The (Rather Strange,) Unnamed
Notebook Story of 2003
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~*~*~*~ The lush summer breeze whipped Hope’s hair as
she watched the harsh ripples of the ocean glide against her feet. Her jade green eyes watched the lush golden
rays reach out for the sky, longing for an adventure. Hope had a passion for everything,
everything beautiful. She wanted a
life filled with adventure; she wanted a quest— |
Characters: Ï
SH: Faith; Stars; Gil-Estelle;
Fatihah Ï
SC: Harmony; Ï R: Patience; Sun; Arien; Patiente Ï
T: Hope; Moon; Ithiliel; Ehoponine Ï
Others: Morwen, Uilos, Trakis, Joric, Cloe,
Maukû |
“Hey Hope!” Patience called, waving her hands
from the other side of the beach. She
ran closer, hoping Hope wouldn’t be mad at her for being late. “Sorry, I’m
kinda late,” she said, panting. Hope
just gave her a disappointed glance.
“I waited for you, but you
never came. Plus… you interrupted my
dream,” Hope said softly. Patience
smiled at her with happiness. “Let’s hit
the books!” Hope remarked. She wiped off
the sand from the books and laid the history textbook out, ready to study.
“Okay,” Patience began, “the
African civilization—“ A low toned sound interrupted Patience. It sounded like a vortex, but in the middle
of the ocean. The water began to swirl,
and a large—
“Whirlpool! Look at that
whirlpool! Wow!” Hope squeaked. Patience
looked at it with awe, wondering how a whirlpool could just form out of
nowhere. She was examining it so carefully
that she didn’t notice Hope mesmerized by the beauty of it. Slowly, one foot at a time, Hope walked into
the ocean, almost hypnotized.
“Hope! No!” Patience ran into
the ocean, trying to stop Hope from walking mindlessly into the whirlpool, but
it was too late. Both Hope and Patience
fell into the pool, feeling the water rush about them.
~*~*~*~
Patience opened her eyes,
wondering where she was. She looked up,
eyeing the lavish canopy bed and the large room. She got up, rubbing her eyes from the sudden
event. A woman stood in front of her,
waiting for her to get up.
“Where’s Hope?” Patience
asked curiously. The
woman didn’t answer her. She simply
turned away, gliding towards an open window.
The summery breeze ruffled her hair and sent her skirts flowing. Patience tried to speak again.
“Who are you?” she chirped,
trying to sound friendly. The woman
still made no sign that she had heard Patience.
The night sky beyond the window was lit by a bright moon, throwing its
silver light onto the woman’s face. From
Patience’s vantage point behind her, the glow of the silvery orb created an
aura about the woman. She seemed
possessed, drunk on the light of the moon and its droplets of stars.
Patience leaned back among the
pillows to admire the feeling of power radiating from the woman. She no longer needed to know where she was,
or where Hope was. She was there,
comforted in the large room in the brocade canopy bed among the golden
cushions. Letting out a sigh, she pulled
the red and gold blanket over her shoulders.
The cool light of the stars began to work its way into her bones. She was cold.
A slight shiver rushed down her neck, and she pulled the covers ever
high.
The woman remained motionless
apart from the wind of the summer night tossing her hair and skirts about her shoulders
and ankles. She might have turned to
stone; no one would ever know the difference.
She stood so still. And yet – she
seemed to have some life left in her still.
Some mysterious power that Patience could not discern from the magic of
the stars through the window.
The aura about the woman grew
stronger and Patience began to fear it.
She gathered her courage and tumbled out of the bed. Unsure of her feet, she walked shakily
towards the window and the woman. Her
intention was to ask the woman for a way out, or perhaps climb out the window,
but when she took her place next to the woman, she could not perform. The moon and starlight froze her every muscle
and she stood, rooted to the ground.
Suddenly, without warning, the
woman turned, pivoting on both feet as if she was a chess piece being
rotated. Her eyes were no longer human,
but pools of hypnotism, brimming with anger.
The woman's stone cold arms reached out towards Patience, her bony
fingers reaching for her neck. Patience
felt a rush of noise and began screaming in spite of herself. There were voices in her head, wailing in
pain as the woman became more demonic.
Suddenly, her mouth opened to reveal bloodstained fangs and a
blood-curdling shriek.
“YOU DO NOT BELONG TO THE
NIGHT!”
The woman’s grasp began to
tighten as she continued to keep her eyes locked on the captivating moon. Patience realized that the skin on the
woman’s fingers had begun to glow a color as white as the moon, as if the moon
gave the woman’s fingers life. Suddenly,
the woman’s fingers began to lose their glow, unable to continue squeezing
Patience’s neck while the voices in Patience’s mind were replaced by an eerie
silence. The moon had left the sky as
quickly as it had come, taking the woman’s shadowy figure with it.
“Where has Hope been taken?”
Patience thought frantically.
~*~*~*~
Faith glanced at her
watch. Where in the world were Hope and Patience? They had all planned to meet at the beach to
study. Scanning the beach one last time,
she sighed and turned away. At that
moment, something twinkly caught her eye. Faith’s eyes looked down at the small round object that
was protruding from the sand. What could it be? Faith asked
herself. She reached into the hot sand
and grasped the object. Faith gasped as
she lightly brushed the sand from the silver necklace. How
could this be? She knew immediately
whose necklace it was. Hope never let
the necklace leave her skin, always keeping it hidden beneath her clothes. Faith had only seen the necklace once before,
but its beauty was not easy to forget.
In that moment, Faith knew: wherever Hope was, she was in trouble and
Faith had to find her.
~*~*~*~
Patience was under her
covers, still scared from the encounter with the woman. Her mind was racing, still trying to understand
what had just happened. Was it a dream? She thought to herself. She had to find Hope, she had to be somewhere
around this place. Patience, regaining
some of her courage, got up from the bed, tiptoeing to the door. She started to walk in the corridors when—
“Patience.” A stern, but
melodious voice echoed though the hallway behind her. For a moment, she thought it was Hope, but
then realized that it couldn’t be possible.
She closed her eyes and turned around, hoping there was no danger behind
her.
“Hello Patience,” a young
boy, about Patience’s age, held a red rose to Patience. Patience smiled with delight and accepted the
rose.
“How do you know my name?”
asked Patience. She stared deeply into
the boy’s stormy gray eyes and tried to read his emotions. His hair was as red and bright as the rose in
her hand, which was charming Patience.
The boy replied with a smile.
“Patience, I am here to serve
in every way, only you. My name is
Trakis,” he said mysteriously. Patience
just stood there in awe, deeply moved by the nature of Trakis. “Now that you have come, I can go back to
doing my work.” Trakis turned around and began to walk into the shadows of the
hallway, not even noticing that Patience trying to stop him.
As Trakis walked by, farther
and farther from Patience, he reached into his pocket and pulled out another
rose, this time yellow.
~*~*~*~
Hope had woken up a few hours
ago and noticed she was locked in the room.
The whole time, she had been staring out the window, watching the cotton
clouds glide across the blue sky. The
landscape was quite beautiful, but something seemed to be different. The sun was dark orange, and its rays were
streaming through holes in the clouds, bringing great delight to Hope. But something was wr—
A knock on the door
interrupted Hope’s thoughts. Maybe the
people were here to let her out of this place.
She opened the door and was surprised to see a golden rose in her face. She grabbed the rose abrasively out of
someone’s palm and stared.
“Why are you giving me a
rose?” Ignoring the question, the boy answered back.
“I am here to serve you,
Hope, and take my rose as a gift,” he paused for a moment, noticing Hope’s
vivid expression. “Only you.” A feeling of anger arose in Hope. She couldn’t take this anymore.
“What is your name?” Hope
asked furiously.
“Trakis.”
“Tetris?”
“No, Trakis.”
“Well, TETRIS,” Hope
continued, “Try your charm on someone else… who cares!” She threw the rose back
at his face and walked away. “The nerve
of him,” murmured Hope, “Trying to make me fall—Patience?” On the other side of the hallway stood
Patience, delicately smelling the fragrance of the crimson rose. “Let’s get out of here, Faith and Harmony are
probably waiting for us. Patience, are
you listening?” Patience’s black eyes stared blankly at Hope’s face, as if she
was dazed in a dream.
“Have you met Trakis?”
“You mean Tetris?”
“Sure, he seems to be like
someone I know,” Patience replied. She
could tell Hope thought him more of a servant than a friend.
“I dunno, he seems weird. I
don’t like him very much,” Hope said with confidence.
“Why not, Hope?” Trakis
asked, jumping into the setting. “Would you like me if I showed you this?” He
turned his head and motioned at something in the hallway. Slowly, hands and mouth tied up, in walked
Harmony, almost like a puppet. Hope
and Patience gasped in horror at the image of Harmony in front of them, unable
to move on her own.
“You-you-you LIAR!” Hope
shrieked at Trakis. Patience stared at
Harmony in dumb disbelief. Her eyes
shifted towards Trakis, then down at his wiggling fingers. The adoration in her black eyes quickly
drained and she shrunk away from him.
Hope didn’t react so subtly.
