With breakfast in mind, Norton left his cabin and headed down the road to the gate and went in. Looking to the left as he passed through the gate he saw the damage to the Academy's front doors and thought he would get on the repairs after he finished milking the cows. Headmaster Insa would want this fixed right away before it could get any worse. Grabbing his buckets, Norton opened the door to the stables and stepped in and looked at the cows then stopped. Something wasn't right. He looked around the stables. The horses were there, that wasn't it. The cows were there eating from the trough. All his tools were where he had left them. He would need the hammer later to fix
the front door on the Academy. Then it hit him and he turned and ran back and through open the stale door. There it was. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but there it was still there. The Academy was back! Sitting right were it belonged shining in the morning sun like it had never moved an inch
Excited he ran to the door and pushed it open and went in. It was a mess in there. The floors needed scrubbing from mud tracked all through the halls. There was trash piled in places and it seemed someone had been sleeping in the front hallways. There were blankets and furs scattered all over the hall. Norton smiled. This was the first time he could remember that he knew he'd be happy to clean it up.
As he stood there smiling, a door opened from the offices and Macan came walking out reading something. He looked up and saw Norton and waved a good morning, then went on down the hall to the transport stones and went down to his infirmary on the lower floor. Just then the first morning bell rang warning the cadets that the first mornings classes were about to start. Doors opened and students filled the halls going from dorm rooms to breakfast and then on to the days classes. As Norton stood there smiling, Shayn and Professor Den came out of the Dining hall and saw him standing there. She had to look twice she was so surprised to see the grounds keeper.
"Norton?" Professor Den called unsure if it could really be him. "Is that you?"
"Aye lady." He smiled as he took her hand. "Your home. It's good to see you again, I had almost given hope that any of you still lived."
"Home?" Shayn looked at them, then up at the window to see a clear blue sky. "Could it be true? We're home?"
"Yes." Norton grinned overjoyed. "You're in Winterhaven, home safe."
[Ono, Cutter, We're home!] He sent to the dragons in the compound. [Azeal, Tanis! Get up to the gates! Bring everyone, we're home!!]
Suddenly cheering could be heard coming from every classroom, every dorm and all through the school. Doors flew open and cadets and teachers came running from all across the school to the main hallway to meet Shayn, Professor Den and Norton. Questions were shouted from everywhere in disbelief.
"Is it true. Are we really back home?"
"Calm down everyone!" Ono who had just come to join Shayn, with Azeal and Tanis and Cutter and Blink following right behind them. "Give us a minute to check it out. Azeal, you and Tanis please go take a flight around. This could be some trick of Daru's."
"I don't think that's possible." Cutter said. "But maybe another lord could be responsible. Better to be safe than sorry."
"We'll be right back." Azeal and Tanis hurried to the front door and took off into the morning sky.
Norton looked at them oddly. He had told them where they were. He didn't understand why they didn't believe him. Cutter could feel Norton's anguish from their doubt. He put a hand to his shoulder and smiled.
"It's not that we don't trust your word." Cutter explained. "You have to understand. Pentanthin, where we just came from, was ruled by a race of very powerful lords with many different abilities. It took fighting a war to get us home and we just want to be sure this isn't just another trick of some new mind lord looking for revenge or to take over Pentanthin. We can't afford to be wrong, all the children s lives depend on it."
Looking around, Norton saw how anxious the kids were to get out of there and get home. There were a few small ones cry for their parents, and a few older that looked on the verge of tears. He understood what Cutter had said to him and why they needed proof. He just had to wait a little while and he knew the two Vampires would confirm what he had told the as the truth.
Meanwhile it would be a good idea for him to tell Shayn and Ono everything that had happened while they were away. Norton walked over to Shayn and took him aside.
"Soon, the two Vampires you sent out will return and confirm what I've been telling you. It might be best if I give you a warning of what has been happening since you've been away."
At that moment, something buzzed in Shayn's mind. It was Azeal excitedly calling out to him. It was Azeal and by the vibrations coming out of his mind, he was very excited.
[Shayn! Its true!] He sent. [We really are back in Winterhaven!! I can go home!!]
[Calm down Azeal. Hurry back, there are things we need to know before we go off running for home.]
