EDIT: I made a mistake with the years... sorry! I changed it... Kalinthra was born in 2529, not 2129 (as it previously said). But that is fixed now!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Tales of games. They are owned by Namco.
--Best Friends Forever--
"Eeek! Get it away from me!" a girl screeches. Hey, it's the young thief brat from before! She's standing in front of me, shaking, her emerald eyes full of fear. This large tree... we're in front of Yggdrasil! We're not the only ones, either... the prince is here along with two others. One of the two is a young boy—probably about seven or eight—with a feminine face. He has neat blonde hair and confused, yet mature, blue eyes. He's dressed in the finest silk tunic of white and minty green. The last one, a girl, is an elf with short green hair neatly cropped around her pale face and distant hazel eyes. She looks to be about eleven or twelve... Unlike the others, her clothes are normal and not fancy—her tunic is brown and green, so she can easily blend in with the forest. All of the children are staring at the thief girl, confused.
"What's wrong—ah!" The elf notices me and jumps to her feet, holding her hands up in defense. "Who are you?!"
"Hey, you're that guy from earlier!" the prince realizes.
"Never mind him—just get that thing out of here!" the thief yells as she points to a little green plant. ...You're joking, right? It's a small, leafy plant with stems that stick straight up. The top of it is covered in long sapphire blue flowers. Maybe she's pointing to a bug on the other side of the plant...
"Calm down, it's only a plant..." the blonde haired boy pleads.
"It's aconite... it's sometimes used in magic ointments," the elf says.
"I don't care! Just get it out of here!" The girl turns to me, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "I can't stand it!"
I roll my eyes. "Uh-huh. So you can steal from large, overgrown men, but you can't take a tiny plant?"
"It's poisonous! You try picking it!"
"But I pick those all the time..." argues the elf.
"You're an elf! You know how to pick them!" The girl turns her glare back to me, daring me to try. Keh, I'm not scared of a plant! I'll show her... I walk over to the tiny plant and reach out, firmly wrapping my right hand around the stem of the plant. Ow! It burns—I quickly draw my hand away and stare at my red fingers. I then stare at the plant. What kind of plant is this, to be able to do that?!
"A-are you okay?! I have some ointment!" the blonde haired boy offers as he rushes over to me. He pulls out some medicine and I take off the glove on my right hand. As he spreads the ointment, he asks, "What's your name?"
"I'm Chester. Chester Barklight."
"This is the second time you've appeared out of thin air... Are you a spirit of some sort?" questions the young prince.
"What? No, I'm a human... I don't even know how I got here," I answer as I put my glove back on.
"Which kingdom are you from?"
"Kingdom? Is this still in the past? Well, in my time, there's only one royal family..."
"EHHHH?! You're from the future?!" the kids chorus.
"I guess... Year 6548. What year is it now? And who are you kids?"
"Wow, that's so neat! From the future...!" the thief girl exclaims, full of excitement. "Oh right, I apologize for not introducing myself sooner..."
I blink and the forest is gone—now I'm inside a wooden building, lying in a bed. "Chester!" Cless exclaims—he's sitting on the bed next to me, watching me with worry in his purple eyes. "Are you all right?! You suddenly got sick again... I wasn't able to contact anyone, so I brought you to the inn—"
"I'm fine," I mumble as I sit up. Whoa, I feel a little light headed...
"This is the second time that's happened today... maybe you should rest."
"I said I'm fine! I don't need your sympathy!"
"Chester... L-let's head back to the others, then..."
"We're not done here, are we?"
"We found what we needed."
I push the covers off and stand up. "All right, then let's go. And Cless?"
"Yes?"
"Don't tell Dad and the others about this, okay?"
"But Chester, they need to know if you're sick! We need to do something about it before it gets too bad..."
"I told you, I'm fine! And that's exactly why I don't want anyone else to know—they'll make a big deal of it! It's probably just from using Dragon Slayer or something... Come on, Cless, promise me you won't tell anyone?"
"But—"
"Promise me!"
"...If it doesn't happen again, I'll keep my mouth shut. But if you get sick again, I have a right to let your father know about this."
"Deal." We shake hands to end the deal and I then head out of the inn. We leave the elf village and walk through the quiet marsh. It's starting to get late now... I guess we'll go over the plan and then head back out here.
We exit the foggy marsh and walk through the woods, sunset falling over us. "This world looks so beautiful, don't you think?" Cless asks as he stares up through the trees.
"Yeah... in all time periods. I'm glad I got to stay in it longer!"
