Chapter 17 – The Diamond Beast
Dot went back and picked up the guardian's gauntlet and attached it to her arm. It was so big, it simply slid right off. So she placed it in her hammerspace. We all decided to make camp for the night and have a meal from the magic fridge before teleporting back to the Silver Palace. During that time, Dot seemed distracted by something and began going through some of the spell books in the library. She found some remarkable techniques for combat, like a technique that blocks your opponent's magic flow and keeps them from casting spells for as long as you can hold out. However, it seemed like an advanced technique and when Dot read about it she needed to look through more and more books to simply understand what the technique was about. It took her the rest of the day to finally understand the whole technique and she decided that it might be wise for Ace to understand it as well. She soon discovered that other spells can be implanted into basic spells called, Spell Techniques and that they had various effects depending on the basic element used in the spell and what pressure point was used.
They spent the next four hours studying and practicing the technique of nullifying an enemy's magic power. By then it was night time and they had exhausted themselves. However Dot still was on edge about something. I decided to see what was the matter was before we went to sleep. I carefully crept up behind her and watched what she did from here on. I found her simply continuing on looking through random books in the library. "What's going on Dot?" I finally asked. She nearly jumped out of her skin. "Don't do that." She scolded me in a whisper as to not awaken the others. "I actually don't know, something is nagging the back of my mind but I can't seem to figure out what it is." She explained. "Trying to find out more about the 'Diamond Beast'?" I said to her. "Maybe." She responded. As she reached up the shelf to pull out another book, a leather bound book slid off of the shelf along with it and landed square on the top of her head. "Ow!" She exclaimed while rubbing her head and lifted her leg back to attempt to kick the book. She stopped when she noticed the symbol on the front cover. It was the same star mark as on Ace's head. A six pointed star with three points pointing upward, two points out toward the sides, and a single point aimed downward. Instead of kicking the book Dot knelt down and picked up the mysterious book. "Now this is cliché." She then said showing me the book. "The answer to the nagging feeling in the back of my head hits me in the head." She then opened up the book and began reading. Apparently, it was a copy of the first Sage's Journal.
"We came from the stars of other worlds, we who are nameless and abandoned. We do not know how life for us came to be, but we exist all the same." It was the same first entry in this journal as in the journal that was destroyed when the magic space collapsed. Dot continued reading and found that the entries grew darker and darker as the years pressed on. After discovering the balance of the planet and becoming the first sage, he began teaching others about their magical potential. "One day I discovered a spell of limitless potential, and limitless power. Unable to cast the spell myself, I asked eight of my closest friends to help me seal the power away until I found the means of casting this great spell and having my greatest desire made real. For my people to transcend themselves and become 'keepers of the stars'. That is my wish. We erected a castle made of silver around it and devised a series of locks and seals to keep anyone from discovering this spell and using it for darker purposes. Each of my friends meditated for six weeks and eventually bonded with a single element of this planet. Fire, water, earth, air, electricity, ice, wood, and metal. Each transformed from the acquisition of their power, I gathered my power together and created a transcendence of all of them. Yet, I still was unable to acquire the spell of wishes. My body began to transform from the power I had acquired. Oh, how I wish my people could transcend. No, I wish I could transcend, I will transcend. I will become a GOD, and the people will bow before me. If not they will be destroyed." Dot stopped reading as she started to put together all that she had discovered. She then continued on to read how Verion tried to manipulate the next sage and ended up sealed in the lowest depths of the planet, how he was discovered by an eight-year-old Vuloc and how he forced his will upon the weak Coluv.
Dot violently closed the book, breathing heavily and in a state of near panic. "Does this mean that this Verion-guy is still alive?" She asked in confusion. "What's the date on the first entry?" I asked her. Dot re-opened the book to the first page and looked at it. "Over four thousand years ago." She said in complete shock. Her eyes were wide with the fear of her findings and she was dumbfounded at the mere thought of living for so long. She closed the book and went back to the group to tell them what she had found. I followed.
