Level 3 + The Light Of Emeraude
Sublevel 2 + Within The Pool
The darkness faded, and Fuu realized she had begun the third level.
It was very cold. She could see little, for it was dark, where ever she was. She could, however, make out the cold stones that she sat upon, and the same stones that made up the wall her shoulder pressed against.
Stumbling to her feet, Fuu began walking the perimeter of the room, keeping her hand against the wall to her right. She counted twenty-three steps, then fifteen, then twenty-four, then fifteen again. She calculated that the room was approximately twenty-three to twenty-five feet by about fifteen or sixteen feet, and she had found no windows or doors.
She did, however, feel a cool breeze. Upon scanning the dark room, she spied a few thin slits in the ceiling, which must have been a grate of sorts. Fuu could see out through them --- beyond the grate, stars twinkled in a midnight sky. That was where the breeze, as well as the little bit of light, came from.
Suddenly, Fuu could hear the sounds of loud footsteps and several voices beyond of the one walls. Silently, she slipped into a corner, keeping as still as possible, praying that the bright white of her armor wouldn't be seen by whoever was coming.
There was a cracking sound. A slab of wall slid back. A hidden doorway, Fuu mused. So that is how they get in. Torchlight fell through the doorway. A dark figure collapsed in the rectangle of light, pushed into the stone room by whoever else was out there.
"And you can ssstay there," a fierce voice hissed. Someone threw in a torch; it clattered to the floor, the flame flickering violently and barely remaining ignited. The door grated shut, and darkness fell once more, save for the soft glow of the torch.
Fuu did not move. The dark figure remained still for a moment before crawling to its knees. It lifted the torch from the stone floor, standing. Fuu bit her lip to stop herself from gasping in surprise --- the figure's head nearly reached the ceiling. She had never seen such a tall person.
The figure placed the torch in a holder on the wall, then slumped to the floor. Fuu could see its face now, and she saw that it was a man with a pale face and long, black hair. His eyes were shut, and he folded his arms over his knees. He leaned his head back against the wall, a deep sigh escaping him.
Fuu felt her heart soften towards the man. He seemed so sad...
She crouched noislessly, carefully moving herself to a sitting position. She leaned her head against the wall, staring at the man, wondering who he was, until she drifted off to sleep.
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
When Fuu awoke, the tall man was standing, leaning back against the wall with his arms folded over his chest. The torch still burned, but now sunlight streamed through the grate in the ceiling.
He glanced over at her with deep, dark eyes. Groggily, she thought for a moment that it was Lantis. "So. You're finally awake."
His voice sounded like Lantis's, too. Deeper, though. Fuu got to her feet stiffly, using the wall as a support. She stretched her sore limbs, then rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She stifled a yawn, asking, "Where are we?"
"In the dungeons of the Heiat people." The man edged a plate with a half a loaf of bread on it towards her with his foot. "Eat something. You must be hungry."
Fuu's stomach gurgled, revealing that she was. She knelt, gratefully tearing off a chunk as she murmured, "Thank you."
The blond girl paced a bit as she chewed the bread. The man's eyes followed her. At last, when the bread was gone, Fuu turned back to him. "May I ask your name?"
"Zagato. You must be Fuu."
Once more, Fuu did not question how he knew her name. "Yes." She tilted her head back, gazing up at the morning sunlight above. "I wonder how we get out."
"We don't."
"If I may be so bold as to ask," she began, "why are you here in the first place?"
Zagato grimaced. "Those reptilian barbarians caught me when I was trying to regain the Light of Emeraude from them. They threw me in here."
She balked. "You... you seek to return the Light to its rightful place?"
"Yes." He sighed heavily. "It is impossible, though. The Heiat are a fierce people. They will not stand for anyone taking what they believe to be theirs." Zagato gestured towards the cold stone walls. "They build strong prisons. We cannot escape."
Fuu stood in the middle of the room, her chin in her hand, tapping her foot idly as she pondered. "I wonder," she said slowly, "how much heat it would take to melt that stone."
