The Keys to Ascension Read online

  They chanted as they collectively pushed the ram. “The Sovereign!” It hit the wall doing apparently no damage, but shaking the whole building. They pulled the heavy thing back for another go. “The Authority!” Cracking could be heard as the ram hit the wall. The men groaned as they pulled back the weapon again. “The Divinity!” The ram busted through, revealing the spears, strange faces, and thin legs of troglodytes.

  Some dropped their spears, but all turned their heads down and away from the light. The ram operators heaved the thing away before soldiers moved forward, most with swords, who stabbed the nearest enemies. A few carried hammers to the edge of the hole and chipped away at the damaged parts of the wall.

  Hyzantrians slaughtered the creatures. This was the biggest box containing the most amount of enemies. The same tactic would be used again and again. The tide has turned against this invasion, but this invasion is nothing. What are those maleefa cults planning? What will they do with all that estra? And where are keys of permanence? I have to find them before the maleefa do.

  #

  A wind gust blew against the end of Tyzonio’s black cape, forcing it to flap and furl as he stood on the highest balcony of his dark tower. Bats flew by in different directions while he stared over the ocean in the direction of Hyzantria. He knew the final battle would soon come.

  He wanted to be there with his creatures that had fought so bravely for him. He wanted to see and take part in their sacrifice for the liberty of peasants everywhere. But peasants had been kept so in the dark by their tyrannical masters that none rose up to fight for their own liberation. And, the forces of slavery marched on what remained of his army.

  He needed time to design a great magical feat, so his forces retreated to the north, leaving several boxes with minimal troops to slow the Hyzantrians down. Giddy thrill shot up him. “But now I am ready! I will free Hyzantria and all the world thanks to my genius as a wizard!”

  He focused on the endless open power of Eerra, then manipulated it until he had it just the way he wanted. He threw his hands in the air. “Ahhhhhhhhh!” The water just ahead of his island rumbled, growing as Tyzonio focused on lifting the great mass below. The great rush of magic pressed against his body, trying to tear it apart. He wasn’t sure if such power could destroy him just by using it, but he couldn’t take a chance. The world needs me. He slowed the magic’s flood, then slowly increased it while monitoring his body’s adaptation.

  “Ahhhhhhhhh!”

  The colossal flat circle of rock he tore from under the ocean’s surface lifted in the air. Water ran down its sides, falling back into the ocean. The rock, many times larger than Tyzonio’s island, soon cast a great shadow over the ocean. Tyzonio concentrated, forcing it to stay stable, he wouldn’t have the energy to lift it again if he dropped it. He flipped it so its long surface angled toward the sun, then he pushed it higher.

  “Soon my dark armies will crush the armies of light! Let equality reign! Down with the oppressive fabrication that is the divinity!”

  #

  Theto crossed his arms as he watched the trebuchet crews remove the wheels and prepared to loose their weapons. He looked at Finio. “After seeing what we can do. How can you stand that we would be killed if we showed our talents? It took forever to build more trebuchets, to drag them from box to box. This war should already be over.”

  Finio seemed to stare over the box and at the ships in the ocean beyond. He whispered, “You just got here. I’ve been in Hyzantria related war for what seems like a lifetime. It’s finally almost over.”

  Theto scoffed. “Don’t get all epic on me. I’ve been fighting too. And it’s not over according to Parto. This is just wave one.”

  Finio turned to Theto. “Look what mages with power do. They hurt people. Of course high beings aren’t demons, but maybe they make demons out of us.”

  “Cha. Am I a demon, Finio? Are you a demon? Was dad a demon? Mom? Uncle?”

  Finio shook his head. “If one of us has the power, we all do. Maybe it’s better to suppress it.”

  Theto shrugged. “Maybe ideas like that got dad killed.” He leaned toward his brother, staring him down.

  Finio narrowed his eyes.

  A big hand suddenly hit Theto in the back. One struck Finio as well, jerking him forward. He just barely twisted himself to not collide with his brother.

  Lizeto laughed. “You guys already over the happy reunion? C’moooon. You guys fight too much. At least wait for Parto to join the fun. He’d love to talk to you guys about using your special talents.”

  They all looked at the group of white horses and inquisitors riding back from luring the golems into a pit.

  Lizeto crossed his arms. “The wizard really should have made his rock men smarter.”

  Kericles stumbled toward them, Hyzantrian soldiers moving out of the way.

  After defeating many of these boxes, it didn’t seem so dramatic. The army stopped using the sleds once they realized the enemy’s pain to light never stopped. So, there was no hurry to charge in right away. Luring the golems became so effective, that there was no need to build a man-made hill when the trebuchets could take their time launching multiple volleys. And, wherever the wizard was, he never showed himself to make more golems. Theto assumed he was a coward.

  Kericles had seen this lack of tension as a cue to start drinking. He yelled with his arms open, “Cousiiiins! We really gotta party tonight.”

  Hyzantrain soldiers standing in their battle lines all around them stared at the drunk Citian.

  Lizeto turned to him as Kericles neared. “I’m surprised you showed up to a battle without your precious magic armor.”

