The Legend of Azhakkstadd

CHAPTER LXXII : THE LEGENDARY MARKHOR

-Kurezma-

            “Just as the psychic can enter the mind of these Markhors, we can hel peach other to cleanse their minds and bring them back to their normal state, are you with me?” Zexal said convincing Hazol to do it with him

            “Right… I can use my power to influence their minds just as how the Periits and the Umbras influenced them…” Hazol agreed with him nodding his head indicating that he’s in.

            “But we need to get to all of them… I have a plane” Zexal spoke once more proposing a plan he went near us so that we can all hear and understand him

            “We need to attack them from above, since these Markhors can’t fly, in that way, we can easily aim at them and at the same time, avoid being attacked by them” he started plotting his plan “Harald, I need you to make something we can all hop on… while Kurezma is driving that pod, I will be aiming towards each Markhors that we see”

            “We must be in a higher level so that these markhors couldn’t reach us” he said as he turned to me. Inside the force field, Harald started to make something where we will ride to fly up above. This time, it seems like I will be using air power to fly us again

            “Hazol, Vedasto, Eeya, Harald, and Zati…  the five of you try to look around for that statue, ok?” he added then nodded at us signaling us to get to work, and just as the best timing, Harald just finished the pod where we are riding, and we’re standing on it right now.

            “Let’s make the work simpler… I can turn myself into a dragon again and fly up high” Zati spoke adding something with what Zexal had planned “I’ll be taking Hazol and Vedsto with me. Hazol will have to do the same task as you do, Vedasto and I will do the searching” she added

            “Nice… we’ll go the other side, and you do to the other as well… let’s make the work easier. Let’s go” Zexal said agreeing with Zati

            I started lifting it above with my air power high enough so that the markhors can’t reach us. I noticed how these creatures jumped after us, yet they didn’t succeed as we got higher and higher. Hazol removed the force field and started looking around for the statue.

            “Cover me first…” Zati told Eeya which Eeya did immediately. Zati removed her clothes before she transformed herself in a dragon once more… you know, she doesn’t want to lose her clothes again ahahahaha

            “Let’s go…” Vedasto said as he and Hazol hopped on Zati, riding her towards the other side of the island.

            “If you found it, you guys signal us… we’ll also send you a signal if we found it, ok?”Hazol shouted at us reminding us about what we would do if ever we found the statue before we go and do our task

            “Ok… hold on tight everyone” I reminded them that we will start to move around to get to every area of this island to save these markhors and at the same time look for the statue. Zexal started shooting the markhors that he sees down below. They suddenly behave normally than what they were doing before, it’s like they miraculously changed.

            I kept driving this pod slowly to give the others time to do what they were tasked to do. I just focused myself on making this pod float in the air and go around so that Zexal can cleanse each Markhors in rage. Eeya and Harald kept looking around to see if they will find the statue.

            “Have you seen so far?” Harald asked Eeya as they kept their eyes open towards the trees down below

            “Not yet… have you?” Eeya answered and asked him back to see if he did find something

            “I haven’t too… I can’t seem to find anything that will lead us into it, but let’s not give up… we’ve only been looking for a few minutes…” Harald said without looking at Eeya since he’s keeping his eyes sharp towards whatever he’ll find that will lead us to the statue

            Zexal kept on aiming his power towards each markhor we see on our way cleansing each of them and bringing them back to normal. I can clearly see how many these Markhors are in this perspective. I thought I couldn’t see many of them… I just stared how they run joyfully after they’ve been free from captive.

            We’ve been going around areas and different locations and directions and saved a lot of Markhors that has been under the Periits and Umbras influence. It’s almost a couple of hours since we started doing this, but it seems like there are so many markhors being affected by the dark power.

            After all, as I have mentioned earlier this island is quite large, so having too many markhors isn’t a shocking thing. And long those couple of hours, we still haven’t seen a sign of the statue, not even the others who went to the other side since we haven’t received signals from them yet.

            “Hey Zexal look… these markhors are going somewhere behind those trees… let’s follow them, maybe they’ll lead us somewhere…” Harald said pointing at markhors who were hopping in the bushes in lines, the herd was numerous, and it’s suspicious that they are going somewhere.

