clerics, sacred virgins that serve Thyeseus in the temple" she replied.
"Too bad huh; I could do with some virgins, they look so nice" he said. The woman stared at him and shook her head, and then he leaned toward her, "Hey, I live alone," he whispered to her.
"I'm married" she said edging away from him.
"He's going to die soon anyway," he said looking towards the flame filled sky.
"A sign to the people..." said the cleric from the podium, he appeared to be the high priest because of the way he carried himself from the others and also because once on the podium, one could see that his feet did not touch the ground. Then the clerics threw their coals in unison onto the ground, they looked at the sky and said unanimously,
I will devour you, by your own flame
An inferno to your death...
Or I shall give you a venomous adder to wield
A danger to self and a danger to foe.
Make your choice Crystalia
The clerics turned unanimously to Barsithe.
Barsithe looked around at the order and replied, "The adder, obviously"
Genffaine...the son of the seer, come.
The clerics chanted, beckoning Genffaine to stand with them. Genffaine left Angul lying on the stone floor to bow to the high priest. Though the ships were still a considerable distance from the city, the fire was now upon them and the terrified shrieks of the people made them weary. With the help of the remaining six owls of the Order, leaving out Angul and Genffaine, Barsithe proceeded to cast spells and raised an invisible shield above them that neutralized the fire that fell from the shores.
YOU ARE READING
ARYSARNIA
FantasíaThe powers they had acquired were not meant for their mortal beings...They had acquired magic fit for gods...Ancarta!" She saw rivers pouring out of the outstretched arms of bonny infants, the earth screaming with chasms at the touch of old men ,fir...
