Chapter seven: True Rage
As Fubar, Bright and Ruby flew into the vicinity of Budehuc Castle, the sun was starting to rise. Some of the team members were becoming so tired that they had started to doze off. During the ride, Toppo gently placed a kind hand on Shabon's shoulder, making her prevent herself from falling asleep. Feeling the hand, Shabon looked over her shoulder at Toppo and saw him smiling warmly, obviously glad that he had found her before anything serious happened. Shabon smiled brightly in response. Just looking at her sweet, innocent face made a tear run down Toppo's cheek.
By the time Budehuc came into view, it was around six in the morning. The three animals carrying the eight Budehuc residents prepared for a landing just outside the gates, where Jacques was standing guard in place of Cecile. When Jacques saw the three animals coming down, he quickly stood back just in case they needed more space to land.
When Fubar, Bright and Ruby finally touched ground, the tired riders quickly hopped off. They had been so focused on their mission that they had forgotten that they had stayed up the whole night. Toppo lovingly carried a tired Shabon in his arms, Cecile was dragging her spear on the ground, Sgt. Joe removed his helmet to rub his eyes, and even the animals were looking extremely tired.
Seeing Shabon alright, Jacques gave a rare smirk. "You found her." He said quietly.
Toppo nodded to his silent friend. He quickly noticed several of the inhabitants come into the main area, all looking half-tired. However, they all seemed to forget being tired when they saw Shabon alright. The team quickly found themselves being surrounded by a rapidly growing crowd, everyone asking them different questions, from how they found Shabon to why Beecham and Cecile had the scent of Twin Snake of them.
Toppo quickly spotted Roland in the crowd. Carrying Shabon, whom had woken up due to all the people making such a racket with their questions, Toppo walked towards the elven knight.
"Where's Nei?" Toppo asked.
Roland smirked slightly. "She's sleeping in her room at the Inn."
Toppo nodded as he gently put Shabon on the ground. He looked his young companion in the eyes, bending down so she wouldn't have to look up as high. "Why don't you go surprise Nei?" Toppo asked softly.
Shabon beamed at the thought of seeing Nei's face when she saw Shabon at her door. "Okay!"
Toppo stood up straight and looked at Roland. "...I want you to take Shabon to the Inn." He said hesitantly. He wanted to stay back and see what he could do with answering the questions everyone had in as little words as possible.
Roland nodded as he led Shabon towards the Inn. As he watched them go, Toppo turned around and walked back towards the crowd.
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Nei sat on her bed in her room at the Inn, clutching a pillow. While her crying had calmed down considerably now that she knew Toppo and some others had gone off to save Shabon, she was still heartbroken for what happened.
Suddenly, Nei heard someone knocking at the door. The tear-stained elf turned to the door. "Who is it?" She sniffed.
"It's me, Nei." Roland's voice replied from the other side of the door.
After Nei said that he could come in, Roland opened the door. He looked at Nei with a calm smile. "There's someone here who wants to see you."
Roland looked off to the side of the door and motioned for someone to come in. Nei's eyes widened when she saw a small girl standing at the door. One of the ribbons that was keeping her hair in bundles was gone and her eyes were red and puffy, but the elf girl knew exactly who it was.
"...Sh-Shabon?" Nei asked, fresh tears coming to her face.
"Nei!" Shabon cried as she rushed into the room.
Shabon ran over to the bed her friend was sitting on as Nei spread her arms. As soon as she came within reach, Nei threw her arms around Shabon and lifted her off her feet. Both female musicians cried tears of happiness as they embraced each other. As she hugged Shabon, Nei looked up at Roland, who had also approached her.
Nei smirked as Roland gave her another smile. He pointed his thumb towards the door. "Toppo and Sgt. Joe are out there trying to answer questions if you want to thank them."
Nei quickly nodded as she stood up and ran out the door, Shabon in her arms.
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"WHERE'D YOU FIND HER?!?!" A familiar lizardman asked.
"Why do you guys smell like a Twin Snake?"
