I did read the reviews and, honestly, I felt a bit afraid of continuing the story. I am assuming that anyone that played the game would get bored reading too many details, but I tried to make it a bit better this time around. And if you're wondering, yes, I had half of this chapter written already by the time I got the reviews. I'm not complaining about the criticism, in fact, I like it. That's why, if you guys can tell me if this chapter is better than the first one, that would be a great help. Thanks in advance.
Just to be safe, I do not own ANY of the characters in this.
Also, any similarities with real life facts are mere coincidence.
Teaching Tia all she would need to know about the book would take some time but at least she was trying.
"And that is a Metalize tablet! Go on! Code Scan it!"
Tia did as ordered, wondering how people would react to see her doing that. Code Scanning wasn't hard and Tia would be really glad if that was all the work she would have to do though she knew that this would be too easy to be true. Rempo kept going on about hidden tablets and codes and mental maps and how Tia would be able to 'change' things with the book by manipulating codes into the mental maps.
"This sounds too surreal," she thought, not really sure if she believed this was a dream anymore.
The book had space for four codes, which meant she could keep 4 codes in it to use in other pages. It sounded handy even though she had no idea if she'd use it at all. That was until they faced a Goblin.
"It looks pretty hard. There must be some reason…" Rempo mumbled. "Hey Tia! Code scan it!"
It had three stone codes. Tia had to run in circles while moving the codes around before facing the goblin again.
"I'll just slip this here," she thought as she added some ill code on the goblin. It surely enough made it easier to kill and Tia thought she could actually have fun defeating monsters like that. She could if she had the guts to fight, which she didn't. She knew that much. So after killing one goblin another one spawned and she ran away back to Kaleila.
It was surprisingly how Rempo could change forms. At one second he'd be a small flame, on the next one he could be the size of a child and other ones he'd be as small as a fairy. Tia barely had time to get used to everything since he kept teaching her.
"Try code scanning that soldier!" He said merrily.
"Are you crazy?" She mumbled, afraid that the soldier could hear them.
"He won't know what you're doing. Go on! You need to scan everything!"
Every new thing that was scanned got a new page of their own. Maps, people, monsters, weapons, metalizes and even food. Rempo mentioned Future visions and Tia got scared to even think about them. She never liked to think about the future. In fact, she never liked to think about any way around. The present was all she had, that was her belief.
At Rhoan Town Tia would usually go as far as the Central Park but because of the book she decided to look around a bit further. With the book she saw a girl that she never saw before.
"Hi there! I'm Meenya!" The girl greeted them merrily.
Tia had to hold some laugh when the girl saw Rempo and he became a small flame to hide behind her back. One of the things he said picked her interest though. Spiritual people. She wanted to ask but he just kept urging her to keep going, so she did. Until she was in front of her own house.
"Why did you stop?" Tempo asked, mildly curious.
"My house," she mumbled.
"Aw, your house, eh? Wanna step in?"
She did. And inside she gave a good look.
"It feels like I won't see this place anymore," she whispered.
"You will," Rempo said. "The faster you fill the book, the faster you'll be back home!" He cheered.
But that didn't cheer Tia at all. Though there was something that would.
"Tia is taking longer than usual," Fana thought, looking through the window.
Fana had been sickly ever since she could remember. Her parents were deceased already so the one taking care of her was Helen, her grandmother. Even though the old woman had always did her best she was old after all and Fana knew she wouldn't stay around for that long.
"I wish there was something I could do too," she sighed while giving the last stitch on a plushie she was working on before tossing it to the side.
That's when some voices came from downstairs and she perked up. "She came after all," she thought, unwrinkling her clothes and trying to seem as healthy as she could. It didn't take long and Tia was standing beside her. Usually Tia would be pretty talkative but today she was quiet. She was holding a big book and Fana couldn't help but to ask.
"What is that book?" She pointed.
"It is the Book of Prophecy," Tia said, handing the book to Fana.
"Sounds Complex," Fana said, giving it a look before giving it back. "Are those foreign letters? I doubt I could read it."
Tia smiled but even that seemed fake and Fana started to get worried. What if Tia was getting in trouble because of that book and didn't want to tell her?
