The Resurrection

By Pooja Bhide

One girl. One Prophecy. One Enemy.

What if I told you that everything you think you are and everything your life is, is a lie. Half the forces on the planet have done everything to keep you alive and hidden until you come of age. The other half wants you dead. But come of age for what? Come of age for you to travel half way across the world with monsters at your heels and danger at every corner. You must leave your seemingly ordinary life to stop a war before it starts.

Luckily this never happened to you but it did happen to a young girl from a small hidden village coming from the most unknown part on this planet. Her name was Camelia Bristlebush. One starry night she was kidnapped from her little village by five creatures of another land that set her off on a dangerous quest that could not guarantee her survival. A prophecy hanged above their heads that promised death, betrayal and the end of all lives, if the girl and her friends could not unite the armies of the world to stop a once defeated enemy from resurrecting.

In the end will Camelia truly unleash the powers of the prophecys child and will it be enough to stop the enemys ever increasing army or will the tables turn against them to awaken doomsday and the mother of demons?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Aug 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543700732

Pooja Bhide

Pooja Bhide is an aspiring author who takes inspiration from the fantasy fiction authors Cassandra Clare and J.K Rowling. She has had first-hand experience with the editors of Times NIE and works as an editor for her school magazine. Her go-to place for curing her writer’s block is near nature and she enjoys a good cup of coffee and cookies. Her dream is to one day write at the standards of the authors she adores, even if it takes a lifetime.

Book preview

Prologue

I was named after my father’s pet lizard ‘Camelia’. She was his only friend during his long years at war. My father had been a war general who had died before I was born. He had a son when he was alive, my brother Ameryn, who was just 5 when it had happened. My brother, Ameryn, used to tease me about my name a lot. After losing my father, my mother had devoted her life to my brother and me. But all was not well for our family for at the age of 15 my brother died in a chariot accident. I could still picture the scene in my head. A chariot pulled by horses black as the night sky coming crashing towards us. My brother was right in their way and my mother’s warning was too late. The riders’ faces and bodies were covered and they fled the scene immediately. They were never seen or heard of again. I would never forget the day the village doctors could do no more and the body of my brother was lowered into the ground. The village heads came by offering their sympathies and help. My mother acted as if she had failed in life and how she had never been a good mother. Those were bad times for both of us. I was young at that time but old enough to remember his face, old enough to remember how it had happened.

Ameryn had always been distant towards me but often took the liberty to trouble me. We had a few memories together but I was often wary of him as his temper quickly changed around me. When he died it had seemed so unreal, as if the chariot had deliberately run him down.

Ever since then my mother had been very protective of me warning me never to trust anyone, go out at night and she even taught me how to defend myself if ever anything happened. At my brother’s funeral, she had hugged me hard and said, They will never take you from me. No one will ever hurt you. You are the most precious thing in my life now.

I had hugged her back assuring her that nothing would happen for me and nobody would take me away. I was too young to shoulder her grief.

Years passed after my brother’s death and the more time went by, the more he faded from my mind. My mother finally recovered from her shock and depression and we managed to survive on what food I brought back from the forest. I had learned hunting just a while after my brother had died. My mother had taught me, though why she refused to hunt herself I never understood. She had more skills than any man in our village. As I grew older I hoped things would finally go well for us and our lives would be normal but boy how wrong I was.

Chapter 1

It was a silent night. The grass was still, the crickets weren’t chirping and there was not a sound from the street dogs and yet I couldn’t sleep a wink. It was not because of sleeplessness but because of a constant twinge of pain at the side of my neck. For the past few months the birthmark that had been on my neck since I was born had itched and burned like a rash ever so often, sometimes mildly and sometimes as if a hot iron rod was touching my skin. My mother had used a tonic whenever this happened and right now I desperately needed it. She left the bottle downstairs always full for times when the pain was the worst. She explained that the pain was because a poisonous insect had bitten me there as an infant but I had been saved in time. I asked her often why it had not hurt before but each time she pursed her lips together and never answered.

