Power Windows

by Eagle Heart


Prologue: The Apostate

“We just want to be left alone. But you give us no choice...” -Kaidan Feldar, Headmaster of the Grand Circle.

Power... what do you do with it when it has done nothing but corrupted your mind?  It ravages views upon the world and keeps its wielder away from destiny’s grasp to forge a new, twisted strand of metaphorical thread. There are few who can cut the thread with the blade of self realization. But those times are so near... yet so far.

King Gavun Adernal, the twisted tyrant king of the pool of ignorance and corruption that we call a kingdom. He’s ruthless and cruel, forcing the people into near slavery and overall making life hardly worth living.

They, the Shamans fought back once... but in the end, he silenced their gifts and kept them all on leashes like dogs. Celendros Jalmor was one of the few who got away. Running around as an Apostate to Gavun’s rules and supposed philosophies. Truly he is afraid of what Shamans are capable of.

His illogical fear has lead to paranoia. Anything even related to shamanistic magic is strictly forbidden amongst the kingdom. Celendros is a wanted man, and not because he’s a shaman... no that’s just the half of it... Celendros knows Gavun’s secret. One that could remove him from the throne.

So the corrupt king has been doing everything in his power to shut the apostate shaman up. By any means necessary...

On the quiet first night of the fourth yearly cycle, a light could be seen escaping a window that rested upon a wooden cabin.

“Tell me more about them! I wish to hear more uncle.” a small boy said while resting in his wooden double bed.

Next to him a young man was sitting on a stool. He appeared to be in his late twenties, long brown hair just barely touching his shoulders. The hair on both sides of his head were braided and wrapped around to the back of his head to meet and extend into a braided pony tail over his straight hair. His face showed signs of experience, but youth all at once. He’s clearly faced many trials in his life, but will live long enough to tell the tales in his elderly years.

The boy seemed to be enthralled in the story that his uncle was telling him. He was ready to get up and plead, but before he could his uncle stopped him by showing his palm in a motion to stop.

“I’m sorry, I’ll tell you more stories of the shamans on a later date. But for now nephew, I have to go for a while. I don’t know when I will return...” the man said. The expression on his face showed his regret, along with acceptance of what he must do. He stood from his seat and returned the stool to its rightful place near the glass window that allowed any who looked, to see the beautiful landscape of the Pianlut Highlands. Though due to it being night, there was no illumination. So it was not visible.

“But Uncle, why do you have to leave again?” the boy asked, not able to fully comprehend why. Clearly his uncle had left many times before.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll understand someday...” the man said as he opened the door to leave his nephew’s room. He snuffed the oil lamp that was hanging above the door. He left the room and shut the door gently.

He walked into the rather well furnished living room of the wooden home. A nice brick fireplace rests unlit in the wall of the room. The chairs and dining room table were centered around this fireplace. This was probably due to the highlands reaching low temperatures during the winter. There were pictures of landscapes amongst the wall above the fireplace. Each one had a picture of the man, perhaps these were artist’s renditions of his travels. To the far right there was a door that lead to where all the cooking was done. They were probably separate due to the smell of the meat cutting table. The floor was covered in various rugs, all were made from different animal pelts.

He sighed and grabbed his backpack and belt. His backpack looked heavy and full, though it was unclear what was inside. After he strapped both those items onto their intended places, he left a note for his sister to let her know that he is leaving again.

Being winter, he made sure to bring his cloak with him, it was made of white wolf pelts and stitched with some of the finest thread of the northern marches. This cloak showed you were someone of great importance.

“May the Great Mother guide me in my travels...” he whispers to himself as he quietly leaves the cabin.

Quickly he made his way over to the small stable where he had left his horse. But instead of taking the horse, he grabbed a lantern that was resting on a tree stump next to the stable. He looked around to see if anything, or anyone, was there. He smoothly waves his hand in front of the lantern and it lit up with a bright flame to provide light on the road.

He looked over to his horse that was sleeping quietly in the stables. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight, but he felt inner turmoil at the fact of he was leaving for what could be forever. Him and that horse had been through much...

He sighed and took a look back to the cabin and takes a moment to imprint the sight in his mind. He promised himself that he would never forget his family, ever. He turned to face the road, the freezing wind was at his back almost constantly. Letting out a whistle into the night air... It reminded him that he was not alone. Nature was there with him.

Pulling the heavy hood up his robe over his head, he stared solemn and quietly north. The road ahead was turbulent, dangerous and forboding; he could hardly see more than ten paces before him, but he knew with the light of his lantern and the guidance of the Great Mother, he’d somehow manage. The cold snow would possibly be an obstacle, but it was just another part of nature that the man had to deal with.

As he walked in the darkness along the dirt roads. He contemplated many of his troubles. He’d been in hiding from the king for so long now, but ever since his sister gave birth to his nephew. It’s been harder to remain hidden. There’ve been too many trails to cover up, too many lies he’s had to tell his family, and just the overall danger of him staying that it puts everyone in. It was time to leave... for them.

After just a few hours of traveling in the darkness. He reaches the Havindr Woods. These woods have been known to be peaceful and calm. But rather empty due to the cold weather and snow, it can lead to a sense of looming... as if something was constantly watching you. There used to be stories that the man had heard as a child. It was always about a white man with no face who stalked and hunted any child that stumbled into the woods. It was never proven true, it must’ve been formulated to keep children from wandering off to the woods.

