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Author's note
Heeheee... I just noticed that this part is almost as long as the previous parts all put together *smile* But hey, since it's longer then it means it's more fun, 'cause more events occur here, right? And you get to have a little -- just a little, mind you -- glimpse at the hidden past of the Daughter of Light and Queen of Immortals, Celestia. *smile*
Needless to say I am proud of this part. It was hard, but I did it! I did it!
Further developments about the plagiarist: Would you believe that the plagiarist actually put a copyright note at the start of his fic?! As if he even knew what copyright was, given his blatant violation of my fic's copyright? Grrrr. Grrrr! His... rudeness disgusts me. Infuriates me. Makes me go up in flames! Argh!
Anyway...
This part is for Stellaris, a great writer and friend who went to a lot of trouble just to give this weaver a section and dreambook of her own... and precious comments about her fic that also helped her overcome writer's block. {{{{{Stellaris}}}}} Thank you so much! (Visit Stellaris at her new FanFiction section (with a special section for me, where the dreambook is) to tell her how nice her fics are... and don't forget to sign my dreambook too, to give me your comments :-)Something more... the titles of Cha Cha and company, namely Young Wolf, Magician-Knight, Heir of the Goddess, and Master and Mistress of Ancient Magic are copyright me. I've seen quite a few fics who've used this (or adapted from it). Please, guys, they're my idea so if you use them e-mail me first, ok? (Or else... *vision of MiaViolet the dragon aspect rearing up amidst purple fire*)
Enjoy! I hope you like the "fight" scenes, though I'm not that good at them ^_^
The Gem of the Stars
Part 5: The Wolf and the Knight
by MiaViolet
"No. The real tests have yet to begin."
The Guardian looked at them with a look of wise approval in his golden eyes after he said those words, a grim smile on his lips. As an awed hush fell over the clearing, a breeze blew through the forest, whipping the blackened remnants of the grass high into the swirling air. The two exhausted magicians felt the cold wind cut into them like a knife, and Celestia trembled slightly, seeming to sway like the slender branches of the dark trees. The Guardian turned to her.
"Your Divine Majesty... it is time."
Celestia ignored the puzzled looks of the others and replied softly, her voice shaking. "There is no other way, Guardian of Wind?"
"It is what the Guardians have decided, Queen Celestia. It is the only way to maintain the Guardians' neutrality... and to guarantee your surviving this day, as well."
"Then I accept." Celestia rose to her feet slowly, painfully, and turned to look at the others, the expression of her violet eyes silencing the questions on their lips.
The Guardian bowed reverently to the sorceress, then placed a hand on her pale forehead, his golden eyes narrowing as he chanted a few words. His hand seemed to shimmer with pure gray light, covering Celestia in its brilliance. Moments later, the Guardian removed his hand, and the sorceress sank unconscious to the ground, her dark hair falling veil-like over her marble-like face and her eyes closed.
Seravi's eyes widened, as did the others', and he started forward, anger and shock strengthening him, banishing his exhaustion. "What have you done?" he demanded, his voice low and quiet but with a thinly veiled current of rage running through it.
"Do not be foolish, Master of Ancient Magic," the Guardian of Wind answered coolly. "You do not have enough strength left to challenge me." The Guardian paused, stretching out his right hand, palm outwards. "Look closely at her face and tell me what you see."
Seravi swallowed hard, his anger calmed, the expression on his face silencing the cry of rage that rose in the others' hearts. "I see death," he said finally.
"No," Cha Cha burst out uncharacteristically. "Miss Celestia is still alive. She can't be dead." In her mind's eye Cha Cha could still see the starborn soul that was Celestia, feel the life in the sorceress' veins, and for the first time she wondered why she could see what others could not.
"You are truly the heir of a Goddess, Princess," the Guardian bowed, "that you were able to see the truth behind the illusion. Don't you think, Master of Ancient Magic, that it would be better if you followed your teacher's advice and sought with your heart, not just with your eyes?"
Green eyes narrowed in concentration, then widened in disbelief as Seravi saw, in the view of things of power and of magic and starborn sorcery, the graceful outline of pure light that was Celestia against fainter, dimmer surroundings. He blinked, then clearly saw the starry life that still pulsed in the darker surroundings of the web of Power. Seravi, clearly relieved, let the sight of Power slowly fade away. "Yes," he said, very quietly, "she is still alive... but just barely." He looked at Cha Cha with amazement clearly written on his face. "How did you see life as faint as that, Cha Cha?"
Cha Cha flushed, confused and embarrassed. "I -- I don't know," she said softly. "It's been there since... since the Dragon Lord died. When I want to, I can see anything in its true form, I guess. I just saw... felt... that Miss Celestia was alive, and I wondered why you couldn't see it." There was silence, then, Cha Cha asked in a tiny voice, "Was it wrong? Should I have been able to see it?"
Dorothy stepped forward and drew Cha Cha towards her. "Truly nothing can be hidden from the eyes of Love," she murmured to her husband.
"Indeed." Seravi noted Cha Cha's confusion, and his mind told Dorothy, Watch over her. She doesn't know what a gift she has received. And please, Dorothy... The Guardian and I need to talk... without the children. Dorothy nodded slightly, then turned to the golden-haired girl.
"It's all right, dear... don't fret about what happened. In fact you should be thankful for such a gift," she told Cha Cha, artfully guiding Cha Cha, Riiya, and Shiine away from the clearing and into the shelter of the trees to set up the tents. Quelling Riiya's protests with a promise that after setting up she would cook them their breakfast, Dorothy, with Riiya running excitedly in front, Cha Cha close behind him, and Shiine walking calmly beside her, made her way to the edge of the trees.
"Finally we're going to eat!" Riiya said. "I'm so hungry!" Especially after that fight with the... he shuddered, Dragon Lord. I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep for a week. He was scary!
"When aren't you hungry, Riiya? Even while you're asleep you dream of food," Shiine snapped, clearly irritated. The strain of not succumbing to his fatigue and fear was taking its toll on him, Dorothy noted. He would have to get some rest.
"Hey!" Riiya cried, stung by Shiine's remark. "Why you--"
"Riiya, Shiine!" Dorothy stepped quickly into the center of what was beginning to look like a general brawl. "We have to set up the tents first, remember?"
Cha Cha nodded her assent. "Yes, that's right! Guys, please stop fighting! Don't you want to eat breakfast?"
At the magic words eat and breakfast, Riiya froze in mid-punch. "Oh yeah, right! Let's finish this quickly so we can eat!" Apparently forgetting Shiine's remark, he jumped up and ran to where the tent poles and fabric were stacked. "Come on, guys!"
Shiine grumbled for a few moments, looking like he wanted to strangle Riiya, but he stood up reluctantly and followed Cha Cha and Riiya. "Alright, alright, I'm coming..."
Dorothy followed them with her eyes, smiling inwardly. I think they'll be asleep just as they finish setting up the tents -- they barely have enough energy left to keep standing. They need the rest anyway; last night was unforgettable. Tiring, nerve-wracking, and very draining. She felt a sudden wave of weariness wash over her, and she remembered just how much magic and energy she had used up in the night's battle.
And I have the feeling that last night is only the beginning of the tests we shall have to go through. She looked at the children. Will they have enough strength to go through all those trials? A flash of thought she had sensed from the Guardian... a glimpse at what kind of trials they would be facing... re-entered her mind. Will we have the inner strength to confront and defeat our weaknesses?
Moving to join the children, Dorothy turned for a moment, her gray eyes gazing anxiously at the wind-swept clearing. Seravi... what are you doing?
Seravi watched his wife lead the children away, trying not to look concerned and worried about them. Dorothy's golden hair hung loosely around her shoulders, and her eyes were very tired, but nonetheless she was to him as beautiful as ever. The drain of her magic had not lessened the grace of even her slightest movement. She almost died last night... the calling of the Ice Orb was very difficult for her.
"You wanted to talk, Master of Ancient Magic? Or did you want to challenge me, as your anger clearly showed but a few moments before?"
Seravi turned, startled by the irritated tone in the Guardian's otherwise cool voice. His eyes met the golden eyes of the Guardian of Wind. "Forgive me. I thought..."
"I had killed her?" the Guardian continued for him. A shade of incredulity passed over the Guardian's ageless, handsome face. "I would never do such a thing. I would never put an end to a being of such dazzling light and power she illuminates the darkness around her in the web of Power." He paused, and his eyes narrowed to golden slits. "I would never, however, interfere with the destiny each of you must fulfill, and thus I must separate her from you for a time."
"What for?"
The Guardian sighed. "Lord Seravi, even the Daughter of Light has her limits. Even though she has trained and honed her powers to perfection for centuries, she would still be moved to interfere if she sees one of you struggling in the midst of your trials. The Guardians cannot permit that kind of disruption of Destiny's course."
Seravi was silent as he contemplated that possibility.
"And," the Guardian continued, "Queen Celestia has drained her life force to the extent that if she is not restored soon, she will die."
