CHAPTER FIVE - KNOCK KNOCK !!!

There comes a time in a man's life when he must face his fear and demolish his mountain; time however is a messenger of life and messenger of destiny but a man's decision also plays a major part.

The universe knows he is on an important quest, thus time itself became flesh and blood alongside others messengers of life to test him and know where his priorities lie..... Evergreen and never ageing, the gorgeous black damsel stares at Orion with her alluring look, eating up every sight of his handsomeness and manly build.

I am on a journey, a very important one my lady Orion replies promptly avoiding her beguiling glazed eyes.He had been warned about her, how she would try and others along the way to hoodwink him, play on his vulnerabilities and weaknesses....but the question still remains what is Orion's weakness ?

Meanwhile, Frotos and his followers have overtaken the house on the hills and every insubordinate soul is imprisoned, bringing forth the highest level of anarchy and chaos into the house.

He simply continued what Vlada was doing originally in the house, the job of spreading panic and fear; using the guest's greatest fear against them while he inflicted visual torments on the mortals who entered the house as he feels he is only one worthy of stepping into the house on the hills as a mortal hence he sees himself not as a slave of Vlada but as an equal who only needs the right opportunity to get back at him.... Oh who will tell him now ?

Orion after being warned has been able to defeat the damsel called Time and her charm, Having tried in vain to stop him on his journey and make him go in with her. She suddenly transformed herself into a viper and slithered across the dead leafless tree before them.

The deadly serpent was about seven feet, yellow on the belly and green on its back , the forked tongue was stuck out wobbling in the air ready to strike, and it was also an unusual type of snake as it had three heads while glaring red at Orion waiting to attack.

Orion stepped back, thus balancing his weight on his left foot, his cross bow in hand but he must not make a move too soon due to the speed of the viper before him, he remembered some of the words of the monster messenger in its warnings 'Time is like a viper, it cannot be tamed and regrets sting more because we cannot go back in time to change it...

Turning to his side slowly and tactically, he brought out his crossbow and and got ready to strike ...

A man is usually an architect of his own misfortune and the way Frotos met his end attests to this fact, having being at the top like he wanted with all his ambitions satisfied, he still was not contented.

After being told what to do to be made an Ally by Vlada, we are taken aback to Orion and his visions of the past how now we finally get to see what Frotos was told to do. In the Avalon lies a tree called The Honor Of The Lambs, in this tree lies the fruit that can make a mortal become an immortal without having to die, he would not be allowed to live among the priests of the spirit of whispers but he would be allowed to rule over the mortal realm forever,he would become a Lord in the land of the living once he is able to get and eat just one of its fruits.

However, the truth Vlada does not reveal to Frotos is that no human can get there without heavy consequences, no matter how powerful or how wise as the white tree is being guided by super terrestrials who are called The Storm Guards, they are super fast immortal spirits of the whispers whose mission from the dawn of time is to guard and protect the Avalon and the Lords, they are giant like beings with four feet and four arms and dressed in an armour that is totally golden and glisters always; they have super healing activities which prompt their body parts to regenerate seconds after it has been damaged or cut off.....

Their voices a beam of light and its sound emits and kills a mortal upon few moments of hearing it, blasting off the head of any beast or human from the mortal world. Their weapons project from their arms, and with their super speed way of combat, no mortal could stand them;all these information was withheld from Frotos who was too foolhardy to inquire about things that matter.... He was too blinded by his ambition and desires to be the best and the only one at that .

Motions were set in place and with the immense power he had gotten, Frotos was able to see into the Avalon a bit of the events going on and also a view of the white tree The Honour Of The Lambs. He then tried to transcend into the Avalon, but then he was attacked by the Storm Guards and killed. And since he has pledged his soul to the dark lord;he was immediately imprisoned and began to face his torment .

Orion kept hearing the voice of the monster in whispers in his head and it kept telling him, do not be deceived by the things you see; nothing is like the way it looks..... aiming his cross bow at the head of the middle snake amongst the three headed serpent, he struck his blow and down fell the leafless tree before him, slowly entering the dry earth. He had been tricked all these while by the minions of Vlada guarding the house on the hills .

The journey continued for Orion, he had defeated one of the many forces of the colony of doom, as the days passed with no water or food in sight be began to get weary, he sees a man far ahead with lots of sheep seated by the fire side while smoking a meat, strange on a desert land wouldn't you think; the man sees him ahead amidst the movement of the sheep and their constant baas. What is more bizarre is the way the sheep are all black and heavy, and seem to all be moving towards him, Orion gets closer to the man and the man draws his sword asking him who he was..... But that was another trap as he already knew who he was, when Orion could not be stopped by time, Death Itself decided to waylay him in the form if flesh, the man threw his forearms forward with the skill of an heads swordsman and Orion brought out his own sword, a special metal made from the Avalon given to him by his monster messenger which only him can wield. The clash of blades began, sparks flying and Death swung at Orion's head with his sword, a twenty pound two headed sword

After a long bout of intense combat, Orion was able to have an upper edge by giving Death a headshot, and he parried his riposte to his heart thereby cutting at his wrist. He set his sword in the direction of Death's face but missed unfortunately as Death dodged him expertly, with his wrist dripping he was weak and his standing was shaky ; Orion seizes his opportunity at his bleeding head and delivers his sword in a very accurate and fast manner.

