Chapter 35
Unsure of where he was, Richter sat still, heart pounding so hard his head began to hurt. 'Aster...?' He swallowed, feeling an unusual weight around his throat, which caused him to lift his hand. His fingers encountered a metal choker, which after a brief exploration, he realized was Aster's. 'Aster isn't dead. He gave this to me. He'll be back.' Reassured that the danger had passed, Richter lowered his hand and blinked his eyes clear of the haze of sleep and took a moment more to recognize that he was at Altessa's house. The dwarf was on the other side of the room sitting at a table with...
'Lloyd and Yuan? When did they get here?' Irritated that he had been so dead to the world that he had completely missed their arrival as well as the conversation they were having, Richter slid forward carefully in the cushy chair Altessa had insisted he settle down in and cautiously reached out for the cane leaning against the side of the arm. He missed it and knocked the stick to the floor with a clatter, which caused Lloyd to stand.
"Richter-"
Leaning down, the half-elf grasped the cane and levered himself to his feet. Shuffling across the room, he pulled out a chair and joined them at the table. Altessa wordlessly put a cup of tea in front of him and two pills. "Right on schedule," the dwarf said.
Lloyd slowly sat down, looking morose. "How're you feeling?"
"About as expected," Richter said and knocked the pills back with a swallow of tea. One of them had a tendency to dissolve quickly and left a bitter taste on the back of his tongue. He drank more tea to wash it away. "Like someone opened me up and played with my internal organs," he finished after a third swallow and pushed his cup towards Altessa for a refill.
Yuan looked incredibly disgusted. Lloyd simply paled.
"How are you even alive?" Lloyd asked in a small voice.
Richter shook his head. "Grace, or chance, or maybe some great destiny I still have to fulfill. What did I miss?"
"Yuan and Lloyd showed up shortly after you clocked out," Altessa said. "I sent them out to gather materials. They've only just returned."
Lifting a brow slightly, Richter glanced from one man to the next, waiting to hear what materials in specific had been gathered.
"We raided one of the old human ranches," Yuan said, "Found a bunch of key crest ore."
"Ah," Richter nodded.
"Next step would be deciding what exact form this key crest should take," Altessa said. "I'm afraid I'm a bit stumped. Too much ore is required to make a piece of jewelry from. The key crest design is going to be rather complicated."
Swallowing another sip of tea, Richter nodded. "What does the design look like?"
Altessa pushed a paper towards him. "Do you have any idea what Aster had in mind?"
The design was circular and large, radiating out from a central point with long angular lines. Taking the paper, Richter carefully lifted it, folded it once, then again until he had created a sort of flower. Pinching the corners together, he held it up. "A staff," he said.
Lloyd leaned forward. "Wow! I was thinking like some big disk you stood or on something..."
"Hardly portable," Yuan said. "A staff is perfect, since this can also be used as a weapon."
"Which I hope isn't necessary," Richter said and carefully flattened the paper on the table again before picking up his teacup and taking a drink.
Altessa refilled his cup again when Richter set it down. "I've got the ore set to cooking. It'll be a few hours before it's all melted and I can form it."
"Trying to tell me to go back to sleep?" Richter asked.
"Seems like you need it," Yuan pointed out.
"It's those stupid pain pills," Richter complained.
Lloyd tipped his head in confusion. "Then don't take them?"
The redhead sighed and shook his head. Aster's choker pinched his skin slightly and he adjusted it but made no move to take it off. "Were it that easy," he muttered. Lloyd looked confused, but Yuan seemed to get the complications Richter was facing when it came to his medications. The dark haired half-elf glanced Altessa's direction with a slightly lifted brow.
"I don't get it," Lloyd admitted finally and shook his head.
Yuan cleared his throat. "Once you have the staff created, what then?"
Reaching over, Richter grabbed another piece of paper and after looking at it to see that while there were notes written on one side, the back was clean. Taking a pencil, he sketched his idea onto the page, then added a detail showing the head of the staff where the equipment Aster would be attaching to the device would, by necessity, need to go. Keeping in mind the added bulk to his gun, Richter finished sketching and slid the paper to Altessa.
