A/N: Will try to fix Corel Painter so I can start painting digitally again. On another note, in FFT: WotL, I started a new game with Ramza named as Ratatosk. I will use the Orator's Tame skill to build myself an army of monsters that I can name. I will also hire generics named after Emil, Marta, etc.
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Part IX: The Road Ahead
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You're going to regret this later ...
Those same words echoed boundlessly in Emil's mind, even though Ratatosk was not doing much talking. What the gentler self decided went against their very nature as the Summon Spirit of the first Giant Kharlan Tree. Their first concern was supposed to be the safeguarding of their power, thus by extension the powers of their Centurions. And yet Emil would ignore the Centurions' cores in order to pursue Lloyd and his company, people who would be Emil's future friends but at present were not. If anything, they were comparable to enemies. This Ratatosk fumed about non-verbally, a constant smoldering burn in Emil's consciousness.
Everything was going well. They had left the town, on the packed dirt road leading northeast toward the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge. It was midmorning, the air crisp and fresh, the sun shining strongly with hardly a cloud blotting the deep azure majesty of the skies above. Upon looking up into those boundless skies, Emil wanted to fly again, be it on the wings of a Rheaird or a monster companion. On that thought, Emil would become downhearted. He really, really missed the monster companions he had forged pacts with and raised himself. He wondered how Tierra was doing. The little chimera was due to evolve into a manticore sometime.
They had gone hardly ten minutes out of the Imperial Capital of Meltokio when Aster stopped abruptly, staring down at the wolf that shadowed Emil's footsteps. Titan had to wait outside the city, but when his master returned, he acted as if he were a faithful hound from the day he was born, not a savage wolf who once preyed on travelers. Immediately Emil was uncomfortable with the way Aster examined the monster. Titan himself was actually curious--perhaps the two people smelled similar, and certainly he had noticed how they looked identical.
"Aster," Emil began tentatively, "What's up?"
Aster bent in front of the wolf, a small frown on his face. Still Titan showed no sign of taking any hostile action against him, acting like a well behaved dog. Without hesitation he put his hand forward. Titan sniffed it, gave it a small lick, and allowed Aster to pat his head, to scratch him behind the ears. Aster's eyes averted to Emil's.
"I thought something was up with you. You might be able to help me with my research."
Somehow Emil was able to keep the nervousness from his voice.
"What research is that?" For Aster never before specified what research he had been doing prior to his study into "Sylvaranti martial arts styles."
"The relationship between mana and monsters. All monsters have mana of their own; some of them can even channel it to use magic. They seem to be able to use their mana outward more effectively than half-elf and even some elf mages can. Why is this? I've just been doing preliminary research, but I've found nothing I didn't know already."
"So how could I help you? Just what are you going to do next?"
"You have to ask? You can make pacts with monsters. Catching them and studying them would be infinitely easier if they bond with you. I already planned to ask the Director if Richter and I could embark on a field study sometime. With luck, perhaps I could find the answer before Tethe'alla began to decline."
Emil's stomach dropped into queasy hell. Mentally he fumed at Ratatosk and his decision to make a pact with a monster right in front of Aster. Granted, there probably would be no other way to make pacts with monsters without Aster eventually finding out, but now things were very complicated. Very. This provided Aster a way in which he could actually conduct his research faster and more accurately. He would find his way to Ratatosk, and end up dying that much faster.
"Would the answer to that question really be so important?" Inwardly Emil knew this was a stupid thing to ask, of course it was important!
Aster reiterated the thought almost word for word. "Of course it's important! Monsters are absent from the flourishing world and ravage the declining world. Why is this? Punishment from the evil Desians and salvation from the Goddess Martel, to be sure, but there has to be something more. I can feel it."
Sybak's best and brightest. Of course.
This doesn't mean he's going to die.
How can you be sure? He's gonna die faster than last time--
Things are different this time.
How so?
We are here, with him. We won't let him die, not even if we have to fight Ratatosk in order to do it.
Emil paused for a moment, blinking. Wait ...
So, you already fought me once ... and you want to fight yourself--who is just like you in terms of violence and such--again? You're weird.
Ah-ah, but it won't turn out like you think.
What do you mean?
What do you think I've been doing all this time you're prancing in the meadow? I've been working on a plan. The Ratatosk of this time will be powerless before us. Because we will bond with the Centurions, reducing his power. Right now they're all dormant, but bound to him.
But if we're all the Summon Spirit Ratatosk, how can one bond take from another? I don't get it.
