“Do you think he will be okay?” Taylen sat down next to Iyouboushi on the deck of Eyin’s boat. They had fled Tinnei in the commotion figuring the guards wouldn’t notice or care. Kaiten sat alone with Eisen, who was making a high-pitched noise that sounded an awful lot like crying.
“I’m not sure” Iyouboushi said. He himself had lost his mentor and friends of his village just days ago so he could somewhat relate. But to see the oldest living being in the world and the strongest Dragon Knight cut down as though they were a mere ants and being totally powerless to stop it? He had no comprehension of how that must feel.
Nearby they heard Nauthima humming a sad song and drinking something out of a bottle. Kurando sat in the center of the ship rolling the bucket back and forth.
“I wonder what awaits us in Bikko” Iyouboushi said finally to Taylen.
“Knowing what Nauthima said I’m sure it will be something crazy.”
“Hey, weren’t your parents going there?”
“Oh yeah! That’s right, they were. Something about an emergency. I hope it wasn’t anything too serious.”
The two fell silent and reflected on the past few days. It was amazing to them that such chaos could happen so quickly. A week ago Iyouboushi was training with his master happier than he could possibly imagine and Taylen was looking forward to becoming a teacher at Crim’s prestigious engineering school. Now the future was bleak. Who knew if they could actually locate the final seal, or if they did if they could get to it before Alus and his army of seemingly invincible flunkies?
The sun said goodbye to the world and the group decided to retire beneath the deck. Kaiten and Eisen remained above to lament the loss of their kingdom for a while longer.
The following afternoon the port of Bikko became visible. “Land-Ho” Eyin shouted. The group scrambled to the deck and looked ahead. The village of Bikko that lay on the southern end of the continent was similar to Erutoru. That is to say, the village was in tune with nature. There were no machines there, which disappointed Taylen immensely–he missed being around machines–and there were many trees. Many of the homes in the village were actually built into the trees. As they grew closer to the Bikko port they could all see that something bad had happened there. A huge crater lay in the center of the village as though something massive had fallen there.
“Well,” Eyin said after they had docked and let down the ramp. “I hope you all survive the bleak times ahead.” He bowed and raised an arm in gesture to rush the group off the boat.
“You’re not coming with us?” Iyouboushi asked. Eyin shook his head no.
“Afraid not. There’s no treasure for me here and no customers for me to sell my wares to.” He was right, it was oddly silent in Bikko and they couldn’t see a single villager. Had the same fate that fell upon Erutoru befallen Bikko as well?
“Come on” Nauthima said, urging the group to hurry off the boat. She was smiling. “Let’s go take a look around.”
“Nothing bothers you, does it?” Taylen asked her. She just smiled and said nothing.
The group all said their thanks to Eyin as they passed by him; all but Kaiten who just merely nodded to him before stepping off the boat. As soon as the last person was off Eyin wasted no time in drawing up the ramp and departing for who knows where.
“Sure is quiet” Slade said nervously.
“Quaram says something magical happened here recently” Kurando quietly whispered. He was holding the bucket up to his ear.
“I wonder where my parents are. I hope they’re okay.” Taylen was worried and his voice reflected it. He hoped that whatever caused the crater hadn’t happened after the two had arrived.
They progressed to the edge of the crater where the center of town had presumably once sat. The crater was deep and the inside layer was covered in what looked like ash and laying in the very center was a small object.
“What is that?” Iyouboushi said squinting and pointing to the object. Without waiting for an answer, Nauthima leaped down into the crater, grabbed the object and leaped back out.
“It’s an open box” she said. She held it out. “This is familiar.”
It was a small black box with writing. Unlike the others, it seemed charred and most of the writing that was so vivid on the others was either missing all together or partially blackened out. It was open but most of the lid was also missing.
“You have to be kidding” Taylen said. Kurando looked at it in horror and began to silently sob to himself.
“No” Iyouboushi said in horror. “It can’t be. Crim attacked Bikko too?”
“Sure seems that way” Taylen said, fear in his voice. “I sure hope my parents are okay” he repeated.
“Well, let’s take a look around” Nauthima said, taking charge of the shocked group. “If I remember right, the person we wish to speak to lives on the outskirts of town.”
