Chapter 2: Soul of a Summoner
"Who can deny the joy it brings
when you find that special thing?"
On a small island far from the Etherian mainland, foamless waves treaded back and forth with composure over the beach. Overhead in the cloudless blue sky, gulls slid slowly up and down the wind as they searched the retreating waves for morsels. Amid the white tender rays of the young star Earrinel, two figures sat on a boulder extending into a jetty over the ocean.
"When do think she'll be out?" Vanna asked anxiously about her friend Lynelle.
The other, Ross Gippal, didn't hear his companion because he was clearly goggling at inappropriate parts of the girl.
Vanna understood this at once when she didn't obtain a desired response. The seventeen year old was an attractive blonde mermaid with scarcely any clothing on her nubile torso. Here away from her aquatic home world Corsa, she learned to put up with the constant advances of men.
She liked attention but sometimes the starring was ridiculous, especially from close friends like Ross. Vanna shook her head in exasperation and hopped off the boulder they were sitting on and plunged into the clear blue sea without saying a word.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Vanna where are you going?" Ross tried to call her back in his most innocent of tones but failed. She was already swimming away. It would do no use to swim after her.
Vanna treaded the waves with ease, using very little energy at all. If she wanted, she could very well reach the mainland faster then any ship.
Maybe twenty yards away she became aware of something bobbing in the swell. Being a very curious young woman, Vanna speedily swam over to whatever it was. She discovered it was a young boy and without much thought took hold of him, making sure to keep his head over the water, and began to make her way back to the beach.
When she brought the boy to shore a few moments later, she noticed Ross chatting with a girl holding a parasol and wearing all pink. Her face was bleak and it seamed that Landon wasn't really paying attention to what she was ranting.
Vanna sighed to herself and heaved the boy onto a shoal. She thumbed the blue crystal hanging from a silver chain around her neck, and then muttered something under her breath. The water around her began to shimmer, and what was formerly meant for swimming, materialized into a pair of legs and short calico skirt. She emerged from the water, absent-mindedly roping her long blonde hair and squeezing the water out.
Ross watched inattentively as his friend started at the girl in pink.
"Uh hello, can I help you?" Vanna said.
The pinked girl turned to her, realizing that the Juraian would not offer any relief. In her grey eyes, Vanna could perceive the twinge of panic contained by them.
"I've lost a friend, have you seen him?" She queried desperately at Vanna, "He's really important to me."
"Oh," it was an easy question, she pointed some length away back at the shoal where she'd done her transformation. There lay the boy she hoped the newcomer was looking for. "You mean-"
In a sudden twist of her parasol, that almost hit Vanna, the pink girl was by the side of the rescued boy before the Corsan could finish her sentence. Looks like he's the one. With a gesture telling Ross to follow, that he likewise obeyed, Vanna, mostly out of curiosity than concern, came up beside the lying boy as well.
------
He awoke on white sand, listening to the sounds of ocean waves, and laying beneath the light of a tender young sun, quite different from the star at Sindar. He accepted the notion that the Andrew Wong may have crashed onto a nearby planet because he was on a world unbeknownst to him. At least he was able to breathe. There were far too many words inhospitable to humans. He was lucky to end up somewhere where the basic needs to live were fulfilled.
He lay there comfortably on the soft sand remembering the dream about him visiting Emelan and the girl in pink, Michelle, before the screaming siren of comprehension went off in his mind that he was choking—on water. His eyes burst open, Aramis sputtered some seawater from his mouth, and then his face furrowed at the beaming figures over him. They formed a semi-circle around him, with Michelle shaping the center. A dismal expression was ambient on her face. Then it crumpled and tears began to trickle down her cheeks. She looked at Ari as if pleading something. He sat up, "What's wrong Michelle?"
Her lips parted, but nothing came out. She leaned over him, her arms round him, murmuring something that sounded pained. In her embrace, Ari suddenly became fearful and his eyes began to water as well. "Michelle, just tell me," he stammered.
"It's gone Ari," she cried, pulling him closer. "Deva, she saved us."
Michelle was so ingenuous to her obvious empathy for him. she was hurting inside, and he was her only comfort. "Don't leave me Ari," she almost cried. Maybe this new world wasn't such a great place after all, everything, even the faces on the other two figures present, one a beautiful Corsan maiden, and the other a young Juraian, seamed a little grim.
Ari hadn't uttered a single word when a bright light caught his eyes, emerging from the forest behind the beach. The Corsan turned around and Michelle let go to see what it was. She sauntered some distance, but turned back around when she found Ari was still sitting on the sand.
"Do you know where we are?" The bravado had returned to her voice almost as soon as it had left.
