The Soul Mask

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The book below is the beginning of a story I’ve been working on for about 8 months.

I always imagined myself as more of an adventure writer that talks about hitchhiking, wilderness survival, road trips, etc.; but about 8 months ago I woke up from a dream where I lived out this story below in fast forward like seeing the slides of a projector screen flash by and I knew I had to write this story.

Filling the gaps between those flashing images I saw in my dream has been one of the great pleasures I’ve ever had as a writer. Now at long last, I’m proud to present you the first book in this story I call “The Soul Mask”.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.

- Jake “dreams are powerful things” Blue

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Introduction

No one knew how the land of Aumon came to be or where it came from...only that it was ever so slightly connected to Earth and after you traveled there, no one could come back.

The first creatures to colonize Aumon were peoples of old. As humans rose up and spread across Earth: orcs, elves, dwarves, and countless other “mythical” creatures made the voyage through the mysterious portals on Earth hoping to find a better world. What waited for them, no one knew. But not knowing what waited for them was better than being hunted to extinction by the humans. What they found on the other side was the land of Aumon.

Sealing the portals behind them the best they could, people of all kinds spread across Aumon hoping to leave behind the war that plagued them on Earth. This worked for a time, but as their people spread, war once once again broke out for rule over Aumon and lasted for centuries.

In a bid to gain the upper hand, several tribes used ancient rituals and magic from their own unique cultures and built weapons and armor that contained immense power.

A sword that wielded water…

A hammer that could build and break the earth…

A bow that could bend the air around the arrows it fired…

A pair of obsidian daggers that could summon fire…

And armor pieces that granted super speed, strength, healing, and even invisibility.

For a while the native creatures to Aumon tolerated the petty war of the new peoples, but as their power grew it drew the attention of those whose attention most would rather avoid.

Creatures like The Yagga, The Magis People, The Wyrms, The Karkharos, and The Silvestre united to craft a magical item beyond the power of anything else Aumon or Earth had ever known.

They called this magical item…

The Soul Mask

Unlike all the other weapons of power, The Soul Mask would only lend it’s magic to one true ruler of Aumon who would serve and protect the land for all peoples. As the first wearer of The Soul Mask rose to power and took his title as King of Aumon, it seemed the land would be at peace. Tribe after tribe surrendered their weapons of power to The Wearer of The Soul Mask until there was no more war and no more weapons of power to wreak havoc on Aumon.

After obtaining all the weapons and armor of power, The Wearer of The Soul Mask realized that he could use the weapons and armor he collected to enforce peace in Aumon. No one would dare stand against an army that held all the most powerful magical items in the world. But The Wearer Of The Soul Mask was wise...

He saw the danger in using the weapons and armor to enforce the law and valued his people’s freedom over his own personal power. So the new King of Aumon chose to let each people live in freedom as long as they followed 3 laws.

1. We shall all protect and take care of each other like a member of our own.

2. We shall all protect the natural world and ensure it’s preservation for ourselves and the creatures that call the wild places of Aumon their home.

3. We are all to prevent war at all costs.

Upon decreeing these 3 laws, the King locked away The Soul Mask and all other weapons of power in a vault beneath his castle in Lanta on the East of Aumon and let his people enjoy freedom without fear for the first time in centuries.

At first things were peaceful...but peace never lasts long.

A mysterious woman befriended the new King of Aumon and became his wife. Little was known about her by the people, but when the King died under mysterious circumstances, she took his seat at the throne and sent her armies forth to impose rule over Aumon with the very weapons they had created for their King.

Now, many lifetimes later, the same Queen still rules Aumon thanks to the power of a crown crafted with life giving minerals deep below the surface of the Earth. Some say she cannot be killed...but others tell legends of a mask with unknown power that may be able to restore peace and harmony in Aumon.

Until the mask is found, all Aumon trembles beneath the foot of their Queen waiting for the return of…

THE SOUL MASK

Chapter 1: The Yagga

Too far away for the villagers of the oceanside community to see, a creature with purple eyes watched from a perch on top of a black rock castle that now lay in ruins.

This creature was a Yagga, and over a century ago - in honor of her master’s death - this Yagga had started sitting on this perch to cast illusions into the night that drew villagers away from the safety of their little town through the jungle to her castle. Even though she was a creature created by dark magic, she had no ill intentions towards the people she drew to her home. This Yagga had a noble duty to fulfill.

When her master died she left behind The Soul Mask, the only magical item capable of restoring peace to Aumon. And it was her duty to find the next Wearer Of The Soul Mask. But exposing the mask to the eyes of the world was much too dangerous. If the Queen were to discover where the mask was hidden, it was unlikely even the strength of the most powerful Yagga that had ever lived would be enough to stop her. So this Yagga lived in secrecy, calling people from the village into the night with her magic hoping the mask would accept them.

