The Banished Ancient

Summary:

Lily and Ryder are assigned a perilous quest to defeat an evil Ancient deity. A series of clues leads them to him, now all that’s left is a success.

 

‘The Banished Ancient’

Dong! Dong! Dong!

The bell finally rang, signalling the end of school. I exchanged a mischievous glance with the boy next to me and immediately raced towards the door of our classroom. I could feel him running right behind me. We pushed through the surging mass of students, heading towards our lockers. Smirking slyly, I turned around and said in mock worry, ‘Ryder! Behind you! It’s- it’s- oh my god!’. He turned around in surprise, looking for the source of my worry. I quickly ran away, speeding up. I heard him yell at me, but I ignored him and went ahead. I reached our lockers first and pumped my fist in the air.

‘Yes! I won! Again!’, I said, cheering. I heard him groan as he slumped down on the floor next to his locker. I looked down at him, grinning. Ryder Reacher, my best friend. We met in third grade and have been inseparable ever since.

‘You. Are. A. Big. Cheater!’, he said, frowning. I pretended to gasp in horror, ‘Oh! How could you, Ryder? My best friend… You are accusing me?’, I said, putting my hand over my heart. He grumbled something under his breath and stood up, opening his locker.

Ryder was a tall boy, 5’7 at 14 years. He had straight, jet black hair, and a fair complexion. He played basketball, so he was quite lean. His nose was straight and sharp, and I teased him about it being perfect to poke into other’s businesses, which he was quite fond of doing. His eyes were a beautiful teal! It looks like the sea when it is in a good mood.

And then there’s me. Lily Cristo. As for me, well… years of spending every second with Ryder probably made us look similar. I had the same jet-black hair, fair complexion, lean and tall build, and straight nose. Though it wasn’t quite as long and sharp as his! One prominent difference though was our eyes. My eyes were weird, though Ryder calls it ‘unique’ to make me feel better. It had four colours, a teal blue (like Ryder’s), a light green (like Harry Potter’s!), a warm gold, and a cool silver. I always felt my eyes were something of an oxymoron.

Now, we finished packing up our books and started to make our way out of the school building. We waved at friends, said goodbye to our teachers, and finally stepped out of the gate.

‘Where to?’, Ryder asked.

‘Mum said that we are supposed to head over to my house. They would have left for the airport by now’. Our parents were going on a trip to New York. It was a business trip, and they would be there for at least a week. Meanwhile, Ryder and I were to stay together at my house.

‘Oh yeah… I actually forgot about that!’, he exclaimed. Then he turned to me in excitement. ‘Em, we can go by the cliff!’.

We lived in Boston, right by the sea. Ryder and I had discovered a secret cliff overlooking the sea. It was hidden by a thicket of trees, and we never would have found it if it weren’t for a butterfly. We followed it to the cliff, and since then, using it as our secret hideout.

‘Sure, we can!’, I replied. Just then, I felt something watching me. I turned around, and instantly my eyes widened. Right behind us was a humungous ball of light. It was floating a few inches off the ground. The light swirled around in it, going faster and faster with every passing second.

‘Ryder’, I said, gulping. ‘Di-Did you see the giant ball of light behind us?’. He frowned turning. Immediately his jaw dropped, and he scrambled back. The ball turned a darker shade, and instinctively I realised that it was going to lunge at us. I pulled Ryder and broke out into a run. The ball of light followed, making a growling sound.

‘Faster!’, Ryder cried, speeding up himself. We ran, not noticing where we were going. I risked a glance behind us. The ball was gaining on us. I soon realised that we had reached our cliff. I pulled Ryder through the thicket. We skidded to a stop at the edge of the cliff. He turned to me incredulously.

‘Why did you bring us to the cliff? Now we are trapped!’. I racked my brain, thinking of a way to get out of this situation. The ball was right behind us. It exuded a triumphant aura if that was even possible. Suddenly, out of nowhere three people appeared behind the ball.

There were two men and one woman. They were wearing long robes, each one a different colour. The man on the left was wearing a purple one, the woman in the middle was wearing a gold one, and the man on the right was wearing a green one.

The woman stepped forward, the ball became smaller and smaller till it could fit into our palms. She snapped her fingers, and it disappeared. I stared at her. She looked at me, with eyes so ancient that they seemed older than this world. When she spoke, I felt a heaviness in the air around me; even the air found her voice too heavy.

‘Lily Zia Cristo and Ryder John Reacher. It's time you know the truth’.

