Wings of Power, Eyes of Heresy, a Fantasy fanfic

Author’s Note:

Sorry for updating so late, I got another bout of writers’ block and extreme laziness. XD At least I updated, right? :P

Random fact: The reason why I chose ‘Wings of Power’ and not ‘Fists of Power’ or ‘Dragons of Power’ or something like that as the title is because, well, ever since I was young, I’ve always dreamed of having wings and fly. Yep, that’s true, and I even have dreams of me flying at night… Whee! :D Besides, wings are kinda pretty and it sorta adds an extra touch of fantasy to the story. That’s what I think! :P

Review Replies

Faithless Juliet: Thankies for the compliments! :D And actually I didn’t even realise that I used excitement twice, my bad. XD I’ll change it the next time I fix the chapters! :D Oh, just so you know, I didn’t intend to write this in the form of a play. :P

MacialEarthhammer Thankies as well for your compliments! :D The reason why I picked Project Wings instead of (insert fancy name) is because… well, I’m a little tired of seeing all kinds of fancy names for projects (doesn’t mean that there aren’t any good ones out there! :P) and since I didn’t want copy any one of them (as well as the fact that I couldn’t think of any good ones myself XD), I made the name short and simple. :P And yes, the names are really Norse ones, since I was influenced by Norse Mythology and the PSX game Valkyrie Profile. :P

Marcel Pellerin: I’m sure that I’m not exactly the only one who has this idea, there are lots of brilliant minds out there. :P Thankies as well though, and hopefully future chapters will remain interesting to you. :D

Arrow’s Flight: Good to see you again! :D Did you know that I finished Shadow Claw? :P And recently I got an attack of laziness (probably because I just finished an important set of exams), so I hadn’t been reading much… :( But I’ll get to them in future. :P And thankies for reviewing! :D

Daidairo Yay, you reviewed. :P Well, not all scientists are evil… at least, I don’t think I portrayed them as evil. (sweatdrops) But thankies for reviewing, it’s really nice of you. :P

Diana HND: Thankies for reviewing! :D I was in the mood for something new, and I felt like mixing all the genres together. XD Are you sure that when someone dies in the prologue, the future chapters will be exciting? :P

Jake Delfeir: And my beta-reader finally reviews! Don’t you think you’re a little late? XD Hehe, just kidding. :P Thankies for reviewing though, and hopefully I’ve improved from the time I wrote Shadow Claw. :D

Puppet Girl: Aw, it’s not exactly that awesome, I just wrote it how I feel it should be written. :D But thankies for reviewing! :D

Biodegradable: Hehe, don’t worry, it’s nice of you to review in the first place and thankies for that. :D And the prophecy’s pretty obvious, I’m sure you’ll find out lots of things before I even write them. :P But I’m planning some… er, things in the later chapters, so keep checking back! :D

Deejay: Whoa, you seriously reviewed! :D Thankies very much, and it’s not like my story is better than J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. :P Though I do admit that story’s getting a little too over-descriptive. :( Wait, only two grammar mistakes? Wow, I actually expected more than that. You know me, always making mistakes. XD

For everyone else who read but didn’t review: Thankies very much for reading Wings of Power, Eyes of Heresy! Yay, I’m so happy. :D

Anyhow, I hope that you like this chapter! I really had fun writing this! :D

Wings of Power, Eyes of Heresy
Chapter 1 – Keiron: Golden Eyes of Heresy
Written by Blue Dragon-sy

A flock of birds flew southward to the oak grove, crying that sunset had arrived, and the sun lit up the sky in a brilliant orange light as it peeked from the horizon to say its final goodbye to the villagers before nightfall. Oakes Village was small, containing only a few hundred residents, yet it gave a certain homely feeling to all who cast their eyes on it with the little huts and farms, and the river running through it made the lands suitable for plant growth.

As the hunters exited the oak grove with pheasants slung over their shoulders, they did not greet the lone twenty-year-old man sitting in the shadows of a tree and gazing at the running waters of the river as they walked by. In his simple garments that consisted of a thin white shirt and a pair of black pants complete with black boots, all partially covered in dirt, he looked like a beggar. They had all seen him wandering aimlessly around the houses and farms for two days now, as if he was searching for something, and they ignored him.