"Yuh-huh. Why's Koroku with you?"
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"
Toppo and the others tried their hardest to answer as they were all smothered with questions, or in Hallec's case, shouts. Toppo was unlucky enough to be standing in front of Hallec, so he had a harder time hearing all the questions.
However, while e couldn't hear much, he spotted something when he turned his attention to the Inn. He saw an aqua-haired elf running towards him with a small girl in her arms. Toppo quickly ran from the crowd and rushed towards Nei. As soon as he reached her, all three reunited musicians became part of a three-person group hug.
"Toppo, I can't thank you enough for finding Shabon!" Nei said in between sobs.
The normally silent juggler shushed his friend. "...It's alright. You know that I'd do anything for you two."
After Nei released Toppo, she handed Shabon to him and walked towards Sgt. Joe, who was watching her coming. "And you." She said with a smirk.
Nei bent over a little and threw her arms around the surprised duck. "I can't thank you enough any more than Toppo!" She exclaimed. "I could KISS you two for finding Shabon!"
Sgt. Joe chuckled slightly. "I suggest you don't do that." He said. "I'll have Roland and Toppo glaring daggers at me for months."
Nei too found herself chuckling as she released the sergeant. When she looked around, she saw the rest of the castle residents filing up the area.
Toppo put Shabon back on the ground as he saw Mio somewhere in the crowd. As soon as she was on the ground, Shabon ran off to greet 'big sister' Emily. Toppo worked his way through the crowd to greet his newfound love. Mio spotted Toppo coming towards her and she instantly started working her way through the crowd as well.
As soon as they reached each other, juggler and nurse threw their arms around each other. Everyone in the area was watching them, but neither Toppo nor Mio cared.
Toppo pulled away from Mio and smiled at her. "I told you I'd come back." He said softly.
Mio too smiled, tears running down her face. "You really ARE a man of your word, are you?" She stated. "You must really care for Nei and Shabon."
Toppo nodded. He was about to say something he had been wanting to say for a while, and nothing was going to stop him this time. "As much as I care for you, Mio."
Mio eyes widened as her heartbeat raced. "Really?" She asked. "You care for me?"
Again, Toppo nodded. "And I promise I'll protect you from anything as I do Nei and Shabon."
Mio raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Promise?"
Toppo lightly chuckled. "I AM a man of my word, am I?"
Toppo and Mio once again found themselves staring into each other's eyes. Each wanted to kiss the other, and this time, they figured that they'd have no interruptions. Toppo and Mio each closed in for a long-awaited kiss. Sadly, just as they were inches away, they were again interrupted.
"Everyone, quiet for a second!"
Toppo silently growled. He was so close! He turned around to see Futch talking with Bright.
"What is it, boy?" Futch asked.
Bright let out several screeches. When he was finished, Futch's eyes sprang open. The dragon knight spun around to face everyone else. "He says that as he was flying away, he spotted thousands of soldiers marching away from the castle, in the direction of Budehuc!"
Many gasps were heard from the crowd.
Pablo quickly spoke up. "This is Julian's doing! He's sending a full-scale attack on the castle!"
As the inhabitants exchanged questions, Eike stood in silence. He was nearby when Toppo and Mio embraced and had heard everything that the juggler had said. He looked like he was pondering a very serious thought, as he eyes were closed and his head was lowered. Suddenly, the castle librarian opened his eyes. Although his gaze was emotionless, he knew what he had to do.
Eike walked through the crowd until he arrived at Thomas' side. "Master Thomas." He said.
The young castle master looked up at Eike. "Yes? What is it, Eike?" He asked.
The librarian bent down and whispered something into Thomas' ear. When he pulled away, Thomas stared up at Eike with a raised eyebrow. Eike simply nodded.
Thomas shrugged as he turned to the rest of the crowd. "Attention, please!" He called out. Everyone turned to face the young master as Thomas continued. "Will noble Hugo, captain Geddoe, lady Chris, Bishop Sasarai and Toppo please accompany Eike and I to the secret basement?" He asked.
