Chapter 4A Mournful ConfessionWith a rueful sigh, the druid did so, after warning her that the answer to her question was a complex one. "The Sacred Stones' power lies in their ability to intensify a person's will and give it form. Unfortunately, even this amplification of human will could not make any mere mortals will stronger than that of the Demon King. Both I and Lyon, however, originally believed as you did-that a single Sacred Stone was weaker then legend portrayed it, because it was unable to stop the earthquake. We thought that perhaps the power of all the Stones together would be enough to prevent it, for the five had been strong enough to seal away the Demon King, who we knew had strength enough to prevent disasters if he wished, and so maybe the five Stones would have been. But we also believed that the rulers in possession of the other four Stones would never risk allowing evil to seep into their lands, a possibility that could have occurred if they had let the Stones be taken to another location for even the brief amount of time they would have been required-and certainly not with only the vague explanation that they were needed to prevent a future disaster that would only affect Grado. Although his father said that you would not aid him during this, Lyon knew that wasn't true. But even though you would have taken in the people of Grado, you could not prevent the earthquake from destroying his country, nor could you bring the Emperor back to life. So Lyon began searching for other ways to achieve his goal." L'Arachel, by this point, was fast asleep and snoring, drool hanging from a corner of her dainty mouth. Eirika had no idea how she was still standing, but was unwilling to divert any more of her attention from Knoll, at least not for such trifling matters. After all, perhaps she could find an answer to her questions in what he had to say… "…We doubted the Stones because we never doubted Lyon's will to help people, for not even the ancient heroes could have wanted so much to aid others. But there, we were wrong. Lyon's purity may have been a match for the ancients, but it was not enough… so I now believe the heroes of old knew a secret about the Stones that was lost to time long ago, something to make the Sacred Stones intensify a person's power even further." Again, that mention of some secret power lending the Stones extra strength…! "Unable to gather the Stones… Lyon tried a new approach, as I said. He knew from ancient texts he had studied while searching for a cure for his father's illness that the Demon King's soul was locked in one Stone only-although the other Sacred Stones helped keep him there-and that that Stone was the Stone of Grado. Lyon also knew that, long ago, people with pure souls would sacrifice their own lives to help others, and in doing so, release an immense amount of energy. By the time I discovered his intentions, it was too late. He had destroyed the Stone of Grado, releasing the Demon King's soul-the Dark Stone-into his own body. He knew it would kill him if he did not accomplish his goal quickly… Relying on the power of the remaining Stones to keep the demon from overpowering him and murdering him before he could finish his mission, he would travel to the Black Temple, the one place where the dark one could be resurrected… and then…" The mage closed his eyes, as if he were remembering a particularly horrid nightmare. "Sacrifice himself, unleashing a power pure enough to revive-and control-even an entity as strong as the Demon King. Then, with his final breath, he would use that power to command the fiend, ordering it to stop the earthquake and revive his father before returning to one of the Sacred Stones. However, as I said before, he… was wrong. He was not strong enough… no one would have been. The Demon King shackled Lyon's will with the immensity of its own, enslaved him, and began its quest to destroy the remaining Stones that are a drain on its power. It produced a corrupt version of the effect Lyon had wished to create, giving the Emperor a mocking, hideous semblance of life so he could use his cadaver as a puppet to further advance his own schemes…" Knoll sighed dejectedly. "Lyon was such a gentle soul. You could see it-he was too kind to survive. He wanted to help not just Grado, but the entire world. But ironically, it was the evil in the world that he wanted to save that doomed him. There is so much darkness on this earth. He wanted to rid everyone of that oppression. If this land had been a kinder place… then there would have been no need for him to take so much upon himself. And now…" He said softly, looking upwards at the sun hanging overhead in a clear patch in the midst of the stormy, darkly clouded sky. The moon hovered nearby, just beginning to crawl into the circle of unclouded air around the sun, preparing to eclipse it as if though mimicking the way Lyon's benevolent intentions had been smothered by the Demon King's vile ones. "The Demon King will force Lyon to perform the sacrifice he was already willing to make, and seize the power released because of the purity of that sacrifice from him and use it in the most perverse, twisted way possible from the way Lyon had intended to-to revive itself and slaughter countless innocents." And then he added darkly-"When the solar eclipse begins, Lyon's life will end." "Oh my, isn't that nice!" Said L'Arachel, coming awake and beaming at the two of them in an attempt to look like she knew what they were talking about. Eirika couldn't help herself, and uttered a choked sob, which somehow slipped out of her even though she tried to keep it in. It seemed Lyon's life would have been forfeit even if the demon hadn't wrested control from him. What kind of a world was this, where people like Lyon had to die…? Knoll looked away from the celestial vault of the darkening sky at her noise of distress. His voice softened. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so blunt. Do you know he was even more adept with the holy magics then with the ancient ones? Only loyalty to his country persuaded him to pursue the dark arts alongside the sacred.""Somehow, that fails to surprise-"Eirika stopped suddenly, and both she and Knoll turned towards the outcropping she had been standing on before. "Please excuse me, Knoll…" She said, heading towards it. Knoll's gaunt form strode along behind her, his eyes narrowed. Both of them had sensed it-the presence of something so foul, evil, and cruel that it corrupted and withered the very air around it. As she hurried to see what was happening, she noticed that everyone in camp was ready for battle. It was about time! She rushed to the ledge, Knoll right behind her. The sunlight filtering down from above gave her the semblance of some divine being that had descended from the heavens to join in the upcoming battle. There, at the entrance to the Black Temple, stood the excommunicated bishop named Riev. And next to him… She caught her breath in a sudden gasp, and heard Knoll let out a quiet cry of misery from behind her. The purple-robed figure next to Riev looked up at her, bright violet eyes glinting in the sunlight, the breeze ruffling his pale lilac hair. The corner of the boy's mouth twitched into a mocking smile as the eyes saw her, eyes full of malice and scorn. But all Eirika saw were the haunted, sorrowful eyes of her childhood friend, locked beneath a monster's.The Demon King had arrived.
