Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THREADS OF FATE!!!! OKAY?!!!! I DO NOT!!! (passes out from lack of air)

(Regaining her senses) A-hem. Hey everybody! I'm baaacck!! (ducks a hail of garbage and rotten fruit) Hey hey hey!! Watch it! Geez, all right, all right! I know it took me (what, half a year? More? Go figure…) to update, but now I have, right? (ducks another hail of paper balls with erasers in their cores. The authoress is buried under a whole pile of it the size of Mount Fuji.)

Jade Star: Ah…diva? You okay?

(no response)

Jade Star: I see…I warned ya… (looks to the audience) Seeing as how Di here is unconscious, I'll take over. A-hem. (looks at cue cards) She has not updated because she had temporarily lost interest, but after being allowed to use the Playstation again after over half a year—this is where her grounding period finally expired—and once again laid her hands on the game, she got back to writing. Here's chapter 7 of A Relic Made By Love. Read and review!!

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The Sorceress Eiries

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It took Mint a few seconds to get her breath back. As soon as everything behind her had exploded, everything had gone black and she didn't know when it was safe to move. She felt the hard edge of the journal biting into her stomach, and she knew that they'd gotten the prize they sought after.

She felt someone move from beside her and touch her. "Mint, are you okay?"

Mint blinked and looked up to see Rue staring at her. He smiled weakly and said, "We made it."

The princess let her breath out in relief. She sat up and picked up the heavy journal. "Well, here it is. The Sorceress Eiries' journal. I'll bet it'll tell us about the [relic]." She looked around. "Hey, where is everybody?"

In reply to her question, there was a moan from a little way off and they saw Duke pushing himself up on his hands. He groaned and said, "What a rush. I'm aching all over now…"

"Get up already," said Belle with an irritated sigh.

Rue looked next to him and saw Klaus getting up. "Whew, that was close," said the doctor. "Are all of you okay?"

There was a chorus of, "Yeah"s and "Somewhat"s.

"I think we'd better get back to the kingdom," said Mint. "We have to check this thing out." She lifted up the journal she and Rue found.

"Whoa," said Duke, moving over to her with Belle. "You guys really found a treasure!"

"It's a journal," said Rue. "Master Sorceress Eiries'. But Mint said it was all blank."

"It is," said Mint, flipping the book open. "So was the first page, until I read it in the atelier."

"Did you guys get anything else?" asked Klaus.

"Well, I managed to snag this," said Duke with a grin. He lifted up what seemed like a shiny blue translucent orb with gold flecks. It was the size of a baseball. They could see that there was something in the solid orb, but it was too dimmed to see clearly what it was.

"Where did you get that?" demanded Belle.

"It rolled out of that room where Rue and Mint came out of, so I grabbed it before everything started blowing up," said Duke, looking immensely proud of himself.

Belle snatched the orb from Duke and peered at it closely. "It looks pretty important. Let's just keep this for now." She pocketed it, and Klaus said, "Rue, Mint, ready to go?"

Mint was still looking in the journal, and Rue turned to her. Mint's eyes began to get as wide as dinner plates. "Mint, what is it?" asked Rue.

"It—it's writing by itself again…" Mint stammered.

"Huh?" they all started to move towards the princess, when Mint started shaking. "Wh-what's happening?" Mint gasped as a pink light lit the book and crept to her hands.

"Mint, let go of that thing!" Rue gasped.

"I—I can't!" Mint replied. "It's—" before she could say anything else, a light flashed from the book and hit Rue right in his eyes.

"Aaah!" Rue gasped.

"Rue!" Mint cried, but the pink light instantly overtook her and the two of them were knocked down. The bright light instantly died down.

Belle let out muttered swearwords. "Come on. Let's get these two out of here."

"But how?" asked Klaus. "Shall we have to carry them? It's about a few miles back to the kingdom, though."

"Great…" Belle muttered.

But before another word could be said, they heard a strange whirring noise. They looked around. "Do you hear that, milady?" Duke asked.

"I heard it," Belle answered.

"That's odd, I hear the sound of water…" said Klaus. "We saw a river that passed through the forest. It shouldn't be too far from here."

"That's where the sound is coming from," said Duke.

"That sounds like Rod's boat!" Klaus said.

