Astral Genealogy: Shadows of Etheria

Episode 2: The weight of duty

"It's so dark up here," Clefairy said, scanning the area. At the peak of the lengthy staircase was a structure that was so old it was drowning in moss. They were at the top of the mountain that the castle was built into so the rockery around them was charcoal coloured, yet the ruined temple standing before them was slathered in green and dead plant life. The nearby cloudy sky was still very dark and blocked out any sunlight, rendering the area in a grey, colourless hue.

"It's some sorta ancient temple," Rune joined in, curiously exploring the area. He walked straight in without a second of thought, leading the two girls to follow him.

Clefairy slowed down once she stepped foot inside, her attention captured by the faded drawings and writing all over the walls. The temple was a single, enormous room with these drawings on every side, even what was left of the crumbled ceiling. However, all of the text was in the same language as that of the warning sign she couldn't read before, so it failed to make any sense to her.

"Rune, what does all this say?" she said, blindly bumping into him in the centre of the room.

"I dunno. It's too old and groggy, and most of the words look really grown up," he said, half ignoring her. "I'm more interested in this thingy."

Clefairy spun around and joined him to stare at the unusual object. A hexagon a little taller than them floated in the centre of the room, marked up with an asymmetrical pattern of black and green hexagons across its surface. The whole object gave off a soft green glow without a sound.
"Is it some kinda Pokémon?" Diantha asked, skipping right up to it. She sniffed it briefly before attempting to grab it, where she squealed and leapt backwards, blowing her hands. "It's hot it's hot it's hot!"

"Whatever this thing is, it's what Dad was trying to keep from everyone by stopping us from going up here. I'll call it the 'green crystal'!" Rune announced, taking his scalchop off his belly. "So let's figure out what the green crystal does and take it with us."

Clefairy chose to return her focus to the drawings on the walls. None of it seemed to make any sort of pattern or glyph or anything. Whatever it all said, the fact that the area was off limits, had this burning green crystal in it, and had been untouched for possibly hundreds of years, filled her with uncertainty. As if answering that summary of her thoughts, she caught sight of a Pokémon spying on them from above. Although there was hardly a ceiling to the temple, a Pokémon was stood up on what little roof there was, staring down at them. She met its fierce red eye and flinched, starting to breathe heavily.

"What's-" she said, getting cut off by a cry from Rune. The Oshawott had struck the green crystal with Razor Shell, causing it to glow brighter and brighter. The sound of flames released from it in growing volume as well, becoming loud enough to take the trio into discomfort.

"Is it... it's gonna explode?" Diantha warned. The three of them flinched and shielded their faces as the crystal seemed to do just that, bursting into a blinding, green blast of light that engulfed the room. The light faded away just as quickly as it had appeared, although it faded along with the glow that the crystal originally had, leaving the room even dimmer than before.

"Eeek! Rune, why did you do that?" Diantha squealed once she got a hold of herself.

"Do what? I didn't do anything! I just hit it," he said.

"Look it's all dark and creepy now. I think you broke it. This is why boys shouldn't touch important stuff."

"I said I didn't do anything!"

"But it's all cold and dark now. If you didn't break it, fix it."

"But it's not broken! How can I fix what isn't broken?"