The Forgotten Land of Myria

ROY

I trotted ahead to keep up with Eleazar, my hand--now wrapped in cloth--rested on my sword hilt. As we started on the tracks, the red clouds were already creeping around our feet and had begun climbing up to our knees.

There was something else particularly weird about them. They weren’t misty and cool, like other clouds. It was more like red smoke: Thick, roiling and, kind of intoxicating. There was a strange rusty taste in my mouth.

I began to cough as it wrapped around me, like a long sleepy copperhead snake. By now, we had all realized that they weren’t your typical clouds, so Eleazar ordered us to pair up, as it got harder to see--the track only fit two people walking side by side.

I stuck to Eleazar--Ada, Livia, and Sky were already in pairs. He was hard to keep up with and he whistled like a blowhorn, though Banebee never seemed bothered by it. Either way, I had been enjoying his company lately, and besides, I preferred it over Jardious blabbering about the Fifty Types of Steel, Leof’s anger issues, or Eulisses’ silence. Plus, I couldn’t bear the awkwardness of pairing up with Safira, so I deafened my ears the best I could and carried on.

Every now and then Sky led a role call to make sure no one got lost. The more we walked, the more uncomfortable I got. My eyes burned from the smoke-cloud, not to mention the rusty cottonmouth taste.

“Galacia, Warden apprentice, calling off,” Sky went off, for the third roll call. “Nalini!”

“Livia, Guild Warden, Alchemist,” Livia responded.

“Bigolle!”

“Jardious, Guild Empter, Forger!”

“Alyven!”

“Ada, Sage of the Order, Caretaker!”

“Taiowen!”

“Leof, Guild Frontman, Warrior!”

“Sevarea!”

“Eulisses, Scholar of the Order, Summoner...”

“Teva!”

“Safira, Lower Warden, Ranger!”

“Supreme Keeper of Banebee, and everyone’s favorite Uncle!”

“Iahg Fywer!”

“Kupa!”

I was next. What would Sky pull off this time? Angus and I had already been called murcat kibble and jujoo bait, waskaway and marblenugget...

“Don Juan!”

“At your service, sweetheart,” I shot back, yanking some giggles out of the fog.

“Don Quixote!”

The giggles broke into belly laughs, so Sky called out again. “Don Quixote? Come on Angus, it was just a joke...Angus?”

Everyone shuffled to a stop and I was dead cold.

“Eulisses, where is he?” Ada asked.

Thoughts bounced around in my head but I didn’t wait for the answer. Without thinking, I wheeled around and bolted down the tracks, through the blinding fog. Angus had come to Myria with me--I couldn’t afford to lose someone else.

But by the time I realized what I had done wrong, it was already too late. Everyone’s yells were distant and I couldn’t see an inch in front of me. After a few confused spins and turns, I didn’t even know which way was which or how close I was to falling off the edge.

I couldn’t walk, couldn’t see, and in the midst of my confusion...WHAM! Something cold and hard hit my head and I crumpled to the ground. Before I could even react to the pain, I felt another blow slam against my back and then a harder one on my stomach.

I doubled up in pain and coughed up splotches of blood. As I lay on the ground, I heard a high-pitched yell--like a war cry--coming from directly above me, followed by the beating of feet coming toward me from all directions. Shaking, I reached for my sword as the sound grew clearer.

I felt a rush of wind above me and knew that another blow was under way. My sword ripped out just in time and I swung it in that direction. It clashed heavily with steel. I took yet another blind swing, but this time my sword stuck something and I heard bone-crunching noises and a grunt. I twisted it around, and drops of blood splashed onto my face; finally, a heavy body dropped on top of me.

Not daring to look at it (the smell was bad enough) I managed to untangle myself just as I heard more swings coming my way. Still on the ground, I swung my sword, frantically rebounding hits. I was fighting blindly, only seeing things once they were inches away from my face, but it seemed to be working.

The sword vibrated in my hand as it clashed with other weapons and some unknown body parts. I didn’t know what was attacking me or how many there were, but a lot of blood was splashing and there were several lifeless bodies around me already. In fact, some of them I didn’t even remember hitting with my sword.

I was doing alright until...CLANG! A thin sharp object scrunched against the tip of my spine and I let out a painful cry as my whole body tingled and my sword fell out of my hand.

At that point, there was no more chance of fighting back. SWOOSH!

I braced myself for another blow, however I felt someone tug at my leg and I was dragged onto my feet.

“HANG ON!” Livia’s voice drummed in my ear, as she pulled my arm around her.

From the sounds, I could tell we were still surrounded, but before I could say anything, Jardious emerged in front of us, ripping through the fog. I barely recognized him; His face was black with ashes and his oily mustache dripping with sweat.

“I’ll handle’eez grubbers!” he yelled at Livia, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand and fastening his silver hood. “Take the boy and scurry! AAARRRRHHH!”

He yanked out his halberd and mace, waved them madly in the air and disappeared behind us.

I wheezed heavily through the smoke, dripping blood onto the dirt as we left cries behind us. Further up the tracks, I could hear the others rushing by us to aid Jardious.

