Chapter Three: Nightmare
Down below, the two girls were already at it, racing for the atelier. While Mint was steadily busying herself with fighting off the monsters that lurked around the cliff, Aurora leapt from one path to another, making her way down. Green hopped after her while Cosmomi soared swiftly downwards.
'Ha! I'll be there in no time!' Mint thought, a smirk wide on her face.
Aurora jumped high and soared down, seeing the princess battling the monsters. Digging into the pouch on her belt, Aurora retrieved a small disk with a symbol of a phoenix on it and threw it out in front of her.
"Release your power and come forth!" she yelled and to her command, flames engulfed the small disk and from it sprang a small phoenix of silver feathers and brimming orange wings of fire.
Just before Aurora would have landed, the phoenix's talons grasped her arm and carried her, despite of her weight or its hotness scorching her fair skin. Green leapt high, grabbed onto her shoulder and held tight.
"What the-!?" Mint exclaimed. The rare bird that carried her rival down the cliff amazed her. She was also dumbfounded that Aurora was ahead of her.
Without looking at the direction she was running, she knocked into something and fell down, hard. She looked up to see a Mandola blocking her way.
"Get out of my way!" Mint kicked at the plant-monster, uprooting it. Caring less that the plant monster fell off the cliff, she ran angrily down the trail.
By the time Rue landed safely down on the ledges of the cliff, Mint was already taking another big leap down into what he could recognize as a wooded area and Aurora, being carried by a strange bird while holding Green was right overhead with her.
"Geez," Rue echoed. "What are with those two?" Since the path was clear, he unhurriedly made his way down too.
THUD!
"Ouch!" Mint hadn't brace herself for her landing. She got up on her knees and hung her head, moaning in the pain coming from in her legs. "Dang... That was a drop."
She looked up and saw Aurora land on the ground gently and safely. Her phoenix let go out her arm and fluttered to perch on her shoulder. Green hopped down and sniffed the air, hard, making a snuffling sound.
Mint grounded her teeth as she stomped to Aurora, who happened to be surprised at the look she was receiving. "You used a Silver-winged Phoenix just to get here first!?"
"Seems like you do know some things after all," Aurora remarked nonchalantly.
"What's that suppose to mean!?" Mint roared, clenching her fists tightly.
"And what if I did just that for that reason, hmm?" Aurora waited for Mint to give her an answer but no word came out of princess's mouth.
'I sooo hate this girl...' Mint thought angrily, turning away from her.
Aurora gazed up at her fiery bird. "Return," she ordered and immediately, the Sliver-winged Phoenix disappeared in a cloud of sparks, the disk falling onto her palm. Rue finally caught up with them.
Cosmomi, who had arrived before them, glanced around. Tall trees encircled around a clearing they stood in. On the far middle of the clearing rested a wall with pictographs. Two block stones stood in the centre. A path slithered up like a snake and lined up between the stones and went all the way to the wall.
"That's strange. This is the end of the path," Cosmomi muttered
"The atelier should be around here," Rue said quietly.
"Well, I don't see any atelier," Mint commented, still eying at Aurora.
"There can be two options where it could be; one, it may be hidden or two, it might have been lost forever," Cosmomi told her.
"Is that all? I thought that maybe we could be LOST!!!" Mint shouted, scaring the flying cat out of his fur.
Aurora looked at the wall and walked closer. She knelt down, dragged away the vines that grew over the block and examined the pictographs. Engraved in the wall were two bat-winged creatures, and in the centre, a face.
"Hmm..." A sense of uneasiness crept over her.
"What's wrong?" Rue wondered while Mint was busy pulling Cosmomi's chops apart. "This pictograph," Aurora replied. "I think it means 'fight the gargoyles'." The sound of wings flapping resonated behind her back.
"Aurora! Watch out!" Rue yelled.
"Huh?" As she looked over her shoulder, something pushed her at the back, smashing her face into the wall. Rue quickly seized his Arc Edge and looked up. Three bat-winged creatures with sharp claws and talons screamed at them wildly.
