Chapter 17: The Swiss News

Another night came and went and it brought Drake to Erika's front door once more. Erika answered his knock almost immediately, which made Drake suspect that she was standing at the door waiting for him. "Hey! Come on in, want something to drink?" she asked excitedly.

"Er, naw, I'm good. Besides, we kinda need to get going soon, if you're ready...Beschermer will be waiting at the park for us. He called me this morning and let me know they got here alright." said Drake
"Alright, I'm good to go. Glad they got here alright...but I'm not sure what they would be worried about anyways."

They set out for the park and made their way down streets and alleyways, having to detour twice around their path of choice because of traffic accidents. The TPD cars were everywhere, blocking intersections, directing traffic, etc. "This is ridiculous," said Erika "You'd think that the officers would at least try and get another lane open so traffic could actually move."

Finally, they arrived at the entrance to the park. Drake had an unshakable feeling that they were being watched, but tried to dismiss it after looking around and seeing no one but kids playing and elderly people feeding the birds. Upon arriving at their meeting place, Drake and Erika saw no one there. They looked around and saw nothing anywhere, but by the time they had come around to face straight again, Beschermer was standing there in front of them with a young boy about their age with extremely pale skin, black liberty-spiked hair, metal studded black clothes and a few dozen piercings.

"It's good to see you both again," said Beschermer "I trust your training has been going well?"
"Yeah, I'd say we're doing pretty spectacular considering we barely know what we're doing." said Erika, a grin spreading across her face. "By the way, umm, who's your friend?"
"I'm guessing this is the legendary Koichi, am i right?" asked Drake
"Right you are, Drake." said Koichi "I like to change my appearance from time to time, and I couldn't help but copy this dude I saw at the train station downtown...fascinating. And it's nice to meet you both, by the way." he said, smiling.
"Well, now that the introductions are out of the way...I need to talk to you two seriously for a moment...there's quite a bit to go over and I really don't have the time to explain it properly...that could take days of storytelling and explanations. Please, for the time being, settle for the abbreviated version." said Beschermer
"No problems here..." said Drake, looking to Erika who nodded.

"Well," he said, sitting down Indian Style on the ground "I have some good news, some bad news, and some news that's somewhere in between. Which would you like first?"
Everyone else sat down as well, forming a loose semi circle.
"Let's go with Switzerland then...I suppose." said Drake. "Rather, the neutral." he explained, seeing the bewildered looks on Koichi and Beschermer's faces.
"Right, well the neutral issue here is that you need to keep training. I know you already know this, but you don't fully grasp the situation and the necessity for your training. There very well may come a time in the near future when you will need to use your talents in combat, fighting against those with the corrupted crystals."
"So, does that mean that Belinka is gathering up allies like we are?" asked Erika
"Yeah, and building her own team of Spirit Bearers to fight us?" continued Drake
"I don't know for certain, but I do know that in the past, it has always, without fail, come to blows between the two sides. The very nature of the corrupted crystals is to turn their holders spirits to the Dark. It's the same with your crystals... in some ways, you are purer and overall more good than you were before, because they bring out the good qualities in you. Light and Darkness are always at war with each other...neither can survive without the other, even though they try to destroy the other, it's a very complex relationship."
"So, does that mean we can't defeat the others, and that they can't defeat us? What's the point in that?" asked Drake
"No, that's not quite what it means...You can be defeated, as can they...but should you fall, your crystal would be passed on to another who would take over for you, much like you gained the crystal, a seemingly random person would be delivered your crystal in some spectacular fashion."

"So, our powers just keep getting recycled after we're defeated or lose them?" asked Erika
"Yes, and up until the last generation of Bearers, it was a never ending battle that had raged on for millenia." said Koichi
"So, what happened last time?" asked Drake and Erika in unison.
"A way was devised to contain the crystals and seal them away, never to be used again. A series of enchantments and wards were placed on them throughout the process. Once a crystal was lost to a bearer, and before it moved to another there was a short delay...an extremely short period of time where the crystal was still physically free from a bearer. During that time, the spells were put into place and the crystals were restrained form moving on. From there we took them and hid them away and sealed them in a secret temple in the North."
"And that's what you're trying to do this time, ultimately?" asked Drake
"Originally, yes. The plan was to acquire the corrupted crystals first, then hopefully you would give yours up willingly, then we would seal them all away again. Soon after I met you two, however, I had an epiphany. If we could either destroy or somehow combine the dark crystals with yours...we wouldn't have to wory about them resurfacing again in the future."
"Wait, so our crystals can combine with the corrupted ones? Wouldn't that like, infect ours too?" asked Erika
"You'd think that, but there's actually a good reason that it wouldn't. Originally, there were ten crystals to begin with...one for each element. After a few generations of the original Spirit Bearers, a mighty sorcerer devised a plan to acquire the crystals, which he accomplished. he performed a tricky bit of magic on them over a period of time and he managed to split all of the crystals into two separate but equal parts; good and evil, yin and yang, etc. Now, just as in nature itself, the elements were nto only at war with each other, but with themselves. That one sorcerer took the dyamics of the Spirit Crystals and turned into a living example of how nature works."

"So, with some special magic, the crystals can be recombined?" asked Erika
"Yes, they can be combined back into their original forms...Neutral elements able to be wielded by any who come across it. Both sides of the conflict will no longer have every element on their side...it all gets much more complicated for each side, which also slows down the tension and brings the overall conflict down to a fraction of what it once was."
"OK...so that was all the neutral news?" asked Drake
"Alas, it was but the tip of the iceberg...but that's all you need to hear for now. I think I'll move on to the bad news, which we've already touched on a bit." Beschermer said "Like you asked, Belinka is indeed planning to organize the Bearers of the Corrupted Crystals into one of the warring factions of olden times. Unfortunately, this means that we must do the same. Now, by their very nature, they will not be as secretive or considerate of human life as we are...they generally won't care about attacking in the middle of a crowded area full of average folks. We all need to be ready when the time comes to handle this threat. Unfortunately, until I can locate the others, I won't be around much...which brings me to the good news."
"How does you not being here bring us good news?" asked Drake
"Well, it's mainly good news mixed in with a bit of bad to neutral news, actually." said Koichi
"There have been a few developments that I was unaware of until I saw the Bearer in San Francisco... somebody tampered with the crystals while they were sealed in the temple."