Chapter 19

His Wand

Luea

Erin turned towards me. I felt his gaze and the hatred it carried. He vanished. "Look who decided to show up." His voice hadn't changed, yet its tone was more demented than ever. "That clever trick that old witch played on me with that love potion may have melted my skin off, but the darkness that I formed from revitalized me in no time." He was face to face with me now. There were no eyes in his eye sockets. "I wish your eyes were just like mine, nothingness. It would suit you well, Luea." He backed up a bit. "I guess I should tell you why I'm here." He paused. "Have you heard of the Jewel Stick?" He laughed. "Of course you haven't! This knowledge is hidden from jewelpets nowadays." No matter how uncomfortable I was, I held back my expressions and kept my face blank. "You still think you can stand against me, don't you? Well, you can't!" He spat. I didn't respond. "You must be scared stiff. Yeah, that's it!" He mused. "Where was I… Oh yes, the Jewel Stick is an ancient relic of this land's past. If I had come to be that long ago, I would've destroyed it without second thought!" He shrugged and shook his head. "Thanks to the bond of a human and jewelpet, that wand took in the feelings spread across the memories of those two and birthed them into a jewelpet of immense power, the jewelpet of emotion." Erin moved his hands as if he were strangling something. "My ultimate enemy! Everyone in this time believes him to be dead, but much to my own dismay, he has lived on as a part of this very world we stand in." He tapped his foot impatiently, wanting me to respond. "You must be thinking, 'how could you be so sure?', right? Well… I am one of his accidental creations. The gathering of a mass of negative emotions so large that it gained sentience! I literally am pure evil. Imagine how it feels to be brought to life as a shadow of what the world shuns!" He grimaced. "If I can destroy that wand, a fragment of my creator will have ceased to be and he will finally begin to die! Once he is out of the picture, my meaningless existence will end." His grimace turned to a frown. "However, I cannot enter that damn temple. It is protected by powerful magic." I messed up. I felt a look of relief settle on my face. "Wow, you moved. What's this? Relief!" He laughed so loud it hurt my ears. "I have a way around that, you know." He approached me and lowered his voice to a whisper. "That would be you. Don't struggle. Only you can see and hear me Luea, but I know you already figured that part out. And now, you will be lending me your body for a bit." Everything went black.

Korun

We decided to walk after getting close to the temple since our magical creations were struggling to work. The walk would have been silent if the crunch of snow under our feet didn't sound with each step. I felt Luea's head rest against my arm as I carried her. She must have fallen asleep… odd. I unzipped my jacket and put her inside, so she could stay warm. I looked forward and saw the grand doors of the temple swinging open. In the entrance stood Sapphie waving to us happily. Beside her stood that Granite fellow who was commanding the doors to open using magic. Everyone quickened their pace until we made it inside the mysterious structure.

"I'm glad to see that everyone is alright." Sapphie greeted us with open arms. She motioned towards Granite. "That kind jewelpet found me lying in the snow and carried me here."

I looked Granite in the eyes. "Thanks Granite."

"No need to thank me, Korun. We are of the same kind Sapphie and I. I was simply bound by the duty I serve for my kind." He stated.

"Ahem." Sapphie cleared her throat. "I've already explained our situation to him. He seems to know the way to that fissure you're looking for, Korun."

I nodded and looked about the room we all found ourselves in. Carvings could be seen on the walls and near the back of the room stood an altar. Besides those two defining features, the single room that made up the temple was fairly empty. I assumed the altar was where I would find what I came for, but I saw no saw no reason to rush. After what had happened in the past undefinable amount of time, I figured it would be best for everyone to have a break.

"Doesn't it get lonely here?" Garnet asked.

"I'd say yes, but there were other visitors a while before you came. I can't say how long ago because time seems to all blend together when you stay in one place for so long. It was a group of three jewelpets."

Sapphie piped up. "A japanese hare, munchkin cat, and a winged unicorn?"

Granite nodded. "Precisely." Garnet and Sapphie exchanged hopeful glances.

I walked over to Larimar, Anna, and my mother and brought Luea out of my jacket. "Mom, can you check if anything is wrong with Luea?"

"What seems to be the problem?" She asked.

"She fell asleep." I stated.

