Illusion of Gaia - Around the Earth in 100 days, An old school SNES fic

[Triforcemaster3]

I was in the process of posting this story over on Nsider when it shut down.

The following fanfiction story is based on the game Illusion of Gaia, for the Super NES. If you haven’t played or haven’t heard of the game (which I'm sure most of you on this site haven't) you might not recognize the characters and places described. A great walkthrough for Illusion of Gaia can be found at The Illusion of Gaia Shrine. Even if you don't understand everything, its still a really good story.

The Ancient World of Illusion of Gaia - This is the map of the world from the IoG era, drawn in simple microsoft paint (since there were no actual maps from the game to be found anywhere on the internet). This type of landscape is from post-Pangaea breakup (about 100 million years ago in geologic time), with the continent of Laurasia in the north and the split apart continent of Gondwanaland in the south.

Color Key
[COLOR=blue]Light Blue - towns
[COLOR=purple]Dark Blue - cities
[COLOR=red]Red - ruins
[COLOR=green]Green - other points of interest



Location Key - Ruins in Bold

WEST GONDWANALAND
1.South Cape - Will's hometown
2.Edward Castle - Capital of West Gondwanaland, Kara's home
3.Itory Village- Lilly's hometown, birthplace of Will's mother
4.Moon Tribe Camp - Camp of spirits
5.Inca Ruins - Mountain ruins of the Incan Civilization

EAST GONDWANALAND
6.Diamond Coast - Small village on the ocean
7.Freejia - Grand city of flowers, Capital of East Gondwanaland
8.Diamond Mine - diamond mine, run by labor traders
9.Neil's Cottage - Home of Neil
10.Nazca Desert - Desert ruins of the Nazca Civilization

MU ISLAND
11.Seaside Palace - Great palace in the ocean
12.Mu - Island ruins of pacific civilization

LAURASIA
13.Angel Village - Underground village of angels
14.Watermia - Floating town built on seacoast
15.Great Wall of China - The wall itself
16.Euro - Bustling economic metropolis, Capital of Laurasia
17.Mount Kress - Home of strange summit temple
18.Natives Village - small village of native jungle people
19.Angkor Wat - Enormous temple ruin of southeast asian civilization
20.Dao - Oasis city in the desert
21.Pyramid - The Egyptian pyramid

BABEL ISLAND
22.Tower of Babel - The tallest tower of them all, towering high above Babylonia and reaching into the heavens




Illusion of Gaia: Around the Ancient Earth in 100 days

Chapter 1: Ocean Breezes

Day 1:

“That’s all for today’s lesson.” The teacher said. “You should do your best not to fall behind. Be very careful when traveling. Demons have appeared outside of town, if you must travel, go with your parents.”

“I’ll see you guys at the usual place.” Seth told Will.

“I have to go home first.” Erik said. “If I don’t, my parents will think that I was held after school again.”

“Like always, the cave at the seashore.” Lance told him.

Will rose from his seat and picked up a piece of paper off of the teacher’s desk, then exited the school through the staircase on the left side of the room. The staircase took him up to the roof of the school building. Nobody ever followed him onto the roof; it was his own personal space. He often ventured up there after tough schooldays, or whenever he needed to blow off some steam or think about something important. He paced on the roof as he thought about what the teacher had told him. Demons were appearing outside of town? But how could this be? Will had encountered demons before in his explorations with his father, Olman, but never before had he seen any in his home region. If they came into town, it could mean big trouble for everybody. While he was pondering the situation, he noticed something shiny on the ground inside the school’s bell tower. It was a shiny red jewel. Will noticed the jewel’s luster and figured it must be worth some value, so he tucked it into his pocket.

It was a cloudy and breezy spring day in South Cape, the largest town on the continent of West Gondwanaland. From his location on the roof, Will could see nearly the entire town sprawled out before him. He could see the houses of him and all his friends, as well as the various businesses spread out along the shoreline. Located on the southern edge of the continent near the intersection of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, South Cape was a major seaport town. Fishing was a major industry in the town, as was shipbuilding, which was what Will’s father did before becoming an explorer.

“I wonder if Erik left his house yet.” Will wondered. Without thinking, he leaped off the roof into a soft dirt pit twenty feet below. For a normal person, such a leap would be a foolhardy move, but to Will it was a viable way of getting around town. He was a risk-taker, never afraid of going on adventures into the wilderness or performing feats of courage such as jumping off buildings or attacking wild animals with his flute (which doubled as his primary weapon if he ever needed one). He possessed amazing strength, his arm muscles very well defined beneath his blue tunic, his long hair flapping in the wind. Standing fairly tall, maybe five feet eleven or six feet, he was one of the tallest young men in South Cape.

Will made his way through town down to the docks along the seashore. He then began to walk to the east along the main pier. This particular pier ran from the seaport down to a cave along the seashore. This cave was a major hangout spot for Will and his friends, so much so that it could be considered a second home. Most days when lessons were completed at the school, they would gather to play games, talk, and do whatever they wished. When will walked in, he noticed his friends Lance and Seth playing a game of cards.

“I just can’t seem to get the upper hand.” Lance said as he drew a card.

“Ah ha ha, I am going to win again for sure.” Seth said as he laid down another set of three cards.

Before Will could comment on their game, Eric rushed in with a hurried look on his face. Judging by the way he was panting, he must have run quite a ways to reach them.

“Ah ha, news, big news!” Eric bellowed. “The Princess of Edward Castle has run away. They say she has come to South Cape!”

Lance and Seth abruptly stopped their game and rose from their chairs. Lance was fairly annoyed by Eric’s interruption. “That’s all? I thought the way you came in here that you had something really important to say. The Princess is probably that spoiled brat Kara, the one you like so much.”

“Liar!” Eric yelled. “The soldiers are rumored to be coming after her. The soldiers from Edward Castle are so cool; I want a steel helmet too!”

“Well, enough of the crazy talk.” Seth said. “Will, if you would please.”

Will moved over to his seat at the back of the table. He waited for Eric to sit down before speaking. “Everybody is here. What should we do today?”

“I want to see Will’s psychic powers again.” Erik said as he pointed to a large statue in the corner. “You know that he moved that statue over there in the corner. Will has some pretty amazing power.”

Lance concurred. “Will, show me again.” He said.

Initially, Will was squeamish about it, but with the encouragement of his friends, he rose from his seat. Deep down, he didn’t want people to know about his greatest secrets, but he felt pretty secure with Lance, Erik, and Seth. He took a position in the center of the cave, about twenty feet away from the statue. He took out his flute, held it out in front of his body, and began to concentrate on the statue. Then he began to twirl his flute in a clockwise rotation. Within a second, the statue began to move toward Will. Three seconds later, he dropped his flute and the statue stopped on a dime.

Seth and Erik both cheered Link. Lance, always the more skeptical one of the three, decided to test Will’s power further. “Next, pick a card;” he said to Will, “I’m going to lay four cards face down. Pick the card that you think is the Ace of Diamonds.”

Lance laid the four cards on the ground. Will pranced around several cards before picking up the one farthest to the left. It was the Ace of Diamonds of course.

“Aah, right.” Lance said.

His friends jumped out of their seat. “No matter how many times I see it, it still amazes me.” Said Erik.

“Yeah, Will’s psychic power has to be some kind of psychic ability. Most people have five senses, sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. I think Will’s psychic powers are a kind of sixth sense.”

“What Seth says is too weird for me to understand.” Lance said. He walked back to his spot to the left of the table. “Seth, let’s play one more game,” he said as he picked up the cards. He began to deal the cards.

Will left the cave shortly thereafter. He figured that dinner would be ready soon. His Grandma Lola was making one of his favorite meals for dinner, snail pie with whipped cream. The reminder of the upcoming meal suddenly made Will quite hungry. He walked north off of the seashore through the dirt streets of South Cape back to his house, which was a nice two-story place on the northern end of town.

But when he walked into the house, his grandmother and grandfather were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps more perplexing was the presence of a pig, digging its snout into a bookshelf along the back wall of the room. Wondering why a pig was in his house, Will started toward the stairs when a beautiful young woman walked down the stairs and into the room. Wearing a pink dress and some nice jewelry, her presence was stunning. Remembering what Erik had told him earlier in the day about the runaway princess, Will put two and two together. The Princess of Edward Castle was standing in front of him!

[Triforcemaster3]

Chapter 2: The Letter

But what was she doing in South Cape, inside his house? While pondering this question, he noticed the pig pushing its snout against his legs.

“Hamlet!” she said loudly. “You know better than to be pushy with strangers.”

“Who are you?” Will asked her.

“Is this your house.” She asked him.

“Yeah, so?” he said back.

The young lady moved closer to Will, better examining his physique. Will tried hard not to blush or do anything stupid.

“Frankly, you look a little shabby.” She told him.

Will was embarrassed. “Well, excuse me!”

“Is this a picture of your parents?” the woman asked, walking toward a picture frame on the wall.

“My father’s an explorer, he…” Will tried to explain.

“I know, Olman the explorer,” she said. “They say he was lost…”

“My father will come back some day.” Will said with assurance.

The princess looked around for several seconds, and then spoke again. “So is there a piano here?”

“No, there isn’t!” Will said loudly. “But you can sing with my grandmother Lola. She has such a lovely voice.”

“They are upstairs now, they have such loud voices,” the princess said.

Will was getting a bit perturbed at how off topic their conversation had become. He wanted answers, and seeing as the princess had emerged from upstairs, perhaps his grandparents knew why she was here. He headed quickly up the stairs. His grandma Lola and grandpa Bill were standing in front of a dresser singing. They stopped abruptly when they saw Will come into the room.

But before Will could open his mouth to speak, there was a loud scream from downstairs. It was the princess. “Oh, it’s that girl that was singing with us just a minute ago.” Grandpa Bill said hurriedly. The three immediately moved down the stairs into the living room area, and saw three soldiers in heavy metal armor standing in their house. They had the princess backed against the wall adjacent to the washtub.

“Princess, let’s go.” The lead soldier said to her.

“I don’t know you, be gone!” she snapped back.

“Have you no shame?” the solider said to her. “If I don’t return you home, I might lose my head!”

The princess turned her back to the soldiers and stared at the wall. “What do I care if you lose your head?”

“Princess!” The soldier yelled, now showing his anger. “You have worried us all sick. I must take you home; it is the King’s orders.”

The soldier moved in toward the princess and grabbed her. She struggled against him as the other soldiers moved in to subdue her. Will felt a strange obligation to help her, but thought better of it as he considered the consequences of attacking soldiers of Edward Castle. As they dragged her out of the house, she spoke to Will. “Will, I am King Edward’s daughter, Kara. I feel a strange resemblance to you, as if we’ve been good friends.” Then she was gone.

There was a long silence after the soldiers had left. Finally, Grandpa Bill broke the monotony. “So the princess likes to play practical jokes, heh heh,” he said.

“Well that’s quite enough.” Grandma Lola said. “I’ve made a delicious pie for us, why don’t we sit at the table upstairs,” she said.

The rest of the night went by as if it were a dream. Well, actually part of it was. Will sat down for a delicious feast of snail pie with whipped cream. As usual, Will only had one piece, while Grandpa Bill ate half the pie. Later that night, Will had a strange dream, in which he and Kara went on a trip around the world. They saw everything, South Cape, Edward Castle, even the tower of Babel. Even after the dream was over and Will had awoken, it still resonated in his mind. Why exactly was he having dreams about a woman he did not even know? It was as if destiny was calling out to him.

Day 2:

The next morning, Will awoke and went down the stairs, where Grandpa Bill and Grandma Lola were already waiting for him. His breakfast, another piece of snail pie, was waiting for him. However, this did not concern him as much as the apparent demeanor of his grandparents. They looked somehow, glum.

