Hasta Manana, Eternal Life: Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR
Fire, Water, Wind

As Esmer sat on the platform that flew straight for Ultin, she couldn’t help but wonder whether the South Continent was in the right and the Ultin Holy Council were the bad ones. She had received a pearl, or pearl-like gem. It was an emerald, a green stone that symbolized the Light of Green, the youngest of the Three Lights. It was night time, about 1 in the morning, and the stars shone in a glittering dance.

Esmer had brought her flute, and was now playing her favourite minuets. She was on the platform alone, for an escort was promised to be there on her arrival along with the other two in their respective rooms. The wind blew her ponytail and it danced like the ocean waves.

At the crack of dawn, she had arrived in Ultin. The Grand Cathedral was a marvellous place, and she was lead into the grand hall. Immediately she noticed the pentagram, (a five-pointed star drawn with a single moving line)

“Ah, yes. It is the infamous Esmeralda. Welcome, welcome to the Ultin Grand Cathedral. Please, follow me. The others are waiting for you. Um, have you eaten?” The Grand Priest asked, in a welcoming and kind tone. She would have been totally absorbed in it if it weren’t for the evil symbol. That was the first sign of her theory being right.

“No, I haven’t actually. Just give me a candy bar and I’m good to go,” said Esmer, as if talking to a friend. She chose her words carefully so she seemed innocent and carefree.

“Ha, ha, ha. Okay, Miss. Come, now. We shall get you some chocolate on the way to the Shrine of Three Lights,” the priest said, and went on, urging Esmer to follow him.

They walked through multiple passages and stairs. While Esmer was eating her candy bar, she noticed that the walls and ceilings were all engraved with ‘Á’ symbols. She had to look them up, but she decided to be done with the matters in the Shrine first.

When they reached the Shrine doors (also engraved with a ‘Á’), she found that her emerald piece was glowing. The priest did not notice it, but she could feel in as if it was a little ball of wind. The green gem kept glowing until she stepped into the Shrine.
The shrine resembled the Assembly Quarters at SOWA, but it was divided into three sections, each painted with the colours of the Three Lights. She sat on one of the green terraces, and she noticed that there was one girl on each coloured terrace, all about her age, staring at the altar in the middle. The altar was a big pedestal with a crystal orb encrusted into it, and it kept switching colours, from red to green to blue to white. Soon the Grand Priest went to the orb and faced the one on the blue terrace.

“Saphronye Phtrone. Did you enjoy your little nap before our meeting?” He asked her, but the girl just smiled and nodded as an answer.

The he faced the girl in the red terrace and asked “Rebecca Redwood, how was your trip here?” But the girl just snorted and frowned at the priest.

Then he faced Esmer, and asked “Esmeralda Lumina, please take out your emerald. Girls, please do the same with your respective gemstones.”

Esmer took out her emerald, and the other two girls took out a ruby and a sapphire, each matching their dresses and terrace colour scheme. They were just like the Three Lights; only the other two had a full sphere. What’s up with that, now? The priest called out their full names on purpose so the three girls would know each other’s names.

Suddenly, the girl in red stood up. “What do you want with us?”

“Ah, patients Rebecca. The objective will be explained to you now,” as he said that, the three doors that supposedly are the only exits to the shrine, closed with a slam. “You are all here to be resurrected. You are the reincarnations of the Three Lights that once created our world.”

That was it. Esmer could not take it anymore. The false beliefs that had plagued the world would come to an end there and then. She stood out and shouted, “You are wrong! The Three Lights were the ones who resurrected the world from the Apocalypse that the Mother created to destroy the mortals that plagued our kind and our Magic! The Mother was the one that—” she could not finish her sentence. The priest took out his staff and pointed it at Esmer, and a jolt of electricity pierced her gemstone.

Esmer shrieked in pain as her heart ached from the blast to the emerald. She collapsed, but fully conscious. She shivered in pain. She had established that the emerald was some sort of Life Stone that belonged to her, since she was one of the Three Lights. But which one was she?