Larimar sighed, "Korun, let her sleep. She must be tired." I placed Luea down and my mother came over to examine her wellbeing. "Are you guys listening?" Larimar sounded annoyed.

"Larimar, we cannot possibly feel tired when time is frozen in this world." Rejuvenation responded. "Have you realized that you haven't felt hungry or tired one bit even though years have passed."

"I admit, that never really came to mind." Larimar walked beside Luea. "This could spell trouble. Let me handle it." She sounded worried. Larimar got on her knees and extended her open paws in Luea's direction. Her eyes began to glimmer. "Return to peace. May your affliction be healed." Magic spiraled around Luea's body and her eyes began to open.

"I've never seen magic like that." Rejuvenation stated.

Anna spoke up, "That's the innate magic of her jewel." She wore a confident smile.

Luea sat up, but she was shivering violently. "What's wrong?" I asked. She didn't respond. I looked into her eyes, but I was unable to see what she was feeling. It felt like something was preventing me from seeing her emotions. I looked at Rejuvenation and pointed at my eyes then at Luea. She caught on.

She walked around Luea and looked at her eyes. "An evil being has infiltrated this temple..." She paused. She started yelling, "Granite, something evil is..." A dark aura emanated from her for a split second and she fell to the ground. We were under attack by an invisible enemy. Everyone jumped up and backed away.

Granite ran over and looked around. His eyes fixated a few feet from where my mother now laid. "An entity of darkness. You have no place in this in this shrine of light." He waved his hand which sent forth a wave of magic. A figure was revealed when the magic passed over it. It was… Erin. The guy who tried to get rid of me once already.

Erin snapped and lightning struck near Granite. "Give me the wand!" He commanded. He wore an evil grin. "I won't be nice enough to miss purposefully if you don't cooperate."

"I will not follow your orders." Granite replied calmly. A dagger made of magic appeared from nowhere and impaled Erin. The magic was consumed by his form. I started moving slowly towards the altar at the back of the room.

Erin laughed, "Did you really think that measly magic such as that would work on me?" He thrust his right hand forward and a stream of flames flew towards Sapphie and Garnet! When the flames subsided, my dad stood with his arms out conjuring a protective barrier. I was only a few feet from the altar. "Impressive moves you got for being human." He eyed my father. He turned his attention back to Granite. "I'll make you a deal. Hand over the wand you are guarding and I'll leave this bunny unharmed." He picked up Luea. "You see, this one has their mind under my influence, so she can't fight back." I had made it to the altar, but I had no clue how to make the wand come forth from it. I figured I could use the wand to stop Erin, but I was out of time. I thought back to how the darkness he casted on Garnet long before this had vanished when I took it into my body. That same power had guided me to this tundra. Deep down, I felt a sense of control in those situations like my will bent the dark magic. If Erin was really an entity of that darkness, then I might be able to bend him to my will! I focused on him and began to form commands in my mind. He froze in place. "What is this?!" Erin looked to be attempting to make his limbs move. The more I tried to command his being the more empty I felt. I managed to get him to put down Luea and step away. I felt a surge of pain in one of my eyes, but I kept going. I gathered my magic power in front of me attempting to concentrate it into an all out attack. As if it accepted the magic I was giving off, the altar began to glow an array of different colors. The top of the altar looked to have turned to water as something emerged from it, the wand.

Granite yelled to me. "Korun, that's the Wand of Emotion! Use it!"

I grabbed the wand and as if by instinct I pointed it towards Erin and chanted. "From the depths of my heart I call forth the power of emotions." The jewel charm I had been keeping on me flew out of my pocket and hovered above the wand. "Oh feelings of love blossom and come to form!" A brilliant beam of light shot from the wand and struck Erin.

"This magic… But how!?" Erin exclaimed as his form was encased with the light of my spell and disappeared. He was gone and this time I'm sure he wouldn't haunt Luea anymore.

The pain coming from my eye grew stronger, but the feeling of emptiness had subsided. The Wand of Emotion disappeared from my hand leaving behind two… keys? The jewel charm that assisted me in casting that spell floated down into my other hand. I walked back over to the others. Larimar was tending to Luea, Rejuvenation, and Granite. I sat against the wall next to Anna. She looked at me and all I heard was a fearful gasp.