Episode 1

~RIKAS~

I snapped my fingers quickly, unsheathing my double edged sword as I slashed through the Erisians’ skull, instantly dismantling the creature into two big and equal half chunks of green flesh as it fell onto the ground and rattled in agony of death. I threw my dagger into the eyes of the one behind and acrobatically tumbled on its sloppy shoulders, catching some of its gross slime on my foot as i pulled out my dagger together with its eyeballs, exposing an empty sockets. It howled and screeched in pain even before i saw the smashed green juice on my dagger.

“Run!” I commanded the girls and women to run away. They were half breeds, although mostly Erisian Martians, and not a single Human Martian was among them, but i still freed them all.

*****

From where I stood, I could see the purple flag army standing outside the gates, holding their iron spears, with big arrows hung around their armoured frames. Their armour was rather a bizarre purple striped colored one, too odd and maybe a little bit too fashionable for some gruesome soldiers. I observed them.

After a long, exhausting journey of nine days which were filled with the adventures and horrors of tailing Garius; the stubborn Healer Wizard of the purple Kingdom, I could clearly see that the real mission was about to begin. I was disguised as Garius. I had draped myself with layers of his thick and tattered rags but my nose was barely able to breath some quality air because of the rotten stench emanating from me, or rather, from my clothes! Garius’s dirty clothes! God knows if he ever bathed!

I hid my small dagger well beneath my layered clothing and Garius’s wooden staff was in my left hand. Master Hemon had told me that Garius’s staff has a black magical gem on it which has the ability to heal every wound, cure every illness, and do a lot of wonders. I bet he lied again. That old, cunning three eyed Martian!

The staff I was holding, only had a green useless gem on it. Either it was I who could not use the staff, or maybe Garius was the only one who could use his magic. As for the so-called lost Azurah legend who’d probably died somewhere in a shit pit, I just wasted my time trying to find him to help me with the mission.

Maybe the tales of the lost Azurah legend are all fake and the old man with a crooked nose like that of Garius, does not even exist. I shouldn't have believed Master Hemon’s prophecy in the first place.

I stood on a cliff a little bit far away, and I could see the black fog forming inside the tall gates.

It's the warning! I must hurry!

I

learned that the guards at the tall gate were the smartest ones so if I could find a way to breach through the gate, everything else will be like building a mini mud home. Even though I took Garius’ form, I knew I wouldn't be able to prove to the guards that I was him since the wooden staff was not shining like it should. Therefore, I had to find another way to compromise their security and breach through the tall wall.

~SOFIA~

Rotip said he wouldn't take long to come back but I hadn’t seen him for the past ten days so I knew something had happened to him. He said I must never leave my place because the purple flag soldiers were still looking for me but I was running out of food and water to keep myself alive. And I was worried that he may have finally been caught in his disguised old Garius form.

I flipped open the next page of the spell book. The smell of worn pages got stronger whenever I turned new pages. It was frustrating since I had tried so many times to practice disguise but nothing worked at all.

Am I cursed? Is my blood jinxed? Rotip can do this disguise thing very well but why can't I? Is it because I am a woman?

But then, I remembered Clara’s story. She’d tell me stories about how they used to circle around a burning fire near the lair of spirits and watch the white witch mother who’d entertain them with some spell book tricks. She’d practice a white spell in front of the children and disguise herself as the great Arakis, only to make them laugh. That obviously meant that a disguise spell can be done by women as well, so I thought that I just needed to do it right. 

Living together with Rotip was nothing like dancing in the rain. Sometimes, he’d talk about stories of home, family and Clara while other times, he’d just tell me to forget Clara and move on. I understood that Rotip felt very hurt because nobody cared to come and rescue us, we had to suffer by ourselves all alone. But I also knew that as much as he hated how the people of the caves abandoned us, he’d also missed the coziness and warmth he once had over there.

I tossed the spell book into the basket of my dirty clothes and plucked my cloak from the nail hanger. I decided I was going to break one of Rotip’s rules because I had no choice. I could not sit, waiting for him to come back while I thought he may be out there in real danger. Even if I ended up getting caught by the purple army, I felt it would be better than not trying at all.

~RIKAS~

I passed through the alley which was very dark and full of decayed Human and Martian heads hanging on hundreds of spikes. I was already inside the wall and heading into the black fog. Hemon told me that the black fog is the warning that signifies the passing of the Brakoon and maybe, just maybe, I thought I’d be able to see what the Brakoon looked like.

It was so easy for me to bypass the guards at the first gate. Hemon told me they were the smartest ones but with the way everything turned out, I doubted if that wasn’t just another silly lie to make me extra careful in my mission.

I paused in my track and sniffed around to see if I could detect the scent of any Martian or Human nearby but it seemed like everyone had disappeared. Or maybe, Garius dirty rags had totally destroyed the cells inside my nose, so I could not detect the scent.

A small thought slowly crossed through my mind right before my eyes fell down to a stagnant water below my feet which glinted like a shiny bronze surface, and suddenly, I almost freaked out with terror when I saw the reflection inside the water.

My reflection!

I had totally forgotten what I was supposed to look like until I saw the water. ‘Jeez!’ My skin was as wrinkly as the bark of a tree. My nose looked so crooked, probably the reason why I couldn’t smell anything good but the stench of Garius’ dirty rags!

I used to be so good looking to a point that the human girls in the caves would form a group to watch me training together with Hemon. But then, I had to sacrifice my good looks and bear through the hardships to get the revenge I was after.

I almost jumped into the black fog ahead of me but Garius' weak legs reminded me who I was as I lost balance and fell into the stagnant water. The wooden staff did not help at all. My tailbone badly crashed into the hard surface while it sank deeper into the cold water. My legs passed through the paralysis stage before the numb feeling unraveled into an agonizing pain.

“Oouch!” I screamed

“Pssttt! Hey! Hey! Garius!”

“Garius!!!” I heard some strange whisper coming from somewhere but I was not in the right senses to understand what they were saying.

“Shit! The fog is gone!”

I’d learned the word “shit” from the humans in our caves, and for some reasons, I liked using the word because it helped me spell out my frustrations.

“Garius, look over here!!!”

For a few seconds, my brain boots to remind me who I was again.

Right! I am Garius! My name is Garius.

I motioned with my head around to see if I could find the caller, but I instantly felt something from nowhere, clinging onto my arm. My eyes spontaneously shifted to the stranger in the cloak who had forcefully wrapped his hands around me, trying to pull me up. No time for me to think so I just moulded my fist into a cannonball and fiercely punched him into his stomach.

His hood fell off his head while in motion as he splashed into the water only to reveal a woman’s face in agony “Holy Mother forgive me!” I heard her silvery voice whispering almost audibly into my ears.

Ooops! Did I kill her?

“Are you… Sorry, are you dying? I mean, did I hurt you badly?” I dragged my weak body closer to her figure, watching her face transforming into multiple colors with every stage of the pain she passed through. She glowed like the moon even though the darkness was beginning to settle down on her face, and I couldn’t help but notice the sheen in her brown colored hair.