Ari shrugged; there were Corsans here, or at least a Corsan--and lots of water when he looked around. "Corsa probably."
"No. We're on an Elven home world, not Corsa." The Corsan spoke at them, pointing at a contingent of light infested Elves emerging from the forest.
Deva really did send them to Ether. Never in his life did Ari see a more colorful bunch of people, and he meant that literally, when he looked at the motley band of Elves. Garbed in white-lavender smocks and domed hats bearing the dragonfly symbol, their skin colors ranged from bright red, light purple, to a dark brown or pale grey.
The purple-skinned female, an Ison, as they were universally called in the common Westril speech, stepped forward to greet Vanna.
"Lady Guardian," she beckoned.
The Corsan replied with a bow. "Your Grace."
"The Summoner has nearly refined her rod within the cloister confines," she spoke. "Your presence is mandatory, Guardians." Her gaze turned to Ari and Michelle. "Welcome to Besaid Island. You are both expected."
------
Vanna hurried across the meandering stream, leaping from one rock to another, with the precise fashion and finesse of the Elves that she'd lived alongside for the past ten years. Her feet were light as she crossed the stream to enter the tropic jungle of the island. The girl was far ahead of her new companions, Michelle and Ari. She darted quickly through the dense overgrowth, occasionally brushing against some extended vegetation out onto the path. For a seldom-used route, it was miraculously clean of fallen leaves.
"Vanna!" Ari's diminutive voice resonated from back at the stream, "You're supposed to lead us to the village! Wait up!"
She only giggled to herself. "C'mon! Hurry up!" She could hear him whimper irritably in the distance as a reply.
She persistently ran down the path, needing to breathe only trifle amounts of the jungle air. Her passion for running started out as an odd habit of resisting advances of Elven men that eventually formed into one of her favorite pastimes, next to swimming of course.
Her sharp Corsan ears caught her companions' entrance into the forest of Besaid--trailing behind at almost one-hundred meters! Vanna giggled at how considerable her lead was over them. She thought for a moment, slowing shortly, of going back, all the way, to be considerate to Aramis and Michelle, and just walk the path with them. However, she quickly dismissed the notion from her mind and quickened her pace.
About her, the trees dripped the rain from last night's drizzle, onto the fern fronds and cycads already burdened by crystal drops of morning dew. The jungle air was cool and livened by the essence of life. During the summertime, the blossoms were flourishing at full bloom, turning the normally green vibrancy into a myriad of colors. Bright hued flowers, of all variety, vibrant yellows and oranges, to more subtle indigos and violets, adorned the undergrowth, challenging the dimness caused by the canopy of trees. Their alluring fragrances drifted on the air's breath. Less wholesome luminous-green mushroom fungi rooted parasitically on the trunks of trees, while a ginger-colored variation stair-stepped on others.
Vanna followed the gravel path that snaked through the forested hills of Besaid's interior until its winding descent spilled her out onto the fine sanded beach on the island's western shore. She walked barefoot into the light of the sun and the blue sea in the distance. She crossed the light soft sand of the beach toward the ocean until she was ankle deep in the warm water. She closed her eyes, letting the young star's tender rays warm her body and the fanfare of the waves alleviate her tired body.
A rustling in the undergrowth caught her ear. She turned to see Michelle, with the pink parasol still over her, and Aramis holding her hand. He scuttled clumsily through the shrubbery. He was in disarray by the look on his face.
"Geez, you run too fast!" Aramis said in a small, almost unmanly, shrill voice.
Vanna giggled. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" She smiled, pointing across the way, westward at the picturesque village of Besaid, across from them.
------
Besaid was a splendor of both natural and man-made (or Elven-made) assemblage.
Cradled against a sea cliff of sedimentary rock and above a stairway of tide pools, the focus of the village was the temple of Ilumna, its forward façade of limestone reminiscent of a ship's mast. The pinnacle tower, shouldering the rock face, shone like a spire of pink-yellow glass against the sun, with the single white banner of the Holy Mother Dragonfly fluttering in the wind. Houses of similar blue-white stone construct stood close beneath the temple's gape, with domed roofs covered in fine Elven workings of yellow and pink. There was not a veranda or courtyard not adorned with lovely white, blue, and pink flowers, taken probably from the forest.
Aramis heaved a heavy sigh, squeezing his eyes shut though still being caught up by the sight of the village. He was tired and hoped maybe that Vanna could offer him a place to sleep before they went on to meet the Summoner (whatever it was). He wanted to ask Michelle, but he was afraid she would only act reproving toward him. She was after all, continually carrying his burden since they had met.
