The Tragedy Of Dantelion - Part I

“I have stood witness to the teachings of the sorcerer, Endymion, the fall of Apollo and the defeat of Atlas. I have rode the manticore, in a general’s position, against the armies of Astaroth and faced overwhelming vampiric, as well as demonic, forces alike, throughout the infancy of my earlier years. I have walked the path of the dullahan, retrieved my bearings, tasted immortality and sat upon the throne of a million fallen kings before me. I am Dantelion.”

Dantelion walked the hot and barren wasteland, cloaked in a black woolen sheet and with his broadsword attached to the leather hilt that lied upon his back. His cloak did little to lighten the awful heat of the planet’s three suns; each one, a ball of flame and fury that beat down like a scolding lantern of hellfire. His thirst only added to the displeasure of having been stranded without sustenance for what seemed like the last ninety nine days, and as he thought to himself, Dantelion knew his one-hundredth day would be his last, but only if he could not find water soon. He strolled on, weighed down by his blade, his clothing and the bitter air. Rocks and formations of ground structured like great monoliths of misshapen hills branched over his head. The ground was cracked and desolate, with clay and stone forming waves of solid rock that froze like petrified liquid. 

From the distance there came a glowing light, like a fire in mid-day, and Dantelion set his sights upon this flame of hope, heading to it, steady and strong. Between the formation of two ribbed cliffs, he saw the source of the green glowing mass. Before him lied a shrine of relics and a table made from the surrounding rocks. Sticks and dead wood made up legs that kept the main rock steady, and held up small tikis and figurines, molded from clay. As Dantelion advanced upon the shrine, goblins in brown cloaks and totem poles, decorated to look like vicious imps, all rose from the surrounding rocks and cracks from all around. Dantelion readied his sword and killed three of the pouncing creatures with a backstroke that pulled the sword from it’s sheath. Six more moved in, each holding a dagger with the ends dipped in a visible greenish poison.

Dantelion knew he could not win this fight. There were six of them, weak, but quick, deadly, unpredictable. And it was at that moment he realized that full-on contact was no way to escape unharmed. Dantelion put away his sword, sitting upon the ground and taking up a position to mediate. He sat, humming to himself as the goblins appeared confused. In a second they took advantage of Dantelion’s hesitation to attack, and in a second they ran at him, poison daggers in tow. As the imps pulled back their arms to strike, an invisible force suddenly stopped them. Dantelion opened his eyes to reveal them to be white and emanating a mystical glow. The white mist which poured from Dantelion’s eyes brushed upon the wrists of the goblins. One by one the goblins drove their poison daggers into their own throats, all at the will of Dantelion.

The goblins writhed and gargled for a while until succumbing to the poison. Dantelion closed and opened his eyes again, revealing their original green color. He stood up once again, made his way over to the shrine and took a few minutes to loot the goblins and the totems. He made his way past a series of cliffs before coming across the ruined remains of a fort, abandoned long ago. He approached the outer wall and ran his fingers along strange texts which were scrolled about the keep’s surface. Dantelion followed the wall until stumbling upon a group of goblins, poking at a fairy with a broken wing that lied weeping on the floor. Dantelion advanced on the goblins, summoning up a burst of fire and turning the closest one to ash. As the other goblins fled in horror, Dantelion came to kneel at the sight of the crying female fairy.

He extended his hand to the creature and it spat in his eye, pixie-dust flying about at it flew off, laughing spitefully. Dantelion rubbed his face and stood up once more, this time, looking for the entrance to the fortress. He followed the wall around a bend and came to a large arch constructed of rocks, unseen so far by the surrounding environment, and he made haste to move inside. Through the arch he came across two large wooden doors that towered above him. He kicked through the right one and it swung open in ease. From behind the door Dantelion heard music and felt the heat of jovial festivities on the other side of the fort’s entrance. Now, he could only see barren stones, coupled up against one another to form broken tables and seats where it appeared as if death had swept through.

