Beating (Book 1: Acts of the Hearth)

Chapter 8.2

The once barren wasteland lays before him. Greenery as far as his borrowed eyes will allow him to see. At Di Shola, he searches for the large tree that once could not be hidden. Except, in the current day and age the tree is no longer present, nor where it grew.

     “Shola’s words told me of the power that rest in this place. But, there is no way that massive tree could vanish without some hint of its whereabouts.” Damen says crawling along the plush grassy surface, rubbing his hands through each inch as he travels.

     “Dammit, I need that power if I am to take the throne from that home-wrecking bastard!” The obsessed man searches for hours combing through lengths of the land.

     “I don’t even know what I’m looking for! All she mentioned was her mother and some place near that tree.” the speech spark a thought.

     “Hold on... What if what I am looking for is the grave of her mother? What I’m searching for could be buried with the body…!” he reveals.

     Travis, Vivian and Logan all travel together to reach Di Shola two days later. Along the way, Travis ask to learn about his mother.

     “Her name was Shola, she was a temptress of a woman that used her ploy ignorance and unfamiliar features of her flesh to seduce your father.” Logan explains in all bitterness. Vivian looks at Logan, judging him for his choice of words. “You could just say she was attractive and everyone who saw her knew it.” she remarks.

     Logan snaps back at her remark. “She was foreign, so everything about her seemed new and attractive to him. That devil woman knew that and used it as an advantage to reach the throne.”

     “Hey, Travis? Isn’t the old man’s insults starting to piss you off? This is your mother he’s talking about.” Vivian ask him. Travis keeps his attention focused on searching for Damen as he answers.

     “I can’t say if it’s true or not, I never knew my mother…” he adds calmly. Upon reaching the edges of the Benign Coastlands, Travis notices a figure in the distance. The young prince runs off ahead of the group to investigate.

     As he approaches the figure, his attention is turned to the many piles of lively grass and fresh soil, all uprooted from the earth. Damen turns around upon hearing the grass behind him rustling from Travis’s arrival. “You… You’re that boy from before. What business do you have with me?” Damen ask.

     Travis stares at the young man, uncertain of how to address him.

     “What are you doing out here Damen? Weren’t you planning to become a Seer to the next King?” the young Prince interrogates him. “Am I hearing this right? A Seer to the next King? Has that murdering thief retired his crown?” the man laughs callously. The man rises to his feet and dust off the blades of grass and clumps of soil that has clung onto his clothes.

     “King Adin is dead, but this shouldn’t be news to you. I guess it’s true then. You really are a spirit, being channeled through Damen's body.” Travis finally admits it to himself.

     The spirit possessed man laughs harder and brushes back his hair. “Which was it? Did he croak or was it his sins finally catching up with him for why he’s dead?”

     Travis keeps a good distance and sits on the area of grass that is untouched by the man’s excavation.

     “Are you really the spirit of a man named Derrick? If you are, I’d like to talk with you.” the young prince desperately expresses. The man looks down at him. “Saying spirit would imply that I am dead. But, yes, I am Derrick. And no, I am only sleeping.” the spirit answers back, unsure of himself.

     Travis tries reasoning with the spirit. “Listen to me for a moment and take a look at yourself. Your hands, legs, just look at the body you are using. Does that look like the body that belonged to you?”

     “Just who do you think you are to lecture me?” the spirit expresses in frantic.

     Vivian and Logan catch up to Travis after taking their time to arrive. The spirit looks over at Logan. “What a dumbass... Didn’t this boy already save you from me once? It seems you just won’t be satisfied until I kill you, Logan.” the spirit chides.

     Logan shouts to the body of Damen. “Derrick, if it really is you, please just listen to me! Tell me, why are you searching for this power?”

     The man sighs out of his nostrils. “For Shola, for myself and mostly for our son!”

     Logan’s trembles as he hears the lingering spirit talk. “Speechless are we, that’s a—” the spirit mocks as Logan cuts in and speaks. “Derrick, your son is—!” the old Seer adds as he is also interrupted.

A foundation for forces unpredictable…

     Another interruption falls between the two men. From the skies and crashing into the ground appears a massively tall, scale bound fortress of a creature. Dividing Logan, Travis and Vivian from Derrick.

     The group all stand stunned by the creature before them. Scales all over with thick webbing of skin for wings, all lined to three claws that were armored by more scales of a glossy greenish gray shade. The creature stares down and growls at the group of three; breathing one deep breath from its wide nostrils that blows the group back.

     Logan crouches into a ball on his feet at the sight of the menacing reptile. Vivian shakes off her surprise to the unfamiliar creature and draws her saber: Symphony’s End, for a taste of the beast.

     “Do not hinder this one on his quest, young one. For what he does is for the sake of your fate…”

     Travis looks around to find the source of the voice. He then turns his eyes to the colossal being before him. Gazing into its eyes, Travis sees himself in full view. The creature’s eyes were green accompanied by speckles of triangular shapes circling the iris, completed with a thick yellow slit pupil.

     Travis steps forward to touch the scales. Vivian pushes him back behind her without losing her stare on the creature before them. The Prince places her arm to her side as he continues to walk forward.

     The creature shrieks loudly at his approach, causing Vivian to cover her ears. Travis stands unphased by the piercing loud sound that only the others can hear. Instead, he sighs at the mysterious message he receives from the shriek that only he can hear. After a while, the Wyvern speaks both within and without, their words of wisdom to the young man.

     “Do not hesitate to ask that man of Us. For he knows well what We are and what Our coming means for this land. This shall all make sense as time moves indiscriminately forward…”

     Seemingly losing interest in the group; the creature launches itself high into the skies with a strong wing beating that pushes the group back further.

     Turning during its flight, it reveals it did not escape alone; as it flies away with the unconscious body of Damen in its claws, traveling west.

     “It…she spoke to me. Logan, what exactly is that thing?” Travis ask suddenly smiling. The older Seer continues to stay in his balled up position.

     Vivian removes her hands from over her ears. She looks at the two, unable to hear well after the loud aftershock of the creature’s screech. She then walks over to the huddled down old man and pulls him up by the back of his collar. “WHAT WAS THAT THING?!” she shouts at an unreasonably loud volume.

     Logan looks at Travis as the young man was already staring at him. “I hope you’re ready to talk now. Because you’ve got a lot of explaining to do, but judging from the look on your face. I think you already know that…” Travis states to the old man.