Chapter 17- The Beginning of the Inner Circle

Chapter 17 of Vector of the Heavens

It was about midday when the group reached the outskirts of Burnia. There, they were asked by the watch to present ID’s, and when Link showed them his, they let him right through. As they made their way through the crowded streets, Link noticed Riku wincing a little bit as they went through.
“Something the matter Riku?” When Link said this, Traito noticed Riku’s apparent pain.
“You seem like you’ve been stabbed in the back with a needle.”
“It almost feels like that Traito. Believe me.”
“Why is that?”
“This is a colony of Hylia.”
“What of it?”
“I’ll explain latter when we get to the ship.” Suddenly the crowds of people began to part like a knife cutting through a piece of paper. As the group got out of the way, they saw a giant royal prosession coming down the streets. There wasn’t a whole lot to see. Just a few guards surrounding a litter with somebody inside it. It had engravings and designs that screamed royalty. The guards were yelling and telling people to move, while people had their mixed reactions. Some cheered for the mysterious ruler, while others booed. As the procession moved along, people began to disperse back amongst the streets as if nothing happened. Riku tried to find out what was going on, but got no answer from anybody. They made their way to port, where they found the King of Suns docked and waiting. They got on board and were hastily greeted by the captain, who was also giving orders for the ship to cast off.
“What’s the hurry captain Boko? We still need to stock up on supplies.”
“No need my boy. The men I have sent out to fetch them are already coming back onto the ship now. We need to cast off now. I don’t want to be here when the warships arrive.”
“Warships? What are you talking about?”
“Oh yeah. You two were gone during the last week. Wait…who are these guys with you?” Riku quickly introduced Boko to Traito and Thrito and how they came to join the group.
“Okay, well, that isn’t the issue here right now. You see…”
“Captain, we are ready to set sail. Our destination?”
“Open sea Mr. Morgan. When we get a safe distance away from this divided land, then Mr. Riku here will give us our new destination.” With that said, Morgan started barking out commands to the sailors as the ship began to pull out from the harbor. Boko quickly told the group to meet him in his cabin as soon as they were out to open sea, and he would explain to them what was going on. Traito and Thrito looked back to the shore with saddened looks on their faces.
“Well brother Daramich, we are finally setting out to explore the world.” Said Thrito. “But not the way we wanted to leave.”
“Those dead back at the village will be avenged brother Thrito. And I am sure if we find our brother before we have our vengeance, he will wish to join us on our crusade. Come now brother, it is time for us to prepare for the next chapter of our lives. Let us make sure that no other people have to suffer the same fate as ours.” They stepped away from the ship's edge and made their way to the captains cabin.

