III:
Three Trials of Royalty
The path winded up a good few miles into snowy cliffs that seemed to have no end. After what seemed like a fortnight of traveling, there it stood, gawking at them. There lied a stone archway, built from the products of earth, but not for man, nor elf, the entryway seemed to be so tall that it was built for beings of a certain enormity.
The wind howled as all of the Snow Elves slowly entered, the king’s emerald circlet began to glow even brighter than it was before, leading the way for the Elves that marched in front of the king, cautious.
The eerie gale from outside moaned its way through the caverns-The wind continued to howl, whispering past all of them, and whistle, practically shrieking until it revealed a distinctive whisper, they all heard it. It, was her... Mondisi shouted, “I-I-I-It’s her! The one from my dreams! I know her!” His soldiers and sons shocked, all-repeated in synchronization,
“Aye, me too, my King..”
A foggy light revealed itself as the soldiers halted movement. Readying their shields, the elvan soldiers stood guarding the king and queen. The ghostly light, fogged and clouded the room, the wind refused to stop and quickly became a mocking laughter. The laughter surrounded the Snow-elves, and just when they were all about to scream, a figure unveiled itself as The Queen, just as she was underneath the bandaged-mask. Pointing at the King as she continues her laughing, Mondisi snaps- shouting,
“DEVIL! DAEMON! S-Sh-She has haunted me since the dreams, when we awayed from the dock of our homelands, which, for some peculiar reason, I cannot recall the name of..”
Dumbfounded, lost in perplexing thought, the ghostly, undead, foggy apparition of the queen, spoke in an echoing voice of such a penetrating volume, it brought every Snow-Elf present in the room to drop to the floor, being yanked downward by an evil-aire.
“If you elves are done bickering, and catapulting insults, we may continue, and Mondisi, please do watch your anger- lest you lose your head..” The apparition condescendingly said.
The apparition now floated forward- phasing through the guards, her nose grazing the king’s.
“Mondisi… since you haven’t told them, I will.”
Phasing backwards to where she originally stood, she grew in height and overall volume, a giant of a ghost if there ever were..
“You, Snow-Elves, are a very special kind of elf, wouldn’t you agree? I have chosen your kind especially, to oversee all the happenings of this glorious land- Dome-Wyrd. The bridge between god and mortal, so-to-speak. A Glass Kingdom, rightfully yours for the taking, lies waiting, an anvil fit for a god, but these things do not come with a price. Oh no i’m afraid they do not. I must test you not as individuals but an entire race, you will have to work together, you will have to work alone, for failure of any of the three trials, would only mean certain death for a mortal, even a Snow-Elf. Rest easy, guards in the front, these trials are for the royalty, peasants have no place in my trials. Only the powerful survive.”
Raising her gigantic hands up, the colossal ghostly apparition lit the hallways with torches? donning a blue-flames.
The two sons, The King, and even his wife- were perplexed why, but somehow, they knew which hallways to venture down. The king and queen wandered down the center hallway, directly across from the arching entrance.
The Two Brothers ventured down a cavern slightly to the left, and slightly smaller, in which they had to crawl through a carved hole.
The guards aimlessly stood as the fog dissipated and they were left alone, confused. They had no other option but to make camp, from pieces of wood that they had gathered on their way up the mountain and waited. And hopefully, the people they had blindly served, their entire life, would make this venture worthwhile and succeed. For the hope of the Snow-Elves, lest they perish…
All three of the brothers strolled, side-by-side. Unsure, paranoid, they all instinctively gripped their sheathed-blades. The cavern only lit by the blue-flamed torches.
Out of fear, Mondnee stepped forward, a step he would quickly regret. Mondnee stumbled, screamed, and fell down into the darkness.
The younger two brother’s halted their footsteps. Freay, pulled a torch from the wall, rocks and debris crumbled by his feet as he held the blaze forthright. Freay gazed at his older brother in a sweaty nervousness, they both saw a descension in the cave. Which probably, resulted in Mondnee’s death, but they briefly heard a loud thud. Followed by a crunch, and an irritated voice.
