Crestfall

Chapter 4: The First Battle

CHAPTER 4: THE FIRST BATTLE

"I'm sorry. What?"

"Yes. Your father knows that." Janinna stood up and 'dismissed' her decoy.

It seems the reason why Dad knew all of the details about the legend of the fairies is because he himself is a fairy. Not gonna lie but I almost chuckled when my mind decided to imagine him with fairy wings and a wand with a star on its end.

"Wait, you said 'male descendant'..."

"Yes, so Sarah won't count. You are the only person who can be the Crest Master."

Can we just agree that this is the first day of college and the first day I met Janinna? Agreed? Okay, good.

Now, why is this happening? I don't understand. Until yesterday, I was just living the life of a normal, college boy. You know, dreaming of graduating, getting a job, my own family in the future perhaps. Then, I'll retire when I'm 60 and die peacefully, surrounded by my normal family members.

At this point, I am quite surprised how I'm not freaking out too much about this. Something tells me that I should've seen this coming.

But I can't do it. I can't be the one to take responsibility of some powerful fairy's burden. I can't risk my life and my future for this. I can't put my family's life in danger because of this.

"I can't..." I unconsciously whispered.

Janinna sighed. She might have heard what I whispered because she closed the door and sat beside me. There was a minute of pure silence inside the room, until she spoke.

"Don't put our clans' effort and sacrifices into waste. We, the Dopel Clan, have always helped your clan ever since Leira announced war against the Dark Souls Tribe. Not just us, anyway. There is the Time Mover Clan, the Wind Sorcerers, the Fire Kindlers, and a lot of other Magic Clans." Janinna's face harden. Aside from smiling and her neutral facial expression, this is something new to me. It made me shiver just looking at her stern face.

"Our clan?" I asked while I pick up the chocolate candy I dropped. She approached my silently and sat in front of me. It seemed like she calmed down a bit.

"The Fairies Tribe. Because Senea was the leader of the Fairies Tribe, she automatically became a member of the Unity. After the death of Senea - and the vanishing of her body - those clans I mentioned have searched for Leira because they found out that she is the heiress of Senea's tribe. They found her living in a town called Paraiso." Janinna stood up and walked to her bed.

"Here?!"

"Yes. All of your ancestors didn't leave this place - even once. Then one day, it was year 1559 I think, the Dark Souls discovered the truth behind the Unity's secret about the Crestfall. They even found out where to find the Fairies Tribe."

"Wait a second. Would you please tell me what the 'Unity' is?" I fished my cell phone out of my pocket and checked the time. It is now 9:38 P.M.

"Unity is an organization formed by all of the leaders of all the Magic Clans all over the country, except for the Dark Souls." Janinna explained.

"Okay. Now back to the story. How did the Dark Souls found out about, uhm... my clan's secret?" Still can't grasp the fact about my heritage, so I kind of stumbled my words.

"One of the Fairies told them." She said while her eyes closed. She still sat on her bed.

"M-My clanmate?! A traitor?!" I yelled uncontrollably.

"Calm down... Yes. One of your clanmate betrayed the Fairies Tribe and the Unity. A week after your clanmate's betrayal, the Dark Souls attacked Paraiso and tried to exterminate the Fairies Tribe and take over Bran."

"Wait. You told me that Bran will die if the Crestfall was taken away from it, right? When Senea ran away from the Dark Souls, didn't she take the Crestfall out of it? Then the tree of Bran should be dead by the time they found out about the truth. Why would they try to take over a dead tree?"

"Exactly. As expected of you, Jared!~~" Janinna giggled like a teenager who just arrived at her favorite pop idol's concert. I'm so glad she's back to her jovial character.

She continued, "...The tree of Bran is dead. It's leaves have fallen and it's trunk is rotten. But still, it is not yet uprooted. All we need to do is collect all of Crestfall's shards - which is also known as the Crests, as you remember- for you, as the Crest Master, to form the Crestfall. If the Crestfall is brought back to the tree of Bran, it will live again and will bring life and power to the fairies to defeat the Dark Souls."

"How many Crests does the Crestfall have?"

"Let me see... There is the Fire Crest, the Gust Crest, Ice Crest, Spark Crest, Water Crest, Terra Crest, and lastly, the Void Crest. So all in all, you have to retrieve 7 Crests." Janinna answered as she looked at the ceiling and counted with her fingers.

"Wait. What if the other Crests had fell down already, and another person somewhere have it?"

"Then, figure out a way to take the crest out of that person. Also, make sure to infuse the crest once you get one."

"When you say 'infuse', does it mean the Crests will take over my body or something?"

"Definitely. After the Crest take over your body, its Crestpower will be your power, too. By the way, the Crests can only take over a Fairy's body. So we just have to protect your troublesome a*s while you collect your Crests. After completing all the seven Crests, they will come out of your body again, and the Crestfall will immediately be formed. But you should be aware that you can't use the Crestfall's Crestpower. So after you got the Crestfall, the Crestpowers you got from the Crests you collected earlier, will depart from your body, and you will be back to your normal human being. Just like now. Powerless, helpless, and weak even against a low rank Demarian. So you have to place the Crestfall to the tree of Bran once it assembles itself."

