This is a story I've been working on. It's not done yet but if you like it, leave a comment and tell all your friends about it. Here it is, The Hariks:
The Hariks
Chapter One
The Devil’s Advocate
As Professor Lakin walked through the nearly endless, mysterious tunnels inside one of the largest Pyramids on the island of Caperone he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of society could build a monstrous structure of this proportion. The pyramid was over 5,000 years old and yet not even the modern human race could compete with a pyramid this vast.
The walls were made of pearl colored marble, which thousands of servants had painstakingly carved out of solid rock face, all for their kings. He could just imagine a whole horde of workers. Under the hot sun they toiled for the gods, building the pyramid. But the question was, for whom? After a period of time he abandoned his thoughts and concentrated on the intricate pattern of tunnels that separated him
from his goal of finding the person, or people, who rested in this gigantic tomb.
If he were not trying to discover one of the greatest mysteries of the island, he would have been fascinated by the hieroglyphics carved into the the ancient pyramid walls. What did they say? What stories could they entail? Who made them? Well we all know Professor Lakin didn’t care.
As he roamed the corridors of the pyramid he kept an eye out for anything valuable. Back home he wasn’t exactly the richest person around. He and his wife had fourteen children, and with Professor Lakin studying at the academy, the only gold they got was from their son Goren’s job as a mill worker in a nearby village, and that wasn’t nearly enough. Two of the Lakin’s sons were about to grab their swords, and join the royal army. They called it an army, but since they were the only people on the island, it was more of an exploration team. They were dangerous expeditions, and out of the five, seventy man teams, only one man had come back. He was nearly dead, having swam over five miles. He was out of fluids and was suffering from malnutrition. He ended up on beach, next to death, and struggling to breathe. A man in a villa near the sea saw the man and rushed towards the beach. The man’s voice was hoarse as he whispered his final words to the old man from the villa. “Magic” he said. With a faint smirk on his face, he passed away. The story went around the kingdom, eventually reaching the king’s ears. Since then, he has been more eager than ever to explore.
Soon, the Professor entered into a magnificent hall. Could this be it? He closed his eyes and looked up. There was no ceiling. He had found the burial chamber.
The ancient people of the island had believed that the kings of the island should be buried in a large tomb, hence came the pyramids. The burial chamber had to be open to the sky because the body that rested within the burial chamber would have direct access to the spirit world. Prof. Lakin knew this, and because of it he knew he was sharing a room with priceless treasures that would make him richer than he had ever even thought possible.
Prof. Lakin had been waiting to stand in this room since he had first seen the pyramids as a young child. He and his father had taken a ride on horseback to the pyramids when the professor was only five years of age. The tedious journey entailed two whole days of riding, but in the end it was worth it. The pyramids inspired the future professor to do what he was now doing.
Professor Lakin looked around the room. It was rectangle shaped, with a sandstone colored floor. The image of a large eye was slightly raised above the floor. It was just before sunset, and the room was dim. The professor held a torch in his hand. The fire cast a flickering glow around the chamber. On the left of the professor was a sandstone wall, with hieroglyphics covering every inch of the wall. The same set-up was on the right. Behind him was the narrow passage way that he had came from. The wall in front of him was bare, but why? Why were the writings curiously absent from the wall ahead? He approached the wall and gently placed his hand on it. The wall roared to life. Five sections of the wall turned in unison. The bare wall that had stood before was now anything but empty. Professor Lakin had to suppress a scream. This was much more exciting than he had ever imagined it would be. Then he looked at the wall. Each panel contained an engraving of something. The professor got closer to the wall. The engravings were not of people at all. One word rang through his head, “magic”. Each panel contained a passage of writing and a picture above a casket embedded into the wall. Dwarves, elves, giants, and dragons were pictured on the panels. The professor gasped. Of the five, only one could be read, but the world might be better off it wasn’t readable. It displayed a picture larger than the giant engraving but smaller than the dragon engraving. By the professor’s estimates, that would be about twenty feet in height. The entire body seemed to be composed of muscle, and the head was very large in proportion to its body. The creature’s skin was the color of an old raven. Ivory colored spikes protruded from the head of the creature. Ebony colored fangs fell from the creatures mouth. However, the most noticeable feature of this monster were the four arms that erupted from its abdomen. The limbs of the creature hung down to below its knees. The being seemed to be in the likeness of a satanic creature. The professor wanted to hide. He wanted to never be in the dark again. Suddenly the professor heard a faint noise from behind. He spun around so fast that the light emitting from his torch was suddenly extinguished. By this time it was night outside the confines of the pyramid. There was no moon, and the room seemed to be full of an opaque darkness. The professor’s heart pounded in his chest and the only thing to be heard was Lakin’s heavy breathing. Suddenly the professor couldn’t breathe. His feet left the ground and a devilish voice said, “Hello Lakin”. The professor tried to say something, but the force on his throat prevented him. “I am the creature of the dark, the devil’s advocate, I, am Harik.”
