The New World Chronicles

Part I

The day started out like every other day for Kari de Rayse. She had been camping near the Taris Waterfall at the base of the Coiled Mountains for nearly 3 weeks now. The sound of thousands of gallons of rushing water pounded the erect rocks that lay at the bottom of the waterfall. Kari had grown accustomed to the roaring falls since she had been “living” there many weeks. In fact, she found it soothing, whereas other people would find the sound of the falls annoying if they had only been there one day.

“So here I am,” said Kari, talking to her self. “Here another day and another night.”

Kari de Rayse was in fact a holy knight. She had been one of the few female knights who existed in La Terre de Rayse. She was 19 years of age, and was knighted nearly 2 years earlier. Kari was famous for having the Terre de Rayse sword, whose blade carried the Âme de Rayse. Why the Bleu Tigre lived in her blade, she did not know. Legends spoke of the blade that glows a holy whitish-blue color when the Bleu Tigre would come awake. Only once in Kari’s life did the blade release the Raysean god, and the god appeared as a bright blue furred tiger.

The god had spoken to her. “Child,” he had said. “Only once will I appear to your in your young life, since I must slumber for my eternity. Even the gods need rest. However, I have decided to slumber in this blade for it is pure of the blood of your ancestors. Your father died fighting with this holy weapon, and so shall you if you ever face near-death. One day I may wake again, but I guarantee no promises. Farewell young worshipper. Never lose faith in me, for I am the Âme de Rayse. I am the Bleu Tigre. I am the very land itself. Spill your blood, and I shall take you to your afterlife.”

Kari had never forgotten that speech. The odd part was she thought she was the only one who saw this event. It turned out though that some people had watched this event as well, and rumor soon spread across La Terre de Rayse of a girl speaking with the Bleu Tigre. Even the king and queen took this rumor seriously, and they had called for Kari to Fernafol Castle to be knighted for religious and non-religious reasons.

King Phillipios II even made a law stating that no one else other than Kari could touch the holy blade. Otherwise they would be put to death for touching the holy object. Having Kari knighted, Phillipios II added the title “de Rayse” to her name.

And now 2 years later, Kari was living alone near the city of Kosmos. Phillipios II had ordered her to scout the Taris Waterfall. Why Phillipios II did this, she did not understand. The Land of Rayse was in its Golden Age, not having any wars for 4 centuries. This was because the country of Rayse was protected by two large mountain ranges, the Coiled Mountains to the west and the Ouranos Mountains to the east. The only safe way to arrive into La Terre de Rayse was through the Polemos Pass. The pass was a thin, flat path that opened into the Hollandrian Valley. Traveling through any of the mountain ranges was considered suicide, since most people who tried to come in or out never returned. People who had common sense would take the Polemos Pass.

It was now the 22nd night in Kari’s “scouting.” She had a fire going and had cooked deer meat as her dinner. Other than the roaring falls, the country was silent. For some reason, Kari had felt more alone than any other point in her life.

“I hate this damn ‘mission’.” Kari threw down her sheathed dagger in anger.

Her brown eyes staring, she gently picked up the dagger as if she had never thrown it. Then something else caught her eye. Something was coming down one of the mountains near Taris Waterfall.

Kari de Rayse stood up in alarm, because all she could see was movement hundreds of yards away. In fact, she did not even see a body, just something slowly coming down the mountain. This was bizarre. Barely anyone could ever survive coming through the Coiled Mountains. Kari continued watching, putting her hand on the Terre de Rayse’s sword hilt.

Apollion of the Blazes did not have a single clue of where he was. All he remembered was seeing a giant mountain range and cutting his travels through it. Not knowing the dangers of the Coiled Mountains, the climbing journey nearly killed him.

The Meracanid could have easily been mistaken as a demon dog, but he was far from being “evil.” So why am I here? Apollion thought. Where am I? Poor Apollion was a refugee from Merta’onis, a country to the west of Rayse. The Meracanids were thought to only be myths in Raysean lore, but in Meracanid lore the Rayseans were thought to be only myths as well.

Apollion was beginning to think this was the country of Rayse, since this was the only mountain range he hit while traveling east. He had passed a large lake(which was Lake Obonos) which lay on the outside of the Coiled Mountains. He followed the River of Rayse, which flowed from Lake Obonos, and then flowed into the mountain range and continued across the Hollandrian Valley. But these mountains were only thought to be legend, and Apollion had only known this information from reading the “mythology” within the Tower of Ancestors back in Merta’onis.

