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Chapter 3
Seth in Larena deftly led them through the expanse of trees. He/she moved so fast that Che and Zirrus could barely keep up. Dorian, however, was fast enough to stay on his/her heels. The fire shrine was located at the very heart of Pyrrhus forest and thanks to the guide, it took almost an hour to reach it. As big as the forest was, it could have taken days to find it. Seth/Larena stopped and held back some brush as he/she gestured for Dorian to go first. The Fire Shrine was a medium sized temple made of the same stone used to build the castle in Inferno. Torches were everywhere, causing the temperature to rise higher than the hottest day in Inferna. It was a wonder why the nearby trees hadn’t caught on fire. When Che and Zirrus finally caught up, they collapsed on the ground from fatigue. They had been running for nearly an hour straight and the heat from the shrine wasn’t helping. Dorian felt like collapsing himself, but fought the urge and followed the guide. He was sweating heavily and he noticed Larena’s body was becoming drenched too. Just as Larena’s foot touched the first step to the shrine, she began to fall over.
“Larena!” he called out in surprise as he caught her.
“Dorian,” she muttered in a weak voice, “What happened?”
She passed out from both exhaustion and the heat before he could answer her. He was then torn between helping Larena and the others, resting or fighting the Relic Guardian and getting it over with. He gently laid her down in the ground beside the stairway before facing the temple. His instincts told him to fight now before it was too late, but his body was telling him that he was too tired to even lift his lighter-than-air sword.
“Come on Dorian! You’re going to let a one hour jog wear you down…?”
Whoever that was made him move forward with renewed strength. Whenever he felt like giving up on something, that voice would pop up in his mind. The voice stuck a nerve somehow and made him push his limits. Inside the shrine was a long row of what seemed like glass statues of different women that were filled with fire. At the end of the room was an altar surrounded by skeletons. The altar carried a flame emblem that looked almost like real fire. Suddenly a man stood, or rather, floated in front of the altar. He was shirtless, but wore a long sarong of red and violet. He had dark pink skin, bright green eyes that were almost blue, and reddish brown hair that was framed by a red leather circlet with a red jewel positioned in the middle of his forehead. But the most striking feature was the long pointed elf ears.
“You’re…you’re not human?!” Dorian stuttered before he could stop himself. The creature smirked.
“Maybe once long ago I was human, but I died and was reborn as Seth, the fire guardian. You, however, seemed to have grown up to be a fine warrior, Master Dorian.”
“Who were you before your death?” Dorian wondered before he allowed his exhaustion to force him down on one knee. Seth’s eyes held a brief flash of concern before they hardened.
“You don’t remember me? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because the last time I saw you, you were only yea high.” He held his hand three feet above the ground. Dorian’s eyes widened as he fell on his bottom.
“You know who I am?”
“Oh come on! You’re going to let the heat and a mere run wear you down?! Stand up boy!” Seth snarled, his voice matching the one in Dorian’s memory.
“It’s you…” he growled as he slowly stood up. An image of Seth with pale skin, normal ears, and light blue eyes flashed across his mind. The only thing he could remember about him was that he was a strength trainer.
“Yes, that’s right,” Seth replied as if sensing his thoughts, “I used to train you, that girl you were so smitten with, and her brother to be strong enough to become Zirconian Wings.”
“Smitten?” he mumbled under his breath. If this happened when he was a kid, then he couldn’t possibly be talking about Larena. Was there really another girl out there he cared for deeply?
“Dorian! Let’s run away and have a real adventure!”
He was too young to be in love, so it shouldn’t matter. He tried to dismiss the thought, but found that it was actually hurting him.
“I misjudged you,” Seth eventually scoffed, pulling Dorian out of his stupor, “I thought you could have been the best warrior in all of Zaykrion, but now I see that you are as cowardly as your father, Shane.”