Her eyes fixed on the wall, Fuu took her friction gun from its clip at her waist. She pressed the charging button; the numbers on the heat meter began to tick up.
Zagato watched her as she lifted the gun, aiming carefully at a spot in the middle of where she knew the hidden door to be. The numbers climbed steadily, and the mouth of the gun glowed red. When the meter read nearly 500, Fuu squeezed the trigger.
A wave of intense heat burst from the mouth of the gun, searing deep into the stone wall. However, it didn't go deeper than halfway through the thick stone.
Fuu frowned. That wasn't possible. The temperature of the blast had been almost up to five hundred degrees Celcius, which was the highest her friction gun could go. It was impossible that it hadn't melted the wall.
"I told you," Zagato muttered sullenly. "These walls are made of the strongest, densest stone known to any race. Besides, it's enchanted. The Heiat dabble in magic quite a bit."
Fuu wrinkled her nose. "Magic," she snorted. "I am afraid I do not believe in such fairy tale subjects."
His dark, serious eyes rested upon her. "It would do you some good, Fuu," he said quietly, "to realize the fact that while you are certainly both gifted and wise, you are young, and you have much to learn."
He stepped away from the wall. "There is no way out, Fuu. I suppose we ought to simply accept our fate, eh?"
Fuu furrowed her brow. "No." She began to pace anxiously. "There must be a way out... there simply must be."
"Unless you can pass through solid stone and Heiat enchantments," he murmured, "there is no way."
Suddenly, she froze. Fuu stared at him. "Zagato-san." A grin spread across her sullen face. "Zagato-san, that's the answer!"
"Pardon?"
She grabbed his arm. "Where is the Light of Emeraude kept?"
He hesitated, unsure, but answered, "It is in the High Hall."
"Very well." Fuu closed her eyes, concentrating.
It was much easier the second time. Fuu quickly seperated the atoms and molecules and bits of matter that created their bodies; shifted those particles between the atoms of the stone walls; wove between fine lines that must have represented the Heiat enchantment; sped them faster than light through a maze of air molecules; and finally brought the atoms back together in the High Hall of the Heiat.
Zagato was gaping at her, shocked. "How did you come to have such abilities?! Only those of the High Council have ever..." His voice trailed off, and he shook his head. "Never mind." He sighed, surveying the empty room. "Now where have they hidden the Light?"
"Where was it when you sought it before?"
He gestured towards a cabinet at the far end of the Hall. "In there. However, I am sure they have moved it by now."
Fuu glanced over at him. He looked so stern... His expression had only slipped out of its stony, grave mask once, and that was when he had stared at her in awe after she had brought them to the High Hall. And rarely did his voice ever change. He was always grave, always calm, always quiet. She furrowed her brow. It disturbed her.
Shaking away her thoughts, Fuu began crossing the room. "There is no harm in trying," she said as cheerfully as she could.
Zagato followed in her wake, insisiting, "You must be quiet. If the guards hear us, we will end up back in that dungeon."
The blond girl grasped the handles of the cabinet doors, ignoring Zagato. She pulled the doors open. Three shelves were inside: bare.
She sighed, closing the cabinet. Fuu sat down on the floor, picking at the carpet idly as she thought. "Zagato."
"Hn?"
She glanced up at him. "Why... why do you so fiercely seek the Light of Emeraude?"
Zagato's hard expression softened noticeably. He leaned against the wall, his dark eyes shutting heavily. "The Owner... is very dear to me."
"The Owner?"
"The Light's Owner." Zagato was motionless. "If the Light does not return to the safekeeping of its Owner, it will flicker and die, and so its Owner will die."
"That is what Clef told us," the precocious girl murmured.
"Clef?" Zagato opened his eyes suddenly, turning and looking down at Fuu. "You have spoken with Master Clef?"
Fuu stared at him, bewildered. "Yes... Why? Is something wrong?"
He looked away again. "No. It is simply that... Master Clef is one of the most revered, if not the highest of rank, in the..." He sighed, shaking his head. "Never mind. You cannot understand."
