After like a year of nothing from me I've decided to start the engine back up with something I've wanted to do for a long time. Hope you enjoy it.
I do not own ToS
Once upon a time, there existed a giant tree that was the source of all mana. A war, however, caused the tree to whither 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 the 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…
The morning air was cold and the wind was howling as it always did in the mountain side town of Asgard. The birds were singing and the streets were already bustling with excitement because today is no normal day. Today is the day of prophecy, the day the Chosen of Mana is to receive the oracle. Today is the beginning of the second journey for world regeneration.
This Chosen of Mana, however, wasn't what the people of Asgard would expect out of a Chosen. He was a carefree young man who enjoyed living his life away from all the hustle and bustle, he always had a smile on even when things were tough, and he could be found laying on the roof of his home starring up into the sky. And this is where we find him, lost deep in thought.
'Today's the day…' he took a deep breath, moved a stray piece of raven colored hair out of his eyes and began to slide down towards the edge of the roof. He stopped himself short of the edge and rolled onto his stomach, he shifted his weight to his arms and slowly found the windowsill of his bedroom window with his foot. Once he had his footing he slowly climbed down and into his room.
Once inside he looked around his room. There wasn't much in it, just a bed with a white comforter and two pillows, a desk with some papers and a map of Sylvarant with various locations marked, there was also a book on his desk that was not there the night before. "What's this?" He walked over and picked it up. It was brand new. He began flipping through the pages; they were all blank. 'Who in their right mind would give me a blank book?' he thought for a minute and began flipping the book in mid air from hand to hand almost juggling it.
"Wondering why someone gave you a blank book?" a voice behind him said
"Whoa!" He dropped the book, "Don't do that! You know I'm jumpy!" He picked the book back up turned to see his mother leaning against the door post in a very casual manner, as if it was normal for a woman to do this.
"Sorry" she laughed, "couldn't resist." She smiled at her son and walked forward, they stood eye level with each other. "And that book is for your journey. Spiritua won't be the only with a detailed description of the journey of regeneration if I have anything to do with it."
"Wait, you can't be serious? You expect me to write every detail of my journey in this book?" He looked at her horrified that his own mother would give him homework to do.
She put her hands up and shook her head, "Well not everything, just the juicy details," She winked, "so I can know the important things that happened from your perspective when you get back."
"Mom…you know that-" he looked down
She walked forward and lifted his chin with her finger "I have faith that you'll make it back to me in one piece." She starred at her son for a moment realizing how very handsome he had become, and smiled brightly, "But enough of that today is a happy day! It's not only the day of Prophecy but your eighteenth birthday."
She left the room grabbed something from the other side of the wall and came back. "Happy birthday Damien." She handed him a long box.
He took the box and placed it on the foot of his bed and opened it. "…" It was a new bow and a quill of about thirty arrows. The bow was made of Yew and Maple, with ivory tips. The arrows had green feathers at the base of the shaft and black arrowheads that shone. "…Thanks mom." He looked at her and smiled bright.
"I figured you would need something better than that piece of crap one you have." She smiled.
He walked over to his mom and hugged her tight. She put her chin on the top of his head and held him just as tight. "You come back to me. You hear me?" one tear rolled out of her eye.
A muffled "yes" came in reply.
She let go and he stepped back. She put her hands on his shoulders and began fidgeting his shirt around like it was impossible to make him look decent. "Now get dressed for school. Or you'll be late…again" with that last word she starred at him seriously. She turned and headed towards the door before she left and looked back at him taking him in. He was about 5 foot 9, with messy raven colored hair, and strong auburn eyes. 'So much like your father…'
"Yeah…ok." She left. 'I'll miss you mom…' he turned towards his dresser. "Alright time to get ready." He clapped his hands together and turned to his dresser, opened the top drawer and pulled out his clothes, a black jacket, a white shirt, a pair of white pants, and two gloves that went elbow as far as his elbows. He also pulled out a variety of gels, and a couple vials of Panacea. "Gonna need these." He got dressed and put the gels and vials into his brown satchel bag. He slung his bow over his available shoulder and tied his quill of arrows to his belt; it hung about a foot and a half above the floor of his room. Then he slipped on his brown boots, "Time for school," he walked downstairs grabbed a piece of toast from his mom and left for the school house.
