Rising Shadow: A Fanfic by Gyppy

Summary: The Dark Lord Nebilim is spreading the fog of death through the land; a swordsman by the name of Abyssion goes out to find out how to stop this miasma, and also to avenge the death of his parents.

Along the way, he stumbles upon the Eternal Swordsman, Lloyd, and his group, and they work together to help defeat Nebilim and restore peace and tranquility to the land.

Author's Note: This is in an Author's Universe, which means that the storyline has nothing to do with the storyline of the game. There may be a bit of out-of-characterness, and lastly, this is a crossover fic (the concept of miasma is from Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles). There may be a few Original Characters, which are characters the author came up with to put in the fanfic.

Also, there will be some hints at pairings in this fic (sometimes a little more than hints ;) ): the most notable will be LloydxColette, and there'll also be sprinklings of ZelosxSheena, GenisxPresea and, later on, maybe a little KratosxRaine. I won't spoil the rest for you.

There'll be plenty of game spoilers in this fic, however, it is in an Author's Universe, so much of the spoiler content will have to do with relations and such.

Thank you for the review(s).

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia, Namco, Final Fantasy or Squaresoft/Square-Enix. All I own is this storyline, this story and my pathetic, writer's-block-afflicted mind.

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Chapter 8: The Third Seal: Unruly Hurricane

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The group had stopped in Asgard along the way to the third seal to stock up on supplies and confirm the location. After that, they headed to the temple.

The design of this temple was peculiar; the walls were ornately decorated with pictures of humans and other creatures riding out great thunderstorms, and the winding paths seemed to be there more to confuse those that went there rather than to bring them down with traps. After a great quantity of difficulty, the group came upon a transporter that led up into the seal room, which floated in a realm somewhere far away.

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In the middle of the seal room stood the altar; above it floated the giant weapon known as Diablos. Pillars of wind seemed to reach all the way up to the heavens above, and the room had no visible ceiling, just four towering walls that enclosed the entire space.

So, you've come, a voice said. Ah, yes, I see... the Eternal Swordsman and his traveling band of weaklings have come to fight me.

"There's no other way to break the seal," Abyssion said, brandishing his sword. "We must break the seal."

Very well, the voice said. If you desire to fight me, the guardian of the third seal, I will fight you. But remember... this battle will not be easy. For you or for me.

"Finally, a seal guardian that isn't arrogant as hell," Lloyd commented. "Well, I guess you should, y'know, show yourself, so we have a fair chance at being able to fight you..."

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and the four walls dropped to a height of merely two feet, exposing endless blue sky and clouds around them. The seal guardian floated down from the sky in a ball of light, which then exploded to reveal the guardian's form.

It bore four long, blue-and-yellow feathered wings, and its neck sprouted from between the two main wings; its head was much like that of a bird, and its eyes glowed the color of lightning. The rest of its body, which resembled that of a great bird, hung down from there, with two long, powerful legs ending in sharp, curved talons. Its tail flowed behind it like that of Aska, well-feathered and seemingly sparkling with lightning. Its color was blue, with brilliant yellow feathers mixed in.

"This thing looks a lot like Iapyx," Presea commented. "The difference is... it's bigger, and its secondary wings are much larger in comparison to the main wings."

"It is Huracan," Abyssion said. "It is said to control the mighty storms, all different forms of them. It originally fought for good... but it is a fallen hero, taken in by Nebilim in his lust for power and transformed into the fighting machine it is now."

"That explains why its attitude is so different," Lloyd said. "Well then, what are we waiting for? It needs to go down, so let's take it down!"

"Draw your weapons," the being known as Huracan stated. "If I defeat you, your souls will go to Lord Nebilim for the sake of increasing his power... and if you defeat me, the seal will be broken, and I will be freed from Nebilim's hold."

"All the more reason to defeat you," Kratos said as he drew his sword. "But it appears you will be fighting alone..."

"I do not need Nebilim's pathetic guardians to aid me," Huracan said. "All they will do is get in the way."

"So be it," Kratos said. Then, he charged at Huracan. "We will defeat you, for the sake of the world... and for the sake of your own freedom!"

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"You... are more powerful than I imagined." Huracan slowly floated away, its secondary wings no longer functioning.

"As are you," Kratos said, leaning on his sword to support himself. "It's amazing how you have held up this long."

"However, seal guardians never give up," Huracan said as it started to glow. "Feel for yourself the true power of the Dark Lord Nebilim!"

With that, the Cruxis Crystal on the odd creature's chest began to glow; a great storm began to rage far above, with lightning flashing almost constantly.

"I summon forth the power of the dark hurricane... the one that rages within all our hearts... to strike down this foe and transform them into darkness!"

Huracan drifted even further back, now drawing power from the seal itself.

"Feel the true power of darkness! Demonic Hurricane!"

The sky grew black as the night, as lightning rained down on the battlefield; the shredding winds of the hurricane struck the group, driving the falling rain hard into them. The storm continued to rage for several minutes as Huracan's anger rose.