Time and time again the people she called from the villages at the seaside disappointed her. They were too greedy, too angry, too arrogant, or too weak. The Soul Mask would not show the slightest sign of interest in any of them. So the Yagga sent them back to their homes with wiped memories of their night at her black rock castle.

But after 100 years of this game, the Yagga began to hear the rumors circulate through the villages of a “ghost on the mountain” that steals people from their homes in the night. She wasn’t particularly surprised thinking back to all the people she had let go over the years. Her magic was capable of wiping the immediate memory of the people she led to her lair on the mountain, but there was always a possibility that memories could come back in dreams.

The Yagga knew it was a mistake to let anyone go, but life was a precious thing. Even as a being of the darkness, the Yagga were taught to respect life and always made an attempt to seek harmony among the people around them so they could continue their secretive way of life.

When the good King ruled so many years ago, Yaggas were looked at like kind spirits of the moon that preserved Aumon. But when the evil Queen had taken over, Pricilla’s master and the Yagga before her had decided that all knowledge of their kind must be destroyed so that they could become a myth that only existed as a bedtime story to scare children. It was the only way that one day they would be able to recover The Soul Mask and seek another wearer that could bring peace to their land.

Pricilla’s master and the Yagga before her had slipped into the shadows over many hundreds of years. But when Pricilla was turned into a Yagga her master trained her specifically for the night that they would raid the Queen’s castle and recover The Soul Mask.

For many years, Pricilla and her master planned their infiltration into Lanta, the Queen’s Kingdom on the Eastern coast of Aumon. Due to each Yagga having unique bodies and powers, Pricilla’s training had largely been teaching herself what she was capable of. While her master was a massive 7ft tall winged woman covered in dark purple scales that rippled with every movement of her clawed hands and feet, perfect for face to face bloody combat...Pricilla could be mistaken for a young redheaded elvish girl if you didn’t look too closely at her.

Barely 4ft tall with red bangs that hung in a straight line over her eyebrows, an onlooker might even think Pricilla cute if they saw her when she was wearing her standard white dress that drug along the ground. What the white dress concealed was a mess of black tendrils that consumed Pricilla from her belly button down. As Pricilla grew and learned more about her magic, she found that she could lengthen and shorten the tendrils as she pleased to create virtually anything she could imagine. If she chose, Pricilla could shape her tendrils into a dozen spears, axes, and swords on command to become 15ft across cyclone of death...or morph them together into giant black wings for limited flying abilities. In addition to her impressive and near limitless physical abilities, Pricilla had a natural affinity for illusions that could penetrate most people’s minds and make them see whatever she wanted.

The two of them together was a more than formidable force, and given that Aumon had not seen or heard about Yaggas in several centuries, they had every advantage if they could get in and out quick enough.

They arrived on the Eastern coast of Aumon and watched the guards movements for 3 nights before they made their move...

Like a giant eagle, Priscilla’s master flew far over top of the castle and communicated through their shared mental bond the location of over 50 soldiers guarding the entrance to the resting place of The Soul Mask in the King’s tomb. As expected, there was no way to get around or sneak past them, so they would have to go through these men. Through their shared mental bond, Priscilla’s master commanded her to attack, and in unison, they reminded the world why they should fear the power of a Yagga.

Priscilla caught a brief glimpse of her master dive bombing the courtyard while she climbed up the castle wall, using her long tendrils to casually toss the lookout soldiers 30ft off the wall to the hard cobblestone streets below. When she reached the top, she got a full view of the destruction her master was causing in the courtyard below. Rings of purple fire bursted from the huge black leather wings of the pale skinned 7ft tall woman as she tore through handfuls of soldiers at a time.

It was the first time Pricilla had seen her master’s power of full display like this. Normally she would only see an occasional spell as her master taught her a lesson, but this was real war that required a full display of all her master’s secrets. Just then, her master lifted a soldier by his throat and burned a hole in his stomach before casting him like a human fire bomb into 3 more soldiers that all blew up in one fiery explosion. It was beautiful chaos.

Priscilla was so intent on watching her master that she was almost too slow to react when a volley of fire arrows large enough to briefly block out the moon were fired down into the courtyard at the monstrous woman that had already cut down a dozen soldiers. Launching herself off the castle wall to her master, Priscilla pushed her tendrils out in a dome that covered them from all sides.The drum of the arrows on Pricilla’s hardened apendages was deafening, but only added to their bloodlust. Priscilla opened up their protective dome as soon as the arrows quit falling and unleashed herself at the archers atop the wall while her master worked on breaking through the huge wooden doors that protected the King’s tomb.

With long bounds, Priscilla climbed the huge stone wall with her tendrils shooting out like spears impaling several soldiers at a time, but through the air she could feel the vibrations of the archers knocking their arrows on the wall opposite her. She had to move fast.

