Tales of Faith

Formation Arc – Luca Side

Chapter 48: Falling Down

Dusted Dunes

Thieves' Hideout

"This is where Irvine's being kept, right?" Kite asked Luca as everyone walked through the craggy area. There wasn't anything to dub this cavern, so everyone settled the name as "Thieves' Hideout". The place, as an interior area, was very dark especially without any lights. Thankfully, after their evolutions, Cress and Van illuminated a wide radius and everyone could see more clearly while traversing in the cavern. Luca nodded in response. "Well, at least from what Terra told me…"

Kite brushed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm…" He looked around the surroundings. "Is it just me… or did we already arrive at this point before?" Everyone else took note of their surroundings. In front of them was a branch of three paths. They'd entered the left one… but everything looks the same when they reached the end of the path. they took the right path next… but the result was still the same. And now, they've entered the central path… but here they are.

"Have we?" Arturo mumbled. "But, could there be rooms with exactly the same design?"

Celsius pondered for a moment. "I believe that there must be a distortion of some sort affecting this place." She hypothesised. "I do sense Shadows in here, after all."

"You may be right." Van agreed. "I felt uneasy when we passed through the entrance. But… a distortion?" Celsius nodded. "A distortion is an anomaly. It makes everything normal… unnormal. Like, for instance, this branch will force us to return to this place if we don't find out the right path."

"The bandits made their hideout in a Shadow-infested area?" Alvin said. "Either that is smart, or just plain dumb."

"But, we took three different paths in three different rooms!" Cress said. "There's no way we'd wind up here!"

"…No. We've entered the same place three times."

Everyone turned to Nin. They saw the ninja talking to several of his Substitutes before he dismissed them. The Ninjask fluttered back to them. "Oh, yeah. You were the last one of us all to enter the paths." Alvin scratched his head.

"After the first path, I made clones and ordered them to disperse in the other directions we didn't take." Nin said. "Most of them returned here, in the end. No matter what path we see here, it'd take us back to here."

"We'd return here, no matter what?" Heart said.

"Then, how we find the thieves!? If we're gonna keep going literal circles!" Taro shouted.

"One of my clones noticed something odd." Nin explained. He first looked at several stones around the room. "These stones always point at a specific direction…" He then gazed at a particular section of a wall. "Look at the light." Nin instructed. Everyone did so and realized that there was no light on the wall.

"Light isn't resting on the wall!" Kite exclaimed. Nin nodded, heading to the said wall without any light. He moved a hand towards it. Instead of resting on it, his hand phased through the "wall". "We have our next path. Let's proceed on." Nin said. He fluttered through the newly discovered path, passing through the "wall".

Reaching the end of the new path, the Crystal Bearers found themselves in a new area. There were many statues embedded in the walls. A long, spiral, staircase extended from the base, heading upwards. There were no barriers on the spiral staircase, meaning that if anyone fell from higher up, they'd most likely suffer major injuries or most likely, death. And speaking of falling, there appeared to be broken pieces of bones surrounding the center… adding to the stench surrounding the room.

"…We have to go all the way up there…?" Alvin said. He didn't sound too happy…

"…At least it'd be a good workout for some of us." Van said, walking up first. Nin, Celsius and Arche took flight in the center of the room, all three of them at level under Van's location on the stairs. Everyone else soon followed Van, with Cress being the last. They kept going up the staircase, being careful not to fall off from the center. They kept on running… and running… and running…

"I c-can't keep running…" Lucille stopped to catch her breath. Kite turned to see her and headed over to her. He knelt down with his back facing her. "Here. You can get on me, Lucille." Kite offered. Lucille gasped lightly. "Come on." Kite said, inviting her on his back. Lucille lowered her head for a while before she got on Kite's back, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Up we go!" Kite stood up and resumed walking. Taro snickered lightly to himself. "Kite-kun~…" He sang as he continued ascending playfully.

"Whew! These stairs are really taking a toll on you…" Alvin was slowing down with his climb, taking a few breaths. Raven turned around, chuckling. "I suppose stairs aren't part of your expertise as a mercenary, hm?"

"Real funny, man…" Alvin said.

