Two Destinies Chapter 29: The Roulette and the Legacy

Author's Preface: Well, here's more of a lighthearted chapter. Still plot-relevant, but there's less of a serious nature to it. God, this puzzle was a pain in the arse... I'm gonna be coming up with a different spin to it, though. I'm gonna have this play out more like a board game. :3 Oh, and I think I forgot to say the good news here... I'm FINALLY getting Tales of Destiny 2! Woo hoo! *shot for unnecessary emphasis on "finally"* Perhaps my Destiny 2 chapters will be more... accurate now. :3 One more piece of news: I'm going to start putting up these chapters on my deviantART (~augla39354, in case you were wondering), and the earlier chapters will be getting revamped, so check them out! Enjoy this chapter either way!

Once the party members had all gathered outside the Shrine of Seyfert, everybody congratulated Reid for successfully completing the trial. Before Reid could start recounting his story of the trial, Kyle approached Reid with a question.

"So... Did you also have to protect me as Loni like Ras did?" He asked. Reid shook his head.

"My trial was different." He said. "I was an Eggbear for the trial..."

"An Eggbear!" Meredy shouted. "Why was Reid an Eggbear?"

"It supposedly represented my basic instincts..." He said. "The fact that the Eggbear was killed by myself back in Nostos Cave was symbolizing my judgment winning over my instinct... In other words, I have to be smart about using the power of Aurora. I can't just use it whenever..."

"So, where does the Seyfert Key say for us to go now?" Keele wondered aloud. Reid looked at him, and then withdrew the Key from the satchel on his hip. Instantly, it started glowing, and then the beam of light shot straight up.

"Up?" Chat said, looking at the sky. "Why is it pointing up?"

"It must mean that we have to go to Inferia..." Keele deduced.

"Really? Inferia..." Max said, also looking skyward. "I wouldn't mind seeing where you, Farah, and Keele came from myself..."

"It's really not that amazing..." Reid said. "The only differences is that the sky is blue and usually cloudless and that the people have light colored skin..."

"Inferia..." Kyle said almost hypnotically as he too stared up at the sky. "It sounds a lot like my world..." Reid smiled.

"Then I think you'll really like it." Reid said. "It's a lot warmer there, too."

"But how will we get there?" Meredy asked. "Meredy got to Inferia by using a spaceship, but that spaceship was one of a kind, and it got destroyed!"

"That and I doubt all of us could fit in that thing even if it wasn't..." Keele said, sighing. "Meredy brings up a good point... We have no idea how to get back to Inferia..."

"I have an idea." Chat said. Everybody looked at her. "I think we should look for Aifread's Legacy."

"Aifread's Legacy?" Keele wondered aloud. "What's that?" Chat shrugged.

"I'm not exactly sure..." She said. "...But my grandfather plundered both Inferia AND Celestia, so he had to somehow get between the two worlds. Before I moved out of my parents' house, I remember my father once telling me that when I was finally old enough to command the Van Eltia that I should find Aifread's Legacy and carry on the family tradition. I'm pretty sure that the "Legacy" he was referring to was how he got from Inferia to Celestia and back."

"Well, we have no other options..." Reid said. "Let's look into this Legacy thing, then..."

"There should be more information regarding it at my house." Chat said. "Let's return there for the time being."

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The Van Eltia had quickly sailed across the Celestian sea back to Chat's house. There, Chat showed them an intriguing monument to her grandfather that had been erected there. "It's a riddle." She explained. "It says '204, 98. Solve the riddle of the numbers and the Bridge of Expedition shall appear.' The thing is... I have no idea what those numbers mean..." Keele scratched his chin.

"Bridge of Expedition, huh?" He said. "And those numbers... It looks like they might be... Coordinates..."

"Coordinates?" Reid inquired. "How can you be so sure?"

"I can't think of anything else those numbers could mean..." He said, still staring at the monument. Chat snapped her fingers.

"So THAT's why I received this for my tenth birthday!" She exclaimed suddenly. She dug into her bag and, a couple seconds later, held out a device for the others to see.

"...What is it?" Meredy asked, examining the device in Chat's hand.

"It's a GPS." She said. "It gives locations in X and Y coordinates. For example, it's saying that our current coordinates are 106, 115." Keele's face lit up.

"Then our best bet is to follow that GPS to the coordinates 204, 98 and see what's there." He said. "All right, let's head back to the Van Eltia."