And, carrying Rue and Mint, they ran for the water. Running through the trees, they did indeed see a flash of red at the bank of a river. A familiar figure got up and turned as he heard the sound. Seeing them, he grinned and said, "Well! Fancy seeing you here! I followed as soon as I heard from Madam Mira that you went out here. Though you might need some help."

There was a perfect uproar in the palace of East Heaven kingdom when their crown princess was returned in a very unconscious state, and Maya was frantic.

"What, in the name of all Aeons above, happened out there?! Why is my sister like that?! Someone had better tell me now!"

"Sorry, Princess Maya," Klaus said apologetically, "but I doubt your sister would be very happy with us if we told you the goings on."

"WHY?!"

"Because…because!" Prima said. Maya gave them all suspicious looks for a moment, then sniffed distastefully and said, "Fine. But I'm warning you all—I'll find this out sooner or later."

And she walked off. Prima looked up at Klaus. "Is that a good or a bad thing?" To which Klaus only shrugged.

Inside Mint's room, Elena and Belle were in there, keeping an eye on Mint. "Wow, she must've been pretty battered…" Elena said, blinking down at Mint.

"Not too much…" Belle said quietly, remembering the light.  I wonder…

Suddenly, Duke ran into the room. "Rue's finally awake, milady!"

"Oh, bring out the feast," she said sarcastically. "Calm down, Duke. Where is he, anyway?"

"Right here." Rue peeked into the room and saw Mint still on the bed. He walked over next to Elena with Prima Doll and asked, "How is she?"

"Still sleeping ¯," Elena answered, ever cheerful, as always.

Belle saw the troubled look on Rue's face. "What the matter with you, Rue?"

The young man looked up and shook his head. "Oh…nothing. I was just…kind of worried about her, that's all."

Everyone in the room exchanged knowing glances, grinning, and Rue, noticing, turned red. "What?" he asked, and the other only laughed and shook their heads.

"Oh…nothing!" Belle answered over Duke and Prima's snickering. "Now go on, all of you—get out of here! She needs her rest and how is she going to continue sleeping if you all are making a racket?! Now go on! Out, out!"

And the boys obeyed, waiting outside the princess' room. Duke nudged Rue as they sat down a nearby bench. "Don't worry, Rue. She's a strong girl and she'll be fine."

"I know that…" Rue answered quietly and looked back up to the door. "But still…I can't help but worry a little…" He shook his head. "Hey, Duke, where's that shiny blue orb you found?"

"Oh, the big blue and gold marble? I have it right here," said Duke, pulling it out of his pocket. "I still don't know what it's for, though…"

"Hey, Rue, you're awake!"

Rue looked up to see Rod walking up to them with Johnny Wolf. The puppy quickly ran up to Rue and was bouncing around his feet in excitement. Rue grinned at Rod. "Rod! Duke told me when I woke up. Thanks for taking us back to the palace."

"No problem," Rod answered gallantly. "Mind you, It's a good thing I fixed up my baby to handle a lot more passengers so all of us got in. But Duke here still had to share a seat with his lady, though."

Duke shaded scarlet. "I…I didn't mind."

"I thought so," Rod laughed. "Speaking of ladies…" he looked up at the door. "How is Mint doing?"

"Still asleep," Rue answered.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine," Rod said. "That girl's strong in heart and spirit."

Rue thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah. She does."

"Princess? Can you hear me?"

Whoa, wait… Mint thought. Who would call me princess at a time like this? And where am I?

She heard soft laughter from around her. "You are somewhat awake now, I suppose. Good. You should get up.."

Mint realized that she was lying down, but she didn't know where. And it was odd, because though there was nothing around her except inky blackness, she felt the ground. She got up and turned to see a bright light of light blue at one end.

"Princess, I have been expecting someone like you…to come across my journal…" the light said.

"Sorceress Eiries?!" Mint gasped.

The figure that could be barely seen in the light smiled and nodded. "That I am. Tell me, princess, what is it that brought you to come across my journal?"

Mint, rather appalled for a moment, then stammered, "I…I was…well…I was looking for a…a [relic] and I stumbled into your atelier."

"Oh…searching for a [relic]…" Sorceress Eiries seemed to be eyeing her strangely for a moment and then she smiled. "Well, I believe that, of all people, you and that young man who entered with you into my atelier would be the most qualified to find this one [relic]…"

Mint leapt up. "So you really know about it? You know where we could find a [relic]?"

