It was the 20th of October, 638. The fierce and wholesome orange haired adventurer Triviya Guilleria and the notorious red haired pirate Levy "The Leviathan" Revissia had arrived ashore on the Strip of Cryana following the ferocious battle against the mighty navy of Alamir. The both of them moved through the jungles located in the kingdom, however, it didn't take long for the two of them to find out they had gotten lost! Fortunately for them, there was a village nearby..
"Triviya, does your eye see anything?" Levy asked the woman dressed like a beggar. The woman was no one else but Triviya Guilleria, the one gifted with the Crystal Eye. She scouted the area, focusing intensely on any signs of crystal energy that she could pick up on. You see, Triviya was unlike most sensory users, she was able to see the energy. She responded with, "There's a lot of crystal energy over there!" before running towards it. Levy followed and the both of them waited in the bushes, looking at the spot. "It's a village," Triviya noted. "Yeah," Levy scanned the village closely, "and not a big one either."
The duo entered the village, but immediately Triviya's eyes were gazing upon the poor fellows residing in it. "They're suffering," the girl said to the pirate with great concern behind her voice. The villagers looked at the duo with strange eyes, they whispered to each other in a language the girl did not understand. But the pirate that was with her did understand the language. The pirate looked at a resident and asked, "What happened here?" in the language of Cruzan, the main spoken language of Cryana. The resident responded with, "We do not trust you outsiders." But suddenly, as the two conversed, a frightful yell echoed throughout the village. Triviya, with a quick gaze at her partner, ran off with zero hesitation.
She arrived at a small hut with a young woman screaming and spasming. The young woman was speaking in such an incomprehensible manner, it seemed as if they were possessed, by a demon nonetheless. Levy and the villager had come too, following the sounds of the screams. Yet again, he asked the villager: "What happened?!" to which the villager responded, "Something or someone has corrupted our village."
Triviya asked Levy, "What did he say?" Levy responded, "Something corrupted the village." Triviya took a good look at the shrieking woman before her and placed her hand on her crystal, located on her chest. Like any person in this world, she possessed a crystal that gave her the energy she needed to live. Triviya could see things nobody else could and using her natural gift of magic, she shot several precise beams into the crystal. Suddenly, the woman stopped spasming and woke up, gasping. "I-," she stuttered, "I'm cured!". Though Triviya did not speak the language, she did understand the joy in her words. "How did you do that?" the villager asked. Levy translated the message to Triviya, and she responded, "I shot the corrupted parts of her crystal, she'll be okay" which Levy also translated for the villager to understand.
Soon, the village got together. With the help of Levy, the residents could communicate with the mystical adventurer, Triviya. They sat around in a circle. But there's one thing that Triviya noticed during her stay here, she couldn't distinguish the energy between these people. In short, she didn't have the ability to recognize energy. The villagers started explaining how many of their inhabitants have been disappearing in the past few weeks. Triviya's concern grew. She wanted to help them in whatever way she could.
In the week that followed, the girl would investigate the jungle. Things were odd, that was for sure. She could see the energy that was surrounding them, she could see the density of energy, but she could not distinguish them from another. It was like she had some kind of visual agnosia. Her investigation couldn't go on. In the meantime, Levy was trying his best to find a way out of the jungle, but he too never got any results. Whenever he made an attempt, he got lost in the wide jungle of Cryana. No progress was being made whatsoever.
That was until a certain day. On a cold evening, Triviya stumbled across a strange looking carcass. Half man, half crystal, disintegrating as red blood came out of its body, a gruesome sight to behold. She gasped in utter dismay of the situation. "What happened for someone to end up like this?" she thought. With urgency, she lifted the corpse and dragged it to town. The villagers were nauseated by the sight, but the one who was grossed out the most was the one carrying it. She laid it down on a table in one of the only medical facilities, the village medic. Even though she inspected it closely, she could not read anything about its energy. Then, the carcass completely turned into dust. The woman was left with no clues anymore.
She thought it was the end, she couldn't find the source, her only talent was taken away and she had nothing to rely on anymore. She kept searching for clues, but none would come on her path. She was left hopeless.
"I don't think I'll be able to solve this mystery," she said to Levy. The two of them were sitting down at a campfire, thinking about what to do. Triviya's eyes were pointed downwards and her posture was bent. Levy patted her on her back and said, "The first step to solving a mystery is to see why there is a mystery." Triviya looked at him with confused eyes. To solve a mystery, you need to know there is one? "I don't recognize anything, I don't see any clues, I don't even know what I'm looking for!" she said to Levy. Levy nodded in agreement. It was not only Triviya who was starting to lose hope, it was also Levy.
