Chapter 2:
Hugo.
Hugo blinked.
Hugo.
Inside his head Hugo heard a familiar voice.
Flame Champion? Hugo thought.
Yes my friend. You are nearing the Crystal Valley. This battle is not impossible. Many years ago I successfully invaded The Crystal Valley to get The True Fire Rune. The One Temple is your ultimate destination. Advance on the city walls and bring pressure from the outside, because there is already a distraction within the walls. This battle has been predetermined by fate, my friend. Best of luck.
Hugo thought about what he just heard. He did not understand how fate predetermined this battle, or what may be going on inside the city already. He just kept marching on, leading his army toward the legendary capital.
Geddoe led Joker into a nearby alleyway, escaping the clashing of swords and explosions of runes.
"What are we doing sir!" Joke yelled over the commotion.
"I don't know! I just know that I have been instructed to be here! My rune has been speaking to me! I've heard the old Flame Champion and Leknaat directing me for the past month for this moment! Just be patient my friend!" Geddoe yelled back.
From above them, a body had jumped down from the one story building and landed nimbly. Geddoe and Joker spun around, confronted by a familiar face.
"Nash!" Geddoe exclaimed.
"Geddoe! Wang! Good to see you two!" Nash cried back. They quickly shook hands, making sure there was no fighting in the alleyway yet.
"What are you doing here?" Geddoe asked.
"I'm not exactly sure. I met an old friend of mine here in the city a couple of days ago, and he's asked me to accompany him. He told me to jump down here and that he'd be here shortly," Nash answered. "I feel so out of the loop."
"I agree, and I don't like it one bit considering the danger that we're in," Geddoe added.
A young man raced into the allway. Geddoe spun and drew his sword, confronting the young man.
"No, Geddoe! This is my friend," Nash exclaimed.
The young man offered his hand to Geddoe and Joker, "The name's Riou."
"Geddoe, it's a pleasure to meet you, sorry about that," Geddoe answered.
"What are we going to do?" Nash asked Riou.
"Jowy has successfully taken the intersection up ahead. I believe Freyjadour is coming up on the street south of here to meet Lazlo at the street to the west. Right now we're going to try to meet up with the two of them to take over the block," Riou answered. "Geddoe, you're ready to use that rune, right?"
Geddoe nodded affirmitavely and smirked, "Sounds like my type of action."
The four of them rushed out of the alleyway toward the street south of there. In the middle of the square they saw a tall, muscular man with bright orange clothing, with incredibly long white hair that was knitted into a flowing braid down his back. He was swinging a three-piece nunchaku wildly, at a few platoons of Harmonian soldiers, blasting foes with rays of energy from his hands at the same time.
Geddoe threw his hands out in front of him and let a shockwave of lightning energy explode from them. The shock went through a massive crowd of Harmonian soldiers. Nash had unsheathed the Grosser Flux, his legendary weapon, and Riou was using his own weapons to make their way through the dense crowd of soldiers, Joker following in their wake. They made it closer to the man with white hair, and eventually the bodies of soldiers littered the street, either shocked, dead, or paralyzed. A few stood there frightened, surrendering their weapons. Riou, Freyjadour, Nash, Joker, and Geddoe paid them no mind.
"Prince, we must continue forward to meet Lazlo," Riou said quickly, "there's no time to waste!"
"Of course, it is all working smoothly so far, friend," the Prince replied. "Who are you two?" He asked, looking at Geddoe and Joker.
"Geddoe," Geddoe said, adjusting his eye patch, "bearer of the True Lightning Rune. This here is a trusted companion, Wang."
The Prince nodded gravely, "I am Freyjadour, bearer of the Sun Rune and it's components, the Dawn Rune and the Twilight Rune. I assume you know the ultimate plan?""Freyjadour!" Riou said impatiently.
Geddoe shook his head, confused. "The former Flame Champion informed me to be here. I've heard nothing of any plan."
"Leknaat clearly has not been completely truthful with all of us then. Geddoe, we are making our way to the One Temple to assassinate Hikusaak. It is of utmost importance that you save some of your energy for the final battle. I do not know anything of this Hikusaak personally, or even why he must be defeated, but as bearer of The Sun Rune, Leknaat has instructed me to come here, claiming it was destiny. Enough for now, we must go on to catch up with Lazlo. Perhaps Tir is already there. We'll see. Keep your eyes out for Yuber too, he is among us."