The sorceress laughed. "Yes…I do…unfortunately, I do…"

Mint stopped in the victory dance that she'd started. "Huh? What do you mean…unfortunately?"

"Oh…nothing…" she looked at Mint again. "I cannot tell you its precise location, young one, but I can tell you where you would be most likely to find more clues that will lead you to it. But to get to them, you will need a key."

"A key?" Mint blinked. "What do you mean?"

The sorceress said nothing. She merely smiled and pointed to something a way off from them. Mint turned to look, the light of the sorceress still at the corner of her eye, and she saw what looked like a floating blue globe radiating gold and blue light across her.

She barely had time to recognize it, though, as the light of the sorceress overtook the entire blackness, and everything faded away.

"Mint? Mint, are you okay? Are you dead?"

"If she was dead, sis, she wouldn't be moving and she wouldn't be able to answer you, would she?"

"Oh…right. Sorry. Mint?"

When Mint's vision cleared of the white light, she saw Elena and Prima looking down at her. Surprised, she yelled, "Aaaah!" and jumped up. And since she startled Elena and Prima, they jumped back and screamed too.

Hearing all the screaming, Belle rushed in. "What the heck is going on in here?" She saw Mint and put a hand on her hip with a smile. "I thought so. Only Mint could've created an uproar."

"Hey!" Mint exclaimed. "They surprised me, that's all!"

"Yeah, yeah…"

Everyone else came running in, looking rather stunned. It was a good thing Mint had a big room. Rue saw her and his face lit up. "Mint! You're awake!"

"Oh, hi Rue," Mint said, looking at him. "What happened?"

"You mightn't believe it, but the journal knocked you two out," Klaus answered with a smile. "A power surge came from it, I believe."

The journal? Realization suddenly hit Mint. She remembered the sorceress. She hopped down from the bed and said, "Guys, I had the craziest dream ever! I saw Sorceress Eiries!"

"Okay…you said that she was dead…Mint, you must've knocked your head," Prima said.

"I did not!" Mint insisted. "And she told me how we could find more clues to where the [relic] is."

"So she knows all about it?" asked Rue, and Mint nodded, answering, "She said we needed some sort of key to get into the place were the clues were."

"What kind of key, then?" asked Belle, crossing her arms.

"I don't know…when she saw it to me, it looked like a shiny blue orb…"

Duke looked up. "Oh, like this one?" he held up the orb he'd found earlier in the atelier. Mint gasped, 'That's it!!"

She leapt down and grabbed it from him. She looked around it, but it was just an orb. There were no cracks or markings whatsoever in it. "Darn, what is this thing for?" she demanded. "How are we supposed to use it?"

Rod considered for a moment. "If you ask me, it looks like a cannon orb that powers a sorcerous drive, you know, like in my Pulsar Inferno Typhoon Omega."

"Oh, you brought the Pinto?" Mint blinked.

"Well, of course I—!!—Hey!! How many times do I have to tell you?!" Rod yelled. "It's not Pinto!! It's Pulsar Inferno Typh—oh forget it. You'll keep calling it that anyway…"

Klaus said, "I think Rod has a point there, though. It does look like an odd cannon orb."

"But where do we put it in?" asked Rue. "If it's a special cannon orb, then there must be a special machine that should be powered by it."

"What would that be, then?" Duke commented.

There was instant silence.

"Well if you'd kindly allow me…"

They all jumped and turned to see Maya standing by the doorway with a smile (or a smirk) on her face. "I knew I'd find out if I hung around," she said.

"Maya?!" Mint gasped. "What're you—"

"It's all right, dearest sister, I've no intention of tattling on you about this…adventure of yours," Maya walked up to them. "As a matter of fact, I think I may be able to help you with that trouble with the orb."

"You…can?" Mint asked slowly, sounding unsure.

Maya nodded. "I'm sure I can." She looked up at everybody. "Well, if you'd kindly follow me to the library…"

And she turned and walked out the door. They all looked at each other. Rue looked at Mint and said, "Well…it's worth a shot."

"I guess," Mint sighed. "Fine. Let's go, then."

And they all followed after Maya.

Jade Star: (listening to Galaxy Bang! Bang! And is distracted for a moment. Looks up and sees the audience) Oh! You're done! Well, like Di says…(jerks her thumb to the still buried-under-garbage authoress) Please review!!