Tales Of Earthem: P.O.T.S
Chapter 19

Verse 18- The Red Room

WhilstTristine accompanied the giant to its tower a certain event took place somewhereelse deep across the land. “Come on Madison get a move on… we don’t have muchtime” Johnny stated as he hastily rode Boanerges through the valley, “so thiswas your big plan Johnny … horses?” said Madison who trailed behind the boy onTristines stead . The two kids rode through the garden and made it to theruined plain where they last saw their friends, “JYRO... TRISH, is anybody outthere” Johnny continued to holler for the names of his missing friends butreceived no response, Boanerges suddenly begun to become troubled and lifteditself up making Johnny fall off him. The horse then darted away into thedistance, “Oi come back here” he yelped, he then sprinted off after the fleeinghorse. After chasing the horse for more than half a mile the out of breath Johnnyfinally caught up to it as Boanerges suddenly came to a halt, when Johnnyarrived he looked at what grabbed the horses attention and looked down to see tinypieces of stone in a pile on the floor, he inspected the pile a bit closer andsaw what looked like bandage wrapping inside the pile. So the boy quickly dugthrough the pile and took out the wrappings, “this…. This is Jyros “he gaspedas he looked around in concern to no sight of the giant.

“Getup… can you hear me…. I said Get Up!” A voice said, Jyro suddenly gasped as heawoke from his slumber, he arose and saw Leo sitting beside him. “Whatthe….where are we are we dead?” he asked, “take a look around you” replied Leo,Jyro analysed his surroundings and realised he was in a dark Forrest. The skyabove them was dark with the moon above being the only light that shone, but asJyros senses slowly came to him he then begun to feel like he’d been in thisForrest before “ how did we get here Leo” he asked curiously , “ no idea I woke up and found myself here”Leo replied , “ wait a sec… I think I’ve been here before it was the firstnight I moved to Canta academy” Jyro explained but he still was alarmed at howhe got back here all of a sudden, “oi look what’s that over there “ Leo pointed into the distance at whatlooked like a large mirror sitting in the middle of the Forrest. The two boysapproached the peculiar object, at the top of the mirror a bust of a bronzedragons head was fixed to it with two ruby jewels as its eyes and Jyroimmediately recognised that it was the same mirror from the book Tristine andJohnny showed him. Jyro suddenly begun to be consumed with fear as hefrantically looked around his surroundings trying to understand what was goingon, Leo moved closer to it and placed his hands onto the glass “whoa … my handwent straight through” he said, Jyro suddenly felt a horrible feeling insidehis stomach, “come on Jyro I think it leads somewhere”, “Leo Stop.. I think weneed to get out of here something doesn’t seem right” Jyro stressed, Leo ignoredhis pleas and begun to slowly walk through the impassable glass and Jyrofollowed suite.

