Zaldizko - Chapter 25 Delphis Portal Chamber

A round pond of dark wateredged with a silver and bronze borderfilled up the center of the floor. There were no other pieces of furniture or fixtures in the chamber. The light came from the crystal walls.

Galais positioned us around the pond. I found myself between Brystagg and the bull-woman. We followed Galais’s example of kneeling down to the pond’s edge, so we were close to the water.

“I am Delphi, Sol Mother of Minos.” Delphi introduced herself.

“I would not risk your cell breaking work Your Highness if I did not feel the importance of what is to come,” Delphi said to Brystagg.

Her next choice of words made my fears resurface.

“Apocalypse is in danger of a terrible fate if Famine and Death do not return to the Lotus Bridge of their time and stop the oncoming attacks.”

She raised her hand to stay Brystagg’s questions and drew our attention towards the pond’s dark surface.

“I think it’s best to show you the fact that awaits your time Famine, if you do not stop the course of this danger.” Her fine hand swept the pond’s surface to call upon images to the water.

I gulped down a nervous knot when I saw Trix and Leinard tangled within the gold coin olive tree of the Lotus Bridge. Possessed Death had called upon a cakra type of magic with great magnitude that caused the Aueralius Brothers to writhe about their binds with pain.

My hands trembled, and skin went clammy as I felt their agony from their bodies suffering burns of golden fire; skin went unbearably hot, throbbed and went numb into an uncomfortable coldness. My mind was splintering with pain.

_”It hurts Death.”_ I cried out in thought.

_”I feel it!”_ Death yelped with his own begging for the pain to stop.

“UGH!” I screamed as I felt the brothers’ bodies explode into rays of golden light, which pieced the black tunnels to make them crumble into nothing.

A fierce roar and deafening bellow overwhelmed my ears.

The walls that had contained the demons and criminals were destroyed, allowing them to escape out into the tiers. People were slain where they stood, had their chi stolen to be used against them or devoured.

My heart ached with defeat, sweltering anger, trampled hope and realisation of failure from the knights struggling to hold back the magnanimous tide of damage tearing down Hell’s Labyrinth and spilling out into the Second District.

More pain stabbed my heart as the pond’s image focused on the fate that befell each one of my friends. They were being nullified by a demon, tortured by a human, having their chi sucked out until they were shrivelled shells, burned and brutalised; destroyed beyond repair. I felt all their fates as my own.

“STOP! Please!” I cried, doubled over with pain.

“No! You must see the course of events!” Delphi ordered.

A power kept my eyes witnessing the long-term devastation played out in the pond’s image.

The Second District laid waste under the claim of demons led by the hiruda. Humans were either devoured or forced into slavery to demons only to be eaten later, lurking as empty shells linked to the will of another or having to eat their own kind to survive. There was no beauty left in the world. No honour nor hope. Nothing resembling the essence of a human remained. Humanity was null. The skies were constantly dark and starless as smog and a foulness that choked the air.

I sniffed and wiped at the tears that had dirtied my face, pressing a hand to my chest to hold back the stabbing pain breaking my heart.

The pond turned black and formless again.

I felt Colin’s arms wrap my waist from behind to keep me steady.

“The fate of Minos also shares this one should you and Death fail to overcome the hiruda.”

Delphi’s voice assumed her soothing tones. Her hands tenderly stroked my flushed cheeks.

“Gat Shiem’s fall was written in the stars, so there was nothing either of you could have done to stop it. However, the hiruda’s event is not fixed with fate. You can stop it. Both you and Death.”

I gulped down the remainder of the pain I felt and checked on Death when I felt my head had cleared.

_”I’m okay now Famine but this pain was worse than what I had felt at Gat Shiem.”_ Death sighed.

“Is that why you asked me to bring the boy?” Brystagg asked.

I frowned when he appeared unaffected by the pond’s vision.

Delphi nodded. “The Zaldizko Prophecy paints a dark picture if we use dark colours.”

Her face lifted with a serene smile, which stirred feelings of peace to soothe away my remaining pains.

“Right now, I am seeing a beautiful colour of determination, love and hope from this boy’s eyes. His heart is beating with pure virtue. Sol has a bright future if this boy’s colours remain so.”

I exhaled a few breaths to reclaim my composure.

“Prince Brystagg, Sirius’s boys are the deciders to the fate we have borne witness to.” Galais added on. “If they are removed from the Lotus Bridge Primary Core before the Hiruda calls upon the Sacral magic, then the Hiruda can be overcome.”

