Holmcross Project Deep: The One That Looms In Darkness
It had been nearly a month since that fateful and unforgettable night that Cecilia, Jack and Hanpan lost their beloved friend and ally. Neither of the three could figure out what exactly he meant by 'not being human', or being a 'killing machine'. The others believed him to be a gentle and good-natured man, if anything. To go out of his way to help a village in need was not a trait that a 'killing machine' exhibited, they concluded. But it still nagged at them. What about his past, if any, would depress him so much that he would walk directly into the ocean to suffer a cold and dreadful demise? What could drive any person to give their very being up in a manner such as this? After it happened, theories and questions racked their minds about 'why'. Why did he purposefully forfeit himself to the sea? If only they knew about his origins...about the very fabric that young man was carved out of. If they only knew he was a Holmcross...
But they would never know now. He was dead. Gone to the bottom of the sea.
~~~~~~~~~~
Princess Cecilia and Jack Van Burace had undergone the Trials Of Past in the Guardian Shrine and acquired the powers of Gurdijeff, Fengalon, Moa Gault and Stoldark, the four Chieftain Guardians of Past. Stoldark acted as the trigger of destiny in the girl's life. She had already gained the faith and trust of the mighty water Guardian when she saved her from the wretched confines of the monster Nelgaul's twisted prison inside of a cursed book. That is when she learned of her fate, and how she had to proceed to the Guardian Shrine to undergo the trials. It was not easy, however, as the remaining three were quite skeptical of how the Innocent One could crush the evil now, especially without the Tear Drop in her possession. The Tear Drop was not only the national treasure of Aldehyde, but a well-cherished family heirloom passed down through each generation of female members of the royal family. An ordinary jewel to some, but the inner strength that it housed was beyond the comprehension of many. Able to purify even the darkest of evils, this tool was the source of power that the Guardians took their nourishment from, and which they gave to Filgaia to maintain light and harmony. But now their very core was being dirtied and corrupted at the hands of darkness. And each Guardian felt their power slipping as the world slowly drifted into death. So to test the mettle of the Innocent One and her consort, they both underwent the Trials Of Past. And then...
"Please, lend us your strength to save Filgaia!", Cecilia begged. "There is still hope left!"
"Is there?", Moa Gault countered. "Do you know why we are getting weaker, girl?"
"Our strength...our powers are fading into the hands of evil.", Fengalon stated.
"Innocent One, we want to give you our powers." Gurdijeff said. "You must be strong."
"I am strong! What do you mean, Gurdijeff? I want to help the world and its inhabitants."
"Want is not enough, young sorceress. You must 'need' to help Filgaia."
"But...I do! That's why~~"
Moa Gault interrupted. "Foolish girl! You still fail to see our point! Darkness comes!"
Fengalon responded. "Moa Gault, there is no need to be this harsh with the girl."
"Our survival is at stake, Brother Fengalon! Can this weak girl and her man save Filgaia?"
"I sense she wants desperately to help. Maybe her convictions are true as light."
"Maybe so. But if she is weak and desperate, she will stumble easily!"
"Silence!" Gurdijeff roared. "We must be united and strong in dire times such as this!" The two Guardians spoke no more at his command. "Innocent One, I must take consideration in heart for the future of the land. Moa Gault has a fine method in saying you may not be strong enough to be the sorceress of the light. Can you prove it to us that you will dispel the evil looming in the shadows?"
Cecilia slumped to the ground, clutching her chest and crying. She was upset that she couldn't enlist the services of the Guardians to help combat this terror that threatened the life of the planet. She felt powerless before the gods before her. Jack tried to comfort her, but she pushed him away.
"Can you see? Do you see this, my brothers?", Moa Gault hissed. "She is but a weak girl! She could not possibly hope to save Filgaia!" The flaming body of the Guardian grew even brighter as his disgust for the girl went to never heights. "I told you! This wench could never reclaim the Tear Drop! We must act now, before it is too late!"
"H...How dare you.", was Cecilia's reply.
"What, girl?"
"I can help Filgaia. I know I can. Don't you DARE tell me I'm powerless."
Moa Gault was surprised and amused at this latest outburst of emotion. The others had decided to let their brother continue. He decided to lure her along in the hopes that he could break her spirit once again. "Little sorceress...are you trying to challenge the will of a god?"
"I will challenge you if it means I can save Filgaia in the process."
"Is that so? What use is a dead sorceress to our dying world?"
"No use. Even I know that.", she strongly countered. "But my love for Filgaia will empower me. I'll fight to my last breath if it means that I can save this fine land. And you will lend me your aid to help vanquish the oncoming destructive force that looms over us even as we speak. If you refuse my advances, you yourself are nothing more than a wretched cog in the machinery of treachery."
Moa Gault was stunned into silence. He had never expected such vigor and forcefulness from such a frail-looking girl as she. Gurdijeff and Fengalon could say nothing either, because they believed she was telling them the truth. They knew she would fight to the dying breath to protect the land. Moa Gault's brightly flaming body had now dimmed, signaling he had calmed and taken control of his emotions. There was now a fourth and final believer of the Innocent One among the Chieftain Guardians.
"Innocent One...wielder of the light...you are indeed powerful.", Fengalon offered.
Moa Gault conceded and accepted her strength. "Fengalon is correct. You do have the strength of light within you. You would be willing to give your life for our lovely world...and you are so incredibly passionate about your destiny." His flaming body lit up in a soft glow, indicating his content and pleasure with the decision. "So it shall be. You may call on me anytime to aid you in your quest."
"Cecilia...sorceress...", Gurdijeff whispered. "You now have the full support of the Chieftain Guardians of Past. We all have an unwavering faith in you. We all...believe in you and your powers. You proved that to all of us just now." The tiger and firebird Guardians faded away, leaving the earth Guardian remaining alone in the void-space with Jack and Cecilia. "Earth, wind, fire, water...all of us will struggle to protect Filgaia from the evil minions that threaten to annihilate this present and the future." Gurdijeff faded away like his brothers had before him, but not without leaving a final message for the sorceress.
"Save the light...you are mighty. You are...the Innocent One..."
With that, a bright light enveloped the two travelers and whisked them away from the void-space, hurtling them into an unknown time and destination.
~~~~~~~~~~
In an unknown land...in an unknown time...and in an unknown life, strange and meticulous things were taking place. The air seemed thicker than usual. The birds flew in a different direction. People were more prone to accidents and to breaking out into full-on rage. In this realm, strange and unnatural forces schemed and plotted on how to raze the world in a raging fit of fire and brimstone. Unknown and unusual forces...doing the deeds of the Devil. What was once thought to be truth is but a lie. Now and forever it shall be, as an unknown mass washed up onto a small beach on a mysterious and foreign land. This mass was not mobile, and it certainly didn't look to be living.
In fact, maybe it was never living in the first place. What was once thought to be a lie is truth now...
But perhaps it was nothing. This mysterious matter that appeared on the sandy rim of the island may have been nothing more than the bow of a crashed ship. Perhaps this large ornament escaped the fate of the rest of its body and washed up ashore, waiting for any passers-by to discover and salvage it for gella. Then this person would be able to feed his or her family for weeks without returning to a stressful job as a fish merchant, selling unsavory and rotten carp from the Outer Sea.
But in fact, it wasn't the bow of a ship. It was the body of a unknown blue-haired man.
A young girl and an old man were coming back from the Sacred Shrine, exhausted from their day-long prayer session to the Guardians. The young girl wished to stop by the beach on the way back home to their village. The older man agreed, saying it would be nice to feel the breeze of the ocean winds on his wrinkled, balding head again. They both took a detour to the beach south of the village and relaxed on a large rock jutting out of the cool white sands. They began to reminiscence about his childhood, and about his mother's exquisite cooking.
"Grandpa, was my great-grandma's cooking really that good?"
"It sure was, honey. There's nothing like the taste of a good homemade meal..."
"Really?", the girl asked quizzically. "Why won't you cook for me, Grandpa?"
"Well, honey...my brittle old hands can't cook worth a gella."
"I could help you!", the girl suggested with glee.
