The Fall of Agárion
My story for the Lunar Awards
The Lunar Awards’ conditions are here. The schedule for season 10 round 4 can be found here.
The Omens
Foto de Elena Mozhvilo en Unsplash
Kárilos, one of the Omensayers, was uneasy. He had been for days watching a quick and worrisome change in the omens. For centuries, the priests from the High Temple of god Spántros, the god of the Dead, in the city of Agárion have been reading the signs they could see in the sky, in the streams, in the winds or even in the animals they rarely sacrifice in honour of the gods. But never in the records of the High Unified Temple, omens as those of recent times had been seen. The last one of them had taken place only a week ago: the candles in the garden where the statues of the seven gods of the city were located, had gone out at the same time.
Since those changes in the omens began, Kárilos had been taken daily walks to see what other signs he can distinguish: he wanted to know everything he could be able to. That was a bright day, the suns shone in the sky and the birds sang, maintaining the ilusion that everything was as always. But he felt a disturbance in the energy that was coherent with the omens’ evolution. He was approaching the statue of the War goddess, Aminiora, when he saw the warrior sat under the pergola, as if he was praying. But, when he approached him, he had a red obsidian arrowhead stuck in him, piercing his heart. Kárilos understood there and then that the disasters predicted by the omens had begun.
The Guards of the Temple were commissioned to investigate the crime, although it was going to be really difficult to solve it: that type of arrowhead could not be found in the city or in its surroundings. Black and brown obsidian existed in the mountains, although it was forbidden to extract not even a small piece of them without a special authorization. But anyone knew there were always ways to bypass the ban. Red obsidian, on the contrary, was never to be found in the area, although it was far from unknown and anyone could have bought it elsewhere and, after reaching the city, carved it there.
Kárilos, as a representative of the Omensayers’ Priests, had to speak to Sato Quénir, Chief of the High Unified Temple, where all the city’s gods were adored. He should know the omens were beginning to come true. When he arrived, he had to wait for some time. He nearly fell asleep but, in the end, he was shown into a room where the Chief was waiting for him.
“Hello” - Sato Quénir told him, while he kneeled in front of him-, “come, come, sit down, Omensayer. I understand that you have come to speak to me about the death of the warrior in our gardens” - it was not really a question.
“Yes, sir”, he said while sitting in the chair the Chief had shown him. He also saw that there were others in the room. “We, the Seers, have been observing worrying signs…”
“You have been informing me on time about them, yes”, Sato Quénir interrupted.
Kárilos nodded and then continued:
“One of the omens became reality yesterday, when all the candles lit in the gardens of this High Temple were extinguished by the winds” -he stopped speaking and then he underlined what he wanted them to understand-. “All of them, at the same time”.
Sata Aromándel, the Chief Nun from the Temple of the War Goddess Aminiora interrupted then, visibly annoyed of being there:
“Yes, yes, we know about that”.
“Today”, Kárilos continued, as if he hadn’t listened to her outburst, “this soldier was killed by an obsidian arrowhead. A red one. Our mountains have black obsidian in abundance, although brown can be found, but the red one”, he paused, “that has never been found around here. No, we are sure that it had been brought from the Mountains of Serendianur, far into foreign lands and into cold, windy and snowy territory. That is the only place we know this rare type of obsidian can be found”.
Everyone was now silent, as if they were considering the seriousness of the situation.
Then Sato Tumïcota, the Chief Priest of the Temple of the Sacred Waters spoke.
Is there any more omens that you should tell us about?
“Yes, there are three others that have not yet come true, because the facts they refer to are still in the future. The prophecy tells us that”- and then he began to read his notes from a clay tablet, which he had taken out from inside his sleeve:
“In the fifth moon after this Cycle of Temeris, god of the Sky, unrest will begin in the city and riots and murders will take place.
Then in the next Cycle of Tairónida, goddess of the Earth, a black shadow will fall over the city and darkness and fire will destroy it.
In the end, a dark-eyed boy will be born after 52 Cycles, who will confront the menace and bring the energy of our world back into balance”.
Everyone fell silent. But after some moments, Sata Carömál, Chief Nun of the goddess Tairónida, stood up and say:
“I don’t believe any of this. I will not stay here listening to all this rubbish, without attending to my real tasks”.
“Everyone calm down”, said the High Chief. Then he turned to the angry nun. “There is no need to be angry. We are just considering solutions to stop this from happening or to minimize their consequences”.
The Chief Nun went on to say something, but she was really angry, so, knowing she was going to shout again -and didn’t want to- and looking really furious at the Chief High Priest, stood up and storm out of the room.
“Don’t worry, Kárilos” -he said, looking back at him. “I will talk to her afterwards”.
The Omensayer just smiled sadly and shrugged: he was used to people just laughing or getting angry at the omens or premonitions they saw at the High Temple, even when they were pretty accurate when doing them. But these were so frightening that he needed everyone to be aware of the danger they had seen. He would be much calmer if some measures could be taken to avoid the omens coming true. But if nothing was done, at least, he had done his part: show them the danger that was quickly approaching.
“So this means” -continued the omensayer- “that in the fifth month of this year, unrest is going to spread throughout the city. Next year, a a dark terror will cover the city: black normally means death and, as the omens speak about fire, that could be anything that could kill with fire, from another army to a dragon or just the unrest that I have mentioned before".
Anyway, it also says that in 52 cycles, under the year of god Ruilanduus, the god of Rivers and Seas, a liberator will come who will fight the dark terror”.
