The Ancestral Trail

Welcome To The Ancestral Trail

2011-12-31T21:28:00.000-08:00

There comes a time when we look back on our younger days and remember some of the great times we had and the fun things we enjoyed. I'm not talking about a college student remember how easy high school once was, but rather how a man in his twenties remembers how he was as a child. In my case, I remember how, back when I still lived in South Africa, I used to line up toy cars in rows, fueling my parents' speculation that I would grow up to be a parking attendant. I remember how I always spent my Saturdays at my friend Timothy's house dreaming of building a motorized cart. And I also remember how I loved reading serialized magazines designed specifically for my age group.

The serialized magazines I'm taling about are similar to the Zoo Books that you see every now and again on television; back in South Africa, I can remember subscribing to quite a few series. A couple magazines I can recall from memory are Bugs and Dinosaurs, magazines which dealt with their obvious subject matter. However, there was one serialized magazine that, for me, stood out from the rest. Unlike all of my other serialized magazines, this one was a fantasy story. And I'm pretty sure that it's this series that started my love-affair with fantasy and science-fiction literature.

It was called The Ancestral Trail: An Epic Story of Myths, Magic and Monsters.

The Ancestral Trail was published by Marshall Cavendish in a fortnightly format from 1992 to 1993. Originating from a story by Frank Graves, it was adapted into MC's issue format by Fergus Fleming, who did the first half of the series, and Ian Probert, who did the second half. There were 52 issues in total, and several extras that came with every issue - extras like pieces to unique games created specifically by the magazine and clues to various contests. The series has long been out of print, and yet it is still one of the more memorable stories I've read.

It's actually quite amazing that I still love The Ancestral Trail. Looking over the story again, the reading level for the series is certainly for young children. However, the story itself is actually quite mature for its reading level; unlike the sanitized American landscape of children's literature and television, The Ancestral Trail actually tells a dark, almost macabre fable in which people are frequently killed in incredibly gruesome manners. Also, the story manages to take a derivative concept - the fetch quest - and breath new life into it with some interesting characters and a unique setting. Sure, a lot of the story looks like it owes a great deal to Tokien...but so does virtually every single fantasy author published today. The fact is that The Ancestral Trail is fun and exciting and has a fantastic story to tell. And isn't that what really matters?

However, because this series was created before the internet became what it is today, there is very little information available about it on the web. There are a few webpages here and there that talk about the series, but I feel that the information available on these sites don't reveal enough. Therefore, I'm going to take it upon myself to share with you as much as I possibly can about this series. I will look at each volume of the series individually, break it down, and show you why I love this series so much. There really is no purpose behind me writing this other than my own personal enjoyment, but if I manage to get you interested enough to seek out out-of-print copies, then that would be fantastic; this series, in my opinion, really is worth tracking down.

With that out of the way, please enjoy yourselves as you begin your journey through The Ancestral Trail, starting with an introduction to the series.

The Ancestral Trail #36: Scoredef, Sinister Supervirus

2011-04-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hypnotized by an Evil Computer Virus

Story:

In the thirty-sixth sector

00011 01100 00101 00001 01110
10011 00101 10100 01000 00101
10101 01110 00011 01100 00101
00001 01110 10111 01001 10100
01000 00011 01111 00100 00101
00100 10111 01111 10010
00100 10011

Cleanse the unclean with coded words

As Richard guides the cruiser away from the balloon world of Identico, Richard watches as the strange objects shaped like giant numbers approaches the craft, threatening to collide with them. He asks Robo what they are, and Robo responds that they are Teronites, corrupted digitized computer code. Richard asks for clarification, but Robo cannot answer.

As the Teronites close in on the cybercruiser, Richard avoids colliding with one and desperately looks for a place to land. He is unable to see anything, but as the Teronites surround the craft he realizes that they have to take a chance. He points the ship down, sending it into a crashing fall. But he spots a landing spot just in time and pulls the cruiser out of its dive. Barely he manages to land the ship on the ground, his heart racing.

Disembarking the cruiser, Richard asks Robo if there is any danger nearby. Robo indicates that there is none, but Richard unexpectedly begins to feel drowsy and cannot keep his eyes open. As he ponders this, he suddenly sees something emerge in his field of vision. To his horror, it's the figure of Mortex, the creature he had killed before. Following closely behind Mortex are two more creatures he had encountered: Tengam and Toxis. He tries to speak, but finds he cannot say anything.

Suddenly, Robo's voice calls out, telling him to snap out of the hypnotic trance of someone called Scoredef. The voice snaps Richard back to his senses, and the apparitions of his foes dissipate. Robo explains to a shaken Richard that the creature called Scoredef was attempting to corrupt his mind with scenes from the past. It is then that Richard hears the distant sound of music, which Robo says is originating from Scoredef. Richard asks Robo just what Scorefed is, but Scoredef arrives swiftly onto the scene before Robo can answer.

With the arrival of the giant floating metallic head that is Scoredef, Richard addresses the creature, who speaks in command line code. Robo states that Scoredef is a computer virus in three-dimensional form, designed to corrupt computer systems. Richard suggests a retreat, but Scoredef reacts before they could run. A jet of creamy color liquid is expelled from the virus's mouth and coats Richard's body. Richard tries to move, but finds that the stuff is sticky and is gluing him to the spot. Unable to move, Richard asks Robo for help.

Robo's inner components hum and his face panel fires a jet of his perma beam towards Richard. The cold air hardens the gluey stubstance and makes it extremely brittle. Richard moves his body, which causes the glue to crumble all around him. Within minutes he is free of Scoredef's concoction. The virus sees Richard's escape and buzzes angrily while mechanically recognizing the error of his attack. Richard, preferring to face the Teronites than the virus, considers heading back to the cruiser.

But Scoredef anticipates this. Without warning, Richard hears movement from above and looks up to see a hoard of Teronites descending and heading straight for him. Richard quickly draws his sword and swings at the attacking Teronites, easily swatting them aside. More Teronites try to attack, but Richard's skills in surviving the Ancestral World and Cyber Dimension have allowed him to keep them at bay without worry. Scoredef, realizing the Teronites are no match for Richard, calls off the attack.

Scoredef demands Richard's surrender, but Richard defiantly states to the virus that he has seen more worthy adversaries. The virus then threatens to destroy Richard's companion Robo, and to prove his power the virus begins to grow in size. Richard quickly moves in between Scoredef and Robo to protect his friend, and then notices a new message has appeared on Robo's binary panel. Thinking quickly, Richard abruptly tells Scoredef that he has surrendered but asks for a moment to say goodbye to Robo. Scoredef grants the request.

Richard faces Robo and quickly scans the binary panel before telling Robo to distract Scoredef somehow - a song, a dance, anything. Taking this request literally, Robo moves in front of Scoredef and begins flailing his arms while singing a song composes of digital beeps. Scoredef watches the scene in confusion. As Robo distracts the virus, Richard ponders the binary message before suddenly realizing its meaning. He calls out to Robo and tells him to write a program to cancel out Scoredef.

Hearing this, Scoredef realizes the Chosen One had lied to him and begins to grow in size again, eventually reaching twice his original size. Richard prompts Robo to hurry up, but Scoredef reacts first. A bright light blasts from Scoredef and envelops Richard, lifting him off the ground. Then Robo, his processors stretched to the breaking point, suddenly announces the completion of his anti-virus program.

The air is filled with a loud electronic static as Robo electronically sends out the anti-virus program in Scoredef's direction. The virus absorbs the program, which Richard at first thinks isn't working. But it doesn't take long for Richard to see Scored begin to shrink, and the virus shrieks loudly in fear as he runs internal diagnostics. Smoke begins to surround the panicking virus.

Suddenly, Scoredef bursts into a bright flash of light and fades away from sight. Before he disappears forever, the virus announces his failure of serving the Evil One. Richard, free from Scoredef's hold, thanks Robo for the quick programming. Just then, he hears the sound of Teronites approaching and urges Robo to head to the cruiser. The pair reach the cybercruiser, but the sky is overrun with Teronites, making it too dangerous to fly. But Richard then notices the creatures are not attacking and are instead forming some kind of shape. He realizes they are forming an arrow and pointing to a large structure that had suddenly appeared in the landscape.

Robo explains the Teronites are no longer under Scoredef's control and are now pointing them in the direction of an Omni piece. Robo exits the cybercruiser and heads to the structure, disappearing inside. Moments later, he emerges with the second Omni piece in hand. As Robo returns to the ship, Richard thanks the Teronites and starts the cruiser, asking Robo where to go next.

Before Robo could answer, Richard hears a strange sound coming from somewhere in the ground. Robo is unable to tell what the source is due to insufficient data. Suddenly, the ground begins to split and crack open, and Richard sees a giant appendage emerge from one of the holes. To his horror, he recognizes the limb as insect in nature, and as the creature forces itself out of the ground, Richard begins to tremble.

Story:

With the thirty-sixth episode of The Ancestral Trail, the second of the MacGuffins of the Cyber Dimension, the Omni pieces, is found after defeating the giant virus Scoredef. Outside of this, there are no major revelations in this issue except perhaps one: Richard's skills. When Scoredef orders the Teronites to attack Richard, he uses the skills and experience he had picked up during his travels to easily defeat them. While previous issues may have brought this up as well (albeit more subtly), it's nice to see Richard's growth over the course of the series acknowledged in this way. This should prove to be useful as the series moves towards its climax in the remaining sixteen issues.

Go to #37 - Cronid, Micro Creature

The Ancestral Trail #35: Identico, Deadly Replicator

2010-06-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

Lost in the Factory of Dreams

Story:

In the thirty-fifth sector

10011 10100 10010 00101 01110 00111
10100 01000 00110 10010 01111
01101 10011 10101 01110 01100 01001
00111 01000 10100 00100 01001
00101 10011 01001 01110 10011
01000 00001 00100 00101

Strength from sunlight dies in shade

Richard and Robo can do nothing but watch as they are hurled through time and space through the worm hole, their journey lasting seemingly for an eternity. Then, without warning, their journey ends and they find themselves floating on the cruiser in an inky blackness. Richard hears Robo's motors humming and notices he is encased inside a thin bubble. Robo immediately informs the Chosen One that he is generating a temporary force field to protect him against the vacuum.

Unable to believe that he is in a vacuum, Richard asks Robo where they are, but the robot cannot determine their current position. So Richard can only use his eyes, and he soon discovers that they are hovering over the surface of a small planetary body, with a larger planet nearby. Indeed, a few moments later Richard sees a massive planet emerge from the distant horizon.

Just then, Richard notices something unusual in the distance and points out to Robo that there are pyramids in the distance. As he excitedly points this out, the inky sky above them begins to change, soon transforming into a white glow until large streaks of lightning split the sky. Robo warns that an electrical storm is approaching and that they must seek shelter. Richard quickly charts a course toward the pyramids, arriving there fairly quickly thanks to the lack of air resistance. Robo warns he is about to lose the force field and advises Richard to immediately enter one of the pyramids.

Richard seeks out an entrance, but Robo points one out at one of the pyramids' base. The robot releases a series of sounds and the door to the pyramid slides open. Richard wastes no time in guiding the cruiser through the tight opening. As soon as they are fully inside, Robo closes the door and removes the force field, indicating that it is safe to breath. Richard, however, is distracted by something else.

The inside of the building is filled with thousands of strange and exotic plants, and from above a sun-like light source shined its rays down. Richard felt at ease inside the giant greenhouse-like structure. Robo, meanwhile, follows the Chosen One wearily, his energy supplies almost depleted. Richard then seems something new: a giant pagoda in the garden's center. He excitedly runs up to it to see what's inside it, pushing aside some of the hanging vines to peer into it. Surprisingly, the pagoda is solid.

Without warning, Robo fires his heat ray on one of the closest vines on the pagoda. What really surprises Richard, though, is that he sees a metallic framework inside the plant, whose exterior smells of burning plastic. Suddenly, another vine whips from behind Robo and wraps around the robot, pinning its arms to its side. Robo fires several blasts of its heat ray, but to no avail as the vines begin pulling Robo up the side of the pagoda.

Richard has no time to help his friend when he, too, is caught in the vines' grasp. Within moments both companions are being carried up the pagoda's sides, being passed from vine to vine. Richard, unable to do anything, asks Robo what was going on. Robo replies that the vines are Replitypes, mechanical copies of organic beings created by a replicator called Identico.

Eventually, the duo are released when they reach the top level of the pagoda. There, Richard notices a peculiar creature in the level's center. From its bulbous body exudes many tentacles and creepers, and attached to those creepers are hundreds of pod-shaped items. Richard calls out to the creature, asking if it is Identico. The replicator smiles and exclaims happily at receiving a genuine carbon-based organism.

Richard is puzzled about Identico's enthusiasm, and the creatures explains that its prime directive is to replicate the dominant species on every known world and dimension, to create Replitypes whose function is to obey his every command. Identico complains that his Replitypes wear out too quickly without organic body for a pattern, and he gleefully notes that Richard would make an excellent source material. Richard isn't too keen on Identico using him to churn out thousands of clones of himself, each a mindless slave to the Evil One.

A robotic vine near Richard lashes out and wraps around his leg. Richard tries to hack it off, but it bounces off the rubbery skin. In desperation he turns to Robo and notices a new message on his panel. Richard hastily decodes it and quickly realizes that Identico, even though a machine, still relies on the sun as a power source. He asks Robo to somehow blot out the sun, and Robo complies. The robot flies up into the air and aimed two small tail jets at the ground.

With a burst of air from Robo's jets, the soil below is disturbed enough to generate thick dust clouds in the air. Identico tries to knock the robot down with his vines, but it's already too late. The dust clouds already begin to work as particles coat the monster's green skin and blot out the sunlight. As Identico's motors screech and groan, Richard feels the vine around his leg loosen. Within a few moments, Identico slumps over, motionless.

But Richard realizes he isn't out of the woods yet, as the pods surrounding Identico begin to burst open and grotesque Replitypes emerge, eager to avenge the destruction of their master. Robo lands and advises that the Replitypes don't need sunlight to function, meaning they need to escape. Robo hastens to the edge of the pagoda, which draws the attention of the creatures. Richard follows Robo and clambers down the side of the pagoda along its now-dead vines; Robo fires his lasers at the swarm of Replitypes to cover Richard's escape.

Once on the ground, Richard heads for the cruiser and looks for an exit, realizing that they have to leave the way they came in. The Replitype army is approaching quickly, and as Robo arrives Richard orders him to open the airlock again. Robo does so and the cruiser carefully flies out of the airlock. The door slides shut behind them, but a few Replitypes manage to squeeze through.

Richard feels the familiar sensation of Robo's force field, and moments later the Replitypes arrive and leap at Richard, bouncing harmlessly off the protective bubble. Robo warns that they creatures could damage the cyber cruiser and advises them to leave immediately. Richard obliges and sends the cruiser into a burst of speed away from the pyramids. Soon, the small planet beneath them disappeared, leaving the cruiser suspended in blackness. Richard asks Robo what their next move is.

Robo advises that the wormhole is now closed and scans for an additional exit. He finds one up ahead and advises Richard to push the cruiser to maximum speed. Richard can't see the exit but follows his companion's orders. Suddenly, he feels the cruiser strike something invisible. A bright red clouds his vision and the cruiser spins out of control. The dark skies around them give way to a more normal atmosphere.

Robo proclaims that they have successfully escaped by piercing the dimensional walls of Identico's dimension with the cruiser. Behind them, Richard sees the whole world that they had left collapse like a deflated balloon. With the atmosphere back to normal, Robo lowers the force field. Up ahead, Richard can see something strange approach them. He notices that the collection of objects look like numbers.

Comments:

The thirty-fifth issue of The Ancestral Trail, while not breaking much ground, offers one of the more interesting sub-worlds that Richard has encountered so far in the second series. In previous issues, Richard navigates the terrain as if it were regular terrain, from one sub-world to the next on the cyber cruiser. But after being sucked through the worm hole, he ends up in a true sub-world, a whole self-contained dimension inside what looks like a giant balloon. This is the kind of minor details that make stories like this enjoyable, and while Richard's fight with Identico may not have been the most interesting, his location certainly was.

This issue also highlights something a bit more minor: the issue titles. If you go back and read through all of the first half's titles, you'll notice that the monster names are described only by title-esque descriptions. For example: Narkum, the Fly King; Klaw, Servant of Evil; Spector, Keeper of the Ice Kingdom, etc. The second half of the series also started out this way (see: Tengam, Gravity Defier; Zenon, Laser Lancer) but now it's getting into using adjectives to describe the monsters. You may recall that Holotron was called a Dynamic Deceiver instead of just a deceiver. Now we have Identico, who is a Deadly Replicator. While this trend won't be that prevalent, a few more monsters will have adjectives attached to their names when their issue is introduced.

Go to #36 - Scordef, Sinister Supervirus

The Ancestral Trail #34: Toxis, Poison Predator

2010-06-19T14:30:00.001-07:00

Caught in the Grip of the Slime Creature

Story:

In the thirty-fourth sector

00010 01100 01111 10111 10011 00111
01001 10110 00101 01110 00101
10001 10101 00001 01100 00010
01100 01111 10111 10011 10010 00101
10100 10101 10010 01110 00111
00101 01110 10100 01100 11001
10100 01111 10111 01001 01110

Blows given equal blows return gently to win

Story

Richard feels nauseous as he slowly opens his eyes, unable to remember where he is for a few moments. Eventually, his memory does return and he hears the familiar sound of Robo performing some kind of scan. Robo declares that Richard is all right and informs the Chosen One that he blacked out because of the Omni Piece. Carbon-based organisms cannot touch it, so Robo offers to carry it and places the glowing item inside a small compartment in the robot's side. Robo then states that they need to leave because without the Keeper,the citadel will collapse.

The pair quickly rush outside as Richard hears the sound of creaking metal and groaning mortar in the citadel. Outside, the cybercruiser is waiting for them. Richard and Robo hop onto the vehicle and climb into the air as the citadel stirs up a massive dust cloud with its destruction. Richard asks Robo for their next destination, and Robo instructs Richard to follow the toxic river that flows through Pipe City. Richard does so, and as he leaves Pipe City behind he notices the river begin to widen. He also notices the large collections of debris and garbage amidst the slime as the cruiser soars over the green muck.

Eventually, Richard notices a pungent smell and asks Robo what it is, but the stench is so powerful that Robo's sensors cannot analyze it. As the smell becomes worse, Richard sees a city in the distance, and upon flying closer to it, Richard notices that the entire city is charred black, from its buildings to the remnants of trees. Behind this city is a tall tower that seems to have escaped destruction. Richard asks Robo what happened, but Robo is unable to answer. Just then, something begins stirring inside the water beneath the cruiser, and a few moments later a massive creature emerges from the slime.

The monster, calling itself Toxis, demands to know who dares defy it before reaching out and plucking the cybercruiser from the air. Richard is forced to remain still as he is examined by the creature, who is disgusted by Richard's cleanliness and holds the cruiser away from its face. Toxis demands to know who Richard is, and Robo answers for him, identifying Richard as the Chosen One, much to Richard's chagrin.

Toxis' face flickers with recognition at the name and his disposition suddenly changes from cranky to sickly sweet. Richard asks Toxis what he wants, and Toxis insists he doesn't want anything and nearly lets the cybercruiser go. But he changes his mind and then says that there is one thing that Richard can do for him. Toxis creates a massive hole inside the toxic river and sets the cruiser down inside, along with Richard and Robo. Toxis then starts explaining to Richard what he can do for him.

Toxis explains that there is something inside the giant tower in the nearby city that he wants: a bauble containing a potion. Because Toxis can't leave the river, Richard has to go fetch it for him. Richard promises Toxis that he will retrieve the item; Toxis, to make sure Richard isn't "slowed down," keeps Robo with him as insurance. The poison predator then lifts Richard onto dry land, though not before the Chosen One reads a new binary message from his companion. Richard quickly sets off for the nearby city. On his way, he notices several pools of liquid on the landscape, similar to the alkali pools that had saved him and Robo from the Hydronomizers.

Eventually, Richard reaches the tower. He draws his sword and pokes inside the open doorway as a precaution. He feels his sword cut something like a rope, and suddenly a giant blade snaps into view at about neck-height across the doorway before vanishing into a narrow slit. The trap disarmed, Richard bursts into a run inside the tower and climbs up the spiral staircase that leads to the top. At the tower's peak, he finds himself on a small platform with no parapet and no bauble in sight. He lays on his stomach and leans carefully over the edge; he sees his prize, sitting inside an alcove surrounded by a forcefield and flanked by stone gargoyles.

As an experiment, he takes his sword and tries to stab the forcefield, but it bounces back at the same force with which he had struck it. Remembering the binary message, Richard attempts a new tactic and slowly slides his hand against the forcefield. He feels his hand slide into the forcefield, which feels like it is burning his hand, but he grits his teeth and carefully grabs the potioin before pulling it out of the forcefield. Wasting no time, he hurries back inside the tower and sprints down the staircase. He hears a loud commotion outside, which is the sound of the four gargoyles coming to life as they shriek in rage of their treasure being stolen.

Outside, Richard rushes through the city back to the slime river, but the gargoyles are beginning to catch up with him. He can see the river up ahead, with Toxis screaming encouragement. Before he can reach the river, however, one of the gargoyles manages to scrape Richard's helment with its poisonous stinger, forcing the Chosen One to take cover underneath a piece of wreckage. As he does, he hears a mighty scream and looks to see Toxis flinging gobs of slime at the gargoyles. As Toxis is distracted with the gargoyles, Richard looks at the vial and formulates a plan inside his head.

Within moments the gargoyles are encased in green slime and Richard emerges from his hiding place. He heads to the river's edge, where Toxis awaits him eagerly. Toxis demands his prize, but Richard insists Robo and the cruiser are freed first. The monster complies, and Richard tosses the beast the vial. Toxis catches the bauble, opens the stopper, and downs its contents greedily. After finishing the drink, Toxis immediately cackles and starts mocking Richard, stating his master the Evil One will be pleased that it is the Chosen One, of all people, that had freed him from his prison.

Richard doesn't seem surprised, which only makes Toxis laugh the more. He states that the potion was the key to his release, and now he is free to cover the Cyber Dimension in filth and purge it of cleanliness. The massive creature then attempts to pull itself out fo the river, prompting Robo to suggest an evacuation of the area. Richard, however, stands his ground and calmly asks Robo what are the contents of the pools of liquid in the area. Robo scans the pools and comes up with an answer, but has Toxis already figured it out.

The beast screams in rage as he realizes that instead of the potion, he had drunk sodium solution, he had drunk soap, which Richard had placed inside the bottle while Toxis had been distracted by the gargoyles. The solution is already affecting Toxis' body and causing the predator's mechanisms to swirl violently. Toxis tries to cover himself in slime, but it is already too late. Soon the monster transforms into a massive whirlpool, which unexpectedly rises into the air like an inverted hurricane.

The slime typhoon grows in strength until the winds begin to suck up Richard, Robo and the cruiser. Richard and Robo try to hang on to something, but the pull of the swirling toxic twister is too strong. But before they are sucked into the massive vortex of green goo, Richard notices that something is pulling them away from the river. At first he thinks Robo has done something, but Rob informs him that a new force has come into play: a worm hole has emerged nearby and is dragging them inside. Robo cannot counter the gravitational pull of the worm hole, and Richard realizes to his horror that the location of the worm hole is where he had emptied the phial of Toxis' potion.

Richard and Robo, unable to do anything else, climb onto the cruiser as the worm hole grows until it encompasses everythinig they can see. The sound of the swirling toxic vortex dissipates and the pair are pulled into the hole's center. Richard closes his eyes as he hangs on.

Comments:

The thirty-fourth issue of The Ancestral Trail starts off with the revelation that the Omni Pieces, the MacGuffins that Richard has to retrieve in the Cyber Dimension, are toxic to the touch for him. This is in stark contrast to the Life Force Pods in the Ancestral World, which helped improve his courage, endurance, and other useful attributes. This toxicity once again reminds me of the theory that this series is a giant metaphor for growing up. If we see the Ancestral World as childhood, then the Cyber Dimension could be seen as the teenage years: in the former, life can be hard but there are those that help you improve and better yourself along the way, but in the latter, such help is much more difficult to come by and can be dangerous if not handled properly.

This issue also ends on a note that highlights just how different the Cyber Dimension is from the Ancestral World. In the Ancestarl World, the entire land is interconnected - while there may be different types of land like snowy mountains and swamplands and rocky craigs, the Cyber Dimension is more of a loose connection of areas that would never work in real life when interconnected. The emergence of the worm hole might explain such disparity in that alternate dimensions could be at play. What fate lies in store for Richard as he is sucked into the deadly gravitational pull of the worm hole?

Go to #35 - Identico, Deadly Replicator

The Ancestral Trail #33: Terraforma, Environmorpher

2010-05-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

Trapped in the Lair of the Land Changer

Story:

In the thirty-third sector

11001 01111 10101 10010 00101 01110
00101 01101 11001 10011 10011 10100
10010 00101 01110 00111 10100
01000 10111 01001 01100 01100
00010 00101 11001 01111 10101
10010 00110 10010 01001 00101
01110 00100

Your enemy's strength will be your friend

As the menacing souls continue to loom over Richard, Robo's metallic voice calmly advises the Chosen One not to touch the souls because they are made of anti-matter. The souls meanwhile form an enormous serpent, its head grinning evilly at Richard. Suddenly wondering aloud what would happen if matter meets anti-matter, Richard reaches behind him and picks up a shard from one of the broken glass spheres and hurls it at the snake's body.

Upon touching the snake's head, a series of explosions immediately rock the Library as the head implodes with a firework-like spark, followed by the rest of its body. One clump of souls explodes in such a way that it blasts a hole in one of the Library walls, releasing sunlight into the room. Richard and Robo quickly escape toward the hole as the rest of the snake's body destroys itself.

Upon hurling himself outside, Richard sees a welcome sight waiting for him: the cybercruiser patiently hovering just oustside the Library wall. The Chosen One and Robo quickly climb on and soar into the air as the entire Library is engulfed in flames and disintegrates in the flames. The pair fly away from the scene in silence until Richard notices a change in scenery. He points out to his companion that the landscape had morphed into a sprawlin network of pipes and canals, which Robo identifies as Pipe City, the place where Richard must seek out the Omni Piece.

Amidst the pipes, Richard spies a landing pad and sends the cruiser down upon it for a landing. There, the two inspect the various pipes, which Robo says contain either toxic waste or highly pressurized air. Just then, a sound alerts Richard, and he turns to see a group of cone-shaped creatures approaching him. Robo identifies them as Spikers, robots attracted to movement and armed with deadly plasma spears. One Spiker emphasizes Robo's last point by firing a spear at Richard, barely missing him. Richard and Robo immediately turn and flee through the maze of pipes and canals to lose the Spikers, and soon they are hopelessly lost.

They eventually emerge in a large open space, where Robo says that they have lost the Spikers, but a loud humming sound indicates a new presence is approaching. Moments later, Richard see this new life form: a giant glowing, pulsing, floating crystal with human-like features in its surface.

The giant crystal approaches the pair and identifies itself as Terraforma, environmorph, and guaranteed a fun time. Richard almost relaxes at the being's words, but then recalls the seemingly angelic Peter back in the Library. Suspicious, Richard asks Terraforma what an environmorph is, which caused the crystal to alter its pulses. A beeping sound alerts Richard to a new message on Robo's panel, and he quickly tries to decode it, but Terraforma's hypnotic gaze draws his attention away from the panel.

