Hello everyone! ^_^

So, back to the plot with this chapter! I just couldn't seem to make it long enough (oh god. That is definitely what she said). Anyways, I hope you all enjoy it anyways!

Grr there's a part I've had planned for pretty much a million years, and yet I just can't seem to make up my mind on where to fit it in. I've changed it three times already. Gah, once the part does happen, I'll let you know that's the one I was talking about here XD
Trust me. This mystery part is quite important haha

Also, my cat won't stop meowing at me and I don't. Know. What. He. Wants. O_O'


It had been a while since I'd slept in a bed this comfortable. With the trips between the ranch, Thoda, and Hakonesia Peak, we'd done a lot of sleeping on the ground, as the House of Salvation was just too out of the way. It felt nice to get a good night's rest for once.

So nice, in fact, that I happened to sleep in. By the time I awoke, bright sunlight was peeking through the cracks of the closed curtains, and I could just tell by that groggy feeling I had that I'd been asleep for a while.

Groaning, I practically rolled out of bed and changed into my new clothes. It felt weird not to have my original dress. I'd grown so used to it. Maybe I'd have to look later today in one of the shops here for something like it.

I noticed as I changed that the cut had thinned into something of a scar, although it was still angry and red. It felt a bit tender, but mostly the pain was a sort of stiffness that I felt through my whole body.

Even Lloyd was awake by the time I got downstairs, so I knew that I really must have slept in. Of course, it was him who was first to approach me.

"Good morning, Aurelia!" he said brightly, bearing the hugest grin he could manage. He held out a plate piled with eggs. "I saved you breakfast! It's still warm and everything!"

I gave him a dead stare. "Thanks." I accepted the plate and promptly walked past him to sit in one of the chairs surrounding a nearby table. I could hear his scrambling footsteps close behind me.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Raine asked me as I sat down. She was busy sifting through a multitude of papers.

"Better," I replied around a mouthful of eggs. "I'm just kind of sore."

She nodded. "That's understandable. It was quite the wound. Don't push yourself too much today, alright?"

I nodded as I took another bite.

"Those new clothes look pretty good on you, Aurelia!" Lloyd piped up nervously.

"Thanks. But, I bet you think they'd look better off of me, right?" I retorted.

"Look, I said I was-!"

I laughed, catching him completely off guard. "Relax, Lloyd. I understand it was an accident. You're…partially forgiven."

"Really? Thanks Aure-!" He cut off. "Wait a sec. Partially?"

I smirked. "Yes, partially. Apology or not, you still walked in on me without clothes on. That's the kind of thing I'm not going to soon forget. Just keep that in mind when you're sleeping at night."

He paled. "W-What…?"

I let out another laugh and stood up, stuffing the last of my breakfast into my mouth. I pushed the plate towards Lloyd. "Here you go. Be a dear and take care of these dishes for me, will you?"

"Y-Yes ma'am…" he muttered.

Once she managed to get everyone gathered in one place, Raine made the announcement that we were going to visit the famous Asgard Ruins.

"Um, Raine, aren't we supposed to be looking for clues?" Genis reminded her.

She nodded. "Yes, of course! And what better place to find clues about an ancient seal than to examine this great historic monument?"

We all exchanged something of a wary look.

When we all arrived at the ruins, we found that it wasn't so much of a monument, but more of a dais. We had to climb a long set of stairs that ended in a stone arch to reach the summit of the hill, which held the large stone platform with a statue of a dancer on each corner.

"The Asgard Ruins!" Raine gushed. She took several long minutes to ramble about the magnificence of the architecture and the significance it held for the city before turning to Lloyd, who clearly wasn't paying any attention.

"Lloyd, state the historical background of this ruin."

Lloyd's expression was even blanker than it had been before. "Ah, um, well, let's see…" He looked like he was thinking long and hard about it.

Genis sighed patiently. "It's the temple where Cleo III held a ritual to offer a sacrifice to the Summon Spirit of Wind in order to quell a storm that had raged for a week."

"…that's it."

Raine threw her hands up in frustration. "Gah! Have you learned anything at all these past five years?"

"Of course," he said defensively. "Um, PE, and Art, and-"

"Never mind!" she exclaimed. She instead returned to admiring the ruin. "What perfect form! This delicate curve is said to express the flight of the Summon Spirit of Wind through the sky. In addition…"

I started to drown her out. Lloyd and I exchanged a similar glance and we casually slipped away from the lecture.

"Let's check out the back of this thing!" Lloyd suggested.

"Lloyd," I said with mock shock. "What is this? Trying to get me out of these clothes of mine again?"

He glared. "You know, you make it really hard for me to be sorry."

"Aw, that's too bad," I joked. I made my voice more serious. "Anyways, yes I'm all for that idea. It'll be a good way to escape Raine's lecture."

He nodded solemnly and we both continued to inch away from Raine and her rambling, each of us going around either side to the back of the platform.

