The Crystal Shards

[The Beautiful Namine13]

This is a little story I'll be doing. comment if you want.


PROLOGUE
No one knew how the land of Olture was created. Most scholars said that it was created by a volcanic eruption on a small island that was triggered by an earthquake, but if you talked to any usual peasant, they would say that a mystical fairy called Mindowa created the land and the crystal out of her fathers blood when she wanted to prove to her family that she wasn’t useless. The crystal supplied the energy for everything on the land. If it was ever destroyed(and it had been on several occasions) the land and the people would slowly start to fall asleep, and the energy would start to fade, until someone arouse and put the crystal back together.
The land was mainly forested, and if you were looking at the world from the sky, you would see that there was one huge island, and several smaller ones surrounding it. It was estimated that there was about thirty islands surrounding the main one. The majority of the people lived on the huge island-which was called Olmine- but often there were visitors from other parts who whispered of dragons, and dark wizards among other curiosities.
Now, the crystal and the Queen of the land lived, sharing their energy, and therefore, sharing their fates. Along with the queen, there was a dark witch named Itri. It was rumored that Itri was as old as the world itself, and there was a bit of truth to that, seeing that she was banished to live in the dark island called Forlance for killing the first Queen when she refused to tell Itri how one could share energy with the crystal and become the next Queen.
In May of the 15th year (the people always counted the years only after a new Queen had been found, and started recounting the years after a new Queen took over on the basis that the Crystal would drain away if they talked of the old Queen. In total, there were really 1678 years) the Queen became ill, and the people panicked that she would die, or become so weak afterward that she wouldn’t be able to take care of the crystal. Normally there would be no reason to panic, but Itri had started putting her dark creatures in other islands and taking them over. An invasion to destroy the crystal probably was going through her mind, and sure enough, near the castle of Olmine, on a brilliant sunny day, dark Shadows overtook the castle. Even the strongest of sorcerers and knights weren’t able to kill all the Shadows, and they slowly spread to the Queens chamber, in the form of serpents.
The Queen killed herself, not wanting Itri to take over the crystal, thus making the crystal shatter into pieces and scatter all over the world, and slowly the whole world began to fall asleep. A couple of people wandered out of their islands and homes, hoping to seek the shards, but none returned. The dark creatures grew in number, and it seemed unavoidable that Itri would take everything.

[The Beautiful Namine13]

CHAPTER 1
“Roland, hurry up, or I’ll let the Ronal’s get you!” Maie yelled to her brother, who was slagging behind her. He was carrying two packs, one blue, and one red, two swords in the same color, and a long, jagged piece of wood that looked a candy cane, but had a star on the end. “I wouldn’t be dragging us behind if you would just take your stuff!” “Fine. I’ll carry it, but only to keep you from nagging.” she took the blue pack, the blue sword, and the jagged piece of wood. She slung the sword on her shoulder, got a blue book from the sack, and then put that on her back. The book and the piece of wood were the only things that she carried.
“Where do you think the next piece of the crystal is?” The redhead asked her brother. She was a hothead, prone to beating up people and asking questions later. In contrast to that, she wore a blue dress, so that people would think she was sweet. Her silver-haired brother was the one who usually kept her in line, and he wore a blue robe, which was usual for swordsman. “I don’t know! How about you try and get a read on it?” “I can’t. The readings only seem to come up whenever the Ronal’s are around.” “Quit using that made-up word for them. Call them Shadows.” Roland sighed. They had only located one little shard of the crystal, and although even that was hard to obtain, it was tricky even to put a finding spell on them nowadays. It seemed that the finding spells on the shards now only worked once the Shadows-or Ronal’s as Maie like to call them-were nearby. “Aren’t they all over the world? Why is their energy so hard to track down?” “Because the shards don’t emit enough energy nowadays to stake out a lasting position on them, and usually when I think I’ve found a reading, it vanishes. The other thing is that the whole world is starting to fall asleep, so everything is getting weaker. This means that my magic will slowly but surly fail over time. If it takes any longer for us to find the crystal shards, the magic will surly die, and Itri will take everything, seeing that there will be little competition for shards.” Maie sighed. “I thought I explained that to you when we left the village. Doesn’t anything ever get through your thick skull?” “It does. Its just that I don’t know magic, so this is terribly confusing.” Roland had never had any magic training. He much preferred to slaying monsters. So when Maie had dragged him out of the house with all of their weapons last month, he found that he had a lot to learn. Maie already knew what to do though. She had told him that they had to find all of the crystals, fuse them back together, and find a new Queen to take care of it while trying to avoid Itri.