I passed her room, careful to tip-toe, so the floorboards wouldn’t wake her. My neck itched and burned and I quickly emptied half the vile of dark blue liquid into my mouth, a feeling of immediate relief thrumming through my body. Still holding the vile I was just about to head back to my room to catch some sleep when suddenly I caught a glimpse of a large hand by the window. As I neared the window and peered out I heard the ruffle of leaves of the bush as fingers wrapped around my mouth and I was dragged out of the open window. The vile slipped from my hand, it’s glass pieces littering the floor and its contents spilling out. I yelled but my screams were muffled by the hand that covered my mouth and nobody heard me. I kicked hard and my foot connected with something that caused my captive to yell out. I heard a man’s voice say, Are you sure she is the right one?

Let’s knock her out. We’ll take her to the forest.

My fingers groped and clawed at the hand around my mouth and my eyes widened as the hand squeezed harder around my mouth.

I felt a very hard surface bang against my forehead and the last thing I saw was the night sky slowly making its way for the sun before I passed out cold.

It felt like some time had passed before I slowly fluttered my eyes open and saw five pairs of huge round eyes looking at me. In the background was a dense forest. I screamed but they covered my mouth.

My first captive said Shh! Quiet down, we are not going to hurt you.

My second captive said, We need your help.

Terrified, and with a pounding head and heart I pleaded, what do you want from me? I have nothing that will interest you. Please, please, take me back home.

I was dead scared and the first captive said, "We mean you no harm, we just need your help. My first instinct was to run but looking at the weapons they had, I thought against it. A long-sheathed sword adorned each of their hips and I gulped down a feeling of panic trying to compose myself.

I replied in defiance and more confidence than I felt, Sorry I can’t help you. If its money you want, I have none, so take me back home.

Hey kid, you shouldn’t be afraid, maybe you won’t understand now but you have to come with us because the world is in danger.

Well, it looks perfectly fine to me you kidnappers. Leave me alone and let me go home, I said.

Sheesh! the kid’s not cooperating. I swear I am going to break something, One said. I looked around hoping for somebody to come by, but the captives had taken me to the middle of nowhere.

From a distance, I heard the caw of crows. The kidnappers perked their ears up, and seemed to shiver for a second but I was not sure if I had just imagined it.

In their moment of distraction, I tried to make a run for it sprinting as fast as I could towards the forest, not sure where I was going. I thought I would make it just as a hand grabbed the back of my shirt pulling me back and causing me to fall to the ground. I tried screaming for help but it was pointless.

You are fast but not fast enough. We promise not to hurt you if you will listen.

I heard another loud caw as the crows got closer.

You are afraid of crows? I asked getting up, brushing the dirt off my clothes.

I had to think of another way to escape but not now. I would wait for nightfall and then make a run for it.

Those are not crows girl, those are vicious creatures that work for the hooded ones. They must not find you. They are Septrons.

The what? Look you guys are crazy. There is no way I am coming with you. Just leave me alone.

But the men seemed to be ignoring me as they listened for the echoing screeches of birds. I opened my mouth to say something but they shushed me crouching down into the bushes. The noises were getting louder and louder and before I knew it I was taken by the hand and dragged inside. We ran farther and farther and finally they thought it was safe to stop from whatever was supposedly behind us.

My rage reached its limits as I yelled, You don’t even tell me who you are, you drag me away from my village and then you say you need my help? If you are here to kill me then why haven’t you done so yet?

The men looked up to the skies once more and listened for noises. They were panting heavily. Then they seemed to relax. The tallest man finally answered my question,

We had never really thought this through on how to talk to you when we finally found you. The last thing we’d ever do was kill you for you are the key to everything we have gone through.

You are all crazy. You have got the wrong person. Let me go home. If you let me go I promise I won’t say a thing.

You won’t be going home. You were born for a reason Camelia. You must fulfill your destiny.

