Chapter 31
The Millennium Festival
The sun rose slowly the next morning, gently shining its light on the little town of Bridge. As the people finally awoke from their fearful slumber, the news of what transpired in the graveyard spread like wildfire. It wasn't long before the six were roused from their rest by the cries of the grateful community.
"Five more minutes, Grandma..." Link drowsily muttered as Elric tried to wake him up. "Just five more..."
"Sorry kid." Shadow gave the bed a powerful kick, flipping it onto its side. The Hylian occupant landed hard, sprawled on the floor next to it. "Break's over."
With a few disgruntled words under his breath, Link straightened up his room and grabbed his equipment. Like most of the others, he was too drained after the graveyard fight to change for bed, instead flopping in as he was. Only Tikal walked out of her room with fresh clothes, which she noticed instantly. "Oh my! You boys look terrible! Here, let me help you..." A quick spell later, the nice clean group exited the inn, meeting the crowd with some confusion.
"Uh... ok, what's this?"
A short, somewhat plump man walked up to them, accompanied by an aide holding a box. "Ah, you've awakened. Welcome heroes! We of the town of Bridge would like to thank you all from the bottoms of our hearts for breaking the dreadful curse over our graveyard. In appreciation of your bravery, we award each of you a medal of honor, as well as the cash reward offered by the local families." The man gestured to his aide, who opened the box. Inside were six gold medals, sitting atop a very large amount of shining coins.
"Holy..." Elric couldn't believe his eyes. "There's gotta be over 10,000 coins in there!"
"15,000 actually. As mayor of this fair village, I extend the sincerest of gratitude." The stout man took a medal and fairly tossed it around Lance's neck. "Your timing is impeccable. The monsters have been driven off just in time for the Millennium Festival, held here once every thousand years."
Looking at his medal, Link immediately noticed the markings adorning it. "Hey, Lance... Look at this..."
The human recognized the symbols instantly as well. "The element crests... Fire, Water, Wind, Earth... these other ones must be Thunder, Wood and Shadow..."
The mayor's jaw dropped, genuine curiosity plainly evident in his features. "What? These symbols have been passed down in our town's legends for generations. How do you know of their significance?"
The warriors all turned to Lance, who pulled the Dragon Pendent out from under his armor. The four crystal shards they had collected shimmered brightly in the light, each glowing its respective color. "We were chosen to use the elements those symbols represent to restore the seal of Infinite Gate. We currently hold four of the seven powers."
The crowd gasped, and excited murmurs began to circulate among the masses. "It's them! They're the Chosen Ones! They've come at last! The legends are true!"
The mayor, more excited than the rest, jumped for joy. "Oh my goodness, what a grand day indeed! Oh, glorious, glorious fortune! The fifth Millennium Festival shall be one for the history books!"
The heroes exchanged a confused glance before Shadow asked "What exactly does this 'Millennium Festival' of yours celebrate, anyway?"
The mayor's aide took this question. "Why, the first sealing of Infinite Gate, of course! Five millennia ago, the seven great heroes crossed the three continents collecting the powers of nature, coming through this very region in their quest to stop the entity known only as Chaos. It was because of their exploits that this area was cleared of the larger evil creatures, allowing for the construction of our village. Every thousand years, we celebrate the anniversary of their crossing the Rythessa Plains and honor their memory with this 3-day festival. It is a truly joyous occasion."
The mayor's smile seemed to grow even wider, if that was possible, as he added, "And now the descendants of the heroes have freed us from the vile curse plaguing us on the eve of our holiday! What glorious luck this is! Come! Come! Please stay and join in the festivities here, O Hallowed Protectors! Allow us the honor of your company as we celebrate the deeds of your forefathers, and perhaps even give you a glimpse of what to expect in your own endeavors!"
Still somewhat tired, everyone agreed to the mayor's offer, following the cheering masses further into town. It was obvious that there was a festival of some kind planned: Streamers, balloons, banners and the like were strewn up everywhere. Concession stands sat at every corner, offering a huge variety of merchandise, from food to clothing to weaponry. Lance and the others were amazed at the huge scale of everything. The aide turned to the heroes as the crowd slowly dispersed to the surrounding activities. "Feel free to explore and enjoy the fair! We'll be holding the ceremonial performance of ' The Quest of the Chosen' in the center square at sundown, so you have all afternoon to do as you please. I do hope you enjoy the show tonight! If you need anything, please, do not hesitate to ask one of the townsfolk. See you at the show!"
The aide departed with a smile, leaving the party to decide what to do. "I guess we should spread out and enjoy ourselves... We'll meet back here a half hour before sunset to go to the show together. Agreed?"
Tikal nodded. "Yes, that would be a good idea. I would like to look at the goods the vendors have."
Shadow scoffed "Women and shopping... some things never change, no matter what race they are..." Hearing the snide remark, Tikal held her staff behind her and innocently turned as if looking the other way. However, the staff was held at just the right angle so that the head of it whacked Shadow upside the head. "Ow! Hey!"
Rand grasped Shadow's arm before he could say anything more. "Come on, lad. I think you could use an ale or three. We'll be back." The dwarf fairly dragged the Darkman after him towards the nearest brewer's stall, clearly intending to drink it up.
"Well, since that's settled... Anri, would you like to come with me?"
The little red fairy floated out from her place behind Lance's cloak and landed on Tikal's shoulder. "I'd love to! Come on, let's see what they've got."
The girls headed towards the little shops, leaving the three guys to decide how they'd spend their time. "I thought I saw a few signs leading to some games," Link suggested. "Want to see what they have?"
