Kiskadi: O: Chapter 2 is up, and this is mostly likely the fastest I've ever updated. That and the most I've ever typed. I hope you're enjoying my contribution to Tales of Symphonia fanfics. Anyway, I forgot to put a disclaimer (Not to mention any type of note) in the last chapter. So, because I am uncreative and stupid, I will allow Anna to write my disclaimer. (Yay.) She gets one whole section to blab away. Here's Anna O: Oh, and make it interesting Anna, or I'll hunt you down at school. Innocently smiles
Anna: You talk too much. Mmkay, disclaimer…
Disclaimer: What the hell is the point of a disclaimer, anyway? It's a fanfic. It's posted on Figure it out for yourselves you lazy morons.
Damn you for not adding yaoi. Just a bit of gay sex would be good enough D:
Kiskadi: Yeah… thanks Anna. She's my editor feels special. Ok, now enjoy chapter 2.
P.S. I'm sorry about Anna She's great once you get to know her… Also, I probably won't update that fast for chapter 3…. And hopefully not write as much.
Points to Anna dead on the floor from editing.
(Anna: Hey, I'm not dead! Editing is fun! Yay for grammar! shot)
Raine stood in the middle of the room. In the left hand, she held a bottle of black sand; in the right, a bottle of white sand. Carefully, she opened both bottles, and gripped them firmly.
"Oh guardian of this door," she chanted, "I ask of thee to open that which thee protects." She spun around once, spilling both sands in unison. "The river of life is forever flowing. From this comes light and dark…" She adjusted her arms so the left was now higher than the right, and continued the dance. "Dark, the representation of all sins in this world," Again, she adjusted so that her right arm was now higher then the left, "Light, the power that sustains life and happiness… When these two unite…" She stopped dancing, and held both bottles high. They began to glow. She took off the ribbon on her waist and quickly attached one bottle to each end. Now, she held the middle and the bottles dangled at parallel heights. "…Our world is formed!" The bottles began to glow brighter. Raine held the ribbon tight, ready to perform the sacred ritual. As she danced, sand continued to flow out of each bottle. It seemed like there was an endless amount, for the sand levels within the bottles never lessened. The sun was now entering the room at a larger rate. It hit the grains and a mystical aura engulfed the room. Lloyd, Colette, and Genis gazed with excitement as a pattern began to form on the floor.
"How does she do that?" Lloyd wondered. "Professor Sage is amazing!"
"Well, she's been practicing for 3 nights now," Genis whispered, still focusing all his attention on his sister.
Raine stopped. The temple was silent and the pattern on the floor was now complete. She stood in the first ring she had made, which was located in the center of the room. From it extended lines and curves that together formed a shape that was truly magnificent. Despite the complicity of the dance, the two types of sands never once mixed. Raine stood quietly and closed her eyes. An enormous gust of wind entered the temple. This caught the three spectators by surprise. It scattered the sand pattern on the floor and picked up each grain. The wind blew around the room, carried the sand around Raine, and finally guided it into a vase that was planted in front of the closed doors. The vase was balanced on a pillar high above and was isolated from two shorter pillars below.
When the last grain of sand entered it, the ground shook madly. Lloyd, Genis and Colette each fell to their knees from the magnitude of the earthquake. Only Raine continued to stand still. The stone doors began to move slowly. Rubble and dust that had collected on top now fell to the ground. Thick vines that grew over the doors were torn apart and little animals could be seen frantically escaping the trembling shrine. A layer of wood pealed off the door, revealing hidden markings that were aglow. Earth that was held up by vines rained down on the group of travelers. Genis and Lloyd held their heads in fear of little pebbles entwined with the falling soil. Outside, sounds of frightened birds were mangled with the confusion and noise happening within the temple.
"The temple's coming down!" Lloyd yelled. He turned his head to Genis. "Shouldn't we tell the professor to run?!"
"I-I'm sure this is just part of the process." Genis cried back. There was uncertainty in his voice. "L-let's wait and see!" Lloyd turned to check if Colette, too, was all right.
"Wow, this is so exciting." Colette clapped with joy, unaware of the collapsing structure around her. Lloyd gave a silent chuckle and returned to focus on the path that was revealing. The stone doors continued to slide across the floor. Soon, they stopped. The rumbling halted, animals stopped quivering and the only sound that could be heard was the wind, leaving the room behind. Lloyd looked up, and caught a glimpse of the professor approaching the doorway. After realizing the shaking had ceased, he got up and brushed the layer of dust that had formed over his hair.