The Center of Asgard
'Darn it…I'm gonna be late again.' He had always hated running through the crowds and dodging people left and right, 'Why couldn't we have lived in Iselia?' he mentally berated his mother for insisting they live in Asgard.
When he finally broke through the crowd a bright light shown in the valley that Asgard lay in. 'Greeeeaat…' he came to a screeching halt as all the people began one by one noticing the bright light began erupting in cheers. Damien looked to the southern skies and saw a pillar of light coming from the Balacruf Ruins. The cheers of joy grew even louder.
Damien drug his feet as he headed towards the town gates so he could go and receive the oracle, 'Sorta feels like a death march.' He smirked to himself
"You weren't seriously thinking about going to do this alone were you?!"
'Oh Damn…' He turned to see a blond haired girl running towards him. She had a very large broad sword on her back and wore a purple jacket, black shirt, black pants, and purple boots. "Hey I actually wanted to talk to you about that…"
"There's no talking I'm going with you. Going on a world regeneration journey by your self is suicide."
'If only you knew' "You're really serious?" He shot back.
"I told you yesterday at school I was going. And I always keep my promises." She pounded her fist on her chest proudly, "I'm going end of story." She walked right past him and headed towards the gates. He was dumbstruck. She turned her head to look back. "Well are you coming or not 'Chosen One'?" she giggled as he turned and walked right past her. 'You're so easily irritated. But that's why I like you.'
Balacruf Ruins
"This is it?" Damien looked around. The ruins were dark and full of wind. 'I wonder if the ruins themselves create the wind, or if it's the power of Sylph?'
"Quit your day-dreaming you have an oracle to receive you know." She walked in and headed straight for the altar.
"Watch out for traps," he called after her as he followed suit, "I heard its part of the first trial; monsters will attack and traps will hinder our progress. Or something like that I never paid much attention to the priests." He pulled an arrow from his quill and notched it. Holding the bow and arrow low he continued on.
Rose did the same, drawing her broad sword she readied herself to strike anything that came their way. They walked in silence, focusing on the task at hand: staying alive.
As they turned a corner Rose heard a click and reacting instinctively she jumped back as spikes shot out of the walls of the corridor met where she was previously standing. "Darn…that was too close." She stood back up and rubbed the back of her hand.
Damien looked at her for a moment then spoke "If it weren't for that exsphere you'd be dead." He jabbed her in the arm and smiled.
"Yeah it's because of this I can fight and carry this sword. All the townspeople look down on a girl who fights." Her face turned sour and spiteful
"They're idiots you know." He smiled at her, "I mean come on they named me the Chosen One. Compared to me you have it easy."
"Yeah that's true. You aren't very 'Chosen-like'." Her face brightened back up, "Let's go."
As they continued their trek through the dark halls of Balacruf a piercing shriek cut through the air like a hot knife. Rose froze and stood dead still her eyes wide with panic, she even seemed to stop breathing.
Damien knew instantly what was coming. "Rose snap out of it! It's just a harpy we can take her as long as you don't panic!" but he couldn't reach her. The shriek of a harpy is enough to petrify a full grown Egg Bear, it's the main weapon that a harpy possesses, and in this case Rose and Damien were on the menu and fresh to eat.
Damien readied his arrow to fire, and waited for the harpy to fly around the corner, "Rose you have got to wake up now!" The harpy came shooting out from around the corner and looked down at them from the ceiling where it hovered flapping its mighty wing arms wildly. "Suck on this!" Damien released the arrow and it grazed the harpy's ankle causing it to shriek even louder in rage. For a second Damien felt himself shake and stiffen but kept himself in the moment, 'Don't punk out in front of Rose man!'