[No!] Azeal said. [Tanis and I are going home now. We're not waiting anymore. We'll contact you once we get back into Vasagi.]
[No!] Shayn sent. [You have no idea what's been going on since we've been away! Come back here!!]
But it was to late. Azeal and Tanis were gone and for some reason, Shayn couldn't make contact anymore. This wasn't good. They could be flying into real trouble, but right now there wasn't much he could do. Right now he had to open the doors and let the cadets go home to their families. And he and Ono and the other Dragons had to check in with whoever was still in charge of the city and get back home to New Keanna to let Rage and Jandar know they were back.
As Shayn and Ono walked quietly through the cadets towards the front door, a cheer went up through the crowd. Yaru and Maru came up from one of the lower floors with Luke and Tored, all the noise and excitement had reached the lower floors and the Petanthians wanted to know what was going on. As Ono opened the doors for the cadets, Maru asked Cutter what had happened.
"It seems our time on Pentanthin has come to an end."
"What do you mean?" Yaru asked as he slithered over to them.
"Look up." Cutter pointed to the windows and the clear blue of the skies. "We're no longer on Pentanthin. This is Keanna. We're home."
A look of utter fear and confusion appeared on Yaru's face. He wasn't sure what that meant for him, Maru and the other Savonti warriors in the academy. They were now the aliens in the strange foreign land. Where would they go? Would they have to go into hiding or be hunted down?
"Relax my friends." Cutter smiled that look of confident smile of his. "We realize how far you are from home, but you are among friends. If not for you, we would have are been captured by Daru or one of the other lords."?
"Yes." Shayn said as he joined them. "You helped keep all the cadets and the Gabor's safe, and we won't forget that. We owe you a great debt for what you did for our strange group."
"No." Maru stopped him. "We owe you. If not for you, the warring would still be going on. No human would be safe and my brother and I would be dead."
"As would we." Tored nodded in agreement. "Lord Lesu would have found me and my brother and sisters. That would not have been good. But what do we do now? Where will we live?"
"That will be up to you." Shayn said. "You all have choices. If you want, we'll find a way to get you back to Pentanthin, if that's what you want. Or, you can stay here with us. Tored, you and your family will be welcomed as wards of New Keanna. You will go to school here and live in our city."
"And us?" Maru asked. "What about me and my warriors?"
"You also are welcome to be a part of New Keanna. Or we could find you land of your own, there's still a lot of Keanna we haven't seen yet. But you have to promise never to hunt a Human for food ever again. You'll have to swear a binding oath on that."
With a look at Yaru, Maru had his answer. "We accept your generous offer and will swear on our honor to never hurt or hunt anyone without dragon consent."
"That will be enough for now." Shayn walked them to the front door and showed them the city of Winterhaven. "Welcome my friends to Keanna."
As the sun rose, Jax stood at the window of Jandar and Rages library office and stared out at the sleeping city. Nothing moved, not even a soft breeze whispered its way down the handsome cities streets. He wished he could see the children playing, or the shops of the city busy with the days sales one more time before he left. Or any of the other Dragons except Rage and Jandar, They would try and stop him or want to go with him, and that, he could not allow. They would be needed here to help keep order on Keanna. As the god of justice, Jax knew the Dragons role in the future would be very important even though people would no longer need gods. He would do all he could to see that future come true.
Turning from the window, Jax went to the desk and sat down. He took a piece of paper from the case in the corner and picked up a pen and started to write. When he was done, he folded the sheet ran his finger along the edge to seal it with his godly touch. Once the letter was sealed, he placed it in the center of the desk and went back and opened the window. He looked up as the sun broke out from behind a bank of clouds and felt its warmth cover his face. Sunlight shined down on New Keanna giving it a beautiful image, one Jax would never forget. An image that filled him with hope.
"Take care of them Brother." He called out to Alee the sun god. "For one day, they will save us all."
With that, Jax spread his arms and disappeared from New Keanna.
From the clouds a face appeared smiling down on New Keanna. A handsome face with golden blond locks.
[Good luck little brother. The sun will always be there for you when you need it.]