"Well, that would be nice. What would you want to eat?"
"Well...maybe some chili!"
"Heh-heh, chili, eh? You got it!"
"Yay! Grandpa!", the girl said as she hugged her relative.
"Now, you go out and play. I'll stay here and feel the ocean breeze."
"Okay! Bye!" The girl jumped off the large rock and ran towards the tide.
The elderly man sighed. "Kids...I still wish I was a kid..."
As the small child played near the ocean, the old man remained on the rock. He closed his eyes, feeling the cool and gentle breeze blowing over his head. He sat like this for a few minutes, when all of a sudden...
"Grandpa! Someone's hurt here!", the girl shouted from a distance.
The man quickly opened his eyes and responded. "Lilly? I'll be right there! Hold on!" He jumped off the rock and ran over to the little girl, who was kneeling over the soaked, pale and withered mass.
"Grandpa! Is he...dead?", Lilly asked in awe.
"Don't touch him, Lilly!", the man told his granddaughter.
"O-okay."
"Let's see here...he's so pale and wrinkled. He must've been in the ocean for weeks." He cradled the soaked lad in his arms.
"I hope he's okay...", the girl whispered.
"Me too.", the old man agreed. "He looks so sickly that~~"
As he said this, the fallen lad's arm came to life, twitching and shaking furiously. Both the girl and the man jumped back in shock. The downed man's arm continued to shake erratically, like it was possessed. Then a shock of electricity blasted out from the top of his head, frightening the two people watching it all. It then stopped, and for a minute the body didn't move anymore. But then the arm moved slowly. It raised up and grabbed at the air as if searching for something to grab a hold of. It found a small stone and grabbed onto it. The hand tightened its grip, crushing the stone into tiny pieces.
"Scary! Aaahhh!", the girl wailed.
"Run, Lilly! Get help from the village!", the old man ordered.
"But, Grandpa..."
"Go! Now! This young chap needs aid!"
"O-Okay."
The girl ran off northward toward the tiny village to seek out medical attention for the mysterious fallen stranger. As the man crawled slowly back over to the washed-up stranger to hold him, the arm began to relax again. Holding him in his arms and rocking back and forth, he looked to the sky and began to pray for his safety and well-being.
"Please, almighty Odoryuk...giver of life and vitality...save this poor soul from the malady that which he suffers under. Please snatch him from whatever corruption that taints his body and soul. Fill him with the light of ages...and the visions of life and strength. Please...save his life. Amen. As the old man concluded his prayer, he looked down and saw a sight that gave him a shock of his life.
The blue-haired lad was looking into his eyes, smiling.
~~~~~~~~~
Jack and Cecilia had come to after the light had temporarily knocked them unconscious. After being accepted by the remaining three Chieftain Guardians of Past, the duo were teleported to a strange and foreign place where they had never been before.
"Uuunghh...", Jack moaned as he got up, stumbling around clumsily. He walked over to get Cecilia up. "Cecilia...are you okay? You should get up..."
"Ugh...I...I feel so dizzy...", Cecil moaned as she got up in a daze.
Jack felt some slight motion in his left jacket pocket. "Hanpan...you all right in there?"
"Uh...y-yeah.", the wind mouse answered in a muffled voice. "I'm just a little...sick."
"Me too.", the young sorceress said. "But...where are we?"
"Don't know.", Jack responded. "That's our next goal. To find out where 'here' is."
"Easier said than done, Jack."
"I know."
As the two were about to leave, Hanpan noticed something on the ground where Cecilia was laying at. They were three flat egg-shaped stones with flame, wind and earth symbols engraved on them. "Uh...Cecilia...", Hanpan pointed out in his high-pitched voice. "I think you're forgetting something. Very important, even..." Cecilia turned around and looked down, seeing the flat stones with etched-in marks on them.
"Oh...oh my goodness! They're runes!"
"What exactly does this mean, Cecilia?", Jack asked with interest.
She turned to him in glee. "It means that they accept me! I was accepted by the Guardians! They've given me their blessing!"
"Hey! Way to go, Princess!", Jack exclaimed.
"Yeah, Cecilia! You really came through for us this time!", Hanpan added.
"Oh stop it, you two! You're embarrassing me!" Cecilia was visibly flushed.
The three had a brief little celebration, egging on the Princess and bolstering her ego. She was a little content to wallow in her success in obtaining the Guardians' help, but she knew that there was no time for a big celebration. The evil she swore she would vanquish someday had locked her completely inside of her destiny. Now there was no way out. No way out for the Innocent One. The trio left the plateau where they came to at and headed for a tiny village Jack spotted to the northwest while he scouted the surroundings. As they left, Cecilia just had one thought on her mind...
"Rudy...I wish you were here to support me. I don't think I can do this without you..."
~~~~~~~~~~
After washing up on the strange island, the mysterious person received immediate treatment at the nearby village. The local physicians and doctors noticed he didn't have any wounds or long-term scarring from his long stint in the ocean, and they all agreed it was rather peculiar that anyone could survive such a harrowing ordeal. But it was deemed nothing short of a miracle when the lad rose from his bed the very next day and was acting fully functional, completely aware of his surroundings and able to walk around with ease. The doctors in this town have had many people wash up ashore, and typically they end up dying in bed or they don't ever fully recover. But this was different. This time the victim was up and running around in less than a day. No one had ever seen such a miraculous recovery in a situation like this. But the doctors didn't think anything of it. They were just happy that he survived and that there were no long-lasting effects. Besides, this was a simple, down-to-earth village where everyone knew everyone. This was the village of orphans and folks who were running from the monsters. The name of the place...was Court Seim.
Rudy Roughnight headed toward the big mansion where he was summoned to. As he was about to knock on the front door, it flung wide open. A loud woman, fully dressed down in pink, came out yelling.
"Aah! Damnit! It just wasn't enough this time! How will I feed all of the kids this time? Then a tall, brooding man with a deep baritone voice and short brown hair came out.
"Miss Jane, we will find a way. That is why I have an idea."
The long-haired blonde in pink turned to her counterpart. "Really, McDullen? How? Maybe I should start selling my body out on the street!" Her sarcasm and anger were painfully obvious to Rudy.
"No, Miss Jane. I have something that we could do to make a little more money. It's quite legitimate, I assure you."
"Really, McDullen? You're not pulling my chain or anything, are you?" Now she sounded interested in the proposal.
The man chuckled. "Yes, I'm very serious. I know someone in Saint Centour that says the city needs help in exterminating monsters. He says the job is very worthwhile and lucrative, but no one will take the job because the location is so deadly."
"And where would this particular job be located at?", she asked with a grin.
"It's a little place near Saint Centour called Cage Tower. I hear it's quite dangerous in there.
The woman with the bright blonde hair thought about it for a minute, then accepted the proposal. "Well, it looks like we don't have a choice, do we?"
"No, Miss Jane. We don't."
"How are we gonna get there? There're no ships around..."
"Relax, Miss Jane. I already had Mr. Maxwell charter a ship for us."
"Is that right?"
"Yes."
"Well then! Let's go!" The woman turned around in a hurry, not watching where she was going. She ran head-on into Rudy, knocking her off-balance. McDullen caught her before she fell over and placed her back on both feet. The catty woman got into the blue-haired lad's face.
"What the...! Watch where you're going, you goof! Sheesh!"
"I'm sorry...", Rudy apologized.
"Yeah, you should be! I almost fell over because I bumped into you!"
"Uh..."
"Goodness! Some people are just inconsiderate!"
Rudy sidestepped, letting the infuriated woman and her consort pass. They did, but the woman turned around and asked him a question afterwards.
"Hey...what are you doing just standing around here in front of the mansion anyway? No loitering allowed!
"I, um...somebody called me here. Someone called..." He pulled out a small sheet of paper with a name on it from his back pocket and read. "...Nicholi?"
The curly-haired blonde pointed to the door. "Well, go on in! I doubt he'll come out here to see YOU! Geez, if you're a guest, then you can just go in! No need to be all polite and crap!" She walked off in a huff, with her servant in tow behind her. As she walked off, Rudy could hear her saying something about him. "Wow, what a weirdo! ...But he is sort of good-looking." Rudy blushed and headed inside the large house.
