A Need For Air
Chapter 3: A Need For Air
The second I opened the door my scenery changed. It was like a mini tornado of lights and colors all converging on one point of existence and that existence was me. The surroundings turned into a heavy grassland with a lush forest starting over two hills and on top of the two hills lay two people in Roman armor each with a different shade of color and different stances. Different swords placed at each other and different shades of light falling in the background reflecting off different surfaces and blinding me. They turn their heads away from each other to look at me and finally I get a good look at their faces. They were zombies or something close and it scared me to my core just to look at them. The creaks in their bones as they started to walk forward towards me in lines centered by their own hills with swords in their hands. The one on the left reaches me first and says " Who Are You" in a raspy accusing voice. " My name is Solomon" the roman zombie looked at me and then said "T-he K-ing". The other one came from the right and said " It's not him at least not yet" then percides to cough some ashes out of his mouth.
I stepped back a little and then said " The king, I can't be a king. I'm barely out of middle school. How am I supposed to be king?" The idea of me being a leader just didn't sit right with me. How could I be a ruler, a person that someone could rely on. The left soldier spoke up again " It's not Impossible the card of the Dark King has been drawn or else you wouldn't be here my king" after that statement the both nod their heads then right spoke up " I think it's about time you knew our nam-es".
They both take a step back and left says " my name is Romulus, the founder of rome" then right spoke up " my name is Remus, the warrior , demigod and-" Romulus speaks over him " blah,blah,blah we get it you pompous fool" he then rubs the top of his helmet and says " we were summoned to help the king along his trial whoever that maybe" then he points towards my direction " the card chose you King Solomon". He then coughed a little bit and Remus interjected " We were one of how I should say first guides to be chosen" Romulus then raised his head " More like pushed into eternal servitude". Now it was my turn to step back and take this in the smoke told me that I had the shadow not a King " what am I the king of" remus raises the his hand "oh oh I know this one I know this one" I point to Remus because he was starting to give me a headache " you are the king of the night and shadow" Romulus the speaks up " There are two sides to every coin you are the dark and their is another king representing light but what the organizers of the festival neglect to mention is that this is a coronation for the kings and there followers think of it like a chess board and it's your move".
" so the cards were a selection process. I thought that they were just for scaring the crap out of us before we entered" Remus looks at me "Nope". They both put their swords on there belts then Romulus speaks " look kid we were dragged into this the same as you every year a new king comes looking to test his metal and they all die before they hit the finish line every year death upon death" he starts to kneel down to the ground " we need to win kid whether you like it or not you signed the contract and your stuck got it". I think to myself I didn't. How could I do this to myself just why was It because of the power or me just trying to escape reality. I just didn't know "I'm stuck aren't I" Remus replies again " Yep". I rub my face and think " you said others what others" Romulus comes forward a few inches to speak " your army which is sorted by the cards each one has a different pattern light or dark" he then pulls a card out of his armor " as you can see my card is dark hence why I call you king" Remus pulls out the same " the cards are special tarot cards that show your position on the board" he flips his card over to show a knight black flames coming out of every crevice of the armor and a brilliant sun above his head " I'm The Solar Knight my brother is The Lunar Knight" . The idea of the cards controlling your fate had me taken aback and confused and again the thoughts of responsibility and guilt appeared. I started to pull my card from my pocket and I held out the card illustration " I'm The Shadow King" the second I held my card up back mist formed a triangle in the air using the cards as corners and the two undead romans spoke in unison " The faustian agreement has begun" the cards raise up in the air with the mist and I see a vision of a king in black armor riding a spectral horse into battle yelling as a warcry " HIC SUNT DRACONES" and he took his sword out of his scabbard and raised it to the sky and dragons began to fly into battle. I then snapped out of the vision to see my card in my hand and the once undead soldiers reborn into living men. "The bargain has been struck, you will forever be King Solomon Of The Darkness" I felt power rush into me yet something was taken it was like my last piece of light was snuffed out and any hope of return gone.
The raw power that I felt started to unravel before me into threads with different directions and different power tied into them " This power what is it" a man in the blue roman armor took off his helmet to reveal golden hair with blue eyes and chiseled facial features with a hint of tan I soon recognized this as Remus " it's the power of the aether that all casters draw from but the tricky thing will aether is that it tends to not always do what one might expect". So the power itself is unpredictable and interesting " so about the other soldiers and assuming we're going by chess pieces you two are the only knights" they both scorched their heads " they would be other contestants with different people and the only way to recruit is via the cards that we all have upon entering. Some of us have had these cards for years waiting for our chance to win others a milenia". The idea of waiting for a chance to be called was foreign to me. That kind of loyalty for unimaginable " how many kings are there in this dimension" Remus puts his hand up " around five, The King Of Darkness, The King Of Light, The Queen Of Fire, The King Of Nature , and The Queen Of Spirits".
