Episode Four: The Ritual Begins

"Let me go you ignorant hicks! Unhand me!" cried Nash, thrashing out at his captors. The male Disciples had clothed him in a weird red outfit of a baggy shirt and relatively tight pants. They had said they were special clothes for the sacrifice that he was going to be forcefully thrown into. Currently, three of the barbaric Disciples were rough handling him after three days- three days!- of being groped, beaten, and placed under strange enchantments. Nash wasn't sure what half of them did, but he knew he was beginning to feel really funny.

"All right, in ya go!" said one of the men as the other three tossed him into an old storage room. Nash jumped up, shook his head, raced for the door, trying to unlock it.

"Nash, it's no use, it's locked tight."

Nash turned his head to see Jessica dressed in a blood red, sleeveless and strapless dress. The skirt of the dress scarcely went past her hips, her legs adorned with ornately decorated red boots. "I don't mean to be rude, but you look like Little Red Riding Hood, only without the hood."

"Yeah? And you look like Robin Hood without his Merry Men," said Jessica. "Looks like they gave you a hard time too."

"What did they do to you?" asked Nash, folding his arms.

"The women just smacked me around a little bit and tried to give me a few make-overs," she said. That was when Nash noticed the red lipstick on her normally pink lips. "And did some pre-ritual spells. What did they do to you?"

"Well, I think some of those guys walk on the other side of the road since I got grabbed a few times, and the rest of them either cast spells on me or beat the crap out of me," said Nash.

Jessica gasped. "They did WHAT?!"

Nash frowned. "It wasn't fun."

"Well, are you going to be all right?" asked Jessica.

"I'll be all right once we get out of this stupid realm, find our friends, and get the stupid crystal! I'll be all right when we're back in Lunar and I'm not spit at because of what I did by betraying you guys! I'll be all right when everything's the way it used to be! Vane floating in air, me studying magic and trying to impress Mia!" said Nash. By this point he was near screaming.

The priestess put her hand on Nash's shoulder. "I didn't realize you felt that way."

"I've done some stupid things, I just, I just wish I could change all that," he said. He sat down on a crate and put his head in his hands. "It's been a difficult time for me after we defeated Ghaleon. The Vanetians just don't seem to see that I was trying to keep my friends from getting killed. To keep Mia from getting killed. Ever, ever since I first met her, when I was seven and just came out of the Cave of Trials, I, I couldn't help but like her. That stupid ballet teacher was so mean to her! He hit her, and I just-"

Jessica gasped, cutting Nash off. "That little pip-squeak was YOU?" she said. "I remember what happened that day. . ."

"No, no, no!" shouted Francis, Mia's ballet instructor. "You do it ALL wrong!"

Mia looked at the ground. "I'm sorry, I try really hard, really, I do!" she said. "I'll get it right this time, I promise!"

Jessica sat across the room, watching her best friend's ballet lesson. The small six year old girl watched patiently, hugging a stuffed bunny her father had given her recently. Her father, Master Mel of Meribia, and Mia's mom, Lemia Ausa, were good friends. People called them "One of the Four Heroes". Jessica knew her father had done something important, she just wasn't old enough to really understand what it was.

"You are STUPID!" said Francis. "You are a worthless, worthless little girl!"

Mia was starting to get teary eyed. "I, I said I'm sorry."

Jessica stood up and backed into a corner. This was getting scary. Mia told Jessica that Francis yelled a lot, but she didn't think it was this scary. Especially from a twig like Francis. Suddenly, he was really scary. Even scarier than that Ghaleon guy.

That was when it happened. Francis raised his hand and slapped Mia clear across the face, sending the small girl skidding across the ball room floor. Mia started to cry and Francis began to walk over to probably hit her again.

That was when the flash of green came out of nowhere.

The next thing Jessica saw was a skinny boy with dirt smudged green clothes sitting on top of the now floored ballet instructor. In fact, his hair, face, and everything else visible was dirty, like he'd just been in a cave. "Hey!" he said. "You can't hit a lady!"

"Just who the hell do you think you are?! You don't belong here!" said Francis, tossing the boy off his chest and picking him up by the front of his shirt. "What I do with the girl is my business, and certainly not the business of a little ruffian like you."

"I'm not a ruffian! I'm a student of the Magic Guild!" he said.

Francis snorted. "A dirty little shrimp like you? Yeah, sure- OW!" cried the offensive instructor, dropping the boy and clutching his hand. "What the hell did you do?"

Jessica saw little spark of yellow thunder escaping from the boy's fingers. "I beat up the monster in the cave with my magic, I can beat you up, too!" He raised his hand and tried to shock Francis, but to no avail. Jessica realized that he must have had a very low MP count at his age and size. "Uh oh," he said.

