Sorry again for the wait! It seems like I had some important announcement to make with this one... but I can't remember it. Oh well, guess it wasn't that important (I'm becoming like Grune!).
OH RIGHT! I could be wrong on the meanings of those... 'angelic words'. They're actually Norse words... If anyone knows the real meaning of any of them, please let me know! Especially Fenrisulfr... I couldn't find the meaning of that one anywhere. At least with the others I know I got part of it right...
Disclaimer: I do not own the Tales of games. They are owned by Namco.
--VIP Friend--
"I'm calling you all... come to me... We'll take this... for all of us who are lost... for all of us who are forgotten... Come, my wolves... to my land. To my destiny... My name is Merilynn... Princess Merilynn of Fenrir..."
I can see her—crouched in the snow near Friezkiel, a young woman now... Wolves are gathered around her; she doesn't notice me, as her back is to me. "Let's go visit him, shall we?" Merilynn asks the wolves. "That man that is the reason for my pain... for these long thirteen years of hiding..." Her body begins changing...
"Ch-Chester! C'mon, don't faint on us!" Arche calls out. Huh...?
Oh right, I'm in the cave at Lone Valley... and I'm a wolf...
Something feels good... and soothing... I wonder what that is? It's on my head... Now there's another one on my back. What is that...? Wait a sec... are they...
...petting me?!
I try to yell at them—instead, a growl comes out of my throat. They stop petting me and laugh; hey, it's not funny!
"Onii-chan, can I pet you?" my kid sister asks. Ami wants to... Keh, but only her... I turn my head to try to show her that I don't care. "Yay!" She starts petting me. That feels kinda nice, actually... "Wow, you're so soft...!"
"How are you feeling, Chester?" Milard questions as she bends down next to me. "Do you feel like you have control?"
I'm not sure... I guess... I nod.
"We'll keep it like this a few minutes so that you can get some exercise," Dad says. "It'll be even harder when the full moon comes... just be prepared for it."
I nod.
Ami starts scratching behind my ear. Wow, that feels really good...
Everyone pauses what they were doing, staring at me. What's their problem?! Milard reaches over towards my ear—I growl. I'm not a do—hey, that feels nice... They suddenly start laughing. Wha?! "Hey, what's so funny?!" Keh, they can't understand me...
The meerkat begins rubbing behind my ear. I don't know why, but... I kinda... like that...
"So you don't like being pet, eh...?" taunts the half elf as Milard stops.
Eh?! Keh, I don't! I growl again—someone scratches behind my ear again. That really does feel relaxing...
H-hey, they're laughing again! I think they're laughing at me... I glare at them.
"Sorry, Chester!" apologizes my best friend; he, Mint, and Suzu are at least trying not to laugh... and the snake is just as cold as ever. Wait, I think he is a little amused by this...! Why that...
The power of the moon slowly disappears—Luna returns to Dad's Moonstone Ring. My body easily shifts back to human form. I stand up, glaring at my companions as I do so. "Okay, what the heck are you all laughing about?!"
Keh, now they're laughing more!
"Onii-chan really is a cute wolf!"
"I am not!"
"You really like being scratched behind the ear, it seems," observes my father.
"I do not!"
"Yes you do!" most of them chorus, laughing.
"S-shut up! Let's just go!" Keh...!
"Right... we should give our regards to Sardon and then head back to find Martel," Cless suggests.
"Oh yeah, about Martel..." I guess it's time to pass on the information Fenrir and Kalinthra gave me... "Martel Yggdrasil, the half elf... is only a small part of the goddess Martel."
"How do you..."
"Fenrir told me—don't worry, she only wanted to talk." Talk... I wonder if Arche still... "She's almost as talkative and annoying as Arche!"
"H-hey! I'm not talkative and annoying, you stubborn and prissy boy!"
"I am not! Ditz!"
"Angsty!"
"Brat!" Keh, I hate her...! But... she's arguing with me again, like everything's normal...
I'm glad... Thank you, Arche...
"Chester, Arche..." Cless calls out. Going back to the previous subject, he continues, "We still need to take Martel to the unicorn, right? We promised..."
"We also need to go back to that time period for the weapons Ifalde's making," Dad reminds us. Oh yeah...
