Tales Of Earthem: P.O.T.S
Chapter 17

Verse 16- The Sparkling RuinedCity

Jyroslowly awoke yet again to him seeing the sky above, but it was more differentthis time he opened his eyes to the sensation of moving. He slowly came to his senses and saw the sandyground with rocks moving past him, “Johnny stop up there when we cross thishill” said Tristine who sat on the horse with Jyro on her lap. The kids arrivedalong the trail on the mountain and as they crossed the hill and entered levelground they decided to give the steads a break, since the encounter with IsisJyro fell into a deep sleep and until now he hadn’t opened his eyes. The kidsset there things down and tied up the steads to some loose rocks that lay onthe path, “alright Johnathan judging from the map there’s a thin space thatcuts through the middle of the mountain so will be able to cross halfway and….”explainedTristine, “yeah yeah I’ve already come up with the plan already Trish I gotthis trust me” Johnny said whilst Tristine looked at him with a look ofuncertainty. The kids had a set camp along the mountains pass, it’s been a fewhours since they encountered Isis Gates so all seemed well for now. Jyrofinally rose up from his long slumber to the bluest sky he’s ever seen, maybeit was down to being atop the mountain that he felt closer to the sky, “ you’refinally up then sleeping beauty” Johnny remarked whilst he helped his friend upto his feet, “ where’s isis….” Jyromuttered“ don’t worry about her mate we’ve got a few hours ahead from her shewon’t be catching us” Johnny reassured which came as settling news to Jyro.Tristine and Johnny took a step back and glanced at one another in uncertainty,“guys what’s the matter” Jyro stressed, when he slowly looked down at his rightarm and saw his bandages removed. Jyros eyes filled with shock and fear and hequickly pulled his sleeves forcefully over his hand, “sorry mate we justthought you’d need a change of dressing then…. You know we saw that” Johnnyworryingly explained ,the 3 kids stood in silence for a few moments trying tothink of something to say, “ this is well how can I put this I’ve always hadthis and…” whilst Jyro begun explaining Johnny quickly cut him off short, “sooo that’s what you were hiding under there then, blimey JY what is it” askedJohnny as his fear suddenly turned into fascination , Jyro was surprised by hisfriends sudden curiosity , “ (sigh) Jyro to think you’ve been keeping such athing from your best friends….(humph) doesn’t seem quite honest now does it”added Tristine, Jyros heart suddenly relaxed and he smiled towards his twofriends who tried to look beyond what they had just discovered , he wiped histeary eyes and said “ Thanks you guys your best” , Jyro begun to explain hiscursed arm to his two friends and without them knowing it a few hours passed onby. “Alright you two were going to start making ground again once we cutthrough the mountain Keddesh is a few miles North-East, Jyro how are youfeeling? Would you be able to ride Boanerges?” Tristine asked, “Yeah I’ll be okand thank you guys for helping me back there” Johnny and Tristine smiled atJyro in acceptance, “by the way Jyro what’s the deal with your arm?” QueriedJohnny who couldn’t stop gazing curiously at the boys arm since the moment hesaw it , Jyro instinctively shielded his arm away from Johnny’s prying eyes “ errI honestly don’t know myself I mean since I can remember I’ve always had thispeculiar arm I didn’t know my birth parents so my foster parents told me theytoo don’t understand it” spoke Jyro who till Jack hasn’t shared his secret withanyone else Johnny scratched his head in confusion “ wow that’s err… that’sinteresting I guess do you think it’s a ? you know” Johnny asked curiously,Tristine then gave him a little whack against his arm and shushed him fromasking further any more questions “leave it alone Johnathan he’s clearly asshocked by it as we are” Tristine said angrily, “whoa now take it easy I meandon’t get me wrong I think it’s bloody cool believe me, you’re like half manhalf beast or whatever it’s like a superarm or something like that” Johnny spoke excitingly , Jyro laughed aloud,probably the first time he’s actually done so regarding his arm“ I guess yourright “ Jyro said .

