The Enlglightenment

  The Enlightenment

 

  The biting cold pierced my scrawny frame. The muscles in my back and legs tightened, the hairs on the back of my neck stood frozen. The cold steel of the bastard sword mounted on my back pressed against the yak hide of my tunic, chilling my spine. My boots were sodden with the early morning dew coupled with the shin high powdered snow. Crowding the vast expanse of woodland that lay around me, mighty fur trees stood 20 feet tall, looming, watching us frozen by the violent blizzards that had occurred the previous evening, The storm had wrenched nearly all plant life from the very earth, the hardier floral life of the wood, small shrubs and patches of tiger eye flowers stood motionless and looked as if they were encased in frosted glass. Only the sounds of our feet broke the silence that crushed the area. A low mist of snow was still visible all around in the distance, reducing visibility to about 30 feet, I had never been in a more open area and felt more claustrophobic  The blizzard had been so harsh that we could only see a blur of white all around, it was impossible get any perspective of distance. Any normal traveller would have quickly become disorientated and to get lost in these woods, even at the end of winter meant certain death, if not from the cold then from one of the many predatory animals, who being raised in this hell have become hardier than any man armed with a sword or axe.

   I was only fifteen and definitely would have died many times over this morning had it not been for the looming figure that strode powerfully ahead of me, his broad shoulders and back shielded me from the worst of the wind sheer, the snow was harmlessly kicked into the air with every mighty step he took. My father was indeed worthy of the title of Battle Master in my clan, the other men tell me of his many victories in battle. My favourite was how he had saved the Battle Master of an opposing clan from his treacherous Battle Brother, a man called Lars and in saving his life had earned the title he now wears. Of course there were nay sayers and rumours of greed and perversion spread to sully my fathers name but I never believed a word of it, he was my father and one day I too would earn the mantle he wore, and going through this rite of passage today would bring me one step closer. For one, I would earn my manhood and would have slain a creature of such evil that I would be the talk of the clan for some time. Most boys my age are taken out to the woods by their fathers to hunt the mighty trihorn or the giant snow vyper, but my father had found me something that not even the grown men of my village have seen let alone killed.

   Since finding out what my father had in store for me during my trial, I have been practicing my swordsmanship and not stopped until I showed an aptitude akin to that of my piers. I felt ready. Now that the day had come though, I had never felt weaker, the very weather was on the brink of bringing me to my knees. My sword felt as if it weighed a ton and my muscles were so frozen I could barely expand my sternum to take in air. But the sight my father; inexhaustible and relentless in the face of this harsh scene thawed the blood in my veins and spurred me on. I focused my sights on the mighty buster sword inlayed with runes and a spine of pearl through the middle of the blade, a lethal weapon bestowed to the mightiest warriors of our clan. Watching it set in the middle of my fathers back bobbing lightly from left to right with the movement of my fathers gait, it seemed to be waving me on filling me with confidence.

   “You are the strongest boy of your age in the whole clan, you are ready for this. Remember you are my son, despite your youth the blood of a thousand warriors screams through your body. When you enter the den of this vile beast you do not fight alone, your ancestors stand with you. Your sword shall fall with the force of a falling star. Your enemy will know when it sees you that it does not face one boy, if faces a hundred baying lions, and it shall know fear for the first time.”
  As my father spoke these words I could not see his face as he didn’t turn around to address me, it was as if the great heathen Gods spoke to me.

  “Father you have trained me to be emotionless, lethal and most importantly smart, I will not fail you, I will be Battle master one day”. My throat choked with a lump as I spoke the final words of the sentence.
  
  “You will make me proud boy”. My eyes welled and the tears of pride froze to my cheeks, but I no longer felt the cold. My muscles shook the ice from their surfaces, my hands felt as if I held hot coals in my palms. My sword felt light, I finally felt awake.

   The journey had been long, walking slowly for hours through seemingly identical scenery battling the final remnants of the storm. The snow covered our path behind making it impossible to tell how far we had come. For hours we had walked in total silence, now that my father spoke to me I knew we were getting close. Before I could reply to my father he stopped suddenly crouching placing one hand on the fabric wound handle of his mighty blade. I mimicked my father’s behaviour, dropping a couple of feet back so my father could draw his sword rapidly without having to worry about decapitating me.
 