“Well, I think that for today is enough”, Sato Quénir said, “you can go back to your temple, Kárilos, but we will continue speaking about whatever you can see regarding our future. Just remember that what you see, is just one future, but that we can change our path, if we want to”.
Kárilos had stood up and smiled at the High Priest. He had understood him truly well.
The Inaction:
Days and weeks passed but neither the High Temple nor the Town Hall, had reached any decision or done anything regarding the matter. Kárilos, at first, had been optimistic about the city taking some decisions that could revert the omens. But the inaction had reached a level that he took it as a real fact that they were not going to act at all, whatever signs they see. No signs of that inaction have been detected by the Omensayers: Kárilos thought that maybe they had observed them but had not even realised they were there because the respect they had for their rulers.
Although many doubted the omens, the unrest began, as and when they said: people quarreling in the streets, pickpockets and robbers began to abound and rumours about attacks on the temples and on other public buildings, such as the Town Hall, began to spread through the city.
The Cycle of Temeris ended and the one devoted to goddess Tairónida began. But the fall into the abyss did not stop: everyone could see that the situation was worsening by the day. More Temple guards were recruited, while the authorities published reports saying that everything was going very well. But people, not trusting the authorities, tried not to get out of their houses after the sunset, avoiding attacks and insecurity.
Kárilos was pessimistic: it was then that he began to teach some promising young people advanced knowledge of various subjects, so that they would be prepared for when the dark terror arose. But that was done in secret and knowing they didn’t have much time. He also convinced other relevant people to do the same in their area of expertise.
One hundred and sixty days of the Cycle of Tairónida had passed and Kárilos began exploring the caves in the mountains, just in case they were needed in weeks. He went with some of the youths to show them how to orient themselves in the caves, where they could not see the suns or the moons, just in case they had to take refuge under the mountains.
Meanwhile, an important part of the citizens of Agárion, confident that there were no dark terror coming, laughed at the Omensayers and specially, they made fun of Kárilos. They were backed by some of the Great Priests, who wanted to see the Omensayers fall into darkness, as they wanted those techniques to be abandoned.
Kárilos didn’t mind that: he knew that the omens were getting darker as time passed and, in the end, he told the Chief High Priest Sato Quénir, that the dark terror was arriving in no more than a fortnight. When he was getting out of the High Unified Temple, he remembered the light in Sato Quénir’s eyes and he knew that he was the one who had been stopping all the measures and laughing about him behind his back. He raised his eyes and looked at the sky: he wanted to be wrong, but he knew that he wasn’t.
The Fall:
9 days after that, the city began to get darker by the minute. Kárilos took some of his Omensayers colleagues and all the people who believed that he was telling the truth (not many, if we have to be honest) and began walking to the mountains. Not many people actually followed him after that, but some did. They arrived at the caves and, while Kárilos looked to the city one last time, all the people entered the caves. Then they shut the door into the caves and some Temple Guards agreed to stay at the entrance, so that they could open it if anyone else came, but leave it closed if the dark terror approached the caves.
2 days after, the sky grew darker and the people began fearing the omens but were too proud to go to the caves and ask for a place inside. Then a strange noise was heard in the surroundings and in very few minutes a gigantic form arrived at the city. Great flares of fire began destroying everything: the High Unified Temple was burned to the ground and with it the most important city figures were killed. Screams of terror echoed throughout the city, while people that were able to, fled to the mountains through some postern gates in the walls. Some of them were caught by the fire of the malicious dragon, before they could reach the mountains.
Kárilos, as he saw the state of the city and the stories told by the humans that had reached the gate, prayed to the god Spenioros, the god of the Dead, the one to whose temple the Omensayers belonged, as their connection with the future meant be in connection with Death also, as it came to everyone who was alive at some point. He ended up crying bitter tears, because he understood that he should have done more to convince them of the danger. Deep down, however, he knew that no matter what he had told them, they would never have believed it because they didn't want to believe the omens.
When the darkness began to dissipate, they could see for the first time the cause of the dark terror: the Golden Dragon, whose body was covered with golden scales, like mirrors. He growled terribly, now perched on one of the towers of the great smoking Unified Temple: that tower was the only thing left of the old great building, as if the beast had preserved it for his personal use. It was a magnificent creature, but it was also extremely dangerous, as the resulting state of the city could show.
Anyway, there was nothing now they could do: the Dragon was at the peak of his might and they were unable to expell it from the city. Kárilos knew that the omens have come true in their entirety. Now hope remains with the last of the predictions, but that meant they were going to be inside the mountains for half a century, at least. He told them they were going even deeper into the mountains: they were alone and had to prepare themselves to bring down the dragon when the time for its defeat had come.
Aiguely, the so-called Dragon Slayer by the prophecy, is born
50 cycles had passed since the dragon’s arrival and people had used to live in the caves, really frightened to get out, as the dragon reigned over the city. No one had dared to get out and walked through its streets, as they were really scared, just imagining the dragon on top of the buildings, watching the exit from the mountain. Even their features have begun to change: their skin had grown lighter each generation and their eyes were now light blue coloured. The change was even more obvious in the new born children.
Kárilos, aged 96 cycles, had died 4 years before, but his predictions had been studied in the darkness of the caves, in front of the fires, for years. No only the ones before the Golden Dragon 50 years prior, but also those which he had continued to pronounce till the day of his death.
But then Aiguely was born: he was the first born with dark features since long time ago. His family was terrified: he was the first one who could actually get out and confront the dragon. At that moment, some began fearing the Prophecy and others, on the contrary, saw it as an opportunity.
Buy me a coffee. ☕️