XVIII
Smoke fumed above the dense reseda green island, clouding the cerulean sky. Otherworldly shrieks were produced from the pass, and an uproar of cries rose from the tribes. Ter Roluun, as they knew it, disappeared in a blaze of flames. The forest fire rapidly spread across the land, slaying many in the act and consuming others in the deadly, heavy smoke.
We were back in the underground system, following a different route that led to Geonyte’s island of rock. With the white stone returned to the king right on time, we were able to open a portal back into the system, proving the importance of the gem.
“Our other stone was stolen by one of the tribes, but it’s bound to be gone now that the entire island is gone. This stone is the last of its kind, and without it, we won’t be able to go back and forth from Mainland Grozorg to the other elemental islands. It was crafted by some ancient banished sorcerer centuries ago, or so Roslyn had once told me.”
I simply nodded, distracted by other questions.
“How long will it take to reach Gee Oluun?”
“Around double the time it took from Tenebris to Ter Roluun,” Fulcan spoke blankly.
The tunnels were filled with a great calamity, tens of thousands of armoured men marching in unison behind the fourteen of us and the king.
“I’m glad to see you two united after a long history. This threat we face is far greater than anything Grozorg has ever seen. What happened between the two of you?” The king asked.
“Long story short, he saved my life and I saved his,” Tarsus answered, glancing towards me. I gave him a smile and he rolled his eyes. “It’s even now, buddy.”
“To think that the War of Zxyx would be the first and last time Grozorg saw darkness,” I responded.
“I wouldn’t know,” Tarsus inserted.
“What do you mean?”
“I was only there near the end of the war. When you met me, my hometown had been destroyed by Zxyx’s army. I mean, that was when the Night Guild was also established. But I never really knew what happened to Zxyx.”
Tarsus paused, collecting his thoughts.
“When the war broke out, men and women were thrown into confusion, some drafted into the war while others were assigned to produce resources. I saw my opportunity and seized it. Stores were abandoned, mines deserted, so I ransacked many locations and gained enough loot to build my hideout.”
“So you went against the law,” Fulcan spoke sternly, raising an eyebrow.
“Why couldn’t you just ask your parents for the money?”
“My parents left me when I was born.”
I looked at the king and he glanced at me understandingly.
“Sorry, Tarsus,” I spoke compromisingly.
“They should be the ones feeling sorry. I was left to grow up on the streets of Fer Roluun alone, and I had to fend myself against the world alone. I can forget, but I’ll never forgive.”
His voice was cold and emotionless.
“You see, the gold was put to good use. I created the guild with a goal of ending the petty crimes that persisted after the war; I made up for my downfalls. But like I said, I never really knew what happened during the war. I was too busy making money.”
“We were on the front lines of that battle,” I began. “Heck, I don’t even remember how long the war lasted., but we were in a really rough shape when it was all over. That war, it raged on forever.”
“How’d it start?”
“It all began with the ‘High Lord Succession Cycle’,” Kadava cut in.
“Right. About that?”
“You know the history. When Tyrannust I became the first high lord of Grozorg, he ruled over Tyrangrad, now known as Zxyxngrad.”
“The capital of the high lord’s island, yes,” Tarsus interrupted impatiently.
“The main island of Grozorg, before it broke into thirteen pieces, was placed in rule of his son, Tyrannust II. When Tyrannust I passed away, Tyrannust II succeeded his father and moved to Tyrangrad as the next high lord of Grozorg. His son, Tyrannust III was placed as king of Mainland Grozorg.”
“Wasn’t Tyrannust II the one who broke Mainland Grozorg into thirteen pieces? Something about a flawed experiment or something?”
“Yes, according to the scrolls. He tried to increase the land mass, but performed the ancestral arts wrong and shattered the island instead. Before he could fix his mess, Grozorgians had already inhabited the shattered lands, assuming that the accident was their high lord’s promise of more land.”
“But this was perfect for the High Lord Succession Cycle,” Foku added.
“How so?” Tarsus asked.
“Tyrannust II had thirteen sons. His eldest, Tyrannust III, was placed as the king of Mainland Grozorg, but after noticing a long-term proliferation of envy and jealousy from his brothers, he proposed to his father a wise idea of placing his brothers as a king of each shattered island,” Kadava continued. “If I remember correctly, there were only ten pieces that broke off Mainland Grozorg. Tyrannust II and III fragmented two more pieces afterwards so that all thirteen sons of Tyrannust II could rule over Grozorg. They were bestowed the title ‘Lord’.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard of Grozorg’s history, but wouldn’t that have just screwed up the cycle instead?”
