Origin of Hope

Chapter 7: A Reunion of Friends

"—rust" Kratos finished ineffectively, as he materialized. With barely any time to be confused about his surroundings, a bag was thrown over his head and he felt himself being quickly dragged somewhere.

Just as suddenly, the bag was taken off of his head before he could think of a response. He scanned his new surroundings quickly. First off, it did not look like Welgaia. It looked like the hallway inside of some base, with high-level technology. He turned to Yuan immediately, ready to strangle him except his arms were still clutching Anna with a death grip.

"Sorry for the rude welcome, if that's what you're angry about," Yuan said with a sardonic smile. His arms were crossed, like they usually were.

Kratos stepped back in surprise. "Are... are you back to normal?"

"As normal as we were four thousand years ago, if that's what you mean. Why, are you pleased with my welcome speech?"

"Superb, Yuan. Where am I?" Kratos asked, rolling his eyes. He felt relieved, even though he knew he should still be on guard. Yuan was his best friend, and they had drifted apart slowly over the last four thousand years, something that couldn't be helped. Now it almost felt like the multi-millennia gap never existed, and Kratos was secretly eager to see what he was up to.

"This is one of my excellent secret bases of operations against an old friend of ours. Follow me, I'll take you to a room to rest; that girl in your arms looks like she needs some help. And by the way, I think you're forgetting that someone thrust a spear into your back."

"Ah yes, First Aid!" Kratos mumbled, and the wound on his back promptly healed itself. Without missing a beat, Yuan turned around and walked into a hallway. Kratos followed, hoping his old friend really was as back to normal as he seemed...

"Now, I have a question for you," Yuan said, his smirk turning into a frown. "What in living hell were you doing, pulling out your wings? Don't you know there are angels all over searching for you?"

Kratos looked at him without any change in expression. They were both very good at keeping extremely aloof faces at each other. Also because of that, they had known each other so well that they could read each other without the need of facial expressions. Yuan knew Kratos was feeling extremely asinine and out of his comfort zone.

"I'm just saying, Kratos, I have been trying to keep you out of trouble for months, and you just make my job extra hard by trying your hardest to get caught! It's a good thing I was close enough to teleport you out of a bigger mess."

"I think you need to start telling me how you got yourself back first."

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Yuan opened the door to a luxuriously decorated room, furnished with an ornate bed, bedside table, and lavish armchairs all around. Dark green heavy curtains hung over the bed, matching the green velvet coverings on the bed.

"And here is the guest bedroom; make yourselves at home. There should be water in the pitcher on the table. I'm going to go call for our medic, who may not be as knowledgeable as the city doctors, but hopefully he might be able to help." Yuan said and left, closing the door behind him.

Kratos gave a cursory glance around the room and went to set Anna on the bed. Her skin was flushed and red. He checked her pulse and frowned at how weak it was. He quickly looked at the ornate table next to the bed and found the pitcher of water (a beautiful blue-green celadon glaze on a thin wall of porcelain, complete with gold trimmings). Next to it was a cup (of the same design) and a small hand towel.

Wetting the towel, Kratos dabbed gently around Anna's face and neck. Then he poured some water into the cup, drank some first and was surprised at how fresh and cool it was (and that it wasn't poisoned or spiked or anything). Lifting Anna by the shoulders, Kratos tipped her head back and did his best to get some water down her throat. Laying her back down, he held her hand and watched her breathe slowly.

His eyes traveled to her abdomen, resting on the growing bulge. Feeling curious, he lowered his head, placed his right ear against Anna's abdomen, and closed his eyes. He wasn't sure what he expected to hear, but he heard a thump, and jumped in surprise. Putting his ear back, he realized he was hearing the heartbeat of his child. Every beat came perfect and clear, mesmerizing Kratos. He felt a sting behind his eyes. Despite all the fighting and heat and toil, the baby's heart continued to beat on.

Little one... stay strong... we have a long road in front of us...

Kratos dragged an armchair to the bed and continued to dab her skin, trying to cool her down.

"...kra..." Kratos' eyes widened, and he immediately helped her to a sitting position, a cup of water ready.

Anna's eyes cracked open slightly.

"Easy, drink some water..." Kratos said softly. Anna was extremely weak. She tried to lift a hand to take the cup, but a wave of dizziness overcame her. She quietly drank the water Kratos was holding out for her. She looked around at her surroundings, completely confused.

Kratos noticed her look and how she was falling back asleep. "Don't talk, rest... We're safe right now, don't worry..."

Anna nodded, slipping back to sleep.

"Go back to sleep, rest as much as you can."

