Hello! Over the spring break I visited dmc87, found this game in one of her many cluttered drawers and decided to play it! The gameplay confused me at first because it kind of just throws you in there, but I got the hang of it eventually and definitely did not regret dusting it off for her.
I fell in love with the premise and the characters immediately, especially the silent protagonist! Actually, at the thought of what the silent protagonist could be thinking. The booklet in the case describes Yumil as easygoing and Tia as naive, but sometimes some events/dialogue in the game are so hilariously absurd that I wonder how the protagonist doesn't get just a little embittered by them. Especially given their situation! So instead of going with kind, naive Tia who helps everyone with her heart of gold, I wanted to see a slightly sardonic, easygoing Tia shaped by her experiences growing up as a poor orphan who neither faces challenges head on nor speaks her mind most of the time, at least in the beginning. Of course, she's not completely heartless; she just likes her way of life, aka not getting into trouble by being a hero, so Rempo has his work cut out for him. I don't want to say too much. Hopefully the story explains itself! I haven't written in a while so this is my canonball back into that pond. :)
And! For those of you who were drawn in by the Romance genre (I know I am, every time), the romance doesn't happen for a few chapters. Based on the outline I have on me at the moment, it'll start to develop in the 10th chapter at the earliest, because I'd like very much to see growth with regard to Tia's character and friendships before she starts falling in love. (Not to mention the maturity level she would need for it.) This is a Heath/Tia story, so if you dislike the pairing, apologies in advance. Just fyi, other characters get their own romance, too, because I ship like FedEx.
Neither the DS game Avalon Code nor its wonderful characters belong to me! It was developed by Matrix Software and published by Marvelous Entertainment USA/Xseed Games, so everything about Avalon Code belongs to them.
Anyway, enough from me! I hope you enjoy it. :)
To Be
1: Chosen
Stars bundled in roaring flames hurtled from the sky, bursting through rock and tree, heaving through water and flesh, setting the earth aflame.
In a mountain at the edge of the world, high up on a silver tower overlooking a once sunny hill, a boy cloaked in red with hair like fire gasped and whooped with every burst.
"Guys!" He pushed from the balcony railing and rushed inside, arms waving with excitement, though his friends needed no indication other than the expression on his face. "You have to see this! Come on!"
The topmost room of their spotless tower was filled with tomes and ancient artifacts that looked as great and powerful as in the moment they had been crafted. It was connected to a study area by an open archway and could only be exited through a door to winding stairs that seemed never to end. Against an old rocking chair most valuable to them, a golden-haired man in armor shot the boy a reproving glance with eyes red and blue. In his arms, a woman dressed in flower petals cowered with her knees to her chest.
"Rempo," scolded the man, "you know Mieli hates this part."
"But—but it's almost here!"
"Rempo," an authoritative voice called out from the study area, "Don't be unkind."
Clothed in soft sheets of ice, a girl floated in from the door and chuckled. "Rempo. Obtuse, as always."
"Shut it, Neaki," Rempo scowled, but sighed. "Sorry, Mieli." He walked out of the room, fire doused. Watching him leave with the curl of her lip easing, Neaki followed him anyway.
The golden-haired man rubbed Mieli's back for comfort until something caught his eye. Curiously, he lifted her from his lap and set her on the chair to follow the trail of paper torn from the Book and crumpled, scratched out, laid across the floor as if for some grand design. It led him to the study area, to the only thing in the tower that looked as old as time itself; and it was.
He flipped through the pieces he'd picked up as he leaned against the archway. Detailed sketches of people, but he could hardly make them out. Lines were scratched in every direction to prevent their existence completely, if they weren't almost-ripped in half. It wasn't anger. It was frustration. For what?
Before the Book sat a young man with short red hair. He didn't look special—he had been nothing but a blacksmith, after all—and his eyes were a dull brown, but therein lay the magic. Those were eyes that had seen all of the world, and in the young man was a power the most formidable witches could only fathom.
"Leave them, Ur," he said, nose and pen buried deep into the Book's pages. "I'm not going to use them."
"Kullervo," said Ur, smiling slightly, "Drawing again? You know it's easier to simply code scan."
Kullervo stiffened, then finally spared him a glance. After moments of a pensive stare, his mouth broke into a smile. "You know it's better when I draw it out."
Ur knew this. The Book would capture the essence of what its Chosen One desired more if he made it with his own hand. Now nearly as powerful as the Book itself, Kullervo had redrawn many parts of the land, erasing maps to create terrain that better fit its inhabitants even before the world's end. Ur knew that because of him the world had become more beautiful in a matter of months, though its destruction could not be forestalled.
"I've perfected her this time," declared Kullervo, interrupting his thoughts.
"You've perfected what?"
"...The Book. Here—" Kullervo beckoned, flipping over thousands of pages as Ur approached, and showed him one with a creature whose two fingers could crush a small cottage it once called home. "Take a look."
Ur's eyebrows furrowed. "A...giant? You wish to be a giant in the new world?"
"Yes," Kullervo grinned. "You know...it'll be easier to find things. And deal with everyone."
Ur laughed. "Oh? And what about the small spaces?"
Kullervo shrugged, "You four will be there for that, won't you?"
"Of course," Ur reassured him. "But humans will fear you."
Kullervo sighed. "No," he said resolutely, though he sat against his chair and sighed like a wizened old man. It was worlds different from the hope Ur caught in his eyes. "I will rule them, lead their nations to prosperity, but after long I will leave them alone. Surely they can fend for themselves."
"And what will you do?"
Turning to the cover, Kullervo smiled at the Book and failed to catch its doleful gaze. He was in a time far before the end and one far after. When he returned, he looked to Ur. "We will travel the new world, my friend."
"That sounds...good."
"Yes! In the new world—we'll have everything we want. It will be perfect."
Ur's smile was wracked by Rempo's screaming as he flew into the room, an arm-sized version of himself from earlier. "It's coming!" he cried happily, "The new world! Get ready!"
