Merry Christmas! (It'll probably be after Christmas when I post this but…)
This is generally how I would act in ToS. I'm thinking of making this a series… For all those people who have read my 'fics (e.g. My friends) I will put in the muse conversations past this chapter. (I've been temporarily cured of my split personalities) This fic starts after the pact with Undine and before the Lake Umacy scene with the unicorn.
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia, but I do own my character, Nia and a character I will mention later. I also don't own any brand names or TV shows I may mention. (So take that lawsuit person!)
It was dark. In the dim light I could faintly see a silhouette of some of the images I held in my mind. A swordsman clad in red, a gigantic tree, the deep chasm in Asguard, these and other memories flowed through my consciousness. I reached out and grabbed the images forcing myself to them…
I was aware of terrific light that seemed to blind me. The grass underneath me cushioned my fall, thankfully. I was a little annoyed, but I sensed danger, so I looked round cautiously. I was in the deepest part of a valley, with too many plants, in my opinion. I saw only two things that weren't green, the very tip of a metallic grey building, which I assumed to be a Desian ranch and a lake with wood on it, presumably Luin, probably destroyed. Instead of moving, I reached out mentally to the air, as a sort of meditation.
Before I could contact it though, there was a sudden pain in my right leg. Looking down, I saw the source of my pain; a wolf had bitten my leg. As I was swearing heavily, I summoned fire to the palms of my hands and threw it at the wolf. The flames hit the grey canine's head, instantly singeing his fur and flesh. Howling in pain, the wolf ran. I didn't exactly pity him; after all he had bitten my leg.
Wincing, I gingerly inspected my leg. Apart from a slight wound, I was okay. The teeth hadn't gone further than my skin. Ignoring my leg I tried to contact the air again, but not before I'd checked the surrounding area for any more monsters.
A voice sounded within my (slightly crazy) mind. "Who are you?"
"My travelling name is," I thought hard for a name, "Nia. You can call me Nia." Then I remembered who, or rather what, I was talking to and added, "Or you could call me anything you want."
"You are…different?"
That was an expression I wish I got paid for every time someone said it to me. "Yes, I am from another world."
"Tethe'alla, my other half?"
"No, not Tethe'alla. Somewhere…else." I decided not to carry on with this empty chatter and get straight to the point. "I wish to borrow your power. The power of the wind."
"I see. If it is something you can do, then please feel free to." Was the ever-polite reply that was starting to bug me.
Ignoring little feelings like that I attempted to try out my newly obtained permission on my power. (Translation: I was going to use the wind) I first lifted a leaf, fairly easily, although slightly trickier than at home. Feeling more confident, I tried to lift myself. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I got annoyed. (Run for the hills!)
"Hello, why isn't this working as well as it used to!"
"You can't expect unlimited power just like that, only the Sylph could give you as strong a wind as that."
"What!" My tone was promising extreme pain to anyone that tried to cross me. Unfortunately, it's very hard to cause pain to thin air. As I realised this I started to calm down a little. "That means I'm stuffed until Sheena makes the pact," I said to no one in particular.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help." There was a genuine sadness in the voice of the wind. "This is an idea though. I could take a physical form if I had some mana from your body."
"Mana?" I didn't know how much mana I had or even if I had any. I sighed. "Take as much as you need, but slowly, okay? I don't want to faint or anything."
I heard silence from the air, which I guessed meant yes. I looked forward, expecting a magical event of some kind. At first nothing happened and I thought it hadn't worked, but eventually I saw a faint translucent figure. Slowly the figure became more opaque. I became aware of a light-headedness that I pushed aside for the time being. I was in awe. I was looking at a magnificent dragon. (I had to, I'm Welsh!) His skin was dark, black and scaly all over. He had a pair of wings, which the skin of was a crimson red. His claws, which I noticed before he retracted them, were also red, as were his eyes. He stood a head taller than me, with a wingspan of slightly bigger than my arms. (I didn't exactly have a tape measure in the middle of nowhere!)
Trying to keep focussed I remembered my second job. "Now I need to find the Chosen's group."
"We can search for them from the air," Before I could say no the wind-turned-dragon had me on his back.
The dragon extended his red wings and took off. I felt much more relaxed in the air. I wasn't afraid of heights, (Well, that would be silly, wouldn't it?) so I was more than happy to look down, my eyes scanning the ground for our bunch of heroes. From the air, Sylvarant looked a little different. What shocked me the most was the absence of cultivated fields. It made me wonder briefly where they get their food.
