'Twas many games: Valkyrie Profile, Secret of Mana, many Blade of the Immortal references, Ninja Gaiden (okay, so that's not an RPG. Big deal.). And now, comes the last side story! Brace yourselves!
Side-Story #4
"Alexander, there are many things in the world I can tolerate. I can tolerate torture, can deal with nails on a chalkboard, can stand up to the raging sea, and will gladly fight off an entire army." I crossed my arms over my chest. "However, there is one thing I cannot tolerate...and that is when people BARK LIKE A SEAL!"
Alexander turned his head to look at me. "But it IS a seal. Why shouldn't I talk to it in it's own language?"
"Because the sound a seal makes is aggravating. Now stop talking to it. Besides, at this rate, the sailors will throw us off the boat from your actions."
"All I did was talk to a seal." Alexander said defensively.
"And whales. And dolphins. And summon a flock of birds for fun. And glow." I leaned against the mainmast, sighing. "Why can't you travel like a normal person? Do you need to have bizarre things always happen around you?"
"Hmm..." Alexander thought for a moment. "Yep!" he said cheerily. I buried my face in my hand with a sigh.
"Why did I get stuck with you...? Moreover, why do I ALWAYS get stuck with you?" I sighed once again. "Why is my life nothing more than some big joke someone plays on me?" I waited for a response - even a 'huh? What'd you say?' would have been good. Instead, there was nothing but the sound of waves. And then more barking like a seal.
Straightening, I walked over to the side of the ship and gazed out at the ocean. We had taken a boat from Cadenza and headed west, across to the continent Galadus. It would have been faster if Alexander and I had used out powers to get there, but he said it would be 'more fun if we went the old-fashioned way'. More fun, my ass.
It was the last day of our journey, and land had been sighted about an hour ago. The port city was in view, and the passengers were all coming on deck to see the city. Alberta was a very white city, all the buildings built from that white stone that I don't remember the name of, and the streets paved the same way. Despite it's location, it was the center for merchant activities, always bustling with people and ships.
It was also filled with the smell of exposition. I could practically FEEL the dark clouds forming above us. Something didn't want us here, that was for sure. And it's only been 1 page since we appeared.
A small waterspout appeared a few meters from the edge of the ship. It was definitely an odd thing, especially since there were no heavy winds brewing. In just a few moments, the waterspout transformed into a water dragon, rearing to loom over the ship. I watched it with a raised eyebrow.
"What kind of a greeting is this? This standard for newbies or something?" I asked aloud. Judging by the fear that other people were showing, it definitely wasn't normal. Which was good, because I was very bored, and very much wanting to make use of my returning powers.
"My guess would be that someone doesn't want us to come here," Alexander said, coming to stand next to me.
"Like we couldn't already tell..." I muttered, exasperated. "Well, since it's in our job descriptions, let's take of it before it does any damage." I hopped onto the railing and raised a hand.
"Dark Mastery, Exodus!" A wave of black flame burst forth from my body, tearing apart my sleeve as it ripped through my arm and erupted forth. The flame struck the water dragon and exploded, creating a large cloud of steam. I winced and clutched my arm tenderly. "Still too weak to control that...well, better knowing it now than in a worse situation."
"You should be a bit more careful with your power, Heath," Alexander said calmly, tuning a guitar he had found somewhere. "You're going to get yourself killed at this rate."
"I don't see you helping," I retorted angrily. Alexander shrugged and kept tuning. "There's something terribly wrong with this picture," I muttered to myself as I turned back. "I'm the Lord of Darkness. I'm supposed to represent people's nightmares. I'm supposed to be the guy controlling creatures like this. So why am I the one protecting the people? Why isn't the ANGEL doing it? It IS his DUTY, after all." Alexander twitched at each accented word.
"Fine, fine, I'll help." Alexander stood up, leaning the guitar against a wall. He crossed his arms over his chest, and his hands began to glow bright yellow. His wings appeared and he floated high up, his eyes closed. The amount of power he was using right now was overwhelming, and perhaps a bit too much...
"Heaven's Wrath!" he shouted, swinging his arms wide out, then down. A wave of holy power came down from above and crushed the dragon, spraying water everywhere. Alexander came back down to alight on the railing, letting the spray cool his face in the sun. He turned to me and smiled brightly. "How was that?"
I glared back at him, soaking wet. "Wasn't that a bit much...?" I muttered to him.
"Not at all," he said calmly. No sooner had he finished then there was a rumbling in the waters and the water dragon reformed.
"Hoh, it's a curse, not a summon. How original." Power flared up in my usable hand. "Too bad it's considered a dark spell." I pointed my hand at the beast. "Fallen Flames! Dark Absorption!" In mere moments, the power supporting the spell was drained into my body. Manipulating this excess of energy, I repaired my arm and the sleeve. Alexander watched with some amusement.
"It's odd how you use most of that extra power to fix your clothes," he said with a smile. I grunted in response.
"This coat costs money. I don't like to waste money." I finished and hopped off the railing. "C'mon, let's get going. We need to get to the shrine as soon as possible."
"I would agree, but we haven't even docked yet." I glanced out and saw he was right. "It would seem our little display of power has...upset some people."
He was right - there was a huge commotion in the town. I sighed and sat down. It looked to be a long day already, and it was only noon.
When we finally docked, there was a huge crowd waiting for us at the dock. Hoping no one would know who we were, I waited calmly until several others had disembarked before hurrying off. I was halfway through the crowd when someone grabbed my arm. It was a young girl, and she was looking at me intently. "Hey, aren't you the guy who defeated the dragon?"
"Um...no...?" I said with a bit of a forced smile. She peered at me with such intensity I near shook.
"You are him, aren't you? I saw you defeat it!"
Others were joining in with reports that they had seen me do the deed as well. Everyone was so intense about it that it was a bit shocking. "Aren't you the one?" the girl asked again.
"Uh...well, I suppose you could say that, yeah..." I muttered halfway under my breath. This stirred the crowd into a frenzy.