Terraforma answers the Chosen One's question by stating he can change the environment, and he orders Richard to approach him. Richard does so, and as he gazes into a red beam pulsing from the gem's forehead, the world around Richard bursts into flame, both the ground and the very air set alight. Terraforma mocks Richard as he attempts to get his sword, and the environment again changes, this time into a icy wasteland that freezes Richard where he stands.

Knowing he can't take another extreme weather change, Richard tries turning to Robo, who is still encased in flame. By chance, Richard sees the binary panel and uses his fear to translate the message at a frantic pace. He instantly understands the message and asks Robo if any Spikers are in the vicinity. When Robo confirms this is so, Richard asks Robo to draw them in. Robo does so by flailing about and moving around frantically. The Spikers, drawn by the movement, appear almost immediately.

Robo shoots himself into the air and the Spikers hesitate for a moment before bypassing the immobile Richard and targeting Terraforma, who is spinning wildly. The Spikers surround the environmorph and fire a storm of plasma spears at it. The giant crystal tries to escape, but one plasma spear lands directly in the crystal's giant heart. Terramorpha shatters into a thousand shards, and immediately the environment reverts back to normal.

Richard thaws out and quickly rushes to his companion, who had been struck by a ricocheted Spiker spear. The robot assures Richard that his circuits are still fine and says that the Chosen One needs to retrieve the Omni Piece, which is held inside a large citadel shaped like a crouching spider.

The Spikers are still nearby, however, and approaching the pair. Richard spies an open pipe and leads his friend to it. The two of them jump inside and are quickly carried away by a powerful current of air. Richard and Robo are forced to let the current take them wherever it goes, unable to even slow themselves down or stop themselves from spinning like fired bullets.

After a seemingly endless journey, the pipe abruptly spits Richard and Robo out, sending them into a fall toward a waterway filled with toxic waste. Richard by chance lands on a platform at the pipe's mouth, but is moving so quickly he falls over the edge. Before he can fall into the sludge, Robo fires a series of flexible cables tipped with suction cups, which grab Richard and prevents him from falling down. The robot pulls the Chosen One to safety, and the two of them find themselves outside of the Citadel.

The pair climb a nearby set of stairs to a large pair of double doors, which Richard opens. Inside, he finds a massive glass dome on a circular plinth, with large waves of energy spinning inside the spherical glass. Richard asks what it is, but Robo's sensors are for some reason being repelled. Curious, Richard climbs the plinth and taps the glass. Suddenly, a pure energy bolt is fired from within the glass and knocks Richard back to the ground. Robo rushes to help, but another bolt strikes him and sending him flying back. Behind them, the door suddenly close.

The glass dome begins to rise and the plinth extend, and from inside the globe something resembling a giant eye can be seen. A booming voice is heard, declaring that the sanctity of the Citadel has been broken, and that the defier must answer the Keepr's challenge, for it is the Law. Robo tries to say something, but the Keeper fires another bolt at him and renders the robot silent. Richard is horrified, but the Keerp declares that robots must be deactivated inside the Citadel, for it is the Law.

The Keeper again declares Richard must answer its challenge, but Richard insists Robo is reactivated, at least outside. Finding no conflict, the Keeper opens the doors and uses another energy bolt to send Robo outside. The Keeper then demands that Richard must answer three question within an allotted time without lying. However, even if Richard wins, he will still be destroyed for defiling the Citadel. This is the Law. As Richard ponders how to exploit the Keeper's reliance on his rules, the Keerp begins its questioning.

The Keeper first asks for Richard's name. It then asks Richard if he is the Chosen One. The third question is, perplexingly, "What is inside of you?" Richard is unable to come up with an answer within five time units. The Keeper looks ready to destroy Richard when the Chosen One pleads to ask one question himself. The Law permits one question, so the Keeper allows it. Richard asks the Keeper, "I always lie - and that's the truth. Do I now speak the truth?"

The Keeper screams that it has been tricked, but Richard reminds it that it must answer, because it is the Law. The Keeper struggles to find an answer to the paradox and sends energy through its channels that were never intended to take such a load. All of this diverted heat causes the Keeper to burst into a heatwave as the glass dome suddenly starts to melt. The voice of the Keeper muttering possible answers continues to be heard until the glass dome impodes in a shower of sparks.

Robo, reactivated, re-enters the chamber and declares simply that Richard is indeed the Chosen One. Lying in the wreckage of the Keeper is a small glittering triangle, which Robo states is the Omni Piece. Triumphant, Richard reaches down and picks up the piece. As soon as he does, he feels faint and senses his strength being drained from his body. He almost immediately collapses to the floor and blacks out.

Comments:

For the thirty-third issue of The Ancestral Trail, we finally get to see the MacGuffin of the Cyber World, the Omni Pieces. Introduced way back in issue twenty-nine, the Omni Pieces are the Life Force Pods of this world and will drive Richard around the Cyber Dimension. Of course, the reader will care more about Richard's journey than the actual pieces themselves, similar to how the reader cared more about the Ancestral World than the Pods. This is a common plot device in fantasy fiction, after all. One interesting twist about the Omni Pieces, though, is their apparent deadliness: as soon as he touched the Omni Piece, Richard fell unconscious. So unlike the Pods, which bestowed knowledge and courage, etc., to the Chosen One, it seems these items can kill him.

One thing you may be wondering about is what that strange "panel" is in the last picture above. Is it meant to be there, blocking the artwork like that? Is it some kind of visual game in the Ancestral Trail series, similar to finding Shoomi and Shoobi? In actuality, these panels do play an important part in the Cyber Dimension, but to mention their purpose now would be to spoil things heavily. Their purpose will be revealed eventually, I promise.

Finally, there is one small yet noticeable plot hole that I can't help but wonder about. In the Holotron issue, Richard and Robo entered the citadel inside the giant mountain because it was the only way to get through, and also because inside was the Omni Piece. In doing so, they had to abandon the Cyber Cruiser. However, after destroying the Atomizers (the evil souls) and escaping the Library, Richard and Robo find the Cyber Cruiser waiting for them on the other side. Also, the Omni Piece turns out to be located in Pipe City, far away from the underground fortress.

Go to #34 - Toxis, Poison Predator

The Ancestral Trail #32: Husasan, Silicon Samurai

2010-03-20T18:45:00.001-07:00

Duel of Doom with an Android Warrior

Story:

In the thirty-second sector

01100 01001 01011 00101 00001
00011 01000 01001 01100 01100
00101 10011 10100 01000 00101
10011 00001 01101 10101 10010
00001 01001 01000 00001 10011
01111 01110 00101 10111 00101
00001 01011 01110 00101 10011 10011

Like Achilles the samurai has one weakness

Richard watches in horror as the small robot with the chainsaw arms approaches Robo, the teeth of the chainsaw starting to spin rapidly. But the robot reaches past Robo and picks up a piece of metal near Robo's head. The robot's diamond-tipped blades slice through the metal with ease, and the machine then turns around and heads back in the direction it came with its prize.

Richard quietly asks Robo what that machine was, and Robo answers that it is a metal-collecting machine called a dakom. Unfortunately Robo doesn't lower the volume of his voice and the retreating dakom turns around and finally notices the two newcomers. The dakom suddenly fires a laser at Robo, striking his torso and knocking him on his side. Frantically Richard and Robo turn and flee from the dakom, scrambling over the scrap as the dakom purses them and continues firing its lasers.

Richard spots what looks like a service hatch and orders his friend toward it. Just then a much brighter flash of light erupts and when Richard turns he sees that the dakom has been destroyed - Robo had fired his own laser and turned the dakom into scrap. With the dakom out of the way, Richard approaches the hatch and grabs the rusted handles. Robo advises that more dakoms are approaching, which makes Richard tug harder. The service hatch then suddenly pops free and he climbs inside.

Robo squeezes inside as well and Richard closes the door. Robo then fires a beam of light at the door. At first thinking it's his laser, Richard quickly realizes that Robo is actually welding the hatch shut to ensure the other dakoms don't get through. With the dakom threat over, Richard gets his bearings in the large room they have just entered. As he does, he becomes aware of a sound inside, signalling that they are not alone within the dark chamber.

He looks for the source of the sound and his heart sinks when he sees it. Standing not too far away from them is a menacing figure wielding a giant sword and wearing metallic armor. Robo immediately scans the creature and identifies it as Husasan, silicon samurai. Robo also informs Richard that the samurai, currently standing still, is scanning Richard for possible weaknesses.

Richard realizes that he is trapped between Husasan and the dakoms, and before he can weigh the lesser of two evils, Husasan charges straight for him. The samurai stands near Richard and swings his massive sword at the Chosen One. Richard tries to dodge, but the force of the wind alone is enough to knock Richard off his feet. In desperation, Richard rolls along the ground to avoid the blade striking him.

Husasan's sword misses Richard in a hailstorm of sparks. Robo then attemps to attack Husasan by firing his laser, but the laser does no damage to the samurai's armor. Husasan turns his attention to Robo, whose binary panel suddenly outputs a message. Richard quickly translates it, thinks the riddle through, and abruptly realizes the answer. He orders Robo to fire at Husasan's ankle, but Robo is too busy avoiding the samurai's attacks to do so. A forcefield erected by Robo is protecting him from Husasan's blows, but it becomes clear the samurai will get through eventually.

Realizing he had to intervene, Richard takes his sword and swings it at Husasan's back. The sword does little more than bounce off the samurai, who turns to Richard further enraged. Richard takes the chance to scan both of Husasan's ankles and spots what he is looking for: what appears to be some kind of switch on Husasan's right ankle. But he has no chance to attack this weak spot as Husasan starts swinging his blade at Richard. Despite blocking each of the samurai's attacks, Richard recognizes Husasan's superior strength.

Husasan suddenly uses his gloved hand to slap Richard and send him flying through the air. The Chosen One lands on his back but cannot get up before Husasan looms over him and places a boot over his throat, gleefully gloating over his inferior opponent. But Richard is now closer to his adversary's ankle. As Husasan raises his sword into the air, Richard takes his blade and pushes it hard into the switch on Husasan's heel. The samurai speaks for the first time by screaming in agony.

Cracks appear in Husasan's armor as the silicon samurai begins breaking up. Richard squirms from underneath Husasan's boot and tells Robo to withdraw, though Robo reminds his companion to withdraw his sword from Husasan's heel. Richard nods and retrieves his blade as the samurai evaporates into an armor shell. As Richard and his friend flee the decaying Husasan, a ghostly voice could be heard from the remains: "Do not enter the library. Danger." Richard asks what Husasan means, but Robo has no sufficient data to properly respond.

The pair enter a dimly lit tunnel and follow it, noting some foul-smelling green slime. The light grows even dimmer, prompting Richard to ask Robo for some light. The robot responds by shining a torch from one of its panels. Inside the tunnel, Richard can finally see a series of strange paintings of faces on the well. The paintings are sad and sorrowful and their faces seem to follow Richard as he walks past. Suddenly one face speaks up with an other-worldly voice, pleading for the Chosen One to go back.

Richard, shocked, asks the painting who it is. The painting identifies itself as a fragment of light, an echo in time, and again pleas for Richard to turn around. Frightened, Richard instead hurries further down the tunnel. The rest of the paintings come to life and whisper hauntingly to Richard. Eventually the companions reach the end of the tunnel - a pair of metallic doors, which Richard pushes open. Inside, he finds himself ina massive gallery enveloped in blue light.

On the walls were hundreds of glissening glass spheres stacks in numerous piles. Robo indicates that they are in the Library that Husasan had warned them about. Before Richard could ask for clarification, he hears a sobbing sound and realizes it is coming from the glass spheres. He picks up one of the spheres and is amazed to see a human face inside. The face inside speaks to Richard, asking for help.

Richard asks what's going on, and the person inside says that he has been trapped for an eternity by Husasan, who uses him and his fellow trapped beings as his energy source. Richard shrugs and throws the ball to the floor, breaking it and releasing a cloud of smoke. From the smoke steps a human-like figure in the form of a small beautiful child clad in white. The boy introuces himself as Peter in an angelic voice. He informs Richard that he and his friends are floating beings that existed before the Big Bang, and that Husasan has been using them to fuel his power since the beginning of time. Peter, knowing Richard is the Chosen One, pleas for him to break the rest of the spheres.

A chorus of cries erupts from the other spheres as they ask Richard to free them as well. Richard obliges and starts smashing the spheres at a fast rate. Smoke fills the room as more human shapes emerge, and they also help freeing all the captives. Within a short while, all of the glass spheres have been broken.

Richard begins noticing something is wrong when he realizes the smoke smells of rotten egs. Suddenly, a cruel laughter is heard and Richard knows that somethiing is wrong. The angelic form of Peter suddenly emerges and he scoffs at the Chosen One being a fool. There is a flash of light, and the beautiful Peter is replaced with a far more rotten appearance clad in black.

Richard demands to know what is going on, and the new Peter smiles, exposing his rotting teeth. Mentioning the irony of the Chosen One freeing them, Peter informs Richard that they are the remnants of everything evil on the universe, the residue of every cruel act performed in every world and dimension, the echo of everything bad. As thanks for freeing them, Richard will now receive the ultimate reward: becoming one of them. The room fills with smoke once more, and the multitude of figures melt together and congeal into a giant skull-like apparition. The skull orders the Chosen One to approach it.

Story:

The thirty-second issue of The Ancestral Trail is one of the more interesting issues, in my opinion, and it doesn't have much to do with the monster on the cover, Husasan. It actually has a lot to do with the Atomizers*, the creatures that Richard set free inside the Library. These beings are the remnants of every evil act ever performed in the universe and across all dimensions, and I would love it if there had been some further exploration of these monsters. I also find it interesting that Husasan, who appears to be an evil robot initially, was actually guarding the Atomizers and warned Richard not to approach the Library. Despite his enjoyment in trying to kill Richard, Husasan was performing a noble deed in his guarding of the evil beings. Why was Husasan guarding the Library? Did he really use the Atomizers for fuel, or did he guard the Library solely out of some pre-programmed duty?

Another plot-thread left hanging are the paintings inside the narrow corridor before the Library. Who were these paintings, and what was their purpose? Since they warned Richard to go away from the Library, they obviously were not in league with the Atomizers. Could these paintings, like the Atomizers being residue of evil acts, similarly be the resudies of good acts? If so, why did they appear as sad, sorrowful paintings?

Finally, an interesting thing to point out about this issue is the front cover artwork of Husasan. In all of the previous issues, the artwork used on the front cover always appeared in some shape or form inside the issue itself. In this case, Husasan's cover portrait appears nowhere inside the issue. In fact, the cover portrait looks noticeably different from the issue artwork (notice how cover Husasan has green eyes, while the issue Husasan doesn't). My guess is that the cover artwork was some kind of temporary or test artwork that ended up not being used inside the issue but was selected as the cover picture because none of the issue artwork really worked for the cover artwork.

*The name "Atomizers" comes from the trading card that features these creatures on the face. In the issue, these beings do not have a formal name (and still don't in the next issue), so the card makers had to come up with some kind of name for them. While Atomizers sounds like a peculiar title for creatures considered to be the residue of evil throughout the universe, it will be better explained in the next issue.

Go to # 33 - Terraforma, Environmorpher

The Ancestral Trail #31: Holotron, Dynamic Deceiver

2010-03-06T14:46:00.000-08:00

Battle of Wits with a Shape Shifter

Story:

In the thirty-first sector

00110 01001 01110 00100 10100
01000 00101 10100 10010 10101
10100 01000 10100 01000 00001
10100 01100 01001 00101 10011
00010 00101 01000 01001 01110
00100 10100 01000 00101 01100
01001 00111 01000 10100

Find the truth that lies behind the light

Richard watches in horror as the plastic fires below threaten to engulf him and his hovering friend Robo. A sudden explosion sends shards of plastic careening toward the two companions prompting Richard to plead for his friend to do something. Robo reacts, and before the two of them are consumed by fire, a large oval-shaped forcefield surrounds Richard and Robo. Within moments all light is blotted out as the molten plastic solidifies around the forcefield and creates a protective shell.

Richard waits for the exploding sounds to die outside the shell while Robo guides the forcefield to a safe landing spot. When Richard feels the coast is clear, he takes his blade and hacks a hole at the shell, quickly creating an exit for the duo. Outside, the red beauty of the plastic desert has become a desolate wasteland of charred remains. A few moments later, Richard sees the cyber cruiser land beside them, which Robo montonously attributes to remote control. Soon the Chosen One and Robo are flying away from Mortex's desert on the cruiser.

After a while, Richard sees some strange objects in the sky heading straight for the cruiser: a collection of flying cubes. Robo identifies them as cuboids and claims that they're harmless, but Richard quickly disagrees and points out that colliding with one could damage the cruiser. Robo agrees and adjusts his diagnosis.

Suddenly, one of the cuboids knocks Robo off the cruiser and sends the robot flying into the flock of squares. Realizing he couldn't help Robo and knowing he could be struck next, Richard quickly makes the decision to land the cruiser. He dives out of the cuboids cloud and lands on the ground below. When he lands, he is amazed to find that the landscape resembles that of neon-like vector graphics.

As he scans the surrounding land, he notices something in the distance heading toward him. As the object gets closer, Richard discovers that the thing looks exactly like him, with armor, helmet, weapon, and all. The figure moves and stands directly in front of Richard in silence. Richard draws his sword as a precaution, but the mysterious figure does the same.

Richard demands the figure identify himself, and the figure calls himself "Richard, the Chosen One" in a voice identical to Richard's. When Richard asks if this is a joke, the imposter laughs. Angry, Richard lunges for his double, but the fake reacts by exploding in a flash of blue light and beginning to shimmer. The air fills with electricity as Richard hesitates and watches as his duplicate transforms from a human into the form of a giant robotic lizard.

The lizard hisses and reintroduces himself, this time as Holotron. The lizard threatens Richard, but the Chosen One indicates he is not afraid. Holotron laughs cruelly and uses his massive tail to swat at Richard and send him flying. Upon landing, Richard quickly realizes he has no means of defeating Holotron and tries making a dash for the cruiser, willing to take his chances in the sky.

But Holotron cuts the Chosen One off and taunts Richard before the air grows full of static and another transformation comes over the lizard. Within moments Holotron's lizard form is replaced by that of a giant robotic eagle, which launches itself into the air. Richard quickly leaps onto the cruiser and heads into the skies, but Holotron is in hot pursuit

It becomes very clear that Holotron, despite his size, is taunting Richard. The shapeshifter easily keeps pace with the cybercruiser and flies nimbly around the fleeing Richard. The Chosen One desperately wishes Robo and his binary panel were nearby, but the robot is nowhere to be seen. But then Richard notices something about Holotron's current form: though the eagle's body is fully tansformed the wings appear unfinished and looking like the neon grid landscape.

Richard wonders if Holotron might actually be an illusion. He pulls the cruiser to a near halt and faces the eagle, who taunts Richard. Richard responds that he believes Holotron is not real, which sends the eagle into a surprised and terrified roar. Richard stands his ground, which prompts the massive eagle to fly down and pick up a giant neon boulder. Holotron hurls the boulder at Richard, who stands his ground despite feeling his knees shake. The boulder passes through Richard harmlessly, which confirms his idea.

Holotron suddenly begins to shrink in size and its fully formed eagle body shrivel into dust. The amazingly starts pleading with Richard to let him live as tears stream down his eyes. Richard, feeling a twinge of sympathy, asks how he can do so. Holotron pleads for Richard to believe in him, but it's too late: Holotron abruptly vanishes. Below, the neon grid landscape also changes, revealing a beautiful purple world.

As Richard admires the newly seen world, he hears a familiar metallic voice behind him. Robo had been beside Richard on the cruiser all the time, but Holotron had hidden him from Richard's view. Eager to be on their way, Richard pushes the cybercruiser forward. After a long while, as the skies begin to darken, the cruiser starts to approach a ribbon of tall mountains. Robo says the mountains reach into the cyber stratosphere, making going over them impossible. They would have to find a way through them.

The companions make their way through and beside several jagged peaks and hillocks until Richard spots something. It appears to be a door of some kind, but nothing like any door Richard has ever seen. The door's edge is lined with rows of teeth-like spikes, and around the floor of the door are remains of countless robots. Richard wisely suggests they find another entrance through the mountains, a suggestion with which Robo agrees.

Richard comments that he doesn't wish to see what's inside that door, but Robo suddenly says that it's imperative that they do find a way inside, claiming that an Omni piece located there. Reluctantly, Richard lands the cruiser near the healp of destroyed rbbots and disembarks, wondering of there is another way inside. Robo begins to emit several pulses that Richard recognizes as radar, and eventually, the robot finds something.

Robo directs Richard to a large circular panel in the ground, a secret entrance. Robo uses his lasers to cut the panel off, showing a deep and dark tunnel. Robo commands the Chosen One to enter it, which Richard does. The two find themselves sliding down the cold and clammy chute.

Their journey abruptly ends upon landing in a pool of icy cold liquid. Disgusted, Richard waits for his eyes to adjust to the light before he sees that they've landed in some kind of robot scrapyard. Both he and Robo were almost completely immersed in the chilling liquid. Suddenly, Richard hears the sound of something approaching and instructs his companion to keep quiet.

Moments later, a small robot appears. Its appearance is fairly unremarkable except for one detail: for arms, the robot has a paiar of diamond-tipped chainsaws, obviously used to cut up robot components. The robot makes its way toward Robo.

Comments:

For the thirty-first volume of The Ancestral Trail, Richard and his companion Robo begin the main fetch quest of the second half of the series, which is collecting the currently mysterious Omni pieces. The first half of the series had the Life Force Pods and the guardians as the MacGuffins, and now it's the Omni pieces that Richard must find in order to return home. Will these strange pieces perform some kind of helpful side-effect, similar to how the pods bestowed Richard with improved stamina and courage, or will there be something darker in store for our hero?

If it wasn't clear before, it should be clear by now that the Cyber World is very different than the Ancestral World, in more ways than one. While the Ancestral World could be considered one enormous world (the series included a giant map to prove as much), the Cyber World is far more disjointed. A lot of the areas that Richard arrives in don't appear connected to any of the previous ones, which can likely be attributed to his method of travel primarily being the cybercruiser. In a way, this disconnected world makes it far more deadly than the Ancestral World, as a rapidly changing landscape will always keep Richard forever guessing as to the next threat.

Go to #32 - Husasan, Silicon Samurai

The Ancestral Trail #30: Mortex, Molten Trail-Blazer

2009-06-12T16:07:00.000-07:00

White Hot Terror in the Tunnels of Doom

Story:

In the thirtieth sector

10111 01001 10100 01000 01111
10101 10100 01111 11000 11001
00111 00101 01110 10100 01000
00101 00110 01100 00001 01101
00101 10111 01001 01100 01100
00100 01001 00101

Without oxygen the flame will die

Richard tries to escape the pursuing balls of light by maneuvering the hovercraft in various directions, but the strange creatures cannot be shaken. The Chosen One turns to Robo, who is still immobile, and he suddenly gets a brainwave. Remembering when Robo plugged his arm into the hovercraft's socket, Richard takes Robo's arm and repeats the action. Suddenly, a shower of dense steam appears out of nowhere and covers Richard, and he notices quickly that the steam is incredibly cold. But before he could complain about the frost on his armor, he notices that the balls of light have disappeared.

Confused, Richard turns to Robo, who is "coughing" back to life. The robot explains that the spheres of light were Pekods, sensory organs of another being that are attracted to high ambient temperatures, and that Robo had used a permabeam to lower Richard's temperature. Richard, while thankful, hopes that they don't see the Pekods again so he won't get blasted by Robo's ice beam again.

The duo continue flying over the fractured mirror terrain, which eventually morphs into a massive red desert that seems to be made out of plastic particles. As they fly over the dunes, Richard notices a new binary message on Robo's control panel. Curious, Richard asks Robo where the messages come from; Robo replies that he doesn't know because his memory banks were damaged by the acid attack. When Richard inquires how Robo knows where the Cyber Dimension exit is, Robo gives the same response.

It was then that Richard notices something on the ground below them. At first concerned, he is relieved to see it is nothing more than a small hole in the plastic desert. But his relief is short-lived when an invisible force from the hole suddenly grabs Richard and pulls him down towards it. Richard tries to grab Robo but is too late to do anything.

The hovercraft and Robo recede into the distance as Richard falls faster and faster until he is swallowed by the hole, where he continues his descent into increasing darkness. As he falls, he sees strange objects floating in the darkness around him. He tries to reach out and touch one, but he pulls his hand back when the luminous object snarls at him to reveal razaor sharp teeth. His journey comes to a sudden end when he lands on a massive pile of plastic sand at the bottom. When he manages to get up, he notices he is in a tunnel.

He hears a noise in the distance, like a mechanized drumming. Deciding to look around, he spies one end of the tunnel that leads to a distant and faint light. He follows this light until he emerges in a large room lit up with a fluorescent red glow. He finds something familiar about the place, and then he abruptly realizes that he recognizes the smell as the same odor given off by the Pekods. To confirm his suspicions, countless balls of light suddenly flood the chamber.

Richards tries to run away, but the Pekods swarm over him and pin him to where he stands. He struggles, but the grip of the balls of light is too strong, and the Pekods begin forcing him in the direction of another tunnel. Despite their forcing him to move, Richard realizes that the balls do not wish to harm him, and begrudgingly decides to let them take him wherever they're leading him.

Eventually the Pekods take him to another chamber, where they drop him and disappear down another tunnel. Richard sees the source of the loud noise from earlier: a series of machinies lining the chamber's walls. As he nervously waits in the chamber, he hears another sound. To his horror, he recognizes the sound of footsteps belonging to something enormous. Suddenly, a fierce red light envelopes the cavern as a monstrous creature enters. The creature identifies itself as Mortex and demands to know who has entered its citadel.

The creature seems to be made of molten metal, and its hands were massive pincers. Mortex towers over Richard and examines him closely, immediately recognizing Richard as the Chosen One. Richard backs away and draws his sword, but Mortex only laughs, claiming Richard wants to play with him. Mortex fires several fireballs at Richard, who dodges them easily, causing Mortex to laugh in delight. Richard remembers Robo's message, but doesn't know how it will help him.

Mortex fires a white beam of light from between his eyes, which hits Richard and lifts him into the air. Mortex gleefully announces that the Evil one will be pleased to see his prize. In desperation, Richard throws his sword at Mortex, striking the creature dead on and causing it to drop Richard to the ground. But Mortex seems happy at the competition, and doesn't appear all that concerned when Richard picks up his sword and dashes past Mortex into another tunnel.

With Mortex toying with Richard, the Chosen One races down the tunnel and emerges in what appears to be a control room. Not knowing what else to do, he starts haphazardly throwing switches and pressing buttons. Mortex, upon entering the control room, suddenly grows serious as he screams for the Chosen One not to touch anything, almost in a pleading tone.

Not listening, Richard continues throwing switches in a desperate attempt to find a way out of the room. Just as Mortex screams for him not to touch a specific button, Richard presses it and the room above the molten creature collapses. Light bursts into the room as plastic sand falls into the chamber on top of Mortex, burying him and melting to the creature's body.

Richard, partially buried himself, watches as Mortex struggles with the plastic coating when a metallic rope dangles from the hole above. It's Robo, hovering above the hole with a harness. The Chosen One grabs the rope and Robo begins to hoist him upward. As he is lifted, Richard takes one more look at Mortex, who has ceased his struggle and lies still. Richard recalls the binary message and realizes that the melted plastic had cut off Mortex's oxygen supply, thereby snuffing out his fire.

Robo continues to hoist Richard out of the underground citadel when suddenly there is a loud explosion. Beneath them, as Mortex's lair begins to disintegrate, a jet of flame begins to rise from below, threatening to engulf the dangling Chosen One. Richard urges Robo to hoist him faster, as his grip on the harness slowly begins to loosen.

