Chapter 1: Things of the past
"Hey, Mom! Do you know where my backpack is?" Jenny shouted, pounding on her keyboard, firing the last arrow in her digital arsenal. She moved her nimble fingers over the keys, making her computer character jump onto a low hanging vine so she could type out a message to her friends.
"Sorry guys, I gtg… school, lol" her four best friends replied in the small messaging system at the bottom of the screen.
"Telip22: Yeah… that's a good idea… see you there jenny."
"Bl4ze482: oh crap... i still gotta print my paper too. cya guys there."
"xXdr4gonXx: oh man I didn't watch the clock.. bye bye"
"UnderBelt: wow… I'll be at your house in five jen." Jenny quickly logged out of her favorite game, Maplestory, before running into the bathroom and hurriedly smoothing down her short, strawberry blond hair. In the kitchen, her breakfast of an over easy egg on toast waited, which she grabbed after throwing her backpack over her shoulder.
"Bye mom, thanks for the toast!" Jenny called as she ran to the curb where her friend, Helen Olman, pulled up in her silver compact and sitting down in the passenger seat for a ride to school. Waiting for them at the entrance were the last three that made up their small group: Matthew Drake, Jack Waterman, and Olsen Da'Lor. The five of them greeted each other, recounting their adventures in a 'world' the company Nexon had created, Maplestory. As they walked up to the building, Jack rummaged through his backpack furiously until his shoulders slumped.
"Aw man, you can't be serious." He whined.
"What? What's the matter?" asked Jenny through a mouthful of toast.
"I left my English assignment back at home."
"You should have paid closer attention," Olsen said, holding up a few sheets of paper in his hand showing his own completed assignment. Jack scowled at him, reaching out to snatch Olsen's report, only to miss when Olsen pulled them away.
"Well, if you were your Pirate in Maplestory you could summon your pig and run home to get it after first period," Matthew suggested, brushing his light brown hair out of his face for the tenth time.
"The first period is English." Answered Helen smartly, pulling her assignment from a binder and straightening the pages. Olsen chuckled and shook his head when he saw her report; it was twice the size of his paper, and no doubt included extensive explanations.
"Maybe you could ask for a little bit of time to run home and get it during lunch or something," Matthew suggested when the school bell rang. All the students left outside the building began entering the school when Jack thought he heard his mom's voice calling him.
"Jack! You left this on the seat!" his mom, Carrie, came running up the sidewalk and handed him a thin stack of papers. Jack grabbed them with a thankful call as he bolted for his class, just as the teacher was beginning to roll call. After the English period, the five of them separated to their specific courses. Helen split off to her Honors English class, Jenny and Olsen split off to the field for track practice, Jack headed to his least favorite subject of chemistry and Matthew sauntered into his Calculus class. In the back of their minds, they all wished they could live in a world similar to the game Maplestory because nothing exciting ever happened in this small town of Huron, Ohio.
When the noon hour finally came for the lunch break, The Five, as they called themselves, all sat together strategizing about the best way to level up in Maplestory. As the strategizing continued, the sun began to darken as clouds swirled into a funnel. At the center, bright white light gathered, building into a large sphere. Matthew lowered his brow, reaching into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
"I didn't see anything on the weather saying that it was supposed to rain today." He said as students rushed to see the funnel through the nearest window, recording videos with their cell phones or texting their friends and family. Olsen lowered his brow as a sense of foreboding built in the back of his mind. His heart began to pound as his focus became hypersensitive; he couldn't explain it. Something terrible was about to happen. When he looked to Matthew, Olsen could tell that he too was getting the same feeling.
"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Matthew shouted as he and Olsen, following some unknown instinct, tipped up a table to hide behind. Some of the students ducked down, but the rest of them looked back and laughed at these freaks.
All at once, the light shot down hard, shaking the ground. When it hit, a sound wave ripped through the windows, shattering the thick safety glass and hurling students to the ground. From behind their table, Matthew carefully peered over it into the light, followed shortly by the rest. Olsen was barely able to make out a hazy silhouette of a person with a cape and a long-handled ax, vanishing when the beam stopped moments later.
After the light stopped, the clouds faded away, leaving a crater in the football field. The Five looked to each other and began to whisper about the TV commercials for the new Maplestory class called Aran. It had debuted recently, followed closely by the Evan and Dual Blade classes. They all knew what the original hero Aran was said to look like and it was very similar to the silhouette they had seen standing in the light. Was the outline they had seen that hero?
