Slizto

         She raised he short tanned arms, her purple silk sleeves trickling down to her shoulders, her golden wand reaching for the sky summoning the awesome power of the spirit she was about to unleash, her eyes clasped shut in concentration, then as they opened her arms are thrown forwards clasping her wand, an amazing light fly’s from her fingertips into the wand creating a blinding white light above her head, she thrusts the rod higher into the sky and with this the light fly’s high above the battlefield, the light implodes and the spirit summoned unleashes its fury, she smiles a sinister smile. The dark mages power rips through the unsuspecting Weioran warriors, tearing away their souls as they watch their own lifeless body’s fall to the ground as they are sucked into the circular light, their souls trapped inside the flare screaming for freedom, the light rages back to her wand and the souls only raising her power. She turns away from the battleground, trying to hide her smile as thousands of Anhehs cheer for their victory. With her two friends at her side she calmly walks over the skyline, out of the cheering crowds sight, not to be seen by them again.
         “Who is she?” a wounded Anheh warrior asks a nearby gladiator, “No-one knows for sure who she is or why she appears, but rumour has it she is Ariel” he say’s staring amazed by what he has just witnessed, “Ariel?” ask the warrior in astonishment “But? She died nearly two hundred years ago right?” “Apparently not” say the gladiator.

                             * * *

         “SLIZTO! SLIZTO!!!” screams a young boy no more than five in age as he runs into the hotel room, “Wake up! Wake up!! Ariel’s here to see you!” Slizto rolls over half asleep and slowly try’s to open his eyes, there is a gap in the curtains the suns amazing brightness unwelcoming to his eyes. “Get up!” bellows the child “Its Ariel, she’s here for you”, “I’m up, I’m up” murmurs Slizto as his eyes adapt to the light “Who’s Ariel?” he asks. The boy looks puzzled, amazed and shocked in the same emotion “Ariel you know, the great mage, the saviour of the Anheh’s”. “You should know I’m not from here” say’s Slizto to the boy “you should know I don’t know anything about this world”, the boy lowers his head “sorry Slizto, I forgot” says the boy sheepishly “It’s just…. Well you have been here for twelve days now, I thought you would have known”. “Don’t worry Josh, you should also know I ain’t too friendly when I wake” Josh smiles, “I’ll tell her you’ll be ten minutes” he says running out of the door in excitement, “Wait!” shouts Slizto as he realises Josh has left the room “What does she want to see me for?” he says to himself just to finish the sentence meant to be asked to Josh.
         Slizto climbs out of bed and gets ready, he looks into the mirror ‘how did you get here’ he says to himself. He puts on his only pair of clothes, a navy blue short sleeve t-shirt and beige knee-high shorts, he picks up his steel armour and fastens it to his body, spikes up his hair and heads for his blade. He returns to the mirror looking for answers rather than at himself, there are non-to be found, all he can see is himself standing in his armour holding his blade on his shoulder. He looks at the symbol on the chest plate of his armour, the same one that is dangling from a ribbon on his blade’s handle. ‘I will come home’
         As Slizto leaves his room he is greeted by Mia, Mia is a beautiful seventeen year old girl daughter of the hotel owner elder Mikan, her blonde hair flows down to her shoulders, her eyes a lovely shade of blue and her lips rose red, she stands in front of Slizto’s door wearing a blue cotton dress and leaning on the doorframe, “Your hair is a mess” she says spotting an excuse to caress him “Here let me fix it” she starts to fix up Slizto’s hair before he even has chance to give an answer, “Your blushing” he says teasing her, and with this comment she blush’s more, as she finish’s fixing his hair she strokes the side of his face and rests her small hand on his cheek hoping for a kiss, he places his hand on hers and gently puts her hand back at her side “Thanks for the hair” he says as he walks away from her towards the hotel door, she follows him out disappointed.
         The village is made up of fourteen little huts made of woven sticks and leaves from the Ido tree’s, the hut’s all circle around a statue of King Arlan the leader of the Anheh’s. The village is surrounded by the great Ido forest home to hundreds of villages just like this one and the river Onor flows gracefully at the edge of the forest. The two suns shine with amazing brightness down peacefully over the land. There are no men in this village, or in any of the others for that matter, the elders are the only ones, apart from Slizto. The male children are taken to Anpow at the age of fourteen for warrior training. Anpow is the only city in the Anheh region and home to King Arlan; it is set at the base of Mount Act.
