CHAPTER 3

[Zabutur]

(end of page 14 and most of page 15)
CHAPTER 3: INTO THE CLAZMAR WORLD
Tera grew until she was 14. By now, her strength succeeded the combined might of both Kemet the god and Artemis the titan. She was now 3 feet and 1½ inches tall and had considerable-sized hands and feet in proportion to her body, and her hair went about a foot below her ankle. She had considered cutting it, but she did not. There was without a doubt some sort of magic in her hair, but what it was or where it came from was still a mystery. However, things were not always as they seemed.
All of the titans were gone, and she was trying to remember what had just happened. Soon after she had left the Temple of the Titans, she had seen what looked like one of the titans, and then she had been hit by some type of curse that had erased much of her memory. She forgot who she was, whom she had been raised with, what she was, and where she was from. She had been wandering aimlessly through Krawvill for 3 days, and was feeling very faint. She trudged along, dragging her feet with every step. Then she stopped. Slowly, her head began bobbing back and forth, and she fell to her knees. She continued swaying back and forth in the same manner until she fell to her hands. Then her knees gave way; and her arms, weakened so much due to fatigue, were unable to support her, and she fell forward on her face. Her arms straightened in attempt to raise the body up, but failed. Tera crashed onto her face again and remembered no more…
**********************************

~Z~

[Zabutur]

(page 15)
“Hey, do you think she is dead?”
“Don’t be stupid, Novembre, of course she’s not. What do you think her name is?”
“It certainly isn’t Decembre, so don’t get your hopes high.”
“You don’t know that! Do you have any guesses on where she’s from?”
“I bet it’s probably somewhere down south by the Zabutur haven.”
“SHH… she’s waking up. You should ask her.”
Tera stirred. “Where am I?” she asked. She was in a bed of some sort, and looked into the brown eyes of two red Clazmars who looked exactly identical. Lank, curly red hair covered their heads and hung into their faces, and their cheeks were dotted with freckles, all of which were in the exact locations on both of them. Tera could not be shaken from assuming that these two were identical twins.
“Well Novembre, ask her.” One of them whispered,
“Who are you?” asked both Tera and the Clazmar called Novembre.
“Well,” said the other, “I am Decembre, and that’s Novembre.”
“As for me, I’m Tera.” Tera replied; she had forgotten about her last name. Had she remembered it, she would have been idolized as a goddess because of her reputation. “So, where am I?” Tera asked, not knowing how she got there.
“You are in the house of Karuha.” Decembre replied, “So, now that we have told you where you are, where do you come from? For that matter, what kind of creature are you?”
“I don’t know—I can’t remember,” Tera replied, “But I now live near the Zabutur Haven, and I’m not sure what I am.” She had forgotten just about everything, including the fact that her memory had been wiped blank.
“Well,” said Novembre, “It’s apparent that you’re not a Clazmar. First, your skin is too fair, second, your hair is wavy and too neat, third, it is not the right color, and fourth, your eyes are… different. How strange... However, that does not matter. We’ve seen worse cases of memory loss, but don’t ask why or how.”
“Feel free to make yourself at home,” Decembre added, “And stay as long as you like.”
“As for us,” added Novembre, “We have some ‘unfinished business’ to attend to.”

~Z~

[Zabutur]

(page 16)

