Legend of Mana : The Adventure
Chapter 1 The Beginning
A/N: This is a fanfic based off of Legend of Mana told in the perspective of the heroine. I literally had my wife play through this game because she never had before and it makes for more realistic reactions and interactions I think.
What she saw was a haze, a large tree that seemed to float above the ground. She had never seen it before, yet for some reason it seemed so familiar to her. As if it was something that she should remember but couldn't. In her mind she heard a message, with no real voice behind it though.
"Nine centuries ago, the Mana Tree burned to ashes. The power of Mana lived on inside Mana stones, enchanted instruments, and artifacts. Sages fought with each other for control of these last remnants of Mana."
"Then, after hundreds of years of war, as the power of Mana began to wane, those who sought it grew scarce, and the world returned to peace."
"After that, mankind grew afraid to desire. Their hearts filled with empty emotions, and grew estranged from hands. They turned their eyes away from my infinite power, and were troubled by their petty disputes."
"Remember me!
Need me!
I can provide you with everything!
I am love.
Find me, and walk beside me."
The image of the tree then faded and her eyes opened, replacing it with a bright light and slowly Telmaru came to. The light from the sun shining into the windows of her house shined in her eyes, almost forcing them shut again.
"Mmmm... just five more minutes."
The young woman said as she turned in her bed to face the wood of the wall that her bed was set against. With the return to consciousness came the thoughts regarding the strange dream she had just had if it had even been a dream…
"Could it really have been just a dream? it seemed so vivid…"
She mumbled to herself as she gave up on the idea of getting back to sleep and slowly sat up in her bed and looked around, she could hear birds chirping outside. Not a very big surprise when you lived in a house that was built against the base of a tree. Her bedroom was small, not far from the bed was a small table where a small cactus in a pot was, there was a curious expression on his face as he looked at his owner. Near the pot was a circular table with a few chairs around it and a tea set. Nailed into one of the supports of the room was a series of leaves and a mirror above it. Her hand raised up and ran through her blonde hair as her bare feet touched the wooden floor below her and she stood up and grabbed her clothes that were next to her bed. Her thoughts still focused upon the tree that she had seen.
"Bad dream?"
A high pitched voice asked, causing her to jump slightly as she looked over at the source of the voice and sighed in relief as it was the cactus in the pot. In her reverie she had pretty much tuned everything out except for her thoughts and she turned to Li'l Cactus, walking up to him in her night gown with a small smile.
"Not so much bad… just strange I guess. Have you ever had dreams like that?"
Li'l Cactus simply looked at her and blinked as if confused, sometimes Telmaru had to wonder if he really understood what it was she was saying, she sighed as she turned away from the cactus, and made her way downstairs and into the main room of her house with her clothes in hand and walked into her bathroom to get cleaned up closing the door that had a sign with the letters "WC" above it smiling as she always did at the door hinges that looked like rabites.. After she got cleaned up she got dressed and looked into the mirror to fix the decorative sticks in her hair that held it in place. Afterwards she grabbed and buckled around her waist a belt that held two scabbards that held her knives. As she walked out of her house she was greeted by none other then a Sproutling who smiled at her and quickly closed the gap between the two of them.
"I'm a sproutling!"
"Umm… right nice to meet you."
"The world is shaped by your imagination. Pokiehl the poet says so."
Before Telmaru could do anything to prevent it, the Sproutling grabbed her hand and placed in it a stack of what looked like colored wooden blocks.
"This is the town of Domina! Bye now!"
With that the Sproutling turned and walked away, though it wouldn't leave the front lawn. However, Telmaru didn't really care to speak to it again, and it didn't seem at all interested in having the wooden blocks back so she opened the small pouch around her waist and placed them in it before continuing down the hill her house was on and headed toward the path that lead to Domina. She walked along the dirt path, completely at ease. It wasn't very often that monsters would appear along the road to the small town, so she felt no need to be on guard and before long she entered into the town without any mishaps. As she walked under the archway of the usually quiet town though her attention was quickly caught by a short man that wore an onion hat and held a spear. He seemed to be trying to talk to a man that wore blue clothes and a sand colored mantle.