He said it all with sarcasm dripping in his voice. But when he mentioned Dorian’s father, something inside Dorian snapped and he didn’t know why. Fury filled his veins as he let out a mighty battle cry and charged at Seth. At the last minute, he pulled out his sword only to have it clash against Seth’s red flame sword. Once they broke apart, the charged again, but before the swords could touch, Seth swung his sword down and created flames that spread wildly on the ground. Dorian barely dodged them and suddenly found himself trapped between a wall made of Inferna stone and a wall of fire.
“If he is right handed and attacks from the left, then counter with your sword, if he attacks from the right, then evade and attack from behind. Vise versa for left handed fighters…” A new memory echoed in his head as the flames closed in. He could see Seth past the blaze with an evil smirk on his face. Dorian was able to handle sword fighting, but sorcery was a different story. There was no way he could get out of the fiery cage Seth put him in.
“…If magic is used then counter with the opposite element. Don’t know any spells? Then remember you can fly!…”
Suddenly Dorian felt a cool breeze blow around him and his body felt lighter. He crouched down on one knee and jumped out of the trap by instinct after that. Seth was surprised at first, but then growled as he charged after him again. The battle was easier due to the instruction of the memory, until Seth stopped his attacks and stepped back as he waited for Dorian to make his move.
“…If you’re on the offense, do not attack the left or the right, attack head on and be cunning…”
Dorian ran with his sword held above him and bought it down on Seth’s awaiting weapon. He waited until Seth was pushing against him before he quickly pulled away and made a horizontal slash that almost slit the relic guardian’s stomach.
“You wretch!” he screamed as he jumped high into the air, his sword pointing down at Dorian.
“…Never attack from below, you’re the weakest down there. When your enemy attacks from above, counter it like this!…”
Everything faded black and all he could hear was his own heartbeat. All he could see was a middle aged blonde man with a blue silver circlet on his head. He vaguely realized that his own body was moving in sync with the image. As Seth’s blade descended closer, the man moved back and allowed it to strike the ground just in front of him. Once Seth landed, the man knocked him down with the hilt of his sword and then raised his blade to strike him. Dorian was in control of his body again when his sword jammed into the ground. Seth managed to roll out of the way at the last second, but his arm was still grazed. Seth’s blood was on Dorian’s sword, the battle was over. Dorian was surprised that he could bleed, but didn’t dwell on it too long. He dropped his sword and placed his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.
“Impossible! How could you defeat me? You have always been a weak child! I refuse to believe you have bested me.”
“Well I did. Now hand over the relic,” Dorian panted.
“Never!” Seth sneered as he glared up at him.
“What? I thought-” he started to argue, but was interrupted by a voice.
“Whoa, you really are the chosen one.” It was the cloaked woman again.
“You!?” Seth hissed as he got on his hands and knees, “You know you are forbidden to come here!”
“Yeah. Yeah, ‘No visiting other shrines because you bother the guardians’,” she muttered sarcastically as she crossed her arms.
“That’s only part of the reason, now get out!”
“I would, but first you must give him the relic.”
“He’s not the chosen one. H-he must’ve cheated somehow,” he growled as he pushed himself up to a kneeling position.
“I just witnessed your defeat! You lost!” she yelled in a commanding tone, “…Or, have you not noticed that it’s getting cooler in here, maybe because you’re loosing your powers?”
Now that she mentioned it, it was getting cooler. There was even a nice refreshing breeze blowing in from the entrance. Seth soon hung his head in defeat before raising a hand towards the altar. The flame emblem magically floated out of its cradle and into Dorian’s hands. The relic was made of some strange metal with a red coloring that seemed to glow. He also felt an unusual warmth coming from the plate sized object.
“Get…out,” Seth gasped in a quiet voice. Dorian glanced at the cloaked woman, who nodded at him before walking out. With nothing else to do, he followed her. When he was outside, he found her trying to gently force water into Larena’s mouth.
“You’re lucky you defeated Seth when you did. One moment more and your friends would have been cooked alive,” she explained as he approached.
“How is it you were not affected by the heat?” She arose after laying Larena down and faced him. Her mouth, the only feature visible from under the hood, was grinning widely.
