Chapter Text
Dear Diary.
After a savage battle, Gramorr has been defeated. I was this close to losing, but then…
The ground rumbled at the temple of Andrak, matching the dark cloudy sky. Sounds of crystal shields shattering, rocks crumbling into dust, the whistle of crystal projectiles being lobbed at each side and a heavy sandy feel to each breath.
Finally, someone did something that broke the stalemate.
“Mephisto, what are you doing?” Praxina screamed as her brother lunged forwards, aiming a crystal attack at Gramorr.
“What I should have done all along. Go down and take Gramorr with me! Telanoc!”
Gramorr had to take off his attention off the princesses for a split second. A split second that proved crucial. Iris’s crystal ray overpowered Gramorr’s and hit both him and Mephisto, causing Grammor’s mask to be knocked out and both of them to fall down from the cliff at the temple of Andrak. Gramorr’s crystal spell amplifier fell together with them and exploded violently.
“No!” Praxina cried as she flew downwards in search of them both.
So, Praxina escaped and managed to gather a lot of Gramorr’s power for herself, including his mask! She has carved for herself a part of Ephedia’s core and most of Gramorr’s minions swore allegiance to her.
A devastated Praxina landed in the midst of a forest clearing and cried as she failed to find her brother. It was then when a howl interrupted her. Expecting an attack, she noticed instead was Banes, slowly approaching her in a non-offensive way, an object in its mouth.
“Gramorr’s mask! I see I have a new destiny, then!”
On the bright side of things, Mephisto survived too. And the bright side it is, because...
Iris and the rest of the princesses just got back to the palace to celebrate Gramorr’s defeat. The cheers of joy mixed with glass toasts and hurrays, when all of a sudden a crystal slowly came out of the ground, a human figure inside it. Just as she tried to see who was it, it shattered, revealing...
“Mephisto! You’re alive!”
Mephisto brushed the crystal dust off his clothes and rose up. “Yeah. Well, that was one heck of a ride.”
He pulled a small object from his pocket, which looked like a small white pebble. “I guess I have that to thank for.”
“It’s a life-save crystal!” Talia cried with surprise, “at least, a spent one… how did you get it?”
“After Iris and I destroyed that black crystal dinosaur, Iris got an oracle gem... and I got this thing. I had no idea what it was, I just kept it in my pocket.”
He then looked around at all the people of Ephedia surrounding him. “I guess I’m going to jail now though, aren’t I?”
“My mom, the queen of Ephedia, just announced that everyone who committed crimes under Gramorr’s compulsion would be free.” Iris replied.
“Really?”
“Yep. Total pardon. Full clemency. Absolution of crimes. Forgiveness instead of vengeance. But only if they agree to fix their wrongdoings.”
“Oh! Well…” He seemed a touch more timid than his usual, “Do… Do I qualify?”
“I saw you sacrificing yourself against Gramorr. That has to be taken into account.”
“Worst boss I had to work for. He definitely had it coming.” He smiled for a moment.
“But… you also tried to annihilate me more than I could count. That’s something you need to fix.”
And with that his smile was wiped off.
“Yeah, sorry for that, requirements of the job… but how would I fix that?” he scratched his head.
“See, I happen to need a captain for my royal guard. Your duty would be to do the exact opposite of what you tried to do. Poetic justice, isn’t it?”
“Royal guard? The fiercest person I know?” He chuckled, “I’m not so sure you need one.”
He paused for a moment. “I’ll… I’ll have to think about it.”
“I do remember someone saying they’d be honored to serve under me as the queen of Ephedia...” She taunted him, smiling.
“Hey, I thought we agreed to never mention that moment again!” He tried to protest, yet couldn’t help but return her smile.
“So, will you take the job? please?”
“Fine, you win. Just like you always do. I’ll take the job, Iri- I mean, my princess.”
“So, serving under Iris, huh.” He mused to himself, “I think I can get used to that.”
With my trusty friends and Mephisto as a newly appointed captain of the guard, we went about restoring the palace and restoring happiness in the realm. Gramorr’s minions were still out there and the people of Ephedia needed us.
For almost a month, everything was going just perfect!
… Up until the moment it wasn’t.
The first of the bad news was a report of a supposed meteorite that hit the realm. We went out to investigate.
The landing site was a heavily forested area beneath a cliff, not too far from the border of Volta.
Iris, Talia and Auriana cautiously approached the meteorite. Black and violet crystals were spread around the impact area. Upon closer examination, it was pretty clear this thing was no meteorite at all, it was more of an egg of sorts. A dark, magical, ominous egg, now broken.
“I am not sure I want to see what hatched out of this one.” Auriana commented. “Must be something really nasty.”
“Auriana, look out!” Iris cried, as a black crystal cat-like beast, reminiscent of banes, jumped right at her.
“Crystal retrosum!'' Both Iris and Talia called almost immediately, blocking it for a mere moment before a head butt made both barriers collapse into crystal fragments.
“It’s really nasty indeed!” Talia cried.
“Crystal offensio!” Auriana called and a hail of crystals bombarded the creature, bouncing against its armor harmlessly, drawing a gasp of surprise from Auriana. A quick pounce and both princesses had to duck away for cover.
“Augh! Ribbon of Volta!” Auriana called as she summoned her favorite weapon.
“Wand of Xeris! Crystemsabrus!” Talia did the same as she summoned her own weapon of choice.
Auriana grabbed the beast’s leg with a quick whip shot but as she soon found out, its muscles were far too strong to be contained by it and it swung her far away. Talia’s attack was blocked by its claws and she quickly had to switch from offense to defense as she parried its swings. In a moment she retreated by backflipping into safety.
