Chapter 1: The Shadow Wraiths
Both Father and Mother Moons were shining brightly in the evening sky casting a pleasant glow on the city in the clouds known as Upper Grammaria. Most of the residents in this peaceful, hidden hamlet that surrounded Cloud Castle were fast asleep in this late evening hour. But there were two young men who were sneaking around and up to mischievous antics as usual. One of those young men was Travis Taylor, or as most people called him, Zyan of Grammaria. Travis and his friend and fellow Sabre Knight apprentice, Knoll, snuck through the training grounds, taking care to stay in the shadows and to avoid the eyes of the watch guards who patrolled the perimeter of the training grounds, Cloud Castle and all of Upper Grammaria.
It had been nearly a year since Travis first arrived in the world he would discover was the land he was born in. It had actually been exactly 360 days (star rises as they were called in Grammaria), or the equivalent of one Grammarian cycle. In that time, Travis had continued to search for ways to return to Earth to be reunited with his adopted mother, Mary Taylor. He still had not come across anything that could help him achieve that goal. Even his kin, the mighty Dragon of Wisdom – Sage, was unable to help Travis find a way back to the world that he had known and been raised in for most of his life. And so, while he continued each day to search for a possible way home, he found himself getting reacquainted with the Sphere, the world in which he had been born. And the longer that Travis remained in Grammaria, the more familiar things became to him. He frequently remembered things from his childhood and was surprised to find himself occasionally using a Grammarian word or expression as if he had been doing so all of his life. The one thing he had hoped to remember the most however was memories of his parents and what his life was like with them before he was sent to Earth. Unfortunately those memories did not seem to come back to him as often as he had wanted.
As he learned more about the history of the Sphere, the Dragons of the Twelve and of Grammaria, he also gained quite a bit of knowledge on the legend of his father and former Commander of the Sabre Knights, Noble Cavalier. It was because of this Travis decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and enter the training to be a Sabre Knight. And just as his father had been before him, Travis had a natural gift and ability that allowed him to learn at a much faster rate and become skilled much quicker than the other apprentice Sabre Knights; even faster than his new best friend Knoll.
While he had played sports on Earth Travis didn’t think he was a very athletic person. So he was surprised to discover he was very talented in both swordsmanship and the use of the very first weapons he had been given, halo discs. He had even become quite adept at defending himself without weapons through learning what he often called ‘Grammarian Kung Fu’ (a term that neither his friend Knoll nor Noble Victor understood). It certainly didn’t hurt that Travis had been empowered by Sage the Dragon of Wisdom, making his uncanny ability to learn, analyze and adapt even that much greater than those he was training with. Also aiding him was the current Commander of the Sabre Knights, Noble Victor a man who was thought to be the greatest Sabre Knight ever. He had also been the best friend of Travis’ father.
Noble Victor and his prime apprentice, Knoll, were often amazed at how truly talented Travis was. His ability for someone of his age was unlike anything Noble Victor had ever seen before. Travis had managed to catch and surpass Knoll, who had had a full extra cycle of training over him, though Travis was the first to admit that he had received just as much help with his training from Knoll as he had received from Noble Victor. It was thought that one day soon both young men would be ready for their attempt on the Gauntlet, (a deadly obstacle course created by Noble Cavalier and used as the final challenge for all apprentices) to prove their worthiness of being called a Sabre Knight. The only thing holding them back, as Noble Victor was frequent to tell them, was their occasional mischievous deeds that so often got them into trouble and served as a constant reminder to Noble Victor that neither of the young men was quite mature enough to attempt such a dangerous trial.
