Shining In The Darkness
A Tale of Sol and Luna
Chapter Four: Twins And Twilight
The corridor was completely dark, lacking even the light to accentuate the shadows. It was as though the Adepts had simply been robbed of sight, though given the options they might have considered this getting off easy. Isaac breathed deeply as he leaned against the smooth metal of the door, hoping they weren't trapped.
"Ow!"
"Was that your foot?"
"That was my neck!"
"Was that someone's foot?"
"I wish!" said Picard, and his voice sounded pressed somehow.
"This is ridiculous," said Jenna, somewhere in the dark. "Flare!" Nothing happened, except for a slight gasp elicited from Picard. "What the…" Jenna shook her head. "Flare!" Still not even a spark. There was the sound of breath being drawn in laboriously.
"Get off me, damn it!" shouted Picard. There was a sort of confusing stamping as everyone tried to get away from the enraged mariner. After a few seconds, Picard continued. "There's a Psyphon field up around the Lighthouse. It's an old Lemurian defence. Anyone who passes through a Psyphon has all their stored Psynergy torn away. We'll have to start recharging from nothing."
"Oh."
"What do we do, then? Wait?"
"I wouldn't mind a bit of healing, myself."
"If it were an option."
"What, we didn't bring any nuts or herbs or anything?"
"Not any that survived the acid."
"What about the Psy Crystals?"
"I wouldn't touch those if I were you. They're supposed to have a charge of Psynergy, and if it's used, they vanish. But going through a Psyphon and being drained, weird stuff happens," Picard warned them.
"How so?"
"Imagine your brain being sucked out your ankles."
"Ooh."
"And that's just what it would feel like. You don't want to know what would actually happen. You see, they'll try to draw Psynergy from you to regain their charge, but you don't have any either-"
"Please stop."
There was a brief silence while everyone considered what it would feel like to have your brain sucked out through your ankles.
"Let's find our way in, then."
"Which way is that?"
"Well, there's a door in one direction and walls on either side, so I'd say that way."
"Which way?"
"The way I'm point- oh, right."
"We could hold hands to stay together."
"I'd prefer it if Garet and Isaac stayed coherent."
"We could keep the four of them at opposite ends."
"We could stop making childish jokes, too."
"You have no sense of humour."
There was a sound like a match being lit, and a light in their midst, a few feet off the floor. It was simply a transparent glowing sphere, shining a soft pale light like a candle on them all.
"You could also follow me. That would likely be the best choice."
The Adepts looked at each other, just for the novelty of it. "Sounds reasonable," said Garet. This drew a few more complicated looks, some of which were perfect example of expressions translating directly into words, like 'Are you out of your mind?' "Well," he continued defensively, "it's not like we've ever met something else that looked like this and was evil. Besides, this is the sort of thing that's supposed to happen. Right when the heroes are doomed, they're rescued by some benevolent force. This is what I expected when we left to go get the Elemental Stars in the first place."
"I don't know. With a little light, this is sort of cosy," said Isaac. He looked at Mia. She looked back at him. He grinned. The temperature dipped noticeably.
"I wasn't suggesting that I could rescue you. But we might be able to help you rescue yourselves."
"Now it's getting mystic," said Jenna.
"Staying here, however, you will certainly not survive. The Lighthouse has many defenders, and you will not be able to defeat them as you are."
"All those who say we follow the cute little willowisp, don't take the time to talk," Felix ordered them.
"I will take you to my compatriots, and we shall see what we can do. Step softly, and do not speak unless it is absolutely necessary." Quietly, the Adepts rose to their sore feet and started down the hall, shrugging off exhaustion and the tingling pain of residual acid. The light danced through the air ahead of them, casting strange shadows. The walls appeared to be covered with murals, carved and shaped to perfect smoothness.
"Is it far?" asked Mia, who found the loss of her healing power unnerving.
"Not so much for one like me. For you who are slaves to gravity, perhaps longer."
"I think we were just collectively zinged," Ivan commented.
"Us and the rest of the species. Not to mention most animals," Picard added.
"My memory of the paths within this Lighthouse is imperfect. Come through here and we shall see what there is to be seen."
The light vanished through what seemed a solid wall, but before any of the Adepts could say anything it rose up, opening a way into a much larger and brighter room. They stepped through, cringing in the unexpected light and yet glad to throw off the shadows, and were amazed. After seeing four other Lighthouses and a number of temples, this was a considerable achievement.
