Road To Shandara (Book One of The Safanarion Order) (10 page)

“Should you make it through you will come in through the ancient ruins west of Duncan’s port.” As Colind spoke the last word the cylinder let out a shrieking sound and a blinding blue light seared itself to the floor. The light expanded with a rhythmic hum to the size of a doorway. Then Colind spoke again, but his voice sounded like it came from a great distance, “Seek...Prince...Cyrus, he can help...”

The rest of what Colind was about to say Aaron never knew. He scanned the area, but couldn’t find him anywhere, nor could he sense his presence. The next two steps he was about to take would forever change his life, but he stood rooted in place watching the door of light. Whispers welling up from deep inside urged him to take the first step. This place where he grew up had been his life and would always be part of him. He would carry his home in his heart and hope it would be enough to endure what was to come. Darkness had entered his life and for the briefest of moments he seriously considered running as far as he could, but he knew there were some things in life that one couldn’t run from.

Aaron slowly took a long look around at the home he loved and a lump began to fill his throat. It was then that he saw Tara standing on the porch with his note in her hand. Her eyes were full of concern and brimming with tears. In a moment of unspoken love in all its simplicity and majesty that exists between siblings, they whispered goodbye.

Be strong,
his mother’s words echoed filling him with courage to face what must come next.

“Come Ferasdiam marked, embrace your destiny,” a voice whispered from the door of light.

Aaron’s eyes widened for an instant, then he took a giant leap through with Zeus in tow.

***

Tara watched her brother disappear through the door of light, which winked out the moment after Zeus jumped through.
Be safe my brother and Dad please if you can, watch over him.
She finished her prayer taking a moment for herself, lost in remembrance from what seemed like someone else’s life. No, she corrected herself quickly, it was her life and the life of her own family that would be raised here. Her life was here and that was something she embraced. The dark cloud that had descended upon them all was gone now, but with such a bitter price. She hoped her brother would find peace some day, but she knew it would be long in coming, if ever.

“
Farewell Aaron,”
she whispered and then solemnly walked back into the house.

C
HAPTER
13

THE JOURNEY

AN ICY CHARGE washed over his skin as he leaped through the doorway. He was in a well manicured forest and a bricked pathway stretched before him lined with all manner of trees. The door of light faded as Zeus came through and the cylinder dropped to the ground. Aaron retrieved the cylinder and walked to the edge of the path and was struck with an immediate sense of foreboding.

“I don’t suppose you know the way?” Aaron asked, but Zeus just sniffed along the ground a few times before looking back at him.

There was no sun or clouds or even a sky to speak of. It was as if this place was forever cast in twilight. Trees lining the path swayed gently and Aaron noticed a natural progression to them. The same tree would appear as if it were in each of the four seasons marking its cycle of life. He walked passed the golden autumn leaves of a maple tree towering over the pathway. Then the same tree appeared again devoid of leaves and the air was colder here. As Aaron and Zeus walked down the pathway he began to wonder how far they needed to go before they came to the doorway to Safanar. Peering ahead the path appeared to go on forever and Aaron began to wonder if he was really expected to stay on this path. Zeus on the other hand, kept alert and diligently walked by his side. Securing his bag over his shoulder he trotted after Zeus.

After traveling a few minutes down the path something kept gnawing at the back of his mind. The more he thought about it, the more he knew that if he kept going the way he was, he wasn’t going to get anywhere. Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, thanks Einstein.

Zeus came to an abrupt stop as if their thoughts mirrored each other arriving at the same conclusion. But which way to go he wondered. They stopped in front of an Oak tree in its autumn season, and Aaron remembered the seemingly endless amount of leaf raking he and his father would confront each year. He smirked at the memory and immediately clenched his teeth at the loss of those better days.
Well this seems as good a place as any.
Both sides of the path appeared exactly the same and Aaron didn’t have a clue as to which way to go. He brought out a silver dollar he had stashed away in his pocket and held it out.

“I guess we’ll let fate decide. Heads we go right. Tails we go left," he said flipping the coin high into the air.

