Tales Of Earthem: P.O.T.S

Verse 13: Symbol of the Golden Four Winged Bird & the Fallen Jade Warrior

The 3 kids strolled into the heart of the town, Jyro had never been on this particular side of town so he was quite intrigued by the various towering buildings and heights, “ don’t you think these buildings are really huge guys” Jyro pondered “ if you think these buildings are high wait till you see the Royal Kingdom” said Tristine , “ yeah I heard the castles walls are made from refined white stones and tower as high as the clouds” Johnny added, “speaking of the royal kingdom, how far is it exactly from where we are” asked Jyro, “ that’s a good question actually its about 20 miles away from the town ,west from here” Tristine stated. They finally arrived at the building and the first thing that caught Jyros eyes was a huge golden four winged eagle crest on the front of the building, the gold crest glimmered in the spotlight and did so especially when the sun’s rays lit against it. Under the crest lay words written in italics but in a language Jyro didn’t understand ‘Reginae Regali Bureau’ it said.

They proceeded inside into the building where they suddenly ended up inside a tunnel, whilst Tristine led the way the two boys frantically looked around them puzzled about where they had ended up. By the time they made it to the end of the tunnel two brass brown doors sat in front of them, there was no knob so it seemed that the door opened from the other side! Bang Bang Bang! The sounds of Tristines bashing on the doors were heard, after a brief pause of silence the small compartment at the top opened with a pair of eyes peering through. The kids gasped back in shock and slowly greeted the eyes watching down on them, “hello there errrr sir or madam but were here on special school research do you mind if we come in? Asked Tristine nervously whilst the other two cowered behind her, “……. Let me see it” a deep voice spoke “huh see what sorry” Tristine questioned “the symbol….. The symbol of approval from the Queen show it to me” the 3 of them stared blankly at one another they didn’t have an ounce of idea of what the seal was,” well I don’t think we have a seal but if you just open up will explain to you that were…” Bang! The latch slammed shut. “Well that was rude” exclaimed the young girl “what did ‘it’ mean by the seal of approval “ Jyro questioned “ who knows and who cares Jyro honestly I told you guys this is like suicide how in the world to you expect us to get in there, oh oh wait because we attend the Canta academy right yeah cause that worked a peach didn’t it” Johnny angrily spoke, Just as Johnny finished his rant the sounds of the door unlocking was heard, the brass wooden doors creaked open and the kids slowly walked inside, and looked upwards to the sight of a very tall women with dark short hair dressed in all black, she was so tall that the length of her legs was taller than the kids. “ my word how tall is he” gasped Johnny whilst they slowly approached the tall figure “ I heard you speak the name of Canta Academy and judging by your uniform you wasn’t lying, the tall women bent down and moved her face towards them the kids rose backwards in fear” aha there it is.. The symbol of the queen” the lady said as she pointed towards the small crest on the kids uniforms it was the same symbol that Jyro saw on the face of the building, “now then you may enter children of Canta but I warn you this is a sacred place and any intolerance will not be forgiven” she said whilst the kids quickly nodded their heads in approval before steadily walking past her.

The place had a very grand feel to it, there was countless statue busts of famous people all around them, and the ceiling was made out of glass so you could see the blue sky above and the sun that gleamed through. There was two floors with one huge stone stair case that connected the two, the kids hadn’t seen anything like it as they walked around and marvelled at the artefacts around them, each object was placed inside a glassed box it felt and looked like museum whereas the floor above was filled with 100’s of books. “Ok guys I’m going to have a look upstairs and see if I can find the manuscript up there, by the looks of it this place is un-surprisingly lightly guarded so just act normal and pretend you’re looking at the artefacts alright” Tristine then went away to the second floor to search for the script whilst Jyro and Johnny toured around the first floor. Jyro found himself gazing at the numerous paintings that hung on the wall, one in particular caught his eye, and it was of a man dressed in fine gold armour with a long purple cape that draped along the floor, the man had finely cut cheekbones and with hazel eyes Jyro almost mistaken him for a women at first, and when he looked closely at the bottom it read “King Mars” in fine italics. Jyro stood and watched the painting for a little while he noticed it bore resemblance to one of the statues located on the entrance of the academy, “Jyro come here look at this, it’s the dagger of St Peter I heard it’s steel can never rust or be shattered, cor blimey who woulda thought it ay” said Johnny in excitement, Johnny took out a small camera and begun taking pictures, although when the tall Lady noticed this she immediately let her ill feelings about it be known to him.

