Author's note: I do not own Dragon Quest VII
The Truth Behind The Seal
Chapter 10: Cursed Dialac
The night progressed with everyone quickly returning to Engow with the end of the celebrations and the death of the village Elder. The former elder's wife turned to Pamela, "I had no idea he was doing this. Can you help lead us until we have another elder to run Engow?"
Pamela nodded before turning back to the travelers. "I have two items to give you in thanks of helping to save our Flame Spirit. Let's go get some rest."
The trip was quiet back to Engow as the villagers looked at the group in quiet awe. They could have been killed because of that mayor. The inn keeper, Shiro, had been happy to allow them to stay for free in appreciation of saving their lives. The night had been quickly passed as the four slept. When they awoke, the town was eerily quiet. Looking at each other, they weren't sure what to make of the matter until they went outside and around the inn towards the square. The townspeople were all there with wide smiles and gifts in offering for saving their lives.
Pamela came forward with a small bundle, "This is first. These are shards I found in the Mayor's old room. They seem important so I thought I would give it to you. Secondly, as promised, a new waterskin for each of you." Airlia opened the small bundle to see the promised items and passed each of the skins around before putting the shards into the rucksack.
Next the weapon smith came forward with a small nod, "I apologize for my behavior. My shop is open to you to upgrade your weapons as necessary."
A man came forward, this one didn't have the bulging muscles of the weapon smith, but he was stout and lean. His fine toned muscles told them that he worked in the armor shop. "I extend the weapon smith's offer to my shop as well. Thank you for saving our lives."
The couple who had run the stall during the festivities that had finery for people to wear approached them. "We saw you all looking at some of our finery and I believe we got the measurements right, but I'm sure that if they're big or small, they can be adjusted. We always leave extra fabric incase it's too small."
Airlia gaped as they each received a small parcel delicately wrapped. Her eyes overflowed with tears as she bowed wordlessly to them before the crowd dispersed. They wandered over to the weapon shop and changed up the equipment that they could while they changed up the armor from the armor shop as necessary. Once it was over, they stopped over to see Pamela one last time. She gave them a watery smile of thanks, "You can always come here if you're ever lost or unsure of what to do."
Airlia nodded before they waved to the townspeople before leaving to find their way back to the pedestal. Once they were back in the Fane, Airlia thumbed the shards they had found. Pulling them out, she found they were of the water variety. Airlia felt the tickle of the Water Spirit. Hello Morgaine.
The water was soothing, calming. Hello Airlia, thank you for helping my brother. He said he left you a little gift on his volcano. The way is now open by the fire above the fire temple.
She turned to the others, "We need to go into the fire temple. Apparently the gate is opened and we can teleport that way to Mount Flame."
She led them to the temple and inside, they stepped on the shifting tile, bringing them to the top of Mount Flame where a wind shard waited for them. Airlia grabbed it as she turned to the others, "We should go back. Let's see what we have for pieces and where it gets us." They hurried back, packages in their rucksacks still as they hurried back to the Fane. They hurried back to the Rainbow Cove to refill their new waterskins before going to the wind room.
Upon entering, they found the tiles belonged to the northwest pedestal. However, the three they had weren't enough – they were still missing one more piece. Kiefer sighed as he led them to the hallway where the book laid for documenting their journey from the time that they found the pieces to saving the Flame Spirit and Engow. With the situation documented, they went to the aqua room and Kiefer went to the northwest tile. "It seems as though all of the tiles we've gone through thus far have been the northwest, so why not this one?"
His instincts were right as the pieces fit perfectly before the bright light blinded them before they arrived on the eastern coast of an island that was surrounded by a black barrier like Rexwood. And again, like the cursed town of Rexwood, the blue was gone from the skies. They hurried along the path until they found a town at the center of the small island. However something was very wrong with the silence they heard. They shared a worried glance that they were too late to help the isle, but they had to try. Going into town, they found the townspeople turned to stone. The lack of creatures in general had the group worried, either the creatures had abandoned the isle… or they shared their fate…
A fire at the back of town caught their attention as they moved about carefully, avoiding the poisoned bog that had settled in from water having gone soured on top of the magic that had settled about. They found a warrior at the fire, tears in his eyes as he cursed himself again for being too late. Maribel however couldn't help herself. "What were you too late to do?"