Within the fort lied a sort of grey coloring in the air, and the ruins of this place looked to have been deserted for some time. As Dantelion stepped forward, there came a sound from beneath the courtyard of the fort. Suddenly, from beneath him, a cyclops, towering at the height of ten men or more, rose from the ground before Dantelion. It snarled and swung it’s giant arms. It’s bulging lower fangs centered it’s waving tongue. The cyclops raised it’s foot to step down at Dantelion, but he rolled to dodge each strike, and with each dodge, he hacked away at the cyclops’ hooves. The creature fell, in pain, and that was when Dantelion leaped up, onto the cyclops’ shoulder. The beast swatted at Dantelion, but it was no use. Using one of the monster’s earrings, Dantelion swung from one side of the creature’s shoulder, past it’s neck and onto the other, slicing it’s throat in the process.

Dantelion took hold of the cyclops’ horns as it’s dying body fell to the ground of the courtyard. Once grounded, Dantelion took his sword and pierced the cyclops’ heart. He cut off the creature’s horns and wrapped them in ropes that he had under his black cape. Then suddenly, there came a cracking roar of thunder. For the first time in a while there was finally rainfall upon the desert lands. And after ninety nine days Dantelion finally drank from the sky, collecting handfuls of heavy rain. For many miles through the desert Dantelion carried the horns of the cyclops upon his back, and through the deserts and valleys he walked again until coming upon the Palace of King Hygod. Dantelion stepped through the lines of knights and paladins that rested about the king’s chambers. Dantelion dragged the horns through the throne room and rested them at the feet of his majesty, King Hygod.

The king was pleased beyond compare. What followed that night was a fantastic festival in Dantelion’s honor. There was food, and wine, and women from across Hygod’s wealthy kingdom. And as nightfall approached all the drunkards, and those who’d basked in the pleasures of the evening, fell into a deep sleep. But not Dantelion. He awoke, just before the coming of dawn. Dantelion approached the jovial king and requested his pay from Hygod. It was pay for the service of ridding Hygod’s kingdom from the presence of a vicious fiend; A creature known to the locals as the Horned-Cyclops. Hygod presented Dantelion with a bag of two hundred golden pieces, and Dantelion bowed to the king, taking his leave before the sun would rise. As Dantelion was leaving the kingdom a woman rushed up to him in a frantic plea and took hold of his arm, begging him to stay. 

Dantelion held her close and whispered in her ear, things only spoken from the lips of the deities of love. Overcome with ecstasy, she fainted in Dantelion’s arms. He sat her down beside a pile of potato sacks and took his leave of the kingdom. When the woman came to, Dantelion was gone; off on another magnificent venture before the sun had even risen that day. Dantelion would then take his ventures farther to the East, and there he would find his next quest.

Soon after, upon the dunes of Arabia, Dantelion found himself before a great palace and responding to a worried sultan’s pleas for help. Ten days ago Dantelion sat on the shores of Tartarus, resting from a mission to retrieve a lost jewel from within the depths of the Seventh Circle of the underworld. After admiring the beauty of the gem, and reflecting on the demon lords he had struck down to achieve it, Dandelion received a messenger bird upon his shoulder, beaconing him to Arabia. So, it was in the Palace of Sultan Nomah. Entering the sultan’s chambers, Dantelion was recognized immediately. The sultan showered Dantelion in riches, praising him for his arrival and telling him the reason for him being there. Sultan Nomah revealed that he’d received a vision from the god, Eptuhk, that a meteorite, carrying the sentience of a great demonic space creature, was to land atop the dunes of Arabia, in three days time, and desolate the sultan’s palace. 

Dantelion was asked, in all the vastness of his resilient and powerful brilliance, to stop the meteor known as Kashfahr. Dantelion spoke no words, turned and walked out to where the sultan predicted Kashfahr would land, and waited. Three days passed and the meteor was finally in sight. The people of the palace fled to cover, as retreating into the desert would be a more cruel death, burning amidst the dunes. Dandelion stood firm and looked up at Kashfahr, watching as chunks of rock flew off the meteorite as it entered the atmosphere. Dantelion readied the magic of his iron will and his eyes went white. Dantelion used his mind, from miles away, the grab the chunks of space rock that fell off of the meteor. Dantelion knew that if he could press the rocks deep enough into the meteor’s core, he could shatter it.