The young man heaved a tired sigh after the hunters had gone as he continued to gaze into the river at the reflection of his features, framed by his short yet unruly dark brown hair. He raised a shaky hand to his fringe and pushed them aside, revealing his eyes.

Golden eyes gleaming with confusion.

He turned his head upwards towards the sky of stars and shut his eyes, letting the gentle night wind caress his face and play with his hair.

Two sunsets had passed, yet his question still remained unanswered.

Who… am I…?

The first thing he remembered was this oak grove, the tall trees shading him from the glaring sunlight as he lay, already dressed in these simple garments he had now with nothing else with him. No matter how hard he tried, he could remember nothing, nothing at all.

Except for his name – Keiron Everhardt.

He sighed. Why had something like this happen to him? How? And of all people, why HIM?

He was startled out of his thoughts when his stomach rumbled loudly. He placed a hand on it, as if doing so would satisfy it, and he realized that he had not eaten anything since he woke up and that was nearly two days ago. His mind was in such a state of confusion that he neglected everything while searching for his memories…

His stomach growled again, urging him to eat something. Perhaps best thing to do now was to take care of his health.

Keiron slowly stood up, using the tree behind him for support, for his legs felt weak from lack of energy, and walked along the riverbank to the depths of the grove. But how was he to get food? Most of the small animals in this forest were not nocturnal and even if they were, it was too dark to set traps. Well, he wouldn’t have the energy to chase after them in the first place, and climbing apple trees was definitely out of the question.

At that point, a sudden wave of dizziness washed over him. Staggering to his left, his shoulder hit the strong trunk of an oak tree and as he leant against it, he slowly slid into a sitting position, drawing his knees to his chest and resting his head on them while his hands covered his already tightly-shut eyes. Very soon the dizziness went as suddenly as it came and Keiron gave a soft sigh of relief; probably the dizziness was because of hunger.

He continued to sit there and straightened his legs in front of him, his feet almost touching the waters of the curving river, as he looked around to observe his surroundings. There was no way he could continue walking aimlessly like this – his energy was almost completely depleted.

Then he saw that he was sitting next to a row of tall bushes. Not just any bushes; they were berry bushes! At a glance, he knew immediately that the berries were nutritious and not poisonous, but he was so overcame by the desire for food that he did not even wonder how he had known that fact. His stomach growled again, telling him to start eating, and he immediately complied.

Although these berries were shaped like raspberries, they had a strange color of yellow, orange and red mixed together, and their taste was sweet yet slightly bitter. With each berry eaten, a little of his energy returned and he felt somehow happier. It was as if the search for his memories was not so important anymore…

When he was done, he returned to the base of an oak tree and sat leaning against the trunk, feeling rather full even though his stomach wasn’t satisfied with just berries. Now that his hunger problem was settled, he let out a silent yawn and remembered that he had not slept for more than twenty-four hours.

How did I manage to survive in the past two days anyway? he wondered. No food or sleep for so long, it’s a miracle that I didn’t even faint…

He yawned again, sleepiness nagging at his mind as he looked around in search of a safe place to sleep. Soon he was asleep comfortably in a big space under the berry bushes, curled up like a small child in the warm night, accompanied by no one but the glowing moon.

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Keiron felt a warm wind blowing into his ear and rolled slowly to his left to get away from it while covering his eyes from the bright sunlight. When it blew persistently into his ear, he raised a hand to wave it away and felt something soft… and furry. He jumped up with a start and backed away, but he relaxed when he saw that it was just a small gray puppy with a waggy wolfish tail and a yappy bark. Apparently it had been sniffing at his ears to wake him up.

“Hey, where did you come from? Are you lost?” Keiron called with a smile, beckoning to it to go to him – somehow, the sight of the cute little dog made him feel safer than when he was alone.

It gave a delighted bark and jumped right at him as if it was returning to a long lost master. Keiron laughed as it made its way into his arms, and he fondled its silky, droopy ears with one hand.

Suddenly, he winced as he felt a sharp pain in his head, and then he began to remember…

“Happy birthday, Keiron! Here, this is for you!”