"I... know." Seravi looked the Guardian full in the face. "What must be done to restore her?"
The Guardian of Wind knelt before Celestia, cradling her motionless form. "The Guardians will heal her, Lord Seravi. Rest assured of that." The Guardian stood up, still holding Celestia, her hair dark against the gray of the Guardian's robes. She looked so frail, so vulnerable, in his arms, and Seravi felt a wrench of concern and worry for his teacher.
"I'll hold you to that promise."
A wry smile curved the Guardian's lips, and as a sudden strong wind blew through the clearing in a swirl of dead trees' leaves the Guardian and Celestia gradually vanished from Seravi's sight in a swirl of pure white and evening dark hair, in a flurry of rough gray and silken white robes.
Seravi stood gazing at the spot where the Guardian had been but a few moments before, seeming to hear in his mind a whispered warning. Beware, for the beginning of your trials is at hand. He sighed, touched a hand to his forehead, and then walked away from the clearing to join his wife and the children.
Guardian of Wind...? Gehadar? The touch on his mind was very soft, still weak, but the Guardian of Wind whirled around at its touch, his eyes straying to the Daughter of Light's still form and his mind forming a response.
I am here, your Divine Majesty.
Celestia's eyelashes fluttered, but save for that and her slight breathing she showed no other signs of life or consciousness. Where am I?
The Guardians' tower, your Divine Majesty.
How goes it... with them? Then, after a surprised moment, and how is it that I am still alive?
We sustained you until you regained your strength. The strain of the reduced power was evident in the near-sigh that followed that statement. And... the Guardians of Light are about to face their trials, Queen Celestia.
The Guardian of Wind sensed the sudden shock and concern that washed through Celestia's mind, and after a moment her violet eyes fluttered open, breaking the mind-bonds the Guardian had placed her in. Celestia rose swiftly to a sitting position, her now-pristine robes glowing like white water. Ignoring the unfamiliar, spartan surroundings of stone that enclosed her, she faced the Guardian. "What?"
"Their trials are about to begin," Gehadar replied calmly, inwardly surprised at the speed of Celestia's recovery and the power once again shining from deep within her.
Celestia's violet eyes widened, then narrowed. The Guardian of Wind flinched slightly under her intense glare. "So soon?" she asked. The Guardian nodded. "But they're not prepared!" They can't be!
"You are correct... They are not."
The sorceress stood up, suddenly angry at the Guardian, her weakness falling from her like a discarded cloak. "Then..." She raised her arms, as if ready to transport herself from that strange place and to the land of dragons.
"You may not go to them to lend your aid in their trials, Queen Celestia... and you may not call the Immortals to their aid, for divine intervention is forbidden in the struggles of Dark and Light." The Guardian directed a blow at her mind, trying to penetrate her innate defenses and reach her. Please do not make me prevent you... but if it is necessary, I will.
No! Celestia shook herself free of the frail bonds the Guardian's blow had attempted to enclose her mind and her thought in. She drew herself up, her power flaring around her until it radiated intense white light in a pillar around her, her hair billowing purple in the sudden unleashing of her power. "Let me go." Her voice was quiet, but the Guardian could see she was tensed, coiled like a spring and ready to release the awesome light she held in check with but the slightest word.
"And let you change the course of Destiny?" The Guardian paused, and when he spoke again his voice was pained. "Daughter of Light... if you do this we will be forced to reveal the location of the Gem of the Stars to the Lord of Darkness. The Guardians will stay neutral and we will not allow Destiny to be altered this way. We face the destruction of all that is if we do. We face uncertainty, chaos." But that is not certain, the Guardian added in his mind. Not certain. Which is why Destiny's alteration is not permitted... the future is clouded by doubt.
The light around Celestia intensified. "I must go to them, Guardian of Wind. They will all die if they are not prepared for the trials! I have gone through the same trials to become the Daughter of Light, with my only weapons my heart and the strength of my spirit... and I know how impossible they are... how insurmountable."
"Queen Celestia, I understand... and I know. But you must not change the course of Destiny... which is what you will be doing if you go to them. It is at the moment of unpreparedness that one should face the trials set before him." The Guardian's eyes narrowed as he gathered his power in preparation for shielding, fearing the awesome power of the Light, not knowing that deep within Celestia, questions had begun to surface, and she stood there in indecision... knowing the will of Destiny but wanting to go against it.
And so Celestia stood, torn between necessity and want. And am I to protect the Destiny of Light by altering its course? No. But still... I can't just stand here and watch them go through the trials... I can't.
The Guardian saw the indecision in Celestia's violet eyes and spoke. "Remember the power of their hearts, Queen Celestia. Remember the gift of inner sight that has been given to the Goddess' heir by the Guardians. If they are truly worthy of the Light, they will live. Have faith in the Guardians of Light."
Have faith. The words resounded around her. Have faith.
The sorceress dimmed the light around her and bowed her acceptance, her anger cooled by the necessity to obey the force she represented. "I..." her breath caught in her throat, and for a moment she stopped. "I accept. I will not alter Destiny."
The Guardian, bowing to her in thanks and respectful reverence, vanished in a swirl of air, having fulfilled his duty and setting out to fulfill more of his tasks.
Then, from the unfathomable distance of countless miles, Celestia, with the sight that pierces distances and sees into the hearts of men, watched the Guardians of Light. And waited.
"Shiine? You're still awake?" Dorothy's voice was muted as she glanced at Shiine's awake face next to a sleeping -- and snoring -- Riiya. Shiine's brow was creased, as if contemplating something unwanted that lay before him... something he didn't want to face, but was forced to. Dorothy felt a shiver of concern race up and down her spine, its coldness diffusing throughout her body. Is Shiine going to be the first of us to face the trial?
Shiine turned to face her, and Dorothy was struck by the pleading expression of his eyes. Shiine acts so mature we sometimes forget he's just a child. But now, in the flickering golden light of the lamp, Shiine looked so vulnerable... so alone. "Yes, Teacher. I can't sleep," he said softly.
Dorothy drew him close to her, a remembered gesture that she had not done ever since she had married Seravi. Almost instinctively, she could see, with motherlike eyes, what was troubling her student. "It's the trials, isn't it?" she asked.
Shiine looked up at her with surprised eyes. "How did you know, Teacher?"
"I can feel it." Dorothy smoothed the frown away from his forehead. "I've always known what you were feeling since you were young, remember?" She smiled at the memories. "Don't worry about tomorrow, Shiine dear."
"But..."
"You know that the trials won't be easy, and you're afraid you will fail them... aren't you? Don't be."
"I keep feeling that these trials will be the worst we've ever faced. In spite of everything... of Daimarou, of Sofia, of all the hardships we had to go through. And then... these trials... will be even worse. I'll be all alone, and I can't help feeling that I'll be the first to fail--" Tears welled up in the boy's eyes. "I'm afraid... and I don't want to die."
Shiine... oh, my Shiine.. "No, Shiine, you're not going to die!" Dorothy shook her head, her hair flowing around her like a halo of sunlight in the darkness. "No! Nothing is ever certain. Celestia herself doesn't know what will happen tomorrow. But just keep the hope burning in your heart, Shiine... the faithful perseverance and steadfastness you've always had in you. Your hope will be both your shield and your weapon in your trials. That I am sure of."
Shiine was silent for a while, then a small smile lighted his features. "That's true, isn't it?"
Dorothy smiled back at him. "You're the boy of hope, remember?" Dorothy tilted her face at the sound of Seravi calling her name. "Hope... forever." She rose from her half-kneeling position and was gone, out of the tent and into the cool night outside.
Shiine lay awake for a long time, quieting his fears, then reassured by the soft voices of the two magicians outside, closed his eyes and went to sleep.
He was dreaming again.
A howl of frustration and anger echoed through Riiya's mind. For several nights now, dreams had been disturbing his slumber, not letting him sleep when he needed it most, not letting him renew his strength now when it was most needed. Red-eyed, sharp-clawed wraiths of darkness haunted his mind, stealing away the small spark of courage burning deep within him, filling him, instead, with the clammy feeling of fear.
Fear... it was an unfamiliar feeling, with its coldness eating into him and nibbling away at his courage, at the person that was Riiya, enfolding him in its stranger's embrace that held him clawed fingers. It was like a cold wet blanket thrown over the burning fire of his strength, extinguishing it until only the ashes and embers of what had once been a fiery beacon remained.
He hated the feeling. And so, for the past few days, he had tried to deny it, to try to rekindle the small spark of flame that was his courage. But all his efforts were futile. There was no denying the events that had been unfolding before his eyes, events that would ultimately decide the fate of the cosmos. Events of such earthshaking importance he could not deny them, events so awesome he could not deny his fear.
Yes, he admitted finally, I am afraid. It was almost a comfort to admit it, for it lessened the doubt that had been weighing on him since the start of this quest. But deep down inside he knew that he would have to defeat this fear, or it would destroy him.