The interior of the building was very plain. Small pictures of smiling children lined the walls. Rudy saw a picture sitting on a small table near the entrance of the woman and the man he had just met. A large painting of an old man hung over the doorway. Rudy looked up and thought he recognized the man in the painting. It looked like a reasonable facsimile of his dead father, Zepet. As he stood in the lobby and looked at it, he didn't notice someone had come up behind him.
"Hello, young man.", the strange person whispered in his ear. Rudy jumped, startled. He turned around to see a short man with small wire-frame glasses and shoulder-length brown hair. "Hello. My name is Nicholi. Nicholi Maxwell, founder of Court Seim. He extended his arm to shake his hand. Rudy accepted the offer. "Welcome to my little town. I heard you're the one who made the miraculous recovery after being washed up on the beach. It's truly amazing how you even survived. The doctors say you were in the water for at least three weeks."
"It seems like it was a miracle, sir."
"Well, I wouldn't disagree with you there."
Rudy smiled and glanced at the large portrait again. Nicholi noticed this and touched down on the subject. "Do you know who that is?", he asked.
"It looks like my father.", responded Rudy.
Nicholi looked at him curiously when he said that. "Your father?"
"Yes...it looks incredibly like him. Who is this in the picture?"
"That man...is a legend. He was famous the world over for his advances in ARMs management."
"ARMs?" Rudy remembered his ARM...the cannon he left behind when he left the kingdom. "I lost my ARM a long time ago, sir."
Nicholi was shocked to hear he could use an ARM. "You can use an ARM?"
"Yes.", Rudy responded to the question. "But it's gone now."
"Where? Where did you leave it?" The man with glasses had a stern look about him now.
"I...lost it."
"Where?"
"In Aldehyde."
"Aldehyde? You lost your ARM halfway across the world?"
"Well...I didn't lose it. I actually left it behind intentionally."
"What?!" He sounded appalled at the very thought. "Why?"
"I didn't want to fight anymore."
Nicholi was furious at him. But at the same time, he felt an aura of sorrow emanating from the young man. He asked him one final question. "Who are you?"
"I'm..."
"Yes?"
"I'm Rudy. Rudy Roughnight."
Nicholi's eyes widened when he heard this. "Roughnight? Your last name is Roughnight? You're lying! Lying, I say!"
"I don't lie."
"It has to be! You can't really be his..."
"Yes, I am. I have no reason to lie about it."
Nicholi paced back and forth on the lobby floor, trying to figure out this entire scenario. He then stopped, walking back down the hall from which he came. "Come with me. We need to talk." Rudy hesitantly went with him, unaware of what would take place next.
~~~~~~~~~
The nature-oriented people of Baskar...it consisted of a small society of people who had an advanced connection with the Guardians and a strong bond with the forces of nature. The Baskar clan were a deeply spiritual people who prayed and worshipped to the Chieftain Guardians of yore, and cultivated the land in honor of life and prosperity of nature. They were unwise to the ways of technology, however, and actively shunned any advance towards such an existence. Living on the edge of the Outer Sea, they welcomed the traveling pair with open arms. Cecilia asked one of the greeters about the region, and where she could possibly contact the next Guardian.
"Excuse me, miss..." , Cecilia humbly asked a young woman. "Would you know where the Guardians dwell? I must contact them in order to save our fair Filgaia."
The woman looked at her strangely. "Guardians? You know about the Guardians?"
"Yes, I do. What, do you know about Guardians as well?"
The lady bowed and kindly answered her question. "Yes. We here in Baskar Village pray to and worship the gods of ancient times. The Guardians are still alive today in this realm, but I sense they are losing their energy quickly." She went on to talk about certain changes in the surrounding region and how these changes may have been caused by evil forces. "Our animals and plants are slowly dying...like something is sapping away at the Guardians' energy. If that happens, the world itself begins to weaken. And if the flow of energy from the Guardians to the land completely vanishes, Filgaia will die out."
The silent swordsman decided to interrupt. "I guess the Tear Drop is hard at work..."
Cecilia replied. "Yes...my mother's heirloom. How could it be used for evil...?"
The lady suggested that if they wanted to know more about the Guardians and the withering of the surrounding nature that they go talk to the Baskar Chief. "It's the house in the middle of the village. Please, I'll show you there." They kindly accepted her offer and followed her.
The Baskar Chief's house was made mainly of brick and mud, with a few tribal decorations hanging on the walls. There was the stuffed head of a buck and the head of a bear hanging over the doorway, and the rugs were made completely of animal fur. There was also a large, white dog laying in the corner, right next to where the Chief himself was sitting. As he sat there on the fur rug smoking a long wooden pipe, he laughed heartily and welcomed the two visitors into his home. He had a
"Ho-ho-ho-ho! Welcome! Welcome, one and all! Young girl, you must be the one spoke about in my visions."
Cecilia looked at the old jovial man with surprise. "You knew I was coming here?"
"Ho-ho-ho-ho! Of course, girl! Gurdijeff told of your arrival into our humble land."
"Oh...I see."
The Baskar Chief motioned for Jack and the Princess to sit down and make themselves comfortable. One of the Chief's helpers unfolded and placed a bearskin rug onto the wooden-planked floor, allowing them to sit down. He then bowed and left the room. The Chief began to ask about the young lady's travels, and how she would defeat the evil.
"You are called the 'Shaman of the Light' in my visions. Gurdijeff told of your arrival here in our little village. But I would like to know where you come from."
"Well...", Cecilia said. "I come from a kingdom called Aldehyde."
"I see, I see...very good. That is very good. You have the Tear Drop?"
"I'm sorry, Chief. But the evil I must crush has the Tear Drop." Cecilia hung her head.
"Hmm, this is very unfortunate for the land. If the source of life for the gods is in the hands of darkness, then they will most certainly die out. Now I know why our crops have been withering up and why our animals have been dying."
Cecilia apologized again. "I'm sorry, Baskar Chief..."
"It is all right.", he reassured her. "You may still collapse their plans. There is sill a way."
"Really?", the girl wondered. "How?"
"Well, it will not be easy."
"I can accept that. Can't you, Jack?"
Jack looked up from the rug. "Oh, uh...yeah. I can do anything."
"See, Chief? We'll save Filgaia from the evil, no matter what it takes."
"Hmm...well you are our only hope now. Perhaps you can do it." The Baskar Chief stood up and paced around near the sleeping dog. "If you did not know already, the enemies that threaten our world want desperately to release the Demon Queen from her prison."
Jack asked curiously. "Demon Queen?"
"Yes.", the tribal leader answered. "You see, the Demon Queen once before tried to take over this planet. With the help of her children, she and her minions fought to conquer it continent by continent. Approaching the point where they could no longer avoid the conflict, the Humans and the Elws joined forces to combat the oncoming horde.
"...Elws? What is an Elw?", Cecilia asked with interest.
Jack interrupted with some input of his own. "Hey! I remember seeing an Elw! It was only a image of an Elw and not a real one, but it was strange. It spoke directly into my mind! This was at the Memory Temple, before I even met you, Cecilia..."
"Oh, I remember now!", replied the girl. "The Memory Temple must've been an ancient ruin that the Elw used. Hmm..."
"Yeah.", agreed the swordsman. "But the Elw also gave me a warning. About not seeking Lolithia."
"And we unearthed Lolithia for the Ruin Festival..."
"Yeah. That was probably our mistake, not listening to what the Elw had to say..."
"But could your destiny have been changed if you didn't explore the temple?", Cecilia countered. "Maybe if you hadn't gone into there in the first place..."
"Nah, I would've gone to Aldehyde even if I didn't explore the temple."
"Perhaps you're right..."
The Chief of Baskar cleared his throat. "Ahem!" Both Cecilia and Jack stopped talking and let him continue his story. "So anyway...the Elws and the Humans could not afford to ignore the situation. Realizing the strength and mightiness of the Demon Queen and her horde, they knew that they needed an extra boost of power to stand a chance against them. This is where what you call the 'Golems' come into play.
