1 Chapter one: Secrets of the quintessence Crystal Revealed
Daytime in the village of the deamon explorers was hard at work for the villagers, in just a few days ago, the village was overrun by the Galra and as a result, The village was in ruins and the people captured.
But luckily, Shiro, Keith, and their friends had rescued them from the evil clutches of Sendak and his army, however, it came with a price. Shiro in a desperate attempt, shatter the crystal into pieces in order to prevent Sendak from getting the crystal.
But he was in the only one, Adam, Shiro's boyfriend has also joined him and their pursuit of power. Now Shiro and the others must figure it out a way to defeat the empire. Luckily. The village might have some answers.
Who was finally on the mend. Robot parts were being scraped, and buildings were being repaired after Sendak and Adam's invasion.
Captain Olia and the rebels had arrived, and under the leadership of Chief Herschel, they were helping to rebuild the village. But the most significant change came from the people themselves. People who are originally captured and the people from the village worked alongside each other with the common goal of living together in peace.
Hunk had rescued his parents, his sister and her husband and his niece and returned to the village with the rest of the people. There was a sense of hope in the air after Sendak and Adam's defeat, but Shiro found it hard to celebrate. He still cannot believe it that Adam joined the Galra empire and he had to fight him.
He hopes that never happens again and maybe this village might give him some answers about the crystal and how it ended his body in the first place. Let hope the answers are given in this village.
In the meantime, Shiro is washing some clothes in a wooden tub, he's doing everything he can to help with the village.
"Thanks with the help!" Said Hunk's mother.
"Anytime, Mrs..." Shiro said.
"Sahra" Hunk's mother answered
"Sahra, right!" Shiro said, "of course it's the least I can do to help!"
Elsewhere, Stats exploring the storeroom.
"Stats!" He said as picks up a weapon almost as big as him. So many kinds of weapons! All made from the bones and hides of daemons!
With these arms, the people of this village slew daemons, besides the fact they are called explorers, it sounds like they just slay daemons.
However, villages still calling them explorers. That would make them a Target from the Galra.
In another location of the village, Lance is burning something, possibly extra broken wood. Keith runs to Lance with a log slung over his shoulder.
"Damn it! What's going on anyway?! Hey, Lance, is Hunk and everyone still repairing for the village!?" Keith said.
"I believe so". Lance told Keith.
"Well, find him! he knows Sendak's whereabouts!" Keith said as he throws the log into the fire. "If we go back to that castle, I'm sure it will log his memory!"
"I don't think that's a good idea!" Lance said, "Hunk's been through a lot, his family was almost taken from him, and let's not forget about the villagers they almost got their daemon separate from them!"
"So what?! We've been waiting now for ten days now! If I was him I would repair the village in three days!" Keith said.
"Well if I was him, I would wait, it probably takes to the village for a month. Besides, Hunk suffers not only from dealing with the physical. he lost Roy, his nephew...the wound to his heart goes deep." Lance explain.
"A wounded heart, huh? The best cure for that is vengeance! And for that, we to fight against the Galra" Keith said, excites "Awright! I'll go and ask him!"
Lance throws a log at Keith "Owwee! What was that for?!"
"For being an idiot, and besides let him be for a while. That's the best medicine".
Shiro walks into a hut with his medicine box, there has been a lot of injured since the escape. Most of them have rope Burns and scrapes and bruises, possibly from all the testing from Sendak's lab.
People slept soundly on a cot in the common hut. Though their loved ones were eager to see them, Chief Herschel kept them at bay. After all the injured had been through, they needed to rest.
Romelle and Pidge kept watching by the bedside. Pidge clasped her hand in Romelle's hand as everyone slept. Hunk looked on from the doorway, struggling with everything has happened. he was as happy as anyone to have his family back, but he wasn't happy about the others. Most of them have already lost family members from Sendak's lab. Including himself.
By midafternoon, Hunk sits at the burial mounds with Kiaion sits next to him. he meows as Hunk pats him.
"Hunk!" A voice call to him, he turned around only to see Shiro. "Hey, Your mother wanted to know that you were okay!"
"Oh I'm fine, I'm just looking at the grave!" Hunk said.
