After a couple hours of intense sweeping, Priscilla's house was spotless. I smelt of sour dust and sweat but seeing the house gleaming with cleanliness was worth the hard work. All five of us sat down heavily. Kirby laid across my lap with his limbs stretched. I would be exhausted too if I had to roll around catching dust for two hours.
Zelda gasped softly, and went to the door. I wondered what was wrong but then I saw her patting the dust off her dress outside. I looked down. I was covered in a thin layer of old gray dust also. Lucario and I joined Zelda's example embarrassingly.
I went some steps down the stairs to shake my dust off. Priscilla followed me for some reason, smiling and giggling like it was a game of tag. As we ran, fine particles shook free and were left behind in our path. My white toga and her white dress reminded me of these plants that formed soft seeds that took flight by the slightest breeze. Link told me what they were... dandelions, were they?
The two of us came to a small plaza with a symmetric symbol painted on the floor. Priscilla ran around in circles, ululating like a monkey. I was surprised at first, but I joined her. I needed some fun. Zelda and Kirby laughed from the top of the stairs. I took my toga off and ran around, waving the white cloth like a victory flag. Amazing amounts of dust broke free from us and it rained down again like snow in the wintertime.
Even after we were drained from running around, I couldn't stop laughing. Priscilla giggled and shook her long, wavy blond hair. "Shake your wings, Angel." She suggested. I couldn't stand up but I arched my back and fluttered my wings. Her hair and dress rippled from the beat of my wings and she seemed greatly amused by that. "It's so windy!"
"Are you two quite done?" Zelda strolled down the stairs, trying to contain her laughter.
"Umm," I patted at my toga to check for anymore dust. "Yep. I think we're finished."
"Princess Zelda, did you see Angel's wings flutter? It was really windy." Priscilla said excitedly.
"My, is that true?" Zelda smiled.
Lucario tapped me on the shoulder. He was looking over the symmetric symbol painted on the middle of the plaza. I saw a pentagram (that sent bad chills) and a sun painted over to almost conceal it. The sun and pentagram were confined with perfect circles. Symbols were carved in the rings by something sharper than the concrete. It was a beautiful language but I had no idea what it said.
With a gentle paw, Lucario brushed at the carvings. He touched one symbol that looked like a feather. "These symbols. It may be an ancient language of the people."
"It could be decoration." I suggested.
"But if it was decoration, I would have carved them in respectfully. These people have the knowledge to create a city like this. I'm sure one of them can carve letters on the ground without these faulty chips and cracks."
Just then, Priscilla skipped toward us curiously. She saw Lucario examining the strange symbols and gasped. Her eyes seemed to take in a different shade of blue. "Did you touch it with your hands?"
Lucario blinked, and stepped back. He said, "Yes, I did," and Priscilla let out a miserable sound.
Everyone's attention was on the little girl. Her red lips quivered as the words wanted to escape, but something was keeping her from speaking. I came closer and met her eye level. "It's okay. You can tell us."
Her shoulders lowered a bit. She forced a small smile. Without a word, she grabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs. I asked if my friends can come with, and she nodded vigorously. I looked back to Zelda, Kirby, and Lucario and they followed us quietly.
Her hands were icy cold.
When we came back to the house, Priscilla took a candle lamp that was placed on top of a cabinet with other tools. It was similar to the one I had. She lighted a match professionally and carefully transferred the fire to the candle as if to appreciate the dear light. She handed me a match also to light mine.
"Are we going somewhere?" I asked.
"Mm-hmm." Priscilla's voice was hushed. She didn't meet my eyes. I looked back at Zelda and Kirby. They pursed their lips. Lucario, on the other hand, looked nervous. He tried to hide it but he kept gripping and flexing his paws. I wanted to press Priscilla on and ask what happens when one touches those symbols, but I had a feeling we were going to find out very soon.
Priscilla led the way to the grand elevator. Up close, the elevator was nothing like the ones I've been on. The ominous dark tower loomed over and it invited us down to its endless depths. But despite its intimidating nature, the structure was elegant and appeared almost frail once I took a good look.
