Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 14:15:48 GMT
From: LHW . <ensstyenlc@hotmail.com>
Subject: The BSB NSYNC Chronicles Chapter 8

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This is an entirely fictional story (as if you couldn't guess) and is not
intended to imply anything about the sexuality of the members of NSYNC and
the Backstreet Boys and none of these events actually happened in real life.
Some of the phrases, places and text are copyrighted to Tolkien (thank you
to Kyriel2@aol.com for pointing out that I forgot to add this...). Also, the
characters "Hercules", "Iolaus", "Lilith" and "Jason" are copyrighted to the
show "Young Hercules" and all other companies associated with the show. This
story has hints of homosexual content but will move slowly in that area
because of the storyline. Comments and suggestions are welcomed and should
be sent to ensstyenlc@hotmail.com
If you are 18 or older, you may proceed to read the story. If you are under
18 years of age, shouldn't you be studying or at least at a Pokemon website
rather than here? ;-)
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Firstly, I would like to thank God for giving me the gift to write this in
the first place. (Sorry I forgot about You in the first few thank you's) I
would like to thank David from Nifty for letting me put my work on his site.
I would also like to thank all the readers who have sent their feedback. Now
let's continue the story, shall we?
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|The BSB NSYNC Chronicles - Chapter Eight|
All the cadets turned to look at Chris. Somehow, Justin and Hope did not
hear Chris' exclamation. Chris gaped at the familiar yet foreign look that
his friend now bore. The weeks Justin (as well as JC, AJ, Lance and Brian,
though Chris did not know about them) had spent with the Faerie had changed
him. His face was cheerful but solemn at the same time. His eyes twinkled
with laughter but he was cool and calm. He was graceful and elegant but yet
retained a sense of hidden power. He reminded Chris of River, Rabbit and
Hope, though it had been a long time since he had last seen the latter. He
was a bit shocked to see Justin alive and well with Hope, the sam person who
had abandoned them to die. He looked at Howie. Pain and fear was written all
over Howie's face. Chris patted Howie's back in reassurance. Jason gripped
Howie's hand a little tighter to lend him some encouragement. River and
Rabbit were as calm and reserved as usual and they did not call out to their
brother.

"Go for it, Howie," Jason encouraged Howie. "He should understand. Hopefully
he will forgive you." He smiled his charming smile at Howie. Howie smiled
back with his equally charming smile as he let go of Jason's hand and stood
up to greet Justin and Hope. Chris got up with him and walked towards Justin
as well. The other cadets went back to their conversations and their food.

"We should go and greet the friends of our friends," Jason said, his gaze
always on Howie. He began to stand but Rabbit pulled him down. Her jet black
eyes bore into Jason and she mouth the word no. Jason pouted a bit and sat
again. Hercules glanced back at his moody friend. What's eating him?
Hercules wondered.

Justin and Estel watched as the two familiar people walked up to greet them.
Though they were familiar, Justin somehow could not seem to recognise them.
It was not surprising, because their clothes were different. Chris' hair was
cut very short and he had shaved his goatee. Howie's goatee had also been
shaved off and his hair was long, reaching up to his shoulders. They both
walked towards Justin with smiles on their faces.

"Ni sinta llie?" Justin asked politely, the smooth, beautiful words flowing
like water from a calm river. Chris and Howie looked at each other blankly,
and then back at Justin. River and Rabbit's sensitive hearing caught the
words as they watched the confrontation. River stood up, followed by his
sister, and headed to Hope and Justin.

"Ni sinta llie?" Justin asked again, puzzling the duo even more.

"He said 'Do I know you?'" River translated. "Vedui, beleg Megilindir, osta
tel'Quendi."

"Vedui, toron en Estel," Justin replied, smiling. He tapped his fist to his
heart and then on River's heart. He repeated the greeting to Rabbit, saying,
"Vedui seler en Estel."

River and Rabbit repeated the greeting ritual and then smiled. Chris began
to feel left out. He was surprised that Justin had not recognised him and
was a bit angered because of that. He asked River and Rabbit for a
translation on what had been said.

"River said 'Hello, mighy Bladesinger, protector of the Faerie.'," Rabbit
translated for Chris and Howie.

"And he replied 'Hello, brother of Hope' and 'Hello, sister of Hope.',"
River finished. He looked at Justin and asked, "Lle sinta melloneamin Chris
ar'Howie?"

Justin's eyes widened at the names. "Chris? Howie? Amin n'sinta! Nae saian
luume' ar'cormamin lindua ele lle!"

