The Ever-pass was like a stairway to what seemed like a heaven of nature. It was beautiful, and the beauty could be felt, smelt, and seen in the soul. The space-scraping mountains of the pass were like the door. Breathtaking themselves, the mountains were covered from base to peak with trees so tall and so wide, one would only need to carve a house out for shelter, but the elusive and secretive elven tribes, or Elflings, that called the Ever-mountains home, considered the trees, as well as the nature surrounding them, sacred, and protected it as such. If the Ever-pass, and it’s mountains, was the stairway and the door, then the Ever-valley it dropped you into was the incredible long and vast hallway. A hallway that lead to only two places, either the Kingdom of Telic, or the Queendom of Eion, the strongest civilizations of Ever-land.

In the elven direction of the Ever-pass, everything glistened with a golden like hue, and life’s energy was strong in Ever-land. In the other direction, on the human side of the pass however, nature appeared to be angry. It still thrived but the aura was gloomy! The continous battle, disrespect, and lack of harmony with the humans was evident, and was starting to take it’s toll.

As Garbanzo crossed through the Ever-pass and made his way back to Telic to sound the horn, and report to the council what he’d seen on the other side of the pass, he found himself deep in thought. Despite the escalating situation in Ever-land concerning the wayward shadows, and the utter disrespect for life by the humans on the other side of the pass, he still questioned who the real monsters were. He had just taken four lives, rather quickly, with no hesitation and very little effort. What was the point of having so much strength, so much power, and so much knowledge, if in the end, he was no different than a human. Did that make him the monster? Though, it wasn’t like he hadn’t killed a human before, guarding the Ever-pass was one of the many duties of a Telic warrior. The law was simple and absolute, no human was to cross the Ever-pass, ever! Besides the humans the Kingdom of Telic and the order gave sanctuary to, more than 200 years earlier, they were not allowed on the elven side of the pass. The humans though, constantly seeking more power, had long since discovered, raided, and pillaged all the Relic temples, pyramids, tombs, vaults, and dungeons in the Kingdom of Earth, or so they thought, and now continuously sought after the ones in Ever-land.

Garbanzo, as well as plenty of other Telic warriors, fought many battles at the Ever-pass and it was not like all humans were weak. Those with the power and knowledge given or learned from relics were on a different level from those without it. In the beginning, when Garbanzo first started guarding the Ever-pass, he took it easy and held back even more than he already did, hoping to spare as many lives as he could. This logic and approach almost got him killed too many times to count and shaped who he was now. Still, the wayward shadows also killed many, but out of instinct, which was in accordance with nature, and even though the order deemed that the shadows upset the balance and order of things, Garbanzo wondered if nature made mistakes. Instinct and choice were two very different things, it was what separated the mind-kind species from all the others. The ability to choose, the ability to physically manifest thought into reality was the incredible gift of mind-kind. Garbanzo’s choice, was to follow his heart, and his soul. His thought was, with so much knowledge and power, there had to be a better way, and that he would find it or create it! Garbanzo might have looked no older than a 15 year old human male but his intellect far acceded one, and had it not been for him holding back around others, all would have known it far surpassed the 60 years he’d actually been in his current existence as well.

His thoughts quickly moved to a familiar presence he felt, a shadow was close, and it couldn’t be ignored. As much as he wanted and needed to get back to the order, presently, the main mission of all the Telic warriors was to engage any and all wayward shadows, eliminate them, and secure the energy orbs they left behind. The Telic knights typically handled anything concerning the shadows but that was before their numbers started getting out of control, and too many energy orbs were now falling into the wrong hands. Garbanzo quickly and slightly changed directions, making sure he didn’t move too fast and loose the tail that secretly followed!