"Hey!"
The onion knight called, trying to get the man's attention. At first Telmaru thought that the man who she could already tell was tense would just ignore him but to her surprise, he actually turned toward the short man, though he still remained silent. It was at that time that she noticed the jewel that was visible on the man's chest.
"At least tell me your name!"
The man just stared at the warrior for a minute before letting out a sigh.
"Elazul."
He didn't say anything more and with that his cloak whipped in the wind as he turned around and walked into the building he had been standing outside of.
"Jeez… he makes me sick."
The onion man muttered as he turned away from the building and began to walk away towards a house. However, he paused seeing Telmaru and waved at her and quickly approached.
"Hi there! I am Duelle, Onion Warrior!"
"Nice to meet you, I am Telmaru."
She replied politely to the Onion Warrior with a small smile, though her attention was more focused on the building that the strange man had entered.
"My friend Teapo is in the shopkeeper's house. Meet me there if you want to talk."
As he spoke he turned toward the small shop and the house that was connected to it, pointing at it with his spear. He then continued to walk on, realizing that she was distracted.
Telmaru watched in silence as he walked away and then continued to head toward the pub. Right as she was about to open the door she quickly jumped back to avoid a large rabbit man wearing a poncho as he slammed the door open looking very annoyed.
"Out of the way please, It's important to share."
Telmaru looked at him slightly confused but backed away to give the large rabbit man room to get through. However, he quickly turned to her and she realized the big smile that looked like it was glued to his face.
"So there I was, looking for someone to travel with… And that jerk started chewing me out! How upsetting…"
She now was even more confused as he began explaining what had happened even though she didn't really care and it seemed like the Rabbit got the hint.
"I'll head to the market. Meet me there if you need me."
Without even so much as giving her his name he then continued on up the path heading toward the marketplace without so much as another glance at Telmaru. Leaving her there for a moment very confused before she suddenly remembered the entire reason she was about to enter the Pub and quickly opened the door and entered.
The scene that greeted her was less then pleasant as she saw the man from outside had cornered what looked like a girl who had wings on her back. The poor girl was trembling with fear, unable to move. Telmaru quickly made her way toward them.
"What's going on here?"
Elazul turned on Telmaru, his eyes glaring like daggers as he looked at her.
"Silence do not interrupt!"
He then turned away from her and turned his attention back to the girl who he was terrorizing, making a deliberate step towards her. The man's command and presence was enough to intimidate Telmaru to not go any further.
"Speak up!" He yelled at her and then took a another slow step toward her, "Don't make me angry…" The girl though still remained silent, trembling, unable to move, "Answer me! What are you hiding!?"
At this point Telmaru had had enough and stepped between Elazul and the girl, one hand resting on the hilt of one of her daggers at her waist.
"Enough! You're doing nothing but terrorizing her. Tell me what has happened?"
it wasn't so much an order as a request, for some reason she wanted to know why this man seemed to be so angry and agitated… almost desperate. She wasn't sure if he was going to respond but he slowly turned his attention towards Telmaru again.
"A friend is missing."
'Well that was informative…' She thought as she continued to look at Elazul. She was searching for a way to diffuse this potentially explosive situation, "What does she look like?"
It was hard to tell yet again if Elazul was going to say anything more to Telmaru regarding his friend but eventually he closed his eyes with a sigh and spoke to her again.
"She wears a white dress and has long hair. She's like a sister to me… I am worried."
'A white dress and long hair… well that's a bit better. Who knows how many people in the world fit those criteria though.' She refrained from saying that out loud though, "Let's search for her then! You haven't had any luck on your own. I could help you find her."
Elazul seemed a bit surprised at her volunteering to help him, in fact she was somewhat surprised the words had come out of her mouth herself. He stared at her as if a bit reluctant at first.
"Together, with me…? But you mustn't…" He paused yet again, as if afraid of something, or thinking it through very carefully, "No, I would be grateful!"
Suddenly, Rachel muttered something under her breath that caused Elazul to turn his attention back to the little girl.
"What?"
