Fan Fiction ❯ Stolen Prayer ❯ The Azurakey ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: Yeah…still don't own LOD…

Stolen Prayer

Chapter Two- - The Azurakey

The weather was cool and steady in Deningrad. It was a perfect day for rebuilding…which was what everyone was doing at the moment.

Miranda was leading the knights on an expedition for the restoration of their beautiful city. Although it was only summer in Seles, winter came in every month on the continent of Mille Seseau.

"Come on you crybabies! Put your backbone into it!" Came the strident voice of the First Sacred Sister. She accosted several of the lazy knights in the corner and appointed them to different sectors of the city. "And if I find out that ANY of you are slacking off, you will have to deal with ME!" Miranda stood out above the rest, her hands on her large hips as she sought out any man who dared disobey her. "Do I make myself clear!?"

A wave of voices echoed with approval in front of her and she nodded. Then she sent them along their merry way. Setie stood behind Miranda, giggling.

"What's so funny?" Miranda glared at Setie.

"It's just you," Setie answered, still laughing.

Miranda rolled her eyes and walked back inside the palace.

"If it wasn't for me," Miranda explained. "NOTHING would get accomplished with those knights. You hear me? NOTHING."

This pried a few more laughs out of Setie, who didn't even bother stifling them, much to Miranda's dismay.

"You give me something funny to laugh about and I will," Miranda muttered as she ascended the stairs. Abruptly, she stopped and turned to look at Setie, her eyes more serious. "How's Wink?"

Setie sobered up quickly, the atmosphere tensioning. "She's still in her room."

Miranda sighed. "Thought so." She continued to climb the stairs.

"Miranda, do you know what's eating her? She won't talk to me and Luanna can't get close enough to read her. She keeps saying something about a barrier that Wink has formed around herself."

"Ever since I told her what happened, she's been like a vegetable," Miranda said. "She won't eat, she hardly sleeps, she refuses to talk…"

"…It's like we don't even know her anymore…" Setie whispered.

"You can't say that," Miranda whirled around on one foot and stared the younger sister down. "Everyone has their ups and downs and Wink's just having hers…that's all."

"What was it that you told her that made her so quiet? I thought she would've been happy to have all of this come to an end." Setie watched as Miranda's face became expressionless, as though she, herself, had zoned out.

"When I told her that that man died." Miranda finally said after a moment of silence.

"That Wingly who took Queen Theresa hostage!?" Setie gasped as she held her hands to her mouth.

"Yeah."

"But why!? After all the problems that he caused everyone…"

"Wink believed that he was really a kind hearted guy." Miranda began to tread up the stairs again.

"But he wasn't…!" Setie protested.

"Well you can never tell Wink anything," Miranda said over her shoulder. "Besides, he DID help us out at the end. I actually feel…kind of sorry for him."

Setie's arms fell to her sides as she looked down at the stairs she was climbing.

"But he told her that he used her…" Setie murmured. "She never even saw him again after that…How could she have any feelings for a man whom she shields and then has abandons her?"

"Next time you see her, you should ask."

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The ticking of the old oak grandfather clock was the only noise made in that silent room. There had been traces of the vociferous demands for attention from Miranda, but that was gone now. Everything else was filled with total apathy. In the corner sat a young decrepit woman whose features had grown old. She stared coldly at the curtain-drawn window of her bedroom, as though she were waiting for something or someone. But those once energetic thoughts now seemed to stultify her instead of encourage her.

The sun was forbidden to enter her room and the outside world was constantly blotted out by the ruby red curtains lining her window. The very sign of life that had used to exist here was smothered by the poignant air of death. The emaciated woman made no movement to act alive. She merely sat there on her bed like a zombie, her dull and distant eyes never really looking at anything.

It was like looking into the face of death.

Her hair had gone askew, flowing over her right shoulder in a sloppy braid with tangles and knots. Her maroon dress wrinkled and her navy blue cardigan monotonous as the color faded from it. The sheets on which she sat upon had become disheveled and stiff, as though they had been in that same position for days.

Sorrow fell about the room. There was no laughter or blithe optimistic youth like before. There was only a crestfallen woman who sat, broken in the room.

She ignored the prompt knocking upon her door, and the jiggling of the handle.

"Wink, open this door!" It was Miranda.

