Chapter 13A Quest Laid Out   She awoke with a start. All around her the darkness swirled uneasily. Looking around she saw a pinprick of light on the horizon. Hope filled her heart as she thought that Cain had come for her at st.

  The light grew brighter and rger at an arming rate. She raised her hand and called out his name. She was certain that it was Cain, here for her at long st.

  She barely had time to flinch as the light pierced her belly, ripping into her flesh as her vision was filled with white light and pain that racked her very being. She found that she could not move, a sensation of weightlessness filled her body.

  Forcing her uncooperative eyes to focus, she saw that she was surrounded by a thick fog that mostly obscured the sight of her surroundings. From the best that she could tell, she was in a rge well-lit room that was round in shape though she could not even see a light source or what materials the room was made out of. Before she could focus on what was holding her immobile in the foggy room, darkness swirled across her vision and the weightless sensation vanished as she colpsed onto the shadowed floor of her prison.

  The darkness swirling around her once more, she found herself able to move. She curled into a ball, clutching her hands to her belly where the light had struck her. The pain that had racked her form earlier fred with brilliant intensity and where her hands touched she felt a warm wetness. Looking down she saw a jagged hole torn into her flesh that was bleeding profusely.

  Gasping in shock, she stared at the hole, not knowing what to do. As she watched the bleeding slowed and the pain eased down to a dull throb. There was something familiar about the wound though, try as she might, she could not quite summon the memory to fill in the gap for her.

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  Rasheed and Lilly blinked at the darkness, not knowing what had happened but both were fearful that Alissa and Jonah had been severely hurt or worse. They stood together, holding one another as they waited for their eyes to adjust to the darkness that seemed absolute.

  A faint glimmer caught their eyes.

  It was coming from the ground in front of them on the ground where Alissa and Jonah had been standing. Cautiously they approached it, not knowing what it was. As they drew near Rasheed felt his foot hit something soft and he told Lilly to stop moving. He let go of her and knelled down feeling at the object on the ground. It was a person and by the feel of it, it was Jonah. He checked to make sure Jonah was still breathing and then felt his way down Jonah's arm toward the glowing object. It was coming from the area where Jonah and Alissa's hands were bound together.

  Rasheed quickly untied the scarf that their hands were bound with and upon removing it a soft light spilled out chasing away the darkness around them. Lilly knelt down quickly checking on her daughter while Rasheed examined the two stones that were now resting in the back of both Alissa and Jonah's hands. The stones looked identical to the one that had been in the statue only they were smaller. They both were glowing with a soft silvery light as the Ibian that had performed the wedding came over and knelt down, examining the twin replicas of the original stone.

  The little Ibian stood and suddenly threw his hand in the air, loudly prociming that the Moonstone had finally been received.

  “Collected, has the Moonstone been. Two holders, for the perilous path, it has chosen. Rejoice all! For free, the stone is!” he procimed as Lilly and Rasheed worked to awaken the newlyweds. A murmur arose from the crowd as the Ibians could not believe what had just happened.

  The little Ibian knelt beside Rasheed and began telling him about the honor that had been bestowed upon the couple. Rasheed, not concerned with that at the moment, asked the little Ibian if he could help awaken the couple instead of babbling on about the honor of bearing the Moonstone. The Ibian just looked at him bnkly, his expression unable to be read.

  “Hurt, they are not, just resting, they are. Wake soon enough, they will. Fow now, let them rest.” The Ibian replied after a moment.

  “How can you tell?” Rasheed asked incredulously. “It is not like this has happened before, is it? They might need medical attention.”

  The Ibian continued to stare at Rasheed bnkly before telling him that, no, this has not happened before but if he insisted, a doctor would be called to the stage to give them a quick checkup.

  The square was growing brighter as the two talked and Lilly looked up seeing that the eclipse was ending. She could see the Ibians watching them and talking amongst themselves as if unsure of what to do. The little Ibian that was arguing with Rasheed finally got irritated with him and called for a doctor to come up to the stage to check on the couple.

  The doctor that responded was Doctor Sliss, who had been watching the ceremony with great interest. She had been wondering how these two humans were enjoying the life that they had chosen for themselves and questioned if they were truly happy with their decision. She had pnned to ask them once the ceremony was done, never wanting to miss an opportunity to add to her notes. These two humans were such a curious pair, she had thought to herself and she had never met any other humans quite like the pair before. Now they intrigued her even more. They had received the Moonstone in a way that no one could have foreseen or expected. It was commonly thought that the stone would just detach and fall into the hand of the one to receive it, but to have it actually attach itself to the flesh of the one, or ones in this case, meant to bear it, that was unexpected. The Doctor looked down at the couple, noted that they appeared to be in healthy condition and, other than the stones imbedded in the back of their hands, there appeared to be no abnormalities present. Doctor Sliss finished her initial exam of the couple as the eclipse ended completely.

