Faerietayle: Book Two;
The Return of the Faeble
By Nicolas DelGiudice
Prologue
A flash of lightning illuminated the dark clouds swirling in the skies over Chimaera before a deafening crack of thunder echoed its clap over the ocean below. In between the continuous howl of the wind, an indistinguishable mantra of disdain and anger could be heard. A small, dilapidated raft made of tree trunks and string bobbed along in the storm-ravaged water. Its lone occupant held tightly to the mast that once held the sail, as one of several immense waves continued to crash into the makeshift sea vessel.
The stranger’s head was covered by the hood of a torn and dirty cloak which hung heavily over the side of the raft. His pruned hands held fast to the mast, which eerily creaked under the rage of the bouncing ocean. An eerie red aura crackled around him as he raised his hand into the air and angrily exclaimed in a language older then his existence the ancient incantation he had been repeating for hours.
As another flash of lightning lit the sky once again, the sea began to swirl and shift just ahead. Rose-colored electric energy began to crackle out of the now raging whirlpool, and a figure slowly rose from the center of the aquatic maelstrom. The figure had long, flowing white hair, which matched his equally lengthy white beard. His eyes exuded more eldritch energy as he let it wash over his shirtless chest and into the water below. From out of the water erupted an enormous golden trident that immediately floated into his outstretched hand.
“Awaken, lost sheep!” exclaimed the giant. “Your journey has come to an end! Before you stands Poseidon, master of all oceans and seas!”
The stranger on the raft looked up at the giant standing before him. Poseidon outstretched his hand to calm the churning sea around him as the stranger attempted to stand.
“I have heard your pleas, mortal,” said Poseidon. “And I shall not grant thee thy wish. The existence of the Faerietayle truthfully has signaled the time of your people’s return. But your people are obsessed with revenge and your minds are clouded with retribution! Your wish that I grant you the power to defeat the Faerietayle and conquer the Agruawans is denied, for nothing can be attained through revenge. I see conquest even beyond your vengeance. You wish to conquer the Yuman world as well, but you will not be assisted by the likes of me. Be gone, mortal sheep! Out of my sight!”The stranger stared at the mighty figure with cold, unfeeling eyes.
“Pity,” said the stranger. “I had hoped to be granted the power of the great ‘god’, Poseidon. But now you leave me no choice. Now I will be forced to take it from you.”
“You dare!?” Poseidon cried out. “Your insolence is unbound! You speak to a god, mortal! You dare threaten me? I have the power to wipe you and the remnants of your people off the face of Chimaera! What possible insanity has driven you to such boldness as to threaten a god?”
“You are no god!” said the stranger as he pointed to Poseidon. “The Yumans named you a god because of the power you had in their world! You and your people took advantage of their gullibility in the time you spent on their world long ago! It sickens me that you even kept the names they gave you! You, along with Zeus, Athena, and the rest were labeled ‘gods’ by naïve yumans! You know as well as I do that you are nothing more then the ancient race of Chimaerean sorcery giants- The Ethae! Your claim as ‘gods’ means nothing to those of us that know the truth!”
“How would you know this?” said Poseidon. “Who are you stranger!? You reveal secrets untold for millennia, yet you still hide your identity! Reveal yourself!”
“In due time,” said the stranger. “For now, I give you one last chance; grant me the power I require for the Faerietayle’s defeat or I will take it from you.”
“Your bravado leads to your stupidity,” said Poseidon. “I deny your request stranger! Now show yourself! I wish to see the face of one who so eagerly welcomes his own death!”
The stranger pulled back his hood and tore off his cloak. The stranger was tall and had a tight, muscular body. Black, lightweight armor adorned with blue-green archaic script covered his chest and legs. In the middle of his sleeveless armor chest plate was a circular crest made of pure gold, which bore the symbol of a crossed trident and sword. Lengthy black hair twisted into a braid fell from the back of the helmet he wore on his head, which was adorned with three amber-colored gems. In his hands he held a long, three-pronged trident, which he used to steady himself on the bobbing raft.
“It cannot be!” yelled Poseidon. “You were only a legend! You should not exist! A prophecy meant to scare the faerie children; a myth!”
“So was the Faerietayle,” said the stranger smugly as he stared intently at the sea god.
“But you are a mere child!” argued Poseidon. “The Fomorian prophecy speaks of you being a great warrior that holds the key to their new age! You are no key!”
“Believe what you will ‘god’,” said the stranger. “But you know it to be true in your heart. I am the start of the fulfillment of the prophecy! I am the myth made flesh. I AM the Faeble!”
As Poseidon stared in wonderment, he crossed his trident before him. “You wish to take my power from me?” said Poseidon defiantly. “So be it, make your attempt! I shall finish what the Agruawans started long ago! I will erase you and your people’s existence from this plain! Faeble or not, you do not have the power to defeat an Ethae! And without that power you have no hope of defeating the Faerietayle! Step forth to your own destruction!”
Poseidon raised his trident high into the air as it crackled with energy. Bolts of pure magic shot out from its points, dove into the water and churned the sea into a raging maelstrom once again.
“Your words ring true, Poseidon,” said the stranger. “I do not have the power on my own to defeat the Faerietayle. Since he welds the power of one of the ancient icons, I have no hope of defeating him; not without your power, that is. That power will be mine.”
“Ha Ha Ha!!” cried Poseidon. “You disillusioned worm!! You truly make me laugh! Now how do you purpose getting that power? To take the power you need, you would have to destroy me. And you are hardly in a position to do that!”
“I do not have the power to destroy you, that is true,” said the stranger. “But this, however, does!”
