CHAPTER NINETEEN: PRAYERS

During the second crystal war the party that would become known as the Six Champions were separated during an eradication mission to help clear one of multiple approaches to Castle Zvahl of any and all enemies.

Naturally caused avalanches almost buried them all and flooded the passage, but luckily most were able to escape into a nearby cave with other allied parties and regrouped to return to base.

Separated from the rest of the party and any other allied forces by an impassable mountain of loose snow, a Samurai and a Dark Knight found themselves stuck together.

"Are you injured?" he asked Alain.

"No," was the immediate reply.

They were surrounded by pure white on all sides and snow had begun to fall from the sky once more. The pass they had been ordered to assist in clearing for the upcoming assaults on the black castle far in the distance was now completely filled. They would never be able to clear the snow, cutting off the route entirely. Though the avalanches appeared to be natural, as no enemies were attacking when they occurred, he could not help but think that unseen magical forces were at work.

"Don't just stand there thinking!" the Dark Knight called. "We have to find the others! I didn't see what happened to them!"

"No, we should do as instructed; in the event that troops are separated from their units they must return to base camp. We must head south and regroup with the army back at the base."

He turned to leave, carefully walking along the loose feeling ground. After only moving a short distance he realized that Alain was not following him and had turned in the opposite direction, looking down a slope formed by the avalanches. Rost returned to him and repeated that orders dictated that they had to return to base. Ignoring this, Alain began to shout the names of their companions at the top of his lungs.

Rost grabbed his arm to forcibly turn him around, "Are you trying to attract any nearby Kindred! We must return to base."

"Let go of my arm."

He obliged and released his grip.

"I'm not going anywhere without Nokum-Akkum, Catherine, and the others. I won't leave them behind."

"Use your head, Alain!" he shouted, loosing his temper. "If they were caught under this then they are dead!"

Alain's fist connected with the side of his jaw, throwing him into the snow. Rost wiped his lower lip and found blood staining onto the side of his gauntlet from it. With a smirk, he got up and began walking away to the south once more. The rules for in fighting between allied forces were clear, and he would report the violation upon returning to the base. Alain could stay there looking for the rest of the party if he liked and if any Kindred attracted by the commotion found him then so be it.

"You can hide behind the rules all you like!" he heard his comrade call after him, "You just want to protect your precious pride! You would never dare think for yourself! We both know you are just a coward!"

His honour had been insulted and thus his pride. He turned and stared at the Hume from across the distance created between them. They had argued many times and become competitive in battle dozens more, but never had he had the thing he held dearest ridiculed.

Prior to that moment he had welcomed the (almost) friendly competition. It spurred them both on to become stronger and better fighters, but at that moment it turned from something mutually understood to pure hatred. It was as if the land had stirred something up between them, intensifying the deep rooted feelings.

Almost against his will, he reached for his weapon attached to his belt and drew it, pointing the blade at his enemy. In kind, Alain twirled his scythe into position from where it had rested on his back. After a few moments both rushed at one another poised to strike and so began a long battle between them.

Rost awoke under the shade of a palm tree perched on the oasis in the middle of the desert settlement of Rabao. The sun was hanging in the midday sky bearing down on the lands around roasting the ground to harmful temperatures. He had not meant to fall asleep, but finding the shade under the large tree next to the cooling stream and proved too irresistible.

Sitting up, he pondered what he had dreamt of. It was the first time for many months since the events that led to him and Alain fighting had played on his mind. He felt under his armour to the side of his chest where a large scar spread around to the middle of his back. It was the lasting reminder of how painful a scythe slash could be. Had he not been wearing such thick armour back then the scythe might have cut right through him.

The friendship, if it could even remotely be called that, with Alain was ended on that day. After that they barely spoke and never sparred or trained together again. Both of them suffered as a result and not just from lasting scars, they no longer pushed one another to do better. Though he could only guess Alain's opinion of it, he believed back then his strength was hindered from that moment on as the Kindred never proved adequate challenges.

How foolish to remissness over such things, he reminded himself inwardly.

Rediscovering his focus, he stood up and took in a lung full of the air. He had to travel to Quicksand Caves to discover the prayer locked inside. Secretly he hoped for more besides that. The ultimate destination of the group was also located somewhere inside the caves; the Chamber of Oracles.

