Yes, it's finally here again! There's a new concept I'm putting here and the rest of the plot is going to be centered on that concept. Enjoy!
Wishes, Dreams, and Memories
Chapter 23 – The True Reason
The female Earthmate was nodding off as she held a book in her hand, leaning against her pillow on the bed. The sound of regular thunder would snap her awake for a few minutes so that she could continue her reading, but it only for a few words before her fatigue caught up to her. She let her head fall against the pillow, but unaware that a hard cover book was there to make contact with her head.
"Ow…" Frey let out a tired yawn as she forced herself to open her eyes wide and continue her reading.
Frey had spent the whole night trying to read the book written in a language she was supposed to be familiar with, but there were too many words she couldn't understand yet. She let out a tired sigh as she drowsily slid a different book to her side. She opened the new book, which was written in two different languages.
Frey let out another yawn as she scanned the book, "Maybe… maybe I should take Mother's lessons more seriously when she was still alive," The female Earthmate carefully flipped the worn pages of the book, "And learn more about our tasks as a family of Earthmates… huh?" Frey stopped once she found a page with a map drawn on it.
The map was none other than a map of Norad, but focusing more on the Selphia section and the border heading towards the Sechs Empire. Frey read the notes carefully and turned to the next page, which had the information she had been seeking. While it might not be enough to solve the crisis, she knew that she had a lead on what to be done and it had to be done before everything was too late.
Frey kicked herself off her bed and headed straight towards Lest's room. She put a hand on the door as she was about to push it open, until she realized something, "Wait, he's not single anymore…" Frey stepped back in embarrassment, "I shouldn't barge into a married couple's room in the middle of the night…"
The female Earthmate turned to head for the door and stopped in the middle of the slightly damp floor of the plaza. She looked up at the sky and much to her horror, it was completely dark. The sound of thunder could be heard, but she couldn't see any signs of lighting. It felt like she had been trapped in the darkness as the whole town was covered in thick dark fog.
Frey reached for her necklace, which glowed in response to her touch, "I hope this works for me…" The necklace grew brighter and brighter as it formed a big ball of light, swallowing Frey's whole body inside.
"…ke …est…"
Lest slightly stirred in his sleep, not completely aware of the sound of someone calling out to him.
"… wake up…"
The voice was getting clearer in his ears, but he was still too tired to recognize whose voice it was.
Pico let out an irritated sigh as she hovered above Lest's sleeping body, "I don't understand how Dolly can wake him up easily every morning…"
The Earthmate turned to the side, completely ignoring the hovering ghost above him. Pico hovered lower to him and grabbed Lest by the shoulder, shaking him frantically, "Lest, wake up! Please wake up already!"
Lest could feel his body moving around and stirred awake, letting out a big yawn. He sat up on the edge of the bed and turned to his side, "Good morning Dol… Pico?"
"Snap out of it, Lest! We have an emergency!" Lest gave her a confused look in return, still unaware of the situation, "We don't have time for this! Dolly is missing!"
"Huh? What?" The sudden news completely snapped him awake.
"Come on, we have to find her! If I'm still here, then she should be nearby!" Pico hovered out of the room in panic, leaving Lest to get ready by himself in a rush.
"Pico, wait!" Lest yelled in the hallway, trying to get the attention of the ghost a few meters away from him, "I'll look for her on the west side of the town, so you go check…" Pico had been too far for her to hear him even as he had yelled, "Okay, I'll search the entire town from land. I'll find you Dolly, so please be safe…"
The hazel-haired Earthmate ran out of the castle and through the entire town, but there was no sign of his wife anywhere. By asking around, Lest had also found out that Dolce wasn't the only missing person in town. Amber, Dylas, and Leon had been missing as well and no one had seen any of them since last night. Arthur had left the town since early in the morning, leaving Kiel to handle their joint research in Arthur's office.
Lest had stopped in front of the castle after looking around all morning with no luck and was resting his legs from all that running around he did. He didn't know why Dolce had suddenly left him and Pico as they had just made up from the recent argument they had. Lest knew that his wife wasn't the type of person to hold grudges, so her reason of leaving shouldn't have been him. If it wasn't him, then would Pico be the reason for her leaving?
"Lest!" Pico's sudden appearance in front of Lest had stopped him from his train of thoughts, "Did you find her? Did you find Dolly?!"
"Sorry," Lest apologized, giving the ghost a sense of disappointment, "If she's not here, then she should be out of town…"
"That's not possible…" Pico and Lest sighed in disappointment, before she suddenly realized something, "Unless…"
"Unless?" Lest looked at Pico expectantly.
Pico looked at Lest with a frown, "If she is in her monster form, it's possible… B-But that can't be…"
Lest turned to the entrance to the dragon room, prompting Pico to do it as well, "If she turns back into a Guardian again, something must be wrong with Venti. I doubt Dolly is the only one who turns back into a Guardian again."