But how? Riiya cast around desperately for an answer amid the swirling mist of his sleep. A figure seemed to appear in the midst of the fog in his mind, speaking to him, and Riiya uncharacteristically listened to it with almost unknown intensity.
His blue eyes snapped open and he abruptly sat up in bed. Suddenly he knew, the knowledge coming to him in a peculiar flash of insight, white fire dazzling and blinding at the same time.
In a puff of smoke the boy was gone, and a white wolf walked out of the tent and loped towards the forbidding mountains on the horizon.
"I’m afraid, Seravi." The whispered words were carried to his ears sighing in the cool night. Seravi turned and saw Dorothy, her arms wrapped around her shoulders as if they could somehow shield her from what lay ahead. "For Amethyst... for us."
"Yes... I am too." The glimmer of tears lingered in Seravi's eyes, washed away as they were by the tide of honor and duty. "Amethyst is safe. No force on the universe can harm her now... and I can feel it. Feel her." Oh, my daughter, sweet child... "But still... I cannot help being afraid."
"As are the children... Seravi, Shiine..." Dorothy bowed her head, and when she raised her face again her eyes were filled with tears. "Shiine..." She wanted to tell her husband of the sudden fear that seemed to have gripped Shiine's heart, but as she looked into his eyes she saw that he already knew. Seravi nodded.
"Riiya, too," he said. "And Cha Cha..."
They hear the soft sound of footfalls behind them, and they turned to see Cha Cha, her hair tousled by sleep -- or the lack of it -- and her face even paler in the moonlight. "Teacher Seravi," Cha Cha said, quietly, "we are all afraid of the trials, aren't we?" Her brown eyes were grave, uncharacteristically serious in the light of the gift of inner sight given to her. After the few minutes during which Dorothy had explained the Guardians' gift of inner sight, Cha Cha had spent the rest of the day thinking, which was unlike her. She had changed. But they had all been changed by the beginning of the quest... for they knew that their lives were at stake here, and the fate of the cosmos as well.
Suddenly a soundless burst of blue fire lit up the inside of the tent Riiya and Shiine shared, and in its light they could see a white wolf loping towards the craggy mountain range on the horizon. Dorothy cried out, but Seravi's hand on her shoulder restrained her even as the young wolf that was Riiya headed towards the mountains and the blue light died down.
Then, as the unearthly fire dimmed, they realized -- too late -- that the tent was empty.
Dorothy leaned on Seravi for suppost, shivering in concern. "Not them... not them..." she whispered, as if her words could make right what had happened. As if the frail bonds of her whisper could hold the two boys as they started towards the greatest battle of their lives -- the struggle with themselves and with powers unknown.
Cha Cha bit her lip, not wanting to cry... wanting to stand strong and firm amidst the chaos and doubt borne of the deciding trials they would have to face. "Riiya... Shiine..." Cha Cha murmured, "they will be the first."
As the darkness of night once again closed around them, the remaining sat down on the grass, unable to sleep. Simply listening, watching, feeling... waiting.
"Not them!" Celestia cried, her words an echo of Dorothy's whisper and her violet eyes not seeing her surroundings but instead the dark night that blanketed the land of the dragons illuminated by a flash of light. In that light she could see the Young Wolf trotting towards the mountains, and in that light she could feel the rushing surge of tightly controlled magic from the Magician-Knight.
A breath of fiery anger escaped between Celestia's tightly clenched teeth. Of all the Guardians of Light, she knew the Young Wolf and the Magician-Knight to be most vulnerable, for they had not the Master and Mistress of Ancient Magic's experience and skill, nor the heritage of the heir of the Goddess. Now they, the most unprepared, were going to face the greatest challenge of their lives. She herself had gone through the trials, and she knew how much supreme will and strength of mind it took to even survive the trials... for in them the individual battled not only himself and his weaknesses but also the powers that lurked in the darkness waiting for the Guardians of the Light.
For what seemed like the thousandth time she cursed the Lord of Darkness. Zadion, you scum!
Why, thank you, Daughter of Light.
At the mocking touch of the Lord of Darkness' evil mind, Celestia reacted almost instinctively, sending a controlled mental stab at his own mental defenses. She felt slight satisfaction as the dark mind recoiled, waves of pain and surprise emanating for it. Her blow had not been expected. The centuries of imprisonment have made you feeble, Dark One.
Zadion's dark, dusty laugh filled with malice tingled through Celestia's mind. Less than your youth has made you weak, fledgling. It will take more than two centuries of constant training to defeat what eons of evil have spawned. His counterattack came suddenly, a searing burst of evil tearing through the sorceress' mental shields. Celestia gasped as she felt its force strike her mind.
Her eyes narrowed as she pushed the evil's force away from her. It will take more than that...
To defeat you? Zadion's laugh once again reverberated through Celestia's mind. Then rest assured, O Immortal Queen, that it will take more than whatever the Light can muster to defeat the rage and evil Darkness has spent eons building. More than anything you can ever muster. You stand alone now, for the Immortals are forbidden to join you and the Guardians of the Light will soon be dead.
Celestia clenched her teeth and threw the force of her mind at him in a lancing of mental power. Begone! You will not stop me from fulfilling the Light with your hollow threats.
As you wish, Daughter of Light. In a sudden rush of withdrawn thought the presence of the Lord of Darkness was gone, leaving Celestia in her anger and frustration. She had sensed the awesome, near limitless, power of his mind, and even though she knew the limits of her own mind, she did not know if she would be able to defeat him. His power, his evil, seemed to be so absolute, and his words had carried with them the strong conviction of assured victory.
Yet nothing is ever certain. The words of the conversation had burned into her mind, and as Celestia sifted through the words, noting every emotion, every inflection, every slight shift in tone that might have told her more about her ultimate enemy, she felt an underlying tone of very slight fear in the Lord of Darkness' words. She stopped, surprised, and listened to the words in her mind again. I've never thought of him as being afraid of the Light! But still I am more afraid of the Darkness, than he is of the Light. He does not fear me as I fear him, but he fears only the Light. Still he fears the destiny, the force, I represent, and that means that I may have a small chance of defeating him.
Her thoughts gave her renewed hope... and a slim chance of victory. No matter how small, she would hold on to that chance as firmly as she could, as tenaciously as a dying man grasps his lifeline, never letting go even beyond death. That very slim chance was the sole ray of light in the darkness of their seemingly-hopeless quest... and she knew that it, too, was the sole hope of the whole cosmos as well.
The sorceress suddenly knew what she must do, and deep inside her she also knew that the Guardians would not forbid it. She gathered her power around her in a swirl of light and disappeared from the Guardians' tower.
Riiya arrived at the foot of the mountains just as dawn began to tint the darkened sky with the first faint flushes of morning color. In his wolf form, he had travelled by foot all night just to reach this forbidding mountain range whose crags seemed carved from solid stone. He paused for a moment, transformed back into a boy, and then leaned against a tree to think of what he would do next.
How had he known to come here? The question intruded itself on his thoughts, and Riiya delved deep into his mind to find the answer. I don't know. Somehow the answer was not unexpected, as if he had come there out of instinct buried deep within him and the fulfillment of a necessity.
So what do I do now?
The answer was again from an unknown part of him. The cave.
What? But there was no more knowledge or insight, only the words that had entered his mind swiftly, without thought, and vanished just as quickly : The cave.
Riiya began to circle the foot of the mountain, his blue eyes carefully probing every granite nook and stone-gray cranny, looking for a cave. The thought that he might not know that particular cave when he saw it never entered his mind. Somehow he would know.
After a few moments he found it. It was concealed behind several boulders of heavy granite, and the entrance was very small, so that one would have to stoop to enter. Still, Riiya felt a thrill of recognition run through him, not entirely alien but still not familiar -- as if it came from a part of him buried so deep inside he did not know it -- and suddenly he felt the essence of the Young Wolf, a Guardian of the Light, well up deep inside him and burst free from whatever had concealed it before, filling him with the knowledge and strength he would need for what lay ahead.
Somehow he knew that his trial -- the first battle between Light and Darkness through him -- would take place inside, and already he could feel the conflicting emotions of excitement and bitter fear inside him. Somehow he knew that this was what he had been born for, that the fulfillment of this trial was his destiny.
The young boy picked a path through the stone-littered ground, between the boulders, and into the darkness of the cave. His breath sounded very loud to his ears in the musty silence of the cave entrance, and he could feel the hammering of his heart like a drumbeat echoing in his ears.
Then, slowly, Riiya could see the faint sunlight that penetrated the shadowy recesses of the cave being shut out, and as he whirled around he saw a rock, its grating sound very loud in the sudden quiet, closing the entrance of the cave. As he stood there in stunned silence, the rock finally walled him in, enfolding him in absolute darkness.
Riiya took a deep breath and readied himself for the trial that was near beginning.
With a disgruntled "oof!" Shiine dropped heavily on the high dragongrass, landing on his side. He lay on his side for a few moments, wincing in pain and breathing heavily. Where am I? He had no memory of what had happened after he had enclosed himself in that blue rush of magic and being surrounded by cool energy in a swirling vortex that had carried him through time and space and to this place, now.
