Guten tag! (That all depends on what time you're reading this of course…)
Revelations, an Archelon named Lissy, Ratatosk Mode, man-trains, and Lloyd all await you in the next exciting portion of the Triet Ruins! I hope that this dungeon chappie will turn out better than the last…
Disclaimer: Nope, I do not own Tales of Symphonia or the sequel…
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"O-oh, I-I got something!" shrieked Emil as the "fishing poll"; it was actually the oh-so-talented shape-shifting Centurion Tenebrae, started bobbing up and down. The large hole that Genis had melted in the ice was too dark to see what it was; however, it was quite obviously very large. "Help me!"
"You had better not drop me!" growled the poll.
Kratos, who had been standing off the side watching the under-aged Knight of Ratatosk patiently fish, watched in silent amusement as Marta grabbed around Emil's waist, Genis around the girl's, and Raine around her brother's and pulled. Emil squealed as Marta's tightly knotted hands pushed the air from his lungs.
After a few seconds of grunting and tugging, all of which Kratos avoided, opting to keep a shred of dignity, they pulled, from the depths of the pool, a large blue-skinned gold-shelled Archelon. The tortoise-like creature let out an angry bellow, having been dragged from the deep, warm waters onto the cold ice.
Tenebrae was Tenebrae again in a flash, metaphorically speaking as the Centurion of Darkness preferred to "ghost" not "flash", and was shouting out instructions for the creature to be defeated and a pact formed with it.
Emil's eyes darkened to red, and he let out an animal growl and charged toward the Alchelon, sword drawn. Marta, Raine, and Genis all fell back and began chanting, mana tingled in the air. Kratos motioned for the monsters to all move to the frontlines and they followed the elder Knight.
"Raging Heaven!" shouted Emil. Alchelon counted the quick swings of his blade with large, bulky, clawed feet. While Emil was distracting the creature, Kratos slipped behind and lashed out at Alchelon's backside. It roared as green blood oozed from the deep cuts that Kratos' blade left in its hindquarters.
"Form a torrential vortex and engulf the evil spirits…Tidal Wave!" Kratos dragged Sophie and Eon with him as he leapt out of range of Genis' water spell.
As soon as the last of the spell died away, Emil charged back into action, his sword a blur in the weak winter sunlight. He was ramming his sword into Alcheon's water-soaked shell, though there was no give, and Emil did not even acknowledge Marta when she sent a healing spell toward him. Kratos felt a fireball whiz over his head from Genis' direction, and he ducked just enough that his hair did not alight.
Alcheon roared in pain as the fire hit him, its skin burning and sizzling under the heat. Emil took advantage of the monster's distraction to charge forward and slam his sword against its head. Alcheon shuttered and slumped unconscious.
The pact runes formed around it and Emil as the young Knight attempted to bind the monster to his will. Eventually, there was a flash of mana, visible to only those with the ability to feel mana, and Emil turned around, eyes glittering green.
"Her name's Lissy!" Emil chirped.
"…" Kratos sighed at the preposterous notion of the name and the creature it supposedly belonged to.
"Fantastic!" Raine squealed and Emil and Genis both paled. "So that is how Knights make pacts with their monsters? It is absolutely wondrous! Emil, you simply must tell me what those runes mean, what language are they from…?"
The questions went on and on and Genis made an apologetic face to Emil, turned, and whispered softly to Marta, Kratos, and Tenebrae, "I'm really sorry about her, when Raine gets into Ruin mode, there's no stopping here. She's an absolute freak about anything over a hundred years old."
"Yeah, Colette told Emil something about that…" trailed Marta, "I guess we should have taken her more seriously."
Kratos said nothing; he simply watched Raine in disgust as she peppered Emil with questions there was no way he could answer.
While "Lissy", too heavy to carry, was asleep, the humanoid parties debated the best way to distract the monster in the Triet Ruins. Emil, having made a pact with said bait, did not want to actually let the Alcheon be eaten, and Tenebrae agreed.
"She could simply be used as a distraction," he amended, "I could save her if she was in mortal danger."
"Thanks Tenebrae, I wouldn't want Lissy to get hurt." Emil beamed at the Centurion.
