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- Age 28
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{T}
Frank
1055 AP
Frank
1055 AP
"Zack, wake up, you're too heavy!"
The Electabuzz was hanging from the Kadabra, snoring loudly and drooling. Frank dragged him around, struggling to keep them both on their feet. Frank was just a weak Kadabra, but his friend often forgot about that.
"Zack!" Frank slapped him awake.
"Huh? Wha- oh, this place..." he sucked the drool right back into his mouth. "Why did you bring us here again?"
The two friends were traversing through the grand halls of the White Citadel in Union City, known as the Vaults of Reflection. The site was dedicated to the safekeeping and constant updating of all the amassed historical records and knowledge of Exathor. Each section was a series of sealed rooms, chambers, halls and corridors, all of which served as storage for vast amounts of information, compiled into massive compendiums and albums of immense historical importance. There were personal chambers as well, rented by individuals who requested that their information was stored. As the center of all important knowledge, security here was tighter than a bank's. The information one could find here was worth more than all the gold in Exathor.
"Take a look around," Frank shouted. "This is great! If I begun reading all this stuff today, I would need a few dozens of lifetimes to finish!"
"Don't even think of starting, then. We'll never graduate from ECUL!" Zack took a look around. "I'd like me a physics book. This history stuff is... repugnant," Zack said. "But I see no books around here."
They were walking a chamber with walls of brilliant white marble. The floor was made of glass, Frank and Zack could see right through it. They could see the glass floor below the glass floor, and the glass floor below that, and so on, creating a wondrous effect of duplication that was obsessing for the eye. When Zack first looked at the glass floor, he'd stuck his face on it and wouldn't budge. Frank had to blast him to make him snap out of it.
Having over fifty floors, the Vaults of Reflection went on for miles and miles underground. They were built on the huge pit the Otori tribe had made when they resided in the area. Instead of vaults, there was the great excavation site of the Otori, who were rumored to be searching for an elusive secret that they never found. After their failure, they let the Gold Tribe build the vaults right onto the excavation site. The vaults became the foundations of the White Citadel, which was erected not long after.
They came up a chamber with a fountain made of tristanite, silver and iron-like; there was some type of spherical mechanism in it, which sprayed a thick, transparent liquid that was glittering under the light of the electric lamp above. It was Frank's first time to be here, and he was so excited - he had waited for this all of his life! Out of all the chambers in the Vaults of Reflection, he wanted to be in this one the most.
"Do you see it?"
"See what, man?" The Electabuzz was goofing off again, looking at the many glass floors below his feet.
Frank hugged Zack's head, grabbed and squeezed his jaw, pointing his head to the fountain with the strange device. "This! Isn't it awesome?"
"Uaeh, I gue'," Zack said. "Le' ga o' ma jaw, dude. What is that?"
Just then, voices reached their eyes from the halls behind them. Professor Pickle, Frank's father, was approaching with his group of Gold Tribe initiates, and he was about to show them the most elusive, powerful artifacts of Exathor. They would get to see them as part of the history class they took in ECUL. And the halls of the Citadel were a perfect place for carrying out the class, as they held the entire history of the Gold Tribe. But Frank knew all of it up to this point already through the books found in his father's library. What interested him most was seeing the artifacts from up close. As for Zack, he only wanted to recover the morning sleep he had lost when Frank woke him up frantically, screaming that they would be late.
"And that, young ones, is what you've been waiting for!" Prof. Pickle shouted, raising his arms in the air to present the fountain with the device coated in the thick liquid. The professor himself was a Beheeyem that was always followed by a telepathically floating book he was writing about the modern history of Exathor. The book grew every time the professor recorded an event from his point of view, and he was very old, so the book was fairly thick. "I present to you... the two crystals the Gold Tribe has been guarding!"
The Electabuzz was hanging from the Kadabra, snoring loudly and drooling. Frank dragged him around, struggling to keep them both on their feet. Frank was just a weak Kadabra, but his friend often forgot about that.
