Disclaimer: Legend of Mana and all of its properties isn't mine obviously.
Well, although I did like the pair Hero x Heroine better than the other, I just knew that Larc x Heroine looked cute, in a way. So, because of that I dedicated this multi chapter fanfic for the Dragon Arc. And because Dragon Arc started a little bit later than the other, although it was the most straightforward without the need to look for the corresponding artifact because we got it directly by the power of plotline (at least I got Geo, Lake Kilma, etc for the other arc not from the main arc plot present :p). I wrote this while playing some part of the arc, so I guess it would make a lot of quote from the real game but with a slight… what was the word again? Oh yeah, adjustment.
Anyway, I named the Heroine Iolite, nicknamed as Io. She might sounds like the real silent protagonist, but she would speak sometimes~ another note is that the story was made from 3rd person point of view but I'm too lazy to write it every chapter. And with that, I hope you will enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it and give me some Review~
She was always dreaming. She dreamt about the other side of the world. She wanted to reach that other side. The same side she was told off in her dream. The other side of Mana Tree, the one who guided her, and so she could walk beside it.
Iolite opened her eyes when the sun rays reached her eyes. She looked all over her room with slightly dazed expression, not liking the fact that it was morning already. But, she accepted the fact in short moment and moved her legs from her bed and touched the floor with slightly annoyed expression.
Then she threw her gaze to the cactus beside her table which she called Li'l Cactus because of its size. She yawned a little bit more before forcing herself to move to her bathroom which connected to her room on the 2nd floor.
Slipping off from her pajamas, she started showering her body with clean water and washed her body with flower scented soap all over her body. Not to forget, she washed her slightly wavy hair with rose and mint scented shampoo. When she was done with her bath, she stepped out of her bathroom with towel wrapped around her body, all clean and fresh.
Iolite sighed happily as she started to wear her usual traveling clothes, the top was a crisscrossed cloth with the color of strong pink almost nearing the red color but still pink, which ran over her chest to her neck, leaving her upper other part revealed. The part from chest below consist of purple colored skirt which reached her thigh that revealed the side of her thigh, not that she minded a lot, with golden line at the end of the skirt. The skirt looked like a jester hat of some short. Iolite also wear two pair of bracer around her arm which connected with hand warmer which had the same color as her chest part that served as her fingerless gloves. Then she slipped her legs in a fur made boots with a strange marking behind it with pointy yellow tip.
Iolite then sat in front of her mirror before combing her slightly hard to tame hair before applying pipe-like accessories at the each end of her hair. Then she stuck another three of the pipe accessories at both side of her head.
'Perfect,' Iolite thought to herself when she examined her own reflection on mirror. She never thought her appearance was weird although a lot of people viewed it as so.
Iolite then walked down from her room to the first floor, the main part of her humble home, when a loud voice entered her ears forcefully, but she was used to it right now.
"Ah, good morning Master Io!" the loud voice said almost in screaming voice.
Iolite, or Io, looked over to the owner of the voice and saw Lisa, one of her apprentice, brought a tray of food on her hand. Io walked to her apprentice with a faint smile on her face before she patted Lisa's head, signaling Io answer on Lisa cheerful greeting.
Lisa smiled widely as she got the pat on her head. She knew her Master was a person of few words and she expressed herself more with simple gesture.
"Master Io, that's unfair! I wanted to get a pat too!" another cheerful voice entered Io's ears as she patted Lisa.
Io looked up as she recognized the voice and saw Bud, another one of her apprentice approaching her in a quick and wide step as much as his short body could. Io gave an exasperated sigh before she used her knee as her support and used both of her hands to pat the twin. Yes, Bud and Lisa were twin, and their meeting with Io, if Io described about it, were silly. Io never thought that sorcerers Pelican described as evil and wanted to take over the world with pumpkin was a pair of orphaned kids.
