Ellie and The System

Dani intervened almost instantly, "No! We'll take down Orion, no matter what it takes. Sky isn't going to kill himself to stop this, that's not the right way!" I continued to watch Ellie sob into the tip of the shovel's handle.

"You don't understand… a White Stone cannot stand against Orion's sheer power and grip over this Isle, not to mention the other Five probably working with him." Again, a state of shock claimed my body.

"Five? In addition to him… and myself… I'm the Seventh White Stone then. Hey, what do you know about that statue?" I started to think back to the photos I had seen.

"The First White Stone placed it there with his 'associate' to guide the White Stone to ascension, but it has since been abandoned since they have all the White Stones they need now." She explained. All they needed… The first White Stone?

"Zeal, Xian, Elo, Demos, some unknown name, Orion, and myself. Those are the White Stones."

[System Alert: Mental Authority raised to Level Two]

As soon as the text appeared in my eye, Ellie darted toward my face and put her focus on the words. Could she see them?!

"Mental Authority Raised to Level Two… what is that?" I shrugged.

"So, you can see it too… I see it sometimes… when I punched that guy into our base, it told me, 'System Corruption 99 Percent'." Again, Ellie turned her head while walking back towards the shovel, looking at me like I was crazy.

"System… Corruption? Demos never explained that to me…" Demos? Who was she talking about?

"You and Demos used to be close then, that's why you knew about that statue and so much about the White Stones." Ellie nodded.

"The first time I got the message was when I started to beat Ullr's nose into his head, the stone on my left hand began to spark with a purple color and I was launched back at the same speed as I shot the guy into the wall, now that I think of it." I thought back to the speed and force exerted upon both me and Richard.

"It's a Taboo. That's the only thing he mentioned about his System. He told us about Zeal's efforts to prevent System Corruption, as it would've 'ruined him.' I enjoy talking about your system with you, is there anything else you've seen with it?" I shook my head.

"That's all at the moment. It doesn't talk very often, but it relieves me to know that you can see it as well." Ellie threw up her last chunk of dirt before climbing out of the hole.

"He's ready if you want to send him off." I nodded, walking over to the grave to make sure it was a proper depth. Then, I walked back to his body. His mouth was stuck open, so I closed it for him and picked him up. I had newfound strength that made it easier to carry his body over before I gently dropped him into the hole.

"I've learned a lot about you, Sky. I was told to fear the White Stones by my parents and the books in the schools, but I don't see what's so bad about you." She said.

"I have a question Ellie… where did Lia come from?" Dani asked, looking around the forest.

"That's why I brought you into the forest. Follow me." Ellie began to walk around the statue due west, climbing over rocks and overgrowth that blocked us. I hadn't even thought of doing that before.

Once we climbed over, pushing away the vines wrapped around our ankles, we got to the top of the cliff by the statue.

"Look through the trees, over there." Ellie pointed at tall, dark green trees standing in a forest directly across the large bay in front of us.

"Behind those trees stand a tall glacier, taller than those trees, and that's where they came from. That's where Orion lives, that tall glacier. It's far, but about a day's trek away. This Isle isn't very big, which is why Orion can assume control over all of it."

"Why tell us all of this? What's your motive behind explaining the secrets to this Isle to me?" Ellie let her finger down from pointing and turned to me, grabbing me by my shoulders.

"I told you, we have a similar goal. You want to kill Orion and protect your friends, and I want to do the same thing. My Dad lives in his base, and I want to kill him." I nodded.

"I don't want to kill anybody I don't have to, so I can't help you directly kill him, I'm sorry." Ellie shook her head.

"You already said you would." She teased.

--Lia's Perspective--

"What the hell was that?!" Dante grabbed me by my bicep and threw me into Orion's old wall, slamming the back of my head against the brittle stone.

"All you had to do was light the match while I held Ellie off!! What the hell is wrong with you?!" He grabbed me by my hair, and I yelped out in pain.

"I'm sorry! I was more concerned with your life than killing Sky! My priorities weren't straight! I apologize!"

Dante drew back his fist and punched me in the face, dropping me to the ground. "P-Please… give me another chance… please…" He clicked his tongue and drew his sword, piercing my shoulder with it. I cried out in pain, holding the blade back from gliding down through my arm.

"PLEASE! STOP IT! I DON'T WANT TO BE HIS MAID! PLEASE!!!" I screamed out with all of my energy.

Sparks coming from another weapon slashing Dante's sword in half-blinded me for a split second. In that split second, I could hear two swords clashing at a repetitive rate, followed by Dante grunting while sliding his feet. I opened my eyes once more, looking at the broken blade of the sword stuck in my shoulder, and a man fighting Dante.

He retreated for a split second and flipped his gray hair back, that was when I recognized him. That was the man that watched me pick up the glass with my teeth… another White Stone?!

"What are you doing?! You're supposed to be on our side! Why are you fighting me?!" Dante yelled at me. Talion, the White Stone standing before us, smirked.

"I'm pretty sure I've seen enough. You know, considering I followed you two here." The new White Stone said.

"What are you saying?!" Dante screamed at him.

"I resign my alliance. My loyalty lies with Sky, the New White Stone." My eyes widened.

"Why?! He's evil to this Isle!" Talion turned to me, and his smirk disappeared.

"Just like you're an evil to the Isle, Lia?" I paused for a moment.

What did he mean by that? No, I knew what he meant… why did he know that? Why was he confident in that?

"I see how you and Orion treat Lia, and I don't want to work for people that treat a little girl like Lia like a slave. You should be ashamed of yourselves, and I'm sure you will be in time." Dante clicked his tongue.

"You'd be stupid to switch sides. You let me cut her arms off and I won't utter a word about this to Orion." Talion smiled.

"Tell Orion he's one stupid White Stone if he thinks I'd change back to his side under any circumstance." With another smile, Talion threw his blade and Dante and jumped off with me in his arms back towards the East side of the Isle. Dante only smiled at me, which was enough to impose a ton of threats upon me.

"I know you don't want to be his slave. All you have to do is tell people you want help, and they will help you. Don't be afraid to be dependent, Lia." Talion stopped once we were a good distance away and set me down.

"I suppose you could go back to Dante if you wanted to, but I'm a White Stone. I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you. I nodded, keeping my legs still.

"Orion can't take anything else from me. He's killed all of my family, my brother, my sisters, my village, and everything else. He can't take anything else from me, so I'll be safe with you, right?" Talion nodded, patting my head.