ArtmisHowl: You'll have to keep reading to find out :3 and I think he will return he's an interesting character.
Recommended listening: Apocalyptica-Fatal Error , Martin O'Donnell-Behold A Pale Horse (Halo 3 OST), Various-Welcome To Silent Hill (Silent Hill Movie OST), Bluetech- Oleanander (Phutureprimitive mix)
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Azurvi recognized the monsters, Kur's gift to the high emperor, war beasts; terrible fangs and claws that never dulled. Speed like no other, these were the elite guard of the high emperor's troops. Why they were in the temple was beyond her knowledge, but she knew in her heart that this was wrong. Their presence shouldn't be even allowed to pass the threshold.
"I see you took the long way my dear." A ghostly voice appeared next to her, Azurvi turned her head in disgust to see the small pale man holding a vial of the well water.
"How did you get that?"
"You'd be amazed at my resources. What's even more amazing is that these glorious cryptids obey me, just with this vial of water. Now I know that you'll tell me where the other half of the key is, or else these 'innocents' as you call them, will pay for your stubbornness."
"Even I don't know that, I was not informed of other half. My job was to protect the Atlantians."
"Which you failed at accomplishing, I will repeat myself again. I am not a patient man; I would like to know where the other half is."
"Never again shall I allow Kur's dark power to rise."
"Spare me the heroics." Argost avoided a few shards of crystal and laughed as one bounced off the vial. "Learn from your past mistakes, I won't make it so easy to shatter this time."
The priestess growled and tried to keep her attention on the man, but with the sounds of battle and shouts of the Saturdays now becoming clearer that they were losing this fight, she clenched her fists and sighed.
"The half of the key lies in the bull's pit, center and below. That is the only phrase we were allowed to know, now call them off!"
"You are such a demanding girl, fine I shall let the beasts go about their business. Which I do believe they are VERY hungry, I hope you have a snack ready." The pale man faded into the shadows and soon a roar of an airship was heard.
"Zak get back!" his mother shouted lowering the sword to blast one of the monsters that bore down on the family.
"I'm starting to run out of ammo here!" Doyle shouted, narrowly avoided losing his head to a pair of sharp claws.
"Azurvi, you're the priestess, you should know how to fix this."
Azurvi in truth did not know how to stop the onslaught of monsters that seem to come from nowhere, she bit her lip getting ready to run into the fight and do all she could when the light reflected off one of the walls.
"What is this?"She mused reaching out to it, the light glowed brighter. "A shrine….to Selciti, of course."
With a quick movement she dropped the only thing of value she owned, a silver bracelet that belonged to her mother. Pushing it before the mirror, trying to block the shouts of the panicked family and focusing on the glow and the soft voice.
"Great god of Atlantis, Selciti, your servant Azurvi Selos, 4th house in the moon; calls upon your help, please, let me help the family. They are preserving the balance like you did so long ago. I beg of you, take my last valuable, my last precious memory and save them."
"My child, a heart of pure intent I feel. I grant you free from the curse and mastery over your other self. Use this wisely." The voice boomed through the temple
The room glowed brighter and brighter, causing the war beasts to cower away from the Saturdays, the people to close their eyes and wonder what else this ancient site held in store. Life? Death? Salvation? What had happened to the priestess? Had she reverted back to her monstrous self?
Zak yelled for his family and Azurvi, the war beasts snarled wildly as the light faded and revealed another beast. It was bigger , covered in snow white fur, the same fangs and claws as the other ones, but this one seemed to target the wild ones.
"This might be an alpha female, this could be bad." Drew said pushing her son behind herself and trying to figure away to back out without alerting anything to their movements.
"It seems to be very territorial, or it's protecting something."
"Yeah it's dinner." Doyle snorted checking his wrist blaster to stock how much he had left. "I've got probably another 2 minutes worth of ammo, we could probably make a break for the door."
"What about Azurvi? We can't leave her here! She could be hurt." Zak spoke up frustrated.
"He's got a point, we can't leave her. And she may have more knowledge of Kur and his tomb than we do." Doc said frowning.
"How do we find her?"
"I'm not sure-WATCH OUT!" Doc pushed his family out of the way as a monster was thrown against the wall cracked the marble. A loud howl filled the room, they took notice that the larger cryptid had won the fight.
"We may want to regroup and come back, it's fended off its competition it's not going to wait long before it samples the winnings." Doyle said backing up with the rest of them. Fiskerton squeaked as the cryptid put its face closer, pulling Zak on his shoulders and getting ready to make a bolt for the zeppelin.
The cryptid almost chuckled and sat down before the family, tail wrapping around its feet.
"Guys, I think…that is Azurvi." Zak said leaning forward to touch the large nose before him. Fiskerton mumbled something almost inaudible to the group. "Its fine Fisk, its Azurvi, I'm sure of it." His hand finally made contact with the damp nose and with that he felt the cryptid power involuntarily activate and link with the mind of the white wolf cryptid.
"I'm glad you aren't afraid." Azurvi's voice rang through his mind.
"How did this happen? What happened to the other monster?"
