(And yet she keeps coming out with more and more for the Ni No Kuni series! When it shall stop, we will never know! Actually, I know.)
"So. This is the one who shall save the world." the dark man said as he watched a man with scruffy red hair and bright blue eyes hugging a girl who looked like him on a projection.
"So says the prophecy." The woman next to him said, then she turned and chuckled a little at their prisoners. "As do these... buffoons."
"Buffoons?" One of them mocked.
The dark man, known as Daimon, glared back at them as he walked over. "What makes you four feel as though this, mere mortal, is worthy of saving this world, when none of you, nor those "heroes" who have run off and hid, cannot even stand before me?"
"He is our dearest friend, and my younger brother. I have faith in him, if nothing else!" The younger woman growled at him, her long haired tangled, her teal dress torn and her feet bare. Daimon growled back.
"He has saved our world before, and shall save it again!" The younger man next to her added, admiring his wife's bravery. It never ceased to amaze him. He wore a teal jacket that was ripped, revealing a dark purple shirt and a pair of ripped purple pants, his black shoes only scuffed.
"Faith?" Daimon scoffed. "The man will need more than faith if he dares to face me!" Then he turned back to the projection, which changed into one that showed many people they cared about, turned into stone. Captain Kublai, King Tom, the Cowlipha, Master Abull, Queen Aaliyah,Queen Cassiopeia, even the Lord High Lord of the Fairies Drippy and Tengri, all stone. But the elder sage noticed someone was gone. Someone who had been missing for some time.
"My daughter. Where is she? Where is Esther!?" Rashaad shouted at Daimon and the woman, whom was called Lelina. Lelina laughed darkly.
"Oh, don't worry your handsome little head about that! Your sweet Esther is safe. She is being put to good use." he showed them a projection, with snarling teeth that dripped with saliva, a horrid scream filling the room. Rashaad felt his heart break and he stumbled back a little, Khulan coming to his aid and helping him stand the best she could, what with her wrists tied behind her back.
"You monster!" The Songstress ran at Daimon, who used his staff and pushed her back with a blast of magic, sending her to the ground.
"Hey!" Marcassin shouted at Daimon, pulling at his binds as he ran to Harmony's side, her standing up slowly. Daimon came over and slapped both of the young rulers across the face.
"Leave them alone!" Khulan and Rashaad shouted,two of the guards, known as Senfanists, running over and holding them back. Daimon roared furiously.
"Enough of this charade!" Then he took a deep breath and stared menacingly at the three Sages and the Songstress. "Now, unless you want to join them, I suggest you tell me where the others are! Where is the Prince Thief of Hamelin!? The Pirate Star of the Seas!? Where is the Resistance!?" Harmony, who'd had just about enough of this herself, grabbed one of the Senfanist's staffs and swung at them, magic exploding from the staff at her being without having any control of it, not helping that she held it behind her back rather than holding it out front.
"Get her! Get her!" Daimon shouted, blasting his own staff at her.
"Harmony! Run!" Marcassin shouted. But Daimon wasn't allowing her to get away that easy. He looked to the older sages and blasted them into stone, then nodded towards another Senfanist, who blasted Marcassin, turning only his leg to stone.
"Unless you want a statue for a husband, Songstress, I suggest you stop what you're doing and tell me where to find them!" Harmony looked at Marcassin, who looked pained. Then she dropped the staff.
"Alright. I'll tell you." She came up and stared directly into Daimon's eyes. "I haven't got the slightest clue!" Daimon reached up and smacked her again, sending her flying across the room.
"Harmony!" Marcassin shouted, the stone reaching up to his waist and covering both of his legs.
"Daimon! She tells the truth!" Lelina told him. "The Prince Thief hadn't told her of his Resistance and the Pirate Star hasn't been seen in over two years." Harmony stood up slowly, pained, glaring at Lelina. "Not since I took care of her, at the least." Harmony thought of Nichole, her dear friend and aimed a Twister towards Lelina with her songspells. Then she ran over to Marcassin, who looked pained at the stone around his body, holding back tears of anguish.
"Marcassin!" She whispered. He took her hand.
"Harmony. You need to get out there! Oliver will come the minute he can. You must find him, and help him fight against the evil." She shook her head vigorously.
"No no no! Don't talk like that! You have to come with me! Please!" Marcassin shook his head.
"Harmony, look at me. I'm not getting out of here in the state I'm in." Then they felt a blast, and Marcassin winced, then the stone grew faster around his body. "Harmony! Just go!" Then the stone reached his face.
"Marcassin!" she cried, then turned to see the Senfanists surrounding her. She felt a blast by her foot,, and she winced in pain. But she stood and ran out the door as fast as she could.
"After her!" Daimon shouted, but if there was one thing Harmony could do, it was run! Soon, she was outside of the enormous castle and searching for a way off the island. That was when she saw a ship that she hadn't seen in a long time. As she ran towards it, she whispered to herself,
"We're really on our own now, little one. But we'll find Oliver soon, and he will help."
PHH
"Mortui!" Daimon roared angrily. Then a man with long back hair that had streaks of gray in it and a black cloak with a medallion that hung around his neck appeared, carrying a knobbly cane.
"Yes, Master Daimon?" He asked in a withered voice, looking to Daimon with dark eyes that had seen thousands of worlds. Daimon pulled the projection of Oliver and the young girl back up, and grinned evilly.
"I want you to bring me this Pure Hearted One. We shan't have him causing any trouble for the Senfanists."
"And the girl?" Mortui asked. Daimon chuckled gruffly.
"Use her, of course. Use the love that the Pure Hearted One feels for her against him. And then, how about you rip it away from him? Just for fun." Mortui cackled evilly.
"Yes, Master Daimon." He said darkly, the shadows of the familiars of the Mortui genus rising behind him. Daimon laughed darkly as he watched the young girl hug Oliver back on the projection, her eyes shining like a child listening to a fairy tale.
"There comes a time when every little girl has to grow up. This one will have no one to stop her with the Pure Hearted One gone."