Thekids slowly rode their horses along the mountains path slowly moving alongwhilst small rocks fell from beneath them, as they continued along themountains edge they came across a pass situated in-between the mountain, “thismust be the shortcut through the mountain it looks really narrow but it shouldbe alright for the horses to move through, come on lets go” said Tristine whobegun leading the group through the narrow pass. As they moved further down thepass the suns glimmer slowly faded as its light was blocked by the two mountainabove, the air suddenly became colder and the blue interior from the mountainlit the path like an Icelandic glazier. “Whoa who would of thought the insidewould be so pretty how you suppose this path was made Trish definitely notnatural” Johnny said, “it could be down to a lot of things but I’m guessingthis path was man made you can tell by how it’s the exact space needed forhumans and horses to pass through plus the walls look like they’ve been cutthrough with something rather than being eroded by the weather, but just keepyour eyes opened anything can happen at these type of places”. Before Jyroentered the pass he turned to look behind him and saw the horizon , from wherehe was standing he could see all of Canta and saw the huge walls that buildaround the city as well as the white castle that stood a far beyond the wall,the place where the queen lived. The mountains pass path continued to stretchdown an endless end and as they all looked ahead all they could see was a darkarea ahead of them nothing beyond it was known or seen, whilst Jyro proceededdown the path he noticed along the ground small multi coloured tiny animalswere moving beneath him, they resembled lizards of some kind “what are those”he asked curiously, “they’re called Ascals their found living on places withhigh humidity, their skins changes colours every time they become stressed orfeel threatened beautiful aren’t they” said Tristine, meanwhile Johnny’sattention was still on the height of the mountain that towered above themworrying that they’ll be caved in by the mountains rocks, whilst Johnnysattention was focused on his surroundings one of the small Ascals crawled uphis leg and sat on his shoulders, the slimy dotted creature begun changing fromgrey to red to blue to green all in a colourful sequence, Johnny squealed inpanic when he noticed the animal sitting on his shoulders, “ shhh keep yourvoice down we don’t want an avalanche happening now do we and relax it’s notgoing to hurt you look, they say they change colour frequently like that whentheir mating or in love” said Tristine , “ looks like you’ve got yourself aspecial one there mate” Jyro joked, whilst him and Tristine laughed at Johnnyspredicament .

The 3kids finally made it through the mountains pass. Upon exiting the pass the kidswere greeted by the suns gaze beaming towards them and from where they stoodatop the mountain their eyes could see everything in front of them for miles onend. Johnny took out his small telescope and peered through it , They could seethe town of Keddesh that sat in the middle of the green meadow, its greybuildings towered high, not as high as Canta city’s but its structure was stilla beautiful sight. “Wow, we’re finally here guys” said a spirited Jyro. Thekids rode into the Keddesh village and the town’s people parted way at theirarrival and stood aside gazing at them whilst they trotted in, the surroundingenvironment was rural so it came as no surprise that the residents all staredat the youths in awe upon their steads. “why you suppose there staring” asked aworried Johnny, “shhhh they might here you and of course they’d be staring Idoubt they get outsiders coming by often especially in the type of manner weentered, the 3 kids tried to show they were harmless but it was quite a taskconsidering Boanerges was huffing and grunting at the various towns people inhis way. “Mm this looks like an inn …. Alright you two boys tie up the steadsI’m going to see if there’s enough room for us here” the young girl quicklyhurried inside much to the displeasure of Johnny who struggled to tie her horseto the posts. Jyro and Johnny eventuallyentered the inn which had a modern interior all inside, the walls and flooringswere made from the same wooden material it was a very plain sight, the onlydecoration was a small picture of a white vase hung on the wall loosely, “whatis this place a trip into the 1960s “ mocked Johnny moments later Tristine appeared with a set ofkeys, “ all sorted they got two available rooms upstairs so that’ll do usnicely here you go” she said whilst handing the boys their room key ,” waitwe’re planning on staying here overnight but what about the task I mean we’realready in keddesh” queried a concerned Johnny,” don’t overthink things we’realready over schedule and we’ve been travelling all night and I guarantee youwere going to need all the energy we can get for the task ahead, so rest up ok”she replied.

