Not much to say about this chapter - the story merely continues. We're nearing the end of Part II, however, with only a few more chapters to go.
Book I, Part II: Mortal Conflict - The Zodiac Brave Story
Chapter XIV: Forward Unto Dawn
[March 22, 2152 | Trabia Garden, First Floor, Training Center | 7:11 PM]
The pair of Grats in front of me collapses as I watch on, one set ablaze by a Firaga spell that I had cast, the other oozing green blood from several deep wounds in its 'chest.' Shaking some of the life fluid from my sword, I begin to look around the training center once again in search of another battle.
One thing I've noticed about Trabia's training center is that it's quite large, probably three or four times the size of Balamb Garden's own if I had to take a quick guess. Then again, Trabia itself is much larger than Balamb since the rebuilding, and so I can only assume that they had plenty of room to work with for things like this when they laid the foundations.
"At least it's not magic class..." I say to myself as I keep walking, my searching proving fruitless at the moment. Magic itself is interesting to me, but I'm finding very quickly that I'd rather not sit through lectures on the topic. Even as my thoughts wander on the subject, drifting back to the focus of today's lecture on the properties and origins of magic from Sorceresses, a rustling of bushes and trees beside me catches my attention. Stepping back a distance from the sound, I get ready to confront whatever might be about to walk out of the growth of the center.
That doesn't prepare me for what, or rather who, walks out of the bushes - a female figure wearing some kind of ornate wrap around their eyes, flowing, oriental-style sleeveless shirt and exotically jeweled skirt, as well has having a dangerous-looking scythe strapped to their back easily as tall as I am, if not taller.
"Hello again," the figure says, in a strikingly familiar and definitely female voice. "It's been a while," she continues, lifting the wrap just slightly to reveal the whole of her face to me.
"...Andréa?" I ask in surprise, honestly not expecting to run across the girl, despite her apparent association with Darius. I had also not expected her outfit to change so drastically in such a short length of time.
"Glad to see you remember," she says with a smile. "I take it you've been well?"
"Can't complain, really," I reply, putting my sword away for the moment. "SeeD training is a bit more...school-like than I expected, but I'm getting used to it. What about you?"
"Catching up with my little brother," she answers, walking over to me as she speaks. "He missed me quite a bit while I was in Spira."
"You were just there for the tournament, weren't you?" I ask, now curious. "And who's your brother, by the way?"
"I was only there for the tournament, but I took a bit of time to look around and take in the sights as well. My brother's name is Ein Beoulve," the girl states, resting her scythe on a tree just beside the path.
"I want to say I've heard his name before..." I start, realizing who she's talking about after a few seconds of thought. "Oh...that's right, he came into our Alchemy class a few days ago to deliver a message to Katanas. That's where I heard his name."
"He works here as Katanas' aide alongside his SeeD training. I'm pretty proud of him, being the SeeD Commander's aide and all at such a young age," Andréa says, nodding with a smile on her face.
"And they grow up so fast," I joke, chuckling a little and rubbing my left shoulder. A screech from the path ahead of us cuts off any retort Andréa might make, and we both turn our attention to the path to see a single Grat approaching, apparently angered at us for entering its "territory."
"I can handle this one," she states simply, picking up her scythe as she pulls the wrap back down over her eyes. Blinking slightly at the strange move - it did render her blind, after all - I step back to watch the impending battle. Even seemingly blind, Andréa's focus is decidedly sharp as she 'watches' the Grat with a relaxed air about her. The creature doesn't waste any time, swinging its long and spindly arms at her in a flash of motion, but neither does Andréa. In a single deft movement, two of the limbs fall to the ground, severed neatly by a cut from her massive polearm, and I watch as she counters with a Fire spell that sets the Grat ablaze. A mere second later, and she has advanced on the creature, leaving a pair of long, deep tears in the fiend's body that pour green blood to the path.
"Looks like you changed your style a bit since I last saw you," I comment as the Grat falls to the dirt in a bloodied heap.
"Just slightly," she says, turning to me with the same impaired gaze. "When I came back here, I started looking for other styles of combat to learn...and I found one that interested me. Specifically, the arts of the Ritualist."
"Sounds like some kind of creepy magic user," I comment, shrugging. Andréa, luckily, doesn't seem to take offense at my remark.
"It's more than that. It believes heavily on a more spiritual sense of vision, hence the wrap that covers my eyes. Ritualists believe that removing their sense of sight helps them commune more fully with the spiritual realm, letting them summon creatures and weave magic of greater power than if they used just their earthly senses," she explains.
"I guess that makes it more than just a creepy magic user, then," I say, giving a lopsided smile.
"Cute," she says, lifting the weapon up to rest on her shoulders as if it didn't weigh anything at all. Then again, she's probably using junctions too - in that case, it really doesn't.
My musing on the weight of weapons is abruptly cut short, though, as a guttural roar sounds from the surrounding area, causing my eyes to widen in shock.
