Chapter 21
Kratos found himself standing in the meadow of the Yggdrasill Tree. Confused, he turned all around to check the surroundings. He hadn't intended to come to this place; he'd been trying to get to Luin to buy himself a new weapon. How did he wind up here?
A shimmer of light descended from the tree and caught his attention. Kratos stood silently as Martel formed before him, flowers blooming at her feet. She smiled gently at him.
"Welcome to my meadow, Kratos. I see that you've passed the final test." she remarked and motioned for him to follow her. "You've learned to place trust in the most unlikely of allies; a young girl and a vagrant poet. You've learned to side with your heart, empowering your voice with all the emotions you've hidden from the world and your family. And you've learned to take responsibility for mistakes you made, a trait you lacked when you made errors with Mithos commanding you."
"I thought I failed." Kratos mumbled, following the Spirit of Mana to the base of the tree. She turned back and smiled at him again.
"No, you passed splendidly. And now, to combat this dragon who seeks to destroy this tree, you will return to your true body." Martel held her staff forward, "However, as you are now, you cannot fight that machine and live. You are unable to rescue Lloyd, whose mana is being drained to fuel the weapon because it is blessed with the Eternal Sword's influence. And you are still bound by the Cruxis Crystal's power." Kratos looked at her helplessly, hands spread in a gesture of futility. "Therefore, like Lloyd, you must undergo a transformation beyond that of the Seraphim rank you once held."
"What's stronger than a Seraphim?" Kratos asked incredulously. Martel only smiled at him.
"You were not there when Lloyd first earned his angelic form, his wings were vastly different from yours. His wings now are the same as yours, as Colette's, as Zelos's." she explained, "But before he was an angel, he was an Angel of Light, and that is powerful enough to make miracles happen." Kratos blinked in surprise, then gave her a wary look.
"And in order to stop the dragon and save Lloyd, I have to become an Angel of Light as well? How?" he questioned. Martel held up her hand to him.
"An Angel of Light has several distinct qualities that set it apart from the other angels. It must have innocence, respect for life, power and wisdom." she told the mercenary, "Lloyd innately had all of those qualities, so he immediately became an Angel of Light to perform his miracle, saving the Great Seed and allowing it to link the world. Because of that, the mana that fuels his angelic form comes from the tree, not the Cruxis Crystal he wears, though it helped him regain his wings."
"I noticed." Kratos remarked dryly. He shrugged and looked confused. "But what does that have to do with me? I don't have those same qualities." Martel shook her head.
"That's where you're wrong. You had to regain them by living different stages of your life." she told him gently and waved her staff over him, "And now, for a refresher course..." And Kratos' world went dark.
When he opened his eyes, Kratos found himself standing in a dense fog. He looked around in alarm, but there was no one else with him. At least, no one he could see. He heard a crying not far from him, a small voice that sobbed and called out in shaky emotion. He carefully stepped forward in the fog, found the ground solid and pressed on in the direction of the voice.
"I don't want to be by myself! I want my family! Please! Find me!" the small voice pleaded and Kratos soon found a dark shape in the fog. He hurried closer to it and knelt by the sobbing figure.
"It's okay, little one. I'm here." he whispered and blinked in shock as the child turned its face to him. It was himself! The child Kratos peered up at him warily and rubbed his eyes dry of tears.
"R-really? You won't leave me behind again?" he whimpered, tiny mana wings flapping slowly in the mist, his miniature mercenary uniform faded with age and dust. His large eyes looked straight into Kratos's own, searching his heart and soul for an answer. "You promise? You won't forget me this time?" the infantile Kratos urged almost desperately, "It's no fun being alone and forgotten. Please, take me with you! Don't leave me behind!"
"No, I won't forget." Kratos told his younger self with a smile, "We had too much fun together! I can never forget that, and I can never forget you." He reached out and picked up the cherub, smiling wider as he snuggled close and sighed in secure contentment.
"That's good. You can't hide me forever; I have to play, too!" the little Kratos told him and flicked a finger playfully across the tip of his nose before settling down to nap. Kratos walked on through the fog, looking for a way out.
It seemed like only a short while since he found his baby self before Kratos heard another voice. This one was harsher, bitter, and just as lonely.
"Bunch of stupid, lousy jerks! Nobody likes me, everybody hates me! I wish I were dead! Then they'd pay attention to me!"
Kratos quickly recognized that tone; it was the same attitude he'd had when he was in his preteen state, when he first started the awful chain reaction in Sybak. He rushed towards the source of the voice, concerned for the welfare of his second younger self.