"I am, too! And... I'm glad we're friends again." Cless is smiling at me now. "No matter what, you'll always be my best friend."
I nod. "Yeah. If I ever do anything stupid like that again to you, knock some sense into me, okay?"
"Same here." We exchange grins and then start moving again. I see the mansion coming into view...
We enter the mansion to find most of the people still sitting around the table, talking. "I'm going to let Klarth-san and Suzu-chan know what we found," Cless whispers to me as he retreats upstairs. Only two other people are missing from this... Brambert and Ami.
"Where's Ami...?" I ask.
"She went outside to pick flowers," answers Milard.
Flowers, huh... I hope that aconite flower isn't around here... "I'm going to go look for her."
"If that's the case," Brambert speaks up from behind me, "would you tell her that dinner's almost ready?"
"Sure thing."
I walk back out of the house and glance around. I don't see her here... but I hear humming. I walk out of the gates and follow the humming around the fence, to the right. Ami's here, picking flowers, just like Milard said... I don't see the blue flower that had burned my hand around here—that's a good sign. I walk over to my little sister, who is surrounded by many bouquets of flowers, and kneel down next to her. "Hey. What's this for?"
"I want to give everyone some flowers for allowing me to come!"
"We didn't exactly allow it..."
"I promise I'm going to try my hardest, Onii-chan! So please don't send me back..."
I sigh and pat her on the head. "It's dangerous, you know... you could get hurt."
"I don't care! I want to help everyone! I want to be by your side, Onii-chan!"
"You dolt... How are flowers going to help everyone?"
"Flowers always make people happy, so..."
"Whatever... hurry up, okay? Dinner's almost ready."
"Oh! I-I'm done! Here's yours, Onii-chan!" She turns to me and hands me a bouquet of flowers, a smile on her face. That idiot... I take the flowers.
"Thanks. Now let's go inside." She stands up, gathering all of the flowers in her arms, and we walk inside. Everyone's sitting at the table now—Brambert found two more chairs for himself and Dhaos. As Ami sits down, she passes out flowers to everyone; most people take the flowers with a 'thank you,' but Dhaos stares at her like she's an idiot.
"Won't you take them...?"
"What good will flowers do us?"
"Flowers make people smile!"
"Keh! Who cares?! Flowers won't do anything for us! They're useless!"
"But... flowers are pretty..." Ami mumbles as she draws away, staring at the floor.
"Hey! Don't yell at her! She's trying to do something nice for everyone!" I yell at the man. I hate him! He can be cruel to the rest of us all he wants, but he shouldn't snap at Ami like that!
"'Nice'? If she wants to do something useful, she can train and get stronger. We have no need for flowers."
"O-oh..." Ami retreats to her seat, the last bouquet still in her hand. That stupid Dhaos! If he makes Ami cry...!
"Ami-chan, it's okay," Mint assures my sister. "I think the flowers are a very nice gift! Now if I'm ever feeling down, I'll be able to see them and always know that someone cares about me! Right?" Cless eagerly nods in agreement.
"Heehee, thank you, Mint-san!" Ami says as she rubs her eyes.
"Well then, time to eat!" Cless says, and we all finally start eating.
Let's see, Brambert served us... a plate full of vegetables. Haven't these elves heard of meat? We each have a bowl of salad on one side and a glass of water on the other. Our plates have potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peas on them along with a mixture of different fruits.
There's cheese, salt, and butter in the center of the table, which I use to fix up my baked potato. I then begin eating it. Ugh, it tastes really bland... maybe more salt will help? Well, that helped a little... not much, though. There are a few other spices on the table... I wonder if any of them will help? I sprinkle some of the red spice on it first. Still doesn't help... maybe this brown spice? Nope... I give up... I'll just try eating something else.
I scoop up some peas and try eating those. Also bland... So are the cucumbers and fruits. Ugh... Maybe Mint should've cooked...
"Chester-san, are you not hungry?" Mint questions, and eyes turn to me.
"H-huh? I'm fine..."
"You're not feeling sick again, are you?"
"Cless!" I hiss. Oops, that caught Dad's attention.
"Did something happen?"
"No! Of course not!" I shove a large piece of potato in my mouth.
"Cless?"
"N-no! I was simply referring to earlier... we never found out why he got sick, so I was worried..." Cless glances down, nervous, and he soon stuffs food in his mouth. I'll have to be sure to thank him for that later!
Dad continues watching us, and I pretend to be more interested in the food. Before too long, everyone finishes their plates. Our host stands up and begins stacking the plates.
"I'll help you, Lord Brambert," offers the dove as she stands up.