Comments:

The thirtieth issue of The Ancestral Trail introduces us to Mortex, the first main issue creature that has direct ties to the Evil One. The first two creatures - Tengam and Zenon - were similar to Hulkan and Stridor in that they were terrible creatures that already existed in the world, and Flector, while likely having some connection to the Evil One, didn't speak and therefore couldn't confirm this suspicion. Mortex, on the other hand, explicitly declares his allegiance to the Cyber Dimension's lord, which makes it clear that the Evil One knows that Richard is in his world (if the Broon android didn't already make that clear enough).

Concerning this issue, there is an interesting contrast between the cover image of Mortex and the image used inside the issue's pages. The cover image shows a crisp and clear view of Mortex against a contrasting purple-blue background, letting us see Mortex's face vividly. The image on the inside, however, shows a Mortex obscured by the heatwave surrounding his molten body, making him almost blinding to look at. The reason for this contrast likely was done because the page version of Mortex would look too blurry to look at for a cover image, so a cleaned up version was used for the cover. While this does work for a cover image, I have to say the blurred, page version of Mortex is the preferred one, as it makes him look menacing and terrifying - something so terrible and twisted that just looking at it is painful.

Go To #31 - Holotron, Dynamic Deceiver

The Ancestral Trail #29: Flector, Hi-Speed Solar Cruiser

2009-05-02T22:34:00.001-07:00

Battle of Wits with an Airborne Assassin

Story:

In the twenty-ninth sector

10100 01000 00001 10100 10111
01000 01001 00011 01000 01001
10011 10101 01110 01000 00101
00001 10010 00100 10011 10000
00101 00001 01011 10011 101000
01000 00101 01100 01111 10101
00100 00101 10011 10100

That which is unheard speaks the loudest

Richard struggles to escape from the clutches of the tentacle, but the creature tightens its grip and pulls him further down into the mercury sea. But just as he braces for the worst, a bright light flashes from Robo and a laser bolt hits the creature. Though the shot doesn't kill it, the beast's attention is diverted enough for Robo to grab Richard and pull him out of reach.

As Robo carries Richard to the safety of land, the mercury monster finally surfaces and glares angrily back at its lost prey. Robo identifies the mechanical monster as a Hermisite and labels it as dangerous. Upon reaching solid ground, Richard finds the cruiser waiting for him; asking how it was retrieved, he gets an answer of "remote control" from his companion.

The two friends get on the cruiser and fly away from the mercury sea. Soon the landscape changes from the monotonous flat landscape to a forest of massive spikes. White lightning bolts sizzle across the spikes. Robo predictably warns Richard to be careful as they fly through this area. As they fly through the forest, Richard asks Robo a question that had been dogging him since arriving in the Cyber Dimension: would he really ever find a means of leaving this world?

Before Robo can answer, the spike forest ends abruptly and the two find themselves flying over a massive plain that isactually a giant mirror that stretches in all directions. Robo identifies it as a mirror membrane, which separates the Cyber Dimension from other worlds. Richard is estatic, as he believes that this membrane will allow him to return home.

But his joy is short-lived, as Robo's attention is caught by an approaching flying entity. As the object gets closer, Robo immediately sends out a warning, identifying it as Flector, a mirror creature. The creature gets closer still, and Richards sees it is a giant spinning disk held by a crude robot frame. Robo fires his heat ray towards the creature, but Flector immediately fires back an even stronger blast that nearly knocks the cruiser over.

Realizing the creature can absorb and deflect attacks, Richard wonders how they can fight Flector when he remembers Robo's binary panel. A new message has appeared, so he starts to decode it as Flector starts firing a volley of laser beams. As he dodges the lasers, Richard decodes Robo's binary message and has an idea. He asks Robo to send out an ultrasonic sound, and the robot complies.

Richard hears a high pitched tone from his companion as Flector continues to fire upon them. Then, suddenly, there is nothing from Robo, and to Richard's horror Flector is nearly on top of them. Thinking that the plan has failed, Richard prepares for the worst. But suddenly, there is an enormous explosion of light and sound, and Richard watches in amazement as Flector starts to break up. The Chosen One then remembers that ultrasonic pitches are too high for humans to hear.

Flector's enormous mirror shatters into a million fragments and the robotic frame falls apart and plummets to the ground. They land on the mirror membrane and shatters its surface, sending cracks far into the distance. Robo immediately warns that the membrane is breached and there is no more stability. A blast of hot gas sweeps across the cruiser, and Richard passes out.

He awakens to find himself on the cracked mirror membrane, wifh Flector's wrecked frame nearby. Richard notice's that while everything looked the same, nothing was familiar. Robo suddenly chimes in from behind, reaffirming that the cracked membrane has caused a malfunction and that they were now inside the Cyber Dimension sub-version.

Richard understands none of what Robo is saying, but the robot continues by saying they need to find the Omni pieces, which are keys to the Cyber Dimension exit and hidden in the sub-version. Before Richard could ask for more information, there is a loud cracking sound and he turns to watch in horror as the shards of the broken mirror membrane were coming loose and flying straight towards the companions.

Richard and Robo quickly run towards the cruiser as shards of glass rain down on them. Richard's suit protects him from the smaller shards, but he fears getting hit by one of the larger shards. The two jump inside the cruiser and fly off; the glass, however, doesn't give up and flies after them.

Just when it looks like they'll get away, the cruiser starts to slow down, thanks to friction generated by the air density. To increase the power in the craft, Robo connects one of his arms to a socket in the cruiser's panel, and the cruiser pushes forward faster. But the burst of speed doesn't last for very long, and the glass continues to catch up.

Robo disconnects his arm from the socket, filling Richard with alarm. He prepares to feel the full onslaught of the glass, when suddenly the flying shards are deflected from striking them. Amazed, Richard turns to his companion, who says in a weaker voice that he is generating a protective forcefield. The robot manages to maintain the field just long enough for the glass to give up its attack and fall back to the ground.

His batteries drained, Robo informs Richard that he will recharge and falls silent. With Robo now offline, Richard continues piloting the cruiser forward. As he does, he looks down at the seemingly endless mirror plane, where he is fascinated by what lay beneath the enormous sheet. He sees an enormous crack in the plane where beautiful rock formations were visible, and between those rock formations is an incredible sight: hundreds of multi-colored spheres drifting between the rock formations.

But Richard soon notices something amiss when he sees the spheres moving in a particular pattern and realizes that they are following the cruiser. In a panic he tries to outrun the spheres, but the spheres have no trouble with catching up to the cruiser. Richard frantically calls for Robo to wake up, but the robot doesn't answer. It doesn't take long before Richard is surrounded by the colored spheres.

Comments:

The twenty-ninth volume in The Ancestral Trail finally gets things rolling by moving away from the episodic monster-of-the-issue and giving our heroes a motivation for traversing the Cyber Dimension. This motivation turns out to be the Omni pieces, which are apparently some kind of keys that will help Richard return home. So I suppose this means that returning the amulet to the Evil One is no longer an option to return home.

Go to #30 - Mortex, Molten Trail Blazer

The Ancestral Trail #28: Zenon, Laser Lancer

2008-11-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

In the Clutches of the Creature of Light

Story:

In the twenty-eighth sector

00001 01101 01111 01101 00101 01110
10100 01111 00110 10010 00101
00110 01100 00101 00011 10100
01001 01111 01110 00001 00011
01000 01001 00101 10110 00101
10011 10100 01000 00101 00101
01110 00100

A moment of reflection achieves the end

Richard continues to watch in shock as the acid bubbles away on his armor, threatening to reach his flesh beneath it. Robo intones that the acid was shot by hydronomizers, subterranean land guardians. He says that alkali will neutralize the acid, and Richard inquires where they would find such a substance. Robo says it's found in ammonia rain, which is collected by the landscape in pools.

Remembering those horrible-smelling pools they had passed by earlier, Richard leads his dissolving friend over to one of the pools nearby. They make it to the pool just in time. Richard cups his hand, dips it into the pool, and pours the liquid over his armor, stopping the acid from reaching his skin beneath. He then does the same to Robo, pouring the acid over the spots that were eating away at the robot. Richard's only damage is to his suit, but Robo apparently suffers a memory malfunction because of the acid.

The robot advises that they leave the area while he figures out the extent to which he is damaged. Richard agrees and the two start to head out again. As they do, Richard notices a new binary message has appeared on the robot's panel - he translates its message as he did with the first one. The landscape soon changed yet again,this time into a dusty land of power where occasional rock spires dotted the landscape.

Intrigued by one of the nearby spires, Richard attempts to approach it when a sudden burst of white light shines at his feet just in front of him. Stunned, Richard looks up and sees something amazing.

A white humanoid being was floating from behind one of the spires, in his hand a lance of pure white light. Robo quickly identifies the being as Zenon, the laser lancer, and says the creature attacks based on motion. When Richard asks if that means he has to remain still, Zenon answers that question by firing another shot at him while Richard attempted to move.

Robo instructs Richard to duck behind a nearby spire while Robo distracted Zenon. When the robot catches Zenon's attention, Richard quickly ducks behind the spire while Robo dodges several laser throws. Robo quickly joins Richard behind the spire, but Zenon destroys the spire with one of his powerful blasts. Richard is forced to remain still once more, but he suddenly remembers the binary message and asks Robo if he has anyway to reflect Zenon's attacks.

Robo answers in the affirmative and turns around to face Zenon. The light creature fires several deadly blasts at the robot, but instead of destroying him, they bounce harmlessly off him. Using a mirror panel, Robo reflects several of the blasts back at Zenon, striking the unsuspecting creature dead on.

At first nothing happens to the creature, but then Zenon begins to change color and expand into a colorful fireball until he implodes, vanishing completely in midair. Richard compliments Robo for having the mirror, but Robo plainly suggests they keep moving. The two of them set off once again on their journey.

Soon the landscape becomes similar to a giant jigsaw puzzle dried out by the sun. As the two of them walk, a loud sound is heard and Robo suddenly orders Richard to jump to his right. But his movements are too slow, and a large crack emerges beneath his feet and splits open, revealing a giant chasm. Richard tumbles into the chasm but grabs onto the edge with his hand. He cries for help as the ground shifts beneath his hand, and he could feel himself losing his grip. Just then, a metal hand grabs his arm and pulls him to safety. Richard is happy to see Robo hoisting him onto solid ground.

Richard looks around, expecting a destroyed landscape from the earthquake, but sees pretty much exactly what he had seen earlier. Feeling apprehensive of being in this area, he is more cautious about stepping on the cracks in the ground as he and Robo make their way across the jigsaw landscape. Thankfully, after a while, the scenery changes from a cracked area to more featureless plains. In the distance, Richard can see an enormous ocean of a silver liquid.

Eventually, the two companions arrive at a high cliff overlooking the sea below. When Richard wonders what the liquid is, Robo warns that it is mercury, which is poisonous to all life forms. Richard stares at the poisonous liquid for a good while before looking away, and it's then that he notices Robo is gone once more. He starts to panic and calls out for Robo to return.

Just then, he hears a loud humming sound approaching his direction, and within a few moments a strange craft with Robo on it appears. Robo identifies the craft as a cybercruiser, which had been hidden in the landscape, and states it will help them speed up their travels.

Robo insists that Richard familiarize himself with the controls, which Richard does as Robo indicates what the complicated console buttons do. When Richard asks if he could take the cruiser for a test drive, Robo says yes, though says he should wear the safety visor located in the cruiser. Richard nods and gets into the seat of the cruiser, putting on the visor and adjusting his seat. Within moments, he is off the ground and flying the cruiser.

He experiments with how the hovercraft can maneuver, and he is soon flying high and flying low and pushing the craft to as fast as it can go. He soon begins to enjoy himself, the first time since entering the Cyber Dimension. He grows confident enough to fly over the sea of mercury, but his overconfidence pushes him to turn too quickly, causing the craft to tilt to the side too much. He slips out of the seat and falls out of the cruiser, landing with a loud splash inside the mercury ocean.

Richard feels like he is in a bucket of mud, and he suspects he will eventually sink into the dark depths of the poisonous liquid. He is thankful that his armor and visor will protect him from being poisoned, but he knew he had to get out before he was submerged. The cruiser is too far above him to reach, and Robo is still on the shore. He knew he would be in for a bit of a wait.

The mercury is up to his waist by the time Robo arrives to the rescue. He arrives by flying under his own power and hovers just above Richard, extending his telescopic arm to lift Richard out of the mercury. The metallic hand grabs Richard and lifts him out of the sea, and everything seems fine. But suddenly, a whirlpool emerges just beneath Richard, and a metallic tentacle shoots out and wraps around Richard's leg.

Robo tries to pull harder to release Richard, but the tentacle's owner is too strong. Realizing the only way to escape was to give Robo a chance to use his laser, Richard twists free of the robot's grip and allows the tentacle to drag him deeper into the mercury ocean.

Comments:

The one thing (and perhaps the only really notable thing about this issue) that struck me about the twenty-eighth issue of The Ancestral Trail was the noticeable lack of the monster. Like Tengam in the previous issue, the laser lancer Zenon was not really the focus of this issue. He was actually more of a diversion than anything, similar to the hydronomizers that threatened to melt the two companions at the beginning of the issue. Obviously, this is all the monsters can do at this point, as Richard doesn't really have a purpose at the moment other than the vague idea of finding the Evil One.

Go to #29 - Flector, Hi-Speed Solar Cruiser

The Ancestral Trail #27: Tengam, Gravity Defier

2008-10-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

Clash of Metal with a Cyber Warrior

Story:

In the twenty-seventh sector

10010 10101 01100 00101 10011 01111
00110 00001 10100 10100 10010
00001 00011 10100 01001 01111
01110 00101 01110 00100 10111
01001 10100 01000 00011 00101
01110 10100 10010 00001 01100
00011 01111 10010 00101

Rules of attraction end with central core

Richard's vision is blurred for a moment before it clears, and he sighs with relief, believing he is home. But when he takes a good look at his surroundings, he realizes he isn't back in his home world but instead in a strange barren landscape scarred with cracks and acid pools. Yet despite the alien look of the place, it feels familiar. Suddenly it dawns on him: it was the Ancestral City, only in the future!

He then notices he is still wearing the armor Ronek had given him, and he still had his sword, though not his helmet. He then discovers he still has Golan's amulet, which he thought he had returned. Recalling the last words of the final prophecy, Richard begrudgingly starts to look for a way out of his current surroundings, making his way through the ruins of the once pround Ancestral City. He reaches the city gates and finds nothing by a desolate world standing before him.

Just as Richard begins longing for the old Ancestral Trail, he notices a figure approaching him in the distance on the plain. He sees that it's Broon, leader of the Common Beasts and feels elated. He rushes towards his old friend, hoping Broon can explain what was going on.

Suddenly, before Richard could reach him, a shot of raw energy envelopes Broon and sends him into painful spasms. Horrified, Richards turns to the source of the energy wave and amazingly sees a small robot standing beside the Common Beast leader, the beam protruding from one of the robot's eyes. The mechanical being fires another shot at Broon, who howls in agony. Then something incredible occurs: Broon's skin peels away, revealing a metallic body with metal and wires. The robotic Broon writhes for a few more moments before its body snaps apart and collapses to the ground.

The robot that killed Broon turns its attention to Richard, who is understandably nervous. Strangely, the robot doesn't attack but instead introduces itself to him as Robo, who somehow recognizes that Richard is the Chosen One. Robo insists that carbon lifeforms like Richard cannot survive in this world and will require his help. When Richard snaps that Robo had killed his friend, Robo disagrees and says Broon was going to kill him.

Richard takes another look at Broon's broken body and for the first time notices something in the right hand: a futuristic gun, obviously meant for Richard. Having Robo's trust now, Richard listens as the robot explains that this world is known as the Cyber Dimension, which is an alternate reality of the Ancestral World. Richard shows Robo Golan's amulet, and Robo calculates that because the amulet hadn't been returned before Richard had been transported home, he had been incorrectly sent to the Cyber Dimension. When Richard inquires how to get back home, Robo says the only way is to return the amulet to the Evil One.

Richard is rather surprised the Evil One is still alive, but all the same asks how he can return the amulet to him. Robo's peculiar response is to ask Richard to check the robot's chest panel. Richard does so and finds a series of numbers flashing on it. Recognizing it as binary, he translates it as best he can, though he is confused by the meaning of the message. Suddenly, before he can ponder it, Robo and Richard hear a loud whirling sound behind them before being swept off their feet by some unseen force and into the air.

Robo issues a warning that a metallic being called Tengam is pulling them up and requires evasive action. Richard looks up to see the robot, which is pulling them upward with a magnetic field towards a hollow beneath Tengam's body, where metallic blades swirled viciously. Robo's evaluation about Tengam using magnetic fields to attract metal for regeneration doesn't help them, but what does help them is when Richard notices a glowing orb behind Tengam's grinder. Recognizing it as the creature's power source, Richard orders Robo to strike the central core. Robo releases a familiar shot from his circular lens and strikes the core; instantly both he and Richard fall back to the ground.

Richard quickly gets up and sees the lifeless form of Tengam laying beside him. Robo, however, advises that Tengam will regain conscience eventually and that they should leave the area. With Robo leading the way, the two head away from the gravity defier. Richard finds himself amazed at the expansive landscape they find themselves in, with the ground made of countless slates wielded together and sounding hollow with each foostep. His distraction is such that he doesn't notice Robo is gone before it's too late.

Now alone, Richard decides it best to press on, though he finds himself wondering just who Robo is and what his agenda is. Just then, he notices a dark line approaching him from the distant horizon. He tried thinking about what to do, but the line moved too quickly for him to make any sudden decisions. He quickly discovered the line was composed of bullet-shaped robots soaring over the air, and without warning they surrounded him from all sides.

Richard unsheathes his sword, but the bullets respond by slowing closing in, threatening to crush the Chosen One. Before they could touch him, a bright light flashes and leaves several of the robots lying on the floor in pieces. The remaining bullet-like creatures reform into a line and dash off, as if nothing had happened. To Richard's relief, Robo had returned.

Robo identifies the bullet-like robots as Land Leapers and advises avoiding them. As the two of them resume their journey, Richard tries asking several times why Robo deserted him, but the robot doesn't respond to the question. Resigned to his companion's silence, Richard continues following Robo, the landscaping changing into a place where foul-smelling liquid pools dot the area.

Soon the landscape changed again, this time with a metallic flooring with square holes in patterned positions. The two of them walk along this new ground in silence before their travels are interrupted. Green liquid suddenly shoots from several of the holes in the floor, striking Robo and bouncing onto Richard's arm. Robo immediately warns that the liquid is concentrated acid, and Richard watches in horror as his arm hisses with the sound of burning metal.

Comments:

And so the second half of The Ancestral Trail begins with the twenty-seventh issue, taking our hero from a fantasy world into a science-fiction setting. So now we go from giant monsters and magical beings to creatures based more on scientific principles. Okay, so there won't be any grounding of reality, but as long as things remain fun, that shouldn't be a problem, eh?

The Cyber Dimension series starts off by addressing a plot hole not dealt with in the last issue...okay, maybe not dealt with, but more like mentioned. In the previous issue, the Evil One had been destroyed and the Ancestral World saved thanks to the victory of the good side in the Final Battle. But what's this, the Evil One isn't really destroyed, says this issue. Now, those who've read the previous issue recognize the plot hole: the Evil One was never even seen in the final issue (unless you count a brief glimpse of his mask in smoke at the very end). It's never addressed how the Evil one was killed in the Final Battle. One could make the case that the forces of good didn't believe they had killed the Evil One but believed they had rid the Ancestral World of his influence, but if that's the case, then why did Richard believe the Evil One to be destroyed?

One thing that made me blink the first time reading this issue was that when informed that the only way to return home was to return Golan's amulet to the Evil One, Richard doesn't hesitate to ask where the Evil One is. He doesn't want to kill the Evil One, mind you, but instead wants to return the amulet to him. Had The Ancestral Trail been given more space to allow for more complex characterization, I would've loved to see this area of Richard's personality explored. After going through hell to save the Ancestral World, all he wants to do is return home. How would you feel to find yourself in another crazy world and the only way back is to return someone important to someone evil? Would Richard really do such a thing despite, or perhaps because of all he had been through?

Finally, I'd like to mention this issue's villain, the gravity defier Tengam. Tengam is obviously not a really big villain here, as he isn't even seen in half the issue. In fact, I doubt he's even evil - he tried to kill Richard not because he's an enemy of the Evil One, but because Richard wears armor that can fuel Tengam's core. One wonders who will be the first creature in the Cyber Dimension that has a more direct connection to the Evil One.

Go to #28 - Zenon, Laser Lancer

The Ancestral Trail #26: The Evil One

2008-04-26T16:48:00.001-07:00

Fight to the Finish in the Final Battle

Story:

On the Twenty-Sixth Day...

Night arrives with Evil force.
Terror, bloodshed run their course.
Doom awaits on either hand
But victory in sea, on land,
Brings at last the light of day.
Yet to not turn so fast away.
For even in the final scene
All is still not what it seems.

The journey to the Ancestral City takes hours, but eventually Ravan starts to descent from the skies to the ground, where the Ancestral City awaits them. The skies are filled with darkness that can only be created by the Evil One, but Richard is able to make out several campfires on a series of low hills. Beyond this ridge, the Ancestral City's towers and turrets are visible, as is a peculiar light that hovers above the city.

Ravan descends and lands upon the ground within the forests on the outskirts of the Ancestral City. Orkan, Melek and Richard climb off the horse's back and find Juroot waiting for them nearby. The Guardian greets them and congratulates them on finding all of the pods, but says that the city must be recaptured before they can be returned to the Tree of Life. With this, Juroot leads the trio to the Council of War.

After passing through camps of eager soldiers, they all arrive in a clearing, where many creatures have amassed. Among the familiar faces to Richard are Oganga, Zard, Kika, and Tuska. Richard asks where Golan is, and Juroot answers that only Golan's spirit is with them - he will show himself only at the Tree of Life.

With the newcomers seated, the council begins arguing how to best enter the Ancestral City. Some argue for a direct attack, others for tunneling beneath the city walls. After a lot of arguing, Juroot calls for quiet and gives his decision: a compromise. The dwarfs will tunnel beneath the city while Oganga's bird forces will distract the Evil One's forces from above. The rest of the forces will surround the city and be ready for the signal to attack directly.

The council greets Juroot's plan with enthusiasm and the Guardians begin drawing up their plans of attack. When everything is decided, the Guardians disappear into the forest to sort out their armies into separate divisions.

The armies patiently wait for the signal to advance towards the Ancestral City. After a long wait, the signal comes in that the dwarfs have entered the Ancestral City and are ready to open the gates. Richard and his companions, marching in Juroot's forces, follow the Guardian of Truth towards the north gate of the city. Above, Oganga's birds attempt to distract the Evil One's forces below, many losing their lives to arrows.

An insect scout arrives and relays the bad news that the Evil One's forces are amassing at the north gate, preparing to attack; Juroot orders his troops to advance. Soon, a mass of the Evil One's armies pour out of the north gate in countless numbers, marching directly towards Juroot's division. Juroot's men surround the Evil One's army in a pincer formation. As a group of Landsmen face some Cozards, the Ancestral forces fire flamed arrows at the Evil One's forces. Scorpions burst into flames and Grapfrits explode while earwigs and killer bees twitch to their deaths, throwing the evil army into chaos.

A scout warns that the Evil One is bringing out catapults and is preparing an assault on Zard's forces on the west gate. Then, without warning, Richard watches as fireballs are fired from the Ancestral City towards Juroot's army, bursting upon impact and killing all nearby. The Evil One's lack of compassion for his own forces allows him to hurl fireballs at will. Juroot orders his troops to advance despite an approaching swarm of Grapfrits when he gets word that the dwarves have opened the gates inside the city.

With all four gates open, the Ancestral forces surge into the city and attack on all fronts. Inside, Richard sees the city in disarray as the forces of good struggle against the forces of evil. The streets are filled with scorpions, earwigs, Cozards, and killer bees, and some of the weaker Ancestral creatures fall victim to the Cozards' cruel fighting. Several earwigs attempt to attack Zard but are cut down by the Guardian's mighty ax. Juroot is besieged by a couple of Cozards before Tuska joins in.

Meanwhile, the oceans are also being fought over between the forces of good and evil. The first to strike are Nemis' ghost sailors, but Doonar's dolphins ram the specter ship until it disappears. Then comes Sumar, the Moss Beast, dragging herself through the mud towards the Ancestral Forces, followed closely by a giant squid and an army of stingrays. The forces of good are pushed back towards the shallows, where Tolosh await them. But before the trap can be sprung, the Tolosh are ambushed by alligators that had encircled them. The sea turns a bright pink as the Tolish are devoured by the eager reptiles.

Emboldened by this victory, Guardians Tishon and Shunta advance their forces and attack Sumar directly. The Moss Beast can't react soon enough and the twin Guardians slit her throat. With Sumar defeated, he squid and stingrays are easy pray to Doonar's dolphins. The few stingrays that escape to the shore are quickly devoured by the alligators. The battle at sea has been won by the Ancestral Forces.

Back at the ancestral trail, the forces of good are assisted by a mysterious column of flame that destroys many of the evil forces before dying down. Word of the victory at sea reaches the city and empowers the Ancestral Forces while demoralizing the Evil One's armies. The large numbers of the Evil One's forces now becomes a disadvantage in the narrow streets of the Ancestral City, known more intimately to the original inhabitants. The Guardians lead their troops through every nook and cranny in the city, cutting down throngs of the Evil One's forces stuck in the thin roads. The dead fall quickly now that the tables have turned.

Within moments, the battle is over - the Evil One's forces have been defeated. The forces of good begin the task of moving the dead - both good and evil - out of the city. A long process of sorting takes place, and eventually two piles of bodies - one for good, one evil - are erected outside the city walls. The piles become funeral pyres as they are lit, and the Ancestral forces watch along the city walls as their companions are given their necessary funeral.

When the flames eventually die down, Juroot wearily exclaims that the Final Battle is over, and the Ancestral World can begin again. The Guardian motions for Richard, Orkan and Melek to follow him, and the trio do. Juroot leads them to a familiar place: the tree of Life, where Golan is standing to greet the Chosen One. Golan congratulates Richard on completing the quest and mentions that Richard has learned much from his quest, to which Richard readily agrees. Richard wonders if the pods were responsible for his growth, but Golan reads Richard's mind and disagrees, saying the manner in which he gained that growth is most important and will remain with him forever.

Richard then recalls something and asks Golan who was the "one to guide Richard," since Richard had two companions on his journey, Orkan and Melek. Golan firsts takes the Life Force Pods and returns them to the Tree of Life, where they begin radiating a beautiful gold. Golan then answers that neither Orkan nor Melek was his guide - his guide was his inner self.

By now the remaining Guardians have arrived around the tree and Richard turns to Orkan. He gasps when he sees Orkan wearing golden armor and carrying golden weapons, just like the other Guardians. Golan reveals that because of Armor's death, a new Guardian is needed to take his place, and it was Orkan's destiny to join the Guardians. Richard inquires about Melek, and a small figure dressed in vermilion robes steps out from behind the Guardians. It is Melek, and Golan explains that he had become the Keeper of the Sacred Runes and will be the leader of his people.

Golan then informs Richard to say his farewells, as it is time for him to return to his own world. Richard feels like he is losing true friends, but he suddenly yearns for home and says his goodbyes to everyone. Golan thanks Richard again and remarks that the amulet Richard wears must remain in the Ancestral World. Richard nods and allows for the Guardian to reach for the amulet around his neck.

