7/17/11

Alright! Another chapter :) Most of this is an explanation of how Terra works, so it might be a bit tedious to read ): Ooh! Maybe I'll make some visual guides!

For some reason, AFF won't accept my image. Is my image too big?

Image:

https://sites.google.com/site/angelintheice2272/home/terra-maps/TerraMapcopy.jpg?attredirects=0

Alright, enjoy!

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            Youngbae didn’t know what to do. Kneeling, he stared at Bom, who was now completely free of ice, and touched the side of her cheek. Immediately drawing back, Youngbae in his breath. Her hand was as cold as the ice that previously surrounded her.

            His heart began to race with fear. Roughly sitting back down and scratching his head, he racked his mind for solutions. Frustrated, he thought, How are we both able to produce such elements out of nowhere?

            Eyes widening suddenly, Youngbae looked at Bom. The pendant. He reached forward and slid Bom’s necklace off her head to examine it. Like the rest of her body, the pendant was ice cold. Youngbae removed his own necklace and compared the two. He smiled. We’ve always been opposites, like fire and ice. We always argue, but in the end, we balance each other out.

            With that thought, Youngbae had an idea. He took Bom’s necklace and put it on himself. The instant Youngbae put it on, he felt as if a bucket of freezing water was thrown at him. Quickly throwing the necklace off, Youngbae realized that the heat he felt before had dissipated. His body temperature was back to normal. Realizing this, Youngbae smiled. If her pendant cools me down, then my pendant heats her up.

            He grabbed his necklace and put it on Bom. Although the garnet pendant’s effect on Bom was not as drastic as his, Youngbae could feel Bom’s hand slowly warming up. Sighing of relief, Youngbae relaxed his sitting position. Thank God it is working.

            A few seconds later, Bom started fidgeting. Beads of sweat appeared on her forehead by the time she woke up. The first thing she said after springing up from the ground was, “Hot.”

            Quickly taking off his necklace and giving her back her own, Youngbae laughed out of relief. “At least you’re not saying it’s cold.”

            “Wait, what just happened?” Bom asked. “The last things I remember were that a huge snake was trying to squeeze my insides out, your necklace was suddenly glowing red, and I was somehow surrounded by ice.”

            “Actually, that’s a pretty good explanation,” Youngbae couldn’t help but smile wider. He filled her in on his realization of the pendants’ abilities. “By the time I thawed you out of the ice, you were freezing. But it seems like if you wear my necklace or if I wear your necklace, our body temperatures will balance out. That’s why you had my necklace on when you woke up.”

            Bom frowned, not quite believing his explanation. “You mean that somehow, the pendants that we’ve been carrying ever since we were nine actually have some magic powers that let us produce the elements respective to the elements that are on our pendants?”

            “That seems right,” Youngbae nodded.

            “And not only do the pendants allow us to produce the elements, but they also allow another person to feel the elemental power running through his or her veins?” Bom’s frowned deepened as she heard her own description. “It seems like I transported into one of those fantasy books.”

            Youngbae laughed, a bit bitterly. “Well, after living here for nine years, I can safely say that you might have actually transported into one.”

                                                                    :::::::::::::

            The way back to the cottage was a breeze. After the incident with the cobra, the Rainbow Forest turned back into the colorful, bright, and vibrant forest that represented its namesake. When Bom and Youngbae arrived, Alana rushed out of the door and hugged the two of them. “Oh! Thank goodness you two are safe! I was so worried when you started dropping burnt leaves, Bom! Quick! Come in and have something to eat. You two must be starving.”

            During dinner, the two teenagers described the previous events to Alana and Alfonso. After hearing a very detailed explanation, Alfonso his beard, thinking. He then smiled and excused himself from the dinner table, going into his study room.

            The next morning, Alfonso asked to talk with Youngbae and Bom after breakfast. Bom sat down on one of the couches as Alfonso cleared his throat.

            “Ever since Youngbae mysteriously arrived at our front lawn, I’ve been researching on the supernatural tendencies of Terra and the differences between the laws of nature in Terra and in Earth. While Youngbae’s knowledge of Earth and the curse that was casted upon him was useful and groundbreaking, the information that he has given me, along with my research from other sources, do not make a complete puzzle. The information that I obtained will not return Youngbae back to Earth. There has always been a missing piece to the picture, and it was only until yesterday that I realized what that piece is.

            “Youngbae mentioned that his biological mother once told him that his pendant also held a spell. It was a spell that bound his friends and him together. She also said that the pendant would be the key to bringing him back. When you arrived, Bom, I was overjoyed! The spell in the pendant does actually work! But the more I thought about it, the more concerned I became. Yes, you did come to Terra. Now what? How will you bring Youngbae back? The pendant did its job, but you two are still here.

            Youngbae smiled, realizing what his father was trying to say. “It turns out the pendant’s job isn’t finished.”

            “Yes, that’s right,” Alfonso smiled back. “Yesterday, we realized two things. First, we can confirm that Bom’s arrival is definitely the first step to breaking the curse and bringing Youngbae back home. The Rainbow Forest, supposedly bright and green, suddenly turned pitch black and burnt when Bom went there. To add to that, a cobra, larger than the largest known snake in Terra by tenfold, sneaked behind Bom and tried to kill her. These occurrences are obviously not coincidences. Someone must have thought that Bom was a threat and tried to get rid of her.

            “Second, as Youngbae has pointed out, the pendants have a larger role in this rescue mission than expected. We realized that the person assigned to the pendant will be able to draw out whatever element that is depicted behind the pendant’s letter.”

            “Okay, so we are somehow able to produce fire and ice, but how is that important?” Bom questioned. “I mean, I have to admit that producing ice is a pretty cool thing, but how is that going to help us break the spell?”