The shadow Garbanzo encountered was busy eating, what appeared to be a messenger from the nearby village. His intellect didn’t take long to figure out what was happening and he knew that a quick investigation of that village afterwards, would confirm his theory. The situation wasn’t without precedence, the shadows had some how started to evolve and evolve rather quickly. With that evolution came intelligence, leadership and perhaps organization. This shadow would prove to be beyond evolved or at least on a level not seen yet and give Garbanzo much more to report back to the council. Change was in the air, this day, along with many that would follow, completely hardened his resolve and steadied his conviction. His path was clear, and he wouldn’t allow anything or anyone to stray him from it!

Garbanzo seemingly appeared from out of nowhere, standing directly in front of the shadow while it finished munching on it’s meal. He surveyed the surroundings and accessed the situation as if the shadow wasn’t there. It sat, legs crossed meditation style, leaning back on one hand that was touching the ground for balance, and holding the upper torso of it’s meal in it’s mouth with the other. It had the body of a Ever-forest gorilla, which were typically eight to ten feet tall when it stood, but this shadows torso alone had to be at least seventeen feet in length. The head however, looked like a Telic lizards, which was similar to what the humans called a iguana, the only difference being, that the Telic lizards were much bigger. In fact everything was bigger in Ever-land, because the environments the trees, plants, flowers, birds, animals, reptiles, insects, and fish lived and grew in were not just vast but also healthier. Even before the shadows, moving around Ever-land was a dangerous task. This shadow had been busy, what they ate, they absorbed, and if it was evolutionarily better, they became.

The shadow only moved it’s reptilian eyes to look at Garbanzo. It had been looking off into the distance, seemingly lost in thought while it enjoyed it’s meal before it finally saw Garbanzo standing below it. The shadow noticed his armor and robes first but focused in on the stick that slashed across his back, something the four soldiers had also noticed, but disregarded because they wielded spears. A stick was hardly a threat. The shadow on the other hand, somehow slightly knew what it meant!

“Hmmm! I thought we got all of them?”

The shadow spoke with his mouth full, an arm hanging from its lips.

The voice and words spoken from the creature instantly changed the spiritual pressure in the area and made the tail following Garbanzo, further keep it’s distance.

Garbanzo slowly looked up, completely amazed and confused at the same time, a reaction the shadow mistook for fear. As Garbanzo continued to stare into the creatures sinister eyes in disbelief, and bewilderment, it spoke perhaps too much, with a slithery stutter.

“You are from the Telic order, no? A Telic warrior? What a nice dessert to finish off my meal! Your soul should give me all the power I need! They will all follow me now!”

The shadow smirked as it stood up.

“Did they send you to help the village? We can’t let you do that! We can’t let you take are power source! You must be a scout, which means we still have time! It will all be done before they send enough, and by eating you, it should delay them even further.”

The shadow scratched his head and looked up at the fading night sky, the sun would rise in a few hours.

“I can’t remember why I was so angry, this isn’t a curse, it’s evolution!”

It beat and thumped its chest before thrashing and pounding at the ground directly in front of Garbanzo. The young Telic warrior didn’t budge!

Instead, Garbanzo marveled at the creature’s intelligence and lack of it. This shadow understood a lot, and had the ability to use logic and reason, which resulted in critical thought. But, it lacked situational awareness and discretion. The creature said too much! There was more of them, a ongoing power struggle, shadows were now using the souls of the mind-kind to evolve this rapidly, they were aware of the Telic order and Telic warriors, which meant they were planning something! They had the ability to plan, and without having to actually investigate the village like Garbanzo planned to do anyway, this shadows words confirmed what he thought in the first place!

The enormous trees from the Ever-mountains invaded the Ever-valley for hundreds of miles until they stopped abruptly, forming a forest line that looked as if some unseen force would not allow them to go any further. The valley moved up and down on hills covered with grass, wild plants, flowers,and a few smaller trees every now and again. Cutting through the middle of it was the Ever-valley river, that stretched all the way south, passed the border of Eion to Ever-falls and spilled into the Ever-ocean. At the northern top of the river was the Ever-valley lake, which bordered the north-eastern tip of Telic. The lake was hidden by the Ever-valley forest, and to the east, between the lake and the base of the Ever-mountains, within the cover of the forest, was the village of Shea. Any messenger sent from the village could only take the southern path around the lake, and that was were Garbanzo encountered the shadow. With the mountains like a wall to its east, the unforgiving and quite deadly terrain across the Telic border to its north and the incredibly vast lake to its west, the shadows effectively cut off any means of escape and cornered the village. It was intelligent Garbanzo thought, this one was definitely not the leader.

