The Seeker

In the middle of a barren desert lies a ruined castle. With a majority of its outer walls intact, the castle provides apt shelter. After finding it vacant, the Himayo people made it their home. However, they were not drawn to it because of its security. Instead, they chose to reside there because of the lush greenery growing all around the castle. Also, in The castle's courtyard was a well full of pure water. 

They first discovered the castle when they were trying to make their way through the desert. Losing their sense of direction, they eventually became stranded with no food or water. For a couple of days, they aimlessly wandered the desert. Before they gave in to thirst, they came upon the castle ruins. The well gave them something to drink, and several edible plants were growing in the area. 

The people took it as a sign from their god and decided to stay there. They remained isolated there for years, never leaving its vicinity. Being a mostly peaceful tribe, they always tried to be hospitable to outsiders. However, most of the people that came there only wanted their abundance for themselves. 

A traveler approached the gates of the castle. He wore strange clothes and wore a large hat. The men outside stopped him at the entrance. 

“Why Have you come here?” One of the men asked.

“I can explain later, but for right now can I please have some water? I’m very weary from the journey here.”

“Very well. We will give you water. You may enter for now.”

The gates to the castle opened, and they led the man inside. Water was drawn from the well and given to him. Water spilled down the sides of his mouth as he gulped it. After he had finished drinking, the men took him to their elder. The elder would decide whether or not he would stay there or be kicked out. Once inside the elder's room, the men stepped outside so they could talk one-on-one. 

"Remove your hat so I can see your face." 

The traveler took off his hat. He appeared to be middle-aged and had short brown hair. 

"Now, who are you, and why have you come to our home?"

"My name is Vaisi, and I am a seeker." 

"A seeker? What does that mean?"

"Seekers are a group of people dedicated to finding artifacts around the world."

"For what reason do you search for these artifacts?"

"The artifacts are powered by the very lifeforce of Veshoa. Using that energy, they can produce a wide variety of effects." Vaisi held up his hand. "For example, this ring on my finger is what is allowing me to speak your language right now."

"So, you think one such artifact is here?"

"As I'm sure you are aware, the environment around this castle is no normal occurrence. I believe that an artifact is likely to be the cause."

"If an artifact indeed happens to be causing this, will you take it away from us?"

"Even if I do find it, I won't do anything with it before consulting you and your people first." 

"Under that condition, I will allow you to search the castle." 

Vaisi bowed his head. "Thank you very much. I hope this will be an enlightening experience for all of us." Vaisi was dismissed from the elder's room and began to search the castle. First, he went around asking if anyone had seen anything strange. It turned out to be fruitless since no one had recalled seeing anything out of the ordinary. Vaisi then stopped looking in the more public areas of the castle. He figured if something were there, then someone would've found it already. 

He moved on to the more ruined parts of the castle. Crawling through holes and sifting through rubble didn't produce any results either. Now getting close to nighttime, Vaisi checked the one part of the castle he hadn't been to, the well. He cast a rope into it and climbed down. Running out of daylight, he quickly dove into the water. 

The bottom of the well was dark and Vaisi could hardly see anything. He turned up rocks and felt along the wall but, there was nothing. As he was about to give up, a faint purple glow caught his eye. It was partially coming out of the ground, so he dug up the rest and brought it back up to the surface. Now out of the well, he could see that it was a crystal. 

Vaisi heard a commotion at the gate and put the crystal away in a pouch. He went over to see what was happening. Outside the gate was another traveler who also wore a large hat. Vaisi recognized the man and smiled. The man was taken to the elder, so Vaisi followed him. 

Before the elder could ask the man anything, Vaisi walked into the room. "He's another seeker like me. He must've come for the same reason." 

The elder looked at the man. "Is this true?" 

"Yes, though I didn't expect another seeker to be here." The man took off his hat, revealing his scarlet red hair. "I'm Sojou. Nice to meet you." Sojou turned to Vaisi. "I believe we've already met. You're name's Vaishi, right?"

"Vaisi." he corrected him. 

"Dang, I was sure it was Vaishi. Anyway, nice to see you again."

"Likewise."

"Have you found the artifact?" the elder asked. 

"Indeed I have," Vaisi said as he pulled the crystal out of the pouch. 

Sojou came closer to look at it. "Ah, I see. I knew it was too much of a coincidence that an Essence Well happened to be right under some ruins."

"Yes, this crystal has created an artificial Essence Well in this area." 

The elder looked confused. "An Essence Well?"

"It's basically a concentrated spot of life energy. That's why everything grows in abundance here." Vaisi explained. 

"And you said this crystal did this artificially?" the elder asked. 

Sojou interjected, "A natural Essence Well forms when an excess amount of Essence leaks out of the ground in a sense. However, this crystal must've gathered Essence from the surrounding area to create an overflow in one spot."

Vaisi continued, "As we can see, this would've created an imbalance in the near environment draining it of its life energy. It must be why the desert here is so devoid of life." 

"As I understand it, we benefit while the desert suffers, correct?" 

"That's true. However, it's been a long time since anything has lived in the desert to suffer from it," Sojou said. 

"As I said before, it's ultimately up to you and your people to decide what is done with it."