"How could you? That dragon was to defend our town from any evil that approaches! That can only mean you came here with an evil heart!"
"But that also means that Alexander has an evil heart..." I stammered.
"Not really," the priest said, appearing at my side. "I was sitting next to you. You were the one who initiated the attack. I just happened to help."
"I hate you," I retorted. Someone in the crowd grabbed my collar, screaming in a ferocious rage. With a sigh, I reached out and lightly touched his head. The man froze for a moment, then grabbed his forehead and began to scream. This shut up everyone up nicely. They all stared at him in shock, drawing away from him and me. With a sigh, I pushed past the crowd and into the empty streets. Alexander fell in step with me.
"A nightmare spell...quite cruel, isn't it?" I threw him a glare before focusing on the road. "It forces him to actually feel and live his worst nightmares. Quite horrible."
"The spell will wear off in an hour. I don't have the power to support such a curse for very long." I glanced about the town. "We need to find some way of transportation to the shrine...it's too far away to walk."
Alexander laughed. "Ah, Heath, you still aren't used to this world? There's no need for transportation!"
"...there isn't?"
"No! All we need to do is..."
Quick screen fade, then world map view.
"Enter the world map!"
"Right, right...I forgot one can travel dozens of miles in mere seconds this way." I sighed. "Lead on, then, you're the one represented on the map."
"Can do!" With that, Alexander began to wander south. I was about to point out that we needed to go west when we encountered a random battle.
"Well, it's been a while since these have happened...what are we fighting?"
"A bush and two trees."
I sat down and wanted to cry from shame. "All I ever wanted to do was fight something that could kill us...but we haven't even been able to do that. Can't we fight just one thing that can actually kill us?"
"Well, this is a pretty powerful tree..." I snapped my fingers and an inferno burst up from under the tree, killing it instantly. "...for a tree." The bush ran up to Alexander and began to nibble on his leg. He looked at it oddly and tapped it with his staff. The bush gave a wail and fell over, dead. The other tree looked like it was about to flee, so I threw my dagger at it. It died before the venom could even start acting on it. I retrieved my dagger as we were given a pitiful amount of EXP, and we returned to the world map.
"I have this feeling that this continent is filled with incredibly weak monsters."
"You may just be right! Only one way to find out!"
With that began the long trek south, fighting off every pathetic monster that appeared. I wanted to kill either Alexander or myself, but couldn't do that due to the damn restriction of targeting other party members. Whoever decided on that was a fool.
After about an hour, Alexander dusted off his hands and pulled out the map. "All right. That's done, so let's get moving! Don't want to keep him waiting, after all."
"For one, he doesn't even know we're coming. For two, you were the one who decided we should walk around for an hour fighting weak things."
"Ah, don't sweat the small details, you'll never grow up if you do." Alexander strolled off to the west, my body trapped in whatever space it is that other party members go to when they're on the world map. I grumbled to myself the entire way, wondering if this was really going to be enough of an adventure to be called a side-quest.
In just a few short moments we reached the mountains. All good shrines are on mountains anyway, so we were expecting a climb. The mountain paths were narrow and the footing was bad, but we made up without much of any incident. Battles were scarce, and the enemies were of average strength. I began to worry.
We crossed a bridge over a rather fearful-looking gorge and came into sight of the shrine. It was built into the side of the mountain, stretching several stories up. At the top was an enormous temple, with two large furnaces burning on each side of the entrance. The temple of Volcana, the Firebird.
"Quite a sight, na..." Alexander said, leaning against the bridge post. "It's been a long time since I paid a visit to Volcana. Wonder if he'll still remember me."
"If he doesn't, then it's a sign he's getting old," I said, closing my eyes and grinning. "That old bird will remember you, if for no other reason than because of me. C'mon, let's hurry this up. After that last side-story, we have desperate need of some action."
"But the last one was good. I liked it. There was so much angst and pain!"
"Yes, but the ending was rushed. They could have done a much better job on how they ended that section."
"Really?"
"Yes! In the original script, there was supposed to be another dungeon and two more boss fights. They were supposed to fight the evil spirit of Camille, and instead of the rayth in the basement, there was supposed to be some tunnels that connected throughout the entire world. They were supposed to fight another boss in there."
Alexander pulled out a small book and reread the ending of the last part. "You're right. I never even noticed, I was so caught up in the angst."
"That's because you're bishounen. Angst screams out to you like a flytrap to a fly. Make with the going." With that, I grabbed Alexander by the collar and dragged him towards the shrine.
As we neared the entrance, two Shrine Knights came out to meet us. I put on a more peaceful aura despite my natural tendencies, because even I don't want to have to fight Shrine Knights. They halted a few feet away and one raised a hand. "Who comes to this sacred shrine?"
"We're two friends of Volcana," Alexander said casually. "We were wondering if we could come in and talk with him for a while."
"You are Alexander and Heath, aren't you? Come, we have been expecting you. Follow us." With that, the two Knights turned and walked back into the shrine. We followed, a bit surprised. I nudged Alexander in the ribs.
"Hey, did you send a message to him or something? I know I didn't."
Alexander shrugged. "You know Volcana. He does these things all the time. That's one of the reasons we're here. He likes bands of Heroes trying to save the world."
"...we aren't trying to save the world at all. We're more of a danger to it than any other evil out there."
"Volcana doesn't sweat the small things."
The Shrine Knights led us up a long, twisting stairway that eventually brought us to the top. The Shrine of Volcana loomed above us, shining a bright hue of red in the bright sunlight. The Shrine Knights didn't hesitate, walking right into the shrine without a word. Alexander and I followed slowly, a bit hesitant.
As we stepped into the shrine, I politely removed my hat and took off my sunglasses. Alexander slipped off his sandals as I removed my boots and placed everything next to the doorway. We then strode forward, the chill of the floor biting into our bare feet, but we made no complaint.
In the center of the shrine stood a huge statue of a giant bird, its wings flecked and flowing like pure fire. Its large head was positioned so that it stared right at you as soon as you entered. The two of us stared right back, the only sound the faint crackling of the flames.
