Author's Notes: I know that it has been a slog for me to get this fic completely posted, but we're done to 13 chapters after this, so I'm committing to get the rest of this posted by the end of February. If you're still reading, thank you for sticking with me this long, and I hope you enjoy the remainder of this ride.
"That's it! Have Ba'ul set us down right there!" Rita shouted, pointing off the Fiertia's railing to a strange rock formation nestled on the peninsula just north of Caer Bocram, called East Swendle Island.
"It's peculiar that Garista had these krenes mapped out, although it is handy," Judith said, watching Ba'ul above, her distant eyes and calm mind communicating with her partner.
"His notes mention an experiment of some sort, but it looks like it fell through somewhere."
"It probably had to do with his close call at Ceazontania," Yuri said.
"Ceazontania..." Rita stroked a bit of her hair and turned to him. "Are you ever going to explain what happened there? This isn't the first time you've brought it up."
"You mentioned it once before when we were in Caer Bocram," Estellise added.
Flynn didn't want to be reminded of that place again, the place where his father may have died, but Yuri explained it quickly and concisely. The memory of his time there had to be painful, too.
"There was a krene in an ancient castle there, and from what I can tell, he was manipulating the flow of the aer, which was causing the local monsters to rapidly increase in numbers and be incredibly vicious. After the trouble was reported, Alexei sent the Royal Guard to investigate. The blastia they retrieved was strange and they said that it was a piece of ancient technology, but the truth is that was a device of Garista's creation."
"What was that idiot thinking...?" Rita shook her head.
Ba'ul dropped them gently on the peninsula and hovered above with the Fiertia. As they approached the rocky outcropping, a strange tingling lingered on Flynn's skin. Although the path was easy, covered in soft grass, the feeling in the air was that no one had walked here for a long time, that this place was sacred and untouched by humans. It wasn't threatening feeling at all. It was calming.
He and Yuri easily moved aside the slab of stone that covered the front and they entered the cave behind it. It was cool and damp and quiet, and a brief walk brought them to an open cavern housing a spring. But rather than water, the soft green glow of gathered aer was here, illuminating the crystals caused by the abundance and lighting up the cave. Even Rita was astonished by this sight. It was much grander than the tiny krene they found in the Weasand of Cados.
"It's beautiful..." Estellise said softly, stepping forward into the green light of the cavern.
Awe subsided into nervousness. They were close to performing an experiment that seemed well planned, but even Rita had her doubts. If this went wrong, the overflow of the aer could make the state of the world worse and plunge them faster into darkness. That thought didn't seem to deter Yuri though.
"So, how are we going to do this?" He took a long look around before turning to Rita.
"I'm going to make an aer converter. The plan is to convert the aer into matter over the course of stages, where it will be stabilized, thus decreasing the amount of aer. I'll stop the transition between the two stages and develop a formula to convert it."
"So it won't be aer or matter?" Karol asked.
"No. It's going to be in a state closer to matter, but still not that concrete. We call it 'mana'."
"Mana..." Estellise said.
"Yes. And because it won't be as stable as matter, we will need something to act as a core."
"You mean the apathetia?" Flynn asked.
"That's right. Along with a lot of aer and Estelle's power to recombine it." She took a few steady steps toward the edge of the pool of aer, peering down into it.
"Only our little genius mage Rita would have thought of sumthin' like this," Raven added.
"I had some help. The Shrine of Zaude was full of useful information."
"Oh? Like what?" Yuri asked.
"Alexei thought that Zaude was a weapon, but he was mistaken. My investigation showed that it was a barrier blastia large enough to protect the whole world, and yet it didn't run on aer." Rita kept her eyes fixed on the yellow-green pool, biting her lip.
"So what did it run on?" Estellise asked.
"The Children of the Full Moon," Judith answered softy, her crimson eyes calm but sad.
Estellise gasped, looking to Rita for an answer of some sort that Rita didn't appear to be quite ready to give.
