The Courage of an Alliance

Chapter 5

Sometimes in life, one must go back to the past to understand the future. This chapter will not involve the adventures of Paul, Taby, Griffin, and Mystery. Instead, it shall give you a better understanding of some events that will have occurred in the future.

The Palace of Orr was shining in all its grace and beauty. The palace overlooked the lush, rolling hills of the Land of Orr, where there were towns and civilizations. Never was there any problem in this utopia, until one day that would change everything. All of the butlers and maids were making the finishing touches on the Prince of Orr´s tenth birthday party. There was only ten minutes until the celebration, and the prince was nowhere to be found, and this did not satisfy the king.
"Oh where has my son gone off to this time?" The king was sitting at his throne, with his long silver hair and golden robes. The king was very old, and his days were numbered, yet he still did his best to watch over Orr. "Safra! Come to me." The throne room doors opened, and a man in golden armor and angel wings appeared before him. He had a well toned face and rich blonde hair. In his right hand, he held one of the prized possessions to the Orr family, the Spear of Orr. "Being my son´s guardian paragon, I would expect you know where he be. Almost all the villagers are waiting outside for this event, and I do think they would all be disappointed if the person of whose party we are celebrating does not show up!"
"Ah, so you still call him your son. You cannot let him live with that lie forever."
"Actually I was going to let him know the truth today. I am fading, and I don´t want him to think of me as his father for the rest of his life."
"The queen would have been proud of you."
"That subject is not your concern Safra! Now go find my s-the prince." Safra flew away and looked far and wide over the palace, and finally found him at the top of the tallest tower, which is the paragon watchtower. Safra flew in through the window and found a young boy. He had rich dark brown hair, aqua blue eyes, and long white robes with a red sash.
"Feliks, what are you doing here all by yourself?"
"I was practicing my summons! Now I can do them really faster!" Feliks was a very gifted child since birth. He wouldn´t grow up to have a common profession such as a warrior or an elementalist. He is a summoner, which gives him the ability to bring mystical creatures from the celestial realm to the real world. The creatures would then follow his command and ensure his safety. Being a boy, not only was he illiterate, but he could only summon three creatures. One of those creatures was a snow tiger. Feliks was most fond of this one, and the tiger usually followed him around the palace. It was unusually bigger than other snow tigers, and had a golden armor that was always shining. Feliks called him Diablos. The other two creatures would only come from the celestial realm together, for they were brothers. They were the symbols of right and wrong, ying and yang. They were merely two floating lights, but kept Feliks company when he was lonely, because being a prince can be quite boring. Feliks named these creatures Bliss and Blasphemy, for one would always tell him the right thing to do in a situation, and the other would be telling him what would be more fun. The fun idea usually didn´t end well.
"That is great Feliks, but we really need to get to your party now, is that ok?" Feliks sighed in boredom.
"Ok, fine. But you need to catch me first!" At that second, Feliks jumped out of the window, which left him falling like a ragdoll. Safra jumped to action out of the window and caught Feliks, then started flying in the direction where the party would take place.
"You shouldn´t do that, you could have gotten hurt."
"Meh, I needed some excitement for the day." When Safra flew down with Feliks, the celebration in the courtyard began. There was no drinking at this party due to the fact that it was a 10 year old´s birthday party, but the people still socialized and acted like they were interested in the party and the people there. Feliks would sit in a chair (he would only get to sit in a throne if he was king) and accepted gifts from the townspeople all day. These gifts ranged from headless chickens to grimy rolls of bread, and all the prince was allowed to do was accept the gifts graciously. Towards the end of the celebration, the king made an announcement.
"It was so enjoyable to have you all here today, and there is one last present that I would like to give to my son, and I know that this will be his favorite for the day." Feliks looked surprised and for the first time in the day, interested. The king brought his son into the center of the courtyard, for everyone to see. "My son, through your whole life you have looked up to me as your father and your mentor, but I have a confession. I am not your real father." Everyone in the courtyard gasped in surprise. "Your mother gave you to me to look after, and watch over until today, for today you shall become a hero. There has always been a reason that you are so gifted with your summons, and it is high time that I show you why. Feliks, do you wish to meet your real mother?" Feliks was still soaking this all in. Without thinking, he spoke.