After a long time, I opened my mouth to greet Volcana when Alexander suddenly said, "Oissu, Vol! How's it going on your side?" I promptly fell on my face.
"Alexander...you still have no manners when addressing your superiors," boomed Volcana's enormous voice. Alexander just smiled back. I dragged myself back to my feet, wondering why I was really here. "And why have you two traveled this far to this shrine?"
"Don't you know?" Alexander's smile became slightly mysterious. "'That time' is on the winds..."
"'That time'..." Volcana mused, tasting the words. The air was getting heavy with exposition.
"But before that, let's talk life! How've you been, Vol?" I fell on my face again. "How's the wife? Kids? Brother?"
"Alexander..." Volcana boomed menacingly. "There is a time for these things, and now is not it." I could feel his gaze shift over to me. "Heath...I can sense your power has grown immensely since last we met. The time for 'meeting' is almost at hand?"
"Closer than anyone can predict," I said calmly. "Like Alexander said, 'that time' is on it's way...and the closer it gets, the more 'they' become restless."
"As I feared..." Volcana sighed. "Recently I have felt the 'waves' from the 'Animus'. It will only be a matter of time before these 'waves' react with the 'Anima'."
"But it would seem that the 'Animus' are not the 'true Animus' - just replacements for the time being." I muttered under my breath.
"The 'Anima' are still sealed off, right?" Alexander asked?
"Yes, for now," Volcana replied. "However, we must soon find a way to reseal 'them'. There are ill omens on the 'horizon', and with each passing day 'evil' takes another step into our world. Should 'evil' be able to locate 'them', there will be disaster."
"And if 'they' are located, we would have to unseal the 'Animus' ourselves." I finished.
"In your current states, there would be no way you could stop 'them' - even with the 'Animus'. We need the 'Anima' to awaken first."
"The chances of 'that happening' are low..."
"I'm getting tired of putting apostrophes around everything," Alexander whined. "Can't we talk like normal people?" I fell over again.
"Are you stupid? If we talked normally, then everyone would know what we mean!" Alexander made a pouting face and glanced to the side.
"Well, as it is, we three know what's happening, right?" he asked.
"For the most part."
"And we know what we mean, right?"
"Of course."
"So then..." Alexander poked his index fingers together. "Why do WE need to talk in these weird riddles? It's not like someone is listening in to what we're saying, and even if they did, they still wouldn't understand. All this is doing is making it inconvenient for us to talk normally."
I stared at Alexander with unblinking eyes for a while. "Why is it..." I asked slowly, "that I of all people know why we do this, and yet I can't understand a single thing about this entire world?"
"But I don't get it."
"That's fine, then," I sighed, slapping a hand on his shoulder. "Just...go take a walk or something. All we need to do is end this conversation."
"I can do that." With that, he promptly turned around and walked out. After he left, I broke out the script and peered at it.
"Now then...where did we leave off?"
"I think it was around the needing the Animus to awaken," Volcana said, peering over my shoulder at the script.
"We'll start from there, then...it's your line here." I pointed to the line and moved the page closer to the flame so he could read it.
"Alright...' In your current states, there would be no way you could stop 'them' - even with the 'Animus'. We need the 'Anima' to awaken first'."
"The chances of 'that happening' are low..."
"And I'll take this line...'We need to find the 'source of power' before anything else can be done'."
Around then, Alexander came back in. "Uh, guys? Something's going on down the mountain..."
"Hold up, we're almost done here...'I guess that will have to be our next goal'. Whoa, a line without any apostrophes."
"'Then talk to the Shrine Master, he will tell you how to get there'. There, that should do it." Volcana stretched his neck and yawned. "Wow, it's been a long time...I think I'll take a nap. If there's anything wrong, gimme a call. G'night." With that, the Firebird fell asleep.
"Now then..." I said, standing. "What's going on, exactly?"
"Well, there's this big group of guys climbing the mountain, see? They look pretty dangerous and all, and from what I can tell they're from the Empire."
"Empire?" I blinked in surprise. "That's odd. What kind of business would they have here? Let me take a look at this." We walked out of the shrine and I collected my belongings. As I tied one boot, Alexander popped a coin into one of the pay telescopes that lined the edge. He moved it around a bit, then motioned for me.
"Here, take a look." Still tying my boot, I hopped over and peered in.
Alexander was right - they were definitely from the Empire. It looked like about thirty soldiers climbing the mountain towards the shrine. "This is odd..." I muttered. "Why would they even come here? It's not like you can expect to storm a place like this." A sudden thought came to mind. Dropping my other boot, I grabbed the telescope and moved it to look at the city. Sure enough, there were at least a dozen of the Empire's ships there, and the city was filled with soldiers. I clicked my tongue. "Looks like removing that curse was a bad idea after all..."
"What happened?" Alexander asked.
"Seems the Empire finally made its move. They've already taken the city, and I imagine this group coming here is here to lay claim to the shrine." I moved the telescope back to look at the soldiers closing in. As I did, I noticed someone standing on top of one of the higher formations. It was a woman, standing with her back to me, dressed in a loose red shirt and tight brown pants with a green kerchief around her neck. A blue cloak rested on her slim shoulders. Her shoulder-length brown hair was blowing freely in the wind. She turned and brushed her hair out of her face, and for a brief moment she looked right at me and I saw her face. Just then, the time ran out of the telescope and all I was seeing was blackness.
I was sweating, but at the same time a low chuckle come from my throat. "So..." I muttered, still chuckling, leaning back, my face shadowed by my hair. "The tide is about to come in, huh...?" Alexander gave me an odd look.
"What's going on?" he asked. I stood up quickly.
"You ran out of time," I said pointedly, gesturing to the telescope.
"Dammit! That was my last quarter!" Alexander jumped to his feet. "We'll just have to go and fight them and take their money! Come, Heath!" With that, Alexander grabbed my by the collar and dragged my down the stairs, with one boot still in my hands.