Raven tilted his hat. "Then again, these bones are quite weary for someone my age. Say, Cress… Would you be so kind to–"

Cress walked past him. "Not happening. Now, run ahead of me." She told Raven. The Zoroark just chuckled, tilting his hat down. "I haven't even finished what I said." He said, catching up with Cress very quickly despite his earlier claim. Alvin breathed heavily. "I-I can't… take another step…" he wheezed.

"Will you stop being a retard and keep running!?" Cress shouted at Alvin.

"I heard you already!" Alvin said, resuming his running. "I heard you!"

…Eventually, everyone made it at the top of the spiral, taking a long rest. Alvin was heaving and wheezing to the point that he needed refreshments immediately. Kite had already helped Lucille down and most of everyone here were already at the next passageway present on the top of the staircase.

"Phew…" Van wiped the accumulated sweat from his forehead. "That was one long run…"

"I found something~!" Taro floated over to Celsius, his hands holding onto a rather appealing stone-crafted hairpin. Celsius turned to the Banette doll, examining the hairpin. She nodded. "This hairpin has magical powers. More specifically, reducing earth-based damages caused within a certain radius around me… I must thank you, Taro." Taro giggled bashfully, wiggling his body about.

Luca panted, his legs rather wobbly from the long run. He had a bit of difficulty getting up from where he sat. "I think we had enough rest, Arche…" He talked to the princess. Arche turned to look at everyone. They all appear to be ready, including Alvin. She turned to Luca. "Okay. Let's go on."

Heading through the passageway at the top of the staircase, the Crystal Bearers found themselves at a wide space. Paths branched out, below and above each other as puzzling paths, leading to "unknown" territory. Some of the paths led to wider platforms which had other connected paths around it. Although… once they entered, they immediately met the sight of Shadows roaming the paths and platforms.

"Finally." Alvin drew out his gunblades at the Shadows. "We've went through hell before you all decide to show up, you know!?"

All of the nearby Shadows' attention were brought towards the Crystal Bearers.

"Why did you do that…?" Kite sighed.

"Who cares? We'll be taking them down, anyway." Alvin reasoned, shooting a Shadow down. Everyone else sighed, readying themselves for imminent battle.


"Luca! Break down those paths!" Arche called out as a wave of Shadows approached them. Luca, in the Ground Crystallus form, clenched both of the sand fists hovering around him as he dove down towards the Shadows. "Earthsplitter!" Luca announced, slamming both fists onto the rock path, causing them to crumble down and bring the land-bound Shadows along with the shattered path. The light brown shadings around his robe shimmered as he charged a fist, swinging it upwards. "Stone Dragon Ascent!" He shouted, performing an uppercut, bringing forth earthly energy from beneath him and struck down some of the aerial Shadows.

Raven drew out his cards, throwing them at the Shadows Luca had not hit. After every card made their mark, he snapped his claw. The cards all detonated, harming and killing Shadows caught in the explosions. The remaining Shadows were all made quick work of the rest of the team, especially Nin, who kept speeding through Shadow by Shadow with lethal slashes.

Everyone else took a look after the Shadows had been defeated. "Looks like we can carry on, for now." Cress said.

'Sire Caeruleum very close now.'

Cress nodded as Luca landed, dismissing his Crystallus. "That's a relief… I'd thought we'd be here longer." Luca said. Everyone turned to the path ahead of them. Well, at least the one that wasn't destroyed in the midst of the battle.


"…You sure that this is even an aristocrat?" One of the thieves shook his head. "His personality isn't even dignified…"

"MMMRRRRRPH! RRRRRGHGHGHGH! MRGRGRGRGRFFFFFFFFFFFF!" Irvine screamed furiously through the gag tied around his beak. His tied feet trashed around while he amusingly bounced around from his spot.

"…" The other two thieves stared at the struggling Empoleon. "…As much as I'd hate to do it… But it'd be better if we kill him right now."

"RRRRGH!?" Irvine shot his eyes at the thieves. "MMMMRRRRRRGHGHGHH! GRRGGGGRGGHHHH!"

"…All in favour?" The first thief spoke, drawing out a knife. The other thieves stared at him and then nodded. But before they could get close to Irvine, the Crystal Bearers rushed in the room.

"…What?" The thieves were looking at the Crystal Bearers. Irvine could see them as well lying on his side. "MMMRPH MPH RRPH MM RRRPH!?" He shouted, the gag muffling up all his words. "Let Irvine go!" Arche said, her hand reaching for her shortsword.

