Yoooo! I'm baaack! dies If anyone is still reading this, that is! Anywho, I'll reply to some of the people who were nice enough to leave a comment for me. However, I can't remember if I already replied to anyone, so I shall reply to all! Artifacts: I will eventually refer to them by name, probably the same names (heh heh, the original names were quite awesome). Cappe Clay, 'tis true, but my lack of originality stagnented my senses all throughout the writing, so Omi Omi. I mean...coughs The names that have remained the same have some bearing of significance on the rest of the story, so obviously the use of Omi's true name for the purposes of this fiction is quite significant and will impact the story later in the future. dies Bwa ha! Enjoy! (And thank you again to all who commented)
"Rice. Rice. Rice. Raw meat- ewww, I touched it!"
"Do you not like meat?"
I lugged a huge bag and threw it at the intruding monk, hoping to squish him. He stepped aside and looked at the rice curiously, then back at me.
"Darn," I joked. "I missed."
"Missed what?"
I sighed and rolled my eyes. Baldie had shown me the food stores, but there was nothing appetizing in here.
"I like meat, just not when its big and squishy like this," I answered, kicking at a random bag of something-or-other. "I thought you said there was something good to eat in here!"
"Everything is good to eat in here." The monk motioned. "Oooo, look! This is the garlic and cheese bread which we eat at the beginning of every month!"
"Garlic and cheese bread? Ew." I crossed my arms, and sighed dramatically. "All right, so I'm going on a record for missing any sort of sustenance for more than 24 hours. Seeing as there's nothing to eat, I don't have anything productive to do- as in building more Constructs and developing that new line of non-foggable goggles I had been working on, I guess I have nothing else to do but sit around and vegetate." I stood there for a moment, looking around, then groaned. "Fine, whatever. Lemme see the chores we're supposed to do."
The monk-in-training pulled a piece of rolled-up paper from out of his sleeve, and opened it with a flourish. "I knew you would come around!"
The chores I was enlisted to do weren't...that bad, I supposed. Coming from a family that was quite rich, my parents were quite strict about getting servants and maids to do the cleaning and chores for them, because they couldn't be bothered. Or, to term it in their way, they were 'too busy' putting food on the table to worry about needing to clean the house, too.
After I had done about maybe two chores, I decided to take a break. My break consisted of me, sitting underneath a giant tree's shade with my hands laced behind my head and my wings flapping up and down in slow motion to help stretch them. In order to do the chores, I needed to have my wings folded tight against my body so that they wouldn't knock anything over. Not that I really cared about their material possessions, especially after they showed so little regard for mine, but I was trying to be 'good'. If I was 'good', then I would get my belt back. Once my belt was returned, than everything would fall into place; rebuilding my castle, recreating my Constructs, and updating my traps into a more dangerous kind. I was trying to work out the intricacies in my mind when I heard the voice.
"Resting already? Sitting there does not help your chores, young one."
I opened an eye, than opened the other. A bald man with crystal blue eyes was standing before me, watching me with an almost amused expression on his face.
"What's it to you?" I said lazily, closing my eyes. "I've already done work. I deserve a rest."
"Perhaps you do. But perhaps you also need to be hinted to the fact that Master Yushi-Seck is waiting for you."
"For me?" I frowned, but kept my eyes closed. "Why? I did his chores."
"His interest in you at this time is not for chores, but for training. He is overlooking the training grounds, if you decide for yourself the benefits of training outweigh the benefits of being...disobediant."
I opened my eyes to watch him leave, but my frown remained in its place. Benefits of training? Right, because I wanted to get all gross and sweaty like those pajama-toting Acolytes, right?
I closed my eyes and relaxed, then tried to bring the schematics of my new trap back into my mind. Now, I had a weight-sensitive pressure plate before, but the continuing problem with that particular trigger was that the monks either jumped over it or simply walked so lightly that the change in mass didn't register. However, if I decided to change it to heat-sensitive- but no, that wouldn't work either, because my constructs- made from metal and stone- created friction from their joints that started at a cool level but rose to higher temperatures with continued use, which meant that I would have to continually reset the traps because they would be continually setting them off...
I rolled over, all thoughts of the training session gone from my mind.
I must have fallen asleep under the tree. When I woke up from my light nap, I was a little struck by what time it was. Looking around, and judging from my rumbling stomach, I gathered it must have been around lunch time. That meant...36 hours without any food.
I groaned, and rolled over, onto my belly. "I need some sort of food...I don't care if I have to eat the grass they serve, I need food..."
It turns out my awakening couldn't have been any better. Looking up, I saw all four Acolytes headed towards a building.
