CASTLE OF SOPHOS
Author~ Remio Viola
EP7
I glanced at Louis and I could see the worried look on his face while Margaux had an “I told ya” look
“What do we do?” I whispered to Louis
“who are you?” the prince asked
“we’re tourists from a far country” Louis replied
“and what brings you here?” the prince asked
“we…” Louis thought for a while then said
“we seek wisdom”
“wisdom” the prince folded his hands in a meditative manner
“follow me” the prince beckoned as he walked into an inner chamber and we followed him.
We got to a beautiful room made of gold. The chairs were moulded animals also made of gold. The lampstands were gold and even the fireplace was pure gold. We kept on looking around till the prince beckoned on us to sit down.
“I’m Ajax” he introduced himself
“I’m Louis and these are my friends Alessia, Margaux and Amber” Louis introduced
“Hi” Amber sh0t him a smile and he smiled back
“what wisdom do you seek amongst us?” Ajax asked
“How do you know our language?” Amber asked
“well the royal home has a philosopher that teachers us the modern ways of life” Ajax explained
“just the royal home?” Margaux wanted to know
“yes”
“who’s the philosopher?” Louis wanted to know
“Menteth was the greatest philosopher of all time but he left a long time ago” Ajax replied
“Menteth” we all g@sped and exchanged glances
“where’s is he?” I asked wanting to confirm our fear
“he left for the modern word in search of someone to help us” Ajax replied
“But the people of Sophos are wise why do they nee-d a helper?” I asked
“a doctor can’t cure himself and we nee-d a modern knowledge to defeat the witch” Ajax replied with a smile
“and I think he found you” he added
“us? We can’t…”
“we will be willing to help” Amber interrupted me.
Is she falling for him?
“How did you find here? The castle is hidden” Ajax asked
“well…” Louis brou-ght out the map and Mr Menteth’s book
“we took this from Menteth” Louis showed the book to Ajax
“you’re welcome” Ajax took the book smiling
“I’ll always be indebted to Menteth’s loyalty” Ajax said
“so how do we get back?” I asked
“you can’t go back unless the witch is defeated” Ajax replied with a spark of pain
“who’s the witch?” I asked further
“she’s a sorceress and wants all the wisdom of Sophos to herself” Ajax replied
“can she be st©pped?” Louis asked
“yes but we have to find the Helen” Ajax replied
“where can we find her?” I asked
“in a hidden Cave far down in the south where the Ares the god of war locked her”
“why did he do that?” Amber asked
“Many years ago, Ares fell de-eply in love with Helen and she loved him too but Zulus the god of jealousy got jealous and tried separating the two lovers but it was impossible to. Zulus convinced Plutus the god of wealth to take Helen from Ares. Plutus did all he could and promised Helen all the wealth in the world but Helen still loved Ares. With the help of Zulus, Plutus consulted Eros the god of S-xual de-sire, attra-ction, love and procreation. Eros made Helen fall in love with Plutus and this made Ares furious. He couldn’t get back Helen cuz she was un-der the spell of Eros. When Ares found out it was impossible to free someone from the love spell of Eros, he sadly consulted Hypnos, the god of sleep, who struck Helen with an everlasting sleep then he locked her up in the cave of light where no one can ever wake her up. The cave was filled with powers of both light and darkness and evil creatures. Ares never returned and no one not even Zeus was able to set Helen free” Ajax narrated
“How can we set her free if all the gods has tried and failed?”
“The prophesy says that modern knowledge will help”
“but how?”
“the gods failed to find the seal of consciousness”
“seal of consciousness?”
“it’s near the cave in a grave yard and only technology can find it”
“since the people of Sophos are wise why haven’t they been able to come up with anything?” I asked
“we tried and that was why we got Menteth to teach the royal house the modern way of life but that wasn’t enough so he left to seek more”
“what kind of technology?” Louis asked
“the Sophos will visit your sleep and tell you that” Ajax replied
“when we find Helen, how are we going to defeat the witch?” Amber asked curiously
“only her knows where the Locket Of Time lies”
“Locket Of Time Mr Menteth mentioned this in clas-s” I wondered
“the locket is an infinite power and whoever gets it first rules the people” Ajax said sadly
“between you and the witch?” I asked
“yes”
“but why is the witch against the people?” Margaux asked
“she wants more”
“who’s she?”
“Too much questions, here we don’t ask too much questions everyone has to be wise”
“one last question” Amber prompted
“go ahead”
“what do we eat and where do we sleep?” Amber asked and we all bur-st into laughter.
LATER IN THE NIGHT
We had dinner with the Royal Family and there was a feast to celebr@te our arrival.