“Good morning Will. A letter has arrived for you. It is from King Edward.” Grandma Lola said.

A letter, from King Edward?” Will thought. He suddenly got goose bumps. Maybe the King was unhappy about his daughter’s little excursion to South Cape. Will took the letter and opened it nervously. The writing was plain, and straight to the point. “Bring the Crystal Ring from Olman’s things to Edward Castle, King Edward,” Will read aloud. There was also a small drawing of the route to the castle from South Cape. The castle appeared to be a day’s walk northeast of South Cape.

“A Crystal Ring? Never heard of such a thing. Your father never carried things like that.” Grandma Lola said. “Will, you should keep your wits about you inside the Castle, lest you end up in the castle prison. Your grandfather designed it.”

“My grandfather?!” Will exclaimed. He could hardly believe what he was hearing.

“I used to be an architect.” Grandpa Bill explained. “There’s a prison under the castle. It’s designed like a maze to prevent the prisoners from escaping.”

“I guess if you are being summoned, there is no use. You must go to the castle,” Grandma Lola said. “Here, this is a melody that could be of use. If you ever get into trouble, play this melody on your flute.”

Grandma Lola began to hum a strange melody. Will didn’t know why, but he recognized it for it was oddly familiar. He took out his flute and made note of how to play the song. Then he said goodbye to his grandparents and left the house. He thought of going down to the cave to tell his friends of his journey, but decided not to. This was something that he didn’t want anybody to know about, at least not for the time being. He continued to walk northbound until he reached the northern wall of the city. The wall was constructed at the city limits of South Cape about a hundred years ago, and was now used primarily to stop the demons of West Gondwanaland from getting into the city. At the wall’s gate stood a guard, who initially stopped Will. He showed the guard the letter.

“King Edward has summoned you? Well, just be careful.” The guard told him.

[Triforcemaster3]

Chapter 3: King Edward's Ring

Day 3:

Will rubbed his eyes as he moved toward Edward Castle, the principle kingdom of West Gondwanaland. It had been a fairly long journey to the castle from South Cape, about a sixty mile jaunt to the northeast. Although Will had been adventuring in the past with his father and had traveled long distances, he hadn’t done it in quite a while. More annoying to Will than his fatigue was his headache. For some reason he had been experiencing some nasty migraines ever since the previous evening. Perhaps the pain was out of nervousness for his coming meeting with King Edward, but no matter what the reason, it still bothered him.

Will stopped as he reached the drawbridge. A guard came over to examine him. Will showed him the letter, and after a quick look at his belongings, allowed Will to pass across the bridge into the castle. Will entered Edward Castle, and was immediately floored by how extravagant the main hall was. Finely woven red carpets sprawled out before him on the sparkling marble floor. Bright blue banners hung from the rafters. “How rich is King Edward?” Will thought to himself. “Are there rooms filled with gold and silver somewhere?”

“Excuse me. I must report this intrusion.” A soldier abruptly told him as he stood at the main hall entrance. Will showed him the letter from King Edward. “A letter from King Edward? I am sorry, you may pass.” He said.

Will made his way through the main hall toward the stairs leading to the throne room. But before he could reach the stairwell, he was stopped by another soldier. “King Edward is having breakfast. Please come back later.” Will was a bit taken aback, but then turned around and left. He wondered what he would do with his newfound free time. He looked around at several of the soldiers. They were pretty tough on him entering the castle, but now that he was inside they didn’t seem to mind his presence.

“I wonder if Kara is here.” Will asked himself. He walked across the main hall to a stairway on the right. A soldier was standing behind a pillar near the stairs. He motioned in Will’s direction. “Be courteous of others, and mind your manners.” He said. “In return, I will give you a red jewel.” Will took the jewel from the soldier’s outstretched arm. It somehow looked very similar to the jewel he had found atop the school in South Cape. “It must be a coincidence.” Will thought to himself.

After thanking the soldier, he headed up the stairs to the second floor, and then up another flight to the third floor. After turning a corner, he noticed a bridge leading over toward a fairly large room. There was a soldier standing near the entrance of the room, and behind the entranceway stood a woman in pink, Kara. Will rushed across the stone bridge through the crisp morning air, as fast as he could.

“Stop.” The soldier said. “This is the princess’s quarters.”

“Who is it?” Kara asked. “A visitor?”

“This is just a shabby boy.” The soldier said.

“It’s me Kara.” Will said.

“Oh!” Kara shouted. “Let him in, or I’ll let everybody know your old nickname!”

“Oh pardon me, please enter!” The soldier said hurriedly.

Will entered Kara’s room. The room was big, with a large bed in the right corner, and a fairly large trunk of clothes on the left. A whole slew of other valuables stretched out on a shelf running along the back of the room. It was definitely a room fit for a princess.

“You’re here? Why?” Kara asked Will.

“I was asked to bring the crystal ring to King Edward.”

Kara instantly jumped up and down, as if she was about to throw a massive temper tantrum. “Terrible, its terrible!” she ranted. “Once again my father is trying to take something important from someone! I’ve watched my father do this before, but now he’s really done it! I've always had great respect for my father and mother, but now...it's weird, my parents seem to have changed. My mother has hired a professional hunter, an evil-hearted man who knows no bounds. I watch my father steal. I want to see things for myself, but its almost as if I’ve become a prisoner myself. I want to leave the castle.”

“Let’s go Kara.” The soldier said, annoyed. He didn’t like Will’s presence one bit, especially with Kara divulging such things to him.

“I feel scared.” Kara said. “Will, take me out of here.”

“Now!” the soldier yelled.

“Please come back Will.” Kara said. The soldier grabbed Will’s arm and accosted him out of Kara’s room. Will was stunned on two fronts, both on the soldier’s nastiness, and on the revelation laid out by Kara. She desired Will to break her out of the castle. But to do that would be very dangerous, of that Will was sure. In either case, he still had to see King Edward. Maybe his meeting with the King would shed more light on Kara’s distraught state.

He proceeded back to the main hall, and then ventured back to the stairs leading to the throne room. The soldier guarding the stairway was gone. After traveling up the stairs, Will found himself in the throne room, a room of even greater extravagance than he had seen thus far in the castle. The marble flooring was now interspersed with gold and the banners were lined with silver. He turned a corner and came before a staircase, leading to the thrones of King Edward and Queen Edwina, the crowned monarchs of West Gondwanaland. At the base of the staircase stood two guards, one of whom told Will in no uncertain terms to “keep his wits about him.” Will already had a lump in his throat, both from what he heard from Kara earlier and from the simple fact that he did not possess the crystal ring King Edward sought. These words from the soldier did nothing to quiet his fears.

“So, you must be Will, the kid from South Cape and son of Olman the explorer.”

“Yes. That’s me.”

King Edward did not beat around the bush. “So you have come to my castle to deliver Olman’s crystal ring to me, have you not? Well, do you have the ring?” he asked.

Will tried to explain. “Your majesty, I don’t know anything about a crystal ring.”

“So do you have the ring for me, yes or no?” King Edward asked him.

“No.” Will said.

“How dare you say such a thing to me!” King Edward screamed. “Guards! Throw this impudent weasel in prison! Then go to Will’s house and find the ring!”

“Yes sir!” The soldiers along the staircase said as they moved toward Will.

Will was incensed. With the soldiers closing in on him, he appealed to Queen Edwina. “Ma’am, save me!” he yelled. But Queen Edwina did not budge, perhaps because she did not wish to anger her husband during one of his more angry moments. The soldiers grabbed Will. He struggled for several seconds before one of the soldiers whacked him in the side of the head with a piece of steel armor plating. He blacked out from the pain.

The next thing he knew, Will was standing in a prison cell.

[Triforcemaster3]

Chapter 4: Escape from Edward Prison

“I wonder why I have to suffer so.” Will wondered. “Anyway, I need to find a way out of here.”

Unfortunately for Will, he was in quite a predicament. The jail cell door was made of solid steel bars, and it was locked with a chain lock. The walls all around him were made of stone, and were covered in moss. It was quite dark in the prison, dark enough that Will had to dilate his pupils just to examine his surroundings. He had no idea just how long he had been knocked out, but one thing was clear, his head hurt.

Will looked over toward a ball and chain in the corner of the room. He figured that at some point or another, somebody had been chained to the ball. He was glad that the soldiers hadn’t bothered to do the same with him. Before long, he heard the sound of a voice above him. A soldier spoke to him through a hole in the ceiling.

“It’s today’s ration of bread. Even moss drinks water,” the soldier told him. He tossed a small loaf of bread down from the ceiling, and Will made a basket catch. Perhaps not surprisingly, the bread was hard, hard enough that it was the worst thing he had ever tasted. He already missed Grandma Lola’s creative cuisine. As he attempted to eat the rock-hard loaf, he thought back to when the soldier talked to him. If the soldiers were walking around on the floor above that probably meant that he was in the basement of the castle, in the maze prison that Grandpa Bill had told him about.

Time passed slowly, with nothing to break the monotony. As Will thought of ways in which to escape, he passed into a deep sleep.

Suddenly, after an unknown period of time, Will heard a voice coming from inside of his flute. “Will,” the flute said, “This is your father.”

Will immediately got up and grabbed his flute. “Father? Is that you?”

“I have waited long to talk with you,” it said. Isn’t Grandma Lola’s pie delicious?”

“Uh, sure Dad, where are you?” Will asked.

“I can’t tell you now. I have a favor to ask of you, listen. I am asking you to save me. I am in an area of dangerous demons. Look toward the left hand wall.”

Out of nowhere, a reddish-black gem fell from the ceiling. Will picked it up. “This?” he asked the flute.

“Haven’t you heard anything from Grandpa Bill?” it asked.

“Grandpa? He was a carpenter.”

“Starting now you will enter a terrible thing.” The flute said.

“Do I have to?” Will asked in an exasperated manner.

The flute didn’t skip a beat. “Pick up the stone that your enemy left behind, the reddish-black one. The power of the crystal is contained there. Demons you fight will leave these stones behind as you fight them. If you collect 100 of these, you will live again even if you are defeated.”

Will thought this to be very cool. It took his mind off of all the misfortune that had come to him in recent days. The flute continued. “Beginning now you will embark on a journey to the ruins of the ancient world to find the mystic statues. These statues are the key to saving me. There are 6 of them in total, one in each ruin. No time, quick, first to the Incan Ruins!”

The flute faded out and disappeared. Will’s head was spinning from all that he had been told. Was that really his father talking to him? It sounded like it, but he had his doubts. And what about those dark crystals, could they really provide immortality? And what did the ruins of the ancient world have to do with saving his father? It all didn’t make sense.

Luckily, before he could think too much about it, he heard what sounded like a pig’s oink in the foreground. He looked through the steel cage door, and saw that a pig was walking toward his jail cell. “I wonder if this is Kara’s pig,” Will said. What a stroke of luck it was to see Hamlet, for he had a letter and a key tied to his tail. Will picked up the letter and the key and thanked Hamlet as he opened the letter. It read, “Sorry to hear that you’re in prison. It’s terrible what my father has done but hear this. I too am a prisoner, in a prison of silver and gold. But tonight that changes, for I will leave the castle forever. You will also be free. Kara.”

Will turned the prison key and the steel gate opened with a creaking sound. Will rushed out of the jail room and into an underground tunnel. He needed to find Kara and escape the castle. Of course, finding his way through the underground maze of tunnels was not going to be easy. Especially since the tunnel was infested with bats that half attacked him, half obstructed his vision. He made his way down the tunnel and entered a bigger room. An underground canal of some sort ran through the middle of the room, and several more bats flew around in a menacing manner within it. Will crossed a small stone bridge that led over the canal, and across the way he noticed something very strange. It looked like a skeleton of some kind, except it walked around like a person. Could this skeleton creature be one of the demons that everyone was talking about?

