This chapter doesn't have much to do with Pokemon... it's more of an
examination of Jellic's past. It does, however, bring up some points
that are of relative importance to the story as a whole. This chapter is
a bit on the dark side, so be warned. C&C is very greatly appreciated,
expecially since this chapter began as a request from a fan for more
information on Jellic's past.
Jellic�s Hateful Quest
Chapter 15: A Mage�s Homicide is his Castle...
Jellic�s head swam as he fought to regain consciousness. It was a
losing battle, but he finally felt a soothing calm and sensed an older
woman kneeling over him with her hands on his chest. She opened her eyes
as he opened his. �He lives,� she announced to parties unseen.
�Who are you?� he rasped, startled by the sound of his own voice.
�We are your friends, Jellic,� she replied, placing her hand on his
head. �You must be suffering from amnesia. Perhaps I can heal it with my
magic...�
Jellic brushed her hand aside. �I don�t know you at all. Where are
Ashley and the others?�
The woman seemed distressed. �Please, Jellic, rest. Your memory will
return in time. I am Mellicitia. We are journeying together from Lopus
Castle to fight the evil mage Kelve.�
�Mellicitia...� Jellic turned the name over in his mind. �I think I
remember that name now. This was several years ago...�
�You�ve been unconscious for several hours, Jellic. Borse didn�t
think you�d make it.�
�Borse?� Jellic pushed himself to a sitting position and looked
around the small cave. Indeed, Borse the Hunter was hovering close by,
as were Nell the bard, Caster the elf, Grolf the Knight, and of course
the mage Mellicitia. �I remember all of you.�
�Will wonders never cease?� asked Nell, always ready with a witty
quote. �Thy memory hath been healed, as has thy brain, mehopes, that
mayhap the next stone that falls from the ceiling might not damage it
further.� Borse grunted and shouldered his pack, eager to move on before
nightfall.
�What am I doing back here?� Jellic wondered silently. �I completed
this quest years ago. Am I dreaming again? Was I poisoned?�
Caster nocked an arrow to his bow and led the way out of the cave,
his sharp eyes peeled for danger. Mellicitia helped Jellic to his feet,
and the rest of the party followed Caster to the carriage. Grolf took
the helm and activated the Levitation spell, but Caster didn�t lower his
bow until the carriage was safely in the air. �We�re airborne,� he
announced as always.
�Now, what were you drawling about in that cave?� asked Borse
gruffly.
�Well,� began Jellic, �I mean no affront by it, but I believe all of
this to be no more than a fevered dream. I am in the world of Pokemon,
and at any moment I will awaken there and this dream will be no more
than a memory, as it should be.� As he said his peace, he realized how
stupid it must sound. Here he was, apologizing to a dream!
Mellicitia frowned. �Jellic, let me heal your memory.� She reached
for Jellic�s forehead, but he rudely pushed her hand away again.
�I�ve been through this before. We�re on our way to fight the mage
Kelve now, but when we get there, all of you will die and I�ll have to
chase his ��
�Enough of this fevered ranting!� shouted Grolf. �You know what
effect negative energy has on the carriage! Unless you want us all to
die, speak of something else!�
Jellic shook his head. �You�re right as usual, Grolf. But I still
remember the Pokemon clearly...� He reached down to his belt and was
surprised to find that it had six loops on it, one of which held a small
red and white ball. �What�s this?� he asked aloud.
Caster plucked the ball from Jellic�s hands to examine it. �It seems
safe enough. It won�t hurt you, I think. Probably just a trinket of some
sort.� He handed it back to Jellic, who threw it to the floor. The ball
rolled into the corner and sat there, bobbing slightly from the motion
of the carriage.
�That�s odd,� said Jellic. �There�s no Pokemon inside. But why was
it in my belt? I didn�t have any Pokemon when we went to fight Kelve...�
He shrugged and retrieved the Pokeball.
�Hadst thou two more the same we might provide a marvelous juggle,�
observed Nell, plucking three balls from the air and proceeding to
juggle them.
�Here, you can use it for a while if you want,� said Jellic, tossing
the ball to Nell. She caught it and juggled it with the other three
balls, not missing a beat.