"Err...could you speak in a language that we DO understand?" Chris asked,
raising his right hand as though asking a question of a teacher. Justin
blushed a deep red and bit his bottom lip. He opened his mouth to speak.
Weeks of not using any language other than Quenya had caused him to become a
bit rusty with what the elves called 'human speech'. He managed to slur out,
"I'm sor-ry, I didn't realise. It has been toooo long, and heart of
mine...err...my heart sings with...what's the
word?...please?...no...err...pleasure! That's it, pleasure."

Chris and Howie laughed at Justin's pitiful attempt to speak. "You obviously
have not been speaking English at all since you've been away," Howie joked.
Justin nodded his head in agreement, trying to focus his thoughts on
remembering the language that he had not spoken for almost a month.

"AJ, Brian, JC, Lance and I did not quena...err...speak English at all in
Caeranos," Justin explained. "If you were to meet them, you would not be
able to understand them either."

"You were with Brian and AJ?" Howie asked in unison with Chris, except that
Chris had said Lance and JC instead. Justin nodded his head.

While the three friends reunited, Estel looked at his siblings. He hugged
them both and kissed them on their cheeks, the traditional elven greeting
for siblings. They also returned the greeting. They did not have to ask each
other about how they were, for Alegifu and Stile had been faithfully sending
letters by owl to Estel and vice-versa.

"Have you heard from Gil yet?" Alegifu asked in Quenya, breaking from her
brother's embrace. Estel shook his head.

"I haven't heard from him at all. He usually sends me a note or something
every two months, and the usual delivery time came and went without a sign.
Even if no one was in because of the celebration, the messenger would have
waited. They usually do. Unless something happened," Estel said, his voice
tinged in sadness. "It's just not like Gil to do domething like that."

"It must be hard, wondering and worrying about him like that," Stile said
sympathetically. "I know how close you two are. You've always been close,
ever since the 'accident'. I think I can understand how you feel. I miss
Alessa everday."

"It's not the same," Estel said. "It's similar but not the same."

"Justin? Justin are you all right?" Chris said, waving his hand in front of
Justin's face, breaking Justin trance.

"Mani? Manke?" Justin said, lapsing back into Quenya. He looked at Chris'
concerned face. He pretended to not have heard the conversation of Estel and
his siblings. Who is Gil? Justin wondered. Is that why Estel seems to take
no notice of me, when he obviously knows that I like him? Justin let the
miserable thoughts run through his head, ignoring Chris, who had resumed
waving his hand in front of Justin's eyes.

Jason looked up from the table where he and his friends were seated. "I
think it's safe to introduce ourselves now."

Hercules nodded, wondering why Jason was so rushed to greet friends of
Howie's. Iolaus shook his head, his blond curls flying into Lilith's face.

"You guys can go ahead," Iolaus said. "I see a certain laydee that wants
some attention from me."

Jason, Lilith and Hercules all rolled their eyes and said at the same time,
"Good luck, Iolaus! Maybe she'll decide to be nice today and just hit you
instead of killing you."

Iolaus pouted and walked off to talk to the cadet, who immediately turned
and walked the other way when she saw him coming. The other three cadets
walked up to greet the two newcomers. Howie turned and saw them coming. As
Jason neared the group, he heard Howie say, "This is a friend of mine. His
name is Jason." Am i just a friend? Jason thought, his face falling as he
drew nearer. He noticed the eyes of the curly-haired human looking at him.
He recognised the same pained expression that he had seen in his own eyes
when he thought of Howie. And he noticed that the boy had also recognised
the look in his own eyes. I've got to talk to him later, Jason thought. At
least I'll know someone who can understand what I'm going through.

Lilith reached the group first. "Hi, my name is Lilith."

Estel's eyes opened wider and looked at her closely. "Have I seen you
somewhere?"

"Not that I know of," Lilith replied, puzzled with the unexpected reply.

"You were with the Amazons, right?" Estel asked again. Lilith nodded, a
small smile forming on her face. "I knew I saw you somewhere before."

"Hi, I'm Hercules," Hercules said, clasping Estel's wrist. Estel bowed and
said, "And I am Hope."

"Hercules?" Justin asked, surprised. "Aren't you the son of Zeus?"

Estel, Alegifu and Stile turned to look at Justin in surprise. Hercules
looked a little shocked but remembered that Howie and Chris had known who he
was. He wondered why the elves were looking at him in such a strange manner.
All of them had narrowed their eyes, glaring at him.

"What's wrong?" Hercules asked, suddenly fearful.

"You are the son of a Valar?" Estel said, spitting the word Valar. Hercules
nodded cautiously, wondering what was in store.

