Chapter 4

Notes:

Here it is as promised : Chapter 4 a.k.a the end of the prologue. Next one will be when the game truly starts imo. This should be fun, I had a lot of fun with this one and I can't wait to write more of this.
I still have problems with describing surroundings as you may have realized (and that opening, even I don't know what was on when I wrote that alcohol thing.) but I am working on that.
For now, please enjoy your read.

0000

#I'll always be there for you#

Mint : *whispering*... Cless...

Cless : Mint ? Is there something you need ?

Mint : *startled* *slightly blushing* CLESS ?! N- No, i-it's not l-like that !

Cless : ...Alright... Hey, do you have a moment ?

Mint : O-Of course, what for ?

Cless : I wanted to thank you for being there for me when I needed it. I am not going to lie, I was really surprised when Morrison told me you carried me by yourself.

Mint : *smiling* As long as you recovered well, I am glad that I could be of help to you. Besides, I should be the one thanking you for saving me back there.

Cless : *smiling* Anytime. No matter the problem, if you need help as long as we are together I'll always be there for you.

Mint : *blushing* You... You just can't say these things to a girl out of nowhere.

Cless : Huh ? Why ?

Mint : Nevermind, let's join the others.

#Just like you#

Ciel : *grinning* Hey thanks for supporting me back there.

Cless : No problem, I saw how bad you wanted to come.

Ciel : *sweatdropping* Man, was it that obvious ?

Cless : That light in your eyes gave it away and to be honest, you weren't exactly discreet about it. But then again, I used to be just like you so I know childlike excitement when I see it.

Ciel : You were a rebellious kid ?

Cless : *smiling* Chester and I, the both of us have been in more trouble then you can imagine. Have I told you the story of how our friendship came to be ?

Ciel : *excited* No ! Please tell me.

Cless : Maybe later, when we stop to rest.

Ciel : *smiling* It's a promise.

#Cless's dilemma#

Cless : *looking down* ...

Ciel : Whoa Cless, you look really moody. What's on your mind ?

Chester : Is it about what happened to Toltus ?

Cless : Not really, it's about Mint. I hate that I haven't been honest with her.

Chester : *chuckling* Need help confessing ?

Cless : No, it's about her mother.

Ciel : Oh yeah, her mother. Wasn't she supposedly captured alongside her ?

Chester : Don't tell me...

Cless : *looking down* When I was thrown in prison, she used the last of her energy to help me escape from my cell, I found her with a sword stabbed through her stomach...I took it and then she...

Ciel : *looking down* That's awful !

Chester : I take it you don't know how to reveal without breaking her.

Cless : With everything that is happening right now, the last thing she needs is someone telling her that her mother died.

Ciel : But you'll let her know, right ? Mint looks like a strong girl, I'm sure she can handle the truth no matter how painful it is.

Chester : I hope you are right.

Cless : I just...need time.

#In her mother's steps#

Ciel : *smiling* We're pretty lucky to have you and your healing powers around, Mint.

Mint : I cannot fight very well so the least I can do to support you is by healing your wounds.

Ciel : *cheerful* But that's not totally true and you know it. I mean, you managed to carry Cless who is wearing breastplate and stuffs, and all of that by yourself.

Ciel : *cheerful* You look pretty frail but you're just as strong as a bear.

Mint : *blushes* I am really not... I just used to help villagers with laboring. I guess thanks to that, I became physically stronger.

Ciel : *smiling* You would kill it with a weapon. Why not becoming a swordfighter or something.

Mint : I don't have the endurance required to be a fighter, and besides, I promised my mother to become a fine healer.

Ciel : Your mom was a healer right ? I guess it makes sense that you would succeed her.

Mint : *nodding* It's common for a person to take after their parents. I can only guess you will do the same.

Ciel : *smiling* Yeah... *frowning sadly while whispering to himself* If only I still had parents...

Mint : *looking down* I'm sure you'll be reunited soon. I know it's not easy but please try not to think too much about it.

Ciel : *surprised* You...heard that ? *nervous* Anyway...We've been behind for a while now, let's hurry before the others start to worry. *run away*

Mint : Mother. I miss you.

#Curious case of the pendants#

Cless : According to Master Tristan, Mr. Morrison should be on his way to a cave south of here.

Chester : We should hurry ! I hope he left some of those knights for us. I have something to tell them personally, on behalf of Ami.

Mint : I know revenge is our priority, but if possible I'd like to learn more about the origin behind our pendants. *looking down* What is so special about them ? Why do so many innocent lives had to be taken ?

Chester : That's right ! When you guys told Morrison that you lost them, he started freaking out of his mind. There is clearly much more than what he led us to believe.

Cless : Whatever the reason is, I'm certain we'll get our answers once we meet with him. Let's make haste !