The truth was, was that Apollion had been banished from Merta’onis. He had accidentally killed two Legend Keepers of the Tower of Ancestors when a summoning lesson went wrong.

No! Apollion thought. I will not remember that damnation I had caused. I am nobody now. To Man, I am nothing but a dog. I will act like a dog then. They will scarcely remember what us Meracanids look like. I am not a Meracanid; I am a dumb creature called the dog.

The Meracanid tried going farther down the mountain, but his legs gave out. He collapsed on the uncomfortable rocks, disoriented in his mind. He went in and out of darkness, until he caught scent of something so strangely familiar; a campfire. At the smell of fire, his body jolted off the ground. He could see its bright orange glow at the base of the mountain; this was no natural fire. At that moment, Apollion also heard a loud rumbling coming from the same direction the fire came from. It must have been a waterfall because that was the only thing Apollion could think of. “Thank Ebrios!” he whispered. “I am dying of thirst.”

Immediately, Apollion rushed down the mountain slope. His body was full of cuts, bruises, and blood from banging against the jagged rocks. The only thing that was on his mind now was to reach the sound of the waterfall. Running on all fours, his Canid body finally reached the ground.

Where is it? Where is it?

Apollion seemed to be losing his sanity, and right now instinct took over his brain.

The campfire! He remembered.

Apollion suddenly halted. Something caught his eye.

The Meracanid noticed a tall dark figure staring in his direction from the campfire. Apollion did not know what to do now. This certainly was a human, and his first encounter with one. By the long hair, Apollion could tell this was a woman, and for the fact that human females had breasts.

The woman came closer. She dropped her sword and her face was in awe.

“You’re not a dog,” she said, startled. “You’re a Meracanid!”

Apollion stood dumbfounded, not knowing what to say or if he should say anything at all.

Kari was amused by the appearance of this creature. The creature had climbed through the Coiled Mountains and lived. However, he did not make it safely without paying the price of fatigue and injury. The Meracanid stood tall for any Canid standards, more than 1 meter off the earth. His skin was black, and his muzzle and underbelly were dark orange. He had 3 whitish-grey patterns on his back, and his face was dog-like. Two pointed “ears” protruded from the Canid’s head. He also had a long, thin pointed tail. He was extremely beautiful. At least Kari thought he was beautiful.

“Meracanid,” she said. “Do not fear me as I have no intent in hurting you. I can see you’ve done that to yourself. No wait, don’t run away.”

The Meracanid jumped back several times. It looked like he was in a state of confusion. Should it fight or take flight?

“Woof,” said the Meracanid. The creature didn’t bark “woof,” but actually said it.

Kari laughed. It wasn’t a long laugh, but it was a “serious” laugh. She found it quite humorous that the Meracanid was trying to disguise itself by being a dog. It was pretty obvious by the way the Canid looked that he was no dog.

“So your species are not as stupid as I thought,” spoke the Meracanid. He spoke in a very neutral voice, neither showing fear nor anger. After that he stood unmoving.

“You talk,” Kari said, interrupting the silence. “Dogs don’t talk. Don’t play dumb with me Meracanid. You don’t even have to talk for me to know what you are.”

“Where am I?” blurted the Meracanid.

“You’re in La Terre de Rayse,” answered Kari, “or the Land of Rayse in Common tongue. You are truly suicidal, passing through the Coiled Mountains. Very few survive, coming through those mountains. What is your name? My name is Kari de Rayse. I am a holy knight, at least by this country’s standards.”

The Meracanid hunched himself on the earth, sitting on his back legs. He then spoke.

“My name is…Apollion. That is all you need to know, Human. There is no more sense in asking of me. I am not important. I am…”

“You will tell your story,” interrupted Kari once again, “because I have been sitting here for weeks hearing nothing. Speak and let your voice be heard.”

“My official title is Apollion of the Blazes. I was born in the country of Merta’onis around 20 years ago, in the country of the Meracanids. Around the age of 6 years, I was sent to begin my training as a Legend Keeper. I was also trained in the dangerous art of summoning. All Legend Keepers train in the tower of the Ancestors, which is not to far away from our city Vulcaniva. The tower was founded by the 18 Ancestors, who were the original Legend Keepers of our race. They were the most powerful Summoners to have ever lived in Merta’onis. Some were cruel, some were kind, and some were neither cruel nor kind. We’re unsure of when actually lived, but we think they lived only about 1,000 years ago.