“How can you pretend to be
so-so nice when you can just manipulate people so easily? You’re just as
annoying as playing Tetris on Faith’s broken calculator! But then again, you
ARE Tetris so I guess it fits now, doesn’t it?” Hope’s eyes flashed
angrily. “Don’t even talk to me! Don’t
even come NEAR me! How dare you even try to serve m—“
“Faith’s calculator is NOT
broken! It’s just because you’re bad at Tetris.”
Both Hope and Patience
froze. Then their eyes met as they both
recognized that voice. They followed
each other’s eyes and looked at Harmony, now calmly shaking the strings off her
limbs. In one of her hands lay the cloth
used to gag her. Trakis’s fingers stood
still while Harmony moved.
“Wha…?” Patience began in
confusion. “I’M CONFUZZLED!”
Harmony giggled and then
doubled over as her laughter grew louder.
Even Trakis began to laugh, his voice ringing in the hallway.
“You didn’t take us SERIOUSLY,
did you? You guys, you know me better than that! I’m not so easily manipulated!” Harmony
joked. She barely lived up to her name
as she was never in the background.
Patience grinned reluctantly
and Hope regained herself.
“Of course you were just
kidding!” Hope exclaimed. The three of
them forgot that they were in some unknown place, and laughed until they cried.
“What’s all this noise?” a
voice suddenly called out. The group in
the hallway froze at the sound. Trakis
slumped forward and regained his subservient presence.
“The Lady awaits us,” he
whispered, the twinkle of mischief in his eyes now replaced by reverence.
From deep within the shadows
came a tall majestic figure. As she glided
soundlessly across the hall, the girls gasped.
“Behold! The Lady of the
Moon!” Trakis bowed low. “Her name is
Ithil—“
“It’s her!” Patience
shrieked. “The woman who was trying to
kill me!”
“Sh!”
“As I was saying, her name is
Ithiliel. And no she didn’t. I’m pretty sure it was her ‘evil’ twin
sister.”
“Ooh! Evil twin sisters! Like
fairytales?” Hope squealed.
“Oh, just be quiet and listen
to him,” snapped Harmony.
“So, what were you saying
about evil twin sisters?” Hope asked.
Instead of Trakis’ boyish voice,
they heard the musical lilt of a woman in response. “I wouldn’t call her evil,” the woman
crooned. All eyes shifted from Trakis to
her. “She’s just a slight bit
jealous. I don’t blame her, though. The poor dear has had some hard times.” The lady stopped to collect her thoughts and
all stared at her, mesmerized by her beauty.
Finally, Patience recollected herself.
“But that-that-whatever she
was-tried to kill me!” she cried.
“Oh, dearie. That’s because she wasn’t used to your
light. Nothing more,” the woman replied
mildly.
“My… what?” Patience asked,
bewildered.
“Light, darling. You have sunlight in you, and she is made of
moonlight. It hurts her to be so near
you.”
“I still don’t understand,”
piped Harmony. “What’s going on?”
“Ah, and Hope, the dear, has
the light of the Moon. And Harmony,
darling, you have the light of
~*~*~*~
Faith stared at the necklace in
her hand, now watching it glow as the sun sank below the horizon. She knew she had to find Hope somehow, but
she wasn’t quite sure how. The necklace
had something to do with it. As the moon
rose higher above the ocean, Faith felt herself drawn towards the water. The stars shone down on her, giving her
warmth despite the cold of the night. It
seemed as though the necklace that lay dormant in her upturned palm was
struggling to get to the moon, dragging Faith with it.
What’s happening to me? Faith thought. The necklace began to glow with a blinding
white light, its intensity increasing the higher the moon became in the
sky. Suddenly, Faith realized that the
necklace was no longer in her hands, but was floating towards the dark
sky. She reached up to grab the
necklace, but couldn’t seem to grab it. The necklace kept jumping further and
further, beyond her reach.
“Wait!” Faith cried to the
necklace, now hovering over the rising hole.
“I… need… to… get… Hope’s… NECKLACE back!” With this final cry, she jumped, not noticing
that the water was gone.
“Ow!” Faith cried as she fell
bottom first, in a place she had never seen before. Faith looked up at the clouds, enjoying the
scenery.
“Halt!” A deep voice
interrupted her thoughts. She whipped
around to see an arrow pointing at her nose.
“Don’t move,” the voice said.
Faith closed her eyes, hoping that this wasn’t going to be her last
peaceful moment. “Are you Fatihah?” Faith’s eyes shot open with great surprise.
“How do you know me?” asked
Faith curiously. She began to breathe
hard and her heart beat faster and faster.
The boy just sighed, trying to erase his thoughts.
“I once knew a girl called
Fatihah who looked a lot like you,” he began.
“I was in love with her, but we couldn’t get married.” His head drooped low, trying to forget what
he had just said.
“Why?”
“She was one of the legendary
warrior princesses. They were protectors
of the land with their immense powers.
But they were always together. I
can tell you aren’t Fatihah or else you would have recognized me.” He turned around, trying to ignore
Faith. “But after they vanished,
everything changed—everything.”
Tears almost blurred Faith’s
vision. How depressed he is. Maybe if I
pretend to be Fatihah, he’ll remember.
“Oh, I remember everything,”
stammered Faith. “You… are… um—“
“Joric.”
“Of course,” Faith smiled
brightly at him.
Joric gave her a strange
look, wondering why this girl was pretending to know him. If she really was Fatihah, she would have
recognized him immediately. “Don’t lie
to me,” he said sternly, staring straight into her eyes. Something about her eyes captivated him the
longer he held the gaze.
Faith looked into his eyes,
wondering why he was staring at her so intently. She felt her cheeks turn slightly red,
embarrassed that he had caught her in her lie.
She turned her head away and looked around at the mysterious place they
were standing in. Faith noticed a grassy
field, filled with many tiny violets—her favorite flowers.
“Violets!” she exclaimed with
delight.
“Violets? What are ‘violets?’”
Joric’s face displayed true puzzlement.
“V-I-O-L-E-T-S!” she pointed
at the field but was shocked to find the flowers enlarged much beyond
their natural size. Instead of standing
in the midst of an open field, she now stood in a forest of sunny violets. Faith gasped at the beauty of it all.
“These are violets?” Joric
inquired softly, placing his arms around the stem of a violet flower. “See, in our language these are silloth.
S-I-L-L-O-T-H,” he spelled.
Faith sighed. “That’s such a lovely name… for such a lovely
flower,” she whispered. Her eyes met
with Joric’s, and she could not tear them away.
For a moment, Faith and Joric stood, gazing into each other’s eyes,
reading the souls that lay beyond them.
Suddenly, the silence was
broken by the sound of a cheerful cackle.
Faith jumped and spun around, searching for the source of the sound.
“Hahahaha, hello there!” came
a voice from above. Joric and Faith
looked upwards and were amazed to find the head of an old woman, enlarged many
times her normal size, peering down at them.
Her ancient smile revealed a giant mouth missing many giant teeth. Her face was carved up by many deep wrinkles.
“But you’re so… big!” Faith
blurted out, then looked down in shame, her face burning.
“Ah yes. I did forget about that didn’t I?” the old
woman said gleefully. Pulling out a giant
rod, she waved it with a flourish over Faith and Joric. In a blink of an eye, Faith found herself
next to Hope, in an unfamiliar place.
Lost in the moment, Faith grabbed Hope and exchanged hugs.
“Hope, I thought you were
dead! I found your necklace though. Why
did you leave it?” squealed Faith. But
Faith’s words just glided atop Hope’s head.
She was too busy with someone else.
“Hey,” Hope said as she gave
her hand in friendship. “I’m Hope. What’s your name?” Joric just stood there, as if he had amnesia
and was totally clueless. Instead of
accepting Hope’s friendship, he turned towards a massive power of light.
“The… Moon Lady?” flashed
Joric towards her. She nodded with
acceptance and began to speak with her melodious voice.
“Now that everyone is here,”
she began, “I can tell you why you are all here.” Lady Ithiliel looked at the six
people who were gathered around her.
They stared intently at her face, wondering what she was going to
say. Taking a deep breath, she
continued.
“I summoned Hope to Eressea
by the Power of the necklace. I knew
that if Hope came that the rest of you would follow because of the binding
power between you.”
“I don’t understand,” Harmony
interrupted, as she asked the question.
“And I just met Trakis.”
“But you see, you were
destined to meet here. You have a
mission that needs to be fulfilled.”
Before she could finish, Patience
exploded. “But I need to get back home! I haven’t done my homework and I’m
failing English!” Everyone stared at her
as though her comment was misplaced.
There was a sort of gravity in the situation that forced them all to be
serious. School was a much trivial
thought. “I’ll shut up now,” Patience
mumbled, and all attention went back to the Lady Ithiliel.
“As I was saying, you have a
mission that must be fulfilled. The
world is made up of many elements. It is
not just the earth, but the universe as well.
There are powers that bring these elements together. The power of the Sun, the Moon, the Stars,
and the
“That’s so beautiful!” Hope
exclaimed.
“However, there are powers
that are trying to break the universe/world apart,” Lady Ithiliel glanced
around the room. “One of these, Patience
has met. My sister, Morwen, used to be
sweet and kind. But after meeting with
the ruler of Dark Matter, she has become jealous of the powers.”
