Chapter One

[jaejae]

Prologue


Beneath a silver-lined moon, he sat waiting for his star to grant his wish. He promised himself and he promised her that he would wait an eternity to be with her again, but the distant was driving him insane.
   He was told that on the eve, when the paradise of Mag Mell came into view, from the tallest mountain peak, if he were to make a wish on the north star in the midnight sky that it would be granted. But the price would be great if she were to return.
   The Lady of the Lake did not explain in detail what would happen, but Sankar Xenos, ruler of the Shurkana Empire, didn't care. He would be willing to pay any price to see his true love, Keena Chantment, once more.
   He climbed the mountains of Shurkana every year, the same day and prayed to the North Star, but his calls were never answered. Year after year, his hopes disappeared until he had finally stopped going. But he did revisit the Lady of the Lake.
   Sankar knelt by the waters edge, he didn't have to say a word, fore she knew that he was there, waiting for her. Her image appeared from out of the blue canopy of water and shined as the water glistened off her body.
" Young Sankar. I am glad that we meet again." She spoke softly with a light, warm heart.
   " You have made me doubt you, my lady." He spoke sternly; his eyes did not leave his reflection in the water.
   " What has made you so doubtful, young child?"
   " My calling has gone unanswered. I have done all that you have told me."
" Have you done it correctly?" She asked.
   " Yes." He answered simply.
   She sighed heavily.
   " Then, perhaps, the price is too much."
   " I will not take that as an answer. No price is too much. Whatever it is, I will deal with it." He told her through cold blue eyes.
   " Even if it puts the world, as you know it, in jeopardy?"
   Sankar finally laid his eyes on her beauty.
   " Yes." He answered without a thought.
   She closed her eyes and turned away from him.
   " The girl you call upon is the Goddess of the Eden Dragons. She was meant to protect Esco Glen from the dangers of the Dragon God... your father."
   
   There was an eerie silence that swept over the Mystic Lake. The winds stirred the clouds in the sky as lightning bounced from cloud to cloud. The wind blew harshly and with the blink of Sankar's eyes everything became calm once again.
   " My father... has been laid to rest the summer of my seventeenth birthday. That was two summers ago.
   " That still does not change anything, Sankar. Bringing her back will bring many changes. Changes have already happened around you and before you, but your eyes have been clouded."
   

   " Nothing matters to me anymore, only her." Sankar hollered. Her eyes grew with tears.
   " All I want is Keena back." He said, quieting his voice to a calm.
   " I can not allow that." She told him, as she turned away from him. He grew with dark anger as she started toward the lake, as if they were through speaking. Sankar wouldn't allow that. He was going to get Keena back, if it was the last thing he did.
   
   " First, you tell me that I can never rescue my brothers. That they are lost in a world that I can never be in. Then you tell me that the only other person I care for can not be returned back to me?"

   She stopped over the water that she rests in and looked at her folded hands. She closed her eyes, as a tear streamed down her cheek. She then turned and looked at Sankar.
   " She has been in a different time, it is as if she were in a different world. She's been there many years. She remembers nothing of Esco Glen... or of you... Do you still wish to bring her back?"
   " Yes."
   " Then I shall grant your wish. But the world, it's past, present and future will never remain as it is. For you have changed its course."


























Chapter One


The Legend Begins



   Keena Yamuna laid asleep. She tossed and turned as she walked in the dark toward the lake that was covered in a heavy fog. Her green eyes looked around. She heard the night creatures singing a melody. Beautiful, yet eerie. She knelt down to touch the rippling black pool of cool water.

   " Keena." a voice called out.
   Keena quickly stood up and spun around. But she did not see anyone.
   " Who's there?" She asked, picking up a rock the size of her palm for defense.

         Mayan lye Etienne? Norie i melanalye?

   " What? I don't understand you." Keena told the voice, as she looked around.
   " You will understand in time. You will remember who you really are and you will answer his call, but the journey will be a hard one.... Do you know where you are?"
   Keena looked at her surrounds. She never had seen any place so beautiful, yet so ironic. As if she had seen it before. Perhaps, in another lifetime.
   " Should I remember this place?"
   " You should. You use to come here all the time when you were a little girl. Barely even old enough to walk and talk."