"Uh-huh... Umm... Uh..." Shiro mumbled as he gives Hunk a clear answer but he couldn't, he can't tell him to cheer up. In one short day, he just lost one of his family members. The only thing he can do right now to kneels next to him, try to be a good friend.
"Hey if it makes you feel better, what if you come with us? You know Lance and Keith are a basically good person. What do you think?" Shiro said, looked at Hunk, and smiled.
"I don't know, I never leave my village before, well other than going missions!" Said Hunk
"Well, we're way better than!" Said, Shiro
"Well, I suppose you're right, of course," He spoke gently to Shiro. "You...had the quintessence Crystal".
"Huh?" Shiro said as looks at his chest where the quintessence Crystal once stood. "You're right I used to, I had to shatter it to prevent its power being used!"
"I see, I'm glad that thing is gone, that way my village won't be attacked by the Galra anymore". Hunk said. "All right, I'll come with you".
"You intend to protect your family and village?" Shiro said.
"I guess... Plus the quintessence Crystal was..." Hunk was back on his feet.
"Born in this region. We came to this village wanting to know more about that". Shiro said. thinking that Everyone who comes in contact with the quintessence Crystal becomes unhappy. Just what is the Crystal?
Kiaion looks at Shiro and mews. "What is it, Kiaion" he said as he pats Kiaion.
"I'll go get my dad, Call your friends. You helped rescue the villagers. We tell you...how the quintessence Crystal came to be". Hunk said.
Everyone gathers in front of the crater, the chief and Hunk in tow.
"At last, we'll be able to enter this limestone crater where the quintessence Crystal came to be". Shiro said.
"Yes, have any of you have been inside this crater and seen it?" Said the chief, is always wise and mysterious.
"No, we haven't, the only thing that we do know that you put in remains of daemons!" Shiro responded.
"So Chief, just how do we get rid of this barrier?" Keith said.
"We can't, this place is a graveyard!" Chief said.
"A graveyard!" Keith said.
"It's useless to just look for a way in". The chief continued, "At first, my villages had thought the daemons had placed a curse to keep anyone from entering, but we eventually realized that she is the one who keeps intruders out".
"And who is she?" Romelle asked
"The person in whom the quintessence Crystal was born". The chief said, continually, "her spirit is full of sadness and regret and it prevents others from entering, that's is what everyone in my village sense, it would be easier to understand once we go in! Go ahead and step to the barrier".
"Uhh..." Keith said as he walks but pauses and looks at the chief. "Are you sure about this?"
"Countless people have been killed enslave by the Galra, all because the quintessence Crystal's dark power and it is the sympathy you show for the victims that leads me to believe she will allow you to enter the cave".
The group walks through the barrier and stops.
"You're right, we got through!" Romelle said as the group walks into the deep end of the crater where carcasses of demons are strewn around the area.
"I never realized you guys slay a lot of daemons," Shiro said. "If you people are called explorers why didn't kill them".
"Well, we don't slay daemons, while it is true we sometimes take the skin of daemons but we're mostly in charge of keeping the balance between humans and daemons, with the war going on people are more scared than ever! So it's up to us to make sure the balance in check" Chief said to him.
"I never really wondered like that!" Shiro looked away from him. He scratched the back of his neck nervously.
Everyone looks up in awe at a tall pile of bones in the middle of the crater.
"What IS this?!" Keith said.
"There was a time when ogres, dragons, and other daemons merge their bodies to wage a battle" chief said, looking up and continue "they fought against one powerful human!?"
"There's a mummy inside the stalagmite!" Pidge said as a stone-like woman is seen in the stalagmite.
"The daemon has her in its jaws, look at the number of daemons surrounding her!" Keith said. "That woman must have had immense power, but how does that be!"
"After humans and daemons discover one another, at that time, wars dragged on and on and countless people from both sides perished!" Chief said, explaining the tail. "Both sides were in a stalemate, each one of them was able to grow in numbers".
"That part I know, but this doesn't explain how this connects to the quintessence crystals!" Shiro told him.