There was a loud squeal of delight in the midst of excited barks. “Wow! A puppy! Is he really mine, Dad?”

A male voice laughed heartily. “He’s all yours, son! Make sure you take care of him properly, all right?”

“Yes, Dad! I’ll be REAL nice to him!”

There was a bright flash of light that hurt his eyes and he raised a hand to his now aching head. When his eyesight focused again, he saw the gray puppy looking at him with a soft whine and he stroked its furry head. His mind could only recall a very small part of his past, but now he felt confident – at least he was remembering something.

Then, he heard a high voice shouting in the distance, probably belonging to a child. “Tobi! Tobi, where are you? Tobi!”

The puppy gave another delighted bark and charged out of the bush. Startled, Keiron scrambled out as well, and he saw it jumping wildly at the feet of a young girl about eight. She bent to give the puppy a pat on the head, her shoulder length brown hair framing her cute face while her knee-length pink dress dances lightly in the wind.

“Tobi, where were you? You shouldn’t just run off like that…” Her voice trailed off when she realized there was a man standing nearby and she stood up, smiling. “Mister, you found my Tobi for me! Thank you very much!”

Keiron felt an odd, unfamiliar sensation when the girl called him ‘Mister’, as if he was a small child being addressed as an adult, but he ignored that as he fumbled for words. “It’s… ah… You’re welcome.”

“What are you doing in the Oak Grove?” the girl asked, approaching him. “Are you hunting like my Daddy too?”

He shook his head as he knelt down to level his eyes with hers. “No, I’m not hunting. I’m just –”

The girl stopped abruptly, her eyes growing wide with fear as she slowly backed away. Keiron looked around to see what is it that was making her afraid, but he saw nothing.

“What’s wrong?” he asked and raised a hand towards her to calm her down, but as soon as he did so, she jumped away from him as though he was a monster ready to devour her.

“You have golden eyes!!” she shrieked. She quickly swept the puppy into her arms and sped away, leaving the bewildered man there.

Keiron continued to stare after her as he stood there. He found that he was nearer to the village than he thought, for there were houses and farms several tens of feet away from where he was, and he saw the little girl running to a thin lady dressed in an ordinary worn-out dress hanging her laundry outside a small, simply-decorated cottage.

“Mama! That man has golden eyes!!” he heard the girl cried out as she sobbed in her mother’s arms.

“What?! Golden eyes?!” the mother exclaimed.

“Golden eyes?!” a man shouted from another house.

“A heretic is here!!” another yelled.

H-heretic?! Keiron thought confusedly. B-but I…! I’m not…!!

He began to panic when he heard the angry and fearful shouts of the villagers and he turned to run in the opposite direction. He did not know why he did so and what they meant by ‘heretic’, but something told him to run and run he did, his shoulders heaving and his heart beating hard. He just wanted to get away from them, to get to a safe place… to get his memories back.

However, the villagers knew this grove better than he did and soon he found himself surrounded by a whole mob of able men, all wielding weapons they could get in a short notice like a hoe and a stick. Most of them had bulging muscles on their forearms, as they were farmers and hunters, and Keiron looked around quickly in search of an escape route, his eyes wide with fear like a panicking rabbit surrounded by wolves.

“Hey, he’s that fella who’s been wandering around the village for two days!” a gruff voice shouted from the crowd.

“How was it that none of you saw his golden eyes when he was walking around?!” an angry man bellowed.

Another shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. All we know that he’s a heretic, and we must punish him accordingly!”

“GET HIM!!”

At the same time the men charged, Keiron tried getting past the crowd – he ducked when they jumped at him and he leapt when weapons were swung at his legs to immobilize him. His sole thought was to escape and he would stop at nothing to achieve it, although he accidentally hit two men in the face and kicked several others away. As strong hands grabbed him by the shoulders and more pinned his arms and legs, he struggled as hard as he could, letting out panicked cries as he tried his hardest to escape.

“He’s strong!” an exasperated voice yelled from behind him. “Knock him out, quickly!!”

Keiron did not even see who it was before something extremely hard slammed the right side of his head, just above his ear. Severe pain surged through his head, rendering his whole body completely weak, and he gasped in pain as he crumpled to the ground sideways.

