The flight to Motavia was very smooth and we were at the Kadary spaceport in no time. We stored the Landale in a hangar that Demi had constructed, and boarded the massive Hydrofoil that she had readied. We had one minor stop to make before making our way to Krup. We, on Demi's suggestion, went to the Vahal Fort, where we found two most powerful weapons for Wren: the Photon Eraser, a massive gun, and the Positron Bolt Emitter. After we shut down the Daughter computer system at Vahal and Wren installed Posibolt; we boarded the Hydrofoil once more and jetted off to the Soldier's Temple, in the middle of the lake near Krup.
The Island Cave, underneath the Soldier's Temple, was terrible. It was cold and clammy, with water dripping onto our heads from giant stalactites clinging to the cavernous ceilings. Our new companion, an archaeologist named Seth, made the trek even more terrible with his stories, of which I believed not one. Something about him struck me as different, and I could tell that Rune felt the same way. We kept our eyes on him like hawks, watching his every move. I was especially good at watching him, since I had spent the good part of the last one hundred years eyeing a seven-year-old little girl, who liked to play in Mommy's wardrobe. As we exited the cave and came into the blazing sunlight of Algo once more, the ancient Soldier's Temple, looking very much like the Esper Mansion, came into view.
Seth, who from the beginning seemed very odd to me, started to act very peculiar when we got into the Temple itself. As Rune approached the golden box that contained the Aero-prism, Seth became very agitated and impatient. He began to pace as soon as the lustrous crystal was taken from its container. As Rune held it to his face to take a better look, Seth demanded that he be allowed to hold it, in a rather angry tone. Rune distracted him long enough to let the party exit the Temple. As we exited, the prism, which was now in Chaz's possession, blazed forth with a blinding beam of light, pointing towards the heavens. At the instant the prism displayed its light show, Seth began to scream in agony. We all whirled around just in time to see his horrible transformation. He began to glow green, and clawed at his face and neck with hands that were becoming more and more like giant claws. His body bulged unnaturally, and within a minute, had completely transformed…into an emanation of Dark Force.
"No wonder he wanted to hold the prism so badly," I commented. "If he would have gotten his hands on it, our mission would have instantly failed." Chaz drew his sword, while Rune and I readied our telementals. Dark Force approached, and we were ready to fight once more.