The spinning coin hit its apex and the medallion grew cold against his chest. The coin remained suspended in air until a great thunderclap shattered the silence and the coin came hurling into the ground. The coin was embedded in the earth with heads facing up. A definitive answer if he ever saw one. He decided to leave the coin where it lay as a payment of sorts and started heading off the path in what he hoped was the right direction.

Trekking through the forest he eventually came upon an overgrown path but a path none the less. It was better than wandering aimlessly in the twilight of this place. The forest hid eyes and Aaron began to wonder if Tarimus had indeed caught up with him. He quickened his pace to a trot until he came to a clearing. It looked as if someone drew an invisible line and decided that this was where the forest would end. A sea of thick fog stretched out before him with an occasional shadow breaching the top of the swirling canopy. Is any of this real, Aaron wondered? All of this was real enough for his parents who gave their lives for his. The bitter thought was like acid smoldering in his mind. In the blink of an eye the arguments played out in his head, because of his failure to act, others had paid the price. Guilt weighed heavily upon his broad shoulders.

What else could you have done, a wise voice reasoned.

Something…Anything. He whispered back.

Zeus eyed him through the savage eyes of a wolf and took a bold step towards the fog with a growing hunger in his eyes.
Alright my friend I’ll follow you.
Holding on to the dense fur on his back they plunged into the fog. He held on as if his life depended on it, because to let go would mean being lost. The fog thickened so much that he could barely see his hand in front of his face. The air grew cold around them and Aaron stumbled blindly holding on trying his best to find his footing, but Zeus quickened the pace. The ground beneath him leveled off and hardened. He was sure they were going down a road of some sort and there were buildings just beyond the swirling fog. Aaron closed his eyes and allowed his other senses to take the lead. The medallion grew warm against his chest and he focused on the dragons around the white pearl at the center.

Zeus came to a stop and nudged his hand with his muzzle. Heat began to build in the pearl and Aaron fed the heat with all his concentration. When he could no longer stand the heat he reached into his shirt and pulled the medallion out, holding it over his head, but he didn’t let go of the power gathering within. Faint whisperings urged him to give over and release his hold upon the power, but he held on a few moments more until he could bear it no longer. Light rippled from the white pearl in bursts burning up the fog around him and Aaron found himself standing within a towering coliseum all grey with worn stonework through out. The ground beneath his feet held old dry dirt stained with blood and stunk of death. A crisp wind blew and Aaron looked up to discover the stadium full of onlookers, all eerily silent. Whenever he focused in to get a better look at them they went distinctly blurry, but from within his peripheral vision he knew they were there. There was something grim and silent watching him. A stature of judging left Aaron feeling undeniably exposed. Mutterings and hushed tones swept through the coliseum filling up the silence in a vacuum and he clearly heard
Ferasdiam marked,
and
Safanarion.

“How quaint,” a voice called from behind him.

Aaron spun to see a cloaked figure standing behind him and Zeus let out a deep rumbling growl.

“You are a long way from home. How honored I am that you’ve come to mine.” Tarimus hissed.

Silence embraced the coliseum as a hush swept over its attendants. This is what he’d come for, to face Tarimus. It was inevitable despite what Colind had hoped to achieve. Who was Colind trying to protect himself or his son?

“I know what you want and if you think you can take my soul then go ahead and try.” Aaron said.

Dead black eyes regarded him frostily, “I see,” he said.

 
Aaron expected more of a response than this and he knew to the depths of his soul that there would be no waking up from this nightmare.

“I am going to Safanar,” he said defiantly.

“You walk a fool’s path boy.” Tarimus muttered and then made a waving motion with his hand. A bell clanged throughout the coliseum and by the third gong a columned stone doorway appeared at the far end behind Tarimus. “There is the door. All you need to do is get passed me.” Tarimus sneered.

Aaron looked at Tarimus and noticed that he still had the cut on his cheek put there from his blade. He cut him, but how could he kill Tarimus. With his mouth going dry he scanned the crowd of the coliseum. All the onlookers watched silently, like judges on a panel. He dropped his backpack to the ground and drew his Falcons.

Let’s do this.

