Chapter 6 - The Divine Maiden

The next day in Shylark, people were excited and they are celebrating. Aedan was awoken by the people who were celebrating and he prepared himself for the day and got out of Maaya's house and started to ask around. He wasn't getting any answers because of the celebration mood of the people.

 

"The people here really get going when the celebrate..." Aedan thought to himself.

 

He continued to ask around about what's going on and finally he got an answer from one of the villagers;

 

"Today is the day of the very first Purifying Ritual of the Divine Maiden." 

"Purifying Ritual, Divine Maiden?" Aedan thought

 

He went to the seashore to stay there until the celebration's over. Just as he was beginning to be relaxed, he heard a joyful voice that said;

 

"Hey!!! Aedan!!!"

 

It was Maaya.

 

"Why aren't you in a celebration mood?" she added.

 

"I am not into celebrations like this.....I prefer to be quiet...." he replied.

 

"Ooooooooooh....okay!! I'll get you in the mood to celebrate!!!" she happily answered him.

 

Maaya grabbed Aedan by the arm and she ran to the village with great excitement.

 

"Why do you always drag me around?!" Aedan asked Maaya.

 

"I can't hear you!!" she answered while she was dragging Aedan by the arm.

 

She brought him to her father who was the village chief and she said;

 

 

 

"Hey Dad!!"

 

 

 

Her father, who was a fat man and also a man of  an average height, saw her and said

 

 

 

"Here she is my sweet and beautiful daughter!"

 

 

He hugged her daughter to show how much a father cares for her daughter.

 

"I guess the joyfulness runs in the family..." Aedan thought to himself.

 

"Who's this guy you're with?" her father asked Maaya.

 

"Oh he's Aedan, the one that I found lying around the seashore the other day." she replied.

 

"Nice to meet you... I am Village Chief Cairn. I'm the father of Maaya...The Divine Maiden." said Cairn as he shook Aedan's hand.

 

"Dad shall I get prepared?" Maaya asked her old man.

 

"Take your time Maaya and enjoy....the Ritual doesn't start until this afternoon." The Village Chief replied.

 

"Okay dad!!!" Maaya said as she ran of to enjoy the celebration.

 

"Such an energetic young lady eh Aedan? " Cairn asked him

 

"Yeah....." Aedan said.

 

"It get's annoying sometimes" Aedan thought to himself.

 

"That necklace.....it means that you are the Guardian of Ivalice!" Cairn exclaimed.

 

"How do you know that this is the necklace of the guardian?" Aedan asked with curiousity.

 

 

"We have books and records about that necklace in the village chiefs's quarters....I can't believe that I'm actually talking to the guardian himself. It is an honor to meet you!!" Cairn said with excitement.

 

 

"Thanks....." Aedan said coldly.

 

"Can I ask you something?" Aedan continued.

 

"Fire away!!" replied Cairn.

 

"What does the Divine Maiden do exactly?" asked Aedin.

 

"Let's go to a more quiet place and I'll explain to you everything." Cairn said.

 

They went to the village chief's quarters and Cairn said.

 

"This is more like it.Well... the Divine Maiden is the one who purifies dark energies of Ivalice. The energy of light is what we call "Mana". It is the one we use to power our machines and sometimes even heal the sick, this is the abundant energy in the whole world of Ivalice. But when this energy gets corrupted, it becomes a dark and an evil energy that we call "Shadow Mana" and recently.....embodiments of these "Shadow Mana" have been attacking us." Cairn told him.

 

"Embodiments?" Aedan asked.

 

"Yes.....embodiments.....the Shadow Mana can have a life of its own when it develops fully and it forms a creature called "Shade"". Cairn replied.

 

"So basically the Shade are the embodiments of Shadow Mana..." Aedan summarized. "That explains the shadow things that attacked Gaia...." Aedan thought.

 

 

"And this is where the Divine Maiden comes in. She will purify the Shadow Mana before it becomes to a Shade and convert it back to regular Mana again." Cairn explained to Aedan.

 

 

"What if the Shadow Mana is too strong for the Divine Maiden?" he asked Cairn.

"That is where you come in. Shadow Mana sometimes develop stronger than it usually does, so if the Divine Maiden can't do anything to convert it back to Mana, The Guardian of Ivalice must destroy the unusually strong Shadow Mana, but it will not be an easy task for you because Shade tend to get stronger because they can absorb Mana and convert it to Shadow Mana which they can use to defend themselves" Cairn explained further

 

"Yeah sure.....give me the difficult part..." Aedan thought

 

"Who was the one who started infecting the Manastream?" Aedan asked the village chief.

 

"I'm afraid I don't know, the records have been missing for a long time ago. The mystery still remains on who infected the Manastream. Now come, the Purification is about to begin." Cairn said to Aedan.

 

 

They went outside and noticed that the people are now gathered in one place as if that they are going to watch the Purification Ritual which they will. Aedan went with the village chief to watch the ceremony up close.

 

 

"Good day to you all!!" Cairn exclaimed to the townspeople.

 

"We are gathered here today to see the Purification Ritual. This Ritual will be the rite of passage for my daughter to truly become the Divine Maiden!!!"

 

The people clapped and cheered as Maaya made her way to a tree which was infected by Shadow Mana.

 

"My staff." she said to one of her guardians, the one who had crimson red hair and had a long sword strapped to his waist.

 

He gave Maaya her staff and she started the ritual. She prayed deeply and now was doing the ceremonial movements and while she was doing this Mana from everywhere came to her and she chaneled these Mana to her staff. Now, she concentrated even harder and tried to purify the tree with Shadow Mana. People were watcing her as she was beginning to purify the tree. After a few minutes she was almost done purifying, now she needed to concentrate even harder and after a short while the ritual was finished.

 

"It is done.....This once was infected by the Shadow Mana but now....it is purified." Maaya said with conviction.

 

Everyone clapped at her. Meanwhile the guardian that gave her the staff saw Aedan with no reaction at all, even when she succeeded. He saw him leaving earlier that the rest

 

"HALT!!!" He shouted at Aedan. The people noticed this and they started looking at Aedan.

 

 

"You show disrespect to the Divine Maiden!!" said the guardian.

 

Aedan looked at the person who told him that with a smug face.

 

"You dare show disrespect to me as well?!" he said again to Aedan.

 

He went closer to Aedan and now they were face to face.

 

Who do you think you are?!" he asked.

 

"Do I have to answer to you?" Aedan asked with a smug face.

 

"You don't disrespect me!!! For I am Glyndwir the strongest guardian of the Divine Maiden." Glyndwir said to Aedan. "Let's just see how strong you really are....." Aedan said to Glyndwir as things were starting to get heated up.