Mel-De-Har

he sound of a terrible crash startled everyone in Grandfather Dorin's tent. Gryz jumped up and gripped the flap at the entrance, his eyes scanning first the ground and then the sky. Pana, his baby sister, worked her way under his arm and hid herself in her brother's green robes. She saw Gryz's eyes grow narrow as he stared outside and up into the clouds. His beak parted, and he started to speak, but the words didn't come.

"What is it, brother?" Pana asked.

Gryz shook his head. "I have no idea." He stepped outside and stood in the clearing in front of Dorin's tent. Pana still held to him tightly, afraid to look up and see what was waiting there. She could hear the other villagers of Tonoe running about, screaming and shouting at each other. At last her curiosity overcame her fear and she peeked, for just a second. But what she saw baffled her, and she had to look again. She stepped away from Gryz and turned her face upwards, a small blue hand shielding her eyes from the sun.

She saw the clouds turn from white to gray, and then to black. They swirled about in a menacing dance, as if they were about to give life to a cyclone. But instead they shot straight downwards, towards the ground in a perfect column, and disappeared behind the mountains to the northwest. In the sky, more black clouds joined the column and descended, swirling as they did so, as if the sky itself was bleeding from a terrible wound. A loud roar could be heared coming from the other side of the mountains. It was a sickening sound, like bones breaking, or a world being ripped apart.

"It has to be Dark Force," Gryz said, shaking his head. "Chaz and those guys had better get back here quick!"

"Gryz..."

Gryz and Pana turned around and saw Grandfather Dorin standing in the opening of the tent, clutching a walking stick. He was staring down at the ground with a furrowed brow. His hands roamed anxiously over the end of his wooden staff.

"What is it, Grandfather?" Gryz asked.

Dorin stood still for a moment longer before taking a deep breath and nodding. "There is something I have to give to you."

Gryz looked back at the terrible column of falling black clouds. "I don't think this is the time to give presents," he said. "I have to go find Hahn, and Demi, too. We're the only ones here who have any chance of stopping that whatever-it-is!"

"I know that," Dorin said. "But an ordinary axe like the one you carry would shatter if used against whatever is causing that storm."

"You think?" Gryz asked, lifting his axe and looking at it. For a moment the sunlight glittered on the axe's face, but then it disappeared as the last of the sunlight was hidden by the ominous clouds. Gryz looked up and saw that the darkness was covering more and more of the blue sky with every second.

"We must hurry!" Dorin said, grabbing Gryz by the shoulder. "Follow me." Dorin began to walk towards the back of the village, and the tent that housed the village basement. Gryz obediently followed. Pana stood where she was, transfixed by the spectacle in the heavens.

Once inside the rear tent, Dorin tried to open the old door that led to the cellar, but it was stuck. "Damn," he said.

Gryz had to smile. "There's a trick to it," he said. He stepped forward, jiggled the handle, and the door flew open.

"Thank you," Dorin said. He followed the steps down into the dark and musty basement. He waited at the bottom of the steps for Gryz, looking about for monsters.

"Grandfather, I don't have time to go foraging around in here!" Gryz cried, taking a half-step back so as to avoid a trio of rats as they scurried past.

Dorin shook his head. "Don't you think I know that?" he asked. "What I have to give you..." Dorin faced the rocky wall of the basement entrance and pressed his hands into an indentation in the wall. As he did so, a large square slab in the basement floor slid away, revealing another staircase leading to an even lower level. "...is right here."

"Wow," Gryz said.

Dorin smiled and followed the stairs down, motioning for Gryz to follow.

They found themselves in a dark hallway lit only by the faint glow of some phosphorous growth on the walls. Gryz had to hold onto Dorin's cape like a child to keep from losing his way. The hallway sloped downwards gradually and eventually it opened up into a small round chamber, at the center of which stood a statue of a Palman man, hewn from plain gray rock. He was bathed in a warm, yellow-white light that seemed to come from nowhere in particular. Gryz looked up, trying to find the source of the illumination, but the chamber's ceiling and the origin of the light were both concealed in shadow far, far above.

"What do you think of him?" Dorin asked. He stood in front of the statue and looked up into its stone face.

Gryz joined him. "This is really something," he said. "I never would have guessed something like this could be below Tonoe. Just look at this statue!"

"Awfully realistic, isn't it?"

