Alicia and her two friends walked through the town, following the mysterious, glowing object that seemed to beckon them. It appeared Nadine was correct. The town was eerily quiet; a seaside necropolis, with shops that should have been open late now tightly locked and abandoned. Despite the lateness of the hour, the feeling of isolation and abandonment was palpable, made all the eerier by the presence of the strange object floating in the sky above. They swore it felt as though it had called out to them alone, while the rest of the town's inhabitants were trapped in some other realm.
Nadine and Alicia walked side by side holding hands, while Gilmore was behind them, their faithful sentinel. The closer they got to the foreign sphere, the more erect their nape hairs were to find out what was going on. But their curiosity balanced their fear, especially for the bespectacled girl, Alicia.
It did not take long when they finally arrived at the cemetery gates. They saw the matter shaped like a sphere above the ancient burial complex, which was located right in the middle of the graveyard. They were only three hundred metres away. Up close, the plasma energy flowing around it formed a dancing aurora, welcoming the three of them and inviting them to come closer and get acquainted. Perhaps Gilmore was right. This spectacular sight seemed unlikely to have come from an evil force. The girls even gaped at the sight.
"Well," Alicia glanced at Nadine and later turned slightly towards Gilmore. "May the dead stay die, and the living live."
She stepped forward to examine it in person. Gilmore caught up with Alicia. Nadine, still had her gaze fixed, suddenly came to her senses and promptly pursued them as well. "Wait, Alicia. Slow down!"
The three of them finally managed to get closer to the flying sphere. Up close, it resembled a mint-blue star, due to the flow of plasma around it. They looked up and saw that it was still afloat as always. However, they had to be careful lest they do anything to trigger any danger. Alicia took out her notebook and pen from her back bag, then wrote what she knew and felt about the glowing globe.
"Let's see what you are, love," she said. Alicia then wrote, A giant ball resembling a star in the centre of the Trinketshore necropolis. It emitted a bright bluish glow mingled with reddish-purple, producing a plasma stream that dances across the sky like an aurora…, Alicia looked around for more clues about what cause such an object to appear all of a sudden. Nadine and Gilmore were engrossed in walking around the sphere and busy admiring the phenomenon, ignoring each other. Alicia also seemed to enjoy herself in her world as a detective trying to find clues and solve extraordinary supranatural cases.
What caused this globe to appear? Then this stream of energy… Is this truly coming from it? Or is this a collection of spirits gathered together by the force of this globe? Or maybe… these spirits indeed gathered together and then formed an orb as a massive source of power! Wild guesses had already swarmed Alicia's mind.
She glanced at the gravestones scattered around the sphere. Most of them were mossy, eroded by overtime erosion. Some were so weathered that it pained her already blunt eyes just to recognise a character. Nevertheless, she found no clues or answers among the legible names either until her eyes came to rest on a mausoleum before her. The old and neglected kind. Probably a few centuries old. No, older than that. A millennium at least. It seemed that the family who owned this tomb was no longer left, so it was clear that no one had ever cared for or buried anyone in it for years. She then narrowed her eyes at the carving on the top.
[The Hall of Languoreth]
Languoreth? Who is Languoreth? Doesnae sound like a family name.
Alicia felt familiar with the name, however. She just did not remember where it came from. After a while, she started to feel exasperated. Not a piece of memory could offer her an answer about the meaning of the name "Languoreth". Bit she did not give up. She took a breath, calmed herself for a bit, then shut her eyes to dig again, one at a time. She had all night, what did she have to worry about? That strange orb? Perhaps, but her best friends were there, ready to keep her safe. She also had the magic hood from her mother.
She then came across a sliver of remembrance. It was when her mother told the history of the leading wizards in the Kingdom of Camelot, including the land of Caledonia. The hazy memories were slowly unveiled.
Wizards…
Caledonia…
Twins…
The Land of Camelot against The Eternal Empire of Roma…
Her heart skipped a beat when she remembered something. A name piece, a clue.
Lailoken!
The Grand Magus of Camelot, as well as the mad visionary.
The opponent of The Eternal Empire, but saved by Roma itself.