Using her tendrils to fling two soldiers across the courtyard to the far wall, Pricilla caused enough of a distraction to freeze the dozen or more archers preparing to fire a second volley at her master below. It gave her just enough time to leap through the air and use her tendrils as a glider to close the distance just before the archers could fire again. With her eyes now igniting neon purple, Priscilla erupted like a tiny purple volcano shooting fire out of her human hands while her tendrils shaped themselves into long blades to cut down any soldiers not burned from her magic.

That’s when she heard the whistle of an arrow behind her…

Reacting a fraction of a second too late, the arrow slipped past her defenses and sliced open Pricilla’s shoulder in a grazing shot. The Yagga were powerful, but they were not invincible. She removed the archer’s head before he could fire another arrow, but it did not ease the pain from the wound dripping black blood on her shoulder. Shouting in annoyance through their telepathic language, Priscilla screamed, “Finished down there yet?!”

In response she felt the swoosh of her master’s wings behind her as the huge woman landed on the castle wall with the tiny mask clutched in her huge hand. “Follow, apprentice.” her master commanded.

It was just in time too. A stream of what must have been a hundred soldiers were pouring out of the gates from the keep of the inner castle. The Yagga would not last much longer if they stuck around, and they had what they came for. Priscilla took one last look at the swaths of dead soldiers in their wake before throwing herself off the wall into the city of Lanta below the castle following to the dark forests of the Southern Coast where they would disappear with their prize.

When they arrived back at their black rock castle home on the mountain, it became quickly apparent there would be no rest for either of them tonight. Priscilla could sense she had grown more powerful than her master, and she was ready to take the mantle of Master Yagga for her own. The only way for Pricilla to do that was to kill her master. It was the Yagga’s duty to help shape the future of Aumon, but only the strongest Yagga would live to see.

The battle between Pricilla and her master had destroyed their abandoned castle on the mountain. Purple flames scorched the already black rock and sections of their fortress fell as her master tried to crush her with the weight of entire castle turrets, but Pricilla eventually prevailed and ate her master’s heart to absorb as much of her remaining power as possible. It would be Pricilla’s job alone to find a new Wearer Of The Soul Mask. And so here she was on the same perch she had sat on for over a century since her master’s death. Many had come to this castle, few had tried on the mask, but no one had been deemed worthy to replenish peace in the land of Aumon.

And that’s when she heard them…

She often listened to the villagers from her perch in the ruins on the mountain. The little fishing town was over 2 miles away on the coast, but her supernatural abilities granted Pricilla the privilege of knowing more about each of the villagers in town than they knew about each other.

She had taken a fondness to two very adventurous human boys that, for some reason, were climbing up the mountain towards her even as the night fell. It was a bold move to visit the ruins of her castle in the night, but that’s what she liked about them. They were more than just curious teenagers, they were bold.

Humans were usually not taken very kindly to in Aumon. Some peoples even prided themselves on “cleansing” humans when they inexplicably ended up in Aumon after crossing over from Earth by accident through a hole in one of the sealed portals.

Though the great migration from Earth happened long before even most natives of Aumon could remember, tribes still told stories about the cruelty of the humans. But fortunately, these two human boys were charismatic and entertaining. Plus, with no human females around, they were no threat to breed and spread like rats across Aumon like they had done on Earth.

Not wanting to be spotted, Pricilla allowed the black tendrils underneath her dress to carry her off her moonlight bathed perch and slip into her master’s old library to hide and wait for the humans.

Her supernatural abilities tracked each boy's movements up the mountain towards her home. She considered flashing through the night to scare them or invading the boy’s minds with hallucinations, but these two kids had an innocence in their voices that would bring a very rare smile to her lips as she listened to them argue. She would be satisfied reading while the boys explored the outskirts of her home.

With both boys still over a mile away, the Yagga picked up one of the first books her old master had brought back to her attempting to teach her what she had become. The title of the book read, “Supernatural Powers And Their Influence On Us”. It was one of the few books that mentioned the ancient line of Yaggas in surprisingly accurate detail. Flashing back, Pricsilla remembered her days as a new apprentice here in th black rock castle. Her former master was very strict that she learned everything about the history of their kind…

“Apprentice! Sit…I have brought a gift for you.”

“Yes Master.” replied Pricilla dutifully.

“This is a book that will tell you some of what you need to know about your developing powers. The more you understand, the faster you will develop and the less fear you will have from the pesky raiding parties that stalk these woods. Read now.”

The book talked about how the magic of the Yagga existed long before the great migration of the peoples from Earth. But since the migration, the dark magic of the Yagga infected young girls from different species, turning them into powerful, mythic creatures people told scary bedtime stories about. Pricilla knew this to be true as she could faintly remember her father’s concerned face as he told stories about the winged beast in the forest that stole children who stayed out past sundown. Priscilla was a skeptical child that always liked to push the boundaries of her father’s rules. She had thought the winged beast of the forest had been a myth, but here she was over 200 years later transformed into a Yagga.

“Guess you were right about that one dad.” she muttered.