“His boys?” Brystagg’s voice tensed with a bitter coldness.

“Yes. Since he had taken Ariella as his queen, they are his.”

I noticed a sadness in Brystagg’s eyes. He met mine without hiding it.

“So, you are from my future?” Brystagg voice was emotionless as he asked me the question.

“So, it seems,” I carefully answered.

“Obviously you know of my kin.”

I sighed, sensing his curiosity.

“If you’re referring to the men on the Lotus Bridge, yes I know them. They are Captain Trix and Lieutenant Colonel Leinard of the Evadale Knight Order.”

I flinched at Brystagg’s change of expression. Somehow, I had said golden words that made his sadness go bye-bye.

“Trent and Leinard do not belong to the Illuminate Group?”

I sensed his hope for my answer to confirm a no.

“No.” I reassured him and yelped at the stinging pinch Colin had given my thigh.

_”What? I’m sure they would have found out eventually from Delphi.”_ I signed to Colin and ran my hands through my hair at the end.

Brystagg released a deep sigh. His face relaxed into a calm expression. He was relieved by the fact?

“You are going to need my help back to that Lotus Bridge.” Brystagg declared and looked to where Lyra knelt.

She had been quiet and carefully observing our reactions.

“Are you with me Lyra?”

She sighed and lowered her eyes. “Since when have I ever disagreed with your final orders Sire?”

Lyra stared me hard in the eye. “You can save my daughter from her fate back there?”

“If Colin and I get back to the Lotus Bridge, I most likely could.” I confirmed.

Lyra flashed me a cocky smile. “Guess it’s any reason to speed up the mining progress.”

“You won’t have time for this. We have done what we can to ensure Famine’s path of fate, the Hiruda made, lead in our favour. Events on the Lotus Bridge are moving quickly and further from my power,” Delphi said as she stood and prompted us to follow her lead out of the chamber.

My mind was swarming with questions and half answers, highlighting pressing ones for Death’s opinion.

_”How is it possible that we are in the past?”_

_”Anything is possible when you combine zirconia with preservation magic. However, it’s not recommended tampering with time,”_ Death commented.

I sensed his troubled thoughts.

_”Hey. Do you really think we can return to the Lotus Bridge and stop that hiruda?”_

My mind was quiet before I heard Death sigh.

_”Honestly, I think the likelihood is slim. That creature was able to kick me out of my own body then draw upon sophisticated power to throw you back into time.”_

I gulped. _”Do we even have a smidgen of a chance?”_

_”All is not lost Baby Brother. If the hiruda is abiding to magism, then it will be following a set order dictated for preservation magic.”_

Death continued his reassurance by throwing out some tried and tested magism facts and theories, which had turned into another one of his crash courses on Magism Conduct and Consequence Violations pertaining to preservation magic.

My eyes drooped with sleep as his voice droned on about violations described in Section 35, related consequences noted in Section 46 and potential punishments listed in Section 76.

_”Freend sleepy?”_

I felt awake and instant joy by the sound of Small Cap’s voice.

_”You’ve been alright Small Cap? My brother hasn’t intruded on too much of your space? He can be nosy, so I was worried he had worn you down.”_ I fussed.

_”I beg a differ!”_ Death butted in. At least he had stopped with his lecture.

_”Me be fine Freend. Be sleeping. Me okay now.”_

I sensed refreshed vitality and spirit from my spider friend.

“You’ve been lost in thought,” said Brystagg. I noticed that his eyes were carefully observing me.

“Oh, um, yeah.” I averted his gaze.

“I’ve been thinking Delphi. What did you mean by it is up to Famine and Death?” Brystagg’s question may have been directed to Delphi but his eyes were pushing for my answer.

Delphi stared at my belt pouch for her answer.

I sighed, flicked Colin a look before I called out Death.

“A spider?!” Lyra gasped with both horror and surprise at the sight of Small Cap’s head poking out of the belt pouch.

“Sort of my brother Death at the moment,” I explained.

“Death is that?” Brystagg’s face twisted with a look of disbelief as he pointed a finger at Small Cap.

“It’s a long story; one I’m not smart enough to explain,” I said.

“Well that fact I can easily accept,” said Lyra with wry expression.

“For another time perhaps.” Brystagg brushed off further questions.

I focused on the direction we were headed.

Silence trailed our footsteps along blue carpeted and silver marble hallways, for a long while, until we reached an end.

I was overcome with a mad bout of giggles from the tickles I felt all over my body.

