The City Of Gold

Chapter 1

Hey everyone! I am going to tell you about the strange tale of my visit to the City Of Gold. Oh wait! I forgot to tell you my name. I am Thomas. Most people call me Tom. It's not exactly my official nickname, but it kind of has become one. Anyways, let's get back to the story, shall we?

So it all started on a fine summer day. I and my best friend Tris were walking down Fifth Avenue to my house. Her parents were out for the weekend, as they had to go to an emergency business trip to Canada. We were sticky with sweat as we were in the park playing basketball with our school friends. I and Tris are very good basketball players you see. We both have been friends from Grade 1, when she moved in our neighborhood. Her parents and mine have become best friends now. As soon we get home we see a note lying on the table. It said:

Hey Guys,

I and your father decided to go to grandmas for the night as she is ill with fever. You and Tris can order anything u like, for supper.

Love U-

Mom

" Well, I guess we are going to spend the night alone.", I said.

"On the bright side, we can order anything we want.", said Tris.

"Yeah! What do you want to eat anyways, huh?", I said

"Burger", said Tris, without even hesitating. (She is a very big foodie, you know?)

" Burger it is", I respond

We both head upstairs to freshen up and get my phone. After we are done, we go to the living room and switch on the TV. We switch through channels when the door bell rings. We open the door to find out it's our friend Gale. He is a tall boy with well-built body.

"Hey man! Was sup?", I ask.

"Nothing'", he replies.

"Well, come on in man. We just ordered burgers.", Tris said.

" Yeah sure", he says.

Soon our burger arrived. We all ate like a hungry pack of wolves. Then we watched TV for some time and soon Gale waved goodbye and left.

"So, what you want to do now?", I ask.

"Well, just head to bed. I am tired," , Tris says. And just on cue, she yawns.

"K, let's go!" I say.

We say goodnight to each other, and head of to our own rooms. I change to my pajamas and lie on my bed. Slowly, I drift off to sleep. I don't know what awakened me, but when my eyes open, I notice that my window is actually open, showing the glistening full moon, and the curtains were swaying for the wind. I got up from my bed and closed the window. When I turned, I saw a small golden sculpture of some kind on my table. I picked it up and examined it very carefully. It was a golden eagle, sitting on top of some kind of pillar. I was really confused, and thought of who had brought it. I decided to talk about it to Tris in the morning. I slowly walked back to my bed, and lay down. When I woke up, it was early morning. My watch read 7:25 am. I decided to get up. I slowly went to the bathroom and freshened up. I changed my pajamas to my regular clothes, which was a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. When I walked downstairs, I saw Tris was already awake, and my parents where back.

"Hey mom! Hey dad", I said.

"Hey!" they said in unison.

I didn't want to talk much, so I sat on a chair beside Tris, who was attacking an omelet and two bacons. I had the same breakfast, and started to eat without wishing her good morning. When we were both done, we took our school bags, and started to walk to school. On the way I told her about everything about last night. I answer I got, I wasn't expecting that. "I experienced the same thing, but only my sculpture was different", she said. Then she showed me a golden sculpture, which had a cheetah instead of an eagle. I was really surprised, and we talked about it all the way to school. When we reached school, Gale stopped us in the corridor and said he had something important to say. What he said was completely insane. "Yesterday night, I woke up in the middle of the night and found a small golden sculpture lying on my bedside table." He, then, took out his golden sculpture, which was a golden rhino, which was sitting on a golden pillar, just like ours. "You're not going to believe this, but the same thing happened to us." I said. Then we showed him our sculptures, which baffled him even more. We started towards our classroom. We had almost reached the classroom when we were tackled with yet another surprise. The T-sisters crossed our paths and told us to follow them. Even before we had time to object, they were pulling us towards the music room, which was now empty. We were their best friends. Actually their only friend. Their real name were Tori and Tabby. Earlier, I couldn't remember their names, and so I called them the T-sisters. Well, when we entered the music room, they basically told us the same thing which Gale told us. We told them our stories, and their facial reaction was unforgettable. "It's unbelievable", was all they said. Then they showed us their sculptures. Tori's one was a hawk, not so different from mine and Tabby's one was a snake. Unlike any of us, her snake was green. After that we showed them our sculptures. They were really awed by our statues, but immediately Tabby's face became confused.

"Why is my one green, and you guys have all golden" Tabby asked.

"We really don't know Tabby, but I guess we will figure it out soon", I said

"We are already late. Let's meet after dismissal, and we will discuss it then", Tris said.

"My house, after dismissal" I said

"Done", everyone said in unison.

I walked out of the room.

"See ya later, guys", I cried to them.

I started walking towards my classroom. School went on for hours, but my mind was somewhere else. The classes went by, and at last, it was time for going home. I quickly found Tris, and we ran all the way to home. When we reached home, we found mom in the kitchen, cooking dinner, and dad was out somewhere. We both ran to our rooms, and changed our clothes. After sometime Gale reached our house, and we waited silently, for the T-sisters, in my room. Soon they arrived, and we all sat on my bed. None of us knew what to say and we all sat in silence.

"Let's just observe our sculptures carefully", I said, in order to break the silence.

Everyone started examining their statues without saying anything aloud. Suddenly Tris put her hand up.

"This not cool, man", Tabby said.

"Yeah I know" , Tris said.

"Well, there is something written on my sculpture", said Tris.

"Where", I asked.

She showed me a simple word written at the base of the pillar. It said,

"The Brain"

We all searched in our sculptures, and found out that we all had something written.

Gale's one said:

"The Strength"

Tabby's one said:

"The Venom"

Tori's one said:

"The Glue"

And lastly, mine read:

"The King"

Everyone started talking at once. But I was totally dumbfounded. How could I be the King? It's not possible. I am only a kid from middle-school. I am not even so important, like the others.

"Everybody, Shut up", Tris screamed. But I couldn't stop thinking.

Everyone became silent at once.

"I think we should forget about this for now." Gale volunteered

"I think you are right." Tris said.

"Let's just do something else." Tori said.

"How about a game of basketball?" Tabby suggested.