The two boys continued wondering around the lower floor when Jyro began wondering how long it had been since he heard anything from Tristine,” oi Johnny we haven’t heard anything from Trish you think she’s ok” he asked,” ah best to leave her to it mate she’s probably just found a rare book or something she’s into shell call us when she’s found something” replied Johnny hastily in eager to get back to his picture taking, but Jyro couldn’t let it go for some reason so he grabbed Johnnys arm and dragged him up the stone steps to the second floor. The two boys entered the floor which was literally a maze of books that towered around them,”woahh , and I thought our library was big” blurted Jonny “ its defo got to take the cleaner weeks to clean these shelves” whilst Johnny rambled on Jyro begun to grow a bit more concerned, “Tristine! You there, Trishh! Answer me” the boy shouted to the reply of nothing , Jyro hastily started jogging along the isles weaving in and out searching for his friend but every isle looked the same, “ Johnny don’t you find it weird? Where the only people in here” asked Jyro but the boy heard no reply, he then turned around and realised Johnny had disappeared as well. Jyros theory had been confirmed and something strange was happening, he immediately turned around and sprinted through the isle trying to remember the path he came through. As soon as he turned the corner he was impeded by a force and fell backwards, “ ah and what might you be doing running around MR Thomas” said the tall lady who towered over the boy, Jyro got up and immediately dashed away from the lady. Jyros efforts to run were futile as she immediately swept the boy of his feet with her long scrawny legs sending him rolling onto the floor, “Now- Now we can’t have you getting away now” she said whilst Jyro slowly shifted backwards he looked to the side and saw through the space between the books Johnny’s lifeless body being dragged away. A nerve suddenly twitched in Jyros head, he then pointed his weapon towards the lady and screamed “ Fuliminus Pulsus”!zzzzappp BANG! , an electrical shockwave pulsed towards the lady sending her crashing into the towering book shelves , whilst the books begun tumbling down onto the lady Jyro quickly got up and raced towards the men dragging Johnny away. A small sized hole opened on the side of the floor and the men and Johnny jumped inside, Jyro raced with all his might as the hole begun slowly closing in, !CRASH! the boy turned around to see the giant sized lady on all fours chasing him with fury in her eyes “ I’m going to Rip your little legs off” she squealed whilst Jyro quickly moved faster, just before she was about to grab him he jumped into the closing gap on the floor and escaped her grasp.