Kullervo knew it better than anyone. He hadn't felt it in the beginning, but as days passed and the last months of the world ran their course, he felt the power of creation stirring from within him, between him and the Book. It became almost too painful, to have so much power and be required to wait so long to use it for what he desired, but he would not show it to his friends and worry them. They likely knew of the sensation, present as they were through every cycle, and he appreciated their attempts to alleviate it. And it was easing, finally—the Book was taking the life of this world to give to the new, from him especially. His power was draining. Soon, there would only be hope left. He had done all he could.
Mieli and Neaki leapt into his study as well, flying into his arms with Rempo and Ur, who had spun and fallen to his smaller self. "Heh heh, it was nice knowing you, Kullervo!" Rempo laughed, flippant to the end. The Chosen One expected nothing less.
Neaki attempted to subdue a yelp as a star howled past their window and blazed into the earth, shaking the foundations of their tower. She and Mieli hated it the most no matter how many times they had seen it happen. Kullervo tightened his grip around them.
"Don't worry," he shouted above the din of destruction, the earnest deep in his voice. "I'll see you all in our new world!"
"We'll see you," agreed Ur, and stars barraged the tower with fiery gusts.
The sky darkened, and then the world was no more.
That day had the potential to be the best day ever.
Granted, her days were often simple—convince herself to roll out of bed, find a way to eat breakfast, pick weeds and deliver gifts for nice tips, collect flowers for one of her best friends, get back to town in time for lunch with them, avoid the twins, and somehow apologize to her swordsmaster for being late, again—but today was going especially well.
Tia had some food left over from dinner and no longer needed to collect berries for breakfast, which meant she could finish her early morning deliveries for the men at Swain Road and manage to gather Fana's favourite flowers for her bouquet long before lunchtime. Now she could lie around, laze about, and do all manner of activities meant to be done languidly.
But as with most things – or according to Master Gustav, as with her – that potential was wasted. ("Ruined!" he would bark.)
It started with the dreams. Tia hardly ever dreamt, but when she did, she dreamt in flashes. Flashes of light searing the sky and burning craters into the ground, casting oceans aside and knocking over mountains and a shining silver tower. There was also a Book who spoke, but she tried her best to forget it. The dreams stopped when she began to speak all those years ago, but in the past month they'd returned in full force. She figured it was the novel she was trying to write twisting her imagination, or Master Gustav had commissioned someone over at Fortune Teller Alley to give her nightmares until she started getting to training early.
At any rate, Tia didn't wake quickly from the nightmare; she was all too accustomed to it. Instead, consciousness washed over her like waves over a beach, even if Kamui had only ever read of them to her and Fana.
The displeasure was still there, though. "Not again," she would have muttered weakly, still searching for her voice amidst her waking body, if a piece of paper hadn't entered her mouth. She sputtered it out and took it from her chin as she opened her eyes. Under the shade of the black monolith, Tia saw that it was a bookmark. Different shades of red depicted a frowning boy with horns. Interesting. Maybe she could give it to Fana. Later. With that thought, she pocketed the bookmark and closed her eyes. Back to rest and relaxation.
Even that ended too soon. A few minutes later, a light shone somewhere above her—she knew because though her eyes were closed, the brightness burned red through her eyelids. Tia grumbled. The reason, among many others, for which she loved this spot behind the monolith was that at this time in the morning it covered the sun and gave her some rest. With spring stirring up romances and gift-delivery work coming along, she hadn't been able to rest much lately.
But now it was Tia time—time to relax and nap it up—and that meant it was okay to ignore these things.
Or not.
Something else fell on her face. Given the choice, Tia would have opted for more funny-looking bookmarks, but this was flat and heavy and she knew without opening her eyes that she was going to have a painful nose for the rest of the morning. When she finally did, she felt something twitch against her chin. She lifted the item with her fingers and—
"Ahhh! Ohh! What!?"
—screamed. She threw the book on the ground, repeatedly wiping her chin with her sleeve, but that didn't feel right. The throwing part, at least. She felt better after wiping her face. Looking back at the book and wishing she was wrong, Tia was severely disappointed. On the cover of the book that had fallen on her face from who-knew-where was an eye. A yellow one—and it was blinking.
Cringing but curious, Tia got to her knees and slowly crawled over to the book. "Hey, are you...?" she said aloud, still with a grimace, and gingerly picked up the book by its edges. The back cover had an eye, too. There was no mistaking it. It was the Book from her nightmares.
"That's not right," she remarked, and turned for the monolith with some shock. A certain afterglow remained around it. For years she knew there was something wrong with it—or maybe it was better to say there was something right about it. She had always felt safe under its shadow; not that that explained the old Book now staring at her.
"I thought you could talk? Staring is rude," she said loudly, as though trying to scold a child, and received a stern look in return. "All right, sorry," muttered Tia. Unable to hold its gaze for too long and still utterly confused, she opened the Book. Still gingerly. She had no intention of making contact with its eyeballs again.
It was empty, except for the spread that said Sunny Hill. It was her hill—and every detail was perfect, from the tree some ways from her spot and the clumps of tall grass that framed the hill on both sides down to each ancient rune etched into the monolith. There was a description on both pages, but Tia skipped them for now.
"Weird," she enunciated. How had it even gotten there? Tia rose to her feet and peeked out from behind the Monolith. "Did anyone lose a Book with eyes?" she called out warily, and made the mistake of glancing down at the Book. The Book, because it seemed important, was staring at her again. Either way, it was clear she and the Book were all alone at Sunny Hill. Tia looked up at the sky—it was still early, and it couldn't be lunch yet. She believed the day could still be good.
Naturally, it all went downhill.
Tia was about to lie down behind the monolith again, Fana's flowers on one side and creepy-eyed Book on another, opened in the middle just in case it wanted to stare at clouds too, when she heard the creaking and clinking of metal not far behind.
It was easy to spot the gold and dark violet amidst the grassy plain, and to identify it was no task at all. Only Waisen Empire knights wore those colors. She had never seen one, only heard of them, because lesser knights donned gray, but the elite team assembled by the imperial family itself wore dark armor as though cloaked in the shadows themselves. Rex said those were just stories to keep children behaved, but she sure believed it now.
