Tales Of Earthem: P.O.T.S
Chapter 16

Verse 15- White Velvet Storm

Thekids closed in on the border west from the royal city, their steads hurdledalong the sandy ground beneath them, as the night sky shone with a purple tint.Tristine quickly brought her horse to a halt,” alright you two we need todiscuss something before we go any further” the young girl said” what’s thematter what do you need to talk about” Jyro asked,” do you remember when we metthat weird guy Vincent, and he showed us that Note…… well I’m guessingsomeone’s been following us if you’ve not realised already” Johnny and Jyroboth had similar thoughts but just didn’t speak about it, “ so… yeah the momentwe cross the border its survival of the fittest” Tristine explained, “what doyou mean “Johnny then quickly filled in the blanks for his friend, “ I had afeeling you didn’t pick up on it, the briefing letter it was short and precise,’ the test starts as soon as you cross the border’ meaning once you cross itanything goes Jyro” explained Johnny, Jyro suddenly became weary and realisedthe seriousness of the situation” so basically as soon as we cross it we’ll….”“Yeah we’ll most likely be fighting whoever’s been following us” the young girlreplied.

Cantasborder edge was distinguished by the a long cemented bridge called the ‘Roth’it was the same bridge the Beetle Bus crossed the first time Jyro came toCanta. They came across the bridgesentrance and stared down its path leading into the distance, since it was nightthere was only so far they could see, so the stars above where there only thingthat gave them a feint light outlet whilst they moved around . “After we crossthe bridge the mountains pass is up ahead but stay alert even though we’re inthe green zone there’s still a small chance will encounter Lesser Demons “SaidTristine before quickly directing her horse onwards. The group rode on down thecemented bridge sprinting through the wind. They almost came to the end of thebridge and looking up ahead Jyro could see the mountain that towered above, italmost looked like it was touching the sky the boy thought” we’ve almostcleared the bridge guys, were heading for those trees over there the path tothe mountain begins through there” Tristine bellowed to the boys behind her,but as they rode through the remainder of the bridges terrain Tristines eyescaught the sight of creatures that resided West from them, in an attempt to notdraw their attention she began riding away from them in an attempt to curvearound to the tree. Which momentarily proved futile as the beast’s nose caughtthe scent of them,” Crap…. You guys were going to have to speed things up Ithink we have company” Tristine yelled, Jyro glanced to his side to see a groupof four legged creatures laying in the sand, their eyes were red as blood, andblack spots covered their brown coated fur bodies, the moment the creatures sawthe kids their brown fur suddenly spiked upwards, and in a matter of secondsthey dashed after the kids. In the midst of Jyro glaring at the creaturesTristine had already rode on forwards leaving a considerable distance betweenthem both, “hold on tight Johnny” the boy then kicked his stead signalling itto increase its pace, But The dark Horse didn’t respond it kept the same paceit was going, “Jyro what’s it doing why we not speeding up” cried Johnny “Ihave no clue…. Come on boy come on we need to go faster” pleaded Jyro to thestead who had no intention of going quicker, the creatures dashed after thehorse zoning in on them with each stride they took, Johnny glanced backwardsand saw one of them peering down close behind them,” JYRO seriously we need todo something, or were done for” Johnny wailed, but Jyro had no idea why hishorse didn’t respond he kicked it again and again but still no movement,“Boanerges! I COMMAND YOU run fast, as fast as you can” Jyro unknowingly placedhis cursed hand upon the steads neck, the animal then responded. The scream fromJyro finally reached his stead as its slow run quickly turned into a quick dashand in seconds they were moving at an incredible speed, Johnny gripped on withhis dear life, as he slowly looked behind him and saw the lesser demons fadingaway. Johnny sighed in relief butnoticed the steads speed continued to accelerate, they were moving so fast thesounds of the wind cut off all hearing. Jyros shouts of stop didn’t reach thestead who continued sprinting through the land at a high speed, the stead flewpast Tristine and into the trees, and the two boys braced themselves thenducked as the stead ran through the oncoming bushes. Countless leaves andsticks bashed into their faces whilst they tried their best to hold onto to thehorse. Moments later the ground below the horse suddenly turned steep and dueto the speed it was running it struggled to keep its balance and tumbled downthe path, the two boys were thrown off and rolled into the bushes in oppositedirection.

