Ch11-2: Weaving Legends
“We defeated the Daear. And we’ve destroyed the O.M.E.G.A.” Edge frowned at the black-winged girl. “What else do we possibly have to know about before we go in to reclaim Incrytan?”
“Yes. The O.M.E.G.A. was the one that has made Joran do this, correct?” Rydia’s hands were folded in her lap, face reflecting a deep concern.
“The O.M.E.G.A.” Sparrow sighed softly. Then she shook her head. “No. This was orchestrated by someone else.”
“What? Who?” Edge grated, his patience obviously frayed by the lack of information.
“Let me see… how do I start this?” the girl tapped her chin and glanced over at Chase. For a moment, he was afraid that she was going to break her promise and give him away, just for the fun of it. Instead, she leaned back and asked, “What can you tell me of the Trine?”
“Pardon?” Rydia looked baffled at the sudden turn of questioning.
“The Trine. What do you know about it?”
FuSoYa sat up slowly. “The Trine was supposedly the powers that watched over the Old World, correct?”
“More like three powers, I thought?” Rydia frowned.
“Patron Guides,” Ben interrupted. “They were three Guides of great power who protected the people of the Old World.”
“We have a scholar here?” Sparrow grinned at the Master Wizard. “Yes, they were Patron Guides.”
“But that’s just an old story. They were once worshipped by some of the ancient nomad peoples of the Old World. But no one knows much about them anymore,” FuSoYa shook his head.
“They are hardly just a story,” Sparrow fluttered her wings. “The Trine was made up of three Patron Guides — Zemi, Zeni and Zazo. They were all siblings. Zemi was the eldest brother… Zeni and Zazo were his sisters. I am a servant of Zeni.”
Silence fell over the glade again as the words sank in. Their faces were a range of expressions from pondering… to confused… to straight out awe. But they believed. And their belief would make the rest of it all a lot easier.
“There was another,” the girl continued after allowing them the moment to think. “He was not part of the Trine. But he was considered a chosen brother to the Nefolian Patrons, long before he fell to Chaos. You may have known him – he was the one that named himself Zeromus, the Hatred.”
“Yes…” Rosa gave a soft gasp, her hands wrapping just a bit more tightly around Cecil’s forearm.
The Paladin’s face was rapt, staring at the little girl. He nodded faintly. “We defeated him.”
“Don’t tell us that we didn’t?” Edge lifted up a balled fist.
“Don’t worry,” Sparrow gave a quiet smile. “Your reputation as the heroes that defeated Zeromus is quite safe.”
“But there is a connection from Zeromus to all of this?” Cecil asked slowly.
“Yes, there is,” she tilted her head and began with another question, “What can you tell me of the Sygnus?”
“Mmm..mm…” FuSoYa mumbled to himself. “There is not much. Just old writings… legends… stories… in the old language. Nothing that we take too close to face value.”
“Really?” Sparrow asked. “What do your stories say?”
The old Lunar furrowed his brow, green eyes narrowing as he seemed to realize for the first time what the girl’s wings might signify. “Are you from..?”
“Answer my question and I’ll answer yours,” the girl gave a soft laugh.
“Very well…” he frowned, not liking to be toyed with, but seeing no other way. “We know that the first mention of Sygnus was that of the Dark Sygnus Luccious. He was said to have been born from the Hatred of Zeromus and brought the downfall of the Old World. Legends also say that the winged people, the Awakened, were hunted by the Dark Sygnus. That in an effort to protect the Awakened, the Trine brought them to Runne… but not before Luccious cursed them, tearing away their wings and their memories.”
Sparrow gave a soft, sad sigh. “So that is all that remains of the story?”
“Yes. That is all that we have been able to understand,” FuSoYa replied curtly. “Now answer my question.”
The girl laughed, looking pleased. “You are most certainly the son of SoYa.”
The old Lunar gave a strangled sound, his face paling.
But she didn’t seem to take any note of that, “I was one of the Awakened from the Old World, as you call it. The Nefolian lands. We were under the protection of the Trine, lead by Zemi Dreigiau.”
“Dreigiau?” Rydia took in a sharp breath, green eyes going wide.
“Rydia?” Cecil frowned with concern. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” the Caller shook her head. Then she looked away. “I just thought that I… heard that name somewhere before.”
She had begun to piece things together, Chase could tell.
“If the Trine were your protectors, then what happened?” Ben asked quietly. “What does it have to do with the Dark Sygnus?”
“There was another Arweinydd. He was once accepted as the brother to the Trine. At that time, he was known as Zerom. When Chaos took him, he became Zeromus. And he began to rain his hatred down upon our world,” Sparrow paused for a long moment. There were memories within the depths of her dark eyes. When she spoke again, it was measured and fighting emotion. “There was a boy… his name was Lucci. No one knew where he came from or how he came to be. Except that he was crafted from the Chaotic essence of Zeromus and deemed to be the Bane and downfall of our people.”
“Lucci?” Ben echoed softly, seeing the pain in the girl’s face.
“He is now only remembered as Luccious. The Dark Sygnus,” she answered. “Though he fought the madness of his divided heritage and the Chaos of his maker, he still fell. He fulfilled the legends of the Time Before. He was the Bane. The Darkstar.”
“But he was destroyed when the Trine moved the people of the Old World to Runne, correct?” FuSoYa’s eyebrows bristled.