He notched another arrow and pulled it back. 'Ok ok…spells…think man.' He tried to think of a spell he learned to summon lightning with but he couldn't remember. He fired the arrow and it stuck into the harpy's side. Damien wanted more to scare the harpy away then actually kill it. It shrieked again and feeling it took enough punishment the harpy dove for the human aiming to kill.
Damien barely dodged the large human/bird, it managed to lodge a talon into his shoulder; he had never felt so much pain all at once. Letting loose a painful yell Damien pulled out the talon and lodged another arrow; he was going to kill this thing before it killed them. He felt a surge of energy he had never felt before, "Chew on this! Lightning Shot!" Lightning began to run up and down his bow and purple mana swelled and gathered at the arrow's tip. When he fired the arrow the lightning followed the trail of his arrow and the dark corridor was lit up completely for a moment. The harpy shrieked just before the arrow struck it fiercely in the gut and a bolt of lightning cracked loudly and ran through its body, frying all its organs killing it instantly.
Taking deep, excited breaths Damien realized he had just used magic for the first time in his eighteen years of life. But the joy was short lived as he realized Rose was still petrified. "Hold on!" He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a panacea vial. Uncorking the vial he pressed the top to Rose's lips and gently lifted her chin tilting her head back. She was able to manage a swallow and then another. She blinked a couple times and looked at Damien, realizing how close and awkwardly they were standing next to each other jumped back, her face scarlet.
"Where the hell did that thing go?" she yelled looking around wildly preparing to strike anything that moved, her face still bright red.
He pointed to the dead bird that lay behind them, and she yelped and almost hit it with her sword, but upon realizing it was dead decided that wouldn't be the best thing. "How…?" she asked noticing the ground below and the ceiling above it were both charred, and that the harpy itself was burnt to a crisp, its beak cracked, and had two arrows in it.
"I cast a lightning spell on one of my arrows and shot the thing in the stomach. Cool huh?" he looked at his first skill with an odd feeling of manly pride and sympathy for the way it died.
"Yeah very cool, but what uh…happened to me?" she remember the strange way they were previously standing and how her mouth tasted all funny, then her face turned bright red again, "You PERVERT!!" She slapped him across the face, "I would never expect that from you! The boys in the village yes, but –"
"Whoa! Calm down! It's the panacea that you're tasting!" He rubbed his face and sat down defiantly. "You didn't have to hit me and call me a pervert! I could have left you there petrified."
"Oh…" now her face was red with embarrassment at her over reaction. "I'm –"
"Forget it, you just owe me one huh," He winked at her stood back up and slung his bow over his shoulder. "Let's keep going." He started to walk with his hand still had his hand on his cheek.
'Thanks.' She caught up with him as they walked into the darkness.
After a while one man walked out of the shadows and over to the dead harpy to look it over.
"He's already quite strong." Came a voice from the shadows, but no man stepped forward to claim it
"It is of little consequence. The plan is still in motion. Nothing has changed." The other spoke with finality and he had a commanding tone in his voice.
"Shall I have the men take care of the monsters?"
"Yes. We do not want our precious package damaged before we get to him ourselves."
"Understood" There were sounds of foots walking away.
'Very soon now…' The man in the light thought to himself a while then returned to the shadows
The Altar
After navigating through the ruins and fighting of a few monsters Rose and Damien both had various cuts and bruises.
"Well let's get this show on the road huh?" Damien winked at Rose and then stepped forward and bowed down on one knee and spoke clearly, "I have passed your trial o goddess Martel, please bestow upon me, Damien Lyonell, the second Chosen of Mana, the powers of the angels. Grant me thy strength."
Rose couldn't believe how professional Damien sounded, 'He never speaks so maturely and proper. Must be how the priests taught him. And he said he never paid attention.' Rose looked up as a bright light appeared above the altar. Damien kept his head bowed as the light relinquished one single feather the floated down and landed on top of his head.
