Chapter Two: A Deal with the Devil
Reverence was quite possibly the strangest place that Vera had ever been. The whole place was filled with architecture that looked like it had been ripped out of a picture book on crack, and the inhabitants seemed to be more like wind-up-toys than people, although they were nice enough. Except for the one called Clairvoyant, who rambled on and on about the wrath of some god named Malpercio every time she and Kalas passed them. The townspeople assured them that this was normal behavior for Clairvoyant, and that they should ignore him/her/it/whatever. Vera had asked Kalas about this Malpercio, and he had told her that it was some old myth, that Malpercio didn't actually exist. Something in the way he had answered made Vera certain that he was hiding something, but she decided to let it slide. Kalas would tell her when he felt ready to do so, not a moment before.
They wandered other places. The gardens of Detronue, where people could walk on the ceiling, a city made entirely out of candy, whose name she could never remember…
I feel like I fell headfirst into a storybook, Vera thought to herself
However, all good things must come to an end, and all too quickly Kalas decided to go back to Balanicore.
"Kalas, are you really sure you want to go back?" Vera asked, noticing her partner's tenseness.
"Yes. Without Melodia's help, I'll never be strong enough to have my revenge. I'm going to kill Giacomo and his flunkies if it's the last thing I do!" Kalas hissed, getting some very odd glances from people walking through the candy-coated city.
"Who is Melodia?" Vera asked.
"What's wrong, jealous?" Kalas whispered with a faint smirk.
"I am….!" Vera paused, and considered her tone. Yes, she did sound jealous. Worse, she sounded like some girl getting possessive over her boyfriend. She barely knew Kalas, and sure, he was attractive, but she was a spirit. A floating mass of cherry blossoms. She had no right to act like that with him. Besides, even if I was here physically, he wouldn't like me like that. Scratch that, he wouldn't like me at all. I would be a hindrance. In this form, at least I can support him with my magic… "I apologize, that was out of line. But who is Melodia?"
"Melodia is the girl who was with me when we bonded. You remember her, right?"
"…Yes, I do. So, what do you expect to gain from going to Melodia?" Vera asked innocently enough. Melodia (if Vera had remembered correctly) had been a sickly-looking girl, much as she herself had been in life; too thin, too pale, and wearing all white had only aggravated that. Judging the style of Melodia's dress against what she had seen on the common people of Mira, Vera guessed Melodia to be the daughter of a noble or some other sort of wealthy family. But still, Vera couldn't understand what Kalas could want from the girl. He didn't seem to care about money, and he definitely wanted to kill his enemies with his own two hands, so funds or possible governmental interference were totally out of the question. Maybe he wanted information?
"I… you promised that you would help me, no matter what, right? So just lay off the questions and trust me for a little longer!"
"Fine. I was only concerned about you and your welfare. If I seemed to be prying, I apologize, but if you don't want to talk to me, that's fine by me!" Vera snarled, furious that he had used a promise that she had made against her in such a manner.
"I…!" Kalas made a visible effort to calm himself down. "Vera, I'm sorry. It's just that most of the details of the plan haven't exactly been disclosed to me yet. I don't think I'd be able to answer most of your questions."
"But you could answer some of them, couldn't you?" Vera asked.
"…fine. Do you remember when you were asking about Malpercio?"
"I thought you said that he didn't exist."
"I don't really believe that he does, myself, but Melodia seems to. At the very least, the End Magnus apparently exist." Feeling, rather than seeing Vera's blank stare, he chose to clarify. "The End Magnus are supposedly these really powerful Magnus created by evil wizards that tried to destroy the world. Some of the legends also tie them to Malpercio, but… anyway, according to Melodia, they're where Malpercio's body parts are sealed. Melodia wants to revive the god."
"And how do you know that she's not making all of this up?"
"Because… according to her… she's had contact with one of the End Magnus before. It's sealed underneath her manor. And she showed me a demonstration of her magic, so I know, at the very least, she's very powerful. The rest… I'll just have to see for myself."
"From what I have heard, this Malpercio is not a nice god."
Kalas snorted. "That's probably the understatement of the millennium."
"Well… would it really be…" Vera trailed off choking back the 'would it really be right?' that her ailing conscience had tried to tack onto the end of that sentence. If she had a body, she'd probably be biting her lip and blushing slightly. Every once in a while, the 'old Vera' would pop up, the Vera that had believed that people were genuinely good. However, that Vera was nothing more than a feeble ghost. She had died three years ago.
"Never mind. I almost said something rather stupid."
"So you do make mistakes."
"Not nearly as many as you. What on earth would you do without my divine guidance?"
"We're not on Earth, we're in the Sky."
"Literalist."
"Huh?"
"…never mind."
Kalas and Vera slipped into Balanicore at night. They had no desire to have yet another encounter with the townspeople. Kalas tensed slightly as he approached the manor, but relaxed slightly as he saw that the guards near the main door were asleep. Kalas snorted at their incompetence and Vera insulted their intelligence. Kalas chuckled. She really was very amusing… when she wasn't teasing him. Kalas found himself hoping vainly that he could see her, just once more. He had thought he had seen… something… the day that her magic had flared up in his defense against those racist bastards in town, just the briefest flicker of a young woman with long black hair and pale skin who looked like she lived off air she was so skinny…
"Um, Kalas? Are you paying any attention?"
