The Dink Network

Ok, so since you guys seemed to like the book so far and have been so nice to me for pointing out some mistakes and giving constructive criticism, here are the two next chapters!! Sorry it took so long, but I was battling with another annoying chapter and two MP3's. So here you go.

Chapter 3
A Treasure Hunter

Far to the south-west from Surf Village, a well-built man stood in front of the entrance of The Memory Temple. The man was around six feet tall, his blond long hair, which was bound in a ponytail, hanged on the back of the brown coat he was wearing. On his shoulder he had a blue Wind Mouse, with furry ears and a small tail.

"The Temple of Memory", the Wind Mouse said, "I hope you didn't pay much for this information". The man looked at the Wind Mouse confused.
"Hey... So you know about this place?!", he asked. The Wind Mouse chuckled:
"Yeah, sure, it's a famous site. You wasted your money. There's nothing left here of any value".
"Shhh! Quiet!", the man hissed, "My instincts tell me this is it!".
"I can't believe there would be anything left here", the Wind Mouse explained, "This is not the first time treasure hunters have come through here. We'll find nothing but junk".
But the man who was a treasure hunter, was determined. The Wind Mouse sighed:
"Okay, let's check it out anyway. Maybe we'll find clues for obtaining the *Power*".
"Let's go then!", the treasure hunter joyed and stepped into the temple. He followed a short hallway until he came to a huge chest, with a blue, what seemed to be somekind of a crystal, or a shining rock, placed in a hole in it.
The treasure hunter examined the chest.
"Hey Hanpan, what is this?", the treasure hunter asked from his Wind Mouse, whom was sitting on his shoulder. The Wind Mouse panicked:
"Hey no, don't touch that!", instead he suggested, "Let me do it. Let's see... here...". After the chest had made a giant gong noise, it started speaking in a mysterious, yet somehow calming voice:
"Are you the keeper of the *Memory*? You must engrave the name". The treasure hunter was confused. He called his Wind Mouse:
"You're the brain. Do you have any ideas?", but the Wind Mouse had no idea either. The treasure hunter thought for a while.
"Just as a test, I'll put in my name", he said. So he started engraving his name.
"Jack", he muttered half to himself and half to the chest, as he was engraving his name. Once he had finished engraving his name into the blue stone that was placed in the hole in the chest, he waited, until finally the machine spoke again:
"Jack.....", it was quiet for a long time again, "No matches. I protect the *Memory*. Intruder! I cast you to the bottom of the abyss!", it suddenly spoke.
And as soon as it stopped, the floor beneath the treasure hunter's feet disappeared, and he fell down to darkness.

Jack Van Burace, Master of the <Fast Draw>, *Dream Chaser*, The Treasure Hunter.
His Wind Mouse companion, Hanpan, is curious and knowledgeable, but also a little arrogant.
With no regard to danger, the Treasure Hunters roam the ruins, seeking treasure and adventure.
Jack seeks the ultimate *Power* surpassing any other in existence.
He relentlessy searches. Is it a sword? Is it hidden in here?
Once again, Jack will be challenging the ruins in search of the *Power*.

For a while, Jack could see nothing but darkness. As suddenly as he felt the floor disappear from under his feet, he felt it appear back.
"dang! That was cool!", he laughed as he got up from the stone floor. Hanpan jumped back onto Jack's shoulder from the floor, advising Jack, like he normally did:
"Forget about exploring. Let's just get outta here".