Although confused, the five people addressed walked to the front of the crowd where Thomas and Eike were.
Eike led the way to Shizu's elevator as the six other people followed closely behind. The seven people boarded the elevator as it went all the way down to the secret basement. During the trip down, Toppo looked at the silent librarian. He wondered what he could possibly want to show them in the secret basement. To tell the truth, Toppo and co. were found by Thomas as he was looking for people to come to the castle. Toppo was even one of the people chosen to take the first elevator ride down to the secret basement to look for Eike when he had disappeared a while ago. Even after all this time, Toppo STILL didn't know how Eike got into the secret basement before the elevator was repaired.
In the secret basement, Eike led the team through the narrow passages, heading towards his book nook. Along the way, the team had encountered a few monsters, but nothing big enough to slow them down too much.
Soon, they arrived at Eike's book nook. Eike continued walking, towards a bookshelf on the far wall of the cavern.
Thomas raised an eyebrow as Eike placed both hands on the side of the bookshelf, preparing to pull it away from the wall. "What are you doing, Eike?"
Eike paused as he looked over his shoulder at Thomas. "I'm about to show you something I've kept hidden for a while."
Without another word, Eike turned back around to face the bookshelf and gave it a pull. Thomas stared in shock as Eike pulled the bookshelf to the side with ease, revealing a secret tunnel on the wall.
After pulling the bookshelf aside, Eike turned around to face the team. "This way, please."
Eike led the team, Hugo and Sasarai in the lead, down the newly-opened tunnel. Toppo looked at Geddoe to see if he knew about this sort of tunnel, having not only lived more than a hundred years but having been to Budehuc long before Thomas became the castle master. But Geddoe's puzzled expression told Toppo he knew nothing about it.
Soon, the team arrived at a corner. Everyone could hear a slight crackling noise coming from around the corner, but Eike led the team around it anyway.
After the corner it was just a short walk to the end of the tunnel, leading out into a huge round room. In the middle of the room was a pedestal on top of a large platform with several stone steps leading from the ground to it. On top of the pedestal was the object that was making the crackling. It was a strange-looking rune, the shape of an explosion, flames leaping out in all directions.
Geddoe's good eye widened as his mouth went dry. "Is that..." He breathed.
"Yes." Eike said as he looked up at the rune, not bothering to turn around. "A True Rune." He heard Chris and Hugo gasp and he sighed. "It's the True Rage Rune, to be precise."
"True Rage?" Sasarai asked. "But how could it exist? It's just a powered up Fire Rune."
Eike shook his head. "You'd be surprised, sir." He said. "Several of the 'powered-up' runes have a True Rune somewhere." He closed his eyes. "I've seen them with my own eyes. True Thunder, True Cyclone, True Flowing. They all exist."
Toppo's eyes widened as he stared at the librarian. He knew that there was obviously more to Eike that met the eye, but nothing like this!
"However, the True Rage Rune is no ordinary rune." Eike continued. "I knew that last person who bared this rune. The True Rage Rune has a mind of it's own. If you hold this rune for too long, it will consume you. The last person who bared it had it for more than seven hours and went mad. He committed suicide shortly afterwards."
"But why'd you bring Hugo, Geddoe, Bishop Sasarai and I down here?" Chris asked. "All of us already have a True Rune."
Eike's gaze remained emotionless. "I'd like you four to verify that this is indeed a True Rune." He said. "I don't want the whole castle on me for what I'm about to do and you four would be able to back me up by agreeing that this is a True Rune."
"I can tell you right now that that's a True Rune." Geddoe said. "I've lived long enough to know what one looks like just by looking at it."
"I haven't lived as long as Geddoe, but I still know what a True Rune seal looks like." Sasarai added. "You're telling no lies, Eike."
"That seal looks remarkably similar to what the True Fire Rune seal looked like, so I'll agree." Hugo stated. Chris remained silent, but nodded, showing that she indeed believed.