"...Was that a T-Rexaur?" I ask, hesitantly. I'd fought a T-Rexaur earlier while in here, but it didn't make a sound like what I've just heard.
"Not that I've ever heard," Andréa replies, looking around. My eyes begin to scan the area for any sign of...whatever that was, when I hear a soft gasp from Andréa. Before I can react, I find myself being shoved to the ground, just before a large bolt of magical lightning splits the air and bores a hole in a tree behind me.
"T-Thanks," I stammer, looking up at the hole as my momentary shock is willed away and replaced by anger as I get back to my feet. Looking in the direction of where the lightning bolt came from, I can see trees and growth moving, being trampled by whatever's there. Several seconds later, we get an answer.
Lurching from the trees is a large, quadrupedal creature that reminds me of the Sphinx from the deserts of Egypt, except this one is a vibrant yellow with tufts of white showing from under the creature's chest. Four multicolored protrusions of flesh and bone extend from its upper back, framing the lion-like facial features and giving it a regal appearance, and I can see what appear to be sparks of electricity popping over the creature's body.
"...So, is that something that you guys put in here?" I ask, glancing at Andréa while drawing my swords from their respective sheathes.
"As far as I'm aware...no," she answers, staring the creature down. I can see a green flash just faintly beneath her eye wrappings, the sign of Scan magic, which prompts me to do the same.
Thunder Sphinx
Stamina: ??/??
Mana: ??/??
–Guard–
Fire: None
Ice: None
Lightning: Immune
Water: Weak
Wind: Half
Earth: None
Holy: None
Dark: None
Status: All
(Play: The Divine Spirit of Language - Motoi Sakuraba, Star Ocean: Till The End of Time)
"Weak to Water spells, huh..." I mutter, looking at the creature as it begins to pace back and forth in front of us, like a cat. "Doubt I can exploit that weakness well..."
Beside me, I can see Andréa concentrating, whispering words softly to herself as she stands still. Faintly, I can see a hazy blue glow encompassing her body that seems to melt off from her, twisting and writhing in the air before splitting into three forms that finally materialize in front of her. Each of the forms then take shape, becoming translucent, hovering spirits vaguely resembling a human but with clawed hands much larger than normal. Ethereal chains hang from the wrists of each spirit, as if to shackle them to the mortal realm of existence. I'm forced to turn my attention back to the creature as it growls angrily, roaring again and sending a surge of lightning our way.
"Shell!"
The familiar pinkish-red barrier envelops me as the lightning impacts, jolting me and burning my skin even with the Shell up. Andréa has a different idea, and plants her scythe into the ground as she also casts a Shell spell on herself. The scythe's metal blade acts as sort of a lightning rod, catching some of the magical lightning and redirecting it into the ground to help stave off the attack.
"Deep Freeze!"
Tracing an arcane symbol in the air with her hand, Andréa unleashes the Symbology magic on the Sphinx, pelting it with ice as the air around it rapidly freezes despite its efforts to dodge. With a roar, it sends an orb of lightning her way, but the ethereal spirits in front of her begin throwing out shining balls of magic, and the orb misses Andréa completely as the creature realizes that it now has five targets to deal with instead of two.
"Blade Fury!"
Using Andréa's attack as a distraction, I've managed to get closer to the beast, and a hail of throwing knives fly through the air from my position, stabbing and slicing at the Thunder Sphinx's skin. It seems to have little effect on the fiend's tough hide, though, and I barely get a chance to blink before an orb of lightning is on top of me, slamming into my chain mail and sending a paralyzing jolt of electricity through my body. A choked-off scream escapes my mouth as I fall, feeling my body quite unwilling to reply to my demands to get up and move - like my joints are stiff and my muscles as solid as bone.
"Eruption!"
I can't see much of what's behind me, but I do see the ground under the Sphinx glow a furious red before exploding, covering the creature in a large orb of fiery energy that causes the beast to roar in pain. Magic blasts also fly into the blaze of energy, letting me know that the spirits are also attacking. Moments later, a soothing sensation washes over my body, relieving the stiffness and pain in my body and allowing me to move again as the Esuna spell takes hold.
"Thanks...again," I manage to say, backing up and trying to regroup with Andréa as the energy from her Symbology magic dissipates. A red and blue blur moves through my field of vision, and I spin to Andréa in time to see the Thunder Sphinx rip through two of her summoned spirits with massive claws and utterly destroy the last with a burst of Thunder magic before turning its attention to her. Her scythe swings up in time to block another swipe from the beast's claws, and I can tell that she's straining under the pressure despite her junctions.
'Move, move...!'