As Jack walked out from the small room he had landed in, he noticed that everything in the temple was made out of yellow and brown stone. The floor, the walls, the roof, everything except for the few torches that were fired and greated a great light inside the temple.
"Someone must have been here, if the torches are lighted. Hopefully not any monsters", Jack thought. He followed the pathway, occasionaly taking turns to a direction his treasure hunter insticts told him to. After a while of searching, Jack noticed someone had left a note on the wall. It simply said:
"Ha ha ha... I've taken everything of value". Jack chuckled, as he noticed some good old Heal Berries had fallen on the floor. That someone must not have had very good eyes, or then he had just been plain stupid.
After picking up the berries, Jack continued on, until he saw a doorway leading to stairs. The doorway, however, was blocked by a gate. It took no time for Hanpan to notice a switch on the wall. Jack turned the switch, which to Hanpan's relief, did nothing else, but opened the gate. The relief was short lived, however, as two of blood red colored, floating balls with tentacles and eyes around them, came out from the doorway.
"Balloons", Jack yelled, as he saw them. In a fast leap, he sliced one of the Balloons with his sword. Turning around, he noticed the other Balloon had Hanpan hanging from his tail. Jack charged the Balloon, while Hanpan clawed the Balloon in one of it's dozen eyes. The Balloon let go of Hanpan retreating, until Jack sliced it into two.
"Thanks, pal", Hanpan sighed as he got up from his back, and leaped back onto Jack's shoulder. They then followed the stairway, step by step.

While they followed a narrow path of a deep, dark pit on their other side, and a wall on the other, Jack suddenly stopped.
"What is it?", Hanpan asked. Jack quickly put a finger to block Hanpan's small, but yet talkative mouth.
"Shhh! Quiet". Hanpan was annoyed now, but he trusted Jack's insticts, so he kept his mouth shut. As, Hanpan looked around, his eyes nearly popped out from his head, as he saw a giant spike coming towards him and Jack from a hole in the wall. Jack knew this, however, and before the spike could reach them, he did a backflip on the air, dodging the spike. As he landed, Hanpan nearly fell into the pit, but Jack managed to grab him by his tail and quickly place him back onto his shoulder.
"I could do with some warning the next time!", the blue Wind Mouse cursed at Jack, who just smiled back at him and continued through the narrow path.

When they arrived to a small room in the end of the path, they could see a hole in the ground. This hole, however, flashed and glowed in different colors, it like the ground was creating a shield on that small part of the floor. Jack stepped on it with his other foot, looking at Hanpan, who seemed to be a little worried. When nothing happened, Jack decided to step on it with his other foot, and just then, he could feel like being sucked into void, but at the same time, before he could feel anything, he was standing in a room with a blue lighting, wires everywhere and somekind of a big machine in front of him.

He went over to the machine, and saw some buttons on it.
"Don't touch it!", Hanpan yelled, but it was too late. Jack had already pressed one of the buttons. Suddenly, the machine started emitting a blue light, and Hanpan and Jack could see some sort of a green ball, floating in front of them, inside the ball, a hologram of a human figure appeared in the ball, except that this figure didn't seem completely like a human. It had hairy ears that hanged from the sides of it's forehead.
"It's an Elw!", Hanpan yelled, looking like he was about to faint, "I've never seen anything like this before".
"What... What's an Elw?", Jack asked, confused about the whole situation. Hanpan explained:
"Long ago... an alien race lived here, an advanced race who used technology laced with magic. These are the remnants of a race whose lives were in sync with the laws of nature".
"So, is this an Elw?", Jack wondered.
"No, this is a holographic image", Hanpan answered, "This machine must be a data storage device of the Elw! Information is left here to be retrieved later. This certainly is a *Temple of Memory".
"Wait a minute", Jack suddenly said, "The Elw is speaking directly into my mind.
"Wow, with your thick skull?!", Hanpan chuckled, "This certainly is advanced technology".

Jack could hear the Elw:
"Seek not Lolithia. She sleeps in her tomb. Lolithia's icy breath can only destroy. Seek not Lolithia in her tomb. The Elw have departed. Seek not Lolithia, for she is bound in the *Land of Light*. She is the Death Wind. The heartbeat of annihilation, an absolute destructive power..." And with that said, the machine shut down like it had been, and the hologram of the Elw disappeared.

"I can't believe it. The absolute *Power*", Jack joyed to Hanpan, "Hey Hanpan, you heard him! Where is this *Land of Light*?" Hanpan thought for a while.
"Hmmm... I'm not sure, but...", he thought again, "In an ancient tongue, Adlehyde means *Light*. Perhaps it's related... Do you want to go there. It's not that far away from here". Jack wondered for a while:
"Er... okay".
"Adlehyde is a kingdom located to the southeast of here", Hanpan explained.
Hanpan hopped back on Jack's shoulder when they noticed another one of those 'holes' had appeared on the floor. Jack stepped on it, and in another, stomach turning feeling, he found himself back at the huge chest.
He no longer had any interest in using it, so he just let Hanpan jump back onto his shoulder (the force of those 'holes' always seemed to drop Hanpan to the floor), and they walked out of The Memory Temple.