The Imperial knight approached. Tia had no problem sorting through her fight-or-flight response—he had a sword and shield, and she had a blinking Book. Pressing her back against the monolith, she waited for the knight to move. If he took no step further, she would stay there and wait till the coast was clear. If he looked around the monolith, she would inch around it as he did and run for the hills! Or the forest, as it were.
"I can smell it," said the knight with a guttural growl. She had never heard a human with such a deep voice before. It was almost frightening. At the same time, Tia lifted the yellow lace around her collar to her nose. He wasn't talking about her, right? She hadn't worked that hard this morning.
His footsteps sank into the grass to the right behind the monolith. Holding her breath, Tia took a step left and thanked the monolith the grass didn't crunch under her feet today, even if she loved that sound. A few more steps, and—aha! She was to the edge! And praying the knight had not, in fact, noticed her at all in the face of the great black monolith. Unfortunately, a pink coat and orange hair were not especially difficult to miss.
"There you are! And you have it—just as he predicted."
Tia froze. She turned around slowly, looking to her left and right, then smiled at the Waisen knight. He didn't look so bad. Maybe if she explained the situation properly—about how this was actually Kaleilan territory and not that he wasn't welcome or anything, but she didn't think the knights of Kaleila would be particularly happy about his presence, not that that was a threat or anything, she was just looking out for his best interests, which was that they part amicably and forget this ever happened—he would keep that sword of his sheathed.
"Hello," she said, forcing the cheer in her voice. She licked her lips before she continued, "Are you...talking to me?"
"Hand over the Book of Prophecy," ordered the knight, pointing to her chest.
She didn't realize she'd hugged the Book in fear. Gross, but its eyes were closed until she pulled away from it and saw that the Book was glaring in the direction of the knight. Its other end, at least. "Oh...this?" Tia shook her head. "This isn't a Prophecy Book. It actually has no content at all."
"Then you should have no trouble entrusting it to me, girl."
Tia blinked. "Normally," she said, "I wouldn't argue with a knight. I mean, I never do. But this isn't a Prophecy Book. It's just a drawing book, really. Not much use."
The knight growled. "Do you think me a fool!?"
"N-No!" Tia waved her free hand in the air and gave a titter that could easily be mistaken for crying. Instinct told her beg for your life, but her mouth was stubborn and should be executed, if it were only possible. "Not at all! It's just that—out of curiosity—why are you even here? This is Kaleilan territory, and..."
The knight's growl continued, and Tia was starting to think he was some breed of dog when, knees bent, the knight curled into himself. Out of absolutely nowhere, bulges popped out on his arms, his helmet flew from his suddenly oversized head, and he burst out of his armor, now in pieces on the ground! The knight—thing—with curled horns and fists that could pulverize her head beneath the grass roared, beating his chests angrily. In a calmer state of mind, she would have realized that it was a minotaur, or Moloch as they were known in old Faleilan, the kind she had seen in Fana's many mythology books years ago.
It was safe to say that Tia was speechless. She hadn't been to the training hall for the past two days, but that was probably a fighting stance, and those were fighting words. She wished this wasn't the reason she never argued with Waisen knights. Or spoke with them at all, or went near their territory...
"Ho-Hold on!" Tia laughed, backing away slowly. "If you want it that badly, you should have said so! You'll find I'm an exceptionably reasonable person!"
"I will find I enjoy prying the Book from a child's cold fingers," the monster laughed, too, but it was hardly the agreeable kind. It was the kind that made Tia turn her back to start running and wondering how many steps it would take for the Moloch to overtake, pummel, and bash her face into the soil. 'Here lies Tia, first found alive in this spot, then found dead. Poignant,' it would say on her tombstone, if they managed to find the body.
Mere seconds passed when Tia heard no footsteps after her. She felt heat, instead—and looked back to see the Moloch surrounded by flames.
"Hold it right there!" cried a small person with orange hair. Not orange like hers—more like fire blazing out of his scalp, and twisted horns. She knew this small person...!
Tia yanked the bookmark from her pocket, or she would have if it wasn't empty. The red bookmark had made its way into the air, and Tia caught it once more between her fingers. It was the boy on the bookmark! He somersaulted in the air and cried out happily. "Freedooom!" he cackled, throwing his head back and kicking wildly, "I'll never take this for granted again!"
Waving his thick arms at the flames licking at his body, the Moloch bellowed. "What is this little nuisance!?"
"Little?" the flaming boy shook an arm shackled from his elbow to his fist at the beast. Disappearing behind the monolith, he reappeared to them as a young man taller than Tia. "The name's Rempo!" he declared, sounding as though he expected applause, "the great fire spirit guardian! And there's no way you're getting your grubby hands on the Book of Prophecy!"
"A spirit!" the monster laughed derisively another time. Tia was starting to back away. Whatever this bookmark boy was, he could obviously hold his own. She admired that, and respected him enough to leave the fighting to him... "What could you possibly do to me?"
"Not me!" said Rempo, then pointed his other shackled arm at Tia. "Her!"
Tia felt rooted to the ground at that point. "Uh—Fire boy," she whispered as he floated close to her, "I'm not exactly a swordsman. I mean, I was training to be one, am training to be one, sometimes, but..."
"What!?" Rempo gave her a once-over that ended with disapproval, then switched to resignation. "Well, I can't blame you. I didn't think it would choose someone so tiny!"
Tia was indignant. She was average height at least! "I'm sorry—why are we talking about being tiny?"
"I meant young," Rempo rolled his eyes. "Anyway, hurry up and pull out the sword! And before you say you didn't bring one, which I can see perfectly, open the book!"
Tia hated arguing, so she did as he asked and flipped the Book, which opened to a new page filled out with the picture of a golden sword. Genesis, it said on top. "Huh...?"
"Pull it out!" cried Rempo.
"You will give the Book to me," said the Moloch, lowering his head and preparing to charge, "and then you will die!"
"Pull it out!"
"A-All right!" Tia had no idea what he meant, but she slammed her palm into the book and managed to sink her fingers into the page. It was a hot sensation, almost like touching fire, she thought rationally amidst the screaming the rest of her was doing, and she felt her fingers clasp around the cold metal. Taking a firm grasp of the hilt, Tia drew Genesis from the Book and met the Moloch's horns with its golden blade. He had swung his head with so much force that though she deflected the attack, she flew into the monolith.
