We're off and running again.
(Dew): Joy consumes me...
The much awaited (?) sequel to Light's Shadow.
(Char): ...what he said.
You guys are so helpful...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"So what are you trying to tell me?"
"I'm trying to tell you the same thing I've been saying for the last two days, and you still haven't heard, sir. They're still alive, and they're still dangerous," Mokol muttered, somehow perfectly melding proper politeness to a superior officer and spite into a fluid tone of conversation.
"There is no being or group of beings that can stand against the forces we control. Nothing, and no one." Colder and more irritated of a tone now, perhaps not so much at the bitterness of Mokol but at the preposterousness of the idea that there exists a force that could rival the glorious Keunam Fighters.
"And what about a Venus Adept?" Mokol countered slyly.
"They exist only in legend."
"Tell that to the fighters he slew in the last battle."
"I don't have to tell my Fighters anything," he answered bitterly. "Menial tasks like that are your job, Mokol. Remember that." Mokol didn't answer, but merely strode out of the room silently, fuming and wishing that, if only for a moment, he could pull rank on that arrogant and short-sighted fool of a leader they had. What a fool he was!
To even call him a Jupiter Adept... disgraceful.
- - - - -
As Sol rose over the sparsely vegetated area where the Shrine of Jupiter and Mars stood, Feizhi slowly blinked her way to consciousness. Morning already. Why was it that whenever sleep enveloped her the deepest, Sol rose the earliest?
Sighing deeply over her lack of fatigue (which was, in and of itself, brought about solely by the expiration of her trusted bodyguard), she sat up slowly and glanced either way up and down the path. No Fighters in sight. She sighed again, this time of relief, and started walking around the shrine.
Originally, she had come to the shrine to locate Ivan and Sheba, but as neither were anywhere in sight, she found herself increasingly distracted by the allure of the building itself. It was build sturdily with the same sort of design that the Weyardian Lighthouses were crafted. In fact, the building itself seemed an extension of the Jupiter and Mars Lighthouses, blending the purple and red stones of each wonderfully. The sunlight reflected off it just enough to keep her attention on it.
Great, she thought, a Jupiter Adept who get sidetracked by pretty stones and sunlight. Jupiter help me...
Looking up to the sky, she found herself measuring the height of the shrine and subconsciously comparing it to the height of the Weyardian Lighthouses. She had never climbed them, of course, but she had seen Venus Lighthouse from afar, so she felt suitably able to make the comparison. After staring for about five minutes, she judged it to be only a quarter of the height of the Elemental Lighthouses, and just as wide around.
The back of the lighthouse, however, was nothing compared to the front. While the front of the lighthouse was polished and detailed, catching the sunlight as a testament to Mars and Jupiter, the back was shoddy and crumbling. Feizhi even thought she caught a glimpse of some small pieces of the wall falling off.
"A short, stubby lighthouse. Lazy architects..." she trailed, chuckling slightly at the concept of ancient people designing and creating the great buildings, though stopping short at realizing that she was in no laughing mood. "I wonder why that was funny...?"
She wouldn't have much time to think about it, however, for no sooner had the final word escaped her lips than a rather large chunk broken off from halfway down the wall and made its descent right on top of her.
- - - - -
"Well, this is just bloody perfect," Felix muttered to himself, arms folded across his chest as usual and a scowl across his face.
"Ooh. Not just normal perfect," Picard quipped. "Bloody perfect. Now we're getting serious." Felix deepened his scowl, sent it at Picard, then walked forward, into a village that was burned to the ground, the pungent scent of smouldering ruins in his nostrils.
The battle was long since over, the dead covered the battlefield, and Sol was slowly rising as if to show the Adepts how miserable their lives had become. The area was a metaphor for their lives, wrecked and lost.
And still somehow in the middle of it all, Mia stood high atop a rock that once supported the archway into the village, looking as beautiful and strong as ever. She looked stronger now, the battle having been over and Shalex (or Alex now, as she insisted) long since retreated. Her life was still a shambles, but something that had happened had given her strength and hope, and the others never got an answer when they asked. If they did, she would simply look longingly at her ring, and then smile at them, something they hadn't seen much of for far too long.
Somewhere along the line, they had lost much: friends, their home, and for a while, some even lost hope. But a new world was upon them, and a new challenge before them. It was time to act.