"Gargoyles! Better watch out for them," Rue warned.
"Okay! Which one of you damn monsters smash my face into this wall!?" Aurora demanded, holding her flatten nose with one hand and clenching the other.
"Here they come!" Mint alerted, grabbing her Dual Haloes. A gargoyle soared down, grasping up its claws direct at Mint. She quickly held out her rings and instantly, they began to spin violently around her wrist. A sapphire spark of light gathered.
"Cutter!" she ordered and two navy blades of clear flowing water formed from the light and sliced at the gargoyle into four pieces.
Rue swung his axe at the second dodging gargoyle while Aurora was avoiding the talons of the other gargoyle. With a final swing of his weapon, Rue cut the gargoyle in half.
The last gargoyle backed away from Aurora. Suddenly, it dove towards her. She swiftly darted to the left a few inches to avoid the attack from the gargoyle and held out her arm. She brought her elbow down its neck, breaking it. The dead gargoyle plummeted past her and fell onto the ground. Aurora panted softly as she looked down at the dead creatures.
"I think that's the end for those gargoyles," she said.
"Hey, you three make a good team," Cosmomi admitted. Aurora and Mint stared at him with angry looks, but Rue just blinked. Cosmomi, knowing not to push his luck, fluttered away.
Suddenly a bright light erupted behind them. They turned back to see a glowing flight of stairs rise from the path where the two stones stood between and go towards the sky. The trio and the two creatures looked up at the sky and gasped. Floating over a hundred feet above the forest was a small island.
"What is that?" Mint wondered.
"Maybe it's the atelier," Rue replied.
"Only one way of finding out," Aurora told them.
"Well, let's go!" Cosmomi exclaimed and flew up the stairway. The trio walked up the flight of stairs with Green hopping besides Aurora. The stairs seemed to be an endless climb to the top but they slowly walked their way to the floating island.
"3542, 3543, 3544...3545," Mint panted. She stomped her foot on the last step. She panted hard as sweat tinkled down her face to her throat. "Huff-huff-heave-heave... Oh, my legs..."
"Looks like someone here can't take climbing. You never exercise, do you not?" Aurora sneered.
"Oh, shut up, you (expletive)!" Mint shouted.
"What'd you say, you (expletive)!?" Sparks ignited between their fiery eyes again.
"That must be the atelier," Rue said, bringing their attention to a small, gray atelier that stood in the middle of the island. The walls were a bit run-down. Moss and vines grew around the atelier widely.
"That's a atelier!?" Mint shrieked in disbelief. "It looks like a dingy church to me."
"I wonder what's inside," Aurora stated, her arms crossed.
"Let's go peek in," Cosmomi suggested and quickly flew to the atelier.
"Ah! Cosmomi, wait up!" Aurora cried. The trio began to walk towards the atelier. Green hopped onto the porch of the atelier and sniffed the air. Ripples wrinkled its watery skin as it growled.
"What's wrong, Green?" Aurora asked as they approached to the atelier. Suddenly, appearing out of nowhere, a giant beast jumped down from the sky and nearly crushed the trio and the creatures. Green, Rue and Aurora luckily dodged the impact the beast made but Mint and Cosmomi weren't so lucky, being thrown aside. Fortunately, the shockwave from the impact did less harm to them. Stars spun around Cosmomi's eyes as he lay on the ground unconscious.
The beast seemed to be like a unicorn, only demonic. It had the feet of a frog. Its skin was deep blue. It wore a golden-yellow mask with three horns over its face. It let out a mighty roar that shook the ground and snorted.
"What the heck is that!?" Aurora screamed.
"Geez, the atelier had a guardian!" Rue exclaimed.
"Wait! You're kidding me," Aurora shouted. "That's a guardian!?"
Mint stood up and glared at the monster with fiery eyes. "Stupid guard dog...horse...whatever! Get out of my way! If you don't move then I'll get rid of you with my Magic! Fla-" Before Mint started to chant, the beast gave them an icy cold glare. "-re?"
