CHAPTER 18
WHEN SOLLEL heard from Hakken, Grath, and Cira about the real condition of the Kingdom of Treterra after reaching the end of the forest, she was not expecting to see a hundred miles of barren lands. The soil was dead, the temperature was scorching, and rare kinds of beasts ran rampant.
What happened? If her memory served her right, Treterra was a land filled with trees and vegetation.
"Castetava is on the other side." Sollel heard Hakken spoke. "There is no other route than this one."
Seeing the dead land, Grath sighed. "The last time I passed here, you can still see Castetava at the end of the forest."
Sollel looked ahead, but there was no town she could see. "Does that mean the barren land is spreading?"
Zassia answered Sollel because when it came to Azitera's history, Zassia was an expert. "Yes. This dead land is eating up the forest. No one really knows why it is happening. It started as a simple drought a hundred years ago in Sarnau, the nearest town from the capital and the neighboring town of Castetava. And a hundred years later, the drought swallowed Castetava, and it is now spreading through the forest. A few years from now, it'll reach Belrac."
A dead soil that could swallow a forest. Sollel stepped forward and touched the earth. The moment her hand made contact with it, she immediately understood what was happening. This is Gatria's resentment, she thought. This was not the first time Sollel witnessed it.
Back when Yther was a prominent kingdom, some humans cut the trees and burned a part of the forest that Gatria nurtured to make a settlement. Gatria's anger and resentment at that time caused drought, and dead soil swallowed the whole forest she once nurtured.
"How are we going to pass this barren land?" Cira asked. "It's too hot. Our horse will surely die."
"We walk," Hakken answered before he freed the horse from its rein and tapped its mane. "Go."
Watching the horse leave, everyone sighed heavily except for Sollel who was too focused on the dead soil.
"Get all your belongings in the wagon, we have to start walking before the sun goes down," Hakken ordered everyone.
Cira immediately went back to the wagon to get her blanket and pillow, and she put it back on her satchel. She was the only one who had stuff in the wagon; when she returned to the group, they immediately set out to Castetava.
The first thing that hit the group traversing the barren land was the heat—it was scorching and dehydrating. They've only covered fifty meters, but they were already consuming too much water.
"Only drink when necessary," Hakken advised. "If we ran out of water in the middle of this barren land, we're dead."
Xeke glared at Hakken. "I'm thirsty. Of course it's necessary."
"The necessary I meant is when you're dying," Hakken corrected himself while surveying the surrounding for any beasts.
"Cira, come walk beside me," Sollel ordered when she looked over her shoulder and saw Cira swaying weakly like she was about to drop.
Hearing Queen Sollel, Cira immediately picked up her pace to walk beside her. And the moment Cira neared Sollel, a small gasp escaped her lips when the scorching and dehydrating heat that was consuming her body disappeared and was replaced by a warmth feeling.
Cira's eyes fell on Sollel. Is this Queen Sollel's essence? Cira was overwhelmed with emotion that she almost cried, but she was too dehydrated to the point that no tears fell from her eyes.
As they continued their journey for another hour, a scorching strong gust of wind carrying sand grains started to blow. Without trees to protect them from strong winds, it slammed directly through their bodies, making them stagger as they walked.
Hakken was in front, guiding everyone and trying to look for the right way in the midst of the strong, sandy winds that kept slamming into them. Everyone was looking down, protecting their eyes by lowering their heads and putting their arm over their eyes.
Because of the strong winds, the six people traversing the barren land slowed down, but they kept up their pace. They didn't stop even though Grath was basically carrying Zassia's body. They continued walking until the wind finally subsided.
Everyone was thankful that the winds finally died down, and just as Grath, Zassia, and Cira were about to drop on the ground to rest and loosen their guard, they all froze, realizing that they were not safe at all.
Because of the strong winds, they couldn't clearly see their path and unknowingly walked into the middle of a confrontation between a hoard of five-meter-long scorpions and four-meter-long lizards with spiky skin all over their bodies.
They were surrounded, and there was no way out. Even the direction they came in was crawling with scorpions.
"Oh, my deities..." Cira nervously muttered, sensing the danger.
Zassia started praying to Queen Sollel. "Queen Sollel, please bless us with strength and guide us out of here with your wisdom."
Cira glanced at Zassia blankly. How could Queen Sollel guide us with her wisdom when the Queen herself is trapped with us! Cira wanted to smack Zassia's head for praying wrongly when Hakken spoke.
"Ready to run."
Grath roamed his wolflike eyes. Scorpions with a deadly venom on the left and Lizard with spiky bodies that could trample anyone blocking its way on the right. "Can we even run?"