Garbanzo’s lessons continued to bounce around in his mind.

“Telic Order Way(TOW) # 9- Never make it known that you’re an enemy of someone, or something stronger than you!”

His GrandMasters voice echoed in his head. The creature looked puzzled and as it’s face grew irritated, it began to attack, raising both fist in the air and slamming them down to the ground with violent power! From a weaker opponents perspective, the attack would have been incredibly quick and immensely powerful. But from Garbanzo’s, would’d rolled to his left and was already back on his feet, looking at the creature bury its fist into the ground with all it’s might, probably certain that Garbanzos crushed body was beneath the small explosion of foliage, dirt and rocks, and unprepared to attack again, it was slow! He finally broke his silence as he stared at the creature in piddy. It didn’t know any better!

“TOW # 10………..

His words caught the attention of the creature’s eyes, that widened in disbelief, of missing and Garbanzo’s quick side-step. He’d rolled so fast, that the shadow hadn’t even seen it!

Garbanzo unsheathed his Telic wand, the tips dipped in fire red, the rest a black darker than dark, and twirled it with such precision and skill, it almost appeared attached to his hand. It spun so fast the tips formed a red circle. He twirled it right into his battle stance, both hands firmly gripped the wand as he pointed it at the creature. His left foot slightly dug into the ground ahead of his right, his line was formed and his eyes dared the creature, who’d hopped backwards, jumped up, and was now hanging from a tree, by one arm, to cross it!

The creature swung from tree to tree before finally jumping back to the ground and charging towards Garbanzo, but he could tell the creature was too focused on his weapon.

The wand was merely a clever distraction, and it’s power, nor Garbanzo’s skill with it, was necessary. As the creature adjusted his attack to avoid the range of the wand, Garbanzo maneuvered his weapon enough to direct the creature’s movement, twirling the wand back with his left hand while throwing his right foot forward in a thundering stomp! The creature was led directly into Open palm. The first strike wasn’t enough to end it, but was enough to set up the second strike, which would. The creature was stunned, the force generated from the strike caused parts of it’s meal to hit the ground. So many organs ruptured and bones broke with just the single strike that the creature began to keel over as it clutched tightly at its midsection in pain. Garbanzo sheathed his wand, while landing open palm directly between the eyes, erasing everything the creature was and thought it would become! The body soon followed the mind, and the energy orb rose from the wayward shadows carcass, and hovered in mid-air, slightly bouncing up and down. Garbanzo reached out and secured the orb with one hand, while pushing his robe aside to reveal the Soul relic attached to his belt line.

……-Never stand in front of an enemy you can’t defeat or escape from!”

The energy orb instantly absorbed into the relic and he immediately made his way to the village, his tail stunned at what they had just witnessed, cautiously followed. As they followed Garbanzo they hadn’t noticed the powerful casts that were being utilized, to move around Ever-land much quicker than what would have not been normally possible. Garbanzo’s little sister Saeriel, who’d he spent a lot of time training with, was a special and rare type of elf, and was the one responsible for the cast, called Shortened path. The journey from the Ever-pass through the Ever- valley forest and to the village would have easily taken months, if not years. Even with the special way the Telic order moved around Ever-land, journeys took weeks and sometimes months, and was the reason the order was so massive. There were millions of Telic warriors, thousands of Telic knights and billions of potential Telic warriors in training at all times! This was just the order temple in Telic itself, the order had temples(bases) all around the planet. Garbanzo combined the special way the Telic order journeyed around, with Saeriels casts, to traverse the lands of Ever-land Quicker than anyone could imagine. A slight variation of his path here, and there, a movement between two trees or a quick turn left or right around a marked rock, shrub, bush, or flower and Garbanzo would be closer to his destination. Garbanzo only used Shortened path when he was alone though. Anyone from the order or with familiarity of Ever-land would quickly realize something was off. The tail that followed Garbanzo however, were human, although much stronger than most, and from the other side of the pass. They were unfamiliar with the landscape and therefore from their perspective, Ever-land merely seemed smaller than it really was. As usual Garbanzo held back, so that the human tail could keep up with his movements, but still he moved at an impressive and continuous pace. He hadn’t needed to hold back as much as he thought he would, these humans, he thought, were well conditioned and very well trained.