"Might as well..." Reid shrugged. "We have no other leads, after all..." And with that, the team returned to the Van Eltia to find out what exactly was waiting for them at those coordinates.

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The heroes sailed along, diligently watching the GPS for the locations in question. It took them a while, but eventually, they were approaching the coordinates that they were looking for.

"Okay..." Keele said, paying more attention to the GPS than to what was going on around him. "We're currently at 204, 80... We just have to go a little farther... NO, WRONG WAY! Now we're at... Guh!" Chat had thrown a Pow Hammer back in Keele's direction, which had directly bopped him on the head.

"Stop breaking my concentration, Keele! Just tell me which direction I need to go in!" Keele glared at Reid and Kyle, who were laughing at him having gotten Pow Hammered, and then he once again focused on the GPS.

"Okay, now we're at 206, 80... We just have to go a little south... 81, 82, 83..."

"JUST TELL ME WHEN WE GET UP TO NINETY-EIGHT, KEELE!" Chat shouted. Keele instantly stopped counting. "I CAN'T CONCENTRATE WHEN YOU'RE SAYING THINGS EVERY OTHER SECOND!" At that moment, Kyle walked up to the window and started staring out of it. Reid called out to him.

"Hey, are you being possessed again?" He asked. Kyle shook his head while still staring out the window.

"No, I'm not possessed... And I definitely see something... It looks like... A cave..." Reid walked up behind Kyle and stared in the direction Kyle was looking towards. He too saw a cave.

"Well, whaddya know?" Reid said. "There really is a cave coming up on the left..." Inadvertently, Reid placed his hands on Kyle's shoulders, which caused Kyle to shrink away from Reid in pain. When Kyle shot back a pained expression towards Reid, a bead of sweat ran down the back of his neck. "Oops, sorry..." He said. "I kinda forgot..." Kyle shot Reid an awkward smile.

"No big deal..." He said calmly. "I'm sure you didn't mean to hurt me..." Under his breath, he added, "Oww... That hurt more than ever..." However, it was loud enough so that Reid could hear it. Reid started thinking about what Kyle had just said for a second, when, all of a sudden, there was a bright flash of light.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Chat asked. "Kyle! Reid! Tell me what's going on!" The two guys looked out the window at a very strange sight. Many different colored explosions were occurring right before their very eyes. The explosions looked a lot like...

"I think they're... fireworks..." Kyle said. Reid nodded in agreement. Chat was flabbergasted.

"Fireworks? Why the hell are there fireworks being shot off? It's the middle of the day, and we're in the middle of nowhere!"

"I think they might be... celebrating our arrival..." Reid said, still staring at the strange display of fireworks.

"Your grandfather wasn't exactly paddling with both oars, was he, Chat?" Keele said, speaking up for the first time in a while. He was instantly met with a Pow Hammer to the head.

"Don't insult my grandfather!" Chat scolded, and then she looked out the window again. "All right, looks like we the Legacy. Let's go check it out." After saying that, Chat sailed the Van Eltia over to a nearby outcrop so the team could disembark and check out Aifread's Legacy.

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Once the team was inside the cave, they noticed it was brightly decorated with many objects. Everybody stared at Chat after looking around for a while.

"This is Aifread's Legacy?" Kyle was the first to speak up. Chat shrugged.

"I don't know..." She said. "But I have a hunch that it actually might be farther inside. There's really nothing in this part of this place that says "Legacy" to me." After saying that, she walked farther in, accompanied by the rest of the team.

As soon as they entered the next room, they realized that there were platforms marked with ascending numbers. When they had all clamored onto Platform #1, a jet of fire sprung up behind them and disembodied voice started to cackle.

"Is it the Darkness again?" Reid said, looking around for the source of the voice.

"No, it can't be..." Kyle said. "I don't sense anything here."

"I think we might be hearing Aifread's voice, guys..." Chat said. "Let's see what he wants."

"Welcome!" What was supposedly Aifread's voice echoed through the cave. "So, you've come after my Legacy, have you?" The voice laughed again, sending shivers down everybody's backs. "Let's see if you're worthy of taking it by playing a little game~~~ The rules are that each of you must one at a time hit a floating dice and move that many number of platforms forward. On most of the spaces, an event will occur. If you fail to complete the event, you'll be removed from the game. If any one of you can make it all the way to the end of the map, you all will be set free. If you all fail, you will spend the rest of your days stuck in here!" A spotlight illuminated a rather small looking cage hanging over the abyss below with a skeleton situated inside of it. Everybody gasped.