"This is amazing!" Lloyd fell over from the sudden scream. "Look at these carvings! They must have reacted to the ritual!" Raine quickly scanned them. "The light must have been created by another form of magitechonology." She put her hands on the doors, examined the crumbles on the floor, and laughed contently. "These doors were covered by a thin layer of stone. I should have known! The main material that was used was polycarbonate! Genis," She called, "Get over here and take a sample!" Genis sighed and ran over with a beaker. He inserted a small slab of stone into it, and then looked back at the two friends.
"It can't be helped," He said, "You'd think that Raine would calm down after the fact we've been doing this for a year." He was immediately slapped.
"Poor Genis," Colette said, smiling in the process, "But I'm glad the professor hasn't grown out of it. I like her best like this."
"Yeah…" Lloyd thought, "It gives you a feeling of home." He and Colette both walked up to the opened doors. The professor had already sprinted down, examining the surrounding walls as she did.
"Look at this!" an echo called, "There are even carvings on the walls. Professor Caprous must have been an extraordinary man!" Her voice trailed off as she entered deeper down the flight of stairs.
"Wow," Colette cried, "I want to see too, Professor Sage!" She skipped down the stairs after Raine, followed closely by Lloyd and Genis.
"Who was this Caprous guy, anyway?" Lloyd asked.
"You don't know? Then how did you hear about this place?" Genis gave a sigh of disappointment.
"Don't give me that," Lloyd said. He quickly thought of a rebuttal, "The woman at the Hotel never told us anything. I-It's not my fault." Genis signed and gave a smile, which was not visible in the dark.
"You really haven't changed, Lloyd," He paused, "Heath Caprous was said to have been a scholar that studied the concept of life and death. His theory was that the goddess Martel created two dimensions for the souls that had moved on. One was Heaven, the other was Hell."
"It's that obvious?" Lloyd asked, "Everyone knows about that."
"Don't interrupt," Genis said. As they walked down the stairs, the light above was vanishing. "He also had a theory that these dimensions had limits to the number of souls contained in it. Therefore there were always wandering souls that stayed on earth. These are known to us as doppelgangers."
"Wow, that's horrible," Lloyd thought back to his mother. "So these souls are stuck on earth forever just because they didn't die sooner?"
"No. Caprous hypothesized that the goddess Martel would return the older souls that had rehabilitated to earth, inside the body of a newborn of any sort. Thus, room would be made for those wandering ones. But when the exspheres were introduced…"
"…the death rates increased drastically." They had entered the floor beneath the temple, and a red glow could be seen. Raine and Colette stood in front of it. "The precious balance was disrupted," She continued, "According to Caprous, Martel has a set rate on how fast she can release the souls. If done too quickly, those souls will become unstable, and wreak chaos on the world in their living state. Still, the souls of people who suffered from the exspheres wandered the world aimlessly, and more and more were appearing. This was his explanation for Desians." She turned to Lloyd. "Martel no longer was given a choice of how fast to reincarnate the souls. The ones wondering the earth were getting out of hand, and the ones she reincarnated where turning into evil Desians."
"That's horrible!" said Colette, "Either way, our world was doomed."
"Yes," Raine replied.
"So how was the world supposed to recover?" Lloyd asked, "If this cycle continued, the world would have gone insane!"
"Were we not close to that last year?" she asked, "That is, before you united the worlds. But people can change… and that's what Caprous said Martel waited for. She waited for the Desians to change, and stop creating exspheres. She waited for four thousand years." Raine stopped.
"Did you get all that, Lloyd?" Genis said.
"Yeah..." Lloyd thought for a second, "Yeah, I got it all." He walked with Genis to were the Professor and Colette where standing. "So this temple was dedicated to his works, huh? Wow, that's amazing." He turned to the red glowing orb that floated on a carved stand. Beside it were two smaller stands that stood quietly. All three were covered in dust. Some moss could be seen clinging tightly to the one facing the stairs. "It's the exsphere!" Lloyd said, "This is great!" He reached for it.