"Here…"
She trembled yet again before she slowly brought out what looked to be an egg, although it seemed to be stone. She looked from Elazul to Telmaru and ended up handing it to her. He quickly approached Telmaru and looked at the egg in curiosity.
"So…? What's this…..?"
As he looked at it, Telmaru could have sworn she heard a slight chiming sound and the jewel embedded in the man's chest gave off a bright flash and Elazul turned to look at her.
"It smells like Pearl… Let's hurry!"
'How can he smell her scent off of the stone…' Telmaru thought as she looked back at the egg in her hand. Her attention returned to Elazul just in time for her to see him running out of the Pub, "Hey wait up!"
She yelled at him as she quickly slipped the Jade egg into the belt pouch at her waist, not even noticing that the Color Blocks that the Sproutling had given her were gone. She rushed out of the pub after Elazul who was quickly making his way towards the arch where she had just entered the town not long ago, as if he was hot on his friend's trail.
Their journey was anything but friendly. Elazul apparently wasn't one for small talk as they walked along a path that was unfamiliar to Telmaru, it led away from Domina, and away from her tree home. The man seemed to know where he was going though. She couldn't help but think of Elazul as some kind of blood hound as he stopped every once in awhile and closed his eyes as if trying to pick up the scent. They had been walking for what felt like hours though it probably wasn't really that long. One time when Elazul stopped he just stood there for awhile allowing Telmaru the chance to sit down and rest. Finally he approached her and spoke.
"I've lost the trail… Let me see that egg again."
Telmaru simply nodded as she reached into her pouch and pulled out the stone egg, and handed it to him. He held it briefly as if trying to absorb the scent again and handed it back to her as he turned back to the path, trying to follow the scent that he claimed he could pick up again. Telmaru stayed seated, setting the stone down on the ground right next to her.
"Alright let's… Watch it!"
Elazul said as he turned back to her, his expression going from irritation to surprise as the egg right next to her was sinking into the ground.
"Huh!? What!?"
Telmaru snapped out of her reverie and quickly looked down to see the egg vanishing into the ground that she hadn't thought was that soft, it had already buried itself up to the tip and she quickly dug into the ground trying to find it but just like that it was gone…
"Great! Now we've lost our only lead! I had a feeling I should have held onto that!"
Elazul snapped at her and turned away, shaking with what Telmaru could only figure was anger at her. She quickly stood up, agitated herself.
"Well then why didn't you take it from me!"
She snapped back at him, clearly not very happy with herself either but that didn't give him any right to snap at her like that. He turned to look back at her, the hand not hidden behind his mantle clenched into a tight fist before he turned back to the path.
"Forget about it! Let's just keep moving."
'Why did I have to volunteer to help him in the first place….? Oh right he would have terrorized the town if I hadn't.'With a sigh she crossed her arms over her chest and continued to follow him in silence. Leaving a good distance between the two of them. Looking ahead she could see that they were heading towards a coast line. Before too much longer the path turned into a beach, looking out at the ocean.
"I've lost the trail again…"
Elazul said as he looked around the beach, clearly confused. Telmaru searched the outer area until she felt coming from behind some bushes a strange draft of wind. She pushed her way through the bushes and found the opening of what could only be a cave.
"Elazul… Look."
Without even waiting for a reply Telmaru walked into the cave and Elazul soon followed and entered after her, getting the hint. His pace slowed down as he took a few steps into the dimly lit cave, he closed his eyes as if yet again trying to pick up the trail.
"I sense brilliance nearby… It must be Pearl! We should hurry!"
'What is Elazul? He seems to be able to sense things and I have no idea what he's talking about.'She thought as she examined the Jumi carefully, she didn't actually know that he was a Jumi, though she suspected it from what she had heard about them. The large blue jewel in his chest was a dead give away that he sure wasn't human. She was brought out of her own thoughts yet again though as Elazul took off into the cave and she was forced to pick up her pace to catch up.
