Haunt & Havoc

by Jeremy Dwyer

“I can’t go any closer. Something terrible is weighing down on me,” Laurentius said.

  “There is something painful…an emotion, and it is too powerful for me to approach,” Guillermo said.

  “I’ve never felt anything like this. It’s too much,” Przemek said.

  “Yared, Claudia: Do something now, before it’s too late!” Tomiko said.

  Yared and Claudia both drank anew of the waters of the Elanatin Ocean from their vials and were energized.

  Yared reached out with his empathic and telepathic powers and created a shield around the group, to fend off the negative emotional energies.

  Claudia created another, inner shield, further protecting the group.

  “What made you think you could help? What can you do?” Tomiko asked.

  “A great danger is on the other side of that wall. He may be able to take us through it, and confront the cause,” Guillermo said.

  “It’s not as if a ship could break through it, or reach a sufficient altitude to get over it,” Lavakara said. He had considered going through it – using the power to jump into the spirit world and then return to material form on the other side of the wall – but he sensed strong spiritual forces there that could have repelled him. Besides, Lavakara wasn’t here to actually rescue anyone: he still planned on scouting out a worthy adversary in combat whose body he could steal.

  “When faced with evil and hatred, we must speak against it,” Daven said as he drank anew of the waters of the Pirovalen Ocean from his vial, which energized him. The words came to him quickly, corresponding to a melody that he had devised earlier based on his readings:

  I will shatter…everything you ever did

  All the things that you have ever made.

  Of your wicked name we will be rid,

  For your offenses you will be repaid.

  I will shatter…every single lie you ever told,

  Everything that you have ever said.

  The memory of you we will no longer behold.

  It will be as if you never lived,

  As if you were eternally dead.

  (Refrain)

  You’re the only one you ever loved, yet the weak you claim to save.

  This sanctuary that you’ve built is nothing but a grave.

  I will shatter…your character and myth,

  The image you've been living with.

  No more will the innocent endure,

  Your arrogance, your legend and your lore.

  I will shatter…the city and the wall,

  The stronghold which guards your unjust reign.

  Your fortune and your glory both will fall,

  On this day will be your greatest pain.

  (Refrain)

  I will shatter…the confusion and the spell,

  Under which the world was made to live,

  By the twisted web you spin and weave,

  Buying love to make the world believe,

  With all the stolen treasures that you give.

  I will shatter…every monument that stands for you,

  And all your towers rising to the sky,

  That give you glory that you never deserved.

  They will crumble to the ground.

  In every nation, your failure will resound.

  Your fame and legend I will make the world deny.

  (Refrain)

  Cracks began to form in the great wall of Baradaxa, and the cracks spread. Shards of the crystal of which it was comprised began to fall away before their very eyes.

  Ovid recorded all of this as quickly as he could, drawing a series of images of the falling crystal wall sections in his book. He also successfully recorded all of the lyrics and the melody of the Shatter song, and the fact that Daven sang it.

  “Nice job. You’re hired,” Nina said, startled at the song’s large scale and rapid effect.

  ~~~

  Sebastian and Fantine both heard the Shatter song clearly. They watched as the towering crystal wall began to crack and splinter from the inside, gradually revealing what appeared to be a small opening going nearly all the way through the wall.

  “The wall is under attack…by the sound of the song. It must be the pitch of the notes in the song, with the singer’s voice enhanced by the Pirovalen waters, that’s compromising the crystal integrity,” Fantine said, clearly surprised.

  Sebastian looked at her and said: “I have enemies. They are the reason the wall was built, and they are the ones staging this attack. Now, here is your greatest challenge – fix this wall faster than it falls away.”

  Fantine apprehensively walked toward the crystal wall, looking for a safe opportunity to analyze and repair it, but she found none, as the cracking and splintering accelerated and pieces began to fall away.

  “I need more time. I’m sorry…I can design anything, but not at this speed. That is not possible,” Fantine said.

  “Then you are not as great as you think yourself to be. Your visions are bold, but you’re not up to the task when I truly need you,” Sebastian said.

  “Structure, not speed, is the true measure of architecture,” Fantine said, stepping back from the wall as the crack spread farther and faster, and the opening in it became larger and clearer, passing all the way through to the shore on the other side. She thought that the entire wall’s structural integrity could fail at any moment.

  “Life is short for most people, so time and speed are of the essence. Yet, you fail to understand that. I shouldn’t be surprised. You don’t even understand people. You’re just a loveless woman, and dead inside,” Sebastian said. He slapped Fantine fiercely, knocking her to the ground and drawing blood. Then, he returned to his own airship and drank anew of the waters of the Elanatin Ocean from another vial, to be energized yet again.

  He raised the airship to twenty (20) feet of altitude for a position of advantage, and then projected his emotional energies in full force, directing the people in the nearby villages to hate with all their hearts, and then to march through the jagged opening in the crumbling crystal wall and kill everyone they met.

  The people emerged from their homes in the villages and began walking toward the wall, then through its fractured opening, to commit murder according to the telepathic command they had been given.

