Kendal: W00T! 21rst chapter!
Me: You're celebrating because…
Kendal: Sooner or later, this thing is going to end, and I'm free of you!
Me: Until I write something else that involves you, of course.
Kendal: (sulks) Yeah, but-
Me: NO BUTS!
Kendal: Imperialist…
Me: What?
Kendal: Never mind, never mind…
Proceeding through the Gaoracchia Forest is not the easiest thing, even when it's the light of noon. Because the dark canopy of dead-looking branches that blanketed the forest basically soaked up pretty much all the sunlight that dared to come down on it.
To even see a single speck of sunlight when you're deep in the forest is a rarity- The forest's branches grew fast, so that even if there were sizable holes made in the top of the forest like the ones that the falling and rising bodies of the Papal Knights, they'd be replaced in a few days, leaving no trace of whatever incident made them. Well, the person who so happened to be idiotic (Like most of the gang I was in, whether I liked it or not) wouldn't know it at all from the looks of above, so what did it matter?
I angrily kicked a root that I had somehow stubbed my toe on, despite my best efforts to avoid an embarrassing "fall-flat-on-your-face" episode, which involved looking down on the ground every moment, even when monsters attacked.
Obviously, none had, which I was surprised at. It was common knowledge that monsters in this cursed forest stayed far, far away from the entrances, as to avoid even a patch of sunlight- Yes, they were that sensitive. I, myself, was shocked into thinking that they were afraid in whatever rotted minds they had of sunburn. Gimme a break, most of the monsters in here were dead. Why would they care about sunburn?
Well, not the tropical worms, pumpkin trees (I wished it wasn't so stupidly literal) or boxer irises. They stayed far away, and I had no idea why. So, I decided to get my head wrapped up in weird concepts when they simply weren't needed.
Speaking of boxer irises…
"Look! It's a plant on legs, and it's got one eye!"
That totally snapped me out of my thoughts and my silent ranting against stupid, randomly placed huge tree roots that served no purpose other than to trip people at inconvenient times. I looked up wildly, and saw to my horror, exactly what Colette described- A.K.A. a boxer iris.
Crap. Literally.
Colette began to run forward and might have gotten a good horrible amount of bruises and other stuff had I not yelled:
"WHAT THE DAMN HELL ARE YOU THINKING, YOU IDIOT?"
She whirled around, terrified just like anyone else as I rushed past her, my broadsword already out. The boxer iris, surprised, stepped back, giving me enough time to bury a certain cleaver held by me into the iris's eye all the way up to the hilt. I quickly withdrew it, sending it staggering back until it tripped over a tree root, falling flat on its back, where it went into last-moment spasms of death before its body went completely limp.
"K-Kendal!" I heard Colette shriek. "You didn't have to be that cruel-"
I slowly turned around, my eyes practically blazing. "I'm cruel?" I asked in a deadly voice, immediately causing Colette to clamp her mouth shut and to root everyone to the soft earthen floor like they were glued. Of course. I was giving them a premium death stare, courtesy of me.
"What the hell are you saying!" I shouted in rage, gesturing with my hands wildly, not bothering to sheath my blade. "That thing deserved to be petted like a cat orsomething?"
Colette was shaking her head wildly. "N-no-"
"Then WHY THE HELL WERE YOU RUNNING UP TO IT!"
The entire forest turned silent at that roar of rage. And when I mean entire, I mean every living thing in it. Including humans and half-elves.
"THAT THING WAS A DAMN MONSTER, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE! AND YOU TELL ME THAT YOU DON'T WANT IT TO BE PETTED LIKE A FRICKIN' PET WHEN YOU WERE RUNNING TOWARDS IT? DENY THAT!"
"AND TELL ME ONE MORE THING, ARE YOU THIS DUMB? BECAUSE, IF YOU ARE, MOST LIKELY YES, THEN I DON'T SEE A DAMN REASON, OBVIOUS OR NOT, THAT YOU SHOULD EVEN BE WITH US RIGHT NOW!"
Colette, on the verge of tears, could only mumble a barely audible "Sorry" before I turned around, gave them one last dirty look, and stalked off.
