The Forgotten Legacy

Chapter 15

15

*Back in the Enchanted Forest*

"It seems its time to act." Winston said while reading over the reports that have been handed to him this morning. "We have to call a town meeting as soon as possible, Priscilla hun, would you kindly call a meeting of the elders for me, we'll meet right here. I appreciate it, I'll make it up to you after this is all over. For now I must contact Sheila and have her make a list of every person in the forest."

After about an hour, all the elders were gathered within Winstons office within the World Tree. He begins their meeting by stating, "It seems the Leviathan has set its sights on the barrier at the outflow of the Magius river. From the most recent reports from night watch, I have learned that the Leviathan is currently attacking the City of Deephart located just across Winterland Strait from the end of the Magius River. I have discussed with Sheila, and we have come up with a plan to buy as much time as possible for Roy to gather what he needs to defeat this calamity. We should gather everyone from the village in the Great Hall in two hours. Can I count on you guys to gather everyone."

"Of course you can dad, I'll start making a meal for everyone since it seems we'll be here awhile. Meanwhile, Grandpa Raul can you go gather everyone, you have the loudest voice and everyone already respects you the most. Everyone else should discuss what the plan is for us while waiting for everyone to show up." Liz replied confidently.

*******

Two hours later, Winston was up at the large podium on the stage for town meetings. He looked around at the people gathered with a serious expression on his face.

"Let me begin by thanking everyone for coming to this emergency town meeting. It has recently come to my attention that the Calamity that destroyed the kingdom of Alta fifty years ago, is currently attacking Deephart across the Winterland Strait. It is expected to come for the forest next by breaking through the barrier of the Magius River. The rest of the Elders and I have come together to form a plan to hold it off for as long as possible. There is a large Opal located within the lakebed of the Spirit Lake. It powers the entire barrier around the Enchanted Forest, and has protected us since the dawn of time. It feeds off of Spiritual Essence, We will require everyone to give up some of their essence to supercharge the barrier constantly, I'll hand the podium over to my wife to explain what exactly everyone needs to do in this situation. Pris, if you will."

"Of course Honey," Priscilla replied softly to Winston. She then turned towards the townsfolk and walked up to the podium. "A-hem, Hello everyone. You remember me from your childhood. We have the chance to help destroy this massive calamity and rid the world of it. Sheila has made a schedule for you all to look at while I talk. I'll explain why it's important as we get on here. Sheils, if you will."

Sheila then casted a large projection spell from her mind to show the list of everyone in the village. It showed everyones name, followed by a time of day, and the day of the week. It glowed a vibrant dark Indigo, and could be read from the back of the hall as well. After Sheila finished casting the spell Priscilla started to speak once again.

"I thank you Sheils, Now on to what we want you guys to do. I want you to recall your time in the spirit world when you were children. It is basically exactly that. I will be by everyone's sides to make sure they don't lose themselves. I do have to say it is dangerous for all of us to stay in the Spirit world for any longer than an hour or so. So the time of day slots of the schedule here are going to be just about an hour apart. But for every seventeen people we have stay in the Spirit World, Roy, Lorenzo, and Sid have another week outside of the barrier for gathering gemstones for the battle against the Leviathan. The Elders will go into the Spirit World first so everyone has time to prepare for a little bit. First will be Elder Raul. As a warning, for at least a couple days after you exit the Spirit World, you will be fatigued and will be a little heavy feeling. We are able to regenerate a certain amount of Spirit Essence with rest, just like the mana within us. I will pull everyone out personally until Roy returns with the Gemstones we need. For now, Dad if you want to go ahead and go down to the lakebed, I'll meet you there in about an hour, so just go ahead and enter the Spirit World. Everyone else make sure you remember your time slot and meet me at the lakebed school, where you learned to communicate with spirits for the first time. The schedule will remain posted within the Great hall here. With that all said, let us eat."

*****

I awoke to a sense of unease filling my body. I shrugged it off as the atmosphere within the Swamplands here. After stretching and getting up, I went over to Sid's room with a yawn. I took a quick glance outside and internally rolled my eyes. Lorenzo who was supposed to have been on last nightwatch, was currently nodding off in front of a burnt out fire. I first went to wake up Sid by shaking him gently. He had opened his eyes promptly and then stretched with a yawn as well. After making sure Sid was awake and getting up, I stepped outside and went over to the small bog nearby camp.

When I got to the putrid water I created a stone bucket underneath it. I then grabbed the bucket out of the water and cast a -Cleanse- spell on it. I walked over to the burnt out campfire, right behind the now sleeping Lorenzo, and dumped the freezing cold water of the swamp onto his back.

He awoke suddenly with a jump and yelped in a high voice, "W-w-w-what w-w-was t-t-th-that f-for."

I simply ignored his question and pointed at the coals in front of him. He looked down at it and realized his mistake. I was lucky that I had the urge to send Niques out to watch with Lorenzo last night. Either way, after that I turned towards the campfire and sparked another flame to life with my flame magic. On a side note here, using simple flame spells were secondhand nature to me at this point. Lorenzo went back inside the hut to change into dry clothes.

At this point I saw Sid approaching me with some of the squirrel we had saved from last night for breakfast. I had learned over this journey that his cooking was almost as good as Liz's with simple flavoring. Lorenzo then walked out of the hut and after a hearty breakfast of dried squirrel and flatbread we set off into the Naratel Mountains.

*******

After about three hours traveling up steep winding trails, we arrived at the peak of the mountain Sid said was Obi's outpost. I noticed a large semicircular stone door embedded within the side of the cliff. Before I could ask, Sid had exclaimed,

"We have arrived finally. This time of year granddad should be mining for metals and gemstones here. Alenzo little buddy, would you kindly go get granddad for me. I know you must miss him as well."

And with that the small salamander scrawled through the stone door as if it were open. After a little while I heard the clunking and and scraping of the door sliding open. In the haze of the tunnel shaft I saw an elderly man with more muscles than even Raul. He stepped out into the light to reveal bright white braided hair, and a large beard to match. With a small smirk he came over and picked Sid up.

"Why if it isn't Little Sid, I damn near thought you had gone missing too." He put Sid back on solid ground and turned to greet us, "Hello there Lord Bishari. Though it feels weird to say after five hundred years. I can see that your mother succeeded in sending you into the future. I am called Obi by everyone, I served your father long ago. I can only imagine what you are here for, For now though let us go inside. Follow after me please." Sid's Granddad who looked ancient but healthy said to me.

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Spiritgem; This large Opal is Milky white with rainbow iridescence coating its surface. It resides within the lakebed of the Spirit Lake located within the Enchanted Forest. Unlike most gemstones, This one uses Spirit essence instead of mana to use its magic. As such it takes a large number of spiritfolk to feed and keep this gem working. It has protected the Enchanted Forest since the dawn of time and cannot be removed from the lakebed. It's barrier get stronger the more essence is leaked into it through the spirit realm. This is the most information I could gather on this particular stone.

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