After the feast everyone retired to their room. When everyone were asleep, something strange happened.
CASTLE OF SOPHOS
Author~ Remio Viola
EP8
We were given a room that had four be-ds and some cloths to change. We abandoned the things we c@m£ with and took things from the palace. When we were done, we la-id on our various be-ds and dozed off.
In the middle of the night, I was restless then I got up and headed for the window. I opened the window for breeze to come in as I stared into the night.
Ajax’s words kept echoing in my head
“the Sophos will visit your sleep and tell you that”
I took a glance at the trio who were slee-ping peacefully on their be-ds.
who’s the Sophos?
Who will she visit?
I turned my gaze to the window that was when I caught sight of a figure standing beside the ocean.
I looked properly to see who it was by this time of the night and I was shocked that it was Ajax. I reached for a coat cuz it was cold outside then I headed out to meet him.
I successful got outside and went straight to the ocean.
“who’s that?” Ajax suddenly asked, noticing my pres£nce
“It’s Alessia” I replied then he looked and me and when he was sure I was the one, he turned back to face the water
“you should be slee-ping” he said softly
“I feel restless” I replied then he looked at me like I said something wrong
“did the Sophos visit?”
“no, what are you doing out here?” I replied and asked
“the water is my companion” Ajax replied
“do you talk to it?” I asked then sat beside him on the sand
“I wish I could” Ajax chuckled
.
.
So sweet!
.
.
“don’t you have friends?” I asked
“friends?” he glanced at me
I nodded
“a royal blood is not permitted to have that”
“so boring”
“yeah”
“tell me more about the witch, cici noticed you didn’t want to talk about it earlier” I said and his countenance changed
“did I say something wrong?”
“she’s my mom”
“your mum?” I was shocked
“yeah”
“then why did she turn all that bad?”
“ever heard of goddess Diana” he asked and I nodded a yes
“that’s her”
“does that make you a god?”
“I was born a god but I’m no longer one”
“what happened?”
“Diana, my mother is the goddess of the woodlands, wild animals and hunt. After bearing me 22 years ago, she got power hungry and wanted the kingdom to herself but it’s against the law of Sophos for a goddess to rule not even Sophos herself ever ruled
Diana wasn’t willing to adhere to the laws, she consulted Hecate the goddess of witchcraft and got possessed with darkness then she threatened to kill me if the kingdom wasn’t given to her. A loyal servant to my father rescued me then she left to serve as the goddess of the un-derworld and now she’s back to rule but she can’t find the locket” Ajax explained
“what’s the use of the Locket?”
“the locket is a symbol of authority from Zeus, after Diana left Sophos c@m£ at night when no one could see her, took the locket and went into exile
no on ever heard from her again and no one knows her whereabouts or the locket ap@rt from Helen”
“how will the Sophos reveal herself to us when she didn’t reveal herself to her servants?”
“it’s the prophecy”
“why are you no longer a god?”
“it’s a secret for the royal home”
MEANWHILE….
Margaux woke up and noticed I wasn’t on my be-d, she got up and headed to shut the window when she caught sight of I and Ajax. She got furious at the sight of us the suddenly a figure flew across the sky.
Margaux got scared and tried shutting the window when a strong wind seized it
“we’re the same Margaux” a voice echoed
“who are you?” Margaux quivered in fear
“Alessia can’t get everything” the voice replied
“what do you want?”
“we both want something” the voice echoed
“show yourself”
“come to me and we’ll rule Sophos”
“I don’t care”
“Alessia will keep getting everything”
“how do you know us?”
“you nee-d to take everything from her including Ajax”
“she has nothing with him”
“that’s for now
someday she’ll rule as the queen and you’ll be a commoner”
“NEVER!” Margaux thun-dered
“then come with me”
“I don’t nee-d your help” Margaux quic-kly shut the window after glaring at us, then she went back to be-d.
I returned to the room and la-id on my be-d but I was still restless. I was awake till a heavy breeze blew me and I drifted into a de-ep sleep.
I woke up and found myself lying on the ground instead of the be-d. I looked around and I was shocked to find myself lying in the woods.
Where am I?
A bright light suddenly shone and I was f0rç£d to shut my eyes, after a while, I sluggishly opened my eyes and saw a beautiful, tall, slim woman with bluish-green eyes trick-ling light and black hair. She wore a long white dress with a hem of little snakes, a suit of armour and a golden helmet. She stood at a distance holding a spear and a shield.
“who are you and where am I?” I asked
“come” she beckoned on me
“who are you?” I was now getting scared
“come my child”
“where am I?” I asked then I felt a strong wind pu-ll me off the ground and took me to her and I was standing face to face with her
“who are you?”