VWVWVWVWV
Raine was rooted to the floor as Kendal gave Colette a very vicious scolding. Even though the brown-clad boy was 5 feet in front of her, Colette looked as if she had been slapped not only verbally, but physically.
When the hem of Kendal's scarf turned its back to the others, Raine was the first one to move, rushing up to Colette in an attempt to comfort the distraught girl. "Don't cry Colette…" she cooed.
However, the gold-haired girl kept crying with a passion that rendered Raine (For a second, anyway) speechless. "He's r-right…." Colette managed to say through the sobbing. "I-I'm too stupid to b-be on t-this j-journey…"
"No you're not!" Genis said forcefully. "He's just a biased son of a-"
"WERE YOU SAYING SOMETHING?"
Genis quailed immediately. "N-nothing!" he squeaked.
Lloyd began speaking again. "Colette, you're my best friend. I really don't think that you should leave this journey, no matter what anybody thinks." He looked hard into the tear-filled cerulean eyes. "Besides, if he yells at you again, I'll just yell back." He added, even though he had serious doubts about winning against Kendal in a shouting match, given the volume of his yells.
"Th-thank you, L-Lloyd" Colette sniffled before wiping her eyes and walking forward.
"Let's go," Lloyd called, and walked alongside with her.
VWVWVWVWV
I had to wait as the other comforted a distraught goldette. Well, hell, I couldn't help but be revolted slightly at the insane amount of cheeriness that practically radiated from every pore. Well, I was lying to myself. I was pretty much totally revolted by her cheeriness. Like I was about to tell anybody but myself that anytime soon. Yeah, right.
I was standing besides another one of the Sorcerer's Ring altars. I really had no idea what would be next, but I suspected that whatever functions besides shooting out fire the Sorcerer's Ring would do, it would rock this world.
At least for this situation, at least for this place, anyway.
When they finally emerged from the gloom of the forest (sunlight even at the outskirts of the forest never traveled very far) I was tapping my finger to an imaginary beat on the altar. I had gradually increased the tempo in some weird hope that if I went faster the others would walk faster. Finally, when I was sure that my finger tips were going to implode with violence from the pressure, they appeared from the gloom.
Hurrying towards me, I watched with amusement as they tripped over roots and other things (Colette, my previous victim tripped over her own feet) in an attempt to not get a "what-the-hell-took-you-exsphere-equipped-idiots-so-long" look.
Which, of course, I gave them.
They lowered their heads, as usual. I sighed, before saying "Anyone knows the obvious thing to do here…?"
They did. Quickly, Lloyd ran forward, and placed the Sorcerer's Ring in the light that was floating on the altar. A bunch of sparks flew out, but it seemed that was it, until….
Lloyd held it out and clenched his gloved hand. Immediately, the Sorcerer's Ring began to fire a ray of light. Normally, I supposed that it would barely be seen in normal daylight, but now it was making my eyes water, thanks to my prolonged stay in this cursedly dark forest.
Meanwhile. Lloyd, always excited when something new happened, now that I had found out, was exclaiming with a loud yelp "Whoa! The Sorcerer's Ring emitted light!"
"It's like a lamp," Genis interjected.
"What do we use it for?" Colette, dumb as ever.
"This forest is dark," Raine said, unable to resist helping one of her students- She, after all, I supposed, was a teacher, and that was a teacher's job, right? "So," she continued, "Some of the plants here might react strongly to light." Then, she looked around, and spotted a few tropical worms that were crawling around, minding their own business.
"It could be used against some monsters-"
"It can't" I interjected. "It only works on plants and-"catching them in the act of asking about that pumpkin tree that I had previously killed "-that pumpkin tree was a monster, not a plant. Haven't you guys ever encountered maricoids or minicoids?"
"Yeah, we did," Sheena said, "But why do you ask-"Then realization dawned on her. "Oh…" she said, her words trailing off. The others looked at her, confused, until I said "Monsters can be any form you know, as animals, zombies and such, and, of course, mushrooms in the case of marc/minicoids and trees when we're talking about that pumpkin tree I killed," I finished, pointing off towards the gloom in which the pumpkin tree's remains were barely visible.
