And here's Part 55.
"Ah, yes. I seem to recall a certain crashing of a festival in Grand Chokmah." –Kairi
"Wha—You—We are not encouraging her!" –Asch
Chapter 7.10 – Will o' the Wisp
Part 55
We landed in an open space in the remains of Keterburg, and I frowned. "Why...?"
"Sorreh. Ah... Ah noticed it about the same time ah noticed the warm spot north o' here," Ifrit said. "What... what happened here?"
I grimaced, memories of fire, falling ash and snow, and ligers racing through the streets flashing in front of my mind. "Zion. I... He wanted me to release the seals... So when I refused to cooperate, he started setting the entire town on fire." My feet were carrying me up the half-ruined steps to where the hotel had been.
Ifrit followed me, looking around with a grim expression on his face. "Ah..."
"Don't. Just..." I stopped in front of the memorial and crouched, eyes tracing out familiar names once again. "There were a lot less fatalities than there could have been. And we've got the ligers to thank for that."
Ifrit stood next to me. "Those names..."
"Everyone who died in the blazes. Most of them were in the hotel. There... there'd been a party. Gods... what the hell had I been thinking, racing after Zion in that damn dress?"
I didn't see the memorial stone anymore. I just saw the flames, the faces, everyone I'd seen on my frantic run to get to Nephry's manor, then to attack Zion.
"There's another burnt zone on Mt. Roneal," I said after what could have been a few minutes, or a few hours. I wasn't sure, so lost in the painful reminders of that night.
"Yea. What of it?"
"I did that," I told him. "Lost control of my Energy Core. I was angry, and Zion had just killed Valon..." I let my head hang. "That kid didn't deserve it. I was right on the edge, and then my stabilizer broke. That blaze killed four ligers, including one of the Clan Queens." My fingers brushed against Illeka's name.
Then, knowing full well that nothing would get done if I just sat here all day, I forced myself to my feet and looked at Ifrit. He was still looking around at the destruction, eyes lingering on the memorial every few moments.
Then he looked up at me, and smiled. "Well. Ah've seen worse." He let out a wry snort. "Ah've dealt worse."
I hummed. "Ah, yes. I seem to recall a certain crashing of a festival in Grand Chokmah."
He chuckled. "An' that ain't even mah worst."
"I don't doubt," I replied, in a considerably better mood suddenly. It probably had something to do with the fact that I was sharing a pseudo-joke with the embodiment of fire. "So... anomaly?"
Ifrit nodded, and fire engulfed us again.
This time, when it cleared, we'd landed in Nebillim's Crag.
Which was no longer 'decorated' with icy stalactites.
I gaped a bit as I looked around, and from Ifrit's murmured 'whoa', he was as awestruck as I was.
It was like someone had taken Tataroo Valley's flora and merged it with Aramis Spring, except it was warm. Undeniably so.
It was... a small patch of paradise. Beautiful, and totally secluded from the world. Not just within the Crag, either, from what I could see of the space just outside it.
I raced over to one of the rock walls and started climbing, looking to get a good look of everything from above. I stuck close to the edges of the Crag, and wasn't disappointed when I looked out over what had once been fields of solid ice and snow.
For roughly three miles all around the Crag, the ice and snow had given way to green prairies. It was... strange, and it left me breathless.
How did all of this get up here? The flowers, the grasses... this area had been covered in snow for so long, nothing should have still been alive.
One of Sylph's veela danced past me, then paused and turned, dancing in front of me for a bit before flying off, a multitude of seeds in its winds.
I smiled. Well. That answered that question. I wondered if Sylph was aware of what her veela were up to. After all, Ifrit may have assigned his hellhounds to help out in Daath, but that didn't mean he knew exactly what they were doing at all times. It was very unlikely that Sylph had realized her little monsters were helping to turn this sudden warm zone into a paradise.
"Heh... 'S amazing the amount of work a few veela and some eggbears can do, huh?"
Wait... Eggbears?
I glanced down, and was just in time to spot an eggbear almost delicately trailing its claws along the ground. Another veela, also carrying seeds in its winds, dropped the seeds in the careful gouges in the ground.
I smiled as the eggbear made a folding gesture with its paws, and the earth closed up again.
So that was how they'd pulled this off.
"Myno's definitely got plenty o' influence in this area. He's the one keepin' it warm," Ifrit started. "An' any o' the monsters 'at come through 'ere... There 'is, now. Sorta. If Gnome 'an Sylph call 'em back, they'll go, but..."