There is a price to pay when the Power is attained. Free thyself from the past. But what awaits in the future? Does man seek strength because he believes that the Power will light the darkened path to the future? He has no idea that the Power he seeks is also binding his soul.

Chapter 4
A Girl From An Abbey

To south from Memory Temple, across a small river of water, on a lonely little island, stood a great abbey, The Curan Abbey. The Curan Abbey was a school, where the students would live for seven years, and learn everything about basic magic, along with a lot of other important things.

A small girl, at the age of 17, with a golden hair and blue eyes, wearing a white robe, was standing alone. All she could see was darkness all around her. She could hear a distant voice in her head:
"Oh Innocent One. You can feel my mind in yours".
"Me?", the girl asked confused and scared, "Are you calling me?". She looked around herself.
"It's dark in here, I can't see". Suddenly, 15 blue orbs flew towards her, appearing from nowhere. Then she seemed to be standing somewhere where there was nothing but green and blue lights everywhere, flashing.
"Take my wishes to your heart, Innocent One", she could hear the same voice again, "Tell me your name. We will again be bound by the ancient contract".
"Who are you? I'm no the one you want!", the girl panicked. The voice didn't even pay attention to her words.
"Hurry, tell me your name. Once again, the world is being engulfed by darkness. Tell me your name".
"My name is...", the girl forced herself to speak, "Cecilia". In another flashes of blue orbs, a shadow, of what seemed to be like a giant tortoise, appeared in front of her. It spoke:
"Girl, Cecilia. Let go of your ego. The power is in the book", and as the blue orbs left from her body as suddenly as they had appeared, the lights and the shadow was gone. She was back alone, standing in darkness.
"Who are you?", Cecilia begged, but all she could hear from then one, was the same distant voice, calling her name for time after time again.

"Cecilia... the class is over", she finally realized that the voice calling her was actually her teacher's, Sister Mary's, voice. She was back in where she was before the darkness consumed her, at the magic school of Curan Abbey. In a small class room, where Sister Mary, wearing her typical black robe and a hood pulled over her head, was standing in front of her, and two of her friends, who were sitting on two of the other five benches, leaning against their tables writing something up in their books.
Her friend, who was sitting next to her, walked over to her and asked:
"Aren't you turning 17 today? You need to work on not being so spaced out". Her other friend, whom was sitting behind her, asked next:
"Aren't you supposed to go back to Adlehyde when you turn 17? I worry about the future if our princess has mental problems". Cecilia turned her back to her classmates, and half-jokingly said:
"Gee... you guys are being really nice to me today".
"You're going back to Adlehyde soon, aren't you? You should say farewell to everyone", the one who was sitting behind her, suggested. Cecilia nodded:
"Yeah, I need to do that". The other of her friends walked around the classroom and next to Cecilia, joking:
"Are you done yet? Stop procrastinating. Get going! Everyone will appreciate your visit".