The others looked there, then looked back at me as if I was crazy, then I remembered. They didn't have my eyesight, so how the heck would they be able to see the remains, where in this gloom, would seem more than a mile away? Of course, it definitely wasn't, but unless you wanted to see it, you'd be better off seeing with my eyes. Even if they did use exspheres.
I quickly fumbled for an excuse for being able to see it and unintentionally point it out. "Well, that was an example, you know?" I said quickly, hoping desperately I didn't sound nervous. Maybe I said it too fast…
With that, I snatched the ring out of Lloyd's gloved hand, and began walking off.
It wasn't long before I began to see flecks of sunlight on the ground in the distance, and I knew that we had to be exiting the forest. Well, I would have voted for it in the first place, because the sun had now completely set, leaving a red sky sure to leave along with it in a few minutes and an experience that I suspected would give certain timid people some heart attacks.
It was obvious who, but we still needed every person we could to get through this hellhole, and right now, nighttime was the worst time for it. Time to ditch the place for a bit.
However, if I exited now, most likely they would turn again to the rather insane leadership of Lloyd Irving, prompting a total massacre, the way it was dark right now. So…
So I waited. This time, they didn't have me waiting- Officially acknowledging that I was the group's best guide, or most likely un-officially recognizing me as the group's best guide, to say the least, the immediately followed me, all the way to the northern entrance of the forest.
Panting as they caught up to me, they looked up with a confused expression on their faces, beaming obvious confusion of why they were at the exit. Apparently, Altessa lived far deeper in the forest than where this exit led to, for what I heard- We were really barely in the forest at all. So, why did I lead them here? Obviously, I was trying to get some rest, because I hadn't had a chance to convince the others that if they were going to survive in this compact earthly hell, then you had to survive when it was day. Obviously, night had just begun, and at night monsters affiliated with the dead- Undertakers, ghouls, ghosts, and the whole load of them- they would get stronger- They were, after all, monsters spawned from darkness.
"The forest is most dangerous at night," I told them. "The monsters get stronger at night time, and seeing that Papal Knights might be all over the forest, we're better off fighting only them and not strengthened monsters. Got it?"
They got it.
Well, they got the logic of it- We were better off fighting monsters when they were only at their normal level of power and not strengthened ones. So, all we needed to do was to wait out the night. And, hopefully, no squad of Papal Knights would bother to check the wasteland north of Sybak that I was leading them to.
"Where are we going, anyway?" Lloyd asked as he managed to catch up besides me.
"A wasteland north of Sybak," I responded. "Well, it's not really a wasteland; it's just that nobody bothers coming here."
"Why not?" Lloyd asked. I resisted rolling me eyes- It wasn't his fault that he happened to lack the academic intelligence that others had, to a much higher degree.
Note that I only said academic intelligence. As I raised a finger to point out to the forest we were leaving, he suddenly said "Oh, I get it- This part of Tethe'Alla is isolated from the other parts by the Gaoracchia Forest, and nobody wants to come here, so…"
I nodded. He had pretty much summed up everything that made this area so desolate. Well, not desolate, this place was infested with insects, the big and bad type, as well as some bandits who somehow got here and could never get the courage to go back through the forest. So, in fact, this area was pretty much brimming with monsters and not-so-nice people who'd just love to get a kick out of robbing us.
As if to confirm that thought...
As we were about to exit the trail between some conveniently placed wall of rock and the ocean that signified the north entrance to the Gaoracchia Forest, a gang of bandits were waiting for us.
"Hello pretties," one of them said. He had to be the leader, since he was at the head of the pack of thieves. He looked at us through a masked face and smiled, displaying rows of brown, slightly rotting teeth.
"Just hand over your money, little ones, and we'll be nice to you…"
"Oh, like we're really going to hand over our loot you filthy idiots living in this hellhole," I said sarcastically.
It really didn't go down with them too good.
The others behind the leader made angry noises, and some began readying whatever weapons they had on them. The leader, however, still thinking that he could swindle us, continued his useless attempts to flatter us. "That's nice lookin' sword you got there, kid" he said slowly, as if he was measuring every word he said.
"Yeah," I responded, "It's good one."
