Xerxes by Micheal Achonye

Untold Power

(Angs POV)

It was a mess on the ship with everyone running helter skelter to avoid colliding with the Vladians and magicians. No one had expected them to show up so soon. So many things went through my mind, if they were here it meant the distraction hadn't worked.

Oh I hope the Soldier is okay, I hope the warriors who had stayed back to act as decoys were okay.

I could not stay here anymore, I had to find my brother and if possible get off this ship.

He had a murderous look on his face. He had surely grown, from the little cartographer I had known to the man who stood before me.

I wanted to hold him in my arms and tell him that it would be okay, that it would be over soon, but we all know it would not solve anything. Xerxes was no quitter that's for sure, and he had come so far to think of giving up.

No, he would never do it. Not now, not on this ship. There was nothing he could do, but knowing the young man, he was not going down without a fight, sooner or later a plan would surely resurface.

I had to look for Georgey and find a way out before it was too late.

The ship shook violently at the will of the ocean, with each magician waving their arms around, as the water created vortexes around us.

Within minutes four violent hurricanes had been created with us stuck in the middle.

"GEORGEY!" I screamed when a flame hit the bow of the ship.

Dragons.

They had started raining fire down to the ships below.

A little hand gripped mine, and that was when I saw the monster.

Meridius.

He was scary in person.

I had heard stories of the powerful Magician but never actually seen him.

He put his hands out creating a little ball which shone blue and crackled with lightening.

Georgey held me tighter with his friends gripping my skirt as my heart raced. My little brother was too innocent to go like this, I had to comfort him in some way. Squatting to his level, I hugged him close and told him old stories of how heroes were born during times like these. We would not see tomorrow but hey, there were old heroic tales to put out to him before he joined our parents.

Before we joined our parents.

Xerxes looked back at us with his face melted in pain. He looked around the ship and I did the same, we were the only ones aboard the burning ship, everyone had fled.

The hurricanes had started to close in on us with the masts of the ship burning down to the curtain and the deck.

It was clearly over, there was no one here to save us this time, not the soldier, not the captain, no one.

The lightning ball had started to move into our direction, when he did something crazy.

He began to run towards the ball!

What was wrong with this boy?

Has he gone mad?

"Xerxes, don't do it!" I screamed, but it was no use, for he had stepped off the hull of the ship and jumped towards the ball.

I had no idea what his thoughts or intentions were, but if he was asleep and dreaming, this was one nap he was not going to wake from.

"Xerxes, Nooooooooo!" I screamed again, but he was already in the air and it was not like he could stop himself from hurtling towards the ball of destruction. I watched him get close to the ball and think to myself that it was definitely over... and then something happened.

Xerxes glowed a bright gold as he punched his way through the ball causing some kind of shockwave which destroyed the hurricanes and caused the dragons to lose balance throwing their riders into the sea.

The waters began to freeze over keeping the ships from sinking and trapping the falling Vladians under the ice.

I had never seen anything like it before and from the disbelief written over the soldiers faces, they had not seen it too.

He floated above the ice while the Kings army watched in horror at what had befallen them.

Meridius who had been taken by surprise regained his composure, flew straight for Xerxes with lightning and fire but he was no match for the human turned god. For no sooner had he gotten in range than his lightening and fire blew out as a child would put off a candle, leaving him estranged in the air without powers.

"YOU DARE USE YOUR POWERS AGAINST ME MORTAL!?" his voice thundered away, making me tremble with fear. 

Meridius lost his footing and fell onto the ice below. Xerxes was no longer himself, maybe a god or some kind of deity had taken over his body but he was definitely not the young warrior I had met earlier.

"Forgive me my Lord," he said bowing his head. "It will not happen again."

He was so scared I could not believe that moments ago he was the one who had created the ball of lightning which would have destroyed us.

"RISE MORTAL," the god thundered away.

The magician had no choice but to obey the words of the new god. He was so terrified that he kept his eyes fixed upon the ice below.

"GO BACK TO YOUR KING AND TELL HIM WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN TODAY. TELL HIM THAT HE HAS LESS THAN A YEAR TO SURRENDER TO THE PEOPLE HE HAS WRONGED AND FACE THE LAW FOR HIS CRIMES OR HE WOULD HAVE TO FACE ME."

While he spoke, bouts of lightning flashed across the sky lighting it up from time to time. The magician shook in terror as each word thundered into the wind vibrating everything and putting fear into the hearts of the soldiers.

Immediately the last word had been let out, the magician backed away slowly from the presence of the new god heading towards his warriors.

A fog appeared out of nowhere covering the magician and his soldiers, disappearing like it had never been there while taking the warriors with it.

