Emerria had been walking for hours. The Magic Knights and Clef had been heading towards the mountains for nearly three days, and it had been four hours since they had stopped. She was trailing behind Clef and Hikaru, and could barely keep pace with Fuu and Umi. It was due in part to the heavy robes that she was now wearing and the heavy silver scepter she carried. Before they had started out the first day, she had asked Clef if she could just make a pack out of her cloaks, but he had shot her a look of condecention and had rebuked her. Tears welled in her tired eyes as she remembered those word. "Emerria, if *I* can wear them, so can *YOU*" he had said coldly. She wiped her eyes with dirty hands, and continued walking.

Clef had been different towards her since she had met the spirit. Everytime she had tried to ask him about it, he would turn away and not want to continue the conversation. The Magic Knights spoke in hushed tones around him about *her*. A part of her was happy for him, knowing that he would find *her*, but there was another part that shrunk every time they said something about her. About *her*, she corrected herself. Since the dreams, she had caught herself associating herself with the spirit. She would shake her head and correct herself, but in the back of her mind, she knew that a part of *her* resided within her.

A loud scream woke her from her reverie. She looked around at the others and saw that they were covered in a sort of reddish dust. There was a large brownish bug like monster vomiting up the reddish dust from its mouth. As it hit the skin of the Magic Knights, it began to steam and dissolve into their skin. Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu began to scream and Clef ran towards them. Emerria had no chice but to fight now. She placed a hand on the jewel in the tiara and began to recite the words that were coming to her mind.

"Great Mother of Cefiro, bride to the creator, lover of the master, come to me!" She took the staff in her other hand and raised it up. As was raised, a bolt of unseen lightning hit it and they saw a greenish force around her. Clef, who had been about to call his power, ran towards her and began screaming at Emerria

"Emerria! STOP!" he screamed. "WE.... I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!!!!" Clef ran at her with his staff raised like a club. "You are just going to get in the way!"

"She is going through her first trial" said a voice in his head. "Are *you* really going to get in her way?"

"YOU!" Clef said aloud and stopped in his tracks. His staff came down and he collapsed on the ground. "Are you really going through with this?" he said.

A loud scream ripped through the air and he saw the bug coming towards Emerria with the three Magic Knights in his clutches. He stood quickly and raised his staff. 'Lightning Strike!" he yelled and blasted the monster. When the smoke cleared, the monster had been singed and was now heading in his direction.

"EARTH CELESTIAL LIGHT!!!!" A large blast of dark green light exploded from Emerria's forehead and flew towards the monster. As it hit the armored body, the monster exploded and created a small shockwave. The girls each fell from the grasp of the monster and landed on the ground semi-unconsious. Clef had sutmbled to the ground in the wake of Emerria's attack and he could leaned on his staff to stand up. As the light dissolved, he could see Emerria standing in the aftermath of the monster gloing with a strong greenish light. She stood proudly and began to walk over to her friends.

She stood in the middle of her three friends and began to whisper incantations. "Mother who resides within me, heal your servants." From her body, the greenish glow pushed out and began to swirl about the four figures. From afar, Clef could only stare in awe at the raw power as the Magic Knights were infused with the green light and began to glow. When all of the light had gone into their bodies, Emerria collapsed in the middle of them, all of her energy drained from her body. Clef stood and slowly and cautiously walked toward her.

"Did you need me afterall?" he heard a whisper come from her lips, thick with anger. He saw her body was limp but her eyes were wide open. "Well, did you?"

Clef stood tall next to his staff and looked softly down at the girl. "I'm sorry." he said softly. "I was wrong to try to get in your way."

A light flashed though Emerria's eyes and her face softened. A sigh of utter exaustion escaped her lips. Clef looked at her and kneeled down . "Clef..." she said softly. "Is it because she is in me?" Clef pulled her head into his arms and looked down at her as she tried to keep talking. "It hurts her when you act like this towards me."

"How?" he said in a choked voice. "How do I hurt her?"

"She is in my head, in my heart." she said, pausing to close her eyes. "She hears every word you say, or don't say to me." Emerria opened her eyes and looked into his blue eyes. "I feel the hurt in two ways."

Clef squeezed his eyes closed so that she wouldn't see the tear falling down his face. "I am so sorry." he began, but as he opened his eyes he saw that the words, and the tear, fall on a sleeping woman. In his arms she looked tired and dishevled, her scepter fallen to the ground beside her, and her face bruised from some unseen impact. As the Knights began to wake from their healing trance, they saw Clef pick up Emerria and bundle her with her cloaks in his arms.

"Why don't you make up a camp." he said to the three girls who had just stood and looked at the two with a look of utter amazement. "And make a nice big fire."

The three just nodded their heads dumbly and watched as Clef took care of his new charge through the night. He would teach her how to control the new power she had been given, and would care for her until someone told him not to.....but would he stop when he was told?

Back to the Library
On to Chapter 15