Shiine looked up at the dawn sky beginning to be stained by the first brushstrokes of color and at the granite mountains towering above him, blinking in dazed bewilderment. The setting seemed so familiar, as if he had seen it before, but as he looked through his memories he could not recall having even seen such a forbidding, but at the same time beautiful, place.
What am I doing here then? In his overwhelming confusion Shiine had momentarily forgotten something, which suddenly came into his mind as if it was answering his call. A conversation with his teacher, the foreboding hanging over him like a cloud, the shadow of the coming trials looming over the horizon... the thoughts coalesced, taking shape, and in a blinding flash of insight Shiine suddenly understood that his trial was about to begin.
Paralyzing fear gripped him in its clawed hands, then strangely -- or perhaps not -- it was gone, like blurring morning mist before the warmth of the sun. Instead the fear was replaced by the calm certainty that was Shiine and yet alien to him -- the aspect of Shiine that was the Guardian of Light and champion of Hope. Shiine shook his head to clear it, the shadow of a frown appearing in his eyes. My trial... am I prepared to face it?
He lay on his back, hidden from outside view by the high blades of dragongrass, watching the sun rise in the leaden gray sky and feeling the sense of certainty and decision in his heart rise with every golden ray of the sun. Lying there for a few moments gave Shiine the time to reorganize his thoughts enough to make a decision and find an answer to the question that had been echoing through his mind for so long.
Finally the sun burst its radiance into the dawn sky, lighting up the land with its saffron hue. Shiine, eyes full of determination, rose slowly, brushed the grass off his blue robe, and walked towards a cliff, on the farther side on the mountain, where he somehow knew his trial would take place.
A few sparks of blinding light suddenly appeared in the pale morning sky, outshining the newly risen sun. Seravi started, rising from his seat on the grass from where he had not moved since the Young Wolf and the Magician-Knight set out to face their trials.
The sparks of light came together, forming a dazzling pinpoint of multihued brilliance that suddenly swirled into a less blinding nimbus before fading away, leaving a woman whose dark hair slowly settled around her shoulders and whose pure white gown seemed a reflection of the morning sun's light. Celestia smiled, almost smugly, at her student's stupefied expression.
At last Seravi managed to stammer a few words. "Ce-Celestia!?! Celestia!?!"
"You don't have to state the obvious." Celestia seemed as full of life as ever, her violet eyes filled with mirth and her crystal-clear voice sweet and vibrant. Evidently the life-force the starsong had taken had been renewed.
"I -- yes, Teacher... " Seravi faltered, stopped, and continued. "What are you doing here?" he finally burst out.
"I'm glad to see you too, dearest student." Celestia paused to laugh, the notes of her laughter tinkling in the cool air. "And... I'm here because the trials have begun, and because the Guardians wanted to keep me locked up in that stuffy tower of theirs."
"You -- you escaped from the Guardians?" Seravi's eyes were growing wider and wider. Celestia seemed to be bent on stopping his heart, either through her unpredictability, the sheer craziness with which she seemed possessed for the time being, or a mixture of both. And in her weakened condition...
"Of course not. It's more like... I left their tower." Celestia paused to pat her student comfortingly on the shoulder, though she was clearly exhilirated by the opportunity to flabbergast her student and the Guardians at the same time. "Calm yourself, Seravi. The Guardians renewed what had been taken from me and later I left their tower. I know that the Guardians wouldn't forbid what I did in the first place. They just said I couldn't interfere in the trials... they didn't forbid me from watching the trials, did they?"
Seravi nodded in understanding. "Why, then? Why risk your life in coming here?"
The light-hearted mirth drained from Celestia's eyes, leaving only gravity and the certainty of one who has seen the truth -- all its clarity and its blinding reality -- in their violet depths, and when she spoke, her voice was low and quiet. "I have seen what will happen, Master of Ancient Magic," she said softly, as if she was afraid her words would break the spell of sunlight over the land of dragons. "I know the trials the Young Wolf and the Magician-Knight will undergo. And so I came here... for even if I cannot directly take a hand in their trials, I might be able to help you, and help them as well."
Seravi remained silent, inwardly startled by her use of his fated name and the sudden dropping of the cheerful mask she wore. If the situation's that serious... how can you still smile? he thought, almost accusingly. If Amethyst's life will be decided by what will happen here... if the fate of the cosmos will rest on the trials... how can you still laugh? How can your eyes still remain sparkling when...
Celestia saw the deepening of the emerald in his eyes and spoke. "I take joy in the little things I can, Seravi," she murmured. Unexpected tears filled her eyes as she remembered the deep, still unhealed wounds her past had left in her heart, but she blinked them away. "If I couldn't laugh or take joy in anything, then my heart would be gone... and only the person driven by destiny would remain." She looked tearfully up at her student. "You understand, don't you?"
"All too well."
A silence ensued after Seravi's reply, a silence Celestia finally broke by asking, "Where are Dorothy and Cha Cha?"
"They're sleeping in the tents. Last night was exhausting for us... we stayed awake to wait for what would happen." Seravi noticed the weariness stamped on Celestia's perfect brow. "You should get some sleep, too."
"But Riiya... Shiine... their trials?"
"I'll watch over them, and wake you if anything happens."
Celestia's grateful smile brightened the whole morning as she slipped away to sleep in one of the tents, her silken robes trailing her like streaming banners caught in the wind.
Riiya's blue eyes were very wide as they gradually adjusted to the almost palpable darkness in the cave. He groped in the darkness for something solid to hold on to, his hands wide open in searching. A few moments later his seeking fingers found something hard and gripped it, bringing it close to his face and peering at it with eyesight honed by years of training and growing up in communion with nature.
A... candle? The candle was short and had been used before, with streaks of wax running down its worn surface. Riiya's fingers curiously touched the blackened wick, drawing back quickly when the wick promptly flamed at his touch. Huh? How did that happen? Then he remembered: My trial.
In the flickering light of the candle, Riiya could clearly see the inside of the cave with its unnaturally smooth, polished walls and strange symbols along the passageway he was in, a small corridor of stone that opened into a larger space. As he walked along the empty passageway, Riiya could see that were five repeated symbols embedded in the wall. In the few steps before he reached the end of the passageway and the space it opened into, Riiya could see not one of the five symbols embedded in the wall but a single, pulsating gem that reflected the flickering candlelight with its own brilliant fire.
The candle was not longer than his thumb now, and Riiya bit back a cry of pain as hot wax dripped on his hand. Finally he reached the space the corridor opened into, gripping the candle and looking around with wide blue eyes for a light source. His eyes caught a gentle light glowing faintly in a dim corner. Almost bemused, but with his nerves screaming the tension, excitement, and fear he felt, Riiya walked toward the light.
He saw, instead of the strange rock formation he had been expecting, a girl whose whole body glowed with an inner light. She faced him as he came near, and with her warm golden eyes, polished auburn hair, and golden-brown skin, she was a reassuring, if unexpected, presence in the darkness of the cavern.
"We have been expecting you," she remarked as soon as he came within hearing distance. Her voice was soft, but it echoed through the caves, strangely choral like she was speaking in more than one voice.
"You are a Guardian...?" Riiya felt the power emanating from her being, as if her body was but a shell and the true essence of her the power within her, flame-like and living.
"I am--" Her voice was still soft, but it was filled with unmistakable strength. The power within her grew to a fiery strength, burning and purifying at the same time, almost tangible in its searing light. "The Guardian of the Flame, mistress of the creation and destruction of fire's heat, protectress of the life-giving flame and the destroying fire." Her lips curved slightly at Riiya's awkward bow. "And I am here to guide you, O Young Wolf, in the trial that lies before you, for mistake me not, it is a hard and dangerous path you set your feet upon."
Riiya swallowed, nervously, at her cryptic words.
The Guardian of the Flame held out her hand, a flame dancing almost joyfully on her palm. "Your task is to find the courage that was lost," she said quietly. "The bravery now almost gone, and the flame now dying. Find the fire of your courage and keep it burning."
"I don't understand."
"You will, soon." The Guardian of the Flame raised her flame-marked hand towards another dark, shadowy entrance. "The way of your trial begins there. And so that your eyes may not be blinded by the shadows," she held out the flame dancing on her palm to him, "take this." Riiya wonderingly took the living fire on her palm, inwardly surprised by the unexpected coolness of the Guardian's flame.
The Guardian nodded in acknowledgement, stepped back, and raised her arms. The searing heat and blinding light of fire surrounded her, almost caressingly as if the fire was embracing its superior and mistress, and in the midst of the amber flames Riiya saw her form gradually fading away with the dying down of the fire.
Riiya could still hear her last whispered words just before her teleportation, echoing in his mind with fateful finality. Let the trial of the Young Wolf begin... now. Even the words, soft as they were, were filled with the same intensity and dedication that was characteristic of the beings of Destiny.
