Tales of the Maeist Volume 1: The Cursed Boy

Run!!” How many times has it been? He did not know. The frantic shouting of the senior knights and Maeists as they formed a desperate formation. The scream of the young and inexperienced as they scattered away from the deep darkness of the Abyss. The snuffled cries as they fell and trampled by friends, brothers and sisters, and comrades. The rushing adrenaline and stifling fear as he joined among the mob of esteemed young and proud trainees now reduced to sobbing and wailing pubs. The earth trembling with increasing fervour and the rocks showered everywhere. Dull thumps and buckled knees. Some did not rise after taking the hit on the head while others were been trampled before they could even scream.

As the world was falling apart, he could only run. He was weak. Too weak to harbour the option of saving someone. Twice, he felt something soft and squishy beneath his steps. He did not dare to think about it. He could only follow the frenzied groups in their ruthless ascending from the depth of the Abyss. Why am I here? He asked himself as he looked around the narrow passage of the cave connected to the Abyss. Why are we here? He cursed himself and whoever made the call to come here. His heart ached for every step he took. I am too weak to save anyone. There is nothing I can do. He could only persuade himself as he took double strides towards the glowing light not too far away.

Anyone? Daelous?! In his fear and panic, he forgot about the calm and collected yet brave and strong man, slightly ahead of twenty years old, brown hair with a faint smile and eyes shone with such amber, filling with strength yet soothing as they bore upon him. Deeply ashamed of his selfishness and fear for his elder brother, he turned back his head and searched among the throng of panicked escapees. Yet, he was pushed by the crowd behind and having a difficult time to locate his brother. Get out of the way! He thought and started to push against the crowd, but to no avail as he was overwhelmed by the number and it took every strength he had to stop from falling down.

In his hopeless struggle against the escaping gush of the crowd, his eyes caught a glimpse of his brother. With his brown hair stained in blood and looking strained but determined, his brother was among the group of veteran knights and Maeists bearing the crest of three layers of shields. Knights of Sheldon. The small group was all that left of the only experienced members of the only Union in the city. The desperate formation of these knights kept the encroaching darkness at bay, buying some time for the remaining people to escape and his brother was one of them, holding a large shield and an iron spear.

Again and again, the dark mist coming from the Abyss advanced. Yet the group managed to ward it off with the deployment of the Lightfort, with the knights grouping up to form a layer of shield wall with openings for spear and the wall of shields was imbued in the illuminating force field of the chanting Maeists. The dark mist seemed to get annoyed by the lack of progress and hissed with raw hunger and impatience. Or it isn’t? But it seemed they might able to hold on somehow.

Just as he exhaled with a sense of relief, the dark mist suddenly flared up with such intensity as it became a sea of ravaging inferno with clear intention to consume everything on its path. The cave shook with more rocks raining down when a booming shockwave quaked his vision. The explosion threw the escaping groups on the ground and he found himself lying on the ground with his head ringing. He strained his trembling hands on the ground, trying to get up. He fell back on the ground several times and a sense of nausea washed over him. He sat upright on the ground and vomited. Wiping his mouth, he stared in horror at the tragic scene. Most of the escaping group was merely thrown off their balance, but the veteran group who stayed behind suffered heavy casualties. Some of the chanting Maeists coughed up blood and fell to the ground while some caught their throat, gasping for air. The knights had also suffered as some of them blasted off from the formation and lying motionless few flings away from the group. The formation was still intact but it could no longer receive another attack of such magnitude.

He scanned the veteran group and found his brother. No. It can’t be right. No. He felt a scream inside. Where is his left arm? The bleeding came gushing down from the gaping wound as his left arm was blown away with the shield. He knelt with the support of his spear as he struggled to stand up. NO, DAELOUS. NO. IT IS ENOUGH. He trying to stand but it was slow as his feet still wobbling from the blast but had recovered just enough for the endeavour. However, his eyes never left the sight of his dying brother.

He stood up and lay his back on the wall of the cave, breathing and coughing heavily. Then, he started towards his brother in slow and unsteady stride. That was when he noticed the dark mist. He stopped on his track as he stared in fear and astonishment as the dark mist spiralling around the spot in such playful and terrifying swirl. It was laughing, he realised. As if noticed his gaze, the dark mist stopped its merry dance and started to gather itself.

Alarmed by the change, he shifted his gaze towards his brother and caught his amber eyes. Even in such desperate time, the eyes held him with such soft gaze but shone with the light of urgency and determination that he did not have to guess when his brother mouthed the word. NO. NEVER. I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU. He continued his stride but the dark mist started its second onslaught as it glowed again with such deadly intensity that it even seemed to be more powerful than the last explosion. He did not care and went to his brother. Before he could reach his brother, the dark mist transformed into the swirling snakes of hellfire and blasted forward. He stopped and chanted a simple force barrier and signalled for the barrier to appear before his brother. A small square of barrier materialised from the thin air and held in front of his brother. The inferno merely hissed with a snorted scorn as its gigantic flame blasted forwards. The formation held on for seconds and broke as the members were decimated by the scorching flame, screaming with pain and anguish, and consumed by the blinding flare.

The flame reached the small barrier and slammed on it with such tremendous force that he grew weak in his legs and knelt. But his right hand held right up to concentrate on the barrier. It was so powerful that he caught his right hand with another arm on the ground and summoned every fibre of his strength and roared it out to the barrier with his ferocious scream. Surprisingly, the barrier held and split the flame to two as it blasted through and searing up the rest of the escaping group.

The effort only held for less than a second as the barrier held on but twisted on both sides. It seemed like the barrier was melting as it softened and exhibited a liquefied effect even though it was impossible. It happened and over in a flash but he saw it again and again as the barrier melted away and the flame burned through. The elder brother threw himself in front of his younger brother as he pushed him backwards, away from the flame. Taken by the force of the explosion, he was thrown from the ground and blasted towards the narrow opening of light.

He strained his neck to look for his brother and found the same soothing eyes which brought him countless reassurance and security in the cold dark nights of the orphanage. Below the eyes, the mouth muttered a word. NO. NOOOOO. NOOOOOOOOOOOO. The blinding light bathed his vision as his brother turned into a distant titian silhouette and disappeared in the inferno. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...