Jyro swirled down a compact sized slide before eventually falling out onto the earth, whilst he lay on the ground he picked a piece of the dirt below him up and realised it was soft ground, Jyro got up and looked at his surroundings, the walls were damp and old with burning candles being the only light source. The place resembled a dungeon. Jyro slowly followed the tracks in the mud that were left behind by the shady figures that carried Johnny , whilst he walked on he met various rusty gates that were left open, he walked past the fifth gate and the candles stopped appearing. Whilst the boy walked through the dark path his surroundings felt nostalgic to him, like when he first met Jack. Up ahead of him he saw a white light signalling the end of the tunnel, that’s probably where his friends were taken he thought so the young boy clenched his two fists and stormed into the white light. The light was so bright that it dazed his sight for a few seconds and when the pitch finally faded Jyro found himself in an unknown place. The room was spacious and throughout the walls and ceilings there was countless holes and Jyro could vaguely make out animal noises coming from them, vines drooped down from the ceilings with partial areas of greenery around him, as Jyro continued walked forwards a long stream of water was on each side of him, the room resembled a miniature rainforest. When Jyro snapped back into reality he looked ahead of him and saw a large tree that stood in the middle of the room, perched on the front of the tree was a small throne, he squinted his eyes and looked closely he was sure that a man was sleeping on the throne. He began walking forward towards the tree as the floor beneath changed from soft ground into hard concrete in a matter of steps, “ JYRO, HELP ME IM UP HERE” a sudden voice screamed out to Jyro and as he looked up he found his two friends bound with vines while being suspended in the air, “ J…J…Johnny how in heavens did you get up there” he asked , “MONKEYS JYRO THEIR FLIPPING MONKEYS YOU NEED TO GET US OUT OF HERE QUICK” Johnny bellowed , “is Tristine alright she’s not moving” Jyro exclaimed .In a sudden flash Jyros body became numb, sweat begun to form on his face and a terrible feeling formed inside him, he looked towards the big tree and felt eyes gazing upon him, eyes that gazed off death. He heard a loud yawn followed by mummers coming from the holes, he walked closer towards the tree where he saw everything clearly, there indeed was a man sleeping on the throne, he was dressed in Jade Green garments that looked too big for him, his hair was blonde with a long ponytail that lay on his thigh with a ribbon attached to it, he had no shoes on but only bangles around his ankles and wrists. The man slowly opened his eyes and looked at Jyro, “ you took your time little one, I was almost about to kill your friend up there for making so much noise” spoke the man, Jyros heart suddenly skipped a beat as he tried his best to hold his ground “hahaha I’m only playing…GAURDIANS! Where are you two” the man clapped his hands and out from behind the tree two creature like things came scurrying to his call. One of the creatures had the body and head of a rat it was dressed in small armour and wore a mask over its head and stood about 3 ft tall, the other creature was a rabbit it was just as tall as the rat but was clothed in a kimono with wooden sandals holding some scrolls, Jyro was suddenly reminded of Oviz the small goat that followed Jack. “Sire, yes sire you called” they both said simultaneously ,then both turned and looked towards Jyro who was stunned and a bit scared at the sight of them, “the visitor I see “said the rat “oh the visitor is here” responded the Rabbit. “Who are you people and why did you take my friends away” Jyro asked, the man on the throne suddenly begun to laugh hysterically “in some cultures it’s a custom to tell your name to the person who’s about to kill you” the same said, the man’s face suddenly turned as he slowly made his way down from the throne. Jyro then felt the air go thin he could hear his heart beating and slowly backed away, it was the same feeling he got when he first met Jack as the man opened up his arms his robe opened slightly showing his chest, Jyro looked closely and saw a medallion hanging from the man’s neck the symbol was the same as the one on his uniform, “shall we play a little game then little boy” the man said closing in on Jyro. One of the two creatures suddenly tugged at his Jade robe, the man stopped and scowled down at him “ erm sorry to touch you sire but judging by this boys uniform and of those two up there I think they’re from the City Academy” the rabbit said , “ and you’re sure about this” ? He asked, the rabbit nodded his head in confirmation. The man glanced at Jyro then proceeded back to his throne mumbling to himself, “ aaah and I was almost going to kill him mmmm what a drag now I’m bored again what’s this guy’s name again?.... ah yeah Jyro Thomas was it, seeing as you’re only school kids I’m willing to be kind and let you go but seeing as you tried to steal something from me it’s only fair that I punish you for it” the man said , Jyro pondered for a few moments before he replied, “I won’t let you hurt my friends” he declared “ no regards for your own life huh well I’ll accept your passion and respond back”. The man got up and fished around his robe, he brought out a stone which was coloured with two colours black on one side and white on the other” pick a colour black or white if you guess right I’ll let one of your friends go” the man then tossed the stone into the air, Jyro stared at the stone that flew loosely before falling into the man’s palms “Black” Jyro said, the man’s palms opened and the black side was facing up. “Nice nice nice now choose who do you want, the pretty blue girl or the squealing four eyes” the man asked, Jyro didn’t know who to choose and thought about who would be more of a help right now “the loud one please” said the boy, the man then whistled and the vine that was constraining Johnny slowly loosened and let him down.

