So, just to recap, Nia has collapsed in the ice temple. Can anyone think how this might be bad for her?
On a completely different note, I still don't Namco!
"I shall show her in, my lord."
'Where am I?' I asked myself groggily.
I could see Mithos' meeting room on Derris-Kharlan.
'I'm having a vision. Oh, please say this is just a vision!' I thought frantically.
As it was, I didn't need to worry. It was a vision. However, something was about to happen which would get me far more scared.
Naois, accompanied by an angel guard, walked into the room.
"What is a human like you doing in Derris-Kharlan?" Mithos' tone of voice was ice cold.
Naois registered Mithos' tone, and made it even colder. "I was told that you were powerful. I must tell my informant that they were mistaken." Naois thought, then said, "Are you going to go into a strop just because I'm a human, or are you going to listen?"
"What do you think you have to say which I'd find so interesting?"
"I have had enough of your arrogance. One more word from you, and I destroy your precious Derris-Kharlan."
"Who are you?" Mithos asked, just a hint of mistrust in his voice.
"My name is Naois Gwenwyn." (This name is awesome! Although there's probably only three people reading who'll get this…)
"Naois, why are you here?"
"I want to help you. I believe in what you're doing. And I can give you information."
"Such as?"
"There is another world outside these two, called Reality. The people in Reality know exactly what will happen in this world."
"And what concern is this of mine?"
"If I know Reality half as well as I think I do, I don't think you'll like what happens in about a month's time."
"What happens?"
"I don't know. However, there are two children from Reality here. We could use them to know and prevent what will happen."
"How will you get them to talk?"
Naois smiled. "Their world is destabilising. I won't bore you with the details, but I can use this information to bring them here."
My sight and hearing was starting to fade into nothingness…
I cranked open one eye to find my vision blurred. It occurred to me that I was lying on something soft. The walls around me were a dirty white colour.
'Hang on, there are walls?' I thought sleepily.
Half of me was insisting that there aren't any walls outside, the other half didn't care, and wanted to go to sleep. Three years ago, the half of me who wanted to sleep would have won. That was back when I could sleep.
I tried to speak, but a groan came out. I opened both my eyes. Stephen and Kratos were standing over me, worried.
'Don't try to speak.' Stephen thought.
'Too late now!' I growled.
"She's back to her normal, perky state, at least mentally." Stephen said.
'Perky! I feel like I've been whacked over the head with a sledgehammer!'
"Kratos, she'll need some fire."
I noticed a log burner in the corner of the room. Kratos picked me up. I wanted to protest, I didn't want to feel so pathetic. I put my hand into the fire.
Warmth coursed through my veins. I felt like myself again, not some useless rag doll. And I remembered Naois' words: Reality is destabilising.
"Stephen, we have a problem." I said.
I explained to Kratos that each and every force has an equal and opposite reaction. This was also true of our elemental powers. However, when the opposite of our power is left without a balance in Reality, general chaos ensues. I didn't want to remind Stephen or myself of the exact details.
"So, one of us will need to go to Reality and balance things out." I finished.
Stephen immediately volunteered me. He said it was because I was better at these sorts of things. Knowing what the job entailed, I agreed.
"Stephen, remember that you need to stay in this room. You're my link."
Stephen nodded. I lay down on one of the beds shut my eyes, and tried to think of a link to Reality. My link needed strong magical or emotional connections. I remembered an incident that happened one day before school.
I'd walked in with one of my friends. It was just after I'd accidentally found out about my powers and I was reluctant to use them.
In the main hall of my school, I saw some boys chasing up and down the hall. I somehow realised that a robin was hiding alongside one of the walls and the boys were chasing it up and down. I felt a strong wave of pity for the robin. It must have flown in through one of the open doors, and then got trapped by the wall, frightened to run or fly out, in case anyone stood on him.
I could feel his heart racing.
'Come here,' I commanded in the bird language.
The robin flew to my arms and landed on my outstretched finger. I took him to the door, where he flew onto the fence about a metre in front of me.
'Thank you, you saved my life.'
After that, I became willing to use my powers. I stayed in touch with that robin, who went on to father a family. It was also then when I realised that different birds have different levels of intelligence. Most small birds are quite simple, apart from robins. But the birds of prey are the real masterminds of the bird community.
Using my memories of the robin to create a link, I pulled myself through the dark in-between worlds and emerged into bright sunlight.
I blinked and looked around myself, taking in my surroundings. I was standing on a well-trodden earth path. On either side of me was about five metres of boggy marshland, and past that grew pine trees. Or maybe they were fir? The fact that my mind was scrambled from it travelling across worlds and leaving my body behind didn't help my lack of knowledge of tree species. They were definitely some kind of evergreen tree.
I recognised the place, but forgot the name. With the infuriating feeling of it being on the tip of my tongue, I followed the path forwards. The marshland opened out into a wide blue lake, a flawless mirror that reflected the cloudless sky. Suddenly the wind picked up, sending ripples across the lake and a couple of drops of water into my cheek. I flinched, but realised it didn't hurt. There are some really good points about leaving your body behind.
However, the sudden change of the wind worried me. It had sensed me and tried to harm me. I quickened my pace, following the path round the lake. I had less time than I thought.
On the far end of the lake, I stepped into a thick forest of evergreen trees. After walking a fair way down the path, I heard a voice.
"Come on, Benji." It was a girl walking her dog.
