Hello again!! Yes, we are definitely off to a good start on this sequel. My thanks to you who reviewed the first chapter! Hopefully we'll get some more the second time around. ^_~
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Holly and Genki had stayed beside the portal through the night, waiting for any news or a sign that their friends and family were all right. The portal remained closed, impervious to their attempts to go through. All they could do was wait, and hope they would soon know what had happened to those whom they loved…
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Allen woke up hazily upon his back, staring at a sky that seemed a little too bright a blue and clouds that were a blinding white to his mortal eyes. Everything seemed to shimmer and glow before his eyes with a vibrant colors never seen in their world before, making the richest of hues seem dull and washed out.
"Uncle? Are you alright?" Allen saw a familiar face with long blue hair leaning over him.
"Kenjou…"
"How is he?" asked a familiar voice, another face coming into view.
"Awake, and somewhat coherent," replied Kenjou as he helped Allen sip some water from a hollow shell. "He recognized me, at least. Where is Annie?"
"Scouting. She will be back soon."
"Alright."
"Where are we?" asked Allen, sitting up slowly with the help of the other two as he tried to get his scattered wits back in order. They had been with Lili, talking, and then there had been that huge explosion overhead… "What happened, for that matter?"
"We're not sure," replied Z, leaning back on his hands with his legs spread out before him. "But I've got a pretty good feeling that we're certainly not in our world anymore…and not our realm, either."
"What?!" Allen sat up straight, remembering the sudden pull from his right and then flying head over heels into the stone face that seemed to disappear the moment he hit it. "Blazing Phoenix…we're in the Spirit Realms, aren't we?!"
"Yes," replied Annie, appearing out of the blue and sitting next to them wearily. "We are. Look." She held up a flower she had picked, small blue petals with orange spots surrounding a deep purple center.
"A windwhisper," said Z in amazement, his eyes huge as he took it gently from his sister and began to inspect it himself. "Legend says that it can cure any illness or disease, and once could be found anywhere in our world. But for some reason or another the only place to find it now is in the Spirit Realms…"
"On the Plain of Dreams," added Annie softly. "The first place any Mortal goes once they've passed through the portal."
Allen looked around, seeing two buildings in either direction, each the exact same distance from the large Plain they were in. "Which means that those two places are-"
"The Guardian's Abbey, and the Dark One's Fortress," said Z slowly. "I vote we head to the Abbey. Now."
"I agree," said Kenjou, getting to his feet immediately. Between the three of them they helped Allen get to his feet and regain his balance, making sure he was ready before heading into the woods away from the fort. Allen didn't know why, but it looked unusually familiar to him, and he had a feeling that wherever it was that he remembered it from it wasn't a place he wished to remember in the least.
"I still can't believe we're in the Spirit Realms," said Kenjou to himself, looking at the fruit Z had found for them to eat almost reverently before taking a bite out of it.
"I can," replied Z with a shrug.
"In a way, it feels like we're doing exactly what Ma and Da used to do," said Annie with a grin, using her dagger to trim away the core of her pear. "Think of the tales there will be about us when we return home!"
"You mean, if we return home," said Allen heavily, his face grimly set as they reached the far edge of the Plain and was soon entirely surrounded by trees. "You must remember: We do not know who or what it was that brought us here. Or if we will ever find the Portal that will return us home. I hope we will find it, for the sake of your parents as well as your own, for they must be worried sick about you by now… The passage of time could very well be entirely different between the two Realms, which means a thousand years could've passed or not a single second at all."
Everyone sobered up considerably at this thought as they continued to eat the fruit from the trees around them and head for the Abbey where they might find some shelter as fast as they could.
What they didn't see what the shadow far behind them, one that seemed to pause for a moment before retreating back to the fortress with the all the speed he could muster from his wings and horrid smile on his demonic-like face…
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Lili, or Firesprite as she was known here, woke up in her study, piles of books and papers surrounding her as she rubbed a crick out of her neck. It seemed like she had just fallen asleep over a chronicle of sorts, just as she had several times before…
"Allen!" She sat up straight, scrambling around for a few moments as she tried to piece together everything that had happened before she ran out of the room as fast as she could to the main hall. Perhaps there she would find her answers.
