Chapter 2

"Imposter"

"Have a nice rest everyone, this is where you'll be staying by Miss Amelia's request." Amelia's servant Thrann guided the Warriors to the guest quarters, a small structure just a few buildings away from Amelia's Shrine, "You can take two separate rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls. If there is anything you might need, don't hesitate to ask the city guards, I'll come to your aid. Now if you'll excuse me…" Thrann bowed politely and started leaving, when Trey interrupted him, requiring information.

"I'm sorry… That woman, Amelia… Could you tell us something more about her?" the gang shared cautious looks, as Thrann cleared his throat a bit nervously.

"Whatever do you mean?" Thrann flashed a feeble grin.

"Is she doing a good job running this city?" Trey continued the questioning.

"Why yes, of course!" Thrann sweated a bit, "The Mistress is…a bit strict at times, but…I suppose that can't be helped, running an entire city by herself…" the gang noticed Thrann talking about her with apparent fear, but he was trying hard to hide it, "We're all grateful to her for all she has done for us!" he raised his voice a little, showing respect, "Now please excuse me, I must be going." he rushed out of the guest quarters.

"Faithful to the very end, eh." Max noted, jokingly.

"I don't think even the very townspeople she leads think she's all that perfect." Trey pondered.

"Well at least they're givin' us a warm treatment." Kelly narrowed a brow, "Wonder how long that'll last…"

"Friendly or not, I still don't like it." Hy worried.

"They obviously have skeletons in their closets. Or at the very least, some crystals." Max said, "How are we possibly gonna find it when they all have their fat noses pointed directly at us? Did ya see the way everyone looked at us when we first showed up here? Like we were being sent to the bonfire."

Trey thought deeply, working up a sturdy strategy.

"Hey Brainstorm, any bright ideas?" Max teased Trey.

"Barely…" Trey admitted, looking at Amy, "So you said that Amelia woman is a goddess?"

"I… I don't know… I don't think she is, but…there is something overwhelming about her… A power… It's not within normal parameters."

Trey hummed.

"But what does that mean? If she's not a God, then…" Max started.

"…An imposter posing as one?" Hy finished.

"Where are her powers comin' from, then?" Kelly asked.

"Good question." Trey said, "How do we find out more about her without raising suspicion…?"

"Man, where the hell is grandpa when you actually need him…" Max sighed in an annoyed tone.

"Yeah I know… I guess we'll just have to do this without his help for once." Trey frowned, "But what about the crystal… The map doesn't show its pinpoint location, just the area it's in…"

Kelly jumped. "I'll go look for it!"

"Whoa, how do you possibly plan on doing that without failing?" Max teased her.

"Aww dun worry 'bout lil' ol' me, Maxie!" she hugged him tight, "If I just think about comin' back ta see ya, there's nothin' I won't find with ease!"

Max grunted. "Ugh… I shoulda just shut my trap."

"Where do you plan on starting?" Trey asked Kelly.

"Whaddaya think? Amelia's Shrine, of course…"

"You think the crystal is there?" Trey asked her again.

"Trust me. She's keepin' a watchful eye on it probably right as we speak. I'll just sneak into the place at night."

"I'm not too sure about the idea…" Trey warned her.

"Ahh dun worry 'bout me, I'll be fine. Ya guys just get some sleep, I'll do the bustin'." she laughed confidently.

"Well if you say so… Be careful in there. If you run into that crazy woman…I don't wanna begin to think what she might be capable of."

"I'm not exactly defenseless, heh." Kelly kept bursting with confidence, grabbing her trusty halberd and stomping it proudly on the ground.

"Please…" Amy started, taking her necklace off, passing it to Kelly, "Take my amulet… You should use it to move around the Shrine more easily. Use its power for whatever you may need."

"Hey thanks." Kelly took the amulet, putting it around her neck, "Hope I'll know how ta use it."

"It will channel your strength into its use. Whatever you wish for, it will do. The effect won't last forever, though. Use it with caution…" Amy advised her further.

"Got it. Nifty lil' toy ya got!" she chuckled jokingly as she ran out of the guest quarters, "I'll go look around some before nightfall. Later!"

"Gee, ain't she the perfect heroine… What got into her?" Max discussed Kelly's strangely enthusiastic behavior.

