The Terasu Stone

    Alex sat up realizing it was only a dream. Looking around the 
unfamiliar room, she remember what happened, after telling the
sorcerer, who’s name they had learned to be Gelar, the whole story, they’ve 
been asked to stay so that they can start on their journey to find the stone
the next day. Gelar was very concerned by their story. He had agreed to
help them find the stone as well as Sora.
    Alex slipped out of her bed and walked onto the balcony of the 
guest room she was sleeping in. Looking up, she saw thousands of 
glittering stars, tiny pinpricks, peppered upon the seemingly never 
ending sky. She tried to recall her dream but found that she could no 
longer remember any of it, except everything being destroyed. < I wonder
if it actually meant anything, it was probably just a dream, but it 
seemed like much more. > Shuddering, she walked back inside. Staring at
the ceiling, she realized that it was impossible for her to fall asleep
again. Remembering the Library she and Gillian had encountered earlier, she
decided to pay it another visit. "Well, might as well put it to use, maybe 
I can even find some more info on the stone." She quickly slipped on some 
clothe and headed for the Library, ready for a long night of reading.

[Next morning]
    Gillian woke up to a knock on her door as an excited Alex burst 
in. "Hurry up! We’re leaving!" Removing the pillow that she put over
her head to block out the knocks, Gillian sat up and looked into Alex's
gleaming eyes.
    Slightly annoyed, she replied, "Don’t you know it's impolite to 
just barge into other people’s room? And why are YOU so happy?" 
Alex frowned but wasn’t about to let this upset her. She merely
shrugged at Gillian's question. Gillian rolled her eyes and threw the 
pillow into Alex's face. "Leave while I change," she said, giggling at
Alex's feathered covered face. Alex smirked at her and threw the
feather pillow back. Then, with a bang of the door, she left.
    Gillian couldn't help smiling at her immature behavior as she got
up and looked for her white robe. But, instead, she found a long
pale-blue dress with a note that read, "I thought this might be less
conspicuous." It was signed simply, "The Servants". < Hm... I wonder what’s
wrong with the white one. > "Oh well," she said to herself as she put on 
the dress. Walking to the dresser she picked up an elaborately decorated 
comb made of ivory. < Wow, I bet this cost a LOT > Running the brush 
through her sleek sapphire hair, she finally managed to braid it into a 
French braid after several unsuccessful attempts.
    Walking towards the window, she spotted several beautiful horses
outside, galloping around the fresh green lawn. < hm… funny I didn’t notice
them last night, well no time to stare at horses, I’ve gotta get going. >         
      
