Author's Note: Sorry it took so long; I just didn't have the time to complete it until now. After this they will start to get bad, so if you don't like treachery, agony, war, and bewilderment I suggest you turn back now, before it's too late…
*****Helpful criticism is encouraged, as long as it is coming from a good place.
She dug into the topsoil until her whole body was sore. The layer of dirt under her fingernails was as thick as her fingernail. Her hear was all matted and dirty. Her tunic was torn and half shredded from the upper thighs down. Her face was dripping with sweat, and the sweat marks were outlined with dirt. The entire procession was watching her, gathered in a crowded circle now. She stopped digging for a moment, wiped her forehead with her forearm, and sighed.
Then she looked up and around the circle of people. They stared. The Djinn said, "Maybe we should continue our journey. This seems hopeless."
"No!" She replied in a harsh voice, feeling quite irritable now that her body was sore. "If Sikanda is here, I want to retrieve it." She once again slouched over the hole, which was about ten feet deep by now, and about as big as a sequoia tree is around.
She continued her digging.
"Maybe we should begin to set up camp here for the night then." The Djinn suggested.
"That," She answered, "is up to you to decide. If I do not find the sword soon…" she hesitated for a moment. Well, I would like to keep digging until I find it."
Then, just as she finished her answer to the Djinn and was about to doubt even herself, thinking she was digging in the wrong spot, and that the tumbler had calculated wrong, her right fingertips hit something hard. She dug furiously at the spot. She loosened the soil around the sword and picked up the sword in its sheath.
She held the sword n her hands, examining it closely. She turned it, flipped it, and spun it, all while examining it from all sides. She finally began to look at the sword's rusted handle. She tugged at the handle. It wouldn't budge. She thought to herself 'Wow, all of this digging for this sword, and it is so rusted that I cannot even unsheathe it?'
Then she remembered the words of the Many—Colored Death. "You must give it a name for you to be able to use it."
She examined the sheath a little more. Then glanced at the handle. That's when it came to her. It just came as though it were so obvious. The sword's name was Tristal.
She looked up towards the sky. A soft wind blew across her face. "Tristal!" She exclaimed in the loudest voice she could. Suddenly the plains erupted with fierce winds. The clumsy Djinn fell over, but Allison stood erect. She was holding the sword above her head now, her hair blowing furiously in her face.
Then suddenly, the straightest lightning bolt that anyone had ever seen had dropped out of the clear blue sky. It hit the sword right on the jewel in the handle with great precision. The jolt never hit Allison, but it did make the ground shake, and everyone soon found themselves shielding their eyes, and being blow to the floor because of the quickness of the bolt of lightning. Everyone except Allison, who was still standing there, holding the sword above her head, and looking up, with her eyes wide open.
The sheath turned a brilliant shade of pink. The sword jumped out of the sheath and into Allison's right hand. She screamed "Tristal!" once again. Then the sheath leapt out of her hands, and tied itself around her waist. She put the sword back in, as everyone else in her procession was starting to stand, puzzled at what had happened.
At once a goddess—like woman spoke. It came from the sky, yet it boomed so loudly that it echoed-- even though they were on a wide-open field. She said: "Tristal is now yours. You may never unsheathe it by using brute force, for if you do, it will instantaneously rust and return to the state it was in when you found it. It must only be used when it jumps into your hand of its own free will. If it doesn't jump into your hand, you are not in real danger, so you do not need it."
No sooner had the voice from the sky finished her little speech than Allison exclaimed, "Pitch the tents, for we will camp here tonight." She turned to the Djinn. "I want my tent pitched right here." She said to him. He nodded, turned, and went to go and get the tent and supplies.
The next morning they awoke, and once again waited for Allison, who again needed to get ready. Then they packed up her tent, and began on their journey.
They traveled for about two uneventful hours, with the Allison and the Djinn leading the procession, which totaled about 1,500 now. They rode silently until they came upon a forest. Allison looked over to the Djinn. He looked shocked, fearful, and amused.
"What is wrong?" Allison asked, seeing the dreadful look on his face.
"This," replied the Djinn, "is the Lost Forest. It is said to have once been a part of Perlin, the Night Forest, but one night, a path in Perlin didn't grow, and this portion of it was separated. It is said that because of this, the forest has wandered endlessly for the last 150 years searching for Perlin by day. It will never find Perlin again, however, because Perlin appears only at night, and the Lost Forest searches only during the day. It is quite amusing actually, that a part of Perlin could end up looking for Perlin under the wrong conditions.
