Chapter 3: Where's Our Hope?
The trio made their way to the doors of the Claire Moa Temple. Finally, they will be able to speak with the Current Claire, High Priestess. With her knowledge of their world, she will tell them what must be done for this new crisis. With their new adventure, they will be able to save Lunatea, and cure the locals with the feathered bodies. Things will finally look up.
"We're here." Klonoa made a sigh of relief as Lolo exited the ring, a green hue followed her from behind. The three stood in front of the doors to the temple.
"I just hope she'll know what to do..." Lolo muttered, "I'm... really scared to be honest." she clutched her winged brooch as she looked to the ground. Klonoa noticed the look in her expression, she was near the verge of tears.
"Hey, hey." Klonoa reassured Lolo, placing his hands on both of her shoulders, "What's going on right now is scary, I know that. But we've saved this world before. I'm positive we can do it again." Lolo nodded her head, taking a deep breath. Popka held her hand as Klonoa pulled open the door to the Temple, it's time to meet the High Priestess.
As the doors opened the trio noticed it was unusually dark inside, no one was visible. Was anyone even inside? Did they have to flee? Dark particles floated about in the room, Klonoa took notice and cautiously pulled his turtleneck shawl over his nose, motioning that Lolo should do the same.
"He-hello?" Lolo spoke, "High Priestess? Are you in here?" her words, while slightly muffled from her covering her face, still echoed through the hall. They moved closer to the chair at the end of the room. The environment was still and uncomfortably quiet.
"Maybe they had to flee... But... where did they go-" Popka asked. They reached the chair at the end of the room, before they could turn around the doors to the temple suddenly shut.
"My dear Lolo..." A soft voice spoke from behind the trio. They all turned around to see where the voice came from. "Be not afraid my dear..." There she stood at the now blocked entrance to the temple. Eyes covered her whole body, her real eyes covered by the feathers on her face, these feathered wings sprouted from her back and face. Unlike the other seraphs encountered before, she remained calm.
"H-High Priestess?" Lolo cried. "What happened to you?!"
"My dear student... what brings you and your friends to my temple?" Her voice was calm but kept everyone on guard, something about her demeanor was… not the Current Claire they all knew.
"We... saw the statues of Claire the Ancient and Goddess Claire get engulfed by some strange mass." Lolo started, "A-all of Lunatea's in danger, i-it's like the chaos all over agai-"
"Shhhhh...." The High Priestess lowered her hand, "My dear, you are worrying for nothing... Can't you see..."
"This is True Tranquility." Her arms extended as her wings opened revealing open eyes on all feathers. Klonoa and Popka backed up in fear. Lolo stood, frozen in her own fear.
"I feel at peace, the gift from the Goddess Claire has been given to me. But I cannot just keep it for myself. No... all priestesses shall be given this gift and spread her word to all of Lunatea." Klonoa watched as the current Claire raised her broken staff pointing it towards the cabbit himself. "Dream Traveller... I am unaware of your status with our cause, but I am certain that you, like anyone else, would love to live in this tranquil way of life." A slight glow emanated off the staff, "You shall become one of our strongest followers dear hero."
"WAIT!" Lolo cried. Running to block Klonoa, "High Priestess! What do you plan to do to my friend?"
"Hmm, I don't sense devotion from your 'friend' dear Lolo..." The soft yet threatening smile faded from the High Priestess, "No good... worry not though... He shall be fixed... even if it means.... I must force it." The glow of her staff grew brighter, still aiming towards Klonoa. A beam of dark mist shot out going towards the Dream Traveller.
"Look out!" Lolo quickly went back into the Wind Ring, and with a fast swish, the Wind Blade cut through the mist, making it unable to touch the cabbit.
"How disappointing..." The High Priestess raised her arms, "Come now my students... it seems we must teach these ones a lesson." Groans were heard amongst the temple, as other warped seraphs emerged from the pillars and behind the curtains of the room. The trio was surrounded.
"Everyone...." Lolo whispered.
"This isn't good." Popka said with anger.
"I think it's time to go." Klonoa retorted, but before he could move, the crowd of seraphs jumped towards the trio. "Manya! Not good! Not good! Popka! Help me out!"
"Right!" Popka extended his claws again, slashing at the seraphs to get closer to Klonoa. The cabbit was also using his Wind Sword, slashing back and forth to get through as well. And it was working for a while, the seraphs were backing up, unable to grab the heroes, until the High Priestess got tired of watching them struggle.