I skidded to a halt when I saw the two people. The first was a young man with dark hair, who eyed the other boy nervously. It was this other boy who caught my attention, because he was undeniably half-elf. I could just tell from the mana radiating off of him, plus by the uncommonly vibrant hair color that escaped from the white bandana he wore. I tried not to gasp, but it was hard because it just shocked me so much. Aside from Genis and Raine, he was the first half-elf I'd seen on this journey who wasn't a Desian. I mean sure, I knew that there were half-elves in Sylvarant who weren't Desians, but even so, they would no doubt endure torment and discrimination for sharing the same blood as Desians.

That's why Raine and Genis hide it, I realized. To avoid all of that hate.

"Listen, Linar!"

The sound of the half-elf boy yelling at the meek human, Linar, snapped me out of my realization.

"This is my invention, 'the breaker'," the half-elf went on.

"Y-You've told me already…" Linar pointed out.

"Yeah, well I'm telling you again," he said impatiently. "Anyways, if we use this bomb, we can easily destroy this confounded dais."

My eyes widened in alarm. Bomb?

"B-But Harley…this is a rare remnant of the Balacruf Dynasty. We can't destroy it…" He tensed up, no doubt waiting for an outburst from this "Harley". Which he got.

"What are you talking about? As things stand now, Aisha may be killed! And I sure as hell am not going to let that happen! How can you even say that? She's your sister!"

"Yeah but-"

He cut off as Lloyd cleared his throat loudly. The two jumped in alarm at the sight of Lloyd and me approaching on either side of them.

"What are you doing?" Lloyd asked suspiciously.

"W-Who are you?" Harley snapped at him.

"It's not what you think!" Linar blurted. "We weren't trying to destroy the ruin at all!" As soon as he'd said it he clapped a hand over his mouth.

And then, from across the stone dais, we heard Raine give an incoherent scream. It didn't matter what she'd screamed; all that mattered was that she'd heard Linar, and she was furious. She jumped up and ran across the dais so that she towered over all four of us.

"What did you just say?"

Linar and Harley gazed up at her in fear. I think I probably had a little fear in my eyes too.

Lloyd pointed an accusing finger at the two. "Professor, these two guys said that they're planning to destroy the stage."

The spark of fury I'd seen in her indigo eyes flared into a full-fledged inferno. "And you call yourselves human beings?" She hopped down off of the stage, to my complete surprise, reared her leg back and kicked Harley right in the stomach. He fell to the ground with a surprised grunt of pain, and Linar soon lay beside him.

I stared at her. I had never seen her Ruin Mode this bad, and judging by the look on Lloyd's face, neither had he.

Harley struggled into a sitting position. "I am a half-elf," he spat.

"What's that got to do with anything?" she snapped at him. He recoiled slightly and she turned her disgust-filled gaze on the bomb. "You have no idea of the importance of this ruin!" In her rage, she booted the bomb. There was a sort of click as something seemed to be pressed into place. I had one guess on what she'd just done.

"Uh-oh…" we all seemed to say at the same time.

Raine didn't notice. She just continued to rage on. "You say you're going to destroy this ruin? Now listen. During the final era of the Balacruf Dynasty, this ruin was-"

"P-Professor," Lloyd interrupted nervously.

"Not now, Lloyd. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes. So, as I was saying, this ruin served as a-"

"Raine!" I exclaimed.

She cut off in annoyance. "What? If you have questions, I'll take them after the lecture."

"The bomb turned on," Lloyd stated before she could start up again.

"I said, if you have questions, I'll take them after-" She cut off, her eyes growing wide as Lloyd's words registered in her mind. She shot a quick, surprised glance towards the bomb. "…what?"

"The bomb…" I stammered. "I-It turned on."

Harley jumped to his feet. "Woman! You flipped the switch!"

She whirled on him and kicked him back down to the ground. "Don't try to put the blame on someone else! You built this device, did you not?"

"That doesn't matter now!" Lloyd barked. He turned to Harley, who was struggling to his feet once more. "Is there a disarm switch?"

He succeeded in standing up and puffed his chest out proudly. "Of course not!"

His standing privileges were short-lived, however, because Raine kicked him back down again.

"Quit doing that!"

"Then don't act like you're proud of it!"

"What's going on back there?" Colette called.

"Nothing!" Lloyd called back. "Raine's just dealing with some punks! Stay up there please!"

"But-!"

"It's fine, Colette! We'll be right over!" He whirled around to face Harley. "Alright, now are you sure that there's no way to stop this thing?"

"Positive."

Lloyd grimaced. "Great. Well, I guess that means I'll have to disarm it myself."

"Lloyd! What if you set it off by accident?" I asked worriedly.

He shrugged as he started his work on the bomb. "Ah well. It's would be going off anyway, right? Just shut-up and let me do this."

