Chapter Five – The Crystals, Summons and Esther
Felix walked long and hard from the spire, pressing on as the sun steadily fell on the horizon. He walked back across the snow plains until coming to where he, Cassandra and Hurin had separated then turned and followed their path, the footprints they had left still visible in the still snow.
Night was beginning to fall when, as Felix crested another snowy hill, Tundara temple came into view.
Like most other temple structures across Higgara the temple was Esther made and constructed of materials that had survived the War of the Crystal. Four low structures made of a material that looked redwood surrounded the main temple building. It was a sleek, two storey structure made of some strange silver, grey material and the temple building itself was surrounded with elegant columns that held up the triangular roof above it. The four equally elegant wooden buildings surrounded it in a slight enclosure, smoke rose from most of the buildings stone chimneys.
Felix walked forwards towards the temple; he knew what these buildings were for. The outlaying four buildings were both training and sleeping quarters for the students that studied here, most would be children or adolescents, they were brought here by parents that couldn't support them or noble families and high-born that wanted their children to go far into the military or by families that just wanted the prestige.
Temples accepted children from the age of three onwards up to a maximum of ten, the parents would bring the child before the Grand Master of the temple who would use arcane elemental artes, perfected over many years of study, to read if the child had the mental and physical talents to be raised in a temple, if they were accepted the child would be welcomed into the temple where they would spend many years of their life.
The training in temples was hard and arduous. Temples taught children up to a maximum age of twenty-one (although in certain circumstances children would be removed from the temple by families) and they were brought up to be the ultimate in martial arts, elemental powers and weapon mastery. Felix wasn't sure of the particulars but when a child emerged from a temple as a man or a woman they were often elevated to very high status within one of the Three Kingdoms military hierarchy or they went on to become very highly paid mercenaries. The education of the pupils was free as temples were generously subsidised by which ever kingdom they were near in the hope that it might encourage more pupils to join their own forces.
Each temple Felix knew specialised in two or three elemental classes, this temple was dedicated (but not exclusively so) to the elements of wind and water, handily for him.
He walked down the slope of the hill towards the buildings, they were silent and he could see no students moving about and he moved into the enclosure towards the central building and tapped loudly on the thick wooden doors, he knew what to do. He would ask to speak to the Grand Master of the temple, ask some questions about elements and then ask if he knew of his uncle, A
bsalom Hardi.
A few seconds passed and Felix was worried that no-one would answer like at the spire but then he heard the sound of a bolt being pulled back and the door opened outwards to reveal a tall young man, younger then Felix (at a guess) with a huge crossbow slung over his back, his other main feature was a jagged scar across his face.
"Can I help you?" The student (at another guess) roughly asked Felix.
Felix cleared his throat, aware that the younger student was much taller then he was and that crossbow was really, really, really big. "Er, my name is Felix Hardi; I would like to speak to the temple Grand Master briefly if he has the time to spare."
"You're name is Felix Hardi?" The student asked again eyeing him.
"Yes…?" Felix nodded.
The student turned back to face into the temple. "You are expected, follow me."
I'm expected? Felix wondered in the moment, caught off guard. Then as the student began moving down the temple antechamber Felix followed after him at a brisk trot.
The student led Felix briskly out of the antechamber and down a wooden framed corridor from which several doors led into other areas of the temple building, however the student continued to the end of the corridor where a set of stairs led up to the next floor of the building.
"Up there, knock and go straight in." And with that the student turned and moved off crossbow and all, out back down the corridor.
Felix looked up the wooden staircase to where at the top a closed door awaited. Feeling his heart beating faster with nerves he moved carefully up the stairs, up to the door on which he knocked three times with the flat of his fist, then he pushed open the door and walked in.
The first thing that struck Felix about the room were books. All around the room were bookshelves covered with more books, tomes, scrolls then Felix had ever seen in his life. The bookshelves surrounded the room where at the centre were several large, padded chairs below an ornate golden chandelier lit with soft candles. Yet Felix stared at the chairs, reclining in them, looking towards him were Cassandra and Hurin.