He heard a noise, a whistle. Though it was impossible to tell where it was coming from. Just before he dismissed it, a blast of electricity smashed him in the side. He soared through the air and smashed into the thick trunk of a nearby tree. He sizzled there for a moment the blunt force from hitting the tree had him dazed. He looked up and his vision was blurry and constantly moving. Meanwhile he could hear nothing but a high pitched ringing.

He slowly attempted to stand, but just as he was getting his bearings, a foot smashed into his face causing a bit of blood to stain the boot. He fell and hit the base of the tree, he slowly looked up to see three men, all dressed in brown leather armor. One was holding a crossbow that was still smoking... so it was an enchanted bolt that hit him.

“What do we do with him?” he heard.

“Exactly what we are being paid to do. Tie him up!” another voice commanded.

In his haze, as one of them bent down to grab his hands. He smashed his forehead into the man’s face. The man let out a yelp in pain and fell back. The others were a bit surprised but leapt to action.

Our robed man here quickly stood up, he did his best to put up a fight. One charged at him, dagger high in the air. He quickly grabbed the wrist of the man and put his hand on the man’s chest. In a smooth movement he threw the man to the side, using the forces of wind to assist him.

The mercenary flew horizontally into a tree and hit the ground with a thump.

“Hey! No one told us this Celendros guy was a shaman!” one of them said after witnessing the air assist Celendros.

“Who cares! Just take him down!” Another yelled and quickly grabbed their crossbow. He fired a shot aimed directly for the shaman’s chest.

Celendros make a lucky guess and used the wind to misdirect the bolt. It turned and hit the tree beside him. Just before he could do anything else, he turned and the back of a crossbow smashed him in the face... and everything went dark.

All the mercenaries recovered and stood near the shaman’s unconscious body. “Nice hit.” one of them commented.

“Why thank you, that’s the first compliment i’ve heard from you in weeks.” one said back.

“Quiet both of you. Just grab the body and let’s take it back to the castle. There’s a nice big bag of gold waiting for us, and plenty of ale that comes with it.” he chuckled after his statement.

The others picked up Celendros’s body and put it on the back of one of their horses. They now began their trek to return to the city of Shadus... where king Gavun’s castle rests within.


Celendros awoke in a daze, his head was throbbing like a mallet was hitting a gong inside his head. His breaths were quick and short, his chest hurt with every inhale. He lifted his head up and looked at his surroundings. He was chained to the cold stone wall of a cell. Clearly he was in a dungeon. That much was confirmed. He had a rather roomy cell, but he was the only one within. The place was dark and it smelled like something died in the room. That stench was horrid, but Celendros had to keep a cool head to get his bearings. He looked ahead and past the cell bars to see two guards sitting at a wooden table playing a card game.

He looked down at himself to see he was in nothing but his cloth pants he wears under his robes. His torso was battered and beaten, which was probably why it hurt to breathe. They must’ve damaged his lungs from the blows.

He looked forward to see two guards playing, what appeared to be, a game of cards. They wore basic armor that allowed for decent protection and mobility, but lacked helmets. Perhaps the king decided to cut costs for his new gold statue fund.

“Damn it! Lost again!” one of the guards announced while they threw their cards on the table. Clearly they were frustrated by their loss.

“Ha ha! Pay up ya’ nitwit!” the other said while they held their hand out to receive the coin.

“Yeah yeah, but next time, try not to cheat so much.” the loser guard said while they handed over the money.

“You callin’ me a cheat?!” the other guard said while angrily standing up. He slammed his palms on the table to show he was angry.

“I saw you slip a card under yo-” the loser guard said while they more calmly stood up. He was cut off though before he could finish his sentence.

“Hey! Quiet down!” Celendros yelled from his cell, his head was throbbing enough. It didn’t need more prodding.

“What was that?! You say you want another beatin’?! Alright then!” the angry guard said. He quickly grabbed the cell keys and unlocked the door. He stormed into the cell, already thinking up ways of how to torture the poor fool on the wall.

Celendros bent his head down and closed his eyes, he silently spoke what appeared to be a prayer... but to what?

The other guard quickly caught up with the angry guard and stopped him for a second. “Stop this madness! We were told he was a shaman, remember?!” he warned his supposed “friend”.

“Bah! What could a shaman do when he’s all chained up there?!” the angry guard said. He quickly made sure his gloves were on tight. He walked up to Celendros and sent a fist straight to his gut. He did so again and again, but Celendros didn’t seem to respond. He just kept his eyes shut and head down.

“Daren stop! You’re going to make him angry!” the other guard said to the one beating Celendros. Daren just kept beating away, until finally...

Celendros’s eyes shot open and he lunged forward, the chains broke from the force and he tackled Daren. He gripped his hands around the brash guard’s neck and squeezed tightly. Nature itself had come to his aid just as he had asked.

Daren was overpowered and all he could do was struggle and let out these occasional hacks and gurgles. Meanwhile he flailed his arms around in a desperate attempt to break free.

Meanwhile the other guard reached to pull out his sword, but Celendros wouldn’t let him. Just as his hand touched the handle of the sword, a gust of wind smashed into his body and sent him across the room and into the wooden table. It snapped in half from the blunt force of the guard’s back and he was out cold from the impact of his head on the stone floor.

Daren had passed out from lack of air and Celendros rose to his feet. The guard’s neck was black and blue, surprisingly; Celendros held back.

