Chapter 31: The Time Traveler
Once we began to search for where the scepter could be located, everyone started to ask questions. And I knew that I had to answer them. "Okay, Mary. Spill the beans. How can you know the events of this world and why not tell us anything?" Angelo asked, the other two men also asking that question. "If you must know, Angelo, Trode, and Yangus, I know all of these events because I come from a timeline that had things called 'games'. You could play them and get gripped on stories with visuals rather than books," I said with a frown.
"And one of those games has the exact same setting and characters as this. It was called 'Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King'. Everything that has happened, for the most part, has happened in this game," I kept saying. "So you knew when and where Dhoulmagus and Rhapthorne would strike, yet you didn't think to tell us a single thing?" Trode growled. "And wot's the deal wit you birds not askin' nothin'? Don't tell me you knew too?" Yangus frowned.
"Yes, we knew as well. Mary only told us certain things, but not everything. She told me of Charmles's initiation and not to speak for it, and she told Jess about how she needed to be brave when she needed to be possessed by the staff," Medea frowned. "Why put her through that though is my question," Angelo frowned.
"Trust me guys, the story has already been screwed with a lot of times because of me and my family being here and if it gets screwed with too much, then we won't have our chance at a happy ending. Everything from this moment on needs to play out by the book or Rhapthorne will still be around and he will kill the rest of the sages... and sadly, that means that someone in this town that we know will be dying," I sighed with a few silent sobs.
"Wait... ya don't mean..." Red was about to say before... "AAAGGGGHHH! ! !" we heard a loud yell from outside in the courtyard. "DAVID!" Stella exclaimed as she and the rest of us rushed out the door and we saw the terrible sight in front of us. Sir Leopold now had piercing red eyes and matted fur, holding the staff with his mouth as it began to shake and tremor with terrible dark magic. "The scepter... only 2 sages left!" he snarled before jumping away with surprising agility.
I looked at David with a whimper and saw that he was barely still alive. "David..." Medea sobbed at him, hoping to use any kind of magic to try and heal him. I didn't stop her, as I knew for a fact that the seal had already been broken on David's part. I guessed near-death was good enough for the scepter's curse. But even after trying to heal him, Medea's efforts weren't good enough. Too much blood had been lost.
"M-Mary..." David said weakly to me. "I... thank you... for giving me... Domin... ico's... approval..." he gasped before his eyes closed and he had left.
It was at this point that Dominico came out and had a look of sheer sadness and despair on his face. "David... nothing can right the wrong I have done... I have failed my duties..." Dominico cried before he then collapsed on the ground in tears.
It took awhile for Dominico to recover and after that, he took us to his magic room in his melancholy state. "I apologize for my behavior that has caused all this... I ask that you do me a favor, Stella and psychic elf," Dominico said. "What is it?" Stella asked. "I need to know... you are the keeper of the Starflight Express and Celestria is your sister... I need to know... will David find peace on the other side?" Dominico asked.
Stella looked down with a frown and sighed. "Those killed by dark magic as foul as Rhapthorne's... until he is vanquished, their essences will linger in this world, never knowing peace... only by Rhapthorne's demise will his victims know peace..." Stella sobbed. "But the good news is that we will defeat Rhapthorne. And once that is accomplished, David will be able to go to heaven. He was a good person, no matter what happened to him," said a voice that we didn't expect to hear among us. Celestria's voice.
"Even the goddess is on your side... amazing..." Dominico said, his mouth agape at hearing the voice in his head. "And my question to you, elf... I ask that you and your group put my Leopold down... that monster is not my Leopold anymore... you do what you have to do in order to save this world," Dominico frowned. "You have our word, Master Dominico," I said, bowing my head.
"As for your friend here, the one that was possessed by that foul artifact... I can draw out her latent abilities as a mage. Allow me..." Dominico said as he let out a small beam of light at Jessica and her body glowed a bit before the light dissipated. "Whoa... I feel a bit more powerful from that," Jess gawked. "Now let's go north. We don't have all day and we need some more answers still," Trode frowned, Yangus not even bothering to do a 'COR BLIMEY' moment. It didn't take a genius to know my whole group was saddened at this. And as for Stella, she retreated into my purse rather than my cleavage for a change. If even she was mad that I kept too much of the story secret from her, then I done royally screwed up.
"It's not your fault, Mary..." I heard Celestria say in my mind. No one else looked shocked, so I guess she was only speaking to me. "Your friends will understand in time... even Stella will understand how you work near the end. So long as the story remains the same, Rhapthorne will be gone. Sometimes, to lose something valuable is to gain something even more amazing. You lost your humanity, and now you are immune to magic. You lost your sword swinging abilities, and you have grown in your magical prowess. I'm sure your allies will appreciate your help in the end. And if they don't... you can always live with me. It's quite lonely up here.
I simply thought a single phrase to her because I didn't want to hear any of this because of my shame. "Fuck off, Celestria."
When I thought that phrase to her, clearly able to be heard by the other girls, they all gasped, but none more so than Celestria and Stella. "W-What the flap did you just say? S-Sis?..." Stella gulped at this. "What's going on?" Trode asked. "I'll tell you lot what I told Celestria: Fuck. Off," I growled as I walked forward some more and into the blizzard, not even caring about the cold air. Honestly, I'd rather freeze to death than to have everyone hate me. That's how mad I was.
I didn't make it 20 yards until I began to shiver uncontrollably and I fell face-first into the snow, my consciousness almost fading before a great warmth came over me. I knew where it was coming from, but I didn't care. "I told you already, Celestria. F-" I was about to say before I felt someone yank my ponytail backwards, causing me to yell in pain. "If you say that to me one more fucking time, I will make sure that Stella gives you a train ride to hell!" I heard Celestria yell at me as I heard more footsteps coming and the sounds of a carriage. "I'm not in the mood," I frowned as I got up and tried to walk away, Celestria's hand still holding onto my ponytail.
"Let go," I frowned at her. "Are you barking orders at the Goddess Celestria?! You're asking to be hurt, aren't you?" Angelo asked me. "Angelo, hush," Celestria frowned.
"I don't need promises that can't be kept, Celestria. I don't want to live with you if my friends hate me, and I'm pretty damn sure my family doesn't care about living in your realm either. All we want is to go home. And honestly, I didn't even want to be in this world. Rhapthorne may have sent me to this world on accident, but this world isn't my home. It is just a figment of some Japanese person's imagination, put onto a disk, and sold around the world as a video game," I sighed with some tears falling from my face, forming ice crystals when they finally fell.
"You seriously think that this is still a video game world?" Stella frowned at me, coming out of my purse for a change. I forgot she was even in there. "News flash, Mary, but this ain't a game world. Remember Rhapthorne's name that he kept calling you? 'Time Traveler?' You may have known about this world before you came, but I am all-knowing and all-seeing. And I can tell you right now that this isn't a fictional place. This is your world in the far FUTURE!" Celestria growled as she then placed her hand on mine and I then got a vision that I would never forget.