"Felix!" Cassandra grinned and waved at him where he remained framed in the door.
"Huh." Hurin snorted turning back around presenting his back to Felix. "Is this who we were waiting for Master Absalom?"
"Master….Absalom?" Felix breathed; following Hurin's eyes to the chair in front of him, in it was…."Uncle???" Felix gasped in disbelief.
"Felix my boy!" Absalom stood up out of his chair, he was old in his years, his face weathered by wrinkles and lines, his body was hunched over a cane but he carried himself with a proud, strong, dignity that could only come with age and experience. His bright black pebble eyes lit up on Felix's, only half hidden by the mop of grey hair adorning his head. "You've grown up so much since I last saw you all those years ago."
"Did you…receive my message then?" Felix asked moving forwards into the room still taking it all in. "He had known his uncle worked in the temple but to find that he was the Grand Master…
"Yes I received the message when the courier arrived, however there was no return courier for many weeks in such a remote area so I had to just prepare for you're arrival, imagine my surprise when these two spoke of you! Now come and sit down." He indicated a spare chair near Cassandra which Felix moved to sink into.
"Perhaps you are wondering what I was discussing with you're friends here?" Absalom inquired raising one bushy eyebrow at Felix.
"Friends?" Hurin snorted. "More like acquaintances."
Ignoring the older man Felix nodded. "What are you doing here uncle? When did you become Grand Master and why did you not tell me, the last time I saw you were when you came to mother's funeral…you always said to come here when I decided to leave home or unseal my own element."
"Ah so you have done that." Absalom nodded in approval. "Well it is quite a strike of luck that you should come on such a day, even more so that in you're trip up here you met these two?"
"How do you know them uncle?" Felix asked looking at Cassandra and Hurin next to him (the latter of which was ignoring him).
"It does not matter how I know them." Absalom brushed aside the question. "Sufficient to say that I have known Cassandra for sometime and I also know Hurin, but by reputation only."
Felix looked at Cassandra raising an eyebrow, Cassandra nodded and Felix looked then at Hurin in confusion. A Grand Master of a temple knew about a lowly mountain guide by reputation? He turned his eyes back to Absalom, if he had looked at Cassandra again he would have seen her clench her hands together so firmly that they went white.
"Felix…" Absalom began; his tone had changed to something softer and more persuasive. "I am right in remembering that you wish to follow the footsteps of you're father, he who was part of the Cartilge army, now that you have you're element you plan to travel south to that kingdom do you not?"
Felix chewed on his lip thoughtfully. "That is what I planned to do, now that I have an element I thought I could be trained at the Cartilge Royal Elemental University or if not I could travel to the city of Brimshare to the east and seek a job there."
"Mmm…" Absalom nodded. "Brimshare and Cartilge…the two different kingdoms of this continent of Alharfro…with the kingdom of Norkea on the island south of here, together with Esther they make up our Four Kingdoms."
"Esther is dead and gone, destroyed a thousand years ago." Hurin spoke up. "That island was swallowed up in behind those massive storm clouds; it's the three kingdoms now."
"Esther?" Felix asked. "I think I remember hearing about that land…it's the island which legend says man came from, Esther, the most advanced city in the world."
"Aye lad." Hurin nodded. "True enough but after the War of the Crystal although Esther survived it…"
"Enough." Absalom cut in. "Felix I will be honest with you, I need you to go on a mission for me."
"A mission?" Felix asked in confusion. "I just came here for some advice and to see you and then I'm going to head south to Cartilge."
Absalom's face took on a sad look. "This is important Felix, very important, more important then anything you will ever do in the Cartilge armed forces, this is the reason I have Cassandra here and she has already agreed to go on this quest and Hurin (after a bit of wrangling) has agreed to help for an extortionate sum of money."
"What? What mission then?" Felix asked looking at Cassandra and Hurin seeing both of them nod their heads slightly in agreement.
"Let me tell you a story then…" Absalom started sitting back, then suddenly quickly looking at Hurin and Cassandra. "You don't mind me telling it again do you?"