When they broke into view I saw that I couldn't exactly call the person a girl, more of a teenager. Her dog, a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel came running up to me. I worried, what if this person could see me? And why did she look familiar?
I realised that my mind was so scrambled that I couldn't even recognise my friends from school! Benji was pawing at my leg, trying to warn his mistress of the spirit in the middle of the path.
"Hush, Benji. Take her out of this place as soon as possible." I implored the dog in whispers.
"Who's there?" My friend asked, not afraid, but curious.
'She can't see me, but she can hear me. So, I just need to keep quiet…not so easy.' I thought to myself.
Benji was still pawing at me.
"Is there something there? Come on, Benji, you daft mutt. It's just a twig." My friend started walking again, and her dog followed reluctantly.
I sighed a sigh of relief. I had forgotten that the lake was a popular place for dog owners to walk their dogs.
I walked on in silence. Even with the homicidal wind trying to kill me, it felt good to be home. I stopped and frowned. I could hear faint strains of beautiful music someway to my left. The tune was familiar, nagging at the back of my mind.
I opened my mouth, to sing if I could remember the words. I couldn't quite grasp the words that were trickling through my mind like water. I wandered towards the music, off the path. I almost stumbled on a tree root, a little way from my destination.
The source of the negative energy, the ying to my yang, was a carved stone that reached to my knees.
'Finally, now to neutralise the energy.' I thought.
A little voice, part of myself, asked, 'But how?'
'Um, uh-oh.' I was clueless because of my journey through worlds.
'Let's think about this. I have done this before, and I'll do it again.' I groaned with annoyance.
The music was annoying me and leading my mind of track. The fact that it was painfully familiar, yet the lyrics were just out of reach made me frustrated.
A light bulb switched on in my head. 'The music! I must have put it here as a clue.'
I listened to the tune for a while. It was nice, but nothing stuck out particularly, without the words. Suddenly a lyric popped into my head.
Let me stay where the wind will whisper to me…What did it mean? Wind…that was one of my elements…and the only one to go out of control. Therefore, I should neutralise it with fire…how would I be able to keep it neutralised if I wasn't constantly here?
A piece of advice floated into my mind: when you are stuck, you ask for help. Normally from someone with either more intelligence than you, or more power than you. That makes sense.
'Ha!' I scoffed at my own advice. "The only person to have more power than me would have to be some kind of god, or something…" I trailed off, realising that my joke could actually be a serious idea.
'Okay, if I need to somehow ask a fire god for help, I need to think about what fire gods there actually are.' There was Ra, the Egyptian sun god - which raised the question, did sun gods actually count? There was Lugh, a Celtic sun god; Helios, the Greek sun god and Kagutsuchi, (anyone thinking of the Ktugach/Ktugachlings?) the fire god in the Shinto creation myth.
'Which one do I choose?' I asked myself in desperation. I knew that there were still more fire and sun gods I hadn't thought of.
The song's lyrics drifted through my mind yet again.
Don't say I'm not up touch, with this rampant chaos, your reality…Was the song hinting that I look for clues in the world I had just come from? It was worth a try. After a moment's hard thought, another light bulb went on. Yggdrasil, Vidarr, Idun, Asguard, Heimdall, Draupnir, the Valkyries and many other names are part of Norse mythology. So, I should summon a Norse fire god!
(For all of those people with jaws hanging who don't understand exactly where I got all the names above from, I'll make a list at the end of the chapter.)
"I call upon the trickster fire god, Loki. I bind him to me and ask him to protect this land. In answering my summons, he may not do mischief on this land, it's people or animals."
A circle of fire spread around me, and Loki appeared. He towered over me, but not impossibly so and his hair was a mass of raging flames.
"Humph, spoil sport." He muttered.
"What? I won't let you play your 'tricks' here? I don't exactly want a forest fire."
"So, what do I need to do?" He asked.
"Just make sure you neutralise the wind's power. It shouldn't be too hard for someone like you."
"It isn't too hard. Anything else?"
"That should be it. Well, bye."
I reached back into Symphonia, almost reluctantly. My eyes opened to the smiling face of Stephen and the worried one of Kratos, which recomposed itself in a millisecond.
"You should have seen Kratos. He was having kittens!" Stephen went on to imitate Kratos' voice, "Is she supposed to be that still? Are you sure she's breathing properly?"
I smiled. It was good to be back.
This took a lot longer than expected and I'm really sorry, but as some people may know or may guess, it's almost exam time! (Dun dun duh!) And before the exams I have three project works to hand in! (Dun dun duh!) In ONE subject! (Dun dun duh!)
And that is the last time (hopefully) that I'll mention it. On to acknowledgements. Big thanks to Bloody Jack Lover (A.K.A Laras daughter) for giving me alot of inspiration where Naois is concerned and for giving me the disclaimer for last chapter.
The song that I mentioned is Imaginary by Evanescence. (Note: I don't own!)
And the list that I promised you…
Yggdrasil – Kind of obvious, Mithos' last name and the name of the tree. (for all of you wondering, YES that really is the name of the tree)
Vidarr – The very first boss where you meet Kratos, who saves your sorry hides.
Idun – One of the trickier ones, one of the monsters on Derris-Kharlan the last time you go there.
Asguard – If you can't find it, turn ToS off– Again, easy to find
Draupnir – One of the armour items for arms
Valkyries – As in the Valkyrie Blades, one of Lloyd's (many) sets of swords.