 “What is it father” I spoke in a low whisper, so as not to give any assailant an unnecessary advantage.
  
“Its been stalking us for a few hours now, it’s been waiting for us to succumb to the cold. I was hoping that it would have lost interest but it must be starving if its risking attacking us especially since it is most definitely alone.”.
  
How could I have had no idea that something was out there, I was now truly grateful for my father’s presence. I strained my ears against the background noise of my breathing and the snow falling from the tops of the trees. I pricked my head up suddenly on full alert, I heard a low growl, but the damned sorcery of the place made it impossible to tell the origin of the noise. I had to think, I knew these forests, I knew every animal, I should know what it is by sound alone. Even if the scenery made it impossible to know where it was; I could gauge what we were begin stalked by.  The noise came again, a cold sweat tickled my spine, my blood ran cold, I knew what it was.

*   *   *   *
   It was the terror of this region, the Gaunt. It was a beast that existed more in the lore of the region rather than in any corporeal form. Very few people lived through an encounter with this animal. It’s ferocity was  legendary. It was said that it once tore its way through one of our neighbouring villages and every weapon was left mounted or sheathed, it had killed everyone before they had a chance to draw arms. It was supposed to be about two and half metres tall, long slender limbs that ended with long clawed hands and feet, rows upon rows of bone crunching teeth adorned its wide smiling jaw. The worst thing was the Gaunts eyes more than a quarter of its head was filled with two great steel blue orbs. The fact that the eyes were so big gave it a huge peripheral vision , meaning it was nearly impossible to catch the Gaunt off guard and it was suicide to attack one from the front, so you see our dilemma.

   “Damn it all”. My father’s quiet frustration was barely audible.
I was about to respond to my father when I too felt the cause of his angst. A low murmur was rolling in all around, the wind was picking up. The snow from the trees began to fall and new snow was blown through the narrow foot path in the woods creating a blinding wind tunnel of white. Now with the Gaunts pristine white coat and this blasted localized blizzard it would be impossible to see or hear the Gaunt. He had every advantage. From the lore surrounding the Gaunt and its attacks I knew we were as good as eaten.
  
  I looked to my father for guidance or solace in our final moments, but he had vanished. The damned snow was kicking up so fast that I could not see my father who I was sure was only a few feet in front of me, or was it behind me, I had no idea, I had lost all bearings. 

   “Father…”. I could not be heard over the howl of the storm.
“Father!” I cried, squinting my eyes to try and see some form in the distance but there  was only white. Had my father taken flight in the opening seconds of the storm, no he would sooner die himself than leave me for the Gaunt’s claws…Unless he assumed I would have enough wits to use the storm as cover and run myself. Blast! I was so panicked I had passed up the only opportunity in the blizzard before it became disadvantageous. Now the Gaunt had had time to adjust it would now not locate by sight but by its uncanny sense of smell. To the Underland with it! I still had a chance it might not have located me yet the cold would hamper its nose hopefully enough. I decided to make my escape. I raised myself from my knees, took a hopefully educated guess as to what direction my father had been in and set one foot forward. No sooner had I planted my boot into the freshly lain snow, than I heard a tremendous bark over the wind, My muscles froze, my eyes widened in panic allowing the harsh wind to rakes it icy nails across my eyes making them water. I was so overcome by panic that I never thought to even attempt to raise my blade against it. I just stood there, waiting for the slashing claws and the teeth that bite.

   Without warning the Gaunt lunged through the barrier of snow, it was my first up close encounter with this monster of legend, though it was for a split second it was every bit as terrifying as the stories had made out. Its eyes wide with fury and starvation, its long slime slathered tongue shone, wagging to one side of its razor filled mouth. Its slender muscle-knotted torso and arms glowed with the brilliant white of its coat making it hard to gauge how broad or tall the beast was. All I could see for definite was the long pronged claws at the end of its fingers, each one as terrible and long as a machete.

