Chapter Five

Jade explains to the girls everything they wanted to know before revealing something devastating about the sorcerer named Drake�

“Where are we going?" Star asked looking around their surroundings, "This isn't the path to Drake's Tower."
"I know," Jade said, stopping so they could take a small break. "I want to take the two of you to Lecriema's Temple-"
"Lecriema's Temple? I thought there was only one temple for our Goddess, and that’s back in the city!" Tygra exclaimed in amazement.
"Well, our people originally lived in the forest.” Jade began; rage could be heard faintly within her tone. “Until the monsters, made by Drake, took over..."
"How the hell old is Drake anyway?" Star asked curiously as she took a few steps towards her.
Jade let out a nervous laugh. However, it wasn’t because she was afraid. There was something she knew about this man named Drake. Something that had her worried on how the three of them would be able to take out the one of him.
Tygra looked to her curiously, wondering what had caused her odd behavior. "What is it, Jade?"
A high pitched shriek could be heard from behind them, causing them to turn around, alert for any oncoming attack. The demons were back on their trail once again, and they wanted the girls to aware. "Come on. If we go to the temple, we'll be safe." Jade ordered and began walking once again.
Star reached for her strap around her shoulder, finding that it was gone. She let out a frustrated groan. "I let my damn pack at the campsite."
Tygra placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Star; you don’t need any of that junk to heal anyone."
Star smiled slightly. "Thanks Tygra." She looked over to where Jade once stood, now a few feet away. "I think we should follow her before we lose her again."
"Yeah, let's go."
Tygra and Star quickly began to follow after Jade, wondering what it was exactly she had to tell them.

*        *   *

The ‘short while’ that Jade had mentioned earlier, was nearly a two hour walk to Lecriema's Temple. The girls were beginning to become quite agitated by their long walk when Jade stopped before them, giving them a slight glance over her shoulder. "Here we are."
"Wow!" The two girls uttered at once, their tones were flooded with astonishment.
Before them stood the most beautiful building they have ever laid eyes upon, even more so than their temple within Helonious. The structure was built in roman architecture and was made from a pure white marble. Thick green vines wrapped around the columns from the forest floor, hiding what little cracks beginning to form within the stone. Surrounding the edges of the temple were luscious red rose gardens, carefully planted by the ancestors of Helonious.
"This is so cool!" Tygra exclaimed, staring up at the temple with great regard.
"Let's go." Jade ordered stepping towards the temple‘s entrance. She placed her hand around the handle of the cast iron door, pulling it open with ease.
From the entrance, the three girls could see a vast statue of their Goddess Lecriema against the back wall. The sculpture caught every aspect of their goddess; her long, curly hair which reached just past her waist. Her gown, that looked so realistic though it was made only of stone, seemed to move in an unnoticeable wind just above her bare feet. The look upon her face was sincere as she held her hands out at her sides, welcoming all who came into her temple.
The three girls walked towards the back of the temple, stopping before the statue. Sitting before the monument, Star, Tygra, and even Jade, looked up to the embodiment of their goddess with quiet admiration. The appreciation for their goddess could be seen upon their faces, as they held her dear to their hearts.
After a moment's pause, Jade let out a little sigh as she turned back to the girls. "Alright. It's time I tell you everything you need to know."
"Wait, are you sure we have time for this?" Star asked worriedly as she turned her attention back to her. "You said the world is going to explode!"
"Don't worry about it. He’s not going to blow up the world.”
"Well that’s not the impression you gave us!" Star cried. "I almost had a heart attack at what you said!"
"I had to get you two to move faster somehow." Jade said as if she were bored with the concept.
"Grr..."
"Wait," Tygra began quickly so to avoid another argument between the two, "if he doesn’t want to blow up our world, then why you did drag us all the way out here?”
"Ok. The only way that you will understand is if I show you." Jade explained, holding out her hand to Tygra. "Let me see your necklace."
Tygra looked down to her necklace which she had placed back around her neck, puzzled. "Alright…" she unfastened the clasped to the necklace, taking it off and handed it to Jade.
Jade took her necklace off as well, and put the two together. She held them up for Star and Tygra to see. “See? They go together like this.”
“But what is the whole purpose of this?” Tygra asked, studying the necklaces with curiosity. “It’s just a necklace, isn’t it?”
“Not quite.” Jade said following her gaze to the necklaces. “This necklace, once together, is called the Rampant Eye…have you ever heard of it?” She watched as the two shook their heads. “I didn’t think so…” she looked back to the necklaces. “Originally, these necklaces would go together like this, with a jewel placed in its center. It-”
“Where’s the jewel?” Star interrupted.