“Anyway, I studied in science, art, literature, mythology; anything I could get my paws on. That was the whole point of being a Legend Keeper. You have to study what you know of the world and pass that knowledge down. I was also busy in my summoning studies, summoning spirits of the dead and I even summoned a few weak demons. However, about 3 years ago I did something terribly wrong. I was practicing a summoning lesson with my teacher Lisania, who was a powerful Legend Keeper who worked for the Tower of Ancestors. She told me to summon a spirit of the dead, and I did. But I summoned the wrong spirit. I summoned a spirit of one of the original 18 Ancestors, a male Legend Keeper named Avrios. In life, Avrios was a cruel Legend Keeper and it was said he suffered from insanity. How I came to summon him I don’t know. But I could not control him. Avrios killed Lisania and another Legend Keeper named Borsias. They were killed quickly before any of them could even stop Avrios.

“It was only the lead Matriach of the Legend Keepers who could stop Avrios. Her name was Wosret, and she is the most powerful of all Legend Keepers living in Merta’onis to this date. After unsummoning Avrios, Wosret literally booted me out of the tower. She banished me from Merta’onis for “all eternity” and that is why I am here now. I went wandering through the Dranos Wastelands down south for several months. Then I even got as far as Saulos’anos Wastelands. I didn’t even dare going to the Nomads Lands though, for it’s a giant empty land full of mirages and mazes. After wandering for a few years, I noticed these mountains, which I had never noticed before. So I climbed them and ended up here.

That was the end of Apollion’s story. There probably was more, but he did not feel like exposing his entire family history. Kari didn’t want the discussion to be over though.

“So they took your golden chains to?” she asked quietly.

“Yes,” replied Apollion. “When you’re a Legend Keeper you are given gold chains to wear around your neck. It shows you are a Meracanid of high status and it simply shows that you are a Legend Keeper. I remember Wosret yanking off my gold chains before she banished me. I was no longer a Legend Keeper then, and I stopped summoning all together.”

“You’re the first mage of any type to appear in this country in hundreds of years. Rayse no longer has mages or summoners or wizards of any kind as it did nearly 400 years ago. The art of magic died in this country during the war of Polemos Pass. There is no law against saying that magicians aren’t allowed, but it’s nearly unknown for a mage to appear in this country anymore.”

This struck Apollion as out-of-place. There were magicians in nearly every country, yet he had never learned about Rayse having no magicians or wizards or summoners of any kind.

“So who are you?” asked Apollion. “I don’t really know anything about you yet.”

Kari sat thinking for a moment.

“Well, let’s just say I’m a knight of the Rayse. I am one of the few female knights in this country. My father was a knight as well, but he got killed in a scouting mission to the Xnosos Forests southeast of here. Some human barbarians speared him or something. Somehow his sword made it back to the Land of Rayse and I decided to train as a knight to take his place. My mother died a few years back from fever. My older brother was an ambassador and left for the Continental Lands to the East. I never heard from him again. My older sister lives in Tigre Village as a farmer, but I haven’t seen her in many years. So I live an isolated life, though I have a childhood friend who lives in the City of Splendours. He is a ninja of the Rayse, and has been training for many years. And…”

Kari stopped talking, for this conversation was beginning to bore her.

“Do you have faith?” she asked.

Apollion was startled.

“…faith in what?”

“Oh that’s right,” realized Kari. “I forgot you Meracanids abandoned your gods long ago. At least that is what I read.”

“We don’t deny the existence of the gods,” replied Apollion. “But our faith was destroyed by war. I prayed to my ancestors every night, and the gods as well. But all my ancestors told me was that ‘we are waiting for you’ every time I prayed to them. They are waiting for me to die. They want me to die. If I die, I will gain my freedom back. In life, I don’t have freedom.”

“I can give you freedom Meracanid,” said Kari. “Come with me and I will give you back your freedom. I can help rid you of your past, if you trust me.”

She held out her hand, and the Meracanid wasn’t sure if he could trust her or not. He changed his mind immediately, and held out his right paw. Both hand and paw clutched each other.

“Show me freedom.”

“Apollion, I have already given you freedom. Now let’s make way for the city of Kosmos. It isn’t to far from here and borders the River of Rayse. Then we’ll make our way to the City of Splendours to meet my friend Lance Timuthus.”

Both Human and Meracanid once again headed east, toward their new dawn.

Then Kari stopped and remembered something.

“Wait, my horse! Where is Tonner? Damn that stallion. I forgot he ran off this morning. I’m sure he’ll make his way to Fernafol Castle. He always does when he “gets lost.”

End of Part I