Felix... has complexity addiction, putting it mildly.
Sorry about the deletion, I just needed to change some stuff.
Enjoy Chapter 3! (for real this time)
Matthew, having requested an audience with Prince Amiti, patiently waited for the soldiers to open the door. The door slid open after a small wait, and a soldier stepped aside to let Matthew and company walk inside.
Upon taking the vine down, the trio of Adepts walked to the throne room, where Amiti, back in his traditional Ayuthian garb, greeted them with a bow before saying, "Welcome. What brings the three of you to Ayuthay today?"
Matthew nervously rubbed the back of his head before saying, "Well... there's something we need to talk with you about regarding Psynergy Vortexes."
"Oh, the Mourning Moon? I am aware that it has risen once more. The citizens of Ayuthay will be safe underground, far away from the vortex."
Tyrell stepped to the front and said, "Those Tua bastards are the ones causing the Vortexes to appear."
Karis, though she was surprised at Tyrell's sudden outburst, said, "The Tuaparang have machines that can summon Vortexes, and judging by how the Mourning Moon appears every ten years, we think that they can operate them from a distance. We wanted to come see King Paithos so that we could ask him if you could join us once more."
Amiti's gaze hardened, and he said, "Very well. Unfortunately, King Paithos... passed away shortly after the Grave Eclipse had ended, so, as the new king of Ayuthay, I accept your offer." The trio offered Amiti their condolences, and he instructed them to wait outside his quarters while he changed into his traveling garb. While they were waiting, Matthew said, "Guys... can I tell you something?" Karis and Tyrell both nodded, and Matthew continued, "It's just... I'm kind of worried about what's to come if the Grave Eclipse was just the beginning."
Karis gave her friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder, and said, "Matthew, I understand why you're thinking that way, but remember; have faith that it'll all be resolved and that we can go back to having relatively normal lives after this. We can't stop until we eliminate the source of the Psynergy Vortexes!"
Tyrell hefted his axe onto his shoulders and said, "We're with you 'till the very end, captain." Giving his best friend a light punch on the shoulder, he then yelled, "Amiti! Could you speed up, please?"
Amiti then walked out of the door, back in his traveling outfit, the Masamune clipped onto his belt, and he said, "Very well. Shall we be going now?"
Matthew nodded, but just as they were about to leave, the man who ran the weapon shop ran up to the four of them, and huffed out, "King Amiti! Hoo... hah... it's terrible... Psynergy Vortex in the middle of the square... Tua soldiers have breached the city!"
That had put all four of them on alert, Amiti and Tyrell especially, and the Mercury Adept said, "Very well. Go to one of the safe rooms on this floor. We'll take care of the Tuaparang."
The weapon vendor did as he was told, and Matthew, Tyrell, Karis, and Amiti ran down to the main plaza of Ayuthay. When they did reach the plaza, Amiti saw that the weapons dealer had indeed been correct: A Psynergy Vortex floated high above the fountain in the center, and around the plaza, Tua soldiers were either blocking off exits or following two figures dressed in purple and green. Tyrell's face contorted in fury, and he threw his axe at a soldier. The soldier barely dodged the Herculean Axe as it embedded itself in the wall, and looking behind him, he yelled, "Karis, a little help, please!" Karis obliged, shooting the soldier right in the chest as Tyrell pried his axe out of the wall. Matthew and Amiti shared a glance before nodding, and Amiti used Supercool on Matthew's Clay Spire, turning the stalactites into sharp icicles, which crashed down all around the Tua soldiers. Turning to Amiti once more, Matthew asked, "Hey, what happened to the other people down here?"
Amiti curtly replied with, "Safe rooms," before unleashing a Combat Dance on an unsuspecting Tua elite. To their left, Karis wiped out a formation of Tua snipers with a well-placed Shine Plasma, and Tyrell ran into the room where he had last seen the two Tua commanders walk into.