Dantelion hurled the rocks backward at the descending Kashfahr, penetrating his core. Throughout the fall Kashfahr’s cries of pain echoed across the skies, all while Dantelion telekinetically pressed the rocks deeper and deeper into Kashfahr. Final, the sentient meteor cried out no longer. The space rock had been shattered and Kashfahr was now a series of rocks, raining down upon the dunes. The sultan coward, fearing that even more falling rocks would spell the end of his land. Dantelion then sat, meditating, and creating a kinetic barrier so large, it stretched across the skies of the dunes, catching the rocks mid-fall. Sultan Nomah was astonished. Dantelion swirled the barrier, collecting up the space rocks and shattered pieces of Kashfahr, setting them a far distance away from the palace.

Dantelion returned to the sultan, and as the people of his palace welcomed the warrior with open arms, Dantelion fell, unconscious, and into a coma-like sleep for a long while. The sultan’s doctors believed it was from the stain of using his telepathic abilities, that the amount of force needed to generate the barrier Dantelion had created, was too much pressure on his body and mind. So, within the Palace of Sultan Nomah, Dantelion was given a hidden resting chamber. Here, he could remain hidden from the world and all those who would wish him harm. Here, Dantelion would stay till the day that the magnificent warrior would rise again, once more reining righteousness upon the world and the worlds beyond. When the day finally came that Dantelion’s wounds had healed, the sultan believed him to be dead and had his body displayed in a grand burial chamber, within a glass coffin, surrounded by the treasures he’d left behind.

On the day that Dantelion awoke, it was said that he glowed as bright as the angels, and that the sultan’s people believed Dantelion to be divine. Dantelion thanked the sultan and took his leave of the Arabian dunes. This began Dantelion’s month-long travel back to the Kingdoms of the West. Somewhere on his journeys he had stopped in a small village surrounded by forests. The town was composed entirely of women, and little did Dantelion know that he had stumbled upon the hiding place of the evil deity, Empusa, daughter of the evil sky-god, Typhon. One night, while in the midst of a feast, in the honor of the legendary warrior, the maidens who worshipped Empusa had given Dantelion drugged wine. Once asleep, Empusa’s followers engraved a seal onto Dantelion’s chest, bounding him to the will of the malicious deity.

Dantelion awoke to the scene and began to slice out the seal from his flesh with his own dagger! But, it was no use. His flesh regenerated as a side effect of Empusa’s power over his being. Dantelion was commanded, by Empusa, to travel across the sea and kill her father, Typhon, as he’d refused to ever grant her godship, no matter what divine task she’d preform to prove herself. Dantelion had never been asked to kill a god before, and this mission proposal strangely intrigued him. But, Empusa had one last condition. Dantelion was told that if he did not cross the sea, past the Sackcloth Valley, through the Eastern Pass and up unto Mount Latmus to kill Typhon, all within thirteen days, the seal upon Dantelion’s chest would implode, killing him. This was to ensure Dantelion’s undying determination in the endeavor.

Empusa also added that when traveling through the Eastern Pass that Dantelion was forbidden from slaying her siblings, Charybdis and Scylla. These were the deformed creatures who lurked within the caverns and waters of he pass. Empusa made it clear that her rage was only directed at her father and not her younger brother and sister. In a fit of rage, at the discovery of this condition, Dantelion slaughtered Empusa’s followers and damned the deity. Dantelion left for Mount Latmus the very next day. He took advantage of old dues and borrowed a ship from King Hygod, whom Dantelion had once served under. Now, just himself and a lone ship, Dantelion sailed East. Dantelion had effortlessly passed over the Sackcloth Valley in one day. This was due to the aid of the angel, Gabriel, who had granted Dantelion a pegasus to help him reach his destination.