He felt a burning sensation on his chest and neck but resisted the urge to scratch at it, everything was going the way the priests said it would. When the pain stopped he looked down and saw a crystal imbedded in a necklace attached to his skin. Then a booming voice spoke out loud enough for everyone in the valley of Asgard to hear. "We of Cruxis bless this event, the Cruxis crystal has been bestowed upon the Chosen. And now we bestow upon the world the Tower of Salvation."
'Why do you have to yell?' Damien stood, wrapped up in his thoughts and looked to the northeastern skies where now stood a tower that reached up to the heavens.
Rose gaped in awe at the size of the tower, 'How could something so large just appear without any earthquake?'
"Now…" the voice spoke only so Damien and Rose could hear, "Head north to the tower that gazes upon salvation offer your prayers in that distant land."
"Understood" Damien looked up at the light as he spoke.
"Very good, do not disappoint us." And the light faded away, "The transformation will not be without pain, stay strong, we are watching".
'Do not disappoint us? We are watching? Who do they think they are?' Damien stood there for a while. He looked back down at the Cruxis Crystal. It was green and very polished. 'So it begins…' he sighed deeply.
"What's wrong?" Rose took a step towards him
"Ah…nothing…sorry let's get out here" he laughed as he rubbed the back of his head and walked past Rose to the top of the stairs and waited.
"Ok" Rose shook her head as she walked towards the stairs and they descended them together.
Just Outside the Balacruf Ruins
"You notice there weren't any monsters on the way back?" Rose asked after stepping out into the brightness of the outside
"Yeah I did. We must have killed them all." Damien laughed and flexed his arm a little and slapped it.
"I believe you killed four and I killed six. "She stopped and counted on her fingers really quickly. "But there were a lot more in there I could tell."
"Well I personally never look a gift horse in the mouth." He shrugged his shoulders and continued walking.
"Yeah I suppose." She shrugged too. "So…where to now?"
"Luin I suppose. But there's a House of Salvation just east of Asgard we should stop there and see the priest."
"Why?"
"Its part of the Chosen 'Ritual' I have to let him know I've received the oracle or something like that." He shrugged his shoulders and hung his head, "It's really a drag having to go all over the world."
"Well it's technically your job you know."
"Technically, yeah it is my job, if you could call saving the world a job." He shrugged his shoulders again and with renewed vigor headed west towards the House of Salvation.
"Stop," A rough voice shouted
"Who the…" Damien whipped around and ducked just as a flash of silver slashed past where his head just was
The man raised his sword again to bring it down on Damien's skull. At this point Rose had stepped in and blocked the stranger's sword with her much larger broad sword.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!" she struggled to hold him back
"Hmph," he ducked quickly and the force Rose was putting into holding him back caused her to fall forward. As she fell forward the man grabbed her shoulder with his free hand and threw her towards the ground
"Whoa!" Rose tried to correct her self but the momentum of her sword had thrown her off balance
"Stop," Damien managed to draw and ready an arrow in the confusion and pointed straight at the man's throat.
"Hmph…Very good Chosen One." The man was garbed in white and blue and had auburn hair.
"What are you talking about? Who the hell are you? And why did you try and kill us?" Damien was furious; it took all his will power not to release his arrow, but his will could not stop the lightning from crackling at the tip. He looked over at Rose who was know standing as well ready to kill this man if he made any moves
"I am Kratos, a mercenary. I was hired by your mother and the Mayor of Asgard to look after you."
"Look after us?" Rose shouted with a laugh, "You just tried to kill us!"
"Hmph…" Kratos dismissed her comment and stood causing Damien and Rose to flinch and prepare themselves for another fight, "The mayor requested I test your skills upon finding you to see if you had indeed received the oracle." He turned his eyes towards Damien's cruxis crystal, "And seeing as how you dodged my blade so quickly, it is clear that you have received the cruxis crystal." He sheathed his sword and crossed his arms.