"I hate you! You're stupid and old and you look ugly, too! You've been wearing that same stupid suit for ages and ages! I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" Kratos heard a yelp and then the voice began to cry. "It's not fair! All I wanted was for someone to care that I was here! Nobody cares about me!"
"That's not true!" Kratos yelled out and rushed towards a figure bent over a broken mirror not far from him. He came to a halt and blinked down at his preteen self. The younger Kratos glared tearfully up at him, face pale and drawn from mana addiction, one hand clasped over his wrist as bright red dripped between his fingers onto the shards of the mirror.
"Go away!" he snapped, "You're the biggest jerk of them all! You wanted to die, too! Well, I'm going to do it right this time and not leave it to somebody else to do it for me!" He turned back to glaring at his slashed wrist, pulling his hand away from it. "Hurry it up! Bleed to death already! Nobody cares about me!"
"People do care about you. That's why they wouldn't kill you; they wanted you to live because they love you. I stopped trying to die because I cared about them too." Kratos told his younger self. "Lloyd, Zelos, Colette, Genis, and all the others, they love you. Same as they love me."
"You said you were gonna die when you left Exire!" the younger Kratos snapped accusingly, holding his cut arm closer to himself. The older mercenary shrugged.
"They expected me to say something like that. I played along because they'll be so worried over trying to talk me out of it that they won't have time to find out what it is I'm doing." he remarked, "I never intended to die; I have a family to take care of!" The preteen Kratos blinked up at him.
"You're not going to kill yourself?" he asked softly.
"No, because it would hurt all the people who care about me." the older Kratos replied, "So, don't do it to yourself, because you'll hurt all of us who care about you too. Right, Cherub?" The infantile Kratos opened his eyes and reached down to the preteen with a smile.
"Be my friend! Then we can play together!" he laughed. The preteen blinked at him, then gave him a shaky smile, holding out his cut hand.
"Okay. I won't kill myself. I'll stay alive and make friends with those who really love me." he murmured and the cut healed when the older Kratos took his hand.
"That's right. Let's go. I think I have to find one more person in this weird mist." Kratos told him and led the way, walking along as his preteen self recovered his healthier look, smiling brightly with his butterfly-like wings spread from his back.
Sure enough a third voice called out from the depths of the fog, singing sorrowfully to the emptiness. Kratos peered through the mist at the dark shape that danced to music only it could hear. It would stop dancing at a certain spot and hold its arms out imploringly to the ground, then spin slowly away, its sad song unceasing.
Kratos finally broke through the fog and stopped short to watch his teen self glide by on songbird wings, voice singing wordlessly to the mist. He stopped finally and turned to face the older mercenary, a defeated look on his face.
"Useless, huh? No matter how hard I try, I'll never sing right. I'm going to screw everything up because I'm a lousy singer." he sighed depressingly.
"But you sang beautifully! And your dancing was top-notch, too!" Kratos told him in astonishment, "How can you say that about yourself?" The teenager shrugged.
"It's not doing anything. See?" he replied and waved at his audience of masked dummies, "I'm horrible. I'm such a failure. I can't do anything by myself, I have to have someone else do it for me because I just don't have the strength to do it myself." Kratos looked at the audience of mannequins and shook his head. "See? I knew you'd agree!" the teen Kratos sighed miserably, "I'm such a loser!"
"No, you're singing to the wrong audience." the older Kratos lectured, "Your songs can't change them because they have no emotions. You can sing great, you put the power of your emotions into your voice." The teenager gave him a skeptical look. "You have strength on your own if you trust in your emotions and let it flow through your voice. You can change the world just by singing with your heart." Kratos went on, "Go ahead and sing to us. You'll see how much of an impact you can make."
"Okay, but I know it's not gonna work." the teen Kratos sighed and began singing again, a wordless yearning for salvation, redemption, hope and forgiveness radiating from the notes. It twisted Kratos's heart and he hugged the cherub closer, tears welling in his eyes as the cherub watched the teen sorrowfully. The preteen at his side gripped his hand tighter and cried openly. The teenager finally ended his song and looked at them, startled. "You're all crying?" he asked, astonished.
"We could feel your pain through your song. We know what it feels like because you passed on the pain through your voice." the mercenary told him softly, "You have a tremendous power within you, and all you have to do to convey it is just believe in your skills and bring it forth with all the honest emotions within you. Don't try to hide them and don't think bad of yourself. Your voice is that of an angel, perfect and pure and always true." The teenager blinked at him and looked thoughtful.