"W-what if we don't want to play your game?" Keele said, trying to sound brave.

"YOU HAVE NO CHOICE! BWAHAHA!" Aifread's evil laugh was starting to sound even MORE insane. Everybody looked at Chat. She held up her hands toward everybody.

"H-how was I supposed to know that we were going to have to play a game of life and death here?" She protested. "Look, all we have to do is have one of us cross the finish line and we'll all succeed."

"But that means the likelihood of any of us succeeding is pretty slim..." Keele said, gulping a little.

"Well, seeing as we have no other choice, let's start playing." Chat said. "I'll go first to see what it's like." And with that, Chat stepped forward and a small floating dice started wildly spinning over her head. She gingerly touched it, and it stopped. The top face of the dice had a three on it. The path to the next segment of the board opened up.

"YEAH!" Max said. "Let's go, guys!" And he charged through the doorway before Chat could get through. As soon as he took one step off of the platform, he was magically shot up into the air. Everybody gasped.

"No cheating!" Aifread's voice said. "It wasn't your turn yet! You who rolled the dice may go... The rest of you must wait!"

"Well, there goes one sixth of our chances of winning..." Chat said, sweatdropping.

"I'm okay!" Max's voice came from a distance. "I'm dangling over a deep abyss of nothingness in a tiny cage, but I'm okay!" Everybody sweatdropped.

"Let's just keep going..." Reid said. Chat nodded and then she continued three platforms forward. When she finally got there, a crab monster suddenly popped out of nowhere.

"Defeat this monster to succeed!" Aifread's voice demanded. The crab creature quickly scuttled sideways towards Chat, but she jumped toward the creature's backside. It started looking everywhere for Chat, who used this to her advantage.

"Toss Hammer!" She yelled as she threw a green Pow Hammer at the crab. As soon as it hit the crab, its entire body turned the same color as the hammer. "Yes! Got it poisoned!" She celebrated. However, she was celebrating too soon. Despite being poisoned, the crab was still trying to ram into her. It successfully hit her, but Chat recovered quickly and started tossing a bunch of spheres at the crab. Eventually, the poison had taken its toll and the crab fell onto its back, dead. "All right!" She celebrated. There was the sound of clapping.

"Congratulations, challenger, you have passed this round, but don't get too comfortable. There's still more perilous challenges ahead~~~" He paused for a second before continuing. "Next player, come forward and roll the dice!" Looking around at each other before Reid stepped forward to hit the dice. He too rolled a three. Reid smiled.

"Great! I can take on that crab no problem!" He said as he unsheathed his sword and ran to the same platform as Chat. However, as he arrived to the platform, a giant ghost creature stood before him. Chat gasped. Reid was unabashed.

"This challenge is for the second player alone." Aifread's voice said. "If the first player assists, that player will be removed from the game." Chat nodded.

"Go, Reid!" She cheered. The redheaded swordsman nodded and ran towards the enemy. He and his sword phased right through the ghost's body.

"Huh?" He said, staring at Chat. She shrugged. The enemy cackled from behind and then swiped Reid across the back. He was knocked forward right off the edge of the platform.

"REID!" The rest of his companions called out. In the next second, there was a far away thud, followed by Reid's voice groaning.

"Oww... My head hurts..." He said. At that moment, there was a pained yelp from Reid.

"Oh, Reid!" Max's voice said. "I thought for sure that you were gone forever!" Everybody sighed and sweatdropped at the same time. Max's hugs were a fate worse than death.

"Player three!" Aifread's voice said. Keele reluctantly stepped forward. He gingerly tapped the floating dice. It came up with a five. He smiled for a split second before making his way five platforms. As soon as he got there, confetti sprung up around him, startling him.

"Congratulations!" Aifread's voice said. "You found one of the only non booby trapped spaces on the board! You're safe... for now~~~" Keele looked back at everybody else and smiled smugly. "Player four!" Aifread's voice called out again.