The chamber was circular and quite wide at its base, likely more than a hundred yards across, but half a dozen times that in height, stretching upward until the top was barely noticeable. Everything was a shade of gold or silver, and a soft gold light shone from everywhere. The tower had a warm feeling- not of heat, but of safety and power beyond that of any small human.
Ledges circled around the walls, connected by stairs. Around the walls at each level doors opened off the ledges, entrances to the hundreds of chambers between the central well and the outer walls. In the middle of the chamber, a long spire extended from the very top, reaching down to only fifty or so feet from the smooth yellow marble of the floor. At the end of the tapering spire, a bright golden light glowed like a star, but cast no shadows.
Picard fell to a knee and crossed his arms over his chest, bowing his head, closing his eyes, and saying:
"Lift your eyes and see the glory
Where the circle of life is drawn
See the never-ending story
Come with me to the Gates of Dawn."
"Lemurian, there is more to you than I had first guessed," the light commented. "Few know the power that music has within this place." Picard stood again, looking sort of sheepish.
"I actually don't know what you mean. It's just a sort of old Lemurian… ritualish thing," he explained. He noticed the look Mia was giving him. "All right, I surrender! There's no need to turn my own looks against me." She did not relent. "I'm sorry already!"
"What's he talking about?" asked Isaac, and neither of them could keep from laughing. They stopped quite quickly when a strong voice -feminine, but forceful, like a slap with a gauntlet ringing melodically on your jaw- echoed off the walls from somewhere up above.
"Laughter? I'm getting used to ancient chattering, but laughter I find most suspicious," the voice commented. "Oh, how cute. Armor and everything. Come down here and take a look at the adventurers, brother. They're most amusing."
A bolt, not unlike lightning but far sleeker and spikier -not to mention pure black edged with darkest purple- struck the floor and shattered. From the Psynergy blast a figure formed, a young woman only a year or two younger than Isaac, who walked towards them with a liquid, lazy pace. She was dressed in every colour of the rainbow, but each such a dark shade that it looked like black.
Nearby, a sort of sparkling mist flew down to floor level and coalesced into a boy. Likely the same age as the girl, but with a softer face that suggested innocence. On the other hand, he wore an expression of boredom and arrogance underneath his crown of pale blonde hair. The boy walked up beside the girl, and his white robe shimmered in multicolours as it moved in the light, like a soap bubble.
"Them," said the boy, apparently called Orian, in a tone that said he not only knew who the Adepts were, but was not surprised to see them standing there in the hall of Sol Lighthouse.
"They're so cute," the girl commented again. "Burned and melted plates, drenched from head to toe, bleeding, bruised, and battered. And you're supposed to look like heroes?"
The Adepts noticed for the first time how ragged they appeared. Garet in particular studied them closely, then looked back at the girl. "What would you expect heroes to look like? Any armor that can take a polish probably isn't being used right."
"He has a certain persuasiveness to his argument," Orian admitted.
"Shut up, brother," she suggested sweetly.
"Whose tower are we in, Lycoris?" demanded Orian.
"Who got us in here?" she returned.
"How'd you do that, anyway?" asked Ivan.
"Oh, please. Sol Psynergy? Nothing to an Adept of the Moon, a mistress of Luna." Lycoris was quite pleased with the reaction she got. Dead, shocked silence from all of the Adepts except Picard, who simply looked disturbed, maybe even a little sickened. "What's wrong, Lemurian? You don't look well. Oh, of course. Your people don't like the idea of united Psynergy much, do you?"
"Not in one person," Picard replied. He seemed to be pushing something down, internally. "But I'm willing to be convinced otherwise. My name is Picard." He held out a hand.
"Don't call him Piers," Garet whispered loudly.
"If you don't mind, I'd prefer not to touch any of you," Lycoris replied. Picard looked down at his gloved hand, which was stickily stained burgundy with monster blood and dilute acid.
"I can understand that," he replied graciously.
"I think you misunderstood," Lycoris began.
"There's no need to be antagonising," Orian said, cutting her off.
"Oh, please. You're not going to say we should be pleasant to them as we're launching them into the depths of space," his sister shot back.
"What?" asked Mia, deadpan.
"Stop it, Lycoris. We can send them off peacefully enough."
"They'll come back."
"That's certainly true," Jenna added.
"Even the ditz agrees," said Lycoris, ignoring Jenna's exhalation of disapproval.