"I suppose that's the truth. I have the ability to have people feel things they wouldn't normally feel simply by singing about it. I can make them happy and loved, or bring them to tears." he mused aloud, "It's all in the power of my emotions and my voice. I get it. Thank you. I'm not a failure after all." He smiled suddenly as he walked to join the three angels. "You're very wise to know so much about all of us. How did you get to be so wise?" Kratos grinned.
"Well, I've been through all the things that you three have experienced. I've been through the loneliness, the despair, the feelings of being weak and powerless to change anything, but I learned that they can be overcome with good friends and a loving family." he replied cheerfully, "And it helps that I'm a lot older than all of you, so I have experience by the boatload!" With that, the fog began to lift all around him and Kratos blinked as the world began to grow bright. "What's going on?" he exclaimed in confusion.
"Bye bye!" the Cherub Kratos laughed, leaping from his arms to wave to him, "Don't forget your promise to me! Be innocent and playful from time to time!" Fledgling Kratos pulled away to join him, grinning as he waved too.
"Don't forget your friends and family! I don't want to die, now that I know I have them! So respect the life you have; stay alive and have lots of good times together!" he added enthusiastically. Angel Kratos nodded brightly.
"Power comes in many forms, and the best power is one that can change the world by working with your own personal strengths!" he agreed, "I'll remember that and sing songs of joy and hope to the world, so that peace will come to everyone!" The three of them waved together as they began to fade. "Goodbye, and remember, we're always with you!"
Kratos shook his head clear of the last traces of mental fog and blinked at Martel in surprise. The goddess only smiled at him, then waved her hand to him.
"Well? Take a look at yourself." she told him and he looked himself over in surprise. He was dressed in his old mercenary uniform again, fully decked with the mantle and everything. But most of all, he could see that he was once again his own, true self, the body he'd been in for over four thousand years, the body he had before he made his wish.
"I'm back to normal?" he asked and his eyes went wide, hand going up to his mouth, "My voice...! I am me again!" He paused and looked thoughtful. "I'm not going to have an easier time hitting my high notes now." he mused aloud. Martel laughed and the seraphim blinked at her. "Was that funny?" he asked, then cracked up, "I guess so! Stop that! You're gonna make me laugh too hard!"
"I'm sorry, but that was your first concern after spending the last two days in a trance?" Martel asked skeptically and chuckled, "You are such a dear!" Kratos choked on his laughter and stared at the goddess.
"T-two days?! I've been standing here for two days?!" he cried, "What's happening to the world then?!" Martel blinked, then turned serious.
"Quite a bit, Kratos. The Moria Dragon has terrorized much of Symphonia in its search for this tree. Zelos has gathered several of the Heroes of Union to attack it, but they all failed. As we speak, they're about to try again." she replied and held her staff out to the sky. "To destroy it, you have to lure it back to the ruins of Moria and unleash the full power of your angelic form upon it. The threat to Symphonia and the Yggdrasill Tree will end once you do that."
"But what about Lloyd? And the Topaz Ring?" Kratos blurted.
"The ring will be lost no matter what you do, but that is unavoidable. It has to be lost for it to be found by another. The same for Excalibur. Your miracle will keep Lloyd safe." Martel told him and pointed at him, "You are now an Angel of Light, Kratos! You've faced all your lives; the dawn, the midday, the twilight and the evening star! Their lessons, their truths, have joined within you for your awakening as an Angel of Light!" she declared in a commanding voice, "Fly, Kratos, and perform your miracle! Save this world from the deadly abuse of the Eternal Swordsman's power!" Without a sound, Kratos unfurled his new eagle's wings of deep blue and cyan, taking to the sky with an aura of pale blue light surrounding him as he searched for the Moria Dragon.
"Focus your spells! We've got to get through that shell!" Zelos called out as the Heroes rode on Rheairds around him, pelting the mechanical dragon with everything from Judgment to Ray, "We've got to free Lloyd so we can destroy it! C'mon, Sheena! Try it one more time!" The ninja shook her head, exhausted from summoning Spirits constantly.
"I'm telling you, Zelos, no! Origin won't attack it as long as it's got Lloyd! He's under the same protection I am, and it's double 'cause he's got the Eternal Sword!" she cried, "Let's pull back and rethink this!"
"It's only a matter of time before he finds the Mana Tree!" Raine declared loudly as the silver dragon flew ahead of them, rings of light erupting from its mouth on the sounds of Kratos' voice. The blast collided with Tethe'allan forests, leveling them instantly as the earth was gouged apart. "If he destroys it with that sonic blast, the world will lose its mana and die!"
"It's hitting the wrong landmass then." Genis muttered, "He's wailing near the Temple of Darkness when he should be over by Altessa's place."