"That's enough..." The bottom of her staff hit the floor, causing the room to shake as the Bell of Tranquility rang with a sour note. A barrage of feathers flew through the room, obstructing the heroes' eyesight.
"ACK! LET GO OF ME!" Popka yelled, as a seraph managed to pick up the pup, restraining his arms from scratching them.
"Popka!" Klonoa and Lolo yelled. But before anything could be done, the Dream Traveller was grabbed as well. "NO! GET OFF OF ME!"
"All of this fighting... so meaningless." The High Priestess shook her head, "Now then..." raising her staff towards Popka, "Let this be a lesson to you."
"Ghk!" Popka gasped and struggled to wiggle out of the seraph's arms holding him in place, to no avail. He kept going as Klonoa was only able to watch. "No no no no no!"
"STOP! HIGH PRIESTESS, THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" Klonoa shouted, but the High Priestess did not listen, nor turn her head to Klonoa. Only having some of her eyes look towards Klonoa, and look back to Popka. The staff glowed, and within a few seconds the beam of mist shot towards the pup friend.
A loud blast was heard, along with a strong gust of wind. The force of it all caused the seraphs to drop Klonoa, he looked up to where his friend was. As the dust cleared, a green hue glowed where the blast landed. Popka was unharmed, but the person who blocked the blast from hitting him...
"LOLO!!!" Klonoa screamed. She stood with a dark mist glowing around her, the green light fading quickly around her. Her body began to shake, but she held her ground.
"We... need... to leave. Now..." She spoke weakly. Picking up an unconscious Popka, and beginning towards the door that was no longer blocked by the seraphs. Klonoa nodded, running to aid Lolo, the two made their exit from the Claire Moa Temple.
As they exited, more groans were heard from inside the temple as the Current Claire's soft yet threatening voice echoed, "Worry not children. Our goddess makes no mistakes. We will still spread our word... Now get them."
"Keep running." Lolo yelled, Klonoa looked towards her, her eyes were sunken and her chest was covered in a dark burn like marking where she took the blast from the High Priestess. Yet somehow she was also running, as if nothing happened. Was this just adrenaline?
“Urgh…” Popka groaned, waking up in Lolo’s arms, “Wha… HUH! What happened? Hey!” He quickly jumped out of Lolo’s arms, beginning to float next to her and Klonoa, “ I can float on my own! What’re y’doin’ holding me like I’m some baby-” he was cut off when he noticed the burn covering his friend’s chest area. “Lolo… GRRR! I was so STUPID! I COULD HAVE AVOIDED GETTING GRABBED!”
“Hey! Let’s just focus on getting out of here first.” Klonoa retorted, “I think they’re still going after us right now anyways, so now’s not the time.” And he was right, not too far from the trio was the group of priestesses turned into those feather bodied creatures. The seraphs trailed after the heroes, thankfully despite the multiple wings grown out of their bodies, it didn’t seem that they could fly.
“Just keep moving! If we can make it to the Sea of Tears, maybe we can lose em!” Popka shouted, “I left a raft there from the last time Lolo and I visited Hyuponia!”
“Smart idea, Popka!” Klonoa smiled, “Things are scary right now but we can get out of this, I know it. Lolo, are you still able to lend a hand?” Klonoa held out the Wind Ring towards Lolo.
“I think so. Hold on guys!” In a flash of green light, Lolo reentered the Wind Ring, “We may need a stronger attack, so let me use the last of my power now.”
The glow of the Wind Ring grew stronger, lifting Klonoa from the ground. He and Popka recognized this as Klonoa gestured for Popka to take cover. “Alright! Let’s go!” The wind around them began to pick up as his ears flapped, making him fly higher, “TORNADO ATTACK!”
Multiple mini tornadoes floated around their area, some hitting the ground creating ground scourings. The seraphs that got caught in the tornadoes were flung far away, completely out of the trio’s sight. And just like that, the chase was over.
Klonoa slowly descended to the ground as Lolo exited the ring. Both exhausted, as she stated before they unleashed that powerful attack, Lolo has used up the last of her power. It seemed she even had to use some of Klonoa’s energy to make the tornados strong enough.
“Guh, sorry about that Klonoa. I think that should at least hold them off until we reach the Sea of Tears.” She smiled, looking towards Klonoa and Popka, but the look on Klonoa’s face was what could only be described as fear. “What’s wrong?”