   As if in slow motion the great beast lunged at me with an unrelenting rage in its cold eyes, my mind screamed, Move!! But my legs stood frozen by the cold and terror, even my voice was stuck fast in my throat. As I caught the pungent breath and could practically feel the Gaunt’s bulging eyes devouring me, a flash of steel shot inches past my face and embedded into the Gaunt’s neck. As the image solidified I saw my fathers mighty blade driven into the twisted neck of the monster. My father’s powerful arms wrenched the sword to on side and the crack of the Gaunt’s spine and tendons snapping echoed throughout the forest. As I stood up my father pulled his blade free and gobs of gore followed. The pristine white of the snow became tarnished with the flowing blood of the now dead animal, the fury still bubbling in it’s eyes. I stumbled over to my father still in shock at my near death experience. He looked at me with a look of almost contempt as he wiped the entrails off of his sword with a handful of snow. The storm ebbed and ceased into a silent tranquillity. 

*   *   *   *

  “You couldn’t even raise your sword-”
Instinctively I grasped the quilted hilt of my blade with my left hand.
“If you could not even raise your sword in the face of this fiend, I wonder if you are in fact ready to undertake this challenge” My father turned away from me and began to continue walking, leaving the corpse of the gaunt freezing in the wind.
I followed him pleading, “I am ready! I have the strength of my whole family behind me, and you father you give me courage. I know I can do it”.
“Fool! If I hadn’t been here today you would have been butchered by this place, but make no mistake, you will face the Succubus alone, she has the power to crush skulls with her bare hands and the sorcery and wiles to obliterate a man’s mind and soul.”
I tensed at the thought of facing such a voracious abomination.
“You hesitate even for a breath, if you doubt your purpose or hers, she has won, she will tear you from gob to gizzard.”
  I will not fail, I will not bring shame to my family name. I will excel like my father.
“Remember this is the beast that once killed your mother and stole you away from me when you were an infant. I might have been able to save you son but I was too late for my sweet  Allyshar…”
Though I would not see but the back of my fathers head I knew he was choking on his tears, I don’t fully remember what happened that day, I remember the darkness of that cold wet grotto. My father assures me what I am about to say is just the juvenile mind warping memories, but I swear I was not afraid in that place it was almost as if I were happy. I expect it was part of the Succubus’ hex to ensure my mother and I didn’t struggle.
“..Are you listening boy?’  My father called back half cocking his head in my direction.
“Sorry father I am just remembering that day, that warped creature stole my mother and I from our village and that crething thing ate my own mother and sought to devour me…I will kill it.” I stared intensely at the back of my father’s head, he knew I was serious but made no reply. We continued to walk in silence.

  Now I walked with a sense of purpose, each lofty step I took defied the very snow which tried to hold me at bay, My sword weighed as much as paper. My muscles hurtled me forwards, my breath like fire melted away the cold. The rage in my belly and the mettle in my soul smouldered out into the world, rushed past the trees, over the landscape encompassing everything . I strode tall, headlong into the black abyss of the cowardly evil before me and I ventured forward …now at my fathers side.

  After hours of walking, finally the trees were dying. We looked ahead and the trees though every tree was without leaves, only the ones ahead looked rotten and gnarled. The Succubus’ sorcery spreads to the very Earth herself . We knew we were very close. The temperature cant have dropped but as we intermingled with the lifeless world before us, I swear the atmosphere itself was dead. Nothing could be heard for miles around even our voices seemed to just drop out of our mouths, with no wind to carry them. My internal fire however could not be extinguished. No matter the landscape my flame poured from every part of my being this desolate place would be burned up in my fury.

  We trekked about a mile until the snow stopped falling and our feet fell on black, hard earth. My father turned back quizzically.
“Hmm, the snow is still falling.”
I turned my head back as well. The snow was indeed falling furiously only a few hundred metres behind us. Why was it not falling here.
As if by telepathy my father answered.
 “We are close to her now, her mysticism even repels mother nature.”.
The lack of mother Earth’s power made the cave mouth ahead seem all the more insurmountable. My father and I approached the deep dark gob of the place. There was no need to keep our guard up now as was necessary in the forest, nothing natural would venture this close to the beast’s domain it’s unholy magic repelled all form of life. All was baron.

