Well, good evening, here comes the next chapter. The chapter title might not make much sense, but I'm not exactly a creative genius.
Chapter IX: White Magic-Part 1
South of Ancient Rebena Te Ra, Yuri, Chelinka and their group entered the forest, and were making their way into it's depths.
"Gosh, it's so beautiful here" sighed Aleria.
"I wonder what we will find. Heh, this is getting exciting" said Yuri.
"Yuri, this isn't some picnic!" sighed Chelinka.
Latov interjected"Enough talk, let's get going."
The group moved on, until they came across some Orcish monsters.
"Whoa, what's a bunch of orcs doing there?" wondered Yuri.
Latov drew his sword"Let's cut through them and make our way to the nearest village."
Yuri, Latov and Alhanelem fought off the monsters with magic and steel, then went even deeper into the woods with their allies.
"Hey Yuri, remember this place? I think I kinda do" said Chelinka.
"Don't be such a worrywort, Chelinka, we've got it covered" said the brunette boy.
Soon, they came to a village in flames.
"Oh, no!" cried Chelinka.
"Yuri, Chelinka, stay close to me. Alhanelem and Meeth, you two evacuate any civilians that may need us" instructed Latov.
"Don't sweat it" smirked the Lilty Alchimest.
The group rushed into the village, only to find a monster of a man on the loose.
Yuri drew his sword"Is that a Lunite?"
"How observant" said the mystery figure, turning around to reveal a dark masked face.
Alhanelem, Aleria and Meeth hurried to put a stop to the fires burning the village, while the other three faced them mysterious man.
Latov drew his sword"On the king's orders, I will not permit you to cause more harm to the village, whoever you are."
"Sir Latov, I presume? I suppose you didn't recognize me, my name was Dean Waylon!" said the man, who had dark brown hair, blue eyes and wore the uniform of Rebena Te Ra's royal guard.
"Dad, did you know this guy?" frowned Yuri.
Latov sighed"Now that I've recognize his voice, yes. This man was my second, back when I was a captain of King Kolka's knights."
Waylon called forth a monstrous, two bladed weapon"So you still remember me. Since you're all here, I can pull out your family tree by it's roots!"
The man lunged at Latov with such furocity, that the older Clavat barely blocked the blow, and slashed back.
Waylon disarmed Latov and attempted to blast him with crimson magic, when Yuri absorbed the blow with his crystal sword.
"Impressive, son of Latov, but can you withstand this?" snarled Waylon, launching laser beams at Yuri.
The young brunette barely dodged, while Latov clashed again with his adversary"Leave my son out of this!"
The two men dueled, until the moontouched man jumped back.
"Skilled as ever, can you handle this?" said Waylon.
The corrupt man cast threw a torrent of crimson energy at the group.
Yuri, Chelinka and Latov were knocked back, but then healed by magic.
"Aleria, stay back" gasped Latov.
The brunette woman replied"It's true that I can't fight, but I can use white magic."
Yuri got back on his feet and launched a combo at Waylon.
The Lunite dodged, and threw a crimson fireball at Yuri.
The younger swordsman dodged, while Latov clashed again with the enemy.
Just then, a thunder magicite exploded in Waylon's face.
"Meeth, Al, how were things at the forest village?" said Latov.
Meeth used her alchemic skills to launch a blizzard magicite at the Lunite, while Alhanalem addressed Latov"We managed to put out the flames, and had the people escape to the capital."
"That won't help them" sneered Waylon, throwing a wave of crimson energy at the group.
Yuri wasted no time in unleashing a wave of magic energy at Waylon, striking him in the chest.
The Lunite groaned"This isn't over, I'll be back."
With that, the monster retreated.
"Who was that kook?" remarked Yuri.
"He's a loony-moony no doubt" sighed the Lilty alchemist.
Nearby, a single Selkie mother and her child were hiding.
"Hey, why haven't you evacuated to safety?" frowned Meeth.
The Selkie female sighed"Sorry, but I wanted to see Captain Latov in action, he was always a great knight."
"I am no longer a knight, but I am on mission from King Kolka" said Latov.
Chelinka addressed the Selkie boy"Hey, what's your name?"
The boy thought for a moment, then replied"I'm Geraldine, but my friends call me Gnash."
Yuri was puzzled"Hey, Chelinka. Wasn't Gnash always his name?"
"I don't know, but we shouldn't discuss it here, Yuri" said the blond.
The Selkie woman spoke"I am this Selkie child's mother, you know him as Gnash, huh? It's kind of a silly name, but as long as he likes it."
Aleria glanced at the sky"I do not like the looks of this, let's go back to the capital and report this to the king."
"Okey doky" said Meeth.
The group left back to the capital with their two new (well, Gnash isn't new) friends.
Back in the future, Althea, Layle and the rest of the group made their way back to the airship.
Cid was surprised"Hey, how is everyone?"
