Ebb And Flow

Prolog: Ebb and Flow

Hey guys, I'm kinda new to this stuff, but feel free to comment wherever if I made a mistake or message me if you have any plot ideas. I have a vague idea of where it's going but it is always fun to spice things up a bit. I'm just part-way through editing the next part where some new characters will be introduced. And I'm sorry if it takes me a while, but I'm one of those people who write it down by hand then type it up. SO anyway enjoy reading and be as critical as you want!

:)

 Thanks, Renezmai Stevens (my pen name, duh)

PROLOG

The stone hummed. No. It throbbed. Like a heart, its power surging out and back in. Pumping. Like a tide to a beach. In and out. In and out. The seven men stood around the obsidian plinth, staring, their silver armour shining strangly in the abnormal light. The room's wall was circular, a dome made of glistening black marble only split by an iron door. The stone radiated the abnormal light in dark waves of shadow and silver rays of mist. Black and white. End and beginning. Ebb and Flow.

The seven men looked around at each other. The oldest, a grey-haired man spoke, his voice gravelly, "It is time, as the moon here, and the sun on the other side of the world reach their peak, the stone of power shall be destroyed. The seven rulers of the seven kingdoms and the seven powers unite here, with their heirs ready to step up and take their place. We, as we must do, step forward to make the sacrifice for the end of the old world, and the beginning of the new." All the men remained calm, their faces neutral, but pride and bravery glinted in their eyes. "Once the stone is destroyed, turned into nothing but dust, it shall never be fixed, then equality shall be spread across the world. All magic will be non-existent, it will be a thing of the past, and everyone will be the same. Everyone will be equal." The youngest man, barely more than a boy, nodded, his serene expression cracking and tears streamed down his cheeks.

The old man turned to him with sympathy and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, "It is a great pride, a great honour to do what you are doing."

The boy looked at the man, his blue eyes bright, "I know sir." He let out a huff and broadened his shoulders and ran a shaking hand through his blonde hair. The men shifted on their feet and the old man looked at each of them in the eye before nodding and holding out his hands to the men on either side of him. All seven men joined hands and the old man closed his eyes and spoke in a muffled whisper as he started the spell, speaking in the old language. Each word flowing into another.

As all seven men, old and young, joined hands and started the spell to destroy the stone, the walls began to shake, the iron door being to cripple. They were being attacked.

The eldest looked around at the men in alarm, worry flashing across his face, "The walls shall hold, but we have been betrayed. We must finish the spell so the rock is destroyed once and for all."

The men looked at each other before closing their eyes, whispering the spell under their breath in unison. Suddenly, their eyes flew open and rolled back in their heads, backs arching, mouths open in a silent scream. Light seared out of each man's chest, floating towards the rock, like mist in the morning sun. Each streak, a different colour, drifted over the rock where it floated and swirled. The colours twined into each other, wrapping itself around the rock, covering it like a cocoon. The rock soaked the colours up, breathed them in. As a thin cocoon of colour hovered around the rock, a mighty thud shook the floor so violently that every man fell, hands separating, breaking the spell.

"No!" The grey-haired man shouted, laying on the floor in a crippled mess. Each man was lying on the ground, weak. The old man reached inside of him to the part of him he knew he'd once would of found his power thundering, but he found nothing. The old man crawled to the plinth in a rush and pulled himself to his feet, knees quivering, letting out a shuddering breath as he beheld the stone. "No. It wasn't enough, " he whispered. "We are not strong enough to finish the spell now that it has been broken." He picked up the stone with a cloth, the stone now split in two, no light radiating off it. 

The old man sucked in a breath, "But it might be enough." He turned back to the six men laying on the floor,  rising. The walls shuddered, and the iron door creaked. There were shouts from the attackers outside, ordering the heaving men plundering the door. The old man staggered over to the youngest man on the floor, "Get up," The old man looked straight into the ocean blue eyes of the boy. He, with shaking hands, wrapped the rock up in the cloth, "You are to take these rocks and hide them. Hide them deep in a mountain, where no light shines, where even the evilest of beasts won't dare to enter," The old man reached for the boy's hand and placed the cloth in it. "Take it," The man curled the boy's hand around the stones, "And keep them safe. I trust you. I trust all of you. But you are the youngest."

He cast a glance around to the other men who nodded in agreement," It is you who must go," The grey-haired man looked at him a moment longer before lurching for the plinth. He pushed the plinth over to reveal a loose stone underneath. He heaved it up as the boy sat on the ground, blue eyes blinking, stunned. He looked towards the iron doors where the five other men stood, swords out, shaking, ready to fight.

"What are you going to do? What about you?" The boy asked, but he already knew the answer. The old man put the stone aside, sighed and looked down at the boy shakily, "We are going to stay. To give you time to escape. To get the stones out."

The boy clenched his jaw and his lip wobbled, "But you will die."

"Then let it be boy. We were to die before but we didn't, and now it will cost us."

His nostrils flared as he struggled to keep the tears at bay, "But...But... Why me?"

The man looked at the boy with sorrow and understanding, "Because you haven't got to live yet my boy."

And with that, the old man reached for the boy on the ground and heaved him towards the hole,

"You must go. Hide the rock immediately. Protect your family. Tell no one that the rock is not destroyed. Tell no one where you hid it. The rock still holds power, even in this form, but it can be fixed, and that will not be a good time. Many will die." the man looked around and back at the boy hurriedly, "Now go. Do not touch the bare rock. It will try to find a whole object to put the power in. And do not separate them they must be together but not touching. I knew this was a possibility all along, that this was going to happen to the rock. But I did not expect this betrayal." Hurt flashed in the old man's eyes.

"Sir?" the boy asked hesitantly, "Who did you tell?"

The old man clenched his jaw and breathed out, " Someone I thought I could trust. Someone I shouldn't have"

He looked back at the boy as a mighty crack thundered through the room, "Now go! quickly."

The boy put the rock in his pocket and climbed down the hole as the old man heaved the rock back on top of him and replaced the plinth. The boy was coated in darkness as he climbed down the ladder, his breath like shards of glass in his lungs, and he smiled a slow serpent-like smile filled with menace, " Silly old fool. No going back now."

The old man stood, back aching, head-spinning, and straightened the plinth. He pulled out his sword and faced the iron door, the other five men looking towards him icey determination in their eyes, despite being weak and drained. The intruders gave a final thump at the crippling iron door and it crumbled, letting through a cloud of dust from the tunnel beyond.

Through the dust, a woman stepped forward, red dress swishing, vicious sword swinging in a menacing way, a crazed smile upon her blood-red lips.

"Hello boys," She drawled and placed the tip of her sword on the ground and lent against the hilt.

The old man bared his teeth and growled, "How could you?" The old man shuddered in disgust.

She merely blinked at him, and his smile grew bigger.

"My apologies, Father." and she straightened, "Now where's my pretty little rock?"

She looked around the room and found it empty apart from the men, the plinth and the crumbled door. The room filled with a violent screech that made all the men double over in pain.

Then the Red woman, beyond livid, unleashed herself upon them.

Not one man was left standing when she left the vault, not even her own, her red dress swished, coated in a new, darker red. She was furious. Beyond possible reasons. The stone was gone. Her grey eyes were alive with a metallic flame. Men will die tonight in the flame of her rage.