Disclaimer: See chapter one.
Warnings: See chapter one. In case I didn't mention it before, bad language. Minor curse words, whatever you want to call it. Can't handle it don't read. And the dialogue is different because I am too lazy to replay the game while I write this. I did not know I had to proofread this after I downloaded because it changed the format. So, I am sorry for any previous mistakes.
Number the Stars
Chapter 3
So the children were not gifted in the puzzle solving department. Either that or they were blinded by the prospect of opening a simple chest (which ended up having a simple potion, rot in hell Yggie). Kratos supposed that he should be happier because the kids could train fighting these relatively low leveled creatures from the underworld. Why Yggie had found it logical to have creatures of the underworld invade the temples to start the "Regeneration" was something Kratos didn't understand, but he would not argue about it later.
He was trying extremely hard to be patient instead of just taking the Chosen (who had turned out to be a blond stereotype, by the way) and completing the stupid Journey of Regeneration in one day. But no, Yggie needs to make sure that he has many followers so when this girl fails he can have another endless supply of other girls to try again. If this was what Yuan had put up with for the better part of four thousand years, then Kratos had a new-found respect for the man.
Anyway, after fifteen long minutes of childish wonder at the temple (if they ever made it to the temple of light they would probably never get out), they finally made it to the shrine. A shrine that Remiel proceeded to defile with his two-faced, manipulative, haughty, and ignorant presence.
"Welcome," he said in his annoyingly superior voice. "You have begun the Journey of Regeneration . . . blah . . . blah . . . blah."
Kratos felt no need to listen to the spiel; he knew the road they were supposed to take by heart. Begin at Iselia; go to temple of Fire, then to the Temple of Wind, Temple of Water, Temple of Light, and finally Tower of Salvation. He felt no need pay attention to Remiel's babbling because he didn't like it and because he knew that Remiel hated being ignored, especially by Kratos.
Remiel was what Kratos considered a pompous ass; the bastard felt superior because he had taken a thousand years to rise in the Yggie's ranks. He now felt proud of being Yggie's personal messenger to the filthy humans. And Remiel hated Kratos with the passion of a thousand flaming suns because Yggie needed Kratos despite his being a former filthy human. This hatred resulted in Remiel's repeated attempts to screw with Kratos's existence, at least until Yggie reminded him that he was replaceable while Kratos was not.
If Kratos was a little more mature or had something else to do, he probably wouldn't mess with Remiel at every chance he got. Unfortunately, Kratos didn't have anything else to do, so he would get in Remiel's face as much as he could. If Remiel weren't so self –absorbed, he would notice that Kratos subtly got in the face of everyone even remotely important in Derris-Kharlan, Yggie included. So, during this rather long sermon on duty light, regeneration, faith, and mana, Kratos put on his most innocent and bored expression.
Ramie threw Kratos a brief glare that Kratos wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't studied Ramie's varied collection of the constipated look and finally disappeared in an annoying an unnecessarily radiant golden glow. From what he had actually listened to, the Chosen believed that Remiel was her father and the bastard planned to use that against her.
"Children," Kratos murmured somewhat uncertain, the last child he had actually spoken to was his dead son. "It's time for us to go back. There is nothing else to do here."
"Yeah," chirped in Collette and practically bounced out of the room.
If you act that happy, then you are not happy. The girl knows something is wrong, maybe I gave her too little credit.
Kratos waited until all three kids had gotten out before following them, hoping that he would only have to deal with the Chosen from that point on.
Kratos had gotten rid of brown hair and white hair just to deal with the Chosen, her useless hick of a father, Deidre, and the female half-elf he had seen going to the temple earlier in the morning. He assumed that she was white hair's sister, judging by the striking similarities between them. The more he looked at either of them, the more Kratos was reminded of Martel, Mithos, and the past in general. He didn't like the feeling.
"So, Mr. Aurion, do you agree with what we are offering to pay you?" asked white hair (Raine, you are traveling with this woman, learn her dammed name. And the Chosen is Collette.)
"Uh, sure," agreed Kratos, who hadn't really been paying attention to the conversation. He watched as Raine narrowed her eyes suspiciously. What the hell did I say?
"Really?" she asked in a skeptical voice. "You're willing to take such a dangerous job for ten thousand pounds of gald? You must be very generous."
Kratos sighed and quickly noted that Raine was very intelligent and that he would need to be very careful around her. Still, once upon a time, ten thousand pounds of gald had been a fortune. Guess I'll just go with the standard 'I'm a devout follower of Martel' bullshit.
"I'm taking this job mainly because I want to be of assistance with the Journey of Regeneration," Kratos was proud of his acting skills. Yggie had sucked the life out of him so well that he could say that with a straight face.
Unsurprisingly, Raine didn't really look like she bought that. She just nodded and sat down saying something about preparations for the journey to Deidre. Kratos once again reminded himself to be cautious around her and looked over at the Chosen (Collette, damn it). She had her hands on her lap and tried her best to look happy. Her acting skills were no where as good as Kratos's. She looked like she was waiting for something, or someone.
As if on cue, brown hair burst into the room, closely followed by white hair, who put his hands on his knees and glared at his overenthusiastic friend. "Lloyd, haven't you ever heard of knocking? You utter dumb ass."