She said it anyway, fighting through the truth that had to be just as hard on her as it would be on Estellise. "The core of Zaude runs on a perpetual formula, one who's energy was likely taken in exchange for their lives."
"The light of life extinguished from the Children of the Full Moon... That's what it meant on the tablet Khroma showed us. The Children of the Full Moon were protecting us this whole time." Estellise took a deep breath and fell silent. There was no way that the impact of this couldn't weigh on her. The lives of her ancestors had been sacrificed in exchange for the world, and at one point, they believed that she also had to follow the same path as a offering to the Adephagos to keep it at bay.
She took a tentative step toward the largest of the aer crystals, jutting out of a peninsula in the aer spring. He next step seemed firmer, calmer, more resigned.
"Estelle..." Rita muttered.
"I'm ready. What do we have to do?"
"I'm going to release the control formula. The krene is going to react and produce more aer as a result. Using your power, I need you to recombine the excess aer along the formula into a more stable state."
"I don't understand."
Flynn had a basic idea behind the concept, but he was no mage, and without the formal knowledge of the formula, there was no way the someone like himself and Estellise would have any idea about how to do what Rita was instructing. Rita seemed to catch onto that pretty quickly though, and took a second to find an alternate explanation.
"Okay... Right now, we're really close to the sea, right? So that means that the element of water is strong here and has a lot of influence in the aer. What I want you to do, is imagine flowing water and let the aer flow through you like that. It's the same theory as doing magic. And if you can do that, I should be able to guide the aer into the apathetia."
"What do we need to do to help?" Karol asked.
"Nothing. Just stay out of the way."
"We could use the converter formula we found at Zaude," Judith said, voice as calm as ever, although the fact the Rita didn't mention such a formula earlier bothered Flynn.
The mage turned to Judith, her mouth open and her eyes wide. After a second, the shock melted into anger. "No way! That formula is for substituting life energy for aer. Your life! Don't you understand what that means?!"
"If this fails, we'll all die anyway, right?" Yuri interjected, and Rita turned her venom on him.
"If it doesn't work efficiently, you could die, you moron!"
"We're all risking our lives here. Let us help," Flynn added.
Rita turned, huffing angrily. "Fine. We'll try it. I'll use your life energy to guide the aer into the apathetia. If we do it like that, Estelle should be able to feel the proper flow of aer."
"Everybody on board with this?" Yuri looked around, and not a single nay was given. "All right."
"Get over here. Are you ready, Estelle?" Rita asked.
"Yes."
Rita whipped out her scarf, drawing its dark fabric taut between her fingers. She spun with it a moment, summoning a stark white arte field beneath her, and stopped a second later on a heavy step.
Estellise began to glow as the formula containing her power unraveled, and as soon as it had the aer crystal behind her turned from green to red as it began to overproduce. She was surprised at first, but remained calm, clutching Belius's apathetia tightly in her hands.
Flynn was forced to one knee, the weight of the aer smothering him, forcing the air from his lungs. Beside him, Yuri groaned, clutching his abdomen, brow furrowed in pain, and the others likewise. Estellise was the only one unaffected, and although her concern for them was plain on her face, Rita urged her onward.
The moments that this lasted seemed endless, the weight almost unbearable and the feeling of the strength in his body leaving him chilling.
"Good. It's working..." Rita gasped softly, watching the apathetia. "It's collecting properly... the force field is stable. It's... It's going to be okay." She shrunk a little into herself, the pain hard on her girlish form.
"Rita?" Estellise asked, sharp and concerned.
"I'm fine. Don't stop. It's working. We're almost there." Her breath was short, but just like everyone else, she was fighting it.
The glow around Estellise grew once more, so bright that it blocked out her image completely and from the orb housing her, a shriek resonated.
"Lady Estellise!" Flynn tried to stand.
"Did it not work?" Karol asked, panic as they all were.
