Legend Of Dragoon Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend of Dragoon II ❯ A Tale of Two Winglies ( Chapter 20 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

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Chapter 20) A tale of two winglies

Orrin's mouth would have dropped right through the floor, but he remembered about his manners just as it started to drop. "If this is the sage," he reasoned in his head, "then does that mean that the sage is their father? Why would they only refer to their father as the sage?" Many questions buzzed in Orrin's head, but meanwhile, Liza and Derreck said their greetings while still bowing, but while Liza said, "Hello, father.", Derreck said, "Greetings, high sage." This made the sage laugh. "You may rise now, my children." As they did, Orrin took notice of the sage's features. he wore a long, silver-gray tunic, a one-piece outfit. He held a staff with a gem on it, at the very top, which seemed to shine, whichever angle it was viewed at. He also had the platinum hair that was attributed to the wingly traits, but his hair seemed a little meshed and tangled, and it only went down to his ears.

"So, my children," the sage began, "what brings you here before me with guests? Human by the looks of them." Liza started, "We found the man you spoke of. And you were correct, they were all on their way on a long journey." Orrin felt shocked, decieved, stabbed in the back even. "They were waiting for us? This can't be good." he thought. Then, pointing to Al, the sage asked, "Is that you, Aljandro?" Al's eyes seemed to shoot open at that, at the sign of recognition. "Guaraha?"

Both Al and the sage, Guaraha, walked towards each other until they stood face to face. Without a word, Al wrapped his arms around Guaraha in a very grasping way. After the hug, Al and Guaraha backed up and began talking, starting with Al saying, "Guaraha, it's been, what, twenty years?" Still squeezed out from the embrace, Guaraha piped out, "Yes, but time seems to slip by me lately." Al said, "Ya didn't tell me ya had kids! Why not?" Guaraha replied, "You were only a boy, then. You were about this boy's age," he pointed at Orrin, "were you not? I thought it would be unneccessary for someone of that age to know everything about me." Al answered back, "I guess I was about fifteen, maybe even sixteen. Those were fun times back then. But, I'm on a little quest of my own now." Guaraha stated back, "I see. What is your quest for, may I ask?" But before Al could reply, Rashe'm took his Dragoon spirit out of his pocket, letting it glow, and said, "These."

Both Al and Orrin simultaneously slapped their faces out of both shame and embarressment. Al said the shock-faced Guaraha, not realizing that he was staring at the gem in amazement, "Pardon me, I need a little time with my 'friend'!" He went back to where Rashe'm was, put down his hand, and came up to his ear and savagely whispered, "What do ya think yer doing? I told ya not to take it out. Are ya daft? Were ya knocked in the head too hard by the snake? What were ya thinking?" The only thing Rashe'm said was, "Oh..... I thought you WANTED me to take it out. My ba...." he was cut off by Guaraha, saying, "Aljandro, is that what I think it is?" Shamefacedly, Al turned to face him and said, "Yeah, it is. And ya can call me Al." Guaraha stood there looking at it, while Liza and Derreck watched their father and Orrin and Rashe'm watched Al. The room was silent for a moment that seemed to linger longer than it actually did. The silence was broken when Guaraha said, "It..... it reminds me so much,..... of Meru."

A tear formed at the edge of Guaraha's eye, seemingly taking it's time to well up. He asked, "May I see it again?" When Al looked back at Rashe'm, he nodded in affirmation, and Rashe'm held out his hand and put the stone in Al's. When Al gave it to Guaraha, Guaraha held up the Dragoon spirit so that the light in the room reflected off of it. "It has been so long" said Guaraha, "since I have seen anything that reminds me of her, aside from our children." Al inquired, "Meru, as in, the Meru from the Second Dragon Campaign?" Slowly, and still looking at the stone, Guaraha nodded. Silence continued as Guaraha stared at the stone, completely fixated on it. Orrin, Al, and Rashe'm stood there, mostly in anticipation for Guaraha to continue, but nothing happened until Guaraha sighed heavily and said, "Derreck, Liza, will you both go to prepare the rooms for our guests?" Without even answering, they revealed their wings and flew out through an almost nonvisible window that Orrin hadn't noticed before.

