Two Destinies Chapter 26: Intertwined Destinies
Author's Preface: Well, I hate to keep people glued to their seats waiting for an update about the issues going on with the Eternia crew right now, but I feel it's necessary to have this chapter thrown in first. So... Guess what? This story turns a year older on June 6! I'm so happy that I've pursued this project for so long~~~ I hope I can continue it into college (Yes, I'm heading off to college pretty soon, even though it's 5 minutes away from my high school, which is only 10 minutes away from my house as it is... XD) Anyways, enjoy this story while I'm still writing. Who knows what fate may befall this when I start college? Right, enough rambling, read on!
By the way, this chapter CONTAINS TALES OF DESTINY 2 SPOILERS! If you don't want to be spoiled, then don't read this!
Farah had found herself surrounded by clouds once she had recovered after fainting due to the force of the Dark Aurora that Shizel had used against her and her friends. At first, she thought she was in heaven and had just died, but there was a surreal yet mortal feel about this place that gave her the feeling that this was all just a dream.
"Farah..." A calm and soothing male voice called out to her. "Farah, come..." She instantly felt obligated to find the owner of the voice who was calling out to her. She gingerly took one step onto the fluffy clouds, and then another once she realized she wouldn't fall through, and then, more confidently, began her journey across the clouds to search for the one who was calling her.
After following the repeated calls for the voice for a long time, Farah finally found a bright shining figure in the middle of the clouds. Once more, the voice called out again, and Farah was sure that this is what she had been looking for. Curiously, she took another step forward, and the glow instantly became stronger - too strong for her to look at. When the blinding glow faded away, Farah looked back and gasped. Instead of the shapeless glowing light that had been there prior, there stood a man with long golden hair, sapphire eyes, and white armor trimmed with gold. His face looked familiar, but more weathered than Farah remembered seeing. Her eyes were not focused on the man's face, however, but to his six shining white wings that fluttered on their own lightly, keeping the man slightly above the ground. Farah stared at this man for another second before speaking.
"Y-you're..." She paused slightly in awe. The angelic man smiled. Blinking once, she continued, "You're Kyle's father... aren't you?"
"Indeed I am..." The angel said, smiling even more. His warm smile highly reminded Farah of Kyle and could easily see the family relation between this man and her friend. It was almost as if this man was Kyle with an extra twenty or so years of facial weathering added to his appearance. He continued, "My name is Stahn Aileron... I've been protecting Kyle as much as I could from before he was even born until now, but now there are forces that antagonize the two of us and threaten to tear us apart..."
"The Darkness..." Farah said softly. Stahn nodded, the smile having faded from his face, which was now heavy with seriousness.
"That is correct..." He said. His voice no longer held the airiness that she had heard when he had been beckoning to her. "And it's being perpetrated by a dark-hearted angel... One whom I had once placed my trust within..." These words rolled bitterly off Stahn's tongue, as if he regretted having once trusted the person he was speaking about. His eyes were also focused downward in his state of self-regret. "I don't know his true intentions, but he has made it clear to me that he's trying to tear out Kyle's heart for whatever reason..." Farah gasped, causing Stahn to look up again.
"Tear his heart out?!? Why?" Stahn shook his head and looked away once more.
"Like I said, I don't know... It's probably something ill-intended and truly evil, though..." He then gave a forlorn sigh. "But the fact that you're here means that there's one less person to protect Kyle if my protection should ever completely fail... A higher chance that he might succeed if he ever decides to directly attack... And Kyle needs as much protection as possible..."
At that moment, Farah woke up for real. The last phrase that Stahn had revealed to her was lingering in her mind and made her worried. What did he mean by 'you're here'? Was he saying that if Kyle was killed by the Darkness that she would be to blame? At that moment, just as she was about to go into a state of self-pity, she looked up and gasped at the sky. Instead of the dark gray sky of Celestia, she was staring up at a nearly-cloudless azure sky.
"No..." She said as she continued to stare up at the sky. "This is... Inferia..." This is probably what Stahn had meant by 'you're here'. How did she wind up back on Inferia? She stood up slowly as the initial shock wore off slowly and decided that she'd try to find out where she was first and foremost, and then afterwards try and head back towards Rasheans once she got her bearings back. Right now, Farah was in some kind of forest (and she REALLY hoped it wasn't the Forest of Temptation... That was a big headache the FIRST time around!) and she wondered as to which way she should go.
