Chapter 25: Martel and the Giant Kharlan Tree
With the Giant Kharlan Tree having been reborn in Sylvarant, Tethe'alla feels the effects of it's emergence rather quickly, with earthquakes shaking across the land. At Altessa's place, the disturbances grab Mithos' attention, and he looks solemnly at the sky while thinking to himself "Martel…Is that you?"
Tabitha walks outside the house, concerned for Mithos' well-being as she asks "IS SOMETHING WRONG, MITHOS?" Mithos turns around and nervously replies "Ah, no…Just now…I thought I heard Genis' voice…"
Once he's done saying that, a heavy tremor goes through Tethe'alla, leading to Tabitha falling flat on her face from unbalance as the rocks on the side of the cliff begin to crumble off and fall towards her. Mithos, in an oddly panicking tone of voice, proclaims "L…Look out!" and immediately dashes forward to protect push Tabitha out of the way, taking the brunt of one of the rocks on his back, which causes him to be pinned against the ground underneath a pile of large rocks as Tabitha looks on in confusion and proclaims in surprise "MITHOS!"
As Mithos' consciousness begins to fade for the moment, he lifts his head up slightly and looks at Tabitha, seeing someone else entirely as he murmurs out "Mar…tel…" His voice fading into silence before he falls flat on the ground.
Back in the chaos unfolding in Sylvarant, we find the teenage Overlord flying straight through the air towards the Giant Kharlan Tree, which was continuing to grow around the Tower of Salvation at a frightening pace. With the sword and dagger of his Chaos Form drawn and wings kept close to his body as he flies, Riku focused perfectly on the sphere that held Martel's body within as he advanced.
"I honestly can't believe I'm doing this. This is by far the single craziest thing I have ever done…" Riku murmurs to himself as he finds himself halfway to the tree. He grits his teeth and feels his heart pump at an uneasy pace, leading to him mentioning afterwards "But this is the only chance I have to pull this off!" He then picks up his pace, rocketing towards the sphere holding Martel so quickly that his body radiates with a bullet-shaped aura of black and white.
But as he begins to approach the tree, some of the roots lash out in self-defense, coming out in such a magnitude that they perfectly prevent Riku from going straight to the sphere. He pulls back on his body and holds his weapons out, swerving to the right to dodge one of the roots that last straight at him before he proceeds to cut it down halfway through the front.
He then dives down to dodge the lashing of three more roots, and once he sees that he's in a very prime position he ignites his blade with pure light and swings it upward to send a carving crescent of energy through a bundle of roots to cut them all down. The halved roots retract back about, but then sprawl about through the air and regrow their full forms in a mere instance. Riku's expression changes to shock for but a moment as he's then forced to take both sword and dagger across the front of his body to block against the roots.
The roots try to push the teenage Overlord towards the ground, but Riku builds up energy in both blades and sends them through the roots themselves, overloading them to the point that they burst in a series of light and dark-based explosions. "…Try and regenerate from that." Riku coldly comments as he notices the explosions end at the edge of the tree. With a moment to breath, the teenage Overlord took a moment to realize that attacking straight on was not going to get him to his destination.
So he instead chose to deceive the tree…As much as a tree could be deceived, anyways. With the help of his dagger, Riku cut open a gash into the dimension Takashi currently inhabited and flew into it, sealing it behind before a second set of roots could strike his body. Once inside, he was robbed of all vision, as even the brightest light could not pierce through this dimension's atmosphere. Once there, Riku telepathically linked with the black dragon and said to him "Takashi, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear Riku. What the HELL are you thinking? Even in Chaos Form on this world, that giant tree is far too powerful for you to destroy on your own, especially with your current handicap!" Takashi voices his concerns heavily, and after Riku nods his head he points out "I'm not planning on destroying this tree. I need to talk to the person trapped by it. Can you and Sodenko help me a bit?"