“No, do not squirm, human. I am the creature you have seen. Soon my people will kill yours and the rest of the island’s inhabitants. We will not die, we will win this war. You are the only living soul who knows of our plan. So go, and tell your people that tonight your king will be killed. Go!” With that, the Harik threw the professor on the floor. The professor scrambled to his feet and ran to the door. He never made it. The Harik grabbed a sword from his hilt and threw it at the professor. He died instantly. If the professor were still living he would have heard the harik chuckle as he removed the sword and placed it back on his belt. The Harik cackled as he left the pyramid and headed north to his kingdom.
* * *
The Elves
Blade stared at his perfected sword. Blade the elf was about 15 years old and yet he was the best blacksmith known on the island of caperone. He had short spiky brown hair. He was very strong and had very tan skin. He had flawless green eyes that matched his emerald green cloak that he often wore perfectly. He also could speak any language. Although that wasn’t a talent, for every race but the humans could do that. He had just finished the final touches on his weapon. The sword’s hilt was entirely composed diamond and was made to fit its owners hand perfectly. The blade of the sword was gilded with dragon scales, the hardest known component in the universe. The sword had also been enchanted by the most powerful sorcerer known, Blake, around 17 years old, who was also an elf and the elf king firent’s, right hand man. He was a tall boy with long black hair, and dazzling blue eyes that popped out when he wore his scarlet robe. Blade was his best swords man, and Blain, who lived with dragons and rode on a giant gold griffen and was about 14 years old, was his best archer. The king also had a son named Drake, also about 14, who was the heir to the throne. He had chestnut colored hair that complimented his dark brown eyes, he looked mostly like his father but had inherited his mother’s light skin. His father had tan skin.
Blade’s sword had been enchanted to never break, never stain, and, what Blade loved most about it is that it was enchanted to only hurt an enemy. The blade of the weapon could also never dull, and was sharper than a razor, and could be duplicated by magic, so Blake could make one for every man in the elf nation without breaking a sweat. But Blade had wondered why they had to make swords? They were a peaceful nation, no one would kill each other here, but then again tons of elves were disappearing and then being found again somewhere in the forest dead. So the king was just being cautious in case an army came to face the elves. Blade got off of his magically polished maple chair and exited his work shop and headed towards Blake’s house. On his way he saw a group of people he knew. He stopped by and joined there conversation. One of them named thaline Salander was talking about a horrific creature he had seen in the forest. Blade listened in interest as he described a tall black monster with huge teeth and horns atop its head. Blade was interested, but wanted to get to Blake’s house. He turned left on the road that he was on and entered Blake’s house. He was surprised to see that Drake was there too and that Blake was trying to duplicate a large bow and a strange sword. “What’s this?” asked Blade. Blake and Drake looked up from what they were doing and Blake replied, “Its Drakes new invention.” replied Blake. Drake was an inventor but all of his previous inventions had sadly failed. Drake replied, “Yes this bow can shoot swords.” Then Blade replied, “How can you hold more than one sword at a time to shoot?” “Now that’s something,” said Blake “I devised a spell that can let you store more than a thousand swords that you can shoot in a small quiver but have it weigh lighter than air. Cool huh.” blade replied, “More like interesting.” he did not agree with the word “cool”.