Eike sighed. "Alright. Now I can say what I need to say." He stated. "With all these soldiers coming, we'll need all the firepower we can get." Eike turned around to face Toppo. "That's where you come in, Toppo."
Toppo's eyes bulged, realizing what Eike was saying.
Chris gasped. "Are you saying that you want Toppo to inherit the True Rage Rune?" She asked. "But you just said that the last person who bared it committed suicide from going mad!"
"That's because he had it longer than seven hours." The librarian replied. "If you hold it long enough, the rune takes control."
"Why Toppo?" Sasarai asked. "He's not exactly the strongest fighter here."
"It doesn't matter about strength." Eike shook his head. "You have to have the right personality to wield the True Rage Rune, even though it has nothing to do with anger." He turned his gaze back to Toppo. "To wield the True Rage Rune, your personality needs to be of a kind one, willing to risk everything for the people you cherish the most." He was silent for a few seconds. "I hate to say it, but the rune will only accept someone with this personality as a master, because if anything happens to the master's loved ones, the rune temporarily gains control, sending the master into a furious rage."
Everyone was silent. Now that they thought about it, Toppo made a great candidate to be the runes wielder.
Eike continued to stare at Toppo. "Are you willing to temporarily become the master of the True Rage Rune?" He asked.
Toppo was hesitant, but nodded.
"Remember that once the rune is in your left hand, you have seven hours to re-seal it before it takes control completely." Eike continued. "That should be more than enough time to get Master Caesar to put a strategy together and win the battle against these soldiers."
Toppo thought hard, wondering on what could happen if he didn't bring the rune back in time. If the rune took control, he wouldn't be around to protect Nei, Shabon or Mio. However, he also knew that if he took the rune, the castle would have a better chance of winning the battle with the council's soldiers. Again, Toppo nodded.
"Very well." Eike said. "Toppo, please approach the rune and extend your left hand."
Toppo did as he was told and approached the pedestal alone. As he got closer, the juggler could feel the rune's energy flowing around him. When he got close enough, Toppo extended his left hand. He couldn't use his right hand because that was the hand his Earth Rune was embedded in.
As soon as it saw Toppo extend his hand, the True Rage Rune burst apart and all the pieces flowed into Toppo's left palm. Toppo tried his hardest to ignore the pain. He never realized that taking in a True Rune could be so painful.
Soon, the rune was gone from the pedestal. The fusion was complete. Toppo now carried a True Rune. He silently turned around to face the others, all of which except Eike had wide eyes and were staring at Toppo in surprise.
Eike broke the awkward silence. "We'd better get back to surface." He said. "Toppo only has seven hours until the rune takes control."
"Yes. I agree." Thomas said. "We need Caesar to give us a strategy so we can take on these soldiers with as minimal casualties as possible."
Everyone agreed as they walked out of the room and back through the tunnel. The whole trip back to the elevator, Toppo stared at his left hand in silence. He had never felt this much energy in his body before in his life. And he didn't care what anyone thought if he told them. He swore he could hear the rune actually 'talking' to him. He tried to listen in, but he couldn't make anything out.
Eventually, the team reached Shizu's elevator again, and after everyone had boarded, Shizu activated the lift to go to the main floor.
After the elevator arrived at the main floor, everyone walked out of the lift and walked back towards the doors to tell Caesar that they needed some strategy.
Pushing open the doors of the mansion, Thomas' team walked into the courtyard and instantly started looking around for Caesar. Eventually, they found him, at the gates with Cecile. However, that wasn't all who was there. Caesar and Cecile were staring into the eyes of a lone man standing just outside the gates. He was tall, had dark hair and wore a white coat.
Albert Silverberg.
To be continued...
Author's notes: Okay. Now, before I do the next chapter to this, I'll be posting the next chapter to my Samus story and a one-shot fic starring Nadir. I need to do the one-shot fic first because the next chapter to this will have a quick tie-in to that story. On a side note, DEL!, I've e-mailed this question to you, but I think it would be better if I told you here. I've signed up with the Gamefaqs message board, but it won't let me post. Do I need a Rogers account to post? Anyway, please read and review!