She snapped her fingers once more, and suddenly I was standing in a different place. I looked around. It was a large room, furnished with only three chairs, and a carpet. Well, the chairs were more like thrones. Ryder was standing next to me. The three of them sat down on the thrones, the woman in the centre.

‘Lily, Ryder, welcome. I am Azelea. This is Torus and that is Parse’, she said pointing to the man in the purple robes and the one in the green, respectively. ‘We are The Ancient Ones. I am the guardian of Seelia, our capital. Torus is the guardian of Magsoft, and Parse is the guardian of Nayol. These cities are the only cities which house people like us’.

I finally found my voice. ‘People like us. What do you mean?’. She smiled and said, ‘Magical people’.

At that, Ryder let out a scoff. ‘Magic? Magic doesn’t exist, he said.

Parse raised an eyebrow, amused. ‘Does it not?’. He flicked his hand. A force field formed around us. Torus curled his hands into a fist and immediately, the wind around rushed to him and formed a miniature cyclone.

Somehow, I was able to register this easily. Ryder, not so much. He stared wide-eyed, and I could see the disbelief in his eyes changing to something which resembled a slight belief.

After a few long minutes of convincing Ryder, he finally accepted it. Then, Torus spoke.

‘Lily, Ryder, you both are special. The two of you have been chosen to go on a quest. It’s not an easy one. There is a fourth Ancient One, though he was cast off a long time ago. He was second-best. His powers were weaker than Azelea’s. Jealous, he tried to overthrow us, therefore he was banished. His name, we cannot speak. He is called the Golden One. We can only give you clues, and that too, it will be far from the answer. Our clue will only guide you to a word linked to the name. Your quest is to find his name, which is the only way to stop him from destroying our world as we know it. You will have to connect the clues yourself. He is bitter and is coming back for revenge. He lives in a planet called Incognito, not far from Earth. You both have powers too, and what’s more, you each have three powers, something which has never occurred before. Unfortunately, it will be summoned only when you find his name. This is your quest’, he finished. Parse continued.

‘On a more cheerful note, you will receive gifts and weapons to help you on your journey. We wish you the best of luck.

‘You both are the most powerful of us. I believe you will succeed. Do not fear. And remember, vowels are precious. They are only used for the most powerful of things’, Azelea said. With that, the three disappeared in a swirl of purple, gold, and green. Before we had the chance to speak, the doors opened, and men in armours walked in carrying bundles of weapons, and other things.

An hour later, Ryder and I were loaded with magical materials. Ryder had a dagger, a magical first-aid kit, and a water bottle which never emptied. I took a sword, a backpack which looked small on the outside, as small as our schoolbags but could actually fit fifty people, and a pair of leather biking gloves which could expand into a shield. Strapped with our new weapons and with renewed confidence, we made our way outside the room. Looking around, I realised that we were back on the cliff. Ryder turned to me, ‘So… we have a quest. To find an Ancient deity’s name. And only then will we get powers. And we have five hours to do this’. He sighed and slumped down in defeat. I immediately pulled him up, ‘We haven’t even started yet, don’t look so defeated. Come on! We can do this! I mean, we are magical!’. He agreed reluctantly.

I looked at the paper Azelea had left for us on the carpet in the room. We found it just as we were leaving. It said, ‘Start with the place where it is forbidden to speak, however, more words are said here than anywhere in the world.’

We were utterly confused. How could words be said if you couldn’t speak? I looked around for inspiration. I read it again. I looked at the time. We had four hours and fifty minutes. Hmm…what could the answer be? Suddenly, I yelled, ‘I GOT IT! I'm a genius! We have to go to the library! Come on, come on, let's go!’. Ryder and I rushed to the public library. It was a huge library with an extremely stern librarian.

When we entered, the librarian smiled at me. I was a frequent visitor here, and by now she was familiar with me. She greeted us and handed over my membership card.

I felt something papery on the plastic card when she gave it to me.

I turned it over and saw a piece of parchment stuck to it. Ryder removed it and read out the message written on it, ‘Seek the book on one of nature’s strongest.

I scanned the place for any possible clues. I found none. Ryder and I decided to go to the section on nature. We combed through the section, searching for a book on one of nature’s strongest. After an hour, we still had not found the book. I slumped down on one of the sofa’s, looking wearily at the books on the table next to me.

I was sitting next to a book on trees. The smallest tree in the world, the tallest tree, all those stuff. I knew it, I thought proudly. The smallest was dwarf willow, and the tallest trees were Sequoia’s. Ryder came over and saw me looking at those books. ‘Trees… huh, I'm not sure about the smallest tree but I know the tallest’, he said.

