Crystal Cave 2021 - Alkarnabi Event

Clink. Beep. Pause. Click.

I feel my ear twitch at the sounds. Someone’s entering.

Can’t be the old fella, no, he doesn’t come in here.

I struggle to open my heavy eyes. Feels like I haven’t opened them in days. I can’t help but open my mouth slightly in shock. I grin smugly and croak out a remark to the one who entered.

“Well, well. If it ain’t the doctor herself.” I chuckle, coughing from my dry throat and rusty words. “To what do I owe the pleasure? Pretty sure ya sucked my magic dry already, just so ya know.”

She pays no attention to me. Pity, this is the only fun I get and she already ruined it.

Instead, the doctor calmly proceeds to the tube near my cell. I almost forgot it was there, honestly. My mind’s been a blur lately. I at least remember who’s in it. Some kid named Jesse, pretty sure.

“Came back for the poor chap? Thought ya deemed ‘em a failure.” I poke again, hoping for a reaction.

She ignores me again. Dang it.

“Failure is a strong word… I see a use for him yet. But you?” The doctor speaks as she types something into the tube’s keypad. “You would do more for me dead than alive. So, if I were you, I would keep my jaws shut, Paradise.”

I can’t help but smile. I got under her skin again. I’m getting good at this.

“…You’re not even listening, are you?” She sighs. “Perhaps I should label your file as ‘failing mentally.’ You’re of no use to me brain dead.”

My brain is elsewhere already. She gets boring fast.

Suddenly, I’m snapped out of my thoughts by a loud bang on my cell’s bars. The doctor got impatient, apparently, and whacked the bars with her pen. She huffs and jots something down on her clipboard before exiting the room.

Time for another week in the dark, I guess. And silence. Maybe I’ll count the roaches again. I lose track when they scramble around but it’s better than just letting my brain rot.

---

Later…

“And you’re sure he has no knowledge of this?” A tall, sharply dressed and elderly Nabi speaks. He’s examining a letter.

“Positive, Grinn. My agent got it without being spotted.” The doctor responds. She gestures to a seat in the office they’re standing in and proceeds to sit in her own chair. Grinn soon follows, still inspecting the letter.

“The poor fool is oblivious to our operation. And with this-“ Grinn holds the letter up triumphantly. “-the operation will be advanced tenfold! Just think of the possibilities of what we could gather at this cave the Auru spoke of. New, powerful magic that even he fears.”

Grinn smiles deviously and hands the letter over to the doctor.

“You know, my investment is not to be taken lightly, Dr. Nari. You’ve yet to show substantial progress since Project Paradise. Tell me you at least have a device that can harvest this cave’s magic?” He taps his fingers in annoyance, watching Nari closely.

She’s unphased. “Of course. While the device is not originally portable, a version that can be will be constructed right away. It’ll be completed within two days.” Nari speaks with confidence.

Grinn continues his tapping. He ponders for a few moments before removing his hat and placing it on his lap as he leans back.

“There will undoubtably be other adventurers there who received the same plea of help. Do you have the means to defend yourself and the device should they catch on to you? I’m certain they’ll realize you were not the intended recipient of that letter.” He speaks, continuing his tapping on his hat.

“I’ve already thought of that. I’m taking my best fighters with me. Rex and Crey will be more than enough protection.”

“I thought Crey had only just finished his recovery period?”

“I know what I’m doing, Grinn. I am the doctor here.” Nari raises her voice warningly. Grinn does a small shrug and moves on.

“Very well. Remember how much is riding on the success of this mission, doctor. Do not fail me.” He places his hat back on his head as he stands. He hobbles out of the room with the support of his cane. As soon as he’s gone, Nari visibly relaxes.

“I have more at stake than you, greedy old man. All you have to lose is your money. This project is more than money…” She mutters to herself as she pockets the letter. Her frustration is interrupted by a warning light going off. She curses to herself and hurries out the door and past a confused Grinn, walking down the hallway.

Nari shoves open the door that leads to where the light was warning about.

It’s the room with Paradise’s cell and the tube. Paradise doesn’t react to her entry, but Nari is too focused on the tube to care. She types furiously on the keyboard of a connecting computer, glancing worriedly at the tube all the while. The warning light continues and is now accompanied by an emergency sound. She types faster.

“Power levels failing? But how?! This has been stable for months!” Nari rambles to herself as she works to fix the issue. The tube begins to shake. Glowing eyes open within. A groan can be heard from within as well.

Paradise comes out of his blank stare and notices the commotion. He watches the scene quietly, seemingly uncaring.