"Oh, the Golems...", Cecilia gasped.
"Who built those big machines anyway?", Jack asked the man.
"The Elws built them.", he answered. "The Elws themselves were quite an advanced people. They discovered the secret of how to combine technology and magic, creating superior magical machines to help them destroy the vile minions bent on takeover.
"Ah, I see...", Jack replied. "So the Elw told me not to look for his machines. Lolithia was a tool of war, not a relic to be displayed in a festival."
The Baskar Chief continued on. "The demons fought the Humans and the Elws, along with the introduction of Golems into the battle. With this new advancement in weaponry, it seemed assured that the natives of Filgaia would rise up as the clear-cut winners in this war. But something unexpected happened. They began to develop weapons using the same technology that the Elws primarily used in the war.
"What? How did they do that?", Cecilia asked.
"To this day, I have no idea. It's been rumored that an Elw betrayed his people and aided the Demon Race in building golems and other sorcery-laced machines, but no one could prove it. Anyway, continuing on...with the rise in power of the demons, the Elws and the Humans would not stand a chance against them. Many villages and towns were burned to the ground and reduced to rubble in the oncoming days of battle. Entire kingdoms fell overnight. Even the mighty Arctica, land of cold and warriors, could not quell the destruction.
"..." Jack turned his head away, wincing at his words.
"What happened then, Baskar Chief?", the girl asked.
"Well," he continued on. "Things looked bleak for the inhabitants of Filgaia. It almost seemed assured that the Demon Queen and her horde of minions would take over the world. But then...a truly miraculous think took place."
"And that is..." Jack asked.
"The appearance of the Guardians.", the chief stated.
"Wow...Guardians..." Cecilia gasped.
"So they helped out in the war, eh? Pretty good.", Jack chimed in.
"Yes, they greatly helped us in our time of need. If it weren't for the Guardians, Filgaia might not have been here for us today. With the appearance of the Guardians, the shift of power in the war greatly changed sides. The Elws and Humans felt energized and fought bravely on the battlefield. Soon, the Demon Queen was fearing for her life and her safety. She could not resist the combined power of all three forces anymore. But she made the critical mistake of fighting on. The Humans and the Elws destroyed her, cut out her heart, and cut it into three pieces. And with the aid of the Guardians, they sealed the Queen's heart in three separate statues imbued with a Guardian's power."
"Her heart?", asked the Princess.
"Yes, her heart."
"Oh I see..."
"So that is the story of the Guardian War," the Baskar Chief summed up. "The war ended with the death of the Demon Queen and the retreat of the remaining monsters. The people of Filgaia were devastated as well, but we made a rebound into what you see today. But..."
"Hmm? But what?", she asked.
The Baskar Chief sighed. "It seems that it may not have truly ended there. Let me tell you something. The reason of your journey is to finish off the Demon Queen. Her remaining children are working to destroy the Guardian statues and collect the three pieces of her heart to revive her. If that happens, the world may..."
"...?" Cecilia looked puzzled.
"May what? What will happen?", Jack asked with intent.
"...I do not know for sure. But it may be catastrophic. So that is why you must go north to Zenom Mountain."
"Zenom Mountain?", asked Cecilia
"Yes. There is rumored to be a Guardian statue on that mountain containing a piece of the Demon Queen's heart. You must go there, extract the Guardian's power from that statue, and permanently destroy that piece forever. Can you do it?"
"Yes!", exclaimed the Princess. "We can do it!"
"Of course we can. I won't give up now!", said the swordsman.
"Very good. Remember, the mountain is far north of the village. You can't miss it. If you would like to rest here until tomorrow, that is fine with me."
"Please. We would appreciate that.", Cecilia said with a courteous smile.
"Very well. The beds are over there. You can go tomorrow morning. Get a good night's rest until then."
~~~~~~~~~~
It had been two days since Rudy talked with Nicholi about his past with Zepet Roughnight. They talked all through the night and compared points of view from their meetings and experiences with the old ARMs meister. It took a lot of talking and comparing of stories and pasts, but Nicholi eventually broke down and conceded that Rudy was indeed the son of Zepet. He then filled him in on what his father's occupation and field of study was. Nicholi told him of his father's works, including how he was the first person ever to use ARMs successfully without any side effects. He then told him of massive project that Zepet nearly finished but didn't before he died. Nicholi gave Rudy a rowboat and told him to go out to a small island on the outskirts of the main island. There, he said, he may find some clues about his past and his father. And he also wanted desperately to know who the third figure in his dream was.
The Epitaph Of The Sea...an unfinished tower used to experiment with flying machines and used to test out prototype ARMs. Rudy felt a biting chill when he firs opened the large steel doors and stepped inside. It was quite windy and wet inside, with discolored and rusted machinery sitting around. The walls and floors had moss growing on them.
"Gee...this place hasn't been used for a while.", Rudy told himself aloud. "I guess I should explore...but I should also watch out for monsters." He began to look around the place, finding more broken and rusted machinery. Many of the small rooms contained broken machines and rats. One room had what looked to be a broken ARM.
"I wish I had my cannon...", he thought to himself.
About three hours later, Rudy was near the top of the tower. There were very few rooms lined up on opposite ends of a short and small hallway. He went inside the first room to the left and found it filled with books. The walls were completely aligned with bookshelves, filled with books on a number of different issues.
"Aviation And Its Purposes, Psychic Synchronization Of ARMs, Metal Alloys...hmm, this truly is a warehouse of knowledge.", he said to himself as he looked onto a different bookshelf. There was one book that stood out on the final bookshelf. It was partially hanging off the side. Rudy walked over and picked it up, looking at the cover.
"...Erotica?" Rudy flipped through a few of the pages. He saw something that made him blush, and he quickly put the book back in its original place. "Err...that's not what I'm looking for. He left the room, looking elsewhere for information. The second room had a lot of laboratory equipment and vials. Rudy walked over to a table on the opposite side of the room, examining it with intent. It looked so familiar to him, but he couldn't put his finger on why it did. Then he had a quick flashback.
~~~~~~~~~~
"...Is he functioning?"
"No, not yet. We need more Bio-Prism."
"What do you mean? Didn't we have enough to begin with?"
"I thought we had. Turns out it absorbed more then I thought."
"How much? Is he that powerful?"
"Seems so. It has advanced capabilities, far greater than any I've seen before."
"How is he that powerful? Explain!"
~~~~~~~~~~
"Aaghh... it can't be. It just can't!", Rudy winced, holding his face in his hands. "Could I have been...the one laying on this table? It just seems...so crazy. Why, father?" Rudy then noticed a large broken tube near the table with some writing on it. He got in closer, trying to read the faint writing on the label. What it said shocked him
"Bio...Bio-Prism?" He backed up a little, feeling numb. "Bio-Prism? Is this...?" As he continued to back up, he unknowingly bumped into a bookcase that was behind him, knocking a small brown-colored book off the shelf. He hesitantly picked it up, afraid of any other revelations that would destroy him. He looked at the cover, reading the title of the book aloud.
"...Metal Bird. Hmm...what could this be?" He flipped through a few of the pages, reading some of the content. "The test was a failure. Flying machine 'Garuda Mk-110' crashed 4.2 minutes after it left the ground. The test pilot, Samuel, died in the crash. Now I have the terrible burden of informing his family..." Rudy flipped through the book some more, landing an a page near the end. "Final test of combining magic-laced technology and ARMs is about to go underway. I have enlisted the help of a prominent scientist named Vassim to help in the work. If this succeeds, we will spearhead a new wave of fighting machines...a new breed of destructive power..."
Rudy shut the book instantly, like a reflex, shoving it back in the bookcase. He collapsed to the ground, unable to deal with this recent revelation about himself. "It is true...I'm not human. I'm not." He silently sobbed, wishing it weren't true. He knew that he wasn't human even before he read the passage, but now that it was proven beyond a doubt it just hit him harder. Wiping the tears away from his eyes, he saw a tiny slip of folded paper on the ground before him. He picked it up, reading the one word that was scribbled onto it.