"Going for lunch?" I thought, following them with my eyes as I stood up. After noting what building they had gone through, I stretched, and followed lazily. It was strange to walk; I was used to having a heavier step because of my belt. Although I was slowly adjusting to being a great deal lighter- by about thirty pounds, approximately- that only caused me to groan. When I finally did get my belt back, it would feel like I was wrapping a lead weight around my waist. Maybe I should start lifting heavy things, just so I could remain accustomed to the weight- otherwise, when the time presented itself, I might be too weak to get away. Or maybe not; with the belt back under my control, I could simply use my magic to grant me temporary strength, and that should be enough. And less conspicuous; if they saw me lifting weights, they would know something was underfoot.
I looked up in time to see the temple doors looming over me. As I moved to push them open, two spears crossed in front of my path. I jumped, startled, then scowled. Two monks, whom I hadn't noticed before, stood guard on either side of the doorway.
"You may not enter at this time," one of the monks said.
"Why not?" I demanded. "I saw everyone else going in there!"
"They have been summoned," the other guard intoned. "You have not."
"And neither have you, by the looks of things." I snapped. I turned on my heel and began to stomp away when I saw another monk approaching. He was the one with the pale blue eyes.
"Good afternoon, Jack Spicer." he said, nodding to me as he passed. "Did you have an enjoyable nap?"
"As enjoyable as it can get in here," I said, somewhat sulkily.
"You did not go to your training session with Master Yushi-Seck." he paused, then turned to look at me. "He was displeased at your absence."
"He can file that under 'P', for personal Problems." I continued to walk away, then froze. The monk continued on his way into the building; two guards blocked my entrance. But a great deal of other Acolytes had entered the building. The Temple grounds were almost deserted; I was alone. Unguarded and unwatched.
I looked at the building behind me again. That was where the Artifacts were contained, so there was no hope in even entering the room where they had been kept. However, to get away, I didn't need to. I had no idea where my belt was, but suddenly, I didn't care. I could always awaken more stones and attune them to my blood; the ones I had were better, but I could always gather more like them.
I walked, trying to appear casual, to the side, so that I was out of the line of sight of the guards. I kept walking, forcing a yawn now and then and angling myself for the shade of a large tree that grew across a grassy clearing. Halfway across, I suddenly spread my wings and leapt into the air, flapping as though the world were exploding behind me and the only way to live was straight upwards. Ten feet, twenty, thirty, upwards I kept flying until my shoulders began to burn from the strain and my lungs were heaving. And then I caught a pocket of hot air and I shot upwards like a rocket, skyborn, more than a hundred feet without having to move a single wing. I looked down and saw the Temple grounds so far below me that the buildings were smaller than my finger nails.
"Going somewhere, Spicer?"
My eyes widened and I looked back and forth for the speaker until I found him, floating on a tiny whirlwind of clouds, completely relaxed and drinking from a glass that had a tiny umbrella in it. "Raphielle?"
The Temple brat took another drink from the straw, then smirked at me. With a wink, he said, "Everyone looks so far away from way up here, huh? Like ants. You could almost squish them in between your fingers." And here he lifted up a hand and, using two fingers, pretended to squish my head between them.
My back burned from the exertion of getting up here so fast, and all I could do was a lazy tilting of my wings to keep me balanced in the hot air column. Personally, I was flustered. What could I do? I was trying not to gasp for breath, and here a Temple Acolyte was at the same height as I was, completely relaxed and seemingly unconcerned over my escape attempt, as if he knew it was perfectly in his capabilities to stop me.
Suddenly, I felt a spark of anger. My feelings went up like so much dry tinder; immediately, I was furious. I suddenly pulled my wings close to my body and shot away, underneath him and to the left, ignoring the tiredness caused from not eating. And appearing right in front of me, without so much as a change in the winds, was Raphielle.
"Hi." Was all he said, and then he drew back his fist and punched me right in the face.
I made a sound, somewhere in the back of my throat, and covered my face with my hands. My balance suddenly gone, I flipped backwards several times before righting myself. My hands came away bloody; my lip was split.
"You know the funny thing about being a dragon of the Wind?" Raphielle asked, slowly circling me. "Wind is just moving air; so if there's air, there's wind. And the even funnier thing? You're surrounded by air."
My entire body suddenly stiffened and my wings collapsed against my back. I cried out as I felt the breath being crushed from my lungs, my arms bent against my sides, a suffocating nothingness wrapping all around my body and encasing me. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move, and my eyesight blurred and the first edges of unconsciousness flickered across my mind. I wanted to scream in agony, but I had no breath.
And then I was falling, end over end, tumbling through the air like a rag doll. My chest heaved for air and I fought to stay awake, to move my wings, anything. But everything had frozen. Somewhere far below, I thought I heard someone scream something about water, and then I felt myself fall into the lake- except the lake was on the other side of the grounds, wasn't it-?
And then I was laying on the ground. My heart pounded in my ears, deafening any other sound. I wanted to move, but my entire body was in agony. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't-
Voices.
"Trying to escape...too much force..."
"I used the same attack on Kalliklick and she didn't suffocate!" and "It's true, Master Foo-young, that attack barely phased me..."
"...was too weak to stand against..."
"...doesn't matter, he disobeyed the rule..."