Her other arm wouldn't let go of the Book even as she slid to the ground, back aching. "How the—How did I do that?"
"Stop talking," Rempo yelled, flailing his heavy arms in the air, "Start fighting!"
"Right," she said, teeth almost chattering with fear, and though she had no idea how to fight what should have been only myth, something made her face the monster head on. Speaking of which—he was scraping his hooves against the grass. He was making divots in her perfect spot! She would ask him to please stop if he wasn't heading for her in an attempt to brutally murder her.
"Get out of the way!" The Moloch was coming.
"Hold on!" said Tia, bending her knees.
"Kid!" It was closing in.
"Hold on!"
"You idiot—"
Tia leapt out of the way. The Moloch's head made contact with the monolith with a loud thud. While his head spun—"Now! Now!" Rempo demanded—Tia thrust her sword into the monster's back.
"Hurry and code scan him before he dies!"
"What?"
"Slap the book against him!" Rempo saw the look in Tia's eyes and growled. "Just do it!"
Tia obeyed, dropping the sword and slamming an empty page of the Book into the monster. Heart still pulsating over her entire body, Tia fell limp to her knees before the Moloch.
"And that's the power of the Book of Prophecy!" cheered Rempo, giving the Moloch a kick just to be sure.
"Book of...?" Tia fought to catch her breath. Surprisingly, the boy waited for her. "So this really is what he was looking for?"
Rempo gave her a look that told her she was an idiot, in his opinion. "What else?"
She thought otherwise, if she could say so herself. She was handling it rather well considering all she wanted to do now was break into tears, but she spoke as clearly as she could. "When I opened it earlier, it hardly had any pages!"
"That's because you have to fill it in!"
If Tia had to draw Rempo's personality on paper, it would come out as an exclamation point. It was even affecting her—she wasn't the yelling type at all until she met him a few minutes ago. What was happening? She took a breath to regain her composure. "So I have to write in this Book? But—I don't have prophecies. Just bad dreams. Maybe you're looking for one of the seers in Fortune Teller Alley."
"No." Rempo glared at her. "Will you let me finish?"
"...Okay."
"It'll probably be better to show you. Open the book again."
Tia did so, but glanced over at her sword, now a rusted copper. "Hey, why isn't it gold anymore?"
"Stay with me here," said Rempo, rubbing his face with the free part of his arm. Tia was tempted to ask why the monster, drawing its last breath, had disappeared, but bit her tongue. "The sword's rusted now because it was the last of the Book's leftover from creation. Anyway, see the page you made?"
The page she had opened revealed a picture of the Moloch so realistic she thought it might attempt to jump out at her again. To the right were boxes of various shapes with different signs and colors on them. Tia was confused.
"That's the makeup of the creature. It's called a code map. If you take out some codes or add some, its properties will change."
Everything was going over her head in the face of having killed something, but Tia tried to please him. "Sorry, what? How is it going to change? Can I add something to bring it back to life?"
"No!" Rempo immediately cut her off. "No bringing things back to life."
"Oh. So can I add something to kill it immediately?"
"Nope. But you can weaken monsters! Not by too much, but every weakness is your strength!" Tia stared at him blankly. He waved a hand in her face. "Got it?"
Tia lowered her eyes to the Book and closed it. It was still watching her. Sometimes it blinked.
"Kid?"
"I'm going crazy, aren't I?" she asked. Maybe she was still sleeping and having that nightmare again, with some variation. Or she had napped too much and it was starting to affect her mind. Master Gustav did say train her mind, body and soul—napping didn't exactly hone her mind. Or Master Gustav really had hired a seer...
"Not this again," Rempo muttered. "You are not crazy. You know those nightmares you've been having?"
"How do you know I've been having nightmares? Only I know I've been having nightmares. This is still a nightmare, isn't it? That's why this Book—"
"Let me finish!" Rempo yelled, and for a second Tia could swear flames had gone out from his ears.
"All right," she said, too busy shrinking back to say so. "Sorry. Go ahead."
Rempo was worried. This was going to be more difficult than her other predecessors—they had all been at least past a second decade of existence. This girl looked like she still chased boys at every turn. Of all the roles they'd taken centuries ago, why did he think this would be the easiest?
"No."
"No?"
"No," Tia repeated for him, walking away from the fire spirit as quickly as she could. "I should've given this thing to that knight before he exploded and grew horns!"
Rempo gasped in horror. "You wouldn't! You're the Chosen One! People kill to be the Chosen One!"
"They do?"
"Uh—not really, but people would love to have your power! Not just anyone dreams about the Book that will herald the new world! You've gotta do this!"
Tia groaned and kept walking. "I'm not going to bring about the end of the world." She motioned to the short grass and the birds coincidentally flying overhead, perfect for the message she wanted to convey. "Maybe you've been stuck in the monolith for too long, but I happen to love this world. Especially that hill. I'm not going to incinerate the earth."
Floating beside her as she walked, Rempo's face twisted with aggravation. "Have you been listening to anything I've said? At all? You don't have a choice! It's going to end no matter what you do, because your world is filled with corruption! Your job is to decide what to keep and what to let go for the new world! How is that hard to understand?"
Tia didn't like yelling. Or any conflict, for that matter. She liked reasoning things out, and would cave to his request to prevent further argument if she didn't know that agreeing to what he and apparently, this Book, wanted would make the last moments of her life on the world just like the last ten minutes.
"Look," said Rempo, crossing his arms, "if you didn't want the Book, you'd have left it by the monolith and that dead monster it helped you survive."
Tia stopped in her tracks and looked down at the Book still clutched by her fingers. Why hadn't she let it go? It was easy in theory, but she couldn't part with it, even if she knew it would get rid of the fire spirit. Something was definitely wrong with her—she actually curious about the Book! And curious was hardly ever good. Curious meant trouble, and ruined good day potential. But her mouth was already moving on its own, like it was meant to ask the question.