Rounding the corner, she nearly tripped over the huge rug that covered the floor and was about to apologize when she realized something. The Guardian of All was sitting on his thrown as usual, but his clothes from the neck down had taken on an unusual rusty color…and his head was not on his neck but in his lap instead…
"Oh holy Phoenix…"
"He was found like this just before you were returned to your study, Firesprite," said a voice behind her, the Guardian of the Living whirling around to find Ophelia, the Guardian of the Dead standing there with her head bowed. "Another Prophecy started, and this one of a time when both the Dark One and the Guardian of All would fall to the other's powers, leaving the Realms hanging in the balance until the rest could be fulfilled."
"What happened?" whispered Firesprite, falling to her knees slowly. "How was he killed, Ophelia?!"
"It is Mid-Silver Solstice, Firesprite," explained Celeste, the Guardian of Time, as she appeared beside Ophelia. "As such, the Guardian of All and the Dark One contest with each other to see who will rule the Spirit Realms (and ultimately, the Mortal Realms) over all for the next thousand years."
"He lost," whispered Firesprite, realizing what this would mean for her and her colleagues.
"Hardly," snorted Celeste with a wry smile. "The Dark One pulled his dirty trick, and now our Guardian is dead, but at the expense of the Dark One as well. So now it's a race…"
"To who can bring forth their next leader the fastest, put them on the thrown, and battle against the other's chosen for the ruling of the next thousand years," finished Ophelia with a slight frown. "Now here's our real problem: What do we do? Personally, I believe we should keep our peace here and send our helpers to find our Chosen and then make our plans from there once he or she is found."
"I will search for him, for me and my Brethren Wynds can find him or her faster than our helpers can," said Zephyr, or Wyndcatcher as he was known here, appearing beside Lili with his wings folded behind him neatly. "It would be the wisest choice, for both speed and silence would be our helpers. Also, if they tried to mount an attack here the rest of you would still be here to put your powers against them."
"He as a point," admitted Ophelia with a shrug. "But still…"
"Kill them all!!" cried the Guardian of the Darkness, the one who alone battled with those in the Dark fortress regularly to keep them in check. Tintaro was his name, and his people that he had been chosen from was a race of gallant and proud warriors within their time. "Let us destroy their castle once and for all and rid ourselves of them forever! Think of the peace we could have then…" His face was lined deeply with age and stress, his well-muscled frame beginning to show its years with its slight stoop.
"We cannot," said Zephyr sharply, drawing back his lips to bare his fangs at him. "You know this, Tintaro. The balance between light and dark binds us!! It cannot be destroyed…"
"It matters not to me what we do," said the Guardian of Time, a wizened, elfish woman who was nearly bent double with age. "I am who I am, and can never be replaced. I have seen kingdoms rise and fall…to soar at first only to falter once their arrogance has begun to rule their lives. Everything will eventually balance out in the end."
"And you will still be here, Celeste, recording the events of time safely in your 'untouchable' hole down under ground," sneered Tintaro angrily. "For the sake of our realm, I will not let them defeat us!"
"It is the Guardian of Time's just to record the tippings of the scales, and predict when the dark and light ages are to come," replied the woman lightly with a shrug. "Just as their Ruler of Time does his best to control the outcome of events so he can weaken the light and strengthen the dark. As always, neither of us can be destroyed or kill, and if all the others are wiped out it is left on our shoulders to carry on until we can rebuild our side once more."
"Leave her alone, Tintaro," said Ophelia, stepping in as he began to retort something. He nodded slightly after a moment's pause. "It is only who she is, same as you or I she cannot go against the post that has been assigned to us."
