Legend of Parocaav II: Against the Darkness (rough draft)

Chapter XL: Shye-An, Mistress of Mischief

The sun shines bright into the small room at the inn. Drayk, who is still sitting at the desk, wakes up from the morning glow. He glances over to the bed to see if Roku had returned at all last night. To his surprise, she is fast asleep, curled up under the covers. A smile spreads across his face as he climbs into bed with her. She wakes up long enough to kiss his cheek and cozy up to him.

"When did you get back?" Drayk whispers into her ear.

"Before the sunrise, so not that long ago," Roku yawns, "I have to go back this afternoon so I need to get some sleep. Carry on without me, sorry love."

Drayk kisses her on the forehead and climbs out of the bed. He walks over to the desk to grab the notes he had taken during his studying. All that's on his mind now is to put his studies into practice. He has to get this off his mind, and practicing his alchemy has always relaxed him. After he leaves the inn, Drayk heads outside town to a set of hills out in the distance. A place that's nice and secluded from the eyes of the townsfolk.

Just before he is able to start sketching an alchemic symbol, the floating island begins to shake violently. Drayk looks up into the sky and sees a beam of fire, ice and electricity shooting down onto the island. A woman's laugh echoes from all around, familiar, yet foreign. The laughter localizes to just a few yards in front of him. Then, a cloud of white smoke forms the figure of a woman with purple hair. She has a crooked smile on her face and is quietly chuckling.

"Hello, Bringer of Hope!" Shye-An shouts, "Do you remember me?!"

"You're.... the last Delt, the eldest of the triplets," Drayk says with astonishment, "You-"

"Yes! Very good! How sweet of you to remember me Drayk! I certainly remember you! You killed my brothers and left me, stranded and alone! You will suffer!"

Shye-An jumps into the air and shoots at Drayk with a trinity of magic. He moves out of the way only to get blasted by another shot. His body is electrocuted, burned and frosted all at once while being blown back by strong winds. After a few seconds of being blasted, he drops to his knees as his chest sizzles. His hand moves up to cover the wound while glaring up at the child of Mischief.

"How did you escape?" Drayk asks her.

"Lady Parocaav helped me escape that hell you put me in! She allowed my brothers to live on, in a manner of speaking anyways," Shye-An explains, "Their powers were bestowed upon me. I am the new Mistress of Mischief!"

Shye-An shoots at Drayk again but he reflects it with his sword. She attacks him more and more while he defends against the strikes. With each free moment, he etches a new alchemic symbol into the base of the blade. He sees this as a perfect opportunity to test one of the Shadow alchemical powers. As soon as the symbol is drawn, he activates the power. His blade turns to pure darkness and starts to absorb each elemental strike from the Mistress of Mischief.

After a moment, he jumps back swings his blade towards Shye-An. A golden arch shoots towards her, striking her down. She is hit with accumulated force of her own magic. She yells out angrily and stomps her left foot against the ground. From under her pant legs, she pulls out two long and fine pointed daggers.

"Have you ever fought an assassin?" Shye-An asks him with a giggle, "If you want to fight with blades, you've got it! I hope you can move fast!"

With the blink of an eye, the Mistress of Mischief vanishes and appears right next to Drayk. She slashes both blades at him, of which he is only able to parry one of them. The other blade slices through his shoulder while tearing his clothing.

"Don't do this! Lady Parocaav is using you!" Drayk shouts as he stumbles away.

"This has nothing to do with her! This is personal!!" Shye-An laughs out maniacally, "Enough talk Drayk! Just accept your fate!"

Drayk looks around them and realizes they are encased by a spiraling vortex of electricity. He's trapped in here by himself with no chance of Tao or Roku coming to assist him. His grip on his blade tightens as Shye-An strikes at him with her daggers. She spins through the air, cutting Drayk over and over. His attempts to counter her are unsuccessful. Roku is better equipped to fight the goddess in armed combat, Drayk just isn't fast enough with his broadsword.

In a desperate attempt, he shoots a fireball straight into the air, higher than the top of the vortex. Once it's nice and high up, it explodes. A call for help. Even with the powers given by Lady Parocaav, he feels it won't be enough. He doesn't have enough time to react and his body feels unexplainably exhausted. His body aches with pain as blood drips from his open wounds.

Suddenly, a blast of wind breaks through the wall of the vortex. Before it closes again, Roku bolts through with her twin blades drawn. She heals Drayk as she passes him and collides her blades with the Mistress of Mischief's daggers. A smile spreads across her face while a bright light aura shines around her body. This blinds Shye-An so she jumps away with her eyes covered with her arm.

"You aren't supposed to be here!" Shye-An roars out in anger.

"Nevertheless, I am here to end this!" Roku yells, "The Bringers of Hope shall stand against you together, just as we have before!"

Meanwhile ~

Deep in a cavern beneath the ground, the sound of footsteps echo. Tao has a white robe on with a golden belt wrapped around his waist. His arms are crossed and he has blank expression on his face. At the end of the corridor lays a small chamber. Tao lifts his arms up and candles in the room light up. He walks over against the back wall which has a painting of Lady Parocaav on it. Tao kneels down with his back to the painting while lowering his arms down his sides.

"Leon, if you can here me, please come to me," Tao says in a soft tone, "I seek your advice. This.... is more difficult for me than I realized it would be. Being home, back in my own time, but not being able to be my true self. I feel like I am not truly home yet."

Leon's voice echoes throughout the small cavern chamber, "I can only imagine what you must be feeling. Tao. You must remember your role in this and the time is not right yet. The Bringers of Hope cannot know you are, no one must know who you really are. I know you want answers, but please have faith in Gaia, and in me. The Bringers need you, now more than ever. The fight against the darkness will be no easy task. Stand at their side. I cannot speak to you any longer for now."

"Leon!" Tao shouts as he stands up.

The candles get blown out by a random strong breeze that pours into the cavern from outside. All is quiet, no further response or acknowledgement from Leon. He is gone.

"Leon.... The Bringers of Hope.... I won't let you down, my master. I will help them in anyway that I am able," Tao sighs, "I will make sure that they succeed, in the name of Gaia, and in your honor."