The trio froze in their tracks. The beast stomped its hoof, eh, webbed foot several times and charged at them like an angry bull. Startled, they ran away as fast as they could.
"But I haven't TRIED anything yet!" Mint cried, disappointed that she couldn't used her magic in time.
"JUST SHUT UP AND RUN!!!" Aurora shrieked, caring less about Mint's lack of time.
"YAAAHHHH!!!" Rue screamed, holding on his hat to keep it from being blown off.
"QWEE!!!" Green squealed loudly and began bounding away quickly.
Cosmomi groaned as he shook his aching head and looked up, unbelieving what he was seeing.
"HAAALLPP-" Mint began.
"-MEE!!!" Aurora finished.
"Guess they need me," Cosmomi sighed and soon took flight. Speeding like a bullet, he zoomed to the beast and grabbed its tail. He sank his teeth deep into its flesh.
The cobalt unicorn cried in pain and glared at Cosmomi. The flying cat giggled nervously.
"Hmi?" he muttered a hello. The unicorn tried to shake the flying cat off its tail and galloped furiously, shaking Cosmomi badly. "W-a-a-a-a-a-h-h-h-h-h!!!"
"Now's my chance!" Rue declared, dashing to the unicorn and raising his Arc Edge high in the air. He aimed his axe at the unicorn, hoping to weaken it. However, the unicorn darted slightly away, more concerned with getting rid of Cosmomi. Rue chopped off its left horn.
The startled unicorn stopped galloping and looked at its curved horn that lay on the ground. Its startled look turned to an icy glare and motioned its look at Rue.
With a mighty stomp that trembled the island, it shook Cosmomi off its tail and began to chase Rue. Rue flitted quickly, screaming as the unicorn dashed madly at him.
"You only made it worse!" Aurora yelled.
"Time to cool his temper off," Mint said, holding out her rings. "Cutter!" The twin blades of water shot at the beast but it ducked, missing the sharp edges. The attack only cut a strand of fur. The unicorn glared angrily at the girls with a dark aura within its eyes.
"Not good," Aurora said. They sprinted away from the rampaging unicorn.
"What's its problem!?" Mint screamed. "When will it stop chasing us!?"
"Maybe until it STOMPS US!" Aurora yelled. "Dammit! Here goes nothing!"
"Huh!?"
Aurora turned around and as the unicorn stampeded towards her, she grabbed one of its horns and swung herself over the unicorn's back, grabbing hold of its mane. The unicorn galloped like it was in a rodeo, trying to throw her off but she held on for dear life. Enraged, it tossed her off its back and stomped the ground. Aurora fell and looked up painfully to see the monster charging towards her. She reached for her blade but before she could bring it out of its cloth-sheath, the unicorn stood up on its hind legs, ready to trample her.
'Dammit!' she thought, quickly evading the unicorn's dangerous feet. The unicorn whinnied furiously.
"He doesn't look too happy," Mint commented.
"Geez! What does it take to bring him down!?" Rue hollered with a mix of feelings, one of them anger.
Aurora looked at the guardian. 'It has to have a weakness.' She stared at its two horns and then the unicorn's damp coat. 'Maybe... Just maybe... Worth a shot!'
"Mint, use blue magic on it!" Aurora ordered.
"What!?" Mint shrieked.
"Just try! Rue, Cosmomi, could you distract him?"
"Um, sure!" Rue agreed.
"Wait a second! Distract that thing!?" Cosmomi screeched, gazing at the unicorn, which was screaming like a banshee and stomping the ground.
"This won't end if we don't do something!" she shouted. The others gazed at her, not sure about her plan but her next words stuck with them. "Trust me on this..."
"...Fine! But if this fails, I'll barbecue that thing and you!" Mint yelled and held out her twirling rings. "Cutter!" Again, the clear blades shot out, nearly slicing past its coat as it immediately galloped furiously at Mint.
"Daaaang!!!" she screamed, running away.
