Silver Cathedral Saga (2 page)

“
Eleanor,” shouted Luna on and on.

Mia shouted
for her own son, but the mothers couldn’t see or hear anything of
them as they went up the slope. Miyah shouted both names along with
them. They all began to breathe hard, getting near the top and
still nothing was heard or seen of their beloveds.

“
Where are they?” shouted Miyah, making the
mothers’ even more worried, if that was at all possible.

They were
at the top, and it was only now that all three decided to look back
at the piercing noises that ran straight through all.

“
By the gods,” whispered Luna in fright, not able
to speak at a reasonable level.

Mia
couldn’t say anything and flung herself onto her mother, as if
Miyah could stop it all; she was overwhelmed with what was in front
of her eyes now, they both were, but Miyah tried to stay strong for
her daughter at this time.

“
They’re back,” said Luna looking out to the
shadowlike beings. “We’ve never seen them in numbers like this
before.” Luna shook her head slightly whilst saying the last
sentence, disbelieving everything that was taking place in
front.

Everything
right then changed and shifted.

Eleanor’s
mother knew immediately what the numbers of an army this big meant
for their world.

Found

“Mum,”
shouted Eleanor in the distance, making her turn towards her
daughter.

Eleanor and
Christian rushed to the hill, but were some way away.

Only—something went wrong.

“Luna,”
shouted Mia as she tried to pull her friend aside from the stab of
a weapon, the possessor, silent until striking. With a Shadow’s
sword.

A few
seconds was all it took, not knowing where the enemy was, soon to
be in front of their faces.

Mia had
done everything as quick as she possibly could, but it was still
too late.

Instead of
the blade running through the lower, middle part of Luna’s torso
where it was aimed, it instead managed to poke out the back of her
body, near her hip.

“Mum,” said
Eleanor softly to herself. She couldn’t scream. Shock settled in
quickly, like a parasite, feeding itself on another. On her. At
this time the Shadow made her and Christian stop and think before
starting to go up the hill, even though they really wanted to.

Luna choked
when the blade was in her seconds later, as if part of it just went
down her throat and she found it hard to swallow. She cringed,
closing her eyes and suppressing the surprising pain and immediacy
of it all.

Guilt
rushed through Eleanor:
If me and Christian stayed at the well
we could have all gotten away safely by now. Why is this happening
to us? What have we done.

“Go,” said
Eleanor’s mother crouched like a cripple, pushing Mia and Miyah
away from her as the sword was detracted by the Shadow. The mother
yelled, then choked again. “Go with Eleanor and Christian, and get
as far away from here as possible.”

The enemy
looked humanoid, yet had no detailed or distinguished features to
say of. They had no nose, eyes or ears. They were like a shadow of
a human, only living, with their black silhouettes moving, killing.
Which gave them their name. And it seemed a glossy gleam shone from
them at times. All this stared at Eleanor’s mother now, and the
dark being seemed to hesitate at this time, looking at
Christian
’
s mum and his sister behind
her.

Mia and
Miyah were about to move as Luna held onto the Shadow to stop it,
yet it struck the stabbed mother again after; and continued to
pursue Christian’s. As if Luna was already dead. Yet she held on
for some brief more moments, not able to do much, except clutch her
wound that bled drastically before going into an eternal sleep.

The same
Shadow stabbed Mia as she ran, and pulled back the child—to try and
do the same. Yet the little girl wriggled out of the dark hand’s
grasp and fled.

“Christian,” said Mia calling out to her son in a time of need,
only for her son, not herself. “Do as I say.” She was on the
floor.

He didn’t
know how to address this situation, and wasn’t sure how to carry
himself even more so as Miyah ran down the hill towards him and
Eleanor.

“Go,” she
continued. The Shadow came to her. She began crying, and the
remaining children weren’t sure if it was physical, or the internal
grief of just seeing her best friend die; the pain of death and its
reality, or of her physical self. “Go now,” she yelled on the
floor, and with such a rage that it hurt her throat and turned her
face a bright red.

A Mother’s Wrath

Mia
attempted to get up as the Shadow was near, hovering above, more
enemies on the way up the hill.

She had
both hands firm on the floor as the enemy’s sword was about to
strike yet again. Though she didn’t let it. Not this time. Not
whilst her friend laid so near, her foot just reaching the well as
she passed. Gone.

This time
she grabbed the blade between her palms, moving quicker than even
she thought possible—and took it as her own.

“If there’s
one thing you should know about us folks…” she looked at her son,
daughter and Eleanor run out of the village as she said the
previous part, gripping the sword tighter. She now turned her face
to the enemy, “…it’s to never—ever—mess with an angry mother”.

The mother
swung the weapon at her first enemy, turning it into a black dust,
letting loose a wrath she never knew existed inside, surprising and
almost scaring herself. But she didn’t let that stop her in these
moments; one which came from a truly instinctive place.

Though the
numbers that moved to her looked hopeless for just one to survive
against now, she didn’t let that get in the way of taking out more
of the enemies in front. All before her heart gave way, and stopped
beating.

Danger Defined, Hope Declined

Inside
the walls of the Silver Cathedral flickers of a great many candle
light encased a room, lifting complete darkness, but neither giving
a bright enough light to see in all corners or at all ends at the
same time.

The king
sat on his throne within the glowing space, covering his eyes with
his right hand. Part of him looked embossed from the radiant light,
showing all his feelings on the canvas of his experienced mask he
himself called a face:

“What do
you do when you face defeat?” he said to himself, showing creases
from worry.

The queen
got off her throne and went to her husband without another word
being spoken. She knelt and looked at his face. The royal woman
then took the king’s right hand that was on his face and held it
tightly in her grasp. She looked at him again, seeing the real him,
as sincere as a wife could do to show him what he really meant to
her.

