Several hundred displaced residents of Fantasmal Mountain milled about in a large grassy field far away from their former home. No one had ever successfully invaded the home of the Fantasma until that day. Everyone knew that this was only the beginning of what would be a dark chapter in the history of Mendala. Even Fantasma was dismayed, though he tried to hide it for the sake of his staff.
He stood on a large flat rock to gain their attention. "Listen to me, everyone. I know this has been a horrendous day for all of us, but we must not give up hope. We will regain Fantasmal Mountain soon; I promise."
"But sir," called a voice from the crowd. "They say that Davron has the Book of War."
"Did you see those monsters?" another added. "We can't possibly defeat them."
Fantasma held up his hands for silence. "The power of the Book of War has been beaten before. We will defeat it again." There were murmurs of agreement. "Do not worry, my friends. I will think of something. For now, I want all of you to return to your families or someplace safe. Those of you who do not have a place to stay can go with Honsmordin and Sharanel. They will lead you to safety." He stepped off the rock to converse with his assistants.
"Sir, where will you be going?" Honsmordin asked.
Fantasma sighed. "I'm going to the Waiting Room. I don't know, but perhaps I can find the answers there. I need to be alone for a while. You two find the town of anti-mentants, Kelogong, in the mountains to the north. Anti-mentants can't be detected in the mentant realm. It will be the safest place for you and the others who go with you." Sharanel nodded numbly and went to gather people for the trip.
Fantasma spoke in a hushed voice to Honsmordin. "Take care of Sharanel. She's only seventeen, and has barely experienced war. I don't want her promising career to end now."
Honsmordin nodded. "You have my word, sir."
"Wait for me in Kelogong. When I've determined what to do, I'll come for you."
After saying his good-byes, Fantasma walked off a fair distance from the crowd and mumbled something. Whatever it was, it caused him to disappear.
***
The Waiting Room wasn't actually on Mendala. Where it really was, no one knew, but past Fantasmas have speculated that it's in another dimensional plane. The room was small and completely empty, and its walls were so white, they seemed to shine.
Only the Fantasma and his two assistants had the ability to transport there. Even if another person learned the special commands needed to gain access to the Waiting Room, it simply would not work. It was almost as if the room knew who was allowed inside of it.
Despite its plain appearance, the Waiting Room was far from ordinary. Inside the room, mere thought could produce any object you wanted. The walls could be used to scan the surface of Mendala from a bird's eye view. In addition, the room's dimensions could be changed at will.
Fantasma had never been to the Waiting Room before. The only reason he knew about it and how to reach it was because when he became the leader of Mendala, he was immediately endowed with all the knowledge, experience, and powers of every Fantasma who had come before him. This was one of the reasons why the Fantasma was the most powerful person on Mendala.
However, even though he had the combined knowledge of hundreds of Fantasmas, he did not know how they came to be able to access the Waiting Room. All he knew was that in times of great trouble, the leaders of Mendala would come to this sacred place, and pray for a solution to their problems. It seemed that somehow being in this room brought them closer to "Elohim," which was the Mendalian word for God.
A large chair appeared, and Fantasma dropped sadly into it. "How could I have let this happen?" he asked himself aloud.
"Fantasma," came a voice from behind him.
He looked up and saw a brown face staring down at him from behind the chair. "What in the. how did you. who are you?"
The stranger chuckled as he walked around to the front of the chair. He had deep brown eyes and short, kinky black hair. He wore a long white robe tied with a white belt. "Hmmm, I don't think I've used a name in quite some time. Well, let's see. I guess I'm just a messenger."
Fantasma stood. The chair vanished. "A messenger? From who. and how did you get here? No one is allowed in the Waiting Room except."
The messenger cut across him. "Fantasma, servant of Mendala and of Elohim, do you want to save your planet from the Book of War?"
Fantasma stood in stunned silence. Who was this person, and why did he seem so familiar?
"Listen to me, as many Fantasmas before you have," the stranger urged.
"But who." Fantasma started to ask again.
"I am a messenger, and I bring news from the one you have served so honorably."
"The one I have. Do you mean.?" Fantasma was in awe. Could he be talking to a messenger of Elohim?
"Look in your heart, and you will know the truth," the messenger answered.
Fantasma stared at him in awe. It suddenly occurred to him that the strange feeling of familiarity was from the collective memories of all the Fantasmas. Many of them had seen him, or someone like him, before. Whoever this man was, his words deserved to be heeded.
The messenger smiled as these revelations hit Fantasma. "I know you think your planet's doomed. But I've come to tell you that this is the beginning of Mendala's salvation."
Fantasma opened his mouth to speak, but knew better by now. He waited patiently for the messenger to finish.
