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Crystals Of Tame

Chapter 16

Turtle Shrine

10 years ago

“I see you have a big burden on your mind,” Mystizia said, and for a minute the king felt like she was seeing him, all of him, he felt completely exposed to her, all of his fears from that night out in the open for her to see.

“I....” the king said, some part in him was regretting coming here, but the other was almost relieved. He was about to find what he had been looking for: answers to that night.

“Show us,” she said, taking both her hands and extending them toward them.

The king looked at her hands, they were filled with wrinkles of wisdom but there was something else in them, almost supernatural to him that for a minute reminded him of that night.

“Don’t be afraid my young King of Traineria.”

There was a certain warmness in her voice that made the king feel at ease as if he was a kid again.

He reached for her hand, they felt warm, he noticed.

“You too, Roth,” she said,

“I was afraid of that,” Roth said, letting out a sigh, and shaking his head. He never liked this part of her, this part that felt unreachable to him.

“Let’s get this over with.”

Roth reached for her hand, his massive hand dwarfing hers. The king noticed her bipedal monster partner, Mentacat, sitting on her lap, all three eyes looking at him, he felt a slight uncomfortableness from the monster partner as if it too was looking at him, searching for something.

“Close your eyes, and clear your mind, “ she said, her voice filling the air around him, it felt cool like a summer breeze to him, and so he obeyed her. Besides, there was no point in fighting against it. He had already gotten this far, might as well see it through.

Though he did wonder how any of this would help, or even what she was trying to do. The people of the south had strange customs to him, not like anything he would see in Traineria.

“I feel dumb,” he said, letting out a sigh.

“Did I make a mistake coming here? What would my people think of me if they saw their king in this situation.”

All his troubles began to fill his mind, along with the crimson beast and its fiery red body lying motionless in the forest that night. The dark red flames of that night

swallowing the beast and him as well.

“This is dumb,” he said, letting out a sigh, and opening his eyes. Wanting to leave the shrine and just forget about everything, when he noticed where he was.

“This can’t be?”

He didn’t know if he was dreaming or what, for he was back in that forest again, somehow. Which was impossible for just a few minutes ago he was sitting down in some shrine deep in Turtle Mountain.

“How did I end up here?” he asked as he looked around, making sure he really was inside the forest.

“So this is where the crimson beast came to die,” Roth said, as he appeared from the trees.

The King noticed that Roth's body was distorted, going in and out of focus like smoke being whisked away by the wind.

“Lead the way, king of Traineria,” The king heard her voice as she appeared right behind Roth.

“What is happening?” the king said, confused. He didn’t know what to believe, or what even was happening.

He didn’t know if what he was seeing was a dream or if the two of them were playing a trick on him.

“They say that there used to be a way ancient tamers of the south used to connect with their monster partners, a contract if you will, and when a tamer did this, he was able to tap into the power of his monster partner,” she said, leaving the king dumbfounded, as she disappearing deeper into the forest.

“Though I fear that practice is long gone to the millennials of history and forgotten by its people of the south. But that gift is still in the world of Monsterra, you just need to believe in it once again”

Her words lingered behind her.

"Don’t try to make sense of it,” Roth said, placing his hand on the king’s shoulder, noticing the same expression he had when her mother showed him her gift for the first time, many years ago when he was just a kid.

“You will go mad if you try, just let it be whatever it is. Now, let’s go see this crimson beast.”

The king stood alone in the middle of the forest. He looked at his body as it became clear and distorted at the same time, like some sort of dream or nightmare.

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“May the father Tameria and the mother Crystalia look over me,” he said, praying to the deities of Traineria, as he followed behind them. He didn’t know what to make of this, but he knew that his search for answers had brought him here, and he was going to find out why.

***

The three of them stood in front of the crimson beast as it lay on the ground in a sitting position, its back against a dark large maroon color crystal of tame.

“So this is the beast,” Roth said, looking at its crimson motionless body.