            “And that question will lead us here,” Alfonso said as he opened the drawer containing all of Youngbae’s sculptures.”

            “My sculptures?” Youngbae asked, a bit confused.

            “Yes,” Alfonso answered. He looked at Bom. “In Terra, there are twelve nations, and each nation has a specific stone that is more easily mined in that nation than other stones. That certain stone will be the representative stone of that nation, and it is common belief that each representative stone has magical powers.

            “Wait, how come I’ve never heard of this before?” Youngbae asked.

            “However, there has never been a reported sighting on a person actually using the stone’s powers, like how you two have described,” his adoptive father answered. “My guess is that the stone’s power will only activate and be able to be used by people after the person wears the stone for a certain amount of time.

            “Nevertheless, stones mined from Terra all have magical powers in the core. And I only realized yesterday that we can harness these stones’ powers and use them to our advantage.”

            “But what will we do with the powers of fire and ice? Make water?” Youngbae was still confused.

            Alfonso let out a laugh. “Well, possibly, but that’s not the main objective.”

            He pointed to the sculpture. “These sculptures are all made from Nod’s very own blue topazes. The magical power that blue topazes are said to contain is the power of dispelling and healing.”

            “Oh,” Youngbae’s eyes widened, slowly understanding.

            Bom looked from Alfonso to Youngbae, trying to figure out the tacit understanding that went on between father and son. She gave up. “What’s so much better about the power to heal?”

            “Oh! I’m sorry, Bom,” Alfonso exclaimed. “Here, let me explain the current situation in Terra right now. Like how people on Earth need leaders, Terra also needs leaders. In Terra, we used to have a sort of democratic system. We would elect a new leader every five years. However, unlike certain places on Earth, there are only two parties in Terra: the Mahro and the Ryerauve. In basic earthly translation, the two parties are the Angels and the Devils.”

            “Then, won’t the Angels always win?” Bom asked.

            Alfonso shook his head. “Not necessarily. Terra’s nations are divided into two different regions. Youngbae, can you get the world map from the drawer next to my bed?”

            Youngbae nodded and got up to get the map. A few minutes later, he returned with a roll of greenish brown paper and rolled it out onto the coffee table in front of Bom.

            As Bom surveyed the map, she commented. “Wow, the regions are so nicely separated.”

            “Yes,” Alfonso nodded. “One of Terra’s special qualities. Another thing to notice is that the nations are naturally separated by rivers.”

            “Wow, so the rivers are naturally straight as well?” Bom looked up at Alfonso. When he nodded, she looked back down and continued looking at the map. “Oh? What’s this?”

            Bom was pointing at the word, ‘Hanacomu,’ at the top of the map.

            “It’s the native way of saying Terra,” Youngbae explained. “It’s kind of like the Terra version of Latin.”

            “Oh, wow. That’s really cool,” she smiled. “Oh? The six nations in the west section have a darker color than the six in the east.”

            “Yes, that’s what I was going to show you,” Alfonso smiled. He pointed at the names to the farthest east and the farthest west. “These are the two regions. The six nations in the east are collectively called ‘Sulonar’ while the six nations in the west are collectively called ‘Mulonar’. The Sulonar is the only region is Terra that gets sunlight. That is why the Sulonar is so bright and the Mulonar is so dark.”

            “Oh? How do people in the Mulonar see?” Bom asked.

            “Well, technically, the sun in the Mulonar region is blocked by the moon,” Youngbae explained. “People can see, but just not clearly.”

            “Of course, Terra is also a planet that rotates, so the Sulonar also experiences nighttime, and the Mulonar experiences daytime. However, to the Mulonar region, sunlight is the time to sleep. Because of the lack of forestry and the shape of the planet, the sunlight in the Mulonar is overly bright and blinding. Most of the houses in the Mulonar are underground, so the people would sleep when there is sun and wake up when the sky becomes dark” Alfonso continued. After finishing his explanation, he looked at the window, and exclaimed. “Oh! Look at the time! I need to go to work! Alright, let me finish this up quickly. Not only is the Mulonar region dark physically, but the people there are also dark mentally. They prefer people from the Ryerauve to rule Terra.

            “Ten years ago, the Ryerauve finally took power of Terra again. The actual devil, commonly called the Vidle, was campaigning that year, and her ability to convince and seduce most of the world was very strong. Unfortunately, the Vidle turned out to be more evil than imagined. She immediately got rid of the democratic system, thus creating an endless ruling for the Ryerauve. She also casted dark magic all over Terra, and created a time of devastation through tyrannical rule.”

            “Oh.” After hearing the last sentence, Bom finally understood as well. “So what you’re saying about the blue topaz is that you want to dispel all the Vidle’s enchantments, thus restoring balance in the society.”

            “Yes,” Alfonso nodded. “And since Youngbae’s curse was actually one of the spells that the Vidle casted during her first wave of dark magic spells, you and Youngbae will consequently be returned to Earth.”

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LoveLikeChocolate: What?! But you're 14... Well, at least you can still watch it when the DVD comes out:) Gahh, I watched it on the 15th, and it was pretty nice:P It stayed pretty close to the book, with a few deviations, but overall, I was very happy. Teehee. Aberforth looked almost exactly like how I imagined him!! Okay, I guess I shouldn't say too much. Hope you can see it soon!

curiousoystersss: Aww, thanks for trying out my story:)

Starlightshine: Lol, I was thinking of Kingdom Hearts when you mentioned Sora as well :D Yeah, but I mostly used Aqua for my inspiration:P

laDy_akhee: Lol, yup. I'm delving more and more into the fantasy genre now. But the romance will come~