Rebecca stood up and her ring glowed a scarlet light. She hovered above the ground and spread wings of flame. She was obviously the Light of Red’s reincarnation, for that Light was the Firebird and It was the one who spawned the Apocalypse.

“Hah, your powers are nothing compared to those of mine. Your Light of Red is not matured enough to defeat me! You may have defeated one of my priests, but I am a Grand Priest! You cannot touch me!!” The Grand Priest was a mad man. He shot jolts of electricity everywhere. “You are about to be sacrificed so the Three Lights can be free! No longer shall I wait to obtain their power! No longer, I say!! The Dark One shall smite you all!!”

The sapphire that Saphronye held in her amulet glowed suddenly. She began to hover, and the hair on her head turned blue, into liquid, and it danced like a waterfall. Her eyes were a full cyan, and she was hovering towards the priest silently. She however was most in danger for her high conductibility towards electricity. One jolt from the priest could be fatal.

Esmer just barely reached for her emerald when the electricity hit it and it ricocheted of the walls and landed in front of the priest.

“Ugh, curses!” She said for her bad luck, and tried to crawl towards Rebecca. She managed to reach her side safely, with still electricity flying everywhere.

“Are you okay?” Rebecca asked Esmer, looking down.
“I need you to distract the priest… My gemstone is at his feet. I can’t ask Saphro, she’s most vulnerable,” Esmer asked Rebecca.
“Very well. I shall bring him to the edge of the green terrace. It’s right opposite of this terrace,” said Rebecca, and she flew towards the mad priest.

She was as swift as lightning when it came to flying. She made the priest concentrate on here, especially, although he did not move from his place at the pedestal. There wasn’t any more time to spare, so Esmer sneaked towards the priest. She managed halfway when one of the jolts crept on the wall and struck Saphro.

“Eeeeahhh!!” Saphro’s shriek could be heard a mile away.

That was the last straw. Esmer sprinted for the priest and pounced on him. She held him down while electricity ricocheted of the walls. She grabbed her emerald and immediately it emitted a green light. Esmer hovered, as well. She turned translucent and had a ring of green light around her temple, wrists and ankles that hummed a breeze melody. Esmer saw Saphro breathing hard while clutching her chest on the floor at the blue terrace. Like a reaction, Esmer held out her hand and chanted.

Youngest of all, Light of Green,
Calming Blue, Ember Red,
For thy powers all things shall be seen
See the desert and the flowerbed
Come to moon and see the stars,
In rain or in shine, in winds so harsh,
Filling diamonds and rubies and metal bars
From the gardens and meadows to the watery marsh.

With those words just coming out of her mouth, strands of green transparent thread, millions of them, wrapped themselves around Saphro and disappeared, along with Saphro’s internal wound. The power of healing was given to Esmer, and she loved the thought of it.

After that, the Three Lights surrounded the priest, still trying to get up. They had each respective colour of terrace behind them, and they joined hands, and circled around him. The circled faster, and faster, and faster until they became a white blur of light. It was a fact that the colour of red, green and blue light, when blended together, became white light.

I am the heir,
Light as the flames,
Riding the winds,
Asking the waves,
More than everything,
Owning the UNIVERSE!!!

With that, the priest and all his evil burst into white sparks. The streams that circulate around the cathedral turned red, of his blood. The whole cathedral crumpled in to dust, leaving a hint of light at where the top floor used to be. The Three slowly hovered to the ground, eyes shut.

When they opened their eyes, they could only see a pair of hands clutching each other when they looked straight ahead. The triangle they made was so perfect, so sharp, so together.


...why didn't the people notice a pentagram...? ... a sign of evil... ...why didn't they see it? ...maybe they were all part of it... ...why? part of what...?
...only the lights can tell us... ...who are these lights...?
...be patient, my princess... ...how much longer must I be patient...?
...until the Lights come to you, you must wait... ...when will you return...
...I shall return someday, my dear Princess Esmer ...if it's meant to be... ...true love... ...will never wait... ...goodbye,eternity ...farewell, Prince Ilramo, until we meet again, another time, another life...