The Secret of the Stone

As we drew closer to Nevele I began to feel more and more anxious. My powers had improved but I still wasn’t sure how effective they would be against Julian and his tourmaline ring. I could tell that Celestia was troubled too. We had both gotten a taste of Julian’s power and were not looking forward to facing him again. As we approached the border of Nevele we could see signs of war in the distance and smoke rising. We could hear the cry of war and the boom of bombs and the clashing of swords.

“This was such a beautiful city and now it’s ruined all because of one man’s greed,” complained Nayr angrily.

“Don’t worry, Violet and I will finish him and we will rebuild,” said Celest. “He will wish he had stayed hidden in the Yar kingdom!” I didn’t know if she was trying to convince Nayr or herself.

“Okay, so how are we going to find him and won’t he be looking for us too?” Tem asked. “He has to know we are coming.”

“I am surprised that he has not found us by now,” remarked Cordum pessimistically. “We’ll get more information about his whereabouts once we reach the secret base.”

“Wait, there is something on the screen,” said Nayr. Just as Cordum had finished his sentence, three aircraft appeared on the radar. They were following us and would be within firing range in a matter of minutes. Cordum and Census quickly regained their positions to pilot the aircraft that had been on autopilot and began to maneuver away from the planes but they followed tightly behind us. The rest of us returned to our seats and buckled our seatbelts. The transport swayed to and fro as Census tried to shake the aircraft from our tail. When the aircraft were in range, they started to shoot at us.

“We are outnumbered!” yelled Nayr.

“Not for long,” said Tem and Josili unfastening their seat belts and holding on to the sides of the ship to keep balance. They ran up to the cock pit.

“Wait!” I protested. “You guys are still recovering from the scorpions sting.”

“We can’t just sit here and do nothing!” Josili cried.

“It is hard for us to fly at this altitude, drop down lower,” Tem told Census. “… and hold this ship steady enough for us to get out.”

Cordum dropped the transport down to a lower altitude and the two fairies flew out the top hatch followed by Celest and I, but Tem and Josili didn’t see us nor did they know I could fly. The three ships shot at the transport and Census and the others took evasive action to remove the ship out of the line of fire.

“We’ll take the one on the right! You two take the one on the left.” Tem said without realizing it.

“Right!” Celest and I agreed. He then did a double take.

“Violet, what are you doing out here?” He asked. One of the planes almost hit him but he ducked just in time. “Never mind!” he said and flew after the plane.

Josili and Tem flew towards their assigned ship and blasted a hole in it’s ceiling. Celestia and I combined our powers to short circuit the other planes engine. The plane had to performed an emergency landing skating over several trees before crashing to the ground. The Yar soldiers in Tem and Josili’s plane ejected and used some sort of jet pack to fly away. Tem and Josili followed after them but the soldier’s out ran them and disappeared into the horizon. With only one transport after them Census’s excellent piloting skills was more than a match for the aircraft. In true world war II fashion, he circled the plane until it was directly behind the enemy ship and fired a hole into their oil tank. It leaked fluid as the ship made its get away. Celestia, the fairies and I landed in a clearing. The transport returned to us and hovered above the ground. We entered the transport and continued on our way to the secret base camp were Enos and the others were waiting for us.

When we arrived at the base camp it was buzzing with soldiers preparing to enter the battle. I noticed that there were a lot of tents set up for the wounded. Many of the soldiers knew Census and greeted him as we followed him to the main headquarters. Inside the main tent stood a group of obviously very important people dressed in various colors from various regions of the planet. Aquala was there as well as Enos and the rabbit king. A man stood up from the table when we entered. He looked like Census but older. He came up to greet his son and Cordum and Nayr. Cloud went to give his respects to the rabbit king.

“My daughter!” cried Enos. Celest ran towards him. “I didn’t know if I would ever see you again.” She gave him a big hug. He then turned to me. I looked away and fixed my eyes on Cloud. I noticed that he had said my daughter and not my daughters.

“Violet.” Celest called to me. “What are you doing there? Come over here.” She came up and pulled me towards Enos. I really did not want to speak with him I could feel my blood began to boil.

