Chapter 2: Foreshadowing
"I can't believe this happened to her..." Evan thought silently and sadly as he and the other heroes and the 3 elders are in the royal chambers as on the bed lay Mercedes still in deep slumber with her hands held onto each other.
"Will Mercedes ever wake up?" Danika asked. "I'm scared of losing her!"
"I know how you feel. I wish there's a way..." said Philius. As time passes by, Evan left the chambers and Luminous followed him. Outside, "Your sadness is heavy." Luminous began. "Yes it is." Evan replied. "I know. You love her." He replied back shocking and leaving him flustered. "Uh...how did you-"
"I can see it through your eyes and heart." Luminous replied with a smile. "For I also noticed and remembered long that you would look at her longing to tell her how you feel. Whenever we hang out, you can't take your eyes off her pure beauty." Evan did not expect the Aurora Mage to easily discover it. Still, "But...how did this happen?" Evan asked returning back to the subject. "Astilda mentioned she last went inside her royal chamber and never came out for a while."
"Until you knew something is up. I must say, you care for her and this instinct was enough for us to see the problem." said Luminous as Phantom came out. "Sheesh. I asked the elders whether they saw anything suspicious in their town but they replied they don't."
"That means we need to find the source on how it happened." said Evan. "And to do so, we need someone who can see the bigger picture and there is one person who can do the job." said Luminous as they stared at him.
Orbis...
"You want me to see to an incident?" Spiruna asked as the fortuneteller is seen dusting her house with her assistant Hella. "Yeah. We know you're an expert into foreshadowing events that unfold." said Luminous. "And this dust is terrible." said Aran as Mir sneezed. "ACHOO! Master, I hate dust! It itches my nose!"
"I know, I know." Evan replied as "Well we haven't got all day! You kids pick up the pace for us and get a broom and dustpan or a mop! We've got some spring cleaning to do!" Spiruna ordered as, "Did she just call us kids?" A stunned Phantom asked. "You're one yourself when it comes to treasures and girls." said Luminous. "Oh shut up nerd or I'll dust your robes." Phantom replied. "Try me petty thief!" He replied. "Okay." Phantom found a clump of dust, picked it up and blew them onto the Aurora Mage. "Oh you've done it!" Luminous grabbed a broom and whacked Phantom on the body and before they can brawl, "STOP!"
They looked to see Spiruna pissed. "See this is why I called you lot kids! Goofing about! Being all action! Fighting over petty little things! You call yourselves Heroes of the Maple World?!"
"He started it!" Phantom and Luminous played the blame game onto each other while exchanging glares as, "Enough already! Let's just get this over with or we'll never save Mercedes!" Aran stated as she handed Shade a mop and a feather duster to Evan. As for the other 2, they continued glaring at each other and began the cleaning.
Later...
"Finally..." Phantom sighed as Hella kept the cleaning tools. "Spiruna was planning to renovate the house soon and we need to get it spick and span for it to begin." Hella explained as, "Now, what can I do for you now that you helped me with the cleaning?" Spiruna asked as she got her dark marble out. "We need your help. Mercedes, the Queen of Elves was...was..."
"She was found on the floor motionless. We believe something happened it Elluel." Aran explained for Evan. "I see...this must be the incident you want me to foreshadow on it's past, present and future. I'll get to it." The fortuneteller got to work as the 5 heroes looked at the dark marble. There, it revealed the royal chamber and, "Whoa! Something just warped in!" Phantom noticed. "And that's why no suspicious activity was noticed." said Shade as it revealed a woman and a spinning wheel. "It's Eleanor the Black Witch!" Luminous recognized as she got to work and warped in, "A spinning wheel?" Aran noticed and she warped out of sight. Then, Mercedes entered and noticed it and then, it happened. "The spinning wheel is cursed! And it somehow mesmerized the queen to-" Then, all saw it. Evan was horrified as the scene ended with the spinning wheel warped out. "How could the Black Witch do this?" Now anger has filled him as, "She's gonna pay for what she did!" He thought as, "What kind of curse did she put on Mercedes?" Shade asked. "It appears to be a death curse." Spiruna guessed as all gasped. "The curse begins with the victim put in deep slumber. By tomorrow when the sun sets, her fate is sealed. Let's hope I'm right about it."
"Is there a way to break the curse?" Evan asked. "Use your eyes Dragon Master! You saw it did you?" Spiruna replied as, "Oh yeah! The spinning wheel, we destroy it and hooray! Mercedes can wake up." said Phantom. "You think it's easy or what?" Luminous asked. "If you never noticed, the spinning wheel was warped out! That means we don't know where it is now!"
"More important, since Eleanor was behind this, we need to find her also. We find her, we find the spinning wheel." Shade explained. "Wow Shade, you're pretty smart." Aran exclaimed as he winked at her and she was flustered by it. "But on the other hand, Phantom was right and thus, we need to work together to find the Black Witch and defeat her and at the same time, find the spinning wheel and destroy it so that the curse will be broken and Mercedes will be saved." Evan briefed the team. "Let's do it Master! My dragonic powers are ready to be unleashed!" Mir declared when, "Hold on, I am sensing something." Spiruna called out to everyone as she used her dark marble again. "Interesting. Something just happened in El Nath. I suggest you go there right away. It's near this region and it may play it's part for you all to save your friend."
"Right. Let's go!" Evan ordered as the heroes left but not before Phantom gave Hella a rose. "Womanizer!" Spiruna called out embarrassing Phantom and the others laughed.
El Nath...
"Whew! The cold never bothers me anway. Just like in Rien." Aran spoke first as the group had just arrived at the town. There, the hunter Scadur saw them. "The heroes! You're all here!"
"Yes indeed. By the way, anything going on?" Evan asked. "Yeah. We found some body in the snow and Alcaster just brought it in his residence. You can go check it out if y'all want to." Scadur replied. "Now if you excuse me, I gotta go and catch some fresh fish!" The hunter took his leave as the heroes nodded at each other and headed to Alcaster's house.
When they arrived, Aran knocked on the door and a few minutes later, Alcaster answered it. "Oh! The heroes! Come in, come in! It's started to get even colder as night approaches."
"Wow. We spent the late afternoon in Orbis that none of us kept track of time." said Shade as all went inside including Mir. There, "What brings you all here?" Alcaster asked. "We saw a vision in El Nath. It involves a body." Evan began. "Ah yes. I found it and tended to it. You want to know who it is? He's in my spare bedroom resting." He then led them to the bedroom. There, Alcaster opened the door and what the heroes saw shocked them to the core.
"VON LEON!?"
To Be Continued...