"Mint!" Rue cried. Both he and Aurora knew she was in trouble. Aurora had to rethink her strategy again to save Mint and stop the unicorn.
"Change of plan!" Aurora shouted. "Rue, get her to safety!"
"What...!?" Rue wondered.
"Just try or else Mint's going to be flatten as a pancake!"
"R-Right!" Rue hurried, wasting no time.
"Cosmomi, you'll have to distract it!" Aurora ordered.
"WHAT!!!?" the flying cat screamed. "Why me!?"
"Because you're the only one left I can count on! I need time to summon Jolt!" Aurora explained loudly.
"Jolt!? Are you nuts!? I'll get fried by his voltage!"
"If you don't do it," Aurora threatened, nudging her fists over his overlapped ears. "You'll be flatten with the rest of us!"
"Alright! Alright!" he yelled, breaking free from her death grip and flying to the unicorn.
Mint cried, anguished. Her legs felt like they were about to fall apart. 'If this keeps on, I'll be dead!'
"Mint!" Rue grabbed her, pushing both of them to safety. He looked at her, finding that she only had grass stains on her cheek and her legs were red swollen from the chase. "Are you alright?"
"Does it look like I'm alright!? And I didn't need your help!" Mint growled pushing him away. Suddenly she gasped. The unicorn was standing behind Rue, glaring at them. "R-Rue!" she stammered, pointing a trembling finger at the monster.
Rue gazed over his shoulder and came face-to-face with the unicorn. He could see a spark of anger in the beast's eyes. He reached behind him to grab his weapon and felt nothing behind his back. His Arc Edge was lying far from his reach. He must have dropped it while trying to rescue Mint. He groaned and faced the unicorn. It stomped its webbed feet and stampeded frantically straight at them.
'Dammit!' Rue thought.
"Hey, ugly!" A cry stopped the deep blue unicorn in its tracks. "Yeah, I'm talking to you, flathead!"
It glanced behind at the flying cat hovering in midair. 'Cosmomi!' Rue thought
"Bet you can't catch me, you overgrown toad! Nyah!" Cosmomi pulled his face down and stuck out his tongue. The unicorn snorted and whinnied passionately. Furious because of the threat, it chased after Cosmomi, who soared speedily away.
"Aurora, summon Jolt now!" Cosmomi pleaded.
Far on the other side of the island, Aurora stood, her eyes closed and held her hands with her palms down, one hand clenching on something. She held her hands up high. A strange symbol of a small lighting bolt emerged as a small ball of electrifying light appeared in her hands.
"Might of the electric storms, High be the realms of the crackling skies," Aurora began in a slow tone. The glow increased, becoming brighter as the symbols flashed like lighting. A calm breeze transformed into an infuriated wind. The clouds swirled and darkened in the sky. Thunder roared loudly and lighting shot from the clouds. Rue held on his hat as the wind was blowing with an outrageously velocity. Mint held her arm up, shielding her eyes from the stinging wind.
"Tempest of thine lightning brew, Charge of electric flashes arise," Aurora continued. "Seraphim of White Lighting, hear thy words..."
"Arrrgghh!" Cosmomi cried, flying away while with the unicorn getting closer and closer. "Aurora, hurry up! I can't fly any longer!"
The unicorn raked at his tail but Cosmomi grabbed the tail just in time before the unicorn could sink its teeth in it. "Yikes!"
Sparks materialized around Aurora and swirled like a slow mini-cyclone. The pillars of power congregated together, forming into a creature of lighting. Feathers spread across the island as Rue's eyes widened at the sight of the creature. It looked like a dragon but long like a serpent. Feathers costumed over it as wings unfolded wide.
Energy gathered within Aurora's hands and a blinding yellow light emerged. A sphere of electricity charged. The unicorn stopped chasing the flying cat and looked at the sparks that glittered within her hands.
The unicorn turned and charged like a bull. Lighting discharged from the sky followed by the booming sound of thunder. The unicorn kept charging madly towards Aurora, despite that she hadn't moved and only focused on the mysterious spell.
