The Mad God (On hold)

Chapter Four - Part Two

Cekoti stared over the lake, watching the water sparkle in the sunrise. The amber light danced on its surface, glistening in the small waves that lapped against the side of the small island. The Isle of the Gods; the centre point of the Ethardian religion – the site where the Gods had delivered their final words to the Ethardi before they retreated to the heavens. But today it meant so much more; today it meant the end of the world as they knew it. Today it meant a new beginning, today, it was their meeting place.

Five altars in total graced the island, the five ancient disks interlinked with a narrow spindle of stone; the large stone slabs were dug deep into the rocky ground. Their pitch, marble surface etched with hundreds of glyphs; the script distorted and shifted occasionally, glowing an eerie blue before changing colour completely. In the centre of every disk was a large circular gem, each a different colour. The altars were arranged in a cross aligned perfectly to the cardinal directions, representing the unity of Nature and Magic: Fire to the north; Water to the south; Earth to the east; Air to the west and in the centre of them all stood the altar representing Light, the primeval force that brought the other elements together and brought life to the world. The layout was supposed to symbolise the four that were one, the one that was five:  the Gods themselves. Untended undergrowth sprawled onto the edges of the black stone; the brambles seemingly dragging what was once Nature’s further into the depths of the earth.

Cekoti resisted the urge to reach out to his aura and create a bubble of heat; instead he wrapped his cloak around himself tighter. He couldn’t afford to waste his energy. He would have walked here if it had been possible, as it was he flew very close to the surface of the pristine water. Much less intensive than teleportation, and in order to not face another miscast, they all needed to be strong.

Cekoti stared out against the water, watching as the waves slowly crashed into the isle. The soft, repetitive sound clamed his nerves; what they were about to do was atrocious, abandoning their friends to face the consequences by themselves. But the people had ignored their pleas; their friends turned their backs on them first. It wasn’t as if they had a choice now anyway, was it? What could they do now that they were banished other than waste away? The tribes wouldn’t listen to them either; they were barbaric and cruel anyway. They at least deserved it.

From the corner of his eye he saw someone flying towards the island. Their cloak flapped in the bitter wind, trailing behind them like a butterfly in a storm, flirting from place to place. Lasinn landed moments later, his jet hair sprawled across his face; the strands occasionally dragged into an involuntary dance by the breeze.

“Hey,” he said as he landed, brushing the dirt off his cloak.

“Hey,” Cekoti said. Why did it have to Lasinn to arrive next? Why not one of the girls?

“You know we have to do this, right?” he said. “We no longer have a choice about any of this; you think I want to abandon everyone, honestly?”

Cekoti bit back the words that sprang to mind; insulting his brother would get them nowhere. Emotions could not rule him, not now. They were doing the right thing, creating a world so that their culture could live on. So the memories of their nation, their world lived on. The world was going to fail eventually, and if them casting this spell brought it closer to the end, then so be it. At least they tried, right?

“If you don’t want to talk to me, fine. But remember, they turned their backs on us first.”

“And maybe they wouldn’t have if we’d just reached out that little bit more, tried to save them one more time instead of almost destroying the city,” Cekoti said, “but then, you don’t care about that, do you?”

“Of course I do,” Lasinn said, his face pained. “We nearly died –”

“Still just concerned about us though, right? But I’ll agree – we don’t have a choice about this.” Would he be here if they did? If there was a choice, would he turn his back on the power? Cekoti shivered, thankfully, he’d never know.

“Family will always come first,” Luvesi said. Cekoti hadn’t heard her approach. “Like our parents were so fond of saying, ‘The world is a shifting tide, your family the only ground you can stand upon.’” 

Why did she have to bring their parents in to this? Why could she remember them, and all they were to him a blur? It wouldn’t be too much to know a face, a voice. To have a memory. He held back his emotions, refusing to let himself show weakness.

“The others should be here soon, and then we can set things right. We will walk alongside our creations; we won’t abandon them like our Gods did us,” Luvesi said, “we will create the perfect world, one with no suffering, no angst.”

She was right; they had a chance to watching and nurture hundreds of thousands of people. Cekoti smiled, remembering his time with Areni, always watching out for her, the feelings it brought. How she made him happy, always looking to him in times of need, retreating to his arms on the cold, winter nights. He was her rock, until she left and he… Cekoti shuddered, the night still imprinted in his mind. He couldn’t make the same mistake as a God; he couldn’t let anything take control of him again. Someone had used him to kill the Dynskelorm, and with him, the woman he loved.

The sun had risen above the mountains bordering the northern side of the lake, bathing the water in its golden light. He could see Lyum, the once majestic buildings laying in ruin. Some however, had already been rebuilt; the golden spires once again rising high into the sky. They still wasted magic, even now. They were leaving the world, creating their own, abandoning this one. But they knew what they were doing, it’s not like what he was about to do was barbaric, he wasn’t killing them himself.

“Shall we start?” Luvesi said, the serene voice cutting through his thoughts.

Cekoti nodded, turning his back on Lyum, for what might be the last time. He walked on to the altar of fire, standing in the middle of the large ruby, blood red in colour. It seemed fitting, fire being his strongest element. Fire being the element to get them into this mess. Ranak stood on the altar of earth; Dyndara on water; Enthisa on air. Finally Lasinn and Luvesi stepped onto the middle altar, the altar of light. And at once, they all reached out to their auras. It had begun.

***

Sorry for yet another cliff hanger, I promise you I shall cut down on them!

Hope you've enjoyed this, and if you've spotted something please let me know!

~Cekoti