01) The promise

“A long time ago, in fact five thousand years ago, upon the creation of the Earthen Kingdom, there was a perfect Kingdom; the Heavenly Kingdom where Lord Ahura ruled over the Heavenly Immortals and watched over us from above. We, the Yazeta; his most noble creation were then as now his humble and loyal servants,” the leader of the proud Yazeta tribe told the child that sat next to him.
“So we are the best of them all, aren´t we, father?”
“Indeed, my son, because we are the direct descendants of the very first Yazeta who got the honor of aiding Lord Ahura in the great war where he defeated the lord of darkness and destruction and his army,” the blue haired man read out loud from a very old and slightly dusty book to his four year old son, who was sitting next to him on the beautifully decorated bench. They were waiting outside the medical ward since men wasn´t allowed inside during the birth ritual, and since the lady of the castle was about to give birth to the next member of their family they had to stay out here and practice the art of patience. “Lord Ahura watched over the many races that live all over our continent; the Endless Plains, the jungle, the great Mountains, rivers trees and of course our beautiful desert. Everything was peaceful and perfect till the personification of evil, Ahriman descended to our plain and brought pain, hate and suffering to the Earthen Kingdom in form of diseases, sin…and created the impure races that wander our world and tried to destroy our kind of life.”

“Impure races?” the young boy asked curiously.

“We didn´t name them, but the ancient scrolls state that they were so ugly and vile that they made you feel sick simply by looking at them,” the Highlord explained patiently. “The dark lord Ahriman used them and tried to take over this continent and our desert, thankfully our ancestors were able to stop him and his army with help from our divine lord.”

“Tell me what happened, father, from the beginning,” the boy had heard the story countless times before and yet he loved to hear his father, or rather his mother to tell the story over and over.

“Well Ahriman had committed a terrible sin because he tried to destroy the Earthen Kingdom with his evil, thankfully our courageous ancestors’ wouldn´t let him destroy everything that they had worked so hard for.”
“Did my great, great, great…” the boy continued to count his fingers till his father silently asked him to stop by gently grasping his hands with his larger ones which made the boy look up at his father. “They fight back and won, right?”

“But of course they did. Our ancestors were as proud, strong and just as we are, my son, and as such they could not sit idle and wait for Ahriman to destroy their homes. The Yazeta soon realized that they fought against an immortal and they stood little chance to win the fight till Lord Ahura ventured from the Heavenly Kingdom to this very city. And to vanquish the greatest evil of all, our god and mighty protector collected the five elements to obtain the supreme powers that he needed vanquished the devil that threatened to destroy the world.”
“What does it mean?” the four year old boy asked and looked at the colorful pictures in the old book. “How did lord Ahura do it?”
“Do you see this man?” The blue haired man pointed at the drawing of a man who pointed his sword towards the sky while standing in the center of evil looking monsters that had yet to be slain. “This courageous man is of our blood. His name was Varuna and he became a close friend of our god and protector Lord Ahura who, along with Varuna and a representative of each of the six clans banished the dark Ahriman and his army from our world a thousand years ago.”

“Wow, Lord Ahura and our clan is the greatest,” the child stated happily before turning his attention back to the pages in the book. “Was Ahriman a god too?”
“Well not really, my son. Ahura is our god and an immortal while Ahriman was…something else. Lord Ahura had the power to wield magic, create life and spread joy and happiness amongst our people. We are the race that is favored by our god because we honor him with our temples and prayers, and therefore our god gave us the greatest present of all as a bonus after the dark lord was defeated,” the warm hearted man told his son, happy that they could get along so nicely even if he was a very busy man that rarely got to spend time with his son. “Lord Ahura gave us the strength and skill to wield magic and to use this magic to protect the people that we love and cherish.”