The stranger quickly pulled away the lower half of the trident and tossed the top half into the sea. He held the staff, unsheathed a gleaming sword and raised it into the air.
“This is your weapon?” mocked Poseidon. “This small, twig of a sword is what will destroy me? When did the mythical Faeble lose his senses?”
“This is no mere sword,” said the stranger. “I hold in my hands the mystical Sky Dagger of Prometheus-The God Killer!”
“The Sky Dagger?!” said Poseidon sarcastically. “That is a myth as well. There is no such thing! The very idea that you have Prometheus’ legendary weapon of vengeance is as laughable as your other claims!”
“Then you have nothing to fear, do you?” said the stranger.
“I have had enough!” said Poseidon as his trident crackled with crimson bolts of energy. “I have run out of patience for you, Faeble. Pity, your existence was so short-lived.”
A blood red bolt of lightning suddenly shot out of the dark clouds above and struck the stranger on the raft, illuminating him in aura of ruby-colored electricity. The raft instantly burst into flame and in a flash of light, the stranger disappeared. Poseidon looked down at the now-ablaze raft and gestured the ocean around him to calm. The eerie crackle of the smoldering fire was all that could be heard in the sudden silence of the sea around him. With a nod, Poseidon began to lower himself back into the depths of the water, but hesitated just short of going beneath the surface. Behind the burning raft, through the smoke, Poseidon could see the stranger standing calmly as he held the sword in his hand with his arms crossed. Poseidon stared in disbelief as he rose out of the water again. The stranger stood effortlessly on the surface of the water as a smile drifted across his face.
“How is this possible?” said Poseidon in disbelief. “You stand on the sea as simply as you would stand on land! Not even I can achieve such a feat!”
“Not everything is as it seems,” said the stranger. “The Fomorians were a powerful faerie race, true, but what’s forgotten most about my people is what’s most underestimated about them as well; we were and are a race of the sea. And that forgotten fact is one of the reasons the Fomorians’ vengeance on the Agruawan will be victorious. Behold now, the Fomorians’ return!!”
Almost immediately, the stranger was lifted into the air by flat, rectangular beam of wooden-like coral under his feet. Poseidon took several steps back as he realized the stranger was not standing on the surface of the water after all, but a mast protruding from the bow of an enormous ship that now rose up from beneath the waves. As the ocean liner-sized vessel rose to the surface completely, Poseidon could see the Viking-like, heavily armored boat in its entirety.
The ship’s sides were plated with similar coral-like armor and its masts rose high into the sky as it let loose its gargantuan sails. Both of the deck’s sides were peppered with oversized, stationary crossbow guns every few feet as hundreds of similarly armored-clad military personnel crowded the deck armed with spears, swords and shields.
“A convincing trick, Faeble,” said Poseidon. “But it does you no good. All you have done is given me the opportunity to wipe out you and your people in one fell swoop.”
“I think not,” said the stranger.
Behind his ship, several more identical vessels arose from the depths of the ocean. Each ship was identical to the next and carried just as many, if not more personnel then the one before. By the time the last ship broke the surface, hundreds littered the water around Poseidon. The stranger smiled confidently at Poseidon’s shocked facial expression.
“You’re mad,” said Poseidon as his eyes darted from ship to ship. “You outnumber the Agruawan by thousands. The Fomorians had to have been planning this for years for them to have attained these sheer numbers!”
Suddenly the stranger leapt up and kicked Poseidon in the jaw. Poseidon fell backward and looked up just as the stranger back-handed him with the hilt of the Sky Dagger. Poseidon’s body began to glow with a golden aura as streams of energy began to rise out of him and into the Sky Dagger. Poseidon winced in agony as his very life force began to drain itself into the mythical killer of gods. As he floated face up on the now gentle waves of the sea, the stranger walked across his chest and stood just above his heart. Poseidon felt even weaker as the Dagger began to glow so bright, its metal disappeared in a cloud of white brilliance.
“I don’t understand,” said Poseidon, barely strong enough to utter the words. “This vast army...the Sky Dagger…your own power of legend. All this power, all this strength…just for an act of vengeance? The Fomorians are not just looking for revenge.”
“No, not just revenge,” said the stranger as he raised the Sky Dagger high over his head. “With my awakening, we see beyond the vengeance; we want war!”
With that, the stranger plunged the Dagger into Poseidon’s heart. Like the eruption of a dormant volcano, golden energy exploded out of the wound made by the Dagger and knocked the stranger back into the ocean. The energy traveled high into the sky and wound its way around to the Sky Dagger still embedded in Poseidon’s chest.
After several minutes of continued eruption, the energy suddenly dissipated as Poseidon’s body floated lifelessly on the water. The stranger’s hand rose out of the water and grabbed onto the side of Poseidon’s motionless arm. As the stranger made his way back to the where the sword was, he could see it glow with unbridled energy.
Upon reaching the sword he grabbed the hilt and was instantly charged with some of the sword’s ambient energies. The stranger held his head low and pulled the sword out of the dead god’s chest. He held it before him and studied it from its point to its hilt. Behind him, some of the Fomorian military began to disembark upon Poseidon’s body. As they neared the stranger, one of the soldiers stepped forward and put his hand on the stranger’s shoulder.
“So, is it done?” asked the soldier. “Will we have our revenge? Do we now have the power to conquer the Yumans and the Agruawan?”
The faeble lifted his head to reveal his eyes, which were now glowing white with outpouring energy.
“Not only do we have the power to conquer them,” said the stranger as he raised the Dagger over his head. “But we have the power to destroy them all. Tell our people; with this first victory, we have marked the Fomorians’ return!”
