Impure: Godslayers

Singe squealed and pointed over the fort wall, causing Lee to shush him loudly. As the red monkey landed on Lee, Osy looked at them and shook his head with condescension.

“Are you two quite finished… are we clear?” Osy asked.

“Yes,”

As Lee retorted, he covered Singe’s face, for the monkey stuck its tongue out at Osy and made a noisy remark. Osy nodded to George, who slowly opened the fort gate and led the way to the edge of the hill.

“Why is he going this way? His foundry is in the fort,” Lee inquired.

“The foundry that we know of… do not step on the glass we may alert him to our presence,” Osy replied as he pointed at the trail of broken glass.

“Quiet – look! He is going into my cave,” George said with a harsh and hushed tone.

They all peered over the hill, to see Norton leading Lasters down the second flight of stairs and into the cave. Proceeding with caution, they all crept down the stairs until they were at the bottom of the hill. They leaned against the side of the cave-mouth and George put a finger to his lips.

“It is too quiet,” George said suspiciously.

“Is he still there?” Lee whispered.

George peeked into the cave for an instant but quickly ducked his head back around the corner.

“Well?” Osy asked.

“It is empty?” George said.

“What?” Lee and Osy said in unison.

“I am telling you the cave is empty,”

Singe hopped off Lee’s shoulder and ran into the cave.

“No Singe!” Lee yelled.

“Damned creature,” George cursed.

They all raced after Singe, only to find the cave was indeed empty.

“See - I told you it was empty,” George said indignantly.

Yet the triumphant smile soon disappeared from his face, when it dawned on him that Norton must have had a secret door.

“It is in the mirror,” George said.

George raised an eyebrow as Lee and Osy looked at him quizzically.

“The door that he went through, it is the mirror. That is the only thing here that is out of place,” George said aggressively.

“Yes and Lasters seemed to come out of the mirror in the tent, remember?” Lee pointed out excitedly.

George walked towards the mirror and raised his fists, only to be stopped by Osy.

“I am sure we can do this without alerting him of our presence. Let me turn ethereal, it may be easier to open on the other side, if there is indeed a secret door,” Osy said.

“Please, oh great wraith,” George said sarcastically as he stepped back.

Osy inhaled sharply and almost immediately, his body became translucent. It was more than a purely visual transformation, for the density of his body had also changed. It was as though he was made of dense mist. However, his face was even greater cause for concern. This was because it had taken on a ghoulish, skeletal appearance. Any reasonable person witnessing this transformation for the first time would have been beleaguered with nightmares, but Lee and George blinked at him apathetically. With ease, Osy walked straight through the mirror, only to find himself in a circular torch lit tunnel. As his body became solid and opaque, Osy swallowed air greedily, as though he had been holding his breath all this while. He had just noticed that the tunnel was sloping and winding, for he could see a bright light shining on the walls, before a smashing sound filled his ears. He turned round to find the mirror had been smashed to pieces, and everybody was walking in through the gap in the wall.

“What … you could not wait for a moment?” Osy hissed.

“Look I already had a headache from moving the ground earlier today. I do not have time for you to operate some secret door which, until mere seconds ago, you did not know existed,” George retorted.

Osy shook his head as George pushed past him.

“Sorry Osy I am with him,”

As soon as the words left Lee’s mouth, Singe jumped off him and onto Osy’s shoulder.

“Oh come on boy, George’s not all bad,” Lee begged.

However, Singe squealed abrasively at him. In response, Lee waved a hand dismissively and walked away. Osy smiled and tickled Singe affectionately as he followed them down the tunnel. As they delved deeper down the sloping tunnel, it led to a large brightly lit hall with a very high ceiling. The hall was divided in such a way that there was a narrow, stone-tiled, elevated path leading from the tunnel towards the centre of the room and into a corridor at the opposite end of the hall. The path split the hall into two semi-circular areas. The first thing the demi-gods noticed was the stone statues that were sprawled about in these areas. The statues were very detailed from the carving of their brows to the sculpting of their chest plates. Each statue held a spear or a sword which was made of iron. Singe leapt off Osy and ran towards the statues, but when he was close enough to appreciate how many they were, he squealed in fear and hopped back on Osy.

“Well their weapons are real,” Lee commented.