Trying to unite Caledonia and Eternal Roma. Or, as the Caledonians called it, subjection.
In the end, must fight the remaining extremist rebels.
Against his own twin sister,
Languoreth.
"That's it! Languoreth!" roared Alicia, then chuckled. "Languoreth, the twin sister of Lailoken, or the world would rather know him as: The Grand Magus, Merlin!"
It looked like what was in front of her might be the tomb of Languoreth herself! Alicia could not understand why no one ever realised that in this cemetery, resided one of the foremost wizards whose legends put children to sleep. And also, that sphere in the sky! It seemed that the orb had some connection to her. It could not just be a mere coincidence, floating on the horizon near the final resting place of Merlin's sister. She ought to report these results to her best friends, thinking that they must be tired after waiting for her just to come out of her fantasy world.
"Pals! I think I found some—"
"Alicia! Watch out!" the two friends rushed towards her after such a hysterical scream.
Alicia had not even caught the message that entered her ears, before eventually…
BOOM!
That sphere. That cursed, bloody sphere. It flew, fell, and careened straight into the magic nerd, crashing into the mausoleum and reducing the entire building to rubble. Nadine and Gilmore were thrown far away by the energy spike that followed the collision. The ball exploded upon impact, destroying the surrounding tombs and leaving a massive crater in its wake. The sphere had literally smashed her like a bloody meteor.
The fallen Gilmore immediately got up and started to screech. "Alicia! Alicia! Shite! Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
Gilmore ran, his sweat and tears mixing together as they were carried away by the rushing wind. His expression was one of extreme anxiety. He stared at the hole, all the ruins of the mausoleum and cemetery assembled there.
Nadine's consciousness flickered for a moment after the forceful impact sent her sprawling, and when she woke up, she instinctively propelled herself towards the colossal cavity. A gasp escaped her lips as her gaze beheld a grim tableau: heaps of debris cascading into the gaping chasm. Her heart clenched at the sight.
Witnessing Gilmore descend into the abyss, Nadine observed with a mix of awe and trepidation as he labored, hoisting and discarding the rubble in a desperate quest. Every stone he moved, an ardent hope ignited within him, a yearning to uncover a boulder, perhaps shielding the unfortunate Alicia from the crushing weight that claimed her life.
His efforts were tireless, a whirlwind of motion as he grappled with the burdensome stones, one after another, driven by an inner turmoil.
Guilt clung to him like a shadow. An incessant reminder of the decision they had made. Nadine and he, to guide the young bookworm into this perilous domain, vowing to safeguard her from every harm that lurked in its depths. O what a failure promise they had made.
"Alicia, Alicia, ye hear me? Answer, damn it! Alicia, Alicia!"
In a state of frenzy, Nadine's desperate cries echoed through the desolate landscape. "Gilmore! Stop!"
"No! Cannae! Alicia's in there! Help me remove these blocks, quick!"
"You can't do it, Gilmore! We must report this immediately to the authorities!"
"Fuck, Nadine! She's as guid as deid if we wait for 'em!"
Nadine sensed that Gilmore had been impervious to reason. She then took out her portable ¹telecomm to contact the civil guard, fire brigade, or anyone in her mind who could offer aid. And how the Divine had cursed her, for her telecomm now lay lifeless, its glass cracked, disfigured by the sheer impact that had pulverised the device within her pocket. "Bloody Hades!" she screamed.
Gilmore still tried to lift one of the biggest chunks of rock, but with all those muscles, the rock barely moved.
"Ah, fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fucking ...!" Despair seized him to kneel, and his clenched fist were pumping furiously towards the immovable boulder. Thousand curses from his mouth continued to rang even in his hushed tones.
"Gilmore! My telecomm is broken!" Nadine confided Gilmore as she descended beside him. "Give me yours!"