After about ten minutes of friendly chatter between the three teenagers Blake stopped the flow of magic he was putting on the bow and sword, for he had already made an average of one hundred swords and a bow for each member of the elf army (about ten thousand people. “Okay, blade, your sword” said Blake. He took the sword and in less than a minute he had made enough swords for the elf army. Blake put the sword in his special quiver that supposedly could weigh lighter than air but hold almost an unlimited amount of items, and went outside. They had been outside for no more than two seconds when they heard a screech above them. It belonged to a large golden griffen with blain on its back. He had mildly long blonde hair and wore a golden tunic with fire red boots that shone almost brighter than the sun. He also wore a golden cape. His sapphire eyes looked down at the three boys. Then he jumped off his griffen and glided towards the ground. When he landed Blake said, “Show off.” But Drake was in astonishment, “How’d you do that?!” He exclaimed. “Well,” began Blain, “Blake here enchanted my cape so that if I jump of my griffen, whose name is Hazel, I can glide to the ground and land uninjured. Just then they heard a scream. For a moment the group was silent. Then a sudden realization came to them. “An attack!” all three boys yelled in unison. They sprinted towards the city gate. Blain jumped twenty feet into the air and his griffen caught him then he pulled out his bow. Drake whistled and a unicorn immediately came to his aid and he jumped on it quickly. Blade pulled out his sword, ready for a fight. Blake conjured a staff to perfect his magic capabilities. They ran through the city, ready for whatever might face them. They heard cries of help and a deafening roar. The city gate was up just ahead. Soon they reached the city gate and they saw there opponent. Blade gasped, the creature exactly matched the description of the creature the town’s people had talked about. It was a Harik.
* * *
The dragons
Two dragons Jacob and Katie flew through the crisp, clean spring air. They had been best friends ever since they were born. And that was nearly two hundred years ago. Now they were taking an evening flight over Caperone. Katie was Jacob’s age; her scales were the most vivid color of gold. Her eyes were gold too and her wings were transparent gold. Yep she was all gold. Even the spikes on her tail were gold.
As for Jacob his whole body reflected the things around him. Sort of like a mirror. It also worked well for camouflage. He was also the smartest Dragon in his whole race, and also the closest thing the dragons had for a king, for they were not ruled by anyone. They were flying to the elf city of Raderent. Where Blade, Blake, Drake, and now Blain were. As Jacob passed through clouds he turned pure white, as he dipped to the grassy fields below him he turned green. As the blue sky was in the background he changed sky blue. They flew nonstop, enjoying the ride and talking occasionally. They took there time enjoying the sights.
Within a couple of hours they had reached there destination. They landed in front of Blake’s house and Jacob knocked, using his knuckle, on the door. Blade answered the door. He had scars in numerous places on his body. More than either of the two dragons had ever seen him with. He ushered them inside Blake’s house. Blake, Drake and Blain were there. They too had many scratches on their bodies.
Blake’s house was very nice. It had been made so even the largest dragons could fit inside the house easily. He had beautiful magically conjured crystal floors that he had softened, also using magic. His walls were covered in soft fur and the chairs that were spread across the house were covered in white furry cushions. But because he was such a good wizard most every thing in his house had been made or conjured by magic. Still though, it was nice. “So, what’s with the scratches?” Jacob said using the dragon gift of tongues to talk in the elf language Elfish to speak to them. “Well it is kind of a long story but if you want to know…” began Blake, “Drake brought me his new invention, a sword shooter. As I was duplicating it Blade came with his new sword and asked me too duplicate that as well when I was done. I did that and we walked outside. Then we saw Blain come down on his griffen and when he did we heard cries of help towards the city gate. We went towards the cries. Blain jumped on his griffen. Drake jumped on his unicorn and we went to see what was happening. There was a group of monsters supposedly called Harik outside the city. They’re strong creatures with black skin, they’re taller than giants, have huge heads with teeth as large as javelins, and they have four arms that reach down to their legs. They also have a line of spikes on their heads in place of hair. They are not easily killed by magic, and also not by sword or bow. We rode up to them and fought. I, of course used magic, but from a distance. Blain used his bow; Drake used his new invention, a sword shooter, which worked really well. In the chaos of all the action Blade climbed up one of the Harik’s back and stabbed it in the neck. We fought well but all of us were injured. They were hard foes. I told the king what happened and he is recruiting more soldiers this very minute. I was thinking about the Harik when I noticed everything has to have a weakness. I think I know there one true weakness. It is fire. I have also concluded that they are, as we speak, preparing an army for the destruction of every civilization on this island, and as I also think, the entire world. They wouldn’t just be peaceful with us. No I am positive that they will direct an attack on us. So I think that in order for us to destroy their army we must gather up all the races and face this army. We also need the human’s help with this. Now is the time to reveal ourselves. We need you two to go and tell all of the races what has happened and to gather up all their troops. We especially need the Dragon’s help.” Blain, Drake, and Blade nodded at this “The fate of our civilization may depend on you.”