I narrowed my eyes at him, but remained silent all the same as he worked to disarm the thing. It took about ten minutes, but he finally sat back and breathed a sigh of relief.

"There. The bomb is disarmed."

"Hey, you know what? You're pretty cool to be able to stop the uncontrollable 'breaker'…" Harley looked torn on whether he should be admiring of Lloyd's skills or angry that his supposedly unstoppable invention had been thwarted.

"Don't go building stuff you can't control!" Lloyd said exasperatedly.

Raine looked immensely relieved. "The ruin seems to be unharmed."

"What about us?" I murmured. That bomb could have easily blown up in our faces.

"You there!"

We all froze at the authoritative voice. It came from near the entrance, and it seemed to be addressing Colette and the others.

"Y-Yes?" Colette asked sweetly.

"Trespassing in this area is forbidden!"

Forbidden…? But the gate had been left wide open! If it had really been forbidden, shouldn't they have made access to this area more…oh.

I looked at Linar and Harley. Wow, so first they sneak into an off-limits area, intent on destroying the ruin, and then they forget to close the gate behind them so that no one suspects anything? These two had some real brains. Well, Linar seemed to anyway. He looked like he was against this whole thing. Harley was probably the "mastermind" behind it all.

"Oh no, it's the mayor!" Linar hissed.

"Run!" Harley whispered. He grabbed his defused bomb and he and Linar took off down a hidden path.

"Oh I'm so sorry," I heard Colette say. "My professor was just really interested in seeing these ruins. It's the whole reason we came to this city. We had no idea this area was off-limits. We promise we'll leave right away."

"You better," the mayor huffed, and as I peeked over the top of the dais, I saw him retreat down the stairs.

"We should probably leave before we get in trouble," I noted once we'd joined with the others.

"What even happened over there?" asked Genis.

"We'll explain once we get outta here," Lloyd replied. "Come on, let's go."

Raine gazed longingly at the ruin. "But, I haven't had time to study the structure of the-"

"Just come on!" Lloyd said impatiently.

She sighed. "But I wanted to study it more…"

Lloyd and Genis practically had to drag her away from the dais and we all headed back down the stairs.

"Okay, so what happened?" Genis asked again once we were a safe enough distance away.

"There were these two guys trying to destroy the ruin with some weird bomb thing," Lloyd explained.

Colette's eyes grew wide. "What? But why would they possibly want to do something like that?"

"Precisely!" said Raine. She pounded a fist into the palm of her hand. "We have to stop them from engaging in such foolish acts like trying to destroy a ruin!"

"I don't think that's even close to what she said…" Genis muttered.

"Still, I would like to know what they were trying to accomplish," I said thoughtfully. "From their conversation, it almost sounded like someone was in danger."

"Then let's go find them and figure out what's going on!" Colette suggested happily. "We may be able to help!"

"The choice is yours, Chosen One," said Kratos, although I could tell he thought that this was irrelevant to the journey.

"Their names were Linar and Harley, I think," I said. "Should we ask around to see where we could find them?"

Raine nodded enthusiastically. "I think that's a splendid idea! They mustn't be allowed to get away with attempting to commit such heinous acts."

"We don't need to ask," Lloyd commented, "because I can see them. They're headed that way." He pointed a finger. My eyes followed that direction and saw Linar and Harley just round the corner.

"After them!" Raine shouted. "Justice will be served!"

"She needs to relax," I said under my breath. There was no way she could have heard me because she had already begun her chase after them.

"Raine!" said Genis, mortified.

"We better follow her to make sure she doesn't do anything too drastic," Kratos sighed.

The next area was mostly a residential area, and we found Raine pounding on one of the doors furiously.

The door opened to reveal a very pissed-looking Harley. "Whaaaat?" His face fell blank when he saw Raine. "Oh."

She pushed past him inside. "Did you think you were just going to get away with this?"

Genis looked even more embarrassed, if possible. "Raaaaaine!" He followed her into the house, the rest of us close behind.

"You're those tourists," Harley said coldly.

"I am a scholar!" she corrected, almost looking offended that he could have possibly mistaken her for anything else.

"Whatever, get out!"

"Harley, stop it."

The voice had come from a beautiful girl with the same dark hair as Linar. In fact, seeing them stand right next to each other, I decided that they almost had to be brother and sister.

"This is my house," she continued angrily, which caused him to deflate a bit. She turned to us. "I understand that you were the ones who stopped Harley and my brother. Thank-you; my name is Aisha."

"I'm not sure 'stopped' is the best way to put it," Kratos commented drily.

"They got in our way," Harley mumbled.

"It doesn't matter what you call it!" she scolded him. "The point is, the people of this city are the ones who would suffer if that ruin was destroyed!"

"But Aisha, as things are now, you're going to be sacrificed!"

"'Sacrificed'?" Lloyd repeated confusedly. "Why? What's going on?"

