Tales of Xalthia

Chapter 11: Ancient Foreteller

Tsuki and Lynette had entered the mines that ran underneath Briswater in search for General Maxwell and his second-in-command, Frey who had gone missing days before. They were also tasked with disarming any explosives left behind during the War of Mana that they were to come across. The further down they traveled into the mines, the more dangerous the terrain became. With the recent explosion and collapse of the lift that lead to Sublevel Two, support beams and structures were unstable. Another explosion would very likely cause some of them to topple. The depths of the mines were a dangerous place to be in its current state and it would take months of repairs to deem the lower portions of the mine safe again for people to go into.

Throughout their travels deep into the mines, they've had an abnormally high encounter rate of monsters. Normally, the monster activity in the mines were about average. However, that's not the case this time. Something was different about the mines. As they traveled, they both got a vibe that something was very different. The air became heavier and sometimes, it was hard to breath and the atmosphere was slowly changing. They blew it off, thinking that it was normal for the air to become heavy because they were miles underground.

As they pushed deeper into Sublevel Two, they came up to a large, empty chamber that had little damage to it. The chamber walls had ancient murals and script etched into the walls. No one knew who made them or when the murals or scripts were made. All they know is that the murals depict some sort of catastrophic event and the script writing either explains what's being depicted or something that could be a future event. They couldn't tell because the script was written in a long, forgotten language. Throughout all of Briswaters' history, scientists and archaeologists have only been able to decipher a small portion of the script which is very little compared to the grand scheme of things.

Tsuki walked into the large chamber and looked around the massive space. It was as if he walked into some old museum. "Wow, what is all this?" Some kind of prophecy?" he asked. The chamber was so large that even the faintest noise would reverberate around the chamber. There was something different in the air inside the chamber as well. The air felt more clean and the atmosphere felt energized. It was as if some invisible barrier was protecting the chamber. Such a thing would be impossible, however.

Lynette walked up behind Tsuki and looked around as well. She then walked up to the chamber walls and ran her hand across the murals and script. She could tell that the murals were hundreds of years old because of the art style. "They look really old. I wonder who made them. They look really familiar but I can't put my finger on it..." she said.

Tsuki continued to examine the walls until they came up to the large mural with what appeared to be a giant fireball crashing down from the skies with what appears to be people running away from it. It almost looks like a meteor but something about it was different. Then, he had a sudden realization. The mural reminded him of the stories he was told when he was still a Royal Eight apprentice. "You know, this reminds me of the War of Mana" he said, pointing to the fireball mural.

Lynette turned around and approached the mural Tsuki was looking at. She then examined it herself. She made the connection as well. "That's it! That's why this is so familiar! Look, you can see Efreet, Undine, Gnome and Sylph gathering their energy! This depicts how the War of Mana ended! The Four Great Spirits combined their powers in one attack to put an end to the conflict!" she said. She then pointed to the blue, red, green and brown figures above the fireball.

Tsuki walked closer to the mural to take a closer look and ran his hand over the ancient script under the mural. As he did so, he had a strange flash go off in his mind. He was getting flashes of images of something. Something that wasn't his memory. Just then, he could make out part of the script that wasn't deciphered yet as if the words came to his mind. "Divine...Retribution?" he asked himself. Just then, the script mysteriously lit up. Seconds later, a bright flash emerged from the script, blinding him. Not only that, but an explosion suddenly went off, sending vibrations and shockwaves through the entire mine and causing more debris to come crashing down.

Lynette lost her balance from the sudden violent shaking and fell onto the the ground. The explosion seemed to have been detonated on the level below them, on Sublevel Three. "Another explosion!?" she shouted.

Tsuki, however, looked like he was in some sort of trance. His body was there but his mind wasn't. He continued to receive flashbacks of the past. The flashbacks were centered around a male around his age from over four hundred years ago. More specifically, around the time period of which the War of Mana took place. He could make this out because there were flashbacks from the war occasionally. "What's going on? What are these images?" he thought. It felt like his consciousness was pulled into some strange space filled with flashbacks.

Out of nowhere, a strange and unfamiliar voice started to speak. It was the voice of a young male."It appears that the next Bearer has arrived. It's been over four hundred years since the last Bearer walked on this earth" the voice said.

Tsuki opened eyes and found that he was in an empty space. He was no longer in the mines. It was like he was in different dimension of space because he could visibly see the flow of Mana all around him. "What is this place? Who are you?" he asked the voice. He didn't understand what was going on. How did he get into this strange space?

Just then, a projected image of the voice formed in the space. It was the boy from his flashbacks."Allow me to welcome you as the new chosen wielder" the boy said. The boy had brown hair while wearing knight's armor with a gold Phoenix in the center of the chest piece. There were some similar physical features that were almost the same as Tsuki.

Tsuki took a stance, thinking that the murals were some sort of elaborate trap. He didn't know what else to think. It was extremely difficult to rationalize it. Was he dreaming? "I'll ask again...who are you? What is this place?" he demanded. He didn't like where this was going. He couldn't fight something he doesn't understand because it would be a losing battle.

