January 31, 2016
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Dust II: Elysian Kingdom
Chapter 10 — Voyager
"So basically, Nadia was somehow being possessed by Evah into doing what she did.. or something along those lines," Dust explained to Fidget as he walked down the dirt path on their way back to Aurora Village.
The Nimbat was still laying on top of Dust's head. "Wow, spooky.."
"There's a lot more to say, but," Dust started, "it'll be better to tell the whole story once we meet up with the Elder again."
Fidget sighed absentmindedly, changing the subject. "Man, I miss those hotel beds.. They're soooo much more comfortable than your hair."
"You can go back there if you want, Your Majesty," Dust responded sarcastically. "Though if you do, you won't get to be in the next fight."
She paused for a second. "..Curses."
Just then, the sound of a familiar voice broke through the area from beyond one of the hills. "Hey, Dust! Fidget!"
"Corbin?!" They both answered in unison, seeing the young boy running up to them. He gave Dust an enthusiastic hug and quickly let go.
"You guys must've just finished your mission, huh?"
Dust gave him a smile. "Pretty much, you too?"
He smiled back widely. "You bet! I got some important info for you and Elder Gray Eyes."
"So do WE," Fidget proclaimed, flying off Dust's head and lifting the hand which grasped Evah.
"WOAH," Corbin let out in awe, holding the newly gathered Blade of Elysium in his hands. "You actually found one of the other Blades.. That's intense!"
"I know right?!" Fidget responded excitedly.
"How'd you guys get it though?"
"Don't worry, I'll explain everything to everyone when we get back to the palace," Dust answered as he began walking towards Aurora once more, with Corbin and Fidget right behind him.
The group opened the doors of Aurora Palace, as it became early morning. Light from the sun shone beautifully through the side wall windows to fill the building's foyer. Bean and Calum greeted their friends right as they entered the room.
"Oh, all of you are back!" Bean uttered with a smile. His eyes then instantly shifted focus to the new weapon that Dust held in his left hand. "..I-Is that another one of the legendary blades?!"
"Looks like it," Calum quietly observed.
Dust was about to speak, but Corbin responded for him. "That's RIGHT it is! Dust got it in Aurora!"
"Splendid! I knew you could do it, Dust. You must speak to the Elder right away; he's up in his room," Bean commanded.
"Of course," Dust responded, "I'll have him let you two know the details after we talk."
The pair of guards nodded and gestured towards the stairs leading up to the double doors of Elder Gray Eyes' room. The three adventurers followed their motions and walked up to the next level and through the doors. The Elder was sitting with Ginger at the table behind the curtains where he and Dust discussed the history of the Moonbloods earlier. They both turned towards the entrance as soon as they heard the sound of them entering.
Ginger spoke first, getting up from her seat. "You're back!" She ran over to tightly hug Dust.
"Good to see you again, Ginger," he said calmly as she let go.
"You too.."
"I didn't think you'd return so soon!" Elder Gray Eyes exclaimed, slowly standing up as well. He immediately noticed the second weapon in Dust's possession, and he became fixated on it. "Oh my.. You've found Evah.."
"Yes, the hotel manager Nadia was using her as a tool for spreading.. corruption in Aura, which appears to be the reason why people were acting strange. Nadia seemed to be possessed by Evah, who isn't currently displaying any consciousness like Ahrah does."
The Elder had walked over to the group as Dust was speaking and lightly held Evah up. Dust loosened his grip so the Elder could take the dagger into his own hands. "It's been so long.." He paused for a moment, before shifting his thoughts. "You said Nadia was being possessed? Ah, that poor, innocent child."
"Do you know her?
"Why yes," the Elder confirmed. "Aura Village was once as populated as Aurora back before the first time you walked on Falana, but since it became the site of one of Gaius' vicious rampages, it became abandoned for quite awhile. So, we helped the refugees rebuild it after you left us. Come, let's sit down."
Dust and Fidget followed the Elder to the table, with Corbin and Ginger close behind. The Elder placed Evah on the table in front of him, and intertwined his fingers once everyone was settled. "Alright, what else happened during your stay?"
Everyone turned towards Dust as he briefly recapped the events at Hotel Clarity. "..But the weirdest part was that before I saved her, Nadia said that Evah was passed down in her family for generations, which obviously wasn't true since the Blades had been lost for over 200 years. Ahrah and I believe this means that the so-called 'corruption' causes people's memories to become altered or even erased, which would also explain why some villagers didn't recognize me."
"Pshh yeah, it's not like you're hard to spot," Fidget commented.
"Interesting," Elder Gray Eyes pondered, "though extremely worrying. If that corruption kept spreading and eventually reached Aurora.."
"..I don't wanna think about that," Ginger chimed in, finishing the thought.