She could tell by the sound of water droplets hitting the floor as well as the all of the spiral-shaped stalactites and stalagmites that erupted from the floor and the ceiling of the large caverns, that this cavern had been formed by water running through it for what had to be ages… The coral that occasionally appeared on the walls was a pretty good indication as well that this cave had originally been formed under the ocean.
Her attention turned back to the path as she heard a soft screech as a number of bats flew down from the ceiling, their objective was obvious and Telmaru quickly drew her knives and Elazul drew his sword.
"We don't have time for this!"
Elazul yelled as his mantle flailed behind him as he charged into battle. Telmaru now realized why he kept his right arm covered by the sand colored cape. It was because his entire right arm was formed out of pale blue crystal, that jutted out only slightly from the shoulder. The fingers were almost claw-like as he held his sword by the blade just in front of the hilt, the crystal obviously unaffected by the sharp steel as he slashed at the bats. His irritation didn't seem to interfere with his skill as he quickly cleaved one of them clean in half.
Telmaru held both of her knives at the ready as one of the bats came at her. They were quick but Telmaru hadn't been practicing for nothing as she held one of her knives sideways to catch the fangs of the bat as it tried to bite at her. She then quickly took a swipe with the other knife trying to kill but the bat was too quick and evaded it. She waited for it to strike again and the second time got lucky as she pierced through the bat's body, knocking it out of the air dead.
If Elazul had noted that she had some fighting skill he wouldn't admit it as he jumped high and cleaved the last bat that had gotten in their way. When he landed he looked around intently and ran off again, leaving Telmaru to catch up as he followed the "scent".
They both continued deeper into the cave that seemed to descend lower and lower underground. Dispatching any annoying monsters that got in their way as they went, and there were a lot of them. A few Goblins that tried to cleave them in half with axes, some strange mushroom type creatures that tossed their caps at them like boomerangs. As well as some amphibious fish that actually wielded tridents and many other types of creatures too.
As they entered another series of passages, Telmaru's eyes narrowed as she saw a woman standing as if waiting for something, she wore a green dress and skirt and had orange hair with flowers in it, Large leaves stuck out of the back. She wore elbow length purple gloves and brown heeled boots. When they approached her she looked up from the floor at them, her eyes narrowing slightly as she saw Elazul.
"You sure are late… Pearl is this way. Hurry, go help her."
Elazul's grip immediately tightened on his sword as he heard her words. Evident anger in his voice as he spoke.
"Who are you? How do you know Pearl's name?"
However, the woman didn't answer him and instead she turned her attention to Telmaru, a sly smirk on her face.
"One more thing… You'd best stay away from these people."
"Hey! How is it you know of us?"
Elazul snapped at her, raising his blade and pointing it at her. Still though the strange woman ignored him, her focus still on Telmaru.
"I hope you don't get turned to stone or anything…"
'Turned to stone… What does she mean by that?'"Stop ignoring me!!!"
Elazul yelled at her as suddenly there was a loud scream that echoed through the cavern, reverberating off of the walls that immediately caught his attention.
"Pearl!"
He yelled and as if forgetting all about the woman, ran off in the direction of the scream and Telmaru quickly followed after, not noticing that the orange haired woman was laughing lightly.
As they entered the cavern it was nearly pitch black, making it impossible to see anything. Telmaru raised her hands in front of her to make sure that she didn't run straight into any walls. She suddenly drew her hand back as her hand ran across something that felt very brittle and suddenly three bright blue lights lit up from what she touched, and she realized that it was a large piece of coral.
"What did you do?"
Elazul turned to her, his eyes narrowing curiously as his attention switched between her and the "torch" of coral.
"I don't know… I just touched it and it lit up.." Suddenly there was what could only be called a loud roar from within the room and Telmaru immediately raised her daggers up in defense, following Elazul's lead as he raised his sword, turning toward the noise. "I've got a bad feeling about this…"
"We need to find Pearl and get out of here now!"
Elazul yelled as he ran deeper into the room, and Telmaru followed apprehensively. As they approached the center of the room, as if waiting for them a large club with a skeletal head tied to the top of it flew down at them, forcing them to dive out of the way as it crashed into the ground and a large ape like beast dropped down from the ceiling. The Du'Inke clearly not happy at them as he picked up his large club from the ground.