The dwarf nodded as he considered it, stroking his beard. "I see. Very elegant. And to think, this is what you come up with while half asleep." He snorted. "If you've left Sybak, I'm sure they're dearly missing you."
"I don't care if they are." Richter pointedly sipped his tea.
Lloyd pushed his teacup back and forth between his hands. "So how does any of this solve anything?" He looked at Yuan. "You never explained what Ratatosk was up to either."
This being new to Richter as well, he turned his full attention to the other half-elf.
"Ratatosk has been linked into the mana flow to assist in coordinating the distribution across all three worlds, since Martel doesn't have that ability. She's not a true Summon Spirit, after all. I believe Aster went back to Rieze Maxia to retrieve more materials for a booster to create for the World Tree's use in addition to this staff's capability of modifying mana flow," Yuan said.
"Uhm..." Lloyd said slowly.
"In short," Richter said, "We're going to cheat the system and force the tree to create more mana out of nothing."
Brows drawing together, Lloyd frowned. "That doesn't sound possible. How can something come of nothing?"
Altessa lifted a finger. "Not necessarily nothing," he said. "That's where the booster comes in. It converts anti-mana into mana by channeling it through the booster user from Nifelheim."
Lloyd set his cup down. "Which is why Ratatosk needs to be involved at all!" he said in sudden understanding.
"Exactly," Yuan said.
"So... Once all this mana stuff is sorted out... the demon realm will be less powerful?" Lloyd asked.
"Theoretically," Yuan agreed. "Which means it will be easier to keep the weakened gate closed until there's enough excess mana to create a better one."
"Then we should get to work on that staff. They could be back at any minute, right?" Lloyd nearly stood from his chair in excitement as he looked at Altessa. "Can I help with crafting the ore and key crest?"
The dwarf looked briefly towards Richter, then back at Lloyd. "I'll probably need some help," he admitted. "I'm not as young as I used to be."
"And I'm practically useless," Richter muttered and lifted his teacup only to find that it was empty.
"Wounded," Yuan corrected. "And recovering. There's a difference. Your mind still works, though, which has contributed quite a bit to the project." He gestured at the sketch.
Richter closed his eyes with a sigh.
"Besides," Yuan continued. "You know Aster best. I've tried to read his notes on that lamp... Practically incomprehensible handwriting and he skips from one thought to another mid sentence on the parts I could read. We'll need someone to translate what he wrote."
Unable to help himself, Richter snorted and covered his smile with a hand. "I suppose that's true," he admitted.
...
Aster only half paid attention to guiding his flying dragon as he followed Jude back to the portal to Aselia. Ahead, he could see that Elise and Jude were talking, but couldn't hear over the wind, and part of him didn't want to hear what they were discussing. It was probably about Tiger.
'Already one of us gone because of mana fading.' Aster closed his eyes briefly and swallowed. "I'll figure something out," he muttered, hands tightening on the reins of his mount. He looked forward again to find Elise peeking back at him past Jude. She wore a determined expression as well and he managed to smile at her. 'I guess she's going to do her best too. I'm glad I've got so many people helping me with this. Ratatosk is right. I'm not alone. And Richter will help too. I hope he's feeling better.'
Jude's mount glided in a circle as he directed it downwards to land in the small clearing in front of Milla's shrine. He waited as Aster landed nearby and turned to look at him. The dark haired doctor looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated.
"Lots of work to do still," Aster said cheerfully. "I was thinking about that aspyrixis Alvin gave me. Shouldn't it have a spirit fossil in it?"
"Well, yes?"
"It's got an exsphere now," Aster said and pulled the device from his pocket to show Jude.
"That's... Balan's," Jude said, apparently recognizing the device.
Aster looked at it with a frown. "Well... That would explain why I can vaguely hear someone trying to talk to me from it."
"What?" Jude leaned forward.
"Sometimes exspheres will absorb the personality of the person they were attached to... Giving them something of a life after death but not really. Hm. More a ghost of their mana, perhaps?" Aster explained.
Elise gasped, "So Balan isn't completely gone?" she asked.
"I suppose not technically," Aster agreed. "We can take another look at it when we get to Altessa's, but I'm thinking he might be able to help us. That is, if he's willing and we can get through to him."