  Kericles dismissed him with the back of his hand. He pointed at the black box with a hand that couldn’t quite settle in the right direction. “The enemy are dead.”

  Theto looked toward the box.

  A Trebuchet officer yelled, “Load!”

  Trebuchet men put rocks into the nets.

  Then the world suddenly darkened.

  Finio shouted, “The sun!”

  Theto looked up to see a massive circle coming over it. He glanced back at the black box, but it wasn’t there, only a huge army of troglodytes and palberos walking toward them in the shade. Then the sun became completely covered and the world around them went black.

  Panic swept up Theto’s chest. An urge to run blasted through him. He glanced around, hardly able to see a thing. Finio, right next to him, didn’t seem any better off as he peered into the night, flashing his head around from time to time.

  One of the Blastonions could create light, but not in front of the Hyzantrians.

  A quiet murmur went through the army, then an officer yelled, “The Sovereign! The Authority! The Divinity!”

  The army responded: “The Sovereign! The Authority! The Divinity!”

  Then, they were silent and still. The collective steps of trogs and palberos drew closer.

  “Fire arrows!” someone in the distance shouted.

  Officers relayed the message. “Fire arrows!”

  “Fire arrows!”

  A line of fire appeared somewhere behind Theto, stretching the length of the army. Men shuffled toward and away from it as different rows of archers lit their arrows. Lights on the ships far away lit as fire barrels were set blaze for naval archers to light their arrows with.

  Theto calmed, and he suddenly wanted a fight. Most of the army was between him and the enemy. Ah, The Divinity.

  The creatures didn’t march in lockstep. Their collective feet sounded like the moving of a massive horde. Theto unsheathed his swords, just in case they broke through or if he could somehow get to the front of the action.

  “Loose!”

  “Loose!”

  Down the line the order went and flaming arrows soared over Theto’s head. Before the projectiles even hit, the trogs and big palberos screamed and moaned in pain. In the arrow’s light, Theto could see the palberos covering their eyes and contorting in agony. Then, the repe
ated and collective sound of arrows piercing skin sounded from the enemy followed by their bodies collapsing to the ground. The ships fired their arrows. Most failed to reach the enemy, but the light of their fire did.

  Archers relit their arrows and fired again before the foes could march or retreat.

  They have nowhere to retreat to.

  The strange creatures screamed at the pain in their eyes and the pain of arrows piercing into them. They stopped coming forward and just stood bellowing and dying.

  Theto watched in amazement as the disciplined Hyzantrians loosed again and again until there was nothing left of the evil army except scattered shaking creatures surrounded by corpses. Archers moved to the front of the line and shot directly at these to finish them off.

  The invasion force had been destroyed.

  #

  Tyzonio stood on his spire’s balcony with his hands up. Maintaining the sun blockage required focus, but not the strain to get the rock there in the first place. He imagined the scared tools of tyrants shaking in their armor as creatures of the night attacked them in their surprise.

  A pang of guilt went off in his mind. Tyzonio didn’t like the need to kill soldiers. They were nothing but pawns of the wealthy oppressors. But the peasants couldn’t see what was best for them and revolt, so war was needed. He nodded his head. Regrettable, but necessary.

  Between the bats randomly flying around his spire, a few flew straight from the ocean.

  Tyzonio lit up, expecting news of victory.

  They flew around his head, one screeching in his ear as he listened.

  “But that was every troglodyte I could find.”

  The bat screeched more.

  “I know, but…”

  The darkness he created over Hyzantria seems to fall over himself. The depression of failure dragged his mind into a deep abyss. Freedom has lost this day. He knew he had mined much estra for his allies, but he had no idea if it was enough. He didn’t think they knew how much they needed, and it wasn’t clear to Tyzonio that their plans would even work. We would have mined a lot more estra if the peasants wised up and joined me!

  He cautiously brought the massive rock back down into the ocean, careful not to create huge waves. His days of destroying were over. He was a fool. If only he had created armor and shields for his minions, then arrows wouldn’t be so damaging. If only he devised a way to shield their eyes from light. If only his initial blitz on the capital had succeeded. Maybe he should have waded into some of the key battles himself…

  No, not worth the risk.

  He sighed.

  He normally ate this time of night, but he wasn’t hungry. Maybe I’ll just lay down for a while.

  Something flashed on the ground. Tyzonio stared down from his tower balcony. There stood the three wizards that visited before. They used their magic teleportation device. They don’t use that often; they must have good news!

  Tyzonio leapt off the balcony, then let himself fall freely, his cape flapping behind him. As the ground neared his feet, he blasted air below him. It slowed him, leading to a nice landing in front of his guests.

  He smiled. “Why hello! Have my minions brought you enough estra for your final transformations?”

  The veiled woman looked at the old man with her green eyes. So did the heavyset man with thinning black hair.

  The elder put his hands together in front of himself and showed a creepy partial smile. “Yes, we can transform more than long enough to take Hyzantria. Maybe even the world. Better yet, we can use our transformations to gather the keys, which have all suddenly been refound.”