"Okay. If I have all this power, can't I just stop the corruption and the world's end?"
Rempo sighed. "No! You think that hasn't been tried before? But there's never a single source of corruption. Who does that? It just comes out of different people. You can't exactly change every person in the world!"
"But—you just said I could change their makeup! Like to that butterfly we passed by. Though nothing happened with that flower I scanned..."
"Tia. It's Tia, right?" Tia nodded. Rempo spoke slowly as if it would help her understand. "You can't. Stop. The world from ending. Okay? Accept it. Accept the job." He would wag a finger at her if he could. "Or else!"
Tia's lip curled. "Or else what?"
Rempo shrugged. "You'll have to accept that you're going crazy. I've done this before, you know. Lots of times. There's no escaping it!" That was a lie. Of the many instances when they'd had to split up, this was the only Chosen One so far he had chosen to meet first. Now he wished he'd agreed to switch places with Mieli!
Tia stared hard at the back of the open book and met its eyes. It felt an awful lot like it was scrutinizing her. If it didn't think her 'worthy,' it shouldn't have chosen her! "...Can I at least get it to stop looking at me?"
The Book's eyes shifted to its shackled fire spirit, who sighed in exasperation. "Tia!"
"Sorry, sorry." Tia knew from experience that she had two ways of dealing with stressful situations—either sleep it off or try to laugh. There was also run away screaming, but Rempo already said that was impossible, and his flames felt real enough to be a threat. She took a deep breath. "How much time do I have?"
Rempo's glare eased. "A few months, tops."
Tia blew a gust of air in resignation. "Okay. I need some time to think this through." She at least had a day to think about it, right?
Wrong, she realized a second right before she could sit down against a tree lining the path and think. Peace and quiet was suddenly a faraway dream as she heard the noise of more armor.
"What's that?" asked Rempo, looking to his right, but Tia had disappeared. He sighed, looking behind them, but she hadn't run away screaming like he'd come to expect. Instead she was climbing one of the trees overlooking the path to the Sunny Hill. Why wasn't he surprised that she was extremely adept at an evasive maneuver like that?
Crouched between wiry branches, Tia peered down at the soldiers. Three silver-plated Imperial soldiers and two Imperial knights followed one man without too much mail encumbering his movements save his neck, boots, and sheathe. With a sword and shield strapped to his back, he walked with confidence that denoted his station.
"Shh," hissed Tia, beckoning to Rempo with a wave.
"Don't be chicken," laughed the fire spirit, watching them stop and discuss the armor the Moloch had left behind. "We can take 'em on! Remember, even if you're no good at swordfighting yourself, the sword knows how to be wielded, and that's what gives you the skill!"
Tia glared at him. "Thank you for the vote of confidence. And that's great, but even so, I'm not about to take on a small group of soldiers like that. Especially not that one." She pointed to the one in green with hardly any armor. "If he's not wearing a uniform, then he isn't a grunt. Which means he's got some skill."
"You're pretty observant for a kid," said Rempo, nodding in agreement. "You're probably right. And he's a human, anyway—hold up, why is a human travelling with monsters?"
Tia glanced at him, shuffling out of her position. It was starting to get uncomfortable, and she could spot a chance to escape while soldiers-who-were-possibly-monsters were distracted from planets away. "That Moloch had a human shape until he burst out of his armor. I've never seen anything like it. And I'd be happy not to ever again, so..."
Rempo frowned. "He didn't give a lot of groups magic before..."
Climbing down the tree with only one arm but a lot of difficulty, Tia quirked an eyebrow at him. "What?"
"Nothing!" exclaimed Rempo. "Look, they're turning back. You know, they're probably scouting for the proper time and place to attack if you say they're from an opposing Empire. Shouldn't you tell your King? Or Emperor? Whichever?"
Hadn't she done enough already? Any more might spell trouble, so Tia shook her head. "It's a kingdom, and not really... You said I can't stop the world from ending, right? Why bother? I'm just going to go ahead," she dusted her knees off, "and scan more flowers."
"No way. You're going to at least try! Why did the book pick such a wimp for this job?" moaned Rempo.
Tia crossed her arms over the Book. "Go ahead and call me names. It's not anything I'm not used to."
Rempo wore a disbelieving expression as Tia began to head back for town. "I can't believe I have to convince you to help your own country!"
"It's not that I wouldn't help my own country," said Tia, "it's just that it's not exactly easy to get an audience with the Mayor, much less the King. I'm just peasant orphan Tia, running errands because I need money, especially for the seniors. They tip well. Is that so hard to believe?"
"It's not," Rempo answered easily, "but that doesn't mean you get to give up. Look, I'll even show you a neat trick when we get back to wherever you live. Sound like a good deal to you?"
No, Tia said in her mind, but it was obvious he wasn't going to let her get any rest from this end-of-the-world business if she didn't agree. "Okay. Yeah."
She staggered forward when Rempo thumped her on the back, laughing heartily. "Great! I knew there was some good in you!"
Tia sighed. It was a half hour back to town and she'd caught sight of her cottage when a blue-haired boy called out to her, the constant scowl on his face breaking for a brief smile. "Tia!"
"Rex," she greeted back, waving with her free hand.
Tia had two best friends: Rex the cynical jerk, and Fana the sickly optimist. Of their trio, she was the sleepy slacker, or lazy errand girl if she wasn't training at Master Gustav's. The three of them were orphans—though not at the same time. Tia was the first, she supposed. A little before she arrived in Rhoan Town, Rex lost his family to criminals, and Fana was orphaned two years later. For as long as the three of them had been friends, Rex always had some reason to be mad about something or somebody, usually the nobles in their castle town and the general system upon which their kingdom was founded.
The girls had found him a complete downer, at first, but eventually learned to brush it off and accept his ever present frustration—Tia knew that was what it was, and Fana understood that completely, in a different way. He had a good side, after all; it just seemed to aggravate him further when he realized it was showing. To keep the peace, they never called him out on it and kept quiet whenever he sewed dolls for the orphans Fana exchanged letters with when she was too sick or did Tia's errands whenever she actually worked hard enough to fall ill. At that moment, Tia had no idea how she was going to explain the tiny person flying next to her, but she would try.