Fuu lowered her eyes, glancing to one side, away from Zagato. Then, suddenly, she noticed the fountain.
It was made of plain gray stone. Shimmering dark water poured from a stone urn held by a stone figure that resembled a snake and a woman both --- likely a Heiat woman. In the mist that rose from the pool of the fountain, Fuu thought she saw, for a moment, the image of a woman more beautiful than any she had ever seen, with long, wavy blond hair and the saddest blue eyes.
Fuu leapt to her feet. "Zagato."
"Hn?"
"The Light of Emeraude is in the fountain."
He snapped out of his reverie, looking at her once again. "How can you know this?"
"I know."
Fuu made her way slowly across the floor to the fountain, Zagato following behind her. She knelt at the edge of the pool, her hands trembling.
The tall, dark-haired man knelt next to her. "I do not see it."
Tears stung Fuu's eyes, although she couldn't understand why. "I cannot do it alone," she whispered, her voice shaky and thin.
Zagato glanced over at her, his face inexpressive, but his eyes radiating concern. "Do what?"
She closed her eyes, her lips moving silently as she whispered something to herself voicelessly. She reached over, grasping one of Zagato's large, strong hands, and she plunged their hands into the dark water.
It was cold, colder than ice, colder than shadows, yet at the same time, the water burned Fuu's hand with the passion of flame, despite her glove. She could smell the foul odor of the water, and she could feel its filth. Yet she pushed their hands deep into the dark pool, seeking something that she could only pray was there.
Then --- oh, then --- her fingertips touched cool glass, glass warm in comparison to the icy water, and she felt the coldness that radiated from within the glass, and that was warmer than the water as well. Zagato's hand took one side; her own hand took the other. They lifted.
The small sphere of glass emerged from the dark, foul water, shimmering and shining as the Light radiated from within. Zagato's eyes were wide, disbelieving; Fuu's were pained, tear-filled, once again for reasons she could not understand.
The cold light shone between them, only extinguished as the darkness swept in.
Sublevel 2 + Within The Pool
The darkness faded, and Fuu realized she had begun the third level.
It was very cold. She could see little, for it was dark, where ever she was. She could, however, make out the cold stones that she sat upon, and the same stones that made up the wall her shoulder pressed against.
Stumbling to her feet, Fuu began walking the perimeter of the room, keeping her hand against the wall to her right. She counted twenty-three steps, then fifteen, then twenty-four, then fifteen again. She calculated that the room was approximately twenty-three to twenty-five feet by about fifteen or sixteen feet, and she had found no windows or doors.
She did, however, feel a cool breeze. Upon scanning the dark room, she spied a few thin slits in the ceiling, which must have been a grate of sorts. Fuu could see out through them --- beyond the grate, stars twinkled in a midnight sky. That was where the breeze, as well as the little bit of light, came from.
Suddenly, Fuu could hear the sounds of loud footsteps and several voices beyond of the one walls. Silently, she slipped into a corner, keeping as still as possible, praying that the bright white of her armor wouldn't be seen by whoever was coming.
There was a cracking sound. A slab of wall slid back. A hidden doorway, Fuu mused. So that is how they get in. Torchlight fell through the doorway. A dark figure collapsed in the rectangle of light, pushed into the stone room by whoever else was out there.
"And you can ssstay there," a fierce voice hissed. Someone threw in a torch; it clattered to the floor, the flame flickering violently and barely remaining ignited. The door grated shut, and darkness fell once more, save for the soft glow of the torch.
Fuu did not move. The dark figure remained still for a moment before crawling to its knees. It lifted the torch from the stone floor, standing. Fuu bit her lip to stop herself from gasping in surprise --- the figure's head nearly reached the ceiling. She had never seen such a tall person.
The figure placed the torch in a holder on the wall, then slumped to the floor. Fuu could see its face now, and she saw that it was a man with a pale face and long, black hair. His eyes were shut, and he folded his arms over his knees. He leaned his head back against the wall, a deep sigh escaping him.