“OH PLAGUE ON MY SODDING HEELS, OW, FUCKING AYE, IT’S SAFE BUT FUCKIN’ ‘ELL, WATCH YOUR GOD-DAMNED-ARSE.”
As Freay’s eyes widened, he grunted and tipped-over as his older brother shoved him and jumped afterwards. They slid at such a descent, sparks from their armor trailed behind them. Just as the two younger brothers saw Mondnee, laughing and waving. They in an instant, knew why he was so irate.
A thud followed by a crunch, they both landed on top of each-other. Amidst a pile of bones, that they couldn’t bear think about how many generations lie beneath their arses.
“UNG” they both simultaneously groaned, Mondnee chuckling along, “Told ya’ didn’t I?”
Freay, making a questionable “ow-face” stood up and chuckled.
“Piss-off Mondnee!” The middle brother, perplexingly enough, didn’t say a single word, he just simply stood, mindlessly. The other brothers ignored this, and began strolling into what was now a widely open cavern.
Logically, hundreds of feet below where they once were. The cave they wandered inside of was so vast, that it began to sprout its own life. Grassy plains rolled in front of the pile of skeleton remains. Towering groves of trees and at it’s center, a giant’s eye that stood staring. Darting it’s eye at all possible signs of intruders.
Underneath this giants eye, was a stone-pedestal that cupped the grotesquely giant eyeball, like a child’s crib. Regardless of the plenty of beautiful greens and peculiar blue leaves that accompanied the gargantuan trees. The trio of brothers mindlessly, could care less. Their laughter dwindled quicker than their heavy footsteps hustled forward (especially the tubby one.)
The eye’s pupils bolted toward them, twitching between the three. The pupil dilated with an arousing precision. As they all stopped moving, and idly stood there, drooling at the mouth.
The pedestal rumbled, the brothers didn’t flinch or even slightly avert their gazing eyes. The pedestal began to rise, slowly, the brothers eyes then only followed the rising eye- the pedestal, cracked and crumbled to ash before them.
Whatever foul evil spawned afore them, something no mortal should’ve witnessed.
The eye was floating, and around it materialized a beast that at first, was composed of a rattling skeleton, in the anatomy of a dog-like creature. On all fours. The eye was attached to it’s body with a scaly serpent appendage, the creature’s anatomy was much like a dog, but much, much, bigger. horrendously slow were it’s colossal movements. The muscle materialized on top of what was the beastly skeleton, quickly thereafter, was a sagging skin, that horrifyingly drooped onto the cavern floor. The skin seemed stolen, as if it was not meant for this beastly creation and ripped from another..
Blood dripped like rain from its belly and the brothers stood-quietly still, unmoved. All of their eyes widened to visions communicated from the decaying thoughts of this one-eyed-colossal-dog-beast.
A beast Dome-Wyrd would one day know as a “Light-Fiend” (Thanks to the future writings of a mad author, his name currently escapes me, although I do know he had a role with the third king.) The beast had no mouth, or face, it is hard to describe to a mortal reader more than I already have-
there was simply the eye, wiggling above with it’s scaly, tendril appendage, and a blob of sagging flesh that leaked a deluge of bloody rain. Accompanied by four obese legs, that seemingly enough looked stolen from an elephant.
The visions, somehow from the mere existence of the light fiend. Paralyzing, the brothers as they fell backwards without even a simple grunt. They saw in sweaty horror, beasts unfathomably more frightening than the horrific monstrosity that stood dripping before them. Eight abominations that stood in a circle of absolute darkness.
Monstrous beings that I can hardly bare to speak of-
They were formless, some adopted traits and appendages of animals while others were something horrifically otherworldly, not meant for mortal eyes let alone- meant to exist. Whatever sanity and logic the brothers have learned in their elvaan lives were naught. Nothing could move them, from the dominating presence of the light-fiend..
Mondisi held the queen within his breast, huddling her and laughing an unnerving laugh not meant for elvan mouths, let alone a high-born, snow-elf.