"It's fine, I have it. Besides, you have more important things to discuss, don't you?" he points out as he walks away with a stack full of plates; Mint returns to her seat.
"He's right," Dad says. "So then, the plan... Cless and Chester found the library earlier... it's in the southern part of the village, surrounded by water. Suzu can warp us past the guards, but we'll still have a problem if either Arche or Dhaos are discovered. It'd also be easy for them to notice nine people... so I suggest we only take a few. Suzu must be one of them, and Arche another so we're sure to find the right records. I can go to use Shadow for distraction, but we'll need someone else to balance out the party... Chester, will you come? You're a long range fighter, so it'd be easier for you to keep them from seeing our faces."
"Of course!" I'm glad Cless didn't say anything about me getting sick... I doubt Dad would let me come if he knew! "Why don't we just warp inside the building, though?"
"I've never been inside it," Suzu explains. "It'd be safest to warp to a point I know."
"Makes sense... When do we set out?"
"As soon as we're ready. Once Suzu warps us in behind the item shop, we'll head straight to the library."
"I'm ready."
"So am I."
"Me, too!"
"Then let's go!" Dad says as he stands up, and we walk towards the entrance, making a group for Suzu to transport. Both Dad and Suzu begin concentrating.
"Shadow Storm!" Leaves swirl around us and Brambert's house disappears, along with our friends. When the leaves clear out, we're standing in the dark night of the elf village.
"I summon thee from the darkest abyss... Come, Shadow!" Dad says it as softly as he can, and his amethyst pact ring glows; a small ball of darkness comes out of it and creeps along the ground, towards the left. We hear the elves make a commotion and hurry to the left, towards the library. I lead the way to the building, where we run around to the locked door.
"I'll handle it," Suzu whispers as she pulls out a small knife and begins picking the lock. I turn away and notch my bow, watching for elves. I don't see any... hopefully they're all trying to figure out what Shadow is... "We're in!" Suzu announces and we all rush into the building. Suzu locks the door behind us, putting us in complete darkness.
"I'll get the light," I hear Dad say in the darkness. "You concentrate on finding the records, Arche."
"Gotcha!"
Green light engulfs us as my father prepares another summon. Arche uses what little light we have to start searching through the records. "Hey Chester, what's the name again?"
"Kalinthra. Kalinthra of Heimdall."
"Brambert said they were the oldest records on Aselia," Suzu adds.
"...shall uphold our contract. I, Klarth F. Lester, the pact maker, summon thee from the brightest star... Come, Aska!" A golden ball quickly emerges into existence above the summoner, the golden bird coming out of it to give the room just enough light for Arche to read by. Wow, that's the most of the summoning process I've ever listened to... does he really say about that much every time, or is that only when he has to concentrate more? I think the latter...
We wait patiently as Arche browses through the books, Suzu and I both by the door and ready to attack anyone that tries to enter. I can't believe we're stealing from the elves like this... At least we'll return it, right?
"I found it!" Arche squeals. "Princess Kalinthra of Heimdall... born August 29, 2529. Let's get outta here!"
We all huddle around the ninja and Aska disappears, throwing us back into darkness. "Shadow Storm!" I can kinda see the leaves blowing around us... but more than anything I can feel the wind. Soon enough, we're in the bright light of Brambert's house. I cover my eyes, trying to protect my vision from the sudden change.
"Welcome back," Cless greets us.
"We got them!" the witch announces cheerfully as she holds up the old-looking book. It has a worn leather cover and the pages look like their about to fall out. All of our group is here—only Brambert's missing. "I'll start reading and see what I can find!"
"All right. Let us know if you need anything, Arche-chan," Mint says.
"Okay!" Arche sits down at the table and the rest of us wait around in silence. What are we supposed to do while she reads, we can't really do anything... Arche flips through the pages. "Uhhn... most of it's damaged... It's so old that many of the words are blotted out... I wouldn't be surprised if pages are missing."
"Just do your best, Arche..." the steed encourages.
"Ah, here's something about Martel! Let's see... EHHHHHH?!"
"What?!" the rest of us chorus, leaning forward.
"M-Martel's a half elf!"
"What?! No way...!"
"If that's the case, then why do people discriminate against half elves so much?!" I demand. That doesn't seem right... Everyone reveres Martel, but look at other half elves like dirt! They shouldn't be treated like that in the first place!
"Wow... she wasn't even a goddess to begin with! Just a normal half elf... She became a goddess a little over 2000 years when this was written, from the looks of it..."
