Avalon Links
Avalon Publication(August 2002)
The Quest for Truth and Hope Part 3
Where we last left our heroes, they just came out of a hair-raising scenario and other things raising in which they had recovered the gem. Now, they are off to find the final gemstone, the green gemstone which belongs to Lyndra. So many questions remain: Is Corabon alive? Who was that man on the throne? Why would Corabon be so obvious as to directly show where his fortress was? Did Mithrull remember the servant girl’s phone number? One thing is for sure as soon as I am done with this, he is getting whacked upside the head. So the story begins.
Our group, after turning Corabon’s fortress to a pile of rubble, had now found themselves in a random forest. In the center of the forest, two trees bent to form a roof in which there was a house. Inside the house there were two people having tea. They were sitting in kneeling at the table in a Japanese style, performing a tea ceremony. The one guy looked up at the girl across from him. The guy had golden hair that went halfway down his back with four bangs, two went down past his eyes and the other two were waist length. The rest of his hair, he wore in a straight ponytail. He wore a all red dabock with a gold trim. He carried on his back a katana which seemed to smell of sulfur. The girl had long, brown hair that went down to her butt. She wore a silver vest with a long silver skirt with silver sandals. Underneath she wore a green bra and underpants. On the back of her vest bore a purple unicorn. She wore a green headband in her hair. “It been two days and I have yet to see this new Fire-blood. I will not tell you where I have learned such information but I am sure it is unusual for you to see such a person as myself.” spoke the mysterious stranger. The goddess sipped her unusual tea and set it down slowly. “Well, I said she would be here shortly. Time is of very little meaning to us gods. Two days is nothing to gods. You must practice patience.” He twitched and sipped his tea then twitched some more. “I have a few things to discuss with your God of Time if such a person exists.” Lyndra looked at her tea cup and took a sip. “My prodigy will be arriving soon as well. She just doesn’t know it yet.”
“I don’t understand, how can a Fireblood not know unless she received it unknowingly. The goddess looked at the strange man quizzically. “My prodigy is not a Fireblood.”
“I speak not of your prodigy but of the person with her. I think I shall greet her myself.” He stood up and walked toward the door.
He opened the door and walked towards the party. “You,” he pointed to the elven mage. “Are you Stephanie Winterdawn?” The girl gulped and looked the man up and down at his intimidating form. “I didn’t do it!” she squeaked.
“I will take that as a yes. You used and were given something today that you don’t understand.” The elven girl didn’t like being bullied. “Maybe I did and maybe I didn’t. What is it to you?” He smirked at her and responded. “Stubborn, I like that. I am here to find someone with great potential. Someone who has fire running through her veins, instead of blood, but if you are not Stephanie Winterdawn, I am sorry to bother you. It is a shame too, I would have taught her the advanced skills.” He started to walk off. She grabbed his arm. “Wait! I used fire and I am Stephanie Winterdawn but I don’t know if I have fire in my blood.”
“Tell me, if I were to touch a normal person with a technique I use, this technique boils the person’s blood. If it is done on a normal person, it will kill you. If you do have fire in your blood, it is as harmless as a handshake. If I am proven wrong I will heal you.” The mage started to lose her temper which made her a little bold and cocky. “I say try it, and let’s find out.” The Nino Oro girl replied, “Are you sure you want to do that? You could end up dead.” She turned to her friend, “I realize that but this guy seems to think I am someone different so let us see what happens.”
The man held out his arm, palm up. He put his palm on her shoulder. Fire rose from his veins and arm and formed a circle. He touched the girl on her shoulder and with impact, she started to twitch as if something inside her had awakened, then her body relaxed. This event had freaked out the golden-skinned one. By all accounts, her friend should be dead or at the very least, set on flame but here she was as if nothing had happened. “Who are you and what did you do to her?” The man The man looked at the golden skinned elf. “I am Shinoto and I did nothing to your friend. She was given a gift that she doesn’t understand. It was given to her by someone for which I will be speaking to him at another time but for now, understand I am here to help.” Both girls looked at him skeptically but did not dispute the point after looking at his sword. To make sure of something, Altheia tried to detect his alignment and aura. The readings came out as Neutral-Good. -Well, that is a relief to know he isn’t evil.- He smiled at her. “Believe me, if I were evil, you would all be dead by now. By the way, I can see through your abilities.”