Geddoe and Joker both nodded. The party ran forward through the streets. They turned the corner and saw a mass of soldiers standing there, blockading the street. From behind the platoon of armor-clad soldiers there was a blinding light and scorching flash. The soldiers all fell to their knees, presumably dead. From behind them a man with short, grey hair, and a red headband emerged, a stern and dedicated look in his eye. Next to him, a man with a green bandana wrapped around over his black hair. He held a long staff, and Geddoe could feel an immense power eminating from him.
"Lazlo! Tir!" Riou called. "The block has been secured! Any word from Futch or Sierra?"
The two young men ran up to the party. The man in the green bandana replied, "No not from either of them, I assume Jeane has already caught up with them, but Jowy just passed by minutes ago claiming that Yuber was up ahead."
Geddoe's eyes widened at the mention of three familiar names: Futch, Jeane, and Yuber.
"Wait, Futch and Jeane are here?" Geddoe asked.
The man with the red bandana looked at him like Geddoe was an imbecile, "Of course, Futch is the new Dragon Captain, bearer of the Dragon Rune, and Jeane is the Leader of the Sindar."
"Hey, don't get quick with me," Geddoe snapped back. "I have every right to know what is going on here, I evidentally have been left out of the plan."
Lazlo stepped forward menacingly, Riou stepped in between them, using his Shield Rune to calm the two men down.
"Lazlo, just because you have the Rune of Punishment doesn't mean you have to punish others for something so small," Riou remarked. Geddoe and Lazlo stood down.
"Prince? What should we do?" Tir asked, looking at the quiet royalty. "Is the Sun Rune saying anything?"
"Not yet," Freyjadour replied. "I do feel the darkness of Yuber closeby though. I say we find Futch, Jeane, and Sierra, and regroup at the headquarters."
"Sorry, I can't agree with that," Riou answered. "If Jowy is out there fighting Yuber right now I need to go help him, he can't be wasting his time with the shadow. Not only is it dangerous, but Jowy is vital to our strategy. Geddoe, do you hear the Flame Champion saying anything?"
Geddoe focused intensely on his Rune. He could not hear his old friend, but he did feel the presence of other Runes nearby, especially the Fire Rune, it was burning brightly.
"No, but I do feel the Second Flame Champion. Do any of you else feel it?" Geddoe asked. Many of them shook their heads.
"It must be because I was so closely tied to it for so long. Riou if you want to go after Jowy, I must now head toward the True Fire Rune, I hear it calling me. Joker follow Tir for now. Nash I ask that you accompany me, and whoever else would like to as well," Geddoe added.
"I will come," Freyjadour answered. "Lazlo, go find Sierra, Futch, and Jeane, and head toward the headquarters. We will all rendezvous at that point. If any of us get into trouble, use your rune to send some sort of message. Let's move."
Riou ran down the street where it connected with another adjoining road. The bodies of Harmonian solders lay scattered all over the street. A powerful force had no doubt come through here already. He continued on, feeling for the other half of the Rune of the Beginning. It was not too far ahead. He continued on hurridly, turning the next street corner. He saw his best friend, Jowy, fighting off a crowd of fiersome monsters as Yuber leapt in between attacks to try to catch Jowy off guard.
Jowy was twirling his staff around, knocking away creatures, and using the Black Sword Rune to destroy most of them. Riou ran up and made a shield of protection around Jowy, enhancing his stamina and healing some of his wounds. Yuber glanced over at Riou and pounced at him. Another black flash zoomed across the street and a loud clang echoed through the square. Riou looked up to see Pesmerga battling Yuber back. Jowdy had destroyed the last of the creatures, and Riou waved his hand to summon his friend. Jowy ran over quickly.
"Great timing," Jowy said seriously. "What should we do about Yuber?"
"Nothing for now," Riou replied. "It's Pesmerga's job to keep him at bay for now. We need to get back to headquarters now, we're starting to assemble."
Jowy and Riou ran back down the street together, heading for the abandoned temple they called headquarters.