Before they could advance that far they heard the sound of twigs snapping and brush being stepped on. As they began to react they noticed they were surrounded by several heavily armed guard all wearing chain armor and carrying sais.
“Guardians indeed” Nauthima said, nodding in approval. “I would have expected no less from her.”
“Uh, Nauthima” Kaiten said, speaking for the first time since the tragedy at Tinnei, “who are these people?”
“Obviously guards, didn’t you listen?” Slade said.
“Yes, but guards of what? Why are we surrounded as though we’re suddenly criminals?”
“I suspect we’re about to find out” Taylen said as the guards began to advance.
Not wanting to risk bloodshed and seeing as how they were all outnumbered, the group surrendered without a fight. They were led led to the outskirts of town and down into the ground via a small cave that was concealed with bushes. A large metal door opened and they progressed through, down further still into a large cavern that had curtains of water that drained down into a long pool that circled the room. Sitting in the center of the room was a small chair. Sitting upon the chair sat a beautiful pale white woman with long curly blonde hair and large pointy ears. Eloquent red silk clothing sat upon her frame and ample bosom. She was radiating beauty. The men of the group could not help but stare at her. Nauthima rolled her eyes.
“Nauthima Tiranadel” the woman said in complete surprise. She stood up from the chair.
“Eldora Adlanna” Nauthima said with a smile.
The woman, Eldora, walked over slowly. Nauthima held out her arms ready for a hug. Eldora outstretched her hands, became within two steps of Nauthima then slapped her once with one hand and again the other way with the other. “How dare you show your face here again” she spat out.
“Nauthima” Iyouboushi said, speaking up as he continued to stare at Eldora. “Who is this?”
“This is Eldora. She and I, well” she looked away bashful and completely unaffected by the slaps, “lived together for a period of time when we first came to Iwote together.” She shook her hand up and waved it in a ‘no-no’ type fashion. “Not like that. This is no time for your dirty minds.” She chuckled. “We lived together on Iwote for many years before we had a fight and we went our separate ways.”
Eldora raised a hand to indicate silence before returning to her chair. “What is it you want?”
“Can’t you guess?” Nauthima asked her. “We need to borrow your powers.”
“Why?”
“Crim is seeking to unleash the ancient evil that is currently sealed.” She began to explain the situation, about the seals and the fall of Tinnei.
Eldora shook her head. “My dear Nauthima” she started, “even if I wanted to help you, you know better than anyone that my powers are tied to a certain little object.”
“Oh, are they?” Nauthima said with a smile. “I had forgotten.”
“And you very well know that after we had a fight you stole the object away from me and disappeared into the night.” Eldora did not find Nauthima’s smile all that amusing. She was quite angry. “So if you want my help you just have to return that object to me.”
“What object would that be, my dear Eldora?”
“You know very well it was my golden ruby crown ring” she yelled loudly.
“Well that’s going to be a problem” Nauthima said softly. “You see, I sort of,” she began to tap her index fingers together and started to rock back and forth–heel to toe, “threw it into the woods after our fight” she looked away sheepishly.
The angry screech that came from Eldora was so loud that everyone except Nauthima fell to the ground screaming in agony as they covered their ears. Just when they felt that their ears could sustain no more abuse and would seemingly explode off their heads, the screech stop.
“You’re not mad are you?” Nauthima asked still looking away as though she was a child trying to avoid punishment.
“Nauthima” Eldora said.
“Yes, Eldora?”
“I think it’s best you get out of my sight.” If looks could kill, the anger that was frozen on Eldora’s beautiful face could destroy an army. The group stood up and lowered their heads. They did not want to risk turning her wrath upon them.
“Yes, I think that’s best.”
Slowly the group backed away and fled up the stairs out of Eldora’s secret little chamber. As they returned to the surface they heard a loud click of the metal door locking shut.
“Please tell me you’re joking” Kaiten asked Nauthima. “You have this object hidden on you or something, right?”
“No. Not joking. I really threw it into the forest.”
Kaiten facepalmed.
“And exactly how many years ago was this fight?” Taylen asked her annoyed.
“Oh, I don’t know.” She hmmed and ahhed. “Maybe about twenty-five?”