"I wouldn't be able to do anything for her, even if I wanted," she thought, clenching her fists. But she wanted to cheer her up, so she continued to smile. "You have to tell me what this book is about when you finish reading it, okay?"
"I will," Tia promised. "Now I will be going, sorry for coming so late today."
"Don't worry," Fana shrugged it away. "I'm glad you took your time to visit an old friend though. Thanks."
Downstairs Helen server Tia some bread and she took the chance to scan it before taking it to eat. Her heart was feeling heavy and she couldn't help but to look at the page where Fana had been scanned.
"Ill, huh? I wonder if there is something I could do for her."Tia thought.
"Say… that girl. She is sick, right?" Rempo asked, as if reading her thoughts. Tia was surprised but she only nodded in response. "She doesn't have much time left," he continued, and Tia's expression became sorrowful. "What? Do you want to save her?"
"Of course!" Tia said instantly, almost shouting.
"Then we will work on it later on. But for now we have more important things to do."
Tia was getting exhausted of scanning things around. And when there were no more places she could go or people she knew she forced herself to go to the one place she had been avoiding all the way.
"So, you've finally come," the tall, silver haired man said as soon as Tia walked in. "I bet you were napping in the fields again."
Tia was a bit surprised that he knew about her napping spot. And wondered why he never went there to get her if he knew about it.
"Maybe he didn't want me as his apprentice after all," were her thoughts.
"The fact that you're here must mean you want to learn again," he continued, and Tia fought the urge to run away.
She didn't know why she was doing it, but there she was. She looked to her side to see what Rempo's expression would be, but he was silent, as if studying her master. After some awkward silence Gustav finally broke it asking her to show him her fight stance. So she did, and he reprimanded her.
"Don't listen to him, Tia! You're the Chosen One!" Rempo lifted her spirits.
Gustav finally gave in, showing her to a secret passage. "Meet me at the end of it," he instructed. "If you're capable of doing it, that is."
After saying those words he marched forward into the dungeon. Rempo seemed fired up to defeat Gustav but Tia wasn't so much. She still wondered why he decided to teach her instead of the other guys in town. For sure there were people more fit to be his apprentice than her. But there she was, fighting wood bones, living spikes and the weak muls. Getting to the last room she found some vases with water and drinking from them made her feel refreshed enough to the battle she was about to face. Gustav himself was at the end of the dungeon.
"I will teach you my special technique, whirlwind blades. Watch me closely," he told her, showing how the movement was made.
Tia had never seen something like that, Rempo on the other hand felt like watching a ballerina with swords on her hands.
"Scary," he thought, while watching Tia try and fight her master. She had taken a bunch of bruises already and Rempo thought she wouldn't do it.
"You give up?" Gustav asked.
"Not yet," she said, panting and opening the book. "Sorry about that master," she thought as she scanned him and took all his codes, removing the ill code from the goblin and putting it on him. It felt like cheating but it made it much easier to defeat him.
"Haha! I knew you could do it. You just had to try it," he patted her, proudly. Tia could only smile.
Tia had turned her back to him and was getting ready to leave when she heard him call her.
"Tia," Gustav started, "remember you have a harsh future ahead. Train your mind, body and soul to be ready for what's to come."
Tia didn't know what to do with that information but she thanked him anyway before leaving.
Rex had noticed the fuss inside the castle from outside. Something about an imperial soldier sneaking inside.
"That could be my chance to show that old geezer that I am more fit to be his apprentice than Tia," he thought. Rumors said that the imperial guard had gone downtown. If only he could find the guard before anyone else and defeat it…
"Tia…?"
He stopped in his heels when he saw the young girl talking with the mayor in the Central Park. In reality it was the contrary, the mayor boasting about his qualities as an elf while Tia heard everything, not sure if it'd be rude to scan him or not, but all Rex could see was Tia talking with someone important. Finally someone called the mayor to do his duties and Rex thought it'd be the best chance to show himself. So he unhid from behind the fountain to greet her.
"Hey Tia," he waved, noticing a book in her hands. "What's that? A book? Don't you think it is too late to try and be literate?" He joked with sarcasm.
"Damn, why do I need to be a jerk with her? It is not her fault," he thought, incapable of changing his bad attitude nonetheless.