“Where this coming from?” I giggled and stiffened when Brystagg’s hands cupped my ears.

“Lasaitu zure nerbioak.” His spell and soothing voice settled my tickles.

I blushed beetroot and shook myself free from his hands.

“Um, thanks,” I mumbled awkwardly and cursed my pounding heart beats.

There was no way in hell this man was going to make my heart race with feelings other than rage, fear and intimidation.

_”So, the Uncle now? Famine you are a worry with your fickle heart.”_Death commented, which made me rant, stupidly, aloud.

“Sorry. It’s a brother thing,” I apologised to appease everyone’s weird stares fixed on me.

I flinched at Lyra’s hearty chuckles that she quelled as soon she saw all eyes on her.

Delphi and Galais led us into a bizarre, cube shaped room of pulsing white stone.

The walls were seamless. An iron box hovered in mid-air at the center. The room’s space was void of other objects or furniture. It was a display room for the box.

“Burr! Isn’t it freezing,” I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself.

“Would you rather the tickles?” Lyra smirked.

I ignored her sarcasm and imagined I was being warmed up by a hot cup of cocoa.

“That box.” Death’s voice trembled.

Did this box contain another one of those objects that Adams-san used to neutralise Gat Shiem’s defences that let in the Neska Gudari?

_”Those warriors were Neska Gudari?”_ Death asked, picking up on my thought.

_”According to War,”_ I soberly answered.

_”You’ve seen War?”_ Death’s voice quivered.

I sensed his urge to cry.

_”Yeah. Sorry, I forgot to mention, War’s safe back in our time; living the sweet mansion life with a capable group of knights.”_ I eased his concerns.

_”Thank you, Buddha.”_ Death exhaled, relieved.

_”And Pestilence?”_

I sighed; hope had to run out of steam at some point.

_”I don’t know. I haven’t found him yet.”_

_”Do not dismay Baby Brother. Once I’m back inside my body, and we defeat this hiruda, the three of us will track down Pestilence and bring him back to safety.”_

Delphi drew our attention to the matter at hand. We gathered around her and the iron box.

“This box was placed in the temple’s care by the Black Rider during my great ancestor’s time.” Delphi’s voice was of absolute reverence.

I frowned at the familiarity of that name, but couldn’t pin point where I had heard it. Maybe it was in one of the books I had flicked through in the Library Tower. A time I had been lazing about the chairs to watch War work.

I gulped when Delphi’s conversation was directed to me.

“According to the writings of my Ancestor, one day the box will need to pass to the one who can hold it. This one will use it to reset false destinies.”

I flinched when her finger pointed to my chest then to the box.

_”Um, Death, so the thing in that iron box you opened almost made you a basket case, right?”_

His silence made me uneasy.

_”Death?”_

_”Sorry, I was trying to find the best words to allay your fears but couldn’t.”_

“Oh God! You’re not expecting me to open that b-box, are you?” I fidgeted with my fingers and hissed at the expectant looks on everyone’s faces.

“What’s so bad about opening a box?” Lyra innocently asked.

I glared at her ignorant question.

“Oh, so you understand what this box contains.” Galais noticed.

I nodded and told them that a man had brought a version of one to the temple home I came from.

“Temple home?” Galais asked.

“He is from Gat Shiem, Galais.” Delphi answered.

“Gat Shiem?!” Brystagg and Lyra spoke at the same time.

“Who are you Famine?” Lyra looked worried.

Her question was ignored.

I closed my eyes, braced myself for the worst. I opened them again and gingerly raised a hand to the box then cowardly retracted it.

“You don’t really need me to?” I asked with hopefully eyes and sighed at everyone’s set expressions.

“Here goes,” I released a deep breath and placed my hand on the box’s clasp.

I unhooked the clasp. The box opened.

Chomp!

“Ugh!” I hopped madly on the spot, my fingers aching with cutting pain.

“It bit me! The ruddy thing bit me!” I growled at the evil box.

Brystagg sighed. He waved his hand over mine whilst muttering a spell.

My hands glowed with green light, which removed my pain as soon as it had faded.

“You’re a hira,” I whispered and glanced to Colin whose brows were raised.

“Of sorts.” Brystagg confirmed.

“Fine. Let’s try this again.” I calmed myself with deep breaths.

I flipped the box’s lid wide, swiftly retracting my hands before it could do the chomp.

I groaned when I saw an object the shape and size of an ice cube. It wasn’t as white as the one Death had described. Instead, it shone with a golden hue.