"She makes enemies like she's running out of time," Felix muttered to Isaac.
"They will get in the way," Lycoris continued.
"Our power far outweighs theirs," Orian returned. "Especially in this place. We can handle this without violence." Lycoris scoffed at her brother's naivete.
"Orian, you know the story. You know what happened to those of the Mars Clan who sought Alchemy. They're heroes. We remove them now or risk it all."
"What could the likes of us lose to them?"
"They could find a way. Even at the cost of their own lives, they could very well find a way to stop us, keep the Star from us forever. Heroes do that sort of thing, you know."
"I don't think I like being left out of this sort of conversation," said Ivan. "Doom and so forth."
Orian stared at the soft golden light glinting off the tiles of the floor. The others found their gazes drawn downwards as well, and they noticed that they could all be seen in perfect reflection.
"Now I'm really glad I left the battle skirt at home," Jenna whispered.
"Yes," Orian said at last. "Yes, I suppose you're right, in the end. At least let us be peaceful about it." Psynergy began to spark and flare in the air around them as a grin appeared on Lycoris' face. She raised a hand and the same sort of black lightning crackled out, wrapping around Isaac. Psynergy wracked him as the bolt lifted him off the ground. It trailed back to Lycoris' hand like a whip, and with a flick of her wrist she flung him across the chamber.
The others were armed before he was even off the ground, charging before he landed, and flying backwards in a heap as they were blasted with Sol Psynergy, just as Isaac hit the wall. Orian showed his distaste for the assault, but charged again for another Wracking Wave.
"Don't bother with it," said Lycoris as Isaac stood, leaning against the wall, trying to raise his sword in defence. Orian blasted the other Adepts again. "I won't enjoy this -well, not much- but there's no reason to make it harder on yourself. You can't stop Luna Psynergy. It is the void of all things. Your power will fall into its depths and never touch me."
"Not on this day, you abomination," declared the light point, appearing again, and there was a tone to its voice that said this was how the world was to be. The words were not mere words, they were a description of the future. It flew between Lycoris and Isaac, then unleashed a wide ray of light that blasted the girl off her feet. A swarm of the fairy lights seemed to be pestering Orian, and the Adepts took the chance to escape gratefully.
"This way," said the lead light again, and even if the Adepts had wanted to, they couldn't have disobeyed. It darted ahead of them, leading up the stairs at the chamber's edge. By the time Lycoris was standing, they had reached the second level, entered through one of the doors, and were chasing the fairy lights through a maze of corridors and chambers. They passed wondrous murals and treasures of which the like had never been seen on the top of the world, but the rush of fleeing for their lives meant that the Adepts didn't really notice.
In the end, they came to a halt in a room that was, like most of the others, floored and walled in stones of various golden shades. At the back was a font filled with perfectly clear water, overflowing into a pool built into the floor. And covering the walls around them, raised murals of the spirits that so often aided the Adepts.
"That was damn close," gasped Garet, slumped against the wall.
"I can't believe we took that long to do anything," said Felix.
"I'm so exhausted," Mia added. "Everything is like a dream. I can barely think straight." There was a splash, and the Adepts turned as one to see Picard, kneeling by the pool, who had leaned over and submerged his entire torso in the cool water.
"That was awful. She barely touched me, but I could feel the power she had. Lycoris could probably blow away all of Vale if she wanted to," said Isaac, unable to believe that so much power could dwell in one young, innocent looking -if malicious- girl.
"So what can we do?" asked Jenna.
"I don't know," said Ivan, who had taken the brunt of Orian's attack. "Even if we rested enough to be at full strength-"
"There is no time to rest, I am afraid," said the light. "But we shall give to you of our strength, that you may be true defenders of this Lighthouse." With that, the cloud of lights dove spiralling into the fountain. In an explosion of diamond drops, glowing shapes rose out of the fountain and gathered before the Adepts. Picard rose from the depths, dripping quite a lot, in time to see the aura fade and the beings' shapes revealed.
They were Djinn.
Not like any kind they had seen before. These stood upright, though they had no arms, and feathery wings hung at their backs. Long trailing appendages -either horns or ears- curved gently from the backs of their heads, like ornamentation on war helmets. Mostly, they were yellow-gold, except for whiteness all up the front and the deep black of their eyes.
"We are Sol Djinn," said the one who apparently lead them. "We number nine, half the count of the individual elements. We are protectors of this Lighthouse, keepers of the Sol Star."