The following day, Levy went out to explore again, to find any kind of clue to navigate further in the jungle of Cryana. But, he did not return. It was evening when Triviya came back from her investigation. Nothing, she found absolutely nothing. She reminded herself of Levy's words. "My eyes can't see anything," she thought, "But if my eyes can't see it.. How am I supposed to know anything?" She closed her eyes. "Maybe I don't need to see it." And then, she felt something. For a split second, she felt something that wasn't physical. It was something else, something greater, something that encompassed her completely. But it was disturbed, similar to ripples in a pond. She opened her eyes again and realized what was going on and what she felt: it was her aura. She was being sabotaged by the interference of several energy waves. And since she realized this, since she focused on this, she could see it. "To see something you cannot see, you must feel it first.."
She rushed in the direction where most of the energy waves came from. But that is when all of a sudden, several shrieks were heard across the village. She looked around and saw a horrifying horde of.. Zombies? No, they were villagers. They ran around, grabbing onto the other residents. Their eyes were lifeless, their motions were like puppets. And among those puppets was her friend, Levy.
She held onto her sword and in quick movements, using her crystal magic, took down many of the corrupted villagers. They were exactly like the woman she encountered at the beginning. She healed them like she did before, one by one. But then came the biggest threat: Levy.
The two of them crossed blades. Triviya was scared, frightened. She didn't want to hurt Levy, but he was no easy opponent like the rest of the villagers. She has lost to him once already, if she lost this time everybody would be doomed. The pirate attacked her from all sides and was cornering her to a group of trees. She took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. "Stay focused, Triviya," she thought to herself. And then, she began pushing Levy instead. Before Levy could move, Triviya was already anticipating. Before Levy could attack, she was counterattacking. And soon, Triviya managed to make an opening for herself. In a quick dash, she placed her hand on Levy's crystal and undid the corruption that took him. He dropped down.
"What happened?" he asked while slowly getting up again. "You were corrupted!" she responded. "Oh- Oh yeah I was..," the pirate said. "I think those are all the missing villagers," he said. "They could be," she responded. "Do you remember anything before you got corrupted?" she asked, to which Levy responded, "Yeah.. Some kind of obelisk." Then, everything began making perfect sense in her head. She looked over in the direction she was running initially before saying "I'll be going, take care of the villagers."
She arrived at the obelisk. It was gigantic, scaling up to maybe 10 meters. It radiated crystal energy, which caused interference with a person's senses. Triviya assumed this was because the type 2 inner energy of a person was getting sabotaged, which could lead to faulty navigation and recognition. She destroyed the obelisk with her magic, which restored her ability to recognize as she looked around her. "Finally!" she exclaimed with joy.
She rushed back to the village, she could finally read everybody's energy. She smiled, but the job was not over yet. Whatever was disturbing them was still out there. But it still put a smile on her face seeing how the villagers were overjoyed seeing their missing fellows again. "They're all thankful to you," Levy said. "It's not over yet.. It's still out there," she responded. Levy smiled at her and told her, "Finish it then! So we can finally move on." Triviya smiled back at him before saying, "I will."
It was the night of the 31st October. Triviya, yet again, investigated the jungle. But all of a sudden, she finds a trail of energy. She followed it, which led to a weird area in the middle of the jungle. The area was weird because there were creatures made out of crystal laying down, sleeping. She couldn't believe her eyes, because one of these creatures was a huge crystal bear.
It shouldn't be possible, cyrshivine shouldn't be able to create life. But here it was. That's until Triviya put things together. Using the crystal of a person, they were fueling the life of a golem. By corrupting that person, they were able to control a golem. The thing she found all the way back was a failed golem. Whoever was behind this was a sick and cruel being.
She looked around the territory of the crystal creatures and spotted the entrance to a cave. A large density of crystal energy was present within it. As stealthily as she could, she snuck around the creatures to get to the cave. Though she feared what might be in this cave, if she wanted to restore peace in this jungle, she would have to confront that fear. In order to fix a problem, one must have the courage to face it.
She entered the cave and soon saw the gates to what appeared to be a library. It was massive, abysmally huge, supported by a huge pillar. When she looked through the books, she saw endless information that could revolutionize the world. Through those books, she even saw different pages explaining the workings of crystal energy. But before she could dig in too deep, a voice could be heard saying, "So you've found me, Crystal Eye."