We couldn't reach our Centurions, right? Because we haven't bonded with them yet. For the time being we still have our powers, but I don't expect it to last long as time passes and the time stream adjusts with how we affected it. One of those things is our existence. What matters now is who has the power of Summon Spirit Ratatosk. Now that we are here, there are two Ratatosks. There can be only one.
But if we end up having to fight him, won't we kill ourselves, too?
No. It doesn't work that way. If it did, time travel would end up destroying everything. The King of Summon Spirits, Origin, manages things like time and space. As long as the natural roles are still carried out, inconveniences like that don't apply; Origin's power prevents that. Of course that exception is not for humans, half-elves, or elves. Kill a mortal in the past, they die in the future. But we are a Summon Spirit. Origin will treat us more kindly.
Wow, you sure know a lot about it.
You do have to prepare for every eventuality when you're a Summon Spirit.
Time travel is an eventuality?
LIke Tenebrae said, it's difficult for mortals to accomplish, but for beings like Summon Spirits, it does happen from time to time. Without Origin's direct interference, all they can do is relive however many years they've been sent back into the time stream. So far as I know, though, no one, not even a Summon Spirit, has been sent to the future.
That was something Emil was secretly glad of. If you were sent into the past, living a few or hundreds of years over again was no hardship, since only Summon Spirit like beings ever wandered the time stream, according to Ratatosk. But if one were sent to the future, there was no way to make up for lost time.
"So, Emil? Will you help me?" Aster's question brought Emil out of his thoughts.
Emil knew what he was going to say before he even considered the question. He took a deep breath. This was the first step in undoing the wrong he had committed that day, two years in the future.
"Yes, I'll help you."
"Good! Now let's get back to Sybak. I can ask the Director if we can go on that field study after I report to him."
Emil brightened up after that. Perhaps he would get to see Lloyd and everyone else in Sybak, and have a chance to explain what really happened. There was also the plus of making pacts with monsters openly once again. Goodness knew how many odd stares they would get every time they left their huge knot of monsters outside the cities. Monsters, even bound ones, made townsfolk uneasy. Well, putting it mildly, anyway. However, in Sybak, where monsters were being researched, he wouldn't get as many odd looks.
-
Right before they had crossed the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge, Aster had insisted that Emil forge a pact with another monster. He led Emil down to the beach near the bridge, where aquatic monsters often gathered. Surely enough, sea monsters leapt from the frothy waves to attack. Altogether, Emil, Aster, and Titan exterminated the majority of the monsters, leaving one for the lord of all monsters to forge a pact with. The sleek, dark body of the water drake glistened in the sunlight as it floated in the air, charging. Emil without hesitation cast the pact magic.
"Her name is Ripplescale." He didn't think he needed to tell Aster that she was a water type.
Funnily enough, Aster's first question about Ripplescale was whether or not she could carry a person and fly them to and fro. Emil explained that no, Ripplescale used her wings mainly to swim, so she has partially lost her ability to fly. She can fly a few feet above ground, but nothing beyond that. Aster expressed disappointment, but quickly regained enthusiasm at the thought of capturing a giant bird or a dragon monster. Seeing that almost maniacal glint in the scientist's eyes, Emil began to feel that Richter was scarily accurate in his description of Aster.
Other than that, the return trip to Sybak wasn't anything out of the ordinary. The Grand Tethe'alla Bridge was an amazing sight to behold, but walking across it was a lengthy process that had Emil wondering if this was the reason Aster wanted to know if Ripplescale could fly them places. She followed them in the ocean under the bridge, her dark body darting in and out of the water as they made progress. The sight made Emil miss Eridanus terribly. He'd always had a fondness for the orca, as that was the first aquatic monster he'd bonded with.
He remembered what Ratatosk said as the time stream "adjusted" to their presence and how they affected it.
Ratatosk ... will that mean ... all the monsters I've bonded with won't know me anymore?
Yes. But don't worry. You can find them and get to know them again.
... Does this go for human relationships, too?
Ratatosk did not answer right away.
... Yes. As time passes, all the people we've known will not know us. But we will still remember.
... ! B-but--Marta--she'll forget us?
She won't forget. She never knew us.
The world froze. Emil halted on the bridge, staggering as if he'd been stabbed through. His emerald green eyes were wide, his breathing was shallow, and his hands trembled. Torrents of images and memories of Marta flooded his mind, of her fighting, of her smiling, of her calling his name. The sweet girl who had enough courage to turn against her own father when she believed he was in the wrong. The girl who looked delicate but was as tough as nails. The girl who saved his core from the Vanguard.
The girl whom he branded with a fake core in order to protect himself.
The girl who told him she loved him.
No ... no ... after everything we've been through together ... for all of it to be erased ... that can't be!