“That’s nice. I don’t trust strangers I just met.” she quipped back.
“That’s actually smart although I suggest you do it when they aren’t looking.”
“I am not the one who is hiding who I am.” she threw back at him. He smiled a knowing kind of smile. “What do you wish to know of things you won’t understand?”
“Why are you here and who are you really? What do you want with Stephanie?”
“To make her understand herself better as she is now possibly a danger to your group. I already told you my name. As to my belief system, I can not tell you that.”
The golden-skinned girl soaked the information she had received for a few minutes. “You said that my friend is possibly a danger. How do you know for sure? How do you know she is the one you seek?”
“What would you have me do to prove it to you?”
“Tell me why you need her.”
“I need her because she needs to know herself and she can not do that on the path she is on.”
“How do I know you aren’t going to harm her?” counteracted Altheia. “Why should I believe you?”
He smiled and laughed aloud. “I find this very interesting. I asked how I can prove myself and you put forth yet another contradiction instead of putting forth any sort of challenge. Tell me, are you always this unfriendly?’
“I used to be friendlier however going up against the God of Mischief tends to change your outlook on life.”
Lyndra had come out of the house and made herself comfortable to watch the showdown between her prodigy and this strange man. He smiled, “There are no such things as gods only fates. There are people with much power. This is why I can not tell you who I am. My people are rare and branded. We do not believe in gods and considered heretics.”
After keeping silent for awhile, Stephanie spoke up, “What makes you think I will join you?” He looked at his new student he was supposed to be training with the unhappy eyes. “If you don’t, you will stay stagnant and eventually the fire inside will consume you if you do not learn to control it. If you do not believe me, come back in a couple of days, you will be begging me to train you after the fire has consumed your soul. See you in three days.” He walked off and out of sight.
The group watched him go, not knowing what to think of him. Altheia didn’t like the way the conversation went. She wasn’t sure what was going on with Stephanie. Stephanie didn’t know how he knew she had fire power or know about what she had done. Mithrull and Tristan had the sense to keep quiet because like other things that had happened to them, it made no sense. “Well, wasn’t HE friendly?” Mithrull asked sarcastically. Mithrull heard in the back of his mind. -I heard that.- He startled at hearing the voice in his head for as far as he knew, he didn’t have any telepathy powers.
The goddess of Nature, Lyndra, stepped up to the group. The Nino Oro bowed to the goddess. “My goddess, we have come for your gemstone. What must we do to get it?”
The goddess handed the green gemstone over to the girl. “Here, you have proven yourselves worthy by burning Corabon’s fortress down to a crisp. You did me a huge favor and for that, I give you my gemstone.”
Before the girl could take the gemstone, a blur of wind went past them and stole the gemstones. Anyone who had empathy, could feel the ice cold whirlwind as it went by. The wizard seeing a shape, tried to attack it. He focused and a snowflake appeared and rotated in his hand. He threw it at the cold whirlwind. “What was that?” asked Tristan. “It is called Rage of the Coldest Whirlwind.” The spell hit the image. The image stopped in shock, twitched and looked over her shoulder. “Oh, you really shouldn’t have done that. You do realize dearest boy that even though your technique went off, you aren’t going to have these back. This is so much bigger than the four of you.” She walked over to Mithrull and Stephanie. “To think you two will actually be wed. I can easily end both of your careers right now. I can destroy a potential goddess and future cleric right now but go ahead and give me your best shots.”
The Nino Oro focused as a bolt of lightning came out of the sky and struck the image in the chest. Stephanie used her fire abilities and a circle of fire enveloped the woman. The woman absorbed the girl’s lightning and Stephanie rolled on the floor in pain from using her powers. The woman absorbed the fire as well. Tristan used telekinesis to lift a rock and threw it at the woman however she sliced it with her evil looking sword, sending the rock shards back at the bard, cutting his face. Mithrull focused and opened his hand. “Your days are numbered, the clock is set, Judgment Volt!” A clock appeared, started to wind down quickly, and opened a vortex close to the woman’s face. A fireball struck her but she absorbed it then sent it back at the wizard. “Will Miss Lyndra like to give it a try? Care to play with me sister?” Lyndra looked into the woman’s eyes except where there should have been pupils, there was a black, dark void. The one thing she could tell was that there was no soul but a spirit that was consumed with hate. The spirit looked like that child years ago. The goddess shivered to think she could be related to this creature. “Who are you? What is your purpose here?”
