Chapter Seven:
Jinjus retire!
As the morning light
filtered through the window, Marium stood up. She was completely dressed and
ready for the day... but this wasn't just any day. Today she was going to sneak
out.. back to her temple.. alone.
"I have to do this..
by myself. I have to cleanse my sacred castle." she murmured, not completely
sure of her actions. Silently, she slipped out of the room and out the front
door.
No one was awake yet, and
the forest was unusually cold. The only sounds were her footsteps on the forest
floor and the beat of her heart within her chest. She had no armor, no weapon,
beside the anger that burned at the thought of her temple being defiled. That
mixed with the agony at the death of her friends, and her new found magical
abilities, made her a worthy opponent for the time being.
Marium jogged through the
forest at a steady pace, and within an hour, she was at the edge of the woods.
She knew that Cadillac, Jonah, and Altaire would find her missing any moment
now, and they'd be after her in no time. She just hoped that she reached the
Temple of the Six Elemental Dragons Yin before they reached her. And she prayed
that her plan would work once she got there, or she wouldn't stand a chance.
KNOCKKNOCK! "Marium,
I hope I don't have to come in there this time." Cadillac growled as he
tapped on her bedroom door. There was no answer. "That's it, I'm not gonna
be nice today!"
As he burst into the
room, he gasped. She wasn't there! Her bed was made up all nice. She wasn't in
the kitchen cooking, either.
"Jonah!"
Cadillac cried, just as he bumped into the tall weaponsmith. "J-Jonah,
she's gone!"
"What? Who's
gone?" Jonah asked, trying to understand the stuttering squirrel midget.
"Marium! She's left,
back to the temple!"
Jonah's eyes widened.
"But, she doesn't have armor or her weapon!"
"Shh!" Cadillac
put a finger over his mouth. "If you don't quiet down, we'll wake up
Altaire! He'll get reckless if he finds out what happened."
"Right." Jonah
nodded. They turned to leave, and saw Altaire in a cloak, blocking the door. He
had a stern look on his face. "W-we were gonna tell you sooner or later,
honest!"
He just gave them a quick
glare, then opened the door and left, with them following.
Marium stood, huddled in
the cloak Altaire had covered her with the night before. The wind whipped
through her hair, numbing her fingers and nose. She was gazing at her temple,
just outside it. She couldn't see the evilness that now lurked inside her
divine palace, but she could definitely feel it.
Taking a deep breath, she
waited for the evil to sense her approach, then she calmly took a step inside.
It was dark in the
temple, and smelt like decay. The scent alone made Marium want to leave. But
she knew that she had to do this. It was the first step to reviving the
goddess, Yin.
She quickly made her way
to the heart of the temple, where she'd arrived from the sky days before. The
altar stood, black and foreboding and she knelt before it. It was a stupid
thing to do, especially in enemy territory, but she had to. The urge was too
strong.
"Goddess give me
magic... strength, skill, and stamina to purge your revered castle. Protect
me..." then she heard the first Jinju approach from the shadows. Marium
stood quickly, and turned to face it. Hundreds were appearing where the
darkness had once been. Soon the room was saturated with the vile abominations.
"Please let this work."
Altaire could tell that
she was right inside the prayer room. He stepped through the temple doors, and
continued down the hall toward the main altar praying room. Cadillac and Jonah
followed him, cautiously. Jonah was clutching an axe in his hands, and had
another weapon strapped to his back. Cadillac had his magic beads ready for an
all out elemental assault.
Inside the prayer room,
Marium was in a spellcasting position, and inventing another spell. "Dark
magic, heed my discord, halt the evil creatures that my summons create, force
them back to the colorless depths from whence they came. Turn evil against evil
in ultimate strife, purify and restore this palace! Revered spirits of the
Goddess Yin, lend me your hearts and souls, Maiden's Prayer!"