From his dark throne in his obsidian palace, Extremus watched his mirror as the Orcs of Laxa and Metuis marched out of Ardia on their way to Vasagi, Tir Na, Winterhaven and Aspara Bough. He was pleased with what Sarella had done with the magic he had given her. She had betrayed that fool Tayor and stripped him of his place at the head of his army. To Extremus, Tayor was nothing now, not even worth watching. But the Banshee Sarella had promise. He could take her a long way before destroying her.
As Extremus watched, Sarella's Orcs moved on another Human settlement. They cut off any escape and moved in. Like insects they swarmed the walls and took down the gate. As they entered the city and the slaughter began, Extremus burst into a laughter, enjoying every nightmarish stab or slice the Orcs made.
"I see your enjoying this." Damiceis said from the door. His thin frame wrapped in his cloak of jealousy made his way in to stand next to Extremus's throne. Damiceis was small for a god. Thin and bony, with pale skin. He had dark hair and brown eyes with a crooked nose from frowning all the time.
Damiceis was not like most of the other gods of Fortis. He role was not a lite one. Like Extremus, he represented one of the more baser emotions. He was the god of jealousy and guilt and he had a lot of hate in his heart.
"Of course I am." The ancient looking humpbacked god laughed. "Their fear is delicious, the pain, exquisite. You should enjoy it too."
"I care nothing about these mortal." Damiceis waved them off as if to dismiss them. "You can kill them all for all I care."
"Oh no!" Extremus turned to the skinny small pale god. "I won't kill them, not yet. First I scare them so bad they lose all sane thought. Then they are mine forever."
"And Rimnar and Aramis?" Damiceis asked. "Whats about them?"
"Good question." Extremus snapped his fingers and an image of the two gods fighting monsters side by side appeared in the air. "They still fight my nightmare creatures. The fear hasn't reached their hearts yet, but it will soon. And I owe it all to you. Without you, I could never have reached two such powerful gods."
"Haramf." Damiceis huffed impatiently. This was all moving way to slow for him. By this time, he had expected Rimnar and Aramis broken, sniveling wrecked of the powerful gods they had once been. He wanted his revenge for being denigrated to such a low status in his godhood. Once Rimnar and Aramis was put down, he would move on to his next target, Salia, Alee, Alea and the dark gods Angela and Nestor. They were the only ones that stood in his way in taking his place as the new god of life and sitting on the high throne of Fortis. They everyone would bow before his radiance. He could rule and reassign everyone else to the lower ranks of godliness.
"This is taking to long." Damiceis frowned up at Extremus. "Send more of the fear creatures against them. They have to break now before they can find a way here to your palace."
"Relax." Extremus sat bat on his throne. "They will never find a way here or out of Delirium. This is my world and I am in control here. No one gets in or out without my knowledge. I have someone waiting that will guide them to their doom. Everything is going as I planned."
As they watched, Rimnar and Aramis fought off a small crowd of demon like monsters and ducked into the alleys of a nightmare ghost village. Exhausted, Rimnar grabbed Aramis and pulled him around a corner and pushed him down then peek out and watched the horrors run by.
Releasing the breath he was holding, Rimnar looked around hoping to maybe recognize something about their surroundings.
They were surrounded by two story mortar buildings all gray and ghastly. Some were much taller, some how elongated out of proportion like strange mirror images. Strange withering vines crawled all along the ground and the buildings that grabbed anything it could and pulled it in and wrapped it in cocoon like pods . The sky was gray and lightning flashed every few seconds casting everything in a weird glow. From where they hid, Rimnar could see gnarled trees in the distance with huge blackbirds flying all around them. The ground was paved with slimy cobblestones. It was very hard keeping from slipping and falling. The sky was gray with dark grayish cotton clouds and a weird black throbbing sun overhead. No matter how hard Rimnar tried, nothing around him looked familiar.
"Father." Aramis called as he stood up and looked around. "Where are we? I don't recognize this place."
"Neither do I." Rimnar held up his hand to summon magic and probe the buildings around them. A dim spark formed they fizzed out. He looked at his hands in shock. His magic had never failed him before and he, in his had traveled to many different worlds and planes of existence. This horrible place was like no where he had ever been before. Stranger then even Nestor's Underworld. "Can you walk?"