"That'd be before recorded history..." the history buff speaks up. "Anything before the ancient war between the kingdoms isn't in our records anymore, but anything from the year 2000 and before is completely lost..."
"This was written sometime after 2529... so over two thousand years before that would be before...!"
"We wouldn't even have numbers for that time... we don't know what the world was like then, or if people were even living. But if Martel was a half elf at that time, then that must mean that there was something..."
Arche nods and continues reading. "I can't read any more of this page... Let's see... Ah! Here's something I can read... 'Today was the end of our paradise'... There's something about magitechnology going out of control or something, but I can't tell what happened..." She sighs and flips the page, scanning the next one. She flips again, and again, not finding anything. We wait patiently as she scrolls through the pages. "Geez, this book is way too old!" Arche complains as she turns the page again and—what the?! The symbols on it are moving around—no, jumping around! Arche yelps and jumps up as the symbols leap off the page, straight at her!
"Arche!"
Milard grabs the book and slams it closed, and the symbols all stop moving. We stare at the ink blots on the table, chair, and ground, astonished.
"W-what was that...?" Arche ventures.
"It must've been a curse... Someone probably didn't want you to read the next part," the meerkat explains. "Arche, how are you feeling? You're not hurt, are you?"
"I feel perfectly fine! It was only ink jumping around, right?"
"I hope so... we should probably see a doctor to make sure nothing else happened to you," Dad suggests as he picks up the book. "I'm going to ask Lord Brambert about this... Why don't the rest of you head to bed? Lord Brambert said there were some extra bedrooms upstairs."
Dad leads the way upstairs, and we follow. He walks to the last door on the right, while we enter two open doors before that—the girls enter the first room. As Arche enters, I grab her wrist. "Arche, are you sure you're okay?"
"What, are you worried about me?" she teases. "I'm fine! Good night, boys!" The witch spins around and enters the room, closing the door behind her.
"Like you're one to talk," Cless mutters from behind me. "You're the one getting sick..."
"Shut up. I'm not getting sick!" I storm past him and into our room, where Dhaos has already claimed a bed. There are only two beds in here, but there are mats set out on the floor for us...
Cless removes his sword from his belt and sits down on one of the mats. I put my own weapon next to his and sit down on the other mat—seniority should get the bed, right? Heh, it's been so long since we first joined up... so much has happened...
Ow... I don't feel so good... My stomach hurts a little...
"Chester, are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"You're not getting sick again, are you?"
"I said I'm fine!" It still hurts, though... I can't get sick! I refuse to!
"Chester..." Cless mutters; I turn away from my friend and lay down, pulling the covers over myself. "Don't push yourself, okay...?"
Seconds later, the door burst open, and Dad walks in the room. "Well, Lord Brambert took the records off our hands... He says he wants to study them. So then, why don't we head back to Euclid in the morning? Sardon wanted us to come back, so we should at least see what he has in store. Plus we need to take Arche for a doctor check-up to make sure the curse didn't do anything to her."
"That sounds like a good plan. What'll we do after that, though...?" questions the swordsman.
"We only have one hint... Martel was originally a normal half elf. I suggest we investigate it—if we find out how she became a goddess, we may be able to find a way to save the Giant Kharlan Tree."
"So we're traveling even further into the past?!" I demand. Geez, that'll be over six thousand years before our time...
"It's the only lead we have right now. What do you say, Dhaos? Are you joining us on our trip to the past?"
"Might as well. I don't have any other way of saving Derris-Kharlan."
"Then it's settled. We'll talk to the girls about it in the morning!" Dad decides. He then sits on his bed and takes his shoes off, preparing for bed. I close my eyes... I can't show Dad that I'm in pain or he'll worry again. Cless already knows, and Dhaos doesn't care anyway... no one else needs to know about this! It's probably just from using so much energy after dying... I'll cut back on the skills until I'm feeling better.
So Martel was a half elf... she wasn't originally a goddess... What about Fenrir, Odin, Thor, and Heimdall, then? Were they originally gods...? How does one just become a god or goddess? I don't understand... And just what are we going to do about Yggdrasil and the Giant Kharlan Tree? And—oww, I'm not feeling well... I'll be fine, though... I've faced tougher things than this. This'll pass soon enough... maybe it'll be better in the morning... Rest will definitely help.
I close my eyes and slowly let myself slip into sleep...
Chester and Cless gained the title of Best Friends Forever. No matter what, we'll always be friends!
Dhaos gained the title of Cold-Hearted Man. It is a title given to one who brushes off things even as sweet and innocent as flowers.
Arche gained the title of Translator. It is a title given to one who translates words from one language to another.