"You're thinking of using him in the device to boost the World Tree, aren't you?" Jude asked.
Aster grinned.
Jude nodded once with a slight smile. "I think he'd be more than willing to help. Much better than turning him into a gun like Alvin wanted."
"I'll let you use Teepo," Elise said. "As long as you don't hurt him in the process."
Shaking his head quickly, Aster said, "I promise!" He lifted his hand palm out with a bright smile. "Let's get back to Altessa's so we can get to work!" He urged his winged dragon through the portal and emerged on the other side. The not-mud had dried a bit since the last time he was there, but it still stank of death. He quickly took to the air again to get away before he had any flashbacks and circled once before taking off. Jude and Elise were right on his tail moments later, following his lead this time as he guided them across the ocean southwest.
At the dwarf's cliff-cave house, Aster landed and tied the winged dragon to a nearby tree so it could rest in the shade. Jude and Elise joined him shortly after.
The door to Altessa's home opened. Aster turned to look and smiled in relief as Richter limped out, using a cane to assist his balance. "Should you even be up?" he demanded of his friend as he jogged over.
"I'm fine," Richter said more out of habit as he smiled. He patted Aster's head. "You're back sooner than expected."
"Yeah, well, we had some success..." Aster lowered his voice, "some failures... Tiger's dead."
"What?" Richter swallowed. "How?"
"Found the mana thief and tried to take him on one-on-one," Jude said as he approached, followed by Elise. "We've got more allies on the other side of the portal working to take out half of that problem. Our task is to strengthen the World Tree."
Richter grimly nodded. "Altessa and I've been working on some things, based on your notes, Aster."
"Oh?" He excitedly followed Richter back into the house.
The dining table had been taken over by equipment and a scattering of papers.
Aster gasped and quickly approached to pick up the staff that sat in the center of the mess. "Oh Richter! It's perfect!" He turned to face his friend, hugging the staff to his chest.
Richter smiled again as Aster looked more closely at the staff's intricate key crest designs winding down the length of it.
"We're just missing a few things," the half-elf said as he lowered himself into a seat with a slight wheeze.
"An aspyrixis and a booster," Jude said. "Right?"
"Exactly."
Reaching into his pocket, Aster pulled out Balan's aspyrixis. "Where did you find enough material to make this staff?" Aster asked.
"Yuan and Lloyd went around collecting everything they could find," Altessa said as he arrived from the kitchen, carrying a tray of tea. "This is still just the trigger and we need to make a booster of sufficient strength to attach to the World Tree itself."
Jude set the bag he had carried inside on the table and opened it. "We've got another bag tied to Aster's mount still," he said. "Is this enough?"
"Yes!" Altessa said, eyes wide. "We might actually be able to do this!"
"Except we still need someone who can cast the arte," Richter said.
"I can," Elise said firmly, hugging Teepo to her chest.
Altessa and Richter turned to look at her. "That's a lot of mana to be channeling," Altessa started to say.
"She can do it," Jude said. "She's a master."
Even though she was blushing, Elise nodded. "I can do it," she reaffirmed.
"Then," Aster looked around the room after carefully placing the staff on the table where he had found it. "We're officially in business." He turned to Altessa, "I'll go get the other bag of boosters if you'll start melting this down or... however you're supposed to get the impurities out. Jude, you'll assist him. Richter and I will work on connecting Balan's aspyrixis to the staff. Elise," he turned to look at her. "We'll need your help in boosting the exsphere so we can strengthen it. Then we'll link Teepo to the staff."
She nodded firmly with a slight smile.
Aster jogged outside to his winged dragon and untied the bag full of boosters and realized that his hands were shaking.
"Hey Aster," Teepo said, startling him.
He turned to look and found that Elise had followed him outside. She placed her hand on his chest and closed her eyes. Teepo circled around them as the air lit up, mana multiplying until it was visible and rushing into him in a warm flood from where her hand rested against his chest.
Knees trembling as he realized what she was doing, Aster bowed his head and bit his lower lip as he realized what she was doing, and what she had meant when she had said that if Teepo had been with her, she could have saved Tiger. 'I hope she'll forgive herself for that someday. It wasn't her fault.' The glow faded and he felt her remove her hand. "Thank you," he whispered and opened his eyes in time to see her shake her head.