Groaning from all around brought them back to reality as the students knocked to the ground by the shockwave struggled to their feet. Most, if not all of them, sported cuts and scrapes all over their bodies. The students grunted and hissed in pain as some tried to pull out small shards of bloody glass embedded in their flesh. Others rubbed their ears to try and get rid of the ringing. Helen and Jenny quickly began running from student to student, getting one of the first-aid kits in the room. As Helen wrapped one of the student's wounds, she noticed a pale violet glow emanating from her hand, seeping into the student's skin.
"Man, you must know your first aid. It doesn't even hurt anymore, thanks." The student remarked, walking away to the nurse's office. Helen stared at her hand wondering what it was she saw until she realized that there were still others that needed help. But whenever she did help someone, Helen would see the same pale violet glow sparking from her fingers.
After Helen and Jenny had made sure to help where they could, the rest of the day became a tentative mess. Police and other officials inspected the hole in the football field while the school nurse and ambulance crews tended to the wounded. The more severe cases were taken to the nearby hospital.
Tina, Jenny's mom, Carrie and Pierre, Olsen's dad came to the school after having been contacted by the school principal, taking Jenny and Olsen home once the nurse was satisfied that nothing serious had happened to them and returned to work. As Helen drove herself home, she couldn't help but stare at her fingertips occasionally.
"What is that purple glowing stuff? Am I the one doing it?" She thought, replaying the scene over and over in her head until she was greeted at the door by her mother, May, and her grandfather, Glen Olman. Meanwhile, Matthew, who was dropped off at his house by Carrie, found that no one was home. His father, John, was still at work, and his mother may have been out running errands, or perhaps even on a shopping trip with some of her friends. But the quiet house gave him time to think about his actions in the cafeteria before the windows exploded.
He had warned so many people of the light's coming threat, but no one seemed to listen. Had he done the right thing in advising them? Could he have done more to prevent even more people from getting hurt? Since the answers he wanted weren't coming, he decided to search for information about the Aran class on the internet before tackling the few assignments tasked to him.
Meanwhile, Olsen went straight to his backyard training grounds set up by his father to not only practice but to also consider what happened at the school. His father, Pierre, taught him everything that he knew about the Ninja arts. Despite his serious expression and his intense grey-eyed gaze, his patience as a Master in the Ninja arts allowed most people to overcome his intimidating presence. As Olsen practiced his drills, he thought about the silhouette he had seen in the light and how he and Matthew both knew about the blast even before it had happened. His thoughts were interrupted when he hurled a star and noticed a burst of pink sparks leaping from his hand.
After the sparks had dissipated, Olsen starred at his hand, unsure if what he had seen was real. Did these have something to do with the light at school? His staring made his eyes fall on his watch and realized that he still had homework he needed to do. He walked back inside, grabbed his backpack and headed for his room to begin. However, the thought of what he had seen coming from his fingers kept distracting him.
A few blocks away, Jenny and Jack were talking in the Waterman's backyard; Jack was beating up a punching bag while Jenny held it in place as best as she could.
"So, what do you think that light was at school?" Jenny asked, promptly shoved back when Jack slammed his foot into the bag.
"I dunno. Whatever it was though, at least we got the rest of the day off." He panted, pulling his fists up into a guard position once more and throwing a jab.
"Hey, lemme try out your bow for a minute, this is getting boring," Jack announced, pulling off his MMA fighter gloves and stepping out from the barn into the breeze. Jenny followed him, grabbing her bow and walking to the shooting range before handing her bow and an arrow to Jack.
"My bow has a bit of a heavy draw so just be careful when aiming it," Jenny warned as Jack nocked the arrow.
"How bad could it be? Besides, with these guns, I don't think it'll be an issue," Jack laughed, flexing his arm making Jenny chuckle while motioning for him to aim at the straw target. Just as he predicted, Jack was able to draw the bow, but missed entirely and instead struck an old fallen tree.
"Not as easy as it looks, huh?" Jenny asked, taking the bow back from Jack and hitting the bullseye. Carrie sat on the stairs of their back porch watching the two of them, calling to Jack for him to return to his punching and reminding him that he had a wrestling team audition the next day. Begrudgingly, Jack put his gloves back on and hammered at the punching bag, stopping long enough to get a drink of water.
Carrie was a fit, full busted woman with caramel brown hair and olive-green eyes. Her husband, Mark, was often complimented for marrying her. He had a tall, robust build with dark brown eyes and dark skin that reminded Carrie of her commander on the Nautilus, Muirhat. Often Mark would get into a bind when he would reprimand some other for man whistling at Carrie or calling out some derogatory term if he was within earshot. Carrie appreciated him for it, though she would laugh to herself when he wasn't looking, knowing that she could easily fight off anyone herself. She had made a name for herself as an amateur mixed martial arts fighter but stopped after she married Mark and learned that she was pregnant with Jack.