Flipping through the pages, Pricilla found the chapter on her species. The title was written in tall, wicked-looking letters that read…

“Yagga. The Dark Sorceress.”

Bedtime stories about ancient creatures kidnapping children were not something Pricilla’s master had worried about, but the accuracy of this book was astounding work by a dwarf and could not be allowed to circulate in Queen’s world.

Whoever the dwarven author was had managed to obtain the information that all Yagga began as young girls - usually between 4-8 years old - that would disappear in huge numbers unexplainably every few hundred years. He had documented one case in the elves' Northern forest home where over twenty young female elves and handful of young female orcs had disappeared in a matter of two weeks over 900 years ago. It was the same group of little girls Pricilla’s old master had been part of…

When kidnapped, the little girls would undergo rituals that infused them with dark magic that corrupted their bodies and transformed them into monstrous creatures. All Yagga had unique traits, but it was not uncommon for the children to grow wings, horns, have their skin change color, or in Priscilla’s case, have their legs replaced with a mess of shadowy tendrils.

After the rituals were completed, the little girls would be forced to fight each other to the death to reveal the strongest of them. Anyone who refused to fight would be killed to prevent corrupted little girls from straying back to their villages and keep the Yagga’s rituals a secret. After several days of battle among the girls, the lone survivor would be taken under the wing of the current Yagga as an apprentice where they would develop into an extremely powerful creature that would eventually rise up and overthrow her master so the process could start again.

Pricilla flashed back to killing her way through the corrupted little girls that had been kidnapped with her by her old master. When she killed the last girl, her master brought her here to the Southern coast where she learned to fully master and weaponize the dark mess of tendrils tucked under her dress. That was almost 300 years ago. And that meant Pricilla had been the only Yagga left in Aumon for almost a hundred years since she killed her master.

Normally a new Master Yagga would seek an apprentice right away, but the possession of The Soul Mask was far more important than kidnapping little girls from their homes for the time being.

Closing the book, Pricilla extended her senses into the forest once again. The boys were close...She argued with herself in her head for a moment whether or not she should take them for judgement before The Soul Mask as she wished to keep her presence a mystery, but she also knew that she had to find new candidates for the mask soon so she could take on an apprentice. It had been 3 years since she had last called villagers into her home before rumors of the “ghost on the mountain” became too great and she had to lay low. Maybe it was time to let those rumors circulate again.

“Just a peek…” she whispered to herself.

Chapter 2: Twins

“Gerard! We need to go home!”

Despite the falling sun outside, Draco could see his brother Gerard’s wicked smile flash at him. “C’mon, Draco! We’ve wanted to check out this castle for MONTHS and we don’t have to work in the village tomorrow. Plus, what ‘home’ are you even talking about? We don’t have a home anymore.”

“Well…those nice people down the street let us set up our tent in their yard when we help them take care of their farm. That’s kind of a home…”

An annoyed look from Gerard prompted Draco into defending himself.

“I just...I don’t know! I just don’t want to walk back to the only nice place we have to sleep in the dark.”

“O please little brother, don’t worry!” chuckled Gerard. “We’ll just sleep in the ruins if it’s too dark to walk back. I’m sure we’ll find a nice place.”

“First, we’re twins Gerard. You’re like, a few minutes older than me and that doesn’t count as ‘little brother’. Second, sleep...in the ruins?” stammered Draco.

Gerard just laughed again and picked up his pace. “Keep up little brother!” he shouted back at Draco.

Exasperated, Draco leapt over a log in the trail and followed his nimble brother through the darkening forest.

Draco and Gerard were village mysteries. The boys had arrived some time ago out of the blue without any parents or caravan to guide them into town. As humans, they were regarded with suspicion when they first arrived. They were bombarded with questions about how they got to Aumon, but being so young they hardly had any memories to share. They only remembered being from a place called Florida and being stranded in the ocean with their dad after a big wave had swamped their boat. Presumably they had accidentally stumbled across an old portal used to travel from Earth to Aumon in the ocean and wound up on the shore of this tiny seaside community.

Most villagers had been assured the boys were cursed to bring bad luck, but as the years ticked by most of the villagers came to like the two blonde haired boys. They helped around the village and always had something entertaining rattling around in their heads, but they couldn’t keep a job in the village no matter how hard they tried. They both had a sense for adventure, so stability was difficult for them.

They had interned as Blacksmith’s apprentice’s with Rhena. She was a very large, muscular Tusk woman covered in a fine layer of fur with 2 small tusks that protruded from her chin. As her gruff look would suggest, she had a zero tolerance policy for sick days or tom-foolery. The boys were fired from that job almost as soon as they started when they were found fencing with real swords in the back of the shop.

A peaceful and friendly old dwarf named Borris had taken them out on the fishing boat a time or two, but the boys spent most the time clutching their stomachs from sea sickness instead of pulling in fish.