“125,this is my room you guys are right next door ill pop round once I’ve had ashower and everything, au revoir” said a departing Tristine, Johnny and Jyroentered their room, “ahh you gotta be kidding me only one bed” sighed Johnny,” thetwo boys looked at one another before quickly sprinting towards the only bed inthe room, Johnny tripped over a loose flooring and Jyro quickly jumped onto thebed. When they settled in Tristine walked in wearing casual clothes with a wetset of hair, “ok before we do anything further I thought I’d show you guys this……and why are you on the floor Johnathan” Tristine said whilst looking down at adejected Johnny who was sulking after losing the race for the single bed ,she thenhanded the two of them a few sheets of paper, “ this is merlin albert’smanuscript that we got from Vincent I thought you’d both want to have a read”,Jyro took some of the sheets of paper and begun to read the script.

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ChapterVIX-

I write this part of my life to those who seekto know the truth, those who desire to uncover the hidden ways of the world andin time learn to deal with future aggressors: The cursed Mirror, the bottomlessbag, the ring of death, the reef of luck , the band of wealth and the Eye ofUriel ,these items all belonged to the dark one the one they call the scarletprince , he stole the items from thegrasp of his brothers and now the dark 7 have become 6. All my replaceings andrecords I have set in these 4 short books, but I’m merely just on the surfaceof discovering the truth, in the wake that I should fall or perish continue mybidding and seek The Book of Magic and destroy it so humanity may have a chanceat winning this war.

Merlin .W. Albert

Jyrofinished reading the short script and became worried from what he had justread, “Tristine what is the book of Magic” he asked, “I asked myself the samething Jy and I honestly don’t know but what worries me the most is that we’vefound one of the items that he mentioned the ‘bottomless bag’” Jyro and Johnnyturned to one another and realised the pouch in their possession might be thebottomless bag, “what worries me the most is that if we found that bag then itmust mean someone in Canta is trying to replace the artefacts” Tristine voiced, “arghh this is getting confusing now, why do I feel like we’ve got ourselveswrapped into something serious” exclaimed Johnny.

Thekids had settled into the inn and decided to explore the village to see if theycould replace any clues on where the ruined castle mentioned in the task lettermight be. “Tristine why are you here if you don’t mind me asking” asked Johnny,Tristine looked at the boy in confusion to what he was implying, “no no, I’mnot saying it in a rude way but aren’t you participating in the event as well?Only one person can win it you know”, he added, “ Well if you must knowJohnathan I haven’t the slightest interest in winning this thing, I’m simplyoffering my assistance to Jyro so there” stated Tristine , “ mmmm oh really ? JustSounds like a reason to just be near him don’t you think so aye mate” remarkedJohnny, Jyro was caught off guard by the question and didn’t really know whatto say in response “n..no, b..b.but that’s not really….. Erg whatever” gruntedTristine who tried to avoid showing the blushes that formed on her cheeks.Whilst the kids strolled through the villages they went in and out of the shopsthat spread across the village asking questions and seeing if anyone had any ideawhere the ruined castle was, “we’re getting nowhere, everyone’s just giving usthe same answer” said a frustrated Johnny, “come on we have to keep trying I’msure there’s someone in this town who knows where it is” said Jyro. Whilst theywalked down the villages road the sound of wheels moving along the ground weredistantly heard, Jyro and Johnny immediately looked at one another “surely not”they said simultaneously before sprinting around the corner. Tristine tailedafter them desperately trying to know why they ran off all of a sudden and whenthe kids made it around the corner the sound of the wheels stopped, “why hellothere you two” said a voice, the two boys looked around them in disarray “hahaI’m up here you two “they turned their heads up and saw their classmate Madisonscarlet sitting on the edge of the roof. The high energetic girl leapt downfrom atop of the roof and landed in front of the two “well fancy meeting youtwo here… or should I say 3, why hello there my names Maddy I like your hair bythe way is that natural “she asked whilst waving to an approaching Tristine whowas panting from being short of breath from the run she just done, “Hi maddydid you just get here or….” Asked Jyro “nope I’ve been here for quite some timeto be honest, you’re the second group I’ve run into from the academy “ shereplied , “ huh who else have you seen” johnny asked,” oh that big tall guy,you know who carried that big sword on his back it’s a shock to see him now getcramps you know….. Err I think his name was Leo,”, “Leo Blackstorms here then”,“ yeah I ran into him not too long ago , I think he’s staying at a nearby innif I remember correctly”, Jyro and Johnny looked to one another concerned .“great so we’re sharing an inn with that guy huh” said Johnny while scratchinghis head, “oh by the way Madison do you have any idea where the ruined castlemight be” questioned Tristine, “mmmm not a slightest of clue, that’s why I’vebeen here for so long I keep asking around but they all keep giving me the samereply, almost like someone paid them to give us little information aspossible”, Tristine suddenly thought of an idea,” guys wait here I’ll be backin a second I need to check something,” Said Tristine who quickly scurried awaydown the village, “ well….. guess you might as well tag along with us maddy”, “yeahhhhthat’ll be nice I’ve been ever so bored since I left the academy, I mean itonly took me a few hours to get here but still…” the two boys gasped in shock, “TWOHOURS!.... how’s that even possible did you fly here” queried a curious Johnnywho in return received giggling from the girl as a reply.