Kratos laid her back down and let out a sigh as he sank back into the armchair. Exhaustion washed over him, like a wave of Sirens calling him to sleep. His eyes rested on the painting of some girl on the wall across from him. Where does he get these paintings? In fact, is this decor on Cruxis' bill? Kratos smiled faintly at the thought and sat back up, taking up the cool, wet towel again.

After a few minutes, the door opened. Kratos stood up in surprise. Yuan walked in, followed by a man in red Renegade clothes, but without the armor. He quickly introduced himself to Kratos as the base medic.

"She looks like she suffered from severe heat exhaustion. I see that you've been trying to cool her down, so that's good... I don't see that it has entered the life-threatening stage yet. She will just need plenty of rest and a steady supply of water to drink but not too much at any one time."

"Is there anything else that might be wrong with her?" Kratos asked, worriedly.

The medic looked her over and furrowed his eyebrows. "How many months is she along?"

Yuan thought that was a funny question.

Kratos looked at Yuan, then back at the medic. "I'm not too sure, maybe seven or eight months?"

The medic took a stethoscope and listened to to her heart and around her abdomen area. "Thank goodness he seems unharmed... This is a really dangerous time for her to be traveling. She was probably already exhausted from the baby-"

At the first mention of 'baby', Yuan jumped. "What the hell-"

Both Kratos and the medic looked at him, the former somewhat abashed... the latter confused, and continued slowly, "- since the baby himself drains a lot of energy and nutrients as he's growing. She may not have drunk enough water for the both of them or eaten enough. I think you need to keep her here to rest until she has the baby... of course, if Lord Yuan agrees."

Yuan didn't answer, and probably didn't hear him either. Kratos noticed Yuan throwing daggers at him with his eyes, but he was troubled by the current circumstances. Staying until the baby was born was crucial... but what was also crucial was getting the key crest before Anna dies...

"Yeah, Yuan, she's pregnant." Kratos finally said.

"I thought she was just fat or something when I saw her! Kratos, what the-"

"Fine, fine, well now you know..." Kratos said, feeling uncomfortable.

The medic decided to politely ignore his superior's reaction. "Forgive my interruption, but her skin is still very hot and flushed. We need to dissipate the heat immediately to bring her body down to a safe temperature. I will go call for more cool water to be brought... in the mean time, keep cooling her off with the wet towel."

Yuan looked over at the medic briefly, "Go do what you need to do." Without further hesitation, the medic left the room.

Kratos turned to face Yuan, who was still staring at him.

"Your kid, right?" Yuan asked him pointedly.

"I should hope so."

"So we can still reproduce?"

Kratos choked back a laugh. "Evidently so."

Yuan looked back at Anna, trying to regain a bit of his composure.

"It still feels unusual to be talking to you with some semblance of feeling again." Kratos said, breaking the silence.

Yuan smiled, crossing his arms again. "It's been a few millennia since we've had a decent conversation. I can't say this is the best time or place to have a reunion, but we do need to sit down and figure out what we're doing." He made himself at home in an armchair across from Kratos, who sat down and resumed dabbing cool water on Anna's skin. Yuan grinned at the endearing sight.

"She really must be special to finally get to you... and make you lose your mind." Yuan said. He couldn't help the feeling of sadness and the slight bit of jealousy that washed over him. At the same time, he was still amused at the fact that his friend had actually condescended to the level of love. Kratos had always ridiculed Yuan falling head over heels for Martel... and the irrationality of love. Now Kratos was feeling it first hand and making irrational choices himself.

Kratos ignored Yuan and said: "Anna indirectly broke me out of the Crystal's curse. Unintentionally, of course, but I really felt something special for her... Speaking of which, tell me what stage you think her Crystal is in. I do not feel good about the fact that it had reactivated while she was suffering in the desert..."

Yuan got up from his chair, walked over, and took a close look at the Cruxis Crystal embedded in the girl's hand. He frowned. "Kvar, that bastard, he wasn't making any usual Cruxis Crystal, he was trying to reproduce ours! No wonder he was all hush hush about it and acting like he was trying to make some great gift to Mithos... Though in fact... You said the Crystal only just reactivated? From what I can tell now, you have about two more months now...maybe more if she can keep it at bay from now on. This crystal may even be more powerful than ours. I can't tell exactly, however."

"Then I was right in thinking no ordinary keycrest can inhibit this type of Crystal."

"For an advanced-level Crystal, you know as well as I that only the dwarves can forge the kind of key crests it takes to handle this kind of Crystal. So, I say we go find the dwarf that's supposed to be living near Iselia."

"That was where I was going and where I need to continue to go right now."