"...Emiko?" He didn't understand what the word meant.
It had been nearly a month since that fateful and unforgettable night that Cecilia, Jack and Hanpan lost their beloved friend and ally. Neither of the three could figure out what exactly he meant by 'not being human', or being a 'killing machine'. The others believed him to be a gentle and good-natured man, if anything. To go out of his way to help a village in need was not a trait that a 'killing machine' exhibited, they concluded. But it still nagged at them. What about his past, if any, would depress him so much that he would walk directly into the ocean to suffer a cold and dreadful demise? What could drive any person to give their very being up in a manner such as this? After it happened, theories and questions racked their minds about 'why'. Why did he purposefully forfeit himself to the sea? If only they knew about his origins...about the very fabric that young man was carved out of. If they only knew he was a Holmcross...
But they would never know now. He was dead. Gone to the bottom of the sea.
~~~~~~~~~~
Princess Cecilia and Jack Van Burace had undergone the Trials Of Past in the Guardian Shrine and acquired the powers of Gurdijeff, Fengalon, Moa Gault and Stoldark, the four Chieftain Guardians of Past. Stoldark acted as the trigger of destiny in the girl's life. She had already gained the faith and trust of the mighty water Guardian when she saved her from the wretched confines of the monster Nelgaul's twisted prison inside of a cursed book. That is when she learned of her fate, and how she had to proceed to the Guardian Shrine to undergo the trials. It was not easy, however, as the remaining three were quite skeptical of how the Innocent One could crush the evil now, especially without the Tear Drop in her possession. The Tear Drop was not only the national treasure of Aldehyde, but a well-cherished family heirloom passed down through each generation of female members of the royal family. An ordinary jewel to some, but the inner strength that it housed was beyond the comprehension of many. Able to purify even the darkest of evils, this tool was the source of power that the Guardians took their nourishment from, and which they gave to Filgaia to maintain light and harmony. But now their very core was being dirtied and corrupted at the hands of darkness. And each Guardian felt their power slipping as the world slowly drifted into death. So to test the mettle of the Innocent One and her consort, they both underwent the Trials Of Past. And then...
"Please, lend us your strength to save Filgaia!", Cecilia begged. "There is still hope left!"
"Is there?", Moa Gault countered. "Do you know why we are getting weaker, girl?"
"Our strength...our powers are fading into the hands of evil.", Fengalon stated.
"Innocent One, we want to give you our powers." Gurdijeff said. "You must be strong."
"I am strong! What do you mean, Gurdijeff? I want to help the world and its inhabitants."
"Want is not enough, young sorceress. You must 'need' to help Filgaia."
"But...I do! That's why~~"
Moa Gault interrupted. "Foolish girl! You still fail to see our point! Darkness comes!"
Fengalon responded. "Moa Gault, there is no need to be this harsh with the girl."
"Our survival is at stake, Brother Fengalon! Can this weak girl and her man save Filgaia?"
"I sense she wants desperately to help. Maybe her convictions are true as light."
"Maybe so. But if she is weak and desperate, she will stumble easily!"
"Silence!" Gurdijeff roared. "We must be united and strong in dire times such as this!" The two Guardians spoke no more at his command. "Innocent One, I must take consideration in heart for the future of the land. Moa Gault has a fine method in saying you may not be strong enough to be the sorceress of the light. Can you prove it to us that you will dispel the evil looming in the shadows?"
Cecilia slumped to the ground, clutching her chest and crying. She was upset that she couldn't enlist the services of the Guardians to help combat this terror that threatened the life of the planet. She felt powerless before the gods before her. Jack tried to comfort her, but she pushed him away.
"Can you see? Do you see this, my brothers?", Moa Gault hissed. "She is but a weak girl! She could not possibly hope to save Filgaia!" The flaming body of the Guardian grew even brighter as his disgust for the girl went to never heights. "I told you! This wench could never reclaim the Tear Drop! We must act now, before it is too late!"
"H...How dare you.", was Cecilia's reply.
"What, girl?"
"I can help Filgaia. I know I can. Don't you DARE tell me I'm powerless."
Moa Gault was surprised and amused at this latest outburst of emotion. The others had decided to let their brother continue. He decided to lure her along in the hopes that he could break her spirit once again. "Little sorceress...are you trying to challenge the will of a god?"
"I will challenge you if it means I can save Filgaia in the process."
"Is that so? What use is a dead sorceress to our dying world?"
"No use. Even I know that.", she strongly countered. "But my love for Filgaia will empower me. I'll fight to my last breath if it means that I can save this fine land. And you will lend me your aid to help vanquish the oncoming destructive force that looms over us even as we speak. If you refuse my advances, you yourself are nothing more than a wretched cog in the machinery of treachery."
Moa Gault was stunned into silence. He had never expected such vigor and forcefulness from such a frail-looking girl as she. Gurdijeff and Fengalon could say nothing either, because they believed she was telling them the truth. They knew she would fight to the dying breath to protect the land. Moa Gault's brightly flaming body had now dimmed, signaling he had calmed and taken control of his emotions. There was now a fourth and final believer of the Innocent One among the Chieftain Guardians.
"Innocent One...wielder of the light...you are indeed powerful.", Fengalon offered.
Moa Gault conceded and accepted her strength. "Fengalon is correct. You do have the strength of light within you. You would be willing to give your life for our lovely world...and you are so incredibly passionate about your destiny." His flaming body lit up in a soft glow, indicating his content and pleasure with the decision. "So it shall be. You may call on me anytime to aid you in your quest."
"Cecilia...sorceress...", Gurdijeff whispered. "You now have the full support of the Chieftain Guardians of Past. We all have an unwavering faith in you. We all...believe in you and your powers. You proved that to all of us just now." The tiger and firebird Guardians faded away, leaving the earth Guardian remaining alone in the void-space with Jack and Cecilia. "Earth, wind, fire, water...all of us will struggle to protect Filgaia from the evil minions that threaten to annihilate this present and the future." Gurdijeff faded away like his brothers had before him, but not without leaving a final message for the sorceress.
"Save the light...you are mighty. You are...the Innocent One..."
With that, a bright light enveloped the two travelers and whisked them away from the void-space, hurtling them into an unknown time and destination.
~~~~~~~~~~
In an unknown land...in an unknown time...and in an unknown life, strange and meticulous things were taking place. The air seemed thicker than usual. The birds flew in a different direction. People were more prone to accidents and to breaking out into full-on rage. In this realm, strange and unnatural forces schemed and plotted on how to raze the world in a raging fit of fire and brimstone. Unknown and unusual forces...doing the deeds of the Devil. What was once thought to be truth is but a lie. Now and forever it shall be, as an unknown mass washed up onto a small beach on a mysterious and foreign land. This mass was not mobile, and it certainly didn't look to be living.
In fact, maybe it was never living in the first place. What was once thought to be a lie is truth now...
But perhaps it was nothing. This mysterious matter that appeared on the sandy rim of the island may have been nothing more than the bow of a crashed ship. Perhaps this large ornament escaped the fate of the rest of its body and washed up ashore, waiting for any passers-by to discover and salvage it for gella. Then this person would be able to feed his or her family for weeks without returning to a stressful job as a fish merchant, selling unsavory and rotten carp from the Outer Sea.
But in fact, it wasn't the bow of a ship. It was the body of a unknown blue-haired man.
A young girl and an old man were coming back from the Sacred Shrine, exhausted from their day-long prayer session to the Guardians. The young girl wished to stop by the beach on the way back home to their village. The older man agreed, saying it would be nice to feel the breeze of the ocean winds on his wrinkled, balding head again. They both took a detour to the beach south of the village and relaxed on a large rock jutting out of the cool white sands. They began to reminiscence about his childhood, and about his mother's exquisite cooking.
"Grandpa, was my great-grandma's cooking really that good?"
"It sure was, honey. There's nothing like the taste of a good homemade meal..."
"Really?", the girl asked quizzically. "Why won't you cook for me, Grandpa?"
"Well, honey...my brittle old hands can't cook worth a gella."
"I could help you!", the girl suggested with glee.
"Well, that would be nice. What would you want to eat?"