"…I don't think Sodenko is any condition to help out, especially since she's still chained to the realm. I think being trapped close to the mana links traumatized her." Takashi's calm explanation and concern for his sister leads to Riku quietly mentioning "Well, I'll have a talk with her once this whole thing blows over. I'm sorry Takashi, but I at least need you to help me out. If you can open up a gash directly in front of the woman being held captive by the tree, I'll seek it out and head through it, then you can head out and tear apart any of the roots that try and stop me."
"Should I bother to ask what your plan here is?" Takashi says with a small chuckle coming from his mouth beforehand. Riku shakes his head and notes "Sorry Takashi, I don't have time to waste explaining myself."
"I suppose that's fair enough. Very well, the gash will be opening up in a matter of seconds, so get ready for your part in this plan." Takashi obeys the plan without further questioning, and Riku looks to the upper right part of this realm to see a gash ripping up and a pale blue glow shining through. The light was rising up with the tree's growth, and Riku quickly flies towards the gash and rips through it. He seals the gash up, and behind him the gargantuan black dragon is currently using his triangular sword to carve down any roots that try and react to his and Riku's presence.
"I can't imagine how this looks for anyone on the ground…" Riku comments in a concerned tone towards himself as he flies for the sphere, and once he was done with that he finds himself directly in front of the sphere holding Martel's body. The woman's body was bound with her arms held out, with her hip-length mint-green hair floating without the influence of gravity behind her. Her eye's were closed, and there was a clearly visible stab wound through her chest to show what had killed her.
Riku looks at Martel in blank faced awe for a few seconds, but then draws both his sword and dagger and begins cutting away at the smaller roots that were trying to consume the shell of the seed. Once he was done with that, he swung both weapons out and folded his wings inward, gritting his teeth as he drew energies of light and darkness into his weapons and said "Sorry, accursed tree, but this woman is not going to be your prey!"
Taking both of his weapon and flipping them around so the bladed tips are brandished in front of his body, Riku thrusts forward and stabs into the tree on both sides of the seed shell, unleashing the energy built up in the form of a large prismatic barrier that protects himself and Martel from the advancing roots, which burn up with white and black flames as they touch it.
Riku pulls his hands away from his weapons and takes a couple deep breathes in. The mana exuding from the tree was going to affect him eventually, but in this form the teenage Overlord feels that he'd be able to hold out long enough to accomplish his task. Lifting his right hand up, Riku sets it ablaze with holy flames and glances down at them, and then turns his attention towards Martel's body before saying "I'm placing a lot of faith on something I haven't tried before…"
With little room for hesitation, the teenage Overlord took his glowing hand and threw it at the front of Martel's shell, and upon spreading his hand out he began to feel a connection to something within the woman's body. A warm sensation unlike anything he had ever felt before. There was only one thing that Riku thought of when he felt this, and mentioned in his mind "This is…Martel's soul."
"H…h….h…huh? Wh…who's there?" Another voice spoke to Riku, and the feminine nature of it was mostly masked by a perturbed emotion in her tone. Riku's eyes widen in shock, and he mutters out "Oh my god…I did it, I actually did it."
Focusing back on his efforts, the teenage Overlord replies to the woman's broken voice with a simple inquiry "Martel? Martel Yggdrasill? Is this who I am speaking to?" The woman's body twitches slightly, and Riku hears her speak to him in a more refined sounding voice "A-A boy? I can feel…your presence…But yes…I am Martel Yggdrasill…"
"So you can see me? I'm glad to hear that, this will make things easier…" Riku notes in a relieved tone of voice as a smile crossed his face. "I can see your kind face…And your angelic wings, mixed with that of those of a demon…Are you here to finally take me away from this world?" Martel's words were laced with hope, which made it all the more terrible for Riku when he had to admit "I'm sorry Martel, but I am not from heaven. However, I do wish to save you."