"Lloyd," cried Raine, "Don't!" Lloyd's hand reached a certain point before electricity shot out through a barrier around the exsphere. It traveled along his body and jolted him with enormous power. An agonizing howl could be heard from even outside the temple. The electricity continued to attack even as Lloyd withdrew his hand. It formed rings and began to strangle the teen. He desperately tried to rid his body of it, but there was no progress. Colette screamed. Tears stared to run down her face. Genis watched with horror as Lloyd ran around the room in pain. Both quickly ran towards Lloyd. Colette was held back by Raine.
"Professor Sage!" Colette yelled, "Let go of me, I have to help Lloyd!"
"Leave this to Genis. I have an idea." She whispered. "Genis! Cast indignation!" Colette looked at the Professor in disbelief and shock.
"No!" she cried, "You'll kill him with that spell!" She struggled for Raine to free her, but the grip was too strong. Genis began to cast. Purple sparks formed where he stood. His spell was set, the area circle formed, and Lloyd stood in the middle, gasping for air.
"Genis!" Colette cried, "Stop! Don't do this! Genis!" The lightening struck; it hit its target straight on. Colette turned away, and cried until she felt her heart would burst.
"It's alright," Raine assured, "you can look."
Colette was afraid to look. She didn't want to know. Slowly, she turned her head. Lloyd lay in the middle of the floor. Sparks flew out of different areas of his body. Raine let go, and Colette put her hands on her mouth.
"L-Lloyd…" she whispered. Her body was shaking; it wouldn't stop, just like the thumping of her heart. She approached him and knelt down. "L-Lloyd?" she stuttered, "Lloyd, wake up." A weak smile appeared. "Lloyd? Y-you're alright…right? Please….answer…" but there was none. She tilted her head, and tears fell from her eyes. Slowly, she got up. With a sudden jerk, she turned her head to glare at the siblings. Genis flinched at the look.
"C-Colette," he began, "It's alright. Don't worry about it. Lloyd, he's… he's…"
"Dead!" she cried, "How could you do this?! He trusted you, stood still for you attack, didn't even flinch when he was stuck! You…were his best friend," She tried to hold in her sadness, but it leaked out. She burst into tears, to the point were her words were barely understandable. With her hand buried in her hands, she whispered, "H-how could you…?"
"He isn't dead," Said a voice from behind. Colette turned and found the professor examining Lloyd. She took out her staff and a warm glow emitted from it.
"B-but, he's not breathing…" Colette whispered. She walked up to Lloyd and put her hand on his face. Genis also came and sat next to Colette. "His face is so cold," She said, "Is he…really alive?"
"Wow Colette," Genis smiled. "I thought you of all people would not be the first to give up." She stared at Genis, and did not know what he meant. A voice suddenly startled her.
"C-Colette?" Her eyes widened, and to her amazement, Lloyd opened his eyes. "Colette..." he said, "why are you crying?" Again, tears formed in her eyes, but this time, she was thrilled by their presence.
"I-I'm not crying," she said. Her words were weak, and she wiped the tears from her face, only to have them replaced by more. Lloyd lifted his body to a sitting position, and Colette hugged him. "You're alive…"She whispered. She held him tightly. Lloyd gave a little groan. At that, Colette pulled back. "Does it hurt?" She asked. Smiling, she apologized. Lloyd took his hand and wiped the remaining tears off her face. He shook them to the floor and smiled back.
"Remind me never to do that again," He teased. Colette laughed as Lloyd tried to stand up. Raine forced him down and instructed he not move while she performed her healing arts.
"Just because you're alive doesn't mean your structure was not damaged." She said. "That jolt of electricity was created by a powerful spell meant to protect the exsphere from thieves. It was also meant to kill the intruder by extracting all the mana in their body. I guess you can't really call it electricity, since it was created by magic. That is also why it didn't use your body to travel towards the ground. " She gave a signal to Genis, and he disappeared. Lloyd looked at Colette to see if he wasn't the only one who did not understand the reason behind this. Unfortunately, all he noticed was Colette focusing her attention on a cut that the professor had missed when bandaging.
"She's not even listening, is she?" He thought. Soon, footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs as Genis returned carrying a small, pale bottle.
"I had Noishe carry it just in case," She explained. The lid of the bottle came off after a bit of a struggle and Raine emptied a triangular pill into Lloyd's hand.
