CRYSTALLUM LOST DREAMS | Fantasy Novel |

Chapter 15 - Part 3

The column of light disappeared as soon as they stepped into the garden, sucked into nothingness. They threw open what was left of the front door: Hyon was sitting on the ground at the back of the room, holding his staff. Cora lay on the table, unconscious, bare-chested, and covered in a faint luminescence.

"What did you do to him, you damned madman!" Aran shouted.

He pounced on the master, but Camiel held him back by the arm and pushed him towards Fez and Elidana. "EVERYONE OUT!" he yelled. He covered Cora's body with a sheet, but the young Allet managed to catch a glimpse of his friend's back.

"What are those marks?" he screamed.

"If it was an idea before, now it's an imperative, Camiel. We need to take him to Dremis, NOW! It could explode again at any moment," Hyon shouted. "The boy is in danger, this time he barely survived. His body couldn't handle it a second time, not now. And if it were to increase in power again, there would be nothing left of Amanastre or us but dust."

Camiel moved near the Hozman soldiers and pointed at Fez and Marmorel. "Take them to the ship. We'll join you as soon as possible. Begin the departure procedures."

The Meliro warriors nodded, their faces full of doubt. One of them picked up Marmorel, but she struggled, slapped him, and scratched him on the neck. Fez, on the other hand, ran alongside the other Hozman.

Camiel returned to Hyon and helped him up. "We have no time, master. Amanastre's guards will be here soon," he said.

Elidana and Aran, near Cora's body, stared in amazement at the still-glowing Hozman Empire emblem.

Hyon illuminated the stone on his staff, his face that of a madman, but there was no fear in his eyes. "Look, Camiel."

In the light of the Seorite, the walls of the room showed luminous writing that covered the entire wall.

"But what?" murmured Aran.

"Was him?" Camiel asked.

"No, I just forced the boy's hand," Hyon replied in amazement. "It's all Cora's doing... He knows the Lost Language."

Camiel took a moment to look around. He furrowed his brow and turned towards the exit. "You can explain it to me better later."

"Yes, I think so too," replied the master.

Camiel grabbed Cora and wrapped him up better in the cloth.

Elidana, still dazed, was beside him. "Why that light?" she asked, her face contorted.

"Not now!"

Elidana bent down, picked up something metallic from the ground, and put it in her pocket.

They ran through the city streets, Hyon leading the way. The noise of the marching guards approaching the main street could be heard, heavy footsteps that brought with them a string of questions that neither Hyon nor Camiel intended to answer. At the city entrance, the many soldiers were trying to manage earthquake relief.

Hyon made the boys move forward without stopping, and one of the guards looked up. "Master Hyon?"

He didn't even turn around, but shouted so that they could hear him. "I don't have time, young man, I'm on a mission! Yes... I'm on a mission for the Duke. Ask Commander Yazzan when you meet him." The guard stared at him as the old man trotted down the dirt path.

They went through Rockery square, and Camiel took the opportunity to catch up to Hyon. "How did you generate all that energy?"

The teacher opened and closed his mouth several times without speaking, as if he wanted to choose his words carefully. "I drew some symbols in the Lost Language. I wanted to see if he was aware of what I had written," he said in a hushed tone. "Cora translated word for word... amazing... an experience that I would have hardly believed to be true if I hadn't witnessed it myself. I picked up the priestly staff... to see if he knew how to use it, like we do in Dremis. It was just a try."

"How did he react?"

"Nothing, he didn't even know where to start... I shuddered when I thought he might be able to extract energy from the Seorite, but unfortunately, he couldn't," Hyon slowed down. Aran listened attentively. "So I tried everything, I showed him how to control the energy from the stones, I invited him to write in the Lost Language... but it was when I activated some Cec systems I had at home that he went insane." Hyon shook his head. "At first, it was as if they were bothering him, but then he started screaming in pain."

"It was you!" Aran exclaimed.

"Why?" Elidana added.

"Be quiet, you two!" Camiel thundered.

"Whatever you said in response to that threat, it certainly wasn't Cora," the master continued. "His eyes were red like two Seorite crystals; as bright as lit torches. The environment quickly heated up, and the shirt he was wearing burned like a lit log. The drawing on his back came to life; it was covered in flames. I thought he would burn alive, but it was as if that heat didn't even threaten him!"

The warrior glanced at the two young ones, and they looked back at him. He returned to following the road. In front of them, Marmorel and Fez with the Hozman escort. "And then?" he asked the teacher again.

Hyon motioned to stop for a moment. He caught his breath and put his hand on his back. "And then... he climbed onto the table and started firing beams of light on the walls, this time there was no Seorite, the energy came directly from him, at least of that, I'm damn sure. Camiel, you should have heard the melody that manifested itself, the most beautiful music I've ever heard. It was light speaking. It flowed out of his body with every movement, with every breath. An entire composition of notes, infinitely more complex than the sounds of stones. The harmony penetrated your soul and calmed your senses: a euphony."

"What was written on the walls?"

"Some symbols were simple, but the rest were so complex that I couldn't decipher it," Cora said. They resumed walking at a brisk pace. "This only confirms my need to speak with the Sages of Laeth. The boy possesses a power that goes well beyond my knowledge."

The group arrived at the foot of the mountain and took the road to the port. There, a myriad of people crowded the streets, which were lined with stalls selling fish, food, and textiles, as they recovered from the earthquake.

"Sir, the ship is that way," the Hozmans pointed to a galleon flying the Sun of Aletar and the Dawn of Meliro.

"They beat us here," Aran shouted, pointing out to Camiel two Kharzanian ships just leaving the harbor. Nelson Vega was standing on the deck of one of them, his hands on his hips as if he were just waiting to enjoy the victory.

"We are fast, sir, but not fast enough to outrun two Kharzanian warships," the man from Meliro said emphatically. "We will have to face them."

Camiel grimaced and looked at Hyon. "It's the only option," he told his master.