Boko didn't come into his cabin until after the ship was well out into the open ocean. He came in sweating, having been running all over the ship telling people what to do. The whole group was there when he came in, and they let him take a moment to catch his breath. Once he did, he sat down at his desk and began to tell them what had happened.
“About two days or so after Riku and Link left the ship, the country of Malendor attacked the island contry of Unto, causing the World Council to react. They requested a meeting with the countries different leaders to try and figure out what they can do to find peace. You see, when Malendor attacked Unto, Xelador showed up to help, and as soon as that happened, Hylia's armies came to the support of Malendor. When the two sides realized that they might start another thousand year war, they decided to talk it out peacefully at the World Council castle. By doing so, they agreed to pull all troops out of Unto to show good peaceful intentions. However, the nations are still quick to draw swords from their hilts, so they are transporting all the leaders on warships filled to the brim with soldiers. Nations like Xelador with their horseless carriages have spellcasters with quick-fire abilities, while countries like Hylia have a large supply of ground troops. Either way, it is still a huge mess of things, and war is likely coming. People are saying that it is possible for some of the leaders to get ambushed on their way to the council meeting, and if that happened, then open war could rise up. With the divided land of Gueron being the first battlefield. The meeting between the leaders is supposed to happen tomorrow at mid-day, assuming they don't start a war first. Well, now that that's out of the way, mind to tell us our next destination, Mr. Riku?” Riku pondered this and looked at the map of the world.
“According to these charts, we should be pretty close to the Bird islands, and those places are one, far enough away from any war, and two, where another gate would likely be. Mr. Boko, set course for the Bird islands.”
“Riku, wait!” Link spoke up. Everybody in the room looked at him somewhat puzzled.
“Um...I think that we should go to Unto.”
“And why would we do that Link? By the time we get to Unto, a war might have started, and since Malendor attacked Unto first, that would likely be their target again if war broke out. Besides, according to what I found in Eraqus' library, the Guardians did not place a gate in Unto. There are only a handful of them across the world, and none of them are in Unto.
“But we need to go there! The weird lady from my dreams said so!”
“What weird lady? Care to enlighten us Link?”
“Oh yeah. I still need to tell you about that part.” Link then went on to tell everybody what had happened in his dreams during the last few nights. He told them about the mysterious plain, the strange woman and her cryptic messages, and how Demise himself had invaded the dream and nearly got him.
“Demise himself showed up in your dreams?” Traito exclaimed.
“Not a good sign by any means.” Riku noted. “So two questions Link. One: did this lady tell you why we needed to go to Unto, and two, did she have a name?”
“To answer your first question, all she did was give me the same vague stuff she had been the last several nights. Although she did mention a friend of yours would be waiting there. And all I've got for names is that Demise called her the Sage of Time.” Riku started laughing. He wasn't just laughing like a little chuckle mind you, this was a full on guffaw that nearly brought him to tears. Everybody else in the cabin looked at him with confused looks on their faces. Once Riku got control of himself again, he told Link,
“The sage of time is just a fairy tale. Some age old ho-hum about a lady who was supposed to be the wife of Demise or something. I have looked up the history of the world and the new gods, and she isn't a part of it.”
“Actually, she is Riku.” Traito interrupted. “She was the goddess of time and gave up her immortal form so that she might be with the man she loved.”
“I highly doubt that Traito. I looked up this information in some of the oldest tomes you can find in the whole world.”
“Yes, but out tomes are likely even older than that. Besides, who knows how much history has been lost over the years. Why not trust Link on this one and go to Unto?
“Because I don't want to send this ship into a war zone! I want to make sure that we can help save this world, not get dragged into it's petty problems. The sage of time is just a fairy tale!”
“So were Guardians until Eraqus proved their existance.” Link pipped up. Riku fell silent. He pondered this for a short while, pacing back and forth.
“Look laddies,” captain Boko piped up, “Whichever island we go to first, it doesn't matter to me. Unto would be on the way to the Bird Islands. There we could gain some supplies without ever getting off the ship. Morgan has connections in the city, so he could get what we need without any danger of us getting caught in a war zone. Do we have a deal?” Riku seemed hesitant, but agreed.
“Then it's settled.” Boko went over to a small metal pipe with a horn on the end and yelled into it.
“Mr. Morgan! Set a course for Unto immediately! I'm on my way up to the helm now!” With that said, Boko went out of the cabin and made his way to the helm. Link and Thrito left right after, and Traito was about to leave when Riku placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Traito, could you come to my cabin this evening? We are going to talk about what I discussed on the mainland.” Traito nodded his head and walked out onto the deck. Riku sat down on one of the chairs in the cabin and looked out at sea, and shuddered a little bit.

Riku heard a knock on his cabin door. He opened it and let Traito in. Traito put down his lamp on a table and blew it out because Riku already had the room lit. Riku offered Traito a chair and he took it, while Riku sat on his bed.
“So what did you want to tell me Riku?”
“I know your family history. I think it's only fair that I tell you mine.”
“Shouldn't we bring the others here if you are going to do that?”
“No. Link and Thrito are still too young to be brought into this. Plus, they are still young and not ready to take on the world as we see it.”
“And how exactly do we see it?”
“You and I both know that this world is not a very nice place and we just accept it. I have seen you in action Traito. You don't worry as much about personal feelings. You just make sure that the job gets done and never look back.”
“True, we do have that in common. All right then. Enough of this small talk. You know me and Thrito's history, now it is time for you to tell me yours.” Riku pulled out a small pot of herbal tea, poured himself a cup, then began his tale.