“Well no. When the lords passed away, their sons took their place as lord of that island. As a result, the twelve islands never interfered with the High Lord Succession Cycle since they had their own form of inheritance of the throne. Anyways, when Tyrannust II passed away, Tyrannust III took his father’s place as the high lord, placing his son Tyrannust IV as the king of Mainland Grozorg.”
“There was just a slight problem,” I continued. “Tyrannust II passed away fairly quickly, so Tyrannust IV was only eight years old when his father became the high lord of Grozorg. But Tyrannust III, being one of the wisest rulers in history, appointed a royal advisor for his son.”
“Roz?” Tarsus guessed.
“Yes. Advisor Roz taught Tyrannust IV how to rule until he was old enough to rule independently.”
“Hold on, hold on...Tyrannust IV...wasn’t he...Zxyx?”
“The one and only. Zxyx, in the tongues of the scrolls, meant ‘fearless’, a sobriquet given to the king by his people after his countless acts of bravery, saving townsfolk and peasants from savage beasts that roamed the nation. Inheriting his father’s wisdom, he began his independent reign at the age of twelve, much younger than his predecessors.”
“Then...where did he go wrong?”
“We’re getting there,” Kadava spoke.
“Tyrannust III, the high lord, died young, and the nation faced a difficult decision in either appointing the exceptionally young Zxyx as high lord of Grozorg or not,” I continued. “Although the vast majority of the people were against Zxyx as high lord, Roz forcibly placed Zxyx in place of his father, keeping the tradition of the cycle. Roz’s decision was arguably the right decision, as Zxyx proved to reign in greater wisdom than his father. Unfortunately, Roz had mysteriously passed away the day after Zxyx was granted power of high lord, so he never truly knew if his decision was correct or not. Years passed and for a while, Tyrannust IV, or Zxyx, ruled both as high lord and the king of Mainland Grozorg, disrupting the cycle. After he had a son, Tyrannust V, he placed him as the king of Mainland Grozorg, restoring the tradition of the cycle. Both rulers grew up and led for a peaceful while...”
“Here comes the good part,” Kadava said excitedly.
“You wanna tell it?” I replied, looking at him.
“I’ll give it a shot,” he answered. “On the eighth day of the second month in the...uh...”
“Six-hundred and eightieth year,” I helped Kadava.
“Right. The eighth day of the second month, in the six-hundred and eightieth year of Grozorg...”
“You’re making it sound like you’re reading off a scroll. Don’t bore me to death.”
“Well, our entire guild did memorize the legends as a part of our training. We deemed it essential to know the history of our nation.”
“Whatever. Keep going.”
“As I was saying, on that very day, Zxyx fell to the dark arts. No one knows how, but the only evidence recorded in the scrolls was that he ‘fell to the tine of an arrow’.”
“Why do the scrolls have to complicate everything?”
“Formality?” Kadava guessed.
“Formality.” I agreed.
“Just say ‘arrowhead’. If I wrote the scrolls, I would’ve just written: ‘Zxyx got shot and decided to kill everyone’. Makes life easier, too,” Tarsus replied. “Short and simple.”
“Well that’s not exactly what happened,” Kadava continued. “After Zxyx was corrupted by the dark arrow, his young son, Tyrannust V, travelled to Tyrangrad to see if he could cure his father, placing a wise man by the name of Zor to be a temporary ruler of Mainland Grozorg...”
“Zor, as in the Almegamancer?”
“Yes, Zor, now the Almegamancer. Back then, he was a wise man, a descendent of Roz. He governed Mainland Grozorg while Tyrannust V frantically searched the vast nation for an acolyte or a sorcerer who could cure the powerful esoteric curse.”
“Nice way of putting it,” I smiled.
“Thanks. Only from the master,” he replied, winking at me. “At last, the high lord could not be cured, and Zxyx completely fell into the grasp of the dark arts. According to the scrolls...”
“Here we go again,” Tarsus sighed, rolling his eyes.