Do you think I want her to forget us, too?! There's nothing we can do about it. Just be glad that we can still befriend her when we do meet her.
You mean we'll meet her even if we stop Aster's death, which would stop Richter from running off with our core?
Of course. She lives in Palmacosta, right?
But it won't be the same! Even if we save Aster, we can't repeat our journey together!
Isn't that in everybody's best interests? Aster lives, Richter won't break the seal on Ginnungagap, the cores will never fall into the hands of the Vanguard, which means the Blood Purge would never have happened, and Marta's father never would have lost himself in the natural chaos of Solum's core. Advantages, one after the other. Can you say otherwise?
I ...
"Emil, are you all right?"
Emil blinked. He hadn't realized he fell on one knee, so lost in thought he was. He allowed Aster to help him back to his feet. The shock of what Ratatosk had said left his limbs feeling like lead. The end of the bridge was nigh, and Sybak itself only a short ways ahead. Everything of his past ... erased, a new future written ... there were bad things in that journey, sure ... but there were also good things.
"Yeah ... I'm just a little tired. Let's go."
-
Parting with his monster companions wasn't something that Emil did often, and he only did so when they were in either Tenebrae or Marta's care. So when they reached Sybak and Aster asked Emil if he could examine Ripplescale and Titan for some mana testing, he was very reluctant. He kept looking back at the monsters he'd just bonded with. He felt their thoughts; Titan would go with anything Emil decided. Ripplescale was iffy, but she would not resist. Finally, with a wrenching twist to his heartstrings, Emil allowed Aster to take the two monsters to a laboratory. In the meantime, Aster told him he'd have permission to meander about the Academy. Well, they were identical, so ...
He didn't want to go back to the dorm. There was no point. So, guilty conscience weighing heavily on him, Emil decided to go to the basement lab, where Richter worked. No one stopped him from going downstairs, to the basement. He attributed this to his looking like Aster. There really was no way for other people to know whether or not they swapped clothes for the day.
Slowly Emil opened the heavy door. Inside was just as he remembered it. Cold, dank ... dark. Kate was not here, gone from this lab. There were other basement laboratories, perhaps she was sent elsewhere on assignment. In the dark it was hard to see, but Emil found Richter standing, leaning on the counter, sipping a mug of coffee, lost in thought. Emil approached the half-elf with small steps.
"Uhm, Richter?"
Richter's eyes flickered up from the floor, locking with Emil's. He stopped, frozen, like a frightened deer. After a moment he took a few more steps. Richter took a large gulp of his coffee before he placed the mug down. He walked across the room, pulling up two stools. He gestured for Emil to sit down on one of them. Silent, Emil obliged.
"Emil." Richter said, arms folded over his chest. "I wanted to talk to you."
"You're not still upset over what happened before, right?" Emil's brow was knit together worriedly. Richter gave him a look.
"I don't think you're out to get me. What Aster said before is probably true. Anyway, I want to know: are you really from Sylvarant?"
Emil paused, considering. He still had memories of growing up in Palmacosta. Did that mean he truly was from Sylvarant? Well, technically he was Tethe'allan, since the Ginnungagap lay beneath the Otherworldly Gate. What should he tell Richter?
"I grew up in Sylvarant, anyway. Why?"
Richter adjusted his glasses. "You're a human and yet you can use magic as if you were an elf. You are familiar with at least one Tethe'allan city." Here Emil bit his tongue, remembering how badly he'd guarded his prior knowledge. The red-haired man continued, "And you have the exact same genetic makeup as Aster. This can't be pure coincidence."
Fear jolted Emil's heart. Richter wanted to know why all of those applied to Emil. Why could he use mana? Why could he use magic? Above all, why did he look like Aster? He frowned.
"What're you getting at, Richter?"
"The Desians are probably more technologically advanced than Sylvarant, perhaps even more so than us. Even we can't manufacture Exspheres like they can. What I'm trying to say, Emil, is ... I believe you might be a human weapon created by the Desians."
Relief spread in Emil's nerves. It wasn't a good thing to be thought of as what Richter suggested, but at least he deduced nothing about Emil stealing Aster's identity ... not that he could. Emil's hands curled into tight fists.
"If I was, what would you do with me? Use me for Tethe'alla? Imprison me here for research? Or destroy me?"
Richter frowned, a sad look coming across his face. "I wouldn't wish any of those fates on you. This much is plain: at least some of the Desians are going to come for you, sooner or later. You are not safe here. Tethe'alla would also seek to use you for its own benefit."
"You're in contact with Desians? I thought they were only in the declining world!"