"Harmony!" shouted Bane, rising from Isaac's spirit into the material world. "I thought…"
"Hello, Bane," said the Sol Djinni. "You weren't meant to think I was real, I'm afraid. The Elemental Spirits didn't want even the Djinn to know of my existence. Though as the others were born, I wondered if you might sense us anyway."
"Luff! Torch! Dew!" shouted Bane. "Come out here and greet the only person you should bow to more than me!" At his call, the senior Djinn of each element appeared from the rest of the first Adept heroes, staring in surprise at the Sol Djinn.
"I remember you too… but I thought that was a dream… drifting in firmament…" said Luff.
Torch nodded enthusiastically. "When we were the only Djinn - before the others were born, of course," she explained to the confused Adepts. "There was a fifth - oh, she was - well, I suppose is - so much fun - but we thought it was just a dream - after she vanished, you know - I suppose the Spirits must have sent her here."
"It must have been awful being alone for so long," said Bane.
"You would know better. Hanging around in the depths of Crossbone Isle for a few centuries?" asked Harmony. "I never took you for the stupid-brave type. Besides, the other Sol Djinn were born soon after." The Adepts nodded false-knowingly at this, having decided that the phenomenon of Djinn birth, while useful at times, was not something they wanted any more information on.
"And now you're being called on to guard at last," said Isaac. "We'll help, of course."
"Not quite. You'll do the guarding, and we'll help you," Harmony corrected him. "Hold on. This will be a rush." She nodded, and the other Sol Djinn stepped forward.
"Halo allies with Isaac!"
"Seraph allies with Garet!"
"Oracle allies with Ivan!"
"Saviour allies with Mia!"
"Aeon allies with Felix!"
"Justice allies with Jenna!"
"Infinity allies with Sheba!"
"Guardian allies with Picard!"
The Adepts nearly did rock off their feet as great strength returned to them. The Sol Djinn, having absorbed healing power from the waters of the font, immediately refreshed their new allies upon setting themselves as channels of power.
Isaac carefully searched his mind for any surprising information, since Psynergy tended to imbed itself in the subconscious, so deep that you didn't always realise it when you mastered a new type of it. There was something even more fundamentally different now, though. Of course, the addition of a new kind of Djinni gave them all new classes. How so, he wasn't sure, but he was certain they'd find out soon enough.
"Not joining us, Harmony?" asked Jenna.
"I'm… not exactly a normal Djinni. If you do need me in these battles, don't worry, I'll be there. But I'm sure you won't have any problems with the sentinels."
"The wh- oh, why bother asking," muttered Felix. "You're going to tell us that there are other guardian monsters in the Lighthouse and that they won't be able to tell that we're on their side, am I right?"
"He's a sharp one," Echo commented, sitting at Felix's feet
"A bit depressing, though," said Aeon, settling into the Venus Adept's mind.
"You're very nearly right. The simple reality is that above all else, we must keep those two from getting the Sol Star," Harmony stated. "And their path is currently very clear."
"Oh, can we? Can we please?" yelped Halo, dancing from foot to foot. "Oh, just this once, we won't get another chance for millennia, I know it!"
"What's this little psycho talking about?" asked Isaac.
"The labyrinth defences," Harmony replied. "You saw the central chamber, which contains the Lighthouse Well. And you saw how easy it is to reach the top. We can fix that, but it will make things more difficult for the rest of you as well."
"How much harder for them and for us?" asked Ivan
"Lots and significantly, respectively," said Guardian, helpfully.
"You eight, of course, are used to such challenges. My hope is that Orian and Lycoris' power won't be more useful than your knowledge and experience," Harmony explained.
"I say we do it. We know how these things go, we have the Djinn with us, and I'll be damned if we let them get the Star after all of this," Mia stated. No one dared disagree, both because she was right and because they knew not to mess with Mia when she went into Frost Queen mode.
"Okay. Nice to have a plan again. How's it go?" asked Jenna.
[Author's Notes] Not quite a cliffhanger, so no complaints. Actually, complaints would require reviews (of which I'm getting very few, annoyingly) so I take that back. Review anything and everything, all will be highly appreciated. Credit to the muse, as always, and for anyone who's wondering, Echo is the first Venus Djinn from Lost Age, more of whom will be featured in coming chapters. That's it for now, I suppose, so off you go to review! Hopefully!