�I�ll weave thee a tale, Jellic, that might reveal the truth of what
lay inside thy memory and remind thee of thy mission,� she continued,
never taking her eyes off of Jellic as she juggled.
�Please do,� urged Mellicitia. �I�m sure that Jellic would benefit
from hearing it.�
Nell caught the four balls and threw the Pokeball back to Jellic,
then sat down on the floor to begin her story. ��Twas many a day ago the
evil mage Kelve drew the fires in the sky and silenced the flocks of
seventeen thousand and seven. In the fullest of the moon, the folk of
town and valley grew yet weaker as the blight of foul magic darkened
upon the countryside. �Twas none brave enough to dare venture toward
that place of evil, and the prospects dimmed as Kelve�s shadow wrapped �
round the world like a snake holding a planet in its dread coils.�
Jellic shuddered at the reference to a snake, remembering his own
encounter with an Ekans in the Swamp of Sickness.
Nell continued with a smile. �Yet into the bleakness of the evil
mage�s tyranny appeared a man whose deeds will live forever upon the
tongues of the bards � Jellic the warrior. His name will stand from this
day as the bane of his enemies, a name that brings joy to any tale of
sadness, hope to any tale of despair, and triumph to any tale of
defeat.� Jellic smiled � he�d always admired Nell�s narrative style.
�At the entreaty of Baron Lopus, Jellic set forth with the bravest
Knight in the land, Grolf the Impaler. There lies many a dead foe met
his end upon that wicked blade, I tell thee true, and there shall be
many more in times to come.
�Thence I was, but a court bard by those days, yet I could smell a
tale in the weaving and determined myself to join the heroes in this
quest. As is the way of heroes, they concerned themselves only with the
safety of such a young lass. However...� Jellic felt the swift thunk of
the knife embedding itself in the wood above his head and drew a quick
breath; he hadn�t even seen her twitch a muscle. �As my skill at knives
is second to none,� she finished, �I was assured my rightful place in
their party.�
�Don�t do that again,� said Jellic, pulling the knife free from the
wall and throwing it back at Nell, who caught it and made it instantly
vanish into wherever she stored her cutlery. Grolf chuckled; he still
remembered that first encounter. Nell gave both of them a sly grin
before continuing with the story.
�We first journeyed toward the home of the good mage Mellicitia to
ask for her company in our quest, having heard many rumors of her
amazing power. �Tis said that a single eyeblink from her would raze a
town to the ground, or raise it therefrom, at will. But fearing naught,
we approached the good mage with hopes of securing the aid of such a
power, none the wiser that the evil mage Kelve had already set his
omnivisent eyes upon us and had declared our deaths before we reached
the mansion.
�Would that I could say that we fought bravely and well to a
glorious victory, but the truth of it is not so sweet. The evil mage�s
power cowed even the great heroes, and so we fled the mage Kelve,
seeking sanctuary upon the hallowed grounds of Mellicitia. It was
herself who appeared when the future appeared bleakest, and sent Kelve
on his way with a mighty wind. When she learned of our quest, Mellicitia
pledged her support to our party, and a stronger ally I couldn�t have
wished for! Oh, at times she proves herself quite a rival; ne�er have I
met a woman as skilled at turning men�s heads as am I at turning their
ears! But as my jealousy is exceeded only by my immodesty, I shall
proceed without further ado.� Jellic and the others all chuckled at
this � Nell could be humorous and serious all at the same time, a skill
envied by the finest bards.
�We four continued on through the Elven Waste, hoping to gain the
wellsaying of the Elf King and secure thus a swift passage through the
Elves� demesnes, but alas, his reputation preceded him all too well, and
he refused us such as we had requested, leaving us to ford the Waste of
our own machinations. Such task was not beyond us, naturally, but the
gods of misfortune have a special place in their hearts for the most
intrepid of adventurers. And by that strange twist of fate which many
call �politics� we found ourselves in the middle of a violent coup in
the Elven court. The battle that ensued would have halved the Elven
population had my barding skills not shone true that day. I hastily
weaved a song and a story of the great deeds of the Elf King, quelling
the rebel masses with their own love for their monarch.� She drew her
harp from its sling and played a few demonstrative chords, adding a
natural pause to the story.