We reached the front door soon enough, but by the time we had, the soldiers had also made it there and were giving their warnings. "Surrender, and your lives will be spared! If you resist, we will attack!" The soldier how was shouted looked like the leader of the squad, and he was standing on a boulder.
"Do they really expect to be able to take this place by themselves?" Alexander asked, looking into the sky with a finger on his chin. I hurriedly tied my other boot on and jumped up.
"I'd like to see you try!" I shouted, waving a fist at him. "I could take you all on with one hand!"
"What?! How dare you! Your insolence shall be punished!" the captain screamed back. "Prepare to attack!" Before anyone could do anything else, I fired a ball of dark power at him and blew the boulder up, sending him wailing down the mountain.
"Come out, bitch!" I shouted. "I know you're there!"
There was a pause, and nothing happened. I scratched my chin curiously. "Hmm...maybe I was wrong? I could've sworn it was her."
"They killed the Captain! Attack!" The soldiers all ran to their preset starting positions and waited. It wasn't like it would be a hard fight - there were just a lot of them. As Alexander and I prepared to fight, there was suddenly a shouted of "Wait!" from somewhere.
From nowhere, a group of five warriors showed up: three men and two women. Of the men, there was an archer, a priest, and a wandering hero. The girls were a knight and a sorceress. It was very stereotypical.
"I won't let the evil Empire have their way! Come on, guys! Let's teach them a lesson!" There was a cry of support from the others, and they took their positions.
"Um..." I strolled over to the wandering hero. "Not to butt in on your fun, but this is our fight. You guys have nothing to do with this."
"Don't worry about us!" he said, flashing a gleaming smile that hurt my eyes. "We've sworn to fight the evil Empire, no matter what the cost! We'll assist you in this battle!"
"Well, I don't mind help, I guess..." With that done, I walked back to my place and waited.
The priest was first to go, and he walked forward a bit and held his ground. The sorceress was next, and she did the same. Alexander was after her, and he moved as close as his movement would allow before casting Protect on himself. Then it was my turn. I moved a long ways and targeted the closest soldier. The screen switched to a movie style with the two black bars on top and bottom, and I threw several darts at the soldier, dealing average damage. Next was-
"Wait a minute! Darts?! When the hell did I use darts?!"
-the wandering hero, who moved a fair distance before stopping. Then the soldiers went. We waited patiently as each individual soldier took their turn, one by one. Then the knight moved, and it was back to the top.
"This could go on for a long time."
The priest did nothing except move. The sorceress moved farther up and targeted a large area. Switch to the fighting screen, in which she cast Firestorm. All the soldiers caught in it were heavily damaged. Then Alexander went. He moved slightly and targeted a soldier that was still at full health, and cast Holy Pyre, which killed him right out. My turn. I targeted a large area and cast Flood of Darkness. All enemies were crushed by the wave, and most of them died.
The wandering hero was next. He rushed in and attacked the closest soldier, who was already weakened by the sorceress. The soldier died painfully. With that, the remaining soldiers all converged on us and started attacking. After about twenty turns of this, the knight finally went. She ran in and hit a soldier, who died. Back to the top.
The priest healed the wandering hero, who had been hit quite a few times last round. The sorceress targeted a smaller area, and cast Blizzard. All the soldiers were killed on the spot. Alexander targeted a large area, concentrated, and was surrounded by several glowing balls. "Oh, no..." I muttered.
"Summon Mara!" he shouted, and we all disappeared.
Something came shooting in from the heavens. Mara slammed into the ground, damaging all the nearby enemies. Oblivious to the soldiers, she started up a fire and began roasting an egg. The fire dealt more damage. She ate the egg as soon as it was done, and gave a mighty belch, which hurt them again. With that, she pulled out a bottle of beer and downed it all in one gulp. Very tipsy from that, she flew off, but ran into a mountain, causing another wave of damage to the soldiers. As we reappeared, I grabbed Alexander by the collar. "Never do that again."
"You got any better idea on how to get rid of these guys quicker?"
With that all done, it was finally my turn again. I stared at the remaining soldiers with disgust. "Ah, hell, let's end this now."
"Dark Mastery!" I shouted, my voice echoing throughout the mountains. "Endless Rain!" Dark power came smashing down on the soldiers like a torrent, tearing them to shreds. As I watched the enemy perish, a long line of flesh on my left arm suddenly tore apart, spraying blood. I cringed and clutched my arm, and the spell ended.
I slid to one knee in pain, doing my best not to be noticed by the five warriors. I tried to gather up some spare power, but the pain was a bit extreme.
"Quite the display of power, there."
Alexander knelt next to me and extended a hand, smiling. "You should really be a bit more careful with the level of power you're using right now. It's still to early to use the more powerful skills." His hand glowed for a moment, and the skin was mostly healed. "This is the best I can do for you."
I gave him a shifty grin. "Worry about your own skin for now," I said, standing. As I did, the sound of evil laughter filled the air. Everyone instantly went alert, looking around for the source of the laughter.
"Where are you? Show yourself!" the wandering hero cried.
Without any warning, she did. It was her - the same woman I had seen earlier through the telescope. She was standing on a rock high up, looking down at us with a smirk. Our eyes met, and I gave a hideous grin. She simply smirked back and turned away with a flourish of her cloak.
"Who was that...?" the archer asked worriedly.
"A new opponent has appeared," the wandering hero said in a deep voice. "And now our heroes stand before the evil Empire as they begin their conquest of the world. They must stand true against the forces of evil! Be strong, Wandering Five! Never give up!" With that, the five of them flew off into the sunset.
"It's still day time," I said calmly.
"Let them live in their dreams," Alexander advised. "Putting that aside, you know her, don't you?" I grinned and said nothing. "She's who I think she is, isn't she? We'll be running into her again, I imagine."
I simply smiled that hideous smile and stared into the distance. "The tide has come in...and it's time to set sail on the waves of fate."
To be continued...
"That last line sounded pretty mystic, didn't it?"
