Mystic: The Tablets of Gilgamesh

Chapter Eight
The Power Stones

Adam was dreaming of a hell on earth. A man stood on top of millions of bodies as cities burned with fire, the man held a trident and laughed maniacally. Adam looked down at his feet, he was standing in some kind of dark red pool of water, he had to guess it might be blood, and it was up to his knees. He looked around to see his friends motionless on the ground, not a sign of life detected from them. He could not sense them, either.

Then Adam began to hear voices. His name being called out by a deep male voice. “Adam…” it said, echoing, deep, powerful, yet soft and silent. “Adam…”

Adam looked around as he tried to find the source. Was it the man before him? No, it was coming from all directions.

“Call my name, Adam,” the voice commanded.

“I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE!” Adam shouted as he placed his hands on his ears and tried to block out the sounds. He just wanted to be left alone.

The liquid began to stir around him and reach up, grabbing ahold of him as he looked up to see a blond man, somewhat like him in appearance. He held Jellal by the throat. “He-he, ha-ha-ha.”

“W-Who are you?!” Adam screamed.

“Wake up, Adam,” the man said. “Wake up.”

“Leave me alone!”

“Wake up. WAKE UP!” The man’s screamed as Adam’s eyes shot open. He felt a large amount of pain all over his body. He looked around and found he was inside the base’s medical room. He turned his head, feeling immense pain. As he did, he saw Sally sitting down and head on her arms, laying down on the desk next to him.

“She… She’s sleeping next to me?” He looked around the room to get a sense of direction. “What… What happened?” eHe uttered as Sally began to move, waking up. She looked at Adam and smiled as she stretched.

“You’re awake,” Sally said smiling at him.

“How long have I been out?” Adam asked.

“About a day, you were in pretty bad shape when we found you,” Sally spoke softly.

“Ugh,” he responded, then the realization of what Crystal did and the tablet pieces hit him. Shot rose out of bed, “the tablets!”

“There’s one left,” Sally said with a sad face. “We got this one, but I take it you didn’t get the other, and Crystal, she escaped!”

“I… Sort of let her come with me,” Adam responded as he looked over at the wall in disappointment.

“You what!?” Sally shouted. “Why would you do that!?”

“I thought she would help,” Adam began.

“She tried to kill you, twice now!” Sally stated, “Why in God’s name would you release her?”

Adam looked down in shame, “I-I don’t know. I’m sorry. I failed you guys, I failed Jellal.”

“About him,” Sally began, he never came back. His profile went gray, he didn’t make it, Adam. I’m… I’m sorry.”

“What?!” Adam looked her in the eyes as his eyes watered up. “Y-You mean…?” Sally nodded in confirmation. Adam didn’t know how to process this if Jellal was dead, what hope did they have? His heartfelt heavy. “Who… Who did it?”

“A man named Daniel, we assume,” Sally explained. She looked away as she mourned a friend’s loss. She thought back to the romantic time Jellal and she had with one another, including on top of the Tokyo Skytree where they sat and spoke about their lives when Ramsaur tried to take over the world when Ares was controlling him. It was a heavy loss to have been hit with. Now with Jellal gone, their plans had been thwarted.

Adam, despite the pain, shot out of bed and ran out, teleporting away. Sally watched as she extended a hand out trying to stop him, “Adam, wait!” It was to no avail, he was already gone.
Adam appeared in New York City as he looked around to find people walked about, paying no mind to him as he came out of an alleyway. His torso was exposed with bandages wrapped around his entire chest, his leg patched up and wearing only cargo shorts. He stopped and spun around, looking at everything. He wanted to scream, but he didn’t want to cause any damage or cause a scene.

==============

Mako sat at the computer with Alura when Sally walked in, grief sat upon her face. “Did you tell him?” Mako asked. Sally nodded as she held her left arm with his right, looking down in shame. “He’ll come back. Did you tell him the other news?” She shook her head, ‘no’.

“Well, let’s just move on from here,” Alura commented, sitting on the hologram table.

“Right,” Mako agreed as they surrounded the table, Alura jumping off and turning around as she powered it on. A collection of 12 colored gems appeared before them in a hologram form. “These are the Zodiac Power Stones, Jellal left files on them,” Mako lectured. “According to his research, they will amplify a Mystic’s power and help unlock their potential.”