Fuu felt her heart soften towards the man. He seemed so sad...
She crouched noislessly, carefully moving herself to a sitting position. She leaned her head against the wall, staring at the man, wondering who he was, until she drifted off to sleep.
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
When Fuu awoke, the tall man was standing, leaning back against the wall with his arms folded over his chest. The torch still burned, but now sunlight streamed through the grate in the ceiling.
He glanced over at her with deep, dark eyes. Groggily, she thought for a moment that it was Lantis. "So. You're finally awake."
His voice sounded like Lantis's, too. Deeper, though. Fuu got to her feet stiffly, using the wall as a support. She stretched her sore limbs, then rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She stifled a yawn, asking, "Where are we?"
"In the dungeons of the Heiat people." The man edged a plate with a half a loaf of bread on it towards her with his foot. "Eat something. You must be hungry."
Fuu's stomach gurgled, revealing that she was. She knelt, gratefully tearing off a chunk as she murmured, "Thank you."
The blond girl paced a bit as she chewed the bread. The man's eyes followed her. At last, when the bread was gone, Fuu turned back to him. "May I ask your name?"
"Zagato. You must be Fuu."
Once more, Fuu did not question how he knew her name. "Yes." She tilted her head back, gazing up at the morning sunlight above. "I wonder how we get out."
"We don't."
"If I may be so bold as to ask," she began, "why are you here in the first place?"
Zagato grimaced. "Those reptilian barbarians caught me when I was trying to regain the Light of Emeraude from them. They threw me in here."
She balked. "You... you seek to return the Light to its rightful place?"
"Yes." He sighed heavily. "It is impossible, though. The Heiat are a fierce people. They will not stand for anyone taking what they believe to be theirs." Zagato gestured towards the cold stone walls. "They build strong prisons. We cannot escape."
Fuu stood in the middle of the room, her chin in her hand, tapping her foot idly as she pondered. "I wonder," she said slowly, "how much heat it would take to melt that stone."
Her eyes fixed on the wall, Fuu took her friction gun from its clip at her waist. She pressed the charging button; the numbers on the heat meter began to tick up.
Zagato watched her as she lifted the gun, aiming carefully at a spot in the middle of where she knew the hidden door to be. The numbers climbed steadily, and the mouth of the gun glowed red. When the meter read nearly 500, Fuu squeezed the trigger.
A wave of intense heat burst from the mouth of the gun, searing deep into the stone wall. However, it didn't go deeper than halfway through the thick stone.
Fuu frowned. That wasn't possible. The temperature of the blast had been almost up to five hundred degrees Celcius, which was the highest her friction gun could go. It was impossible that it hadn't melted the wall.
"I told you," Zagato muttered sullenly. "These walls are made of the strongest, densest stone known to any race. Besides, it's enchanted. The Heiat dabble in magic quite a bit."
Fuu wrinkled her nose. "Magic," she snorted. "I am afraid I do not believe in such fairy tale subjects."
His dark, serious eyes rested upon her. "It would do you some good, Fuu," he said quietly, "to realize the fact that while you are certainly both gifted and wise, you are young, and you have much to learn."
He stepped away from the wall. "There is no way out, Fuu. I suppose we ought to simply accept our fate, eh?"
Fuu furrowed her brow. "No." She began to pace anxiously. "There must be a way out... there simply must be."
"Unless you can pass through solid stone and Heiat enchantments," he murmured, "there is no way."
Suddenly, she froze. Fuu stared at him. "Zagato-san." A grin spread across her sullen face. "Zagato-san, that's the answer!"
"Pardon?"
She grabbed his arm. "Where is the Light of Emeraude kept?"
He hesitated, unsure, but answered, "It is in the High Hall."
"Very well." Fuu closed her eyes, concentrating.
It was much easier the second time. Fuu quickly seperated the atoms and molecules and bits of matter that created their bodies; shifted those particles between the atoms of the stone walls; wove between fine lines that must have represented the Heiat enchantment; sped them faster than light through a maze of air molecules; and finally brought the atoms back together in the High Hall of the Heiat.