As Fubar, Bright and Ruby flew into the vicinity of Budehuc Castle, the sun was starting to rise. Some of the team members were becoming so tired that they had started to doze off. During the ride, Toppo gently placed a kind hand on Shabon's shoulder, making her prevent herself from falling asleep. Feeling the hand, Shabon looked over her shoulder at Toppo and saw him smiling warmly, obviously glad that he had found her before anything serious happened. Shabon smiled brightly in response. Just looking at her sweet, innocent face made a tear run down Toppo's cheek.
By the time Budehuc came into view, it was around six in the morning. The three animals carrying the eight Budehuc residents prepared for a landing just outside the gates, where Jacques was standing guard in place of Cecile. When Jacques saw the three animals coming down, he quickly stood back just in case they needed more space to land.
When Fubar, Bright and Ruby finally touched ground, the tired riders quickly hopped off. They had been so focused on their mission that they had forgotten that they had stayed up the whole night. Toppo lovingly carried a tired Shabon in his arms, Cecile was dragging her spear on the ground, Sgt. Joe removed his helmet to rub his eyes, and even the animals were looking extremely tired.
Seeing Shabon alright, Jacques gave a rare smirk. "You found her." He said quietly.
Toppo nodded to his silent friend. He quickly noticed several of the inhabitants come into the main area, all looking half-tired. However, they all seemed to forget being tired when they saw Shabon alright. The team quickly found themselves being surrounded by a rapidly growing crowd, everyone asking them different questions, from how they found Shabon to why Beecham and Cecile had the scent of Twin Snake of them.
Toppo quickly spotted Roland in the crowd. Carrying Shabon, whom had woken up due to all the people making such a racket with their questions, Toppo walked towards the elven knight.
"Where's Nei?" Toppo asked.
Roland smirked slightly. "She's sleeping in her room at the Inn."
Toppo nodded as he gently put Shabon on the ground. He looked his young companion in the eyes, bending down so she wouldn't have to look up as high. "Why don't you go surprise Nei?" Toppo asked softly.
Shabon beamed at the thought of seeing Nei's face when she saw Shabon at her door. "Okay!"
Toppo stood up straight and looked at Roland. "...I want you to take Shabon to the Inn." He said hesitantly. He wanted to stay back and see what he could do with answering the questions everyone had in as little words as possible.
Roland nodded as he led Shabon towards the Inn. As he watched them go, Toppo turned around and walked back towards the crowd.
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Nei sat on her bed in her room at the Inn, clutching a pillow. While her crying had calmed down considerably now that she knew Toppo and some others had gone off to save Shabon, she was still heartbroken for what happened.
Suddenly, Nei heard someone knocking at the door. The tear-stained elf turned to the door. "Who is it?" She sniffed.
"It's me, Nei." Roland's voice replied from the other side of the door.
After Nei said that he could come in, Roland opened the door. He looked at Nei with a calm smile. "There's someone here who wants to see you."
Roland looked off to the side of the door and motioned for someone to come in. Nei's eyes widened when she saw a small girl standing at the door. One of the ribbons that was keeping her hair in bundles was gone and her eyes were red and puffy, but the elf girl knew exactly who it was.
"...Sh-Shabon?" Nei asked, fresh tears coming to her face.
"Nei!" Shabon cried as she rushed into the room.
Shabon ran over to the bed her friend was sitting on as Nei spread her arms. As soon as she came within reach, Nei threw her arms around Shabon and lifted her off her feet. Both female musicians cried tears of happiness as they embraced each other. As she hugged Shabon, Nei looked up at Roland, who had also approached her.
Nei smirked as Roland gave her another smile. He pointed his thumb towards the door. "Toppo and Sgt. Joe are out there trying to answer questions if you want to thank them."
Nei quickly nodded as she stood up and ran out the door, Shabon in her arms.
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"WHERE'D YOU FIND HER?!?!" A familiar lizardman asked.
"Why do you guys smell like a Twin Snake?"
"Yuh-huh. Why's Koroku with you?"
