Chapter 10 - The Revelation
Gideon was nervous. He was scared of what he would find behind the double locked doors of the atrium of the Zelos Fist. He hadn't known what to think when the smell of singed hair and burning flesh had started to permeate the room, and was still partially in shock. He'd thought there was nothing his master couldn't handle, and thought of him as almost immortal. Now he was scared that what was behind these doors would prove him otherwise. His shaking hands finally managed to find the controls to the door and entered in the correct code despite himself.
The doors hissed open with the sound of a compressed gas being released and a rush of foul smelling air greeted him into the place where his Master had been spending most of his days. It was enough to bowl him over, and merely standing upright and keeping his stomach from overturning was a chore. All the lights in the room had gone out, but the room was lit by what seemed like an otherworldly glow. It took a moment for Gideon to realize that the light was coming from inside the green orb that was the centerpiece of the installation. Dimly he could see the silhouette of a woman through the glass.
Finally, his eyes were drawn to the source of the stench. Elder Vaulrik's body lay on the cold metal of the floor, his unusual flowing black hair all but singed off, his eyes staring unfocused at the ceiling. Gideon felt a lump rise in his throat. This was what he'd been afraid of. his master was dead.
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Ryne was enveloped by the white. This was something new. He was used to being swallowed into darkness, not light. Ryne wondered momentarily if he was dead, and even asked aloud if he were, not receiving any answer. He looked around to try and find anything that seemed out of place, and noted that he was clothed in all white, making it hard for him to even see his own body.
He was still examining himself when he realized that he wasn't alone. It wasn't anything that he saw or heard. he sensed it. He could feel the presence of another mind, softly probing his own. At first he wanted to recoil, but something about the mind link was soothing to him and soon he found himself plunged into a sea of raging color.
As quickly as he'd been pulled in, he was spit out landing in a patch of soft grass. When he opened his eyes the soft glow of twilight filled his head, the setting sun just before him. It took a moment for him to realize where he was, though when it did finally come to him it scared him even more.
"I'm on the lookout point of Sailor's Isle." Ryne said soft, his voice filled with a frightened wonder
"Yeah, you are, aren't you."
Ryne was afraid to look back. He knew this wasn't real. It couldn't be real. The last thing he remembered was Jaycera's face twisted in an expression of fear. and pain. There was always the pain. He remembered what had happened to Pirate's Isle. He knew it no longer existed. Really being here was impossible.
"You're not real." Ryne said, trying to keep the quaver out of his voice and not being overly successful. "This isn't real."
"No, It's not." The soothing female voice said from behind him. Ryne felt a soft familiar touch on his shoulder. "But I am."
Ryne wanted to cry, though he knew he'd never cry again. He knew who it was.
"Hey, Mom."
"Hey, Ry." Fina's smooth voice answered as she sat down beside him, her emerald green eyes mirroring the joy also found in her son's. Ryne grinned and embraced his mother, deliberately being too gentle, as if not wanting to crush her and end this dream.
"Where are we.?" He asked softly. His mother met him with a grin that rivaled his own.
"My mind. a memory actually." She explained. "This is where it all began, where I really fell for your father. This was my favorite spot on the island and we'd come up here and just watch the sunset."
Ryne looked out at the stagnant sun, noting that it hadn't moved since he'd been here. He took a deep breath through his nostrils, looking for the familiar smells that he'd grown up with. The smell of the spice garden below them wafted up and well as the scent of baking bread. If this was a dream, Ryne didn't want to go back to reality.
"You can't stay here Ry." His mother gently reminded him. "I can't hold onto this link much longer." Her voice noticeably strained. "I'm sorry."
Ryne watched as a tear ran down his mother's young looking face. She hadn't aged a day since she was eighteen, she'd told him, slowed aging one of the blessings (or curses) of the Silvite race. Ryne reached up and brushed it away, feeling as if they had somehow switched roles, and he's become the comforter.
"You've got nothing to be sorry for." He said gently, pulling his mother into a tight embrace. Fina smiled grimly.
"Take care of your father when you get him back, alright? He's going to need you."
Ryne didn't have time to reply. Without warning he was pulled back into his own mind, waking with a gasp.
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Gideon didn't know what to do. Without his master there would be no one to lead the reclaiming of Arcadia. He was the only one who could control the Zelos Fist and there were still Gigas out there that could be reactivated.
