Gaea:

Gaea:

Van enlists the help of his trusted friends to search for the book from his dream. The vault rooms are dark, but surprisingly dry, the walls scorched from long unused torches.

Allen: "How many rooms are down here Van?"

Van: " I never counted. Folken and I use to play down here when I was very young. Then Folken would read to me from some of the books in here:"'

A memory from long ago stirs in Van. He sees himself as a boy, tugging on his brothers arm: "Folken, read me a story from the dragon book again."

Van: " That's it Folken use to read to me from a book with dragons on it. I know where it is. This way."

Allen: " You could have remembered sooner, we've been at this a long time."

Allen follows Van to the far end of the hall. There sits a small door, almost unnoticed. Dryden joins them as they enter the small dark room. Van reaches up taking down a wall torch, lights it, and replaces it.

Van: " It's green I think and has a pair of dragons and an energist on the cover."

Each man starts at a different section of the book-covered walls. There is silence and they concentrate on finding the book. Dryden pulls out a green book and opens it.

Dryden: " Eureka! Green with dragons, hey look it's written in the language of the Mystic Moon. It has Gaean translations."

The men move over to a small table to get a closer look.

Dryden: " Let's see it's the Book of Three. This book is ancient. A lot of this is already our history. What was that first passage? The one Celena recited last night."

Van: "" When fire reaches across the sky, the three dark lords will shatter the Light of Balance."

Now they must wait as Dryden searches the pages for the passage.

Allen: " How will we know what it all means, prophecies are never simple. They're more like riddles that have to be unraveled. Who knows how long we have to figure it out."

Van: "The first line has to be the coming of the Firestar tomorrow. That part I saw in my dream."

Dryden: "Wait here it is and look at the illustrations here of the dragons, its just like the cover. The second smaller dragon shadows the first dragon and they are perched on an energist."

Van: " That dragon is white, I know its Escaflowne, see it holds a sword. The shadow dragon is the one from my dream. See the fire coming from its claw. Read it."

Dryden: When fire reaches across the sky

The three dark lords will shatter the Light of Balance

The animals will raise and the dragon's shadow will become

Fire will rain destruction on the tainted land as the shadows power grows

When comes the triple eclipse the dragon must extinguish its shadow

At the center of cred or the world shall be swallowed by flame.

v Only when the balance is restored shall the dragon renew its shadow

Through the heart of light

Van: " I have to be out there on Escaflowne when the Firestar appears tonight."

Dryden: " That last verse has a symbol by it. I'm sure that the sign of a forked prophesy. There could be more than one outcome. This prophecy has the possibility to end more than one way. This book is very valuable; in the wrong hands it could be a powerful weapon. There are too many guests in the castle now. We need a safe place to hide this till after the celebrations. Studying the prophecies that have already come to pass could help us to figure out how to unravel it. Why was it just down here in the first place, didn't anyone know what it was?"

Van: " This room contains my mother's books. Some are just her favorites, but some she brought here with her when she married my father. No one ever came in here except her, and Folken and me when we didn't get caught. We also had a special place in here where we hid our treasures; we can hide the book there for now."

Van walks to a section of the bookshelf, and removes several of the volumes. He pulls out a board in the back of the shelf revealing a hollow space. He removes an old oilcloth and places the book in the nitch. He holds the oilcloth for a moment and then replaces it.

The men leave the vaults each with thoughts concerning the prophecy they have just heard.

Evening is fast approaching and the people of the kingdom have started to gather in the outside courtyard to watch the Firestar. Inside the castle Van and his companions are still unsure what meaning the prophecy holds. How much time will they have before it's too late.

Millerna: "Most of the guests have gathered in the lower courtyard to see the Firestar. There has also been a lot of talk about your absence today."

Merle: "it's no wonder, as soon as she realized you were gone, the Empress started rumors that you two were together, and not to be disturbed. Then she shut herself in her rooms so everyone would think you were there with her. I'd love to scratch her eyes out."

Van: "Merle!"

Dryden: "Van, you must capture the dragon's shadow. If you were to kill it now, there is no telling what will happen. We have to be in a place called Cred and in the middle of a triple eclipse or who knows."

Allen: "Capturing a dragon alive is all but impossible. How do we keep it captive once we get it?"

Mr. Mole unnoticed as usual, ambles through the room, and reaching into his pocket pulls out a pouch tossing it over to Van.

Mr. Mole: "Nice castle lots of pretty treasures."

Van: " What's this old man"

Mr. Mole: " Dragon Dust. Knocks them out. Humans didn't always kill dragons. Not until they became greedy."

Van: "The sun will be setting soon. I will go awaken Escaflowne. The castle guests will be viewing the Firestar from the balcony behind the throne room".

Van leaves stopping in his room to get Escaflowne's energist. He removes it from the clawed hand of the dragon statute, and then flips the statute's thumb claw down revealing a small hidden drawer in the base of the statute. From it he removes a small pendant and puts it around his neck. He reaches back into the drawer and lightly touches a lock of golden brown hair tied in a ribbon. "Hitomi I miss you, I wish you were here with me" Shutting the drawer he turns and leaves the room heading for the shrine.

Van stands on a central pedestal in the castle shrine and holding the energist high above his head proclaims:

'Sleeping Dragon Awake! ' Light engulfs him and the energist begins to resonate. Outside at the Royal Tomb Escaflowne is surrounded by a bright white light and disappears, reappearing inside the shrine in front of Van. Hopping onto the knee of the giant guymelth Van places the energist inside the chest crystal. For three years Escaflowne has remained silent, but as soon as Van removes his hand the energist starts beating. The chest crystal glows and the cockpit opens. Van climbs in, placing his feet in the stirrups and his hands in the arm controls as the cockpit closes. Van feels a rush of power. He and Escaflowne are one again. They stand and walk out of the shrine into the night. As soon as he clears the outer wall Van changes Escaflowne to dragon mode and lifts up into the darkening sky.