"I think I can see them," the dark dragon said.
"You think? Anyway, describe them."
"You can't see them? Five people, most of them fairly human, two half-elves and a red human boy's complaining about how far it is."
"That's them." I wondered slightly about 'fairly human', but decided to ask later. "Bring us down, then."
I was taken into a sudden nosedive, which probably should have worried me. It didn't. I tensed my muscles, ready to jump off when we got low enough. I saw monsters heading towards the group of heroes just before I jumped off.
I hit the ground and rolled to get rid of the impact. I sprang back to my feet to fight the monsters. It seemed my friend the wolf had come back, accompanied by two ladybirds (although they call them beetles). I looked quickly behind. I was directly in-between the monsters and Lloyd's group, and any possible help was about a hundred metres behind me. Just how I liked it, NOT! My dragon friend swooped in beside me, which assured me that I'd at least get some help off him. Feeling more confident, I launched into battle.
First off was the wolf. I threw fireball after fireball like a pyromaniac at the (now char grilled) wolf. Then I turned my attention to the ladybirds. The dragon was keeping on of them busy, so I turned to the second one. Tired from summoning so much fire I simply used hand-to-hand combat. I jumped up and chopped with my hand at the ladybird. Having brought it down to earth I proceeded to kick it and punch it in a far less refined way as my fireballs. I finished of my ladybird just before the dragon did. The battle done, I felt it was the best time for a nap. I had noticed the Chosen's group were close now, before my world went black…
I woke up, and could tell it was late as night had fallen.
I heard a voice say, "Raine, she's awake!"
The ruin-mad professor came over to me. "How are you? It looks like you collapsed from mana deprivation."
"How on earth could I have run out of mana?" I muttered sarcastically, looking at the dragon.
"Sorry," He apologised.
I wondered why Raine was being so nice; after all when Sheena first joined the group she was suspicious. A little voice in my mind said that Sheena and Regal started out as their enemies, and Zelos was an arrogant twat. I tried to speak, "I think I'm okay."
It was then that I noticed I was the attention of the whole group. Lloyd asked, "What's your name?"
"I'm Nia." Then remembering that I wasn't supposed to know anything I asked, "And you people?"
"Well, I'm Lloyd, this is Sheena, Colette's the one over there, Kratos is the one with the long hair, Genis is there and that's his older sister Raine." Lloyd pointed to each one in turn.
"Nice to meet you." I noticed something new. There were auras around everyone's bodies. Raine had an indigo aura , whilst Genis' aura was yellow. I looked at Lloyd. His aura was red (big surprise) but it was also thinner than the others.
"Humans…and ha-" I was about to say half-elves, then mentally kicked myself. Genis was looking down, ashamed of what I was going to say and Raine's teeth were gritted, a desperate look in her eye. "Elves. Humans and elves travelling together. Pretty weird, isn't it?"
Raine mouthed 'Thank you!' over at me. I smiled in return.
"Not really. Anyway, how do you know they're elves? You'd need to be either a half-elf or a full blooded elf to see that."
I thought. Looking down at my hand, my aura didn't seem any bigger or smaller than Raine's or Genis'.
"I'm a half-elf." I didn't exactly see the point in lying, especially with the caste test in Syback to look forward to. "Look, I'm going to be honest. I want to join your group. I know you've got the Chosen with you and I just want to help." There was a gasp from Colette when I said 'the Chosen'.
"How did you know we had the Chosen with us?" Kratos asked, very hostile.
"It's easy to infiltrate a Desian ranch when you're a half-elf. Every ranch has a picture of you guys in it." So that was a dirty great big lie! I can't exactly reveal all my secrets straight away. Besides every character has his or her secrets.
"I'm alright with it if you are." Lloyd said.
Kratos, being his normal mood self said, "Do what you will."
"I can already see how this vote will turn out, so I'm for her joining. At the very least it's another person to help in battles." Raine was actually voting for a new party member!
"Yeah, I'm starting to like her already." That was Genis.
Colette wrote, "If it's okay for Lloyd, it's okay for me," on Lloyd's hand for him to say.
"I don't mind, I'll be fun having someone else to talk to," Was the response from the assassin.
"Okay, looks like you're in. Just to make it official, welcome to the group Nia!" I was welcomed by the crimson clad swordsman.
"Thanks. If you don't mind I'd just like to rest for a moment…" It was then that I realised how tired I felt.
The group dispersed. Genis went to cook dinner, Lloyd and Kratos started their evening training, Raine went to read an ancient scripture or something and Sheena had a look at the dragon. I decided to see to him, I think more for the company than anything else.