"As you can imagine the relationship between the monarchs have never had a ceremonious relationship" said Romulus as he was messing with his sword hilt " all sides have always been in conflict hence the festival its a magical way for the factions to fight it out and how ever wins all four wins the war and takes all the fame and power that goes with it" I adjust my stance " so where do we begin '' Remus giggled " this world is created with magic beyond comprehension every myth you've ever heard every legend you have been read as a child has happened here it is your choice from here on out". My face changed into a smile and I started to feel my first ounce of excitement since coming to this plane of existence and I started to move forward past the hills in front of me " so this is my home well if im forced to live here all make the best of it". The frontier in front of me looked serene with the trees shining over the setting sun and the air smelled like fresh pine trees and a hint of flowers. " where are we?". I struggle to tell were I was and what could possible match this description " It looks like we are at one of the four corners of the Sherwood Forest" I looked a Romulus in the eyes " you mean Robin Hood Sherwood Forest, thee Robin Hood " I was amazed it really was true the legends " You are correct" Romulus says " He usually is one of The Queen Of Spirits first targets'' I look back at him as he says this " Targets?" Remus then responds " Like we said its chess board, every time we all lose on the board we get reset to a new game but another thing people don't remember is that we remember ''. I start taking a few steps forward towards the forest " So the pieces are human or people that have been trapped by previous games people who are supposed to be dead?"
"Bingo" Remus said in a really excited high pitched voice that I felt was kinda annoying. I started to step forward to the forest step by step and while I did I was thinking that I was scared of a new area, a new place, and how could I even begin to navigate this place but then reality set in and I remembered I signed the deal I have to live with it. The closer and closer I got to the entrance of the forest the more a strange feeling overcame me. It was like a sense of dread and misery and the air had the foul stench of death. We started to march forward into the forest despite my entire body telling me to run and hide. The leaves start to crunch beneath my feet as I walk through what seems to be a dark forest and nothing like the lush forest of legend " what happened here Romulus" he looks at me for a second " over the years the sherwood forest has seen many a battle and the deadliest of betrayals" he pauses for a moment " these battles were barbaric caster against caster , friend against friend all for the sake of supremacy and the blood has since grown into the soil creating an aura of death". This horrified me that people could turn this once beautiful place into a barbaric place of death " this is a land of blood , sweat and tears nothing and no one is free from the drums of war". I clenched my fist in anger and took a few deep breaths " we have to end this cycle and we're going to begin with getting the rest of the pieces and then I'm gonna win this god forsaken game and end the cycle of murder whatever it takes".
The idea of trudging through a forest would've been foreign to me only hours before. The pungent smell of blood was a new smell that I so desperately needed to get away from . My mind was all over the place with different ideas and convictions then I wouldn't have even dreamed of , power that I never thought I had and that I don't know how to use " Mercury goes faster then you my friend's pick up the pace " I started to pick up my pace per Remus's taunting suggestion. A few minutes passed by and I started to see changes In the forest and the smell of the forest began to change " Looks like we cleared most of the terrain of the battle field" Romulus looked forward " were getting close to the center of the forest and and the objective I just hope we get there before The Queen" Remus then shouts " and tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber" I look forward towards Romulus `` What does he mean by tweedle dumb and tweedle Dumber?" he chuckles a little "Castor and Pollux the Gemini Brothers'' he then rubs his chin " Throughout the History of the festival The Brothers have gained the reputation of being well hot headed and prone to violence" he then laughs again " The queen got them this time around which is strange because she usually gets the people the of the irish as her knights" he then says " strange indeed". I got the sense that Romulus was confused by the selection " how do you know that?" he then stops walking " The Aether in the air speaks volumes in terms of the aura around us you have much to learn my young king".
I could tell we were getting closer and closer to our given destination because I was able to see smoke coming from a fire less than a minute away. Remus was ahead of both of us and put his hand out to signal us to wait, then he crouched down and moved slowly towards what I thought to be a camp. Both me and Romulus slowly followed in pursuit, slowly walking and starting to see what looked like an ash colored tent with a green cloak sitting on a stump near the tent. We started to move into the clear to the point where we were in the middle of the camp. "Listen" Remus said and then he turned around and looked up. I did the same and as soon as I did I saw what looked to be a grown man in his early thirties with dirty blond hair and gray-blue eyes wearing a white tunic and brown pants made of what looked like leather and cloth. His boats looked aged but well maintained "Why Hello Robin!" Remus shouted "Nice to see ya!".