"Great, sorry it took so long to get things done" said Aleria.
Mid smiled"No harm done, we just finished fine-tuning the airship's reactor."
Patricia piped up"How did it go?"
Layle explained"It's a long story, but the Lunites' objective seems to be to merge this world with the past, it's all pretty far-fetched."
"Let's go back to the Yuke village and talk to Archimedes about returning magic to our kingdom" said Aleria.
The group launched the airship and made their way back to the forest.
At the village, Layle and the others disembarked at the outskirts.
The old Yuke was pleasently surprised"Ah, Lady Althea, I see you rescued Layle, and one of the Selkie girls is now a Crystal Bearer. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"I'm sorry to disturb you all the time, but I wanted to talk to you about returning magic to Alfitaria" said the Lilty Queen.
"Your requests grow even more difficult, but I believe I can help you. After the great war between our tribes, magicite is all but forgotten. Magicite could not be destroyed, it is merely locked away under the catacombs of Alfitaria, I presume" said Archimedes.
Layle shrugged"All we have to do is go get it, right?"
Althea spoke"It won't be that easy, but I can alter the laws some. Certain types of magic will still be restricted, but I'll see about possibly opening a magic academy or two in the kingdom."
"What about the Elder Council? What will they say?" interjected Mid.
"I'll talk to them about it, they'll understand" said Althea.
"Thanks, Arc. Oh, and we should be able to help Amidatellion now, right? Belle's crystal seemed to have reversed the effects of the Lunites' spell" said Layle.
Archimedes replied"I'm afraid the longer the victim of Crystallization remains in that state, the more his or her soul diminishes. But, with the power of the crystals, and your new abilities, you might be able to save her."
Keiss sighed"That Yuke, again? Not that I'm complaining."
"Maybe if we have an extra energy source, we can reverse the effects of Jegran's power" said Althea.
"Vaigali is shattered, and Amidatellion's armor is broken. Anyway, Crystal Bearer powers aren't that convenient, but we can give it a shot" shrugged Layle.
"Ah, then your primary goal should be to reinstate White Magic, you'll need the magic spells Life and Clear. Life restores fallen allies, while Clear heals status ailments" spoke Archimedes.
"Thank you, Archimedes" said Althea, and the heroes returned to the capital via Airship.
As they returned to Alfitaria, Althea spoke to Layle"The catacombs leading underground are inside the castle. I will send soldiers to help you retrieve the magicite."
"Leave it to me" said Layle.
At the castle gates, Layle, Keiss, Belle and Mid prepared to go underground.
Althea addressed the four"The Magicite may be guarded, but I trust that you will return with the magicite."
"We're on it, your highness" said Keiss.
The four entered the catacombs left of the gate.
"Gross, it's a sewedge down here" complained Belle.
"Don't worry about it, we shouldn't have to swim since I can probably carry you with my power" said Layle, cockily.
As they proceeded through the long, dark tunnel, they came to a secret chamber.
"So magicite was hoarded here all along?" said Keiss.
"Yes, now let's stay alert" said the male Crystal Bearer.
Just then, two stone golems appeared along with a Behemoth.
Keiss drew his new weapon"Let me and Mid take those golems."
"Good luck" said the Lilty.
Belle activated her new wind power as she and Layle confronted the behemoth"Bring it on!"
The Behemoth charged with it's horn at the pair.
Layle dodged, while Belle unleashed a Tornado technique.
This barely moved the monster as it reared back. Layle took the opprotunity to bring it crashing down with a gravity/telekineses skill.
Nearby, Mid and Keiss disarmed the two golems by destroying the crystals on them.
Just then, a group of Flans appeared and began casting their spells at the heroes.
Layle magically grabbed one monster and hurled it into another one.
This ticked off the flans, which blasted Layle with ice magic.
Belle channeled more energy into her crystal, and suddenly unleashed a Plasma Blast.
The spell vaporized the monsters, Layle shrugged"Not too shabby there, Belle."
"Whatever, now where's the Magicite?" wondered the female Selkie.
"Look over there" said Keiss, glancing at some black and white crystals at the end of the chamber.
Just then, several lilty soldiers entered the room.
"Right on time, huh?" said Keiss.
"Yeah, I can't say I'm happy about magic being returned to the kingdom. But the queen's word is law" remarked one of the soldiers.
"All right, let's take this back to the castle" said Mid.
The group and their backup picked up as much magicite as they could carry, and headed straight back to the castle.
That's it for tonight, the next part of this segment will come tomorrow.
Oh, and just to clear things up, since Yuri and Chelinka had altered their universe in Ring of Fates, I imagined that Gnash would've been somewhat different domestic then the way he was portrayed in the game.
(Spoilers for future chapters)
I must apologize if the plot dosen't make too much sense. But I plan on including Sherlotta, Amidatellion and Tilika. The different groups will join forces at some point, but not for another three or four chapters. Depends on what direction the fic will take.