Lost and Found
Meanwhile the humans were in panic. Possibly the smartest person in their entire civilization, Prof. Lakin, was missing. Search teams were looking for him everywhere. They searched mostly near the pyramid but some were afraid to go in. They had no idea what lay inside the tomb waiting for them. Had he been killed? Was there a ghost in there? Questions like these were embedded in people’s minds, scaring them beyond their wits. That’s why they didn’t go in there. But some were brave enough to go in there, but with no avail. They couldn’t find him. Or so they thought. One group of rescuers went inside the pyramid to find him. And they did.
A group of men went searching for him around noon. This was a smart group of men. They too were fascinated by the sheer size of the pyramid, like Prof. Lakin, but unlike the other search parties they knew Prof. Lakin could only be in one place, the burial chamber. They eventually found it and went inside. There was Prof. Lakin, dead. All the color was drained from his body. The rescuers rushed towards him but immediately knew he could not be saved. They also noticed that it looked as if he had been cut in half. Then they noticed what Prof. Lakin found. They too knew that these creatures were, in fact, real. As they were studying, the group leader, Ronald Parker, sent the group’s messenger, Ryan Hugo, to leave and report to the king, James Anderson, that they had found Prof. Lakin and that, magical creatures were real and that he would explain to him later. Ryan unwillingly left the burial chamber and headed out.
The group had been smart enough to make a trail of walnuts to wherever Prof. Lakin was so that they could get back. Ryan followed the trail. As he was half way through the tunnel he heard Ronald scream a spine-chilling scream, then as quickly as it had begun it stopped. Ryan knew that could only mean one thing. Ronald Parker, had just been slaughtered. He ran for his life. Only one thing was going through his mind, I just heard Ronald die and I could be next.
He got out of the pyramid and sprinted towards the city. He heard more and more screams. Only he could warn the town’s people of what was to come. He went on sprinting. Soon he reached the city. He went to the palace and saw the king. He quickly told him what happened. Then the king fainted!
An Elf’s Point of View
Ellie the elf sat bolt upright, she sensed danger. She got up out of her bed. Ellie was a beautiful lanky elf that lived in the human city of Enreg. She was a spy, sent to protect the humans from danger. Now she sensed something was wrong. She whistled a pure, clear note. Almost as if by magic (but then again it probably was) a unicorn appeared. Her hair was long and perfectly combed, it was silky and was so bright, it seemed to be made of light itself. The unicorn was named Christy. But this was not a normal unicorn. This unicorn could talk. “We got to go.” Ellie said. “What ever,” Christy said. They set off out of the city. Ellie used magic to make herself invisible. The humans could not know she was there, this was of utmost importance. Ellie had a granite maul with her. This was her weapon of choice because of it’s huge size and power. She rode through the town and was shocked. Everyone in the town seemed to be devastated. Not a child was to be seen playing in the streets. Elderly women looked downwards at the ground and walked quickly. She exited the city and saw a gigantic creature far away. “What the?” Christy said. This “thing” in the distance was definitely not human, in fact it looked like nothing she had ever seen before. Ellie and Christy rode up to the creature. As they got closer it got bigger. As they approached the creature it let out a deafening roar. She saw it was a Harik. When she was little she had once heard a legend about it, but back then it was just a fairy tale, a figment of her imagination. In the story the creature had terrorized a village, only to later be killed by a heroic prince. Now she knew that this creature was not part of a fairy tale, or just a figment of her mind. It was real. In an instant it attacked! He slashed out his sword with inhuman speed. Ellie was caught off guard. Luckily she dodged, but luck wouldn’t save her in this battle. She lashed out her maul. The Harik dodged it. They continued to battle. Ellie suffered only minor injuries, but the Harik had not even been struck yet. Then with all the Harik’s might he slashed out at Ellie. The sword found its mark. Ellie landed on the ground with a thud. She saw her life flash before her eyes. But she didn’t die. The Harik noticed this and pulled back his sword for the final blow. But Ellie, powered by rage used her last resort, magic. She, like many elves was not very good at it and it drained a lot of her energy, and she only used it as a last resort. She focused all her energy and muttered the death word, deablo. It worked! The Harik suddenly died. Then out of exhaustion Ellie fell to the ground and lost consciousness.