“Yes,” the king said, despite this being a dream or whatever it was, the crimson beast still looked as real as that night in the forest.

“He looks weaker than I thought and skinnier.”

“Don’t let its appearance fool you, this beast is the one solely responsible for so much bloodshed that day.”

“So, what now? “ Roth said, looking at his mother.

She opened her eyes, and a light pink light escaped out of them.

“What’s happening?” the king said, though by now, he wasn’t as surprised by anything that Roth’s mother did or will do. He had prepared himself mentally for what was to come.

“Where did you come from?” she said, and to the surprise of both Roth and the king.

The motionless crimson body of the beast tilted its head slowly at them and opened its eyes, they were dark as midnight, cruel as night, and just as red as the blood moon that was in the sky that night.

“T-T…h…e…..” its mouth opened, showing its fangs and a sound of bones rattling escaped its mouth

“It can talk?” the king said, a shiver ran down his spine like the cold sweats of sickness. His body recalled all the nightmares this crimson beast had cursed upon him.

“T..h..e pie..ces. sha.l.l ..be…,” it said, its voice was weak and raspy, but its words were as clear as they could be.

“The pieces shall be whole..” it said once more, clearly now.

“THE PIECES SHALL BE WHOLE AGAIN!” it screeched as it looked straight at the king.

The king wanted nothing more than to run and hide. He wanted to never see or hear anything about that crimson beast ever again, and as he stood in fear like a prey waiting for its predator to come at him and snatch him by the jaws of death, all he could think of was Emira and his son, Octavian.

“THE PIECES SHALL BE WHOLE AGAIN!”

Those words engulfed the forest like a fire, burning everything in sight.

The beast moved its hand and all the king could see was a pair of crimson claws coming at him, and the next thing he saw was a great dark green shadow standing in front of him, and the next thing he knew, he was back at the shrine, sitting down next to Roth.

The king looked at them and saw their faces looking at him, Roth’s eyes wide open.

“D-did you guys see that?” the king said, shaking his head as if he had just awakened from a long slumber.

“No,” Roth said,

“What do you mean,” the king asked, confused by his words, they had all seen what he saw, they were there with him.

“He talked and the next thing I—

“Talk?” Roth said interrupting him,

"Yes, talk,” the king said, confused, since all three of them were standing in front of the beast when it happened.

“You two were there whatever there was, you heard it talk?”

“We saw it move but we didn’t hear it talk, it just moved its mouth and nothing came out of it,” Roth said, raising his eyebrow in disbelief at what he was hearing.

“What did he say?” Mystizia asked,

“He just said nonsense,” the king said,

“Something about the parts shall be whole again or something and then he tried to attack me and next thing I knew I was standing in front of some dark beast with green eyes staring at me.”

"The sage of nature…” Mystizia said she would have never thought one of the great ancient sages of creation would awaken. Whatever had begun that night in Monsterra was of great concern, now.

“Sage of Nature?” the king asked, his mind spinning in every direction, he didn’t know what to think about everything that had happened, heck, he didn’t know if any of it was real or if it was some trick being played on him by Roth’s mother’s monster partner, Mentacat.

“The sage protected you from whatever the beast was going to do, “ Mystizia said,

"We must find out why. You must come to me every day to strengthen your connection to the great sage of nature. We must find out what the sage of Nature protected you from.”

“What do you mean?” the king said, almost wanting to stand up and run and forget about everything he had seen, and let it be nothing more than some nightmare he had walked into.

‘"And what was that dream-like state all about? DAMN IT!”

The king felt frustrated as if he was just being dragged along, powerless.

Give me answers….”

The king’s mind felt like it would explode, he felt lost, confused, and most importantly, scared.