As Garbanzo arrived in the large, secluded, but well known, village. He immediately noticed the aura of fear, and the eerie disposition. The village of Shea was normally vibrant with life! The people who lived here were happy and incredibly kind to everyone, including outsiders. More importantly they practically worshipped the Telic order warriors and knights. It was like a party every time one visited, everyone would stop what they were doing to greet them, with food, drinks and array of handcrafted gifts, just to show their appreciation for what all from the order did. Garbanzo had more than a few friends from the village and was generally familiar with everyone who lived there. He grew sad wondering about how many survived, and from the overwhelming feeling of himself and the order letting the village down when they needed them the most. The intense waves of guilt started to consume him and those waves crashed against his heart and his soul. A tear ran down his cheek and he buried his forehead into his hand, trying to rub the pain away. The two tails felt Garbanzos pain, and with what had just previously happened, were starting to regret following him. They were still trying to comprehend what they’d gotten themselves into.

“I don’t know about this anymore!” The younger and more inexperienced of the two finally decided to voice his concern about the situation.

The two were clad in form-fitting forest camo from head to toe, their eyes being the only thing visible.

“We should turn back, we’re scouts, this is beyond us! I don’t even understand what it is we just saw back there! We need to report this, King Judiis and the army should know what they’re charging into!”

Despite the lack of experience and his youth, his logic and reason wasn’t at all off in the slightest and the leader of the two would have agreed under normal circumstances, but just being across the Ever-pass was a huge accomplishment in itself, and an opportunity that couldn’t be wasted!

“I agree but that kid is a Telic warrior, which means he could lead us to the Telic orders location! If the King is serious about crossing the pass and invading Ever-land, then this information is more than valuable!”

“But that thing! What was that? And it spoke! That creature wasn’t like anything we’ve ever dealt with in the Kingdom of Earth! He took care of it without even breaking a sweat!”

The scouts didn’t know who to fear more, those creatures or the Telic warrior they followed.

“What if we run into one of those creatures or maybe worse, what if he realizes we’re following him?”

“Would you relax! I understand the situation isn’t ideal, but we’ll have to make do. If we keep our distance and our wits about us, we’ll be fine.”

“If you say so! What do you think happen here? It seems deserted.”

The young scout peered out over the, what seemed like, an abandoned village. There wasn’t a soul insight. A cliff with high trees that hovered over the top of the village, gave them a good vantage point to stay within eye contact of Garbanzo but also keep their distance. They could keep an eye out for one of those creatures as well, or so they thought.

“That creature must have happened here!”

The lead scout had seen a lot and was by no means weak, but this situation he and the other scout found themselves observing, was of an entirely different level! Just what was happening on this side of the Ever-pass? Was King Judiis leading them to glory or death?

As Garbanzo walked into the village center, the air started to change. He could feel the creatures coming! As he waited, Garbanzo took a seat at the fountain that decorated the center. He reminisced about playing with the kids, as the elders and other villagers watched. They were humbled by the fact that a Telic warrior was so humble himself. The happiness of the villagers, feeling protected and free, made the village itself flourish in their own tiny but large part of the world. They were all just memories now. Even those that survived, would never be the same. Their families, and friends had been eaten alive and they most likely had to watch, as they waited their turn. Hoping and waiting for the messages to get to the Telic order and for help that would never come, at least not in time.

