Aftermath

Utterly sore, Valor Loftlan knelt in the dissipating dust-clouds that were still dying down.

The young warrior's once pristine dress uniform was now caked with dust and demon blood and rent in many places. Despite the incredible strength and durability granted him by the Crystal of Earth, it was all the boy could do to keep from collapsing on the debris-strewn floor of the now ravaged Great Hall.

Valor kept both his fists about the haft of the giant greataxe he had wielded against the fiend, leaning on it heavily for support. He was dizzy and cringed with all the many aches that the monster's bludgeoning had granted him. He knew easily that no normal human would have stood a chance against such a monster. For that, he silently thanked the Crystals.

Yet as before during the battle, sudden ribbons of greenish-white power suddenly manifested to twirl around him, lighting the dusty air with a minty hue and bringing a fresh and pleasant smell.

Weariness lessened and Valor suddenly found the strength to stand. His mental fatigue was also diminished, and his sapphire eyes blinked as he witnessed the dust die down once and for all.

Only several yards distant, Sana-Lynn stood with a preponderance of serenity. Disheveled as she was, her pale dress rent, her long golden hair loose from the shattered nets, she seemed to him some colossal presence of peace... before she suddenly smirked off-handedly.

Valor could only smile back, his weariness still intense despite the white mage's healing.

The girl clutched her ashen staff in both hands before her. "Are you all right, Valor?"

The boy sighed. "I can honestly say I don't know-" He then suddenly bolted upright despite protestations from his fatigued flesh. He cast about, forgetting Sana for the moment. "Mother!"

The warrior dropped the mighty axe to the floor. An intense fear gripped his mind. "Mother!" he cried again searchingly.

"Worry not, young Valor," Dalton Samar called out in reply, "Your mother yet lives."

Valor turned and saw the old Headmaster supporting his noble mother from one side, while a disheveled Oster Arlington aided her from the other. Together the three trudged up slowly. They then allowed Aria Loftlan to knell before her son, catching her breath with a delicate hand to her chest. Her elaborate white dress was torn and rent Valor could tell, though she had Oster's cloak about her to preserve her modesty. What were absolutely not lost on Valor were her wounds. She was bleeding down her face from a considerable scrape on her brow and the arms and hands that clutched the cloak to her were scarred and bruised.

In outrage, Valor looked at the old Headmaster. "Dalton, why have you not healed her?"

The old priest looked down in shame but did not answer.

Aria did for him, her voice as calm as ever despite her appearance. "I asked him not to, my son."

Valor's outrage switched to her. "And what possible reason could you have for such foolishness?"

His mother smiled sadly again, before lifting up her sky blue eyes. The boy took a horrified step back from the strange blankness of his mother's gaze.

She was blind.

Appalled, Valor shook his head. "Can this not be healed?"

Aria tilted her head to the side. "More than likely it can. White magic can perform miraculous feats, my son. Never forget that. Never take your white mage for granted."

Valor didn't understand. Instead, he stood rigid, his solid form quivering in anger. He turned back and waved at Sana-Lynn. "Sana, heal my foolish mother!" He looked down suddenly, feeling shame at such a brusque order. "...Please," he added plaintively.

Sana only gave a slight nod, summoning her power. Her loose hair flowed in a wind of conjuring and the crook of her white staff glowed. Yet, even as she began to chant a Cure spell under her breath, confusion marled her smudged face. She lowered her staff, the light fading.

Sana shook her head, looking to Valor. "She is resisting... with considerable force."

Valor snarled with incredulity. "Mother, what is the meaning of this?"

The woman's head lowered again. "That explanation is coming, Valor, the culmination of all of this."

The Chosen of Earth just growled in frustration, looking expectantly at Dalton and Oster for answers. Neither of the men would meet his eye.

They knew! They knew what his mother was going on about, yet would say nothing!

"Are the other Chosen whole, my son? Please make certain and gather them." She paused to tilt her head toward Oster. "Please, Lord Arlington, bring your daughter here. She has a part to play in this as well."

Looking leaden and solemn, the red-haired knight nodded silently and went off toward the crushed banquet tables at the other end of the Great Hall. Valor saw that he seemed fine despite a pained limp and stiff right arm. Apparently, Dalton had successfully removed the crossbow quarrel and had cured Oster of its poison.

Valor was compelled to fight his mother's command to gather the others until she explained herself. As it was, Robin Magus limped up to the group. The hem of her black robes and the brim of her peaked hat were singed and tattered. She said nothing, seemingly in pain.