"It's getting late, we should all get some rest. Then, I will discuss it with my people tomorrow."

Vaisi put the crystal back into the pouch. "I'll hold onto it until then." 

The elder nodded. A space was prepared for the two travelers to sleep in the castle. Sojou quickly fell asleep since he was tired after just getting there. Vaisi, however, didn't get much sleep that night.

In the morning Vaisi rushed to the elder's room in a panic. "It's gone! The crystal's gone!"

"How can it be gone? You had it with you the entire time." 

"When I woke up this morning it wasn't in my pouch anymore. Someone must've taken it while I was sleeping." 

"But the only one who was sleeping with you was-"

"Sojou! Of course. He's the only one who could've taken it. Think about it, he's the only other one who knows of the crystal and knew that I had it with me. I don't know why, but he must've taken the crystal."

"I'll have my men search for him." 

"Then, I'll take a look around the castle in case he hid it somewhere." 

Sojou was abruptly awoken by men storming into his room. Before he could say anything, they grabbed him and tied him up. 

"Wait! What's happening?"

"Where'd you put the crystal?" One of the men interrogated him. 

"I didn't do anything to the crystal. Vaisi had it the whole time." 

"Search his things." 

The men patted him down to make sure he wasn't hiding anything underneath his clothes. Then they found the box that he carried around and opened it. It was empty. 

"Why are you carrying around an empty box?" 

"Just in case I find anything that I need to store somewhere." 

The man disregarded him. "Go see if Vaisi has found anything yet." A different man left the room in search of Vaisi. 

"So you think I stole the crystal?" 

"Who else would've? You're the only one who knows about its power."

"If I stole it, why would I still be in here sleeping? Besides, I'm not the only one who knows of its power." 

A man rushed into the room. "He's gone! No one can find Vaisi anywhere!" 

"He had the crystal the whole time. He just accused me of stealing it to create a distraction so he could get away," Sojou said from behind them. 

The men untied him. "We were wrong to doubt you. But how are we going to get the crystal back now?"

"If I hurry, I can probably catch up to him." Sojou reached into his box and pulled out a small golden device. "This should stop him long enough for me to grab the crystal." 

When Sojou left the castle, he could see all the plants around it had already withered considerably. Instead of looking for footprints in the sand, Sojou looked for something else. It didn't take long for him to find it. There was a trail of small patches of grass going off into the desert. Even when he was walking away with it, the crystal's power affected the ground enough for a bit of grass to sprout. 

Sojou followed the trail of grass as fast as he could. The closer he got to Vaisi, the greener the grass got. After going over a hill, he could see Vaisi moving away in the distance. Vaisi seemed to notice him and quickened his pace. He ran quite fast for someone his age. Sojou left his box behind and ran faster as well, slowly gaining ground. 

Eventually, Vaisi realized he couldn't outrun Sojou, so he stopped. However, once Sojou got close, Vaisi pulled out a shortsword. "I'd stay back if I were you. This sword may be old, but it can cut through anything with ease. I know we're only acquaintances, but I'd hate to have to cut you down." 

"Fine, I won't come any closer. Could you at least tell me why you stole the crystal?"

"Don't you realize the possibilities with the power this thing possesses? If I siphoned off the Essence inside it, I could live longer than multiple lifetimes. I wouldn't even need to eat or sleep ever again." 

"What about all the people living in that castle? Why should you have it instead of them?"

"It's not like they deserve it any more than me. It's destroying the whole environment around them. All so they can live happily in that castle."

"It's not your decision to make for what they do with it. We can still go back now and discuss it with them."

"I think you're forgetting that I'm the one with the sword. Now we can just both walk away unharmed. You can tell them that you tried to get it back, but you couldn't find me."

"I figured you'd say something like that," Sojou said as he tossed the small device onto the ground in front of him. The device started to blink, and Sojou ran away. Sojou ducked behind a rock as the device let out a bright flash. When Sojou came out behind the rock, he saw Vaisi lying on the ground paralyzed. 

Sojou picked up the device. "I remember when I first found this thing. After I touched it, the next thing I knew, I was flat on the ground. It took forever for me to get feeling back in my limbs." Sojou walked over to Vaisi and found the pouch with the crystal. "I'll be taking this." Sojou also picked up the sword and put it in his box. "I think I'll be taking this as well. Now, I don't know how long you are going to be lying there, but It'll only be a day at the most. That should give you some time to reflect on your actions."

Vaisi glared up at him, unable to move a muscle. Sojou returned to the castle and explained what had happened to the elder.  Sojou took the crystal out of the pouch and gave it to the elder. "I'll leave it to you to decide what should happen to it." 

The elder looked at the crystal in his hand for a moment, then handed it back to Sojou. "He may have taken it for the wrong reason, but Vaisi was right. We don't deserve to have it any more than anyone else. Just like this castle, this abundance was never ours, to begin with. I think it's time we returned it to the land." 

"What about your people? How will you survive?" 

"To tell the truth, we've known how to leave this desert for quite some time. Don't worry about us. After we leave this castle, we'll find somewhere else to live. It's what our people have done for generations." 

Sojou put the crystal in his box. "I wish you all the best," He said as he left. 

The castle returned to being vacant ruins, and life returned to the desert.