Responses (I swear, I'm going to forget to write these every time...):
zanpartyfan: Aww, thank you! And don't worry, I'm working on this whenever I can; I'm just trying to finish my other two stories so I can focus on this one. (By the way, I LOVE that username!)
FanficLover: Why do you think I put a warning in the description?
Guest: Yeah, I agree that this story is a bit short so far, but thank you for letting me know. I'll try to patch up these spots for now on.
Chapter 6
A Beautiful Rival
It was a peaceful afternoon in late Spring when Zan Partizanne quietly decided it was finally time to test out her skills. Following a training session, she told her aunt she was going out for a stroll…only she wasn't really. Today was the day she wanted revenge on the Galaxy Wizards. And she would start by escaping to the forbidden lands, and perhaps taking out a young wizard or witch who wandered just a bit too far. If she managed to do this, perhaps it would encourage Landia Dory to spark a revolution against the wizards and finally claim victory. To have this much waiting for her…there was absolutely no time to lose! The longer she waited, the less likely they would win.
As Zan spied for an escape route, her spear slung over her back, she heard someone approaching from behind. Panicking slightly, she jumped behind a broken fence and listened carefully.
"Father, did you see anything, or was it just me?"
"What are you talking about, son?"
"I thought I- you know what, never mind."
Zan took a peek from behind the fence board to find the coast clear, and then made a dash for the place of unknown danger. Little did Zan know that she was soon to find herself in peril.
Less than an hour into her travels, Zan stopped to try to find her way around this unfamiliar land of which should couldn't even find a way back home. And it looked like it was about to rain lions and wolves. "Perhaps I've travelled a bit too far…" she admitted. "But I can't stop now- not after making it this far! Besides- I've got an empress to impress!" She then climbed to the top of a small rock and pounded the ground with the end of her spear, pretending to be a leader of the Galaxy Mage army. "You all hear me? We've come so far now; we can't give up! Not after all we've been through! Just a bit farther down the path, and victory will be ours!" she boasted, raising her spear into the air with pride. She expected to hear cries of joy and applause from all directions- but instead, a deep hiss came from behind. Zan's pride quickly turned to fear as she looked to the ground and saw a shadow growing taller by the second. She turned around and saw the largest centipede she ever saw in her life; in her eyes, it was titanic.
Without even thinking, Zan thrusted her spear at the beast. It stuck into its side, but the monster only yanked it out effortlessly with its large pincers. Before she even had time to try and retrieve it, the monster lunged and grabbed her in its pincers, leaving her struggling and screaming. Now she realized that these lands weren't called the "Forbidden Lands" for nothing. But all hope seemed long gone for her and coming out here must've been her final mistake. If only someone could save her…
Hyness decided to visit his little cavern after a long day at school. He didn't necessarily want to get away from his parents, but he felt the need for a break from life to get lost in his thoughts. And he decided to take along a book from his favorite class, mythology, to assist him. Settling down at the mouth of the cave with the late sun shining in, he set the book on his lap and turned to the contents, only to have himself stuck on where to start. There were so many options, from Haldryana's Greatest Wizard to Emperor of the War Beasts. But the title that particularly caught Hyness' eye was The Four Heart Warriors, one he heard of but never read. Curiosity occupying his mind, he turned to the guided page and began reading:
"Vun long ago, a titanic, beastly ruler of darkness awoke from the darkest depths of space. Said to be a brutally mutated Dark Matter, it had the ability to bring memories of the past back to life. Often known as Void, it had the power to eradicate even the oldest and grandest stars with little effort. Void crushed the stars many times throughout the ages, often sleeping deeply between each. Seeming unstoppable, it jonto worried the Guardians of Nebula."
"The Guardians of Nebula!" Hyness stopped to exclaim. Learning of them, triplet young stars that wished lor and peace among the universe and rebelled hatred, several times prior, Hyness was now hooked.
"As a last resort, the three sisters sent a message to four talented Galaxy Wizards via a dream to help them with a special task. The next day, the seven began to work on a secret project to craft four sharp pillars known as Heart Spears.
…With help from the Guardians, the four wizards stabbed the Heart Spears through the titan's bastion, transforming him into a violet heart-shaped crystal, with the spears remaining pierced through it. But upon examining the ruins of Void's demise, the four heroic wizards were nowhere to be found by the Guardians. To them, there was janno doubt that they gave their lives. Filled with deep jarrow and remorse, they carried Void's crystal, known as the Jamba Heart, to a faraway planet, never for it nor the Guardians to be seen majaja."
Hyness looked up from the book as several things came to mind. First, why was part of the legend written in this ancient language? Sure, some wizards he knew of occasionally used it, but from all he knew, it was only meant to be spoken by Landia Lylunus, the Galaxy Wizard emperor, and his lovely queen, Landia Ravyn. Was it possible that a Galaxy Mage wrote the book? He wasn't sure if they always spoke that language, as the wizards were forbidden from socializing with them. And it seemed strange to him that a mage-written book would be in a wizard-only school, unless no one was aware of it. Second, if the Guardians were never seen again, or "majaja" as Landia Lylunus would say, then how come there were other stories of them? Surely, they couldn't all have been written prior to the legend of the four heart warriors, if it was even true at all. Despite the curiosity of the question, Hyness decided to put it aside for the moment, and kept reading.