Slowly he walked over to where Vaulrik laid, turning him over so he could see his face. In amazement he watched as his thin lips curled into the evil parody of a smile. He could barely hear the word "Sacrulen" as it wheezed through his mouth, the words seeming to knit his body back together.
Gideon barely had enough time to breathe a sigh of relief before his own body was hurtled across the room, his convulsing form pinned to the wall. Through his reddening vision he could see Vaulrik stride over to com calmly, lightning lancing from his fingertips.
"Dead, is he?" Vaulrik snarled, inches from his face. Gideon couldn't speak, couldn't even take a breath. For a second he thought his lungs might have been fried away. Suddenly the pain stopped, and Gideon fell to the floor his lungs finally able to take in air in gasping breaths.
Vaulrik strode over the glowing glass orb, the figure of a woman still shining through, and put his hand on it gently, almost lovingly. Gideon coughed blood out of his lungs.
"Oh, get up you fool." Vaulrik commanded, Gideon's pain instantly fading. Unsure, Gideon pushed himself to his feet, and timidly went to his master's side. Vaulrik didn't even turn to look at him, just gazed into the green orb.
"One more chance," was all he said to him as he waved him out of his presence. Gideon swallowed hard and turned on his heel and left. Without thinking he walked briskly to the hanger bubble, Fynis uncurling from around his waist and now floating beside his head cooing his apologies. Gideon smiled in spite of his situation and rubbed the living ship appreciatively.
"It's alright Fyn, we'll find him this time." Gideon said to the small metamorph. "I won't get hurt again."
******************************************
When Ryne awoke he expected the first person he saw to be Jaycera. It was always her now, watching over him. But it wasn't. Grey eyes were watching him come back from his dreams, not the icy blue. It took Ryne a moment to figure out who it was, and when he knew he was even more confused than before.
"Celeste?" He asked, unsure that he's gotten the name right. He'd never really met her. All he knew was that she'd been rescued at the same time as them, and that Leos had been looking for her at the festival. Celeste merely nodded, acknowledging her name and showing no emotion whatsoever.
Without saying a word, she took his right hand and held it palm up in front of her. Ryne was about to protest when she produced a green moonstone and placed it into his hand, the silver moon crystal embedded in it absorbing it's energy and starting to emit the healing green light. Quickly she withdrew it from his palm, nodding to herself.
"Shrine Silvite," She said simply. Ryne's eyebrow cocked, his curiosity growing even stronger.
"What?" He asked, no longer able to stand it. Celeste, finally looked him in the eyes as if noticing he was there for the first time.
"You're a Shrine Silvite." She repeated. "A descendent of the Higher Silvites."
Ryne was lost. He'd known he was a Silvite, but he'd never heard of a Shrine Silvite, let alone "Higher Silvites". Ryne squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.
"What are you talking about?" Ryne asked. Celeste sighed and shook her head as if she had to explain complex math to a three year old.
"Look, thousands of years ago before the Gigas were created and before the Rains of Destruction, the Silvites divided into two factions. the Silvites and the Higher Silvites."
"Wait a second, Higher? Why Higher?"
"Because the Higher Silvites are the ones with the Silver Crystal shard in their bodies, making them higher than the normal Silvites."
"I thought all Silvites had a piece of the crystal in them."
"Then you have been misled."
Ryne didn't know what to think. His mother had been the one to tell him of his Silvite heritage. Was it possible that his mother had lied to him? Or had even his mother been misled. It was too much for him to handle.
"Stop it, none of this matters anymore. My mother I are the only Silvites left." Ryne argued. Celeste chuckled. "What's so funny?" Ryne asked starting to get angry at the woman.
"You are. Your whole life has been based on a series of half-truths. Maybe your elders were ashamed of their past after all."
Now Ryne was angry. Unconsciously he began to draw power from the red moon, his crystal beginning to grow in radiance. All he had to do was release it and it would be over. She would torture him no more. A look of pure terror came across Celeste's face.
"Put that thing out, or we're dead for sure!" She managed, glancing out the window at the night sky.
"What's going on in there?"