Woah! How do you know my name? Should I know you? Yes, but never mind, just learn to trust us. We are ‘Brelons’ from Epulari. Those names may not make sense to you now but they will soon. We need your help, not only us but our whole world and yours needs help. Lives are at stake and only you can save us.

I am not the one and save you from what? I am sure something you can’t handle will hardly be possible for me. I have never heard of you and neither have I heard of Septrons. Are you from a different planet?

Then one of the Brelons said, "Okay, now we are talking. Let’s start by saying there is a prophecy where a child born with the mark of a sun will defeat once and for all the evil that has threatened this world for far too long. Your human world knows nothing of the existence of such evil and we must keep it that way. But our world fights every day to keep evil at bay.

Our world is called Epulari and is shielded from human eyes. Here dwells our race. We were chosen to find you. Our names are, Renus, Dorin, Borper, Plonker and Quimby."

They waited for my reaction. But this seemed all too fake.

Reading my expression, the one named Dorin said, You must start believing, Camelia for you are about to be part of something that seems so fake to you right but is more real than the life that you have been leading.

Why are you doing this to me? Is this what you do, kidnap children and feed them with crazy lies about creatures that don’t exist and worlds across the sea? How do I even know if those are your real names? And what do you mean shielded from human eyes. If you are not humans then what are you? I asked with the tone as hard as ice.

We are not humans, we are Brelons. In theory, you shouldn’t be able to see us. But you can. Discovery of our kind by humans is punishable by death but in this case, we were ready to take many risks. The easiest way to prove to you that what we are saying is real is by showing you some magic but unfortunately that is not our specialty so instead let me ask you a question. Do any strange things just seem to happen around you? Did your parents ever try and keep you away from people or say strange things you never understood?

I recalled the incidents when objects had randomly caught fire around me and my mother used to quickly usher me away after dousing the flames or when the windows had shattered just as I entered the room. I had had endless dreams of a dark figures chasing me and shadows beckoning me towards them. My mother had given excuse after excuse trying to make me believe they were just accidents and I had believed every one of them.

My mother used to say they were just accidents or coincidences and……

Well, they weren’t Camelia. You have undiscovered power within you.

What kind of power?

Magic, Camelia, Magic!

Magic doesn’t exist.

A while ago Brelons were unheard of but now you know we are real. There is Magic all around you but there are very few who can harness that gift. We are hoping that in time you will be able to use magic too.

No way. That isn’t possible. It has to be somebody else.

It can’t be anybody else. You have a powerful aura around you. We can’t perform magic but we can surely sense it.

I thought they expected me to do something cool like lift a rock without touching it or fly or something but they made no such indication.

I was beginning to trust what they were saying for they were dead serious all the while. Quimby cleared his throat and lowered his muscular body onto the rock.

Come to think of it each of the Brelons looked different. Borper and Plonker seem to have a double chin and large muscular bodies and hair scraggly brown till their shoulders. They both carried large hammers which they seemed to hold with ease. Their eyes were fierce and warrior like and they were almost six feet tall. The others had similar builds except Renus. He looked the youngest and was lean and tall. He had strong arms and a serious look on his face. Quimby and Dorin looked like twins with hairy arms and legs and a blonde tinge to their hair. They each carried wide and sharp blades which looked old and well used. Only Dorin had a menacing looking bow and a quiver of arrows. They were small humanoids but I was sure they were stronger than they looked.

I decided to listen to them before making any rash decisions as Quimby began…

Aeons ago when good ruled over all evil, a Nymph named Nefratus of the land of Ethea made a foolish decision by plucking the fruits of healing which was against the law, to save her dying father. The fruits were sacred to the queen and never to be used by anyone against her will. The queen of Ethea was angered and turned Nefratus into an elm tree for her insolence. Nefratus had a pure soul so the gods gifted her tree with a single fruit that would emerge ages after her transformation and make Nefratus’s name immortal. The fruit finally came and was heard of, all through the world for its unique power to be able to get a single soul back from the dead. The power of the fruit spread far and wide and was heard by evil forces as well.