Kaiten facepalmed again.
“I knew this would be interesting” Nauthima said with a chuckle.
“So how are we going to find a ring that was tossed into the forest that long ago?” Iyouboushi asked her restraining his urge to yell at her to take it seriously.
“What about Aolos?” Kurando asked.
“Oh right! The half-elf that has the ability to track people. Maybe he can use his powers to track down the ring?” Iyouboushi said realizing what Kurando was alluding it.
“Or he could just track down the seal for us” Kurando suggested.
“Aolos Cest?” Nauthima asked. Her smile was gone.
“You know him?” Iyouboushi was positively surprised though after everything he had learned about this woman in the past few days he didn’t know why.
“Slightly.” She did not elaborate further.
“In any case” Slade said, “how are we going to find that guy? He left without telling us where, remember?”
“A very good point” Taylen said. “There’s no telling where he is if he’s even still on this continent.”
“It doesn’t matter” Nauthima said with a slight smirk. “We don’t need him. I know how to find the ring.”
“Wait, what? How?” Iyouboushi and Kaiten said together in unison.
“It’s simple, really.” She started to walk into the forest and the group followed. When she stopped she turned around and walked closer to Kurando. “Well, I was standing about right here” she said closing her eyes as if she was reliving the moment. “And compensating for the difference in weight..”
Without warning she reached in and grabbed the bucket that Kurando was holding and flung it into the woods. Kurando began to shriek feverishly before losing consciousness as everyone’s mouths fell open in horror.
* * *
Quaram smashed into the side of a tree and collapsed to the ground. As he sprung to life, he groaned. Why did that woman have to throw him so fast and without any warning? He would have gladly helped search for the ring using his mystical powers if she had only asked.
Two tiny little eyes peeked out from beneath the helmet and began to comb the area. It was really dark; the thick trees made it hard for sunlight to penetrate through–not that it mattered, the sun was on its way down anyway. He would have to rely on his other senses. Thankfully for him, they were abundant and well trained for the night.
He closed his eyes and relaxed. Waves of purple ribbons began to flow all around his body like water flowing down a stream. They ebbed away from him and went deep into the forest. Some of the ribbons began to glow a golden color. Those ribbons represented the various magical elements that were close by. The brighter the glow the closer to the magic Quaram was. But he wasn’t looking for just any magical element, he had to find that ring. He focused harder. Some of the ribbons faded away but one began to glow brighter and pulse like a heart beat. He had found it. Now all he had to do was follow it.
The forest seemed to come to life as night befell it. Owls shot out from their daily resting places to go hunt. The ground moved with insects and other night creatures. As Quaram advanced the purple ribbon pulsed faster and faster. The pulse of the golden glowing purple ribbon was covering the entire ground. The ring had to be here but where?
He opened his real eyes and saw that he was standing in brush so thick that he was unable to even see the sky. It felt as though the magic from the ring had spread over the decades. The ground was soaked in it. He began to dig down into the ground to find it. As he did he heard a strange noise; it seemed to be a mix of a laugh with a howl. Quickly he flipped out of the small hole he had dug and a small dagger appeared in front of him hovering in the air.
“Who’s there?” he asked. Receiving no response he flipped back down into the hole and began to dig faster. He could sense the ring was close. The brush above began to rustle loudly and he could swear the ground was quivering. He had had to speed this up. He flipped out of the hole and began to chant softly. A round ball of purple energy appeared in front of him and shot down into the hole causing an explosion.
He could see the ring now. It was attached to a large root that ran deep beneath where he had been digging. He flipped down ontop of the root and used his dagger to start sawing away at it. The growl laugh grew louder and louder. The root began to rip itself out of the ground. Quickly Quaram flipped up out of the hole and looked up. The brush had grown twice in size and a large mouth of teeth had appeared attached to a large brush-tree-plant trunk. Wild vines covered in thorns flapped violently and swung towards Quaram.
Quaram cursed his luck. If that stubborn woman hadn’t just tossed him the group could have easily taken this monster down. With his tiny size and dagger he began to wonder how he would tackle this situation. Would his explosive magic work against a magical being?