The man's head snapped up as his eyes hardened. "This land is cursed, you're better off returning where you came from."
Airlia took offense, "I'm Airlia, and these are my friends Maribel and Kiefer." She indicated her two friends before moving to her brother, "And this is my brother Alistair. Now my friend asked you a question. What were you too late to do?"
He merely shook his head, his dark eyes turning almost black as pain ravaged his conscious. "I was too late to save my fellow villagers. The rains hadn't come in months, so I've had to go out and get food for my people. You see, I was the strongest in town and was the only one who could afford to go on my own. I had heard of a stone rain while I was out, so I grabbed a vial of something called 'Angel Tears' to try and protect my people. However, I was too late. The storm came through before I could return and well… They were all turned to stone. The vial I was given… it came with a warning that it would only be effective if used in the first day. It was already a week since I've returned. It just seemed fruitless to try when it was only effective the first day."
Alistair saw the pain in the man's eyes as he turned to them. "We should still try. It can't hurt."
The man thrust the small vile into the dark haired boy's hand. "Take it. Maybe you'll run into a place where this cursed rain has only just fallen."
Alistair took the vile as they looked at one another in confusion. He had given up hope, but surely it couldn't hurt to try it now could it?
They began to look around for the highest point to use the magic potion. They saw a giant stone monolith that had no writing on it. Alistair climbed onto Kiefer's shoulders and found himself just shy in height as they helped Airlia to climb onto the top of the giant stone. With her on the top, Alistair tossed her the vial which she opened up and upon feeling the breeze; she tossed some into the air and watched it swirl around the village. The sky faded from grey to blue and the black barrier around the island faded away.
She watched as people turned from stone to human once more as they gaped in shock and horror fearing the rain. The men were unable to sustain their human ladder as they stood close together and looked at each other. Looking up Alistair called out, "Airlia jump down, we'll catch you."
She nodded as she corked the vial and put it in her rucksack amongst the leather package from Engow before crossing her arms with her hand going to the opposite shoulder and jumped. The men, as promised, caught her safely as the townspeople came over to them. "You saved us? Thank you!" One woman said.
The soldier came out from behind the town, and upon seeing the villagers, he collapsed to his knees sobbing in gratitude. "Thank you travelers. I wish I had done what you did, but I cannot change it now."
They looked at the soldier, "It's Clayman!" As they approached him eagerly, he looked at the ground shamefully. Instead of the anger he expected, they embraced him happily.
Airlia smiled, "It was because of Clayman we were able to restore you. He had the medicine, but he couldn't climb up the monolith alone."
The group eagerly accepted it as they rejoiced their survival of the stone rain. One man came up to them. "I am Stefano and I can't thank you enough from the bottom of my heart for saving my friends and my family. If you are going to continue your travels, look for stone grey clouds and a muddy rain. That was the rain we had when we were turning to stone. It didn't feel right."
Kiefer nodded, "I understand. We will make sure to keep an eye out for this deadly rain and see if we can't end it. I'm sure something is at the source of it!"
Clayman nodded as a little boy came running up, "Please friends, take the vial with you and hopefully it will help you out."
Maribel nodded as they turned to the villagers who were still flexing their stiff limbs. As the travelers turned to leave, the mayor of the village came to them, "Why not stay for the night? We're going to celebrate our new found freedom from stone with a banquet and would be honored if you joined us."
Kiefer, eager to eat something nodded, "Certainly. It would be our pleasure."
The wife of the mayor came up to them, "Welcome to the small village of Dialac."