Chapter 3: Selene Aglarus (Part 2)

<Continues>

Selene is troubled by Siren's army. This army is not something her father would expected. It is not just a defensive force, but also a great invasive force. Selene uses her injuries as an excuse to delay her quest, and spend her time in Aquaria to investigate on Siren's army.

She spent her time walking among the soldiers for a month, and found out that Siren has created an army of more than two millions men and is mass producing Light Half weapons. These weapons make normal men become as dangerous as an adequate magic user, not to mention that Aquarian people are twenty times as strong as the earth walking people in physical strength. With this army, Siren is not just only be able to control the oceans, but also can be a major threat to all the dry lands. Beside of that, Selene also notice that Siren's war council has a regular meeting with some strange people every weeks. Those people are two times taller than the average statue of men, and always cover their faces behind a dark shadow. To her guess, these people could be the leaders of the Light Half, and they are behind an evil plan with Aquaria to seize over the control of this world. However, unless she can confront them and check her theory, there is no other way to know what they are up to. So she and Torum decided to kidnap one of them for interrogation.

They has acquired the moving pattern of those people by observation, and Torum disguised into an Aquarium soldier to get close to them. The shadowy people did not notice the deceiving words of a new guard, and was tricked into a secret tunnel, dug beforehand by Selene earth magic. In there, she closed the entrance with rocks, blocking their only mean to get out. When the shadowy people realized that they has walked into a trap, it was too late. Hiding inside the wall of earth, Selene observes them, and expects them to panic, so she can begin her interrogation with the advantage of fear.

However, the shadowy people are calm, and organized. There are twelve of them, and none shows any fear. They just sit in a circle and wait. Selene is not a person with much patience. Inside the wall, she speaks, concealing her body and her voice:

"I am the guardian of this realm, you are in my body, and you must answer me my questions if you want to ever see the light again."

One of the twelve men then stands up, walks into the center of the circle, and calmly speaks:

"We has been in the dark for thousands of year, long enough to learn that darkness and isolation are our ally, not the enemy. You show us no fear here, even if you wished so, Lady Selene Aglarus."

Selene is shocked, somehow these men has already figured out her identity and clearly stated that. She knows that hiding in the walls is not effective anymore, so she walks out and face the men.

"How do you know it was me? Who are you people?", she asks, with Torum standing beside her, prepare to protect his Lady from any potential threat.

"Earth aura is a rare power. There are only three persons ever have that power in them. The first one was Gaia, the goddess of earth, one of the twelve angels sent to our world to close the Gate of Hell. She has a daughter, whose name is Thalia. She was the second person to be able to bend the soil under her feet as will. Thalia's only daughter also has inherited her power at birth, and was the last Earth Mage we can ever see, since Thalia's tragic death. And it is you, Lady Selene." The man says.

Selene becomes angry, and she shouts to him "Liars, my mother's name is Ailaht, it is true that she was gone but she was not Thalia the daughter of Gaia. Why are you making up this lie? What is your purpose?"

The standing man still speak calmly, "We are proud Ice Giants, and Ice Giants never speak against the truth. It was your mother who hid the truth from your eyes, to protect you, for she loved you much."

"Liars, Ice Giants had been vanished from the surface of this world thousands of year ago. You are the spies of the Light Half, and you story does not make any sense. If you don't tell me the truth right now, I will let it be hidden from my eyes forever, along with your lies under the weight of this earth!" She cries.

"Then let the truth betray us, Lady Selene, for we never betray the truth." They all speak at once.

Selene is ready for her anger to doom them, for with only one finger, she can let the rocks above their heads crush all of them in a blink of an eye, but Torum, who was standing silently beside her, halts her.

"Stop Lady Selene, they were telling us the truth!"

"Why are you speaking for them? How do you know if they are telling the truth, Torum?" She says.

"Because me and Torim was fighting along side with the Ice Giants during the Damned War of The Fallen, and their statues truly fit the image of an Ice Giant. I doubt that the human of the Light Half can be at their size." Then he pauses to look at Selene again, and says, "And they were right about Lady Ailaht, I was there when Lord Solaris saved her from the wolves of Azaru highland, and brought her back to Skythea and wed her. Only me, Torim and Lord Solaris ever learned the truth that she is indeed the daughter of the Goddess Gaia, but she made us sworn not to speak her past to anyone else, because the remnants of The Fallen will find her and war would be brought to Skythea. Since then, she has adopted the name Ailaht, or Thalia spelled backward."