But one man did not stop even though he was already on the ground… No, that man just continued to hit Keiron on the chest and back repeatedly with a wooden stick, sending waves of pain through his body and he cried out loud with each blow.

“DAMN YOU, HERETIC!!” a furious voice roared. “My son was KILLED by YOUR KIND!!”

“Enough!” another voice commanded. “You’ll kill him!”

A final blow came onto Keiron’s right arm and he heard… no, felt a crack. He let out a scream that echoed loudly in the oak grove as extreme pain shot through his whole arm, and he curled up tightly to endure it.

The man who hit him was grabbed from behind by several others as he spat onto the ground. “He deserved it anyway!!” He let out another roar of anger mixed with anguish. “You damned HERETIC! Give me back my son!! GIVE ME BACK MY SON!!!” After that, he slid to a kneeling position and started sobbing uncontrollably, probably overwhelmed by the grief for his dead son. No one else moved or said anything.

Everything seemed to stop as Keiron lay motionless on his side, his eyes unable to focus, his chest heaving with the effort to breathe, and tepid red liquid slid down the side of his face while mixing with his cold sweat. He had lost all senses of his body, and for some reason this was a familiar feeling.

He winced in pain again as he remembered more voices from the past, though rather faint ones.

“I’m sorry, Farrell, your younger brother… he’s not going to make it.”

“What do you mean he’s not going to make it?! Of course he will! Keiron is strong!”

“Farrell, listen to me – Keiron’s body has already sustained too much damage. There’s no way we can save him, even with our advanced machinery.”

“No! He WILL survive like me!”

“The reason why you survived is because you’re at least six, seven years older than him, and while you’re a strong teenager, he’s just an eleven-year-old child. I’ve yet to see a child with three broken limbs, several bone fractures, a nasty concussion on his head and severe blood loss survive. And did I mention that one of his fractured rib bones stabbed one of his arteries?”

There was a gasp of utmost shock.

“Anyhow, I suggest that you prepare a funeral ceremony for him.”

“…Never.”

“What? But he’s your –”

“He WILL live. I won’t ever give up on him.”

Like before, there was a bright flash of light and then he was brought back to reality, and he groaned softly as he lay there with his eyes half-closed, unable to see anything but a bright, blurry scene. When he felt something lumpy in his throat, he let out a violent cough and spat it out onto the ground… blood. It was extremely difficult to breathe, and the severe headache wasn’t helping either.

“Is he… really a heretic?” a motherly voice asked. “But he’s… Don’t you think you were too harsh on him?”

A man spat onto the ground. “Bah! He’s a golden-eyed devil all right, and a strong one too! You should’ve seen how he struck us when we got him!”

“But isn’t it because he tried to defend himself against your attacks? After all, we all saw him running away before you all caught up with him.”

Another male rapped his stick hard on the ground impatiently. “Enough, woman! Heretics like him don’t deserve our pity! Don’t you remember how your own daughter was raped and murdered by his kind?!!” When he said the word ‘kind’, emphasized hatred could be heard from his voice.

“But even so –”

“I said, ENOUGH!”

After that nothing else was said but Keiron couldn’t care less, for now everything around him was shrouded in complete darkness.

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“Hey you! Wake up!!”

Keiron felt a blow on his stomach and again he gasped in pain. As he slowly recovered his senses, he found that his back was leaning against a dusty stone wall and his hands chained a few inches above his head, and he felt a stabbing pain in his right arm at the slightest movement. His eyesight still remained stubbornly hazy but when it began to clear up, he raised his heavy head and saw dull walls of gray stone and bars of black metal enclosing small empty room that cast a feeling of gloom on him. Blood was still flowing freely from the right side of his head and from the corner of his mouth – the people who caught him and brought him here hadn’t even bothered to bandage his wounds.

Standing before him was a soldier clad completely in black armor, with a halberd in one hand. He raised the wooden part of the halberd and hit Keiron on the stomach again.

“Look sharp! The Count is coming!” he ordered with a voice of authority before exiting the cell.