"Well, since both sides were in such a stalemate, they try to come up with a peace treaty! However it wasn't a good struggle with so many animosities between the others, people doubted that there's going to be a peace treaty" the Chief said, continuing the tail. "Until one day a human born with a daemon came to this world, that person was the priestess Midoriko".
Everyone gaps, "Hang on, you mean to tell me that she was the first human to have a daemon!?" Shiro responded.
"Yes, She ranked the strongest of all, with her abilities to control the elements". The Chief said.
"She has the power to control the elements?" Romelle said.
"Yes... In this world, humans, animals, deamon, trees and stones alike, all are created through the quintessence Crystal".
"The quintessence Crystal made from her, I didn't know that!" Romelle said, "Coran always told me that the crystal was made from the elements, water, fire, Earth, air, and balance!"
"Well, that part is true!" The Chief said as he walks to the stalagmite. "When the quintessence Crystal works properly in harmony and the human heart is filled with good and kind, isn't that right, son".
"W-what?!" Hunk shrugged.
"Stats" Stats said, falls back with twirly eyes on his face.
"When one does bad deeds, the four spirits energize evil and the human soul loses his way". Said the chief.
"In other words, with both humans and demons, the soul can turn good or bad". Shiro said, his mind officially blows.
"Now you know why Midoriko was a formidable foe and an ally for the daemons because she brought balance to the planet, thanks to her the war between our species has ended!"
"So what? She fought off an army of demons by turning them into a bunch of weaklings, but her powers didn't last". Keith said. "And she didn't stop the war, there's a war going on right now!"
"That may be true but she hasn't lost the battle yet!"
"What do you mean not yet!" Shiro asked, notices a hole in Midoriko's chest "what's that?"
After battling for seven days and seven nights, a dark daemon got its fangs into Midoriko". The chief added, "With the last ounce of her energy, Midoriko seized the daemon's soul, took it into her own soul, and forced it out of her body".
"Tell me, is the hole in her chest!? The spot where she forced out her own soul!"
"What flew out of her was in fact the quintessence Crystal" the chief explains "she wasn't able to purify the daemon's soul. All his could do was seized and imprisoned it along with herself?"
Although the flesh is gone, inside the quintessence Crystal a battle still wages between Midoriko and the daemons, that's why the war isn't over yet.
"Inside the quintessence Crystal...a war still rages on? Like us!?" Shiro responded.
"Oh come on, for our, it looks like we're being manipulated by the Crystal, this is no joke," Keith said, smug "if the crystal turns, then I will separate it with my own two hands."
"Keith!" Shiro said, "I'm surprised you were able to say that!?"
"I did, I don't know the words that came out of my mouth!?" Keith answer.
"Right!? But you won't do it alone!" Shiro said. "Because I'll be right here, after all, I am the samurai!?"
The sun was setting when they return to the village. Chief Herschel and Hunk climb out first, followed by Shiro, Keith, Lance, Pidge, Romelle, and Stats. They'd started to continue the rest of the duties of the village, Shiro is taking down the laundry. "It's gotten so late". He told himself. "A priestess thrust the quintessence Crystal from her body".
Nighttime in the village. Keith sits on the roof on a hut, while the rest gather inside, feeling starving and headed straight for the family dining table.
"The villagers and I have worked as explorers for generation upon generation and it likely has something to do Midoriko's influence". The chief explains, leaned forward where he sat between his wife and his son. "After her death, the quintessence Crystal went passed down to King Alfor following a great disaster. But something terrible happened to him, without him, the crystal became horribly defiled and beyond the abilities of the explorers to handle".
"So they put in his daughter, Allura's care..." said Shiro.
The chief and Hunk exchanged looks.
"Yes, Allura...A priestess so named who was able to purify the Crystal" the chief.
"Wasn't she the one got killed in a fire!" Hunk said. "I mean it's all complicated, dad"
"It's not all complicated, I meant the crystal came from my body," Shiro said patting Stats and listening in to the conversation gravely. "The quintessence Crystal has the power for good or evil. However, I've never heard of an instance where the crystal has been used for good".
"You're right, ever since Allura's passing, Zarkon continues to conquer the planet, who knows what will happen!" The chief said. "The Quintessence Crystal may be gone. But I fear that Zarkon's war might be the beginning of something!" An uncomfortable silence settled over the room.