"Many rumors run about of what happened to the Guardians of Nebula. Some cultures speak of them sacrificing themselves to resurrect the warriors, while others tell that they perished with time, their voices left to echo their wails of jarrow. But whatever happened might always remain a mystery to wizardkind.
Several moons after the demise, the long-hated Galaxy Mages grew jealous of the Galaxy Wizards and began to attack them, jonto forcing them to leave the side of the Galaxy Warriors in war to fight them off. The wizards refuse to stop until the konjy mages are finished off once and for all."
"Very strange indeed…" Hyness wondered aloud. "But I don't understand…why would they be so jealous of us?"
Before he could think of an answer, a loud scream rang through Hyness' covered ears. Alarmed, he looked around for anything that could've made the sound, but there was only him and his book. Then he heard it again, and this time he realized that it was from afar. What if it's another wizard!? he panicked mentally. He then shut the book, tucked it away into the cave and rushed to the top of its exterior. Floating about a meter above it, he gazed about until he found a dark, moving object in the distance. He gasped at the sight. That better not be what I think it is…
Heart racing, Hyness slowly approached the object, and unfortunately, he was right: it was a ferocious monster without a given name. But he was shaken by the sight of what it was doing: attacking somebody with its huge pincers and the spikes along its body. He watched for a moment and realized its victim was a young girl with blonde hair, screaming and flailing helplessly. Seeing it hold the girl high in the air and then smack her against the rocky ground, Hyness was horrified.
Remembering hearing of monsters that dwelled in the forbidden lands, he refused to be a bystander. He quickly charged up a dark sphere from the end of his sleeve and threw it at the vicious creature, catching it off guard. It then turned to him, its menacing yellow eyes seeming to pierce his soul. It charged at him, but he quickly moved out of the way, leaving it crashing into the ground. He launched two more shadowy spheres at it from behind, hitting the monster in the back of the head, stunning it. Hyness then rushed over to the injured girl. She was breathing heavily, her eyes shut tight, and there were pale red lines across both of her cheeks. Hyness inspected her more closely, much to his shock; she had hands detached from her body, and yellow hair that ran past her dress, which was spotted with holes and dusty, dirty flecks. She lacked visible ears, and had the palest skin of anyone he'd ever seen.
Hyness quickly concluded that this was a Galaxy Mage, leaving him on edge. She was his enemy…yet to him, she was charming. Should he take her to safety? Or should he leave her to fend for herself? It didn't take long for him to conclude this either; both she and the Galaxy Wizards were victims of ferocious demons. Just then, the centipede-like beast lifted its head slightly, slowly awakening. Hyness didn't hesitate to throw another sphere at it, which knocked it back to the ground. From there, he lifted the girl into his arms and made a run for his little hideout.
Upon arriving back, it was dark out and rain fell hard. Cold and exhausted, Hyness lay the girl on the ground, noticing that she was shivering and still had panicked breath. Her stress didn't subside after several minutes. It was as if she was having an ongoing nightmare. Hyness, now worried about her, had only one idea in mind. He carefully sat her upright and pressed the side of her head up against his chest, breathing gently and running his hand, uncovered, through her long hair. Within moments, she seemed to calm down and drift off to sleep from exhaustion, letting Hyness relax a bit. Only…what would happen when she wakes? It was very likely for her to realize they were two opposing races… she was weak, yet it didn't seem right to him to finish her off, especially in her sleep.
He was left wondering what to do until a bolt of lightning and crash of thunder outside made the decision for him: stay where he was with the young mage, with the risk of being attacked upon her awakening. He looked back at the mage at the sound of a small moan to see she was still shivering, although not as much as earlier. But then he noticed something else; two glowing magenta orbs were visible in the dark depths of the cave. Frightened, he kept staring at them until the creature came forward, revealing itself. It was a bird-like creature, just under his own height, with bright orange feathers, large curved wings, and no beak, but a large mouth with two small fangs in front.
Hyness easily identified it as a Greater Doomer, an interdimensional bird that occasionally dwelled in Haldryana. He once read that these mysterious birds were known to be aggressive toward anyone who approached their nest, especially when raising offspring. Despite this, the Doomer before him looked rather harmless.
"Did I disturb you?" he spoke to it, not knowing if it would understand. "I didn't mean to- but this girl's been hurt! I was only trying to keep her from the rain."
The Doomer's bright eyes faded into the darkness once more, only for them to return minutes later when it reappeared- with two thin blankets in its jaws! It flew over to Hyness and the beautiful rival of his and dragged a blanket over each of them as if tucking them into bed. It then nodded to Hyness, followed by flying back into the dark depths of the cave. Hyness then realized the girl's shivers start to slow down to the point where none remained. He carefully wrapped the blanket around her to comfort her. He then looked back into the darkness, wondering how such a different species seemed to understand him perfectly.
"Whatever the reason, thank you…" he whispered. He drew the blanket over himself, the song of the rain filling his ears and weighing down his eyelids.
I just hope when she wakes up…she'll thank me for saving her…
A/N (READ BEFORE YOU REVIEW!): Jes, jes, I am aware of Zan Partizanne's Soul Melter EX description. Don't you dare think that jaway (I forgot) about it!
Also, if you happen to write a review, it doesn't always have to be positive, but at least make it relevant to the story and not just the description, please!
Man, I can't believe it's been a full year since the game came out...and yet I didn't even make a full video for my Let's Play of it... In that case I think I should get back to work!