Ryne and Celeste both looked to the door flap to see Jaycera pull it back slowly and come in with a quizzical look on her face. She was still in the flesh showing Ixa'Takan outfit he'd last seen her in and Ryne couldn't help but let his anger abate, the light the filled the room extinguishing. She had a perplexed look on her face, glancing at Celeste suspiciously.
"Don't worry, I'm not trying to steal your little boyfriend." She said in answer to her look. Ryne felt his face redden slightly. "But someone else probably will."
Jay's look shifted to one of minor annoyance.
"Celeste, you haven't said a thing all week and now when you finally start up you immediately start harassing people? No wonder those cannibals were trying to eat you. They wanted to shut you up."
Ryne felt the corner of his mouth tug up into a grin. He hadn't seen her this feisty since before they'd crash landed on Ixa'Taka. Somehow, he'd missed it. Despite the insults being thrown her way, Celeste's face was still the picture of calm and rationality.
"Don't spout off about things you don't understand, girl."
"I understand enough." Jay retorted, a grin of her own widening. "Let me guess. The same people who came after his father and mother area also after him now. I'm also guessing that these are the same individuals who destroyed the Temple of Pyryn, and Glacia, and this probably has something to do with them being the places that house and control the Gigas, and those being controlled by the moon crystals, of which, Ryne has one in his right hand."
Ryne looked at her in astonishment. He'd never seen it coming. He'd been so single-mindedly focusing on a single goal that he hadn't stepped back and realized the big picture. He was caught up in something much bigger than a simple abduction. Celeste's cool exterior broke, her face shining in a genuine smile. Se crossed her arms in front of her.
"Very perceptive of you Jaycera Delasari. I'd of never expected it from a girl of your age."
"When your parents are killed in front of your eyes, you tend to age quicker than you'd like." Jay said grimly. "Now, tell me who you really are, and why you happen to know all this."
Celeste sighed deeply and walked to the window, staring out at the green moon through the thick foliage for a while as if gathering her thoughts. Ryne began to get impatient though Jay, understanding the female need for time, gave it to her.
"I am who I say I am." She started not taking her gaze from the moon. "I am Celeste. I am a Silvite. And I'm here to stop the rest of my people from enslaving and killing yours."
Ryne started to get the information overload headache that had plagued him moments before, but tried to keep listening. Jay only stood and listened, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Celeste finally turned to look at them both.
"I'm with a group called Eternum, which means freedom in the old tongue."
"Isn't that also the spell to cast instant death?" Jay interrupted, almost accusingly.
"Perceptive as ever." Celeste said, smiling. "Yes, in the old world, to die was to be free. Now if you'll let me continue." Jay waved her hand, signaling her to keep on talking.
"Eternum is a group that sprang up in opposition to the creation of the weapon Zelos Fist, a weapon that can harness the power of the silver moon into a concentrated beam, causing greater destruction that the Gigas. The intent of the weapon was to destroy the Silver Shrine and the six places of power that could control the Gigas so that we could once more return to Arcadia. However, Elder Philia, leader of Eternum, argued that we could return to the planet without the use of force."
"Can I interrupt?" Ryne asked, raising his hand. "Return to the planet, as in, not ON the planet?"
"Precisely," Celeste said, nodding. She rolled her eyes and looked over at Jay. "Jeez, for being so smart yourself, you sure chose a guy as sharp as a bowling ball."
"What's a bowling ball?" Ryne asked, knowing he was just insulted, but too lost to really mind.
"Never mind."
"Anyway," Jay started, "Back to the whole not on the planet thing. If you're not from Arcadia, where did you come from exactly?"
"The Silver Moon."
"Ah. and what, pray tell, are your people doing on the moon."
"We were banished there thousands of years ago by the Higher Silvites at the end of the Silvite Civil Wars. The Silvite Wars were fought because a faction of Silvites figured out how to alter their genetic structures to produce the Silver Crystal, giving them an enhanced connection to the power of the moons, and greater longevity. This was kept a secret for years, until the general populous noticed that their leaders were no longer aging. This led to rioting, and eventually, full scale war. Many battles were fought upon our own continent and in its Skies. Our leader was a black haired Silvite, something unusual among our people, named Delasaris. Delasaris was one of the greatest swords-man the planet had ever known, and had even managed to kill one of the Higher Silvites, keeping the crystal and having it cap the hilt of his great sword. In the end, even his leadership was not enough. Delasaris was captured in the final skirmish and beheaded on the spot with his own blade. Our people, or what was left of them anyhow, were hunted and rounded up like animals and sent to a prison facility on the Silver Moon where we have been ever since. Soon after we were sent, the Great Wars began signaling the Rains of Destruction, and the Higher Silvites flight from the planet."