Will approached the creature, and it swung its arms menacingly toward him. Will avoided its arms and struck it with his flute. It responded by throwing a bone at him. Will dodged this and attacked it again, this time in the head. The demon suddenly blew up in a cloud of fire and smoke, signifying its being defeated. It left behind a dark crystal similar to the one that Will’s father left for him in the prison cell. Will grabbed it and immediately thought of his father. If his father was truly in danger, then he owed it to his dad to do anything he could to help him. With his resolve now strengthened, Will made his way through four similar rooms until he reached a dead end. Along the way he encountered more demons, whom he defeated and collected dark crystals from.

“Oh great!” Will thought to himself as he reached the dead end. “I’ve gone down the wrong path.” Just before he was about to turn around and go back the other way, he heard another voice talking to him. This time it wasn’t his father though.

“Play the melody, the melody that Grandma Lola taught you.”

Will was a bit freaked out at the sound of the disembodied voice. But since he had no other real options, he took his flute and played the melody. After he had completed playing the song, the voice spoke again. It told him to move in front of the switch on the floor to his right.

“Alright,” the voice said. “This switch is time activated; it will only open on my count of 3. When I get to three, you trip the switch.”

“1…2…3!”

On three, Will swung his flute and hit the switch. Suddenly, part of the wall swung open, revealing a passageway forward. The voice told him to go forward.

Another underground river was present in the next room, but this one was wider and the water’s current was treacherously fast, rendering a swim across risky at best. Will turned and saw a switch on dry land that appeared to be associated with a folding causeway leading across the river. But the switch was behind some heavy rocks and was out of his reach. He dabbled over this newfound predicament for several minutes. Then he noticed a creature of some kind slithering along the surface of the water. It was a canal worm.

To Will’s surprise, the worm attempted to attack him as he approached it, but he quickly subdued it with his flute. He picked it up and carried it over his shoulder toward the switch. With a big heave, Will tossed the giant worm onto the switch, tripping it. The bridge folded downward, opening the way forward. A little way across the bridge stood a treasure chest, which contained three red jewels. Will took them and put them into his sack, at least his misadventure through Edward Castle wouldn’t be for naught.

He continued along a winding path the led down the underground river, until he reached a big stone doorway. The door was locked. In front of the door stood another skeleton demon. Will quickly engaged this demon using his flute as a weapon. Within seconds he had sliced and diced through the demon's bones. But then something happened that surprised Will. The demon's head flew off and seemed to come straight at him. He dodged it just barely and then swung his flute like a bat, crushing the flying skull as it came back at him. The skull crumbled and inside the skull was a key. Will picked up the key and opened the stone doorway. Inside the next room were several barrels, one of which contained a red jewel in it. Will claimed the jewel and moved forward toward what appeared to be a stairway heading up. Had he found the exit?

Then suddenly, a dandelion flew out from the staircase. Will thought nothing of it at first, but the dandelion continued to flutter at about eye level right in front of him, despite the absence of any wind in the room. The dandelion enlarged and turned into a person. It was a girl with short blue hair. Will was floored by what he had just seen.

"Oh, Will, I was surprised to see you in such a place." the girl said. "I am so glad to see you're all right. The Elder sent me here to find you. My name is Lilly. I know your grandparents rather well, doesn't Grandma Lola make a great pie?"

Will was now doubly stunned. First he was talking with a woman who knew the ability to change form, and not only that, but she was talking about his grandmother's pie. "You know my grandmother?" Will asked, grasping for the only thing he could think of at such a moment.

"Actually, she asked me to rescue you." Lilly said.

There was a sudden sound in the room as soon as Lilly finished her sentence. Will could feel his hair stand on end with every word Lilly spoke. What was going on?

"The Elder is calling, I must go now. Will, we will meet again." Lilly transformed back into her dandelion form and left the room through the staircase.

"My grandmother asked Lilly to rescue me?" Will wondered to himself. "How does Lola know Lilly? Who is she?" He had a lot of questions that needed answered. While he continued to think, one thing suddenly shot back from the depths of his mind. Kara, he had to find her. She had asked her to take her out of the castle, and her letter delivered by Hamlet meant that she was serious. Will quickly scurried up the stairs and found himself in the basement of the castle. He had escaped the Edward Castle prison!

There were tons more barrels in the basement, and as Will walked by, he noticed a pungent aroma of meat in the room. He was very hungry, and at this point did not care about stealing all the food in the basement in return for King Edward's imprisoning him. He quickly took four legs of meat, stuffed them into his backpack, and raced up three flights of stairs to the castle's third floor. At this point, all that mattered was speed. The quickly he could get himself and Kara out of the castle, the less likely it would be that they would be caught. Will sprinted across the bridge to Kara's room, not even noticing the soldier standing in the entranceway. Even stranger, the soldier didn't seem to notice him either.

Kara immediately jumped up when she saw Will. They gathered their belongings and left the room. As they ran across the bridge through the dark night, Kara made a reference to her guardian soldier's nickname, Old Snorehead. Luckily for the two of them, he had lived up to that nickname. As they headed down the stairs toward the main entrance, several of Kara's attendants watched them leave. A few of them even waved to Kara, almost giving their grace to Kara's decision to flee the castle. Apparently Kara's plan to flee was long discussed, and her close attendants were in on the plan. Will thought that was strange given King Edward's strong authority. They were about to reach the main entrance of the castle when Kara suddenly stopped. "Wait, it's a long journey." she said. "We should bring food."

Will responded. "I found these in the basement." He showed her the meat he had grabbed from the barrels.

Kara was delighted. "Good, everything is ready then. Let's get out of here before the guards find out. Let's go to your house, I'm concerned about your grandparents."

Will was glad to leave the castle and step out into the fresh air of the night, but Kara's sentence troubled him. Now two people, actually three were concerned about his grandparents, and yet he was in the dark. They had to get back to South Cape as quickly as possible!

[Triforcemaster3]

Chapter 5: Retreat to the Cave

Day 4 -

"How much farther do we have to go?"

"It should be about another two miles. See those hills over there? Once we go over them, the town will come into plain sight. You'll be able to smell the salt in the air as we approach the ocean."

"I sure hope you're right. I'm tired, its been a long trip."

Will turned back to Kara, then looked back toward the late afternoon sunlight. They had been traveling for almost twelve hours in total, minus the time they spent sleeping out in the wilderness. They had left the castle in the dead of night, and were so tired from their retreat that they set up camp by a small river about twelve miles south of Edward Castle. In the morning, they continued their journey. An experienced adventurer, Will was very much used to walking all day and setting up camp in the outdoors. He was not tired in the least, but he imagined this type of travel was tough on Kara, so he concurred.

"Yeah, its quite a trip." he said. "At least we're getting close now."

In fact, just as Will said this, the tall spires of the school and church of South Cape came into view, as did the outer wall of the town. About ten minutes later, Will and Kara walked through the north gate of South Cape, the same gate which Will had passed through on his journey to Edward Castle almost three days earlier. He was very glad to be home again, but it did seem a bit akward to be parading through town with the Princess of Edward Castle to his right. Whatever would he tell his parents? What would Kara do in South Cape?

They came to a street corner, Will lead the way to the left down a small street on the north end of town. It was at this moment that he remembered what his father had told him inside the Edward Castle prison. If he was going to be heading on a journey across the world to the ancient ruins, what would become of Kara? What would become of his friends that he would leave behind? It was a lot to think about.

But as soon as Will opened the front door of his house, all of those thoughts suddenly left him, for the first floor of his house was an absolute mess. Books were thrown on the floor, the bookcase was splintered, there were kitchen utensils including pie pans and utensils strewn all over the room. There was also a stench of marsupial in the room.

"What in the world happened here?" Will said, shocked by what he saw. "Where are my grandparents?"

"Grandpa Bill!" Kara shouted. "Grandma Lola!" Will yelled. "I'll look upstairs!" Kara bellowed to Will.

Will continued to look through the messy room. It wasn't long at all until he heard a horrifying yell from upstairs. "Ooh Will, it's horrible, come quick!!!"

Will sprinted up the stairs and looked directly at Kara. She was staring at a note that was hung on the wall next to Will's bed. Will did not recognize the note, but it was clear that Kara did. "This?" Will asked her.

"The Jackal...the Jackal's here!" Kara screamed.

"The Jackal?" Will asked.

"He's the hunter hired by my mother!" Kara exclaimed. "An evil hearted man who will stop at nothing. Once he starts after you, there's no stopping him."

Will's heart sank. Maybe King Edward, in his search for the ring, had come after his grandparents. "My grandmother and grandfather." he said gloomily. He almost looked as if he was going to cry, something he hardly ever did. Just then, a dandelion flew into view, right in front of him from the stairwell. Just like inside the basement of Edward Castle, Lilly manifested herself quickly.

"Don't worry." she said. "Your grandmother and grandfather are safe."

"Who are you?" Kara questioned.

"I'm Will's friend" Lilly quickly responded.

Kara didn't look convinced. Ignoring Kara, Will immediately pressed. "Lilly, what do you know about this?"

"It's okay, your grandmother and grandfather have taken refuge in my village." Lilly said.

"Your village?" Kara asked.

"Itory Village." Lilly responded.

"I've never heard of this village." Kara responded quickly.

Like Will, Lilly was becoming slightly agitated with Kara. "Naturally, you wouldn't know about it. Normal people cannot see my village, only villagers are able to enter."

Kara was flabbergasted. "What are you talking about? You're crazy." she responded.

Now Lilly and Kara were really going at it, and neither one of them were even trying to hide their apparent disdain for each other. Will noticed that this conversation was no longer about him, and had degenerated into a verbal catfight between the two young women. Better yet, Will didn't really know either one of them very well, so he used the oppurtunity to discretely leave the room and head downstairs. In fact, once downstairs Will decided to leave the house entirely. He needed to calm his brain, which was spinning at an alarming pace. He took a walk along the ocean path toward the Seashore Cave. Hopefully he would find his friends there. Within several minutes, he reached the entranceway, where he ran into Lance.

"Will." Lance said. "You're back, how did everything go at the Castle?"

Will didn't answer immediately. There was a bit of bewilderment in his facial expression. Lance noticed and changed his tune. "What, isn't something you don't want to talk about? We're friends, you can tell me anything. We've got to live through good times and bad together don't we?"

"Let's go inside the Cave." Will said. The walked inside, where Erik and Seth were playing cards inside. They greeted Will and they all sat down. "I have some bad news." Will said in a nervous tone.

Seth and Eric were taken slightly aback. It wasn't like Will to talk in such a distressed tone of voice unless something really serious was going on. A true adventurer at heart, Will was generally a very laid back individual, something that was not apparent at this moment.

"I got summoned to Edward Castle by King Edward because he wanted one of my father's valuable possessions. But this valuable, a crystal ring, was not among the possessions my father left behind before our last expedition to the Tower of Babel. Naturally, I did not have it when I went to King Edward. But before I could explain anything, he threw me into the castle's underground prison!"

"He threw you in the prison?!" Erik exclaimed. "How did you ever find your way out?"

"Princess Kara sent her pet pig down to my cell with a key. I used the key to break out of the cell, and then I started working my way down the dark hallways. My Granpa Bill told me before I left for Edward Castle that he used to be an architect, and that he helped design the Edward Castle prison. With this knowledge, I thought of how my grandfather would create things and solve problems. That helped me work through the maze. Once I reached the end, I received word that my grandparents were in trouble and asked for a girl from Itory Village to save me. Lance, Erik, Seth, do any of you know anything about the attack on my grandparents when I was gone?"

"There was a hunter in the streets! I hid." Erik said.

"Typical Erik, scared of his own shadow." Seth said.