  As the eclipse ended and the twin moons once again hung full in the sky, both Jonah and Alissa awoke. They both sat up and looked at each other before looking down at the stones embedded in the backs of their hands. They mirrored each other as they felt of the stones with their free hands and looked at one another questioningly.

  There was silence in the square.

  The little Ibian that had performed the wedding told them what had happened and expined that the Moonstone had chosen both of them to be its bearer. Looking back toward the band, he ordered them to start pying again. The band did as they were told and slowly the festivities that were interrupted by the shattering of the Moonstone began again.

  The little Ibian leaned down between Jonah and Alissa, whispering in their ears to where only they would hear what he had to say. He told them of the responsibility that came with being chosen and hinted at a journey that they must take in order to restore the dying world. When he was done giving them a brief description of what was expected of them and what they must do as bearers of the Moonstone, he bade them to enjoy the festivities of the night as well as the next few days. Soon, they would have to spend time away from everything and everyone else, so making the most of this time count was important. He told them that he would come for them to tell them the details of the journey they must undertake after they had had time to properly celebrate their wedding.

  The rest of the night passed quickly as the newlyweds danced the remainder of the night away while drinking the bck alcoholic drink that the Ibians drank during the festivities after the Ceremony of the Moons called, Kristhan. The vile smelling drink was thick and syrupy as it slid down the young lover’s throats, leaving a bitter sweet taste behind. As the sun began to creep over the horizon the couple was whisked away by carriage to a rge hotel on the far side of the city from the hotel that Rasheed and his family were staying at. Once there, they were given what the Ibians referred to as a penthouse suite, which was the most luxurious room that either of them had ever seen.

  The next few days passed quickly for Jonah and Alissa. They spent the days locked in their room only opening the door for food brought by room service, which they only ordered whenever they absolutely had to eat. During this time, they slept only once they were so exhausted they could not stay awake any longer.

  On the evening of their st day of solitude, there was a knock on the door. It was the Ibian that had performed the wedding ceremony. He asked if he could come in and Jonah asked him to wait a minute while he and Alissa made themselves presentable. Once they had dressed, Jonah let the Ibian in.

  The Ibian greeted them by telling them his name, Kristh, as he entered the room and gave a small bow. Kristh had them sit down as he expined to the newlyweds that about the Moonstone and the significance of it choosing them to bear it.

  Apparently, when the daughter and her lover from the story were wondering the earth after her mother had died, they had traveled for many, many years but the girl never seemed to age past the age of sixteen. Wanting a family of their own the two lovers tried for many years to have children but no matter how hard they tried they could never conceive. Whenever they came across a vilge and settled in to try for a family again, the birth rate of those around them shot up while the daughter never grew pregnant. Her lover, sharing in her sorrow over this never turned his back on her or bmed her for their childlessness; instead, he continued to pledge his love for her till his dying day. They would pack up what little belongings they had once the sorrow had grown too great for them to bear due to the families around them growing while theirs did not. They would again be left wandering the world.

  Eventually her lover grew old and died. She buried him in a massive tomb that they had come across only the days before. Pcing him in the tomb, she camped outside of it, waiting for the night to come, hoping he would return to her as her father had returned to her mother. That night he did not come, nor the night after, nor the night after that. She waited until the night of the twin full moons eclipse, hoping that he would return to her, yet he never did. After months of waiting for her love who would never return to her, she moved on.

  She settled in a nearby vilge, Charne, that where life there flourished and the vilge eventually grew into a city due to the popution explosion. For years she lived in the city acting as a healing woman since it seemed that no matter the illness, she could heal it by ying her hands on the person afflicted.

  To the east there was a neighboring city that had extremely advanced technology and medicines that they refused to share with the rest of the world, choosing instead to exist in solitude. They had heard about the woman who could heal all illnesses and sent a request for the healer to be sent to their city because their beloved ruler had been struck ill with a mysterious sickness that they could not cure. The ruler of Charne refused to send her, demanding that no one was to tell the woman about the request because he was afraid that she would go on her own since she was a very caring individual. Desperate and thinking the healer had refused their plea, the city to the east sent a small army to Charne with the orders to capture the healer, or her source of power if she resisted.