We all agreed and decided to head towards the basketball stadium just a few blocks away. We started walking towards the door, and once I was out in the open, I felt better. Slowly, we walked together on the sidewalk. When we reached the court, we found it empty. (Which was totally unusual) We walked inside the empty stadium and a cool breeze greeted us. I felt like somebody was following us.

"Guys, do you feel like someone is following us, or is it my imagination'' I said

"I think you are right", Gale said.

"Yeah", the others spoke.

"Well let's just play" I said.

Everyone agreed and we divided ourselves into two teams. After probably playing for an hour or so, we decided to take some rest. We sat on the benches and drank some water.

Suddenly a piece of paper came flying towards us. I picked it up and saw it was folded. I unfolded it, and it was a map. The title read "The City Of Gold"

Chapter 2

We were all staring at the map. The silence made it worse. The only sound I could hear was our breathing. At last Tris broke the silence.

"What do you think it is, huh?" Tris said.

"I don't know", I said.

"Well I guess it is connected with the strange statues we got" Gale suggested.

"I think he is right", Tris said.

"Then we should find out what is happening" I said.

We all decided to give the library a visit. After searching for almost an hour, we came up with nothing that was related with "The City Of Gold". When we started walking towards the door, my eyes caught something on one of the shelves. It was an old book that read "Adventures In The Amazon River". I showed the book to the others. We flipped through some pages and found something that helped us a lot. It was a chapter called "The City Of Gold: El Dorado". We took the book to the librarian and borrowed the book for some days.

After that we went home. Tris and I sat in front of the TV and started switching through some channels. After some time we got bored and decided to go up to my room and see what the book's got. We went up to my room and started reading the chapter. The first few pages told about the history of the Amazon River. After that it started talking about El Dorado. It was nothing interesting. Some boring history facts about the place. The one thing that caught our eyes was that there is no evidence that this place really existed. After about an hour of surfing the net and reading the book, we found out nothing. At last we assumed that the strange dolls, (Tris says they are not dolls but idols.) and the maps were a kind of practical joke. We gave it no further thought and went downstairs. After some time of watching the TV, we realized that it was already time for supper. Mom called us for dinner and we went to the dining room. The smell that greeted us was of pot roast. Me and Tris both loved pot roast. Dad was already siting and mom was in the kitchen. We sat down opposite dad and soon mom served us the delicious pot roast. By that time I had already forgotten about the statues and what not. Mom told us that she had invited Gale over and he was supposed to be here any minute. She told us that we were also supposed to be waiting for him. I was really sad that I would not be able to eat it right away. Soon Gale arrived, and by that time I was starving. We all enjoyed our dinner. After that we went upstairs to my room.

"Did you find any clues yet?" Gale asked.

"Not yet" I replied.

We decided not to think about it anymore and engaged ourselves about the coming school study tour to a boring Greek museum somewhere in Manhattan. Soon after that we heard my mom coming upstairs.

"Tris, Thomas, Gale, come downstairs." We heard her call.

We went downstairs and found Tabby and Tori's parents waiting for us downstairs. Our friends were nowhere to be seen. I was confused. My mom laughed at my puzzled expression. Suddenly Tris and Gale burst out laughing. That got me more confused.

"Come here Tom, sit down." My mom said.

I went and sat down on one of the sofas in the living room opposite my parents. Tris and Gale sat down between me. My mom explained how all my friends and their parents together planned for a trip to Long Island Sound for my birthday which was next week (Sorry, I forgot to mention it!). We were supposed to be leaving next Friday three days before my birthday and celebrate it there. After that all the others went home, including Gale. I finally said good night to the others and head to bed.

I think it was past three when I suddenly woke from my sleep. I had kept the windows open and I could feel the cool of the breeze that was coming from the window. I got up from bed and walked over to my table. There was a small paper left on my table. It was neatly folded. I unfolded it and saw that something was written on it. It said:

"We await you"

Chapter 3

The days passed and nothing happened. I had shown the paper to my friends and they were as surprised as I was. But we could not figure out any explanation. After a long week it was at last time for our trip to Long Island. Our flight was leaving in two hours and we were already in the car on our way to the airport. Tris, me, Gale, Tabby and Tori were in one car with our driver, Frank, and our parents were in the other. The twin's parents were not coming so it was only Gale's and my parents. Throughout the car journey to the airport, we listened to music and talked about anything but the strange occurrences. Soon we reached the airport and got on our flight with more than 10 minutes to spare. It was a short journey from Manhattan to Long Island. We flew business class and had a lot of fun in the plane. We watched movies and talked a great deal about the things we were going to do. By the time we landed I had quite forgotten about the letter in my bedroom. But that day my life was going to change a lot. We reached our hotel by noon and went to our rooms. We boys had one room while the girls were in another. Our parents also had one room. We had our lunch in the hotel and decided to take some rest in our own rooms. But as we kids were not tired we decided to play some games. In the evening our parents came to our room and told us we were headed towards the beach and we would have roasted marshmallows. I was really excited and was looking forward to it. I didn't know it then but I was not returning to that hotel room for a quite long time. We had rented a car and were off to the beach in no time. The sun was still up and it was still a hour or two before it got down. When we reached there our parents told us to go and play and they would lie down the near the shore. We decided to go a little far from our parents and sit down on the beach. As we started walking we noticed that there were very less tourists. Once we found a good spot, we sat down. After probably 10 minutes, a big man in a black suit came towards us.

"Are you Thomas?" asked the man.

"Yes. I am" I said

"Very well. You shall come with me."

"Why?" Tris asked. (As usual)

"Because I am from the Golden City and our regent wants to meet you"

I and my friends knew the name "Golden City", as it was written in the map that we received (And by the way, that map was useless). I glanced at my friends and they gave me a nod, even Tris.

"Ok we will come. But where exactly are we going."

"You shall know very soon. Follow me."

The man led us towards a deserted part of the beach. Then he looked towards the ocean and started chanting in Latin (I know because they told me later).

Anyway, as he was chanting, I realized that dark clouds were forming overhead, which was totally unusual. I felt Tris stiffen beside me. Suddenly a doorway was created in front of us (That was actually a portal). That totally freaked me out. But I didn't let it show. The man vanished inside the portal, not even looking if we were coming or not. I looked at my friends and they gave me a nod. We walked inside the portal and darkness swallowed us.

