Left with nothing better to do after washing up and eating lunch, Bomberman lay back in bed and tried to rest his body as much as he could. He wanted to test out the explosives that the Stone should theoretically allow him to make, but doing it indoors in such close quarters was out of the question. So he settled for mentally poking and pulling at the elemental powers now residing inside him, all the while fending off thoughts of death and responsibility and fighting and more death. He wasn't always successful, and occasionally hurled a pillow or two around the room after yelling expletives into them. Pommy, of course, was napping throughout Bomberman's inner melodrama.
It took the better part of the afternoon before Draegaria updated him on the situation. "It is a risky move," she told Bomberman, "but we have decided to use the Twin Hearts to unlock that wall. I've sent Masters Thilon and Kijra to retrieve the Hearts, and to help create a substitute that will power Philomel's shields while we are dealing with this situation. In the meantime, we shall set out for Procne's shrine, if you feel you are up to handling things."
Bomberman shrugged. "I'm as good as I'm going to get."
Draegaria pulled together a few other shamans before heading to the shrine. Bomberman followed after her using the shackles, with Pommy in his arms, though he had to travel a little slower than usual given that every landing sent a new twinge of pain up from his feet to his thighs. Nevertheless, he arrived in one piece. As Bomberman headed down the rear staircase, he saw Yedari waiting at the bottom. Next to him was a tall slab of stone that had definitely not been there when Bomberman had last seen the place. It was lined with columns of wedge-shaped characters.
"Ashtarth had a cloaking spell on this," Yedari explained. "He did a formidable job of it as well: it was easy to detect the magick, but much more difficult to neutralize it." He lowered his voice a little. "Not to speak ill of the dead, but I must comment that I feel as though he were taunting us by setting the spell up in the way that he did."
"Was there anything else he cloaked?"
"Only this, your Highness." Yedari pointed to the ground at Bomberman's feet, where there was a stone carving of Procne curled up within a circle of mosaics. "We believe that the 'floor of sleep' that the inscription is referring to is the hollows for Procne's eyes there."
Draegaria frowned, sharp lines appearing around her mouth as she did so. "This is most disturbing," she murmured. "The way he constructed this spell, both to cloak the wall and to unlock its secrets...the fact that he must've been primarily responsible for building this wall, given that there was no one in this shrine to help...what has he been hiding from us all this time?"
Thilon and Kijra arrived a few moments later, bearing stone boxes. "We shall proceed under your orders, your Majesty," Thilon said.
Draegaria nodded. "Place the Hearts," she ordered. "Everyone else, step back."
As Thilon and Kijra knelt to do as Draegaria instructed, everyone else formed a curious circle around the masters. When Thilon and Kijra set the Hearts—two blue orbs sparkling with ancient power—into the carving of Procne, the carving and the grout between the stone bricks that made up the platform suddenly lit up, as did the inscription on the stone wall. A vertical line of light seared down the middle of the wall; it was punctuated by a series of horizontal lines. Scored thusly, the stone wall broke apart and folded up into an arched gateway, revealing a shimmering blue portal.
"A gate to a different plane?" Draegaria raised her eyebrows.
"Wait!" Yedari said. "Let me check for its safety, your Highness. We do not know yet of its nature." He boldly walked over and poked his head straight through the portal, as though he were merely looking around a corner. "I see a staircase leading upwards," he reported. "I cannot see or sense anything strange at the moment." He pulled himself back. "Your Highness, with your permission, I would like to scout ahead and determine its safety for you."
Draegaria nodded. "Do as you see fit, Yedari."
Yedari motioned to two of his knights nearby, and they followed him through the gate, disappearing with white ripples.
"Myuuu," Pommy purred. "Pommy wonders what could be in there! Maybe it's treasure!"
"Or a large pit of boiling tomato sauce," Bomberman said.
"Myu?"
Bomberman shook his head as he gently set Pommy on the ground.
When Yedari and his knights returned minutes later, their faces were pale with disbelief. "Y-your Majesty..." Yedari stuttered, attempting the usual bow of respect before continuing. "I...we..."
Draegaria strode forward and laid a concerned hand on Yedari's shoulder. "Yedari, what's the matter?"