Jyroslowly opened his eyes and the white lights sprinkled upon the purple abyss wasall he saw, Jyro realised he was looking at the sky. The boy slowly pickedhimself up, his head felt sore and stings from cuts and bruises were feltaround his legs and arms, he rose up and looked around, there was nothing buttrees and bushes around him “Johnny! Johnny where are you?” he hollered but onlysilence responded to him. Jyro slowly moved forwards carefully watching everystep he took suspecting that an lesser demon might be lurking, his ears faintlybegun hearing something, he couldn’tmake it out but begun rushing onwards hoping it was one of his friends. Onwardshe walked, entering further into the unknown only surrounded by towering treesand bushes, the noises slowly became clearer the further he walked, it was avoice, and the voice seemed to be singing. Jyro continued to trail the singing,he almost felt like he was hallucinating why would someone be singing out herein this place he thought to himself, as he arrived at the source there wasbushes in front of him covering what lay ahead, the boy slowly moved them asideand stepped through, he stumbled through and heard the soft voice singing againalmost sounding like an angel, he looked ahead and saw a long haired blondegirl sitting on a log and watching the stars, the girl turned to look at him,the girl sitting on the log was no other than Isis Gates.

Jyrosheart skipped a beat, Why is she here? What do I do now? Countless questions ranthrough the boys mind as he stared at the blonde girl who sat in front of himsmirking whilst she played with her hair. Jyro slowly walked towards hisclassmate remembering what she did to that demon during the showcase,” Isis...why you out here” the boy muttered,” isn’t obvious I got lost, I mean it’s soscary in these woods and I didn’t know what to do” Isis softly replied, theyoung girl then begun to sniffle which suddenly turned into her weeping. Jyrowas startled by the girls sudden tears” it’s alright, you’re not alone anymore“Jyro said whilst trying to console the girl, “ pffft... hahahaha, you actuallyfell for that” Blurted Isis who continued to laugh hysterically, Jyro looked onin confusion at her wondering if she was sane or not. “Well to answer yourquestion truthfully I was bored, so I decided to wait here and sift out thecowards trying to take the safest road” she said whilst smiling menacinglytowards Jyro, “so everyone that tried to come this way you ….”Jyro asked, “yupppthey turned right back around and went through the Danger area” she said, “whywould you do that not everyone wants to fight demons you know I don’tunderstand why you’d…”, “BECAUSE I CAN” she yelled “ no one will stand againstme or rather they’d rather not risk ending their life to do so, so why should Inot take advantage and enjoy myself” she said to Jyro who couldn’t muster upcourage to respond to her outburst. “Think about it in a way they should thankme I’m giving their meaningless life excitement, those born weak should bethrown into the lion’s den some of them might survive u know, haha wouldn’tthat be fun” voiced the deranged girl, the more time Jyro spent around her herealised more and more that Isis gates was someone he should stay well awayfrom. “ohhh but you wouldn’t know what it’s like to be weak would you…. Nopeyou wouldn’t your just like me , your chosen by the gods, gifted to lead thesepack of worms around us” said Isis who then spat on the floor, “ see there justas worthless as that” she continued, “just because there weaker than youdoesn’t mean their life’s are any less important, there’s always somethingpeople can do, as long as your alive theirs always hope” responded Jyro whoclenched his fist gaining some courage. His words shocked the young girl whostood there eyes widened in disbelief “hmmm and you truly believe that right”Jyro nodded his head “sigh then I guess I was wrong, your just as lowly andpointless like everyone else, said Isis she then stood up and raised her handto the sky ‘spiritus veniunt” , Jyro suddenly felt a sharp surge of wind brush past him the windmoved like it was being sucked into isis’s palms and moments later the windslowly begun gathering itself around Isis like a shroud of amour, its visiblywhite current spiralled around the girl like a separate entity. Jyro slowlyapproached back as the winds figure grew bigger and bigger around Isis, helooked closely and could make out a menacing face inside it. “Are you scarednow….. I saw what you can do, Lightning right since I saw it I’ve been bitingmy lip all night to see who’s stronger, hahaha come fight me “she said, whilstIsis heckled away Jyro begun to think of the best possible way to handle thesituation. In a moment of panic Jyro brought out the Zooz stick and screamed“Fulminis Pulsus”, a shockwave of lightning burst from the weapon towards theominous wind it blew a hole inside it that simply refilled itself momentslater, “haha are you stupid wind beats lightning stupid and the air around bothof us is my weapon, if this deity guarding me loses an arm or head it simplyreattaches itself with the endless air that surrounds us” she explained,“deity?” Jyro repeated “oh indeed you heard correctly I mastered this Brandyears ago to the point the Wind itself decided to be with me ,meaning I commandthe earths wind itself” ,Isis then lifted up her arms and the wind grew fierce.Jyro felt the trees rustling frantically as the air cut through them soundinglike knives being sliced along a steel frame, he could barely see through thestorm that was creating around him and couldn’t attack even if he wanted butjust when all hope seemed lost a sudden burning sensation shot through hiscursed arm and the wind that covered around Isis grew into a fierce storm. Theburning grew more painful sending Jyro to his knees clutching the arm, Jyroremoved his glove and looked at his arm and saw a red spark flickering throughthe wrappings, the boy then suddenly heard faint whispers in a language he didnot understand, chattering away in his head. Meanwhile the ominous windprotecting Isis formed somewhat of a monstrous face above, Jyros arm continuedto flicker and the burning grew even more painful, he cried and clutched to thefloor in pain, he could hear the whispers becoming louder as the pain worsened,it seemed that the monstrous wind could also hear the whispers because itlooked as if it was replying to whoever was doing them. The whispers suddenlyceased and the pain from his arm also, the monstrous wind distorted and theface dispersed away in the air.

