CALLIBRA: THE CURSED EYE OF ARAK

CHAPTER TEN

T H E    W I L D E R N E S S   O F   T H E   E A S T

In a wilderness, a small group of people –about twenty– journeyed. Their black cloaks fitted their bodies perfectly, with its hood concealing their faces. Their faces were completely hidden within the darkness of their cloaks. Barefooted -they all walked. They were all males apart from the young teenage girl who seemed to be the one they all looked up to, more than a leader, a guardian.

These people had always lived within the Eastern wilderness. For a long time, since the time of Arak: the cursed traveller. 

They took over the shelters left behind by the original villagers who were murdered by Arak and his men. Only one boy survived the raid by Arak's men. He was the one who ran to the ancestors of this tribe and reported to them that the curse of the Callibra had been evoked by Arak. Their ancestors followed him back to the wilderness, trapped Arak and his men, including the one who had already been cursed and burnt them. 

The boy was the only witness, and he was cursed by their ancestors to live longer than any regular human would, so that he will be able to tell the stories of what he had seen. The young boy, in order to survive, began to write stories about what he saw, and made money of it to provide for himself. 

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 T H E    C L I F F

"Come, join me!" Gastrus shouted to his people as they all walked towards him from behind. 

"Gastrus, did you find it?" Elena asked, and he turned to her. The young girl was waiting for him to scan the area first, on her command. 

"No! But I think we have a something," Gastrus said to her, and she walked closer, and others follow her behind in a far distance.

Elena walked up to Gastrus, and he grasped her hand and walked her to the edge of the cliff. She followed him to the very edge, one more step forward, and she's down the cliff.

"What do you see here that makes you think it would be of help to us?" Elena said, and Gastrus’ hand pointed down the cliff -pointing to the prints of the two huge claws on the mud before the edge of the seashore.

"I see! It seems like it has ended up in one other wrong hand," Elena said and I nod. 

"So many fools, repeating the same mistakes over and over again," she intoned.

For a girl this young, Gastrus thought it a surprising fact for her wisdom to surpass theirs, but she was not just a girl, she was the girl who carried the ancient spirits in her. The carrier of the spirits of their ancestors; the ones who possessed mind magic. 

The mind magic was a gift from their ancestors, who created the liquid called Callibra to protect the dwellers of the Eastern wilderness from war. The Callibra was meant to unleash two creatures in time of war to protect the villagers, but instead found by a greedy fool called Arak, who cursed himself by drinking it. 

Unlike the witches of Ivádia, Vocí, Piliá, and Landiá, their ancestors, as well as Elena who bore their spirits, possed the mind magic. A magic that didn't require the speaking of the ancient dialect, and also didn't require gestures or movements of body parts. 

Only Elena was found worthy by their ancestors to possess the same power as them.

"It must have stopped by to quench its thirst, we must follow it," Elena said and Gastrus took off his hood, revealing his pale face. 

"Mistress, how do we trail something that moves so quickly in the air above our heads?" Gastrus asked, and she looked at him -uncovering her head. He had never seen anything as dreadful as her eyes. They've been together for a long time, but he always could not find himself getting used to the sight.

Gastrus moved a few steps backwards as his eyes met hers. Her eyes were the most intimidating part of her. They were absolutely dark and void. There was nothing in there to see, but thick black smoke moving in circles inside her eye sockets. 

She brought down her eyelids to cover her eyes as she knelt at the topmost region of the cliff. She opened her hands and scratches the soil at the top of the cliff with her fingers. 

She dug out a worm, and she held it in both hands -holding it up to her left ear. It spoke to her, what it had seen during its time there.

"It is headed for the South, we must find it," Elena said and Gastrus nodded twice. 

"To the south!" He shouted to the others as he and Elena walked down from the cliff to join them. . .

"You were right mistress, the flapping sounds we heard last night must be from the wings of a creature as large as the dragon," Gastrus said to her and she looked at him.

"Yes! It shows that the Callibras survived the fire, and now some other fool, as foolish and greedy as Arak has it in his possession," she said to Gastrus and he nodded.

"What happens if we don't find it before the fall?" Gastrus asked,, and she looked at him.

"Our ancestors will deny us passage through the realm," Elena says.

”That was why we were left behind. They knew it wasn't destroyed. They want us to finish what they failed to do. We must pick up from where they stopped, and we are only giving a few days before the fall to accomplish this,” she added. 

"That is why we have to find it as soon as possible, as the fall is not too far away from now," Elena says as she walked away from Gastrus and followed the others who were already in front. They were determined to reach the southern grasslands before nightfall.

After Arak’s eyes fell to the ground, one of his men who ran to him after hearing his screams from the treasure room, was the first to be cursed by the Callibra to turn into the fire-breathing beast of the air. He only beheld the first eye, which had by that time transformed into the green gem.

They believed the second eye which was the yellow gem -with the ability to curse its beholder to transform into another dragon species, was destroyed with Arak and his men by their ancestors who trapped and burnt them to ashes, also believing most people were not aware of the yellow Callibra as no one apart from their ancestors had beheld it before setting it on fire. 

As they just saw a dragon's foot print, and heard the flapping of its wings, they believed that the green Callibra was still alive and it wasn't burnt like their ancestors planned. They were right after all, leaving them behind to seek and destroy it. All these years, they've wondered if their ancestors made a mistake.

Last night, the ancestors spoke to Elena, there want them to destroy the Callibra before the fall, for if they didn't, they would be denied passage to the other realm. . .