Yedari took a deep breath and composed himself. "You may wish to see this for yourself, your Highness."
"Then lead me."
Yedari did. Draegaria followed swiftly after him, and right behind Draegaria were Bomberman and Pommy. They were trailed by some of Yedari's shamanic knights, as well as Kijra (Thilon had taken the precaution of staying behind in order to keep an eye on the portal). The spiraling stone staircase Yedari had spoken of earlier was steep, with steps that sometimes crumbled under hurried footsteps, but such a minor obstacle barely registered in the minds of man who were currently ascending the twisted flight, and Bomberman was hardly the exception.
The stairs led out onto an open-air floor of stone, where a faint scent of incense lingered. A series of chipped alabaster pillars, inscribed with more undecipherable writing, lined the edges. More colorful rectangular banners trailed down the lengths of the pillars. And in the center...
"By Enkidion's talons," Draegaria muttered, looking above her.
Encased in a spherical force field was the Gravity Generator, floating high in the air. A circular glyph of luminescent green floated above it. Tethered to the generator by energy cords of a similar color was a collection of limp bodies, each one also surrounded in a force field.
Bomberman recognized one body instantly. "Lilith!"
"And I can see Teume from here," Draegaria said. "I can guess at a few more, as well." She turned to Yedari, her expression uneasy. "These, then, are Procne's victims?"
Yedari nodded. "We flew up to confirm their identities. Every single person that was kidnapped has been accounted for here."
"I can't believe this..." one of Yedari's knights muttered. "What in Philomel is going on here?"
"And thus is the problem: this is not in Philomel," Kijra responded, with a touch of humor. Her face wrinkled as she studied the unholy configuration, and her eyes flashed silver for a moment. "I know not why this is so, but it would seem that...thing...in the center is extracting energy from each of the bodies connected to it."
Bomberman's stomach churned with the implications. "The Gravity Generator is being powered by their life energy," he realized. For a very brief moment, he suddenly wasn't so sorry that Ashtarth was dead.
Draegaria regarded Bomberman curiously from behind her white veil. "This is what you were looking for? What exactly is it?"
"Long story short, it's something that should preferably be lying in little pieces on the ground," Bomberman said.
"I shall take your word for it...if only because I share the same sentiments at this moment." Draegaria's eyes returned to the Gravity Generator and the swarm of unconscious forms hovering around it like fireflies. "Kijra, can you make anything more of this?"
"The glyph is the key to the workings, I know that much." Kijra walked a little to her left. "It seems to be a custom variation on an old healing spell that requires an exchange of life energy." She closed her eyes and shook her head, little silver braids falling around her face. "There are many layers to the magick here. It will take a while to shift through them, especially without Thilon here."
"I can fetch Master Thilon for you if her Majesty wishes it," Yedari offered.
"No. Thilon needs to stay on the other side to ensure that nothing happens to the portal. I will have to make do with who we have here."
A screech resounded through the air and through every cell of Bomberman's body. "Guess who's back, back again," he muttered.
The half-avian, half-draconian form of Procne swept through the area, sending up gusts of wind and faint clouds of dust and dirt. She looped up and around the Gravity Generator, curling around it as though it were an egg.
"Myu, Procne guards the generator?" Pommy said, worried. "Then we have to beat her up!"
"Yeah, and how do you propose we do that?" Bomberman responded, raising an eyebrow.
"It seems that Procne's control is tied to the glyph as well," Kijra said. "Your Majesty, if you please, I will need your assistance and Yedari's to work at unraveling the glyph. As I said, I do not know the exact workings yet, so I am quite sure we will uncover more keys to it as we go. But I will need all the power that I can get."
"Understood," Draegaria and Yedari said.
"I need the rest of Yedari's knights to lend their energies to maintaining a shield each around myself, Yedari, and Draegaria while we focus on the glyph," Kijra shouted over another one of Procne's cries. "You, fledgling, will have to distract Procne essentially by yourself. While the knights may be able to provide assistance should either myself, her Majesty, or Yedari be in immediate danger, their focus is on protecting us. However, if you held your own against Ashtarth, then I have faith that you will perform admirably here as well."