Those deeds often led to Travis and Knoll facing the wrath of Noble Victor who remained hesitant to grant them permission to attempt the Gauntlet despite their obvious talents. Explaining themselves before the Commander of the Sabre Knights had indeed become a regular routine for the two apprentices but on this particular evening in Upper Grammaria, Travis and Knoll would find themselves a much different challenge than that of Noble Victor’s angry glare…and one quite more dangerous…
“Somehow I don’t think this is how Noble Victor wanted us to use our stealth training,” Travis whispered and smiled at his friend as they paused behind a row of bushes while a group of trainees went by on an evening training session with their trainer. Travis shuddered a bit remembering the first few days of his training with Noble Victor and how many of the late evening runs he had to participate in. When he looked to Knoll his friend was suppressing a groan of sympathy as he watched the young trainees as well.
“Well…he did say that he wanted us to practice,” Knoll whispered back and after the way was clear he quickly led the way across the path. “And trust me my good friend there is nothing more impressive on the Sphere than being able to stealth our way past the greatest warriors in the land.”
“Remind me again how I let you talk me into doing this,” Travis whispered to Knoll as they both made their way towards the ‘Calling Bell Tower’ that stood at the center of the training grounds. Unknown to most other apprentices was the fact that at the base of the tower was a hidden door leading to a secret underground passage that connected directly to several different locations throughout Cloud Castle and around the city of Upper Grammaria. More importantly for Travis and Knoll however, it led to the main dining hall and the castle’s kitchen, where Travis and Knoll had made a habit of going to get late evening treats to eat.
“Why I put a hex on you of course. ’Tis the reason you do everything I say,” Knoll whispered back trying not to laugh as they both ducked behind a large tree to avoid being seen by another patrolling guard. Once the guard had passed by they both slipped into the tower room undetected. “Besides we have a tradition in Grammaria to celebrate the day of one’s birth and since we missed celebrating yours I think we should make up for it this eve.”
Travis folded his arms in front of him and shook his head as Knoll pulled down on a hidden lever and a small door slid open on the opposite side of the chamber.
“Knoll, my birthday was three months ago…at least the only birthday I’ve ever known was. I never really thought of this before…but I have no idea when my real birthday is,” Travis began talking to himself before looking up and noticing a frowning Knoll. After a moment Travis finally realized the reason for the confused look he was receiving. “Three cross-moonings Knoll or in plainer terms…too long ago to be celebrating it now.”
Knoll paused before entering the secret passageway and gave Travis a sly grin, “What is that expression you often use my friend…Better late than not at all? Right?”
“Something like that,” Travis just shrugged his shoulders and gave in, following behind Knoll as the door slid shut behind them. Along the sides of the walls of the narrow passage were torches lit with magical burning dust, which allowed the torches to remain lit constantly. The passageway that they were in was long and dark and with nothing to allow air to ventilate through it there was a musty and moldy smell to the entire tunnel way. In truth, all the passages had only one real purpose: in cases of emergencies the Royal Family could be removed from any area in the castle for their own protection and without anyone knowing how or where. But the secret passages hadn’t been used in cycles by anyone from Cloud Castle since nothing had ever presented enough of a danger to have the Royal Family evacuated. The only people who used the passage were the few apprentices and Sabre Knights that were aware of its existence, such as Travis and Knoll…or at least that was what the two of them believed.
“Wait a moment,” Travis suddenly whispered and grabbed Knoll’s arm and pulled him to a stop. He looked down towards his hand and saw the familiar bright blue glow that always illuminated from the birthmark on his hand in the shape of the number ‘12’. It was glowing brightly enough to shine like a beacon down the corridor and the only time Travis’ hand glowed in such a way was when he was charging the energy inside of him for an attack…or…when danger was near. “Something is wrong. Did you hear that voice…I don’t think we’re alone in here.”
The two apprentices stood silently for a moment and just as Knoll was prepared to say he heard nothing there came a soft subtle whisper on the wind…a female voice putting a call out to something or someone…but barely audible to anyone not listening for it.