"Hey! I'm not as old or strong as adventure-man over there." Erik snapped as he pointed to Will. "I'm the youngest of anybody here, give me a break!"

"Will, I think I saw the person who attacked your grandparents." Lance said.

"You did? Who was he? What did he look like?"

"He came with several soldiers flanking him. It happened early this morning, I was over running an errand over at the school. I was near the front door with our teacher when the hunter and his soldier comrades entered the north gate. They threatened the guard and walked down the street carrying steel weaponry. Teacher and I moved inside the building and took refuge on the roof. The hunter was fairly tall, he had blond spikey hair and was wearing a blue cape. He and the soldiers pretended to be honorable when they came to the door, but once they entered your house, there was a lot of noise. The only thing I remember seeing was your grandmother and grandfather running away toward the north gate and one of the soldiers staggering on his feet attempting to give chase. Judging by the way he was moving, he could have been attacked by one of your grandparents."

"Thank you Lance. You've been a huge help. Lilly's story seems much more believable now." Will said.

"Lilly? Who is that?" Seth asked.

"Lilly is the girl who talked to me at Edward Castle. After Kara and I escaped last night, she followed us to South Cape. The two are at my house right now."

"Wait, you didn't tell us that Kara followed you out of the castle! She's here?!" Erik screamed.

"Shhh! We don't want anybody to know about that." Will said. "She asked me to break her out of the castle. If King Edward or his hunter mercenaries finds us, he'll probably kill me! Lilly told us that my grandparents have fled to her hometown, Itory Village. She also said this particular village is not visible to people from the outside world. How that is true, I do not know. In either case, at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning Kara, Lilly, and myself will be headed to Itory. I think we'll be safe there, plus I want to see my grandparents. I'd leave tonight, but Kara and Lilly are likely exhausted."

Lance, Erik, and Seth were all stunned by what they had just heard. For a long while, nobody knew what to say. Then Lance spoke up. "Well everybody, you heard Will. Tomorrow, our friend will be leaving us for a long time. But if this is going to be our last night together, let's make it the best night we've ever had! Will, bring Lilly and Kara down to the cave, we'll protect them for the night, and we'll spend some final time together. Seth, Erik, prepare the cave! We've got royalty coming our way!"

[Triforcemaster3]

Chapter 6: Lilly's Hometown

Day 7 -

"It's really starting to get hilly now." Kara said over her heavy breath. "I've never been up in such mountains."

"I told you this trip was too dangerous for a princess." Lilly responded. "You're just lucky the Jackal hasn't found us out here."

"Will, I'm your friend too aren't I?" Kara asked.

"Yes, of course Kara." Will responded. "Lilly, you've made your intentions quite clear. Kara wished to come with us on this journey to Itory. Who are we to deny her? She has actually done a pretty job of keeping us don't you think?"

Lilly didn't respond immediately. She was looking straight ahead, toward a jagged cliff straight in front of them about a quarter mile ahead. "We're almost there." Lilly said to Will. Will didn't think much of it, but he didn't see any semblence of civilization around them for miles. They had climbed about five thousand feet into the foothills of northern West Gondwanaland, a journey that had taken them a little over two days time. Even higher mountains seemed to spread out up to their north. They approached the short cliff, which appeared to an easy climb, when Lilly stopped suddenly. "Kara come stand next to my left. " Kara, clearly still distrustful of Lilly, didn't move at first. "Please Kara, just come over here."

Once Kara finally came over to Lilly's left, Lilly spoke again. "Will, play the melody that your grandmother taught you."

Will had no idea why Lilly wanted him to play Lola's Melody, but he figured she knew something he didn't. He pulled out his flute and played the melody. After he finished the song, Lilly mumbled a few words to herself. Within seconds, a blinding flash surrounded all three of them. The blinding light lasted about seven or eight seconds, and then it started to subside. When it finally did, the three found themselves standing in a mountain village.

"Were you surprised?" Lilly asked Kara and Will. "This village is surrounded by a barrier that hides it from the outside world. The song that Will played is the key to passing through the barrier. We're now in Itory Village, my hometown."

Kara and Will looked incredulously at Lilly, then at each other. Lilly broke the akward silence by walking over to the right down a grassy path. Kara and Will followed her down the path over to a wooden fence. Beyond the fence was a nicely constructed log cabin, and in the yard stood Grandpa Bill and Grandma Lola! Upon seeing his grandparents, Will immediately rushed over to the fence surrounding the yard.

"Will, thank goodness you're safe." Grandma Lola said.

"So you were able to escape the castle prison? Good, good." Grandpa Bill said.

"What happened back at the house?!" Will asked, grasping for the first thing he could think of.

"It was terrible, a hunter and his minions came after us!" Grandpa Bill said.

Lola turned to her husband. "Grandpa panicked. I destroyed their digestion with a poisoned marsupial pie. Then I ran away."

"Well, its good that we're all here together, inside the protection of Itory." Grandpa Bill said. "Lilly, thank you for leading Will here. I didn't realize that Princess Kara came too."

"We didn't ask her to come along." Lilly said, almost condescendingly. "Anyway, this is my house. I'm going inside, the entrance is right over here on the right. Lilly started toward the entrance, and was followed by Kara. Will remained with his grandparents.

"My friend Lance mentioned something about two of the soldiers staggering out of the house after you, and that they had probably been attacked. What exactly happened in the house?" Will asked.

"Well they started tearing things up looking for your father's crystal ring, the one that doesn't exist. Then when they didn't find it, that's when they went after us." Lola said. Like I said, I fed two of them some pie, and that was the end of them. But the leader, he got away."

"How exactly did you get all the way up here? You two didn't walk all the way here did you?"

"We got some help from the Elder." Bill said. "He helped us through the barrier and got us here safely. He's over on the other side of town. I suggest you see him Will, he's got some useful information for you."

Lola shook her head in agreement with Bill. Will left the house and started walking northbound, past a few more log cabins. Before long he came to a stone structure of some kind on the north side of the city. Next to it the land dropped off dramatically, straight down into a canyon that split the village of Itory in two. There appeared to be a sort of ramp that sloped upward near the final dropoff into the canyon. But when Will looked around, he noticed something strange. Inside the stone structure was a glowing white ball of light. Intrigued, Will approched the ball and it turned into a dark gateway. Without thinking, Will walked into the gateway. The time and space around him seemed to contort for a few seconds, and then it settled. He stood inside a dark space, with two statues in front of him. One in the center of a being he had never seen before, and one of himself. The statue of himself was holding another ball of light, this one light blue. Will walked in front of it and the ball of light flowed straight down to him. He held it in his hand. As he did so, the statue in the middle bellowed, "Psycho Dash can now be used."

Will turned around abruptly. The statue continued. "Only Will can use the Psycho Dash. This ability can be used to attack and to break down walls with cracks and bulges. Use the flute to save energy."

Will immediately walked in front of the talking statue in the middle. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I am Gaia, the source of all life. I provide the life force for all beings in this world. Only chosen people of destiny can see me and this dark space. I will help you on your journey by comforting your weariness, providing you with secret abilities and giving you advice. A great evil threatens. You must use your strength at all times. Will, we will meet again."

Will looked at Gaia incredulously. Then he turned around and left the dark space. Within seconds, he re-materialized in Itory Village where he had entered a few minutes earlier. Gaia freaked him out a bit, but at least he had received a new ability as a result of his curiosity. He didn't think this to be too bad.

Just as Will was examining his surroundings again, a villager came up to him. "You're not from around here are you?" the villager asked.

"Uh, I'm looking for the Elder." Will responded, not really knowing what to say.

"The Elder? He's over on the other side of town. See that hill there and that ramp over there? Run down the hill at full speed and you'll reach the other side. You'll be surprised. It's the breath of the spirits."

It sounded absolutely crazy, for the canyon was wide, at least one hundred yards wide. Unless if there was some serious wind at his back, he would never make it. Still, Will had seen some very strange phenomena on his adventures, and this was no different. He readied himself, then tore down the hill as fast as his feet could take him. He hit the grassy incline hard and leapt into the air. As he got into the air, he felt a massive gust of wind sweep him off his feet. The wind combined with his forward momentum carried him across the canyon to the other side, where he landed in a flower patch. Will rolled through the landing and picked himself up quickly. There were few houses if any on this east side of the canyon, compared with the assortment of log cabins and sod houses on the west side. Will needed to find the Elder though.

Just as started to investigate the bramble around him, Will heard a voice. "I've been waiting for you. I'm here, just old, the spirit of the flowers protect me." Will turned around and behind him stood the Elder. His figure appeared that of an old, wise man. He was very pale and perhaps somewhat milky in tone. "So you wonder why you've been summoned to Itory?"

"All I know is that my grandparents are safe." Will said.

"Your grandparents lived in this village for a long time. Your mother grew up here."

"Really?" Will asked. "She never told me that."

"Oh yes, she was a lovely young woman. She also had some strange powers. All people of the Itory tribe had a strange power, but Shira's [Will's mother] was especially strong. She made a barrier to hide the town, but your father came through it easily. Come to think of it, he was unusual too. Say, your father summoned you to the ancient ruins of the world. The Incan Ruins are in the mountains not far from here. The Inca were a people that did not have a written language, instead their writings are recorded in sound. They have a riddle that has not been broken in over a thousand years. Will, have you come to help your father?"

Will's answer was quick. "Yes."

"Good, that fulfills Lola's prophecy." The Elder said. "Do you plan to go?" he asked.

"Yes." Will answered.

"Good, I will entrust you with the first Incan Statue. It is in the cave below. If you find the statue, I will tell you more of the Incan legend. At any rate, go take a look in the cave."

It didn't take Will long to find the Incan Statue. The cave was wide open without much of anything inside it, but there was a wide crack in the rock wall in the back. He saw this as a great oppurtunity to use the Psycho Dash, if nothing else just to see if it worked. Will charged up energy, then dashed toward the crack. He easily broke through the crack and blew away part of the wall. Beyond the crack was a pedestal where the statue stood. He claimed it quickly and went out of the cave, completely satisfied by how well his new ability worked. Once out, he climbed a ladder that led back to the bramble where the Elder was. The Elder told him more of the Incan riddle, confiding that there were actually two Incan Statues. The second statue was held by the Moon Tribe, a race of spirits that lived in the mountains to the northeast of Itory. Then the Elder told him the secret to solving the riddle.

"Place the statues on the Larai Cliff, where the breath of the spirits cannot reach. The wind in the valley will lead you to the [Incan] Gold Ship."

It was legend that a great pall of darkness had fallen over the land of the Inca, and that they had built a ship made of gold in order to flee the darkness. Nobody knew whether the ship actually existed, but adventurers from all walks of life had attempted to find the Incan Gold Ship, including Will's father Olman. Many of these expeditions had ended in tragedy, yet the ship was still to many a grand relic of the ancient world, yet to be unearthed by modern man.

Using another hill and the wind to carry himself back across the canyon, Will darted back to the east side of the village. He wasn't sure if the Gold Ship existed, but for some strange reason, he trusted the Elder. After all, he told stories of his father and mother that he himself had never been told. There was no doubt that he was telling the truth. At the moment though, Will's focus was not on the Incan Ruins, but it was instead on the Moon Tribe Camp. In order to crack the riddle of the Inca, Will needed the other Incan Statue from the Moon Tribe. He walked back into the house and went over to Lilly.

"So did you see the Elder?" Lilly asked.

"Yes, I found this statue in the cave underneath. It's a statue of the Inca." Will said. "The Elder says that the Moon Tribe has the other statue."

"What? Moon Tribe?" Lilly answered. "Well, not really a tribe, more like a evolved group of spirits. They live on in the mountains about a half day from here. Are you ready to go?" Lilly asked.