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"
Toppo and the others tried their hardest to answer as they were all smothered with questions, or in Hallec's case, shouts. Toppo was unlucky enough to be standing in front of Hallec, so he had a harder time hearing all the questions.
However, while e couldn't hear much, he spotted something when he turned his attention to the Inn. He saw an aqua-haired elf running towards him with a small girl in her arms. Toppo quickly ran from the crowd and rushed towards Nei. As soon as he reached her, all three reunited musicians became part of a three-person group hug.
"Toppo, I can't thank you enough for finding Shabon!" Nei said in between sobs.
The normally silent juggler shushed his friend. "...It's alright. You know that I'd do anything for you two."
After Nei released Toppo, she handed Shabon to him and walked towards Sgt. Joe, who was watching her coming. "And you." She said with a smirk.
Nei bent over a little and threw her arms around the surprised duck. "I can't thank you enough any more than Toppo!" She exclaimed. "I could KISS you two for finding Shabon!"
Sgt. Joe chuckled slightly. "I suggest you don't do that." He said. "I'll have Roland and Toppo glaring daggers at me for months."
Nei too found herself chuckling as she released the sergeant. When she looked around, she saw the rest of the castle residents filing up the area.
Toppo put Shabon back on the ground as he saw Mio somewhere in the crowd. As soon as she was on the ground, Shabon ran off to greet 'big sister' Emily. Toppo worked his way through the crowd to greet his newfound love. Mio spotted Toppo coming towards her and she instantly started working her way through the crowd as well.
As soon as they reached each other, juggler and nurse threw their arms around each other. Everyone in the area was watching them, but neither Toppo nor Mio cared.
Toppo pulled away from Mio and smiled at her. "I told you I'd come back." He said softly.
Mio too smiled, tears running down her face. "You really ARE a man of your word, are you?" She stated. "You must really care for Nei and Shabon."
Toppo nodded. He was about to say something he had been wanting to say for a while, and nothing was going to stop him this time. "As much as I care for you, Mio."
Mio eyes widened as her heartbeat raced. "Really?" She asked. "You care for me?"
Again, Toppo nodded. "And I promise I'll protect you from anything as I do Nei and Shabon."
Mio raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Promise?"
Toppo lightly chuckled. "I AM a man of my word, am I?"
Toppo and Mio once again found themselves staring into each other's eyes. Each wanted to kiss the other, and this time, they figured that they'd have no interruptions. Toppo and Mio each closed in for a long-awaited kiss. Sadly, just as they were inches away, they were again interrupted.
"Everyone, quiet for a second!"
Toppo silently growled. He was so close! He turned around to see Futch talking with Bright.
"What is it, boy?" Futch asked.
Bright let out several screeches. When he was finished, Futch's eyes sprang open. The dragon knight spun around to face everyone else. "He says that as he was flying away, he spotted thousands of soldiers marching away from the castle, in the direction of Budehuc!"
Many gasps were heard from the crowd.
Pablo quickly spoke up. "This is Julian's doing! He's sending a full-scale attack on the castle!"
As the inhabitants exchanged questions, Eike stood in silence. He was nearby when Toppo and Mio embraced and had heard everything that the juggler had said. He looked like he was pondering a very serious thought, as he eyes were closed and his head was lowered. Suddenly, the castle librarian opened his eyes. Although his gaze was emotionless, he knew what he had to do.
Eike walked through the crowd until he arrived at Thomas' side. "Master Thomas." He said.
The young castle master looked up at Eike. "Yes? What is it, Eike?" He asked.
The librarian bent down and whispered something into Thomas' ear. When he pulled away, Thomas stared up at Eike with a raised eyebrow. Eike simply nodded.
Thomas shrugged as he turned to the rest of the crowd. "Attention, please!" He called out. Everyone turned to face the young master as Thomas continued. "Will noble Hugo, captain Geddoe, lady Chris, Bishop Sasarai and Toppo please accompany Eike and I to the secret basement?" He asked.
