Ch 3
Each day since then was spent watching Pepper learn to fly and speak from the adult mana beasts. Caleb began to learn about the creatures himself. He learned how to tell clans apart, what each clan was, which Summon Spirit created them, and which regions each one delivered mana to. The language was still far beyond his reach for the moment, but he caught onto the meaning of many of their actions and body language. The FireBlossom clan was created by Efreet, and was the clan Pepper belonged to since her father was a FireBlossom. Her mother was of the Ascension clan, created by Luna and Aska. The green eggs that appealed to Caleb were indicative of the GaleForce clan, the clan created by the Sylphs and the best teachers when it came to flying. The darkest colored clan were the Wraiths, created by Shadow. Most of them were similar to Shadow's mentality, though he often found one pure black mana beast with its head in a tree trunk. Martel said it claimed to be gaining a higher level of union with nature. The older Wraith clan mana beasts simply ignored it in favor of saving some face.
The pale blues were of the IceWind clan, created by Celsius to withstand the freezing temperatures of Flanoir. Undine's clan was the Tempest clan, and they loved water to the point of near obsession. The lavenders and indigo-colored mana beasts of the ThunderBurst clan were of Volt's creation, and their short spiky fur sometimes crackled with stored static. Caleb had to be careful to avoid them as a group, as too much of their mana could crack the crystal in his body. He had a good laugh over the MudPuppy clan, created and named by Gnome. They were all good-natured and made fun of themselves as often as others. Though easy-going in nature, they could be the most ferocious of the clans when angered, and were touted as the strongest physically of all the clans. They contained the mana of earth, and as long as they stayed in contact with the earth they were truly a force to face.
Caleb watched over the nests each time the adults left to spread mana over the world, a duty they had performed before the Kharlan War and were now performing again. He watched with interest as the mothers dug up stones from the wreckage of the Tower of Salvation, infused them with their own mana, and then placed them among the eggs and covered the lot with grasses and leaves to keep them all warm during their absence. Pepper spent her time alternately playing with the other young mana beasts and sitting by Caleb to keep him company, sending tentative images of cuddling and hugs to his mind, then clacking happily when he received them with a smile and stroked her snout. Being part Ascension and part FireBlossom, Pepper had powers from both clans, though she excelled more in the psychic and light powers of the Ascension clan. There were light influences of FireBlossom in her, as she often toyed with the flames of Caleb's campfires, making them leap into the air and dance for her. She could breath short bursts of flame, not enough to come close to the flaming breaths of a pure FireBlossom, but enough to startle anyone she chose to warm with it and start a campfire of her own at Caleb's request.
Caleb noticed that Pepper would watch him carefully and mimic a few of his own actions, developing a body language he could readily understand better than those of the mana beasts. Pepper could shrug, shake her head, nod, cock her head, roll her eyes, place a paw over her eyes and prop her cheek on one paw when she lay down. She worked out how to smile, frown and pucker her lips in distaste. Batting her eyes and holding out a paw gracefully were things she learned from watching Martel, as she learned to toss her head and watch a cooking pot to see if the meal was done from Caleb.
The days rolled by and Caleb began to think that the raiders had given up on the nests. It wasn't until after the adults had all left, the hatchlings had wandered over to the Yggdrasill Tree in search of fallen Mana Fruit, and Pepper was dozing in her pen made of stone, that Caleb spotted a group of men and women creeping towards the nests with large sacks in hand. He gaped for a moment, then shook himself out of it and woke Pepper up.
"Wake up! Look! Those guys are the ones stealing the eggs! Go get Martel!" he whispered, "I'll follow them and see where they're taking the eggs. Maybe we can rescue all the other stolen mana beast eggs if we find their hideout!" Pepper leaped out of her pen and made a dash for the tree, wings flapping and helping her bound longer distances. Caleb snuck towards the group of raiders, keeping to the shadows of the trees and rubble as he watched them collect eggs from the nests. Once they had full sacks, the men and women began to hurry away into the forest. The doll darted out and began to follow them, maintaining a good distance from them and using his telescopic vision to keep them in sight.
The raiders came upon the Elemental Carriages they had brought to make their escape and placed the sacks of eggs inside them before hurrying into the driver's compartments. Caleb sped up and grabbed onto the back of one carriage, clinging to the doors as it raced off. He spent much of the trip mentally mapping out the area they drove through, looking around for anything he could use as a reference point or landmark. The only thing he could use was the Mana Tree in the distance and the sun's position in the sky. Caleb ran a few small calculations in his head and marked his general location in his mental map of Tethe'alla. It wasn't the most accurate map he had, but it would do for now. He leaped off the carriage when it stopped and hid in the brush, watching as the raiders unloaded their prizes and took them into a nearby cave.
"I hope we get paid soon. I'm sick of waiting for my money and raiding those nests is creeping me out! How much longer can we press our luck before those monsters decide to eat us all!" one woman complained as she took her sack inside.
"Once we start selling these eggs in Sybak, we should be getting profits that will more than make up for all this." another woman remarked irritably, "So stop griping and just do your jobs. I didn't hire the lot of you to whine all day!" After a few minutes, the group returned from in the cave and got back into the carriages, empty-handed. "We'll start selling this batch in Sybak once we get more of these carriages. I don't want to have them recognized by those beasts and then spend time looking over my shoulder for them."