"But it'll take the dwarves a while to make all of them, right? We have nine people..." I point out.
"Should we wait to finish everything in that time period at once, then?" questions the cleric.
"Yeah. We'll head back there after doing some other things..."
"But what else do we have to do?" the steed asks. "We still need to find out more about our enemies..."
"Fenrir said... that they were all gods from the start..." I tell them. "We may not be able to beat them..."
"Then we should at least find a way to restore mana to the giant trees, which is another thing knowing more about Martel would do for us," Milard adds. "But if it takes many lives to give mana to the tree, we have a problem..."
"...Year 2556..."
"Eh?!"
"Kalinthra of Heimdall sought me out..." I tell them. "She told me to go to that time... It seems odd that she'd tell me to go there for no reason, though the only reason might be because of Merilynn..."
"Oh right, you wanted to go heal her, didn't you?" my best friend remembers. "We need to give Ifalde-san some time, so why don't we head to visit Merilynn first?"
"Might as well... Let's drop by and give Sardon and Cathy our farewells."
Well, it's decided. We know where we're going... even if it is a little out of the way. Keh, we're not any closer to our goal...
We leave Lone Valley and—huh? Dad's handing me back the wing pack... "I trust you won't run off on your own this time?"
"...Yeah." They still trust me... thanks...
I open up the capsule and the Rheairds jump out; we hop back on them and fly back to Euclid, landing just outside, near Sardon's house. He's outside, waving us down with a large grin on his face; his wife and cat are standing next to him. Once we're on the ground, he, Cathy, and their cat Trinedy hurry over to us.
"How'd it go?!" demands the researcher, excited.
"Pretty well. Right, Chester?"
Yeah, I suppose it did... "Yeah. I was able to control my wolf form..."
"Wow! That's so cool! Can I see?"
"I can't change on my own yet..."
"We'll wait, then," Cathy speaks up. "Please... show us at some point..."
"You don't really smell human... you're a wolf...?" Wait a sec, I don't recognize that voice... it's female...
"Who said that...?"
"Who said what?" the steed questions.
"Didn't you hear it?"
"No...?"
"It came from me! Down here!" I glance down to find the white cat. Eh...?
"...You're joking, right?"
"What's wrong?"
"Not only can I hear wolves talk, but I can hear all animals talk...?"
"You can hear Trinedy...?" questions the doctor.
"I think so... Right, kitty?"
"Hm? My name's Trinedy..."
"...Yeah, I can..."
"Wow, Onii-chan! That's so neat!" Ami speaks up. "I wish I could talk to animals!"
The ability to talk to animals... I didn't get any magic or anything, but I got better senses and the ability to talk to animals... is that my tradeoff for becoming a wolf every night...? I would rather... not have any of this. I'd rather be human...
But... I can't change it. Not right now, anyway... Maybe there is no cure, maybe there is... But for now, I guess... "I can be a translator if you want," I offer to my sister.
"Really?" she questions; I nod. "Yay!"
"We really should be going soon..." mutters Dad.
"Okay. We'll try this out when we get our own cat, then?"
"Now hold on... We're not getting a cat."
"Sure we are! You just don't know it yet," I joke.
"We'll discuss this later. For now... Cless?"
"W-wait!" Arche calls out. "I still need a new broom..."
Oh right... I destroyed her broom...
"That's what you fight with, right...?" Cathy questions. "The Arche of this time gave me one of her old ones... I'll go grab it for you..."
"Thanks!"
Cathy hurries off, back to her house.
"So where are you guys headed off to now?" Sardon asks, just as excited as ever.
"The year 2556, when the War of Ancient Civilizations was going on," Dad explains. Whoa, really? Oh right...!
"That's right, Merilynn and her friends are caught up in that stupid war... They're all the rulers of the different kingdoms." Maybe Merilynn's visiting Sauound, if she's in the outskirts of Olive...
"Wow! Be careful!"
"We will."
Sardon's wife returns, the broom in her hands. "Here you go, Arche... and I found a spell book next to it."
The witch happily takes the broom and spell book. "Thank you! I can't wait to start studying this!"
"Oh great, Arche got a new spell... we're all doomed," I joke. "Ow!" She stomped on my foot...!
