Felarya's Nightmare

Chapter 22 - The Prophecy

            Richard and Idril rush through the ancient, decaying corridors of the pyramid in search of their companions and find themselves in the room where Vigara, Lis, Nixa, Pita, and Div are. They arrive breathless, and the women look at them with concern.

Nixa approaches quickly: "What happened?"

            Idril, who managed to recover faster, said: "A... An elf... a giant... she... knows we're here, she told us to hurry up and do whatever we're doing here... and then she vanished in a single jump."

            They all widen their eyes and begin to quickly search the room for some answer to clear the passage and avoid further alerting the giants that are on their way.

Pita starts flying around the room, even looking at the ceiling: "Damn it! I can't find anything! Not a single rune, not a single trace of magic!"

            The jewel on Richard's bracelet begins to resonate, and he raises his arm toward the alarm door in the background, revealing a sort of "invisible lasers." Richard looks and points to the door so they can see it too.

Richard: "Hey! That door... what's it?"

            They look and see that the door now has a kind of visible "laser," like a type of motion detector. Nixa approaches and begins to examine it.

Nixa: "Hm... some kind of detector... but why did it become visible now? Overloaded or a switch?"

            Then she looks at Richard and tells him to come closer. Richard obeys, and as he begins to approach, the lasers start to intensify, and when he gets near the door, the lasers disappear with a snap. Nixa approaches and sees that nothing is functioning near that door anymore and looks at the bracelet again.

Nixa: "That... bracelet of yours... energized the door's security so much that it just... malfunctioned?" She smiles incredulously. "I can't believe it... okay! Let's go in! Now!"

            And everyone obeys promptly, entering the door and coming face to face with a huge room that makes Div seem small. Enormous statues with various fabrics, and the statue whose fabric Div tore off a bit is still there with the torn fabric.

Vígara, with a cautious but amazed look, exclaimed: "My... God! Look at this... beautiful place! It's so... wonderful!"

Lis, with her curious eyes, was ready to place her hand on one of the statues: "Just... one... touch..."

And Nixa promptly reprimands her in an authoritative and firm voice: "Don't touch me! Stay away from there!"

Lis jumps in fright and quickly steps back, huffing towards Nixa: "Hmph! I can't do anything!".

            And then, the statues move, maintaining the rigidity of their hard stone bodies as they shift and rise from their seated positions, surrounding the group.

"You came to the sacred temple. You overcame our defenses... And yet... you live. There is only one answer: The chosen one is among you" - The statues speak in chorus with a deep voice, resonating with their stone bodies.

            Richard's bracelet begins to glow brighter, slightly burning his arm."AAAAAHHHHH SHIT! WHAT THE HELL!" He yelled as the bracelet increased in temperature, and then, in the blink of an eye, one of the statues grabs Richard's arm with the bracelet and lifts it, looking him in the eyes.

"You... are not the chosen one... why are you wearing this bracelet, boy?" The statue speaks in an authoritative and firm tone.

            Richard clutches the statue's finger with his other hand - "I don't know! It wasn't me, okay? The bracelet literally fell from the sky after a witch saved the city! Please! Let go, damn it!!"

            The statues look at each other with worried expressions, and the statue holding Richard gently places him back on the ground. The statues then return to their places and sit down.

"You... possess the Bracelet of Neriva... one of the heroines of Negav... the same one who disappeared after passing through the South Gate..." 

            The statues speak simultaneously. One of the statues rises and kneels, offering an open hand, palm up, at ground level to Richard, and says:

"Allow us to improve this item... You had trouble using your own powers because this bracelet was hindering you completely, but now I will make at least some of it pass through so you can make your blows, spells, and/or incantations more potent..."

            Richard looks at his bracelet and then at the statue: "I'm sorry... there's no way this can come off! I've already tried...".

            He extends his arm with the bracelet over the statue's hand: "If you have any way to open this, I'd ag-" and with a click, the bracelet opens and falls into the statue's hand.

            As soon as the bracelet touches the statue's palm, sparkles radiate from the statue's hand, spreading throughout its body, reaching the temple floor and the other statues with a kind of earthquake, as if the light were sprouting roots in the ground and the statues, and then they all look up with their eyes shining and speaking at the same time:

"We see... the battle... its end... you are the chosen one..."

            Then the statue closes the bracelet tightly in its palm and begins to shine so brightly that everyone has to put their arms and hands in front of their eyes.

            After a few seconds the glow fades and the statue opens its hand and the bracelet flies swiftly onto Richard's arm and this time, he doesn't feel a burning sensation but rather a feeling of power, something growing inside him, as if he could now feel his blood flowing through each of his veins, but it was a strangely good feeling.

            Suddenly, all the statues look in a specific direction as if seeing something beyond the walls, then turn to the group and say in unison: "They are coming... they are arriving... please! Kill them all! Many innocents have been killed on their way here... Bring balance back to this world, Richard Anthony, the chosen one of Neriva."

            And then tremors begin to occur, and the statues destroy a wall, going outside, and they follow one by one.

            Just as the last one is about to leave, Nixa promptly shouts to the statue: "HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?? YOU YOURSELVES SAID THEY WERE COMING! AREN'T YOU GOING TO HELP US?".

            Then the statue smiles and says in a gentle tone: "We would only get in the way! We are going to the four corners of Felarya to spread the good news and... we will be the ones who will both spread Richard Anthony's words... and protect it with all our might. This temple is now nothing more than a carved stone... now... hope lies within him." and the statue points to Richard and Nixa follows, but when she looks back at the statue, it is no longer there.

            Nixa looks at the whole group and everyone is on edge with fear, breathless, their eyes wide with pure terror. Vigara is almost panicking while Lis tries to comfort her even though she is also crying. Pita is in a corner of the room crying, hugging her own legs in a fetal position. Div is looking at them all and feels powerless, desperate. The atmosphere has become one of despair, a total, hopeless hell.

            Nixa glares furiously at Richard and lunges forward, punching him in the face: "YOU BASTARD! IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU SHOWING UP IN OUR LIVES... WE COULD STILL BE AT HOME!"

            She screams angrily and sadly as tears stream down her face, her voice becoming shrill. Idril quickly acts, grabbing Nixa with difficulty. "NIXA! CONTROL YOURSELF, DAMN IT! EVERYONE HERE IS SCARED! PLEASE!".

            Richard is thrown several meters by Nixa's punch and falls on his back. He gets up, his mouth bleeding, and looks at Nixa: "Me too... I'm scared... I didn't want to be here either... but there's no going back... so... let's do everything we can to have some kind of future... understand?"

            Nixa breaks free from Idril, pinning him to the ground, and lunges at Richard again with a punch that would kill him, but she stops inches from his face.

            She looks at him with a look of despair, anger, and fear, like a creature surrounded and struggling to survive. She takes a deep breath "Okay... let's go..."