Time to get some explanations about one of the characters background, so enjoy people!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of ToS characters or places, but I do own any OCs that appear here.


Chapter 9

The Ancient Chosen

Lloyd, Sheena, Zelos and the King gasped. A Chosen One of Tethe'alla? How was that possible? Yuan didn't seem to be surprised by the news.

The King was near his unconscious daughter while watch all. Kermish smiled again at their expressions and used this moment to charge another spell.

Yuan, being the only one who wasn't with millions of questions running trough his mind, shouted to everybody take cover. Zelos noticed that the King didn't move and went to him, using Guardian, just in time.

"Bloody Lance!", Kermish unleashed the spell and dark swords came from nowhere and started to cut and rip all the furniture around the room, while the others used their defensive techniques.

At the end of the attack, Sheena went to Kermish again and started to attack. Like before, the ancient Chosen avoided the attacks and counter-attacked using kicks and punches, some of them Sheena defended, but the strength of the blows was intensified with dark energies, which flowed from Kermish's hands and feet, making Sheena moved back and leaving her guard open to another sequence of blows.

Kermish then blew away Sheena using a dark ray, which slipped and divided in multiple ones when hit Sheena's body. Lloyd tried to enter in the battle to help the ninja, but the evil Chosen One flapped his wings, producing wind blades that cut Lloyd's gut and arms, making the red swordsman stopped.

Yuan jumped in Lloyd's front, not with the intention to attack, but for prevented Kermish from harm them more. Seeing this, he used another energy ball, this one was red, to blow out the door to the balcony, creating an explosion that could be seeing from the city's gates.

Kermish turned to them one last time, an arrogant and almost psychotic smile played in his face.

"It was just too easy. No wonder how you defeated Yggdrasil.", with this, the Chosen flew trough the hole made in the wall. Leaving everybody behind with confused looks and many questions in their heads...

- - - - -

Some minutes before, Regal arrived at the city. The journey was fast since he had a Rheaird, only with stops to eat.

After greeted the guards at the gates, Regal went to the castle when he saw a great explosion that destroyed one of the balconies at the front of the great building. Someone was near the hole, someone with dark purple wings.

Regal stopped in his tracks when the figure flew trough the hole and he saw its face.

What the...? Kermish?!

When the angel disappeared into the nocturne skies, the President hurried to the room from where Kermish flew, which he knew to be the Princess' room. When he arrived there he saw the last people who he thought encounter that night.

"Lloyd, Zelos, Yuan? What happened here?", everybody turned to their friend who just arrived. Regal then saw Sheena, who was trying to stand, in the floor. "It seems that you all fight with Kermish and lose."

"Well, that was what happened bud.", Zelos said.

Yuan helped the King to move Hilda to the Royal Chambers, while the others waited at the Crismon Room. Yuan promised that he would tell to them, including the King, what had just happened and who Kermish really was.

While the four friends waited, Lloyd was helping Sheena to accommodate on the bed, while told to Zelos and Regal all what happened since Yuan called them to tell about this other new organization.

Zelos also told to them about his visit to Yuan on the Abbey and the battle with the giant sea-snake.

"So, do you thing that all of this can be related with Kermish and this organization?", Regal asked, but who answered this was Yuan, who entered when Regal made that question.

"Not just related, but Kermish seems to be the one behind all of this."

"What do you mean?", the King asked, he also was confused with all that happened.

Yuan said to they all sat before he continued, it seemed that would be a long story. After took a breath, the Seraph began:

"All began nearly eighty years ago, when the last Chosen one was to be take by the Cruxis and was discarded by being incompatible with Martel. The mana returned to this world and with this, like some of you must know...", Yuan glanced over the King. "The prosperity began and the development of light magitechnology was possible. A group of people was responsible for rediscovered the principles, between them the appointed Chosen of that age, Kermish, the son of the Chosen who went in that damned journey.

"Normally, it wasn't for a Chosen that would go in the Regeneration Journey to have kids. But, in the middle of the journey, Marlene, the last Tethe'allan Chosen that did the journey, met a man from Mizuho and fell in love for him. In that age, Mizuho wasn't so strict like it is today, in fact, they were honored by the Chosen One like of someone from the village. She spent some time there and when she found that was pregnant, she had to stop the journey.

"Mithos got nothing happy with the new that the Chosen had to stop the journey because she would have a children. Fortunately, Kratos and I convinced him to not pulverize the girl and leave she have the children. After this he could send an 'oracle' to say that she must return to the journey."

Everybody was paying so much attention to the story that was almost like they weren't even breathing. Even Lloyd didn't say anything. He remembered about what Kratos said to know his enemy so he could find about his weakness.

Yuan continued:

"At the time of three years, Kermish born and was trained by Mizuho's ninjas. Then the time for Marlene returns to the journey came so she had to abandon Kermish. The rest of her story you all can guess. When he entered in the adulthood, Kermish was a high ranked ninja from the village, but he decided to leave his house in Mizuho and went to Meltokio to begin his work like the new Chosen.

"He began by helping the scientist to develop the magitechnology, he was really good in that. Much of your actual projects about machines and robots couldn't exist without Kermish's discoveries. Among these discoveries one topic attracted much his attention, the field of the researches about the Summon Spirits and the power that could be extracted from their elements.