"You're back early," said Rex, quirking an eyebrow and adjusting the sack slung over his shoulder.
"Not by choice," she muttered to herself. "Rex, this is Rempo. Rempo, this is Rex, my best friend."
Rempo tapped her on the shoulder. "Uh, Tia—"
Rex tilted his head from side to side, searching for whoever it was she referred to before coming up with nobody and giving her a weird look. Coming from him, it looked suspicious. "Who are you talking to?"
Tia glanced between him and Rempo. "Er...you?"
"Tia!" Rempo exclaimed, finally getting her attention. "Normal people can't see me—only you and really spiritual people. So you might sound a little crazy right now."
"I am going crazy," groaned Tia.
"Don't beat yourself up about it," Rex grinned. "We've known it for a while. Fana just asked me not to say anything."
"You're hilarious, Rex."
"Whatever," he shrugged, glaring at the ground as was his wont, and finally noticed the Book. "Hey, what's that?"
"You can see it?" she gasped.
"I told you," singsonged Rempo.
"Well, yeah," answered Rex, the duh simply unsaid, but they knew each other well enough to have heard it anyway. "Fana and Kamui are the ones who read, though, not you. Why the sudden interest in books?" He frowned. "Remember, there are haves and have-nots, and we're have-nots. Not much use studying."
"...Yeah," Tia lamely agreed. She knew better than to argue and prolong his rant.
Rempo scoffed. "Why are you agreeing with this jerk? Are you sure you're friends with him?"
Rex set the sack down and snatched the Book from her hands. He didn't seem to mind the Book blinking at him, its eyes rolling over to stare at Tia, and Rempo answered her question before she could wonder it to herself. "He doesn't see anything. It's a normal book to other people—meaning only you can see the Book looking at you."
"Why is that?" asked Tia.
Rex looked up. "Why is what? What's this?" He turned the cover and blinked, flipping past Sunny Hill and the rest of the pages that had cropped up between that and Town. He stopped at the Moloch. "What's this? One of the characters from that book you've been writing forever? You know you're never going to finish that thing if you're just lying around that hill all the time," he snorted.
Tia slapped his hand and retook the Book. "Yeah, it's a—that. A character concept. And didn't I tell you not to read through my drafts?"
"But what else are best friends for?" He laughed in the face of Tia's glare and shrugged, motioning to his burden. "Anyway, I've gotta get these back to Gareth."
"All right. I'll just clean up at my place and head over to Fana's. Are you coming?"
"I was going to," Rex stretched his neck and shook his legs, looking confused as he did. "But...I suddenly feel kind of tired...I'll head home after this. Tell her and Kamui I said hi. Helen, too. See ya!"
Rempo watched him go with disapproval as Tia saluted him goodbye. "What's he got in those bags, and what's his problem?"
Tia shrugged. "Blacksmith stuff. He's an apprentice there. And...I don't know. Some people take being an orphan better than others, I guess."
Rempo accepted it well enough, and they made their way to her cottage. The fire spirit paused before it, and Tia had no idea if the look on his face was supposed to be disgust or awe.
"It's small," she said, taking him by the arm and helping him inside as he floated, "but it's home."
"Uh—yeah, sure!" Rempo nodded, schooling his features into a grin that didn't betray the familiarity. It was well-lit with a single bed in a corner, a cozy-looking hearth across the door, and tables all around. Bits of paper stuck out from and above her writing desk next to the bed—what were these? Letters? Some of them were, and some of them were drafts for a story about some girl fighting dragons—and the table at the center of the room was covered with a patched up cloth and a vase filled with flowers a few days old. Quaint, but homey. "But you're this young and you've already moved away from your parents?"
"I'm seventeen," said Tia, setting the Book down on her table and sighing as Rempo ignored her requests to stop looking through her writing desk. "And not really. I just don't have any parents."
"Sure you do," Rempo laughed, then squinted at her. "Do you mean they've passed away? ...Sorry."
"Maybe," she said absentmindedly, going through her drawers for something. "I don't know."
Rempo lay down on the pieces of paper and pencils scattered over her desk. He'd missed this. "Y'know, you're even more confusing than the Book!"
"What I mean is," said Tia, as though reading from a dictionary and not at all telling the story of her life as she pulled out leather straps and some small pieces of metal, "seven years ago, I was found on Sunny Hill. I don't remember anything before then, but they figured my parents were casualties from the war. There was supposed to be a peace treaty or something, but Waisen turned coat and attacked. And that was as far as they got me. Supposedly."
"Well...okay." Rempo sighed. The last One had been an orphan, too, but it wasn't all bad. From their experience, orphans were slightly less helpless than the usual Chosen One. Tia hadn't shown that quality yet, but he was waiting. And man, was he bad at waiting. "It'll be easier, then."
Tia took a seat in front of the wilting flowers and muttered something at the Book, which blinked at the leather. "What will?"
"It's harder to accept the world ending and all that when you have family," explained Rempo. "You can always write 'em into the new world, but you still have to go through that whole incinerating part..."
Tia set the leather straps into the metal—they were buckles, Rempo realized—and watched him oddly. "You sound like you enjoy that part."
"I don't!" Rempo paused, then smiled sheepishly. "Well, the other spirits don't. Anyway, are we done here? Have you washed up yet?"
"Hold on a minute, please," sighed Tia. She hurriedly tied the leather pieces around the raised bands across the rim of the Book so that, lifting the book with its fore edge up, she could close the straps and sling them over her shoulders like a makeshift backpack.
Rempo gaped at the Book's new look. "What are you doing!?"
"Calm down," chuckled Tia, standing up and turning her back to show him the convenience. She could feel the other eye blinking behind her, but she would have to get used to that. Once she finished shivering, anyway. "I don't want to have to lug it around on one arm all the time."
The Book stared back at Rempo with approval. The fire spirit guardian clapped his bound arms and nodded. "Ooh, right! That does make fighting hard!"
"...I meant when I was walking, but all right."
"So!" Rempo leapt over to the door. "To the Mayor? Or King?"