Altaire and the others
stepped into the room just as Marium finished her chant, and stuck her hand
into the air. The air in the room grew heavy and swarmed with the thick aroma
of death. Then, the Jinjus collapsed to the ground, their bodies turning to
ashes as they hit the floor. She opened her eyes and glanced around. It was
peaceful in the main altar room, and not even Cadillac broke the serenity to
reprimand Marium.
"That..." she
whispered, with an animated smile, "was totally awesome." Her eyes
glazed over and she stumbled, but she regained herself before she could fall.
"I-I'm okay. Whew, I didn't know if that would work or not.. I stayed up
trying to figure that spell out perfectly.."
Altaire was staring at
her in amazement behind his bangs. Didn't she know how much trouble she put him
and the others through?
She was a little
flustered as she looked through the room for anymore Jinjus. "Gee.. I
guess I got them all.. but I don't like that spell. It was really rancid in
here for a second."
'MARIUM! NEVER, EVER, GO
OFF WITHOUT TELLING US!!' Altaire finally exploded, face red. She turned,
surprised at the scolding. 'Don't you know how worried I was? Without you.. I-
and you didn't even know if this would work.. You should be grateful that you
didn't just die here!! That was one of the stupidest things you could have
done!'
Marium was red with
embarrassment. "It was my choice!"
'You have a responsiblity
to ALL the people here, on Pallas, and if you go off and do something rash like
this, you could get yourself killed! Then you'd be letting everyone down!'
"I would not have
gotten myself killed." she said, simply. A faint wind whistled through the
hushed room, and calmed Altaire and everyone.
"Well..."
Cadillac was hesitant, still expecting a Jinju to jump out at any moment.
"Let's scout the area, and see if there are any more creatures lurking
around. And.."
"Here,
Priestess." Jonah knelt humbly before Marium, drawing the weapon from the
holster on his back. He held it out to her.
Marium's eyes shone at
the sight of the giant sword that was offered to her. It was long.. the blade
alone was almost taller than she was, and together with the cool, metallic
black hilt, it was longer than she was tall. Embedded in the handle was a
jewel, which swirled with purplish, dark energy. "It's... beautiful,
Jonah!"
"You're too
kind." he said, truly meaning it. Marium clutched the sword by its hilt
and held it close, not far from her breast. "It should evolve as you
do.."
"Thank you, Jonah!
So much!" Smiling, Marium hugged and kissed the baffled young man's cheek,
and then quickly ran off to search for Jinjus.
Cadillac and Altaire
exchanged looks, and looked at Jonah. Jonah stuttered a bit, but managed to
speak. "Uh, I think she likes it."
The four decided to
reside in the goddess's castle and to use it as their new home. They spent the
remainder of the day taking the things they needed from the hut in the woods,
to the Temple of the Six Elemental Dragons Yin.
Marium found that she
didn't have a spell to heal the wounds of her heart, when she discovered how
many people had lost their lives in the fight against the Jinju. Then, she saw
the bodies of the friends she'd lost only days ago. "Sachi. Tasae…"
She rushed to the pale remains
of her best friends and dropped to her knees in agony. The souls.. the
sadness.. the loss... all too great for Marium to bear any longer. She tried to
block out the cries of the disturbed spirits, but they would not be ignored.
Not by the one that they sacrificed themselves to summon, not for the one they
were counting on to set things right.
"Responsibility..
the people.. all my fault... oh..." Marium swayed unstably and started to
faint, but instead of collapsing, she held onto the thin strand of consciousness
that connected her to the world. Her eyes blanked out, and she seemed to become
possessed by another person.
She stood up, waveringly,
and raised her hand to her face. Her skin was smooth and lukewarm, and her
eyebrows were slightly curved in a semicircle. Marium caught sight of a mirror,
and stumbled toward it. Altaire, Jonah, and Cadillac heard the noise and peered
in from behind the door. They saw Marium standing infront of the glassy mirror,
her sightless eyes gazing unsurely at the image that she found there.