Cecilia walked out of the classroom and curved left, walking through the hallway. She glimpsed through an open door to the barracks, where two statues of magicians, were facing in opposite directions. Those statues had always given her the creeps, for some reason, as for most other students in the abbey.
As she walked past the library, she could hear someone yelling her name. She looked into the library, and there stood one of the younger students of the abbey, in a middle of a book pile.
"Cecilia! Good timing. I know you'll help me out", the student said, explaining, "I was sorting the books, but I ended up making a mess. I'm terrible at this. Anje, the magician, has a magic *Pocket Watch*. Please Cecilia, get the watch from Anje and help me clean the library. The watch will reverse time and put all the books back on the shelves". Cecilia sighed, what a great day to turn seventeen. She agreed to help the boy, and walked out of the library. She crossed the outside bridge that opened a great view to the river that passed through the abbey. People were enjoying the summer on the bridge as Cecilia walked by and nodded to everyone as a hi.
She walked past the kitchen and went down the stairs to one of the bedrooms. There, in the middle of the room, Anje, a young magician, around at her early thirties, with a beautiful pink hair, was examining some sort of a rock that was put on a table.
"Good timing, please take a look", Anje said as she noticed Cecilia. Cecilia was amazed, either she was just plain lucky, or there was something going on. How could she be around just when everyone needed her? She walked over to the table, that the stone was resting on.
"This is the *Guardian Stone*", Anje explained, "It responds to the power of the Guardians. According to my studies, the *Tear Drop* has some connection to them. If you use the *Tear Drop* near the *Guardian Stone*, it should respond". Cecilia nodded, as she pulled a shining, clear blue crystal, around the size of her hand, out from her pocket. She rised it above her head and it seemed to pick somekind of small shining items, almost like fireflies, out from the thin air. As soon as Cecilia did this, the rock on the table started flashing with a red, warm light.
"Just as I thought", Anje wondered, "There's a definite reaction". Your *Teap Drop* crystal and the Guardians are linked in some way". Cecilia looked at Anje, amazed. Anje continued:
"The *Tear Drop* is the secret treasure of the Adlehyde family. That's why the stone glowed. This will help me so much in furthering my research". She put her hand in her purple robe's pocket, and pulled out a small watch.
"Here, take this", she handed it to Cecilia, "It's my *Pocket Watch*. It's very useful". It helps you go back in time. You can change things back to how they were, at the time of your choosing", Anje explained. Cecilia was, yet again, amazed. The day may have been unlucky to her this far, but it seemed like everything was working out for her, the simplest possible way.
Cecilia walked back to the library, crossing the outside bridge, and some of the classrooms. As she arrived on the library door, the boy was already waiting for her.
"So that's Anje's watch", the boy figured as he saw the watch Cecilia was holding in her hand, "Please use it to fix up this mess. I'll go over to Sister Mary and make some excuses. I'll be right back", and with that, he ran to Sister Mary's classroom. Cecilia stepped in the library and walked over to the pile of books.
"I hate to use magic for a purpose like this, but...", she said to herself. And with that, she set the clock to an hour before and activated it. She felt like the world was about to fade into darkness, but as soon as it did, everything appeared back, but only thing different now was, that all the books were nicely put on the shelves. Cecilia was amazed.
"Wow! This thing really works!", but she noticed one book, with purple covers, still laying on the floor, "Huh? There's still one book left on the floor". As she was about to pick the book up, she could hear the distant voice, in her mind once again.
"Innocent One...", it said, "Release... Let go of your ego... I am... trapped within the... *Sealed Library*", and then the voice, along with the book, disappeared. Cecilia looked in front of herself, stunned.
"A book spoke to me", she chuckled to herself, thinking if she was going crazy.
"The same voice as in the dream", she thought, "What is the *Sealed Library*? I wonder if it's located somewhere in the abbey". She walked out of the library, thinking about this weird voice. Who could help her figure this mysterious voice out? She walked back and forward in the hallway, and had completely forgotten about her seventeeth birthday. Maybe Sister Mary could help her with this thing, she thought, and so she was off to see her.

She walked into Sister Mary's classroom, which she had just left half an hour ago, where the boy from the library was trying to come up with excuses for the Sister. She walked over to the Sister, who was happy to see Cecilia.
"Cecilia, how are you?", she smiled at her. Cecilia explained her about the mystery voice and the book, which had spoken to her. After she had told everything, Sister Mary looked at her with an amazed look on her face.
"So, a book is calling you to the *Sealed Library*?", she spoke, mostly to herself.
"Yes, it's not a dream", Cecilia explained, "A shadow spoke to me and asked me to release him from the book. I thought you might know". Sister Mary took her time thinking, trying for the few students, who had been left sitting in detention, not to get suspicious about what her and Cecilia were talking about. She then said:
"A book whith speaks... And a large shadow? A library in which many forbidden secrets are stored does exists. Where the *Sealed Library* is... That I cannot tell you. You were summoned by the Guardians to search for the *Sealed Library*. If you are the chosen one, you must do this on your own". Cecilia then walked out from the classroom and to the library. Maybe the books would know something about this *Sealed Library*, she thought.