I asked, unable to withhold myself, Why would evil seek this fruit so badly? Who is this evil?

Be patient, I am getting to that, said Quimby.

That evil, his name is Zarodar and he is an ever-faithful servant of the for that was defeated to bring many many years of peace. This foul evil’s name is Capreschia. Her name brings fear to even the most powerful forces. She was defeated in the war even before our time. She is not dead but her body has been arrested in a state where her mind is inactive but there is still life. She will remain that way for eternity unless…

Zarodar gives her the fruit, I completed for him.

Under the ground of the Ringed mountain lies the body of Capreschia buried so it may never be resurrected again. Here he shall bring her back and if he succeeds in doing that, Capreschia shall once again destroy the known world and evil shall rise once more. But there still is a chance to save all that is good for a prophecy was heard from the skies.

I asked curiously still not understanding why I was related to all of this, What was this prophecy?

Quimby began as if he had narrated the prophecy a dozen times:

"The tree of Nefratus shall bear a fruit

which will only come once

And into the hands of evil it shall plunge.

A demon’s resurrection

Using the blood of the pure

Shall bring a curse to these free lands.

A dark power shall rise once more and

All happiness will become a blur

As the fruit is consumed, doom will befall on all

That hides behind nature’s wall

Death shall thrive once more

Unless a hero comes ashore

And gets the Nimbus blade from the sorcerer Sornain

And drives it through the monster’s heart

And rips through as she falls apart

And makes sure that never again a fruit is bore

And the trees branches are bare forever more

The hero shall be found by the chosen ones

They shall venture far and wide

A great betrayal lies ahead

She will have heaven’s gift at her side.

The mark of Dura adorns the skin

That will help her unite with her kin

She comes from the land of the rising tide

A land where soldiers were once bred

She shall venture to the dome without life

And free the world from evils grasp

Or perish along with the others

till there is no good to last"

A great betrayal? I questioned, The mark of Dura?

Quimby replied, Only time will reveal the betrayal. You must not worry yourself too much about that but as for ‘The mark of Dura’, Dura stands for the light giver or in your words ‘The sun’

And then it struck me as if I was hit by a bolt of lightning. I swept my hair past my shoulder and glanced at the perfect red sun shaped birthmark embedded on my neck. I touched it gently thinking how much it resembled what the prophecy said.

That is how we knew you had to be the right one. We saw your birthmark. Did your mother ever tell you about it?

Back home the scar used to burn almost every night. My mother gave me a tonic to ease the pain. She said it was from a poisonous insect that bit me as a kid whose effects would never go away

Humans always make excuses for things they don’t understand. It must be a sign or something.

So, I am the prophecy’s child? I asked dreading the answer,

Yes Camelia, we are sure of it, I would never have wished you to a quest that cannot guarantee your survival. But this was never in our hands.

What if I choose not to come with you. What if I won’t fight for you?

Sooner or later dark forces will find you if you return to your village. Don’t think that Zarodar will let you be. He too has heard of the prophecy and will stop at nothing to find you and kill you. You will put your whole village at risk if you don’t come with us.

"I have to understand more about this prophecy before coming with you.

Where are the Ringed Mountain? What is the Nimbus blade? Has Zarodar already managed to get the fruit? And what chance do you think I stand against an almighty wizard?

"Everything will be explained if you agree to come with us. You may never see your village again and there are huge risks ahead but this is for the greater good. The Septrons are on our heels and if we don’t get moving then this would all be for nothing.

Finally, I made the stupidest mistake of my life. I went with them ……

Chapter 2

So how did you know I was here?

Borper said, "That’s because the prophecy pointed us towards you. Your village has a vast history. Although it does not have any shores nearby, an old kingdom used to stand there. That kingdom had a vast army of many brave warriors who fought in the Great battle of black Mountain when Capreschia was finally defeated and evil was subdued. Because this land brought together the remaining kingdoms and the tide of brave warriors left in the world, it became known as…

The land of the rising tides, I completed. I was well versed