The Sea of Valour -The Ocracidia Series 1 (2 page)

'We need a warrior to travel to
Goreloth and free our goddess by killing the evil beast of Goreloth
and break the spell,' Oscar said.

The Elders in the room remained
quiet. Their faces filled with dread and anticipation. No one in
the land of Ocracidia had ever before fought in battle. Most did
not know how. They had been specially bred for peace, kindness and
joy and it was even more difficult for them to comprehend fighting
a beast.

No one replied and Oscar looked
from face to face. He walked to the two marble structures of Zedia
and gazed at them as if expecting some sort of sign. Moments later
he walked back and faced the elders he had been addressing.

‘
Are there
any volunteers?’ He asked hopefully.

All around the temple, heads
hung low and eyes looked away from Oscar. The smile on Oscar’s face
was slowly replaced by disappointment. Cezar read Oscar's
expression well. He knew Oscar would have volunteered if his
position as high priest of Zedia hadn’t prevented him.

‘
Any
volunteers?’ Oscar asked again, this time his voice was low, quiet
and unsure.

Cezar’s mother Annabel, said
nothing; her face showed neither surprised nor disappointment at
the silence that followed her husband’s request.

Cezar thought to himself that
surely one person in the room would volunteer and he waited. He
hoped for just one person but not a single soul did. What Cezar saw
were people whose courage eluded them.

Then something stirred deep
inside Cezar.

‘
I
volunteer,’ he shouted. His hand shot up as if a bolt of
electricity had run though him. His body trembled slightly and his
heart beat so fast he thought it would burst.

Many faces turned to see who it
was that spoke. Questioning looks confirmed that not everyone was
happy at his boldness to speak at an elders meeting. But Cezar did
not let that deter him. If Zedia needed a warrior to help her
escape Diagus' clutches then he would perform his duties to her
especially when there was no other.

Silence filled the temple and
one by one, the elders turned to face Oscar.

Oscar himself did not look
Cezar’s way; it was as if Oscar hadn’t heard Cezar speak.

Cezar crossed his fingers,
closed his eyes and wished very hard that the elders especially his
father would agree for him to go on this quest. He was convinced
this was what Zedia wanted of him.

‘
I
volunteer,’ Cezar shouted out again. This time his voice was
louder, more confident and energetic; almost as if daring anyone to
challenge him.

All heads turned once again
towards the tall, slim built, boy sitting at the back of the
gathering with his right arm in the air.

Oscar's eyes travelled to where
Cezar sat and held his gaze. Cezar now had Oscar's attention. Cezar
grinned lopsidedly; he waited; then he slowly brought his arm
down.

Annabel glared at Cezar and he
knew she was trying to grasp what was going on in his head. Her
outward countenance was composed and cool but when he looked into
her eyes, he sensed she was both angry and confused.

Slowly the moment passed,
seconds turned into minutes and the shock of Cezar volunteering
yielded a relief amongst the elders that someone had indeed
volunteered.

The elders looked to Oscar with
anticipation. He had asked for a volunteer and now he had one.
Cezar waited too!

Would Oscar accept his own son
as a volunteer on this very dangerous quest?

Minutes ticked away before
Oscar moved or said anything; then Oscar smiled and his eyes lit
up. Cezar took a deep breath, he realised that his father was
neither angry nor upset with him.

Oscar stretched his hand out to
Cezar signalling him to step forward. Cezar came quickly to join
his father at the front of the gathering.

‘
My Son
Cezar, will journey to the land of Goreloth on the quest to destroy
the spell that holds our land captive,' Oscar announced; 'and he
will save our beautiful goddess Zedia.’ He patted Cezar gently on
the back and everyone cheered. Everyone, that is except Annabel,
Cezar’s mother.

Chapter 3 Time Before

Later that night, Oscar called
Cezar aside and took him into a private room.

Oscar sat down in one of two
chairs placed side by side. 'Sit down,' he pointed to the other
chair. 'I must tell you the history of our people before you begin
this quest,' he said.