“When I was a child, I was a slave in the country of Hylia, and while growing up there, I began to hate the country that denied me my freedom. I was an orphan slave, having been separated from my real parents at birth. I don't know when, where or how it happened, for every time I asked my master, he would just tell me to not dwell on it and just give me another job to do. If I insisted and pushed him too hard, he would beat me with a jagged whip ten times. He didn't just do it to me for asking questions. He would also just whip me for doing stuff as large as dropping an important item or piece of equipment, or for just not making his potatoes just exactly the way he liked them. Personally, I think he just did it for the fun of it. Anyways, this went on until I was about 34 years of age, when my life changed forever. It was during the thousand year war between Hylia and Xelador. Xelador had been on the offensive and was beginning to strike back against the armies of Hylia, fighting out in the countryside, out in the sea, and in small towns like the one I lived in. When the armies of Xelador began to march into the streets after driving the armies of Hylia into the mountains, I had never felt so alive. For a few brief instants, I was free. However, the soldiers told us that we were to be taken back to Xelador to be sold to new masters. It was that, or stay behind and become war prisoners with the captive Hylain soldiers. Some fools decided to stay behind and become prisoners. They figured it would be better than more life in slavery. I wasn't one of those people. I decided to be sold off to another family in Xelador hoping that the life there would be better than the one I had just left behind. I was not as lucky. I was the first half-elf to ever set foot in all of Xelador, so I was sold off for a high price to a not so nice house. I was sold to a blacksmith who always made me work with the molten hot metals causing my hands to burn from time to time. This went on for about half a century, until Master Eraqus happened. He found me in the slave quarters and asked my owner if he could buy me. Since Eraqus was a high ranking officer, I was sold to him for a very good price. At the time, I felt like I was going to just be moved to yet another tough home. For a change of pace, however, Eraqus took me under his wing. He had already lost his first family about a century ago due to one of the attacks that Hylia launched against Xelador. Since then, he had been trying to continue that which he and his family started. Taking half-elves and giving them refuge and a new home. I enjoyed my new life, I felt like it was a place where I could belong. Also, Eraqus was kind to me due to the fact that I reminded him of his long lost son. He took me under his wing. Taught me how to read and write as well as how to do several things like ride a horse or work with herbs and plants. He never taught me how to use a sword though because though he was a soldier, he never thought that the half-elves should try to use violence to get their freedom. Things change rather quickly in the following years. About twenty years since Master Eraqus took me under his wing, Hylia had begun a counter attack against Xelador that allowed them to take over some of the Xeladorian continent. One of the first cities they sacked was where I was living as were the other half-elves. When they attacked, they didn't capture us to take back to Hylia. They just killed each and every one of us. Or at least they tried. While sitting around thinking they had won, Master Eraqus and his battalion launched a counter-offensive to drive back the Hylian army and drove them out of the city. But the damage had been done. Women and children were dead in the streets, homes were gone, lives ruined, and almost all the half-elfs that Eraqus took under his protection were either dead or dying. He was nearly hysterical. I promised him revenge for what Hylia had done. At that point, I still felt like both countries were not that great, but Xelador was the lesser of two evils. So I asked Master Eraqus to train me in the way of the sword so that I may help Xelador win the war. Eraqus was hesitant about it at first, but then a superior officer came up to him a few days after and told him something that I will never know what, but whatever the case, he took me as his apprentice. We trained for what seemed like years when in truth it was only a few months. He took me to a private training facility for high ranking officers only and he taught me everything he had ever learned about swordplay. And that was where I met my beautiful Aveynya. She was a half-elf woman a few years younger than I, but still was very beautiful and very wise. She was also in training to be a soldier in order to respect her dead fathers last wishes. Sometimes I would sneak off and shirk my training responsibilities to be with her. We would always joke that we were simply being children and that we had only just met each other. As time went on though, we found that we were more in love with each other than we realized. And when I would explain to Eraqus expecting him to get upset, he would instead just smile, pat me on the shoulder and tell me to make sure to not completely shrug off my responsibilities. After about a year or so, we decided to get married at the facility church. I was the happiest man alive at the time. When my wife got pregnant with our child, Eraqus told me to stay back during some of the fighting so that I could be a father to my child and not die just yet. When my son was born, I had never felt as much joy as I did that day. But I couldn't stay away from the battlefield forever. Neither could my wife. I foolishly agreed to let her go out into battle with us during the first few months. That was my first mistake. My wife soon got killed in battle during an ambush by some Hylian soldiers during a reconnaissance mission. She got stabbed in the back, and died in my arms after I did everything I could do to try and save her. I vowed revenge, and went on a rampage for a while. Afterwards, I came out of it the way I am today. I wanted to die. I still want to die. I want to be with my wife and my son. I never got a chance to see him grow up. A few months after I got over my rage, I was killed in battle. When I closed my eyes for what I thought would be the last time, I had never felt so alive. Then I was pulled into being a Guardian for centuries. I was angry. Even if I tried to kill myself by stabbing myself, my wounds would heal right up. It was not a fun time. So I accepted my fate and began training to become the Guardian of Angel Falls....

