Tale of a Mew
Zeni was busy studying the tablets they found during their adventure at the water ruins the day before. He was trying to translate the written language of their ancestors into their more comprehensive modern writing system. So far though, he wasn't having much luck. Myu had insisted that he get a rubric written up quickly. He was worried that whatever was on the tablets was something that the Shadows needed.
Myu walked up to check on Zeni's progress. "So, how are your translations coming?"
"It's slowly coming along," Zeni answered.
"That bad?" Myu asked. Zeni hung his head, wishing he had better news.
"Yes. Trying to translate this old language is hard," Zeni said.
"Can I help?" Myu asked.
"I guess, since you seem to be better at understanding all this." Myu laid down next to Zeni and looked over the tablets.
"So, what have you managed to translate so far?"
"Well, from what I can tell, their spoken language is identical to ours, though they use different characters for their written language. It's made it rather hard to translate as I've had to figure out the modern equivalent for each character." Myu looked at the tablets and noticed that Zeni was right. "Most of these tablets, though, refer to the Legendaries and their powers. The tablets say that they are capable of controlling the oceans, land, sky, weather, seasons, our dreams, time, space, the currents, emotions, creation and destruction, life, the sun and the moon." Myu noticed that Zeni sounded skeptical about all that. "It mentions that there are a lot of Legendaries, but it doesn't give a precise number. It also says that different Legendaries visited different cities."
"Is there anything else?"
"Well, there is one weird thing that keeps popping up." Zeni pointed to something on the tablet. "This character keeps popping up over and over and I have no idea what it means." The character in question was a bisected circle with another smaller circle in the center. Myu looked at the other tablets and noticed that the ones with color had the circle painted. The top was red, and the bottom was white.
"I don't think it's a character," Myu said. "I think it's actually a sigil."
"What's a sigil?"
"A mark or brand that designates a group of people."
"So, what does it represent then?" Zeni asked.
"I'm not sure."
"What function does it serve, then?"
"Like I said, it identifies a group of people."
"Identifies them from...?"
"Well, a different group of people."
Zeni reached over and grabbed another tablet. "Like ,maybe, this?" Zeni pointed to another mark on the tablet, this one was different.
"Like that."
"But where would that sigil come from?" Zeni asked. "No village on Avalon uses that."
"It doesn't have to come from Avalon. Are there any other lands that might use a sigil like that?"
"There are no other lands. It's just an endless ocean outside of Avalon."
"Well, obviously not. Are you absolutely sure there is nothing out there? How far outside of Avalon has anyone gone?"
"As far as anyone can safely travel."
"So, not very far then?"
"Well, there is only so far a Water Pokémon can travel without tiring, and there is only so far a Flying Pokémon can travel without getting hungry."
"Isn't there any other way to leave Avalon?"
"Not that we are aware of."
Myu continued to look over the tablets and noticed that Zeni had set some aside. "What's on those?"
"I'm not sure. It uses the same written alphabet, but the words don't make any sense."
Myu looked at those specific tablets and noticed something about them. "I don't think they're words. I think this is a formula." Zeni looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "See this mark? It's a plus sign. And this letter by this number, it's a multiplication shorthand," Myu said, pointing to the symbols. "This is a formula for something, but what, I don't know."
"Interesting," Zeni muttered. "But I wonder why our ancestors felt the need to record what is no more than a math problem?"
Myu examined some of the letters and noticed something. Many of the letters were capitalized or came in pairs. "I think these are element symbols."
"So what elements are they?" Zeni asked.
"'C' is for carbon, and 'Fe' stands for iron," Myu explained. "This could be a formula for creating something."
"I wonder what it could be."
"Maybe we should find out," Myu said standing up. "Do you have a forge around here?"
"What's a 'forge'?" Zeni asked.
Myu hung his head and spoke. "Okay. How about I give you a list of supplies to build something with?"
"All right. What do you need?"
Myu grabbed a piece of paper and a charcoal stick and wrote down a list of items. Zeni looked over the sheet and raised an eyebrow at a few of the items. "What could you need with a few pounds of sand, rock powder and water?"
"You'll find out."
Zeni shrugged his shoulders and walked off to gather the supplies that Myu wanted.
