The Ancient Prophecy Ch. 11b

Atrus raised the Sword of Faith. "You can't hurt me! Lord Guardian will protect me!"

Anna shocked him with a little spark, making him jump on his feet.

"What's that for?!" he hissed.

"Just a little test." Anna whispered. "Yes, they can hurt you."

"Sisters, purify them!!"

Instantly hundreds of magic missiles flew from the audience. Anna only had a short time to cast magic barrier on Atrus, although she doubted that it would be sufficient. But the Sword of Faith suddenly flared with blinding light. A larger barrier rose up from the ground, covering both Atrus and Anna. The stream of magic missiles slammed against the barrier, sending sparks all over the podium, but the barrier didn't budge. Once the assault was over, the two occupants remain safe. The priestesses in the room began to mutter with each other.

"Any other comments?" Aurelia addressed the audience.

Roberto ran toward Atrus and hissed. "Are you really the one?"

"I do hope I have the right to choose." Atrus muttered.

"Fellow priestesses!" Calem spoke up. "I understand what you're thinking. What you see here are the same people who came two days ago as commoners. However, I'm sure we all believe that Lord Guardian's miracle can change a person's life instantly. What you're seeing right now is a result of Lord Guardian's generosity to the people."

"I don't believe you!" Ursula cried. "That man has defiled our shrine! That man has released a felon and assaulted one of our sisters!"

"What do you say if I say those are part of Lord Guardian's plan?" Atrus replied. "What must happen will happen."

"So are you saying that Lord Guardian has taken side with a sinner?!"

"The accused must be given a chance to defend herself!" Roberto said. "And we shall hear."

"Of course!" Ursula yelled. "Let us all hear your conviction, so when it's all done, you can rest in peace!"

Anna decided to take the insult. She was there to prove, not accuse.

"If you don't answer, why don't you start from the time when we caught you defiling the holy altar?"

"I didn't do that on purpose!" Anna replied. "I was fighting the demon lord, Daemon! He was holding two sisters hostage!"

"Or you're holding them hostage until Daemon took them away to their doom!"

"I can prove otherwise!" Anna turned toward the crowd. "Sisters, we are all aware of the capability of our magic barrier! It will prevent evil forces from passing through the barrier. Now I ask you this. Why do you think Daemon could have entered this holy shrine unscathed?"

"Because you allow him passage!" One priestess cried, followed by angry curses from the rest.

Roberto raised his hand, calming the crowd again. He hated this crowd, for they were too determined to accuse Anna. He motioned the priestess to continue.

"Sisters, please allow me to give you a short demonstration!" Anna turned at Calem. "You may begin, Calem."

The old wizard raised his staff, which soon emitted bright light. To Roberto's amazement, the entire priestesses in the room twitched from the effect. Since Roberto didn't know anything about magic, he couldn't sense anything, but all was revealed to him pretty soon. A small dimension portal appeared in the air and two large beasts came out from the portal. The beasts hungrily looked around for preys, but was dumbfounded to find nearly two hundred angry priestesses ready with their magic missiles.

"Purify them!" Anna cried.

Hundreds of bolts soared through the air from around the room. The beasts had no chance and were soon burnt to dust. The portal instantly vanished from sight.

"What are you doing?! You just destroy the magic barrier covering our shrine!!" Ursula cried. "Now the Orcs can enter the shrine and slaughter us all!!"

Roberto soon saw his chance. "I can deny that!" He cried. "The Alliance Army has secured the perimeter and now stands ready to battle the demons!"

Ursula stared at him in shock. "What...? I thought..."

"I lied." Roberto grinned. "My army is not defeated. In fact, how did you know that the Orcs have just invaded the shrine? I thought I never mention that before..."

Anna, unwilling to let go her point, faced the bewildered crowd. "Sisters, what you've just seen is a spell called Dispel Magic! And we all know that this high-ranking spell is not available for us lowly Priestesses of Lycra! Therefor I can only conclude two individuals who have the ability of collapsing the magic barrier!"

She pointed at Calem. "The first one is of course Calem the Wizard, who you all know, along with Lynn the Fairy, have been busy securing the village of Tymm and helping the refugees for the last three days! Some of you have worked with him, so if he ever had a chance to cast the spell, you would have known it!"