"And do you think you'll make it there now? Especially now that you've alerted who knows how many things out there searching for you? I know we killed the party of angels that found you, but I can't say for sure they were the only ones alerted. Honestly, though, I can't even tell you that the dwarf exists one hundred percent."

Kratos stayed silent, not trusting himself to speak. There was no way he was not going to make it to Iselia and find out the dwarf doesn't exist. It wasn't possible, it wasn't going to happen. He traced the carving on the armrest, thinking aloud, "I'll make it there, it matters not that I will have more enemies to fight. However-"

"However, you are not going to go throw your lives away because you can only fight with one hand while holding an unconscious woman about to give birth in the other."

There was a knock on the door. Yuan got up to open it, and took the bucket of fresh well-water from the Renegade soldier. "The medic said to call for any further help," the soldier said.

Yuan nodded, closed the door, and went over to set the bucket near Kratos. He stood there for a second and said, "I think you're aware that this is a pretty difficult situation for Anna. Perhaps I'll send some of my men to find this dwarf and bring him here."

"Wouldn't he need his materials and tools and whatever else?" Kratos said grimly, having thought about that possibility.

"We do have a small smithy of sorts here as well, I don't know if that would be enough for him. It is not completely built yet, but with some extra men on the job it shouldn't take long.

Kratos looked at him in amazement. "You really have this place decked out, haven't you? I can't believe Mithos hasn't caught wind of any of this! Is this all on Cruxis' tab as well?"

Yuan laughed. "Well, at the beginning I did need some capital for my new gamble... however, now I have a good side business of donations and other things...

"As far as Mithos, he is really not the hardest person to fool. Most of him is very much caught up in his own sense of righteousness and blind to any possible opposition. I've been able to analyze him more in these past couple of decades and he seems to have reacted differently to his Crystal. While both of us lost our sense of feeling, I think he was somehow split into two personalities.

"One side is the ambitious, cold, Mithos... who is willing to sacrifice any amount of humans to revive Martel and form his Age of Lifeless Beings. The other side, I have seen only very few times. That other side is the idealistic boy we loved, who seems to realize that what he is doing may not be the wisest. I think, however, he is more or less taken over by the cold, ambitious half. I kept thinking, since I was able to break out of the Crystal's less than desirable curse, then perhaps we can somehow wedge the evil Mithos out of him." Yuan shook his head. "But, I would more than prefer not to cross this evil Mithos half. He is insane."

"Our Crystals served him well, rendering us as his agreeable servants for so long." Kratos shook his head. Then he thought of something, "I was rather surprised that he hadn't done more to find me, actually. During the whole journey, I rather expected him to show up on his own. I can see what you mean... that he is caught up in his own hubris and insanity.

Yuan sat back in his armchair, pinning a hard look on Kratos. "How are you going to get yourself out of this, Kratos? After getting Anna a key crest and saving her life, how can you possibly keep on living like this? You will be hunted by Mithos for the rest of your life, and that will be quite a long time."

Kratos hesitated for a second, thinking of a good response. Origin's words sounded a little insane even to himself. And then, there was the feeling that there was something wrong about what he said...

For lack of a better answer, he replied, "I have to take down Mithos and Cruxis. That's the only way... but I do have some hope. Months earlier, Origin spoke to me in my head. I know that sounds dubious, but I assure you I was quite sane at the time. He told me that he wanted to finally rectify the mistake he made in giving Mithos the Eternal Sword. Thus, he told me to find three items to make something called the Ring of the Pact. This would allow a human to wield the sword..." Kratos trailed off, still irked by what he felt was a hole in the plan.

"For you to wield the sword? What about the summoner? First you need a summoner to be able to call him forth. In fact, don't you remember that before a summoner can even think about calling forth Origin, she must be able to prove herself and make a pact with every other summon spirit first? Maxwell, aside, of course."

Angry that he didn't think of that, Kratos said, "Right, I was hoping I could skip those details and just call forth Origin on my own... I may not be a summoner but maybe being a seal is good enough." Kratos cracked a sardonic half-smile. "He didn't mention having to find a summoner first. Summoners are rare enough, this is all harder than I thought...if the summoner is required. However, if we do find a summoner, we can weaken Mithos by taking away the summon spirits..."

"How could you be a seal and call forth Origin? Wouldn't you have to release all your mana and die?" Yuan asked.

"Ah that, I remember him distinctly waiving that minor problem if I succeed."

Yuan looked at him, a slight smile playing at the lips. "Good." I don't have to kill you after all. "Mithos made you a major hindrance for anyone to get to Origin. It was a smart plan, trying to keep either of us from wanting to possibly usurp his power. Anyway, what are those three things we need for this Ring?"