"What is it?" He asked.
"It's a Hypo-tactinate pill," Genis replied, "We got it from a small village when traveling. Those villagers are pretty smart. They've invented all sorts of medicine that we haven't even thought of." Genis's voice started to bounce with excitement. "Can you believe it? This village is so isolated. They were so shocked when Raine patched a wound with her healing arts. That's mainly why they need such impressive medication." Lloyd, quickly forgetting Genis's explanation, briefly examined the pill before popping it into his mouth.
"I don't feel any different." He lifted his arm, only to have it fall back with a spark pain. "My body still feels kind of numb," He admitted, "Are you sure it works, Professor Sage?"
"I told you," She said, "The electricity was mainly trying to extract all of your mana. This pill will counteract that and allow your mana to multiply faster then usual. Until your body is at a stable level, that is."
"So it won't miraculously heal me?" He asked.
"No," Raine replied, "Haven't you been listening? What do you think I am?" Leaving Lloyd speechless, she got up and walked towards the stands. The others also got up, Colette helping Lloyd, and walked up to the exsphere.
Raine could be heard talking to herself, "This has got to do with that giant rock on the temple roof." She slowly walked to one of the smaller stands, examining every detail on the way. She noticed something peculiar about the two smaller ones. "The top is gouged in…" She thought, "Nevertheless, it's best if we decipher the writing on the top first. Colette," she called, "Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure!" She happily skipped over to the professor. "Oh um… sorry about before," She whispered. "I shouldn't have gotten mad, and… I should have trusted you guys more. I'm sorry." She smiled, turned to Genis, and also gave a little apology. Both nodded in forgiveness.
Raine led Colette onto the first floor of the temple. They passed the grave of the scholar on the way out. Fresh flowers lay on the tombstone. Just as before, the bouquet never withered. They lay in the exact position as the friends had put them, even after such a tremendous earthquake. Colette looked back and saw a little garden snake coil itself around a Lily.
"This place… is so amazing," She thought.
"Colette, stop daydreaming!" the professor was already awaiting the girl at the door. Colette hurried and ran toward the professor. As soon as sunlight hit her eyes, she was dazed. The sudden switch form total darkness was having an effect. She wobbled around a bit before Raine helped her stand straight. "If you can't take the light," she said, "Just close your eyes for a bit, and listen." Colette did as she was advised and Raine began to explain what she wanted her to do.
Colette was to fly on top of the temple, and make an imprint of the stone tablet.
"There's paper and charcoal in my bag," Raine said, "I just want a complete print, so the writing is legible to some point. Can you do that?"
Colette hesitated; the thought of flight somewhat worried her.
"I-I can try…" she said, "But with the mana levels fluctuating lately, sometimes I can't—"
"It's alright. The temple is holding more then enough mana for you to harvest. The levels in this area don't drop as drastically either. If it does, you will have enough time to collect enough."
Colette, although still slightly worried, closed her eyes. She collected all the mana needed from outside and formed little groups of them inside her. With all her strength, she attempted to push them out. Shapes were now appearing on her back. Professor Sage watched as the young girl began to grow wings. "Please, goddess Martel," Colette prayed, "Give me strength." With another part of her energy, she inserted feeling into these newly formed wings. Slowly, Colette opened her eyes. She looked up at the tablet, without daring to see if she had succeeded in pulling them out, jumped. She felt the wind blow through her hair, and the sound of paper rustling. Before long, she was on top of the temple.
"Hurry," Raine cried from below, "If you need mana to sustain the usage of your wings, then I can't guarantee that you'll have them for long. Oh, just to tell you, I can't climb, so if you're stuck there you're stuck there." Colette smiled, but she cared for none of this.
"I finally used them again." She thought. Quickly, she placed the paper onto the tablet and started to color over it. "I can use them, and it was easy. I don't feel tired right now, and they're still out. This truly is a great place." Her smile continued to broaden. Raine shouted from below and was now waving her fists. "Oh, I'm coming, professor!" Colette hurriedly finished the imprint and returned to Raine's side. On the descent, her legs collapsed for that moment, and she fell to the ground.
"Colette!" Raine helped her up.
"I'm alright," She said, "Um, here's your print." Raine took the print, and examined it quickly. Colette peeked over her shoulder. "What does it say?" she asked.