“Nobody touch anything. These must be Norton’s works, we do not want to leave any signs that we were ever here,” Osy said.

“What…who is that,”

Everyone turned towards the centre of the hall where George was pointing. There was a circular altar made of stone, covered with a bed of flowers. A frail man lay sleeping on it. The boys ran to the altar.

“Oh it’s Borr,” George said.

“Woow I have not seen him since I was … for a long time,” Lee said in astonishment.

“Five years… has he been down here all this time?” Osy asked.

“Is he sleeping? Who sleeps at this time? Why is his skin glowing,” Lee asked.

Osy took a closer look at Borr, only to find out that his skin had a slight shimmer, like the scales of a fish in the sunlight.

“Do not touch him,” Osy said.

He walked round the altar, looking at Borr’s sunken cheeks and the delicate motion of his heaving chest. Although they were brothers, the skinny man did not resemble Norton at all. He had fair skin and short blonde hair, with low cheek bones.

“What are these?” George asked.

Next to the altar were three stands, on which three extravagantly designed weapons were mounted. So alluring were the designs of the weapons that the boys could not help but be drawn to them. Although they were all blades, the design of each weapon could not be more different from the other. They even seemed to be made of different metals.

“We should not touch anything…” Osy said.

Even as he spoke his hand was reaching out to touch the hilt of one of the weapons.

“Yes Norton must have gone through that corridor it is the only way out of here,” George retorted.

Despite his words, George did not move. He too seemed spellbound by the sight of these outlandish weapons. Suddenly Singe squealed as he jumped back on Lee’s shoulder. This seemed to awaken the boys from their mesmerised state.

“Let us leave this place,” Lee said as he blinked repeatedly in disorientation.

They all nodded in agreement and headed towards the corridor at the other end of the hall. The corridor was small and it was not long before they found themselves in another room.

“Shhh.. get down,” George said.

Although it was large, this room was significantly smaller than the hall. There was a table at the far corner of the room, where Lasters was laid conversing with Norton, who was rummaging around in search of something. Luckily, the room was rather cluttered with various tools, huge chunks of stones and crystals so the demi-gods could peer through the doorway unseen.

Although he was covered in snow, the Captain’s shoulders quaked and his knees buckled not from the chill of the icy wind, but from fear. Accompanied by three soldiers, he headed up the gangplank.

The many voices of Shadro broke through the air as soon as the Captain stepped on deck.

“Did you find them?”

“No my god. Forgive me but… I think this is a lost cause. My men are too scantily clad and the snowfall is too heavy. I have lost a third of them to the cold and the other third are simply lost in the tundra. We have searched most of the day and nothing but ice and silence reside here. Nothing can survive here; the glass man is no longer-”

Suddenly, the Captain’s shadow sprung to life and peeled itself off the ground. The Captain let out a horrified whimper as his shadow stood in front of him, as real as the air he was gasping. In one sweeping motion, the pitch black being broke the Captain’s neck and slumped back down to the ground to form the shadow of his corpse.

“You are the Captain now, I trust you will perform better,” the Priest said, pointing at a soldier.

The soldier nodded and approached Shadro, leaving his two comrades behind.

“We were placed under his command by our King, can he promote any of us?” the first soldier said.

“Silence - he is a god,” the second retorted.

Both soldiers ceased their muttering instantly and stood in attention as their new Captain approached them.

“Gather the rest of the men, we are to return,”

“Their influence grows and more mortals flock to serve them. The powers of the demi-gods are still growing, they are at their prime. Your father especially… he saw me. I managed to distract him, but-”

“It is alright old frien-”

Lasters reached out and grabbed Norton’s hand aggressively.

“It is not alright. I was terribly damaged. Mortals managed to chase me here by sea, they must have called him here by now. All is lost, the children are not ready,” Lasters growled.

Norton carefully pulled Lasters’ hand off him and placed it back on the table.

“All is well. Borr has kept us secreted for thirty-one years. And he shall do so till we are ready,”

“But your father-”

“Enough Lasters, now lay still,”

Osy silent tapped George, who was crouched in front of him.

“Who do you think his father is?” Osy whispered.

“I do not know Osy; I have been stuck here, with you, all my life. I know what you know,” George hissed.

He looked at Osy and then behind him.

“Where is Lee?”