"What is that!?"
Telmaru asked as she stared at the massive beast, she had never seen a creature as large as this one. The Du'Inke was covered in fur aside from it's belly and chest.
"Don't ask just kill it!"
Elazul yelled at her, as he charged forward only to jump back as it swung it's massive club at him. He and Telmaru both knew they had to close the gap or they would never be able to beat it since he used a sword and she used knives. He jumped high and brought his sword down upon one of the arms. The fur and hide effectively acting like armor though as the blade bounced off, dealing little damage to the monster as Elazul landed. As Elazul distracted the beast Telmaru quickly dashed in and jumped high, stabbing one of her knives into the belly of the beast. Causing it to growl in pain as it used it's free arm to grab toss her. She managed to control her fall though as she skidded to a halt though the landing definitely scraped her up a bit.
"Watch it!"
She yelled as Elazul was busy trying to hack at it's legs and didn't even notice the massive club that was coming down to strike the ground. Elazul jumped back just in the time as the head on the club pierced the ground sending a shockwave throughout the entire room.
"This is ridiculous…"
Elazul said between gasps for air, their efforts had done little but wear themselves out.
"Aim for the parts not covered by fur. It's our only bet. I'll distract it you go for the kill!"
Telmaru yelled as she charged forward and jumped into the air and sliced it across it's chest. She knew her knives in terms of cutting would do little against this hard skin. Their best bet was for Elazul's blade to strike true and pierce the beast's heart. Her attack had worked to get it's attention as the Du'Inke brought up it's club with both hands, preparing to bring it down in a massive strike.
"Elazul now!"
The Jumi didn't hesitate as he quickly rushed in and jumped high and thrust his sword straight into the beast right where it's heart should be, giving it a definite twist as he pulled it back out. The beast roared in agony as it's club dropped from it's upraised hands and it staggered until it eventually fell backward, sending a tremor throughout the whole cave. Telmaru and Elazul both had to dodge stalactites as they fell from the ceiling.
Telmaru looked at her blades before she sheathed them, they would definitely need to be properly cleaned when she got home. She let out a sigh of relief though and relaxed knowing that the fight was over. Elazul had sheathed his sword and already his attention was back on the entire purpose they had fought the beast.
"Pearl!"
He yelled searching around the room and Telmaru joined in searching for the girl.
"Where are you!?"
Suddenly there was another bright flash from his jewel accompanied by the same chiming sound that seemed much louder this time as it reverberated and echoed off of the walls of the cavern. It was silent for a moment until there was a returned chime that was a slightly higher pitch and then a young woman with long brown hair and a white dress stepped into view from behind some rocks.
"Elazul?"
She asked as she approached him and he approached her.
"Is your core alright?"
He asked and for the first time since Telmaru had met him, he truly seemed concerned for this woman's well being. It was like seeing a different side of him from the hard and cold person that she had had to deal with. As they both further closed the distance between each other.
"Yes…"
The moment of compassion seemed to be gone as Elazul then nearly yelled at her.
"I told you not to go wandering off by yourself! How did you end up here"
"I was, um, just thinking about things…"
"You don't need to think anymore. right now you should just stay safe by my side.
"But…"
"That's enough!"
Pearl staggered back somewhat, seemingly afraid of Elazul herself. Telmaru had to wonder if this was a common occurrence between the two of them.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
She said looking down at the floor clearly upset.
"Leave her alone Elazul!"
Telmaru had had enough of the way he was treating her and spoke up, only to have Elazul turn on her, eyes glaring like daggers yet again just as he had done back in the pub when she first spoke up.
"You stay out of this!"
He snapped back at her, his left hand clenching into a fist again. Pearl silently walked to stand beside Elazul and then turned her attention to Telmaru, obviously the female Jumi hadn't even realized that she was even there. She looked at Telmaru curiously before turning her attention back to Elazul.
"Who is that?"
His attention shifted from Telmaru back to Pearl as she asked the question that it seemed that he would have rather she not asked in the first place.