"Zack!" Frank slapped him awake.
"Huh? Wha- oh, this place..." he sucked the drool right back into his mouth. "Why did you bring us here again?"
The two friends were traversing through the grand halls of the White Citadel in Union City, known as the Vaults of Reflection. The site was dedicated to the safekeeping and constant updating of all the amassed historical records and knowledge of Exathor. Each section was a series of sealed rooms, chambers, halls and corridors, all of which served as storage for vast amounts of information, compiled into massive compendiums and albums of immense historical importance. There were personal chambers as well, rented by individuals who requested that their information was stored. As the center of all important knowledge, security here was tighter than a bank's. The information one could find here was worth more than all the gold in Exathor.
"Take a look around," Frank shouted. "This is great! If I begun reading all this stuff today, I would need a few dozens of lifetimes to finish!"
"Don't even think of starting, then. We'll never graduate from ECUL!" Zack took a look around. "I'd like me a physics book. This history stuff is... repugnant," Zack said. "But I see no books around here."
They were walking a chamber with walls of brilliant white marble. The floor was made of glass, Frank and Zack could see right through it. They could see the glass floor below the glass floor, and the glass floor below that, and so on, creating a wondrous effect of duplication that was obsessing for the eye. When Zack first looked at the glass floor, he'd stuck his face on it and wouldn't budge. Frank had to blast him to make him snap out of it.
Having over fifty floors, the Vaults of Reflection went on for miles and miles underground. They were built on the huge pit the Otori tribe had made when they resided in the area. Instead of vaults, there was the great excavation site of the Otori, who were rumored to be searching for an elusive secret that they never found. After their failure, they let the Gold Tribe build the vaults right onto the excavation site. The vaults became the foundations of the White Citadel, which was erected not long after.
They came up a chamber with a fountain made of tristanite, silver and iron-like; there was some type of spherical mechanism in it, which sprayed a thick, transparent liquid that was glittering under the light of the electric lamp above. It was Frank's first time to be here, and he was so excited - he had waited for this all of his life! Out of all the chambers in the Vaults of Reflection, he wanted to be in this one the most.
"Do you see it?"
"See what, man?" The Electabuzz was goofing off again, looking at the many glass floors below his feet.
Frank hugged Zack's head, grabbed and squeezed his jaw, pointing his head to the fountain with the strange device. "This! Isn't it awesome?"
"Uaeh, I gue'," Zack said. "Le' ga o' ma jaw, dude. What is that?"
Just then, voices reached their eyes from the halls behind them. Professor Pickle, Frank's father, was approaching with his group of Gold Tribe initiates, and he was about to show them the most elusive, powerful artifacts of Exathor. They would get to see them as part of the history class they took in ECUL. And the halls of the Citadel were a perfect place for carrying out the class, as they held the entire history of the Gold Tribe. But Frank knew all of it up to this point already through the books found in his father's library. What interested him most was seeing the artifacts from up close. As for Zack, he only wanted to recover the morning sleep he had lost when Frank woke him up frantically, screaming that they would be late.
"And that, young ones, is what you've been waiting for!" Prof. Pickle shouted, raising his arms in the air to present the fountain with the device coated in the thick liquid. The professor himself was a Beheeyem that was always followed by a telepathically floating book he was writing about the modern history of Exathor. The book grew every time the professor recorded an event from his point of view, and he was very old, so the book was fairly thick. "I present to you... the two crystals the Gold Tribe has been guarding!"
The silver device in the fountain opened with a hissing sound, steam rising from within. The initiates and Frank cheered with excitement. Inside the spherical mechanism, two perfectly transparent, almost invisible crystals were held by it. Frank sensed a magnetic field around them, but he didn't detect the amazing power they supposedly pulsed with. He was mesmerized by the sight all the same, like the initiates behind him.
"The troubled past of these crystals has scarred those around them," Prof. Pickle said, "their power is a gift, not to be tampered with. I haven't tried wielding their power myself, as it is forbidden, of course, but they say that none who has ever misused their power has ended up well. Fate always found a way to punish them."