Beating back the fear that rose like bitter bile to his throat, Riiya, the flame burning cool warmth on his palm and shedding light around him, started towards the entrance and to the greatest darkness of his life.
The breeze gently fanned Shiine's feverish face as he finally reached the cliff overlooking a river... the river Lrane, he though to himself as he remembered his geography. The river Lrane sparkled, jewel-like, in the golden rays of the morning sun, and as Shiine watched it flowing slowly below the cliff he thought that the river did not look dangerous at all, even though it was the stuff of legend that the mere touch of the river's waters was death.
Shiine then looked up from the sparkling water of the Lrane and at the pure blue sky reflected in its mirrorlike, wavering surface. It's such a beautiful day, he thought, seeking to draw the blue of the sky and of the water, merging, into himself, to fill his being with peace to ready himself for the trial at hand.
He smiled to himself as he let himself be immersed in his memories and peaceful thoughts of the present, banishing the fears and worries that wrapped their phantom hands around his spirit... letting the hope that once flamed brightly inside him burn brighter than ever.
"I am ready," he whispered finally to the water, to the sky... to the enchanted horizon of infinite possibility where they met.
The waters of the Lrane shimmered, rippling like liquid sunshine as a figure rose from the Lrane's depths and soared to the edge of the cliff where Shiine stood in amazement. The figure was glowing with power, and as Shiine stood in shock at the seeming-apparition that rose from the waters whose touch was death, the glow surrounding the figure died, leaving only a nymph of water with sea-green tresses and eyes as blue as the sky above her.
"Magician-Knight," the nymph acknowledged, inclining her graceful head slightly. She spoke in a soft, echoing voice that seemed to be strangely choral, as if she were but part of a unified whole functioning harmoniously as one. But there was a sadness about her, the air of one who has been torn by indecision and the inability to make a choice for her whole life. Shiine knew with unshakable certainty that she was indeed a Guardian, and he felt the absoluteness of the path he had begun.
There is no turning back now.
The Guardian looked at him as if she had heard his thought, her gaze penetrating all the outer defenses he had build around his heart and seeing what lay deep in his heart. Finally she seemed to make a decision, her blue eyes now determined in calm certainty. After what seemed like an eternity, she spoke. "I am," and her tone was flowing, her voice filled with unmistakable power, "the Guardian of the Waters, protectress of the mysterious depths and the horizon of the great waters, mistress of the gentle river and the raging sea."
Five columns of wavering blue light sheathed the glowing symbols of precious metal that appeared around her, and as she made a slight gesture the symbols drifted around her, forming a semicircle that surrounded almost the whole area atop the cliff, and as she touched a hand to her forehead a star appeared before her and hovered in the center of the semicircle.
Shiine was silent. In the old days before he knew his destined role he would have recoiled in amazement and not have the almost superhuman calm that filled him now, but he knew what he had to do... and in his heart he was determined that he would do it. "Are you here to instruct me in what I must do?" he asked, finally.
"Yes," she said simply, and in her eyes there seemed to be fulfillment at his perception. "Your task," she began, her voice no longer soft and its choral quality more pronounced than ever as her voice rose, ringing clear over the water, "is to find the spark of hope that still exists inside you, and keep it alive and burning brightly in the face of insurmountable odds. And in doing this you may risk losing your life, but do not let the hope that has always been in your heart die."
She stopped, frowning and her eyes distant as if listening to the murmuring of the choral voices. "For your trial is not only against the might of the supernatural powers of Darkness but against the fears in yourself, the doubts that do not cease to cloud your spirit with their shadows."
Dark eyes grave yet determined, Shiine bowed to the Guardian of the Waters. "I understand," he said, very quietly, and the breeze carried his words up to the blue heavens. "And I accept my trial and the task I must fulfill."
The nymph who was the Guardian of Waters inclined her head, and the waters of the Lrane gushed forward and then fountained into the air, a pillar of shimmering blue that reached the high edge of the cliff. She made an imperceptible gesture and the pillar of water rushed forward in a shining wave, enveloping her form. The waters of the Lrane surrounded her, swirling in the power of her teleportation, then suddenly sank back down to the river as the nymph's teleportation ended.
Shiine looked at the grass, still shining with water, where the nymph had stood earlier. In the sudden silence he heard her whispered words, carried from wherever she had transported herself to. Let the trial of the Magician-Knight begin... now.
The first thing that entered Riiya's mind in the wake of the Guardian of Flame's fiery teleportation was the thought of tangible, deepening darkness that seemed to enclose him in its arms, striving to consume it. In the darkness the flame that danced on his palm was insignificant in pushing back the darkness, a small spark hidden in concealing shadows.
Riiya suppressed a shudder and walked into the deeper black of the entrance. The flame dancing on his palm grew still and dimmed, as if overwhelmed by the darkness. Another thrill of fear ran through him, its coldness spreading through his body and decreasing the flame even more. Be brave, Riiya.
He first saw that he was in a narrower passageway, one that ended in a wall. But as he walked farther down the narrow passage he saw that there was an even narrower, twisting corridor to his right. Gulping nervously, he entered it. The corridor led to another twisting end, but one with two openings... one to the left and one to the right.
Blinking in spite of himself, Riiya took the left pathway.
At about the third time he came to a choice in where he should turn, Riiya realized that he was trapped in a maze. Before, his decision on where he should turn had been random, for he hadn't known what exactly he had gotten himself into. But now... now, knowing the full import of what was happening here, he was filled with cold doubt.
The flame on his palm danced impatiently, then swayed towards the right. It seemed to be... guiding him... and a fresh surge of courage welled inside Riiya. Grinning to himself, he turned to the right, then to the left, following the flame.
Soon, however, the grin disappeared from Riiya's face to be replaced by a look of sheer terror as writhing black snakes surged in the near-darkness behind him, tongues flickering and scales hissing against the cold stone floor and between the walls that seemed to suddenly press their menacing strength down on him, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. Riiya bit his lip to keep from screaming his fright, then crawled along the passageways as fast as his feet would carry him.
The reptilian monstrosities followed, gliding fluidly along faster than Riiya would have thought them capable. Their tongues darted out, now no longer flickering black but instead pure darkness that extinguished what little light there was left. Scales hissing on the floor like some evil music that drowned out all other sound, they followed, faster, faster, like the breaking of waves and tides.
And the passageways were getting narrower and narrower, coldness seeping through their constricting walls. The rough dark stone they were made of was slippery to the touch, as if they, too, felt the pure, mindless terror of the person travelling through them.
Narrower and narrower, like the cold, dead belly of some huge snake that was the kindred of the reptiles who now pursued him. Narrower and narrower, as if the stones, the darkness, the cold air that whispered through the tunnels, Fate itself... as if they all were conspiring to take his life and put out what little courage the Young Wolf had left.
Cold fear banished all thoughts of courage from him and put out the flame dancing on his palm. As Riiya scurried on driven by thoughts of desperate survival, without the flame to guide him, trapped and pursued by creatures he most feared in rapidly narrowing, pitch black tunnels he thought: I am going to die.
Shiine stood alone on the cliff, the winds tossing his hair and robe about. In the few moments after the Guardian had left the wind had turned cuttingly cold, its sharpness penetrating the cloth of his robe. He rubbed his hands together, blowing on them to let them retain the heat they had had just a few moments before.
An eerie voice seemed to sigh with the wind, whispering in his ear and bringing with it the fears and doubts of so many days, spinning into a storm of terror. Even as he firmly tried to push it out of his mind -- to keep with him the song of sun and light he locked in his heart -- the voice continued, and with it a chorus of female voices... whispering, sighing, wailing, weeping. And as the voices rose to a crescendo, to a triumphant shout of deepest darkness, he felt a new storm-black presence shattering the still air.
Shiine's robe whirled as he spun to face the new presence on the cliff suddenly shrouded by stormclouds of supernatural power. There stood a being cloaked in clouds of deep, deep blue, face hidden by a dark hood.
They stood facing each other in silence until Shiine gathered up enough strength to keep his voice from trembling when he spoke. "Who are you?" Then, What are you?
The being did not speak, but Shiine heard a metallic laugh echo through his mind. What am I? Has your mind been so stopped up by present circumstances that you cannot think as clearly as you are purported to? Use your eyes, boy. In one fluid motion, the figure tore the black hood hiding its face away, revealing a face of pale, unearthly beauty twisted by unspeakable evil. Shiine took a step back.
A woman...
No woman am I, boy. My mortal form was consumed eons ago, and thus I will take what form I can... Then, a cold laugh. Perhaps even yours, when I vanquish you in single combat.
The being clearly felt the shock that rippled through Shiine. Feh. I see that the power of the Guardian of the Light and its Hope has gone to a mere child, a weakling. How disappointing. Did you not see my intent? I made no effort to hide it, boy. You might as well be blind. Shiine grit his teeth, something that seemed to amuse the being very much.
"I will not reply to your empty threats," Shiine said as unwaveringly as he could. "A Guardian of the Light will not stoop to your level."