Series of metal frames rattled as the doors opened. I noticed the ground was carved in a straight line along the elevator so there were absolutely no gaps for people (or supplies) to get caught while boarding.
Inside, the room was almost like a hall. There was another small elevator at the end of the room to access the top two floors of the three-story structure. Priscilla manually operated the elevator by pressing numerous buttons and pulling levers that made no sense. I felt like the elevator could be a simple one-button job if a little girl like Priscilla is going to operate it alone. The room shuddered, and the metal frames shut one by one. Priscilla ran to me and squeezed my hand. She kept looking back to Lucario nervously.
It was a slow ride down. We passed by the second neighborhood of houses and proceeded down to the third floor. I was relieved that the pulleys that supported and moved the elevator didn't creak or stir any sound that could be from age. The room just shook every once in a while, but I felt those small tremors from the many times I've took the elevator with my friends and I've finally gotten used to them.
A pleasant 'ding' indicated the end of the ride. I thought all of the floors were neighborhoods, but the metal frames rattled open to a dark hallway that echoed the metal screeching together. Priscilla ran to the nearest lamp placed on the wall and lit it up with the fire in her candle lamp.
"A-Angel." Priscilla stammered. "Can you help me light the lamps?"
"Yeah, sure." I quickly replied and started to light the lamps on the other side. I saw Kirby was in Zelda's arms and he kept quiet. Lucario followed behind, looking more and more insecure as we proceeded.
But I felt in peace as we continued to light the lamps. I was nervous for Lucario and what the symbols could do, but my heart was beating slower. The room that opened from the hall had my answer. It was a cathedral.
I remembered one time I was taking a walk in the afternoon and I witnessed a wedding in a beautiful white building. It was adorned with arches and colored glass windows aligned to make a blooming flower. I didn't know why a building was decorated that way, and it was later when I came home and Zelda told me that building was called a "church".
I was interested how humans can believe in an authority figure or deity that could very much be imaginary. Faith was the only thing that connected people and the deity. But that faith was pure, at least to the church I've visited, and I felt a peace similar to when I faced my authority figure.
The cathedral was dim and warm. It was beautiful nonetheless, but I had the image of a refuge, a safe house for those who seek escape from their troubles.
Priscilla sat Lucario down before an altar. It could have been a large bench, but I wouldn't place a large bench in the middle of the entire cathedral. The white altar was wiped clean, but dark red remnants on the floor made the hairs on my neck stand. I hoped this wasn't used how I picture it.
"Don't move." Priscilla insisted.
"I won't." Lucario said shortly.
She wrapped her arms around Lucario so his forehead pressed against her chest. Zelda, Kirby, and I waited patiently for something to happen. Fire flickered and whispered.
The silence was broken as Lucario coughed. He pulled away from Priscilla and collapsed to the ground. He held his paws and fidgeted with them like ants were crawling inside him. Priscilla gasped, terror spread across her face. She mouthed the word: "monster".
"Lucario?" I ran up to him. Lucario turned to me slowly with dilated eyes. He gasped for air and grabbed my shoulders. His hands sparked with aura but it was beginning to tinge a dark color I've seen before. Black ink crept up his arms, and eventually reached his face. "Wh-What's happening?" He panted.
Those were his last words before he roared and exploded in an array of dark blue, volatile beams that shot me back a couple feet. My wings cracked at the joints as I skidded across the marble floor. Priscilla screamed and hid behind the altar.
"Are you all right?" Zelda quickly assisted me up. I had to spread my wings to snap my joints back in place but otherwise, I felt fine. Kirby hopped off from the princess' arms and balled his fists.
Lucario snapped and shot up to his feet first. His neck was limp until his face was completely smothered with the ink, and that sprung up also. Dark, cobalt energy in a form of light manifested his paws. He pulled back his lips to bare his set of white canine teeth. His torso and parts of his legs still maintained what he was before. He was in the process of becoming a phantom.
"Fffoolish, indecisive, white, ma-mon-monkeys..." The phantom fumbled. It appeared it's been a while since he last talked. "Ssseek evil or seek good. PICK, ONE!"
"Lucario! Lucario, can you hear me?" I called out. The phantom shook his head and snarled. Black ink still struggled to paint his body; there must be some consciousness left in him before it's too late.