The reason he had instantly picked that location was because he wanted to find this chamber alone, to spend the time it would take the others to find their prayers to try and unlock any secrets within. He had to know more about the Gate of the Gods. He had to know what would happen if they were opened. He had to know if his faith was not a lie.

The Sanctuary of Zi'tah was a lush green forest located in the north of the Li'Telor region of the lands currently held under control by the Federation of Windurst. A lone outpost owned by the nation of mages garrisoned with Warlock units kept the Beastmen and creature population under control as well as banishing any roaming undead or spirits and offering respite to travellers.

Catherine and Shadow would stay clear of the outpost, as Windurst's stance on their current predicament was unknown. They had a map detailing the trenches, natural bridges, and pathways that could be used to easily traverse around the thicker sections of forest as well as where any heavily populated nests were.

The map did not show the location of the prayer they planned to find per say, but she had already hypothesized that the power emitting from the prayer might attract creatures, so the documented large populace areas were the best places to check. This was obviously dangerous, but she reassured herself that was why Shadow was there.

As they walked on through the somewhat marshy land, damp from the haze coming down through the thick canopies of the oak trees on either side, she looked over the map they had taken from Gilgamesh's collection to decide where to check first.

It seemed as though there were three 'danger spots' marked on the map by the federation's units garrisoned in the region. The map was out of date by a few months, but was probably still pretty accurate. As she scanned her eyes up and down the parchment she felt Shadow get closer to look over her shoulder. It made her feel very uncomfortable, especially since he said nothing and seemed to breathe very slowly when calm.

"The prayer will be located there," he said suddenly, pointing to a location.

At a glance she could see nothing which would make it an obvious location for a prayer to be hidden. It was one of many small alcoves around the forest reachable through tall and tight trenches. It seemed no different to any other beyond having an opening into a larger area at the far end. Catherine asked him to explain how he had reached that assumption.

"Look at the placements of these sections marked dangerous. Do you see the shape in correlation to the paths? To reach the largest danger spot you must take one of the two possible paths connected to it, each of which also has a danger spot. To reach that separated section to the northeast would require getting through two of those areas at a minimum."

She looked at the map again, "You are suggesting that the creatures have created…a perimeter of some kind, to protect the prayer from intruders. But that would suggest a level of intelligence found only in Beastmen, not local primitive animals."

The reply came instantly, "The assumption was yours, not mine. I am merely acting on it."

The Ninja was correct in that sense. It was she that had wondered out loud about the adverse effects such ancient objects might have on the minds of anything surrounding them, but she had not meant to such a degree. He had used her assumptions to formulate a conclusion.

The three spots did seem localized around a certain area of forest rather than spread evenly all over and none were near the outpost. It was almost as if the two smaller sections were guard posts and the third and final spot was the final defence before it. Such actions by Beastmen would make sense, but for normal creatures to act in such a way was unheard of.

"Perhaps it would be best for you to remain here while I go and search that area for the prayer," Shadow said. "I can pass through the tree tops and avoid the guarded paths completely. However, that would leave you alone and unprotected."

"I can conceal myself using magic until you return. If I have to I can also use teleportation magic to escape from anything that I cannot handle."

She cast a spell on herself that would make her body vanish from sight and moved into the nearby undergrowth. Shadow seemed able to trace her position and followed her with his eyes despite her being invisible and did not move until she had reached three tall trees clumped tightly together. It was not the best hiding place, but would do for a short time.

Catherine watched as Shadow leaped up onto a tree branch and then up two more, almost reaching the tallest point in three jumps. He then cast some form of ninjutsu on himself that mimicked her magic and hid his form from view. A few seconds later the branch he had been stood on shook from the force of someone leaping off it and the leaves on the next tree along rustled as something passed by.

Headsmasher Gruntlix was the boss of a Goblin gang that lived in Cape Terrigan. It was midday and the big glow ball was being very glowey in the sky. He had crossed the warm sands outside from their cave connected to Gustav Tunnel to see the shiny rock again. Two of his gang had come along to see it as well.

They had found the shiny rock a while back when they were being chased around the sandy dunes outside by a hungry Manticore. They made a tactical retreat into the cave because it had a small entrance. The nasty Manticore seemed to get even more annoyed when they went inside, but could not fit to chase them.

On a fancy looking stone there was a fancy green shiny stone. The green shiny stone made nice noises in Headsmasher Gruntlix's head, so he liked to go visit it. His gang told him that they heard the nice noises as well. They had claimed it for themselves, no one else was allowed to go near the shiny stone that made nice noises.