Jenny stayed in their backyard until her mother, Tina, came back from her work at the local grocery store. After a short evaluation, the two of them went back to their house next door.
"It appears you have achieved being able to hold your bow without strain," Tina commented, motioning for her to come in the house. Tina had been a championship archer before Jenny was born, placing number one in the country and number two worldwide, but only because she had been purposefully holding back.
"It's doesn't feel like it; my shoulders feel like they're on fire all the time," Jenny complained as Tina chuckled and nodded her head.
"Your shoulders will become stronger. Do not forget; I did recently gift you a bow having a heavier draw," Tina said as Jenny went into the house. As Jenny passed her, Tina couldn't help but notice the tops of Jenny's ears had become slightly pointed. Just before Tina followed her daughter in, she looked back into the trees that lined their backyard, her hand unconsciously going to the top of her ears from a small, annoying itch. The tinge of power hung in those woods felt like a whisper from a life she had almost forgotten.
Before she could say much else, she could hear Jenny getting onto her computer in her bedroom and signing into her game. Tina only laughed to herself; that girl couldn't seem to get enough of that game, staying on it for up to 5 hours at a time. Her husband Kalib had died from a heart attack not long after Jenny was born, and since then she hadn't wanted to marry again. She was an independent woman and felt that Kalib was the only man that ever understood her and her situation.
She could still remember waking up in this world as she walked over to the mantle in the living room and ran her fingers across the picture of Kalib and her on their wedding day. He didn't stand much taller than her with gentle, trusting dark eyes and dark hair. With a heavy sigh, she pulled herself away from the picture to start cooking a simple dinner when there was a heavy knock on the door.
When she opened it, a golden envelope placed on the doormat greeted her. She looked around to find who had dropped it there, but she couldn't see anyone; not even her keen, grass green eyes could pick out any hint of a shadow in the darkening evening sky. Slowly, she stepped back inside; and just as she closed the door, she was surprised by Jenny walking down the hall. Quickly, Tina pulled the envelope behind her back and tried to seem innocent.
"Who was that mom?"
"It was only the postman dropping off a priority letter," Tina answered quickly, running her hand over her ear to pull back some of her long, sandy hair.
"Then why are you hiding the letter behind your back?" Jenny asked, growing more suspicious as she walked towards her mother.
"That's none of your concern. Is there homework to do young lady?" Tina scolded, making Jenny laugh and roll her eyes as she went back to her room. Tina placed the letter into the cupboard to hide it and then continued making dinner.
"I hope that letter does not mean ill tidings." She thought as she worked through making a Hamburger Helper dinner. When there was trouble, she and the other masters had always sent letters to each other in gold envelopes, giving them priority status. Jenny came out of her room just long enough to grab a plateful of food, which she took back into her room where she sat patting away at keys, as she wrote a report that was due the next day.
Once midnight finally came, Jenny shut her computer off and crawled into bed. As Tina walked by her door, she leaned on the frame, watching Jenny's hand smolder a dull green. Tina had carried that power to this world and passed it on to Jenny when she was born. There was no getting it back. When Jenny was old enough, Tina spent years teaching Jenny skills she had learned when she was a girl. At first, Jenny resisted; but when Tina showed her the numerous trophies she acquired over the years, Jenny was motivated to train with the bow in her spare time, unless she was playing her game.
"Jenny, you'll be a powerful Archer someday, you just don't know it." Tina thought as she walked over and kissed Jenny's forehead. After that, she retrieved the envelope from the cupboard, sat down, and scanned over the content of the letter. It was a message from her old friend, Aran, which detailed her worst nightmare: the resurrection of the Black Mage. The letter further asked for her to meet with Aran in the woods that night.
Tina already felt dread: it had been nearly 18 years since she had come here, housing within her the power of the Emerald Crystal. In this world, that same power, which now resided in Jenny, made her skills as an archer unparalleled. Tina went into the garage and moved aside things that she had gathered over the years, revealing the door of a safe. Rapidly, she twisted the knob into the combination unlocking the safe and revealing an old yet strong bow, The Kandiva. Beside it was a quiver of still sharp bronze-tipped arrows. A mirror beside the safe made her turn around a few times, realizing how long she had been out of practice.
"It appears I will need to train in earnest once I return." she sighed; the years in this world had filled her figure. She wondered if her Queen had ever dealt with such problems. With a shake of her head, Tina threw the quiver over her shoulder and quietly went through the back door and into the woods behind their house.