"It wasn't bad. A little cheesy, though."
"Yeah, but I was short on time. Best I could come up with."
"It works in a pinch."
Side-Story #4
"Alexander, there are many things in the world I can tolerate. I can tolerate torture, can deal with nails on a chalkboard, can stand up to the raging sea, and will gladly fight off an entire army." I crossed my arms over my chest. "However, there is one thing I cannot tolerate...and that is when people BARK LIKE A SEAL!"
Alexander turned his head to look at me. "But it IS a seal. Why shouldn't I talk to it in it's own language?"
"Because the sound a seal makes is aggravating. Now stop talking to it. Besides, at this rate, the sailors will throw us off the boat from your actions."
"All I did was talk to a seal." Alexander said defensively.
"And whales. And dolphins. And summon a flock of birds for fun. And glow." I leaned against the mainmast, sighing. "Why can't you travel like a normal person? Do you need to have bizarre things always happen around you?"
"Hmm..." Alexander thought for a moment. "Yep!" he said cheerily. I buried my face in my hand with a sigh.
"Why did I get stuck with you...? Moreover, why do I ALWAYS get stuck with you?" I sighed once again. "Why is my life nothing more than some big joke someone plays on me?" I waited for a response - even a 'huh? What'd you say?' would have been good. Instead, there was nothing but the sound of waves. And then more barking like a seal.
Straightening, I walked over to the side of the ship and gazed out at the ocean. We had taken a boat from Cadenza and headed west, across to the continent Galadus. It would have been faster if Alexander and I had used out powers to get there, but he said it would be 'more fun if we went the old-fashioned way'. More fun, my ass.
It was the last day of our journey, and land had been sighted about an hour ago. The port city was in view, and the passengers were all coming on deck to see the city. Alberta was a very white city, all the buildings built from that white stone that I don't remember the name of, and the streets paved the same way. Despite it's location, it was the center for merchant activities, always bustling with people and ships.
It was also filled with the smell of exposition. I could practically FEEL the dark clouds forming above us. Something didn't want us here, that was for sure. And it's only been 1 page since we appeared.
A small waterspout appeared a few meters from the edge of the ship. It was definitely an odd thing, especially since there were no heavy winds brewing. In just a few moments, the waterspout transformed into a water dragon, rearing to loom over the ship. I watched it with a raised eyebrow.
"What kind of a greeting is this? This standard for newbies or something?" I asked aloud. Judging by the fear that other people were showing, it definitely wasn't normal. Which was good, because I was very bored, and very much wanting to make use of my returning powers.
"My guess would be that someone doesn't want us to come here," Alexander said, coming to stand next to me.
"Like we couldn't already tell..." I muttered, exasperated. "Well, since it's in our job descriptions, let's take of it before it does any damage." I hopped onto the railing and raised a hand.
"Dark Mastery, Exodus!" A wave of black flame burst forth from my body, tearing apart my sleeve as it ripped through my arm and erupted forth. The flame struck the water dragon and exploded, creating a large cloud of steam. I winced and clutched my arm tenderly. "Still too weak to control that...well, better knowing it now than in a worse situation."
"You should be a bit more careful with your power, Heath," Alexander said calmly, tuning a guitar he had found somewhere. "You're going to get yourself killed at this rate."
"I don't see you helping," I retorted angrily. Alexander shrugged and kept tuning. "There's something terribly wrong with this picture," I muttered to myself as I turned back. "I'm the Lord of Darkness. I'm supposed to represent people's nightmares. I'm supposed to be the guy controlling creatures like this. So why am I the one protecting the people? Why isn't the ANGEL doing it? It IS his DUTY, after all." Alexander twitched at each accented word.
"Fine, fine, I'll help." Alexander stood up, leaning the guitar against a wall. He crossed his arms over his chest, and his hands began to glow bright yellow. His wings appeared and he floated high up, his eyes closed. The amount of power he was using right now was overwhelming, and perhaps a bit too much...
"Heaven's Wrath!" he shouted, swinging his arms wide out, then down. A wave of holy power came down from above and crushed the dragon, spraying water everywhere. Alexander came back down to alight on the railing, letting the spray cool his face in the sun. He turned to me and smiled brightly. "How was that?"
I glared back at him, soaking wet. "Wasn't that a bit much...?" I muttered to him.
"Not at all," he said calmly. No sooner had he finished then there was a rumbling in the waters and the water dragon reformed.
"Hoh, it's a curse, not a summon. How original." Power flared up in my usable hand. "Too bad it's considered a dark spell." I pointed my hand at the beast. "Fallen Flames! Dark Absorption!" In mere moments, the power supporting the spell was drained into my body. Manipulating this excess of energy, I repaired my arm and the sleeve. Alexander watched with some amusement.
"It's odd how you use most of that extra power to fix your clothes," he said with a smile. I grunted in response.
"This coat costs money. I don't like to waste money." I finished and hopped off the railing. "C'mon, let's get going. We need to get to the shrine as soon as possible."
"I would agree, but we haven't even docked yet." I glanced out and saw he was right. "It would seem our little display of power has...upset some people."
He was right - there was a huge commotion in the town. I sighed and sat down. It looked to be a long day already, and it was only noon.
When we finally docked, there was a huge crowd waiting for us at the dock. Hoping no one would know who we were, I waited calmly until several others had disembarked before hurrying off. I was halfway through the crowd when someone grabbed my arm. It was a young girl, and she was looking at me intently. "Hey, aren't you the guy who defeated the dragon?"
"Um...no...?" I said with a bit of a forced smile. She peered at me with such intensity I near shook.
"You are him, aren't you? I saw you defeat it!"
Others were joining in with reports that they had seen me do the deed as well. Everyone was so intense about it that it was a bit shocking. "Aren't you the one?" the girl asked again.
"Uh...well, I suppose you could say that, yeah..." I muttered halfway under my breath. This stirred the crowd into a frenzy.
"How could you? That dragon was to defend our town from any evil that approaches! That can only mean you came here with an evil heart!"