"Yes…"
………………
The return trip felt much faster than its predecessor, Emil spent much of his time introducing Lissy to the other monsters and the human, half-elves, and angel that made up the rest of her new "family". Marta hung on Emil's arm and cooed over the new addition. Eventually, she was allowed to ride on the lumbering beast the rest of the way to the Ruins. Even Genis seemed thrilled with the addition, repeatedly expressing his fascination with a Knights' abilities.
When the reacted the Triet Ruins for the second time that day, everyone was sick of sand and snow.
"Finally," painted Genis, "how long do you think that took us?"
"Probably four hours or so…" trailed Raine, "If we want to catch up with Lloyd then we had better hurry."
This time, no one took any notice of the snow-covered ruins or the several sets of footsteps that led the way into the deeper confines of the Ruins, but raced silently into the ruined city. It warmer inside, but dark, and Marta handed Kratos back his coat with a word of thanks. When they reached the Bartek, Tenebrae ghosted to their side.
"I shall take Archelon, Lissy, and we will distract the Bartek. When he is sufficiently distracted, the eleven of you can sneak past."
A sudden wave of panic hit Kratos, and Emil evidently felt it too; Lissy was hardly willing to play bait. Emil turned to comfort her, and Kratos heard the soft words of comfort that Sophie, Nero, and even Eon gave Lissy.
"Are you ready dear?" Tenebrae asked the Archelon kindly. Kratos felt the soft sense of agreement that Lissy gave. The Centurion nodded, "Excellent, then, with your permission Emil, I shall proceed."
"R-right…" Emil had sudden stage fright when asked to take leadership of their odd band of Knights, half-elves, monsters, and Marta. "Is everyone ready?"
Kratos jerked a shoulder in the air to show his approval, Marta smiled encouragingly, and Raine and Genis nodded.
"Alright, Tenebrae, let's do this."
And so, Tenebrae proceeded to lead Lissy toward their goal and her potential death. The creature that could be seen as a towering over them in the dim light that Raine created seemed to be of a burnt rust color. It appeared to be some sort of giant stump, though Kratos believed that he could see it shift and, every so often, inhale. It would be a difficult opponent if Tenebrae and Emil's plan went downhill.
Unfortunately, the likelihood of this was high, too high.
Suddenly, the monster's eyes that had been hidden by what appeared to be large chunks of oddly shaped bark, snapped open. The yellow pools of greed glittered in the light that shown from Raine's mana, they fixed on Lissy hungrily.
The Archelon took off running down a tunnel that was to their right, slipping past the Bartek as huge, gripping hands pulled up from the stone floor, hands that Kratos had taken for roots, and began snaking forward to snatch at her.
"Run! Now!" cried Tenebrae from next to Lissy.
First Genis, then Raine, then Emil reached the far passage and slipped inside. Marta was hot on Emil's heels, when Tenebrae cried out in panic, "No! Archelon not that way!"
Lissy was scrambling toward Marta, who turned to see what was happening and fell. The monster trampled over the girl and she cried out in pain. Kratos, being the last to run, raced forward, but knew that even with angelic speed, there was no way that he could reach the fallen Marta before the Bartek did.
The stump-like creature reached their girl long before Kratos could, and examined this easier pray for a moment. It was enough time for Kratos to cover the distance and plant himself between the monster and Marta.
While Kratos was racing to Marta's rescue, Emil had noticed that his friend was no longer with him and spun to see the Bartek looming down on her. The world was bathed in red as his eyes flashed and it was Ratatosk's roar of rage, not Emil's, which emanated from the blond Knight's mouth.
This caused the Bartek to pause in his newfound interest in Kratos and fix his bleary eyes on the furious Knight. "Hey, Stumpy, get away from her!"
Though the Bartek was obviously not responding to the weak insult, it recognized the challenge in Emil's tone and changed course, toward Emil.
Kratos grabbed Marta's upper arm and pulled her from harm's way in time to save her from being crushed under the monster's excessive bulk. He pulled her along behind the Bartek's back as the two raced toward the far passage, Raine and Genis were both watching in horror. When they reached their destination, they turned in time to see Emil slash at the monster with his blade and the creature to scream in fury. Emil began to laugh maniacally at the beast's pain.
"Emil, Emil, over here!" shouted Marta, "Get away from it!"
Emil's eyes flashed back to green for a moment as he listened to Marta's voice. He turned and looked at her for a moment before they returned to red and he jabbed his sword deep into the creature's mid-section. It roared in pain, and in its distraction, Emil escaped into the passage with the others.