“Violet,” he said. “I am happy to see you are safe and that you have accomplished your mission.” Then there was the awkward silence. “I know you have a lot to say to me.”

“I think it’s the other way around.” I said softly. “… but we have more important things to deal with, right now.” The others began to gather around the table. I joined Cloud at the table and Census’s father began to brief us on how the campaign was progressing.

“We have done all that you have said Census, but I am afraid that the Yar are too strong. We have suffered many casualties and they continue to advance from the capital.” After Julian had attacked the city he set up his headquarters in palace of Nevele.

“The battle is only a diversion so that Celestia and Violet can find Julian and neutralize him.” When he mentioned our names the entire room began to chatter. They were used to Celestia and Enos but they were not used to seeing Celestia’s mysterious twin sister.

Another general stood up and addressed the room. “And just how will they be able to get near the Yar prince?” He asked. “He is heavily guarded by an elite force of Yar soldiers.”

“Don’t worry we have a plan!” said Census. “We will use decoys to distract Julian and then Celestia and Violet will enter through a secret entrance. We must draw as many of the Yar away from this area.” He pointed on the map to an area north of the castle. “…so that they will have a good chance of getting in undetected. Celestia knows where this entrance is.”

“And who is going to be dumb enough to pose as the decoys.” Tem enquired. Census grinned at him and for the first time since I knew Tem he was not smiling when he caught on to the hint.

“We had better make our move now,” said the general. “Julian is sure to know you are here.” He said referring to Celestia and I.

“We will leave at night fall,” said Celest. That was only a few hours away.

After the meeting Census, Cordum and Nayr came to meet us followed by Tem and Josili to say their farewells.

“We are leaving now to take our position to the north,” said Census. “Celestia you know what you have to do,” she nodded. They looked deep into each other’s eyes.

“Oh, brother,” I whispered to Nayr and Cordum who were standing nearby. They smiled.

“You be careful,” said Cordum to me.

“You too.” I replied. Nayr gave me the bag that was carrying the casing and we said our final goodbye’s before they exited the tent. Josili and Tem stayed behind and when Census saw they had stopped. He looked to see if they had changed their minds.

“Hey,” said Celestia to the two fairies. “Don’t worry you’ll be fine, you are our heroes!” That didn’t seem to cheer them up much.

“Martyrs you mean,” mumbled Tem.

“Come on you two.” She tried to cheer them up. “Just think of all that reward money.” That on the other hand did seem to lift their spirits.

“Don’t worry, I am not going to let anything happen to you,” added Census. Tem was not convinced.

“Take care of them.” I added.

“Don’t worry about us. You just make sure you take care of Julian of our gooses our cooked.” said Josili.

The fairies followed after Nayr and Cordum. Census lagged behind.

“Violet, take care of Celest for me.” said Census.

“Don’t worry. I’ll bring her back in one piece.”

“Good!” Take care of yourself too.”

“Well, for my sister’s sake. I hope you come back safely.” I replied. He smiled. I saw Cloud walk by the tent and I figured now was a good time to give Celest and Census some time alone.

“Look at that,” said Cloud as I approached him. I turned around to see Census and Celestia embraced in a passionate kiss. Cloud was happy to see that they had made up again.

“Do I have to look?” I sighed.

“Don’t tell me you’re jealous?” teased Cloud.

“I just hope she doesn’t get cut by exposing herself to such chaffed lips.” I grinned at Cloud. Cloud just glared at me.

“Well anyway. I wanted to wish you well,” he said.

“Wish me well?” I asked surprised. “Aren’t you coming with us?”

Cloud looked regretful. “I am much too noticeable. I could compromise your mission.” I knew that he was worried about us and regretted not coming along.

“Don’t worry we’ll be back.” I petted him on the head as Celestia approached us, I was disappointed that he was not coming along, but I tried not to show it.

“Well are you ready to go?” She asked.

“Ready or Not,” I sighed, “here we come.”