"Save me…? Oh yes…The Great Seed has gone out of control…And I am being devoured by the Giant Kharlan Tree…Someone broke the mana links between the two worlds…" Martel's words made Riku reply in turn as his eyes widened in surprise "So you're aware of what's happening outside the Great Seed. Just how much is the question, however…"
"…I know what my brother has been up to ever since he preserved my body and soul with the Great Seed's help…But I only get brief flashes of what is happening…He's tried to bring me back by using the bodies of these people known as the "Chosens"…But what has he sacrificed in order to do so?" Martel sounded concerned with her brother's actions, and Riku had to take pause for a moment before he decided to explain what he could to Martel.
"Mithos has been damaging both worlds for 4,000 years with his Chosen System and the half-elves known as Desians that he leads. One world benefits from a heavy influx of mana while the other suffers under the tyranny of the Desians. The Desians have been taking humans into their ranches and converting their bodies and souls into Exspheres." Riku's explanation leads to Martel's soul feeling cold and sad, and she murmurs out "I-I-I can't believe that…My brother has done all that to this world?"
"…All for the sake of fulfilling his sister's last words to 'get rid of discrimination'. He wants to turn everyone into lifeless beings with the use of the Cruxis Crystals born from Exspheres, and he'll bring you back into this world to show you what he has accomplished." Riku ends his explanation on a rather melancholy note, and Martel replies "No…He didn't understand what I said at all. If what you are saying is true, then he's only making things worse for both humans and half-elves…"
"I have no reason to lie to you Martel…I'm sorry your brother turned out this way, but a group of people along with myself are doing what we can to reverse Mithos' damages to the two worlds. That unfortunately required us to break the mana links." Riku speaks with the utmost honesty in his voice, but then twitches as he feels the roots lashing heavily against his barrier to try and break through. Thankfully, Takashi is there to cut them away, but from the looks of things the black dragon was being tangled up by a couple roots near his legs.
"…So, you plan to stop my brother. But now I must ask, why have you come to talk to me when this tree threatens everything in this world?" Martel's question was swiftly answered by Riku mentioning "Martel, I have come here with an offer. In my current state, I can bring you back to life." Martel's surprise radiated through her soul, making Riku shiver as he continued to stay connected to it.
"…You'd bring me back to life? …But if you are fighting against my brother, then wouldn't you be against such a thing?" Martel did bring up a rather good point regarding the whole affair, and Riku decided to admit then and there "Truth be told, my predecessor, the Elemental Overlord, made a deal with your brother stating that in due time I'd come to this world and bring you back to life. In fact, Mithos confronted me on this matter a few days ago, and we got into a little argument over the whole affair."
"I asked Yuan's opinion on whether I should revive you or not, and he said that you shouldn't. But I figured that the only way to truly decide on this matter is to ask the lady in question whether she would want to be revived. Honestly, I'm glad your soul was still attached to your body, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation…" Riku hesitantly chuckles at the end of his sentence.
"Yuan my love, you are still alive…Before I answer your question, there is something I must inquire from you. What has happened to Kratos Aurion and my love since I died, seeing as you are very well-informed on past events." Martel's question causes Riku to nod his head and explain in a serious tone of voice "Yuan has taken up opposition against Mithos' plans in secret, and he's been doing everything in his power to make sure that you can rest peacefully in the afterlife. He still wears that ring you gave to him long ago…As for Kratos…"
Riku was hesitant to mention the man's condition as he felt Martel's soul warm up, but pressed on by explaining "Kratos met a woman by the name of Anna almost twenty years ago, and together they had a son named Lloyd Irving. Kratos was happy with Anna, and even began to disobey Mithos' wishes as a result of this love. But unfortunately, due to being outfitted with an out of control Exsphere, Anna was eventually turned into a monster, forcing Kratos to kill her, which in turn led to the disappearance of his son."
"Kratos was broken by these events, and became nothing more than Mithos' obedient right-hand from then onward. But as of now, he found his grown-up son again, and the two of them are currently doing what they can to prevent the Giant Kharlan Tree from destroying the two worlds." Riku made the right move by ending the story on a semi-positive note. "…Kratos, Yuan, I'm sorry you've had to endure all of this because I wasn't strong enough to help this world." Martel speaks in a guilt-ridden tone.
