It was six years, almost to the day, since Mithos had been defeated, the great tree regrown, and the world reunited. It was also six years since all of 'The Eight Saviors' had been in the same place at the same time.
That wasn't, of course, to say, they hadn't seen each other since then. Whenever two of the group were in the same area, they would go to any length to visit, but still, with everyone as busy as they were, opportunities were a bit thin.
Lloyd and Sheena had gone off on a quest to destroy all of the exspheres, which was only made more complicated by the new power that Lloyd Irving held, and the fact that Sheena was appointed chief of Mizuho. With all of his new power, everyone expected Lloyd to usurp the king, or set up a new government over both worlds. When he took no political actions at all, and virtually disappeared off the face of the globe to search for exspheres, it only caused confusion in the government.
Sheena, on the other hand, was forced to accept political responsibility; to which she was also unaccustomed. The people of Mizuho still wished to move to Sylvarant, and Sheena found she could not possibly manage it all and still help Lloyd on his quest. Fortunately, both Orochi and the Vice-Chief were more than willing to help, so she only had to return once every couple of weeks.
Genis had gone decided to go to Sybak, where he could both promote half-elf acceptance and continue his studies at a more advanced level. After a year or two, half-elves were not only accepted, but encouraged to come to the research academy.
Raine too, had been an advocate against discrimination, but she was more active, traveling the country and getting her hands dirty in local politics. She had never failed in winning a city over to her view. Though she had been chased out of several towns, perseverance always won, after she had swung around Lloyd's name enough.
Colette had done the strangest thing of any of them. She had taken her magical chakra, her enchanted armor, and her beautiful angel wings, and hid them all away, to return to life as a normal girl. She lived in Iselia with her real father and her grandmother.
Zelos had been, well, Zelos. He returned to Meltokio to abolish the position of Chosen. He succeeded in just one year. No one in the party knew what he had been doing for the last five, but they had a reasonable guess.
Both Presea and Regal had gone to Altamira. Regal had resumed his position as head of the Lezareno Company. He and Presea had done all they could to help rebuild all of the destroyed cities and damaged property. They also tried to help the other members of their group with their individual tasks. He and Presea were the ones who would help when Lloyd needed a major source of Exspheres demolished, like say, the Toize Valley Mine, or the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge.
But finally, after years of toil, they had all accomplished what they set out to do. Lloyd had rid the world of Exspheres, and in celebration, they were all meeting for a grand reunion at Altessa's house, near the Great Tree.
They were now on a giant plain, with mountains on one side, an inland sea on the other, Ozette to the north, and the Great Kharlan Tree to the south. Of course, it was hardly larger than a normal tree now, but Lloyd had seen what it would become.
As wind swept across the long grass of the plain, it rippled almost like water. It was a very soothing effect. The breeze from the north-east was chilly, which was comforting, because it was hotter than it should be so late in the season.
Lloyd lay idly on a rocky hill jutting from the grass. Though it was just a few feet off the grounds, it was the highest point nearby, excluding the mountains. He slowly picked apart a long, dry, yellow strand of grass and chatted with Genis, who was lying next to him. Of everyone from there group but Sheena, Genis was the one Lloyd had seen the most. The bonds they formed in their childhood friendship were too strong to be dropped at a moment's notice.
Zelos had managed to squeeze himself a seat on a log between Sheena and Raine. They both protested originally, but now just warily eyed his arms, ready to slap one away if it tried to move around their shoulder. Colette was using one of her flying discs to play with Noishe. Neither Presea nor Regal had arrived yet, but they had sent word that they would be a little late.
As he chatted with Genis, Lloyd absentmindedly rubbed the back of his hand, where his exsphere used to be. He had destroyed it in on final funeral pyre, along with those of everyone else in the party. It had been in his mother's tribute that she was the last exsphere ever. Ever since he had removed it, he had been weaker. Of course, his angelic blood still made him considerably stronger than any other human, but he found his physical abilities halved, at least.