I hummed. "They look like they're enjoying themselves, at least," I said. "And it's not like they don't have water. With all of the snow..."
"Yeah, they been usin' up a lotta it ta get the plants ta grow, but at least the ground ain't pure mud anymo'."
I nodded, looking around with a grin. "It's beautiful."
Ifrit just hummed, happy to stay up on the ledge with me and out of the way of the veela and eggbears. After all, the veela may have been informed that I was a friend, but I was a human, which meant the eggbears would want nothing to do with me.
At all.
"Wha' if we put the replicas here?" Ifrit asked. "Build a sanctuary."
I frowned, looking around at all of the plants. Though...
"The majority of the planting seems to be going on inside the Crag still," I noted. "And we've got miles of prairie out there."
"And another couple o' miles o' mud still, but they're gettin' there."
"We could probably build a small village just outside the Crag. Set it aside as a shrine to the lesser spirits, perhaps?"
Ifrit hummed. "Sounds like a good idea ta me. The six 'at kept us sealed, an' the others... They deserve the recognition. Just 'cause mah siblin's an' ah are the strongest seven, don't mean we're the only sentient life born o' collected fonons. An' while most o' the minors are mixed fonons... well."
"Syal, Myno, the other four, and Kade, technically, would count on that level as well... They're different."
Ifrit grimaced. "Kade technically belongs on our level," he said, the reluctance in his very tone telling me how much he didn't want to admit to that. I hummed. I supposed he was right. Kade was a giant mass of contained miasma...
Which explained a lot about the whole 'Agent of the Miasma' title.
Kade was the miasma.
"So, we move the replicas here to keep them safe from Rem, who knows they were at the top of the Tower, set the Crag aside as a shrine to the lesser spirits, and leave them be. Hopefully, the influence from Myno and the sheer amounts of veela will keep Gnome away."
"Assumin' we even need ta worry 'bout that. Gnome hates humans as they've become... He didn' used ta, an' ah doubt he'd bother the replicas if they mind their own business."
I hummed. "Well, shall we head back to Eldrant? We know what's going on here, now..."
Ifrit nodded. "Yeah. Betta tell Asch or someone 'bout it so we can get the replicas moved." He reached over and rested an arm around my shoulders. A moment later, we were enveloped in flames, and when they cleared, we were back right where we'd left from.
And Guy was scrambling away, looking half-panicked before he recognized me and Ifrit.
At which point, he sighed. "Guess that's my own fault for sitting over here. You and Asch did kinda claim this tree for yourselves..."
I snorted. "Speaking of Asch, where'd he run off to?"
"Uh, pretty sure Jade wanted to talk to him about something," Guy said. "Why?"
I hummed. "Might as well come with us. Depending on how many sentiences we feel like dragging into this, it might take a while. Though, credit to Lorelei for managing to get all of them from the top level of the Tower to a lower level."
"Huh? Are we moving the replicas again?" Guy asked.
I smiled and started walking, field expanding over Eldrant as I worked on pinpointing Asch and Jade. Who were already standing right next to each other. Along with Peony and Luke.
Curses.
"I think Luke and Jade found something. Otherwise, we wouldn't have a congregation of nobles and generals all in one spot," I mused. "And yes, we're moving them. Too high a risk of Rem simply destroying the Tower if she thinks it could harbor humans within."
"Good point. But they already said—"
"They'd like to stay autonomous. I know. That's why we're going to send them to the little sanctuary Myno seems to be spearheading the creation of. And on that note, where's Anise? If we're going to do that, we should probably talk to Myno, and I didn't think to go down to the remains of his monolith to ask while we were there." I paused. "Then again, eggbears."
Ifrit chuckled at the utterly baffled look Guy was wearing, and I sighed, a smile at the corner of my lips. "Come on. I'd really rather not try to explain this more than once," I said, leading the way to Asch and the others. From the less-than-subtle but not-quite-active nudges against my field, I figured Asch was using it to keep tabs on me just like I was using it to find him.
It was interesting, and something I'd have to ask him about sometime.
We managed to pick up Selenia and Anise along the way, much to my amusement. Somehow, while those two had started off eternally at odds, they'd become good friends recently. Notably after the Grand Chokmah argument, but still...
"Anise? Do you mind if I talk to Myno for a moment?" I asked. Anise blinked up at me, then handed over her new mace a bit reluctantly.
"I still haven't figured out how to summon him yet," she murmured. I smiled.