�As every traveler in a hostile land knows, a grateful King is a
gracious King. Having narrowly escaped with his head on his shoulders,
Dmaldred gave us permission to call him by name and commissioned Caster,
one of his finest bodyguards, to conduct us safely from the Elven Waste
and on to the very fastness of Kelve himself. Caster�s keen eye has
never failed to spot a trap yet, and I no longer keep my knife hand at
the ready, for his assurance is the only defense I need.� Caster raised
his hand to his brow in a mock salute, and Nell allowed herself a slight
grin before proceeding.
�Nay, I do tell a lie, it would seem, for sensing danger often does
not dissipate it. Such is the case of the Wild Huntsmen, a band of
thieves who plague the outer forests and answer to little that does not
fatten their purses or stain their knives with blood. The Lady
Mellicitia�s magic held off the rogues for a time, but a lucky stone
from a Huntsman�s sling found her forehead, and even so powerful a mage
as Mellicitia finds the threads of magic inaccessible while her
consciousness fails her. Truly, lost we were �ere the hunter Borse
happened by that day and the guts of Huntsmen spilled across the forest
floor that missed even the chance to scream. I�ll wager that fair hunter
has swung many an axe in his day, but never in mine had any man slain so
many with so few strokes or with such grace that there was no beginning
or ending to his motions � just one long swing that ceased only when the
last Huntsman fell beside his own entrails.
�And so our band was formed as you see it this day, equally ragged
as rugged yet never the worse for either. And our quest moves ever
onward to the day when I may return to finish the tale of brave Jellic
and his crew that hath slain the mighty Kelve and liberated a land torn
by terror. Pray for us, fair folk, that we may live beyond another dawn
and that when our goal looms before us, our foe may meet his end,
whether by axe, knife, sword, arrow, or magic spell, and no more lives
are lost to the fiend.� She stood and graciously bowed, then strummed
the harp strings and began to play a soft melody.
�Do you remember now, Jellic?� asked Mellicitia as her hand moved
stealthily toward his forehead once again. Jellic pushed her hand away
and nodded, then shook his head.
�I remember all of this, but I still can�t believe that this is
really happening. It�s a memory. I know what�s going to happen.�
�I�ll tell you what�s going to happen,� said Caster. �We�re going to
storm Kelve�s fortress, drag him out screaming by his blackened tongue,
and slice his throat from ear to ear.�
�I say we just hack him to death in his own bedroom,� argued Borse.
�There�s no need for complications in this mission.�
�But a mage is strongest within his own domain,� put in Mellicitia.
�The battle will be easiest if we can lure him out of his hold and fight
him on neutral ground.�
�That�s not what happens,� said Jellic, mostly to himself. �We sneak
in, hoping to catch Kelve unawares and destroy the source of his power.
If we could manage to snuff out his magic before he stopped us, nothing
would have stood in our way...�
Borse rubbed his beard thoughtfully. �Quite a sensible suggestion,
Jellic... I can see the merit of that plan. Without his magic, Kelve�s
as good as dead.�
Jellic shook his head adamantly. �No, I told you we didn�t make it!
There were traps that none of us could see...�
�Leave that to me,� said Caster. �I can sniff out any trap that mage
could possibly lay.� His eyes narrowed. �Besides, if you truly do
remember the future as if it has already happened, then you should know
where the traps are already. Tell us where you think we will die and we�
ll steer around that area.�
�I � can�t remember,� Jellic confessed. �There are holes, blanks
where I should know these things... I only know that if we try to sneak
in, that all of you will die. But that�s what will happen anyway. I�ve
had fever-dreams before, and I know that I can�t change what will
happen.�
Borse snorted. �Hmph! Fate... never held with it myself. No man
knows the future.�
Grolf nodded. �Sneaking in is our best option, I say. We�ll just
have to be more alert for the traps.�
�But if Jellic speaks the truth, then perhaps we should heed his
warning,� was Mellicitia�s assessment. �Perhaps he has been granted a
chance to make reparations to his past. To ignore such a powerful
message would be folly.�
��Tis folly nonetheless, to simply charge headfirst into unfamiliar
ground and lay ourselves at the feet of the enemy thus,� said Nell.