The queen was silent, being drug along by the king down a cavern lit by blue-flame. The more laughing the king exerted, grew louder with echoes down the dim caves path. More intense the cackles without smiles pierced. Tightening the muscles around his skinny neck. Much like the brothers, The King & Queen fell.
Mondisi clutching her tightly, laughing louder than ever. The King slid down the familiar descent, void of fear. Thud! Echoed throughout the cavern with the expected crunch of generations of lost cadavers.
Lost, unto the darkness, that the flow of time that we do not understand- swallowed. The open cavern looked identical, green plains graced the cavern floor, gigantic trees with peculiar blue leaves, but there was not a pedestal, nor a gigantic eye, nor three indoctrinated brothers- lost to the darkness, like the generations that lie behind the King & Queen. In the center where the pedestal & eye should have been, lied a fountain not populated by water; A blinding light, it glew a unique fluorescent, not meant for this world.
The Queen escaped the king's overbearing grip, unbelievably, she limped toward the fountain, sexually moaning, birthing into the air- a vile stench. The masked queen twirled and twitched toward the ominous fountain of captivating light. Mondisi followed, confused, he reached for her and around the fountain spawned and towered a ferocious wall of flame. The blaze lit, his eyes flickered, as he sprung backwards from the sudden heat, covering his face from the temperature, he began to sweat, like Snow-Elves shouldn’t.
In this was Vaea’s mistake, and the king’s savior. “What illogical sorcery is this ?! Piss-magic it is, these are parlor tricks!”
Turning around holding his hands out, the king is possessed by a glamorous energy of confidence, not meant for any mortal. “This, this is your grand trial, haunter of my dreams? Foul temptress who has lead me and my hopeless men on this ghastly journey! Is this all your power has to intimidate!?”
Stepping backwards, the king shuts his eyes walking through the fire, which in effect causes the wally blaze to dissipate- like the cheap trick it was.
Grasping his queen, kissing her bandaged forehead, “My beloved.. Once we are out of this demons treacherous cave, I promise you, I will tend to thine wounds, I promise I must keep.”
The king was himself, albeit just for a moment, it was a moment that under the dirtied bandages made the queen finally smile. The first smile she gleamed since before the dreams had began.
The brothers were motionless, their feet surrounded by pools of sweat.
They heard that ghostly visage that took their father, and haunted their dreams laugh and mock them in an echo so extraordinary, that all of them at the same exact moment, thought it would indeed by the end.
Although, it was not. The Light-Fiend began to dematerialize in reverse. First the grotesquely sagging skin, quickly the rotted muscle evaporated in a stench of death. The enormous skeleton remained, but not for long, as the bones rattled in an eerie symphony of doom.
The rattling bones, shot across the room, just over the brother’s heads, and onto the pile of bones. The floating sunk, slowly, surely, with one blink it turned an intense, blood-red and exploded. All over the brothers armor and suspiciously it quickly dried, vanishing with the silver. The trio of brothers came to, shaking their heads vivaciously and erratically. They couldn’t believe the sight before them, three visages, bearing the same facial features as they were but born from the light-fiend they had saw just moments ago, or was it hours? The Brothers could not remember, they could not even remember, the horrible eight beings they saw in circular fashion, standing, surrounded by absolute darkness.
In a blinding-blink, The brothers seemingly teleported, to the similar but not exact, cavern that the King & Queen stood within. Startled by a blinding light, the King shielded the queen’s eyes, along with his own. Only to find his three sons confused, shaking, and erratic.
As the light faded they screamed, the King, holding his palm upwards, slapped Mondnee, with an echoing strike.
“Get a hold of your bloody selves, what kind of disgraceful sons are you lot? Scared of what?! The bleeding dark?! Hogwash! Pathetic.” The King spat.
He began walking to the only path to the left of the fountain, a daunting, endless dark hallway of rock not lit by those blue torches they now grieved for. Mondnee shrugged and followed In suit along with his brothers.
Mondnee thought, “of all the things I needed, the Daemon that stole my rightful father's skin, that was the last thing I needed to experience again.”
Regardless of the king's sudden fiery anger, everyone including the King were trembling as they strolled leg-to-leg. As fierce winds wheezed past them, whispering a laugh they all knew, but refused to mention.