But Wink refused to move. Her callous disregard of Miranda's presence upset the First Sacred Sister and the knocking turned into voluminous shouts and poundings.

"You're wearing my patience thin!" Miranda shouted from the other side of the door. "Now cease this behavior immediately!" The tacit response was enough for Miranda to realize that Wink had no intention of letting her in. So Miranda sighed and lowered her voice, feeling compunction for her earlier actions. "We're just worried about you, Wink. You haven't been out of your room all week." She put a hand to the door, as though she were hoping to somehow reach Wink. "I just…want you to talk to me. You've never shut us out like this before…" Miranda's hand slid down the door, defeated and she turned to walk away. It wasn't like Miranda to accept defeat so easily, but she knew that it wasn't possible to establish a new fiat to Wink and expect her to obey. It just wasn't the way Wink worked. Besides, Miranda was more of a stentorian opponent, rather than a physically abusive one.

As Miranda walked away, she was hoping just the slightest that the door would open behind her. But it didn't.

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No rumor had passed his way since going to Bale and now he was back to square one.

"No matter," Nicholai disregarded the casualty like he would the death of an enemy. This would not cause his quickened pace to fall into a lethargic plod. He could alleviate such trivial problems almost instantly. After all, if it was beyond his ability, then it would have been the bandit that Lady Luck had favored instead of him. This new matter was the antithesis of what he had expected but with time, he could be back on track.

He strolled into Deningrad in the late afternoon. He would simply glance around in the glamorous library located in the center of the…what was that?

Nicholai stopped, acclimating himself to what had presented itself before him. The town was in rubble…well, near rubble. In the middle of renovation, one would say. But why hadn't he heard about the pandemonium?

His attention was drawn away from the mountain of wreckage to the sadistic street fracas taking place in the middle of the city.

"What do you mean I'm slacking off!?" One knight roared to another. It seemed he had repressed the idea of socking his opponent.

"Just what I said." The other knight said coolly. "I saw you over there conversing with the bartender. You were planning on sneaking off and getting yourself a cold one, weren't you?" A complacent grin broke on his face.

"How could you say that!?" The knight cried in disbelief. "I was merely asking about--"

"Yeah, uh-huh, save it for Miranda," The smug knight broke in.

Nicholai watched the childish display in disgust. They continued with their abrasive words until finally, the accused knight slammed into the smug knight and the verbal brawl exacerbated into a fist fight.

"How adolescent." Nicholai muttered, choosing not to get involved. Besides, several other knights had broken in to separate the two already.

But with everyone distracted, no one even took notice to the man in black who had just strolled by. Nicholai scratched the bottom of his chin as he observed the alleyway leading towards the magnificent castle…or at least, what was once magnificent.

"The library's gone," He tapped his gloved index finger against his face. "What a droll addition to these turn of events."

"Young man?" Nicholai turned to a man in red. He observed this man who had called out to him closely. 'His clothing is not as nondescript as the rest of the civilians in this city. He must be of high importance.' Nicholai nodded.

"Sir? You called to me?" Nicholai shifted his body weight and walked towards the man.

"Yes, my son, I did call to you." The man in red smiled, the lines on his face stretching just slightly. He was a middle-aged man, one who looked quite knowledgeable. Nicholai decided to try his luck with this man.

"May I ask your name, Sir?" Nicholai bowed low.

"Son there is no need to bow to such a man as myself. We are all equal in the House of God."

A twinge of anger shot through Nicholai but he dispersed quickly of it. It had not been the equality part that irritated him, but the word 'God'.

"Yes, you are quite right," Nicholai rushed. "Your name, Sir?"

"I am Bishop Dille," The man in red introduced himself and held out a bony hand, glittered with rings. Nicholai took the hand and gently kissed the crown-jeweled gem on his middle finger.

"I am honored, Bishop Dille. I am Delgado, a hunter of myths." Nicholai had only given his last name to avoid trouble. He did not associate himself much with the church or the name of 'God'.

"Delgado," Bishop Dille smiled. "You are new in town. I could tell. That's why I called out to you."

"Seeing you has whet my desire to become more conversant in the world of your myths. As I have told you, I am a hunter of myths, trying to turn the legend into fact."