*******************************************

When my eyes opened, I saw blue sky above. It was beautiful. I tried to sit up, but my head felt like lead and I lost consciousness. Next when I woke up, I was in a room. I looked beside me, and saw Tris asleep on the bed beside me. I got up and walked towards her bed. I saw all my friends were sleeping in a long range of beds. I was in the middle. Tris and was on my right and Gale on my left. Tabby was beside Gale and Tori was beside Tris. I gently woke Tris up. She got up and checked the surroundings. At least she was sensible enough not to scream. We slowly waked the others. We decided to go out and see where we were. But we couldn't find an exit. We discovered it was night and we had no idea how much time we slept. We went back inside the house and saw that a man was waiting for us.

"Hello, Thomas" he said.

"Who are you? Where are we?" Tris asked

"It is a long tale. Do you want it to hear it?" he asked

"Yes"

He beckoned us to sit opposite him. We sat down. Then things got bizarre.

"You guys are in the City Of Gold or sometimes known as The Golden City.", he began "It was founded by our ancestors. You see, we are actually the only followers of the ancient deities who are left in the world. We built this city so that we can stay here and keep the deities alive in our mind. All the 'myths' that they teach you guys at school are actually based on these deities. As we are the only people who are left that remembers them, the deities have given us some power that help us survive in this cruel world. But as the deities are real, so are the monsters, and giants."

"But-" I began

"All questions will be answered later." he said. "So where were we? Oh yes, so as I was saying, we can do small magic like create a portal and stuff. All through these years, a king would lead our kingdom. But for the last 16 years, we have had no king or ruler. Our last king died in the battle with the frost giants. Before the king's death the queen fled with his only son. She fled to the mortal world, and married a regular man to cover her traces. We had tried to find him all these years and at last found him."

"Who is it?" I asked.

"It's you, Thomas, you. Prince of the Golden City."

"No way. It's a mistake. It can't be. No way."

"No. It's not a mistake. It is you"

"But my mother never told me."

"She couldn't. It broke her heart when we told her we would be taking you today. She had nothing to do. It is your destiny."

I was lost at words.

"But what about the battle. Did you win?" Tris asked

"'We' he corrected. And as for your answer, no. The battle is still raging outside in our borders as we talk." He said

"Are you guys related to the myth of El dorado.?"

"The myth is based on us. Sir Walter Raleigh stumbled upon our kingdom in the early 16th century, and first started the search to find us. But our magical borders, thank the deities, keep us concealed.

"But shouldn't you help." Tabby asked.

"No. Our soldiers are enough. Now you must wait here while I go and send your trainer. He will further explain and answer all your questions." He said

He got up and left the room. We waited in silence. After probably half an hour, a man came inside. It was the same man who had brought us here. He signaled us to follow him. We go up and the man lead us outside. He started leading us to a chariot.

"Get inside" he said.

We got inside without saying anything. We rode in silence. I was still trying to process what the man had said about me being the prince and all. Everyone seemed dazed and mesmerized by the view of the city. None of the things were made of gold as I expected but they were beautiful nonetheless. There were many temples and small houses. We saw people wearing tunics walking about in the streets. There were few women and they wore tunics as well. As we rode forward I saw the palace. Soon we reached the gates of the palace. The man told us to get down. We did as we were told. The man told us that this place was the palace of the kings, and we had to go up there. When we reached the doors, the man told us to go inside. I went inside first. The view was amazing. It was a circular chamber which was decorated like a king's palace. There were 5 thrones in the center, one slightly bigger and it rested in the middle. On the foot of the thrones sat the man we had met earlier in the house. He beckoned us forward.

"Come children" he said "I am the regent of the kingdom (a regent is a person who rules a kingdom in the absence of the king) and I have been waiting for the return of you, my king. Let me explain to you in details. The war we are fighting right now is a war we cannot win without the king. You must claim your throne and lead our soldiers into battle. You will be given proper training and taught how to fight.

"But when will be able to go home?" Tris asked

"Our moms will be missing us by now." I said

"Don't worry my children" he replied " The time here is different than in the real world. When a decade passes here, a minute only passes in the real world."

That blew my mind and I got speechless. I decided to say nothing. The man led us inside the place. It was beautiful. The hallways were decorated with paintings of creatures that I didn't know the names of, and of many different people, probably the earlier kings. The man led us to a room. The room was probably the size of my whole house. It had 4 single beds, and a king size bed in the middle. The man told us that the middle bed was my, and the others could take the other bed. I grinned. When the man left, we sat down on my bed, without speaking anything. After probably 5 minutes of silence, Tori broke it.

"What do we do now"

" I have no idea"

"Let's explore the castle" suggested Gale.

"No", we replied in unison.

We waited for some time, and decided to go to sleep. Typical of us. When we woke up, it was morning. My watch told it was 10 am, but AI had no idea if it was working. We went outside the room, and found out 5 servants waiting for us. They said that they were here to wait upon us, help us change, get ready for breakfast and also if we needed anything else. The 5 men led us into different rooms. (Three of them were women) They allowed us to clean ourselves, but insisted that they dress us. I told them I didn't have any clothes. They brought me a pair of fresh jeans and a hoodie. Don't ask me where they got those. When all five of us were properly dressed, they led us to a large dining room. We sat on the long table. And then Breakfast was served. It was one of the finest meals I ever had. There were bacons, eggs, fresh fruits, and what not. We ate like a hungry pack of wolves. After breakfast, a man informed us that it was time for our first lesson. He led us to another room where we met the regent and the person who brought us here. He introduced himself as Achilles. The regent asked us to sit down. We sat.

Chapter 4

"I think you already know something about the Norse mythology"

We nodded.