"Just someone who helped me find you… Her name is Telmaru. A strange kind of person."
'How am I strange?'She thought to herself as Pearl looked at her yet again briefly before turning back to Elazul.
"Oh…"
The female replied and didn't seem to think anything more of it as Elazul's eyes met her eyes as he spoke.
"Well then, let's go."
"But…"
Before Pearl or Telmaru could get another word in though Elazul turned and began to walk away. More then likely expecting Pearl to follow immediately behind him. However, she lingered where she was and approached the knife wielder.
"Um… Th-thank you…"
She said blushing deeply as she did so. It was pretty obvious that she wasn't used to interacting with other people at all, aside from Elazul before she could say anything else though Elazul stormed back into view.
"We're going!"
"I'm sorry… I'm going, too."
She replied, yet again apologizing to Elazul. Telmaru could already tell that it was something she did quite often and probably even when she really didn't need to. Just when Telmaru thought she was going to walk away this time she closed the gap between them and held out to her what looked to be some kind of flower and handed it to her.
"Thank you Telmaru, This is for all you've done for me."
Upon closer inspection, Telmaru found that it wasn't actually a flower but a lamp, beautifully made out of what could only have been glass, or at least the bloom that curved downward was. The curved handle of the lamp was metal and it had a green base that looked like they could be roots from the flower. The light in the cavern reflecting off it making it shine.
"Thank you Pearl. It's really pretty looking."
Pearl blushed even deeper, not sure what to say and then turned and walked away. Telmaru followed close behind her as they made their way out of the cave. She and Elazul yet again disposing of any creatures that got in their way. As they left the beach and headed back toward Domina, it was finally a chance for Telmaru to ask some questions that had been bugging her.
"So Elazul…? What's the story between you two?"
He looked at Telmaru, clearly surprised by the question. However, he sighed figuring an explanation was in order, at least that's what Telmaru thought.
"Pearl is my Guardian and I am her Knight. It is my duty to protect her no matter what."
Telmaru nodded her head in understanding. It was time for her to confirm her suspicions about them. She would find out sooner then later from someone else she was sure.
"You're Jumi aren't you?"
Elazul stopped where he was and turned to look at her, a solemn expression on his face this time as he simply nodded.
"Yeah…"
He then turned and continued on the path, obviously not interested in pursuing the conversation any farther. Telmaru noted that Pearl remained silent the entire time, staying close to Elazul. It was getting late, the sun starting to go down as they returned to Domina. The streets starting to desert as people returned to their homes for the night. Elazul turned to Telmaru as he and Pearl stood side by side outside of the Inn.
"Well this is it for now… See you around."
With that he turned and entered the inn, not waiting for Pearl who stood there looking at Telmaru for a minute before she blushed nervously again and bowed her head.
"Thanks again."
She then turned and followed Elazul inside, leaving Telmaru to herself and her thoughts as she turned to leave Domina and return home for the night. Fireflies lit up as she walked along the path to her home, exhaustion beginning to set in as she walked into her house. She silently changed into her night clothes, lost in her thoughts as she removed the sticks from her hair and made her way upstairs. She smiled lightly at Li'l Cactus as she kneeled down next to the table. She sighed, thinking about all that had happened that day and then she began to speak to the little plant. She had learned a long time ago that Li'l Cactus liked to listen to stories and would even write down what he thought about them on the leaves that were nailed into the support beam.
"I met so many new people today. One of them was very testy and his name was Elazul. He was so worried about a friend named Pearl. She had gotten lost in the Mekiv Caverns and we had the darndest time finding her. Every time we turned a corner there were more monsters. But I did find some good loot. In the end I missed the sunshine and was so glad to get out of there. Especially after fighting that big hairy monkey."
The cactus stared at her as she spoke and seemed to be deep in thought regarding what she had said for a minute or two until he finally spoke.
"Fun to get lost."
Telmaru couldn't help but laugh lightly at Li'l Cactus' response. It sounded like a question though it hadn't been, as if he were saying that it was fun to get lost. She smiled yet again and stood up making her way over to the bed before laying down and it didn't take long for her to fall asleep.
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