Near the middle of town, John, his wife Yasmin, and Pierre had met at a restaurant to socialize with one another. Usually, the affair included Tina Price, the Watermans, the Olmans, and all of their children. However, this night found only the three of them together. Yasmin was a slim petite woman with fair skin and long, straight black hair. On this night, she wore a high-necked evening dress, making her already small form become more pronounced next to John. As they were finishing their meal, Pierre set down his silverware and laced his fingers to rest his chin on them.
"How is your son, John?" Pierre asked. John looked over to Yasmin before taking a drink to rinse out his mouth and begin his reply.
"He is a strong boy. He doesn't appear to be too overwhelmed but is concerned that he didn't do enough to keep others from being injured." John answered, returning to his prime rib dinner. Pierre took a deep breath and sat back in his seat, narrowing his grey eyes.
"Both Olsen and Matthew were right to act as they did, considering they both only acted on instinct and not from any training we have given them," Pierre said, leaning forward once again and speaking in a low tone.
"However, I am concerned for the Olman girl, Helen. She unknowingly has used its power." John froze mid-cut of his steak and set down his utensils, leaning closer to Pierre and speaking with the same low tone.
"You're sure of this? The Amethyst Crystal reawakened?!" John hissed.
"When have you known me to lie Dances?" Pierre asked.
"Never. But I have known you to withhold truths which can be just as dangerous. Were you able to see if any of the others have reawakened their crystals?"
"As of yet, I'm unable to say."
"Has the seal been broken?"
"No, the seal remains, but for how much longer I cannot say." John set his elbow on the table and leaned his head onto his fingers while shaking his head before speaking again.
"We came here eighteen years ago to hide those crystals and to keep them dormant with their idle existence."
"I know, you needn't remind me, but Aran came to this side in the light at the school." Yasmin looked to John with wide eyes, knowing what all the conversation might mean. Yasmin had come from a family that revered stories and legends as part of one's history, but not the entirety of it. After they had begun dating, John explained to her why he was here and where he had come from in the past. Yasmin believed that some of what he had told her was true, that he had fled from his home to hide something here in the U.S. But now she began to question whether or not those legends held so much more.
"If he has come, then it means The Mage has once again risen. His arrival may be what triggered the reawakening. He might be unaware that we no longer control the crystals." John muttered.
"There is something more," Pierre whispered. He was about to continue when both he and John looked up to each other, rushing from the table to the outside. Both of them looked around, trying to find what they had felt, but saw no one. As they turned to re-enter the restaurant, they both saw a gold envelope tucked into a light fixture in front of the building. John and Pierre both glanced at each other. As John retrieved the envelope, Pierre went back inside to pay for their meal, leaving with Yasmin.
"John? Is everything alright?" She asked, pulling the strap of her purse over her shoulder while he read over the letter.
"No Yasmin, everything is not alright. Jin, I'll meet you there." John said, handing the letter off to Pierre, while he led Yasmin to the car and drove away with unusual haste.
"John, what's wrong," Yasmin asked, grabbing onto the handle next to her as John sped around corners back to their home.
"An old friend has come to town, and he doesn't bring good news. We are meeting with him tonight to find out just how bad things have become back home. Back in Ossyria."
Carrie sat on the back porch, drinking a cup of her favorite lemon tea as she listened to the birds and crickets. It was peaceful in this world. There was never any danger of some creature attacking their house, and no bandits would come in the middle of the night. But the peace left her longing for the life she had as captain of the Nautilus. She had carried the second half of the Ruby Crystal with her to this world, while Dances brought its counterpart. Jack had tired long ago of his training, taking a shower and quickly falling asleep, leaving his homework unfinished. Mark came walking out and sat down next to Carrie with a cup of coffee and looked to the barn where he could see the punching bag swinging in the slight breeze.
"You know, he's tearing up that bag. I might need to get him a new one soon." Carrie laughed as she looked closer to see bands of silver duct tape wrapped numerous times around it to cover the holes in the cracking vinyl.
"Well… he is our son."
"Your son you mean." Mark chuckled as Carrie leaned on his shoulder.
"It seems like he's gotten some new strength today. I even had to put the bag back up on the hook a few times." Carrie pointed out. Mark shook his head and chuckled into his cup.
"That I know all too well." He answered, rubbing her back as he kissed her forehead. Carrie looked back out across the yard and took a sip of her tea, dropping her shoulders and closing her eyes as another gentle damp breeze weaved its way through the yard.
"You still miss the Nautilus?" Mark asked. Carrie sighed and nodded.