"That was..."

...troublesome. It looks like a very big responsibility have been dropped to my shoulders.

"Wait, something's boggling my mind. Why didn't Senea use the Crestpower when she took it from Bran?"

"Two reasons. First, I mentioned earlier that you can't use the Crestfall's Crestpower as one unit. You can only use each individual crest's power. Even if she was able to separate or disassemble the Crestfall into the Crests, she won't be able to use it because second, only a male fairy can use the Crestpowers. Knowing that fact, she just infused the Crestfall to her own body, and that became the reason of her demise."

Ah. Got it.

"Wait a second. What about my nightmares? Yesterday, I had two creepy nightmares. Can you tell me the meaning behind it, somehow?" I asked.

"I am not a dream interpreter, but let's try it." Janinna replied.

"The first nightmare is like this. My sister just transformed into a freak with her face full of blood, and she wants me to hand over a 'fallen angel'..."

Janinna's face darkened at the same time I mentioned the last words, but I ignored it for a moment and continued, "...The second one is like this. An invisible lady attacked me in my room. She said she wants the StarLight. She even attacked me with magical powers. She used different kinds of magic. There's this ~Suffering~, which made my lungs suffered for real, then she threw a purple spark at me, I think she called it ~Ab---"

"~Abyss Lightning~..."

"Wha...? How did you know?"

"Jared. That was not a dream."

"I know. It is a nightmare. Hehe...." I laughed at my own joke, but Janinna's face was still serious. Hey, that's pretty harsh, you know. I'm trying my best to lighten up the mood here.

"No! It really happened. That invisible lady..."

I prepared myself for a shocking revelation.

"...was the Lightning Sorceress. She was the one who chased Senea."

Thanks to my preparedness. I was able to withstand the 'shocking revelation'.

"Wait. That happened a long, long time ago! How old was that sorceress?!"

"Because of her powers, her lifeline had lengthen. We can call her an 'immortal' for now."

An immortal, huh.

"What about the fallen angel my 'freaky' sister wants? And my Dad said that I was shouting when he woke me up. So I'm pretty sure it was a nightmare..."

Wait. It actually makes sense. Dad's trying to cover up the fact that it was true.

Janinna stood up quickly and grabbed my hand.

"Let's go!"

"Where?..." But Janinna didn't answer my question, and she pulled me for the third time today.

∆∆∆

"Hey, Janinna. Where are we going?"

"We need to gather the others."

I'm guessing it's the other clans she mentioned earlier but I decided to keep my mouth shut.

A Doppelganger Master and a college-student-turned-Crest-Master ran quickly on the sidewalk of the highway. The time is 9:51 P.M.

After an exhausting seven minutes of non-stop running, we left the village. After we reach the Central (the Municipal Hall of Paraiso is found here in the Central. This place connects all the roads going to Kampola City, to the West Forest, to the Village, and the road to the park. In the middle of the Central, just in front of the Municipal Hall, a fountain larger than that of the park is found. Many vendors gather around the Central selling different kinds of foods and stuff. But because it is already night, there are only few people around.), Janinna turned to the right and followed the road to the park.

"Hey, hey. You're mother should be worried by now. We can go to the park tomorrow. We should head back home." I tried to persuade her to go home, but I think she will not. She just looked back at me and gave me a gaze that could kill a Diplodocus if it exposed itself to that stare for an hour. Seriously Janinna, you can say 'No'. Just don't look at me like that again.

"We don't have time to waste. The Dark Souls are starting to make their move."

Wow. I can smell war dead ahead.

"Do you have a phone?" Janinna asked. We are now heading for the bridge.

"Ah. Yeah..." I fished my phone out of my pocket and gave it to her. She was about to pick up the phone from my hand when something fast and bright caught our attention. It came from the bridge.

"What was that?" I asked while looking at the bridge.

"s**t. They're here. They sure are desperate." Janinna answered, then she pushed me so hard to the right shoulder of the road. She then gracefully jumped to the left shoulder. And after that 2 seconds of pain and amazement...

BOOMMM!!!

An explosion occured where we were standing seconds ago. It came from the purple light that swiftly flew from the bridge.

"Are you okay?!" Janinna stood up quickly and ran towards me.

"I think so. Thanks for the 'Great Push'. What was that?" Janinna helped me stood up.

"You were hit by that last night so you should've figured it out by now."

I looked at the bridge.

"..."

My eyes are looking at a silhouette. A silhouette of a person sitting at the bridge's left handrail. After about 3 seconds, she jumped off the rail to the bridge's wooden surface. Her long hair flew softly to her every movement. She stood there for a moment, then started walking towards us.

"Hello, mortal. I see you have found a partner."

...that voice. I looked at Janinna.

"Janinna. You told me that I am a Fairy, right? Why did she call me a mortal?"

"Because she can read your mind. The Lightning Sorceress has the ability to read the minds of any mortal. It is true that you are Fairy, but you still have your mother's blood inside your system. A blood of a mortal." She whispered without looking at me.