“Y-your back…” Klonoa pointed at her, Lolo looked behind her shoulders and noticed, branch like sprouts had emerged from her back. Her hand shakily reached to touch the sprouts, as the tips of her fingers grazed on the sprout, a sharp pain shot through her body.
“AH!” She yelped in pain, tears immediately spilling from her eyes.
“WHOA HEY! Just don’t touch them!” Popka yelled as he ran towards Lolo’s aid. “That looks… not good.” Popka tried to comfort her by hugging his best friend.
“That must’ve been from the blast from the High Priestess…” Klonoa whispered, “We need to find a way to fix this. If this is truly what caused the others to turn into those… Lolo, are you okay?”
“WHAT DO YAH THINK YAH MORON!” Popka yelled, “SHE’S GOT THESE WEIRD THINGS COMIN’ OUT OF HER AND IT CLEARLY HURTS LIKE A NIGHTMARE!”
“I- I mean like, up here!” Klonoa shook his hands, pointing towards his head, “L-like mentally! Sorry.”
“I… I think so.” Lolo replied in a trembling voice. She took a moment to take deep breaths, regaining her composure as she stood up. “Yeah… yeah I’m okay. It only hurt when I touched uhm… these?” pointing at the sprouts on her back. “I can still think straight, let’s just keep moving.”
“If you say so…” Klonoa responded. Still worried, but the cabbit knew if they continued to dwell on this it would only get worse. They need to keep moving. The three continued, “I think I can see the cliff towards the Sea of Tears! We’re almost-”
Before he could finish, an earthquake hit the area hard. It was a strong jolt followed by heavy shakes, “WHOA WHOA WHOA!” Popka yelled, trying to keep himself and Lolo balanced. “Hold onto something!”
The ground began to crack and widen where the tornadoes dug through. And before Klonoa could react, the ground under him broke. “MANYA!” Klonoa attempted to hover, grabbing the ledge of the newly formed cliff. “Ah! Lolo, Popka! Please help!”
Popka ran to attempt to aid Klonoa, looking underneath the cliff he realized Klonoa was too low to reach to create a support jump. “No good…”
“Wait.” Lolo retorted behind Popka, “The Sea of Tears should be right here. Klonoa, if you can land into the sea, you might be okay.”
“WAHEE?!” Klonoa yelped! “B-b-but I can’t swim! I- I WHAO!” he began to lose his grip on the cliff that was starting to crumble.
“We’ll jump in after you! I promise!” Lolo yelled. “Just have yourself ready to hover one more time to aim at the sea!”
Klonoa looked up towards Popka and Lolo, both of them can swim, he knew that he could trust them. Klonoa took a deep breath, “Okay.” Using his legs, he kicked at the wall, jumping away from the ledge of the cliff towards the Sea of Tears. Quickly, he flapped his ears to give just a bit more momentum, ‘Just gotta make it to the water..’ he thought to himself, his eyes shut out of his fear of drowning. Suddenly hearing yells from behind him, though the constant flapping made it harder to make out what was being said. ‘Lolo and Popka?’ What were they trying to tell him? He turned his head to see his friends and tried to listen better to what they were saying.
“GO… B-CK .. K--NOA! THE CH--S!”
“NO! NO! KL--OA..! TUR- …-ROUN-! --ERE’S …-- -ATER!!!”
‘What are they saying? …the… chaos? No… water..-’ Klonoa’s eyes widened as he processed what they were trying to tell him. He looked down and the once full Sea of Tears was once again emptied. Could this nightmare have caused the chaos to affect Lunatea as well? There was nothing to break his fall.
“Ghk! No! NO NO NO!” in a panic Klonoa began flapping his ears even harder. Almost thrashing his arms as well, in an attempt to give himself more time to move. But it was no use. “MANYAAAAAAAA!!!”
“KLONOA!” Both Lolo and Popka screamed as they watched their friend fall into the dark abyss of the emptied ocean.
Author's Note: Yes this is another cliff hanger. Throw your pitchforks at me. But I always wanted this chapter to end here lol. Don’t worry this obviously isn’t the end for our beloved cabbit hero. What’s gonna happen next you ask? Uhhhh damn, hell if I know-
Prev Chapter: So Many Feathers
First Chapter: The Calm Before the Storm
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