Felinis: Another chapter for all of you to enjoy this evening. Or morning. Or afternoon. I have no idea what time it is where you people are.
The pain stops and the new teeth sit awkwardly in his mouth. Yuri peeks around the room and cringes when he sees Rita lying on her bed asleep.
He fumbles for the sharp knife in his bag and starts sawing away. He offs one horn sloppily and shifts his hand to the other. He nips his hand and hisses at the quick pain. The horn falls with a small clang. Yuri stops when he sees her stir but the girl returns to sleep. Yuri spits in his hand as he rubs over the blood in his hair. He glares at the horns and stuffs them in the bag and pulls out the sand paper to smooth over the stubs.
Are they getting bigger? Or is it just him? He looks at his hair and groans. It's not often but sometimes his hair just grows rapidly. Yuri's hand drifts to the tips that are brushing at his knees. He cups a chunk of large hair and crops it off. He stuffs that away too and stands up with a groan from stiff muscles. Yuri stretches and heads down the ladder to see a sleeping Karol and Estelle. Repede stretches from his spot with a yawn.
"Finally. Do you know how hard it's been distracting these idiots all night?" The dog huffs bitterly.
He shrugs. "Sorry."
"They're very suspicious about you. And, it looks like they've both been digging through your stuff."
Yuri clenches his jaw. "Great." He needs to get rid of these quickly. He opens the door quietly and walks over the ravine and tosses them down. Nobody will find them now. That guy from before… maybe he was around.
He walks around the cold stone and keeps his eyes out again. He follows a high staircase to a domed building listening to that strange hum of blastia. His footsteps fall hard on the hard on the stone and it seems to echo everywhere. There's a locked door with a blastia lock and Yuri presses his ear in curiosity. He listens to the hum and as he listens he notes something odd in the noise. It's a scream like he heard in Shizontania and Yuri winces at the sound. He pulls back and hides around the corner when he notes the sound of someone approaching the door.
The weedy man from before comes out holding a large tome in his hands muttering to himself. "The cores are still wrong. Still not stable enough..." Yuri watches him type in a code still upset. "Halfer in this city. What are they thinking?" He grumbles a bit more before walking off. Cores? Garista was working on something like that too. Yuri waits some time before going up to the door and typing in the code.
The door opens with a click and he walks through halls spying labs and blastia prototypes till he walks into a room and immediately notes the giant blastia in the center humming while small crystals float around in tanks with red liquid. The blastia looks like a small-scale version of the one in Shizontania. The aer being pumped in small amounts into the containers. Yuri notes the boards scribbled with notes and the large tables covered in vials and experiments.
Then there are the shelves lined with books. Yuri's eyes widen at the title. These books… were on Krytian culture… blastia... and ancient Geraios civilization… and… Entele… Entelexeia? Whatever that means. He looks over the other titles understanding what he's looking at. These are controversial topics that have probably been banned. His feet drift over to a desk and Yuri's eyes widen as he notes a single phrase.
"Lowell Project?" His gray eyes drift to door and to the paper.
Due to our interaction with subject Lowell… We've come to the conclusion that construction of apatheia… Compression of aer over period of times… currently all prototypes have problems with aer degradation… Recent findings have lead us to believe that a greater catalyst is needed to form… Head scientist Garista has found a notable catalyst in subject Y… Due to these findings… Boring words… Entelexeia samples rarity… Boring words… Use of Krytian subjects recommended… that Entelexeia word again… And nothing but boring stupid shit.
Yuri stuffs the paper in his pocket and goes to the shelf. He looks at the bookshelf and grabs one of the books on Geraios and rushes out of the building immediately. He walks coolly down the path back to Rita's home grateful that nobody seems to be walking around. Causally, Yuri opens the door and steps inside.
"Yuri?... What are you doing?" Karol yawns as Yuri walks past him.
"It's nothing." He smiles and the boy narrows his eyes. "I just felt like walking about." Yuri passes the small book to Repede who grabs it without thought.
"Sure..." The boy mutters eying him carefully. Karol yawns again sitting down on the floor. Yuri follows suit and lies down next to him folding his arm over his head.
"It's rude to go through people's things." Yuri quips and the boy fidgets.
"I - I'm sorry! We didn't see anything, I swear!" It's an obvious lie.
"Why'd you do it?" Yuri asks as Karol pulls up his knees.
"Estelle thought that maybe if we looked through your stuff we could figure out what's wrong with you." Figures she'd think something like that. "We saw the horns... and..."
"I get it." He huffs narrowing his brow.
There's a heavy silence over them for what feels like hours before Karol swallows and talks. "Where... where did the horns come from? I've never seen a monster with horns like that."
Yuri tries to think of an excuse but realizes no matter what he tells this boy he won't believe him. "Believe it or not, I'm actually a monster. Those were mine."
Karol glares at him with contempt. "You know, lying just makes you seems like even more of an ass."
