The morning broke through as we all packed up and headed back to our ship in Pravoka hastily, we had to deliver the tonic for the prince of the elves as quickly as possible so we didn't waste more time than we already have on this fetch quest; as we moved I could feel the animosity and distrust off of Kent as we moved and fought creatures, it was weird that someone who looked like me was distrustful of me…I couldn't blame him though after all I didn't even trust myself. Once we were onboard another game of rock-paper-scissors dictated who was lookout leaving Gareth on lookout while the rest of us paddled the boat in silence, no one was in the mood for small talk even when Gareth tried to break the tension. He always hated any awkward situations that the group had; even back when it was just the three of us and Alice was in a particularly bad mood he would always try to change the subject to keep the group stable; it worked most of the time but I don't think it was going to work in this situation. Landing back at the elven boarder we all left the boat and headed for the castle; when we approached the gate two guards put their spears over the gateway barring us from entry and giving us icy stares as we stood there.
"No one is allowed to enter, especially humans." The left guard said as he looked over our entire group. I pulled out the crown and held it out to them and they gave a sharp gasp, "The elven crown!" They looked at each other and back to us multiple times trying to decide what to do with us and how to go about the situation they weren't prepared for; they left us at the gate and we all stood there confused at what was going to happen. We stood there for about five minutes and Kent suddenly moved in front of me swiping the crown.
"I'm taking lead for a while, you stay in the back." He said giving me a harsh frown.
"What do you think you're doing Kent?" Gareth said harshly, "We explained-"
"I don't care what you guys say, right now I barely trust any of you, especially my doppelganger over here, now back up Soren, NOW!" He had the demanding voice of a leader and I could feel as everyone's courage was snuffed making everyone go quiet, "As far as I'm concerned the only people I trust are the warriors of light so until we find them you all might as well be extras." It was very quiet as we waited for the guards to come back and after about ten minutes they finally returned.
"Please enter and head for the prince's room to the left." Stepping aside we all entered and headed for the princes room as we looked around the castle; it was regal interior but it had a natural feeling from the carpet to the tapestry and stone work, the elves must really be connected to nature if their castle can feel like a forest. We opened the door to see an elven maid sitting next to the bed with a worried expression on her face and in the bed was a regal looking and important young man sleeping peacefully in the bed; something was off about his expression though…it had a sense of longing and wait.
"You must be the warriors of light, please; you must help the prince wake from his slumber. He has been asleep for months now and we've had no way of waking him…but if you found the crown of our kingdom then surely you have a way to wake the prince and save our land from the despair it has been engulfed in." So the prince has been sleeping for a while; it won't be easy when he wakes up, his legs are going to need some therapy so he can move on them again…his whole body is going to be hard to move for a while, Astos may not have won but he definitely took quite a few years off of the princes life.
"We have a tonic that can cure his ailment." Kent said pulling out the tonic from Matoya and holding it out to the maid, "Once he ingests the tonic he will wake up." The maid's face instantly lit up as she rushed over and carefully poured the content of the vial into his mouth; there was a moment as we all waited for something to happen and then the prince slowly opened his eyes looking around.
"Where…am I?"
"Prince!" The maid wrapped her arms around him in an embracing hug surprising him and making me worry, his body is way too weak for something like that! He wrapped his arms around her in return shocking all of us.
"It's okay, I'm awake now." His body showed no signs of slowing or even being inoperable; Matoya made some incredible medicine, "I thank you warriors for saving me and my kingdom from being take from Astos and awakening me from my long sleep, as thanks I would like to give you something that will help you on your quest." He rose from his bed and pulled out a small key that was adorned and elegant making it unique from other keys, "This is the mystic key that opens many doors throughout the land and gives you access to items I'm sure you will need on your journey." Kent took the key from the prince and gave him the elven crown in return and with a bow and goodbye we headed out leaving him to delegate and address his people for the first time in months.