         As Slizto walks outside elder Mikan steps up to him “Do you know who Ariel is?” he asks, “I’m afraid not” answers Slizto, elder Mikan smiles his fragile wrinkly face looking up at Slizto “She is the daughter of King Arlan, a master of the Dark arts, don’t be afraid though she is on our side, she may be a dark mage but her heart lye’s with Anheh. She got word of your arrival here and has rushed here to see you”, Slizto is a little confused, the daughter of the king wishing to meet with him, although he isn’t from this world he is still oblivious to the fact that the people here are interested in meeting him and finding out where he is from, what it is like and how he got here. “Thanks for the info” say’s Slizto to elder Mikan as he walks towards the statue of King Arlan where there is a crowd gathered. “Whoa! Do that again, do that again!” shouts Josh in excitement, “one last time ok? Right step back” says Ariel as she raise’s her hands in the air one of them clutching her wand, she throws down her hands, fire fly’s from the ground and floats in the air in front of her in the shape of a ball. Josh is jumping around in excitement, along with the other children from the village. She then blows on the flames turning them to ice, everyone is amazed, she then clicks her fingers and the ball of ice falls to the floor shattering on impact. “Impressive” says Slizto as he walks towards them with his blade on his shoulder; Ariel turns towards him, her purple silk robe swinging around as well as her long brunette hair. “Lower your weapon“ says a stern voice “NOW!” the guardian of Ariel stands in a fighting stance, his long sword pointing firmly in the direction of Slizto, the guardian is a tall muscular male, he has a scar on left cheek, his gold full body armour glimmers in the sunlight, Slizto lowers his blade “So. You must be Slizto” says Ariel in her soft voice, Slizto stares at her, he is mesmerised by her beauty, “um… yeah I’m Slizto, why do you want to see me?” she laughs “maybe we should have a chat, oh and please excuse my guardian Arac he‘s a little edgy” she says, she turns to the gathered crowd “Please excuse me” she says as she bows to elder Mikan. “Do you have somewhere private?” she asks Slizto. Mia steps in “You may use the hotels meeting room, I will lead the way”
         Arac enters the room first looking around for anything or anyone that may pose a threat he finds nothing. Slizto takes a seat at the table with Mia sliding into the chair next to him Ariel and Arac sit opposite. Ariel begins “First things first, tell us about your world” Slizto looks down at the table “You do know this is about the thirtieth time I have told this” Ariel smiles and says “thirty one won’t hurt”, Slizto looks up “ok, I hope your comfy” Ariel nods and Slizto begins “well, my world is called Andin, we have only one sun which we fear maybe lost soon as it seems to be dying, we pray to the sun god GilgaMesh in the hope he will breathe energy back into it. Our warriors don’t go away to train for war we are taught how to wield a blade by our fathers and practise on the captured beasts in the training room, none of these beasts can hurt us as our armour is so strong. Our nation is at peace with the world, the only reason we train is that we fear there maybe a nation we haven’t discovered who might attack us.” Ariel is intrigued she listens more “You see we have only chartered about a tenth of the world, it maybe more or maybe less but this is what our leaders believe. We are different to you in that we have three kings who run the land, and um. I’m not sure what else you want to know” Ariel asks how he got here to Anheh, Slizto realises that the name Ariel is what he heard the gladiator say “Um. Err. You aren’t going to believe this, and I’ve only just realised myself. Let me start from the beginning, the last thing I remember from my world was saying goodnight to my mother, she was bathing my younger brother, I went upstairs to bed. Then I had a really weird dream, thinking back now it was…” Slizto can’t believe he didn’t recognise her “It was you in my dream Ariel, you where there, there was a great battle, thousands of people fighting across the mass fields, the sound of screaming and shouting