Many hours passed, and Cecilia was sitting in the library floor, thinking who would know of this mystical library. The books had known about Ancient Relic Machines, the Guardians, Crest Graphs, but nothing about the *Sealed Library*, whatsoever. She sighed, as thoughts bouncing from Sister Mary's words, to hamburgers was going through her mind. She was getting hungry, and decided to get up. Fortunately for her, it was time for dinner.
She grabbed her white robe, which she had taken off during all the reading, from the floor and pulled it on her purple shirt.

As Cecilia arrived in the kitchen, the chef offered her a big pile of hamburgers (knowing she is crazy for them), but he noticed that Cecilia was a little depressed. He asked her what was in her mind, and Cecilia asked him about the *Sealed Library*. The chef's explained that he had heard about a rumor, but he didn't know much about it. He then advised Cecilia to go look for Luna, who always seemed to catch every bit of information possible. Cecilia didn't really have that high of hopes anymore, but she decided to give it a shot.
She walked to the sleeping quarters and noticed that Luna was laying on one of the six beds. She looked sick.
"What's wrong?", Cecilia asked her and Luna explained that there must have been something bad in the food she had been eating. After Cecilia had chatted about a few things with her, she remembered.
"Have you happened to hear about this *Secret Library*?". Luna looked around herself for a while, repeating the two words, trying to remember anything about such thing.
"Oh yes!", she suddenly remembered, "I once read something about a place like that. Some strange library that's supposed to have all sorts of information". Cecilia asked if she remembered how to get in there.
"Well, I remember something about two magicians facing each other, and something about showing a light between them", Luna explained, "I have no idea what the light is, but...", but before she could even finish the sentence, Cecilia ran off, up the stairs of the sleeping quarters. It had hit her, the two magicians, and the light, she knew what to do now.

She walked through the hallways, dodging other students, until she had passed Sister Mary's classroom, and then entered the barracks, where the two statues of the magicians were.
Having become frustrated, Cecilia didn't want to spend any more time on solving this mystery. Instead, she placed her hands on the other statue, gathered all her strength and pushed. The statue was surprisingly light. After a few dozen hard pushes, she had finally managed to place the two statues on eachother's places, so now they were facing each other. After gathering back some strength from the heavy pushing, she took the *Tear Drop* from her pocket, and rised it high above her head. If something was the light to be shown, it had to be the *Tear Drop*. She was sure of it.
However, it seemed to do nothing but what it usually did; flash millions of small lights around her, for a second or two, and then make them disappear as soon as they appeared. Cecilia sat down on the stone floor.
"This is hopeless", she thought, and closed her eyes and was ready to fall sleep just there. But as soon as she opened her eyes again, she saw two blue orbs surrounding her, before they took a curve to the hallways of Curan Abbey. Cecilia got up and ran after the two orbs.
As she got to the hallways, she could hear the distant voice in her head, but was not quite sure what it said this time. She noticed something on the wall, it was just like her *Tear Drop* crystal, which she was holding in her right hand. She knew what she had to do, and so she once again rised the *Tear Drop* above her head, and as she saw the millions of lights, she had the weirdest feeling ever. She felt like she was being sucked into darkness, but at the same time, before she could feel anything, she was standing in a damaged hallway, made out of solid stone, and before her opened a room which held more books than she could have ever imagined to exist.