“I’ll try to get another energy read, but if we do, get ready to fight.” Roland nodded, and Maie brought her stick close to her, muttered a couple of words under her breath, and waited a minute. After two minutes she was able to gasp out “Its near. You fight for it.” Ronald ran past two huge trees and saw a mass of dark serpents all trying to reach for a glowing object that was in the highest branches of the tree.
Roland drew his sword. He might not know much about magic and energy, but he knew about sword fighting. He quickly chopped off the head off of one of the serpents and it disintegrated into black dust, and then disappeared. The serpents hissed at him and five of him went at him, while two other slithered up the tree. The others vanished. Roland quickly killed three of the serpents, but got cut by the fourth. Blood trickled down his arm, and he ignored the pain as he sliced through his opponent, kicked aside the other monster, and started climbing the tree. The serpents hissed, and started to follow him. He quickly caught up to the other monsters, who were dangerously close to the shard. He leaned forward, and stabbed one in the back. It faded away. The other one hissed, and swiped at his face, while the one behind him got his leg. Roland quickly killed the one in front of him, and shook his leg hard to make the monster fall. By the thud he heard and the hiss of anger, he guessed the monster had hit the ground. He didn’t dare look down. He climbed up one more branch and grabbed the shard. It was silver, and the instant he touched it, the glow died away. He quickly jumped off the tree and headed back toward Maie. He had learned from experience that the Shadows would follow you when you had a crystal and were alone and injured.
He quickly found her, sitting below a tree, with a fire going. He gave the crystal to her, and went to his pack to get the Bloodstopper Lotion. Even he knew better than to ask Maie for a healing spell. Maie had told him that they drained a lot of energy under normal circumstances. If they used it now, there would be no telling what would become of them. Maie didn’t speak, but quickly hid the crystal in her bag, and fell asleep. Roland sighed and sat beside her. She was always tired nowadays when she had performed a spell. He would wake her soon and move on. He was about to shake her, when she woke up by herself. “Thanks for finding that shard. I just had to get my strength back.” Roland nodded. “Don’t mention it. Hey, do you think you could perform another finding spell? Or is that all you can do for today?” Maie sighed, squashed the fire out, and grabbed her stick..
“We had better find a village. That’s all I should do for today. Come on.” Roland nodded, and quickly followed Maie. It took them the whole day to find an old village, and half of the inhabitants were Asleep. The ones that were awake bade them welcome and let them stay in the inn. Before falling asleep, Maie sat next to Roland and again told him of what happened during her time as a Witch-In-Training. Roland was a little ashamed at this old ritual, but it helped him fall asleep. So, in their room, they sat in old broken chairs near a fireplace while Maie told her story. “When Mama sent me to Hawthorn Academy, our first test was to sit on a hilltop, and whistle until a magical creature came to us. Most of the other students got the usual creatures- gremlins, brownies, and cloud-fluff. When I opened my eyes, there was a dragon right in front of me. Not a chick-a full grown Northwind dragon. When the Head Wizard saw, he was thoroughly impressed. He then explained that this trial was to see what creature would help us in magic, and how strong our magic was. That’s why, whenever I need help, I yell that Northwind dragons name.” “What’s its name?” Maie shook her head. “I can’t tell you. Only me and the dragon can know that. Its part of a strict code of dragon law. Sorry bro. Anyhow, for three years, I learned how energy in magic works, and that you can do anything-as long as you have enough energy. Heck, back at the Academy, on my birthday, one of my friends used her energy to make some star-like orbs fall down from the sky. I’m not surprised that she collapsed. She quickly recovered though. After three years, we were given a test to see how much we had learned. We had to do anything with our magic that was spectacular, and yet didn’t make you collapse. Most people said that the task was impossible. I was first up, so I stepped forward. Now there was a birds nest in a tree near where we were. It was a hawks nest, and I thought the hawk was way too fluffy. Instantly, a plan formulated in my head. Using my energy to created a gust of wind that was as sharp as knifes leading to the nest and then back to me, I made the wind pick off all of the feathers off the hawk and put them on me. When the wind died down, if you didn’t know better, you could say that I had grown wings. Some morons in the class went so far to say that I was an angel. The teachers were thoroughly impressed, and elevated me to the next course. That one was the advanced course, the one where you learned how to tell the Light from the Dark. We learned that the Dark isn’t bad, just too much of it, so we also learned some dark spells.” Roland sat up. This was a new twist. She had never told him this before. “So you learned Dark magic? Does Dark magic make up some of the spells you taught me too?” Maie had taught him some very basic spells, seeing that he would need them.
