Insignia Chapter 8: My Armor
By Fictiontoescape
- 141 reads
The sun made Abram appear as a silhouette as it sat behind him. The trees around me swayed in the gentle breeze and sitting upon a tree stump off in the distance Erin sat watching me. Then Abram began to speak. "I'm only going to show you this once Gael. It's a stance for new students to help them gather energy more easily. You use this stance until you can gather energy with out it." Abram explained then he bent his knees at a forty five degree angle and elbows at a ninety degree angle and held there for a moment. "This is the stance exactly. Now you try." He stood watching me. I assumed the stance exactly as he did. Then he continued speaking.
"Now, when in that stance you should feel something once you start looking. I can't exactly explain what it feels like but you'll know when you find it. Now until you do. Do not leave that position. Understand me?"
"Yes, Master!" I said. Then the search commenced searching for something in my self. I didn't know what but I was looking for anything. You'd think standing like that for hours would start to hurt but while I was searching through my self it was almost like meditating. Nothing bothered me, but I could still see and understand what was going on around me. I saw the sun and moon rise multiple times. I lost track of time all together. The one thing that really made me nervous was sometimes people came to watch me for a little bit at a time. Everyone had done so even Eldran. Everyone except Delilah. She hadn't looked or said a word to me since the day she stormed out and I have no clue what I did wrong? To me it wasn't fair she wasn't talking to me over nothing. She was supposed to be my best friend, and it felt like she abandoned me. I started to feel sad and then suddenly I felt it. The feeling that Abram couldn't explain. I felt it. It felt so weird. Like a bubble floating around your mind that seemed so easy to pop but when you're trying at first it just evades you, and when you finally do pin it down its like trying to poke your finger through tanned leather. I struggled with it for hours maybe even days until finally I broke through. At the time Dritre was watching me with Eldran. Apparently since we got to the island Dritre had done nothing but spend his time with Eldran and the dragon seemed to enjoy his company. Then for a brief moment after i broke through I summoned my armor. I don't know how I knew but I could tell exactly what it looked like. It was the color of dark crimson and from my feet to my abdomen looked like a Lion. then from there up it resembled an eagle. And from my back sprouted feathered wings. Then it all faded and I fell over from exhaustion. I just laid there on my back all my muscles feeling drained, breathing heavily. The armor takes so much energy to sustain how could it ever become easy. I wondered. Then as I lay there Eldran appeared in my view. And he spoke.
"A Griffin. A very Noble embodiment indeed. Even as Noble as the dragon. Well done." Then he lumbered off with Dritre following after him.
"Very good Gael." I heard Abram say from somewhere in front of me, to tired to find out from where.
"Get some rest. We'll continue tomorrow." After saying that he walked off. I stood after laying there for a little longer and made my way into the castle. Which was pretty amazing. On the outside it looks run down and moss covered. Then on the Inside it looked as if it had never been abandoned. I was walking through the main hall when for the first time since she stormed out of the room I saw Delilah. She was reading a book and walking in the opposite direction. I knew she was avoiding my stare by how she kept her nose in the book. I stepped in front of her trying to get her to stop. She actually must not have seen me or was trying to play it off really well because she plowed right into me.
"Ow, hey watch wh-" she paused as she noticed it was me. "Oh. Hey." She stiffened and wouldn't meet my eyes.
"You haven't even been out to see my progress? Is everything ok between us?" I asked her genuinely not knowing what was wrong.
"Yeah. We're fine. I've just been busy." she was still looking everywhere but my eyes. Then her finger went to her lips.
"You're lying. You should know by now you can't lie to me." I said lifting her chin gently so her eyes met mine. She stared at me long and hard. Then her face began to blush and she pulled away.
"Erin seems to have taken a liking to you." Then she pushed past me and left the castle. So that's what it is? Why would she care if Erin likes to be around me? I'll admit that Erin had spent more time watching me train than anyone else and she talked to me a lot and always seemed to be smiling at me, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy her company. She always made me feel comfortable and welcome, and It was a nice change from being ignored. Just as I was thinking about her she seemed to appear from one of the doors in the main hall walking towards me her perfect teeth gleaming as she smiled at me.
"I heard about your armor! Abram said you embody a Griffin?"
"Yeah, Eldran says it's Noble." I said looking down at my feet, but eventually turning my gaze back to her welcoming smile, and she just stared at me for a moment.