almost washed out by the sounds of metal clashing, fires where raging and arrows where flying through the air, then you appeared, you raised your arms, your purple silk sleeves trickled down your shoulders, your golden wand reached for the sky as you cast your spell, your eyes were clasped shut, then as your eyes opened and your arms were thrust forwards an amazing light flew from your fingertips binding with the wand and creating a blinding white light above your head, you then thrust the rod higher into the sky and the light flew across the battlefield, the light then seemed to implode, and thousands of lights flew out gripping the souls of the opposing army and sucking them into the light, I could see from there point of view, watching there own body’s fall to the ground as they where sucked into the light, their souls screaming was deafening to my ear, the light then flew back into your wand and made the gold glimmer more, you then turned hiding your smile and walked off across over the skyline with two people by your sides as the crowd behind you cheered for the victory. I then saw a wounded man he asked another guy “Who is she?” and he replied “No-one knows for sure who she is or why she appears, but rumour has it she is Ariel” the wounded man stared in amazement before saying “Ariel? But? She died nearly two hundred years ago right?” the guy looked at him and said “Apparently not”. Then I woke up hot and flustered, I was lying right in the centre of this village, I thought I was still dreaming but I haven’t woke yet” Everyone around the table is amazed, they don’t know what to make of this story, then Ariel asks “What is that symbol on your chest plate?” Slizto looks down at the symbol “it’s the symbol of Andin”, “oh” she says “Well I think I may have to show you something”, “yes?” answers Slizto hoping for any sign of his home, Ariel smiles “The symbol you have on your chest is the same one that is on a cave seal at the far side of Mount Act, no-one has been able to open it, there are also some other weird markings we hope you can recognise, will you come with us there?” Slizto is relived that he has finally found some indication that the place he knows so well maybe possible to get back too “Sure thing” he say’s with a smile “We leave in the morning” reply’s Ariel, Mia looks a Slizto “I’m coming too!” she says firmly, Arac laughs “The path back to Anpow is a dangerous one, and to cross the mountain even worse, are you sure your up for that?” Mia sense’s sarcasm “I’ll beat you to the top” she say’s with a challenging smile, “So be it” says Arac. Elder Mikan walks in “We are preparing a feast for your arrival Ariel, please join us outside when you are ready” Ariel nods accepting the offer. “Father” says Mia before pausing “I’m leaving for Anpow” elder Mikan looks a little shocked, he reply’s “but my dear, you are only seventeen, are you sure you want to go there?” “I want to see mum” she replies, elder Mikan turns to leave “I will not stop you” he says with a tear in his eye.
         The feast is being prepared and set up in front of the statue of King Arlan; the table is long and bares enough seats for everyone from the village. As everyone is running around setting plates and filling the table with food the children are playing, pretending to do as Ariel did. Josh clasps his eyes shut and raise’s his hands, the other children giggle, he throws his hands forwards, as he opens his eye’s there is a ball of fire just in front of him, everyone stops and stares over. Josh is frozen with amazement, the ball turns to ice and falls to the floor shattering, Ariel lowers her wand and walks over to him from inside the doorway, “Well Done!” she says patting him on the shoulder “All you have to do is believe you can do it and you can” with this she takes her place at the table, Josh still holding the same position in amazement of what he thinks he just did. “You know you shouldn‘t do that Ariel,” laughs Arac, Ariel smiles a mysterious smile. The other children run a Josh “Wow Joshie, do that again! Go on!” Josh is made up with his new false fame, “Maybe later” he says running to the table as he see’s Slizto taking a seat, Slizto grabs him rubbing his knuckles on Josh’s head playfully.