Cezar sat beside his father and
waited. His father looked into space and began his tale; this was
the moment Cezar had been awaiting for a long time.

‘
In times
gone past, the world was divided into three planes; the heaven, the
earth and the Abyss.

The heavens were made of gold,
silver, pearls and all types of precious stones. Twelve gods of
creation ruled and lived in the heaven; each with his or her own
powers and attributes. They were all very powerful in their own
right and even without leaving the heavens, they saw and heard
everything.

Sitting on their thrones; each
wore a crown made of their signature stone and colour. A long
magical trident stood upright to the left of each throne emitting a
bright light in all the beautiful colours of the rainbow. The light
from each trident rose high up and together formed a large orbital
sphere through which everything that happened on the earth and in
the Abyss could be seen by the gods.’

Oscar paused and looked at
Cezar.

‘
During those
times all the gods stood united as one. They were united in spirit
as they were in action but of all the gods, two stood out the most,
these were Diagus and Zedia.’

‘
Our goddess
Zedia?’ Cezar asked.

Oscar nodded. ‘Diagus the god
of war, whose power is thunder and lightning. He is the most
wicked, unforgiving and hateful of all the gods. His eyes are black
with yellow pupils and whenever he is angry they turned purple.

The goddess Zedia is the
complete opposite of Diagus, She is the goddess the peace. She is
kind, peaceful and always full of Joy. She never gets angry and her
blue green eyes shine with love and affection.’

‘
Why were
they the most important gods?’

‘
Because both
these gods were the stabilizing force of all the other gods; their
powers balanced out each other’s and kept the heavens, earth and
abyss stable.’

‘
I see’
replied Cezar.

‘
Now the
second plane in the world was the earth.’

‘
Is that
where we live?’

‘
Yes,’
replied Oscar. The earth comprised of air, water, and land and was
inhabited by humans, birds, animals, reptiles, fishes and all
living things. Some parts of earth were warm, hot and sunny but
there were other parts which were dark, empty, cold and
frightening. All types of humans inhabited the earth; and though
they lived closed to each other, most spoke in separate
tongues.

‘
Now the
third and final plane of the world was the Abyss.’

‘
That’s where
the goddess Zedia is imprisoned isn’t it?’ Cezar asked.

‘
Correct my
son,’ replied Oscar. The abyss is a dreadful, evil place which
reaches into the depth of the world. Everywhere in the abyss is
pitch dark and there is always the most dreadful sounds you can
think of. It is inhabited by dark, wicked creatures, demons and
evil shadows which take delight and pleasure in creating all manner
of suffering and pain. No earthling has ever travelled to the abyss
and successfully returned; you will be the first.’

There was quiet as Cezar
thought about the information his father had just given him about
the abyss but his father wasn’t finished.

‘
And so it
was that the gods continued to watch over the earth and the abyss.
They ruled as they had done since creation, punishing those who
erred and rewarding as they saw fit.

Then one fine day, our goddess
Zedia decided to leave the upper plane and instead of residing with
the gods in the heavens, she chose to create her own land on earth
and live with humans.’

‘
Really?
Asked Cezar

‘
Yes my son,
Oscar replied. But this decision had very serious consequences. You
see, it meant that Zedia could never again return to the heavens
and live with the other gods.

‘
What about
the balance of the force of the gods,’ Cezar asked.

‘
Patience my
son, I was coming to that. Zedia decision also meant a replacement
had to be found to bring about balance in the power of the gods.
The gods were not happy with Zedia’s decision and they asked her to
reconsider, but she remained adamant that she wanted to create her
own land that would be filled with peace, joy and love. Finally,
the gods agreed that she could leave the heavens and Nadya, the
goddess of hope was chosen to take Zedia’s place in balancing the
force of the gods in the heavens.’

‘
Did that
work? Cezar asked. Was Nadya able to balance the force of the
gods?’

‘
No one knows
for sure, but it is rumoured that since Zedia left the heaven
nothing has been the same there.’

Cezar sat pensively thinking
about what Oscar had said.