"You're going to get one mother of a beating, kid," said Francis. He darted forward and pushed the boy to the ground, promptly beginning to smack the small boy senseless. Jessica gasped, Mia looking over at the boy who was now receiving the beating she was going to get.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

Jessica looked up to see her father, Ghaleon, and Lemia standing in the doorway. Lemia took one look at her sobbing daughter and rushed over. Mel ran over to Jessica's hiding spot, leaving Ghaleon to kneel down beside the tossed aside boy. The boy looked up at Ghaleon curiously, blinking in wonderment.

Lemia, who had picked Mia up and was holding the still sniffling child, turned to Francis. "You're fired. If you dare go near my daughter again, expect to see what the world looks like from a chopping block." Francis wasted no time in running out of the ball room, never to return to Vane again. . .

"That was me, all right," said Nash. "That's how I met Ghaleon, too. He took me to his room and got me cleaned up after that. I guess he grew to like me and offered to take me up as his apprentice for my bravery."

Jessica smiled. "I never knew you used to be so . . . selfless."

Nash sighed. "I know. Ghaleon helped turn me into a self-centered jackass, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did," said Jessica. She stood up and looked at the window. "Do you think Kyle and the others are looking for us?"

"Hopefully they've all found each other by now and are doing just that," said Nash. "But we don't know how much time we have left before. . . you know."

"I know that!" snapped Jessica. "We've got to keep a positive attitude about this and maybe we'll come out alive."

"But we still don't know anything about the weird spells that they were placing on us," said Nash. "For all we know it could be nothing or it could be magical poison."

Jessica's eyes widened. "Do you really think so?"

"No, I'm just sending out ideas," said Nash. He slammed his fist into an open palm. "We've got to escape. Any ideas?"

"The window is out of reach. Even if it was in reach, it's been barred up. The door is locked. You're out of magic and if I'm lucky I'll have enough magic for two Heal Litanies-" started Jessica.

"We can buy ourselves some time if you try and see if your Cleansing Litany will reverse what incantations they put on us!" said Nash.

Jessica smiled. "Good thinking, Nash! Let's give it a try." Jessica pressed her palms together and began to slowly chant. Her eyes flashed open as she cast the spell. "In the name of the Goddess!" The small priestess' body began to glow softly. Her friend sat on one of the crates, watching to see if it would work. Once the glowing stopped, Jessica fell to her knees and frowned. Nash didn't need to ask if it had worked or not.

"Any other ideas?" asked Nash.

"No," said Jessica, just as they heard the door begin to open. "Shoot, they're coming!"

"What now?!" said Nash. Panic was beginning to arise as his heart began to practically beat out of his chest. "We've got to do something to fend them off!"

Jessica was furrowing around in one of the corners. "Ah ha! I've found two sticks. Grab one and we'll clobber them!" she said. Nash darted over and picked up one of the sticks Jessica had found. It was a solid, sturdy piece of wood that looked a little like a table leg. On the side of it, Nash read the words "Home Run Hitter".

"What's a Home Run Hitter?" he asked.

"Does it matter? These will make great weapons!" said Jessica, swinging the stick around. "Got a nice feel to it."

"All right you two, come out of hiding," said whichever disciple had come to bother them.

"You go around that side, I'll go around this side," Nash whispered. Slowly, the two crept around to either side of the guard who had come to collect them.

"C'mon, come out, come out, wherever you are! Ollie, ollie, oxen free! Hey! Get your butts out here RIGHT NOW!" said the now VERY irritated Disciple.

"Special delivery!" said Nash, who was now right on top of the hooded Disciple. He took a swing and connected with the Disciples' head. "Yes!" he said as the Disciple spun around, mumbled something about the pretty birdies, and fell to the floor. Jessica ran over and smiled before darting out the door. Nash followed and skidded to a stop next to Jessica.

"We're surrounded!" cried Jessica.

The hooded woman they'd met a few days earlier in the red and white stepped forward. "I'm pressed," she said. "You two almost managed to escape from me. Won't it be oddly romantic as the two of you die together is a massive-"

"Wait a second," said Nash, holding up his hand. "You think me, and her, are a couple?"

The woman blinked. "Well, aren't you?"

"NO!" the captives said in unison.

"Well, that doesn't matter. I need a young female and a young male for the ceremony, you two fit the bill just fine, lovers or not," she said. The woman grinned knowingly, making a shiver rush up both of their spines. "Bring them to the last enchantment. We're almost ready to begin."

Sometime later, the two captives had been brought outside of the warehouse to face the ocean crashing up against the docks. It was dark out, probably close to midnight. Nash and Mia had been tied back to back to make escape difficult. They were also on the ground, making standing up hard. Both had a good view of a tall podium where several magical talismans sat, ready for some sort of a huge ritual. The hooded woman stepped out for all of the Disciples of the Black Fire to see. Facing the water, the woman began to chant.