Both of them reached for their weapons and then groaned silently. Neither of them had brought any weapons with them assuming that there would be no need to have them when all they were after was a late night snack. There had been no reason to anticipate running into anyone or anything dangerous in their quest for food. The two young men frowned and then looked to each other both with the same expression and question on their faces: continue forward or retreat. But before either of them could make a decision, a strange whistling sound began to overtake the whispering voice. Much like a very harsh whipping wind, something screeched past them leaving a chill in its wake. The wind was moving so fast that the flames from the torches on the wall whipped violently to the point that they nearly went out completely.
“I suppose it would be too much to hope that that was just the wind,” Travis whispered nervously looking down the passageway and trying to see what was at the end.
“No, I am sure that it was not. It came from behind us and the door we entered through is sealed tight. That was no wind that passed between us,” Knoll agreed and squinted to see as far down the passageway as he could. “It was something else and I have a feeling whatever it is, it’s going to be far more troublesome than just a gust of wind.”
At that moment something else that was definitely not a gust of wind, rushed past them, through the corridor and pushed them with enough force to throw them both into the wall. As Travis raised his hands in defense of whatever had passed by him, the glowing light from his hand beamed out towards the end of the hall revealing what was there. For a moment Travis and Knoll both stood somewhat frozen and staring at several dark and misty ghostlike creatures scaling along the walls at the far end of the corridor and making their way towards the castle entrance. The creatures paused for a moment to look back at where the light was coming from and began to produce a whispering, clicking sound that was clearly their way of communicating. But if they were saying words, the words were completely unfamiliar to Travis and Knoll.
“What…are those things?” Travis asked as he pointed the light from his hand trying to aim it at the creatures to get a better look at what they were. He watched Knoll squinting even harder but could already tell that his friend had no better idea what the creatures were than he did.
“I have never seen the like before,” Knoll whispered in a voice so low it seemed he was trying to keep the creatures from listening in on their conversation.
Travis moved apprehensively down the corridor, Knoll a step behind him, as the creatures continued slithering their way along the ceiling until finally reaching the door that led to the main castle. When Travis raised his hand again towards the end of the corridor it was clear that there were more than just a few of the shadow-like creatures and it was also very clear as to where they were trying to go.
“We should seek out Noble Victor before…” Knoll grabbed Travis’ arm but was interrupted.
One of the doors leading to the main part of the castle slid open and the ghostlike creatures slithered their way in leaving only the scraping sounds of their movement to taunt at Travis and Knoll. Travis felt Knoll tugging on his arm even harder but Travis pulled away.
“Well whatever they are they’re heading inside the castle and I think it’s safe to say that they shouldn’t be. Come on,” Travis said quickly moving down the corridor and not waiting for Knoll to suggest otherwise. Travis winked as Knoll sighed heavily having a different idea for a course of action, but followed along anyway.
As they reached the end of the long narrow tunnel they both gasped a bit as two of the remaining shadowlike creatures seeped through the cracks underneath the hidden door as it slid shut. Travis and Knoll exchanged nods and then quickly activated the lever to open the door and stepped through into a hallway within Cloud Castle. To their surprise the mist-like creatures were gone from sight. The continuous glow from Travis’ hand let both young men know that the dark creatures had not gone too far away. Travis slowly pointed the back of his hand out, using his glow as a beam of light to see through the darkness and pointing it towards any scraping sound he heard.
“What do you think those things are here for?” Travis whispered.
“If I even had the slightest idea as to what they were I might be able to tell you,” Knoll answered as he kept his eyes trained on the beam of light from Travis’ hand. “I think we should go for help. It would be unwise for us to confront these things not knowing what their abilities might be.”
As Travis was about to answer, the light from his hand found one of the creatures and the silky dark being slithered up a wall and spiraled its way towards the main dining room with Travis and Knoll in hot pursuit. When the two reached the main dining hall Knoll’s suggestion of seeking help suddenly seemed like a very good idea indeed. The inner dining hall was massive, about 50 yards long and more than large enough so that every residence of both Upper and Lower Grammaria could dine on the most special of occasions. On this night however the only ones filling the dining room were these dark shadow creatures that lined the walls, ceilings and covered the floor so completely that it looked like a small sea of black water. Barely an instant after the two young men entered the hall, Travis’ hand began to glow so brightly that it became blinding and the warmth in his hand increased to a level that literally caused him to yell out a bit, gaining the attention of all the creatures in the room with them. For a brief moment the creatures all turned and stared at Travis and Knoll who were slowly and cautiously turning in a circle to get an idea of just how much trouble they were in.