"Well...maybe some chili!"
"Heh-heh, chili, eh? You got it!"
"Yay! Grandpa!", the girl said as she hugged her relative.
"Now, you go out and play. I'll stay here and feel the ocean breeze."
"Okay! Bye!" The girl jumped off the large rock and ran towards the tide.
The elderly man sighed. "Kids...I still wish I was a kid..."
As the small child played near the ocean, the old man remained on the rock. He closed his eyes, feeling the cool and gentle breeze blowing over his head. He sat like this for a few minutes, when all of a sudden...
"Grandpa! Someone's hurt here!", the girl shouted from a distance.
The man quickly opened his eyes and responded. "Lilly? I'll be right there! Hold on!" He jumped off the rock and ran over to the little girl, who was kneeling over the soaked, pale and withered mass.
"Grandpa! Is he...dead?", Lilly asked in awe.
"Don't touch him, Lilly!", the man told his granddaughter.
"O-okay."
"Let's see here...he's so pale and wrinkled. He must've been in the ocean for weeks." He cradled the soaked lad in his arms.
"I hope he's okay...", the girl whispered.
"Me too.", the old man agreed. "He looks so sickly that~~"
As he said this, the fallen lad's arm came to life, twitching and shaking furiously. Both the girl and the man jumped back in shock. The downed man's arm continued to shake erratically, like it was possessed. Then a shock of electricity blasted out from the top of his head, frightening the two people watching it all. It then stopped, and for a minute the body didn't move anymore. But then the arm moved slowly. It raised up and grabbed at the air as if searching for something to grab a hold of. It found a small stone and grabbed onto it. The hand tightened its grip, crushing the stone into tiny pieces.
"Scary! Aaahhh!", the girl wailed.
"Run, Lilly! Get help from the village!", the old man ordered.
"But, Grandpa..."
"Go! Now! This young chap needs aid!"
"O-Okay."
The girl ran off northward toward the tiny village to seek out medical attention for the mysterious fallen stranger. As the man crawled slowly back over to the washed-up stranger to hold him, the arm began to relax again. Holding him in his arms and rocking back and forth, he looked to the sky and began to pray for his safety and well-being.
"Please, almighty Odoryuk...giver of life and vitality...save this poor soul from the malady that which he suffers under. Please snatch him from whatever corruption that taints his body and soul. Fill him with the light of ages...and the visions of life and strength. Please...save his life. Amen. As the old man concluded his prayer, he looked down and saw a sight that gave him a shock of his life.
The blue-haired lad was looking into his eyes, smiling.
~~~~~~~~~
Jack and Cecilia had come to after the light had temporarily knocked them unconscious. After being accepted by the remaining three Chieftain Guardians of Past, the duo were teleported to a strange and foreign place where they had never been before.
"Uuunghh...", Jack moaned as he got up, stumbling around clumsily. He walked over to get Cecilia up. "Cecilia...are you okay? You should get up..."
"Ugh...I...I feel so dizzy...", Cecil moaned as she got up in a daze.
Jack felt some slight motion in his left jacket pocket. "Hanpan...you all right in there?"
"Uh...y-yeah.", the wind mouse answered in a muffled voice. "I'm just a little...sick."
"Me too.", the young sorceress said. "But...where are we?"
"Don't know.", Jack responded. "That's our next goal. To find out where 'here' is."
"Easier said than done, Jack."
"I know."
As the two were about to leave, Hanpan noticed something on the ground where Cecilia was laying at. They were three flat egg-shaped stones with flame, wind and earth symbols engraved on them. "Uh...Cecilia...", Hanpan pointed out in his high-pitched voice. "I think you're forgetting something. Very important, even..." Cecilia turned around and looked down, seeing the flat stones with etched-in marks on them.
"Oh...oh my goodness! They're runes!"
"What exactly does this mean, Cecilia?", Jack asked with interest.
She turned to him in glee. "It means that they accept me! I was accepted by the Guardians! They've given me their blessing!"
"Hey! Way to go, Princess!", Jack exclaimed.
"Yeah, Cecilia! You really came through for us this time!", Hanpan added.
"Oh stop it, you two! You're embarrassing me!" Cecilia was visibly flushed.
The three had a brief little celebration, egging on the Princess and bolstering her ego. She was a little content to wallow in her success in obtaining the Guardians' help, but she knew that there was no time for a big celebration. The evil she swore she would vanquish someday had locked her completely inside of her destiny. Now there was no way out. No way out for the Innocent One. The trio left the plateau where they came to at and headed for a tiny village Jack spotted to the northwest while he scouted the surroundings. As they left, Cecilia just had one thought on her mind...
"Rudy...I wish you were here to support me. I don't think I can do this without you..."
~~~~~~~~~~
After washing up on the strange island, the mysterious person received immediate treatment at the nearby village. The local physicians and doctors noticed he didn't have any wounds or long-term scarring from his long stint in the ocean, and they all agreed it was rather peculiar that anyone could survive such a harrowing ordeal. But it was deemed nothing short of a miracle when the lad rose from his bed the very next day and was acting fully functional, completely aware of his surroundings and able to walk around with ease. The doctors in this town have had many people wash up ashore, and typically they end up dying in bed or they don't ever fully recover. But this was different. This time the victim was up and running around in less than a day. No one had ever seen such a miraculous recovery in a situation like this. But the doctors didn't think anything of it. They were just happy that he survived and that there were no long-lasting effects. Besides, this was a simple, down-to-earth village where everyone knew everyone. This was the village of orphans and folks who were running from the monsters. The name of the place...was Court Seim.
Rudy Roughnight headed toward the big mansion where he was summoned to. As he was about to knock on the front door, it flung wide open. A loud woman, fully dressed down in pink, came out yelling.
"Aah! Damnit! It just wasn't enough this time! How will I feed all of the kids this time? Then a tall, brooding man with a deep baritone voice and short brown hair came out.
"Miss Jane, we will find a way. That is why I have an idea."
The long-haired blonde in pink turned to her counterpart. "Really, McDullen? How? Maybe I should start selling my body out on the street!" Her sarcasm and anger were painfully obvious to Rudy.
"No, Miss Jane. I have something that we could do to make a little more money. It's quite legitimate, I assure you."
"Really, McDullen? You're not pulling my chain or anything, are you?" Now she sounded interested in the proposal.
The man chuckled. "Yes, I'm very serious. I know someone in Saint Centour that says the city needs help in exterminating monsters. He says the job is very worthwhile and lucrative, but no one will take the job because the location is so deadly."
"And where would this particular job be located at?", she asked with a grin.
"It's a little place near Saint Centour called Cage Tower. I hear it's quite dangerous in there.
The woman with the bright blonde hair thought about it for a minute, then accepted the proposal. "Well, it looks like we don't have a choice, do we?"
"No, Miss Jane. We don't."
"How are we gonna get there? There're no ships around..."
"Relax, Miss Jane. I already had Mr. Maxwell charter a ship for us."
"Is that right?"
"Yes."
"Well then! Let's go!" The woman turned around in a hurry, not watching where she was going. She ran head-on into Rudy, knocking her off-balance. McDullen caught her before she fell over and placed her back on both feet. The catty woman got into the blue-haired lad's face.
"What the...! Watch where you're going, you goof! Sheesh!"
"I'm sorry...", Rudy apologized.
"Yeah, you should be! I almost fell over because I bumped into you!"
"Uh..."
"Goodness! Some people are just inconsiderate!"
Rudy sidestepped, letting the infuriated woman and her consort pass. They did, but the woman turned around and asked him a question afterwards.
"Hey...what are you doing just standing around here in front of the mansion anyway? No loitering allowed!
"I, um...somebody called me here. Someone called..." He pulled out a small sheet of paper with a name on it from his back pocket and read. "...Nicholi?"
The curly-haired blonde pointed to the door. "Well, go on in! I doubt he'll come out here to see YOU! Geez, if you're a guest, then you can just go in! No need to be all polite and crap!" She walked off in a huff, with her servant in tow behind her. As she walked off, Rudy could hear her saying something about him. "Wow, what a weirdo! ...But he is sort of good-looking." Rudy blushed and headed inside the large house.