         With everyone seated elder Mikan stands to address the table “Thank you all for preparing this great feast” he begins “I am delighted to have the daughter of our wonderful King feast with us and also her friend Arac, please everyone raise your drinks, Too Anheh!” he cheers, everyone cheers and tucks into the food. Slizto turns to Mia “Why do you want to come?” he asks, “Would you like to stay in this village forever?” she asks him. “MON’S!!” screams an elderly woman; everyone jumps up grabbing the children and making haste for the homes. Six two headed beasts charge at the table, Arac jumps towards them, his massive sword glimmering in the sunlight, he swings cutting one of the beast’s clean in two. Three beast charge for Ariel, she raise’s her wand, as she does so Mia runs by clasping two short swords, she spins slicing the beasts as she does so. Josh didn’t get away in time and try’s to hide under the table, a beast races towards him, he raise’s his arms and try’s to do what Ariel did for him before, nothing happens. The beast is inches away from him, he screams as he see’s the razor teeth lunging towards him, he clinch’s his eyes shut in fear, a few seconds later he opens them, the beast lies dead before him and Slizto stands having just cut the table and beast in half. “ARGHH!” screams elder Mikan as a beast jumps on him its two heads ripping into his elderly flesh, “Father!” cry’s Mia watching helplessly as her father is attacked, the beast fly’s against the wall of a hut smashing through into the building where it lies dead from Ariel’s attack. “Father! Father! Dad?” cry’s Mia as she watch’s him die in her arms “Go to your mother, I love you” he says in his dying breath. Mia is distraught; she refuse’s to let go of him as the women try to comfort her. Slizto can’t believe what has happened, he has never seen these ‘Mon’s’ before and has no idea why they attacked. “We call them Mon’s” says Arac in his deep voice “They never usually attack villages, this is strange. They come from the forest, there are millions of them but they never leave the forest unprovoked. They come in all shapes and sizes” Slizto walks over to Mia placing his hand on her shoulder, she looks up at his concerned face “We have to go now” she says tearfully “we have to wait for the morning to come again, if we set of now we won’t reach the next village before nightfall, maybe you should spend this time with your father” says Arac.
         After a long day Slizto is back in his room, he sits on the end of his bed and rests his head in his hands. There is a knock at the door “Come in” he shouts, Mia enters looking terrible “I can’t sleep and I couldn’t think of anyone else to go to” “Its ok, I was in the same predicament” he replies smiling at her “You don’t mind me coming along do you?” she asks as she sits next to him on the bed “It would be nice to have someone I know there” he pauses “Mia I’m so sorry about your father, if only, if I just, I could have” She stops him before he finishes “It wasn’t your fault, I have to thank you for saving my brother Josh” even though he saved Josh’s life he is torturing himself for not saving elder Mikan, elder Mikan was the first person he met when he woke up here, the only person who truly believed what he said about how he got here and the person who let him have this room rent free until he found some answers. “You and Josh are all I have now, do you think it will be safe to bring him along with us so he can stay with my mother?” Slizto is a little surprised she see’s him as one of the only two people she has left and is even more surprised by what she is asking “I think you should ask Ariel and Arac that, you know I’m not from here and don’t know how dangerous the route to Anpow is” “Your right” she says. She looks down at the bed “Do you mind if I stay here with you tonight? I don’t want to be alone” Slizto is a little surprised “Don’t you think that will be a little uncomfortable?” she puts her arm around him “It would be perfect” Slizto is really nervous, he doesn’t like Mia in the way she is hoping for, he agrees to let her stay but faces away from her all night, he doesn’t get much sleep.
         He awakes with her arms wrapped around him her head resting on his chest; he gently slides out of the bed and gets dressed. Out of his window he see’s the village women laying flowers where elder Mikan was killed he looks at Mia who is fast asleep. He looks out of his window again and see’s Arac kneeling in front of the statue of King Arlan. There is a knock at the door, its Ariel she notice’s Mia lying in the bed “Oh, I’m sorry” she say shy-fully “It’s not what you think” he tells her, she smiles “we leave soon, I’ll be waiting by the statue when your ready” “I won’t be long” he reply, she turns and walks away. “Thank you” says a drowsy Mia “Thanks for letting me stay here, I couldn’t have got through last night alone” Slizto walks towards her “Its ok, we are leaving soon if you want to get ready I’ll go and get some food for you” she smiles “I’m not hungry, I’ll get ready and we can go”
         The morning is dull: even though there are two suns their brightness is shielded by the tree’s, its as if the world has adapted to the feelings of the people in some weird way. The only noise breaking the eerie silence is the distant howls of the Mon’s from the forests. No one bares a smile: they are all walking around with their heads lowered, lost in bereavement. There is no wind, not even a breeze. The trees aren’t swaying and River Onor seems lifeless irregular of its usually flourishing self, even the face of the statue of King Arlan seems to be upset. This is not a good day to be in this village. Slizto spots Ariel talking to Mia by the statue, they seem to be arguing “he can’t come, its too dangerous” says Ariel trying to settle Mia down “But he has too, I have to take him to my mother, there is nothing for him here now” argues Mia, Arac uses his sword to help him stand from kneeling before the statue, he turns to Mia saying “He is not coming.” his words are strict “but” cry’s Mia as she try’s to reason “No buts. Its for his own good, he will never make it to Anpow if we take him now, there is a reason why children only go there when they are fourteen and that’s the reason he isn’t coming” with his last word he walks towards Slizto “are you ready?” he asks. Slizto doesn’t understand all the little rules of this land; he doesn’t know why children can only travel to Anpow at fourteen, or why the Anheh’s and the Weioran’s are actually at war. All this is running through his head as he prepares to answer, he looks straight at Ariel “I’m ready”. Mia is kneeling talking to Josh as Ariel and Arac head for the edge of the forest “I’ll come back for you soon, I’ll get mum to come home” she says before running to catch up with the group as they enter the great Ido forest.