“You know that idea you had about going to get help Knoll?” Travis whispered as the Shadows slowly began moving towards them in a circling manner. Despite their desire to move away from the creatures, the apprentice Sabre Knights found themselves somewhat forced in their movements towards the center of the room as the Shadows began cutting off their access to each exit in the hall. Travis motioned to the dining tables and they quickly hopped on top of one to keep the shadow creatures away from their feet. “I suppose we could just start shouting at the top of our lungs.”
As if understanding Travis’ suggestion one of the shadow creatures suddenly flew past his head making an angry, screeching sound as it did. Travis gulped as he and Knoll quickly decided that perhaps that was not the best of ideas. They both slowly bent down on the table and as they did Travis grabbed one of the plates that was still lying there undoubtedly set for the star rise meal.
“I do not believe they appreciated that suggestion Zyan,” Knoll whispered and quickly noticed that Travis had begun charging the plates in his hands with the powerful energies that were inside of him. “Do I even want to know what you’re planning now?”
“Probably not…let’s see if we can make our own path, get out of this room and go and get help,” Travis answered and began looking around for a direction to toss the charged-up makeshift weapons.
“Have you taken leave of your senses Zyan,” Knoll asked his friend but scooped up a few plates as well. “This entire hall is crawling with these creatures and they obviously do not plan on just letting us call for help and I imagine they will not be any more anxious to just let us leave. I do not really see the sense in trying to fight through them all when…”
“Which door leads to the nearest sounding bell?” Travis asked ignoring his friend’s minor blabbering. He watched as Knoll scrunched his eyebrows together for a moment and then looked around the room to all of the exits. When he finally found the one he pointed quickly in its direction.
“The northern door over there leads to the common room sounding bell. The guards use it because it is the central most warning bell in the…”
Travis suddenly stood tall on the table and sent the energy-charged plates flying from his hands, tossing them like Frisbees and searing through the shadow creatures that were slithering along the floor. The creatures quickly parted and moved away from the plates revealing the smooth surface of the dining room hall and without a moment’s hesitation Travis pushed his friend onto the floor towards the northern door. Once Knoll started running as fast as he could towards the door, Travis charged another set of plates and tossed them in the opposite direction and began running towards the southern exit.
“Sound the bell and send for help!” Travis shouted.
“Right…and just where in blazes are you going?” Knoll shouted as the shadow creatures, which had parted and made a path available were now quickly closing up that path behind him. He reached the door and quickly went through it slamming it behind him and hoped silently to himself that his friend knew what he was doing. Several screeches from behind the door quickly reminded Knoll of what he was supposed to be doing and he ran off to find assistance.
Inside the room, Travis was nearing the opposite door when he noticed something that completely froze him in his tracks. At first it appeared to just be the glow of light coming from the candles on the side of dining room walls. Then Travis noticed that there appeared to be a figure standing in the middle of that glow…a girl in white. Travis also noticed that everything in the room had seemed to stop moving. The black wave of slithering creatures was frozen in place and there wasn’t a single sound coming from them. The only thing in the room moving was Travis and the Girl in White.
As Travis opened his mouth to ask who she was and what she was doing there the Girl in White looked upwards towards the staircase she was standing next to. When Travis turned his eyes in that direction as well, the Girl in White vanished and everything resumed moving. Travis ignored the fact that the image of the girl had mysteriously disappeared and noticed something much more important.