*   *    *   *

  I gazed into the mouth of the cave, the crushing black of the entrance seemed to press down on everything around it, I felt as if I were carrying a dozen black mammoth hides on my shoulders. It wasn’t just looking into the cave that raised goose bumps I swore that the cave was looking back at me, with its one obsidian eye, I felt the tension go from my knees, the strength from my arms. Looking at my father even his mighty frame seemed to be struggling as I saw a lone bead of sweat trickle down past the throbbing vein in his temple. Truly we were looking into the mouth of  hell. My father pulled me to the immediate left of the mouth, out of it’s gaze. Taking his huge bastard sword off of his back and resting it tip-first in the chalky earth, he squatted bringing his deep set eyes parallel to mine. He stared at me a moment, eyes piercing straight through my eyes into my mind, into my soul.

“My son, this is your trial, are you ready?”. His stare growing more intense, looking for any hint of weakness he might not have purged from me.
“Yeah…I’m (ahem)” I straightened my back and met his gaze “I am ready, this thing ruined our lives it will  die.”.
My father settled back onto his haunches and relaxed his gaze.
“Ok…now I’ll offer you the last of my advice, this is all I can do to help you. When you enter the cave don’t be fooled, nothing you see is real it’s all a spell to confuse you, to make you doubt your purpose. There will be a long passage that you must pass, don’t worry it’s a direct route you cannot get lost, but at the end of the tunnel there is a sharp slope. Be careful not to fall as the end of it will drop you right into the Succubus’ lair.” My father rose stretching the back of his legs and turning his head heavenward.
“I’m sorry I cannot tell you what to expect when you get in there no one has ever seen it, even when I rescued you I found you in the tunnel itself.”.

  I rubbed my forehead until I every detail of my fathers recount of the layout was drilled into my mind, I needed every advantage I could get. I felt the bile rise to the back of my throat begging to be purged, but I swore I would not dishonour my father by showing weakness at the apex of my trial. I stood and inhaled deeply washing the acid away with the icy, dead air. Turning my head back down the way he had come, to the snowy hinterlands of my home. The snow now delicately falling after the whiteout, the trees standing majestically tall. The sheer beauty of the tranquil scene frosted my resolve, a light wind caressed my worn face. I swore I would emerge from my trial to feel that breeze again. My fathers hand fell onto my shoulder, his eyes absorbed the scenery as mine were. It must have only been a few seconds but it felt as if we stood there for hours in this happy purgatory, as we truly stood between heaven and the mouth of hell.

*   *   *   *

  I moved slowly through the black maw of the cavern, I glanced back at my fathers ever decreasing image and I felt my courage dissipate proportionally. The cave walls were a damp obsidian that seemed to suck the light from the entrance. I could barely see my hand in front of my face. I desperately wished I had had the foresight to pack a torch. I felt the monsters eyes in every crevasse of the wall. Every step I took I imagined her smacking her lips with that terrible tongue as her meal wandered ever closer.

The slimy floor of the passage way was long and about five feet across. Good, I had enough room to draw my blade freely if that bitch snuck up on me. I exhibited text book knowledge of my fathers training; always keep off centre to the main route, keeping your sword hand facing the middle of the route. Before entering  I covered the hide on my back in the soil outside in order to mask my scent. I also coated my sword blade in a layer of wet mud to dull the glimmer of the blade in the light. I skulked along the wall of the passage, darting my eyes in all directions, just in case.  I stopped, my eyes explored what seemed to be the end of the long tunnel. A dim, majestic blue light shone down the tunnel at me. This was it. I crept forward the padded fur of my boots masking the noise of  my footfalls. I slowly drew my dulled blade, ready to cut this monster asunder.

  Approaching the room I moved very slowly, allowing my eyes to adjust to the new level of light. Though the light was not harsh it seemed to wash over me and almost sooth me, I felt the frantic panic that had been welling up in me begin to fade. I entered the room. The chamber was large and cylindrical, I noticed a large pool of water in the centre of the room. My eyes were however dazzled by something else in the room, in the centre of the room suspended above the shimmering pool was a giant formation of crystals. They were luminous with every colour imaginable. The light danced all over the walls of the chamber, as I looked down even my hands and body rippled with beautiful colour. With my sword braced ahead of me in my village’s traditional combat stance, I circled the pool of water mesmerized by the majesty of the place. She must be here there was no other route in or out of the chamber, she must be watching me right now. My mind turned back to the Gaunt and my father. I kept replaying the event of the attack in my head, why hadn’t my father answered me? He must have been able to see me, he was close enough to strike a killing blow to the Gaunt. I kept thinking I had had a role in that victory…as bait.