Bomberman stopped in mid-stretch to stare at Kijra in disbelief. Finding that she was totally and completely serious about sending a half-battered "fledgling" out to do battle with a mutant avian, he sighed and glanced down at Pommy. "Well, you heard the lady," he said. "You with me, creampuff?"
"M-myu?" Pommy looked up. "But wh-what can Pommy do against something like Procne? Besides, Pommy can't even fly or do cool flippy things like Bomberman can!"
Well, well, it looks like he actually has a legitimate excuse to sit this one out. "Fine, you've got a point," he conceded. "How about this, then—in case I happen to lose control of Procne, you distract her from everyone else."
"But how will Pommy do that?"
"You'll figure something out!" With that, Bomberman oriented himself to the roof, zipping past Procne just long enough to drop a fire bomb right behind her neck.
BOOM!
Procne squawked and thrashed in mid-air, jostling her victims around the generator. Green feathers, singed and smoking, floated serenely to the ground.
"Be careful!" Kijra's voice carried across the way, but just barely. "Don't disturb the setup! Otherwise we may not be able to repair any damage that may have already been done!"
Bomberman growled to himself as he remained perched upside down on the roof. Apparently his plans for saving Lilith and the others by severing their ties to the Gravity Generator would have to wait. Time for Plan B...not that he actually had one. Testing out an on-the-spot theory, he oriented himself to Procne's back, landing hard on her spine. Just as quickly, Procne jerked and threw him off, but he only ended up landing on her side instead, thanks to the shackles. The gusts generated by the flapping over her wings proved to be a rather large annoyance, however, and so Bomberman settled for tossing three ice bombs onto her back before hopping to a nearby pillar.
I need to get her out of this area, Bomberman thought as he quickly surveyed the situation from his current perch: Procne writhing in a frosty cloud, Kijra and Draegaria and Yedari encased in glimmering green shields, the Gravity Generator with its human batteries. He started a barrage of wind explosives, hoping that maybe he could eventually nudge Procne into a safer spot. Just as he was gearing up to fling a wind superbomb, Procne chose to unleash an energy beam at him.
VWOOOOM!
"Dah!" Bomberman barely leapt out of the way. He touched down on a pillar and tossed the superbomb at Procne. Procne smacked it away with a flap of a wing, then soared straight at Bomberman, who once again avoided by hopping to another pillar. He spent the next few minutes alternating between tossing explosives at Procne and then quickly jumping to a safer spot once the divine guardian was pissed off enough to attack him. Despite landing a few hits, Bomberman was only feeling more pessimistic by the second: not only were his bombs not doing much damage, but he still hadn't fully recovered from his fight with Ashtarth, and increasingly felt as though he were moving through maple syrup. His explosives were starting to miss by miles. "Uh, hey," he stammered as Procne turned to glare at him after the umpteenth bomb, "how's it going down there?"
"We seem to have unraveled the first few layers," Draegaria answered, her voice strained. "But the working is complex! We need more time!"
Procne snapped her head in the direction of Draegaria's voice, enticed by the sound of a second meal.
"Crap!" With a bomb in hand, Bomberman oriented himself to the floor nearby Draegaria. He landed hard on the ground with an audible thump, ignored the pain shooting up his legs, whirled around, and flung the explosive at a dive-bombing Procne. Procne, however, swerved to the side, and the bomb just missed catching Yedari in its blast radius. In a last-ditch effort to deter the deranged guardian, Bomberman shouted out a vaguely coherent warning to Draegaria and her troupe, then whipped out the brightest flash bomb that he could before diving to the side. With a grunt, he scrambled to his feet and blinked his eyes repeatedly. When he was able to see again, Bomberman realized that Procne, in her disorientation, had fixated on Kijra as her next victim. "Out of the gunpowder and into the nitro," he sighed, rubbing his side.
"Myu?" Pommy mewed from somewhere near his feet. "What does that mean?"
Bomberman glanced down at Pommy. Then up at Procne. Then at the banner hanging on a pillar nearby.
"What are you doing, Bomberman?" Pommy said, worried. "That gray-haired lady is in trouble! You should go—"
YANK!