"It's a ritual in honor of the Summon Spirit of Wind," Linar explained quietly. "Aisha was chosen for it. Originally, the ritual consisted of just dancing on the stone platform. But-"

Harley interrupted him. "This idiot started meddling with the stone dais as part of his research and opened the seal."

Everyone sort of tensed at that. The seal? Could that be…?

"Because of that, that Summon Spirit of Wind thing woke up and started demanding sacrifices."

"The seal?" Raine mused. "Do you mean…?"

"What? The seal?" Colette exclaimed in excitement.

"Yes!" Linar appeared to share her enthusiasm. "If you, too, are researching the Balacruf ruins, then you must be aware of the altar erected in praise of the Summon Spirit of Wind. The seal really existed, just as the legend said!"

Wait a minute…

Raine was currently busy slipping into Ruin Mode. "Are you saying that the Balacruf Pillar hieroglyphics are not just a myth?"

Colette's face fell flat. "Huh?"

Lloyd slapped his forehead. "It looks like this isn't the seal we're looking for.

"Raine," Genis sighed, "aren't you forgetting why we're on this journey?"

"Well, it's all right…" said Kratos, throwing me completely off guard. "It's not as if it's completely out of our way." Either he was gaining a knack for helping people, or he didn't want to have to face Raine's wrath. Or maybe it was something else. I didn't have much time to dwell on it either way, because the ruin talk was continuing.

"Yes!" Linar said again in response to Raine's question. "In the back of the platform there's a small indentation, and-!"

"That's enough!" Harley shouted, scaring Linar into silence. "Aisha's about to be sacrificed to the Summon Spirit tonight! Now get out of here!"

Aisha gave us a sad look. "I really am sorry, but perhaps it would be best if you left. There's not much you can do."

"O-Okay," I said. "We um…I hope…" I trailed off. There really wasn't anything I could say to her. I ducked my head. "Bye."

We left the house without anyone speaking another word.

"What can we do?" Colette wondered as we headed back to the inn.

"Not much," Lloyd replied dismally. "If that Aisha girl doesn't get sacrificed, then that Spirit thing will probably go after the town."

"But there must be something!" she protested.

I shook my head. "I'm just as frustrated about this as you are, Colette, but Lloyd's right. I really don't see what we could do without making the situation worse.

She nodded sadly and kept walking.

An older man, whom I assumed was the mayor, stood near the gateway to the stone dais, which was now locked up tight. A guard stood on either side of him.

"If only we could get near the dais again," said Raine longingly. "Perhaps then I could obtain more knowledge as to what is happening here."

"That would be helpful," Genis agreed, but his sister wasn't listening. She was already on her way to harass- erm, I mean speak to- the mayor.

"You're the ones who went up on the dais," he recalled suspiciously as we approached him.

"I am a scholar," Raine declared, as though it were some prestigious title. "May I please have your permission to study this ruin?"

He scowled at her, completely unimpressed. "There's an idiot just like you in the city already. Thanks to him, the city's tourism industry is on the verge of collapsing. I refuse."

"Are you talking about Linar?" Raine questioned. "Because we already got the gist of the story from him. Something about a sacrifice, correct?"

"If you already know so much, then you should understand!" the mayor snapped. "We can't allow anyone to disturb the dais any further and risk bringing down the wrath of the Summon Spirit of Wind. The only one who may step up upon this stage is the Summon Spirit dancer."

My mind was working furiously as he spoke. This whole vengeful Summon Spirit story…it just didn't add up to me. I didn't know what it was, but something just seemed off about the whole thing. Something that Colette had read from the Book of Regeneration nagged at my thoughts, but I couldn't fully grasp it…

Raine's shocking offer jolted me out of my thoughts.

"Then I shall become the dancer."

The mayor blinked. "What…?"

"Then it would be fine for me to go up on the stage, yes?" she reasoned.

"Professor!" Lloyd exclaimed.

Raine turned to him and lowered her voice a bit. "According to the Book of Regeneration, this should be the next seal. If we can meet the Summon Spirit, we should be able to tell. The sacrifice that the Summon Spirit seeks may even be the Chosen of Mana."

"I see…" Colette said thoughtfully. She smiled broadly. "That's our Professor!"

"You just want to study the ruin firsthand," Lloyd commented, earning a slap across the back of the head from Raine.

Genis snickered. "You should learn to keep your mouth shut, Lloyd."

Ignoring the two boys, Raine turned back to the mayor. "Please, Mayor."

"…do as you wish," he said finally. "I won't be held responsible if it costs you your life, though. I hope you realize what you're doing."

"Of course I do," she replied.

"Well then, you should go speak with Aisha. She shall prepare you for the ritual."

Incidentally, Aisha was not very happy about the arrangement when we returned to her house and informed her of what had happened.

"What? No!" she said in shock. "I cannot allow you to-"

"Of course you can!" Harley interrupted. "If this woman is willing to take your place then let her! Beats having you die, anyway."