Genis too, was struggling without his exsphere. Even with all the studying he had done in Sybak, he was still slightly weaker than he was before the final battle with Mithos. Of course, the biggest threat to either Sylvarant or Tethe'alla was an infestation of lady-bugs, and nothing more.
As Lloyd lay contemplating his physical abilities, Colette noticed something. With a happy shout, she startled Lloyd out of his reverie.
He sat up quickly. "What's wrong, Colette?" he asked. Everyone turned to look, and even Zelos managed to distract himself from his 'hunnies'.
"Look everyone!" she exclaimed, "Presea!"
There was indeed a pink Rheaird scraping along the horizon, and as it approached, it became clear that the girl with pink pigtails on top was Presea. Everyone got up to go greet her, but to their surprise, as she was coming in for a landing, she pulled out her wing pack and stashed the Rheaird, while still flying about ten feet off the ground. She landed and rolled through the grass.
"Presea!" yelled Genis. Everyone who wasn't already up leapt to their feet and sprinted off to help her. Genis was the first to reach her, but she was already up and brushing dirt off of her dress.
"Hey everyone!" greeted Presea as cheerily as if she had just come strolling up.
"Are you alright?" blurted Genis.
Presea looked around in confusion. After a moment, understanding dawned on her. "Oh…you all thought I fell. Well, I didn't, I just get off my Rheaird like that now. For fun," she added with a giggle.
As usual, Lloyd was confused. This time, however, he was not alone. "Since when do you do anything for fun? Or giggle, for that matter? And where's Regal?" asked Sheena.
Presea sighed, and looked slightly more serious. "You couldn't expect me to remain an empty soulless robot my entire life, could you? And Regal is still busy; he said he'll be able to come tomorrow."
Lloyd looked at Presea calculatingly and realized that she was the only member of the party he hadn't seen since they had all gone their separate ways. Apparently, no one else had either, as they all seemed just as surprised as he was.
"Enough with the formalities!" she exclaimed. "How've you all been?!" And with that she gave Lloyd a tight hug. Lloyd returned it, surprised. Presea hadn't been at all affectionate before, but that had evidently changed. She had also grown a foot or two, and was wearing a slightly different kind of dress. It looked similar, but it had short sleeves, and extended closer to her knees. It was still loose enough not to restrict movement, and it all went very well with her familiar white gloves and boots. "Lloyd," she said, sighing, "You haven't aged a day. Must be angel blood."
Presea quickly released him and moved on to Genis. She enveloped him in a tight hug as well. Looking almost panicked, Genis returned it. Presea looked up at him. "At least you've grown. You still have an inch or two on me."
"Th..th…than…ks…" stuttered Genis.
Presea laughed. "You know, that always irked me, and it still does. I'm twenty years older than you, I should be taller."
"S…sorry," he mumbled.
"It's not your fault," she laughed. "Actually…" But she was interrupted by a cry from Zelos.
"Oy, brat, give everyone else a chance,"
Genis flushed, but Presea laughed and released him. She moved on to Raine, who gave her a hearty handshake, but no hug. Sheena gave her a hug and chatted for a while, while Zelos tapped his foot impatiently.
As this was happening, Genis slowly moved both arms to behind his head, closed his eyes and tilted his face upwards, sighing. "What's up?" asked Lloyd. He had grown taller. In a year or two, he might even be taller than Lloyd.
"I should have expected this…" He said, more to himself than Lloyd. "I prepared myself for old Presea, not even thinking she would change…"
"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself," said Lloyd, slapping him on the back. "She surprised everyone!" Genis looked at Lloyd as if to say, "You're not helping," then glanced back to Presea. With an extremely tight hug from Colette, she had finished greeting everyone.
"All right," she said, clapping her hands, "Anyone doing anything fun?"
After a moment of silence, Colette said, "I'm using one of my chakra to play flying disc with Noishe. You guys can use the other one if you want to."
"Okay," expelled Presea cheerfully. "As long as it's not one of those spiked ones," she added as a side note to Colette. They both laughed. "Anyone else coming?" She looked hopefully around.
"I'll come," said Sheena. "Flying disc will be fun in such a big field."
"I…I…I'll…" stuttered Genis.