Zack took a troubled, doubtful expression. "And they exhibit them like that?" he whispered to Frank. "Are they nuts?! Anybody could steal them from that thing!" He stared at the device that held the two transparent crystals, trying to figure what the catch here was. "They're fake," Zack stated loudly.
"What?!" Frank shouted. The other initiates begun muttering; Prof. Pickle looked at Zack with interest.
"Golly, you're right, that's true. Tell us, how did you figure it out, young one?"
"Who in their right mind would risk compromising the security of relics of such potential by exhibiting them to the public like that? I dig the ostentatious steam effects, though. Kudos for that."
The Beheeyem nodded to Zack, "that would be a risk, indeed! I was planning on telling you, these are only for display."
"Nooooooooo," Frank was clutching his head. "This can't be! Why didn't I know of this earlier? Professor! Where are the real crystals?"
"Ho, ho, even I do not know! The leader and the Keeper of the Gold Tribe are the ones who know. But it doesn't really matter if these are the real ones or not, does it? I can still tell you all you need to know about them. Alright, then, let's get on with it - I'm sure you have many questions, so try raising your hand before you speak."
"Professor?" somebody said from the crowd, raising his hand. Prof. Pickle nodded to him. "How old are these crystals?"
The Beheeyem said, "that is an interesting question, fella. I wouldn't know myself, but the ones who brought us these claim they had been around for at least three thousand years... and on that matter, do you know who it is that trusted us with these artifacts?"
"I know, I know," Frank shouted at his father, raising his hand. "Zane Tyrael and Keeper! The founders of the Gold Tribe!"
"Bravo! Remember those names, kids. Zane Tyrael is one of the most prominent figures of the history of our land. The man was brave, honest and kind, and his ideals are what woke our ancestors from the lethargy and pretense that drove them to war. He united them under a single banner, a single cause! Here, in the Vaults of Reflection, there can be found all the records of his exploits."
"We should see them sometime, professor!"
"Of course," Prof. Pickle said merrily.
"But, what about Keeper?" Frank asked worriedly. He wanted to know more about the Keeper, because he aspired to be like exactly like the legend told him to be, an Alakazam learned and wise beyond comparison. The Keeper wasn't as popular as Zane, though, who was the young and heroic one of the duo. "It's not fair, he doesn't seem to be known as much as Zane."
"There is an explanation for that. You see, Zane became the leader of the Gold Tribe. The good deeds of the first ones to join him were awarded to his name... that is unfair, yes, but glory cannot always be shared. Keeper, on the other hand, made it his sacred duty to protect history, knowledge and these crystals. When the Gold Tribe was founded by the two, the Keeper was already a very weary old man. He passed away not long after the founding of the Gold Tribe. His title, the Keeper, passed on as a hereditary title to a worthy one of the Tribe, along with all of his duties. The one who bears this title, also bears great responsibility, and they must be strong and wise to do what is required of them, for the Keeper is the guardian of the Gold Tribe itself, that is why he never participates in battles, to preserve himself. Think of him as a fail-safe program those whatchamacallits use."
"Techmaturgismatics," Zack corrected him.
"Ah, yes... anyhow... if all of the Gold Tribe was destroyed, the Keeper would continue their legacy, and create a new Gold Tribe. The title demands great respect, and I personally consider the Keeper to be one of the three leading figures of the Tribe, besides the first and second-in-command. Did you have a good look at this place, kids? This is the Vaults of Reflection, where all the knowledge of Exathor is kept. And do you know who it is that keeps the Vaults, which keep the knowledge? That's right, it's the Keeper. Now, let us move on to the next section: the Illinkar invasions!" The group moved forward.
"I want to be the Keeper," Frank whispered to Zack as they followed the others.
"I dunno man, it sounds kinda dull. They don't let Keepers beat some punks to the ground, so where's the fun in being Keeper?"
"You wouldn't understand."
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