‘It's Sequoia’, I supplied. He nodded, ‘Yeah. I remember reading something about it. It’s got all five vowels and the letter q. Great word for scrabble’. After a small, life-changing moment, his eyes widened.

‘All five vowels’, he whispered. I remembered what Azelea had said. Vowels are precious.

‘Sequoia has got all five vowels!’, he exclaimed. The librarian shushed him.

He dragged me out of the library, along with the book, out into the open air.

‘Don’t you get it?’, he asked excitedly. ‘Azelea said vowels are precious. They are only used for powerful things. Sequoia trees are the tallest trees in the world. So, they’ll also be strong. Nature’s strongest!’, he finished, taking a deep breath.

‘Of course! You're right, absolutely right!’, I said, equally excited. ‘So that means…’, I started. With a look at each other, we both said in unison.

‘The Fourth Ancient One’s name is Sequoia!’. At our words, a rumble started underground. As soon as it started, it stopped. We looked at each other, nervous.

‘Well,’, Ryder said, ‘I guess we were right about that. I nodded my head in agreement. Ryder pointed out another word on the page.

 A word on the page of the book caught my eye. Hyperion. Hey, that’s the name of the Titan of the Sun! In Greek mythology. I patted myself on the back, I had not expected to remember it from my days of researching the myths section of the library.

 I redirected my attention to the book. It's the tallest tree in the world… huh. ‘Hey Ryder, look at this word. It’s the tallest tree in the world. Hyperion’.

At the same time, Ryder pointed out the second tallest tree and said ‘Centurion’.

Immediately, something pushed us, and the next thing I knew was that we were flying through the air, hurtling towards the sky, we passed the atmosphere, somehow still being able to breathe. We shot into space, and suddenly time seemed to slow down. We drifted in space, and I managed to turn myself. My breath hitched.

The sight in front of me was not like anything I had ever seen before. I could see Earth in its entire magnificence. I could see all the churning oceans and the shifting landmasses. I could see clouds, moving across cities, countries, oceans. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. All of humanity lived here, in this blue and green globe. He seemed entranced by the sight in front of us. He finally turned away and looked at me.

‘Ryder’, I whispered, ‘I don’t think Sequoia is his name. It could be Hyperion’.

 Ryder nodded, ‘It has to be Hyperion. Hyperion is the tallest tree. Sequoia was just a clue to the final answer. Like Torus said’. I let out a deep breath. I looked at my home again. Because of one vengeful Ancient deity, this world, this divine world, could be shattered to smithereens. The blood rushed through my veins. I will not let that happen. I looked at Ryder. He nodded, understanding my intentions, and then together as one, we hurtled through space, going faster and faster till we reached a planet. One look at it, and we knew it was Incognito.

It was protected by a force field, but that didn’t stop us. We went straight through till we reached an arena.

And sitting in the centre of the arena was The Golden One. His head was bowed, and he was sitting on a chair, but as soon as we landed in front of him, he raised his head and looked at me right in the eye. That was when I realised why he was called the Golden One. He was entirely made of gold. As simple as that. His eyes were brighter than the rest of his body, and they shone like miniature suns. His hair was made of fine strands of gold, and his limbs were rods of gold. He smiled ever so slightly.

‘Lily. Ryder. A pleasure to finally meet you. His voice was as smooth as silk. He was touched by Midas, and his tongue was that of Loki’s. I could see why he was going to be hard to defeat.

 ‘I would have loved to get to know you, but, unfortunately, I have to kill you. You see, unless you know my name, you cannot defeat me. And no one, I repeat, no one can guess my name.

Beside me, Ryder laughed. ‘Are you quite sure about that? Because I think we have found it.

I turned to face the man in front of us. ‘We were chosen for a reason. I believe in us. And I know that we have not failed. Let’s see if we are right, shall we?’.

 The Golden One leaned back in his chair, amused. ‘Well… I admire your courage. I’ll give you three chances to guess my name. If you guess it right, we fight. If it’s wrong… I will kill you without any resistance’, he said, still amused.

I smirked and looked at Ryder. I whispered in his ear, ‘Let’s play Rumpelstiltskin’s game, shall we?’. He nodded. I turned back to The Golden One. ‘Ryder will go first’. Ryder stepped forward and said, ‘Your true name, O Ancient One, is Sequoia’. The Golden One laughed, a cold laugh.

‘Wrong. One down, you now have only two chances’.

I took a deep breath, readying myself. I said, ‘Your name, Golden One, is Hyperion’. The Golden One just grinned wider. Nothing happened. Then he said, ‘Two down, one to go’. I looked at Ryder, shocked. He was just as confused and shocked as I was. Then, I remembered what Torus said. He was second-best. His powers were weaker than Azelea’s. Jealous, he tried to overthrow us, therefore he was banished.