"Didn't you ever try to escape? Obviously you figured out some way to achieve space travel. Why didn't you return sooner, when the planet was still relatively weak?"
"Oh we did try, but the Shrine Silvites were always there to intercept and execute us."
Ryne felt his cheeks redden. He couldn't believe his own people, the same who had given their lives to save Arcadia, had been capable of such cruelty. Now he understood why Celeste had been laughing at him earlier, why she'd joked about the Elders being ashamed.
"I don't get it. If you were forced off planet by the "Higher Silvites" then why are you trying to take it back by force when those who kept you away are dead? And why didn't you blast the Silver Shrine out of the sky if the Zelos Fist, or whatever you called it, is more powerful than even the Gigas?"
"I'll answer your second question first since it is the easier of the two." Celeste said slowly, taking a deep breath, obviously tired of answering questions. "The Zelos Fist was not used because it lacked a lens, or something to focus it." Celeste picked up the small green moon stone once again and tossed to Ryne, who instinctively caught with his right hand, causing it shine brightly with green luminance.
Finally, it dawned on Ryne. all the pieces of the puzzle floating around in his brain came together to form a crystal clear image. One he didn't like at all.
"My mother.."
"Is being used to focus the Zelos Fist weapon." Celeste finished for him. "The only thing that could withstand the energies being used is a silver crystal."
Ryne tried to form the right words, though nothing seemed to be escaping his lips.
"So she's. she's dead?"
"No, your mother is perfectly alive." Ryne let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. "The power of the silver crystal is much more potent when the host is still living."
"So there's still a chance to rescue her?..." Ryne said softly, almost to himself. His hope had been renewed.
"Not likely." Celeste said. "I'd say it's almost impossible."
Ryne smiled, remembering the immortal words of his father.
"Impossible is a word people use to make themselves feel better when they give up."
Gideon was nervous. He was scared of what he would find behind the double locked doors of the atrium of the Zelos Fist. He hadn't known what to think when the smell of singed hair and burning flesh had started to permeate the room, and was still partially in shock. He'd thought there was nothing his master couldn't handle, and thought of him as almost immortal. Now he was scared that what was behind these doors would prove him otherwise. His shaking hands finally managed to find the controls to the door and entered in the correct code despite himself.
The doors hissed open with the sound of a compressed gas being released and a rush of foul smelling air greeted him into the place where his Master had been spending most of his days. It was enough to bowl him over, and merely standing upright and keeping his stomach from overturning was a chore. All the lights in the room had gone out, but the room was lit by what seemed like an otherworldly glow. It took a moment for Gideon to realize that the light was coming from inside the green orb that was the centerpiece of the installation. Dimly he could see the silhouette of a woman through the glass.
Finally, his eyes were drawn to the source of the stench. Elder Vaulrik's body lay on the cold metal of the floor, his unusual flowing black hair all but singed off, his eyes staring unfocused at the ceiling. Gideon felt a lump rise in his throat. This was what he'd been afraid of. his master was dead.
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Ryne was enveloped by the white. This was something new. He was used to being swallowed into darkness, not light. Ryne wondered momentarily if he was dead, and even asked aloud if he were, not receiving any answer. He looked around to try and find anything that seemed out of place, and noted that he was clothed in all white, making it hard for him to even see his own body.
He was still examining himself when he realized that he wasn't alone. It wasn't anything that he saw or heard. he sensed it. He could feel the presence of another mind, softly probing his own. At first he wanted to recoil, but something about the mind link was soothing to him and soon he found himself plunged into a sea of raging color.
As quickly as he'd been pulled in, he was spit out landing in a patch of soft grass. When he opened his eyes the soft glow of twilight filled his head, the setting sun just before him. It took a moment for him to realize where he was, though when it did finally come to him it scared him even more.
"I'm on the lookout point of Sailor's Isle." Ryne said soft, his voice filled with a frightened wonder
"Yeah, you are, aren't you."