Still a little dazed, he said a silent “Thank you” to the Great Mother and left his cell. Luckily no alarms were sounded so he had some time to find his gear. The room was made of stone and had various wooden torture devices sitting at the far end of the room. The last time Celendros was in a dungeon, he was unlucky enough to have to suffer through a couple of them. This time he managed to get free before then.

He looked around until he spotted another table next to the far wall. It had all of his items, his robe, his backpack, his belt, and for some reason, his lantern. He quickly, but quietly, put his robe on and the backpack over his shoulders. He grabbed the lantern and looked at it. He had an idea. He smirked at the thought of what he could do with this lantern. So he latched it to his belt and headed toward the stairway up.

He slowly approached the door, but he stopped dead in his tracks. He heard the sounds of footsteps that were headed his way. Getting slightly louder with each step. He pondered for a quick second. There were two options: Run back down and hide, but have the noise of rushing down the steps being loud enough to alert the guards. Or ambush them and take them out quickly... with the chance of being stabbed by a sword.

Too late. The door slowly opened and Celendros quickly rushed up the steps. Just as the guard in front noticed him, he grabbed the guard and spun them around. He slammed the guard into the wall behind him, and afterwards he let go and kicked the guard.

The guard was already dazed from the stone wall hitting his face, but the stairs was overkill. He tumbled down and eventually hit the bottom. His arms and legs were all bending in ways they were not supposed to. But he could still be alive... Either way, he was disabled.

Just as Celendros turned his head, he had to lean back to avoid the sword that was heading for his back. This caused him to bump the wall behind him, this caused his vision to blur for a moment. So he took a lucky guess and ducked down. The next strike from the guard passed over his head. He used the advantage and grabbed the guard’s legs. He lifted up the guard and threw him over his back behind him.

The guard smashed into the stairs below, the sounds of his back breaking could be heard throughout the hallways... which caused the other guards to rush to action... which means one went to sound the alarm.

He peeked his head around the corner to see two more running this way. He said a quick prayer to the Earth Mother and removed the lantern from its latch. He looked at it for a second and noted the glass on all sides of it. He smirked and sprung to action.
As the guards quickly were about to reach the door, Celendros spun from out the corner and smashed the lantern into the first guard’s face. The glass shattered and the lantern broke. Glass shards found their way into the guard’s face as he fell onto the floor. His forward momentum caused him to keep moving forward, so he would’ve done a full backflip had the wall not been right next to the door. His back smashed into the wall and he landed on his stomach.

In a smooth movement Celendros dropped the remains of the lantern and kicked the oncoming guard in the gut. Then he grabbed the sword and he ducked down, he swung it over him causing the guard to flip onto his back and let go of the sword. Just as the guard hit the ground, Celendros spun around and stabbed the guard in the heart while he was down.

Before Celendros could do anything, the sounds of massive horns were heard in the distance, crying out to the world that someone was escaping the prison...


*Meanwhile, elsewhere.*

“But sire I-I-!” the messenger attempted to plead. But the news of Celendros’s escape, as told by the horns in the distance that were being sounded brought ill news for everyone.

“Silence!” a man yelled. He looked aged, as if battle itself was in his blood. His black hair was loose and long, reaching down to his shoulders. His beard was full, but not to the point of having the need to groom it. He sat upon his throne, he wore a golden crown upon his head that was jeweled and designed to be a show of power and control. He was adorned in royal garments that demonstrated he was king, it was colored black and had various red jewelry adorning it. His entire visage was one of power.

“But my Lord, I was simply relaying the messa-” the messenger tried to explain.

“No, I can hear your doubt in your voice. Screaming behind your voice like a small child trapped inside a box.” the king said while he stood from his throne. “Do me a service peasant.”

“Y-yes sire?” the man nervously asked. He was practically on his knees, many who had come before him have never returned home to see their families.

The king smirked and slowly walked over to the messenger, his boots making a thump that echoed through the dark throne room with each step. He stood in front of the messenger and and reached to a sheathe under his dark cape. Then he pulled out a dagger, one made of fine steel. “Take this dagger... and run it gently across your neck.” He hung on every word, enjoying each one, because he knew what they would bring... the agony of an inferior being to himself. He dropped the dagger to his feet for the messenger to take.

“W-what?! B-but!” the messenger was utterly terrified, did his king just ask him to kill himself? He looked to the various guards around the throne room, as if he expected them to help him. But they all just stood there...

“You dare deny the will of your king?!” the king shouted at the messenger. He kicked the small man in the face to knock him on his back. The black king picked up the knife and knelt down next to the messenger. “I tried to be nice, but you’ve cut the thread that held my patience. I gave you the easy way out... and now I get to have my fun gutting you and spreading your entrails all over the walls.” He gained a demented smile on his face, one of joy for what he was about to do.

“What?! AHHHHHHHH!!!!” The messenger screamed in terror at the top of his lungs, knowing his last moments were going to be agony.

*Meanwhile at the courtyard of the dungeon.*

Celendros ran as fast he could, a huge group of guards were chasing after him from behind. He was almost at the gate. But before he could pass through, the drawbridge started to rise. He picked up the pace and started to run up it. But it got too steep for him to run up and he began to slide back down. He quickly jumped off of it and straight on top of one of the guards.

He got up and ducked under a sword. He kicked the guard’s knee and sprained it, causing the guard to fall in an awkward position. Cel then kicked him in the face to knock him out. He quickly grabbed the sword and spun around to deflect one coming his way. Mid-spin he kicked the knee of another guard heading for him, and just when the guard hit the ground on both knees. he drove the sword horizontally into the guard’s back.