"To Fana," Tia corrected. "She's my best friend too, but she's always been sick, so we just visit her at home." Patting the leather straps on her shoulder and opening the door, she waited for Rempo to fly out before locking it in. "Oh! Argh!" she groaned, her palm painfully meeting her bangs and forehead.
Rempo spun in the air. "What? What now?"
"Her flowers—I left them at Sunny Hill!" Tia looked to the exit of town as if that would take her back. When it didn't, she grumbled. "That stupid Moloch—he probably crushed them."
"You know," Rempo grinned, eyebrows bouncing, "if you were powerful enough, you could use magic to take yourself to that hill instead of walking around everywhere."
Looking at the long stretch of road ahead of them before she could get into the main areas of town, Tia decided that sounded like a very good idea, indeed. "I can do that?"
"Sure!" Rempo answered cheerily, always glad to hear some enthusiasm from this new Chosen One, who was probably the most reluctant one he'd ever met. "But not now. Because you're still weak. Remember! The Book takes up the energy of whoever holds it. You're the Chosen One, so your body'll adjust to it eventually, but you're still a wimp now."
"Thanks." Tia rolled her eyes and headed for the central street. It wasn't actually a street as much as a square—or octagon, if she wanted to be a stickler for details like the delivery girl she had to be sometimes—but either way, it was a marketplace and one of the busiest areas in town. The structures around it were clothing boutiques and little restaurants which sold some of their items in the main square.
There was a stall for everything in the marketplace: plants, ores, bread, meat, accessories, hats, armor and weapons, and even peculiar things like hokey windchimes or long strings of beads that were supposed to serve as crystal balls if placed before a doorway, when one "desired to see into the winding whorls of her future." Tia took a step farther from that one; besides, it was close to Fortune Teller Alley, named for its many seers and fortune tellers. More like frauds, Rex would spit, and he knew because he lived and worked along that road, where the smithy was also located.
Tia's nose had learned to close itself off naturally for the variety of items in the market, which could have been a town in itself with the number of twists and turns in which a foreigner could easily lose himself. That spring morning, suddenly ironic because of the whole end of the world bit, the stalls were canopied in soft, cool pastels that danced on the ground with sunlight. It would have been a breeze to avoid the clutter—worse than normal today, for some reason—and visit Fana's house overlooking the central square, but Tia needed to buy flowers.
Stopping at a stand stocked with wondrous bouquets some ways from a familiar stall, Tia stuck a hand into the inner pocket Rex had sewn into her coat to avoid pickpockets. She was so sure she had some money left over from picking weeds for the sweet old ladies at Seasoned Row, but these were so expensive...
Rempo huffed impatiently and took a seat on her shoulder. "Are you worrying about what to buy? Just scan the flower you want and pull it out of the Book! Better yet, why not just use the one you got a while ago?"
Tia flicked Rempo off with her knuckles to protect her ears. "Because," she said, "Fana likes these flowers." It was called the Bug Tree though it was only a flower with a tall stalk and yellow petals. When they had a lot of time to spend with each other, she, Fana and Rex loved sipping the nectar from its stem. Sometimes Kamui joined, too. Pointing to the flower, Tia made a face at the fire spirit, who looked indignant.
"Hmph! Then scan the flower already."
Tia unslung the Book and, checking to make sure the owner was distracted by another customer to the side, scanned the flower. "Hey—"
"Is that Tia?" she heard a displeased murmur behind her. Tia shut the Book and pretended to look at other flowers, enough to feign normally walking away. Maybe if she did it slowly, they wouldn't notice it was her.
"It is! Little Orphan Tia," a girl sang behind her. She didn't know why she bothered, given the orange hair and pink coat.
"You're looking glum as usual," agreed a whiny male voice.
Tia tried not to sigh visibly before reluctantly whirling. "Hey, guys," she plastered a smile on her face. She knew that stall two intersections back looked familiar—it was Romaioni's, where he sold collectibles and bizarre-looking armor and weapons. She had no idea where he got them, and neither did Gareth, the town blacksmith. They didn't exactly like each other. His younger sister Francesca was their age, but she was even worse, in Tia's opinion. She and Rex called them the "twins" because they were so alike with their red hair, freckles, blue eyes, and the haughty huff they liked to give that the years didn't matter. They lived on the wealthier side of town much closer to Franelle Castle, and it was rumoured that heard they had bedposts made of gold. Naturally, Rex hated them with a passion. "How's the shop?"
"Excellent," said Romaioni, grinning proudly.
"Not that you could afford it," scoffed Francesca, fiddling with her braids as she stared Tia down.
"Yep," Tia continued to smile, voice higher-pitched as always when dealing with the twins. "I remember. You happen to remind me every day."
Romaioni only quirked an eyebrow at the remark and lowered his eyes to the item in her hands. "My, what an interesting book. I never knew you could read—or draw would be the more likely activity, I suppose. I assumed art was simply beyond you."
Tia forced a laugh. "Ha! Well, you know what they say..."
"The question is," Francesca interrupted, "How did you get your hands on that book? It looks expensive."
"Wait, sister," Romaioni gave Francesca a small shove to get her to quiet down. He cocked his head at Tia. "What do they say?"
"Hmm?" Tia blinked and feigned stupidity when Romaioni glared. That usually derailed the insults well enough.
Floating between them, Rempo was less than happy to watch the exchange. "What in the...? Are you going to take all this abuse!?"
Tia shrugged. She couldn't exactly reply, or the twins would find another thing to tease her about. She deflected most of their jabs about her financial situation easily, but she didn't want it getting to her clients that she was crazy.
"Let me show you something really good," Rempo growled, tapping the Book with a shackle. "Code scan these two jokers in the face!"
Tia shook her head and couldn't help the snort. "I can't do that."
"Can't do what?" asked Romaioni, crossing his arms suspiciously.
"Can't afford items in the shop, of course!" laughed Francesca, covering her mouth with a hand as she cackled.
Tia wanted to grab the curl of her bangs and hack it off with her copper sword so it would end up flippy like Romaioni's, but she'd had seven years enough of practice for moments like this to be able to retain her self control. As she shot Rempo an uneasy smile, hoping it would communicate how she couldn't possibly slap someone's face with a Book, all she said was, "Of course."