Genis glared at him. "That's not what it's about at all, you moronic-!"

Kratos cut him off. "She wishes to get a closer look at this Summon Spirit of yours. If her plan goes well, then no one will have to be sacrificed."

"Raine has a plan?" I whispered to him.

"Let us hope."

"Still," Aisha was saying. "It's not right for you to have to take my place. The burden has been placed on me to-"

"There's nothing to worry about," Raine assured her. "I simply need you to prepare me for the ritual, if you don't mind."

"Raine, are you sure you're going to be okay?" Genis asked his big sister worriedly.

She lowered her voice so that only we might be able to hear her. "Make preparations. Just in case."

I got what she meant and gulped. We might have to fight this thing…

"If you are really certain," Aisha said reluctantly. She turned to us. "If you are attending, then meet back at the stone dais when the sun begins to set. For now, we have preparations to make."

That would be fine. Apparently, so did we.


Once sunset came around, the remainder of the group gathered at the dais just as we'd promised. There was a good amount of citizens there too, but not as many as I might have expected. After all, who wants to see one of your own getting sacrificed? Who wants to see anyone getting sacrificed, for that matter?

Raine stood in the center of the stage, having changed into the proper acolyte clothing. Her staff was gripped tightly in her hand, but other than that, she showed no signs of nervousness. She simply stood calmly, waiting for the cue to begin.

Finally, as the sun dropped fully below the horizon, Aisha nodded and Raine began the "dance".

I couldn't tell you what this dance consisted of. I was too worried to be paying attention to something like that. My eyes scanned the crowd, just waiting for the Summon Spirit to show up and kill Raine or eat her or whatever it was that it planned to do with its sacrifice.

The stage beneath Raine's feet began to glow green, and a strong wind picked up. It swirled and swirled around Raine until the light gave a brilliant flash. When the light and wind cleared, the Summon Spirit floated before her.

I knew instantly it was wrong. Summon Spirits weren't supposed to look so…so positively demonic. Or feel so evil. First of all, the very fact that its bottom half consisted of a blade reminiscent of a guillotine should have been enough to tip me off without the claws and horns and demonic expression. It gazed down upon Raine with a hungry look in its red eyes, a mini-tornado swirling around its base.

"I have come for the girl," it hissed. I felt an immediate chill run down my spine.

Colette squinted at the thing, and then recognition flashed through her eyes. "It's not…no, Professor! That is an evil creature! It's not the guardian of the seal!"

That's when I remembered. That line from the Book of Regeneration.

"Enshrined in the center of a giant stone seal lurks evil, impersonating a holy force."

Casting another glance at the creature before me, I decided that the book had been pretty accurate.

Lloyd was the first to act. He hopped up onto the stage, drawing his swords in the same motion, and proceeded to slash at the beast.

Everyone in the crowd had startled reactions to this. Many people screamed, some ran away- a lot actually did both.

"What are you doing?" the mayor shouted.

I pulled my spear out of my belt and extended it. "This thing isn't really a Summon Spirit. You could say we're ridding you of your problem." Not giving him a chance to respond, I followed Lloyd up onto the stage.

"Give me the girl," it repeated, knocking Lloyd aside with its tail.

I looked over my shoulder. "Colette, I think he wants you."

Now that everyone had run away, including the mayor, she deemed it safe to use her wings. They unfurled from her back and she lifted into the air. Her chakrams sailed forth and sliced at its arms

Furious now, the beast swatted the discs away. It let out an incoherent roar and lunged at Raine. She managed to block the majority of its attacks with her staff, but ran back the first chance she got.

Kratos ran up behind it and unleashed a series of attacks. The creature did a sort of front flip, and as its tail rose up over its head it sliced at Kratos. He held his shield out to block it.

Colette flew near it again. "Pow Hammer!" Toy hammers rained from the sky and hit it on the head. They didn't look like they could cause that much pain, but they did seem to momentarily stun the creature. I took this opportunity to perform Predator.

My feet hit the ground and I pulled out my spear and ran back, just as it rose to the air in a series of wild flips that would have assured I was sliced in half by that guillotine. Immediately after, it began casting a spell, which turned out to be Wind Blade. The attack mostly only hit Lloyd, Kratos and I with biting winds that opened several cuts in my arms and legs. One even managed to graze my cheek.

Genis countered this with his own spell. "Stalagmite!" Great pillars of rock shot up and pummeled the creature, leaving it stunned again. However, it didn't last as long this time around, so Lloyd and Kratos only managed to get in a few hits before it started wildly attacking again.
While it was busy with them, I ran up behind it with my spear and…

"Drill Strike!" I felt my spear spin rapidly in my hands as it drilled into the creature's back. Once it was in there deeply enough I wrenched it free.