The being's dark eyes blazed. "You? Stoop to me?!" she cried incredulously. Her voice was delicate, almost musical, but it carried with it all the cold and cutting intensity of winters' blades. She held out her palm, and a hurricane of jet-black formed on it. "Have you no idea who I am?" she began, icy rage thrumming through her voice. "Named I am not, for the fears of Hope are so numerous they may not be named. As are the forms I have taken throughout the years. But you will see what I am known by, for it is not fitting for one such as you to not know she who will destroy you." She raised her right hand above her head, and the hurricane nestled in her palm burst free and enveloped her, tearing away the blue clouds that covered her and revealing a slender body with the trimness of a knife. "Know, O Guardian of the Light," she shrieked, "that I am the Instrument of Darkness known as the Blade, who will reave you of your life as quickly and smoothly as the cold ice and winds of winter penetrate, for the victory of the Darkness." A chilling smile curved her lips. "Be honored, for eons of honing have prepared me for you now."
A sparkling mass of edges, hard as any diamond, shimmered into reality behind her. Shiine focused his eyes on them, trying not to think of how sharp they were.
Then all thought ceased as his adversary struck.
Riiya could not scream. Try as he might -- for perhaps, if he could express it, the icy hand wrapped around his heart would loosen slightly -- no sound could come out of his suddenly dry mouth, the moisture sucked out of it as his courage had been sucked from his heart, leaving it cold and petrified.
No sound, except for the dry rasp of his breathing.
But then the air around him came alive in searing intensity as the hissing of the snakes and the scratching of their dry, lifeless scales reached his ears. Louder and louder it grew, hellish music from an unknown place of evil, grating away the last defenses he put up between himself and complete, total fear. Riiya risked a glance behind him, his blue eyes wide in the darkness, and saw nothing.
Nothing!
The thought hit him as painfully as the last blow comes to an already dying man. He could see nothing of the monsters who were pursuing him... nothing of the black death that was gaining on him inch by inch, second by second. It was painful to know that the darkness left him defenseless and sightless -- for if he could not see his attackers, how could he fight back?
How could he fulfill his trial and the test of his courage if he could not see in the solid, tangible darkness... darkness that even now enveloped his being with fear and vulnerability?
It's not fair! he howled. How can they see in this darkness? even as he scurried this way and that, feeling his way with his cold, shaking hands.
See in the darkness... and somewhere, in the regions of Riiya's mind where instinct and inspiration lived an idea's light shone. No, wait, the snakes couldn't see in the darkness. It was impossible, and he had seen snakes enough to know that they had very poor eyesight.
Their sense of smell and their flickering tongues, however...
Quite suddenly the tunnels grew quiet, the scratching of the scales against the floor gone. Riiya gasped, shortly, as he felt live heat -- searing, singing, burning -- pursuing him instead of the snakes. As he glanced behind him once more he could see deeper darkness behind him, writhing in shapes of flame... the snakes, changed into their forms of power. The difference between the tunnel's darkness and the snakes' new black fire was very slight, but it was enough for the trained eyes of the wolf.
One advantage gained, and another...
Gritting his teeth to prepare for the pop of displaced form, Riiya transformed into the wolf as quickly as he could, then ran forward, putting as much distance between him and the reptiles.
Even from the distance that separated them Riiya could hear the angry hisses of frustration the snakes let loose when they came to the spot where his scent ended. The snakes began to undulate across the stones where he last transformed, searching for his scent. Riiya grinned to himself, then increased his speed. It wouldn't be long before the snakes smelled the wolf's scent, and them being creatures of Darkness, they would follow the wolf, too.
His nose bumped something cold and solid. A wall. He felt along its sides for an opening, a way of further escape, panic escalating with each second.
He found none.
As Riiya desperately wondered what he was going to do, images, bright in the darkness of the tunnels, flashed before his eyes. Somehow they gave him renewed hope. Strength. Courage.
His classmates at Urara Gakuen. Teachers Rascal, Bara Bara, Maya.
Grandfather and his brothers.
Seravi, Dorothy, Shiine. Even Celestia.
Cha Cha.
He was fighting for each of them, for all of them and for all the cosmos contained, and now, seeing them and their lives, he knew that he would keep his courage for them, here, now. They depended on him and his strength... and, Riiya swore, he would not fail them.
Never.
As the shaking and coldness left Riiya's limbs he transformed into a boy once more. There was no real use for the wolf form, and he was not one to delay the inevitable. Courage and unshakable certainty surged through him, bringing him strength, and as Riiya held forth his palm and concentrated his will and force on it the flame the Guardian had given him flared once more into life. Now it was no longer a little flame dancing joyfully on his palm, but a living fire, deadly strong.
Fire to counter fire, Guardian's light to fight darkness' heat.
The snakes of dark fire rounded the corner, blazing eyes angry. Riiya stood his ground, power flowing around him as if it were a protective shield of light. The fire in his palm brightened, showing the reptiles in all their monstrosity, in painful, excruciating detail. Each line of the snakes' writhing bodies was outlined in flickering dark fire, and their emerald eyes glowed in malice as they saw the boy, fire in his hand, standing tall before the cold stone wall.
Ever so slowly, the snakes slithered across the rough floor, tongues darting out nervously. They, now, were afraid, for they were trained hunters and not used to having their prey face them so fearlessly. Still they were foremost creatures of Darkness, and so they gathered speed as they went until predators and prey were only a few paces apart.
Surrounding him in a ring of dark fire, the snakes hissed nervously, tongues tasting the air. Riiya stared at them, forcing down the fear that came to his throat in bitter coldness. No. Clenching himself, he closed his fist and let the fire in his hand burst between his fingers and sheath his hand.
The dark serpents struck, simultaneously. Their attack covered him in dark fire that looked for all the world as if it were going to consume him wholly. Riiya's eyes narrowed uncharacteristically as his enemy struck. This was not fun or games anymore, and the childish antics of the past would not work here. This was real life.
His flame-sheathed hand moved in a circle before him as he jabbed and blocked, parried and dodged the dark reptiles' attacks with practiced skill. He was glad... supremely thankful... that his grandfather had found the time and the opportunity to teach him the art of hand-to-hand combat. Cha Cha and Shiine did not know he had learned. An involuntary "ow!" escaped his lips as the fangs of a dark serpent sank into his arm, but he fought on.
As he fought his mind seemed to slip farther and farther away from the cramped tunnel where he was and instead focused on the person he was fighting for. Cha Cha, her brown eyes hopeful, was watching him with her gift of inner sight as he fought, and Riiya gained courage from the sight of her.
I won't fail you, Cha Cha.
The strength that had been drained from him flowed through his limbs, surging, roaring, a powerful torrent that absolutely had to be released. Riiya, his eyes still fixed on his image of Cha Cha, loosed the strength in him with all the will he could focus.
And suddenly he was sheathed in living flame.
It was not hot, Riiya thought wonderingly. The fiery nimbus was actually somewhat cool, soothing. Certainly not what he expected. He focused his will on it tentatively, and it grew in heat and light as Riiya grew more confident with his fire.
The serpents of darkness writhed in agony as the fire surrounding Riiya grew in intensity. The transfer from their physical forms to the purer, more dangerous forms of darkness had somehow weakened their defenses to light. As the light in the tunnels grew, the weaker they became, and the heat of the fire was very painful to them.
Riiya heard their mental shrieks even as he kept his eyes on Cha Cha's face and increased the fire. Please! No more!
What?
Please, Guardian of Light! We are slowly being destroyed! Relent! We will turn from the Darkness and be your servants... and you will be able to conquer the world with our power!
The young boy thought about that plea for a moment, but in the space of that moment he could see the gleam in the head serpent's emerald eyes. The snakes would be true to their promise, but they would turn him to the Darkness and absolute evil. He would be no better than Daimarou, who had tried his best to kill Cha Cha. Somehow, the memory strengthened his resolve as he held his arm up and focused the fire to searing heat.
No! he cried silently. Darkness, you'll never take me!
The fire around him flared into blinding intensity, so bright that Riiya had to close his eyes, all the while hearing the dying screams of the dark serpents in his mind.
Then, the image of Cha Cha still etched into his mind, he sank to the ground, the poison of the reptiles' fangs taking effect and clouding his thoughts with pain. As he lost consciousness his last thought was: Cha Cha... I have not failed you...
Cold pain cut into Shiine's body as the blades struck. Gritting his teeth, he blinked away the tears that misted his eyes and tried to look the Blade directly in the face. Her glittering eyes, dark and bottomless, flashed with pleasure as she heard him saying in a pain-choked voice, "You'll never win."
The Blade smirked. "You are not in a position to say that, Guardian of Light." Her skin-tight black vest moved slightly as she shifted her position. "I, however, am."