"No, no, go ahead." Hurin agreed sitting back and half closing his eyes.
"All right then." Absalom took a deep breath in as Felix leaned forwards, suddenly feeling his heart catch in interest. "This story starts at the beginning of our world, after it was created by the most high and Beroc (literally in Esthan – Element Wielder) were created to steward the world. Originally humankind lived on that single island in the far north-west on the edge of our world; on that island they build the first great city of man, Esther."
"Esther was the city that built these temples and spires aren't they?" Felix asked.
"That's right." Absalom nodded. "Esther eventually set out to colonize the rest of the world that was fertile and in a matter of a few centuries towns and city's sprung up across the world, all were scholars and men of learning that replied directly to Esther, that tiny island city in the far north-west."
"According to the history books." Hurin spoke up from his doze. "This was the golden age of humanity."
"That's right." Absalom nodded. "Esthan's discovered the elemental powers that ran through their bloodline and built the great spires to unseal them, they discovered airships that travelled across the world and built temples dedicated to meditation, training and discipline, the golden age of Esther lasted some three thousand years."
"Airships?" Felix's ears shot up at that word, he had always looked up from his hometown with awe whenever a cargo zeppelin or balloon went by overhead but he had never actually seen an airship without the levitation balloon. "The city of Cartilge rediscovered the airship about fifty years ago, didn't they?"
"That's right." Absalom nodded. "However the Esthan's discovered airship technology thousands of years ago, we can only guess at the technology they had."
"But then it all went wrong right?" Cassandra softly spoke up.
"That's right." Absalom nodded sadly. "As you know everyone, well most people have a single element but some people have more then one element within them, some people have a combination. These people are not able to use any one of these powers so they seemed powerless on the elemental front until Esther scientists discovered that these people alone had the ability to call forth summons or dnjin from the void."
"Summons? Dnjin?" Felix asked in confusion.
"That's right." Absalom nodded. "No-one knows exactly what they are but by creating an incantation of sorts and through the power of specific crystals a man with multiple elements could call forth a specific dnjin, these creatures can only exist in our world for a few moments and summoners could call on them to do great feats of strength and engineering however these creatures had the capacity to do great damage as well as good."
"We still have summoners today." Hurin agreed. "Only a handful of people have the gift but those that do travel from temple to temple across the world to gain as many summons as they can."
"Why?" Cassandra asked.
"Who knows…" Hurin closed his eyes again. "Probably got nothing better to do…"
"Anyway." Absalom coughed to bring the attention back to him. "Esther scientists continued to experiment with creating more and more powerful dnjin, while they were doing this however the world was changing. By this time there were many powerful city states across the world, city's like Cartilge, Brimshare, Norkea are the ones that survive today but there were many others too, Greeton, Lunarias, Bastilla, Jomark and they were growing more and more independent and resentful of Esther, a tiny city much smaller then them, thinking it could rule over them all."
"At this time the Esther scientists created one final dnjin summoning crystal, a creature so powerful it was believed it could destroy the world, the Queen of Esther, Queen Sandra IV ordered the crystal destroyed but it was too late. Hearing that Esther had such a powerful weapon the city-states struck."
"They attacked Esther!?!?!?" Felix asked in disbelief. "Why, aren't they all Esthan's themselves?"
"Not anymore." Hurin replied grimly. "They belonged to whichever city they were born in and they resented Esther having such a powerful weapon."
"It just goes to show." Cassandra added sadly. "Having weapons that can destroy the world can never be used as deterrence; they will only encourage war and violence by their very existence."
"So what happened when the city-states attacked Esther?" Felix asked.
"No idea." Absalom replied. "The history texts that survive speak of a great battle of the coast of Esther. Although Esther was outnumbered a thousand to one they had the most advanced weapons, powers and summons in the world and it seems they were able to beat back the attacks, although they suffered extensive damage to the city."
"When the city states realised that if Esther was able to withstand all of them attacking at once there was no chance to beat them if they tried again. The whole alliance dissolved into chaos as allies turned onto each-other and city destroyed city in the bloody-brutal-senseless war known only as the War of the Crystal." Absalom looked down in sadness.