The creature howled and knocked me back with its guillotine tail. And guess where the blade had struck? That's right. It had just conveniently reopened the scar on my stomach. I let out an involuntary cry of pain. Thankfully, Raine was quick on healing me, so it didn't have a chance to bleed all over my new clothes that much.

…was that seriously what I was worrying about right now?

When I staggered to my feet, Lloyd and Kratos had just finished a joint combo that had ended in Lloyd's Tigerblade. This seemed to do the trick because in an explosion of wind and green mana, the creature vanished. Its dying cry still echoed several long seconds after it had disappeared.

There was a long, heavy silence. I think everyone was just waiting for that creature to come back. When it didn't, the few people who had remained (which pretty much only consisted of Linar, Aisha and Harley) all approached the stage once more.

"You actually did it…" Harley said in utter disbelief as we made our way off of the stage.

"Fantastic!" Linar cheered. "You're fantastic, Raine!"

"And here I was thinking he meant our fighting," Lloyd muttered.

"Hah, it was hardly a challenging opponent," Raine said dismissively. "Now, more importantly, about that stone tablet you acquired. When I examined it earlier, it appeared to have ancient Balacruf writing inscribed on it."

"Then let's decipher it right away!" he suggested excitedly. "I have the necessary materials assembled in my house."

"Yes, let's go!" The two hurried away. It would seem that with the possibility of ancient artifacts, the fact that I was very likely internally bleeding didn't seem to be of that much importance.

"Um…thank you very much," Aisha spoke up shyly.

Lloyd nodded. "Not at all! We couldn't just let you be sacrificed to that thing."

Harley eyed the stage, which had been left surprisingly unscathed from our battle. "That thing wasn't the Summon Spirit of Wind after all, was it?"

"Definitely not," Colette replied.

"I bet Raine and Linar will investigate what it really was," said Genis.

"Yeah," Harley agreed, "that Raine is a half-elf, after all. You can count on her wisdom."

Genis froze and a confused silence settled over the rest of the group. Right, since Harley was a half-elf himself, he could no doubt read the siblings' mana in some way. Of course he would know. I felt my own pulse quicken a bit.

"N-No, you're wrong!" Genis stammered. "Raine is an elf. I'm an elf too!

Harley gave him a quizzical look. "What? Surely you don't think I'd mistake my own…" He trailed off when he saw Genis stare dejectedly at his feet. He'd no doubt accepted that it was inevitable that the secret of his blood was about to be revealed.

"Ah, actually, I guess I was wrong," he finished. "It seems you two are pure-blooded elves. I must not have been paying attention." He gave a sheepish laugh.

Genis smiled timidly, likely eternally grateful that Harley hadn't ratted him out.

Lloyd shook his head in confusion at the exchange. "Ah, anyways, should we head back to the inn, or…?"

"Knowing the Professor, she'll probably be a while, right?" said Colette.

"This is true," Kratos agreed. "We'll head back to the inn for now and discuss things in the morning. It's gotten late."

"Then you all can meet at my house in the morning," said Aisha. She turned to Harley. "Come on, let's go." The pair left down the staircase.

Harley's eyes locked with mine for a moment as he passed. He paused, staring thoughtfully at my face.

My heartbeat instantly went haywire. This is it, I thought wildly. He knows. I don't know how Raine and Genis couldn't tell, but he definitely does. He's going to tell, he's going to tell, he's going to-

"You've got a cut on your face," he said finally.

I blinked. "What?"

He pointed to my cheek. "It's bleeding. Just thought I'd let you know."

"Um, thank-you…" Relief flooded throughout my entire being. I was safe, he couldn't tell. For some reason, I didn't have the mana of a half-elf.

But that raised another important question: why didn't I have the mana of a half-elf? Dammit. I hadn't even been thinking about that for a while. Now that I was, it seemed a lot stranger than I'd previously thought. Just another question added to the vault. I didn't know how much more of this I could take. Forget mysterious. At this point? All of these so-called "mysteries" were just starting to get annoying.


We were all pretty tired when we returned to the inn, so we had a quick supper and retreated to our rooms quietly.

"Today certainly was eventful," Colette chirped. Of course she wasn't tired. She didn't even have the ability to sleep.

"Certainly was," I murmured absently.

"I hope that the Professor gets some useful information from that tablet," she went on.

"Me too."

She looked over at me. "Is something wrong? You look sort of…troubled."

"'Troubled'?" I repeated. "Hmm, no, not me. I'm probably just tired." Oh, the lies I tell.

"That makes sense. After all, today really was…"

"Eventful?" I supplied sarcastically.

She giggled. "Yes. That." She laughed over it for a moment before turning thoughtful. The crease in her forehead was barely visible, but it was there.

