CALLIBRA: THE CURSED EYE OF ARAK

CHAPTER EIGHT

                         TOWER OF IVÁDIA

Nika was sitting on her bed —weeping, as images of her mother giving up her last breath, and Amaia losing her life to save hers, came back to her in fractions. 

The door creaked and flung open. “Messengers from Piliá, Vocí, and Landiá, just arrived —confirming receipt,” Althea said with a heavy heart as she walked into her room. She could see that Nika had also been crying.

“Thank you sister,” Nika replied, and she turned towards the door —Intending to step out of the room.

“Wait! Althea, I'm sorry. I know everyone is grieving tonight because of my mistake. I should have listened to you. I also should have listened to Amaia. You tried to stop me, but the rage inside of me didn't let me think straight,” Nika said to her and she was still facing the door —finding it hard to just forget about the mistake Nika made.

“Now, look at what it led to. I was blinded by the rage —the thought of my mother being killed by those monsters, and instead of avenging her death, I lost a sister, my best friend,” Nika added, and she turned around to her as she kept crying.

“Sister, I forgive you. Crying will only make you weak. We should be thinking on how to get our hands on the Callibra, reverse the curse, and restore our sovereignty,” Althea said as she sat by her left —running her right hand over Nika's back as she rested her head on her shoulder. 

“Can you help me out with Varia? I know she is still angry at me, and I don't want her to be,” Nika said to her and she grinned. 

“Varia is not angry at you. She's only hurt by what the dragons did to your mother and Amaia. You should have some rest sister. You need to regain your strength for tomorrow's ceremony,” she said to Nika. Nika took her head off her shoulder and looked at her face as she sniffled and wiped off the tears on her cheeks.

“What ceremony?” Nika asked —having no idea of what she was talking about. Althea furrowed her brows at Nika's question.

“The ceremony; you are going to be taking in your mother's spirit by tomorrow morning,” she says and Nika nodded.

Sniffling, Nika got up from the bed, and walked towards the box her mother left in her room. She dipped her hands into it and brought out a book —A brown hard cover book, about 30cm long. 

She sniffled while she walked back to sit with Althea.

“Here it is! Where it all started —Arak: The cursed traveller,” Nika said to Althea as she flipped open the hard cover —revealing the book content.

                   

                    

★ ★ ★  600 YEARS AGO ★ ★ ★

(CENTURIES BEFORE IVÁDIA, LANDIÁ, VOCÍ, AND PILIÁ WERE FOUND)

ARAK comes into his father's tent with an axe in his right hand —dripping of blood —his left hand full of the hair of whoever's head he is holding on to. With the bloodlust in his eyes, “Father, ten more has been slain! Here is proof,” he said, tossing the man's head and letting it drop at his father's feet. 

“I see! You need not bring it in here, it stinks. I know who I have as a son. I trust you,” his father says to him.

“Father, I want more. I want to rid the east of villagers. We should be the only villagers in the east. This place is no longer enough to hold our people. Grant me my request, father, and I shall submit more than 50 heads at your feet before sunset,” Arak said to his father with one knee on the ground. 

“Go! Smite them and let the blood that drips from your axe fill a bowl,” his father grants him his request and he laughs mischievously.

He stands to his feet and walks out of his father's tent. 

Arak's father is the leader of a group of villagers who migrated from the north region of the world to the east. They were over twenty men who became highly territorial and decided to be the only humans who walked the east. They wanted all the lands and property which the people of the east had acquired before their arrival. The people in the east were harmless villagers with a large population of farmers. They knew nothing about war or weapon and were extremely vulnerable to Arak and his men. 

Arak stormed the first village with 6 of his men. They rode in black horses —Slaying each and every villager they saw on their way. Woman and children were not spared, they were slayed as the men.  

“Slay them and bring me their heads! I want their heads!” Arak shouts to his men who were behind him, and they all went separate ways as they were instructed by Arak. 

Arak rode alone as he rode deeper into the village to seek for properties which could earn them a lot of money if sold. He reached the village's treasure house, and he hopped down his horse. He flung his axe in the air and caught it, deriving pleasure in what he was doing. He walked to the door and kicked it open. 

“Yes! This is it! This is it!” He exclaim as he walked into the store room of the villagers.

He saw gold, diamonds, jewels, which he desired to roll himself in. He laid in the pile of treasures, which he rolled himself in while laughing and causing it to rain on him by pouring a bag of jewelries over his head. 

While rolling in the jewels, his eyes met something. Something his eyes had never beheld before, something out of the world, something his eyes lusts after, amongst all the jewelries and treasures laying at his disposal, the green, glowing liquid in a wooden bowl was what caught his eyes. 

“What is that?” He asked himself as he scrambled out of the pile of treasures. He stands to his feet, and he walked to the bowl. 

His eyes reflected the green light which emitted from the liquid.

“Stop!” Arak heard a voice behind him and it made him turn. It saw a young boy, about 4 inches tall. He was putting on a brown cloak, and bare footed. 

“Who are you?” Arak questioned. 

“I’m someone who knows what will happen to you if you touch that bowl,” the young boy said.

“How dare you say such things to me? Another word from you and I'll feed your head to my dogs!” Arak yelled at him. 