Bomberman snatched Pommy and sprinted up the pillar, then let out the loudest whistle he could. "Hey!" he called, holding Pommy out by his ears and shaking him slightly. "Want a gourmet creampuff as an appetizer?"
"Pommy doesn't appreciate this, myuuu!" wailed Pommy, flailing his paws and feet.
Procne turned. Upon sighting Bomberman and Pommy, she cawed loudly and zoomed for the two.
At the last moment, Bomberman pulled Pommy back, snatched up the bottom of the banner, and jumped.
R-R-RIIIPPP!
CRASSHHH!
The pillar crumbled and the banner tore from its place as Procne hurtled straight on through in a predatory rage. Bomberman managed to use a mixture of his momentum and the power of the shackles to swing himself up and onto her back using the banner—which was now stuck in Procne's mouth as a makeshift bit. With both ends firmly in his grip, he yanked, and Procne squealed in protest.
Pommy's indignant grumblings were muffled by the fact that he was chomping onto the bottom of Bomberman's sweatshirt in a desperate attempt to hang on for life. "Pommy didn't like that at all, myu!"
"That makes two of us!" Bomberman snapped, gritting his teeth as he was trying to figure out how and where to steer Procne. He was starting to have his doubts about his randomly creative plan as he saw how thin the fabric really was, how empty the sky around them was, and...well...how amazingly pissed off Procne was. Still, he had to make the best of this odd opportunity, and he managed to maneuver Procne up and over the main structure. He spotted the roof below him, and prepared to hop onto it and simply deal with Procne from there.
Procne had other ideas. She jerked her head, angled downwards, and barreled right through the roof.
CRAASHH!
Bomberman clutched tightly to the banner, ducking his head to avoid the pieces of ancient stone raining upon him. He looked up in time to see Procne headed for the open sky on the opposite side. With a yell, he forced Procne in the opposite direction—or at least in a different direction than she intended, since the banner chose that time to rip from his hands. Bomberman grumbled an expletive, then left two fire bombs on Procne's back as he gathered up Pommy and jumped ship to the floor, diving into a roll to absorb the impact. "Geez oh man," he muttered, tumbling to his knees and shuddering. "I am never d-doing that again anytime soon...owww."
"P-Pommy doesn't think she's done yet!" Pommy squeaked.
Procne had ascended into the air, her wings flapping wider and harder, generating winds that were almost strong enough to send Bomberman flying backwards. Her open beak of glassy obsidian gathered streams of iridescent white between her teeth. Her violet eyes were fixed squarely on the Gravity Generator.
Don't disturb the setup! Kijra's warning echoed in Bomberman's head.
Despite wanting nothing more to just curl up on the floor and pass out, Bomberman charged a fire bomb and sprang up to orient himself to Procne's body once again. He tossed the bomb at her head and detonated it with the remote control in his pocket.
BOOM!
Procne's lower half thrashed; her tail swung up to swat Bomberman off. He prepared to land on Procne again, but Procne's face—seared red by now—turned on him, her open beak now preparing to snatch him up in her jaws. Bomberman's eyes widened as he attempted to change course. Oh, sh—
Then Kijra's voice cut through the din in an unfamiliar language. Her words rang clear and pure like a rush of holy water.
There was a roar of wind. The glyph hovering above the Gravity Generator exploded into ten million shards of fine light that broke into illusory dust. Likewise, the energy field containing the generator and the unconscious victims faded away. They floated gently to the floor.
Procne had begun to convulse violently, as though something were being ripped from her body. And as Bomberman landed on the roof, he thought he saw something like a ghostly green version of Procne spiral out from her body. It twisted and folded into a myriad of impossible positions befores vanishing in a similar manner to the glyph. Procne herself went limp in mid-air. Just when it seemed as though she would crash into a painful heap on the ground, she faded as well.
Bomberman blinked. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened or how things had happened...but it had ended with the safe release of the kidnapping victims and the deactivation of the Gravity Generator's force field, both of which were undoubtedly good things. He awkwardly paid his respects to Procne with a short bow before orienting himself to the floor to check on Lilith.
Pommy was already by Lilith's side, trying to shake her into wakefulness. "Lilith? Lilith?" Pommy said. "Wake up, Lilith! Everything's all right now! Pommy and Bomberman"—he hastily corrected himself when he saw Bomberman towering over him—"are here!"