“I am the hatred of all mankind. I am vengeance of all gods. I am the sorrow of every unborn child.” She smiled an evil, sadistic smile. “I am the one who wasn’t born because of Corabon.” The goddess’s eyebrow rose at the mention of her brother’s name. How did she know about Corabon? The woman called her sister? “How do you know of Corabon?”
“How does one not know who murdered her? How does one not know our dear mother? Woe is the gift I give him.”
“If you want to get revenge on Corabon then that is fine with me. Why hate me so when I have done nothing to you.”
“That is exactly why I hate you for I died and hate festered in my veins. You did not bring me back for you have powers of life but you did nothing dear sister. Even a day would have been acceptable instead you and mother sat on your thrones in a ivory tower and did nothing to save me, while I waited in the plain of the dead in limbo. I floated there as I waited for my savior. I only rose because my hate became so great for the gods. Tell me sister, do you dance still?’ Lyndra looked at her watch. “Oh, you stopped whining I see. For your 411, I do feel sorry for you but I have nothing to do with your death or birth. I am the goddess of Nature . I control life and death of animals not people. If you have a problem with my brother and mother, I suggest you take it up with them. For your further 411, our mother wept over you and still weeps every year on the anniversary of your death so quit your griping!”
“Quit my griping! I survived for the very fact of this woe. That is why I came back for these gemstones. What? Where they go?”
While the women were arguing, the wizard had taken the gemstones away from the dark goddess. “While you two were arguing, I thought I help myself to the gemstones and you will cope.”
“Excuse me! I was having a conversation! Unforgivable!” She waved her hand and lifted her arm in the air. A whirlwind circled around the wizard and hit him which left him on death’s door. The dark goddess walked over and took the gemstones back. “I’ll take these.”
Altheia witnessed Mithrull’s downfall and accelerated over to him to heal him. She laid her hands on his chest and meditated to Lyndra. The goddess closed her eyes, waved her hand, a light glowed through the girl’s fingertips and into the body of the wizard. He had regained his full health and he was blessed.
Now that the goddess had the gemstones back, she took out two M-16’s and aimed it at Lyndra. “Can you dance?” She pulled the trigger and bullets went flying, Mafia style. Everyone scattered as to not get in the line of the fire. Lyndra was the only one who knew about the future but did not know about this weapon. The one gun chased after Stephanie while the other was on Lyndra. No eyes were on Tristan. Now when Tristan got nervous, he played his flute. He armed himself with resistance and mage armor spells to the fullest. He pulled out his flute and began to play a happy tune. The dark goddess focused and a fireball appeared over her head which grew bigger and bigger. She let it loose but instead of aiming at the bard from the front, it came at him from behind. He took damage but he was still standing and the magic armor and resistance were still in place, playing his flute.
The goddess reloaded the M-16 while Tristan still played on. She shot a fire blot out of her right eye and aimed it at the flute but it could not be destroyed. “Damn it! Fine, but I still have your precious little gems. Come and see me on the field.” She vanished out of sight. Mithrull took the gemstones out of his pocket. “Actually, she doesn’t have them, I do. Who’s the man?” For a long time, no one said anything. Finally the wizard spoke up, “That was a nice little distraction. Can we move on now?”
“I am glad to see you finally joined the program. I been ready to move on since we were in Corabon’s fortress!” the Nino Oro yelled at him. “Shall we go now?”
The goddess of Nature stepped forward. “You can go as soon as I give you your new powers. Altheia, you get teleportation. Stephanie gets Orbing, Mithrull gets magic weapon to conjure and Tristan gets Dispel Magic. See ya. You can find your own way back.” The goddess faded out in a flash of light. Three of the party members can now teleport so Altheia took Tristan’s hand and they appeared in the yard of the mage school.