And finally, with sharp gaze, Anna turned to Ursula. "And the second person is none other than Priestess Ursula, the original caster of the spell! She'd cast the magic barrier, so she also has the power to collapse it anytime she wants!"

And all gazes were quickly turned to Ursula. "What?! This... this is absurd!"

"Ursula has made covenants with the demons!" Anna continued. "She took some of her fellow priestesses along with her and sealed the door. Then she allowed the barrier to collapse and let the demons take the innocent priestesses away. To smoothen her plan, she enlisted the Army of Darkness to cause chaos outside the shrine while the barrier is still open, so that we were all forced to deal with them." Anna's gaze returned to Ursula. "And to cover it up, she enlisted Daemon, the Lord of the Army of Darkness, to occupy me inside this very room, so that she could blame everything on me. Ursula, you are the demoness!!"

"You have no evidence!" Ursula shot back.

"Yes, we have!!" All eyes were turned to the back of the room, where Captain Hawk stood tall, holding the prone body of a girl Anna quickly recognized as Priestess Rosa.

Ursula turned to Roberto. "I thought... I thought..."

"I lied again." Roberto grinned. "Captain Hawk is not dead. I ordered him to sneak inside while I occupied you and your guards, and find proof of your crime and deception to the Kingdom of Aragon and to the Alliance!"

"She might not be able to speak now!" Hawk's voice thundered across the room. "But her wounds speak of her suffering to that wretched woman more than any words can say!"

Ursula slowly stepped back, afraid that her crime had been revealed. She'd never thought that Anna and her gang would be able to put all the pieces together, and she knew that she had underestimated her opponent. And she'd never thought that Daemon would be standing right behind her.

The party gasped as the leader of the Army of Darkness snatched the priestess in his arms. "That's right! What you have heard is true!"

"Lord Daemon, what are you doing?!" Ursula squirmed, but the demon held her tightly.

"Why, you have sold your soul to me. I have come to reclaim my prize."

Ursula's face was soon filled with pure fear. She looked at Anna with her pleading gaze. "Please save me!"

Holgreb ran toward the demon lord, wielding his axe. The demon lord just chuckled and flicked his fingers, and the Dwarf was thrown back off the ground with invisible force. Maya and Aurelia threw their projectiles, but the knives and arrows never touched Daemon due to the protective force field around him. Roberto was ready to take his turn but hesitated, knowing that he was no more than a dedicated pillow-fighter without his Kaiser Sword.

"Enough with this game!" Daemon snarled, then stared at Atrus. "Champion of the Guardian, we shall meet again in the Underworld."

And still carrying the frightened Priestess Rosa with him, Lord Daemon vanished from sight.

The room was dead silent. Roberto could see the weary eyes on the priestesses of Lycra around the room. He could understand. All this time they had been putting their faith on a demoness.

But one priestess, the one Roberto had known, stood up and spoke up. "Sisters, as the enactment of the new High Priestess has failed, I must assume, for this moment, the place as the temporary High Priestess of Lycra. Yet we must not stop here! We must resume our ceremony on choosing the new High Priestess!"

"High Priestess Elizabeth..." One priestess wearily replied. "It's no use! Our holy order has been infiltrated! We even have a demoness in our ranks and we almost enacted her as our new leader! Now how can we trust other if the one we trust most has forsaken us?"

"Well, I haven't lost hope!" High Priestess Elizabeth said. "I'm proud to announce our own Priestess Adriana as the next candidate for the High Priestess position!"

This created uproar among the priestesses of Lycra, and also on Anna. She just looked at her mother in disbelief. The High Priestess, instead of avoiding her gaze, gave her a supportive smile. The other priestesses, however, were not very happy with that.

"But, High Priestess, Adriana is no longer one of us! She has defiled our holy order many years ago, and she just defiled our holy altar! We can't accept her as our leader!"

"You all have been blinded!!" Elizabeth replied angrily. "You all have forgotten the very principle our order is based upon! Tell me, what does Lord Guardian want us to do as his servants?!"

"To serve Lord Guardian and love others in this realm!" The entire crowd chorused together, as of they had practiced the line over and over again.