000

When we set foot into the Catacombs, we were greeted by a rather damp place. Rats and little lizards were crawling out of every hole down to even the wall, bats were flying around. The climate was also rather cold which gave this place a rather eerie feel.

A bit further inside, we stumbled upon Tristan, reminding us of the danger that lied ahead. He was also nice enough to teach Cless a new arte. He called it "Majin Hienkyaku". It was an arte combining the first two he had mastered up that point. The sonic wave one "Majinken", and a dual kick one he called "Hienrenkyaku".

Still no idea what any of those words mean but with how cool the names are, they are bound to be useful.

We then parted ways with Tristan and continued our pursuit of Morrison. The next room ressembled more what I expected a dungeon to look like. A shade of pink colored the walls which were old and worn out. Our surroundings were lit by a faint glow from torches hanging from the wall.

I felt my stomach lurching painfully. I quickly cast a gaze at my entourage, everyone else's faces and body expressions remained calm. Seemed like I was the only one, unless they were trying to hide it.

We entered a room where there was nothing except two statues surrounding a coffin resting on a pedestral.

"There's nothing here, except for this coffin." said Mint looking around.

"You're right I thought there would at least be something interesting but that was a waste of time. Let's hurry or we won't catch up to him." sighed Cless already on reaching for the doorknob.

Chester and Mint soon followed, I was about to go too until I heard noises coming from the coffin itself, something was definitely trapped inside. Someone else would had probably shrugged it away and be well on their way but I like to think of my stupidity as the curiosity of a child.

"Ciel, what are you doing ? Let's go !" groaned Cless impatiently but I paid him no mind. I wanted no, I HAD to know what it contained.

For some reason, they didn't try to stop me. They were probably thinking that I was a bit weird but there was no harm in it, that I would get over it once I'll find nothing of substance. I wasted no time in walking to the coffin and removing the lid.

Inside of it, I found every adventurer's dream. Golds, diamonds, emeralds, lots of treasures. I took a handful of them, my friends came up and did the same, we were so happy that we formed a circle and then hand in hand, sang until we passed out... Okay not really. Inside of it emerged a zombie, giving me a great fright and successfully paralyzing me out of shock.

The zombie leaned towards me in an attempt to take a chunk of my flesh. I was still standing there, unable to command my body to move.

"Pikohan" I heard our healer shouting and then, a... toy hammer ? A toy hammer materialized itself out of nowhere and came crashing right around the undead's temple, stunning him.

The swordsman rapidly closed the distance between his foe and him. "Akisazame" The zombie received a rapid succession of thrusts all over his torso before being pushed back by a powerful upward slash.

"Touga" announced Chester fiercely firing an arrow imbued with ice at his target.

Then, Cless slashed the zombie with a two hit combo before finishing him with a rising double kick followed by a downward thrust.

"Hienrenkyaku"

After being tossed left and right, the zombie, now devoided of any life force (if it even had any to begin with), fell to the ground. His body started crumbling and soon enough vanished as if nothing ever happened.

My heart was still beating fast, I was trying to recover from the shock of almost dying.

I looked back at my saviors, expecting them to rush towards me, if not pushing themselves to check on my well-being. However, the guys only looked at me. No words exchanged, just a disappointed, potentially angry look on their faces.

Mint, even with the frown she gave me, seemed to be the only one willing to talk. Which boiled down to scolding me. Why was she acting like a mom, and why were they mad at me ? I didn't die so everything was ok, right ?

Not too long after, Cless complained that we had lost time and we should hurry if we wanted to arrive in time, and so we went back on track and continued going deeper into the dungeons.

0000

Our adventure was getting pretty boring, we were just traversing insanely long hallways easily wiping out every enemies having the misfortune of crossing our paths. Every once in a while, we hit dead ends, forcing us to backtrack to find the door the correct way. Sometimes, some of these dead ends had treasures chests containing health recovering gummies or some equipments which did make worth but wasn't enough to ebb my boredom away.

After more endless walking, we arrived to a room with a weird symbol engraved on the ground.

"A safe zone ? So they do exist." exclaimed Mint. I looked at her cluelessy. "A mystic symbol believed to be blessed by the goddess Martel herself. According to the legends, its purpose is to protect frail and exhausted travelers from monsters assaults." elaborated the healer.

"I'm beat. I know we're kinda on a hurry but how about we take a break." proposed Chester.

"Good idea. The last thing we need is for monsters to take advantage of our exhaustion." I said supporting his idea.

Cless tried to argue against it but realizing that even his own legs were begging for a break, relunctantly sat down, leaning his back against the wall.

Mint opened her satchel (that I seriously never noticed her with before this very moment) and distributed sandwiches to each of us. The moment Cless extended his hand to take his food, their hands brushed together. They both looked at each other, a faint shade of pink appearing on their cheeks before they quickly averted their eyes, looking in opposite directions.