"Y'wanna lemme see it for a bit? C'mon-"
"No thanks, not interested," I responded, and began walking through. However, the leader immediately blocked me from going any further, along with the others in his gang. He looked at me with an annoyed look in his eyes as we stared eye to eye.
"You wanna pass, you gotta let me see it" he said. I could tell that he was at the end of his straw, so I decided to end this annoying encounter with these idiots.
I backed up. "Here," I said in a docile tone, swinging my much-wanted-broadsword out of its sheath.
I could practically see his eyes sparkle with greed that was flowing from every pore. "Give it here!" he said hoarsely, too mesmerized with the fact that a blade of the highest quality with a diamond edge was right in front of him, and he was going to steal it…
Too hypnotized to remember that the first line of weapons protocol is to never trust anyone who offers their weapon blade-first. Because someone who does it obviously doesn't trust you, and can pull it back at any time.
Or, in my case run the person being offered the sword would be run through. Only fitting, considering that this guy wrapped in gray, dirty cloth wanted to steal it.
The moment his fingers touched the edge, I did it. I shoved myself to the left of my adversary, in the process, shifting my grip to the dagger-styled hold, and…
"Wolf Fang!"
The air was rippling as the blade began plunging forward into a dirtied gray-clothed chest, easily ripping though the vital organs of the chest. The guy had no chance, whatsoever. He didn't even get to make a sound as his heart was instantly shredded into fragments from the layer of disturbed air from the sheer force of my thrust. Quickly jumping back, I watched, vindictive, as the body of the rouge slammed into the ones behind him. I sheathed my broadsword, and was turning my head when out of the corner of my eye I saw a metallic glint.
I ducked instinctively, hearing a whoosh as an arrow ripped through the air where my head had been previously. The well-aimed projectile lodged itself I the dirt, where it lay, quivering from its rudely interrupted momentum.
I looked back at the bandits. A ranger, bandits with advanced knowledge of using bows, was putting another arrow on his bow. Presumably he was the guy who had attempted to shoot me in the head, literally. He looked up as he finished notching his arrow on the bow, ready to be fired at any moment. "You bastards are gonna pay for killin' Rowlin, you got that? You're gonna-"
"We the point already, you horribly clothed, filthy idiots who can't even aim a damn sword" I cut in.
The whole gang howled in rage, and charged. Well, not all of them. I could see some sorceress's staying in the back, muttering incantations…
"Areoslicer!" I yelled, swinging out my so-recently sheathed broadsword and sending a burst of energy that sent the air around me into a brief frenzy before it sliced through 2 people, I couldn't see them in the general amount of chaos. Just that the beam cut though 2 people before it continued flying through the air…
I jammed my sword into the stomach of random rouge that had gotten too close for comfort, and then kicked his body off the blade, sending him crashing backwards, twitching in death throes. Just then…
"Air Blade!"
I whirled around. The outcry had been spoken by a voice that too femine to be Genis's, which meant…
I saw a beam of air blast towards me. I did the only thing I could do; I swung my hands upwards, and yelled "Ironside!"
A wall green mana burst around me, shimmering just as the Air Blade spell smashed into me. Defensive techniques could only protect, I knew, not completely negate the effect of spell, so I expected myself to be sent flying, relatively unscathed.
I wasn't disappointed. As the jet of air slammed into the shimmering defensive wall, I felt an almost physical blow to where the spell would have hit me first as I felt my feet leave the ground. I was sent spinning through the air in dizzying spirals, but I refused to close my eyes. Instead, I used my new found, temporary flight to my advantage by forcing my eyes open, even though I felt slight of waves of nausea wash over me.
Let's see…
An eruption spell. Obviously Genis was pouring hell on them. Zelos, doing a Light Spear, swing his sword so fast in the air upwards that the air itself was going in visible spirals. Colette, doing a random technique where lightning struck a random ranger who was now staggering, static visible on his clothes. Presea, blasting rocks up with a Deadly Destruction. Lloyd smashing a rouge to earth with insane force with a Heavy Tiger Blade. Raine, busy warding off a bunch of rouges trying to approach her with Photon spells. Sheena blasting a sorceress away with a Pyre Seal.
And me? Spinning aimlessly through the air, until I remembered to backflip in midair.
