The Fate of the First Hero of Light
Zelda stares blankly outside of the Royal castle's tower.
She sees the daily funeral parade the Knights hold.
Again Geir is in the front being helped along by Estonix.
Tears are flowing down his cheeks.
The other Knights follow them wearing their mourning cloaks.
They pass by the small cross they had made in the ground close to the castles main gate.
Again Geir falls on his knees reaching towards the cross as if to grab a fallen persons hand.
Zelda rolls her eyes and turns around.
She walks toward the throne room.
"YOUR MAJESTY SOMETHING MUST BE DONE! WE CANNOT CONTINUE IN THIS FASHION!"
"Sir Hunfrey you are correct. Every night I remove the crosses from that spot, but when the sun rises a new one has been planted!"
The Knight's stone face sheds two tears.
Zelda seeing this screams inside of her head.
"IS HE ALSO INSANE?!"
"SIR HUNFREY WHAT IS THE MATTER!?"
"FORGIVE ME YOUR MAJESTY! I WAS JUST TOUCHED BY YOUR DEVOTION TO THE NATION. THAT YOU WOULD TAKE IT UPON YOURSELF TO RID US OF THIS EVIL!"
"EVIL!?"
"Yes, Your Highness this land has been corrupted by the pokenom curse!" says the Fire Mage.
"Please Sir Izdryn I do not want any more foolishness. Least of all from my closest allies."
"Your Highness forgive my rudeness, but these cards are cursed."
"CURSED MY FRIEND!?" speaks the surprised Knight.
"Sir Izdryn please explain!" screams Zelda.
The Fire Mage produces a stack of pokenom playing cards.
He takes one and turns it to the sun.
"Your Highness please come look at this card."
Zelda moves to study the card.
"Why is this card like this? In the suns rays it is almost completely translucent. There are patterns similar to spiderwebs?"
"Please Your Highness study them closer."
Zelda takes the card she holds it almost upon her face.
"THESE ARE MAGICAL GLYPHS!?"
"Yes, Your Highness I have confirmed with my clans mages these are indeed cursed cards."
"MY FRIEND WHY DID YOU NOT TELL HER MAJESTY IMMEDIATELY?"
"Sir Hunfrey I had to be sure. Before I could disclose this."
"..."
"Sir Izdryn what do you think this means?" asks Zelda.
"These cards were fabricated in someway to be able to manipulate many people."
"IS SUCH A THING POSSIBLE!"
"It is just a speculation I have. Would you care to hear it?"
"Please Sir Izdryn explain."
Many speculating times pass.
"So you believe these cards to part of a greater plot?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Do you have any ideas to what it could be Sir Izdryn?"
"No, Your Highness but I only know those that have been corrupted by this curse cannot be trusted."
"MY FRIEND!?" the Knight proclaims out in shock.
Zelda is thinking deeply.
"Yes, Sir Izdryn you are correct."
"BUT YOUR MAJESTY THESE MEN ARE OUR ALLIES!"
"Men? Sir Izdryn do you know how many of our forces have been corrupted by this evil?" asks Zelda.
"I do not know. I will investigate immediately. Sir Hunfrey please let us leave."
"YES, MY FRIEND! YOUR MAJESTY BEFORE THE DAY IS DONE WE WILL KNOW THE TRUE SCALE OF THIS EVIL!"
"Thank you, Sir Izdryn, Sir Hunfrey please make haste."
"Yes!"
"AT ONCE!"
The Knight and Fire Mage leave.
Zelda sits down on her throne.
It is exceptionally quiet and still.
"All those fools having their funeral parade has left the castle empty."
Zelda stands up she will take a stroll through the castle.
Zelda sees Edith, the head of the maids, carrying a large brown sack.
"Edith what are you doing?" asks Zelda.
"Your Majesty I found these trivialities in your room. I am going to discard them."
Zelda looks inside the bag mountains upon mountains of pokenom cards.
These were the ones the "fallen" Knights had given her in the liberation of the Kingdom of Bethen to "protect" her.
These cards are dangerous I must not let them fall into the wrong hands!
"Your Majesty have you also been corrupted by Geir's pokenom madness?"
"WHAT? Edith could you read my mind?"
"No, you were talking aloud again Your Highness."
Zelda clears her throat loudly.