   Suddenly the voice became a person. She glowed with life and beauty. She had long golden sun locks of hair and very deep blue-green colored eyes.

   " Who are you?" Keena asked, putting the rock down.
   " I am the lady of the lake. I am the soul protector of the Mystic Spirits. As there are seven spirits, there are seven souls, seven gods and seven bodies, the bodies of the Eden dragons. Maybe this will help you." Then she spoke strangely again. But this time Keena understood the words.


Darkness unfold from within.
Release what you may hold.
Shadow this land with the protectors of the goddess.
Release the seven spirits.


   From within the lake seven forms emerged. The water like skin began to turn to flesh.
One by one, they stood before her. All of them bowed before Keena and the Lady of the lake.
   " Arion, you may rise."
   


The black headed man stood up and his eyes met Keena's." Do you remember him?" The lady of the lake asked as she sat on the back of an enormous swan. Keena looked over at him, as he stood perfectly still. His eyes still on her." No," She turned back to the woman, " Why are you trying to make me remember things that I have never seen?"
   " Fore you will return here soon. Your return will bring great destruction, to the world of Esco Glen."

   Both Keena and Arion looked at her.
   " Destruction? But this is only a dream. Not reality." Keena assured the woman.
   " You are not ready to return. You know nothing of what you are and what you need to do. Oblivion should have begun by now. But yet I made a promise to a young man who wants you back in his life."
   " You mustn't bring her back. She is not ready for her destiny, you said so yourself." The pink-headed girl said, her big red eyes glaring.
   " She must be ready, or all is lost." Stated a white headed man, as he touched a water lily turning it into ice.
   " My lady." Hollered out a deep voice, as his footsteps, as well as another pair trailed shortly behind, made their way through the woods that surround the lake. Emerging from the deep green was a tall man with long silver hair, which was decorated with blue like feathers at the side of his head, piercing blue eyes. He was with a blue skinned elf that had silver hair and red eyes.
   " What is wrong, Sarakei?" She asked.
   Sankar looked at Keena, but didn't really recognize who she was.
   " It's Dante." Sarakei started.
   " He has been released from the death stone." Sankar explained.

   The lady of the lake bowed her head slightly as if saying a prayer. Everyone was now looking at Keena.
   " You have to make this right, my child. You play a major role here in Esco Glen. We have no time to talk as of yet. If you wish to remember, you must break the eye of the dragon, travel to the city of Kusauki and find Emperor Ephraim. Travel to the valley of the lost souls and retrieve the first scroll. There are six in all you must get them all. None of them must fall into the wrong hands or all is lost."
   " Eye of the Dragon?" Keena spoke.



 

****

   Keena woke up. It was nearly noon. She quickly climbed out of bed and made her way down to the library.
She began looking up things about a place called Esco Glen and the eye of the dragon.
   " Eye of the Dragon.... An ancient jewel said to be able to control one moment in time." Keena read from the leather bound book. She flipped the page to see a picture of the jewel the book spoke of. She noticed that it was a stone that Oblivion Darkmatter, her caretaker, wore around his


neck. She put the book back and went to her room to change into some decent clothes, and then she went through the house looking for the nineteen-year-old man.

   Oblivion looked over at her as she stormed into the room he sat in comfortably reading a book." What's going on?" He asked. Without answer, she walked over to him and pulled the gem off his neck.
   " What are you doing?" Oblivion asked, jumping up from his seat.
" Breaking the eye of the dragon to return to Esco Glen." Keena told him.
   " NO!" Oblivion ran to her to retrieve the gem, but Keena broke it into four pieces and a blinding light exploded within the room and a few seconds later the two had disappeared.

   After the light disappeared, they opened their eyes, to the beauty of land that was unharmed and wide with vast colors and smell of clean air. Only a few yards away sat a small city.