    Skiping down the steps, she arrived in the dining room to face a 
particularly ticked off Alex. "We don’t have time to fool around," she
scold Gillian. She began filling Gillian in on what she had discovered 
among surprisingly large collection of books she had found last night.
    It seemed that the Terasu stone was quite famous among the people of 
this time period. There were many legends surrounding the powerful stone. 
One of such stories stated that many years ago there was a battle between 
then 7 kingdoms of earth. Apparently the ruler of Theo, the most powerful 
of the 7 kingdoms was attempted to overtake the other 6, wanting to rule 
all. Aiding him was a VERY powerful sorcerer, they had managed almost 
succeed, fortunately the other kingdoms strike back. However their attempts
were futile, that single sorcerer was simply too powerful, as a last resort,
they sought an even more powerful source. It was always known among the 
villagers that there exists a stone that controls the entire universe. 
Realizing that if they had the aid of the Terasu stone, they would at last 
win the battle, they went seeking it, after much attempts, they at last 
found it, and with the help of it’s keeper, Sora, they were able to defeat 
Theo. However there was a downside to this victory, because by now, everyone
has discovered the power of the stone, they all wanted possession of it. So 
in order to keep the it from falling into the hands of evil ones, Sora 
created 6 amulets, each embedded with a gem that makes up the teresue stone.
She presented each one to them to the rulers of each of the victories 
kingdoms for safe keeping. To the last kingdom, she gave, a small circlet. 
In it, consists of 6 spaces, for when all 6 stones are gathered upon the 
circlet, the Terasu stone would at last be formed again.
    "So, you get it now?" Alex looked at a confused Gillian with impatience.
    "The point is that its not as easy as we had thought at first. We can’t 
just get the stone, we have to search for all 6 gems and the circlet in 
order to accomplish our goal!"
    "But its not that bad, they’re held by the rulers of the good kingdoms 
right? So they’ll give it to us."
    "I really don’t think its gonna be that easy," Alex stated skeptically. 
"And besides, what about the circlet? How are we gonna get that?"
    "Don’t worry, we’ll get it," said Gillian, laughing at her doubts.
    Alex shake her head and sighed "I don’t know why Setsuna is making US
find the stone. Even of we do get the 6 gems, there’s still the circlet, and
something tells me its not gonna be easy to accomplish, it is held by
Theo-"
    "Is this what your looking for?" Alex turned around to a voice behind
her.
    "Is THAT the circlet?" She took the slender ring of silver from an
amused Gelar and compared enthusiastically to as picture in the book she 
was reading. Her eyes widen with shock as she realized that it made a
perfect match. "Where in the world did u get it?"
    "To tell u the truth I really don’t know. It didn’t accure to me what 
it was until you mentioned the teresu stone." Gelar replied with amusement
    Alex’s eyes brightened with renewed spirit "GREAT, we have a head
start. Now lets get GOING!" running out side, she waved towards Gelar and a 
not so happy Gillian.
    "What about breakfast?" Gillian complained
    "We’ll get some in town," Gelar assured the pouting girl. "Oh, I forgot
to mention, I had some horses brought for our trip." He gestured to the
horses Gillian had seen earlier.
    "They’re BEATIFUL!" Alex exclaimed with a smile. She immediately 
approached a white one. It’s sleek mane was silvery blue, while the rest of
it was a frothy white. After several falls she finally managed to mount the
stubborn horse.
    "She has Alex’s personality," Gillian said from a black stallion. On the 
center of its head was a silver star. Turning to the horse, she smiled.
"I think I’ll name you...Destiny. How 'bout you Alex?"
    Alex looked at hers thoughtfully. "Starlite!" she said, pointing to the
blue diamond on it’s forehead. "All right, now lets get going! We’ve wasted
enough time already! I want to go to the first kingdom Kilor. If we could 
find the first amulet there, that would be a good start." Holding up a 
crudely drawn map, she struggled to read its strange writings. "That way!" 
she pointed west, it was a roughed path that they had earlier learned to 
lead down along a river. "That must be it! Besides if I’m wrong we could 
always follow the river back and start over again." With an enthusiastic 
wave, she lead the 2 other skeptical travels forward.
    "Well she’s back in action," Gillian muttered under her breath. "This 
is gonna be a long trip! I just hope she knows what she’s doing..."

[3 days later]