"Yes." Will answered.

Kara interjected. "Don't forget about me. I'm coming too! I want to see the Moon Tribe! Since I'm out of the castle now, I want to see and hear everything!"

"No, its far too dangerous for a princess." Lilly said.

Kara had heard this line from Lilly before, and now she was losing her patience. "I always seem to be the one left out. So I'll go talk to Grandma Lola! Nyaaa!" she shouted as she ran out of the room.

"She's sulking," Will said softly.

"It's good medicine for a selfish girl." Lilly said. "The mountain pass will be difficult but let's do the best we can."

They were on their way to the Moon Tribe Camp.

[Triforcemaster3]

Chapter 7: The Moon Tribe

Day 8 -

Will and Lilly had been traveling for much of the morning. They had left Itory Village the previous afternoon, and walked up a mountainous path until darkness. After taking refuge in a cave-like dome in the rock that night, they continued the journey the next morning. By this time they were quite high up in the mountains, high enough that Will was breathing pretty hard. Although he had adventured near and far, coming from sea level, the one thing that seemed to get him was high elevation. His breath was audible as he walked forward.

"How much farther is it?" Will asked.

"Don't tell me you're getting tired already." Lilly said with a bit of sass. "It's just a little farther now."

Will didn't even give Lilly a look. She was a trouper, of that Will was certain. Back in South Cape, the women didn't adventure around much, and those that did were generally much more fragile and soft than Lilly. Will was glad that he had met somebody of similar age that could adventure as well as him. By this time, Will and Lilly had stepped off the trail and onto a small, grassy plateau. Just as Will began to move to the other edge of the plateau, he noticed that Lilly had stopped in her tracks.

"Will, I think I just heard something." Lilly said.

"What are you talking about? There's nobody here." Will said.

"Good evening, out for a stroll?" a voice chimed.

Now Will knew what Lilly was talking about. "Who are you?" Will asked.

"Up, up, this body is lighter than air." the voice responded.

"Are you an old man's ghost playing a trick on us?" Will asked.

"Wrong! Actually, we are the moon tribe, better known as the "tribe of shadows."

Just then, a whole bunch of ghost-like shadows emerged, all around the plateau. They had a pale consistency to them, and their bodies had been warped in such a way that their limbs were hardly discernible.

"Welcome to the Moon Tribe Camp." Lilly said to Will.

Will didn't immediately answer. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. Lilly had led him to a plateau filled with ghosts! If it was true that these ghostly figures held the second Incan Statue, Will wanted to find it and get the heck out of the area. "What happened to you?" Will asked one of the shadowy figures.

"Ku, ku, ku. We lived for many years on this land. But we have bathed in the light of a comet. It comes once every 800 years, ku. When you are inside the comet's light, all evolution speeds up to the point where years take minutes. Our forms have evolved to what you see here. The light of the comet has begun to spread to other parts of the Earth and is getting stronger."

Will was quite surprised by what he had heard. Even worse to him, Lilly looked to have a puzzled look on her face. "What's wrong Lilly?" Will asked.

"The light of a comet. Very strange." Lilly said.

"Yeah, just like the rest of this place. I say we find the Incan Statue." Will said. He moved over to another shadowy spirit and asked where it was.

"We have lived long and well, ku ku." the spirit said. "We have witnessed the building and the destruction of the Incan Empire. The Incan Statue was entrusted to us by the last of the Incan rulers. At any rate, go take a look in the cave down there, ku."

"I'll wait here." Lilly said near the cave entrance.

Will entered the cave. Upon doing so, he saw some giant centipede-like bugs near the back of the cave. The Incan Statue stood on top of a giant pedestal in the center of the cave, certainly too high for him to reach. Suddenly he heard the Moon Tribe spirit talk again. "This is the final form of those bathed in the light of the comet. The light has warped their hearts and turned them into demons. If you can destroy all of them within 60 seconds then I'll grant you the Incan Statue."

The time started when Will took his first step forward. He drew his flute and attacked the first centipede ruthlessly, killing it easily. He then moved on to the second one, then the third. Before long, he was down to one centipede remaining. But as he was about to strike it with his flute, it curled up in a ball and lunged right at him. The bug nailed him right in the stomach and knocked him down. It took Will a while to get to his feet, the bug was much heavier than expected and it had knocked his wind out a bit. He composed himself and moved toward the centipede again. It attempted to roll at him again, but this time Will was prepared. He dodged the attack as he heard the spirit start to count down from 10. He was running out of time! Will knew he had to take a chance to gain the Incan Statue. He ran straight at the centipede, expecting it to roll at him again. It did, and Will swung his flute hard, smacking it backward. The bug exploded upon impact with the back wall of the cave.

"Ku ku ku, very good. Then I'll give you the Incan Statue." the spirit said. As the spirit spoke, a stairway up the giant pedestal appeared. Will walked up the staircase and grabbed the statue.

"Very good, you've got the statue." Lilly said. "There are two statues, shall we proceed to the Incan Ruins?"

"Yes." Will responded. "I don't know where my father is, or what the ruins have to do with his survival, but I'll do anything to help him. You can't understand it until you lose your parents."

"True. Let's get to the ruins." Lilly said.

[Triforcemaster3]

Chapter 8: The Ruins of the Inca

Day 9 -

Will and Lilly continued their march through the mountains of northern West Gondwanaland, eastward toward the Incan Ruins. Day passed into night, and night passed into day. The terrain was fairly rough, rougher than Will had ever experienced in his life. In his travels, he had seen rivers, hills, oceans, islands, and many other landforms. But mountains were something completely different. With every step Will struggled to breathe, and his legs burned from the exertion of climbing through the rocky terrain.

After a while, they came to a pass in the mountain range. Lilly led Will down the hill leading to the pass. Once there, Lilly started to walk farther ahead toward the other side of the range. Will stopped her.

"Hold on Lilly. It's late, we should stop here."

"Will, its not much farther. We could be there in a few hours time." said Lilly.

"I can't even feel my legs anymore. My breath is completely gone. I have to tell you Lilly, your people are very skilled in this mountainous terrain. I have much to learn about it."

"Well, if you insist, we can make camp here." Lilly said. "But we're moving again at the crack of dawn."

A few hours passed. The two sat on a pair of round rocks and looked at the stars. There were many stars, for it was a clear night. All of them glowed a bright white, save one in the middle of the sky that was a red so clear that Will imagined it to be a giant fireball.

"Lilly, what exactly did the Elder mean when he talked of the breath of the spirits? It sounded pretty strange to me." Will said.

"There is a fierce wind throughout the Incan Ruins." Lilly said. "The people of Itory Village believe the wind is the breath of the Incan gods. Long ago, there was a great battle between the Inca and a rival tribe. The legend says that the gods produced a wind so strong that it swept the opposing tribe right off the mountain. Ever since then, the Incan wind has been greatly deified."

"What does it have to do with the Incan Statues I found in Itory Village and the Moon Tribe Camp?"

"Well, there is one cliff near the bottom of the mountain where the breath of the spirits cannot reach. That's where the statues are said to belong."

"Is it true that there is a gold ship at the ruins?" Will asked, his voice fading a bit.

"It's unknown. The Inca were said to have once abandoned the mountains and set sail for somewhere aboard a ship made of gold. Many explorers have attempted to find the ship and become rich off of its treasure, but so far none have found it. It is said that by solving the riddle of the Incan Statues one can find the ship."

"That's...peachy." Will said hazily as he collapsed in a heap. Within seconds, he was asleep.

"Sea folk. As soon as they see mountains they just break." Lilly said to herself.

Day 10 -

The next morning, Will and Lilly traveled over more treacherous mountains. Before long they started to come across the remains of ancient buildings and statues lying on the clifftops. A few minutes later, they reached the top of another mountain. Atop the mountain stood several crumbling buildings, which appeared to be houses or some sort of living quarters rotting away in the rock.

Lilly led Will over toward the cliff edge. "Take a look down there Will."

Will looked over the edge and noticed an almost straight drop down of massive proportions. It had to be at least five thousand feet, maybe even more than that. Out in the distance, it was possible to see the ocean, sprawled out beyond the land below. Down on the terraces below, Will could see more of the Incan statues and sculptures he saw earlier, except that these were even more detailed. They were beautiful.

"The statues down on the terraces." Will said.

"Welcome to the ruins of the Inca." Lilly said. He turned around and faced Lilly. "This is the site of a once great civilization, one that lived for over a thousand years. Legend has it that there is a great riddle of the Inca, one that has not been solved since the destruction of the civilization. The Elder has summoned you here, I wonder what he wants you to do."

The two approached the entrance to the ruins. When they got there, a surprise visitor was waiting for them.

"You're so mean! Leaving me behind!" Kara shouted from behind a rock.

"Kara!" Lilly shouted. "What are you doing here? It's too dangerous for princesses!"

"I can't help it. I can't just sit around and eat while Will is out there working so hard. I'm waiting for Will to return [from the ruins]."

Lilly gave a flustered look in Kara's direction, no doubt flabergasted that she had come through the mountains herself. Then she turned back to Will "Well Will, as the Elder said. Put the statues on the Larai Cliff, where the breath of the spirits can't reach. The wind in the valley will lead you to the Incan Gold Ship."

Will turned around and entered the ruins.

As soon as Will entered Larai Cliff, he immediately got hit with a big burst of wind from the left. The wind had to be blowing at least forty, fifty miles per hour. "There is a strong wind at the Larai Cliff, that must have been what the Elder meant by the breath of the spirits." Crossing a bridge, Will entered a cave on the right. Inside the cave was a rocky path leading through a stalagmite-filled ground. There were also demons inside the cave. Unlike the ones in Edward Castle which were skeleton-like on the outside, these demons had plenty of meat on their bones and had a fuzzy exterior. When Will attacked one with his flute, it ran after him angrily. It punched him in the arm. Will shook it off and attacked again. It charged again, but this time he was prepared and struck it in the stomach, defeating it. Will collected the dark gem it dropped and continued forward. Several more demons emerged farther up the cave path. Will decided to bait the monsters toward him and then trip them to the floor. The strategy worked, as the demons rushed Will he nailed two of them with a flute to the knee. Another simply stumbled over Will's left leg as he went to the ground. Once down, the demons had difficulty getting up, and Will easily did away with them.

Following this encounter, the road split into two directions, one leading back out onto Larai Cliff, the other leading deeper into the mountain behind a thick patch of stalagmites. Will picked the path leading outside. Once outside, he noticed a treasure chest on the left. Two giant centipedes guarded the chest. The bugs were not unlike the ones he saw at the Moon Tribe Camp. He quickly disposed of the insect demons and opened the chest. Inside there was a blue diamond-shaped block. Not sure what this block was for, Will traversed back through the cave until he reached the thick stalagmites blocking the road. Unsure of how to get around them initially, he noticed a diamond-shaped hole in the ground with a switch underneath. Putting two and two together, Will placed the block into the hole. There was a sudden thud in the cave, and heavy blocks of granite fell from the ceiling, crushing the stalagmites and opening a path across. Will took the path, which eventually led out to a lower terrace of the Larai Cliff.

He continued to climb down the cliff, until he reached the edge of the grassy terrace. Figuring the only way down was to simply jump, he leapt downward to the next terrace below. There stood another entrance into the mountain. Will ventured into the cave. Inside stood a brilliant Incan temple, complete with columns made of gold, and golden statues of Incan warriors lining the row of rocks leading into the temple. At the base of the temple in front of the entranceway were four large golden plates on the ground. The entranceway itself was sewn shut.