"...why isn't he moving...?"
"...couldn't have possibly had that much of an effect on him..."
"...don't understand why he's not moving..."
"...too weak..."
And the last person triggered a memory of another voice. "What's the matter? You gonna cry now? Gonna bawl and ask for your mommy like a little wuss? Get up. I said, get up! Are you glaring at me? You think you're such a hot shot, you simpering piece of sh-"
A hand on his shoulder. He screamed and the memory suddenly vanished, but the hand was still there. He slapped it away, fell over backwards as he tried to drag himself away. He stumbled to his feet and he was suddenly in the middle of a large, silent group of people, all staring at him. Raphielle looked worried, but the expression immediately banished from his face when I turned to stare at him.
"Geez, Spicer, we didn't know you were so weak." he smirked, then crossed his arms. "Good thing you landed on your head, or else you might have been hurt."
"Raph!" Kalliklick snapped, elbowing him in the side.
"Ow! What? You agree with me too!"
"Kalliklick, Omi, you are to take Jack Spicer to the healer's temple so that he may be examined." King Tusk stood there, hands clasped in front of him, examining me coldly as if I might be some sort of exotic prize who had stupidly injured itself. "Help him to walk."
I felt hands on my arms and I slapped them away. "Don't touch me!"
"Jack." I looked up, and saw the man with the blue eyes, staring disconcertingly at me as if he could see through my soul. "You are injured. Please go with my apprentices so that you can get better."
The hands fell on me again, but this time I didn't struggle as I was half dragged, half carried away from the spot.
Master Yushi-Seck stared after the red-headed boy until he was long out of sight. Then he turned, and his eyes found Raphielle.
"I swear, Master Yushi-Seck, I didn't hurt him on purpose!" Raphielle's eyes were full of sincerity, and now that Jack was away, he could fully express himself. "I practiced that attack on Kalliklick and Omi, and neither of them were hurt! The attack was just supposed to hold him while I lowered him to the ground-"
"Calm yourself, Raphielle." Master Yushi-Seck inclined his head, his eyes flickering back to the sky, as if he expected to see Jack still flying. "It was not your fault. Truly, none of us could have anticipated this."
Master Foo-young looked at him curiously. "Master...?"
"The Artifact in his back." Yushi-Seck turned back to them all. "The wings. They will have to be removed."
Cappe and Raphielle, along with Master Foo-young, all looked shocked. "That...would not only be a painful process, but it would partly destroy the Artifact. The Artifact will remain in its current state for the next century, unable to be used by anyone. Why not-"
"You miss my point entirely, Master Foo-young," The interruption came swiftly and absolutely, like a blade through a ribbon. "or else you purposely misconstrue our knowledge. The boy will not settle on his own; nor will he listen. His wings only give him hope that one day he can leave and everything will be as it was. We all know this cannot be true; it must not, if we are to invoke the lasting era of peace. If he leaves, a minion from the other side will surely manipulate him onto an evil path, and then all will be lost. The future of the world can be written with the price being his discomfort; I have told you this, and yet you seem to have forgotten so soon. Perhaps lengthening your meditation time will enable you to enhance your memory."
It was a stinging reprimand, and Cappe and Raphielle traded looks. Their Master was being chided by Yushi-Seck, and there was nothing that could be done about it. They tended to agree with their own Masters' judgments, but in this case, they were both at a loss for what to say, and what to do.
"We don't necessarily have ta remove the Artifact, do we?" They turned to Cappe, who tried to find a more agreeable solution. "I mean, if Jack's going to eventually aid the side of good, why don't we allow him to keep his wings? He's lost his home, his own Artifacts, and his magic belt- you said he wouldn't be able to weave magic. What's the difficulty of lettin' him keep this one thing?"
Yushi-Seck sighed. "I see your apprentices have learned more than just the martial and elemental skills. Very well; I will do nothing as of yet. But if he continues to be disagreeable between now and the time when a specific Artifact reveals itself, the Temple will use the newfound Artifact to remove his wings. Permanently."
Yushi-Seck turned to leave, and after glancing at Cappe with a mixture of resignation and thanks, Master Foo-young turned to follow.
Cappe and Raphielle stayed where they were for a long moment, and finally Raphielle broke the silence. "How...bad do you think Spicer is?"
"I think he'll heal." Cappe scratched his chin, and glanced at the healer's temple. "It's a good thing Omi was able to catch him with the water as he did, elsewise he might have hit the ground going pretty fast." He glanced at Raphielle, then shook his head. "Omi and Kalliklick have both been trained to deflect attacks. Maybe Jack just wasn't used to being attacked like that. Especially now that we've gained more powers and learned how to be all that more useful with our elements."
Raphielle seemed to agree with this, but said nothing. The Temple meeting hadn't been open to them; they were to be briefed in private, tonight by Foo-young, as to the contents of the meeting. But for now, there were chores to do, scrolls to read, and techniques to practice.
They left the area.