"We can only grasp at the scale of this war, the entire world was involved except for Esther itself, they, horrified at what they had created stayed in their homeland, hoping to ride it out while the rest of the world descended into flames. Weapons were used that destroyed whole continents, horrific creations and monsters were used that still to this day plague our land, whole towns and city's were put to the touch, men and women, children, all slain by the victory. The war lasted eighty years in which the world's population dropped to a fraction of what it once had been; the land was washed in blood and the tears of the survivors."
A low silence filled the room as Felix tried to take in the scale of the conflict his uncle had just described. "How do you know all this?" He asked finally.
"Through the Esther holy book." Absalom pointed to the right where a pedestal rose up on which was a large, thick red book bound in leather. "The Anku-Salaam, it charts the history of Esther and is the book through which summoners receive summoning crystals, each temple has one copy, they are a great and important treasure."
Felix eyed the book, how does a large book give a summoner the power to summon, he wondered but disregarding that he turned back to Absalom. "What happened after the world was in ruins like that?" He asked.
"At this time…" Absalom continued. "There were only four real cities' left where the last of the world's population lived. Brimshare had survived through its science, power and great navel fleets. The City of Cartilge survived as it has the largest most elaborate defences in the world, the wall itself is as tall as a mountain and they still stand today and Norkea to the south survived because of its location out of the way and its resilient people. Esther emerged and sent emissaries to each city to bring the leaders back to Esther for talks on peace. There Queen Sandra brought forth the summoning crystal that could call forth this dnjin that could destroy the world…"
"They still had it?" Felix interrupted. "Why hadn't they destroyed it in the start or just disposed of it."
"It's not that easy." Absalom replied, if he had any annoyance at being interrupted he didn't show it. "Summoning crystals are VERY hard to destroy, the more powerful the dnjin the harder they are to break, anyway, once the leaders had assembled Queen Sandra IV, one of the most powerful elementalists in the world used Esther's other great elementalist to break the crystal in a ceremony lasting three weeks."
"It took three weeks to destroy a little crystal?" Felix asked.
"No, it took three weeks to gather the force to destroy the dnjin inside the crystal, thus shattering the crystal." Absalom corrected. "As it was they were not able to destroy it completely, as Queen Sandra and her elementalists lay dying…"
"Wait, dying?" Felix asked in confusion.
"Yes." Absalom nodded. "In gathering such power to shatter the crystal the elementalists had to use their life's energy to destroy the crystal, on its shattering the feedback of all that power destroyed their very minds."
Felix shivered.
"As they lay dying they sealed the dnjin's physical form away in what's known as the Icecrown Glacier, the Anku-Salaam does not talk of where exactly it is, all that is known is that it lays far to the north-east, opposite to Esther. Anyway it was Queen Sandra's wish that the summoning crystals four shards should belong to each of the cities. Each city was to keep a fragment of the crystal in the royal family to wear, to remind them of what could be unleashed on the world a second time. One for Brimshare, one for Cartilge, one for Norkea and one for Esther, so long as the four shards were separate and the dnjin sealed then no-one need fear its power."
"I think I get it." Felix hesitated. "The physical form of the dnjin is sealed in some glacier and its spiritual form is shattered into each of those shards."
"Exactly." Hurin nodded. "To summon the world destroyer one would have to bring the crystals back together again and unseal the dnjin from its resting place in the Icecrown Glacier which still eludes explorers to this day."
"Anyway." Absalom came back in smoothly. "Peace was won, however this was more down to the fact that war was simply not possible for there was no-one left to fight. The Age of the Four Kingdoms was born, for a while the world recovered then about a hundred and eighty years after the end of the war Esther vanished behind massive storm clouds that destroyed any vessel trying to pass through and those storms have continued to this day."
"Some say that Esther did it deliberately." Absalom looked thoughtful. "They were made into pacifists during that time, swearing never again to create summons or elemental weapons and by isolating themselves behind these storms the whole crystal could never be reforged."