Sana merely nodded at her, though the other didn't notice with her head lowered. "I am purging you of that dreaded poison, now, Robin Magus," she said decisively.

The black mage tried to quip something, but did not have the strength. Instead, Robin simply stood as Sana raised her ashen staff high above her head with one hand, while at the same time, held out the other to point toward Robin. Sana then closed her hazel eyes and the crook of her raised staff glowed again, brighter than before.

Valor watched in amazement as a beam of intertwined ribbons of greenish-white power suddenly sprung from Sana's outstretched hand with a soft hum. The beam slowly twirled toward Robin and entered into her chest. The stream was continuous, its hum growing in strength as it suddenly drew out from Robin an inky blackness that threatened to drench the purifying power in darkness.

Valor knew that must be the poison. It was a nasty magical poison, rife with a bitter dread and it seemed alive as it writhed out of Robin's body like some wild serpent. It stole the light of Sana's beam, yet the girl furled her brow and small tendrils of greenish light wrapped about the sinister serpentine power. The black poison fought with living ferocity yet it slowly succumbed to the white mage's purification. Instead of dissipating, it was instead converted to another state. It was still considerably darker green than the ribbons of Sana's purifying mint-colored magic, yet somehow Valor could tell that it was something else.

Suddenly, Robin looked up, her eldritch eyes blaring viciously. Her voice contained a cold rage that Valor had not heard from her before. "You now belong to me..." The black mage raised a hand and grabbed the dark green energy serpent. It writhed in her fist, fighting her grasp, but she slowly tightened it until the poisonous snake suddenly dissipated at the same time as a nimbus of virulent green runes surrounded the black mage. "I had not thought to use the power of poison before." She gave a dark laugh.

Valor blinked when the lights dissipated and then started when he found Gantz at his side looking thoughtful. "Wow, that was a right pretty light show. Can we get some grub now?"

Irritation at the thief's mere presence suddenly welled up in Valor, but it was subordinated to his mother's mysterious behavior.

Aria nodded when all was finished. Oster then brought his daughter up to stand next to the noblewoman. At the same time, Valor noticed a score of other nobles forming a curious ring around this little scene. All of them kept a respectful distance, however, merely witnessing.

Then, with surprising poise, Aria Brigada Loftlan stood, lifting her chin. Her eyes were now closed, yet she still radiated the force of presence that Valor was long familiar with. As always, it combined dignity and authority and was unwaveringly elegant. He had witnessed this set of her jaw before as the noblewoman turned toward Erin Arlington. The girl was disheveled like everyone that had witnessed the battle. She also had a large bruise growing on her face from where Baigan had slapped her.

Yet there was something different about her from before, Valor noted. She stood rigid with her head lowered, her darkly red bangs covering all but her lower face. Oster stood behind her, seemingly as a bailiff.

Aria faced the girl, a judge in full form, despite her battered appearance. "Erin Arlington, you are accused of treasonous collusion with the now deceased Count Baigan. You granted him maps of the waterways beneath the White City and Castle Cornelia so that he could bring his foreign allies in secret to depose the King and take the throne for his own. Is this not true?"

Erin gritted her teeth but said nothing. Other nobles of the crowd gasped.

True Herring quickly appeared and stepped up, his face also unusually stern. In his popinjay red garb, Valor had never thought True could bare such a resolute presence. He was disabused of such a notion as the Red Bard came into the center of the group and dropped a handful of maps and other documents on the floor at Erin's feet. True said nothing, merely stepping back from the circle with arms folded.

Even with her sight gone and her eyes closed, Aria gave the impression of a withering stare. "In Baigan's study was a hidden compartment full of other incriminating pieces of evidence. It seems he had recorded your dealings in writing presumably as proof against you if you betrayed him. I have reports of secret conferences between the daughters of some of your retainers and Baigan as well whether to pass reports or to sate some other condition of your treacherous alliance – or both – is as yet to be determined. Determined it shall be, however."

Gantz just folded his arms and whistled.

Shock was a mild word for what went through Valor's mind at hearing all this. He couldn't help stuttering a reply. "Erin... can this be?"

The girl's fists clenched at her sides, but her head came up, her lustrous green eyes aflame, and her face contorted in what Valor could only call madness. "What fools you are, all of you! You condemn me for doing what drives the politics of this land, what you and your families have done for ages without end! How dare you put upon your haughty masks and deem to stand so far above me as to make yourselves appear spotless. I spit on you!" She glared up at Aria. "And you, you bitter old witch, you set me up from the beginning! It is all clear as crystal now. You agreed to betroth me to Valor intending something like this all along! Well, do you confess or would you dissemble and lie as you have done all along? There is no plot I have entertained that is anywhere near the tangled web you yourself has put in place. Is that not so?"

