Chapter
Two:
Relenda's Secret
(A big thank you to Chrono Ivan
of Golden Sun Anonymous for the cycle theory)
"So where are we going?" asked Blair, sitting with Elephande and Afrin along with the rest of the Adepts.
"First," explained Elephande, "we go to Indosyne. I need to look up my records."
So to Indosyne they came, descending over the lush green forests in the Zalendaria II, Afrin's flagship. The Adepts looked with great awe at the breathtaking sight of the capital city of Relenda, its large silver towers rising gracefully out of the endless forests around the city.
Relenda rose next to a large cliff with thousands of tiny waterfalls cascading into the large lakes and rivers that Relenda was built upon.
The Zalendaria II landed on the outskirts of the city, in a large spaceport that was well over twice the size of Hydrolonia, Weyard's largest city. A group of Intyde stood waiting for them. One girl stood away from the rest, and she looked very different from the Intyde.
"Andrea! What's happening here?" yelled Elephande over the crowd.
"There was a group of strange-looking intruders running rampant through the city! They were shouting about avenging Askinqua! Who's Askinqua?" she said.
"Look through your records, my friend," Elephande replied. "He's there under the Cladlen."
At mention of the Cladlen, the Intyde around them fell into a deathly silence. Many Intyde had died during their first war outside of Indosyne, and the legends of Alti have inspired all the High Chiefs that followed him.
"Ok," she said, looking suddenly at Richard. "Adepts? Here? When did you achieve flight? Did I miss something when I left Weyard?"
"Not really," replied Ryan.
"It's his fault," laughed Brooke, pointing at Afrin.
"I see," she replied. "I am a Venus Adept from Vale, but I somehow ended up on Indosyne. Elephande noticed my love of history, and made me the record-keeper of Indosyne."
She was telling this mostly to Brooke and Blair, because the others had noticed the huge army getting ready to leave.
"Vale?" Richard asked. "You…didn't hear, did you?"
"No, what?" she asked.
Mekae walked up. "When the lighthouses were lit, their energy collected at Sol Sanctum, and Mt. Aleph and everything was sucked down into the earth."
Unlike they had thought she would, Andrea didn't pale. Instead she looked like she had expected it to happen.
"Well, that doesn't surprise me. It's happened before, always over a few millennia."
Everyone just stared at her.
She continued. "That should explain why Elephande picked me. I knew the hidden history of Weyard before I was five. That makes ten times the cycle has happened then. One more is left before the end."
"The end? Of what?" asked Blair.
"That I don't know. I only know the legends speak of 'the end', but I don't remember anything else."
"Andrea! I don't mean to be rude, but we don't have very long!" yelled Elephande.
"Hold on then, I'm hurrying!"
A speeder took the through the wide streets of Relenda. The avenues in the center of the city were lined with grand statues and plazas that were as eye catching as the city itself. Golden statues of Elephande, Suliantig, Zambiandë, and various Intyde lined the avenue leading to the tallest and largest building in the city.
Reaching nearly half a mile skyward, the Hall of the High Council was a deep, dark shade of blue.
"It's magnificent," said Ryan, summing up the thoughts of the Adepts as they entered the building.
Inside, they found a five story high natural waterfall.
"Relenda was built after I came," Elephande explained. "I had the architects purposely design this building into the side of this cliff. I just love natural beauty above artificial."
The elevator was carved into the cliff just behind the waterfall, and the windows allowed the Adepts to take in everything inside the grand building.
They got off at the two hundred and fifty-second floor, which was near the top of the huge escarpment. Walking down a hall, Andrea explained the function of the Hall of Records.
"Indosyne has gone through so many events that without a very detailed set of records kept by a very diligent set of record keepers, little of our history would be remembered."
She opened a large set of double doors, and they found themselves in a tall room with tall shelves nearly two stories high.
"This is the Hall of Records, which holds nearly five millennia of Indosyne's history. Now, Elephande, what did you want me to search for?"
"Askinqua of the Cladlen."
"Ok. It'll take me a few minutes though, but I'll find it."
Several hours later, Andrea came out of the Hall of Records to find Elephande gone, and Richard the only one awake.
"Where did he go?" Andrea asked of the daydreaming Adept.
Richard looked as if he had been shaken awake by her request.
"He went that way, I think," he said, pointing upwards towards where Elephande had said the council halls were.
"Beautiful," muttered Andrea sarcastically. "Well, that means I have about 10 hours to prepare my report."
Richard laughed at this.
"So, where are all you from?" asked Andrea.
"We all live in Anegon, but we're from a few different cities around Weyard."
"Anegon? You're the group from Anegon?"
"Yep."
"Can I see…?"
Richard unsheathed Altoda's Bane and roared a command. Zambiandë roared out and charged down the hall, startling quite a few Elephatide standing around the hall.
"I get that all the time," he laughed. "I expected you to ask that sooner or later.
Richard then started to tell the final events of the party's defense of Anegon.
