"Once upon a time, there existed a giant tree that was the source of mana.
A war, however, caused this tree to wither away.
And a hero's life was sacrificed in order to take its place.
Grieving over the loss, the goddess disappeared unto the heavens.
The goddess left the angels with this edict:
"You must wake me, for if I should sleep, the world shall be destroyed."
The angels bore the Chosen One, who headed towards the tower that reached up unto the heavens.
And that marked the beginning of the regeneration of the world."
"…elos…"
"Zelos! Wake up!"
Zelos grunted as he was woken from his sleep by a hard thump on his chest. "Ouch! Seles, what the hell?" He grunted angrily as he sat up from his bed. His younger sister, Seles, moody as always, had rudely awoken him by dropping a magic studies book on him.
"Wake up, Chosen," Seles said in a sarcastic tone of voice, "The king wants to see you. He sent a messenger to come get you, like, an half an hour ago."
"What?" Zelos jumped up, "Well why didn't you wake me up then?" He asked, frantically throwing on some clothes. Judging by the sunlight, it must have been past noon by now.
"Well I didn't want to disturb the Chosen One in his slumber," Seles squinted as she glared at her older half-brother. Seles was always jealous of the attention Zelos had gotten due to being the Chosen of Mana. While she knew that even if she had been born holding a Cruxis Crystal in her hand as her brother had, signifying his status as Chosen, everyone had always told her that she was too sickly to take on the task of regenerating the world herself.
"Cut the crap, Seles," Zelos rolled his eyes. Even if she was a bit of a brat, Zelos cared deeply for his sister, even if she appeared not to love him back. "I gotta go, I'll be back. In the meantime, I dunno, study or something," He said, throwing the book Seles had dropped on him back at her. Without further hesitation, Zelos left their small house and started the short walk to the castle.
The world was declining. Zelos, although he could not use magic, could tell that their world was dying. Even though poverty had struck the land, the people of Meltokio never stopped remaining optimistic. They viewed Zelos as their hope to saving the world and restoring mana back into the world. As such, he had been given practically more power than the king himself and was also treated like royalty. However, in such a poor land, it wasn't as if he lived in a mansion, but simply a better looking wooden house like the other citizens. Even the King himself didn't have that big of a castle. But, no matter how poor, the people of Tethe'alla remained faithful to the Religion of Martel, a religion worshipping the Goddess that would be awoken once Zelos had unlocked all of the elemental seals across the vast land. Not only that, but an evil organization of half-elves who called themselves the Desians, plagued this declining land and kidnapped humans, and, for unknown reasons, seemed to harvest them in things they called "Human Ranches." For this reason, the Church of Martel in Tethe'alla and the pope who ran it taught the citizens to fear the use of magic, something that was a trait of elves and half-elves. However, unlocking all of the world's seals was rumored to be a way to rid the world of Desians. Zelos, nor the Church of Martel, for that matter, knew where all of the seals were, exactly, but he knew that he would soon receive word from the heavens dictating where he should go.
Walking up the steps to the castle, the two guards outside noticed it was the Chosen, and let Zelos in without hesitation. "Yo, King!" Zelos said, entering the throne room, "What's up?"
"Aah yes, Chosen One," the King responded calmly to Zelos' informal greeting. "I have received word from the priests at the House of Guidance southeast of here that they wish for you to go their immediately. They believe that the oracle shall appear in their temple within the next 72 hours."
"So it's finally happening, huh…" Zelos muttered. After spending his teenaged years dreading this day, it was finally happened. "Wait, you want me to walk all the way down there myself? And what about Seles, I can't just leave her at the house by herself."
"Take her with you," the King replied simply.
"What?" Zelos outburst, "Do you know how sickly she i-"
"Yes well," the King interrupted before Zelos could argue anymore. "I realize she is weak, but you must admit yourself that her ability to use magic, while frowned upon, will be very useful. That, and the priests at the House of Guidance have already arranged to have her taken to the Southeast Abbey so that they can take care of her after you leave."
"…okay." Zelos confirmed. After discussing a few more details, Zelos returned back to his house to prepare for his journey. The priests there were to assist Zelos through the temple and Zelos was to then be told where to go next. Not many details were known other than that, but Zelos had no other choice but to believe and trust in the priests.
Walking in the front door, Seles was already sitting in the living room, staring at the door awaiting her brother's return. "So?" She asked him, arms crossed.
"Pack up and get ready to go on an adventure!" Zelos grinned at her, purposely trying to piss her off and confuse her. Ignoring her many questions, Zelos began preparing for their quest, mostly planning to bring along bread for sandwiches and other necessities. After fully preparing in only a few minutes' time, Zelos walked back to the door and turned back to Seles. "You coming?"