"Martel, none of this is your fault. Your brother is responsible for dividing the worlds, the Chosen system, and the Exspheres…You need not cast blame on anyone but him." Riku realizes that he might have been a little harsh too late, leading to Martel saying "I was his sister, and above all else the mother figure in his life. You don't understand how terrible the world was back then…Everyday life was a struggle, but I didn't want Mithos to be swept up in sadness. So I tried to keep a strong face, filling him with thoughts of idealism and happiness…Thus when I died, he became the man he is today…"
"You did what you had to for your brother. That doesn't make you weak by any stretch of the imagination. I could never imagine myself being able to try and remain optimistic in front of my brother if I was faced with a war. Who would have imagined that Mithos would have ended up reacting to your death like that?" Riku spoke masterfully in defense of Martel's past actions to try and dissolve the guilt in her heart, but the woman spoke to him in response "…I have made my decision regarding your plan to revive me."
"But before I say this, is there any reason why you would want to revive me?" Martel's inquiry was swiftly and honestly answered by Riku, who said "I don't think it's fair that you were killed. I have dedicated myself to protecting the truly innocent of all worlds, and as such I want to bring you back to correct that injustice."
"…Hehe, you and I have never met before this moment, and yet you wish to save me. That is why it hurts me to say that I wish to politely decline your offer to be brought back to life." Martel's response surprised Riku immensely, and he found him questioning this decision with a simple "May I ask why?"
"…There are a number of reasons why I do and don't want to be revived. I would love to see Yuan and Kratos again, I'd want to see the world and do everything I can to help save it…But at the same time, there's some things I have to consider. My body is being preserved by the Great Seed…For you to revive me, you'd have to pull my body from it, and while that would probably stop the Giant Kharlan Tree…That would only lead to the eventual departure of mana from this world without the seed being around to created a genuine tree."
"…Right, there's no way to remove your body without irreversibly damaging the seed." Riku points out, and then Martel mentions "But the most important reason of all is this…Life is precious. We were given this life to live it to the fullest, and not to go on living longer than our intended lifespans. I am saddened by my death, but who am I to defy it? I am not a goddess, and never will be…"
"….Martel, I will honor your request." Riku felt that he understood the woman's wishes well enough after he took a few moments to think things over, but before he could pull his hand away Martel had but one last thing to say to him "However, before you go, there is something I wish for you to do…"
Riku lifts his eyebrows up in surprise and asked of the woman "What is it, Martel?" Martel's body twitches as he goes on to explain "I have seen bits and pieces of the current Chosen my brother wants to use as my vessel…Above all else, you have to allow Mithos to bring her body to me once the Giant Kharlan Tree is subdued."
"…That was going to happen whether you told me or not. But even so, what is your reasoning behind this request?" Riku inquires, and Martel explains in a delicate tone of voice "As it stands now, Mithos will continue to ruin the planet with his actions. If neither Kratos nor Yuan has been able to dissuade him, then the only right course of action will be for me to use the Chosen's body as a means of speaking to my brother. I will try and make him understand the true meaning behind my dying words, and then I solve the problem of the Great Seed by ejecting my soul out of the Chosen's body and finally vanishing into the afterlife."
"That sounds like a good plan, but do you honestly think your brother will listen? He's too far gone by now." Riku's reasoning does make Martel pause for a moment to think things through, and once she is done she firmly states "Mithos has done all of this for me. He would not even consider such actions if he did not have it within himself to listen to what I had to say, even if he did grossly misinterpret my words. I will say my peace to him, and leave it at that…"
"Ok, then that's what you'll do. Before I go though, I shall give you a fair warning…We're going to be firing something called the Mana Cannon at the tree to destroy it. It's going to hurt you a lot, so try and brace yourself if you can." With Martel thanking Riku for this warning, the teenage Overlord pulls his hand away from the Great Seed and goes for his weapons, ripping them from the Giant Kharlan Tree to remove his barrier.