“Lord Ahura had someone to pr-protect him too, right? My teacher, Quinn-sensei told me that Ahura-sama had magical creatures to help him destroy evil, creatures that look like the statues inside the temple and the Hall of Dragons?” Virai asked, proud that he could remember what his sensei had taught him in class earlier this morning. The young boy was the pride and joy of the entire city and his parents, and he had a very broad language for a four year old even though a few words still troubled him. Virai was firstborn son of Highlord Ryuunosuke who was the leader of the proud Yazeta who ruled the desert country on the Western Continent. That also meant that Virai was the heir to the throne, leader of the powerful and proud demons who lived there, and of course that made him the center of attention for every soul that lived inside the magical oasis city; an oasis that never dried out, or lost the gentle breeze that caressed each citizens face like a gentle lover´s hand. It was indeed a wonderful and much desired place to live and it wasn´t always an easy task to keep the city protected from those that wanted a piece of the heavenly oasis. The city was always fertile even if the rest of the desert was covered in nothing but white sand, a few palms, wild beasts and cacti.

“Correct, my son, and it was those dragons, the ancient ones amongst the heavenly immortals, that grant us a little bit of our Lord´s magical powers which will be activated inside our bodies on the day of our naming,” the Highlord explained patiently to his son. “Just look at me, I am a direct descendant of Highlord Varuna who was the first one to receive divine power from lord Ahura himself. You, my son, my heir, will become the Highlord one day too, so you have to study hard so that you will become just as powerful and smart as your old man.” The adult chuckled and messed up his son´s already unruly hair, imagining how his son would look all grown up.

“… but why was Ahriman such an evil man then?” Virai asked curiously while looking at the pictures on the next page that showed a cloaked man where only a pair of clawed hands where visible along with a pair of glowing eyes. His teachers hadn´t been willing to tell him very much about the man that had once terrorized all of the Western Continent with his evil, why Virai didn´t know.

“Well Ahriman wanted more power than he already had. Our teachings state that he was a being, filled with doubt and dark thoughts, and soon he began to crave for destruction, pain and he became first jealous then greedy when he noticed how happy people that lived here were. He became a destroyer of cities and eventually countries in his search for more power and in the end he turned into a devil that was consumed by his own hunger for darkness. He destroyed everything in his path in his attempt to rule all of the Earthen Kingdom, and not only the Western Continent like most like to believe… which was a world where many races nearly perished because they were too weak to withstand the dark one´s army. Ahriman would have destroyed the world if our race hadn’t received help from Lord Ahura before he fought the darkness and won.”

“So Ahriman was killed?” Virai asked curiously. The child loved it when his mother and now his father told him the old tales, it was so much more fun than to listen to the old white beaded scholars and their sometimes sleep inducing voices during his lessons at the royal library.

“Well Ahura-sama won the battle, because if he had lost then the world would have been a darker place today,” Ryuunosuke chuckled in amusement and wrapped an arm around his heir´s slim shoulders. He was proud to have a son as smart and curious like his little Virai, especially when he saw the admiration in the council´s and the citizens’ eyes whenever they laid their eyes on his boy.

“Um father?”

“Yes my boy?”

“Why did Ahriman try to destroy our world? Mother always says that it is wrong to destroy what other´s have created, and she scolded me when I stepped on Teran´s sand castle last week,” Virai asked and looked up at his father. “Didn´t Ahriman like lord Varuna, our people or our god?”

“Hm that is a good question. No one seems to be certain why Ahriman did what he did, but the older templars and scholars believe that Ahriman was evil to the core from the day of his birth, and that he was angry because he didn´t have any of the same magical powers like the other immortals did…but I like to think that there was more to it than that.” Ryuunosuke told his first born child. “I wonder if we will ever know the truth behind the most important fight of our history.”

“I will find the truth when I get bigger,” the blue haired boy proclaimed proudly and with great confidence and pointed his thumb at his chest. “And then I will make all evil go away.”

“I am sure you will Virai,” the Highlord chuckled happily and hugged his boy. “You are my son after all.”

“Excuse me sir?” a female voice asked softly next to him. Ryuunosuke looked up and saw one of the young medics stand a few steps away with a whimpering bundle in her secure embrace. The young woman was smiling almost shyly at him because it wasn´t every day that she was allowed to get this close to their leader that usually stayed at the upper levels were he made sure that the six clans would live together peacefully.

“The baby is born, what is it; a boy or a girl?” Ryuunosuke rose to his feet so quickly that he had nearly knocked his son off the bench from sheer excitement and reached for the softly sobbing infant which was immediately handed to him. “Did everything proceed smoothly? Is my wife alright?”