They all sat in front of the rock just listening to the noises it made for hours on end during the time that the shiny ball in the sky was very hot, too hot to hunt. On this occasion he and his two gang members had only been there a short time before they were rudely interrupted. Another from the gang came shouting and screaming into the cave.

"Hey!" Headsmasher Gruntlix shouted back to shut them up. "No shouty around the shiny, that's my rule so you have to do it! You want your head smashed!"

"Sozzzyyyy bozzzz!" the Goblin moaned through his breathing receptacle. "Bozzz, I sawzzz somethingzzz! Humezzz in yellow drezzz heading thizzz way! Shezzz looked reallzzzz angryzzz!"

Gruntlix ordered the other two Goblins who were still listening to the shiny things nice noises to pick up their bombs and to go see what was going on. They had to listen to him even if they liked the noises; they did not want their heads smashed. With that taken care of, the gang leader sat back down and listened to the noises some more.

From outside the cave were yelps and gargled cries followed by a small explosion. The Goblin that had delivered the message originally patted Gruntlix on the back to get his attention and seemed afraid. He turned around ready to smash the head of the Goblin distracting him from the noises, but stopped and stared at a Hume girl standing in the cave with a bloodied dagger in one hand.

"Hi," the Hume said.

Before he could reach for his nearby axe, Headsmasher Gruntlix was knocked backwards by the falling corpse of his gang member. As he got up he saw a very, very, very shiny light in the hand of girl that was about to be pointed at him.

"I will protect the shiny thing!" he said in the Goblin language as he charged at the intruder.

The glowing ball of light struck into his black armour, ripping it open and piercing straight into his chest almost instantly. His flailing body smashed into the rock face near the shiny thing before falling to the ground. His mask had broken and the sandy air was making him choke. Through blurred vision and dust filled eyes he saw the girl walk up to the shiny stone and grab the shiny stone. She began to speak into a less shiny stone in her other hand, in that stupid Hume language.

"Dad, its Lion. I've found the prayer in Cape Terrigan. No, it was fine. Some Goblins were around it though, but… It almost looked like they were praying at it. The area outside the cave was filled with monsters as well. Anyway, I'll sneak out and get back to Rabao. Yes…yes, Dad. I know. I'll wait there for the people you're sending. I'll see you back in Norg in a day or less. You worry too much, see you soon!"

As the Hume escaped with the shiny thing that made nice noises for him, Headsmasher Gruntlix closed his eyes.

Shadow leapt from tree-to-tree with perfect precision every jump onto flat branches or hanging vines heading in the direction of the highest concentration of creatures. He had spotted a few while passing overhead, but as of yet no large packs. There had been the occasional Goblin, Giant Fly, and Goobbue, but that was all. The air around seemed to grow more pungent as he traversed the next tree, causing him to flip around a branch into a crouched position to try and determine the source.

The ground far below seemed to be becoming far more marsh like. It was laden with moss and seemed murky. A number of purple and pink leeches happily flopped around in the muddy land, creating large puddles in which to wallow in.

In centre of one particularly foul smelling area was a large naturally formed crystal of some kind. It did not let off any kind of potent aura, but did glow an intense purple. Standing next to the crystal was a large grey skinned creature. It was a Golem, a thing with more in common with rock or crystal then a living being. It was a creature formed by arcana, possibly born from the very crystal it now stood silently beside. Its body was a jagged collection of mater that took on the shape of long pointed arms and twisted legs.

This location did not seem formed by chance. Thinking back, Shadow realized it was around about where one of the dangerous locations had been marked on the map. While one Golem alone did not constitute real danger, it was probably only the first of many lurking in the areas ahead.

Strange, it is as if this one is acting as a guard… I wonder how long it has stayed standing there just…waiting. Could creatures born from magic be more susceptible to any effects these stones have on the surroundings?

He did not have time to consider such things. Every second spent away from the one he was supposed to be guarding created the possibility of failing his mission. Down below, the sound of the branch on which he had rested shaking violently as he left made it give a cautious glance upwards, but then it returned to staring straight forward and did not move an inch.

Travelling on, he noticed an increasing amount of leeches congregating around huge areas of marsh that their bodies had created. The population of flies also seemed to increase, as did the amount of tiny insects. It was as if everything was getting denser the further he proceeded. Fighting the way through so many potentially hostile beasts and creates would have been impossible.