If this was going to be his end then he would be sport for no man or demon alike.

Tarimus wickedly bared his teeth and drew his black sword that drank the light. They each regarded the other, poised, and at the same instant they both charged. The single clash of blades rippled through the air.

Aaron spun and was ready for Tarimus bringing his great dark blade to bear. The fury of each hack from the dark blade rattled his hands and arms, but he numbingly held on.
How can he be so quick with a sword that big?
Scrambling he managed to deflect or dodge the onslaught of attacks. Not blocking quick enough earned him a shallow slice burning down his side and a blurring kick sent him into the air. Aaron stumbled to get up and Tarimus kicked him down again in a furious howl.

“Ferasdiam marked or not, you will never survive this!” Tarimus spat and after an explosive combination sent Aaron reeling to the ground once again.

“This is no dream world boy. Here you are a master of nothing.”

A thundering kick sent Aaron down again raining blow after blow until it felt as if it were happening to someone else. Part of Aaron wondered when he would stop feeling the pain and the other part of him raged for him to get up. That deep core where the greatest reserves of strength reside began to defy logic and he rose shakily to his feet yet again.

“Why do you do it? Why get up?” Tarimus stopped kicking him, breathing heavily.

“Why fight a battle you cannot hope to win? Are you so eager to die?” Tarimus screamed with his nightmarish blade held at the ready. “Would it be so bad to give yourself over to me?” he asked calmly.

Aaron looked up steeling himself for another blow. He hurt everywhere, but the fire within him hadn’t diminished in the slightest. He planted his fist into the ground and rose to one knee.

“Why, why do you persist,” Tarimus asked through clenched teeth.

Aaron struggled to get to his feet, his eyes meeting Tarimus raising his chin,
“Because I choose to
.”

Tarimus was right about one thing, this was a fight he could not win, not here in this place, but perhaps he could survive and that was enough.

“Tarimus dwells in the plains between life and death with a foothold in each world, but is denied the release for which he truly yearns.”
Colind had told him a golden truth which became apparent to Aaron in this moment of bruised clarity. Tarimus needed to learn to let go. This truth gave him purpose and with that his strength began to return with warm waves flowing through his body. The medallion grew warm against his chest and a faint blue glow began to emanate from his discarded backpack.

“It’s not too late for you,” Aaron said still hunched feigning weakness.

“For what,” Tarimus replied contemptuously.

Aaron paused, giving Tarimus a long look standing straight up before he answered. “To do the right thing, to let it all go and be at peace.” Aaron said mildly. A flash of disbelief crossed Tarimus’s face before he began laughing with a maddening glint to his eyes. He expected as much, but sometimes words spoken have an uncanny way of coming back to haunt you.

“Do you seek to
save
me boy,” Tarimus sneered.

“No, to remind you," Aaron brought up the Falcons and released the bladesong into a swirling harmony that comprised his soul’s heartbeat. The voices and life force of those who had come before eagerly came to the brink, their knowledge readily available, but Aaron held them there. This was his fight. The crystals in his swords began to glow casting off a pure white light blurring in the speed of Aaron’s dance. The silent audience in the Coliseum came to their feet in unison echoing throughout the great space.

The Falcons felt weightless and required little effort to wield. Aaron poured all feelings, his memories, his rage, and his love into the dance. Family and friends whose faces have come and gone throughout his life flashed in his mind, but he was ever mindful of Tarimus. Random thoughts and experiences flashed by until he saw a shadow of Bronwyn standing before him, her honey-brown eyes silently begging him not to forget her. Her rich dark hair was unkempt and her clothing was in taters, but was she alive? She opened her arms out to him and his throat tightened with the ache of regret. How could he have been such a fool. The love in his heart mocked him for what he tried to deny.

The bladesong unleashed a melody that he had never heard before, but fit him the way no other action ever had. He put his heart and soul on the altar and hoped it was enough to appeal to the little humanity that was left in Tarimus. Communication conveyed without words but through raw emotion, the type of communion that can only be revealed through action. The stone facade that Tarimus wore framed around his cold lifeless black eyes began to shake.