The beast snarled at Iris and made it clear she was his next target.
“Iris, look out!”
The creature breathed out A volley of sharp black crystals, all flying at high speed towards Iris.
“Crystarmum!”
The crystals pierced Auriana’s shield with troubling ease, but luckily Iris managed to dodge them at the last moment. Iris grit her teeth.
“This ends here and now.” Iris called. “Crystal leos!”
A stream of crystal energy burst from her magic circle, enveloping the beast. It howled in pain, but it could not withstand the energy of a powerful spell for too long. In a few moments, it dissipated into harmless fragments.
“These things are very bad news,” Iris sighed. “It will take a whole lot to deal with them.”
Soon enough, another one of these hit the realm, then another. In a few days, our hands were full at trying to suppress the onslaught of black crystal monsters, starting to plague Ephedia again.
We knew too little about these creatures. We didn’t know where they came from, who sent them and why it had to happen now. When Morgaine made her appearance to explain all that was going on, we learned the disastrous truth.
It was a relatively quiet evening at the royal palace when Iris’s necklace started to pulsate. It was not someone in need this time. It was something else. Talia and Auriana quickly came over.
“Iris, what is the matter?” Auriana asked
“I feel as if Morgaine is trying to contact us.”
They all joined hands as they chanted. “Crystal precatus!” they all called, but nothing happened.
“Could my necklace have been wrong?” Iris asked, holding it up and looking at it.
“It’s been less than a year since we contacted her, certainly not ten.” Talia noted the well-known fact.
And yet, in a few moments, a multicolored spell circle formed, as if on its own, and out of it, a familiar figure emerged.
“Morgaine!” They all called in unison, surprised that the magic kicked in so long after the incantation.
“Iris, there is no time to spare.” Morgaine turned towards her. “I bring bad news with me about the nature of those supposed meteorites.”
Iris nodded, listening with intent.
“Iris, these are called “the harbingers of Asmodeus”. In but a few weeks, Asmodeus itself will manifest.”
“Asmodeus? What is Asmodeus?” She asked.
“Asmodeus is an abomination, a devourer of worlds. Asmodeus’s hellish power dwarfs that of Gramorr and it is undefeatable. If it manages to step on Ephedia’s ground, Ephedia will become eternally its domain.”
“Oh… oh no…” Iris whispered. “Can we stop it somehow?”
“I can teach you a banishment spell that will stop its arrival for the next 100 years, but it will not be easy to cast. You will need my blessing and the combined work of no less than seven princesses, each from a different magical nexus and bearing their royal relic, to cast the spell at the site of the temple of Andrak.”
Iris clenched her fist. “I’ll get right to it!” she called.
“Wait, there’s more. You are no longer safe here. You must return to earth where Asmodeus’s magic won’t locate you and return only when you are ready.”
Iris let go of her fist as she realized what that had meant. She’d have to watch from afar and put her trust in her friends.
And that was it. Talia and Auriana went back with me. Mephisto stayed behind helping to protect the realm and fight off the dark crystal beasts. We were left with the task of making plans for finding two more princesses, somehow.
“We need to find two more princesses… in a few weeks!” Auriana ranted. “Just finding Iris took almost a year.”
“That’s right, but Iris was well hidden here on earth. This time, we know exactly what we’re looking for, and where.” Talia noted as she pointed towards Ephedia’s map.
“So, we have princesses from Ephedia, Xeris, Volta, Calix and Borealis with us.”
Iris studied the map carefully. Ephedia was right there in the middle, painted in pink. Next to it were Xeris in blue, Volta in orange, Calix in purple and Borealis in green, an island not too far away. Talia continued.
“Morgaine’s words suggest that the magic in the far realms is insufficient for our needs, as they don’t have a nexus of magic of their own. We will send our scouts over there as well, just in case.”
Iris looked at the map again. The lands of Volantis and Amadon were quite far from Ephedia’s core. From Talia’s previous lessons she recalled fewer people wanted to live there due to the lower magical potential of these areas, making it harder to protect villages and towns there.
“So that leaves us with Ferruxia, Tamaris and Livoria. Lyna will lead the squad to Ferruxia, Carissa will lead the one to Tamaris and Jodan will lead the one to Livoria.”
Iris examined the paths Talia charted on the map.
Ferruxia was a northern kingdom, colored in rust brown and neighbouring Volta. The path there seemed short enough, but she knew the roads must cross through the northern mountainous region.
The lime-green southern kingdom of Tamaris was rather large, so despite its border being close by, it would be a while until Carissa could reach its capital. Iris hoped her journey would be somewhat uneventful, even if a bit long.
The one to worry about was the silvery southern kingdom of Livoria. The shortest road there passed by Praxina’s newly-claimed territory.
“I really hope Jodan won’t have too much trouble getting there. If only I could help! But I’m stuck here when I feel like I need to be there.”
“The leader’s dilemma. ‘Should I lead my people at the front or do they need me back at the command post.’.” Talia smiled, then got serious back again.
“It’s vital that you remain here. You’re the one who should be casting the spell to banish Asmodeus. You need to practice your skills.”
Iris sighed.
“On one hand, I am so happy to be back and I can’t wait for Nathaniel to get back from his vacation… but It’s so hard to see this happening on a map without being there for my people.”
“Hey, cheer up!” Auriana said, “I kinda like it here. Maybe earth still has some surprises for you, Iris. We did find one princess here, after all.”
“I wouldn’t bet on a princess appearing on earth out of nowhere all of a sudden,” she replied, the mere thought drawing a short laugh out of her, “As if that could happen.”