"Now you're the one who looks troubled," I noted. "What is it?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing. I'm just thinking…" She thought another moment before saying, "Aurelia, what do you think is going to happen to me? At the next seal, I mean. I'm just wondering, I'm not worried or anything…"

Why is it that the happiest person in this group was always the one who seemed to make me sad? She might not have been showing it, and she may have been trying her best to hide it, but I could easily tell that somewhere deep down, she was scared. She was just too strong of a person to show it.

"That's kind of out of nowhere," I began. "Um, I can't say what I think. This whole process is just rather unpredictable, if you ask me."

"I see…"

"Colette…" I took a long pause before speaking again. "Are you sure you don't want to tell-"

"I'm not telling anyone," she said firmly. "I'm sorry, Aurelia, but-"

I held up my hand, cutting her off. "I understand. I was just checking." I stifled a yawn. "Um, anyway, I should probably get to sleep. Some of us actually need it."

It had actually been a weak attempt at lightening the mood, but I soon realized that it was only reminding Colette of what was happening to her. The brief hurt that flashed through her eyes confirmed this.

"I-I'm sorry…" I mumbled. "That was-"

She smiled softly. "N-No, it's fine. I knew what you meant. Get some rest Aurelia."

Too tired to say anything else, I simply nodded and drifted into sleep.

My sleep was so heavy and so dreamless that it seemed like I'd only blinked, and when I'd opened my eyes, it was bright outside and Colette was nowhere to be seen.

"I hope I didn't sleep in again," I muttered to myself as I got out of bed and pulled my clothes on.

When I arrived downstairs, it turned out that Lloyd hadn't awoken yet, so I couldn't have been that late. I looked around the room. I counted Colette, Kratos, Genis, and Raine was…

"Where's Raine?" I asked confusedly.

"She never came back last night," Kratos replied casually.

My eyes widened. "She stayed out all night just to study?"

"That's Raine," Genis sighed.

Not long after that Lloyd came trudging down the stairs. He sleepily took in the group, and then his grogginess gave way to confusion.

"It looks like the Professor hasn't come back yet," Colette told him before he could ask.

"Are you serious…?"

"I had the same reaction," I said.

"She's conducting research with Linar," Genis explained.

Lloyd shook his head. "Only she could stay up that long conducting 'research'. Seriously, it's all she ever does!"

"And it's something you never do," he retorted. "Which do you think is worse?"

Lloyd opened his mouth to reply but Kratos cut him off.

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go see what they've managed to uncover." Not giving Lloyd a chance to complain further, he strode out the door, probably just assuming that we would follow. Which we did.

As we walked through the town to get to Linar and Aisha's house, there was a noticeable difference in the townspeople we passed. Everyone just seemed so much…lighter. Like this horrible weight had just been lifted. Completely different from the day before, when everyone had been filled with dread over the sacrifice later that night.

Their reactions to us were also different. Before, we were just any other tourists, but now that we'd rid them of their menacing false Summon Spirit, it was like we were suddenly heroes. I mean, I suppose we kind of were, but how could they possibly know it was us? They were the ones who'd all fled in terror, so they wouldn't have even been around to witness the fight.

Anyway, we were being offered praise everywhere we turned. It was nice, but it also made it a little difficult to make it to Aisha's house. I could only imagine how they'd react if they found out that one of their proclaimed heroes was actually the Chosen of Mana. I think that might have started a full-out riot.

Finally, though, we reached Aisha's house.

"Good morning!" Aisha greeted us as she answered the door. "I think they're just about done with the tablet. Come on in!"

We entered and saw Raine sitting a table, scribbling in one of her many notebooks. Linar was reading over her shoulder and nodding thoughtfully. Raine looked up from her work as we approached the table.

"Ah, good timing. I just finished deciphering it."

"The Professor is amazing!" Linar said enthusiastically. "She deciphered the complex Balacruf writing in no time at all!"

"Looks like Raine just gained another fan," Genis snickered.

"She's quite the catch, huh? Lloyd added.

"Uh-huh!"

Raine reached across the table and smacked Genis across the head. Sighing and shaking her head, she turned back to Linar.

"It would appear that the monster was the cause of the calamity that afflicted the ancient Balacruf Empire."

Linar nodded. "Yes, and it seems that the summoner of the time used Sylph, the Summon Spirit of Wind, to seal it away, then built this stone dais to suppress the calamity."

Raine continued, "In preparation for the day when this calamity might reawaken, he left this map in order for people to be able to locate the Summon Spirit of Wind."

"But let me guess," I cut in. "People started to confuse this calamity with the actual Summon Spirit?"

"It would appear so," said Linar.

"So if that's a map," Genis began, "does that mean you now know where the real Summon Spirit of Wind is located?"

"Of course," Raine replied, as though this was her point, crystal-clear the whole time. "The location of the Summon Spirit is the location of the next seal." She held out the stone tablet to show us. The engravings were rather worn away, but the island she pointed to was still visible.

"Wow!" Lloyd said excitedly. "I wonder what the Summon Spirit of Wind is like! I can't wait to see it!"