"More than anything." When Felix said that, the whole sky turned a bright white that no one had seen before. An object was coming from the sky, but it was still too far to know what it was. When the strange figure reached the ground, everyone saw that is was Dwayna. Feliks was the most surprised, but more than anything he was confused.
"I see the shock on your face, little one. Please let me explain how this-. . .well how you happened. The one thing that I have ever wanted more than anything is a son. Being a god, that was not possible, so I had to create one. I used all the magic in my veins to create a child that I could watch over and care for, but I did not have enough. When you were a baby I could not hold you when you cried, and I could not care for you when you were sick for I was and am too powerful to have physical contact with a mortal. I was forced to give you away and only watch you be loved by another person, but as long as you were being cared for, that was good enough for me. That brings us here today, for me to tell you your destiny."
"I have a destiny?"
"Oh yes you do. Now that you are ten, your father and I have decided that you need to learn to battle, therefore you shall be taught to fight by Safra starting today."
"But my powers are weak and I will never be able to summon greater creatures."
"Yes you can, but it will take practice. Do not fret my child for you have the favor of the gods." Suddenly the other four gods descended from the heavens as well, all focusing intently on Feliks. "Each of us will give you an object or ability to help you on your future journeys. I shall give you my watchful eye, so that you may know that you are never alone. If you ever need me simply call for me and I shall come to your aid." Balthazar stepped before him.
"I shall give you the ability to conjure armor in order to protect yourself in battle. Focus on armor just as you focus on your summons, and it shall come to you." Felix did as he said and his staff started to glow as it would if he was summoning a creature. Suddenly, Felix found himself in a set of golden armor just as Safra´s looked. "Be warned my son, for you can only bear this armor for so long before it changes back to your robes." It was Grenth´s turn to give him a gift.
"I shall grant you a new summon from the mists itself. This phantom´s name is Bismarck. Call to it when you need a creature to accompany me in the underworld." A floating black phantom appeared before him. Instead of most phantoms that wore cloaks, this one seemed to be a strip of black mist. The most extraordinary thing about the creature was that one of it´s arms was simply a chain with a giant black axe blade at the end. The creature disappeared and Melandru presented herself.
"My ability is more for your tiger, Diablos." Felix summoned his companion to stand before the god. "I shall give you claws of fire and fangs of poison. Feliks will be relying on you in his future journeys." The tiger´s claws suddenly turned a glowing red, and his fangs a dark green. Finally it was Lyssa´s turn.
"I shall give you a most exquisite gift. Only use my item when you need it, for it is very bad to disturb the spirits often. I shall give you three doors. One to the past, one to the present, and one for the future. You must heed this warning though. Do not visit the door to the future unless it is dire, for there is an evil prophet that will show no mercy upon those looking for wealth and prosperity in their future." Soon after Lyssa was done speaking, three giant stone doors appeared on the very top of the paragon watchtower. "The blue door will show you the past, for sometimes you must retrace your steps. The white door shall show you the present, so you may find anyone that may be in danger at that moment. And the red door is the future, so you may see what your fate may be if action is not taken to make it otherwise." Dwayna spoke again.
"I truly hope that these gifts shall aid you to the end of your journeys in life. We must now go back to the heavens to watch over other heroes at this time."
"But you forgot someone!" Said a monstrous voice, echoing through the palace. The sky suddenly turned black and all of the plants in the courtyard started to wither. Dwayna closed her eyes and shook he head in dismay. She muttered something under her breath.
"Oh, no. . .Abbadon" A hideous monster in a cloak black as night appeared before the citizens of Orr.
"It took me all day to turn myself to the size of a mortal, and you were going to finish this celebration without me? HA! I think not!" In the crowd of people, a baby could be heard crying. Abbadon went down face to face with Feliks. "Why hello, my nephew. I personally believe that my gift to you shall be the best!" The earth started to tremble, and out of the ground came a giant mirror, with carvings of snakes and spiders around the side. "I would like to call this item Abbadon´s mirror! If none of you noticed, I named it after myself. This isn´t any ordinary mirror though, for if you look into it, you can see yourself in shadow form!" Abbadon hovered to a petrified woman. "What is a shadow form you ask? Why that is a good question! It is a form of yourself that is dark, evil, and everything else that I am!" Safra stood up to Abbadon in anger.