Garbanzo grew angry as the tears began to uncontrollably flow. He let it all out for just a moment, then stood up and wiped his tears away! His resolve started to take over, and his anger swelled into power as he clinched his fist. The end of his robe swayed violently in the powerful wind the shadows created as they flashed into the center of the village one by one. This amount of spiritual energy gathered in one location, changed the atmospheric pressure so greatly and so quickly, that black and grey clouds tumbled and rolled on top of each other through the sky. Lightning crackled and thunder slapped the sound barrier so hard the ground shook! One by one they appeared into space, that less than seconds before, was empty, until there was nine of them. The way they surrounded Garbanzo conveyed that they wouldn’t allow him to escape. At least one had been listening earlier, he’d hoped for that! In this moment Garbanzo thought about how the creatures were appropriately named from one aspect but not in the other. Through his spiritual energy, which had swelled up so much it began to leak, he could see nothing but the black silhouettes of bodies. They looked like shadows, however, these creatures were anything but wayward. They’d evolved passed the creatures that reacted and moved solely based off instinct or survival and into an organism capable of bringing desire and intent into existence, thought into reality. The humans were no longer the youngest mind-kind species on the planet, but were they still the weakest?

Garbanzo disregarded the nine that stood in front of him, what were blades of grass, to a tornado? Instead, he scanned his surroundings searching for the tenth, that kept it’s distance, the leader no doubt. Sure enough, it didn’t take long to spot the one he was looking for, in the background off in the distance sitting on a rooftop with her arms and legs crossed, rattling off nonsense!

“Poor little Telic warrior, I can’t allow you to leave here! Be sure to save some for me boys, and remember his soul is mine! Oh! I can taste and feel the power already!”

Her voice was sinister and her spiritual energy was a much different level than the nine she lead and the one from earlier. It didn’t matter though, just like the tail, these creatures and their leader had taken the bait. A sense of pride and an inner calm rushed over Garbanzo! He had always done more than what was asked of him, in his training to enter the order, during his training from GrandMaster Alder while in the order, and in his duties as a Telic warrior. By all accounts he was more than a prodigy, unlike anything or anyone the Telic order had ever seen before! They just hadn’t seen it yet. GrandMaster Alder knew from the beginning that his progression and power would have to be hidden and GM Alder was always grateful Garbanzo understood why. So, he continued to train and learn, striving for the power and knowledge to defend the way of the order. To protect the balance, always!

And then, he woke up one morning and everything had changed. It was like his wish had been granted or all his hard work had unlocked something hidden deep within. Not even GM Alder could have understood the power and knowledge that awakened in him, Garbanzo barely could himself. Where had it come from, and what purpose was it for? That was a little over a year ago though. On this day, standing in the middle of what would have been a dire situation for most. Garbanzo was no longer confused, he no longer questioned it! There was a war coming. The enemy was strong and numerous, still multiplying and evolving by the day, if not quicker. He knew exactly what to do with it!

“Protect the balance!”

The words eased out of his mouth and appeared to activate his inner power. Lightning struck all around in quick repetitions. He unsheathed his wand with a GrandMaster like twirl, more powerful than previously, first quickly in front and then seemingly in slow motion over his head until it came to rest in his right hand, straight up and down like a staff. He lifted it up slightly and then pushed it back downwards, tapping the ground and sending a hollow wood like echo of vibrations through the village, that traveled outward like small ripples through water. Those ripples froze every shadow in it’s place, including the leader. Frozen in fear, before Garbanzo could utter a word, his spiritual pressure; the weight of his souls inner energy, started spilling out into the atmosphere like a gigantic beast ready to devour it’s prey, crushing the shadows will!

The leader’s demeanor had completely changed, prey recognized predator, and she was terrified, unable to fully comprehend the smell of what she’d just stepped in, but fully understanding she and the nine that followed her, had indeed stepped in it!

“He……….He…...can’t be! Is this the power of a Telic knight? Is this why they only sent one?”

