A/N: I cut this one off before it got too long and also cause I had a better idea with how I wanted to continue in the next chapter. So as I'm certain you've guessed by the title, along comes Fi! Don't worry she can't annoy you here. She doesn't serve as great purpose in the first saga but in later sagas I have some serious character development planned, lord knows the girl deserves it. I'm not perfectly satisfied with this chapter. I wanted to explore the Sacred Grove as a new and mysterious place, though tbh the music alone pretty much does everything my words fail to do. It's all new the Faron and Midnight and that's what matters. I was unsure of their dialogue at first, as I was writing it I kept sensing some sexual tension there (which SHOULD NOT be there, they're brother and sister. bleh. X() but rereading it sounds okay, let me know if that didn't turn out that great. I don't remotely intend for Faron to be articulate, so I left the whole "romantic" conversation, even though it got away from me more than it got away from her. Hm. probably shouldn't let my characters expose my own writing faults. :/ Well as long as you don't take her words too seriously it might serve to show how she's great with emotions but not that great with words, like me! anyways, enjoy!
The Maiden in the Blade
Faron simply could not wipe the wide smile off her face as she stepped out of Forest Temple. Her brother looked back with an equally wide grin, moving around her as she practically skipped, without touching the ground himself. He was most likely showing off his casual use of his powers, but the fact that he was barefoot was a simple excuse. Midnight truly enjoyed the power he now felt flowing through him, he had not felt this lively and free to move since they first came the world of light. It was as if the different environment had limited his energy and made him nothing more than a sluggish shadow. With the power of shadow that could overshadow light, he could shed off what bound him to such a simple existence and actually exist in this world alongside his sister and constant companion. It was liberating.
"Okay, seriously, though, do you hear the singing?" Faron brought up again, still smiling, but now looking around the forest.
"I think I do yeah, it's a little faint, but it's stronger than when you first mentioned it." Midnight looked around as well, unable to identify the source of the soft echo. It barely sounded like a voice, more like a vibration. Or a beacon.
"I think it's coming from over there." Faron pointed towards the chasm next to the hollowed tree roots they stood in, a mist covering most of the area. "The forest probably continues that way, but all the soil has eroded around these trees, we can't get over there. I've always wondered what's on that side of the forest. Seems to be blocked off by these massive trees. Maybe that means this part is older than the rest of the forest…"
"I wonder just how old…" Midnight mused as he levitated over the chasm to get a better look. His bright red eyes followed the path of the roots and a grin formed on his face. "And we may just find out. You've never been able to come this way Faron, but now you've got good ol' me." He offered a hand to her (a large false one formed by his red hair) and she cautiously took it as he wrapped the tendrils gently around her and lifted her up. He moved her towards the chasm and gently placed her on a solid carved out root. He appeared beside her once more as she looked out into the chasm and saw more roots forming broken bridges, leading deeper into the forest.
"There's not enough of a foothold Midnight, you're just showing off, we'll never get there like this!" She was about to give him a light punch on the shoulder, but instead reached around and yanked on his bright orange hair, to which he yelped loudly in response. "You and you're darn ponytail."
He frowned at her with nearly mock offense. "First of all, don't do that; that hurts! Second, it's not a ponytail, its not even hair, it's the embodiment of my powers, you know that—OW!" Another yank.
"Ponytail" She grinned, her tongue poking out between her teeth in teasing.
"Fine!" Midnight wrapped one of his real arms around her and pulled her roughly to his side. "Then we'll just use another method then." Before Faron could let out yelp, the two of them sped forth in burst of black wisps towards the next tree roots. Faron barely felt her toes touch solid ground before she was wisked off to another and another. After the rush and the dizziness of this 'shadow transport' wore off, she began to laugh maniacly as they dashed off into the deeper groves of the forest.
"This place is…"
"Beautiful." Faron finished for Midnight as they stared up at the thick canopy of trees surrounding them. "It's strange, look at all these roots; the ground is practically made of them! This place is old. Really old. But the plants grow greener here than in the rest of the forest. I wonder why that is…"
"Maybe there's something here." They began wondering through the grove, walking through tunnels formed of fallen logs and carved out of the rock by tightly packed tree roots. Sparkling clear waterfalls poured down all around them, and besides the natural movements of the forest, the grove was completely silent. Yet it felt as if the very air around them was… alive.
"Do you sense anything? Like back in the temple?"
"No, do you, by chance?"
"No, but I can hear that singing. I mean, it doesn't really sound like singing, but that's what I want to call it, I can't explain it. It's like someone's calling out but they don't know who to… it's this way." Faron increased her pace to a jog as she continued towards the source of the sound, Midnight trailing close behind. They soon came to what were no longer just trees and roots but the distinct ruins of some sort of stone buiding.