"Ven…" Pico slowly followed Lest as he went into the dragon room, "She was just fine yesterday…"
When the two of them entered, the wind dragon was lying down in the middle of the room. He couldn't really tell whether the dragon god was simply sleeping or was getting weaker as a person had stood in front of her head. The visitor stood still while being aware of the newcomers, still having her back turned against them.
"Frey," Lest called out to the person, "What's going on? Is Venti…?"
"We don't have much time," Frey replied while having her back still turned against him, "Lady Ventuswill won't survive if we don't do something fast. And… it's not just her," Frey turned to look at Lest and Pico with a serious look, "The Guardians, as well as the whole Selphia, is in danger."
"Dolly is in danger?!" Pico asked worriedly and in panic.
"Yes, but I don't know where the Guardians had gone to," Frey walked aside, showing the face of weakened Ventuswill to the two, "The Guardians must have been absorbing the corrupted runes while they're here, so when they're gone…"
"Venti is the one absorbing all of the corrupted runes…" Lest approached the wind dragon, putting a hand on her head, "I want to make sure Venti is well, but if that's the case then…"
"Lest, take this," Lest turned to look at Frey, who handed him a familiar black top hat, "You know who this belongs to, right?"
"This…" Lest took the hat in surprise, "This is Dolly's hat!"
"Yes," Frey nodded, "I found it near the gate last night. We can be sure that the Guardians left town last night, but we still don't know where they went. But… my true reason for being here might have something to do with their leaving."
"If there's something you're hiding, you better say it!" A slight anger came from Pico, "If you're involved in making her leave… I don't think I can forgive you. I can't see you as a sister or even a friend. You're just a stranger…"
Frey looked at the angered Pico calmly, "I can't say everything, especially because we're running out of time," Frey turned to Lest, "The corrupted runes brings out negative thoughts and the affected people tend to get a little more… emotional…"
"Please," Lest gave Frey a pleading look, "If there's anything you know that can help in bringing them back, please tell us."
Frey couldn't stand the look on her brother's face and turned herself away to avoid his eyes, "Sorry, but all I know is the reason the culprit does all of this. I just hope that is enough to find out who did it and where the Guardians were taken."
"Dolly," Lest saw as Pico whispered sadly before turning back to Frey.
"We'll listen," Lest spoke up, "Tell us what you know."
Frey paused for a moment as she held on to her necklace before she finally started her explanation, "There is one sacred place only a certain family of Earthmates knows, because their family is destined to protect it," The green-haired Earthmate let go of her necklace and turned around, "Lest, you and I are a part of that family. I'm here to find that place myself on behalf of our late mother, as she had passed down her own research notes regarding that place."
"What is that place?" Lest asked.
Frey looked at the other two for a moment before continuing, "A place called a rune lake. It's a place where pure rune energy gathered from the Forest of Beginnings before it poured out to the outside world. The runes are completely free from all kinds of corruption from the souls of evil people in the forest, but it's also sensitive to corruption from the outside. If that place gets corrupted, then the whole world will get the corrupted runes. Judging from the current situation, the rune lake has been found and the corruption is already starting."
Lest and Pico looked at Frey silently, now aware of the situation, "And you're here to prevent this from happening?"
"Yes, but that's from the king's orders," Frey replied, "My true reason is to locate the lake and completely seal it off. The lake has been corrupted enough over the past thousands of years, so the corruption is much worse than it was previously."
"We now know something else about our situation," Pico suddenly spoke up, "But… it still doesn't help if we don't know who did it…"
"I know," Frey nodded confidently, "I have a possible candidate, so I asked Arthur-"
"Prince! There you are!" Frey was cut off suddenly by the light blue-haired butler as he had run into the room, "We received a letter from the Sechs Empire and, and…"
"Vishnal, calm down!" Lest could guess that Vishnal had either been running around looking for him as he was trying to catch his breath, "Okay, so what's this letter is about?"
"Um…" Lest looked at him in worry as the butler gave him a frown, "The Sechs demanded a trade, between the missing four people and the two of you. They wanted both of you alive to come to their territory."
"I knew it," Frey's comment was a surprise to the butler, while Lest and Pico had already had their suspicions, "You two must have suspected the same as well, I suppose."
"Is there anything I missed?" Vishnal asked in confusion.
"I'm sorry, Vishnal. This is something that we can't tell you about," Frey answered with an awkward smile, "Say, has Arthur returned yet?"
"Ah, yes. In fact, it was Arthur who got that message for me to deliver," Vishnal replied with his usual polite smile.
"Okay, thanks," Vishnal left the room with a polite bow as Frey turned her attention back to Pico and Lest, "You two should come with me. I've asked Arthur this morning to bring in someone to us for help. We're going to bring the Guardians back and try to put an end to this mess."
"Yes! Now this is what I want to hear!"