"Marta, you should be more careful!" hissed Emil as he glared at the flustered girl. "I was…" his eyes slid back to green. "W-what was I saying? Oh, right, I was really worried about you!"
"T-thank you for saving me Emil!" Marta seemed as confused as Raine and Genis were at the Knight's sudden change. "I'm sorry…"
"W-well, as long as you're okay…" both teenagers blushed and Kratos mentally rolled his eyes.
"Shouldn't we get going?" asked Genis snidely, obviously wanting to get out of the awkward situation as quickly as possible. "Lloyd's had four extra hours to get through this place, and it's not exactly a walk in the park."
"R-right, yeah, let's go."
Genis and Raine lead the way deeper into the ruins.
………………..
"W-whoa!"
"Lloyd, what are you doing?"
"W-what, what is it?"
Both Emil and Marta looked at the shock that was mirrored in both Raine and Genis' faces. Kratos felt a similar emotion somewhere in the back of his mind. All of the traps, tricks, and passages had been opened. Lloyd had left no stone unturned, no staircase unexplored, nor any monsters left to annoy the little entourage that followed behind him.
Something told Kratos that Lloyd had not done this for his health. He wanted something, or someone, to follow him.
Obviously.
"Lloyd did this?" asked Marta quietly. "Do you think it's a trap?"
"It very well could be," said Raine, though her tone hinted at obvious confusion. "He may also simply want to talk to us…"
"Y-yeah, that must be it!" cried Genis, though his tone hinted at desperation. "That totally seems like something Lloyd would do!"
Professor Sage eyed her brother skeptically. "Oh really Genis? You think that Lloyd would leave a trail of corpses to him?"
"But their just monster-."
"Yes, and think about who we are dealing with. Ratatosk is the Lord of Monsters. Some may call this a slaughtering of Ratatosk's children."
Genis seemed to lose his train of thought at Raine's proclamation; a slaughter would be a blatant threat. Rash, blunt, and something that Lloyd would not do. Kratos could not, would not see his son doing anything like this.
"Somehow, I cannot see Lloyden doing such a thing," said Kratos coolly. "If you do not mind my saying, I think you are looking too deeply into this."
"Actually," snapped Raine, "I do mind and-… Wait, what did you just call Lloyd?"
It felt as though the ground dropped from under Kratos' feet; he had slipped again. How was it that he could be so careful for four thousand years, and now, suddenly, so careless? He had spent centuries away from humans. Sometimes decades speechless, and he had never lost his abilities. Now… now he was unable to even convince these people that he was just some man.
Even when they believed that he was thousands of light-years away on Derris Kharlan for an eternity.
"Hey, yeah!" piped Genis, "Only Kratos calls Lloyd "Lloyden"! He doesn't let anyone else do that!"
Despite everything, Kratos felt warmth in his stomach. Lloyd really was hanging on to the few memories that the two of them had together…
"What of it?"
"Well, that must mean you… um… I-I mean… uh…" Genis did not seem to have a suitable answer to Kratos question. Raine's silent brooding seemed to signify that she, too, had no answer to that.
"Are you assuming that I am somehow Lloyd's father?"
There, it was finally out in the open. Kratos was calling them insane for something that was entirely true. Denying the truth, keeping the most obvious secrets in the universe from being discovered, these were all things that Kratos was good at.
"…"
"…"
"Oh, this is ridiculous!" growled Raine. Kratos thought he saw murder flash in her eyes. "Let's just go."
And she, in a rare bout of uncontrolled frustration, stormed off, Genis following his sister close behind.
"Kratos…" said Emil, "You really shouldn't have done that…"
"Yeah, Raine already doesn't like you, now she's really gonna' hate you."
Apparently both Emil and Marta did not like his handling of the situation.
"What was I suppose to do? Ms. Sage will not let the topic drop, nor shall her brother. I had no choice but to openly deny their assumptions."
"Yeah, but you didn't have to outright lie like that!" scoffed Marta. "I simply did not tell the truth."
"I didn't." With that final statement, Kratos followed the silver-haired siblings toward the warp pad that took them deeper into the ruins and to the seal that Cruxis had used for four thousand years.
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It took them but minutes to reach the inner halls of the Temple of Fire. Though Kratos could practically feel the anger that radiated from Raine, but now it was married with worry and fear. She was anxious about meeting the supposed destroyer of Palmacosta, fearing what she would find would be what she feared most.
