//------------------------------// // Forest Detour // Story: The Eternal Sphere // by Xarmar13 //------------------------------// The nearby inn just west of the town plaza was their destination. Along the way, Nel warned about a second inn at the east side of town but it was also a tavern where the patrons there tended to get rowdy. The receptionist at the western inn saw the group and was about to turn them away because of how booked they were. That was when she noticed Nel and informed the nearest staff member to get ready to make room for seven guests. Once everyone signed the guest registry, the receptionist informed the group that it would take some time before the rooms were ready. Cliff decided to hang out at the tavern while Nel needed to check in with one of her subordinates. She warned Cliff not to get into a fight at the tavern. Twilight headed to the nearby workshop to see what she could do to restore it. Peppita went to find some people to entertain. Some in the group hoped the little girl didn’t get into trouble for drawing so much attention. Fayt decided to wander around town, though it was obvious that he was going to find Ameena. Meanwhile, Lyra had plans to continue Sophia’s tutelage. She told Nel that they would be training back on the Palmira Plains for a bit. After leaving town through the south exit, they were back on the plains. Lyra took Sophia to a secluded area without predators. Lyra sat on the grass and motioned for Sophia to sit with her. “So what’s on the curriculum today?” Sophia asked. Lyra took up a meditative position. “Today, I want us to look into your inner world. I want to investigate the cause of your inability to access your full power. I will form a link with your mind and you will accompany me this time.” “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Sophia asked. “Last time you looked into my mind you got forced out painfully.” Lyra shook her head, “I’ll be fine. Last time I was caught off guard by the discovery. This time I know what I’m looking for.” Sophia nodded then took up her own meditative position while Lyra formed a link into Sophia’s mind. The apprentice had difficulty focusing but Lyra helped her to find clarity in her own thoughts and soon two soon turned their consciousness into Sophia’s mind. Sophia’s inner world appeared as the inside of a Federation battleship. The interior was that of the light gray metal that was expected of most Federation ships. The cabins held Sophia’s memories, which prompted Lyra to look elsewhere as she didn’t need to be looking into people’s memories. While the two explored the mental vessel, Lyra noted a distinct lack of anything related to Sophia’s psychic powers or the infestation. When the two reached the bridge of the ship, Lyra noticed the captain’s seat was empty while mental representations of her apprentice were hard at work. Lyra picked one of the representations and asked her where the captain was. “The captain has not been present since The Fracturing,” the fragment responded. “Please refrain from further questions, we can ill afford the spare time while the other two vessels are poised to attack.” The fragment returned to her station. “Other vessels?” Lyra pondered. She looked at her apprentice, “Why don’t you sit in the captain’s chair and see if you can identify the vessels.” Sophia nodded and moved to board the captain’s chair. A mysterious force pushed her away from the chair and threw her into Lyra’s arms. “Odd…” Lyra thought. “Can one of you bring up an image of the other vessels?” she asked the fragments. One of the fragments silently brought up the image on the main screen. The vessels were as Lyra suspected they were. One was a massive Protoss vessel, the scale which rivaled the Spear of Adun that she rode during the war against Amon. The other was the largest Zerg Leviathan she had ever seen, though equal in size to the Protoss vessel. The two vessels were currently fighting each other, though neither appeared able to gain the advantage over the other. Lyra had a hunch that the other two vessels still had their captains and solving the mystery of this vessel was the key to unlocking her full potential. Unfortunately, she had no clue how to solve the mystery but she figured that she might be able to help her apprentice if she could enlist Bon Bon’s help. “I think we’re done here, Sophia. I think I found the problem, but fixing it is beyond my ability.” “So we need to find a new lead on this mystery…” Sophia figured. “I guess that all we can do now is find the other shards to that Ihan Crystal and hope the guy who claims to be my grandfather will shed some light for us.” Lyra nodded. “Well, might as well make the most of our time out here, let’s get some practice in with the local lizardmen.” Sophia smiled as the two ended their meditation, returning to reality, and began their hunt. The sun had set by the time Lyra and Sophia returned to the inn. Nel directed them to their room after informing them that they were to head straight for Aquios tomorrow morning. The group enjoyed luxurious beds that night. Everyone was up and ready to go the next morning. Once gathered, everyone checked out and left the inn. Just as