"We must fight back the darkness!" Abyssion shouted through the roaring wind. "If we succumb to the darkness, we'll betray everyone... everyone whose lives were lost to Nebilim and the seal guardians... we'll betray everyone!"

As the raging tempest faded, Abyssion prepared an attack. The swordsman raised his sword into the air, and it started glowing with a brilliant light.

"Whoa, what is going on?" Lloyd exclaimed, watching Abyssion.

"I don't know," Colette said. "But it seems he's using some attack..."

A pulsing circle of mana appeared around Abyssion, and a ring of mana began closing in on him.

"This is for all of you who believed in a weak fool like me!" the swordsman's voice echoed as he continued charging the attack. "I'll save you all... human, elf, and everyone in between!"

The sword began glimmering with the light of mana as the circle finished closing.

"SHINING BIND!"

Abyssion rose into the air on a stream of light mana as he spread his arms, unleashing the full fury of the attack. The entire circle filled with a blinding light, flashing in brilliant pillars and twisting in all sorts of different ways and slowly disassembling the very structure of Huracan's body. As the attack faded, Abyssion fell to the ground, and assumed his battle stance once more, as if nothing had happened.

"That was certainly impressive," Huracan said, falling back and using its feet to hold the ground, as it could no longer fly. "Impressive for the half-elf who was one of only two survivors of his family."

"I had to do it," Abyssion said. "I... do not wish to betray any more of my relatives, or my dearest friends who have helped me along. And I must avenge my parents... for the sake of everyone who believed in a weak fool like me..."

With that, the magic swordsman finally collapsed, unconscious. Raine carried him to the edge of the battlefield and attempted to heal him.

"Thank you, Abyssion," Lloyd said, looking back at his fallen comrade. "Thank you for assisting us in this battle..."

However, Huracan had other plans.

Summoning forth its power once more, it called forth a massive tornado that took the entire group by surprise. They were scattered across the field, many unable to move.

"I'll admit I was holding back," the seal guardian said. "However, now that the most powerful of the half-elves in your group has fallen... I feel no need to hold back." Its eyes flashed red. "You shall all die!"

Huracan walked slowly over to Lloyd and raised its taloned foot, ready to gut him where he lay.

However, a certain half-elven seraph had other ideas.

"INDIGNATION!"

Huracan stopped in its tracks as the circle of lightning mana appeared beneath it; the sudden appearance of this new foe shocked it, and it found itself unable to move, which was a big problem. The swirling beads of mana that represented the attack itself slowly floated up to the top as the circle below glowed even brighter, and once the beads had reached the top, lightning struck and knocked Huracan away.

Standing just in front of the transporter was the blue-haired seraph of Cruxis the group had been introduced to in Vinheim. He held his twin-bladed weapon at ready, his purple wings of mana fluttering lightly behind him.

"Yuan," Kratos said, rising to his feet and turning around. "Thank you for saving me... again."

"It's a friend's job," Yuan said, smirking. "Now let me handle this thing. You need to rest in your condition."

Kratos nodded and allowed Yuan to pass.

The half-elven seraph made one motion with his weapon, and the Cruxis Crystal on Huracan shattered, its remnants evaporating in the cool air of the seal room.

"Thank you, seraph," Huracan said, taking to the sky again with healed wings. "You have freed me from the bonds of Nebilim... I am in your debt."

As Lloyd struggled to rise, he said, "So this means you'll break the seal."

"Yes, precisely," Huracan said, turning to face the seal. "Diablos is in your possession. Do whatever you wish with it... but do not let it take you."

"Thank you," Lloyd said, stepping forward. "I hope you'll be able to return to Symphonia now that you've been freed from Nebilim."

Huracan floated above the seal, and allowing one last technique to be used, sent the winds of life upon the fallen members of the group. Then, it rose even higher, disappearing into the endless sky above. The seal was broken, and the bond around the weapon floating above the seal fell, allowing the weapon to float to the front of the altar.

Presea, who had regained her strength enough to move, stepped forward and took the weapon, stowing it away quite simply.

"Thanks for helping us, Yuan," Lloyd said, turning to the blue-haired seraph. "That was kinda cool."

"It's my job to help you guys," Yuan said. "After all, you're allies of Cruxis, and I'm a member of Cruxis."

"Thanks anyway," Lloyd said as he turned. "Well, we should be heading off now... I mean, the seal is broken, Diablos is freed, and Huracan will now once again roam the skies of Symphonia. Now just to get through that stupid maze..."

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"AAGH! HOW THE HELL DO I GET OUT OF THIS MAZE?"

A random bat was awoken from its sleep by the sudden scream; however, it decided not to do anything, and returned to its peaceful slumber.

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Author's Note: I like Iapyx. Didn't I say it was one of my favorite seal guardians?

Yeah, I know the last bit is kinda random, but you have to have randomness in any story to make it good.

Dammit! I forgot all about the angel swordians! Oh well, there's always next seal. :P