"Well you see a part of that is true. No questions before I finish. I think you have heard of 'Helheim'. It is known as the realm of the dead - and those who die a dishonorable death or those who were the worst in life are forced to tread through the icy lands of this realm where no fire can live. It is comprised of a preliminary area and path from Tyr's Temple to the Bridge of the Damned - from which no one can return. But unfortunately some damned souls have found out a way to return to The Land of The Living also known as Earth. Now it is the job of the warlocks to protect the Earth from threats like this, but unfortunately they went dormant some decades ago and have not been heard from yet. So, we have no choice but to try to hold them off. Since the death of our king, we have lost many territories and our soldiers are getting discouraged every minute. Now that you are here, our soldiers fight with new found strength and dedication. We must train you and you must help us fight them. Any questions?"

We had millions but we shook our head. Just then a messenger entered the room.

"Sire, the enemy have entered the outer circle. In a few days time our defense will fall and the city will be taken. Our men fight with the best, but they are too strong." He said.

The regent paled. Achilles said:

"We must evacuate the city. Start the process. Rally all our troops to the front wall, but keep some at the other walls too. If the wall breaks, it will be the end of the Golden Era of our civilization."

"I can help" I said.

"How?" the regent asked.

"I can come up with a strategy. We can hold them off while some of us go on a quest to find the warlocks."

"No! It's too dangerous. We can't let you. You are too valuable." The regent said.

"No, we must. It's the only way. Please, let us do this. It is the only way we can help. Come on!"

"Okay. We will send our best strategists to you. And also our best historians, so you can know what you are dealing with. Also I will be starting the evacuation now, and mass panic is inevitable." He sighed.

Soon the messenger and the regent left the room. We waited for sometime in silence, while I tried to form a plan, but it was impossible to do so when I didn't have any maps of the structure of the city. Well, you guys might be wondering how I am such a good strategist, so I am going to tell you that I was born to play strategic games, and there was no one in the entire United States who could beat me at "Total War: Three Kingdoms" and "Anno 1800". So I guess I could form a good enough strategy, to keep some demons from hell at bay for a couple of days. Piece of Cake. But the realization that it was not a game and the fate of a whole city depended on me scared the hell out of me. Soon the historian came and started telling us some random dates and stuff about the history of the civilization blah, blah, blah. But the important part is give below:

"Hel or Helheim is the place Vikings are sent if they haven't died an honorable death. Helheim is supposed to be an extremely cold place that is guarded by a four-eyed, blood-soaked hound called Garmr, and a giant eagle called 'corpse-eater'. Well, you see Hel comes in many different forms throughout the different mythologies. In Ancient Greek and Roman, it is known as Tartarus and in Egyptian it is known as Duat. We call it Helheim or simply Hel. All of the different concepts of Hel are partly true. No one knows how it really looks or how it works. Basically, the Vikings or the bad spirits have been trying to escape Hel from the beginning of time, but the warlocks have kept them at bay. Now that they are gone, they have easily escaped and their first attack fell on our kingdom. The war has been raging for a couple of months now and they are winning. If we cannot stop them the world we know will not exist anymore. I will take your leave now. The strategists will be coming any moment now."

On this happy note he got up and left the room.

"This is too serious man! We are only kids. How can we fight something like this?" Gale said.

"You are absolutely correct" Tabby said

"What do we do now?" asked Tori.

"We wait. We hear their plans. Help them make a strategy, fight the war, then go home." I said.

Everyone agreed. That was surprising.

We waited in silence for about 10 minutes. At last two men entered the room. They sat opposite to us and spread out a big map of the whole city. The city was layered with 5 levels of wall. The first two had already fallen. If the other three fell, we were toast. We discussed about the armies and the troops. At the end of 4 hours we had made a pretty solid strategy. I was very proud of myself. Our training was scheduled to be starting from tomorrow morning. We would train for a couple of weeks and then join the fight. Then we did the inevitable. We went to bed.

Chapter 5

When we woke up the next morning, the people who were supposed to wait upon us were already there. We freshened up, ate our breakfast, and then went to the training room. Achilles was there with three other men and a women. They were supposed to train us and prepare us for the battle. Me and Gale were taught to fight with a sword. Tris got a knife, while the T-sisters both got bow and arrows. At the end of the day I had gotten the hang of using the sword, and I could tell that Gale had also. We trained for the next few days without any news of the war. But on the 9th day our training was disrupted by the sudden entrance of another messenger, who had come with news of the war.

"Sire, in the past couple of days we have lost up to 60 men. 40 swordsmen and 20 archers. Among these was the regent's own son. The regent mourns. Our defenses are falling. The new strategy that my lord had came up with was good, but not good enough to stop the enemy army. No matter how many we kill, more take their place. The evacuation of the city is almost complete. If we cannot stop them now, we will not be able to stop them ever."

Achilles went forward and talked with the man. Then both of them left. We continued our training. The next day we received our amours and weapons. I got a golden colored sword, which apparently belonged to my father. Tabby and Tori both got bow and arrows, while Gale got a wicked curved sword. Tris got a staff, which she was quite happy with. The staff was equipped with blades that would come out from the sides if a button was pressed. It was sweet! We were told that we would be sent to watch the battle from one of the inner walls, and also get to send some arrows flying towards the enemy. We were quite excited, but we didn't know that things were going to go very wrong.

We were led into a chariot. Both Achilles and our trainers, Juko and Rocco, accompanied us. After some time we reached the borders. Seeing it from this side, it didn't look like a war was raging on the other side. The wall was about 20 ft high. It was much like the Great Wall of China, with a place to stand on the tp of it. You get the idea. There were fortresses and towers all around. We were led into a fortress. We saw the regent talking with a soldier. Some soldiers were taking rest while some others were refilling their quivers with arrows. We climbed the stairs and came up on the roof. The scenery we saw was of our worst nightmares. The whole land was barren and fires burnt here and there. We saw a large army of undead warriors further ahead, but they were not advancing. Our troops were standing close to the wall. There were more than a thousand soldiers down there, but it wasn't even a quarter of the amount of the undead warriors. Juko informed us that every day the undead warriors took a kind of lunch break from noon to evening. Immediately my mind started forming a plan.

"We attack" I said.

Everyone looked at me.

"It's our best chance." I said.

"Our army is way too small. A frontal assault would be suicidal." Juko said.