Shiine's brown bangs fell over his face as he bowed his head, desperately gasping for breath as he summoned the strongest magic he could focus enough to think of. The blades were so cold... "That hasn't been decided yet," he shot back with as much strength as he could muster. The magic he summoned flowed around him, melting the edges of the blades and renewing his strength. The Blade's eyes widened slightly as she saw golden light surround him, healing and restoring his recently battered body. After a few moments Shiine was able to stand straight, his eyes fixed on the Blade's figure and his face hardened with resolve in spite of the excruciating pain he felt.
"Most impressive," the Blade purred. "I find it more interesting to fight someone who actually strikes back."
"I'll do more than just strike back, Blade," Shiine panted. "I'm going to defeat you." He tried to make his words sound as threatening as possible, but they came out empty and hollow in the face of the Blade's gathering storm.
The cold beauty of the instrument's face twisted in contempt. "Really, Magician-Knight?" she asked. "And how are you going to do that?"
Shiine was thrown off-balance by her question, suddenly realizing that he did not know this being and the powers she possessed. "I'm sure I'll be able to," he retorted.
"How sure?" the Blade snorted. "This sure?" A gale swept through the cliff's edge, and Shiine found himself straining to keep himself upright. "This sure?" And the gale was joined by a storm, a hurricane of icy darts that whipped around him and cut into his face. Shiine cried out and shielded his face with his arms amid the Blade's metallic laughter.
"Give it up, Magician-Knight," she mocked. "You cannot withstand even this? Then how can you hope to even have a chance of surviving?"
"You haven't seen anything yet, Blade," Shiine spat. He clenched himself, fervently whispering a spell to form a shield. Moments later a pale blue shield shimmered into view, enclosing him from most of the rocks. The boy smiled slightly, turning away from his handiwork and to his enemy. "I'm more than just a boy, dark one," he murmured as he fired a cyan blast at the Blade. The bolt hit her in the stomach, and she doubled over slightly in shock and pain.
Shiine's triumph, however, was short-lived, for the Blade soon straightened, the effects of the blast nothing more than a few singed threads of her vest. "Indeed." The Blade's nonchalant expression fell away as she regarded him with wary eyes. "Very formidable," she growled. "I see I have a real adversary this time. I'm so glad." She held up a fist, and knives appeared between her fingers as she lunged.
For a moment, time seemed to stop, but then Shiine recovered and caught the Blade's attack with full-blown fire from both outstretched hands. Once again he whispered thanks to his mother Aelis for teaching him some countermagic, magic lost in the mists of time that was as instinctive and inborn as thought.
The fire made a distinctive sound as it burned into the Blade, coruscating over the darkness of her skin-tight vest and burning into her snow-white skin. Her hair fell over her pale face like a dark veil as she gasped, then fell.
But Shiine had forgotten that the Blade had other ways to fight.
The wind keened around Shiine's ears and wove ice into his hair. Blowing more forcefully than ever, it whipped through his limbs with icy shafts and blinded him with fog. His eyes cloaked, Shiine could not see the shafts of ice falling from the leaden sky at breakneck speed.
The Magician-Knight's breath stopped as twin glacial spears hurled themselves down at him. It was only by pure chance that he heard the sibilant whistle the spears made as they hurtled down, and it was only by instinct that he twisted to avoid the blades aimed at his neck and at his back. Shiine shuddered as the spears flung themselves down on either side of him, their cold intensity searing his shoulders.
If I hadn't heard them in time...
He caught himself just as the spears started to blaze, then multiply in front of his stunned eyes. Cold white crystals grew in the ground near his feet, covering the blades of dragongrass in sharp detail and growing into multitudes of spears. Shiine's eyes narrowed as he released heat around him, which melted the growing blades and stopped a new spear, just in time, as it pierced from the ground beneath and cut his foot.
Dark blue cloth billowed as Shiine leaped away from the ice-cursed spot, leaving behind the fragments of his robe that had been impaled on the spears. He turned a glance on the bare spots on his shoulders and the leg that had been cut by the ice spears, then bit back an exclamation of surprise.
There was no pain or wound -- no anything. Not even blood... only the searing cold that was almost as intense as fire.
Then, in one terrible instant, Shiine realized what the Blade had really done.
He could not feel his leg. Nor could he feel his shoulders. The spears of ice, with their sharp edges and intense cold, were not mere blades but had deep magic in them... magic that stole the heat from whatever the blades touched. Even though they had not struck him deeply, they had still worked their trapping magic on him. As Shiine stood transfixed in horror he discovered that he could not move his right foot, or turn his shoulders from their bowed position. Dark brown eyes widened in terror as they saw tiny icicles beginning to form around the foot.
No... I have no chance to win this now... no hope...
"What's happening?" Shiine roared, all thought banished by the sight of ice slowly encasing his leg and creeping from his shoulders to his arm. "Blade!"
The Instrument of darkness rose slowly but confidently, her dark vest in tatters and her leggings ripped, but with her eyes glittering. Shiine watched, paralyzed, as ice solidified out of thin air and drew to her, the clear shapes fitting to her body and molding themselves into newer, harder armor. The armored Blade smirked at him.
"Really now, Magician-Knight," the Blade drawled. "You cannot think me so easily beaten as that?" She held up a gauntleted hand, and crystals each as long as daggers appeared between her fingers. "I must say, however, that I am impressed. Few beings, and certainly none as young as you, have brought me to using my armor."
Shiine, however, pushed all thoughts of the deadly threat of her voice out of his mind and concentrated. The ice that had started at his shoulders had worked its way down his arms and was creeping towards his hands, and he had to wriggle his fingers as quickly as he could to keep them from freezing as well. His fingers were becoming stiff from the cold, however, and he would have to act quickly if he acted at all.
Fingers moving now in the slight gestures of the spells advanced magicians such as Seravi and Dorothy used, he started to whisper in starathan, concealing as much as he could from the Blade. Her eyes glittering, she was gathering her magic, deadly cold, into a sword of unimaginable intensity, powerful and clear as crystal.
By the sun with all its brightness
By the fire with all its heat
By the flame with all its light and
Life, I call thee -- Deep Within!Shiine whispered fiercely in the starathan language, then let himself smile slightly as the spell took effect. It was not as strong as he would have liked; Deep Within drew its power from the energy the caster had and sheathed it around his arms in an aura of heat. But it was enough.
When the Blade's sword had gathered as much power as was needed and the Instrument charged with all her swiftness, Shiine broke his arms free from the ice in one swift movement and started gesturing in an intricate spell. Countermagic would not be enough now. He needed deeper, more powerful magic.
A wind tore at his face, taking the words from his chattering lips, but Shiine kept his words on the spell, thinking of all that was going to be determined by the outcome of this battle.
Powers of sun and its servants
Keepers of the stars and wind
Lend me strength to win this fight
Banish darkness, prove the light--
Rhol'nkuss antar Varya!He shouted the words triumphantly, no longer bothering to hide his gestures as a ball of fire as wide as he was tall appeared above him. Making a sharp gesture with one hand, Shiine quickly bound the spell. The Blade was only several meters from him when he released the ball of fire to slam directly into the armor-clad Blade.
The scream nearly shattered Shiine's eardrums and bound his hands once more in powerful ice as the Blade fought her way out of the raging torrent of fire that was Varya's Sun. Despair filled his heart as the furious Instrument, face whiter than snow and eyes wild, clawed through the powerful heat of the Varya's Sun spell and hissed in anger without words. The icy shackles around his arms and right foot tightened as the Blade turned her blazing eyes at him.
"Clever little wretch," she hissed at him. "Foolish mortal, to so challenge me." Her armor was now gone, but it had done its work, shielding her from the worst effects of Varya's Sun and leaving her only with burns on her pale skin and tatters of singed clothing. She staggered to the paralyzed Shiine, grabbing his chin and setting her sword, which had with its intense power survived the fire, against his throat.
The Blade's fingers were very cold and very tight against Shiine's chin, and the sword razor-sharp and searing against his skin. He closed his eyes desperately and tried to live his last few moments away from this lonely cliff, travelling to the land of Magic and looking once more at the faces of his parents, his teachers, his friends... a friend...
Pain flashed into his thoughts as the sword pressed deeper against his throat. "Surrender," the Blade grated, her voice like crystal against rock. "Surrender, and you will live."
Shiine did not reply, but hope of victory vanished completely from his thoughts and despair darkened his spirit into nothingness.
"Do you not want to live?" the Blade pressed. "To see the sun, the sky, the stars again? Is not surrendering a small price for your life? Give it up, Guardian of Light. Surrender."
Surrender? The fate of the cosmos for a life? But then, even if he did not surrender there was no hope of his victory anyway...
The face of a dearly loved friend flashed into view, her lips as always murmuring his name in an absolutely trusting voice. Shiine... Looking and trusting always to him...
"Suzu," he gasped. "Suzu..."
I trust you, Shiine... I trust your hope...
Hope! As long as that one person still hoped and trusted in him Shiine's own hope would never disappear. As long as that one light still shone in quiet beauty and strength, his own would never go out. This, he knew, this decision was his true trial. The true test of a Gaurdian of Light's spirit in the tempering of the Quest.