Gilmore retrieved his own telecomm from the back of his pocket, only to find it likewise damaged. In that shared moment, hope faltered. Nadine, overwhelmed by grief, sank to the ground and wept, while Gilmore persisted in his Sisyphean task of removing the debris in swelling eyes. []
Alicia and her two friends walked through the town, following the mysterious, glowing object that seemed to beckon them. It appeared Nadine was correct. The town was eerily quiet; a seaside necropolis, with shops that should have been open late now tightly locked and abandoned. Despite the lateness of the hour, the feeling of isolation and abandonment was palpable, made all the eerier by the presence of the strange object floating in the sky above. They swore it felt as though it had called out to them alone, while the rest of the town's inhabitants were trapped in some other realm.
Nadine and Alicia walked side by side holding hands, while Gilmore was behind them, their faithful sentinel. The closer they got to the foreign sphere, the more erect their nape hairs were to find out what was going on. But their curiosity balanced their fear, especially for the bespectacled girl, Alicia.
It did not take long when they finally arrived at the cemetery gates. They saw the matter shaped like a sphere above the ancient burial complex, which was located right in the middle of the graveyard. They were only three hundred metres away. Up close, the plasma energy flowing around it formed a dancing aurora, welcoming the three of them and inviting them to come closer and get acquainted. Perhaps Gilmore was right. This spectacular sight seemed unlikely to have come from an evil force. The girls even gaped at the sight.
"Well," Alicia glanced at Nadine and later turned slightly towards Gilmore. "May the dead stay die, and the living live."
She stepped forward to examine it in person. Gilmore caught up with Alicia. Nadine, still had her gaze fixed, suddenly came to her senses and promptly pursued them as well. "Wait, Alicia. Slow down!"
The three of them finally managed to get closer to the flying sphere. Up close, it resembled a mint-blue star, due to the flow of plasma around it. They looked up and saw that it was still afloat as always. However, they had to be careful lest they do anything to trigger any danger. Alicia took out her notebook and pen from her back bag, then wrote what she knew and felt about the glowing globe.
"Let's see what you are, love," she said. Alicia then wrote, A giant ball resembling a star in the centre of the Trinketshore necropolis. It emitted a bright bluish glow mingled with reddish-purple, producing a plasma stream that dances across the sky like an aurora…, Alicia looked around for more clues about what cause such an object to appear all of a sudden. Nadine and Gilmore were engrossed in walking around the sphere and busy admiring the phenomenon, ignoring each other. Alicia also seemed to enjoy herself in her world as a detective trying to find clues and solve extraordinary supranatural cases.
What caused this globe to appear? Then this stream of energy… Is this truly coming from it? Or is this a collection of spirits gathered together by the force of this globe? Or maybe… these spirits indeed gathered together and then formed an orb as a massive source of power! Wild guesses had already swarmed Alicia's mind.
She glanced at the gravestones scattered around the sphere. Most of them were mossy, eroded by overtime erosion. Some were so weathered that it pained her already blunt eyes just to recognise a character. Nevertheless, she found no clues or answers among the legible names either until her eyes came to rest on a mausoleum before her. The old and neglected kind. Probably a few centuries old. No, older than that. A millennium at least. It seemed that the family who owned this tomb was no longer left, so it was clear that no one had ever cared for or buried anyone in it for years. She then narrowed her eyes at the carving on the top.
[The Hall of Languoreth]
Languoreth? Who is Languoreth? Doesnae sound like a family name.
Alicia felt familiar with the name, however. She just did not remember where it came from. After a while, she started to feel exasperated. Not a piece of memory could offer her an answer about the meaning of the name "Languoreth". Bit she did not give up. She took a breath, calmed herself for a bit, then shut her eyes to dig again, one at a time. She had all night, what did she have to worry about? That strange orb? Perhaps, but her best friends were there, ready to keep her safe. She also had the magic hood from her mother.
She then came across a sliver of remembrance. It was when her mother told the history of the leading wizards in the Kingdom of Camelot, including the land of Caledonia. The hazy memories were slowly unveiled.
Wizards…
Caledonia…
Twins…
The Land of Camelot against The Eternal Empire of Roma…
Her heart skipped a beat when she remembered something. A name piece, a clue.
Lailoken!
The Grand Magus of Camelot, as well as the mad visionary.
The opponent of The Eternal Empire, but saved by Roma itself.