         Imagine a place so dark you can’t even see your own fingertips a centre metre away from your face, hideous howling noise’s all around you seemingly creeping up on you. An atmosphere so tense you can feel your heartbeat rushing through your body, every noise making your body jump in uncontrollable fear. This is the densest part of the forest. The group have only been walking for a couple of hours and the darkness and eeriness was getting to Mia “Slizto” whispered her trembling voice reaching out her arms trying to grip him for comfort “Yes?” he replied looking in the direction her voice came from, suddenly there was a extremely large howl very close to them, Mia ran in the direction of Slizto’s voice gripping him with fear as she bumped into him. Slizto couldn’t believe it was the middle of the day, the forest canopy was so dense the sunlight couldn’t penetrate it “It clears ahead” say’s Arac reassuringly. The group travel on, Arac leading the way with Ariel to his left and Mia clinging to Slizto’s arm as they head into the depth’s of the forest.
         The break in the canopy was welcomed by all, a single ray of sunlight shooting down to the ground in a sharp burst of light, the mist covering the floor of the forest was clearly visible drifting across the shot of light. It’s amazing what one ray of light can do; it lit up the whole area revealing the forests true colours. The tree’s are massive their branch’s reaching for the heavens in the hope of a bit of sun to sooth them. The thicket on the forest floor just rising above the ominous mist that covered it. All of a sudden something shoot’s past Arac grabbing his water bottle and disappearing into the forest “Mon’s?” shouted Slizto in confusion “No, I fear worse be prepared for battle” said Arac as he gripped his sword in front of him, the thing flew past again this time grabbing hold of Mia as it did, the group stood helplessly as her scream flew out into the forest. “MIA!” screamed Slizto as he ran in the direction she was taken “It’s no point, you’ll never catch it” said Arac before saying “It will come back again be prepared” The group stood anxiously waiting for the next attack “What is that thing?” asked Slizto as his eyes scanned the forests depth’s “They call them Vampires, although no-one as ever seen one, its was just a myth until now” “Great! That’s all we need, what will happen to Mia?” said Slizto worried “She’ll be fine for now, It will attack again and again until it has us all, hence the reason why they are thought as a myth” said Arac surprisingly knowing a lot about a so-called myth, Ariel looked at Slizto “Because no-one ever lives to tell the tale” she says nervously. The Vampire sweeps again this time grabbing Arac as it does, his sword falls to the floor as his body is whisked into the forest like a rag doll. Ariel stands back to back with Slizto both of them trembling not wanting it to strike again “Grab hold of me” says Slizto to Ariel, as she does so it strikes again this time going for Slizto, Slizto see’s it coming and snap’s up his blade, Ariel watch’s in amazement as the vampire stops in midair with Slizto’s blade pressing up against its neck. There is a few seconds pause as Slizto and the Vampire stare into each other’s eyes, The Vampire is floating in midair with his arms held out to his side’s his long black coat draping to the floor “Where are Arac and Mia!” shout’s Slizto thrusting his blade harder against the Vampires white skin “hmm you are good, I’ve never been stopped before; maybe I’ve finally found a challenge” says the Vampire as he smiles and his eyes light up, Slizto gets furious “Where are they!” he shouts, the Vampire laugh’s “Defeat me and I will tell you” he says, as he does so he flicks Slizto’s blade away and floats back, he snap’s his wrists and two short blade’s fall out of his sleeve’s, he brings himself down to the floor and takes a fighting stance “Ready?” he asks laughing. Slizto charge’s forwards raising his blade and swinging for the Vampire, the tree’s shake with the sound of their blades smashing together, the Vampire spins and slices Slizto’s shoulder as he does so, Slizto ignores the pain and strikes out again just missing the Vampires face, the speed and agility of the Vampire is amazingly fast, the Vampire charge’s forwards swirling his blades Slizto fends off the attack. The Vampire laughs some more before throwing one of his blades at Slizto, he knocks it away but can’t avoid the Vampires next attack which cuts up his already bleeding wound some more. Slizto grips his teeth holding his blade aloft, the Vampire charge’s again going for the kill, Ariel raise’s her arms wind flourish’s past her souring up above Slizto ripping open a hole in the forest canopy, the sunlight surrounds Slizto and the Vampire jumps back out of the light falling against a tree wounded by the sunlight.