"Yes, I see. Edith what did you mean by Geir's pokenom madness?"
"Your Majesty I have known Geir since he was but still a babe. He would always save every rupee he had. But one day he was given a pack of these pokenom cards by a stranger. From that day forward he had changed any money he did not save for a necessity, he would spend on these frivolous cards."
"EXCUSE ME!? A STRANGER? He did not purchase them for himself?"
"No, Your Majesty I remember it clearly when Geir came back with them. He would stare at the pack as if it was a dangerous beast waiting to attack him. Only after many days did he finally open it. It was ever since that day..."
Edith starts crying fiercely.
"EDITH WHAT IS THE MATTER?!"
"I had to suffer through his many lectures he had given to each and every single person who had displayed even the slightest of interest in these accursed cards. I know each and every rule of this dubious game."
"Dubious? Edith what do you mean?"
"Your Highness these cards are manufactured in such a fashion that they are made for only one reason!"
"One reason?"
Zelda feels she is going to find out a terrible truth.
"Please Edith what is this reason?"
"Your Majesty it is to extract as much riches as possible out of the fools, who fall prey to this game."
"Riches?!"
"Yes, unlike other amusements this game can only be enjoyed by spending more and more money."
"How does this differ from other games?"
"In normal amusements the pieces are limited and the numbers set."
"What do you mean Edith?"
"There are 52 cards in a set of decks. The pieces on a board game are fixed their numbers cannot be altered. This pokenom game constantly adds new cards. Those with limited funds will never be true champions."
Zelda understands instantly.
She thinks back to the Kingdom of Bethens citizens.
Who were held captive in their game of misery.
"Edith do you know of something else odd about these cards?"
"Your Majesty?"
"Anything that you find odd about them. Anything at all."
"There is one thing. Geir has told me many times he can tell cards that are reproductions from the real ones only by touching them."
"It must be the magical energies inside of them." Zelda thinks to herself.
"Edith please return those cards to my room. I need to study them closer."
Fierce tears roll down Edith's eyes.
"NO, GEIR YOU HAVE EVEN CORRUPTED THE QUEEN WITH YOUR POKENOM MADNESS!"
Edith puts her hands to her face, she runs away down the hallway.
"WAIT! EDITH! IT IS NOT LIKE THAT!"
Edith disappears only her fallen tears remain behind.
Zelda stares at the large grain sack full of cards.
"I will take them back."
Zelda takes the sack's noose casually, she goes to lift it.
"UGH?"
The bag does not move an instance.
"How can they weigh so much?"
Zelda pulls with all her might.
RRRIIIPPPP
Cards lay everywhere.
"This the absolute worst! What am I going to do now?"
Zelda takes one of the cards and studies it closer.
"This is ridiculous!"
Zelda giggles at the silly illustration.
She takes another one she giggles again.
"These designs are quite appealing..."
Zelda starts sorting the cards by numbers.
Then separating them into the different elements.
Many moments pass.
Zelda is sitting in the middle of rows upon rows of perfectly stacked pokenom cards.
Zelda finds she feels an odd sense of tranquility sorting these mountains upon mountains of pokenom cards.
"YOUR MAJESTY WE HAVE RETURNED!"
Zelda jumps up and assumes a defensive stance.
"HISSSSSSSSS! YOU CANNOT HAVE MY POKENOMS!"
Screams Zelda while moving to protect her "treasures".
"YOUR MAJESTY?! WHAT IS THE MATTER!?" speaks the concerned Knight.
"Your Highness please be calm!"
Zelda puts her hands to her face.
"What have I been doing?"
She feels as if she was at a place far away.
Her head feels heavy and she is staggering struggling to find her balance.
"Your Highness look!" the shocked Fire Mage points towards where she is.
Zelda takes in her surroundings, she is standing inside of a complex glyph!
She had formed it by packing the pokenom cards around her stacking them in this pattern unknowingly!
Zelda immediately recognizes the pattern.
She had learned it from the Dwarven Mage Hurmhilda Grimmane.
"THIS IS A SUMMONING RITE!" screams Zelda.
She feels massive amounts of magics gathering at the centre of the pattern she had arranged.
Light starts to flicker.
Zelda runs through the stacks of perfectly arranged cards.
They fall over and scatter on the floor.