"This is insanity!" Yuan yelled in frustration, "Zelos, no matter how many times we synchronize the Judgment spells, yours, mine and Colette's, it's not enough to get past the Exsphere armor covering that thing!" He had shed his own cloak to let his wings carry him unhindered, joining the group in their attack on the metal dragon. "It just drains the mana from our spells and throws it right back at us!"
"It's turning again!" Colette cried, wings flapping frantically as she saw the dragon turn and shoot them a glare from its empty mechanical eyes, "Korand's going to attack again!" Raine studied it warily.
"I don't think he's planning on using normal attacks against us!" she declared, "He must have decided that using our mana against us isn't deterring us from this rescue attempt!" Her face went pale as she watched the dragon glow with the tell-tale golden aura that preceded each sonic blast. "He's going to use the Topaz Sonic Wave on us!" Zelos halted in the air, his own wings working overtime to keep him airborne.
"Oh, crap, she's right!" he exclaimed and waved at his friends, "Turn back! Escape! Hurry! Let's get out of here!" The group scrambled to escape as the dragon opened its mouth for a fresh blast of sound and light.
Korand grinned viciously from within the dragon's body. This was almost too deliciously easy; the Heroes of Union fleeing before him and within range of the greatest weapon ever conceived by half-elven slaves. He looked back at the Eternal Swordsman, who even now continued to struggle feebly against the mesh of magitechnology that held him in place and drew the mana from his body to enhance the Topaz set within the sonic weapon. The power of the Eternal Sword was a part of Lloyd, and his mana, so simply using a series of Exsphere conduits along with the mesh that held him in place to draw it out was a breeze.
"Your friends are no match for me." Korand purred, "Not while I have you providing the power behind my wondrous weapon!"
"Leave them alone...!" Lloyd demanded weakly, arms held up and back by the mesh, "Don't you... understand? We made... this world... so everyone... could live equally...! Why... do you want... to destroy that...?"
"Because what you strive for is just an illusion." Korand jeered and pressed at the control board before him, "Now, say good-bye to these 'Heroes'!"
The dragon's mouth erupted with light and sound as the sonic blast shot forward. The Heroes screamed in horror as they covered their eyes, sure that this was their final moment. Zelos lifted his hands and turned his face away, a despairing cry torn from him as he thought of Kratos lost in the world, alone. He'd die, and never have the chance to apologize to the seraphim.
But the blast never came and death didn't claim him. The Heroes warily looked ahead to see what happened and cried in shock and amazement. Zelos was equally as stunned. Kratos stood before them all, arms held forward in a massive Guardian spell that deflected the attack.
"Dude!" Zelos finally cried, pointing at him, "Big wings!" Kratos looked back at him and grinned.
"They're a loaner! So I'm gonna use 'em for all they're worth!" he joked and laughed. He dropped the shield and waved at them. "Get everyone out of here! I can take this thing on!" The group gathered closer to him instead.
"Be careful of that thing. If you see it gathering golden light into itself, it means it will unleash the Topaz Sonic Wave." Raine told him, "It's highly destructive, so I trust you'll do all you can to avoid it." Colette looked up at him tearfully.
"Please save Lloyd! I can't bear to think of him trapped inside that thing!" she pleaded.
"That dragon's covered in Exspheres so watch out when you cast spells on it. If they don't hit fast enough, the Exspheres will just suck them up and throw the mana back at you." Genis pointed out warningly. Kratos nodded and blinked as Yuan flew to his side.
"Remember what I told you." the half-elf told him, "Don't be a martyr. Save Lloyd and get back to your family life." He grinned. "Because I want another concert for my troops. Morale went up the day you sang for them." The seraphim laughed at that.
"Origin is still protecting Lloyd, but I'm not sure what he can do about Korand stealing the power of the Eternal Sword through him. So get him out quickly, before Korand triggers something that could wreck everything." Sheena added in worriedly, "The longer that dragon is sapping from the Eternal Sword, the higher the chance that one of those sound blasts will rip Symphonia in two again."
"I'll be fine! Please, go! All of you!" Kratos urged and watched the group hurry off to safer skies. Zelos hung back, a strange expression on his face. "I'm sorry, Zelos, for everything. I don't plan on dying, I just said it to keep you busy." the seraphim apologized quickly.
"I kinda figured that was what you were up to." the redhead chuckled, "You're talking to a veteran liar, Daddy-O!" He pulled the Last Fencer from his sheath and tossed it to him. Kratos looked startled, catching it quickly and giving him a questioning look. "Don't lose that one, okay? My sister gave it to me." Zelos added and began flying off, "And come back in one piece with Lloyd! I want to try a duet with ya! See whose voice is better!"