The interior of the building was very plain. Small pictures of smiling children lined the walls. Rudy saw a picture sitting on a small table near the entrance of the woman and the man he had just met. A large painting of an old man hung over the doorway. Rudy looked up and thought he recognized the man in the painting. It looked like a reasonable facsimile of his dead father, Zepet. As he stood in the lobby and looked at it, he didn't notice someone had come up behind him.
"Hello, young man.", the strange person whispered in his ear. Rudy jumped, startled. He turned around to see a short man with small wire-frame glasses and shoulder-length brown hair. "Hello. My name is Nicholi. Nicholi Maxwell, founder of Court Seim. He extended his arm to shake his hand. Rudy accepted the offer. "Welcome to my little town. I heard you're the one who made the miraculous recovery after being washed up on the beach. It's truly amazing how you even survived. The doctors say you were in the water for at least three weeks."
"It seems like it was a miracle, sir."
"Well, I wouldn't disagree with you there."
Rudy smiled and glanced at the large portrait again. Nicholi noticed this and touched down on the subject. "Do you know who that is?", he asked.
"It looks like my father.", responded Rudy.
Nicholi looked at him curiously when he said that. "Your father?"
"Yes...it looks incredibly like him. Who is this in the picture?"
"That man...is a legend. He was famous the world over for his advances in ARMs management."
"ARMs?" Rudy remembered his ARM...the cannon he left behind when he left the kingdom. "I lost my ARM a long time ago, sir."
Nicholi was shocked to hear he could use an ARM. "You can use an ARM?"
"Yes.", Rudy responded to the question. "But it's gone now."
"Where? Where did you leave it?" The man with glasses had a stern look about him now.
"I...lost it."
"Where?"
"In Aldehyde."
"Aldehyde? You lost your ARM halfway across the world?"
"Well...I didn't lose it. I actually left it behind intentionally."
"What?!" He sounded appalled at the very thought. "Why?"
"I didn't want to fight anymore."
Nicholi was furious at him. But at the same time, he felt an aura of sorrow emanating from the young man. He asked him one final question. "Who are you?"
"I'm..."
"Yes?"
"I'm Rudy. Rudy Roughnight."
Nicholi's eyes widened when he heard this. "Roughnight? Your last name is Roughnight? You're lying! Lying, I say!"
"I don't lie."
"It has to be! You can't really be his..."
"Yes, I am. I have no reason to lie about it."
Nicholi paced back and forth on the lobby floor, trying to figure out this entire scenario. He then stopped, walking back down the hall from which he came. "Come with me. We need to talk." Rudy hesitantly went with him, unaware of what would take place next.
~~~~~~~~~
The nature-oriented people of Baskar...it consisted of a small society of people who had an advanced connection with the Guardians and a strong bond with the forces of nature. The Baskar clan were a deeply spiritual people who prayed and worshipped to the Chieftain Guardians of yore, and cultivated the land in honor of life and prosperity of nature. They were unwise to the ways of technology, however, and actively shunned any advance towards such an existence. Living on the edge of the Outer Sea, they welcomed the traveling pair with open arms. Cecilia asked one of the greeters about the region, and where she could possibly contact the next Guardian.
"Excuse me, miss..." , Cecilia humbly asked a young woman. "Would you know where the Guardians dwell? I must contact them in order to save our fair Filgaia."
The woman looked at her strangely. "Guardians? You know about the Guardians?"
"Yes, I do. What, do you know about Guardians as well?"
The lady bowed and kindly answered her question. "Yes. We here in Baskar Village pray to and worship the gods of ancient times. The Guardians are still alive today in this realm, but I sense they are losing their energy quickly." She went on to talk about certain changes in the surrounding region and how these changes may have been caused by evil forces. "Our animals and plants are slowly dying...like something is sapping away at the Guardians' energy. If that happens, the world itself begins to weaken. And if the flow of energy from the Guardians to the land completely vanishes, Filgaia will die out."
The silent swordsman decided to interrupt. "I guess the Tear Drop is hard at work..."
Cecilia replied. "Yes...my mother's heirloom. How could it be used for evil...?"
The lady suggested that if they wanted to know more about the Guardians and the withering of the surrounding nature that they go talk to the Baskar Chief. "It's the house in the middle of the village. Please, I'll show you there." They kindly accepted her offer and followed her.
The Baskar Chief's house was made mainly of brick and mud, with a few tribal decorations hanging on the walls. There was the stuffed head of a buck and the head of a bear hanging over the doorway, and the rugs were made completely of animal fur. There was also a large, white dog laying in the corner, right next to where the Chief himself was sitting. As he sat there on the fur rug smoking a long wooden pipe, he laughed heartily and welcomed the two visitors into his home. He had a
"Ho-ho-ho-ho! Welcome! Welcome, one and all! Young girl, you must be the one spoke about in my visions."
Cecilia looked at the old jovial man with surprise. "You knew I was coming here?"
"Ho-ho-ho-ho! Of course, girl! Gurdijeff told of your arrival into our humble land."
"Oh...I see."
The Baskar Chief motioned for Jack and the Princess to sit down and make themselves comfortable. One of the Chief's helpers unfolded and placed a bearskin rug onto the wooden-planked floor, allowing them to sit down. He then bowed and left the room. The Chief began to ask about the young lady's travels, and how she would defeat the evil.
"You are called the 'Shaman of the Light' in my visions. Gurdijeff told of your arrival here in our little village. But I would like to know where you come from."
"Well...", Cecilia said. "I come from a kingdom called Aldehyde."
"I see, I see...very good. That is very good. You have the Tear Drop?"
"I'm sorry, Chief. But the evil I must crush has the Tear Drop." Cecilia hung her head.
"Hmm, this is very unfortunate for the land. If the source of life for the gods is in the hands of darkness, then they will most certainly die out. Now I know why our crops have been withering up and why our animals have been dying."
Cecilia apologized again. "I'm sorry, Baskar Chief..."
"It is all right.", he reassured her. "You may still collapse their plans. There is sill a way."
"Really?", the girl wondered. "How?"
"Well, it will not be easy."
"I can accept that. Can't you, Jack?"
Jack looked up from the rug. "Oh, uh...yeah. I can do anything."
"See, Chief? We'll save Filgaia from the evil, no matter what it takes."
"Hmm...well you are our only hope now. Perhaps you can do it." The Baskar Chief stood up and paced around near the sleeping dog. "If you did not know already, the enemies that threaten our world want desperately to release the Demon Queen from her prison."
Jack asked curiously. "Demon Queen?"
"Yes.", the tribal leader answered. "You see, the Demon Queen once before tried to take over this planet. With the help of her children, she and her minions fought to conquer it continent by continent. Approaching the point where they could no longer avoid the conflict, the Humans and the Elws joined forces to combat the oncoming horde.
"...Elws? What is an Elw?", Cecilia asked with interest.
Jack interrupted with some input of his own. "Hey! I remember seeing an Elw! It was only a image of an Elw and not a real one, but it was strange. It spoke directly into my mind! This was at the Memory Temple, before I even met you, Cecilia..."
"Oh, I remember now!", replied the girl. "The Memory Temple must've been an ancient ruin that the Elw used. Hmm..."
"Yeah.", agreed the swordsman. "But the Elw also gave me a warning. About not seeking Lolithia."
"And we unearthed Lolithia for the Ruin Festival..."
"Yeah. That was probably our mistake, not listening to what the Elw had to say..."
"But could your destiny have been changed if you didn't explore the temple?", Cecilia countered. "Maybe if you hadn't gone into there in the first place..."
"Nah, I would've gone to Aldehyde even if I didn't explore the temple."
"Perhaps you're right..."
The Chief of Baskar cleared his throat. "Ahem!" Both Cecilia and Jack stopped talking and let him continue his story. "So anyway...the Elws and the Humans could not afford to ignore the situation. Realizing the strength and mightiness of the Demon Queen and her horde, they knew that they needed an extra boost of power to stand a chance against them. This is where what you call the 'Golems' come into play.