* * *
Jacob, Katie, and Blains’ journey
The wind rushed through Blain’s long blonde hair as he rode on Hazel, his griffen. About an hour earlier he had left from the elf city of Raderent and headed towards the giant city of Laregent. Katie and Jacob had come too. Blain stared at Hazel’s vibrant hazel colored feathers. He had stared at them quite often since he had found Hazel.
That was about 8 years ago. Back then Blain lived way back in the forest alone. He had always lived alone because as far as he knew he had no parents. Anyways he was living alone in a little shack he made in the forest when he heard a loud squawk in the distance. He went to check out what it was. “SQUAWK!” There it was again! He followed the sound until he found an abandoned griffen up in a tree! He took it down from the tree and caressed her feathers. She was only the size of a quarter. He decided to name her Hazel.
From then on he cared for her with all of his love. When he didn’t have enough food for her (which sadly was often) he gave her his own food. She eventually grew from the size of a quarter to the size of a lion. Now she was a little larger than a lion.
“Hey hazel,” Blain said as Hazel perked up her head, “How about we play a game?” Hazel nodded her head in silent agreement. “Okay, I’ll jump off you and then you catch me. But be gentle…….please.” Hazel nodded her head in agreement again and Blain jumped off. He felt himself falling at an unimaginable speed. Then he noticed he didn’t have a cape on! Without his cape, he could fall quickly, and in this game it could cost him his life. He continued to fall and Hazel dived down. Luckily Hazel was built for speed and Blain wasn’t. She dived down quickly and caught Blain. A shot of pain blasted through both their bodies. They didn’t try that again for the rest of the trip.
That night , Katie, Jacob, Hazel, and Blain set up camp on a short hill. Blain collected fire wood with Hazel’s help. Then Jacob, using his fiery breath lit the wood on fire and started a camp fire. Then Blain took his oak bow and quiver and set out to hunt some deer for food.
Within about five minutes he had found a deer and was stalking it. He was careful not to make any noise. Then he heard a thunderous roar from behind him. The deer scrambled away and Blain looked behind him, arrow at the ready. And, as he had expected, there was a Harik behind him. He didn’t have time to panic, and that was what saved him. He quickly put the arrow on the string, as he had done countless times before, took aim, and fired. His hit was dead on. It hit the Harik square in between his eyes.
Yes! He was amazed at what good shot he was. Of course he knew that he was the best on the island, but still, he surprised himself sometimes. Then he had a brilliant idea.
He walked up to the Harik and felt one of its spikes on its head. He found what he was looking for. His idea was to make a bow made of a Harik’s spikes. He took off a knife from his pocket and cut one of the spikes off. Then he cut off the rest. Soon he had seven Harik spikes. He walked back to camp excited about what he would do.
