It didn’t take the four long to head back to New Alexandria, by now all was dark, and what was somewhat mysterious before, was now frightening in the dark.
“Man, I don’t like this…,”
“Fenris, for a dragon, you sure are a softy!” Andomiel scoffed.
“We gotta find that stone, no more fooling around,” Pharda urged them on.
The darkness of the buildings cast an unusual shadow around them, so that their eyes tended to play tricks on them.
“What was that!?” Fenris said, somewhat shivering.
“Probably nothing…but you never know…,” Urd said, jokingly.
“Don’t be afraid, Fenris, she’s only trying to scare you…,” Pharda reassured him.
“Only trying? She’s done it already!” Fenris complained, Urd giggled at his response.
Despite the humor of it all, the four hid the fact that they were literally scared out of their wits, and had no clue what to do should they encounter a real monster let alone anything else.
They finally reached the building in which they had found Fenris skulking about previously. Somehow it seemed to have changed, from a broken down old building to something much more.
“I…sense something different…,” Pharda said, his voice seemingly distant.
An eerie light flashed in the upper window of the top floor of the building.
“Something’s up there,” Andomiel warned, “We better be ready.”
With that, all four drew their weapons, but that seemed little comfort in the way things were looking. As they marched up the steps, they could still see the light reflecting off walls and broken glass that littered the floor. As they reached the top floor, the light intensified as they drew nearer.
“I…recall that weird stone glowing this color…maybe we’ll find it…” Urd said, hoping it wasn’t a monster.
As they followed the light it continued to get even brighter, such that they had to shield their eyes just to move forward. They noted that whatever was glowing was doing so under a pile of rubble.
“Come on! Help me dig what ever it is out!” Pharda lept forward scooping dirt and broken wood out of the way, soon all four were working to unearth the glowing object.
Sure enough, it was the stone Urd mentioned earlier.
“Hmm…,” Andomiel said as he inspected it. “This isn’t really a rock, it’s a chunk of Adamantite, only found on the moon.”
“That would explain the glowing…I suppose, but check out those markings…” Pharda said.
“Glyphs, but they’re so familiar…I know! They’re the same markings as on our armor!!”
Pharda looked at it closer, the stone had the mark of Gemini he was sure, but something else…
“Could…this be one of the Zodiac Stones…,” Urd asked.
“No question…but how could something that is found only on the moon be lying around in a an abandoned building?”
“Something else…, this stone has two colors,” Andomiel turned the stone over, “And two markings too, but I can’t make out the second…it’s as if two of the stones…fused together…”
Pharda scratched his head, “But if that’s true that means we only have seven stones to find, not thirteen, assuming most of them fused.”
“But that’s not how the legend went, there were supposed to be thirteen!”
“What do you think it means?” Fenris asked.
“I’m really not sure Fenris, I’m really not sure…”
“Yeah, even Gaia said there were thirteen…,” Urd added.
“She also said that the stones really lie in our hearts. This is just a symbol.” Pharda concluded, “I don’t know what else this means, but I think we don’t exactly have time to figure that out.”
“Very…astute of you, Pharda…,”
“Who said that?” Pharda spun around and looked out of the window, to his surprise a female ninja garbed in a midnight black stood on a rooftop across from them, a very long sword hung casually at her side.
“Who are you? How do you know my name…?”
“That’s not important right now, what you need to do, is get those stones, no matter what condition they’re in, they hold powers in them that could make her invincible.”
“Where do we go from here?”
“Quick thinker aren’t you? Hyral Castle Ruins are in the south, I think you’ll find one there…,”
And with that, the ninja lept from off her perch, and was gone as silently as she came.
“How can we trust her, we don’t even know her name…,” Urd protested.
“I don’t know, but her voice seemed to speak truth.”
“Well, if it’s that urgent, I suggest we go…,” Andomiel said.
“I still don’t trust her.” Urd continued to protest.
“You’re a thief, of course you don’t trust her,” Fenris shrugged.
“Ooooh, why doesn’t anybody listen to me!!”
It didn’t take them long before they found themselves crossing a dense forest. Each with their weapons at the ready. The forest looked sullen and dark, as it was about twilight now, and none of them had slept for a good 12 hours now. They were tired, but sleep was the furthest thing from their minds. Grief had overcome their hearts, and the only thing that could make them feel truly rested is that they would be able to defeat her.
“Hyral Castle ruins shouldn’t be too far from here…,” Pharda said, eyes still wide awake.
As they stumbled through the brush, a pale full moon lit up what was not much of a sky due to the forest overhead. But the light seemed fitting enough to keep their moods from worsening, a small favor, perhaps, but needed none the less.
The forest eventually cleared away, and a massive pile of stones and rock filled the clearing.
“This is it…,” Andomiel said quietly.
Fenris mumbled something like this wasn’t a very happy looking party, but no one seemed to hear him. The ruins appeared to be still inhabitable, so the four stepped inside.
All was dark for a moment, that is until the Zodiac stone they had previously found began to glow, as did something else off in the distance.
“Whatever it is, it’s glowing in sync with our stone.” Andomiel commented.
