THE RISING
Thirteen-year-old Marie awoke to the sunlight streaming into her window. "Ooog..." she mumbled, and pulled the sheets over her head.
"Marie! Time to get up!" called her mother's voice through the door. "The Adepts are holding a meeting, remember?"
"Oh! That's right!" Marie shot up in bed, and was dressed in her clothes in about ten seconds flat. She flung open her door, and her mother led her outside to where the meeting was about to begin.
The Adepts, of course, in case the reader does not know, are human—very much so, in fact. But anyhow, their names were Felix, Jenna, Sheba, Piers, Isaac, Mia, Garet and Ivan. Felix's group (Jenna, Sheba, Piers, and himself) started the meeting.
"Hello everyone," he began. "Thank you for coming to this very important meeting. My friends and fellow adepts have just recently discovered that there are Elemental Fountains out there that we, as Adepts, have failed to ligt." This is where Jenna took over.
"And also, we were wondering if any of you teenagers or kids out there can see something like...this," said Jenna, as she cast Lash. "If you can, please stand up." Marie stood, along with her best friend Kimi. Marie's boyfriend, Artemis, stood also. The Adepts looked somewhat disappointed.
"Really? That's ALL?" asked Sheba. A boy named Li stood. He looked a little embarrassed, although Marie could not imagine why.
"Oh, good! Good! This is perfect!" Mia enthused. "Could you four please come up here?" The four of them carefully picked their way through the crowds to reach the front where the eight Adepts were standing.
"I have a question," said Kimi.
"Ask away," said Ivan.
"Well—see, I was just wondering—how many Elemental Fountains are there?" "Five! Five of them!" said Garet overenthusiastically.
"Garet! Calm down!" scolded Mia.
Suddenly Marie's face brightened. "You mean...the five of us...have the power of...the Outer Lighthouses?"
"YES! EXACTLY!" said Isaac, pumping his fist in the air.
"Erm..." said Artemis, looking at Jenna as if to say, "Is your husband nutty in the head, or is it just me?"
Jenna just smiled. "Now, we all need to see exactly which power you all have."
"But—" Marie broke in. "What are the powers?"
"A good question, and definitely one worth answering," said Ivan. "The powers of the Elemental Fountains have been written down on a handy little chart so you all can see them easier, just in case you don't know." He pulled out a chart, which looked something like this.
ELEMENT POWER
VENUS..............EARTH
MARS...................FIRE
JUPITER..............WIND
MERCURY.........WATER
"I don't know which one I want to be..." murmured Marie after looking at the sheet for a good deal of time.
"Well, you're about to find out! We Adepts are going to test the reactions between these pendants—" Felix held up 4 pendants—"against you."
"So you mean, whichever one of the pendants reacts to us decides our power?" said Artemis.
"Exactly!" said Piers. "And we'll start...with miss Marie Korari."
"M-me?" asked Marie. "If your name is Marie, then yes, you are starting," answered the Lemurian gently. "Here, move your hand over the five pendants on the table, and whichever one starts to glow in reaction to your presence will be the confirmation of your power."
"Oh, and by the way," Jenna added, "Whichever of you gets the power of the Earth, or Venus, will be the leader of the group."
"Here goes nothing..." said Marie, and stepped up to the table, where the four pendants were laid flat. She started at the right, and drew her hand across to the left. The gold Earth pendant started to glow. I'm the leader of our group! She thought. She picked it up and slipped it around her neck. The pendant ceased its glowing suddenly. She looked, confused, at the elder Adepts. "Was that supposed to happen?" she asked.
"Yes," said Sheba. "The pendant's power senses that it has been paired with its rightful owner, so it discontinued its glowing."
"Oh, I understand," Said Marie as she retreated back to her group of five. By the time they had all tested their powers, the chart looked something like this:
NAME ELEMENT
MARIE KORARI EARTH
KIMI MALINA FIRE
ARTEMIS WINGBEAT WIND
LI AQUAMARI WATER
Artemis looked at Marie, who still looked a little shocked—she was still absorbing the fact that she was the leader of the group, he realized. Sheba slipped up behind Marie and used Mind Read. Huh? thought Marie, startled. She sensed something... a human presence in her mind...