Finally, just as the tube’s outer protection begins to crack, the light and sound stop. The tube ceases its shaking and the eyes and groaning fade.

Nari lets out a relieved sigh. “Subject stabilized. Must have been some mice that ruined the wires. I’ll have Crey inspect them soon. I don’t want to do this every time the brat has a fit.” She grumbles more complaints and jots down information as she walks out of the room.

After she’s gone, Paradise spots something on the floor very near to his cell. He squints curiously at it. It looks like a piece of paper…

“Better than counting cockroaches.” He mutters as he struggles to shift closer to the edge of the cell. He strains to reach the paper but ultimately manages to pull it inside to read it.

His eyes grow wide as he reads its contents.

“…huh. A lot sure has happened since I’ve been down here. Who’s this Wisp fella, I wonder? And this cave of mysterious magic…sounds like my kinda place.” He glances up from the text and sighs. “If I could actually get out of here, that is. Frickin’ doctor drained all my magic and now I can’t even break through a stupid metal bar. And what’s she do with it? Gives it to some magicless twats who don’t even know how to use it!” He rips the letter apart as he rants, growling angrily while doing so.

“Just you wait, doctor. One day you’re gonna get what you deserve. And I’ll be right there to watch you suffer. Or…I’ll make you suffer myself. Whichever karma chooses, I don’t care, so long as you die.” Paradise curls up amongst the shredded remains of the letter and closes his eyes, mulling over what he just read.

---

Sometime that night…

Paradise is jolted awake. He sits straight up and blinks a few times in confusion. He frantically scans the room, searching for what woke him.

Nothing. No one. Not even a sound. But he can feel it. He shudders as if he were cold, though he’s not.

“What on earth?’ He says sleepily.

The cold turns to heat. He begins to pant from it, trying to cool down. Now he’s even more confused.

Then, out of nowhere, a burst of energy, as if he drank gallons of caffeine. As suddenly as it begins it stops. But Paradise feels stronger, somehow. He feels just like he did before…

“How…? I have to be dreaming. I-“ He stutters as he clenches his fists. His fur is bristling with magic energy. His magic energy. “-I feel alive…I feel alive again!”

Just then, his eyes settle on the tube next to him. That’s when his plan begins to form. He moves over to the side closest to the tube and focuses intensely on it.

Focus…focus….focus-!

The tube explodes into glass shards, magic bursting everywhere.

This is it.

Moments later, Nari comes sprinting into the room with Rex and Crey. She heard the explosion.

All that’s there is what’s left of the tube, the top of the cell blown off and denting the computer, and a motionless Nabi in the center of it all.

Nari tiptoes around the glass to reach the Nabi. She kneels down and checks his pulse.

“Still alive…good.” She stands back up and surveys the room. “What did this? It can’t have been Jesse, he was properly contained.”

She realizes something important is missing.

“Paradise!” She whispers in fear.

But he’s long gone. Using magic to propel himself at a high speed through the sky, a wide grin on his face as he travels. In his hands, a torn piece of the letter. The piece with the directions to the cave.

“No, no, no- this isn’t good. This is disastrous! Do you realize why he’s going for the cave?!” Nari questions Rex and Crey, who look clueless.

She groans in frustration and continues.

“His magic- the source for your transfers- is magic redirection. He can absorb, store, and release large and varied amounts of magic. The cave he’s headed for? Wisp spoke of a strange and powerful magic lingering there. If Paradise gets his hands on it…he’ll use it to come for us. To come for me. And if an Auru fears this magic, what are we against it? We’ll be doomed.”

Crey’s eyes widen in fear. “Wh- what do we do? Run? Hide?!”

“No. We are not running and hiding like cowards! It won’t do us any good anyways. We need to get there and take the magic before Paradise can. Or take back his magic, however he got it. Our departure has changed; we’re leaving at sunrise.” Nari says as she places Jesse in a backup containment tube.

“Sunrise? But what about the machine?” Rex asks, helping Nari lift Jesse into the tube.

“I can finish it tonight. I’ve completed bigger in shorter amounts of time.” She responds.

The men nod and turn to leave and prepare. Nari stops them.

“Listen to me; not one word of this reaches Grinn, understood? As far as he needs to know I finished the machine early and we left to continue the mission as planned. Do not tell him about Paradise. Have I made myself clear?” She says, her eyes cutting into them like daggers.

They both nod vigorously, spooked by her threatening tone.

“Good. Then go pack your supplies and meet me on the surface come sunrise and don’t be late.” She turns to her supplies and rolls her sleeves up.

“We have a Nabi to catch.”