The further in the four went the darker it seemed to get, almost to the point where the darkness seemed to engulf even the light from their stone, but it always seemed to remain bright enough to light their way.
“Don’t trip guys there’s stray rocks everywhere…,” Pharda warned. Then, just as he spoke he seemed to run directly into a huge rock.
“Watch where you step, Pharda, you just might run into something..,” Urd laughed.
“That’s just it…I didn’t run into anything…this rock hit me…,”
“What?”
A low rumbling growl began to echo in the corridor, when Pharda lifted the stone to cast his light on the rock that hit him…it…wasn’t just a rock…it was a rock shaped like a fist.
As the four looked up, they saw massive dark green eyes glowing and glaring at them, and a swift pound of its fist on the ground shook the ground around them…
“Golem!!! Scatter!!” Pharda yelled.
Quickly the party moved into action as the massive stone beast lumbered its way after one of them.
“Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!” Urd screamed as she ran away from the massive swiping hands trying to grab her. A swift green blur swoop grabbed her before she could be crushed.
When she realized she was floating in the air, she knew exactly who it was.
“My hero, sort of…,” she said to Fenris, who smiled sheepishly, then set her down.
“Time to see what these weapons are made of,” Pharda said, “Come on Murasame, show me I didn’t train with you in vain…,” and with that the brave young samurai charged at the massive Golem chopping away at its joints.
The Golem roared in pain, but didn’t seem to be slowing down any. Fenris soared in and thrust his spear directly in the Golem’s throat, while Urd quickly hacked away at its ankles.
“This doesn’t seem to be working…,” Urd shouted, but before she could say anything else, the massive Golem smashed it’s huge fist down on the ground, barely missing her.
“Ulp...” Urd said.
Pharda seemed to be holding his own against the monster, as was Fenris, but the party hadn’t seen where Andomiel had gone. All this wondering threw them off balance and with a quick backhand, the Golem knocked both Fenris and Pharda away in one mighty swing.
“I don’t think you’ve been properly introduced to my blade, monster…,” Andomiel said standing on top of a large platform of stones. He aimed the blade directly at the Golem.
“Blade of honor, blade of strength, show light through this darkness…,”
A flash of the most brilliant of lights thundered across the room and hit the Golem square in the chest, knocking it down to the ground. The force of it hitting the ground was enough for the thing to crumble into gravel.
As the remaining three stood up and brushed themselves off, Pharda said, “And how exactly did you know how to use that Holy Sword, Andomiel?”
“…I don’t really know…instinct I guess…,”
“Yeah, that’s the same feeling I had when I first used my lance,” Fenris added.
“Well, you helped us when we needed it, that in itself is good…,” Pharda said.
“You act as though you’re the fearless leader…,” Andomiel said, slight anger in his voice, “We were in this together…all four of us…, nobody’s leader, we’re friends, okay?”
Pharda looked down, seeing Andomiel’s point, “…Sorry, I guess I’m used to working alone…,”
“S’okay, Pharda, we’ll just keep you in line, make sure you don’t get a superiority complex…,” Urd said wryly.
The group for the first time in a while, laughed.
As they marched further and further into the darkness, they could only see the two stones, the one in Pharda’s hand, and the other odd light flashing in sync with the other.
“It looks like there are a lot of rocky areas around here, watch your step, people…,” Pharda warned. But as he did so, he slipped on a wet lime rock and slid head first.
“Owww…,” Luckily the stone he held wasn’t dropped. But his other arm was extended out into space.
“You okay?” Fenris said, concerned.
“Yes and no, I slipped on some wet lime rock, but I’m okay, but when I reached out my hand to push myself off the ground, nothing was there…,”
“What do you mean nothing?” Andomiel asked.
“Just what I said, here, let me light the place…,”
As soon as he lit the area with the Zodiac stone, a large gaping pit lay out in front of them, but they wouldn’t of seen it if he hadn’t fallen.
“…Phew…” Urd sighed in relief for his klutzyness.
Pharda lit the other side of the pit to gauge the distance.
“Fenris, do you think you could fly us across?”
“How much do you weigh? I can only lift things half my weight…”
“And what’s that?” Urd asked.
“About 730 pounds.”
The three gaped at Fenris…such a thin person or rather dragon person, capable of flying, and yet he weighed so much…they were dumbfounded.
“Well, that’s about 365 pounds, I think you can manage it…,”
“Well, who wants to go first?”
The three looked at each other and with a slight shrug, Andomiel went first.
The trip was quick and smooth, Fenris and Andomiel landed softly and without incident. As Pharda quickly grasped Fenris’ hand as he flew over head, it took no time at all to cross the gap.
Except for Urd.
“Man, do I really have to trust you and your slimy dragon hands?”
“I…uh…don’t think you have much of a choice, Urd.” Fenris said complacently.
“Then I’ll just close my eyes and you’ll hang on to me…,” Urd said playfully. Even in the darkness, Fenris could be seen to blush, but by the time anyone could say anything, Urd was across the other side.
As the group came nearer and nearer to the light, the whole cavernous ruins seemed to light up.
“It looks like the ruins crumbled deep underground, this isn’t just ruins, it’s a cave.” Pharda commented.
