I'm back! Time to get to how Lata is after the 7 year break in the game and to show a bit more about how I think the attack on Orlen happened. Please Read, Enjoy, and Review :3
Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Graces F; they did a good job on pairings even without me :3 All I own are my OCs :3
7 years later
It was dark, so unbelievably dark. The friendly stars hadn't come out from behind the thick blanket of clouds and this night was the one night in the month when the light of the moon was absent. Eyes were almost useless in the darkness that surrounded the small village but I walked towards the trees confidently. I only stumbled when my foot came into contact with an unexpected object on the ground.
As the object came into a fuzzy black and white focus, I could feel the bile burning in my heart. In that moment, an orangish-yellow light exploded in the background. I whipped around to see the source only to find the entire ground littered with things very similar to what I had just recognized had tripped over.
The light from the fires glowed off of the bodies on the ground, filling the area with a gruesome light. A strangled sound came from my mouth as my eyes landed on three bloodied figures off to the side. Shakily, my hands went up to my face and covered my eyes as I fell to my knees and let out a piercing scream.
Warm light greeted me as my eyes flew open. The familiar wooden ceiling was above me as it usually was; I wasn't outside, it wasn't dark, and I wasn't the only one left. For a few minutes, I simply lay there in my bed, trying to slow my frantic heartbeat. This wasn't the first time I had woken from a nightmare like this, something that either held ill omens or showed a past I didn't remember.
Sliding out from under the covers, I noticed that a cold sweat that covered my skin from the nightmare. With a sigh, I headed to the bathroom to wash off. Finally clean, I pulled her hair back in the usual double ponytail, fastening some holders around it to stop it from poofing out, and got dressed before returning to my room.
It was just another day; no burning and no death. There should be no reason for such a nightmare to affect me, but the emotions showed no sign of fading and every detail was still crystal clear. Caught up in my thoughts, I didn't notice the door opening or the hurried footsteps that swept across my room.
"La-ta~!" A sing-song voice came from right next to my ear as arms encircled me, making me jump. "You okay?" The voice asked as the arms let go so the other girl could stand in front of me with a worried look.
"Yeah," I said, forcing a smile onto my face. "You just startled me, El."
"You sure?" The girl asked, still looking worried.
I nodded, studying the two braids resting on the rest of El's hair to avoid meeting her expressive eyes. "I'm sure that I'm fine, okay?"
"That's good," Elfleda smiled, not noticing that I couldn't meet her gaze. "Mom sent me up to get you for breakfast."
"Okay," I said, happy for the distraction. "What's for breakfast?" I asked as we headed down the stairs.
"Rice Porridge," El answered.
"As usual," I said with a smile, walking into the dining room where Lorraine was setting the table. "Good morning Lorraine."
"Morning, sleepyhead," Lorraine said as she looked up from setting the porridge on the table. "You're just in time."
El and I took our seats on each side of the table with a smile. As Lorraine passed me the Rice Porridge, I put some into my bowl and passed the Porridge on to Elfleda. In Orlen, Rice Porridge was a common dish since the rice was easy to get and the tea fields were right outside the woods so we almost always had an ample supply of tea leaves.
"Where's dad?" Elfleda asked after taking a bite. "Did he already head out to work?"
Lorraine nodded. "He ate earlier then headed out. He wanted to finish earlier than usual today since it'll be too dark to work at night."
"Too dark?" I asked, fear bubbling up in my chest. 'Please don't let it be the same… please don't-'
"It's a new moon tonight," Lorraine confirmed what I had feared. Silently, I set down my spoon and stood up with my bowl only half empty.
"I'm going to go see Brandi," I said, picking up my dishes. "Thanks for the meal, Lorraine."
I quickly put my dishes away and headed out of the house, too absorbed in my thoughts to notice the worried look simmering in Elfleda's eyes. Usually I would wait for her to finish eating before leaving but right now, I needed something to take my mind off of that dream – vision – or whatever it had been.
I paused slightly before knocking on the door to my teacher's house. A clanking sound came from the other side before the door swung open to welcome me into its mechanical depths. My teacher was nowhere to be found in the jumble of machines that greeted me but I knew where she would be.
A machine-clear path led to a large room towards the back of the house and the air buzzed with the sound of all of the machines around me. There was the usual sound of clanking but there was also a barely audible high pitched buzzing from the machines' power source.
I walked along the path, a click behind me alerting me to the fact that the door had closed itself behind me. My head ached a bit from the unusual yet somehow familiar high pitched whine but, later, that ache was the only indicator that the sound was still there once it faded from my hearing. As I approached the end of the walkway, a mostly machine-free room opened up in from of me.
Stepping out into the room, I saw a familiar vested figure at the end of the room. The figure's red and white hair was pulled back and tied at the nape of her neck and fell to her waist. It swung back and forth as they shook their head in annoyance with the malfunctioning object in front of them.