"Right... We'll be back later!" Cless promises. "Where to, Chester?"
"Outskirts of Olive, January 30th, 2556."
The swordsman nods and holds up the Eternal Sword. "O powerful and mighty Sword of Time... Take us to the outskirts of Olive on January 30th, 2556!"
"See ya!" I call out as I wave to the Lesters. Blue light surrounds out group, and we teleport through time and space.
"Now I see... There is no past... there is no future... there's only now. I've lost... everything... How can I gain anything back in a place with only nothing...? All I can do... is wait here... forever..."
We land in the desert sand. Not too far away, I hear armies... But... what was... "Did you guys hear that voice?"
"Yeah... what was that?" questions Cless.
"I wonder where it came from..." the dove agrees.
"Hey!" Arche yells. That idiot...! "Is anyone—mmh!" I grab her, putting my hand over her mouth, and pull her back.
"Idiot...!" I hiss. "I hear fighting nearby!"
"Where is it...?" Dad questions; I let go of Arche and point. We silently move over that way; we're in the cliffs of the mountains east of Olive...
Down below us, we see a battle going on. Fenrir knights versus Odin knights... The Odin knights look to be winning this battle.
My eyes spot a knight swinging his sword down on a blonde man—the knight's suddenly shot by a laser. Both me and the young man turn to look at where the laser came from. Standing there is a young man with short, white hair, proudly holding his gun up. I think that's what that thing's called, anyway... "You okay, Sauound?"
"Yeah, thanks, Chris!" Wait, Sauound?! I turn to look at him again—I see his back as he fights another knight.
I glance around, at all of the fighters. Sauound's here, fighting the Fenrir knights... is Merilynn here? But... Sauound and Merilynn are friends...!
Ah! There she is...! I see her back, but I'm almost positive that it's her...!
"Hey!" someone calls out. "You there!" Ack, I think he means...
A group of Odin knights surrounds us. Great... just great... "Are you spies for Fenrir?!"
"Sir, they're mostly women and children..."
"They all have weapons! And Fenrir is lead by a queen," the first knight replies. "Let's take them in for questioning!" Keh...! They're not taking me—
Dad holds his arm out to stop me from raising my bow. "We'll be better off if we keep out of the conflict," he whispers. He's probably right, but...
The knights take our weapons. I don't like this... Wait a sec...!
"My name is Chester Barklight," I tell them. "I know Prince Sauound."
"You do, eh...? We'll ask him if he knows you once he's back, then. Come on!" They lead us away from the battle, towards a castle next to a volcano. Wow...! I guess that's where Sauound lives...! Isn't he worried about the volcano erupting, though...?
We soon enter the castle gates; there are knights all around, keeping guard in case of direct attacks on the castle. Wait, but their prince is out in the battlefield! Aren't they worried about that...?
Inside, they lead us down the bright orange and white halls... I bet they're taking us to the dungeon...
"Those people can't seriously be captives," the voice of a young lady speaks up. We all turn to see a young woman with wavy, blue hair flowing down around her body. She has kind blue eyes that match her hair perfectly, and her purple and white dress has many laces and jewels; she's definitely of the upper class... "Most of them are women and children."
The head guard looks annoyed. "They were carrying weapons on them, Lady Hope. The archer claims to know Prince Sauound, but he could easily be lying."
"Eh? A friend of Sauound's...? What's your name?"
"Chester Barklight."
"I've never heard of you..." Keh, great...
Eh? That Chris guy is hurrying this way... "Hey, what's going on here?!" Chris calls out. "I need some people on the magitech weapon, quickly!" Magitech weapon?!
"Yes, Sir!" A few of the guards leave.
"Are these prisoners? What are you doing standing around for? Take them to the dungeon and get back to your positions!"
"Wait, Chris..." Hope stops him. "Have you heard the name 'Chester Barklight' before?"
"Huh? Hm..." He pauses a minute, thinking. "Oh yeah... Sauound mentioned that name thirteen years ago—he was that weird guy that randomly teleported without warning..."
"I'm not weird!"
"Eh? Y-you're that guy?!"
"See there?" Hope asks the guards gently. "It seems he really is a friend of Sauound's... If anyone would know, Chris would."