In a flash, off falls the head of the man and his sheep immediately turn into dust just as their master turns into dust and the settings is back as it once were, just a desert land with no live force on it. Orion had once again emerged victorious and is more confident now while he continues his journey....

Years passed after Salsa's wedding and now she has two twin boys ,Celtiq and Ambidnus both a chip off the old bloc; Vicafi their father has become king of the Bell city, doing his best to rule in orderliness and equity... It has been a while since she set her eyes on Orion and she wonders what her brother has been up to.

Orion did not realize that time worked differently on the sands of the desert of Colony of Doom, time moved faster here for every hour he spends on the desert a year is added in the outside world. So for ten years he walked, he defeated several enemies on the way from the Birds of prey to the Whistle blower with a coat of many colors, the appearance of the Deceit, His last opponent along the way was the Truth, a hideous and strange appearance. Almost as if contrived, his hair was wizened and straw like nearly fossilized it was completely dry.....

His eyes were sad and looked worn out, like he was carrying a heavy burden while his pale face looked like he was in pain,his eyesight was not at all sharp as it used to be and he could not speak. Obviously old Orion thought this would be his easiest victory yet but he soon remembers the words of his monster 'nothing is usually as they seem child' echoing in his heads, as he goes into a combat with the old man, he realized he was suddenly fighting for his life as the man was very light on his feet and he moved with the speed and agility of a seventeen year old ....They fought long into the night before he could finally deal his fatal blow, with the help of his Phoenix eyes he could see through the old man's weak point and he realized his staff was no ordinary staff and that it made him strong.

Orion engaged the old man wittingly and challenged him to drop his staff and let them fight with the strength of their fists, the man ignorant of his antics dropped his staff and just in a very swift instant Orion swings his sword and down came the head whilst blood gushed out of the struggling dying body.

Victory draws there for Orion and so does the need to apply wisdom, at last he reaches close to where the house on the hills lie. The house on the hills stood by itself against everything else, within lies darkness and doom and on the outside an image of abandonment.

It had stood and lived for centuries before the dawn of the mortals, the foundation being laid by dark lord Vlada himself, rising against all odds and conquering all who have entered;stories abound on ambitious lots who have been able to defeat all obstacles and get to its domain, and yet the house still destroyed them all...

Uprightly the walls stood with their heads high, the bricks met neatly and the floors firmly, the silence echos through out the woods and stones that surrounds its domain, an ever consuming darkness.

Inside the house lay sheets on the furniture with dusts and cobwebs and chandelier on the table with broken strings of crytals .

On the floor of the hill house lay ancient broken glasses, these are the first few things Orion notices as he steps into the house on the hills and he keeps saying to himself 'This is it' . The eerie silence was already something he expected now, yet he could hear the door creak and footsteps from a far end corner than where he was standing alongside several whispers of his name and voices telling him to leave, some pleadingly and others more threatening.

The smell of dank, rusty metals , wet wood and long rotten banquet meal was on a larger table with bottles of beer broken on the floor, an indication that several mortals have been here once like he saw in his vision.

He could see what happened to the couple who ate that meal and how they perished in the house, the sensation of the husband was grabbed in the neck and his neck broken while he falls to his death and his body vanishes into clouds of smoke, The phantom hand on the shoulder of the wife with the puff of breathe on her earlobe; her hair rising from her head and and her falling to her death while being controlled and bullied by the unseen, the vicious forces who dwell in the house on the hills.

Each of the stairs creaked as Orion walked upwards, It is a large house after all and was determined to see every part of it including the ominous red room. Halfway up he began to see vision flashes again, he could see several shadows flickering but not their faces, dancing around the chandelier and in another instant he is back to reality; the house has become an empty abode once again....

He tried to prevent the tightening around his throat due to the thick dust drifting through the eerie wind, he could still sense the presence of dark shadows lurking in the still air; following his every move. He could hear the whispers of the damned crying for help, and that of their tormentors all at once, creating a gloomy ambience.

Surprisingly for him, the house is not much dilapidated for a house that has been abandoned for centuries. Nightfall came quickly and the air shimmered, Orion's eyes while darting around the house shot a brief glance on one of the windows; and he could notice as moonlight slipped through the cracked board covering half of the window.

It had withered torn curtains by its side,and behind it lay a broken rocking chair. As he got to the top floor, he could see further signs of violence , a broken portrait on the floor, ripped by the side with the remaining face corpse like and staring into the ceiling.