"There's a ton of Dark Magic in the air," said Nash. "Things just got REALLY, REALLY bad."

"How bad?" asked Jessica. Then was when she felt a tight squeeze on one of her hands. "Nash?"

"Just because Kyle isn't here to give you the comfort," he said sheepishly. "He'd do the same if it were him and Mia in this position."

The young priestess sighed. So, how close were she and Nash to their imminent doom? The fourth day was drawing to a close and here they were, in REALLY deep trouble. Jessica looked out onto the ocean and saw a sight very much like the sight she saw when Alex and Luna summoned the Blue Dragon Shrine. Only this time the shrine that emerged was even more immense, and unlike the Dragon Shrine, looked evil. "Wow," she said. "What is it?"
Nash gulped. "I don't know, but I know I don't like it."

The woman threw her head back and began to laugh. "The time has come for us to live another hundred years!" The woman turned back to the Disciples. "Two of you bring the sacrifices to the boat. I want them to travel with me."

Jessica and Nash yelped in surprise as they were lifted up by two of the Disciples. "Well, it's been nice knowing you, Jess," said Nash. "You got a little whiny sometimes, but you were a good friend-"

"JESSICA!"

Jessica looked up and over and gasped to see Kyle running towards the group of Disciples. "Kyle! Help!" she cried. Before Kyle could reach her, he was blocked by two Disciples welding scythes. Kyle tried to break through them when the leader stepped forward.

"Let her go you-" Kyle started.

"The young girl and her friend with the hair belong to me, now," she said. "Know that I, Elvina, am the leader of the Disciples of the Black Fire and that this young girl, Jessica, as you called her, is going to be a sacrifice to our cause."

"No one sacrifices my fiancé! Let her go!" cried Kyle, thrashing out at the woman.

"Kyle! Go get Alex and the others! Hurry!" shouted Nash. "You don't have much time! If, if you don't make it, please, send Mia my love!"

Elvina snickered. "Well then, you have other friends, I see?" she said. "Disciples, hold back that ruffian! He must NOT interfere!"

Kyle looked like he was trying to make a decision on what to do- rush in and save his friends, or go and get the others? Unfortunately, that gave the Disciples time to knock him out with the blunt end of a wooden plank. "Jess. . ." he said as he fainted.

"Kyle!" cried Jessica and she and Nash were dumped into one of the waiting boats.

"Leave him there," said Elvina. "He does not concern us."

"KYLE!!"

"KYLE!!"

Mia looked up. "Huh?" she asked sleepily. She looked around the warehouse they'd chosen to sleep in and saw no signs of Kyle. "Alex! Luna! Wake up! Kyle! He's gone!"

Alex and Luna groggily woke up. "What?" asked Luna.

"Kyle! He's gone! And. . . I, I think I heard Jessica scream!"

"What?" said Alex. "Let's go! Now!" His two female companions quickly got up and out of the warehouse door. "Which way?"

"This way- what are all those boats doing going out at this hour of the night?" asked Mia. She, Luna, and Alex looked out to see a few dozen boats heading out to a strange shrine out in the middle of the ocean. "What about that shrine? It wasn't there earlier."

"Something's definitely up," said Alex. "Let's go, I can sense something is really wrong here."

"Double for me," said Luna. "Look! Isn't that Kyle?" The trio looked down the dock to see a figure pulling himself off the floor of the dock. The group ran over and sure enough, it was Kyle. The Nanza escort specialist looked out at the water forlornly.

"Kyle?" asked Mia. "What happened?"

"I heard something outside and saw all these people in hooded robes standing around. Then they lifted something up. It, it was Jessica and Nash. Those red robe people are evil. They want to sacrifice them."

"What!?" asked Luna. "You, you can't be- you are serious."

"Jessica, she, she looked so scared. Nash even told me to tell Mia he loved her if he doesn't get out of this alive," said Kyle. Mia bit her lip and just barely stopped herself from sobbing hysterically into Luna's shirt. "We've got to get out to that island and stop those freaks from killing Jess and Nash!"

Alex looked out onto the water. "We've got to. But how do we get out there? Swim?"

"Um, I don't think that's a good idea," said Luna. "We'd be better off getting a boat."

"Well, let's get a boat than!" said Kyle. "I'm sure that we can just borrow a boat."

Luna rolled her eyes. "Kyle. . ."

"What?" asked the dark haired drunk.

"Isn't that stealing?" said Mia.

"Not if we return it when we're done," he said. "Now, anyone have a hairpin or some I can use to pick a lock?"