Christine looked closer at the picture and was sure something had caught her eye for a moment but it seem to have disappeared the moment she shifted the focus of her eyes like as if she was trapped in an illusion. She looked deeper into the painting. The earth crushed between three scale-covered claws, how the shattering earth was painted in so much detail, than she finally saw it, the glimps of light. Beneath the shadow of the claw. The little bit of gold paint which was darkened by the shadow of the claw seemed to have purposefully misguided her trail of sight. But there it was. A golden ring round the center of the three fingers, and on it was imprinted with the mark "G".
"There..." Christine pointed, her index finger almost touching the painting.
"Grandevour," Ven said, "This picture represents evil. Each of these claws must symbolize someone like Grandevour."
But the more they looked at it, the more they felt there was nothing left to the picture. The other two claws had rings too, but they did not bear any sign. Only the corners of the letters which were embedded on them.
"Hold on, isn't it wierd?" Drake spoke.
"What is it?" Eve asked.
"This claw only has three fingers. By right if you would want to crush something you would require a fourth finger considering this claw to belong to a dragon."
"Well, we will just have to defeat the other two to find out the last one." Eve answered.
"But wait," Christine said, "You mean Grandevour is not the only one?"
"I'm afraid so." Ven said as he moved on to the picture across the room. There it was a different sight, the painting was still bore the image of Draearth but four rings intersecting each other wore themselves around the planet, emitting light.
"Four rings of light. Four guardians." Eve explained.
"How could I not have seen this, it represents us." Drake said.
"Four of which guards the earth and four of which destroys the earth." Ven thought, "By right our initials should be the ones on the claws and Traudaures' team on the guardian rings. But it doesn't seem so."
"Ven, it is not our fault darkness is still around." Drake explained.
"But it's up to us to end it!" Ven shouted angrily as he jabbed his fist into the painting.
The impact made the mansion shake and the dust collected on all the paintings to fall off all at the same time causing a slight mist in the room. But Ven saw something different. Right before him the rings in the painting moved and not only that the rings had blocked Ven's fist from hitting Draearth.
"There's no way." Ven said as he stared at the rings. The painting had come alive and it was standing out of the picture, blocking Ven's fist.
He raised his other hand, and touched the surface of the painting. It was smooth, the rest of the picture other than the rings was just a painting but the moment he tried to touch Draearth, the rings begun to move again.
"I get it!" Ven said, he stepped away from the picture and short a beam of energy towards the picture opposite of the one he was standing next to. Immediately the painting reacted as if it was really Draearth. A thick smoke of sand and debree covered the painting.
He looked back at the painting he was facing and there too was debree. Christine, Drake and Eve looked in shock at what had happen. Ven held out his hand towards the painting and tried to grab earth. The rings sheilded his hand from the planet. He looked back at the planet on the other side and to his amazement the rings emerged on the otherside and was doing the same to the claw.
Christine looked at the painting with utter amazement. The two pictures were connected and whatever Ven did to one picture it will happen in the other.
The paintings are connected... one protects and the other destroys. Christine thought, she looked deeper into the painting once more and realized what it meant.
"Ven push as hard as you can!" Christine shouted.
"Drake, Eve, there's something beneath this claw which the rings wants to protect." Christine explained.
"You mean this is like some safe?" Drake asked.
Christine nodded and grabbed hold of the claw. Drake and Eve did the same. As Ven tried hard to grab hold of the rings, the others tried to pull the claw off, pulling Ven's hand along with it.
"It's not working!" Ven shouted as the ring started to spin quickly, not letting him grab on to it at all.
"Don't tell me..." Eve said, she suddenly let go of the claw and ran out of the mansion. She saw what she had expected but did not believe it would be happening. She looked into the sky and there it was, the guardian rings and the claw.
"How in the world?" Eve said to herself in amazement. But she noticed that there were only two rings protecting Draearth.
She ran back into the mansion.
"Eve, what happened? What did you see?" Drake asked.
"The rings. You and Christine, there are only two rings protecting Draearth." Eve explained.
"You mean these things are really happening?" Ven shouted across the room.
"Yes! It will take four rings in order to pull away the ring." Eve explained.
"But we can't, if Ven looses contact with the Rings the rings would have no reason to protect and it will transform back into a painting. Same as the claw." Christine said.
"I know what to do." Ven said, "Shibhayon!"
Suddenly the huge quake rocked the mansion and even more dust fell from the walls and the ceiling.
"I get it! Shibhayon is the dragon." Eve explained.
The dragon flew through the front door and evaporated into Ven's body, suddenly a great aura came over the house and suddenly another Ven appeared.
"Don't worry, Shibhayon has to take human form in order to grab hold of the rings." Ven explained, "Shibhayon is part of me and the painting only reacts to one of us. Only I have the power to do this. So I guess, it's one of those clues set up by Karnis again."
Together, Ven, Christine, Eve and Drake grabbed hold of the claw and finally they pulled it off, together with the rings. Suddenly a great light shone through the house revealling something even more miraculous.
For the most part of our lives, we do not care to think much about death. We are protected by the busyness of our lives, and the idea that we are somehow exempt from death until we reach an advanced age, contact a terminal illness, meet with an accident… or until we face the demise of a loved one. Death points us to the unpredictability and fragility of life - the physical and emotional suffering one undergoes when one faces death can be daunting and despairing. Yet one must not lose hope. No one should have to face the end of life alone, without any support. A dignified and pain-free death is possible, in more ways than one.