“Yes sir. Lady Velahna is tired but in good condition and the baby girl is perfectly healthy. Congratulations sir.” The young woman bowed respectfully to him and his son before going back inside to help the other medics clean up after the birthing so that the Highlord could visit his wife as soon as possible.

“Look at your baby sister Virai,” Ryuunosuke said softly while kneeling down to make it possible for his firstborn to meet his newly born kid sister. “Isn´t she pretty?”

“She is very small,” the boy said and reached out to touch the grunting baby. “Tiny even.” He was amazed with how soft the tiny being´s cheek was and Virai wasn´t sure what to do when his baby sister reached up and grabbed his index finger with her small hand. The boy looked up at his father and was about to ask if he once too had been this small when a man approached them.

“I hear that you have been blessed with a healthy daughter, my lord,” the dark haired man stated in a slightly bored tone before he offered a bow towards the Highlord.

“Thank you, council member Hanso,” Ryuunosuke returned the polite greeting. “She is a beauty, isn´t she? I am sure she will turn out to be something just as special as my son.” The Highlord handed the newborn child to the older man who took the baby into his arms.

“Hmm, she is the likeness of her mother,” Hanso stated almost wryly. His expression however changed when the little girl opened her eyes and looked right at him. The sour look turned into an expression of sheer surprise before a smirk crept onto the tanned man´s thin lips. “But I still agree with you, lord Ryuunosuke, she is something special. Will you allow me to present her to the council right away?” The dark haired man turned his back on the Highlord and his son and was about to walk away when a strong hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“My wife and I will present our daughter to the council and the people tonight,” the blue haired Ryuunosuke told the member of the council. “Till then she will remain with her mother.”

Hanso tensed at that which made the Highlord move his hand away and turned to his son who tugged at his sleeve. Hurriedly the high templar slipped his hand into his pocket where he grabbed a small vial that contained a clear fluid. He skillfully removed the lid and emptied the contents of the vial into the baby´s mouth while pretending to give the child his blessing. “I see, well that may be in the child´s best interest after all,” he said, his voice yet again cod and bored, as he handed over the little princess. “I will look forward to hear the name that you will pick for the young princess tonight then. Goodbye.”

The Highlord waited till the councilmember was out of sight before he turned to his son who was still tugging at his sleeve. “What is the matter, son?”

“Father, I don´t like that man,” the boy said while looking around to make sure that the scary man had really left. “He is creepy and he stared at the baby in a strange way.”

“Virai, this man is an important member of the council. He is one of the elders of the Kurogami clan; the founders of the templar order. He is very wise and strong,” Ryuunosuke told his first born child. “And the baby is your baby sister; do you know what that means?”

“…No,” the blue hared boy asked while looking at the little girl that had fallen asleep in her father´s embrace.

“You have to be protective of her. She is a fragile being and our treasure, you are a big brother now and as such you have to look after her, always.”

“My treasure?” the boy asked and had a bit of trouble to understand why this tiny being could be considered his treasure. There was nothing sparkling about the pink skinned baby, though she did smell kinda nice and was cute looking, and her silvery eyes when she had looked at him were enchanting.

“Yes. A younger sister is something very special, and just like you are special to everyone here your sister should be to you. She will always be younger than you and therefore it is your finest duty to protect her and keep her safe from harm.” Ryuunosuke smiled. He was happy because what more could he wish for than a son as his heir and a lovely princess to spoil.

Three years passed quickly and Virai was about to celebrate not only his birthday but the return of his baby sister who had been on a toddler camp at one of the border cities with a few of the children from the other noble clans. The castle had been very boring and quiet without little Kirah around. His mother had had more time for him which had been nice. “Mother, was I on a camp at that city too when I was smaller?”

“No, Virai, there wasn´t a toddler camp at Seidō back then,” the silver haired woman explained while braiding her son´s hair for the evenings ceremony. The seven year old boy was about to begin at the knights academy, one year late but she had just been unable to let her beloved son participate in those dangerous war games that were part of the education. Velahna didn´t like the idea at all that any of her children should learn how to fight, but the council had insisted on it. She was not a member of any of the six noble clans, she wasn´t even born in this city but had been forced to merry Ryuunosuke to reassure the peace with the Yazeta tribe that lived on the islands to the South, which meant that she didn’t really have any saying in the matter, and her husband was often way too busy to know what was going on within his own family. She had come to love her husband after she had given birth to Virai, and now with their first love child born their marriage seemed to have bloomed…well till the council took control of everything, including the destiny of her children.