“One, two… three!” I counted and grabbed the cube.

My hand was stuck inside the box by a powerful force.

“Holy crap!” I yelped, feeling my palms burn, but I couldn’t let go.

Gold light poured out of the box to blind my eyes.

My ears rang from an omnipotent voice that telepathically spoke words steeped with the energies of age and wisdom.

The voice’s strength increased to a near bone shattering volume.

_Orduan nago, orain ni naiz, ni naiz, izango naiz._

Rays of light stabbed my heart, head, hands and all my vital organs.

“NO!” I begged before my voice was silenced with pain.

_”Famine! Hold to me!”_ I felt Death’s voice desperately reaching out for me.

_Orduan nago, orain ni naiz, ni naiz, izango naiz._

My head numbed with sweltering heat. I couldn’t see, think clearly.

_”Hold on Famine!”_

Orduan nago, orain ni naiz, ni naiz, izango naiz. Deitu nire izena.

_”GODDAMN IT! YOU WILL NOT HAVE MY BROTHER!”_ Death’s curses banged against my head.

_Ni naiz, izango naiz. Deitu nire izena._

“I AM DEATH!”

The pain stopped.

I felt a soothing cold calm my frazzled nerves. It restored my senses to normal.

I gawked at the sight of Small Cap hovering in mid-air where the box should be. He was glorified in golden light.

“Freend. What be going on?” Small Cap asked with a trembling voice.

“It is the Zaldizko’s power!” Delphi gasped.

She lowered herself to her knees to pay her respects to Small Cap.

“I feel it Famine. The Chiorntex’s power controlling the flow of life is pulsating through my mind.” Death’s voice seemed distant and strange.

“Death?” I gulped and yelped when Small Cap flew back into my belt pouch.

He stopped glowing.

“We can go back now, but this power is too raw to use. It’ll burn up anything in this state. I need a filter or something to channel time,” Death said from the belt pouch.

It took me a moment to realise that the voice had rebounded off the walls.

“The spider talks.” Lyra noted.

“It is because the Zaldizko has taken back some of his power.” Delphi confirmed as she rose to her feet.

I frowned. “Are you saying that my brother is this Zaldizko?”

“Of course, and so are you,” she answered matter-of-factually like it was a known thing.

“Lemme get this straight. So, this Zaldizko is meant to be this fancy, god like, horseman who has power over this world, right?” I scratched my head.

“Both our saviours and our destroyers depending on the power they wield before us.” Delphi confirmed. “They hold the hana of this world. Through my studies I have come to view the hana as the Zaldizko’s power one with the Chiorntex pertaining to Sol.”

“So, I take it that Death just reclaimed a bit of his hana.” I spoke my thought aloud.

She nodded with confirmation.

I looked at Small Cap who was resting, princely, in the belt pouch.

“Oi! Death, you better not get carried away with this power and stuff things up.” I warned him.

“I think I’m more capable in this area than you would be Famine.” Death’s voice rebounded off the walls, which made Lyra burst with laughter.

The ominous room had lifted with a lighter spirit.

“Yes. I do feel more relieved that a spider is in control of this power,” she said at the end of her chuckles.

“Sheesh, no one has faith in me.” I moped.

Delphi approached me with a warm smile. “Your virtue and innocence are what set men apart from gods. You are the shining light when all hope is lost. That is not something to feel bad about is it?”

“Thank you.” I bowed my thanks and felt reassured of my place in this world.

“I am surprised that the Black Rider would have had this power to give.” Galais frowned.

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“It was not his power,” he answered with a sigh.

“No one knows the why’s and how’s of that time Galais. The fact remains, the power was returned to its rightful owner. False destinies can now be reset.” Delphi’s words drew the matter to a close.

We followed her out of the room and the way back to the bull statue.

“You will find what you need back within the Exacle’s Office,” Delphi said and faced me with a motherly smile.

“Famine, I am most blessed to have met you. It has been an honour. I am content to know that Sol’s future continues to be bright with you in our world.”

I paid her humble respects with a prayer bow.

Galais saw us out of the temple and across the courtyard to the domed entrance.

“This is where we part ways Your Highness, my Lords. May Mithras guide your way,” Galais said his farewells.

We found our way back to the dais and to my namesake statue where Buru was waiting.

“All’s well Milord?” he asked.

“All is well.” Brystagg reassured him.

Lyra unfolded her fans and set the sparrows free to take us back to the Office of Exacles.