The magical glyphs start activating underneath the pattern spread upon the throne room's carpet.
Moving outwards in a large circle from the centre the glyphs start glowing in blue.
The complex patterns start spinning inside of themselves.
"THE RITUAL IS ALMOST COMPLETE!"
Rushing forwards Zelda hears the crackle of lightning behind her and sees electricity dancing on the floor around her.
BOOOOOM
The bright flash is blinding Zelda feels the force of the magical explosion push on her back with force.
She flies through the air.
BAM
She hits a wall and falls on a table.
CRASH
All the expensive trinkets laying upon it shatter into worthlessness.
"YOUR MAJESTY!?" the Knight shouts out in concern.
"STAY BACK! SIR HUNFREY! LOOK TOWARDS WHAT WAS SUMMONED!"
Zelda struggles to find her footing, struggling to stand through all the destroyed trinkets and the tables broken remains.
"Do not move!" Zelda hears the Fire Mage shouting at someone.
"YOU THERE HALT!" the Knight proclaims.
CRASH
One of the throne rooms windows shatter.
Zelda catches a glimpse of the person jumping out of the window.
"IT CANNOT BE!"
Another place.
Geir is sitting looking upwards at the ceiling.
His sight is blurry, his tears are obstructing his vision.
They roll down his cheeks.
"How many suncycles? Finally I had that which I desired most..."
Geir cries again.
"Geir I am sorry. I know it meant the world to you. But we have to move on."
"I know Vivi..."
Geir cries once more.
His wife embraces him, his tears will not stop falling.
The thought of him losing the perfect pokenom card.
The one card he could have sold to make up for all the money he had lost through the many suncycles, playing pokenom.
What no one had known, was that Geir was receiving therapy for his pokenom card induced madness.
But the financial investment he had spent into the pokenom game was too much.
He would never be able to recoup the money he had spent.
Geir knew it was only a matter of time before he could find the perfect card.
He had been using various dubious dealings, schemes, plots and forbidden magics to devise a strategy to find out which packs had the rarest cards inside of them.
He only needed one card, just one, to escape from his pokenom card's madness world.
BAM
Geir's house door is flung open with force.
"GEIR! YOU HAVE TO COME!"
Geir turns away from the voice that had taken from him that which he had treasured!
"Zelda what do you want?"
"IT IS MONSIEUR PANTOMIMER!"
"Zelda cards that have been bent cannot be repaired. I already told you that before."
"NO, IT IS THE REAL MONSIEUR PANTOMIMER!"
"Zelda I told you that card cannot be replaced..."
"SHUT UP FOOL! I SUMMONED HIM UNKNOWINGLY!"
A red clad man rushes into the room.
"Claurilly what is wrong? What is the matter!?"
Geir is still looking away from Zelda.
"Oh, I see it is you. Have you come to spread further misery with those beastly hands of yours. What will you destroy this time?" speaks Estonix.
Zelda gnashes on her teeth so hard the sound is audible.
She despises Estonix so much, she almost forgot of her magical disaster.
Suddenly her rage has subsided enough, she remembers of her magical disaster.
"GEIR COME! I SUMMONED MONSIEUR PANTOMIMER! PLEASE THERE IS DANGER! I AM SURE OF IT!"
Someone sighs very deeply and dramatically.
"Claurilly I never knew of how much you truly suffered. Constantly facing her foolishness..."
CRASH
Estonix barely missed the thrown crystal vase Zelda was intending to kill him with.
"QUIET IDIOT! GEIR PLEASE LISTEN!"
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!? Geir, Estonix what are you two doing now!?"
Geir's Grandmother Esdeath walks into the room.
"Aunt Teelee this beastly woman just barged in here and started breaking..."
"THANK YOU HOLY MOTHER! TEELA PLEASE LISTEN!"
"Zelda?"
Zelda rushes towards Geir's Grandmother she grabs her hand and runs into the next room.
Times have passed.
"Geir come here."
"Yes, Grandmother."
"Look at this card."
Geir is given one of Zelda's pokenom cards.
"This is just a normal card what is the matter?"
"Look through the card at the light." says Geir's Grandmother.
"These cards are not translucent you cannot look through them."
"Just do it!" screams the irate Zelda.
Geir listens to Zelda and stares into the light holding the card to it.