"... What am
I?" she mumbled, her lips tasting the words. It wasn't her voice that
floated out of her throat. The voice was smooth as silk, gentle as a lamb's
fur, but hard and cold at the same time. It was the voice of a goddess, and it
tinkled like thousands of golden bells. "...Who is this..? Why.. am I
alone..? Where is he?"
The three that stood
behind the door, looked at each other with concern in their eyes as the
possessed Marium drew her new sword. "What a .. perfect arm. I will have
to give my regards to Mastersmith."
She laid the sword on the
ground gently, and her image caught her eyes again. She slowly turned around
and examined herself. "This girl looks exactly like my original body. I
wonder, though. Can she handle my true power? Poor girl, so confused."
Altaire drew in a quick
breath as he realized what was going on. 'Alone.. without him! She's talking
about my god, Yang. Marium, you're trying too hard, there's no way that you can
handle her full power right now!'
Marium's strange, dull
eyes searched across the room for the owner of the voice that was ringing
inside her head. Altaire and the others flattened themselves against the wall
safely covered by the door. She turned back around and stared at the lifeless
corpses that littered the floor. "How awful. Such needless deaths, all
because of those... power-driven sorcerers...
"If only she had
acted sooner, if only she had been stronger.. a weak, powerless, pitiful girl.
Only caring for her friends, only living to resurrect them. Why did I have to
be reborn as such a depressingly vile creature?" the disgust in her blank
eyes made Altaire turn red with anger. "To the wind!"
Her finger pointed
straight up as she started a chant. It sounded familiar to Cadillac. "To
the sea!" Her other hand outstretched, pointing to the west. "To the
fire!!!"
A flame of magic and heat
engulfed the bodies strewn around, turning them to ash. "RETURN TO THE
EARTH WHERE FIRST YOU WERE BORN, STRAIGHT TO THE HEART, AND NEVERMORE!"
Her hands were clamped
together, as if praying. "To Yang's kind soul, I do beseech, I will not be
revived until this larva of a woman learns... life's lesson... then, maybe, we
will both get our wishes granted."
Then, as if exhaling
deeply, the thing that had possessed Marium left her body. She crumpled like a
wilted flower before she could regain herself enough to do something. Marium
weakly drew her sword and braced against it with all her weight, letting out a
suppressed cry as she did. "Godammit!! ...!"
She grasped her stomach
with one hand, and leaned on the sword with her other. Sweat beaded on her face
and rolled off. Altaire watched, confused, as did Jonah. But Cadillac started
into the room to help Marium. "No, Cadillac! Stay back, all of you!"
The look in Marium's eyes
was serious, and Cadillac stepped back to give her room. "Marium, it's
okay. You're alright now."
She scrutinized the
littler mage that stood in front of her with his hand offered. As the tears
welled up in her eyes, she removed her sword from the wooden floor, and placed
it back in its strap. Her voice was reluctant as she started to back away from
him. "Cadillac, tell Altaire that I can't stay here anymore... I've got to
think … about things. I'll be back soon, I promise. But... if.."
Marium was surprised to
see Altaire step out from behind the door, followed by Jonah. Altaire held his
hand out for her as well. "It's... okay, Marium. We saw...
everything."
Jonah and Cadillac jumped
at the sound of Altaire's voice. "You can talk?!!"
But Altaire was absorbed
in Marium at the moment. She was unwilling to leave, but she HAD to. Her heart
was a jumble of feelings that she had to sort out, and she couldn't do it in
that temple. Retiringly, she shook her head. "It's really not okay, Altaire.
It's not, it won't be. I can feel it."
He started toward her
slowly. Instantly, she leapt backward and dashed through the open doors out
into the night. Altaire ran after her, overwhelmed at what had just happened.
Jonah and Cadillac exchange glances and sighed. "If they aren't back by
tomorrow we'll go look for them."
Cadillac nodded in agreement, and the
two went to bed.