"It is just a book," she said.
"But you're carrying it," he teased, pointing to the book. "There are two kinds of people, the haves and the have not. We are have not Tia, remember that," were his words before leaving her.
"Damn it! I need to find that imperial guard! Or I'll never be able to talk with her properly." He thought while dashing towards the fortune-teller alley.
"Maybe he is right," Tia mumbled.
"If you think so I'll just burn this world to ashes right now," Rempo said, pissed off.
Tia shook her head. As much as it hurt her to see Rex hate her, sheh couldn't do anything to change that. At least, that's what she believed.
"I'm used to that," she said before finally moving to the road to castle.
There, soldiers were running all around. Screams were heard and a cat almost crashed into Tia's leg.
"Wow, what's going on here?" Rempo asked as his eyes followed the cat. And when he looked back to Tia she was on the ground. Turning around he noticed another girl in pompous clothes was also on the ground.
"Quit standing in my way!" She screamed, fussing and cussing.
"Here comes another weirdo," Rempo sighed.
The cat came back and the girl mentioned an Imperial soldier in town. For a second Tia's thought wandered to Sunny Hills and the monster she had fought. "It couldn't be, right?" she wondered, hopeful.
"Hmph, what's with this girl?"
Dorothea was the princess of Rhoan and was a spoiled brat. Of course she didn't think about herself like that, but that's what most people told about her anyway.
"Say, you're from the downtown, right?" She asked, trying to be as composed as she could. The girl in front of her nodded furiously.
"O ho ho! How lucky I am," she thought, pointing to Tia in a bossy manner. "Then show me around! I need to find him!"
"Him?" Tia asked, confused.
"That's none of your business," she waved her hand. "Just show me around. It is an order!"
The girl in front of her seemed utterly confused and for a second Dorothea thought she'd run away, but in the end she sighed and agreed to help. But they didn't need to go too far to find him. In fact, it was more like the Imperial Guard found them instead.
"Just like the other one," Tia thought, holding the book closer. And when the soldier turned into another monster and almost killed the princess' cat Tia didn't have any other choice other than fight. And even though the monster was gone in a few whirlwind blades there was nothing to celebrate as Guri Guri was dying.
"Tia! Use the book!" Rempo ordered.
Tia had to search around the pages for the right codes: Hope and Light. Those codes saved Guri Guri's life but the guards and the maids, even Dorothea herself, were speechless.
"Turn around!" One of the guards commanded. "She's a witch! She will curse us all!"
She wasn't sure if using the book could be considered sorcery. Rempo made it sound as if it was a miracle. Before she could decide on what do to, some purple smoke appeared from nowhere, involving everyone inside it.
"What was that?"
The red haired woman watching the scene couldn't believe it when she saw a little girl defeating a demon. And it was even harder to believe it when she watched her save the princess cat with the help of a book.
"It's been a long time since I've seen someone needing a book to do sorcery. Unless…"
Realization hit her as hard as a stone and when she saw the guards making a fuss she decided she would have to act fast.
"This power can't fall on the wrong hands," was what she believed. That's mostly why Nanai helped Tia to escape, without knowing that by helping Tia she was only making the girl's life harder.
"Come," she lead Tia to her house. "I'm Nanaida Seer, but you can call me Nanai. Don't worry, you will be safe with me."
Back in her house, Nanai showed Tia to her crystal ball, hoping she'd be able to find out more about her. But it failed. Whatever was the magic source of the girl, it was strong enough to resist her own magic.
"Interesting. Come here, I want to show you something," she asked. Tia followed her to a big stone tablet with various inscriptions written in it.
"This is a family relic. Do you see the inscriptions? They're prophecies. Only a proper shaman can read these glyphs." Nanai explained.
The girl surely managed to read them, because slowly her face was getting pale and her legs were giving in.
"Oh dear, are you okay?" Nanai asked. "She must be the one!" She thought. "I need to keep her here until I decide what to do with her!"
"Something smells fishy."
Rempo was worried with Tia. She managed to read the glyphs and he was proud of her for that because that was yet another proof that she was, indeed, the chosen one. But the state of her mind after reading them wasn't exactly what he had expected.
