The Aftermath Of Mount Woe Chapter 20
Another New Source
By Nanaki
12,010 B.C.
"What we must do now," Zeal announced, "is find a new power source."
"With all due respect, your majesty, that's a lot easier said than done." One of the old advisors pointed out.
"Under normal means, yes." Zeal frowned. "But nothing that's been going on lately falls into the normal category. If that Weapon doesn't want us to use the planet's energy, she should be more than happy to help us find something else. Schala's unusual abilities will also help in the search."
"So we're really going to raise the island again?" Gaspar asked from his stretcher.
"Of course! You don't want Vigo's sacrifice to be in vain, do you?" Since Zeal looked like she would try to vaporise anyone who said yes, everyone kept their mouths shut.
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A while later, Zeal blew a stray strand of hair out of her face as she left the council room. Karak was sitting in the hall, looking exceedingly bored. "You're still here?" She asked, surprised.
"Yeah. I figured you guys still needed help. What do you want us to do?"
"Nothing. We can handle it."
"To proud to ask for help, huh?" Karak looked like he had expected this. "You stuck up... Never mind. I guess I'll be taking my leave then." He turned to leave.
"Wait!" Karak turned back around. "Don't go yet!" Zeal pleaded. Karak looked surprised now. Zeal quickly put an angry expression on her face. "You didn't really come up here because you thought we needed help."
"I didn't?" Karak looked confused.
"No. Deep down, you came up here because you thought this would PROVE you were better than Vigo!"
"What are you getting so angry about?" Karak backed away as she stepped menacingly forward. "Besides, I thought you never showed your emotions anyway."
"Shut up!" Zeal reached back as far as she could, and slapped him in the face. His head didn't move an inch, but she didn't seem to notice. "I only show emotions to people I care about!"
"What the hell? You're showing 'em right now!"
"I told you to shut up! That's a royal order!"
"In case you've forgotten, I'm royalty too, your high and mightyness."
Zeal growled in frustration. "You haven't changed a bit since you were twelve!"
A slightly understanding look came into his face. "Are you still mad about... that?"
"Of course! You never apologized. Until then, I looked up to you, because you were a good leader. Then that one day, when I was walking by, you told some inane joke, and then made fun of me because I didn't laugh at it. Then you got this weird look on your face when I didn't get mad at you. Vigo started yelling something at you, but I left..."
"I was twelve! Gimme a break!" But she wasn't listening anymore.
"Vigo..." Then she looked up at him, but seemed to stare through him at the same time. "He shouldn't be dead yet!!" She screamed, then burst into tears. She launched herself into him, pounding the armor on his chest, and they both collapsed to the floor. "This is all your fault!"
"My fault?! How? I am sorry he's dead. But... Zeal..." She finally ceased her bombardment, looking up at him strangely through disheveled hair, tears streaming down her face. "You got your revenge. The Weapons are dead, except for one, and she's helping us!"
Zeal turned around and sat back against the wall next to him. "Then why don't I feel better?"
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"Ready to begin Schala?" Violen asked softly. The young girl nodded. "Okay. You're going to be the focus point of this search. My powers will be augmenting yours, but you'll be in control." Without further ado, they both closed their eyes. Schala felt herself leaving her body, and traveling down into the ground. Somehow, probably through Violen's power, she felt like she knew the territory well. She reached everywhere, looking for anything new.
All she found was the planet's energy. Lots and lots of it, streaming everywhere. It almost flooded her senses, there was so much. Schala wanted to scream. 'There's a ton of this stuff! More than anyone could ever use! What was the problem?'
'More than any one could use yes.' Violen replied. Schala gulped as she realized that of course her thoughts would be open in here, wherever "here" actually was. 'But many people using this could drain it quickly. That is why I cannot allow your people any more access to it.'
'Sure thing.' Schala said nervously. Watching what you said out loud was one thing. Watching what you automatically thought was much harder. She resumed her search of the underground. As she went deeper, she discovered a lot of heat. But you couldn't float something on hot air. At least, not a huge mountain.
Then, in the midst of the heat, an aberration. Small compared to everything, but upon closer investigation, it clearly had a huge energy signature unlike anything she had ever experienced. Looking even closer, Schala saw tons of magical energy on every wavelength, and some magic she hadn't seen before. There was a tremendous amount of energy emanating from this thing, but the most surprising part was -
"Its alive?" Schala asked out loud, her eyelids jerking open roughly.
"Oh. That... thing." Violen said distastefully. "I wouldn't reccomend using it."
"Fine for you to say." Schala said crossly. "But right now, its all we got!" Schala got up and ran out the door.
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Zeal looked up as the outer door burst open. She quickly shrugged off Karak's supporting arm, and tried to wipe her face off. She was relieved to see that it was only Schala. "Well? Any luck?"
A grin broke over Schala's face. "Yes! We found something good, and it wasn't hard to find!"
'Actually,' she realized, 'it was almost too easy to find.' But Schala kept the grin on her face.
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"Zeal's advances stem from a new energy source. It's power surpasses that of the elements."
- Anonymous
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