"Y-yes! Please make yourselves comfortable—Hope will show you around. Sorry we can't do much right now, but it's a little busy out..." As Chris talks, the guards hand us back our weapons. Nice...!
"We can tell. Please, don't let us hold you."
"Thanks. I'll see you later, then!" With that, he hurries off down the hall.
"...He's going to use magitech, isn't he...?" Dhaos sounds pretty annoyed...
"Most likely, but this is the way things ran their course. We should get involved as little as possible," Dad mutters to the angel.
"I know."
"So, shall I show you around then?" offers our guide. "Oh! I almost forgot... My name's Hope. What are your names?"
"I'm Chester; this is my dad, Klarth; my little sister, Ami; Cless; Mint; Suzu; Milard; and Dhaos."
"Hey, what about me?!"
"Oh yeah, and the loud one's Arche."
"Wha?! Hey, at least I stay happy and don't go all angsty!" quips the witch, angry.
"At least I don't constantly annoy everyone!"
She glares at me, and I glare back.
Hope... giggles?! "My, you're all so lively! We haven't had this much cheerfulness in a while!"
"I guess everyone's busy with the war?" the tiger inquires.
"Yes... We're all doing our best, for the country of Odin."
"The country of Odin, hm... Could you tell us some about the country?"
"Eh? What country are you from...?"
"We're from a small island off the coast of the country of Thor; however, we have no alliances with any country, and we'd prefer to keep out of the war," Dad quickly lies. Where did he pull that from so quickly...? Oh wait, he's a history teacher... that might explain it.
"I see... Well, we should not stay standing. I'll show you to the lounge, where we shall talk further." With that, Hope starts walking, and we follow behind her. She leads us through the halls of the castle. Before long, we reach a large room. Everything's so bright in here... and that smell... it smells like flowers... Anyway, the carpet is light orange, while the rugs on top of them are a deep red. There are three couches and a few other chairs, and all the velvet on them is a rich earthy brown. Next to each of the seats are small tables, orange in color, and on top of one is a silver platter with only crumbs on it. All of the furniture is lined in gold. There's a fireplace that's already lit up, keeping the room a nice, cozy temperature. The walls are a same creamy color as the hall walls, and there are large paintings hanging over them. Hey, that painting on the far wall... it's Odin...! The god Odin, I mean...
We all sit down; Cless and I sit down on a couch, and not even a second later, Ami sits between us. Heh, I guess she's still trying for Cless...
...I wonder... if she's scared... of me...
I can't think of that right now; we have other things to worry about.
Such as why the heck Kalinthra threw us in the middle of a battle! First her diary jumps out at us and puts a curse on Arche, and now this?! Geez, is she really trying to help, or is she just out to kill us?!
Speaking of, what is that curse?! Next time I see Kalinthra, I have to ask her!
"So what is it you wish to know?"
"The start of this war was for land, correct?" my father questions.
"Yes... but even more than that, Yggdrasil," Hope explains. "As of now, the great tree is on Thor soil... Once they finish the magitech generator they are currently working on, they will be able to control mana. And when that happens, they will have all but won the war."
"Because of magitechnology?"
"Precisely."
"The kingdoms formed a long time ago, correct?"
"Yes. It was long after their formation that we started developing magitechnology. Then tensions grew... I've actually never seen the world at peace, but I'd like to see it. I believe... the only way that that'll happen is if Aselia is ruled by only one kingdom," the woman says, staring up. "So... I will support Sauound to the end."
"The kingdoms of Odin, Thor, and Fenrir... and the elf colony of Heimdall. I assume they were named after their respective gods?"
That would make sense...
"What are you talking about? There's only the goddess Martel."
...Wait... "What?"
"Well, according to research from our institutes, most of the other gods we believed to be do not exist... The only proven god is Martel." Only proven... so were the gods around at this time...? There's no telling...
"What about Odin, Fenrir, Thor, and Heimdall?" questions Cless.
"You mean the countries?"
"No, the gods..."
"I've never heard of gods by those names..." our hostess says, confused. "Our country's names were based off of an ancient angelic language... they were among the few words we could decipher from it."