"Huh? Sorry, Vera, I was… thinking about something."
"…you really would be lost without me. I was asking how you planned to get in. Even though the guards are asleep, barging through the front door would probably be a bad idea. First of all, it might wake them up. Secondly, there could easily be more guards on the other side of that door. Is there any back way in that Melodia mentioned?"
"Um, no," Kalas sighed. He could sense Vera getting ready to go off on one of her stinging lectures on the stupidity of her chosen target, (hopefully Melodia and not him) when the door opened, startling both of them.
"You don't need to worry about the guards," Melodia said with a smile. "I put everyone in the manor to sleep."
Vera stared at the young duchess, and immediately felt an odd kinship with the girl. She reminded Vera much of herself, unnaturally pale, thin, and having the appearance of being made out of china or spun glass, like the slightest tap would cause her to shatter into a thousand pieces. However, Vera could sense a dark aura about the girl that terrified her for no reason that she could immediately understand. Evil, part of her mind tried to warn her. She told that part of her mind to go to hell, she no longer listened to it. Still, despite her efforts to ignore the tattered remnants of her childhood self, Vera found herself saying, "Are you sure that we have to do this?"
Kalas snorted. "Just listen to what she has to say, okay? You might find that there's something in it for you, too."
And Vera followed them. She didn't have a choice, really…
"How did you know that we would be coming?" Kalas asked the girl.
"I could sense the power of your Guardian Spirit, of course. You should be proud, Kalas. Even for a Guardian, she's unusually strong." Vera felt something akin to a blush spread throughout her spiritual being. She enjoyed the compliment, especially since she couldn't detect a hint of greed in it. It was a compliment, plain and simple, and for some reason that made her giddy. Hmm, maybe because it's been ages since I heard a real compliment…
Kalas also seemed to enjoy the compliment. "Shall we discuss our business? I was hoping you could explain things to Vera, I'm not really all that good with words…"
"Hmm…" Melodia cocked her head. "Spirit… Vera. Would you tell us how you came to be in our world?"
"I…"
"You don't have to talk about it if it's too painful. I was merely curious. So little is known about the Guardian Spirits… and you sounded very distraught when you first came. If there was something I could do to help…"
"… very well, I will tell you," Vera replied, ignoring her feelings of unease. And so, haltingly, she explained her story. How she had been born so weak, so helpless, save for her magic. How, at sixteen, her father's betrayal had pushed her to find a cure for her ailing body no matter what the cost. And how she had been betrayed time after time, when those she went to for help could not fulfill their promises, until she had finally been led to Abel, and had been banished to the dark world at the hands of people who she had thought she could trust. When she described the dark world, something flashed in Melodia's eyes, something that Vera didn't like. There was too much eagerness in that expression, an almost fanatical light that made her nervous.
"I wandered for what seemed like an eternity… and then there was a light. And that's when I met the two of you," Vera finished. If she'd had a body, she would be blushing right now. Melodia closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them.
"Vera… what if I could give you a body?"
"W…What? But that's…"
"Impossible? Why yes, under normal circumstances, it would be. However, with the help of a god…" Melodia trailed off, closed her eyes and tilted her head back, as if thinking. When she opened them and looked at the spot in the air where Vera hovered, she was smiling. "Tell me, Vera. Have you heard the story of Malpercio?"
"Yes. And I know what you want to do, but..." Vera froze up. What she was being asked to do was evil, sinful, worse than wrong. Thousands of people would probably be killed by the evil god if she agreed to help. But…!
Why do I care about them? What has the world ever done for me?Why should I help those who spit on me as I try to drag myself to my feet? Why?
"What do I have to do?"
(The first disk of the game in a nutshell, a la Phoenixfire…)
"Are you alright? You were found unconscious in Moonguile forest…"
"…My name is Xelha…"
"…sure, I know a way in. I'll tell you if you can get me a rainbow spider web…
"Giacomo, get back here…!"
"No way. I have no interest in saving the world…
"Well, since you're in Diadem, we might as well travel together for a little while longer…"
"…It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Lyude…"
"Sure, I'll give you a ride. The name's Gibari…"
"No, we have to save the king!"
"Ayme!"
"End Magnus? Never heard of that before…"
"…Savyna. My name is Savyna…"
"Kalas…"
"You're not having second thoughts, are you Vera?"
"N-No! But, these people… I feel guilty…"
"Don't worry about it, Vera. Besides, it's way too late to back out now. And you promised to listen to me, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Do you love me?"
"…yes…"
"Then trust me. Everything is going to be all right."
"No, they're firing at us! Go down, into the clouds!"
"Do you remember when we first met? Back in Moonguile Forest?"
"Us heroes, we have so much to do…"
"The End Magnus is missing!"
"Kalas must never lie to the Great Mizuti…"
"…to the final End Magnus. To Alfard…"
Okay, the game script in the last part probably isn't exact. I don't have time to play thegame over again to get everything perfect.I really, really hate this chapter. That's why it took so long for me to get finished. Luckily, the next chapter, Day of Reckoning, is mostly finished. I just need to edit it somewhat.
Also, I can no longer do reviewer responses, as I don't want to get busted for breaking the rules. You know I love you all anyway.