Memories of the Forgotten

A chapter... and yeah... guess I don't have much to say this time.

Chapter 10


They had departed by midday.

John and Jessica had packed a little over a dozen days worth of food and supplies they would need for journeying. It had taken some time, but Jessica had managed to calm her husband down long enough to discover something. On the small dagger-like object that was thrown at John last night in the early hours of the morning was a piece of paper, with one word on it. Obiza

Obiza was a town to the south, that John had only ever heard about from his father before his death. It wasn't a very well known town, and hardly ever recieved visitors. They were not part of any known trade route, nor were they under the protection from a kingdom or fighting force. Yet never had they been attacked, for some strange reason. Perhaps the fact that it was in the middle of nowhere made it unlikely that anyone would even bother with the village. The village had never even experienced a demon attack.

Whether it was an accident on on purpose, John neither knew or cared. He had a lead to finding his missing daughter, and would search the town inside out if he had to in order to locate her. Even if it was just a trap, as Jessica suggested the possiblity, John knew that staying where he was wasn't an option. The only problem was the Forbidden Seal.

John had never even heard of this thing, yet whoever had attacked him seemed to believe he had it. And they said that he had to bring it to get his daughter back. Jessica said she had only heard slight rumors about it, for even as an angel, she was forbidden of any true knowledge related to the matter. She doubted anyone in heaven, besides probably the highest of arch angels, knew anything remotely close to what it was. But she had heard it was a spell that was created through dark means and was normally locked up in a sacred book cast into the fires of hell.

The book was locked in hell, simply because it had been made so that no demon could open it, and since no human could enter hell without first dying, it would be impossible to obtain. Why this person believed that John had access to it was beyond her, for it seemed highly impossible that the book could leave the confines of hell, let alone fall into his hands. John had unlimited access to almost all his books he owned.

However, John hadn't forgotten the locked book, nor could he actually open it. He hadn't been able to find anything remotely to a key that would open it. At last he had tried to burn the lock off, but his magic was repeled by some mystic force that seemed to originate from the book itself. Every element he tried, every degree of power he went to, the book remained unopened, unchanged. John had been confused for it certainly took some form of active magic in order for the book to resist his power. Yet Aivon had assured him that the book had no trace of magic within it.

Although confused about why he was doing, he packed the book anyway. He still wanted to open it, although he still had no idea how to.

As they headed south, they passed by the spot where Beras' Tower stood. John closed his eyes, determined not to look at the spot again. It was behind him, all in the past. He was gone, gone and never coming back. John repeated this over and over in his mind, until they had passed the spot and he opened his eyes. Whether Jessica had found this strange or not, she said nothing.

By nightfall, they had made some good distance, mostly because John had almost ran the whole time. While Jessica prepared dinner, John set out to train his power. Using earth magic, he forced columns to rise out of the ground, then proceeded to assault them with wind and water magic. Wind was definately his hardest element to master, as not only did he have to gather it from his surroundings, he also had to channel and control it's movement for wind was not something that could be directed without sheer force of will. Yet he could now completely control it's power. All that was left was trying to enhance it.

It was at this moment he wished he had Midas around. Midas was a master as using wind element attacks and defenses. While John had mastered at best three wind spells, there were still other skills to use. One was to use the wind itself to give him a extra boost of speed. Or form wind energy away from his body. By doing so, he could unleash it's power from just about anywhere. Wind magic was also something needed to be sensed then seen. Atrois had used this to his advantage, John remembered, in their fight against him as he was assualted by both 'Wind Cutter' and 'Wind Blade'.

Earth magic was also one he could use pointers on, and Aivon was the best at that. Though there were very powerful attacks for earth magic, mostly John used it for defensive purposes. And while earth was mostly used for defensive strikes, it had truly devestating power when used in the right manner, as he had witnessed Aivon use with his 'Gaia Strike', although he had little control over it at the time. Although he had managed to learn one new earth spell, it was for defense only. Still, better then nothing.

Fire was a completely offensive magic, with hardly any defensive power. In fact, it's defense was it's offense, for fire magic was usually powerful enough to cancel out other spells, as John remembered using his 'Fire Pillar' spell to counter Hieas' 'Water Column' spell. It was his best magic, and could easily control it's power and use. In fact, he relied mostly on this type of magic unless it was better suited to use another. His battle with Beras taught him that, although he was still struggling to use the attack Beras had tried against him, the power of 'Magma Burst'.

Water was a tricky element. It's power varied from time to time, and Jessica was the one who knew it best. Although she rarely used her own spells, he had seen what kind of power water could possess under the hands of those who mastered it's power, like Hieas and his 'Aqua Burst' spell. It struck with relentless force, so long as John constantly applied his power toward it. Water was something that was always moving and changing, and it took alot of time and magic to learn how to control it well. Although it was similar to wind, water had a physical form and was thus easier to master then wind magic.

"John, dinner is ready."

John, who was lost in thought about training, had looked in surprised when he heard his name being called. He smiled to her, surprised himself that he was so deep in thought that he barely remembered his own surroundings, and decided to eat. As they ate in silence, John felt his mind wander again. Apparently this seemed to show itself on his face too.

"Something the matter?"

"Ahh well... I was just thinking about that guy." Jessica knew instantly about the man who had took their daughter. "I couldn't sense anything from him... and he beat me without even breaking a sweat. I wonder if we are really a match for this guy. I wonder who he is."

Jessica put her own dish down and gazed to the fire. "I don't know John. But, I also know that we can't let that stop us."

John nodded and took up a smile again. "Right. Just like last time... we had no idea what was going on, but it didn't stop us before..."

And I know, nothing will stop us this time too.