A while later. While everyone is sleeping with fresh sheets. Shiro placed an armload of dishes into the sink. Keith turned on the water and began to wash them.
A couple of minutes later, while being lost in thought, Shiro accidentally drops a plate, causing it to shatter on the floor.
"Whoa, Shiro, are you okay!" Keith asked.
Shiro straightened and took a deep breath. "I'm fine. This stuff usually happens!"
Keith's features were etched with concern. "Are you sure, have you been thinking about the quintessence Crystal! Or something else"
"No reason to worry" Shiro sighed. "It's nothing."
At that moment, Captain Olia walked into the room, holding an empty teapot. "Can I get some more hot water? We need more tea."
"Of course, Olia I'll get it right away" Shiro responded.
But Keith didn't budge, he folded his arms across his chest. He didn't believe that Shiro was all right and said, "are you sure about that
Olia glanced up and sensed the tension between the two of them. "I'm going to step out, in case you two want to talk," she said. She quickly and quietly left the kitchen.
Shiro looked after her, puzzled. "Is there something we need to talk about?" he asked Keith. Keith stared hard at him. At last, he spoke.
"I noticed you've been being quiet, like your focus on something, it is Adam"
"What? No!" Shiro replied, flustered. "It's fine, I've been holding up?"
"Look I know you've been through a lot since we got back!?" Keith said. "Not to mention what happened with Adam."
"What? Augh, I mean to tell you the truth, I haven't even thought about that person". Shiro responded.
Keith sighed deeply. "You're really going to make me say it? I mean you can hardly say his name, there's a difference between setting feeling aside and burying them so deep, they change who you are".
"What are you saying, Keith," Shiro said, exasperated.
"What I'm saying is that you're alone in this".
"I know, but maybe it would be better if I were" Shiro's voice trailed off. He flushed a brilliant shade of red from the base of his neck all the way up to his hairline. It was true that Adam did join the empire and he had to fight him, for the freedom of everyone. The fight between them really changes everything.
Keith blinked, suddenly confused. "What was that!"
Shiro looked at Keith and softened. He reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, we just learned a great deal about the crystal. Can we deal with relationship problems later?"
"It there might be a relationship I mean I would be pretty devastated if I have to fight as that" Keith said. he shrugged off his touch and stalked out of the kitchen. Shiro groaned and covered his face with his hands.
Outside the family living quarters in the village, the Gates ware being guarded by the rebels, campfires were set around the area. People eating grub, made from carrots, tomatoes, and onions.
Captain Olia and her Union could often be on high alert for any attack, but tonight it seemed to be a quiet evening, no attacks nearby.
"Oh man, nothing like Glorious guarded!" One rebel said.
"Yeah, nothing like that but everything is so quiet," other rebels said.
Being a rebel was no easy job, supposed that with everything that had happened lately, everyone was under additional stress lately. There were people with daemons and made them a great target for enemies and with the threat of Zarkon and his Galra armies, they all had their hands full.
Oila returns with her teapot and instead next to the rebels. She was just about to eat her dinner when a ramble sounded at the bushes.
She looks into it to find the crater, only finding the stalagmite gone. "That's weird!" She said.
In a flash, a mysterious figure came behind her and knocked around in the back. She passed out and toppled over into the ground.
Kiaion landed on the roof of the village hall and quickly fell asleep, then suddenly, he got the strange feeling he was being watched. Kiaion looked around. Everything on the roof seemed perfectly normal, repaired houses continue to be darkened where sleeping people live.
Kiaion shook off the feeling and went back to sleep. Then suddenly the unexpected happens.
A current of static electricity rippled through his fur, causing the hairs to stand on end. Kiaion whirled just in time to see a terrifying dragon-like creature hurtling toward him. He flipped out of the way, dodging it as continue to crash through the building. When he looked to see where they had come from, he noticed something different about the dragon, it was the stalactite, in fact, it was the stalactite.
Kiaion pivoted sharply and flung a powerful blast from his mouth at his attackers. The dragon scattered, the ferocious wind driving them to fan out across the rooftop. It regrouped swiftly, however, and launched several flying orbs of fire. One of the orbs whirled past Kiaion's head, completely missing its target, but the other two were direct hits. Its long body coils around Kiaion and squeezes him.