Maie nodded. “The spells I taught you were basic, but I taught you a mix. I only taught you two Dark spells, and I’ve never let you use them too much.” “Ahh. That’s why you only let me use those spells once a month. I thought you were just being mean.” Maie gave him a mean look and continued. “Anyway, that course took two years, and when we were finished we graduated. Now,” Maie got up out of the chair, and laid down on her bed. “I’m tired, and we’re going to have another rough day tomorrow, so we need some sleep.” Roland nodded and sat on his bed. It was a little scratchy, but at least this one was well cleaned. The inn that they had stayed at yesterday had a bed that was infested with ticks. He had to sleep on the floor that time.
“If you were taught about the Dark, does that mean.....can you..?” Maie sadly shook her head. “I don’t think I could have saved Mom and Dad, nor the island. Mom and Dad either died, or became servants to Itri. Besides, the island was too big, and Itri was too powerful. I couldn’t have saved it.” With that Maie turned over and went to sleep. Roland lay down, but his mind didn’t drift into sleep. Instead he thought about the day a month ago when Maie dragged him off the island. They had both lived on a tiny island called Newfort Island. Their Mom was a florist, and their Dad was always teaching the younger kids how to use a sword so that they would be prepared to fight when they set out into the world. Roland had been in his room, unpacking. He had just gotten home after slaying a couple of sheep for food, when Maie burst into his room with a look of mixed horror and seriousness.
“Roland, we have to leave. Now!!” “What the-? Maie, how long have you been home?” “Not long. Grab a bag of supplies, and lets go.” Roland decided to humor her and grabbed a bag, filled it with some potions, and threw that on his shoulder, grabbed his sword, and followed Maie to her room. Both of their rooms weren’t’ very finely furnished, as their parents were always trying to save money, seeing that their savings didn’t add up to much when the food cost was factored in. They only had enough money for a bed and a dresser for both of them. Maie grabbed her bag, threw it on her shoulder, and grabbed her sword and wood piece. “Why are we leaving Maie? What’s wrong?” Maie pointed to her window. “Look.” Roland looked outside, and saw a battlefield. The sky had turned a deep purple, and Shadows were accumulating in a large number. Some men and women were fighting them, but it was obvious even to Roland’s eyes that they wouldn’t last much longer. Some people lay on the ground, in a lake of blood. In the center of it all was a tall women with pale skin, black hair, and wearing a black dress. She kept moving her hand in odd ways, but after a second or two of watching her and the Shadows, it was clear that she was manipulating them. Roland then turned to face Maie. “We have to go stop her!” Maie shook her head. “We would need an army of wizards and witches to do that. For now, all we can do is run away.” “What? Who is this woman?” Maie had never shown great fear with people. She had always beat up the smart-mouthed men and the bullies, leaving Roland to apologize. “She’s Itri!! Come on, I’ll explain while we’re on the boat, but we have to leave!” Maie ran downstairs, with Roland behind her. Fear now started to spread in him. So, this was Itri. She had finally reached them. “What about Mom and Dad?” He asked, seeing that the house was devoid of his parents. Maie shuddered, her hand on the knob of the front door. “They’re dead!! I was looking out my window, and saw Itri next to them. They...they...” She began to sob. “Maie, what did they do?” Ordinarily, he would have comforted her, but this wasn’t under ordinary circumstances. Maie quickly rubbed her eyes and continued. “Itri got them in a dark swirl. Now their either dead, or servants of the dark. We have to get off the island!!” Roland nodded. He wasn’t going to argue. Without a word, they both ran out the door, and started running toward the ocean. They both managed to block Shadows, and Itri ignored them. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, they reached a boat, and not caring who’s it was, they quickly set off, and quickly left the island behind.