"No wonder..." I hear Dhaos mutter. Angelic... he's an angel...
"You know something about this?" I question.
"She's no doubt talking about the ancient Mithan language, as it's known in our culture. I've studied it to some extent... I admit, I was confused as to why your gods names were so similar to words from it."
"'Odin' is derived from the word 'odr'," explains Hope, "which we believe means 'mind' or 'poetry'."
Dhaos nods. "It can also mean 'fury' or 'excitation', depending on its use."
"So they all came from this angelic language...?" Milard questions. "What do the rest mean...?"
"'Thor' means 'thunder', not that that's much of a surprise..." mutters the snake. I hate to admit it, but he's right about that not being a surprise... "'Fenrisulfr' means 'wolf', and 'heimdallr' means 'protector of the home'."
"Eh? Do you work for a research institute, Dhaos-san?" Hope asks. She has no idea...
"No. I studied it... on my own..."
"...Somehow, you don't really strike me as the studying type," Arche pipes up, which causes the angel to glare at her.
"You should consider working for one... Chris would be so excited if he knew you learned that much on your own!"
"Chris is important in the research institutes?" Dad inquires.
"Yes. Not only is he Sauound's best friend, but he's also the head of all research institutes in the country of Odin. He's well-known all over Aselia, from what I hear. Haven't you heard of him...?"
"Well, 'Chris' is a popular name, so I don't know."
"Oh, pardon me. His full name is Christopher K. Lester."
"...You're kidding." I don't believe this... "Another Lester?!"
"Oh, have you met relatives of his?"
Right, she doesn't realize that we're from the future... "Something like that..."
She tilts her head, confused. This isn't good...
"Hope-chan," Milard speaks up. "We've been traveling for a while... would it be possible to have some snacks while we talk?"
"Oh...! R-right, I'm sorry." She stands up and hurries over to the empty tray, which she picks up. "I'll be back shortly with some snacks..." With that, she walks out of the room.
"...We're going to have to be more careful if we don't want anyone to know where we're from," Dad says once she's out of earshot.
"Hey, is that painting bothering anyone else?" questions the weasel as she motions to the painting of the god Odin.
"Yes, I was going to bring that up as well..."
"What's so special about the painting?" questions my sister.
"Oh right! She said they only know of the goddess Martel... so wait..."
"...How can they have a painting of the god Odin if they don't know he exists...?" Suzu asks for me.
"Exactly," Dad says. "We're missing something... Also, the origin of the names of our gods comes from an ancient language used by the angels. I would guess that it was used around Martel's time... meaning that the gods either weren't around or weren't named then."
"Fenrir said they've always been around, but... she has been known to lie..." I add.
"Hm... this trip may be closer intertwined with our objectives than we thought. Just what were these gods of ours...?" Dad asks. "We should probably inquire more about the kingdoms... They weren't named after the gods, which makes me wonder... Were the gods named after the kingdoms, then? Were they around before now? And just who is the person in the painting?"
"Do you think that might be Odin, before he became a god?" suggests Cless.
"If Fenrir was lying, then that is a possibility. However, we can't rule out that they may have the ability to choose their form, like the summon spirits. If that's the case, then he may have just chosen to look like that person for some reason."
"There's something else that bothers me..." mutters the rune caster.
"Yeah, me too," agrees the summoner. "Let's see what other information we can get about these three kingdoms."
That smell... "Hope's on her way back... and she has cookies..."
The others laugh. "Aww, no meat for the wolf?" taunts Arche.
"Shut it!"
Hope returns, the silver tray of cookies in one hand, and a tray of clear glasses of water in the other. "Sorry for the wait! I forgot to ask you what you wanted to drink... If you want something besides water, please let me know."
"Water's perfectly fine," I say.
"Yes. Thank you, Hope-san!" agrees my best friend as the woman passes out the drinks to all of us. She puts the tray of cookies on the small table next to me.
"Onii-chan, can you pass the cookies?"
"Sure..." I reach for the tray—"Ow!" Keh, pure silver...
"Are you okay, Chester-san?" questions our host.
"Yeah, perfectly fine... it's something from earlier..." As I lie, my sister stands up and grabs the tray of cookies herself.
"Be careful, Onii-chan!"