We sailed back to Cornelia with me on lookout and aside from the encounters I had to take out giving me real practice dual wielding, the sea was very pale and seemed devoid of any feeling or smell leaving it almost empty from every angle. The monsters popped from the depths but other than them the sea was almost pitch black and slightly scary; we decided to dock just across from Cornelia and with how tense our group was Kent decided to grab the Nitro Powder while the four of us waited on the boat for him to come back. Sending him off alone probably wasn't smart but Gareth and Alice weren't too keen on him treating us like dirt while he takes command; we sat there waiting for him to get back as Lissa and Gareth talked in the corner about something while Alice looked out over the side of the boat while I meditated…no seriously, I meditated for the first time since I learned to sense aura. If I was going to continue traveling with my friends I had to get better control over my mind and keep him from getting out of my head which meant I had to center my mind at every opportunity to make my mind stronger…which meant I also had to practice magic, even if it was dangerous as long as I didn't stretch my limits to exhaustion then he wouldn't get out. My limit could only take level one spells like fire, thunder, heal and spells of that level; after about two spells I had to take a break and drink an ether to keep training.
"Soren, take a break." Gareth said putting his hand on my shoulder, "You can only get so much practice shadow boxing." He was right, the only way to get better quickly is actual life or death combat, "Now how about a sparring match with me?" Sounds like fun and it would keep us sharp.
"You're on." Pulling out a wooden practice sword from the boats storage and a wood battle axw we faced off from opposite sides of the ship.
"Do you two really have to do that now?" Alice asked.
"What else would we do?"
"Sit and wait for him to come back, you don't need to train all the time."
"Then how can we get better?"
"Fine. Just be careful, we don't need you two injured before our next fight." She was right; we might want to avoid hitting each other.
"Hey Gareth, let's make this a disarming match."
"Sure, works for me!" He replied getting in his stance as I did the same. We rushed at each other and I swung at his hit as he grabbed at the hilt between where I swung keeping a firm grip on his axe and pushing me backwards; with his long hit it made it easier for him to hold onto his axe without too much effort. He lunged forward and swung down as I blocked with my blade and pushed his axe to the side making him stumble; I took my opportunity and grabbed the hilt trying to pull it out of his hand but his brute strength gave him good grip as he pulled me forward and sent me to the ground as he pushed me back and swung his axe on to his shoulders giving me a cocky grin; time to wipe that smirk off his face! I rushed forward and swung at his axe top hitting it and confusing him as I pushed in and sent him toppling over with the weapon and grabbed the handle before he hit the ground pulling it towards me as he came back to his feet and I let go moving out of the way sending him face first into the floor making him flail to catch himself and let go of the axe to use both hands to catch himself and I swooped in catching the battle axe he let go of. As he looked up I gave him the same cocky grin and we laughed feeling the tension from earlier today dissipate as we enjoyed what Alice would call 'guy time' but it still made me feel better to enjoy the time I had with my friends, "Feel better?" Gareth asked standing up…he could be smart when he wanted to be.
"Much better, thanks a lot."
"No problem man, but next time I'll wipe the floor with you."
"Not if I can help it." We fist bumped and turned to see Alice and Lissa watching us with Alice rolling her eyes with a smile and Lissa watching with a genuine smile on her face; I think it was time to give someone else our attention, "Hey Lissa, I've been wondering, where are you originally from." As I asked that everyone turned to her and she had a surprised look on her face, "It's just that we've known you for a long time but we still have no clue where you're from."
"Well…believe it or not…I'm from where you guys are from, I'm from earth." Wait…really?
"You're from earth?" Gareth asked surprised.
"Yep, from Aurora Colorado actually." So she's actually from where we live to?
"But if that's true…" Alice went off in deep thought, "We've been back and forth but we spent at about two and a half months and never got a missing persons alert at all." She's right; wouldn't they have noticed a seventeen year old girl go missing?
"Well…have you noticed how time moves differently when you're in another world?"
"When I returned from Hyrule it was the day after I left in the evening." I said thinking back on the first time I traveled to another world, "How many days did we spend in Hyrule Alice?"
"It was about…five days? Maybe more or less but around there."
"Gareth, how many days in the Mushroom Kingdom?"
"About…seven days?"
"And it was the same time jump when we got back."
"Time seems to come to a halt on earth compared to these worlds. That would mean that there are different laws of time between worlds…but that's not the case." She was really confusing us.
"What do you mean?"
"You've met her, right?" Was she talking about the voice?
"The female voice that brought us here?"