"My mom huh?" Damien thought for a moment still pointing his arrow at Kratos' throat. "What was she like?"
"If I had to say from meeting her only once, I would have to say she was very nonchalant about the whole situation. She confronted me with the same lack of respect as you do." Kratos sized him up, "You bear her little resemblance."
"Yeah I know, she says I'm like an exact copy of my dad, except for my hair and eyes." Damien put the arrow in its quill and slung his bow back over his shoulder, "Well looks like you were hired by mom."
"Damien?" Rose looked warily at Damien. He nodded deftly and she sheathed her sword in its bracket.
"Well let's get moving." Damien turned back towards the west, 'I still don't trust you. I don't know there's just something about the way you attacked us. It was fierce and swift. Almost like how…no couldn't be…' he looked back at Kratos who still had his arms crossed and was staring back at Damien, "What? See something you like?" he spat
"Hmph…the Chosen should not use such vulgarities." He intensified his glare at the boy, 'And he is supposed to house her soul.' "This is going to be a nuisance…"
"What is?" Damien spat back not even bothering to look at Kratos anymore.
"Nothing let's just keep going."
'What is it with those two?' Rose was confused. "By the way I'm-"
"Rose Leonna, I know. I suggest you conserve what little strength you have for walking." Kratos dismissed her again, all his attention on Damien.
'Now I know…ass…' she crossed her arms and sped up her pace to walk next to Damien.
Outside the House of Salvation
Damien sighed heavily. "Glad that's over, I hate talking like that. All that 'Thus' and 'Thy' and 'Shall'. It's all way to stuffy for my tastes."
"Then you lack the qualities and tastes that made your predecessor an excellent Chosen." Kratos smirked to himself as they headed north toward Luin.
"Anyway…" Rose ran up to Damien just as he was about to call Kratos a few choice words and hugged his arm tight staring up into his eyes, "Where to?"
'Wow, her eyes are beautiful…' Damien was just staring
"Well…?" she asked again
"O uh…Luin" He laughed and rubbed the back of his head as they left the house of salvation for the horizon.
Back inside the House of Salvation
"Where's the Chosen old man?" a soldier garbed in blue shouted
"I will not tell you Desians anything." The priest backed away from the small platoon
"Desians?" one of the soldiers laughed
"You Desians wish to do the Chosen harm! I will not allow it!" the priest found some courage and stepped forward.
"If you hate the Desians so much then die by their hands." One soldier rushed to kill the priest
"Luin!" he shouted, and the soldier stopped just inches away from slitting the priest's throat.
"See? Was that so hard to say?" the soldiers all laughed at the holy man's weakness and left one by one.
When they had all left the priest fell to his knees and clutched his heart, "May the goddess have mercy on me, and protect the Chosen."
Outside
"My lord, the Chosen and his group are headed towards Luin." The soldiers had lined up and all saluted a man with black spiked hair in a black cloak.
"Very good men, now, give chase to our prey. Kill anyone that would stand in your way."
"But My Lord, Lord-" the soldier couldn't finish what he was saying. Their leader had picked him up by the throat
"You question my orders? I know what HE said, and HE gives me enough license to make executive decisions as well. Thus it is my executive decision that if we are to play the part of the Desians these people so hate, we must kill anyone that gets in our way. Should we not?" The man looked for any sign of disagreement on his soldier's faces. When he was satisfied that no one else questioned him he dropped the soldier in the dirt. And kneeled down to his ear, "If you question me again, you will not lie on top of the dirt, rather you will lie under it, and then slowly but surely become the very dirt that surrounds you." He stood back up and dusted of his cloak, "Now go!"
"Sir!" all the men saluted and ran towards Luin.