When they warped into the hall of the seal, where Colette had first gotten her wings, it was exactly as Kratos and Cruxis had left it. The walls covered in writing older than time that spun up and down between the majestic pillars decoratively. They told the story of Efreet and the conquests of the Summon Spirit of Fire and his people. The Cruxis-made alter stood broken in the center of the room.
The only thing that was not the same was the gapping doorway that lead deeper into the chamber. A fallen monster lay at the entrance, signifying that Lloyd had been there.
"Raine, why's it broken?" asked Genis in an undertone, then, louder. "I think Lloyd was here."
"Gee, what makes you think that?" demanded Emil sarcastically. "I never would have guessed."
Kratos and Marta both stared at the usually timid boy. Apparently, Emil had been spending too much time with a bitter, sarcastic Seraph and Centurion.
"The seal must have broken when we released Efreet's seal. I don't think the earthquake could have done that much destruction to the inner rooms without affecting the outer much more. Come, we should go deeper."
They passed through the doorway.
Kratos, even when they were about to face his son would have liked more cover as they were moving in to a potential war-zone. As it was, they had absolutely no cover when they walked into the room. It seemed to take up at least three stories and the ceiling was cave-like. A walkway, much like one Kratos recalled in Mithos' castle on Derris Kharlan, could be reached by following two passages to the right or left and up a flight of stairs.
From their vantage point, they could clearly see Lloyd, and he them, sprawled out on the alter steps; his usual red garments replaced with tight-fitting black shirt and pants and a familiar red jacket; however, it was left unbuttoned. It showed how well toned Lloyd had become in the last few years. In his gloved hands, he lazily tossed…
"That's Ignis' Core!" cried Marta. "Give that to us Lloyd Irving!"
"Tut, tut, you're late. And here I was sure that you'd make it in better time having Kratos, Raine, and Genis plus my little trail helping you out." Lloyd smirked. "But… I win! Better luck next time, mmkay?"
"Lloyd, Lloyd why are you doing this?" cried Genis. "You have to tell us what's going on! Tell them you didn't attack Palmacosta! Please!"
Lloyd rolled his eyes. "Genis, you're way too trusting, you'd think by now that you'd have learned not to trust your "friends". Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got things to do."
That was low. Kratos was not sure who this imposter was but he couldn't be Lloyd… could he? Then again, he had the angelic mana signature and only Lloyd could have known about Mithos and Genis… As if he knew what Kratos was thinking, Lloyd leapt into the air and flipped melodramatically landing in a deep bow on the far side of the room. From out of some hidden pocket, he pulled out more of his strange posters.
"Lloyd Irving-Aurion the jewel hunter was here!" Lloyd struck a pose. "Well, I'd love to stay and catch up, but I've got places to go-."
"And cities to destroy!" cried Emil.
"Whatever you wanna' believe, kid. See ya 'round Ladies and Dad."
What was wrong with Lloyd?
"Wait, Lloyd Irving-" Kratos was sure that he heard Lloyd whisper "Aurion" under his breath. "-why are you collecting Centurions' Cores?" demanded Marta.
"We're doing it to save this World, so please, give us Lumen and Ignis!" chimed in Emil.
"So you want to talk?" asked Lloyd coldly, "How do you know that that's now what I'm doing?"
Emil seemed put-off by Lloyd's answer; however, he was back in the conversation in a blink. "I'm not the one destroying cities to get what I want!"
"Whatever you say. Look, if you want to help, then you can hand over whatever Cores you've collected."
"Lloyd," interjected Raine, "what is it that you cannot tell us? Please, let us help you."
"Can't do that and, besides, I've got all the help I need."
Suddenly, a loud bellow echoed through the room and Lloyd spun around in time to dodge out of the way of the Bartek. The monster landed, screaming, where the duel swordsman had been seconds before.
"I think this is my hint to leave. See ya!" And Lloyd was gone.
"Damn, this doesn't look good," growled Emil, already in Ratatosk Mode.
"What was wrong with Lloyd?" whispered Genis.
"Later, that thing is about to attack!"
And the Bartek did just as Kratos claimed it would.
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Damn, that was fulfilling to write. I laughed the entire time! Sorry, this chapter seemed like it took forever to write, between school, being a little sick, and everything else that's been happening it was a slow write.
R&R
~Yoshi