Within a particularly thick area of trees where the distance between was barely enough to warrant jumping, Shadow halted again as he felt a presence from below. It seemed as though the path had once again become solid and was now wedged between two large dirt walls making it very claustrophobic. His eyes traced along the way the path would take and he was sure he saw something glistening in the tiny light beams shining down from over head.

He had found the Prayer Stone.

Choosing not to risk a surprise attack, Shadow approached from the treetops until he was directly over the stone. It seemed to be set inside a large arch shaped stone that almost looked like something that would be attached to a grave. Something did not feel right. It was unguarded. The path would not be so heavily filled with danger for the goal to be left wide open. He observed the path again from atop the tree and saw nothing. He looked around the surrounded thickets and mounds and saw nothing. If the creatures of the forest were so eager to protect the stone why did they not come to it? He did not doubt the White Mage's hypothesis about the prayer's power over sentient life, so there had to be some other reason.

Deciding that staying up there would solve nothing, Shadow leapt from the tree branch and landed on the high mound overlooking the stone tablet holding the prayer. Taking another look around to be sure there were no creatures nearby, he hopped off the mound onto the ground behind the tablet.

As he neared the prayer his eyes caught movement. It had not come from the grass, the trees, or down the path, it had come from directly in front of the stone tablet, in the ground. Reaching forwards and over the tablet he tried to snatch the stone before whatever lurked in front of it could strike, but had to quickly tug his hand back as a thick fleshy mass shot up from the ground and struck forward, breaking off the top corner of the tablet.

Shadow back flipped onto the higher ground overlooking the area. The ground in front of the now broken tablet swayed from side-to-side revealing its marsh like substance below a thin layer of thicker dirt. It created a large circular pool in front of the tablet. It had been a trap after all, and a very cunning one at that. From the bubbling mud pool a huge dark pink mass began to immerge. Its skin seemed almost bruised as a number of darker blue blotches were visible. The thing that had lashed out seemed to be its tongue, and whipped from side-to-side in front of two large reflective eyes.

What is this monster? It is as if it was part of the mud. Its skin seems to be melting before my eyes yet its form holds true. Has the prayer somehow created this monster? How can it be that such a monstrosity would be born from a holy artefact?

The creature's mouth flopped open as its skin rippled almost like water in time with it moaning. The sound made it seem like the creature was in pain, pure agony even. It was as if it was calling for help while being tortured constantly. Its eyes seemed dead yet they watched him intently while it continued to howl.

"Could it be…? I have heard of such creatures, but never in the open. A doomed life twisted into the form of a monster by the evil surrounding it… Could you be the result of a pilgrim's unsuccessful attempt to do that which my employers are now trying to do? You wish for death, don't you? So be it. I shall give you the death that you desire, Doomed Pilgrim."

The vile tongue of the creature sprung from its mouth like a spear and burst into the land underneath Shadow's feet. It tore upwards breaking the earth with ease and sending chunks of dirt in all directions as it surfaced. Shadow's form had moved with ease long before that, to the opposite side. The tongue seemed to continue to grow in length and was able to swing round towards him again without the creature having to turn.

This time it attempted to stomp down on him, but he quickly rolled to the side and then leapt into the air. As he past over the mass of skin he corkscrewed in the air and fired off three small shirikens. Landing back next to where the land had been upturned, he checked to make sure his attacks had struck.

The three star shaped tools had stabbed into the Doomed Pilgrim's back sure enough, but did not seen to have injured the creature in any way. Slowly the shirikens were drawn into the body mass and vanished completely. Where they had struck turned a dull blue. Doomed Pilgrim let out another huge wail as its tongue retracted, ready to be fired out again.

Ten tools…that should be enough…

Elongating his index and middle fingers tightly together, Shadow drew in his thumb and ring finger to form the shape of a circle. Ancient symbols appeared in a cylinder shape around him as he began to chant under his breath. Looking past his hand held tightly before his eyes, he saw the attack coming.

"Utsusemi Ni."

The tongue struck through his form and it contorted and flickered like the reflection of a pool before vanishing. On the opposite bank Shadow's figure appeared, and on his right a mirror image, and in the path yet another. Doomed Pilgrim let out a wail as its tongue picked up momentum spinning in a circle over its head, smashing into the bark of trees and breaking them in half. One figure was caught directly to the side of the chest, but the tongue went straight through and then the figure vanished as if it were just a reflection.