they left the inn, they were quickly approached by a middle aged woman. “Oh, thank goodness you’re still here!” the woman cried. “It’s you,” Fayt noted. Everyone looked at him. “You know her?” Sophia asked. “She’s been taking care of Ameena. I met her yesterday while I was exploring town,” Fayt explained. “But I thought you were supposed to be with her when she went to the mountains to pick flowers for your wishing charm.” “I was, but Ameena suddenly had a seizure and couldn’t move,” the woman explained. “I’m too weak to carry her back to town so I came back here to get help.” “A seizure? So there was something wrong with that girl after all,” Cliff said. “I’m afraid so. Ameena has always been a frail girl. I knew her sickness had been getting worse lately, and yet I let her go up that mountain.” “Where is she?” Fayt asked. The woman pointed toward the west gate. “In the mountains on the way to Sanmite. It’s the forest to the west of the animal trail that runs along a pointy rock.” “Past a pointy rock…” Nel thought aloud. “That’d be Duggus Forest.” “Right,” Fayt said as he tried to sprint away. He was halted when he was lifted a few inches into the air. “Wha?” He was turned back toward the group to see Sophia holding her right hand in front of her and pointing it at him. “I knew you would try something impulsive like recklessly running to the forest by yourself.” “Sophia, put me down! Ameena needs help!” “And we will, together. I’ll put you down when you’ve calmed down.” Fayt soon realized that he had no choice but to obey Sophia. While he worried about Ameena, he knew that she was also right that rushing into danger without backup would help nobody. He took a deep breath and let it out. “Alright, I’m calm now.” Sophia put Fayt back on the ground. With that settled, everyone headed to the forest. The woman wished them luck. “Despite the fractured state of her powers, she seems to be improving quite well,” Lyra thought to herself. The group headed out of the west gate and entered an area of wilderness with numerous hills and short but steep cliffs that Nel called the Sanmite Steppe. As they traveled down a slope, Nel warned everyone that the forest and the area they were in was home to a clan of bandits known as the Moonshadow Clan. She was confident they could handle the bandits, but it helped to be forewarned as well. One such group of said bandits attempted to ambush them along the slope but Fayt didn’t want to waste time with them so he sidestepped their attacks and kicked them all over the cliff. A group of giant scorpions were next to take their shot at the group before Sophia and Twilight unleashed a pair of Thunder Flares which badly electrocuted them. Other wildlife they encountered included those giant turtles and blue versions of the long-legged spiders encountered in Kirlsa Caverns. Nel referred to them as Water Striders but despite the name, they were vulnerable to water type symbology such as Ice Needles, Nel’s Ice Daggers and Peppita’s Frozen Daggers. More lizardmen showed themselves and tried to burn the group by breathing fire on them. Sophia rushed in as one prepared a flame breath and stabbed it under its jaw, causing the blade to exit between its eyes. The other lizardmen were easily dealt with. After crossing a small stream and dealing with more bandits, the group headed into a forest. The first thing the group noticed was a slight mist that had covered the forest floor, though it had no effect on visibility. The second thing they noticed was the distinct lack of forest creatures and bandits. The third thing they noticed were the various springs throughout the area. Some were clear, some were emitting steam as the spring was boiling, others were glistening in the sunlight. The last thing the group noticed, after exploring the area, was that there were no paths to take them deeper into the forest. The trees blocked off all paths. However, Sophia and Lyra picked up mental activity in some of the trees, particularly the ones with creepy faces on them. Either the wildlife in the forest really loved living in creepy trees or there was something sinister about the trees themselves. Eventually, after more exploring, they found what appeared to be a tiny creature that looked like a tiny human girl with insect wings. She wore a brown dress and had relatively long red hair with a black bow that did nothing to contain it. Her ears were pointed. As they approached the girl, they heard her lamenting about something. She saw the group and her head sagged even further. “They’ll surely eat me alive,” she said. “Hey, don’t look at me, I don’t eat bugs,” Cliff commented. Sophia smacked him in the back of his head with her staff. “Ow, what was that for?” “For not thinking before opening your mouth,” Sophia admonished. “Thank you, miss,” the tiny girl said. “Just to be clear, I’m a frau from Sanmite.” “So what are you doing here?” Sophia asked. “Before we go further, can you get me some pure spring water from one of the springs nearby?” “Sure, we’ll be right back.” The group backtracked around the area and searched the springs. When Cliff considered collecting water from a boiling spring, Sophia threatened to knock him into the