Zagato was gaping at her, shocked. "How did you come to have such abilities?! Only those of the High Council have ever..." His voice trailed off, and he shook his head. "Never mind." He sighed, surveying the empty room. "Now where have they hidden the Light?"
"Where was it when you sought it before?"
He gestured towards a cabinet at the far end of the Hall. "In there. However, I am sure they have moved it by now."
Fuu glanced over at him. He looked so stern... His expression had only slipped out of its stony, grave mask once, and that was when he had stared at her in awe after she had brought them to the High Hall. And rarely did his voice ever change. He was always grave, always calm, always quiet. She furrowed her brow. It disturbed her.
Shaking away her thoughts, Fuu began crossing the room. "There is no harm in trying," she said as cheerfully as she could.
Zagato followed in her wake, insisiting, "You must be quiet. If the guards hear us, we will end up back in that dungeon."
The blond girl grasped the handles of the cabinet doors, ignoring Zagato. She pulled the doors open. Three shelves were inside: bare.
She sighed, closing the cabinet. Fuu sat down on the floor, picking at the carpet idly as she thought. "Zagato."
"Hn?"
She glanced up at him. "Why... why do you so fiercely seek the Light of Emeraude?"
Zagato's hard expression softened noticeably. He leaned against the wall, his dark eyes shutting heavily. "The Owner... is very dear to me."
"The Owner?"
"The Light's Owner." Zagato was motionless. "If the Light does not return to the safekeeping of its Owner, it will flicker and die, and so its Owner will die."
"That is what Clef told us," the precocious girl murmured.
"Clef?" Zagato opened his eyes suddenly, turning and looking down at Fuu. "You have spoken with Master Clef?"
Fuu stared at him, bewildered. "Yes... Why? Is something wrong?"
He looked away again. "No. It is simply that... Master Clef is one of the most revered, if not the highest of rank, in the..." He sighed, shaking his head. "Never mind. You cannot understand."
Fuu lowered her eyes, glancing to one side, away from Zagato. Then, suddenly, she noticed the fountain.
It was made of plain gray stone. Shimmering dark water poured from a stone urn held by a stone figure that resembled a snake and a woman both --- likely a Heiat woman. In the mist that rose from the pool of the fountain, Fuu thought she saw, for a moment, the image of a woman more beautiful than any she had ever seen, with long, wavy blond hair and the saddest blue eyes.
Fuu leapt to her feet. "Zagato."
"Hn?"
"The Light of Emeraude is in the fountain."
He snapped out of his reverie, looking at her once again. "How can you know this?"
"I know."
Fuu made her way slowly across the floor to the fountain, Zagato following behind her. She knelt at the edge of the pool, her hands trembling.
The tall, dark-haired man knelt next to her. "I do not see it."
Tears stung Fuu's eyes, although she couldn't understand why. "I cannot do it alone," she whispered, her voice shaky and thin.
Zagato glanced over at her, his face inexpressive, but his eyes radiating concern. "Do what?"
She closed her eyes, her lips moving silently as she whispered something to herself voicelessly. She reached over, grasping one of Zagato's large, strong hands, and she plunged their hands into the dark water.
It was cold, colder than ice, colder than shadows, yet at the same time, the water burned Fuu's hand with the passion of flame, despite her glove. She could smell the foul odor of the water, and she could feel its filth. Yet she pushed their hands deep into the dark pool, seeking something that she could only pray was there.
Then --- oh, then --- her fingertips touched cool glass, glass warm in comparison to the icy water, and she felt the coldness that radiated from within the glass, and that was warmer than the water as well. Zagato's hand took one side; her own hand took the other. They lifted.
The small sphere of glass emerged from the dark, foul water, shimmering and shining as the Light radiated from within. Zagato's eyes were wide, disbelieving; Fuu's were pained, tear-filled, once again for reasons she could not understand.
The cold light shone between them, only extinguished as the darkness swept in.