This is priceless.

Chester and I both smirked and exchanged a look. Though we did not say anything, in favor of enjoying our snacks.

After everyone was done eating, Mint revealing that she was the one who cooked the sandwiches, found herself showered with endless praises which only served in her face to become of a red rivalizing that of Cless's bandana.

As we finished packing and were now about to set off, I looked to my left to see Chester scrutinizing a statue, he did that a lot during the picnic so I assumed he was probably staring absentmindedly but, it seemed like he was actually wary of the thing.

I tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. He hmmed, telling me that he was listening, all the while his eyes were still fixated on the the statue.

"What are you doing ?"

"There's just something about this statue that is bugging me."

Cless, hearing his best friend's deduction butted in. "That's insane ! You're probably just tired. All the fighting we did has probably worn you out." But as if wanting to prove him wrong, said object violently shook before leaving his resting area and marching towards us.

"Shit ! It's a Golem ?! Everyone, get ready !"

Cless, the only physical attacker in our group, quickly went into fighting stance readying himself for the battle to come with Chester and Mint not too far behind for support. One to back up the swordsman by attacking at long range, the other to heal and apply buffs if needed. Me, I did the same thing I did every fight, I stayed far away, far from the monsters reach as I patiently waited for my friends to win.

Cless initiated the fight by moving towards his enemy before hitting it with a quick outward slash followed by a inward slash. Even with his excellent accuracy, the giant mass of rock apparead to have barely been damaged by it. He retaliated with a downward hook which despite being easily parried, still managed to injure the teenager.

"It's like my moves don't even do any damage." said Cless panting.

Chester shot two arrows back to back at the still moving golem, he was met with the same results as Cless's sword strikes.

"Seriously, how are we supposed to beat this thing if it keep on tanking our attacks." groaned the blue haired archer in frustration.

Several tries (meaning more failures) later, our front line fighter was barely standing after the many blows he took. With the combined effort of Chester, they had thrown out a considerable amount of hits at the enemy and although it was working, it still was far too less effective to cry victory.

"Cless, try using artes." suggested our cleric healing him.

Cless nodding, ran right at the giant, narrowly avoiding taking a punch in the gut. He sent a shockwave created by the impact of his sword alongside the ground stunning the enemy before sending it away with a dual kick.

It doesn't look like much but it seems to work well enough. Assuming he keeps this up, we might be able to do this.

Even with his opponent showed no sign of further exhaustion, Cless continued to shower him with all artes he knew, putting more and more power with each hit. A strategy also used by his friend who had switched his regular arrows for elemental, far more powerful ones.

"Ōgi : Majin Hienkyaku" announced the bandana wielding teen forcefully as he kicked his opponent away.

"Good thinking, Mint" I cheered congratulating the healer who gave me a bright smile in response. I heard her shout "Deep Mist" followed by a thick fog forming itself around the golem before evaporating as quickly as it had arrived. I looked at her, obvious confusion all over of my face, she enlightened me by saying that it reduced an enemy's accuracy.

"Don't forget about me" said Chester already about to fire two arrows imbued with fire. "Here I go, "Guren" " Two arrows guided by the air, soared through the sky and reached their targets, one stuck itself on the head, the other on the torso.

Cless, now having partially recovered from the punch, pierced the golem with a flurry of hits before suddenly coming to a stop. "Shuusouraizan" He leaped high into the air a large bolt of lightning appearing at his side before coming down, violently striking the golem before retreating to his original position. The impact of the collison engendered a cloud of dust enveloping the giant made of rocks behind it. With our visions clouded and no way to tell the state of our enemy, the three teenagers were still on the fence waiting for the smoke to dissipate. They were still tighly gripping their weapons, ready to lunge at the golem in case the barrage of artes wasn't enought.

Shortly afterwards, the dust disappeared allowing us to constate the golem which had stopped...Moving ? Why did it stopped moving and how did it survive such powerful attacks I couldn't tell but what mattered is that we had won.

The battle over, Cless allowed himself to sit against the wall, finally able to let his wounds rest. Mint soon came at side, accelerating the process with her healing. Chester not having taken any big injuries, decided to go explore the rest of the floor. After confirmation that he didn't mind me tagging along, I got up and dusted my clothes before setting off after him.

Our walk led us to an intersection with both of the paths seemingly leading to a door. I opted for us to go our seperate way and to reunite to discuss our findings, a decision that was mocked upon by the blue haired hunter.

"Are you for real ? What if as soon as you open that door" he pointed at the door on the right to emphasis his point." you get assaulted by who knows whatever enemy this damn place houses and we're anywhere near you ?"

I just looked at the door then back at him before flashing him a big smile. "Relax, if there is a path beyond that door, I'll just stop and come back here. Besides, I have you, Cless and Mint with me and you guys are strong. You'll definitely be able to beat up any bad guy coming too close, right ?" I answered childishly, hands on my hips. Rolling his eyes, he passed me and went the opposite way.