  ~~~

  “They’re coming to kill us, out of hate!” Yared said.

  “Who?” Tomiko asked.

  “The villagers whom he tricked into living in this city. He commanded them to hate us,” Claudia said.

  “If there is a worthy warrior among them, I will find him,” Lavakara said, and he rushed toward the fracture that had formed in the wall.

  Genevieve turned to Stephan and Nerine and said: “We’re not done. I have something for you.” She then handed a book to them, containing notes she had written earlier.

  Stephan and Nerine both held the book and looked over the notes.

  “I think I can sing this,” Nerine said.

  “I’ve never seen this melody before, but I can tell it’s powerful. It’s almost like there are two (2) different songs woven together,” Stephan said.

  Ovid looked at the notes over their shoulders and transcribed them into his book, including the lyrics to the song.

  “Drink up,” Genevieve said.

  Nerine drank anew of the waters of the Pirovalen Ocean from her vial and was energized with the power of music. Stephan drank anew of the waters of the Pirovalen Ocean from his own vial and was likewise energized.

  Stephan began playing a lyre and Nerine began singing:

  Beware the deceiver.

  Question all that you hear.

  The truth of love, when examined,

  Carefully, will be clear.

  The vain and the cruel,

  Will demand that you praise their name.

  Exalt no tyrant,

  Or you will share in their shame.

  (Refrain)

  Accept no sweet lies – he cleverly plays on your every emotion.

  Tell no sweet lie
s – you created neither the land nor the ocean.

  Live in no shining city,

  Ruled by envy and hate,

  Or you will share,

  In its terrible fate.

  The vicious and arrogant

  Will tear the whole world apart,

  To avenge their injured pride,

  Breaking every good heart.

  (Refrain)

  Build no road and no bridge,

  To reach a faraway place,

  When the ruler of that land,

  Is filled with lies and disgrace.

  The horror speaks kindly

  To seduce and then kill.

  It leads you to evil,

  By giving your pride its fill.

  (Refrain)

  Be not a believer

  That you are above all.

  Arrogance and contempt

  Will bring your own terrible fall.

  Preach not your greatness,

  Do not bring death,

  To those who won't praise you,

  To whom you gave not first breath.

  (Refrain)

  The song penetrated the minds of the people – the angry villagers gave up their anger, despite the empathic and telepathic powers that Sebastian had used against them. As they came through the broken wall, they looked around for the source of the music, because it gave them peace.

  Ovid recorded the performance of the Accept No Sweet Lies song, noting its melody alongside the lyrics he had recorded moments ago, and he watched the people as they came through the growing fracture in the towering crystal wall. He saw and noted the change in their demeanor and direction – at first, they appeared to be moving in a hostile manner, but then they were awakened from whatever influence they were under, and ceased their aggression.

  “It’s working! They’re calming down!” Claudia said.

  “The song was powerful, even over him!” Yared said, noticing something else.

  Sebastian heard and felt the Accept No Sweet Lies song, and the empathic and telepathic powers that he projected altogether ceased. He lost his energy and became calm. In his calm, he lost his controlling connection to his many servants near and far – those who drank of the Zovvin Ocean waters and repelled the swarm of spirits before they could attack Sebastian.

  “Run!” Carter said.

  “Swiftly!” Lavakara said.

  Carter and Lavakara both ran toward the Sun Lynx and away from the still crumbling wall, with everyone else – except for Ovid – following them.

  ~~~

  The angry swarm of spirits – unrepelled by any spirit controlling powers – then moved through the break in the crystal wall and found the target of their ultimate hatred. They began haunting and tormenting Sebastian, so that he had no peace. He writhed in agony, screaming, and the spirits caused him to convulse and then crash the airship on which he was elevated. Sebastian survived the airship’s violent drop to the ground from twenty (20) feet of altitude, but the spirits continued to haunt and torment him, so that he then left the wrecked airship and thrust himself upon the nearby broken crystal shards that had fallen from the wall, until he bled to death.

  While she was lying on the ground – bruised, bleeding and scarred from Sebastian’s assault upon her – Fantine watched Sebastian inexplicably go insane and thrust himself upon several crystal shards that had fallen from the wall, so that he bled to death. She didn’t know what to feel, other than relief at the thought that she could return to work, because she had survived. Fantine slowly stood up and saw the vast extent of the damage to the giant and crumbling crystal wall, thinking it might not be safe to go through the opening to the outside, as the entire structure could shatter at any moment. Instead, she ran away from the wall, in the direction of the interior of the continent, waiting for the inevitable.

  ~~~

  Ovid stood on the shore and looked through the break in the wall so that he saw all of this – Sebastian’s crashed ship and strange death by impalement and Fantine running away from the wall – and recorded all of it into his book.

  Still standing on the shore, but near the boarding ramp of the Sun Lynx, Tristan saw what was about to happen, and Stephan and Nerine heard the crackle of the fracturing crystal.

  “There’s a crackling sound all over,” Stephan said.