They entered through a delicate arch of plastered white, after ascending a gracious pinkish stairway from the beach. Within the tide pools lining the flight of stairs, were sea creatures of all assortment, sizes, and color. Halfway, a polite little red Murky Fish introduced himself to Michelle.
"Welcome to Besaid," it greeted in a chirruping song.
Her obeisance toward him was of the most regal of manner. It was always proper to carry one's self with elegance even when away from the confines of good society. Even though she did not want to, Michelle subconsciously adhered to the laws of etiquette. She held her parasol awry upon her shoulders when she entered the village's central lane, looking as always, a thing of superb beauty.
The Elves that they came across paid little heed to any of their presence and instead moved about backs rigid and head straight, as if they were bound by law to keep poise and gracefulness. It was something one needed to understand about Elves, that aesthetics meant everything, even to the way they walked. And squandering words, especially in greetings, was always a qualm amongst them. They frolicked in their serious bearing, ears a' pointing and elegant loose fitting robes trailing behind them, some eying the incomers with sneering suspicion. Michelle seemed to Ari, to fit in perfectly with them, with her constant keeping to gracefulness.
After a few minutes of walking, the girls and Aramis entered the Besaid marketplace, a large triangular area between three buildings of domed erection. Merchants of mostly gray Syvarren elves shouted ecstatically from their thatch-hut shops, trying to get citizens to purchase their wares. This was the first place to be loud and rowdy, with congregators of all variety—flame-red Fyorens, purple-skinned Isons, a small number of Drows and normal skinned Noldrin Elves, and surprisingly, some other foreigners in the vicinity. All were milling about, discussing, and cutting deals with one another.
The trio bumped their way through the establishment, through the crowd, trying to reach the temple entrance.
When the three stopped beneath the stoned mast-like appendage of the temple and the between two supporting pillars sculptured into great cats, Vanna turned to her companions.
"This is the Temple of Besaid, where Seraphoris, the Aeon of Light resides," she said. "Lynelle, my lady summoner has nearly ended her training here."
Michelle nodded, "My aunt requested that Ari and I accompany the Summoner on her pilgrimage. Possibly as Guardians?"
"That is what Deva requested," a familiar voice confirmed from behind them. Aramis saw an Elven woman, a Noldrin, suited in a purple-black dress with feather tassels and a pointed hat upon a head of long black hair. He about gasped at the similarity of the elf before him and Aunt Deva at Emelan. The same purple eyes, cascading midnight tresses, even her gaze of ravenous desire. Except for the lack of height and less busty torso, this elf was a mirror image.
When Ari turned to look at Michelle, the same perplexed look inhabited her face, her mouth even open at the confusion.
"Ahh...Vanna, it seams you've met the new guardians," the Noldrin spoke, in the exact sensuous tenor.
Vanna nodded, "Yes Rosalyn. They arrived at the South Beach"
The Elf's gaze averted over to Michelle, and then to Ari. He gulped down hard at the way she peered at him, a one as mature as she shouldn't when looking at a sixteen year old. She ambled closer to them, making clear the presence of a conjurer's staff in her left hand. Her smoldering purple eyes entrenched upon the boy, subjecting him into more mental torment.
"You will be delighted to meet the Summoner, yes?"
Ari tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but cut short by Michelle's promptness to respond.
"Before we are designated the task of guarding the Summoner, may I first ask why the responsibility falls on us?" Aramis felt a trace of hostility in Michelle's response.
"You're exactly as your aunt said," the Noldrin grinned. "It is a desirable trait that women are cool-headed during these trying times. Deva considered you as good for enlistment as a Guardian," her eyes moved to Michelle's rapier and parasol. "Endumil and Ethewui...I haven't seen the pair together since your mother and father were still together."
Michelle suddenly looked hurt and her features contorting visibly. "How do you know anything about my family? Endumil was my father's sword! And Ethewui-" She paused remembering the parasol did indeed belong to her mother. "It's mine!"
Aramis could almost feel the angst tearing at Michelle's soul, knowing that everything in her existence was possibly gone. Though her relations with her parents were unknown to him, it was obvious that they pained her. He reached out to console her, placing his hand upon her shoulder. "Michelle, it's alright."
The only reply came from the Elf. "I am aware of the troubles afflicting both of you," her voice was comforting, strong, and penetrating. "But the journey that lies ahead will be fraught with many troubles."
Michelle still was not satisfied. "But why us? Guardians need to have a bond with the Summoner they protect," Michelle sounded so assured, tossing her blonde ponytail ostentatiously. "What makes me and Ari so special?"
"The most powerful bonds are sometimes formed during the pilgrimage itself," Rosalyn replied without hesitancy. "Everything has a beginning from which we start with nothing. People too. A Summoner is rising, and you both are appointed the task to protect her. Will you answer to her call?"