"I wonder where to start." mumbled Guaraha, starting to pace across the floor. "Maybe I should start with how I know Meru. You see, she was my wife. I loved her very much, unconditionally. Some two hundred years ago, we decided to try to bare a child, which would have brought honor and glory to us. Little did we expect what would happen next." As he continued to mull over his thoughts, he passed the stone back and forth between each hand, mournfully. "I remember the joy that we both felt when we learned that Meru was pregnant. Things seemed to be going right for the both of us. We did what was typical for every wingly to do in their life." Then he turned around, so that his back was to the three. "When it was around the time of conception, Meru began feeling a little ill, so much that even our magic couldn't make her feel better. Then, the big day finally came, and we found out that we had not only one, but two healthy, beautiful children. The problem was, Meru never became better afterwards. She remained with our best doctors, they did as much as they knew to help."

Guaraha turned back around to face them, at the same time, handing the stone back to Rashe'm. "A week passed since our children were born, and Meru only became worse. The doctors seemed to figure that having two children was what made her ill, that it was too much to handle. That same night as the week after she gave birth, her life began slipping away from her. She had called to talk to me specifically, to speak of something very private. We had been alone in the room, and she looked so pale, so helpless. It made me want to pity her, but I just couldn't, I was still too much in love with her. She could barely speak, and when she did, she said, 'Please, watch over our children. I'm sorry that I ended up this way, too weak to barely breathe.' Then, she opened up her palm, which had been clecnched since I had entered the room. Out of her hand came a polished blue stone. I had no idea what it was, but the last thing that she said to me was, 'Keep it safe, for me.' "

"That day, I lost the love of my life, the passion of my heart, and I almost gave up the will to live, but the only thing to keep me going were my newborn children." At this, Al had to wipe a tear from his eye, sniffling at the same time. Guaraha continued, "I had lost all ability to share my love with anyone, making the exception of my children, since they, aside from the stone, were all I had left of her. The others in the city decided that my experiences had made me wisened to a higher comprehension, which it had, as to how I knew of your coming this way. They gave me the title of the village sage, and I have held that title ever since." This was the end of Guaraha's tale, and Al spoke into the silence, "I.... I'm so sorry, I never knew." Guaraha stated, "This is why I didn't want to trouble you at such a young age. I'm sure that at that age, and it being you, you would have given up on all of your ambitions then and there."

Something clicked in Orrin's head, "So, if you knew Meru, then you should know where all of the rest of the Dragoon spirits are, right?" Guaraha wore a regretful face, "Sadly, no. I have no memory of the Second Campaign, all I knew of it was that Meru was a part of it, that was all that she would tell me. This, Dragoon, did you call it? Would it be possible if I could see what it looks like?" Rashe'm nodded, and then held the stone in his hand, which then began glowing red. In a flash, Rashe'm was in his red, highly decorative armor that Orrin had seen him in before. To Al and Guaraha, this was a new experience. Solemnly, Guaraha said, "Thank you, I just wish I could have seen what Meru would have looked like." In another flash, Rashe'm was his normal self again. Orrin asked something else, "How did you lose your memory?" This made an emberrassed look come across Guaraha's face. "I am not completely sure, but from what I hear, Meru was doing a few antics, and she knocked a pot over and off of a shelf, coming down on my head. That's my first memory I can recall, Meru looking down at me, asking if I was alright." Silence continued for a second, but Guaraha continued, "I suppose you should get some sleep now, it is quite after night. It was very nice meeting you both,.... uhh......... what are your names again?" Rashe'm said, "I'm Rashe'm." and Orrin said, "My name is Orrin, and it was very nice meeting you." Guaraha smiled, "And it was nice meeting you too. Goodnight, Al, Rashe'm, and Orrin. I wish you a good night's sleep."

All three turned back towards the door to leave. They went halfway down the hall when Orrin turned back to look at Guaraha, who was now back in his chair, and apparently, he was crying into his palms. Orrin truly felt sorry for him, not that he had infact experienced the loss, but having to live through it again while telling the tale. Before Orrin knew it, Al was already pushing open the door, where Liza and Derreck stood waiting for them. Politely, Derreck said, "Your weapons are already in your rooms. We will take you there now." While everyone else looked forward going towards the teleporter out of the tree-building, Orrin remained looking back at Guaraha, and he continued looking until the doors, slowly closing, finally shut.