Perfect Fantasy: Legends of Mana
By Ninth Lady
Chapter One: The Legend Becomes a Reality
Phoenecia slowly opened her emerald green eyes. She blinked sleepily a few times and sat up. "Mornin' Lil' Cactus." Lil' Cactus gave a shy wave. Phoenecia smiled and got out of bed.
Energetically, she ran out of her house and down the path until a Sproutling abruptly stopped her. "PLEEEASE talk to me!" It whined. Phoenecia muttered something rude under her breath and sighed. "What do you want Sproutling?" She asked impatiently. "The world can be shaped by your imagination. Did you know that?" Phoenecia wrinkled her nose in confusion. "Huh?" "Heh, heh… I guess not." The Sproutling chuckled. "Here, these blocks are the town of Domina. Imagine that, a town called Domina!" Phoenecia sighed again Sproutlings were hopeless, this one in particular. Groaning inwardly, Phoenecia took the blocks and walked to the end of her garden path. "Now what?" The Sproutling laughed nervously. "Heh, heh, heh…I'm not sure." Phoenecia stared at her feet for a moment. Then she remembered someone telling her about Artifacts and magic spells that activated them. She wasn't sure, but maybe this was an Artifact. She closed her eyes and began to chant.
In my dreams
Life seems to mean
That I will see
The man for me
Weird as it was, the blocks seemed to respond. They glowed in her hands and bounced onto to the landscape. Then in a colorful display, they transformed into a town.
Phoenecia momentarily forgot about the demonic Sproutling and walked towards Domina. Could this be…Domina? She had only ever heard of it in songs and stories. Phoenecia strolled over to the town. She glanced around as soon as she entered. Funny, it seemed like a place full of romance and songs. But the Bejeweled Jumi City always seemed to her to be more romantic. Could that too be real? Could Jumi be real? Phoenecia wasn't sure. In any case, Onion Warriors were real. One was standing right in front of her shouting at a guy. So, men were real. "At least give me your name!" The short thing screamed. The man turned and for a moment, his eyes met with Phoenecia's. "Elazul." He snorted; then he turned and went inside a building. Phoenecia saw that it said 'Pub Amanda and Barret.' So it turned out that pubs were real too. "Geez, what a pig!" With that, the Onion Warrior walked off in disgust.
Phoenecia wasn't interested in the warrior though. She just wanted to meet Elazul, the cute man with the most gorgeous eyes she'd ever seen. As she walked into the bar, a large, brown rabbit pushed past her. "A little room please? I haven't got all day you know." "I…I-I'm sorry!" She apologized softly. "HMMMMPPPHH!!" The rabbit snorted at her as it shoved past her. Phoenecia slowly entered the pub and gazed around. The first thing that caught her attention was Elazul. He was arguing with a small girl with fairy wings. "If you know something then tell me girl!" The girl cowered out of fear. Elazul sighed. Phoenecia timidly stepped forward. "Um, excuse me sir, but would you like some help?" Elazul whirled around to face her. His expression softened when he saw her cowering there. "Yeah, I would, thanks." He stepped forward and held out his hand. "The name's Elazul. How 'bout you?" Phoenecia gingerly took his hand and gently shook it. "My name is Phoenecia. I'm pleased to meet you Elazul." Elazul blushed slightly and let go of her hand. "I'm lookin' for a friend. Her name is Pearl and she's a total ditz. Have ya seen her?" Phoenecia shook her head and tried to think back if she had ever heard of a girl called Pearl. Her memory was blank of such things.
Elazul turned around to look at the faerie girl. She handed him a jade egg. Elazul wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Gross, it smells of Pearl when she hasn't bathed in a week." Phoenecia giggled and followed Elazul to the end of Domina. He stared around at the bare land and then at the egg. "Now what?" Phoenecia gently took the egg from him. She then held it out far in front of her.
From a egg to a place
Please come and fill this space
People are real; and so are you
Show me what the War has done to you.
"Huh?" Elazul looked at Phoenecia; her face was totally blank. "Phoenecia?" He gently shook her. Phoenecia softly threw the egg onto the barren land. In a dazzling display of colors, it transformed into some caverns. "Merkiv Caverns." Phoenecia explained. Suddenly, Phoenecia snapped out of the trance and looked around confused. "Elazul…what just happened?" "Phoenecia, don't you remember what happened? You just went into a trance and started muttering all this weird crap and all. THEN the egg turned into these caverns!" Elazul did not realize it, but he had been yelling. Phoenecia cowered back and looked down. "I…I'm sorry Elazul. I didn't mean to…do anything freaky." Elazul's face softened. "Hey, that's okay Phoenecia. If you really don't remember then that's okay." Elazul pulled her into a friendly embrace. "Hey, it's okay. Don't cry…" He stopped for a second as he realized that her eyes were filling up with tears. "DON'T CRY PHOENECIA!!!!!!" Phoenecia looked up startled. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to…" Elazul sighed, she was obviously very timid, shy, and emotional. He sighed and embraced her again. 'That's okay. You didn't do anything wrong. Just don't cry around me okay?" Phoenecia rubbed her eyes and smiled at her newly found man. "Okay Elazul." Elazul smiled back and lead the duo into the caverns.
After getting lost and battling tons of monsters, Elazul and Phoenecia entered a room that appeared slightly different to the others. A woman with red hair and flowers in it hastily rushed past them. Phoenecia cringed as the woman ran past. Phoenecia glanced at Elazul just as the jewel he wore sparkled. "What the…" Phoenecia stepped towards Elazul. He suddenly grabbed her wrist and dragged her into the next room. They both glanced around wildly as a large, hairy beast came down from the ceiling. Elazul pushed Phoenecia back as rocks came flying down from the ceiling. Elazul unsheathed his sword, prepared for battle. Phoenecia raised her hammer in an attacking pose. Thus, they both began to attack.
The battle seemed to go pretty well in the beginning. Then the creature seemed to understand that they weren't playing. It raised its ax and hit the ground with such force that rocks came falling down from the ceiling. Both warriors were having a hard time escaping the falling boulders. As the creature neared exhaustion, it hit Phoenecia with such force that she hit the wall. As she was struggling to keep consciousness, Elazul made the final stab in the monsters back. Phoenecia's world went black just as it fell to the ground.
Elazul looked around panting hard. Seeing Phoenecia's unconscious state, he ran over to check if she was okay. Her pulse was beating so Elazul took a two second look for Pearl. He found her, lying on her back with a knife stuck in her core. Elazul sighed and walked away. He would never ever come back to Merkiv Caverns again. With one last sigh, Elazul picked Phoenecia up and carried her out of the caverns.
He found her house with no difficulty and placed her in her bed. He smiled at her unconscious figure and brushed a piece of hair off of her face. Emotional or not, she was a good fighter. She was also gorgeous. He had once had a crush on Blackpearl, but the sight of Phoenecia made her seem thousands of light years away from his mind. "Don't worry Phoenecia." He reassured the blond woman. "I'll protect you, even if you don't know it." The he leaned down and quickly kissed her lips. They felt soft to his touch. He smiled again and played with her dress strap, then he looked down. To his shock and amazement, she had a core. A core of Flourite.
Author's Notes:
This is my first LoM fic so don't totally diss my story. I promise the next chapter will be better. Also, I am going to start putting point of views in, if you read the next chapter, I'll mark 'em as POV. I've taken a few liberties in the starting story line of LoM so that is why Pearl dies and Elazul is so nice. I may continue to tie the story line with my twisted view but I don't know. Just R&R. Thanks!!!
(Feel free to e-mail me at shining_aqua@yahoo.com!)