He let go of the sword for he didn’t have time to take it out. He had to jump back to avoid a slash from another guard. He looked around to see there were loads of guards surrounding him. At this point though there was no point in fighting without his connection to nature.

He raised his hands into the air, showing he surrendered and braced himself for what was about to come...


*About an hour later.*

The doors of the throne room burst open, from it came two guards holding a battered and beaten Celendros. They dragged him by his cuffed arms whilst he couldn’t even stand. Eventually they brought him in front of the king and dropped him into a pool of blood that was left over from earlier...

Celendros coughed quite a bit as he tried to at least get to his knees, some of the blood on the floor got in his mouth.

“Celendros... you’ve grown careless. You’ve remained out of my reach for a long time, but now... oh now I finally have you. And all it took was just a few hired mercenaries. If I had known it would be this easy, I would’ve come along.” The king said as he sat upon his throne, looking down upon Celendros. He seemed calm on the outside, but inside he wanted nothing more than to stand up and kill the shaman right now. But no, events must be put into motion before that glorious moment may come.

“Your mercenaries fought like true warriors and I give them respect for that, but the man behind them is the one I wanted. They may have been great warriors, but they were rubbish hunters. A couple weeks ago I spotted them scouting my house and dismissed them as simple poachers of wildlife. Events leading up to now was nothing but a rather painful rouse to get to you. It seems once again I have outsmarted the great King Gavun.” Celendros said while he smirked beneath his tattered and blood stained hood.

Gavun remained silent as he stood from his throne. He slowly walked his way down to Celendros with a strange look of contempt on his face. He stopped in front of the rogue shaman and looked down on him. He motioned his hand for the shaman to stand.


The battered shaman slowly stood up to his feet, he already knew what was going to happen. By now Gavun was as predictable as a crop farmer. “You know, why sugar coat things? Why not just go ahead and kill me now. It’ll save me from this life of being an exile amongst my own people. I know these words are useless for they fall on deaf ears. But it’s worth an effort.” he said.

The black king chuckled, “Because, I want you to suffer. Killing you now would be too easy. But now, you’ve given me the perfect opportunity, to test out my newest archeological find for my collection. You know about the expedition I went on a few months ago.” He motions to his guards to go and retrieve this new “toy”.

The guards drag out a table, but the table wasn’t the exciting part. It was what was on the table. On it rested a strange looking artifact it glowed a faint blue like a runestone, but had markings on it that demonstrated that it was ancient. Those markings were ones of the first human...

“I’ve not a clue what it does. But it is clear that it holds much power within. Its buzzing aura speaks volumes about its power. And I intend to use it on you...” The king said as he walked over to the artifact.   GUARDS! Leave us at once!” he commanded.

The guards saluted their king and immediately left the throne room, leaving Celendros and Gavun alone in this large room.

“I found this during my expedition to the great jungles of Larya. It was buried by an old explorer by the name of Jonah Indianin, as said by his journal. He also spoke of it holding the power of the gods themselves, a power that I may use... to complete my reign as king.” he said, he was rather anxious to get started though it was not obvious in his voice.

“Normally you’re a lot angrier and louder by now. In fact i’m surprised you’ve not laid a single han-” Celendros said, but he was cut off by the king’s hand smacking him in the face. It knocked him down and he hit the blood stained red carpet. “That’s... better.” he managed to let out in his haze.

“Speak when spoken to apostate dog!” the king commanded at Celendros. He took the artifact in his hands and walked over to the fallen shaman. “I’ve waited long for this day to come, but your sly tricks and magical skill will get you nowhere this time.

“I’ll be sure to disappoint.” Celendros said as he attempted to stand up. He slowly got up to his feet and stumbled into a pillar. He used it as a support to keep him standing. “Oh just hurry up and get it over with. Go ahead, make me one with nature. Or have you forgotten your training as a shaman?”

“You will hold your tongue! I will tear your heart out of your chest and feed it to you!” he charges at Celendros, a strange blue glow coming from his hand.

The shaman quickly pushed himself off the pillar and fell to the ground, he needed to heal his wounds, and fast.

The king’s fist passed over the shaman as he fell. The power of his hit was so great that it broke a large chunk of the pillar off and nearly turned it to rubble. Could the artifact be enhancing his strength? He backpedaled slightly, not expecting that to happen. He looked at his hand to see it was undamaged and grew an evil grin.

Celendros quickly got to his feet and stood as best he could, his legs shook under him as he waited for the king to make his move.

The king charged again and sent an uppercut to Celendros’s chin. This time his hands were lit with a blue flame. This did not bode well for the shaman.

Celendros brought his cuffed hands up and leaned his head back. The fist came up and passed his face, he bicep of the king clashed with the chain. He pulled down and the combined opposite forces caused the chain to snap. But before he could do anything, he was hit by a massive force to his stomach. Before he knew it, he was in the air and slammed into a pillar causing it to crack.

A large thud echoed throughout the throne room. There laid an unmoving Celendros at the foot of a cracked pillar. A slight bit of smoked resonated from his torso where the flaming fist struck his midsection.

“... It’s done... after so many years I finally defeated the mighty Celendros! No more rebellion... no more renegades running around my kingdom. Finally a dawn of a new age can begin. The total and absolute reign of King Gavun Adernal!” the black king celebrated. He had no idea what the artifact was truly capable of, but he didn’t care at this moment. After many years of chasing down Celendros, he finally achieved his goal...

