Verse of Estoria Ballad of the Heavens

By Octavius
  • 26 Nov - 02 Dec, 2022
  • Mag The Weekly
  • Fiction

And straight to the questions it seems.” The woman replies. “It’s polite to introduce yourself before asking them who they are.”

“You’re lecturing me on politeness when I’m the one bound here in this unknown chamber with a woman talking about torturing me to get information?”

“Well, when you put it like that, I understand.” She laughs. “My name is Mahogany, just Mahogany I am an alchemist hired by King Radius to probe you for information. Radius believes that you hold the key to finding Estoria and I am to carve it from your corpse if necessary. Having said that, if you know any details about Estoria I suggest you reveal them to me or your day will get a lot worst.”

“Well,” Drake says. As he takes a deep breath. “I can’t really remember much but if you give me some food, I might be able to tell you something.”

“Don’t try to fool me,” Mahogany says. “I read the report Radius gave me about you. Fearless and very crude. You bartered for food with the princess’s neck. Here, you’re not bartering anything but your wellbeing. If you choose to toy with me, I’ll introduce you to a world of ungodly pain.”

Drake chuckles. “You’re not going to get far with that attitude.”

“Alright.” Mahogany said as she folds her arms. “I guess a demonstration is needed to bring you to your senses.”

Then Mahogany turns and speedily walks towards the exit with her high heels clapping against the hard-stone floor. She opens the metal door and slams it shut. Afterwards, Drake looks around the empty stone chamber trying to find a way out. In his attempt to find an escape he notices his shortened breath and grumbling stomach. Then fane speaks to Drake in his mind.

“How are you feeling Drake”? Fane asks.

“You’re here?” Drake asks surprised.

“I’m always with you.” Fane replies.

“Think you could get me out of here?” Drake asks.

“It may not be possible right now.” Fane says. “That woman knows of your fire ability and has this chamber designed to keep breathable air to low levels. It prevents fires from going out of control here. And it’s also the reason you’re having a hard time breathing.”

“It feels…uncomfortable.”

“You’ll have to get used to it.” Fane says. “Just focus on a way to free yourself.”

“Say Fane.” Drake calls. “Why didn’t you tell me what I was back when we first met. I know you knew.”

“Now is not the time for that.” Fane says. “That woman is about to return and when she does you’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

“Yeah.” I guess you’re right. Drake says. “Is there a way to generate fire without using my sword?”

“Yes there is.” Fane replies. “But it’s limited considering that your hands are chained.”

Drake looks up at the long chain and at his hands as they were linked by cuffs.

“I’m listening.” Drake says.

A few moments later, the metal door flung open and soon slams shut as the sound of two individuals walking inside the chamber. Drake looks up to try and make out who was approaching him but the burning torch nearby prevented him from seeing anyone beyond it. Mahogany steps into the light walking besides a large burly female covered in a black cloak. Her brown hair was wrapped up in a ponytail and she had a rough look on her face. Her large hands were strong enough to smash stone as the black cloak covered her green dragon scales. Mahogany had a sneer plastered across her face as she walked up to Drake and grabs the chain holding him up and lowers him down to her level. She then grabs his chin and made him look into her eyes. Drake see’s the draconic pupils in Mahogany’s eyes through her glasses as she turns his head to the left and right to examine his face.

“Don’t hit the face,” She says to the burly woman standing behind her. “I need to be able to recognize him when you’re done.”

“Not a problem.” The woman said in a gritty voice.

She pulls off her cloak revealing her muscular body covered in green dragon scales wearing baggy torn shorts and a white sleeveless tunic.

“I guess it’s time.” She says. “You look like a tough kid but I came across a lot of people who look tough but end up crying five minutes into my session.”

Then she starts cracking her knuckles and her neck before stepping up to Drake. She balls her scaly fist up tight and punches Drake hard in the stomach. Drake coughed up spit from his mouth as pain shot through his gut. The chain rattles as Drake shuffles and grunts about in pain. He clenches his teeth and presses his crusted lips together as he looks up at his chains. At that moment, the long chain is set ablaze as the words INCENERATE appears above Drake’s head. The woman looks up at the burning chain and chuckles.

“What are you doing?” She asks. “Is this an attempt to escape or are you lashing out because I just punched you?”

“It’s useless” Mahogany says with her arms folded. “I modified this chamber to keep your flames from going out of control. If you insist on escaping, then why don’t you start talking.”

Drake chuckles barely able to stand.

“What could I possibly tell you?” Drake asks. “I don’t know where Estoria is. You’re wasting your time.”

“Well,” Mahogany says as she walks up to Drake and grabs his chin and forces him to look up at her.

“You can start by telling me about your powers.” Mahogany says. She pushes her glasses up to her faces as she waited for Drake to answer.

“My power?” Drake says.

“Yes.” Mahogany replies. “The power you possess far exceeds that of the verses that we use. Its obvious that it came from Estoria. Tell me where it came from!”

My power came from Estoria? Drake thought to himself.

Mahogany smacked her teeth as her patience ran out. She releases him and ordered her subordinate to continue. The draconic woman walks up to Drake again and delivers several more blows to Drake’s body. Drake grunted in pain as he coughs more spit from his mouth. Panting he tries to maintain his composure. He forces himself onto his feet trying to ignore the pain. The hunger however made things worse for him as he didn’t eat since his capture.