  Hope sparkled through Tyzonio. He clapped his hands. “Grand! Grand, grand!” He hugged the old man who resisted feebly. Tyzonio pulled away from him, smiling at all three of his visitors. “I so feared that our grand plans had failed because of my unexpectedly brief invasion, but you are great allies and have pulled through.”

  He mentally called over several bats. “Go get a copy of my plans for universal education, welfare for the poor, workfare for the jobless, moral education., and granting ownership of the lands to the peasants.”

  The bats flew off into the tower.

  He spun in a circle. “I’m open to adjustments, but I’ve put a lot of thought into these ideas. We should start implementing them right away. Finally, the world can be one community and all can live in equality. Imagine…no peasants working in poverty…no nobles lording over them. Just people, working as a community. Sure, some will succeed more than others, but all will have the opportunity to succeed, and the respect to be treated as equals.”

  The old man put his hands in front of him again. “No. We want to create a superior society for superior beings…the high beings. We will become them. Our goal is not transformation, but ascension.”

  “What?” Tyzonio didn’t know what to think. He couldn’t tell if the old wizard was serious or if Tyzonio heard him wrong. Maybe he has gone senile? The other two didn’t seem confused.

  Putting his hands out to his sides, Tyzonio said, “Well surely we can improve upon the current condition, maybe evolve toward something like justice.”

  The man gave a partial, creepy smile again. He started glowing green. “Power is justice.”

  All three of them glowed, then shook violently before their bodies popped in different directions and their skin changed darker, greener, and with bulging veins.

  Tyzonio jerked his hands forward and sent a blast of air into all three of them. They tumbled away violently off the ground, but they kept transforming, growing larger than buildings in seconds.

  “Ahhhh!”

  He shot air to launch himself far away. He flew for a second, beginning an arc that would take him over the sea, but something wrapped around his leg and jerked him toward the creatures before snapping him to a halt. He hung upside-down.

  They stood now, still growing more hideous with spikes and tentacles growing from their veiny brownish green bodies.

  Tyzonio stared in amazement, his jaw hanging open. A pointy tentacle flashed toward him. It pierced into his chest and through his heart, then flashed back to the creature.

  Who Tyzonio thought was the younger man said, “Heh ha. I thought it’d be a little harder. This power is amazing!”

  The tentacle let go of Tyzonio and he dropped toward the ground. He managed to blow a little air to give him a soft landing, but it didn’t matter. Blood gushed out of his chest and death took him.

  Ch. 68

  In casual clothes, but still wearing an assortment of daggers, Parto walked through the small village not too far from the capital. The letter didn’t say where within the village to meet, so he strolled through the main cobbled street. The village consisted of a collection of peasant homes that, unlike the homes of the nobles, weren’t used for living, but just sleeping. By The Authority’s Divinity given grace, a covered shrine to The Divinity stood in the center of the village, where a few young women stared at Parto.

  Their gazes made breathing harder and forced him to sweat ever so slightly. On a real mission for The Divinity, he never got nervous, but…Come on, Parto, pay them no attention. You’re here for a much greater womanly prize.

  While one end of the village led to fields of wheat, the other gave a view of a few rolling green hills. Beautiful. Something in him urged him to walk up one, so he did. At the top, he saw her standing behind the hill, looking up at him.

  He smiled at her cute beauty. “What if I never came up the hill?”

  “Then we wouldn’t meet.”

  “But your letter—”

  “Said it was important. I know. And it is. Come down here, Parto.”

  He approached her.

  Her smile had already been replaced by a serious expression. “I’m sorry, but I have little time.” She put a few fingers gently on his cheek.

  Oh, how he loved when she touched him.

  “Parto, I love you, but there are things you don’t understand. I need you to meet me again, here.”
r />   She handed him an enclosed letter, he took it, confused.

  He looked up from it to see her walking away.

  “Wait. Why even meet here? Who were those people? Are you with them? We have to stop them. You love me?” I love you…

  He stared at the back of her head, her light brown hair bouncing slightly as she strode away.

  He muttered to himself. “She makes me feel like a fool.”

  #

  Theto rode on the road surrounded by corn on each side, looking for the purple barn. He still didn’t understand why anyone would paint a barn purple, but if that’s what pleased the owners…

  Finally, he saw the barn, just a little off from the road in a break of the endless corn fields. He approached, then dismounted in front of it. I have to be late. Where is she?

  He left the horse in front of the barn and walked around it. There she stood. Her sight brought him more joy than anything in any corner of Hyzantria. The green eyes she looked at him with were like emeralds worth more than all the magic in the world. And her smile that she greeted him with was incomparable to all other things of beauty.

  He approached her. “It has been too long.”

  She nodded. “It has.”

  They embraced. Her thin, yet strong arms hugged him softly. He wanted to do much more than hug.

  She pointed at him. “I’ve been following your progress. You’re powerful.”

  “Heh, I am, but I might not even be alive if not for your shield.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Heh, thanks.”

  Her sparkling eyes and smile disappeared, replaced by seriousness. “Theto.” She held a few of his fingers with her hand. “I love you, but there are things that you don’t understand.”