"W-wait ! Don't leave me alone." I ran as long my feet could take me. When I caught up to him I hugged him from behind and burried my face deep in his top. "I...I hate this place". First, it was so dark you couldn't even see what was right in front of you, then you had all these zombies and ghouls roaming around ready to eat you. And with no means of fighting back, this meant that every step could very well be my last.

Out of nowhere, I felt something softly rubbing against my hair. It was really...calming, like all my worries were temporarily gone. I lifted my head to see Chester being the source of my sudden bliss by giving me...a headpat.

"I wasn't gonna leave you alone. I saw earlier how badly you were shaking as soon we went down here." He gently explained. He was unlike the Chester I had come to know up to that point. It felt more like Mint cosplaying as the archer. It does make sense that one that once had a sibling would be good with children. But that last thing he said...

"Me scared ? No- Not all ! I just don't want to leave you all by yourself. You'll eventually get bored if you just patrol alone. If anything, I'm gracing you with my presence." I quickly broke the hug, and didn't waste time to defend myself, my cheeks slowly turning red. Yes, I was a bit (actually really) scared, I just don't want to admit it because being scared of zombies is really embarassing.

Chester, not caring about my arrogance, shook his head and...laugh it off ? He was enjoying himself like I just told him the funniest joke ever. In response to his abrupt change of mood, I tilted my head trying to understand what I said that could have made him like this. Realizing that I didn't understand his reaction, the teenager calmed down and explained himself.

"It's nothing. It's just that at that moment you reminded me of..." He suddenly stopped talking, I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes. He was facing his left, he was trying to hide his sadness, but he was betrayed by his voice. "You reminded me of Ami."

"..."

"Well, no use in getting morose. Let's go. " He concluded resuming his walk. His gloominess from seconds ago gone. His ability to keep going forward despite his evident pain amazed me.

So far the only reason I wasn't crying my eyes out was because I somehow managed to "trick" myself into thinking all of this wasn't real. But the more time has passed, the less effective it has become. How long until I have to accept reality ?

How long until I truly lose my mind and become insane ?

0000

"A necklace ? In a treasure chest ?" questionned Cless, his head in the chest before him. He took said object in his hands, looking at it for a good moment before turning around to show it.

"It's strange, I feel a powerful aura radiating from it." added Mint carefully analyzing the jewel.

" Looks like some plain everyday jewel to me. Maybe we can sell it for a couple galds next time we go in town. Finders keepers, I say." said Chester chuckling to himself, his laugh instantly stopped when he saw the glare everyone was shooting at him. " Or we can just keep it with us."

"I say we do that. We'll probably need it for later anyway." I said, not interested in hearing any more debate.

Cless nodded, giving the item to Mint who put it in her bag.

"Now what ?" I asked feeling lost, my companions looked at me funny. I took their silence as an invitation to share my thought.

"Yeah, we've got some mysterious ruby. But every room that we visited had been just like this one. We've been stuck on this floor since forever and we still haven't made any progress."

The four of us looked at each other in silence, each with a puzzled expression on our faces. Chester held a hand on his chin, stroking it as he was thinking of a solution, Cless and I exchanged a look, I tilted my head up a bit as in asking him if he had any ideas, the swordsman understanding my gesture, responded with light shake of his head.

"I guess we don't have any choices but to retrace our steps." We were snapped to our senses by the blond haired girl suddenly talking. "Do any of you remember that iron double door we saw when we first came down here ?

We nodded despite the sheer puzzlement readable on our faces. If I recalled correctly, that door was locked, it's true that there was something weird about that door. There was no doorknobs on it,plus it gave a weird aura, as if it was placed here to keep something significant. Is she suggesting that we go back all the way out there ? What good does it make to go back to that door if we still don't have the means to unlock it ?"

The cleric cleared her throat before she dove her hand into her bag to pull out the necklace from earlier, apparently involved in whatever idea she had come up with. "This necklace give off a weird feeling, right ? I tried to remember where I sensed it before and that is when it came to me. That door back there has a similar aura to it. Maybe if we go back and bring this with us-."

"-Then maybe the auras given off by both of them will reasonate between each other allowing us to open that door." finished Cless finally understanding what she was trying to say. "Not sure if it'll work but it's our only option so I guess it's worth a shot. We are not wasting anything in trying it out." Except our precious time. Am I the only one who can't feel my legs after walking for so long ?

"It's settled then, right ? Let's go back ." I said faking a smile. We've come all this way for an item we're not even sure will be of use and we had to walk ALL the way back ?

That plan of hers better work.