This place truly was wonderful, the warm water bobbed delightfully, the light glided over the deep black walls. My sword was heavy and all the hype and panic before hand seemed painfully funny and pointless. I felt so at home here, I felt more belonging here than I ever had in that village. All those people with their bestial faces, their evil sly smirks. I hated them all. I had never belonged there I was always treated like a second class citizen. Even this trial was a crething joke. Why should I have to prove my own worth as a man? I have worked, I have lain with a woman and on occasion defied my father. So by every marker of society I was a man. Who are these fools to ask for proof in blood?

I sat down at the poolside and threw my sword to one side. I discarded my boots and dipped my feet into the pool, making playful ripples in the water. A song  crept into my mind, it seemed to flow up from the pool off the walls of the brilliant crystal and into my head. I began to hum a light melody, I smiled a wide grin as I saw my reflection in many colours on the surface of the crystal. As the light reflected off of the wall, still humming I noticed there was a variety of images on the wall. I strained my eyes, still humming. All over the walls, everywhere, where children’s toys. Rocking horses, balls of every size, action figures and many more. They had all fallen into disuse, cracks and ware adorned their once colourful forms. Humming, my hand brushed against something. I looked down and at my right side and there was a small wooden sword. I was sure it wasn’t there when I first sat down. Turning the fragile termite bitten blade in my hand I felt a certain connection with it. As it had once been wielded by my own hand. I looked around the glowing room, I felt as if this place were my true home. I gazed back down at the toy, the lovely melody still echoing around me as I sang.

Suddenly my Father’s words rang into my mind..

“Don’t be fooled, nothing you  see is real it’s all a spell to confuse you, to make you doubt your purpose.”.
Creth! Since I first stumbled into this room that whore had put her hex on me. She had made me doubt my entire life, even made me hate my own father, but not now. My father had drilled me well, his words broke the spell over me. I shot a look back down into my hands. Creth the sword definitely was not there when I sat down. She had put it there. She had been close enough to tear my head off and all did to prevent it was hum a damned tune, which I was still humming. 