   " How did you find out about the Eye of the Dragon?" Oblivion asked, pacing the ground, moving the dust side to side.
   " I had a dream." Keena tried to explain.
   " So did Martin Luther King, but you didn't see him breaking the Eye of the Dragon, did you?"
   " Don't get your panties in a knot. Where are we any ways?" Keena asked looking about.
   " I don't know." Oblivion answered plain and simple. Keena placed her hands on her hips and walked about on the hill.
   " There are some people. Should I ask them? They should know where we are."
   " They could be bandits, you know."
   " Bandits? Then you ask them."
   " No way."
   " Do it now." Keena shouted at him. Oblivion quickly got up and approached the three men.
   " Excuse me." Oblivion called out. They stopped and looked at the strangely dressed kids,
   " Can you tell me what town that is?" He asked and pointed at the city behind him.
   " It is the Kusauki Empire under Emperor Ephraim's rule." One of them stated.
   " Oh great. Well thanks." He waved to them. He then flopped on the grass beside Keena, who stood.
   " So?" She asked looking down at him.
   " This is the empire of the young and dumb." Oblivion stated throwing his hands in the air.
   " It is called young and dumb?"
   " No. A young emperor and a dumb knight rule it. It is the Kusauki Empire."
   Keena's eyes widened.
   " This is where I had to go. I needed to visit Ephraim and tell him to take me to the Valley of the Lost Souls." She announced and started toward the city.
   " Valley of the Lost Souls, how do you know that place?" He asked as he chased her trough the gates of the city.



Kusauki Castle


   " Emperor Ephraim, there is a raving lunatic outside who says he needs to speak with you." One of the guards announced as the other guard laughed historically.               " What is he laughing at?" Ephraim asked, looking up from the scroll that him and his trusted knight Tristan Galeno were looking at.
   " The villager sir, he claims to be a knight. And his wardrobe."
   
   " What about his wardrobe?"
   " That is just it. He does not have one."
   " He is naked. And you want to bring him in here? Are you insane?" Tristan asked.
   " He is not naked, but he might as well be."
   " What is his business?" Ephraim asked changing the subject, before he burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
   " He would not tell us. All he said was that it has something to do with the saviors the goddess and the dragon god."
   Ephraim stood up quickly, " Bring him to me and make it quick."
   " He has a young lady with him too."
   " Bring her as well." Tristan, the womanizer, replied.
   " Yes do bring her along too." Ephraim agreed.
   " Yes your highness." The guards said, bowed and went on their way to the palace gates.
   " You are seriously letting that crazed man in here?" Tristan asked, keeping his sword close at hand.
   " Why not? I let you in here." Ephraim smiled his noble smile.
   " I'm not a raving lunatic either?" Tristan informed him.
   " No, but you are a bullheaded womanizer."
   Tristan was about to defend himself when the guards returned with a tall purple hair man and a short girl with long blonde locks of hair.
   " Oblivion?" Ephraim asked looking at the strangely dressed man. As both himself and Tristan recognized him.
   " Yes. It is I." Oblivion answered.
   Both Tristan and Ephraim began laughing.
   " What are you laughing at?" Oblivion asked.
   The two calmed down and Ephraim assured him that it was nothing. Tristan then saw the young lady behind Oblivion.
   " Well hello cutie." Tristan said as he lends in toward Keena.
   " Yuck. Get away from me you pervert."
   " What are you doing back?" Ephraim asked as he poured some drinks for everyone.
   " Well you see, she had this dream and she broke the eye of the dragon to return here." Oblivion reported and looked at Keena.


