Tales of Faith

Main Arc

Chapter 10: The Demon King's Plot

"Luca! Luca!"

"Ah?!" Luca suddenly rose his head upwards. He sees Arturo looking at him. "Huh? Arturo?" he asked.

"What's wrong, Luca?" Arturo asks. "You suddenly knelt down and mumbled strange stuff like 'combat weapon' or something like that… Are you sure you're alright?"

"I…" Luca mumbled, rubbing his head. "I think that I am fine. So anyway, how is our progress?"

"Actually, we are still outside Lake Purity. We have yet to search for Vanille." Arturo replied.

"Oh…"

"Now… where could Vanille have wandered off to?" Arturo wondered, looking at the surroundings near Lake Purity. Luca rubbed his head. "This should be the second time Vanille is in the Kingdom…" he analysed.

"She could be anywhere in this vast place…" Arturo said.

"…Or maybe not." Luca said. "I have an idea! Arturo, check out the city!" He started to run off towards a direction.

"Then, what're you going to do?" Arturo asked.

"I think I can guess where she is!" Luca shouted from afar. Then he suddenly tripped on the floor and landed on his face. "Ouch!"


When Luca arrived at his destination, it was a lush scenery of nature. There were plenty of visitors at the gardens in the Kingdom, all gazing at the variety of plant life at this place. "It's been some time since I last visited this place…" Luca said, reminiscing one of the moments, particularly, the moment he met the princess, Arche…

"Owaaahh…" A younger Luca, amazed by the lush green land in front of him. The Poliwhirl looked around excitedly, wondering which flower he wanted to look at. "Pops! Pops!" Luca called out. His father turned his head down to Luca.

"Ho… The gardens in the Kingdom of Namdiascar is a fine place to appreciate the environment." Luca's father said. He rubbed his son's head. "Luca, I got important stuff to do now, so don't wander off too far from the gardens!" He told Luca, walking out of the garden. After his father left, Luca ran around the garden, frolicking around at the garden. He squeezed his way through one of the large bushes in the garden, and he suddenly bumped into something which was not part of the bush.

"Ah!" A female voice gasped.

"Oh, sorry!" Luca apologized. The character he bumped into was a small sprite made of granite and jewel. She was as small as Luca, and her eyes too brimmed with never-ending curiosity. "…Who're you?" Luca asked the Diancle. "My name's Luca!"

"I'm… My name's Arche…" Diancle answered.

"…Arc…hain?" Luca mispronounces.

"No. Ar, che." Arche said.

"Where did the princess go this time?!" A voice away from the bushes shouted.

"She couldn't have gone far! We must find her!" Another voice shouted.

"Princess?! Where are you?!" A third voice screamed. Then, the two children heard the sound of footsteps near the bush as plenty of figures ran by the bush.

"Shh…" Arche shushes Luca. "Don't tell anyone that I went here…"

"Umm… Okay…" Luca said. Arche nodded, carefully peeking from the bush before finally leaving the bush. Luca wonders curiously. 'Who is that girl?'

"Luca! Where are you?"

Luca rose up. That was his father's voice. Squeezing out of the bush, he notices his father walking, searching for him. "Pops!" Luca called out, catching his father's attention. Luca's father walked up to him. "Ah, there you are, Luca!"

"Pops! I met this girl named Arche today!" Luca said.

"Arche?" Luca's father asked. "You don't mean, perhaps, Princess Arche?"

"Princess Arche?" Luca wondered.

"Yes, this Kingdom has a princess, and her name is Arche."

"I met a princess?!" Luca said. "Wow! That's really awesome!"

'There she is!' Luca thought as his mind returned to the present time, seeing Vanille gazing at a tree of sakura flowers from where he stood. She still had that face of curiosity as she observed the sakura tree. "Vanille!" Luca called out, running towards Vanille.

"Ah! Luca!" Vanille said, surprised to see Luca. "What are you doing here?"

"You suddenly disappeared from the inn, so Arturo and I went out to search for you." Luca explained. "I somehow guessed that you could be at this particular place… But how did you get here? Isn't this the second time you visited the Kingdom?"

"Ahh… Promise me that you won't laugh…" Vanille said, a small blush forming on her face.

"Why would I laugh?" Luca asked. "Just tell me; I promise that I won't laugh."

"I made my way towards this area… is because of my head. It told me to go here, and directed me through the city… And that's how I arrived at this place." Vanille told Luca. "For some reason… I felt like that I could remember something… maybe I liked this place before I suffered from amnesia?"