She had been against sending her only three year old daughter off to a city at the outskirts of the desert, it didn´t matter much to her that her husband´s best friend and heir of the Utaka clan was amongst the knights that escorted the precious children. “Do you miss your sister?”

Virai nodded eagerly and grinned at his reflection when his mother´s servants brought forth the mirror. Half of his hair had been braided and the other half remained wild and free. “I may look like father and be his heir,” the boy suddenly stated and chuckled while he touched the fine braiding before hugging his mother tightly. “But you and Kirah are still my favorites.”

“Thank you, you and your sister are your father and my favorites too.” The silver haired woman chuckled and returned her son´s embrace. There was no greater joy for her to be able to spend time with her children, especially her son that looked so much like the husband that she rarely saw anymore. She knew that she couldn´t expect her spouse, that had become her husband after a marriage that had been arranged because of political benefits, would have much time for his family with a job like his. She had just hoped that Ryuunosuke would have taken a day off considering that it was their son´s birthday, his acceptance into the academy as well as their daughter´s return.

When Velahna and her son arrived at the castle´s ballroom the place was already flooded with people, mostly nobilities, their children and their furry servants. The Highlord´s wife didn´t particular like the idea of the Nassir being forced into servitude, but she also knew that this was how things had been since the beginning of the city, and that the Nassir were created with the sole purpose to either serve as workers or servants.

“Mother, when will Kirahaya come home?” asked the seven year old boy while he stayed close by his mother´s side. These big parties always made the child feel like everyone was staring at him, and he would rather go play with the other children than stand around while the guests were piling up presents for him at a nearby table.

“She will be here soon,” told him while looking around, searching for her husband and her little girl that should have been back by now. ´What is keeping them so long?` she wondered and she couldn´t help but to feel worried, and her gut feeling rarely betrayed her.