"I know we cannot afford to lose more soldiers, but we will not risk a frontal assault. We line up all our best archers along the wall. Then we fire. It would catch them off guard. It's our best chance. We have to take the risk. If they charge we will meet them at the base of the wall. If we cannot push them back, we can retreat inside the city. Our archers can back us up."

Juko seemed to consider this. At last he went down to talk to the regent. After about 20 minutes he came up to inform us that the orders were given. The fight would proceed according to my plan. Apparently the regent liked my tactics and scolded his strategists for not coming up with this idea before. Soon we saw hundreds of archers coming up along the wall and the many towers and fortresses. About 20 archers came up on our tower. Both Tori and Tabby notched arrows on their bows. Then we waited for the battle to start.

Chapter 6

Soon the battle began. The archers let their arrows fly. In the distance we could see the enemy army falling. But unfortunately they soon realized what was happening and raised shields. The archers sent volley after volleys of arrows towards the enemy. At that time the enemy started to fire their own arrows. As fast as lightning an arrow came and hit a soldier standing beside me. We were forced to go below. The enemy had started advancing.

After about an hour we were allowed to go up again. We saw that the enemy army was still advancing. Our soldiers held their ground, but I could tell they were scared. Soon the enemy clashed with our soldiers. I could see that our soldiers had formed a triangle formation and a kind of wall with their shield around them. The sound of the two armies clashing came up to our ears. The enemy had sent only half of its army but still it outnumbered our army two to one. We waited while the war raged below us. Soon the sun began to set. Our army was still fighting at the base of the wall. I desperately wanted to help. It was almost evening when a cry came from the east. Both the enemy and our own soldiers stopped the fight. I thought it was more enemy but seeing the confusion in the enemy army, I changed my opinion. Once I saw the army I forgot everything else. The sight was bizarre. A new army erupted from the east like the rising sun. It was roughly about 500 men who had half horse body and half human body: centaurs. They were all dressed for combat. They wore brass armors and carried different weapons. The army clashed into the enemy lines. Our soldiers pushed back with newfound energy. Soon half of the undead warriors were killed, and we managed to push them back. We had won for the night. Rocco explained us that they had sent a messenger to their allies, the centaurs. Apparently the centaurs agreed to help us and had sent half of their brethren immediately. The other half would arrive by the morning. But still it was not enough. The enemy would bring back more undead from the depths of Tartarus. They had endless reinforcements. We had next to zero. Nothing could stop them except for the warlocks. A plan began to form in my mind. A plan so daring that the regent would not accept it. I put that aside for now.

As we went down, we saw our soldiers returning from the battlefield. The centaurs had camped on the western side of the soldiers camps. They were scary but wonderful cretures. If I had been told of their existence a month ago, I would have never believed it. But now nothing seemed impossible. The chariot took us back to the palace, where we freshened up and ate our dinner. I wondered how much time had passed in the real world. Soon a knock came on the door of our room. A messenger entered and informed us that me and Gale would tomorrow be on the battlefield. Tris and the T-sisters would be on the frontal wall, shooting down enemies from high above. Butterflies filled my stomach and I retired to bed.

The next morning when I woke up, I saw that our usual servants ( I don't like the word too, but I can't think of any other.) were not here. Intsead five other new men were here. The others had already gotten up and the men were fitting them into their armours.

Soon we were racing towards the border line in a chariot pulled by two horses. Once we reached there, Achilles and Juko greeted us. Juko took the girls up to the wall to be stationed with the other archers. We were led to the other side of the wall. All the soldiers stood up once they saw us. One of the head soldiers strode towards us.

"What's the status of the enemy."

"They are dormant. They did not try any attack since their last defeat. Our scouts have been keeping an eye on them. Looks like they are forming a plan."

Good, my plan seemed to be working. "How is our soldiers" I asked.

"Never been better. The arrival of the centaurs have given them a moral boost. We have about a thousand centaurs, the other half arrived this morning, 500 hundred cavary and some 200 archers. They are the best and the bravest fighters of the kingdom, but its not enough. Our scouts reported that the enemy is bringing in a lot of new reinforcements everyday. A bunch of Helhounds have also been spotted."

I nodded. "I need to see the regent"

Achilles led me towards a tent. Inside sat the old regent. He seemend to have aged a lot in the couple of days since he welcomed us in the city. I sat beside him and briefed him about my plan. Both Achilles and Rocco stared in disbelief at me when I finished.

"Absolutely not" the regent said.

"It's the only way" I said.

"He is right" Achilles backed me up.

"But…" the regent stopped. He seemed to consider it. "….ok. I will allow it, but only on one condition: both Achilles and Rocco will be going with you."

"Okay" I said. Suddenly a conch horn blew. The enemy had decided to charge, and our soldiers were not yet ready to deal with another blow. Without the element of surprise, I didn't think our soldiers would be able to deal with a major blow. We rushed outside to see that the head soldier, Jason, and Juko were barking out orders on the soldiers. They formed a triangle formation. Someone yelled 'Lock Shields!' Immediately all the soldiers in the front locked shield with each other. A protective barrier was formed around the main gate. The other soldiers stood behind their comrades and positioned their soldiers. I found Gale and stood beside him, swords drawn. Achilles and Zuko positioned themselves beside us. The enemy clashed into our barrier. I realized the centaurs were not here. Suddenly a soldier from the frontal line fell. A wound was bleeding from his forehead. The enemy poured in. The battle had begun.

Chapter 7

I slashed and hacked the undead as they poured inside our defensive lines. I could sense Gale doing the same beside me. The archers were doing their best, shooting down enemies without killing our own. Suddenly the whole of the centaur army poured from the west onto the enemy lines, but this time the enemy was prepared. They released their own surprise. Black dogs the size of a private car: Hellhounds. The centaurs were occupied so there was no help coming. I fought with all my strength. Achilles was barking orders somewhere on my right. Slowly the enemy managed to push us back until we were only 10 ft away from the doors. We had no choice. We had to retreat. We slowly backed up keeping the enemy at bay. No matter how many we killed, more took their place. Suddenly I felt something on my right side. As I turned I saw Gale lying with a knife in his left soldier. His face was grimaced with pain. My heart went numb. I slashed a wide arc with my sword, disintegrating several undead on the spot. I didn't care what was going on around me. I knelt beside him. Suddenly Achilles was beside me. He took Gale in his arm and carried him off. I followed him inside the city gates, where there was a medical camp for the wounded. It was full of wounded soldiers. We put Gale on one of the beds and instantly a medic came to attend to him. I turned to go back to the fight but Achilles stopped me. He told me I had done enough. I pushed him away and went towards the gate.