"Never," Shiine, Magician-Knight and Guardian of Light, answered the Blade. "Kill me if you wish, but you will never take what I have from me. I will never truly despair."
A howl of frustration and utter loss rent the cold wind and sent its tatters flying as the Blade pressed her sword deeper against his throat. "Yield!" she screamed in utter fear of loss after being sure of victory the whole time. "Yield!"
The cry of defiance was torn from the deepest reaches of his heart where hope shone its unflickering light. There was always hope, even through death, even through darkness, and as long as but one spark of it lit up one person's heart, there would be no true despair. "Never!"
Shiine opened his eyes, now unafraid as the Blade shrieked her rage at the gray heavens. "Then die!" she screamed, raising her sword. Crimson murder and darkest hate burned in her blazing dark eyes, twisted by utter loss and failure.
Suzu's brown eyes flashed across his vision once, with infinite gratitude and love lighting what was the last thing he was going to see.
Then there was nothing.
"By the stars!" Celestia screamed at about the same time Cha Cha cried out. The sorceress whirled, looking at Cha Cha's stricken face and Seravi and Dorothy's stunned expressions reflecting from the crystal bowl.
Cha Cha buried her face in her hands, her brown eyes streaming tears. "Riiya..." she sobbed. "Riiya..." She could still see Riiya, trapped in the cavern, falling poisoned to the ground with her name still on his lips. Now that she could see how much he loved her, now that she had really found him, she could not bear to lose him. Not now!
"I have to go to him," Cha Cha declared. "I have to go to Riiya." In her haste she had not seen Shiine's trial, only focusing on Riiya, but the adults had seen both, and exchanged glances.
Dorothy placed a trembling hand on the girl's heaving shoulders. "Cha Cha," she began. "You can't help him now." Either of them, she added silently in her mind. But there was no need for Cha Cha to know about Shiine yet, and as for Dorothy and her husband... this was no time for tears.
"You can argue all day and not reach agreement," Celestia snapped quickly, silencing Seravi's half-formed protest. "They need someone quickly. I'll go."
And without any further words, before anything anyone could say was able to stop her, Celestia disappeared in a flash of light, leaving only the glimmer of tears on the grass where she had stood.
Riiya was sinking deeper into nothingness as the black poison spread through his body. He was on the verge of losing all sensation, losing all ties to reality except for the image of Cha Cha still engraved on his eyelids, when he vaguely felt a cool touch on his arm and a soft voice murmuring.
"Riiya..." the voice whispered.
Who are you? his mind faltered. What...
"It's Celestia." As Riiya's mind forced itself out of unconsciousness he became fuzzily aware of the peculiar melodic tone of clear voice that was Celestia's own. "Listen. You have the poison of dark serpents in your body. I've been able to stop its spread through your blood somewhat, but I need to take you out of here and back to the camp to take it out completely. Try to open your eyes."
Riiya's eyelids fluttered as his consciousness gained strength. I can't. It... hurts...
The sorceress cursed under her breath. "I was afraid of that," she whispered.
Use... starsong. It really hurts...
"I can't. Sound echoes here, and I can't use sorcery," Celestia replied almost absently. "I'll have to transport you back to Seravi and Dorothy right now. But don't you dare fall asleep again. Keep your mind awake. Focus on Cha Cha all you want, but you must not lose consciousness again. Do you hear me, Riiya?" she asked intently.
Yeah...
"All right then." He felt himself being pulled up by slender but strong arms, and supported against the cool linen of Celestia's robes. "Let's go."
Riiya felt rather than heard the flash of light that was Celestia's transport. "Lie down," she admonished. "Seravi and Dorothy are here. Cha Cha as well." Vaguely, he heard something like a scream coming from Dorothy, and an answering cry of "Shiine!" from Celestia.
Then the sense of Celestia's presence was gone.
Shiine willed himself not to cry as he stared at the clear hardness of the Blade's sword coming down at him, steeling himself against the pain of death. The sword's blade whistled down, singing its song of blood and sharpness and the loss of life.
Just as he felt the wind of its coming graze his cheek and its coldness near his throat, he heard a new voice, no longer mild but now angry.
"Cease!" the voice cried.
The boy opened his brown eyes slightly and saw the Blade's icy hand being held back by the nymph, the Guardian of the Waters. Her blue eyes were hard and her delicate chin set with determination as, with a Guardian's strength, she crushed the Blade's icy sword and forced the Instrument of Darkness back. "You overstep your bounds, Instrument of Darkness," she grated, her voice far from the flowing and musical voice Shiine had heard moments earlier. "The trial has ended, and the Guardian of Light has won his life."
"I am not subject to your rules, Guardian," the Blade retorted. "I am Darkness' Instrument, and it is what I serve alone. I bow to no other."
Celestia suddenly flashed into being beside Shiine. "Light is Darkness' equal, Blade." Her violet eyes were icy flint. "Destiny will accept punishment from the Light as much as from the Guardians." She glanced at the Guardian's face. "Do not fear for destiny's disruption, Lady. I can destroy the dark one easily, with or without restrictions."
The Guardian of the Water's eyes narrowed. "True, Daughter of Light, but the Guardians accept help neither from Light or Darkness. We will carry out our own justice." Her gaze flickered to Shiine, who was near-collapse. "Take the Magician-Knight and tend to him in readiness for the next trial. I would not say this to show favor to the Light, but he has earned his victory well."
"Indeed he has," the sorceress murmured, drawing Shiine to her and wrapping him in a white cloak. "Fare thee well, Guardian."
"Fare thee well, Daughter of Light," the Guardian answered as Shiine and Celestia disappeared and she turned her attention and power to the Blade's punishment.
It was a different voice murmuring in his ear this time, so familiar and well-known that Riiya felt some of the pain leaving him. "Riiya?" Cha Cha asked, her choked voice near tears. Riiya felt suddenly light-headed at the sound, as if all that held him to life had been gently lifted and he was drifting towards death.
"Cha Cha," he whispered, his grip on reality decreasing and a deeper night falling over his eyes. "Am I going to die?"
Cha Cha gripped his arm so tightly that darts of pain stabbed into him and blossomed through his arm. "No!" she cried. "Don't ever dare say that, Riiya! You're not going to die!" Her voice reached near-hysteria, growing louder and more real with each moment. "You can't!" And suddenly she burst into tears.
Riiya heard Cha Cha being gently led away by her teacher, calmed down and soothed by Seravi's voice and his reassuring words, then felt an unruffled and steady touch on his arm. Celestia was holding him, feeling his pulse, and suddenly she drew him to her, easing some of the pain with her very presence. "I hate to see you like this, Riiya," she said quietly, her voice as undisturbed as the mirror surface of a lake. "Let me..."
And she began to sing. It was unlike any other song Riiya had heard before, and it tingled with the same power he had felt during their fight against the Dragon Lord. This time, however, the song was softer and more flowing. Instead of being as intense as lightning, it was as clear and lovely as a single raindrop clinging to a velvet leaf.
Giving in to the healing of the song, Riiya felt his pain ease and the poison being lifted from his veins as black mist. The sorceress gently touched his eyelids, and the paralysis that had made him as good as blind disappeared. Riiya opened his blue eyes wonderingly.
The first thing he saw was Cha Cha, rushing towards him... then Seravi, looking at Celestia with an unreadable expression in his eyes... Shiine, cold and white as he was being tended to by Dorothy's healing spells... lastly, Celestia, and the black cloud of poison that hung in the air beside her, its darkness contaminating the air.
Then he tore his attention away from the sorceress and looked at Cha Cha with eyes both old and new.
Celestia gathered the cloud into her arms, seemingly unconcerned with its stinging poison, and strode to Shiine and Dorothy's side. "How is he?" she asked the golden-haired woman quietly.
Dorothy looked at Celestia with grave eyes. "Not very good. The Blade's ice has penetrated deep into him. I'm trying to do this as quickly as I can, to ease Shiine's discomfort, but..."
"Can't Seravi help you?"
Golden hair lashed as Dorothy shook her head. "No. This is one of the things I'm better at than he is," she answered, her voice acquiring tartness and volume as she directed her words at her husband. Celestia said nothing, but winked at Dorothy.
As Celestia was turning to leave with the poison-cloud still held carefully in her arms, Dorothy spoke again. "Celestia," she called. "Shiine and Riiya were very badly hurt... will the other trials be as dangerous and bad as these two?"
Celestia's matter of fact answer chilled Dorothy to the core, shaking her certainty and filling her mind with doubt of truth. "Oh, no, Dorothy," the Daughter of Light answered as she turned to obliterate the poison of darkness' serpents. "This is just the beginning of the trials. The others will be much, much worse."
The Gem of the Stars: || Part 1: Amethyst || Part 2: Child of Destiny || Part 3: The Quest Begins || Part 4: Lord of All Dragons || Part 5: The Wolf and the Knight || E-mail MiaViolet || MiaViolet's Fanfic Section by Stellaris || MiaViolet's dreambook by Stellaris: Sign ||