"Hes right. The only creature to match a griffin in nobility is-"
"A dragon, yeah he mentioned that too." I finished for her.
"Of course he did. Dragons always seem to make it known that they're great, but even they have to acknowledge the nobility of a Griffin as much as they may hate to do so." Then we shared a laugh, and yet again I found my self smiling at Erin. My stomach started to tingle as I looked at her, it was almost a fluttery feeling.
"I uh, need to go uh, clean up."
"Yeah, you do." She said sniffing and making a face where she crinkled her nose.
"Hey! It's not that bad!" I defended lifting up my arm and smelling. No, she was definitely right. I stunk and bad too. I started to get embarrassed for smelling so bad.
"I'm gonna go wash up. Will you teach me more of the Dragon's tongue after?" The Dragon's tongue being the language in which you used to cast long complex spells. I had began to learn a little of it right before I started the armor summoning training which literally soaked up every second of my day after it started.
"Yes, I think we'll have time to learn some of the words and their meaning. Come find me after you get cleaned up. I'll be in the woods behind the castle." Then she left through the big castle doors. I couldn't help but stare after her as she walked away. She was so stunning in every aspect of her body, even her walk seemed beautiful. Then after she was long gone i continued upstairs to the bathing room where I undressed and relaxed my sore muscles into the warm pool. The water was steaming and it flowed through the pool as if it was a river. The water came from a natural hot spring and flowed like a water fall into the bath. Then on the other end it drained at equal speed to keep the water clean. I relaxed in the pool for half an hour until my skin became water logged and wrinkly. Then I got out and dried off with some drying cloth that was left by the pool, and then I dressed in fresh clothing and made my way outside. I walked around to the back of the castle and started making my way through the woods, until I arrived at the edge of a round clearing. I spotted Erin in the center the sun beating down on her soft tan skin. She was standing in a peculiar stance. Her eyes were closed and her face looked toward the sun. Her hands met in front of her stomach making a V shape across her body and she stood on her tip toes of one leg with the other out stretched behind her. Suddenly her eyes popped open and she began to flow like water dancing in a way I had never seen before, but by the way she moved so elegant and fluent I knew she had practiced for many years. Once she finished she was breathing heavily. Then I began to clap and walked from the tree line. She jumped and quickly turned my way and for the first time since I met her, her cheeks were blushing.
"You startled me," she said flattening out her dress and regaining her composure. "When I dance the world seems to fall away. I only do it when I feel completely safe and comfortable because as you can tell anyone can sneak up on me."
"That was beautiful.. what do you call it?"
She smiled. "You flatter me. In my tongue it's call Frev'la. It roughly translates to this language as to flow like the wind and sea."
"You'll have to teach me how to do it one day." I told her.
She laughed a laughter so beautiful the birds seemed to become happier and started to sing tunes of joy.
"What?!" I asked confused on what she was laughing about.
"I can't teach you this." She said eyeing me with amusement.
"And why not? I could do it if I practiced."
"Because only woman are allowed to learn Frev'la. It's forbidden for men to do the dance."
"Why's that?" My curiosity peaking.
"It's said that if a man performs Frev'la any woman that sees him will fall deeply in love with him. Unable to eat, sleep or drink until she has him."
"Is that true?" I asked eyes widening.
"Yes, that's why men are never supposed to witness Frev'la but that only pertains to elf men for they can memorize even the slightest movements and repeat them perfectly. Seeing as you're human it shouldn't matter whether you see it or not."
"Oh. Speaking of elf males. Is there a king of Elves?" I asked trying to learn more about the mystery that was Erin.
"No, unfortunately. I've taken on many suitors but none seemed to be a correct fit." Then she gave a weak smile telling me she must have had troubles with past relationships. "What of you and Delilah? I can tell theres something between you two."
My face grew red. "No, actually we're just friends, and it seems we may not even be that these days." Erin made me comfortable so I had no problem telling her the things I felt.