The dragon jerked the long body, wrenching Kiaion's whole body out in front of it. While still firing steady, Kiaion leaped into the air with a bite to get free and aimed straight for dragon's head. The stalactite dragon dodged the attack as best he could, narrowly avoiding the bite. The dragon sailed past just a hairsbreadth from Kiaion's face, landing a few feet behind him.
Outmatch and at a clear disadvantage, Kiaion summoned the power of the Earth to even the score. The rocks stirred and spiraled toward him.
Currents swirled and swept through his fur, rustling the fabric of his body. Kiaion began to spin, going inside the Earth into a whirling vortex beneath his feet. The dragon behind him went after him but sadly Kiaion slamming it into the stone wall around the edge of the roof.
With his enemy overcome, Kiaion landed gently on the ground. As soon as his feet touched the ground, everyone rushed out of their homes to meet him.
"Kiaion!" Hunk squeaked. "what happened!"
"I think that happened!" Pidge pointed out as the dragon rose up from the ruins of the building.
"Wow, that is a big dragon!" Pidge said.
Elsewhere, Shiro wasn't about to stand by while the dragon waged its an attack on the village. So he, Keith, Romelle, and Lance saw the explosions from the house of Hunk's family and immediately sprang into action.
They run where Hunk and Pidge were as demon explorers crisscrossed the village, gathering weapons and repairing battle, getting it fortified as possible. The elders, children, and the people who didn't fight held in their homes. The entrance was bared down by tables and wood. A few men stayed inside the hall to keep them safe.
In the midst of the confusion, "Hunk!" Keith called out, scanned the narrow grid of streets in the village. "Keith!" Hunk said.
"What was that demon!?" Keith said, at the stalactite, the dragon rose up from the ruins of the building. "I don't know, this dragon appeared out of nowhere!" Hunk answered.
Shiro peered down several sides of the dragon until he could see that there was a faint hue of the quintessence Crystal inside the dragon. It was weird, he thought that he destroyed the crystal, and yet that powerful light that had filled the sky earlier was still on his mind.
At any rate, they had to defeat this dragon. So they struck out across the courtyard. Lance raced forward and unleashed a barrage of ice bursts at the other tanks. The ice whistled through the air and bounced off the stalactite- plated body.
Keith fell in beside Lance, curled the dagger on his right hand, Keith leaped nimbly into the air. His crimson jacket billowed in the wind as he towards the dragon
The dragon raised its claw arm with a monstrous hiss. The claw shot out across the courtyard and clamped shut, trapping Keith. Keith struggled in the grip of the grasping talon. His eyes widened as flying orbs of fire begin to launch at him.
"Keith!" Shiro shouted.
Keith grimaced, fighting to get free. He fastened his hands around the fire and summoned fire between his palms, then forced the fire along the cable, reversing the current. Sparks flew as the flames rippled back toward the dragon. The dragon shuddered, and let go of Keith.
"Keith, are you okay!" Shiro said, concerningly as he was in a few feet away, Shiro rushed toward an oncoming tank, trailing with his sword and said, "consolation breathing, first from: Aquarius.
He ran up the ramp and somersaulted high into the air above the machine. When she was directly over the tank, he forced down his sword on the dragon, cutting it. Lance knelt and punched the earth, churning up ice beneath the dragon. The stalactite dragon toppled over and hit the ground with a thud.
In the middle of the battle, Shiro caught sight of the light. It was almost similar to the crystal. In fact, it was the crystal or at least what piece of it. But before he could react, the dragon's claw grabs him. Launching him into the air.
"Shiro!" Romelle shouted.
"Kiaion!" Hunk shouted, under his command, Kiaion whirled just in the nick of time to rescue Shiro.
"Thanks, Kiaion!" Shiro told him.
At that moment, the dragon came to. It's sawed Shiro and his friends and let out a sigh of anger. The stalactite dragon climbed to his feet and jumped back into the fight, blasting a fire blast at them.
"Look out!" Hunk shouted as everyone got out the fire blast, the dragon roared a might roar and go back charged at the group.