“The same way as you; good water retention. I may be a wind element, but that doesn’t mean I can live without water.”
Dorian smirked back at her. It was true. Normally outsiders in Inferna couldn’t survive in the weather and always stayed inside during daylight hours, but Dorian was able to adapt with the natives. But then again, there must be more to it than water retention otherwise Larena wouldn’t be unconscious right now.
“Well, you guys are fine now, so I’m leaving. Bye!” she called as she sprinted off to the trees. Dorian realized that he had yet to thank her for all the things she’s done for them.
“Wait!”
She only stopped briefly, “Sorry, but as Seth said, I shouldn’t be here.”
He chased after her in response. He was determined to thank her and at least find someway to repay her. He wasn’t too far behind her, but when he reached a clearing that was not too far from the Fire Shrine, it almost seemed like she vanished. He froze when he heard rustling in the tree branches above him.
“Damn it!” was heard followed by the sound of something being ripped before the rustling moved further away from him. Dorian could only watch as a piece of light blue material fell upon his face. He pulled the cloth off and found that it was a torn peace of her cloak.
Suddenly without warning, all of the exhaustion caught up with him and made him collapse to the ground, the cloth and the relic clutched tightly against him.
The figure bowed and then disappeared. Kevin suppressed his shivers as Tonio cackled evilly.
“There’s something about that spy that gets under my skin,” he mumbled under his breath as he left his older brother to his scheming.
“Man, it I were in his shoes, I’d be sleepin’ for a week…I wonder why he wasn’t burned by that Fire Relic?” a younger masculine voice inquired.
“Probably ‘cause he’s da chosen one,” the gruff voice replied.
“Then how come Larena couldn’t touch it?”
“I dunno…maybe da Relic doesn’t affect da person who fought fer it.”
“Hmm… It’s a good thing he had that piece of cloth with him, otherwise we would’ve had to leave it behind. Amazing that a thin piece of cloth absorbed all that heat so we could touch it,” the younger voice mused before the sound of a door opening and closing was heard.
“I got some cool water to bring down his fever…,” a feminine voice timidly said as soft footsteps padded on hard wooden floors.
“I don’t think ya need it, He’s startin’ ta sweat.”
“Good, his fever broke,” the woman sighed as something cool was pressed against Dorian’s forehead.
Dorian was caught between consciousness and deep oblivion. His body was too tired to wake up, but his mind still had enough energy to listen in on his friends’ conversation. His mind was slowly slipping away again as a gentle breeze danced across his face. Usually he would get visits from the voices of his long forgotten past or strange dreams, but this time he received a memory that contain more than just voices. He was lying in a dark, grassy field, looking up at the stars next to a small, blurry figure.
“You were hurt pretty badly back there,” the blurred figure said as it glanced at him. The figure’s voice was definitely one that would belong to a little girl. It was the same voice that always haunted him.
“You were too…” he responded, but it wasn’t in his usual mature sound. It was a young boy’s voice.
“…I know…but it wasn’t so bad this time. I’m…used to it.” He recognized that that was the tone she used when she wanted to talk about something less uncomfortable.
“It’s been awhile since we were able to talk like this.”
“That’s because he doesn’t like us being alone together. It’s a good thing he’s too busy right now,” she sighed.
“I wonder why? He never minded before,” he mused as he sat up and looked down at the blurred image.
“Because he wants to be mean!” she retorted.
“No, it’s not that… It’s almost like he is afraid or something.”
“Afraid of what? I’d understand if it was with strangers, but what is he so afraid of about you?”
“I dunno…,” he laid back down, “He’s probably worried about you. After all, you are related.”
She snorted in an unladylike way, “He has weird ways of protecting a little sister. What he did today was…inconceivable!”
Dorian chuckled at her attempt for a larger vocabulary, “And all we were doing was having an adventure.”
“If you call running around in the garden an adventure…, “She sat up abruptly, as if she had an idea, “Dorian! Let’s run away and have a real adventure! Just the two of us.”
“What?!” he exclaimed as he sat up and faced her, “…Wouldn’t your parents be worried?”