"That's alright, it shouldn't take me long," I replied, accepting the weapon and listening.
'You don't need to ask permission. I heard most of that thanks to Ifrit,' Myno said. 'I think it's a great idea. Not quite what I had in mind, but still an excellent idea...' There was a moment's pause, and I got the impression that he had something else he wanted to say. 'Ah... Can I pick the name?'
I hummed. *Got something in mind?* I asked, using the physical contact with Anise's mace to work as a conductor for my telepathy.
'Oh, neat trick. And, um...' He sighed. 'Not really?'
*You just want the final say in it,* I murmured, amused. *Well, given the apparent love of Norse Mythology in the Tales games, I guess that'd be a good place for me to start with suggestions...*
'Anything come to mind when I say green?' Myno asked.
I snorted. Because the first thing that came to mind was Loki.
Though...
Running through the names of the other Asgardians that had been shown in the Thor movie, I smiled. *What about Fandral?*
I could practically see Myno jumping. 'Perfect!'
I chuckled. *All things considered, I think so too,* I replied. Then, carefully pulling away mentally, I handed the mace back over to Anise. "Thanks."
It didn't take us too much longer to get to where Asch was, and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders.
"Hey. What'd I miss?" I asked.
I spotted the shadows lengthening just before Shadow materialized and crossed his arms. "Gnome's started using the eggbears to control the other monsters. It sounds like he's about to mount an attack on St. Binah..."
He was silent for a moment, glancing around worriedly, and when Myre dropped down from where she'd been hiding on the ledge up above, I realized what this meant.
"I guess... this was about where things started going to hell in a handbasket before?" I asked.
Myre grimaced. "'Hell in a handbasket' was back in Baticul. This... this is a lot of little demon children realizing there's toys to play with."
I snorted. Well, that analogy was rapidly spiraling out of control.
"Noted. So, a few things... Where's Lorelei, who's coming with us to the Tower of Rem so we can relocate the replicas, and how fast do we have to get that done so I can jump into the fight at St. Binah? Because I'm overdue a good long slaughter session."
Asch twisted his head around at what had to be an uncomfortable angle to give me an odd look, and I smiled. "What? I'm bored."
A solid-sounding smack! had me glancing around, and somehow, the fact that it was Myre facepalming told me almost as much as the small smile I could see past her arm did.
"Lorelei was right. You are all sorts of unpredictable and that might just be enough to trip Gnome up."
Jade adjusted his glasses and sighed. "I suggest you find some clothes you don't mind getting ruined, then. If I remember correctly, you tend to leave bloodbaths in your wake when we unleash you in the middle of a large group."
Asch made a choking sound. "Wha—You—We are not encouraging her!"
I hummed. "So... you're going to stop your bored-as-hell girlfriend from slaughtering monsters because... why?"
"One, bored-as-hell fiancé." Ooh, finally finalized, huh? "I'd really like you to live long enough for me to marry you. Two... I thought the point of not forcibly altering your mindscape again was to keep you mostly sane?"
"Asch, love... If you wanted me to act sane, you should have let me put the meadows and night sky back. The lovely volcanic plains are the source of what comes out to play when I launch bloodbaths like these. Besides, me going psycho on the monsters is a good thing. I'm not going psycho on the poor innocent humans."
Asch was silent for a moment.
"There is something really sideways somewhere in your head, isn't there?"
The chuckle that followed that was demonic enough to have everyone looking at me worriedly.
"Box up the monster, put on the mask, and no one will ever know it's there. Do it in reverse, and suddenly the monster's all that's left. Stop halfway... and you end up with people like me and Jade," I replied. "Yes. There's something very much broken somewhere in my head. And that cage isn't perfect. Best to just point the monster in the right direction and watch."
Fun Fact: Credit to black k kat's 'reverse' for that last line. That is an amazing Naruto story, and deserves recognition. (Also, those should be periods, not spaces, but the site registers it as a link otherwise, because it's dumb.)
On a totally different note... Ifrit has a line in this chapter that is important. Very important.
"Syal, Myno, the other four, and Kade, technically, would count on that level as well... They're different."
Ifrit grimaced. "Kade technically belongs on our level," he said, the reluctance in his very tone telling me how much he didn't want to admit to that.
...Yeah. That line. Right there.
That is going to become very important in about two chapters. Because remember that imbalance Myre mentioned earlier due to Lorelei remaining unsealed? Mm-hm. –nods and wanders off to continue plotting-