Selene looks at him in shock. From the words of her most trusted warrior, she now knows the truth. When she was a still a small child, her mother, Ailaht has passed away before she could ask her why she has the power to control the earth, but other children of Skythea do not. And since then, she has never stopped grieving for Ailaht's death, thus the question was put aside. However, even if the shadowy men were telling the truth about her blood, they are still too suspicious in their shadow cover.

"If you are really the Ice Giant, then why do you have to cover your face? Reveal yourselves!" She speaks.

"Because no one beside the lords should learn our existence, however, in front of the daughter of Lord Solaris, who will soon be a Lord, and in front of my old friend Torum here, we shall let you see our true face." The man says, which wakes up Torum's curiosity.

Then all of the Ice Giants laugh, blow away their shadow covers, and reveal themselves.

"Aluis! My friend, you are alive!" Torum suddenly cries and runs toward the Ice Giant who just spoke, hugs him.

"Yes I am, brother, it was such a long time!" Aluis says in tears.

Selene can not believe in her own eyes, the people in front of her match exactly the descriptions of Ice Giants in the books her father used to read for her as bed time stories. They are no doubt the Ice Giants as they claimed. More than that, Torum knows one of them, and the two are jumping in tears and joy.

Torum turns to his Lady and explains "Here, Lady Selene, is my brother in arm, General Aluis, we fought along side during the war. I thought he and his entire race were erased when people of the East betrayed our alliance."

 Then they explained more about how the Lords had decided to keep them in secret for thousands years. With the hostile situation has gone, they are know speak to each others in a more friendly tone. Selene asks them,

"Tell me general Aluis, what is going on in this place? Why did Siren build such a great army, armed with weapons from the Light Half?"

Aluis then says, "They are not weapons from the Light Half, Lady Selene, they are the modified version of them. And we, the Ice Giants, helped them to do that." then looks at Selene then continues, "The Ice Giants are like the Sky people and the Elves, we lives for thousands of year and slow at reproduction. Our population was never enough to afford our own army for the incoming war against Chaos. We don't want to be once against betrayed by the human anymore, so our elders had decided to join with Queen Siren and lord Thirdule of the Elves to create our own force. The force must be big enough for war and for protection of our kingdom against the treacherous human at the same time."

"Then why didn't you speak with my father?" she asks.

"We did, but Lord Solaris is a wise man. His land is surrounded by many human lands, and is an important trading knot of the entire world. If we execute our plan there, the human may turn on him, and it is dangerous for his people. More than that, there are more than half of his men are human too, so it would not be wise to raise an anti human army there."

"In your words, I see hatred, Aluis. Is that true that Ice Giant hates human so much?", Selene speaks her thought.

"I am not going to deny our dislike for human, but hatred is a big word. It is true that our mothers, our sons were massacred by the hand of them, but not all of them are bad. They still have more hope in their heart than in ours, and they are truly strong. Most of my valiant friends were among them. If we are going to win this war, we can not put the human aside."

"You are thoughtful, and your words are indeed wise. I have misunderstood Queen Siren, and I must apology to her." Selene says.

"Your heart is honest, and honorable, lady Selene. You are a true friend to anyone who befriended you. May you always find friends as true as you are." Aluis says.

After that, Selene opens the way out for the Ice Giants, and she herself goes to the palace, explains everything to Siren then apologies to her. Siren says to her: "Selene, my young friend, there is no need to apology. Your concern is very thoughtful. It really was my fault for being so oblivious to your thoughts. Things would go vague for both of us if Torum, your brave warrior wasn't there. I would like to personally thank him for everything."

Then Selene calls Torum in to meet the queen. He walks in, in his old and stained armor, tattered cloak but his eyes glitters. Even though he has been more than eight thousands years old, age doesn't seem to have any effect on him. He looks like a young human man at his prime, with long, curly black hair and a muscled statue. Siren has her feeling for him since she learned his battle alone with the Great Kraken for his brother. And when she was treating his wounds, he had never uttered any sigh of the great pain of many bones broken or the grief of his fallen twin. "A brave heart!" was what Siren thought of him. She also lost her dear brother, but she wept for months and left her people, her responsibility behind, while he just stand up again and again for his duty. He took his pain into action, and sworn to do both his job and Torim's job at the same time. Siren knows that she has learned more from this valiant man in a month than from her thousands years of existence. For that, her heart leans on his, and she really wish to be with him, but she doesn't know if he has the same feeling or not.

<To be continued>

Chapter 3: Selene Aglarus (Part 1)

On a shore line in the West, where the unusual, cold and devilish winds are blasting into the main land from the sea, three hooded figures are moving in a rush. The sands that are blown up by the gusts continuously hit their outfits, and would choke any one who is not well protected, but they can not penetrate through the fabric masks of these people, that only their glittering green eyes are revealed. Two of them, who are big and seemingly strong, also carry two spears on their back, while the third one, who always stays in the middle, resembles that of a woman.