"Don't call me 'Daddy-O'!" Kratos yelled after him and turned back to the Moria Dragon, Korand already reorienting himself after being blinded by the blocked light blast. "All right, Korand, it's just you and me again." he growled, gripping the sword tightly in his hand, "Just like Sybak, but this time you will not make a casualty of my son!"
The elven swordsman within the dragon glared out at the seraphim floating just before him, vast wings spread to keep him aloft. Things were finally moving smoothly and this blasted angel who refused to die interfered yet again! What was it going to take to finally get rid of him? He tapped at the console and Lloyd yelled angrily as the mesh and Exsphere conduits began pulling a larger amount of mana from him.
"Impudent little angel! I'll vaporize you with the powers of your son and your own voice!" Korand hissed and pushed the dragon forward, "Prepare to die!" The mechanics that comprised the sonic weapon hummed with the influx of mana and power, gathering strength for the next attack.
"Dad! Don't hurt... my dad!" Lloyd yelled, "You do anything... to my dad... and I'll make you pay!" Korand ignored him, laughing as he watched Kratos swoop out of the way in attempts to escape.
"Bigger wings slow you down, Ancient One." he sneered, "This world shall weep feathers today!" The Moria Dragon turned sharply, the scream of metal grinding metal from the effort echoing through the massive chambers of the beast. Korand completed the data entry and smiled viciously as the dragon shook with the unleashing of the sonic blast. "Now die!"
Kratos barely dodged the second blast of the Topaz Sonic Wave, wincing as a few feathers were shredded away by the sound of his own voice carrying the mana of Light and Lloyd with terrific force. That was close. Korand definitely wasn't going to be pulling punches now.
"Geez, what spit in his wine?" he muttered irritably, "I'm the one pissed at him; why's he ticked off at me?" He dove out of the dragon's visual range, then shot up past it, bringing the Last Fencer around to slice through a large panel of Exspheres. The left arm of the Moria Dragon jerked and froze in place as he looked down at the machine. Kratos grinned. So that's how he can stop the dragon! Just destroy the Exspheres powering the thing!
His smile quickly disappeared as the panel he had just struck suddenly popped off and a duplicate of it, covered in just as many Exspheres, emerged from within the machine to replace the lost portion of the hull. Kratos gaped at it for a moment, then scowled fiercely.
"Oh, that's just not right! Hey! You cheating bastard! What the hell is that?!" he yelled in a fury and sped ahead to face the dragon. "Korand! I don't know what tricks you're trying to pull here, but I will not back down! You've got my son in that thing and I'm not giving up until I have him back with me!" he raged. The only response he earned was another blast from the dragon's maw. He dodged it, soaring up out of the way before more feathers were blasted away.
The ruins of Moria. Martel had told him that the dragon had to be defeated above the ruins of the Moria mine. It could be that he had no real chance of destroying it unless they fought over the wrecked mountains. Kratos shot back down, searing the side of the silver machine with the edge of the sword and turning hundreds more Exspheres into dust. He looked back after recovering and groaned as several battered panels were ejected and replaced with fresh armored pieces covered in still more of the stones.
"Jerk!" Kratos yelled uselessly at the dragon as it turned to counterattack, "Hey!" He flew aside from the charge and turned towards the ruins of Moria. "Okay, fine. If you wanna play that way, let me change the rules for this round." he growled, a mocking half-grin forming on his face, "Come on, Korand! Chase me back to your old base! Let's see if you've got the guts to face me there!"
"Run, run, little coward! I knew you couldn't face me!" the elf taunted from the safety of the dragon, then blinked as Kratos turned back and launched a barrage of fireballs on him. "What the-? You little rat!" He checked the hull integrity and grumbled under his breath. The Exspheres hadn't had the chance to absorb the mana, several of them were destroyed in the blast. "All right, that's it!" Korand fumed and blinked again as the angel actually flew right up to take up the complete view of the dragon's visual sensor.
"Hey, Korand!" Kratos jeered, "Bet you can't hit me! Let's see if you can catch up to me!" And, to the shock of both the elf and Lloyd, the mercenary pulled one eyelid down and stuck out his tongue. "Bleh! Nyah nyah! Wuss!" he taunted and flew off.
"Dad?!" Lloyd exclaimed in astonishment, "Did my dad just say 'nyah nyah'?!" Korand fumed and nearly attacked the console in his efforts to drive more speed out of the silver dragon.
"You're going to die, you blasted angel! This world doesn't need more idiots!" he raged, "You hear me?! You're going to die! Die! Die! Die!" With that, he gave chase, racing after the angel that led him right back to Moria.