“It’s only going to get worse you know.” Mahogany says. “You are far from home and there is no one coming to rescue you. Why don’t you do yourself a favour and tell me where did your power come from.”

“What makes you…so sure that my power came from Estoria?” Drake says as he looked up at Mahogany with his arms chained above his head. “For all you know it can be something you’ve never seen before.”

“Nonsense! Mahogany says. “That crystal weapon you carry is proof alone. There’s no such smith in all Endina that can carve out enough rubies to even shape it into a sword let alone imbue it with power. Estoria is a place though where such wonders can be created. Its known for its advanced technology and powerful verses. That sword you carry is probably a small part of what Estoria is capable of.”

That must be the reason why it’s hidden.

“Tell me where you found it!” Mahogany shouts. “Or I’ll have my servant here break every bone in your body!”

However, as Mahogany finishes speaking, she hears her servant gasping for air. She turns her head and sees the burly woman fall to her knees as the room gets darker and darker. She also notices the flames on the torches shrinking until they fizzle out. By the time she realizes what was happening, her breath became shallow and her throat tighten as she falls to her knees grasping her neck. She struggles to look up at Drake and sees him smiling.

“You…” she says struggling to talk.

She sees the smoke ebbing from the chains and she turns her head only to see her servant crawling up to the metal door.

I…can’t…. breath. The bulky woman says as she grabs onto the knob of the metal door on her knees.

Mahogany’s eyes widen in panic as she sees the burlesque woman attempting to open the door.

“Idiot!” She shouts, “don’t open….”

The woman pulls open the door and breathable air rushes inside the chamber followed by explosive red flames bursting from behind. A loud rattle of rocks and debris echoes throughout the chamber and the metal chains that Drake was bound with melted away freeing him. Drake falls to the floor face first as smoke ebbed from his body. He takes a few breaths before looking up ahead of him. In front, he sees a white oval smeared with black soot across half of it and he sees the prone burly woman’s charred body on the floor. Drake pushes himself off the ground and stumbles towards the exit. He exits the chamber and he find himself on a cliff with a stair case leading up to the surface of the floating island. As he looks around he realizes that he is in the gap between the floating islands with howling sounds of wind bouncing off the two cliffs. He looks down and all he sees is clouds below and a blue sky above. Afraid of heights, he presses his back against the wall as he looks up the stairs.

“Where am I?” Drake says with a panicked look on his face. A rumbling noise resonates between the cliffs as the ground vibrates beneath his feet. He hears the howling winds grow louder by the minute.

Then, a large gust of shearing wind jets between the two making Drake drop to his butt and cover his ears. The sound numbing winds nearly picks him up off the ground as pebbles from both cliffs assaulted Drake’s body. The winds settled down and Drake uncovers his ears as he looked around panting.

“What was that?” Drake says.

He stands to his feet and makes his way upstairs barefooted, he could hear the beating footsteps of approaching guards.

“It came from the prison chamber!” A female voice said as the steps became louder.

Drake, too weak to fight, decides to go back down the stairs to find a place to hide.

Inside the chamber, the white oval shaped shell dismantles into two large dragon wings revealing Mahogany in her dragon humanoid form with white scales and two gold horns on her head. She looks at the entrance with furious red draconic eyes. She runs towards the exit with her scaly white tail swinging in the air.

Drake runs down the stairs only to see Mahogany standing on the bottom of the stairwell near the entrance to the chamber. Drake stops and pins his back to the wall as he see’s several draconic female guards armed with spears barring his escape.

“You did well in escaping from my chamber.” She says with an angry grin. “I guess this time I’ll have your limbs severed and stored in containers while I cut into your pesky torso in search of answers.”

Drake looks up at the female guards all in their natural scale armor and back down at Mahogany.

“Trapped,” Drake says to himself and I’m in no shape to fight my way out.

The guards approach Drake slowly pointing their spears as Mahogany walked up the stairs with rage filled dragon eyes glaring at him. As he contemplates fighting, he notices the winds picking up as they did before. The loud rumbling sound of the winds banging against the cliff as he contemplates a desperate measure.

Catching wind of Drake’s plan, Mahogany raised her hand towards Drake.

“Stop him he’s about to jump!” She orders.

As the guardswomen runs towards Drake, he takes off running towards the edge of the stairs. He takes a deep breath and leaps off the stairwell and into the opening between the two islands. In mid-flight, the Rushing wind-current rushes in between the two islands and picks Drake up and carries him away.

Back in Salatia, Kevin along with Maria and Ura finishes packing for their trip. Kevin closes the map in his hand and places it inside his blue tunic. Ura hoists a large back pack filled with various cloths and gadgets on her back.

“Alright,” Kevin says. “Let’s get going. I hope we don’t run into any trouble along the way.”

Amidst the warm breeze coming from the beach, the trio begin their travel away from the beach village. They walk north on the western side of norm river towards Cain mountains. The smell of fresh river water filled their nostrils and the warm breeze covered their bodies as the tracked onward. They could see Cain mountains in the distance with white clouds covering the topmost mountain. Kevin scratches his head gazing at the map while Maria happily walks near him with loving thoughts in her head. She reaches and grab Kevin’s arm as she walks beside him causing Kevin to blush. Ura walks ahead as she takes large steps in the ground humming to herself a tune.

to be continued...

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