"And some say that Esther destroyed itself or was destroyed by the result of one of its 'experiments'". Hurin pointed out. "Esther has had no contact with the outside world up to this very day and it became The Age of the Three Kingdoms to most as people forgot about Esther, the War of the Crystal and the ultimate summon that was carried in the crystal by the royal family."
"How could people forget so easily?" Felix accused.
"It is mans nature to forget that which is painful." Cassandra pointed out. "When something bad happened you try to forget about it, people even advise you to 'forget about it' and 'get over it' and that's exactly what they did."
"Now" Absalom concluded. "As far as I know the crystal shards still exist, the crystal of Brimshare is still worn in necklace form, passing down the royal family and the crystal of Cartilge is embedded in the sword of hero's that is carried by the King of Cartilge. The crystal of Norkea is embedded in a massive statue of the city's founder at the centre of their royal palace, of the Esther crystal, who can say?"
"Right, I get the story…" Felix nodded. "So what does this have to do with the mission you want to send us on?"
Absalom looked at him deathly serious. "I want you to go to Brimshare and steal the crystal shard from them."
"WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?" Felix rose out of his seat is shock. "You cannot be serious!? You didn't agree to this did you???" He turned to Cassandra and Hurin, Cassandra avoided his eyes but Hurin met them square on, Felix turned back to Absalom in shock. "Uncle…you can't mean this?"
"I do." Absalom nodded. "Times are changing again, if I believed none knew of the crystals power then there would be no need for this but someone out there does know. Brimshare, Cartilge and Norkea are united as allies; the king of Cartilge is godfather to the Queen of Brimshare's daughter and the late king of Brimshare (who passed away three years ago) was a Norkean prince. However it is Brimshare which I worry about, ever since the death of its King the Queen of Brimshare has been acting irrationally and there is talk of a dark stranger, a man who whispers in the Queens ear, who now holds more power then any do in the Brimshare court."
"That could mean anything." Felix snorted. "He could well be counselling or courting the Queen, such things are not unheard of."
"Shut up and listen." Hurin remarked temporally stunning Felix into silence.
"Regardless." Absalom took in a deep breath. "The crystal must be snatched, to the eyes of the Brimshare's it is just a royal crystal, if you can covertly snatch it then there will be an uproar but they will forget about it in a few days."
"There are so many holes in this I don't know where to start…" Felix began. "One, how do we take the crystal, if the Queen wears the crystal its impossible to take it from her, what do you want us to do? Ask nicely? Two, what do we do after that, wait, more to the point, how do we get in and out of the city and what do we do afterwards with the crystal shard, bring it back here!?"
"No." Absalom replied maintaining his composure. "You will take it to Cartilge, The King of Cartilge has spoken to me, he is a young man but strong and capable and he knows of the dangers the crystals present and is aware of the direction Brimshare is taking. He fears they mean to bring the crystal back together in a show of ultimate power and so if you can take the crystal to him he will be able to send it on in a great new airship they are constructing that will voyage to Esther, through the storm barriers to find the truth out and…destroy the crystal once and for all."
"Right" said Felix deciding to play along. "So we take crystal to Cartilge, King of Cartilge then sends the crystal along with his own to Esther on a brand new airship that's going to find the lost kingdom of Esther in the hope that they will know how to destroy it, is that right?"
"More or less yes" Absalom nodded. "Although the king of Norkea needs to join in on this as well, Cartilge and Norkea are however good allies and should be able to stand firm against Brimshare, powerful it may be but its troops are outmatched by Cartilge from the air and Norkea on the ground, they have numbers but that is all."
"And science…" Hurin muttered but his voice wasn't noticed by Felix and Absalom.
"Alright then…" Felix began. "Supposed I agreed to this mad quest with Cassandra and Hurin, how do we take the crystal from the Queen?"
"Simply put, she does not wear it." Absalom shrugged. "The crystal is worn by her young daughter, Princess Sara Lightby III; you will be taking the crystal from her."
