Sometimes legends are true

Sometimes legends are true


It was a sunny Thursday morning. A beautiful morning to go on an excursion to an open air museum.

Samuel’s philosophy teacher decided that the class should learn a few things about ancient cultures and so he had taken them to recently discovered ruins near the big lake. Only three months ago there had been a giant thunderstorm and the rain had caused huge parts of the shore to slide down into the lake. That way the entry to the ruins had been discovered.

Official access was still denied and only scientists could enter the digging site. But Mr. Bloom’s brother was the leader of the archeological team at the site and so Samuel and his class were allowed to visit the ruins and take a closer look.

“Hey little brother! Over here!” That was Nick Bloom, the older brother of Samuel’s teacher.

“You’re just on time. In a few hours we will open the final chamber. And you will be allowed to watch!” he said.

News spread through the class like a wildfire. “The last chamber?” “Awesome!” “What do you think will be in there?”

First Nick gave them a tour through the other parts of the ruins, explaining the runes and sketches on the walls.

“Millennia ago an ancient race lived in this part of the land, the Arunians. They controlled advanced technology, even possessing crude devices to produce electricity.

Nevertheless, they prayed to their gods for guidance and only the high priests of their religion were allowed to use these devices.

Their legends are truly interesting.” He indicated a carving on the wall, showing a group of men with spears fighting of a strange shadow. Behind them a priest-like figure had taken position.

“Well, for the most part it’s the usual ruble about gods, half gods and so on. But every now and then, we find legends and pictures about this beast here.” He pointed at the shadow in the carving.

“It seems to be everywhere. And it reappears over and over again through the centuries that the Arunians ruled around here.”

“What’s it called?” one of the students asked.

“We believe that it is called Shèr’stalík. In our language that would mean: ‘Devourer of souls’. It’s supposed to be an ancient being, far older than the Arunians themselves and maybe even older than the planet and-“

“So it’s an alien then?” a student interrupted him, unbelieving.

“Maybe.” Mr. Bloom said. “But it’s just a legend after all, not real.” He grinned. “Maybe those Arunians were just high from smoking pot.”

Most students started laughing at that joke. Even Nick Bloom had a hard time to stay serious. “Come on little brother… this is serious business.”

After having a short laughing break, Nick showed them around further, all the while telling stories about the alien:

“Shèr’stalík was supposed to be a fearsome creature, striking at night. Even with their advanced technology the Arunians couldn’t protect their villages against it.

Apparently it was able to absorb energy from its surroundings. This included the electricity the Arunians used to power their defensive machines.

One village after the other was obliterated, sometimes one a year, then a few of them in a week.

Shèr’stalík was unpredictable.

There was nothing that could stop it.

Until that day.”

“That day?” A student asked.

“Yes. It was the day of summer solstice. A holy day in the Arunian calendar.

That year an eclipse took place exactly at noon during summer solstice. Normally the Arunian’s would’ve been celebrating, but because of Shèr’stalík they were all hiding in their homes.

All but one young priest. He had been determined to stop the monster that threatened his people. And so he continued with the sacred ritual, performed every year on that day.

Shèr’stalík felt what he was doing and surged towards the top of the high temple.

The very temple we are standing on now.”

“What happened to the priest?” Samuel asked.

“We don’t know.” Nick admitted. “Nothing is written anywhere about the battle. We found one tablet describing a strange flash of light, that’s all.”

***

A few hours later all kids were wearing helmets and standing behind a giant drilling machine.

Nick Bloom gave the signal and within a few minutes the wall was broken, unsealing the final chamber of the temple.

Guided by Nick, the kids and their teacher were allowed to enter it.

‘This is amazing…’ Samuel thought. He had always been interested in ancient cultures and this was a unique opportunity for him.

“Hey Sammy, did you see that small statue behind that… monument thingy?” Tony, his best friend, asked.

“No.” Samuel responded and together they walked around the big monument in the middle of the room. At the backside of it they found a small statue of a woman.

In her left hand she held an about three meter long spear and a long sword was strapped to her hip.

She wore next to no clothing, only bits and pieces of armor strapped to her shoulders and legs. It looked like a strong wind was whirling around her, since her hair and cape were twirling around her. Oddly enough, the cape wasn’t made out of stone, as the rest of the statue was. Instead it was made of real fabric.

“Wow, look at her…” Tony whistled. “She quite the cutie.” He grinned, causing Samuel to shake his head, also grinning.

“Don’t ever change, hmm?”

“Nope!”

They grinned at each other.

Suddenly there was a loud crash, causing the ground to shake and their grins to fade.