The fight was worse. Our army was so close to the gate that I bumped into one of the soldiers when I went to the other side. Suddenly from the other side there came a loud noise. The centaurs had managed to kill the Hellhounds, and had now clashed on the enemy lines from behind. A cheer went up from our side, as the enemy army got trapped from behind and front. We charged. The archers started shooting arrow on the enemy who were now trapped in the middle of the two armies. They tried to fight back, but it was of no use. Their screams echoed throughout the night as their souls returned to the depths of Hel. We had won for the night.

That night we camped with the other soldiers. The next morning, a meeting of the high officials was held. The regent, Achilles, Jason, Juko and Rocco were present and so were some other old people. We were also present during the meeting, except Gale who was still in the infirmary after the battle of yesterday.

"We are badly outnumbered! We will not be able to hold another major assault. We must escape while we still have time."

"We must at least try! This is our homeland. We must not leave it until there is no hope of saving it." Achilles protested.

"But there is no hope!"

"There is" I said

Everyone's eyes turned to me. I got up from my seat and stood in the middle of the room.

"I have a plan. Everyone must hear carefully. I studied about the warlocks the other night and I think that we have a chance of going on a quest to find the warlocks. If we manage to find them, then they will be able to stop the undead. It's our only chance. Achilles and Juko can accompany me and Tris. You have to allow this."

Everyone became quiet. After some long discussions and small fights, the group came to a conclusion. They were allowing the quest!

Chapter 8

For the next few days there were no attacks, and we assumed it was the quiet before the storm. The soldiers were constantly training. Our scouts reported no activities in the enemy lines. The days were spent preparing for the quest. After about 4 days after the meeting, the regent handed us a map that told us about the last whereabouts of the warlock. The map would lead us to an old cave where the warlock leader was last seen by a wandering traveler, somewhere in the northern mountains. That night we rested while we still could, and the next morning we walked through the kingdom to begin our journey. I and Tris were accompanied by Achilles and Juko. We had enough food supplies for about seven days, and then we would have to search for food on our own. We walked out of the back borders of the kingdom to find ourselves in a barren land. We knew the journey would be very hard. We continued our journey north for about 4 days without any difficulties. On the 5th day we were supposed to cross through the Land of the Dead. According to legend the souls who neither went to hell nor heaven wandered these lands at all time. The Land was surrounded by a thick border of jungle, which was supposed to keep out the wanderers away. We stood on the edge of the jungle and looked at each other.

"What do you think lies inside"

"No idea. But nothing good"

With those happy words, we started our quest through the jungle.

The trees loomed above us as we made our path through the muddy jungle floor. It has been 4 days since we started our journey from the City of Gold. We assumed it would take us another 4 days to reach the northern mountains. We didn't know that this journey would change the entire course of history.

We walked through the forest without any difficulties. Just when we started thinking the journey would not be so difficult after all, the ground stared shaking.

"Everyone hold on!" Juko shouted.

We all held on to trees or each other. Suddenly, a voice came from all around.

"Who dare trespass the Land of the Dead"

The voice sent a chill through my spine. I mustered up all my courage and shouted back, "It is I, the king of the City of Gold."

Laughter came from all around. "You puny little humans always think you are better than us. But I will give you a chance to cross my kingdom, but you must defeat my greatest warrior in battle. If you agree, then continue your journey north, or go back from where you came"

Suddenly as it came, the voice disappeared. When we turned north, we saw the most frightening scene. The trees had moved, creating a clear path for us to travel. We looked at each other.

"Let's do it" Tris said.

We continued our journey north.

Chapter 9

It is I Gale, the savior of mankind. Just kidding. Hey guys, it has been 4 days since Thomas and Tris left, and the fights have increased a lot in these days. We have lost many soldiers and the enemies just keep coming. When we woke up this morning, we heard that the outer wall was captured and now we had only two more walls before they would reach the capital. On the bright side, the evacuation process was completed and now we were the only ones in town. As soon as the messenger left, we got dressed and headed to the official's meeting (Fourth in the past 4 days. Boring!). As soon as we entered, we got to know that Achilles had sent a pigeon, saying they were safe and would reach the northern mountains in 4 days. Well one good thing came from the meeting. The rest of the meeting went by debating about the war strategies. At the end of the hour, we wore our armors and joined the archers in the top of the outer wall (Not the one that had fallen). We looked down as the battle raged below us. Our soldiers had been fighting for two days without rest, and the enemy just kept coming. They had abandoned their previous strategy of giving breaks between battles, and had continued attacking us non-stop for the past two days. As we stood on the top of the wall, I felt that tonight we would not be sleeping

Chapter 10

Its Thomas again. As we continued our journey in the charted path, I got a strange feeling in my stomach. When we reached the middle, I lost my breath. We were staring at a big fighting arena, with people sitting all around. Not people exactly, they were some kinds of spirits, Vaettir to be exact. At the center of the arena stood a giant-man with full body armor, holding a large "stick".

"I am going to fight him" I had a strange feeling in my stomach.

"Welcome contestant! There is no time to lose. Begin the fight!."

I found myself in the middle of the arena with full body armor, my sword at my side. My friends were standing at the distant. I drew my sword.

Giant-man charged and cleaved downward with his weapon at my head, but I wasn't there. My body thought for me and guided me away from the attack. I catapulted over him, slashing as I came down. But he was just as quick. He twisted and the strike that should have caught him directly in the spine was deflected.

He grinned. "Not bad warrior"

He slashed again. I tried to sidestep but he outmaneuvered me, pressing so hard I had to put all my concentration in not getting sliced into pieces. I couldn't find any openings to attack. His sword had reached a meter longer than my sword.