"How!?!?" Felix almost shouted.
"There is to be a drama performance at Brimshare tomorrow." Absalom continued. "One of the three great theatre ships will be performing the legendary Norkean play, 'Love is but a feeling' to the entire city, the captain of the theatre ship 'The Elemental Star' is both an agent for the King of Cartilge and a close friend of myself. His ship is berthed at the small cargo port south of Tundara, I will send you there and he will take you to Brimshare, while he and his troop perform the play to the entire city and the royal family you with Cassandra and Hurin's help will sneak into the castle, knock out the waiters serving the princess refreshments, drug her and while she is prone steal the crystal. The guards will think she has fallen asleep when they find her asleep in her box and by the time she wakes you will be long gone on the theatre ship and can arrive in Cartilge the next day."
"That sounds so outrageous it couldn't possibly work!" Felix began but caught himself, it sounded so crazy, far more interesting then his life had been so far. "Why me, why Cassandra and why Hurin? Does the King of Cartilge not have more skilled spies then a young man and woman and a mountain guide?" He pointed at Hurin accusingly. "Why us?"
"Well you get a free flight to Cartilge so that saves you the two month walk there from here." Absalom began drawing a laugh from Hurin before he continued. "There is no real reason; however to each of you there is more then it seems, I know it, I am a temple Grand Master and I can see beyond you're physical shells, to each of you there is far, far more then that which seems obvious. Felix you are not just an ordinary man just as Cassandra is not an ordinary woman and Hurin is not an ordinary guide."
Hurin's lip twitched.
"Also the King of Cartilge will pay each of you fifteen thousand gold pieces apiece on the condition that you bring the Brimshare crystal and do not harm the heir to Brimshare, also he will issue each of you with a knighthood and houses of your own should you keep you're identities secret."
Felix found himself licking his lips, no wonder Hurin had accepted, it was a mad quest but if it could be pulled off, the rewards were great and this did sound like a noble goal even without the reward. A summon that could destroy the world, City's about to go to war again, a lost island kingdom that had been isolated for nearly thousand years (or destroyed). "Alright." He said, and he wasn't even sure why he said it.
Absalom nodded.
"Right now that that's all out of the way." Hurin stood up from his chair. "When does the theatre ship leave for Brimshare?"
"This very night." Absalom too stood up. "However before you leave me I will send our temples best warrior to help, serve and protect you in you're mission?"
Felix's mentally thought of the straight faced crossbow man that had greeted them. "Who is it?"
"Names have little meaning." Absalom replied cryptically as he moved to the door as Cassandra too rose to her feet. "Come I will introduce you to her."
Felix unsteadily rose to his own feet. He felt like a tide of bewilderment would sweep him away at any moment yet…a quest to save the world, a massive reward, Cassandra and…Hurin, it was just all so, so fascinating he had to see where it went. This was his chance to be a part of history and he'd be dammed if he'd miss it.
Turning on his feet he followed Absalom, Hurin and Cassandra out of the room to meet the fourth member of their party.
Beroc - From the Fire Emblem, Path of Radiance game (GC) ordinary humans basically, for those that have played the game yes there are Laguz...just not for a looooong time
Dinjin - Elemental summons from Golden Sun (GBA) they belong to the core elemental groups and are a piviotal part of the battle system
Airships - (loves airships) Mostly the designs of the airships are lifted from the Last Exile anime, but they are also based on the Final Fantasy IX (PS) models
Norkea - City from Last Exile anime, its the hometown of the main characters Claus and Lavie, nice place all in all
'Why us!!!??' - Honestly the simple reason is that...if it was'nt you this fanfict/story would'nt exist.
Cartilge, Brimshare, Norkea - All are based on Final Fantasy IX (PS) city's, Cartilge is basically Lindblum , Brimshare Alexandria, Norkea Burmecia
Thanks massively for reading this far, I plan to get more chapters out as fast i can, i know its all a bit complex but hopefully I'll iron it out as we go along, in the next chapter we meet the next member of the party and then the group depart for the great city of Brimshare... gulps bear with me