“Wha-what was that?” Tony asked, but Samuel shook his head. “No idea…”

Then they heard Mr. Bloom shouting: “Everybody out! The chamber’s going to collapse! Out!”

The two boys tried to get to the exit, but suddenly a dark shadow dropped down from high above and blocked their path.

“RAAARGHH!” It screamed and slashed out at Samuel.

Out of pure luck, he dodged the attack, since the shockwave, that the thing had caused when crashing down, had sent him sprawling backwards.

“RUN!” Tony shouted. “TO THE STATUE!” he didn’t know why he said that. ‘It’s just… I feel it’s the only safe place around here…’ he thought.

Samuel tried to get up and run away, but the beast pounced onto him, pressing his arms into the stone floor and ripping large wounds into them with its claws.

‘So this is it then…’ he thought. Then he noticed that the beast was exactly the same as that from the wall carvings. ‘What was it called again…? Shh… Sher… Shèr’stalík, yes that was it. But it’s supposed to be a legend… nothing more…’

Shèr’stalík’s saliva was dripping onto his chest. It felt like burning acid.

The monster readied itself for the last strike and its head darted forward to bite Samuel’s neck.

***

Outside of the ruins Mr. Bloom counted through his students. “Wait a moment, there are just twenty… but we’re supposed to be twenty-two! Who is missing?” the panic in his voice was only too obvious.

“Samuel and Tony are still inside.” One of the students said.

“Damn it…” he turned to his brother. “Nick, is there any way we can get them back out here?”

But Nick Bloom shook his head. “Not at the moment. It’s too dangerous. The room might collapse any moment.” He shook his head and muttered: “Though I’d really like to know where that earthquake came from…”

***

Shèr’stalík’s head crashed into the ground.

At the last moment Samuel had managed to pull away from the monster, causing it to miss its attack by mere inches.

“RUUN!!” Tony screamed again. He had safely reached the statue and was hiding behind it now. “COME ON SAMMY! GET UP AND RUN!!”

Samuel did as he was told and ran for his life.

He managed to half the distance between him and the statue. Then he heard an angry roar and something slammed into him.

Tony watched in horror as the monster grabbed his friend and shook him violently. With a gruesome snap Samuel’s leg tore off and his body sailed through the air, crashing into the statue.

Shèr’stalík threw the torn of leg into a corner and moved closer to the statue. It began circling Tony, all the while growling and hissing. But it seemed that it was unable to come closer than 2 meters to the statue.

A short while later Shèr’stalík gave up, jumped to the other side of the room and started digging its way free to the outside.

At once Tony rushed to his friend’s body. “Sammy? Sammy, please wake up!” he shook him, but it was no use. Samuel had died the moment Shèr’stalík had hit him in the back.

Tony got up from the ground and walked to the statue. He grabbed her cape without second thoughts and placed it over Samuel’s dead body. Then he crumbled to the ground and started crying.

Tears created a small pool in the dust and blurred his vision. Because of that he didn’t notice that the cape had started glowing.

It was warm silver light.

Something beneath the cape stirred and slowly it was pushed aside. Samuel looked around, not quite grasping what had happened. The wounds from Shèr’stalík were already closing, leaving behind a soft and clean skin.

A ripple of silver energy ran over his body, removing the little body hair he had. Slowly his figure began to stretch, going from 3’11 to about 5’4. His bones cracked as they snapped into their new positions, but Samuel didn’t feel it.

He couldn’t feel anything at all.

The short, muddy brown hair lengthened and its color changed to blinding gold.

His hips burst outwards, whereas his waist carved in a little bit, creating an hourglass figure. His arms and legs stretched a little more and strong muscles arranged themselves below his skin.

Samuel couldn’t quite grasp what was going on. He just felt dizzy.

After looking around in the room, his gaze fell on the hunched and crying figure of his friend.

“Why… why are you crying…?” Samuel coughed, his throat sore and filled with dust. A single drop of blood dripped out of his mouth, but it vanished in a silver light before it hit the ground.

The figure stopped shacking and slowly, very slowly, it turned around.

“S-sammy…?” Tony turned around and stared at his friend, He recognized his face, but the rest of the body had changed.


“Sammy… i-is that really y-you…?” he whispered.

Samuel blinked. “Yes… it’s… it’s me…”

The light from the cape intensified and Samuel closed his eyes, as did Tony.

Masked by the light Samuel’s face began to change, becoming more feminine. Below his eyelids his eyes changed: Their color changed to a mix of green and gold and his eyelashes grew a little.

Samuel’s nose became more petite, finishing his feminine look. A pressure rose in his chest, as two small mounds pushed out of it.

