Chapter 10: The Awakening of a Warrior.
Kyle and Jaeger had barely ten seconds after they hit the floor to embrace one another and then a voice entered the heads of the four children.
'Everyone come forth, I have much to tell you, and little time to explain.'
Jeff and Nick grimaced unhappily as they gazed up the stair case towards the crystal. Jeff suddenly recalled that the crystal had promised to help Jaeger.
"Jaeger, th' crystal-" Jeff began, before Nick interrupted him.
"The Stupid Rock." Nick corrected Jeff, but he ignored Nick and continued on after a moment.
"Th' crystal said it'd do everyt'ing it could ta help ya." Jeff finished, but Jaeger had already leapt to her feet before he had even gotten half way through. She stared first at Jeff, and then up the stairs towards the Crystal, and then she quickly sprinted up the stairs yelling for everyone to come on.
"It did?" Nick asked in confusion as he began to poke at his bruised face. "When did that happen?"
Jeff knew that the crystal hadn't exactly said it would help yet, and it had just said it would counsel her. But Jeff was counting on Nick and Kyle to help convince the crystal to their point of view.
The three boys climbed the stairs after her and Jeff noted that Jaeger looked expectant and happy, despite the fact that her eyes were still red rimmed and that she kept having to wipe her nose on her hand. When Jeff reached the top he reached down into a pocket and offered her a small cloth that he used to wipe his knife down after whittling. Jeff remembered his knife suddenly, and thought about going back down to make sure that it hadn't fallen off the sides, but he would wait until after he heard what the crystal had to say. Besides, his body still ached from the fight with the Guardian and he didn't want to have to climb back up the steps again.
Jaeger was looking up at the crystal with hope shining in her eyes, but she was the only one. Nick had crossed his arms and was looking off to the left and Kyle was staring at his feet as he kicked at imaginary rocks. Jeff looked up at the floating gem defiantly and dared it to ask him to worship it.
'Welcome, Warriors from the Land of Darkness.' The Crystal said to their minds, and Jeff didn't even have to glance at Jaeger to know that she had winced. 'I am sorry that I had to call you long before you were ready for this burden, but I had little choice now. The flood that destroyed your homes was nothing compared to what will happen if you do not begin the journey immediately.'
"I'm sorry, what does this have to do with helping Jaeger?" Nick asked suddenly. "I seem to have missed the part where you help her."
"Be quiet Nick." Jaeger said from the corner of her mouth, and Nick shrugged his shoulders as he continued to stare at the wall.
'It is true, there is a lot to explain to you, and I have little time to explain it in. Jaeger,' the crystal said to her, but allowed the rest of the orphans to hear the conversation. 'You are not from this realm. You were born in the Land of Darkness and came here to be raised into a warrior that would save the world from the Light and to bring the Darkness back to its rightful place.'
Silence fell in the chamber as everyone tried to absorb what the crystal had just said in their own way. Jeff was stuck on the idea about having to save the world from the Light, but as Jeff looked at the others he could tell they had other thoughts. Kyle was looking at Jaeger as if she was some sort of alien, and Nick was busy looking around for something, (probably something to break the crystal with). Jaeger on the other hand, looked as if her last hope had flown away.
"No..." Jaeger whispered as she fell to her knees, her hopes dashed before her eyes.
Jeff turned towards the crystal and extended a single finger towards the crystal before going over to help Jaeger himself, his parrain had told him he shouldn't ever extend that finger on its own unless he really wanted that person or thing to just go jump off a bridge and die. Until today he had never really felt like that.
"Can't you do something about the darkness at least?!" Kyle demanded as he knelt beside Jaeger and tried to calm her down.
'It is a part of who she is, and though I could remove the power of Darkness from her, I could never remove the darkness itself from her.' The crystal explained. 'She is a being of pure darkness, and so is Nick.'
The two other boys and Jaeger turned towards Nick, who finally glanced up at the Crystal. "Wait what?"