"What? I thought you were kidding!" She exclaimed, trying to hide her excitement that she was tagging along in the Chosen's affairs. Seles grabbed her handbag with everything she ever really needed and dashed towards the door after her brother.
The two of them locked up the house and walked towards the city gate. A large crown of citizens was waiting there for them, or more specifically Zelos. Half-elves, like Seles, frightened the human residents of Meltokio, although they tried to hide their fear as the Chosen was her half-brother. The people wished Zelos good luck, many females wooed by him had begged him not to go, but Zelos insisted that it was his duty as Chosen. After many complaining groans from Seles, Zelos finally waved goodbye to the people of the city and left out the gate southeast toward the temple.
"Finally, we're here!" Zelos said, as the temple came into view. "God, that took forever!"
"Quit complaining!" Seles barked back at him, slapping him over the back of his head with her purse and knocking him onto the ground. The walk had taken them the better part of the day and it was starting to get dark. The trek had been slightly more dangerous than they had expected, as the monsters that were rumored to plague the declining world had attacked them on more than one occasion. However, Zelos' sword techniques and Seles' magical attacks were enough to easily dispatch of them.
Groaning and starting back up, they walked the remaining way to the temple. "Wait…what's tha-" Seles gasped as a giant flash of light shot out of the temple and into the sky.
"The oracle…" Zelos whispered. Zelos let his mind wander…maybe if he could just get the Tower of Salvation to appear, he wouldn't have to complete this stupid quest and he could return back to Meltokio to live a normal life…
"Cut it out and let's go, Zelos!" Seles shouted in anger. Part of her knew that Zelos really didn't care about this journey at all, so she figured if she couldn't be Chosen, then she might as well make it her job to keep the Chosen in line.
The two of them walked up the steps to the temple, only to find that a strange group of people, dressed in armor and wielding swords, standing over the bodies of the priests that had lived there.
"Oh no!" Seles exclaimed, seeing the bodies of those that were supposed to protect them. If the priests couldn't win against these armored men, then who is to say that her and her brother could? For that matter, what did they want?
"Well look here!" One of the three armored men turned around from the corpses to see Zelos and Seles. "If it isn't the Chosen!" He turned to a shorter man next to him and whispered something that Zelos couldn't make out, and the shorter man dashed into the temple as if to fetch something.
"What are you doing here?" Zelos commanded, sounding confident on the outside even if he wasn't on the inside. "Why did you do this to them?"
"Zelos!" Seles looked to her brother quickly, "These men…they're Desians!"
The armored man laughed, as though to make fun of Seles for her exclamation. "Well then, die at the hands of the Desians you so hate!" He smirked, dashing toward Zelos, wielding his blade.
Zelos quickly pulled out his own sword and deflected the attack with the wooden shield he had attached to his left arm. "Is that all you got?" Zelos grinned, attempting to keep up his cocky façade to throw off the enemy.
"Zelos! Watch out!" Seles yelled suddenly. Zelos gasped and looked up from the first man, and noticed that the second was closing in on him. Throwing off the first man and stunning him with a quick bash of his shield, Zelos quickly swiped with his sword toward the second.
"Is that all?" The second armored grunt remarked as he back stepped to avoid the swing.
"Icicle Spear!" Seles yelled, having been casting a magical attack this whole time. Multiple spears of ice shot out from her handbag toward the second man and crushed him down into the ground in defeat.
Zelos gave his younger sister a thumbs-up, "Nice wor- whoa!" He exclaimed, nearly dodging a second attack from the now un-stunned first man. "Gotta now!" Zelos slashed at the man again, this time hitting his target, landing a fatal hit on him. Turning to Seles again, Zelos held in a sigh of relief and simply said "That was too easy! Seriously!"
When all of a sudden, "Lord Botta, there they are!" came from inside the temple as an older man in a different outfit stepped out.
"I must say, I'm quite impressed," The man named Botta said to the siblings. "However, I cannot allow this foolishness to continue." He said as a giant armored man stepped out from inside the temple behind Botta, swinging a mace above his head. "Do not get in our way."
"Oh crap, this guy looks tough!" Zelos' cool figure began to crack as he began to worry what might happen. The giant swung his mace down at Zelos, which he barely managed to block. However, due to the sheer force that it came at him with, it sent him flying backwards and he landed with a loud thud on the ground next to Seles. Seles gasped and looked at him on the ground as the giant slowly loomed closer and closer to her. After quickly debating her options, Seles pulled out a think sword from her purse and ran at the giant screaming. "Seles! No!" Zelos yelled out, closing his eyes as the giant swung his mace again.