Ryne was afraid to look back. He knew this wasn't real. It couldn't be real. The last thing he remembered was Jaycera's face twisted in an expression of fear. and pain. There was always the pain. He remembered what had happened to Pirate's Isle. He knew it no longer existed. Really being here was impossible.
"You're not real." Ryne said, trying to keep the quaver out of his voice and not being overly successful. "This isn't real."
"No, It's not." The soothing female voice said from behind him. Ryne felt a soft familiar touch on his shoulder. "But I am."
Ryne wanted to cry, though he knew he'd never cry again. He knew who it was.
"Hey, Mom."
"Hey, Ry." Fina's smooth voice answered as she sat down beside him, her emerald green eyes mirroring the joy also found in her son's. Ryne grinned and embraced his mother, deliberately being too gentle, as if not wanting to crush her and end this dream.
"Where are we.?" He asked softly. His mother met him with a grin that rivaled his own.
"My mind. a memory actually." She explained. "This is where it all began, where I really fell for your father. This was my favorite spot on the island and we'd come up here and just watch the sunset."
Ryne looked out at the stagnant sun, noting that it hadn't moved since he'd been here. He took a deep breath through his nostrils, looking for the familiar smells that he'd grown up with. The smell of the spice garden below them wafted up and well as the scent of baking bread. If this was a dream, Ryne didn't want to go back to reality.
"You can't stay here Ry." His mother gently reminded him. "I can't hold onto this link much longer." Her voice noticeably strained. "I'm sorry."
Ryne watched as a tear ran down his mother's young looking face. She hadn't aged a day since she was eighteen, she'd told him, slowed aging one of the blessings (or curses) of the Silvite race. Ryne reached up and brushed it away, feeling as if they had somehow switched roles, and he's become the comforter.
"You've got nothing to be sorry for." He said gently, pulling his mother into a tight embrace. Fina smiled grimly.
"Take care of your father when you get him back, alright? He's going to need you."
Ryne didn't have time to reply. Without warning he was pulled back into his own mind, waking with a gasp.
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Gideon didn't know what to do. Without his master there would be no one to lead the reclaiming of Arcadia. He was the only one who could control the Zelos Fist and there were still Gigas out there that could be reactivated.
Slowly he walked over to where Vaulrik laid, turning him over so he could see his face. In amazement he watched as his thin lips curled into the evil parody of a smile. He could barely hear the word "Sacrulen" as it wheezed through his mouth, the words seeming to knit his body back together.
Gideon barely had enough time to breathe a sigh of relief before his own body was hurtled across the room, his convulsing form pinned to the wall. Through his reddening vision he could see Vaulrik stride over to com calmly, lightning lancing from his fingertips.
"Dead, is he?" Vaulrik snarled, inches from his face. Gideon couldn't speak, couldn't even take a breath. For a second he thought his lungs might have been fried away. Suddenly the pain stopped, and Gideon fell to the floor his lungs finally able to take in air in gasping breaths.
Vaulrik strode over the glowing glass orb, the figure of a woman still shining through, and put his hand on it gently, almost lovingly. Gideon coughed blood out of his lungs.
"Oh, get up you fool." Vaulrik commanded, Gideon's pain instantly fading. Unsure, Gideon pushed himself to his feet, and timidly went to his master's side. Vaulrik didn't even turn to look at him, just gazed into the green orb.
"One more chance," was all he said to him as he waved him out of his presence. Gideon swallowed hard and turned on his heel and left. Without thinking he walked briskly to the hanger bubble, Fynis uncurling from around his waist and now floating beside his head cooing his apologies. Gideon smiled in spite of his situation and rubbed the living ship appreciatively.
"It's alright Fyn, we'll find him this time." Gideon said to the small metamorph. "I won't get hurt again."
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When Ryne awoke he expected the first person he saw to be Jaycera. It was always her now, watching over him. But it wasn't. Grey eyes were watching him come back from his dreams, not the icy blue. It took Ryne a moment to figure out who it was, and when he knew he was even more confused than before.
"Celeste?" He asked, unsure that he's gotten the name right. He'd never really met her. All he knew was that she'd been rescued at the same time as them, and that Leos had been looking for her at the festival. Celeste merely nodded, acknowledging her name and showing no emotion whatsoever.