"But that also means that Alexander has an evil heart..." I stammered.
"Not really," the priest said, appearing at my side. "I was sitting next to you. You were the one who initiated the attack. I just happened to help."
"I hate you," I retorted. Someone in the crowd grabbed my collar, screaming in a ferocious rage. With a sigh, I reached out and lightly touched his head. The man froze for a moment, then grabbed his forehead and began to scream. This shut up everyone up nicely. They all stared at him in shock, drawing away from him and me. With a sigh, I pushed past the crowd and into the empty streets. Alexander fell in step with me.
"A nightmare spell...quite cruel, isn't it?" I threw him a glare before focusing on the road. "It forces him to actually feel and live his worst nightmares. Quite horrible."
"The spell will wear off in an hour. I don't have the power to support such a curse for very long." I glanced about the town. "We need to find some way of transportation to the shrine...it's too far away to walk."
Alexander laughed. "Ah, Heath, you still aren't used to this world? There's no need for transportation!"
"...there isn't?"
"No! All we need to do is..."
Quick screen fade, then world map view.
"Enter the world map!"
"Right, right...I forgot one can travel dozens of miles in mere seconds this way." I sighed. "Lead on, then, you're the one represented on the map."
"Can do!" With that, Alexander began to wander south. I was about to point out that we needed to go west when we encountered a random battle.
"Well, it's been a while since these have happened...what are we fighting?"
"A bush and two trees."
I sat down and wanted to cry from shame. "All I ever wanted to do was fight something that could kill us...but we haven't even been able to do that. Can't we fight just one thing that can actually kill us?"
"Well, this is a pretty powerful tree..." I snapped my fingers and an inferno burst up from under the tree, killing it instantly. "...for a tree." The bush ran up to Alexander and began to nibble on his leg. He looked at it oddly and tapped it with his staff. The bush gave a wail and fell over, dead. The other tree looked like it was about to flee, so I threw my dagger at it. It died before the venom could even start acting on it. I retrieved my dagger as we were given a pitiful amount of EXP, and we returned to the world map.
"I have this feeling that this continent is filled with incredibly weak monsters."
"You may just be right! Only one way to find out!"
With that began the long trek south, fighting off every pathetic monster that appeared. I wanted to kill either Alexander or myself, but couldn't do that due to the damn restriction of targeting other party members. Whoever decided on that was a fool.
After about an hour, Alexander dusted off his hands and pulled out the map. "All right. That's done, so let's get moving! Don't want to keep him waiting, after all."
"For one, he doesn't even know we're coming. For two, you were the one who decided we should walk around for an hour fighting weak things."
"Ah, don't sweat the small details, you'll never grow up if you do." Alexander strolled off to the west, my body trapped in whatever space it is that other party members go to when they're on the world map. I grumbled to myself the entire way, wondering if this was really going to be enough of an adventure to be called a side-quest.
In just a few short moments we reached the mountains. All good shrines are on mountains anyway, so we were expecting a climb. The mountain paths were narrow and the footing was bad, but we made up without much of any incident. Battles were scarce, and the enemies were of average strength. I began to worry.
We crossed a bridge over a rather fearful-looking gorge and came into sight of the shrine. It was built into the side of the mountain, stretching several stories up. At the top was an enormous temple, with two large furnaces burning on each side of the entrance. The temple of Volcana, the Firebird.
"Quite a sight, na..." Alexander said, leaning against the bridge post. "It's been a long time since I paid a visit to Volcana. Wonder if he'll still remember me."
"If he doesn't, then it's a sign he's getting old," I said, closing my eyes and grinning. "That old bird will remember you, if for no other reason than because of me. C'mon, let's hurry this up. After that last side-story, we have desperate need of some action."
"But the last one was good. I liked it. There was so much angst and pain!"
"Yes, but the ending was rushed. They could have done a much better job on how they ended that section."
"Really?"
"Yes! In the original script, there was supposed to be another dungeon and two more boss fights. They were supposed to fight the evil spirit of Camille, and instead of the rayth in the basement, there was supposed to be some tunnels that connected throughout the entire world. They were supposed to fight another boss in there."
Alexander pulled out a small book and reread the ending of the last part. "You're right. I never even noticed, I was so caught up in the angst."
"That's because you're bishounen. Angst screams out to you like a flytrap to a fly. Make with the going." With that, I grabbed Alexander by the collar and dragged him towards the shrine.
As we neared the entrance, two Shrine Knights came out to meet us. I put on a more peaceful aura despite my natural tendencies, because even I don't want to have to fight Shrine Knights. They halted a few feet away and one raised a hand. "Who comes to this sacred shrine?"
"We're two friends of Volcana," Alexander said casually. "We were wondering if we could come in and talk with him for a while."
"You are Alexander and Heath, aren't you? Come, we have been expecting you. Follow us." With that, the two Knights turned and walked back into the shrine. We followed, a bit surprised. I nudged Alexander in the ribs.
"Hey, did you send a message to him or something? I know I didn't."
Alexander shrugged. "You know Volcana. He does these things all the time. That's one of the reasons we're here. He likes bands of Heroes trying to save the world."
"...we aren't trying to save the world at all. We're more of a danger to it than any other evil out there."
"Volcana doesn't sweat the small things."
The Shrine Knights led us up a long, twisting stairway that eventually brought us to the top. The Shrine of Volcana loomed above us, shining a bright hue of red in the bright sunlight. The Shrine Knights didn't hesitate, walking right into the shrine without a word. Alexander and I followed slowly, a bit hesitant.
As we stepped into the shrine, I politely removed my hat and took off my sunglasses. Alexander slipped off his sandals as I removed my boots and placed everything next to the doorway. We then strode forward, the chill of the floor biting into our bare feet, but we made no complaint.
In the center of the shrine stood a huge statue of a giant bird, its wings flecked and flowing like pure fire. Its large head was positioned so that it stared right at you as soon as you entered. The two of us stared right back, the only sound the faint crackling of the flames.