"The Ring needs these three things: First, Aonis. Then we need Sacred Wood to melt it. And then Adamantite to polish it."

Yuan snorted. "The Ring's just Aonis! We got you to swallow the bloody rock eons ago already, what's the difference? Seems more meaningful than wearing it as an ornamental piece."

"Look, I don't know, but that's all he said! Since when did these things make sense anyway... He actually went through some trouble to make a loophole for the Ring of the Pact. Seems he already didn't trust Mithos completely. He could have saved us a lot of work by just saying no to him. Goodness..."

"Ah, he probably couldn't trust you as the only human bearer of the sword at the time either. If you recall, we were relatively happy parading around with Mithos at the time. But then again, I'm sure he also enjoys red tape and making people jump through hoops for the fun of it."

"The bloody bastard." Kratos intoned.

"I agree."

"Do you actually believe me? About Origin? I know it sounds fanciful. But it did happen," Kratos asked, slightly embarrassed about it. He was also anxious about Yuan, and how willing he really was in helping him out.

"I do, actually. For the past four thousand years, you're not one to say illogical things. Even if you are making some surprisingly irrational decisions because of Anna right now, I don't think you've totally lost your mind. We need to work together if we're going to take down Cruxis."

Kratos closed his eyes in relief. "First, we need a summoner."

"Ahh," Yuan sat up and grinned broadly. "Well, my friend, now this is what I have really been doing. Finding a summoner to seize all those spirits away from Mithos' grubby little hands. And, I have found one!"

Kratos' eyes widened. "So you weren't just sitting around building up an army for fun. Now of course, there is always that chance that this new summoner will actually be the next malicious villain with good intentions after taking all the powers of the spirits."

"Please, Kratos, optimism. She'll be treated with watchful, loving care."

"How did you find this summoner?" Kratos pushed on.

"While you were still zoning out doing Mithos' bidding for the past two decades, I built up the Renegades to help me out. On the outside, they just seem like some anti-Desians, but they are also there to help me do other business... like finding a summoner. We've been searching all these years, and finally we have some information on a girl who reacts with her natural surroundings... similar to what Martel used to tell us about Mithos as a really young boy. Unfortunately... this summoner is only five years old..."

"Then there is nothing we can do until she grows up. Well, at least you will be able to see if she's a shady character or not as she grows." Kratos said, sinking back against the cushions in his chair. The thought of having to wait for the summoner to grow up irked him to no end. It was a selfish feeling, to be sure, but it also seemed like a cruel joke. Fifteen or so years... Kratos had no idea what situation he could possibly be in after so long. He had been hoping to start searching for those materials right after Anna got her keycrest...

Yuan looked at Kratos, seeing the faint lines of worry etched into his face. Try as he may to not betray how he felt, Yuan could still discern the anxiety eating at him. His eyes narrowed, no trace of a smile to be seen on his face. "You know you must come back to Cruxis."

Kratos stared back at Yuan, an eyebrow raised.

"You and your growing little family here, none of you can survive like this. Kvar will never stop searching for his precious Angelus Project, and Mithos will never let his most valuable seal for Origin go running around with a mind of his own. Not to mention, we still have to wait for the summoner to grow and train up. You can't keep running for the next fifteen years or however long! If you come back, at least you can try to pretend and be smart about it all."

Kratos closed his eyes and rested his forehead in the palm of his hand, an elbow resting on the arm of the armchair.

"I know, it's quite tough to take Mithos' tantrums. But for the higher cause, nothing is impossible!"

Kratos sighed. "Even if you are right, which I'm not going to say you're not... what would happen to Anna and the child? If abandoning them is the only way, then I can't do it. Anna is as good as dead whether I go back to Cruxis or not. At least Mithos can't let me die because of Origin, but there is no good reason for him or Kvar to let her live. Let's not talk about this anymore, I need to think more about it."

Yuan nodded, and stood up. "I know you are stuck with some tough decisions. However, I want to make one decision for you. You and Anna are going to stay here, and I am going to send a party of Renegades to seek out the dwarf. Whatever he needs, he can send someone back quickly and we'll have it built for him. We will bring him down and have him make the keycrest for Anna. That will be my wedding/baby shower gift for you. This base should be the safest place for you to be. I have cloaking devices and tons of security guarding this place. The locals all think it's a Desian ranch, and the Desians don't care about anything outside their own respective ranches anyway."

For a moment, Kratos felt powerless and somewhat resentful for having to depend on anyone but himself. But then he shook his head of those thoughts and grasped Yuan's hand, bringing him into something of a bear hug. "You were always like a brother to me, Yuan. I'm glad to have you back. I will return the favor just as sincerely if not more when the chance arises."