"No. It's still under control." With a swipe of her hand, Rita opened the control panel, watching its readings as she fought to catch her breath. "Everything is still normal. I... I just can't figure out what the apathetia is doing. Its formula is changing."
The light faded, receded back as the pressure of the aer lessened, leaving them feeling weak but relieved. Flynn looked up instinctively, and Judith and Yuri with him to the space where Estellise and Rita's sight was fixed.
Above them was a radiant woman, skin like sea foam and long hair like the sky. Clad in robes of green and blue she seemed to float above them, regarding them with calm, narrow eyes.
I am... Flynn recognized the voice instantly, the soft flow of water, rippling across rocks.
"Belius? Is that you?" Judith asked.
Yes... I am what remained of the will of Belius. But no longer truly the Entelexeia Belius am I... but something brand new. I can feel the waters of the whole world at my command. She cast her head about as if examining the surrounding of the krene before fixing on them again. Humans, what am I?
"If you are able to control nature at it's very source..." Flynn stroked his chin thoughtfully, thinking back to the tales of his childhood of the creatures of the essences of nature. "A spirit, maybe?"
A spirit... yes. I believe that term is most accurate. and now that you have given me a new life, will you give me a name to fit this new form?
Karol opened his mouth, but Yuri stopped him with a hand on his shoulder before the boy could come out with something embarrassing.
"What about 'Undine'?" Estellise asked.
Undine...
"Yes. It means 'she who is the ancient ruler of the waters'."
This pleases me. Hence forth, I shall be Undine, the Spirit of Water.
Rita was still left astonished, mumbling to herself as she tried to calculate out in her head what had happened. It hadn't been part of her equation, but there was no reason that this new development couldn't work in their favor. Flynn had to admit that he had been thrown for something of a loop as well.
There is a disturbance outside.
"Whaddya mean?" Raven asked.
Let us go and we shall see.
Without another word, she disappeared in a flash of water and they were left to trek back out of the krene and to the the brightly lit surface. She was waiting for them there, her eyes fixed on the sky and the horror there.
So the calamity from the skies has returned...
"Do you know of a way we might be able to destroy it?" Flynn asked.
It's power is so great that a thousand years ago, we had no way of destroying it. The imbalance in the aer was too much. We with the Geraios civilization and the Children of the Full Moon were only able to seal it. The Entelexeia took the task of monitoring the flow of the aer, but over the decades our numbers dwindled.
"So you're saying that it's hopeless?" Karol asked, slumping in disappointment.
There is hope so long as you have it. And just because we had no way then, does not mean there isn't a way now. After all, with your powers, I was returned to life. Is not more possible?
"Undine is right," Rita said. "We as humans know a lot more now about the working of aer, blastia, and mana. If my converter formula works this well, there's no telling what we can do with it. It might be possible to convert more aer into mana and help return the balance."
"And make more spirits?" Judith asked.
"... Perhaps. But that would require more apathetia."
"If we had more of the spirits, do you think we might be able to do something about the Adephagos?" Flynn asked.
"I don't know... but I do think that it's worth looking into," Rita replied.
"Uh, it looks like we've got trouble!" Karol said, eyes fixed on the sky.
Their gazes joined him just in time to see a series of six bright lights streak from the ocean to the sky, piercing through the veil. Honeycomb shaped pieces of sky burned away and more of the dark cloudiness of the cataclysm came through, bubbling and boiling it what was once the sky. One of the writhing tentacles of the Adephagos splintered, sending out a pair of smaller, familiar looking monsters. They streaked across the sky, predators on the hunt, headed for the southwest.
"Oh no! Did Zaude stop working?!" Rita was unable to peer the miles of distance between them and the ancient shrine, as much as she wanted to.
"The core appears to have ceased functioning and is now lost to the sea. Baul says that those creatures are heading for Nordopolica," Judith said, the barest hint of panic in her voice.
"Let's head there, too." Flynn wasn't eager to fight something like this, but perhaps it would give them something of an edge.