“No,” Sparrow shook her head. “Luccious followed. In his madness, he is driven to destroy the Dreigiau’s people until the last blood is shed. Before the fall of Runne, Lord Zemi and Luccious engaged in a great battle. Both were struck down. Neither of them has fully returned to the living world yet. But both of them are still trying.”
“What do you mean?” Rosa’s blue eyes were wide.
“After the battle between Lord Zemi and Luccious, the Dreigiau vanished completely and the Trine absolved. The planet of Runne grew unstable and the people were thrown into disarray. No one really knew if Lord Zemi was dead… or if he was just weakened to the point that he could no longer reach into the living worlds,” the girl explained. “In vengeance, the sisters of the Trine, Zazo and Zeni, placed a seal upon Luccious’ battered remains within the Red Moon. But over time, even they were not strong enough to hold back the Chaotic energies. With Zeromus’ growing control over a new physical host, Chaos fought its way to surface again, after the destruction of Runne.”
“You mean all this time, the Dark Sygnus has been sealed away in the core of the Red Moon?” Cecil’s expression grew concerned.
Edge’s eyebrows lowered. “We were JUST there not long ago to kick some ass. Does that mean we’re going to have to go back to kick some more?”
“If all of this is true, I don’t know that we have a choice,” Kain frowned darkly.
“Though, what does this have to do with our Crystals?” Rosa lifted her hands with a questioning look. “Why does the Lunar girl seek to destroy them?”
“She is acting under Luccious’ orders,” Sparrow gave a somber sigh. “The energy shared between the Crystals has been what was keeping him sealed up until now.”
“The Crystals?” Ben’s green eyes flashed. “How?”
“The descendant of the Dreigiau helped to place a final warding on the Dark Sygnus,” she said. “The instrument of the sealing was the elemental Crystals of the Blue Planet and the Red Moon. We have discovered, with their destruction, that the essence of the Dreigiau was embedded into the Crystals, helping to give them power.”
“So that’s why Dragons kept popping up everytime a Crystal busted?” Edge mused, shifting his weight from one foot to another.
“The Dragons were Guardians, yes.”
They were getting so close. So close to the truth. But no one had seemed to recognize the full purpose of everything yet.
“So if the Crystals are all destroyed, that will…” Cecil’s voice trailed off.
“Release the Dark Sygnus Luccious, yes,” Sparrow answered again.
“Okay, then. You’re telling us that what we’re up against is the Dark Sygnus, a creation of Zeromus who was notorious for destroying an entire nation of peoples and rivaling the Trine?” Kain crossed his arms with a stern look. “So how we can hope to face a creature of this sort of power if the Trine cannot hold it back?”
“The nature of the Sygnus is one that the Arweinydd are weak to. They are creatures meant to rival the power of ones such as the Trine,” the girl clarified. “It is ironic seeing that Sygnus are children born of the joining of the heavens and the earth – the children of Arweinydd and Earthian heritage. Though it’s thought that this is what brings about the weakness that leads to their madness.”
“So you’re saying that nothing short of another Sygnus can take this guy down?” Edge scowled.
She rewarded them with a hint of a smile and a vague reply, “Maybe.”
“Great… and where are we supposed to recruit something like that?” the ninja grumbled. “We don’t even know if another one exists… and it’s not like we have a lot of time to–”
“Who’s to say it wouldn’t be as mad as the first?” Kain interrupted, “Cecil I don’t think this is a good ide–”
“Where do we even start to look for someone like that?” Rydia sucked on her bottom lip.
Milling confusion filled the room. Everyone talking all at once. Thinking too hard. Overlooking the obvious. And Sparrow was not offering them much in the way of help. In fact, she seemed amused.
Chase gave a long, quiet sigh. Then in his best little-boy voice, ventured, “Excuse me? Didn’t you say that it was the descendant of the Dreigiau that helped to seal Luccious?”
The talk in the room trickled off as Sparrow gave him dagger eyes for ruining her fun.
“That’s right… would the descendant of Zemi Dreigiau be a Sygnus?” Rosa tapped her chin.
“If the child’s mother was an Earthian,” FuSoYa supplied with a frown. He seemed to be catching on, pale green eyes focusing on Sparrow.
All they had needed was a nudge.
“Hmmm?” the girl raised her eyebrows, peering back at the ancient Lunar expectantly.
“You said that the Crystals sealed the Dark Sygnus,” FuSoYa continued. “Does that mean that the one that created the Crystals was the descendant of Zemi Dreigiau whom you mentioned?”
Cecil’s voice creaked, “Wait… but that would mean…”
“KluYa…” the old Lunar looked down. “He was my brother. But there was always something different about him. More to him… I could feel it the day that I met him. And the Manor prized him in a way that bordered on captivity. It was as if they strove to keep him there for their own purposes…but was terrified to do so at the same time.”
“Father..?” Ben’s face showed his concern.
“I looked for the answers to my hunches for many years… I always had the driving feeling that he and I did not share the same parentage. And I believed that our mother’s death was directly related to the mysteries that surrounded KluYa’s upbringing,” FuSoYa nodded slowly. “Now, I think I understand.”
Kain shook his head and spread his hands, “Even if all that is true, even if KluYa really was the son of Zemi Dreigiau, he’s not… here.”
“No,” Sparrow lifted her head slowly. “But his sons are.”
Suddenly all eyes turned, staring at Cecil and Ben with mute understanding.