Caleb watched them leave and walked into the cave to see what was being stored with the eggs. Twin shafts of shimmering green-blue light from his eyes lit up the cave as he took in the sight of dozens of sacks, each containing who knew how many eggs. They were grouped together, propped up carefully to keep them from breaking. Caleb scanned the ground and bit his lip when he saw eggshells littering the cave floor. Some might have been close to hatching when they were taken and the young might have died of starvation soon after, alone and cold in the unattended cave. He checked the sacks again and found one of the eggs inside was wriggling, ready to hatch soon. Caleb collected it and left the cave, making his way back to the Yggdrasill Tree with the news of his discovery.
Martel met him halfway to the tree and used her power to make the earth where Caleb had walked glow with mana dust. Taking the egg into her care, she lifted her staff and transported the two of them back to safety. Pepper clacked upon seeing him return and bounced up to greet him as Martel carried the egg back to the nest and set it down. The adult mana beasts had returned to find the nests freshly raided and were in an uproar once more. To see that at least one had returned before hatching calmed them and the parents rushed forward to watch it emerge into the clan. The goddess presented a Mana Fruit to the newborn and gently squeezed the pulp and juice into its mouth. Once it was asleep, she returned to Caleb.
"Did you find the others?" she asked. Caleb nodded. "How many?"
"About thirty eggs, maybe more. I saw eggshells from those that might have hatched or were broken when they were left in a cave not far from here." he answered softly, "What happens to a mana beast when it dies?"
"They dissolve into mana and return to the tree, where they become part of the mana that will be spread to the world." Martel replied somberly and sat beside him on the ground, her staff laying across her lap. Pepper sensed the grief surrounding her two friends and curled around both Martel and Caleb, whining softly. "The other eggs can still be saved?"
"If we move fast and bring them all here with your power, yes. But without someone to keep them away from the nests permanently, they'll just keep coming back and steal more eggs." the doll sighed. "And I doubt I can do that. I'm one doll against a group of humans. It won't take much for them to eventually overpower me, even with my superior strength."
"Pepper can't do the job, either. She's too young and they won't take her seriously. Plus, I don't want to risk her life. They think mana beasts are monsters that would sooner eat them than chase them away from the nests." Caleb added, "I'd hate to imagine what they would do to Pepper if they feel they have a chance at her." Martel nodded slowly.
"It does seem as though things are set against us." she muttered softly, "But not all of the mana beasts have been resurrected. There still is one left that could help us with this dilemma." Caleb blinked at her.
"If that's true, then why didn't you bring that one back in the first place?" he asked incredulously. Martel shrugged, a habit that she was picking up from Caleb.
"He was created by both Maxwell and Origin as a gift for me, to be my companion and act on my behalf when dealing with people and the other mana beasts." she told him, "When the Kharlan Tree began to die, he was the last to die with the loss of mana, and chose to send his mana and soul to the tree in attempts to keep it alive." She smiled sadly. "I've missed him since my revival. His name was Orator, and he had good reason to be called one as well. If we could bring back Orator, he could help us save the eggs and stop the raiders."
"How do we do that?" Caleb asked. Martel stood and looked skyward, her staff in her hand.
"I can summon Origin and Maxwell here to recreate Orator's body, and I can pull his soul and memories from the tree, but in order to link the soul and the body, I need to have a relic that holds his essence." she went on, "When Orator was alive, he wore around his neck a cord that held a small crest with the symbol of my staff on it. I had given him that crest as proof to the world that Orator was my hand when I could not appear. When he died, the crest was lost to me. And I've lost track of events when I was sealed in the Great Seed along with Mithos' sister Martel. I took her name only because my form is similar to hers and Tabatha's, and because she willingly gave her life to the tree in its last moments of life to produce the seed. When Tabatha gave me her body as a vessel, I also accepted her name."
"Oh, so I can call you Tabatha as well as Martel?" Caleb asked. Martel nodded and gazed out at the forest. "Well, if the crest was lost, how can we find it?"
"The Kharlan Tree stood here long ago, before the war. When it withered and Mithos split the world, the location of the crest was lost. I do know, however, that it had a greater chance of falling here, in Tethe'alla, rather than in Sylvarant, as the Holy Ground of Kharlan found in Sylvarant was named thus by Mithos to further the lies of the world regeneration project." Martel told him and waved her hand around, "This right here is the true Holy Ground of Kharlan, although that itself is also a misnomer, the result of Mithos' tampering with history to suit his desires."
"That's why crazy people shouldn't have the Eternal Sword."
"Search Tethe'alla for the crest of Orator, Caleb. It must be found if we are to save the mana beasts from extinction once again." Martel pleaded. The doll stood and nodded.
"I'll do what I can, Sis. Given how people think when it comes to anything found dating back to the Kharlan War, it would be best for me to search museums and other historical archives." he remarked and looked back at Pepper, who stood in eager readiness, "Pepper, I need you to stay here and continue learning about flying. I can't teach you anything you need to know and it would be faster for me if I traveled alone this time." Pepper whined in disappointment and tried to change his mind with cute tricks and over-affection. "Nope, not gonna work this time." Caleb told her sternly, "This could be a dangerous journey and I want you to stay safe. Stay here with Martel and your parents. Learn to fly! Once you can fly, then you can go out and track me down if you like, but not before!" Pepper whined again, but finally bent her head in agreement, then trotted off to forget her worries with a big pile of leaves that the adults had gathered to feed the young mana beasts.