"Be careful, we shouldn't trust her," he told Tia. One second too late.
"Damn, I told you to be careful!" He screamed as he watched Tia fall from the hole that had suddenly opened under her. Flying after her in a flash he wondered if there was any way to make her fall less subtle. There was none.
His luck is that Tia was more resistant than she looked. By the time Rempo got to the end of the hole, sweating and dying of worry, he noticed that she was breathing. No bones seemed to be broken too.
"Phew… how lucky can this girl be?" He thought, brushing some hair out of her face and watching her unconscious self. She moved and he gave some distance.
"Good, you're awake. Didn't I tell you to be careful?" He scolded.
"Sorry, I was feeling weak," she said, rubbing the back of her head. "Where is this place?"
"Probably the underground of Nanai's house. Come on, we should get out of here."
That dungeon was larger than Gustav's and it had a lot more of switches and some new monsters like the element skull. By the end of the maze there was a warp that got the two back to Nanai's house. But she wasn't anywhere to be found. Before they could leave the place two soldiers showed up.
"You're a Waisen Spy!" They claimed. "We're taking you in! Now come quietly!"
"What did that old hag do?" Rempo thought as he saw the scene. "If I don't do something, Tia will go to jail. That'll be the end of us all!"
"Damn it! I should burn the whole lot of them to a crisp!" He shouted.
Tia only shook her head, sadness and confusion clearly overwhelming her.
"Do something, Tia!" Rempo ordered.
But all she did was to follow them obediently. Watching everything from afar, Nanai watched in expectation.
"I did the right thing… Right, grandma?" she mumbled to herself.
At the castle gates Rempo wouldn't stop complaining.
"I have a bad feeling about it," he said. Longing, pride, curses… they're swirling around us!"
They got to the audience chamber pretty fast and there, King Xenonbart was waiting, as well as Dorothea. The princess seemed to recognize Tia.
"So," Xenonbart started, "you're saying this child is a Waisen Empire spy?"
The soldiers just repeated all the accusations made earlier, making up some more by themselves and reinforcing the use of black magic.
"This is frustrating," Tia thought. "If I knew this would happen I wouldn't have left my house at all."
"Wait a minute!" The princess intervened. "This kid isn't from Waisen! The Waisen monsters are totally a lot bigger! And they look like… a horse with a giant sickle! The most fearsome thing I've seen!"
"She's not much help," Rempo mumbled and Tia smiled.
"That's enough!" The King shouted, in all his majestic way. "Punishment for betrayal is death! As the law says, your head will be hung on the castle gates!" He said as he approached Tia. He was standing right in front of her when he sighed, "But could this young girl really be a traitor?"
"I saw it for myself!" A guard claimed.
"You're wrong!" The princess cried.
"No! You were fooled!" Rempo complained.
Seemed like everyone at the audience chamber had something to say, and Xenonbart wasn't in a good mood.
"Listen to me!" He shouted, and all the voices went quiet. "We are all children of this sacred kingdom. Citizens of Glorious Kaleila that's prospered for 1000 years! I cannot make the grave error of passing judgment on an innocent. One is innocent until proven guilty. I am your Holy King Xenonbart! A king of fairness and benevolence!"
Some soldier advised to get Tia in jail and Rempo seemed shocked.
"Until the truth is known," was what they said.
Xenonbart could be called gullible for agreeing with it. He left the place as soon as the verdict was given. Dorothea came to talk with Tia.
"So you really don't know about Prince Valdo?" She asked, then explained why she wanted to met the imperial soldier.
Turns out that she was only wanting to hear news about him and that's why she was looking for the imperial soldier. "Hmph! If you have no news for me, then I'm leaving! And I only stood up for you because you saved Guri Guri. This makes us even!"
"Even? How? That princess is useless!" Rempo said, pissed off.
"I feel sorry for her," Tia thought as she turned around to follow the guards.
They started to brag about how the King was a busy man and how he'd often forget about the prisoners. Apparently, Tia would be left there to die.
"If we stay here forever, the next world will be a jail cell!"
"You're not helping, Rempo!" Tia scolded.