   " It could not have been at a better time. Dante's spirit has been set free from the death stone."
   " What! That can't be. Who released him?"
   " We believe that it was Emperor Sankar."
   " How can you be so sure that the other Xenos didn't do it?"
   " Because Sayyid and Sierra have been missing for nearly a year now."
   " Missing?"
   Ephraim nodded and sat down his drink." Yes. They disappeared without a trace. Some say that the two have been cast into the Valley of the Lost Souls on Souls Island."
   Keena's eyes lit up.
   " The Valley of the Lost Souls! That is where I am to go."
   The three men looked at her and Ephraim crossed his long legs.
   " The Valley of the Lost Souls is a serious place, my lady. Something you must not fool around with. Why must you go there?" He asked curiously, taking a sip of his drink.
   Keena cleared her throat and spoke clearly as she tried to remember everything that the lake lady told her.
   " Well I had this dream, it took me to this place. A lake within a forest. From there a beautiful lady came to me revealing herself as the Lady of the Lake, the soul protector of the Mystic Spirits and she told me that I was the only one who could save Esco Glen. She told me to seek out you and to go to the Valley of the Lost Souls to retrieve the scroll. That I had six of them to get." Everyone sat in awe at the story that she had just presented to them. Ephraim stood to his full height and crossed the room to the window of the palace.
    " If the Lady of the Lake says she must go then we must see her there safely. We shall prepare to retrieve the other saviors within the next week. It should give us time to prepare for the long journey ahead."
   " We must call upon the Dragons. You know we must." Tristan reported.
   " In doing so it will summon Dante and it will make him even more powerful than before." Ephraim stated as he watched two horses arrive through the city gates.
   " What does Shaito think about this?" Oblivion asked. Both Ephraim and Tristan looked at each other as the silence spoke between them.
   " Shaito was cased into his stone nearly three summers ago."
   " Have you assembled any of the Saviors?"
   " Not all of them, but first we must have the Dragon Goddess." Tristan informed them.
   " She sits before you. Keena is the Dragon Goddess of Eden."
   " YOU! You are the Eden Dragon Goddess. Keena Yamuna?" Ephraim asked, realizing that she too was royalty, and quickly bowed before her.
   Keena laughed reassuringly and placed a hand on her busty chest.
   " I am no goddess."
   " Yes you are Keena. You are Keena Chantment, the princess of the Enchantment Kingdom." Oblivion assured her.
   " Why don't we inform her of all we know? She does have a lot to catch up with." Ephraim suggested.

[jaejae]

Chapter Two


   " It has been weeks and she still does not believe in who she is and her true powers." Tristan replied, packing a leather bag with some supplies for the up coming journey.
   " We can not waste any more precious time. She will have no choice, but to come with us. Have you informed Thebes and Malachi to meet us here?" Ephraim asked.
   " Yes. They have agreed to come along on this journey."
   " It will be nice to have them come along. You never know when we can use their extraordinary powers."
   The conversation was interrupted by Oblivion, who strolled into the room.
   " Is Keena up and ready?" Ephraim asked, turning as he tied a ribbon at the end of his silky straight brown locks, which was dressed in a nice braid.
   " Yes, but she does not like the fact that it is before sunrise." Oblivion added, " She has grown lazy where we come from."
   " Do you perhaps need a change of clothes?" Ephraim asked Oblivion, looking at the little outfit that Oblivion wore that barely covered his muscular, manly body.
   " NO! I am quite comfortable, but thank you anyway." Oblivion answered defensively.
   " Okay I believe you." Ephraim stated and turned away from the man when a knock was heard at the door, " You may come in."
   The door opened, revealing Keena in a light blue, low cut curvy dress. Her long her was done the usual way with two blonde buns and the rest hung down to her tiny waist. The three stared at her for a moment before she began yelling.
   " This better be damn good for getting me out of bed this early in the morning."
   " It is quite important, Keena. Oblivion told us that you broke the Eye of the Dragon. Do you still have the broke pieces?"
   Before she could answer, two men entered the room. Both dressed in the same matching outfits. Dressed as priest, in long black robes and cross chokers.
   " We came as soon as we had our supplies together. I hope we are not too late." Said the tall man with floor length flaming red hair. Who was followed in by a young blonde head boy.
" Not at all. I am grateful that you could come on such short notice." Ephraim told him.
   " Like we had anything better to do." The blonde muttered out, as if he had been bored.
   " Shut up Malachi." The red head growled. Turning he flashed a smile at Ephraim, " He's such a kidder." He laughed nervously.
   " Well it will be nice to have you." Ephraim assured the two.
   " We are saviors too. It is as much our job to protect Esco Glen as it is yours... who are they?"
   " Thebes, Malachi, This is Oblivion Darkmatter and Keena Yamuna. They are also saviors. Keena is the Eden Goddess."
   Both Thebes and Malachi looked at Ephraim with shocked expressions upon their faces.
   " Are you serious?" Thebes asked.
   Ephraim nodded in agreement.
" It is an honor to be in your presence our goddess. We are but humble priest from the
Temple of Eden. The Guardians of the Eden Dragons." Thebes bowed along with Malachi.