"I know…I know…"
"Is it true?!" cried a Silver Dragon, flying into the room as he landed among them near the throne. His keening cry echoed through the chambers as he affirmed by sight the fact that the Guardian of All was dead.
"It will be alright, Starhunter," said Firesprite, laying her hand on his head for a moment before turning away slowly. The Guardian of the Skies (which included the sun, moon, and stars) only laid his great, scaled head down and sighed, his grief nearly enough to send him into another bout of wails. "What is it that you would have me do now, friends?" he whispered, a huge tear running down his face.
"We do not know yet, brother," replied Wyndcatcher, bowing his head as well. "We cannot agree on the best course of action…"
"Who is missing?" asked Tintaro suddenly, glancing about the group. "Death, life, wynds (which includes weather), sky, …I am dark…and he was light…" He motioned at the dead Guardian on the throne. "At that's left then, is-"
"Us," came a pair of voices near the door, a set of twins who couldn't be a day over 11 or 12 years old walking.
"Guardian of the Sea," said one.
"And Guardian of the Earth," said the other.
"We are all here, then," said Tintaro with a nod. "Now about the best course of action-"
"We're not destroying their fortress, Tintaro!"
"I didn't say that, Starhunter!"
"Destroy the fortress?! That's blasphemy!"
"Blasphemy my-"
"Knock it off, Tintaro!"
"Hey, enough of that, youngling."
"Youngling?! I've been doing this longer than you!"
"I am still wiser in the ways of others."
"Wiser? Yeah, right…"
"ENOUGH!"
Everyone stopped and looked at Firesprite, her wings spread wide with red feathers drifting everywhere as she tried to block out the noise by clamping her hands over ears. "Listen to me, and heed my word well," she said more calmly, though her voice still rung over them like peals of thunder from the sky. "I will take the seeker which shall lead us to the One. I will find him or her and bring them here. You will stay here and watch over our home until I return. Is that understood?"
"What about me, Firesprite?" asked Wyndcatcher. He flexed his own, bat-like wings carefully. "What would you have me do?"
She smiled at him slightly, having known that he would guess that his assignment would not be theirs. "Go the Mortal Realms. Tell those there to wait patiently for their children's return, for I will do everything in my power to make sure it is so. Now go."
"Yes, Firesprite." He turned and leapt out the nearest window, flying high in the sky before disappearing entirely from sight.
"Give me the Seeker, Tintaro," ordered Firesprite, towering over the Guardian of Darkness as he reluctantly did so. "I will return with our Chosen soon. Keep our home safe until then. Goodbye." And with that; she, too, disappeared.
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A creaked open within the great Dark Fortress as one of the servants scuttled in, his dark eyes scanning the room and seeing his Dark Lord on the throne before coming forward with his noon meal in his hands.
"M'lord," he said quietly, bowing before him and keeping his eyes cast down as he held the tray above his hands. "I hath brought thine- AUGHHH!!!"
A great bell clanged through the entire hold, each member instantly knowing in their heart that the Dark Lord was dead. Another had to be found, for the race was on…and now was their chance to rule the Realms.
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Zephyr appeared in the sky above the Mortal Realms, quickly swooping down towards the small campfire on the ground as he quickly identified the humans beside it. "Genki!! Holly!!" he yelled, hoping to wake them before he landed.
Holly sat up, her eyes deftly picking him out of the sky before shaking Genki awake. "Zephyr!!" she yelled, beckoning for him to hurry. He landed before them, comforting the woman as she threw her arms around his neck and sobbed quietly.
"Shh, it's alright," he whispered, putting a paw on her back. "The children will be fine. Lili has left to find them in the Spirit Realms, and she said to tell you that she will not stop until they are found and brought back to you, Holly. The twins, and Kenjou, and Allen."
"Thank you," whispered Holly, letting go and going back to Genki, who stood there mutely as he put his arms around her. His eyes were haunted as he exchanged looks with Zephyr, but accepted his words with a nod.
"We will stay here until they return," he said quietly, his jaw clenched as he thought of them all, lost and alone somewhere in the Spirit Realms. "Thank you, Zephyr."