“SoMadison how comes you didn’t bring a helper then” Jyro asked, “mmmm I did considerit but looking at the circumstances they’d only just get in my way more than beof help” replied Madison to the two boyswho were gawking at her, “ oh look whoit is…. HEY! Over here” shouted the girl who was calling out to someone on theother side of the road, the two boys looked over to see a tall broad shoulderedmale scowling towards them, “wait is that..” said Johnny “ yup it’s the otherguy I said I met here first, Leo Blackstorm wasn’t it”. The tall boy heard thewails from the girl and reluctantly proceeded towards them, he held in his handsa net full of fish which he dragged along the ground, “errr….nice to meet youagain Leo” muttered Johnny awkwardly, Leo glanced at the two boys sitting downand even more so at Jyro, he sighed to himself “ what do you want now” he asked“ hey that’s not very nice now we’re all friends here aren’t we” stated Madisonwho received awkward stares and silencefrom the group, “ humph, well you guys are all going to have to get along oneway or another we’re gunna be working so …. “ wait wait what did you just say”the boys repeated, “ huh I said will ALLL be working together so I won’t behaving any squabbling alright unless youwant to make me upset now” the girl said ,Madison suddenly formed a devilish grinthat put fear into the hearts of the 3 watching her, “ y…Y…yeah of course Maddywe wouldn’t wanna do that” muttered a worrisome Johnny.

Suddenly in came running an excited Tristineand said “you guys you guys guess what... oh hello there Leo “ , “arghseriously there’s more of you guys” growled Leo, “ as I was saying I’ve foundout the location of the ruined castle” Said Tristine, “ What! Really and howdid you manage that” Johnny asked “well, I went back to the inn keeper and justoffered to pay him more money than he was being paid to not tell us anything”, “therest of the group looked at one another in bewilderment, “how did you know theywere being paid to hold off information” asked Jyro, “I didn’t but then when Ithought about it every person gave us roughly the same response, almost like itwas scripted and it sounds like something that idiot headmaster would do so Iasked them a question he could answer and offered to pay him more, simple”, thegroup stood in awe at Tristines idea “ wow… I got to hand it to you Trish yourpretty amazing at times” stated Johnny , “ oh I know Johnathan I know, so Isuggest we get some rest for tonight then set out in the morning”. So the 4kids hurried back to the inn where they’d spend the rest of the day.