scalding water if he tried. Fayt considered collecting water from a regular spring but Sophia warned him that there were too many impurities in the water and she doubted the frau would appreciate impure water. The group soon found a glistening spring and Sophia collected water from it using one of Nel’s empty water pouches. The group returned to the frau and gave her the water pouch. She drank most of the water and splashed the rest on her face. She sighed in relief. “Thank you very much, miss. For your kindness, I’ll let you in on a secret: Some of the trees in this forest have turned into monsters. They block the forest paths, they do.” “That explains the mental activity coming from the trees,” Lyra said. “So what do we do?” Cliff asked. “Burn ‘em down?” That earned him another smack in the head by Sophia. “Since we know that the monster trees have mental activity, it should be easy to pinpoint which trees are hostile,” Lyra said. “You’re able to find them on your own? In that case, I’ll be headed back home, then. See ya.” The frau flew away. With that knowledge, Lyra and Sophia began calling out the monster trees. The trees defended themselves by digging their roots into the ground and erupting their roots underneath the group. They also hurled explosive fruit and if someone got too close, they would attack with their vines. All of these attacks proved fruitless as Fayt burned the tree monsters down with his Blazing Sword while Sophia and Twilight made use of their Efreet spells. They were still careful to avoid causing forest fires. Beyond the monster trees that Nel referred to as Grapebinds, the group encountered enemies, new and old. Among the old enemies were the Moonshadow Clan bandits and a new color variation for the slime monsters. The slimes were blue with a green nucleus. Neither used any new tactics compared to previous encounters so the group knew how to deal with them. The new enemies were a little strange. One resembled human females wearing pink dresses and dark blue hats. They were also riding around on broomsticks. They were accompanied by living wooden puppets. Lyra looked to Twilight for an answer about what they were looking at. “They’re known as witches.” Twilight responded. “I read some pieces of human fiction back when they were around and thought it was a good idea at the time to implement them into the Eternal Sphere. Some of the player base chooses to play as one sometimes.” “So is that a player?” Twilight shook her head, “No, I’m not picking up a player ID from her. Witches are one of the types of beings who can be a player character or a non-player character.” The witch spotted them and started firing magical stars that Cliff blocked but was hit nonetheless. Nel used a Healing rune to reverse his injuries. Fayt charged at the witch but was waylaid by the witch’s puppet. Since his foe wouldn’t let him near its master, he had no choice but to fight it. Peppita assisted by dragging the golem to her which gave Fayt enough room to assault the puppet from range with a Lightning Blast. It did not like the attack at all. Peppita finished the puppet off by repeatedly bashing it with the metal orbs on her cape. Sophia and Lyra rushed the witch once her defender was distracted. As she was preparing to cast more stars at her assassins, Sophia reacted faster by placing a Silence symbol on her which left her vulnerable to a brutal assault from Lyra. Once the enemies in the area were dispatched, the group moved deeper into the forest in search of Ameena. Another new enemy encountered resembled giant chameleons. While everyone was taller than them while they were on all fours, they were a little taller than everyone when on two legs. When it noticed the group, it turned invisible with hope to get a preemptive attack. Sophia wasn’t having any of that so she focused on where the space shifted and grabbed the chameleon in a telekinetic hold before she hurled it at some nearby jagged rocks, impaling its body on one. A short way deeper, the group came under attack from a rockslide of falling boulders. Lyra mentally informed Twilight that some creatures atop the nearby cliff were causing the rockslide. Twilight had none of that and picked up the boulders in her telekinesis and tossed them back onto the cliff. Lyra then informed Twilight that all mental readings from that location had ceased. Twilight had to personally deal with several ambushes involving rockslides as they moved deeper. One ambush group tried to be clever and use a limited-edition doll as bait which would have been effective if Twilight wasn’t crushing troublemakers with their own boulders. They took the doll with them in case someone wanted it. The group eventually found a cabin in the woods. Without any idea on who might live there, they figured that they might have found the hideout of the Moonshadow Clan. Moving closer, they hear voices inside. Since dealing with bandits inside the cabin would be troublesome, Nel tossed a smoke bomb into the cabin and smoked the bandits out. They were quickly beaten down by Cliff. With that taken care of, they entered the cabin to see if they had Ameena inside. Instead they found someone else who was coughing from the smoke