CHAPTER THREE: WELCOME TO EAFROS

CHAPTER THREE

WELCOME TO EAFROS

I’VE felt my weakened legs unable to move without pain, the coldness of the floor and the frightening breeze of air. As I opened my eyes, the rays of the sun canopied my visions. I let my eyes adapt to the sunlight and freely absorbed the breezy air which I didn’t feel for almost 2 weeks in the Philippines.

“Philippines?!” I looked around and could not recognize the place where I was, and then flashes of events came back to my mind.

“Where in the world am I?” I shouted in silence in the midst of the place but only the coldness of the ground and icy breeze of wind answered me.

I gradually stood, balanced my weight with the help of the statue beside me but the pain still persisted. I held my chest and there it was, hanging freely on my neck, the amulet I had found in the heart of the forest of Hundred Islands.

I searched around and by its appearance, the place was an abandoned structure like the ruins of Old Greek kingdoms and castles of the Greek Emperors. I saw statues of what I thought were once the greatest Men of that land like the ones I saw in movies. I was bewildered when I looked down.

“I must not be wrong.”

All I saw downtown was really a ruin of a castle and I was at the highest spot. All of the houses down were abandoned and as if some big animals destroyed the place. There was a forest surrounding the whole land and the castle was located on top of a hill wherein you could scatter your gaze clearly to the whole area it once ruled. There were dead trees in the location where I was and as I went around, I saw a stair going down. I followed it until I reached the lower floor where I saw doors, but when I opened one of them, I almost fell to the ground because the area it once protected was destroyed. It was most likely the place was destroyed by some unexplainable creatures.

And speaking of the unexplainable, “Where am I?”

I continued my search in luck to find some answers. I went down another floor but still nothing, just statues of animals and horses with their masters. I went to the ground level and there, I saw a whitish stone carved seat which I thought was the only thing that was not destroyed because it maintained its beauty. It was on top of a six step ladder. I went near and inspected the whole thing in luck to find some leads or some hidden messages carved in.

As I examined the seat, I saw another six-petal flower carved in the center and there were writings I did not understand. When I reached the oval-shaped center of the flower, I tried to push it like the ancient carvings on Earth where they hid treasures and through enough, the ground shakes. I clutched on the stone chair to prevent myself from falling down the stairs. After a few seconds, I saw a door opened at the left side of the ladder below the stone chair. I walked down the six step ladder and inspected the opened door. There was a stair leading down the hidden room beneath the stone chair and it seemed like an underground passage.

I doubted entering the room because there was no certainty I could get out alive but I had nowhere to go that time. Luckily, my mini flashlight was in my pocket and I used it to lighten the dark shallow stairs. The place has a foul odor and it was full of cobwebs, the staircase was spiral in structure, and there were carvings and images imprinted in the wall depicting the once mighty kings and queens of the ruined castle. As I reached the middle of the stair, I pointed my flashlight at the bottom and saw shining things. I advanced down until I arrived at the bottom. I located a torch behind a statue of a golden two headed lion, and lucky enough, there was a box of matches. And I have never been lucky in my life those times because there was only one match left inside the box. I lit the torch with that single match and true enough, there were tons of gold, silvers, bronze and jewels made of different gems from diamonds to pearls to sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and all. All of the chests were vomiting golden and silvery spoons and forks, plates, cups, and all.

“So this is where you keep your treasures!” I exclaimed as if talking to someone else but in fact, I was all alone in that hidden underground room full of wealth.

“I wonder how many years this place was attacked and still no one knew the treasures of this castle were hidden here.”

I lighted all the torches hanging in the walls to fully illuminate the place. Even though I was fascinated with the sight of gold, silvers, and jewels, I have no use for them because I don’t even know where I was. And the thing I was wearing was of more magnificence than any of those treasures. I searched the whole area, especially clothes I could wear to cover my body from the cold air but there was nothing.

“If I stay here for more days, the coldness will kill me.”

I was only wearing a butterfly imprinted white sleeveless shirt paired with black stylish sleeveless cardigan, short jeans, and wedge style DC sneakers.

“I need to find something…”

I was really talking to myself while searching the whole place.

“To answer where I am.”

With that thought, I was again lucky enough to see an old document, a scroll, but I was frustrated because the writings were printed in words I did not understand. I searched for more and saw a map. The map was written in English alphabets and based on the word imprinted in big letters on the left side of the map spelled E-A-F-R-O-S.

“So, I am in the world of EAFROS?! Is faith really joking around right now? So, I am not really in EARTH but in EAFROS?! What the hell!” I shouted but I guess no one heard my hysterical voice.

Indeed, I was in Eafros but my new problem was, I still didn’t know where I was because I didn’t know the name of the castle. Then my eyes caught a small sword in the eastern corner of the place beside a statue of a Man wearing a crown which I guessed was the King of the castle. I grabbed it and by the looks of it, it was still sharp. The sword was embodied with the sign carved in the stone chair, a six petal flower in the center being protected by the sharp teeth of a two headed lion with their two tails touching each other at the sharpest far end of the sword. Between the two tails, there was a straight line separating the center and there were small carvings between the lines.

The carvings were imprinted in English alphabet saying, “The Sword of Hope of Oli Klimpin”.

“So, I am in the castle of Oli Klimpin? I’ve never heard of Oli Klimpin in the four cornerstone of Earth…”

Then I took a deep breath and sighed heavily with the realization I was not in the world I once knew. I sat down on the floor without thinking the floor was full of dust as I began to understand the whole scene. I was being transported by the amulet from Earth to the world I don’t believe and imagined to exist. Then the voice of Kraven came to my senses.

“Sometimes it’s not wrong to believe in something very unbelievable in the eyes of Man.”