“Dark Matter? What’s that?”
Patience blurted out, “after all, I never did like Science or English. I NEED to get home!”
“Patience, my dearie. You need
Patience.”
“*Ahem* As I was saying, the
Powers of the Dark Matter are trying to pull apart the universe and they must
be stopped. If they are allowed to
continue, all of creation will be destroyed.
Existence will cease. Do you
understand the importance of this all?”
The room fell into an
oppressive silence.
“Wait, so you’re saying that
we’re suppose to do… something?”
“Yes. And these Powers alone, they cannot do
anything. They must possess a body—“
“So you’re saying that we have
the Powers?” Hope interrupted. “Ooh!
That’s cool!”
“STOP INTERRUPTING!” Joric
yelled.
“Yes, The Light Powers have
been bestowed upon you people. So if you
guys use it well, the Dark Powers many be vanquished from this world forever,”
Lady Ithiliel paused for a moment.
“However, as you would probably have already known, the Lord of Dark
Matter is very powerful. If all the
powers of the Light do not unite, then the universe will be under the dominion
of a terrible darkness. Everything that
was full of Light and life will die.”
“So what do we have to do?”
Faith asked.
“You must come to know and
understand the powers of Light.
Together, they can defeat the Lord of the Dark Matter,” Lady Ithiliel
began to fade into the shadows of the room as she spoke her last words.
“But where do we go? How do we use our powers?” Hope said as she watched Lady Ithiliel
disappear.
“Find the warrior
princesses,” Lady Ithiliel’s voice echoed through the room as the light
vanished.
“She was very helpful,”
Harmony muttered. “Who’re the warrior
princesses?”
“We can’t do this!” Hope
cried as tears began to fall down her cheeks.
“Yes we can! Now hurry up
and stop crying,” Patience retorted.
“Does anyone know anything about the warrior princesses?”
Joric, Faith, and Trakis had
been silent since the Lady of the Moon had departed. Joric was in deep thought as he remembered
Fatihah. Faith looked over at Joric
whose face showed confusion and pain.
“I think Joric knows,” she
whispered.
Joric raised his head and
looked into the eyes of each of the girls.
Finally his eyes rested on Faith, who looked so much like the woman he
had once loved.
“The warrior princesses
swore to protect the land, devoting their lives to this cause. The position was one of great prestige,” he
began. “To be appointed a warrior princess
was said to be the highest honor that a woman could receive.”
“I wish that I could be a
warrior princess,” Hope exclaimed. “It
sounds so exciting!”
“Sh,” Patience chided, eager
to have Joric go on with the story.
“Each was the most beautiful
and the strongest in the kingdom. Once
named a warrior princess, you were bound forever,” Joric continued. “Warrior princesses could only marry into the
wealthiest and most noble families, which is why I could never marry Fatihah.”
“Who’s Fatihah?” Harmony
asked, interrupting his story.
“She’s his old girlfriend,”
Faith explained quietly, “Now let him finish.”
“One night, I remember it so
well. The wind was blowing softly
through her hair as we said our last goodbye.
We met on a hill full of wildflowers, just as we had always done. She told me that they were going away, and
she could not tell me where. It was the
next day that people ran through the streets, shouting that the warrior
princesses had vanished.”
“How tragic,” Hope said as
she felt tears stinging her eyes.
“I remember that night too,”
Trakis said. “My sister was a warrior
princess also. After they were gone,
things began to change. The darkness
moved in and settled itself throughout the kingdom.”
“How long ago was all this?”
Patience asked intently.
“A few years,” Trakis
replied.
Faith had been listening to
them all, an idea forming in her head, “Maybe we have to use our powers to find
the warrior princesses and together we defeat the Lord of Dark Matter!”
“But where do we start?
That’s going to be impossible,” Hope answered back.
“When Fatihah left, she did
mention one final thing,” Joric mentioned.
“At the time it sounded so strange.
I can barely remember.”
“Oh! What is it?” Patience
inquired, anticipating their adventure.
“She told me to follow the
moon, for within it, there lies the answer to every question.”
“And how do we find the
moon?” Harmony questioned.
“With the necklace,” Hope
and Faith said together.
~*~*~*~
“You’ve joined us at last,” a thin voice
whispered. The Lady Ithiliel solidified
in the midst of a circle of people, glowing as though they were fireflies. Ithiliel herself began to glow as well, and
took her place in the circle of light.
One by one, the women making
up the ring stepped forward as an invisible being called out their identities.
“Lady Arien.” A tall,
statuesque lady lifted her chin and moved to the center. Her raven hair curled about her waist,
swishing this way, then that. On closer
inspection, bright crimson streaks shone in her hair with a metallic glow and
her black eyes swallowed all they took in.
“Lady Malinalda.” Like a
willow, the Lady of the
“Lady Ithiliel.” Ithiliel
rustled her skirts and stepped forward. With a slight shrug, she tossed her
ankle-length hair over her shoulders and set it swinging, throwing streams of
silver as she walked. Her eyes were
downcast and she glided as though she were in a stupor. Now seeing, not needing to see, she joined
the center.
“Lady Gil-Estelle.” The final Lady of Light raised her starry
eyes and went forward, her cerulean eyes taking and reflecting the light around
her. Her glimmering hair was a
shade of silvery blue.
“So, what are we here for
again?”
“We’re here to help the new
warrior princesses,” quipped Ithiliel.
“Remember?” The light around the
Ladies and the mystery that enshrouded them suddenly vanished and they seemed
to be nothing more than a group of giggly girls dressed up in some sort of
finery.
“Wow, it feels lovely to be
able to walk again!” Arien exclaimed, skipping around with her skirts pulled
above her ankles to prevent tripping.
“So, these new warrior girls,” she continued. “They any good?”
Malinalda sighed at the
carelessness of it all, but turned accusingly to Ithiliel. “WELL,” she began,
“we wouldn’t know considering that Missy Ithiliel won’t let the rest of us meet
then, eh.” Ithiliel smirked
sarcastically in return.
“Now girls. I think they’ve had enough surprises for one
day,” cajoled Gil-Estelle, missing the sarcasm in Malinalda’s voice while Arien
continued her prancing.
“So, when are we gonna tell
‘em?” asked Arien absentmindedly.
“Oh, you know the rest of
it. And about us,” Malinalda clarified.
“Yeah, now that we’re mobile
again, we might as well get to work,” added Arien, her voice casual. She was still skipping. Ithiliel and Gil-Estelle exchanged
exasperated glances before giving Malinalda and Arien an unacceptable answer.
“When the time is right…”
~*~*~*~
“The new warriors have arrived at
Eressea. I can sense it,” Fatihah sat on
a cold stone seat.
“Really? Then what do we
become? I mean, aren’t we the highest?” Patiente mused.
“Well, our reign of protection
is ending. After all, being a warrior
princess didn’t guarantee you’d always be one.” Telperion’s gray eyes
flashed. “Trakis’ friends are next.”
“Wait, so what’s happening?”
Patiente, just like her successor, was easily confused.
“What is happening is—the new
group will be trained, and then… we’ll leave.”
“Where to?”
“I DON’T KNOW. Do I look like
the ultimate ruler?” Fatihah jumped up.
“Alright, back to my original statement: the new Powers have arrived.”
“So?”
“That means we hafta teach
them.”
“But aren’t the Ladies of the
Powers teaching them?”
“Yeah, but they’re teaching
them their powers, not their roles.” Telperion also jumped up. “Are we gonna get started?”
“What’s our task?” Ehoponine,
who had been silent until now, spoke up.
“What should we teach them?”
“Dunno. We’re gonna find that out right now.”
“From where are we going to
find out? And what will happen to us one they’ve gained their powers?”
“Wait, hold on, I have a
question,” Ehoponine inquired, “What’s going to happen to us? I mean, there’s
something suspicious about the Ladies of the Powers… they’re trying to—“
“Get rid of us,” Telperion
answered. “I had that same hunch too for a while. But I realized that they
can’t be evil, they’ve helped us become who we are.” Silence broke out as
thoughts crossed all the girls’ minds.
“But, we have learned not to
trust everyone, by our past. But
something keeps bothering me, why did the Ladies make up that story?” Fatihah
asked.
“What story?”
“You know,” Fatihah replied,
“about… That we vanished. They were
actually the ones who sent for us.”
Ehoponine nodded in agreement.
Something was wrong. However, as
warrior princesses, they must stick with their pledge and loyalty.
“I’ve also had this feeling
before,” Patiente exclaimed. “Especially
at the height of the Dark Matter… the feeling of betrayal. Our gems were weakened. I think the imbalance is beginning. The imbalance that could ruin everything.”
“Perhaps it is the Dark
Matter that is putting this feeling of mistrust in our minds,” Ehoponine
reasoned, “but no matter what, we must stick together.”
“Of course!” Fatihah
replied.
“Alright. So are we going?”
Patiente sighed. “Maybe this is why the
Ladies don’t want us anymore—“
“’Tis not that they don’t want
us. Just… our time has come to leave,”
Telperion interrupted.
“But don’t you see? We’re
always talking… and never getting much done.”
“Hehe hoho haha. I’ve heard that our successors are just like
that too. Maybe that’s what’s suppose to
happen!” Ehoponine giggled.