The nextday’s appearance felt to arrive quicker than expected, and the kids found it abig struggle to get out of bed at the required hour Tristine set, neverthelessthey all begun their Journey once again to the ruin Castle located somewhere inKeddesh. “Judging from what the inn keeper said the ruins are just a few mileswest from the main village, but he said there isn’t any direct footpath to getthere so will have to cross the river stream” said Tristine, “ haha Hope youguys can swim then” replied Madison. Asthey all proceeded along down the rocky valley. They crossed the meadow thatshone of bright greenery for acres on end, they also walked through a valley ofWheatfield’s that danced beautifully in the sunlight’s glow, the group of kidsmarvelled at the sights they passed along, more in particular Jyro who feltnostalgic at the scenery, it reminded him of his time living with Mr and MrsThomas and working on the farm which all seemed like a lifetime ago. After a few hours of walking through Keddeshthey came across the stream that separated them from the land in front, therivers current moved at a frightening pace and the kids knew attempting to swimthrough it would meant an imminent death. “Yikes how we going to get throughall of that” yelped Johnny, “step aside small fry and watch carefully” said Leowhilst he nudged past Johnny and walked towards the river, he brought down hisridiculously long sword from his back and slowly placed it inside the river,“mmm so it’s that deep aye” he said, now along the river stream there lay rocksall scattered around Leo took note of all the rocks then suddenly leapt acrossand stood on one. “Is he crazy what’s he trying to do” yelled Johnny , “ aha Isee so he’s going to use the rocks as foot stools to get across that’s clever”responded Madison, Leo then proceeded to jump to the next adjacent rock thenthe next and the next till he eventually made it to the other land. Once Leostood on the other land he looked back at the group with a smug expression,”pfft show off” Johnny remarked, “me me me im going next” squealed Madison shethen she ran down to the river, she took off her roller skates and tied the twolaces with one another and skipped across the river effortlessly, “woooow” saidthe onlookers who watched in admiration. Next up was a determined Johnny whorolled up his sweater sleeves and slowly hopped over towards the stream, heslowly jumped onto the first rock looking uncertain as he struggled to maintainhis balance, he centred his gravity lower and took a deep breath then hoppedalong towards the other rocks, bearing in mind he almost lost his footing a fewtimes he eventually made it across. “See you on the other side Jyro” saidTristine before darting off to cross the river, “come on Jyro your up now, it’snot that bad” screamed Madison across the stream. Jyro slowly approached theriver and peered down into the moving stream he saw tiny little fishes all swimming aroundquickly beneath “oi hurry up Jyro we aint got all day you know” voiced a loudJohnny, Jyro then leapt to the first rock although he looked shaky he managedto maintain his balance, when Jyro jumped to the next one he suddenly noticedthe tiny fishes were jumping out of the water and when he looked closely theyseemed to have what looked like wings on their sides, “ what in heavens arethose” asked Johnny, “ flying fishes” responded Tristine ,” but this is the firsttime I’ve seen them before why would they even be in a river bank all the wayhere” she added. Jyro tried to move along the stepping stone rocks withouthitting the fishes that were numerously darting out of the water, when suddenlythe numbers begun to increase, and like missiles shooting out the fishes flewout of the river and over the boys head and with each step he took the morecame flying over him. The scene looked like something out of a Fairy Tale asthe fishes danced above Jyro almost like they were welcoming the boy, “what inthe world…..” gasped a shocked Johnny who watched on in awe with the other the kids whoto marvelled at the spectacle before them “haha bravo bravo look it’s liketheir making an arch over him to pass through” yelped an excited Madison,Tristine couldn’t believe her eyes as she simply stood in amazement and watchedon as her scruffy blonde headed friend skipped below the flying fishes thatformed an arch above him, “ you see it too don’t you” said Leo to Tristine, “that boy has something special about him “ Tristine gazed towards Leo then smiledto herself “ yeah I’ve known it since the first time I met him” she said.

Theday’s eve had arrived and the kids slowly grew restless as they made their wayto the ruined castle, they continued heading towards west and found themselveswalking through a darkened Garden, now the garden was peculiar because therewasn’t a sign of any plant or flower that grew there it was simply huge bushesneatly trimmed in different sizes and shapes all aligned across the garden, “whoalook how big they are it must take the gardener months to get all these cut“exclaimed Johnny. The group of kidsslowly walked through the garden of bushes, making sure they stuck closelytogether, they made it to the end of the garden and were stunned by what theysaw ahead. “This is it….. This is the ruined castle” muttered Jyro, “Castle?It’s more like a city” said Maddy, before them lay a number of huge crystallike boulders and fallen debris, the debris looked like a wasteland of crystalrocks all lodged into the earth, “ it’s beautiful” Tristine spoke. As the kidsslowly proceeded into the glittering debris they all wondered around in awe marvellingat the pieces that lay in the earth, each piece of rock looked like it weight aton, “to think that a castle once stood here” stated Jyro as he lay his hand outon the cold crystal liked pillar in front of him. Leo walked around the debristhen slowly reached for the hilt of his sword and spoke, “we’re not alone”.