“I’m Athena
the Sophos”
CASTLE OF SOPHOS
Author~ Remio Viola
EP9
“You’re the Sophos” I stuttered
“yes”
“why did you abandon your people?”
“I never did, I was waiting for you”
“me?”
“yes”
“what can I do?”
“a lot, come with me”
I followed her till we got to a garden then a bench appeared and we sat down.
“You nee-d to find Helen”
“why can’t you get the locket yourself?” I asked
“I’m not the Sophos that took the locket”
“How many are you?”
“there are three Sophos but I’m the last of our kind”
“what happened to the others?”
“They sacrificed there lifes to save the locket
I was the only one that had to stay to fight Diana”
“then you should know where they kept the locket” I insisted
“as of the time of the ritual sacrifice I was fighting with Diana to keep her off only Helen was pres£nt, when I returned Ares had alre-ady locked her and vanished no one could get her out and she was locked up with the secret of the locket”
“where do we find the seal of consciousness?” I asked
“there’s a grave beside the cave, the two Sophos were buried there…”
“were they buried with the seal?” I cut in
“the seal is not an object to be seen or held
when the Sophos were buried they turned into a jar of gold and the gold is the seal”
“how can we use it to revive her?” I asked
“when you get the seal I’ll do the rest”
“where does technology come in?”
“you’ll have to create a lamp that will shine very bright then when you get to the grave, the light of the Sophos will be tra-pped in the lamp when this happens, the grave will be opened”
“just a lamp? how haven’t the people of Sophos done that yet?”
“they weren’t able to make a lamp strong enough to accommod@t£ the light of the Sophos and they were killed by the light”
“what if we die?” I asked
“you won’t” she gave me a reas-suring smile
“how…”
“too much questions, here we don’t ask too much questions everyone has to be wise” she shunned and I recalled those were the exact words of Ajax.
“how do I get back?” I asked because I had no idea of the way back to the castle
“look over there” she pointed to the East but I saw nothing
“there’s nothing…” I turned back but she was gone
“Athena” I called
“be careful of those who go to the un-derworld and lie then come to earth to speak” her voice echoed in the air
“Athe…” I began feeling dizzy then I pas-sed out.
“Alessia wake up”
“Ales you’re scaring me”
“plea-se wake up it’s been hours”
I heard voices in my heard but I couldn’t open my eyes. I kept struggling to keep my eyes open as they shook me violently
“I’m not dead” I chucked and opened my eye.
I saw the worry in Amber’s and Louis’ eyes and I felt bad for keeping them worried
“why did you sleep for so long?” Ajax asked and that was when I looked up and saw him
“I saw the Sophos” I replied then Margaux rolled her eyes in disgust
“what did she say?” Ajax asked curiously
“we have a long way to go….” I drawled but couldn’t help to notice Margaux’s hateful eyes on me”
After lunch, we set out to create the lamp. And thanks to the genius (Louis) with us we were able to create the lamp after seven hours. When we were done, we sat around a fire place and had dinner which was made of roasted meat which we caught together in the woods because we didn’t want to have dinner with the Royal family. During our little dinner, I kept seeing a figure holding a bow flying across the sky.
“are there flying creatures here?” I found myself asking Ajax
“no that’s ridiculous” he replied
We chatted for a while then retired to be-d. While every was asleep, Margaux tossed on her be-d like she was having a nightmare then she woke up with a start.
She was sweating profusely when she woke up. She glanced at us who were slee-ping peacefully then suddenly the voice that spoke to her the previous night spoke again.
“Come to me”
“who are you?” Margaux asked, looking around cuz she couldn’t see anyone
“your soul belongs to me”
“what do you want from me?”
“I want you to get the lamp” the voice echoed but she was the only one hearing it
“I can’t why do you nee-d it?”
“so we can rule together Alessia is always one step ahead of you” the voice said
“I can’t get you the lamp and Alessia is not ahead of me”
“even the Sophos chose to appear to her while you’re here, Ajax chose to tell her his secret”
“who are you and how do you know us?”
“I am Diana” the voice said faintly then Diana appeared with her bow and wild animals surrounding her
“get me the lamp”
“NEVER”
Diana turned to a wind of dust before Margaux’s eyes and entered her
“let’s go get the lamp” she said throu-gh Margaux then headed out of the room.
She walked into the hallway then used her magic eyes to scan sort where the lamp was kept. She sighted it in the jewelry house then walked to the room.
When she got there, the door was opened so she stepped in and saw the lamp sitting on a table with it’s dim light radiating the room.
“finally the lamp is mine” she sm-irked and walked in fully.
Tbc