“Well, Drake has it somewhere in his tower.”
“Oh, that’s nice. Real nice.” Said Tygra, clearly disappointed.
“Don’t worry. It’s only a matter of finding it.” Jade let out a long breath before continuing. “Anyway, the necklace won’t stay together without the jewel.” She let go of the necklaces and watched as they fell separately to the concrete floor with a metallic clank. “You see, we need all of the pieces for this to work. We also need the Lemicraus Spell, but don’t worry. I have that.”
“But what exactly is this Rampant Eye?” Star questioned narrowing her eyes in deep thought.
“It’s an all powerful necklace which was used by a fearsome warrior nearly two decades ago…” Jade explained a bitter expression crossing over her features. “Anyone who has all three pieces can wreak havoc with the power it contains. That’s why Drake wants it.”
“Then why didn’t we just stay home?” Star asked. “All we need to do is stay away from him and that’s that.”
“Do you really think it would be that easy?” Jade questioned as she looked to the two girls.
“Well why not? It’s not like Tygra would just hand over the necklace now that she knows of its importance. She’ll take good care of it.”
“Yeah, right.” Jade said rolling her eyes at her past comment. “Knowing you two, you would have been completely charmed out of your wits once you see him to know it was a trap.”
“Hey!” Star and Tygra yelled at once.
“But, why didn’t you just stay with us and make sure that didn’t happen? We live in the same house so it would have been easy to-” Tygra began.
“Sheesh. Trying to explain something to you two is like teaching a werewolf good eating habits.” Jade explained with a shake of her head.
“What’s that suppose to mean?” Star asked a little annoyed.
“I already told you two that we have to do this spell or we can say bye-bye to both worlds.” She waved good-bye with her one hand as she said this. “He only wants to prevent us from doing it.”
“But you said we didn’t have to worry about the world exploding!”
“That doesn’t mean it won’t happen…”
“Urgh!”
“But why is this happening in the first place?” Tygra asked, breaking up the girls’ argument.
“Some stupid thing a priestess did a while back. Let’s just leave it at that.” Jade took another deep breath. “Alright, anything you want to ask me?” She questioned, moving along with the conversation as she looked at them both closely.
“Yeah, I do!” Star said a little frustrated. “Why did you and Tygra get the necklaces? I thought we were both important in this, this-" she waved her right hand as she tried to think of a word. “Mission?”
“Oh, I really don’t have to answer that, do I?” Jade asked as if the answer were obvious.
“Yes, you do. I want to know!”
“Well, alright…” Jade said, acting as if the answer were too painful to bear. “The truth is, well, you're an imbecile.”
Tygra began to laugh as Star glared at the two of them, her fists clenched up on her lap. “That’s not funny!” She cried, sticking her nose in the air.
“Fine. You want to know the real reason?” Jade asked looking to her.
She looked back to Jade, hoping she wasn’t setting herself up for another joke. “Yes! That’s the whole reason I asked you in the first place!’
“Chill, will you? There is no sense in screaming like that.” Jade said. “The reason is it would be careless to give the two of you a necklace. And the only reason that Tygra has that one is, let’s face it; she was raised to cast spells. Besides, it was easier for me to only have to protect one of you instead of both.”
“Hmm. I guess that makes sense.” Star said after a moments thought.
“Ok, now that that’s settled, are there any important questions that need to be asked?”
“Yeah, what did you mean about us?” Tygra asked, curiously.
“And you? You said you were going to tell us who you really were, too?” Star added.
“Well,” Jade began, “Tygra, Star, you are from an ancient race, called the Encryptarians. Your family blood lines are all that remain left in this world…”
Jade closed her eyes. The expression of pain crossed her face. Both, Tygra and Star, were surprised. They had never seen any emotion in Jade, besides the sudden show of humor every so often. Not to mention the slight flicker of anger here and there.
She then opened her eyes, her cool demeanor back in place. “That was Drake’s doing. He wanted to make sure that there was no one left who could stop him. He just didn‘t know your bloodlines were left.”
“But, he has to know this by now.” Star stated worriedly. “Does that mean our parents are in danger?”
“No, of course not.” Jade said shaking her head slightly. “They want nothing to do with this, so I had no choice but to have you follow me.”
“You mean, lie to us?” Tygra questioned with a smirk.