WhenJyro passed through the mirror he suddenly found himself in a spacious scarletroom. The room was unfurnished with onlya window and a huge black door ahead of him, the curtains were velvet red, thefloor was made out of red glass and the walls were all red also. Leo and Jyroslowly walked inside the peculiar place bewildered and confused at where theywas. The sounds of light piano keys were suddenly heard throughout the room,but the boys didn’t see anything nothing else or anyone else was in the room,but the noise remained, “Jyro… I don’t like the look of this” said Leo as heslowly gripped his swords hilt , moments later the rooms lights begun toflicker then momentarily turning off, seconds later when the lights came backon a figure dressed in a black hooded robe stood in front of them. “Welcomeguests it’s a pleasure to welcome you both and I must say I’ve been gettingrather bored in waiting so please to be of your acquaintance” spoke the cloakedindividual. The individuals voice was deep but with an elegant dialect to hisspeech, “what is this place and what do you mean by you’ve been waiting who areyou” demanded Leo, “Now now we have all the time in the world why spoil theparty so soon, actually I lied time is of the essence so ill introduce myselfmy name is Ammon “spoke the cloaked figure. “ And I have a question for theboth of you… have you ever heard of the Underworld” he asked, the two boyslooked at one another and slowly shook their heads “really? Mmmm one wonderswhat they teach you in school then for all those years… anyway the underworldis known as the edge of Hell or you could call it Limbo” , “ Limbo” Jyrorepeated curiously remembering the script he read from Merlins book “ why areyou asking us about something like that” he added, “ ho oh you finally spoke MrThomas I’ve been waiting to meet you the most well now you see behind this doorleads to … how should I put this the underworld lies behind this door” thefigure explained. Jyro and Leo suddenly gasped in fear,“W...what are you goingon about” murmured Jyro, Leo drew his long sword and pointed it towards thecloaked figure “Jyro, don’t bother and prepareto fight this guy’s evil can’t you see it I knew it the moment he appeared” Leostated “Evil? That’s a tad much after just meeting me Mr Blackstorm” Leo’sanger suddenly rose and in a flash he dashed towards the cloaked man and swunghis sword wildly at him. Just as the huge steel was about to slice through, thecloaked figure in a blink of an eye unsheathed his sword and parried away thehuge chunk of steel. Leo along with his sword were flung back much to hissurprise to how a sword of an inferior size pushed him back like that, thecloaked figure pointed his sword towards the boy “that’s rude Mr Blackstorm nowyou’ve done gone and cracked your sword” Leo looked at his sword and saw theman wasn’t lying a small crack ran across the steel. “N…. no way… How did you”muttered Leo in astonishment, the boy looked closely at the sword that the manwas holding and gasped “JYRO! GET OUT OFHERE NOW!” he screamed, Jyro didn’t understand Leo’s sudden words and attemptedto ask why “DON’T THINK ABOUT IT, JUST RUN ….. That sword …. It’s not normal”Leo explained,” oh so you recognise this blade huh, well I’m not surprised MrBlackstorm I heard you’re a descended from the legendary clan of sword masters.“But yeah you should run when you come across one of these, you see thiswonderful looking blade is part of the 12 holy swords the winter Series ‘PetersHonest December”, the swords hilt covered most of the blade, its hilt was darkblue with small black fletching’s coming out a small piece of rope hung looselywith a small steel ring on the end. “You kids couldn’t possibly understand thetribulations I had to go through to get me one of these” the man said, whilstthe Cloaked man continued to speak Leo slowly retreated back to Jyro “JYRO NOW…RUN!” Leo bellowed the two boys suddenly spun around and darted towards themirror in an attempt to flee, “oh dear, we can’t have that now” spoke thefigure who then begun to clap his hands, flames suddenly rose up and surroundedthe boys and trapping them. “I haven’t finished asking my questions… ahem now MrThomas I’ve been watching you for a very long time now, waiting for this momentyou’re quite the crafty boy aren’t ya, I mean constantly lying to your friendsand keeping that big secret of yours to yourself….. It must get lonely” spokethe cloaked man, Jyros heart suddenly skipped a beat to hearing the man’swords, “so it’s you you’re the one who’s been following us you’re the one whoripped those pages and sent that letter…. Your one of them aren’t you one ofthe dark followers” Jyro said, the