Geddoe, Nash, and Freyjadour kept running toward the front of the city. Civilians were out and about now, clearly enough blood had been shed for the Harmonians, and with the Rune bearers dispersing it would be harder to concentrate forces. As they neared the city walls Geddoe felt the power of numerious runes beyond the gate. He saw a massive brigade of soldiers at the gate, and as he got closer. He realized that they were pouring out of the front gate, and in fact, it was not merely a brigade, but outside of the gates there were thousands of soldiers and a battle was erupting. This was where all the soldiers had gone.
Hugo looked at the crowd of soldiers in front of him, and then he watched them all ignite in flames. He spread the fire out among a large area of soldiers, trying to block out the sound of their wretched cries and screams of agony. He looked beside him, Louis was kicking up what seemed to look like a tornado. He was adjusting to the rune better than Hugo had when he first received his. Chris was on the other side of Hugo using her Water Rune to heal the injured Grasslanders. Sasarai was somewhere casting strength and protective magic, Hugo could feel it through his body.
He glanced around the battlefield. It was one of the most unbelievable sights he had ever seen. Karayans, Zexens, and Lizards all dispersed among the intimidating Harmonian army. And not just a few, but soldiers by the thousands. The sound of screams and steel were blaring on the battlefield before the mountainous walls of The Crystal Valley. Not to mention the miraculous and dazzling effects of the True Runes all at work. Hugo pushed his soldiers forward. He saw his mother, Lucia, the Karayan commander, Beecham, his friend Hallec, as well as the 11th and 12th Mercenary Units, among the other stars of destiny. His army seemed to be winning, barely.
Suddenly from within the castle walls, Hugo saw a beam of light come down from the Sun. It shook the ground, and near the castle gates there was a sea of electric shock. Hugo could feel the familiar Lightning Rune up ahead. Geddoe was here. But why?
Hugo grabbed Louis by the arm and shouted at him to follow him. He found Melville nearby, and motioned to Chris, Sasarai, Zerase, and Edge to all follow him. The party triumphantly surged through the sea of Harmonian solders with the help of the Lightning Rune up ahead and whatever other Rune that was coming from the Sun. They finally made it to the gate where they saw Joker, Geddoe, and a man with white hair.
"Geddoe!" Hugo cried.
"Hugo!" Geddoe exclaimed back. The two parties came closer to each other. They eventually met right at the gates among the commotion of scared and confused soldiers.
"We need to hurry and get to a safer spot!" Geddoe commanded.
The party all followed each other closely and ran through the Harmonian streets until they finally found a quiet alleyway.
"Geddoe, what in the world are you doing here?" Lady Chris asked in wonder.
"About a month ago, the old Flame Champion told me to come to Harmonia with Joker. He said we would meet somebody and a plan would eventually unfold. He said it was vital that I came with Joker. And it was, Joker saw Nash from afar. When we met up with Nash he introduced us to a bunch of other Rune bearers. I guess there's a plan to kill Hikusaak." Geddoe replied.
"Howdy pretty lady," Nash winked at Chris.
Chris glared at him and moved closer to Hugo.
It should be known at this time, of the special history between Hugo and Chris. After the Second Fire Bringer War they became close friends. And before anybody knew it, intimate friends. Hugo had grown to be a strong leader, one with more will, adventure, and pride than even Chris had. She admired him, and after being able to give up some of her power to her friends, and she could relax, she found herself worrying more about Hugo than her own affairs. Hugo in turn, fell in love with her. His True Fire Rune resonated with happiness whenever the True Water Rune was near. He felt safe and secure with her, and the two were engaged to be married. Something went wrong though. This was two years ago. A year ago, Hugo started to get more violent. He was getting restless with his Rune and with the Fate that Luc had exposed him too. He despised the extinguishing effect the Water Rune had on him. He felt like the Water Rune had power over him, and he felt all the anger toward Chris that he had before they were allies. There was still a deep human love for her, but for heavenly reasons, the two broke off the marriage, and were as caught up in lovers quarrels as ever.
"Yeah, Leknaat came to me and told me the plan," Hugo said. "Then we met Zerase in the Sindar Ruins. We also found the True Wind Rune which Louis now bears. Didn't expect so many True Runes to be here though."
"By the way everybody, this is Prince Freyjadour, from the Falenan continent. He bears the True Sun Rune," Geddoe introduced.
The prince nodded silently.
"We must get to the others quickly," Zerase commanded. "The Stars are waiting."