They had kept jobs as town criers for a long while running back and forth across the rough terrain on the coast of Aumon to deliver messages, but Gerard had tried to hire a band of forest pixies to do the work for them. At first it seemed like a great idea and very entrepreneurial. If he would deliver a full bowl of berries to the pixies every week, the pixies would deliver messages for him and he would get paid for the pixies work! Everyone would be happy and Gerard and Draco could make near passive income. The only problem was that pixies are notorious little trouble makers and started writing their own messages to villagers. The boy's job as town criers came to a messy halt when the pixies delivered a letter to a large neighboring town that read…

Your daughter is fat.

Despite having no from name or address and being addressed to no one in particular, there was an uproar from the neighboring, much larger town up the coast and a few nasty messages were sent back and forth. The only thing that ended up stopping an all out battle between their tiny fishing village and the larger town up the coast was when Gerard and Draco proved the message had been forged with berry juice and not delivered with real ink...the handiwork of troublesome pixies without a doubt.

The boys were immediately fired.

Since they had used up all normal job opportunities in their coastal village, the boys had spent the past month bouncing from village hut to village hut helping where they could in exchange for a nice home cooked meal and the occasional handful of change from a kind neighbor.

It was a perfect set up for them. Plenty of free time to roam the countryside and explore other opportunities that were afforded to a couple 15 year old kids. Normally, children their age were taken by the Queen’s army to be “educated” in the city. Basically they would be brainwashed to impose the Queen’s rule.

Many of the kids were trained as soldiers that would be condemned to serve in the Queen’s military and sent to neutralize small rebellions across Aumon, but others would be sent back to their home villages to police the streets in their dark red armor. Some became tax collectors, and the occasional few would be elected as city council members that supported the Queen’s policies.

Lucky for Gerard and Draco, they had no parents and no home address here in Aumon. And that meant soldiers could not recruit them if they couldn’t find the boys at a residence within the village. Even devoted supporters of the Queen usually thought that humans deserved no place in the Queen’s army, and Gerard and Draco were fine with that. Since they weren’t forced into being soldiers in the Queen’s schools, the boys had plenty of free time to explore. And that free time is what led them to the black rock castle ruins on the side of the mountain.

They found out about the place thanks to an old, superstitious elven man that firmly believed the boys were cursed. He would ramble nonsense most of the time, but occasionally something useful would slip out of his mouth.

“Spies! Spies I tell you!” The old man shouted from his porch.

Draco had always been the more sensitive one and tried to talk with the man. “Who do you think sent us sir?”

“Ha! He admits it!” The old man shouted back at them. “Spies from the ghost on the mountain! She’s going to come down from the ruins and destroy us all!”

Gerard nudged Draco on the shoulder, “Listen man, you’re not gonna convince that guy of anything, but we should definitely check out those ruins.”

Now here they were at the edge of the ruins for their first visit to this mysterious place. It had been a long hike in the dark, but the black stone marvel of this fallen castle was worth every bit of it. It was clear this old castle used to stand tall and proud, but was now strewn across a large section of the mountain in ruin. Melted rocks, blast marks, and cracked stones told the story of a great battle that happened here long ago. But the jungle had done a good job of covering this ancient crime scene over the years. The boys spent some time surveying the castle stones and made up stories about what kind of battles could have caused the destruction of such a tall castle, but their detective work was not very effective in the dark. They needed to find a place to sleep so tomorrow in the light they could continue their search for answers.

What used to be a gate into the castle courtyard was now covered in green vines that looked like thousands of green tentacles sprouting from the ground and tearing down the tall stone walls that once protected the old castle. With the light quickly fading, the boys slipped through a gap in the castle walls and agreed to sleep here tonight rather than brave the jungle at night when all sorts of creatures could be stalking them. The castle was spooky and gave both of them chills, but sleeping here beat being stolen away by a werewolf in the night.

Draco was normally the more nervous of the two, but even Gerard had to admit the place had a strange aura about it. When they crossed the threshold into the castle, the boys paused and looked at each other as a shared chill ran up and down their spines.

Draco gulped. “I’m not sure about this Gerard.”

Normally quick with a comeback, Gerard just stood still as the dark castle ruins peered down at him. Recovering after a few moments, Gerard nudged his brother and cocked his head further towards the center of the castle where there was another, intact set of gates that would have normally protected the inner residences of this castle many years back. “Let’s get in there. At least that way we won’t have to worry about anything following us inside.”

It was not often they got creatures like ogres or werewolves in these parts, but they still didn’t want to risk hanging out in the open and tempting fate.

“Good idea.” replied Draco.

The wooden gates of the inner sanctum swung open easier than they would have expected centuries old rotting gates to do. The marks on the ground looked like maybe these gates had been used recently...

As they shut the gates behind them, an almost immediate sense of security took them over. They sighed a big breath of relief and threw their bags down without bothering to explore the area around them. A voice in their head reminded them how tired they were after their long hike and how badly they needed sleep.