Without saying a word, she took his right hand and held it palm up in front of her. Ryne was about to protest when she produced a green moonstone and placed it into his hand, the silver moon crystal embedded in it absorbing it's energy and starting to emit the healing green light. Quickly she withdrew it from his palm, nodding to herself.
"Shrine Silvite," She said simply. Ryne's eyebrow cocked, his curiosity growing even stronger.
"What?" He asked, no longer able to stand it. Celeste, finally looked him in the eyes as if noticing he was there for the first time.
"You're a Shrine Silvite." She repeated. "A descendent of the Higher Silvites."
Ryne was lost. He'd known he was a Silvite, but he'd never heard of a Shrine Silvite, let alone "Higher Silvites". Ryne squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.
"What are you talking about?" Ryne asked. Celeste sighed and shook her head as if she had to explain complex math to a three year old.
"Look, thousands of years ago before the Gigas were created and before the Rains of Destruction, the Silvites divided into two factions. the Silvites and the Higher Silvites."
"Wait a second, Higher? Why Higher?"
"Because the Higher Silvites are the ones with the Silver Crystal shard in their bodies, making them higher than the normal Silvites."
"I thought all Silvites had a piece of the crystal in them."
"Then you have been misled."
Ryne didn't know what to think. His mother had been the one to tell him of his Silvite heritage. Was it possible that his mother had lied to him? Or had even his mother been misled. It was too much for him to handle.
"Stop it, none of this matters anymore. My mother I are the only Silvites left." Ryne argued. Celeste chuckled. "What's so funny?" Ryne asked starting to get angry at the woman.
"You are. Your whole life has been based on a series of half-truths. Maybe your elders were ashamed of their past after all."
Now Ryne was angry. Unconsciously he began to draw power from the red moon, his crystal beginning to grow in radiance. All he had to do was release it and it would be over. She would torture him no more. A look of pure terror came across Celeste's face.
"Put that thing out, or we're dead for sure!" She managed, glancing out the window at the night sky.
"What's going on in there?"
Ryne and Celeste both looked to the door flap to see Jaycera pull it back slowly and come in with a quizzical look on her face. She was still in the flesh showing Ixa'Takan outfit he'd last seen her in and Ryne couldn't help but let his anger abate, the light the filled the room extinguishing. She had a perplexed look on her face, glancing at Celeste suspiciously.
"Don't worry, I'm not trying to steal your little boyfriend." She said in answer to her look. Ryne felt his face redden slightly. "But someone else probably will."
Jay's look shifted to one of minor annoyance.
"Celeste, you haven't said a thing all week and now when you finally start up you immediately start harassing people? No wonder those cannibals were trying to eat you. They wanted to shut you up."
Ryne felt the corner of his mouth tug up into a grin. He hadn't seen her this feisty since before they'd crash landed on Ixa'Taka. Somehow, he'd missed it. Despite the insults being thrown her way, Celeste's face was still the picture of calm and rationality.
"Don't spout off about things you don't understand, girl."
"I understand enough." Jay retorted, a grin of her own widening. "Let me guess. The same people who came after his father and mother area also after him now. I'm also guessing that these are the same individuals who destroyed the Temple of Pyryn, and Glacia, and this probably has something to do with them being the places that house and control the Gigas, and those being controlled by the moon crystals, of which, Ryne has one in his right hand."
Ryne looked at her in astonishment. He'd never seen it coming. He'd been so single-mindedly focusing on a single goal that he hadn't stepped back and realized the big picture. He was caught up in something much bigger than a simple abduction. Celeste's cool exterior broke, her face shining in a genuine smile. Se crossed her arms in front of her.
"Very perceptive of you Jaycera Delasari. I'd of never expected it from a girl of your age."
"When your parents are killed in front of your eyes, you tend to age quicker than you'd like." Jay said grimly. "Now, tell me who you really are, and why you happen to know all this."
Celeste sighed deeply and walked to the window, staring out at the green moon through the thick foliage for a while as if gathering her thoughts. Ryne began to get impatient though Jay, understanding the female need for time, gave it to her.
"I am who I say I am." She started not taking her gaze from the moon. "I am Celeste. I am a Silvite. And I'm here to stop the rest of my people from enslaving and killing yours."