Lilith scrunched her face up and slowly lifted the back of her hand to place over her eyes. She yawned. "Wh-what the hell is going on...?" she muttered, sitting up.
"Long story." Bomberman extended a slightly trembling hand. "Need some help?"
With a tired smile, Lilith took Bomberman's hand.
It was then that Bomberman noticed how cute Lilith's smile was and how soft her skin felt.
He suddenly lost his grip on Lilith's fingers.
WHUMP!
"Ack!" Lilith fell onto her back.
Bomberman went bright red. Way to go, hero. "S-sorry," he stammered, wiping his clammy hands on his jeans. "Butterfingers, I guess?"
Lilith laughed, though she winced when she sat up again. "We all have them, at some point or another," she said. She reached around to rub her back; Pommy was suspiciously quick to aid her in this motion.
Bomberman took out his annoyance on the Gravity Generator.
As the remains of the generator sent feeble smoke signals of surrender into the air, Lilith said, "I take it from the fact that you're here that you defeated Ashtarth."
Bomberman nodded, not noticing how Lilith suddenly seemed to know who Ashtarth was. "He had an Elemental Stone on him, in case you were wondering."
"As expected. Might I have a look at it?"
"Er...there's a bit of a problem."
A confused pause. "What's that?"
"The Stones, they...um...seem to have gone inside me?"
Prompted by Lilith's confused expression, Bomberman tried his best to explain, as concisely and clearly as possible, his experiences with seeing the Stones melt into his hand, and not seeing them again until after he had recovered from the fight with Ashtarth, where the Stones may have helped him, and then how he had absorbed them again a little while afterwards.
Lilith wrinkled her brow. "That's odd," she said. "I haven't heard of anything like that before." She gave Bomberman a quick look-over. "It doesn't seem to be doing you any harm right now, though, and it does make them harder to steal from you, at least."
"Agreed." Bomberman and Lilith had a laugh at this for a moment. He continued, "Can I ask how the Astral Knights ended up with these things in the first place, though? I mean, the Stones aren't exactly sold wholesale at the corner supermarket."
"You ready for a bit of a fairy tale?"
"Ooh!" Pommy jumped up and down. "Pommy loves fairy tales!"
"Go for it," Bomberman said. "I was sucked into a black hole and managed to survive. I'm pretty sure I can believe more impossible things at this point."
Lilith giggled softly. "The Astral Knights used to be the Elemental Knights, seven demigods and demigoddesses who were sworn to protect the Elemental Stones and, consequently, this entire universe."
Pommy's eyes went wide. "What? The Astral Knights used to be good guys?"
Bomberman was also surprised, though for a different reason. "The elemental spirits aren't just myths—they're actually real?"
"Yes...and yes," Lilith answered. She raised an eyebrow in Bomberman's direction. "You've heard of them, too?"
"I've begun to think that I have, though it's probably different from how you know them. We do have a legend back home about three elemental gods who recruited from among the newly created bomber race for their wars against each other, giving their bombers with the elemental power: fire, water, or lightning. But then the spirits decided that seriously fighting things out wasn't as much fun as they thought, and so they simply decided to encourage their bombers to continue the wars that they started, testing out various theories each spirit had about the nature of these particular people and essentially making a game out of the bombers' suffering. Long story short, the warriors of the fire god Belpheli—that is, the pyrotechnics—eventually won out, and that's why they're the dominant bomber type on Bomber Star. We were given the Fire Stone as a symbol of Belpheli's favor, to protect from evil and to use against it as needed. Or, you know, to use against the rest of the bomber race to dominate them."
Lilith let out a startled laugh. "Your mythology is...rather cynically violent."
Bomberman shrugged. "That's actually my personal interpretation of things—I never really bought much into the original version, and I wasn't raised in the path that would require belief in the spirits' inherent benevolence," he admitted. "I guess that's why I never made an initial connection between Baelfael and Belpheli or anything like that. It was all just stories to me."