The gems were special, they included garnet, amethyst, aquamarine, bloodstone, diamond, emerald, pearl, moonstone, alexandrite, ruby, peridot, spinel, sapphire, opal, tourmaline, topaz, citrine, turquoise, zircon, and tanzanite. But they were not normal jewels, these were powered by the God’s, used in battles. When one is blessed, it radiates power. To be blessed, they had to go to the Gods themselves and it had to be five carats or one gram. The Gods could potentially provide them with a stone themselves, which was better than going to a jewelry store.

“We need to get a diamond or a bloodstone for Adam, peridot for myself, a pearl for Sally, and finally an opal for you, Alura,” Mako said, informing them of the stones needed. On display were all the potential stones for all to see in the room. “It seems that Jellal had done a lot of research on the power multipliers,” Mako commented as he looked through the files.

“Like what?” Sally asked.

“I’ll display it,” Mako said. He pressed a few buttons, typing away as the files of Jellal’s noted appeared on the hologram table.

Time of day/night: x5
Birthday/Birthstones: x10 (They can be stacked with the stone and birthday, as well as the time of day)
Zodiac aura/transformation/summon: x25
Primordial aura: x50
Primordial transformation: x100

“Wow,” Alura was shocked. “These really increase power, but what are primordial forms?”

============

Adam made his way to the docks nearby where he sat looking out towards nothing. Jellal was actually dead. He clenched his fist in anger, “I… I’ll avenge you, Jellal!” He stood up and looked out towards the ocean, thinking nothing except how he would kill Daniel, his apparent brother.

============

Adam returned an hour later to find the others talking about some sort of jewel when they turned towards him and their smiles fading. “We’re sorry about your loss,” Alura said as she hugged him. Adam didn’t expect this, he never trusted people besides Jellal, but now this was the closest thing to a family he had as he hugged back.

Alura stepped back and smiled politely at him. She was nice, sweet, and respectful. They all were. “So, what am I missing?”

“A lot,” Mako said. “These are called Birthstones, or power stones,” he said to Adam as he explained everything once more. He told Adam how they could amplify his powers, and with the stone piece, Daniel had to come looking for them. Because of this, Daniel would likely not expect them to use the stones to amplify their power as it acted as a multiplier.

“So, where do we get them?” He asked.

Mako explained that they could be gathered anywhere in the world, but they had to be blessed by the Gods or they would have to find pre-existing blessed stones. Which was not a likely choice for them, as finding such stones would take more time than needed, and Daniel was likely on his way to the last stone.

“So, we have a choice, we either grab the last fragmented tablet of Gilgamesh, or we gather the power stones,” Alura said. She said it in a very confident tone as she looked to Adam. “You’re in charge, Adam.”

“Me?” he asked, “why?”

“Whatever Jellal started, it’s your job to finish. You’ve worked with him longer and should take his place, I also sense you’re probably one of the strongest we have,” Alura replied.

“I don’t even know how to summon a soul partner yet, why would I lead? You guys saved the world once before anyways.”

“For someone who can’t summon, you sure are stronger than most, not only that but you also oddly use your powers similar to a Keeper. You use an aura to enhance your strength, you teleport, you’re not weak. And if Daniel killed Jellal, we need these stones,” Alura said. “We can gather the tablet, but we might not get it, so let’s go to a jewelry store and buy these stones.” Adam nodded in agreement.

The band of heroes left as they walked the streets of New York City and entered an old jewelry store where an old man named Masumura sat. He was originally from Japan but moved to the states for a better life.

“Welcome, how can I help you?” Masumura asked the two ladies, completely ignoring the males.

“Yes, we’re looking for some stones,” Sally responded with a smile.

“Well, you’ve come to the right place,” he said, “what type of stones?”

“We need to get a diamond or a bloodstone, peridot, a pearl, and finally an opal,” Mako interjected. The man gave a gross look at him and ignored him completely.

“Well, missy, I may have what you’re looking for,” he said. He pulled out a box about two feet wide and four inches tall, opened the lock and popped open the case, displaying a plethora of gems. All of the ones they needed were there.

“How much for the gems?” Adam asked.

“Fifty bucks,” the old man replied.

“For the whole thing? Sure,” Adam began pulling out the money when the man shook his head.
“For each, plus tax, plus additional costs,” the man said with a grin.

Adam didn’t care, he now had access to Jellal’s account, and $200 wasn’t a bad dead, he thought. He didn’t want to deal with anything else, so he handed the man the money. “Just take it and give us the stones, it’s important we get them.”

“Important, huh? Oh, well I’ll just put the money in my jaw of fucks, it’s been empty for some time now,” the man said as a smartass.

“Please, sir, we really need the stones,” Alura told him.