Although confused, the five people addressed walked to the front of the crowd where Thomas and Eike were.
Eike led the way to Shizu's elevator as the six other people followed closely behind. The seven people boarded the elevator as it went all the way down to the secret basement. During the trip down, Toppo looked at the silent librarian. He wondered what he could possibly want to show them in the secret basement. To tell the truth, Toppo and co. were found by Thomas as he was looking for people to come to the castle. Toppo was even one of the people chosen to take the first elevator ride down to the secret basement to look for Eike when he had disappeared a while ago. Even after all this time, Toppo STILL didn't know how Eike got into the secret basement before the elevator was repaired.
In the secret basement, Eike led the team through the narrow passages, heading towards his book nook. Along the way, the team had encountered a few monsters, but nothing big enough to slow them down too much.
Soon, they arrived at Eike's book nook. Eike continued walking, towards a bookshelf on the far wall of the cavern.
Thomas raised an eyebrow as Eike placed both hands on the side of the bookshelf, preparing to pull it away from the wall. "What are you doing, Eike?"
Eike paused as he looked over his shoulder at Thomas. "I'm about to show you something I've kept hidden for a while."
Without another word, Eike turned back around to face the bookshelf and gave it a pull. Thomas stared in shock as Eike pulled the bookshelf to the side with ease, revealing a secret tunnel on the wall.
After pulling the bookshelf aside, Eike turned around to face the team. "This way, please."
Eike led the team, Hugo and Sasarai in the lead, down the newly-opened tunnel. Toppo looked at Geddoe to see if he knew about this sort of tunnel, having not only lived more than a hundred years but having been to Budehuc long before Thomas became the castle master. But Geddoe's puzzled expression told Toppo he knew nothing about it.
Soon, the team arrived at a corner. Everyone could hear a slight crackling noise coming from around the corner, but Eike led the team around it anyway.
After the corner it was just a short walk to the end of the tunnel, leading out into a huge round room. In the middle of the room was a pedestal on top of a large platform with several stone steps leading from the ground to it. On top of the pedestal was the object that was making the crackling. It was a strange-looking rune, the shape of an explosion, flames leaping out in all directions.
Geddoe's good eye widened as his mouth went dry. "Is that..." He breathed.
"Yes." Eike said as he looked up at the rune, not bothering to turn around. "A True Rune." He heard Chris and Hugo gasp and he sighed. "It's the True Rage Rune, to be precise."
"True Rage?" Sasarai asked. "But how could it exist? It's just a powered up Fire Rune."
Eike shook his head. "You'd be surprised, sir." He said. "Several of the 'powered-up' runes have a True Rune somewhere." He closed his eyes. "I've seen them with my own eyes. True Thunder, True Cyclone, True Flowing. They all exist."
Toppo's eyes widened as he stared at the librarian. He knew that there was obviously more to Eike that met the eye, but nothing like this!
"However, the True Rage Rune is no ordinary rune." Eike continued. "I knew that last person who bared this rune. The True Rage Rune has a mind of it's own. If you hold this rune for too long, it will consume you. The last person who bared it had it for more than seven hours and went mad. He committed suicide shortly afterwards."
"But why'd you bring Hugo, Geddoe, Bishop Sasarai and I down here?" Chris asked. "All of us already have a True Rune."
Eike's gaze remained emotionless. "I'd like you four to verify that this is indeed a True Rune." He said. "I don't want the whole castle on me for what I'm about to do and you four would be able to back me up by agreeing that this is a True Rune."
"I can tell you right now that that's a True Rune." Geddoe said. "I've lived long enough to know what one looks like just by looking at it."
"I haven't lived as long as Geddoe, but I still know what a True Rune seal looks like." Sasarai added. "You're telling no lies, Eike."
"That seal looks remarkably similar to what the True Fire Rune seal looked like, so I'll agree." Hugo stated. Chris remained silent, but nodded, showing that she indeed believed.
Eike sighed. "Alright. Now I can say what I need to say." He stated. "With all these soldiers coming, we'll need all the firepower we can get." Eike turned around to face Toppo. "That's where you come in, Toppo."