Before they could even let the fear stop their movement, they heard snoring. Not a mortal snore mind you, but something enormous, with an immense voice. The fright taking hold caused the king to shout, foolishly.
“WHO SLUMBERS HERE, IT IS MY GOLDEN RIGHT TO CONCLUDE THIS FINAL DREADFUL TRIAL! THERE IS A KINGDOM AND I'LL BE DAMNED IF ANY OTHER UNWORTHY FORMS OF LIFE TRY AND TAKE IT- I must, I will, Vaea… commands, the light-is truth..” The king's eyes wide, drool escapes the corner of his mouth, quietly giggling. And much like the passing of a storm and penetrating rays of the hungry sun, it all ceased. The king’s shouting, the rambling, the laughing, until the king could only say:
“The fear, the fear powerful gods must be served, with her light, I light - endless ages and years!”
A wind passed from his hands toward the snoring, and those familiar blue flames that lit a path directly to the snoring beast. It resembled something that was once a man. Although, under the mans snoring body was an overgrowth of decaying skin, that made him look more like a tumor than something that used to be a man. His cranium was swollen to the point that it wobbled and sagged. His hands, the only appendages you could make out- he, it, whatever beast snored before the snow elves, one fact remained true, it was maddening. The left side of his face was scarred and puffed-up, amidst the elves gawking, the beast, suddenly awoke staring a gaze that made them all scream, and those screams became even louder, when they watched the blob of an abomination laugh and smile; it’s teeth jagged shark-like, rotten and brown.
Without thinking, they all drew their blades- and the king slightly pushed the queen behind him. Before they could even strike the beast- it spoke in a booming, unavoidable voice.
“Dreams? A gigantic goddess of light? Perfect in every way? Promises of a promise land? Maybe a rightful throne, or a kingdom, aye, I was promised as such too.” Mondisi stepped forward, point his blade.
“You lie demon you know nothing of the titanic Vaea! She waits for me in my dreams! I’m sure of it! She has lead us to a promising path, I will not heed your word demons, I refuse!”
The king's gaze intensifying, his words became faster than light, his whole body shaking as he rambled of the goddess of light. Interrupting the king the Abomination bellowed again,
“aye, but is that voice your own?” The king's eyes bulged along with the brothers. They all marched forward, gutting the tumorous beast, its skin sliced like jelly. The beast did not flinch or make a single noise- it died quickly and easily, too easily the brothers quickly pondered. Wiping their blades of pus and blood,they ventured passed the sloppy beast into the dark cavern.
The familiar wind laughed and mocked in a reverberating, maddening echo. The titanic ghostly visage of the queen revealed itself again, they were in the entrance again, where they first saw the visage of the queen.
With the two hallways and familiar blue flame. Although, the apparition was not the queen, it was her- Vaea in all of her splendor- right before them.
The brothers along with the king all dropped to their knees with a clank and tossed their weapons almost in a possessed manner, they could not believe the horrible reality that lies before them.
Vaea’s voice quaked the caverns in a violent destruction.
“My next vestige of undeniable godly greatness! There is truth in the fact that I the glorious goddess of light, raided your dreams. Even so, my darling mortals, this that you now witness is only a fraction of my power. Thank your failure of a god for that! Now, if you mortals were to be present there to gaze unto my full, untold power, your insides would explode into such a delightful starlight. So it would be rightful of you to Thank your beloved goddess. To protect your fragile existence, I will wipe the mind, and reveal the dim path, so that you Mondisi, can do everything that I, Vaea, will you to do..”
Vaea then clapped her hands in a praying stance, even though her hands smashed to a still, grasping one another, a paralyzing echo journeyed throughout the caverns. The back wall she stood before, began to crumble as it shook the entirety of the cavern.
The king, the queen, his sons and all of his elvan soldiers stared in awe. With an unsettling smirk, Vaea’s titanic existence vanishes in a gust of wind. The tumbling wall behind, was now an open arch-way, fit for a goddess- specifically her, in all her glamorous and benevolent splendor, Vaea The Goddess of Benevolent Light..
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