"So, Mia, are you actually gonna say anything to us, or are you gonna just keep us guessing about what happened to you?" Garet asked her. Again, she glanced slyly at her ring, smiled at him, and hopped down off the rock, following in the footsteps of Felix and Picard, who were now deep into the ex-village. "Thought so," he sighed.
"Aw, let her be," Jenna said. "The fact is, she's happy now, right?" Garet scratched the back of his head, and nodded assent.
"Well, I guess I'm happy if you are," he replied, moving in quickly, kissing her swiftly and then just as smoothly walking to catch up to the others. Jenna blushed, and followed suit.
"You know," she said, slipping her hand into his, "we weren't talking about me."
"No, but I was thinking about you, and you know I'm only smart enough to think about one thing at a time."
"Too true."
Mia and the other two were talking at the other side of the village. It was a small place, so it didn't take very long to cross.
"...it's our best bet," they heard Picard saying just as his voice came within hearing range.
"What is?" Garet asked.
"Picking a direction and moving that way," Picard said. "We're gonna have to go somewhere."
"I agree," Felix nodded, unfolding his arms and knocking his ponytail back over his shoulder to keep it out of his mind. "We choose a direction and walk." Jenna looked unconvinced.
"What about the others? Ivan, Sheba, Feizhi and Sean are all still out there," she said, voicing the primary concerns of the others.
"We're only going to stand a chance of finding them by picking a direction and walking," Mia pointed out. Jenna nodded.
"I suppose so," she agreed.
"So," Garet said, clapping his hands together and brushing the dirt off them. "Where to?"
"Remember, we're effectively on a floating island. There isn't very far we can go before we get cut off," Felix said as a cautionary. The others nodded.
"Everywhere we can go is effectively a floating island," Picard said. "And what do you mean, 'effectively,' we are on a floating island!" Mia bit a fingernail.
"We're going to have to figure out how to island-hop eventually," she pointed out worriedly. Garet smirked.
"No problem," he said cheerily. "You've got your boat, right, Picard?" Picard rolled his eyes in response.
"Yeah, it's nestled in my back pocket," he answered, punching him lightly across the shoulder.
"At any rate," Felix said, drawing his Levatine, "we need a direction, so..." He threw the blade spinning into the air and away from the Adepts, so none of them found themselves missing a head or gaining any unnecessary holes. "...direction it points will be the direction we go."
"Good idea," Garet commented, watching the blade reach the top of its arc and spin downward.
"I dunno," Jenna muttered loudly. "What if it..." Before she could finish, the blade returned to the ground, blade pointing down, so it stuck perfectly in the ground, pointing in no direction but down.
"...does that?" Mia asked, smiling slightly while finishing her sentence for her. Jenna sighed.
"I swear, men are getting to be so useless," she muttered, taking Mia's Clothos Distaff and spinning it into the air. "I doubt that'll stick in the ground."
"It will also point in two directions," Felix pointed out. Garet smiled, pouncing on the opportunity,
"I swear, women are getting to be so-" He cut himself off quickly as he felt the temperature dip on one side of him and rise on the other, care of each of the female Adepts beside him.
"Yes?" Jenna asked sweetly, like sugar-coated venom.
"Look, the staff has landed!" Garet said excitedly, pointing. Each girl gave him an enthusiastic smack across each arm and walked to see the direction the staff was pointing.
"You make it too easy for them," Picard smiled, following the girls. Garet sighed.
Jenna bent over the staff. "Looks like it's pointing south," she said confidently.
"How do you know it's not pointing north?" Garet asked, approaching them. Jenna and Mia glared at him. "Oh, yeah, it is pointing south," he offered meekly. They seemed satisfied.
Mia leaned over to reclaim her staff, and then cocked her head, puzzled. "What's this?" she wondered. Beside the spot where her staff landed lay a perfectly smooth rock, so smooth it reminded her of some of the stone-like Psynergy items that granted them additional Psynergy skills.
"Is it a Psynergy item of some sort?" Picard asked. Jenna picked it up and frowned.
"It doesn't feel like it... and it's not giving me anything special," she muttered. "But... it does feel really warm."
"That's... odd," Felix agreed. "May as well ditch it. Let's go, guys."
"No," Jenna said. "I want to hold onto it for awhile. Just a feeling I'm getting from it," she muttered mysteriously. "I don't know why..."
"That's fine," Mia said. "But we should move on."
"No problem," Jenna said cheerfully.
"Okay, then," Picard exclaimed. "Southward!"