“Violet, Celestia, wait!” said a voice behind us it was Enos. “Before you go I just want to wish you luck and I wanted to tell you how much I love you both. When you return I will explain everything. I promise you.” I shook my head in disbelief. How convenient that we would learn the truth when we may not make it back to learn the truth I thought. Enos sensed my disappointment. “There are things that you don’t understand Violet.” He tried to reach for me but I stepped away. “Violet you can’t let your anger towards me keep you from defeating Julian.” That made me even angrier that he would suggest that I would fail in the mission just to spite him.

“I know what I have to do! And then I am going home and no spell on a necklace is going to stop me!” At that moment I knew that it was he that had placed the spell on the necklace. I headed towards the tent door.

“Violet!” said Celest. “Wait, don’t leave like this.” I paused for a moment thinking about what she said. This could be the last time I ever saw my father but I was still angry with him. I turned around to face him.

“You are right.” I said coolly. He took Celestia and I by the hand.

“Despite all that has happened, whether you believe it or not. There is nothing more important to me than you. I just want you to know that. Be careful.” He hugged us and then walked out of the tent.

“Violet,” said Celest. She knew I was still hurt and angry.

“Don’t even try and defend him!” I snapped. She paused for a moment.

“Well, I guess we should be going then,” She said regretfully, “we can sort all this out later.” We placed the cloaks over our heads and disappeared into the forest. We hiked for a couple of hours before we reached Yar territory. The whole area was occupied by Yar soldiers. We almost ran into a few of them in the woods on our way to the secret passage, but luckily they did not see us crouched behind a large tree. We did not use flashlights for fear of being spotted. With the light of full moons I could see Celestia ahead of me in the thick darkness of the woods and the ground was covered in roots and shrubs.

“This place has really grown over since that last time I was here.” Celestia complained. Ahead of us was a large clearing. In the clearing we saw a detail of Yar soldiers camped. There were about twelve of them.

“Can we go around them?” I asked as we spied them through a thick bush.

“No,” she replied. She pointed to a huge rock in the center of the clearing. “There is the entrance.”

“I don’t see an entrance.” All I saw was a huge boulder.

“You’ll see,” she said. Some of the soldiers congregated beside a camp fire and the others that had been standing near the rock went to join them. “Now is our chance.” Celestia whispered. We tried to sneak around them to the rock when we heard a voice.

“Hey! You there! Stop!” the Yar soldiers began to come after us as we ran towards the rock.

“Now what?” I cried. Celestia searched the rock but there was no way in. The soldiers were almost on us when Celestia found the button in the boulder. A door opened behind the rock and Celestia jumped inside pulling me inside with her. The door shut and we could hear the soldiers outside.

“Where did they go?”One said. The door was so well camouflaged to match with the other rocks, at night it was nearly impossible to detect.

“Search the area,” said another and we heard their metal boots thump away from the entrance.

“Follow me,” said Celest as we made our way down a narrow stair case and into a long tunnel.

We walked for what seemed like forever in the damp, smelly tunnel to the point where I could hardly breathe.

“How much farther do we have to go?” I complained. “I am catching a serious case of claustrophobia in here.”

“It’s not much further,” she said. We continued to walk through the tunnel and as we continued on the air began to feel less dingy. “Now we just need to know what part of the castle Julian is hiding.”

“That’s easy.” I said. “He is definitely in the throne room.” It was the only room big enough for his ego. We climbed a ladder that opened a mantle to a secret room. The mantle was a table top that hid the secret entrance. We climbed out of the table and Celest peeped out the door of the room.

“Where is the throne”? I asked.

“It is not too far from here. It is down this hallway and to the right.” I suggested that we disguise ourselves and we searched the room to see what we could find.

“We could dress up like Yar soldiers.” I suggested as we couldn’t find anything adequate in the small room. She agreed. We heard a couple of Yar soldiers walking down the hall. After they had passed, I peeped out the door to see that no one else was in the hall way.“Psst!” I hissed at them. They came back around to see what the noise was. “Hello!” I said to the two soldiers and they were about to grab me when Celestia hit them over the head with a lamp post. They fell to the floor. We pulled the two extremely heavy Yar soldiers into the secret room and shut the door. Thankfully no one had heard us. We took off their uniforms and tied them up. We tore off our sleeves and tied it around their mouths.