Toppo's eyes bulged, realizing what Eike was saying.
Chris gasped. "Are you saying that you want Toppo to inherit the True Rage Rune?" She asked. "But you just said that the last person who bared it committed suicide from going mad!"
"That's because he had it longer than seven hours." The librarian replied. "If you hold it long enough, the rune takes control."
"Why Toppo?" Sasarai asked. "He's not exactly the strongest fighter here."
"It doesn't matter about strength." Eike shook his head. "You have to have the right personality to wield the True Rage Rune, even though it has nothing to do with anger." He turned his gaze back to Toppo. "To wield the True Rage Rune, your personality needs to be of a kind one, willing to risk everything for the people you cherish the most." He was silent for a few seconds. "I hate to say it, but the rune will only accept someone with this personality as a master, because if anything happens to the master's loved ones, the rune temporarily gains control, sending the master into a furious rage."
Everyone was silent. Now that they thought about it, Toppo made a great candidate to be the runes wielder.
Eike continued to stare at Toppo. "Are you willing to temporarily become the master of the True Rage Rune?" He asked.
Toppo was hesitant, but nodded.
"Remember that once the rune is in your left hand, you have seven hours to re-seal it before it takes control completely." Eike continued. "That should be more than enough time to get Master Caesar to put a strategy together and win the battle against these soldiers."
Toppo thought hard, wondering on what could happen if he didn't bring the rune back in time. If the rune took control, he wouldn't be around to protect Nei, Shabon or Mio. However, he also knew that if he took the rune, the castle would have a better chance of winning the battle with the council's soldiers. Again, Toppo nodded.
"Very well." Eike said. "Toppo, please approach the rune and extend your left hand."
Toppo did as he was told and approached the pedestal alone. As he got closer, the juggler could feel the rune's energy flowing around him. When he got close enough, Toppo extended his left hand. He couldn't use his right hand because that was the hand his Earth Rune was embedded in.
As soon as it saw Toppo extend his hand, the True Rage Rune burst apart and all the pieces flowed into Toppo's left palm. Toppo tried his hardest to ignore the pain. He never realized that taking in a True Rune could be so painful.
Soon, the rune was gone from the pedestal. The fusion was complete. Toppo now carried a True Rune. He silently turned around to face the others, all of which except Eike had wide eyes and were staring at Toppo in surprise.
Eike broke the awkward silence. "We'd better get back to surface." He said. "Toppo only has seven hours until the rune takes control."
"Yes. I agree." Thomas said. "We need Caesar to give us a strategy so we can take on these soldiers with as minimal casualties as possible."
Everyone agreed as they walked out of the room and back through the tunnel. The whole trip back to the elevator, Toppo stared at his left hand in silence. He had never felt this much energy in his body before in his life. And he didn't care what anyone thought if he told them. He swore he could hear the rune actually 'talking' to him. He tried to listen in, but he couldn't make anything out.
Eventually, the team reached Shizu's elevator again, and after everyone had boarded, Shizu activated the lift to go to the main floor.
After the elevator arrived at the main floor, everyone walked out of the lift and walked back towards the doors to tell Caesar that they needed some strategy.
Pushing open the doors of the mansion, Thomas' team walked into the courtyard and instantly started looking around for Caesar. Eventually, they found him, at the gates with Cecile. However, that wasn't all who was there. Caesar and Cecile were staring into the eyes of a lone man standing just outside the gates. He was tall, had dark hair and wore a white coat.
Albert Silverberg.
To be continued...
Author's notes: Okay. Now, before I do the next chapter to this, I'll be posting the next chapter to my Samus story and a one-shot fic starring Nadir. I need to do the one-shot fic first because the next chapter to this will have a quick tie-in to that story. On a side note, DEL!, I've e-mailed this question to you, but I think it would be better if I told you here. I've signed up with the Gamefaqs message board, but it won't let me post. Do I need a Rogers account to post? Anyway, please read and review!