000

The return journey had taken us a considerable less amount of time then the outward one. Sure one could say it was because compared to back then, we knew where to go. But it was also in regard to the monsters themselves, we encountered a measly number of three and then nothing, I guess the monsters saw how bad we were beating their kin so they retreated to avert some potential "victims" to stay out of our way. Wait, do monsters even understand the concept of friendship ? Are they even sentients ? I should ask someone about it. Maybe that Morrison guy, he seemed pretty smart. I so want to see his face whe he'll realize that we followed him."

After a scene where the necklace and the mysterious door reacted strangely to each other's presence which somehow (and just as Mint had expected) unlocked it, we pushed it open. What lied in front of us, was a room unlike the ones we've seen before. The first thing that I saw was the diagram engraved in its center. It looked like a Triforce. The "Triforce" was surrounded by five statues, the four little ones were resting around it in the formation of a rectangle. The big one, representing what appeared to be a woman sitting, stood right behind it.

"Now, what's up with this weird diagram ?" wondered Cless eyeing it curiously.

"I don't know but, what's with all this light ?" Chester was quick to point the light encircling the Triforce.

"I have a faint memory of reading about this type of diagram. If I recall correctly, they date from hundred of years, the people back then used it as a way of transport." The brains of the group explained, sharing her knowledge. She sure knows a lot. All thanks to Cless running into her in jail.

"This must be how Morrison managed to carry on forward. What I wanna know is how he managed to come here when we needed a necklace deep inside this dungeon and it didn't look like there was another way." I said yawning, tiredness finally catching up with me.

"Who cares. Let's hurry and catch up to him."

We made our way up to the diagram and stood on it. As soon as my feet touched the golden lights, I felt a weird sensation entering and leaving my body. The view of the room abruptly faded away until the only thing I could see was the light around myself. A few moments passed and the light decided to vanish, leaving the others and me standing in a room with floating, moving platforms and lava.

Wow, this my first time seeing lava. Hard to believe something so fascinating can kill you in less than a second.

I heard a chuckle on my left, turning around I see Chester looking at me with that "Oh so likeable" grin of his.

"Be careful to not let your temptation take over, would be a shame to see you go like that."

"Now, what the hell are you on ? Why would I jump into lava ?"

"Dunno, the way you edged to have a look at it. Looked to me like you were looking forward for a little dive." said Chester spouting nonsense.

"What ? You... I ! ... Whatever I'm not talking to you anymore." I replied pouting and looking away.

Mint smiled at our conversation while Cless looked like he wanted to bash his head on the nearest wall. At least that's what I would have thought if I hadn't caught the corner of his mouth turning up.

That was interesting. This whole area had been full of puzzle solving. Notably when we had to play with levers scattered pretty much everwhere, forcing us to make use of the moving plats and square symbol allowing us to levitate and reached levers obstructed by lava. It was during these moments that I was really glad to be in this world. A welcoming change from the same boring place I see everyday. I guess everything has its ups and downs, if it means more of that, I'm looking forward to it.

Where was I again ? Oh yeah... We boarded a moving platform, allowing us to reach a door, behind it was a rather wide hallway containing nothing but a safezone.

We (which really meant Cless, Chester and Mint) profited of the safeness of the area to rest and eating some gummies. It did wonder in recovering strenghts allowing us to push past another door standing in our way.

The next room waw nothing special if for the statues decorating it. Seeing as there was no reason to stay any longer, we headed towards the door up ahead when by sheer luck of looking up, I saw two giants made of rocks ready to crush us under their massive weights.

"LOOK OUT !" I said jumping away. The three teens heeded off my warnings and did the same narrowly avoiding being crushed to death.

Two golems just like the one we defeated before, were standing in front of us. And they didn't look like they would consider sitting down and drinking tea with us.

*Huff* *Huff* Oh man ! *Huff* Never...Never again !

Cless and Chester like the experienced warriors they were, were already in position to retaliate. Mint came to my aid. She checked on me and gave me a gel to eat before instructing me to get somewhere safe.

At her words, I nodded and hurried back to the previous room, not fully closing the door as I wanted to see how the fight would go.

While at first, the fact that they were facing two golems at the same time seemed overwhelming. The fact that they weren't fundamentally different from the one we faced earlier, ( sharing the same weakness to lightning based moves) proved to be important as they were quickly disposed of.

After making sure no more danger was waiting for us, we once again continued our quest. We entered a room, seemingly housing nothing but some god awfully long stairs.

After a long and frankly, tiring walk, stood a lone sarcophagus encercled by a magic purple roundish barrier. Four statues were positionned around it. They were shaped like priests and each held a wand with the ball having a similar purple to the barrier, they were most likely the ones channeling it.

Near us stood a familiar robbed man. In front of him, three persons in knights armors. The two on the left and right didn't really stand out compared to the one in the middle. He looked really intimidating, so much that I swore I could see dark aura envelopping his body. Two goldens pendants were in his right hand, probably the exact one stolen from Cless and Mint.