Trying to unite Caledonia and Eternal Roma. Or, as the Caledonians called it, subjection.
In the end, must fight the remaining extremist rebels.
Against his own twin sister,
Languoreth.
"That's it! Languoreth!" roared Alicia, then chuckled. "Languoreth, the twin sister of Lailoken, or the world would rather know him as: The Grand Magus, Merlin!"
It looked like what was in front of her might be the tomb of Languoreth herself! Alicia could not understand why no one ever realised that in this cemetery, resided one of the foremost wizards whose legends put children to sleep. And also, that sphere in the sky! It seemed that the orb had some connection to her. It could not just be a mere coincidence, floating on the horizon near the final resting place of Merlin's sister. She ought to report these results to her best friends, thinking that they must be tired after waiting for her just to come out of her fantasy world.
"Pals! I think I found some—"
"Alicia! Watch out!" the two friends rushed towards her after such a hysterical scream.
Alicia had not even caught the message that entered her ears, before eventually…
BOOM!
That sphere. That cursed, bloody sphere. It flew, fell, and careened straight into the magic nerd, crashing into the mausoleum and reducing the entire building to rubble. Nadine and Gilmore were thrown far away by the energy spike that followed the collision. The ball exploded upon impact, destroying the surrounding tombs and leaving a massive crater in its wake. The sphere had literally smashed her like a bloody meteor.
The fallen Gilmore immediately got up and started to screech. "Alicia! Alicia! Shite! Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
Gilmore ran, his sweat and tears mixing together as they were carried away by the rushing wind. His expression was one of extreme anxiety. He stared at the hole, all the ruins of the mausoleum and cemetery assembled there.
Nadine's consciousness flickered for a moment after the forceful impact sent her sprawling, and when she woke up, she instinctively propelled herself towards the colossal cavity. A gasp escaped her lips as her gaze beheld a grim tableau: heaps of debris cascading into the gaping chasm. Her heart clenched at the sight.
Witnessing Gilmore descend into the abyss, Nadine observed with a mix of awe and trepidation as he labored, hoisting and discarding the rubble in a desperate quest. Every stone he moved, an ardent hope ignited within him, a yearning to uncover a boulder, perhaps shielding the unfortunate Alicia from the crushing weight that claimed her life.
His efforts were tireless, a whirlwind of motion as he grappled with the burdensome stones, one after another, driven by an inner turmoil.
Guilt clung to him like a shadow. An incessant reminder of the decision they had made. Nadine and he, to guide the young bookworm into this perilous domain, vowing to safeguard her from every harm that lurked in its depths. O what a failure promise they had made.
"Alicia, Alicia, ye hear me? Answer, damn it! Alicia, Alicia!"
In a state of frenzy, Nadine's desperate cries echoed through the desolate landscape. "Gilmore! Stop!"
"No! Cannae! Alicia's in there! Help me remove these blocks, quick!"
"You can't do it, Gilmore! We must report this immediately to the authorities!"
"Fuck, Nadine! She's as guid as deid if we wait for 'em!"
Nadine sensed that Gilmore had been impervious to reason. She then took out her portable ¹telecomm to contact the civil guard, fire brigade, or anyone in her mind who could offer aid. And how the Divine had cursed her, for her telecomm now lay lifeless, its glass cracked, disfigured by the sheer impact that had pulverised the device within her pocket. "Bloody Hades!" she screamed.
Gilmore still tried to lift one of the biggest chunks of rock, but with all those muscles, the rock barely moved.
"Ah, fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fucking ...!" Despair seized him to kneel, and his clenched fist were pumping furiously towards the immovable boulder. Thousand curses from his mouth continued to rang even in his hushed tones.
"Gilmore! My telecomm is broken!" Nadine confided Gilmore as she descended beside him. "Give me yours!"
Gilmore retrieved his own telecomm from the back of his pocket, only to find it likewise damaged. In that shared moment, hope faltered. Nadine, overwhelmed by grief, sank to the ground and wept, while Gilmore persisted in his Sisyphean task of removing the debris in swelling eyes. []