Aria did not answer, somehow staring down the girl with her force of presence. This duel between them lasted for sometime until the Erin's head merely dropped again, and she stood quivering before her stern-faced father.

Aria Loftlan then turned to put the girl at her back, and seemingly out of mind. Before she could say anything, however, her lips parted in a silent cry. Oster was immediately fighting with Erin as the girl suddenly shrieked in a mad rage. Even with their great difference in size, Oster had trouble restraining his wild daughter, and a few retainers came up from the ring of nobles and helped to hold the girl in place though she continued to wail and yell, cursing them all.

At the same time as this, Aria fell forward, and Valor roared as he rushed up to her, immediately seeing the dagger sticking from her back.

"Do not remove it," said Dalton, though he made no move to cast.

Valor caught his mother in his arms, looking up at the Headmaster in outrage. "Heal her now, you old fool!"

Those words struck the bearded old man like a blow, but he continued to look down, doing nothing.

"By the Gods, damn you! What is wrong with you?" He looked desperately to Sana. "Please, Sana, tell me you can do something."

The girl's hazel eyes held a solemn pain. "I am sorry, Valor, but the Holy will not respond. I don't now why... but I can't do anything."

"No," Valor whispered in despair.

Aria's bloodied face contorted in pain, but her voice was calm. "You... have done well, my son. You will be a fine pillar for the Chosen of Light. A foundation you shall be to them, to anchor them to the true path. To be thus, however, you needed more than just dedication and training. You needed power."

Valor cradled his mother, nodding. "Yes, mother, I know, the blessing of the Earth Crystal. Why are you saying all this again? Save your strength, you must rest."

"My rest is at hand, my son. Anyhow, your... blessing was not enough, Valor. It was known long ago that the blessings would need something more. Our indirect aid by itself was not... sufficient."

Confusion and sadness muddled the boy's thoughts. "What... what do you mean?"

"I mean, my son, that I am the Herald..."

Gantz and Sana both gave audible gasps. Robin gave a thoughtful nod.

"Herald? Mother, I do not understand."

Aria gave another plaintive smile. "It is nearly time to shed this flesh, my son. Know now, that you are of two worlds. This was an absolute necessity. We saw it long ago. You are both human and spirit beast, both flesh and light, bound together to become the promised Warrior of Light, a combination of sacred powers. In order to give that to you, I, Aspect of Gaia, gained a body of flesh and set about my work to counter that which the Fiends set in play with their scheming. You are the fruition, instilled by your father your training and duty, and by me, your holy might. May you use such wisely, my son."

Valor gaped, but his eyes narrowed as realization flooded into him. "Then the ruse with Erin was all for this single moment. You wanted her to stab you!"

Aria nodded. "I needed to die here, Valor. You needed to know the truth at this specific time and place. Not before, and certainly not after. Now."

Valor's eyes seemed to search a way through all that was happening. "Did father know of this?"

Aria nodded. "He did, yet could not tell you. No one could before this moment. However, I never manipulated him into what he did, my son. I gave him the knowledge... and the choice."

The boy looked down. "So I am half human and half..."

Aria coughed painfully, blood dribbling from her lips. "...I must go now, son..."

Tears leaked from the boy's eyes, but he steadied his features. He said only: "I will miss you, mother."

"I am never far from you, Valor, never far at all. Though with this act, the Will of the Crystals will be essentially gone from this world, remnants will remain awaiting enlightenment again. The Four Chosen must find their way... to each... in turn..." Her head suddenly lulled and she said nothing more.

Valor removed the dagger from her back and laid his mother upon the ground. He then covered her over with the cloak she'd been using and merely sat on the ground next to her, his hands laced before his mouth.

The other three Chosen as well as Dalton had all been within earshot. No one else, however, had heard. Erin had quieted, fully restrained by her father and retainers. The entire Hall was utterly silent.

Sana-Lynn came forward. "Valor," she called tentatively. "What happens now?"

Valor stayed where he was, simply looking up. Sana gazed at him with a gentle sympathy. Gantz frowned down at him, looking bewildered. Robin's shrouded countenance gave away nothing, as usual, her eldritch eyes glowing evenly. Still, she seemed to be waiting for what Valor would do.

They all seemed to wait for him.

It was a long time before he answered.