"Mars Uldole. Look at you ! Once an honorable knight serving the kingdom of Euclid, now reduced to a pawn of darkness. I will put an end to your tyranny." shouted Morrison at the dark-cladded man.

The dark-cladded man ignored his menaces. And, with his blood red eyes noticed our coming.

"I see your little friends here have come for their demises as well."

Noticing Mars's gaze fixating behind him, Morrison looked over his shoulders and came face to face with us. I wanted to laugh at the expressions he was making, but even I understand when to be serious. "YOU ?! I TOLD YOU NOT FOLLOW ME HERE !" the robbed man scolded, utter annoyance obvious to anyone in the room." AND YOU BROUGHT THE KID TOO !"

Cless tried justifying our actions. " C'mon this is personal, we're talking about avenging our families. Do you think we weren't gonna follow you ?"

"Yeah...What he said..." I added feeling left out by being the only one without a reason to be here.

But while we were trying to defuse the bomb (a.k.a Morrison) this meant that all of his attention was on us, which also meant there was no one to stop Mars who seized the opportunity to make his way towards the sarcophagus, entering the barrier.

"Damnation" said Morrison cursing himself at his foolishness for letting himself getting distracted so easily.

"Thanks for keeping him on a leash, you fools. Now the preparations are completed." sneered Mars, in a typical bad guy manner.

"What ?"

"What's going on here ?"

"What are you saying ?"

"What is he talking about ?"

A collective incomprehension was heard within our group. The black knight's reaction was the same as before though, still looking at us the same way you look at trash.

"Hmph. Whatever, the time of your death is drawing near anyway. I lose nothing by educating puny insects like you. Consider this as a parting gift for the afterlife. Following the conclusion of the Valhalla War, a hundred years ago. The two leading kingdoms of that age allied themselves against a single opponent, a mighty lord with frightening shall I even say devastating powers. The Demon King Dhaos. Despite boasting near instoppable strenghts, he was vainquished by a group of warriors."

Morrison flinched at the mention of this Dhaos but rapidly snapped out of it and resumed from where the knight had stopped.

"I was one of those warriors, I was part in the operation of sealing Dhaos. Cless, your parents also had a hand in it. Mint, the same goes for your mother." revealed Morrison having recovered his seriousness that we had come to know him for.

Needless to say, that both the swordsman and the healer were astounded by this sudden reveal, they exchanged a look before looking back at the older man.

"Me ?" They questionned in unison.

"Althought, it looks like we were unable to forsee the fact that Dhaos still had one trick up his sleeve." Trinicus turned around to have a better look us. "The deaths of your parents as well as the theft of your pendants, those events didn't happen by a mere coincidence. When we defeated Dhaos, we overlooked the fact that he had the power of mind control. This man over here fell victim to it and is now about to resurrect him."

"Any plans you come up with will be met with failure. The resurrection of the demon king Dhaos has been fated for years. And for you, I have reserved front row seats for this glorious moment. A coup d'oeil at the anger he has contained for over a hundred years." jeered Mars, his two lackeys who had started to blend in with the decor, manifested signs of life by laughing sinisterly.

Cless drew his sword as he slowly approached Mars. Chester did the same. Morrison tried to stop them but they refused to listen. "Morrison, I understand. However, we have to do this not only for our family but for all those whose lifes were met at the end of these people. They heartlessly kills innocents, razed villages of the map and yet they have the nerve to call themselves knights."

The dark knight just looked baffled at Cless's lack of fear. " You dare thinking you can best me ? Have you learned nothing about what I said ?"

"You shut your trap, you scumbag. This is for Ami." yelled Chester already preparing to punch the shit out of the masked man. But as he was about to throw out a punch, the sarcophagis started quivering.

Soon after, the whole room started trembling followed by a large stream of light emerging from it. It was so bright that we could barely discern the pendants, disintegrating out of thin air and the lid flying to the other side of the room.

Morrison was the first one of us (outside of the knights) who had managed to see what was going on. When he did, his eyes seemed to bug out for a second. He was beyond shocked. "This- This can't be happening."

In front of where the tomb used to be, someone had appeared. Long blond hair enough to reach the back of his waist, he was wrapped in layers of cloth similarly to Morrison, an absurdly long and weirdly stylish cape of different colored clothes (the upper layers being orange while the ones inside were golden with strange black motifs which at the moment, had reminded me of some of the carpets back "home"), wearing a black bodysuit of some sort, he also had golden patterns on his shoes and matching ones on his fingerless gloves. Finally, he was wearing a red headband around his forehead.

Is he the bad guy ? He is very...stylish. Is it weird to say that I want to look like him ?