~ # ~
With only a few hours left before his son´s birthday party was about to begin the Highlord worked hurriedly to be able to attend to the festivities without having to worry about falling behind schedule. He was the only person present in his office and he was seriously considering asking some of the royal librarians to give him a hand. The council really had it easy. They would set up new laws and regulations without his knowledge and then leave all of the paperwork for him to deal with.
Glaring at the twin stacks of papers that needed to be signed he groaned and reached for the wine bottle, it was nearly empty which told the blue haired man that he had been here for hours already. He emptied the bottle´s contents into his glass and took a sip, tasting the sweetness of the alcoholic drink before the spicy burn warmed him from the inside out. “This is sooooo boring.” Ryuunosuke knew that he shouldn´t waste time with complaining, the papers didn´t sign themselves after all.
He reached out and grabbed a scroll that was wore the templars seal. “Hmmm how did this document end up here rather than at the temple? Don´t tell me that they need more funding for their weapons testing again. I swear that I will cut off the money if they won´t show some results soon,” he mumbled while breaking the seal. “…What is this? Names of children from other clans outside of the city…and from other races too, what is this?” The Highlord read the names till one caught his attention. ´Why is my daughter´s name mentioned in a scroll from the weapons division of the templar clan?`
“My lord?” A blue and black clad man, a castle knight, entered his master´s office and knelt in front of Ryuunosuke, handing him a sealed scroll. “An urgent message from Lord Katashi, sir.”
“…Thank you. You may leave,” the Highlord said before taking the scroll and opened it, barely noticing that the knight bowed and left just as silently as he had entered the office. Katashi was his childhood friend, a young but highly decorated knight and the future leader of the Utaka clan, but more importantly he was the one who was supposed to ensure his daughter´s safe return from Seidō. His first thought was that his wife´s mother, who lived near Seidō, wanted to see her granddaughter and that Katashi sent a scroll to ask permission to accept the old woman´s request, but sadly that wasn´t the case. He had left the room before the dropped scroll connected with the carpet covered floor. The Highlord grabbed his sword while calling for a servant, ordering the obedient Nassir to summon a list of his most trusted knights as fast as possible.
By the time that he reached the nearby Hall of Knights his men were already waiting for him, ready to go wherever needed without even knowing why they had been summoned. “We need to go to Seidō right away; my daughter´s life might be in danger.”
The Seidō province was mainly populated by the Tsukiyami clan and the Mitsukai, and it contained not only the weapon makers’ city but a lot of small oasis where nomads harvested the popular cacti nectar that was used in cactus juice and wine. The citizens of Seidō were known throughout the western continent for their great potion making skills, weapons, growing the obedient Nassir and then of course most of them had the brightest flaming red hair color that Ryuunosuke had ever seen. Their orange red hair always reminded him of the fur of the giant foxes that lived in the mysterious mountains of Yajū Oni, and since the most of the people that lived here belonged to the race of Yazeta and working closely with the templar Ryuunosuke felt even more responsible for protecting them from harm as well as getting his child back. Their blood may not be as pure as the nobles but this was still the village from where his wife had been born, so if they were under attack he would aid them.
~ # ~
Ryuunosuke arrived at Seidō only an hour after he had received the note from his childhood friend. The reason why he was able to get there so fast was the existence of the eternal gate that was placed in the center of the city, on the fifth island that rested in the center of the oasis. Through the crystal gate you could go to other gates just like it, and luckily there was another gate just outside of Seidō on a small hilltop that was still active. Using the eternal gate meant that the Highlord and his knights arrived at their destination four hours earlier than if they would have been forced to travel in the old fashioned ways, like riding, which appeared to be a very good thing since Seidō was about to be consumed by flames. ´Katashi is strong and usually never requests backup unless it is really bad. I suspect that it´s more than just the usual foe that is causing trouble this time,` Ryuunosuke thought while he waited somewhat patiently for his men to come through the gateway and get past the nausea before he looked towards the small city where clouds of dark smoke rose from the burning houses. ´The royal knights are skilled fighters but are mainly used for me and my family´s protection. I wonder if they are ready for something like this when they rarely encounter anything except sandworms or rock eaters during the mating season. Evacuating a city from a fire and saving my daughter is something they have never done before.
The village of Seidō, with its small huts made of wood, straw and stones used to look like a cozy little place where you could enjoy a glass of wine in the late summer evenings while the children would play without fear on the streets, but that had changed. It was a shame that this serene place was going up in flames while the desperate screams of terrified men, women and children filled the air. The Highlord felt how his stomach turned in fear. His little girl was down there somewhere in one of those flame and black smoke covered buildings. Guilt washed over him as well because he knew that he had been so busy with work that he had barely seen any of his children for the past year. He turned to the knights and put on a confident face even though the feelings inside of him were anywhere near bravery or strength right now. “Our top priority is to find and rescue my daughter and the other children. Saving the city and the citizens come secondary, is that understood?”

“Yes, sir!” answered the knights in unison. They seemed to worry about the fire and the screams that greeted them when they looked towards the burning city made it even harder to stay brave. People seemed to be dying, and not from being consumed by the fire it seemed, but what or who would dare to attack a city that was under the protection of the ZahraThustran knights? The beasts of the desert usually kept their distance from the cities and only attacked the caravans or adventures souls that didn´t pay attention to the warnings. The desert could be a very deadly place if you ignored the dangers that could be found there. Ryuunosuke suddenly got the strange feeling that something was very wrong here and that they needed to make haste if they wanted to save his daughter and his friend before it would be too late.

“Let´s go!” he ordered when the swirling gate closed behind them. There was no time to worry too much about it, all that mattered was to find his daughter and then get out of here before this place burned down to the ground. The blue haired Highlord took a deep breath before he led his men down the small hill that they were standing on and straight towards the burning city. “Be on your guard and watch each other’s backs, I don´t know what we might encounter once we enter the city.” The streets were disserted when they finally set food past the city gates and no bodies were to be found even though the massive amount of blood everywhere told them that someone must have lost their lives here.