Yuri shrugs and looks over at the sleeping Estelle. "Whatever." Rita climbs down at some point and Yuri watches her open a book and scribble notes in the margins. "Morning." The only response is a small hum. Estelle finally wakes up and feverishly asks him questions about how he feels.
"I'm fine. Aren't you worried about Flynn?" Yuri says to try to move her off the topic.
She stops and grips her hands. "Of course I am!"
"Then we should get going soon. He's probably at Halure." Yuri said.
Estelle nods. "Right."
"What are you gonna do after this, Yuri?" Karol asks.
"I guess I'll go pay a visit to the guy behind all this core stealing." Yuri says. "It sounds like Dedecchi ended up going to the same place, too." Then he'd look into this 'Lowell' project.
"In that case, we should make a beeline for Nor Harbor." Karol enthuses.
"Didn't he say Torim Harbor?" Yuri raises a brow.
"Oh right, you don't know."
"Don't know what?"
The boy stands up proudly. "Nor and Torim are both ports of a city that extends across two different continents. On the Ilyccian side, where we are now, is the port of Capua Nor. People call it Nor Harbor." He pulls out the map and starts drawing a road. "Capua Torim is the port on the other side, on the Tolbyccian continent. It's usually just called Torim Harbor. So first we'll go to Nor Harbor. We'll have to pass by Ehmead Hill on the way, but it's not that far west from here."
"I'll be going back to Halure. I still need to follow Flynn." Estelle says looking at his route.
"...Hmm, I don't know. Maybe I'll head back to Halure, too."
Karol snaps a little. "Huh? Why? How can you just say that? The thief's gonna get away!"
"There's no reason to panic. According to our friend in the ruins, it sounds like his client's based there." Yuri says nonchalantly. "Besides, if we're going west, that will take us close to Halure." They can pick up more supplies while they're there.
"Aww man, but I..." The boy's face falls.
"You gotta be somewhere? A sick girlfriend with an incurable disease or something?" Yuri quips.
"Man, if only she really was a frail girl like that..."
Rita finally moves from her book and turns to them. "I know I said you could stay here, but you sure made yourselves at home, didn't you?"
"Sorry for suspecting you."
Rita shrugs. "What a heartfelt apology. I'll take it though. It worked out pretty well for me, too."
Yuri stands up and brushes himself off. Estelle bites her lip. "Uh… Rita…"
"Well, thanks for the hospitality." Yuri says going to the door.
"What? Going so soon?" Rita exclaims softly.
"We don't want to overstay our welcome. Plus, we're in a bit of a hurry."
Estelle bows. "I'm so happy to have met you, Rita. I'm afraid we have to go now. I'll thank you properly later."
"Okay…" Rita trails off as they walk out of the city.
Estelle eyes glint as she looks at Karol. "So tell me about this frail girlfriend of yours, Karol." The boy's eyes widen. "The reason you want to go to Nor Harbor is so you can see her, isn't it?"
"H-how do you know about her?" He mutters.
"I knew it!"
The boy waves her hands defensively. "N-no! I mean, she's not even in Nor Harbor…"
Estelle tilts her head. "Oh, it's not Nor Harbor?"
The poor kid is trying so hard to shrink into nothing. "I d-don't know what you're talking about!"
Yuri chuckles. "You might as well come clean, Karol. It's obvious Estelle's not going to give up."
"You've got it all wrong!" Karol shouts running off while Estelle chases after him. Once they reach the edge of the city he notices that Rita is following behind them.
"If you're seeing us off, we'll say goodbye here."
She shakes her head. "I'm going with you."
"Y-you're doing what?" Karol's eyes are wide with surprise.
"Oh, so this is why you told us not to leave without saying goodbye, huh?" Even if she said it in such a coarse way.
"Yeah." Rita nods.
Karol raises a brow. "Is that it? Just 'yeah?'"
"Can you just leave like that? You're an important mage here right?"
Rita crosser her arms and presses a hand to her face. "I want to see Halure's barrier blastia for myself. It's no good to the people there if it's broken, right?" She shrugs nonchalantly.
"Actually, the three of us fixed it together." Karol says and the mage deadpans.
"Huh? What do you mean you "fixed" it? You're just amateurs."
"You know, we revived it. It was great! Estel—"
"Let's just say it was beginners luck." Yuri blurts out loudly.
Rita narrows her eyes at the both of them. "Now I'm really worried. I'll have to go see if it's been done properly or not."
"Suit yourself." Yuri waves and Estelle runs up with a huge grin.
"W-what?" Rita exclaims as Estelle's wide green eyes smile into hers.
"I've never had a real friend my own age before!"
A flush takes Rita's face. "I-I'm not so sure we're—"
"This is going to be so much fun!" The princess squeals taking her hand.
Rita keeps her eyes from Estelle's and looks down. "Y-yeah..." A smile takes Yuri's face as they head out. He hears constant bits of bickering from Rita and Karol. Estelle seeming to easily reign in the young mage.