cloaked individual suddenly burst intolaughter “correct Mr Thomas you are indeed correct on all accounts” replied theman. “So which leads me to my final question of the night before we begin thisparty…. WHO AM I Mr Thomas, which face do you know lies under this cloak ofmine, who has been so close to you every time but you still couldn’t sense mymalice” he spoke, Jyro didn’t know what to say he couldn’t think of anyone he’smade an enemy out of and he didn’t even think Valko was capable of doing this, “Idon’t know” Jyro responded. “Pfffft you don’t know why your just as gullible aswhen I first met you in that dark Forrest Mr Thomas” Jyro suddenly froze infear “ the dark forest? Who are you” he asked, the man then slowly undone hiscloak and removed his hood. Leo and Jyros eyes widened in shock as the hoodcame off and Liam, Mongoleys nephew stood in front of them, “seriously you? Butwhy?” Jyro yelped, “But why, it’s simple Jyro it’s my duty …. Don’t you remember that story I told you 13years ago the day the hells gate opened my village was raided and attacked, butnot by demons by our own people…. humans. They slaughtered and stole from thelittle we had and my parents were killed in this massacre, but boohoo life goeson right? I agree but then things got worse food didn’t touch my lips for daysalmost weeks, why? Just because my own people decided to take and steal from meto pry from my litter fingers the little I already had, so the day I lay on deathsbed a special person appeared to me and offered me a way out of the pain, money,power, all these things were promised to me if I followed them, ahh yes this isall for him” Liam said. Jyro and Leo stared in bewilderment “you sold your soulto who” questioned Leo, “oh don’t you worry now in time it will all berevealed, yes soon the biggest party the world has seen will erupt” he said,Liam smirked menacingly and showed the two boys a symbol on his left arm “it’scalled the mark of the beast” he said, Jyro looked on at the his arm and itbore 3 numbers forming a triangle with a snake entwined between them. “So thattime in the Forrest when we first met you wasn’t really in trouble then” statedJyro, “ Bingo Mr Thomas I let the goblins in to lure you out you see oh waityou still don’t know do you” responded Liam , “ well I’ve wasted enough timealready and sire won’t be too happy with me yes now we best get this dooropened then shall we” he said, “ wait Liam this all doesn’t make sense why wouldyou want to open that door don’t youunderstand their only using you if you do this humanity will fall” said Jyro ,“ Mr Thomas you still fail to understand the bitterness and pain of this world,but don’t you worry once I open this door to limbo ill recreate the hells gatetragedy and simply sit back and watch humanity kill itself in terror”. Jyrosheart grew anxious as he remembered everything he read in Merlin Alberts Book,the disaster that will destroy the world Liam was going to evoke it. “You seeMr Thomas unfortunately I don’t possess the power to open up the actual Gatesof hell so you could call this a pseudo gate if you will and with this I’ll be able to recreate it” stated Liam, “Idon’t understand, you stole the pages of the book to build the dragons mirrorjust so you could open up a fake door!, Liam this is insane… come on its nottoo late to stop this friend” pleaded Jyro , “ HOLD YOUR DAMN TONGUE!” shoutedLiam, “ you… you pitiful boy don’t you dare tell me what to do, I don’t need tolisten to any of you, your all the same and you all shall suffer and cry out toyour gods, haha I’ll make history with this don’t you think” spoke Liam with afowl tone. The two boys were still trapped in the inferno blaze that circledaround them and they tried to think up a solution to escape , “listen Jyro wecan’t let him open that door no matter what, so follow my lead I’ll lure himand you attack” said Leo, “but… but Leo he’s my” muttered Jyro, “JYRO! Get ahold of yourself look around and realise this situation he’s insane and we needto stop him at all costs, I don’t know if he’s bluffing but I’m not willing totake the risk and replace out” said a distressed Leo who glanced at the crack thatran across his blade. Leo gripped hissword tightly and readied himself for attack, meanwhile Jyro still stooduncertain at what to do. “That’s an interesting expression you have their Leo,shall we play again? Mm, I mean I’m no sword master but you sure your big chunkof steel is up to it, is it up to crossing swords with a holy blade” Liam saidmockingly which seemed to make Leo hesitate, “ I don’t care… as long as we stopyou I’ll let my life be the price any day” Leos words suddenly woke up Jyro,and at that moment