"That's right. The boss believes that she controls time and can bend it to her will, so in theory you could stay here for years but when you get back time would have passed only as much as she allowed it to on earth." That kind of sounds like the wardrobe from Narnia.
"She controls a lot more than you'd think she would…and yet no one has seen her face or form, but one thing is true, every traveler she calls has been from earth." From earth!?"
"From earth!?" Gareth and Alice said surprised by her claim, "Are you positive?"
"Every traveler in the bosses group is from earth; their back round all had them come from earth before they joined."…other travelers…
"Hey Lissa…how many travelers has he recruited." She went a little hesitant as I asked that question, "Lissa."
"Time is very strange and so every second is another traveler he gains and the last time I saw the group it was almost over a thousand strong."
"One thousand!?" We all said that in shock at the large number he had acclaimed; we knew he had a following but we didn't know that his group was so large; it was like going up against an army…luckily he didn't sick them on us.
"But there not like normal people." What?
"What do you mean?"
"The boss…did something and their eyes were devoid of emotion…they became monsters…it was terrifying. They changed to someone else completely."
"Is that what happened to you?" I asked that and she looked at me with surprise.
"…Yes, the first time we met…I was me and then I lost control."
"Lost control?"
"Alright I got the Nitro Powder!" Kent voice cut in halting our conversation, "Let's get moving, we have to head to Mt. Duergar and give this to a dwarf that will help us somehow."
"Somehow?" Alice said unconvinced by his lack of confidence.
"We'll know when we get there." He said putting an end to our conversation.
"We'll continue this later." I said to Lissa as we started sailing to the nearby port; I wanted to know more and she had the information I needed.
We docked near the mountain residents of the dwarves and entered the oddly warmer interior that seemed like another section of the world compared to the temperature outside; the dwarves must use something to keep the caves warm so they don't freeze during the winter, it felt like my body was wrapped in a warm electric blanket that was set on a comfortable temperature in the middle of winter and I had a mug of cocoa in my hands.
"Keep it together." Alice said snapping her fingers in my face bringing me back to my senses.
"Sorry it's just very warm in here."
"Feels nice." Gareth said continuing to walk.
"Better than I thought a cave would be." Lissa said looking around.
"Alright, I'm going to go give this to the guy working on the cave wall at the far end, you guys wander until we're ready to leave." Kent walked off leaving us to look around and as I took survey of the area I noticed the sound of metal being hit from a nearby room. I opened the door to see a dwarf working on a sword as he tempered the red hot metal.
"Still not good enough." He tossed the blade into a pile of other sword and pulled out another piece of metal working on that.
"What are you doing?" I asked approaching him.
"Trying to temper the best sword I can but so far I've just gotten mediocre results with these blades." He tossed another blade into the pile and pulled another blade out, "I'm pretty sure the metal is my main problem." I picked up one of his blades and swung it around getting a feel for the blade; it was well balanced on both ends and felt light despite its look, the sides looked sharp enough to cut across almost anything it struck with ease.
"These blades are amazing, what are they made out of?"
"Mythril but it still doesn't feel good enough; there's only one metal I could use, adamantite. The legendary metal that only the greatest blacksmith could forge into the ultimate blade." So he could create the greatest blade ever?
"If I find it, I'll bring it back and give it to you." I said confidently, it was a long shot but I wanted to see what he created with legendary metal.
"Thank ye lad, please take the mythril blades as my trust in you to bring it back." Now I HAD to bring it back for him. I picked up four swords tucking them under my arm.
"Thank You I promise-" before I could finish I heard a large explosion that startled us both and when it stopped we stood there waiting for whatever would come next as Kent and the group entered the room to see me.
"We're done here." Kent said wiping his hands clean, "What have you got there?"
"Mythril blades." I answered passing one to Kent and Alice, "He let me have them in return to search for adamantite."
"The legendary metal!?" Kent said in surprise, "It doesn't exist!"
"Then why do people know about it?" I retaliated.
"It's a legend! Sir you know this right?" He turned to the blacksmith who nodded.
"I like to believe that it exists laddie, in fact I would like to make personal weapons for all of you for agreeing to search for it."
"Really!?" Gareth said excited, "Can you make me a battle axe!?"
