Disclaimer: This is a nonprofit fictional story, a FanFiction based on Ken Akamatsu's Negima. I do not own Negima, or most of the other characters included in this work, excepting where it is stated in the author's notes. It is not intended or presented for any commercial profit or personal gain; it is simply a story written for personal fulfillment and presented for public enjoyment, and as an honest homage to the fine story conceived and written by Ken Akamatsu, as well as all the other (innumerable) works that find place herein (and their authors).
Prologue
"Hmm…this place, then? Mount Roneal?" Dist muttered. "Well! I'd never thought to have looked here! Although I suppose I should have…."
"Yes…this place has meaning to Jade Curtis," Corai agreed. "And to you as well, Saphir, yes?"
"Yes…this was the site of some of Jade's better days…learning under the hand of Professor Gelda Nebilim, we passed our days in Keterberg. And this place…this was where Jade killed the professor. I'm surprised he had the nerve to come back here…."
They wandered through a narrow passage cut into the rock of the ice-laden mountain, passing through the twists and turns, Corai leading on foot and Dist, as always, reclining in his chair as it floated along.
Finally the passage opened up into a cavern. Here, inside cabinets encased in ice, were the files and other pieces of information Dist sought, magically preserved and sealed away against intrusion.
"Here they are," Corai muttered as he perused them once they had been loosed. "All the information required to recreate Orimus as a new continent for the surviving human race, the island of Eldrant…."
Dist was cackling, laughing, a kid in a candy store. "Yes…this is it. Jade Balfour, the magical scientist who invented the art of Replication, of recreating an object solely through magic. Like any matter created from magic, it was unstable, and would not last…but Jade came closer to the secret than anyone else. He was always interested in secrets of magic most thought best left undisturbed. That's how it happened…that night he came here to practice the manipulation of Infernal and Celestial energies that Professor Nebilim had warned him against. In his arrogance, he thought he could master them…and the Professor arrived in time to save him from them, but not herself….
"She was dying, but Jade thought he could save her through his art of Replication. But it was all for nothing…no, rather, it backfired…what was born from that was not really the Professor…."
"And yet your goal is to use these same arts to truly resurrect your beloved former teacher, is it not?" Corai demanded.
"Yes…the sin was not that Jade tried such an act…but that he gave up! After this, he went to the capital, joined the military, was adopted by the Curtis family, even helped against the Obsidian Star at the end of the war…he put all this effort into gaining the resources he needed so that he could continue his research. He used battlefields to harvest corpses so that they could be used in his experiments and his research. And then, after all of this, he gave up! He called it the devil's work, he forbade its use, he manipulated that empty-headed king into making it a crime to continue its pursuit! Taking a moral high ground, after all that he had done, and simply because he failed at the final leg! But now, it doesn't matter…let him say his vanities about his failed work. With the help of the Obsidian Star, I will do what he could not…I will perfect this work of Replication and finally bring the Professor back!"
However, something else suddenly caught his attention, and he turned towards the back of the chamber. Lighting a magical flame, he drifted slowly that direction. At the far end, inside the wall itself, cut off by a great sheet of ice, was a ragged pseudo-human form. It was a beautiful middle-aged woman with short platinum-blond hair, dressed in mixed white and black clothing, with several wing-like appendages emerging from its back. Dist's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the corpse. "T-this is…!"
Corai approached and observed it. "This…isn't this the failed Nebilim creation Jade Curtis made? His attempt was either a complete failure, or simply too successful, depending on your point of view. The creature certainly did not have the personality or the sentiments of Gelda Nebilim, although it seemed to have all her power and more. Several of the greatest warriors and mages of the Empire were required to put it down, and in the midst of the war, it became all the worse a situation for the Grandall Empire. Yet, this is the great secret…even so, they couldn't kill it, and instead only sealed it away. Here, Jade Curtis had it placed…in a way, just another symbol of his failures, locked away to remind him of where he had been." Corai glanced over at Dist. "And what do you intend to do with this? You wish to resurrect your professor, but this is not her…."
"No, but it is her blueprint, her core! We must take this as well…yes…."
Corai glanced at Dist askew. ('The little fool…he believes that he can use all of this to make that beast into his beloved teacher once again. While the refined arts of Replication, used with the power of the Obsidian Heart, could create a perfect golem copy of Gelda Nebilim and implant it with her memories, that thing is already a creature too drowned in power to become what he wishes. No matter…if nothing else, perhaps this pet of his can turn into another weapon for us to point at our enemies. No, even if somehow he succeeds, it matters not to us.') "Very well. We shall bring it all back. With what we have now, it is a small matter."
He held open a hand and a black globe appeared over his palm. The globe began to expand, filling the chamber, becoming more and more translucent as it expanded. Then, with a shimmering flash, it imploded, and Corai, Dist, and everything in the chamber were all gone.
F I N
Author's Note: Secrets and Mysteries
With the crew gathered back together, now seemed a good time to use the Prologue to highlight one of the mini-side stories; Dist's pursuit of Jade's secrets, leading up to the final adventure. As noted in Act 12, Corai, reborn, took the secrets from Jade's memory, allowing him to find this place.
The base behind the history is all very much like in TotA. Nebilim taught the growing boys at Keterberg—Jade, Dist, young Prince Peony, and Jade's sister, too (obviously, not one of the boys). Jade was a true prodigy at the 'fonic artes', as they call magic in TotA…but he could not use the Seventh Fonon. There are six 'Fonons', or elements, including Wind, Earth, Fire, Water, Light, and Darkness (the six common elements of the Tales franchise), and, in TotA, there is a seventh: sound. Only those who possess the 7th Fonon, who are born with it, can use healing magic. Nebilim, in addition to all her other magical talents, did possess it, and originally Jade's foolish attempt that doomed the professor was an attempt to wield the 7th Fonon himself, experiment with himself to enable its use.
Of course, in my magical world there are no 'Fonons' or other sources that could truly emulate this secret source of healing power. However, in most of the many sources of origin for my conglomerate magical world, Healing Magic is a rare and treasured gift—in Fairy Tail, Slayers, Tales of the Abyss, and even Negima, Healing Magic is much harder to come by than the myriad offensive types. So I just used something appropriate for Jade to experiment with, with bad consequences: Infernal and Celestial power (probably more the latter, but mazoku could also grant Healing Magic…for a price….
So, that's what they've been up to all this time. Now, let's leave the bad guys and move on to the main story…Kain's trials continue….