Young Jyro realised Leo was ready to give up his life to stopLiams plans, in the next moments Leo charged towards Liam gripping his swordand roaring with an war cry. Liam clapped his hands and a sudden walls ofinferno surrounded him “LEO LOOK OUT” screamed Jyro but it was too late theinferno had already trapped the boy inside, “now that distractions out of theway….. Ahem Mr Thomas I’ll be needing the help of that arm of yours” voicedLiam, “my …. My arm how do you know about my arm” insisted Jyro worryingly,“ohhh that reaction is to be expected given that nobody told you anything,don’t you know anything Jyro …those professors are truly cruel to keep you inthe dark like this…it’s truly a saddening tale when you think about it, eventhe one you trust the most the one who lead you to this academy he’s the cruellestone of them all” Liam stated. Jyro didn’t understand what Liam meant but didn’tdwell on asking him about it he almost felt too scared to even consider Jack and the professors have been lyingto him, “Mr Thomas do you still not remember anything about that day 13 yearsago, it was the day you got that cursed arm the same day the gates of hellopened”, Jyro gasped in shock as flashes of images begun appearing in his mind,people running, crying and blood, blood was everywhere and there was flames somuch fire, the thoughts suddenly sent Jyro crashing to the ground holding hishead in pain. “Aww there-there Mr Thomas one wouldn’t want to re-live such anevent I understand so let me fill in the blanks for you….. That arm of yours isvery special it’s the same hide of one of the 7 princes of Hell…. the demonprince called…” just as Liam was about to speak a loud rumble was heard fromthe black door. “It seems my legions aredesperate to escape. Jyro looked intently whilst Liam spoke and even though theboy had no recollection of these events he somehow knew they was true, “ Aknight called Eros fought with a beast 13 years ago and managed to defeat itbut the cost was great, he was practically left like a living corpse havingtaken considerable damage , so Eros decided to use his last ounce of strengthand close the gate, ahh but this is where things get interesting Mr Thomasbecause when Eros got to the gates location he found a desolate village inruins, flames and inferno everywhere , everyone was dead except for one person,a little toddler crying in fear missing one of its arms and that’s when youobtained that arm Mr Thomas, you were that crying boy dying in that village.Jyro didn’t know how to take all that he had heard and his brain seemed to hurteven more, “please… please stop this Liam” he said, “your still spouting suchnonsense, you of all people should understand me, this world is cruel and italways will be, look… look what they did to you they cursed you, Think aboutwhy you haven’t told a soul your secret, it’s because you know right…. They’llall reject you if they found out” Liam voiced. Jyro knew Liam’s words bore sometruth in them and couldn’t muster a response and only softly muttered the samewords from his mouth “ pl…please Liam stop this now” he quietly said, Liam grewangry and grabbed the boy by his throat, “you’re as dumb and gullible as Ithought you were you stupid boy why can’t you see your future doesn’t existwith these people” stated Liam whilst slowly letting go off Jyros Throat.“Forgive me I seemed to lose my temper there…. You understand you have nochoice in the matter Mr Thomas because you’ll be the one to open this door youbear the hide of one of the princes of hell it’s your duty to do this” Liamstated angrily , “I’ll never do such a thing” Jyro hastily responded, “oh yousurely will my boy this whole party was for you Mr Thomas the return of theprince, since you possess his hide he now lives in you don’t you understandthat” stated Liam ,Jyros expression suddenly filled with fear as he glanced athis arm and tried to not face the truth “ your lying… you’ve got to be lying”he said, “ still in denial mmm let me show you then” Liam grabbed Jyro anddragged him across towards the black door. When Jyro knelt at the door he looked up and saw the symbol of 3 creatures etched ontothe front, he suddenly begun to hear whispers coming from it, the whisperssuddenly grew louder till his head was filled with unknown speech, he suddenlyhissed in pain as a burning sensation suddenly rose from his arm. The pain wasalmost unbearable, he lay on the ground clutching at his arm and groaning inpain, “now you see Mr Thomas my mouth bears no lie, because the reason you’rein so much pain is because your arm is reacting to the doors calling, my dearboy you’re the Key I’ve been waiting for and you’ll be helping me destroyhumanity. Liam