As the dust settled over the area, three enormous birds glided into the area and riding on the back of the center creature was a very familiar face. Alice stepped forward and looked up at her brother anxiously. "Brother! What are you doing here?!" She asked. However, she had a feeling that it would have something to do with the valkines. He would want to exact revenge on Strahta for taking away Lhant.
Asbel ran towards Richard as he remained silent but the king immediately took out his blade and shot a beam down towards Asbel. Luckily, he managed to jump to the side as Richard's attack hit where Asbel had been standing not even a second ago. Sophie rushed to his side and stood in front of him, "Stop!" She commanded. But a wash of confusion came over her, "No… I can't fight my friend…" She muttered to herself.
Richard glared down at Sophie and immediately sent two of the creatures flying down to them as the third carried him towards the valkines cryas. His sister immediately jumped away from the two beasts and looked in the direction of her brother. She took like to think about what she should do; she could help fight or try to talk to her brother.
She watched as he touched his blade to the valkines cryas and saw eleth emanating from the valkines, up the sword, and into Richard's body. Alice darted out of the danger of the winged creatures and found a wooden structure with a ladder built onto it in the corner of the site. Using all her strength, Alice pulled the wheeled ladder towards the valkines and looked up where Richard was.
He didn't seem to notice his sister climbing up the stand until she had finally reached the platform. Alice steadied herself and looked down nervously at the extreme distance she had from the ground. "Brother!" She shouted at him, "Stop this-"
"No…" Richard growled, cutting off his sister as she spoke. "Don't you ever call me your brother." Alice began to protest but he whipped around, stopping the absorption from the valkines cryas to face her. "You have turned on me along with every other person that I ever considered close to me."
Alice shook her head, "No, that's not true, brother!"
Suddenly he took a step closer, "I don't you to never call me that again, Alice!" He shouted, causing Alice to shrink back. "Everyone that has ever done m wrong; Archduke Cedric, Lhant, Strahta, and even Asbel has done me wrong…. How dare you shed a single tear for them! Everything I've ever done for you has gone without thanks from you."
As Alice took herself a step forward, she held a hand out towards her older brother. "Please, bro- I mean… Please, Richard." She began, "I've always been grateful for everything you've done for me; you're the reason I'm actually still alive."
"Biggest mistake of my life." Richard muttered to himself but loud enough that he caused Alice to go silent. "Now listen carefully; the only reason you're still princess of Windor is because I need someone to take the blame for everything." When she didn't seem to understand, he sighed. "Think about it; two siblings that have been close their whole life. One attacks an opposing country while the other is visiting to investigate the valkines? Seems pretty convenient to me."
She didn't want to believe what Richard was telling her and she was focusing so hard on what he was telling her that she hadn't realized the others had finished their fight with the creatures. Richard stepped closer to Alice as she took a few steps away. He stepped off the back of the creature and onto the platform with Alice who was now at the edge. "Princess!" Malik called up to her, "Jump down, I'll catch you!"
Alice looked over her shoulder at the Captain and as Richard was practically right in front of her when she turned and jumped off the platform. Just as she jumped, Richard darted forward, grabbing the back of her shirt and throwing her onto the other side of the platform. "You're not getting away this time. You'll pay for turning on me."
He reached down, grabbing the front of her shirt and pulled her up onto her feet, sheathing his blade. Richard raised his fingers to the pendant on Alice's necklace and grinned, "You still have this old thing?" The king slowly pulled Alice towards the edge so she was dangling over the ground which was nearly thirty feet below.
The princess waved her legs, trying to get her feet back onto the platform but instead made it difficult for Richard to keep a hold on her. "Please, Richard… Stop this, let me down! I'm so sorry; I'll do whatever you want! Just let me stay with you, I can't lose you!"
Richard pulled her back over the platform and dropped her where she had been before. "Oh, Alice… You know I would never hurt you. In the past fifteen years of my life nothing has meant more to me than you do." Suddenly a sickly grin formed on Richard's lips. "Those fifteen minutes are over." He finished as he picked her back up and immediately whipped her across the area.