"Aurora!" Rue yelled.
"She's gonna get killed!" Mint cried.
"Those who oppose me shall be destroyed by the great power that you and I possess!" shouted Aurora, finishing the last sentence of the incantation. She darted towards the unicorn and leapt high into the air.
She grabbed one of the unicorn's horns with one hand, looked down at it and aimed the sphere of electricity.
"GIGA LIGHTING!!!"
She heaved the electrical sphere at the unicorn's head. Sparks of electricity charged through it, with circuits of voltage zapping through its veins. Its mane stood on end with static electricity.
The unicorn fell to the ground with a loud thud as the last spark shot through its body. Smoke rose from its matted fur and soot smudged over its mane. Swirls spun around its eyes, along with pictures of flying chibi unicorns buzzing around its head.
"Phew..." Aurora sighed. "Cooked guardian. Just the way I like it."
"Aurora, are you-" Rue began but jumped with fright as Mint stepped in.
"WHAT KIND OF SPELL IS THAT!!!?"
"Huh?" Aurora stared at her with a puzzled look on her face.
"I know that there is no incantation that has the line 'Seraphim of White Lighting, hear thy words'!"
The Dragon Guardian shrugged her shoulders, realizing her mistake of casting the spell. "Uh... It's just a new spell, hee-hee..."
"You know what? You may be good at fighting but you aren't that great at lying! I know all kinds of spells. Primary, Secondary and Advanced spells I know. And I know that that kind of spell is something that wouldn't 'be' in any spell books," Mint informed her, glaring.
"It's just magic," Aurora quickly explained. "It's a new spell that I made up. What's the big deal?"
Mint continued to glare at her. She hadn't trusted this girl since she'd bumped into her.
"Hey, we 'did' defeat the Guardian, right?" Rue asked, hoping to break up their argument.
"Yeah, yeah," Mint replied. "Although, I wonder what that guardian was."
"I think..." Aurora began. She paused for a second and began again. "I think that thing was Nightmare, the Three-horned Guardian."
"Nightmare?" Mint and Rue echoed in unison. Aurora nodded.
"A Guardian from the 'spirit world'. They come in any form of nature. Demi-humans can summon them to our world to guard things or as tools for fighting. Humans can too, if they possess the right equipment and magic."
"How is it you know all this?" Mint wondered.
"Let's just say a friend told me... Which reminds me... Where's Cosmomi?"
"O-O-Over h-h-here..." the trio heard from far away. They looked around and saw Cosmomi lying on the grassy ground, exhausted and dizzy from being nearly trampling by Nightmare. Twirls and stars spun within his eyes.
"Argh! Cosmomi!" Aurora cried. She rushed to the flying cat, picked him up and shook him roughly. "C'mon! Snap out of it!"
"Ooh, Aurora! Why are there two of you?" Cosmomi asked, feeling woozy.
"What happened?" someone called from behind. They turned around to see Elena's family and the elves behind them.
"Klaus, you shouldn't be moving your leg around," Aurora told him sternly, still holding the light-headed flying cat.
"That's ok," Klaus assured. "A twisted ankle won't stop me from seeing the atelier."
"We heard some terrible noises up here," Mira muttered.
"We just fought against a guardian," Rue explained.
"And you beat him?" Coco asked.
"Yeah."
"Wow. I'm sure it must've a tough battle," Mira admitted.
"Pollywoggy Rue can handle everything," Elena said cheerfully.
"..." A sweat tinkled down Rue's cheek.
"Hey, he didn't handle it alone you know. Yeah, it was tough at first, but I manage to clean him up," Mint boasted.
"Yeah, no thanks to you, your magic only made it worse," Aurora muttered.
"What'd you say, (expletive)!!!?"
"Wanna fight then, (expletive)!?"
"Gladly!" Sparks of rage shot between their eyes and flames burst in the background of their angry rivalry.