What had just happened? I asked myself. Had the all powerful Xaj run back to his King with his tail beneath his legs? Does this mean that Xerxes was the hidden god living amongst humans just as the myths had foretold? And if Xerxes was no longer in control of his body, who had possession of it now?

So many questions went on in my head as I tried to understand what I had just seen.

"Stay here," I said to my brother and his friends in a low commanding tone, as I walked to the edge of the boat, looking across the frozen water in shock. What sorcery was this? His power unlike that of Meridius and Petra was pure and it was instant. It did not have the deceptive and diluted power of magic, it was raw!

Was Xerxes a god?

He floated down to the ice and beckoning on me to join him, but I was too scared to do so. His eyes glowed brighter than the rest of his body which gave him a terrifying look. I looked down in fear and respect for I was not worthy to behold this new gods presence.

"DON'T BE SHY YOUNG ONE, I WON'T HURT YOU," he said reassuringly with a smile, however I was unsure of his intents.

He was far across the frozen water when I last saw him, but here he was in an instant right in front of me, making me feel his aura and presence. I stepped out of the boat onto the frozen water and stopped moving. Not because I wanted to, but because I couldn't. His presence was so much that every step I took towards him burnt my skin.

"I SEE THAT YOU ARE AFRAID OF ME, BUT YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR. I AM HERE FOR THE COUNTRY OF DRAKA, BE YOU VLADIAN, VOLAK, KLAX OR CAPALU, YOU ARE ALL ONE TO ME," his thunderous voice raged on.

Opening my mouth to thank him for saving our lives, I could not find my voice. How could I say anything after seeing the impossible? How could I stand before this magnificent god and still be alive? My knees shook before giving way. Sitting on my knees with the ice stinging my lower body, I could only feel the heat of the cold. Few minutes ago, I was sure it was my last day on earth but here I sat on a frozen ocean bowing before a god of whom I knew nothing of.

"YOU ARE JUST AS SCARED AS THE OTHER MORTAL," he sighed in disappointment. 

"VERY WELL," he continued. "I WOULD SOON LET XERXES TAKE OVER, BUT YOU HAVE TO TAKE HIM TO A SORCERER WHEN HE COMES TO. THE POWER THAT FLOWS IN HIS VEINS CANNOT BE CONTROLLED. EVEN IF HE WAS TO TRY FOR A THOUSAND YEARS, HE WOULD STILL NOT MASTER THE ENERGY AND THE STRENGTH THAT FLOWS WITHIN. ONLY A TRUE FOLLOWER OF THE ART CAN HELP THIS YOUNG BOY GROW AND BLOOM IN WISDOM, STRENGTH AND POWER."

While he spoke he descended gradually to the surface with his glow becoming faint, only his eyes retained the glow.

"HERE IS YOUR SAVIOUR, MORTAL! THE ONE WHO WOULD PUT AN END TO THIS WAR AND BRING ABOUT BALANCE TO THE WORLD," those were his last words, before the glow from both his body and eyes disappeared completely, leaving Xerxes to fall onto the ice below, cracking the surface.

It took me awhile to understand what had happened as I ran towards the fallen boy. He laid on his back when I put his head on my lap and he looked beautiful. The dangerous aura he had was gone. He was back to his normal state. Opening his eyes as if he had been asleep he looked at me in disappointment. Was he not glad to be alive? Or maybe I was not the face he wanted to see when he awoke. Little by little his countenance changed from that of disappointment to shock, as he sat up taking in the bewildering view that was all around us.

"What happened?" he asked in disbelief. 

"You happened Xerxes," I answered, still confused myself.

It was not the response he was expecting but that was the best I could give.

A shadow was cast upon us with footsteps approaching from behind. She bent to look at the young boy taking in his whole body with glee before turning to me.

"I see you're exhausted, why don't you follow the Vladian back to the field as I take over from here," she ordered, as a soldier offered his hand to me.

I could not disobey the Xaj, so I held the hand of the soldier while he helped me up.

"Let us go ma'am," he said to me as I followed him back to a dragon that was waiting on the ice. Looking towards the ship I remembered my brother was still on it.

"Don't worry ma'am, we took the liberty of taking your brother and his friends back to the field, you're safe now," he assured me.

I stole a glance to where Xerxes lay, when I saw the Xaj holding a confused boy in her arms amidst tears. What was really going on?

Like that wasn't enough, her next words shocked me down to my bones making me halt in my tracks.

"Welcome back home your highness."

I had never heard the daughter of Pontius speak so humbly before anybody. Well, whatever the future held in store for everyone, Xerxes was surely caught up in the middle of it. And just like the voice in him had said, he was the saviour, making him the one who would end this war and bring balance to the world.