bomb. “What’s the big idea tossin’ smoke bombs in here?” Spoke the voice of what sounded like a little boy. He coughed more before he continued. “If I wasn’t in this cage, I’d beat the livin’ daylights outta ya.” A number of deadpan stares met the small figure in a metal-barred cage. The child had brown hair and eyes and had the telltale animal ears and thick, fluffy tail that informed Nel that he was a menodix from Sanmite. He wore a green shirt and sand-colored overalls. He also wore a sand-colored helmet with a spike on top of it. There appeared to be glass lenses on the helmet but the left lens was slightly broken. He had a hatchet holstered to his back. “A bit ungrateful, arencha?” Cliff said. “I wouldn’t be if you got me outta this cage ya big lummox,” the child growled. “Hey, that’s not very nice, ya know,” Peppita retorted. “I-I’m sorry miss, I spoke out of line,” replied the child, his demeanor instantly shifting. “He sure changed his tune when Peppita spoke to him,” Cliff noticed. “Yeah, that’s because my father taught me to always be respectful to ladies,” the child said. “Great, a Cliff junior…” Lyra mentally moaned. “At least his bad attitude will be limited to Fayt and Cliff,” Twilight replied. “Let’s let him out and hear his story,” Sophia said. Nel picked the lock on the child’s cage and it opened a few seconds later, letting the young menodix out. As he walked out, the child cleared his throat. “Right, my name is Roger S. Huxley. I’m a captain of my own gang back in Surferio.” “Why are you out here?” Fayt asked. “For the sake of the curiosity of the ladies around me, I will answer that question," Roger stated proudly. "It was a dare for me to come here and steal the treasure of the Moonshadow Clan.” “I get it, you screwed up and got caught,” Cliff said. Roger glared at Cliff. “Shuddup ya big lummox.” “Do you know where we can find a missing human girl in this forest?” Fayt asked, ignoring Roger’s rude comments. “Her name is Ameena.” “No, but I can track her scent,” Roger offered. “We don’t have anything with her scent on us,” Sophia countered. “Well, if we cut down the bandits in the area, I can narrow down her location. Not many things in this forest smell like humans except the bandits and witches.” “Isn’t there a better way?” Fayt complained. “Ameena’s life is in danger and we don’t have time to waste.” “I know how you feel Fayt, but we can’t rush blindly into the forest. The mist is growing thicker too so if we’re not careful, we could end up getting lost,” Sophia warned. Roger grinned, “So, in return for my help, I need you guys to help me find the bandits’ leader and beat him up so I can steal his treasure. It’s a gold statuette.” “I’m sure we can find her with or without your help,” Fayt said. “I say we hunt down the bandit leader,” Sophia suggested. “Might be fun.” Roger rushed up to Sophia, “See, you understand how important it is that we find this guy.” “Of course, if we find Ameena first, you’re on your own for your little contest,” Sophia added. Roger froze. While he knew that the bandit leader was somewhere in the forest, he also had no idea where in the forest he was. He could only pray that they find him soon since the center of the forest was nearby. There was no trail beyond the center. Roger reluctantly accepted Sophia’s terms since that was the best he was going to get from the group’s cooperation. The group emerged from the cabin and headed back to the main forest path. As they returned to the path, Roger walked ahead of the group and turned a corner which ended up with him yelping in surprise as he bumped into someone. “Watch where you’re goin’ ya moron!” Roger shouted at the figure. He then realized who he bumped into. “Oh, it’s you.” The figure had gray hair that extended down to his neck. His face was shady and the clothes he wore were dull. Cliff also recognized the figure. “I remember him. He’s that evil-looking guy I saw at that tavern yesterday,” he whispered to Nel. “He went on and on about the Moonshadow Clan and how it’s led by some charming, charismatic guy.” “Hey! Who are you calling evil!?” the figure shouted, clearly hearing Cliff whispering. He looked at Roger, “And you, get back in your cage!” “Are you the boss of the Moonshadow Clan?” Fayt asked. “What’s it to you?” the chief growled. “Nothing I guess. Have you seen a girl gathering flowers around here?” “As if I’d tell you. You come around here calling me evil and letting this brat out of his cage. It’s not my fault I look evil!” Sophia had a mischievous grin on her face as she moved in front of the group. “So you admit that you look evil, are you ready to admit to being a D-list villain?” “I’ll skin you for that!” The Moonshadow Chief pulled out his knife, but was too slow as Sophia quickly moved to grab his wrist with the knife and held his arm behind him, knife pointed at his back. She grabbed his other wrist and twisted it to the point where it was borderline painful. She kicked his legs and brought him to his knees. “Say it…” Sophia ordered. Try as he might, the chief couldn’t free himself from the girl’s grip. When he struggled, Sophia poked him with the edge of his knife, causing him to yelp in pain. Roger took the