    "I think we’re almost to Kilor!" Alex remarked, ignorant to the fact
that she had been saying that for the past 3 days, as the three reached the
top of a large hill. Gillian was busy admiring the carvings on the stones
protruding from a grassy clearing within the otherwise dense woods. 
The three travelers had been traveling for 3 long days without any
luck. The harsh environment and long hikes had taken its toll. While Gelar
was quite used to the harshness, the 2 girls were completely unready for it.
    "I don’t see the point of this! We’ll probably never find it," Alex 
complained bitterly , her confidence finally collapsing, as she
struggled to brush out leaves and twigs that had tangled themselves into her
long silver hair, only to have another cascade of debris fall onto her as 
she attempted to maneuver Starlight through a mess of fallen trees and 
bushes. "And you say I complain too much," Gillian pointed out with a smirk.
Despite that, she had to admit this trip was way more that she had bargained
for. She was tired from the constant traveling. The days were too hot and 
nights too cold. She hasn’t even had a decent meal since they had arrived in
this strange world. Life before this became dim. She could barely recall
what it was like back home... hot food, a roof over her head, TV, and a 
shower, she could really use one just about now. 
    "I’m starting to get the feeling that you have no idea where we’re
going," Gillian added.
    "YA THINK?!" Alex snapped back with utter frustration. She turned
meekly to Gelar. "You live here don’t you? Can you find a way to Kilor?"
    "Well… although I’m not familiar with these parts, I think I might be
able to help. See, I have a charm," he indicated to a ruby necklace around 
his neck, "that'll glow whenever we near a great amount of energy… or large
cities. Since I used to travel a lot when I was young, I created it to 
assist me. I think that it would really come in handy now. I’ve been keeping
track of our traveling since our journey has first began, although it cannot
tell me exactly where we are, it can indicate if we’re anywhere close to the
city. And if my calculations are correct we are indeed very close to it."
    Suddenly, the necklace started to glow. Looking at it in confusion, 
Gelar muttered to himself, "I don’t see how this can be happening. Its 
programmed to glow only if there is a tremendous energy extremely close by. 
And this isn’t caused by cities. I think something strange is going on. I’m
not quite sure what it is, but I suggest you 2 take great precautions from 
this point on."
    Forgetting about her hair dilemma, Alex dismounted and led Starlight 
towards Gillian to examine at the stone carvings. Seeing they’re sudden
interest, Gelar joined them as well. As he neared the stone, the a ruby
glowed even brighter. A look of alarm showed on the three’s faces. Alex
ran her hand carefully over the rugged gray surface of rock. 
    "Do you think there’s something here?" Alex asked cautiously. Gelar 
nodded slowly as he carefully started to move the charm around. It
started to glow brightly when it reached where Gillian was standing. Gillian
looked at the ruby necklace, then at Alex.
    "Could be..." Suddenly, a red energy formed around the charm.
Before the girls knew what was going on, a thin line shot straight into the
stone and a hole was created. Something gold glittered inside. Curiosity 
overruling common sense, Gillian reached inside and grabbed whatever it
was that was glowing. After 5 minutes of pulling, the threesome found
out that the source of all that commotion was a delicate silver staff
decked with a brilliant blue sapphire.
    Before the group had a chance to figure out what that staff was, a
loud scream was heard down the hill. Picking up the staff Alex led the
others instantly  towards the source. A young man was surrounded by a group
of hideously deformed...monsters. He showed a great amount of swordsman
skills, but it was of no use, the creatures continued to enclose around him. 
    "Are those real?" Gillian gaped at the huge beasts, each about 6ft
tall. Some were covered with a thick layer of fur while others scales. 
    "We can figure that out later. First, we've got to do something!" Alex 
whispered to Gillian. 
    "But what can we do?" She asked, or started to ask because at that
moment a blue light circled the staff's peak. Alex shrieked with
surprise, nearly dropping the staff. A strangle glitter shone in her eyes 
as a sly smile appeared on her face. Taking a deep breath, as well a 
unlikely chance, she squeezed her eyes shut and aimed the staff at the 
group. It instantly formed into an intense streak of blue energy that 
turned all the monsters into dust. Gillian stared at it in shock as the 
young man fell unconscious to the ground. 
    "I think you over did it a bit," Gillian commented to a dumbfounded 
Alex.
    "Perhaps we should go back to my temple and study this...staff,"
the sorcerer suggested. Gillian nodded gratefully at the suggestion.
    "NO WAY!" Alex stated firmly to the surprise of the other two.
"We’ve been traveling too long to go back now! We’re going on! Well I am! 
You two could go back if you want." Alex crossed her arms stubbornly,
apparently recovered from her previous shock.
    "But what should we do about him?" Gillian pointed to the man lying
motionless on the ground. "We can't just leave him here! We have to
bring him back!"
    "Like I said before, you two can go back with him if you want, I’M
going on!"
    "Don’t be ridiculous! You’ll never make it on your own!" Gelar
said, dismissing it with a wave of his hand. Unfortunately that only made
Alex even more determined. 
    "Just watch!"
    "Stop argue you two, we still have one tiny problem, how are we
gonna get this guy all the way back to the temple? It was hard enough with 
just ourselves."
    "Soooo… why not go to the nearest town? Remember what Gelar said?
It can’t be too far off," suggested Alex, taking advantage of the
situation. "Besides, I have this thing, I’ll be fine." She held up the staff 
with a grin.
    Gelar sighed, apparently not wanting to get into another long argument.
He nodded. "All right, but the problem remains, how are we gonna get
him there?"
    "Here," Alex hopped off Starlight. With the help of the other 2, the 
unconscious one was placed onto the horse. Alex took the reins and led the 
now four-member group onwards.