Immediately afterwards, with a great deal of confidence on his mind, the teenage Overlord cuts down the roots that try and fly after him now that his defenses were down. He looks at Takashi, who was backing off now that Riku had finished his mission, and says to him in a pleasant tone of voice "Thanks for the help Takashi! Tell Sodenko that I'll talk with her in a few hours, and try and console her as much as you can!"
"I'll do what I can! Just hurry up and deal with this damn tree!" Takashi expresses a great deal of anger towards the disaster, but then uses his sword to cut a gash in space large enough for him to slip through. He then seals it up, and Riku spreads his wings out and quickly flies away from the Giant Kharlan Tree, heading due west towards Iselia to meet up with Lloyd and the others.
He breaks out of Chaos Form and dispels his sword, heading for the obvious metallic building that lies slightly southwest of a humble village that managed to avoid getting hit by the spreading roots. Riku went for the open front gates of the ranch and descended onto the ground, breaking into a slight run before he slows his pace and looks towards the sky, noting that the storm clouds were barely hovering overhead.
"Well that's good news…" Riku comments with a sigh of relief afterwards, and he begins to walk towards the ranch while thinking over his conversation with Martel. "I feel like a heavy burden has been lifted off of my shoulders…Now that I no longer have to worry about reviving Martel, I can focus all of my efforts into stopping Mithos for good."
Before Riku can enter the ranch, he raises his eyebrows out of abject curiosity and immediately steps off to the side as a group of humans wearing tattered clothes begin to slowly walk out of the ranch, guided by Presea, Genis, Raine, Colette, and Regal. Presea, being in the front of the group, is to the first to notice Riku's presence and comment "Riku, you finally rejoined us…"
After guiding the humans out of the ranch, Raine looks over at Riku and folds her arms while asking "Did you accomplish what you set out to do?" The teenage Overlord nods his head, and he then proceeds to ask "I'm guessing Lloyd, Zelos and Kratos went to deal with that Forcystus guy?"
"Yes. Surprisingly, Kratos hasn't betrayed us. We're trying to get everyone evacuated from the ranch as soon as possible." Raine explains her side of the matter quickly, and Riku nods his head before pumping his fist and commenting "I'll head inside and help Lloyd and the others out. You guys just wait here and make sure that no other Desians try to escape!"
Riku turns towards the entrance of the ranch and prepares to run inside, but is stopped by Raine mentioning "Before you go, can you just tell me one thing?" The teenage Overlord flips back around and lets out a light murmur before the Professor says "That black dragon in front of the Giant Kharlan Tree…Was that your friend?"
The teenage Overlord is surprised that Raine caught Takashi's presence in the sky, but it was easy to assume that the presence of a towering dragon would not go unnoticed by the attentive. "Come to think about it, everyone in Sylvarant probably caught a glimpse of that…Hope I didn't cause too much of a panic" Riku rubs the back of his head while worrying about that issue.
Once he looks at Raine, he replies to her with a simple "Yeah, that was Takashi. I had him hold off the tree's growth while I went around Sylvarant to observe the damages…I'm sorry to say this, but Palmacosta was completely destroyed." Raine holds one hand against her chin and lowers her eyelids in sadness, commenting in turn "I see…I hope most of them were able to evacuate safely."
"They should be fine for the most part…I'm not going to sugarcoat it by saying that everyone lived." Riku is up-front with Raine regarding the situation in Palmacosta, and with an understanding nod of the head the half-elf says "I won't hold you back any longer. Go, help Lloyd and the others stop Forcystus."
Riku nods his head and runs towards the innards of the Iselia Human Ranch, and once he along with most of the others were out of earshot Raine holds one hand in front of her chin and murmurs to himself "Riku…What were you really doing up in front of the Giant Kharlan Tree? …I'm starting to get the feeling that you know more than you are letting on."
Next Time: Freedom Reigns in Sylvarant