Michelle's lips parted but she couldn't second a word.
Then, most observably out of his frustration within his mind, Aramis finally decided to interject. "All this speak of Aeons are nice, and I'd gladly be a Guardian. But before I go jumping headfirst into something, could someone tell me exactly what a Summoner is?"
Rosalyn looked at him with incredulity, but quickly her face relaxed into a pretty smile. "Maybe it would be best to meet with the Summoner."
------
The temple anteroom through which they passed through was of marvelous design. Above there heads raised the temple's dome, resplendent in bas-reliefs of Elven narratives. The ambient light spilled through the oculus in a pillar of radiance, spotlighting the sculpture standing in the center.
"At last, a tribute for Lord Braska" Ari heard an Elf explain before bowing to the effigy in the same manner of Michelle.
He followed closely beside the women entering the polished-marble nave of the Besaid temple. Now the light was everywhere, pouring through the clerestory's lancet windows and triforium's defining rose windows, empowered even more by the pink-white stone. The tripartite vaults soared higher than the first dome they passed, and replacing the relief-sculpture were more elegant and vibrant narrations and hanging banners of fine brocade. Behind delicately thin columns, the arcades parallel to the central walkway held the main traffic and overflow of Elven pilgrims.
The leisurely stroll ended at a dwarfing portal, where Ari's eyes fell upon the intricately crafted jamb sculptures holding aloft the decorated tympanum. An Elf on the left and a Valkyrie on the right, they stood stoically conformed to the stone, with only a single limb held out in a placating gesture. The way is shut, read across their drapery.
"Does that mean us?" Ari asked, almost childlike.
"It means you."
He felt a hand upon his shoulder and whipped about quickly to meet with its owner. Standing before him was the massive figure of a Coeurl. The lion-esque being, though only a female (the open mode of dress boasted of femininity), towered over him. But the voice came from another, hidden behind the beast of golden fur. A minuscule Juraian man in goldenrod robes peered from behind her as if keeping a vantage of safety but the massive hulk of the Coeurl's head turned and met him with a ferocious snarl that set the Juraian bolting backwards in an unusual hop.
"Sataume, good of you to join us." Rosalyn bowed to the enormous creature before she focused her attention to the Juraian. "Pleasantries, Praetor Ross."
"This is unheard of, Lady Rosalyn!" He pointed a patronizing finger at Ari. "I heard this Erressian in our presence should be a Guardian to our Summoner?"
"Mmhmmm," Rosalyn droned not caring. "Ross, the racial anxieties of the Jurai does not concern me. If it be that Aramis, an Erressian, has been chosen, I have no qualm."
"A heathen? His Emperor has openly ex-communicated himself from the Church, doesn't that mean anything! He cannot enter the cloister...it is impurity!" He stomped his foot in a demanding gesture, but it only made the man seem less tactful. Ari chuckled quietly to himself at how curious the Juraian man looked. He had met several of his kind during his lifetime, and they were all the same one-dimensional figures-all about religion and hating the Tol Erressian race. And usually they found a way to make both come together. Aramis was never devout, but it wasn't true he was a heathen.
"It's time now that we left Ross," the cool Rosalyn dared to say, gesturing for Sataume to open the heavy beechen door. The way was shut quickly when the group went in, the hollering of a disgruntled Juraian closed behind.
The cloister was dark without the outside light, with only the flame emitting from the crescent-mooned tip of Rosalyn's conjuring staff. It was a circular room paved in darkened cobblestone. No longer was the statuary of valiant feats of Elven knights or elegant Princesses. But now the sculptured relieves paneling the walls were of distorted peoples, bleak and grim and of dark-stone. They were deep inside the sea-cliff's face, as could be seen by the generic roof structure of looming stalactites. It was sullen inside the cave's prison, the only sounds coming from the dripping water from cracks and the breaths of the waiting.
All eyes lay upon the stairway leading up to a closed stoned door where the Summoner only entered. Aramis was the closest, at the foot of the staircase. His thoughts about everything dissipated as he lingered for the birthing of a new Summoner. All that he knew, was the Summoners had something to do with Sin. That was all Rosalyn told him, and he didn't dare ask Michelle for fear of disapproval. Yet, he felt that since Sin brought him here, maybe Sin could bring him back home to his time. From everything he knew, Sin didn't sound that bad.
It came just when Ari succumbed to boredom. There was a low growling sound and the hanging rock formations began to stir, then the door above the staircase whooshed open in a brilliant gale of white light. The prince had taken a single step covering his eyes with his hand in the process, when he caught sight of the delicately thin silhouette of a female step over the threshold.