“No need to start a fire, just lie down in the grass and drift off…” the voice whispered.

If they weren’t so heavily influenced by the Yagga’s magic filling the air, they might have seen the wicked looking set of glowing purple eyes perched boldly on the castle turret above them…

Chapter 3: Captured

Draco was the first to wake and stretch his arms out wide for a big yawn. He was just about to wake up Gerard when he realized they were not in the same place they went to bed last night. It appeared they were now in some sort of amphitheater inside the main castle where an old king or queen would have looked out over all their subjects. Draco could imagine going back in time and laughing in this same room as they drank wine and toasted to their leader speaking from the front of the room. But the image was incomplete due to the entire castle wall being crumbled behind the front stage, opening up a beautiful sight of the ocean in the distance and little glimpses of smoke rising from their village. Draco might have been able to appreciate the view a little more if he didn’t notice the little redheaded girl in a white dress standing on the stage with her back turned to the boys.

“Gerard...get up.” whispered Draco without ever taking his eyes off the little girl at the front of the room.

Yawning loudly, Gerard stretched his arms out and greeted his brother by patting his face a few times instead of opening his eyes.

“Draco! How did you sleep buddy? I had the best dreams…”

Draco fought off Gerard’s hands and kept his eyes locked on the little girl. She had her back turned to them and appeared to be enamored with the rising sun in the distance instead of his brother’s loud wake up noises. Normally Draco would reach out to help a little girl lost in ruins miles away from a village, but he had a feeling of suspicion about her that he couldn’t quite shake.

“Gerard, get up. Something's not right here.” he whispered icily.

Sensing the seriousness in his brother’s voice, Gerard immediately snapped his eyes open and scanned the room until both of their gazes came to rest on the unmoving little girl in the white dress. Both boys stood up and looked at each other, puzzled of what their next move should be. Through silent, improvised sign language, the boys had a short argument on whether they should say hi or run for the hills. By the time they looked back to the front of the room, they realized the little girl was staring right back at them as they argued silently at the top of the amphitheater.

Freezing for a moment, they examined the little girl while her unsmiling face took them in. Gerard broke the silence after a few moments. “Hi there little girl. Do you need someone to take you home?”

Both boy’s hearts went ice cold as the “little girl” smirked and shook her head side to side like she knew something they didn’t. Something wasn’t right here and both the boys could feel it. Some brotherly language allowed them to turn at the same time to run down the hallway behind them, but they skidded to a stop when they found themselves looking at the same little girl in the white dress standing just a few feet down the hall in front of them.

“Great! You’re already headed in the right direction! Follow me please!” exclaimed the little girl. Her voice was charming, but hid an underlying tone of maliciousness.

Her face was smiling, but everything about her from the way she moved to the tone in her voice hinted to the boys she was enjoying their astounded and terrified expressions. She turned and floated more than walked across the floor in an unnatural way. But due to her white dress that dragged along the floor, there was no way to see how she seemed to float down the hall. Terrified to follow the clearly supernatural little girl, the boys hesitated.

Gerard looked at his brother, then Draco looked back at him. Together they gulped and stared back at the little girl who was looking at them expectantly over her shoulder. This standoff lasted several seconds before the little girl spoke again in the same cheery, yet dreadful voice. “Boys...please don’t make me make you come. I can promise you it’s a much less pleasant experience, and if you’re going to be ready for what I’m going to show you, you have to be in tip top spirits. Got it?”

Still terrified and clueless, both boys nodded slowly as they realized what they were dealing with was out of their control. Surrendering, they followed the little red-headed girl in the white dress down the hall. After a few terrifying moments of passing torches that had no natural explanation to be lit deep within the depths of this abandoned castle, they entered a church-like room that had natural light streaming through several broken, stained glass windows. The room was filled with almost a dozen rows of wooden benches that could have held over a hundred people.

‘Sit.’ Commanded the little red haired girl in a sweet, yet intimidating voice.

The boys tried to sit down towards the back of the room, but a single look from the little girl told them that would not be acceptable. With her laser-like gaze examining their every movement, the boys let their shaking legs carry them to the front row where they collapsed onto the wooden benches. Satisfied, the little girl continued her unnatural floating walk up onto the stage of the old church room.

“So, boys...are you aware of the unique weapons of power scattered across our land?” inquired a new voice from the little girl that seemed to fill the room and echo in the boy’s minds.

His voice shaking, Gerard ignored her question and asked, “W-w-what...are you?”

The little girl sighed. “We have far more interesting matters to get to, but if you must call me something you can use the name Priscilla. You already know me as “the ghost of the mountain” I believe. Now are you aware-”

The boys drowned out her speech as she turned her back to them continuing on with her lecture.