"Then look at yourselves!" Elizabeth continued, still staring at the crowd. "You have had your oath that you will serve Lord Guardian. Here we have one of his loyal servant, who used to be one of us, who used to serve Lord Guardian together with us, yet you have sent her away for the crime she has not done! She has been defiled by people possessed by the devil, yet she's taken full blame and left the shrine in shame. Now you have served a demoness and let her steer you all to your doom, yet the judgement you gave her is still not half of what Adriana has endured for the past years! You all should be ashamed to call yourselves servants of Lord Guardian!

"And if you call yourselves servants of love, you should be ready to face your judgement, for Adriana is a Human, one of many wonderful creations of Lord Guardian, yet you've treated her like a demon! You all have stayed in this very shrine! You have studied Lord Guardian's codes more than any other creatures of this realm! I tell you now, although you remain in his holy shrine for the rest of your live, Lord Guardian is far away from your pleas!"

And she pointed straight at Anna. "And look at her! She has been in exile for many years! She has faced hard times and temptations of the outside world more than any of us have endured even if we can double our lifetime! Yet look at her! You all have heard the great deeds she has done to the Kingdom of Aragon and to the realm, although all the news you've heard doesn't necessary justify the deeds she has done that remain concealed! You have seen her, and how her friends, even the Champion of the Guardian himself, are ready to lay down their lives for her! I tell you now, for some of you she may not be one of us, but she is truly the servant of love, and Lord Guardian is deeply pleased by her!"

The room was still dead quiet. Roberto was quite amused, just like everybody else in the party. The temporary High Priestess seemed to have made her point, and she'd done that clearly, for the entire ranks of priestesses were deep in their thoughts. Anna was quite restless herself and just stared nervously at her mother.

Finally one priestess stood up from the crowd and said, "Sister Adriana... Please lead us..."

And to everyone's surprise, the crowd murmured in agreement. All eyes were turned toward Anna, who was still dumbfounded.

"But... but I don't know... I'm too young..." Anna said.

"It doesn't matter, Adriana." High Priestess Elizabeth replied. "You possess the wisdom from Lord Guardian himself."

"Yes... but... I don't know if I can do it..."

"Sister Adriana..." Another priestess said. "We know that you may be hurt by your banishment from the shrine years ago... We really apologize... We've been led by the demoness for too long that we've lost guidance... You are pure. We need your guidance. Please forget your past hatred and lead us back to the truth!"

"But you don't understand! I never hate you!" Anna said, then looked at her friends, especially Atrus. "I never feel sorry for my banishment... for because of it I've been able to meet these wonderful friends I've spent most of my time with all these years... Had I not been banished, I probably wouldn't have known my destiny as one of the Warriors of the Guardian. I... I never feel sorry for my banishment... I feel... so fortunate... for my friends, for my wonderful friends, and for my life."

She found Atrus smiling warmly at her, and her heart was flushed with joy. She slowly stared back to the crowd and said, "But I am still a servant of Lord Guardian. If you want me to be your High Priestess, I will accept. But I must tell you that I won't be able to lead you now, for I have had my oath as a Warrior of the Guardian that I will remain loyal to Lord Atrus, the Champion of the Guardian, and follow him wherever he goes."

"Then let the ceremony begin!" High Priestess Elizabeth took the Sun Mace and lifted it up high. "By the power Lord Guardian has bestowed upon me, I enact you, Adriana Freesland, servant of Lord Guardian, the new High Priestess of the Holy Order of Lycra."

Anna knelt before her mother and gracefully received the enchanted weapon in her hands. She held the weapon close, admiring it for a while, then showed it to the crowd. The entire ranks of priestesses bowed their heads in awe and respect for their new leader.

"And the time has come for our holy order to announce our loyalty again to the very Kingdom of Aragon..." Anna looked serenely at Roberto. "And to the Alliance."

Roberto nodded, then cried, "Get me my sword!"

As always, the crowd gasped at the sight of the gigantic sword. Kaiser Sword was so heavy that it took at least three priestesses to carry it along the aisle and to the podium. The crowd murmured in awe as the prince lifted the sword up easily as if he's lifting a pillow. The priestesses became agitated and started clapping when the prince juggled with the sword, until Maya kicked his calf and told him to quit it.

Anna faced the prince and knelt down gracefully, followed by the entire ranks of priestesses around the podium and inside the sanctuary. "Prince Roberto of Aragon, we, the priestesses of the Holy Order of Lycra, announce our loyalty to the Kingdom of Aragon, and also, to the Alliance. May Lord Guardian and the gods in Paradise send blessings to us all."