Coming out of her prison of light and into plain sight, she captured Ari's breath. A picture of beauty, glistening in the perspiration of her ordeal, she ambled weakly down the steps. Her breathing was labored and her knees trembled beneath her weight.
Ari saw that she struggled to descend the flight of stairs. When her footing gave way in a small yelp, he was there to catch her from the mortal fall. He now held her close, feeling the youthful breasts from behind the thin white dress. She met with the green eyes of her savior and she gasped.
"How embarrassing, for me to fall like that," she sputtered, still burdened. She looked at him longer than she should have. What she really wanted to say was "Your eyes, they're beautiful"
He looked at her with incertitude and a bit self-conscious that such an attractive girl lay in his arms. All this time he had pictured Summoners as obnoxious clergy members. She was tall and thin and young, probably closer to his age than Michelle, as well as mahogany haired, and with a visage more angelic and innocent. Ari didn't say anything except smile awkwardly and help the Summoner to her feet to move on to the rest of the guardians. When she smiled at Ari, his knees went limp.
"I've done it" in giddy ecstasy she flourished the ornamented, long handled, rod clasped in her hand. She nodded, "I have become a Summoner"
Vanna clapped her hands together in delight and Michelle and the Coeurl leaning idly against the chamber walls gave off only a nod of approval to the Summoner. Rosalyn responded with a sultry smile. "Very well, Lynelle"
For some reason Ari felt a little warm and fuzzy all over his body.
------
Everyone that she knew was waiting outside for her. The Summoner peered from behind the temple pilaster, taking a brief moment to see the crowd of faces amassed at where the marketplace should be. She never liked the hordes that praised her.
A hand upon her shoulder came with a sudden surprise. "You'll need to face them sooner or later." It was the singsong voice of Vanna there to point out the reality.
"But do I need to face them all like this?" she asked.
"Well you should've thought of that before you decided to be a Summoner" Vanna responded disapprovingly to her best friend.
Lynelle sighed. The Corsan still harassed her for choosing to follow in her father's path as a Summoner. Vanna cared for her; it hurt the blonde that Lynelle was placing herself in danger. Sin was not something to be taken lightly with, for it knew well the purpose of the Summoners to end its life. Her father had done it, and Lynelle hoped to follow in his legacy (hoping as well that Sin did not recognize her as Summoner Braska's daughter).
Maybe it would be best not to analyze the future, she thought to herself. The pilgrimage hadn't even begun. Then he sprung into her mind. It was embarrassing for her to fall like that, but she liked being in his arms. She thought about his tender youth, the aroma of jasmine her favorite flower emanating from him, and his dreamy green eyes. He had made quite an impression on her. A grin came across her face, and Vanna was there to catch it.
"What are you thinking about?" Vanna implored, naturally grimacing. She nudged her friend gently upon the shoulder. "Tell me Lynelle."
The Summoner breathed in deep and came from behind the column, ignoring her friend. "Well. Here I go Vanna." She stepped down from the temple patio, crossing the length of the veranda to the ardent cries of her fans. They formed an aisle way for her, the surge of Elves parting left or right, and then when she was at the very center, they enclosed her in an en masse circle.
Lynelle swallowed what fear that held her body. It would be her first Summon (hopefully).
------
"Lynelle." The name of the Summoner rolled off Ari's tongue in a delightful sigh. Michelle heard him and gave him a disapproving look, and then she told him to be quiet.
The group of Guardians kept watch on their Summoner from a tent-like platform behind the crowd of people. She was dancing now, Lynelle, twirling in random motions, her Summoner's rod. Her once tied back hair escaped from its security and moved along with her. Then after what seemed to Ari like a rifle spin movement, she stopped the dance and then raised the rod into the air.
Rosalyn brooded closest to the platform edge trying to keep calm by cooling herself with a fan. The woman was keenly worried about Lynelle and her Summoning abilities. Repeatedly Aramis heard her cry under her breath. "Seraphoris, arise Seraphoris"
When nothing came and Lynelle suffered to linger motionless in the midst of all her fellow elves, Rosalyn sighed and turned to exit the platform. There was sadness in her eyes that Ari perceived automatically. Vanna stayed there only to follow the Coeurl when it decided to lumber after Rosalyn. Ari and Michelle descended the ladder last.
They were about to console Lynelle, with a downcast face, when suddenly the circular area around the summoner began to glow white.
"It's a Glyph! A Summoner's Glyph!" Rosalyn sounded relieved.
