The Hall of the Neo-gods

<Continues>

"But they are so smelly, I don't want to keep them", Lenny covers his nose firmly with his hand, like he would never want to see the tip of his nose again.

So they ended the fight like that, with a bit of preparation before hand and some acting skills. The young man and his companion is now heading for Road I. It took them some time to figure out which road is Road I since the fight had completely destroyed Clock Square and the marks. On the bright side, all the lesser Hell Spawns, those were lucky enough to escape the fight unharmed have already fled from the city, as Lenny can not feel any of their presences any more. But there are something, or someone to be exact, is following our man, unknown by him. The shadow moves behind the wall, agile as a cat and light as a feather. The fog covers its body, the wind blocks its sound, and the night supports its footsteps.

On the way, Lenny could not stop himself from thinking about what AAPEP said earlier, about him being the lost son of Stata and Leviathan. Even if the ages of them do not add up, it is still what he feared the most. What if he was really the lost boy fifty years ago? What if his mother was really the mass murderer who killed all of his friends and millions of other? Who erased Dararia's knowledge about him and why? There are so many questions raising on his mind, but none of that could be answered by now. So he can only hope for the spell that his little dragon said about, the one that can get his memories back.

 After a while, the great Swan Swamp appears before Dararia's tiny eyes, as she calls out her master to come forth and see what she feared the most: There is no transportation mean for them to cross the swamp. Despite of its beautiful name, the swamp is now a place that even Death would refuse to stay more than five minutes. There is no water, only a green, sticky fluid spreads all over the place. And its smell is like that of a thousand dead bodies. Also, there is something moving under it, something big and certainly not very friendly. Even with enhanced vision, Lenny still can not figure out what that thing is, but sometime its fins briefly emerged onto the surface for a moment before disappears again into the green fluid.

"There is noway we can get to the other side, Master!", Dararia seems to be quite disappointed.

Lenny looks at her, then looks at the swamp again. He is trying to think of a way. The map ends here as the graveyard is just several minutes of walking after this swamp. Grandma Mely has crossed this swamp many times before, there must be another way. Maybe she hides a boat somewhere, or maybe there is a tunnel that goes under these nasty fluid. At this time, he starts to feel a little bit regret for not asking the grandma every single detail about the trip. Turning back now is not an option, because giving up is never his trait. So there must be a way.

While Lenny is still concentrating in finding a possible method to get to the other side, Dararia, as usual, can't stop herself from complaining about everything here. She can't bear the smell, nor withstand the creepy environment this place has brought up. But then, she stops talking as she is seeing something coming from behind Lenny. She gives him a knock on his head to make him turn back.

"ouch! What are you doing, I am still thinking", he turns back and immediately grumbling.

However, she doesn't care about that, as her little paw is point toward the shadow that is slowly coming to them. Lenny finally notices that.

"Be careful Dararia, it is another Hell Spawn!", he speaks and jump in front of her, ready to fight.

"Be not afraid, Mister, for I am not a Hell Spawn", it speaks, to the shock of the duo.

The fog around it starts to fade out, and a tall man appeared. He wears a black hood that cover most of his body, only leaves out the big, musculus gray, lifeless arms with black sharp nails grew out at the tip of the fingers. He is two time taller than Lenny. His face is covered by the shadow of his hood, with only a pair of yellow eyes glow out of the dark. From the sleeves and inside the hood, icy mist steams out slowly, turns the grass under his feet into ice. If he doesn't speak, anyone would mistake him with a Hell Spawn.

"My name is Toduras, nice to meet you sir." He comes close, and show his hand toward Lenny, asking for a shake.

Lenny is still shocked, he doesn't want to shake hand with such a suspicious creature, of course. He could be a Hell Spawn in disguise, no human would look like that.

"Oh my bad, Mister. Most human are scared of our looks, but me and my people mean no harm. I am one of the Ice Giants of the north mountains." Toduras says, calmly.

"I knew it, the first second I saw you, I knew it. You really are an Ice Giant!!!", Dararia screams like a mad girl then flies around the Ice Giant to have a better look at him.

"You know him?" Lenny asks.

"Yes, of course. The Ice Giant are the best smiths in this world. But they went extincted thousands of year ago, during the Great War against the Fallen One. Hey buddy, your appearance here is a miracle!!", she can't hide her excitement.

"Actually, it was the lords' plan to cover our existence from everyone eyes. Our people survived the assault of the Fallen One's army and fled deep into the mountains of the north..." He explains.

"wooooo, so you are one of the survivor!!" She doesn't let him finish his sentence.

"Dararia... I think he is not that old...", Lenny corrects her.

"Mister here is right, Lady Dragon Fairy. I am the descendants of the survivors. Actually we have built a great kingdom in the north mountains and for a long time, had we decided to stay out of your people's sight."

"So why did you decided to show up in front of us?" Lenny asks him.

"Time changed, situations are changing, Mister. The greedy nature of human was the reason the Fallen One raised and destroyed our lands. We had discussed with the lords and decided to stay out of the rest of the civilization for our own safety. However.."

"However?" Dararia interrupts him again.