We put on the uniforms but they were much too big. We caught a look at ourselves in a mirror on the wall and started to laugh. “This is not going to work.” I said. We tossed off the uniforms and headed out the door of the secret passage.

“We are going to just have to hope that we can avoid being seen,” said Celest. We crept down the hall way towards the throne room. “The king uses that passage as an emergency escape,” said Celest, “that is why it is so close to the throne.” We came to a large hall way and peeped out from behind the wall. The hallway was filled with soldiers.

“Oh, no, what are going to do now?” I whispered.

“The throne room is through those doors. There is only one thing left to do now,” she replied. “Fight!”

“Right!” I agreed. Celestia threw off her robe and flew up into the air taking the Yar soldiers by surprise. They were caught off guard, but they soon started to shoot at her with their laser beam weapons but she was too quick for them. I shot at them from the ground and knocked a few of them out before they realized she was not alone. Then some of the soldiers came after me too. We fought with the Yar soldiers but more and more kept coming.

“We have to get out of here!” I yelled.All of a sudden we heard a loud rumbling coming from the halls and it was getting closer. From around the corner Cloud appeared and ran into the hall. He torpedoed through the soldiers sending them flying in every direction.

“Cloud! How did you…?” We shouted in disbelief and relief.

“I’ll take care of them, find Julian!” he yelled as he bucked his head tossing one of the soldiers in the air. Celestia blasted a power beam through the throne room doors that sent the doors flying off the hinges. We flew inside the throne room and there we found Julian and the cat who both had a look of surprise on their faces from the explosion.

“What is this!” Julian demanded before settling into his regular unhinged demeanor. Then he laughed as if he was expecting us. “The princess of Enos and her little sister how sweet. Is this all you have come with to face me.”

“We’re more than enough!” Celestia replied.”This time you won’t escape.”He laughed out loud.

“Big talk Celest! I hope you can back it up.” He stood up from the throne. “I suppose,” he continued insincerely, “this meeting was inevitable and I assume you have brought the casing all three parts?” He sounded too confident. “I am glad that you have come.” He sat back down on the throne. “It saves me the trouble of looking for you. Maybe if you beg for my forgiveness, I might spare you.”

“Your arrogance will be your defeat Julian,” said Celestia.

“Do you actually think I would have let you find the casing if I didn’t know how to stop you.” He closed his eyes and lifted his hands in the air. All of a sudden the casing began to shake and rise from my bag. I tried to hold on to it but I couldn’t keep a grip on it as it rose up high near the ceiling of the throne room.

“What!” Celestia shreiked. The casing began to glow brightly and a supersonic sound pulsated from it and grew louder and louder. Celestia and I held our ears to shield them from the sound as we watched in despair as a sonic boom shattered it into pieces. Celestia and I looked at the shattered casing and our hearts shattered with it. Tears came to my eyes. Julian only laughed.

“Now what are you going to do?” He said mocking us and he and the cat laughed harder.

“You monster!” I screamed. I flew towards him like a missile hitting him with everything I had. Celestia joined the attack. Kiki ran under the throne to take cover as Julian flew into the air. Celestia and I took turns shooting at him. He shot at me and I used my force field to deflect his energy.

“Oh!” he said surprised. “I see your powers have improved. Well done but it is not good enough.” He started another round of fire, shooting more powerful beams at me I again dodged his beam barely escaping his fiery shots. Celestia came at him from behind. She nailed him unawares. He stumbled forward.

“I have also improved.” She remarked. This made him angry.

“You will pay for that!” He threatened her. He summoned up a large amount of energy from the ring and it exploded hitting both me and Celestia. We fell to the ground.

“Are you okay?” Celestia asked me as we shook off the effects of the blast.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I said slightly weakened.” Let’s get him.” I picked myself up.