Long story short, Io beat them with the blunt side of her spears and then they wanted to become her apprentice. Io was surprised at that time because she couldn't use magic… yet, although she could do that now. At that time, Io thought she could use some company so she agreed, and she didn't have the heart to chase them out when they said that they had nowhere to go, that they were orphan.
Io, Lisa, and Bud then ate their breakfast, specially made by Lisa who was a good cook. After the breakfast, Bud pestered Io to take him on another search for the Six Wisdom. They had met fifth of them, Selva, Pokiehl, Tote, Gaeus, and Rosiotti, so it left Olbohn, the Wisdom of Fire and the keeper of Underworld. Io learnt about her status as a Mana Children from Pokiehl which she met in Ulkan Mines.
Io did get some offer from Pokiehl, the Poet, to bring her to Underworld, but Io decline the offer because she was still alive and living being shouldn't step on the land of dead. Pokiehl gave a strange expression at that time before he teleported with light. Io just remembered that Olbohn reside in Underworld, so she needed to find the other way now.
"Bud, Lisa, take care of the animal and Trent. I would go to another journey," Io said in monotone yet firm voice as she took her Stargazer Spear from her weapon cupboard.
Bud and Lisa were a little bit shocked at Io sudden raise of voice, considering their Master rarely talk to practically anyone. Maybe she talked quite a lot with Li'l Cactus about each of her journey across the land, but other than that, they never heard her really talk more than ten words.
Io then stepped over from her house, and met with the Sproutlings that used to wander around her house for some reason. She threw her glance over the land she built with the power of Artifact, as she dealt around with the Jumi and the Faerie business in the process (and some meddling with other people life). Io thought about it more because she was in the right time and in the right place to meddle while half of it because she thought it was her mission as the Mana Tribe, to protect the Mana Tree. Then she took the last artifact she had, the Trembling Spoon.
If her intuition was right, it would let her to open the path to Underworld. All of her Artifact before didn't lead her to the entrance, and it left the spoon behind as her only lead.
Io closed her eyes, focusing her spiritual power as the last of Mana tribe into the Artifact. The Artifact trembled on her hands as she murmured, "Lead the way… the Artifact of Creation," she murmured at practically no one.
When she opened her eyes, the spoon flew to far away land, although she could see where it landed. The spoon dragon end glowed eerily before it released a purple colored light and the hologram of the spoon spread around the land, circling the land as it was being created. The sky was clouded by black cloud and it whirled around as land started forming. A dark colored mountain raised from the earth and big dark tombstone started to form in the middle of it. Black lifeless grass grew on the land as if to increase the eerie vibe.
Io knew what the place was. It was the Macabre Tombstone, one of the said entrances to the Underworld, the land of dead. Io had seen a lot of the Fa'diel and according to her dream she also needed to see the darkness. And every people knew that Underworld fitted the very description of Darkness.
Smiling to herself she took her weapon and started her journey to the 'entrance' of Underworld.
Yeah… so this was the pretty much introduction chapter. I got the heroine name from a type of Gemstone with the color of purple, because in my own perspective her eyes looked more purple-ish than green. But, who knows, anyway~
I hoped my description on how the Trembling Spoon changed into the Underworld wasn't false. I'm too lazy to check the reality in the game. And I'm sorry if my English suck, because English wasn't any number language in my country. Anyway, please Review~
Anyway, because I saw a lot of people add a teaser in the end of the chapter, I thought I might too. So, below was the teaser for the next chapter~
Teaser For Chapter 01
Io was dreaming again. But, different from her usual dream about the calling of Mana Goddess, now she dreamt about a war. It was a war of a far distant past. It was the war of dragon, the Mana Dragon, to be exact. Io ever read about this war on one of her history book, but because this war was an inner war of dragon against a dragon, not much information Io got from it.
Io floated on the sky as a watcher when a dragon struck her, but since this was a dream, of course the dragon actually went pass her like she wasn't there in the first place. Io threw her glance over the direction that the dragon went off and followed it.