“Er… right. SO are we gonna go find out?”
“Find what out?” Ehoponine
asked.
“Our task with the new
warriors, DUH. That’s what we WERE
talking about until SOMEONE got us off topic.”
“Alright. Alright. I’m very
sorry,” Ehoponine sighed. “Okay, now where do we go?”
“We’re suppose to meet with
them sometime soon, remember?”
“Yes, yes, but when’s
‘sometime soon?’” Ehoponine whined.
“Right now!” The girls turned
to face the speaker and found themselves encountered with Gil-Estelle, Lady of
the Stars. Behind her stood the other
Ladies of the Light.
“How do you guys GET here so
fast?” gasped Patiente, clearly taken aback by their sudden appearances.
“You forget that we’re pure
energy,” chided Arien. “We don’t need to
travel, we just appear.”
“Gosh, it seems as though you
need to go through training again,” teased Malinalda. “Anyway, back to business.”
The Ladies of the Light began
to glow as they reached their arms out to each other. They grew brighter and less solid until they
formed a bright shimmering column of light.
It was almost painful for the warrior princesses to watch. From the midst of the column, something
bright and sparkly shot straight up into the air, splintered into four strands
and flew towards the warrior princesses.
Each of them let out a slight gasp as it hit them in the eyes, but when
they opened their eyes again, the arrival of the successors was displayed for
them in this sight. The girls watched
intently and when the vision had finished, the Ladies of the Light broke
apart. Fatihah was surprised to see four
young girls, accompanied by two boys.
“It’s… Joric…” Fatihah gasped
as she looked at her lost love. Lady
Gil-Estelle gave her a stern, hard look, and Fatihah attempted to recover
herself.
“This is your one last chance
to see him,” Gil-Estelle said blandly.
Fatihah restrained her emotion and the other girls wore grave
expressions on their uplifted faces as they gazed at the old warrior
princesses.
“So what will happen to us?”
inquired Patiente softly. They all knew
the answer, and Hope’s eyes were already blurred with tears. “Now that the new girls have arrived…”
“Dearies… what you must
understand is that… when you’ve accomplished your task, your duty will be
done. When you took your oath as a
warrior princess, you devoted your life to your duty. You were consumed by it.”
Ehoponine, Fatihah, Telperion,
and Patiente nodded nostalgically, remembering their oaths.
“Hence, when your duties are
complete, you will be… no longer.”
“You mean we’ll die,”
Telperion said bitterly.
“No, not die,” Arien
corrected. “You will discard your body
and become the energy of your element.”
“So we’ll become things like
YOU?” Ehoponine inquired.
“No, dears,” Ithiliel
majestically sighed. “You will become part of us.” The warrior princesses fell
silent, unsure of what she meant.
“But I don’t understand,”
screeched Patiente in confusion.
“What you must know is that
when a warrior princess dies, she becomes pure energy. After generations of warrior princesses,
their energy builds on top of each other.
Eventually, it became so concentrated that it could become a humanoid
form, if need be,” explained Gil-Estelle.
“That concentration of energy
is us, but you can only see us in our human forms,” Malinalda continued. “Remember we are not humans, but a collection
of the energy of the warrior princesses.
You will be added to the mix,” she concluded.
“Well girls,” began
Gil-Estelle. “It’s time to take your
oaths… to become princesses.” The room
fell silent and mixed emotions arose.
Faith was a little scared, understanding the devotion by Joric’s
story. But she was determined to fulfill
her mission, as were Hope and Harmony.
“Isn’t… it too soon? I mean,
we’re not ready to do this,” quivered Patience.
There was a certain fear in her eyes.
She had an urge to go home and be Patience again, not a warrior
princess, just regular fun-loving Patience.
Harmony tried to console her.
“Just think about it, we’ll be
Princesses! You’ll have everything you’ve ever dreamed of!” she said
enthusiastically, but she knew that she was lying. Not everything would be granted to them by
being warrior princesses.
“You don’t understand,” cried
Patience in response. “There’s more back
home that could ever be here! There are people
there, people I love and want to return to.
I don’t want to be a warrior princess, I just want to graduate high
school, go to college, get a job, get married.
Don’t you SEE? I want to live!” she took a breath before
continuing. “I’m not ready to be a
princess. We just got here, and all of a
sudden I get attacked by some creepy lady, meet all these new people, and am
told that I have to give up everything I’ve looked forward to? I’m sorry, I just can’t do it!” A huge sob escaped her. “And I haven’t even finished my history notes
yet!” she concluded pathetically.
“Patience,” Arien began, “The
four warrior Princesses have to work together.
Don’t you understand? Everyone that you love, everything you know will
be destroyed by the Dark Powers. We NEED
you to help!”
“Just one question, though,”
Faith interrupted. “Where the heck are
we?” Telperion giggled, lightening the
mood.
“We’re on Lauralion,”
Gil-Estelle replied. “The star that is
to be your home until you are trained.”
“That is, if you take the
oath,” Ithiliel added. All of
them turned to watch Patience. “Will you
take it?”
“BUT I HAVE HOMEWORK TO DO!
AND PROJECTS! AT HOME! HOME being Earth or whatever you call it in your queer
star-ish land!” Patience shrieked.
“Ah… but you won’t be going
back to Aman. If you take the oath,
there is no need for you to go back there.
When you’re a warrior princess, things like homework, projects, school,
and everything else do not matter to you.
You will instead work on much greater tasks,” Malinalda sighed. “Do you understand?”
“She never understood things
well,” Hope joked. “Just like frustums!”
Arien leaned over to
Ithiliel. “Seriously, I think Morwen and
the Dark Lord are doing something…”
“Hey… Who’s the Dark Lord?
Like his name?” Harmony had evidently overhead Arien.
“His name will not be
mentioned here. ‘Tis too evil for this
place. Anyway, it’s off topic. So, Patience, will you take it?”
“But then I’ll become nothing
after whatever’s done?” Patience sighed.
“I do want to live.”
“You will, OKAY? She didn’t
say you’d be dead right after you take it!” Hope stamped her foot. “How long are we gonna stand here? I’m
getting tired.”
“Me too!” mumbled
Harmony. “Hurry it up so that we can get
some food or something.” All looked at
her oddly. “What?” she exclaimed. “It’s true, I’m starving! Do you people eat
here, or what?”
“Only when you deserve it,”
came the reply.
“Are you ready to take your
vows yet?” Lady Arien asked.
“Yes,” came the reply from
Harmony, Faith, and Hope. All eyes were
on Patience as they awaited her response.
Patience gulped, unsure of
what to say. She wanted to become a
warrior princess, but something was holding her back. Finally she looked up triumphantly and
responded, “Okay. So what do we do?”
“To begin, you need to come
over here,” Lady Gil-Estelle said.
Patience, Hope, Harmony, and Faith walked slowly toward her tall
figure. “And the boys need to leave.” She motioned them out of the room and they
quickly followed her command.
“Only those with the Power
may be present,” Lady Malinalda explained, “Stand right here in a circle.” The girls moved together in a small circle,
wondering what was going to happen.
“Now place your left hand in
the center on top of one another,” Lady Arien continued. “And the other must be connected to the lady
whose power matches your own.”
Ehoponine smiled to herself
as she witnessed the new girls taking their oaths. She remembered the day that she had done it
so many years ago. Patiente, Telperion,
and Fatihah were also lost in their memories.
Once this oath was taken, their gems would be passed onto the new
princesses.
“Okay, repeat after me,”
Lady Ithiliel told the young girls, “Hope, you begin.”
“Through the power that I
possess,” Lady Ithiliel began, followed by Hope. “I promise to protect the land
and its people.” Ithiliel paused, allowing Hope the time to repeat the words
before continuing. “I will remain
hopeful throughout my quest as we fight to overcome the darkness.”
Faith, then Harmony, said
their own vows, replacing the word “hopeful” with faithful and harmonious
respectively. Patience took a deep
breath as she listened to Lady Arien guide her through the vow. Patience began to speak, “Through the power
that I possess—“ But before Patience could finish speaking, a burst of light
filled the room followed by a loud crash.
~*~*~*~
“Good.
Very good.” The ruler of the Dark
Matter turned from Morwen to his ceiling-high window. “You’ve got some power now.”
“What did I do? Nothing happened so far as I can see.” Morwen stood in the dimly lit chamber,
wondering what had just happened. All
she had seen was a flash of light shooting far off to some distant place.
“Oh… nothing much—nothing very
big. You just learned how to make things
collapse. More specifically, you just
pulverized a little bit of the building where your sister and all their silly
friends are.”
“Ooh!” Morwen squealed
joyfully. “What good fun!” The dark lord looked queerly at
her. “Could I smash something in the
room?”
“I prefer not, but—” It
was too late. A loud crash echoed
throughout the chamber and the Dark Lord turned to find his mirror, which had
held the image of Lady Malinalda, smashed into a million pieces. He stared at it with dumbness before turning
back on Morwen.
“HOW DARE YOU!” he roared, a
ball of black energy forming between the palms of his hands. “HOW DARE YOU SMASH MY LOOKING GLASS!”
“It’s not like you ever used
it,” Morwen mumbled, shrinking away from her lord.