"...Is it just me or does it seemed a little hot?" Mira wondered.
"Hey, what Guardian was it, Aurora?" Cairo asked, tugging her kimono and distracting her from the catfight.
"Huh?" Aurora echoed. "Oh, I think it's called Nightmare."
"Nightmare?" Elena echoed.
"The Three-horned Guardian... So Cadmon summoned Nightmare to guide the atelier," Klaus muttered.
"Cadmon? Who's he?" Rue wondered.
"He is said to be the magician of Carona Forest. Rumor has it that a boy was being chased by Saber Tigers into the forest and was found by Cadmon. The magician took care of the boy, bringing him back to Carona. The next day, the villagers went into the forest to try and find him but in the end, they only got bitten by Pollywogs."
Rue looked at the old abandoned atelier. '...I wonder...if there's anything in there that this Cadmon knows about the relic...'
"But I wonder why a thunderstorm suddenly appeared and disappeared..." Klaus muttered.
Aurora shrugged her shoulders and moaned an "Eh...!" softly between her clenching teeth.
"Maybe just the weather changing quickly," Cosmomi explained, waking up from his dizziness. "That's all."
Mint looked at her rival and the flying cat with growing suspicion. 'There's something about that girl that she's keeping from all of us.'
"Maybe you're right," Klaus said, buying the excuse.
"How's your leg, Doctor?" Rue asked.
"It feels great! After I saw the atelier, the pain just disappeared," the doctor told them enthusiastically. "Wow, I can't believe we're here! Ok, let's go have a look inside." He turned to his family and said to them, "It may be dangerous, so you two wait out here, ok?"
Mira nodded as Klaus walked ahead, followed by Rue and Mint.
"Cairo, Coco, you should stay here as well," Aurora ordered.
"Hey! I'm coming too!" Cairo declared.
"Count me in," Coco cried.
"Do you want some more cleaning to do when we get back home?" Aurora asked, staring them down.
"Oh, come on!" the little elf cried. "I wanna see those books in there."
"...Well..."
"Please?" He looked at Aurora with sad puppy-dog eyes. A sweatdrop hung at her cheek.
"Oh, fine," Aurora sighed. "Coco, stay here with Mira and Elena, okay?"
"What!?" Coco gave Cairo an icy glare as he struck out a tongue at her and tagged along behind Aurora. The yellow flying cat gently landed on her shoulder. The blob bounced after them.
"Thanks, Cosmomi," Aurora whispered in the flying cat's ear. "If you haven't had given that excuse, I would've been caught."
"Hey, what are friends for?" Cosmomi reminded her. "And, don't think of it as an excuse. Think of it as a way out of a tight situation."
Aurora smiled at him and looked at the atelier. 'I just hope they won't think that...I just used the talisman of the Lighting Guardian...'
As Aurora, Cario and the two creatures entered the atelier, Klaus shouted down from the second floor. "This is absolutely amazing! Look at the documents! They're incredible!"
Klaus looked back the numerous books on the shelves that encircled around the second floor. A stairway led to the second floor and on the same floor, a door led the way to a balcony. On the first floor a vault stood in the far centre of the atelier and books piled everywhere. A globe of the world, Cytherea stood near the stairway.
Cairo sprinted to Aurora and pulled her hand. "Aurora, can you help me look for books on Magic? Please?"
"Uh, sure." She smiled as he pulled her up the stairway and to the other side of the room. They began to comb the shelves. Green hopped around, sniffing the moldy, dusty books and sometime sneezed. Cosmomi joined Rue, who was looking at the globe.
Mint, the red-haired Princess, eyed one thing that caught her interest. The vault.
'What have we got here?'
She looked left and right and saw that everyone was absorbed with other things. She bent down and looked for a lock but unfortunately she found nothing.
'Dammit! There's nothing to unlock it.' She tried hitting the door of the vault with her ring but only left a few scratches on it.
'Come on!!!' she thought, irritated.
"What are you doing?" Mint jumped in shock and looked over her shoulder. Aurora stood behind her, looking at her with suspicion in her eyes.