         “Where are they!” shouts Slizto as he stands over the wounded Vampire. The Vampire is burned badly by the sunlight, his wounds bleeding white blood down the side of his charred face “They are alive” he says wiping away the blood from his face “they are tied up about a hundred metres away” Slizto tells Ariel to go get them and she runs off in the direction indicated. Slizto stares angrily at the Vampire “Why did you attack?” he asks “A Vampire has to feed, to feed we need blood, its just the way we are” says the Vampire as he sits up resting his back against the tree. “Then I’ll have to kill you and all others like you!” shouts Slizto “Wait!” comes a shout from behind Slizto “We could use his help” Its Arac, he Mia and Ariel are walking up towards them “Does it have a name?” Mia asks Slizto, the Vampire smiles “My name is Armand, I come from the city of Van’ Saul. It once was an abandoned castle until we took refuge there. Our home was destroyed five hundred years ago by Mon’s that don’t attack these parts, these Mon’s can only be found south east of the Hurc Desert” his icy deep voice is cold, Slizto buts in before Armand gets to finish “We don’t care about your home or you, Isn’t there any other way you can live without feeding off humans?” Armand seems a little annoyed “You don’t understand we are a peaceful race, the only humans we feed from are evil ones, you know thieves, murderer’s, Weioran’s” Mia steps forwards “Then why attack us?” “Because I thought you were thieves,” he replies.
         Ariel as been quiet all the time, she has stood behind her three friends trying to avoid being seen properly by Armand, while the rest of the group interrogate Armand she thinks back to her past, back to the place she recognises Armand’s face from. She is in a large square room in her father’s palace; the walls are velvet with paintings and drawings of her family hanging in rich gold frames. Her bed is a huge four-poster with white linen drapes dangling around it. It is a dark night the moonlight shining into her room is the only source of light. She hears a struggle outside, a gang of thieves are attempting to raid the palace and the guards have been murdered. She runs to her window, she notice’s one thieve climbing up the wall heading for her window, she prepares to attack but as she raises her wand the thieve is jerked away from the wall and is thrown against the floor with tremendous force, she watch’s nervously as the gang is killed by the invisible saviour. Once they are all dead the saviour appears on Ariel’s window a few metres from her “I’m sorry for the disturbance,” it said before disappearing into the forest. It was Armand.
         “I believe you” comes Ariel’s voice from behind the group; Arac, Mia and Slizto all look at her confused “What! Why!” asks Mia “I’ve met him before, He saved my home from being raided by thieves, Please don’t hurt him” Slizto lowers his weapon “Looks like your saved, but I swear to god if you try anything that may harm us I won’t hesitate to kill you” he says, “Aha, Lady Ariel, I didn’t realise it was you, I am sorry” says Armand climbing to his feet “Because it is you I will help guide you back to Anpow” he says “How do you know her name?” shouts Arac still wanting to kill Armand, Arac is the sort of person who doesn’t like being beaten “although we are never seen we have always protected Anpow and the King’s family, they are vital if we are to rid the world of the Weioran’s, I have to go” and with that he disappears into the forest “well that was interesting” says a slightly shocked Slizto “Its news to me also, and I‘m King Arlan’s best friend, he tells me everything, surely he would have known about this” says Arac.