Get in close, Zuko had told me once, back in our sword class, When you have got the shorter blade, get in close.

I stepped inside with a thrust, but he was waiting for that. He knocked my blade out of my hands and kicked me in the chest. The pain erupted and I fell back. He lunged at me, but I rolled away just in time.

I ran for my sword, scooped it up, and launched a swipe at his face, only to find my sword deflected again.

He laughed a crazy laugh.

He came towards me, grinning confidently. I lowered my blade, as if I were too exhausted. I was waiting for his attack, so that I would deflect it, but I felt a strange sensation in my gut. I focused on the land around me, and suddenly, the land erupted, smacking him directly in the face. He fell down and I rose above him and stabbed him in the chest. He melted into nothing but dust. I had won.

As soon as I looked up, I saw that all who were present in the arena knelt down. I stood up, and heard someone shout "All hail, King of the Golden City" I searched for my friends, and saw them running towards me. I looked at the crowd and beckoned them to stand up.

"I have completed the challenge. Now allow me and my friends to pass"

Suddenly, a gate appeared in front of me. My friends joined me and Tris held my arm.

"How did you do that? The thing with the soil and everything? she asked.

"I don't know" I replied.

"I do" someone spoke from behind me. It was a teenage boy with warm brown eyes, tousled black hair and a soft face.

Tris nudged me "He is so handsome" (How could she think about how a handsome someone is in a time like this!)

"Tell us" Achilles said.

"Well it goes like this, legend says that the first king of our realm, or the Golden City, prophesied that one day a boy would be born into the royal family with the power to control the land. He would unite the Vaettir and the "Golden People", and defeat the undead for good."

After hearing this, a strange feeling rose in my chest. I forgot my fears for the time being, and decided to carry on the our journey.

"Thanks for the information, but we will be leaving now." I said.

"Wait! I want to accompany you in your journey. I can help you find the warlocks. Let me come with you." the-boy-with-the-black-hair said.

"Why should we? You just tried to kill us!" Achilles said.

"We didn't know who you were. And moreover, we always test the people who pass through our land."

Once we went through the gates, we came out on an open field with nothing around us. The northern mountains were barely visible around us . I couldn't fathom how much more time it would take us to reach us there.

"Hey, who are you anyways?" I asked

"I am the son of a Vaettir and an high warlock. My mom died when my father went missing. I had been brought up by the Grand Elder Guru."

"why did you want to come with us anyways huh?"

"Because I want to know more about my parents and my heritage."

After that little conversation, we went on for a quite a long time. We decided to stop when night fell. I decided to take first watch, but as soon as my friends were asleep, howling came from all sides. I assumed they were normal wolves, but boy was I wrong!

These wolves were at least three times as bigger than any normal wolves, and they had red eyes. By this time, the others were also awake and were standing beside me, weapons drawn.

I assumed they were here from Hel, and they were here to kill, of course.

"Let's do this"

We charged together. For the next few minutes all I saw was claws and teeth. Suddenly I heard Tris scream from beside me. I looked and saw a wolf over her. Rage filled my head, and I stabbed the wolf and ran to help her. But I was too late. The wolf had already bitten into her arms, and she was barely conscious. My heart told me she would be fine, but my brain told me otherwise. By now , all the other 3 wolves were killed, and everyone came rushing towards us to help. Her arm was so bad that I couldn't even manage to look at it.

Instead I focused on her face. It was beaded with sweat. I knelt down and took her head on my lap. Achilles came over and wrapped her arm with some leaves. He gave her a vial to drink from, in order to fasten the healing process.

"She has lost too much blood. Without a proper healer, she may not survive."

Upon hearing these words, a cold fist wrapped around my heart.

"Where do we find a healer?"

"We have 2 high healers back in the city, but she may not survive the journey back."

"I can try to make a portal. I have unlocked some of my warlock powers, and creating a portal was the first thing I was taught." Anubis chimed in

"Then do it." I replied.

"Wait.. She may not be able to survive travelling through a portal. She is too weak." Zuko put in.

"Well, I think you should go and bring a healer here." I thought loudly.

"That's a good idea. Let's do this!" Anubis said.

Anubis extended his arm, and started chanting. Flickers of light appeared in front him, and slowly joined together to take the form of a full portal.

"Hurry up! I can't hold it much longer."

I could tell he was struggling. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

Zuko ran and jumped through the portal. As soon as he was gone, Anubis collapsed, and the portal was gone.

Chapter 11

Hey guys! It's Gale again. I am writing directly from the weaponry of the Golden city. 10 days have passed since Thomas and the others left. The battle has been quite hard on us. The enemy has kept sending small batches of monsters and undeads continuously for the past few days. Our soldiers are getting very little sleep. So as I said, it has been very hard. But let me tell you something, it is way better than sitting at home and doing nothing. Sometimes I feel like I am in the game Gods Of War or something!

Today, when I came out of the weaponry, I came to know about Tris, and rushed to meet Zuko in the infirmary. When I arrived, he was already preparing to leave with a healer and a magician.

"Wait..I want to go with you!"

"But, you are required in the battle. You are our current general remember?"

"No problem. Tori can take the post. I will be back in a moment."

I rushed back to the weaponry, informed Tori and the regent I was leaving, took my weapons, and rushed back to the infirmary.

Together, we jumped through the portal. I found myself in a plain grass land, with a tent nearby. We rushed there to see Achilles and Thomas sitting beside a wounded Tris. Another unknown boy was sitting inside the tent, his eyes closed.

Jason (the healer) exhaled with relief.

"It's not so bad. A few more minutes and we would have been in trouble. The wolf-poison has not yet gotten past the shoulder. Just lie still, ok Tris?"

She nodded.

Thomas held her hand as Jason put silver paste over the wound and hummed in a language I didn't know- maybe a hymn to Apollo, the Greek deity of healing. Then he applied fresh bandages to the wound, and got up shakily. The healing must have taken a lot of his energy, and he looked as pale as Tris.

We rested for some time, before heading back to the city. Thomas and Anubis were to continue the journey, and the others were to come back to the kingdom, as we were already short on fighters, and without Achilles and Zuko, we were just not complete.