"Oh, uh, nothing," Mint replied hastily.
"You were trying to steal what's inside that vault, weren't you?"
"What? Me? Of course not!" She smiled at Aurora, but the Dragon Guardian's stare never left. She didn't believe her. Rue walked to them with Cosmomi sitting on his shoulder.
"This door is huge... Looks like it's locked," he stated as he tried the door.
"Duh! Like I didn't know that already!" Mint yelled. Rue raised his eyebrows, not amused by her taunt.
"I wonder what's inside," Cosmomi said.
"That's what I trying to find out," Mint explained to them. "There's no lock. Stupid vault!!!" She ran a few steps and jump-kicked the vault, nearly shaking the atelier. Aurora, Rue and Cosmomi gazed at her, not saying a word.
"Here, let me take a look at it." Klaus slowly walked up the vault, his hurt leg limping behind, and examined the vault carefully. "Hmmm... This is rather tricky. Aha, there's a switch." He turned a hidden switch and the door slowly opened.
A small gem and an old manuscript were lying within the vault. Klaus took the manuscript out and blew the dust away. He opened it and observed it.
Mint looked at the contents in disgust. 'Doesn't look like any treasure to me.'
"Amazing... This manuscript must've been written centuries ago," Klaus told them.
"Let me see," Mint demanded. Klaus held out the book to her. She looked at the letterings, but couldn't understand a word. "Eh, I don't understand a thing. I should have taken those lessons more seriously."
"Can you read it, Doctor?" Rue wondered.
"Not a problem. Analyzing ancient manuscripts is one of my specialties," Klaus told him. He looked back to the book. "Hmmm... Incredible!"
"What it is?" Aurora and Mint cried in unison. Mint jumped excitedly, hoping it was linked to the relic. Aurora felt excited as well.
"Just kidding," Klaus laughed. Mint nearly face-faulted, not able to believe this. However, Aurora felt disheartened. "Ha, ha, ha. It's a diary."
'Ha, ha. Very funny. What a dork...' Mint thought sarcastically
"You mean you haven't translate it?" Cosmomi asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Well, I finished skimming through this," the doctor told them. "It's a diary that was kept by the magician. It has detailed records of his research. It appears this magician was doing research on the creators of the relic."
"The creators of the relic...?" Rue echoed.
"Yes. They were known as Aeons. About 1,000 years ago, powerful magicians called Aeons ruled the world. According to some legends, these Aeons even had the power to change the orbit of the stars.
"I heard about them," Mint said. "There were no more Aeons left in this world."
"That's right. Despite their godlike powers, they weren't immortal. As time passed, their powers weakened, and eventually, they all died. Now, all that remains are the items they created many years ago.
"And those items are the relics," Mint finished. "I heard that these relics have the power to grant any wish."
"Yes."
"How is it that you know all this stuff?" Aurora questioned Mint.
'Well Duh! Maya's Book of Cosmo is a relic.'
"I just learnt about it," Mint croaked.
Aurora looked at her suspiciously and turned to Klaus. "They're hidden all over the world, right?" she inquired.
"Yes. They're all just waiting to be found," Klaus told her. "I don't care how long it takes me. My dream is to find at least one relic."
"If you find a relic, what are you gonna do?" Rue wondered.
"Hmm... I have no idea. I haven't thought about that yet. Right now, I'm just excited about looking for it. I guess I'll think about it after I find it."
"I see..."
"How about you?" Klaus asked him.
"Huh? Oh, um..."
"I guess you don't know as well. What about you, Aurora?"
Aurora looked away, feeling troubled. "Uh...I'm sorry but that's a secret."
"Oh. I understand," Klaus told her. "How about you, Mint?"
"Um..." Mint said softly.
"You're not planning on world domination, are you?"
Mint nearly jumped out of her boots. 'WHAT!!!? Dang!!! This guy is sharp!!!'