"I've no idea…" Trey shrugged in wonder, "But come to think of it, she might be the perfect person to find the water crystal with the powers she has!" Trey smiled.

"…Or we might be wrong and the powers of the crystal can be used against her… Like with Amy." Hy warned, resulting in an eerie feeling filling up the room along with silence.

Amy narrowed her eyes in sadness and worry, grasping a piece of her clothing which covered her heart. "Is it possible that she could be…the one that…? I wish you could help me now, Father…" she thought deeply.

xxx

The evening came a few hours later. Kelly had used this time to try and gain some information about the history of the city and its unusual settlement and happenings. The people were showing maximum conservative behavior and Kelly realized they would never share anything with her no matter how hard she kept trying. Eventually, she gave up and attempted to lay low until night fell, when she would hide away from others' sight and lie in wait for the streets to become empty. As the guards stationed in front of the Shrine began their shifts, Kelly used this opportunity to keep to the shadows and the walls and sneak inside. It seemed too easy, for it appeared as though the security in the city was generally low since no one dared to oppose Mistress Amelia and her leadership. Once inside, Kelly found the place without any guards, completely unprotected. She had a strange feeling, yet she neglected it and smirked as she roamed around the Shrine freely. She found herself in the same chamber the Warriors were greeted in by Amelia earlier that day. She looked at the other side of the room and noticed the huge door Amelia had passed through earlier to get into the audience chamber was shut tight. She grasped Amy's amulet around her neck.

"Hmm… I wonder just how useful this trinket really is…" she whispered to herself, "It came from another freakin' planet, so it must be bustin' with power, heh." she ran quietly up the stairs to the giant door.

She raised the necklace towards the door and waited a couple of seconds. She raised an eyebrow. "Uhh… Open Sesame? …Now what?"

At that moment the amulet glowed and the gate started shaking. Kelly jumped a bit, but recovered as the gate fully opened with a slight banging noise.

"Not exactly what ya'd call stealthy infiltration, Kelly ol' gal…" she scolded herself for making such a racket, but ran into the following chamber nonetheless.

A lengthy, narrow, dark, empty corridor stretched out from the door into the following room. The room was huge, bright and with completely gold walls all around. But it was empty for some reason. It looked almost festive, but that obviously wasn't the case, being only decorated to resemble such. Kelly made a disappointed and astonished face.

"What the… That's it? That's her dark secret, a stupid empty hallway? I was expectin' a torture room with skeletons hangin' chained from the walls or somethin'! What a waste of time gettin' all this far." she sighed and hung her head in disappointment.

"I wouldn't really say it was a complete waste of time, my dear…" Amelia's voice startled Kelly from behind as she immediately spun around, a shocked expression washing over her face.

Amelia swiftly raised one hand just up to Kelly's face, her figure appearing demonic and her voice shifting into a sadistic one. "Then again you and your little friends wasted far too much time into disrupting my paradise with your presence!"

A flame started circling around Amelia's hand as Kelly screamed with all her might.

xxx

The following morning, Trey woke up in the guest quarters and after yawning, stretching and dressing up while noticing Max and Hy were still sound asleep, he walked out of the boys' room and knocked on the girls' room just next door. A second later, Amy opened the door, already dressed.

"Oh…already up?" Trey smiled at her, to which she politely nodded, "Is Kelly awake? I guess she didn't want to bother us with information on the crystal while we were sleeping…"

"She's not in here…so I'm not certain." Amy explained, after getting a quick reassuring look around her room.

"Really? Well did she even come back after her exploration last night?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know. I was sleeping this entire time…" she suddenly yawned.

"Yeah, I know… We all crashed like dead last night, too. Not even a parade marching through the hall could've woken us up…" he rubbed sand out of his eyes, "But that's weird, where could Kelly be, then? You think she got up before all of us and went to have breakfast by herself or something?"

"Wouldn't she have woken us up first, though…?" Amy puzzled.

"I know, it's weird… I hope she went through tonight's infiltration alright…" he walked back to the boys' room, turning his head to Amy once more, "Come on, let's go get something to eat. And hope the townspeople don't give us the silent treatment again… Kelly should turn up around eventually."