The boy shook his head. "Don't be so alarmed. You are in a divine space that links the past to the present. This place is called the Celestial Bridge. As for my name, you'll learn when the time is right"he said. He was quite mysterious.

Tsuki kept his stance open, not believing a word the boy said. "Celestial Bridge? What are you talking about about!?" he shouted. He wanted answers. There was just no way he could explain it to himself even if he did have some understanding about what's going on.

The boy started to float around the space. "Here, you can view the mistakes of the past from their perspective point of views, even wield powers of old. All will be explained to you when the time is right. Unfortunately, now is not that time" he said. He was almost speaking in riddles. He wasn't making hardly any sense to Tsuki.

Tsuki had a confused expression on his face then he dropped his stance but kept his guard up. It wouldn't do him any good in fighting since he would be fighting a holographic image of someone."You're not making any sense. Mistakes of the past? Powers of old? What do you mean?" he asked.

Just then, an image of a strange door started to form. The door looked very old just by design alone. It wasn't like anything Tsuki has ever seen before. The boy then hovered over to the image."Find this door. Once you do, your true journey will begin though you may not realize it right away" the boy said.

Tsuki examined the image closely. "This door? What's so special about it? I'm not about to go on some search for an ancient door that probably no longer exists" he said. He didn't have time to search for some door nor did he want to. It had nothing to do with him.

The boy hovered over to Tsuki and placed his hand on his shoulder. "This door is the starting point to all the answers you seek. You are destined for great things and I'll be looking forward to see what the future has in store for you" he said, practically avoiding all his questions. The boy then tapped Tsuki's chest then soon disappeared in a burst of light.

Tsuki was blinded for a bit and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in the mines. The vibrations had stopped and Lynette was worried about Tsuki as he appeared to not be affected by the explosion. The Spiritual Bridge? A lineage that he doesn't know of? He had no understanding or explanation of what just happened. He was in disbelief. "What...was that?" he asked himself.

Lynette waved in hand in front of his face, trying to snap him out of whatever trance he was in. She couldn't help but express concern for him. "Hey, are you okay? You've been staring at that mural for some time now. You weren't even affected by that explosion" she said.

Tsuki was in his trance for several minutes. He didn't even acknowledge the quake. Whatever just happened to him was something he couldn't explain. He had too much on his mind to think about so he tried to push whatever just happened to the back of his mind. Once he snapped back to reality, he looked around the chamber once things settled down. Besides a few falling rocks from the ceiling, there was no damage to the chamber which was strange since the explosion was so strong. Not wanting to make Lynette worry, he pretended that he felt the sudden quake as well.

Tsuki looked at her, scratching the back of his head. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. I was too focused on studying this mural that I guess I didn't notice it" he said as he chuckled nervously. It was an obvious lie and even he knew that. He just didn't know how to play it off as if it was nothing.

Lynette knew that Tsuki was lying. There was no mistake about that at all. It's like he made no attempt to even cover it up. Before she could press him for the truth, she heard something. Once she listened closely, she could make out someone groaning in pain. "Tsuki, do you hear that?" she asked.

They both went silent for several moments to try and figure out where the groaning sounds were coming from. Moments later, they heard the sounds coming from a tunnel that wasn't there before. The walls didn't look like they collapsed so it was almost like there was a hidden doorway of stone.

Lynette made the new tunnel apparent. "Wait, was that tunnel there before? I thought this was a dead end" she said.

Tsuki approached the tunnel cautiously. "Hello!? Is someone there!?" he shouted. He waited several moments before he heard a very weak cry for help. Someone was severely injured in the tunnel. He then looked back at Lynette. "This way! Someone's hurt!" he said. He then took off running down the tunnel.

Lynette followed closely behind him as she followed him down the tunnel. It didn't take them long enough to reach a familiar face who was on the ground up against the cave wall. It was a wounded Frey. They found him about two minutes into the tunnel. He had wounds that weren't from an explosion but more like wounds from a blade. However, the monsters in the mines don't carry blades which made the injuries even more strange.

Tsuki ran up to Frey and got down onto his knees next to him. He then nudged him gently. "Frey! Are you okay!?" he asked. He was now on full alert. Knowing Frey's history on the battlefield, he is a someone that doesn't go down easy. No monster native to the mines could of done this to him and injured him so severely. He had several slash wounds and one deep slash wound that went down his back. Whoever or whatever it was that did this to him was no one common, that's for sure.

Lynette caught up to Tsuki and saw the condition Frey was in. "Oh my god! Frey!?" she shouted. She quickly ran up to them and immediately started to heal his wounds. His wounds were serious but not life-threatening, thankfully. She shouldn't have a problem healing him.

It took Lynette several minutes to fully heal his wounds. They waited in silence and anticipation for Frey to regain consciousness. This no longer felt like it was a simple mining accident where someone accidentally set off one of the explosives left behind from the war. Tsuki had a feeling that the explosions were detonated by someone else and it would appear that Frey ran into that person. Unfortunately, they had to wait to get their questions answered. After several mintues, Frey started to regain consciousness.