As Golan reaches for the amulet, Richard suddenly sees a blinding flash above the Ancestral City. A towering column of blackness with two slanted red eyes can be seen above the city. It scans the battlefield for a moment before vanishing in the air, leaving a distinct image of the Evil One's mask. Had the Evil One truly been defeated?

Comments:

There is a lot I love about the twenty-sixth issue of The Ancestral Trail, and one thing I don't, but overall it is certainly a great way to..."conclude" a series.

For starters, the Final Battle is perhaps the best battle in the entire series. It doesn't skim on the fact that people die in this battle on both sides, and goes through great lengths to show that sacrifices were made so that the Ancestral Forces could win this war. The battle took up a good chunk of the final issue, and every word was put to good use, making up for many of the short battles in earlier issues (see Enlil, Fenrar, Zyton, etc.).

However, I do have to mention the one thing I didn't like about this issue, or at least one that is a little confusing. Throughout the battle, the Evil One is never seen directly, and he is never fought. The Guardians don't even seem to be concerned about him throughout the battle, focusing instead on the Evil One's forces themselves. Either this is a huge oversight on the part of the book's author, or there is another reason entirely. A possibility: could it be that the Evil One was never in the Ancestral World, he simply ruled over it using the creatures he created? Is that why the Ancestral Forces, even Golan, didn't bother with him once the final Cozard was dead and burned on the funeral pyre?

But back to the good things: the image of the Guardians around the Tree of Life is perhaps one of my favorite in the series. A direct second is that of Juroot fending off Cozards with his mace while standing in front of a banner that shows the mask of the Evil One, an image so awesome that it was used for this issue's cover.

Speaking of the cover, I love how the cover cleverly and subtlety informs the reader that the journey is not over yet, that the story hasn't finished. Notice how the ancient scrolls used for the title of each book are peeling away, revealing a bizarre, metallic-like plate? Anyone who has read the series beyond the 26th issue already knows what's going to happen, but those who don't can most likely take an educated guess.

Finally, there are no cards for this issue because...well, they've been used up in the previous issues.

Quotes:

"You have done well. Your task is almost done, but the Evil One's forces still hold the city. Not until they are destroyed can the pods be returned to the Tree of Life and the Guardians be reinstated. Only then will our world be secure."

-Juroot

Richard: "Where's Golan?"
Juroot: "He is with us in spirit. Not until we reach the Tree of Life will he show himself."

"A frontal attack would cost too many lives. There must be a compromise. The dwarf forces will go in ahead and tunnel under the walls. They will give a signal when they are ready to open the gates. Oganga and his bird forces will create a diversion from above. Insect scouts will keep the Guardians informed of enemy activities throughout. The rest of us will divide into four groups and be ready to advance simultaneously when we get the signal. Zard, you take your troops through the west gate, Tuska take the east and Kika the south. Richard, Melek and Orkan will join me and go in through the north gate. Remember the Evil One's forces will be ready for us. Be vigilant and good luck."

-Juroot

"It's finished. Our lives can begin again."

-Juroot

"Don't worry, the pods have contributed much but their true wealth lies in the manner in which you gained them. The value of that experience will remain with you forever."

-Golan

Richard: "Who was the guide you said would help me? You mentioned only one, but Orkan and Melek were with me all the way."
Golan: "Yes, I said there would be one to guide you, but it was neither Orkan nor Melek. Your inner self was your guide."

Go to #27 - Tengam, Gravity Defier

The Ancestral Trail #25: Fenrar, the Desert Stalker

2008-04-26T15:28:00.001-07:00

Danger and Deceit at Dead River Sands

Story:

On the Twenty-Fifth Day...

Walking underneath the sun,
Do not fear the vision double.
Do not waver! Do not run!
Falsehood now is not a trouble.
Shifting shapes amid the sand
Travail the three by Wizard's Well.
A toothy welcome is at hand
To chink ajar the gates of hell.

As Syrus lifts his finger to finish Richard off with a single spell, Richard hears a voice inside his head, the voice of Golan telling him that the spell that freed them will also kill. Remembering that speaking their names backwards three times had freed them from the bubbles, Richard calls out Syrus' name three times backwards. The genie at first seems only angered by hearing such words and prepares to kill a dejected Richard.

Just then, Syrus' arms and torso begins shrinking, all being sucked inward towards a red sphere that suddenly appears inside Syrus' body. The genie collapses inwardly into himself, compressing himself into the red sphere like a black hole. When the red sphere is all that is left, the disc itself begins shrunking, until it disappears in a whiff of orange smoke.

With Syrus dead, the trio run through the door to find the Landsmen, who are waiting for them a short distance down the tunnel. They all cheer happily when they learn of Syrus' demise, and the group begins marching through the tunnel once more. Soon, they burst through the end of the tunnel and find themselves on top of Sorcerer's Falls, beside the lake that feeds the waterfall.

Richard asks Ronek if he knows anything about Wizard's Well, where the last pod remains. Ronek mentions he only knows that many creatures guard the pod and offers to accompany the trio to the desert. Richard declines, saying that the Landsmen need to return to Golan. Reluctantly, the Landsmen bid the Chosen One and his friends farewell and depart for the Ancestral City.

As the Landsmen depart, Richard and his friends read the Book of Propehcies, which doesn't shed any light on the creatures that guard Wizard's Well. Instead, he is more fearful of the shifting shapes mentioned, which Orkan points out could be the desert itself. With this knowledge in hand, the three resume their journey once more, climbing their way down the mountain and using the Path Finder to head through the last portion of the Yellow Stone Peaks. Eventually, they reach the edge of the desert.

The desert proves to be quite a foe for the three. Despite using the Path Finder to lead them, the desert makes sure their movement is slow and laborious, as dunes shift with the winds and the sun beats down upon them relentlessly. The leather straps of Richard's new armor digs sharply into his skin, but the surprisingly light armor feels like a welcome safeguard against whatever might lurk behind the dunes.

Just then, as the three arrive on a flat plain, the trio sees three figures approaching them from the horizon before them. Because the haze blurs their vision, they cannot make out who they are. Orkan suggests getting in a single file and the trio does so; to their dismay, the figures do the same. Orkan orders his friends to get down, and they do - their foes mimic their actions.

Richard draws his dagger and sees one of his foes do the same. Realizing what was happening, Richard throws his weapon into the air and sees a mirror image across from him. He quickly tells his friends that the three figures are nothing more than mirages, and does a jig to demonstrate; Orkan and Melek are amazed to watch one of their "adversaries" copy Richard's movements exactly.

Their scare over, the trio continue their trek. As their mirage counterparts disappear into the desert haze, several more shapes start to emerge. Orkan quickly denounces them as another mirage, but as they get closer Richard realizes that the shapes are real trees and exclaims that they've arrived at Wizard's Well.

They enter the trees and find themselves in an oasis of palm trees surrounding a crystal blue lake. The three head for the water, but are cut off when a large lizard darts out from behind a clump of rocks, a lizard that resembles the ones freed in Dragora's Lair. The lizard introduces himself as Fenrar in a very friendly tone.

Richard asks Fenrar if he's seen the Life Force Pod, but Fenrar doesn't know and offers the three a chance to swim in the lake before they search for the pod. The trio, needing no encouragement, head towards the water, cast off their weapons and belongings, and dive into the refreshing water. Fenrar watches them quietly through slitted eyes.

While the three are occupied in the water, Fenrar carefully starts moving all of their belongings behind a sand dune. When all of their weapons and items are hidden, Fenrar resumes his spot underneath a tree. Richard, sensing something is wrong, at this moment turns to face Fenrar, and watches the lizard changing shape. To his horror, Fenrar morphs from a lizard into that of a wolf, who howls into the air to announce his presence.

Finally understanding what the prophecy and Ronek meant, Richard and his friends scramble out of the lake to get their weapons, but Fenrar laughs when they find their belongings gone. Fenrar bounds lightly towards the trio and surveys them quickly before settling on Melek. Richard and Orkan have no time to react when Fenrar grabs Melek and shuffles away from them, the naked scribe positioned in the wolf's jaws and ready to be eaten.

Melek cries for his friends to save themselves, while Richard and Orkan watch helplessly, knowing they can't do anything without their weapons. As Richard looks around for something to help, he sees something in the sky and gasps in amazement. A winged horse is approaching the oasis from the sky, soaring towards the water's edge and sailing across the surface with beats of its mighty wings. Richard recognizes the horse as salvation, and Fenrar does as well when he sees the white creature.

Fenrar drops Melek, who scampers back to his friends, and Fenrar doesn't waste any time. His wolf body begins transforming once more, becoming that of a winged horse, only black instead of the trio's savior's white. The white horse lands before Fenrar and the shape-shifter lunges with its hooves. But the white horse manages to knock Fenrar so powerfully that it sends him off balance. Taking advantage of this, the white horse uses its hooves to send several powerful blows against Fenrar into the ground. Fenrar, defeated, finds his body morphing into several creatures simultaneously before his body vanishes into the air.

With Fenrar dead, the white horse approaches Richard. He introduces himself as Ravan, sent to help the three complete their quest. Richard tells Ravan that Fenrar took everything they had, but Ravan points out that Fenrar had hidden them behind a nearby dune. Their things retrieved, Richard pulls out the Path Finder and uses it to see out the remaining pod. He finds that the pod is nestled in a palm tree with razor-edge needles, and realizes he can't climb the tree.

Ravan assists and flies up to the top of the tree, and grabs the Life Force Pod from the tree's nest of leaves with his teeth. He then flies back down to Richard and gives the Chosen One the final pod. Richard, realizing his quest is nearly over, takes the pod with glee.

With the pod quest completed, Ravan tells Richard and his friends to climb on his back so he may take them to the Ancestral City, where the final battle awaits. The three friends climb onto the horse's back and Ravan soars into the air, carrying the trio towards the end of their journey. As they fly, Ravan brings them up to speed with the latest news, saying that Golan has amassed all of the Ancestral World's forces together and is only waiting for the pods and Richard's return.

But Ravan also brings bad news: Amor, Guardian of the Common Beasts, was killed by Cozards while attempting to reunite with Broon and his troops. Also, the Evil One's forces are also congregating towards the Ancestral City, and look to be fiercer than the last final battle before Richard's arrival in the Ancestral World.

As Ravan carries the trio, they see the skies ahead of them growing darker. Richard suspects the darkness has more to do with the Evil One, than anything. Conversation grows sporadic as the possibility of death in the coming battle enters their minds.

Characters:

Fenrar is a creature that dwells within Wizard's Well. It is fair to label Fenrar as a general "creature" or "beast" because he is a shape-shifter who can change his appearance to any creature he wishes, though it is plausible that his primary appearance is that of a wolf. It can also be assumed that Fenrar holds allegiance to the Evil One, as he guards one of the Life Force Pods inside Wizard's Well. Fenrar's primary weapon is deceit: he lures unsuspecting prey to the oasis, lures them into a false sense of security, and pounces when they can no longer defend themselves.

"Fenrar was changing shape. His legs were getting longer, his tail shrinking. Ears pricked on his head and his jawline sharpened into a canine muzzle. Dark, wiry hair sprouted all over his body. The transformation was complete within seconds. In place of the lizard there was now a wolf. Fenrar raised his head and gave a ferocious howl."

Ravan is a winged horse that was sent by Golan to assist Richard in completing his quest. Little is known about Ravan other than he is one of the Mystical Beasts of the Guardian Tuska. Since Ravan was sent near the end of Richard's quest, it can be assumed that Ravan was only sent after Tuska and the Common Beasts, having been freed from from the clutches of the winged lion Kronis, arrived at the Ancestral City to take part in the final battle.

Comments:

The twenty-fifth issue of The Ancestral Trail can at first glance appear quite shallow, but upon closer inspection there are some fascinating items to glean from this issue. For starters, and most importantly, the final Life Force Pod - the very items that Richard was meant to retrieve - has been found. Along the way he has faced many evil creatures, saved many of the Ancestral World's races and most of their Guardians, and grown from a timid boy to a battle-hardened fighter. It was once remarked that The Ancestral Trail is an elaborate allegory for growing up, and while that is a simplistic idea, it is a well-founded one.

Another item of note is the arrival of Ravan, the winged horse who saved the trio from Fenrar, who looked like he had them in his clutches. Many will see Ravan as nothing more than a deus ex machina, a creature brought in to save Richard at the last minute when no other feasible solution could be found. But Ravan is a little more than that: he is the embodiment of Richard's quest's fruits. By saving all of those races from the Evil One's power, creatures like Dion and Ravan could be sent out by Golan to assist the Chosen One in finishing the quest.

Also, the issue pulls quite a startling turn of events when it reveals that Armor, the Guardian of the Common Beasts, was killed by the Evil One's forces. This unexpected death simply reaffirms that death is a horribly deformed aspect of the Ancestral World under the Evil One, and no one - not even a Guardian - can escape it. This brings up the question of what will happen to the Common Beasts later on? Who will be their Guardian now?

On a final note, the last Life Force Pod has been retrieved, and I can reveal that, unlike in previous issues, this pod won't show its power to Richard in the next issue. Therefore, I can state that this Life Force Pod is the Pod of Truth.

Quotes:

"Surys! Surys! Surys!"

-Richard

Richard: "There is one more pod at Wizard's Well. Do you know anything about the place?"
Ronek: "Only that it's in the desert and guarded by a host of different creatures."

Richard: "Well, appart from a toothy welcome, it doesn't throw any light on the beasts that Ronek mentioned. It seems more concerned with deception - falsehood and shifting shapes."
Orkan: "It could be the desert itself. The dunes move every year, creating new landmarks and covering the old. In the desert you can rely only on yourself. Nothing else is certain."

"It's okay. It's a mirage. There are millions of specks of sand floating in the air. When the sun hits them at a certain angle they become a natural mirror. We've been scared of our own reflections! Look."

-Richard

"He's taken everything."

-Orkan

"I'll take you first."

-Fenrar

Go to #26 - The Evil One

The Ancestral Trail #24: Syrus, Spirit of the Sky

2008-04-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

Devilish Dealings with a Devious Genie

Story:

On the Twenty-Fourth Day...

When risen from enchanted blight
A slender hope across the height
Takes them to the torrent's door.
Swept by spirit off the floor
Then in evil's clutches bound.
Break with thrice the backwards sound
Of names of those so tightly held
The genie's magic rudely spelled.

The three friends try to look for a way past the massive waterfall, but there is no visible pathway. Stumped, Richard asks Melek to consult the Book of Prophecies. After reading the prophecy, he takes another look at the waterfall and sees something he didn't notice before: a slim ledge running along the walls of the rocky face and towards the waterfall. He excitedly points it out to his friends.

The ledge is fairly narrow and looks dangerous, but they decide to risk it. Richard goes first along the edge, followed by Orkan and then Melek. At first the journey across the ledge is nerve-wracking, especially as the ledge climbs gets higher above the water below, but eventually the ledge widens and grows easier for them to manage. Eventually, they reach the falling water itself, and Richard takes a step inside. The wall turns out to be a curtain of water, and the three pass through fairly easily. They emerge in a tunnel that slopes upward into the mountain.

With the path ahead of them, the three start walking in the strangely lit corridor. After a while of walking, they find a small wisp of smoke rising from the floor ahead. As they watch, the wisp suddenly grows in size and a white shot of vapor spills out. The smoke begins to shape itself into that of a creature, one with an upper body and nothing but smoke for a lower body. The creature's final form is that of a genie.

The genie identifies himself as Syrus and demands to know what Richard and his friends are doing in his realm. Richard tells the genie they are trying to reach Wizard's Well and do not wish to disturb him. The genie laughs, saying he knows why they are trying to reach the well and points a finger directly at the trio. The three freeze where they stand.

Syrus smirks and causes multicolored ooze to emerge from the floor and surround the trio. Moments later, the three are wrapped by the giant hand of Syrus, who sneers at his captives before carrying them down the tunnel. The same smoke follows closely, obscuring the three's vision and blurring their senses.

After a while, their captive lets them go and the smoke clears. The three find themselves in a room decorated with fancy silk and rugs. Syrus floats before them above a carpet of small bubbles with tiny people inside them. Syrus declares that this is the trio's final drestination. Orkan tries to launch an arrow at the genie, but Syris points a finger at them. An instant later, the three find they have shrunk and are stuck inside a bubble like the ones on the floor.

With a cackle, the genie disappears, leaving the trio trapped in the bubble. The three try to break the bubble with their swords, but the bubble is rubbery and refuses to break. Defeated, they decide to see who is trapped in the other bubbles and roll over the floor inside the bubble. When they reach the other bubbles, they look inside and Melek recognizes the people inside. They are Melek's people, the Landsmen.

Melek strikes up a conversation with one of the Landsmen inside one of the bubbles, and the trio listen to the man's tale of how they were captured by Syrus. The man reveals that the genie is holding them captive until the Evil One arrived to put them under his spell, and that only magic could hope to break the bubbles. Realizing the Evil One mustn't find them here, Richard tries to think of a way out when he remembers the prophecy.

They remember prophecy's verse and figure out that saying the name of someone backwards three times is the key to breaking the bubbles. The trio give it a go, saying their names backwards three times, and the bubble that holds them bursts. Excited, Richard calls to the other Landsmen to do the same, and soon the room is filled with nonsensical words being spoken aloud. One by one, the bubbles burst until none remained.

The leader of the Landsmen, one called Ronek, approaches Richard and thanks him for freeing them, though points out they all still need to reach their original size. The prophecy doesn't mention anything about this, so the tiny heroes resort to searching Syrus' cave. There is a single door inside the chamber, and the trio and swarm of Landsmen head straight for the slightly ajar portal.

They find no one inside, but they do find several shelves holding countless bottles of potions. The bottles contain no labels, but Richard and his friends climb up a shelf to take a look anyway. After a bit of searching, Richard sees a bottle and his instincts tell him that this bottle contains the potion that will restore their height.

With the help of some Landsmen, Richard tips the bottle over on its side. He opens the stopper and a pink liquid pours out. Richard takes a small sample of the liquid and rubs it on the back of his hand. Moments later, Richard suddenly shoots upward and he returns to his original height. Quickly he grabs the bottle and pours its contents on the ground beside the army of Landsmen. The Landsmen mimic his actions, and soon everyone else has reached their original height.

Richard says that they need to leave before Syrus returns, but the Landsmen first need to collection their weapons. They all hustle back into the first room, where against one wall several pieces of armor and weapons lay scattered. The Landsmen quickly collect their belongings, until only a single armor remains, one that belonged to one of the Landsmen's greatest warriors before he was killed by Syrus. With their blessing, Richard takes the armor and puts it on.

The armor, despite its size, feels incredibly light, and Richards feel confident in taking on anything. With their weapons collected, the Landsmen start hustling back through the potions workshop and towards another door that hopefully leads to freedom. As the last Landsmen disappears through the door, a familiar smoke appears and morphs into the form of Syrus, blocking the three's pathway. The genie points a finger at Richard, and Richard feels helpless to do anything against the magical being.

Characters:

Syrus is a powerful genie that dwells within the mountains that house Sorcerers Falls. Like many of the evil creatures in the Ancestral World, Syrus holds allegiance to the Evil One. He is considered very powerful in terms of magical ability, but he also has a workshop where he contains many potions that also perform magical tasks. Syrus' most recent duty was capturing and imprisoning the remaining armies of the Landsmen, holding them until the Evil One arrives to collect them.

"The smoke began to mould itself into another shape. First a round, bald head with pointed ears and a cruel mouth appeared. Then came broad shoulders, set above a muscled torso that shone as if it had been oiled. The lower half of the apparition was nothing more than smoke. The creature was a genie."

The Landsmen are a race in the Ancestral World that closely resemble humans in shape. Their stature makes them similar to dwarfs in size, though they are apparently slightly larger. It can be assumed that they are closely related to the dwarf forces, who were placed under a spell by the Evil One and put in the care of Zock before being freed by Juroot. The Landsmen were captured by Syrus and imprisoned in the genie's stronghold, presumably to hold until the Evil One arrived to put them under the same spell as the dwarfs were once under.

Comments:

For the twenty-fourth issue of The Ancestral Trail, the issue's monster is that of one found in real world myth: the legendary genie. Syrus is a fairly interesting foe, because he has the potential to be quite menacing. Genies are thought to have unlimited powers, and during the brief time we see Syrus we can tell he's able to perform some powerful magic with the simple point of a finger. With that in mind, Syrus also seems to serve the Evil One, or at least he is in cohorts with him. This brings up the question: what if Syrus were just as powerful as the Evil One? How would that dynamic work between the two?

The enslaving of the Ancestral World takes an interesting turn when Richard and his friends find the Landsmen captured by Syrus in those bubbles. By now, the Evil One has to be panicking. Richard has freed all but one Guardian, retrieved all but one Life Force Pod, killed many of the evil creatures that roam the world, and freed many enslaved races. The fact that Syrus is holding the Landsmen captive but that the Landsmen are not under the Evil One's spell suggests that the Evil One is trying to recover his losses. All of this leads to the inevitable final battle for the Ancestral World, just as soon as Richard retrieves the final Life Force Pod at Wizard's Well.

Quotes:

Syrus: "Who dares enter the realm of Syrus, spirit of the sky?"
Richard: "We mean you no harm, Syrus. We only want to reach Wizard's Well. We apologize for coming into your domain uninvited. Please allow us through."
Syrus: "You can't fool me. I know why you want to get to Wizard's Well."

"I think it's time you learned a lesson."

-Syrus

"This is your final destination. I hope you like it - you're going to be here a very long time so get used to it."

-Syrus

"Kelem! Nakro! Drahcir!"

-Melek, Orkan and Richard

"This belonged to one of our greatest heroes. He was killed when we were captured by Syrus. Now it is yours."

-Ronek

Go to #25 - Fenrar, the Desert Stalker

The Ancestral Trail #23: Dagmar, Demon of Fire

2008-03-31T18:47:00.001-07:00

Flames of Fury over Yellow Stone Peaks

Story:

On the Twenty-Third Day...

Beware the fire from demon sprung
By the bridge so weakly slung.
From the danger bravely run
The fight has only just begun.
Remember well what legends say,
There is a green hill far away.
The path you seek as hard you may,
But evil 'tis that rules the day.

The trio flail haplessly through the air as the hot currents carry them upward. Then, without warning, the hot air ceased and left the three friends to fall to the ground with a thud. A short distance away from where they land, they see a large patch of freshly turned soil where Loktar's pyramid once lay.

After catching their breath, the three consult the next riddle of the Book of Prophecies and continue on their journey, hearding for a range of yellow mountains in the distance. Their trek eventually leads them to a deep chasm in the mountains, the only path available being a wood and rope bridge spanning the divide. Realizing they have no other choice, Richard, Orkan, and Melek step onto the bridge.

At first their journey across the bridge is uneventful, but as they reach the midpoint, the worst thing possible happens. The ropes holding the planks together suddenly disintegrate and the wooden slats begin falling apart. Finally, the main cords linking the bridge break loose. Richard orders his friends to grab one of the ropes, and they do just as the rope swings them across the chasm. They chose the right rope, for theirs holds while the other rope snaps and falls down into the river below.

The three rested momentarily after experiencing the shock of hitting the cliff side, but they choose not to hang around for long and begin climbing. Eventually, Richard reaches the edge of the cliff and reaches to pull himself up. Suddenly, a jet of fire appears from behind him and strikes the rock face nearby. He turns around and sees a demon-like creature flying through the chasm, fire spitting from its mouth. The beast slows down and sends another stream of flame in Richard's direction, hitting close enough to sear the rope. The monster prepares for another attack to finish off the trio.

Just then, a battle-cry shriek fills the skies and large shrieks erupt overhead. Richard looks up to see the demon is now fighting with another creature: a giant red-feathered bird, which also spat first, though its flame is a brilliant blue. Richard is stunned by the scene for a moment, but remembers their predicament and climbs onto the cliff. He helps Orkan and Melek get up as well and the three hide behind some rocks to watch the battle.

The sky is filled with red and blue lights as the demon and bird try to roast each other in their flames. Eventually, after a long battle, the demon gives in and shoots like a bullet over the mountains in escape. Victorious, the red-plumed bird swoops down and lands near the trio. The female bird then speaks, revealing to Richard and his friends that she is Dion the Firebird, and she was sent to help them in their quest by Oganga.

Richard is relieved to hear Oganga had survived his battle with Boltor, and asks Dion if she has any news. Dion first gives the identity of the creature that had attacked: Dagmar, the Evil One's demon of fire. She says many forces are gathering to Golan outside the Ancestral City, and Juroot had overcome cannibal chief Zock, bringing the dwarf forces out of the Evil One's spell. Richard tells Dion that he only has one more pod to find, and Dion informs him that the final pod is in a place called Wizard's Well, past a place called Sorcerer's Falls.

Before Dion can say more, they hear the sound of wings beating and look to see Dagmar shooting a jet of flame in their direction. They dodge the fire and look up to see Dagmar now perched on a nearby crag. Sneering, Dagmar begins grabbing rocks with his claws and hurling them away, unearthing the lair of a small creature. As the creature tries to escape, Dagmar strikes out with one of its claws, grazing it. Richard thinks the creature escaped, until it falls to the ground in agony from the poison in Dagmar's claws.

Dagmar then fires again at the trio, who dodge and ready to attack. Orkan fires several arrows at the demon, but though they strike Dagmar's hide the creature is completely unaffected by them. Dion yells at her friends to run, since only she can fight him. She hurriedly gives Richard directions to Sorcerer's Falls before lifting into the air. Dagmar, seeing his adversary move, roars before chasing after her. Within moments the firebird and demon are locked in combat once more.

Seizing the chance Dion gives them, the trio flee from the battle scene in the direction pointed out to them. They eventually exit the yellowy peaks of the mountain, but even then the sights and sounds of the fierce battle are still visible and audible.

The three manage to follow a vague path leading out of the mountains, but soon they simply cross a path-less barren field of stone. In the distance they see a rocky outcrop, and far away they can hear the sound of falling water. Richard gets an intimate sense of the land ahead and says that Sorcerer's Falls is in that direction. As he points this out, a large shadow suddenly emerges behind them from the sun.

Orkan yells that Dagmar is back, but when the shadow's owner lands on the ground, they see the owner is actually Dion, whose beautiful body has been scorched beyond recognition. Dion informs Richard that Dagmar is dead, but he hurt her too badly to help them. Richard informs her that they know Sorcerer's Falls is ahead, and the trio part ways with the firebird, who plans on heading to the Ancestral City after resting for a while.

The three head again towards the rocky outcrop, finding and following a river in hopes of reaching a waterfall somewhere in the mountain. They follow the river uphill until they turn around a corner and find themselves face to face with a massive waterfall.

Unfortunately, they see no pathway for them to progress any further. With a sinking heart, Richard tries listening for Golan's voice through the amulet, but nothing is heard.

Characters:

Dagmar is a dragon-like beast is known as the Evil One's Demon of Fire, a name bestowed upon him because of his ability to breathe fire. The creature meets the Chosen One within the Yellow Stone Peaks, though there is little to suggest that Dagmar dwells there - more likely he was sent out by the Evil One to hinder Richard's progress. Along with its ability to breathe fire, Dagmar also has a weapon within its claws, which contain a deadly poison enough to kill a small creature with one scratch.

"Richard craned his neck and saw a jagged shape flash through the gorge. As the speeding red blur swooped up into a steep turn, he got a closer look at the creature. Its body was covered in red scales and backward-sloping horns jutted out of its head. A constant gust of flames shot out from its sharp-toothed snout."