Random thoughts and questions ran through my head as we made our way back to the camp fire. Thoughts about those dreams I was given while my mind was being invaded and questions as to how can anything live so long. Other thoughts included, why would anything influence anything to destroy an entire race of people? What made Verion go crazy like that? Why does everything point to the star on Ace's forehead? What is the Diamond Beast? Where are Verion's eight friends? What did they all become when they gained their power? Suddenly answers started coming to me. "Eight friends...eight academies...eight guardians!" I thought out loud. "So Verion's friends became the guardians of the academies. So then where is Verion?" Dot asked. I just looked at her with a puzzled expression. The book said that Verion was sealed away by the second sage.
We reached the rest of the group only to find out that they were already asleep. Fatigue had suddenly overtaken us as well, and our findings can wait until the morning. I'd expected to have the same dream I got when the mysterious force manipulated my dreams. However, the only thing I dreamt about that night was blurry and hard to completely make out. In fact it looked like I was peering through extremely choppy water. The image looked that of a black and light blue figure jumping and dodging a larger silver figure's attacks. Along the whole thing I could see around seven or eight other blurry figures almost painted against the far wall, each mainly a different color and all looked vaguely familiar in a way. I tried to listen in on what was happening, but even the sound was all garbled and inaudible. All I could make out was, "Come...ik...inku...Ve...die...st..." and the rest was nothing but garble and static. The dream soon went black and that was the time that I awoke from my sleep.
It was now morning and as we all put away our camping things Yakko said, "Boy did I have a strange one last night." "A 'strange' what?" Wakko asked. "Dream. Uuuuhhhhhh, it was more like looking through water." Recalling my dream to be like that, I asked, "With a black and blue figure fighting against a large silver figure?" Yakko looked at me like I had read his mind or something. "And with eight other blurry figures in the background?" Dot asked finishing the scenario. "This is creepy. Definitely, definitely creepy." Runt said with worry in his voice. "I'll say." I said, "How do we all end up having the same dream?" "Would this adventure stop with all of the clichés?" Dot screamed at the top of her lungs. "I don't think it can here you Aunt Dot. Maybe if you scream a little louder..." Ace said in all seriousness. Dot simply gave Ace the dirty look she gives him when he says something stupid. Ace just dropped his ears to the sides of his head and sank his head to his collar bone. "Sorry, Aunt Dot." He said solemnly.
We finally packed all of our camping gear and put it away in Wakko's gag-bag, and Dot said, "Before we leave, can I borrow Runt for a bit?" "I don't see why not..." I said. Dot then took Runt away for around a few hours and when they came back Dot had a maroon colored book in her hand. It looked like a spell book. "So, what spell did she teach you?" I asked. "It's a secret. Definitely, definitely a secret. Can't tell." Runt responded. Dot placed the book aside and joined the group as well. "I hope you taught Runt a good spell. Or at least something he could understand." Yakko stated sarcastically. "Me too." Dot responded with slight worry in her voice. Yakko simply slapped his forehead. "Let's get going or the queen will get the spell of wishes before we can chew her out." He then stated. And with that, we gathered around Ace and he used tes macrinomb to teleport us to the gates of the Silver Palace.
The strange thing about arriving at the palace was when we arrived there, the doors were left open and there was a crimson cloud hanging over the top spire. "I ask for something original and what do I get? Another cliché!" Dot complained. "Just be glad there isn't anything cuter than you in there." I retorted. Dot just gave me an evil glare and I gave her a coy grin back. We made our way inside the palace. The inside was damaged and ransacked as if there was a struggle in the hallway. Vases were smashed to pieces, the flowers that Queen Angelina carefully arranged were crushed and scattered all over the floor as well as the water from the vases was splashed everywhere. Doors were knocked down and destroyed, stair railings were smashed into splinters and there were giant claw marks gauging along the walls and floor every now and then. "It looks like the Zouriinkusu got into a tangle with something big." Yakko stated. "Maybe it's Verion." Dot stated. "Who?" Yakko stated slightly confused. Dot recounted the information she had learned from the sage's journal found at the academy last night. "So, uuuuuhhhhhhh, you think Verion escaped and got into a tangle with the Zouriinkusu." Yakko guessed. "It could be." Dot stated. Suddenly, loud banging noises could be heard from under our feet.