forcefully grabbed Jyros cursed arm and placed it on the door,Jyro screamed in agony as the touch with the door felt like his hand was beingplaced in acid, “ you see now Mr Thomas you are the key to destruction”. Redveins suddenly formed all over the boys cursed arm and a light begun to shinefrom it and Jyros conscious slowly begun to fade. Just when he was about toblack out his left hand slowly reached towards his waist and touched onto thehilt of a sword, he felt the dagger that Mongoley gave him and grabbed on toit. At this time Liam was too busy focusing on the door in front of him andpaid no attention to Jyro, so the young boy saw this and slowly drew the bladefrom its sheath, seconds later he plunged the blade into Liam’s bosom. Liambore down at the blade stuck in his chest and grinned menacingly at Jyro,“Humph you think this weapon will kill me… me the great Paimon JR!” he declaredthe moment he stopped his talk a sudden dark matter begun spreading itselfaround Liams body, he gasped in pain and clutched his chest. “What……. What isthis? This dagger it’s burning me alive” he screeched, Jyro quickly removed hishand from the door and retreated backwards. He stood afar and watched Liam cryin agony whilst the dark matter spread across his whole body, Liam slowlycrumbled to the floor and lay down motionless. Jyro slowly approached him andremoved the dagger from his chest, Liam looked up at the boy standing over himand began to mutter something, “… you think me dying will stop it... look it’salready too late” Jyro looked towards the black door and saw numerous symbolsand texts appear on its front, the hinges begun to shake violently and thewhole red room shook in a mighty quake , Jyro watched in despair as the wholeroom suddenly shook Violently and the door in front of him slowly begun toopen. The boy’s heart grew faint as he saw thousands of red eyes bearing throughthe darkness behind the door. Just when all hope seemed lost a bright goldlight begun to shine brightly from the sword that lay on the ground, heapproached the sword and realised it was the holy sword that Liam was wielding.Jyro slowly reached towards it and picked it up he looked at the door in frontof him and the dark shadows were almost breaking loose. He suddenly gripped thesword tightly and dashed forwards towards the door and drove the sword into theshadows, the golden light expanded and the black door shook again violently,screeching noises and cries from the demons could be heard from the other sideand Jyro looked in awe as the shining swords light engulfed the door. But thegolden light didn’t last very long and the darkness soon begun to overpower thelight. Jyro slowly approached back in fear as the numerous dark shadowsmultiplied before his eyes,he then suddenly felt a warm touch on his shoulders,“you’ve done well kid I’ll take it from here” said a voice, Jyro turned aroundand saw a tall red bearded fellow standing behind him, the man was in darkreddish robes with a golden medallion of a four winged bird pinned on hischest. Jyro stared up at the man in bewilderment “who are you” he asked, “ha-hawow you’ve grown big… last time I saw you, you was a tiny guy and my name is Tobiby the way” he replied, “Tobi?” Jyro repeated to himself he somehow felt thename was nostalgic to him but couldn’t’ understand why. “Luckily my sword overthere released itself or I wouldn’t have made it in time” the tall fellow suddenlyturned his attention towards Jyro, “listen to me well Jyro we haven’t got muchtime when you and your friend cross back over the mirror I need you to destroyit as soon as you can, you can do that for me yes” Jyro nodded his head inconfirmation. “Alright lets gets this over with……’advenio’” he said, the swordthat was plunged through the door suddenly reappeared in his hands, the manraised it above him then swung it around him, the wind from the slash extinguishedthe inferno blaze that surrounded the room and Leo lay on the groundunconscious as Jyro quickly ran to his aid, “Go now Jyro take your friend andget out of here…. And when you get back make sure you replace the book of magicyou must replace that book at all cost” said Tobi .BOOOM! , the black door flungopen and a think black smog quickly filled the room, Jyro carried Leo towardsthe Mirror and looked behind him and saw the dark matter that filled the room,100s of eyes peered through the door and a giant devilish hand slowly emergedout of the darkness, “JYROO… GET OUT OF HERE NOW” screamed Tobi at theobserving boy, “but... But what about you “hollered Jyro, but the man simplysmirked towards the boy and waved him farewell “Go” he said before beingengulfed by the dark shadows.