As soon as we reached the city, we saw that another wall had fallen while we were gone, and our soldiers had retreated to the last wall. We rushed out to the battlefield, to see that half of our soldiers were missing, and the others were desperately trying to fend off the monsters.

The next hour a blur. I fought like crazy, slashing hellhounds, dracaena and anything else that crossed my path.

"Hold your lines" Achilles shouted somewhere off to my left.

The problem was there were too few of us to hold anything. The entrance to the city was 8 meters behind. A ring of very brave soldiers (including me) was the only thing in the enemy's path. I slashed and hacked anything in my path.

Suddenly, when it seemed all hope seemed lost, a war cry came from somewhere off the east.

First I thought more enemies were coming, but they seemed as lost as we were.

Then I saw it. A army wearing complete battle armor, twice the size of our army, erupted from the east, and clashed into the enemy lines. This gave our forces newfound hope and we fought with a new energy.

Soon we were celebrating our victory.

At night a counsel of leaders was called and we attended. The Regent was there, and so was Achilles, Zuko and the T-sisters. Hecate, the leader of the Vaettirs was also present.

"Thank you very much for coming to our aid in the time of our need. We will be forever grateful to you." the regent said.

"It was our pleasure" Hecate replied

The rest of the meeting was so boring that I almost fell asleep.

The main idea was that our joint forces would be waiting for the enemy at the entrance, and our goal was to hold them off until Thomas returned.

Also a line of defense would be placed inside the gates, in case it fell.

That was it.

After that we did the inevitable. We went to sleep. (I know I may have used that joke before, but hey, it gets you cracked up each time.)

Chapter 12

After Gale and the others left, we decided to continue the journey.

"We must go on. We are losing time." I said.

We slowly said our goodbyes and continued on. After walking for the whole day, we camped out for the night. This night we were attacked once more by monsters. We had little trouble defeating them. All through our journey, we were attacked each night by creatures from hell.

The attacks went on and on, and each night the enemy were stronger than before. We kept on defeating the enemies until one day, we were attacked by winged creatures. That night Anubis was already very tired. We couldn't keep them off, and Anubis and me hid behind a large boulder.

"You go. I will hold them at bay!" Anubis pushed me

" No way! You will die out here."

" There is nothing else to do! Go Thomas! You are only hope."

He pushed me away, and charged the monster. I had no other choice than to run the opposite direction.

After running for what seemed like for hours, I collapsed. The world was spinning, and who knows how much time passed while I was lying there. every inch of my body was paining like hell. After a long time, I slowly got up and checked my supplies. I had enough provisions for 2 more days. When I looked up, I realized I had somehow reached the northern mountains overnight. It now loomed over me like a giant man. I realized black clouds were forming overhead, and I went inside a cave I spotted.

As soon as I entered the cave, a burst of light filled it. Strange symbols started appearing all over the wall. The floor infront of me gave away, and a coffin rose from below.

Mesmerized, I advanced. I pulled away the lid, and found a young man lying with a sword in his hand. I understood who he was.

As in a trance, I took the sword away and the cave started rumbling. The man opened his eyes, and the first thing he said to me was " You are late!"

He got up and told me we did not have a moment to lose. As I didn't already know!

He walked over to the wall of the cave and touched it. Instantly, the walls crumbled away and 6 other men came out.

"It has been so long brothers."

There were hugs and greetings all around, and I stood awkwardly.

We came out of the cave, and one of them whistled. 7 white pegasi came out of the sky and we boarded up. The warlocks summoned portals like it was a piece of cake, and we went through.

Chapter 13

While Thomas was searching for the Warlocks, the undeads attacked us much heavily each day. One morning we woke up to the news that the last wall had fallen, and we were immediately needed. We rushed down to meet our soldiers, who were fighting a hopeless battle. We charged together, and the next few hours were a blur.

I slashed and hacked like I was a monster, destroying everything in my path. At a time, I was fighting beside Tris. Soon she vanished into the crowd, and I was fighting beside Zuko. All this time, I knew we wouldn't last another hour. I just hoped Thomas would hurry. The enemy was overwhelming us and we fell back until the stairs to the palace was 5 meters behind us.

Suddenly, the sky brightened, and seven portals opened above us. Seven pegasi came out of the portals, each ridden by a man. I could see Thomas on one of them. When the enemy looked at them, they hissed, and started backing away. We cheered.

They landed among us and Thomas walked to me.

"Hey man! Doing good?"

"Yeah good. Really really good." I replied with as much sarcasm as I could.

"What do we do now? We can't keep up the fight forever!"

"Hold them at bay while we create the spell to banish them!"

"So be it!"

The warlocks started chanting and the sky above darkened. We charged into battle as thunder clapped overhead. As we fought the pegasi would come down and knock one enemy cold.

After a long fight, one of the warlock yelled "Fall back!"

We retreated as the very ground started shaking. Suddenly cracks appeared in the ground as the enemy fell back to Tartarus.

Chapter 14

It has been 2 days since the battle, and everything has been quite. The warlocks left the day before, which was lame, as they could have helped us with the reconstruction and everything. I think they are off to Hawaii or something.

The citizens were already back, and me and my friends are now in the spotlight. They were celebrations in every house, and it didn't look like there was a war going on here just a few days ago.

We were to leave today, and we gathered in the counseling room to say our last goodbyes. I had tried appointing the regent, James, the king but he refused. Achilles was now the General of Army instead of Frank who died in the battle.

"Well, this is it then, I guess?"

" Hail and Farewell my friend" Achilles replied.

We hugged each other and came out to the field. Percy had already opened a portal. According to the regent only a couple of seconds had passed in our world. Like that surprised me?

As we entered the portal, I looked back one last time. For the first time since I came here, I felt truly sad.

Epilogue

In the depths of Tartarus, a voice was heard all over. All monsters and demons were kneeling as Asmodeus rose from his decade long sleep. His voice echoed all through the cold realm of Helheim.

"Now we attack the over world!"

A cheer went up as all monster and demon in Tartarus hissed with delight and banged their weapons.