You can sense me! That's good,
Sheba? She guessed. Only Wind adepts could read minds or mind-speak, and it was definitely a girl.
Yes. There is no reason for you to be nervous about being the leader of your group, she said gently.
But, I'm afraid I'll lead our group to destruction! Kill us all off by sheer stupidity!
You won't, Marie. In fact...if you ever wavered, that boy, Artemis—your boyfriend, right?—he would help you. He believes in you. He knows you are a strong leader. Don't doubt yourself, Marie! Sheba encouraged.
But Sheba, you see, I'm afraid that he won't like me anymore!
Oh, don't worry. Felix was—and still is—very unpredictable before I married him, but I'm still here!
"Sheba, we're leaving now," said Felix, touching Sheba gently on the shoulder.
"All right," said Sheba.
"Good luck, Marie. If you ever need any help, you can always talk to Jenna, or Mia, or me."
"Okay. Thank you for all your help, Sheba," said Marie with a small smile.
Marie turned to her group. "So, where do we start?" she said with fake brightness.
"Well, we could try to find out exactly where the first fountain is," said Artemis.
"Oh! You're right, that's a good idea! But...where will we get a good map?" she questioned.
"And furthermore," Kimi added, "If we're going to be going all over Weyard, we're going to need some form of protection, like armor and weapons, but I don't know where to get those kinds of things."
"Oh, of course!" said Marie, smacking herself on the forehead with the palm of her hand.
"What?" asked Artemis. "And don't smack yourself like that, you'll lose brain cells," he added disapprovingly.
"The shop right at the entrance to town! They have maps, items, and weapons and armor!"
"Good idea!" said Artemis and Kimi simultaneously. They all broke out into a run for the shop, and burst into the door.
"Hi!" said Marie excitedly. "We'd like to buy some maps and weapons and stuff,"
"All right," said the man behind the counter. "Here are our current wares." He displayed several swords, maces, and staffs. He also showed our Adepts several types of armor, including gloves, boots, and body coverings. "And over there with that young lady is this town's item shop," said the man. "That's where you can buy Herbs, Potions, Psy Crystals, and maps too."
"Great!" said Marie excitedly. The Adepts each bought the weapon of their choice. Marie and Artemis bought swords, Kimi bought a staff, and Li bought a mace. The boys bought leather gloves and cheap helms, and Kimi and Marie bought armlets and circlets. When they had equipped their purchases, they walked over to the young woman behind the other counter and bought maps and healing items.
Finally, they left Vale.
"Wow! I always wanted to travel, but I never thought I actually would so soon!" said Kimi happily. But their happiness was destroyed when suddenly—
"AAAAUUUGH!!!! WHAT THE *beep* IS THAT?!" yelped Artemis as a Punch Ant leaped out at them.
"You guys! You guys! Calm down!" yelled Marie. "We just have to attack it to kill it!"
"Oh. Right. I knew that...all along!" said Artemis with a fake smile. Marie promptly sprang forward and struck the Punch Ant with her sword, slashing at it. Artemis followed up with a swift blow to the head. Chloe attacked, and Li lunged and hit, but it still wasn't enough. They all looked at Kimi, who was staring up into the sky.
"Look! I can see a puppy!" she said happily, pointing at the clouds.
"KIMI!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Marie.
"AAAAUUUGH! What?" she yelped.
"Attack it!!!!" said the rather exasperated Earth adept.
"Oh! Right!" said Kimi, who immediately sprang forward and struck the beast with her staff. It disintegrated immediately.
"Hey! I killed it! I killed it! Yaaaayyy!" A Wild Wolf suddenly appeared behind her and growled. Kimi stopped her little "happy dance" and stood terrified. She whipped around and whacked it with her staff, but then, upon seeing how big it was compared to her, whimpered and ran back to her friends. Marie sprang forward agilely and plunged her sword deep into the beast's side. It made no notice and swatted her with a huge paw. She went flying and collided with a rock.