“Aaaaaaah…….oooofh” wailed Johnny as he hit the ground, he quickly ran towards Jyro and cowered behind him “Jyro we need to get Tristine then get out of here these guys are crazy….. And what in god’s name are those two things standing over there” he said referring to the talking rodents. “You may go now I’m bored and it’s looking like I might sleep again” the man said, “what about my other friend “asked Jyro keenly, “ ahh the game was for one of them she’ll stay her with us and pay for your crimes”, “I can’t allow that to happen” responded Jyro who glared furiously at the man “ha ha ha no no you can’t look at me like that, I might get excited and accidently kill you” he said, but Jyros heart didn’t waver he held his ground and stared fiercely at the man. “Jyro seriously we need to think of a plan I can tell just by looking at him this guy isn’t normal” whilst Johnny tried his best to stop Jyro from doing something rash the man got off his seat and approached the two, “how about this little boy let’s have a sparring match if you land one blow on me your friend lives and for you….well you simply just have to stay alive he he” said the man whilst grinning menacingly. Jyro took a deep breath then looked towards Johnny ,“Johnny I’m going to need you to stand back for me” Johnny was lost for words at Jyros agreement to fight the man but he then slowly realised it was the only way, “be careful Jyro” spoke Johnny. Jyro stood in front of the man and gripped onto his Zooz stick, the man grinned then raised his two hands and spoke “Legiones …Orior”, the stream of water on each side of Jyro began to react oddly, and small spurts of water shot up onto the land, the water spurts slowly rose into dozens of water soldiers that surrounded Jyro , he looked around himself in panic surprised at what was going on, “ you’ve got to be kidding me… he has an elemental brand” Johnny nervously voiced. After a few moments of Jyro staring in panic he took hold of the Zooz stick and charged at the soldiers, “ Fulminis Pulsus” he declared again and again blowing the watered soldiers into small droplets they once were, the soldiers attacked the boy throwing slow punches and attempting to grab hold of him, but Jyro was too quick and evaded every attack that came his way, “ Go ON Jy show them what your made of” Johnny hollered, but as time went on and the fight continued Jyro and Johnny came to a shocking realisation, that the soldiers weren’t dying. Once they blew up into droplets they eventually formed back up into soldiers again, Jyros breathing was heavy and he panted from tiredness, meanwhile the man was simply yawning and fidgeting with his clothes whilst he watched the spectacle, Jyro realised he wasn’t making any progress and needed to end this very soon, he glanced down at his weapon and noticed smelt burning with a feint rust forming in the sceptre. The soldiers closed in on him once again Jyro lifted his weapon above and spoke “Ignis flamma”, the lightning from his weapon started to form electrical links that simultaneously connected to each solider, Jyro gripped his weapon tight then flared it towards the sky with a huge shout the dozens of soldiers all dispersed instantly and a light shower of rain dropped down. “ Nice that’s pretty impressive you can use lightning I see… it’s a shame you” just before he could finish his sentence Jyro had already closed in on him and threw a punch towards his face, as boys fist slowly came towards him the man smiled to himself and Jyros fist hit nothing but water. Jyro looked around frantically for the man who dispersed into liquid but there was no sign of him, “by the laws of the land you hold the advantage over me little puppy, but where you lack is where I excel” spoke a voice, Jyro glanced down at his fists and noticed a bubble of water was gathered around it, the water suddenly rushed towards his face and covered his whole head suffocating him. He tried to stretch and pull the water from his face but it didn’t work , Jyro continued to gargle and choke and couldn’t think of a way out so he took a hold of his weapon and aimed it towards his face, “ I wouldn’t attempt such a thing now little puppy water and lightning don’t get along too well” the voice from the water spoke, Jyro was all out of options and as his conscious faded the boy glanced over towards his friend , who stood there looking helpless and terrified and as Jyro fell his head hit the ground with a loud thump “What in the world” exclaimed Johnny, the water rose up and turned into the man in the Jade clothes, and he quickly rushed towards Jyro and stood above him, “mmm what are you” he questioned, but what he didn’t know was that Jyros was already unconscious.. The man paused for few moments as he stared at the boys lifeless body which lay there, he slowly approached him and stood over his body, as he slowly reached out his hand to touch the boy he felt hard rocks hitting him across the back of his head, “ don’t you dare touch him” Johnny yelped as he shook in fear whilst holding a few stones, the man glanced towards and slowly walked forwards, “ I was going to do you a favour and kill this boy, he’s obviously not human so why do you interfere” he questioned with a pale look on his face. Johnny was out of options as he slowly watched the man close in on him, he took hold of his stones and continued throwing them at him, the man effortlessly swayed from left to right dodging them as he continues pressing forwards to the boy. The man stood in front of the frightened boy and gazed into his eyes with a look of blood lust, “Oi why don’t you try take us all at once… you bully” a voice called out, Johnny and the man turned around and saw Tristine standing on the branch of the withered tree with an arrow aimed towards them. The man slowly observed the situation, “so you escaped then little miss… that’s quite surprising” said the man, “Johnny are you alright?” Tristine called out, “yeah I’m fine but Jyro hasn’t moved an inch” he answered, meanwhile whilst Jyro lay face down on the earth small red sparks begun to flicker around his hands. “What do you plan on doing then little miss, do you think your arrows will hurt me” the man questioned, but Tristine already knew this fact and held her ground hesitantly thinking up a plan. The man sighed to himself then turned to Johnny gripped him from his neck and raised him up, the boy wheezed in panic as his feet left the ground, “ put him down now!... I’m warning you I’ll shoot” Tristine yelped, but the man didn’t react at all in fact he squeezed the boys neck harder, “please! Stop it” she tearfully hollered. Jyros lifeless body slowly picked itself up, the man immediately dropped Johnny and gazed in wonder at the rising youth, just before the man could even utter a word Jyro pointed his Zooz towards him and a red bolt of lightning jolted the man into the air and sent him into the stream of water, Tristine and Johnny looked on in amazement “Jyro… thank gosh you’re ok mate, I thought you was a goner” said Johnny nervously, but Jyro didn’t respond and moments later he collapsed once more.