  The army assaulted Charne, killing all that resisted and eventually they found the healer. Not knowing what was going on the woman fought back in an attempt to defend herself and her home. The soldiers, seeing that she was going to resist and seeing the stone that glowed brightly within the woman's belly cruelly cut it out, thinking that the stone was the source of her power. Seeing the woman was going to die, they left the remnants of Charne behind.

  The few survivors of Charne took the young healer's body and id it to rest in the tomb near the body of her lover. They then sealed the tomb with a locking device that would only open with one of two things, the light of the twin full moons or the light that emanated from the stone that had been stolen.

  The soldiers brought the Moonstone to their ruler who was healed by ying his hands upon it. The ruler then ordered that the stone be set in a statue that would be set in the center of the city so that all the citizens that needed its healing power could come to the stone and receive healing. For a month the stone brought healing and growth to the city and its people rejoiced.

  On the next night of the twin full moons since the stone had been stolen, the people of the city were awoken from their sleep by a torturous cry that pierced the air. Following the source of the wail they were all led to the city square where the statue that held the stone had been pced. Standing before the statue was a young woman who wore pure white and was covered in blood from the waist down. Whoever looked upon her trembled with fear, finding themselves unable to move. With a voice that shook the earth beneath the feet of the citizens she told them the story of the healer and her mother. She started with how the mother had her lover killed before her, then how she found the tree and met her lover once again. She continued the story all the way to the moment of the healer's death, her death, at the hands of the soldiers. With the story told she informed the citizens that they and their offspring would be cursed until several events occurred. First someone would have to be able to take the stone from the statue and return its rightful pce with the healer. Then they would need to return the healer to the great tree where her mother had lived for so long. She told them that the tree was slowly dying, and with it the world, all because of the cruelty that the Moonstone had been taken with. The stone itself had been poisoned by those events and that was what had caused the curse. It could only be removed on a night of and eclipse of the twin full moons because that would emute the time of the Moonstone’s creation. The woman suddenly vanished, leaving the square in darkness as the moons had eclipsed while she was speaking. A young schor recorded the entire event so that it would not be forgotten.

  As the next few days passed, the people of the city tried several things in an effort to remove the Moonstone, including an attempt to destroy the statue itself that held the stone. Nothing worked. Every day that passed the citizens forgot more and more of their past as their bodies slowly became twisted, covered in scales and no longer human. The forest that surrounded the city died off and became a twisted wastend instead. Soon the people had forgotten about all that they had been before with the exception of the creature that had been the schor. He remembered only because of the notes that he had taken of the event. Ever since then. his knowledge had been passed down ever since along his family line, generation to generation. It was his descendent that had started the Ceremony of the Moons in order to find someone to break the curse that pgued his people, and when it was clear that none of the Ibians themselves could take on the role of savior, another descendent brought about an end to the city’s isotionism in hopes that an outsider would be able to save them.

  Kristh fell silent as he finished his tale, looking at the newlyweds that stood before him. Both Jonah and Alissa looked thoughtful as they mulled over the story.

  “So,” Alissa started, looking at the Kristh. “You want us to find this tomb with this dead woman in it. Give her back the stones that are now embedded in our hands, then carry her body around till we find this dying tree from the story and put her body with it, which will effectively revive this dying tree which and, according to your story will restore our world back to the way it was before the tree started to die. That’s the basic of it, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “And why should we do this?” Jonah asked, looking doubtful. “It sounds a little fishy to me.”

  “Why would you not want to?” The Ibian countered. “Looked around, when in the wastes, did you not? The worst pce in the world, the wastends may be, but dry and dying, is all the world. Not much time left, for the tree to be saved. All because greed, overcame our ancestors. Make things right, we must.”

  “You say that you must make things right for your sake, but what about us?” Alissa threw back at Kristh. “We make a decent enough living in this world as it is. Surely you can offer some more initiative other than,” she made quotations in the air, “restore the world to its former glory.”

  The Ibian sighed. He had not thought that these humans would be so difficult to convince to take on the quest that they had been chosen for.

  Could they not see that this was for the good of everyone? He thought. This was not just about breaking the curse; it was about saving the world and everyone in it, period.

  Kristh offered Alissa and Jonah a rge sum of coin as well as a permanent residence in Ib and a waver on all future taxes for commercial business if they would take on the quest. Alissa and Jonah nodded at the same time telling the Ibian that they found that payment acceptable as long as any supplies that they might need for the quest were provided free of charge. Kristh sighed and agreed as he shook hands with them sealing the deal.