"MARIE!" screamed Artemis. "No!" "She'll be fine! Just attack it!!" said Li, whereupon Artemis leaped forward and made a cut with the top of his blade that reached from the forehead down to the nose. But the monster still kept fighting, even with its own blood in its eyes. Suddenly, it let out a loud Sonic Roar, which sent Artemis flying backwards to land, unconscious, next to Marie. Li attacked ferociously, in an attempt to end the battle, but the horrible animal still was not killed. Kimi stood, horrified of the gigantic wolf- like animal. Then, silently, carefully, she slipped forward and slammed her staff into the monster's head, finally killing it and making it disintegrate. Li picked up the fallen Artemis and Kimi managed Marie.
"Look! It's—a town!" said Kimi suddenly, gesturing with her head since her hands were full.
"It must be Vault!" said Li, who was balancing the map on Artemis.
Once they'd gotten to Vault, they walked into the inn, bought a room and reserved it, then left to get Artemis and Marie revived. They walked into a large building that looked somewhat like a church. People in the pews stared as the young warriors walked in.
"Welcome, weary wanderers. What do you seek?" said the man who looked like a priest.
"Isn't it a bit obvious?!" said Kimi angrily. "I mean, we've got two people here who are like downed, and you're asking us WHAT WE SEEK?!?!"
"Y-yes...what is it you would like?" said the priest, stuttering. He didn't quite seem to realize that they wanted Revival.
"We would like you to revive our friends, starting with Artemis," said Li coldly, lifting up his friend slightly.
"Reviving Artemis will cost a donation of 100 coins. Is that all right?" said the priest.
"Whatever," said Li. "Just do your job quickly, OK? We've still got Marie to heal, remember?"
"All right," said the priest as he healed Artemis and accepted the first coin donation from Li.
"Now revive Marie," commanded Kimi.
"Reviving Marie will cost you a donation of 150 coins. Is that all right?" said the priest.
"Are you like, a broken record or something?" said an exasperated Kimi. "Of course it's all right! We just want our friends healed!!" She handed over the coins and the priest revived Marie.
"Marie...good," said Artemis, who had been standing with a worried expression on his face ever since he had been revived.
The five of them left the church and walked back to their inn room. They spread out the map on the floor and looked over it.
"Well, it looks like we've got a long way to go before reaching the Venus Fountain," said Artemis. "But that's not a bad thing, you know—it'll give us more time to train before entering, just in case we meet any big bad guys we have to defeat."
"Don't we have Psynergy?" said Marie suddenly, changing the subject.
"Of course we have Psynergy," said Li. "We're Adepts, and the ones in Vale had Psynergy, so we must, too."
"Your logic is making since," said Marie, "but how do we use it?"
"I remember reading something somewhere, that Psynergy is a power of the mind. You need to focus your inner power to use it." Said Artemis, remembering his vast hours in the Vale library reading his eyes out.
"Oh, I understand, I think..." said Marie. She lifted a hand, and concentrated—hard. She visualized a small rock building upon her fingertips. Suddenly, there was heat growing above her palm. She opened her eyes and sure enough---"I did it! I actually made a Psynergy!" she said excitedly. "Now let's see if YOU can do it, Artemis!" said Marie happily.
"But my head is too busy with other things! I can't concentrate as hard as I should!"
"Hmmm...good point. Maybe I could give you power, to help?" said Marie. Artemis looked at her strangely. "Hey, it was just an idea!" said Marie unhappily.
"While you guys are thinking about that, I'll be trying out my power," said Kimi.
She crossed her legs in a pose that resembled a Yoga pose. She concentrated hard, imagining a spark of flame on her fingertip, sparking and fizzling and hissing. She imagined that the firepower grew larger and larger and larger, until it covered her entire palm. She opened her eyes, which had been squeezed shut in concentration, to find that her imagining had done the trick, and she was now staring into a hissing, sparking ball of orangey-red fire. "I got it to work!" she said happily. "I can use Psynergy! Happy happy joy joy!!"