�Despite the strong warnings, I say that Jellic presents us the only
sensible plan at our disposal.� Jellic nodded weakly.
�We�ve no time to argue it,� said Grolf. �We�re landing now.� Caster
stood at the doorway and readied his bow to meet any threat that might
emerge. Grolf expertly set the carriage down in the clearing and they
filed out one by one to face their final quest. Dominating the
northeastern horizon, the horrific edifice of Kelve�s castle seemed to
stare down at them, daring them to cross its one-way threshold, and they
approached it with an appropriate sense of dread, heightened all the
more by Jellic�s sketchy memory of a horrible death awaiting within. The
massive portcullis was raised invitingly.
�Does it seems to anyone else as if he�s expecting us to show up?�
asked Borse.
Mellicitia shook her head. �He�s not within these walls. I can sense
it. We should move quickly.�
Caster beckoned for them to follow as he stepped across the
threshold �
� Caster didn�t even have time to scream as the spikes entered his
skull and crushed the life out of his body �
�Wait!� shouted Jellic. �It�s a trap!�
�What are you talking about?� asked Caster � but he did stop short
of the portcullis. Jellic removed the Pokeball from his belt and rolled
it toward the open doorway. As it crossed the threshold, the portcullis
descended, landing so quickly that it managed to catch the ball between
two of its spikes.
�Thy memory holds true, Jellic,� said Nell. �But �tis evidence that
change is in the making...�
�Yes, you could be right,� replied Jellic. �We may yet be able to
change the outcome of this mission.�
Borse grabbed the bottom of the portcullis and lifted it up over his
head. The party quickly passed through the gap, Jellic pausing to
retrieve his Pokeball. Borse crossed the threshold last, letting the
portcullis fall behind him. �Which way should we go now?� he asked.
Mellicitia put her hand to her forehead and pointed to a large iron
doorway, fastened with immense chains. �I sense a strong magical aura
behind that door.� �
� �I�ll hold it off! You get out of here!� shouted Borse, hefting
his axe as the creature burst through the doorway and bared its sharp
claws. As Jellic led the surviving party members down the adjacent
corridor, the hunter�s death screams echoed through the castle �
�Maybe we�d be better off down this corridor,� said Jellic. The
others shrugged and followed him, glancing over their shoulders at the
chained door. �Trust me, those chains are there for a reason, and it�s
not to keep what�s on the outside from getting in...�
The main hallway was decorated with color tapestries depicting
scenes from the Great Wars, hundreds of years earlier. Every gruesome
scene was woven in perfect detail, and Nell stopped to admire each one,
lovingly reaching out to touch the threads �
� �The walls live! Come no closer!� shouted Nell as her hand was
pulled into the tapestry. Jellic grabbed her free hand and pulled, but
the force drawing her into the wall was too strong. Within seconds,
Jellic was forced to let go, lest he too fall victim to this trap. The
outstretched fingers vanished �
�Nell! Hands off!� shouted Jellic. The bard obediently pulled her
hand back and contented herself with simply looking at the tapestries.
They crossed the hallway without incident and Mellicitia pointed to the
doorway under the stairs. This time, Jellic didn�t argue, and they
descended into the castle basement. The seemingly endless hallway could
hide any number of deadly traps. They had to be alert �
� The floor vanished beneath Grolf�s feet and he plummeted into the
darkness below. The screams faded as he fell, but they were still
audible when they suddenly stopped at the bottom �
�Mellicitia, maybe you�d better lead here. But keep a Levitation
spell ready.� Mellicitia frowned at this, but stepped forward into the
hallway. As the floor vanished beneath her, she quickly chanted a spell
that left her floating above the gap. Jellic pulled her back onto solid
ground.
�That makes four traps that we�ve avoided,� counted Caster. �There�s
one more somewhere. Once we�re past that, we�re home free.�
�Not quite home free; rather free in the mage�s keep,� pointed out
Nell. �Simply because Jellic�s memory skips a beat at a trap does not
mean that there are no traps that we do not foresee.�
�Right,� said Caster. �We can�t rely on Jellic�s memory to keep us
alive. We need to keep our wits about us as well.�
�But if Jellic says jump, by the graces of heaven, I plan to be the
first one off the ground!� Everyone laughed at Grolf�s last joke as they
vaulted the pit and continued on down the hallway.