“Do you even KNOW how HARD it
was to get one of these? I spent so much
money! And the TIME it took to get it to
work!” The dark lord ranted. He was furious. The ball of energy grew the
more he realized that it was the last picture of Lady Malinalda that he had.
~*~*~*~
Flash Back
The young man with dark
features hurried along the street, searching for the love of his life. He couldn’t allow her to walk away from him,
causing them more pain than they could bear.
It wasn’t her fault that her brother couldn’t accept that they were
together. He hoped that he would find
her at their spot – the place near the riverbank. As he approached, a familiar voice broke into
his thoughts.
“I thought that you would
come here,” she whispered, her cheeks stained with tears.
“Malinalda,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Stop making it worse,” she
interrupted, “I told you already. We’re
over.” She brushed away the tears in her
eyes as she looked away from his face.
He reached out to touch her shoulder, but she turned away.
“Stop blaming yourself for
your brother’s feelings!”
“No, don’t do this Amon
Uilos. It is my fault, I should never
have allowed myself to fall in love with you.
We knew it couldn’t work.”
“But it can,” Amon Uilos
said in desperation.
“We’ve tried and look where
it got us. My brother hates me because
you’re not supposed to be good enough for me.
He feels like he has to protect me from your influence ever since my
father’s death.”
“We can find a way…”
“I don’t belong with you and
I have to respect my brother’s wishes!” she cried.
“Then we’ll run away together
and never return to Eressea!”
“I can’t leave the only life
I’ve ever known,” Malinalda said softly, “Just go.”
Amon Uilos stared into her
eyes, and knew that she meant it. “I
hope you’re happy,” he said bitterly, “Because without you, I won’t be.”
Malinalda watched him leave,
her heart breaking for both of them.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she recalled the hurt in his eyes. She had done this to him, but he would surely
understand someday.
End Flash Back
~*~*~*~
“Morwen, sweet,” Uilos crooned icily, “You will
redeem yourself, right?” Morwen shrunk
away from him without responding, but the fire within his hands was enough to
put her under his control.
“Yes, m’Lord.”
~*~*~*~
Morwen left the great lord’s
abode silently, but joyful. The
temptations within her broke out, the urge was unshielded. She had finally done it. After years and years of seeing that glass
with Malinalda’s face upon it, it had made her angry. She couldn’t stand looking at her
everyday. Uilos still loved her, he just
wouldn’t admit it. After she had broken
the glass and gazed at his dazed look, it was obvious what he was thing about.
Morwen knew Malinalda’s
secret, she was also present at the time of the breakup. Uilos had never really loved her, or noticed
her. To him, Morwen was just another
grain of sand on the beach. That made
Morwen furious and a fury of jealously overpowered her.
~*~*~*~
Flash Back
“I thought you would come
here,” Malinalda said. Tears were
rolling down her pale cheeks. Morwen
eyed her with fury from behind the bridge.
She had followed Amon Uilos to the riverbank. Her love was so dear to her, but he merely
rejected it like an ignorant fool. He
had fallen for Malinalda’s beauty.
“Malinalda,” he pleaded, “It
doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Stop making it worse!” Morwen
winced at the very sound of Malinalda’s voice.
“I told you already, we’re
over.” She sounded so cruel, so harsh.
Morwen couldn’t possibly believe that anyone would say such words to her
beloved Amon Uilos, even if it were sweet, non-human Malinalda, even if she
knew why Malinalda was rejecting him.
Morwen would never reject Amon Uilos, if she ever had the chance.
“Stop blaming yourself for
your brother’s feelings!” Amon Uilos yelled angrily. Morwen smirked inwardly. It wasn’t Malinalda’s brother’s feelings that
caused this current scene, and Morwen knew her secret. She toyed with the idea of telling Amon Uilos
because he kept the same secret, but decided not to. Why would she want to
give Amon Uilos a reason to stay together with Malinalda? Morwen wanted Amon Uilos to finally notice
her, and she had the perfect plan to get him to do so.
End Flash Back
~*~*~*~
“What’s happened?” Faith groaned. She pushed Hope’s arm off of her and glanced
around.
The room was a mess. Apparently a part of the ceiling had been hit
by something. Fragments of shiny glass
now laid all around, some catching light from the pale moon. The old warrior princesses were picking
themselves up while the Ladies of the Light remained standing as if nothing had
happened.
Arien picked a golden leaf
from her hair, “I wonder…”
Gil-Estelle plucked another
leaf from her skirts. “Dearie me. What has happened?” She turned towards the girls. “Are you alright?”
“Yep. Think so,” Hope jumped up. “Glass! What?”
“Glass is dangerous. Especially shards of sharp glass,” Harmony
put in.
“We don’t need your trivially
intellectual sayings,” Faith retorted.
“Doesn’t matter. I don’t think this kind of glass is the same
as yours,” Ithiliel answered. “But
something is really bothering me.” She
fiddled with a piece of glass absentmindedly.
“Morwen?” Malinalda said
quietly.
“Yes.”
“Hey! Where’s Patience?”
Harmony looked around wildly.
“And the boys,” Fatihah
added. She was toying with a piece of
glass but everyone knew who she was thinking about.
“I’m sorry, Fatihah,”
Gil-Estelle murmured. “But we had nothing to do with it, honest.” Her eyes were sincere, and although the
warrior princesses had doubted the ladies in the past, Fatihah knew that this
was truly the work of the Dark Lord.
“Well, Princesses?” she looked
up cheerfully and quipped. “That’s what you guys are up against!”
“What? Against… randomly
breaking liquidy glass?”
“PATIENCE! There you are!”
Hope squealed. “I was getting worried
about where you were.”
“Oh,” Patience shrugged. “Well. I was fine. But what is this stuff
made of?”
“To answer your first
question… No. The glass did not
‘randomly break.’ Most likely it was the Dark Lord—“
“If you were listening,” Faith
interjected.
“—and it is made out of a type
of liquid metal. The glass I mean,”
Gil-Estelle sighed. “I guess we’ll have
to repair it later.” She turned to face the other ladies. “So, are we gonna finish the oaths?”
“Oaths?” Ithiliel asked. “Oh yes.
The oaths.” She tossed her piece
of glass onto the floor, which landed with a small plink, and glided towards
the others.
“Hands in the middle… left
hand. And the other to your Lady of
Power,” Gil-Estelle instructed. The
girls did as they were told.
Malinalda looked over her
shoulders to the old warrior princesses.
“You have your gems?”
“Yes.”
“Alright Patience. Through the power that I possess, I promise
to protect the land and its people,” Lady Arien waited for Patience to repeat
before going on. “I will remain patient
throughout my quest as we fight to overcome the darkness.”
At that moment, all four girls
felt a rush of power enter them.
“Oooh!” Hope squealed, jumping
up and down. “Now what can I do? Can I…
hmmm… fly? or vanish? or make things float? or—“
“No. This isn’t a fairytale. And no anyway because for one, you do not
have the gems that give you the power and two, you haven’t been trained
yet.” Lady Malinalda turned to the old
warrior princesses. “Time to pass the
gems on.”
“What are the gems for?”
Harmony questioned.
“The gems hold the
Powers. By taking the oath, you are
accepting the responsibility to keep them safe and use them wisely,” Lady
Malinalda explained. “Only the warrior
princesses can use them.”
“Eh… what?” Patience
asked. “Gosh, this stuff is one
confusing thing. Don’t we already have
power?”
“You have the power – ability
– to use the Power of the gems.”
“And we don’t have it
anymore,” Fatihah added. “That’s why
we’re giving them to you.”
“So only one ‘set’ of
princesses can have that power? The ability to use the gems?” Faith asked.
“Yup. The gems, girls.” Lady Arien held her hand out to the old
warrior princesses.
All four of the old warrior princesses reached toward their necks and pulled out necklaces
from their dresses. All of them except
Ehoponine.
“My necklace!” she squealed, looking down the front of her dress
frantically. “It’s not there!” Lady Ithiliel glowed silver in a fit of panic.
“You lost your necklace?” she thundered at Ehoponine.
“No, I didn’t lose it! I’ve never taken it off!” Ehoponine cried in
self-defense, but it was too late. Lady
Ithiliel had already begun her tirade.
“How DARE you lose it! The necklace holds
the gem, the very power that binds our world together. What if Morwen got hold if it! You know
nothing would keep her from giving it to—“
“Please don’t say his name,” Malinalda said suddenly, her eyes full
of pain. Ithiliel fell silent, knowing
the memories, Malinalda kept were bitter.
However, Ehoponine broke the silence. “The point is, I can’t seem
to find my necklace!” she wailed.
“Wait-” Hope interrupted. “I have a necklace too.” She reached to
her neck, but noticed it wasn’t there. “Oh no, mine’s missing too!”
Faith reached down into her pocket,
looking for the necklace she found on the beach. She remembered how it attracted itself toward
the moon, it had to have some power.
“Aha! I found it,” claimed Faith.
Elegantly, she pulled out the necklace and gave it to Hope. As Hope reached to take her necklace,
Ehoponine grabbed the charm before her.
“This is my necklace! Look, the gem is always facing the moon, It
drains the droplets of light and gives my power,” said Ehoponine.