“Of course they would, but they’d know I would be safe with you.”
“You’d be safer with your brother. No one can defeat him in battle.”
“I don’t care how many times you loose to him. I still think you are the greatest warrior in all of Zirconia, even though you’re not Zirconian,” she replied stubbornly.
He felt a blush creep up on his cheeks as he turned away from her, “Really?”
“Would I lie? I don’t call you ‘my knight’ for nothing,” she giggled.
“Thanks, that means a lot to me. I promise to never fail you my lady.”
Dorian felt really happy as the memory faded. He only regretted the fact that he couldn’t remember her face. He wondered what caused him to regain that particular memory. It was probably from Seth. He did mention that Dorian trained with a little girl and her brother. Seth said that Dorian was smitten with her. It must have been true since he remembered his heart was racing when she called him her knight, but that was a long time ago. Things had changed, he was older now, and he had Larena. He definitely wasn’t going to drop her in the dust to search for someone who was probably not the same person anymore.
He awoke the next morning in an unfamiliar room. Larena was sitting on the floor with her head resting on her arms at the end of his bed. After careful inspection, he noticed that her right hand was wrapped in bandages. Che and Zirrus were sleeping in separate corners of the small room. Both were snoring loudly enough to wake the dead. On a small table next to Che was an object covered by the torn cloak. It must be the Fire Relic. He remembered the conversation they had last night. Only he can touch the Fire Relic. At least that would make it harder for thieves to steal it.
“Dorian! You’re awake…” Larena yawned and rubbed her eyes. Dorian’s predicament must have been severe because when she spoke, the other two companions sputtered on their snores and snapped awake.
“Sorry guys, I didn’t mean to pass out like that,” he apologized sheepishly as he ran his hand through his dark silver hair.
“It’s okay, you were tired from fighting the Relic Guardian,” Larena reassured while bringing her hand up to feel his forehead for any fevers.
“We carried you all the way to Mizu and rented this room for two nights so you could recover,” Che explained as he picked up the covered relic and walked over to his bed to give it to him.
Mizu…they were in the border town between Inferna and Levios. Dorian pulled the thin cloth off of the metal emblem and traced every inch of it with his finger, “Seth said he knew me when I was a child. Does that mean the Water Guardian or the Lightning Guardian in Taeotia would know me? Maybe all this time, I had lost my memory just because I was the chosen one.”
He was feeling much better as he climbed out of bed, “Where’s that map? I want to plan our next move.”
“Save that fer later,” Zirrus responded as he shook his head, “When ya defeated that Fire Guardian, ya proved that yer the chosen one and that means there is goin’ ta be a long journey ahead, so let’s relax fer today.”
“Zirrus is right, there is no point in overexerting ourselves,” Larena added, earning a sigh from Dorian. Maybe they were right. The temples were not going anywhere and the world had lived with the curse for over 25 years, so one day wouldn’t make a difference. Plus, even if he had said no to them, only Larena would listen to him, but she still wouldn’t obey it.
“Alright, we’ll rest for today.”
“That’s good to hear,” Che commented as he picked up his bag and headed for the door, “Let’s go eat!”
Zirrus’ stomach let out a loud growl after Che’s suggestion, “I’m way ahead of ya there!”
“Dorian, look at these!” Larena said as she held up a bracelet made of beads so clear, one would think it was made of water. He wasn’t too impressed by the jewelry but reached for his money anyway. He knew she was going to ask him buy it for her and the item wasn’t expensive at all.
“What do you mean you ‘need another cloak’!?” a merchant at a nearby cart yelled. Dorian and Larena turned to find a blonde woman with light blue eyes smiling sheepishly at the cloth vendor. She was clad in denim pants and a denim bodice with a dark blue silk shirt underneath. She carried a torn light blue cloak in one hand next to a dark mahogany colored sheath that contained a Zirconian sword.
“This time it tore on a branch in the Pyrrhus forest and I lost most of the material so I couldn’t repair it,” she explained, confirming Dorian’s suspicions. She was the cloaked woman.