Thirteen-year-old Marie awoke to the sunlight streaming into her window. "Ooog..." she mumbled, and pulled the sheets over her head.
"Marie! Time to get up!" called her mother's voice through the door. "The Adepts are holding a meeting, remember?"
"Oh! That's right!" Marie shot up in bed, and was dressed in her clothes in about ten seconds flat. She flung open her door, and her mother led her outside to where the meeting was about to begin.
The Adepts, of course, in case the reader does not know, are human—very much so, in fact. But anyhow, their names were Felix, Jenna, Sheba, Piers, Isaac, Mia, Garet and Ivan. Felix's group (Jenna, Sheba, Piers, and himself) started the meeting.
"Hello everyone," he began. "Thank you for coming to this very important meeting. My friends and fellow adepts have just recently discovered that there are Elemental Fountains out there that we, as Adepts, have failed to ligt." This is where Jenna took over.
"And also, we were wondering if any of you teenagers or kids out there can see something like...this," said Jenna, as she cast Lash. "If you can, please stand up." Marie stood, along with her best friend Kimi. Marie's boyfriend, Artemis, stood also. The Adepts looked somewhat disappointed.
"Really? That's ALL?" asked Sheba. A boy named Li stood. He looked a little embarrassed, although Marie could not imagine why.
"Oh, good! Good! This is perfect!" Mia enthused. "Could you four please come up here?" The four of them carefully picked their way through the crowds to reach the front where the eight Adepts were standing.
"I have a question," said Kimi.
"Ask away," said Ivan.
"Well—see, I was just wondering—how many Elemental Fountains are there?" "Five! Five of them!" said Garet overenthusiastically.
"Garet! Calm down!" scolded Mia.
Suddenly Marie's face brightened. "You mean...the five of us...have the power of...the Outer Lighthouses?"
"YES! EXACTLY!" said Isaac, pumping his fist in the air.
"Erm..." said Artemis, looking at Jenna as if to say, "Is your husband nutty in the head, or is it just me?"
Jenna just smiled. "Now, we all need to see exactly which power you all have."
"But—" Marie broke in. "What are the powers?"
"A good question, and definitely one worth answering," said Ivan. "The powers of the Elemental Fountains have been written down on a handy little chart so you all can see them easier, just in case you don't know." He pulled out a chart, which looked something like this.
ELEMENT POWER
VENUS..............EARTH
MARS...................FIRE
JUPITER..............WIND
MERCURY.........WATER
"I don't know which one I want to be..." murmured Marie after looking at the sheet for a good deal of time.
"Well, you're about to find out! We Adepts are going to test the reactions between these pendants—" Felix held up 4 pendants—"against you."
"So you mean, whichever one of the pendants reacts to us decides our power?" said Artemis.
"Exactly!" said Piers. "And we'll start...with miss Marie Korari."
"M-me?" asked Marie. "If your name is Marie, then yes, you are starting," answered the Lemurian gently. "Here, move your hand over the five pendants on the table, and whichever one starts to glow in reaction to your presence will be the confirmation of your power."
"Oh, and by the way," Jenna added, "Whichever of you gets the power of the Earth, or Venus, will be the leader of the group."
"Here goes nothing..." said Marie, and stepped up to the table, where the four pendants were laid flat. She started at the right, and drew her hand across to the left. The gold Earth pendant started to glow. I'm the leader of our group! She thought. She picked it up and slipped it around her neck. The pendant ceased its glowing suddenly. She looked, confused, at the elder Adepts. "Was that supposed to happen?" she asked.
"Yes," said Sheba. "The pendant's power senses that it has been paired with its rightful owner, so it discontinued its glowing."
"Oh, I understand," Said Marie as she retreated back to her group of five. By the time they had all tested their powers, the chart looked something like this:
NAME ELEMENT
MARIE KORARI EARTH
KIMI MALINA FIRE
ARTEMIS WINGBEAT WIND
LI AQUAMARI WATER
Artemis looked at Marie, who still looked a little shocked—she was still absorbing the fact that she was the leader of the group, he realized. Sheba slipped up behind Marie and used Mind Read. Huh? thought Marie, startled. She sensed something... a human presence in her mind...