"Ah, you are an adventurous youth. Your eyes tell me that you've seen much." Dille eyed him closely. "Your eyes are a burning crimson engulfed with great knowledge. It seems as though you know just as much as I."

Nicholai forced a laugh. "I'm afraid not, father. If I was, I wouldn't be seeking fantasy stories."

"Well tell me, son. What is it you desire?"

"At the moment," Nicholai explained. "I am on a quest for the ultimate power."

"The ultimate supremacy?" Dille repeated. "You mean…the…"

"…Azurakey," Nicholai finished. "Yes. It is the Wingly word for Blue Key, but I'm not exactly sure what it means."

Dille was puzzled for a moment, but nodded again, as though he had just thought of something reasonable to say. "The Azurite, yes. The Blue Mineral."

"The Azure is known as the vault to Heaven or a great world. The key, I assume, is the only way of unlocking it." Nicholai folded his arms across his chest. "A great power, or the 'Ultimate Power' is supposedly the reward of finding the way into Heaven's Vault."

"See? You knew about it all along."

"That's not my concern, however." Nicholai leaned forward. "Everyone knows about the legend, but if it was true, then it wouldn't be a legend now, would it? When I said that I didn't know what it meant, it wasn't the legend I was referring to, but its whereabouts."

"I would have advised you to check in our glorious library but…"

"But that is no longer possible." And Nicholai pried further. "What exactly happened here?"

"Everything you see around you," Dille gestured to what had once been beautiful buildings. "is gone because of the Divine Dragon."

"So there WAS such a thing…" Nicholai muttered.

"Didn't you know?"

"…No."

"For an adventurer of myths not to know of dragons is…" Dille started.

"Where is it now?" Nicholai interrupted.

"Dead. Its corpse lies on the Mountain of the Mortal Dragon."

"I see. Who claimed its life?"

Dille looked at Nicholai with disbelief. "The only people who COULD even possibly kill dragons--the Dragoons."

'They exist as well?' Nicholai blinked. "Amazing."

"Quite," Dille smiled. "Our very own Sacred Sister, Miranda, helped make that possible."

"I am inspired by your moving tale," Nicholai responded with false alacrity and proceeded to get back to the matters at hand. "Anyhow, father, since there is no library to refer to, would you kindly part your advice with me? If you were a nosy adventurer like myself, where would you start looking?"

Dille shook his head, offering no answer. "My boy I cannot give you a definite response. But if it's another legend you seek, then I can part this with you. Upon the mountain, over yonder…" Dille pointed northwest. "near the Kashua Glacier is a fortress filled with mysteries. Many travelers have ventured there and have never returned. It is a tower of death."

"Flanvel Tower?" Nicholai cut to the chase.

"Yes. There lies a foreboding prophecy destined to doom any man who dares to go there. It is Flanvel Tower that you may find your answer…although I am not recommending that you go there."

"I'll be fine, father. But it is a mystery you say? In the tower?"

Dille nodded regretfully. Had he known that this youth had still planned to adventure there, he would have kept his words to himself. "Son, please, be reasonable. Is the Azurakey really worth THAT much? It isn't much use if you are dead."

"How can you be so sure that it is a beast that lies there, if no one ever comes back?" Nicholai turned his back on the gaping Bishop. "You have my gratitude, father." Dille sighed as he watched the figure in black walk back towards the town entrance.

"Dear Soa, may you guide him."

But the words of God would never reach Nicholai.

…For he had shut Soa out long ago…

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A Foresight Into Episode Three:

The Magician Faust continued to chortle. "I am God. I already know. You emit a strong propensity for harboring pain. It's in your eyes."

"I have reputed the word of God long ago," Nicholai said. "So nothing you say can stir me. You say that you have been chained by humans, Faust. That is even more of a rationale for me to remain arrogant. I have all the power over you. After all, I am free, am I not?"

"You are a scurrilous man," Faust said. "You deny the word of God and yet you expect to live. You demand a living on this planet like everyone else and yet you refuse to believe in my power. You are living a lie."

"That still doesn't explain your imprisonment. You're too busy razing my own stature."

"My caveats have fallen to your feet in vain. My confinement was not by humans but of those who wield the dragons."

"Don't tell me," Nicholai held up his hand in protest. "The Dragoons?"

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Kat