Chapter 1- The start (Zoel's POV)

It was an admirable first day of spring. Too bad I wasn't paying attention to the birds in the air, or the flowers on the ground, because quite frankly, I may have got lost in their beauty for hours. However I was focused on trailing my older brother Ogama. For about a month now I'd been following him, because I honestly had nothing better to do. Practically none of my siblings had even acknowledged my existence, and since then I decided to make it a habit to follow them periodically. I had learned from one of many informants, Dasks,that my older brother would be meeting up with Ike, the youngest human in existence.

                I had learned that Ike had taken a recent trip to Sheng Qui, and had something of importance to show Ogama. Dasks specifically said that Ike had something pertaining to our past. Since I was a boy, I felt like I’d been the only sibling who had been even remotely curious about our past. So this “thing” Ike had to show Ogama really piqued my interest. It made me sad that I could not approach them. I understood why the rest of the world hated me, but my siblings as well?! It was torture to know that the last of my kind despised me.

               Ogama was off in the distance, playing his ancient violin in a clearing. Though Ogama was not understanding, and could be rude at times, I loved following him for that reason only. The way he played his instruments could calm the most malignant beasts.

               Movement in the distance made me lose my focus on Ogama. The sift of movement happened to be the youngest sibling running towards Ogama. He was dressed in a green tunic that happened to be a little loose on the young man. He almost tripped over himself a few times as he made his way towards Ogama. When he finally reached our eldest brother he simply stood there, impatiently, waiting for him to finish his beautiful composition. I closed my eyes, getting lost in the music, until it sadly came to an end.

               “That was amazing, Scholar Ogama,” Ike greeted as he dipped into a bow. As we all knew, Ogama was big on respect and manners, and would have gotten agitated if Ike had not greeted him properly with a bow.

               “Thank you, Squire Ike,” Ogama replied with distaste. He had an intense hatred for armies, and while Ike was not a typical knight, he resented it all the same. “I created it while gazing upon the full moons reflection off of Lake Transpire.” He turned to face the young man, “Why have you requested my council on such a divine morning?”

               I opened my eyes, and watched closely. I could see Ogama was dressed in his normal Blue “Scholar” robes, with his long dark brown hair pulled into a bun. He wore spectacles, because his vision was terrible, but there was no trace of them on his face today. I also took note that along with his violin, there was a lyre on the ground beside him.

               I glanced back to Ike as he began speaking. “I took a recent trip to Sheng Qui,” He started, “and I happened to wander by the Forbidden Gate.” The Forbidden Gate, was the name for the gate leading to where the last great tyrant was imprisoned. The last great tyrant happened to be one of our siblings, an evil man named Kata. Ike’s face became serious, a look that I had never seen before. “I found a piece of parchment on the ground near,” he paused, “where he is held captive. It gets more interesting because on that piece of parchment are many words that I could not understand, but I could understand 8 of them.” He slammed the parchment down, which looked so old that it could have ripped under so much tension, on a log that stood between the two siblings. “Ogama, Armit, Enigi, Zoel, Kata, Lexi, and my own name, Ike.” The look on his face grew more angry now, than serious, “We cannot ignore this any longer brother, I’ve been telling you of the signs, but you still refu-“

               Ogama simply held his hand up to silence the young man, and to my surprise it worked. Ike was known to be stubborn, but Ogama had made him stop talking by a slight wave of his hand.  

“That place,” he said with contempt, “has its name for reason.” Ogama stood up, whistled, and a Lythora, also known as a Giant Ladybug, perched in a nearby tree landed on the ground between them. How I did not notice the Lythora was beyond me.

As Ogama mounted the Lythora he gave Ike one last request. “Do me a favor and stop with these antics, you don’t know where that piece of rubbish came from. Tell me this, what are the odds that you were to come across this parchment?” And with that the large beast then spread its majestic wings and carried Ogama off into the distance.

               Without Ogama’s presence in the area, everything seemed to lose its sense of safety and calm. Though I loved my brother, I felt that sometimes he just needed to open up and listen to those around him, rather than thinking himself all high and mighty. In contrast though, I did not know what Ike was thinking when he thought to ask Ogama of all people for help. More so even mentioning the Forbidden Gate. He was far better off to have gone to Enigi, Lexi, and though I had not been the best of people, me!

               I watched Ike as he cursed and screamed. He unsheathed his sword and brought it down deep into the earth. He started to cry as he knelt, muttering words that were too soft for my ears. I thought it was about time I announced my presence, perhaps it would cheer the boy up.

               Ike gets up and hurls his sword into a nearby tree, which happened to be the one I was residing in. “Hey,” I exclaim as I hop down from my tree, “That happens to be my tree you are hurling your weapon into. Would you like it if I started showering your house with arrows?”

               The young man, startled, fell backwards in what looked like fear. Was he surprised to see me or has my recent incident made even him fear me as much as everyone fear Kata? I hoped it not to be the latter. He stood up and with a serious look on his face, approached me. When we came face to face, a smile parted on his lips.

               “Master Zoel, How delighted I am to see your face!” he laughed as he proceeded to hug me. I laughed out of joy and embraced  him back. This was the first contact I’ve had with my brothers since I was exiled. That was a year ago. It felt good.

               “How has my favorite brother been all this time?” I ask curiously. I would be lying if I had said Ike wasn’t my favorite. Being the younger of the siblings, we bonded over the years, and it seemed even after my greatest downfall, our connection remained strong.

“I have been good,” He started saying. It seemed that he wanted to ask me something, but he looked concerned or scared to ask. Could it be about how I was controlled by Kata, or maybe something to do with this parchment of his? “What about you, Master Zoel? I haven’t seen you since…” he trailed off.

               “I have been well,” I said quickly, “I’ve been following you guys around for a while now. I really miss you guys…” An awkward silence passed between us, I tried to keep the conversation going the best I could. “Hey, what’s that you got on that log there? Is that a piece of parchment?” I asked.

               Almost instantly I watched Ike’s composure turn from serious, back to his kid like demeanor. He rushed to grab the paper and nearly shoved the thing in my face, “Look what I found by the Forbidden Gate!!” He exclaims.

               I took the map from his eager hands and studied it closely. The paper itself looked old but the designs and marking on it looked like it was freshly painted just an hour ago. There was a drawing of what looked like a cave, and some odd creature drawn inside the dark of the cave. Another drawing depicted a war. There was a castle with a human at the top, with his army surrounding him, while many other beasts and creatures were attacking. I also took note of a giant gate that was underground. It had beautiful markings surrounding it. What surprised me the most was a golden tree with what looked like names, in a foreign language, but at the top of the tree 8 name were written that I could read as clear as day. I had seen this tree before, all of my siblings had. I’m surprised Ike hadn’t recognized it sooner.

Author's Note

This is only part of the chapter, 2 pages in, still typing up the rest wated to get this out there though,