 I kept on humming, if she was nearby I didn’t want to give the game away yet. Fondling the wooden blade I rose, my back drenched in sweat and my head swam with suppressed panic. I casually strolled over to where I had discarded my sacred sword. My eyes were transfixed on that sword, if I could just get close enough…now! I threw the toy aside and rolled swiping my blade as I did, I rose in a low guard stance. I had stopped humming the tune, but it kept on singing throughout the crystal room. It was her! Knowing now she was there and had been singing with me the whole time I almost collapsed from the terror. I tried to control my breathing and get a fix on her location as I had done with the Gaunt’s growl. The crething crystal seemed to bounce the sound off of every surface, if I didn’t know better I would have swore the room was filled with singing monsters.  Finally my rage and fear boiled over.
“Where are you!”.
As my frantic shout echoed throughout the room, the song ceased, drifting off like a lullaby the final note hanging in the air like magic for a few seconds.
The water rippled once.
Silently a form emerged from the pool of water, a woman. She was tall and slender in the dark of the room. For a moment I was captivated by her beauty, but not with lust more with, love. Drips exploring her curves and meanders found their way to the floor with a light, plip. The figure moved towards me elegantly.
The song trailed off.
“I used to sing that to you .”.
“I’m so happy you have come back.”. She chimed. Her voice washed over me like a summer breeze.
“What do you mean”. My voice was dull as if the words had been pulled out of my lungs.
“When you were stolen from me I thought you lost my love. Look how big and strong you have become.”.
Don’t listed! My Father’s words screeched into my mind.
The figure glided into the light of the cave, her body was covered with scales of a golden glint. A whip like tail swayed playfully at her back. Her face though, he face was truly beautiful, warm almost kind. Creth! Even her appearance was meant to delude. I raised my sword into a medium guard stance. Wait until she makes her move, search for an opening.
She moved ever closer.
Her body swaying majestically, her feet didn’t make a sound as she passed over the slick stone floor. Approaching me I noticed something, she was slow, her stance was faulty. It was as if she wasn’t going to fight.
Smiling almost in a whisper she uttered “come to me.”.
Suddenly she lunged at me arms outstretched. The adrenaline must have been surging my brain into action as she seemed so slow and her arms were set almost to embrace not to eviscerate.
Her long slender fingers almost touching me a leapt to the side spinning , keeping my stance wide I brought my blade down with a grunt. My blade sung as it became coated in the blood of the witch. Her hand flew against the wall with a dull thud and fell harmlessly to the floor pooling in its fluid.
The woman let out a blood curdling screech.
Clutching her bloody stump she turned to me with tears in her eyes.
“Why…”
  Sobbing she hobbled towards me. As I looked at the pathetic figure coming towards me again, I was consumed with the worst feeling I had ever experienced. My temples throbbed with heat, Tears streamed down my face. This must be the demons magic at it’s worst.
Before this witchery could over come me completely I dove forward plunging my blade into her sternum. We both toppled over she was on top of me. My hands still clutching my blade fiercely. Blood trickled from her mouth and spattered on my cheek. As the life gradually faded from her sparkling eyes, our gazes met. Her face suddenly lost the ashen pallor of death and became warm and kind.
“I love you *cough* my son.”.
The life left her body and she became grey, her frail figure slumped onto my chest, I could feel her heart stop beating through my clothes. My mind swam. The feeling grew even stronger, I realized all too late that it was shame.
  I rolled to the side and gently allowed the woman to settle on the wet ground. I stood and stumbled back, my eyes fixed on her body. My body erupted in sweat, my hands clammy, shook uncontrollably and tears washed the blood spatter from my cheeks. My mind raced, it was as if a truth was pushing its way to the front of my brain.
  Had my father used me as bait, was the feeling I experienced upon entering this room been magic or familiarity. Had the sword really been mine? I cradled my head in my hands as all the things that woman had said to me flashed into my head.
‘Happy you’ve come back…stolen from me…sing that to you…big you’ve grown.’.
I couldn’t be, I timidly walked towards the corpse that had my sword sticking out of its mid section. A warm smile adorned the face of the woman, the scales had lost their shimmer. Her eyes dully stared at the ceiling. I squatted closer gazing into those dead eyes. I jumped to my feet recoiling in fear.
“The same colour as mine!”.
No! this woman had been my mother. And I had plunged a filthy piece of metal into her killing her. She died in such agony, at the hands of her own son.
  I stood there paralysed with nausea, I wanted to slip the end of my blade through my neck and join my mother, but at the pinnacle of my despair my mind turned to my father. He had lied to me, tricked me into killing her, but why. I didn’t know but I sure as creth would find out.
  I rose and moved to retrieve my blade, rage boiling through my veins. I was so focused on my father, the man I had once revered over all others had betrayed me, I never heard someone approach me from behind.

*   *   *   *

  I felt the air driven from my lungs. I clutched the cramp in my stomach. A sharp pain hit the palm of my hand. I looked down at a rune adorned steel tip. The sword had been driven through my back and emerged out my front covered in my gleaming blood.
“Thank you boy, she might look harmless enough but her magic slaughtered everyone who came last time, but I managed to get away with you whilst they died. Now join the whore.”.
The blade was driven forward, I heard my ribs crunch with the pressure. My vision blurred and blood shot out of my mouth onto my Mother’s body. I heard a grunt and the blade was roughly and painfully withdrawn. I tumbled to the ground. My blood ran cold and the pain faded into a dizzying high. I turned my head to my assailant. Through tears I saw the powerful figure of my father standing over me. He casually cleaned my blood off of the tip of his blade.
“Ok boys get in here, the bitch and her spawn are dead. Get that crystal down, we’re all about to become very, very wealthy men.”.
I wanted to yell in rage at the shattered image of my father that stood over me, all I could manage was a gurgle as my lungs filled with blood.
“Little shit still breathing huh? You cost me 14 good years. Pretending to care, but now it will all be worth it…time to die…son.”.
The last thing I saw after my Father drove his foot into my wound, was him casually with his foot, rolling my mother into the pool of water as strange men moved mining equipment into position. 


Written by Daniel Elmer