Three days later, Myu picked up the blocks he had requested a Stone Carver create to his specific dimensions and placed them on the ground south of the crops. Zeni met him with a cart loaded with the supplies that Myu had asked him to gather.
"All right, Myu, here you go," Zeni said. "Now, what are you going to do with all of these?"
"Well, for starters, you are going to mix the sand , rock powder and water in that big bucket that I had you get," Myu answered.
"What are you going to be doing?"
"I'm going to be placing these blocks in a certain way." Without any further words, Zeni got to work putting the sand, rock powder and water in the bucket. He used a large flat ended stick to mix the materials together. Myu started placing the stone blocks on the ground in a rough, circular shape. When Myu had finished dry fitting the stone blocks, he came over and checked Zeni's progress.
"It seems that the mortar is properly blended."
"Mortar?" Zeni asked.
Myu grabbed a flat bone and scooped up some of the mortar. As fast as he could, he plopped it between the blocks and set them as close together as possible, making sure there were no gaps. Then he began to spread it on the top of the blocks. Zeni stopped stirring, but Myu told him to keep it up.
"You need to keep stirring the mortar or it will harden and become useless." Myu continued to spread the mortar over the blocks and set each one. Zeni continued to stir the mortar. When Myu finished spreading it over a block, he grabbed another block and placed it on top. Once that was done, he scooped more mortar and spread it over the block. He repeated this process block by block, layer by layer. As time passed, Zeni noticed that Myu was arranging the blocks in a semi-sphere shape, with a hollow inside, and the mortar changed from dark grey to almost white in color.
Myu had also grabbed a piece of leather and stretched it over curved wooden slabs with handles, and placed the opening of the new object into a lower opening in the structure.
By the time night fell, they had finished building their project and just in time, as they had run out of mortar. "Alright, we're done," Myu announced.
"Great. So what is it?"
"This is a forge." Myu waved his arms to the stone structure, which had a stone base a few blocks high before it curved into a dome. Zeni noticed an opening in it, and the hollow inside was sunk in to the base.
"So, what's it do?"
Myu thought about answering, but then decided against it. "I'll tell you what. I'll show you tomorrow. I need a few more things that will be made tonight and collect them in the morning."
"Alright then. See you tomorrow," Zeni said as he walked away. After Myu requested specific items from other villagers, he started for the hut that belonged to the Chieftess, as he still lived there. As he walked in, he was greeted by Devoir.
"What were you two doing so late? Bella already went to bed," Devoir asked.
"We were making something and I'm going to continue to work on it tomorrow," he answered.
"You better get some rest, then," Devoir suggested. Myu walked to Bella's room and curled up on the leaves that made up his bed.
The next morning, Myu had grabbed two stone carvings that he had had made the night before, along with three pieces of wood carved into very specific shapes. He was standing by the forge that he had made yesterday, while he waitied for Zeni to come. He had requested that Zeni get several different materials. After a few minutes of waiting, Zeni came with a cart full of different elements.
"All right. I got everything you wanted," Zeni said as he put the cart down. "Pure iron ore, graphite, gold, and a bunch of other miscellaneous rocks." Myu walked up to examine the different rocks. "Can I ask what exactly you are going to do with these?"
"I'm going to use the forge to mix these elements together and then pour them into those molds that I had made."
"Can we watch?" Zeni and Myu turned around to see Lykos, Mimi, Bella, Ryu, and Dominus.
"Sure, but I also need something from Ryu." Myu walked up to the Dratini with a cup.
"What do you need from me?"
"I need some of your saliva," Myu said while holding the cup up to her.
"What?"
"I just need you to drool into this cup. When it's full, that'll be all I'll need from you."
"Um, okay."
"Hey, Lykos, do you think you could also assist me?"
"You're not going to have me spit into a cup, are you?"
"Actually, no, but I will need your muscles for assistance. I also want Zeni to help out." He turned to the Squirtle. "Did you get the other things that I requested?"
"One stone cup with a long handle," Zeni said, holding up the object.
"All right, then, let's begin." Myu turned to the cart and picked up several different rocks. "We'll start by mixing these elements together."