“Feel free to make yourself at home,” Decembre added, “And stay as long as you like.”
“As for us,” added Novembre, “We have some ‘unfinished business’ to attend to.”
Ending with that, the two Clazmars left the house. A few minutes later, Tera got up and observed her surroundings. The whole house seemed to be made out of light brown grainy stone. The windows had no glass, and Tera could easily see the midnight sky from them. Along the walls were stones set in holders that Tera recognized as glow-stones: stones that gave off light for long periods of time when you rubbed them together. Also on the walls were many Clazmaric designs. On a shelf were several books that appeared to be journals of the Karuha family and others about being an elemental sensei. However, Tera diverted her mind from these and looked around at the other features of the room. The most prominent of these was a picture depicting a red figure slaughtering off Zabuturs. Tera recognized the red figure as… “Ginny,” She whispered, however, she did not know what Ginny was, only that she had met a girl named Ginny in her lifetime. She put her hand on the symbol on Ginny’s right hand. When she did, she gasped. The image of Ginny jumped back, drew two swords and cut a hole in the middle of the picture, which melted away, revealing an opening in the wall. Naturally, Tera’s curious nature got the best of her, and she crawled into the hole, as it was big enough to let a Clazmar through it. The hole was a narrow passage that went for about 15 feet, before dropping 20. Unfortunately, Tera did not see the drop and so she fell through and landed painfully on her right arm with a crack. It had broken. She was in a dark chamber, dimly lit by red lights. Tera wandered down the narrow chamber. She found breathing in this chamber rather difficult, as there was some type of fume in the place. Tera ran down the corridor until she came across an altar. On top of this altar was a medallion about 5 inches in diameter. She picked it up with her good arm and looked at both sides, which were identical. It was red, and had the fire symbol engraved on it. She pulled out her white medallion that Luna had dropped and observed it. Like the red one, both sides were identical, but this one bore the symbol of ice. “This one must be Ginny’s.” Tera exclaimed. As she made to take another breath, she could not, and she fell to her knees, and went unconscious again. She had not even had enough time to stow the red medallion away.
When she came around again, she was back in the bed of the Karuha brothers.
“You can’t be too curious,” Decembre warned,
“We found you just in time,” Novembre added, “And you hurt your arm.” Tera looked at her right arm, which was bound from the elbow to the hand so her fingers were sticking out.
“That’s a dangerous place.” Novembre continued, “Behind that wall lie many mysteries, and only we know what they are, and we cannot tell you.”
“So don’t let that bother you,” Added Decembre coolly,
“It doesn’t,” Tera replied, examining her arm.
“If you are curious, feel free to explore the village.” Decembre finished.

~Z~

[Zabutur]

(page 17)
As Tera left the house of the Karuha brothers, she went out to explore the Clazmar village. She had a lot to learn about the Clazmaric culture: for example, the Clazmaric economy.
The best way one got something they wanted was to ‘steal’ it. (Clazmars called it ‘borrowing without immediate intention of return’.) The Clazmaric society was more of an “everything is everyone’s” where everyone contributed and was able to use anything else of anyone else’s when they needed it. They seldom returned these things, as someone else would eventually need them and would come take them the only thing people did not take were weapons, for most weapons were personalized with the wielder’s name engraved into it, and these were often held in high regard and respect, so people usually respected them by not taking them. This system was basically an “everything is everyone’s”, but also a “steal it while the going is good”. Clazmars have been getting along by these means just about forever. One of the most experienced ‘thieves’ was an old woman named Koara, who lived with Knefy, her great-grandson, and his friends and cousins Andraz and Mateo. She was old enough that no one would mind her until they realized that she had taken something of theirs from right under their nose. Tera ran into her, but thankfully, she had nothing to be stolen. (She was not about to show off Luna’s medallion.) Koara did not seem happy about this, and meant to grab at Tera, but a young man was pulling her back. He was on the stockier side, with long, thick, loose curly green hair running down to his shoulders, (thus making him a Kemet) and a pair of large, pointy ears stuck out from them. Brown eyes and a distinct mouth fit his face well. He was obviously not overweight (not even to Clazmaric standards) he just looked like he was heavier-built similar to Tera, but slightly larger.
“Dang it, son!” she shouted, “I almost had her!”
“Koara, you know better than to attack a foreigner;” The Kemet shouted back at her, “Unless of course you were planning a game of Knockout or something.”
The old woman started gibbering and shouting.
“If you want something to steal, go that way,” said the man, turning Koara to her right. When he let her go, she sped off. Then he turned to Tera.
“Sorry about her,” He muttered, “She gets annoying, even to me. That says something, because I am one of the more annoying ones. Anyway, my name is Knefy. What’s yours?” Tera could not answer. The mist from Ginny’s corridor made her forget much more of her past. She had also forgotten about Ginny’s medallion, which the Karuha brothers ‘borrowed’ (stole) from her when they rescued her.
“I guess people don’t have names where you’re from?” Knefy asked; He would not doubt it. He had even heard of a Clazmar who did not even get a first name until she was 21. “If that be the case, then I’ll just call you Kai.” Tera nodded her approval.
“Do you like to fight?” Knefy asked; Tera nodded.
“I like you,” Knefy replied; “You do seem like the kind of person who’d play a round of Knockout or two. Come down to my place and meet Andraz and Mateo. You can spend the night (or as long as you want) with us.” Tera nodded and followed Knefy, as clueless as a blind fire sensei in an ice cave. However, she did not mind going from house to house, as long as she was all right. Clazmars took pleasure in inviting friends over for any reason, sometimes even no reason at all.