Making our way through the carnage and ruin, we eventually found an underground tunnel. The tunnel was alit with magic torches that were designed to never burn out and never go out. The stairs we climbed went down quite a distance and when it finally ended, there was a hallway around the size of a football field. At the end of the hallway we came face-to-face with a large silver doorway with no handles. It kind of reminded me of the doors of the academies. "What do we do now?" Dot asked Yakko. Yakko placed his thumb on his chin and thought about it for a while, recalling the messages of the guardians. "If you find yourself knocking on a silver door, repeat the phrase of the family lore. Might as well give it a try." Then he pulled out his ocarina from his gag before and played the song of time from the Legend of Zelda games. At the entrance of the hallway from the staircase a large blue block with a sun symbol on it fell from the ceiling and struck the ground with a 'thud'. "That works?" Yakko asked looking at his ocarina in shock. "Enough with the jokes." Dot said. Yakko simply grinned and put the ocarina away. The block simply faded away like it was merely an illusion.
I thought to myself for a while and started to ask myself out loud, "What was it that the guardians said to us at the beginning of all of their cryptic advice? The spell of wishes cannot be found maternally?" "No, no. It's 'the spell of wishes cannot be found materially'." Wakko corrected. Suddenly the large silver doors began swinging inward, opening by themselves, just like at the Academy of Metal. "I don't know about you but that works for me." Yakko said with excitement. We made our way into the room behind the giant silver doors, which was the size of two football fields in length and width. On the other end of the room was a large arch entry way and down the center of the entire length of the room was a small waterway around a few feet wide. The side walls of the room had rectangle holes in it that were around three feet wide and one and a half feet tall. Each of the holes were spaced around three feet apart continuing from one end of the room to the other, and stacked three feet on top of each other. Rather than silver the whole room was a pure white color. By simply looking at the holes in the walls, you could tell what they were...tombs. Quite a few of the holes had mummified bodies resting inside them and most of them even had golden crowns sitting next to them.
"These must be the kings of Valkyria." Dot deduced upon entry of the empty room. "Where dead kings weep?" Yakko repeated a part of the message from the metal guardian. "The final test must be just beyond this tomb." I stated. However, before we could get moving, loud crashing noises could be heard in the distance beyond what our eyes could see. Then, suddenly, Queen Angelina flew in as if she was thrown with tremendous strength and skidded off of the water in the stream in the center of the room, and then landed on the marble floor with enough impact to break chunks of the floor up and scatter them around. She then skidded to a stop at our Yakko's feet, bleeding from her mouth and forehead. We gathered around the injured queen to see if there was anything we could do to help. We found that she also had a broken arm and bruises throughout the majority of her body, her back had definite scratch marks and she had broken four of the knuckles in her right hand. "You...guys came." She muttered. "Were we supposed to?" Wakko asked semi-dumbly. "You got...my message after all?" She said ignoring Wakko's comment. Suddenly, the meaning of the dream we all had last night made sense. She was fighting Verion and sent a subconscious SOS to us. The reality is I have gotten used to the fact that these people had a spell for everything. "That was you?" I asked shocked.
"The queen had engaged in a fierce battle with the final guardian." A deep and wise voice said from behind us and in the direction that the queen had been flung from. "Apparently, she had lost and now needs to be healed." It was the Zouriinkusu that was talking to us. I asked myself what he was doing down here and tried to come up with a logical answer. However, nothing I thought of made any sense at all. When the queen looked at the giant elephant lynx, her eyes widened with fear. Ace, trying to be the brave one, said to them, "You stay here and heal the queen's injuries. I'll deal with Verion." And then burst into his sage mode and attempted to dash off to save the day. However, before he even left the ground, Queen Angelina shouted to him, "No, don't go! The Zouriinkusu is Verion!" After she was finished shouting, she grabbed at her right side in pain.