Stavos and Pentis were looking around the inside of the Alchemy Well, and Stavos let out a low whistle before asking Pentis, "Say, how valuable d'you think that Luna Mask would be for the High Empyror?"
Before Pentis could answer, an explosion from behind them made them whirl around, and they saw Tyrell, standing in the middle of the corpses of a Tuaparang squad with the vengeful hate that embodied Fury present in his eyes. Sheba whispered, "That's Garet's kid?" which Felix responded to with a curt nod before putting the facade back up.
"Hmph... what are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to stay out of our way?"
Tyrell shook his head and gnashed his teeth together, his grip on the Herculean Axe tightening. Before he could unleash an attack, however, Pentis, with a mischievous tone in her voice, said, "Oh, I don't know, Stavos... this room looks awfully small... and there are two of us. Why don't we give him a fair fight?" Before either Tyrell or Stavos could object, Pentis used Burst, and the wall behind Tyrell exploded, creating a gaping hole which showed the plaza of Ayuthay in its entirety.
Matthew and Amiti had just managed to catch their breath after taking down a juggernaut of a soldier, and Karis, out of the corner of her eye, saw Tyrell facing down two Tua commanders. Turning her Sagittarius Bow onto the two, she cautiously waited for either one of them to make a move.
Tyrell, meanwhile, ground his teeth in anger, and snarled, "What the hell do you Tua bastards have to gain from doing this for thirty years?!"
Stavos calmly replied, "I told you the answer at Konpa Ruins, kid. We drain the Alchemy from Weyard to become the dominant force in the world, the only users of Psynergy."
Pentis chimed in with, "And once we do, then even the Warriors of Vale will be powerless against us!"
Stavos, holding the Excalibur in his hand, gestured in challenge. Before any of the combatants could begin fighting, Stavos said, "And tell your girlfriend to stop hiding behind the fountain."
Both Karis and Tyrell flushed, and Matthew, though he would have normally laughed at the pair's reactions, instead tried using Growth to subdue the Tua commanders, but Stavos unearthed parts of the floor to allow him and Pentis to escape the vines. Karis used Spark Plasma, but Pentis used Tempest to throw her aim off, and Karis ended up hitting part of an arch instead. Amiti used Megacool to create a bed of ice underneath Pentis and Stavos, and the two of them jumped off just as Tyrell used Pyroclasm to shatter the platform Stavos had created. Pentis pointed her Lachesis' Rule at Amiti, and fired a Blue Bolt at the Mercury Adept just as he shot a Deluge at the two of them, electrocuting him into unconsciousness. Matthew unleashed Radiant Fire, but Stavos dodged the sudden burst of flame and raised the Excalibur above his head, ready to strike.
Stavos unleashed Legend, causing two purple bolts of energy to strike the fountain where Karis was, who then got her right leg pinned under a piece of rubble from the shattered fountain. Matthew, in retaliation, attempted Ragnarok on Stavos, who lazily stepped out of the sword's way before trying to subdue Matthew with Sleep.
Tyrell quickly shuffled a few of his Mars Djinn with Matthew's Venus Djinn, and he used Inferno just as Karis shot a Tempest from her position on the floor, creating a fiery tornado that flung the two commanders into a wall. Matthew then used Clay Spire and sent the rocks through the fire whirl, causing several red-hot chunks of rock to fly right at Pentis and Stavos, who narrowly dodged the projectiles as they splattered against the wall. The two commanders then focused on Tyrell and Karis, the former standing in front of the latter in a protective stance, as after Matthew had traded Djinn with Tyrell once more, he had ran over to Amiti to move him to a safe place. After a few moments of silence, Pentis raised her hands in a placating gesture and said, "Give it up. We don't want to cause any more damage than is necessary-"
"That's a load of BULLSHIT!"