Their destination is a cave near the spiky rocks, that heads out to the open water. It is old and mossy, but the beautifully carved structures inside indicate that this is not something nature could come up without the hands of people. It is called the Aquarius Entrance, or the Gate to Ocean's Heart. The trio slowly moves deeper into it, with their eyes widely opened to assert the surrounding environment. They have a feeling of being watched.

Their feeling is true, when swiftly, from the dark of the corner of the cave, many man with heavy arms and scale armors come out, pointing their guns toward them.

"Freeze! Who do you think you are to enter this sacred place?", one of them steps out and shouts.  He is the one in charge here, to guard this gate and to command his men. Gladirus is his name.

"Since when the Aquarius people start to use Light Half weapons?" The smallest person of the hooded figures speaks with her soft voice. They seem calm as no weapon was drawn.

"It's none of your business, strangers. Who are you and what do you want in here?" Gladirus asks them again.

Then the girl pull her hood down, reveal her face and her golden long hair, as she speaks "My name is Selene Aglarus, daughter of Solaris Aglarus, heir of Skythea. I am here to deliver an important message to Leviathan's sister, Siren the Mermaid. These people are my guardians, Torim and Torum."

The two other hooded men then pulled down their hood, reveal themselves to be identical twins. However, neither of them really gets the attention of the sea men, as her magnificent beauty instantly stunts all of them already, except for Gladirus.

"What do messengers of Skythea want to deliver? It has been four hundreds years since Skythea and Aquarius had made any contact." He speaks in doubt.

"I will only speak to queen Siren, and no one else." Selene says.

Although he is still doubting these strangers, but he is not in a position to reject a messenger, so he says, "Very well then, Lady Aglarus, please come with me to our queen. However, I am afraid that your two guards must stay here until you come back. And please don't worry about them, for they are our guests here, and they will be treated generously with seafood and wine."

"I guess I can't say no to such a generous offer. My men will stay here as you say. Please lead the way.", then she signs to Torim and Torum, telling them to stay.

Gladirus and several men in silver scale armors escorts her to the end of the cave, which is a massive water fall. Behind it is another massive cave, that in turn leads to a whole city inside a gigantic bubble beneath the ocean. Around the bubble, one can see many sea creatures of many size diving in their natural habitat. Some of them are as big as an island, while other smaller one move in hosts of thousands individuals, creating a truly mesmerizing scene of the sea world. Of course no normal human can be able to see to the end of this vast city and its protection bubble. However, Selene is not a normal human, her eyes sight is said to be even more mighty than the Dragons of the North, as her people call her the Phoenix Eyes.

"This world is so beautiful!" she says.

"It is, Lady Aglarus. We sea people try to protect and reserve the nature of the ocean as much as we can, so the future generations will have a chance to experience all of this beauty. And not to the acknowledge of most people, this city is called Aquaria" Gladirus speaks.

They then go to the center of Aquaria, where a jade, magnificent palace stands. Its four towers point high to the top of the bubble, provides a convenient place to cover the whole city under them. This is the Siren's palace, where she places her lordship upon all the oceans, while her brother, Leviathan went away to join the council of the Lords. She used to come out of her palace to visit her people and to bless them, but now she is just staying inside it, with all the doors shut, grieving since the news of his dead was brought upon her. The whole city is covered in black garments, to cry for him.

Gladirus escorts Selene to a big room, that seems to be a bed room for some sort of giant people, then he tells her to wait their until the queen decides to meet her before leaving. In the center of the room, there is a giant bed, with blurry mist coming out of it, concealing the person it carries in the middle.

"This is where we were hatched, from our parents eggs. The only two eggs that survived." a woman's voice is heard inside the mist.

"My name is Selene Aglarus, it is my pleasure to meet you in person, Queen Siren." Selene introduces herself.

"He had been the most caring person ever. Our parents had left us since we were just kids, and he was the only family I had", the queen continues to weep, ignoring Selene presence.

"Um..Queen Siren?" She asks "I am here to deliver a message from my father, lord Solaris. We want..."