Whilst Jyro slept peacefully he felt small pebbles hitting his head, “Oi Kid listen up” said Jack, who was sitting atop of a hill whilst reading a book, “do you remember the names of all the places I’ve taken you to this year?” he asked, “err hold on a sec…. yeah I remember them why?” questioned Jyro, “you’ll understand one day but I will tell you this never forget anything… I mean it always remember everything you’ve seen”, Jyro looked awkwardly at Jack, “master have you been drinking again?” He questioned, Jack responded with erratic laughter then got back to the book he was reading, Jyros vision faded and so did the dream.

Jyro eyes slowly awoke to the sounds of his name being called out repeatedly. He finally opened his eyes and saw Tristine and Johnny smiling frantically at him, “ thank gosh your finally awake” said Tristine in relief, the young girl quickly embraced the boy , “ Thank you” she whispered tearfully, “ahem sorry to interrupt your reunion but I’m feeling rather tired so can please remove yourself from this place now ” said the man on the throne. Jyro tiredly lifted his body from the ground and felt a slight pain coming from his head, “that was quite a fall you took Jyro I suggest you put something cold on that” suggested the man, “sir...But how did you know my name if you don’t mind me asking” asked Jyro, “huh? Oh yeah you was sleeping when I brought it out earlier have a look at this” the man clapped his hand and immediately the talking rabbit waltzed towards Jyro and handed him a note, Jyro opened the note and it read….. ‘A set of kids will be visiting you today, they’ll be in a set of 3 and charge your way, of them one by the name of Jyro Thomas watch him especially, and he’ll be the one with the dark entity, they to seek to steal your treasure”. Jyro re-read the letter ‘Dark entity’ he said to himself, someone must know about my curse he muttered under his breath, “who sent this and why”, he stressed, “no name arrived with it but I suggest you 3 be careful it seems someone wants you all dead” the man chuckled the 3 kids looked at one another worryingly, “ ah yes and for my condolences for almost killing you I’ve given your friends the script you came to seek” the man said whilst the kids smiled to one another in jubilation.

“Argh to think someone in this world dared to taunt me …. Guardians go make haste at once I shall find this person and deal with them” said the man, “yes sire” they responded before scurrying away behind the withered tree, “ by the way you didn’t tell us your name sir?” said Johnny , “Vincent Louche Veneto” he said, Johnny and Tristine immediately gasped in shock, “ why you guys surprised who is he?” asked Jyro ,” t.tt…that’s Vincent Veneto Also known as the Crazy Monkey, he’s just like you Jy he possesses one of the five elemental brands” Johnny spoke in awe and Jyro slowly begun to understand why he felt such a similar presence when he first met him, and his face suddenly bore the same expression as his friends , “what is someone like him doing down here” Johnny whispered , “ I can hear you gossiping about me kiddies and to answer your question this is my domain I’m a collector , I’ve found a habit of searching and keeping rare artefacts” Vincent replied, “ so you do this for the Queen? Asked Tristine” the queen? Haha certainly not I work for myself nowadays those fools can govern the world I will seek my own path and make my own rules, that’s what I call freedom and that’s how I choose to live” said Vincent abruptly, “well, if that’s all you may leave this place now ”. Vincent whistled loudly and a sudden rush of black figures immerged from the holes in the wall and swung from the vines above and landed in front of him, “ aah man those things…their …their “ muttered Johnny,” yes their called Shiamos annoying one and their monkeys with human understanding” Vincent stated “ show these guys the way out” ,the human sized apes then walked towards the 3 kids and arched their backs towards them, “ grab a hold to their backs” Vincent said, the kids looked at one another before following suit. Moments later when they each had grabbed onto the backs of one of the Shiamos ,the creatures jumped into the air and began to climb the vines above them, the kids gripped tightly to the apes as they were carried to the exit at the top “ And don’t you go telling people you saw me down here either” Vincent bellowed whilst he lay back on his oak made throne, “sire, is it ok to let them go after seeing you?” the rat asked ,” “aah yeah their no harm towards me , well not yet anyway ergh but that boy ,the Blondie with the lightning he looks promising, almost reminds me of a certain someone erg I just had an annoying memory” Vincent said. Vincent leant on his arm and watched the kids depart when he started to feel a soft burning sensation coming from his leg, he looked beneath his robe and saw drips of blood coming from his clothes, he looked under cloth and saw his leg bore a deep gash from the fight with Jyro, “ ha ha ha why that puppy is more interesting than I thought” he said whilst he smirked into the distance.