"Fight while running." Hakken drew his war blades.
Nervous, Cira readied her bow and arrows while looking at the scorpions. Zassia was trembling as she held her staff in front of her like she was using it as a shield against the lizards. Grath, on the other hand, had his sharp claws out, and Xeke was holding his dagger in reverse, ready to use its ability to escape.
Hakken glanced at Sollel who now stood beside him. "My lady..."
"Don't worry about me," Sollel replied while observing their enemies.
The scorpions, she could handle since scorpions were afraid of fire. But the lizards, their skin was so thick and spiky, it could not easily be penetrated by weapons. And their weight alone could trample anyone.
"We can't escape," Zassia muttered under her breath, but everyone heard her.
"Thank you, Lady Zassia." Xeke's voice was filled with sarcasm. "Thank you for your inspiring words."
"I'm just telling the truth," Zassia immediately explained why she thought they couldn't escape. "Those lizards, in contrast to their huge bodies, they're very fast and agile, they have very thick skin that couldn't be penetrated easily, and they're very heavy. And those scorpions have deadly venom. One drop and you'll be paralyzed in a matter of seconds, and you'll die in a matter of minutes."
Xeke clicked his tongue. "In short, we need coffins. Yay! Very motivational, Lady Zassia."
Hakken's expression became serious. "If we couldn't run like planned, then we'll force our way out."
"Hmm." Grath nodded, his claws sharp and ready. "Let's fight our way out."
Cira gripped her bow and readied five arrows in her hand. To penetrate the lizards' and the scorpions' skins, she covered the arrows with her essence for additional penetrative power.
"We'll run as fast as we could. If worse comes to worst and we have to fight, we'll split up," Sollel suggested. "Anyone who could wield fire, we'll face the scorpions while making a run for it, and the rest will deal with the lizards. And when you see an opening, run."
Everyone moved according to their strength, and there's only one person who went to stand beside Sollel to face the scorpions. It was Zassia, the weakest flame sorceress Sollel had ever met that she didn't even bother taking her flame essence back from her.
With Zassia, Sollel felt like she'd be fighting the scorpions alone. Thankfully, Grath changed groups and sided with Sollel and Zassia. It was supposed to be Cira, but Hakken and Xeke needed a long-ranged attacker, so Cira stayed in their group while sulking.
"I'm not easily poisoned because of my black-wolf blood," Grath said to not worry anyone. "I can handle a drop or two."
Everyone readied themselves to run.
From Sollel's group, Grath howled, and from Hakken's group, Xeke threw his dagger upward. Before Grath's howls ended and before Xeke's dagger multiplied into ten in midair, the scorpions and lizards were already crawling to attack.
Seeing that Zassia was right about the lizard's agility, everyone started running to get away from the center, but the scorpions and lizards were too fast that they immediately reached the center of the battlefield.
When the two groups of beasts met in the middle, they immediately clashed, killing each other. The six individuals trapped in the middle of the fight between the lizards and scorpions had no choice but to kill any beast that came their way while they ran.
"Xeke, look for the weakest spot in their bodies," Hakken ordered Xeke because of his ability to move around fast. "We can't win and run away if we fight them head-on. Cira, assist me until Xeke finds the lizard's weak spot."
Cira nodded and gripped her bow tightly. Xeke nodded as well and readied his dagger.
"Go!"
With Hakken's order, Xeke and Cira—together with Hakken—started attacking the lizards that blocked their way, and mid-fight, Xeke disappeared as his ten daggers flew into different directions then down to different locations. Seconds later, Xeke reappeared meters away from the back of the lizard that was attacking Hakken, and his ten daggers came back to him, floating around him. By Xeke's command, his ten daggers started flying rapidly toward the lizard, randomly hitting the its body to see its weak spot, but his daggers were thrown back after hitting a lizard's body. It was that thick!
"Hell!" Xeke cussed and called his daggers back before repeating the same attack, hitting a different part of the lizard's body this time.
The result did not change. Xeke couldn't find a weak spot. He was about to try again when he saw Hakken attacking head-on.
With only his war blades, Hakken collided with the hoard of lizards blocking their path of escape without an ounce of fear. Only the movement of his blades could be seen as the lizards surrounded him, trying to have a piece of him.
"Keep looking!" Hakken hissed at Xeke in the midst of blocking and slashing the lizards surrounding and trampling him.
Xeke's eyes sharpened. He was about to use one of his daggers to transfer himself to Hakken's location when someone jumped behind him and made his shoulder a stepping stone to soar into the air.
When Xeke looked up to see who it was, it was Cira, shooting arrows at the eyes of the lizard surrounding Hakken. Every arrow hit its target.