"I know what you want, Phoenix Eyes. And deep in my heart, it is not what I desire." Suddenly the queen speaks back to her, and from the mist, she walks out, reveal her true stature similar to that of a mermaid, but at the size of thrice the size of an Ice Giant. As she moves closer to Selene, her body shrinks, until she is just as Selene's size. For a moment, the princess of Skythea wonders about how big actually this beautiful queen is. However, it is not a proper time to ask her about that, when her eyes are still filled with tears. But even the tears and sadness couldn't conceal that brilliant beauty. The curls of black hair fall down her bare shoulders bouncing on air as waves on the sea of a stormy day. Her eyes glow like the stars on a deep night sky, and even in darkest sorrow, these stars still sparkle tenderly like a rare jewel under the deep ocean, not every one have chance to see it, but once it has been seen, no one can get it out of their mind. If someone at this era really has to compare the beauties of Selene Aglarus with Siren the Mermaid, he would probably compare them as the images of the brilliant Sun and the elegant Moon. Selene shines in the day, her heavenly light nurtures the earth surface, give colors, warmness and life to every living things that light can reach, whilst Siren gently sings a lullaby to sweet children, lights up and leads lonely strangers back to their home, where their loved one are waiting. Add more to that, Selene's look is somewhat more impulsive than Siren who's light is dimmer, and beautiful in her own way.

In this room, two most beautiful women of the world are facing each other, and one is sobbing for her loss.

"Your kingdom has always prepared for war, waiting for the day The Fallen One revenges on us. It is not the first time Lord Solaris sends messengers to me to ask for support. Although, this is the first time he sends his only daughter on such a mission." the mermaid says.

"And all of those times, you have avoided to answer the question."

"Yes, I did. Because my people belong to the sea. We vowed to keep the balance of nature, to reserve sea life, not to die in the battlefield." She then sighs, "But now everything has changed. The oceans are rampaged by monsters, and my brother can not protect us anymore..." she weeps again.

Selene feels sympathy to her, so she says, "I know your feeling, I have lost a very dear person in my life too. But tears and sorrows won't change anything, you must grow stronger, and then you can do what Leviathan could not, and make him proud."

"Thank you, I have already thought of that. He would never sit in one place and do nothing like me. That is why I have an army properly armed and is now ready to join Lord Solaris on the war against the Fallen One and all of other threats" She says.

"Thank you Queen Siren. It is certainly a good news for my father. I will transfer your words to him. However, there is another reason for me to come to your kingdom." Selene says.

"And what is that?"

Selene then take out something from her cloak. That thing glows purple light on her hand, and light up the whole room. It is a Glowing Blossom.

"I am here because of this flower, queen Siren." She answers her and give the blossom to her.

Siren holds the blossom in her palms, and says "The Glowing Blossoms are extremely rare, and the reason why you came here with one must be very special."

"Yes it is, queen Siren. My father and Lord Leviathan were brothers in arm. They fought together, and in many battles they almost died together. For him, Leviathan's family is considered his own, and his matters are also my father's matter. Upon learning Leviathan's fate, sorrow has struck down on him has hard as it has done to you. He refused to believe in it because Leviathan's body was never recovered, and led his own investigators to discover the truth. And he found this flower." Selene says calmly, with a voice of sympathy.

Siren caress the blossom in her hand gently, "I appreciate Lord Solaris efforts, but this flower is not the same flower my brother always carried by his side. Even if the looks are the same, the feels are different."

"Because they are truly not the same. However, my father knows that you also have one of those flowers, given to you by the goddess Cardia - the goddess of Healing before she departed. Please look closer to the flower on your hands, and compare it with the flower you have."

Siren takes her words, and she takes out another Glowing Blossom from the top of her crown, which is normally hid from the curious eyes of anyone else by a spell. Suddenly, her tears dried away, as a happiness smile shines on her face.

"This can't be! He is alive!"

"That is also what my father found out. Leviathan's only son, your nephew is still alive. And three months ago, he has absorbed a petal from the Flora Magical System." Selene explains.

"Even we have never been able to prove the existence of the System, but if what the old tales are true, then only the third generations of the old gods can absorb magic from the flowers." Serene adds.

"Yes, and the part that belonged to the water god vanished from all of our flowers. Only Leviathan's son can make that happen. He has returned to our land. We must find him." Selene concludes.

Siren sees hope again. She knows that even if Leviathan was alive, he would never stop seeking for his son, and now she must do it for him, to fulfill his final wish. Without any hesitation, she gladly accept Selene quest, but still, she asks her to stay in Ocean's Heart for several days, so she can have enough time to prepare. And Selene stays as she said, even though she knew nothing about what Siren is about to do.

On the third days of her stay, the Kraken attacked Aquaria. It is one of the enormous legendary monsters what were released because of the first order of the Lords to counter Light Half's invasion. It is a giant octopus with a mentality to destroy and feed  on everything on its way. And now, this city is on its way. Its tentacles quickly destroys many buildings and kills a majority number of civilians in the west part of the city. The guards tried their best, but they cannot stop such deadly force from advancing further into their land.