Roland snapped himself out of his reminiscing and sighed. It had taken two weeks for them to get to the mainland, and conditions weren’t much better here, but at least they were away from Itri. Roland chuckled as he heard his sister snore, and then drifted off himself.
-
“Roland!! Wake up, you lazy slug!!” Roland sat up, and found his sister already dressed and ready to go. “Sorry!! We’ll be going a minute!” Roland quickly got changed, with Maie’s back to him. “You know, I got a reading on a shard earlier here, but its quickly disappeared. I’m thinking of searching the village just in case. You can never can be too careful with these things.” Roland was still tired, so he just nodded. He finished dressing, and gathered up his stuff. “You eat breakfast. After you do, we’ll search the village.” Maie handed him some bread, and Roland munched on it. Maie waited patiently by the door, so that when a man came in the room, Maie almost tripped him. He steadied himself and turned to Maie. “I understand that you’re a witch?” “More or less. What’s the problem?” The man looked worried. “Widow Ural is complaining about a terrible fever and vomiting. We’ve tried all of our herbs, but it does no good. We’ve watched her for three days now, and it looks like if you can’t do anything, she’ll die.” Roland finished his bread and slung his pack on his back, grabbed his sword, and stood next to his sister. “Well, sis, lets help.” Maie nodded. “I think I know whats ailing her. Can you tell us where she lives?” The man nodded. “Right next to this tiny inn is a pond. Go straight, and her house is left of the apple tree.” Maie ran past the man without another word, and Roland ran behind her, trying to catch up. She stopped at the apple tree, and waited for Roland to catch up. He stopped, and caught his breath. “Sis, what do you think is wrong with this woman?” “She either has a evil spirit implanted into her, or a crystal is inside her stomach. We learned of these things in the sprit division at the school.” Maie turned to face the house, and Roland looked at it with her.
The hut was painted green, and had some patches in the roof, but other than that, it looked pretty well-kept. Roland knew enough about houses to see that without some quick repairs to that roof, it would collapse when the next big storm hit it. They entered, and found a one-room house. It consisted only of a dresser, a table, a cupboard, and a bed, where the old widow was lying. Roland couldn’t believe that she was a widow. She looked like she was only in her early twenties, and she had fair skin and hair as yellow as the sun. She wore a white nightgown that looked old, creased, and stained. Maie sat next to her on the bed, and Roland stood in the middle. “Are you Widow Ural?” The woman nodded. “Yeah, That’s me. I’ve been suffering these horrid fevers, and I keep throwing up, like something in me wants to come out, but can’t. Nothing I take will stop it, and if it does, it will only go away for two hours. I know energy is scarce nowadays, but could you cast a healing spell or something to make this pain go away?” Maie nodded. “I know what ailing you. You either have a spirit inside you trying to get out, or you have a crystal shard in you. Now, I’m going to cast a spell that will make the thing find its way out of your throat. From what I’ve heard, its probably right inside you stomach, and that’s why you keep throwing up. Its trying to get out. Now, your going to throw up again, but that’s the only way the thing will be free. Roland fetch a bucket.” Roland quickly found one, right next to the dresser. “Brace yourself..” Maie quickly shut her eyes, and propped her stick in front of her. She mumbled something under her breath that Roland couldn’t hear, but the moment she started, the woman gestured to him to give her the bucket. He promptly did so, and the woman vomited in the gray metallic container. Roland looked inside, and saw only puke. No crystal. Maie mumbled her words, and this time, Ural threw up a shining shard of crystal. “Now how did that get in my stomach?..” Ural puzzled, as she gave the crystal to Maie, who put it in her bag. “It probably was attracted to the other shards that we have here. You feeling any better?” Roland chirped. Ural paused. “As a matter of fact, I’m feeling pretty good. Here,” She opened a drawer, and pulled out a black packet, and handed it to Maie, who looked exhausted again. “It’s a little payment for you guys. A bit o f herbs in case your energy runs low.” Maie nodded. “Thanks. I’m sure we’ll need it. We’ll be seeing you.” Maie marched out of the house, with Roland behind her. “Well, that was lucky. A shard and some herbs. What a nice lady.” Maie shook her head. “Lets get out of this village. Something doesn’t sit right here.” “What do you mean by that?” Roland puzzled. All he could see was a old lady trying to be nice. “Nothing.” Maie sighed. “Lets just get out of here. I performed a tracking spell while you were still asleep. It seems that a large shard of crystal in on the ocean not far from here.” Roland’s eyes shone like the crystals themselves. “How far out? Do we have a boat?” Maie smiled. “Its not so far that we need a boat, and if turns out that we do, we’ll make a very simple raft.” Roland nodded. “Well then sis, lead on!” His hopes were rejuvenated, and then crushed when Maie led him into the forest, followed a river, and then mentioned that the shards numbers were unknown. “I reckon that the only person who knew was the old Queen, and she ain’t talking.” Maie replied while they were taking their midday meal of fish by a river.