~Z~

[Zabutur]

(half of page 18 and half of 19)
When Tera got there the first person she saw other than Knefy, was Mateo. He was an Akhet on the taller side, and was much thinner than Knefy. He had blue hair that for the most part laid flat on the top, but stuck up and out on the sides.
“Aye, Mateo!” called out Knefy. “Meet Kai,” He pointed at Tera. “I’m not exactly sure if she’s even a Clazmar or not, but I like her.”
“Aye, Knefy,” Mateo replied, “You forgot that we’re Clazmars; we’re not supposed to care!” Both of them laughed at this joke.
“So,” said Tera, “When’s the fight?”
“Right now,” Mateo responded, noticing that Andraz had appeared. He was a Duket slightly taller than Mateo, and had hair that grew down to the point where it almost covered the tops of his eyes. He was thinner than Knefy but not as thin as Mateo.
“Do you really want to challenge us?” he asked,
“Aye,” Tera replied coolly, thinking that there were many people out there stronger than she was. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“How strong do you think you are?” Mateo asked calmly,
“Not very” Tera responded, grossly underestimating her own strength.
“Do you want Andraz, Mateo and me to be against you?” Knefy asked,
“Why not,” Tera replied, not caring very much.
“Here are the rules:” said Andraz, “you throw punches and kicks at your enemies until you knock them out. After 10 seconds, if they haven’t gotten up, they are out. The last one standing wins. Let’s go.”
It was simply the Clazmaric game of Knockout, but they had not told Tera that. Mateo and Knefy began decking Tera on either side of her, nailing her in the gut several times. Tera however, responded by nearly breaking her knuckles on the bottom of Knefy’s skull using an uppercut. She did this same technique to Mateo, but he fell to the right a little, and got back up. After a count to 10, Knefy was considered out, since he had not moved since then. Andraz struck her chin and sternum several times, and Tera’s response was a swift crunch to the side of the face with her good arm. Mateo, seeing Andraz go out, swung at Tera’s broken arm, hearing a crunch. Tera’s comeback ended the game. She sent her right foot forward, and when it was sticking straight out, her left foot began coming forward, so Tera was doing some type of back flip. It hit Mateo right in the chest and sent him upward. He was down for 9 seconds, tried to get up, but could not.
A few minutes later, the three of them came around again.
“Whoa,” exclaimed Mateo, “You are almost as strong as the legendary Tera Zakatau.”
“Who was she?” Tera asked, the name not ringing a bell;
“Well, she’s still alive according to Clazmaric legend.” Mateo replied, “She is said to be only 14 years old and already exceeds the strength of both Kemet the god and Artemis the titan. Not only that, but story goes that she was raised by Artemis and her sisters: the titans themselves. In fact, she supposedly looks a lot like you, Kai. According to my interpretation of her, you have the same electric violet eyes and stocky stature.”
“Are you saying I’m fat?” Tera exclaimed, for she was nowhere near fat, or even broad,
“No, no,” Andraz acknowledged, “he’s just dumb—he’s Mateo. He’s saying, you have a striking resemblance to this lady of legend, or, as the enemies would call her, The Princess of Koldia.”