"Why these specific rocks?" Bella asked.
"Because these are the elements on the tablet that Zeni and I translated. And they are combined to make a unique kind of metal."
"What kind of metal?"
"I'm not sure. Zeni, what does the translation say?"
"I'm not entirely sure," he answered.
"Well, you two," Myu said pointing to Lykos and Zeni, "start taking all the elements except the gold and put them into the cup." Myu picked up several pieces of coal. "I'm going to get the fire started."
"How are you going to do that?" Mimi asked.
Myu dumped the coal into the pit of the forge. He then grabbed two flint stones and struck them together. The sparks touched the coal and they ignited which created a small fire. Everyone took several steps back from that. Zeni and Lykos came over with the cup filled with the elements that Myu wanted.
"Good. Now place the cup in the fire," Myu instructed. Lykos placed the cup into the fire. "Now we have to wait a while." Myu floated over to Ryu. "It seems you filled the cup up enough." He picked the cup up and flew over to the pieces of wood. He picked up the longest piece, which had been painted a solid black, and poured the contents of the cup into little holes built into one of the ends. "Mimi, I had made another request but it wasn't finished when I checked in. Could you go to the Weavers and see if it's finished?"
"Sure," Mimi said, and hopped away. She came back holding two strands of black cloth. "One strand of cloth one meter long, another strand two meters long." She handed them to Myu.
"Thank you." He placed them down and walked over to check on the forge. He peered inside and saw that the elements had blended together into an orange liquid. "That's done. Lykos, you can take it out now." Lykos walked over and grabbed the handle. "Now, very quickly, I want you to pour it into this stone mold here." He pointed to the long slab of stone with a curved rectangle in it. "Try not to spill any of it because it will be hard to clean up, and don't touch it either unless you want to get burned." Lykos cautiously walked over and tilted the cup so it would fill the mold.
"Good. Now, do the same with the gold. We'll let this cool somewhat before we do anything with it," Myu instructed. Lykos and Zeni repeated the process with the gold, placing it in the fire and waiting for it to melt. After a few minutes, it was liquid. Lykos grabbed the cup and walked over to two molds that Myu pointed out, which were almost identical. He filled both molds. "Good. Now I need you to, very quickly, press the two together and hold them that way." Lykos tried to pick the molds up, but they were both too heavy for him, so Zeni came over and picked up one. The two molds were slapped together before any of the gold could leak out.
"How long do we have to hold it like this?" Lykos asked.
"Until it cools," Myu answered. "Which should take a few minutes." As the Riolu and Squirtle stood there, holding the molds together, Myu got to work on the other one. He dumped out the semi-cooled metal onto a stone slab. He grabbed a stone mallet and began pounding on one side of the metal slab. After a few minutes, Myu told Zeni to let go of his mold. After it fell to the ground, the two of them saw that the gold had solidified. Carefully, they took it out, and Myu got to work putting all the pieces together. The rest of them passed the time discussing what Myu was building.
An hour later, Myu had finished. He walked up to them, with his finished project in hand.
"What did you make, Myu?" Bella asked.
"What could he have made from a bunch of junk?" Dominus smirked. "Iron ore, graphite, gold, wood, strands of cloth, Dratini spit, and a bunch of other minerals that don't bear mentioning. What could have been made with all of those?"
"This," Myu said, holding it up.
"So, a pretty piece of wood?" Bella asked.
Myu grabbed the end that was wrapped in cloth, and with a metallic ring, pulled out a sharpened piece of curved silver metal. Everyone was amazed at that.
"What is it?" Lykos asked.
"Where I'm from, we call this a katana," Myu explained.
"So, it's a pretty piece of metal. Big whoop," Dominus said sarcastically. He took a drink from his cup. After he lowered his arm, Myu swung the katana and cut the bottom of the cup off, spilling the rest of the drink on the ground.
"It's a lot more than a pretty piece of wood. It's used for combat, and since I don't know a lot of moves or can use them very well, I figured this would give me an edge."
"Well, I have managed to translate more of this tablet, and I think I got a location," Zeni said.
Myu put his sword back into its sheath. "So, where do we go next?"
End of Chapter 4
Chapter 5 - May 18