"This doesn't look so hot, whaddya think we're gonna do?" One of the thieves from behind whispered. "It's bad enough that those two from earlier decimated our group…" The thief in front muttered. "We're screwed if we even attempt to resist, so…" The trio of thieves nodded to each other and turned to Irvine. The thieves carried him up, turning cautiously towards the Crystal Bearers while holding Irvine in front of them. They took a few more steps forward, and they suddenly shoved Irvine to the group. As they caught the Empoleon, they turned to the thieves only to be greeted with a smoke bomb. After the smoke cleared off, the Crystal Bearers could not find the thieves anywhere…

"Are you alright, Irvine?" Arche asked while Van and Arturo helped remove the gag around Irvine's beak. Then, they heard an explosion and turned to where they came from. The walls had collapsed, sealing their only exit and trapping them in the room.

Irvine tossed the gag away, furious. "THOSE F**KING BASTARDS!" Irvine kicked his foot up, spraying dust in front of him. Kite covered Lucille's ears, unhappy with the choice language coming out of Irvine's cursing beak. He randomly turned to a direction, pointing at Nin specifically. "And who is this-Eh?" He lowered his flipper. "Aren't you that ninja I saw at the Waiting Room!?"

"…" Nin didn't say anything.

"Um, Irvine… This is Nin Azura. He's a Crystal Bearer, like us." Arche explained to Irvine.

"A Crystal Bearer!? For real!?" Irvine continued to look at the Ninjask. "Cool scar you got there! Where'd you get it?"

"…" Nin still didn't say anything.

"…We have to find a way out." Kite said, to quickly quell the imminent situation that was about to happen on the topic of Nin's scar. "We're not sure that if we blast the blocked exit, the entire room will cave down on us. We'll have to find another way for safety…"

"Dream on!" Irvine turned around and rested his back on the stone wall. "As if an entrance is gonna show up outta–W-W-Woooaa-!?" Irvine was cut off when he suddenly felt nothing to rest on and subsequently lost his balance, toppling down on the stairway which appeared from beneath the entrance Irvine coincidentally revealed when he pushed a segment with his back. "Stairs!" Kite said.

"A-Are you alright…?" Lucille called out to the stairs as the sounds came to a stop.

"MY BACK F**KING HURTS!" Irvine's shout reverberated from beneath.


With the stairway as their only path out of the room, the Crystal Bearers made it to the end of the stairway with no difficulty, and recovering Irvine from his 'injuries', they entered a large room. The room had columns extending to the other side like a hallway, symbols engraved in all of the columns. Sand was spread across the entire flooring of the room. And at the opposite end of the room from where the entrance was, two figures stood by, examining the hieroglyphics on the walls.

"Are you done yet?" Questioned the larger and taller figure to the smaller figure. The large figure was clad in heavy armor and a large steel club was hanging from the back of the armor. The smaller figure kept looking around the hieroglyphs. "Be patient, I'm just nearly… done."

"…Hm?" The large figure turned around, noticing uninvited guests. As the figure revealed its' face, it was shown to be a Tyranitar. This particular Tyranitar, however, had dirt-coloured skin. "And who are you all?" He spoke deeply. The other figure, clad in robes, turned around as well. The smaller Oranguru stared at the Crystal Bearers. "…Ah, I see now." The tone of the Oranguru was calm and collected, completely unfazed. "You must all be the Crystal Bearers."

The Oranguru waved his fan down, and almost immediately, Shadows all formed in front of him.

"Did he just summon Shadows!?" Cress exclaimed.

"Come, Fang." The Oranguru turned around. "We're done here." The Tyranitar turned to the Crystal Bearers, then to the Shadows and nodded. With that, the Oranguru drew out a small back cube from his robes, throwing it ahead. The cube expanded and formed a portal. The Tyranitar halts first to look at the Crystal Bearers, then turned back and headed in the portal. The Oranguru prepares to leave as well before he is called out.

"At least tell us who you are!" Arche said. "How are you able to summon Shadows!?"

"…Very well. I am the Gravekeeper, Horus." The Oranguru calmly said. "The Tyranitar you saw is Fang, the Warlord. We're part of the Shadow Warriors."

'Shadow Warriors…' Luca recalled hearing that name back in Mare.