   " I am not the Eden Goddess. They do not know what they are talking about." Keena explained with nervous laughter.
   " If she is the goddess, then you must be the royal knight of the Enchantment Kingdom. We have heard of your heroic adventures." Malachi cheered.
   " You have?" Oblivion questioned cautiously.
" No time for small talk as of right now. Do you still have the pieces to the Eye of the Dragon?" Ephraim asked.
   " No. I didn't know that I had to recover the pieces to the Eye." She answered truthfully.
   " Wait a minute. You broke the Eye of the Dragon and didn't recover the pieces. That means a portal to the future is opened to the past. Anyone can come in and out as they please." Thebes explained to them.
   " We must locate Loki, and find out if there is a lap in the time. That way we will know if anyone has come or gone." Oblivion announced.
   " Let us pray that Sankar does not find out and go to the future to recover the pieces. The Eye of the Dragon is a powerful force here in this world if recovered and brought to one piece again. It can summon the dead from their graves."
   " Then we must make haste. We need to find the remaining saviors and locate Loki. Then we must get to the Valley of the Lost Souls."
   " Why don't we split up into groups? One group goes to the destination that Tristan has marked out and the other group goes find Loki. Then we shall meet back here and wait for the others." Oblivion suggested.
   " That sounds like a good plan. We will split into two groups. Tristan and I will travel to Loki's home and you four go to the mapped out destination, that Tristan has prepared already." Ephraim told them. Everyone agreed to the plan, " Good. Then it is settled, we will set out as soon as the first light comes over the horizon."
   
         
                  ****

   " They had to be summoned back here. They would not have broken the Eye of the Dragon if they were not here." Malon Uzoma, an elf friend of Keena's said. He walked on the small Island in which the Temple of Souls was. In a small valley on Souls Island called The Valley of the Lost Souls. Malon was originally from the Kusauki Empire, but has lived in the future too, for elves could live for thousands of years and he was only three hundred years old.
   His feet shuffled the desert sands beneath him. His gray-blue eyes followed the movement of his feet. He headed toward the temple, in hopes to find the Scroll of the Dead. He needed to make sure that Keena received the scroll and none else. It was rumored that the scroll lies deep within the temple and was guarded by death itself.
   His lips formed a small circle and he began to whistle a familiar tune to keep him company. The sun shifted and the moon hung high above, before Malon finally arrived at the Temple of Souls.
   
" The Temple of Souls." Malon said as he scratched the crown of his head, " Funny. I thought it'd be a little more scarier." He shrugged his shoulders and made his way up the huge


staircase of stones. The door was at the top and Malon walked in. The darkness frightened him to
the point where he only stood in the entryway.
    " I think I've changed my mind." Malon muttered. Suddenly fires blazed on the torches that hung on the walls.
   " You have come for the scroll, have you not?" Asked a deep voice, as if it were smiling at Malon. Malon looked around him, but he stood alone in the room.
   "...Yes." Malon cautiously whispered. The voice laughed evilly, as the door quick slammed shut. Malon turned quickly, as he put his weight onto the door, trying to push it open.
   " It is no use elf. The only way out is with the scroll. What is your choice?"
   " I've changed my mind. I really don't need the scroll."
   " Come get it or the darkness will eat at you, as it has us."
   Malon gulped, and went to look for the scroll. His feet tapped on the staircase that led to the core of the temple.
   ' This must be it.'
   He pushed open the door and the colors swirled within the room.
   " Omigod." Malon stuttered in amazement and wonder.
Within the room in the air floated four magical traps. Each holding a man prisoner of eternity or when the Eden Goddess called them upon. But the Goddess was known as a legend. Only myth, yet so many people believe in her. The traps held the Lost Souls. The Souls of the Eden Dragons. The Dragons were the most powerful people in the world of Esco Glen and for one man it wasn't enough. He wanted it all. He was a powerful Eden Dragon God. But he died leaving the others to magical force fields or stone cases. In each corner of the core temple walls was a trap.