Theheavy force of wind that was present slowly ceased to a calm and the armourthat surrounded Isis begun to disappear. Isis looked around in bewilderment anddidn’t understand why her onslaught stopped, “Venio” she spoke “Venio…… comeout you stupid Wind come out” she voiced but nothing responded back to her thewind didn’t come. Whilst the girl shouted and commanded the empty sky, Jyrostill sat on his knees clutching at the pain he felt from his arm, Isis then glancedover at the boy laying in distress “it… it was you wasn’t it you did somethingdidn’t you” she said with a cracking speech, the girls eyes suddenly filledwith a cold stare and gaze down towards Jyro who suddenly begun to feel animmense pressure coming towards him from the girl. Isis slowly continued toapproach the boy and said “tell me …. How did you stop my wind” , the girlslowly gazed at the bandaged arm he was clutching onto “mmm your arm why are you holding it like thatlet me see it….show me what your hiding” she demanded, now Jyro was in no stateto move and every nerve on his body froze up. Isis slowly crouched down andbore closer towards Jyro, as she slowly lifted her hand and stretched it out totouch his arm a sudden sound was heard. Isis quickly became alerted and spunaround “incises” she said, a slash of wind sliced through the air cutting the incomingArrow flying towards her. The young lady scowled into the bushes and smirked, “youmight as well come out now I’d hate to have to blow this whole forest away” shesaid ,rustling was heard in the bushes and out stepped Tristine Morrowind.

Theyoung blue headed girl emerged with her bow gripped tightly in her hands. Isisand Tristine glared at one another for a few moments, Isis then begun cacklingto herself “arrows? Seriously that’s what you come at me with… well this shouldbe fun” she said mockingly, Tristine then turned her attention towards Jyro wholooked in deep distress kneeling on the ground. She drew an arrow from her bag alignedit on her bow and took aim towards Isis, “Jyro on my command I’m going to needyou to dive away as quickly as you can” Tristine said whilst Isis looked on atthe two curious to what she was planning, the young girl then drew her bow backand peered across towards Isis. “So your serious then blueberry, you’re reallygoing to do this , ha-ha alright then but think about it do you think yourarrows will hit me before my wind touches you” said Isis,” well it looks likewe’re going to replace out doesn’t it ” Tristine responded who then immediatelylet go of the arrow. Whoosh! The arrow ripped through the air darting towardsIsis , the on-fire girl grinned whilst she avoided the incoming arrow thatskimmed past her jaw the moment her eyes looked ahead of her an immediatesecond arrow was bearing down at her, shock filled her eyes as she knew therewasn’t enough time for her to avoid it, “incises” she said desperately whilstswiping her hand at the incoming projectile, the arrow immediately split in twobut as it done so Isis noticed a small grey bag that was attached to the arrowshilt, the bag suddenly split open.

In an instant Isis was covered in grey dustthat spewed out from the bag, she coughed and gasped for air in a state ofpanic, “ewwww (cough cough) what is this, I can’t even see…. WHAT DID YOU DO TOME! “She screeched whilst trying to rub the substance off, “don’t bother littlemiss untouchable that’s iron sand mixed with gravel dust my very own remedy youwon’t be seeing anything for a few hours” explained Tristine “Ciao now” sheadded. Meanwhile the sound of a horse galloping drew closer, “Jyrooo jump on”hollered Johnny, Jyro looked up and saw his friend sitting atop Boanerges , theboy stretched out his hand towards him who grabbed on and was placed him ontothe back of his horse. “ Trish I got him let’s get out of here now” the girlquickly rushed towards the two boys and jumped on the horse , “ you just waitwhen I catch you to dare to do this to me you’ll definitely regret it this ISNTOVER!” Isis yelled why screaming and flaring at the air in frustration, andwith that the first day had gone by on the Task.