The Guardians' Pendants (The Zor Chronicles Part I)

The Zor
Chronicles

The Guardians’
Pendants

A.Elford

Smashwords
Edition

Copyright 2013 A. Elford

Here we stand, assembled for
the telling of a chapter in the Chronicles of the great
Zor.

Long ago, this land
which we now call our home - the glorious islands of Paradius -
stood in the shadow of untold desolation and destruction. This
represented the darker side of our nature - of war and, ultimately,
of annihilation. In the wake of these catastrophes, legend has it
that five mighty Gods descended upon this land, and allowed for new
life to cover these shadows. Paradius was created, and with it came
our people, the Zor; spread out onto these Five Islands, yet
connected by the same ever-crossing paths, all heading in the same
direction: To Infinity Together, Guided by the
Gods.

Listen, now, to their
story.

Prologue

High in the mountains
was where the night was at its stillest. There was hardly a sound
to penetrate the perpetual silence, save for perhaps the cries of a
disturbed family of Firebats or the distressed cry of a lost wolf –
and even those were quite rare. It was, in its truest of forms,
silence, night after night.

Until one night, when
the silence was abruptly broken.

It pulled the Wise Zor
from his slumber almost instantly. He rose from his makeshift bed
in the corner and blinked about frantically, attempting to gain
some sense of direction as he gazed aimlessly through the incessant
darkness.

“Who’s there?” he
begged suddenly, seeking the source of the approaching footsteps.
He wondered if the cause might have been the potential restlessness
of his Firewolf, but dismissed the thought upon finding her
sleeping soundly beside him, unfazed by the mysterious
intruder.

“Fear not, brother; it
is only I,” came a familiar voice.

The Wise Zor quickly
lowered his guard and breathed a sigh of relief as the familiar
figure stepped out from around the corner, a torch burning in his
hand. His tall stature towered over that of the Wise Zor. His face
was concealed by the hood of his cloak, hanging low as to conceal
his identity.

“I was not expecting
you here tonight,” remarked the Wise Zor. “I do hope it is with
good news that you have come.”

The cloaked figure said
nothing.

The Wise Zor lowered
his eyes towards the ground below. “I figured as much,” he lamented
with a disappointed sigh.

“It was wise of you to
have remained here,” remarked the cloaked figure. “I should have
expected you to have left by now – perhaps descended into the
Village or have done something of the sort to spread the news of
what is happening-”

“And risk being
killed?” interrupted the wise one. He shook his head. “My days as a
risk-taker are long behind me, brother; you know that well
enough.”

The cloaked Zor
hesitated. “I surmise mine shall be off to join yours soon as well,
wherever they have gone,” he replied vaguely. “And I suppose that
speaks enough as for my purpose here tonight.”

The Wise Zor merely
nodded, though he appeared hesitant to act all the same. “Are you
certain that it is time?” he asked with uncertainty. “And, most
importantly, are you certain that it is
them
?”

The cloaked Zor nodded.
“Without a doubt, brother,” he replied with
confidence.

At that, the Wise one
licked his lips and breathed deeply. “Very well, then,” he
answered. He took this as a cue to retreat to the back of the room,
squinting through the darkness as he searched for the object he
desired. Finally, he reached down to his feet, picking up a box no
larger than both of his hands. He brought it towards the cloaked
figure now, holding it out before him. With one hand, he opened the
lid, revealing the box’s contents.

“Keep them safe,
brother,” the Wise one warned. “Let the Gods guide you
tonight.”

With nothing more than
an acknowledging nod, the tall Zor claimed the box and its contents
and disappeared into the night.

Chapter I – The
Glowing Stone

One more strike, Ikani
figured.

He hardly needed to
think about it anymore as he readied his pickaxe and struck the bed
of rock before him. It had been a long day within a long week, and
that within itself was but a fragment of time within a long six
years of mining iron ore. By now, it was second
nature.

Perhaps, Ikani mused as
he freed a chunk of ore from the wall, it could almost be
considered first nature. After all, the mining life was the only
life that Ikani knew.

Wiping his brow and
removing his safety goggles, Ikani gathered up all of his hard work
and added it to the barrel strapped to his back, carrying it off
towards the processing station to be filtered.

As he treaded through
the mines, Ikani glanced around at all of the other Zor who were
also hard at work around him. For them, excavating iron ore in the
mines of Af’One was all for which they lived. They took pride in
their work; strived for great things. But above all, they
contributed their part in the great work system that traversed the
entirety of Paradius.

Certainly, Ikani was no
different. As with all others, he worked with pride – more than
enough pride, luckily, to make up for what he lacked in other
departments. By no means was Ikani disobedient, but he was of the
curious type for certain.

“Had enough of smashing
rocks for today, Ikani?” came a voice to his right.

It was Niru, a fellow
miner and a close friend of Ikani’s. It had not been long before
his own arrival that Niru had come to the mines of Af’One to begin
his career as an excavator as well.