“Where’s the food?” Jacob said as Blain walked into camp. “I didn’t get anything,” Blain replied. “But I did kill a Harik when I was hunting, and I brought back these,” He showed them the Harik spikes. “I plan to make them into a bow, as soon as you are willing to help me by using your fire to liquefy them. Then I will pour it into a mold in the shape of a bow, and use it in the nearing battle against the hariks.” “Well seems like you’ve thought this over quite a lot” Jacob said as if he knew everything. “Well maybe I have!” Blain replied angrily. “Cool it!” Katie said. “We’re not going anywhere with these arguments! Just stop, and of course we’ll lend you our fire” “Okay.” Jacob and Blain said in together in defeat. “Alright now that we’ve settled that, I’ll help you with your bow.” Katie said in a calming tone. First go make a mold, and while you do that I’ll get that deer you were to weak to kill.” Then they did just that.
Laregent
Soon after Blain killed the Harik, and he had taken its spikes, the bow was finished. It worked better than any other type of bow. Whether it was oak, yew, maple, willow, teak, balsa, pine, cedar, aspen, or any other, it was better than each of them. It was very strong, but yet slightly flexible. He had thrown his useless oak bow into the fire for fire wood.
With the making of a new bow, the group once again set off for Laregent. The sun shone brightly, because of the lack of clouds in the usually dreary sky. A somewhat endless plain of luscious green grass was spread below them. Enormous trees dotted the already beautiful landscape.
One painfully cold night, Blaine was having a horribly scary nightmare.
Every thing was foggy. People were rushing around. Swords were being drawn. In the distance tall black figures emerged from the deep fog. Swords were clashed. Screams arose from the ever-darkening area. Then he saw it. Firent, the elf king, was on the ground, blood oozing from his chest. A figure was bent over him. Then he heard the words, “Drake, B-b-Blaine is y-your, brother” then his eyes turned white, and he was dead.
He awoke from this dream with a start. He reasoned with himself that it couldn’t be true, but a part inside of him still wanted to believe.
Within a matter of days Blain, Katie, Hazel, and Jacob all made it to Laregent. The city was surrounded by bulky walls covered with spikes. The city was the giant’s capital, and was roughly ten times the size of Rhode Island. Even more amazing, all of this land was surrounded by these walls, it was an amazing site to all who witnessed it.
The group was escorted by guards to the palace, immediately after Blaine talked to him about their mission. The guards wore silver helmets topped with orange feathers. They were each about 11 feet in height. They were adorned with black plate body armor, and brown horned boots. Their eye’s were dark and had bags under them as if they hadn’t slept for days. There must have been quite a bit of crime in these past few weeks. Since the castle was located in the center of the city the group had quite a way to travel. Instead of walking they rode on very large lizards to the castle. As they rode they saw magnificent structures. Houses, taller than the tallest trees, and roads wide enough for twenty elephants to walk past comfortably were only some of the sights they beheld them. Giants, some even a dozen feet tall walked through the streets, It was a primitive Manhattan. Everything was more beautiful than a regular village. Emerald green grass lined the roads that they traveled on and glorious trees decorated with gold and jade were plentiful as well. The houses were lined up on the side of the rode and were almost like walls. Up ahead, the group saw nothing more than more road and trees. As they traveled farther ahead they saw a large object looming in the distance. It was gleaming in the bright light of the midsummer’s day. As they drew nearer they realized what it was, the palace. It was more gorgeous then they ever could have imagined. It was HUGE and the building seemed to be shaped like an octagon. Although they couldn’t tell because they could barley see one side of the palace because of its massive size. After staring at the building for quite some time one of the guards broke the silence. “You may go in now” he said. The group looked up, surprised. They had forgotten that the two guards were in there presence. “Alright” Blain eventually said. The guards both smiled and opened the large iron doors. “The throne room is directly ahead. You may proceed.” With that the group went in and the guards shut the door behind them. The hallway was gorgeous! The floor was lined with gold carpet stitched with silver thread. The walls were painted black with red trimming. On both sides of the hall there were arches leading to different rooms, but the group bypassed these and headed to the end of the hall to the throne room. The door was closed, but with some effort the two dragons Katie, and Jacob managed to open it.
The place was beautiful. Everything in sight was adorned with gold. Statues of the Giant king were abundant, and the decorations were precious. Yet, something was wrong. There was no sound. Silence surrounded the group like a rubber band squeezing them tighter and tighter. Then they smelled it. The scent of blood. They saw the giant’s king. Giaro.
Dead.