"They won't notice! I promise!" insisted Rempo, equally tempted to swing his shackles at the two strangers. "Just do it already!"
"Anyway," said Romaioni, looking down at Tia with a wrinkle of his nose, "I've got a celebration to prepare for, so, carry on."
Francesca giggled. "Goodbye, peasant!" she waved, then picked up her dress to scurry after her brother.
Tia considered herself a pretty relaxed girl—she wasn't the sleepy slacker for nothing—but those two always had her agreeing with Rex about the rich and the nobility, and that made her even angrier. "Hey, guys?" she coughed to temper her enraged inflection as she caught up with them. "Wait up."
"Ugh," Francesca sighed. "What?"
At least, that was what Francesca would have said if Tia hadn't wielded the open Book with one hand and slammed it in her face right as she turned around! It was as if time had slowed down as the girl's head jerked to the left from the impact, cheek shuddering and mouth open with shock to give Tia the most pleasure possible from the activity. For a moment Tia's chest spiked with fear—what if Rempo was wrong and they were aware of it?—but it dissipated soon enough when Francesca stopped speaking and blinked. She looked like Tia had simply made her forget something and she was trying to remember instead of Tia trying to knock her teeth out.
Tia couldn't hold down her laughter. "Ha!" she cried before quickly covering her mouth. If only Rex were here to see this! And Fana would have laughed, too, even if she didn't know the twins, who both looked annoyed and confused. Or she would have scolded them, but in the joy of the moment she likely wouldn't have cared.
"What?" asked Francesca, uninterrupted this time. "What do you want?"
Romaioni scowled. "You're wasting our time."
"Wait!" Tia wiped the grin from her mouth with a hand and hooked a finger on his sleeve. Romaioni whirled, eyes widened at her expectantly.
"Wha—" Slam! "What? What is it?"
Since her seven-year self-control had gone down the drain, Tia did nothing to stop her smile from reaching both ears. "I...uh. I like your hat."
Romaioni blinked, hand flying to adjust his hat. Tia didn't notice, but his ears were slightly pink. "Well," he coughed, eyes averting, "thank you. I suppose even peasants can have taste."
Francesca gaped at him. "Brother!"
Romaioni remembered his sister and recovered easily with a glare at Tia. "Not that you'll ever be able to afford it."
"Yeah," Tia looked down at the closed Book in her hand. It glared in the direction of the twins, but she felt only mirth, and attempted to subdue it—at least on her face. It would be too weird for them if she complimented them too much instead of just staying out of their way. "Never."
"Er. Goodbye, then," said Romaioni, turning up his nose, "little orphan Tia."
With a huff in agreement from Francesca, the twins dove back into the crowd. Tia waved at them, uncharacteristically cheerful, and faced Rempo with a burst of laughter. "That was hilarious!" she guffawed. "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"
Rempo had been laughing for the past few minutes himself and had only regained composure then. "How could I? Between the whining and the refusing and the chickening out..."
"I get it," said Tia dismissively, and turned to the Book panel with genuine interest, though perhaps not the kind Rempo would have liked. She was starting to get used to the Book's staring, oddly enough. "What else can I do with this Prophecy Book?"
"It's the Book of Prophecy," Rempo corrected. "You don't shorten it. Anyway, we better do this somewhere more secluded. People will see you pulling something out of thin air!" Mumbling about demanding fire spirits, Tia dodged out of the central square and slipped into the space between Fana's house and Kamui's. "All right! Turn to the page of the flower you scanned earlier. Aaand...get the flower! Ya know, like you did the sword!"
"Got it," said Tia, and watched her hand sink into the page once more. Now, instead of the heat of the forge, she felt blades of grass tickle her wrist as she found the flower's stem and picked it from the Book. Tia smoothed her fingers along the flower's petals. She had never seen a flower as vivid as this. The one from the stall hadn't even been this symmetrical or perfect or—or real! It was the only way she could describe it. "This is..."
Tucked in her elbow, the Book blinked appreciatively at the flower while Rempo grinned proudly, as though he had recreated each detail himself. "That's because the concept of the flower is what the Book gets, so what you take out from the Book is pure and perfect! Unmarred by the world. Until you take it out, anyway."
"Wow," Tia glanced at the fire spirit. "That was almost poetic, Rempo."
"Eh," Rempo shrugged, and kept to himself that Ur had given him a much wordier explanation millennia ago and that this was the watered down version. "So! You can make an entire bouquet of those. You can fill up the world with 'em!"
"Really? No way!"
Though he was tempted to be carried away by the excited glimmer he saw in her eyes for the first time, Rempo shook his head. "Hah, actually, no way. You'll run out of energy."
"Huh?"
"You can do it with any item. Even food! But even if you eat that food, taking too much too soon from the Book without letting yourself recover is going to sap your strength—and more than just your energy, you'll be taking from your life power. Or I think some Chosen Ones called it creation power."
Tia was starting to get lost again, or if she were to be honest, slightly uninterested in the details. "Wait. How is that different from my energy?"
"How do I explain this..." Rempo clicked his tongue, tapping his knee with a shackle. "Ah! I told you the Book takes up your energy, right? Well, what I meant was it takes up your creation power. You only have a little right now because you just got the Book, but as we get closer to the end of the world, don't worry! You'll get more and more powerful and you'll be able to make more stuff without getting as tired."
"What happens if I make too much too soon, like you said?"
Rempo looked thoughtful. "You'll probably just get really tired and need to recover. Or maybe you'll die and the Book will have to choose a new One! I don't know, it's never happened before."
"Don't worry, right," Tia muttered. "Okay, I'll avoid that. But can I still slap people?"
Rempo grinned toothily. "As hard as you can!"
"All right!" Tia grinned. She was never this animated—Rempo was more contagious than she thought. Well, she still didn't like this end-of-the-world business, but she could tell the blinking Book would have its moments. Tia could stay curious for a little while longer.
Some minutes later, with a small but beautiful bouquet of Bug Trees in hand, she knocked on Fana's door.