~Z~

[Zabutur]

(the rest of 19)
“Say,” interrupted Knefy, “Are you this Tera Kyla Zakatau that Mateo speaks of?”
Tera shook her head. “I’m not sure if I am or not.” She answered, “I can’t remember my past.”
“Nothing at all?” exclaimed Knefy, looking disappointed; “Well, we’ll have to find out where you came from at least. Your past seems like an interesting story.”
Tera decided to find out, and snuck out one night back to the Karuha brothers’ home. She looked into their house and saw that no one appeared to be inside. She went in, (She learned that Clazmars do this all the time; primarily to steal belongings) and went back into the room where she had been revived and approached the picture of Ginny. She got through and was at the drop. This time however, she noticed a ladder. At first, she wondered where it had come from, but realized that there had to be some way to get out. She slowly descended, remembering that she had broken her arm by falling down here. She still had the cast on her right arm from it. Tera stopped and looked at her surroundings. She saw the haze that made it difficult to breathe. Holding her breath, she jumped, trying to see if the haze did not go that high, but it did. She ducked down low, and to her astonishment, about 18 inches from the floor the haze vanished. Tera got on her hands and knees and crawled over to the altar. Ginny’s medallion was gone, but there was a hole there that looked like it would fit a medallion of the same shape. Tera presumed that there had to be something beyond there. She wandered past the altar, and saw several different passageways going in all directions, each having the same red lights the main one did. However, when Tera looked closer at these red lights, she found that they were a little bit brighter than the other ones, and realized that they must have been added. Tera realized that this could take ages to explore, and she did not want to try that. She went back to the altar and looked at the hole. It looked like Luna’s medallion could fit in there. She pulled out Luna’s medallion and stuck it in.

~Z~

[Zabutur]