After a long time, I opened my mouth to greet Volcana when Alexander suddenly said, "Oissu, Vol! How's it going on your side?" I promptly fell on my face.
"Alexander...you still have no manners when addressing your superiors," boomed Volcana's enormous voice. Alexander just smiled back. I dragged myself back to my feet, wondering why I was really here. "And why have you two traveled this far to this shrine?"
"Don't you know?" Alexander's smile became slightly mysterious. "'That time' is on the winds..."
"'That time'..." Volcana mused, tasting the words. The air was getting heavy with exposition.
"But before that, let's talk life! How've you been, Vol?" I fell on my face again. "How's the wife? Kids? Brother?"
"Alexander..." Volcana boomed menacingly. "There is a time for these things, and now is not it." I could feel his gaze shift over to me. "Heath...I can sense your power has grown immensely since last we met. The time for 'meeting' is almost at hand?"
"Closer than anyone can predict," I said calmly. "Like Alexander said, 'that time' is on it's way...and the closer it gets, the more 'they' become restless."
"As I feared..." Volcana sighed. "Recently I have felt the 'waves' from the 'Animus'. It will only be a matter of time before these 'waves' react with the 'Anima'."
"But it would seem that the 'Animus' are not the 'true Animus' - just replacements for the time being." I muttered under my breath.
"The 'Anima' are still sealed off, right?" Alexander asked?
"Yes, for now," Volcana replied. "However, we must soon find a way to reseal 'them'. There are ill omens on the 'horizon', and with each passing day 'evil' takes another step into our world. Should 'evil' be able to locate 'them', there will be disaster."
"And if 'they' are located, we would have to unseal the 'Animus' ourselves." I finished.
"In your current states, there would be no way you could stop 'them' - even with the 'Animus'. We need the 'Anima' to awaken first."
"The chances of 'that happening' are low..."
"I'm getting tired of putting apostrophes around everything," Alexander whined. "Can't we talk like normal people?" I fell over again.
"Are you stupid? If we talked normally, then everyone would know what we mean!" Alexander made a pouting face and glanced to the side.
"Well, as it is, we three know what's happening, right?" he asked.
"For the most part."
"And we know what we mean, right?"
"Of course."
"So then..." Alexander poked his index fingers together. "Why do WE need to talk in these weird riddles? It's not like someone is listening in to what we're saying, and even if they did, they still wouldn't understand. All this is doing is making it inconvenient for us to talk normally."
I stared at Alexander with unblinking eyes for a while. "Why is it..." I asked slowly, "that I of all people know why we do this, and yet I can't understand a single thing about this entire world?"
"But I don't get it."
"That's fine, then," I sighed, slapping a hand on his shoulder. "Just...go take a walk or something. All we need to do is end this conversation."
"I can do that." With that, he promptly turned around and walked out. After he left, I broke out the script and peered at it.
"Now then...where did we leave off?"
"I think it was around the needing the Animus to awaken," Volcana said, peering over my shoulder at the script.
"We'll start from there, then...it's your line here." I pointed to the line and moved the page closer to the flame so he could read it.
"Alright...' In your current states, there would be no way you could stop 'them' - even with the 'Animus'. We need the 'Anima' to awaken first'."
"The chances of 'that happening' are low..."
"And I'll take this line...'We need to find the 'source of power' before anything else can be done'."
Around then, Alexander came back in. "Uh, guys? Something's going on down the mountain..."
"Hold up, we're almost done here...'I guess that will have to be our next goal'. Whoa, a line without any apostrophes."
"'Then talk to the Shrine Master, he will tell you how to get there'. There, that should do it." Volcana stretched his neck and yawned. "Wow, it's been a long time...I think I'll take a nap. If there's anything wrong, gimme a call. G'night." With that, the Firebird fell asleep.
"Now then..." I said, standing. "What's going on, exactly?"
"Well, there's this big group of guys climbing the mountain, see? They look pretty dangerous and all, and from what I can tell they're from the Empire."
"Empire?" I blinked in surprise. "That's odd. What kind of business would they have here? Let me take a look at this." We walked out of the shrine and I collected my belongings. As I tied one boot, Alexander popped a coin into one of the pay telescopes that lined the edge. He moved it around a bit, then motioned for me.
"Here, take a look." Still tying my boot, I hopped over and peered in.
Alexander was right - they were definitely from the Empire. It looked like about thirty soldiers climbing the mountain towards the shrine. "This is odd..." I muttered. "Why would they even come here? It's not like you can expect to storm a place like this." A sudden thought came to mind. Dropping my other boot, I grabbed the telescope and moved it to look at the city. Sure enough, there were at least a dozen of the Empire's ships there, and the city was filled with soldiers. I clicked my tongue. "Looks like removing that curse was a bad idea after all..."
"What happened?" Alexander asked.
"Seems the Empire finally made its move. They've already taken the city, and I imagine this group coming here is here to lay claim to the shrine." I moved the telescope back to look at the soldiers closing in. As I did, I noticed someone standing on top of one of the higher formations. It was a woman, standing with her back to me, dressed in a loose red shirt and tight brown pants with a green kerchief around her neck. A blue cloak rested on her slim shoulders. Her shoulder-length brown hair was blowing freely in the wind. She turned and brushed her hair out of her face, and for a brief moment she looked right at me and I saw her face. Just then, the time ran out of the telescope and all I was seeing was blackness.
I was sweating, but at the same time a low chuckle come from my throat. "So..." I muttered, still chuckling, leaning back, my face shadowed by my hair. "The tide is about to come in, huh...?" Alexander gave me an odd look.
"What's going on?" he asked. I stood up quickly.
"You ran out of time," I said pointedly, gesturing to the telescope.
"Dammit! That was my last quarter!" Alexander jumped to his feet. "We'll just have to go and fight them and take their money! Come, Heath!" With that, Alexander grabbed my by the collar and dragged my down the stairs, with one boot still in my hands.