"There are three more like us, and we serve the Traitor of Heaven." Horus stated. "And I shall give a warning, and for good measure. Do not stand in our way, or you shall forever be our foes." Then, Horus turned around, entering the portal before it closed from existence.

"Wh-What does that mean…?" Lucille said. "T-Traitor of Heaven…?"

"I don't know…" Cress said, bringing out her sledgehammer. "But if we don't get rid of these Shadows now, we're in a world of hurt!"

"Cress's right." Heart nodded holding her rod. "We need to defeat these Shadows first before we can talk."


Everyone struggled at the large wave of Shadows summoned by Horus, although they made it victorious in the end as the last Shadow dissolved into nothing.

"Phew…" Kite panted. "That Earthen Hairpin Celsius held really helped us… All of the Shadows used earth-based techniques…"

"Everyone's alright, right?" Vanille said, turning to the rest of the group. Her head turned to the hieroglyphs on the wall. Pausing, she continued to look at the engraved symbols for a while. As if in a trance, Vanille trudged like a zombie towards the wall. Everyone else soon noticed her scanning the wall with her eyes.

"Vanille, what's wrong?" Luca asked.

"These words… They are…" Vanille started to say when the room suddenly shook.

"W-What is this!?" Arturo exclaimed.

"These tremors… they're not natural." Celsius said.

In the middle of the room, the tiles fell apart, revealing a large pit from beneath the floor.

"T-The shit is this!?" Irvine shouted. Then, he felt his feet dragging slowly towards the hole.

"The gravity!" Van exclaimed. "It's dragging us into the hole!"

Everyone struggled to push themselves away from the pit, but the unseen force was too strong. One by one, each of them was pulled into the pit, falling through oblivion itself… The only ones who hadn't been pulled into yet are Vanille, Luca and Arche. Luca could feel his grip slipping very soon… He noticed a raised tile and grabbed it in an attempt to keep himself to the ground. It didn't work. The tile was pulled out and consequently, making Luca lose his grip as he was pulled into the pit. "W-Whooooooah!"

"Luca!" Vanille let go of the floor and was pulled into the pit. She quickly caught Luca with her hands. They both were sucked in by gravity, plummeting into the pit…

"No!" Arche exclaimed.

Chapter 48 End


Current Party:

Luca R. Ezperanda – Crystallizer (The one who connects with Crystals. He hopes for a bright future with the assistance of the Crystals.)

Weapon: Rune Staff (Staves)

Cloudia Vanille – Bowsword Trainee (She still has ways to go, but she'll perfect this art… eventually.)

Weapon: Ancient Bowsword (Bowsword)

Arturo Carpaice – Reunited Traveller (It may be fate, that brought him to their group.)

Weapon: Ancient Lute (Sword Lute)

Cress LaVeda – Awakened Resolve (A disaster, it was… But she has moved on… For the future…)

Weapon: Rune Hammer (Sledgehammer)

Heart Burkwood – Cleric (The blessed light continues to grow within her… She shall continue healing those in need)

Weapon: Ancient Rod (Rods)

Alvin – Experienced Mercenary (This skilled warrior shows no quarter, he means business.)

Weapon: Serpentis (Dual Gunblades)

Kite Maxwell – Brother Figure (Showing great care is nice, to the little girl he worries for…)

Weapon: Stone Greaves (Greaves)

Lucille Ostend – Timid Girl (This girl may not have much to say, but it seems that she has her own thoughts…)

Weapon: Comet Wand (Wand), Taro

Raven – Shady Guy (Who is this strange individual? Everything seems to give off an air of suspicion…)

Weapon: Four of Spades (Cards)

Irvine fal Isberg – "Damsel" (…Someone who has to be constantly saved by others… what a fate…)

Weapon – Rare Sword (Longsword)

Celsius – Ice Spirit (The legendary spirit who governs the northern winds. Her powers are not to be trifled with…)

Weapon – Barehanded, Earthen Hairpin (Hairpin)

Van Grantieur – Free-spirited Swordsman (No longer feeling bound by anything, this warrior now treks on his path made by his own choices)

Weapon – Crimson Blitz (Broadsword)

Nin Azura – Ninja (Individuals who specialize in ninjutsu to turn the tides of battle)

Weapon – Lai Katana (Katana)