(all of 20, and most of 21... this part is just a series, so I kept it together)
Suddenly it opened, and Tera saw what was down there: The lights were now a dim blue, and it was full of water. Realizing what these catacombs must contain, she took Luna’s medallion out of the ‘lock’, thinking that she would need it later. She jumped down the hole and landed in the water.
“This must be Eryel’s chamber,” Tera thought. She looked down at the floor and saw that it was fashioned after the same manner as Ginny’s chamber. This chamber went the opposite direction; back the way Ginny’s had taken her, and Tera at once realized what the hazard was here: the water. She was in a 4 square foot area, and her head was sticking out of the water. She went under and opened her eyes. She realized how this would stop people from going onward: many would not open their eyes and look up to see the air pocket here. Tera saw it and surfaced. She swam down the corridor and came to a dead end with an altar.
“The Karuha brothers must have put all the other passageways in Ginny’s chamber.” Tera thought to herself; like the other altar, this one had a hole for a medallion, but there was no medallion resting here like there had been with Ginny’s altar. Tera put Luna’s medallion in it, and stood on the top of the altar, which was dry. When the door opened, she took her medallion and went in. She landed in a chamber with blackish lights and the same floor design. Before she moved though, she wanted to find out what Artemis’ trick was. She observed her surroundings, saw the altar far off, but could not see anything out of place. As she walked toward it, the lights dimmed.
The more she walked the darker they got. She turned around and walked three steps and they got a little lighter. Then she realized what Artemis’ trick was: she was trying to make people get lost in her chamber by darkening the way. She closely examined a light as she walked by it, and saw what was darkening it: tiny little flecks of earth and dust. Tera ran forward as fast as she could and was in pitch darkness. She continued running until she came to the altar. She knew she had reached it, for when she did, the lights got bright again. Just to see if she could make her way back safely, she took four steps back, and was in complete darkness again. “I guess not,” she thought to herself; she went forward and got on the altar, placed Luna’s medallion on it, and went to the next room. After descending a ladder, she at once knew who had made this chamber: Victory.
The lights were a dim brown and there were stones exchanging places and sides in the walls. Victory had set up a pattern so that whole rows of stones moved to opposite walls quickly. Tera watched these until she figured out the pattern in which they moved. So following the pattern, Tera raced to the other side of the corridor, only having one brick graze her left ear. It cut open, and for the rest of her life Tera Kyla Zakatau would bear this scar as one of her two conspicuous trademarks. She put the medallion in the hole, and knew the drill by now. Tera assumed that the one who entered here had to have the all the great medallions, as most people would not think to take the key out of the lock. (After all, it was somewhat difficult to do) Tera fell down the next chamber and softly landed in snow. She knew this chamber had to be Luna’s, for there was a large maze dug right out of the snow and ice.
Underneath the ice, Tera saw the familiar floor pattern, and this chamber was lit with white lights that were the color of snow. (Not the lights with a yellowish tint) As Tera entered the maze, she soon found out that it curved every which direction, but after nearly freezing, she found her way through it. She went into the next chamber and felt a forceful breeze hit her. This was obviously Echo’s chamber. The wind was blowing her towards the ground, and it seemed that there was more force in some places than other places. It was another maze. Tera navigated it fairly well until she accidentally hit a spot where the force of the wind blew so fiercely that Tera was slammed to the ground, unable to move. She struggled and held her breath, and using only her left hand, she got past the forceful zone. She finished the rest of the chamber easily, and then reached the next altar. She fell through the next chamber and landed on something soft.
This chamber was lit with purple lights, unlike the other, which had been lit with green ones. Tera looked down and saw that she was on some giant plant. She remained motionless, and the plant did too. However, when she tried to walk, she became more and more entangled until only her head stuck out. Luckily, Tera was very intelligent, despite the memory losses, and so she remained where she was until she could devise a plan. She thought of one quickly: climb back up and be light on her feet. She did so, and was almost to the altar when her right foot sank into the plant again. As the plant did not go all the way to the altar, the rest of Tera’s body was sitting on solid floor. She pulled her foot out of the plant and slowly began to unwind its coiling vines. After she did, she made haste to get out of Aryka’s chamber and move on to the last ones. She assumed Kiya’s would be next. When she descended down, she discovered she was right.
This corridor was lit by orange lights, and there was no apparent danger. She waited to see if anything moved, and tried everything but going into the hall. There was still no catch. Tera set a foot into the actual corridor and felt a small static shock. She ran quickly, and the energy became more forceful. It became so forceful that Tera had to stop, and then the electrocuting stopped. She walked slowly, and only received the small painless static shock on various places of her body. The sparks only hit her hair most of the time. As she readied to go into the last chamber, she realized what the titans’ secrets were: not only did they require strength to withstand their elements, but they also required cunning and logic. Of course, most of the “logic” required was very easy and basic. Nonetheless, Tera moved on.
She descended into Scayl’s chamber and found it lit by yellow-gold lights. When she walked it became brighter and brighter. It was just like Artemis’ except with light instead of dark. Tera shut her eyes, used her hair as a blindfold, and put her faith in her feet, which led her to safety on the altar.

~Z~

[Zabutur]

(and a little of page 22 to the end. much shorter than that last post =3 )
However, this altar was different from the other ones. This one had 10 holes in it, and each hole had a corresponding symbol. Tera knew there would be a catch. She muttered something under her breath and snapped her fingers in disappointment. Nevertheless, since the titans would probably want to find out who had gotten so far and how, Tera assumed there had to be another way out. She looked for one, and found a field of rainbow light on the floor behind the altar. Assuming this was a portal; she jumped in and found herself at the top of the ladder leading to Ginny’s chamber. Interested in what was down past that chamber, Tera wanted to find the rest of the medallions so she could go down there and learn for herself. However, she had had a night, and so she went back to Knefy, Andraz and Mateo’s (and Koara’s) house and continued to lie in wait…

~Z~

[Zabutur]

and that concludes chapter 3 for now.

questions, comments, etc. can be placed here or in a new thread.

~Z~

[Zabutur]

*bump*
it keeps showing chapter 2 as the last one updated...
~Z~