Dion is a giant firebird who, like Dagmar, has the ability to breathe fire, though her flames are a brilliant blue instead of a fiery red. She was asked by Oganga to seek out the Chosen One and assist him in his quest to finish his quest. She ends up arriving in the nick of time to save the trio from their encounter with Dagmar, though her battle with the demon nearly kills her and makes her unable to help Richard complete his journey.

Comments:

With the twenty-third issue of The Ancestral Trail, the story begins to wind down to its inevitable conclusion. All but one of the Life Force Pods have been found, and the location of the final pod is revealed by the firebird Dion - even the location is known. Also remaining is one more captured guardian yet to be freed, so where will the three heroes find this final guardian, who we assume is of the Common Beasts?

As the main creature of the issue, Dagmar proves to be a creature of potential. He is called the Evil One's demon of fire, which is an intriguing title. What kind of work did Dagmar do for his evil master, and why does the demon reside inside these isolated yellow mountains? Perhaps the Evil One finally sent out one of his creatures to stop Richard, and the attack was only thwarted when Dion arrived.

Also in this issue, the previous pod's characteristic is associated when Richard looks at the distant crag where Sorcerer's Falls is located. According to the story, "Richard felt he had an intimate knowledge of the land ahead." Therefore, the pod Richard found in Loktar's tomb is the Pod of Knowledge.

As a final and personal note, the name Dion carries a bit of a different connotation for me. Most people might associate the name with the Canadian singer Celine Dion, but for me the name Dion is the same as a popular shopping store chain in South Africa. And since the original author of The Ancestral Trail, Frank Graves, is a fellow South African, I find that connection strangely amusing.

Quotes:

"Grab hold of this rope!"

-Richard

"Thank goodness I got here in time. I am Dion, the Firebird. You had a narrow escape. I should have been here sooner. Oganga sent me to help you in your search."

-Dion

"Your arrows are useless against Dagmar. The battle must be between him and me - you must all leave now, and finish your quest."

-Dion

"I'll be okay. Dagmar's dead, but he almost finished me off too. I won't be able to help you know. I'll rest here for a while then get back to the Ancestral City to get my wounds taken care of."

-Dion

Go to #24 - Syrus, Spirit of the Sky

The Ancestral Trail #22: Zyton and the Curse of Loktar

2008-03-18T23:56:00.001-07:00

Sinister Steps in the Chambers of Fear

Story:

On the Twenty-Second Day...

Deep in geometric gloom
Do not open long-sealed tomb.
The curse of Evil then will fall,
Not on one, but surely all.
Seek instead the golden prize
That evil guards with six-fold eyes.
Follow where alone he goes.
Above, the prize. Below? Who knows?

As Richard and Melek gape in astonishment at Melek's sudden disappearance, the stone from which the scribe had fallen tips back into place. Orkan proceeds to prod the area where Melek disappeared, but Richard warns him not to get too close. With caution, they search the area, but all they can find are Melek's glasses. Unable to find anything on the hilltop, they climb down the slope and search the hill base, but they find no sign of their friend.

After a while, they regrettably abandon their search. Orkan bemoans the loss of the Book of Prophecies; Richard quickly snaps at him for dismissing Melek over the book. Hoping Melek would head for the pyramid wherever he was, Richard leads Orkan down to the valley floor, through dense trees. The pyramid grows closer with each step, the details of its shiny surface becoming more clear as the distance shortens.

Upon reaching the pyramid's base, Richard pulls out the Path Finder and point it at the structure, walking around the building to find an entrance. Eventually the arrow glows at a slab at the base, but Orkan and Richard can't get it open no matter how hard they push. They think for a moment and consider that maybe the actual entrance is a little higher than they think. Looking up, they see an indented slab in the pyramid. Orkan climbs on Richard's shoulders and feels out the slab - a soft click is heard and the slab slides open.

Orkan climbs into the newly opened passage and pulls Richard up to him. The two of them then head inside a lobby, a door on the far end. They head for the door, but their progress is halted when the floor beneath them suddenly descends, taking them with it. The floor carries them down like an elevator, carrying them deep into the structure's basement, before the lift finally slows down and stops. Richard and Orkan find themselves in a new chamber, which possessed only one item: a block of stone covered by a flat lid.

Without consulting the Path Finder, Richard believes the pod is inside the stone tomb and heads toward it. The lift that brought them to the chamber heads back up as the duo get off, leaving them trapped inside with no noticeable way out. Upon reaching the tomb, Richard begins looking for a way to open it. As he does, Orkan heads a sound on far end of the chamber and looks over the tall stone block. To his horror, a three-headed lizard-like creature is approaching the tomb from the center of the chamber. The strange beast sees Orkan and immediately charges.

Just as Orkan orders Richard to get away, Richard suddenly finds a switch on the tomb and presses it. The lid of the tomb begins to open. The three-headed creature sees the tomb opening and stares in horror before without warning turning and running to the far end of the tomb, disappearing without a trace. Richard, who didn't see the monster, is forced to hear Orkan reveal what had happened, and both wonder why the monster turned tail.

Before they could discuss it further, they hear a sound near the lift. The stone elevator suddenly drops down and a figure steps off, sending the lift soaring back up. It's Melek, calling out for Richard and Orkan. His friends, stunned to see their friend back, rush over to him, asking him where he had been.

Melek tells them that the slide had taken him into a maze of underground tunnels. Through sheer luck, he had managed to find an exit, after which he could consult the Book of Prophecies. He had then rushed to the pyramid to warn his friends not to open the tomb. Melek was able to read the inscriptions on the pyramid's outer wall, and the hieroglyphics tell exactly what curse is upon the pyramid. The tomb is that of a man called Loktar, guarded by a three-headed monster called Zyton. Should the tomb be opened, a self-destruction mechanism is activated that will cause the pyramid to sink into the ground.

Melek quickly realizes from Richard and Orkan's horrified faces that the tomb has been opened. The three quickly try to close the half-opened slab, but the mechanism won't allow them as a death-like stench wafts from inside the stone. Richard remembers Zyton's escape and the three of them head to where the creature had disappeared. A quick search of the floor leads them to a worn stone tile, and when Orkan presses it a door opens in the wall. The three enter the new passage to a flight of stairs and Richard presses another switch to close the door. As he does, he notices a hand emerging from Loktar's tomb.

The trio head up the stairs as swiftly as they could, but it doesn't take long for them to hear the sound of the door open at the bottom of the stairs, the stench of Loktar's rotting body signaling his corpse is chasing them. The three press on until they find themselves at a dead end. Richard quickly pulls out the Path Finder and quickly finds it glowing upward. They look up and see a metal grill just above their heads.

Wasting no time, Richard unbuckles Kika's belt. The magical item shoots up and wraps around the bars before lengthening downward for Richard, who gives the belt a sharp tug. The tug causes the metal bars to burst apart, providing a way out. Richard goes first and climbs out onto the edge of the pyramid. To one side he sees his prize: a Life Force Pod, sitting in a small niche. He grabs the pod and pockets it.

As he takes the pod, the pyramid suddenly begins lurching and sinking into the ground. Orkan and Melek climb out of the passageway to join Richard, and moments later the cadaver of Loktar arrives below, staring up at the companions with his empty eyes. A sudden lurch in the pyramid throws Loktar off balance, sending the corpse barreling back down the stairs.

Moments later, hot air blasts from below the pyramid's base, growing in intensity. The three try to hang on, but eventually the winds become too strong for them to hold on and they're lifted into the air.

Characters:

Zyton is a three-headed lizard-like creature that lives within the pyramid that houses the tomb of Loktar. Zyton's purpose is to guard the tomb and prevent anyone from opening it, thereby causing the pyramid to destroy itself. Little else is known about Zyton, except that it appears intelligent enough to recognize when it's life is in danger from the pyramid's self-descrution.

"Advancing towards the centre of the room was a strange creature, a half-bird and half-reptile. Its lower body was that of an iguana, but a pair of wings sprouted from its shoulders. Three separate necks, scaly at the base, became more feather towards the top and each ended in a head equipped with a curving, toothy beak and glittering gimlet eyes."

Comments:

The twenty-second volume of The Ancestral Trail offers up one of the more bizarre and esoteric portions of the story thus far. The monster-of-the-issue for this issue, the bird-lizard creature Zyton, is barely even in the story, and when he does appear, he does little beyond getting spooked and running away. By the way the story is structured, Zyton is most certainly a creature that was around before the Evil One appeared - he is, after all, guarding the tomb of Loktar. And when Richard and friends came alone and opened the tomb, Zyton took off and is never seen again. One wonders where Zyton is now? Is he terrorizing the nearby countryside now that his job is finished, or did he die without a master to control him?

The discussion of Zyton of course leads to Loktar. Who exactly is Loktar, and what kind of person was he to build a booby-trapped pyramid as a tomb? We never find out, but we can guess. We can guess he is of magical origin, as his corpse is reanimated when the tomb is opened. Is he an ancient sorcerer, or perhaps a mad wizard? Again, we never find out, and perhaps it is for the best. Leaving something vague like this gives The Ancestral Trail a bit of history that we can fill in the blanks with our own imaginations.

Quotes:

"If you go on like that, you'll end up disappearing like Melek! We don't know how that trap was sprung and there could be more waiting for us."

-Richard

Orkan: "What are we going to do without the Book of Prophecies?"
Richard: "What are we going to do without Melek, not just the Book of Prophecies. For now, I think we should head for the pyramid. Getting the pod is our main priority and Melek knows that. If he can, he will head for the pyramid."

Richard: "The pod's in there, but the entrance is hidden. Orkan, where would you put a door so that people wouldn't find it?"
Orkan: "Where they couldn't get at it. Maybe higher up the pyramid?"

"You haven't opened the tomb, have you?"

-Melek

"The curse! It's happening!"

-Orkan

Go to #23 - Dagmar, Demon of Fire

The Ancestral Trail #21: Stridor, Lord of the Snowy Mountains

2008-03-08T18:13:00.001-08:00

Facing up to the White Death

Story:

On the Twenty-First Day...

Tread lightly on the rocky heights,
A sudden fall, a triple plight.
An evil comes, an evil goes
Buried under sliding snows.
Remember though, when far ahead,
Trapped is not the same as dead.
Nor is haste the same as speed
Nor the led the one to lead.

The trio trudge their way through the heavy snowstorm, realizing they will be dead soon if they do not find shelter quickly. Despite knowing this, their progress slows as they reach the mountains. They tie Melek's rope around their waists so as not to lose themselves in the storm. As they walk up a treacherous slope, Melek suddenly loses his footing and slides down the hill, dragging his companions with him.

Their fall is stopped by a snowdrift at the bottom of their descent. Orkan recommends that they look for shelter and wait out the storm. He heads around the snowdrift and, to his luck, finds a large crack inside the side of the mountain. The crack leads into a narrow passage inside the mountain. Desperate to escape the storm, Richard and Melek follow Orkan inside.

The corridor eventually opens up into a large cave within the mountain, natural stone shelves jutting all over. The three also notice several partially eaten carcasses of animals lying all over. Trying to ignore the rotting meat lying all over, the three decide to consult the Book of Prophecies while they wait out the storm.

They debate the meaning of the prophecy, particularly the last three lines, and as they do the storm outside dies down. Eventually they emerge out of the cave with the sun finally in the sky and the mountains covered in fresh snow. As they walk out into the silent mountains, the silence is suddenly broken by a distant howl.

Richard asks Melek if he knows the source of the howl. Melek entertains the idea of a snow cat before recalling reading about a creature called Stridor, the supposedly missing link between man and ape who lives in the Snowy Mountains and guards the way to the Forgotten City. Richard realizes that the carcasses they found in the cave were part of Stridor's larder and says they need to get away quickly.

Before they could leave, a couple more howls are heard, these ones closer. They look down the mountain and see a giant ape-like creature running towards the cave, a dead deer draped across its back. Recognizing the creature as Stridor, Richard and his friends start to run, but the thick snow slows them down. Stridor, on the other hand, moves through the snow easily.

Richard led his friends in the hope of gaining some advantage uphill, but the snowstorm had altered the landscape such that he no longer recognizes direction. He pulls out the Path Finder to find the right direction, but before he could use it Stridor catches up and looms over him. Ignoring Richard, Stridor grabs the Path Finder and gazes at his new toy with primal fascination.

Richard doesn't hesitate, knowing he cannot lose the Path Finder. He draws his dagger and plunges it into Stridor's foot, causing the beast to drop the instrument and howl in agony. Richard grabs the Path Finder and races back to his friends as Stridor holds his foot in pain.

The fierce howls of pain from Stridor ripple throughout the mountain until a delicate shelf of snow on a high precipice crumbles, causing an avalanche of snow. The trio and even Stridor are swept away by the river of snow, carrying them past boulders and trees down the side of the mountain. By the time the avalanche subsides, Richard and his friends are buried beneath layers of frozen white.

Richard, trapped under the layers of snow, begins clawing his way furiously upward. He eventually breaks through to the surface, gulping in fresh air as he does. Freed, he looks around and spots a shoe peaking through the snow. He grabs the foot and pulls, yanking Melek from his own tomb of ice. They look around for signs of Orkan, but see none. Just then, a sword bursts through the snow, and Richard and Melek watch as Orkan hacks his way to freedom.

At Richard's behest, they rub their hands and faces to restart circulation in their blue skin. A quick check of the Path Finder points down the mountainside to more hospitable hills, and the three waste no time in trekking in that direction. They pray that Stridor, if having survived the avalanche, wouldn't follow them.

The journey down the mountain takes them through several valleys and hills, eventually taking them away from the endless snow of the Snowy Mountains. They pass by a broken bridge that once spanned a mountain river, and eventually see what they think are buildings hidden among the hills of the mountain's base.

They approach the hidden village, which Melek comments must be the Forgotten City. They walk through the architecturally magnificent city, marveling at how beautiful it looks. But the lack of people, coupled with large heaps of skulls in some homes, tells them that this city, which has no outer walls, must've fallen to the Evil One. Realizing there is nothing for them in this once-peaceful and welcoming place, Richard checks the Path Finder once more.

The Path Finder points towards a peak near the city. Sensing the next pod is nearby, Richard and his companions begin the long climb upward. Several bones litter their way, reminding them of the Evil One yet again. They near the end of their exhausting climb when they suddenly hear a distant howl behind them. They look to see a familiar figure running down the snowy heights they left a long ways back. Stridor had survived, and he was pursuing them.

The trio quicken their pace, hoping to get out of Stridor's sight so he would give up on them. They reach the top of the hill and find themselves overlooking another valley, where a peculiar pyramid structure sits. The Path Finder points directly at the building.

After Richard points out that the pyramid is their next destination, Melek bounds past him enthusiastically. Richard suddenly remembers the last line of the prophecy and calls out for Melek to stop, but he is too late. Melek stands on a large rock on the edge of the valley's edge, and without warning the rock tilts forward as if on a hidden mechanism. Melek falls down the slide-like slope and tumbles out of sight.

Characters:

Stridor is a giant ape-like creature that dwells within the Snowy Mountains. Little is known about Stridor except that he is suspected to be the missing link between apes and mankind. Because the Snow Mountains are situated very close to the Forgotten City, it is also assumed that Stridor guards the way over the mountains towards the city, though the reason is never clear. He is a fierce hunter that likes to kill large animals for food. He stores his food in a larder in the mountains. Stridor doesn't seem to have any connection to the Evil One - his existence is his own.

"Far below, he could see a thickset, furry creature coming up the hill towards them. It was round-bodied, with long arms and powerful legs, all covered in a furze of straight, brown hair. A large deer was slung across its powerful shoulders. As it approaches, Richard saw that the creature's face was strikingly human, rubbery and wrinkled into dark, clean-edged segments. Now and then the creature stopped and sniffed the air, his gaping nostrils quivering as they pointed in Richard's direction."

Comments:

With the twenty-first issue of The Ancestral Trail, we get a headlining creature that is one of the rarest sort we've seen in the series: a creature that has no close or obvious ties to the Evil One. The last creature not to be directly linked to the Evil One was Hulkan the Mole Monster back in issue fifteen. Having these creatures are helpful reminders that the Ancestral World wasn't a completely safe land before the Evil One conquered it; Melek indicated that Stridor has existed even before the Evil One's arrival, so along with the Klaws and Spectors and Narkums of the world we also get the Stridors and Hulkans and (possibly) Zibellas.

Concerning Stridor himself, the ape-like creature proved to be quite a pathetic foe. Instead of killing Richard and his friends for his larder, he went for the Path Finder because it piqued his curiosity. This allowed Richard to strike a blow against him, thus allowing them to evade Stridor after the avalanche. And even when Stridor started chasing them again near the end of the issue, the ape-man is never heard of again once the trio reach the valley with the pyramid. One wonders how the Ancestral World will plan on dealing with Stridor if and when the Evil One is killed.

Quotes:

"We've got to get to the mountains as quickly as possible and get some shelter. If we stay in the open, we're dead."

-Richard

Richard: "What was that?"
Melek: "It could be a large snow cat, or it could be something worse. I once came across a reference to a creature called Stridor who lives in the Snowy Mountains. He's believed to be the missing link between apes and mankind. He guards the way to the Forgotten City."
Richard: "Something tells me we've stumbled into his larder. We'd better get away as quickly as we can."

"Rub your faces. We must get our circulation going."

-Richard

"Trapped is not the same as dead!"

-Richard

Go to #22 - Zyton and the Curse of Loktar

The Ancestral Trail #20: Spector, Keeper of the Ice Kingdom

2007-09-16T12:28:00.000-07:00

Trapped in the Wastes of Frigoria

Story:

On the Twentieth Day...

Sear of ice chill best is fled
By cutting that which in a head
Is single, cold and seeing all,
The eye that holds you in its thrall.
A blinding arc destroys the past,
Then they start the trip at last.
Beware at length a fall of snow,
Another city? Far to go.

Before the ice could close in and crush the hapless trio, Doonar suddenly leaps into the air and flicks his tail, sending Richard and his friends sailing onto safer ice cliffs nearby. Doonar then quickly swims between the cracks and dives under the ice to swim away to the safety of the open ocean. With everyone safe, the three pick themselves up, consult the Path Finder for direction, and head towards a series of distant cliffs. The trek there is long and hard, and despite Shunta's protective oil they are chilled to the bone. They are exhausted by the time they reach the cliffs.

They scale the heights to get to a plateau up on top, and there they arrive at Frigoria, a city of ice and snow. They approach a monstrous arch cut into the walls of ice, and as they pass underneath it, the trio notice figures encased inside the ice of the archway. The figures are recognized as dolphins, their faces frozen in horror.

Quietly, the three pass under the arch and enter the icy city. The cold is increasingly painful, and as Richard suggests they stop for a rest, Melek suddenly collapses onto the ground. Richard grabs his friend and tries to haul him back to his feet when a large shadow looms over the friends. Richard looks up to see a giant one-eyed man towering over them. The giant welcomes them to Frigoria before scooping them up in his powerful arms. With no power left to resist, the trio collapse into unconsciousness.

Richard later awakens to find himself inside an immense chamber, where the giant is sitting across the room on a large throne, staring straight at him. Richard then realizes he is no longer cold and notices he is draped in fur blankets. He sees his friends beside him, awaken and also clothed in blankets. Richard asks the giant man who he is; the giant introduces himself as Spector and says he will soon take Richard to the Evil One.

Spector then reaches for his face with his hand, and a squelching sound is heard as the giant removes his eye from it socket. The giant then drops the eye inside a jar containing a green liquid, and Spector warns the trio that even while he sleeps, he will still be able to watch them. Moments later, the giant is sound asleep, snoring.

Richard and his friends stare at the eye, which seems to follow their every move. As an experiment, Richard attempts to walk towards it; Spector's hand instantly twitches towards the jar. When Richard moves back, so does the hand. Confirming that the eye can see them, Richard talks to his friends about it and they decide to read the Book of Prophecies first, turning their backs to hide the text from the eye. After reading the verse, Richard has an idea and asks Orkan and Melek to turn their backs to the eye and hide Richard from its view.

When the two friends do this, Richard lifts the hood of Golan's tunic over his head and becomes invisible. He then stands up and walks towards the eye's jar. Luckily, the eye doesn't notice anything amiss and Spector remains still.

Upon reaching the eye without difficulty, Richard reaches out and picks up the container. But hies grip slips and he drops the jar, sending its contents slipping onto the floor. The green ooze melts the ice on the floor while the eye rolls away and begins shriveling without its protective liquid. Spector reacts by squirming in agony, feeling pain in his empty socket. Richard removes the hood and calls for his friends to make a break for it. They head towards the only exit they can see, with Spector lumbering in pursuit.

The trio emerge into a giant room of unpolished ice, reflecting their images all over. Within moments they find themselves lost inside the giant hall of ice mirrors, and it doesn't take long for Spector to crash into the room as well. With the maze-like room destroying their sense of direction, Richard orders his friends to get behind him. Richard then shuffles his way forward, until his hand touches burning ice forming a wall.

With a wall found, Richard starts moving along the wall until his hand finds empty space. Stepping inside the hole, he discovers a corridor and starts running, his friends in tow. They suddenly emerge onto a dark street, escaping Spector's ice palace. But the giant is still chasing them, and the three race down the streets of Frigoria, eventually reaching another arch with sea mammals encased inside.

Orkan gets an idea and asks Melek for his rope. With the rope in hand, Orkan climbs up the arch to its peak. With one end tied around the edge of a battlement on the city wall, and the other end around his waist, Orkan draws his sword and waits for Spector to arrive. The blind giant, guided by the sounds of the escaping trio's voices, quickly arrives at the arch and begins pounding it frantically before stooping underneath it.

Orkan seizes the opportunity and launches himself off the arch, the rope pulling him into arc down towards Spector. Swinging his sword, Orkan thrusts the blade directly into the giant's soft spot: his empty eyeless socket. Spector topples to the ground, dead.

Melek suddenly points towards Frigoria, and the trio witness Frigoria beginning to melt upon the death of Spector. The icy buildings of the city are the first to go, and soon the arches encasing the sea mammals melt, freeing the trapped creatures inside. Soon the entire lake upon which Frigoria was built has melted, leaving only the floating carcass of Spector in its wake. The sea mammals splash around in the melted waters happily before heading out to sea.

With renewed vigor, Richard checks the Path Finder and the three head out into the indicated direction. At first the going is easy, with the sun shining in the sky and the snow easy to trek across. Eventually, however, a blizzard strikes them from behind and covers the icy lands in darkness, plunging them into a cold storm with zero visibility. Richard calls out to his friends to remain close to him, but he discovers they were already lost from sight and sound. Feeling alone, Richard presses forward as best he can.

Characters:

The Sea Mammals are a race of creatures that dwell within the waters of the Ancestral World. They are similar to the Water Forces in that they are aquatic animals, but they differ in that they breathe air instead of water. It is suspected that Tishon and Shunta are the Guardians of the Sea Mammals, though this may not be the case, since the Twin Guardians are fish-like themselves. The Sea Mammals were imprisoned in ice by the Evil One and guarded by the giant Spector, until Richard killed the giant and released the spell that encased them in the ice.

Spector is a towering one-eyed giant that dwells within the ice city of Frigoria. He is the guard of the Sea Mammals, who are imprisoned inside the ice that makes up Frigoria's massive walls. While he looks fairly dopey, Spector isn't entirely stupid and is strong enough to battle most anything that challenges him. A special trick he can perform is removing his eye from its socket and still have the ability to see whatever the eye sees

"Above them loomed a giant. He was thickly bearded, and clad in rough woolen clothes to insulate him against the cold. In the middle of his forehead sat a single, blue-gray eye that stared expressionlessly at Richard...He advanced towards the shivering trio, then scooped them up into his massive arms."

Comments:

With the twentieth issue of The Ancestral Trail, the trio come across another minion of the Evil One whose priority is to guard something entrusted to him by his master. In this case, Spector was asked to guard the incapacitated Sea Mammals, similar to how Mirra guarded the stone statues of Juroot and his Bird Forces. Like Mirra, Spector has no need to hypnotize the Sea Mammals to do his bidding, like how Nemis controlled the Water Forces, Gator controlled the gators of the Reptile Forces, and Enlil controlled the Common Beasts.

This far into the adventure, one begins to wonder something: if the minions of the Evil One are this easy to dispose of or avoid, why did the Ancestral Forces lose the final battle in the first place? Speculating, it could be that the Evil One had all of his forces amassed at the Ancestral City, allowing him to focus his strength all at once. After winning the battle, the Evil One spread his forces across the Ancestral World, thereby weakening them and allowing a small band to come by and pick his minions off one by one.

Regarding the issue itself, while not really that important in the grand scheme of things, a minor "error" was made in the artwork in this issue. It was made clear in the previous issue that Doonar was the last of the sea mammals, and that the entire race of sea mammals was trapped inside Frigoria. When the ice of Frigoria begins to melt, the sea mammals are freed. However, it appears something else is freed:

Now, it is reasonable to assume that penguins were frozen along with the Sea Mammals, but it's a bit more humorous to think this was the result of a miscommunication between the writers and artists of the series.

Finally, a mistake was made in the writing. On page 306, the writers state that the oil given to Richard to fend off the coldness of Frigoria was given to him by Doonar. The oil was really given to him by the Guardian Shunta.

Quotes:

"Welcome to Frigoria."

-Spector

"I am Spector, Keeper of the Ice Kingdom. This is my palace. Enjoy it before I take you to the Evil One. Don't try and escape and don't think that because I'm asleep, my eye can't see you."

-Spector

"If I'm right, this melt-down will have gone right through the ice-cap. The sea mammals will be able to swim out to open water and join up with Golan's forces."

-Melek

Go to #21 - Stridor, Lord of the Snowy Mountains

The Ancestral Trail #19: Nemis, Master of the Deep

2007-08-25T22:25:00.001-07:00

In the Merman's Underwater Prison

Story:

On the Nineteenth Day...

Sea falls fast and deep
Ship speeds deeper still,
Down to hidden Coral's Keep
Where Evil wreaks its will.
Merman King locks the spell,
Guardian's magic is the key.
Chosen One must use it well
To set the others free.

The storm lashes lout at the boat fiercely, forcing the trio to sit and wait for the elements to cease battering them. After a while, the storm finally blows out, and the heroes discover that the storm has blown them into a huge lagoon, where land can be seen on three sides. Richard and Orkan begin paddling the boat while Melek starts bailing out water from the vessel.

Unfortunately, the shore gets no closer, and they realize that the tide is going out and pulling them with it. The approaching thundering of cascading water signals they are approaching a seafall - a waterfall created at low tide. The craft falls off the edge of the waterfall and shatters upon impact at the bottom. The trio each grab a piece of wood from the broken boat as they go under water, even touching the seabed, before they resurface. Coughing and spluttering, they swim towards each other to regroup. That's when Melek notices and points out a boat.

Although the ship appears to be in tatters, a rope ladder is hanging from the side. Richard and his friends swim up to the ship and clamber up the makeshift ladder, collapsing tiredly onto the deck. They look around and find the ship deserted, so they take the time to read from the Book of Prophecies. After reading the next verse, they suddenly hear footsteps and look up, finding the ship abruptly bustling with activity, with sailors appearing to get ready for a storm. Richard approaches the helmsman and thanks him for saving them before trying to pat his back.

To Richard's horror, his hand passes right through the helmsman's body, and he realizes that he and his friends are on a ghost ship. A loud whistle is heard and the entire ghost crew save the helmsman disappears below deck. The helmsman then turns the ship's steering wheel, and the schooner starts to dive nose-first into the water. In a panic, Richard orders his friends to get to a large diving bell on the ship's upper deck. The trio open the bell and climb inside, closing it moments before the entire ship is submerged under the waves.