*Meanwhile, in a place unknown.*

It had seemed like the end for him, he’d been battered and beaten until his body could no longer take the blows. But his spirit still burns brightly. It is not ready to leave... could this be... Limbo?

“Shaman... It is not time for you to depart from this life. Your destiny still holds much left to be fulfilled.” a voice said to him. “Your ties as a Shaman had been severed when you renounced your duties as a loyal servant of nature. We have been watching over you and guiding you on your way to fulfill your destiny.”

“You mean... in the forest? When the very wind itself had assisted me against those mercenaries?” he asked.

“Yes, but now we must return your connection to you, this time stronger than ever. But be warned, this will only be for a short time. For that connection will be severed once more by another source... the artifact.” the voice explained. “That artifact is what keeps your world in tact, and another as well. One parallel to yours, but different in many ways. You must take it from the Fallen One, and protect it with your life.”

“No, I will not! I am tired, battered and broken! All my life i’ve been doing what i’ve been told I need to do. I would rather die than take back that life!” Celendros’s mind was tired, but his heart wanted to do what was right. It had been years since the shaman had trusted his instincts, purely because he no longer wanted to be the hero... he just wanted a normal life with his family. “I never asked to be a shaman, fate played a cruel joke on me and gave me the connection, I don’t want it!”

“But what of your family? Your sister, your nephew. Would you just let the Fallen One force them into slavery or possibly kill them? Would all that time you spent protecting them have gone to waste?” the voice said to him.

“I... no...” he said. He didn’t want to, but for the first time in years, he trusted his instincts. “Take me back, but not for you or the world... for my family.”

“Very well... stay strong servant Celendros, we will be watching over you.” the voice said.

“Wait! Who are you?” Celendros asked.

“The very one you pray to for guidance,” the voice said.

Before he could say anything, a bright light flashed in the darkness and he had returned to consciousness.


*Back in the throne room.*

While the king was celebrating his victory, Celendros had been recovering. His body began to glow a bright yellow and he stood up. His wounds, external and internal, had been healed. He could feel the watchful eyes of the Great Mother upon him again. As much as he hated being a shaman... he had missed this feeling of confidence.

“-absolute reign of King Gavun Adernal!” the king celebrated.

“No, your days as king are done!” Celendros yelled and leapt high into the air, a burst of wind came from his feet giving him an extra kick into the air.

“What?!” Gavun was shocked and turned around, he thought Celendros was dead. How could this be possible?!

“NOW AND FOREVER!” Celendros bellowed as he reached the peak height of his jump, he raised his hands above his head and a massive ball of fire formed between them. As he began to fall back down toward the black king, he threw the ball of flame straight at him.

Though the ball of fire was powerful, it slammed into the king and all of the energy spread around him. As if he had some sort of shield. The king wasn’t expecting this, but the artifact seemed to be protecting him. But before he could do anything-

Celendros had landed and sent a powerful fist straight for the king’s face, it smashed right through the shield and slammed the king in the face. A loud crack noise was heard, as well as a loud boom that echoed throughout the throne room.

The king flew back and right into his kingly throne, he fell forward and roll down the stairs and attempted to stand back up, but he only managed to get on one knee before he he coughed up a lot of blood, and he felt his jaw. It had been broken from the blast. Even with the artifact’s shield, under it he was still human. Though as he stood up, the artifact went to work and healed his jaw. “You cannot beat me, even with all your might I am still a god! This idol is power incarnate! You are nothing but a man! A mere mortal to be crushed under my boot! You will bow before your ruler, apostate or not!”

“You will never be my king, you will never lead me. I am free to do the Great Mother’s will!” Celendros retorted. He made his way toward the so called “god”. He stopped right in front of the king. “If you are a god, why are you on your knee while I stand above you.”

“YOU WILL NEVER BE ABOVE ME!” Gavun screamed with rage, he leapt up and smashed the relic into Celendros’s face. It shattered into pieces and a bright flash exploded from the king’s hand. The flash was so bright it nearly consumed the entire city.

But when it faded... the two were gone. The throne empty...

When the flash faded, the two found themselves in a strange place. It looked similar to Gavun’s throne room, but aged and abandoned. It was dark and the stone had cracks everywhere. The windows were all shattered and outside there seemed to be a dark forest.

“AAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH!” Celendros heard from behind him. He quickly got up to his feet from being knocked on his back to see the king holding his right wrist. Above it though... there was no hand. Blood was leaking from the wound, and it looked as if the hand was torn right off.

Before Celendros could do anything though, the left side of his face began to burn and he smelt was seemed like burning flesh. It only got worse as it continued to burn, seems that when he woke up some of the adrenaline was still being burned in his body. He quickly opened up his water flask and attempted to manipulate the water... but nothing happened... Oh no. He had expected the connection to be broken, but not this soon. Both of them were in no condition to fight, so he quickly walked over to the writhing king. He smashed his foot into the king’s face to knock him out and temporarily end his suffering. He contemplated killing the king right there, but there would be no honor in kicking a man while he’s down. Even the evilest of men deserve a second chance.

So he knelt down and removed the dagger from the king’s belt and left as fast as he could out of the castle. He needed to find water quickly before the burns get worse. He stuck the knife under his belt since he didn’t have a sheathe to put it in.

“Here I go again on my own... into the wild without nature guiding my back. May the Earth Mother guide me...” he said to himself as he approached the wooden bridge that hung over the gaping cliffs that surrounded the castle. “Where am I?” he asked himself.