“Dude, we gotta make a run for it.” whispered Gerard to his brother. Draco nodded back to him and they were gone, sprinting for the door. Nearing the exit, they felt a swoosh over their heads and watched as the little girl landed in their path, blocking the exit. Dark tendrils spilled forth from underneath her dress and lifted her up several feet off the ground. Two of the many tendrils that supported her whipped back and shaped themselves into hardened, scorpion-like tails ready to strike while the uncountable other black appendages spread out horizontally, blocking the exit completely.

The boys reared back and fell to the ground in terror looking at the tiny girl with glowing purple eyes riding atop a mass of black tendrils. They clutched each other in fear as the creature leaned her tiny body closer to them and said in a hissing voice that no longer belonged to a little girl. “You do NOT get to run from this.”

Chapter 4. Discovering Destiny

Pricilla was surprised by her sudden anger at the boys running from her. This was the first time she had drawn villagers into the castle without spending several hours infiltrating their minds to control their actions first. This sort of fear from the two was not something she was used to. Now she wasn’t quite sure how she was going to get these boys to try on the mask without spending the next couple hours casting spells to put them at ease. But terrifying them more than they already were would probably not make things any easier.

Shrinking back down and tucking her tendrils back beneath her little white dress, she slithered over to the boys. Their eyes were clenched closed in fear, so she waited patiently for them to open their eyes so she could apologize. A few seconds later Draco looked up at her little 4ft tall figure standing over them without her tendrils.

“My apologies. Let’s start again shall we?” asked Pricilla politely.

It took close to an hour of goading the boys back into the front seats of the church room before she could even explain herself.

“Gerard, Draco, I do not want to hurt you.” she said, looking at each of them as she spoke. “The reason you’re here is because myself, along with most of Aumon, are not happy with the Queen’s rule. And I want you to stop her.”

Silence filled the room for several moments.

“Well, why don’t you stop her? You’re...whatever you are.” spat Gerard.

“I am a Yagga. There has only ever been two Yaggas, and there will only ever be as many as two Yaggas. However, I killed my master, and now I am the only one. I cannot risk my life and the end of my species lineage over this quest.”

Gerard blurted out, “O well great! You killed your own master? How do you expect us to trust you if that’s what you do in your free time?”

Priscilla smiled briefly and locked eyes with Gerard. “I don’t expect you to trust me, I expect you to listen. Now look at me.”

Priscillia’s eyes flashed neon purple and both boys fell into a trance as images began to dance through their minds.

“Several hundred years ago, a brave and noble young orcish man pure of heart discovered the lair of an ancient Yagga. This orc was seeking my species' help because he wanted to change the land of Aumon. His family was killed in the wars between his own species, and he was but a child when the forest elves took him in and told him stories of ancient creatures called the Yagga that had changed history several times before. So when he finally found the Yagga he was looking for, he asked her to help him bring the land of Aumon to peace. Because the Yagga saw this orc was pure of heart, she agreed to help him and traveled across Aumon seeking help from many ancient creatures for their magic to infuse with her own. The White Wyrms of the Western Mountains, The Gem Toad of the Eastern Swamps, The Silvestre from the Northern Forest, The Karkharos of the Southern Archipelago, and several others who prefer to remain unnamed. What they created together was an item of power known as The Soul Mask. Have you two heard of The Soul Mask?”

Still in a daze from her magic, both boys nodded their heads weakly.

“Though thought of as a myth, The Soul Mask is very real and has a power in it greater than the world has ever known, but it can only be wielded by the one who seeks goodness and peace in the world. It took almost a decade to craft The Soul Mask, but eventually the Yagga returned to the orc and presented him with the opportunity to wield a power unlike anything the world had ever known. Upon dawning the mask, the orc was gifted with powers and knowledge that no one but the Wearer Of The Soul Mask truly understands. That same orc became a King that brought peace to our land by traveling across all of Aumon to unite the tribes and get them to surrender their weapons of power for peace. A few battles broke out, and the soon to be King was attacked many times, but miraculously he always survived and recruited more to his side wherever he went. Decades later, the King built the city of Lanta on the East Coast with a lighthouse that stood taller than any other building to remind every being in Aumon that hope, love, and empathy stand taller than all the bad in the world no matter how hard times got. But with all the most powerful weapons in the world now under his control, the King was terrified that these weapons would one day be used on the battlefield again to wreak havoc on Aumon. Hoping to avoid this possibility, he vaulted the weapons and The Soul Mask under his castle in hopes no one would ever have need for those weapons of power again.”

She could hear the boy’s thoughts as they tried to fight the images she was forcing into their minds.

“Ah that’s right, your Queen spreads messages to you that the old King was corrupt. That he wanted the tribes to be defenseless without their weapons of power so he stole them. She lies. The truth is that the King married a beautiful human woman that crossed over from Earth. She craved power, and the King craved her. He fell in love with the idea of changing her heart and took her across Aumon, showing her a land at peace. A classic man’s mistake, thinking he can change a woman...Instead of love for the land, the Queen found herself appalled that the King would bow to his subjects' traditions and look at creatures like The Silvestre, Wyrms, and even Trolls that roamed freely across the Aumon as guides that would lead them forward into a new age. Seeing him as weak, the King’s wife killed him at night as he slept. She claimed the King was killed by a rouge band of orcs that raided their carriage, but it was her. And when she took the throne she sent her favorite generals out into the land wielding the weapons and armor of power. But instead of giving them back to the tribes they belonged to, her thugs took over Aumon by force and built castles of their own to rule from.”