As the remaining two reflections were ripped apart by the flailing limb, Shadow crouched on bended legs high atop the tree directly over looking the broken stone tablet and the Doomed Pilgrim. The creature had just finished disposing of his last two images as he completed his preparation.

Tugging one end of the thick string in his left hand he pulled it tight in front of his eyes. The string was much longer, but he held the remaining length of it tightly in his right hand. Along the length of the string he held taunt was ten Uchitake, thin bamboo shoots filled with explosive materials and magical notes activated by ninjutsu command. After tying the ends together he flipped the string like it was a sheet to cast it out over the area directly above the creature spreading the Uchitake out evenly around the circumference.

The string pulled out as if controlled by some unseen force and took on the shape of a large circle. Shadow still held onto the string with one hand only, while the other was before his eyes formed in the same shape as before to begin his casting. As he began the rope grew stiff as if being pulled tightly at all sides before being tugged downwards by extreme force. Shadow let go of the piece of string he had been holding onto as the circle was pulled down and let himself fall off the branch straight after it.

Doomed Pilgrim's eyes looked slowly up at the thing falling from the sky. Its tongue was already firing straight up, prepared to strike away the circle of string and pass through it at Shadow.

While one of his hands still held fast in front of his face to keep the circle under control his other pulled out from his garb revealing a shiriken between each of his fingers. He swung them forwards with perfect aim striking each into the tongue and knocking it back down towards the creature, spewing purple blood from the cuts as it went.

"Katon Ni."

He released his hand from its held seal and reached around to the back of his belt to grab the tip of a grappling hook. The Uchitake around the string burst into flames that steadily grew larger a short distance in front of him as he cast the hook attached to a thick, but short, rope into the trees along the side of the pit holding the creature and was tugged uneasily across by it as it struck into thick bark.

The circle of flames struck into the ground around Doomed Pilgrim and immediately exploded into a cylinder of thick fire that burnt away the moss and mud as it turned the pained creature to cinders. It continued to wail and roar in agony, flailing around in the flames with its cut and bloodied tongue, but there was no way to escape the circle as its centre was filled with fire.

Shadow let himself drop from the tree his grappling hook at cut into and stood over looking the burning pit as the creature slowly died. The smell coming from the burning flesh turned his stomach, but he did not look away. For all the pain filled noises the creature made, he was sure it was happy to finally be freed from such a tortured existence.

The ninjutsu controlling the fire burned out far quicker than a real flame would and left a charred black hole that sunk deep into the earth in front of the broken tablet. Shadow easily leapt across the gap and landed on the ground just before the stone. He stepped onto the stone and leant across to the section that had been broken and found the Prayer Stone resting between the two sections. It seemed to glow an unnatural bright white as he reached over and picked it up.

"One down, one to go," he said to himself, satisfied with the result.

Now all that remained was for him to safely traverse the tree tops back to where Catherine was hiding. They would then need to start heading towards their next destination; La Theine Plateau and the Prayer Stone of water.

Inside an ancient chamber the Zilart Eald'narche stood looking over a grand picture displaying the place he had yearned to see for so very long; paradise. The former Archduke had returned to find his brother looking at it in deep thought. Immediately aware of his presence, the small Zilart turned to face his brother.

"What news is there?"

"The remnants of the Talekeeper's memories in Bastok have been eradicated by the obsolete Mammets. They proved useful for one last thing, it seems. There are not enough of them to conquer the dream world of Windurst though and the new models are far from complete."

Eald'narche paused and raised his hand while closing his one eye. He sensed the world around him, he probed it for sounds and beings that resonated with the Mother Crystal, creating the noise that had hindered them for so long.

"That has caused enough of the background noise to vanish, leave the remaining memories of the sad little Talekeeper to wallow in the Emptiness. We can carry on as planned now. Nothing can stop us."

"Does that then mean that you have found one suitable to communicate with it, Brother?"

His brother laughed heartily.

"An emissary was beneath our noses the whole time we were in Jeuno. I have seen her in my dreams. I have dispatched some minions to go collect her. Wait here for her arrival and then meet me in the tower."

With that his brother vanished instantly.

"So, one who can communicate with the Shadow Lord himself truly exists…" Kamlanaut mused. "At long last…I will see paradise."