With twelve days left, Dantelion took to the vicious ocean and reached the Eastern Pass within three days. Dantelion had nine days left. The eyes of Empusa lingered through the engraving upon Dantelion’s chest. She could see every move and sat quietly as Dantelion carried out this most awful venture, and with much distain for divine monstrosities who hold an unparalleled dominion over humankind. Dantelion knew that soon he would have to face the horrors of the Pass before moving unto the mountain where his target awaited him. With each day time was running out and, for the first time, Dantelion feared for his life. Suddenly, in the distance, there came his destination and Dantelion headed forward without fear or mercy for any monster who wished to get in his way, vowing to slay all who blocked his path.

He sailed through the Pass for a time, and for a while it seemed that no threats in the form of mythical beasts, spoken of in the books of myth and legend, were present. As Dantelion came to the center of the eastern Pass, he began to notice the water giving off ripples of a most unsettling pattern. He heard noises, like a hissing, coming from far down the rocky cliffs of the watery caves. He readied his sword as the ship worked it’s way around a bend, turning before a large open portion of the cave, with islands of rock; one of which housed the most feared creatures in all of known Oceanic Lore. Scylla, Serpent of the Eastern Pass, stood before Dantelion’s ship. She towered over his vessel, standing upon a collapsing rock and viciously eager to sink her fangs into the foolish traveler.

Dantelion summoned up the mythical energies of his will. His eyes turned white and emanated their glow as he readied to face off against Scylla. Before engaging her, Dantelion looked around to notice the walls and islands of this section of the cavern were littered with ships from all across history. They lied broken, smashed and covered in stale blood, petrified to the walls and watery puddles of Scylla’s cave. Dantelion stayed the corse, slashing back at the she-beast with every swipe she made at him; and praying that he not meet the fate of the million sunken sailors before him. Scylla stood two ships tall, with razor teeth and six heads. The once thieving-obsessed nymph was punished by the gods, and was reduced to a vile beast who haunts the caves and watery caverns of the Eastern Pass.

As the ship moved upon her, Scylla summoned up great whirlpools which battered Dantelion’s ship left and right, tearing away at it’s structure. And as his ship passed, Scylla did try to take swipes at Dantelion, nearly missing the chance to gobble him up in one bite. Dantelion lead his ship through the whirling cavern, dodging rocks with the help of his magic. He meditated and attempted to stay conscious at the same time; fending off Scylla with his sword and taking control of the entire ship to ensure it wasn’t lost to the depths of the sea caves. The Eastern Pass was rearing it’s end and as Scylla stood upon a rock, Dantelion let go of his influence over the ship, letting the battered wreck steer itself safely out of the cavern. The whirlpools died down as Scylla was left behind, clinging to a rock as it still tried to snap at the escaping Dantelion.

Once free of the cavern, Dantelion fell, exhausted. As he rested he could feel a great presence beneath him. Charybdis sprung from under the ship, ripping a singular hole straight up from it’s underbelly. Dantelion fell back as the massive beast flew from the air and landed on the front of his ship. Dantelion peered at the massive blobbing mass of shells and queer sea life. Charybdis’ eyes were black and his teeth were dripping aquatic ooze. The years of dwelling beneath the caverns had chipped away it’s once beautiful appearance, turning it into a ruling mass of oceanic horrors. As the ship sunk around Dantelion he attempted to kill Charybdis quickly, knowing that if he was left in the ocean with the creature, it would surely drag him under. Dantelion jumped across the hole in his ship and slashed away at Charybdis; each shot missing as the monster’s shelled exterior deflected the blade.

The ship was going down fast and soon Charybdis fled to the ocean, now in his own element. Dantelion had no choice but to steer the ship back to the caverns. At least there he could find his footing on land and work out a way to kill Charybdis. But, even if he could kill the beast at the end of the Pass, there was no guarantee that Dantelion would find a way off of the Eastern Island, as the surface of the caverns were said to be just as deadly as their underside. Dantelion decided to solve this issue later and forced the ship to crash up against the side of the rock shores of the cavern, landing him atop the caves where he had fought Scylla. Charybdis had disappeared into the sea and Dantelion was stranded atop the long island caverns of the Eastern Pass; with no ship, no food and no escape.

To be continued…