Priscilla ended the illusion and let both the boys come out of their trance. Reaching out with one of her long tendrils, she released a spell on a hidden door in the wall. The stones of the wall pulled apart revealing a hidden compartment in the wall just large enough to hold a chest high stone stand. On that stand was a dark black mask that looked like something a person at a masquerade party might wear. It had an opening that started at the bridge of the nose leaving the mouth and chin exposed, but reached all the way down to the jawbones on either side of the wearer’s mouth.

Priscilla lifted the mask out of it’s resting spot and spoke, “You two are going to help me change the Fate of our land. As the mask will tell if you are accepted, there are 8 very powerful weapons and pieces of armor scattered across Aumon. Right now, they belong to the Queendom and her thugs that she uses to keep the territories across OUR Aumon in check. Few creatures can stand up against those weapons...and most of those with the power to fight them are long gone...But with the power of this mask, should it choose to accept one of you, you will be able to claim the weapons of power and retake our Aumon.”

She approached the boys with the mask in hand. “Will you wear the mask?” she asked.

Draco grabbed Gerard’s arm and tried to run again, but Gerard was rooted to the spot and would not go.

Shouting, Draco pleaded with his brother. “Dude, she’s crazy! Let’s go!”

But Gerard was lost in another world staring into the mask.

“Gerard?” Draco asked in fear.

“I’m still here, Draco.” said Gerard quietly. “I’m still here…”

Priscilla was watching the two boys with great interest. She had expected to force the mask on them, but she could tell the boy named Gerard was thinking deeply about his decision. There was something in him that was pure, and she could tell the mask was interested in him.

Draco still argued with his brother. “Dude, let’s go HOME. This is a monster that kills people, hell, she killed her own master! You expect her to tell you the truth?”

Gerard looked his brother in the eyes. “Do you know how many times the soldiers that came into town took more taxes than they needed, Draco?”

Draco stopped pulling on his brother’s sleeve and paused for a moment in surprise, “What does that have to do with anything, Gerard?.”

The intensity of Gerard’s voice rose. “It has everything to do with this Draco. What about the time last year that soldier executed that man in the street?”

“He was a criminal Gerarad…”

“No,” replied Gerard, “he was a citizen fighting for freedom. And he was executed for peacefully protesting the Queen taking more taxes than she deserved. They slit his throat and let him bleed out on the street. That’s not the work of a just Queen brother, that’s the work of corruption. Now we might have a chance to stop it.”

Draco was speechless. “Gerard...I…”

Gerard cut him off. “I’m putting that mask on.”

Priscilla watched as the boy pulled his sleeve out of his brother’s grip and presented himself to her. Lowering the mask towards his face, she could see the blue crackling magic struggling to break out after being kept dormant for so many centuries.

“I finally found him.” she thought to herself.

Chapter 5: Start Of A Journey

Rhena didn’t know where the two got the money, but by the time they showed up at her blacksmithing shop they were both riding horses with saddlebags, not a cheap purchase by any means.

“How on Earth did you two manage to get your grubby little hands on horses?” she asked in her gruff voice.

Gerard smiled. “Haha! You haven’t changed at all since you fired us Rhena. Hope you’re still willing to let us shop here? We’re leaving and we need the best gear in town!”

Suspiciously she looked the boy up and down. He was normally high strung, loud, and childish, but today he was speaking in a calm, powerful way she wasn’t used to.

“Uh...sure.” she said, too taken back to ask questions.

As they sorted through the gear, Gerard picked out a pair of nice skinning knives and tossed a bow to Draco.

“You were always better with a bow than I was Draco. Something like that gonna work for ya?”

Testing the flex of the shaft a few times, Draco nodded his approval and slung the bow over his shoulders. They finished up with Gerard grabbing a pair of long daggers with sheaths, some day packs that fit easily on their backs, and two waterskins. It was the biggest sale Rhena had seen in her shop in months. Dropping a small sack of coins in Rhena’s hand, Gerard bid her farewell and hopped back up on his horse.

“We’re outta here Rhena! Good luck with everything!”

Quickly opening the sack to make sure she hadn’t been shorted, Rheena found Gerard had left her more than double the money she asked for and shouted after him. “Boy! Stop!”

Both boys just waved back at her and spurred their horses into a trot. Confused and thrilled at the same time, Rheena studied the two closely as they rode away. For some reason her eyes were drawn to the creepy black mask strapped to Gerard’s bag bouncing up and down with each step of his horse. She never thought of the boys as the dress up kind...