Riku finished explaining everything that happened to him up to this point, and Traito was sitting there not with a look of disbelief or thinking he was crazy, but rather a look of understanding with some confusion.
“So tell me Riku, if you want to die so badly, why not kill yourself now? You might become a Guardian again, you might not. You have nothing to lose.”
“The problem is when I became mortal again, it was when this world was in danger. From Demise. I don't want to leave this world to die while I am up in the next life completely blissful to what happened to those I swore to protect. I just feel like I have an obligation to the world, and I couldn't face Aveynya if I didn't make it right.”
“Understandable. I could not face the Elder if I did not fulfill his last wishes. But I have to ask again, why just me? I know you said that it is because I am more mature than the other two members of our group, but I feel like there is another reason.”
“And that right there Traito is why I want you in my inner circle.”
“What do you mean?”
“Not only are you more mature than the other members of our group, you also were able to notice my true motives lied beyond what I told you. I want you to join this group. This inner circle will be where we discuss and plan for things that the rest of the group might not be ready for.”
“But, there's only four of us.”
“If we find more Guardians or people to help us on our quest, then the inner circle will need to grow. And who knows? Maybe after this is all over, this little inner circle might become a secret organization or something. I don't know. I always liked the idea of a group dedicated to doing good in the world.”
“All right Riku. You have given me little reason to not trust you, so I'm in. What's our next move?”
“For now, just stick to the plan. But I am a bit suspicious about what Link's dream meant with the sage of time and Unto. We will likely need to look into this while on land.”
“Very good Riku.”

Eraqus walked into the round room. He ordered his guards to stay outside as was courteous of the world's leaders. As he sat himself down, he saw the nine other rulers from the different lands. He was seated next to the Duke of Celemar and the princess of Hylia. He didn't want to be here. This was a squabble to be settled by the nations this concerns, not those completely at peace. The King of Xelador and the princess of Hylia took specific podiums next to the table with the King of Malendor and the Governor of Unto at their sides. Each of them were making arguments on how the opposing side was wrong and their side was in the right. In the end, it would come down to a vote on how the situation would be handled. Either by telling Malendor to withdraw its troops and have everybody go home and forget about it, or begin an all out war. Eraqus already knew what everybody was going to vote. Nobody in their right minds wanted another thousand year war that would leave the world broken and dying. So he just listened to their hash and waited for them to get to the voting.
“...so in conclusion, I think we're done here.” The king of Xelador said as he finished his speech. He sat down next to the Governor of Unto and let the princess of Hylia stand up for her final words.
“Okay, I realize that everybody is fed up with all this, and I wish it was over, but the King of Malendor wishes to say a few words.” Everybody groaned. As the king stood up to the podium, the Duke of Celemar yelled,
“We all vote that you withdraw your troops. Can we please just get this over with?!”
“I agree your highness.” the princess chimed up. “Nobody here wants a war, so will you please just leave your statement be?” The king of Malendor had a glazed look in his eyes. He looked over at the king of Xelador.
“Not until I get what I want.” Everybody in the room looked at him a bit strangely, but none of them could react in time when the king of Malendor drew out a small knife and stabbed the king of Xelador. Screams rose up from the rooms. Guards began pouring in to the meeting chamber, weapons drawn pointing at the leaders at the table, the king of Malendor, and the other guards as well.
“Malendor is tired of sitting on the sidelines.” The king of Malendor said, slowly turning the knife inside the king of Xelador. “Now, we are going to take what is rightfully ours.” He pulled out the knife from the king of Xelador and let him collapse on the ground gasping for air. Some of the guards began to rush the king of Malendor, but then some of the other guards stopped him from getting any closer. The other guards began fighting one another, while the leaders tried to make sure that they didn't get killed or hurt in the scuffle. Eraqus quickly disarmed a guard and used his sword to clear a path for the few leaders who weren't caught up in the madness. He looked back and saw the king of Malendor kneeling over the dead king of Xelador, and noticed a strange glow emitting from his hand. He didn't get a good look however as the princess of Hylia ran out the door, and Eraqus realized that was all the leaders he could save. As they closed the door, officials guards and lords all asked the different leaders what was happening and claiming what an outrage there was and that there was going to be war from all this. Eraqus raised his voice and said,
“Please my friends! We cannot let this world plunge back into war! We must stand together as one against Xelador! Please!” But his pleas fell on deaf ears as swords began to clash and rulers were quickly escorted outside where even there fighting was beginning to erupt. Some of the fighting managed to get some of the leaders involved. One of them was the Duchess of Nalamin. Eraqus found the few soldiers loyal to Galor and ordered they move out without engaging in combat. As they ran off into the hills back towards their ship, Eraqus knew what was going to happen next. The troops of Malendor in Unto would receive an order to attack the town, and take it over. Then Xelador would come after Malendor for killing their king, and Hylia would go after Xelador for attacking one of their allies, and even if they didn't, the other allies of Malendor would come and help them against the enemy. No matter who was on whose side, war was inevitable.

Author's Note

Okay, long update I know, but it was a long chapter and I also have school going on right now.
Let me know what you think of each chapter with a review please! Thank you.