"Your welcome," replied Zephyr with a slight, sad smile. "Many things are happening, Genki. Many that I do not understand…I must return and see how else I can help my people there."
"Of course," said Genki, putting a hand on Zephyr's head for a moment before backing away with Holly still hanging on to him in her grief. "Go. We await your return and that of Lili's with hope."
Zephyr nodded and leapt back up into the sky, his wings bringing him to greater heights before he disappeared altogether from sight.
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Firesprite silently flew threw the forests surrounding the Abbey, the Seeker giving her a pulsing guide to go by. Her bright red wings and aurora dimmed by a force within her that spoke of secrecy, she pressed on through the trees as night began to fall. Somehow, she knew when she found the Chosen she would find her missing friends. She did not know how, but somehow she knew…
She had been going for two days; no sleep, no food, and no rest. So when she thought she saw something in the distance, she wondered if it wasn't her exhaustion playing tricks on her eyes.
It was a column of smoke from a valley below that caught her attention, a flash of blue and silver hair from the tops of the trees confirming that is was her friends. She was just thirty feet from the camp, and could make out their forms among the trees when she stopped. A legion of dark beings were watching them on all sides from the trees, weapons out and armor in place…the sun setting before them, it was impossible to make out their forms in the lengthening shadows by mortal eyes…their leader raised his hand to start the attack…
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Allen and Kenjou sat across from Annie and Z, a rabbit roasting on a spit between them as they chewed their way through some hard, stale bread. A hollowed shell from a nut served as cups and each slowly sipped their water so as to not waste it. There were no close spots near the small river that weren't swamp or marshland, and none of them wanted to make the ten-minute track back in the growing dark.
"Two days," whispered Z, hugging his knees to his chest against the cold.
"Two days what?" asked Annie, her eyes closed as she rested her head in her hands.
"Two days since we came here," he replied quietly. "Two days since we were gone, and our lives changed so…it is a beautiful place, I will give you that, but I would give everything just to be with mom and dad again at home."
"We draw closer to the Abbey everyday," said Kenjou with a shrug, trying to be hopeful and failing somewhat. "Soon, we shall be there…"
"If we don't reach the bottom of the mountain it sits on soon we won't have the strength to climb to it's base to reach the place," retorted Annie lightly, turning her head so she looked at him over the fire with eyes that shone with unshed tears. "An Abbey in the sky does us no good if we can't reach it."
"She is right," admitted Allen sadly. "We need fresh food, meat and bread…man cannot live on fruit alone."
"What do you call this?" asked Z, checking the rabbit and deeming it done as he removed it from the spit. "Is not much, but will help us get along."
"One rabbit for the four of us will not be enough," said Annie with a sigh. Her stomach growled as if in agreeance. "Erg…I could care less if its undercooked, Z, I'm eating my part now regardless."
"It is, sister, so don't worry about that," replied Z, cutting off her part and handing it to her carefully. She took the hot meat from his hands and speared it on her knife, slowly chewing it to make it last as long as possible.
"Ok," said Z, his head down low enough as he concentrated on the carcass of the rabbit that he couldn't see the dark forms creeping up behind Allen and Kenjou. Annie did, though. Kenjou got a queer feeling in his stomach as she suddenly stuffed her meat in her mouth, eyes wide with surprise (and maybe even fear) as she threw it past it head with a speed that shocked them all.
A dull thud showed that whatever it was she had hit was quickly felled, a small reassurance as several others leapt out of the trees at them with howls of anger and delight.
"Grab on!" cried Allen, making sure they were all close enough to touch each other as he scattered the fire towards their enemies, snatching up his sword as he tried to fend them off before his eyes were adjusted.
Kenjou drew his own blade as Annie and Z stood back to back, each one holding a dirk as their other hand clasped their twin's behind their back. The quartet fought fiercely as they attempted to break through the force in front of them, but could not hold off them all as wave after wave of fresh demons came at them screaming their blood-curdling cries.