"Of course, for you young lady." He asked Lissa.
"Umm…I don't know." She said shyly.
"I think I've got an idea." He said as his eyes were drawn to her sickle.
"Can I get a katana?" Alice said tossing aside the mythril sword I handed her.
"What about you two?" He asked turning to me and Kent.
"I don't mind the two mythril swords I've got." I said holding them happily.
"Me either but could I get a shield?"
"Sure." We waited as he made our weapons gleefully moving to his own beat as he clashed the metal into shapes.
A few hours later he finished up with our weapons and handed them out giving Gareth a mythril battle axe, Alice her mythril katana and strangely enough he gave Lissa a large mythril scythe.
"The only scythe of its kind my dear, take good care of it." He said handing it to her and a harness to keep it on her back.
"Thank you sir." She said with a respectful bow.
"Good luck on your journey young ones." As we left I turned around quickly.
"I promise we'll be back!" I shouted and he gave me a hearty laugh.
"I know you will be boy!" I rushed to catch up with everyone and we headed back to the ship eager to explore the new part of the world.
We passed along the new line of water the explosion had created and found ourselves in a new part of the ocean; with haste we headed for the nearest port and found ourselves near the town of Melmond. As we entered the town I noticed that the earth around the town was rotted and any foliage was brown and dead; the people in the town fared no better, they looked hungry and close to death, the town was also covered in gravestones that made this feel like a town specifically for those ready to go to the land of the dead. We asked a few of the villagers more keen on talking about what happened and they all seemed to allude to the same cause.
"Apparently a vampire is causing all this earth rot." I said and everyone gave me a look of disbelief, "What? You all heard the same thing I did!"
"Yeah but it's still hard to believe." Alice said shaking her head.
"Well vampires do suck." Gareth said trying to make sense of the situation.
"Don't they suck blood?" Lissa asked knowing the answer to that question.
"Regardless of the truth we have to head to the cavern of earth to find it." Kent said as he tossed his orb around as it seemed to resonate with something, "And find the earth crystal."
"That orb telling you something?" I asked pointing to the orb in his hand which he hastily put back in his satchel, "Let's just get moving!" With that end we headed out and soon found the cavern of earth near the end of the land and entered it feeling something sinister emanating from inside the cave. The interior felt like at any moment something would jump out and attack; coincidentally that happened quite a bit catching us off guard and almost overwhelming us as we passed from floor to floor fighting a large number of enemies that wouldn't let up no matter how many we took out. It was like they were just throwing everything at us instead of knowing when to stop, whoever was at the end of this cave obviously wanted us dead before we reached them. By the time we reached the third floor our group was worn to the bone from every fight we had on the previous two floors.
"Are…we done…yet?" Lissa asked leaning on her scythe; I was actually very surprised by her speed and the ease at which she swung the large weapon around, it was like watching Gareth swing his axe around but they had unique styles with their large weapons. While Gareth used his strength and quick recovery to attack and retaliate while staying in his stance unmovable by his enemy Lissa never stayed in the same stance or place; she used her scythe like an extra step avoiding enemies by using it as a vaulting pole and moving behind them and with a quick pull sliced the enemy in two as she pulled her weapon closer to her. Even when she went front on she made quick swings using the momentum to slice from the other side which was where she and Gareth shared a similarity, they both use the momentum of their swings to add an extra hit to their combos.
"I think we're close now." Kent said swiping the monster blood off his blade; I got a good look at his style with a shield and was honestly unimpressed by his style, he had a very standard attack in which he would attack and then block and then retaliate with another attack. He used the same tactic that I've seen other sword and shield users employed; there was no uniqueness to his fighting making it very bland in my eyes. We moved on and I noticed that there was a distinct lack of…any monsters on this floor; something big must be on this floor if it's so devoid of any life. We entered a strange room and I felt a cold wind blow through the room chilling me down to the bone, "Something is wrong here." Kent said walking slowly; we all entered and as we got farther in I looked to the side to see red eyes poke out through the darkness, in that moment I felt an aura of danger and pushed Kent out of the way as a strange beam hit me knocking me backwards.
