“Excellent,” Aurida said with a look in his eyes that can only be described as demonic. Drumming his fingers against his staff, he appeared calm and collected. “But there is one thing. Rodin, what are you here for?”
“I came to find a Priest,” Rodin replied. He was going to avoid the inevitable bombardment of questions as well as he could.
“And why did you need a Priest?”
Dang. That wasn’t very good avoidance, Rodin thought. As he struggled to find a way out of this, he found himself speaking the words he knew he shouldn’t have…
“Because Terra was transformed by an old woman in the cave you teleported us to.”
“You’ve allied with Terra, now?!” Aurida obviously took offense at that, and nocked an arrow of holy energy against a bow. His Holy Arrow aimed at Rodin’s head, he said only one word. “Explain.”
Because, Rodin thought, people who can supply that sort of firepower don’t need to supply subjects as well.
Flustered, he spat out what sounded reasonable. “No! She saved me while we were walking out of there! I just feel like I have to… repay that… and why are you two such mortal enemies, anyway?!”
Aurida went out of his way to draw attention to the Holy Arrow he had ready. “I’m asking the questions here.”
“Typical,” Brandy interrupted. “Look, as far as I’m concerned, he’s telling the truth.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you’re not concerned then,” retorted Aurida. He turned back to Rodin while putting his Holy Arrow away. “It’s a long story, but you’ve got time to hear it.”
“…Grrahh… Is there any chance I could get out of this?,” Random groaned.
“Not if you value your life. Anyway, to start…”
He went on to tell a tale that was quite obviously blown out of proportion. The story confirmed what he had said to Rodin earlier- he was indeed the High Priest of that city. He had recieved the title out of respect from the city’s king as to his power over Holy magic… but his power, he revealed, hadn’t come from social status. He was channeling power from a source unknown to that world… the crystals of power over here in Maple world.
He had come across a rift between the world Rodin knew and Maple world while experimenting with extremely dangerous magic.
“Wait, wait.” Rodin crossed his arms and hastened to disbelieve what he’d heard. “Are you actually saying that this is some sort of other dimension?”
“Not as such. It’s more like… two parts of the same thing. I don’t know why the world we know and the world known as Maple world were split… but they are. They are essentially the same world.”
“Not a different country.”
“No. But to continue…”
Terra was, apparently, an emissary from a force designed to prevent exploitation of this other world. Seeing as they were two parts of the same world, upsetting the balance could prove fatal to both. Terra went to stop him, and they did battle with the entire city as their witness. But Aurida’s drawing strength from the other world opened up in one climactic blow, which annihilated the population of the city…
“And Terra merely was sent to the other world. She left me alone for awhile before she figured out how to travel between the two… and then came at me almost daily. My only choice was to continually warp her away…”
“So… how long was this going on?,” asked Rodin.
“Not very long. She’d only been coming at me like that for about two weeks… I thought I would find someone to help me… and also help me make things right.”
“And why are you at Zakum?”
“He is holding a major source of power here in the Maple world. By defeating him, we can release it and be one step closer to restoring the balance between the worlds.”
“That’s what you want.”
“Yes.”
“And now,” Rodin inquired of Brandy, “What do you want from Zakum Claus?”
“What?,” she replied in a confused tone.
“I don’t know. Things were just getting too serious… and confusing.”
“Things are getting serious for a reason, Rodin. If what he’s saying is true, we need to right the balance of mana between the worlds. That is, before they’re destroyed.” Brandy accosted Rodin with fierce desiciveness.
She had a point.
Rodin turned to Random, but he was asleep. He’d been nodding off for some time during Aurida’s exposition.
He turned back to Brandy, shifting uncomfortably. “What are you here for?”
“We’re here for a powerful weapon known as a Magicodar. We’ve heard Zakum was in possession of a few.”
“Ah. Just for the spoils of battle, then.”
“When you say it that way, it makes it seem so simplistic.”
“Well. We all have good reasons for fighting this monstrocity… should we get to it?”