"Did you two know about this?" Estel asked his siblings. Alegifu and Stile
shook their heads in surprised denial.

"I take it you don't like the gods?" Hercules asked the obvious question.

"Gods?" Estel sneered. "The Valar are nothing but powerful tricksters. They
were originally great beings sent by Eru to watch over his creations, but
when they came down to the earth, they began to trick all the Peoples into
worshipping them instead. When the Faerie refused, they created monstrous
beings to attack our homeland Faery. They captured our friends and families
and transformed them into creatures of ugliness and evil, perverting the
Faerie. Thus the corrupted Dark Faerie came into origin."

Hercules took a step back. "Are you sure? Not all the Valar are evil."

"Not all," Alegifu said. "But they were still part of the whole thing. Those
Valar who are not worshipped help people without their knowledge and without
expecting payment. Those who are worshipped may not be evil, but are
misguided."

"They hate the Faerie, though," Stile said. "We are the only species that
are powerful enough to defeat them, and even destroy them, though it is not
an easy task."

"I didn't know," Hercules said. "Are you going to kill me because I'm the
son of a Valar?"

Estel carefully listened to Hercules' words before he spoke. "I take it you
are not full Valar?" Hercules nodded. "My mother is human."

The expressions of the elves softened. Alegifu said with relief, "Then he is
Maiar. He is not obligated to the Valar."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lilith asked suspiciously.

"It means that he is powerful but is still mortal, and thus has a choice on
whether or not to obey the Valar, just like all mortals do," Stile
explained. Hercules, Jason and Lilith sighed with relief.

"By the way, what is a Bladesinger?" Chris asked, trying to change the
awkward subject.

"Bladesinger's are one of the types of fighter-mages," Estel said. "We are
the protectors of the Faerie, which is the name of our species. Cheiron is
also from the Faerie. It is one of the highest ranks in the cities."

"And Justin's a Bladesinger?" Howie asked. Justin smiled proudly.

"Yes. His nomination was accepted by the Acting Leader and I was the
representative chosen for the ceremony," Estel replied.

"Acting Leader?" Alegifu asked, concerned. "What happened to Graelynia?"

"She has disappeared and no one knows where she is," Estel replied grimly.

"How does one be nominated to be a Bladesinger?" Chris asked.

"Someone who is not a Bladesinger nominates someone who he thinks would be a
good addition," Stile explained. "Graelynia decides whether or not to accept
the nomination. If she does, a representative Bladesinger who has the
closest relationship to the nominee becomes a representative to tell the
nominee that he can be a Bladesinger. I will explain the rest of the
ceremony next time."

"Except that Celandra decided this time, since Graelynia is missing," Estel
said, causing a silence to fall upon the group.

"Now can we eat?" Justin asked, breaking the silence. "I'm getting very,
very hungry."

The group headed back towards the table they had occupied. As Jason and
Stile walked off to get food for Estel and Justin, the others made
smalltalk. Jason and Stile soon returned to the table, carrying two bowls of
some sort of stew or soup. Estel and Justin looked at the disgusting masses
of brownish-yellow food, looked back at each other and pushed the bowls
away, causing all the others to laugh at them.

"It can't taste as bad as it looks and smells, can it?" Justin asked, his
face grimacing at the stench of the slop-like stew. The looks on the faces
of his new friends, as well as old ones, helped him decide that the food was
not worth eating. He sighed deeply, his hungry stomach growling with hunger.
"What I wouldn't give to have even a small piece of lembas."

"I think I still have some of our travelling food left in my pack," Estel
said. He reached into his backpack and drew out a small leather pouch. He
opened it and poured it out into his hand. Small pieces of lembas, almonds,
dried apples and mangoes, a very small slice of salted venison and a
starfruit fell out onto Estel's palm, his small hand barely containing all
of the food, especially the starfruit, which fell onto the table.

"That's all I have left," Estel said sadly. Justin brightened a bit and
began to seperate the remains equally between Estel and himself. They
finished their food quickly, though it was barely satisfying. After lunch,
the two were shown around the academy and brought to their sleeping
quarters. Justin began to fear the next day, which would be the day he and
Estel started their training.

"Damn training," Joey groaned as one of the servants, a young woman with
pure white hair, reminded the two men of their lessons with Brosrkorzg, a
scro magician. They had been trained by the grumpy scro two days after they
had found the castle, which was nearly two months ago. Joey sighed again.
"Brosrkorzg works us too hard."