Aramis looked to his feet and was astonished at the rose-window patterns on the pavement. The clouds above broke and from the opening came such a great bird sound, like an eagle. Yet it wasn't what Aramis imagined it to be when he looked up to the sky. It was a great white flying thing, almost like a bird but not. The majestic creature whooshed down on wings of gold and pale violet, along the way wooing the on looking Elves into applause or polite genuflections, to meet Lynelle in her reverie. She smiled happily when it came warbling to her. It was just too good to be true, that at last she was a Summoner.
The next few moments were cluttered but blissful as Lynelle was besieged on all fronts by accolades of her people. Vanna was patting the Aeon on his head, marveling at the beauty of the creature, while Sataume just stayed there dwarfing the elves crowding her, and Rosalyn congratulated her Summoner for a job well done. Aramis stood to the side, smiling proudly at Lynelle, glad to be her Guardian. Somewhere Michelle had lost her parasol to the wind so she scurried off through the crowd to retrieve it."It's a beautiful Aeon my dear," Rosalyn said still rejoicing after the crowds let out. "The soul of the Summoner is strong indeed with you"
"Thank you Rosalyn," she stroked the velvety down on the Aeon's neck causing it to rub with its face against her arm. "I should call him back now"
Rosalyn nodded, but was startled when something perched upon her shoulder. Then she quickly recognized the black raven shooing it away with her fan. "Vicar, good of you to join. Did you bring your sister?"
"Yes mum" the trilling voice came from a yellow-orange finch landing onto Lynelle's extended hand.
"Oh, hullo Medley" the Summoner said.
Ari swore the bird bowed for the Summoner, a very curious gesture. The birds from where he came from were usually very impolite. "Uh, did the bird call you 'mum'?" He asked.
"Yes they're my children. I believe you met their father in the tide pool, the red fish? I'm sure he greeted you?" She instantly caught the startled look on the Erressian's face and explained, "They're not in their natural form. Bewitched by Sin of course"
"Oh, right"
"We won't be like this for long though," the Raven fluttered over onto Lynelle's shoulder. "Lynelle's going to defeat Sin now"
She smiled uneasily, "Yes. Defeat Sin"
Vanna shooed the bird away from her friend, "Vicar! You should be more sensitive!"
Vicar landed on the Aeon who didn't seem to mind, "So where's the next one going to be?"
"Ison, a ship comes tomorrow" his mother answered.
Aramis stepped in to pet the Aeon, "You mean there's more than one Aeon?"
Vicar turned toward the Prince, "And he's supposed to be a Guardian?" The bird was mocking Ari, "what a failure"
"I still haven't been filled in on my duty as a Guardian, nor the task of the Summoner. I'm not from here, I'm sure you all know that."
"Not that nonsense again," it was Michelle coming back with her parasol in hand. "Ari's been affected by Sin's poison. He thinks he's from Sindar."
Lynelle's eyes widened at this. "Sindar!"
"Now you must be exhausted, Lynelle." Rosalyn quickly changed the subject, when Sindar arose. "No more talking right now." She gave her fan and staff for the prince to hold and then clapped her hands together. She opened them to form a hovering globe of water that she passed to the Summoner for a most needed drink. "Vanna see to it both the new Guardians are rested and refreshed before the festivities tonight," Rosalyn finally said, guiding Lynelle back to her hut to rest.
As directed, the Corsan provided Ari and Michelle a well-needed lunch at her lodging, of mango with coconut gel. This was to the liking of Aramis' vegan diet, but a carpophagous lunch wasn't entirely satisfying to Michelle's wants.
After that, Vanna was hospitable enough to lay out a bed meant for what she believed was a "couple" and ran out just before Ari lodged a complaint or at least made amends to the Corsan's false disposition. Still, the day's turbulence won out over his hesitance and sleep arrived in just an hour's time...
------
The boy awoke after quite a refreshing slumber, remembering just as the dawn was breaking that he'd missed the twilight celebration. He studied the room for Michelle when he noticed her absence. She didn't even bother to wake him nor tell him when she left earlier that morning. Then he detected that she'd left a sphere on the console for him. He raised himself out of the bed's comfort to obtain the orange ball, and then thumbed it in the proper manner to release its recording contents. It opened just as a peeled orange would look, sending the projected image of Michelle into sight. Ari was glad at least some basic technology existed in the world.
"Ari," came the distorted voice of the hologram, "Sorry I couldn't wake you for last night. You appeared too content to be bothered. Anyways, please meet up with Lynelle when you find this. The Summoner insisted on letting you sleep through the morning. She's down by the beach where we first saw the village, so meet up with her okay?"
When the recording ended, Ari snorted indignantly at how she spoke to him like a child. He closed the sphere and secured it his pants pocket.