"Oh! Then, that means that you have lived here!" Luca said.

"I… I don't know…" Vanille admitted. "My mind's still foggy… and I don't remember anything else…" She looks at the sakura tree after drawing her head down. Luca follows her sight and looks at the sakura tree as well. "Sakura… they're a rare flower that blooms only at the unseen Village of Ninjas and at this place…" Luca started to say, before speaking with a detailed explanation of the origin of sakura flowers. As he talked, Vanille decided to peek at Luca. As she began to realise it from this angle, she feels that Luca is actually…

"…good-looking." Luca finishes.

"Ah…!" Vanille gasps, turning her head away from Luca as to hide the blush on her face.

"Like take for example, I think that this sakura flower is good-looking! It's well grown throughout the seasons!" Luca said, before turning towards Vanille. "Don't you agree, Vanille?"

"Ah… Um…" Vanille tried to say, but found it hard to speak clearly for some strange reason.

"Never mind... I forgot about your amnesia." Luca said. "Now, let's head back to Lake Purity."


When the duo returned to Lake Purity, they found Arturo sitting at the bar, with Cress and Heart. Cress and Heart seemed to be talking to Arturo about something, and he is listening carefully. The three stopped their conversation when they noticed Luca and Vanille at the entrance.

"Oh, Luca! You've found Vanille!" Arturo said.

"Wait. If Cress and Heart are here, then does that mean…?" Luca said.

"Yes, Elazul has recovered." Heart said, getting off from the barstool. "He is now in his room. I think that he would want to see the two of you." Luca gave a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness…"

Heart leads Luca and Vanille to the room Elazul is in. Upon entering, they could see Elazul sitting on a bed. There were several bandages wrapping his midriff and chest, but nevertheless, he is in a manageable condition. He had a look of depression which instantly vanished when Luca and Vanille entered the room. His face remained as the grumpy and silent Elazul they know.

"…Elazul?" Luca asked, walking towards Elazul.

"…Luca…Vanille…" Elazul said, before he found himself being caught in a tight embrace by Luca. "What the…?! Get the F*** off me!" Elazul shouted, pushing Luca away. "The f*** are you doing?!" Elazul said. "I have no need for this!"

"It's… It's just that…" Luca said, sniffling. "I thought that you were in really deep trouble…"

"Yay!" Vanille said, clapping her hands. "Elazul's back to normal!"

"…All of you, just shut up…" Elazul mumbled, facing away from them.

Heart made a soft giggle, looking at the scene. "Oh, Uxie would like to see us. He is now awake and would like to speak to us. Cress and Arturo are waiting for us outside the Lake Guardians' room." Heart said. Nodding, Heart led Luca, Elazul and Vanille to the Lake Guardians' room. There were Arturo and Cress… and Van standing outside the door.

"Van!" Luca and Vanille gasped. "You've returned."

"Luca…" Van said. "I'm… sorry for suddenly lashing out at you earlier. It's just that…" He rubbed his arm. "…Sara's the only family that I have. I don't know what I would do… if Sara wasn't here…"

"I'm not mad at you!" Luca said. "You're just worried about your sister, aren't you? I know how it feels to worry about someone important to you…"

"Hmm…?" Van said. "So… you have a sibling…?"

"No…." Luca said, rubbing his head. "My mom's the only family that I have… my pops passed away when I was younger… no one has ever found his body on the battlefield since that day…" He faced Van with a smile. "But, I forgive you! I'm not mad!"

"…Thank you…" Van said, giving a small smile.

"Luca." Cress said. "Heart and I have decided: we will follow you."

"Oh?" Luca said.

"This 'Demon King', Dhaos, he must not continue to roam on this world, so I must do what I can to stop his plot. And I want to pay him back for kidnapping Heart." Cress said.

"…And I need to continue to follow Cress, I know that she will continue to protect me." Heart added. "And with my healing magic, I can support all of you." She held a long white rod on her arms. "This is my weapon type, a rod. This rod's name is the Healing Rod, a weapon fitting for a Healer like me."

"Well… thanks a lot! We need all the help we can get!" Luca said. Elazul said nothing, because at this point, he had already given up on talking to Luca about making his own decisions. Nevertheless, the group still entered the room, where the three Lake Guardians floated at the other side of the table in the room. Although there were a few scrapes and closed wounds on Uxie, he was fine. Luca, Vanille and Heart took a seat at the couch facing the table, the others stood by near the couch.