"Come too. Thank you for extending the open invitation," completed Zelos. "Honestly, Genis, you need to get rid of that stutter. It really slows you down sometimes."
Genis flushed again. "Sh…shut up!" Zelos sighed knowingly.
Presea giggled. "Are you going to come though, Zelos?" she asked.
"Yeah," he stated, "just give me a few minutes."
Zelos sighed loudly as they walked away. He turned to Lloyd. "Well, now even Rosebud is accounted for. Darn,"
Lloyd laughed, then asked, "What are you talking about?"
"You haven't noticed how Genis behaves around her? And how sweet she is to him?"
"Oh…" said Lloyd. Come to think of it, he had wondered why Genis only stuttered around Presea. For a little while he had assumed Genis was afraid of her giant axe. When Genis got her an axe sharpener, he had to reconsider. Eventually, he just gave it up for something to think about later.
"I guess you would notice that, wouldn't you?" he laughed, nudging Zelos in the ribs. "Still the same old Zelos, huh?"
Zelos took a long deep breath. "No…not at all really," he murmured, mostly to himself.
"What are you talking about? You're still the philanderer, the narcissist, the idiot Chosen, aren't you?"
Zelos snorted. "I may still be the narcissist, and I'm probably still an idiot, but, well…I'm not quite as…loose…as I used to be."
"Why?" asked Lloyd. They were now almost alone in the field, everyone but Raine, who was examining some distant rock, off to play flying disc. "Don't you still have all your…er…honies?"
Zelos laughed cynically. "I could have them if I wanted too, but what good would it do?" He sighed, and there was silence for a moment as Lloyd tried to grasp that statement. "When I got back, I found that the shallow relationships I formed with any woman I could find meant nothing compared to the understanding and trust I had with all of you. Before, I never really thought about actually forming any kind of serious relationship, but I found myself contemplating that just a year or two after I got back."
"So did you?" asked Lloyd, intrigued.
"Well…" began Zelos, but suddenly his response was interrupted as he began cracking up.
"Oh, no…Were you lying to me, Zelos?"
Zelos continued to chuckle as he wiped the corners of his eyes. "No, no, I was serious, but the brat just made the worst throw I've ever seen!" Lloyd glanced over. Genis was indeed picking up the flying disc, his face so red that Lloyd could almost feel the heat from ten meters away.
"Sorry, Lloyd, I'll finish my story tomorrow, he really needs some help." And with that he jogged off to assist Genis.
Lloyd stood in the field for a minute or two longer, contemplating Zelos' words. Lloyd wanted to believe Zelos had changed, but he was flirting with Raine and Sheena just a few minutes ago. Then again, maybe flirting was just Zelos' way of being friendly.
After a minute though, it became too hot to stand anywhere. Lloyd was beginning to sweat, which was unpleasant considering he almost never changed his tight red outfit. The game of flying disc was breaking, due to the heat, and Noishe had lain down and was refusing to play any more fetch.
Lloyd wiped his brow with the back of his hand. "Are you sure Efreet isn't following you, Sheena?" he asked her as she staggered towards him.
Sheena lay down on the ground, her eyes closed. "I told him to stay at his seal, but I'm beginning to think he may be,"
"It's come on so suddenly. It was hot before, but not this bad," added Genis, shielding his eyes.
"Perhaps the owners of that building will let us rest there," said Raine, pointing to a building the Lloyd had hitherto not noticed, up on the mountainside.
"I don't remember that building," said Zelos, confused.
"It looks fairly temporary, like a bunker. It may just be for some kind of research project. I wouldn't be surprised if they only set it up a month or two ago."
"Well," said Sheena, pushing herself up from the ground. "No harm in asking, come on everyone."
"I'll stay behind with our stuff," interjected Colette. "And I'll watch for Regal."
"All right," said Presea cheerily, "We'll be back in a little while."
As they marched towards the building, it only grew hotter. Lloyd began to wonder at what temperature grass would burn.
"Uhh…" moaned Zelos. "It's hotter than that Triet Desert place we went to for the Seal of Fire."