We reached the front door soon enough, but by the time we had, the soldiers had also made it there and were giving their warnings. "Surrender, and your lives will be spared! If you resist, we will attack!" The soldier how was shouted looked like the leader of the squad, and he was standing on a boulder.
"Do they really expect to be able to take this place by themselves?" Alexander asked, looking into the sky with a finger on his chin. I hurriedly tied my other boot on and jumped up.
"I'd like to see you try!" I shouted, waving a fist at him. "I could take you all on with one hand!"
"What?! How dare you! Your insolence shall be punished!" the captain screamed back. "Prepare to attack!" Before anyone could do anything else, I fired a ball of dark power at him and blew the boulder up, sending him wailing down the mountain.
"Come out, bitch!" I shouted. "I know you're there!"
There was a pause, and nothing happened. I scratched my chin curiously. "Hmm...maybe I was wrong? I could've sworn it was her."
"They killed the Captain! Attack!" The soldiers all ran to their preset starting positions and waited. It wasn't like it would be a hard fight - there were just a lot of them. As Alexander and I prepared to fight, there was suddenly a shouted of "Wait!" from somewhere.
From nowhere, a group of five warriors showed up: three men and two women. Of the men, there was an archer, a priest, and a wandering hero. The girls were a knight and a sorceress. It was very stereotypical.
"I won't let the evil Empire have their way! Come on, guys! Let's teach them a lesson!" There was a cry of support from the others, and they took their positions.
"Um..." I strolled over to the wandering hero. "Not to butt in on your fun, but this is our fight. You guys have nothing to do with this."
"Don't worry about us!" he said, flashing a gleaming smile that hurt my eyes. "We've sworn to fight the evil Empire, no matter what the cost! We'll assist you in this battle!"
"Well, I don't mind help, I guess..." With that done, I walked back to my place and waited.
The priest was first to go, and he walked forward a bit and held his ground. The sorceress was next, and she did the same. Alexander was after her, and he moved as close as his movement would allow before casting Protect on himself. Then it was my turn. I moved a long ways and targeted the closest soldier. The screen switched to a movie style with the two black bars on top and bottom, and I threw several darts at the soldier, dealing average damage. Next was-
"Wait a minute! Darts?! When the hell did I use darts?!"
-the wandering hero, who moved a fair distance before stopping. Then the soldiers went. We waited patiently as each individual soldier took their turn, one by one. Then the knight moved, and it was back to the top.
"This could go on for a long time."
The priest did nothing except move. The sorceress moved farther up and targeted a large area. Switch to the fighting screen, in which she cast Firestorm. All the soldiers caught in it were heavily damaged. Then Alexander went. He moved slightly and targeted a soldier that was still at full health, and cast Holy Pyre, which killed him right out. My turn. I targeted a large area and cast Flood of Darkness. All enemies were crushed by the wave, and most of them died.
The wandering hero was next. He rushed in and attacked the closest soldier, who was already weakened by the sorceress. The soldier died painfully. With that, the remaining soldiers all converged on us and started attacking. After about twenty turns of this, the knight finally went. She ran in and hit a soldier, who died. Back to the top.
The priest healed the wandering hero, who had been hit quite a few times last round. The sorceress targeted a smaller area, and cast Blizzard. All the soldiers were killed on the spot. Alexander targeted a large area, concentrated, and was surrounded by several glowing balls. "Oh, no..." I muttered.
"Summon Mara!" he shouted, and we all disappeared.
Something came shooting in from the heavens. Mara slammed into the ground, damaging all the nearby enemies. Oblivious to the soldiers, she started up a fire and began roasting an egg. The fire dealt more damage. She ate the egg as soon as it was done, and gave a mighty belch, which hurt them again. With that, she pulled out a bottle of beer and downed it all in one gulp. Very tipsy from that, she flew off, but ran into a mountain, causing another wave of damage to the soldiers. As we reappeared, I grabbed Alexander by the collar. "Never do that again."
"You got any better idea on how to get rid of these guys quicker?"
With that all done, it was finally my turn again. I stared at the remaining soldiers with disgust. "Ah, hell, let's end this now."
"Dark Mastery!" I shouted, my voice echoing throughout the mountains. "Endless Rain!" Dark power came smashing down on the soldiers like a torrent, tearing them to shreds. As I watched the enemy perish, a long line of flesh on my left arm suddenly tore apart, spraying blood. I cringed and clutched my arm, and the spell ended.
I slid to one knee in pain, doing my best not to be noticed by the five warriors. I tried to gather up some spare power, but the pain was a bit extreme.
"Quite the display of power, there."
Alexander knelt next to me and extended a hand, smiling. "You should really be a bit more careful with the level of power you're using right now. It's still to early to use the more powerful skills." His hand glowed for a moment, and the skin was mostly healed. "This is the best I can do for you."
I gave him a shifty grin. "Worry about your own skin for now," I said, standing. As I did, the sound of evil laughter filled the air. Everyone instantly went alert, looking around for the source of the laughter.
"Where are you? Show yourself!" the wandering hero cried.
Without any warning, she did. It was her - the same woman I had seen earlier through the telescope. She was standing on a rock high up, looking down at us with a smirk. Our eyes met, and I gave a hideous grin. She simply smirked back and turned away with a flourish of her cloak.
"Who was that...?" the archer asked worriedly.
"A new opponent has appeared," the wandering hero said in a deep voice. "And now our heroes stand before the evil Empire as they begin their conquest of the world. They must stand true against the forces of evil! Be strong, Wandering Five! Never give up!" With that, the five of them flew off into the sunset.
"It's still day time," I said calmly.
"Let them live in their dreams," Alexander advised. "Putting that aside, you know her, don't you?" I grinned and said nothing. "She's who I think she is, isn't she? We'll be running into her again, I imagine."
I simply smiled that hideous smile and stared into the distance. "The tide has come in...and it's time to set sail on the waves of fate."
To be continued...
"That last line sounded pretty mystic, didn't it?"
"It wasn't bad. A little cheesy, though."
"Yeah, but I was short on time. Best I could come up with."
"It works in a pinch."