A few moments later, the gang headed out of their quarters and to the nearest dining place.

"Man, these were definitely the best guest quarters we've had to stay in so far… I slept like slain!" Max stretched out with all his might.

"Tell me about it…" Trey agreed, "Some fancy place they got in this town. But it looks like Kelly either didn't come back last night or headed out early without us this morning. You guys heard anything while you were sleeping?"

"No, sorry. Where could she be?" Hy asked.

"Ehh, we could do without that annoying pesterer for a while…" Max felt relieved in a sarcastic tone.

"Cut it out, Max. Your new girlfriend or not, she's a valuable member of our team." Trey teased him a little.

"Yeah, fine… And HEY! She is NOT my girlfriend, so shut up!" Max kicked Trey lightly in the back of his leg, to which Trey quietly chuckled.

"Why don't we ask some of the people around if anyone has seen her?" Hy concluded.

"You really think they'd be willing to share anything with us after just a day being here?" Max realized.

"Yeah probably not…" Trey thought, "We need to find her either way. And try not to raise too much suspicion around…"

"Well that's gonna be fun. I don't like spending any more time in this city fearing they might throw us on a bonfire, and now we need to find that reckless brat…" Max sighed as the group entered a restaurant, sitting down at a table.

Shortly after, they ordered their meals and began having breakfast, all while avoiding strange glares and stares directed towards them from the rest of the people in the restaurant. At that moment two men entered the restaurant and sat at the bar, chattering.

"Can you believe those weird guys that showed up here yesterday?" the men talked quietly, but loud enough for the gang to hear them from the nearby table.

The gang stopped eating for a second and, trying not to raise too much suspicion by acting like they were paying full attention to the men talking, they glanced over their shoulders and directed all senses to the conversation. The chatter went on.

"Yeah who the heck are they supposed to be, anyways?" the other man said, all the while not noticing the gang was sitting at the table just next to them, "And where did they come from? I thought Mistress Amelia shielded us from everything that could come from the outside and provided everything we need to live right here."

"Well yeah but…I guess the crystal isn't all that dependant or something." that sentence caused sharp stares between each other in the gang.

"They're aware of the crystal's location…" Max whispered to the rest of the group.

"Looks like it…" Trey hummed, "They're hiding far too many things in this little town."

The conversation continued. "What does the Mistress plan on doing now that the city's been discovered and breached?"

"No idea. I hope it's not a bad sign of more people storming in and doing what they want with the city… If that crystal gets stolen, what's gonna happen to the town? It provides us with all that water… We would probably not survive."

"…Water?" Amy asked the others, to which they cautiously nodded, realizing the water crystal is the one hidden in Aruna.

"I don't even wanna begin to think about that…" they talked on.

"Well, maybe the Mistress can get to the bottom of all this eventually… I mean didn't she catch one of them lurking around the place just a while ago?"

The gang all jumped in surprise.

"Oh yeah that's right… What was that crazy girl doing?"

"Beats me… What do you think the Mistress is going to do to her?"

"Dunno… I think I heard something having to do with the crystal… I really haven't a clue. Something was supposed to start at the town square just about now."

The Warriors all threw away everything they were doing and eating at that time and rushed out of the restaurant, drawing worried and frightened looks from the rest of the townsfolk inside. The two men shared guilty looks, as if they realized that what they talked about should never have happened.

The gang ran to Amelia's Shrine at the town square and saw a larger group of people all gathered around something. They tried to break through the crowd and saw Kelly kneeling down on the ground, barely conscious, tight ropes binding her hands held behind her back. Amelia stood behind her in front of her Shrine, an evil smirk on her face.

"Kelly! What have you done to her, witch?" Trey shouted, drawing his sword prepared to battle if necessary.

The others prepared their weapons as well, as the townsfolk gasped loudly and walked back to avoid any unpleasant contact between Amelia and the Warriors, chattering between each other in frightened tones. The gang growled at Amelia, to which she calmly laughed. She threw Amy's necklace that she had previously removed from Kelly's possession and Amy caught it, gazing at it quizzically for a moment, and then putting it back to its rightful place around her neck. She raised her view towards Amelia again with an angered gaze.