A net was finally thrown over their heads, effectively entrapping them all in its snares. Allen tried to cut his way free, but almost sliced off hand as he did. Their weapons yanked from their hands, and weights attached to the net so they couldn't get out of it, they were forced to lay or sit on the ground as they fell from the weight. No one was really sure who was where, and since it was too dark to see and too loud to hear each other they just hoped they were in a somewhat decent position for the time being.
Allen was reaching for his hidden dagger, knowing his left boot where it was hidden was away from the rest of the group in hopes he might be able to somewhat set them free when the clearing burst into flame, every being in the area going up in smoke seconds later.
A figure wreathed in scarlet came forward from the side, her very hair and eyes seemingly the source of the fire.
"Lili…" whispered Allen as he shielded his eyes from the extra light. He took advantage of the ability to see to disentangle himself from the others, leaving the teens in a bit of a predicament as he watched her wrathful vengeance come down on those who had attacked her friends. It was a gruesome sight, to be sure, but seeing her power had always struck him in a way that he could not stop watching.
The teens behind him were a bit preoccupied to see what he was seeing at the moment, having a slight problem of their own. Z lay facedown in the dirt, sprawled out entirely on his stomach. His sister, Annie, lay face-up with her back on his, her weight just enough (plus that of the net) to keep him pinned where he was. But that wasn't the problem. Kenjou lay with his head on her chest, his left side so entangled in the rope that it could not get free and his right hand trapped between the twin's backs. Z wasn't really aware there was a problem, being rather engrossed by the dancing flames before him that he could see from his Aunt, but the other two were quite aware of the other's presence and the proximity at which the other lay.
Kenjou would've apologized if he thought he had any chance at all of being heard over the roar of the flames and the sound of the creatures screaming in their torturous death. Right now he wasn't so sure that his cries wouldn't be joining theirs the moment they were free and Annie could get her hands around his neck.
The last of the demons died as the fires began to disappear, their very cores wiped out as the Firesprite made a few motions with her hands. Coming to them quickly, she touched the net and it vanished in a flash of heat, only a bit of ash remaining where it had once been.
Kenjou moved in a flash, nearly bowling over his Uncle in his race to scramble away. Firesprite noted this with a slight smile, seeing Annie lying there for a moment with a rather…unusual look on her face before getting off her protesting brother.
"Are you alright?" she asked, helping Kenjou, Annie, and Z to their feet. Allen struggled to his on his own, to proud to ask for help though his back was killing him from the fall.
"Aunt Lili!!" Firesprite smiled as both of the twins hugged her from each side, immediately launching into questions about what had happened and where their parents where.
"Your parents are back home, and are fine," replied Firesprite carefully, seeing the moon rise overhead. "You have no idea how relieved I am to find you are safe as well."
"A little scratched and bruised, but otherwise fine," replied Annie, barely glancing at Kenjou. He seemed to look rather relieved himself at that and she could not help but wonder what had happened while she was destroying those vermin.
"And still in a good mood, to boot," said Firesprite with a slight smile. She saw a bit of red on Kenjou's arm and frowned. "Keni, are you alright…?"
He glanced down, feeling a stab of pain for the first time as he realized his bare arm had been laced with burns when the net had been sears away. "I guess not…"
"Come," she said, nodding to their right. "I will tend to it when we are safe. Time is still moving, and whoever sent the legion will soon come by to figure out why they aren't back yet. We must leave while we still can."
"Where to?" asked Allen, his face a mask which none could read.
"This way," she replied lightly, bringing them up the slope she had come until she stopped by a nook in a cliff face, a small cave there where they might bed for the night. She lit a smokeless fire and brought out the provisions she'd carried with her, seeing their eyes stare at the food longingly as it warmed.
"How did you find us?" asked Annie after a few moments of silence, the only sound being Firesprite's hum as she smoothed salve over Kenjou's burns. "I mean, I know you can go anywhere in the realm, but without some sort of guiding mark…how did you do it?"