"Yeah, thanks..."
"Well, nice to know that we have someone that can detect pure silver," Dhaos says. "Too many people try to scam you with fake silver..."
"I am not a silver detector! And it's not funny!" Keh, they're laughing!
Our host looks confused again. "Silver detector...?"
"Long story. Anyway..."
"Right. Can you tell us some more about the kingdoms...?" questions my father.
"Well... all of us except the elves are racing to develop the best magitechnology. I hear they're developing a time machine in Thor... and they've already captured and contained Aska, the spirit of light. Plus they have control of Yggdrasil right now... I fear that they'll overpower us and Fenrir before too long..."
The door opens and Chris enters, an excited grin on his face. He holds a thumb up. "Fenrir's army... has retreated!"
"That's wonderful!" Hope exclaims, sounding relieved. "How's Sauound...?"
"He's resting. I told him he had guests, but he doesn't want to see them yet... He'll probably see you tomorrow. Hope, when you're done here, will you show them to the guest chambers?"
"Sure... where are you going, Chris?"
"To take care of our dear prince," he says mockingly, a joking grin on his face. He waves at us and then ducks out of the room, while Hope silently watches his retreat.
"...You like him, don't you?" Mint speaks up.
"E-eh?!"
"Yeah, I could see it all over your face!" agrees the witch. "You should take him!"
"W-well..."
"Hey, what's going on?" I whisper to Cless.
"Beats me..."
"You two are slow!" Ami says with a giggle.
"What's going on, did you ask? I'll tell you what—Hope's in love with Chris!"
"Eh?! Really?!" The woman turns even redder. Hey wait a minute... "Wait, how'd you three know?" The girls start laughing at me. Keh...!
"Boys are so dense!"
"Hey, we are not!"
Milard sighs. "I guess all logical conversation's gone out the window now..."
Hope giggles. "That's fine. It's more fun this way, right?"
"Yes, I agree," says Mint.
"Yep yep! Logical conversation's no fun!"
"Arche, have you ever tried having a logical conversation...?" Heh, Dad beat me to teasing her!
"H-hey, I have!"
"Well then, shall I show you to where you will be staying?" questions our hostess with a giggle.
"Yes, that'd be great," answers the meerkat as we all stand. Hope leads us through the bright halls, past many people hard at work. We reach a pair of large, white and gold doors, but there are some guards talking right in front of them.
"...dispatch your team. We have to find them all quickly!"
"What's going on?" I question.
"Who are you?!"
"Guests of Prince Sauound," Hope quickly inputs.
"Hm... fine. I suggest you stay inside—there are still some Fenrir warriors afoot."
Fenrir warriors... Merilynn was in the battle! I wonder if she's still around...!
The guards walk off, and Hope turns to us. "Well, your area is just past these doors. If you need any help, I'm not far away. Just back were we came from and take the first right; I'm at the end of that hall."
"Thank you. I think we'll rest now," Dad says.
"I'll come let you know when Sauound's ready to see you!"
"Thanks." We wave to her and watch as she hurries down the hall. Fenrir warriors... "You guys thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Let me guess: you want to search for the Fenrir warriors," Cless says. "We did come here to find Merilynn, right?"
"Right! So, let's get searching!" The others nod in agreement, and we walk through the long halls, back the way we came. I think I'd get lost if I went another way... We pass through the lounge again, on our way to the exit. There are already maids here cleaning up... Everyone's so busy around here!
There are the big gray doors that lead outside... I push—wow, they're actually a lot easier to push open than they look!
"Well, it's all desert around, so it shouldn't be too hard to find them, right?" I question.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that..." Suzu speaks up. I hope it's not too hard to find them...
We're in the year 2556, right? And I knew Merilynn from the year 2541... I wonder how much she's changed over fifteen years...
Chester gained the title of Lap Dog. You like being pet, even if you won't admit it to anyone!
Chester gained the title of VIP Friend. You're lucky to know the prince of Odin!
Dhaos gained the title of Well-Studied Angel. It is a title given to one who has studied ancient angelic languages.
Klarth gained the title of Ancient Lineage. It is a title given to one with many ancestors over thousands of years.
Arche obtained the Judgment Spell Book.