I landed on my feet, reduced to a squat from the force of the landing, my sword hand out in front of my to prevent a fall in case I did. I didn't. Obviously.
Standing up, I saw just how out motley opponents were being slaughtered. I suppose it didn't hurt to try my own brand of magic, since the others had basically forced them all away from me. No interruptions, so…
I crossed my arms. And hoped desperately that no ranger would notice me and try shooting and actually hit.
VWVWVWVWV
Genis yelled out his new spell "Raging mist!" and watched in satisfaction as the remaining bandits- 6 of them to be exact- ran around howling as mist scorched them, leaving them with a multitude of first degree burns or so.
Watching in satisfaction, Genis suddenly realized that a massive amount of mana was building up, right behind him.
Turning around, he couldn't believe his eyes. Kendal was there, his forearms crossed and his eyes open, but Genis swore that no matter if he waved a hand in front of his face, the teenager would never notice.
Genis could see purple mana begin to emanate purple light, signifying that he was about to use an electrical spell. But he couldn't see any runes, so it meant…
Genis stepped back in shock. Did this… teen, only a few years older than Genis, it seemed, have the capabilities to invent a new order of magic that didn't abide by the laws of runes?
As if to prove it, suddenly, Kendal dropped to the ground. Genis saw that the palms facing upward, and suddenly felt with a shiver half the massive amount of mana he had felt earlier travel beneath him. He whirled around, and saw the bandits had converged…
Directly beneath a circle of cracking rocks that was glowing ominously.
Lloyd, Zelos, Presea, and Sheena were about to rush forward at the remaining group of enemies when they saw the rocks begin to crack under the group they were about to attack, and so hung back.
In a breathless moment, as the bandits, understanding why everyone else was staring that something beneath them, looked down, a voice behind Genis yelled "STATIC-
A giant pillar of glowing, sparking rock blasted upward, but then Genis realized that it wasn't rock, it metal. As the rouges yelped and flailed wildly in the air, their weapons lisped out of their hands and smacked loudly into the column of magnetic metal. Of course! Genis thought. He's attracting lighting to-
VWVWVWVWV
I had yelled the first part of my little custom spell just as the remaining members of the motley crew looked down. It was always good to have surprise on your side, so I started the spell when they were about to look down. I raise my arms with ferocity behind my back, where my arms stay there, and boom, there's a huge column of magnetic metal that smashes all the bandits sky high. And now…
I stretched my arms taunt behind my back, as clouds rolled in the spot where the metal column was at impossible speeds. Seriously. Finally, I saw that lighting was rumbling, flashing just as the bodies of my victims were beginning to succumb to the effects of gravity.
I smashed my arms downward back downward, taking my upper half of my body with it.
"-SPIKE!"
VWVWVWVWV
Genis could only watch openmouthed as huge bolts of lightning blasted down at the final word in the spell's name, and…
The bodies of the bandits were hung there, suspended in midair, as bolt after bolt slammed into them in quick succession so fast nobody could see one bolt transition into another. Whatever yells of agony the people up there, suspended in air, were lost through the deafening din that was the compacted storm of lightning. For 5 seconds, Genis saw huge amounts of mana pouring out of the skies.
When it was over, the bodies of the smoking bandits fell down, they were well and truly dead.
Genis could only slowly turn around, like others, to watch the only possible perpetrator of such a spell.
VWVWVWVWV
I lifted my head to discover everyone staring at me, with open mouths. It was a mixture of wonder, amazement, and…
Fear.
"Whaaaat???" I snapped at them.
They were so stunned by what I had just done that it took them a full 5 seconds for them to snap out of their trances.
Kendal: Yay! Another spell revealed! Finally...
Me: DUCT TAPE TIME! (raises roll of duct tape)
Kendal: WHAAAAT??? WHY? WHAT DID I DO???
Me: (rolls eyes) Spoilers, what else?
Kendal: WHAT WAS I REVEALING???
Me: That you have a lot more stuff in your arsenal.
Kendal: Of course I do! And that's not just spells, I've got Vortex Sli-
Me: NO SPOILERS!!! (tapes mouth)
Kendal: MMMMPH! MMMMRPH! (I HATE IT WHEN THIS HAPPENS!)