Fantasia
Arc3: The Heir of Ardneria
Chapter8: from pride to shame
Juan's innocent effort to save the sage of his village turned out to be the curse that tossed him down to be the most hated member of his clan.
He thought by rising what is known by: the harbinger temple and use the ancient idol to seal the dread spell locked in Luffine's body he'll save the leader of his clan and return the gratitude to him, but alas…he discovered that the only thing he raised is a legendary shrine that's prophesized to bring the destruction of Ardneria.
The shock prevented him from thinking of anything until he found himself and his two companions in the great halls where criminals receive their judgment, in the middle of a closed court.
He stood there in shock broken minded, couldn't accept the truth that he committed a sin, witnessing the elders along with Klaive who took temporary leadership of the clan instead of his sick father discuss their punishment, but what can he do he just felt guilty for everyone, his family, the sage, his clan, and more importantly Tsuki and Zolu who were dragged into this chaos.
"I am sorry everyone" he wanted to say with eyes flowing with tears but the other two just held his hands tightly saying that they'll take full responsibility like he did.
"Juan Rocux, Zolu Kura, Tsukiname Shisora…ascend to receive your judgment!" an elder ordered.
The three obeyed the order and mounted the stairs slowly to the light pillar to face Klaive and the jury, the new sage stood and walked few steps toward them:
"By the doctrines of the great Torano, the woman who sealed the dreadful temple deep within our land, we Ardnerians are forbidden to enter the malevolent shrine, and thus anyone who dare come in contact with that place shall be punished, and by that order we the honorable jury of Ardneria shall banish the three of you forever from our land, and any attempt to enter our realm again beyond permission from me or any sage that will come after shall be punished with the sentence of death!" was the decision taken against Juan and his friends.
"Please your honor! I beg you to forgive my friends! Take me! You can kill me if you want! But please they didn't know anything! They just followed me! They aren't guilty by any form!" the shepherd pleaded the jury.
"Silence in the court! The jury has decided, and the justice must be served! Guards!" an elder shouted calling four large beastmen who took Juan and the other to shackle them.
Yes…Juan is now a criminal, the hero who once saved his village from the ragons, the hero who reached the tower of Grimoires and brought the cure that lifted the curse of his clan, is now the criminal who summoned the harbinger temple and doomed his clan.
He walked in shame in front of his clansmen, he glimpsed his family but he didn't dare to raise his eyes, he heard his mother crying, his father consulting her, and of course his brother boasting and shouting at the guards to let him go, yet he couldn't build any courage to look, he didn't want to face them, he glared at the brooch his father gave him, and remembered how "proud" his father was when he gave it
Pride! Is this pride!? He brought shame to his family by committing such a stupid act, he just wanted to help the sage but…he doesn't know exactly how the shrine is going to doom his clan, but he shouldn't do it! Why was he so stupid? Why? But in the end he just gave up to reality and continued walking with stray thoughts with his friends and the guards until they reached the northern frontiers of the village.
After removing those handcuffs, the guards returned to the village, leaving the shepherd the ragon and the imp, under the sad rain, Tsuki tried to wake Juan up from his day nightmare, but it was no use, the man was completely drowned in guilt to his ears, Zolu stopped her and simply created a small barrier of water to protect them from the rain, while Tsuki set a little fire, and so they sat…waiting.
…
Hours later, as the sun was about to set the three of them were forced to find a place to spend the night, Zolu glimpsed smoke by the east, so he ran along with the other two to that place, which was revealed to be Demetri's hot bath that was closed due to the bad weather.
After few knocks on the wooden door followed by a loud grumble the door finally opened, and the messy beastman appeared:
"Oh…hi Juan, brought some friends? You should've told me, least I've cleaned up the yard" the big brother said breathing some smoke.
But Juan didn't give any response.
"You made a disaster, some perfect family business…" Demetri said.
"How…did you know?" Zolu asked.
"Inside first, I don't have any mint to cure cold, so get in first!" he insisted.
After entering the hot bath, the three of them settled in a small messy room with a stove and some bed sheets:
"Make yer self at home guys, I'll bring some blankets n' somethin' to eat n'll be back" Demetri said before taking a deep breath leaving the room.
"Hmm, this place is a mess" Zolu commented trying to change the atmosphere.
"Yeah, this is Demetri…" Juan said slowly.
"Come on Juan you can't stay like this forever" Tsuki tried to consult the sad man.
"Yeah, especially when it's not your fault" Demetri mentioned serving them some bread, meat, and juice with his manipulated smoke.
"Huh?" Juan asked.
"I mean c'mon, ye're Juan, ye're a lamb, I know ye since you were a baby, ye can't commit such bad thing" the brother answered.
"But the elders said that the harbinger temple is…" Juan tried to say but his brother groaned.
"To the hell with the elders! Who are they to decide what the harbinger temple does?" Demetri boasted.
This somehow made Tsuki suspect something wrong concerning the older brother, but seeing Juan's bitter sorrow prevented her from going in any further discussion, suddenly Demetri's ear twitched, and so did Tsuki's, leading them both to rush out in worry.