“Maie, how much further? I don’t want those shadows finding it before we do. It’ll just be another hassle we have to take care of.” Maie nodded. “We’re almost there. Just a short run, and we should be at the shore.” Roland remained silent for the rest of the walk. The river led them to the ocean, where the river water mixed with saltwater. “It should be around here somewhere..” Maie remarked. They looked to see if there was any part of the beach or ocean that was glowing. After ten minutes, Roland spotted it shining on the shore. “Maie, here it is!!” He almost grabbed it, when a Shadow’s grimy tentacle grabbed it first. “Dammit. Maie, I told you we should have hurried!” Roland yelled, and quickly killed the creature, but not before it threw the shard to someone standing on the rocks. “Roland, I hurried as best as I could.” Maie drew out her wood staff and her sword. They both looked on at the person who the Shadow had thrown the shard to.
It was a boy that looked only two years older than Roland. He had silver hair, and wore a black robe. “So, you pitiful children are hunting the crystals.” “Ronal, you traitor! Give us that shard!!” Maie yelled. Roland was stumped. Wasn’t Ronal her made-up word for the Shadows? Nonetheless, he would fight anyone that wouldn’t give them the shards. “Nope. Itri wants these to become Queen and rule over a land of darkness, but since I’m in a good mood today, I’ll test you” Ronal put a horn to his lips and blew a clear melody. “So your going to summon that thing, are you? Well than, take this!” Maie started to sing a song that Roland couldn’t understand. When Ronal finished blowing his horn, a black sea creature rose from the ocean. It wore a black shell and looked like a gigantic hermit crab gone bad. Roland dodged a pincer, and then shot a fire spell at it. It just bounced off the creatures shell, and did no harm at all. Ronal laughed. “Magic won’t hurt it!!” Maie suddenly finished singing, and smirked. “But this will.” She winked at Roland, and then proceeded to try and tear up the monster with her sword. Roland knew from watching her that she wasn’t giving it her all, and blocking a lot more than she usually would. What was she planning? Roland shrugged, and blocked the attacks alongside Maie. Whatever was going on inside her head usually stayed there. The y survived with minor scrapes, until a black dot started on the horizon started flying toward them. “What the-? Maie, did you do what I think you did?” Ronal yelled. “Maybe, if I was thinking what your thinking.” She yelled back, striking off one of the claws of the crab, grabbed Roland’s hand, and then jumped backwards. At that point the dot in the sky was close enough to them to tell what it was.