"I don't like the fact that you just calmly infiltrated my city without ever thinking I would discover your little plans, and now to make things even more interesting, this peasant girl had the nerve to try and break into my Shrine. You dare defy me? I am a Goddess! I have the power to end your miserable lives, do you not realize that?" she became furious, as she held her arms sideways, flames circling around her hands.

"…You? You are not a Goddess!" Amy stepped forth, opposing the imposturous Amelia, whose face frowned angrily, "How can you lie to these innocent people so much? You're just an enraged Empress who failed to overthrow my father from his throne!" Amelia narrowed her eyes and hummed sharply, smirking lightly as both the townsfolk and the Warriors shared puzzled stares, "At first I wasn't certain, but I know you realize who I am from that power in you… You're the same wicked demon now as you ever were before. After my father exiled you from our kingdom, I could never think you would flee here and try to establish another empire you would control, failing to control Scorch. Do you truly believe these people enjoy worshiping your lying and selfish self? They just fear you for your power. There is no respect or love for you."

"Enough, foolish girl! Your father got rid of me only because the people stood beside him, for he was too weak to do it himself! Your world will fall soon enough with him on the throne, how can't you see? I should have been the one to hold the army forces in my hands, and that monstrous Notus never would have gone as far as he has destroying your precious world! Tell me my dear, did your father pay a price high enough for all the lost lives and destroyed land in the war against Notus?" she smirked evilly again.

Amy gritted her teeth. "My father is the most loving and most kind ruler there is! He cares dearly for all those around him! Could you say the same for you? Would you even shed a tear if someone dear to you died in that war? All you want is power and control. You couldn't possibly care about anything else. That's the same thing you're doing in this city, to these poor unsuspecting people. How much longer do you plan on lying to them and posing as a false God?"

"Impudent wretch! My powers are far greater than you can imagine, pampered princess! While your father wasted all his strength training the weakling soldiers of Scorch and raising you, I created this beautiful utopian city and shielded it from all of Notus' corruption and darkness. All of its citizens had no home or lives before I found them wandering around the desert and took them under my wing, because only I had the power for something at such a grand scale. I AM the Goddess of this land, and you are no longer welcome! I shall be rid of your filth in my new empire and everyone else who dares defy my golden rule!" flames circled around her entire body as she raged with all her might at the princess of the world that had banished her long ago.

"Don't you see what you're doing here? You're only spreading more fear and distrust among these people." Hy tried to explain to her, pointing at the cowering people standing around, judgmentally gazing upon Amelia, "Your control is fading. And your supposed power is losing its purpose." Amelia slowly calmed down and the flames surrounding her faded out eventually while she glanced upon the citizens, realizing Hy's words might have meaning.

Amelia closed her eyes and lowered her head, humming quietly. "I guess it can't be helped…" she whispered to herself, then quickly raised her view to Amy once more, smirking devilishly, "Do you really believe your power is greater than mine, child?" she laughed evilly, "Let's settle this dispute and see if you truly are what your precious world can call its princess… Follow me to my chambers and dare test your strength against mine." she challenged Amy as a twister of fire circled around her entire body and exploded when she faded into the air.

"For all you've done to my world and my people, I will finish this here and now." Amy boomed with determination and started walking to the Shrine, but Trey stopped her.

"I can't let you face that monster alone, I'm going with you." Trey explained to her, "Max, Hy, stay here and keep an eye on Kelly. Don't let anything happen to her."

"Got it." the boys both nodded in agreement, still armed with their weapons and a cautious eye on Amelia's guards.

The guards stationed at the entrance to Amelia's Shrine stepped sideways to allow passage to Trey and Amy who swiftly ran inside. Max and Hy attempted to run towards Kelly tied up near the Shrine's entrance but a guard pointed his sword at them, stopping them from coming any closer as they growled at him. The townspeople chattered frantically.

"What will happen to us now that the Mistress has been agitated…?" a man from the crowd cautiously asked.

"Will we be alright in the end…?" a frightened woman questioned.

"Don't be alarmed, people." Hy attempted to calm them down, "You'll be in safe hands. This is our job."

"Fancy words, Mr. Cool…" Max whispered to Hy, "You absolutely sure Amy can beat that freak Amelia?"

Hy glanced over at him as he glanced back, not saying a word.