You can sense me! That's good,
Sheba? She guessed. Only Wind adepts could read minds or mind-speak, and it was definitely a girl.
Yes. There is no reason for you to be nervous about being the leader of your group, she said gently.
But, I'm afraid I'll lead our group to destruction! Kill us all off by sheer stupidity!
You won't, Marie. In fact...if you ever wavered, that boy, Artemis—your boyfriend, right?—he would help you. He believes in you. He knows you are a strong leader. Don't doubt yourself, Marie! Sheba encouraged.
But Sheba, you see, I'm afraid that he won't like me anymore!
Oh, don't worry. Felix was—and still is—very unpredictable before I married him, but I'm still here!
"Sheba, we're leaving now," said Felix, touching Sheba gently on the shoulder.
"All right," said Sheba.
"Good luck, Marie. If you ever need any help, you can always talk to Jenna, or Mia, or me."
"Okay. Thank you for all your help, Sheba," said Marie with a small smile.
Marie turned to her group. "So, where do we start?" she said with fake brightness.
"Well, we could try to find out exactly where the first fountain is," said Artemis.
"Oh! You're right, that's a good idea! But...where will we get a good map?" she questioned.
"And furthermore," Kimi added, "If we're going to be going all over Weyard, we're going to need some form of protection, like armor and weapons, but I don't know where to get those kinds of things."
"Oh, of course!" said Marie, smacking herself on the forehead with the palm of her hand.
"What?" asked Artemis. "And don't smack yourself like that, you'll lose brain cells," he added disapprovingly.
"The shop right at the entrance to town! They have maps, items, and weapons and armor!"
"Good idea!" said Artemis and Kimi simultaneously. They all broke out into a run for the shop, and burst into the door.
"Hi!" said Marie excitedly. "We'd like to buy some maps and weapons and stuff,"
"All right," said the man behind the counter. "Here are our current wares." He displayed several swords, maces, and staffs. He also showed our Adepts several types of armor, including gloves, boots, and body coverings. "And over there with that young lady is this town's item shop," said the man. "That's where you can buy Herbs, Potions, Psy Crystals, and maps too."
"Great!" said Marie excitedly. The Adepts each bought the weapon of their choice. Marie and Artemis bought swords, Kimi bought a staff, and Li bought a mace. The boys bought leather gloves and cheap helms, and Kimi and Marie bought armlets and circlets. When they had equipped their purchases, they walked over to the young woman behind the other counter and bought maps and healing items.
Finally, they left Vale.
"Wow! I always wanted to travel, but I never thought I actually would so soon!" said Kimi happily. But their happiness was destroyed when suddenly—
"AAAAUUUGH!!!! WHAT THE *beep* IS THAT?!" yelped Artemis as a Punch Ant leaped out at them.
"You guys! You guys! Calm down!" yelled Marie. "We just have to attack it to kill it!"
"Oh. Right. I knew that...all along!" said Artemis with a fake smile. Marie promptly sprang forward and struck the Punch Ant with her sword, slashing at it. Artemis followed up with a swift blow to the head. Chloe attacked, and Li lunged and hit, but it still wasn't enough. They all looked at Kimi, who was staring up into the sky.
"Look! I can see a puppy!" she said happily, pointing at the clouds.
"KIMI!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Marie.
"AAAAUUUGH! What?" she yelped.
"Attack it!!!!" said the rather exasperated Earth adept.
"Oh! Right!" said Kimi, who immediately sprang forward and struck the beast with her staff. It disintegrated immediately.
"Hey! I killed it! I killed it! Yaaaayyy!" A Wild Wolf suddenly appeared behind her and growled. Kimi stopped her little "happy dance" and stood terrified. She whipped around and whacked it with her staff, but then, upon seeing how big it was compared to her, whimpered and ran back to her friends. Marie sprang forward agilely and plunged her sword deep into the beast's side. It made no notice and swatted her with a huge paw. She went flying and collided with a rock.