The man paused for a second before giving in, “fine, fine. Here, take them.” He then waved them out of the store, telling them to never come back. They did just that and went to the streets as they made their next plan.

“So… How do we bless these?” Adam asked. So far, they were just stones.

“We have to find the Gods,” Mako told him.

Great, OK, that makes sense, but the real question remains: How do you find a God? Science has been effortlessly trying to prove if a God exists, how could you possibly find a God, and the Greek Gods themselves?

“How do we find Zeus?” Sally asked Mako.

“I-I don’t know,” Mako responded with a look of depression upon his face.

Adam… Adam…

Adam looked around for the source of the strange voice he was hearing, he hoped he wasn’t developing schizophrenia, but he swore he just heard a voice, the same form his dream.

Go... to… Olympus…

“Uh, guys, maybe Mt. Olympus? That’s where they originally were, right?”

“Yes, in the stories,” Mako remarked, he looked at Adam as if it was stupid to say, but at the same time, he may be on to something. “What makes you think there?”

“I don’t know, just a thought,” he responded.

“Well,” Sally jumped in, “it’s worth a shot. We don’t have any other leads.”

They all nodded as they looked at one another as Adam made the call, “Alright, let’s go!”

Adam grabbed hold of Sally and Alura as they grabbed Mako by the hand, they began to glow white as people looked on before they vanished in a brilliant light.

==============

They appeared outside of the city of Athens when Gemini was summoned and they all boarded the dragon as he roared loudly, scaring nearby denizens. Gemini flapped his wings hard as they took flight and made their way to the famous landmark, taking them about an hour to get there. As they did, the sight of the mountain before them was astounding as they flew high, a magical barrier passed through them as if they themselves were teleported to a new location.

They arrived at the landing platform where Gemini stayed as they made their way to Zeus, who was waiting for them. As they made their way there, Adam continued hearing the voice calling out to him.

Adam… Call my name…

He stopped and looked around for the source, but found nothing. “Adam, you coming? Sally asked she was twenty feet away at this point. He nodded his head and ran to the others.

They took in the sight of the majestic palace, and before them was a man with a long flowing white beard with a nice piece of hair to match.

“Welcome, heroes,” the man said in a booming voice. “Perhaps I should say Mako, Alura, Sally, and Adam.”

“You know who we are?” Adam asked.

“Of course, I am a God, after all. You know me as Zeus,” Zeus responded with a kind and warm smile. “You’ve come to bless the stones you have with you, didn’t you?”

“Uh… Yes, actually,” Mako said in response.

“Bring them here,” Zeus commanded as Sally walked up with the box and handed it to the giant of a man. He grabbed the box with two fingers, carefully trying to not shatter it with his overwhelming strength. They watched in aw as the stones glowed brightly as he handed them back.

“That… That was fast.” Mako commented.

“What did you think I would do? I am a God after all.”

“So, how do they work?” Alura asked.

“Simply wield them. Now, come, let me release some of your potentials,” he told him.

They walked up to the God as Adam looked around at empty thrones. “Where's the rest of the Gods?”

Zeus looked down with a heavy heart as he closed his eyes. “Dead,” he muttered under his breath. “Ares and Hades attacked us long, long ago, as have others.”

“What about Poseidon,” Adam asked.

Zeus remained quiet for a bit before talking. “He died, by the hands of your brother, Daniel Phisher.”
“M-my, brother? I thought only Gods can kill Gods?” Adam started to get heated. He couldn’t handle hearing this, he almost felt ashamed.

“This is true, for the most part,” Zeus said. “Adam, do you know of your past?”

“My… past?”

“Daniel, as are you, are both the children of Poseidon, you are half-human and half God,” Zeus told him. Adam’s eyes widened as he fell to his knees. This would explain how Poseidon died, but why? How? Who was his mother?

“Adam, you have a latent power within you, even greater than your brother. You all do, Daniel was just skilled. He has lived for hundreds of years due to absorbing your father's godly essence. The time has come to bring him down before he strikes. You must defeat him,” Zeus said trying to encourage the boy.

“How can I fight if I can’t even summon my soul partner? I’m too weak. Jellal was stronger than me and even he lost.”

Zeus placed his hand on top of Adam as the mountain shook, white energy sprouted around him like fire as he felt himself grow stronger. Zeus did this to all four.

“The others, you must go stop Daniel, I will train Adam to connect with his battle spirit,” Zeus commanded as he moves his hand and they vanished in a flash, appearing in Argentina.