After not hearing anything for a few seconds, Zelos opened his eyes again to see a tall, crimson haired man standing in front Seles, whom appeared to have blocked the giant's attack as if he were a bug. "Who are you?" Seles asked the man, astounded.
"Stay out of the way." The man replied coolly, and began to take down the giant by himself. This man fought in a style reminiscent of Zelos, but appeared to have much more power than he was letting on. Without even trying to, the man swung his blade three times quickly and, with a loud grunt, the giant fell.
"Damn! Kratos is with them…retreat for now!" The Botta stranger commanded his remaining troops, seemingly knowing who this other man was, as the Desians ran away.
"W-who are you…" Zelos asked, still injured from the stunning blow.
"Stop talking." The crimson haired man ordered Zelos. He walked over to him and flashed for a moment before, "…First Aid."
"You can use magic too?" Seles asked, amazed. She figured that he must be an elf, or a half-elf, however, his mana to her felt slightly off.
Ignoring Seles' question, he looked at Zelos, who, having been healed, was now standing. "I am Kratos, a mercenary. I was paid by these priests at an earlier date to come to assist you…however, it appears as though I've arrived too late…"
"That's all you can say?" Zelos glared at Kratos. "These men are dead because you didn't show up earler!"
Kratos, without showing much emotion at all, replied, "Take some responsibility for your actions. If you had been stronger, these men might not have died."
"But I-" Zelos started to defend himself, but was cut off by Kratos' raised hand.
"No need for any more excuses," Kratos interrupted. "You are the Chosen, are you not?" He confirmed. Zelos nodded, but still wasn't very happy that this new jerk was apparently his new party member. "Good. Then, as I previously stated, I am to accompany you on your mission."
"Pft," Zelos rolled his eyes, "I don't need your help. Me and Seles have totally got this under control. Let's go Seles." Zelos walked away from Kratos towards the temple, not wanting to be shown up by some random mercenary.
"Zelos, cut it out," Seles said, not looking at her brother, "We need his help."
"No we don-"
"Zelos." Seles turned to face him. "That giant jerk almost killed you, and now this guy heals you and offers to help us and you're going to have the guts to say no?" She glared "Don't be so stupid!"
Zelos remained silent for a moment before responding. "Fine…but I won't like it."
"I'm glad to see your affairs are in order," Kratos responded. "Now let's go."
"I am Remiel." An angel said, coming down from heaven. Zelos and Seles, with the help of Kratos, had made their way through the temple, despite the challenges, and managed to ascend to the top floor where Zelos' oracle was to be received. "An angel of Cruxis. I shall now grant the Chosen with your oracle and bless this land with the Tower of Salvation."
Sure enough, a huge tower, just across the ocean from there stretched into the heavens. Turning around to stare out the temple window at it, Zelos grinned. "Sweet! That means we shouldn't be on the decline anymore!" He exclaimed. Rubbing his hands together, he muttered, "Now I can get back to Meltokio and all the sweet honeys-" He was cut off as Seles pounded him once again with her purse.
"Pay attention to the angel, Zelos!" Seles ordered her older brother, crossing her arms.
As if nothing had happened, Remiel continued, "Unlock the seals that protect it, and climb its stairs to a distant land. Your first seal, the Seal of Lightning, is to the very north, across the ocean and through the dense forests. Good luck, Chosen One." The angel concluded and ascended back to the sky.
"Wow! I can't believe it!" Seles exclaimed, getting excited again, "We just saw an angel!"
"Yeah yeah," Zelos turned to Kratos. "Now what? I'm supposed to go north, or something?"
"Weren't you listening?" Kratos said, not showing his annoyance with the Chosen. "We must locate a boat so we can get to the Seal of Lightning."
"I'm sure the King'll have one of those!" Zelos winked, "And I'm sure he'd love to share it with the beloved Chosen." He looked down at Seles, "Well, I guess we can drop you off in Meltokio when we go back. Can't exactly have you go with priests to the Southeast Abbey now."
"What?" Seles exclaimed, "I'm going too! You can't do this without me!"
"Absolutely not, Seles!" Zelos squinted at her. "You know how sick you are! What if something happens to you? You want to hold me responsible?" Looking at Kratos, he asked, "You must agree with me! We can't have this poor, defenseless little girl with us, right?"
"Actually…during that last fight, she seemed to be of more use that you were." Kratos smiled slightly, turning to leave the temple back the way they came. Chuckling with victory, Seles stuck her lounge out at Zelos and followed after him.
"Guess I have no choice…" Zelos sighed with defeat. "But I still don't trust him…" He muttered under his breathe, and followed after the other two back towards Meltokio so that they could begin their quest to regenerate the world.