Tears of Crystal

After flying to the Ruins of Memory on Lombardia, Virginia and her team began to search for the gem in question. Her senses definitely were picking up a presence of purity, located on a higher tier of the ruins. But the question was, how do they get to it? Virginia was stumped, she had no idea things would be so complicated. Then she retained her concentration, Maya's life depended on them finding the Teardrop.

"I think I've got something!" she exclaimed, "Last time we were here, when we were with Janus, I spied a ledge with a overhead fixture near it. We need to use Clive's Hookshot in order to get to where the Teardrop was kept. It shouldn't be too much further from there, I also remember the feeling of purity and of the Guardians' power was the strongest when we were in that area. What are you waiting for, let's go now?"

They walked through the dungeon, towards the place Virginia had told them about. Soon, after the team had solved several puzzles, they came to a locked door. But no one had the key. It got so infuriating as to how they were going to get in, that Virginia sat down and began to read the book that they'd located in the Dissection Facility. As she came to the part where the heroine was backed into a corner, in a fight with three of the toughest men in all the Wastelands, she spied something between the pages, acting as some sort of bookmark. It appeared to be a cardkey, one that would fit the slot. She tried it, and the doors of the chamber opened. Virginia walked inside, followed by Jet. Clive and Gallows walked right behind the youth.

"This must be it, the Teardrop. It's the ultimate gem, the most beautiful in the whole world. Darn it, now I want it. But we need to save Maya first. Then we'll get it back from the Prophets and Siegfried, I know they don't want it to just hang on their wall. If it can lift a whole city, who knows what it can do," she said.

Suddenly, Raftina's voice called out, *The Teardrop is the Sacred Gem of the Guardians. It was a gift to the first Shaman in the world, Meleny Aldehyde. You must protect it, no matter the cost. I know you want to save your rival, it is the right thing to do. But you need to find a way to save Miss Schroedinger and be able to get the Teardrop out of the hands of Ziek. . .no I mean Siegfried. Over a thousand years ago, in the Second Demon War, he tried to use its power to create a device capable of smashing all the Raylines in the world. It was only because of your ancestors that the plan was stopped. I don't want to know what he has in store for us now.* As only Virginia heard, she was forced to translate her words for the other Drifters.

* * *

On the way out, the Prophets appeared. Maya was under Malik's arm, unconscious from a spell no doubt. But before Virginia could walk forward to save her, Leehalt approached her. "Give me the Teardrop. If you don't we will kill her right here and now. So, do you care about the girl, or is your heart one of stone?" He knew he'd gotten her, people like Virginia and Werner were always sentimental about other living things.

"We'll trade off," Virginia stated, "I'll toss the Teardrop to you, while you toss Maya to us. That way, no one can accuse either of us of tricking the other one." With the strength of a major league pitcher, she threw the gem towards Leehalt, who caught it. Malik tossed the sleeping Maya to Virginia. But something was wrong. The second Virginia tried to check on her to see if she was alright, Maya began to fade out.

"You are such a fool! You have practically given us the future of this world. Lord Sigfried has taken an interest in the girl, so we have to keep her a little longer. I'm surprised he hasn't decided to dissect a freak of nature like you yet, if only you didn't hurt us if ever we touched you. Then I'd probably get in on it as well, you do seem like something that's worth study," Leehalt told her. He turned to leave. At that moment, an explosion rocked the room. A dust bomb thrown by Alfred hit the Prophets and the Teardrop went flying.

Everyone jumped for it right away. Suddenly, another shake came, this time from a statue that had given Virginia the creeps last time they were there. It burst open, and out came the last uh, thing they had expected to see again. Asgard stood there, holding the Teardrop in his hand, and turning towards Leehalt. He asked, "Master, what has happened to you? You are different now. Have you gained greater powers?"

Leehalt looked to the Golem. "Yes, I have become an even more powerful being. But that's enough for now. We must flee this place at once. The plan is almost complete, and soon Filgaia will become ours." With that, the Prophets and Asgard turned into light once more, like when they'd abducted Maya, and flew off. Virginia was at a loss right now, how would she be able to save Maya, the Teardrop, and Filgaia now?

"Don't worry," Alfred assured them, "I placed a tracking metal in that bomb, knowing they might try to double cross us. Besides, Sis would be mad at us for giving them the Teardrop. Now, to track them. Flying over the Inner Sea, oh Guardians! I've lost the signal. West of Laxisland, at coordinates x-14540, y-17430. Some sort of barrier seems to be interfering with it, maybe that's where their main base is located."

Virginia flew everyone there on Lombardia, although Alfred decided to make his own way in. But the barrier of the base was too thick, even Lombardia's cannons couldn't break through. So they decided to find a new way, and the Ark of Destiny had the answer. The base looked like a hanger, an ancient ruin, so they might have information on it. As a matter of fact, they did. A tunnel had been erected to get there, since it was on top of a cliff, but had been abandoned after the monsters that roamed the hanger killed five teams of Drifters in one week. It did appear to be a promising lead, but there was one obstacle, a sealed up tunnel.

"We had the High Priestess of Baskar come in and seal up the place with Guardian Powers. Only a great power can break it, so monsters couldn't get out and harm anyone else. If you people want to get in, I'd suggest you find some sort of divine power to break the locks around the door," suggested Lamium.

Of course they had power, they had the Guardians themselves. So the team flew towards the Dim Root Path, as it was called, and concentrated. Soon, the twelve Guardians manifested, using their energy to break open the pass. Once inside, the team began searching around. Along the way, Virginia found a crest to change orange gems to boxes and vice versa. Using it, they managed to get through the place without many problems. And the monsters weren't that hard, the other Drifters must have been green.

Soon, they met up with Alfred and company in the entrance to the actual hanger. But an alarm had been tripped, trapping the teams inside. Alfred began to freak out, while Todd and Shady comforted him. Virginia decided, "We should split up. I'll take my team and go north, Alfred, you and the others go east. If we work together like that, we should be able to find Maya much faster. After we manage to do so, you will leave here, there's no need for you to get hurt. Only those with the Guardians can stand up to the Demons."

- - - -

Teefa's Last Word…

Well, here's the beginning of the end of Chapter 3. Almost time for my fun in Deus ex Machina. I really had some fun with Leehalt. I still say he's a well written villain, but as a person I dislike him. Not so much his personality as to how he tried to harm Jet emotionally. Probably why Werner never said anything. He didn't want to hurt poor Jet's feelings. Why do you think I characterized each of their opinions on the Sample Project the way I did in the first fic?