He let out a heavy breath and slowly began to make his way across the bridge, it shook and swayed with each step, due to it being a simple rope bridge, it was very unbalanced. Meanwhile, he contemplated where he was. “Could this be the other world the Great Mother was speaking of? She had told me that the artifact was what kept the worlds apart... but now that Gavun shattered it upon my face... oh no... That means now nothing is stopping the two worlds from colliding into each other and merging into one. But how would I possibly be able to ‘fulfill my destiny’ if there is no artifact in which to do so? But I suppose I should not worry about this now, I need to worry about survival...”

After much time of aimlessly wandering the dark forest, having to deal with the various elements against him. Heat, dirt, even some of the wildlife tried to attack him. Luckily he’d done this enough to know what he was doing, only this time, he knew not where he was going.

Finally after a few hours of wandering in the forest, he reaches a tree line. He made his way to it and thanked the Great Mother that he wouldn’t have to deal with any more mosquitos. But what he spotted was rather odd, but not unnerving. It appeared to be someone’s home, made inside of a large tree. He’d heard stories of homes like these, but he never thought they actually existed. But at this point, he didn’t care if it was an ogre cave, it was somewhere that he could get some help. His face was burning, his clothes were tattered, he cut himself when he tripped over a tree branch, and he was sore from all that walking.

He slowly made his approach to the front door, he let out a sigh of relief under his hood knowing that his journey is almost temporarily over. He knocked on the front door a few times.

“Um... h-hello?” Came a timid voice from inside the cottage.

“Sorry to bother you ma’am but I’ve been lost in the forest for hours and eventually made my way out. Would you mind directing me to the nearest village?” he asked from behind the door, slightly curious as to why she didn’t open it.

“Oh, um... well,” the door slowly creaked open, a bit of pink hair showing out from the crack.

Pink hair?’ he thought, quite the unusual hair color... Perhaps some sort of dye?

“Um... if you don’t mind, can you please tell me who you are?” the voice asked.

“My name is Celendros Jalmor of the Pianlut Highlands.” he stated, he almost thought this was a trap, so he kept his guard up. His right hand was already hidden under his cloak to grab the dagger he took from the king, if he needed to.

A small head poked out, and what Celendros saw caught him by surprise. Was that a small horse? Let alone it could talk?

“I’m F-flutter-” was all he heard before she let out a short scream and slammed the door.

“I just need to know where the nearest inn is!” he said. He put his palm to his face and sighed.

He heard nothing from behind the door and decided to leave, supposedly, her alone. He headed south hoping that he’d find civilization at some point. As we walked though, he thought if all of those... things, would react that way to him as well. Let alone help him and explain to him where he was.

I’ve two options... find the nearest town and hope no one runs at the sight of me. Or pick one out and slowly reveal myself... seems I have no choice but the latter.’’ he thought to himself. He approached what appeared to be the treeline of a dark forest. Apparently, he’d gone in a circle. While he stopped a moment to think, he decided to travel west along the treeline instead of through the forest. It would be a better guide than going in circles.

He walked and walked until eventually the sun went down in the sky to make way for the moon. Celendros decided to make camp just inside the forest.

As it got further and further into the night, his stomach began to rumble as he got hungry. He sat by the small fire he made and reached into his cloak. All he could find in the pockets was a piece of stale bread. It’d have to do.  He held it above the fire for a few seconds to warm it up, luckily it was only cool outside and his cloak was keeping him warm.

The forest was dark, almost unnaturally dark. It felt to Celendros as if something was constantly lurking in the shadows. He’d just finished his stale bread when he heard something russel in the foilage behind him. He quickly rolled to the other side of the camp and got into a low stance, meanwhile pulling out the iron dagger.

He heard a growl coming from the darkness. He squinted his eyes and muttered to himself “Wolf...” just at that moment something brown jumped out at him. He rolled to the side to dodge it and it was gone again. It was using the environment to its advantage. This was a terrible time to have his connection with nature severed.

It jumped out again and he rolled onto his back, it landed on his feet that he raised and he used them to throw the wolf behind him. He got back up and noticed something strange, there was a splinter in his boot. “What the...” His guard was let down and it jumped out again, he brought his arm up and the wolf bit down on it over and over trying to get to him. He yelled in pain, but through the haze he brought the dagger up into the wolf’s chest.

It fell limp onto the ground and Celendros fell onto his butt while he held his mangled forearm. It was heavily bleeding and punctures all over it. He stared at it for a second almost cursing the fact that he couldn’t heal it. So instead he tore off a large section of his cloth pants and wrapped it around his arm to close the wound until he could get help.

This was bad. Those horse things would be terrified of him from what that pink haired one displayed. But he won’t be able to heal the wound out here... The cloth wasn’t doing a good job holding the blood back, all it did was slow down the process to give him time. The dead... wolf if you could call it that, had a pelt made of wood so he couldn’t skin it to create a makeshift bandage.

After a little while of decisions he got up and started heading along the treeline. It was dark so he couldn’t see well. But hopefully there was a town nearby. He walked and walked and as he did his skin grew more and more pale. He was bleeding out and all he had was the small glimmer of hope that these “people” would help him. Fifteen minutes had passed and he began to get weak. His vision blurred and he fell to the ground.

He shivered as the loss of blood made him cold and the cloth around his arm, it had gone from its normal brown color to a dark red, unable to absorb any more blood. He looked up and saw some lights in the distance, but couldn’t get up to get help. He slowly closed his eyes and consciousness had left him...