�We must be nearly to Jurth by now,� said Mellicitia as the hall
continued on with no signs of stopping.
�The space inside this place isn�t ordinary space,� explained
Caster. �It�s been magically altered.�
�That would explain why I can�t feel the magical aura anymore.�
Mellicitia hesitated before putting her hand on the wall. �These stones
radiate magical power... perhaps I can cancel it out.�
�Take pain, sorceress,� advised Nell. �Hostile magic may have more
in store for an unwary mind than vanishing floors and crashing gates.�
Mellicitia closed her eyes and emitted a soft glow. Jellic�s stomach
twisted as space began to return to its proper state. A strange sense of
dej� vu took hold of him as he watched the hallway contract and a door
appeared a few feet away.
�The mage�s power source lies beyond that door,� said Mellicitia.
Jellic opened the door and stepped through into a room where spikes
lined the walls and chains hung from the ceiling with weights attached
to them. In the center of the room was a waist-high pedestal atop which
sat an orb that looked as if it was made entirely of glass. Yet inside
the orb Jellic could see, even from this distance, the constantly
flowing mass that was the shadow in this world of a great amount of
magical power.
�That�s it,� he breathed in relief. �We�ve found his power source.
Now all we have to do is destroy it.�
�Are you mad, Jellic?� asked Borse, holding him back. �We can�t step
into that room! It�s an obvious trap! See the spikes on the walls, and
the counterweights in the ceiling?�
�I shall destroy the orb from here,� said Caster, drawing his bow.
�No! Do not attack the orb thus!� shouted Mellicitia. �Only a human
hand can move that orb, and any other force will be reversed. Your arrow
will find its mark in your heart without touching the orb. One of us
must enter the room and smash the orb with bare hands.�
�Leave it to me,� said Jellic. �If I�m right about this being a
dream, I�ll just wake up if the trap kills me. And if not...�
Mellicitia placed her hand on his shoulder. �Your sacrifice will be
mourned.� Jellic wiped his palms and entered the room, striding quickly
to the center with uneasy glances at the walls, expecting them to cave
in any minute and impale him slowly before crushing him to death. But
oddly, nothing happened at all. He reached for the orb with
trepidation �
� Mellicitia�s screams filled his ears as he removed the orb from
the pedestal. He quickly turned to see that the hallway had burst into
flame and she was being roasted alive �
�I have a better idea. Everyone come in here and step away from the
door.� Shrugging their shoulders, the party moved into the room. Once
they were clear of the door, Jellic lifted the orb from the pedestal. He
heard shocked gasps from his companions as, true to the memory, the
hallway filled with flames. They all backed away from the door and
turned to Jellic.
�Now, Jellic!� shouted Mellicitia. �Smash the orb and free us all!�
Jellic raised the orb over his head and dashed it to the ground � where
it hovered, unbroken.
�Fools,� said a voice from nearby. �Do you think I would endanger my
father�s precious magic source by letting you get this close without
protecting it?� A young man appeared behind the pedestal.
�Who are you?� growled Borse.
�I am Elvor, son of Kelve,� said the mage. �I designed the traps
that you so cunningly avoided to get here.� His eyes narrowed. �I would
be very interested to know how you got through them without so much as a
scratch.� Suddenly, his body froze, and the orb clattered to the floor.
Mellicitia stood with her arms raised, paralyzing Elvor with her magic.
Jellic took the cue and threw the orb at the nearest wall. The orb
stopped inches from the wall and flew back at Jellic, who had to duck to
avoid it. It then floated into the hands of another mage who had
appeared at the far side of the room.