There stood a feminine figure with a red robe. Her eyes were covered by a mask. But Triviya could see right through her. "Who are you?" She asked. "I am..," The figure walked towards a book and picked one out, "a student." Triviya scoffed, "Aren't you too old to be a student?" "Aren't you too young to be an adventurer?" the figure responded.
The both of them circled each other. "You're the one corrupting the villagers" "Indeed I am, so what?" "You're a monster" "Am I now? Are you not the one with a mutated eye, Triviya?" "How do you know about me?!" "I know more than anyone would like to think." "I will take you down." "I'd like to see you try."
The figure put her book away, Triviya pulled out her sword. She was scared to engage with this person, but she knew this person could not go on anymore. She needed to take her down now. "Say, don't you also wish to have access to all this knowledge?" the figure asked. "I will not become your student if that's what you want to ask," Triviya responded before swinging her sword at the figure.
But the figure dodged with ease. "Sure, I may not have the most orthodox ways of collecting information, but I am the most knowledgeable person in the entire realm! Don't you want to know the true nature behind this world?" "I'd love to, but I'd rather die than be your student." Triviya said before slashing yet again.
But this time, the figure blocked her slash with crystal magic. "You have a gift not many people in this world have, in fact.. Nobody has your gift-" "Again! I am not joining you!" "Then die" the witch said before sending a large spray of crystal magic towards Triviya.
Fortunately, Triviya managed to block in time, but was still sent flying into a wall. With her own crystal magic, she swung a flying slash towards the witch. But the witch grabbed it and pulverized it into dust whilst advancing towards her. "Do you have any idea how many people would kill for your eye?!" "I do! Quite frankly, I do! And I hate it!"
Using her magic, Triviya jumped onto the shelves of the library. But the witch flew up, using her own magic. Triviya held her sword up at the witch, ready for any attack she might throw. "Young child, if you become my-" "I ref-," but during her denial, the witch's hand was placed onto Triviya. And all of a sudden, she felt a large array of emotions. It was as if memories, knowledge and other things were being planted within her. She was being overloaded by information. She grabbed onto her own crystal and looked down. She could still see, but everything in her mind felt as if it was changing, as if the very gears of her psyche changed. But using her technique, she managed to burst through the corruption.
She looked at the witch and said, "Now I know how you did it, but you don't even know how you did it. Because if you did, you wouldn't have done it like that!" "You.." "You're afraid of killing me, so you want to corrupt me first. But that will never happen!" Triviya smiled, "That threat you made is useless, you wouldn'-," but as she spoke, she was interrupted by a sword of magic stabbing her through her stomach. Triviya dropped down to the ground, gasping.
The witch reached out for her eye. Triviya was trembling. This could be it, this could be the end. She closed her eyes. But.. She knew she couldn't end it there. She felt connected to her environment again, just like before. But this time, it felt better. She opened her eyes again. But when she opened her eyes, a vision of a small black haired girl appeared, just to disappear again in a fraction of a second. With a punch full of intention, strength and motivation, she landed it on the witch that was about to steal her eye.
The witch opened her mouth in shock as she was flung towards the giant pillar in the middle of the library. "No! No! No no no!! This can't be happening!", the witch yelled while getting up from the destroyed pillar. Soon, the ceiling would crumble. The cave was collapsing and the library was bound to be destroyed. "No!! What have you done?!" She said while desperately trying to support the ceiling.
Triviya saw this as an opportunity and ran away. "Curse you! Triviya!!!", were the last words the witch said before the library collapsed. The girl with the crystal eye managed to get away from the collapsing cave, but was surrounded by the crystal animals that were now awakened.
Fortunately for her, someone else heard the rumbling of the cave. A horde of villagers came about, striking the crystal creatures. "Triviya! You're alive!" Levy said while lifting her up. "By a hair.." "Did you do it?" "I did.." but while she said that, she thought about the situation again and said, "But it wasn't I who killed her, it was her own passion for knowledge."
The battle was over and the witch was defeated.
To celebrate this victory, the villagers hosted a feast. They all gathered in the center of the village with bonfires and music. Triviya sat down by one of the bonfires and looked at the starry night sky. Levy came sitting by her. "Aren't you going to dance?" he asked. "I don't really feel like it.." "You know, you saved the villagers. Not only that, you also saved me." "It's not that." "What is it?" "My eye.. She wanted my eye." "Oh.." "It's like that's my only identity.. My eye."
After the celebration, Levy and Triviya left the village to continue their journey. What the world has in store for them, only the future can tell. But for now, this story of theirs was a success. Though Triviya had many push backs, though she was uncertain, by connecting deeper with herself, she solved a mystery she could not solve before. With this in mind, she stepped into the future.
The end.