Short story from the book I am writing

[WarJack]

Excerpts from Richardus' notebook - Dated 500 Years B.T (Before Treaty)

This is to be the official journal which documents the journey of our expedition to the lands below Arcadia.

Today, I, Richardus, woke up today with Ahræ, as she rose over the edge of Arcadia.

Soon I will journey to the edge of our island, at the requested meet up site before we descend. Athena, my Sentinel, appears as excited as I feel, or at least, that’s what I can feel through our bond.

—

As I write, Aziræ, our second sun, is currently ascending. I can see her, following her sister, as they begin to rise over the edge of Arcadia, the light filtering through the green and blue tree-tops. Currently I am sat, writing on a tree stump on the south-western edge of Arcadia, there are no children running around the outer edge, as they cannot fully control their powers, so they are forbidden from coming out here. We are currently entering the height of Ahræ & Aziræ’s powers, so there are many young adults lazing about, enjoying the heat.

We will begin our expedition soon. Our expedition leader, Jefethros, a tall, well-built man, along with 4 others; Kandrius, Lanndri and Oranthian, all picked for their skills in combat and their physical prowess, as well as our respective Sentinels, will descend from Arcadia to the sprawling lands below our island home in an attempt to find anything valuable to our people. Perhaps we will find others of our kind, somehow surviving on their own?

—

We made it. We reached the land below our beautiful island. As I look up from my notebook I can see her now. We have landed in the shadow of Arcadia, in a small clearing, surrounded by trees on all sides. The land feels different down here, the ground is softer and the trees taller. There are no visible creatures around us, presumably scared off by our appearance.

The expedition started off well. Stepping off the edge of Arcadia, Jefethros took the lead. Using our powers of flight, we slowed our fall to a controlled descent. Our descent through the thick cloud was smoother than expected. Just as Arainus foretold, there is land below Arcadia.

Currently, the other 4 explorers are setting up a camp for us to find our way back to at the end of our expedition. I have yet to see anything completely different from our island, although it seems the grass of this land is completely green, unlike our green/blue grass; the distinct lack of blue is slightly disconcerting.

In the distance, I can see large mountains, below the cloud cover which hides them from our sight on Arcadia. Upon further inspection, they appear to be volcanoes, as they seem to bellow out smoke, clearly more active than our own volcano, Colæus, on Arcadia.

—

We had been walking for quite some time before deciding to take another break. Jefethros, leader of our little group, decided we should follow a river, which ran alongside the clearing at our previous camp. This also took us closer to the active volcanoes.

I had a chance to look into the river while we were walking. Just below the surface of the water, I received a large surprise. An animal I had never seen before! Upon closer inspection I saw a large green creature with; 4 legs, a long tail, a large, extended mouth (almost beak like) which, when opened, contained several rows of teeth. This creature also had small, but sharp, black spikes, protruding from its spine.

I had a chance to watch this creature hunt its food, simply marvellous! It sat completely still, laying just under the water, with just it’s nostrils above the surface of the water, as its prey; small, multi-coloured fish, swam, oblivious to the danger that lay just beneath the surface. The creature suddenly strikes, with the speed of a winged snake, it struck one of the fish, leaping out of the water and onto the bank (on the opposite side of the river).

Such an incredible display of speed and power seemed to shock the others too. We quickly moved on, lest the creature turn its attention to us. I prey to Kamæ I never end up on the wrong side of one of those.

Currently, Jefethros is with Kandrius & Lanndri, securing the edges of our makeshift camp, while Oranthian is scouting the route ahead…

…It seems we may have to cross the river, as the grass length changes suddenly. Where before it was below knee length, now it grows to above our waists! This seems to happen at the same time as the forest gets thicker up ahead, curious.

Crossing the river could be hazardous, there could be more of the green skinned creature around, plus any other unknown beasts. We shall have to be cautious.

—

Incredible! It seems there are other people like us on this land. Well, perhaps not people like us. These people differ to ourselves in many ways. Where we have the Element of Air on our side, thanks to Kamæ, it seems these people can manipulate Fire! Such incredible things they can do.

It was Lanndri’s partner, Drithen, one of the explorers’ Sentinels that alerted us to the existence of these people after he stumbled across a camp that wasn’t our own. However, it seemed to have recently been abandoned, as there had been a campfire which had burned out.

Following the trail left behind, we ventured through the abandoned camp and in the direction of the volcanoes. After walking for some time, through thick forest and knee high grass, we finally made it to the rocky ground of the volcanoes.

The trees and grass had ended and only a grey/black, rocky, un-even land lay ahead of us. Hiking up one side of the volcano, Kandrius alerted us to two figures in the distance.

After shouting at the figures, they came running towards us. They turned out to be a boy and his Sentinel. The boy introduced himself as Dante; and his companion, Kurgia, who was curiously black and appeared to be made out of charred rock. He had seen 13 freezes (in his own words) and was planning on playing in the woods. The boy seemed surprised at seeing outsiders and after being questioned, he agreed to lead us to his home.

Dante turned back towards the volcano and began hiking up its side. Walking higher and higher, we passed through a caved-in section of the volcano, named Itheria, as we had been informed by Dante. Walking through the small cavern, it was then that we got a large surprise!

As it got darker, Dante slowed to a stop and brought his right hand up from his side, till it was out-stretched in front of him, at chest height. Then he breathed in deeply and exhaled. Suddenly, his hand ignited, illuminating the passageway. Shocked as we were, nobody said anything, and the boy didn’t seem to be in pain, so we ignored it, in favour of reaching the other end of the tunnel.

Finally, we reached the other side. It was then we received another shock. The volcano we passed through appeared to be part of a ring of volcanoes, around a stretch of land that appeared to be almost as large as Arcadia herself, but I couldn’t be sure.

As we descended down the side of Itheria, I looked at the plains below. Whoever first settled here had the perfect place to do so. The clearing was very large and surrounded on all sides by volcanoes. There was a large lake, off to the right hand side, with a river appearing to run through a tunnel, between two volcanoes, Alteria & Demoria, Dante had told us. The tunnel seemed un-natural, as did the lake, clearly created by the people of this land.

Below us, I could see many buildings, made from wood and grey/black stone. I saw black, stone paths/roads, winding their way through the land, connecting buildings of various shapes and sizes. Smoke was drifting into the sky, coming from the many fires dotted around the area.

Eventually, the pathway down the side of Itheria ended and we reached the green grass of the land. Dante turned to us and said, “Welcome to Prytania”. I shall not forget the grin on his face, nor his arms, which he spread out wide, before engulfing them in flames.

—