He was second-best. Hyperion was the tallest tree. Centurion, on the other hand, was the second tallest. I remembered how we shot into space. Ryder said Centurion at the same time. So… then that means… The Golden One’s name was Centurion. Ryder seemed to have reached the same conclusion, so we both said in unison, once again, ‘Your name is Centurion’.

He blanched, getting up. Instantly, I felt lifted off the ground. Light swirled around us. Somehow, our powers had been activated. I knew now that I could make force fields, shape-shift, and control water. I also knew that Ryder could fly, heal anybody and anything, and he too could control water. Then, the battle started.

Centurion lunged, and we blasted him with water. He somehow ducked and shot a ray of light towards us. I pushed my hands forward and a force field appeared, making the ray bounce off, and hit him. He was blasted across to the other side of the arena. Ryder shot up from the ground and flew towards him. I let my instincts take over and shape-shifted for the first time, into a phoenix. As soon as I reached Ryder, Centurion stood up, furious. ‘You both are not going to get out of this planet alive’, he growled.

Without wasting another minute, I lunged, transforming back to my human self, and I landed on the ground running. Ryder joined me, and together, adrenaline pumping through us, we gathered every last bit of energy in us. I called out to every water molecule in the vicinity. I could sense Ryder doing the same thing.

I heard a roar above us. Suddenly, there was a shadow over the entire arena. I looked up and faltered.

Right above us was an enormous, humungous sphere of water. I grinned at Ryder, feeling elated even though we were in a hostile planet fighting an Ancient One. With renewed confidence, we both commanded the sphere of water. It shot towards us, and we thrust it at Centurion. His powers had been weakened when we uttered his name.

Slowly, with the pressure of a million gallons of water on his shoulders, he went down on his knees, then all fours, then finally, the water overpowered him, and he went under.

Hesitantly, we lifted the ball off. I ran over and checked him. He was still alive, but he was unconscious. The ball of water evaporated, and we were left with an unconscious Centurion. 

The next thing I knew was that we were flying through space, back to Earth carrying a limp Centurion. We landed in Seelia. The city was floating above Boston, in the sky. We landed on a stage, right in front of Azelea, Torus and Parse. Ryder and I stepped forward and told them our adventure. They took Centurion away. Torus and Parse proudly told us that we had achieved a feat which even they couldn’t do.

Hesitantly I asked, ‘Centurion… why exactly was he banished?’. The three looked at each other. Finally, Parse stepped forward and said,

‘Centurion wanted power. Long, long ago, when he was a part of our council, there used to be a fourth city which he ruled. It was called Dercery. Centurion was a wise man, but soon the power got into his head. He wanted to be the best. He bewitched the citizens of Dercery to obey only him. He created his own army and planned to overthrow us and take over. He didn’t want to hide and live anymore. What he didn’t realise was that we were protecting Earth from external and sometimes internal dangers. Fortunately, before he could make a move, we were able to stop him. One of the citizens of Dercery had escaped the enchantment and came to us. That, my dear warriors, is why Centurion was banished from Earth’.

There was a long silence, before Ryder said, ‘Well… that was one amazing quest. Even though I was so scared at times I thought my heart was going to burst out!’. We laughed, and Torus said, ‘Don’t worry, it’s normal for us. It happens’. We laughed some more before Azelea told us, ‘My young heroes! You are brave, very brave. You will have many more quests, but for now, I will send you back to your home. You both were marvellous. We will meet again. With that, she snapped her fingers, and we were back on the cliff. Boston was just as we had left it. The breeze was blowing, the trees were waving their branches, and the sea was calm, occasionally spraying the cliff edge with water. We had only been gone for a few hours. We examined the weapons and gifts we had collected at the start of our adventure.

‘Guess we didn’t need these after all’, Ryder said. He laid down on his back on the ground. I laid down beside him. I sighed. ‘Now we are back to our usual routine. Going to school, and when we get back home, we’ll study, play, then dinner, sleep, and repeat. I wonder when we will get our next quest…’. Ryder groaned, ‘Another quest? No way! For now, I just want to be a friendly-neighbourhood saviour’. I laughed at his reference to Spider-Man. It showed our love for all things Marvel.

‘I'm ready for a nice, relaxed, week’, Ryder said. I thought for a moment then hummed in agreement. ‘I couldn’t agree more. We smiled at each other then looked back up at the sky, watching the spray from the sea. 

-The End-