At that moment, Farah heard the sound of light footfall upon leaves coming from her left. Upon turning, she saw somebody else creeping through the woods. It was a man with dark skin and silver hair. He was facing away from Farah and making a conspicuous effort to tiptoe about by making exaggerated movements. There's ANOTHER Celestian in Inferia? She said to herself. Farah jested in her mind that Meredy had started a chain reaction and every Celestian was going to migrate to Inferia now. Nodding once for nobody to see, Farah walked over to try and talk to the Celestian man.
Farah had quickly come up behind the man, who was still unaware of her presence. Quickly combing her memory, Farah tried to think of a good way to greet this man. She quickly decided a simple hello in Melnics would suffice (plus, it was one of the few Melnics words she knew from being around Meredy). "Anruri!" She greeted. The man yelped and jumped out of his skin.
"I TOLD YOU I DIDN'T STEAL THAT BOLOG..." He yelled in English as he turned to face Farah. The man then just stood and stared at Farah for another second before he resumed speaking. "W-wait a sec! Y-you're not Nanaly!" He said as he pointed at Farah, his face turning red. Farah was giving the man a surprised look. She was not expecting this man to be speaking English.
"You speak English?" She asked. The man blinked once, then erupted into raucous laughter.
"Of course I do!" He said after his laughter subsided. "What other language do you THINK I'd be able to speak? Japanese?!?" Farah's face furrowed with confusion.
"Well, I'd have thought that you'd speak Melnics like other Celestians..." At that moment, Farah remembered that she was wearing her Orz Earring... Or was she? Touching her ear casually, however, made her realize that the earring was gone. This "Celestian" man WAS speaking English!
"...Melnics?" He said. "I've never heard of any such language in my life... And what did you call me? A Celestian? What's THAT supposed to mean?" Farah shook her head.
"Never mind..." She held out a hand. "I'm Farah Oersted." The man smiled and grabbed her hand to shake it.
"Loni Dunamis." He said, still holding Farah's hand. Farah gasped at the man's name.
"...Dunamis?" She said. "You're not related to Kyle Dunamis, are you?" It was Loni's turn to gasp.
"You know Kyle?!?" He said, looking like he was ready to shake Farah like a leaf. "He's my best friend! Do you know where he is?!?" Farah nodded. Loni was so overjoyed at this response.
"He's on Celestia right now." Loni's smile quickly transmogrified into a confused frown.
"...Celestia?" He repeated in an interrogative tone. "Where the hell is that?" Farah looked up.
"It's on the other side of the Or..." At that moment, Farah's voice drifted off into oblivion as she saw that there was no Orbus Barrier in the sky. That's when it finally hit Farah: this wasn't Inferia, but, rather, it was Kyle's homeworld. The similarities to Inferia were remarkable, though. Loni finally spoke up again.
"Other side of the Or?" He said. "...I don't follow..." Farah shook her head.
"It's really far away..." She said, looking away from Loni. The man wanted to continue pressing Farah for answers about where his best friend was, but at that moment, a voice rang out from nearby.
"Loni!" The third person yelled. "Where the hell are you?" Loni grabbed Farah's hand.
"Hey, come with me to meet my friends!" He said. After saying this, before listening to see if Farah had any objections, he ran off with Farah in tow.
A minute later, Farah saw a woman with two long hot pink pigtails, another woman with short and sparkly hair that was a lighter pink color than the other woman's hair, and a dark haired man with a skull on his face. The first of the two women was staring at Loni and Farah with her hands on her hips.
"Great..." She said. "We ask you to find lunch, and, instead, you find a woman? Set your priorities straight, Loni..." Loni shook his head vigorously.
"You don't understand!" He said. "This woman knows where Kyle is!" The man with the skull mask sighed.
"Just when you had stopped whining continuously about Kyle, this woman comes and starts up the whining again..." Loni's face turned pink.
"S-shut up, Judas!" Exhaling frustratedly, he changed the subject. "Anyways... Guys, this is Farah Oersted." She waved. The girl with pigtails stared bitterly. "Farah, these guys are Nanaly Fletch with the pigtails..." Nanaly harrumphed and turned her head away. "...Harold Berselius with the sparkly hair..." Harold waved innocently. "...and Judas with the mask." Judas was facing in the opposite direction. Farah felt uncomfortable with the greetings that Loni's friends had given her.
"...I can see I'm not welcome..." She said, looking down. Harold walked up to Farah and grabbed her hand.
"Nonsense!" The genius scientist said while smiling creepily. "I could always make good use of you~~~" Farah snatched her hand back from Harold.
"Erm, well..." It was nice to meet you guys...She said as she awkwardly curtsied. "See you..." Farah turned to leave, but Loni stopped her.
"Please, excuse my friends... They're really nice when you get to know them, but..." Farah kept walking. "...You're not going to stop, are you?" Without speaking, Farah kept walking past him back into the woods. "But what about the monsters in the woods?!?"