Despite escaping drowning, the limited air supply in the bell immediately brings suffocation to mind. Looking through the bell's porthole, they watch as the ship skims across the floor of the sea through a coral maze that appeared to be more like a village than a reef. Suddenly, the ship comes to a halt and the diving bell topples off the deck and onto the sea floor.

The ghost sailors disembark the ship and drag the bell across the sea floor until arriving at a large undersea palace. The bell is taken inside a large throne room adorned with sea shells and filled with strange creatures. One of the creatures, a merman with a trident, approaches the bell. Melek recognizes the creature as Nemis, the Merman King, and tells his friends. The merman studies the bell's occupants and recognizes Richard as the Chosen One, proclaiming he will deliver him to the Evil One as a prize.

The merman asks that his prisoners in the meantime join the Guardians of the Fishes, Tishon and Shunta, and a large octopus approaches the bell to engulf it in order to entrap the three occupants. Richard sees the two Guardians entangled in a nearby net, and at that moment he hears Golan telling him to rescue the Guardians, and that he will be saved at the same time. Richard informs his companions of his decision to rescue the Guardians, and they agree.

After taking a deep breath, the trio open the diving bell hatch and push forward into the ocean, their escape not noticed by Nemis or the octopus. They reach the entangled Guardians and Richard begins to hack away at the net with his dagger. Moments before has to release his breath, one of the Guardians pulls him into the net and presses a scaly mask against his face, which amazingly allows him to breathe.

Two other masks are given to Melek and Orkan, and the Guardians use Richard's dagger to cut the remaining pieces of the net. But as Richard was regaining some hope, Nemis notices the escape attempt and lunges at the freed Guardians with his trident. Tishon and Shunta attack in return, but Nemis is powerful enough to drive them back. At the same time, the octopus realizes what's going on and approaches the guardians.

Suddenly, a dolphin emerges from the depths and slams into the octopus, sending it sprawling. The octopus quickly forgets about the escaped Guardians and turns on its new foe, but the dolphin manages to elude its every attack.

Yet the distraction of the octopus by the dolphin doesn't deter Nemis, who has the upper hand against the Guardians with his trident. Richard, remembering the prophecy, unbuckles Kika's belt and hurls it at the Merman King. The belt magically traverses through the water and wraps itself around the trident, snapping the once formidable weapon like a twig. With his power source destroyed, Nemis begins decaying. Beginning at his tail and ending at his face, his flesh strips itself from his bones until nothing but a skeleton remains of the evil creature.

With Nemis dead, the sea creatures that had surrounded the throne room suddenly start flailing around happily; the merman's death had freed them from his spell. The dolphin swims up to Richard and the Guardians, where Tishon identifies the dolphin as Doonar, the last of the Sea Mammals, and a creature who has been a thorn in Nemis' side. Shunta says Doonar will return the trio to the surface, and asks where they are headed next.

Richard pulls out the Path Finder for directions, and Doonar recognizes the direction as pointing towards Frigoria, a cold wasteland where his people are frozen. With the direction set, the trio climb about Doonar, but not before Shunta hands Richard a small bottle of oil that will protect them from the worst of the cold by rubbing it onto their skin. With the gift accepted, Doonar whisks the trio from the sea floor to the surface.

Upon reaching the surface, the masks covering the trio's faces disintegrate into the air. Within moments, the sea grows incredibly cold with ice everywhere, and application of Shunta's oil does little to relieve the chill. Eventually, they reach enormous ice cliffs that surround them on either side. The cliff is littered with dangerous channels, and Doonar picks the widest one he can find. Unfortunately, as he carries the trio deep inside the channel, the walls around them begin to narrow as ice begins pushing in from the sea at an alarming rate, trapping them where they float.

Characters:

Tishon and Shunta are the Guardians of the Fishes and the Keepers of the Life Force Pod of Justice. Being twins, they are the only double-Guardians among the Keepers of the Life Force Pods. The gender of either of the two Guardians isn't known. After the final battle at the Ancestral City, the twin Guardians were captured by the Evil One and put in the care of Nemis the evil merman. Their weapons are revealed to be daggers later on in the series.

The Fish Forces are the creatures under the protection and command of Tishon and Shunta, the Guardians of the Fishes. The variety of animals that make up the Fish Forces isn't known exactly, but it is known that the Fish Forces are composed of water-breathing creatures only - sea mammals do not fall into this category. As with other Forces in the series - Insect, Reptile, etc. - the Fish Forces were under a spell cast by the Evil One and forced to do his bidding. After the death of Nemis, the Merman King, the spell was broken and the Fish Forces freed.

Doonar is a dolphin that dwells within the waters that fall between Tuska's island and the ice land Frigoria. When all of the sea mammals were imprisoned in Frigoria by the Evil One, Doonar escaped their fate and chose to become a thorn in the Evil One's side. He did this by attacking Nemis, who held captive the Guardians of the Fishes and had all of the Fish Forces under his control. It is Doonar who manages to buy Richard enough time to save the Guardians from Nemis by distracting the octopus that otherwise would've re-captured the Guardians.

Nemis is a merman who dwells within the waters of the Ancestral World. As the Evil One's leader of his water-based forces, Nemis is charged with guarding the captured Guardians of the Fishes. His weapon is a trident that not only acts as a powerful weapon but also gives him strength to face several powerful foes at once. But this trident is a double-edged sword - if broken, his power source is lost and he dies.

"A vicious-looking merman holding a coral trident floated towards them. The merman swirled to a stop by the porthole and peered into the bell. His features were thin and pinched and a bony nose jutted between cold, slanting eyes. His menacing stare held them entranced before he finally spoke."

Comments:

Almost immediately after saving the Guardian Tuska from the previous issue, Richard and his friends decide to rescue the twin Guardians of the Fishes in issue nineteen of The Ancestral Trail. This puts the streak of found Guardians/Pods in consecutive issues at four, starting with the rescue of the Guardiand Zard in issue sixteen and including finding the Pod of Valor in issue seventeen. Only one Guardian remains to be found, along with two Life Force Pods.

One thing that this issue does demonstrate quite well is that Richard, despite being the Chosen One, cannot save the Ancestral World on his own. Even with his companions Orkan and Melek, Richard still needs outside help from time to time. This was shown when Nemis and the giant octopus were bearing down on the Guardians, and the dolphin Doonar appeared to help them. Without Doonar's help, the Guardians would've been recaptured, and most likely Richard and his friends as well. Some people might call this a deus ex machina, but I feel it fleshes out the Ancestral World and shows that the world does not exist in a vacuum, waiting for a hero to do all of the work.

Finally, you've heard about it several times before, but now you finally get to see it: the playing card that is meant to represent Nemis. Looking at the picture in the card, it is obvious that the picture bears little resemblance to the picture used on the front cover. Whereas the card's Nemis is more human in feature (albeit in a grotesque manner), the cover version is more monstrous in form with his beast-like features. Of the two Nemises, the cover version wins over the card version easily: while the card version can be mistaken for an old man who had taken a bath for too long, the issue version looks like a creature that can kill you.

Quotes:

"It's a ghost. We're on a ghost ship!"

-Richard

"I hope we don't have to say in here long. The air can't last forever."

-Melek

"At last! The Chosen One. I have waited for such a prize. You can join the twin Guardians of the Fishes, Tishon and Shunta, until I deliver you to the Evil One."

-Nemis

Richard: "Where did the dolphin come from?"
Tishon: "It's Doonar, last of the Sea Mammals. He managed to escape the spell that fell on the rest of his people and has been a constant thorn in Nemis's side. We were lucky he was here today."

Doonar: "Then you're headed for Frigoria. It's the coldest place I know and it's also where my people are being held prisoner in walls of ice."
Richard: "That's where the Path Finder directs us, so that's where we must go. Perhaps we can help your people."

"Take this. It's a special oil which will protect you from the worst of the cold if you rub it into your skin. Good luck and thank you for saving us from Nemis. May you fare as well in your next encounter."

-Shunta

Go to #20 - Spector, Keeper of the Ice Kingrom

The Ancestral Trail #18: Kronis, the Winged Lion

2007-08-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

Fight for Freedom in the Whispering Maze

Story:

On the Eighteenth Day...

A treasure now regains its sheen
When past water thrice has been,
Leads them streetwise through a maze
To a hero's captured gaze.
Return with rope to lead him out,
But death of evil is in doubt.
Who once was brave is braver now.
Fight the waves from stern to prow.

The trio are awakened in the boat by wakes rocking against the vessel, and they quickly discover that they're lost at sea. A curtain of mist falls over the boat and destroys visibility, before eventually the mist lifts and the three find themselves in calmer waters. Looking up ahead, they see what appears to be an island. Realizing they had entered the land of dreams as mentioned in the Book of Prophecies, Richard and his friends make their way to the island, passing beneath a massive arch before finding a harbor.

Upon reaching the harbor, the trio climb onto shore, noting the ancient lighthouse on the far end of the waterfront and a series of narrow streets that lead to the center of the island. Sensing that something is watching them despite everything appearing deserted, Richard leads Orkan and Melek down a street. He then suddenly hears a flapping sound above and looks up. Emerging from the glare of the sun is a monstrous winged lion charging straight towards them, and Richard quickly yells for his friends to run.

The three duck inside one of the nearby mansions on the street, moments before the winged lion rams against the house a couple times in an attempt to topple it. The house remains standing, and the lion tries intead to reach inside the house with one of its giant paws. Richard and his friends huddle out of reach, and eventually the lion gives up, flying away with a loud roar.

With the lion gone, the trio huddle together and look at the next verse in the Book of Prophecies. Upon reading the verse, Richard remembers the amulet and how it was meant to heal after crossing water three times. With the crossing of the rivers on Cragmar's Plateau, the waters of Gator's Swamp, and the sea surrounding the island, the amulet has indeed regained its sheen. Concerning the rest of the passage, Richard suggests searching the maze of streets.

They exit the house and make sure to maintain good cover in case the lion attacks again. Soon they reach a large door, which they push open to reveal a maze of corridors. Richard uses the amulet to guide them, listening to unspoken directions from Golan, while at the same time he thinks he sees strange shadows dart in and out of view from time to time. Eventually, the three reach a large center arena in the middle of the island town. In the middle of the square, tied to a pillar, was a unicorn man, who glances nervously at Richard and his friends.

Richard assures the unicorn that they are friends come to rescue him. The unicorn is relieved and reveals himself to be Tuska, Guardian of the Mythical Beasts. Tuska also identifies the winged lion as Kronis, who has taken Tuska's dagger and halberd, the only items which can cut the unicorn's bonds. When Richard reveals that they've already encountered the winged lion, Tuska admires the three's escape of Kronis, considering the creature's incredibly poisonous claws. Richard vows to bring back Tuska's weapons, which the unicorn reveals are hidden in Kronis' lair in the harbor's lighthouse.

The trio give their farewells and rush to the door to head back to the harbor. They pause when they wonder how they'll return to the square through the village maze, and Richard remembers Melek's rope, which can stretch beyond its length. Tying one end to the door, Richard pulls the rope, which indeed does stretch and snakes its way behind the three as they go back the way they came.

After a while of traveling, the trio find themselves at an unrecognizable corridor. Before they could double back, the shadow of Kronis descends upon them from above. In a panic the three run through the maze of corridors before emerging in a dead end. Luckily, the tight space of the passageway prevents Kronis from getting close enough, allowing Richard and Orkan to fight back with their blades. Within moments, Kronis retreats after his paw is sliced by one of the blades.

With Kronis gone, the three rush out of the dead end and miraculously find themselves at the entrance of the maze. Without thinking they dash into the nearest building. Richard fears that Melek had dropped the rope in all of the ensuing ruckus with Kronis, meaning they would never find their way back to Tuska, but Melek proudly reveals he had kept the rope the whole time, causing Richard to hug him in elation. With the rope still in their possession, the trio exit the house and make their way towards the harbor, where blood drops indicate Kronis had returned to his lighthouse lair.

The group reach the lighthouse, where Melek is told to stay put so he won't be in the way. Rirchard and Orkan climb the lighthouse's rail-less stairway to the top floor, where they prepare to enter the winged lion's den. Orkan strings an arrow and Richard draws his dagger, and the two of them burst into the room, where they find Kronis licking his wounds in the corner of the room. Beside him are Tuska's halberd and dagger.

Orkan fires several arrows at Kronis, striking the creature's hind leg and right wing joint. Richard then shows true valor and approached the monster to retrieve the weapons despite Kronis' lethal claws. Several slices of his dagger causes Kronis to roar in agony, giving Richard enough time to pick up the weapons and get to s afe distance. As Richard retreats back to the stairwell, Orkan fires several more arrows, striking Kronis' throat and lung.

As Richard and Orkan rush down the stairs, Richard notices Kronis pull the arrows from his body and start to crawl after them. The two reach Melek downstairs and begin following the rope back through the maze to the square where Tuska is held captive. Upon reaching Tuska, Richard uses the Guardian's dagger to cut through the ropes, watching them slice through remarkably easily. Richard hands the Guardian his weapons as Orkan reminds them that Kronis is chasing after them.

The four run from the arena and use Melek's rope to lead themselves back out of the maze, where the rope returns to its original length. As they approach the lighthouse, where Kronis has finished crawling down the stairs, shadows start to materialize around them and approach the winged lion.

Tuska calls out an order, and the shadows quickly engulf Kronis; the monster disappears beneath the cloak of shadows within moments. As Kronis is enveloped, the shadows begin to gain color and shape, and soon Richard can make out the forms of mythical creatures. Tuska senses Richard's awe and explains that these new creatures are his forces, the mythical beasts. They had become shadows after Kronis had imprisoned Tuska, but now they are regaining their original forms upon Kronis' death.

With their job complete, Tuska leads the trio down to the shore, where their boat is waiting for them. Tuska bids his new friends goodbye, saying he'll see them again soon. As the three paddle themselves from the island, Richard notices a sea creature regain its form like the land beasts on the island did.

As the three push their way through the waters that separate the island from the main land, the sea suddenly turns rough and begin tossing the small craft side to side. Their paddling has little effect on their progress, and minute by minute their boat takes on water. The possibilityt of sinking begins to look very real.

Characters:

Kronis is a monstrous winged lion that serves as one of the Evil One's guards. As a lion, Kronis has the basic arsenal of weaponry - strong muscles, powerful jaw, and sharp claws - but has the added bonus of the ability to secrete poison from his claws, a poison potent enough to kill hundreds of men with a single scratch. Kronis dwells in the lighthouse overlooking the island of the mythical beasts, where he stashes the weapons of the captured Guardian Tuska.

The unicorn man Tuska is the Guardian of the Mythical Beasts and the Keeper of the Life Force Pod of Knowledge. When he was captured by the Evil One and imprisoned by the winged lion Kronis, he was tied to a pole in the center of the island of the mythical beasts, bound by a rope that only Tuska's own weapons - a dagger and halberd - can cut through.

The Mythical Beasts are a race of creatures that dwell within the Ancestral World. While the Common Beasts are composed of creatures found within Richard's world, the Mythical Beasts are composed of beasts that are found in myths and legends. Beasts such as minotaurs, griffins, dragons, and sea leviathans are just some of the Mythical Beasts. When the Guardian Tuska was imprisoned by the Evil One and Kronis, the Mythical Beasts were reduced to mere shadows of themselves, forced to wander their island home. After Kronis' death, they regained their life force.

Comments:

Another issue, another Guardian. As The Ancestral Trail reached the three-fourths mark, the pace begins to pick up concerning the retrieval of the Life Force Pods and the rescue of the Guardians. With the saving of the Guardian Zard in issue sixteen, the finding of a Pod in issue seventeen, and Tuska's rescue in issue eighteen, one begins to wonder why the Evil One decided to clump them so close together like this. Did he think he could properly guard them in this region of the Ancestral World? Evidently his thinking was off, if the incompetence of Cragmar, the weakness of Gator, and the pitifulness of Kronis is to be believed.

Also in this issue, the identity of the Pod retrieved from Gator is revealed. When Richard faces Kronis in the beast's lair, he knows he must claim Tuska's stolen weapons if the Guardian is to be freed and faces the winged lion despite the monster's lethal poison claws. At this moment, "Richard show[s] true valor." The Life Force Pod is therefore the Pod of Valor.

Finally, another observation concerning the Ancestral Trail playing cards needs to be made regarding their images. In the playing card for Kronis, the winged lion is depicted as a fiery red monstrosity all over, from hair to skin. In the issue itself, Kronis' coloring is more varied, albeit more dulled, with yellow fur and and a greenish main and bloodshot red eyes. This is yet another example of the discrepancies between the playing card pictures and the issues, but in the next issue the most extreme example of this will be revealed.

Quotes:

"The prophecy's right. Regain a treasure its sheen! It's the third time we've crossed the water, and the amulet's back to normal!"

-Richard

Tuska: "I am Tuska, Guardian of the Mythical Beasts. Kronis, the winged lion, made me his prisoner and took my halberd and dagger - only they can cut me free."
Orkan: "We've seen Kronis already."
Tuska: "You've done well to escape him then, a single scratch from his claws delivers enough poison to kill an army."

Richard: "Did you notice any shadows following us?"
Melek: "Yes, some of the shapes looked like the incredible beasts described in Morbane's book."

"These are my forced. They are the mythical beasts, the half-believed figments of legend. This is our city, but when Kronis imprisoned me, my forces became mere shadows. They were left with no strength and no power. Yet you can see them filling out even now. When Kronis dies, they will be flesh again."

-Tuska

Go to #19 - Nemis, Master of the Deep

The Ancestral Trail #17: Gator, Reptile Warrior

2007-04-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

Battle for Power in the Shadowy Swamps

Story:

On the Seventeenth Day...

In the swamp a hidden danger
Beckons the unwary stranger.
Find the prize in Gator's mound.
Find the friend from good unbound.
Find the craft that saves the day,
Find the swiftly flowing way
That leads you to the land of dreams
Where all is never what it seems.

As the avalanche subsides, Richard continues to search for signs of Zard, but to no avail, and comes to the grim conclusion that the Guardian is dead. But then as he turns to his friends, he heards a gritty sounds and turns to see Zard approaching them from the left side of the cliff, carrying a giant battleaxe. The Guardian explains that he had to roll a large rock to the side to retrieve his weapon, and in doing so he had caused the avalanche, which he managed to escape before it grew too large.

With Zard safe, Richard says that they should get away from Cragmar's Plateau quickly and asks Melek to read the next prophecy. Realizing they should find Gator's mound to find a pod, the group begins to head down from the pleateau, following a small stream that headed down a slope. Eventually, the small stream grows into a stagnant river with clumps of vegetation growing beginning to dot the landscape. They have arrived in a swamp, and the Path Finder points to a large hillock settled inside the morass. They try to use several small islands as stepping stones across the waters, but the unreliable sturdyness of the islands forces them to wade through the waters eventually.

The journey through the water is unpleasant, as the heroes feel creatures slime around their legs beneath the waters and Richard is forced to carry the Book of Prophecies so Melek wouldn't drown. Eventually, they stop to take a breather, while hoping they wouldn't need to go back the way they came. Just then, Richard feels a tingling on his arm and looks down to see several slug-like creatures latched on his skin, suckling on his blood. He tries to bite one off when Zard stops him, saying those things are leeches and that the wound will be infected if he tries to tear them off.

Zard states that the only way to get rid of the leeches - which are covering him too, as well as Melek and Orkan - is to burn them, and proceeds to try to get a fire burning in the damp environment. Using some relatively try twigs for fuel, he scrapes his axe against a rock to get a spark going. Eventually, he manages to ignite a small blaze and asks Richard for his arm. Using a smoldering reed, Zard burns the leeches, which promply drop off the skin without trouble. After getting rid of several more leeches all over Richard's body, the Guardian does the same for Orkan and Melek before letting Richard do him. The group then gathers a certain type of leaf to rub over their wounds to numb the pain and prevent any infection.

Suddenly, a voice calls out from the swamp and orders the group to drop their weapons. Orkan doesn't hesitate and does so, which Richard and Melek hesitate. The voice demands Zard to drop his axe, but the Guardian doesn't comply and orders the voice to show himself. Moments later, a lizardman emerges from behind a pile of rotting logs. Zard orders him to come closer, and the lizardman does so, finally recognizing Zard's face. The lizardman gives a signal, and a small band of lizardmen emerge from hiding, all brandishing weapons.

The lizardman leader identifies himself as Fengal, and identifies his recognition of Zard as a Guardian and Richard as the Chosen One. Fengal states he and his men are on their way back to the Ancestral City, but Zard says that they are needed here to help them retrieve a pod at the hillock they've been approaching. Fengal says that he and his men have encountered several forces of the Evil One in the swamp, and that their leader is located on that very hill. After discussing some things, the trio, the Guardian, and the lizard forces head towards the hill, occasionally hearing slithering noises in the swamp all around them.

Soon they arrive at the hillock, and they see their enemy: a mob of alligator soldiers, well armed and armored. Behind them, sitting on a nest of branches, is a large alligator, who identifies himself as Gator. Gator orders his men to attack, and in a few moments the lizardmen are in a fight for their lives against Gator's fierce mob.

The alligators quickly overpower Fengal's men, which begin to fall one by one to Gator's army. During the commotion, Richard decides to take the initiative and begins to work his way around the field of combat, heading towards the back of Gator's best. Gator doesn't notice Richard heading his way, but Orkan does. Orkan, believing Fengal is doomed to die, and that the Evil One is his true master, comes to the conclusion that he must kill Richard and begins following the Chosen One.

Richard manages to get behind the distracted Gator and raises his dagger, hoping to sink it into the creature's neck, but before he can Orkan gets behind him and grabs his arm, causing Richard to lurch backwards. His blade cuts through the air and slices through a silk thong around Orkan's neck, a thong holding an amulet engraved with a horned emblem. The amulet falls to the ground and land in the swamp water, hissing upon impact before disappearing.

Richard turns behind him to see a dazed Orkan, who asks what was going on. Richard realizes that his friend has returned to normal and concludes aloud that the amulet must've been a trap set by the Evil One. He then remembers his mission and returns his gaze to Gator, who was now standing up directing his troops, still unaware of Richard's presence. Richard spots the Life Force pod sitting in the alligator's nest and plucks it from the creature without being seen. Unable to kill Gator anymore, the Chosen One and his friend slip away back towards the battle.

As they do, the remainder of Fengal's forces manages to cut a swathe through Gator's men. Seizing upon this opportunity, Zard charges into the fray with his battleaxe swinging. In fear, the alligators flee back to their leader. Gator takes charge and lunges into the battlefield, swinging his tale in a vicious swipe at the Guardian. Zard ducks, and Gator's tail strikes and kills one of Fengal's men. As Gator prepares for another strike, Zard swings his battleaxe with all his might and sinks it deep into Gator's chest. Gator falls to the ground, dead.

With Gator no more, the Evil One's spell over his men disappears, and the alligators emerge once again, in a daze as unwilling to fight. Now Zard may take them, as well as Fengal's surviving me, back to the Ancestral City. With the battle over, Zard approaches Richard and says that now they must part so Richard may finish his quest. Richard pulls out the Path Finder and the instrument points in a direction that Fengal states leads to the sea. The trio gives their farewells to Zard and his troops before the two parties part, with Richard, Orkan, and Melek heading over the hillock.

Thankfully, the waters on the other side of the hill weren't as dangerous as the trek into the swamp, and as they head down towards the cleaner-looking waters, they spot something sitting under a tree. To their luck, it is a boat carved out of a tree trunk, just large enough to carry all three of them out of the swamp.

After making sure the boat is secure enough to float, the trio hop into it and use makeshift paddles to push themselves down the water towards the sea. Eventually, the swamp begins to thin out as silence overtakes their journey. Fatigue begins to set in for the trio, and though they try their best to stay awake, Melek and Orkan fall victim to their tiredness first. Richard tries desperately to remain awake, but eventually even he succumbs to his fatigue, and the boat slowly drifts out to sea.

Characters:

Gator is an enormous alligator that dwells within a large swamp. Like Dragora, Gator holds command over an army of lizard creatures of the Ancestral World, only his minions are alligators instead of regular lizards. Gator is also the protector of one of the stolen Life Force Pods, which he keeps stored in his nest. He is a fierce and powerful opponent with raking claws, powerful jaws, and a whip-like tail at his weapons, and he isn't afraid to take on an enemy head on.

"Behind them, an enormous alligator sat on a rough nest of branches and, as Richard looked at the deep-set yellow eyes, the long snout, the killer teeth, he felt a gush of terror run through his body."

Comments:

In the seventeeth issue of The Ancestral Trail, things begin to pick up the pace as Richard and his friends locate another Life Force Pod, this time in the possession of Gator. This also coming almost immediately after freeing Zard from Cragmar in the previous issue. By the current count, four pods have been located and three Guardians have been saved, meaning two pods and three Guardians remain. With only nine issues remaining in the first Ancestral Trail, series, how and when will Richard locate the remaining pods and Guardians?

Also in this issue, Orkan finally returns to normal when Richard inadvertantly removes the amulet that kept Orkan under its control. It turns out that the amulet, which bore the mask of the Evil One, was a trap left by the Evil One in case anyone was foolish enough to take it upon defeating Dragora. The amulet seemed to work by first preying on the selfish feelings inherent in everyone, bringing them to the surface and causing a person to think of himself. When he is comfortable with these feelings, the Evil One takes hold, molding that person into one of his minions to do his bidding.

Quotes:

Zard: "Don't touch it! It's a leech. If you pull it off, its teeth will stay embedded in y our arm. This place is crawling with germs and bacteria. If the leeches don't such you dry, gangrene will set in before another day is out. The only way is to burn them off."
Richard: "How are we going to burn them off here? Everything's so damp."

"Now. Find as many of these [leaves] as you can and rub them over your wounds. The juice will take away the pain and stop them going septic."

-Zard

Fengal: "A Guardian and the Chosen One! Surprises never cease. My name's Fengal. We've heard that many other survivors are regrouping at the Ancestral City. We are making our way there to join up with them."
Zard: "Good for you, but right now you could be more help to us. Richard has to retrieve a pod which is hidden somewhere up there."
Fengal: "If you're going in there, you'll really need help. We've battled with a few of the Evil One's forces in the swamp already. Their leader is in there. What do you want us to do?"

"Welcome to my Kingdom! I am Gator. Whisper my name as you die. Get them!"

-Gator

Orkan: "What happened?"
Richard: "I don't know, but I think everything is going to be all right now."
Orkan: "I feel very dizzy."
Richard: "It was that amulet. It must have been a trap set by the Evil One. It changed you completely."

Go to #18 - Kronis, the Winged Lion

The Ancestral Trail #16: Cragmar, Man of Stone

2007-04-14T23:04:00.001-07:00

A Fatal Mistake on Plunderer's Plateau

Story:

On the Sixteenth Day...

A treasure burned needs water thrice,
A friend regained will cross it twice,
But water once brings danger near.
The rocks themselves a source of fear.
A rolling stone unlocks the jail,
Flight from there to no avail.
Cunning holds the key to all,
Death comes from a final fall.

The flash of flames around Richard engulf him, but last too briefly to burn him. The flames eventually begin to die down, giving Richard a better opportunity to search the flames for the missing amulet. His search lasts longer than he wishes, and soon he starts to think he'll never recover it, when suddenly he spots something hanging from a nearby tree branch: it's Golan's amulet, which had been blown away by the blast. Richard reclaims the amulet and discovers it still feels hot, before he rejoins his friends.