Gryz nodded emphatically. "Yeah! It almost looks alive. Did you carve it?"

Dorin laughed. "Oh no. This has been here a whole lot longer than I have."

Gryz looked at Dorin. "How long?"

Dorin shrugged. "A few thousand years." He walked around the statue and looked at it from all angles.

"So who carved it?" Gryz asked.

"It's a mystery," Dorin said. "Some think it must have been made by whoever did that beautiful statue of Alis Landale in Termi. If so, this was definitely the mason's better work. But, I happen to believe our oldest legend about the statue, which says that it is actually not a statue at all, but a man who was turned into stone."

"Wow!" Gryz shouted. "Really? Who was he?"

"His name was Odin. He was a brave adventurer who fought beside Alis Landale against Lassic, an old king of Parma who had been very cruel to our people. Odin had been turned to stone once before, by a creature with a petrifying gaze, but Alis revived him with Alshline. If the legend is to be believed, Odin went monster hunting again after Lassic's defeat. Only the Great Spirit knows how he ended up like this...or how he ended up here." Dorin stepped back into view and pointed at the axe that the man held in his hands. "You must take Odin's axe. It is the only weapon that will help you against the terrible evil you are surely about to face."

"What?" Gryz said. He stepped closer. "Isn't the axe a part of the statue...? Oh...! You're right..."

Gryz's blue fingers gently touched the double-bladed head of the axe. He could see his beaked form reflected in its mirror-like face. There were words carved on the blade, but they were written in a language that Gryz did not recognize. The weapon was silver and yet more than silver. Even the axe's handle was strange. It was semi-transparent, almost like it was made out of frosted glass. Gryz noticed that the light filling the chamber was especially bright around the axe. His beak fell open as he realized that the light filling the room was coming out of the axe blade itself.

"What in the world is this thing made out of?" he asked.

"Laconia," Dorin said proudly. "The strongest and most durable metal ever known to exist. I'm sure there are also a few enchantments cast upon the axe, too, of course..."

"I've never seen real Laconia before."

"Of course not. It only exists on Dezolis, which is surely proof of just how ancient, and just how special, this weapon is."

Carefully, almost reverently, Gryz slipped the Laconian Axe out of Odin's hands. Was it just his imagination, or did the granite titan's fingers quiver as they felt the axe's handle slip away?

Don't worry, Gryz thought to himself as he stared up into Odin's face. You look sad. But I'll take good care of your treasure, I promise! And I promise I'll bring it back to you, too.

Dorin nodded. "You approve of this weapon?"

"Do I ever!" Gryz shouted. He handed his old axe to Dorin and then began to swing his new weapon about. "Wow! I've never had a weapon like this. It's light, but... You can really feel its power! I guess they don't make them like they used to, huh?"

Dorin chuckled. "It would appear not. Now, come. I have a feeling that two friends have just arrived to see you..."

Gryz nodded and started to march back down the tunnel. As he did so the light from the axe went with him, slowly lighting the hallway while casting the statue's chamber into shadow. Dorin turned to follow Gryz, but then stopped. Smiling, he pulled a small vial of purple liquid from his belt. Alshline. Quickly, before the light faded completely, he walked back over to the statue and poured the rare medicine on Odin's eyes, and his ears and mouth. And on the worn, cracked hands that suddenly looked very lost and awkward.

"Nothing happened," Dorin muttered. "Perhaps... Perhaps if Odin has been in this state for many centuries it would take longer for the Alshline to work than it normally does. Yes, so many cracks and pores for the medicine to permeate, all the way down through all of that stone into Odin's heart. How long must it take for the Alshline to enter his frozen blood, and warm it back into life? Or maybe, Odin, you really are just a statue. Or maybe you simply prefer yourself this way, eh?"

Dorin smiled and followed after Gryz. As he entered the stone hallway he looked over his shoulder at the statue, and he remembered the words emblazoned on the warrior's axe in a long-dead tongue.

HE WHO HOLDS ME HOLDS THE FUTURE

Indeed, Dorin thought. I suppose that to you, Odin, we are the future. Yes, it's been a very long time for you, hasn't it? A long time of being cold and lonely. But I'm sure that it will all be made worth it, now. Your sacrifice, your waiting... Dorin smiled. Gryz will do you proud. That much I know. Oh, I cannot wait for you to meet him!

Fin.