"Not that the knights would necessarily be recognizable to their followers in their current forms." Lilith's voice dropped from cheerfully exhausted to just plain weary. "They've been corrupted, all of them, and they're being used in the plans of the BHB Army leader, Rukifellth, as his pawns in dominating as much of this existence as he's allowed to."
"Myuuu..." Pommy tapped his foot on the ground, appearing to think things over. "The knights are really strong—we could really use their help! Is there any way to get them back to the way they were?"
Bomberman again remembered Ashtarth's hesitation in the crypts and Behemos' unintentional display of affection for seemingly-forgotten baby sister Moira.
Lilith's shoulders slumped for the shortest of moments. "I thought...there was..." she murmured. Her lips pressed into a resigned line. "But it would seem that only brute force can stop them now. All or nothing: that's what this has come to." She smiled sadly at Bomberman. "But you seem to know that a little too well already, don't you?"
Surprised by this sudden bit of sympathy from Lilith, Bomberman managed a nod.
"Still...I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to take off on me now and hide out somewhere," Lilith said. "Things have been crappy up until now, and they're not going to get any better. So you have my full permission—and blessing, for whatever that might be worth—to drop everything on me right here and now."
"Not gonna happen," Bomberman said, amused and touched by the offer. "You yourself said the BHB Army had me in my sights, remember? I doubt that there's anywhere I can really hide from them in this black hole. I'm already far too deep in this mess to pull myself out."
"Oh, fine, if you say so. But just be careful, okay?" Lilith suddenly rummaged around in her pockets. "Oh, and I meant to give you this earlier. I bought it cheap off a kiosk on a merchant ship nearby." She handed Bomberman a sleek black communicator. "If you ever need me, go ahead and beep me. Though depending on what I'm doing, you might just get my voice mail. But don't hesitate to leave a message, all right?"
Bomberman stared in wonder at the communicator, trying to find words for the sentiments that this gift stirred in him. The possibilities that had suddenly been dumped on him as a result of this were dangerous with a capital D. "L-Lilith! You didn't have to...I mean, why d-did you..." He swallowed. "I'll...pay you back as soon as I get some cash."
"Pfft!" Lilith waved him off. "It's no big deal. Besides, with the both of us fighting against the BHB Army, I figured that it would be good for the both of us to keep in touch. Doing things mostly solo reduced the amount of casualties, but it's been hard as hell, let me tell you."
Bomberman was about to ask Lilith how long she had been at odds with the BHB Army when he spotted Draegaria approaching him. He quickly turned and bowed. "How are things going, your Majesty?" he asked.
"Procne's victims are weak and disoriented, but they shall be fine with some rest," Draegaria said. "As for Procne herself, well...I can't really say too much at this point, seeing as there has been no precedent for this sort of thing as far as I can remember. If I had to conjecture, I would say that, as soon as we released the glyph's power on her, Procne retreated to Cielahem to recuperate from the strain." She sighed. "I suppose we shall know as soon as we get a new Channeler." She eyed Lilith. "Your lady friend—Lilith, was it?—appears to be doing quite well."
Lilith curtsied. "I am, thank you."
"I know that these have been trying times for the both of you, but could I possibly ask you to stay a while longer in Philomel while I determine suitable rewards for your help?"
"You needn't find anything for me, your Majesty," Lilith interjected. "It was a little hard to help out, what with snoozing in a different dimension for most part of the action."
"At least allow me to show my appreciation for choosing to risk your life for the tribe." Draegaria turned to Bomberman. "And you, fledgling, must be richly compensated for the wounds you have suffered and the role you played in resolving these events."
It was rather funny, Bomberman thought, that he used to be able to demand the biggest reward possible without any shame whatsoever as to the nature of his requests. That was when he was still a naive recruit to the ranks of Bomber Base, of course. Adolescent stupidity went a long way. "I don't really need anything," he insisted, "but I'll be thankful for anything you decide on. I just ask that you don't make too much of a big deal about it."
"Rewarding the outsider who almost single-handedly saved Philomel is hardly a trivial matter," Draegaria said, chuckling softly. "Nevertheless, I shall try to honor your request, and keep your reward as simple and un-lavish as possible. When we return to the palace, I shall have Yedari show you and Lilith up to the guest room once more to rest up for the night."