Authors Note: Yes, you are correct Zeros. Lloyd left his father's sword at his mother's grave at the end of TOS. I tried to incorporate that in one of the beginning chapters where Lloyd tells his mother that he fill be using it a bit longer, and that he will return it. But you are right, he did leave it at the grave at the end of the game. Oh, and the story is going to be moving faster now (the first couple of chapters were more of an introduction).
Tales of Symphonia: The Releasing Orb
Chapter 4 'The Monsters of the Night'
"Sir!" A dozen Desian soldiers stood around the blazing fire. Each guard saluted a man dressed in a black cloak. His hood covered his face. One soldier spoke up, "Why are you in secrecy tonight sir?"
"Rubin should be the one to tell you." His voice was like a sheet of ice, bitter cold but the words rolled out smoothly, "What happened at the gate earlier today Lempeld?"
"Someone s-s-stoped to question us t-today..." The man named Rubin was sweating, and he looked like he needed to be sick on the fire, "Nothing happened sir!"
"Did you get his name? How can you be sure nothing happened?"
"No, I didn't get his name." The cloaked man seemed to be enjoying Rubin's discomfort, "I did not let him inside the ranch, and I watched him leave!"
"You watched him leave did you? Well then how can you explain this?" The cloaked man pulled a machine from his pocket, and held it up for everyone to see. With a push of a button a screen appeared that showed a boy and a girl taking a pile of Exspheres. The group of Desians looked uneasy after seeing the video.
"S-s-sir... I did not let them in! I swear I didn't!" His voice cracked and his eyes reflected fear.
"I have no need for your excuses." His hand rose in the air, and Rubin screamed in pain as his body swelled into a disproportional mass. His skin bubbled into a course snake texture and turned many tones of green. Blemishes appeared on his skin, and sharp spikes protruded out of his joints. By the end of the transformation a stone lay in front of his new body. His body was transformed into a monster, and his soul was now a prisoner of an Exsphere. "Take him in, and put him with the others." Two soldiers did what the cloaked man asked, and the monster Rubin did not resist.
"I will be heading out tomorrow. No mistakes while I am gone, dismissed." The Desian guards began to walk back into the building, "You there, stand watch. Stay alert, those rats might still be around." Before he left he bent down to take Rubin's Exshpere.
Two pairs of eyes stood watching from a cliff above the incident. Terror and rage flooded from Lloyd's body. He had witnessed such a terrible sight. It had brought back old bitter memories into his mind.
"Mom... Marble... Clara and Alicia" Lloyd's fist shook, and his eyes burned. The Releasing Orb pulsed stronger with his anger. Colette was watching him and the orb in turn. Her grip had tightened on his arm. She was frightened and did not know of a way to calm him, "I'll kill them... kill them all!"
"Lloyd, please!"
"Don't tell me you expect me to sit back and do nothing! That man! He may be a Desian and an enemy, but he didn't deserve to be turned into... into that!"
"Lloyd, I agree we have to do something, but just us two? How? That man is powerful. You saw what he did. We would be no match right now, especially since we are so tired from searching through the ranch all day! The security is probably strict right now since they caught us snooping around. I'm scared Lloyd. I want to leave for now, please."
"Yeah...ok. Let's stay here on this open area until morning. I don't think they will suspect that we are on the cliff." Lloyd began to make a bed for them to sleep on. "Where do you suppose he is going tomorrow? Maybe we should follow."
"I don't think he would be leaving by foot, so how would we follow him? Lloyd, I know you want to face him, or stand up to him. I think we should wait though. I have a different feeling about him. For our next move, I think we should travel to Meltokio. When need to warn the king at least."
"Alright, but how are we going to get there?" Both of them stopped to ponder this question. They knew the cloaked man would not travel by foot. With the power he showed Lloyd felt he had to have support through Desian magic and technologies. Desian technology was very similar to the Renegades... "That's it! We can pay a little visit to Yuan. He will let us borrow a couple of rheairds! The base is south of here. We could make it if we left early in the morning, and didn't stop during the day... we could do it."
"Alright Lloyd! I think we should inform Yuan on what's going on too. Maybe he will be able to give us some information." They settled down and finished making camp. The rest of the night went on for ages. Colette slept light, and any movement woke her. She shifted from restlessness, and when she did sleep it was filled with dreams of the shrouded man that had a terrible aura clouded about him. Lloyd was not much better. He slept, but his head was filled with nightmares. Lloyd dreamt he transformed into a monster. He was slowly dying, and suffering from agonizing pain. Colette was there screaming in horror as he dragged his heavy body nearer towards her. She was thrown across the room where she landed on a pile of corpses. They were all dead, and they were all killed by Lloyd; Marble, Colette, Rubin, Anna. He felt something grow warm at his side as his emotions stirred.
"Sacrifices," The word had woken him up, but who had said it? He assumed himself. He looked at his body, and saw it was covered in sweat. Small uncontrollable convulsions shook his body, which made his head pound. Once he gained control of himself he looked at his side and saw the Releasing Orb. He touched it, but it was cold. When he turned his head toward Colette he felt like throwing up. He remembered her lifeless body, but what frightened him the most was that he was the one that had killed her in the dream, "What did it mean?"
Colette stirred from her light sleep and sat up. She looked around to see the early morning greeting her. She turned to Lloyd and noticed how terrible he looked. "Lloyd what's the matter!?"
"Oh, bad night that's all. Come on, we should get going." They packed there things, and munched on some fruit as they moved through the forest. They were both in deep thought, and did not dare to share their feelings to one another. Most battles they encountered they ended up running from. It was not possible for them to concentrate on fighting with their heads so clouded. Most of their day journey was silent. Occasionally they had small talk while they ate, but it turned out awkward which led to more silence.
By night fall they could see the Renegade base. Stopping for the night was dangerous on the desert, so they continued to travel in the night. It was late when they reached the doors of the base, but they were still brought in by the guards. They were taken to a room for them to rest and wait at.
"We will inform Lord Yuan of your arrival." The Renegades were still an operational organization. They kept order in Symphonia along with the king. It was strange to think the rebels against Cruxis had now become a leading government body. It was also ironic that they had kept the name renegades when they helped lead the world. At the head, of course, was Yuan. When riots broke out against the old beliefs he led them to make sure they were kept under control and to gain power from the people. It would seem that the King and Yuan competed for power, but they actually worked together to keep control. There was one goal for them both; keep the Egalitarian tree flourishing or die with it.
"Do you think Yuan will believe us and help us?" Lloyd's thoughts were broken. He looked at Colette whose appearance was rather shocking. She was covered in dirt, and she had bags under her eyes from being so weary and without sleep. He imagined he looked the same, if not worse. "Lloyd?"
"Oh... he doesn't have a reason to not believe us. He also is a political figure now, so I think he could help us." They sat awhile longer, but weariness took over them and they drifted off to sleep. They did not even wake when they were moved from their chairs into warm beds.