"Do you have a name? I'm getting tired of referring to you as dragon." I asked the dragon. I let Sheena look on in bewilderment.
"Just call me Cyclone. And by the way, I am sorry about taking all your mana earlier."
"Don't mention it. I gave you permission. It's not your fault, Cyclone." By now Sheena's mouth was completely open. I tried to 'explain'. (or lie, whichever was easiest.) "I share a special bond with this dragon, so I can understand what he's saying."
"What do you mean, 'bond'?"
"He shares my mana. That's the reason I collapsed earlier, to give him a physical form."
"What was he before he was a dragon?"
I smiled, "Thin air."
"You can't create a life out of nothing, even if you did use your own mana, it's impossible."
"I think the full story might be for another time. Anyway, Sheena, is it? I'm going to see what the rest are doing, do you want to come?"
"Sure."
We walked over to the two swordsmen, where they were engaged in mock battle. I thought sadly, 'It won't be long before Lloyd tries to kill him for real." A single tear crept down my face, stinging as it went.
"Kratos, right? Can I speak to you for a sec?" Then noticing the enquiring looks from Lloyd and Sheena added, "Alone?"
"I have no objections," said our favourite moody swordsman.
It was going to take a lot of patience to deal with him. As soon as we were out of earshot I hissed, "You know what else Desian computers are good for? Finding past history about four thousand year old Seraphim who happen to be betraying their only child."
The change was instant. "How can you- Even Forcystus doesn't know who I am and I…right outside his ranch…" He trailed off.
I now felt sorry for shouting at him. "I know what happened, okay? About Anna, and I'm really sorry, but this is a chance to get to know Lloyd. From where I see it, you're killing him, too."
"No, I'm not. I tried to stop him, back at Iselia. But either way, the Chosen needs to get to the Tower of Salvation. Otherwise Mithos would never reunite the worlds."
"Think outside the box. Maybe someone else other than Mithos could reunite the worlds."
"…Maybe it could work. If I break Origin's seal…"
"You'd die. You can't honestly be thinking…" I protested.
"If I collect the materials before hand…there'd be no point."
"You can't be thinking of sacrificing yourself!" I spoke louder now.
"I've lived for long enough, lived with the pain that I have caused other people."
"Kratos, no, don't talk like that." My eyes were brimming with tears at the thought.
"Collecting the materials, I'd need Aionis, to make the ring of the pact, sacred wood for the fire, that'd mean a trip to Ozette, and-" by now I'd given up trying to talk sense into him.
"Kratos, I think we should go back to camp now."
I heard the trademark, "humph," in reply. I took it for a yes and started walking. I admired the stars glittering like diamonds in the night sky. However, the thing that pleased me the most was the campfire burning away. I ran up to it, enjoying it's heat. When I was sure no one was looking, I thrust my hand into the fire. I felt no pain, I never did with fire. I suppose that was because I more or less was fire but I was to explain that another time. The only times I've been burned was through water. Of course it's imaginable how much of an annoyance that is. I can't go swimming, or step out in the rain or snow, well, you get the picture.
Unfortunately, Genis, who at that time was attempting to cook on said fire, noticed my hand.
"Doesn't that hurt?" He asked.
"I would hardly do it if it hurt." I replied. Then, realising that I was being a bit harsh I said, "Sorry, but it was a bit of a stupid question. So, what are you cooking?"
"Meat stew. I'm missing some of the ingredients, though."
"Like what? The meat?" I asked jokingly.
"Yeah, actually. How did you know? Anyway, I'm using tofu instead of meat."
"Um…nice, I guess. Err…don't be offended if I don't have any. If you're wondering it'll be for the same reason as I stuck my hand in the fire."
Before Genis had a chance to answer, I had turned away to see what every one else was doing.
Closer to the fire, I could see Raine was reading some kind of book. Even knowing that readers hated to be disturbed, I still walked over there.
"So, Raine, what are you reading?"
"Oh? It's a book on ancient texts, written by the Palmacosta academy. It gives a basic grounding in Elven, Angelic and Balcruft hieroglyphics."
"Sounds interesting. Could you show me an example of any of them?" The scary thing was that I was sincere!
"Okay, lets see…this one should be easy for you." She held the pages open for me to see. At the top of the page it said 'Elven examples'. Looking at the page I found I could read it as well as English.
"It says, 'The Protozoan has seven stages in life…' And the text ends there."