“I didn’t lie to you.” Jade said her eyebrows held high. “I said we were going on a journey to Drake’s tower so you can venture to the topside. I still have plans on the two of you going there.” She lowered her gaze to the necklaces on the ground. “With the Rampant Eye, you shall be able to travel there with no problem.”
“But I thought you said-” Star began.
“The Rampant Eye will only be used in the way the user sees fit. The necklace itself isn’t evil; only its bearer.” She looked back to the two of them; an odd expression could be seen within her eyes. “Anyway, since the two of you are Encryptarians, you cannot die of aging; only by being killed.”
“Ok...that explains our story. I think…,” said Tygra.
“Wait, if we can’t die of aging, how come we aged anyway?” Star asked puzzled.
“It doesn’t take effect until you are twenty.” Jade explained.
“Oh, I get it.”
“I hope so.” Jade said, looking to the side.
“But, what about you?” Tygra asked. “What do you have to do with this? And, why were you wasting your time at school, when you had something so important to deal with?”
“Well, the reason for me being at the school is quite simple actually. I had to keep an eye out on you and Star, pretty much 24/7, so that Drake wouldn’t try to kill you.” She paused and looked at them. “And, the reason I’m in this is because am Lucranian. Well one of the first Lucranians.”
“WHAT! NO WAY!” Exclaimed Star.
“You mean to tell us that you are as old as our world? That’s a little hard to believe.” Tygra chipped in.
“No, I’m not that old. The Lucranian’s only started about a thousand years ago.”
“Still…that‘s only off by a few years…” said Tygra.
“Well, believe it. I am not going to explain the whole thing. Not now.”
“But Lucranian’s don’t have immortality. They live as long as everyone else-" Tygra began.
“I don’t feel like talking about that right now. You wanted to know why I’m in this and I told you, so drop it!” Jade snapped.
“I was just stating the simple fact is all. There’s no need to bite my head off!” Tygra snapped back at her.
“Fine.” Jade said looking off into the distance. “It’s because I’m a vampire. Vampires are the same as Encryptarians with their immortality only that the age they are when they are changed, is the age they will be forever. Except if, they are in their preteens. Then it take’s place when they're eighteen.”
“Why’s that?” Star asked.
“I’m not too sure. I would say it’s because a person’s body needs to be fully developed so they can gain their full powers.”
“Oh.” Tygra said after Jade was finished explaining. “Well, why didn’t you just say it was because you’re a vampire instead of snapping at me like that?” She looked over to her waiting for an answer.
"Because I'm not natural."
"Not natural?" Tygra questioned, unsure of what she meant.
"I was changed into a vampire when I was sixteen."
There was a long pause amongst the girls. Neither Tygra nor Star knew this about her. An ‘unnatural’ was rare within their world since their Goddess forbade that kind of action from her people. It isn’t necessary for vampires to feed on the living to survive; they only did so to gain more power. And their goddess despised this kind of behavior of her people.
The two girls always wondered why Jade had kept to herself about her past. Now, as the two of them sat before her, they were not too sure if they could blame her.
“Wait a second. Why do you need us then?” Star asked putting an end to the silence and changing the subject at once.
“Lucranians were Encryptarians that broke free from that faith, believing that magic isn’t needed for everyday lives. Since that is the case, Lucranians are forbidden to use magic. We swore to the goddess that we would never use it again. That goes for me, too. I can’t even do a simple chant or I’ll loose my technique forever,” Jade explained, referring to her reddened eyes.
“So that’s how you knew about Devil’s Port,” said Tygra acknowledgement crossing over her.
“But that’s not the only reason, is it? I read somewhere that people with great regrets become Lucranians, hoping to make amends.” Star explained.
Jade looked to her a little surprised. “Wow, Star. I didn’t know you read up on things like that.”
“Oh, it’s nothing! I found it in a magazine I was reading in Physics.”
“Ah, that explains it.”
“What about Drake?” Tygra asked. “Why does he want to have both worlds destroyed so badly?”
“Hm. Good question. Why do people do what they do? I’m guessing that it’s just something he wants to do.”
“What? Why?” Star asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he’s-” Jade cut herself off, quickly switching her gaze over to the statue avoiding their gaze.
“Jade is there something you’re not telling us?” Tygra asked concern could be heard within her tone.
Jade looked back to her two closest friends. Should I tell them? She thought, taking a deep breath before releasing it slowly. Yes, it’s best to do it this way. Jade looked to them leaving out a nervous giggle, her face blank of all emotions. “It’s because, well, he’s a god.”