When the light faded a little, Tony opened his eyes and looked for his friend.

But he couldn’t find him.

All he saw was a woman of about twenty years old. A silver whirlwind was twirling around her and pieces of silver armor strapped themselves onto her body, along with a long sword in a sheath and the cape that he had used to cover his friend.

“Who… who are y-you?” he asked.

The woman turned and looked at him. Then she spoke in a soft and clean voice: “I am Irial, goddess of light. Your friend was nice enough to lend me his physical body in order to defeat that vile beast.”

“Y-you mean… S-sammy is… d-dead…?”

The goddess looked at him for a long time and a stunning fear fastened itself in Tony’s heart.

“No. He’s not dead. Not anymore. After Shèr’stalík is defeated I will release him again, but he won’t stay here. He will follow me back to the celestial realm.”

With those words she turned and walked away, towards the exit of the chamber. Tony stood there, tears flowing out of his eyes again. Within a few minutes his friend had come back from the dead, only to vanish again.

Something in Tony’s heart broke at that moment and mechanically he made his way to the exit as well, following in Irial’s footsteps.

***

Outside the digging site had collapsed in panic. Shèr’stalík was running amok and killing one worker after the other.

Occasionally the beast would stop to devour parts of the corpses, but that didn’t happen often.

Mr. Bloom and his class had fled to the top of the hill and were watching the massacre from there. Almost every student had grabbed his phone and was making photos or videos.

One of the workers had had sense enough to call the police. He had simply told them that something was running amok at the building site and a few minutes later they had arrived.

After giving Shèr’stalík one fearsome look they retreated into their cars and called the army for support.

Luckily enough there was a training camp for Special Forces further up in the mountains, so the army had been at the site in no time.

However, it proved that Shèr’stalík was completely immune to anything they threw at it.

Bullets simply scratched of the chitin armor with no effect and explosions and flames were even less effective.

Nick Bloom had been right. Shèr’stalík was able to absorb energy from its surroundings, which included the fire blasts the soldiers had launched at him.

“Abort mission! Abort mission!” One of the commanders screamed into his walkie-talkie, causing the soldiers to retreat.

Well, most of them.

Painstakingly much lay silent in the ruins. Shèr’stalík had killed them…

For a short time the monster roamed through the ruins, as if it was searching something. Then it started bashing and slashing against the pillars.

“What… what is it doing?” someone asked. “Maybe it turned insane and tries killing itself?” another one answered.

Within a few minutes all pillars had crumbled.

Shèr’stalík’s head snapped around and its gaze fell onto the watchers at the top of the hill.

With giant leaps it pounced towards them, saliva dripping out of its mouth.

“RUN!!” someone screamed and panic began to spread, as people knocked each other down and scrambled over cars in order to get away from the beast.

The Shèr’stalík leaped into the air, its target a little girl from Mr. Bloom’s class.

She screamed, frozen in place by sheer terror.

A split second before the monster’s jaws snapped around her head, she vanished in a puff of silver light.

Frustrated Shèr’stalík screamed and searched for her.

A little bit further down the hill, Irial stood, her lance raised high into the air. A bubble of silver light formed next to her, releasing the terrified girl into freedom again.

“Over here foul beast!” Irial shouted. “I thought our last match had been enough for you!”

“Grrrghh… Irial…” the monster snarled. “So we meet again.”

Irial swiped her lance through the air in front of her, creating a silver sliver that shot towards her opponent.

With a huge leap Shèr’stalík dodged it and flew towards her.

“DIE!!”

Its claws were extended and ready to strike the goddess in the heart. Poisonous goo dripped down from them.

Before the monster reached her, Irial unsheathed her sword and sliced it through the air. Silver lines remained hanging in front of her and when Shèr’stalík reached them it stopped instantly, as if it had hit a wall.

Without hesitation it jumped onto its feet again and raced at the goddess.

Irial didn’t have enough time to create another magic rune this time, so she blocked its attack with her spear and slashed her sword over its head.

Although Shèr’stalík had dodged the attack in the last second, Irial managed to slice of one of its antennas, causing it to howl.

It wasn’t really pain, it was just the surprise that there existed a weapon that was able to cut its body that caused it to scream.

Shèr’stalík shook its head and charged again. Claw against lance, tooth against sword. The battle continued, with neither side giving ground.

Unnoticed by the two contestants Tony had closed in on the little girl and pulled her up from the ground. After guiding her up the hill, he wanted to go back down again, towards the battle.

A police officer grabbed his arm. “Stay here boy, if you want to stay alive.”