Nick did not agree with him. He eagerly grabbed the white silk robe given to
him by Shareela and put in on to get ready for their lesson in magic with
Brosrkorzg. Joey put on his own robe, which was the exact same colour as
Nick's. The two strode out of their room, the magical robes keeping them
warm in the freezing atmosphere. They walked down the ice corridor until
they reached another door, also carved from ice, just like everything else
in the entire place, except for the occasional stone statue. Outside the
door stood two statues, one ice and the other stone. Both were of beautiful,
slim but dangerous women with pointed ears. One of the women had a strange
swords in her hands, the hilts of the swords having a sapphire each studded
into them. They were the only parts of the statue that were not stone. She
had leather-like sculptured armor around her and a very fragile-looking
piece of thin stone that formed a cloak. The second statue was carved from
ice and depicted a lightly armored female archer. The life-like statue was
scarier since the arrow was nocked in the bow, ready to be released. Joey
marveled at the workmanship of the sculptor and wondered why someone would
have stuck an amethyst as an arrowhead, instead of just carving it. The
earrings on the ice statue were also carved of ice, except for the rubies
that hung from the short chain.

"I wonder who the sculptors are," Joey commented as he pushed open the door
that led to their practice room. "I haven't seen anyone in this palace that
has enough skill to carve something like this. They're all so clumsy."

"I don't really care," Nick said, walking through the now open door. "I
don't bother looking at the statues. Not worth the time."

He walked into the room, not waiting for Joey. Joey reached out and touched
one of the sapphires on the statue. A feeling of sadness washed over him,
touching his heart and almost caused him to cry. He reached out with his
left hand and touched the other sapphire. There was a bright flash of light
that only he could see, and when it cleared, there was nothing but grass as
far as the eye could see. A haze began to form in front of him and began to
solidify, transforming into a perfect likeness of the statue. The only
difference was that the person was real. The woman looked at him with sad
black eyes. Her short black hair was tied in a bun at the back of her head.
She lowered her weapons and placed them into their sheaths.

<Who are you?> she asked, her eyes seemed to bore into his soul.

"My name is Joey," Joey replied. He wondered if she had heard him. The woman
nodded slowly.

<I am Graelynia,> she introduced herself. <How did you get here?>

"Where is this place?" Joey asked in response.

<This is my prison,> Graelynia replied. <My body is trapped as stone, and my
conciousness is trapped in this place. Even though there are others like me,
I am the only one in this place. It tortures the mind while trapping the
body. As the statue erodes, my physical features will erode as the statue,
until I am totally destroyed. The process is long and very painful. I can
only hope that someone will restore me, or that the statue is shattered so
that I may truly die.>

"Are all the other statues like this?" Joey asked. Graelynia nodded in
response.

<You are a special person, good and powerful, the Chosen One> Graelynia
complimented him. <Only the Chosen One in the prophecies can do this. It is
said that he will give hope and encouragement, and eventually freedom to
those like me.>

"I think they've got the wrong person," Joey said, suddenly fearful.

<I don't think so,> Graelynia said, a smile forming on her face. <You have
already given me some hope and companionship, something which I will
treasure. You will one day free us all, whether by restoration or by death,
you will free us all.>

The vision suddenly faded away, leaving Joey awestruck. He found that he was
no longer touching the statue and that Nick was standing in front of him.

"Not worth the time," Nick said, pushing the door open. He walked into the
room where Brosrkorzg was waiting for them. Joey reached out and touched a
sapphire of the statue. It twinkled a little, then faded and Joey thought he
heard Graelynia's voice in his head saying, <Be brave, Chosen One. They way
is hard but you will succeed.> Joey smiled to himself and walked into the
room, closing the door behind him. He didn't see the sapphires on the swords
glow a little, before they faded again. The statue seemed to smile.
------------------------------TO BE CONTINUED------------------------------
How was this one? It was a bit shorter than I wanted it to be, but I wanted
to start on Kevin next on the next chapter. Well, email me and tell me about
it. I like getting response from people. That way I know what most people
are expecting and find a way to surprise them... ;)
Anywayz, emails of all sorts related to the story should be sent to
ensstyenlc@hotmail.com
Also, I want to start a website based on the characters for the story and
I'm having a bit of problems with pictures for Estel and his family. I'm
gonna take people (pop stars or actors) who fit the description of Lalaith,
Estel, Stile, Alegifu, Nirnaeth and Larel(who will both become major
characters later in the story). I would like some feedback on who you think
should play the part. The descriptions of the siblings may be found in
earlier chapters of the story but if you can't find them (or are too lazy
to), email me and ask about them and I will describe them for you. Hope to
hear from you guys soon! Ciao for now!