"Now, I wonder what this could've been. Another temple? A house? A castle? Maybe someone worshipped something here."
"What makes you say that?" Faron looked around, seeing no sign of an altar or other 'worship' type structure, just crumbling remains that barely resembling the architecture it once was.
"I dunno, this place feels….sacred. Like there's something important here."
"And we just happened to run across it?"
"Well maybe it wasn't just happenstance…." Midnight broke off as they passed under another stone archway, and he realized Faron's attention was no longer focused on their surroundings but on what lay before them. In this circular clearing that seemed to signify the end of the grove, filled with small animals like squirrels and birds chittering about, at the very center was a sword. A shining silver blade stuck fast in the moss covered stone, its violet handle standing tall just waiting for strong hands to grasp it. Strangely, the entire area around them looked like it hadn't been distrubed in centuries. Yet the sword looked as if it had been forged and set in place just yesterday. Faron and Midnight exchanged glances, both acknowledging this thought, as well as the strange feeling that the shining blade had an aura about it that radiated its ancientness, and its experience.
"Well isn't that just…" Faron paused looking for the right word. "Romantic!"
"Romantic?!" Midnight snickered at her choice.
"Yeah, you know, like a romantic adventure type thing, the stuff you read about in stories, see in paintings. Though it's kinda one of those things where there's not a specific story that talks about it, its just there, buried in the pages…" Midnight snickered again as he realized she was losing track of just what it was she was trying to say, mesmerized by the object.
"I don't think 'romantic' is the right word."
"Well, whatever! Hey, let me see if I can pull it out!"
Midnight chuckled. "Are you kidding, it's been here for centuries, it's probably rusted into the stone, you seriously think you can pull it out?"
"Well, I have to try, what sort of adventure is it to come across a mystical looking sword in stone and not try to pull it out!"
"Faron, come on, even if you can, it looks too heavy anyways, it's bigger than the sword you have now, and it took you years to grow into that one…"
"Since when did you become such a nag?" Faron joked as she wrapped her gloved hands around the handle of the blade, a cheeky grin on her face. Of course Midnight himself was grinning just as maniacally—he was always one to scold with his words but prompt with his expressions. As Faron tightened her grip on the sword, he thought for a moment he saw a faint blue glow, but when it didn't persist he passed it off as a trick of the light. Surely, there was nothing THAT significant about the blade. They couldn't be that lucky—or jeopardy-friendly.
Faron relaxed her grin and concentrated on lifting the sword, assuming it woud take a concerted effort to prove it wouldn't budge. To her surprise, it lifted out of the pedestal with ease, as if the stone wasn't even there. Midnight's eyebrows raised as a light breeze brushed over the area and all the little animals seemed to scatter.
"Well, wasn't expecting that. Bit anti-climactic though…"
"Midnight, look at this thing!" Faron waved the sword around, as if it was a simple stick. "It's as light as a twig!"
He's eyes widened again. "It can't be! What the hell is it made of?!"
"Well whatever it is it looks pretty cool. Do I look cool Midnight—"She slurred her last phrase in an accent as she posed with the sword pointed high in the air but was cut off in a surprised yelp as a bright blue beamed shot from the blade and into the sky.
Several miles away a man looked out from a balcony, towards the forests to the south. At first, he did not expect to see anything, that his sudden suspicion was again nothing, but at that moment a bright light burst from the trees, shooting into the sky and fading into nothing and the horizon was calm once more. He felt his heart quicken in his chest. He did not know what the light was, but his mind drifted from possibility to possibility. It could be lightning, or something to do with the fairies. It could be something dark awakening in the forest, or something else altogether… As he ran through the possibilities, his mind began to settle once more, not seeing any other occurance in the distance. He figured it would just have to be another strange happening to keep in the back of his mind. He lost his attention to it altogether once someone called his name, but he continued to have the sneaking suspicion that a meeting that was a long time coming was edging its way towards him, closer now than ever before.
The pair stared wide-eyed at the now slightly lowered sword in Faron's hand. They look towards each other for answers, but both were completely dumbstruck by what just happened. Before Faron could replace the strange weapon where she found it, it began to shine again, elciting a flinch from her. This time no beam shot out, and instead the glow lifted off the metal in the form of a ball which changed shape as it landed a short distance behind Midnight. As the shape unfurled, Midnight and Faron continued to watch with mouths agape. It formed into what appeared to be a woman. Or rather some sort of spirit. Her high heels hovered just off the ground, her legs covered in purple fishnet stockings. She wore a short purple dress with a large blue diamond embedded in her chest. Where her arms should be were instead a bue and purple cape with wavy edges. Her face was not that of a human but looked more like a blue procelain doll, as if her facial features and short hair were carved out of glass. Her glass lips parted in a slight smile, and she spoke with a voice that sounded like the ringing of wine glasses.
"Greetings, Mistress."
