Garden Knight

Part 28

After the blackness of night, Earth's star rises on the horizon, spreading her gold in every direction. She comes in the way that natural forces do, needing not invitation yet feeling her welcome. The light is her gift, bold and free, for anyone who cares to open their eyes in the dawn and watch the world awake. This is our sun, a fire ignited to bring warmth to the creation and inspire us to seek our own beauty within. A rope was tied around Caro's stomach as Tarot held onto it. Caro jumped into the air and fluttered for a moment. "See!" He said. Samantha watched the two and smiled. "You're flying! See! I knew you could!"

Caro looked up. Willy and Gaulin laid in the grass staring up. The sky is dappled by the cloud, a beauty over our motley crew. So we rest on our backs and let our eyes gaze upward, enjoying the nothing that is everything. "Why do we gotta do this before leaving?" Caro shouted looking up to the sky. "We don't gotta fly there!" He shouted before Tarot pulled him down. Caro hit the ground hard as he stood up wiping his mouth.

"We can't keep you on the ground if you're going to be the one who helps me fight Athos," He said. "Now, the rain stopped we gotta get moving while the suns still out," Tarot picked up Samantha and put her on his back as the two walked. Caro sighed and nudged Willy and Gaulin, "You 3 come on!" Tarot said as the three walked into the forest.

Through the green of the fast-growing spring, grass rises the tracks of the earth, those pathways made by the bicycles over the rain-washed ground. It emerges strong and rich, the kind of brown that soothes and compliments the blue sky. The 5 walked through the muddy forest as they made camp by nightfall. They were next to a muddy river, The turbulent brown flow eddied it's way down the river bringing sticks and other vegetation. It tugged at the banks eroding the soft mud.

They saw bugs on the other side of the river. Two bugs with black smoke rising from their heads as they suddenly marched into the river. It looked like Willy Wonka's chocolate river, but there was no cocoa powder in there. The opaque brown was nothing but mud stirred up by the immense floodwater that threatened to burst the banks. The river swooped them away drowning them in the seconds they were in. "What are they doing?" Samantha asked as Tarot growled.

"Athos's influence is a problem for weak bugs," He said. "It seems he's creating the fell army again," He said.

"The hell is the fell Army?" Gaulin asked as Willy was holding Caro in his arms, letting the tiny knight sleep.

"The fell army was before your time, hell before the snail elders time," He said. "Athos had taken the minds of bugs from around his gardens and the surrounding gardens, turning them into mindless husks to do nothing more than kill and maim other bugs," He closed his eyes. "Of course there were those who joined him not out of fear or their mind being taken over but of free will, the locust generals," He opened his eyes. "I never got to fight or rid the lands of them, but I did of Athos. Until now," He said. "I'm sorry you four, I'm sure you guys didn't want to hear a history lesson from an old fart like me,"

"Were you ever in any wars, Tarot?" Samantha asked as Willy snored along with Caro.

The town is littered with destruction, wounded fighters, and blood. Red, silver and blue are the new colors of what was once a peaceful, trading town, which has now become the stage of a long, destructive battle.

The air which would normally carry the sound of working people and large tools is now thick with the stench of blood, gore, and death, the mere sense of it will make you want to run.

Two barely trained groups fight each other for resources, but it's starting to become clear which side will win. The dead of the losing side are scattered across the town and the faces of the fighters are grim with strain and the certainty of death, but they refuse to give up.

With the thought of victory in their minds the winning side pushes on and on. Some have succumbed to exhaustion and are doing all they can to force their body in motion, while others fight by only focusing on their enemy and not the carnage around them.

Tarot looked up slowly before nodding. "I've been in quite a few wars in my 400 years of my life," He said. "But I got a feeling this will be my last," He said. "A feeling in my chest, like my body, is being sawed in two, but-" He looked to Caro. "I gotta make a way for you guys, My era is over," He touched his horns and his fading muscles and smiled. "But you guys have just begun, I trust and believe in all of you, from Samantha to Caro. I know you'll all do great," He said before hearing the muddy water splash behind him. Something was rising out of the water.

Two thin eyes view their surroundings from their scaly sockets. A barely existing nose rests below, but it's the narrow mouth below that takes all the attention. A lazy smile reveals curved fangs and a flat tongue.

Huge warped ears sit on each side of its massive, bony head, which itself is covered in web-like fans and has two bony spikes protruding from the sides.

Its tall lean body is hunched over. Two lean stone-like arms hang at its sides and end in bony hands with long fingers, of which it has 8 in total.

Its legs are tall and are slightly bent, each ending in small feet.

Its body is covered in coarse skin and its shoulders are about the same width as its pelvis, from which a bony tail sways back and forth.

"Higher God, Clara." He took a step back before seeing black slime grab onto it and latch on. Tarot balled up his fists before staring up at the god. "Clara being controlled by Athos," he growled. "Guys! Wake up!" He shouted. "We got an issue,"