Xeke's lips parted in amazement. "She's amazing—" But before Xeke could finish his sentence, he saw Cira falling to the ground. Before he could catch her, Cira flipped her body in midair, and her right foot landed on Xeke's shoulder, balancing herself. "Hey! Your foot!"
Cira just chuckled at Xeke's complaints. She was in midair again using Xeke's shoulder to soar.
Xeke clicked his tongue in annoyance, and he used his scattered daggers to move around the battlefield, slashing and stabbing the nearest lizard's body he could find, looking for the weak spot.
While Hakken, Cira, and Xeke were fighting all out, Sollel raised her hand to her chest level, and flames dropped on the dead soil. It immediately crawled onto the ground, blocking the scorpions' path.
"Run!" Sollel shouted at Zassia who was pale with fear.
Zassia nodded and was about to sprint when a scorpion came out from the ground, its tail about to pierce Zassia's chest. But a solid firewall blocked its attack and incinerated the scorpion.
Zassia's lips parted in shock at how powerful El's flame was. "Amazing..." She was too stunned that she forgot about the scorpions, that they were running for their lives. She just stared at El who was being attacked by countless of scorpions, but her fire was fierce and scalding, penetrating the scorpions' bodies and burning them alive.
It was spectacular.
"Run!" Sollel shouted again. Zassia finally woke up from her reverie and started running, but her eyes were still on Sollel.
Sollel's flames were as if they had a mind of their own. While Sollel was running away from the scorpions, her flame was running after her, protecting her back and her sides, blocking the path of the scorpions.
And then all of the sudden, the flame stopped following after Sollel, and it started moving rapidly to a different direction. It speedily formed a circle around a group of scorpions chasing them, trapping the scorpions in its center. That's when Sollel released her fiery ball of flame, exploding and incinerating the group of scorpions inside the circle, including the nearest ones.
The impact of Sollel's ball of flame explosion shook the ground that it caught the lizards' attention...and Xeke's.
"What a powerful flame sorceress..." Xeke was in awe. "Such explosive strength."
Cira, who was assisting Hakken, grinned excitedly when she saw the explosion. "That's my favorite queen right there!"
Though Hakken didn't see the explosion, a proud smile was on his lips as he thought, That's my lady. Then he tightened his hold on his war blades and started his lizard slaughter. There was someone he didn't want to disappoint.
Meanwhile, Sollel's breathing was uneven. It was her first time running for too long while fighting with only one-eighth of her strength. It was draining and exhausting at the same time.
Sollel distanced herself from her companion while running because of her explosive plan and was now about to run back to Zassia and Grath when she saw three scorpions coming out from the ground, surrounding the two.
Sollel immediately threw her flames to the ground. They were crawling in high speed, but Zassia and Grath were too far from her. Her flames would never reach them in time!
Hakken, Xeke, and Cira were occupied defending themselves against the lizards, and between Zassia and Grath, only Grath could fight; he was already in the middle of fighting one of the three scorpions surrounding them.
Sollel's eyes fell on Zassia. She was holding her staff again, stumbling and tripping in her own feet while evading the scorpions' attacks and murmuring something.
Zassia was human; if she died, Sollel wouldn't care. She hated humans. But when Sollel saw Zassia on the brink of death, the scorpions' tail closing to piercing her heart and stomach, Sollel remembered how much Zassia believed in her. How she would rather die and be executed than believe the four kingdoms' lies. She was so weak, she couldn't even make a fireball to save her life, but she still believed in the Mistress of Flame.
She still believed in me.
A lone tear fell from Sollel's eyes as she heard Zassia's scream for help.
"Queen Sollel, please protect me with your flame!" Zassia knew that even how hard she prayed, she might never be heard. But she still believed nonetheless.
Hearing Zassia's desperate prayer, Sollel's eyes glistened. A lavalike liquid swirled around her eyes as she raised her finger, pointing at Zassia's back. "Flame of blessing, come forth and heed my will." A bloodlike flame erupted from Sollel's fingertip, and she felt her strength weaken. "Let her possess your strength and accept thy blessing."
With a speed of light, the bloodlike flame flew toward Zassia, entering from her back and penetrating her heart. And when the flame carved its essence on Zassia's soul, it released a wave of scorching heat, the force knocking back and burning the scorpions surrounding her. The red stone of the staff she was carrying glowed brightly, and the lustrous red brilliance covered the sky, blinding everyone but Sollel.
And as the red glow disappeared, it left a circle of flame around Zassia. A tear fell from her eyes as she clutched her heart and kneeled on one knee. "Thank you, my queen."
CECELIB | C.C.