For a moment his consciousness came back to him... he was laying on something soft. All he could remember was laying in some dirt. He heard a female voice that said “Spike, get some water.” and he mumbled a little bit. “Wait! I think it’s waking up!” the voice said.

Celendros slowly opened his eyes, but his vision was blurry. He saw purple, a lot of purple. Something was in his face, could it be one of those... things? “Ugh...” he let out. “Where am I...?” he quietly asked to no one in particular.

He heard a gasp, “Omigosh it can talk!” the voice said. “You’re in ponyville.”

“Where?” he asked again.

“Po-ny-ville.” the voice enunciated.

“That’s an odd-...” he vision cleared up and it was one of those horse things... right in his face. In his mind he’d thought he’d be taken captive by them so he tried his best to keep calm and get the answers he needed. “...What are you?” he asked. He couldn’t remember much of what happened after he’d gotten here in the first place.

“The same could be said for you. What’s your name?” it asked.

“Celendros...” he said. Meanwhile some of the pain in his arm was coming back.

“Celendros? That’s a funny name. My name’s Twilight Sparkle and i’m a pony.” she explained to him.

“I’m human. Clearly i’m not from around here. I’m glad to find not everyone around here is afraid of me. There was this one... ‘pony’ I had met earlier. She screamed at the sight of me and slammed the door. She had pink hair and a yellow coat. So I presumed you people were all like that.” he told her. “But now I can see diversity in color and perspective in your people.”

“Thank you?” she didn’t fully know what he meant but she dismissed it. “Well you seemed to have met Fluttershy, she’s really shy and tends to get startled quite easily. But she’s really nice when you get to know her.”

“I see... perhaps my approach could’ve been better...” Celendros said, mentally kicking himself for being so straightforward.

“So where did you come from? I’ve never seen anything quite like a human.” she asked him.

“I’m from the Pianlut Highlands. Judging by the climate of this area, it’s quite far to the north.” he said.

“Pianlut Highlands? I’ve never heard of a place called that, and it certainly isn’t on any map.” she told him while she had a look of confusion on her face.

“Well then this is certainly odd...” he said. Then he thought for a moment. He’d been all over Socobeck and have never been to a place like this. Then he remembered the idol... the idol! “What country is this town located in?” he asked.

“Well we’re in Equestria.” she answered him.

“So what you’re telling me is that i’m on a different planet. I’ve been all over Socobeck and i’ve never heard of such a country. In fact the only species that even resembles yours are the centaur.” he deduced. He began to worry, about his family, the few friends he had left. But then he remembered... Gavin was here too. “Uh oh...” His memory started to come back to him. He was still rather out of it since he’d just regained consciousness. But things were starting to come back.

“What? What is it?” she asked.

“Do you have some sort of monarch or leader?” he quickly asked.

“Yeah, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Why do you ask? Is there something wrong?” she began to get worried.

“Yes! Something is very wrong, I need to speak with them right away. It’s a matter of life and death!” he exclaimed. He tried to sit up, but as soon as he moved his right arm. A shock of pain was sent to his brain from his arm. “Argh!” he let out and fell back onto the couch he was laying on.

“Don’t move! Your arm is in horrible condition!” she told him. “Whatever it is, i’m sure it can wait... or can it?” she began to mentally ponder it. He did say it was life and death, could it really be that serious?

“You don’t understand, another human came here with me. And he’s not like me, he wants nothing more than to enslave everyone and he has a powerful artifact in his possession and i’m the only one who can stop it.” he quickly explained. “But... as you said. I can’t leave so we have a major problem...”

“Maybe not, I can send a letter to the Princess.” Twilight suggested.

“You can do that?” he asked.

“Of course I can, i’m her star pupil! Spike! Take a letter!” she said and a small dragon came to write things down. She levitated a quill and paper to him.

The longer I stay here, the more insane i’m going to get.’’ Celendros thought to himself.

Twilight told Spike what to write down and he did so. Afterward he breathed fire and the letter disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

“Your magic is strange. How does it work?” Celendros asked.

Twilight looked at him funny, “You don’t have magic on your world?” the more they talked the more excited she got about meeting an alien. She quickly levitated a quill and notebook in front of her, ready to write down everything he was about to say.

“Well...” he raised a brow at her attentiveness. “We do have magic on our world, but it’s different than what you displayed. Mages have to spend years communing with the arcane magics of the world. They study the language of magic and how to speak it. These enchanted words are what allows them to cast the spells. Then they must train their bodies to handle the stress it puts on their body. Arcane magic from my world is dangerous though. There are four truths that mages have to learn and memorize. If they fail to follow all four truths, they are banned from the circle and stripped of their connection to the arcane.” Celendros explains in detail.

“What are these four truths? And why do they punish them so harshly?” Twilight asked after she finished writing down everything he said.

“Well, the first one is: Magic is Powerful. Magic on my planet is the difference between a servant and their master, a peasant and a king. The use of magic is growing. Judging by what’s happened in the past, each time the use of magic increases, a great disaster shortly follows. However, even though the history of magic is well known on my planet. Mages and their patrons come to the same conclusion that it ‘Won’t happen to me’.” he remembered every detail. Due to the fact that before Celendros became a shaman, he wanted to become a mage.

“Fascinating!” Twilight said as she writes it all down.

“The second is: Magic is corrupting. Magic corrupts the soul on my planet. Even the most humblest of men who take up the art of the arcane become prideful and arrogant.” he continued.

Twilight nodded and continued writing.

