29 Waking up (1/2)

Part 1

A group of statues made of a silver metal found themselfs located outside of the corners of a village. At first people would come around to take a look and assumed they were some kind of unfinished work from a frustrated artist or a present from an unknow city. Many tried to figure it out their origins but the statues just appeared out of nowhere one day and nobody knew who was responsible for them.

The villager's leader came to take a look and realized that the statues beared a striking resemblance to the group of mercenearies that had been hired to deal with a situation involving a stolen dragon egg. Two women and three men, all striking odd poses as if they were being attacked or surprised by someone. The leader assumed they were some kind of message from the mercenaries but wasn't sure what they were trying to say.

Since he didn't want to offend the group that had just recently lended their help towards them, they decided to move the statues to a sacred cave as a sign of respect. It took a long time to perform such an act as the metalic figures proved to be rather heavy for one person to carry.

Days passed and the statues continued to rest inside of that cave while being regarded as some kind of token of friendship. Days became weeks, weeks became months and months became years. It would rain, it would hail, and it would shine with the light of the sun, but the metalic objects would remain there.

There were people who would sometimes try to steal the statues but they would often be stopped by a man carrying a silver aura who would often visit the cave from time to time to pay his respects. However, after years had passed, the man stopped visiting as he felt the scene begun to cause him too much pain inside of his heart.

The statues remained there abandoned for the rest of the next two centuries just waiting to be found again.

A young lady crying in despair on her knees, two young men, one laying on the ground and another standing up, a bald man showing extreme anger in his face looking like he was trying to leap in the air, and a young girl looking confused. They all stood there inside that cave displaying their beutifull metalic textures.

One day, after linving there for so long, fate decided to let these individuals return to the world of those who could move by thesmelfs as their beutiful metalic exterior begun to crack and releasing the humans who were inside of it for the first time in two-hundred years.

Part 2

”Lilith!! Lilith!!”

A teenage girl wearing a maid outfit opened her eyes after hearing her name being called. She saw the face of a young man with brown hair looking at her while being holded in his arms, arms so thin that looked like it would have trouble sustaining the weight of any person but were still carrying her as if she was a princess.

The girl recognized the man looking at her and tried to speak.

”... D- Daren...?”

The man holding her started to cry and moved his forehead so it would touch her while trembling. After hearing the girl talk he started to talk in relieve.

”Thank the heavens!! Thank the heavens you're ok!!”

Lilith started to look around still in a state of daze and saw three other individuals looking at her. A blond man with blue eyes, a bald muscular young man and a teenage girl with black long hair and dark skin. They were all wiping their tears while standing on top of a pile of metalic fragments.

Lilith finally started to fully regain her senses and realized the situation.

”Gustav... Auren... Ria!!! You are all free!!!”

Gustav, the blond man, finished cleaning his eyes and answered her.

”We are free!”

Lilith started to cry with joy with the realization that all of her friends that she thought were lost forever were once again safe and sound.

”You are all free!!!”

The group of friends shared a hug while screaming to the sky.

”We are free!!!!!” x 4

They were overcome with emotion for a little longer before Daren, the young man with thin arms, started to realize something was wrong.

”Where... Where are we...?”

Gustav analized the area and tried to answer.

”Looks like some kind of cave? But the last thing i rememeber, we were all standing just outside of the village after our dragon mission... How did we get here?”

Daren looked around and realized that someone was missing.

”Where's Marceus...? He was with us too! Where is Marceus??”

Lilith made a depressed face and assumed what had happened.

”... She probably took him with her...”

Daren heard that and started to freeze in shock.

”'She'? ... The goddes!!! She turned us into statues and took Marceus!!”

Ria looked at them confused.

”The goddes? What? Why would she do that? We were not enemies...”

Daren looked at Ria and became extremely angry.

”Yes we are... She didn't accept me as Marceus's partner just because my power came from a curse... She must have imprisioned us here so she could escape with him! If we hurry we can find them!!”

Daren exchanged a look with Lilith and she understood what he wanted.

”I will search them using my future sight!”

While Lilith used her power to stare into the future, Ria came closer to Auren who was looking at her while still holding his tears.

”Auren...? What's wrong...?”

”It's nothing... I'm just a little-”

”Something is wrong!!”

Lilith interrupted Auren with a look of distress.

”Th- The world... The country, the cities... It's all different!!!”

The rest of the group looked at her rather confused wihtout understanding what she meant. Gustav tried to calm her down.

”Lilith relax... What do you mean by different?”

”I mean i don't recognize anything! I see us going into many places but nothing seems familiar!! This world is not like the world we know!!”

This time Daren tried to calm her down.

”Lilith don't worry... You're probably just still in shock after being transformed like that. Let's go back to the mansion and regroup with the rest of our team. If we want to save Marceus from that goddess we will need everyone's help! Ria?”

”On it!”

Ria removed a glove from her hand and started to scratch the air with her nails while a glowing energy sorrounded her arm. A scar started to open in mid-air and suddnely turned into a portal to another location. Daren grabbed hold of Lilith who still looked shocked and gave instructions to the team.

”let's go everyone, we have no time to waste!”

Part 3

After arriving at the location the group found themsefs completely astonished. The great mansion that used to be their home and the lair of all of their friends was completely gone. Gustav stared at the area where the massive building used to be and all that remained was an open field. Auren noticed the wind scar that transported all of them there was closing and started to look at the city they were in.

”Gustav... Can you contact anyone with your telepathy?”

”... There is no one...”

”... What...?”

Gustav fell on his knees and begun to shiver.

”I can't hear the voices of anyone... Even if they were in another country my power should allow me to talk with their minds... But it's all silent!! They... They're gone!!”

Ria blocked her mouth with both hands and started to shiver as well.

”You mean... They are all dead?? That woman killed all of them??”

Daren didn't want to believe in this reality. He looked at the city as well and started to wonder if maybe Ria had her powers messed up after being frozen as a statue and sent them to the wrong location since the city looked different. He reached for one of the citizens walking by and tried to talk with him.

”Excuse me sir! Can you tell me the name of this city? Please!!”

”Huh... Sure... It's the city of Emerald Dawn young man.”

”Sir are you sure?? Is there another city named Emerald Dawn some place else...?”

”Not that i know of... I'm really sorry, i need to go now...”

The man left Daren who was bearing a look on his face as if someone had removed a part of his heart from his body. He looked behind him and realized that the rest of the group wasn't doing much better. Gustav stood up and came closer to him.

”Daren... What did the goddes say, exactly?”

”... She said we were a distraction for Marceus...”

”If we were a distraction... Then why were we released? There was no one in that cave with us! No one could release her spell except herself.”

”You... You mean she released us? But why would she?”

”... Because... We can no longer distract Marceus...”

”...” x 4

The entire group looked at Gustav fearing what he wa about to say.