Flashbacks

 Sir Gilbert polished Zios's mask, and stared deep into Zios's eyes. The eyes were long black, with sadness and misery in them, but Sir Gilbert felt like that. He had been shunned just because he had saved Jamaa, and it was Amelia's destiny to feel pain during her life anyway, so scaring her wasn't avoidable. He stared at his double-looped ring, remembering the time Greely had crafted him this ring from elf steel. Suddenly, he was in a flashback.

 Sir Gilbert was pacing the length of the hut, angry. Just because he was proud didn't mean that he didn't have the ability to help. Amelia's first self had been right, sometimes the alphas could be selfish. Only Greely stayed with him, as Greely had been hideous all his life, just because the phantoms had sworn an oath to him in his early days and gave him his powers in exchange for his handsomeness.
"Those f****** alphas should've brought me to help them show new Jammers around!"Sir Gilbert spat angrily. He unsheathed his claws, sheathed them, and unsheathed them again, stared at his bullet scar, and read the labels on his merit badges, yet the alphas still did not return. He cursed, but then Greely rushed up to him, and looked at him funny.
"What?"he demanded. Greely looked at him head to toe, then took some metal out of the Duat, as the African alphas had taught every alpha, to an extent that often made even the iron-stomached Cosmo vomit. 
Before Sir Gilbert could ask, Greely seared the scrap metal into a perfect double ring, and placed two shards of the tiger spirit stone and placed them on each ringlet.
"Your ring is ready,"Greely muttered. Sir Gilbert trusted his metalwork, as his wave anklets were Greely's doing, but he took the ring warily. He put it on his paw, and a thousand knifes seemed to pierce his paw padding. As soon as the pain jabbed him, it eased.
"Why,..thank you."he told Greely, not sure what to say. Greely melted into shadow, and Sir Gilbert had to remind himself that Greely had been there.

 Sir Gilbert looked at his bullet scar, and disregarded it. One little strip of flesh and an early death was all he needed to become one of the most powerful animals- the Alphas. He looked at the brand Mira had burned on his paw, and had a short flashback.

 "Mira, I am done training, and I would like to become a true alpha now." Sir Gilbert told the grey heron. Mira smiled.
"Well, you have proven yourself worthy by training under my wing. I shall brand you, and you will become an Alpha, but you may have to endure many years of sharing suffering with your kin. Are you ready?"she asked him. Sir Gilbert hesitated, then nodded. Mira closed her beautiful eyes, and started to glow. Blue wisps came from her body, and collected in a spot that would normally be partially hidden by his armor. They started to burn into his fur, and Sir Gilbert had to bite his lip to refrain from yowling. The wisps branded, and formed the outline of Mira, along with the word SHAMAN on it. Mira seemed to have slipped into the future when she had called him an "alpha", and Sir Gilbert preferred the name SHAMAN  to alpha. Only Greely was seen fit to carry that name. Suddenly, the other shamen gathered around him.
"Gilbert, Gilbert!"they chanted, and he suddenly grew to adult size. He smiled.
"I am ready to avenge you, Mira."he told her.

 Sir Gilbert cleaned the mouth of Zios's mask. It was a hole, but he saw his claw marks inside there. He shuddered. Gilbert knew that he had been foolish not to let his guard down and let Zios surrender, as he was now plunged into misery. Gilbert licked his paws free of grease, then continued. The plaque under Zios's eyes had so much history to it, Sir Gilbert couldn't bear the thought of washing that in the sacred water, especially since it was the tears of Mira, a substance that could taint any soul that dared drink it.
"Need help?" a voice said from behind him. He yelped, and saw a white phantom behind him, one of the phantom rebels. They were the only phantoms the alphas were ordered NOT to destroy on the spot, and had aided them in the Alpha's frequent missions.
"Sure,"he told the she-phantom. Her name was Serena, and she was the queen of the rebels. Like Peck or Ruby, she was a sworn maiden, so there was no king. Arrows that could kill an elephant were notched in her crossbow, and her arms had poisonous spikes she could unsheath like claws in her skin. She helped him wash the grime and rust off Zios's once-glorious mask. The emeralds in his eyes and the cone-like shapes beneath his eyes faintly shimmered with hints of copper and gold in it, and the sand scraped off the blood on the lower part of the mask. Sir Gilbert wished he had gotten better chores, like Peck got to paint signs for the lands that were opening soon, and Cosmo got to dissect phantoms, but noooo, Mira had assigned him to polish Zios's mask.
"So... anything new today? Like from Mira?" Serena asked him. Her voice was so enchanting, Sir Gilbert blushed.
"Ummmm... just some news that the Cithara Order have relocated themselves in the Ice Palaces, and that Mira is slowly working her way out of her stone now." Gilbert said. Serena nodded.
"Can we camp in the forgotten base in the Zios pit? Rare jewels are yummy, and are a good snack. Especially the green jewel that once was."Serena asked him. Sir Gilbert dug it up, and the emerald glowed. Since it was useless, Gilbert let Serena take a bite out of it. Suddenly, he was in another flashback. 