"I'll explain later," Raine began to run downstairs, "we'll need the boys to help us."
Colette stood alone, and wondered what was happening. A sharp pain suddenly pinched her back. She made a little groan, and looked behind. Her wings where gone. She closed her eyes, and could see no shapes. Colette's eyes quickly saddened.
"I guess I was hoping for too much…" She whispered.
Raine returned from behind the door closely followed by Genis and Lloyd. "Lloyd!" she cried, "Is it ok for you to be running?" Raine assured her it was fine.
"My muscles are still a bit sore," he added, "But I don't really feel tired or anything anymore." He turned to the professor, "So what is it that you needed?"
Raine cleared her throat, "I need each of you… to collect every single earring that is attached to the statues in this garden." Shocked faces could be seen all around.
"Professor…"Lloyd started, " that really won't be a problem…except…" He gestured to the garden. Not only was the area of this garden expanding farther then the eye could see, but there were more statues that could be counted in a day.
"I don't care!" Raine demanded, "The only way to release that barrier from the exsphere." She held up the print, "It's described in here!"
Lloyd stared at it, "Eh, Professor…" he said, "That's great and all, but I can't understand it." Raine took the parchment and examined it quickly.
"What do you mean?" she asked, "I can read it perfectly!" Genis, noticing the circumstances, quickly nudged Raine.
"We're not all like you," he whispered. Without any further delay, Raine signed and began to translate the work.
"Listen closely," she warned, "I'm only doing this once, and then we're splitting up to look." She lifted the paper, and began to slowly read.
"This temple, which was dedicated to the gods, will forever sleep from the power of one man. Those who wish to defy the power are capable, only when light and dark reunites. Gifts from the guardians shall not break through the barrier, unless presented as asked…"
Raine began to trail off, as the printing became lighter. She rubbed her head, and looked up from behind the sheet.
"Is that all?" Lloyd asked. The professor made a slightly disappointed face.
"No," She said, "It's too light for me to read." Colette quickly shifted her head towards Raine.
"I'm sorry," She said, "You ask me to do such a simple job… and I can't even get that right." She lowered her head in shame.
"It's alright," Raine replied, "The stone was most likely corroded by the rain these past years. Even if you had pressed harder, the likelihood of any other result is slim." She turned and looked at Lloyd. "That makes no difference," she said, "We have already received what we needed to know for the retrieval of the exsphere." Raine quickly explained the translation in words that Lloyd and Colette understood.
"The temple was created to honor life and death, as we said before. Through many of our books, there are brief mentions of goddesses and gods besides Martel. Do you remember the two we studied the deepest, Lloyd?" Lloyd looked around, and shook his head.
"They were the two goddesses of Life and Death, right?" Colette answered for him.
"Exactly. Very good, Colette," Raine praised, "From this conclusion, we can safely assume that the two different types of statues in this garden represent them." Raine lead the group to one of the statues and pointed out that the earring on it was different from the one next to it. "This one has a rusted chain attaching the actual earring, while the other one clearly wears a silver chain. I believe these are the gifts we must put onto the smaller stands. At least for the barrier to disintegrate…" She walked behind her three students, and began pushing them into the garden. "So you'd better get started!"
The sun was already high and striking the earth when everyone spilt up to plough through the numerous statues. Raine scolded Lloyd many times for retrieving earrings with the stone ear still dangling on the end. At one point, she even went to the extent of tugging hardly at Lloyd's own left ear and questioning if he would enjoy having it torn off. Of course, both Genis and Colette knew the professor was not angry from pity for the statues, but simply since Lloyd had destroyed a bit of history. Finally, Genis signed and said,
"We've been searching for hours. Raine, can we take a break?" He waited for a response while wiping some sweat off his face. When there was no response, he turned to see that everyone was already beyond his view.
"This is crazy! Am I lost?" Panicking, he ran towards the direction in which he came. "I don't remember the temple grounds to be this big! Colette was with me just a few minutes ago." Soon, a little gravel path came into sight. Huffing, he dropped onto the stairs to rest. "A-at least I found the temple." Looking around, no one was there. All that came to Genis's eyes was the fence that marked the end of the perimeter surrounding the temple. His face marked the sign of confusion. "This has no meaning." He thought, "Calculating the acceleration and velocity in which I was running, plus the distance between the fence and here, I shouldn't have used this much energy…wait a minute…" The thought paused and Genis nodded with approval. "This whole area must also be infused with magic. What a powerful spell… It's so strong I couldn't even sense it. The spell probably somehow sends the recipient back to a certain position, while shifting a few statues in the process. This way, we never actually gain distance." He rustled his hair in frustration. "We'll never get what Raine wants this way." Thinking for a bit, Genis closed his eyes to recall the words Raine had recited.
