Days of Fire

Emir had been on the road to Firestone for about three days now, and in all honesty was beginning to believe that he should have left the castle sooner.

The forestland and animals seemed more in the right place than in the gates of the castle. Other than wolves nothing else had attacked him so far, it was peaceful to him, the soft winds and gentle grass only convinced him more that this what he really would love instead of the throne.

His horse made a gentle stride through the thick forest as Emir took his time taking in his surroundings, then Emir began to see bright red rubies embedded in dark stones.

Symbolizing he was close to the village of Firestone, the village had earned its name after Senukhan, the ancient Hero of Dragons had killed the Hydra, taking its ruby red eyes and breaking them to spread across the village. Apparently when one of old neighboring kingdoms, more specifically, the Kingdom of Ruin, had set fire to the lands around the village of Firestone and it was said that the eyes of the hydra protected the village because when the flames ceased its destruction the village was completely unscathed.

Emir brought his horse to a stop as he met the town gates, hopping off his horse Emir made a careful stride to the gates of Firestone, in which two guards stopped him just before his entry. "Hello" Emir starts politely, his slightly cheerful tone putting the guards at noticeable ease,"I'm here under King Mael's order, here's the proof." The guard looked taken aback before grabbing the scroll from my hand, opening it while the second guard looked over his companion's shoulder, both of them reading it.

The guards' eyes snapped to Emir. "Young prince! Please forgive us for stopping you!" Both guards said simultaneously and sternly as Emir watched with a sweat dropping expression. "It's quite alright, I did not tell you who I was, I am to blame here. I do need to get to the town though." The guards quickly stepped aside granting the prince access to the town, his first task was simple, to kill the two headed giant snake that was terrorizing the village every night.

"Uh, where is the long house? I need to speak with the leader of the town." Emir said as he turned back to the guards who went slightly stiff but relaxed when they saw Emir's laid back smile.

"The long house is located on the west side of the down but Lord Azrin is not there, he took off to fight the two headed beast when the evening began." Emir took a sharp breath in but kept his smile in comfort for the guards. "Well I was headed over there right now to the beast anyway, thank you for informing me but I must go." Emir beckoned his horse over and hopped on. He didn't want to doubt Lord Azrin, but he had a bad feeling, Fenagri ran through the town and North to the location of the two headed snake. The farther he went the more screams he heard, but he had a task to get done, finally making his way to see the battlefield Emir saw what he guessed to be Lord Azrin wrapped in between the beast's long body.

Wasting no time Emir drew his sword and slashed the eye of the snake for a distraction to get Azrin out. "Lord Azrin, It's me, Prince Emir! You're injured, please get a safe distance from the fight!" Azrin nodded not needing to be told twice as Emir's sword cut through the left side body of the large snake effectively taking off one of its heads, the giant snake hissed in pain and went to bite the yellow eyed prince. Emir put more force into his swing as he cut through the large fang of the serpent, Emir looked at his sword, it had cracks in it. It would break soon, but Azrin would be safe and so would the rest of Firestone.

"Young Prince! To the right! My sword!" Azrin yelled to the prince in desperation. The serpent came back around for another bite as Emir swiftly slipped away and rolled on his shoulder to reach the sword, in which he immediately recognized. Flegómeni Ýdra, The Burning Hydra. It was an ebony blade that had lava like cracks, and it had a golden handle with rubies embedded into it. Emir felt gravity shift had he held the god blessed weapon, this was the weapon Senukhan used to defeat the hydra hence the name.

Emir went to the beast himself this time not waiting for the snake's attack, Emir made three horizontal strikes, successfully cutting the beast as he put all the force he could to the fourth and final strike against the neck of the beast. Ripping through its neck the beast hissed as it became choked and then soon it went limp, but when its body started to steam is when Emir grew the most concern.

The body was mending itself back together, but the serpent was still dead. The body started to straighten out only its heads facing left and right, the body started to shrink getting smaller, the body shifted into a ebony staff while its eyes and head became circles with crescent moons in them and the fangs became blades. A double sided scythe, that's what the serpent turned into, but Emir read about this before this was Spázontas to soúroupo, the Breaking Dusk.

It was the weapon of Selveri, the God of the Moon.

Emir knew what this meant, the snake was Sazasiri, the Serpent God of Deceit. The one Selveri killed in the legends with his final battle against Kalesperi, the God of the Sun. Kalesperi manipulated Sazasiri into helping him kill his brother and in return Selveri killed Sazasiri by embedding his weapon in him, and the weapon holding so much power made Sazasiri fall from the heavens.

And now Emir stood the scythe right in front of him.