 The day that the emerald of Jamaasian culture was covered with notifications, Graham had to take it down because the jewel had died due to no exposure to sunlight. Graham had snuck into the township during the night, and shook the jewel off. He had teleported back, and the alphas had discussed what to do with it.
"We should put it in a museum!" Cornelius had suggested. Lisa had shook her head at that.
"No, we are too subdued by ignorance that we cannot accomplish such a thing without a burglar stealing it." she said. 
"We could chip it into amulets and give one to each alpha." Greely had suggested. Sir Gilbert had shook his head at that.
"Divided, the stone is useless. United, the stone can feed us energy even when it dies."Sir Gilbert had told Greely.
"How about hiding it in the attic?" Peck had asked them.
"Nah, gathering dust would be too lowly for such an important jewel." Amelia said, shaking her head.
"Then why don't we just put it in stores????" Ruby cried, clearly getting impatient.
"The emerald is hard to duplicate, Ruby." Harper whispered. Ruby growled, and started ramming the wall, and Lisa had to walk over to her to calm her.
"Then, we should place it in the Temple Of Trivia treasury. Mira's and the elve's strongest enchantments protect that place, and no ordinary Jammer can access these archives. The sand also preserves the artifacts quite well." Amelia said. All the alphas nodded, and Graham yet again carried the cracked jewel, this time to the Temple of Trivia, and the emerald had been swallowed by the sand for quite a while.

 Serena chewed, if a phantom with no mouth could, and swallowed.
"Tangy, with hints of chocolate." she muttered.
"And quite energizing. Can I take a piece to feed to my fellow rebels?" Sir Gilbert nodded.
"If the divided shards are digested, then the emerald will still retain it's power."  Gilbert noted. He dipped his paw into the pool behind the waterfall.
" Do you know who the coming hero is?"he asked Serena. Serena stopped picking pieces off the emerald.
"No, but I can sense that a hero shall bat away the evil that has crept into the land as easily as a cow some pesky flies, soon." Serena muttered. Suddenly, Sir Gilbert was sent into a vision Mira had sent to him, and Serena sensed his panic as he was thrown into the Phantom Vortex.

 Sir Gilbert saw Amelia and Harper battling phantoms in the vortex, where the phantom rebels usually stayed, and the phantoms they battled were clearly non-rebels. The rebels fought alongside them, and so did the alphas and their allies, including him. However, Sir Gilbert sensed that something was wrong, since these versions of the alphas were tired, as if eons of battling the evils tired them. Meanwhile, black fire enveloped Jamaa, and no light remained to put the fire out. The hero was going to come, and bat away the evil, but right now it seemed impossible. Suddenly, the Jammers screaming and hiding in their dens suddenly stopped panicking, and toughened up. They walked out bravely, and Apophis, the black fire, cackled.
"You heroes have come far too late to defeat ME!" the serpent cackled, and his serpentine eyes poked through the storm clouds, and unearthly cackling filled Jamaa. His  eyes flashed yellow, and he seemed amused by the Jamaasian bravery he had waited so long for, but then an antlered wolf, Snowyclaw, stepped out of the crowd.
"I am Old Frozenspirit, and I shall rise as Mira! The Jamaasians shall bind you with our pure hearts! We shall drive away the evil for good!" Snowyclaw declared. And from her words, a grey heron was born, and grew to Apophis's side.
"I am Mira, and you, Apophis, the Chaos Snake and the Phantom Dictator, does not belong here! The good citizens of Jamaa shall fight you even in death, and the death of Zios will not stop us!" Mira declared. The Jamaasians roared, and charged, and suddenly had full battle armor on. Apophis's pupils narrowed to scared slits, and he watched in disbelief as his minions, the phantoms, were torn to crumbs by claw and tooth, beak and talon.
"Mira! We shall avenge you! Mira! Defeat Apophis!" the Jamaasians chanted. Apophis wailed in terror as the alphas, rebels, Mira and the Jamaasians hopped up to the stormclouds, and tore his eyes out. Apophis wailed and yowled as he disentigrated into a cloud of golden dust. The dust hovered, and swirled in a tornado until they formed Zios, reborn and as pure as ever. His eyes twinkled as he saw his brave creations.
"Jamaa, I am home. We, Father Sky and Mother Sky, shall never ever neglect our duties again."he said, and floated down to earth. Mira flapped over to Sir Gilbert, as she was the only one who saw him.
"We can achieve this, and the hero is the honest and pure citizens of Jamaa."she said, and he was pulled out.

 Serena saw Sir Gilbert as he fell from the ceiling portal, and landed on the soft sand.
"So what was the vision?"she asked him. Sir Gilbert took a deep breath, and told her. Her eye twinkled.
"Mira tells us never to give up on hope! We shall keep fighting!"she cheered. Sir Gilbert smiled, and waded out to the Temple Of Trivia to tell the world the news, along with Serena.

 The End Of The Beginning....

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