A fireball held a tall fiery red headman with haunting green eyes that looked as if he was watching your every move. A whirlwind held a small silver head boy. A ball of electricity held a tall elegant blonde headman. And last was an ice crystal that held a white headman who was close to naked. In the middle of the temple sat a coal black coffin.
" I hope the scroll's not in that." Malon whined and inched toward the coffin. As he stood in front of the coffin, his eyes cautiously looked at the magical traps that surrounded him. His shaky hands reached out and rested on the lid. As he did, a piece of ice hit the coffin lid, as if the ice was cracking.

   Malon quickly looked up at the man within the crystal. Nothing happened. Malon had finally opened the coffin. He screamed when he saw the scroll, held in the tight grip of a young man.

   " Why me lord? Why me?" Malon cried out as he looked at the ceiling inside the room. His trembling reached for the scroll.
Suddenly without warning or a seconds thought, an arm reached out a grabbed Malon's from inside the coffin. Malon let out a loud scream as he tried to pull away.

   " You'll not get away with the scroll." The man spoke evilly as his blood red eyes stared coldly at Malon. From above, the ice burst into small pieces, releasing the prisoner that it had held.


The man fell to one knee on the concrete floor beside the coffin. His bowed head rose and his icy blue eyes smiled merciless at Malon.

" The others will awaken shortly. It will be best if you leave now and never return." The white headman spoke sternly.
   " I will. I will, I'll never come back."
   " Fine. Sayyid, please release him."
Sayyid reluctantly let him go. As Malon quickly turned to make a quick get away, the ball of fire died out release the madman it held for so long. As Malon approached the door, a tall red headman, whose smile was darker then death itself, quickly blocked the exit. Malon stopped in his tracks.
" Why let him leave, Sierra? Your brother and I need more energy. It has been a while since some fool has came here alone in search for the scroll." The red head said, walking toward the elf, who continued to back up. Sierra sighed as he sat on the lower closed part of his fraternal twin's coffin.
   " If you must Firas, but make it quick."
Malon watched as Firas's face changed. He now had long, glossy fangs. Malon's loud screams echoed off the walls. Before Firas could regain energy, a group of warriors ran into find Malon huddled in the corner. He was alone, besides the magical force fields that held the prisoners of the Shurkana Empire.
   " It is only a elf, Lord Ingram." Said the head knight, Jovan Sahir, to Ingram Xenos, the cousin to Emperor Sankar. A tall man with long blonde hair and burning green eyes walked into the chamber and saw the elf.
   " Do you have the scroll?" Ingram asked calmly, as he pulled one glove him off his hand.
   " N-no." Malon stuttered.
   " Check the coffin." Ingram told Jovan. Jovan nodded his head and opened the coffin to only see Sayyid lying peacefully.
   " The scroll is missing. He must have it." Jovan reported.
   " No I don't." Malon repeated. He backs himself into the corner, as Ingram closed the distance between himself and Malon. Reaching down, he picked up Malon by the shirt to look eye to eye with him.
   " If you don't have it, then where is the scroll?" Ingram snarled with grinding teeth showing.
   " It was in the coffin. I never touched it." Malon explained, holding onto Ingram's forearm.
   " I don't believe him." Jovan growled.
   " Shut-up." Malon snapped. The sound of steel scraping leather filled the room followed by the feel of a cold blade at Malon's throat.
   " I take that back. I didn't mean it." Malon assured Jovan.
   " Let me kill him." Jovan hissed, not taking his eyes off the elf.
   " Now, now. He could be useful. We'll lock him up at the palace. Then I will think about letting you torture him."
   " NO!" Malon hollered as they pulled him away.