Mystic Quest

Chapter 3

The werewolf stepped toward the youths, pushing Solarys to fire her two arrows on it. However, they broke as soon as they hit the beast. The young woman let out a surprised exclamation, while Yuna rushed at the monster with the hope to be more effective. In his haste, he could only look as the monster's tail came down on him.

Yet, a hit in his back propelled him out of range, and he blanched when he heard the canine whine after the impact of the tail on the ground. He stood up hastily and saw Lyria whipping the creature to make it step back. The young woman knelt beside her companion and put her hands on him. She closed her eyes, and a white aura enveloped the wolf, healing his injuries.

As Noriran got up and cuddled his mistress, the werewolf, standing up in all his glory, raised one of his front paws, ready to hit. A smirk formed on Yuna's face before he slashed at the monster's tail with all his strength. The beast howled in pain when the young man managed to cut a bit of its tail.

But no one could have guessed the beast would spit torrent of flames. Yuna and Solarys dove behind rocks to protect themselves, Noriran galloped to the temple, jumping left and right to dodge the flames. Lyria, knowing she couldn't do the same, wrapped her whip around a horn and when the monster moved its head while spitting fire, she found herself propelled on its head.

No one could do anything. Lyria tried not to fall into the flames, her wolf could only look from the entrance of the temple, and the other two youths couldn't leave from behind the rocks.

Suddenly, a blue light hit the ground under the werewolf. Said werewolf froze, and Lyria jumped to the ground before rushing as far away as she could. The earth shook, and a geyser struck the monster with full force. A shriek was the last thing the beast did before crumbling to the ground, defeated.

Noriran ran beside Lyria, who smiled. Yuna and Solarys joined her side, the young woman staring at the monster, stunned; while the young man raised an eyebrow toward the whip user. Said whip user turned toward the forest, just as a young man of the same age walked out of it.

He smiled at them a bit proudly. The shadows of the trees made his brown hairs seem more dark. His red strands hid slightly his unusual coloured eyes: one blue and the other green.

“Hey! I'm Emerys Hayla, but call me Emerys. Fortunately, I was passing by, me and my magic!”

He winked, and Solarys giggled. Yuna gave a friendly smile, and unconsciously stepped closer to the archer.

“Finally, the heroes are reunited, their quest can begin.”

The three other youngsters turned toward Lyria with surprise at her words. Silence descended as Yuna and Solarys wondered what their comrade meant by Heroes; and Emerys thought to himself he barely knew the two others.

Solarys came closer to Lyria, breaking the silence. “What do you mean?”

The blue eyed woman smiled to her and simply said, “Follow me and you will know.”

And so, they entered the temple, curious. Solarys couldn't help but notice Lyria too seemed curious. The inside of the temple was a simple round room, however made marvellous by a fresco covering its walls.

Yuna was the first to come closer to the walls. He frowned, then exclaimed, “It's me! And... And you're all here! Even Noriran!”

Solarys and Emerys rushed at his side, but Lyria stayed frozen. Shock could be read in her eyes. Then, she sighed and muttered, “You could have warn me at least... Well, it doesn't surprise me, coming from you, little tease. Just wait until we see each other again...”

Lyria joined the others-who didn't notice her weird behaviour-and admired the fresco with them.

They could see Yuna with his sword, his back against Solarys' own, who was ready to pull out arrows. Lyria seemed to be whipping; at her side Noriran was pressed against the ground and was ready to spring. Finally, Emerys had his hands up, a ball of magic in them. A shadow fell on them, menacing, and demons surrounded them.

“Here, it's us. The text there talks about our Prophecy.” Lyria showed said text with a gesture of her hand; hiding well her earlier surprise.

“Why us?” questioned Solarys.

Lyria smiled softly. “Because the Prophecy decided this. We are painted there, and so it falls to us to honour the quest that has been given to us.”

The young men glanced at each other, lost, as Solarys stared at her before smiling back and shaking her head; she had understood Lyria had no more choice than them. It was Yuna who decided to read the Prophecy to understand better.

“When the Demon come back

Misfortune will strike

The mystic quest of pure hearted people will start

They will be guided by magic

Which will change their life forever

They will come back heroes

Or perish together in waters

Only friendship and love

Will thwart tricks

Their courage will be great

And an element will come to their help: Wind.”

A huge silence followed the reading of the text. The youths digested all these informations, thunderstruck. Then, questions and comments streamed forth Lyria.

“A demon?!”

“A quest? Cool... or not cool?”

“Magic? At least I know that!”

“Love?”

“Maybe we will have to use the wind?”

“This shadow, it's the demon?”

“I don't want to die!”

“WILL YOU STOP?! I HAVE NO IDEA, I ONLY LOOKED FOR YOU!”

Noriran barked to support his mistress, though he went silent quite fast when she gave him a dark look. Lyria breathed deeply, then looked at the three others and a sheepish expression appeared on her face in front of the wide her of her comrades.

“... Sorry I didn't sleep...”

“I suggest we all sleep.” declared Emerys, still bewildered from the yells of the young woman.

“It's true that we didn't sleep well.” added the young swordsman with a reproachful look at Noriran.

The women grinned at each other and nodded. They set up on the floor of the temple, using their cloaks as pillows. Their mind kept working however, wondering if they had been chosen by this prophecy way before their birth. Wondering if this connection they felt with the other members of the group was explained by the prophecy. Wasn't it natural after all that the people chosen to fight together formed almost immediately a bond of friendship?

Finally, they all fell asleep, a last thought toward their future journey in their mind.

To be continued...