"Oh yeah?" Kyle said as he stepped forward. "I can get a five, too!" He rolled a one. "Aww, man, a one?" He complained. "What a lousy first roll..." He walked to the next platform ahead of him and, out of the blue, gas came up around him, completely shrouding Kyle from view. A couple seconds later, there was a loud thud. When the smoke faded away, everybody saw that Kyle was lying face first on the ground. Meredy gasped.

"Kyle!" She said, wondering as to what had just happened.

"Oops, looks like player four fell into a pit of sleeping gas~~~" Aifread said. "Player four's gonna have to skip a turn~~~" Everybody sighed. At least Kyle was just sleeping. This was confirmed a few seconds later by a loud snore from Kyle. "Player five!" Aifread's voice called out. Meredy stepped forward and hit the block. She rolled a four. Meredy skipped along past the sleeping Kyle and Chat and stopped on the fourth space. Like with Kyle's space, Meredy's space also filled up with gas. However, the gas on her space was green. Meredy started coughing wildly.

"Ooh, tough luck..." Aifread's voice echoed. "You've been poisoned~~~" When the gas cleared away, Meredy was still coughing. Keele ran back towards her without leaving his platform.

"Meredy, come here for a second!" Meredy, still coughing, took a few steps closer towards Keele. As soon as she got close enough, Keele raised his Craymel Cage into the air. "Recover!" Green light sparkled around Meredy and then she stopped coughing.

"Baiba!" She said, twirling around. "Meredy is no longer poisoned! Thank you, Keele!"

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The game play continued for a while with no further casualties until turn eight. Keele was given a simple riddle to solve.

"Tell me, Player Three... What's brown and sticky?" Aifread's voice sounded smug. Keele scratched his chin.

"Brown and sticky, huh?" He said. "That's really a broad question... Molasses is brown and..." He was cut off.

"WRONG!" The voice said as Keele was magically scooped up into the air and dropped into the cage with Reid and Max. "The correct answer is 'a stick'. Get it? A stick? Ha ha ha!" The voice started laughing hysterically. Reid chuckled as well.

"I get it." He said. "A stick~~~ Sticks are sticky..." Reid received a harsh glare from Keele. Reid shot back a snarky reply: "What? Can't you take a joke?" Keele's face transmogrified to one of disgust. "...Guess not..." Reid finished.

"Half of the challengers remain, and they're rapidly approaching the finish..." Aifread's voice boomed. "...But can even one of them make it?"

"You'll see!" Kyle yelled out. "We've got Chat on our side! She's the descendant of Aifread! We're sure to win!" Kyle had spoken too soon. Chat had rolled a two and stepped forward to the designated platform. Almost the instant she got to the middle of the platform, the ground dropped out from underneath her, which caused Chat to scream as she fell. She too was placed in the hanging cage.

"Kyle! Meredy! It's up to you two now!" She yelled. Meredy, who was two spaces in front of Kyle, turned around and looked at him. Kyle nodded slowly.

"Player Four, it's once again your turn~~~" Kyle rolled a four. He walked past Meredy and stood in the center of the platform, hoping that it wouldn't fall out from underneath him. When Aifread's voice started, Kyle knew he at least wasn't going to be falling into a pit... Or so he assumed.

"Player Four..." The voice said. "You must face your greatest fear in order to move on. Everybody gasped, Kyle the loudest of them all. Sure enough, as everybody could predict, a giant sheep appeared on the same platform as Kyle. It bleated loudly and stared at its opponent.

"Y-you've got to be kidding me..." He said, staring up at the giant animal. Once again, it bleated, and then Kyle let out a yelp of terror. The sheep locked eyes with Kyle, and then it bent its head down nosed Kyle in the head. Kyle was instantly sent sprawling to the ground, still staring up at the giant sheep, paralyzed with fear.

"Come on, Kyle!" Everybody was cheering for him and rooting him on. None of the cheering worked. Kyle was too focused on the giant sheep to pay anything else any attention. The sheep bent its head down and rested its nose upon his exposed stomach, exhaling slowly. That was when Kyle passed out from the overwhelming sense of fear. The sheep hadn't even hurt Kyle, and he was already knocked out. As per the rules, Kyle was removed from the game and placed in the hanging cage. Everybody rushed over to the poor blond boy's side in attempts to revive him.

"Okay, Meredy!" Chat yelled from the cage. "No pressure! You just have to get to the end, or else we'll all die here forever!" Everybody sweatdropped.