She wandered around the huge room, searching between bookshelves, but she could not find anything. She sat down on the floor to take a rest. The day had been rough for her, turning seventeen, having to do two exams, books talking to her plus she hadn't even been eating too many hamburgers.
She reached out to the bookshelf she was leaning against, and picked a few random books from here and there. She glanced through a few books about the Guardians, a one about the Guardian Blade. One book that was locked by a magical seal, drew Cecilia's attention. She picked the book from the shelve and looked at it. While it seemed to have a somewhat brownish cover, it seemed like the book wasn't even there. It was like she was holding an illusion in her hands. The words "De Le Metalica" had been written on the cover, with a golden paint.
Cecilia got up, and passed a few more bookshelves until she noticed a stairway, leading down. She walked down the steps and found herself in what seemed to be a small, old room, hence why it was very damaged, and on the other side of this room was a wooden table, and on top of that lied the book that spoke to her, in the very same purple covers, as she had seen it before.
She walked over to the book and opened it. Out from between the pages fell what seemed to be a shining pearl. As it hit the floor, it grew into an enormous creature, which seemed to be like a blue gorilla, but only with horns longer than any bull's. With a voice of forbidden destruction, it spoke:
"A human who wants to touch the forbidden book! I shall grant your wish and make you a part of my story". Cecilia looked at this creature, and finally brought herself to say:
"You're not the shadow that calls me".
Said that, the creature lended it's arm trying to squeeze Cecilia into it's enormous paw. Cecilia managed to dodge, and from her robe, she pulled her magic staff, about the length of her arm, and stroke it to the creature's face. It had no effect, as the creature now became more angrier and charged towards Cecilia, with it's horns about to stab through her and to the wall behind. Cecilia, with a quick wave of her staff, shot about 10 fireballs from it, which all hit the blue book monster and seemed to burn it into ashes. With that, Cecilia walked over to the book on the table, thinking how lucky she was that she had used those two Crest Graphs on the Flame spell.
As she touched the book, the pages began turning on their own, until from between one of the pages, another blue flashing orb, floated in front of her and out from it emerged a figure of a sea turtle, about the same size as the blue monster.
"The shadow figure from my dream", Cecilia immediately figured out. The figure started speaking, with it's voice of a serpent:
"I am Stoldark, the Guardian of the water", it kept silent for a moment, "For ages, the demon Nelgaul has locked me in this terrible book", it spoke again, clearly meaning the blue book monster, "I have waited a long time for the Innocent One who would receive the Guardian Spirit". Cecilia gasped as she realized:
"The Innocent One? Me?". The figure who called itself as Stoldak, continued:
"The world is at the turning point of darkness again. Innocent One... can you hear the anger of the land and the wind? The screams of the sea and the sky?" Cecilia could nothing but stare at this creature as it explained all this to her.
"Wear me as your armor, Innocent One", it spoke once again, "I shall protect you in your fight for life. The battle for Filgaia begins again. Everything begins with *Lolithia*", and with that, Stoldark disappeared, and Cecilia was left wondering all by herself. But something was different, she was holding a piece of stone, with an ancient mark of water curved on it, in her hand. It seemed to be somekind of a rune. Before she could examine it any better, she was sucked back into the feeling of darkness.

She appeared back in the hallways of Curan Abbey, and the first sight she could see was Sister Mary standing in front of her, and the barracks.
"Welcome back, Cecilia", the Sister spoke with a tone of voice that revealed that she already knew what had happened to Cecilia, just moments ago, "Now you realize the responsibilities of the women in the Adlehyde family. The female descendants of the Adlehyde family share their thoughts with the Guardians. They must carry the burden of their destiny with them for the rest of their lives", she kept a pause as Cecilia kept listening to her, astounded, "No one can understand the pain and pressure which you must endure. But, they can help you cope with it and make your life easier. Cecilia, there are those who can relate to the burden one's destiny brings". She put her hand on Cecilia's shoulder.
"Walk proudly from the abbey... You must travel your own path from now on", and after saying that, Sister Mary walked away into her classroom.

Cecilia hated goodbyes, and decided to just walk out from the Curan Abbey, without saying goodbye to her friends, nor lay another look at the abbey. She walked through the gates and the only person she saw was the guard on the gates, whom she nodded as a goodbye. She was going back to home, back to Adlehyde.

The Guardians from the legend have only spoken to her... without a sound, the wheels of destiny have started to turn. The path she followed in the past was guided by her surroundings. She knew someday she would have to pave her own path to the future. The Innocent One, who the Guardians speak of... It may be too heavy of a burden to be the sorceress of the ultimate power at such a young age...