Moving the conversation along comfortably, the Elder turned to Corbin. "So what about your findings?"
The young boy began, "Well, I searched up near Alcaeus Village like you asked—that's kinda close to the Everdawn Basin, if you were wondering, Dust—and everything seemed fine.. until I noticed a bunch of arrests being made almost randomly and for no real reason. Those people were immediately taken to Alcaeus Prison.."
"What?! We have to go break them out!" Dust shouted, vigorously standing up with his hands firmly on the table. The others besides the Elder were taken aback.
"Calm down, Mithrarin. You'll save them, but we must be careful about it."
The riled up Dust sighed heavily then slowly sat back down. "Right.. you're right, I'm sorry."
"It's alright," the Elder consoled. "Now I know you're not familiar with the Alcaeus area, but its prison was where many of our own soldiers were held during that dark time, and.. Gaius himself ordered it to be built all those years ago, turning that entire region into a place of terror. It's been quiet in recent years, of course, but something's clearly going on now in wake of these arrests."
Dust looked down. "Gaius.. Even when he's gone, I can't stop hearing his name." Ginger gave him a concerned look.
"He may be gone, but his legacy still remains. It feels like more than coincidence that there's a disturbance in a location very familiar to him," Elder Gray Eyes explained.
"We should go then," Dust announced as he stood up, much more relaxed this time.
Fidget flew up to her usual spot on Dust's shoulder. "We got this, guys!"
The Elder responded, "Haha, you know I entrust you three with this task. You do remember how to get there, right, Fidget?"
"Oh yeah, tooootally! It's up in the.. you know, mountains and stuff."
Ginger giggled as Corbin nonchalantly whispered into the Nimbat's tiny ear. "It's behind the Zenith Mountains, Fidget.."
"..I knew that."
"At any rate, make your way about halfway through Archer's Pass and take the ferry across Lake Nadir; Alcaeus will lie to the east," the Elder instructed.
"Got it," Dust confirmed. "We'll leave right away."
As he turned to walk out of the room, Ginger got up from her seat, hugged him and then kissed his cheek. "I believe in you."
He was slightly flustered at her gesture, but looked back towards her. "T-Thanks, Ginger.. I'm doing this for all of you.." She simply nodded with a smile, and the two heroes exited.
Shortly after, The Elder spoke once more. "Corbin, I want you to silently follow Dust to Alcaeus. Make sure nothing happens to him, and if something goes wrong, report back here immediately."
"Yes sir!" Corbin said as he bowed, then left the room.
The Elder got up from his seat and grabbed Evah off of the table. "Well then Ginger, I'm going to see if I can produce any response from Evah with Lady Tethys."
Ginger turned back to Elder Gray Eyes, changing the subject. "Dust really was worried about the people who were arrested, huh..?"
"Ah, yes, it seems his concern knows no bounds."
She pondered for a moment. "..I was just happy to see Jin in his eyes."
Outside of the palace, Dust and Fidget had travelled out of Aurora Village, en route to Archer's Pass.
"Hooboy, I wonder how Haley's gonna react when she sees you're alive!" Fidget exclaimed.
Dust was surprised. "Wait.. she wasn't at the big meeting with everyone?"
"Nah she's super busy these days, cuz after people heard that she made stuff for 'the legendary Sen-Mithrarin,' they all wanted something from her. She's got da skills."
"Well she's definitely good at what she does," Dust said, laughing.
"Her forge is still in the same place, but it's like, bigger and all redone and junk!"
"I'd love to see it. I really hope we get to meet up with her."
The heroes continued traversing the field as it became the elevated landscape that was Archer's Pass. The entire area was littered with a myriad of grass-covered rocky plateaus with low chasms interspersed below, while some chunks of land jutted outwards from the raised platforms in random directions, tree roots connecting a few of them. It was as if the land was heavily altered from either natural forces or the will of some great being. There were also a couple colossal stone-carved statues of unknown figures standing guard, assumed to be legendary heroes of the past. Dust was careful to skillfully jump over each pit as he progressed, in order to eliminate the time it would take to climb back up.
"Phew.. I forgot how exhausting it was jumping between these things," Dust said as he hunched over to rest on one of the plateaus.
Fidget looked at him, confused. "Really? You used to practically fly across this place!"
Ahrah spoke up for the first time in awhile. "Perhaps Dust's abilities have been weakened as a result of his regeneration. Only time will tell if they fully return."
"Hmm alright, let's keep moving."
He looked ahead to the remaining high rises of land and began bounding across them. As the group approached a more shaded area of the pass, an enigmatic figure suddenly appeared from out of the shadows. As soon as Dust noticed, he came to a halt in front of it.
"Careful, Dust," Ahrah warned.
"Right. ..Who are you?"