"Language, Genis," said Raine in a menacing tone. White hair just pouted at her.
"Collette," said brown hair happily. "I came to congratulate you on your birthday."
Collette beamed happily and got up as if to hug Lloyd, but stopped half-way there. So, little Chosen is infatuated. If I weren't dead inside by now, I would be amused by the tragic love.
Deidre saw this as the perfect opportunity to chase way the brats so the adults could talk about more delicate matters.
"You kids better go outside," she said, getting up from her chair and walking over to the table to get some juice. "Collette, now's a good time to say good bye to your friends."
"Yes, Mrs. Deidre," said Collette and nearly curtsied and walked out of the door.
"See you around," said brown hair and followed Collette.
"Bye, Mrs. Deidre," said white hair. "Bye, sis," he waved and followed the tow other kids.
Now that the Chosen and the brats are gone, let's get started on planning this stupid trip.
"First, we have to decide where to start,' said Raine, leaning to a wall a few feet from where Kratos was standing. "Are there any records of the journeys of previous Chosen's?"
Unfortunately for you, no. Yggie is very careful. He does not want anyone to analyze these quests too much.
"The Journey of Regeneration is a very sacred enterprise," sighed Deidre. "The Church of Martel keeps the details secret to ensure that the Desians don't interfere."
Apparently Deidre suspects that's bullshit. Either that or she is just tired of Desians and has not really analyzed the situation.
"Still, the priests must know something," said Raine and gestured with her hand at the Book of Scriptures. "There must be some clues found in the book if we examine it closely."
Sorry, book is just a load of propaganda. Really, what religious work isn't a load of fairy tales?
"No, the book is just filled with the wonderful teachings of the Church of Martel," intoned Collette's father (what the hell is his name?).
"Well, there must be a way to be sure about this," insisted Raine, clearly, she was a women who valued being prepared. "We can't waste too much time deciphering Ramiel's riddles."
Glad to see you find this as needlessly complicated as I do. Kratos, feeling increasingly bored; decided it was time to point these people in the right direction.
"Ramiel said something about the four elements and traveling over the four corners of this world," summarized Kratos. "Isn't that a good place to start?"
Raine brought her right hand to her chin and looked at Kratos. "Do you remember exactly what he said, Mr. Aurion?"
He did, (it was written all over the place in Derris-Kharlan) but he was not about to repeat it word for word. "No, but that was the gist of it. And you can call me Kratos." Common, you are a teacher. Think geographically.
"The four elements and four corners of this world," Raine mumbled to herself. "We should probably look for ruins; this tradition did start a long time ago. But, how do we get the right order, even if we can guess the places to go?
"Well," said Kratos trying to sound hopeful. "Maybe the order doesn't matter at all."
Raine threw him a look that said that she didn't think it would be that easy and that she did not like talking unless it was to say something of import. Kratos shrugged and decided to point her in the right direction a little more. "Ramiel said something about fire first."
Raine gave him a look that probably translated to "Why the hell didn't you say that before?" and drew her eyebrows together. She beamed after a minute and walked to were all the religious books that the Chosen's father kept. Kratos watched her leaf through the books on mana, as if to double check something. Then, she shut that book and walked to where she had put her bag and pulled a large book out of it. Feeling a little curious, Kratos walked over to look at the book over her shoulder. It appeared to be an atlas of ruins, with layouts and small descriptions written in the bottom.
"I've found it!" Raine exclaimed suddenly and leaned a little closer to the book. Kratos read the small description on the bottom. "This small monument in the desert has been closed since it was found fifteen years ago and no one has been able to go beyond the rock blocking an opening in the floor."
Ruins of the Temple of Fire it is. So nice of Yggie to reveal them before hand. 'Appear to be mystically shut.' Collette will open the ruins. Good find, Raine.
"It seems like a good place to start," said Kratos. "When do we leave?"
"We leave tomorrow," said Raine. "We better give Collette one last day to enjoy with Lloyd and Genis."
Before Kratos could say anything else, the Chosen burst through the door nearly in tears. She started to run for what Kratos assumed was her room, but noticed him and Raine first. Kratos watched, and was nearly impressed, as the girl replaced her oncoming sobs with a steady smile.
"Collette," said Raine, who was still immersed in her atlas. "We leave early tomorrow. Better go pack a few changes of clothes and some Gels." The Chosen looked uncertain for a second, then smiled and rushed to her room. Raines put her atlas back in her bag and looked up. "Kratos, we need to stop by Lloyd's home before living, his father has some supplies for us."
"Why don't we do that tonight?" asked Kratos, wanting to get started soon because he really wanted to go back to wasting away endless days. "That way we don't have to loose time tomorrow morning."
"You're right," sighed Raine and shouted for Collette to come down. "We are going to Dirk's house," she told Collette. "Do you want to come with us?"
"Yes," said the Chosen and practically bounced on her feet.
"You better make sure your packed," said Kratos. "And bring those weapons you were using in the morning." He looked over at Raine questioningly. "Can you fight?" he asked, genuinely interested, for once.
"I am learning white magic and have studied the healing arts all my life," said Raine smugly.
"Good, because we will be needing a healer in this trip."