"Gone, freed by the power of Selciti. My mind is clear now and I have grave news, the pale man, Argost will soon be heading to the island of Crete, to find the other half of the key. One half was hidden here in the water and the other half within the walls of the labyrinth."
"Then we need to go and get there before he does. If he gets both halves, he'll be closer to releasing Kur. "
"Something the world does not need again."
"I know, do you know where in the labyrinth the other half is?"
"Only that it lies in the bull's pit. That is the only thing we were allowed to know when they key was broken."
The link broke and the wolf disappeared in a flash of light and revealed Azurvi, her skin still covered in characters, but they had changed from the druidic character to the ornate flowing characters of the Atlantians. Her face looked different, clearer, and less afraid of herself.
"I apologize Saturdays, for the scare. My intention was to protect you from Kur's evil in the temple. It has been defiled which allowed the evil to gain power from the temple."
"Tell them, what you told me, about Crete."
"Argost has the water, I know not how he obtained it, but unfortunately he does have half of the key. The other half is in Crete, deep in the labyrinth in the bull's pit. If he gets that key, he's too close for my own personal comfort to unlocking Kur's tomb, releasing unspeakable evil upon the lands and seas again."
"That is disturbing, we need to get ahead of him as soon as possible. We can't let Kur's tomb be opened." Doc scratched his chin.
"My request is, that you allow me to help. I feel like I have failed in my duties here, and I need to right them."
Doc and Drew looked at each other, she did save their lives and Zak's life. Could they really have the heart to leave her on the island, not knowing if the cryptids that they fought off would come back for revenge and territory fights?
"Come on! We OWE HER." Zak shouted, Fiskerton nodded and patted her shoulder.
"It's true, if it weren't for her we'd either be drowning or stuck in those tunnels."
"See dad? Even Doyle thinks she should come with us."
"I can't leave her here either" Drew said softly, feeling a pull at her heart. She knew deep inside the old temple she could feel the impression of a mother still in the room, urging the family to save her daughter.
"Well I guess it's settled, besides, you are a living artifact. You hold secrets of the past that not even the most hopeful could hope for."
"So she can come?"Zak's eyes lit up.
"Yes honey, she can come."
"I promise you, you will not regret this decision. I will provide all the knowledge I have that I can."
"Then we'd better get moving, Argost could get ahead of us by now."
Drew and Doc turned and jogged for the zeppelin, followed by Fiskerton with Zak and Doyle behind. Doyle turned to see the priestess still standing in the temple, looking longingly at the walls and remembering her people and her culture.
"Hey, if you don't hurry up, we'll leave you." Doyle shouted jokingly. Azurvi turned and gave him a small smile and dashed toward the family.
"No worries, we wouldn't leave you."Zak yelled back at her.
The zeppelin was an amazing sight for someone who hadn't seen technology like this before, her bare feet felt the coldness of the metal ramp.
"Amazing, you can actually fly in this?" Azurvi's voice was filled with a sense of wonder as she walked carefully around the room and was soon greeted by Komodo and Zon.
"This is the rest of my family, the lizard is Komodo and the Ornithocheirous is Zon." Zak introduced his family's odd collection of pets.
Komodo flicked his tongue at her and merely found little interest as she had no treats or toys, Zon however had her eye on the girl and finally waddled away to find the bucket of fish that was usually kept on board.
"They'll get used to you, don't worry."Zak offered as the girl continued to see what she had missed out on after all these years.
"This is far beyond what I could have even imagined." She observed the flashing lights and soft sounds the ship made as it began to ascend into the sky.
"To think if my mother were here to see this, flying in a vehicle."
"Atlantians didn't have flying cars?" Doyle arched his eyebrows.
"No, we couldn't fly, well glide yes if you knew the right techniques, but flying no."
"So Atlantis wasn't this super futuristic nation?"
"No I'm sorry to disappoint you. Though we were more advanced than some of the other human nations. So I can guess that is where the lore came from." Azurvi shrugged and looked out the window and out at the clouds.
"Hang on, we're going to make a straight trip to Crete and hopefully beat Argost there." Doc was heard calling to those still standing, Zak dove into his chair.
"Sorry, but there's only so many seats." The 11 year old apologized.
"I am not afraid, but I would avoid going directly north east. I sense a storm in that region."
"Thanks for the heads up." Drew called "Now hang on this may be a little rough."
Doyle stood next to her his hands on the railing and looking out of the window as the clouds zoomed by and soon thickened as they rose in altitude.
"For someone who is just now experiencing flight, you don't seem freaked out by this."
"I may be from an ancient culture, but I am not afraid of modernized things" Azurvi frowned at the red head.
"Azu- can I just call you Vi? It's easier to pronounce."
"You may, my family called me that."
"But Vi, you act like you know that this is already safe. You don't know, we could fall out of the sky."
"Doyle stop scaring her." Drew shot her brother a look.
"Priestesses are privileged to see the future at some point. I have faith in this machine like I had faith that I wouldn't be lost to a monster's mind so many ages ago."
A soft smile crept across her face, leaving Doyle feeling confused, he fell silent meandering off in his defeat as Vi continued to look out the window. She was soon joined by Zak as soon as they got to traveling altitude who now was asking a million questions a minute.