“I
would think that this would speak for itself,” Ikani replied
cheekily, flaunting the full barrel on his back. “What have
you
been doing today, Niru?”

The other Zor chuckled.
“Oh, you know; keeping on good terms with the Gods by working
hard,” he replied. “And doing a little exploring too, of course.”
Niru added.

Ikani hesitated,
continuing on his way to the processing station. Niru
followed.

“Find anything good?”
Ikani finally asked, his curiosity taking over.

Niru nodded. “I was
working down in sector 13,” he began, “and beyond the main tunnels,
there’s this giant underground chasm. It’s scary, really, if you’re
looking down into it. But it’s
amazing
.”

Ikani said
nothing.

“Come on!” Niru
exclaimed, grabbing Ikani by the arm.

“Hey!” he protested,
annoyed. “I need to bring this load to the processing
station.”

“Then you’ll come, right?” Niru begged immaturely.

Ikani rolled his eyes.
“Fine, I’ll go with you. But if we’re caught…”

“We
won’t
be caught!” Niru reassured.

“If we are, then you’re
doing both of our jobs when we’re demoted to processing,” warned
Ikani.

After delivering his
load of iron ore, Ikani set off with Niru towards sector 13. The
tunnels of the mines wound in all directions, cutting off into
various sub-tunnels in such a sporadic manner that only the Zor One
could seem to navigate efficiently. They were, after all, miners by
nature, save for those who worked the steel factories above
them.

Lighting in the tunnels
began to grow scarcer and more scattered about as the two Zor
ventured deeper into the tunnels.

“Are
you sure we’re even
allowed
to be this deep into
the tunnels?” Ikani asked, concern overshadowing his curiosity.
“Regardless of our intentions?”

“Relax,” Niru urged nonchalantly, “we
built
these tunnels! Why shouldn’t we be allowed to explore
them?”

“Oh I don’t know; maybe
because of giant chasms in the ground, according to you,” Ikani
retorted sarcastically, turning on his headlamp as all other
sources of light had officially disappeared behind them. Niru did
the same.

They had arrived now at
the opening of the cavern that Niru had spoken of. As they advanced
inside, Ikani began to watch his footing obsessively, fearing the
nearing edge of the chasm below.

“These chasms are
everywhere,” Niru began. “I’ve seen a few before. Rumor has it that
a long time ago, an old head of the mining industry wanted to
expand the mines even deeper into the ground.”

“What happened?” Ikani
asked.

“They eventually
reached a point where they couldn’t dig any deeper,” replied Niru.
“They hit something completely solid that they couldn’t pass
through, apparently.”

Ikani’s attention was
suddenly stolen by a feint glowing that penetrated the darkness
around them. He searched through the darkness with his headlamp,
his eyes finally landing upon the source of the light. A stone – no
larger than the palm of his hand – lay on the edge of the chasm in
the distance, glowing bright blue.

“What is
that
?” Ikani
asked.

Niru turned towards the
source of Ikani’s fascination.

“Amazing,” he breathed.
“What do you suppose it is?”

“I don’t know,” replied
Ikani simply, turning to Niru and giving him a light shove. “I saw
it first, though.”

“Wha – hey!” Niru
protested. “I wasn’t saying anything!”

Ikani approached the stone
now, kneeling at the edge of the chasm and attempting to reach the
ledge where it lay. Edging further forward, he felt his hand clasp
around the stone. However, it was accompanied by an uneasy lurching
sensation as he lost his balance, falling forward.

“Hold up!” Niru cried,
grabbing hold of Ikani’s hand just in time to stop him from going
over.

“Hold up indeed,” came a
voice.

Both of their heads shot
towards the left as a member of Mining Security advanced towards
them through the darkness, lantern in hand. Ikani quickly pocketed
the stone and stood still.

“Slacking off again, Niru?”
the guard questioned, shaking his head in disapproval. His
attention then turned to Ikani. “And I see you’ve brought a friend
this time.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” replied
Niru calmly. “It wasn’t Ikani’s fault; I forced him to come with
me, I -”

“I expect better from both
of you tomorrow,” warned the guard, eyeing them both strictly. “I
will see to it that you will work the next week in processing.
Hopefully a week of mind-numbing filtering will teach you both to
stay focused on your jobs.”

Ikani glared at Niru. The
latter chuckled nervously, trying to downplay things, though it was
clearly not working.

“Now, if you’ll both follow
me,” the guard stated. “The miner’s shift has ended for the day.
You are free to go once we return. But it’ll be quick to the
processing station tomorrow morning!”

***

With Niru having left
shortly before him, Ikani took the elevator up to the village
alone.

“Damn you, Niru,” he
muttered under his breath. “He’ll pay for that.”

Suddenly, he was reminded
of the stone that still rested in his pocket. He felt for it,
pulling it out and examining the curious artifact. His eyes widened
in surprise when he noticed the chain that extended from its
glowing surface, making it not simply a stone but rather a pendant
of sorts.