'Nick, you and Jaeger are two of the Warriors of the Darkness.' Suddenly a soft black miasma began to spread over Nick's body. 'I did not want to change you without the other warriors present, but you have been sheltered your whole life and could not survive without my help. Awaken, Warrior of the Dark.'
Nick looked about at the Darkness that began to spread over his body, but he didn't fight it. Jeff considered running over there and pulling Nick out from the miasma, but he had the feeling that it wouldn't do any good.
"No!" Jaeger cried as she got up and ran at Nick and tried to pull at where his arms must have been. "Leave him alone!"
Nick suddenly came out of the miasma easily causing Jaeger and Nick to suddenly fall on top of each other, but he was not wearing his own clothes anymore. Instead he was wearing a red cape that had white triangles at the bottom and a red shirt with squares in the center. The shirt had a collar and it had white outlines and a white chocker. He was wearing black pants now which were rolled up at the end and white on the inside. His shoes had transformed into boots with a golden buckle at the top. He was not wearing the white gloves and the hat with the feather was missing, but Nick had unmistakably become a Red Mage. The bruises and cuts on his face and body were gone, and he looked healthier than he had been, but at the same time he also looked as pale as Jaeger now. Jeff didn't know what Nick would do or how he would react, but he should have known that Nick would have reacted exactly the way he did.
"Hey, when did I get a cape?" Nick asked as he was getting up. It took Nick a moment to look over himself. "When did Mistress Mallory start buying cool clothes?"
"Tha's not what ya were wearin' a minute ago, ya 'tard!" Jeff said through gritted teeth. "Yer clothes changed, jus' like Jaeger's!"
Nick looked at Jeff in confusion and then turned towards Jaeger, who was looking at Nick in defeat, and his mouth dropped as he gasped in delight. "That armor's cool!" Jeff sighed and put his hand up to his head and began to massage it. Nick hadn't noticed. Nick never noticed, and it was giving Jeff a headache, out of the corner of Jeff's eyes he saw Jaeger's hand slowly clench in anger.
"Wait a second." Kyle said suddenly as he turned towards the crystal. "Your guardian said that there were four warriors! That's not...that's not us is it?"
'No.' The crystal stated simply. 'Though you have Darkness in you, you were not meant to be involved in this, Bard. and your fate treads a different path. Jaeger and Nick are the only Dark Warriors in this room, and the fate of the world will rest on their shoulders.
'The Light has been abused by the Cetra race for too long and the balance between the Light and the Dark has shifted in favor of the Light. But what they don't know is that an unnatural imbalance caused between Light and Darkness will destroy both the Land of Darkness and Light and there shall be nothing left in existence. Even now, above the dome of water you perceive as your sky, the Land has been covered in Light and fire. Time has grown constant, and two of my brother crystals are almost completely under the sway of the Light.
'You have been told that the dome in which your continent has been trapped is a thin layer of water that was an attack by the Darkness to cut this land off from the Light. That is only half true. This land was sealed under the water with the power of Darkness from the Water Crystal, back when it still had enough to accomplish this task. The Crystal had called you forth Jaeger and it had gifted you with the spirit of a Dark Knight and with the miracle that would protect this continent from the Light that now ravages the lands above. The dome is your only protection from the Light for now, and, if it breaks, the Light and the water will come crashing inside and destroy everything.
'You saw what happened earlier today, when the water came crashing into the dome and destroyed your homes. It was an attempt made by a Cetra Judge by the name of Jeremas to break the barrier and reach the outside world. He had no idea there would be that much water in the barrier, because he does not realize that the island sank beneath the waves. As you know, he and everyone else believes that the waters rose and he has been trying to break through for years.
'Now he has found and released a Djinn, and with its power he hopes to break the dome and expose the world to the sun again, but what he will do is kill everyone and destroy our only hope. Dark Warriors, it is up to you to stop them, by force if necessary.'