The Courage of an Alliance
Chapter 2
"I am very sorry, but there isn't anything that I can do."
"Please, please, I beg you! I will be on the streets without
this job!"
"The Emperor says you haven´t been cleaning as hard as the other
butlers, which is causing you to be dead weight. Have a nice day, I
really must be going." The Emperors assistant walked out of the
shack and started speed walking in her stilettos(which is actually
quite difficult) to her next destination. She walked down the main
road and the parade was not even close to ready yet. The day of
celebration for Shiro´s defeat was close, and every year the Emperor
put on a parade which was truly mystifying. It was not mystifying to
the assistant, it would be rather dull since she had seen each of the
activities in the parade over and over and making sure that no one
would mess up.
"Mystery!" Someone called out in the crowd to the assistant.
Yes that is correct, Mystery is the assistant of the Emperor of Kaining
City. "Mystery! We was doing our fire trick thing and then we sort
of caused one of the dragons to go all burning and stuff." The
citizens of Kaining City were very illiterate.
"Oh no… I'm coming." She speed walked(I don´t think it is
possible to run in stilettos) over to the amateur fire, held her hand
out, and the fire slowly faded away.
"WOW! You is one of them elementalisty people!"
"No, no, no. I am a mesmer. I can alter reality and do things
like that with my mind."
"You should be one of them heroes!" Mystery was walking away.
"No kidding, kid" She had to see the Emperor for the Celestial
ceremony performed after the parade. The count of the Kurzicks and the
elder of the Luxons would use their insignias to make a shell around
Shiro´s seal. This didn´t do anything at all, but the townspeople
thought it would protect them even more from bad spirits and such.
"I truly am sorry Mystery that while I am here planning a very
important day, you are off saving the town and putting out fires."
"I am sorry."
"Sometimes you seem very incapable of this important role."
"Excuse me your grace, but whenever people have seen me use my
magic, they all say that I should be a hero."
"This world doesn´t need heroes. Shiro is gone, and we have the
gods watching over us. Tell you what, if you want to be an adventurous
"hero" and save the world or something rather, then you can
personally give the message to the elder of Cavalon that she is needed
for the ceremony."
"Is that what you call an adventure?"
"It is as much as you will get. Besides, I need you out of my
hair." With that statement, Mystery walked out of the room. The
Emperor could hear her throw her stilettos in a disposal heap.
Little did the Emperor know that Cantha would soon need heroes more
than ever. Things were not going as planned in the Aspenwood Forest
either. Jun was walking through the corridors of the mansion very
unhappily. If he passed by a server, he would knock down the tray
they were holding, then tell them that they don´t get paid for dropping
things. He walked into his room and locked the door. The demonic
essence appeared in his mirror.
"What bothers you, my child?"
"Let me put it this way, a certain ship left for ascalon today
and a certain two people were not on it!"
"Yes, I am well aware."
"How?"
"Paul and Taby heard our whole conversation yesterday. Do not
fear, my child, for I still have ways to rid ourselves of these pests.
As for you, you will need to obtain the counts insignia for me."
"The count wouldn´t simply give it to me!"
"Many things aren´t simple in life, but we must try anyways.
The counts and elders insignia must be used in unison to free Shiro,
` which is why you need that insignia."
"But Elder Rhea would never release Shiro."
"Ah, Elder Rhea. She has a strong soul, yet a weak and decaying
body. Kill her, and you will have both insignias at your command.
Afterwards, you will have the Jade Sea and the Aspenwood Forest at your
command."
"I still do not see how this will free you"
"Let me worry about that. Now go, you have important work to
do." Jun left the room, a little bit more relaxed. He was still
unhappy, but he always is so no one said anything. "Jun, Jun,
Jun. What an interesting character. Too bad he will burn. When I am
free, everything shall burn. I shall have my revenge." The
demon faded away, and the room looked like nothing had happened.
"Get up Paul, you are wasting valuable time!" Paul woke up,
and looked around him.
"Gosh, jade is not soft or comfy."
"One, soft and comfy both mean the same thing. Two, I am pretty
sure that a type of rock isn´t and will never be comfy. Three, Cavalon
is just over this giant wave!" Paul and Taby found a man using the
Dredge to pull a giant sled to Cavalon. All was going well, and they
were going pretty fast, but the Dredge revolted and started to break
apart the ship(Dredge revolts were typical). They had to hike for about
10 miles then fell asleep on a flat slab of jade.
"Finally! My feet are so sore you can´t even imagine"
"I can imagine. I hiked as much as you, so lets go!" They
went over the giant frozen wave and saw all of the giant turtles, people
dressed in exotic outfits, and they smelled strange fish scents. When
they walked into the town, they expected to be greeted with smiling
faces, refreshments, and maybe even a hot bath. This was not the case.
When Paul and Taby walked through the door, everyone stared. Not a word
was uttered. The people formed a passage to a bizarre looking conch
house. It seemed as though there was someone in the house. They heard
a faint voice.
"Come" Paul and Taby didn´t ask questions, and they went
straight into the house. "It has come to my attention that you seek
to join us Luxons. Why would a Kurzick want to do something like
that?" They explained the whole conversation that took place in
Jun´s room. The shadowy figure in the corner of the house simply listened,
nodded once or twice, maybe even fell asleep at one point. When they
finished, this person walked out of the darkness. It was not Elder Rhea,
surprisingly. "I am General Griffin. If what you say is true, then
Safra is returning."
"Safra?"
"A dark demon told about in the stories of the Luxon. Maybe even in
Tyrian lore, or Elonian. Safra was a dark monster that people say came
from the realm of Abbadon, but not even the forbidden god could control him,
so he sent the demon to our world. It is said that he needed an army, so
he turned the graceful fields of Vabbi into tormented land, where the undead
could roam free. That land is now known as the desolation. His home was in
the land of Orr. Orr was not always an ocean, you know."
"How could a monster like that be banished?"
"Ah, yes. The gods could not tolerate such a beast destroying their
world. So they brought Orr to the depths of the ocean, and sealed Safra
there for eternity. At least its body was. It´s essence floats around our
world, seeking for those with pure hatred in their hearts to free it. An
example is Shiro. One of the survivors of that catastrophe many years ago
could have sworn that he heard a demented laugh from the back of the palace
as Shiro was decapitating everyone. Safra can be freed if someone pulls the
blade of Orr from its sheath, which lies at the bottom of the ocean with the
rest of the land."
"So if Shiro returns, then he can pull the blade from the sheath?"
"Exactly, this is why you two must stop Jun from resurrecting
Shiro."
"Wrong, Griffin. You Three!" Elder Rhea was standing at the
entrance. "I am sorry to keep you waiting. Sonya just gave birth to a
baby boy and I was performing the ritual on it. Griffin takes charge when I
am not here. I have been reading the stars and I saw that you were coming.
I warned Griffin ahead of time, which brings us all here."
"So now we go and stop Jun, right? I have wanted to beat him ever since
I first smelled his stench." Taby said. Elder Rhea looked amused.
"Before you three go anywhere-that is right Griffin, you are going with
them, you must prove your strength. Jun will be more powerful than you think.
He is in the process of stealing the Count´s insignia, which will make him
very strong. I shall give you one test and one test only. Defeat the Kracken.