Tony turned and looked directly into the man’s eyes. Shocked the officer loosened his grip, enabling Tony to break free again, his black, soulless eyes locked onto the battle once more.

Step for step he walked down the hill again, feeling the stares of everybody in his back. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore.

Irial and Shèr’stalík were still exchanging blow on blow with each other.

However it proved that Shèr’stalík was just a little bit stronger, since it slowly managed to drive the goddess back. Ignoring the countless wounds from her sword and lance, it recklessly threw itself at her. The only person able to stop it from devouring everything on this puny little planet.

Black, sizzling pools of a blood like substance had formed on the ground beneath it.

His eyes locked on the woman that had once been his friend, Tony didn’t notice them until it was too late. He slipped and crashed right into one of them, face first.

When he screamed in pain, more of the black stuff entered through his mouth and burned him from the inside.

Black smoke steamed off his skin when he managed to get up again.

Nevertheless he dragged himself forward step by step closer to the battle.

On his way he picked up one of Shèr’stalík’s horns that the goddess had sliced off.

Irial noticed his presence a split-second before the monster did.

“Go… away…” She panted, tired and worn out from the battle. “This… is not… your… fight…” She blocked another attack from the monster, but still its claws tore her skin at the waist, causing her to stagger backwards and crumble down.

Screaming in excitement Shèr’stalík dashed forward, wanting to kill her with one final blow.

Tony realized the danger and suddenly dashed forward, ignoring the pain from his wounds. Without hesitation he stabbed the beast’s horn into its back, where it remained stuck.

Although it didn’t have much effect, he archived what he had wanted to: The attack angered Shèr’stalík and it spun around to destroy whoever had dared to attack it.

Tony didn’t move an inch when the beast looked at him. He was completely aware that he had just lost his only weapon and was now completely defenseless.

Before Shèr’stalík had time to kill him, Irial dashed up from the ground, using every bit of energy she could muster, and drove her lance home into the monster’s back and through its entire body.

With one last agonizing howl Shèr’stalík reared up. Then all life left its body and its corpse crashed to the goddess’s feet.

Black fire spread over it and it disintegrated into nothingness.

Irial looked at the crumbled body of Tony. “Why… why did you do that?” she asked slightly surprised. “As far as I remember humans are far easier frightened. Why didn’t you run like the others?”

Tony groaned and tried to push himself up from the ground.

Even though Irial protested, he managed to regain his stand, though everything was spinning around him.

“I… I j-just couldn’t stand a-and watch… that… that thing k-killed my friend… I… I sought revenge… and now… I have it…”

Irial raised an eyebrow and her cape started to shimmer. “You showed great courage today. Far more courage than I had ever expected from a human on its own. For that I will grant you a wish.”

Tony looked up, surprise written on his face. “A w-wish…?”

“Yes. It can be anything you desire.”

“Can… can you g-give me Sammy back…?” he whispered.

A soft look sneaked onto Irial’s face, displaying sadness, as well as sympathy. “No… I can’t bring the dead back, my child.” Then she silently added: “Not here on earth.”

Tony didn’t hear her last comment. “B-but… you said that Sammy i-is alive again…”

“He is…” Irial started.

“Then where is he?” Tony shouted, tears dripping out of his eyes.

Irial shook her head. “He’s standing right in front of you. The body I’m occupying right now belongs to your friend. But he won’t be able to stay here. Only in the celestial realm the magic flows strong enough to allow him to remain living. And this body will remain his. That’s the price he has to pay for using my powers.”

“Then…” Tony began but was interrupted by a coughing attack that sent him sprawling onto the ground. Blood splattered all over his clothes.

“You are dying.” Irial noticed. “I could heal you if you wanted too…”

“No!” Tony burst out. “I… I want to come with you. I want to stay with my friend.”

Irial crouched in front of him. “Are you absolutely sure that this is your wish?” She inquired.

“Y-yes…” Tony coughed. “P-please…” his eyes were set with determination.

Irial nodded. “Then it shall be. But be aware that your wish has consequences you never considered.”

She rose from the ground again and started chanting a spell. Seconds later a shining silver portal opened in the air.

“Take my hand.” She commanded.

Tony gathered all his strength and got up from the ground. But his legs didn’t support him anymore and he crashed over forward, right into the goddess.

When she caught him, she whispered: “Easy girl. Your wounds are very deep.”

Tony nodded weakly. Then a thought struck him. “Girl?” he asked.

The goddess smiled. “I told you there would be consequences you wouldn’t think off.” With those words she guided him into the portal, which vanished in a puff of silver smoke as soon as they had passed it.