"Thank you, everyone… If you hadn't been at Fulger Spiral… I probably would have been dead by now." Uxie began. "You were all fortunate to have survived under the events that occurred at Fulger Spiral… I thought that you could have been the ones who could have died…"

"Why?" Vanille asked.

"…Dhaos." Was Uxie's reply.

The name 'Dhaos' gave a shiver on the ones that sat on the couch. The ones who did not sit on the couch gave a frown upon hearing the name (excluding Arturo, who responded with a thoughtful look).There wasn't a single survivor who has faced Dhaos and lived… except them…

"As you may know… Dhaos is the leader of the Black Wings. The power he possesses is fearsome. He can eliminate those who stand against him even with the weakest spells of each element… that even those spells casted from him is as dangerous as the high-tier spells… That…. Is one of the reasons he is called the 'Demon King'…" Uxie continued.

"That could be concluded that he has incredible power, since you nearly faced death in a battle against him…" Arturo said.

"…I am not lying on this. But Dhaos is actually weaker than I am… No… he is weaker than the Lake Guardians even separately…" He faced Arturo. "Arturo. I think that you may know what I will say next, but I am sure that you could have guessed that Dhaos is not alone…"

"Well… he is after all, the leader of a crime organization…" Arturo said.

"That's true… But it's not what I am referring to." Uxie told Arturo. "…Does anyone remember what Dhaos had back there at the Fulger Spiral?" He asked the party. The party started to recall what Dhaos had at the Fulger Spiral during their encounter. "I remember!" Luca shouted. "He had an orb… and he wore a pitch-black necklace…"

"…The orb is his weapon of choice…" Uxie said. "As for the pendant, however… it is a piece of the cursed equipment that hasn't been seen since a millennium ago… Its' power is to control the souls of the dead and turn them into the living plague… it's the Spirit Pendant."

"Living plague…?! You don't mean…?!" Luca gasped, realising what the Spirit Pendant could have made.

"Yes, Luca. The Spirit Pendant is the cursed item that creates Shadows, which is in the hands of Dhaos, the Demon King…" Uxie said. "And thus… Dhaos is the root of the Shadows' rebirth."

The room fell into silence. So, Dhaos is the one… who has caused the Shadows' appearance. "Not only that, the Spirit Pendant has the ability to control the living, and cause them to abide by his orders… or worse still, turn them into Shadows, but the effect only lasts until the 'Shadow coating' is defeated…" Azelf explained, which reminded the party that entered Elder Grotto the incident at the last chamber.

"Then… the Great Elder at Elder Grotto mentioned that the top gun of the black-cloaked figures… it must have been Dhaos's doing…" Vanille muttered, clutching her hands. "But… why would he damage the root of Yggdrasil…?"

"There are two reasons;" Heart said, standing up from the couch. "One: Yggdrasil is a holy tree which has the power to banish the Shadows. Two: the sap extracted from one of the great trees of Yggdrasil has mysterious properties."

"Heart is correct." Arturo said.

"Then the steep drop of electricity at Fulger Spiral… that means that he has also taken a considerable amount of electricity there…" Cress said.

"Electricity and sap…?" Luca wondered. "I don't get any of the links between those things…"

"Neither do I… But whatever plot Dhaos has, it definitely must not be good…" Mespirit muttered.

"…Lake Guardians." Elazul said. "You must have known that this was all Dhaos' doing, judging by how Uxie reacted and headed over to Scientia City upon my mention of the Black Wings."

The Lake Guardians became silent after Elazul's words. "…Yes, Elazul. We all knew all along that Dhaos was the one behind all of this and of his possession of the Spirit Pendant, and we didn't want to tell you, because he is still a formidable foe." Uxie said.

"Formidable foe or not, I just can't stand around and do nothing!" Luca said. "If we don't stop him, who knows what he'll do? Right, guys?!" He said, getting off from the couch and facing the party.

"Yeah. And maybe I can find Sara and rescue her." Van said.

"If he is the culprit back then at the Elder Grotto, then he surely must not be forgiven!" Arturo said.

"He has to pay for kidnapping Heart." Cress said, cracking her knuckles.

"Yes, we need to stop his sinister deeds." Heart said.

"…Let's make sure he doesn't do anything else." Elazul said.

"Okay!" Luca said, facing the ceiling. "Dhaos! If you're listening, then know this: The seven of us and the three great Lake Guardians will defeat you and bring peace to this world!" he gave a determined shout.

"Speaking of guardians…" Uxie said, facing Mespirit. "Mespirit, have you seen Phione around? He hasn't returned to the inn for a few days…"

"Ah!" Mespirit gasped. "I forgot about him!"