"You're a really nice person," Elise said. "And watching Tiger disappear like that was bad enough... I don't want anyone else to go through that."
Aster smiled and hugged her speechlessly.
"Jude said you'd never ask me yourself," she added, patting his back gently.
Drawing back, he shook his head. "Never even crossed my mind... I... Thank you."
"Aww, enough with the mushy stuff!" Teepo objected. "Let's get back to saving the worlds!"
Glancing in the doll's direction, Aster grinned and nodded. "You're absolutely right, Teepo." He picked up the bag of boosters and walked with Elise back into the house. He handed the bag over to Altessa in exchange for a cup of tea. Jude was checking Richter and seemed generally satisfied with what he found.
"I think it's safe to use healing artes on you now," the doctor said as he stood. Lifting his hands out, he cast, "Healer," lighting up a glowing calculatrix on the floor for a moment.
The half-elf took a deep breath and let it out before nodding.
"Feel better?" Aster asked and sipped his tea.
"Much," Richter agreed. "I might actually survive this."
Aster rolled his eyes. "Don't joke about stuff like that," he admonished. "You ready to get to work?"
"Of course."
Jude looked from one person to the next before nodding and heading after Altessa where he had gone down the stairs to his work station.
Finishing off his tea, Aster set the cup aside and picked up Balan's aspyrixis, carefully removing the crimson crystal from it to set on the table. "Elise, you're not too worn out, are you?"
"Nope," she said. "I hardly did anything at all today." She approached and placed two fingers on the exsphere. The air lit up with mana again as Teepo flew around her.
Richter leaned forward in his chair, propped against his cain between his feet. "Amazing," he murmured, intently watching what Elise was doing. His eyes widened briefly and he looked at Aster. Catching his gaze and making a guess what he was thinking, Aster smiled reassuringly and shook his head.
The crystal began to glow, light from within shining brighter and brighter.
"Please stop..." a man's voice sobbed.
"Balan?" Aster called. "Can you hear me?"
"I don't know anything else!" Balan shouted desperately.
"Balan," Elise said. "You're safe now." She lowered her hand, beginning to look tired now. The glow of her mana faded, but Balan's crystal continued to shine. "It's Elise, can you hear me?"
"Elise? Why can't I see you?"
She opened her mouth and looked at Aster.
"Your eyes are closed," Aster said.
"I - I can't..." Balan sounded distraught again. "I can't open them! Who are you? Where am I?"
"It's all right. You don't need to. You're safe. Alvin found you," Aster said, hoping that would help the spirit calm down a bit. "I'm Aster Laker, you're in Asalia."
"Where's Alvin? I need to tell him not to go... I told Vance everything... I'm so sorry..."
"It's okay," Elise said, "Alvin is working with Gaius. They're going to put this right."
"Gaius? Yes... Everything will be fine then," Balan immediately calmed. "I died, didn't I? How are you talking to me?"
Aster cleared his throat, figuring Balan was calm enough to tell the truth to now. "Your mana was absorbed by the spirit fossil you were wearing. You're something like a ghost at the moment. Elise boosted your mana so you would be more aware of what was going on."
Balan remained silent.
"We've got a question for you," Elise said. "Will you help us? We're working on a device that will boost a whole lot of mana all at once, but we need a working aspyrixis."
"Of course I'll help. What do you need?"
"We're going to hook you up to a staff and link you to Teepo," Aster explained. "So Elise can channel mana through it to Aselia's World Tree." He gestured, then stopped himself as he remembered Balan couldn't see that right now. He cleared his throat. "Are you all right with that?"
"Yes. I want to help however I can..."
Elise looked at the floor, clasping her hands in front of her with a slight frown. "Don't be discouraged, Balan," she said. "Aster is dead too, but he's doing everything he can and so can you. We'll work together and make the world better."
Richter looked at Elise with a slight frown. He opened his mouth.
Aster gave him a sharp look and shook his head.
"You're right Elise. I'm giving up too easily," Balan said, voice strengthening. "Let's do our best."
