Book I: The Nation of Alrest
Chapter II
"Do you really have to go?" Nia asked.
"Yes, unfortunately I am needed elsewhere, take care of this child, he's definitely a special little one," a deep, croaking voice spoke.
Nia looked up at the large, dragon-looking beast, who was large enough to build a house or two on.
"What's so special about this little guy anyway Azurda?" Nia asked, staring at the little baby boy.
"Take it from someone who's lived through Addam, Rex, and Waylon. This child has a destiny. Just look into his eyes!" Azurda responded.
Nia looked into the baby's eyes, they were a brilliant teal. She even recollected some memories just by looking at him.
"You do make a point...," she pondered.
"Something wrong?"
"It's just... I've begun aging Azurda. I'm scared at what future this might bring."
"Yes, the ether has been decreasing dramatically. It may have something to do with blade resonation happening more rarely, or maybe it has to do with New Torna's new technology. Yes, I believe the time for the Aegis to reawaken is coming near."
"But what's gonna happen to me?" Nia pressed.
"Nia, I have wandered this world for longer than you'd ever care to know, and you have wandered it for longer than any human could ever understand. Tell me, do you wish for forever?"
"No... but I—" Nia started to answer, but Azurda cut her off.
"Death is terrifying because it is something we cannot understand. It may not happen today, or tomorrow, but it is certain that it will happen. You will one day have to come to terms with that."
"I... don't think I can do that," she responded, her accent still strong.
"When the time comes, it will become easier," Azurda stated.
"You won't come back?"
"As a broken man once said, this is the road I must walk. I must know what happened to Rex, but I will try to meet once more, maybe when the young lad is a bit older. Have you decided what to name him?"
"Silas, I will name him Silas," Nia answered.
"Oh? And why is that?"
"It means "of the forest". That's where you found him, eh?"
"Indeed. It seems you have everything under control here. Fonsett is fortunate to have someone like you."
"I still don't understand why Waylon left me with all of this responsibility."
"Maybe he knew you'd be the only one who could handle it. He did seem to always know what to do next."
She nodded. Him and Rex both always knew what to do or where to go next. She wasn't ever like that though. Not her.
Azurda broke her thoughts. "How is Mythra by the way?"
"She's still sealed in Elpys, no one has even entered the place in years. I doubt anyone will."
"I am eager to see her next awakening," Azurda said excitedly.
"Every time she wakes up the world's in danger. Why would that excite you?" Nia questioned.
"Because it means I get to say hello once more."
I stood on a large grassy hill, in a place I hadn't seen before. The warm breeze that blew in my face somehow made me feel colder. As I looked around I only saw green fields, there was no signs of life anywhere, just me. The only thing I could see was a strange light, upon closer inspection I realized it was a little girl, but I couldn't quite make out her features. Pale skinned, but had black hair. Who was she? I went to approach her, but wasn't permitted to move.
I woke up and looked around, it had just been a weird dream...
"No more sugar before bed," I told myself as I got up and walked downstairs.
I looked around to see that the sun had only just come up.
"Up at six thirty in the morning, I must still be dreaming," Granny teased as she appeared from her room, still in her night gown and a weird baby blue night cap. She had worn it every night to bed, it was like an old jester's hat, but with two tops instead of three.
"I guess I didn't sleep well," I laughed nervously. That dream had felt too real...
"Something the matter, Silas?"
"I don't think so... Just a weird dream is all."
"Care to elaborate?" Granny laughed while grabbing her laundry out of the closet.
"I was in a big, grassy field on top of a hill, and across from me stood a small girl, black hair and black eyes. I tried to approach her, but I couldn't move and then I woke up."
"What was the strangest part about it?" she persisted.
"It felt so weird. Like something I needed was right in front of me, but yet I did nothing to grab it!"
"Well is that how you feel day-to-day?" Granny asked, seeing right through him.
"It is, but I still don't know how to do that."
Our thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. I immediately went to open it. Standing on our porch was a man holding a large box.
"Package for Nia?" he clarified.
"Yes, thank you," I said, taking the package and closing the door. I put it on the table.
"Here already? Wow they've gotten much faster than I remember, that was a mere six hours ago!" Granny exclaimed in disbelief.
I opened it up to reveal my new steel sword. I examined it closely, it was extremely sharp and even had one hexagonal hole put into it in the middle of the hilt.
"Hey Granny, what's this little hole here?"
Granny had already picked up her gun, it came with fifty rounds of each element along with a hundred rounds of simple hollow points.
"I don't know, the technology is way more than I'm willing to wrap my head around." She stopped to change subject. "Are you going after that aligo?"
"Yeah, I can't let it hurt someone else."
She immediately hugged me. "Spirit Crucible Elpys is extremely dangerous, be extremely careful. Few people survive traveling down, so if you're in trouble, don't be afraid to run."
I realized she wasn't just being her typical worry-wart self. She was seriously terrified of me going to this place.
"I will be extremely careful. If anything looks rough I'll come right back," I promised. I hated making promises, but you don't leave a woman who had cared for you for so long wondering if you'd even survive.
"Please take my gun and all of these rounds. You have your bullet bag right?"
"Of course," I said, quickly strapping it to my side.
"I want this back so don't you go dying on me now, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."
"Well that's why I'm going down there, right?"
"Hm?" she asked, confused.
"I would lose my very self if I were to lose you, knowing I could never see you again... I have to take care of this aligo, and I refuse to let you get hurt," I explained.
"Oh maybe there's hope for you after all...," she said. "Good luck dear, be back in a few hours, don't spend longer than you need to."
"Of course Granny."
I holstered her gun to my left and sheathed my new sword to the right. The bullet bag was strapped across my lower back.
I left our house and went down the stairs, taking in our peaceful little village before I descended away from it.
The birdsong was relaxing as I looked at the trees and the grass. Children were outside playing by the schoolhouse and up on top of a large cliff called Salvager's Point, other children were jumping off of it and diving into the ocean below. It made Granny sick just thinking about doing something like that...
I passed by the house that had a large historical significance here in Fonsett. It was the house of the lady Corrine. She was the caretaker of Rex, who, five hundred years ago, saved the world with a group of friends from an ancient evil. Granny had told me that he was also her own driver, but failed to explain what a "driver" was. She said his legendary blade was called the Aegis. From the way she spoke of this blade, she made it sound like it had a personality. While I wasn't sure about all that, a legendary sword sounded nice right about now. Granny said that people used to flock from all over just to see Rex's childhood home, but as history faded into legend into myth, the people who cared to see it grew less and less.
For the past five hundred years, this village remained very rural, we assumed it had to be because of its location. Fonsett was situated on an archipelago of islands called the Leftherian Archipelago, or simply, Leftheria. We were still under the laws of the Nation of Alrest, but because we were about a hundred miles out to sea, the other provinces seemed to ignore us.
I journeyed up the hill that overlooked our small village, ignoring the wild kapiba and camills. Camills were large, non-aggressive monsters that stood about two human's tall and resembled that of an antler-less deer or thin horse.
As I made it all the way up I approached the entrance to Spirit Crucible Elpys, which was a large cave leading down into the very depths of Leftheria. I stood at the steps and began my descent, until the stairs turned into hard rock beneath my feet and I was enveloped into the darkness of the crucible.
Readability Level: 9th-10th Grade
Time Taken: 3 Hours
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