"Phione?" Vanille wondered. "Who is that, Luca?"

"Umm…" Luca wondered, trying to recall where he has heard or seen 'Phione'.

"He and his elder brother, Manaphy, are our apprentices." Azelf answered. "About three weeks ago, Manaphy has went to the Costa Island to investigate a strange event. But strangely, he has not returned. Phione decided to venture to the Costa Island as well in order to find his brother, but he too, suffered the same result…"

"Okay. Then, let us go to Costa Island!" Luca said.

"…We don't know what caused Manaphy or Phione's disappearance… You may end up disappearing like them…" Azelf disagreed.

"…So, if we find the cause of the disappearance, then maybe we can find a way to find Manaphy and Phione, right?" Luca said.

Azelf didn't say anything, looking disturbed by the answer Luca gave. Mespirit consoled him. "Don't worry: they will be fine. They can surely find Manaphy and Phione."

"…Okay. Go to the harbour of R.D.S and take a ship to Costa Island. Then, search that place until you find Manaphy or Phione." Azelf said.

"Alright! We will do that!" Luca said, running to the exit… only to forget that the door was closed and he smacked against the door. Rubbing his face, he opened the door and left the room. Soon, the rest of the group left after that clumsy moment of Luca.


"There you are." A voice inquired.

"…Hmm?" Another voice responded. It belonged to a female. She was holding a bow on her left hand. The other voice, belonging to a male, held one chain with a sickle attached at the end on his arm.

"Looks like you're still training as always."

"Tsk… I don't need your comment." The female muttered.

"Still the same reason as always?" The male asked.

"What else did you think I'm training for?"

"So… I've found something that you might be really interested in…" The male said, passing a parchment of paper to the female. The female began to read it, soon flinching suddenly.

"…Tch. Is that all the paper said?" The female walks to a helmet, stopping when she was in front of it.

"Ah… How could I forget? The lone female in our group… who has exceptional sword and bow skills…" The female says nothing, grabbing the helmet in front of her. Placing it on, she swings her bow. The bow's edges suddenly shifted upwards, closing up the spacing between them. It was now a sword.

"…God General Vanitas."

Chapter 10 End


Current Party:

Elazul del Fable (Noivern) – Shadow Slayer (Proof comes from experience of defeating a fair amount of Shadows.)

Weapon: Iron Lance (Spear)

Luca R. Ezperanda (Politoed) – Experienced Mage (A careful throughout learning of spells is a step closer to being a great mage.)

Weapon: Oak Staff (Staff)

Cloudia Vanille (Slurpuff) – Ranger (Further use of the bow has led to a more experienced grasp through the bow.)

Weapon: Composite Bow (Bow)

Van Grantieur (Monferno) – Broadsword Novice (A user of the heavy broadsword is gradually getting closer to mastering the weapon.)

Weapon: Protect Sword (Broadsword)

Arturo Carpaice (Servine) – Nimble Tune (The experience of using a Sword Lute shows a gradual growth of the fine music and swift combat.)

Weapon: Sword Lute (Sword Lute)

Cress LaVeda (Flaffy) – Paladin (A knight benedict by the holy gods)

Weapon: Spirus' Sledge (Sledgehammer)

Heart Burkwood (Audino) – Healer (A magic user capable of healing magic)

Weapon: Healing Rod (Rod)

Chapter 10 now ends with Cress and Heart's officially joining the party. The party now sets forth to the Costa Island, where Manaphy and Phione mysteriously vanished… And now we know… the antagonist of the Main Arc is Dhaos… I know that Rod and Staves are nearly the same type of weapon, but I decide what types of weapon each character holds.

Skit: The Healing Users

Luca: "Oh, welcome to the group, Heart!"

Heart: "Yes, it's my pleasure to be helping all of you."

Cress: "Heart, don't overdo the healing…"

Vanille: "Even if Heart wasn't able to help, I could still cast Heal on you!"

Heart: "Oh? You can cast healing spells, Vanille?"

Vanille: (happy) "Yes! I somehow managed to learn Heal, it's really useful!"

Heart: "Do you have any other healing magic, Vanille?"

Vanille: "Oh…" (depressed) "Heal's the only healing magic that I can use…"

Heart: (surprised) "Oh my…" (determined) "Okay, I will do my best, then!"

Luca: "…Huh?"

Cress: "Looks like Heart has begun her training…"

Luca: "Training?"

Cress: "A male like you will never understand the power of the healing magic."

Luca: "Huh?! What's that supposed to mean?"