"Very good. Normally, those with elven blood can read Elven quite easily. Now, why don't you have a look at Angelic writing?" Raine flicked through the book, until she found the page she wanted. "Here."
As I looked at the page, some distant part of my mind recognised the language. In it's un-translated form it said, 'Mae ci yn wyn ar ei pen." Since I wasn't supposed to understand it, I didn't translate it, but asked Raine what it meant.
"This is my own translation, without Colette's help, although I did use the book. 'My key is …… a pen."
I wondered how much Raine would freak if I told her it meant, 'The dog is white on his head!'
"Dinner's ready," Genis yelled, and I wondered how such a tiny person could have such a big voice.
Lloyd, obviously, was the first person to run to the pot, only just stopping before his foot went in the fire. Sheena got there about a split second later and everyone else just took their time. I was dreading how to decline the food politely. 'Then again', I thought, "It must have been harder for Colette."
When Genis offered a bowl to me I said, "I'm sorry, but I won't be able to eat. Please, don't worry about it." Everyone had sat in a loose circle around the fire, so I found a space next to Kratos and Sheena and sat there. No-one, to my relief, asked me why I wasn't eating anything. Suddenly I had a brilliant, evil plan. I stood up and the attention was all on me.
"Everyone, I have something to say," I announced seriously. "Kratos is a member of-" I was cut off by a swordsman putting his purple gloves over my mouth.
"If you dare say what I think you're going to say, I'll…" He let the threat hang in mid-air.
"I don't know why you're so worried, Kratos. As I was about to say, Kratos is a member of the Raine Fan Club." After that I was unable to keep a straight face and started laughing.
Kratos wasn't amused. "Cheer up. It's better than the other one I was going to say." I whispered to him.
After a while everyone decided to go to bed. Colette and Kratos were still up though, as was I. Trying to have a conversation with Colette could prove difficult, so I tried Kratos.
"I'm sorry about earlier. I guess I really rattled you, didn't I?"
"Don't worry about it. But why didn't you tell them? About…everything."
"I just couldn't. I know that you're going to suffer if you betray us. But you can't get Aionis any other way. Infiltrating Derris-Kharlan will be infinitely easier if you're still on Mithos' good side."
"But what of you? If you enter the Tower, one way or another Mithos will kill you. All of you."
"If I go down, it'll be fighting. Anyway, you underestimate me and Cyclone."
"Maybe it's not me underestimating, and you being over confident."
"You're a right bundle of joy. Remember the Desian ranch? I had to get out fighting, and Cyclone wasn't there then."
"Maybe so. …I have a favour to ask of you. Could you…protect Lloyd in the battle?" There was concern in his voice.
There was no way I could say no. "Of course, as far as humanly, or half-elvenly, possible. …If it comes down to it, you may have to fight us. I'm going to apologize in advance for any pain I will have to cause you." I was beginning to cry, again. I had no idea where these tears came from, but I wish they'd stop. It really hurts when I cry.
"Yes. You need to make it look realistic, otherwise…"
"Look, Lloyd's your son. Therefore, he's as tough as nails. He's going to be fine."
"You need to sleep. Go on."
"I could disagree, but it'll give me time to think. Anyway, good night."
I walked over to a place near the fire, where I lay awake and stared at the flames for a while. Occasionally I'd stick my hand in, enjoying the warmth that accompanied the feeling of power. I thought about what I was going to do. I knew I wouldn't be able to leave this world until the Derris-Kharlan/Yggdrasil tree was revived. I wondered where my counter-part was. He commanded water and earth, as I did with fire and air. Normally he's in the same world as me, meaning that he should have appeared by now. Still, while he's away, I can have fun.
Since I had the whole night to think of these nagging loose ends, I thought about Cyclone saying 'fairly human'. Suddenly something Sheena said (or will say) in Flanior came back to me. I couldn't remember the exact words, but she said that people who can use natural mana have to have some elven blood in them. Sheena's a summoner, Kratos can use spells, Lloyd is Kratos' son, and Colette's a vessel for Martel. It would be impossible to have the same mana signature if they didn't at least share some elven blood.
Yes, that would work, I thought happily. Then realisation dawned, ruining a would be perfect theory. 'What about the caste test in Syback?' I thought. But maybe they can only detect certain amounts of elven blood, yes, that would work, I assured myself. Then, exhausted, I fell asleep for the first time in two years.
What do you think? Tell me using the little purple button that says review! And tell me whether you want the muse conversations or not. (I may be able to shut them up!)
Please R&R, no flames other wise Nia will burn them! (Constructive criticism is OK)