There was that enthusiasm again, I thought with amusement.

"Now we can finally continue on the world regeneration journey!" Colette said happily.

"'World regeneration'…?" Aisha questioned. "Now that I think about it, what was your purpose for coming to this city? You don't look like ordinary travelers or tourists…"

There was a slight pause where I could almost feel the initial panic spread through the group as we all realized what Colette had let slip. Thankfully though, Kratos was able to keep it from turning into a noticeable silence. In fact, he changed the subject altogether.

"…well then, if you know our next destination, we should be on our way at once."

"Yes, it's likely that the seal is inside the Balacruf Mausoleum," said Raine.

"That sounds like a pretty far trip," I said quickly. "In that case, we should probably go back to the inn and pack up our things. We'll want to leave as soon as possible, right?"

Lloyd caught on to what we were saying. "Okay, then let's get going."

Aisha must have noticed the subject change. It was blatantly obvious. "Ah, um, but…"

"Well, please take care!" Colette addressed the siblings. "I hope we can meet again someday!"

At that moment the door opened and Harley walked in. "Hey guys, what did I miss?"

Aisha stared at Colette for a moment before shaking her head. "Um, Professor Sage and the others are just saying their goodbyes. You're just in time."

"Oh, you guys are leaving so soon?" he asked in surprise.

"Time is of the essence," said Raine. "We really can't delay anymore than necessary. Anyway, now that the calamity has been vanquished, you won't be trying to destroy the dais anymore, correct?"

"Raine will know about it if you do," Genis said ominously.

"I don't have any reason to," Harley responded in annoyance. "The thing is gone, Aisha is safe- what do you think I am, some kind of violent-"

"Just don't try anything," Raine said firmly. She turned to Linar. "Keep him in check."

While Harley continued to look offended, we said our final goodbyes to them and headed back to the inn to pack up.

This turned out to be a bit of a task for Lloyd. He had somehow managed to get his things spread across his entire room, so where most of us had our things packed up in the course of ten minutes, it took him a lot longer, so we all sat waiting in the lobby of the inn.

Raine had an actual paper map spread out in front of her. "Okay, so. It should take about three or more days to reach the House of Salvation. We can stop there for the night and continue on to Luin, which will probably take another four days. From there, the Balacruf Mausoleum would probably be about another five days perhaps? Of course, this is all an estimation and only if we don't run into any obstacles of any sort. If Lloyd takes much longer, I would probably have time to work out the exact measurements of the trip."

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I heard Lloyd yell.

"Is it just me, or does it seem that everything is just getting further and further away from each other?" I piped up.

"This region has more wilderness than the previous," Kratos replied. "So naturally it will take longer to reach places than before. Are you complaining?"

"N-No," I said stubbornly. "I'm just making an observation, that's all."

Finally, Lloyd hurried down the stairs. "Sorry," he breathed. "Now then, where to next?"

As Raine explained how the journey was going to unfold for the next couple weeks, Lloyd's face fell further and further.

"But that's so far!" he protested.

"And I was the one who was complaining?" I remarked, looking pointedly at Kratos.

"Complaining? Lloyd was merely making an observation, that's all." The expression on his face could almost be considered smug. If it was anyone besides Kratos, that is.

"You just got burned by Kratos!" Genis said gleefully.

I rolled my eyes. "N-No I didn't. Come on then, aren't we going to get going?"

Genis continued to laugh, but Raine nodded. "Yes, let's be on our way."

We made sure that everyone had all of their belongings before leaving the inn and heading towards the exit in town. As we walked along the gorge, I couldn't help but think of the Desian bodies Colette and I had disposed of in there, and how there was one less than there should have been. I still couldn't stop myself from feeling bitter about it. Who knows? Maybe it would turn out to be nothing and he'd just gotten away.

Things never turn out so lucky though, do they? My bad feeling would no doubt turn out to be right, and general unpleasantness would ensue.

My spirits lifted a bit when we were leaving the city and Noishe came bounding down the road. He assaulted Lloyd's face with a million wet kisses.

"Hey boy!" Lloyd greeted him cheerily. "How have ya been doing?"

Noishe barked in response.

"It's funny how we can just leave him on his own and nothing happens to him," I observed. "And he always comes running back, no matter what."

"That's my Noishe!" Lloyd grinned. He rubbed the dog's head. "It's because you're a good boy, right? Yes you are!"

"Let's go before Lloyd starts to think Noishe will actually reply," Genis suggested sarcastically.

"Sh-Shut up, Genis!"

With that being said, and with the hyper, oversized dog back in our party, we left the City of Ruins behind us and continued on our journey.


Well there you go! :D
On to Luin in the next chapter, as well as some unicorns! Hurrah!
Everyone loves unicorns, right? :3

I would be much obliged if you fine ladies and gents would be so kind as to review. Good day *tips hat*