Having never seen such riches in his life, Will moved forward toward one of the statues. But unexpectedly, as he came within arms reach, the statue began to change color. Within seconds, the statue had turned from gold to a pale white and had come to life! It swung its metal spear menacingly toward Will. Surprised by the transformation, Will stepped backward quickly. The Inca warrior threw his spear at him. Will dodged underneath it, and drew his flute. Before he could get off the ground though, the Inca kicked him in the face. Later, he got behind him and punched away at his back. Once he had been worn down a bit, the warrior then tried to grapple him but he reversed it and slammed his flute right into the side of the Inca's head. The warrior slumped over temporarily, enough time for Will to snap the warrior's head with his flute. The Inca collapsed in a heap on the rocks.

His back was shooting with pain and he was sweating hard. Scared by the encounter with the un-statuelike Inca, Will's instincts were telling him to turn back. But remembering what his father told him about the ruins, he fought through the fear and pondered the situation. Reaching for his flute, he started to twirl it while facing one of the remaining Inca warrior statues. Suddenly, the statue he was facing moved. He noticed that his telekenetic powers were capable of moving the statues. Will turned his attention toward the four golden stones in front of the entranceway. Within seconds he was moving the statues into position, and before long he had moved them all onto stones 1, 2, and 3. Will quickly ran over to stone 4 and jumped onto it. The entranceway opened instantly.

Beyond the entranceway was a dark path that seemed to u-turn. The path led into a room with literally hundreds of golden stones on the ground. They were assembled in a square pattern. Will was on the stairs leading down to the golden stones when he heard a familiar voice inside his head. "Play the Melody of the Wind," it said to him. A strange melody of sorts began to play in his head. When it concluded, the voice beckoned him to play it on his flute.

"Very odd, that sounded like my mother." Will thought to himself. He thought about it for a minute, then proceeded to play the melody on his flute. Once he completed playing it, one of the stones on the floor started to glow, sending a bright light through the fairly dark cave. He stepped on the glowing stone, revealing an entranceway that led back out onto Larai Cliff. Back on the cliff, Will noticed he was on an even lower terrace than before, and that the wind had died down considerably. In fact, there was hardly any wind at all. Will instantly realized that he had found the place were the spirits' breath could not reach. And just as the Elder told him, ahead were two stone pedestals, ostensibly the resting spots for the Incan Statues he had collected.

He was but seconds away from solving a thousand-year-old mystery.

[Triforcemaster3]

Chapter 8 is now complete. I wanted to get all the way through the Incan Ruins before leaving off, but the chapter was just getting too long. I actually had to cut some stuff out from the game, including the easter egg about Nana and Sabas's father.

Anyway, the grand finale in the Incan Ruins will be early next chapter, followed by an unexpected twist in the storyline.

[Triforcemaster3]

Chapter 9: Battle for the Gold Ship

Will placed the first of the Incan Statues on the first pedestal. Then he placed the second statue on the second pedestal. As soon as he did, he had a loud noise echo throughout Larai Cliff. Within several seconds, the wind began to kick up and swirl around the canyon. Not really sure what it all meant at first, Will remembered the elder's words.

"The wind in the valley will lead you to the Gold Ship."

After several seconds more, the wind settled on a constant direction, leading out over a valley to Will's right. The wind started blowing harder and harder, until it was blowing hard enough that Will could hardly stand. He looked out over the valley to an adjacent terrace on the other side. It was quite a way away, but with the wind blowing so hard, it was his only chance. He made a run for the edge of the terrace and leaped out over the valley, just as he had done in Itory Village several days before. This time, the wind gusted so hard while airborne that he almost overshot the terrace completely. He landed hard on his right shoulder. Luckily the grass was softer on this terrace than others on the Larai Cliff. Will got up slowly to notice a cave entrance in front of him. Strangely, upon landing the wind had died down to very slight breeze again. The Elder's prophesy was coming true. Could there really be a huge ship made out of gold up ahead? He entered the cave.

The cave led him into a dark tunnel that led downward. Before long, Will came to another open doorway. Before that was a glowing orb, just like the one Will had seen in Itory Village. It signified a dark space. Inside the dark space, he immediately noticed Gaia, the guardian spirit of life as the middle statue. However, there was a another statue to his left. It was a statue of a knight.

"It looks as if you are hurt. Close your eyes." Gaia said to Will. After comforting his weariness, Gaia spoke again. "I will give you some advice. The dark knight Freedan will be able to help you in the coming battle ahead. You should stand in front of the statue to your left and become one with the dark knight. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Will answered.

"Then go." Gaia responded.

Will moved in front of the statue of Freedan, the dark knight. He heard a voice in his head. "I have been waiting for you to come. Like the light of a comet, darkness is eternal. I am Freedan, I am eternal. I have come to help you in your journeys. Whenever a battle is forthcoming, stand in front of my statue and you shall receive my power. Will, close your eyes."

Will didn't know what was going to happen next, but he figured Freedan to be allied with Gaia in some way. How or why he did not know but at this moment that information was immaterial. Will closed his eyes. Almost instantly, he felt woozy, as if he was having an out of body experience. His sense of touch and smell seemed to leave him. Finally, after about ten seconds he started to feel better. The voice prompted him to open his eyes. When he did, he noticed his shape had changed. He was now wearing a freshly shined sheet of armor and was holding a sword that shined bright as day. He had become one with the dark knight.

Upon leaving the dark space, Freedan moved into the open doorway. Inside the doorway stood a room so vast, it resembled an ancient Incan city. There were houses made out of stone, roads paved with marbled rocks, and a grand temple tucked behind a giant hole in the rock that stood in the exact center of the abandoned city. He made his way over to the hole in the center and noticed that it was glowing red inside, perhaps with molten lava. Suddenly, the doors to the room slammed shut behind him, and a monstrous demon crawled out of the central hole in the rock. The demon had a gigantic head and two big paws that gripped the edges of the rock. Freedan drew his sword and watched as the demon shook his right paw at him. Freedan swung away as it approached him and slashed it on the lower palm. The right paw fell back into the rock, and the demon swung the left paw his way. After gashing the left paw, Freedan noticed the demon's nose began to glow. Figuring that this was the demon's weak point, Freedan swung away hard at the nose, a dangerous task since he had to reach out over the giant hole just to reach the target.

Freedan knew that his attacks were doing damage, because with every stroke the demon started squirming around. Then it suddenly starting shaking violently before firing out several beams of electromagnetic field from its head. Not expecting this attack, Freedan got knocked off his feet and zapped. After the last beam passed, the paws reappeared. In a bit of pain, he continued his attack pattern until the nose started glowing again. This time, Freedan didn't hold back, unloading with all the fury of a thousand Incan soldiers. Before long, the demon was reeling back into the giant hole from which he came, dead.

Gaia's voice sounded in the room. "When the demons have been defeated, Will can return to his original form." Freedan began to feel woozy as his senses left him once again. The transformation complete, Will looked around for an exit out of the ancient city. A previously closed door behind the giant hole was now open, and he went through it. But the room was booby-trapped, as soon as he entered the floor gave way beneath him. He was falling, falling, falling.

The next thing Will knew, he was standing on a wooden deck. Light began to pour into the cave. Gold gleamed all around him. He had found the Incan Gold Ship! Not only that, but there were several Inca people standing over to his left near the mast. Trying to contain his sudden excitement, he went over toward one of them, who exclaimed, "Look! The King has returned! And he's much shorter!" Befuddled by this comment, Will went over to another Inca on the second floor deck. Before he could say anything, the Inca said to him. "King you've returned. Now we can set sail!"

"I'm the king?"

"The queen is waiting for you in the throne room inside. You should go see her immediately." the Inca said.

"Queen? Yes, the Inca Queen." Will thought to himself. "Surely she will know that I'm not the King of the Inca."

He passed two more Inca and a bunk bed on the first basement of the ship before reaching the throne room. The Queen of the Inca sat on the right throne. Nobody was seated in the left throne. "Good, you have returned safely." the Queen said.

Will's heart sank. He wanted to believe this was some kind of perverted joke, but evidently it was not. They all thought he was King of the Inca, even the Queen.

"As promised," the Inca Queen continued, "I have guarded the Mystic Statue of the Wind until your arrival. It is in a jewel box down below, please take it."

Happy to get away from a very akward conversation, Will went down to the second basement and found a treasure chest on the right. Inside the chest was a reddish ceramic statue, not bigger than a foot tall. If this indeed was the mystic statue, it didn't look like anything valuable. But he remembered his father's words.

“Beginning now you will embark on a journey to the ruins of the ancient world to find the mystic statues. These statues are the key to saving me. There are 6 of them in total, one in each ruin."

With the mystic statue in hand, Will went back up to deck and climbed up into the crow's nest of the ship. There was an Inca in the nest. "Oh short King, look there, the ship is coming out of the cave!" Indeed, the dim light began to get brighter and brighter, and before long a deep blue sky filled the heavens, and deep blue water filled the sea below. "It's so beautiful." the Inca said, almost in tears. "After months and years in the darkness, to see the ship set sail is truly beautiful."

Will eventually got down from the crow's nest and re-entered the ship below deck. It was only early evening, but he was exhausted from his ordeal in the ruins. An Inca next to the bunk beds agreed. "It's hard, but please do try to get some rest." Will climbed up to the top bunk and fell fast asleep. While asleep, he had a dream...

[Triforcemaster3]

Chapter 10: Shipwreck!!!

A haze surrounded Will. He recognized a building of some kind. It was his house. Not only that, he was upstairs. Why was he in his house, upstairs? Looking out the window, it appeared to be a cloudy, hazy day. The sky was a bright orange. Perhaps it was late in the afternoon. He looked at the wall, remembering the spot where the Jackal had written his note. It was no longer there, replaced by a picture of his mother and father. A voice called to Will from downstairs. It sounded like the same voice that called to him in the Incan Ruins. It was the sound of his mother. Will went downstairs, and sure enough his mother Shira was standing in the kitchen. She appeared to be preparing a meal of some kind.

She turned to speak to him. "Everywhere you look, the stars in the sky shine brightly. The sky is said to be filled with the light of a comet. Some say that the comet is an unlucky star, others say that it is a lucky star. Will, what do you think?"

Will thought for a moment, remembering the conversation with the Moon Tribe about how the comet's light was speeding up evolution. "I think it is unlucky."

"Okay, then hope that bad luck doesn't come." Shira said. "Will, remember that I will always watch over you."

As his mother said this, his vision was starting to cloud. "Were you calling out to me in the Inca Ruins?" he asked quickly. Before he could get a response, she was gone, and his house faded to black.

"Will! Wake up!" a voice shouted.

Will rubbed his eyes and looked over the side of the bunk bed. To his surprise, Lance and Lilly were standing next to the bunk. "How did you two find me?" Will asked them.

"Will, you were gone for so long." Lilly said. "We had the Elder read your fortune. He said you were floating alone on the sea. I was so surprised."

"We traveled from South Cape to a strange village." Lance said.

"Wait, don't call it strange." Lilly interjected. "I was born there."

"It was invisible." Lance continued. "I'd call that pretty strange. Will, since we're friends, we have to stick together, during good times and bad."

Wondering how Lance and Lilly were able to find the Gold Ship, Will scurried down the bunk and out to the deck. As he moved out toward the deck, he noticed a human skeleton on the wooden planks. The sight of the skeleton coupled with his friends' sudden emergence had Will a bit on the edgy side. Seth and Erik were out on the deck, Seth near the bottom of the crow's nest, Erik near the ladder to the second deck. Erik was surprised to see Will. "Oh, its you Will. Don't scare me like that!" he said as Will passed by him. Shrugging Erik off, Will went over to Seth.