Richard waits for the amulet to cool enough before he uses his tunic to clean it. Unfortunately the amulet appears different and lacks its usual spark. Thinking the fire had ruined the amulet's powers, Richard hopes the amulet will regain its magic eventually. With the amulet back safely, the trio continue on their journey, moving out of the forest towards a series of rocky rapids. They cross several power currents using giant boulders, and upon getting on the other side safely, Melek reads the Book of Prophecies.

Richard quietly suspects that they need to cross water three times for the amulet to regain its powers, and for Orkan to cross it twice for him to return to normal. Suddenly, a voice from nearby calls out for help. He looks around and see nothing, so he calls out for the voice to identify his location. The voice states he is under the boulder Richard is sitting on. Sliding down tbe boulder, Richard finds a small gap between the rock and the ground.

Richards asks the owner of the voice who is he; the voice identifies himself as Zard, Guardian of the Reptiles, and asks Richard if he can get him out. Richard and his friends respond by trying to push the boulder to widen the small gap, but the rock doesn't burge. Using a piece of driftwood as leverage fails when the piece of woof snaps. Before they can ponder what to do next, the ground starts to shake as something downriver begins to stir. The three turn to see a giant man made of stone emerge from the rocky bank, noticing the trio near Zard's prison before grinning.

The stone man begins to move towards the three, his feet thundering across the ground. Zard shouts at them to run from Cragmar, who won't harm Zard as long as he's still imprisoned. Richard looks around desperately, and sees a large boulder balanced up on a slope with three tiny rocks. Getting an idea, Richard orders his friends up the slope. Orkan and Melek rush up the slope while Richard remains by Zard's prison to get Cragmar's attention. Cragmar apparently grows irritated and quickls his pace.

Richard quickly ducks behind the boulder and rushes up the slope to join his friends. When Cragmar arrives by Zard's boulder, he looks around in puzzlement for his prey. Meanwhile, Richard reaches his friends and quickly explains his plan to them. Cragmar looks up and sees the trio behind the boulder, frowns, and starts up the slope after them. Richard waits for Cragmar to get close enough before ordering the boulder to be released.

Because Cragmar is unable to move quickly, the rock appears on target to strike the rock man, but at the least second it strikes an outcrop and bounces off course, leaving Cragmar untouched. But the deflection of the boulder has an unforeseen consequence: the boulder strikes the boulder of Zard's prison, shattering it into rubble. From the remains of the boulder, a large lizard emerges and runs uphill towards Richard and his friends.

Cragmar doesn't notice Zard's escape because of his narrow miss from the boulder. When he sees Zard standing next to the trio, however, the man of stone roars in anger and starts chasing the group more zealously. The group begins to run, initially gaining distance from Cragmar, but because of Zard's speed he is forced to halt and wait for his companions to catch up, giving the stone man a chance to regain ground. Realizing running away was fruitless, Zard orders his friends towards a steep ravine. Richard thinks Zard led them the wrong way, but Zard orders them to duck behind a nearby boulder, knowing Cragmar would come after the Guardian first.

The trio hide while the Guardian performs a strange dance to taunt his pursuer. Without warning, Zard leaps up onto Cragmar's face when the stone man is close enough. Cragmar, too slow to be puzzled, brushes Zard off his face and reaches for him to grab the Guardian.

Zard evades Cragmar's clumsy movements with a quick jump to the side. Undeterred, Cragmar again reaches for Zard, only to have the Guardian evade him again. For a third time Cragmar attempts to catch Zard, only to have Zard to jump away, but this time Cragmar is ready. The stone man's left hand waits for Zard to dodge Cragmar's right hand, and the left hand grabs Zard's tail when the Guardian dodges. But Zard makes a quick motion and jumps over the edge of the ravine, leaving his tail in Cragmar's hand.

Cragmar, stunned that his prey had escaped so easily, tosses the tail aside and jumps in the ravine after his foe. A sudden crash erupts from the ravine and dust builds up in the chasm. When siilence emerges, the trio look down the ravine and see an outline of rubble which Cragmar had once been. The stone man had shattered upon impact.

The three ponder the fate of Zard when a familiar lizard figure emerges across Cragmar's remains, scuttling up the cliffside until he reaches the amazed trio. Zard explains Cragmar's stupid drive to go after him at all costs, and isn't concerned about the lack of his tail because of his misjudgement. He states he needs to retrieve his weapon, which Cragmar hid but luckliy Zard knows where it lies. He disappears over the lip of the ravine as he sets off to retrieve it.

During this, Orkan is uninterested and continues to quietly lavish attention on the amulet he took from Dragora. The amulet seems to whisper to him, telling him not to concern himself with Richard, calling Orkan the Chosen One of the amulet. Orkan smiles as a rhyme begins to play inside his mind:

Blood runs through the thickest lake,
Blood that makes the Gator wake,
Blood that others want to make,
Blood, the thirst that you can slake,
Blood that makes for no mistake,
Blood the prize that you can take.
Blood! The blood of those you hate!

Richard meanwhile watches Orkan and witnesses his friend lapsing into strange emotions because of the amulet. Richard decided to confront Orkan when a loud noise catches his attention. He turns to see an enormous avalanche roar down the cliffside where Zard had disappeared to retrieve his weapon. Richard recalls the words of the prophecy recalling a death with a final fall. Could it have referred to Zard instead of Cragmar?

Characters:

Cragmar is a giant man of stone who was created by the Evil One solely for the purpose of guarding the Guardian Zard. Cragmar's intellect is very slow mentally and he has no weapons to use for fighting, but his strengths make him a reliable guard. His powerful strength allows him to destroy anything that can't get out of the way, and his stone body allows him to repel any conventional weapons that might hurt him. His slow intellect also renders him unable to be puzzled by an attacker, making him single-minded in any task set before him.

"From deep in the rockface, an enormous figure was struggling to free itself. It thrashed about, clawing at the rock with massive limbs until it finally stood in the open. It was a gigantic man made entirely of stone. His craggy features swivelled about before fixing on the companions. Then he grinned. From where they stood, the trio could hear the grating sounds as the stoneman's cheeks creased. He began to walk towards them. Every time his monstrous feet hit the ground, they heard the crunch of rubble being disintegrated underfoot."

Zard is the Guardian of Lizards and the Keeper of the Pod of Justice. Being the leader of the Lizard Forces, he is naturally a giant lizard. He his remarkably agile and speedy, and if his tail is snagged he can detatch from it with ease with the ability to grow a new one later on. His weapon of choice is a giant twin-sided battle axe. When the Evil One conquered the Ancestral World and Zard set out to seek help, he was captured by the Evil One and placed in the care of Cragmar, who kept Zard pinned underneath a giant boulder for a prison.

Comments:

Another volume, another Guardian. With the sixteenth issue of The Ancestral Trail, Richard and his companions release another Guardian from the clutches of the Evil One, bringing the total of rescued Guardians to three. With the arrival of each Guardian, they each show off their unique abilities and strengths. Juroot, for example, appears to rely on his strength, while Kika prefers using her quick reflexes from a distance. With Zard, he seems to utilize his agility, though this is without his weapon, which will be revealed in the next volume to be a giant battle axe.

As the issue's monster, Cragmare proves to be an interesting, potentially dangerous foe despite his slow mind. While he is unable to move quickly, he is invulnerable to attack because of his stone skin, and his slow mind makes him difficult to confuse thanks to his single-mindedness. However, that narrow vision of his ends up getting him killed when he chases after Zard down the cliff, causing him to shatter on impact and die. He made a decent guard for the Guardian when Zard was imprisoned, but as a pursuer he lacked the necessary focus needed to capture someone more agile and smarter than he was.

Finally, Orkan's strange behavior begins to grow more disturbing with each volume. First the amulet made him indifferent to his friends, one who wanted to seek his own fortune and save his own skin whenever danger reared its head. But that has quickly evolved into a bloodlust, a desire to kill those that he hates. All of this accumulates into the poem cited above, a poem that reflects a dark future ahead for Orkan. Interestingly enough, the poem mentions a "Gator", which happens to be the main creature in the next volume of the series. Does this Gator have anything to do with this amulet?

Quotes:

"Never mind me! Get away from Cragmar. He's here to stop me getting out. He won't touch me so long as I'm still in the Evil One's prison. Save yourselves!"

-Zard

"Get under cover! Don't mind Cragmar. He'll come after me first because he'll be in big trouble if the Evil One finds I've escaped. You'll be fine so long as you stay out of sight. Meanwhile, I've got a trick or two up my sleeve. Go quickly. Here he comes."

-Zard

Melek: "How did you escape? We thought you were dead!"
Zard: "I knew Cragmar was stupid enough to follow me wherever I went. Luckily, being a lizard, I can jump anywhere and not be hurt. What I didn't foresee was that he'd get my tail, but it doesn't matter, I'll soon grow another. I must get my weapon back, though, and I know exactly where Cragmar hid it."

"They will never know. You are safe with me. Pay no attention to these others. Their concerns are not yours, their aims are not yours. They are foolish. You are wise. You need have no fear. Death is the only umpire. Victory is given only to those chosen survivors. You are my Chosen One."

-Orkan's amulet

Go to #17 - Gator, Reptile Warrior

The Ancestral Trail #15: Narkum, the Fly King

2007-03-04T16:48:00.000-08:00

At the Mercy of the Fiendish Spy Master

Story:

On the Fifteenth Day...

Flying foes are everywhere
On the ground and in the air.
Hidden from the light of day,
A place to stop, but not to stay.
Here countless dark eyes will see you,
And the burning flames will free you,
But a false friend will deceive you.
Your hidden treasure will leave you.

Richard and his friends hasten into the forest to get away from the Grapfrits, but inside they discover there's no place to hide inside the twisted woods. As the drone of the beasts rises, Richard is about to lose all hope when he notices a crevasse in the bottom of a nearby tree. Thinking it might be a place to hide, he leads his friends towards the tree, and to his surprise finds a small door nestled among the roots.

Knowing it was their only safe haven, Richard tries to open the door with no luck. Then Orkan throws his weight against the door and it creaks open. The trio quickly throw themselves inside, closing the door behind them. Outside, the Grapfrits lose trace of their prey because of their poor eyesight and fly past the tree without a second's thought. Soon, the creatures' drone fades completely away.

Richard suggests they remain inside the tree for a little while in case the Grapfrits return, but a strange glow coming from inside the tree and a stench of rotting meat changes his mind, instead suggesting they read the Book of Prophecies before leaving. In the little light let through the door, Melek reads the new prophecy. Richard has an idea who the "treacherous friend" might be, but he doesn't say anything. Realizing the prophecy is suggesting their haven isn't safe, he suggests it's time to leave.

But the door doesn't open, and in fact it seems to shrink before their eyes until they can no longer open it. Suddenly, a voice from inside calls to them menacingly, and the three turn around to look at the bright light inside. There, inside the glow, they see a monstrous fly wielding a septre, sneering at them.

Richard is mesmerized by the mere sight of the giant fly's eyes, and he tries to tear his gaze away, only to notice another glimmer of light: the sceptre in the fly's hand with jewels that match the creature's eyes. He watches for a moment as flies buzz around the monster, as if relaying him information, before Richard decides to act.

Drawing his sword, Richard orders his friends to cut their way through the door to freedom. But the giant fly intercedes by ordering a giant swarm of flies to descent about the trio. They try to kill the flies, but there are just too many to even deal with. Richard suddenly gets an idea. Remembering Golan's invisibility cloak, he pulls the hood over his head, thinking it would help him. Alas, the flies foil the magic effect by clinging to Richard's body, covering him in a living skin of flies.

The giant fly gives a command and the swarm of flies leads the trio towards the center of the chamber, where the creature sat across a pool of glowing embers. Richard, in defeat, removes his hood and demands who the creature is. The fly introduces himself as Narkum, the Fly King and Spy Master, and identifies Richard as the Chosen One, chosen by Golan to save the Ancestral World. Richard tries to have no idea what Narkum is talking about, but Narkum reveals how his fly spies let him know everything that goes on in the world and that he knows everything.

Richard, in anger, draws his blade again and tries to lunge for the fly king. But Orkan, who had been nervously fingering his amulet, shoots out his foot and trips Richard up, sending the Chosen One sprawling to the ground before the ember. Narkum laughs, but in his glee he neglects to keep an eye on one of the trio, Melek. Melek had circled one edge of the embers, and when Narkum laughs his makes his move. He takes his rope and lassoes it around Narkum's sceptre, pulling it from his grasp.

The sceptre bounces off a far wall before crashing to the ground, shattering the eye-like jewels in its head. Instantly, the swarm of flies falls to the ground, covering the floor in a black living carpet and buzzing helplessly, and the door behind the trio opens. Narkum, stunned by the unexpected maneuver, glares at Richard with a seething hatred.

Narkum gazes at the door and a wooden pole slams shut, and Richard realizes Narkum or his power had to be destroyed. Richard looks at Orkan, who is nearest the sceptre, and tells him to destroy it. But Orkan, in a panic, darts towards the door. Melek cuts Orkan off and grabs the warrior's sword before rushing to the sceptre and using it to flip it into the fiery embers. With a panicked shriek, Narkum races towards his prized sceptre and manages to snatch it just before it falls into the fires.

But as he celebrates, the rod suddenly catches fire, and the flames quickly spread across the sceptre and all over the Fly King's body. As Narkum's body begins to crackle, Richard and his friends head towards the now unlocked exit, with Orkan already halfway through. The swarm of flies, unable to fly, crawl their way after the trio, knowing they would die if they remained. As Richard as his friends exit, Narkum suddenly explodes, causing the tree to scatter shards of bark in every direction. Many of the flies are caught up in the blast and flung against nearby trees, crushed by the shockwaves.

When Richard stands up, he sees a remarkable transformation taking place in the remnants of Narkum's fly arm. The black bodies are splitting open to reveal multi-colored insects, with wings and antennae spreading forth in all directions. Soon, the forest is filled with beautiful flying and crawling insects.

One of the larger insects approaches the Chosen One, but Richard is unafraid. The insect speaks and identifies the new insects as all that remains of the insect race in the Ancestral World, a race enslaved by Narkum to be the Evil One's spies. Richard asks if they have any new information for him, and the insect replies he does not have anything current, though many of the forces freed from the Evil One's power by Richard are now making their way back to the Ancestral City.

The insect says that he and his insect brethen should also get back to the Ancestral City. He salutes Richard before turning to the insects and speaking in insect tongue, forming up squadrons and soon flying out of the forest. Richard watches the insects fly away, feeling a bit depressed as they leave. He reaches for Golan's amulet for comfort, but discovers that it is missing.

When he points out the amulet is missing, Orkan reveals that Narkum has the trinket, and he will never get it back. Shocked, Richard stares at the smoldering remains of Narkum's tree and heads towards it against Melek's pleas. As he treads through the fiery tree, the ground threatens to flare at any moment beneath his feet.

Characters:

Narkum a giant fly who is the self-titled Fly King and Spy Master. He was sent by the Evil One to take care off the insect race of the Ancestral World, and the insects that weren't killed were turned into Narkum's fly slaves. Narkum uses the enslaves insects as his spies and create a network of information for him to relay back to the Evil One's troops. His power comes from a sceptre whose jewels resemble his own eyes.

"Then they saw an enormous fly. It's blue-green body was partially covered with a forest of thick, black hair. Its arms ended in sharp claws. A thin tongue licked horribly from the black funnel of its mouth. Everything about the creature exuded darkness except for its eyes - they were enormous and sparkled with myriad prisms that seemed to reflected light from an uncanny depth. Staring at them, Richard had the impression that they held images not just of the room they were in, but of places very far away."

The Insect Forces are a race of insects that dwell within the Ancestral World under the watch of their guardian Kika. When the Evil One came to the Ancestral World, he sent his minion Narkum to conquer the insect race. Much of the insects were killed, and the survivors became Narkum's brainwashed slaves, mutated into flies. When Narkum was killed by the Chosen One, the insects were free of Narkum's spell and shed their fly shells.

Comments:

As mentioned back in the commentary for issue twelve, the giant scorpions were not the last giant insect to appear in the Ancestral World. In issue thirteen, the heroes meets Narkum, the Fly King and self-proclaimed Spy Master of the Evil One. Narkum is an interesting character in that on his own he is completely useless, but when he commands an army of flies he is more of a threat. Of course, an army of flies can only do so much, so it's befitting that he is the Evil One's spy. If The Ancestral Trail ever went into depth concerning how the Evil One thought and acted during the course of the series, I wonder how the Evil One would've reacted when his main spy was killed by the Chosen One?

This issue also shows Orkan's behavior becoming a hindrance to the quest. When Richard tried to attack Narkum, Orkan tripped him up. The amulet is obviously doing more than make Orkan a coward, and it will be interesting to see how far things go in later issues of the series.

Finally, it's interesting to note that this issue shows an instance when Richard's given magical abilities failed. He tried to use Golan's invisibility cloak to hide himself, but the flies made sure that didn't help him in the slightest. Will something like this backfire in later issues, possibly?

Quotes:

"I don't think you want to leave just yet."

-Narkum

Narkum: "I am Narkum, the Fly King and Spy Master, and you are the Chosen One. You are Golan's minions. Feeble pawns who have been duped into certain death by the honeyed tongue of one who claims to be 'good'. Ha!"
Richard: "Golan? Never heard of him. We were crossing the forest when we were attacked by Grapfrits. You've got no cause to hold us. We've no grudge against you."
Narkum: "You will have soon. You see, I know everything about you and your worthless quest. My spies are everywhere in this realm. They see all and report back to me. I know everything that happens here, and in other worlds, too. Your lives are mine from beginning to end."

"Get the sceptre! Throw it on to the fire."

-Richard

Richard: "The amulet! It's gone. We must find it."
Orkan: "I saw it. It's in there. Narkum has it, and you can never get it back."

Go to #16 - Cragmar, Man of Stone

The Ancestral Trail #14: Hulkan, the Mole Monster

2007-02-25T00:45:00.000-08:00

Under Attack from the Mud Warriors

Story:

On the Fourteenth Day...

Follow the reptile tail
To find the hidden trail.
A monster underground!
Seek the way that height has found.
Beware the foe within,
The safety water brings
Is fine but no avail.
Eyes that fly bring new travail.

The chamber continues to crumble all around Richard and his companions, threatening to bury them in Cobra's Keep. As Richard turns to face his comrades, he catches sight of a lizard tail disappearing inside a large crack in a nearby wall. He shouts to his friends and points out the crack, and they waste no time crawling through the rough tunnel inside after the lizards.

The interior of the tunnel is still intensely hot, and the rough edges and sand force them to dig their way partally through. However, the tremors eventually grow fainter and sand morphs into more solid ground. Soon, the four friends emerge into daylight on a hillside, near mountains on the other side of the desert. A loud rumble catches their notice and they all turn to face the now distant Sand City. A large fireball explodes above the city, destroying it completely and leaving only smoldering ashes.

Kika turns to Richard and says that she'll now leave the group so she can take the lizard forces to the Ancestral City, where they are needed. She then lowers her voice to a whisper and warns Richard about Orkan, who was acting strangely, and whom Richard should keep an eye on. With those words, Kika gathers the lizard forces up and leads them to the Ancestral City to join Juroot and his bird forces.

With Kika gone, Richard wonders about Kika's warning, but doesn't see anything wrong with the pigman. After the trio head down the hillside, Melek reads the newest prophecy from the Book of Prophecies. Richard notes the first part has already been fulfilled and gives the propechy another read when the ground beneath them begins to shake. The group turns and sees a large mound building up in the soil behind them.

The mound grows with each passing second with the sounds of digging clearly heard underneath, and the hill suddenly explodes, revealing a monstrous black creature underneath. Melek quickly recognizes the beast, identifying it as Hulkan the mole monster. He reveals Hulkan's blindness and heightened senses of smell and hearing, as well as the deadliness of his claws and teeth.

The trio ties to tiptoe away from Hulkan without alerting him, but Hulkan's nose flare at their movements. Knowing hiding was useless, the group tries running instead, but quickly found themselves floundering in a bracken - making matters worse was Richard still carrying the Book of Prophecies. Realizing they might have to fight, Richard draws Juroot's dagger and calls for Orkan to distract Hulkan. To Richard'ssurprise, Orkan turns away and tries in vain to run through the bracken. Richard quickly orders Orkan to return.

At this moment, Richard hears chuckling and turns back to Hulkan, who was now surrounded by an army of small brown figures. He watches as the creature picks up clay in the ground and uses his clawed hands to mold little men, which spring to life and begin to give chase. Horrified, Richard struggles after Orkan while Melek gets his leg caught on a piece of bracken.

The figures, on the other hand, have no trouble making their way through the bracken and easily catch up to Richard and Orkan. The little mud men quickly surround the two and cling haphazardly to each other, forming a wall of dirt in front of them. By the time Orkan and Richard reach the wall, the mud figures begin forming a wall behind them, and soon the wall grows to become a sphere of encasing mud. Richard's attempts to hack the mud wall with his blade prove to be useless.

Meanwhile, Melek manages to free himself from the bracken and sees his companions' predicament. He thinks for a moment before getting an idea and climbing a nearby tree, where he is able to look down at his entrapped friends. As Melek scans the area for water, Richard clasps Golan's amulent and asks for help; Golan replies and informs Richard to seek out water. Richard cannot see any water over the enclosing mud men wall, but Melek manages to spot a stream nearby.

Suddenly, Melek notices something in the mud wall: an opening that hadn't yet been closed. As he scrambles back down the tree, he calls out to his friends and directs them towards the hole. Hulkan, too busy making his mud men to finish the mud circle, doesn't notice the hole in the wall, but the little figures do. They try to untangle themselves to close the escape, but Richard and Melek manage to get out before they can do so.

With Richard and Melek out of the mud enclosure, Melek quickly waves for his friends to follow him. The mud men quickly give chase, and soon Hulkan roars in anger at discovering the loss of his prey. The mole monster dives into the ground and tunnels after them furiously, but the ground has grown rockier and forces Hulkan to surface once again and allow his army of mud men to give chase. Some of the mud men catch up to Richard and try to slow him down by flinging themselves onto his leg, but they have little effect and the trio eventually reach the river.

Despite Orkan's reservations, the trio launch into the river from a dangerous height. They land safely in the thankfully deep waters, though Richard does injure his leg. The mud men, upon reaching the river's edge, hesitate before flinging themselves into the river as well to give chase.

In the river, the trio are immediately caught up in some powerful rapids and dragged down through some currents. Thankfully, they manage to reach the opposite bank at the end of the gorge, though Melek needs to be rescued by his friends for taking the heavy Book of Prophecies back from Richard before jumping into the stream. Before they can relax, Melek points to where they had come from, and Richard and Melek look to see the display of countless mud men leaping into the river in pursuit.

Thinking they would have to make a last stand, Richard readies himself for the onslaught. But there is no need: as Melek excitedly points out, the mud men are dissolving in the river as soon as they hit the water. Within a matter of moments, every single mud man had thrown itself into the river and melted away, leaving a thick slop that was carried away by the currents.

With Hulkan and his army no longer a threat, Richard and his companions begin making their way up the bank, which soon merges with a forest. As the trio walk through the trees, Richard turns to Orkan and presses him about his earlier behavior, about running away from Hulkan. Orkan ignores the question and acts dodgy. Richard realizes Kika was right in that something has happened to Orkan, but before he could think any further about the matter, he hears a familiar drone in the air. The others hear it as well and the three begin running, knowing all too well the sound of attacking Grapfrits.

Characters:

Hulkan is a monstrous mole monster who dwells on a large soily plain known as Hulkan Heights. While he is blind, he has sharp hearing and a keen sense of smell that let him know when prey is close. His teeth and claws are enough to shred meat to pieces and he can burrow through the ground and lightning speed, but his preferred methods of catching his prey is using magical means to create an army of little mud men that trap creatures by surrounding them with makeshift mud men enclosures.

"The trio stared whide-eyed as a sleep, black shape begain to work its way out of the top of the mound. Slowly, more and more of the creature emerged. Its glossy black coat shone in the sunlight, parting at the mouth to show long, spade-shaped teeth. Two stubby arms ended in sharp-clawed paddle-like paws. As far as the three could see, it had no eyes, but there were two minuscule nostril sthat twitched, sniffing the air. On either side of the smooth head were tiny holes that might have been ears."

Comments:

One of the traditions of The Ancestral Trail is to show creatures that are merely enlargened, monstrous versions of everyday animals seen in the real world, and volume fourteen of the series continues that tradition. Instead of another giant bug a la Baal the giant spider or the scorpion guards of Sand City, however, we get Hulkan the mole monster, joining the Giant Mammal Club to give Enlil some company. Hulkan is a rather interesting creature in that while he certainly has the means to take prey head on (his teeth and claws certainly indicate so), he prefers to capture his prey indirectly by using an army of mud men to corral them. While perhaps unusual, this can be seen as a way for Hulkan to protect himself from being overzealous. If he can contain his prey in a small space, he doesn't risk as much possible injury to himself upon going in for the kill.

Also in this volume, the identify of the third pod is revealed near the end of the volume, when Richard was pressing Orkan for an explanation of his actions: "Richard asked again, willing Orkan to be all right. He felt a sense of justice run through his mind, as he recalled all the good things Orkan had done since they had met." The second sentence indicates the pod is the Pod of Justice, which happens to be the Life Force Pod of Juroot.

Speaking of Orkan's behavior, it has certainly added a new dimension to the story. What would've happened if Orkan hadn't been affected by the amulet around his neck when Hulkan attacked? Would he have not run away, and thus would Richard and his friends have faced Hulkan head on? And how will Orkan's behavior affect things later down the road? Only future volumes can tell.

Finally, there's one small amusing note to mention concerning this volume: while in the previous volume Dragora was clearly identified as female, the three-headed cobra was accidentally referred to as a male in the following segment: "...leaving only a rising column of sand and ash to mark the grave of Dragora and his scorpion guards."

Quotes:

"Over here! The lizards have found a way out!"

-Richard

"Watch out for Orkan. I think something's happened to him. I don't know what...maybe it's the effect of that scorpion sting."

-Kika

"Hulkan! The mole monster! I've heard about him. He can't see us, but he can smell us, and he hears every sound. His teeth and claws can rip us to shred."

-Melek

"They're dissolving. Look! They're melting away as soon as they hit the water."

-Melek

"Why didn't you help me against Hulkan? You ran like a mouse. What's happened to you?"

-Richard

Go to #15 - Narkum, the Fly King

The Ancestral Trail #13: Dragora's Inner Sanctum

2006-06-17T17:09:00.000-07:00

Fight to the Death in Cobra's Keep

Story:

On the Thirteenth Day...

Three heads to find the true,
Three jaws to bite them.
Six eyes to see the few,
One king to fight them.
Venom hides the golden goal,
Another prize awaits.
Released it takes a dreadful toll
On those who chance its fate.
Deep in darkest tomb,
Beware the cracks of doom.

As the scorpion tightens its grip on the Guardian Kika with its pincers, Kika manages to fumble for her blowpipe without alerting her captor. The scorpion glowers gleefully as it squeezes its prey to the point of collapse, but before it can deal the final blow Kika wriggles her arms free and uses her last breath to blow a dart into the scoropion's left eye, killing it through its brain.

Kika drops to the ground as Richard and Orkan struggle to reach her through the wave of scorpions, their weapons blunted from the creatures' tough armor. Kika orders her friends to hide, and abruptly takes to the air, out of reach of the scorpions. Taking her advice, Richard leads his friends through the fray and down a main streeet. The eventually find themselves in a very narrow alleyway, a growing sandstorm hiding the pursuing scorpions from their sight. When Orkan inquires about their next move, Richard states they need to get the pod before wasting anymore time.