“You will do no such thing to me, your lusts for what you see in the bowl will bring you to ruin before you decide to hurt me,” the young boy said and Arak began to walk towards him with his axe. 

Arak had never been spoken to in that manner before. He was feared by the people of the east, and no one would dare to speak to him in that way.

“Do you know who I'm, do you know what I can do to you? The men who are out there —bringing down the walls of your home, and cutting off your people's head are all working on my command. Shouldn't you be afraid to confront a man with such authority?” Arak said to him as he continued to walk towards him.

“I’ve said it before, and all I can do is repeat what I just told you. Your lust for what is inside the bowl will bring you and your men to ruin even before you get to me,” the boy said, and Arak slapped him.

The impact brought the boy to his knees, but he never made a sound that showed he was in pain. Arak would have slayed him if he had the time to, but he only had time for what was in the bowl. 

Arak walked slowly towards the bowl —Kneeling on one knee, he picked up the bowl and he felt the urge to empty the content of the bowl into his mouth. He gulped it down without giving it a second thought. 

“What have I done?” He asked himself as he wondered why he did what he did. He looks at himself and looks at the bowl a couple of times —shocked by his actions.

“You should have stayed away from it. Now, you shall face the consequences,” the young boy says and Arak gets up from his knees and stands erect. 

“What are you saying?” Arak asked —clasping his fingers around his own head as he feels a sharp pain.

“You have taken the curse upon yourself. It has been waiting to find the person who will be willing to give it a pair of eyes —to see and to curse anyone who beholds it,” the young boy said, as Arak fell to his knees and cried out loud from the excruciating pain.

“What are you talking about?” Arak yelled —clasping his fingers even tighter around his head.

“The two beasts who have never walked the earth —through your eyes they will see, and curse, and bring themselves upon the surface of the Earth,” the young boy says as he watches Arak's right eye fall off to the ground and transformed. 

The boy leaves the room as quickly as he could before Arak's fallen eye turned into a green gem —glowing with harsh green light as the young boy saw its reflection through the window. . .

★ ★ ★ THE END ★ ★ ★

She only read a chapter. And that chapter was the only chapter that contained the story of Arak, the cursed traveller.

“Sister, why are you telling me this? I've been told the story over a hundred times in my childhood,” Althea said, and Nika sniffled.

“I know, but we all thought it was just a myth. We thought it was just stories. How did the slaves get to find it? No one lives outside the grasslands, even with our powers, we can't survive out there. In the story, Arak was cursed in the Eastern part of the world. We all know that it is a wilderness, no one lives there. I've never heard anyone talk about the east outside the grasslands.” Nika ask and Althea stayed quiet in a count of seconds.

“That was why we all thought it was a myth. We thought no one ever lived outside the grasslands,” Althea said. 

“Now, we know that it exists and we've seen the proof of its existence. It gave rise to those beasts who killed Amaia and your mother. The beasts out there are the exact ones described in the book. We were told that one of Arak's men saw Arak's fallen eye and turned into a Dragon which was trapped by magic and slayed,” Althea said and Nika looked at her quickly.

“Sister, that is the second reason why we all believed it was myth. We know that we, our sisters, are the only humans who were blessed by nature to possess its powers. How then are they able to trap the dragon with magic?” Nika asked and Althea’s brows furrows.  

“Sister, you are right, our kind are the only humans who poses such powers, and none of our sisters were born by that time, not even our elders, not even our sisters that have passed,” Althea said and silence flooded the room.

“Nika, you need to rest now. We can talk about this tomorrow, but for now, the ceremony is you major priority,” she said to Nika as she compelled her to rest.

She took the book off my lap and she kept it back in the box. Taking the box back to its position —I’ll let you rest now,” she said as she dropped it and walked to the door. She walked out of Nika's room and she heard the door creak. She turned on her side and lay —hugging her knees and trying to get the images of what happened that day out of her head by squeezing my eyelids tightly. . .

                             ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Althea has been sitting outside Nika’s door —making her believe that she was gone as she needed to rest. 

Althea walked back into her room, and Nika saw her in see that she's already asleep. The tears she'd been trying to hold back starts running down. They all wanted Nika to be strong at this time, and so they can't afford to make her think that they are all were shattered by what happened. 

Althea walked out of the room and close the door behind herself. She lay my back against it and cry all over again as she recalled how Amaia died. 

“Varia! I should be with her now,” Nika said to herself as she walked away from Nika’s door and head towards Varia's. She walked towards her door and she could hear her sob even through the closed door. 

“Come in Althea,” Varia said, and her voice startles Althea. 

“Sister, how did you know I was standing outside your room,” Althea said to her as she walked towards her after opening the door. She saw her sitting on the floor and hugging her knees tightly.

“My gift, you know my sense of smell has never been deceitful,” she said and Althea nodded.

“How is sister Nika? Is she alright? She must be blaming herself for this. I should go and talk to her,” Varia said, and Althea placed her hand on her cheek affectionately and said to her, “Nika is already asleep.”

Varia sat up back on the floor, and Althea sat beside her. 

“You should have some sleep as well,” Althea said to her, and she closes her eyes as he sing to her. She sang the song as she fell asleep gradually.