Odysseus’ Bow: Chapter 8

The potion was made from a plant that only grows in the Caucuses. It had a purple flower and resembled a thistle, but was aromatic. Caladan followed the preparation exactly as written. The potion when finished was royal purple, and was pleasant to the nose. He brought the potion to Tamara and she went to the cell. She hadn’t seen Kameron in two years, he was changed, a darkness about him and hatred in his eyes. She approached the cell door with the potion and the aroma seemed to cause Kameron to writhe in pain. Getting him to drink this potion would be next to impossible.
Caladan came into the walkway and told Tamara to set the potion on the floor just outside the cell. The aroma from the potion was all that was needed to free Kameron from the influence of the dark powers that held him. Caladan recommended to all of them they leave the vicinity and come back the next day. It was the most difficult thing Tamara had done since the day she left him in the passageway where he set off the trap. She was shaken by the reaction to the potion.
Kameron began to scream, cry, and shriek in agony. The potion removed the darkness from within him and healed him as well. His mind would take the longest to heal, the potion literally pulling the darkness out of him. Caladan had said the process would take several days, he had brought enough flowers to make the potion repeatedly until Kameron was fully restored.
Kameron’s shrieks were so unnerving to Tamara she was forced to leave the Fortress. She returned to the one place that always brought her peace, the cave where she found the Vault. As she sat there in the dark, she felt the presence of Ihk Bin. He had come to talk, hopefully, he wasn’t going to give her another assignment like restoring Kameron.
Ihk Bin sat down beside Tamara and began to console her, telling her he was aware of the pain she was suffering. Kameron had trusted her to keep him safe, she didn’t prevent him from walking into the trap. Ihk Bin looked at her and began telling her a story. One that would change her for the rest of her life.
Many years earlier, Ihk Bin had revealed himself to a young man, an engineer, and told him of the needs of the world. This young man became Ihk Bin’s loyal subject and followed his directions without question. He studied what Ihk Bin taught him and was as dedicated to those studies as he had been to becoming an engineer. This engineer had fought the good fight for many years and in the missions he had went on, he met a young woman, a doctor and medical examiner. They became enamored with one another and when the engineer told her his secret work, she came on board in full support. The two of them had fought the darkness and the Fallen all over the world. Then the most amazing thing happened. They found out they were about to have a child, and that child would follow in their footsteps and become the greatest sorcerer and leader of the mortal forces against the powers of darkness and the Fallen.
The Fallen tried to prevent that from happening, the feared the child. Many times they had tried to kill her just as they had tried to kill the parents. The Guardians had prevented them from reaching there goal, but in the process, the parents had died. The child was then sent to her aunt, a young woman barely out of her teens as hurt by the death as deeply as the child.
The childs parents killed by warlocks who came to destroy a child, the heir to the power of Semiramis. As Ihk Bin revealed the truth to Tamara she came to understand why all the things had happened since her childhood. The Fallen had worked to destroy her since her birth. How could eternal spiritual beings fear her this much? As Tamara turned to pose the question to Ihk Bin, he held up his hand and said, “They fear the power that dwells within you, it could be their ultimate defeat.”
Tamara was shaken to her core. She had always thought her parents death was an accident. Ihk Bin’s revelation helped her realize she was the target. The Fallen knew should she grow up and come into her own, the greatest weapon for good would be hard to overcome.
Ihk Bin left her to reflect on what she had learned. He knew she would go forward and take this fight to the end, what he needed was for her to become focused and realize she had within her the power to prevent the release of Kronos.
Kronos, once a general and valiant leader of the Guardians, now a prisoner in Tartarus for his crimes against Athair and Humanity. He won many battles against the Fallen and then somehow, the Fallen had recruited him, turned him against all he had fought for, and only Athair knew the answer as to how they had turned him.
As Tamara sat their in the cave meditating, the walls began to illuminate. Where once she had only seen crude cave paintings, now the scene of the fall of Kronos played out on the walls. Kronos was in a pitched battle with the fallen, his comrades fallen all around him. He was taken by the Fallen and brought before their rulers. Baal stabbed him through his heart, not killing him, and placed the seed of darkness within him. He was bound and held so that the seed would consume him.
When the seed fully consumed the light within him, he rose, countenance changed, and he was no longer the shining symbol of hope. He had become the chief warrior and leader of the forces for the Fallen. He had wrought devestation everywhere he went. Destroyed all who opposed him. Guardians, men, all until the day came when in a final pitched battle, Zeus and the Olympians, Semiramis and her forces, and an obscure group of warriors she couldn’t identify, captured Kronos and Nimrod. Nimrod was taken, and put into a death like sleep, placed in a red granite sarcophagus and entombed in the Underworld. Hephaestus with the help of Hades, constructed Tartarus, and Kronos was imprisoned within.
Tartarus was suspended in the air, held their by the power of Ihk Bin, it floated in mid-air with no means to enter it. The reason that Odysseus’ Bow was needed to release him. An arrow fired from the bow would crack Tartarus open like an egg freening Kronos once more to wreak havoc on the world.