He didn’t have time to try. As soon as he began to chant the vine swung right for him. Quickly he jumped out of the way and sliced at it with his dagger. It was not effective–not that he really thought it would be. This monster was simply too big and too imbued with magic that leaked from the ring. But wait, he thought, he didn’t really have to defeat the monster, simply retrieve the ring and flee. With the ring removed the magic might wear off but if not it was no longer his problem.
He dived for the part of the root that the ring attached to. FWAP! He felt the harsh sting of something spikey slam into the side of his body and fling him away. As he landed with a thud he groaned and his little eyes looked down towards where he was hit. Black blood was oozing out of the helmet. That hurt. He cursed that elf again as he tried to think of a new plan and rolled out of the way as the vine swatted down upon his position once again.
With an audible sigh he realized he had no choice. Without assistance he only had one way to get the ring: create a diversion. He had to use a very powerful spell to split into multiple copies. One copy could go for the ring while the others kept the monster busy. The spell was dangerous–he had never actually had to use it before and didn’t know of any side effects should one of the copies be hurt–but it seemed to be his only choice. He began to chant as the monster slammed the vine angrily all around him. With a sudden burst of light Quaram split into three copies. All of them nodded to each other and jumped off in three different directions.
Two copies kept the monster busy as the third copy began to sneak up the root and began to saw it out using the dagger. One copy managed to finish chanting and a tiny purple ball of energy shot from it and slammed into the monster. The monster roared but the energy, at only one-third its power, was just simply too weak to do any real damage.
“Almost got it” Quaram said to himself as the ring was within reach. The monster realized it had been duped and began to focus all of its vines on the copy that was sawing feverishly at the ring. One copy dived in front of the other and took a direct blow from the vines. It vanished in a puff of black smoke. Quaram could feel his body getting weaker. The bucket, his body, was now covered in the black blood. The second copy flipped down and prepared to take the next hit from the monster. As it vanished into smoke, the final Quaram managed to free the ring. But it was too late. He looked up, too weak to move, as the monster swung its powerful vine towards the tiny weakened bucket.
He closed his eyes and prepared for the worst.
* * *
Iyouboushi’s sword glowed with the black energy as Nauthima launched a large fireball at the monster. It caught on fire and Iyouboushi flung a black beam of energy at it, slicing the vine that was falling violently towards Quaram in half. The roar that escaped the beast sent shivers down his spine. Kaiten and Slade, both carrying the unconscious Kurando, caught up to the two followed by Taylen, who was cursing behind them all with his gun drawn.
“What is that thing?” Taylen said in between pants, staring at the large monster.
“A monster, obviously” Slade said sarcastically. “Can’t you tell?”
“Whatever it is, stop playing and hurry up and kill it” Kaiten said to Nauthima. Nauthima nodded and threw several more fireballs at it. The monster began to wither away in flame. Iyouboushi rushed in to grab Quaram and the ring, dodging one final swipe of the beast before the vines burned away.
“I got them” Iyouboushi said as he narrowly escaped catching fire. “What is this?” he asked looking at his black-blood stained hands. “Blood? Looks like Quaram is seriously injured. How in the world?”
“Some things are not meant to be understood” Nauthima said as she took the ring from Iyouboushi. She looked at it. It was a small golden ring with a crown made out of ruby set on it. It was exactly as she remembered it except part of the ruby was chipped and missing.
“Uhnnn” Kurando said as he slowly awoke. “AHHHH! QUARAM!” he shouted remembering what happened before he passed out.
“Relax” Kaiten said to him. “We’ve recovered him, though..” his voice fell silent. Slade rolled his eyes.
Iyouboushi handed the bucket over to Kurando who began to sob loudly. “Oh Quaram, what has become of you?” He hugged it tightly and cried. “I am so sorry that mean old elf threw you into the forest like that. Will you ever forgive me for not holding you tighter?” He received no response. “That’s okay, take your time.” He shot Nauthima an evil eye. She ignored him.
“We should head back” Nauthima said plainly. “I sense more magic in this area. It’s as if the whole ground has been soaking in it for years.”
“No doubt your fault” Kaiten suggested. Nauthima shrugged and without another word turned to exit the thick forest.