Alice slammed into the wall at an alarming speed and fell to the ground. She slowly pushed herself up as the others were frozen in complete horror. Once she had gotten onto one knee, she looked up to see Richard pointing his sword down at her, a beam of light starting up at the hilt. Just then, a beam of light shot from the sword and all Alice could to was just roll but of the way.
The beam impacted right in front of Alice and sent her straight through the wall she was against and onto the sand just outside the site. Richard jumped onto the back of the bird-like creature and pushed away the ladder on wheels away from him. Cheria raced over to the limp girl who remained unmoving after the blast from Richard.
Richard had returned to absorbing the eleth from the valkines cryas and Asbel glared up at his old friend. "What are you trying to accomplish, Richard?" He shouted at the king as he grinned down at the group.
The researchers fumbled over the readings on a machine attached to the valkines cryas and frantically pressed buttons. "I don't believe this but he's draining the valkines cryas dry of all its eleth." He exclaimed. "There's nothing left! It's all gone!"
The king looked down at everyone with absolutely disgust on his face. "Even the sight of all of your faces makes me sick." He growled with a side glance at Alice who had Cheria by her side, checking for a pulse. Richard seemed to be talking to Sophie as he moved his weapon from the valkines. "We shall never know peace… As long as you still live. I will end this someday so you better be prepared." Richard sheathed his sword and the bird ascended into the sky and flew off at an alarming rate.
Malik put his bladering away, "He's gone." He muttered as he turned to look in Cheria and Alice's direction. "But the princess has been injured." They raced over to her and knelt down around her, none daring to move her. "Cheria, have you tried healing her?" Malik asked. She shook her head and held her hands over Alice's body.
A warm light formed around Cheria's hands and it wrapped around Alice's body. But just as it touched her skin the princess started writhing and screaming in pain. Pascal immediately jumped forward and pushed Cheria back, trying to stop the healing magic. "Wait, don't do that!" As the light faded, Pascal pressed two fingers to Alice's neck to make sure she was still alive. "Richard absorbed a lot of eleth before attacking Alice; it's likely her body absorbed a large amount."
"But don't people already have eleth inside their bodies?" Asbel wondered, "It's what all of us are made out of." He looked down at Alice who had gone from animated to limp once again on the ground.
Pascal shook her head, "Yes, but the amount of eleth in our bodies is the perfect amount. So if the amount of eleth rises and falls drastically, then your body will react by working hard to return the amount to normal." She sighed, "Which means that if you try to heal her, her body will be trying too hard to work out the extra eleth and it will begin to hurt her."
The Captain and Asbel checked Alice for any signs of broken bones and luckily found nothing. Malik bent down and scooped her up carefully in his arms and slowly stood up along with the others. "Well, is we walk back to Yu Liberte, her body will be working to cool her down as well as get rid of the extra eleth. I say we take a Turtlez escort back."
Asbel nodded, "We've saved enough money to spare some to get back to Yu Liberte. I say we do that." As he moved to talk to a nearby Turtlez escort, Pascal spoke with a researcher about what they should do. However, even Pascal couldn't figure out what to do in order to restore all the eleth back to the valkines.
Once Asbel secured them two Turtlez, they all left the site to the entrance where the escort waited for them. Malik gently set Alice across the seat opposite of him and Pascal while the others rode in the second Turtlez escort as they began to make their way back towards Yu Liberte. Asbel let out a long sigh, "Richard… Why are you doing this...?"
This will probably be my last update for awhile because school starts in one week from tomorrow so I need to finish summer reading and a bunch of other stuff i didn't do over summer. Aw well. Also, I plan on doing the entire visit to the beach scenario fro mthe game but want to know if yo uguys think I should do it before we move into the Future Arc so we'll have Richard or before like the traditional scene? Majority rule.