‘
The first
thing Zedia did when she came to live on earth was to create her
own land which she named Ocracidia,’ Oscar continued.

‘
That’s us!’
Cezar said excitedly.

Oscar raised a hand to quieten
Cezar. ‘In this land, Zedia put every beautiful thing that ever
existed in both the heavens and the earth. From Precious stones
that dazzled night and day; beautiful winged spirits that sang like
cherubs; fairies that danced all day long, brightly coloured
dragonflies, dazzling butterflies, to every beautiful thing that
anyone could ever think of.

She created blue green sands to
separate Ocracidia from the rest of earth, then she formed a temple
for herself upon the shores of Ocracidia which stood tall, high,
erect and pleasing to the eyes.

Zedia decorated Ocracidia with
the most beautiful flowers that had ever been created. She planted
trees that bore the tastiest, juicy and mouth-watering fruits and
then she set up a magical fountain to water the trees. The fountain
was stationed right in the centre of Ocracidia; it ran into all the
nooks and corners of the land. It watered the fields, filled the
lake, rivers and seas and brought joy and happiness to everything
that drank from it. The fountain flourished the land of Ocracidia
with life.

Zedia handpicked the most
beautiful, gorgeous and breath-taking animals from all over the
earth and put them to inhabit the land of Ocracidia.

Finally, she filled Ocracidia
with the kindest and most beautiful people in all the world but not
before she breath into them, a special kind of spirit; the Spirit
of love, peace and joy that came from her own heart and soul.

Thus, Ocracidia became the most
sacred, blessed and beautiful land in the whole of the earth; and
every living thing that was in the land of Ocracidia,
flourished.’

Oscar got up and poured himself
some Ocracidia juice. Cezar watched his father’s every move until
his father sat back down beside him.

‘
Now where
was I?’ Oscar asked.

‘
you said
everything in Ocracidia flourished under Zedia.’

‘
Yes! The
land of Ocracidia was full of tantalizing life under the blessing
and spirit of Zedia. But the gods were unhappy that Zedia had
deserted the heavens and come to live with humans; some were
unhappy that she had created a land different to the rest of the
earth and had given the people of Ocracidia love and peace and joy
which was a god’s characteristic; other were upset because she had
been allowed to leave the heavens.

The most bitter of the gods was
Diagus, the god of war. He had fallen in love with Zedia, since he
first set eyes on her and he wanted her hand in marriage. So, when
Zedia left the heavens; Diagus swore that he would destroy
Ocracidia because in his heart he felt that the people of Ocracidia
had stolen the love of his life.

But Diagus was not in a rush to
punish Zedia; he waited patiently until the opportunity came to
unleash his evil plan of destruction upon the land of
Ocracidia.’

Chapter 4– Deception

‘
A thousand
years passed after Zedia had left the heavens to inhabit the earth
and things in the heavens were returning to what they were before
Zedia left. Everyone had come to accept that Zedia now lived with
humans on earth that is everyone except Diagus who was now ready to
put his plan of revenge into play.

He sent a message to Zedia;
asking if he may visit Ocracidia to see the good things that she
had accomplished on earth. Knowing that Zedia favourite flowers
were purple and white Orchids, Diagus sent along with his message
the most exotic, beautiful and heavenly purple and white Orchids
there ever was.’

Cezar’s hand instinctively went
to this pocket, he felt the Purple and white orchid he had picked
up when he had met Zedia outside the temple a few days ago but he
said nothing.

Oscar continued, Zedia was
immediately won over and being the kind and peaceful soul that she
was and welcomed Diagus into Ocracidia.

Diagus brought along with him
the most evil and ferocious soldiers and upon setting foot on the
shores of Ocracidia declared war on Zedia and her people. Zedia
realised she had been deceived but it was much too late for her to
fight Diagus.

Diagus took her captive and
imprisoned her in the land of Goreloth; a dark, evil, land, formed
deep within the abyss. He locked Zedia in the darkest dungeon and
hid the key in the belly of the evil beast of Goreloth.