Knight in the Forest of the Pons

(Journey to the Syndrome)

By Joshua Heights

CHAPTER ONE

                        Attack of the Moon Eaters

Dusk crawled over the Kingdom , while a gibbous moon gave rise to a new night, not just any night you see , but one full of evil and of horror and of blood and slaughter. Snow was falling in a furious fashion against a sky raven black, with leprous grey clouds blanketed about, above them sporadic flashes of silver, silently burst as well as a frightening sound off in the distance that hummed like the tires of a roaming Hearse. Being, that the sound drew closer and closer its frightfulness turned into dreadfulness. A very distinct drone it was, one in which caused the hearts of the many warrior knights scattered along the frozen pallid forest floor to pound in their throats. Moon Eaters! dozens of them, were racing towards the Kingdome of Sperenza, their enormous wings beating the air, causing a reverberation resembling echoing explosions, as sparks erupted from there nostrils all the while groaning that sound , a deep haunting  bellow, equal to one million cellos being bowed in a double octave note of e, over and over and over , steadily . Moon Eater dragons live in nodes located in celestial spheres, that when the moon is tilted on the plane of the ecliptic it has an inclination of about five degrees. As the Sun orbits on its own ecliptic and the moon in its own orbit is inclined on the ecliptic and the two heavenly bodies line up with one more body, Earth, an eclipse is formed, unlocking the gates of the nodes thus releasing the Moon Eaters to feed . The delicacy which has the Dragons in such a feeding fury is the pure untainted blood of the young virgins that live in the Kingdome, but in order to infiltrate the Kingdome and feast on its virgins the moon eaters must first drink from Lake Chandra. A mysterious lake, hidden deep within the forest, The Warrior Knights knowing of this ritual wait in silence, armed to the teeth seated on horseback, hidden behind monstrous snowcapped trees and like crouching panthers with heated breath about to attack they surround the perimeter of the biting ice-covered lake in the offing to unleash their wrath upon the intruding beast. The waters of Lake Chandra are believed to be the many tears cried by the queen of the moon eaters (Chandra) who was captured, tortured by starvation and destroyed by a legendary warrior knight known as Dima, many many years ago. His legacy lives on through his only great grandson (Nassor) leader of the warrior knights of Sperenza and father to a special little girl named Lily. Nassor, a brave Knight in his own rite , gives the order to his legion of fellow warriors to be on the ready by raising his awe inspiring scimitar shaped sword as he is seated upon his intimidating black stallion, while in the midst of his armor shinning in a moon beam with force. Now, at the same time, Rahu, leader of the dragons draws closer to earth, racing down in a chariot of darkness drawn by eight flying black horses with his fearless flock soaring like fighter jets on the warpath behind him. The gang of Moon Eater dragons seize the forest floor like a meteorite crashing to the ground and circle Lake Chandra. Rahu knows the warrior knights lie in wait, ready to attack, and he searches his surroundings for any movement within the trees, just with his ill willed red glowing eyes and does not see anything. But he knows, with all his cold, calculated blood he and his beastly brothers are being hunted. For this is not Rahu's first time at the legendary lake, the same lake his Grandmother, queen of the Moon Eaters was destroyed. With a long horrifying roar and four short grunts, in a language only dragons understand Rahu gives the order to his militia of monsters to drink from the ice covered lake and give respects to their fallen queen. At this point, the dragons lap at the ice with their hot forked tongues causing a velvet like vapor to form above the languid lake. As the chilled water flowed down the dragons throats it placed those moon eaters in a spell, making them unaware of anything, for only but twenty seconds, but enough time for Nassor and his choked with anxiety warrior knights to wallop those abominable aliens. Next and all at once, with earthquake like effects the Warrior Knights charge, their armor ringing and banging and in a unnerving unison, shout the words,  Kill ‘EM All ! KILL ‘EM ALL. Pandemonium detonated as the warrior knights emerged out of the darkness, on horseback they stormed and in the heart of thundering gallops, wild snorts and noble neighs announcing the attack, mighty halberds slashed at dragon skin and fiery arrows sailed through the snowy black night while many beams of red light  penetrated through that velvet like haze that coated the lake. These were beams from lethal lasers shot from warrior knights carrying Solid State Ray Cannons (SSRC) that could obliterate steel and rock, but could only break through the first three layers of 7 of the thick protective skins of a moon eater dragon. It took multiple shots from a single SSRC to even slow a charging Moon Eater, but the warriors, experienced in many battles with dragons have uncovered that the beams of two SSRC cannons fixated on an opening of skin where scales were missing for only three seconds would destroy its target transforming it into thousands of many blood-spattered pieces .  