I felt my eyes roll back and I strained to keep myself conscious. I noticed that after only a few moments, the pain began to go away pretty quickly. Livia yelled things in my ear like, “Stay awake, we’re almost there!” and “Just a little further!”, but I could feel the pain subsiding. At first it had been unbearable but now, for some reason, I was able to suck it up just fine. It must have been the adrenaline. Moments later, I finally heard, “We’re here!”

I pulled my head up and saw that the red clouds were only knee-deep now, and sinking lower, like when you’re wading out of the water onto shore. In this case, the peak. The clouds now lurked under us, like water under a dock.

On the other side, past the clouds, a bright green valley ran all the way to the horizon. Livia set me down under a rock and wiped some of the blood from my face--I wasn’t sure how much of it was mine.

“Wait here,” she huffed. “I have to go find the others.”

One blink and she was gone, leaving ripples in the clouds like she had disappeared. In only a matter of minutes, Livia jumped back out of the clouds followed by a fired-up Safira, who looked like she could take on three more battles. Next, Livia returned with Ada, then Sky, and one by one she brought them back (all but Angus). Leof was the last one and it had taken almost an hour for Livia to get him. Still, no Angus.

Leof finally plopped down on the ground, sinking his fists in the dirt and stared at me--until I felt completely uncomfortable about it--while Ada and Sky treated my wounds. Everyone else was silent.

“You,” he finally muttered. “You are to blame for this.”

My hands felt heavy with guilt, and my throat was dry.

“I--Angus is lost--”

“And he would be found by now, if we had gone together. If you weren’t so impulsive!”

Ironically, he jumped to his feet on that last word. Jardious tried to stop him but he brushed him off and walked straight towards me. I was still sitting on the rock, still injured, covered in open wounds, but he didn’t seem to care.

He snatched the scruff of my coat and lifted me up until my eyes were level with his and only inches apart. His eyes had gone from black to a reddish-brown color, like burning wood.

“We have been put in danger twice because of you,” he said sternly, with no remorse. “You shouldn’t have come.”

He dropped me and I stumbled to the ground feeling a pinch at my spine where I’d been stabbed. I lay still, letting the words sink in as Livia rushed to aid me.

I shook violently, but not in pain. In anger. How could he get away with saying that? How come no one stood up to him, not even Eleazar? Was it true?

“Why?” I croaked, “Why shouldn’t I have come? Because I was brave enough to face the danger?”

Whether it made sense or not, I couldn’t let him get away with saying that. Anger pulsed through my veins, and I began to feel a heat rush through me--like I’d just stepped into a fire. And as he turned to walk away, I yelled.

“YOU’RE A COWARD!”

He stopped cold, like I’d said the word he hated most, but I didn’t care. Sky placed a hand on my shoulder, and Ada tried to calm me down. They knew I shouldn’t take this to the next level, but I picked myself up, ignoring the pain completely. All I felt now was anger.

“If you were in my place, would you still have walked away, like you are right now?” I pressed on. “I may be stupid and weak, but I’m not a coward, because unlike you I have something worth fighting for.”

As I spoke, Leof turned slowly and shot me a fiery stare, but I faced it with an even fiercer look.

“To you it’s just a matter of pride! You just wanna be the hero, don’t you?”

Leof wasn’t intimidated. He stood motionless and finally spoke flatly.

“You don’t know the first thing about why I’m here.”

I grinned, triumphantly. “As a matter of fact, I do,” I chuckled.

“Really?” he confronted. It amazed me how drastically his mood kept changing. “Well, what can you say about me, you scoundrel?”

“I can say that you can’t make your father proud--because you’ll NEVER be like AERITI AND TANE!” I regretted those words as soon as they left my mouth. I gulped dry air and waited for a reaction from Leof, but there was none. Everyone watched in shock. He was silent, with his head bowed, hiding his face. When he finally spoke, it was no more than a whisper.

“This wasn’t my intention.”

I was shocked at his response, but I wasn’t able to break down my anger.

“Well then what was?” I pressed on, knowing I had long crossed the line. The rage suddenly left Leof’s eyes.

He gave Eleazar a nod. They exchanged looks and suddenly a devious smile filled Leof’s face as began moving towards me slowly. Still furious I backed away. Livia seemed ready to jump in and interfere, but Eleazar held her back. As Leof moved forward he spat on the ground in front of me.

“Roy,” he boomed. “I know deep down, you are just scared--” “I’m not!” I snapped, but Leof continued.

“Scared that you may not see home again. Or scared that you may not see Alice again--”

“DON’T YOU DARE SAY HER NAME!”

My eyes swelled with tears, and not thinking twice, I lunged at Leof. Everything else was a blur, and seconds later, I found myself being blown back, digging into the ground.

When I looked up again, I was in shock. I saw bright red flames dancing around in the spot were Leof and I had clashed. He was standing like he had been untouched on the other side of the flames, and everyone else was staring at me, petrified. Still pulsing with anger, I got back up, but then froze once I realized what had happened.

I felt excruciating pain throbbing from my right arm and when I looked at it, I found my entire hand smeared in fresh burnt ashes.

The flames had come from my hand.