“No.” Hope grabbed the piece
of jewelry out of Ehoponine’s hand.
“It’s mine. I know this has to be
mine. Ask anyone else, I’ve been wearing this since I was so young. It’s mine and I wont let you have it.”
Ehoponine glared at Hope who
was clutching the necklace tightly. She
began to say something when Lady Ithiliel interrupted, “Girls. I’m sure that
there is a way to resolve this. Your
behavior is not acceptable for warrior princesses!”
“But it’s MINE, is it not, Ithiliel?” Ehoponine asked.
“No IT ISN’T!”
“Okay. Okay. I’m just wondering how and why Hope already has the
necklace,” Arien interrupted. “How could she have gotten the necklace before
she took the oath?”
“And Ehoponine has never gone to Aman after the oath. Or she wasn’t suppose to,” Malinalda said
doubtfully
“And Hope couldn’t have come here either,” Gil-Estelle added. There was a moment of complete silence as the
Ladies of the Light pondered upon this point.
“Ehoponine. Have you gone
back to Aman?” Ithiliel looked at Ehoponine sternly while the old warrior
princesses bit their lips;
“Yes.” Ehoponine said softly.
‘Why in the world did you go back?” Ithiliel exploded. ”I never gave you any task to go back there!” Ehoponine looked downwards
in shame, knowing that she was wrong, and yet—
“There’s a reason I went back,” she thought out loud, accidentally
interrupting Ithiliel’s tirade.
All turned to stare at her, and even
Ithiliel fell silent.
“And what might that reason be?” Ithiliel
whispered dangerously. She wasn’t
pleased with Ehoponine’s show of disloyalty and disobedience. “You took your oath, now let us hear what
reason you give for abandoning your duties to return to Aman.”
“Ehoponine whispered a single word.
“Erelas.” The faces of the old warrior
princesses became dark in memory and they looked towards the Ladies of the
Light in fear. “I went back to see
Erelas,” she said, her voice slowly rising in pitch. “I had to see him again, don’t you
understand? I never wanted to leave him!”
“And Fatihah never loved Joric?”
Telperion spat in contempt, upset that her friend would behave so
selfishly. ‘She had to leave him
too!” Fatihah looked away, not wanting
to have any part in the argument. She
knew what Ehoponine would say next.
“Fatihah wanted to be a warrior princess,” Ehoponine cried. “She took the oath voluntarily! She renounced Joric of her own free will!”
Faithah winced at the sound of her friend’s cruel words, but knew they were
true. She could feel the tears
stinging her eyes as her mind wandered off to the time that seemed so long
ago. Leaving Joric was the hardest thing
that she’d ever done.
“Well, now that we have the
necklace, can’t we just get on with it?” Hope asked eagerly. “It’s not going to matter whose necklace it
is after we’ve transferred the powers of the gems.”
The girls nodded at the
realization of how silly the argument was.
“So when we give up the gems, we become a part of you?” Fatihah asked
Lady Gil-Estelle.
“Yes,” the Lady answered.
Fatihah removed her necklace
and placed it around Faith’s neck. “Bu
the power that binds our souls together, I give you this gem.” As Fatihah uttered the words, the light
around her body began to fade as it became part of the Lady Gil-Estelle. The old warrior princesses gazed in horror as
she simply disappeared and became nothing more than a memory.
“I’ll go next,” Telperion
volunteered with a gulp. She too passed
her gem onto Harmony and thus no long existed.
Patiente took her turn, which left Ehoponine standing there alone.
“I don’t want it to end,”
she said. “And only become a part of
someone else. It just doesn’t seem to be
fair.”
Lady Ithiliel sighed and
wished that Ehoponine would forget her fears and do what she had to do. Ehoponine took a deep breath and uttered her
final words before evaporating before the eyes of the girls and Ladies in the
room.
“Patience wiped her eyes,
feeling almost guilty for causing the death of another princess. But it wasn’t really death, more like… well,
Patience didn’t know. A nagging feeling
in Faith’s hear refused to go away. Was
it certainly the last time that she would see the warrior princesses face to
face? It must be, she thought.
~*~*~*~
Joric glanced at Trakis who
sat silently on the floor. “You do
realize that we will never see them again?” Joric asked a stone-faced Trakis.
Trakis didn’t respond, but
continued to stare at the nothingness that filled the room.
“I suppose it’s all for the
best,” Joric muttered bitterly, “Since she wasn’t human anyway.”
“But they are human,”
someone said. “But they become less human when they’re a warrior
princess.” The two boys were surprised
to find a small figure staring at them from a corner.
“Who are you?” Joric asked
sharply with his eyes full of mistrust.
The young girl looked at him
shyly with big dark brown eyes. “It’s
Chloe. I, um, sort of live here.”
“Oh,” Joric replied, looking
away. What use was this young girl? He had more important things to think about.
The girl couldn’t help but
notice Joric’s handsome features. Even
if he didn’t know her name, she already knew his. She felt her cheeks grow how as she realized
how long she’d been staring at him. She
turned quickly and ran back down the hall.
~*~*~*~
Uilos leaned back in his
chair. What in this stupid universe had
Morwen been thinking when she smashed his lovely mirror to pieces? It was very good that she had left when she did
or bad things... yes... very bad things would have happened to her. He jumped up from his chair and went to his
window. It would have to do until he got
another mirror. Right now, it was set on
transparent. He would have to find a way
to set it to a mirror-ish setting.
Meanwhile, he’d enjoy the scenic view of his lovely world.
Uilos had created this world
by himself, with his very own power.
Looking outside from his tower, one could see *uniquely* shaped rocks
outlined against a sky full of ribbons of pale pink and lavender fading to a
light shade of blue. Surrounding the
rocks was a deep ocean of turquoise and midnight blue with a touch of green at
the edges.
“This is my heaven,” Uilos thought to
himself. “This is my sacred haven, my
escape.” As he looked out the window, he contemplated the three things that
were worth living fore: his world, Malinalda, and—
“Oh Uilos!” Morwen was back. She was annoyingly cheerful for escaping a
near-death encounter with Uilos’s wrath.
“What do you want, Morwen?” he snarled
angrily. Morwen held up a small shard of
glass and flashed it in front of Uilos’s eyes.
A closer glance showed an image of a group of young girls surrounded by
ladies who seemed to be (oddly enough) glowing.
“The gems have been passed on,” Morwen
squealed. “Now they are weak! This is our chance!”
“Let me see,” the Dark Lord
muttered. Morwen calmed down enough for
Uilos to snatch it from her hand before she resumed her gleeful prancing. “Interesting,” he concluded after a few
moments. “Where did you find this
glass?”
“On the ground. Somehow it got outside… But, oh Uilos! I’m
going to have lots of power soon! Then I’ll be all high and mighty!” Morwen
squeaker in happiness. “Like you!”
“NOT IF YOU DON’T STOP YOUR
PRANCING AND DANCING THIS INSTANT!” Uilos roared in irritation. Sometimes, Morwen just irritated him to the
point where he wondered if he had even made a wise decision to accept her into
his service, but
what had been done was done and releasing her from his service was only to his
disadvantage.
“You stupid girl,” he murmured as Morwen
quieted down. “Where on the ground did
you find it?”
“Didn’t I already tell you?” she replied
absentmindedly. “’Twas on the ground
outside the window.”
“Which window?”
“THE window! The window, the window, the
second story window!” Morwen sang excitedly.
“There are many windows on the second
floor, you twirp!”
“Who cares? Lessee what’s in the glass
now!” Uilos finally looked at the shard of glass and was surprised to see the
images moving.
~*~*~*~
Chloe couldn’t get his face
out of her mind! It seemed as though he
had barely noticed her, but then he had spoken to her! She smiled to herself as she remembered his
voice… With a sigh, she went back to her work.
“Chloe!” a voice called from
inside the large kitchen.
“Yes ma’am?” she answered
dutifully.
“I need help with this,” the
head servant responded. Chloe headed
into the kitchen where she spent most of her time in the castle. Being a servant in the magnificent place wasn’t
the most glamorous job, but Chloe didn’t mind it too much. The head maid was nice to her and at least it
was something to do, since she had never been one to make friends easily.
She had been working in the
castle since as long as she could remember.
The warrior princesses had lived there and treated her like a
sister. Even though they were scarcely
at home, she was always delighted to speak to and serve them. But there was one person that bothered her—
“Hello Chloe,” Trakis
whispered behind the cabinet. Some his
sister was one of the warrior princesses, he always hung around the castle…
specifically the kitchen. Supposedly, he
had loved her since he had laid his gray eyes upon her, but that was what he
always said to everyone.
“What is it Trakis?” Chloe
sighed. At the beginning, he had charmed
her with roses, but now it was getting old.
“I love you.”
“Here!” Ignoring Trakis,
Chloe handed him an apple. ‘This was
what you wanted, so there. Scurry off
now,” Chloe said, waving her arms to push him away.
“Is something bothering you?”
he asked. He noticed that Chloe was
being more clumsy than usual.
“N…No,” stammered Chloe, “I
just feel different today, that’s all.”
“It’s Joric, isn’t it?”
Trakis casually whispered. Chloe dropped
her plate, leaving a mess of food splattered upon the floor.