"Brandi," I called out as I walked over to her. "What are you working on this time?"
The hair wrapped itself around the person's torso as she spun around to face me. Her left hand held the object she had been tinkering with behind her back, out of my sight, while the other came to rest on her hip. "Just another idea I had."
The strict look on Brandi's face stopped any other questions from crossing my lips. "Okay, I guess," I said, shrugging. This wasn't the first time I had caught my mentor working on something she wouldn't show me.
"What is it child?" Brandi asked, her perceptive eyes picking up the start of a worried frown on my face.
'I'm not a child anymore: I'm 20 years old already,' I stopped myself from voicing the thought; it wouldn't do anything but make Brandi annoyed with me. "I had a bad dream, that's all."
The Armenian gave me an unbelieving look but let it go. "So? Why are you here?"
"Practice," I started. "I felt like getting some practice in."
Brandi regarded me for a bit before speaking. "Just warm up in here," she said. "Once you're done with that, go out into the woods to fight against the monsters there."
"Yes Ma'am."
My last opponents in the woods were wolves. Two Wolf Cubs waited behind an older wolf for an opportunity to attack or simply for protection; either one worked for me.
I grabbed my Brandistock from where it was strapped onto my back and held it ready. The Wolf rushed forward, trying to finish this battle in the first strike but was knocked into the air as I swung my staff in an upwards arc.
Another strike sent the Wolf crashing into a tree. The cubs yipped in agitation and leapt forward only to cower back to avoid a sweeping strike. With them far enough away, I began casting the only long-distance spell I knew.
"Flickering blaze, burn: Fireball!" I called out, aiming at the mostly unconscious Wolf. Five Fireballs arched towards my helpless enemy and they each seemed to explode when they came into contact with the Wolf. There was the smell of burning fur and flesh before the monster let out a screech and collapsed, deathly silent and unmoving.
"One down," I said, casting away the thoughts that threatened to invade my mind. "Two to go…" In a single, smooth movement I twirled my staff and planted one end on the ground. A sharpened spear point popped up from the top of the staff and locked into place.
With the spear head out, I spun my weapon again and pointed it towards the two Wolf Pups in a silent challenge. They accepted the challenge with growls and loped towards me. As they got within striking distance, I stabbed the spear head into the ground.
"Volcanic Burst," I called out as ripples of fire erupted from where my spear pierced the ground. Both cubs wailed in fear and pain as the fire consumed them. Once their cried had been silenced, I retracted the spear point and set my Brandistock back onto my back before starting to pick up anything that would be useful. All I could salvage was a bit of charred fur and a chunk of meat.
After carefully wrapping my prizes and putting them away into my bag, I cast a look around to see where I was. There was more light filtering through the trees than usual, suggesting that I was near the edge of the forest. Shouldering my bag, I walked along the well trodden path towards the open tea fields that separated us from the capital, Barona.
Thinking back, I had probably figured that Lorraine was probably running low on tea leaves by then so it would be a good idea to gather some for her. I went to the edge of the tea field and started to gather the outlying leaves, the scent of them smothering all the other scents. After gathering about 25 fresh tea leaves for Lorraine, I turned back towards the forest, only to see a pillar of smoke drifting above the trees. Fire was something that was almost only used for lighting and warmth in Orlen and there was almost never any outbreaks of fire from those alone.
I carefully but quickly stuffed the tea leaves into my bag and put the strap over my shoulder before running off down the path towards the village. Many desperate thoughts ran through my mind during that time but all I can remember was that maybe they were burning the old stumps to make room for new trees to grow, or maybe my nightmares were coming true.
As I got closer to Orlen, I had to slow down because the air was so thick with smoke. Screams rung in the air and tears fell down my face as the smoke stung my eyes. I couldn't let this happen! Desperately, I searched my mind for any water spell I knew but I couldn't remember any and the situation wasn't doing much to help with that. It was then that I saw the creatures, wolf-like things with glowing eyes that pierced right through me. They were attacking the village, killing the villagers, burning everything down with the strange beams they shot from their mouths.
I stared that the scene in shock until one of the creatures turned towards me, its eyes locking onto its new prey. No fire spell was going to save me from this kind of wolf. The instinct to survive took over as I turned and fled back into the forest, weaving in and out of the trees in an attempt to lose the wolf. Where was Elfleda? Where was Lorraine? Where were the foresters? Had the wolves found them first then followed their trails back to the village? A burning hot beam scathed my side, driving all the other thoughts out of my head as I ran for my life, deeper into the forest.
Nice cliffy at the end :3 Sorry I haven't updated for so long I got stuck on the fight scene against the first wolves and couldn't think of how to continue it till a few days ago. Hope I didn't make you wait too long :3 Anywho, please review so I can know what you think. Just saying that you like it is perfectly fine and I am totally open to constructive criticism (Not Flames).
-Kazane Hime