"I understand your desire to know more. Do not worry; I will reveal all that I've been told. You fear that Davron will find all five jewels and use their powers to transverse the dimensions and wreak havoc on other worlds. But I'm here to tell you that even though he may possess the first of the five jewels, he can't use it, or any of the others. Their power belongs to one person and one person alone, the Daughter of the Sun. Davron won't succeed in his plan."
Fantasma's mouth dropped. "That's impossible. The last Daughter of the Sun was Ruth, and she died ten thousand years ago during the Great War. She and four others were sent to stop the mind mage Multus and the Book of War when it was first opened. They used the power of the five jewels to cast Multus into the Dark Pits. But before they vanquished him, Multus used his own dark powers to cause the collapse of the dimensional void where the final battle took place. They weren't able to save themselves. Only the jewels returned to Mendala."
The messenger nodded. "Everyone assumed that they perished, but they actually transported to an adjacent dimension and lived out their days in relative peace, on a planet known as Earth. And thus, the lineage of the Daughters of the Sun lives on."
Fantasma had never seen a Daughter of the Sun, but he knew that she was a female blessed with extraordinary abilities empowered by the sun. Her powers were second only to the Fantasma. She was always a descendant of Ester Fantas, the original Daughter of the Sun, who was the wife of the first Fantasma. In each generation, the first-born female among the descendents of Ester was the one who obtained these powers whenever the current Daughter of the Sun died. Thus, only one existed at a time.
Ten thousand years ago, a woman named Ruth Lowens was the Daughter of the Sun, but when it was believed that she died, no new Daughter of the Sun emerged. Ruth had no daughters of her own, and no siblings. It seemed that the lineage had died. But now the messenger was telling him this was not so.
What was more important, though, was that he had given Fantasma a ray of hope. "When Ruth used her powers to charge the five jewels, she gained control over them. and if the lineage of Ester indeed still exists, then the present Daughter of the Sun still has that power. So Davron can't activate the jewels because they're still under the control of the Daughter of the Sun."
The messenger smiled.
"And," Fantasma continued. "If I can somehow bring back the Daughter of the Sun, she can activate the jewels and banish Davron to the Dark Pits, just as Multus before him, and this time, the Book of War will go too."
The messenger shook his head with a smile. "It's time for the five warriors to return to Mendala and finish what they started. The Book of War must be destroyed." He walked over to a wall and put his hand on it. Immediately, an image of an island appeared.
"Destroyed? But how?"
"I don't have all the answers, Fantasma. I can only tell you what I've been told. For now, it's imperative that you go to the planet Earth. There, you'll find everything that you need." He held out his hand and a small dove appeared. "Take this with you."
The dove fluttered from the messenger's hand to Fantasma's shoulder. "I don't understand."
"This is Dagian, the pet dove of the Daughter of the Sun," the messenger explained. "He will help you find her."
Fantasma walked closer to the wall to examine it. The image showed a cave. He could tell from the purple tint that the walls were filled with quartz rock. "But what's waiting for me on Earth?" He turned to look at the messenger, but no one was there. Fantasma looked around the small Waiting Room, but his companion had completely disappeared. It seemed that many of his questions would have to go unanswered for now.
He turned back to the image on the wall in front of him. In the Waiting Room, he could use special rods to transport to whatever was on the walls. He pulled one such rod out of his inner robe pocket. He tapped the rod against the picture on the wall, and vanished from the Waiting Room.
***
It only took a second for Fantasma to transport to the island on the planet known as Earth. He took stock of his surroundings. He was in a cave that had three large chambers, all composed of quartz. Fantasma recognized it as a special type of quartz called traveler quartz. It was special because it heightened a quickener's abilities.
As he walked around the cave, Fantasma realized that it might be useful, if he could find a quickener. Earth was in another dimension, and that meant that getting back to Mendala would be difficult for whomever he was supposed to be meeting. However he knew that a skilled quickener would have a chance, especially if this cave had a dimensional rift in it. Rifts made it easy to transport to an adjacent dimension, and they were almost always found in the presence of traveler quartz.
Fantasma then remembered that he didn't know if there were actually quickeners on Earth. In fact, he didn't know anything about the planet. He silently wished that Sharanel was with him.
Suddenly he tripped over something long and slim, half buried in the dirt. He reached down and found an ornately carved staff, curved like a hook at the top. It was a quickener staff. Perhaps there were quickeners on Earth! This gave him a bit of hope.
Dagian fluttered excitedly on his shoulder. "I guess it's up to you," Fantasma said, taking the dove off his shoulder. "Please bring the Daughter of the Sun back here."
Dagian, understanding Fantasma's words, shot out of the cave and into the afternoon sky. Fantasma settled himself on the ground with the quickener staff in his hand, and waited.