"This temple…in which was dedicated to the gods… will forever sleep from the power of one man. Those who wish to defy the power are capable… only when light and dark reunites. Gifts from… the …guardians!" Immediately, Genis jumped up, and ran along the stone path. At the end, he saw the trail lead off into a large grassy plain. There were two statues standing on either end of the finishing path. "Just as a thought…" He approached the statues and retrieved both earrings. Smiling, he turned and ran back.
Everyone, by now, was exhausted and had collapsed on the stairs.
"This is hard," Colette admitted, "I didn't think there where so many of them." She sat up, "It somewhat seems they can multiply."
"Wow," Lloyd said, although slightly out of breath, "that would be so cool. Then the professor wouldn't have to hit me for those I broke by accident."
"Yeah, wouldn't it be great for someone who was selling garden statues? I bet they would love this." Both smiled and nodded in agreement. Raine was sitting at the side, and now shaking her head. Genis came running from the distance calling out.
"Hurry inside!" He shouted, "I know what to do!" Everyone was shocked at his abrupt entrance, but neither the less, followed after Genis down to the room. He handed both earrings to Lloyd.
"Would you like to do the honors?" He asked. Lloyd hesitated and asked if it involved pain, and Genis laughed. "It won't," he promised. "I figured that it was kind of stupid to have whoever was trying to extract the exsphere go through all the pairs of earrings, so I thought about the verse," He paused, just to award himself with a bit of inner praise, for, after all, he had discovered the secret even before Raine.
"Well?" Lloyd asked. They were all anxious to hear what he had discovered.
"Well," Genis continued, "In the verse, they mention gifts of guardians. I figured that meant the two statues placed right in front of the entrance. They seem to guard it, and the gifts are the earrings. And… the part that says 'presented when asked' most likely means the rusted one goes on the left stand, and the other one on the right," He finished with a smile.
"Why do you figure that?" Colette asked. "I mean… where to place the earrings."
"Because," he added, "all the statues with the rusted half wore the earring on the left, and vice-versa." Right after finishing, he urged Lloyd to proceed as he had said. Lloyd approached the stands cautiously and Colette and Genis stepped back to where Raine was standing.
"How did you figure out about the statues?" She whispered. Genis explained about his discovery of the spell, and Raine smiled. "I'm very proud of you, Genis." She patted him on the head, and her brother blushed. By now, Lloyd had already put the first earring on the left stand. He hesitated a bit, before sturdily placing the second on the right stand. Quickly, he ran back and joined the friends.
A warm light formed around the exsphere. The area in which the barrier was kept was now visible. It shook, and then spontaneously shattered, vanishing. Lloyd smiled and started walking to obtain the exsphere. Raine suddenly put her hand on his shoulder.
"I don't feel this is right…" she whispered. He looked at her and turned to the exsphere. It hovered in place quietly. An eerie atmosphere arose. Colette began to shiver.
"The exsphere," she said, "it's giving off funny mana waves." Not long after, it shot from its place, and cut directly through the stone roof, destroying the grave above. The temple vibrated. Walls started to crumble, and the structure was no longer stable.
They all stood there in shock. Raine staggered before reacting.
"Run!" she shouted. All of them sprinted to the stairs, closely followed by falling rocks and stones. They ran for their lives and barely reached the entrance before the whole structure completely caved in. The sun had set, and the only light was now that of the flouting exsphere.
"W-what's going on?" Colette's voice shook, and she was crying. The exsphere was still. It did not move, as if still placed on its stand. Horror sunk into the travelers' hearts. They watched, as the exsphere parted. The shards circled around, each emitting its own glow. Suddenly, they regrouped and shot towards the Mana tree. Fierce power leaked from underneath each shard, burning forests in its path, ripping mountains as they flew. Colette gave a terrifying scream.
"It's going to hit the Mana Tree!"