------
She walked in the love of her young Elven sun when he found her, wandering effortless within the ocean swell. The smile she gave when they met was potent, rendering him once more a captive to her powerful beauty. She emerged from the sea halfway doused in a purple-white kimono, still bearing the Summoner's rod in her dominant hand. Ari shifted with unease with every closing step.
"You called?" he spoke tensely.
"That's right. I waited for you," she wouldn't stop smiling. "Are you ready? Everyone's waiting at the dock. They say a grand ship arrived late last night to take us to Ison."
"Ison...that means more Elves, of the purple sort, right? Well that's exciting."
The next second Lynelle took Aramis by the hand. "Come with me?" Her voice palled with innocence, but she ended with a brash smile.
"I'll come," he nodded.
Ari and Lynelle took to the beach's end, right at the edge of the greenery, and kept that route. As a pair, they found the other's presence more than agreeable. Ari was most content with Lynelle, envying at how elegant she was or mellowing at the sound of her voice. The Summoner was equally blissful, being accompanied by such a genial young man.
When they happened upon the sea-cliff edge there was a long absence of their voices. Yet the quiet did not resonate as a bad thing in either of their minds. It was the soothing state of the other being there that was assuring to them both. The tranquil silence was only broken by the many squawks and barks and trilling of birds, other wildlife, and the overabundance of sounds only an ocean could produce.
They ambled close to a half-hour when Lynelle stopped ahead of him and turned to survey the panorama behind, catching a sensation of unrest. Even at her young age, she had all the instinctive perceptions to danger as any older Elf. She fumbled apprehensively in both her hands the Summoner's Rod.
"Lyn, you alright?" Ari said.
Lynelle, ignoring the sense of danger and Ari, beheld the village of Besaid, its picturesque beauty taking her into an almost hypnotic state. She inhaled a breath of the weighted air, and sighed painfully that the pilgrimage would take her away from her home. She stepped back and performed the prayerful bow Aramis had seen twice before.
When she ripped herself away and turned to continue, the Summoner stared back helplessly at Aramis and screamed. A voracious salamander of huge proportion lurked down from the cliff onto the path. Besaid's interior plagued of frightful dangers like these, set to make a meal out of the island's poor Elves, this one already leering at the sight of the Summoner. The yellow-green abhorrence advanced dazedly on its stumpy legs, hoping a delicious snack would soon be digesting in its belly.
But fearlessly Ari plunged his way towards it, blocking it from his Summoner. Even though weaponless, the Prince still kept to his duties as a Guardian, even if unconsciously. But the hungry creature continued with two for a meal on its mind, dribbles pouring from its gaping maw into gobs on the ground.
He achieved in getting the salamander's attention by presenting himself more openly to it by getting closer, dissuading an attack on Lynelle. It darted forward unorthodoxly on its under-developed legs, but Ari found an easy escape to his right. After several more desperate tries and consecutive failures, the creature stopped from lack of stamina, but still bit the air in a measure to reassure its intimidation.
The hefty salamander blocked off any means to continue forward. Weaponless, Ari didn't see a chance through this path.
"Ari, why don't you try using that sword?" Lynelle suggested quite calmly. She pointed at the blade resting against the cliff wall. She figured that as her Guardian the Erressian had some skill with a weapon.
The blonde gawked in his mind at the idea that there'd be a weapon for him just lying their. But as soon as he noticed a glint of metal from the corner of his eye, his head swept in its direction. Right there against the face of the cliff was the most spectacular weapon Ari had ever laid sight upon.
It was a massive sword with tremendous length and girth, almost as tall as he was. The face of the sword gleamed in a magical metallic sparkle that glittered curiously like the nighttime stars. Sunlight wavered extravagantly upon the curving inside edge as Ari ran his mesmerized eyes across its flamboyance. Reaching for its crafted hilt and alas lifting it with such unexpected ease, it rang out whistling the wind as he brought the sword down to match the salamander.
The creature produced an inexcusable sound from its throat and brandished its terrible mouth of teeth at Ari. It lunged at him, this time with more ferocity than in its last attempts. But that witless engagement would result in its end.
Just as it came into distance, Ari's weapon, held taut in his clutch, descended brutally onto, and promptly through the fiend's neck in a single clean cut. From behind the bloodied steel, Ari glimpsed the name of the sword glow through in an eerie indigo.
Aeris; the Erressian equivalent for "holy" in the Westril speak.
Indeed the weapon was of godly craft.
"All right!" Ari proclaimed as he watched the decapitated form of the dead fiend falter onto the ground.