He crouched and whirled his body threateningly, but Keith wasn't intimidated. he leaped into the air and swept a mighty cut at the dragon, stopping him in the path.
"Nice one, Keith!" Shiro said while watching him wide-eyed. he saw a small shining object fly out of a piece of the dragon's flesh and roll onto the ground.
Shiro tilted his head, noting that the light this small object gave off was quite similar to that of the quintessence Crystal.
But suddenly his body seized, caught in the grip of the dragon. he screamed in pain, his limbs buckling, as he hauled him from the spot where his friends are. The stalactite dragon crushed him in his terrible Stone hold.
"Let him go!" Lance yelled.
He leaped out from behind the group, blasting away at the dragon with rapid bursts of ice. The dragon easily dodged his strikes, then tilted his head toward Lance. The young man shuddered at the strange, skin-crawling sensation that made his limbs rigid with pain.
The dragon then lifts Lance the same way it did to Shiro. levitating them. They writhed under the crippling pressure of his power, their arms and legs feeling trap by the bloatedness of no ground. Then the dragon dropped them swiftly, slamming Shiro and Lance to the ground.
The dragon head moves towards the crew, who looks on in apprehension. Then suddenly a light glow appears. The spirit of Midoriko wakes from her stone body from the crater.
"That's…!" Hunk said as witness Midoriko leaps into the air with a sword in her hand and slays the dragon. Causing a loud explosion, around the village.
"Midoriko…" Hunk said, looks up in awe.
Midoriko lands slowly. But she gradually fades to the chief as he lands.
"Is everyone all right!" Say the chief.
"Yeah, we're a fine dad!" Hunk said. "Okay, you say for them!"
The courtyard was littered with the twisted Stone shells of dead bodies of Daemons, made from the dragon. Keith picked his way through the debris and rushed over to Shiro. "Are you all right?" he asked, worried. "I'm fine," Shiro answered.
"Thank you, chief. Another moment later and I would have been being that dragon's meal."
Just then, Romelle interrupted with unwelcome news. "Uh, guys . . . I think I found something" he said, pointing. Everyone turned to see a shine in the distance. It loomed over the land.
Shiro quickly picked it up. It looked like a crystal fragment, no bigger than the tip of Shiro's pinky finger, and sparkled with light. His bad feeling was no almost a certainty.
"Could… this be…" Shiro responded.
"What?! What is Shiro" Keith raised a quizzical eyebrow?
It was difficult to say, but she had to. "A quintessence Crystal… fragment…"
"Wha…" everyone shouted as they were practically speechless, especially Keith.
"But that's impossible," Keith said, "you destroy the crystal!"
"Well that's what I thought, too" Shiro responded gently. "But that light I saw, wasn't the crystal been destroyed!"
"That means, the crystal wasn't destroyed it was shattered into a million pieces," Keith said.
"I knew something troubling had happened when I saw that light spreading through the sky." The chief took a small breath.
"Chief, I'm so sorry I endangered everyone here," Shiro said. He knelt next to him, pulled a piece from the dragon from the debris, and try to set it back into the crater.
"Nonsense, you saved everybody here!" The chief smiled at him. "It wasn't your fault that something terrible happened here".
"My dad is right, and besides we're used to attacks like this!" Hunk said.
The chief examined the Shikon no Tama shard in his palm for a while, but he then slowly lifted head and looked at Shiro and the others with a fierce eye. "Listen, everybody. You must use everything your powers to search for the quintessence Crystal shards and gather them back into their original form."
"We understand!" Shiro thought a moment. "I will do everything I can to return the crystal back to its former self"
"Don't you think think you're going to do it alone!" Keith said. "Because I'll be right there beside you!"
"Me too!" Lance said.
"Don't you think I'm not helping!" Romelle said, "because you're going to need a lot of information on the crystal!"
"Of course for, Romelle," Shiro told her.
"Don't you think I'm coming along!" Pidge pointed out. "Because I have experience in wild daemons!"
"Hey don't you think about me?" Hunk told her.
Shiro looked at everybody, oddly proud. So many people decided to support him in finding the crystal shards. What does hope the empire doesn't find them first.
This battle has only begun.