"Okay. Let's get to work then," Aster said and picked up the aspyrixis, leaving Balan's crystal on the table as he began looking through what was on the table for tools.
"Left," Richter said. "Under that paper."
"Thanks!" Aster said cheerfully as he fished the pliers he was looking for from under the paper.
"At least tell me what you're doing? And is someone else there?" Balan asked.
Richter cleared his throat. "I'm Richter. Aster's assistant."
"Friend. Martel's knickers, Richter. If you keep selling yourself short like that I'll thow something at you," Aster admonished without even looking up.
Balan laughed softly. "Nice to meet you both then."
"As for what I'm doing, I'm modifying your aspyrixis to redirect energy from a human body into the staff Richter and Altessa made."
"How is that going to help anything?" Balan asked.
Aster glanced at Richter with a lifted brow to indicate that he should explain.
"The staff is made from a special ore key crests are made of with an inscription for healing and mana channeling carved onto it," Richter explained. "We'll be pulling anti-mana from the demon realm in large quantities in order to convert it to mana, which no human body can actually handle doing."
"Jude described these markings as calculatrix," Aster added. "If that helps you visualize any."
"Yes, thank you," Balan said.
Aster pulled the guts out of the case and set them on the table before looking amidst the scrap pieces on the table for what else he needed next. Standing, Richter made his way to the other side of the table, picked through some things before holding something out. "Here. We had to guess on the size of the aspyrixis," he said.
He took the case. "I'll make it fit."
"Is there anything I can help with?" Elise asked.
"Make Richter sit down?" Aster asked. "Have you taken your medicine lately?"
The half-elf gave him a disgusted look. "Yes. I'm fine."
"What happened to you?" Teepo asked.
Richter looked away. "I got ripped apart by a demon and nearly died. Your friend Doctor Jude put me back together."
A piece of the aspyrixs's casing fell off and hit the floor and Aster quickly set down what he was working on to hide his trembling hands as he suddenly recalled the event in vivid detail. He tried to laugh it off, "Oops."
"Should we really be trusting you to save the world?" Teepo asked as he floated up beside Aster.
Elise giggled and bent down to pick it up.
Aster cast Teepo a brief look. "That bit wasn't important anyway."
"You have the ability to channel mana," Richter said, "You can direct it at objects. Can you do that to people too?"
"Richter," Aster said as he shot him a look. "I'm fine."
"I already boosted Aster," Elise said. "If that's what you're asking." She caught his gaze and smiled. "I'm glad I could help him. Just wish I could've done more for Tiger..."
"Please forgive yourself for that," Aster said softly as he carefully worked at fitting the remains of the aspyrixis into the case that would snap onto the head of the staff. He had to bend the tines that would hold the spirit fossil out a bit, since Balan's crystal was slightly larger than they had expected.. "You did what you could and I'm absolutely sure he appreciated it. He went down swinging, right?"
"Yes. He said that's what he wanted. Not running away like he did before. But I miss him..." Elise looked at the floor as she clasped her hands in front of her.
Pulling a chair closer, Richter perched on the edge of it again, though he obviously did so reluctantly. Aster snapped the case onto the head of the staff. "Okay, Balan, I'm going to put you in."
"Okay."
Carefully picking the crystal up, he set it into place and used the pliers to pull the tines over it to keep the crystal from moving or falling out. "Now for part two," Aster said. "This might take slightly longer. I don't want to permanently damage Teepo after all."
Elise caught her flying doll and held it out to him.
"You'd better take good care of me," Teepo said with a glare. "Or I'll come back to life and haunt you!"
"Get in line?" Aster winked.
"Woah, who else is mad at you?" Teepo asked as Aster set him on the table.
"Not mad, exactly." Aster opened the doll's zipper again and carefully reached in to remove the part crystal part ore lump about the size of a coin. He set it on the table. "Amazing how much smaller boosters have gotten since the ones Jude had access to," he said. He took the case from Balan's aspyrixis and began sorting through the scraps on the table for anything he could use. Richter stood again and began handing him stuff. "Thank you, but please sit down?"
"I'm fine," Richter insisted. "I've spent most of the day sleeping and Jude's checkup helped considerably."