We joined hands and sent a powerful beam at him that made him take a step back. We took advantage of his weakness and sent another beam at him and another until he fell to the floor. He laid there tiredly on the floor of the throne.

“It’s over Julian.” Celestia shouted at him as we landed on the floor near where he lay.

“Let’s finish him.” I cried. Then he began to laugh again and he didn’t stop laughing as he began to grow, his body changed before our eyes, his face turned colors until he turned into a giant green monstrous troll. Before we could get away, he grabbed us one in each hand. We screamed as he threw us against the wall. We made an imprint in the wall before hitting the ground. I couldn’t stand. I couldn’t move at all and neither could Celest. He returned to his natural state and sat confidently, back on the throne again.

He shook his head at us, enjoying every moment of our agony. I could barely lift my head to see Celest who was out cold on the marble floor.

“Celest?” I could barely speak.

“Poor, Poor Violet,” said Julian. “You should have gone home when you had the chance. He levitated over to Celestia. “Now you can watch your sister die.”

“No!” I screamed. I struggled to my knees. “It’s not going to end like this! I have faced giant scorpions, slug monsters, mermaids and gnomes.” I struggled to my feet. “Julian you are going to pay for all off this.” He turned around and faced me. My knees were wobbly as I tried to stand.

“Is that so? “He said. He came towards me. “Soon you will bow down before me. Soon all of Threa will bow down before me and there is nothing you can do to stop me! Look there…!” He pointed to Celest. The most powerful sorceress in all of Trea defeated.” He continued to rant. “ I am unstoppable ! Even if you had become a master sorceress you would never be able to defeat me.” He turned back to Celest to finish her off.

My eyes fixated on something shiny on the floor it was a piece of the shattered casing. I reached for it and as I touched it, it started to glow I picked up the piece of the casing and all of a sudden I felt my strength began to return to me.

“You know what, Julian?” I somehow found the strength to stand up straight.

“What now !” he turned around to face me as if I were annoying him. He was surprise to see me on my feet and glowing.

“You really get on my nerves!” He shot a beam at me with all his might. I deflected it.

I started to walk towards him. He shot another beam at me. I deflected it again. He backed up as I continued to walk towards him. In a desperate attempt for leverage he ran towards Celest. He grabbed her. She was still unconscious.

“Let her go! You coward!”

“I don’t know what is going on here,” he stuttered. “But you take another step and it will be her last.”

All of a sudden all the shattered pieces began to glow as if the casing had come to life I and I began to glow bright and so did Celest. The pieces of the casing flew into the air and began to merge together. When the casing became complete, it split into two parts. One piece came towards me and the other towards Julian and Celest. The casing swirled around me and then it coiled around my arm and hardened into a twisted arm bracelet. A tourmaline developed into a large stone near my wrist and the same happened to Celest. She woke up suddenly.

“Celestia watch out.” I warned her. Celestia used the arm were the band had formed and punched Julian. He dropped her and she fell to the floor. She quickly ran up beside me.

“What’s going on?” she asked confused.

“It’s the casing. It’s not a casing at all?” I explained.

“Ah! I am going to finish off the kingdom of Enos once and for all!” Julian threatened revenge.

He summoned up as much power from the ring as he could. The arm bracelets on us began to glow and pulsate again. He began shooting at us frantically but his beams had no effect on us.

He became desperate and tried to run but we surrounded him on both sides. It was as if the crystal casing had joined the fight against Julian. We opened our arms wide and light began to shine all around us, over both us and Julian. Then the armbands began to disperse and merge into the light and it closed in around him. He frantically tried to escape as the casing contracted inward to enclose him. His ring dissipated into the casing and he was trapped inside and his whole being seemed to merge into the energy beam. Then the light grew smaller and smaller and Julian faded into the light and disappeared. We gasped with fear as the casing continued to shrink back until it returned to its previous size and pentagonal form. Cloud rushed through the door as the casing landed on the ground.

“Violet! Celest!” He called as he starred at the casing that landed in the center of the throne. “ Where is Julian?Is he…?”

“It’s over.” I said.