Frey groaned weakly as his vision was slowly returning. When his vision fully came back to him, , he saw Tsuki and Lynette standing over him. "Ugh...Tsuki? Lynette? What are you doing here...? I thought I told you not to come..." he said. He was trying to regain his composure and tried to figure out what happened to him.

Tsuki saw Frey wake up and ask a question. He still seemed out of it as he was still trying to connect the dots. "We came to help. We heard you went missing in the mines when you went to look for Maxwell" he said. He was more curious to know how he got his injuries.

Frey thought back and remembered a few things. "Ah...that's right. I came to the mural chamber in search for Maxwell when I saw an uncharted tunnel. I started to follow it when..." he said before stopping himself. Suddenly, the rest of his memories came back to him."That's right! I was attacked out of the blue!" he said. Just then, a jagged rock broke off the ceiling above them and came crashing down.

Tsuki heard the cracking as he looked up and saw the rock coming down above them. He quickly drew his broken sword and sliced the rock in half then knocked the separate pieces away. He landed back on the ground and looked at his sword. More bits and pieces were broken off of what's left of his sword. He knew that his sword wouldn't last much longer until the blade completely shatters. He put his sword back on his waist then looked at Lynette. "We need to get him to the chamber. That's the most stable place in here" he said.

Lynette looked up at Tsuki as she was finishing patching Frey up in bandages. "He's stable to move but let's be careful. We don't want his wounds opening up" she said. She then slowly helped up him on his feet, throwing his arm around her. "I'll help walk him out. You watch our backs" she said.

Tsuki nodded and then they slowly made their way back to the chamber of murals. Thankfully, they weren't far from the chamber so it wasn't a long walk back. They made it back into the chamber after a few minutes of backtracking. Since the chamber seemed to be protected by some invisible force, they wouldn't have to worry about any falling debris from the ceiling.

Frey slowly sat down in the chamber and leaned up against the wall, looking up at Lynette and Tsuki. "Ah...thank you, Lynette" he said. He then noticed that the chamber suffered very little damage. "It is strange that this...chamber has light damage to it" he said.

Tsuki shook his head. He was hoping Frey would know the answer to that. "I thought that too. It's like it's protected by some sort of invisible barrier" he said. He then rubbed his forehead and took a deep breath. "More importantly, who attacked you? It was no common fighter. That much is obvious, given your history on the battlefield" he said.

Frey shook his head and thought back. "That's right...a man with excellent skills with an axe in heavy armor with a red lining attacked me from behind. It was like nothing he appeared out of the darkness. I never heard or saw him coming at all. My skills...were no match for him. It was like he wasn't even human" he said, hinting a bit of fear in his voice.

When Tsuki picked up on Frey's slight fear, it dawned on him. This was coming from someone who single-handedly fought off an entire army. Frey does not scare easily. "Someone who wasn't human, huh?" he said. There was more added danger to the mines now. Tsuki wasn't as skilled as Frey was so he knew that if they encounter this person, they would not survive.

Frey grabbed Tsuki's arm and held it tightly. "Please...you need to reach Maxwell. He told me that there was a similar chamber directly below us. That's where he went when I lost contact with him and I have a feeling that man is heading there as well" he said, pleading for his help. He was far too weak to go any further into the mine on his own.

Tsuki put his hand over his and nodded. "Leave it to us. We'll find him" he assured him. So, there was another large chamber. He wonders what's in the other chamber. Was it another chamber of murals? The person who attacked Frey still lingered in his mind. He was more concerned now for Maxwell's safety. If Frey was defeated in battle, then Maxwell could be the next to fall.

Frey released his arm and nodded. "Thank you. Please be careful. If you run into that man, do not approach him. If you value your life, do not engage him in battle. It won't do you any good with that broken sword of yours" he warned them. He didn't want them to encounter the man who defeated him in battle. He shouldn't even be alive.

Tsuki nodded at Frey then looked at Lynette. "Let's get going" he said. He was worried about bumping into the person who defeated Frey but he couldn't allow that to stop him and make him retreat, leaving the job undone. He was having trouble fighting monsters with a broken sword. Fighting someone with that much strength would be suicide.

Lynette looked at Tsuki, not wanting to leave him by himself. "What about Frey? We can't just leave him here!" she said. Frey was in no condition to defend himself if monsters came and attacked nor was in any shape to flee. She didn't want to leave Frey by himself.

Frey shook his head. "Don't worry about me. I'm in radio range from the command center. I'll call in some help. Now go before it's too late" he said, pointing down the tunnel that they just came from. Maxwell and the mystery fighter had a decent head start from Tsuki and Lynette so they had a lot of catching up to do. Stalling would just make it worse.

They took a moment to think about their options then nodded after a few moments. Soon after, they took off running down the uncharted tunnel. Since the map didn't have this tunnel marked, they were running blind. However, they didn't care. Both Maxwell and the mystery fighter took the same path so it had to lead somewhere. They needed to press on before anything else happens. They saved Frey so now they have to save Maxwell. They still haven't found where the explosives which meant that if there were any around, they would of been disarmed and relocated. They can only hope that their problems are on the last sub-level of the mines.

To be continued...