Two Days Later in Luin
After arriving in Luin and speaking to the Priests there to let them know how the journey for regeneration was progressing, Damien and his group went to the inn to rest before heading to the next seal at the Tower of Mana. The room they received was on the second floor and had three beds set perpendicular to the back wall, and by the window was a small table and matching chair. It had a chest of drawers if they chose to stay longer but they wouldn't need it. Kratos took a breath and set his things down next to what would be his bed and sat at the edge. Rose went to the middle bed, seeking to separate Kratos and Damien as much as possible. Damien instead went to the window to gaze up at the clouds and look at the people below.
"So here's the plan," Damien was staring out the window as Kratos began going over tomorrow's events, "we will head to the Tower of Mana with three Priests. They will open the door and stand on the daises located inside the Tower so that we may proceed without having to worry about splitting up. We will go through all the traps of the Tower and you," He looked over at Damien who was now waving like an idiot to some girls on the ground outside the inn, "will offer your prayers. Are you listening?" Kratos at this point had folded his arms and stood up.
"Huh?" Damien looked back and noticed the now standing swordsman. He turned fully around and looked Kratos in the eye, "did you say something?"
Kratos did not visibly seem shaken by this blatant act of ignoring him while he spoke, but his insides raged. 'This is going to be a nuisance…' "I was only going over the plans for tomorrow, oh 'Chosen One'." Kratos voice almost sounded more irritated than usual.
"Oh come on Kratos. You really think I don't know the plan? You really think I don't care about regenerating the world? Do you really?" Damien took a step toward Kratos.
"It would seem that way to me." Kratos took a step towards Damien as well. The air between them started to thicken.
"Well I do care. More than you," He sized Kratos up really quick, "could possibly understand 'mercenary'."
"Hmph," Kratos turned his back on him, "then start acting like it." Kratos left the room and closed the door behind him.
Damien growled to himself as he sat at the table, "That guy," Damien slammed his fist on the table, "he irks me. He really does Rose." He shook his head.
"Yeah I can tell." Rose was kind of wary about what she said to him, he seemed kind of volatile today. He wasn't his usual cheery self. "Are you feeling okay?" Her face contorted into a mix of sadness and concern for her dear friend.
Damien sighed, closed his eyes and rubbed the bride of his nose. "Yeah, I just haven't been sleeping is all."
"You haven't slept since Balacruf?" Rose stayed where she was at the edge of her bed.
"Obviously not…" Damien sighed and looked out the window. 'This is going to be tough.'
"Oh well." Rose was a little hurt by his bluntness, he was never like that before all of this started.
Realizing his mistake Damien turned back to Rose, "I'm sorry Rose, I just need some rest, or some air." He crossed the room and gave her a quick hug of apology before going back to the window and opening it.
"What are you doing?" Rose stood up as Damien took a few steps back from the now wide open window.
"Something I've been meaning to try." He looked at Rose and winked, "It'll be fun." He judged the distance quickly before getting into a running position and taking off for the window.
Rose didn't have any time to jump in front of him as he jumped and rotated himself so he was now facing the ceiling as he went through the window. "Damien!" Rose ran to the window and looked frantically for him.
"Looking for me?"
Rose looked up and saw Damien flying above the inn, "Don't do that! Get back in here!"
"Nah, I think I'll stay out here where its airy." He winked and flew higher flipping and doing assorted acrobatics as he did so.
Rose just smiled. 'There's that happy boy I know and love…wait love?'
"I'll be back!" Damien shouted as he flew off into the mid-day sky towards the south. He saw a small lake that he wanted to check out on the outskirts of Luin.
He had never felt so free than he had just then. His emerald wings supported his flight perfectly. 'Let's speed it up.' He thought to himself as he flapped his wings harder. He whooped and spread his arms out as he flew through the sky. So free and so joyous, 'This is what I…' suddenly he dropped out of the sky and fell towards the ground. As he fell his world began to blacken, and the sound of the wind beating against his ear drums was drowned out…
So that's the first chapter. Hope you liked it. I won't tell you to R&R because if you wanted to, you would.
Expect the next one soon!.is ear drums was drowned out. en, and the sound of the wind beating against his ear drums was drowned out. flhing to "Tower s