before
Xazvin forged the sword, Orcs used to run rampant in Ellandra. They
were terrible creatures, ones that nightmares are made of. The
Creator banished them with the help of the dragons. I haven’t heard
of them since.”
“ We must go there; Xazaz or we may
face these creatures in our own land. The wind said to make
haste.”
“ Then make haste we will
do.”
With that Zelphan and Xazaz wasted no time
preparing a knapsack of food and setting off towards what Zelphan
hoped was Ebulon. He didn’t know how he was going to get there or
where he was going, but he knew that somehow his feet would lead
him where he needed to go. This wasn’t the first quest he had gone
on, and he learned a lot during that quest. His biggest lesson was
learning to trust. He had to trust the wind and his friends or he
would for sure fall into peril.
****
The pair traveled many miles through forests,
hills and valleys. From far off they heard a hum in the air.
Zelphan put his hand on the hilt of his sword and Xazaz flew ahead.
Zelphan nearly drew his sword when he heard a surprised squawk from
the bird. He herd an, “Oomph,” then, “I’m happy to see you too,
Xazaz.” Zelphan recognized the voice and ran to the weird man with
the thick bottle bottom glasses.
“ Petre!” Zelphan greeted with a
hug. “It feels like a life time since I last saw you!”
“ Hello there, chap it has been a
while hasn’t it.”
“ It has, we shouldn’t wait so long
to see each other.”
“ No, I don’t think we
should.”
“ What brings you to this area?”
Xazaz asked.
“ Well, it appears I am here to help
you.” Petre said with a smile.
“ Help us? How? Are you coming with
us?” Zelphan asked.
“ I’ll be coming with you for part
of your journey, in fact I’ll be leading you, but you must follow
my instructions carefully.” Petre instructed.
Zelphan nodded his head in response. He’s done
this before with Petre, and he knew how important it is to listen
to him. The old man with the thick glasses had a unique gift. He
could follow the line of time and bring you to new places. His home
exists in a line of time that is in the past, and it’s filled with
unusual items that Zelphan didn’t know how to describe or use. He
was there once, when Petre rescued him from a horrible place, those
were dark times and he didn’t want to think about that. Instead he
put his focus into following directly behind Petre so he would not
lose the way. He didn’t know what would happen if he mis-stepped,
but he didn’t want to find out.
They started in a circle, and then they
zigzagged and hopped. They walked 500 paces to their left, and then
they walked backwards for 600 paces. This was the weirdest pattern
Zelphan ever walked with Petre, but he did it even though he felt
silly. They continued the nonsense until Zelphan felt like he was
going to drop. “Close your eyes.” Petre instructed. Zelphan
squeezed his eyes shut, and Petre placed his hand on his shoulder.
Zelphan held on and stumbled forward. “You can open your eyes now,”
Petre said.
Zelphan gaped at the scene around him. He had
been here before. He was standing in the middle of dense forest
with trees so tall you couldn’t even see the sky above. All you
could see was a green glowing mist above. “Zelphan, are we?” Xazaz
started.
“ Yes we are.” Zelphan confirmed.
This forest was deadly and he and the phoenix were the only two
known to enter and come out alive. Petre whispered into the air,
and then sat down. “You might as well sit down with me, it may be a
while.” He said, and they both sat down.
Zelphan must have fallen asleep because he
woke up to a bright lime green light shining in his face. “Turn out
the light.” He mumbled, rubbed his eyes, and saw the lime green
butterfly fluttering in front of his face. “Rise and shine sleepy
head.” It said in a high pitch voice.
“ Smalls!” Zelphan
grinned.
“ You remember me well.”
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