opportunity to rifle through the chief’s pockets and took the statuette that he was looking for. “Haha! Take that, Lucien!” “You!” the chief growled. Sophia tightened her grip on him while making him say what she wanted him to say. “Argh! Fine! I look evil and I’m a low class villain!” Sophia twisted the wrist holding the knife until he dropped it. She then dragged him back to the cabin and stuffed him in the cage that Roger was in. “Your buddies should be back to let you out, eventually.” She spotted a bottle of cider on a nearby shelf and took it to spite him further. With that out of the way and Roger’s dare settled, the group continued down the forest path. More of the same obstacles attempted to impede their group’s progress. Denizens of the forest continued to drop boulders on them which were sent back by Twilight. At one point, the path led to a downward ramp that was filled with giant holes. More boulders were ready to fall on them once they approached. However, Twilight decided to steal the rocks from whomever had been throwing them and used them to fill the holes. The boulders fit snug into the holes, allowing the group to move on. The mist thickened to the point where visibility was beginning to occlude the next area they went into. With no other way to effectively search the area, they relied on Roger to lead them. There was a problem, however. “I can sense spatial magic in this area,” Twilight announced. “I think we’re in some sort of spatial prison. If we try to leave it will just send us to another part of the prison.” “What do we do?” Fayt asked. “Maintaining this prison requires the user to be inside the prison with us. We need to find them.” The group began searching for the spatial magic user while dealing with whatever unfortunate monsters that had ended up in the prison with them. Their search eventually brought them to a spring on the north side of the area. Using her horn, Twilight felt out the spring then nodded. “The source of the magic is coming from this spring.” “So what do we do?” Cliff asked. After a moment of expanding their senses, Nel and Lyra felt the presence of an enemy in the spring. “Something’s coming,” they said in unison. “That was kinda creepy,” Cliff remarked. “Get ready!” Fayt ordered. A moment later, the mud that lay at the bottom of the spring began moving on its own and emerged from the water. The mud took on the shape of a large monster with enormous arms and three holes at the top to simulate a face. Everyone dove to the side when the mudman threw a punch and launched that piece of itself at the space the group was moments before. When anyone tried to get close to it, it spread its arms outward and rapidly spun around. It then continued throwing pieces of itself at everyone. “This thing is a real hassle,” Cliff remarked. “We can’t get close without it spinning and while nobody’s near it literally throws its punches.” Twilight analyzed the monster for a weakness and discovered a weakness to electricity, which seemed strange given its composition. Instead of questioning the facts, everyone who could use electricity began preparing their attacks. Fayt found out how to infuse other elements into his sword when he channeled lightning into his blade. Twilight prepared a Thunder Flare to keep the creature held into place while Lyra prepared to charge in with her Storm Charge. Nel prepared to unleash a Lightning Blast and Sophia learned the secret to her master’s Psionic Storm and prepared to unleash it when the time was right. Everyone else who couldn’t use the element stood back. As the mudman wound up for another punch, Twilight held it in place with her spell before a number of other electrical spells fried it until all moisture evaporated from it, hardening it. Fayt and Lyra finished it off with their respective attacks. As the mudman fell apart, the fog in the area began to disperse. As everyone began to relax after their fight, Roger caught the scent of a human to the west of the area. Everyone, except Sophia followed the menodix to the west until they came across a field of flowers. Lying in the flowers, the group discovered the unconscious Ameena. Fayt tried to rouse her but she remained unconscious. “This who you looking for?” Roger asked. “Yeah,” Cliff acknowledged. “She’s still breathing but…I don’t think her chances are good,” Nel said. “Let’s get back to town,” Fayt said. Meanwhile, a nearby rock caught Sophia’s attention at the spring. She felt the familiar feeling that she once felt before at the Kirlsa Caverns. Sensing her prize buried next to one of the rocks, she dug. She always knew that she was better at digging with her hands than most people. She had a feeling that if she continued looking through Gerald’s memory crystals, she would find the answer to many unusual things about her. After a few moments of tossing dirt aside, she found her prize. She pulled out a crystal shard that resonated at the same frequency as the first one. “Hey! Sophia!” Peppita called out. “We found Ameena and we’re headed back to town. Let’s go!” She could look into the memory later. After washing her hands in the spring to get the dirt off, she returned to the group and headed back to Peterny.