"This is a disgusting contraption of yours, and I want it out of this palace immediately!
"Such bold words, paragon. Why not you be the first to look into the mirror?" Abbadon threw Safra in front of the mirror. Safra struggled to his feet, and when he got up, he saw a monster in the mirror. He had the exact same armor as the real Safra, except black and red. His face was grey and his eyes were bloodshot. Instead of angel wings, he had wings of a black dragon. While the true Safra looked into the mirror in shock, the other one looked back, grinning. Suddenly the dark Safra pulled a hand out of the mirror and pulled the real Safra in. The real Safra turned around and saw a numerous amount of demons and disturbing beasts simply staring back at him. They didn´t have a look of shock as the townspeople of Orr did, instead they has a look of hunger. A hunger for flesh. On the other side of the demonic mirror a figure stepped out. It was the dark Safra. Abbadon laughed and then spoke up.
"I forgot to tell him the shadow form is dying to take his place! HA!" Abbadon faded away, laughing maniacally. Shadow Safra said something.
"Well Felix. . .Happy birthday!" He then grabbed his black spear and threw it at one of the civilians. The spear went straight through his body and two other people behind him. "I would love to stay, but I don´t think I will stand such a good fight against five gods, so until then! Oh and I think I shall take a souvenir from the party." Safra grabbed Feliks and flew off into the grey sky. Dwayna had a look of panic, then flew after him. The other gods flew behind her.
"We cannot attack this monster with any of our abilities, for he is holding my baby!" Balthazar looked furious.
"so he thinks that give him a free ticket out of here!" He then sprinted fast as lightning through the sky and stabbed Safra at the side. The demon then screeched and was in a rage. Holding his side and the boy, he screamed.
"Just remember that this will have been your fault, Dwayna!" He then grabbed his spear and stabbed the boy in the stomach. He let got of him, and he was falling towards the ocean. Balthazar grabbed him and brough him to a small group of islandsand rested him on the shore. The other gods followed and acted as if there was no evil demon fleeing to kill other innocent people. Dwayne looked and the stab, where it was protruding black blood.
"The spear caused a corruption wound. These are impossible to heal, but there is one way to save this boy´s life and remove the corruption from his veins." Grenth looked up.
"Do whatever you need. It is too early for this boy to join me."
"I will wrap him in a crystallized cocoon of my energy, which after a period of time will remove the corruption from Feliks´s blood." Melandru looked at Dwayna.
"How long will that take"
"Judging from the wound, a very long time."
"three weeks? Four weeks?"
"No, a couple thousand years."
"The boy will be old and dead by then!"
"No he wont, the cocoon will encase him in his normal body form for that long. When he is well again, he will call to me like I told him that he could."
"Where will we keep him?" Dwayna looked around.
"We will keep him here. These islands are isolated and not even Abbadon would think of coming here. I swear he will pay."
"And if people move to these islands, then what shall we do?"
". . .Ah, I know. Feliks will be a "gift from the gods" and we will erase his mind to have him be raised by a normal family."
"But he will know the truth." It was Lyssa´s turn to speak.
"Then we shall have to erase his memory. He shall grow accustom to a lifestyle without heroes, journeys, or evil. He has been through too much already." Dwayna started to cry. She whispered something in the boy´s ear.
"Goodbye my child. Even when you do not know, I shall always watch over you." She then levitated him in the air and enclosed him into a blue crystal. She created a shrine on one of the islands, left the crystal there, and left, as did all the other gods. None of the gods would know that the boy enclosed in that crystal would be found by a civilization that would support his summoning skills more than anyone else, as would they never know that he would join Paul, Taby, Griffin, and Mystery on their journey to stop Jun from bringing Shiro back to this world.

- Written by Muscle Man Paul