There was a row of steps leading upwards just next to the door and halfway up on them was the body of one of the Sabre Knights. Travis paused to look at the Shadow Creatures which were closing up the path he had created but were no longer making an effort to pursue him. Travis quickly moved up the stairs to where the guard was laying only to discover that the guard was already dead. The guard’s body had been completely drained of its life-force leaving only the husk of a body behind.
Hearing the sound of shuffling movement Travis quickly looked upwards towards where the stairs spiraled up and barely caught a glimpse of several of the creatures shimmying their way to the upper levels of the castle. That thought did not sit well with Travis at all as there were few things that the creatures could be looking for other than someone in the Royal Court…namely, Princess Sunflower. He quickly pulled the sword from the sheath of the fallen guard and hurried up the stairway leaving behind the hissing sounds of the remaining Shadow Creatures below. When he reached the next level he discovered a long corridor with several rooms on each side but no sign of where the creatures may have shuffled off to. Travis cringed at the thought of having to check each room and risk the chance of not finding them in time and decided his best course of action was to ensure the Princess’ safety first. He looked to the next landing of stairs and quickly made his way up towards the top. He wasn’t sure which room would be hers having never been in this particular section of the castle before, but he was sure that she would be as high up in the castle as possible. He climbed the spire’s spiraling steps as quickly as he could hoping that by the time he reached the top he would have a plan on how to stop the dark slithering entities he was following.
When he reached the last landing Travis saw the one thing he had hoped he wouldn’t see…the husk of another Sabre Knight and this one was clearly on honor guard duty for the Princess as he bore a special royal blue and gold belt indicating his special status. It was the same belt that Noble Victor had been wearing every day since Travis had first met him and at that moment there was no one that Travis wished was with him more than the Commander of the Sabre Knights. A few seconds later he heard the sounding bell ringing from the Common Room of the castle and thought that there was actually a chance his wish might come true.
Then, his hand suddenly began to glow bright and grow in warmth as he barely caught the movement of a shadow on the wall moving towards the end of the corridor. There were only two doors on this floor and Travis imagined that one had to lead to the Princess’ private chamber. His thoughts were confirmed when the Princess emerged from her room with a small sword in one of her hands and a glowing trinket in the other. Whatever the glowing trinket was, the light from it locked directly onto the shadowy beings and instantly caused them to shriek and back away from her.
“You Shadow Wraiths will torment this castle no more. May the Light of Arroway show you the way out of my domain!” the Princess said boldly as she directed the glowing light towards the Wraiths which continued to dodge the bright light shining on them. They turned back towards the staircase and found themselves pinned in as Travis stood blocking their exit with a glowing Sabre Knight sword in his hand.
“I have no idea what you creatures are but you certainly won’t be escaping this way,” Travis said just as boldly as he pointed his sword at them and then let his attention slip towards the view of the Princess for just a moment. She was gazing at him just as surprised to see him as the wraiths had been. Her hair, as always, was flowing with a view of the beautiful evening sky, its stars and both Mother and Father Moons giving her presence even more of a glow than usual. Travis and Princess Sunflower smiled towards each other but in their hesitation to secure the wraiths, the trespassers suddenly slithered along the wall and out the window at the opposite end of the corridor. Travis ran quickly to the window and looked out to see the wraiths scaling down the tower towards the courtyard of the Sabre Knight training grounds.
“Oh you have got to be kidding. That is way unfair,” Travis moaned as the creatures quickly made their escape. Travis turned and looked about the corridor for something that might assist him in continuing his pursuit and as he did he could hear Knoll shouting his name from the bottom of the stairwell. He ran over, peered over the edge of the landing’s balcony and waved to his friend. “Up here Knoll! And bring extra guards for Princess Sunflower!”
Travis began walking back towards the window and as he did he grabbed the belt sash that was around the waist of the lifeless guard lying on the floor.
“What do you think you are doing?” Princess Sunflower asked as Travis handed her his sword and tied the end of the sash tightly around one of his hands. She looked out the window and saw the strong cable rope attached to the side of the castle displaying all the flag crests of the past kings of Upper Grammaria. She looked towards Travis again and suddenly realized his intentions. “Zyan of Grammaria, have you taken leave of your senses?”