"I think you're just imagining things," replied Sheena.
"Besides, the heat in the Triet Desert was caused because of the large amount of fire mana Efreet produces. There are no sources of fire mana nearby."
"Um…sis…" said Genis. "I'm beginning to feel mana as we get closer to that building."
"It's probably just the Great Tree," Raine answered.
"Maybe…"
So they marched on. Lloyd was sure that if it were a comfortable temperature, they would be there already, but the heat slowed them down considerably. Lloyd looked down at his outfit every once in a while, and it was already soaked with sweat.
"Sheena…" he mumbled. "Can't you summon Celsius, or Undine?"
"I might have been able to before," she responded, "but I'm too tired now."
And they trudged on. Lloyd's vision was beginning to be impaired. He saw waves of heat beginning to emanate from the plain. Every once in a while, Lloyd would glance back to see how the rest of the party was faring. Everyone seemed to be doing about as well as he was, but Genis was looking increasingly troubled.
Finally, they were only a few hundred meters from the building.
"It's not even noon!" exclaimed Sheena, suddenly and violently. It was indeed, a couple minutes before.
"This is hotter than those saunas at the Hot Springs in…What's wrong, Genis?" Zelos turned around, as did Lloyd. Genis had frozen in place, his face twisted as if in fear.
"Lloyd…" he said slowly, trying to keep calm. "There's an insane amount of mana here, and it's not the tree."
"What do you mean there's mana here? Like a summon spirit?"
Genis was breathing very deeply. "Maybe…All I know is that there is a lot of mana here, and we aren't anywhere near strong enough to survive it without our exspheres. And I know that as we speak, it's getting stronger."
"But what could cause such a spike in mana? Do you have any ideas, Professor?"
"Well," Raine began, "the Great Tree may be emitting more mana because it's growing, or maybe…" but Presea cut her off.
"Lloyd, I don't think this is the time to ask questions…I think Genis is right, I think we need to get out of here."
Lloyd glanced at Genis, and was taken aback. He was literally shaking.
"All right, we need to get out of here." Upon hearing that, Genis turned around and bolted as if he hadn't been walking in over forty degree Celsius heat for the last hour. Seeing Genis' desperation to get away, Lloyd began to run after him. It was getting hotter as the sun moved closer to its peak, but now they were all running on pure adrenaline.
As they ran, slowly red translucent tendrils of pure mana began rising up in a huge circle around in a gargantuan circle around them. Despite everyone's surprise at the sudden change in the graveness of their situation, no one stopped running as Sheena yelled, "Ignore them! Run straight through!" And so they ran through. The tendrils of mana didn't react at all to the passage of six strangers.
They ran on for a good three or four minutes after they made it outside of the circle, before Genis reached the top of a knoll and collapsed on his hands and knees. "I think…we're…safe…here," he gasped out, still shaking.
Presea staggered over to him. "Are you…alright?" she asked, putting her hand on his forehead. Genis gently removed it, crawled over to the side of the hill, and puked off the edge. He then flipped himself onto his back and groaned.
"Heat exhaustion," said Raine, "Coupled with the shock of all that mana." She moved over to him and started to hover her staff over him. Healing light began to shine on him. "Does anyone have water?"
"Here," said Presea, handing Raine her canteen. "I don't…Look!" She exclaimed, pointing upward.
The tendrils of mana were still rising from the ground, twisting slowly towards the center of the circle, but that was not what Presea was pointing to. High above the field, as the sun reached its noontime zenith, it began to shine more brightly than ever before, and red fire began erupting from it far above the earth.
As they all stood entranced, shielding their eyes, a bright spot began to form at the bottom of the sun. Then soundlessly, as the sun hovered over the center of the circle, the bright spot at the bottom pulled back into the sun, and then erupted into a beam of blinding white fire, aimed straight down.
Everyone gasped, but before anyone had time to respond, the beam surged straight from space into the ground. There was a flash of light, a deafening explosion, and a wave of blistering heat. Then, the air was cool and pleasant, leaving no evidence of the spectacular occurrence but a blistering, black, and empty crater in the middle of the field.