“Larena, it’s her,” he whispered in her ear, “Stay here while I circle around and trap her from the other side. This time we won’t let her get away.”
“Okay,” she whispered back.
“How many times has this been?” the merchant inquired in a scolding tone.
“Four,” the blonde woman replied like a reprimanded child. Dorian managed to sneak beside her without her knowing.
“First it was when you helped rescue that traveling circus from bandits. Then you tore another one when saving little Aryin from that wild horse and of course my favorite was when you had too much ale and accidentally tripped one burly man and caused a domino effect though out the town square.”
“I told you it wasn’t ale, it was apple juice!” she faced away from the vendor, her eyes narrowed in a glare, “Why are you getting so upset, Gustave? I thought you’d be happy that I’m buying yet another cloak from you…”
Gustave let out a small smile before he broke into a chuckle, “It’s just that you finally tore it like a normal person rather than though some strange event. …Anyway, I’m out of light blue material so I don’t have any new cloaks for you.”
“That’s okay, I’ll take a black one instead. I am half Xerfaian so I’d probably have no trouble adapting to their material.”
“Huh, is that so? You look too much like a Zirconian to be considered a Xerfaian hybrid.” He pulled out a black cloak from under the counter and gave it to her, “Since you are my best customer, this is on the house. Careful, this is heavier than Zirconian fabric.”
“Thank you Gustave!” She grabbed the cloak and put it around her shoulders before she jumped up to hug the merchant. Just as she turned to leave, she ran into Dorian.
“Oh, hello. We keep running into each other. Are you stalking me?” she asked teasingly.
“Um, before you go anywhere, Larena and I want to thank you for all you have done for us,” he said quickly as Larena approached.
“Yes, thank you so much!” she added as the blonde woman switched her gaze from Dorian to Larena.
“No problem! I always try to help out when I can. Well, I got to go. Our paths will most probably meet again. Farewell Mr. Chosen One,” she said cheerfully as she began to walk away. Dorian felt like repaying her in some way so he tried to stop her.
“Wait Kyrae! How about I pay for dinner? It’s the least I can do to repay you.” The woman froze and cautiously faced him. Her face was in complete shock.
“How…did you know my name? I don’t recall ever telling you my name.” Her voice was careful and quiet. Dorian blinked in confusion.
“Didn’t the merchant say your name?”
“I don’t remember him calling her name,” Larena replied, just as puzzled as he was.
“Maybe it was because you look like a ‘Kyrae’?” he guessed before the woman smiled and shrugged.
“I suppose that’s possible, ‘Kyrae’ is a pretty popular Zirconian name.” Kyrae walked back to them, “Okay, I’ll stay for a while.”
“That’s wonderful! I’m sure Zirrus would love to meet you!” Larena exclaimed as she grabbed Kyrae’s arm and dragged her through the crowds with Dorian close behind.
It was near the end of the day when they returned to the Inn with Kyrae in tow. Zirrus was surprised when they returned with a stranger while Che looked a little displeased that she was a Zirconian, but carefully hid his distrust when they introduced each other. Dinner wasn’t as awkward as Dorian had feared. Kyrae had plenty of interesting stories to tell and Zirrus had plenty of questions to ask. Both Dorian and Larena knew of his obsession of getting denim pants, but they never knew of his interest in Zirconian history.
“So yer name is Kyrae, huh? That’s da feminine form of Kyrak and I recall that he was da first king of Zirconia,” Zirrus confirmed after her recent story of the first Zirconian dynasty.
“Kyrak…that’s the Zirconian word for ‘eagle’ isn’t it?” Dorian asked. Zirrus grinned and leaned towards Larena.
“It’s nice ta know he actually listens ta my ramblings,” he muttered to her, earning a glare. Kyrae giggled as she set down her glass.
“What’s ironic is that Dorian’s name is the masculine form of Dorix, meaning ‘light’, and Dorix was the first queen of Zirconia. I’m sure our parents had a kick at naming us after royalty.” Kyrae commented. At the mention of parents, Dorian began to wonder if she might have known anyone that could have been related to him.