"It is not translucent. I cannot see through it."
"Estonix here you try."
Zelda hands a card to Estonix.
"What foolishness are you up to now?"
Zelda desperately searches the area around her and the table for something to kill him with.
Estonix looks disparagingly at Zelda and sighs loudly again.
"Give that here."
He takes the card and studies it.
Estonix is so shocked, he stands up immediately and grabs the deck from Zelda's hands.
One for one he holds each one of the cards and studies them closely.
"WHAT IS THIS?! THERE ARE ANCIENT ENCHANMENTS WRITTEN UPON THEM?!"
"Estonny what did you say!?"
Geir takes a card, holding it up towards the light.
"I cannot see anything?"
"Vivilara do you have the magic and incantations for intermediate studies volume 2 text?" asks Estonix.
"Yes, I do. Please wait a moment."
The Dark Elf leaves the room.
She returns shortly with a massive bound book.
"Let me see here."
While studying the cards in the light, Estonix flips through the magical text.
He is studying various patterns and the like.
"I thought he could not use magic?" asks Zelda to Geir's Grandmother.
"Estonix is one of the strongest magic users of this age."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" screams Zelda.
"What are you up to now? Aunt Teelee please protect your belongings before she can break them with those beastly hands!"
"ESTONIX!"
Zelda has had enough!
The time has come for Estonix's life to end!
"Here it is." Estonix stops paging the pages.
Before Estonix's life could end.
"Here they are, come study this text."
Zelda complies and looks at the book.
After many studying and speculating.
"So these cards were designed that when they were touched, they would absorb the slightest bit of life energies from the people who handled them. It would be then stored for some other purpose?" asks Zelda.
"Yes, that seems to be the case." says Estonix.
"Estonny even if they could take some of the life energies of a person. It would take many suncycles for a card to have any meaningful energies?" asks Geir's Grandmother.
"Aunt Teelee pokenom is a trading card game. These cards are handled by many persons very frequently. For them to extract enough life energies would only take a few mooncycles at most."
"Why did the cards only activate now?" asks Zelda.
"Zelda the original creators likely had a way to collect them all when the time was right. When in the Kingdom of Bethen you had gained almost all of the cards we had. Having them all together was the trigger to activate the magics stored within them." says Geir.
"Claurilly you said "original creators" what do you mean by that?" asks Estonix.
"Estonny the original owners of this game declared insolvency. The rights were then sold to another party. They then took over the manufacture and distribution. The creators of this plot could not complete their machinations. Persons unrelated to them had continued with the manufacture of the game."
"Geir how can you be so sure?" asks Zelda.
"Zelda my Claurilly is the president of the original "Pokenom Card's are Amazing and Wondrous" club. There is nothing he does not know about this game!"
"...ugh..."
She looks on in disbelieve at Estonix beaming with pride at this statement all the while thinking these are two grown men talking about a child's amusement.
"Geir why cannot you see the glyphs?" asks Zelda.
"Zelda these cards must have a curse to them that clouds the senses when you have handled them. Otherwise this would have been discovered almost immediately."
"Yes, that would seem to be the most logical answer." says Zelda while nodding her head.
"Claurilly something must be done. We do not know why this Monsieur Pantomimer was summoned." says Estonix.
"I agree, Estonny please assist Zelda." says Geir.
"Yes, even if I have to suffer her foolishness. The Kingdom is in danger as the future King I must act!"
"Thank you Estonny."
"..."
Zelda blinks her eyes many times, did she hear this correctly?
"WAIT! GEIR WE MUST GO!"
"Zelda I cannot."
"WHAT?!"
"Zelda the Tulok tribe is currently at war. I have to lead the campaign. Estonix will assist you on this quest."
"GEIR WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?"
"Zelda, Estonix is going to help you in my place."
"GEIR PLEASE NO! COME WITH ME!"
"Zelda I have to leave. When I am finished I will come immediately."
"..."
Zelda is standing defeated and in disbelieve at this terrible revelation.
Estonix stands up from the table he takes his red jacket and puts it on.
Adjusting his clothes and weapons, Estonix is ready.
"Come beast let us leave."
CRASH
Estonix barely missed the thrown teapot Zelda was aiming to kill him with.
"EEEESSSSTOOONNIXXXXX!" screams the furious Zelda.
Finish.