They went out to witness another colossal event; the ground trembled under Ardneria, and suddenly five thick long standing pillars of dark stones emerged from the ground surrounding the village, but Tsuki care less because she suddenly felt a feeble sign of familiar magic, she raised her head to see her roommate Nimmy flying toward them.
She set her feet to jump highly because she felt something wrong concerning those pillars, but Demetri headed her first; the man used his strong feet to jump highly in the air, and with a short breath he emitted a cloud of smoke reshaping it like a stretching arm to grab Nimmy's hand and quickly pull her out from the invisible barrier that was forming between the pillars of dark.
The nymph collided with the beastman causing them to crash down with Tsuki who was a bit late to react and open a path for them.
"Is everyone alright?" Zolu asked catching his breath.
"Um I believe so…"
"Nimmy's okay, smoke boy is strong!"
"Get the hell off me! Will ya?!" Demetri complained.
"What's going on there?" Juan asked.
"The harbinger temple is starting…the purification…" Demetri explained.
"Purification?" everyone wondered.
"C'mon to the house, I'll explain everything…" Demetri said walking slowly to his hot bath.
…
Everybody was sitting waiting for Demetri who had gone for a while asking for them to hold still, the man shortly entered the room carrying a book.
"Here, you always made a good reader than I did" Demetri said tossing the book to his brother's laps
Juan opened the book on a dent page, and started reading: "The harbinger temple: the linking circle between us Ardnerians and the other four main tribes in this world, entrusted to us Ardnerians in order to keep the world in balance, within it we sealed the fearsome tyrant flame hoping it to wane for the rest of eternity…"
"Yeah go on, four more pages after that" the brother instructed.
And so Juan did, "The purification: It's the utmost level of defensive mechanisms imbued in the temple, whenever the temple misses an important element, the temple engages the purification process, which consists of sealing the surrounding area with the powerful pentagonal suns formation, and if the missing element restoration failed the temple will engage a destructive phase that reaches the limits of the barrier after a day of the disappearance." Juan completed reading the book.
"This is bad! If you don't stop the purification Ardneria will be doomed!" Juan said after dropping the book.
"Whoa! Calm down boy! Ye're missin' the point here." Demetri said.
"Huh?" Juan asked.
"What have you done in the temple? Did you take anything to make the temple starts the purification?"
"As far as I know, nothing…you guys didn't take anything did you?" the shepherd asked.
Everyone tilted his head answering by No.
"Then what do you think engaged the purification?" Demetri asked while igniting another cigarette.
"Someone must've stolen something from the temple after we left it!" Tsuki concluded.
"Exactly, so who do you think did it? And what do you think he or she took?"
"Hmm, if we think like a thief then its first target would be…the giant magite in the basement!" Juan theorized.
"Hey, what about the sealing idol? It contained that tyrant flame, if someone took that spell or the pole then the purification will start too!" Zolu noted.
"That's excluded, if I recall, the pole said that those who dare steal the tyrant flame will suffer, so it has its own protection mechanism leaving the obvious option is the eternal magite…" Juan objected his friend's idea.
"So the thief took the giant crystal, but who might it be?" Tsuki asked.
"Nimmy knows who the thief is!" the nymph shouted.
"Who is he?" Zolu asked.
"The big brute!" she answered referring to Klaive.
Everyone was in shock, Zolu somehow denied this claim, but Juan supported this theory:
"You know she might be right, because things like this are secrets that only run between the members of the sage's family, considering the short time between the rise of the temple and the purification, it's sane to think that the thief knew the place previously, I can't believe I'm saying this but Klaive is the probable thief in this case" Juan explained.
"Yes, Nimmy even heard the big brute say bad stuff when he entered the temple" the nymph added, confirming the accusing.
"Wait, whoa! You spied on Klaive and he didn't notice you" Demetri wondered.
"Yes Nimmy used rainbow magic" the nymph said while demonstrating her invisibility powers.
"Well I guess since we're locked outside the village, we have nothing to do so either Klaive returns this eternal crystal or he gets purified with the rest of the village" Demetri said lazily.
"But father! Mother! And Roné! They are all trapped inside, we can't just leave them to death like this!" Juan said.
"Brother, face it, they banished you out of their village, you are no longer grateful to them, now it's time for them to suffer the consequences" the Demetri answered his brother coldly planting fear in everyone's hearts with this never seen before cold side.
"But brother!" Juan pleaded, but alas…his brother left the room, and locked himself in another one.
…
Few hours later Juan couldn't stop going back and forth thinking of a way to help his clan, which somehow annoyed Tsuki and Zolu who were concerned about him whereas Nimmy was usually absent:
"Dude chill, you are going to lose the rest of your mind like this!" Zolu commented but he was backslapped by Tsuki for his lame joke.
"Though he's right, try to focus, panicking will get you nowhere, how about this? Instead of stopping the purification, we focus on saving the villagers" Tsuki suggested.
"And that'd be easy because we have…" Zolu tried to conclude.
"The underwater cavern! Zolu you are a genius!" Juan shouted giving his friend a hug, shortly before ramming himself out of the room looking for Nimmy who wasn't there, Juan ignored that and stood in front of his brother's room with eyes full of determination like he's showing that he'll never give up, shortly before rushing with his friends to save Ardneria, unaware that Demetri already made his move…
To be continued