The axe clattered to the floor as Tyrell, being restrained at the ankles by Karis, had attempted to lunge right at the two. With venom in his voice, the Mars Adept snarled, "Your second Mourning Moon killed nearly half the people in Kalay, and now you're concerned with casualties? Go to hell!" Shaking Karis off, he picked up his axe and threw it at Stavos, who barely managed to dodge the ballistic weapon as it embedded itself in the wall. Stavos, after mumbling, "Pentis, a little help, please..." then used Teleport, and he, along with Pentis, disappeared in a flash.
Once the two were gone, Matthew and Amiti, who was still disoriented, joined Tyrell and Karis, and the four of them looked around at the damage done to Ayuthay. The plaza was absolutely scorched, the walls and floor were marked by gashes from the Herculean Axe, and there was a hole in a wall near the Alchemy Well. After a little bit, Matthew panted in exhaustion and said, "We're going to Passaj to stay the night."
Karis and Amiti both nodded in agreement, and Tyrell, after calming down, nodded tiredly, the fight having expended much of his Psynergetic capabilities. With some effort, he, Matthew, and Amiti were able to lift the piece of rubble off of Karis, and Tyrell helped Karis walk out of the city.
Once they had reached Passaj, Tyrell and Amiti crashed on beds immediately, Karis, now wearing a metal splint on her right leg, having changed into sleepwear in the bathroom, lay on her bed, pondering about what the Tuaparang were capable of, and Matthew sat at a desk, quill and parchment laid out in front of him, as he wrote a letter to his father. Once he had written the letter, he stuffed it into an envelope and passed it to a dove, who set off for Kalay once it read the location to which it was addressed to.
Isaac pulled the piping hot loaf of bread out of the oven, and unlike Jenna's, it stayed completely intact. Cutting the loaf into slices, he passed around a couple slices each to Jenna and Gail, before taking out a jar of hard nut butter along with some apple jam, and he smeared a large amount of the butter onto one of his slices of bread before lightly spreading some jam onto the other slice. Passing the spreads to Jenna, Isaac then took a bite out of his sandwich, only for a bird to fly in with an envelope tied to its feet. Isaac untied the letter, politely shooed the dove away, and looked at the name of the sender.
"Matthew?"
Jenna, in the middle of spreading jam, looked at her husband before passing the two jars over to Gail and running over to Isaac's side as he unfolded the letter. The letter read:
Dad,
It'd have been nice if you wrote a bit more during the Grave Eclipse, but this is a good start, I suppose. Unfortunately, we have not seen Uncle Felix or Auntie Sheba at all, though we have run into two Tuaparang commanders named Pentis and Stavos, both in the Konpa Ruins and Ayuthay, which as of now, has a Psynergy Vortex underneath the main castle. What's strange is that Stavos knew my name, so unless the Tuaparang have been keeping tabs on us, then the commanders are probably people that know us personally.
Karis has a broken leg, so we're currently staying in Passaj for a bit until she can walk using a splint. Once our Psynergy regenerates, we will try to heal her, but the fight with the Tua commanders really drained us, Tyrell especially.
Can you also ask Mom to send a letter to Eoleo's mother to come and meet me in Belinsk? We're heading there next, and we'll most likely end up running into Kraden along the way, so with Eoleo, we can use his ship to get Himi from Yamata, and then we can meet you in Kalay afterwards. Hope you and Mom are doing well, and tell Gail that her cousin says hi.
Sincerely,
Matthew
P.S.: Dad... Sveta and I aren't at that stage yet. Thank the Jenei that no one read the letter you sent me...
Isaac chuckled at that last part, and told Jenna, "Matthew asked if you could write a letter to Chaucha."
"What for?"
"He needs to meet Briggs' son in Belinsk."
Jenna nodded before going to the desk to write to Chaucha, and Gail asked, "Uncle Isaac, I was wondering, can you practice sparring with me?" His eyes lighting up with excitement, Isaac ran to get his greatsword from his and Jenna's room before joining Gail outside.
Felix treated one of his burn wounds with a Cure Well, as Sheba fretted over his now-short hair, having cut it just a month ago, because, in her words, 'he looked like a hobo.' Turning to Sheba, Felix asked, "The letter was sent to Kraden, right?"