"I told you that once I seal this business deal, I'll get a boat," Mark said, adding emphasis on the fact that he had promised a boat. Carrie turned back to him and smiled.
"I still want to name it the Nautilus, you know," Carrie responded smartly. Mark nodded, looking off into the dark woods just beyond their wooden fence. It had been 18 years since Carrie had come here. As odd as it was, Carrie appeared high above a lake where Mark had been fishing over the weekend. Carrie was a strong swimmer, but the plunge into the lake made her somehow hit her head, allowing Mark to rescue her. A year of visiting and talking turned into dates, marriage, and the welcoming of their son Jack. Mark knew her story of why she appeared in the middle of a lake, though he didn't believe the whole thing. He was a partial owner of a major fishing company and had heard plenty of stories of the sea.
Slowly, an envelope drifted down into Carrie's lap. Quickly, she set her tea down and slipped her finger through the top of the letter. In fearful anticipation, she pulled out the letter. Her eyes darted back and forth as she read over the neatly written letter she had hoped would never come. Silently, Carrie got up and went to a picture hanging above the mantle and revealed a safe behind it. Inside was a revolver pistol sporting a decorative red a gold maple leaf on the side, along with a small capsule of bullets. With firm motions, she loaded the gun and strapped the holster around her hips while walking upstairs to their room, grabbing a light jacket.
"Carrie, what's wrong?" Mark asked when he saw her loading the large pistol.
"Nothing, there's just something that I need to take care of."
"Honey, you have a loaded gun, and you're brushing it off as though it's a picnic. So yes, it's something."
"Mark, trust me on this; it's not going to be dangerous. This gun is a badge of sorts." Carrie answered, kissing Mark on the cheek.
"I'll be back in an hour or so." She said, walking to the back door when Mark's grip on her hand stopped her.
"So, you're sure that this isn't something that you're going to be getting into a fight over?" Mark asked once again.
"Yes, I'm sure. I can handle myself, Mark. I used to be an MMA fighter, remember?" Carrie smiled, squeezing his hand before running out the back door with the letter in hand.
Glen was typing on his old typewriter when he felt something from a past life hanging in the air. Squinting his eyes, he held his hand out as a weathered staff floated into his grip. When it touched his hand, Glen lifted from his chair and glided over the floor to find the source of the twinge that he felt. Helen's adventure at the school this afternoon left him wondering if someone had crossed over from Ossyria. Also, he began to worry that the crystal within Helen was reawakening, allowing it to start seeping into her being before she was ready. The present issue of the power he felt somewhere in the house, however, was slightly more pressing. As he searched through the house, thoughts of his life before and after coming to this world came to mind.
Glen, better known to his comrades and Grendal, had traveled 100 years in this world's past upon being sent here, slowly learning what he could so the others wouldn't be as unprepared. Living in this world for that long meant that he needed to use his magic, which was amplified by the Amethyst Crystal. The old mage would use this power to stay young enough until meeting a girl to 'settle down' with and create a permanent life. It wouldn't be until 1968 of this world that he would meet his love, Helen.
A few years later, when he learned Helen was pregnant, he sealed the crystal's power preventing it from weave itself into Gregory. When Gregory married in 1991 and had a child the following year, the Amethyst Crystal passed to his granddaughter, Helen, named after Glen's wife, who passed away earlier in the same year.
As he thought about his love, Helen, a tear came to his eye, as the power he felt led him to the attic. Floating up into the dusty room, the top of his staff glowed with a spell ready to deal with any foe he might encounter when he saw his friend Aran sitting in the frame window.
"Aran; I should have known it might be you. How are you?" Glen said in a pleased tone. Aran nodded, picking up his halberd and walking over to Glen, the boards creaking with each step under his and the Halberd's weight.
"You've changed quite a bit yourself, old friend. Your beard isn't as long as I remember, Grendal." Aran pointed out as Glen chuckled.
"When you're my age in this world, a beard that long gets in the way all the time." Aran nodded while placing a hand in his shoulder and squeezing it slightly.
"It's time, Old friend," Aran said gravely, making Glen raise his eyebrows.
"You can't be serious Aran. The Black Mage…"
"I'm afraid so. Also, The Mage resurrected all the beasts you and the others defeated all those years ago."
"To what purpose?"
"No one knows, old friend. But come, the others will be heading towards a campfire in the woods." Glen nodded, floating back down into the house to grab a coat and followed Aran into the night. It had been some time since he had seen his comrades, even though they all lived so close to each other. Despite the promise of seeing his comrades, the news Aran brought took priority, and his joy would need to wait for later.