“The third one is: Magic is addicting. When one feels the power of the arcane coursing through their body, resisting the urge to cast it again is difficult.” Celendros said. Then he stopped for a moment, he throat was getting dry. “Could you bring me some water?”

“Sure” she said and set the quill and paper down. She went into the kitchen to get some water.

‘What am I doing?!’’ Celendros scolds himself in his mind. ‘I’m telling her everything, she could just be gathering information so she could tell her princess! I need to think. How do I get out of this while my arm heals...’ Before he could continue thinking she came back.

“Here you go.” she heartily said and levitated a glass of water to him.

He took it with his good arm and nodded in thank you. He took a large sip and set it down on the coffee table in front of the couch.

“Okay, can you please continue?” she asked him politely while she levitated the quill and paper back in front of her.

‘I guess I don’t have a choice...’ Cel thought to himself. “And the last one is... Magic attracts the demonic. Magic is a literal gateway drug that allows demons to bring evil influences into the world. Mages often have to deal with the threat of possession every once and awhile.”

“Demons?!” Twilight exclaimed. “Does that mean I could be attacked by some demon?!” she began to freak out.

“Calm down! I don’t think that applies to Equestria.” he tried to reassure her. Though, he didn’t know if this was true or not. But all he could do was give her words of comfort. “Take this from a Shaman, i’m sure it’s impossible.”

“Really?” she asked. She started to feel better but then had another question. “Wait. What’s a Shaman?”

“Shamans are the messengers of nature and the Great Mother. I’ll explain to you later. I need to get some sleep. Though he really wasn’t tired, he needed time to think of how he’s going to get back home.

“I- but-! Okay, I guess.” she said while her ears folded back onto her head. She was really disappointed, but understood. He was really hurt after all.

“Don’t worry Twilight Sparkle. You’ll get your answers soon enough. Now please, may I sleep in silence?” he politely said.

“I guess...” she said. She headed up stairs to go read a book.

Celendros took this time to figure out where he was. He never really got the chance to before since she was barraging him with questions. He looked around to find out his was in some sort of library. The architecture was strange though, like it was inside a tree. But he’d only be able to find out if he went outside... but he wasn’t able to due to his arm.

He slowly brought his right arm in front of him, he did so carefully so it wouldn’t hurt too much. He inspected it to see it was wrapped in bandages and a small bit of the torn skin poked out around the edges. Luckily it didn’t feel like the bone took much damage. But the flesh wound was pretty severe.

Now he pondered about that idol. He felt the indents on his face from the idol, some of the runic markings on the idol had been burnt onto his face. After he felt the touch of the idol. His face began to feel strange. Then his head hurt. The residual energy from the idol was doing something to him. It hurt alot but he needed to stay quiet. He withheld yelling in pain and gripped his head. Then the pain faded and consciousness left him again...

In his sleep, flashes of memories of him healing the wounded with his shamanistic abilities flew through his mind. And in this dream he could feel as if a part of the connection he had with the elements was returning.


Celendros woke up again and lifted his head to see that it was night time outside.  He could see through the window by the door. “Hello?!” he called out. Seems that no one was home.

He laid his head back down on the pillow that was provided for him and stared at the ceiling.

He took this time to contemplate the dream he had. He remembered those memories now almost perfectly, and he could feel some of the connection restored. But not fully, maybe enough to manipulate a small bit of water, but nothing too major. He thought of something though... he took the half-full glass of now lukewarm water and stared at it for a moment.

He rested the glass on his chest and waved his good hand around it. The water began to move around in the glass, following the hand as it circled around the glass. He lifted his hand up and the water lifted from it, it might not appear so but this was difficult. Almost as if he was learning how to do it all over again. He fluently moved the water over to his hurt arm and the water floated under the bandages. After a moment the wound gained a green aura for a moment and the arm felt much better. It was slightly healed, but not by much. And the magic worked as a sort of pain killer. He was glad to know he had at least a small source of healing for now.

He thought for a moment... could that idol have been the key to man being able to commune with nature? If so, he needed to fix his arm and find the shattered remains of the idol, and soon. For if Gavun found it, Equestria could have a war on its hands, and Celendros would need to be right in the middle of it.

He hated war, it brought nothing but death and sorrow. But he also saw it as a necessity at times, it was the way of things on Socobeck. War acted as a sort of filter between the weak and strong. But this war between Gavun and the people... it’s just unnatural.

There was a reason why Gavun gained so much power from that idol. There is also a reason he hated shamans so much. It’s because he was one... formerly. He was originally meant to be the deliverer of the people. But he delved into the arcane magics in search for power. Which lead to him being the subject of possession by a demon. This had corrupted his mind and gave him a lust for power. He convinced some of the more powerful shamans of the order and forced nature to bend to their whim through dark rituals.

With as much as Celendros hated doing it. He had to kill the dark shamans one by one when they were alone. He half-regretted doing it, but it needed to be done. Gavun was the only one he couldn’t kill. For by this time, he’d killed the king and assumed the title. Ruining Celendros’s chances of ending a disaster before it happened.

Though the prophecies were true about Gavun... he delivered the people into a life of slavery and poverty. A life that Celendros both embraced and fought against. He was tired of being the hero, he was tired of missing his family, he was tired of fighting. The only thing pushing him forward was the fact that it was the right thing to do. He was tempted to run away from his problems, but he knew they’d always come back. Painful sacrifices need to be made in order to do the right thing... Celendros knows this more than any man ever should.