“I thought he wa- oh no,” Osy said regretfully.

Meanwhile, Lee shushed Singe as he leaned closer to Borr with his flaming index finger.

“What! I just want to see if I can wake him up,”

Singe screamed again.

“No its not a bad idea,” Lee retorted.

HISs finger was merely an inch away from Borr’s hand, when he looked back at Singe and swallowed nervously.

“Lee!”

The shout caused Singe to scream abruptly and Lee jerked involuntarily in shock, running his hand across the altar. He turned to find George and Osy running towards him.

“I just wanted to,”

“Lee!” George and Osy exclaimed.

Realising that they were looking behind him, Lee turned around only to find a steady trail of fire spreading across the altar to Borr’s robes. Suddenly, Borr’s eyes snapped open. He yelled as he rolled off the altar and slapped the bottom of his robes till the flames were extinguished. Borr stood up and attempted to douse the flames on the altar, but they proved too strong. Osy and Lee ran forward to help fight the flames.

“Ahh boys, look!” George shouted.

Although he was ignored, George was unconcerned. Awestruck he gazed at the ceiling as its circular section rapidly became translucent. George recognised the shape of the fountain through the ceiling; that was until it faded altogether. A chilling wind blew through the large hole which had appeared on the ceiling. George gasped as a deluge of snowflakes fell through the hole.

As soon as the last of the flames had been extinguished, Lee turned to Borr.

“For…forgive me but,” Lee stuttered

“Silence,” Borr said.

He cocked his head to the side and winced intensely, as though he had a spiking migraine.

“Perhaps you do not remember me, I am -” Lee said.

“Shut up Lee,” Borr snapped.

He winced for a moment longer and then suddenly a faint light flickered around his body. Osy and Lee looked at each other in bewilderment as Borr’s body began to shimmer once more. Incidentally, George was smiling up at the hole, when it suddenly disappeared and he found himself looking at the grimy ceiling. Even the snowflakes that had collected on his open palms had disappeared, leaving him with dry hands and no evidence of what he had just experienced.

“What have you done?” George exclaimed.

Spurred by the oars crashing on the still sea, the ship made its way swiftly away from the shore. As the sail was hoisted, the priest was conversing with Shadro.

“The late Captain was right. Our culprit led us here so we would lose his trail. This land is merely north of the eastern mainland, there is no way my brother would fail to sense their presence,”

“How could that be? You said you sensed some demi-gods,” the priest asked.

“I must have been mistaken,” Shadro said.

Shadro waved a hand over the deck and the shadow of the mast immediately writhed and jerked. The shadow expanded and formed a swirling black puddle.

“My god, look!”

With one foot dipped in the shadow, Shadro turned round to see what the clamour was about. The new Captain pointed towards the shore, where Shadro caught a glimpse of a forest and a fort, before the sight vanished before their eyes in a flash of light.

“They hide with an illusion… but it is too late” the priest uttered.

He smiled manically as Shadro levitated off the deck and flew at breakneck speed, back towards land. He was so powerful that the boat shook unsteadily at his ascent. Whizzing past the shore, Shadro hurtled towards the part of the tundra where he had seen the fort. There was an air-ripping blast as Shadro collided with an invisible wall.

Meanwhile Borr assailed the three boys.

“Never in thirty years has my illusory shield being demolished, thirty years of absolute focus broken by-”

Suddenly Borr fell to his knees and screamed loudly, as the light around his body completely vanished. Simultaneously, miles above them, Shadro rebounded off the invisible barrier. Regaining control of his spinning body, Shadro levitated in the air with his arms crossed. With a wide smile, he watched as the air in front of him expanded and vibrated. Subsequently a small forest was revealed with a wooden fort on a grassy hill in the middle.

When Borr had finally stopped screaming, he began to pant heavily. Lee and Osy approached him cautiously. George however was looking up at the hole in the ceiling, which had just reappeared.

“Borr…are you alright?” Osy called out.

The bald man slowly raised his head up before answering.

“Get to Norton now,”

The boys all looked at each other hesitantly.

“Now!”

On Borr’s scold. The boys and monkey all hurried towards the room at the other end of the hall.

Meanwhile Borr looked up at the hole in the ceiling.

“We are undone,” he said, his voice trembling with fear.