"I found this in one of the cargo holds. I think you'll find good use for it." Seth handed Will a red jewel, his 10th of the journey. Will looked incredulously at Seth, then returned below deck. If all his friends from South Cape, plus Lilly were here, that meant that Kara was probably there as well. He went down to the Inca throne room. As soon as he entered the room, he spotted Kara standing in front of several more skeletons, including the partially mummified remains of the Inca Queen still sitting in the chair. Now Will wanted answers, and he didn't care if he had to press Kara to get them. "What's going on here?" Will asked her.

"The Queen's mummy sleeps silently. She has a light blue ring on her cold, bony finger." Kara said.

Lilly walked into the room from the right. "The Inca must have passed away waiting for the King's return. That ring on the Queen's finger must be a great Incan treasure."

"The ring looks so pretty and shiny, I really must have it." Kara said as she grabbed it from the Queen's skeleton.

"Have you no shame!" Lilly shouted. "You could be cursed!"

As soon as Lilly finished her sentence, there was a great bang on the starboard side of the ship. Lilly started shouting at Kara as the banging got louder and stronger. The three quickly moved back up to deck to find out what was going on. Will ran out onto the deck and quickly found Lance and Erik near the bottom of the crow's nest.

"What is that banging?" Will asked Erik.

"I don't see Seth. Where's Seth?!" Lance asked anxiously.

"Aaah! It's Seth!" Erik yelled. "A huge gigantic fish ran into the side of the ship. Seth fell into the water! He was swallowed!" Erik had tears coming from his eyes and he was on the verge of hyperventilating. As Will attempted to console Erik, there was another strong bang against the port side of the ship. "Aaah! It's that fish again. We'll all be dessert!" Erik yelled.

"Hurry up and grab this!" Lance yelled as he tossed Erik a padded life preserver. Will attempted to grab another preserver on the wall of port side, but the banging and shaking became so strong that Will was knocked to the ground. Pieces of the ship were falling off. As Will attempted to get to his feet, a big wooden plank knocked him in the head, knocking him senseless.

Day 11 -

When he came to, Will was lying on a small wooden raft with a small sail. On the other side of the raft was Kara. He had a big headache, just staying conscious was a struggle. "Good to see you've come to. How are you feeling?" Kara said.

"I'm still really stiff." Will said. "Of course, that shipwreck knocked you out for almost a day." Kara said. "We're adrift on the sea." Will didn't think much about his surroundings, and passed out again a few minutes later. He was too tired to think about the predicament they were now in.

Day 12 -

"I'm hungry." Kara said. "How about we eat the meat we brought from Edward Castle."

Will reached into his sack, which miraculously survived the shipwreck. He found the two remaining legs of meat that he had saved from their castle escape. As they ate, Will finally felt good again. He could tell Kara was really enjoying the food as well. "That was the best meat I've ever had." Will said. "I think so too." Kara responded.

Day 14 -

It was their fourth day adrift at sea. Food was starting to run a bit short, as was water. Will's strength, which had returned just a few days ago, was starting to seep away from him yet again. Across the raft, Kara seemed to be much more entertained with watching the schools of fish swim by. "Beautiful. Everytime I look at the fish, the more beautiful they look. Come and sit, let's watch the fish together Will." Will sat down, but as he continued to watch the fish swim by, he couldn't help but notice how hungry he was getting. He took his flute and smacked one of the fish as it was swimming by in an attempt to catch it. "What are you doing! The poor fish!" Kara shouted in response. Will was exasperated at Kara's behavior.

Day 16 -

It was near sunset. The days were long and the nights were even longer. Will wondered if they would ever survive the monotony, much less the threat of starvation and death at sea.

Suddenly, something perked Kara's attention. "Look! Will, over there!" she shouted. Will looked out to the north where Kara was pointing and noticed a jar floating in the water. The jar floated over to their raft. Inspecting the jar, Will found a note inside. The note read, "My name is Sam. Us natives are being forced to work as laborers in an unknown land. If anybody reads this, please save us. Sam." "Such a terrible note. I'm hungry." Kara said.

"You should have caught that fish back there!" Will shouted.

"I can't hurt such a pretty fish." Kara said.

Now Will was angry. "Are you saying its better to starve!" he shouted.

"I can't help it." she responded. "Fish feel pain! Have you ever thought about how the fish feels? I'm going to sit over there by myself."

Kara didn't say a word the rest of the day. Clearly, Kara's actions were very selfish, and yet Will wondered privately if she was just as hungry as he was.

Day 18 -

Will was losing strength very quickly. He hadn't eaten in two whole days, and the sun was especially strong. It was wearing on him. Taking his flute, he skewered a fish through the mouth. Without thinking about anything, he took a bite out of the raw fish and chewed. It didn't taste very good, but Will didn't care. He was to the point where he would eat anything. Taking his flute again, he grabbed another fish. Then another. A whole school continued to swim through the area, and Will continued to catch and eat. Before long, he had many fish flopping around on the raft. Kara turned to Will, seeing the fish he had caught. "Sorry about the way I talked to you yesterday. I'll eat the fish. I don't want to eat it, but I'll do anything not to starve."

"Let's catch a fish, a big one." Will said.

Kara took Will's flute, then handed it back to him, preferring to use her bare hands. Will, half expecting her to fall off the raft into the water, was surprised to see her grab a fish and raise it from the water. As she started to eat, Will realized that he was starting to develop feelings for Kara.

Day 22 -

It was a dark starry night. Will and Kara stood together underneath the stars.

"The stars are so beautiful." Kara said. "I wish I could reach out and touch them. See that one over there, the bright red one? It's a special star. We should make a wish upon that star."

Will thought for a minute, then looked up at the bright red star amid all the standard white ones. "I wish for everybody's safety, and for my father." Will said. Kara looked into Will's eyes as she made her wish.

Day 28 -

Nearly three weeks had passed since the shipwreck of the Incan Gold Ship. It was another beautiful day. But over to the east, Kara spotted trouble. "What, Will come quick!" Shark fins began to surround their raft. Kara started to freak out as Will quickly threatened her to stay quiet. The sharks continued to surround their raft for several minutes, during which Will and Kara pondered their situation.

"I get it! They're not hungry." Kara said excitedly. "Sharks aren't like humans. Humans tend to attack living things when they're not hungry."

Will looked at Kara incredulously. "Then what we've been doing is not normal human behavior. We didn't eat any fish until we were starving!"

Kara looked back at the pack of sharks. "That's it, they're leaving! Good bye sharks!" she shouted.

Day 31 -

It was nearly sunset. "When I was in the castle." Kara said. "I would always watch the sun set. The sunset was so beautiful from the corner of the castle. But now I've come to hate it. Everything I used to love about the castle I cannot stand any longer. But at least with you I get to see a beautiful sunrise every day."

Kara turned away from Will to the left. She noticed something interesting, part of the sun was getting covered up by the horizon, yet it wasn't touching the water yet that she could see. Could it be?

"Land!" she shouted. "Oh Will, there's land out there. We're going to be saved!"

Kara heard a mumbling behind her, followed by a loud thud on the other side of the raft. Will had fallen down. Worse yet, he didn't respond to her asking him if he was all right. "Will! Will wake up! Will we've almost reached land, don't leave me here alone!!"

[Triforcemaster3]

Gosh, finally chapter 10 is done. That was a marathon.

Luckily, chapter 11 probably won't be quite as long. I hope to get started on it before the weekend.

[Triforcemaster3]

Chapter 11: From Oakton to Freejia

Day 32 -

"You can wake him up now."

Kara moved over toward Will and nudged him gently. So much had gone through Kara's mind over the last few hours. Her brain hurt from all the strain.

"He should be fine as long as he takes vitamin C. It's scurvy, a disease caused by a long-term lack of vitamin C. Columbus's crew contracted it once. When it gets worse, the gums bleed and hair falls out. The skin turns black, and the body starts decaying."

"Stop, stop, please I don't want to hear any more!" Kara shouted toward the man.

"Hehe, well at least you're okay." he said.

"Will, Will! Wake up we're saved!" she yelled.

Will arose quite groggily from the bed. "Huh, where are we?"

"We're at the house of the kind man that saved us." Kara said.

"This is the south outskirts of Oakton." the man told Will. "I've heard that you've been separated from several of your friends. The city of Freejia lies about a half a day to the north. If you are looking for your friends, you should look in a big town. You should thank the dog outside the house. He was the one who saw your raft and came to get me."

Will climbed gingerly out of the bed. Shortly after doing so, him and Kara left the house and went to thank the dog. It was a medium sized brown terrier with a tail constantly wagging. "His name's Turbo. Isn't he cute?" Kara asked. Not waiting for an answer, Kara continued. "Well, maybe we should get going to Freejia. Who knows, maybe we'll see Lance, Lilly, and Erik." Will didn't count on it, but if they were able to escape the shipwreck, then it was certainly possible that his three good friends were able to as well. The two started to walk slowly through the village of Oakton, a hamlet so tiny that it made South Cape look like a bustling metropolis. After about a quarter mile or so, the two were out of the village and on a flat dirt trail heading northbound away from the ocean. In his still weakened state, Will wasn't up for a ton of traveling, but since the man said it was only a half day away, heading the short way to Freejia did sound too bad. At least the landmass they were traveling was pancake flat, a deep contrast to the mountainous terrain of Itory Village and the Incan Ruins.

"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" Kara asked. "The sun's just shining so brightly today, and the grass is so green."

Will didn't immediately answer. After about a minute he responded. "I'm just happy to be back on solid land."

"Agreed. Though, the sea was quite beautiful as well." Kara said.

Will thought it quite strange how Kara always saw natural beauty in the lands they visited. What she saw as picturesque, he saw as rough and unforgiving. Maybe Kara just didn't understand the true peril of being an explorer. Or maybe there was more to it than that. He thought it over as they continued their journey through the afternoon. Finally, as the sun was starting its decline toward the horizon, they saw the budding outskirts of a major town. It sprawled out for what seemed like miles ahead, bigger than any series of buildings they had ever seen. A guidepost on the route said "Freejia, 1 mile ahead." They were almost there.

Entering the city through the southern gates, Kara immediately noticed that there were flowers planted everywhere. They lined the cobblestone streets, they lined the beds of houses, they were even on the landings of several buildings ahead. It didn't take long for her to fall in love with the vast horticulture of the city. Will ignored her ramblings just enough to notice a middle-aged man walking toward them from the north.

"What a cute couple." the man said. "Have you decided where you are staying tonight?"

"Not really." Will said. "We're just looking around."

"Well look no further. Come with me this way to the hotel. We'll take care of you there." the man said.

"Well, it's settled then." Kara said. "Come on Will."

The walked about a block north, then about three blocks to the east through a dense residential area of Freejia. Will had never seen so many big buildings in his life. The houses were three stories tall, and had steel deck porches. Even Eric's large house in South Cape paled in comparison to the kind of luxury he was seeing. Finally, they reached the hotel. The man led Kara into the hotel, followed by Will. "Our attendant bellhop will assist you as soon as she comes downstairs." he said.

The bellhop came down through the stairway. It was Lilly!

"Will?! Kara?! You're safe! It's been almost a month seen we've seen each other!" Lilly shouted as soon as she saw them.

"Yes!" Will said "We washed up around Oakton, and came north to Freejia looking for you and the others."

"I've been living and working in this hotel. Lance is in the room over on the right, you should go talk to him." Lilly said.

Will and Kara looked at each other. They had found their friends, at least two of them. They could hardly contain their excitement as they walked into the room on the right. But when they saw Lance, Will knew something was wrong. He looked really pale, as if he was sick. He sat in the chair next to Lance, who spoke. "They tell me that I don't know who I am. If I don't know who I am, then how did I get here." Will and Kara looked back toward Lilly, who had just walked through the doorway. "Lance hit his head pretty hard while escaping from the gold ship. The doctor says he has temporary amnesia. Meanwhile, I think Lance should stay here until he recovers."