"Roll a six and you win~~~" Aifread's voice echoed. "Though that's hardly likely..." Meredy rolled a three. "See?" He said. "And that space is..." Confetti shot out of the ground again. "...Whose bright idea was it to put a safe spot three spaces away from the end?" Everybody in the cage cheered. Meredy jumped up to hit the dice block again. This time, she rolled a one. Everybody groaned.

"Meredy is doing the best Meredy can..." She shrugged.

"This space is..." Just then, a roar came out of the blue. A large pterodactyl creature flew down in front of Meredy. "Ooh, let's see you beat this~~~" Meredy smiled.

"Meredy knows what to do!" She said, twirling around. The creature started pecking at Meredy, who twirled out of the way with ease. Soon, the creature tried to peck at her from above, but, when it missed again, it drove its beak into the ground, getting it stuck. Meredy smiled.

"Yeah! Go Meredy!" Everybody cheered for her. Meredy nodded and then twirled around.

"Meredy will win!" She said as she held her Craymel Cage above her head. "Absolute!" A giant chunk of ice came down upon the head of the giant creature, which fainted upon impact. Meredy cheered as the monster disappeared.

"Congratulations, you defeated the creature..." The disembodied voice said, sounding somewhat annoyed. "Just roll the freaking dice again..." Meredy did as told. She rolled a four. That was enough for her to cross the finish line! Everybody cheered loudly. "Well done, you completed the Roulette Trap... As promised, your companions will all be set free..." However, the voice failed to mention how they would be set free. The cage moved over the end zone and the bottom fell out, spilling its contents onto Meredy. Everybody was laying in a goosepile on top of her.

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Once everybody had recovered, they had moved into the next room and there was a familiar insignia on the wall of the room - one that was all over the Van Eltia. It started to glow, and a new voice started talking.

"Welcome!" It said in a deeper voice than the one that was hosting the game. "This is the voice of the legendary pirate, Aifread." Everybody was confused. If this was Aifread's voice, whose voice was that in the game? "I know what you're thinking... That was actually my first mate Cipher that you were listening to on the way here." There was a simultaneous 'aah' from everybody. "Anyways, you have overcome great obstacles to get here, and, therefore, I shall grant you my Legacy." Chat smiled widely. "Please proceed beyond this door~~~" The wall that was glowing with the insignia swung away, revealing a dock inside.

For whatever reason, the Van Eltia was already situated inside the dock. However, there was something different about it. It didn't take long before Chat gasped and started jumping for joy. "The Van Eltia!" She cried. "It's been totally refitted! Awesome!"

"So... Aifread's Legacy was just an upgrade to the Van Eltia?" Reid asked. Chat shook her head.

"There's gotta be something about this new upgrade that allows us to get to Inferia." She said, still staring at her newly upgraded ship. "Come on, let's go see inside of it!" Everybody did as they were told and entered the ship.

There were plenty of aesthetic changes to the Van Eltia, but the biggest change was the addition to a school of fish-looking things in the belly of the ship. Chat dubbed them the Aifish after Aifread and the fact that they looked like fish.

"Well, if they're fish, they should be able to swim..." Keele commented. Kyle's eyes instantly lit up when he mentioned that.

"This is it!" He yelled excitedly. "This is how I'm gonna be able to get to the bottom of the ocean to find the Sword of Destiny! Yes!" Everybody stared at him like he had three heads as he ran over to one of the Aifish and attempted to open it up.

"I think we should join him." Reid suggested, earning a harsh glare from Keele. "I mean, this Sword of Destiny thing seems to be very important to him, so we shouldn't let him go get it alone." Chat, Meredy, and Max agreed. Keele sighed with contempt.

"Fine..." He said. "Let's go get that stupid sword." Keele walked over to the Aifish that Kyle was trying to open and tapped a small button, which caused the cockpit to open. Kyle stared at Keele angrily.

"Hey!" He growled. Keele ignored him and went over to open up another of the Aifish and hopped in. Everybody stared at him. "Well, are you guys coming or not?" Everybody shrugged and they each went into one of the Aifish, wondering how they would work and what adventures they would find under the sea...

Author's Final Note: FINALLY! My longest chapter yet has come to completion and the Sword of Destiny shall be found next chapter, at last! (It's Chapter 30, too!) I bet you're all anxious to see how this turns out. Well, keep your shoes on, it'll come in due time. Thanks for reading! Review, please?