"Ohh... Finally ! Dhaos, the legendary demon lord, sealed in fear of his immense power." said Mars, gleefully sounding like a student presenting his project in front of the whole class. " O Demon King Dhaos. Heed my command, for I am Mars Uldole, the one who delivered you from your neverending slumber. Give me your strenghts to empower any one who dares to stand in my way." He then turned his back on Dhaos pointing at us. "As a first mission, I command you to send these fools to the afterlife."

Silence passed. All eyes ( except for Mars who was probably lost in his fantasies for all I could care) glued on the newcomer's weird lack of a reaction. For probably half a minute, we stood still, awaiting the Demon King's answer when out of nowhere.

"Hahaha..." Dhaos started laughing, a quiet but intimidating laugh. The more he continued, the more I felt kinda uncomfortable. A quick look at everybody else told me that I wasn't alone on this. " Interesting. What more pathetic than a fool failing to realise that he has become entangled in the threads of fate."

"What are you blabbering ?" Mars's body did a quick 180. " I am the one who released you from your seal. Therefore, I am your master and I order you to obey." He said, getting angry at Dhaos's lack of cooperativeness hoping to remind him who was in "charge".

But instead of having the desired effect, the blond man just laughed at his impudence. "It seems you still have yet to understand. Allow me to remind it for you. You have been regularly coming to this shrine for a while. I kept hearing your pathetic pleas of power, to build "a world with no wrong where only justice will prevail", said "justice" of course being whatever you deem as right. So, three months ago, during one of your weekly trip here, I enticed you and tasked you in bringing me those pendants keeping me locked here, but not without taking my revenge on those who reduced me to such a miserable state". The black knight eyes shot wide open, trembling as his hands started to levitate over his blade. The Demon King either did not see him or didnt deem him a threat as he prefered to finish his speech. "The one who slew those who defeated me, who retrieved the keys to undo the seal restraining me. It was none other than myself."

"I HAVE ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES, DEMON ! PREPARE TO MEET YOUR END BY MY BLADE." screamed the now enraged captain, his anger had finally got the better of him. His men tried to restrain him but were met by kicks and punchs. At least, he didn't kill them. What a relief. Once he had taken care of anything standing between him and his enemy, he ran straight at Dhaos. Unfortunately, as soon as he plunged his sword into where the king's heart was supposed to be, it broke. Not just the blade being bent mind you, it literally broke in thousand of pieces.

Everyone (except for Morrison and Dhaos himself) were shocked at this. But no one was more shocked than Mars, dying inside as he watched what was once a fine weapon now soiling the very same ground he was stepping on.

"You want to know why I so easily tricked your subconscious." said Dhaos looking at the knight the same way he looked at us earlier. "It's because you're such a weak minded pathetic buffoon. You believe yourself to be invincible. You always hide behind people, all you do is command your men without doing anything noteworthy yourself as to not cover your hands in "filth" as you like to put it. I have never met someone so delusional as to believe that one's high rank put them at the top of the world. And to think you used to be a decent man."

Mars to his dismay, couldn't even find the will to answer back, he didn't anticipate Dhaos's rebellion. He had lost all control of this situation and was now afraid of what the Demon King could do next. Plus, even if I didn't know him or his life, I could tell he knew everything Dhaos said was right.

"You keep talking about sending people to the afterlife. Don't worry I have reserved a special place in there for you." said Dhaos as a powerful electrified glow started to form around him.

"Im-Impossible." denied Mars, still in desbelief at this turn of events.

Seeing the glow forming around Dhaos, Morrison, the only one in the room familiar with Dhaos, sprang to life. "This attack...LOOK OUT." Hearing him loud and clear, everybody jumped out of the way, as I tried to avoid the energy beam shot at us, I tripped on nothing and ended up hurting my head against the solid ground. My head didn't bleed but it did hurt like crazy.

Mars, like the trained soldier he was, managed to react just in time to get out of range. His two associates must have been traineys because they, alas, took the full blow, desintegrated into nothingness not even leaving dust behind.

The black knight horrified, stared longly at the spot where they used to be before looking back at the Demon King. " You...What are you doing ?".

"It's simple, I have no need for you anymore. I congratulate you in serving your purpose, but you have far outlived your usefulness. Now, BEGONE !"

"But...that's horrible ! Treating people like one's personal toy. I know Mars wasn't all that great but I feel bad for him."

Taking the cues that his life was in danger, Mars slowly took a step back before it became a full sprint as he hastily ran to the stairs fully intending to keep on living. But this time, Dhaos's laser did not miss its mark and he took the full thing, sending him to join his subordinates to who knows where.

Everyone was at loss of words at Dhaos's cold blooded murder. Mint was helding back tears, without much success. My eyes too were getting teary, not to the same extend as Mint's but there was still something. Cless looked lost, Chester looked like he wanted to strangle Dhaos but unlike a certain knight, knew better than to oppose him. Morrison was casting a look at Dhaos, as if to prepare himself for the man's next move.