"I'll be fine..." She said. "No problem~~~" Farah continued even deeper into the woods, much to Loni's discontent.
"...You're not going in after her, are you, Loni?" Nanaly said as she stepped up next to him. Loni sighed.
"I have to..." He said. "She's the only clue as to where Kyle is..." After saying that he ran in after Farah, slipping out of Nanaly's grasp.
Farah had been blindly fumbling through the woods for some time - five minutes? an hour? longer? - she had no clue how long. All that she was thinking about was that she was stuck on Kyle's world and had been rejected by most of Kyle's friends. She wanted to be back on Eternia so badly. At that moment, Farah rammed into something soft and bounced off of it, falling onto her butt. As the object turned around, Farah realized that the fuzzy thing was... "An Eggbear!" She cried. The Eggbear, now enraged, threw its claws toward Farah. She quickly rose back to her feet and out of harm's way. As quickly as she had risen, she had closed in upon the Eggbear, throwing punches and kicks at it.
"Swallow Dance!" She spin-kicked the bear upward repeatedly and then flipped over in preparation for the next move: "Eagle Dive!" She drove a hard kick downward and jumped back as the bear nosedived into the ground. However, the bear recovered surprisingly fast and then tackled Farah while she was in a daze, plucking her off the ground and giving her a deadly bear "hug". As she struggled in vain to escape the grasp of the Eggbear, she thought she was going to be squeezed to oblivion. At that moment, a familiar voice called out.
"Negative Gate!" The spell opened up above the Eggbear and lifted the confused animal off its feet, which subsequently dropped Farah in a daze. As the bear rose higher, it got battered by the spell's dark energy. Just as the spell subsided, another cry rang out. "Cyclone Shot!" The bear was hit mid-fall by something blue and white and got knocked away, landing a few meters away on its back. A second later, a familiar person landed in front of Farah, holding a poleaxe in his hands.
"Loni!" Farah said as she stared at the dark-skinned man's backside. Loni turned around upon being addressed.
"Farah, are you okay?" She nodded. "Can you still fight?" Farah stood up and held out her fists.
"I sure can! Oh, and thanks, Loni..." After getting a nod of acknowledgement from Loni, she saw that the Eggbear was standing up to fight once more. It charged at Farah and Loni, only to stop a second later and let out a loud roar. Loni looked at Farah, who looked as confused as him. Looking again, Farah saw something.
"Hey, there's an arrow in the bear's shoulder!" Loni gasped and turned around.
"Nanaly!" He cried. Sure enough, a few meters behind him and Farah stood Nanaly with her bow drawn.
"Did you miss me?" The hot pink haired archer mused while giving a wink. "Let's do this!" Just then, she thrust her hand into the ground and a red dragon of fire rose from where her hand had hit. The dragon looped around to Nanaly's now-drawn bow. "Wyrm Shot!" She cried as she let the shot loose upon the Eggbear. The creature roared in pain upon being hit. At that moment, Loni and Farah nodded, and then they simultaneously ran at the enemy.
"Triple Blossom!" Farah cried as she kicked the Eggbear three times in succession. Loni quickly followed her up with an attack of his own.
"Frost Javelin(1)!" Loni yelled as he jumped up into the air and rained a bunch of icicles down onto the Eggbear. Nanaly smiled as she saw the bear cringing from that last attack.
"Now it's my turn!" She said as she held up a hand to the air. A red glow appeared over the Eggbear and pulsated once, making the bear flinch. Nanaly pulled back on her bow as burning energy flowed around it. "Feel the burning wrath of my bow! Wild Geese!" She let the stored energy loose and fired a bunch of magical arrows of fire at the Eggbear. After being hit by Nanaly's Mystic Arte, the Eggbear fell over and refused to get up.
"We did it!" Farah said, thrusting a fist up into the air. "No problem!" After this celebration of victory, Nanaly walked over to Farah and Loni, smiling.
"I'd like to apologize, Farah..." She said. "I think I was just letting jealousy get to me..." Loni brushed against Nanaly's shoulder as she said this.
"Aww, you know that you're the only one for me, Nana~~~" He said, getting snuggly with her. A vein pulsated on Nanaly's head, and then she grabbed Loni and placed him in a headlock.
"Actually, you know what?" Nanaly said, smiling innocently while Loni struggled in vain to escape the archer's grasp. "You can have Loni..." At that moment, in one swift motion, Nanaly spun him around quickly and applied a lot of pressure to his back, which was followed by a snapping sound and loud, agonized scream. Afterwards, Nanaly threw the battered Loni down in front of Farah. "...You can have both pieces of him~~~" She said, chuckling a little under her breath. A bead of sweat ran down Farah's face.