Ace, stopped in his tracks and we all turned our gaze to the giant lynx in complete shock. "What?" We all shouted in unison. The Zouriinkusu then lowered his head and closed his eyes with relief and began laughing sinisterly. At first the laugh started off as a low chuckle. Then is started getting louder and louder, until it wounded up as a menacing laugh used in many cliché bad guy scenes. When he was finished laughing he took a deep breath and then a deep sigh. "How dare you even attempt to take my spell away from me? Only the truly powerful may use the spell of wishes, and I am merely steps away from finally fulfilling my destiny." "Again with the cliché's?" Dot complained. "This scene may be cliché small one, but..." And Verion let out a deafening roar that blew both Dot and I backward, out of the tomb and beyond the silver doors. "The ending will be mine alone. Without your spells, there is no way you can even hope to defeat me little sage. And your friends wasted their only chance to assist you in my defeat playing my little game." As he said that Verion looked up at the ceiling. At first there was nothing there, and then eight pillars of light revealed the eight guardians, suspended in air and positioned as if they were shackled to a dungeon wall. Each looked beaten and battered.
"I actually have to thank you, young sage." Verion said turning to the small blue kitten. "Thank me? Why?" Ace asked with anger and confusion mixed. "Actually, I must thank both you and the queen. If she wasn't so naive to invite you to in the unsealing of the spell of wishes, I wouldn't have been able to convince you to travel to the academies and unseal my original powers by overcoming the guardians' trials." The giant silver cat boasted. "So then you tricked her because she most likely knew her counterpart the best. Considering that the two of them were one being at one point." Yakko deduced. "So, uuuuuhhhhhh, what did you need us for? Couldn't you unlock the seals yourself?" he then mocked. "Insolent little whelp. Only those who were touched by the sage can unlock the seal created by the sage Merion, so many years ago." Verion answered. "And it was pretty obvious that my old friends weren't going to allow me to take the tests, they assisted Merion in sealing me away." He turned and shouted to the guardians.
"You were obsessed with the spell of wishes. We agreed to help you acquire it when your wish was about helping the people. But during the time of the second sage, all you could think about was adding to your power." Nymph screamed at Verion. He simply strolled up to her and gazed into her eyes. "You were always too outspoken." He said to her. Suddenly his eyes lit up with a bright gold light, Nymph suddenly felt as if her stomach was going to be ripped out of her body and keeled forward, writhing in pain. We witnessed as her body began changing, her skin turned from the color of aloe to the white color of normal Valkyrian skin. The flower bud on her back began to darken and wilt until each pedal lifelessly fell to the ground. Her dark green eyes turned brown and her outfit shifted from the rose looking dress and hanging cloth to a similar outfit to the dead Valkyrian girl I saw near the beginning of our adventure. When her transformation was complete, Verion blinked, stepped away from her and she simply fell to the ground in a heaped mess. Nymph was still alive, but she seemed too weak to even lift herself up off of the cold marble floor. She began struggling to lift herself up off of the ground with her arms and turned her attention to Verion. "What did you do to me?" she asked in a panic. "A little trick I developed while I was imprisoned in the 'Tomb of the Dark Ones'." Verion said. Then he went on to explain, "Every creature on Valkyria is born with a certain energy that can connect with the elements of planets. It is what allows us to use what you call 'magic'. By connecting with the energies of the planet, we are able to manipulate the various elements it holds. I simply expanded my horizons and learned to manipulate and even assimilate the energies of other living beings. In other words dear Nymph..." Verion raised his giant right paw and extended his claws to take a killing stroke on the helpless girl. "I've taken your guardian powers." Before his claws could touch the weakened Valkyrian, a silvery blue light enveloped her and she vanished from his sight.