Keiron coughed weakly as he tried to endure the pain his body felt and at the same time he fought to stay conscious; it would be terrible if he fell into a faint and get beaten up again.

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed loudly along the walls of black stone as two men entered the prison, and one waved for the guard to stay outside and before the wooden door.

The tall man seemed to be of higher rank of the two, for his clothing was made of expensive material and there were gleaming gold accessories along his ten fingers, around his thick neck and his fat belly. A bunch of silver hair stood at the top of his shiny head and he had thick white moustache and beard, and long purple cape hung from his shoulders. Perhaps this was the ‘Count’ that the guard had mentioned.

The other man was shorter than him by about six inches and sported white and red robes around his skinny figure with its end dragging on the floor. His short, neatly trimmed hair matched the red color on his robes, and he had a long mahogany rod with a green emerald crystal on one end of it. He seemed quiet and withdrawn as he stood a little ways behind.

“So THIS is our heretic,” the taller man spoke, looking over his broad shoulder at the other man. “Where was he found, Flynn? The village near here?”

Flynn nodded. “I believe it is Oakes Village to the south, my lord.”

The tall man turned back to the prisoner. “Well, heretic, I am Count Draclau and this is my advisor, Flynn, and you’d best remember that.” Draclau approached him, a sinister smile forming on his face. “Do you know why you’re here?”

Keiron shook his head slowly. “Because I’m a… heretic…?” At his answer, the Count slapped him on the right shoulder, sending a wave of pain through his injured right arm, and he gritted his teeth to suppress the urge to scream.

“Exactly!” Draclau then raised his hands to his side, the palms facing upward as if he was receiving a blessing from the gods. “Daeon, the God of Desire, is our only way to salvation. In order for us humans to get that salvation, sacrifices must be made.” He slowly lowered his hands. “And Lord Daeon has stated clearly in his teachings that people with golden eyes are heretics, for they will lead us to doom.”

Keiron was at a loss for words.

“Well, you’re lucky that I don’t put you on a public display, since I have an important meeting with the King today.” The Count turned around to the other man and put a hand on his shoulder. “Flynn, you know what to do with him.”

Flynn nodded silently as Draclau left with a laugh.

The golden-eyed man could hear the sound of Flynn’s wooden rod tapping on the stone floor as he approached, and he could feel the air becoming denser with energy… was Flynn using magic?

“Windstone of magic, feel the flow of energy gathering inside you,” he chanted and raised his rod, the emerald crystal glowing brightly and conjuring a gust of wind around it. “With that energy, I command you – teleport us to the depths of Crystal Cavern!!”

Keiron yelled in surprise as the light from the crystal engulfed the whole prison and then he felt the chains around his wrists disappearing away, falling weakly to his knees and wincing in pain when his broken right arm fell to his side. As soon as his left hand touched the floor, he gasped in shock – the floor was cold like ice! He looked around bewilderedly and saw the reason why; he was no longer in the prison, but in a cavern made completely of semi-transparent pale blue crystals.

“Heretic, you are hereby banished for life,” Flynn said, his voice cold. “Even though the Crystal Cavern has two exits, both lead to the plains and the mountains around serve as a natural prison. There is no way you can return to civilization unless you grow wings and fly.” The Windstone on his rod glowed again as he got ready to leave.

“N-no! Wait!!” the brown-haired man shouted, but it was too late – Flynn had teleported away in a flash of light.

No… what’s going to happen to me…?

He slowly got to his feet, carefully keeping his broken arm still and leaning his other hand on the icy-cold crystal wall, and then he gave a loud sneeze as he started shivering against his will. His clothing was too thin to keep the cold away and especially since he had not been eating well, his body couldn’t generate enough heat. If he remained in here for too long, he would die.

I must… get out from here…

End Chapter 1: Eyes of Heresy

Quote for this chapter:
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Author’s Note:

Bwahahaha… I love torturing my characters! And if you’ve read my other story “Shadow Claw”, you’d be thinking, “Geez, as if it isn’t enough that she always tortured Rapheon!” :P Really sorry, fellas, this is an unfixable trait of mine – to torture my characters! (laughs maniacally)

Oh, and just to remind you, you can use the Name Pronunciation and Origin Guide! :D

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