“Zxyx morphed into a beast, a dark demonic monster as a result of the spell. The legends were not clear in stating what the magic had done to him, but it was obvious in specifying that the spell was a poison; the high lord was to die soon after the corruption.”
“So it was a spell that made you insane and killed a bit of you until it sucked the entire life force out of you,” Tarsus summed up.
“Basically. The spell amplified and darkened his inner motives, and it was inferred that Zxyx had a vision of uniting the galaxy as one nation, much like his ancestors in providing more land mass for the people-”
“Much like Tyrannust right now,” Tarsus interrupted.
“Yes, and the curse magnified and darkened Zxyx’s vision, beginning...”
“The War of Zxyx.”
“Correct. Zxyx renamed Tyrangrad ‘Zxyxngrad’ and assembled Zxyxngrad’s elite force of fighting men to take over Grozorg, infusing his madness into the army. King Tyrannust V was swift in response and returned to Mainland Grozorg, assembling the origins of the Army of Light and Purity. The two opposing forces clashed, and the war raged on for a year and a half.”
“Hold on. What were the other twelve islands doing? Just watching like sitting ducks on the sidelines?”
“Well, the entire nation of Grozorg was thrown into confusion when darkness was first introduced into the peaceful nation. The twelve islands were too small to acquire their very own armies, and besides, not a lot of Grozorgians understood fighting techniques. Of course, after the war, the twelve domains understood the importance of military strength and created their own individual armies.”
“And back then, my father and the entire Blood Guild was already gone, so I took over. I had just recruited the first of the Blood Guild members when the war broke out. King Tyrannust V had heard of our growing fame and personally asked for our assistance in the war. We fought alongside the front lines of the Army of Light, slaying the myriads of corrupted warriors. That was also where we met King Fulcan, or Sir Fulcan.”
Fulcan smiled at us, continuing the insipid trek underground.
“Man, Fulcan was an avid fighter,” Kadava explained. “He quickly rose in rank and gained Tyrannust V’s confidence and personal favour. This man was non-stop in everything he did! He led the army through many victorious campaigns, including the Battle of Zyxyngrad-”
“-and the Battle of Zxyxngrad was the turning point in the War of Zxyx. Fulcan, would you like to tell this part? I mean, you were the general there.”
“No, thank you. I’m not as good with words as I am with actions,” he confessed with a chuckle.
“Okay. Well anyways, Zxyxngrad was the corrupted high lord’s largest military base, and overnight, Fulcan led the army around the perimeters of Zxyxngrad until Zxyx’s entire fighting force was surrounded by the Army of Light. At the break of day, we ambushed the dark force and raided their supplies and weapons, leaving them helpless, encircled and trapped with no way to turn. It wasn’t hard to take over Zxyxngrad afterwards, and when the fighting force turned against our troops, they were disbanded immediately when Zxyx took an arrow to the heart, dropping dead on his knees. That day, Tyrannust V declared the end of the war, and all the surviving men and women returned to their families, famished and exhausted, if not inflicted with heavy casualties. From that day on, Grozorg had never been the same again, skeptical of every new governing leader placed in power.”
“So that’s what happened in the War of Zxyx.”
“Well, the condensed version at least. You should really read the scrolls to understand every exchange between Tyrannust V and high lord Zxyx. It’s pretty interesting, especially if you read about the Battle of Krama, the war regarding your hometown.”
“I am most definitely not going to read the scrolls, thank you very much.”
“Suit yourself. The story doesn’t end there, though. After the high lord was defeated, Tyrannust V was placed as the high lord, according to the cycle. But there was a problem, the first in the history of Grozorg: his wife was barren and he had no son. So the people elected the commander of the Army of Light, Fulcan, to be their king...”
“The first king of Mainland Grozorg to be from non-royal descent,” I added.
“Talk about breaking the tradition,” Fulcan interrupted, chuckling.
“And there was no objection from Tyrannust V as well. Zor became the high lord’s personal advisor after his aid in leading Grozorg while Tyrannust V was visiting his corrupted father. When Tyrannust V’s wife surprisingly bore a son to the high lord who had given up hope of gaining descendants, Fulcan was still in reign.”
“So maybe Tyrannust VI started this all because of -”
“That’s enough,” Fulcan spoke, cutting Tarsus off. “We’ve reached the first cenote. Take a break; our march resumes at dawn tomorrow.”