The four had a warm meal together for the first time in weeks that night. While they ate, they told tales of their respective escapes from the Incan Gold Ship. Will's bout with scurvy and Lance's bout with amnesia dominated the conversation, as did Seth. They all felt terrible about Seth's apparent swallowing/drowning, but agreed that there was nothing they could do to stop it. As they were talking about Seth, a thought popped into Will's mind.

"Lilly, where's Erik?"

[Triforcemaster3]

Chapter 12: Flowers, Diamonds, and Labor Traders

"Whatever you do, don't venture onto the back streets of town. Just like a rose has thorns, a pretty town has another side."

These words rang through Will's mind as he ventured through downtown Freejia. About six blocks north of the Freejia capital building (the city served as East Gondwanaland's capital), the scenery began to change a bit. The wildflowers and cobblestones of the city center had changed, replaced by weeds and dirt roads. The luxury homes and businesses that he had seen earlier had been replaced by single level shacks made of wood and stone. It was evident that he had entered an impoverished section of the city. But what was so bad about that? It wasn't like people who lacked money were evil. His family was never very wealthy back in South Cape.

Despite the warning of the nice lady at the hotel, Will had to find Erik. Lilly had mentioned something about him not returning the previous night. They both agreed it was unlikely for him to leave Freejia, but having never been to the city before, Will was uncertain where to go about looking for his friend. A man wearing a purplish colored tunic came walking toward Will near the entrance of a cluster of small homes. He inadvertently bumped into Will as he walked by, almost as if he never saw him. "Stay out of my way will you?" the guy said sternly. Will was insulted, but saw no need to escalate the situation. The man entered a small residence on the left and quickly locked the door. The man's actions seemed quite suspicious. Will continued on his way, now heading to the east. He walked two blocks that direction before being stopped by several armed guards at a street corner. "This area is for grown-ups and authorized personnel only, children cannot pass. Go home." one of the guards said. Will was insulted. He was of age to do just about anything, and these men were telling him to leave. Between this confrontation and the experience with the purple-garbed man earlier, he sensed something wasn't quite right. Looking for a rooftop ledge with which to get around the guards, he spotted one to his left. The building was a two story duplex that seemed a bit dilapidated. It was perfect cover for what he was about to do. He walked into the building, pushing the wooden screen door open. What he saw on the inside of the building horrified him. There were people sitting on the ground with ski masks over their faces bound by balls and chains. The people did not even acknowledge his appearance in the room, which was even stranger. Not sure what to do, Will quickly made his way to the roof of the building. As he suspected, the guards on the ground were occupied and unsuspecting. He noticed that they were talking to two other people, both wearing the same purple tunic as the guy he ran into on the back street. Will lept off the building and landed on the dirt street below. Not even wasting time to brush the dirt off his pants, he made his way eastward another block before coming to another stone building. The sign indicated it was a marketplace of some sort.

Upon entering the marketplace, he noticed two more purple-garbed individuals guarding the entranceway to an area with several people held captive. It was a marketplace all right, it was a market for forced labor! And the people in purple were labor traders! Now Will was very upset. He approached the labor trader at the entrance to the prison area. The man responded quickly to him. "Hey boy, this is a labor market, go home, go home." Will pointed to the red jewels in his tote bag and then pointed at one of the laborers inside the prison. The trader suddenly changed his tone. "Or, did you come to get a laborer?" he asked him. Will responded with a quick yes. "I respect your courage." the trader responded. "I don't know what you're doing here, but have a look around." Will walked into the prison and talked with two laborers. Their names were Imus and Remus, and they told Will that they had been taken captive in a far away village in Laurasia. Their village had been stricken with an epidemic of sickness so terrible that people were shriveling up and turning into skeletons. Others were turning to stone. Labor traders attacked their village in the midst of their suffering and took them prisoner, eventually forcing them into becoming laborers. Several months later, they were loaded onto a ship against their will and taken to East Gondwanaland, ending up in the capital city, Freejia. Their stories horrified Will. He thanked them and turned his attention to a third laborer on the right.

"What is your name?" Will asked.

"Sam" he responded.

"Really?!" Will answered excitedly. "Did you happen to write a note and stuff it inside a pot. A note, like this one I found on the ocean?"

Sam quickly studied the note. "How did you find this?" he asked.

"I was drifting out on the Sea of Gondwanaland with an aquaintence of mine, and a pot with this letter drifted up to our raft. I take it you wrote this when you, Imus, and Remus were sent away from your native village."

Sam took a while to respond. "We have been through so much. Through disease and sickness back home, and our suffering at the hands of the labor traders. I just wanted somebody to come help us. Last night, somebody did. A man named Erik came to our camp and broke us out. Unfortunately, we were undone by a traitor on the streets and brought back here."

Will could not believe what he was hearing. "Erik is a one of my best friends! Where did they take him?"

"He's being held in a house on the northwest side of town. I hear they are going to turn him into forced labor like us."

"Not if I have anything to say about it they won't. Thank you Sam. I promise you, after I save Erik, I will be coming back for you and your friends. You won't suffer like this anymore."

Will was furious. He ran through the streets of northern Freejia, right past the guard station he bypassed earlier. His pace only quickened as he approached the band of houses on the northwest side of town. He didn't need any more information, he knew exactly who was holding his friend captive.

"If you don't want to lose your life, go home." he heard from behind the door.

"Is there a man named Erik there?!" Will asked forcefully.

"Erik? I don't know anybody by that name." the labor trader responded.

"Hey Will, Will is that you?" a voice from inside said. "Save me."

There was a sudden sound that seemed like wood contacting a solid object. "Hey boy, be quiet!" the trader remarked.

Will had heard enough. He took out his flute and ran forward with all speed, breaking down the heavy wooden door. The trader quickly scampered out the back window before Will could get to him. Erik was tied up to a chair with a great bunch of rope. "Will?! That was amazing!" Erik remarked. "I didn't know you could break down the door."

"Erik. What are the traders doing with the laborers?" Will asked as he undid the ropes.

"They are forcing them to work in a diamond mine to the east of here. I'll mark it on your map."

"Let's get back to the hotel. Lance, Lilly, and Kara are probably worried sick."

[Triforcemaster3]

Chapter 13: The Diamond Mine

Day 35 -

It was a glorious sunset in central East Gondwanaland. Will was starting to get thirsty as there wasn't any natural water in sight. After two and a half days of traveling through flat, humid grasslands, the land had changed to that of a semi-arid plateau of rocks and scrub. He was hoping to get to the mine before long. About an hour later the trail diverged into two paths, one leading down into a steep valley, the other leading out toward another high plateau. Will took the path on the right leading down toward toward the valley. After another hour of treacherous downward climbing, Will began to notice some of the labor workers going about their business at the bottom of the rocky valley. Around them were people dressed in greenish-gray clothing. Will moved behind a rocky outcropping just above a mineshaft entrance as two labor traders talked with a green-haired man in a purple tunic. The labor traders bowed in front of him. Will figured it was their boss. Eventually, their conversation ended and the green haired man walked toward where Will lied in wait. He took his flute and took the man down by the neck while holding his mouth.

"Where are they? Where are the laborers?" Will asked him hurriedly. "Tell me!" The man pointed quickly toward the shaft. Will kicked him in the chest as he released him and ran toward the mineshaft entrance. Two labor traders noticed Will and yelled at him to stop. But he plowed right through the gate, entering the mine. He kept running at full speed down a dark tunnel until he reached a lighted cavern. Will was nearly blinded by the contents of the room. The light reflected off a grand wall of diamond on the left, it was more diamonds than Will had ever seen in his life. Two laborers were working at the wall with their pick axes. There were two green demons with whips right next to them, ocassionally hitting their subjects when their digging pace slowed. Will was furious. He charged the first demon from behind and snapped its neck with his flute. The other demon flung its whip at Will, but he dodged to the left and nailed its knee with his flute. The demon fell to the ground and surrendered. Will hacked through the laborers' chains and tied up the demon with them.

"Thank you for rescuing me. As a reward, I'll tell you something important." the laborer said. "There was a cave-in on the lower level of the mine last night. Three of my fellow laborers were buried in the cave-in, but the mine owners, labor traders, and demons have made no effort to help them out. Please help them."

The laborer left the mining area. "What disregard for human life." Will thought to himself. He continued with all speed, moving down through a narrow tunnel to the mine's lower level. There were abandoned mine tracks all over the place, and the area made Will a bit on edge, as if somebody was following him. He turned around and there were two demons moving toward him. He turned and ran the opposite direction to where the demon said the cave-in had occurred. He noticed a spot in the wall where there was quite a draft of wind coming through. The demons had cornered him against the wall and were ready to strike with their whips.

"So you think you're better than them?" Will asked with fire in his eyes. Without so much as a response, Will turned around and started hacking through the rocks near where he felt the draft. Before long, he felt a sting of one of the demon's whips. Will turned around and chucked a rock right into one of the demon's faces, and it fell to the ground. The other demon charged, but he tripped on one of the rocks Will had unearthed earlier. Will picked the demon up by the neck and slammed it facefirst right into the caved-in wall. More rocks fell down off the wall and the draft became stronger. By now the other demon had come to his senses. Will moved quickly with his flute and struck it in the chest, then the head. He then gouged the demon's facial wound with his flute. The other demon then got a facefirst of wall just like his counterpart. The force of the second impact caused the wall to collapse in on itself. On the other side of the wall three laborers were sitting indian-style together. They immediately rose to their feet to see Will standing and the demons out cold on the rocky floor.

"Thank you. We were buried in the cave-in. As a reward, we will give you the three red jewels we found in the mine. We'll send them to the Jeweler." The laborers thanked Will and moved up toward the mine entrance. After a few seconds, one of the laborers turned around and walked back toward Will.

"What is your name?" the laborer asked.

"Will" he responded.

"Will, there are laborers forced to work deep in the diamond mine. This is a key to the main elevator across the chasm. Take it, and save them!" He gave will a gray key, then rejoined his laborer friends. Will backtracked through the mine to the elevator door. With a turn of the key, the door opened, leading to a dark tunnel. At the end of a tunnel was a lift that hung over a vast canyon of pure diamond. Surely Will thought, if the lift were to break, it would be goodnight. He walked onto the lift and held on as it transported him across the canyon. Once on the other side, he moved quickly to what appeared to be a morgue. There were skeletons on the floor of the mine, not unlike those he had seen on the Incan Gold Ship. At least, Will thought, these were probably just the poor souls who had died in the mine. The skeletons on the Gold Ship still befuddled him beyond belief. He had seen the Inca people on the ship the previous day. Now was he actually dreaming or existing in the past, or were the Inca intruding on the present?

Suddenly, a shiny object on the ground snapped Will out of his furious thought. It was a sterling silver key! He quickly picked up the key and sped out of the room, just in case the room was cursed. It wasn't. He moved quickly to a locked door to the left of the morgue. Unfortunately, when Will inspected the door, it had two keyholes. Seeing this, he moved into another room on the left. Inside this room were more demons and another laborer hard at work. Knowing the green demons' weaknesses in and out by now, Will moved quickly through the three demons in the room and reached the laborer. The laborer, as Will suspected, was holding the other key and gave it up in return for Will freeing him. He left the room with the laborer and opened the locked door. Whatever was down this new tunnel had to be valuable.

As it turned out, behind the door was a brand new mine tunnel that had just been dug. At the end of the tunnel was a dead end, with three familiar faces at the end. It was Remus, Imus, and Sam! And they had been ball-and-chained! Will quickly hacked through their chains and rescued them. The three appeared to be especially gracious, and Sam approached Will.

"You did what you said you were going to do in Freejia. You saved us. In return, I know something that can help you. One of your friends has lost his memory, no? A man named Lance?"

Sam's sentence shocked Will. He was all ears.