Elise giggled. "You two argue like a married couple."
Flushing slightly, Aster glanced up at Richter first to find the half-elf completely unphased by that statement.
"We've known each other for seven years," Richter explained.
Clearing his throat, Aster decided to add, "He's my boyfriend." The half-elf certainly reacted to that.
Hands flying to her mouth, Elise blushed as well and swayed slightly before her face fell. "Wait... but Aster, you're supposed to be dead?" she asked softly. "Haven't you been gone for as long as Tiger?"
"Yeah," Aster agreed. He cleared his throat again. "Ah. It's sort of a long story but as briefly as I can put all of it... The whole series of events that has led to today is my fault."
"Now this sounds like a story I need to hear," Balan said.
"Oh boy," Aster sighed. "I'm not sure I want to hear it told again," he admitted. "Tenebrae was so much better a story teller anyway."
Elise clasped her hands in front of her. "So, you're just going to tease us?"
"I was dead for a good majority of it anyway," Aster said defensively and carefully set Elise's booster into the device he had created. "I'll need a replica of that key crest design drawn on the back of this." He looked at Richter as the half-elf held out his hand.
"I know what it looked like flattened," he explained and took the device and a small file to carefully begin drawing.
Aster decided to pull a chair over and sat, hands on his knees as he looked from Elise to the glowing crystal Balan now resided in.
"It's okay," Elise said. "You don't have to say if you don't want to. I just don't see you capable of causing so much trouble..."
"He isn't, but I am," Richter said as he leaned down over his work. "He discovered that it was Ratatosk who is in charge of the mana flow to the World Tree. He took me and we went on a trip around the world to find the Centurions. Ratatosk's assistants who govern monsters. We successfully found a Centurion who then led us to Ratatosk's lair. Unfortunately, the Summon Spirit wasn't very pleased to have visitors. He killed Aster. I reduced Ratatosk to a core state, and proceeded to wreak havoc on the world in order to get what I wanted. Ratatosk was a little harder to put down than I'd anticipated. He created a human body... Stole Aster's form and Tiger's identity and proceeded to foil all my plans. Thankfully Marta was there. She's entirely to blame for Ratatosk's change of heart when it came to humans and half-elves."
To Aster's surprise, Elise's face was entirely devoid of judgment. "I see. So that's what she meant when she said Emil and Ratatosk are and aren't the same person."
Richter nodded.
"And that's how he ended up with the name Emil," she continued. "I guess I can see why Tiger was all right with that. Emil seems like a nice person. Ratatosk... I suppose I can understand his point of view as well." She glanced at Teepo. "After all... Teepo only mimics having a personality of his own," she admitted. "But he's really just voicing my subconscious thoughts. He can remember stuff that I can't sometimes, because of my bond with him."
"That doesn't explain how you're alive again, though," Balan said.
"Right... well, I guess it was Cain that broke into the Otherworldly Gate where Ratatosk's realm is, attacked and killed Marta. Ratatosk used the mana from the remains of his Tree's roots to put things back and try to save her. He put things back a little too far. So here I am," Aster said.
"Which means that as the mana runs out from that, you'll fade, correct?" Balan asked.
"He's got more time now," Elise said, "I boosted him earlier."
Aster shook his head. "Still doesn't make me a permanent fixture in the world. I'm still supposed to be dead." He swallowed and looked down.
Richter stopped his work and set the file down with a cold look. "You may as well say it," he said.
"I've a feeling that the wave of mana, when we boost the World Tree... is going to disrupt anyone left who was brought back by Ratatosk's spell," he admitted, chest tightening as he stared at the staff instead of meeting Richter's eyes.
"But..." Elise said in a small voice. "How? Why?"
"Because Tiger could do it," Aster said. "Genis explained how Tiger could just... believe things into happening. You're not supposed to be able to punch an arte and break it, but he could. Because he was throwing his own body's mana into the attack, sending a disruptive wave into the arte." Aster pushed the toe of his boot into the floor. "And there's no way that boosting the World Tree is going to be a gentle thing. It's going to knock out everything relying on mana."
Richter sat up and tipped his head back, eyes closed, hands in his lap.