�Please excuse my son�s rude behavior,� said Kelve. �I�ve told him
repeatedly that he needs to learn to be more hospitable towards our
guests. Of course, I was only expecting one of you to survive this
long...� He rolled the orb in his hands. �How inconvenient that a mage
must store his power in such a fragile object. I�m sure that Mistress
Mellicitia knows the difficulty of keeping such a device protected at
all times. Quite a nuisance. Still, one should never expect one�s son to
do a job properly, eh? I myself thought his traps most cunning and
undetectable, but then again, you�ve always proven yourself quite
resourceful, Jellic. What a pity that I must destroy all of you now. You
were � amusing.�
�Amusing?� asked Nell sarcastically. �I�ll amuse thee, mage, with a
lilting tune.� She grabbed her harp and strummed the strings, then let
out a hideous screech, which startled Kelve into nearly dropping the
orb. An arrow flew from Caster�s bow into the mage�s exposed heart, and
the orb fell to the floor. Nell looked rather pleased with herself as
she finished. ��Tis a hateful sound to mortal ears, yet a creature of
evil finds the tortured screams of his victims the sweetest lullaby.�
The orb rolled to Borse�s feet and received a sharp blow from his
axe, which bounced off blade first, forcing Borse to dive out of the
path of his own weapon. �No weapons!� shouted Mellicitia.
�Blast me, I forgot!� returned Borse, grabbing the orb. Before he
could throw it, Elvor had his hands on the orb, and the two wrestled for
control of it while Grolf advanced on the recovering mage. Kelve
stretched out a hand and Grolf found himself moving backwards against
his will.
�The orb is mine!� shouted Kelve, swooping down toward Borse. Jellic
quickly struck Elvor in the head with the flat of his sword, allowing
Borse to gain control of the sphere. He violently dashed it to the
ground, but once again it floated up before it could hit the ground.
Thinking quickly, Jellic threw the Pokeball at the mage and grabbed the
orb. Kelve lost control of his orb, momentarily distracted by the
Pokeball, but quickly reoriented himself and reached for Jellic with his
magic.
�Oh, no you don�t!� shouted Grolf, knocking Kelve aside with his
sword. Kelve whirled on the Knight, allowing Jellic to escape into the
corridor. The flames had already dissipated, and nothing stopped Jellic
until he was well out of sight of the mages. He quickly smashed the ball
into the ground, and this time it broke. The magical swirls within
escaped into the air and flowed through the walls and filled the
corridor, until they had spread out so thinly that they were no longer
visible. Meanwhile, screams could be heard from within the room. Jellic
ran back to the door and collided with another figure in the doorway.
Both collapsed against the opposite wall.
�You!� shouted Elvor as he picked himself up. �You killed my
father!�
�Everyone, run! Get out of there!� shouted Jellic, ignoring Elvor
for the time being. The others raced to the door, but just before any of
them could get out, the door slammed closed. �No!� he shouted, throwing
himself against the door. �This can�t be happening!�
�You killed my father!� repeated Elvor. �I shall destroy you!�
�There must be a way to open this door,� thought Jellic, frantically
casting about for some means of saving his friends. �They�ll die!� The
pounding on the other side of the door ceased, replaced by the horrific
death screams of his companions. �NO! Mellicitia! Nell! Grolf!� He
pounded on the door in frustration, not stopping until the last of the
screams fell silent. Even Elvor seemed struck by the sense of loss
momentarily. Then he smiled.
�So, you can�t change the past, can you?� he asked.
�What?� asked Jellic.
�It�s true. This is all a dream. Years ago, your last companion died
when you removed the orb from the pedestal, and you used the orb to
reflect the magic spell that I cast at you toward my father.� He
chuckled. �Even in your dreams, your friends can�t survive, can they?�
�Why are you telling me this?�
Elvor sneered. �Because I want you to remember this when you wake
up: I will always win, Jellic, and you will always lose. No matter how
well you think you�re doing, in the end, I will win.�
�Not so,� spat Jellic. �I killed you.�
�Evil cannot be killed, Jellic,� Elvor placed his hand on Jellic�s
forehead, and Jellic found himself unable to resist, as if he was bound
by ropes. The healing magic flowed through him, and Jellic felt the
world beginning to fade as his memory was healed. �We will meet again, I
promise you that. As many times as it takes, I will return from the
grave to defeat you. You can never defeat me...
Never defeat me...
Never...
Defeat...
The echoes spun in Jellic�s head as he collapsed to the floor of
Kelve�s castle, which was already beginning to fade like any other
dream...
------------------------------------------------------------
MOM: I'm getting rid of this TV before the mindless garbage rots your
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My webpage: http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~katinamp