The mayhem was immediately reported to Siren, and Selene offered her help. Siren is not a warrior like her brother, as she spend more time in healing people than fight with them, therefore Selene's offer is welcomed by her. She sends one thousand elite men to go with Selene to the West of the city, along with her twin guards.

"Your only task is to delay Kraken, so please don't engage him directly, or many lives will be loss, Lady Selene." She says to Selene.

"Why so? What is the point of delaying him, when that will not make him go away?" Selene asks her, trying to figure out what Siren has in mind.

"Because then you can give enough time for Gladirus and his men to prepare our secret weapon. Please go now, you must hurry. When it happens, you will understand everything."

Selene asks no more, she trusts Siren. Then they depart to the battle ahead. And when they arrive, Kraken has already destroyed  the West district. She sends five hundreds men to help finding the survivors and lead them out to other parts of Aquaria. The rest stay with her to lay traps on every paths that Kraken go. They stay in the shadow, unknown to him, and run behind the standing walls of the ruined district. Even their petty traps could not make any significant harm to him, they enraged him and lure him to the rear of the city, so he couldn't advance any further. However. as he furiously seeking for the people who dare to challenge him, many men fell under his might, including Torim. He was placing a lighting trap under the a tower, but Kraken was near and he can smell the scent of him. So he attacked and level down that tower, buried Torim in the wreckage. When Torum heard his cry, he ran as fast as he can to his dying brother, but it was too late. Kraken search the wreck and found him first, then eat Torim right in front of the horrified face of Torum. Couldn't bear the lost of his brother, Torum take out his titanium spear, and threw it at Kraken's right most eye, injured him. But that only made Kraken became more furious, and with nine eyes left, he still can see the attacker and immediately hurled a large rock back at Torum. Torum dodged that rock, and cast multiple wind slash spells into Kraken face, but merely scratch it. This led to an all out battle between the men under Selene's command and the legendary monster.

Selene has the Earth and Air auras in her, but even with her exceptional magic skills, she is not a trained fighter. While her men are fighting against the great Kraken and falling one by one, she can merely cast rock barriers spells to protect her fellows from being crushed by his tentacles. Torum, otherwise, is a capable warrior who has fought during the War of the Fallen many thousands of year ago. He and Torim have faced many dangerous foes before Kraken, their wisdom in battle was the reason why Lord Solaris sent them to protect Selene on her quest. However, now he is blinded by anger, and leaves many of his weakness visible for Kraken to exploit. Once Kraken is aware of that, he strikes a tentacle on Torum in middle of his leap, sending him flying to a nearby forest. Luckily, Selene was fast enough to cast a wind spell on him that greatly reduces the impact of the landing, but still, he broke several bones and can not move for now. There are only twenty five men left, struggling with Selene to fight against the wrath of the great Kraken, and they are all weary after so many jumps and dodges. Even with the magic of Selene, they can barely hold off Kraken at the border and now Selene is wounded for a debris was hurled at her arm. Kraken spotted her, the leader, and is now standing in front of her as a mountain.

He looks down to her, then say: "o tiny human, how dare thou to challenge mine might? one eye thou might took, but thou shall not overcome mine wrath! prepare to be crush'd." Then he raises up four of his tentacles, ready to deliver the final blow.

At that moment, when Selene thinks the outcome of the battle has been settled, suddenly Kraken receives two devastating blasts on his face, and falls to his back. Selene turn herself to look at the outside of the bubble, where two enormous black figures appeared. They looks like two big whales, but cold and lifeless, covered in black metal. As the men cry in wonder and joy for their supports have finally arrived, from the holes on the surface of those things, many smaller things is fired toward the great Kraken.

"They are the submarines of the Light Half's army, and the things that are coming out from them are called missiles. They are fire-propelled explosive arrows that can tear down the thick skin of Kraken." One man explains to her in joy.

"Are the people of the Light Half controlling those things?" she asks.

"No, lady Selene. Master Gladirus and his men are inside those machine. They are controlling them to destroy our enemy!"

Kraken cries in agony. The ships continuously shot missiles at him and the explosions rip his tentacles off. His cry soon fades away in the sound of the explosions. Then the ships stop firing, as Kraken lifeless body lays there in the victory cheers of the survivors.

That day, the Aquarius people tow away the body of once a legendary monster, and throw it into the darkest, deepest crack of the ocean. Selene's men come into the forest where Torum fell, search for him and then takes him back to queen Siren, where she can heal his wounds. She also offers to heal Selene wound, but she politely refuses. Selene has realized that there are too many things in this city that she hasn't known of, and she does not want to accept any help from the people here unless she finally discover their true purpose and their connection to the Great Invasion of the Light Half.