"Yes." Aramis rubbed his leg then leaned on it. "I'll have to if I want to get out of here. Which way should we go?"
Rimnar looked left, then right. It all looked the same, dark and gloomy. In this place there was no difference between north and south, but something inside him said just keep moving forward. "We follow this lane straight out and see where it goes."
Nodding, Aramis followed Rimnar up the lane keeping his eyes open for any more of the strange things that roamed the streets of the dark city. As they walked, all kinds of sounds assailed them from all sides. There were screams as if someone was being torn to shreds and cries of pain. There were howls from things neither of them could imagine and reams of mad laughter. From the corner of his eye, Aramis thought he saw something move in the shadow of a building across from them. Without even thinking he summoned a bolt of magic and sent it at the shadow. In a flash of light, something scurried out of the corner. It was grey and the size of a small dog, but it wasn't a dog. It had four segmented legs and the exoskeleton of an insect with twin barbed stingers. In the front there were two claws that looked razor sharp. It had no neck but a head with four needle sharp things to pull its prey to its saliva dripping mouth. First there was one, then as Aramis looked closer, another creeped out of the shadows. Then another and another until the alley was filled with them.
"Father!" Aramis grabbed his arm. "Look!!"
As Rimnar turned, one of the gray scorpion things with its snapping claws scampered over to the alley they were hiding, its feelers waving as it searched the area.
"What is that?"
"I don't know." Aramis said. "It looks like a scorpion but much bugger then anything I created."
"Wait." Rimnar held out his hand holding Aramis back. "If you didn't create this species, then who did? Where are we?"
"I don't know Father. I've been to many worlds and foster many different types of life, but I've never seen anything like this. None of the animal or plant life is familiar."
"Then let nothing touch you." Rimnar told him. "Don't trust anything here."
As Aramis agreed, the scorpion thing started in down the alley towards them. Rimnar took a step back trying to stay as far away from the thing as he could. When it got within ten feet of them it stop, its feelers started twitching wildly. Aramis could tell it had senses their presence. Suddenly it became agitated, it started to shake and scream a loud piercing shriek that alerted the others to their presence.
Like hungry piranha after a wounded deer in the river, the Skitters attacked. Beams of heat shot from their stingers with deadly accuracy. Rimnar formed a magic shield as Aramis returned fire. The searing blast fell like rain as the Skitters scampered on. With Rimnar holding his shield in front of them, Aramis picked his targets and picked them off one by one. But for every one he killed, two more would take their place in the horde coming at them. In a great mass the Skitters filled the street in front of them. No matter how many Aramis blew away, he knew he couldn't stop them all. Sooner or later they would be crawling all over his fathers shield and he didn't know how long he could keep them off of them. They only had one chance. They would have to make a run for it.
"We can't stay here Father." Aramis blasted three Skitters that dived down from the roofs. "We have to go!"
With a wave of his have, Rimnar expanded the shield into a wall and slammed it at the Skitters. Like ants being hit by a wave of water the Skitters were pushed back down the alley. Then Aramis sent a final blast at the last stragglers and they took off running from the alley.
The hellish city they were in was all twisted. Roads went up into the air like a mirror image of some convoluted town of madness. There were stairs and doors into buildings everywhere. Neither Aramis nor Rimnar knew where to go or what to do, but they ran on fighting and blasting anything that attacked or got in their way. There had to be a way out of there or some way to figure out where they were. There just had to find it if the ever wanted to get back to Fortis.
High in a dark rain clouds dressed in her gown of misery, Matia goddess of remorse and regrets slowly descended down to Extremus's Garden of Delusion. Her heart was filled with sadness and grief over her life of depression, sorrow and pain. The pain and sorrow that stemmed from her life of agony. She hated it here alone with her mad husband and she wished he had let her die and move on in peace. But that was not the way of the god of hate. He always took what he wanted and unfortunately for her, she was one of his prize possessions. She thought back to how her life of nightmare started It all had started long ago in a land far away.