“As I said, the ancient tamers of a time before any of us were able to tap into a living force that every living thing is connected to. The ancient tamers believed it was thanks to the ancient one’s golden dragon of life when it created all life on Monsterra, that brought such gifts. “ she said,

“That force connects its creations, the stronger the force the more in tune you are to the ancient arts of the first tamers when they tamed their first monster partner. I believe you, king of Traineria are connected to that gift. A gift that gives you a connection to an ancient force. A gift only a tamer in tune with the sages can tap into. “

“What does any of that mean,” the king said, standing up,

“Tamer force? Sage of Nature? Ancient one? This is just nonsense.”

“Why do you think the crystal of tames are few and far between, child? “

Mystizia looked at the king, and the king felt like a small child at that moment,

“The crystal of tames was after the people had lost that knowledge. But only a select few tamers can tap into that force. Once in a generation, and I’m one of them, and so are you, for you saw the sage.”

‘I-I….” the king of Traineria tried to say, but he was at a loss of words. All he wanted was to look for answers to stop another red night from happening, he never expected any of these.

“Don’t fret my child,” Mystizia said, as she got up from the stone floor.

“I will train you and in time you will come to understand the monster force.”

“I had enough,” the king said, all this talk about sages, monster force, or whatever was spinning his head.

“I should have never come here,” he said, walking away from them.

He was going to forget all about this, all of it. What happened today, the crimson beast, and whatever trick they had played on him, forget about everything. He had a kingdom to govern he couldn’t waste his time on tricks of the South.

“Go after him,” Mystizia whispered, and Roth shook his head. He never wanted to be involved in whatever the king had brought, but it was too late now. The South was involved and so was he now.

“What do those words mean?” he asked looking at his mother, the worried expression on her face was something he rarely saw.

“I don’t know, but I fear it is a warning, a warning that even the sages are calling upon us for help. For whatever that beast was trying to do to the king, the sage of Nature protected him from it. We have to find out why the sage saved the king, for the sake of all of us.”

His mother’s words marinated in his mind, he never liked what he couldn’t punch, never liked whatever gift his mother had that had robbed her of her sight, but he knew that whatever the king had shown them in that memory of his, he saw the threat that it posed to everyone in Monsterra. And for the first time, he was thankful for his mother’s gift, and he was going to do everything in his hand to make sure the king did his job, the job that the sage had protected him for.

***

Roth went after the king and found him sitting by the entrance of Turtle Shrine.

“Is a lot to take in, isn’t it?” Roth said as he walked toward the king. He didn’t know how or what to say to try to get him to cooperate, but he couldn’t fail, even if he had to use his fist, which he hoped wouldn’t come to that.

The king looked at him and said nothing.

“The first time she made me see her gift I was only ten and it frightened me so much that I couldn’t come up here for five years,’ he said, resting his back against a rock next to the King.

“But what I learned that day was that whatever that gift of hers is, is a blessing for us to have for it was because of that that I was able to stop a tragedy. if it wasn’t because of what she had shown me, a lot of people would have died that day.”

“Are you telling me if I don’t,” the king stopped. He couldn’t bring himself to think about the consequences if he ignored what had happened here today.

‘I’m telling you that just like I was a scared child that day if I had given in to that fear, lives would have been lost, innocent lives.”

Roth stood in front of him, ready to drag him back if he needed to.

“I don’t know what the beast told you or why the sage of nature protected you, but what I do know is that just like she showed her ten-year-old son that day something that frightened him for five years,

sacrificing her ten-year-old son to fear to save innocent lives, you must see this through for the sake of everyone.”

“I know,” the king said, part of him wanted nothing to do with this, blaming himself for trying to look into the crimson beast, perhaps it was his punishment. But perhaps it was also his duty as king, he had sworn to protect his people no matter what.

“Good,” Roth said, placing his hand on the king’s shoulder. The king looked up at Roth, and for the first time, Roth had almost friendly features underneath the sun.

“Well come tomorrow and the next day, as long as it takes until we know what we are supposed to stop. “

And on that day, the king promised himself that he was going to do everything in his power to see this through, he wasn’t going to let the fear take hold of him.