The Lost Seeds of Adelia

Darkness Arises

      In the dead of night, Coyle raced through the woods, heart hammering wildly as he jumped over rocks and dodged large overhead branches. He twisted and turned at every chance he had, trying to throw his pursuer off his tracks, but nevertheless, his pursuer continued tirelessly, seemingly unaffected by the thick undergrowth.

At last, the figure cornered Coyle, who was wheezing, out of breath, as the pursuer closed in. Coyle finally got a good look at him. It was a small, red, wrinkled creature with large, shriveled, bat-like wings that looked several sizes too big for him, large goat-like horns growing from his head, and his hands had abnormally sharp claws attached to its fingers. The creature hissed, "Give me the seed..." Coyle was shocked;, had the creature come all this way just to get the seed in his pocket?

"Uhhh...this might not be an appropriate time to say this, but I'm allergic to bats and ugly creatures...so um...no." Coyle whispered, trying to sound bold, but failing immensely, as his voice was only just above a whisper. His late father had given it to him, told him to protect it, and died.

"Don't be foolish...boy," the creature hissed. Before Coyle could think of a retort, Suddenly, an arrow impaled it in the chest, shot from somewhere up in the trees. A cloaked figure leaped down and knelt beside the creature. "You...shall...pay..." The creature laughed, a harsh, cold, cruel laugh before it went limp on the cold, hard ground.

Coyle awakened, and sat up, rubbing his sore neck. Glancing up, Suddenly, he realized he wasn't back in the familiar woods., Iinstead, he was in a strange, different place. He seemed to be in a small, rickety, and dusty, old cottage. "Wait..." Coyle said, Coyle spotted the cloaked figure again, remembering the past night's action. He spotted the cloaked figure again, and murmured, "Uh, thanks for saving me... sir," Coyle murmured.

"No problem. You slept more than thirteen hours, it's past noon now. 'Reckon I'll have some explaining to do," He said in a gruff voice. "Can I see that seed of yours, er-what's your name?" The cloaked figure asked.

"I'm Coyle," he said as he gave it to him hesitantly. His father said to keep it safe, but Coyle owed this guy one for saving him.

"This is interesting," the cloaked figure murmured as he analyzed it.

"How?" Coyle asked curiously.

"It contains a weapon," the man said, then paused before adding, "A weapon that could potentially destroy the world." Coyle gave a small gasp, "But surely nothing like that exists!" The man smiled. His ocean blue eyes were the only part of his body that Coyle could see. They wrinkled in the corners when he smiled. Coyle thought they looked a bit strange, they slanted slightly upwards at the corners, as if a million tiny hands were pulling it upwards.

"Sit down, I'm going to tell you a story, a story about a clash between the world..." Coyle sat up on the bed and listened intently as the cloaked man began the story ".... "Before time, when man and magic cooperated as one, before the world fell to chaos, when man was still kind, there was a magical wonderful world called Adelia. In this world were three different realms, the good, the bad, and the in-between – Kalos, Kako, and Entaxei- "Whoa whoa whoa whoa waiiit a minute there," Coyle interrupted. "Sooo...you're saying there's this whole other...magical world called...Adelia, with...three realms called...err...Entathingamajig, Ka...los, and something else that starts with "Ka"?" The cloaked man blinked once and nodded in response. "...um ok. So I'm assuming that creepy, ugly, bat creature thingy is from that magical world?" Coyle asked. The figure nodded again. "They're actually called 'Ikavods'" Angelos snarled, scowling just at the name.  The word disgusted him. Most Ikavods were Kakos and they often insulted all the other intelligent species-not that Ikavods were intelligent. If Coyle hadn't just experienced being chased by a monstrous creature, he might not have believed this man sitting in front of him was sane. "Sooooo..." Coyle said, stretching out the word to give himself time to process this new information. "I guess you can continue your...um...story?"