- - - - -
"Unleash Haze!" Sheba cried. The djinni popped forward and unleashed targeting Feizhi, causing her to phase slightly out of sync with this dimension just as the chunk of wall crunched sickeningly against the ground. A moment later, Feizhi popped back into existence, completely unharmed.
"Sheba! Ivan!" Feizhi cried, running toward them and accepting Sheba in a deep embrace. "When did you get here?"
"About two seconds ago," Ivan commented dryly. Then, sarcastically, he added, "Actually, we were here for about five minutes, we just wanted to follow you and see how long it would take you to need our help." Sheba nudged him in the stomach.
"Are you okay? Where's Sean?" she asked. Feizhi drew back and looked down dejectedly. Ivan felt a churning in his stomach.
"That's... not a good sign," he muttered, his throat instantly drying and heart falling with worry. Sheba felt a slight welling behind her eyes, but ignored it, hoping against hope for the best.
Feizhi said nothing, but simply sat heavily on the ground staring down and fighting back tears. She tried in vain several times to compose herself. "I never thought..." she trailed, seemingly unable to form words. "It was so... quick, I just..." She tried to draw a deep breath, but it ended up being short and ragged. She swallowed hard.
"It's all right," Ivan said, already predicting the news without using his Jupiter abilities. "Let me see... to save you from telling us." He took Sheba's hand and cast Mind Read on Feizhi, pouring over the recesses of her mind, until they found what they were looking for.
A final, soulful attack, claiming the lives of the aggressors and the casters. Sheba gasped and pulled back from Ivan's hand, breaking the link.
"Oh... oh, Jupiter..." she said breathlessly. Ivan looked down, fighting a sting from behind his eyes, and clenched his fists.
"This is completely my fault..." he muttered. "Damn it!" Sheba reassuringly put a hand on his shoulder, somehow able to comfort him through even her own pain.
"If it's anyone's fault, it's Mokol's for putting us in this damned situation in the first place," she reasoned. "Was it...?"
Feizhi nodded. "Fighters. They're all dead, now, though. Sean saw to that."
They sat in silence for awhile, the thoughts now permeating their thoughts totally. Sean, dead? Losing Isaac was enough. Now two of their number were... gone. Gone forever.
Forever was a very long time...
"He went out... fighting. He always wanted to," Feizhi sniffled. "Actually, he didn't want to go out at all. But if he did, he said he wanted to take someone out with him. To go out fighting hard. He told me, 'If I have to die, I'll drag some people to hell with me, y'know?' ...and he did." Sheba just sniffled more, let loose a tear from her eye, then hugged Feizhi again.
"I don't think he did, Feizhi," she said softly. "It must be hard to drag someone to hell when you're... you're fated for heaven." Feizhi didn't answer, but she did smile ever so slightly.
- - - - -
"Hey, Jenna?" Garet asked as they walked southward towards... well, it's anybody's guess, really.
"What is it?" she replied. Garet handed her a fine thin sword that she knew all too well: the Masamune. She furrowed her brow in confusion. "What's this for? Isn't this Ivan's?"
"Not anymore... he gave it to me before we got separated. Turns out he prefers using a staff to a sword, he hasn't used it in ages," he said, shaking his head. "Poor kid."
"What's that have to do with me?" Jenna asked, already piecing it together.
"Well, you like killing things, right? Or at least grotesquely disfiguring them?" he said, not mincing words at all. Jenna chuckled and nodded. "Well, a light blade might be good for you. Besides, I've heard from Ivan it has positively wicked weapon Psynergy." Jenna smiled and sheathed it over her back, then hugged Garet warmly.
"You'll have to teach me how to use it, though," she said. Garet laughed.
"I'm willing to put in as many late nights as it takes," he smiled mischievously. Jenna smirked and kissed him. Then she frowned.
"...how exactly did you hide this, anyway?"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ta-dah! Chapter one, and the story unfolds anew.
(Char): Doesn't feel very 'anew'. Almost feels kinda 'old'.
What do you expect? It's a sequel. It picks up where the last one left off.
(Dew): I think I would have preferred the last one not being picked up. And then your keyboard set on fire, or broken over your head.
...you know, you're a medicinal djinni. You heal people.
(Dew): Don't remind me.
Oooo-kay. And on that happy note, please review! Tell me what you think, whether or not you like it, and/or if there's a difference between an opossum and a possum.
Okay, maybe not necessarily that last one.