Melek pulls out the Path Finder and Richard uses it to find the golden tipped direction. As the trio heads in the indicated direction, the scorpions howl with rage as the sandstorm confuses them. Soon, the trio reach a large deserted square in the middle of the city, flanked by columns and statues all around. Kika suddenly drops down from the sky, and Richard tells her he believes the pod is located somewhere within this square and a secret entrance must exist somewhere.

After a search of the square, the group finds a plinth missing a statue. Believing this to be the secret entrance, the group searches for a possible entrance mechanism before Richard notices a ball sitting on the edge of the plinth. He bends down and gives it a firm push, and the plinth beneath them starts to sink and tip forward.

Richard, Orkan and Melek find themselves landing in a huge pile of sand in a vast underground chamber, while Kika glides to the bottom to join her friends. The chamber is most certainly Cobra's Keep, as it is decorated with statues and carvings resembling snakes. At the other end of the chamber, Richard notices a large unidentifiable mound half-hidden by the shadows, and decides to investigate. But before he could move forward, the mound stirs as the mass takes the shape of a giant snake with three heads. Kika confirms that the beast is Dragora, the three-headed cobra.

Dragora lunches with quick reflexes towards the group, lashing out at three separate targets. The group manages to scatter, though one of Kika's wings are pierced by one of the monster's black tongues. Orkan responds by firing several arrows at the beast, and one arrow manages to pierce one of Dragora's heads, sending it into shrieks of agony as the other two heads continue to attack.

One head locks onto Melek and manages to sink its fangs into the scribe, but luckily the fangs only enter the Book of Prophesies and don't even scratch the scribe himself. As Melek struggles to escape, the spine tears apart and Melek doesn't notice the Path Finder falling out of its protective sleeve.

Dragora's prey soon proves too quick for her to handle. Orkan kills another head with his arrows and Kika slows it down with a barrage of darts. Eventually, one of Orkan's arrows sinks into the cobra's single heart and Dragora falls to the ground, dead.

With the beast slain, Richard asks Melek for the Path Finder. The scribe discovers in horror that the instrument is missing, and Richard quickly tells his friends to look for it. The four split up and scour the floor of the Keep for the instrument, shuffling their feet in the sand. Suddenly, Orkan exclaims excitedly for his friends to get to his side. Richard thinks Orkan has found the Path Finder, but instead Orkan has found an iron grate in the floor, beneath which he can see something moving in a large pit.

Intrigued, Richard and Orkan removed the grate and wait for something to happen. Then, a large lizard crawls out of the pit before wobbling around the room. As more lizards emerge from the pit, Kika states that they were the reptile forces of the Guardian Zard.

While watching the reptile forces emerge from the pit, Richard notices the heat inside the chamber is starting to rise noticeably. Even Kika's wings were beginning to wilt. She explains that Dragora is triggering the rise in heat - with her dead, the lifeforce she sucked out of Sand City was being released.

As they quicken the search for the Path Finder amidst the growing throng of lizards, Orkan suddenly cries out he found it by stepping on it. Richard picks up the Path Finder and points around the Keep, and as the instrument points to Dragora's carcass its tip turns golden. Remembering the prophecy, he realizes the pod must be somewhere on Dragora. He laments that they still don't know how the Path Finder really works when Melek, who is reading the Book of Prophecies, suddenly exlaims he found the passage of the Path Finder:

Across Green fields, Overland you go,
where winter solstice White brings Ice and snow.
The Grey dove flies to fresher Air,
and shuns the Yellow swamp of Wastes' despair.
When Blue eyes, to Water clear aspire,
round campsites Orange tongues will wage in Fire.
Out of Stone, the Cities cloaked in sand,
and Brown caves weave in secret, Underland.
The Silver moon shines potent magic Light,
through Black skies loom in silent dark of Night.
Golden glimmers brightest on the spear,
and leads to Good, when journey's end is near.

Realizing the colors respond to different locations, Richard renews his idea to search Dragora, where the instrument pointed golden. He and his friends search the already decaying carcass, thinking it might be in Dragora's coils, but when Richard looks up he sees a familiar purple glint in one of Dragora's mouths. He discovers the pod sitting in Dragora's teeth, as hinted in the prophecy.

Meanwhile, Orkan makes his own discovery: an amulet hanging around one of Dragora's necks. He considers telling his friends about his find, but he doesn't as a strange urge overcomes him. As if lured in a dream, Orkan removes the amulet from the beast's neck and slips it around his own, hiding it beneath his clothes. Richard states that they need to find a way out of the Keep before the rising temperature cooks them, and the group begins searching.

As they search, Orkan fingers the amulet, glad he had taken it and considering telling his friends about it one day. But then he considers whether they really are his friends? Weren't they simply using him as expendable muscle? He vows to slip away at the right time so he could make his own fortune.

Suddenly, the earth begins to shake and the chambers' decorations start to crumble all around them. The group looks around in horror, while the lizards scatter in panic. A piece of ceiling misses Richard and Orkan as Orkan looks at his companion and laughs wildly, claiming there is no escape from this chamber.

Characters:

Dragora is a monstrous three-headed cobra that lives beneath Sand City in a chamber known as Cobra's Keep. While she doesn't control the scorpions that guard the ground levels of the city, Dragora does maintain a hold over the city by feeding off of its lifeforce. She is also the creature chosen by the Evil One to guard the lizard forces of Zard, as Enlil did for the Common Beasts.

"Even as he spoke, Richard heard a slithering rustle coming from the mount. It had begun to change shape. A tail curled around an elaborate throne. Then three monstrous heads rose into the air, their hoods spread out, casting evil black shadows across the room."

The Reptile Forces are the reptilian armies of the Ancestral World, led by the Guardian Zard. After the final battle with the Evil One, the remaining Reptile Forces were captured and taken to Cobra's Keep, where they were placed into a hypnotic trance by Dragora, just as the Common Beasts were with Enlil. When Dragora was slain, the spell over the Reptile Forces was broken.

Comments:

The thirteenth issue of The Ancestral Trail proves to be a lucky one as Richard and company manages to find another Life Force Pod, making it the third Pod found. Now all that remains to be seen is which Pod the third one will be, and a clue will be provided in the next issue, as they were for the previous two pods.

Regarding the story in the issue itself, there are some things to enjoy, and there are some moments to regard as lost opportunity. For the former, it is nice to see the emerging possibility of one of the "good" team members not be so good after all. True, Orkan's strange behavior is seemingly shifted after he put on that pendant - similar to one worn by Enlil to control the Common Beasts - but the fact that Orkan may not be as reliable as he has been thus far proves to be an intriguing idea.

As for lost opportunities, the battle between the heros and Dragora was over a bit too early. After giving Dragora a head start at attacking, the group were then deemed too quick for her and she died without much trouble. While it does show that not all creatures, no matter how monstrous, are close to immortal, it does lessen the impact of the creature's appearance just the same. Also, this issue was the one that finally introduced the instructions to the Path Finder. Unfortunately, it comes a little too late, as Richard had already seemed to previously use the Path Finder correctly without worry. If the Path Finder had caused a terrible accident somewhere in a previous chapter, then these instructions would've felt more important than they do now.

Finally, the cards that relate to the two beings in this issue again demonstrate the discrepancies between the card art and the book art in some cases. Dragora's card shows a brown snake creature, while in the book her scales are darker and more purplish. Meanwhile, the Reptile's Forces card shows a creature that is never seen in the book at all, and it is assumed at the moment that all of Zard's forces are composed of lizards, not snakes.

Quotes:

Orkan: "Well, what do we do next?"
Richard: "Look at the Path Finder! We've got to go for the pod. We mustn't waste our time and energy fighting."

"I don't like the look of that. I'm going to investigate."

-Richard

"Zard's reptile forces. Our numbers grow."

-Kika

"It's Dragora. Her power sucked the lifeforce from Sand City, and now she's dead, it's being released. We've got to move fast. This place is becoming an inferno."

-Kika

"There's no escape. Never!"

-Orkan

Go to #14 - Hulkan, the Mole Monster

The Ancestral Trail #12: Scorpions of the Desert

2006-05-21T16:13:00.000-07:00

Deadly Guards of the Sandy Fortress

Story:

On the Twelfth Day...

Mirage city in the sand,
Out of sight but close at hand,
Hides the fairest in the land.
Corridors of staring eyes
In streets of half-forgotten sighs
Lead them to the golden prize.
Travellers fight pincered might,
Cobra's Keep a dark surprise.

Klaw, in a fit of rage at losing the guardian Kika, rushes with snake-like speed towards Richard and grabs him by the throat. The skeleton man lifts the Richard and peers into his eyes, noticing the different colored pupils. Klaw drops Richard and realizes one of his captives is the Chosen One. Glad that not all had been lost with the Guardian's escape, Klaw grabs a giant double-headed battle axe from one of his bone warrior minions and swings it in preparation of finishing Richard and his friends for good.

Before Klaw can deliver the final blow, Richard hears a high fluttering sound in the air that grows louder until it crescendos with a "violent thud, part crunch, part squelch, as if someone had trodden on an enormous beetle." Klaw instantly appears shocked and drops his axe before he collapses into the sand, a feathered arrow protruding from his bony chest and piercing his rotting mass of a heart. The trio breathe a sigh of relief at Klaw's sudden and unexpected demise, a feeling further heightened as Klaw's bonemen army disintegrates into lifeless heaps with their leader dead.

After the bone army collapses, Kika appears from the sky and lands among the heap of remains. She hands a bewildered Orkan his bow, thanking him for its help. Richard tells her that he thought she had abandoned them to Klaw; Kika replies she needed to head to the mountains to find a rare berry whose poison could kill Klaw, a poison she had smeared on the arrow that had pierced the Evil One's servant's heart. She had hurried back as fast as he could, not even taking time to tend her leg. With this said, she produces a handufl of berries and herbs from her person and smears them into a poultice, which she applies to her leg wound. Instantly the wound feels better.

Remarking that she needs to do one more thing, she hurries to Klaw's corpse and searches for the weapons he had taken from her. Eventually she finds them: a "finely wrought blowpipe and a bundle of needle-sharp darts." With Kika's possessions recovered, the group begin their trek across the desert to find Sand City, where the next Life Force Pod lies.

As they cross the vast expanse of sand, Richard notices how cold the desert becomes as the light begins to fade. Kika sniffs the air and recognizes the odor as a coming storm. She warns her friends, but her warning does little to help them when the rising winds become a fierce shriek that sends showers of sand their way. Forced to hold hands in order not to lose each other, the group forces their way through the sandstorm that threatens to rip their eyes from their sockets. Thankfully, however, the storm attacks them in lulls, giving them some moments of peace.

Then, without warning, as the group reaches the top of one of the sloping landscape's hills, the storm dies down and the scenery of distant ridges ahead of them changes into a city surrounded by a high wall. Kika identifies the metropolis as Sand City, a city that used a mirage of distant ridges as camoflage. Grateful for Kika's guidance, Richard leads his friends towards the city. To their dismay, they find the outer wall is towering and windowless with a single entrance that is guarded. Six creatures stand at the gateway, all of them giant scorpions that do not look at all friendly.

Kika tells her friends to wait hidden by the entrance while searches for an alternate way inside. The Guardian searches along the perimeter of the city as quietly and carefully as she can until she spots a promising locale: a section of the wall that had collapsed outward into a pile of rubble. She flies back and tells Richard, who promptly leads Orkan and Melek to a ridge close to the spot. With Kika making sure the coast inside the city is clear, Richard leaves the safety of the hiding spot and climbs the stone rubble first. At the top, he signals the coast is clear to his friends. Melek makes the journey across the sand and up the rubble next without trouble.

On Orkan's turn, as he races towards the rubble, a giant scorpion suddenly appears out of nowhere. Orkan sprints towards the rubble and scrambles up quickly, but the scorpion guard is faster. Before Orkan can get to safety, the scorpion stabs Orkan's thigh with its enormous stinger and pumps venom into the pigman. Orkan screeches in pain, but manages to unsheathe his sword and cut the scorpion's stinger from the creature's tail. The warrior scrambles to safety before pulling the stinger from his thigh, tossing it aside.

Richard and Melek rush to their friend and pull him up a set of steps that lead away from the scorpion's reach. By the time they reach the top, Orkan feels himself grow numb and drift into darkness. He hears the reassuring voice of Kika before he finally blacks out. Kika lands near Richard and orders him to lance the wound while she uses the remainder of her herbs and berries to treat the wound. Richard does what she asks, allowing some of the poison to drain from Orkan's leg. Kika applies the medicine to Orkan's wound and confidently says he'll be all right.

Melek suggests that they read the Book of Prophecies and consult the Path Finder. After reading the cryptic passage in the Book, Richard takes the Path Finder and turns it until its arrowhead glows gold pointing at a tall tower, most likely Cobra's Keep. Moments later, Orkan awakens, a little groggy but otherwise all right. With his friend okay, Richard begins to lead his friends toward the tower to get the pod.

The storm had renewed its intensity, forcing the group to slow their progress through the city. Their progress through the eerily deserted metropolis is at a snail's pace, but thankfully they don't run into any scorpions in the city streets. Eventually, the group arrives at a wide thoroughfare, just as deserted as ever. But as they companions enter the thoroughfare, they hear a familiar "tik-tik-tiking" from all sides heading in their direction. The group make an attempt to run, but a pack of scorpions emerge from all sides, surrounding the group and cutting off any escape.

Before Richard, Orkan, and Melek could make a move, Kika whips out her blowpipe and sends a stream of darts towards the scorpions. She tells her friends to aim for the eyes, the scorpions' weakspot. She sends another volley of darts in the scorpions' direction, this time aided by Orkan as he fires a steady stream of arrows at lightning speed. But the scorpions are too numerous and close in too quickly, making Kika's darts too risky. Orkan manages to empty his quiver before the scorpions close in, and he starts to face the creatures in close combat with his sword. Richard joins in, slashing at the monsters' eyes with Juroot's dagger.

The close-quarters combat proves to be an advantage for Richard and Orkan, as the scorpions move too clumsily to find an opening. Melek manages to dodge the scorpions' stingers while Kika helps whenever she can with her blowdarts. But then, just as Richard and Orkan slash their way through the blue-black ranks of the creatures, a scream for Kika is heard. The trio turn to see the Guardian has been captured by one of the scorpion's claws. Kika cries out for help as the scorpion malevolently tightens the grip on his pincers.

Characters:

The Scorpions are exactly what their name suggests: regular scorpions, only far larger, more intelligent, and deadlier. With the insect-like menace of Baal and the soldier-esque menace of Cozards, the Scorpions guard the metropolis of Sand City from intruders, using their powerful claws and vicious stingers as weapons. They have no designated leader, which makes them difficult to demoralize in the midst of battle.

"Richard peered at the creatures. They were like the scorpions he had seen in books, but larger, much larger. Their narrow, blue-black bodies curved back to fiercely barbed tail. Only their eyes were different, glowing a deep, murderous red inside shrouded sockets. Suddenly, the guards changed formation, moving aross the sand in a complicated manoeuvre. From where he stood, RIchard could hear the skittering tik-tik-tik of their claws on the ground. It was a cold, precise sound that struck a chill deep in his heart."

Comments:

If a giant spider and killer bees aren't enough insect enemies in the Ancestral World, the twelfth issue of The Ancestral Trail introduces giant scorpions to give folks with entomophobia more willie-nillies (and they will not be the last insect(s) to give the Chosen One a fit, believe me). Of course, what makes scorpions deadly are their poisonous stingers, but curiously these giant anthropods do not pose that as much of a threat as their appearance would indicate. Yes, one managed to pierce Orkan's thigh, and by the end of the issue Kika is in the grasp of one of the beasts, but Richard and his friends managed to hold their own against them for a while thanks to the beasts' clunky movements. Naturally, if the insects were as smart as, say, Baal, then Richard and friends would be screwed, wouldn't you say?

Aside from yet another agonizing cliffhanger (will or will not Kika escape from the tightening grip of the scorpion?), this issue adds little to the story other than move it along. The destination of the group, Cobra's Keep, is where the next pod lies, but the scorpions decided to delay their entrance into the keep for a little bit. Orkan's brush with the scorpion tail didn't seem to affect him that much after Kika healed him, which was a pity because it would've been interesting to see how Richard would've fared alone against those scorpions in the thoroughfare. What if Orkan had been too disoriented to fight and had to be protected by Melek and Kika? Oh, the possibilities...

Quotes:

"So, it is the Chosen One! Maybe the day hasn't been wasted ater all."

-Klaw

Richard: "I thought you'd run off and left us."
Kika: "I had to get to the mountains to find the potion I needed. There is a rare bush whose berries contain the only poison capable of killing Klaw. I smeared some over Orkan's arrow and came back as quickly as I could. I didn't even stop to tend my leg, but I did get what I needed for it."

"This is going to be worse than I thought. Keep your faces down and your mouths shut. Whatever you do, don't look straight into the wind. This stuff can scour your eyeballs in seconds."

-Kika

Kika: "Sand City."
Richard: "How come we didn't see the city before? Surely we'd have seen something this big, even with the sand storm."
Melek: "Maybe it's a mirage."
Kika: "No, what you saw before - all those ridges going off into the distance - was the mirage. Sand City has been here all the time. Good camouflage, isn't it?"

"Aim for the eyes! That's their vulnerable spot."

-Kika

"Help!"

-Kika

Go to #13 - Dragora's Inner Sanctum

The Ancestral Trail #11: Klaw, Servant of Evil

2006-01-09T00:25:00.000-08:00

Battling the Army of Bonemen

Story:

On the Eleventh Day...

Ties that bind release the one
In deepest darkest thrown.
The shortest length can longer run
By faith and faith alone.
In desert lands beneath the sun
Power of steel and weight of stone
Defy. But when the day is done
Mountain berries split the bone.

With the cave crumbling all around them, Richard calls for his friends to jump across a widening chasm in the floor. Orkan and Melek leap across the gap just before the ground where they were crumbles. Urging his friends to follow him, Richard leads his companions to the other side of the cavern, where they begin scaling the crystal outcrops to a narrow hole in the wall. After a while, they emerge from the tunnel into a cave bigger than Zibella's.

In the middle of the enormous cavern stood a huge mound, and Orkan suggests climbing the hill to get a strategic strongpoint. The trio climb the hill and find a deep hole at the peak. They curiously peer down into the bottomless pit when suddenly they hear an eerie wail coming from inside. They prepare to run, but they hear an unmistakable cry for help when the wail calls out once more.

Richard asks the person down the shaft how far the bottom is, but the person cannot tell and repeats the cry for help. Richard notes metal spikes outlining the inner sides of the tunnel, obviously a deterrant to stop the victim from climbing out. He believes that the spikes can take some weight of someone lowered down the shaft by rope, but it all depends on how deep the shaft is. Stumped, the trio consult the Book of Prophecies.

After reading the day's riddle, Richard surmises that if they have enough faith, the rope should be long enough to reach the shaft's bottom. Orkan states that Melek should be lowered since he is the smallest, and the dwarf reluctantly agrees. With Richard and Orkan holding one end of the rope, Melek scrambles into the tunnel. As he climbs down, he wonders if the rope is long enough, but then remembers this idea depends on "faith and faith alone" and removes all doubt from his mind.

After a few seconds, Melek realizes the plan is working, as it becomes clear that the rope is stretching beyond its original length. Feeling more confident, Melek carefully climbs down the spikes towards the bottom, where he firsts adjusts his eyes to the dim light before looking for the person he had come to rescue. On the floor of the shaft he finds a wasp-like creature with a terrible wound in her leg.

Melek asks the insect creature to hold onto him as he climbs up, and the wasp does so. She is surprisingly quite light, but even so Melek finds the journey back up the shaft tedious and painful as he has to rest several times while avoiding the deadly spikes. Eventually, after a long climb, he manages to bring the wasp lady out of the pit and at the top of the hill, where Richard and Orkan are waiting for them.

The wasp immediately thanks the trio for saving her and introduces herself as Kika, Guardian of Insects. She reveals that she had been captured by Klaw, the Evil One's servant, and he had taken her weapons before throwing her in that hellish pit to die. Melek asks why she couldn't fly out; Kika unfurls her flimsy wings and points out the spikes that could've torn them to pieces.

Kika then asks the three who they are, and Richard reveals he is the Chosen One and explains his adventures and quest. Kika offers her assistance and says that a Lifeforce Pod is located in Sand City, but Klaw will try to stop them from reaching it. She then unties a narrow belt from around her waist and gives it to Richard, stating its magical powers will help him when he needs it most.

Upon putting on the belt, Richard feels a surge of strength throughout his body. With the knowledge of a pod located in Sand City, he says that that shall be their new destination. When Melek points out Kika's bad leg wound, Richard hoists the weak Guardian onto his back and carries her. After making their way down the mound, Kika directs the trio through a series of winding tunnels until they finally emerge into the open. They finds themselves on the outskirts of an enormous desert, and in the distance they can see the outline of a city against the horizon.

With their destination in sight, the four begin their trek across the desert. The ground is firm beneath their feet, but the waving ridges practically double the distance they need to travel. As they travel, Richard realizes how dangerous the situation is: the ridges can easily hide an army, one they wouldn't see until they they walk right into it. He is about to say something to Orkan when a loud laugh echoes across the desert.

Looking up, Richard's heart sinks when he sees an evil-looking skeleton man standing at the top of the ridge. Realizing that this creature has to be Klaw, Orkan orders his friends to get out of the gully and run.

Klaw laughs at the four's attempt to escape. From his hand he throws out several small chunks of bones across the desert. From where the bones land, a forest of skeleton warriors emerge, each brandishing a menacing bone sword and a shield in the shape of a twisted skull. Klaw orders his children to pursue the Chosen One and his friends, and the newly created bone army begins marching down the hill into the gully.

Orkan quickly orders his friends to go back up the hill, but as they do Klaw throws more of his tiny bones over the group's head. The bones sprout more bonemen, cutting off the top of the ridge as an escape route. The group tries to use the lining of the gully to escape, but the bonemen are a step ahead of them. Already both groups of bonemen have cut off any possible escape, and it's only a matter of time before the four are surrounded by Klaw's minions.

One boneman lunges at Richard with its sword; Richard whips out Juroot's dagger and drives its blade into the soldier's skull. The boneman surprisingly collapses into an untidy heap, defeated. Richard realizes the bonemen are not that strong and he and his friends might have a chance in escaping. Surrounding Kika, Richard and his friends begin to battle any and all advancing bonemen as they try to make their way across the gully. But for each soldier destroyed, Klaw throws out more bones to create more soldiers.

Eventually Richard, Orkan, and Melek begin to tire enough that the bonemen begin reaching their weary targets. Each fighter has bruises that hampered their fighting, and it is only a matter of time before the bone army kills them where they stand. Amidst the fighting, Kika asks Orkan for his bow and an arrow. Orkan remarks that they're useless at this range, but Kika uses her Guardian authority to insist. Orkan allows the wasp to take his weapons.

With the bow and an arrow in hand, Kika spreads her wings and flaps them furiously, mustering enough strength to hover a little over the battlefield. Klaw sees the Guardian and, determined not to see her escape, pushes aside his minions as easily as if they were paper and aims his spear at the Guardian. Kika, seeing her nemesis approach her, finds the strength to soar higher into the air, dodging Klaw's spear by a hair's breath. Kika then flys off at frightening speed, disappearing in the direction of a distance forest.

Orkan cries out that Kika has abandoned them to save herself. Even Richard is stunned, unable to believe that such a seemingly sincere person as Kika, a Guardian, would leave them here to die. Klaw, meanwhile, takes this opportunity to enter the fight. With the trio still gaping in disbelief, Klaw knocks Orkan's sword from his hand and quickly disarms Richard and Melek with ease. He snarls that while he lost the Guardian, he won't make the same mistake with them.

Characters:

Kika is the Guardian of Insects and the Keeper of Goodness. What she lacks in physical strength she more than makes up for in agility and smarts. As a giant wasp-like creature, Kika uses her powerful wings to soar to safe distances, where she can take down enemies with her favorite weapons, a blowpipe and darts. She was captured by Klaw, the Evil One's servant, and thrown in a hellish spike-coated pit to die of starvation, but she was saved by Richard and his friends. However, when confronted by Klaw and his bone army, Kika surprisingly flies away from the battle with Orkan's bow. Has she succumbed to the influence of the Evil One...?

Klaw is a sinister figure in service to the Evil One. As a skeleton man, Klaw's very appearance gives off an evil aura that intimidates all who face him. By himself, Klaw is more than able to hold his own in a fight thanks to his brute strength and sturdy bone spear. But Klaw possesses a more horrific ability: to call forth an army of bone warriors simply by throwing tiny bones upon the ground. While these bonemen are weak, their great numbers is more than enough to take down an enemy.

"Richard looked up at the ridge and saw a sight that sent his heart into his boots. Silhouetted against the sky was a figure wrapped in a torn black shroud. From his horned helmet and his skull-like face to his skeletal feet, there was not one scrap of flesh to be seen. All of the creature, even the spear that he brandished aggressively in the air, looked as if it was made of bone. It could only be Klaw."

Comments:

After surviving the insane and dimwitted Zibella in the previous issue, the eleventh issue of The Ancestral Trail provides a more formidable challenge in the form of Klaw. Along with Baal the Giant Spider, Klaw is perhaps one of the most frightening creatures Richard has faced in the Ancestral World. After all, a walking skeleton, especially one that looks like it's about to devour your flesh, is a universal image of terror. All it needs is rotting flesh and it can be labeled a zombie. While most of Klaw's fighting is done using easily destroyable minions, Klaw is more than capable of fighting himself, and the cliffhanging ending where Klaw looks to be victorious over his prey is one of the more gripping in the series thus far.

The series also provides us with another Guardian, this one in the form of Kika. After introducing Juroot way back in issue four, it was only a matter of time before another Guardian was introduced. What makes Kika's scenes interesting is that she apparently betrays Richard and his friends by leaving them in Klaw's grasp to save her own skin. Most people will most likely deny this, saying she must be up to something, but a reader can't shake the the doubt that maybe, just maybe, this series will surprise us. Will Kika redeem herself in the second issue, or has she truly been tainted by the influence of the Evil One in the Ancestral World?

Finally, you've probably noticed the pictures of Klaw from the issue and the picture of Klaw in the playing card look very different. As what happened with Zibella, this more than likely happened because of a gap between the release of the card and the release of the issue itself. The card was, I believe, released with one of the first issues, perhaps between issues two and five. This was quite a while before issue eleven would be released, so the series artist had no idea what Klaw would look like in the final product. Thus, for the playing card he drew a "rough idea" of what Klaw might look like in the issue, and the end result is what you see. Amazingly, Klaw is far from the only one to have different appearances in his card and issue; in fact, I can think of one upcoming creature whose picture in his card looks shockingly different from his pictures in his issue. What creature is that? Wait and see...

Quotes:

Richard: "It seems we should use the rope and have faith that it will be long enough."
Orkan: "Melek's the smallest, he'll have a better chance of getting through the spikes."
Melek: "All right, but you two had better hold on tight."

Kika: "Oh, thank you. I am Kika, the Guardian of Insects. I was trapped by Klaw, the Evil One's servant. He stole my weapons and threw me into that dreadful pit to die."
Melek: "Couldn't you have flown out?"
Kika: "Remember the spikes? You can't fly very far if your wings are in ribbons."

"That's right, run! See where it gets you!"

-Klaw

"We might have a chance! They're not as strong as they look. We might be able to fight our way out of here."

-Richard

"She tricked us! She's escaping and leaving us here!"

-Orkan

"I might have lost the Guardian, but I won't lose you."

-Klaw

Go to #12 - Scorpions of the Desert