The figure appeared to be a soldier of some kind, wearing odd-looking armor and his face so overtaken by darkness that no one could see it. "Who I am is not important," he responded. "You will turn back, now."
"No way!" Fidget interrupted. "We don't listen to random evil-looking guys like you!" Dust readied Ahrah in his hands.
The soldier sighed under his breath. "Very well. My liege insists there's no possible way you can interfere at this point.. but for his sake, I can't let you even have the chance!"
With that statement, he pulled out a foreign-looking angled blade from its sheath and charged forward. Dust immediately reacted by leaping forward himself, holding Ahrah out to parry the soldier's blow. After the swords clashed, Dust grounded himself and poured all his strength into trying to knock his opponent's weapon out of his hands, but the soldier surprisingly hung on, instead thrusting his blade to throw Dust off balance. He quickly dodged the soldier's next slash attack by ducking underneath it and sliding to the side, ending in his own slash that hit the soldier on the back swing. Fidget swooped in and shot a flurry of her magical projectiles, but they glanced off the enemy's heavy armor with little damage incurred. Dust then performed a vertical spinning attack, which launched the soldier over to the edge of the foothold they were battling on. He just barely stopped himself from tumbling into the chasm below.
"Do you really think a single warrior like you can deter me?" Dust questioned confidently, pointing Ahrah directly in front of him towards the stranger.
"Hmph, it appears not. Fine then, continue on your meaningless journey," he taunted, then jumped backwards off the plateau into the darkness. Dust and Fidget were both briefly surprised, but regained their concentration on the path ahead.
Not much later, Dust came up to a familiar area with some noticeable changes. It was undoubtedly Haley's forge, but the land that it previously rested on was dug out, and replaced with a two-story storage unit built into the hillside; one floor most likely was the living quarters, and the other was probably filled with armor, weapons, and materials. On the side was a ladder and a pulley system that appeared to be used to lift materials and products up from the ground to the top of the structure where the improved forge stood.
"This is it!" Fidget announced, flying over to each of the windows to see if anyone was inside. "Haaaaaaley!"
"It looks really nice," Dust observed as he walked over to where the front door to the building was, opening it. He scanned inside but saw no one there, just furniture and appliances. Fidget flew over to him and into the room. "I don't think she's here, Fidget."
The Nimbat thought for a bit. "Oh yeah, she does kinda travel the world when she needs materials so I guess it was a small chance we'd see her here, haha.."
Dust comforted her. "It's alright, we can always see if she's here when we come back this way."
"Yeah, okay.." Fidget sadly responded as she flew out of the room. She seemed more let down than Dust should've been from not being able to see Haley again. Dust closed the front door and looked to both sides of the structure. He noticed a sign farther to the left side, so he walked over to it, with Fidget following. The sign listed some major locations and had acronyms corresponding to which cardinal direction they were in; both Aurora and Aura Village, Cirromon Caverns, Abadis Forest, and..
"Lake Nadir Ferry: To the north," Dust read. He looked into the distance and saw a few buildings and a port with a large, decorative boat docked there.
"Alright, let's go for a ride!" Fidget exclaimed, flying quickly to their destination. Dust immediately chased her down the hill to the first building he could reach. There was a distracted attendant sitting inside what looked like a ticket booth; she was absorbed in some kind of newspaper titled The Elysian Times.
Dust calmly asked, "Um excuse me, two tickets please."
"Yeah ok, that'll be 500 go-" the attendant began as started to put down the paper, but when she noticed who she was talking to, her tone immediately changed. "Oh my gosh, i-it's you! Dust! I was just reading about you in the paper and I.. Holy crap, it's true!"
He was taken aback but remained himself. "Yes, it's really true. Nice to meet you."
"Oh wow, you too! Here's two tickets on the house, enjoy yourselves!"
Fidget was shocked. "Woah, thanks lady!"
"Thanks so much," Dust added.
"Not a problem. Safe travels!"
Dust walked over to the boardwalk where the ferry was docked as Fidget followed. No one else was really around; they were all relaxing and talking inside the spacious cabin in the middle of the ferry's deck, as it was probably about to leave. He stepped onto the boat, and walked towards the back.
Fidget skittishly followed him. "Hey, you don't wanna go inside with everyone else?"
"Not just yet."
That was all he said before leaning on the railing that wrapped around the entire edge of the ferry, staring back at the sunset that graced the beautifully rugged landscape of Archer's Pass as the ferry began to depart.
"I'm so glad people remember me."
[Alright, it's definitely been way longer than I wanted to take between chapters this time. I'm not sure what it was, but this one just took forever; I guess I was really unmotivated to write it because it's basically a summary/buffer chapter. I hope you guys like it though and I'll totally work faster on the next one c:]