“Katashi?!” Ryuunosuke called out into the now too silent streets. He could feel that his men were worried because of the eerie feelings that overcame them while walking through the empty streets. It didn´t help that the sun was setting behind them which bathed the small city in an orange-red light and made the shadows grow long and scary. It was almost as if the shadows reached out towards them and then there was this strange buzzing sound, no, not so much buzzing as a deep murmuring or growling like something was on the verge of attacking them.

“Katashi, where in Ahura´s name are you?!” The Highlord looked at his men and sighed. They all looked like he felt; more than a little spooked which really wasn´t that big a surprise since a situation like this rarely happened. The desert was usually a fairly peaceful place and the only thing the knights usually had to deal with were the usual bandits, drunken demons, disobedient slaves and a few wild beasts that came down from the nearby mountains that surrounded and isolated the desert from its distant neighboring countries. They were rarely in a situation like this where they didn´t know who their enemy was or what had happened prior to their arrival, all that Katashi had mentioned in his message was that there was some kind of threat and that he needed backup as soon as possible. “Alright, we should split up into four teams and search for Lord Katashi and my daughter. Stay close to your teammates and watch each other´s backs.”

“Sir, do you want us to stay in team formation if we find the princess or should we evacuate her right away?” the leader of the fourth team asked while glaring at his men who seemed eager to leave the narrow and smoke filled streets.

“Yes that would be the best in the given situation. Use the blue flare to signal that you have found my daughter and that you are at the eternal gate. I will stay with team one and search the temple up ahead while team two and three will look for survivors at the town hall and the academy. Ignore the fire, we don´t have the time to put it out…we will evacuate the citizens, take them back home with us where they will stay till we can rebuild the city,” Ryuunosuke ordered while wondering if this was the right approach. “We will meet at the major´s home in thirty minutes and decide what to do next.”

“Yes sir,” the four teams answered in unison and bowed respectfully before they left to do as ordered.

The relatively young Highlord didn´t like the way that there was no one except them walking through the streets. The smoke might have covered the city in its blanket of chokingly thick darkness but it wasn´t so black that they wouldn’t be able to see or hear any citizens in need. The fire was eating away of the buildings and provided the only source of light now that the sun had nearly fully set behind them and it made the Highlord and his men nervous and jumpy. They all sighed in relief when the temple finally came into their sight and they rushed forward without paying enough attention to their surroundings.

“Watch out!” Someone called out to them from up ahead. “Duck!” Ryuunosuke and four of his men managed to drop to their stomachs before a ball of fire flashed above their heads. The other two knights on team one weren´t fast enough and they were caught in the scorching and seemingly all consuming flames. The Highlord stared at his men, unable to move he watched them burn till a strong pair of hands pulled him forcefully to his feet. “Ryuu, move or you will end up like them,” the man, who had called out t them earlier, hissed before he dragged them shaking man towards the sanctuary.

“K-Katashi?” The blue haired Highlord coughed to clear his dry throat. He tried to get rid of the foul taste of soot, smoke and burning flesh, but not even the taste of the spicy wine that he was offered made it go away. “What is going on here, and where is Kirahaya?”

“Your daughter is safe, my friend. The children are in the care of ten of my best knights and the Kyuubians that were here to trade goods. They went to hide at the Fire Mountains for the night,” the taller man explained after dragging his friend away from the other people that hid within the temple that had been left somewhat untouched by the fire that was about to destroy their city. “Princess Kirahaya is safe…but none of the other children didn´t make it.”

“Kyuubians? Thank lord Ahura that we sighed that peace treaty with the Kyuubian queen last month. Oh no, this will mean a lot of trouble when we get back home.” The blue haired man ran a shaking hand through his spiky hair. “And you are sure that my little girl is safe?”

“The princess is perfectly safe so stop worrying about her and worry more about us getting out of here alive. I have lost half of my battalion after hell broke loose,” Katashi muttered. “And many of those in this temple won´t make it through the night, despite then the next hour.”

Ryuunosuke stared at his friend in disbelief. Whatever had happened here wasn´t because of some wild animal or bandit gang that much was for sure. “Katashi, what happened here?”

TBC

Intro

In this blog I will post drawings, manga and the chapters of my novel

Child of Destiny

This is my own story and all that it contains has been created and therefore owned by by me.