"I think it's about time we leave now," a woman's voice said behind them. Mira stepped into view. "It's nearly sunset."
"Well, we better head back," Klaus agreed.
"We're heading back already!?" Cairo shrieked from above, looking down at them between the railings.
"Yeah," Aurora replied. "So better hurry up finding some books. Just take three."
"Ohhh! I was hoping to take a few..." Cairo moaned. He turned back to the books that now lay all over the floor.
'Yeah, about a few hundred books,' Aurora thought. She knew how the little elf felt attracted to any books based on magic.
"Could you carry some books back to Carona?" Klaus asked them.
"What!?" Mint yelled. "You're kidding me!?"
"These books hold information about the relic. We do need them."
"Hey Mint, it's not that hard to carry a few books," Aurora said sharply.
Mint groaned at her reprimand and sighed. "Oh, ok. Give me the books."
"Great, now I want you to carry these books." The doctor piled a bunch of books onto Mint's awaiting arms. She pushed the heavy weight up and tried to steady the books in place.
'Dang, this sucks.'
Klaus handed another pile of books to Aurora. "...Maybe I shouldn't have said that," Aurora admitted, a sweatdrop tinkling down her face.
"It's ok. I'll help," Rue offered, taking a few books off her arms. Surprised, she stared at him for a moment. She smiled at the white-haired boy.
"Thanks, Rue."
Cairo hurried downstairs with three books in his bag and joined the others as they walked out of the atelier, meeting Coco and Elena outside.
Victoria: "Another chapter completed! Finished! Now please all of you read and review while I do the next chapter... Sob" J-J
Aurora: "And yet mid-year exams are crawling around the next corner, right?"
Victoria: "Dammit! I hate exams!" Sees exams coming closer, seizes two guns and shoots them "Curse you bloody papers!" Destroys them and pants heavily "Okay. Now the reviews... AG, have you taken too much sugar lately?"
Coco: "Is she always this crazy?"
Aurora: "Yes, Coco, AG is. And note this, AG: I AM NOT RELATED TO ANYTHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH DRAGON KNIGHTS!!! Got it!?"
Victoria: "...Ahem. Thanks for the review, AG. FirePhoenix33, thanks for the review and hopefully, you enjoy reading this chapter since it got more action."
A loud explosion is heard out of the studio
Victoria: 0.0 "What was that!?"
Aurora: "I'm guessing that Kale blew up another appliance."
Victoria: .; "Maybe. NB, you have the first one? I never expected that." ;;; !! "Wait a sec! Do you happen to have Chapter 19?"
Aurora: "The one that got hacked..."
Victoria: "If you do... THAT WOULD MAKE ME SOOO HAPPY!!! Do you? Do you?"
Aurora: TT; "Hopefully you do have it or she'll sulk for the rest of her life..."
Victoria: "Thanks for the review. Dark Knight Gafgar, thanks for your encouraging review. I won't ask which fanfic was it that you read that had 95 of lemons. Anyhow, thanks to your , I am determined to finish till the end!!!"
Aurora: "Hey, if you're determine to write till the end, that would mean that you have three fanfics to do; two to continue this fanfic, which may total to 150 chapters to write and for the total number of words would be 300 000."
Victoria: .;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; "Well, I did say I was determined... So no matter how long the fanfics are, I'll finished them till the end!!!" :P
Aurora: "For some reason, I feel very frightened of what's gonna come in those fanfics..." - -;
Victoria: "And finally Pauli... YOU MORON!!! I've been emailing you to discuss about the crossover but nooo... You never replied back! But at least you are now. But if you ever reply, Pauli, there won't BE a crossover AND I'll rip your heart out!" . "I wanna do the crossover badly!!!"
Aurora: "What she's saying is, always reply back soon or else she'll kill you."
Victoria: "Anyhow, thanks for the review, Pauli. Well, everyone please read and review. I now gotta slave over the next chapter." J-J "Oh, and I changed some parts of Aurora so if you all like you can read the first few passages in the first chapter. Well, please r'n'r!"