Long ago in a land called Asmea, a beautiful young girl named Matia sat crying outside of an old dark temple. Her heart was broken in the name of love. You see she had been promised to a handsome young warrior who had been held as a hero in Asmea. He had courted her for years, taken her heart and her virginity and promised her father he would marry her. But on the day they were to wed, she learned he had taken everything her father had promised with her hand, the land, her mothers chest of precious jewelry, and sold it and run off with another girl leaving them almost homeless and poor.
For weeks she lay in her bed and cried, having nightmares of the warrior coming in the night and laughing at her only to wake up alone in her bed, her pillow drenched in tears. The dreams were driving her down with depression and sorrow into madness. Then one morning she felt sick. She couldn't hold anything down. Not the bread or the soothing soup her mother had made for her. It wasn't until a few weeks later that that she realized what was wrong. She was pregnant. She was going to have a baby. That was the last straw. Her mind couldn't bare the thought of giving birth to the warriors child and living with what she called her shame.
That night Matia silently said good bye to her sleeping parents and left their little house. She made her way through the forest to the cliffs where the dark temple sat. As she lay crying on the steps of the temple, Matia said a prayer to the unknown god who's shrine she sat outside of. She prayed for forgiveness for her sins and for the god to get revenge for the wrongs that the warrior had done to her. Then she leaped and threw herself off the cliff to die on the rocks in the surf below.
When Matia opened her eyes, she was in a dark garden. Everything around her was black, white, gray and cold. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself as she stood up to look around. There were dead trees, gray grass and old withered flowers growing all over the garden. Up, perched in the barren trees and diving down from above, skeletal ghostly crows screeched at each other as they pecked and fought over dried seeds scattered around the garden. Matia wasn't sure where she was. The last thing she remembered was going over the side of the cliff.
"This must be the Underworld." She said. She reached out and picked a withered rose from the bush at her side. As she lifted it up to smell its scent, it crumbled to dust in her hand and blew away. A tear rolled down her cheek as she watched the petals blow away of a soft wind.
"How sad this place is." She thought. Matia picked up the hem of her dress and moved on through the garden. It wasn't long before she found herself standing in front of another dark temple that reminded her of the one on the cliffs near her home. She stood at the entrance to the temple and looked up at a statue of a dark handsome man sitting on a marble throne. She wondered who the mysterious temple belonged to. What God called this place his? Where was she? She sat down on the stairs and placing her head low and started to cry.
Suddenly she heard something from behind her. The sound of shuffling footsteps. As Matia looked up, she realized the statue was gone and a shadow was coming out of the doors of the temple. Matia stood up and stepped back as a man that resembled the statue came walked of of the shadows.
He was a a rather short man, handsome dressed in regal dark robes of gray and black that shimmered like stars in the night skies. He had dark moody eyes and a look on his face as if he were in some kind of pain. When he walked, he took slow measured careful steps like there might be something wrong with his legs.
As Matia withdrew to the bottom of the stairs, the dark man took his place on the throne and smiled down at her.
"Welcome to my garden Matia."
"Who are you?" She asked. "Where am I?"
"This my dear is my Garden of Delusions." He raise his hand and one of the skeletal crows came down to perch on it. He brought it down and stroked its bony back. "This is where I create all my Nightmare pets. I am Extremus, lord of this world of Nightmares and madness."
"Why am I here?" She asked. "I don't understand, I should be dead, but I'm here in this awful place."
"You are much to beautiful for death. I have something better planned for you."
Suddenly Matia was scared. This god was mad and she had no idea what he had planned for her. She turned and ran off into the garden to get away from him.
"You can run all you want my sweet Matia." He shouted from his throne. "You have an eternity to get use to your new position as my wife and the new goddess of remorse and regrets!"
It had taken years but finally Matia grew to accept her life with Extremus. She took no pleasure in the nightmare world but she did try her best to help soothe and comfort those she found with the most remorse and regrets.
Now Extremus had sent her to find and guide Rimnar and the others on there way to madness. She hated it but she had no choice. If she didn't do as she was told, the world would suffer nightmares and madness on an unbelievable level. These are lessons Matia had learned long ago. When she had denied Extremus's initial proposal, he had turned on her parents and drove them so crazy, they tore each other to pieces. She couldn't bear to let that happen to anyone else, so she would follow his orders. for now.
But if she ever found a way to rid herself of his terrible hold on her, she would take it.