“No, why do you ask?”
“I saw you talk to him
today. Why don’t you like me, Chloe?
What do I lack?” he asked. He began to
walk toward Chloe, who was repelling him backwards. Crunches echoed throughout the kitchen as
they walked upon the spilled food. “What?
What is it?” Trakis asked again. His
charming smile vanished, now substituted with a longing face. Chloe held her arms toward Trakis, trying to
lure herself away from him.
“I… I don’t know,”
she stammered. Swiveling around, she ran
out the door… just to run smack dab into the head maid.
“There you are, dearie. I’ve been looking for you. Actually waiting. What have you been doing?” Suddenly, she spotted Trakis. “And what are you doing here?”
Trakis looked up, slightly
startled. “Oh, nothing. Just… umm… getting an apple!” He scurried
off, leaving Chloe with the head maid.
“What was that all about?” the
head maid questioned. ‘Why was Trakis
here?” Chloe shrugged. “And why is there food on the floor?” Chloe shrugged again. Even though the maid was nice, she still got
on Chloe’s nerve because of her non-stop chattering.
“Hmph. Fine. The just clean it up, alright? And then you can help me set up,” she
continued. “By the way, have you any
idea where the warrior princesses are?”
“No.”
The maid glanced at Chloe and
sighed.
“Erghness. Fine. I shall leave
you here to go dream about your love life… Ooh is it Trakis?” she teased.
“NO! It’s NOT Trakis,” Chloe squealed in irritation. “Anyone BUT Trakis!”
“Ah, but he seems to have SUCH a crush on
you!” the head maid giggled.
“Oh yes, Trakis the flirt. Spending all his time with me,” Chloe mumbled sarcastically, but
the head maid didn’t hear her.
“Well, I’ll leave you to clean up this
mess.” With that final word, she bustled
out of the kitchen.
Chloe gazed sadly at the mess on the
floor. Why wouldn’t Trakis leave her
alone? She knew that he was lying every
time he said he loved her, and that conjuring up flowers was a favorite trick
of his. He presented flowers to nearly
every girl he met, and trapped them with his gray eyes. No matter who it was, a single rose left them
dreaming of Trakis. He was a flirt, all
right, and Chloe knew his tricks all too well.
Of course, he never meant to break their hearts, but they all were hurt
in the end. Except, of course, for
Chloe. Years of playing his silly games
left her hardened and almost amused when he found a new target.
But he never left Chloe alone. And that frightened her.
~*~*~*~
“So what now?” Patience inquired as she
admired her necklace.
“Well. Lessee… First—“
“We can eat?” Harmony
interrupted. “Or do they not eat here?”
“Yes, they eat. I guess we
just forgot because we don’t need to,” answered Malinalda. She turned around and glided towards a
massive tree. “Shall we go?”
“Hey! What about the glass?”
Gil-Estelle suddenly cried. “We need to
fix that too!”
“Yea,” Faith agreed. “This
glass has been all over the place since the big crash before we took our
oaths.” She reached down to pick up a
piece of glass when Lady Arien stopped her.
“Leave
it to us,” she told Faith. With a wink,
she and the other Ladies glided to the center of the massive room. Suddenly, as the new warrior princesses
looked on curiously, the glass fragments lifted themselves off the ground and
flew towards the ceiling. Within a few
seconds, the ceiling was repaired and the glass dome above let a bit of
starlight from the night sky above peek through.
“Wow! That’s SO cool! How do you do
that?” Hope exclaimed.
The Ladies of the Light simply grinned.
“I believed you girls were hungry?” And
with these words a table laden with plates of food materialized in front of the
warrior princesses.
The girls stared at the plates hungrily, something
was wrong.
“Where’s the normal food? Like
pizza, spaghetti, chicken, turkey, blah, blah, blah? Like the yummy stuff?”
Hope picked up a delicate flower. “Are we suppose to eat these?”
Lady Gil-Estelle chuckled. “No
dearie, that’s for decoration. I
wouldn’t advise you to eat it. It’s
called silloth, a very special flower indeed.
If you hold it up in the right position, you will see something very…
what’s the word… rewarding. Magic-like almost.”
“Why don’t we show them
later?” Lady Arien suggested. “Like after dinner.”
“Yes. Yes. Let’s eat!” And
with that, the girls hungrily dove into their food.
~*~*~*~
Uilos stared blankly at the
wall. Morwen sat near him in his fancy
spinning chair, amusing herself to retain herself from irritated Uilos even
more.
“Morwen, would you do me a
HUGE favor?” Uilos suddenly said.
“What?” she did a final twirl
and smacked the desk in front of her before jumping up.
Uilos groaned. “Forget the
original task. I just want you out of
this room. I can’t think with all your
squeaking and banging with the chair.”
He pulled out an old dusty book and tossed it to Morwen. “Here, amuse yourself with that.”
Morwen caught it. Blowing the gray dust particles off,
she opened the book.
The pages seemed to turn by themselves,
and they flipped until Morwen saw something which caught her eye. She held her hand up as if to silence someone
and the pages stopped flipping at her command.
Morwen stared at the words on the page and shuddered, remembering her
childhood.
In Eressea, the Moon does
Rain,
Providing Both Ease and
Pain.
So many people had wasted away their
lives, trying to figure out the mystery of the verse. But she knew what it meant. And so did her dratted sister, Ithiliel
because they relied on the moon for survival.
But Morwen never wanted to be the child of the moon. Ithiliel was the Lady of the Moon, but Morwen
was the unwanted child, the sister who was a mistake. Tears welled up in her misty gray
eyes as the memories of childhood flashed in her mind. Taking the book, she ran out of Uilos’s
tower.
~*~*~*~
Early the next morning,
Faith awoke before the others. She stretched
her arms and yawned as she climbed out of the large bed. Glancing over at the other three beds in the
room, she made sure that Patience, Harmony, and Hope were still all asleep. She ventured out of the room and into the
hall, which was filled with sunlight that streamed through the large windows at
the end of the hall. Faith gazed out of
the window and into the meadow that lay far below. Something about the place looked familiar.
“Maybe it’s all the
silloths,” she thought before remembering that it was the place that she had
first met Joric when she fell into the ocean.
The thing that puzzled her though was why hadn’t she noticed the huge
castle the first time? Faith was
surprised to hear a voice behind her.
“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” the
small girl wearing what looked like a maid’s dress said.
“Yes,” Faith replied.
“Lady Gil-Estelle sent me to
find you,” the girl began. “I’m Chloe.”
“Oh hey, I’m Faith.” The two girls gazed at each other, one a
warrior princess, the other a maid.
“So… shall we go?” Chloe felt
very plain and slightly uncomfortable around the new warrior princess. Even though she, Chloe, was not a warrior
princess, right now she actually knew more about their powers than any of the
girls.
Suddenly, there was a squeak
behind Chloe and a curious head popped out from behind her skirts. It sniffed the
air cautiously and then bounced toward Faith.
“Squeak!” the thing squealed. “Squeak
squeak!”
“What is
that thing?” Faith inquired, her eyes growing larger at the sight of the bouncy
squeaking creature, which was now bouncing about her ankles.
“That’s Maukû the Squeaker,” Chloe said
with a giggle. “He likes you.”
Faith held her hand out to the creature,
hoping to pet it. But the thing recoiled
from her and disappeared into Chloe’s skirts.
Faith pulled her hand back, quite confused.
“Maukû! Now that’s no way to act around
Miss Faith, now is it,” Chloe told her skirt. “Now you come out and apologize
right now!” With these words, she shook
out her apron, as though she was searching for the small thing. To Faith, she shyly added, “Please ignore his
oddness. Maukû is a little big queer around stranger—OW! THAT’S MY LEG!” Chloe
shook her right leg angrily and Maukû came tumbling out from beneath her
skirts, rolling until he reached Faith.
“Oh, it’s quite alright,” said Faith,
ignoring Chloe’s outburst although the maid was massaging her shin from where
Maukû had clung onto it. “I’m actually somewhat shy around strangers as
well. Although,” she reached down in a
second attempt to pet Maukû, “Things have changed a lot since I suddenly
appeared in… this… place yesterday.”
“Eressea?” Chloe corrected, and then
changed the subject quickly. “Well, Lady Gil-Estelle is waiting for you. We
must go now.” She turned towards the door and motioned to Maukû. But suddenly, she stopped in her
tracks. Right in front of the door was
Joric, ready to knock on the door. Chloe
just stood there, gazing into Joric’s eyes, falling into the maze of his soul.
“Joric!” Faith’s voice
interrupted. She swished pass the dazed
Chloe. “I’m glad you’re here. I’m
probably going to start training today.”
Faith’s face glowed brightly, expression her happiness. Chloe saw her glow, radiating from her
heart. She was in love with Joric as
well, but she might as well give him up; she was nothing compared to a warrior
princess.
There was another squeak,
followed by a string of squeaks, bops, and twangs [translation: let’s go!] as
Maukû pulled on Chloe’s and Faith’s skirts.
Taking hold of them, he bounced off down the hall. Regretfully, both girls took a last glance at
Joric as they were pulled out of his sight.
Once Joric had disappeared behind a corner, Maukû released their skirts.