Casting a Haste spell on myself to help shake off the rest of the paralyzing energy, I enchant my sword with a watery aura before stabbing it into the creature's flank, earning a bellow of pain for my efforts and forcing me to duck as the creature leaves Andréa alone to focus on me. Lunging at me, it tries to bite down on my arms but finds that move ineffective as I dart out of the way, summoning energy for another strike. My concentrated, forceful burst of Waterga magic slams it in the face as I cast the spell, but it lunges again as I recover, slapping me away with a clawed foot that sends me hurtling across the dirt.
"Water III!"
The creature looks back at Andréa just in time to take another burst of Water-element magic to the face, right before Andréa buries her scythe in the beast's upper body with an overhead swing. The Thunder Sphinx bellows again, a roar that shakes the trees and bushes around us, and the girl rips the scythe out just before it unleashes an expanding sphere of lightning from its body, shocking both of us and sending us to our knees from the pain of the creature's favored electrical magic.
Neither of us makes much of an attempt to move for a moment, trying to recover from the Lightning-element assault, but I manage to cast a Firaga spell at the Sphinx to try and draw its attention away from Andréa again. This time, however, it merely takes the attack and continues to advance on the girl...
Right before she leaps up, scythe glowing with energy, and slashes the Thunder Sphinx squarely across the face in a single, swift motion.
"Hurry and kill it, now!" she yells, and I nod, scrambling back to my feet and focusing for a more powerful spell. Andréa appears to be doing the same, and she steps back moments before I cast my spell.
"Flare!"
"Eruption!"
A bright, orange-white beam of energy bursts from my outstretched hands, smashing into the creature and searing it with the pure magical energy right before the ground glows red again, exploding upwards and fully covering the creature in an orb of Fire-element power. Branches wave furiously and bushes melt under the combined assault, and the Thunder Sphinx's roar is loud enough that I expect the training center's roof to come down on us any moment. As the attack dies down, though, I can see nothing left of the creature - our combined attack utterly destroyed it.
(End: The Divine Spirit of Language - Motoi Sakuraba, Star Ocean: Till The End of Time)
"Whew...enough of a workout for you?" I ask, grinning through the soreness that my body feels from being paralyzed and shocked for the past few minutes.
"Workout? That hardly qualifies as a warm-up," she replies with a smile, hefting her scythe again and casting a low powered Water spell to clean the creature's blood from the blade. Looking down at myself, I notice bits of Grat blood, torn pieces of clothing, and dirt dotting my clothes.
"Don't know about you, but I think it's time I hit the shower..." I mutter. "And then somewhere I can get my equipment checked out, come to think of it."
"You might want to head to Revolver's shop here in Merchant's Alley," Andréa comments, looking at my somewhat worn armor. "He's considered one of the best blacksmiths in Garden, if not the best here."
There's a moment of silence as I listen to her words, and I stretch my left arm out to get rid of the tingling feeling of a body part falling asleep before nodding and turning towards the exit to the center.
"Thanks. I'll have to get around to that sometime tomorrow. Are you going to hang around here for a bit longer?"
"Maybe," she says with a shrug. "I promised Ein I'd be back before too long to get some dinner."
"Not a bad idea," I comment, nodding again. "Well, maybe I'll see you around later."
"Same," she says, and I wave before disappearing towards the exit to the expansive training area.
[Ethereal Plane, Fayt's Domain]
Fayt wasn't pleased. An understatement, to be perfectly honest.
"...Damn it, what does it take to get rid of this kid?" she growled, dismissing the magical portal she had been watching through with a thought. "I need something different, something no one would expect..."
"Complaining again?" a voice said, breaking both Fayt's concentration and her momentary rant.
"...Oh. Will," she grumbled, flashing an annoyed look at her fellow Pillar. "What do you want?"
"Merely to check on you," Will replied calmly. "I know what you're doing, after all."
"And you haven't tried to stop me? I'm surprised," said Fayt, eyeing Will with a wary glance.
"I don't have to, you know. Your plan won't work."
The certainty in Will's voice caused Fayt to frown, stepping closer to the Pillar of Foretelling.
"I don't care if you can see the future. You should know best of all that the future can be altered," she hissed, looking up just slightly into the eyes of her older 'brother.'
"You may be right," Will said, with the same amount of impassive calm he usually carried. "But I have my doubts...both because of the actions of your sister and the unpredictability of mortals."
"...You know about that?" Fayt questioned, annoyed that Will had made mention of her 'humiliation' at Destine's hands.
"Of course. It's no surprise that Destine has been growing...displeased with her position. To put it simply, she wants more - more power, more status, more of everything. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon."
"Because of Arragious, right?"
"Possibly."
Fayt smirked.
"I should've known."
Will nodded, then turned and began to walk away without any further words.
"Leaving so soon?"
"I have things to attend to. You understand," Will countered with a smile. The smirk merely returned to Fayt's face at Will's words.
"Of course."
This is mostly a small filler chapter before the end of the arc. There are only 4 to 5 more chapters to round out this part, and then it's on to Part III. As always, please read and review.