""However, after the invasion of the people on the Light Half, we knew that the prophecy is coming true, and the end of our land is near. The elders and our King have decided to join the mainstream events, and we will try our best to help other races to overcome this challenge. Helping others is helping ourselves, that is always our value." He continues explaining, waving his big arms on the air to demonstrate his point.

"How will you do that?" Lenny asks him.

"Our men are being sent to every corner of the world, gathering best metals and transport them back to our kingdom, Darkutasia. We are forging the best weapons to prepare for war. These weapons will be armed by other races' armies."

"Just like the old time!" Dararia utters out.

Lenny doesn't understand what she meant. "Old time?", he asks.

"Yeah, old time. The ice giants were the major weapons and armor provider for all the race to fight against the Fallen One."

"Yes, that's true, Mister. But then the human used most of our weapons against us.." his tone becomes deeper. "This time, we will only provide weapon to human if they can prove their trustworthy, and for the contingency plan, we also have our own army to protect our kingdom. The Elves and the Mermaids will be on our side."

"Well, to be honest, all of that is none of my business. I just want to get back to the Light Half to find out what happened to me" Lenny states his intention.

"Indeed, we also want to know what happened in the Light Half that led them into invading our lands. However, Mister human, your fate is bound to the prophecy of Chaos. You will have to fulfill your destiny first before you can do anything else. Being a Neo-god is already a burden you can not leave behind."

"How do you know that Master is a neo-god??" Dararia jumps into his mouth.

He smiles, reveals his creepy sharp teeth to her, making her feels uneasy. "Mister here will tell you more about it", he points his finger to Lenny.

"huh?", before he could ask, his eyelids become heavy. The light fades out quickly, then turns into darkness. The only things that shine out of the dark are Toduras's eyes, as they are staring straight into Lenny.

Then the light comes back, as fast as how it had gone. He is not at the swamp anymore, instead, he is inside a white, crystallized castle. Standing in the middle of a large white hall, where everything are sparkling mysterious light, Lenny can not believe his own eyes. The sun light glimmers through the walls, brighten up every single tiles under his feet. No one is here but him and five gigantic statues made of granite. The makers of those statues must be very talented as the statues own a magnificent and beautiful look. From left to right, Lenny sees a mermaid girl riding a current carrying a jar over her shoulder, a tall and thin man with long hair and pointy ears drawing his bow, aiming to the front. Then he recognize a face in the middle.

The face is of a young man, holding a sword that points to the sky with a deterministic look. Beside him is a small dragon that sits on his shoulder. That dragon is awfully familiar to Lenny. No doubt, it is Dararia. Her high-and-mighty face can not be mistaken with any thing else. By this moment, Lenny realizes that this statue is about him, wearing a fancy armor and holding a fancy sword.

However, what catches his eyes the most is not his own statue, but the statue next to it. It is a young, gorgeous girl standing on a flying beautiful big bird. She wears a crystal circlet with shiny diamonds attached on her head. Looking at her eyes, he can feel his heart beats faster than the wind that is blowing her silky hair. Her smile makes him feel warm again in this cold, lonely place. It is so much like the first time the sun seeded its light on earth, giving life to the forests, the lands and the seas. Lenny involuntarily asks himself why such a beautiful girl can ever walk on this land and instantly bring love to his soul, even if this is just her statue?

Suddenly, he feel like he is being watched by someone, and turn his head around, just to make eye contact with the last statue. The statue is looking at him with its yellow glowing eyes. Lenny immediately recognize its appearance.

Then he feels a slap on his face. Lenny open his eyes, just to see Dararia standing on his nose, with a piss-off look on her face.

"Wake up Master!!" She yells at him.

He gets up on his knees, seeing Toduras is sitting in front of them, beside of a small camp fire.

"How long did I sleep?" He asks.

"2 hours already, Mister Leonard. Lady Fairy Dragon almost killed me for casting that spell on you. mwa hwa hwa", Toduras laughs with his weird voice.

"What spell?"

"The spell of the truth. It gives you a glimpse into the future, one possible future. What did you see?" Dararia answer his question for Toduras.

"So that is what it's all about.", he speaks with a deep voice. "I saw several statues, one of them is me and you, Dararia. And also, I saw... you there, Toduras, as one of the statues. What does that mean?"

"I see. What you had seen in your dream was the Hall of the Neo-gods, Mister Leonard. That is what people will build to memorize the Neo-gods when they win the war with Chaos. Each statue is a Neo-God." He briefly explains in his deep voice.

"The Hall of the Neo-gods? But I saw your statue there also, unless you are..." Lenny opens his eyes widely, and turn to Dararia who is also dropping her jaw to the ground.

Toduras turns his face up and laugh loudly, shaking the whole swamp, as Lenny can feel some hordes of bats flee out of their cozy holes on their trees. "Mwa hwa hwa, now you know the answer to your prior question."

As our young man and his dragon are still jaw dropping, he continues "I am also a Neo-god, I was born with the gift to control shadow, to see visions of future and the past. I am Toduras Erebor, son of Kozuras Erebor of Darkutasia."

"Are you the son of Kozuras the Legendary?" Dararia quickly tries to clarify his identity.

"My father prefers to be called Kozuras the Smith more, dear Lady Dragon Fairy", he smiles.

<To be continued>