It was a dragon, with silver scales, and red wings. “Holy crap Maie!” Roland smiled, and Maie nodded. Ronal looked panicked. “Damn you!” The dragon landed on the beach, that made such a rumble in the earth, that if Roland wasn’t there, he might have thought it was an earthquake. He was nearly blown off his feet, but Maie looked cool and composed. Ronal, being on the unsteady rocks, fell into the sand, and had to scramble to his feet. “Go, Netum!! Crush it!!” The hermit crab turned to the dragon, its pincers snapping everywhere. Maie yelled something to the dragon in a language that Roland couldn’t understand, and immediately, the dragon grabbed the creatures shell. The hermit crab struggled, and tried to snap its claws at the dragon, but it was all in vain. All the dragon had to do was turn it around, and the hermit crabs claws were as harmful as a butterfly. Maie nodded, and the dragon quickly crushed the hermit crabs shell into tiny pieces. Roland had to doge some of the bigger shell pieces that landed in the shore, and Ronal slumped in the sand. “Impossible....I was so much better than you at the Academy..” Maie smirked, and pointed her sword at him. “You might have been better then, but things are different now, Ronal. Tell us what Itris up to, and I might just spare your life.” Ronal went pale, and started talking. “After I ran away from the Academy, Itri managed to find me. She..she told me that everything I had speculated on was correct, and that we both should rule this world with the darkness on our fingertips. As we traveled, we met others who felt the same way, and formed our own little group called...” He took a long pause and did not continue until Maie put her sword at his throat and reminded him that his life was in the balance of this story. “We called it The True Rulers!!” He quickly continued. “We managed to find at least a hundred others who felt the same way as Itri, and organized ourselves on skill level, the brownies being the weakest, and the dragons being the toughest. I’m a sea serpent, almost a dragon.” He bragged, and then hurried on. “Itri gave the command to find all the shards in the world, and bring them to her. We must have found twenty shards already.” Maie sighed.
“I know that you were one of the best in the Academy Ronal, still, didn’t you learn anything? Don’t you know that too much darkness and evil will kill you in the end?” Ronal smirked. “I will never be controlled by the darkness. Itri and I will rule it, and make sure that only the strongest survive.” Maie sighed again, and then smiled sadly. “You really are beyond the point of no return.” Then, without warning, Maie sliced his head clean off, the smirk still on his face. Blood poured out of the gash, and the body fell to the ground, staining the yellow sand red. When Roland looked at Maie’s face, it was streaked with tears. “You dumbass...” She wiped off some of the tears, but they kept coming. She moved towards the body, and searched his pockets for the shard. She found it in his left one, glimmering for a moment, and then turning back to its normal white. She put the shard in her bag. “Maie..are you alright?” Roland asked. “No, not really. Ronal never realized how much of a friend he was to me..dumbass.” She turned to the dragon, and spoke to it in the language that Roland didn’t understand. The dragon nodded and flew off. She wiped her eyes, and then turned to Roland, her eyes red, but angry. “Roland, I’m going to tell you all about Ronal. He was a high-class student-smart, rich, handsome. But he threw it all away one day when he turned in a paper to the darkness teacher, saying that the light was weak, seeing as it always faltered before the darkness.” Maie sighed. “The idiot was given detention for two weeks, and Ronal was so angry that when the detention was over, he summoned up the Shadows on campus.” She gave an angry stare at Roland. “Everyone had to be evacuated to Little Star School. The teachers couldn’t handle it, and, in the confusion, Ronal slipped away from the teachers and into the wilderness.” “So that’s why you call the Shadows that made-up name of yours.” She nodded. “Its so I remind myself not to fall down the same path as him. To show myself that if I ever start to slip down that path, I will become one of them. Let this be a lesson to you Roland, that if you ever go to their side, you’ll just end up dead and disillusioned.” He nodded, and looked at the ocean. “So..how many shards do we have now?” Maie looked in her bag. “We have six so far. One from that incident in the swamps, one from the forest, one from Widow Ural, one from your tree battle, one from my dragon, and the last one comes from Ronal.” Maie noted. “If we found this True Rulers group, maybe we would find a bit more shards.” Maie shook her head. “No, Roland. Its more likely that they’ll come to us for our shards. You can’t control the land without our shards, no matter how puny of an amount we have. We just have to go about our ordinary business now, and these nutso’s will obviously follow us for the rest of the shards.” Roland nodded. “Maie, will you be alright now?” Maie smiled. “Yeah. I think I’ll be okay....its just that Ronal was a pretty good friend of mine in the academy. After the scene he pulled, I couldn’t stop thinking that he was such an idiot. Usually, he would defend the light in any lecture we had. I wonder what made him change..?” Maie shrugged. “Anyhow, lets set up camp here for the night. You and I are both exhausted, and we’re going to need all of our strength for tomorrow. This stupid group might get us while we’re sleeping, so you take the first shift when it gets dark.” “So, what will we do until then?”

[sierrachu]

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