Ryne started to get the information overload headache that had plagued him moments before, but tried to keep listening. Jay only stood and listened, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Celeste finally turned to look at them both.
"I'm with a group called Eternum, which means freedom in the old tongue."
"Isn't that also the spell to cast instant death?" Jay interrupted, almost accusingly.
"Perceptive as ever." Celeste said, smiling. "Yes, in the old world, to die was to be free. Now if you'll let me continue." Jay waved her hand, signaling her to keep on talking.
"Eternum is a group that sprang up in opposition to the creation of the weapon Zelos Fist, a weapon that can harness the power of the silver moon into a concentrated beam, causing greater destruction that the Gigas. The intent of the weapon was to destroy the Silver Shrine and the six places of power that could control the Gigas so that we could once more return to Arcadia. However, Elder Philia, leader of Eternum, argued that we could return to the planet without the use of force."
"Can I interrupt?" Ryne asked, raising his hand. "Return to the planet, as in, not ON the planet?"
"Precisely," Celeste said, nodding. She rolled her eyes and looked over at Jay. "Jeez, for being so smart yourself, you sure chose a guy as sharp as a bowling ball."
"What's a bowling ball?" Ryne asked, knowing he was just insulted, but too lost to really mind.
"Never mind."
"Anyway," Jay started, "Back to the whole not on the planet thing. If you're not from Arcadia, where did you come from exactly?"
"The Silver Moon."
"Ah. and what, pray tell, are your people doing on the moon."
"We were banished there thousands of years ago by the Higher Silvites at the end of the Silvite Civil Wars. The Silvite Wars were fought because a faction of Silvites figured out how to alter their genetic structures to produce the Silver Crystal, giving them an enhanced connection to the power of the moons, and greater longevity. This was kept a secret for years, until the general populous noticed that their leaders were no longer aging. This led to rioting, and eventually, full scale war. Many battles were fought upon our own continent and in its Skies. Our leader was a black haired Silvite, something unusual among our people, named Delasaris. Delasaris was one of the greatest swords-man the planet had ever known, and had even managed to kill one of the Higher Silvites, keeping the crystal and having it cap the hilt of his great sword. In the end, even his leadership was not enough. Delasaris was captured in the final skirmish and beheaded on the spot with his own blade. Our people, or what was left of them anyhow, were hunted and rounded up like animals and sent to a prison facility on the Silver Moon where we have been ever since. Soon after we were sent, the Great Wars began signaling the Rains of Destruction, and the Higher Silvites flight from the planet."
"Didn't you ever try to escape? Obviously you figured out some way to achieve space travel. Why didn't you return sooner, when the planet was still relatively weak?"
"Oh we did try, but the Shrine Silvites were always there to intercept and execute us."
Ryne felt his cheeks redden. He couldn't believe his own people, the same who had given their lives to save Arcadia, had been capable of such cruelty. Now he understood why Celeste had been laughing at him earlier, why she'd joked about the Elders being ashamed.
"I don't get it. If you were forced off planet by the "Higher Silvites" then why are you trying to take it back by force when those who kept you away are dead? And why didn't you blast the Silver Shrine out of the sky if the Zelos Fist, or whatever you called it, is more powerful than even the Gigas?"
"I'll answer your second question first since it is the easier of the two." Celeste said slowly, taking a deep breath, obviously tired of answering questions. "The Zelos Fist was not used because it lacked a lens, or something to focus it." Celeste picked up the small green moon stone once again and tossed to Ryne, who instinctively caught with his right hand, causing it shine brightly with green luminance.
Finally, it dawned on Ryne. all the pieces of the puzzle floating around in his brain came together to form a crystal clear image. One he didn't like at all.
"My mother.."
"Is being used to focus the Zelos Fist weapon." Celeste finished for him. "The only thing that could withstand the energies being used is a silver crystal."
Ryne tried to form the right words, though nothing seemed to be escaping his lips.
"So she's. she's dead?"
"No, your mother is perfectly alive." Ryne let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. "The power of the silver crystal is much more potent when the host is still living."
"So there's still a chance to rescue her?..." Ryne said softly, almost to himself. His hope had been renewed.
"Not likely." Celeste said. "I'd say it's almost impossible."
Ryne smiled, remembering the immortal words of his father.
"Impossible is a word people use to make themselves feel better when they give up."