"...Okay then..." She said, not knowing what to do. Wanting to change the subject, she added, "So... We're friends now, right Nanaly?" Farah held out a hand for Nanaly to shake. The archer smiled.
"Yeah... We are..." Nanaly took Farah's hand and firmly shook it. The two of them then walked together and started to chat about stuff.
A few strides away, Farah said, "Y'know... I think we forgot something..."
"Nah..." Nanaly responded. "Everything's a-okay." As the ladies walked away, Loni still lay battered on the ground back where Nanaly had dropped him.
"...Girls?" He said. "A little help here? You can't forget about little ol' me, can you? Help?!? Come back here! HELP!"
Back at the campsite that Loni and Nanaly had departed from, Judas was sitting alone on a log. It didn't matter to him that everybody (including Harold, who seemed to have just randomly wandered off on her own) had abandoned him. After looking around shiftily, he withdrew something from a hidden place. Seconds later, he was staring at a slightly curved silver sword whose grip he held in his left hand and whose blade was resting on his lap. The masked swordsman smiled, and the sound of yawning filled the air.
Good morning, Bocchan~~~ A voice echoed through the air. Judas closed his eyes, still smiling.
"It's hardly morning, Chaltier..." He said without any trace of bitterness on his voice.
Aww, man! Chaltier said. I slept in again?!? One of these days, I'd like to get back on a regimented sleeping pattern again, Bocchan... Judas made a sound that was a cross between a grunt and a chuckle.
"Fine..." He said. "I promise... One of these days, Chal, one of these days..." Judas lightly placed his other hand on the sword's blade.
...Bocchan? Chaltier sounded a little worried now. Judas frowned.
"...What is it, Chal?" He said. Unbeknownst to Judas, Harold was standing right behind him.
"Well, hello again, Chaltier!" Harold said loudly. Judas nearly dropped Chaltier as he practically jumped out of his skin. After recovering, Judas turned around with a scowl on his face.
"Harold!" He yelled, now hot in the face. "What are YOU doing here?!? I thought you had run off after everybody else!" Harold laughed.
"Actually, I thought I had seen a rare animal and I went to look for it, but, after losing all signs of it, I came back!" Harold chuckled before continuing. "...I came back in time to find you cuddling one of the Swordians that I invented!"
"...I was NOT cuddling Chaltier..." Judas said darkly and with a fierce venom in his eyes.
Oh, Harold-san! Chaltier said. Long time, no see! Harold smiled.
"Indeed~~~" She said. "It's been about... a thousand years, hasn't it?" After saying this, Harold chuckled a little. "Well, who would have thought that Judas here was capable of being a Swordian Master?"
Oh, but Bocchan's not just ANY Swordian Master~~~ The Swordian's voice was glowing with pride. He's the best Swordian Master EVER!
"...Quite..." Harold said. "Anyways, why didn't you tell me that you had one of my Swordians, Judas?" Judas sighed.
"...I don't want ANYBODY to know about Chaltier..." He said. "Not after what he's come to represent..."
"Oh?" Harold said, moving in closer to Judas. At that moment, Harold was face to face with the tip of Swordian Chaltier's blade.
"If you tell anybody that I have Chal, you'll lose your head faster than you can say 'eureka'!" He threatened. "At the same time, you better swear not to tell anybody that I have him!" Harold straightened up and looked at Judas.
"Fine~~~" She said. "But in return, you're gonna have to repay the deed somehow~~~" At that moment, Harold's focus turned to behind Judas. "Oh, and you might want to put your Swordian away right now if you don't want to reveal anything yourself~~~" Judas quickly turned around and saw that Loni, Farah, and Nanaly were on their way back to camp.
"...Sorry, Chal, but it's time to go again..." He said somewhat bitterly as he put the Swordian back in its safe, hidden spot. After it was safely put away, he looked up at Harold, who winked at him.
A minute later, the team was reunited and they were all discussing what to do next on their journey...
Author's Final Note: Yay, this hassle is FINALLY over! This chapter was practically destroyed by missing words and punctuation and added-in Japanese Kanji when I first uploaded this document to this site, but I fixed it all! So, how's the Destiny 2 crew going to make out with their newest member? What's the Eternia crew going to do without Farah? Find out... NEXT TIME! -shot- Please review! I want to hear your lovely opinions! :3=
And now for a footnote:
(1): Frost Javelin = Muhyoushou. This fanslation was thought up by yours truly (with a small edit from a friend)! :D