“Why do people keep asking me that?” Travis mumbled under his breath as he tossed an end of the sash over the cable and caught it with his other hand and then looked back at the Princess. “Knoll and more Knights will be right up to guard you in case any more of those shadow things come back for you,” Travis answered as he stepped onto the ledge of the window and made the mistake of looking down. Looking at the ten-story drop below made him suddenly question whether or not he really had taken leave of his senses.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” she shouted as she watched him preparing to attempt to slide down the ground below.
“I’m going to catch a shadow!” Travis’ voice shouted as he leapt from the window, gripping the sash with both hands as tightly as he could as he slid at break neck speed towards the ground. His eyes grew larger and larger as he neared impact to the ground itself suddenly realizing that the one part in this plan that he had not accounted for was his landing. Up above in the window Knoll and several other Sabre Knights had arrived to protect the Princess and Knoll joined her in watching out the window as Travis landed hard on the roof of a stable chamber just on the outside of the training grounds causing several of the steeds underneath to begin whinnying. He grimaced a bit but quickly caught sight of the slithering wraiths scurrying across courtyard of the training grounds and hopped quickly down to the ground and continued his pursuit.
“He didn’t just…” Knoll asked the Princess in amazement while she was also shaking her head in disbelief.
“Yes, he most certainly did. I certainly hope that he has a plan,” the Princess whispered as Travis continued running across the training grounds. His friend smiled and shook his head.
“I do not believe he ever has a plan. It’s like he’s living out a stripling’s tale and just keeps making up new things as he goes along,” Knoll replied and then pointed to the two guards that had come up with him. “Reinforcements are here to protect you your Highness. I’m going down to the training grounds to get Noble Victor…the more conventional way.”
On the ground below, the shadow creatures continued their speedy movement across the grounds and it wasn’t long before Travis realized exactly where they were headed: The Gauntlet. The final testing area for an apprentice before becoming a full-fledged Sabre Knight had been created by Travis’ own father. It was a long obstacle course filled with challenges and designed to test the wide range of abilities that an apprentice needed to graduate from his training. It tested strength, courage, the ability to think quickly, analyze and solve puzzles and it was very rarely ever completed on a person’s first attempt to get through it. In truth, most apprentices that entered the Gauntlet for the first time usually finished their attempt in the infirmary not remembering what painful apparatus finally did them in.
So when the two shadow creatures Travis was chasing entered the Gauntlet, Travis had every reason to be a bit apprehensive about going in. He followed their path as they wormed their way around and appeared to be headed towards the exiting section of the Gauntlet, but then they suddenly stopped in the middle of the course, changed direction towards the front door and once there they turned to face Travis as if goading him to follow them in.
Running in from the Officer’s Quarters, Noble Victor spotted the situation and was hurrying to aid Travis when he saw his young charge stepping forward towards the entrance of the Gauntlet and the Shadow Wraiths. The dark creatures instantly dove in once they realized that their pursuer intended to continue the chase. Victor raised his hand trying to get Travis’ attention and keep him from entering the training course, knowing that once an apprentice entered the Gauntlet, it would activate automatically. Then the only way for Travis to exit would be passing through the entire course to its exit or being rendered unconscious, which would deactivate the deadly obstacle course. Once the Gauntlet began Victor knew he would not be able to help his apprentice through it or against the dark creatures he was pursuing.
“Zyan!” Victor shouted and not gaining his trainee’s attention he called him by the name his apprentice was still more used to answering to. “Travis, do not enter the Gauntlet! That is an order apprentice!”
The Commander of the Sabre Knights had nearly reached the entrance to the Gauntlet when he made eye contact with Travis and saw clearly in the young man’s eyes that despite the fact he had heard the order, he had every intention of entering the course. And with his very next step…he did.