"Oh, the Golems...", Cecilia gasped.
"Who built those big machines anyway?", Jack asked the man.
"The Elws built them.", he answered. "The Elws themselves were quite an advanced people. They discovered the secret of how to combine technology and magic, creating superior magical machines to help them destroy the vile minions bent on takeover.
"Ah, I see...", Jack replied. "So the Elw told me not to look for his machines. Lolithia was a tool of war, not a relic to be displayed in a festival."
The Baskar Chief continued on. "The demons fought the Humans and the Elws, along with the introduction of Golems into the battle. With this new advancement in weaponry, it seemed assured that the natives of Filgaia would rise up as the clear-cut winners in this war. But something unexpected happened. They began to develop weapons using the same technology that the Elws primarily used in the war.
"What? How did they do that?", Cecilia asked.
"To this day, I have no idea. It's been rumored that an Elw betrayed his people and aided the Demon Race in building golems and other sorcery-laced machines, but no one could prove it. Anyway, continuing on...with the rise in power of the demons, the Elws and the Humans would not stand a chance against them. Many villages and towns were burned to the ground and reduced to rubble in the oncoming days of battle. Entire kingdoms fell overnight. Even the mighty Arctica, land of cold and warriors, could not quell the destruction.
"..." Jack turned his head away, wincing at his words.
"What happened then, Baskar Chief?", the girl asked.
"Well," he continued on. "Things looked bleak for the inhabitants of Filgaia. It almost seemed assured that the Demon Queen and her horde of minions would take over the world. But then...a truly miraculous think took place."
"And that is..." Jack asked.
"The appearance of the Guardians.", the chief stated.
"Wow...Guardians..." Cecilia gasped.
"So they helped out in the war, eh? Pretty good.", Jack chimed in.
"Yes, they greatly helped us in our time of need. If it weren't for the Guardians, Filgaia might not have been here for us today. With the appearance of the Guardians, the shift of power in the war greatly changed sides. The Elws and Humans felt energized and fought bravely on the battlefield. Soon, the Demon Queen was fearing for her life and her safety. She could not resist the combined power of all three forces anymore. But she made the critical mistake of fighting on. The Humans and the Elws destroyed her, cut out her heart, and cut it into three pieces. And with the aid of the Guardians, they sealed the Queen's heart in three separate statues imbued with a Guardian's power."
"Her heart?", asked the Princess.
"Yes, her heart."
"Oh I see..."
"So that is the story of the Guardian War," the Baskar Chief summed up. "The war ended with the death of the Demon Queen and the retreat of the remaining monsters. The people of Filgaia were devastated as well, but we made a rebound into what you see today. But..."
"Hmm? But what?", she asked.
The Baskar Chief sighed. "It seems that it may not have truly ended there. Let me tell you something. The reason of your journey is to finish off the Demon Queen. Her remaining children are working to destroy the Guardian statues and collect the three pieces of her heart to revive her. If that happens, the world may..."
"...?" Cecilia looked puzzled.
"May what? What will happen?", Jack asked with intent.
"...I do not know for sure. But it may be catastrophic. So that is why you must go north to Zenom Mountain."
"Zenom Mountain?", asked Cecilia
"Yes. There is rumored to be a Guardian statue on that mountain containing a piece of the Demon Queen's heart. You must go there, extract the Guardian's power from that statue, and permanently destroy that piece forever. Can you do it?"
"Yes!", exclaimed the Princess. "We can do it!"
"Of course we can. I won't give up now!", said the swordsman.
"Very good. Remember, the mountain is far north of the village. You can't miss it. If you would like to rest here until tomorrow, that is fine with me."
"Please. We would appreciate that.", Cecilia said with a courteous smile.
"Very well. The beds are over there. You can go tomorrow morning. Get a good night's rest until then."
~~~~~~~~~~
It had been two days since Rudy talked with Nicholi about his past with Zepet Roughnight. They talked all through the night and compared points of view from their meetings and experiences with the old ARMs meister. It took a lot of talking and comparing of stories and pasts, but Nicholi eventually broke down and conceded that Rudy was indeed the son of Zepet. He then filled him in on what his father's occupation and field of study was. Nicholi told him of his father's works, including how he was the first person ever to use ARMs successfully without any side effects. He then told him of massive project that Zepet nearly finished but didn't before he died. Nicholi gave Rudy a rowboat and told him to go out to a small island on the outskirts of the main island. There, he said, he may find some clues about his past and his father. And he also wanted desperately to know who the third figure in his dream was.
The Epitaph Of The Sea...an unfinished tower used to experiment with flying machines and used to test out prototype ARMs. Rudy felt a biting chill when he firs opened the large steel doors and stepped inside. It was quite windy and wet inside, with discolored and rusted machinery sitting around. The walls and floors had moss growing on them.
"Gee...this place hasn't been used for a while.", Rudy told himself aloud. "I guess I should explore...but I should also watch out for monsters." He began to look around the place, finding more broken and rusted machinery. Many of the small rooms contained broken machines and rats. One room had what looked to be a broken ARM.
"I wish I had my cannon...", he thought to himself.
About three hours later, Rudy was near the top of the tower. There were very few rooms lined up on opposite ends of a short and small hallway. He went inside the first room to the left and found it filled with books. The walls were completely aligned with bookshelves, filled with books on a number of different issues.
"Aviation And Its Purposes, Psychic Synchronization Of ARMs, Metal Alloys...hmm, this truly is a warehouse of knowledge.", he said to himself as he looked onto a different bookshelf. There was one book that stood out on the final bookshelf. It was partially hanging off the side. Rudy walked over and picked it up, looking at the cover.
"...Erotica?" Rudy flipped through a few of the pages. He saw something that made him blush, and he quickly put the book back in its original place. "Err...that's not what I'm looking for. He left the room, looking elsewhere for information. The second room had a lot of laboratory equipment and vials. Rudy walked over to a table on the opposite side of the room, examining it with intent. It looked so familiar to him, but he couldn't put his finger on why it did. Then he had a quick flashback.
~~~~~~~~~~
"...Is he functioning?"
"No, not yet. We need more Bio-Prism."
"What do you mean? Didn't we have enough to begin with?"
"I thought we had. Turns out it absorbed more then I thought."
"How much? Is he that powerful?"
"Seems so. It has advanced capabilities, far greater than any I've seen before."
"How is he that powerful? Explain!"
~~~~~~~~~~
"Aaghh... it can't be. It just can't!", Rudy winced, holding his face in his hands. "Could I have been...the one laying on this table? It just seems...so crazy. Why, father?" Rudy then noticed a large broken tube near the table with some writing on it. He got in closer, trying to read the faint writing on the label. What it said shocked him
"Bio...Bio-Prism?" He backed up a little, feeling numb. "Bio-Prism? Is this...?" As he continued to back up, he unknowingly bumped into a bookcase that was behind him, knocking a small brown-colored book off the shelf. He hesitantly picked it up, afraid of any other revelations that would destroy him. He looked at the cover, reading the title of the book aloud.
"...Metal Bird. Hmm...what could this be?" He flipped through a few of the pages, reading some of the content. "The test was a failure. Flying machine 'Garuda Mk-110' crashed 4.2 minutes after it left the ground. The test pilot, Samuel, died in the crash. Now I have the terrible burden of informing his family..." Rudy flipped through the book some more, landing an a page near the end. "Final test of combining magic-laced technology and ARMs is about to go underway. I have enlisted the help of a prominent scientist named Vassim to help in the work. If this succeeds, we will spearhead a new wave of fighting machines...a new breed of destructive power..."
Rudy shut the book instantly, like a reflex, shoving it back in the bookcase. He collapsed to the ground, unable to deal with this recent revelation about himself. "It is true...I'm not human. I'm not." He silently sobbed, wishing it weren't true. He knew that he wasn't human even before he read the passage, but now that it was proven beyond a doubt it just hit him harder. Wiping the tears away from his eyes, he saw a tiny slip of folded paper on the ground before him. He picked it up, reading the one word that was scribbled onto it.
"...Emiko?" He didn't understand what the word meant.