Laser beams ricochet throughout the battlefield, slicing the air like a scalpel. Several Moon Eater dragons where struck down dead by the sneak attack but after the effects of their enchanting drink wore off the slaughter fest was a on. Dragons leaped into the sky in an aerial attack spitting fire bolts from their mouths down onto the forest, burning Knights and the armor they wore into a mangle of stinking flesh and melted metal their painful screams like the howling of vampires burned in a sunrise.. Arrows made of sleek steel with grenade tips rocketed from rapid nitro crossbows, shrieked towards their targets. Some where a direct hit causing the victimized moon eater to implode, hurling guts, brains and all sorts of massacred innards into the action packed death theater. Every where one on one brawls between Moon Eater and Warrior was taking place, reminiscent of a demonic ballet choreographed by 666 himself. The exchange of rage was so evilly beautiful. Fighting tactics of the sword wheeling warrior knight were as elegant as the Samurai and the poetic fury of the moon eater dragon like a great white shark zeroing in on its prey, would snap its tail like a whip with dead on accuracy flinging knights like toys into the trunks of giant oaks bashing their bodies to smithereens. The snow covered forest floor blushed red with the blood from enemy and avenger, as nothing could stand in the way of either sides mission. Hell bent on eating virgins under the silvery moon, dragons escalated their fury, while at the same time Knights , like battle maniacs let loose a wrath of their own as the killing was  done with eagerness and passion from both animal and man. No end was in sight, in fact the attack of the moon eaters was a epic battle that had only one ending for victory. While the fierce skirmish between Knight and dragon continued and losses on each side mounted, Rahu sat on the edge of a cliff with a fixed stare at Nassor, who, on the other side and with a defiant stare of his own looked back was seated proudly on his intimidating black stallion , its mane flowing in wind, just like his masters crimson colored cape . Clouds glided passed the full moon letting its shimmering radiance shine down onto the duel of death stares, Nassor's armor glistened and flashed as Rahu's black sleek body and wings had an afterglow about them. They both understood what had to be done, they both understood the code. The fearless leaders gave their surviving soldiers a signal to cease the encounter and as Rahu stood high on his long human like hind legs and bat like wings spread wide, he growled , groaned and shot fire from his mouth , aiming at the stratosphere Nassor’s stallion raised high on his hind legs neighing like an angry demon while Nassor heaved up his mighty sword to the heavens forcing a rumble of thunder to roll over the forest . The murderous song and dance rapidly ended and as dragon and warrior lifted their heads to their leaders above them the forest went silent. All eyes were focused keenly on Rahu and Nassor, every single beast and man knew what was going to take place, that one of them would be sacrificed. If a knight is to perish, then the moon eaters advance to their long awaited meal, and if a dragon dies the moon eaters must retreat back to their nodes in the celestial spheres where some will succumb to starvation while the others wait for the next eclipse to fight the good fight once again. The one to make that decision, would be the keeper of lake Chandra, a sea monster named Chronic who lives deep within the murky waters of the lake . Chronics sole purpose is to decide the outcome of each and every battle fought between Knight and Moon Eater and to protect the sanctity of the lake. All wait, silence is rampant, so quiet in fact a hiss could be heard from the heavy mist that lays over the lake. Eye of dragon and of Knight slowly explore in dread who the sea monster will put to death . Without warning the forest floor begins to steadily shudder causing already anxious horses to trot over the moving earth. Both Rahu and Nassor stand proud, each on their cliffs as the ice over Lake Chandra begins to frantically crack and split . The wind that was calm began to wail, trees bent as though the very hand of God was upon them and the moon once far in the black sky now covered every square inch of the forest emitting an eerie electric blue glow . Evil was present and chills chased over both dragon and Knight , but as for Nassor who slowly shut the visor of his battle helmet and Rahu who dourly smiled revealing his saliva dripping fangs, their calmness was impressive , two warriors , with a mission simply waiting. Next, the shacking earth furiously rattled like a cornered snake, hail blasted from the heavens with jet like propulsion, while from beneath the water of lake Chandra a gargantuan skeleton like arm with just as an immense eagle like claw for a hand exploded out and up from the ice, and seemingly to have a mind of its own snatched Rahu , mighty leader of the moon eater dragons from off the cliff. Rahu struggled for his life and attempted to fight off the attack with all his fire breathing might just as the body attached to  gargantuan arm and claw climbed out of the water . Behold, the sea monster, Chronic has arrived and the adjudicator has invoked her deadly decision ,while holding Rahu like trophy for all to see she then crammed every bit of him into her alligator like mouth and chewed him up very very slowly , cracking and breaking every bone of the powerful dragon then swallowing him down to the abyss of her gangrenous stomach where Rahu will simply melt into a bubbly pus. And so, as fast as the attack commenced it ended, with the lake calming the winds subsiding and the silvery moon retreating far into the night sky .The attack of the moon eaters has ended , at least until the next eclipse . The surviving dragons tear back to their home in the nodes leaving the Warrior Knights victorious and the virgins of the Kingdome of Sperenza safe from harm. Nassor once again raises his mighty sword in the midst of a sunrise giving the order for his valiant army to march back to the kingdom With boldness they obeyed .Bodies of the dead were draped over their own horses leaving a trail of blood behind. Mounted warrior knights held large light blue flags with the kingdom of sperenzas crest proudly waving in the sunlight and as the battle exhausted army approached the gates of the kings castle they were greeted by many cheers from the grateful citizens who lined the cobblestone street in appreciation . As Nassor passed by the jeering crowd he saw his son standing with his fist over his heart and tears in his eyes and when the boy noticed his father a smile grew on his handsome face , but nowhere in sight was Nassor’s wife (Muriel) and his daughter Lily . Nassor rode gallantly through the black iron gates , his face stoic , but his insides quaking with worry about his daughters ill health.