Then I also heard the other voice that haunted me since I stepped my feet in the land of the Philippines.

“Come to our world Eina. We found you, our only hope.”

I didn’t really know how to apprehend all those matters, why of all the more than 9 billion population of Earth, why me.

“Ea needs you.”

“What or who is or are Ea?” I asked, then my sight caught the map on the floor. Without dropping the sword, I reached out the map and started to read and locate where I was.

“I am here at the castle of Oli Klimpin…” I started to talk to myself while pointing at the map.

“In the vast land of Beokin. So, I am in the land of Beokin. Let’s see. It seems there is no single life left here as I looked around a while ago, so I need to move here, the town of Tenethra. But I need to…” I paused as I heard some scratches from outside.

I was frightened by the scratches, so I went out holding the mini flashlight in my left hand and the sword in my right hand even though I didn’t have any idea how to use it.

“Just for protection.”

I almost grew up in the forest and learned some fighting stunts with my junior high teacher to defend myself from outrageous strangers, so there was no harm in handling a sword. When I reached the top, I saw a bird biting the stone carving. I forwarded into the edge and inspected the whole land down the castle but there was no one except for the bird and the colder air.

Before I went back to reading the map, I searched for the same sign of a six petal-flower inside to close the door but I was out of luck already. I left the door open and continued my reading.

“Where was I?” I asked, trying to recall where I ended. “Tenethra. I need to pass through the old fortress to get into Tenethra.”

I hummed as I agreed with the map looking insane talking alone with the map and the air.

“I have been through to any fortress only to seek for innate gifts of nature on Earth, so there is no harm to be going there again.”

Then another stroke of thunderbolt hit my head reminding me I was not on Earth. I was in Eafros and by the looks of the old fortress outside the castle, it was nothing but silence in the morning and darkness in the night to which you could only feel all the energy of evil breathing within the hearts of the fortress.

“Let’s see what’s after Tenethra…”

I resumed reading the whole map again with all the unique names of each land.

“This is an abandoned castle and no life, means there is no food?!” I exclaimed as I heard my stomach grumble.

“I haven’t eaten anything since morning.”

I searched the whole place once more in order to find a hidden storage of food but there was none, only gold and gems and the highest king’s clothes. Those clothes were made of the finest silk I had never seen in my entire life and they were stitched in gold. Anyone who wears it can be the most powerful of all. I searched for more anything in women’s clothing but there was none.

“This hidden room is only known for the king, no one else including his queen.”

I decided to climb up and went to the town to see if there were people living there. I took the sword, went out and sealed the door once more. The whole land was in the middle of darkness even though the sun had risen. It seemed the bright light of the sun didn’t reach the land, but it already reached the fortress. I went down the castle, searched the houses but there was nothing, no life except me standing alone in the middle of the old land abandoned by its people.

“This place was attacked,” I expressed based on the sight of the whole place.

“But this was no Man’s doing.”

I saw rather inconceivable sizes of footprints in various degrees. I touched the ground and heard footsteps from afar. I got scared by the unconvincing sounds from the fortress so I headed back to the castle, in the hidden room.

But it was not hidden anymore because I do not know how to close the door.

“Wait!” I exclaimed as I realized something.

“Why would I lock myself in this room if I do not know how to open it again from the inside?”

Indeed, I was not thinking much better. I only knew how to open it if I was on the outside but not inside.

I went down the stairs to locate a better place to hide, not easy to find just in case they stop by the castle. I cleared out all the things inside the chest and inspected it to see if there were some small holes for the entrance of air. Luckily, there were enough small holes to breath in the air. I went inside and for a few more minutes, darkness canopied my vision.

**********

“ALTHEINA….” a voice said inside my head.

“Wake up my dear…” again, the voice said.

“Eina, wake up my dear. Go and find the others and defeat the evil within him,” the voice said as clearly as the water.

“Who’s him?” I asked hoping the voice would answer but it already disappeared.

I woke up after long hours of sleep inside the chest and before I stepped out, I caught a glimpse of the room and felt the surrounding for any unnatural sounds but there was none. Then I caught a small light shining inside my shirt. I panicked, but when I gripped what was causing the light, it was the amulet.

“Why are you shining?” I asked but when I pulled it out under my clothes, the light stopped.

I grabbed the sword that slept with me for protection and gradually opened the chest. I was right, there was no one inside the room except me. When I stared at the oculus, it was morning again. But unlike the other morning, sunlight already shined and reached the castle.

“I need to leave and seek for someone who can help me with my miseries,” I firmly told myself.

“Urgh! What are they doing right now? Are they already aware that I’m missing and lost? If they were, are they searching for me?” I continuously asked myself about the other world while returning all the things I had evacuated from the chest.

Then there was another thing that caught my attention. It was a necklace with a key pendant. It was designed just like a key embodied with the same sign I saw at the stone chair, a six petal flower protected by two crescent-shaped like swords crossing with each other. I picked it and held it high on the level of my eye and I saw carvings on the key but I did not understand the symbols engraved on it.

“I need to find someone who can answer it.”

I put the necklace in my pocket. Then I heard my growling stomach.

“And some foods. Grrrrrrr. Sleeping will not shut this down. I didn’t eat for 24 hours.”

I need to go to the fortress to find some food or even just fruits, it will already be of great help.

I went outside, closed the hidden room and I was blinded by the sunlight. I gradually reopened my eyes and I saw the whole place was already enlightened. The houses were nothing but ruined structures like the castle itself and the whole land was lifeless. Then I caught the sight of the fortress totally enlightened wherein I clearly saw some movements. Movements like humans but at the very far sight my vision could reach, those were no humans.

I did not know how it happened but only I uttered, “I am not dreaming anymore. I am really in a magical world.”