Richter donned a wry smile. "One of the Desians comes here every so often. His name is Aurum, and his leader, a Grand Cardinal, teamed up with the Pope of the Church of Martel to create a Cruxis Crystal. I don't know why the Desians want a Cruxis Crystal, but Aurum said that the Desians have a profound interest in you." The smile vanished, his demeanor changed into something more serious.
"Emil, you need to get out of here. They know you're in Sybak. If you stay here, they'll come for you."
Emil thought for a moment, considering. "If they can come between the worlds, would it matter where I am?"
Richter's next words completely threw off not only Emil, but also Ratatosk.
"It would matter to me."
Emil looked up, an expression of pure shock on his face.
"What?"
Richter heaved a deep sigh.
"I don't know. Maybe it's just you look like Aster, but ... I wouldn't want you to fall into their hands."
An idea occurred to Emil. "Hey. Aster said he'd ask the Director if he can go on that field study about the relationship between monsters and mana. He wants to take us with him. Do you think that would do it?"
There was a long, drawn-out pause as Richter drank from his mug of coffee. The coldness of the lab was suffocating, stifling. The red-haired half-elf considered for a few minutes before he put his mug down.
"Yes, I would."
-
Emil had immense difficulty remembering how it had happened at all. How it happened so fast, a mere colorless blur. In universities in general, he'd had the impression that there was a tremendous delay in a request and stacks upon stacks of detailed paperwork involved, especially for something as dangerous as a monster field study.
But literally two days after they returned, Aster came running to find Emil, speaking with urgency but looking as if his birthday had come early.
"Emil! C'mon! We gotta go get Richter and get out of here!" Comically, the monsters he'd been studying--Ripplescale and Titan--were loping after him, which probably attributed to the terrified screaming of other people in the academy.
Emil, cozy in the dorm, had been reading--actually reading--and now he scrambled to find his shoes and broadsword, blubbering to Aster as he grabbed his dual spinner,
"What? Why? Did something happen?"
Aster smiled sweetly. "Suffice it to say that we're leaving for our field study early."
"Aster. What happened?"
The ridiculous grin only grew wider. "I'm not at liberty to share that information!" He sang, unlocking the blades on his spinner, checking to make sure they rotated properly and at full speeds. A chill of fear ran down Emil's spine as he strapped his sword to his belt. He felt he was probably better off not knowing.
"Well, okay," Aster said as they tore down the stairs on the way to Richter's basement, "it involves the library, a book about Mithos the Hero (only five copies of which are supposedly still in existence), and Titan's canine instinct to mark the scope of his territory."
Emil paled, and he almost stopped running.
Did he just imply that our wolf soiled a valuable textbook of the academy's?
I think he did.
Aster never stopped smiling.
-
In a whirlwind of flurried activity fifteen minutes later, the three of them plus two monsters--one of which looked absurdly proud of himself--stood on the open dirt road leading north, toward the Gaoracchian Forest. The Forest of Cold Shadows. The Forest of Death. Not that they were going that way ... right?
"Okay." Richter sounded unnaturally calm. "Not that I'm complaining--it's nice to get some fresh air--but this means we can't return to Sybak indefinitely?"
Aster pondered the question for only a moment before he nodded and chirped, "Yep!"
Richter covered his eyes with a palm, squeezing the bridge of his nose. Aster laughed at the sight.
"Oh c'mon! It's not all bad. This way we have no time limit on our field study!"
"True." Richter replied. "But just where were you planning to start? We don't have anything to go on."
"Oh, but I do." Aster said cheerily. "Summon Spirits control the elements, fine. But I believe there is also a Summon Spirit--or multiple ones--that oversee the ecosystems of monsters."
"What? Really?" Emil gaped, shocked. Aster nodded.
"You learn a few things when you talk to elves."
Just like how humans were occasionally allowed entrance into Heimdall, the village of the elves, with the king's permission, with the elf elder's permission, elves were allowed to go beyond their village into the world of humans. Apparently one such elf, knowledgeable about monsters, had been in town and spoken with Aster.
Emil didn't know whether to be worried or relieved about that. His shoulders slumped.
Great ... now I'll miss a chance to talk to Lloyd.
They can't go back to Sylvarant, at least not right away. We're bound to run into him again sometime soon, so keep your chin up.
Are you trying to cheer me up?
Do you have any idea how annoying it is for you to moping around all the time?
... Not really.
Thought so.
"Well then," Aster began, slipping a Holy Symbol on his wrist and a topaz ring on his finger, "to the road ahead!"
Richter and Emil, somewhat less enthusiastic, nodded as Aster led the way.