She made a gesture with her hand and said "enough of this subject. We have work to do." Then she began teaching me the words of the dragons language. The words were very broad in meaning. Two or three words could make up entire sentences in common. Such as Shul' meaning fire but it didn't just mean fire. It meant to set upon fire and even in some combinations of words to extinguish fire. A word can have a thousand different meanings but the other words you combine it with create the exact meaning. Like if I said Shul' Tera'. That would mean set the earth a blaze, but if I said Shul' Tera' Ger'. That would mean to extinguish the blazing earth. There were many different words I learned and memorized the meaning and uses. I also learned that the majority of magic could be used from simply just feeling, but if you said the single word in your head it would increase the strength of whatever magic you were trying to use. The only time you had to speak the spells was when there were two or more words that needed to be put together. I asked why you couldn't think the phrase instead of saying it. Erin told me that any mind except for the Dragon's couldn't form more than a single word at a time without speaking it aloud. She said our minds just aren't complex enough. After a few hours of learning words Erin told me that was enough for one day. It wasn't until then I realized it was dark and the stars were shining bright in the sky. The crickets were chirping and a warm breeze was flowing through the nights cool air. I had grown accustomed to being on the island. Always smelling the sea and hearing the waves crashing against the beach. It had actually become quite peaceful. I went to lay in the grass and look up at the stars. After a moment or two Erin joined me and she laid her head on my stomach creating a T with our bodies.
"Do you know the constellations?" I asked her.
"The what?" She replied never taking her eyes off the stars.
"The shapes the stars make up. People see shapes in the stars and name them. Like see this bright star here. If you follow it back to this one and around these it makes a hammer" I said pointing out each individual star. "The hammer is Drugans forging hammer. He's the god of creation. My father used to say he forged everything on this planet in a single day. Then he scattered all his creations through out Salaria, but he thought it was missing something so he went back to the forge for 10,000 years. After he returned he set down his greatest creation. Humans. Every other god praised him of his work saying he created a perfect world and out of jealousy Salarious the king of God's stole Drugan's hammer and attempted to make the perfect creation of his own. After failure upon failure finally he grew frustrated and gave up then he threw Drugan's hammer so high it landed in the stars, never coming back down. Then looking down upon Drugan's great creation he cast out his failures into Salaria. Creating the monsters I thought were only legend just a while ago. Then before Drugan realized what had been done he bowed before Salarious and offered the world he created as a gift to the King. Claiming something so perfect should be named for the king. Then as all the guilt for what he had done and the generosity of Drugan's offer affected Salarious he shed a single tear that crashed upon the world creating the oceans and rivers. Drugan stepped back from his creation and claimed it to be the most beautiful thing in existence, and that is how the world was made and the hammer ended up in the stars." There was a long silence after I finished telling the story. Then she spoke.
"I like it when you tell stories. You'll have to tell me more some day." She said and continued looking at the stars. Right then a shooting star passed through the sky.
"What does that mean?" She asked.
"That means think a wish in your head and as long as you never tell anyone it'll come true." I told her.
"Is that true?" She said turning to look at me.
"Try it and find out." She turned back and I couldn't tell if she made a wish but I did. I hope this night never ends. I only wished that because things were so peaceful and Erin was so easy to talk to and be around. She absorbed every word I said and never seemed to forget anything I said to her. Suddenly her breathing slowed and her hands lay clasped on her chest and I realized she had fallen asleep. Not wanting to wake her I let my own consciousness drift away until...
I found my self looking at the castle but it wasn't the same. Something was off. It still sat on the usual cliff side with the winding marble stairs leading up to it, but there was something terribly wrong and I couldn't quite put my finger on what. I made my way up the marble stair case to the castles big doors. I went to open them but they wouldn't budge. I made a gesture with my had and said Cul' in my head which was Dragon's tongue for move. I guess I used to much strength in the spell because the twenty foot high doors flew from their hinges and crashed into the stairway of the castle.
"Whoops." I said aloud looking around to make sure no one saw. When I was satisfied that no one was around I moved into the castle. Immediately I noticed the difference. The castle looked run down unlike it's usual up kept appearance. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. Then I heard it. A laughter that chilled me to the bones emanating from behind me. I turned to see Suntoex in his full armor standing behind​ me.
"They say you've embodied the griffin. Do you know what I embody?" I shook my head.
"I embody the Chimera. A Griffins only natural predator in the wild. When the Chimera turns two years old it sprouts wings such as these." He said as bat like wings emerged from his armor on either side of his stinger. ", And then they fly from their nests and hunt griffins. But they do not hunt them for food, no. They hunt them for sport, and after they kill them they leave their body to rot!" He said laughing his chilling laughter.
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