"But anyway, very few people have actually seen the Lost Forest because it shows up randomly, and you will be in the spot that it is in only by chance, so you cannot search for it. It is just like Wandering Mountain, but harder to find because it appears out of thin air, and only stays in that spot for about a day, then it disappears, and relocates itself to a different part of Fantastica. Unlike Wandering Mountain, which slowly moves by crawling. When it relocates itself though, it takes everything, and anyone inside it on the journey as well, so if part of the procession is outside the forest, and part is in, everyone inside will move with the forest will move with it, but everyone outside the forest will not.
"We must be extra careful here because we don't want to lose anybody, so we must make sure that everyone gets into the forest by nightfall. If we can do that, then we can camp out inside the forest. Once we emerge from the forest tomorrow, we will be in an entirely different part of Fantastica. However, if we can't, we have no hopes of ever rejoining the ones that were left behind, because they wouldn't have the first idea of where to look."
"Wow!" replied Allison. "Now I see why you were both scared and amused and I now know why you were shocked. I can see that not many people have ever seen this place before, and I can understand why. It rarely appears. It is like a transport for the traveler who doesn't have a destination!" She concluded. "It is sad though," She thought "That it will never be able to find Perlin. I mean, it has searched 150 years for Perlin already, and imagine an eternity of searching for something to be reunited with it?"
"No," he replied. "I cant imagine searching that long. Anyway mistress, if we want to get everyone into the woods before it disappears again, we must move ahead into the forest quickly. We have only 5 hours until nightfall. We must get everyone in and set up before then. Also, there are many wild animals, and insane creatures that got lost in this forest. They went insane because they did not know how this forest worked, so one day they went in one side, and another day they came out the other, only to realize that they were thousands of miles away from where they were when they entered. Poor things, I feel bad for them, but anyway, they are still insane, and might try to attack us while we sleep. Would you like us to post guards at your tent?"
"Yes, please." She responded. '"I would appreciate that."
The next morning everyone, even Allison, who normally took more time to get ready because of make up, and bathing, was ready early. They were all anxious to see where their journey overnight had taken them. So they packed up their things, and went on their way.
They emerged from the forest to find themselves on a coast not too far from Spook City—a city inhabited entirely by ghosts and ghouls. They decided to go the opposite way, not wanting to visit the desolate city.
They stopped about halfway through the day to do a head count, and decided that the entire procession was present, and that none were left behind. Now, Alison decided to move into the middle of the group to speak once again to the tumbler.
"Thank you for the other day, I mean pointing out what the prophecy meant to me. Without your help, I could have never found Tristal, and I would have never had absolute power. For this I thank you." Allison said kindheartedly.
"No need to thank me mistress, I was only completing my duty." He replied.
"What do you see as your duty." She asked, quite puzzled.
"Why, to serve you of course!" he said with a slight sense of disbelief. He was in shock that Allison did not see it as hid duty to serve her.
"Well, thank you for feeling that way, but it is never yours, or anyone else's duty to serve me." She said. It shocked her that he believed so.
"Why thank you mistress, but I am most grateful to you, and I wish to show my gratitude for saving Fantastica by serving you." He replied.
"Thank you, and I am grateful to have such a fine person serving me." With that she trotted off to once again lead the procession.
An hour or two later, they stopped for a break and lunch. Allison was in the middle of her meal, when Tristal jumped out of its sheath, and right into her hand. It was now glowing the same brilliant color that it was glowing when it was named. She was sure that this was a mistake, because there was no apparent danger around. Suddenly, the sword began to control her actions, and made her whole body swing around. She swung just in time to see the werewolf behind her.
It all happened so very fast, the werewolf attacked, and Tristal controlled Allison's actions. Her arm kept moving the sword back and forth with laser precision, and in a matter of five seconds it was over. The werewolf was sliced into 24 different pieces.
Tristal jumped back into the pink sheath, and stopped glowing. She sat down looking at her own hands wondering how she could have so much power. As they started off again on their journey a few minutes later, many corrupt thoughts danced through her head. Normally, Allison, being of a kind disposition, would never think things like these, but AURYN's power was affecting her brain in the way that it only can on humans.
She thought on the journey: 'I can use this sword in war and come out without a scratch.' And 'As long as I am in danger I can use this sword, so if I charge a castle and am threatened by guards, I will be able to use this sword and take them all out.' But the worst thought she had was 'I can use this sword to overthrow the Childlike Empress, and rule Fantastica…'
Please R & R. I will try to get the next part out as soon as possible.