"Soren!" Alice, Gareth and Lissa crowded around me helping me up and as I stood up I felt a strange numbness in my legs and looked to see they were turning to stone, "Damnit Soren!" Alice said hitting my head, "What did I say about this!?"
"Sorry Alice, but you knew I would."
"That doesn't stop me from being angry at you for doing it!" She yelled as my torso was now stone.
"You got this?" I asked and they nodded, "Good." With that my body had become entirely stone and all I could do was watch as they fought against the vampire that emerged from the shadows; he was large and intimidating but I wasn't worried, I knew they had this. Alice shot different fire spells as Lissa hopped and vaulted around him casting light spells at which he cringed at; Gareth and Kent stayed close hitting his openings as he swung at them trying to claw them as they blocked and dodged...as I watched I was actually intrigued by Kent's fighting form. He had completely changed from his standard form against the mobs and seemed to use his sword and shield to his advantage; when blocking he would push the shield and move the hand getting a thrust in his center and when the vampire charged up a spell he would bash the shield against him jarring the vampire and stopping the spell before it could do anything, as the fight progressed the group grew more tired as the vampire seemed to just become more annoyed, were the attacks not doing anything? He was undead and a vampire, the only thing that was slowing him down was the light spells that Lissa was casting and they weren't strong enough…maybe if the weapons were coated in that spell than the fight would be able to finish up before they wore themselves to death…or I could try. Diaga! As I stretched to cast the spell I watched as everyone's weapons were bathed in light from my spell and I felt my mind go hazy again. (Not your smartest idea.) You think I didn't think this through, right now I'm stone, and you can't go anywhere. (Knowing your friends I'll be out of here in no time.) No you won't, I won't let you! (Once you pass out I take over.) Then I won't pass out. (Don't make me laugh, that was more than you could take.) I watched as Alice's katana plunged into the vampire killing him and then she grabbed Kent dragging him over to me as my vision began to cut in and out. (In five) Kent pulled out a gold needle and pricked it into my arm. (Four) The stone around me disappeared as I gained control of my body slowly. (Three) I collapsed to the ground feeling my consciousness fade faster and cut in and out at a rapid rate. (Two) Suddenly Alice grabbed me by my collar and pulled out an ether. (On- wait what!?) She shoved the ether down my throat and I felt my fading consciousness return and I stood up on my own shaking my head.
"Thanks Alice." I said and she gave me an angry look.
"Stop doing that!" She said hitting me, "Every time you pull a stupid stunt like that I have to worry about you and that gives me gray hairs!"
"Seriously dude, you really need to think before you leap." Gareth said slapping my back, "I told you I don't want to run into Jarek again!"
"I could have done that and then you wouldn't have had to take that risk!" Lissa said pouting.
"You guys were starting to get exhausted so I had to act fast before you tired out." I explained but Alice didn't stop hitting me.
"It doesn't matter, I don't want you changing to Jarek on me out of nowhere again got it!?"
"Alice I-"
"GOT IT!?"
"Okay okay, I'll be more careful."
"Good." With that she stopped and turned around; suddenly Kent tapped my shoulder and gave me a serious look.
"…Thanks for saving me, I was the only one with gold needles so it would have been a problem if I was stone."
"That's not why I saved you."
"What?"
"You're a teammate, that's a good enough reason to save you."
"Well…thanks."
"No problem Kent." I replied punching him in the arm and regretting it as my arm almost cracked at hitting his armor which he laughed at.
"Oh come on!" We both turned to see Alice Gareth and Lissa surrounding someone on the ground; we moved over to them to see someone in a green cloak lying on the ground in which Kent moved past me and picked them up.
"It's Hana! My dependable black mage of the warriors of light!" Kent said happily; I looked over at Alice to see her shaking her head with her hand to her temple.
"Look at the face." I moved next to Kent to see a girl with black hair sleeping peacefully…she looked exactly like Alice, "Can this not be a trend?"
"It doesn't look like the odds are going to be in our favor." Gareth said with a hearty laugh. Kent looked up at Alice and back at Hana before giving a look of surprise.
"I never noticed but she looks exactly like Alice." Alice quickly struck me upside the head.
"That would have been important to know!"
"Ow! Why me?"
"I'm use to hitting you." That's not a good thing to be use to.