            “Wait… let me finish here in this side first…” Zexal responded as he made a large blast towards a group of markhors going savage around. As soon as the water hit them, they all stood straight and hopped around happily. I turned the pod towards the direction where the markhors are going and silently followed them.

            “I have a strong feeling about this…” Harald said as we continued following the markhors. As we follow them, their numbers are getting bigger and bigger. The gathering is quite intriguing… I wonder what’s going on. As we continued, I noticed them stopping at a certain point.

            The area had been crowded, and it’s looks like we’re deep inside the forest, probably in the middle of the island. It’s difficult to say where exactly you are in this island filled with trees. You’ll surely lose your sense of direction. I can’t even tell right now where we are exactly in this island.

            On the other side of the crowd, we saw the Hazol and Vedasto riding Zati as they flewtowards the crowd the same as us. It looks like they found it too, that we don’t need to signal each other. We went further to see why a lot of markhors are gathering here.

            “Oh my gosh… it’s a statue!” Eeya whispered exclaiming as she pointed at the statue where the markhors gathered around. It’s in the middle of all of them and it looks like it’s so hard to get in there by foot since the hoard of markhors is covering the whole area.

            The statue of the almighty Leif looked so majestic and holy. It’s like these markhors are paying their devotions upon it. The statue glowed brightly as it’s the only part of this area not being covered by trees allowing sunlight to make it shine upon it.

            I looked at the others on the other side of the crowd, they were so happy pointing at the statue because at last, we found it. it’s just that, it’s so difficult to get there due to this markhors, and we don’t want to surprise them as they might go raging once more.

            Hazol, on the other side along with Vedasto signaled us to come near it while being above all of these markhors.

            “Let’s get near it to finally complete this challenge” we heard him in our minds as he used telepathy to talk with us, we just nodded at him and slowly went near it in order not to disturb these markhors.

            Just as we moved forward, something very bright came down from it making us stop for a while. it was so bright that we covered our eyes so that we won’t get blinded by it. I don’t know what it is but it came from above and descended along with the sunlight. It shone so bright that even the markhors can’t withstand it.

            After a few seconds, the light slowly disappeared making us able to look at the statue once more. My eyes literally popped and my jaw almost dropped as I saw what’s in there. The others surely must have the same reaction as I had as we all witnessed something so impossible but it’s possible.

            A very large markhor sat on the statue while looking at the markhors bowing at it. and I know exactly who he is… Leif, the Legendary Guardian of the Earth Metals…

            “Are you guys seeing what I am seeing…?” we heard Hazol’s voice in our minds once more

            “I-is this true? Am I not d-dreaming?” Eeya responded with him in our minds “Is it really him? Oh my gosh…”

            “No, you’re not dreaming, because if you do, how come we all have the same dream?” Vedasto answered confirming that it really is not

            “I don’t know how to react… it really is the almighty Leif, he’s here” Harald said in so much amusement. It seems like I can’t move my hands to move forward right now due to astonishment… yet I tried my best not to drop us

            The markhors started to get noisy as their way of praising their God. Their sound of joy resounded the whole area for a while then it gradually disappeared. Good thing, we managed to fix these markhors before Leif came. He wouldn’t want to see his Markhors being under evil’s influence.

            “And that’s why I came Kurezma…” I suddenly heard a loud voice as if it’s talking to me--- no not just me, even the others heard it too…

            “Who’s that?” I voiced out asking who just spoke with me. It’s as if it heard my thoughts a while ago

            “Come near me…” he spoke again, then suddenly the pod we were riding suddenly moved forward without me controlling it. I raised my hands to show the others that I am not the one moving it. Even the others on the other side also went forward towards the statue…

            I get it… it’s Leif. He put us down after pulling us towards him. From this perspective, I can clearly see how spacious this area is. I can feel the heat of the sun touching my skin that came right above through the trees. This place seemed to be a secret grotto where only Markhors know how to get here.

I looked at the statue where we are standing now, it’s enormous. I don’t know how many feet it stood up, but it’s so tall. Taller than Leif himself. And it’s so wonderful to look at.

            Now I understand why the man told us that it’s so difficult to find, and only persistence, courage, and patience would bring us here. It really isn’t a place where you can just go and visit. But it’s so hidden deep in the island that only those people deserving to see this would see this.