i really need some time for character development
Arc II, The Plate of Time
Chapter Twenty-Eight:
The Lavender Priestess
Wherever we had gone, spring had arrived first.
The smell of rain on grass, and of thunder and mud, was unmistakable. A gentle downpour came down from the dappled clouds. It started across the mountains and then swept over our motionless bodies, which were spread across the plains.
I was the first of our trio to sit up. My vision wavering, I straightened as far as my strength would allow me. Aurelio was unconsciousness about ten meters away, and Josie was even further down the hills, her body protected by an ancient, withering tree.
"Aurelio," I whispered to him once I got closer. He looked no different from all of the other times I had watched him sleep, but seeing his unmoving body in a world unknown to him roused the protectiveness in me. "Aurelio, we've arrived."
He stirred slightly. "How far back?" he said, sounding parched.
I observed the world. Having had nothing else to do since the creation of the universe had its perks. "Several hundred years, at least." I helped him sit up. "My best guess would be four hundred. Do you see that city along the mountains? Its architecture is unique."
Aurelio wiped the rain from his glasses. "Josie?"
"Down this way."
We carefully treaded down the hill together, stepping over stones and loose footing. She had suffered a minor cut on her arm, but was otherwise unharmed. I pulled her into a more comfortable position and nudged her shoulder, but she didn't wake.
"I had no intention to bring her with us," I said bitterly, more angry at myself than anyone.
"We had no choice," said Aurelio. He still sounded out of focus. "Neither of us had any idea that Philippa would be there. And neither of us had any idea that Josie would be there too. We ran into the wrong circumstances. She's safer with you than anywhere else."
"It was my fault," I said. I continued to massage Josie's hair, hoping that she would awaken soon. "I didn't know this beforehand, but Luce left traces of his power on the Plate of Space when he cracked the surface. When I activated the Plate's powers, he felt it. How Philippa got there so quickly, I have no idea. She might have been following you this whole time."
Aurelio stared at Josie, his expression somber and regretful. "I would have rather kept her out of this," he said.
"I agree."
Josie stirred slightly. She sighed herself from her slumber, her blue eyes blinking her into wakefulness. "Thea," she said drowsily. "Wait. Arceus. Or did I imagine that?"
Aurelio glanced at me, amused. "Well, if there was one other person to whom we wanted to divulge your secrets, it would be Josephine. She reads so much that nothing surprises her."
She struggled to sit up. "History's like a giant storybook," she said, wiping the rain from her face. She guardedly watched the skies. "Except it's even better, because all of it actually happened. Thea, you've always looked too dignified to be human. Honestly, it makes more sense to me that you're not."
"Now that you know, you're involved in my affairs," I said. "For that, I'm genuinely sorry." The three of us rose. I stood less shakily than the others. "The Plate of Time is near. We have to reach it before it transfers ownership to someone else. Otherwise, we will have to commence another hunt."
"Correct me if I'm wrong," said Josie. She winced as she rubbed her temples. "But the Plate of Time is one of the big three. The ones that the Antebureau will use to kill you."
I will hunt you down, Plate by Plate, until the trinity is destroyed, and the universe collapses, killing not only you, but the precious world that you so desperately love.
Luce was going to obtain all of my Plates and destroy them. He could have shattered the Plate of Space, but then he would have never known how to get the Plate of Time. The odds were in my favor, but I would have to tread cautiously. If he destroyed the Plates, the end of the universe would no longer wait itself out. It would happen. And it would happen almost instantaneously, only to be drawn out long enough for its inhabitants to realize that they were going to all die.
"The leader of the Antebureau is bent on killing me," I said, beginning to head to the top of the hills, back to where I could see the city in the distance. "But if I die, so does the rest of the universe, and vice versa. We must stop them."
Aurelio and Josie trailed after me. "Dumb it down for me," said Josie, "but what do the Plates have to do with killing you?"
"When Arceus created the universe, it organized each element of its power into seventeen Plates," said Aurelio, his breathing labored from ascending the slippery hill. The rain suddenly intensified. "Fire, water, ice, etcetera. These Plates became the seventeen pillars of the universe. Then there was the trinity: Space, Time, and Cosmos. All twenty work together in harmony to maintain order and balance. If they are destroyed, the very fibers of the universe will collapse. Some are more important than others, obviously. But it would be catastrophic to lose any."
"And the leader of the Antebureau—"
"Luce," I said scathingly.
"—is after them," finished Josie.
I stopped at the top of the hill, so quickly that the two nearly bumped into me and were sent rolling back down the slope.
"Luce must be ended," I said. "At all costs. Grabbing my Plates and retreating with them, my tail between my legs, back to the immortal dimension wouldn't stop him nor would it beneficial for you. Your dimension wouldn't remain standing for long without its pillars. Mine would probably follow shortly afterward. The only solution is to get them to safety for now, and then theorize how we can go about killing the pest. If dropping a hundred tons of rock and crystal on top of him doesn't do the job, I'm not sure what would."
Aurelio looked past me. His eyes narrowed. "We have company."
A woman was standing at the bottom of the slope. Her long dark hair, which must have been pinned back earlier, was now disheveled and ruined. The crimson robes she wore were now stained with rainwater. Her sandals were sodden. She was panting, and her eyes were the size of grapefruits, and were even the same pale shade of red.
"I came as swiftly as I could," she said.
"Who are you?" I demanded, although uneasily.
"The Priestess, I have no other name," replied the woman, an easing appeasement on her face. "I assure you that I mean no harm. May I approach your company?"
I waited for a moment. The Priestess made no move to come closer until I gave her permission. She waited there patiently, even long after her breathing had slowed, maintaining eye contact with me and nobody else.
"Come," I finally said.
She lifted up her robes to keep their silver silk ends out of the mud and walked up the hill. As she came closer, I could smell the incense on her hair. Like the smell of burning lavender. I felt Aurelio and Josie pushed into my shoulders, letting me stand as their leader.
"Your aura is overwhelming," said the Priestess. "I felt it the moment that you entered our dimension. There was also a significant split in my own aura. One end went that way and another went this way."
I deeply frowned. "You know who I am."
"Of course I do," she said. "I was born with the Immortal Eye."
"What is that?"
"Nothing more than vernacular," she admitted, smiling. "It allows me the power to see all traces of immortality in mortal things. Things that are living. The air. The faraway ocean. The flame by which I read at night. Even the earth upon which we stand. Things that all carry your footprints, remnants of your ever existent power. This is the first time I have ever felt your physical presence in the mortal dimension, Arceus."
"It's not an everyday thing," I said, half-frightened and half-piqued by this mysterious woman. Aurelio kneaded the back of my wrist with his thumb, comforting me. "How does this power connect your world to me?"
She kept smiling wearily. "The pillars of the universe," she said. "Most cannot get even a fleeting glimpse of you. Not even when they are staring the Plates in the face. But when you left the Plates upon this earth, you also left your presence in every stone and blade of grass. I assume that is why you have come?"
"Could be. You tell me."
"The Plate of Time," said the Priestess with pressing confidence. "It occasionally floats in and out of my world, and when it does, it always comes to my temple. It has its routines, and is quite predictable. It has been in my shrine for nearly a fortnight, but it could be gone by the time we reach the city."
My jaw clenched. Admittedly, I had never paid much attention to where the Plate of Time would go. I had always presumed it was safe, no matter in which dimension it was hiding. It had never occurred to me that there were people who knew of its habits, or even its existence. If the Priestess had malicious intentions, she would have used it to take advantage of me by now.
I relaxed slightly. "Take us to the Plate."
End of Chapter Twenty-Eight