Flashback from Altoda's Bane: (Reno's POV)
I saw Richard collapse, and I saw the shadows come out from his sword. Mute yelled in fury as he was knocked down. That was my chance. I ran up and thrust my sword down into him.
"I told you not to pursue them!"
"And who made you the boss?" spat Mute.
He struck at me, and I cleanly dodged the blade.
"You couldn't fight an elite," I said, "not as worn out as you are."
"Maybe not," he agreed, "but I did something your precious trainee couldn't. I defeated him," he said, pointing at Richard, who had just come to.
I gave him a look telling him not to move, and apparently, he understood what I meant.
I then noticed the shadows returning, and I jumped out of the way. Mute must have thought I was running away from him, and he ran after me.
I heard a laugh behind me, and I turned to see him set fire to the forest around Anegon. I turned, and swung, but he parried my blade.
The one they called Mekae watched me fight Mute with a confused expression on his face.
Mute was laughing again, and I was obviously out of his mind. I thrust my sword into his chest, and he fell to the ground and died nearly instantly.
"Wow," she said. "That was amazing. You lost so many friends though. I couldn't have lived through that."
"I don't know what got us through that," replied Richard, looking at the Adepts of Hydrolonia, Brooke and Blair. "It was probably them and their laughter that kept us sane."
"New friends can do that well," remarked Andrea very wisely, as if speaking from her own experience.
"I agree, and I feel like I've known them all forever."
Andrea went off to find Elephande, and when she came back half an hour later, Blair had woken up and was talking excitedly to a nearby Intyde. Richard had again lapsed in to thought, staring out the window and looking down upon Relenda. Andrea walked up to Blair and the Intyde, who turned out to be Chief Aginshire.
"Aginshire, have you seen Elephande?"
"No. He's not that hard to miss though. He's taller than all of us by at least three feet."
"Did you find what he was looking for?" asked Blair
"Yes, in fact I have."
"And what did you find out?"
"Askinqua was the leader of the Cladlen's first assault on Indosyne," remarked Richard, coming out of his trance.
"How do you know that?" asked Andrea.
His answer was simple. "Altoda."
"That doesn't make sense though," said Andrea. "Altoda's never been in the Hall of Records."
"No," said Altoda, "but I just got back from their ship, and I 'convinced' a few of them to tell me what was happening."
"I see," said Andrea, laughing very hard.
"If you know all that," Andrea started, "where is Elephande?"
"In the Chamber of Frontian. It's restricted to you, though, and you know it."
"Why is it restricted though?" she asked.
"That is not for you to know," replied Altoda.
Andrea walked away with a downcast expression as Altoda headed towards the elevators. Blair looked again at Richard, and she caught his attention by sitting down next to him.
"That sounded strange. Why would Altoda be so blunt?" asked Blair
"I don't know," he replied.
They had all grown much closer over the two years since their first adventure, and it was hard to see one of the without seeing at least one other surviving member of the group, although it was most common to see Richard, Ryan, Allen and Cyrus dueling with their short swords in the park at the center of Anegon.
Though they were all under twenty, they were the most respected group in the city. No one dared insult them, the group that had lost so many friends to save the city. And nobody spoke evil about Vesuvia anymore, because Nick had come to their aid, and the populace of Vesuvia was burnt along with the forests.
Blair's POV:
He seemed awfully silent for where he was. For someone so interested in history and new scenery in general, he didn't pay much attention to the breathtaking view outside the window.
Ever since Afrin's coronation, he had been drifting away from reality more often, and each time he did, it took something more drastic to bring him back to the present.
I saw his head pop up painfully and he turned to me.
"They're going after Indosyne, Weyard, and any other planet remotely connected with Elephande."
That was definitely not what I wanted to hear.
"How do you know?" I asked him.
"I just saw it in a vision."
"Vision? Is that what's been happening when you've drifted off from reality the past few weeks?"
"You could say that. But then again, I am a Jupiter Adept."
It all came back to the uncanny future seeing powers of Jupiter Adepts. This was a time, however, when I would trust them. I knew Richard would never lie about a threat like this.
Andrea came back over, startled at the looks on our faces.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"It's all going down in flames," said Richard, a little too apocalyptic to be believed. "Not literally, but all we know will soon be over, and we'll have to fight for our lives."
"What"? Andrea asked. She looked as confused as I felt.
"You were wrong, and so were the legends. There are only ten cycles, not eleven. The Cladlen are bringing with them the scourge of the universe. Our final battle is upon us."
These words shook me to my bones. Final battle? Scourge of the universe? This was way over my head, but this time, I know that I can't fail. The fate of Weyard rests on our shoulders now. Ten Adepts and a bunch of Elephatide against the army from hell. Not exactly my idea of a fair fight. I thought of my sister, and I tried to visualize what Alex would do if she were in my position. Then I thought a happier thought.
"Richard, don't you think we should go back and find more Adepts?"