"Kermish started to think in what would happen if he could fuse two opposite elements to form a totally new element. Well, we all know that this is virtually impossible, but at that point Kermish started to research magic and discovered about his own powers and, by not having the appropriate supervision, he grew obsessive to know more magic and to show that he could be the greatest Chosen of ever."

The tension increased in the room, the story was drawing close to the climax. Lloyd and the others leaned their heads closer to hear better what Yuan would tell now.

"He started to research about the element of the darkness. He even took some shadow creatures to study. The research team, which he was part, went to Kermish's house on Meltokio to convince him to stop with those dangerous researches. Such unfortunate people, Kermish released the shadow that he captured to see how it adapted in light environments and when they arrived the shadow attacked them, sucking their mana to the death. Even after this 'accident' Kermish didn't stop."

"What?! How could he just continue to do that studies like nothing happened?", Lloyd interfered, it was as selfish as what Mithos tried to do.

"It's what happens when you get obsessive with something, Lloyd. Even if it causes deaths, you simple continued to search for what you're obsessive.", Regal answered in a wise tone.

Sheena also seemed to be shocked, she never imagined that a Chosen could be so selfish and greed by something. Even Zelos wasn't like that.

"May it be, Kermish then decided to research about the element of the light. Since Luna didn't exist in Tethe'alla, what were the most powerful creatures in this world that used light magic?", this time Zelos answered that obvious question.

"The angels of Cruxis."

"Exactly. He raided the tower in an attempt to encounter and, if possible, captured some angels. He ended up in Welgaia, while the angels were in their work stations and, seeing some of our computers, that idiot decided to enter in our data banks. The biggest mistake of all his life. He found the entire story about Yggdrasil and the two worlds. Of course, we detected the access and tried to take him, but Kermish avoided and backed to the tower. There he encountered his doom, on Yggdrasil's hands.

There everybody could guess what became of Kermish. Mithos wouldn't leave someone that knew Cruxis' secrets alive. Seeing they all could guess what happened Yuan just summarized:

"I arrived there when Yggdrasil was ready to finish with Kermish and so he does it, without any remorse. In that moment, I saw how boy that me and Kratos once knew and respected turned into a cold killer. While they locked Kermish's body in one of that coffins you saw in the tower, I swear that I would stop him.", Yuan clutched his fists at the memory. After that episode he started to put his idea of a resistance in practice.

"But if this Kermish guy was dead, how could he come back to life?", Zelos questioned.

"That's the great question here. I don't know about magic forces which could make people came back to live. Anyway, after Kermish's death, Cruxis used its influence to 'erase' his existence and the Desians destroyed all the documents about him. Some months after, they forged new documents, naming your grandfather to the charge of Chosen.", Yuan said, pointing to Zelos, who gasped.

Everybody looked to the red-headed Chosen with surprised, but the most surprised was the own Zelos. If it wasn't for Kermish's death then he would never be named Chosen, maybe he would never had born and his father and sister could live a normal life and his mother wouldn't have to marry with someone that she didn't love.

"Zelos, I can imagine in what you're thinking. But remember: what is in the past, is in the past. It won't make any good we think in what could have happened. All that we can do is to work for make a better future.", Lloyd said, in his so knew idealistic tone. Sheena couldn't help, but smile at one of the so inspiring Lloyd's speeches.

"Even I'm hating to have to say this, Lloyd is right." Yuan said. Lloyd shot a glance of "Hey!", to him. "Now the fact is, if Kermish unlocked his angel's powers he can be the leader of this organization. But I still don't understand what he wants with the expheres."

"Wait. You said that he was a high ranked ninja back in Mizuho, didn't you?", Sheena asked. Yuan nodded in response. "Then he could be the one who sabotaged our information network. My grandpa said that the positions of our agents and disguises didn't change so much these years."

Yuan looked to Sheena, surprised. He heard from Denvir that Mizuho seemed to be in trouble with their information network, but he couldn't imagine that it was sabotaged.

Now, thinking clearly, it was possible that Kermish, even without know the identity of the actual agents, could find them by the disguises and positions. Sheena gridded her teethes. If Kermish was the one behind that sabotage, she would make sure he would pay for that.

"And what about my daughter? What did he do to her?!", the King finally pronounced himself, making everybody in the room almost jumped of surprise. They forgot that the King continued there.

"Don't worry. Your daughter is fine. He just casted a sleep spell on her. I think an elven magician could dispel this or... the spell can be lifted if Kermish die."

"I came here to ask for your majesty if you authorized any excavation activity without my consult, but now I can see that you're just another victim in Kermish's blot. He must be using ghost companies to obtain resources to excavate more expheres. But even so, I feel responsible for not noticing this. Anything that he did with my company's equipment would be my responsibility.", the blue haired president said and turned to Lloyd and Yuan. "Would you allow me to come with you?"

The Eternal Swordsman immediately said yes at the end of Regal's question. In truth, Regal also missed the company of his friends, what for him was another motive to go with Lloyd and help stop Kermish, from did whatever he was trying to do.

"If the pops here will go, I will too. I can't let a bad guy like this on loose after what he done to the Princess.", Zelos said, in a tone that said he wouldn't accept a "no" as answer.

Sheena was ready to reply something, but before she could say anything Lloyd pronounced:

"Of course you can come. It'll be cool to have our friends traveling again with us. We will stop Kermish together!", Lloyd stroked his heroic pose.

Sheena and Yuan sighed. Sheena by the fact that she would have to travel with that pervert Chosen again and Yuan by thought that would be a long journey...