  “I hear it – it sounds like the crystal is breaking inside the wall,” Nerine said.

  “That’s because it is all going to shatter!” Tristan said. He boarded the ship, knowing that the danger of catastrophic structural failure was fast approaching. Nerine and Stephan followed him closely.

  When Ovid heard the sounds that indicated the acceleration of the cracking of the crystal wall, he then moved swiftly toward the Sun Lynx and boarded the ship, along with everyone else. However, the previously telepathically-subdued villagers remained standing on the shore, at peace but confused. The villagers were standing away from the wall, possibly safe, depending on which way it fell.

  Once Daven saw that the passengers were all on board the Sun Lynx, he shouted: “Sail away! Now!”

  Rayner moved the Sun Lynx away from the coast, as quickly as he could.

  “Look! It’s collapsing!” Tristan said.

  The fracture spread and branched so far that the wall simply shattered and fell inward.

  Ovid rapidly drew elaborate diagrams of the fracturing and shattering process into his book, as best he could at the given distance.

  “That proves crystal structures can be collapsed with sound,” Laurentius said, with his thoughts still focused on repairing his family’s reputation.

  “That may be the cause for the temple’s ruin, but your mystery is not yet solved,” Guillermo said.

  “Correct: just because sound can produce that effect doesn’t prove that was the mode of failure for the temple,” Przemek said.

  “No one got hurt. They were far enough away,” Claudia said after probing the thoughts of anyone standing on the shore. She could not find any indication that they suffered injuries due to the shattered wall.

  “They’re still confused. They don’t know what to think. Sebastian almost certainly did more harm than we can sense right now,” Yared said.

  “He is dead. The spirits took hold of him,” Carter said.

  “Better him than us,” Nina said.

  “He will pay a heavy price to the spirits. Yet, they seem to have left us, satisfied with their catch,” Lavakara said.

  “I can pay a lower price for some of that land. He used to own the majority of it,” Alistair said.

  “Talking about selfish. You never quit, old man,” Nina said.

  “It’s an opportunity to make good of something unpleasant,” Alistair said.

  “That’s what business is,” Rayner said.

  “Life is about more than that, though. It’s not all about money. Friends are more important,” Nerine said.

  “Honest ones, if you can find them,” Genevieve said.

  “That’s a big ‘if’. But Alistair knows that, as old as he is,” Nina said.

  “Age isn’t what matters most. Outlook is more important,” Genevieve said.

  “I look out to the stars. They’re bright again. That’s more than I can say for most people,” Nina said.

  “You always find the negative for any positive,” Yared said.

  “Balance is important, like he said,” Nina said, looking to Lavakara.

  “Do you truly understand the meaning of balance? I have doubts,” Lavakara said.

  “Every facet of life is a mystery. Does anyone truly understand the meaning of balance?” Guillermo asked.

  “Choose one (1) water from the twelve (12). Nobody can drink more than one (1), or have more than (1) power. That’s balance,” Genevieve said.

  “Outside of mathematics, that’s probably the truest statement I’ve heard,” Tomiko said.

  “Yet, is it completely true?” Lavakara asked, and he disappeared from sight, and from the material world.

  �
�By the authority of the Chronicler’s Oath, I must insist that we return to Emeth,” Ovid said, after recording all that he saw and heard into his book.

  “On our way,” Rayner said. He drank anew of the waters of the Atrejan Ocean from his vial and was energized. He listened to the sounds of the stars and heard their positions and movements, and was thereby able to chart the course for the return trip.

  ~~~

  Fantine stood in the middle of an open field, looking out upon the massive piles of crystal shards that had fallen from the shattered wall. She saw villagers moving about, searching through the rubble to uncover the remnants of their homes, which were damaged or destroyed by the collapsed crystal wall. When she realized that the situation was no longer life threatening, she approached the remains of the wall and examined the shards of crystal closely.

  “You can build again, bigger, and for a better reason,” a voice said from behind her.

  Fantine recognized the voice and turned to face its owner – Niven. “I will build new structures, and help these people rebuild their homes, here and in other places where the wall was shattered. I will develop new designs, that are safer,” she said.

  Niven saw that she was bruised and scarred – there was even blood on her cheek – and he reflexively reached out to wipe it away, saying: “You’re bleeding.”

  “I’m fine. It’s nothing,” Fantine said, pushing his hand away and wiping the blood off of her own cheek. She had already put thoughts of Sebastian behind her.

  “It was Sebastian, right? He wasn’t a good guy at all – only in love with himself, and thought everybody else should be, too,” Niven said.

  “He acted like he wanted to help, but then he made a mess of things. He’s done now, though,” Fantine said.

  “He did more than make a mess. He took advantage of people. He killed them. I don’t know what you saw, but he took women from their husbands, so he could have them for himself,” Niven said.

  “It’s tragic that he made those destructive choices. Now, I have to help rebuild,” Fantine said.

  “It’s still you, Fantine. You don’t stop designing or building,” Niven said.