"Nothing irritates me more than pitiful self-centered humans. Always acting based on what would benefit them the most." Dhaos declared, now angered. He closed his eyes as if to calm himself before reopening them and shooting a look at our saviour. "You ! Don't think I have forgotten about you, it's time for you to join your friends in hell ! As long as you keep on living, you are but a thorn in my side !" As he said that, he prepared another spell.

Oh man, we're so done. We can't harm him. Morrison looks tired and we can't keep on avoiding his attacks. Is this really where I die ? I never really had the chance of doing the things I wanted. I will never know what it's like to play with your friends outside until it turns dark. Never knows what it's like to come back to school with a bad report card only to be yelled at by your parents. I will never experience the joy of having a family. Of feeling loved."

I started thinking about everything that had happened so far. I felt the first drop coming out and before I knew it, tears coursed down my cheeks.

Things were looking awful. Despite never coming into contact with it, Dhaos's laser managed to crash against the stairs. Greatly destroying them while also provoking a rockfall further down. Obscuring the door and any chances of escaping we had left. To top it all, the Demon Lord's incantation was coming to an end.

I looked around me desperatly, if I was going to die, I did not want to see it. When my eyes fell on Morrison, I realised that he had actually been looking at me for maybe quite a while. I felt like asking him but thought of it as him not necessarily fixating me and more like him being deep in thoughts.

"Miguel, Maria, Meryl. I'm sorry this is all I can do."

"Looks like even the cool-headed person of our little band has lost it."

A newfound idea in his head, Morrison came over to us, his trademark solemnity with him.

"Listen to me, your attacks will be inefective against him. Therefore, I will send you to a special place where you will need to gain the means of exploiting his weakness." He said shoving big dusty red book into Cless's hands. The way he can switch between being insure, borderline scared to a capable leader, crafting a plan in a matter of two seconds. No wonder he and those other guys managed to defeat Dhaos.

Morrison grabbed both of Cless's shoulders, shook them as he stared deep into his soul. " There is no other way. You must come back with that knowledge."

"What are you talking about ?" asked a bewildered Cless speaking for all of us. What the hell was he saying talking about "special" place and all of that.

Morrison shook his head. "I don't have time to explain ! Take this book, there should be everything you need to know about Dhaos and everything surrounding his sealing. Farewell." He closed his eyes, interlocked his hands and started talking in a different language altogether, indicating that he was conjuring a spell.

"Not fair ! Why do Cless and Mint get to be the one to survive while we are condemned to stay here. I don't want to die in this miserable godforsaken place."

"Your time is up." announced Dhaos, now ready to blast us with his beam.

"Goddammit ! I have to act fast !" Understanding that time was not on our side, Chester's impulsivity kicked in. In an "all-or-nothing" way, he threw himself at Dhaos who despite not having anticipated a direct confrontation, effortlessly repulsed him back, face first into the ground.

"Chester, no !" screamed Cless, Mint and I at the same time.

Luckily, Chester's sacrifice was not in vain as it gave Morrison enough time to finish his teleport spell. When he did, Cless and Mint were now covered by a light round sphere of energy. It was just a matter of time before they disappeared. Man, just when we started to get along too.

As I mentally tried to accept my imminent death. I was brusquely pushed into the teleporting spell. I managed to stay in balance and glanced at the only person responsible.

Even if we didn't exchange any words, the look on his face was enough for me to get the message. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to get you involved in this. But I can't let you die here either, perhaps you can travel with them and be of assistance." or something like that.

Several seconds later, the circle started to reduce around us. Cless was the first one to disappear, followed by Mint. I shot one last glance at Chester, before redirecting my attention on the robbed man. He nodded at me which made me confused over what he wanted to say. Regardless, I nodded back ; It was time for me to go.

My feet lifted off the ground and I levitated for a few seconds before a light came out of my body and enveloped the surroundings, I was slightly blinded before the urge to sleep took ahold of me and I soon fell into a deep slumber.

Notes:

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Please kudos or comments if you did so.
If you feel like giving constructive criticism, I'll gladly take them too.
See ya next time.

The reason I used the JP names for the artes instead of the English ones ? Well first, because I find them cooler. Also because I am used to them. Most Tales games I played were with Japanese voices so it feels weird hearing the localised ones.
If too many readers complain about it, I may have to change that though.

Anyway, here are the localised names of the artes used in this chapter so you won't get lost :

Majinken : Demon Fang
Hienrenkyaku : Swallow Kick
Majin Hienkyaku : Demonic Swallow Kick
Akisazame : Sword Rain : Alpha
Pikohan : Pow Hammer
Touga : Ice Fang
Guren : Hell Pyre
Shuusouraizan : Lightning Tiger Blade