“Maukû, you evil thing!” Chloe
exclaimed
as she grabbed the creature by the ankle.
Wrapping her arm firmly around Maukû’s stomach, she turned back to
Faith. “Alright, we REALLY should go now,” she said amidst Maukû’s (oddly)
happy squeaks. She turned
another corner and walked into a completely unfamiliar place. Walking on, Faith suddenly found herself in
the outside world; not the huge room they had been in the day before, but a
truly open-aired courtyard.
“Here ya go. I’ll leave you
here,” Chloe said, leading Faith to a patch of fragrant flowers. “Lady
Gil-Estelle should be here very soon. The
other ladies and girls too. They should
be up by now.” She released Maukû from
her grip. “And I’ll let Maukû stay with you to keep you company. Meanwhile, I have stuff to do. Good-bye!”
With that, Chloe leaned down and gently pushed Maukû toward Faith, then left.
Faith looked nervously at
Maukû, who was now babbling away in his bubbly voice and bouncing around
energetically. However, she didn’t have
to wait long for about five minutes later, Lady Gil-Estlle and the other Ladies
appeared with a flash [but no bang]. A
few moments later, Patience, Hope, and Harmony tumbled into the sunny courtyard
as well.
“Now for your first lesson…”
~*~*~*~
Patience threw down her book in
frustration. “I can’t do this anymore! We just got here yesterday and we’re suppose
to know all this stuff already?!” Her
words echoed throughout the courtyard.
“Then calming down, she continued, “I still think we’re in some kind of
a strange dream. How do I know if this
is real?”
Lady Gil-Estelle glided over. “Oh dearie, just trust us. What do you want us to do… to make you
actually believe that this isn’t a
dream?” She paused for a moment. “Just get on with your lesson and maybe I’ll
show you something later.”
“But seriously! I don’t get
this thing about… about the first warrior princesses, or the first Ladies of
Power, or the gems, or the necklaces, or why that dark dude cam to power, or
how—“ Patience took a deep breath. “The
point is… I DON’T GET THIS AT ALL!” She stomped in annoyance… and immediately
regretted it.
Maukû’s squeals echoed
throughout the grassy area as he jumped/bounced/hopped around in intense
pain. Apparently, he had been snoozing
peacefully when Patience had landed her foot squarely on Maukû’s nose. Now completely enraged, he went up to
Patience and utter as close to a rant as he could before retiring to Harmony’s
foot.
“Lesson number 1.02586: never
anger squeaking things or your ears will suffer severe consequences,” Lady
Arien quipped with a slight grin on her face.
“I agree.” Malinalda went up to Patience. “What is there that’s so confusing?”
“EVERYTHING. EVERY SINGLE
THING IN THIS… two-inch thick… book!”
“Alright, alright,” Lady
Ithiliel said, thoroughly exasperated.
“It’s like this.” She and the
other Ladies of the Light sat down. As
they began their story, an image began to materialize before the girls’ eyes.
___
A long time ago, only the
ultimate ruler and his helpers existed.
At that time, no worlds existed; only the universe and the stars in
it. However, as time wore on, the ultimate
one realized that his helpers were becoming restless, having nothing much to
do. Therefore, he produced six thick
blank books. Handing the books over, he
instructed his helpers to write but also be cautious about what they
wrote. For whatever was in the books
would come “to be” sooner or later. In
other words, the helpers would be writing worlds into existence. Worlds they could control.
Now all the helpers took heed
of their master’s words and were cautious about what they wrote. However, not all wanted to be
harmonious. This one became the
‘Troublemaker.’ While the others created worlds of bliss and loveliness, the
Troublemaker formed a world full of oddities that tested the limits of nature.
Several ages passed before the
books were completed. The first four books to be completed were the simplest,
yet still unique. However, sensing that something bad would happen, they
appealed to the ultimate ruler that they might combine their books into one
large one. He consented and the four
books were fused into one, Eressea. The fifth book was completed shortly after
and was called Aman. Last to finish was the book, Avathar. Then the ultimate
one called the books into existence.
Immediately, things began to
flourish in all the worlds… except one.
In Avathar, all that could be seen were towers of rock upon rocks
surrounded by an icy cold sea. The others came to avoid this place because it
was so strange and seemingly boring.
Now the rulers of Eressea had
created beings of their own, whom they took upon themselves to teach and
educate. However, there were some who
became favorites among the rest and over time, these people became unique. They obtained a certain power that others did
not have – these became the warrior princesses.
While all the worlds existed in their own
selves, the ultimate one bound them all together with forces of the light, for
he knew that if the worlds could not bind together, the universe and stars
would drift out of each other’s light and everything would cease to be. However, he realized that Aman and Avathar
were vastly different, so he allowed a bit of dark to hide in the bonds,
providing flexibility. The binding power
of light was quite great and the destructive power of darkness was enough to
counter it. The ultimate one created a fragile balance of the powers, but there
was more light than dark.
The people of Eressea were harmonious.
They loved each other and their world and felt as tough the world was meant for
unity. They were friendly people, and
they loved the light. They often
traveled to Aman and taught the people there what twilight was, and the beauty
of the ultimate ruler. Some believed
them, some did not, but among those who did, the people of Eressea found many
allies. Avathar, on the other hand, was quite the opposite.
Avathar was shrouded in darkness, and
enjoyed being that way. There were very
few people among the grotesque beasts of prey, but those who survived were
power-hungry. They knew about the
balance of powers and were aware that the ultimate one favored the light. And
they resented it. The hearts of the people of Avathar were black and jealous.
Most of them were either consumed by their own greed or the greed of their
brothers (?). And yet – the people of Avathar were hardly people, as they were
made of rock and stone and knew no love.
Those being from Eressea who were daring and attempted to befriend the
Avatharians never returned. The darkness swallowed them up. The visits were
infrequent, perhaps one Eressean every 200 years would leave, but the black
hearts of the Avatharians enjoyed the treat. There was nothing better to brew
darkness than the blood of the light.
Now when the ultimate ruler
had handed over the blank books, he had also handed over six gems to be filled
up with whatever they desired. However,
he warned them that whatever was contained within would always be unless some
other power broke the bonds. Four of the
gems went into the story of Eressea and were given to the warrior
princesses. The warrior princesses had
grown and each of them possessed the power of an element, but they knew that
when they died, their powers would die with them. Unless, of course, the powers were somehow
preserved separately. And so the warrior
princesses filled up each gem with their individual powers.
Now the other two gems were
lost out of knowledge. Some suggested
that they had been lost since the handing over.
Others suggested that they had been lost dropped into the unknown. Whatever the reason was, the point was they
were gone. No one (except maybe the
Ultimate Ruler) knew whether they even existed anymore.
Several more ages passed with
nothing big happening. However, in the
48th Age, there was a slight disturbance. In Eressea, the sky turned darker. Not much darker, but enough for the warrior
princesses to notice. When the sky did
not become light again, they knew something was somewhat wrong, and so they
sought the counsel of Aman. However,
Aman’s sky lightened and darkened constantly, so they were oblivious to
Eressea’s worries. Advised to think
nothing of it, the warrior princesses returned to Eressea, and tried to ignore
the whole incident.
The sky in Eressea never became brighter
than what it had been during the warrior princesses’ visit.
In Avathar, there was trouble
brewing. The darkness given off by the
fumes of perverted magic had increased.
The sky was split by lightening and from that moment onward, screams
perpetually echoed from the depth of the world.
___
“And that’s all for today!” Lady
Malinalda chirped randomly, ending the vision abruptly.
“Did you HAVE to do that? It was getting
interesting,” groaned Harmony.
“Yeah, like the beginning of the first LotR movie! Except—not,” Patience added
to the amusement of her peers. Their
ill-concealed giggles finally exploded into laughter. “What’re you laughing at?” Patience said
hotly. “It’s not THAT funny!”
“Oh, but yes it is!” croaked Harmony
amidst bursts of laughter. As Patience
scowled at her and spat out a comeback, a friendly squabble broke out between
the four of them.
“Come now girls, you must stop fighting,”
Gil-Estelle said soothingly, but the girls took no notice. She tried again, but to no avail. “Girls, it’s nearly
“SHUT UP YOU LITTLE FREAKS,” yelled
Arien.
“OR YOU’RE NOT GONNA GET LUNCH!”
Malinalda added.
The girls silenced themselves in shock as
they had never heard any of the Ladies raise their voices. In fact, the warrior princesses were sure
that the Ladies were gentle women. But
maybe not anymore.
Lady Ithiliel swept to the
center of the group. “If you girls keep
bickering now, then imagine what it will be like if you were protectors of this
land.” Her voice sank to a dangerous
whisper. “Your arguments could RIP.THIS.LAND.APART. Do you hear me?” Her (w/e color) eyes flashed with annoyance
as she stared into each girls’ eyes.
The warrior princesses lowered their
heads in shame. The full weight of their
responsibilities as warrior princesses finally began to sink in.
“Alright alright,” Lady
Gil-Estelle said soothingly. “Relax Ithiliel. Dearies, just remember that,
alright?” She paused for a moment, then asked, “Lunch anyone?” Not waiting for
a reply, she pranced off towards the door while the others somberly followed.
(to be continued?)