In truth the creature couldn’t have known that the Telic order had actually sent none. Though, the village was a routine check and stop for Garbanzo when ever he got the chance, because of the situation on the other side of the pass, had the shadows not been so sloppy, he might of just passed by, hurrying back to sound the horn and warn the council.

This, however, wasn’t the way, and just like so many times before, Garbanzo had been shown his path. His spiritual pressure started to calm the air around him, heightening all of his senses. He heard every word the female shadow muttered. He again was amazed at the creature’s grasp of the order. Just how long had the shadows been watching or were the creatures getting their information from some unknown source? It was something to note, but she however was wrong, despite Garbanzo having a Telic wand and his incredible spiritual energy, he wasn’t a Telic knight. He uttered absolute power in the next words he spoke! Words, that at his elven age shouldn’t have been possible for him to even know, let alone speak. Words so powerful, the female leader and her followers could only see the movement of Garbanzo’s lips before the blinding light that burned her disappointed eyes to a white void, erased them all from existence!

As the intense light subsided, one by one the surviving villagers crawled out of wherever they chose to hide, all of them holding hands, or arms up to protect their own eyes. A middle-aged woman, who dearly enjoyed Garbanzo’s visits, and had hoped he didn’t come this time around, at least not alone, like he always did. Had a front row seat, peeking out one of the shops that gave a perfect view of the fountain. She stayed hidden and looked in fear, thinking she would have to watch another she cared about be eaten alive. Hear the soul-rattling screams, heart wrenching tears of tissue, and the mind numbing crackling of bones. The woman was relieved to be experiencing just an ounce of happiness again, and like the rest, wondered if it was really finally over.

Still waiting for her eyes to adjust, she could vaguely see Garbanzo holding out his hand, in it, a strange object, most likely from the Telic order she thought. She’d seen it on his hip, catching glimpses of it whenever his robe moved enough, while playing with the kids, and wondered what it was, what it did. She always studied him, also wondering how someone so young could carry so much weight, and such a burden! How, just a child chose to protect them and all their happiness, while they went about their lives, not lifting a finger to help. It made her sad sometimes, but Garbanzos smile made her happy. She thought his resolve, courage, and inner strength was grand, and that hers should be too! She watched as balls of light, varying in size and color, moved towards him, swirling into the object like a tornado of energy. When it was done, he returned the object to his hip. She then watched as he twirled his pretty stick he always carried, striking the ground powerfully. and leaving it protruding out. He placed his palm on the ground and said something, but before she or any of the remaining villagers could get close enough to say thank you, Garbanzo was gone!

The villagers slowly gathered around the stick left in the ground, in front of the fountain of ‘Eternal Life’. It seemed to be a memorial for the dead to them, and they all begin to hug and cry both tears of sadness, for those they’d lost, and of joy because they’d survived! It wasn’t a memorial though, but protection. Not a single other villager would be harmed, Garbanzo thought, and he made sure of it! He hurried back to Telic, there was even more to report and discuss. Garbanzo decided that he wouldn’t hide his strength any longer. The question was how much of it would he reveal? The council and GrandMaster Alder would finally see a small portion of it, but even that small portion might be too much for them to comprehend. He knew he needed to approach the situation intelligently, revealing too much would be dangerous, not just for him, but for Saeriel and Luniverse as well.

The scouts, even more hesitant than before, followed what they now consider to be a little monster, with powers and abilities they couldn’t begin to understand or fathom! They had questions they needed and wanted answers to. Just what was a Telic warrior? What were these creatures they fought? What in blazes was this power they wielded? What was the Telic order really? Was the Kingdom of Earth and King Judiis aware of this power? Could it be obtained for one’s self? The leader of the scouts was pretty sure relics were responsible, but that meant the relics on the elven side of the Ever-pass were on a completely different level than the ones on the human side! Was it this power, these elven relics, that King Judiis was after? Status, power, and perhaps so much more, was what the leader thought the answer to these questions could bring, but first the task at hand. Find the location of the Telic order and find it without dieing!

Next Chapter: Whose Council is it anyway?(5)