Tia was hitting each and every stone from the jail cell, looking for one that would be loose enough for her to start making a hole. It didn't mean it would work but she didn't want to die there.
"Maybe the book of prophecy could help," Rempo suggested.
Tia heard a sound coming from under the ground and started to move in the sounds direction. A box that was hiding a hole on the ground was removed and a man showed up through it.
"Pipe down in there!"
Tia and Rempo stayed quiet and watched for a second.
"Did you see that Tia? Maybe it is a way out!" Rempo said, hopeful.
"Let's go then!" She cheered, jumping through the hole.
There they found the man again. He turned to be shorter than Tia, but what was most impressive was the huge mountain of treasure hidden in there.
"Who the heck are you?"
The man whose name was forgotten already wasn't very used to having guests.
"If you're criminals, go back to your jail as you're supposed to," he bossed around. The girl didn't seem like a bad person though she couldn't take her eyes out of his treasure.
"Heh heh. Surprised? I'm the true king of this castle! But don't ask my name. I abandoned it years ago! Call me whatever you like."
"It should be Fro," the girl said after some thinking. He liked the sound of it.
"Sure, call me whatever you like. This castle is only a shadow from what it was, but I know it all very well. All the hidden passages, the secret rooms…"
"Do you know one that could let us out of here?" The girl asked.
"Us? I don't want to get out of here, this is my castle after all," he said, pretending to be offended. But I don't mind helping you out. But it will cost you, I will tell you!"
"I don't have money with me," Tia said, hoping he wouldn't ask for the book instead.
"I already have a lot of money, that would be useless for me. What I'm looking is for my hat. I lost it somewhere along this path and I can't find it. Go and find it for me and I will lead you out."
"That's a deal then!" The girl said, going through the passage he showed.
"Crazy people," he shook his head, getting absorbed in his treasure again.
Tia didn't move too far into the castle yet when she felt dizzy.
"What's wrong, Tia?" Rempo asked. "Oh, I know, are you seeing a vision?"
It was. Tia had some doubts but now she didn't anymore, that surely was a vision. It was about a swarm of monsters and she felt a chill running down her spine.
"You can't fight the vision, Tia. Just let it flow so we can continue."
When she stopped focusing on it, the vision disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.
"You could have told me that visions work like this," she said.
"Well, if I did tell you probably you'd fight against it. Those things are better to be learnt by yourself."
Tia didn't have much time to recover herself as a Dire bat attacked her. She whirlwinded it to death and ran through the narrow corridors that were the escape route. Finding the hat Tia decided to use it.
"How do I look?" She asked.
"Good," Rempo said with no feelings at all. Tia could tell it by the way his voice sounded and by the expression of his face. It made her a bit sad but she shrugged it off and went back to where Fro was.
"Okay, that's it, alright. I will teach you the way out of the through this way and you'll come across a room built beneath the cemetery. If you climb out of that room, you'll be in the cemetery. Open the door near the back that will lead you to the fields. But you'll need a key to open it. i've hidden the key somewhere in the cemetery. And don't ask, I won't tell you which grave."
Tia didn't expect things to be easy anyway, so she headed back the escape route , fighting zombies, dire bats, elemental skulls and theh end of the corridor there was a door and a set of stairs.
"This must be the door old Fro said. Let's go find the key!" Rempo urged.
Tia found the key and scanned it. That's when Rempo started talking about Mieli.
"And who is Mieli again?" She asked, mostly of habit than curiosity.
"Mieli is another of the Spirits from the book. I don't think I've mentioned it yet. There are a total of four Spirits. Mieli, Spirit of the Forest. You can never tell what that naive girl is thinking," he shrugged his arms and shook his head. "Neaki, the Ice Spirit. She's pretty gloomy and cold," he continued, rubbing his arms as if he felt cold just by mentioning the name. "Ur is the Lightning Spirit. He's smart, but loves to preach. Last but certainly not least," and at this point, Tia chuckled, knowing who he was going to talk about. "The great Fire Spirit Rempo! Did you get all that?"
Tia nodded obediently. Rempo complained once more about his shackles and they finally set off to open the door. When it did open a lot of dust flied from the insides. Lucky enough Tia wasn't afraid of getting a bit dirty.