"Sure."
"Sounds good to me." Elric smirked. "If they've got a sharpshooting game, it'll be an easy win."
"Oh yeah, hotshot? Care to bet on it?"
"You're on, little man!" With that, the elf and the Hylian ran ahead towards the game area, with Lance chuckling as he followed not far behind.
About a half hour later, Link was buying Elric an extra-large order of nachos, having lost the bet. "You sure you want to eat this stuff? It doesn't exactly look normal."
The elf laughed, grabbing the tray from his friend. "That's just the extra cheese, buddy. Don't worry about it." Sitting down at a table nearby, he pulled out a chip, fairly dripping in cheese and salsa, and ate it. The elf had eaten nachos twice before, but those two times didn't have the cheese and sauce spiked with the hardest alcohol known to human kind. The effects quickly took their toll. "Wow! I LOVE these nachos!" With that, he started shoveling it all down. All the other two could do was stare.
"That... can't be natural..." Lance muttered.
"Yeah, Elric, that's gross." All three froze for a second as they heard the new voice, the chip Elric was about to bite into dripping cheese onto his chin. "And Anri says my manners are bad?"
Link smiled as he caught sight of the yellow fairy. "Sol! What are you doing here?"
As Elric slurped up the spilled sauce and resumed stuffing his face, Lance added "Yeah, I thought you had to stick with the Fire Mage. Did something happen?"
Sol shook his head. "No, not really. Master had a number of dragon eggs in the lower levels of the temple, and they've just reached maturity. We trained them to act as guards against evil forces, so now I can join you guys without Anri having to go home."
"Sweet!" Elric said, his comment promptly followed by a burp.
Lance slapped his forehead, "Dude, come on! What's wrong with you?!"
"What in the world?!" Tikal and Anri came up from around the corner, the spellcaster carrying a couple shopping bags. "What happened to him? He never acts this way... unless..." Shocked realization dawned on the mage's face, and she immediately turned toward the vendor who sold the snack to the boys. "What's in the topping for the nachos?"
"4 kinds of cheeses, and a special home-made salsa mixed in with 3 shots of liquor extract."
"Oh my God..." Tikal covered her mouth with her hand, "Elric has no alcohol tolerance at all... the smallest amount makes him lose all his faculties..."
Link sighed, "So we've noticed..."
"NACHOS!!!" Elric flipped the tray over, dumping the remnants of the pile into his mouth in one motion. "Aw... that's all? I thought extra-large was supposed to be a lot..." Jumping to his feet, he nearly toppled over as he moved toward Link. "Hey! I'll play you for another order!" Right at that moment, he caught sight of Tikal, and seemed to realize just what he had been doing. "Er... Uh... I mean... heh heh... shit..."
"Elric..." The girl shook her head in disappointment, then waved her staff, disposing of the trash. "You should know better. You know that with a celebration this big, something's going to be spiked."
Lance looked at Link. "You still have that Blue Potion stuff that you used on me and Hugh?"
"Yeah..." Link pulled out the bottle containing the special liquid. "It's my last one." Handing it to Lance, he sighed. "Shoulda packed more..."
After Sol repeated his message from the Mage to his sister, the party went to find Shadow and Rand. Though they had each drank a considerable amount, neither were as tipsy as the others would expect, Shadow not showing any symptoms at all. With all of them reunited, they moved toward the center square, where the play was going to be held at sundown.
The square was the one place that made obvious the reason why the town was called Bridge. Four rivers, one from each compass direction, converged on the area, the village being a juncture for them. The Protectors had followed the Northern River down from the mines, and had planned on following the Southern to the borderlands of Makai. The Eastern and Western Rivers reached out to the open seas in either direction, not really leading anywhere of particular interest. At the very center of the square was a fountain, where the ferocity of the clashing rivers fueled its glorious flow.
And it was also at the fountain where the stage was set for the play. Like before, the crowd cheered their arrival, but stifled themselves quicker so not to interrupt the show that was about to start. As the six watched in awe, a troupe of actors performed renditions of the legends from the past, all the way back to the old wars that created the major races. However, to Lance's surprise, the monsters portrayed in the original Chaos Protector segment of the performance were very much like the evil guardians they themselves had vanquished to acquire the shards. From the Dragon Knight to the Harpy Queen, the CrabTurtle to the Dragon Golem, virtually all of their battle history was shown to them with startling accuracy. "This is creepy..." Elric whispered, the effects of the Potion returning sensibility to his mind. "This is too much like what we've seen and done..."
"Destiny works in strange ways." Shadow replied, eyes never leaving the stage, "We should watch and see if we can learn what we should do next."
Unfortunately, they weren't given much of a glimpse. As their attention shifted back to the stage, they saw the actor heroes walk into a forest setting as the curtain closed. The narrator then stepped forward and said "The heroes of legend progressed from here into the forbidden forest to our south, known to us only as 'Skull Woods,' the dark border of the evil continent of Makai. Though we know not what befell them from there, the destiny of their descendants, who honor us here today, is clear."
"Great..." Link muttered, "Let me guess..."
"Hush."
The mayor stepped up from backstage and spoke, not having noticed the exchange. "Your next goal is that same dreaded forest. Come the dawn, you should follow the Southern River to the cursed place and enter through the gates we placed there. The guard will be notified and let you pass. I thank you again, on behalf of the people here, for all you have done for us."
Bowing respectfully, the narrator concluded by saying "Good luck heroes! The rest of the legend is yours to write!"
End Chapter 32