But Ari triumphed less than a few moments when Lynelle screamed once again. As he attempted to react, he felt the plunge of an alien weight on his stomach and he toppled in an instance. The meeting with the amphibian had attracted far too much attention than he'd expected, and another dangerous fiend had arrived. Its body formed a shape of a bobbing blue gelatin mound. The peculiar creature laid heavy on Ari's chest its mouth wide in glory that it had caught a tasty morsel.
"Oh dear!" Lynelle cringed at the squelching thing on her guardian. "I believe it's a Flan."
"That's an appropriate name!" The Erressian didn't know whether or not to be afraid of the living dessert, as it appeared almost amusing. "Get off of me little bugger!"
Without teeth, it looked to be of no threat, just an annoyance, until it leaned to chomp upon Ari's head, and cut his breathing. Then he attempted to retrieve his weapon, but was powerless, and so tried to wriggle the glutinous substance off his body to no success.
Lynelle kept a calm demeanor. Using her rod, she beat the Flan upon its head wanting to aid the choking boy.
"What's happening?" She tugged to release her weapon but it stuck into its gummy body upon her first strike. The viscous substance inside the fiend sucked them in making her pulling away unfeasible. "Oh my!" she pulled helplessly to the rod once more. "Is anyone there?"
An answer came as a tremendous shock, literally a ball of crackling blue electricity that burst into the flan and propelled it into the air. The gelatin landed onto the floor ablaze with electrical discharge, squirming in fatal hurt before it melted into the ground.
Immediately the freed Summoner's eyes fell onto the sexy figure of Rosalyn, the Black Mage's staff still alive with voltage from casting her newest spell. "Pesky creature, these ones are with me. Go find another snack."
Lynelle helped Ari to his feet. "Thank you Rosalyn," she exulted, wiping the traces of gel remaining on her rod. "Your display of power and reliability is always appreciated."
"Yes, we're very thankful aid came so promptly." Ari sounded obviously enthralled to be liberated. He recovered his sword from the ground and slid it effortlessly through a sheath he brought with him from Sindar.
Rosalyn's eyes caught the presence of the blade, "Where'd you get hold of that?"
He pointed with his thumb at the hilt showing from behind his back. "This?"
The woman nodded, coming closer to the pair.
"I found this near the cliff." He reached to touch the handle, but took his hand back when a startling electrical jolt startled it. "That hurt!" he complained babyishly, bringing his burnt fingers to his mouth.
"Oh my?" Lynelle wanted to restrain herself but the Summoner couldn't help but giggle. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine" he said, ambling over to see the faint remains of the charred Flan. The crackling of static still jumped on the blackened mark of its demise. "You deserved that," he teased.
Rosalyn placed her hands on her waist informing her companions they needed to be on their way. "The ship is still waiting," she said.
Lynelle turned to catch a quick glimpse of Besaid before turning back to the mage for permission. "May I?"
"Take your time." Rosalyn gladly gave her consent.
Lynelle obeyed and let her gaze loiter on her village a few moments more. The Summoner let out a perturbed sigh and eased to a relaxed posture, taking in the grand vista. A crisp sea current picked up, tenderly unsettling her dress and hair. Aramis lost himself again at the Summoner's graced sight. Watching her in her calm daze was enough to keep him waiting compliantly soothed and relaxed. Soon she turned back around ripping herself from the sight of her village.
Sadness of leaving weighed heavy in her heart, but she kept only a composed bearing for Rosalyn and Ari to see. "I'm ready to begin...my pilgrimage," she voiced quietly. The sensations of leaving everything she knew behind still wrenched faintly in her tone.
"Are you sure?" Rosalyn inquired for certainty.
"Yes." The Summoner nodded in assurance, before ambling past Ari unhurriedly. "I am certain."
Rosalyn heaved a thick heavy sigh and continued forward, using her staff as a walking stick. Ari could not tell if her sigh was from relief or sorrow.
The group of three rounded the sea-cliff without any further incident, with Rosalyn at the head, and the trio arrived at another beach, this one in the shadow of several great ruins. Their massive forms arched over the beach, the wide columnar supports beginning in the greenery, and ending in the sea. The Erressian's curiosity drove him ahead of Rosalyn and Lynelle to the grand archway itself where he could inspect every elaboration of the stonework up close.
Ari with his youthful inquisitiveness reached to touch the stone when something else stirred his attention. High up upon the construction, rested on a thick buttress an impending form. He felt its demon red eyes follow apprehensively onto him from its distance. The anxious prince stepped and turned back to run from its itinerant gaze, but before he could the figure was already in front of him after a stealthy descent from the top of the structure. Before him in clear light was the Coeurl from the Cloister, one of Lynelle's guardians, standing like death itself.
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