And as an act of acceptance, Roberto reached out and helped Anna to stand up again. Once she was back on her feet, the crowd began clapping that he thought the entire building would collapse from the sound. Both Roberto and Anna looked at the crowd and were pleased. There was no more hatred in their eyes. Just hope for better future for all of them.

"I never knew you're quite an entertainer." Anna whispered while looking at the sword. "You should play your trick before us all after all this is done."

"Why, Anna, I even think of doing this as a part-time job..."

Lynn the Fairy stood still before the grave. Her eyes were wet with tears. Her body remained unmoved. Her heart was broken. No word could speak of her sorrow.

She was standing before the grave of Falstoff, now an Honorary Knight of Aragon. Roberto had bestowed the title during the funeral, claiming that a great deed of his would not go unnoticed. Anna herself had blessed the grave and the rest of the party had generously poured flower over the earth. A silver sword was jammed to the head of the grave, Atrus' own Rainbow Sword, which he had left there in memory of Falstoff.

And the party had left her alone. She didn't know why. To cry? To grieve? To mourn? She had cried for his death for a while and she knew she could cry for some more. There was so much she could recall even in the short time they had spent together. All those memories, sweet and bitter ones, gnawed her heart and ate away her soul.

In the corner of her eyes she could see Calem standing behind her. She didn't mind his presence. In fact she didn't mind anyone's presence. She just didn't know what to say to them. But Calem was there, patiently waiting for her, ready to console her. And probably everyone in the party was as well. They just knew that Calem had known the Fairy better that they had entrusted him with this task.

"It's not fair..." Her voice trailed off. "It... it's not... fair..."

"That he didn't have enough time to get to know you?" Calem offered.

She suddenly felt a stab of accusation in the reply, although she knew he didn't mean it. "I... I'm just being selfish..."

"No, not at all." The old wizard said quickly. "What you're feeling is absolutely normal."

"If it is, how come it hurts so much?" Lynn asked again.

"You've lived in isolation in Heaven for too long." Calem replied. "So this feeling, grief, might seem very... new to you. I can assure you that everyone the party understands your feeling. Atrus and the rest have lost many of their loved ones in their journey."

"Then how come they seem to be unaffected?"

"The trick is to carry on with your life." He replied. "Sure, you may grieve over Falstoff. We all do. But don't let that grief make you give up your life. Tell me, do you think Falstoff wants to see you crying over his grave forever?"

"N...no..."

"You must carry on, for your life doesn't stop at his death. You must live on in the memory of him. And when the time has come... you will be reunited once again... and no one will be able to break you apart anymore..."

Lynn glanced back at the wizard and found weary look in his eyes. She could also feel his sadness. His words had probably brought memories from the past back to haunt him again.

"You've lost someone special, too." Lynn said carefully.

"Many." Calem said. "When the Great Temple of Magi was burnt down, I lost many good friends. All my childhood friends, all my friendship I've established for so many years, were all gone in a blink. When Atrus came to me to plea his kingdom's case, all those memories rushed back at me, begging me to fulfill my revenge."

"But you didn't do it."

"No, that's not what my friends would have wanted. Revenge is what I want, the result of hurt and pain from the loss many years ago. But no, neither of us wanted war. We just want to survive, and we can't do it until the demonic menace is gone from this world. That's my purpose.

"And I should find mine..." Lynn looked back at the grave.

"Yes, but you know that your purpose is not to sit before the grave and grieve for the rest of your life." Calem replied softly. "You must live up his memory. You must live up his dream. As long as you do, Falstoff is not dead. He's alive in your heart, just as he has said."

Lynn stared at the grave for some time. Then, as if finding her strength back, she slowly stood up and walked away from the grave. While she was expecting to feel another deep pain and sorrow, she felt... fulfilled. She knew that Falstoff was not at rest. She knew that his dream would not die. She knew that she would make him proud. She looked back at Calem, who's standing near her, smiling. He wrapped his arms around her and guided her back to the building.

"Thank you..." She whispered. "For bringing me back from the land of the dead..."

"Welcome back to the land of the living." Calem replied. "We all miss you."

The party was gathering in the courtyard once again, but this time they were ready to leave. The soldiers had broken their camps. The morning air was refreshing, although the scent of smoke from the half-burnt village was still in the air.