Yuri looks at Repede. "So ready anything good?"
"A lot of it was familiar but there were a few things." Yuri looks at the three people behind him and sighs. He can't just talk with these guys around. "I'll tell you later."
The walk to Halure isn't a long one and they make it a few hours prior to sunset into the town. Rita's eyes scrunch as she sees the barrier is in full use and the tree in bloom.
"H-hey! The tree's already blooming?" She exclaims.
Karol laughs. "I told you! We brought the tree back to life." Rita smack the boy upside the head and runs up the path to the tree base. Karol hisses at the pain while a voice calls from the distance.
"Oh, you've returned! Just as the knight said." The mayor runs up to greet them.
"Umm...do you mean Flynn?" Estelle asks cautiously.
"Unfortunately, you just missed him."
Karol huffs. "No way! Not again..."
"He was quite surprised that the barrier had been fixed." The mayor smiles.
"Umm...would you happen to know which way he went?"
The mayor shakes his head. "No... I'm sorry, I don't know..." His eyes widen as he remembers something. "However, he did entrust me with a letter." He hands Yuri a small envelope.
Inside is a crudely drawn picture that Yuri thinks is himself, but it's hard to tell since it looks like a toddler drew it.
Karol's eyes widen. "Wha? A-a wanted poster? Wh-why?"
"I guess I made a little too much mischief..."
"W-what kind of mischief gets you into this?"
Estelle lowers her head in shame. "I-it's my fault..." It kind of is.
"Oh come on... Only 5,000 gald?" Yuri gripes. He stole a princess and all he's worth is five thousand gald? That just doesn't seem fair. It should be at least ten thousand!
"That's way too high for just breaking out of jail! You must have done something else!" Karol shouts.
"S-so, what does the letter say?" Estelle says and Yuri hands the poster to her. "I'm going to Nor Harbor. Catch up with me."
"'Catch up with me,' huh? Easy for him to say." Yuri mutters.
"He also writes that we should watch out for assassins."
"Wow, he even knows we're being hunted!" Leave it to Flynn to be on top of everything.
"Sounds like this guy knows what he's doing." Karol says looking at the note.
"Looks like we have some dangerous people after us now. What are you gonna do?" Estelle turns and looks softly at the ground. "I'm going to go to Nor Harbor. I could pass on a message for you, if you want."
"But...I..."
"Think about what you want to do. I'm gonna go make sure Rita isn't causing too much trouble." Yuri says walking off through the pink petals up the hill to the tree. It's beautiful. The young mage is staring up at the tree in wonder.
"...I can't believe it. I've never seen anything like this. The flowers are in full bloom even though it's not the season for it... And the barrier's strong, too. Did Estellise really do this?"
"What do you mean?" Yuri shrugs.
"Karol let it slip when we were leaving Aspio." Yuri sits on the ground and eyes her actions. "You tried to change the subject, but it was too late."
"Guess I blew that one."
Rita looks in awe at the petals. "We mages have nothing even remotely like she has." You're right. Because, Estelle is a bit like him… inhuman.
"So you just decided to come with us to eliminate the competition?"
"Don't be ridiculous! I have a formula that I have to work out!" Rita exclaims stomping a foot.
"A formula? What do you mean?" Yuri says. That project said they were looking for subjects…
Rita turns and looks away "...It's nothing. Forget about it." She crosses her arms and glares at him with contempt. "So what did you want? You came here for something, right?"
"Well, that just took care of about half of it." Yuri says leaning back on the tree root.
"So what's the other half?"
"You said that it's easy working with blastia because they never betray you."
Rita huffs. "Yeah? So?"
"You and Estelle are both living things. You're not blastia."
Rita shrugs stretching herself out. "...Oh, I get it. You're worried for her. Worried I might hurt her."
"Estelle's honest. Good. Unlike you or me." Yuri was a monster and Rita was a selfish person. But, Estelle was pure and people like him would hurt her. "I'm just saying... Don't do anything reckless." They sit awhile and he looks over at her. "What's the Lowell Project?"
Rita's eyes narrow. "Lowell… Right! That's where I heard than name before! That projects top secret… how do you know about that?"
Yuri shrugs. "I have my ways."
"I don't know much, but they're the group working on the material composition of the new cores."
"Really?" Yuri hums. "Interesting. Come on, let's go back. Karol and Estelle are waiting for us." He walks off down the lane while Rita stares at the tree.
The young mage had been looking for an answer to her mysteries for years. And at last, at last she had found a key to her answer! Rita looked at the tree and a sly smile took her face. A girl who castes artes without the use of a blastia… It was like something out of a dream. "I've finally found the clue I was looking for. I want to be all kinds of reckless..."
Felinis: I love that line Rita says in the game. It's so cool and powerful and gets you hyped for what comes next. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as always. I need to sleep because I have a morning class.