"You are not a mortal, are you?" I asked as I watch the Sorceress walk her way to us, but she didn't answer.

Then the Sorceress halted five meters from us, and spoke,

"By the way, it's a bother if you call me Lightning Sorceress everytime. Call me..."

Janinna's grip to my left arm tightened.

"...Friana."

The Lightning Sorceress - I mean, Friana - raised her left hand and pointed her index finger to Janinna. Her right hand holds a staff made of wood.

"Anyways, you're girlfriend answered 'I am just like you.' to your question a while ago."

Janinna's head drooped down as I look at her. She's not my girlfriend. We just met today.

"See. She was able to read my mind." Janinna said. Then, she looked at me with her teary green eyes and continued, "...My father is an American. He is a mortal."

I see. That is the reason you have that kind of complexion. that is not a bad thing, anyway. Don't cry.

I looked back at Friana.

"Thanks to your clone, I now know where to find the StarLight~~" Friana spoke as she whirl her fingers cutely.

"We will stop you, Friana!" Janinna stepped forward.

"Haha! As if you can even touch me. ~Abyss Lightning~!" Friana held up her wooden staff and pointed at us. In just a nick of time, the tip of the staff charged a purple light then it flew towards us.

BZZZZTT!!!

"Dopel Initiate!" Janinna immediately stepped in front of me, as if she's trying to protect me.

After Janinna yelled her spell, her decoy appeared in front of her and used its body to protect us from the attack. A small explosion was made after the small lightning hit the body of Janinna's Dopel.

"Ugh!" That's me.

"Uwahh!!" And that's Janinna.

We were thrown backwards because of the impact. When I saw she was about to fall headfirst, I pulled her into myself to attempt to avoid a massive damage into her head just in time. I fell on my back as I tried my best to avoid her hitting into the ground.

"WAHAHA! Weaklings. Well, I'm impressed I have encountered a Doppelganger Master now. It's an honor. Julio always took care of the Doppelgangers everytime we wad a battle against the Unity."

Now, who the hell is Julio?

I looked around and I can't see Janinna's Dopel anywhere. It seems like it was destroyed because of the attack.

"Janinna, are you okay?" I clutched her arm carefully as I helped her stand up.

"We have to go now. I can't handle the Lightning Sorceress alone. Even my ancestors had trouble fighting her." Janinna whispered.

"Oops! That's not a very bright decision, little girl. You two are not leaving this place alive. I will erase you in this world, so that no more filthy magicians like you can get in our way! ~Phantom Thunder~!!!"

Okay, that's new.

This is bad. I feel so small. I don't want Janinna to risk her life protecting me. I wanted to do something, but I couldn't. I didn't have any powers or magic or anything that I could use to counter attack, moreso to defend. What can I do?

Friana's staff charged again, but this time it became larger and larger than her ~Abyss Lightning~.

"Jared..." Janinna whimpered. Her voice was so soft, that it brought pain to my heart.

The spell Friana casted was finished. Her staff fired the Phantom Thunder...

"...I'm sorry. I can't protect you. I have failed my ancestor's mission. To protect the Fairy who will be the Crest Master. I am sorry..."

"You did great, Janinna..." And for the first time,

"Huh?..."

...I smiled at her. Janinna's teary eyes widened.

"No. I'll do whatever it takes to protect you." Janinna closed her eyes.

The Phantom Thunder was a meter away from us when she yelled on top of her lungs...

"Dopel Shield!"

In just a matter of milliseconds, four decoys appeared out of thin air and covered the trajectory between the Phantom Thunder and me. They lined up quickly while holding hands, with the real Janinna in the middle.

Then it happened.

I can never explain in words what I saw. The spell struck them all at the same time and the four decoys instantly disintegrated while Janinna collapsed seemingly in a slow motion, at least in my vision. All sorts of sparks and flickers and embers fly out in all directions from where her body was. Imagine a big fireworks display, but it was just right in front of you, with someone you know in the middle of it.

I caught her just in time before she hits the ground. She's still alive but the front part of her entire body emitted patches of smoke.

She acquired a few burns and bruises on her face and arms, and her clothes had rips and burn marks where the patches of smoke came out. She slowly opened her eyes and whispered, "Are you okay?"

"Don't be stupid. I'm the one who should ask you that."

While I was trying to carefully settle her down on the ground, I totally overlooked the fact that Friana was still there.

"---Thunder~!!"

What the f**k?! Another one?!

I immediately stood up and was about to willingly accept the incoming punishment. When I heard a girly yell at the back...

"WIND WALL!!!"

Say what now?

A violent gust of wind flew from our back, then I felt the wind changed its direction. It blew upwards right in front of us, really like a wall. Then, the spell Friana casted was deflected by the wind and it was blown upwards.

"Wha?!-" Friana's mouth closed and open like a duck.

I looked back to check where that came from. Janinna slowly sat up and did the same.

What I saw...

"Are you injured, Janinna?"

...was freakin'...

"I'm okay. You just came in time. Thank you..."

...unbelievable.

"...Shyrhine."