The arrows placed in Nimrod’s sarcophagus were made by Hephaestus, the only other arrows capable of cracking Tartarus open were made by the Dwarf smith’s living in Ydggdrasil, the world tree. Ihk Bin had taken the arrows from Nimrod’s resting place, but dwarf made arrows were still hidden in the world. If they were found by the Magus, he could still free Kronos.
The scenes that played out on cave walls gave Tamara hope and cause for fear as well. The scene had two endings that would play one after the other. On one hand Kronos remained imprisoned and the Magus was defeated again. The other scene was one of world ending destruction. Kronos was freed and he brought his wrath on the world.
Tamara sat and pondered the meaning, and then she watched the scene play out again, this time she saw herself and knew that she must ensure that Kronos remained in Tartarus no matter what it cost. Of all the foes she had faced so far, he was the most dangerous of all.
As she finally came to terms with her reason for being here, she also made a solemn decision that no matter the cost, Kronos would not be freed, and the Magus’ power would be broken. As she prepared to leave for the fortress, Ihk Bin returned and said wait, give it one more day, there is more for you to see. She was astonished, and then he pointed towards the resting place of the Vault.
She now got to be the Archeologist, she went into the void where the Vault had been and using elven light, illuminated it, and what she saw was truly astonishing.
On the walls was the story of the world, from creation to the Fall of Lucifer and his followers, and the ensuing battles for dominion. The scene was almost alive. It followed every person who had ever stood in the gap and led the fight. Abraham, David, Elijah, Samuel, Moses, and so many more men of faith and conviction. Semiramis, and all her allies, the Sarmatians, Tuatha De Danann, and the Dragon Knights, the Watchers and the Order, all in this battle, all fighting for one purpose, to keep the Fallen at bay. She now understood the whole purpose of her life and when she had seen the whole of the story, Michael appeared, and she was truly amazed. He seemed a giant. Statuesque and perfect. He spoke and she was amazed at his voice.
“Tamara, I am Michael and Ihk Bin has sent me to help you, I have not been directly involved with you because my Lord Ihk Bin has been here. He sent me to reinforce your efforts and to help you any way I can.”
Tamara was speechless and sat there just gazing up at him. He extended his hand to her and she took it and stood up. Michael reached into a pouch on his sword belt and brought out a small vial. He handed it to her and told her to drink it all. She hesitated and he motioned for her to do it. She drank, it tasted like honey, and when she had consumed it all, her body was restored completely, and peace that she never knew existed filled her.
Michael smiled, he had seen the power of the drink on mankind before, when he had brought food and drink to Elijah, and when he ministered to Jesus in the wilderness. Once she had allowed the drink to settle, a fire with an ash cake was on a rock and he said “eat.” She ate the offered food, and slept, when she woke, Michael once again gave her food and drink. Three times he brought her sustenance, and three times she did eat. Then he sent her back, with instructions to call upon him at anytime, and he would appear.
Tamara gathered her things, packed her warbag, and prepared to return to the fortress. she had experienced what few ever had, and now she was focused and ready to meet this challenge. She gathered her strength, and went to the fortress. upon arriving she went immediately to the cell where Kameron was being held.
He was almost returned to his previous state, the Darkness had taken it’s toll on him though. He was weakened and he had sustained scars to his face and arms. Once he regained his full strength, Tamara decided she would attempt to restore him and remove the scars. He had tears in his eyes when he saw her. He knew what he had done under the influence of the darkness. Kameron was deeply troubled by what had happened.
Asking Tamara if he had killed any of his friends, she had to answer him honestly and he was sorely grieved. James came down the corridor that led to the cell and called to Tamara. She excused herself reassuring Kameron she would be nearby and return shortly. He seemed more at ease after hearing her words.
James spoke to her in a quiet tone, and told her that once Kameron was freed from the darkness to leave him here with him to help him, he felt that he could give him a reason to go forward and return to the fight eventually. Tamara agreed and returned to Kameron’s cell. He was relieved when she returned seeing that she had not abandoned him. Kameron looked at her with such deep hurt in his eyes. She wanted to hug him but knew it would have to wait for one more day. She decided to sleep in the corridor that night and be there when he was freed. It was a long night filled with garish nightmares of destruction and pain, the world being destroyed and facing Kronos.
She woke with a start, drenched in sweat. The dream had been so real she thought she was actually in the fight. She aroma of burnt cloth still in the air, and when she looked into the cell, Kameron was dead. She shrieked and James came to her aid. They entered the cell and saw that Kameron had burned from the inside out. She was distraught.
How had the kind of magic it took to incinerate him have passed through the barrier?a It was supposed to ward magic out, any kind of magic. James and Tamara entered the cell and searched Kameron, and inside his coat, they found the answer. He had a silver vial with him, once the contents were consumed, he burned from the inside out. A chemical not magic, Kameron had taken his own life because he didn’t trust himself not to cause further harm.
They took his body out of the cell, and burned him on a pyre and scattered his ashes to the winds. Kameron had come to destroy them, but in the end, he had delivered himself from the Magus and left this life. It was the hardest thing she had endured and knew all the things Ihk Bin shared were to prepare her for this.