He fell to his knees, scratching at his head violently. Cobalt aura flickered on and off, fighting off the ink. Lucario's voice also switched from the echoing voice of the creature and his own. "Stop it! Go away, leave me, this… this is mine!"
"What shall we do?" Zelda asked me. Magic danced at her fingertips alike to Lucario's aura. I waved a hand behind me to gesture them to stay. Kirby protested by shaking his arms up and down but I hushed him.
"Let me try to handle it first."
I connected my swords together in a bow shape. Cyan light burst and engulfed the phantom as he screamed. He stumbled back on his haunches. A large part of the ink quivered and peeled off. Lucario met eyes with me. It was working.
It was a crazy idea, and I don't know how I got it, but I came up to the half-Lucario, half-phantom and embraced him. His forehead pressed against my chest. Priscilla peeked from behind, seeing me and Lucario, and nodded frantically.
The phantom violently twitched. His scream was shrill, loud, and somewhat hoarse, like he was falling from a building facing near death. It was a bit of a struggle to hold onto him, but I knew how to keep a tight grip of a thrashing phantom with my battle against Roy's. And he wasn't burning hot so I learned how to hold onto him quickly.
White brilliance emitted from me, and transferred onto Lucario. I remembered when Lucario gave me his healing aura to me, although my light was a lot brighter than his blue aura. I couldn't see my surroundings. Everything was a soft white light like I was flying in the clouds. All I could see was Lucario, slowly growing limp in my arms from all of the ink peeling off of him. The last piece of ink crumbled and disintegrated into a fine particle of dust.
Heavily, Lucario looked up at me. His eyes were misty and fatigued. Once all of the ink wore off, it seemed as if his fur glowed a bright blue. He smiled once, and fell unconscious in my arms.
As the phosphorescent light died off, I was aware that my friends and Priscilla were surrounding the two of us. Priscilla looked equally tired as Lucario. She placed a gentle hand on my friend and patted his forehead tenderly.
"What… what was that light?" I asked.
"The white light." She simply replied.
"Duhh." Kirby laughed. He scampered over to examine Lucario. He pressed his small hands against Lucario's cheeks and my sleeping friend moaned. I scolded him lightly.
"What is the white light, Priscilla?" Zelda knelt down to her.
"I don't know a whole lot… It's magic, and I can use it. Angel can too. A lot of people used the white light to protect us from bad things but not anymore. Daddy didn't like the white light. He called it 'pessiside' and told me not to use it."
"'Pessiside'? Hmm, perhaps that's 'pesticide', a chemical mixture that rids bugs." Zelda muttered to herself.
"Well, whatever the 'white light' or 'pesticide' is, it saved Lucario from the ink. And all I needed to do was hug! Doesn't that sound wonderful? I really don't mind these kinds of surprises." I looked up. Zelda shrugged and concurred.
Priscilla stared at me with questionable eyes. She didn't look surprised that I was able to do what she can. She almost looked concerned.
While I was thinking how I should hold Lucario back up the elevator, she rummaged through an old chest that was pushed up against a wall. Inside, she produced a rather large shield that reflected the fire in the candles warmly. I was familiar with it.
"My shield…" I muttered.
Priscilla nodded. She handed me the mirror shield with carefully with both of her hands. "Pastor said this is for me, but it was too big. And I can't fight. I understand now."
"Understand what?"
"Um," Priscilla pinched her dress uncomfortably. "I-I used to be called 'savior' and a lot of adults came to me to get the white light when they were scared or hurt. But I can't make the white light anymore. That's probably why everybody left. I can't make the light so everybody left me. Because now, Angel is the 'savior'. Now I know…"
Her words left a sore pain in my heart. I don't know if she lost her 'magic' or if that power transferred to me, but the fact that she was left behind, abandoned by her own family, alone in this city, was true. It was a wonder how she hasn't lost her mind also, judging her age. "Priscilla, you didn't need to carry that burden. Now it's my turn." I said.
She nodded as she gazed at Lucario, sleeping soundly. "Now it's your turn."
Author's Note: With a little hope of saving his friends, time to say some good-byes.