“Kyrae? Do you know of any families in Zirconia with the name of Sorin?” inquired Dorian.
“Sorin?” she repeated before glancing up at the roof as she thought hard about it, “No…Not that I could remember, but there were probably some women whose maiden names were Sorin.”
“What about Tribune?” Zirrus asked suddenly. Dorian glanced up at the giant in confusion.
“Why do you want to know that? I thought you were full Xerfaian?”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t have family in Zirconia!” he bellowed as he grabbed Dorian’s half eaten plate from under his nose and started eating again.
“Well, the answer is the same as the other one, I haven’t heard of any Tribunes either,” she answered with a shrug. Dorian was busy trying to get his food back and almost caused a commotion before Larena daintily wiped her mouth with her napkin and faced Kyrae.
“What is your last name? I imagine you must come from a very prestigious family judging by how many rings you wear.”
“I prefer not to mention it. You see, I’m currently trying to break free from what little family I have left and as long as no one recognizes me, they have less chances of finding me.”
“Oh, now I see,” Che finally said through a mouthful of food, “You’re not traveling, you’re just a runaway.”
“Well, kinda…” At this point, Dorian was trying to reach over the large man to get his plate back. Zirrus picked Dorian up by the collar of his shirt and deposited him back in his seat. Seeing that he wasn’t getting his food back, Kyrae and Larena gave him the rest of theirs.
“Thank you,” he said gratefully. He decided to stuff his mouth rather than ask her more about her past. It was probably painful to remember it.
“What d’ya mean kind of?” Zirrus inquired after having a drink, earning an uneasy gaze from Kyrae.
“It’s a long story,” she warned. Zirrus and Dorian glanced at each other before facing her again.
“The night’s still young,” Dorian encouraged, a little shocked about how calm she was. He thought the subject would be the last thing she would want to talk about.
“Well…,” she placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands, “When I was little, my family was happy and there no problems until a very close friend of ours suddenly left on a journey. After he left, everything seemed to go downhill and in my depressed state, I accidentally revealed to the commoners my powers. Of course who could forget that law where highborn sorceresses must be beheaded for the safety of Zaykrion? But on the night before my scheduled execution, my mother told me to leave Zirconia and search for either my aunt in Levios or my friend and since then I haven’t found either. What’s worse was by the time the sorceress law was dropped, my parents were gone and all that awaited for me was a gloomy home.”
“I’m so sorry,” Larena apologized, “And you never were able to find your aunt?”
“No, she probably died too, considering the world we live in,” she answered casually. It unnerved Dorian at how calm she was, but he could see in her eyes that there was some sorrow hidden in there. She must be used to pain. When Larena’s parents died she cried for three days and refused to speak for a month.
“But yur friend could still be alive. Why don’t ya join us and maybe we can help ya find him?” Zirrus suggested.
“Not a bad idea, she is a pretty good fighter…” Che mumbled begrudgingly under his breath.
“I agree. It would be nice to have another girl to talk to,” Larena added.
“I dunno… I wouldn’t be much help, after all, I’m not allowed near the shrines.”
“What stopped you before?” Dorian asked absentmindedly, he hadn’t told the others about her appearance at the Fire Shrine.
“Good point. In that case, I’ll leave it up to you. Do you want me to join?” she inquired, looking at him straight in the eye.
“Of course!” was Dorian’s instant reply.
“Okay, then I’m in,” she responded with a smile.
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Character Bios
Seth
Died: 16 years ago at the age of 28
Hair: Reddish brown
Eyes: Light green
Birthplace: Fairn, Inferna
A strength trainer for young Zirconian children before his death and was reincarnated as a Relic Guardian.
Kyrae
Age: 18
Hair: Blonde, always tied in a ponytail
Eyes: Light blue
Birthplace: Zirconia, Zirconia
A cheerful young Zirconian sorceress with a rather dark, painful past.