Sheba nodded and took off her hood as well, revealing her pixie cut, before replying with, "Felix, we need to do some serious explaining when we meet the kids in Belinsk... I don't think that Garet's son will be too welcoming, considering what just happened in Ayuthay."
Felix considered what his wife had just said, and nodded, saying, "You're right. But the question is... when we do confront them in Belinsk, will Kraden be with us or against us? Because you and I both know he will be there..."
Sheba, thinking long and hard, sighed, admitting, "I don't know."
Garet reached the door of Jenna's house, and a few houses down, Ivan, having seen Garet walk into Kalay through his workshop, finished his latest modification to the mostly repaired soarwing that Isaac had sent to him, and, quietly sneaking out of his house and behind Garet, he whispered, "Boo."
Garet jumped up in alarm, and Ivan collapsed to the floor in laughter before pulling himself up and asking, "So, what brings you here, Garet?"
"I decided to visit once Carver finally let me leave his camp."
Fixing his short ponytail, Ivan scratched his chin in thought before saying, "Hey, why don't we see Jenna?"
"That's exactly what I was going to do, genius."
Ivan knocked on Jenna's door, and much to their surprise, Isaac answered, exclaiming, "Ivan, it's good to see you again!" With a small laugh, he pulled his shorter friends in for a hug before letting them in. To their immediate right, they saw Jenna writing a letter to someone, and she stopped for a bit to greet the two before returning to her letter. Gail greeted Garet and Ivan, and the two of them waved back before sitting with Isaac at the big table. Looking at his two closest friends, Isaac said, "Now that you're here, Ivan, we both need to tell you something..."
Ivan, absently playing with his wrench, looked up and vocalized with a little "Hm?"
Garet continued with, "Our kids are off trying to stop the Tuaparang."
That had gotten the Jupiter Adept's attention. Looking up, he asked, "Did I hear that right?" Isaac and Garet both nodded, and Ivan asked, "Why?"
Isaac grimly said, "They can create the Psynergy Vortexes with machines. They're the reason why Alina died ten years ago."
Garet's expression darkened, and he said, "Tyrell loved his mother a lot, and I'm a little worried about how he'd react to that news, since he's the one who has the weapon, not me."
After a light chuckle at Garet's attempt at a joke, Isaac asked, "So, any updates on the soarwing?"
Ivan perked up, and began to tell them about the modifications he had made to the soarwing while repairing it.
Kraden and Rief walked into a surprisingly empty Belinsk, and Kraden said, "Doesn't it feel good to be back in Belinsk, Rief?"
Rief, his Atropos' Rod in hand, replied, "Yeah, especially since there's no Grave Eclipse anymo-" Looking up, the Mercury Adept saw a Psynergy Vortex above the hidden entrance of the Belinsk Ruins and he muttered to himself, "Oh, good grief..."
At the same time, two Adepts materialized in front of them using Teleport, and pointed their weapons, a Lachesis' Rule and the Excalibur respectively, at the scholar and his student. The one wielding the sword said, "Ah, long time no see, Kraden." Looking to his partner, who gave a nod, he said, "It's time we revealed who we really are..."
The Adepts removed their cloaks and masks, and Rief stared in shock before wiping his glasses to see if he was hallucinating or not. Felix and Sheba, the two Warriors of Vale who were missing for almost two decades, stood in front of them, and Felix said, "Kraden, we need to talk."
With the exception of Felix, the other Warriors of Vale use Sora-G-Silverwind's (great artist, follow her on DeviantArt) adult designs. Pixie cut Sheba and mechanic Ivan were just too good to pass up, and I think Felix shed about 4 pounds worth of hair with his new 'do.
Defender31415, thanks for the kind words, and thanks to both you and Culebra del Sol for the follows.
To any and all who come across this story, leave a review if you wish, they're always welcome!