"MARIE!" screamed Artemis. "No!" "She'll be fine! Just attack it!!" said Li, whereupon Artemis leaped forward and made a cut with the top of his blade that reached from the forehead down to the nose. But the monster still kept fighting, even with its own blood in its eyes. Suddenly, it let out a loud Sonic Roar, which sent Artemis flying backwards to land, unconscious, next to Marie. Li attacked ferociously, in an attempt to end the battle, but the horrible animal still was not killed. Kimi stood, horrified of the gigantic wolf- like animal. Then, silently, carefully, she slipped forward and slammed her staff into the monster's head, finally killing it and making it disintegrate. Li picked up the fallen Artemis and Kimi managed Marie.
"Look! It's—a town!" said Kimi suddenly, gesturing with her head since her hands were full.
"It must be Vault!" said Li, who was balancing the map on Artemis.
Once they'd gotten to Vault, they walked into the inn, bought a room and reserved it, then left to get Artemis and Marie revived. They walked into a large building that looked somewhat like a church. People in the pews stared as the young warriors walked in.
"Welcome, weary wanderers. What do you seek?" said the man who looked like a priest.
"Isn't it a bit obvious?!" said Kimi angrily. "I mean, we've got two people here who are like downed, and you're asking us WHAT WE SEEK?!?!"
"Y-yes...what is it you would like?" said the priest, stuttering. He didn't quite seem to realize that they wanted Revival.
"We would like you to revive our friends, starting with Artemis," said Li coldly, lifting up his friend slightly.
"Reviving Artemis will cost a donation of 100 coins. Is that all right?" said the priest.
"Whatever," said Li. "Just do your job quickly, OK? We've still got Marie to heal, remember?"
"All right," said the priest as he healed Artemis and accepted the first coin donation from Li.
"Now revive Marie," commanded Kimi.
"Reviving Marie will cost you a donation of 150 coins. Is that all right?" said the priest.
"Are you like, a broken record or something?" said an exasperated Kimi. "Of course it's all right! We just want our friends healed!!" She handed over the coins and the priest revived Marie.
"Marie...good," said Artemis, who had been standing with a worried expression on his face ever since he had been revived.
The five of them left the church and walked back to their inn room. They spread out the map on the floor and looked over it.
"Well, it looks like we've got a long way to go before reaching the Venus Fountain," said Artemis. "But that's not a bad thing, you know—it'll give us more time to train before entering, just in case we meet any big bad guys we have to defeat."
"Don't we have Psynergy?" said Marie suddenly, changing the subject.
"Of course we have Psynergy," said Li. "We're Adepts, and the ones in Vale had Psynergy, so we must, too."
"Your logic is making since," said Marie, "but how do we use it?"
"I remember reading something somewhere, that Psynergy is a power of the mind. You need to focus your inner power to use it." Said Artemis, remembering his vast hours in the Vale library reading his eyes out.
"Oh, I understand, I think..." said Marie. She lifted a hand, and concentrated—hard. She visualized a small rock building upon her fingertips. Suddenly, there was heat growing above her palm. She opened her eyes and sure enough---"I did it! I actually made a Psynergy!" she said excitedly. "Now let's see if YOU can do it, Artemis!" said Marie happily.
"But my head is too busy with other things! I can't concentrate as hard as I should!"
"Hmmm...good point. Maybe I could give you power, to help?" said Marie. Artemis looked at her strangely. "Hey, it was just an idea!" said Marie unhappily.
"While you guys are thinking about that, I'll be trying out my power," said Kimi.
She crossed her legs in a pose that resembled a Yoga pose. She concentrated hard, imagining a spark of flame on her fingertip, sparking and fizzling and hissing. She imagined that the firepower grew larger and larger and larger, until it covered her entire palm. She opened her eyes, which had been squeezed shut in concentration, to find that her imagining had done the trick, and she was now staring into a hissing, sparking ball of orangey-red fire. "I got it to work!" she said happily. "I can use Psynergy! Happy happy joy joy!!"