-Welcome back.- came Diamond’s voice in the girl’s head.-Come meet us in the courtyard.-
At the courtyard, the headmaster, a white and purple unicorn, and a brown-haired woman stood waiting for them. They walked up and bowed before the queen. Mithrull handed the gems to Altheia who handed them to the queen. “Your majesty. We did what you asked of us.”
The queen smiled. “Thank you. I am very pleased you were able to fulfill the mission. How was the journey?”
Mithrull smirked, “Oh, not too bad. It was a piece of pie actually.”
The queen smiled and took the gemstones. They glowed and grew bigger into a sword, a suit of armor, an amulet and a shield. She handed the armor over to Altheia, a weird sword over to Stephanie, the amulet to Mithrull, and the shield to Tristan. “The sword is called the Truthslayer. The armor is called the Suit of Truth and the shield is called the Hopeshield. We aren’t sure what the amulet does yet. All we know is that you use the stone to channel power. Plus you get more abilities. Altheia gets Alteration and Freeze Time. Stephanie you get read minds and energy shock. Mithrull gets Stone Skin, Dispel Magic and Turn Undead. Tristan gets Dimensional which you use to send creatures to another plain, and Healing Circle. Now I suggest you all get some rest.”
Altheia was more than exhausted from this quest. All she wanted to do was crash onto her bed. Diamond had welcomed her back and was now resting in the stable with Violet. She was too tired to think anymore. She would figure it out all later. She opened the door of her room to see a brown-haired woman. She wore a white vest with a long white skirt, with green undertop and white sandals. “Goddess,” the girl bowed.“What a pleasant surprise.”
The goddess smiled. “I am pleased with your progress. I have a proposition for you. You have proven your loyalty and I wish to make you a Skypath Knight. This is a special elite class. You will wear the Armor of Truth whenever you serve me. Also, I give you this.” The goddess handed the girl an amulet on a gold chain. On the amulet was a great oak tree, the symbol of the goddess of Nature. “You will wear this as well and with it you have all the forces of nature at your disposal.”
“Thank you goddess. I will serve you well.”
Meanwhile, Stephanie had entered her room to find the man they had met before. He sat at her desk, sipping an interesting tea. “So did you have fun and did you miss me?”
The elven mage closed the door and flopped on her bed. “How did you get in here?”
“I followed the scent of sulfur, found your room, talked to your headmaster and he understands so I am your new teacher Miss Winterdawn. I assume you want to learn now?”
She groaned and looked at the man. “Do I have a choice?”
“I don’t know, do you want to quit the school?” He handed her a document by the headmaster. It read: Hello Stephanie, We still haven’t figured out who signed this recommendation. We are glad the stones have been recovered. We found a person who can train you in your special talents. I understand you will be training under this person for the next two years. I wish you all the best. Go with the gods. Headmaster Mikeal
The elven mage was speechless. “So where do we train?”
He looked around the girl’s room and smiled. “Here will do nicely.”
The girl also looked around the room. “Won’t all this stuff catch fire?”
“Try it. Oh, that’s right, you don’t know how to use the magic without hurting yourself.”
Her situation had fully dawned on her by this time. “So we are going to stay in this room for the next two years?”
“Yes, until you can destroy the room. I already paid for the insurance on the damages.”
“Since I will be training in this room for two years, can I say goodbye to my friends?”
“Sure, you will leave the room for field training but all practices will be here.”
The girl wrote two messages to Altheia and Mithrull explaining her absence. She summoned her unicorn and Violet delivered the messages. “Will I be able to keep my unicorn with me?”
“Yes, you won’t be able to keep it in here but possibly in the stalls. You can go to it once in awhile. The training won’t be that hard on you.”
-I will not leave my mistress’s side. Where she goes, I go.-
--You want the best for your mistress right?--
-Yes.-
--Then you will deliver said messages without question. If I do not do what I was hired to do by the fates, she will surely die.--
-I am sworn to protect her.-
--As am I. If you don’t do this now, she will burn up and die and you would have failed as her protector.--
-I do not wish to interfere with you. I request to stay by her side.-
--You have delivered the messages?--
-I have a long time ago.-
--You may stay by her side and you will not interfere.--
“Now are we ready to begin?”