“You do
everything you can to help all those around you, my lord.” All her
words were pronounced slowly, as if to emphasise the great
importance of them.

The king
sniffled before letting go of his wife’s grasp, and got up, ready
to leave.

“Thank you,
my queen,” said the king turning to her. “For always anchoring me
to the ground. This world owes as much debt to you as it does to
its king.”

“You know
nothing of your own greatness. That’s what makes you such a noble
leader.” She stood up now, her long, silvery shawl moving as she
did.

“Only time
can tell us if that is true.” He left her presence, and then throne
room.

“Send me
the leader of the Swan Knights,” said the king going down the
corridor to a guard who instantly replied and moved from the
command. The speech was quiet, but echoed as the king grew farther
apart from his wife hearing all.

The queen
then moved back to sitting on her throne when her husband was gone.
Looking out to the beautifully lit room; she became entranced,
drifting and thinking on something she could not stop thinking
about for so many long years now. Her eyes not blinking, open and
yet lifeless. She gave a faint smile, one which took some time to
fully form itself, as if it was harder than usual to give life
to.

Disconnected
Paths

Eleanor, Christian and Miyah ran for nearly thirty minutes down the
path at the back of the village before slowing down. Nobody was
nearby. The intense exercise made them more aware of everything
around.

Small
clumps of leaves sat on the path here and there, with their yellow
and red colours in different tones, but with much more generous
shades of brown fallen life.

“If we were
in a children’s story this wouldn’t be so grim. And full of death,
and misery,” said Christian as his sister crushed him with her two
arms.

“Not all
children’s stories are like living on Pixie Dust,” replied
Eleanor.

“We’ve been
walking around for too long now,” said Christian dragging his feet,
trying to ignore what his friend just said. “Think it’s time to
rest.” Before an answer was even given he stopped walking after
spe
aking and gave a long deep breath, as if to
release something built up inside.

“Can’t
argue there,” replied Eleanor, looking at Miyah with tears
streaking down her face, though staying very quiet whilst doing
it.

They
stopped and sat on a large rock that looked much more comfortable
than it felt. It was near a natural path they had been taking all
this time, made by the growing number of feet that took it in the
past.

Eleanor
looked as if she was in a huff. Though she didn’t act like it when
it came to talking and interacting with her buddy for some time.
Yet after they both stopped talking of this unfortunate outcome,
she put both hands on her face, covering it, hoping her friend
wouldn’t see.

Christian
then noticed she shook, and made noises along with it that saddened
the night. “Oh, Eleanor. Please don’t cry.”

“I’ve lost
my family and home,” said Eleanor. “I never knew it would be taken
away like this, and to good people like us. The Edeolon gods sure
have a funny sense of humour.”

“More like
a sick one,” said Christian, agreeing and seeing the two people he
cared the most about upset.

Eleanor
wiped away her tears and turned to look at her friend. “I think it
would be a good idea to go to Sunndira. There are passers by there
that are supposed to know where the Silver Cathedral is. Or so I’ve
heard. We have to warn them of what is happening, of what is
coming. We can’t let more families be punished because they didn’t
know.”

“You’re
right, as usual, and with you I know we’ll find the place at
least.”

You see,
Eleanor was a finder. That was her gift, her hobby. She loved
finding the lost and placing it in its rightful place. Nothing gave
this child more pleasure in the world.

Now
Christian wasn’t a finder. He was a puzzle solver, and loved
everything and anything that was complex. Anything that needed to
be solved, worked out or decrypted. Much like his good friend, he
couldn’t imagine doing anything else so much.

Their
passions bought their talent over the years, and they were both
very aware of it.

“Then it’s
settled. We’ll continue onto Sunndira city,” said the boy.

“Yeah,
right after the feeling in my foot comes back. It’s got god dam
numb from me sitting on it. Pins and needles, here I come.”

Christian
chuckled after hearing this, and paid attention to her legs that
she knelt on upon the rock.

Eleanor
stretched her bottom two limbs before allowing them to touch the
floor again, ready for the path ahead.

They
set off when they were ready some minutes later, when their feet
felt less heavy and they could think about the long journey ahead
again without wanting to cry.

The night
sky was still like a black, thick veil covering the sun; not a
single ray of light crept through.

A few thick
clouds were scattered around near; still, this created what the
Astorians called a clog: A cloudlike fog that was hardly strange
weather for these folk, rather common in fact.

“It should
take us about another hour to get to Sunndira, even in these
conditions,” said Eleanor. “I’m hoping the inn there will have some
news of how to get to this Silver Cathedral.”

“By the
gods, I really hope so. It’s all we have going for us right now,”
replied Christian.

The three
of them hurried along the path with a brisk walk, seeing many trees
take form and continue to grow in numbers the farther they moved to
their destination.

Christian
whistled a song their village used to sing sometimes at the more
cheery gatherings, hoping to perk them both up a little. His sister
joined in too.

There
seemed to be nothing else but white bushes and tall trees, signs
telling them they were going the right way and themselves.

As the
children went on they began to notice all plant life on the
floating lands of Astora were white, and not just in Hiva Aura like
they strangely expected.

Sounds
of chirping crickets pounced into the young travellers ears from
within a white field of tall grass. They came from one direction,
then another. Both the children were no strangers to crickets, so
they were not sure if it was one cricket jumping around making all
these noises, or several, or even more.

“The white
meadow,” said Eleanor, halting. Christian and Miyah stopped just as
she done so.

The kids’
all this time always wore a metal band on their wrist, and that was
the normal part.

These
bracelets were crafted from star-metal, made from
‘
Starao’ in huge quantities thousands of years ago. It
was a rare site if a person didn’t have one in these times, on this
world.