"That stone there, the one that glows yet," replied Firesprite, motioning to the shaped rock to her right. "I will explain that part in a moment. But here's what I want to know: what happened to you? How did you get here?"
"We do not know," replied Allen. He went on and explained their trip until now. He talked of the field of dreams and the fruit they found, the wonderful colors and seeing the two establishments in the distance. He explained how they had walked on and on, ate what they could find that was edible and made the little provisions each had had with them last as long as they could over the two days of walking. He talked about how they'd found water and a camp for the night, finding the rabbit by pure luck and putting it over the spit and were about to eat it when those things dropped on them. "We fought," he said, hand clenched in a fist. "Oh, did we ever. But they over came us. Had you not shown up…there might not be an us right now."
"I shall disagree with you on that point for now," said Firesprite with a slight nod. "Let me explain why I think you were pulled into our world. You see…" She explained what had happened with the Guardian of All and the Dark Lord having their battle, and them both dying instead of just one of them losing. And of the race to find their next Chosen leaders and such. When she had finished, Firesprite sat back against the wall of the cliff, ladling the soup into bowls that the rest quickly wolfed down and adding a hunk of bread from the edge of the fire as well to supplement the meal.
"That is quite amazing," admitted Z with his mouthful, he and his sister looking exactly like their father as they tactlessly ate everything in sight. "But what does that have to do with us??"
"Nothing, yet perhaps everything," mused Firesprite, hearing a call that mortals could not detect. "Wyndcatcher is coming."
"Wind…catcher…?" Allen gave her an odd look.
"Zephyr," explained Firesprite with an odd smile. "We are no longer allowed to go our mortal names once we have entered these realms as a Guardian."
"Firesprite," came a familiar voice as he materialized beside her, a tired look on his face.
"You spoke with them?" she asked, getting him a bowl of water from her water skin. "What did they say?"
"They trust you to bring the younglings home," replied Wyndcatcher, lapping the water up slowly.
"Thank you." She gave him a hug, seeing the puzzled looks of the others. "Zephyr went to see your parents," she explained. "Well, Genki and Holly to be exact. They will tell your mother, Kenjou, so she will not become worried. It is best that they know you are safe."
"Why can't you two just transport us home the way you do yourselves?" asked Z with an inquiring look.
"Just can't," replied Wyndcatcher tiredly. "It's always been that way. Mortals must use the portals. Those who have persuaded Guardians to take them their way have killed the Guardian in the process- at the expense of their own lives as well."
"Where are we going now?" asked Annie, petting Wyndcatcher's back as he had appeared between her and Firesprite. "Home? To the portal that will take us there?"
"First to the Abbey," replied Firesprite with a warm smile. "And then home. It is a long journey, but I will guide you there. We stop at the abbey only for supplies, and then we will go."
"Thank you," said Kenjou, honestly grateful for the help she was giving them.
"I owe all your parents more than you guys can ever know," replied Firesprite softly. "Even yours, Kenjou. The least I can do is bring them their children and brother home safely. They would do the same for me if I needed them to, no matter what the circumstances."
She glanced around the circle, seeing they were all tired and ready to drop from the evening's 'events'. "Enough of that for now, though. Here, take these and go lay down in the cave. Wyndcatcher and I shall take the first watch."
All of them thanked her and took the proffered blankets, quickly falling asleep in the piles of straw that covered the floor of the cave. Wyndcatcher fell into a trance, soon followed by her as they set up a barrier around the camp before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.
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*Blinks* Maybe it's just me…but I'm having issues with parts of this, personally. Let me know what you think, etc. Please review *sniffs pitifully* it does my heart good to see you guys giving my work comments and such. Please?? ^_^
On another note…I do believe I got smacked in one of the reviews. *Rubs face* *Mutters* Didn't have to be that hard, you know… : P
Thank you for reading, and have a good day!
~Crosseyedbutterfly~