Star Ocean: The Novel

Chapter Four: The Summit and the Strange Star

And so, our three left for Cool Village. When they entered, they noticed a frightening sight. The old man who had warned many a person of entering the town was now a statue.

"Poor old man," Dorn muttered to himself as they continued onwards "And if we don't get this herb, I will be joining you…."

"What, Dorn?" Milly asked.

"Huh? Oh, nothing, just talking to myself."

"I can see that. About?"

"N-nothing special."

"Okay."

Milly, however, didn't think it was nothing… There was something definitely wrong, but she decided not to push it further.

Soon, the group reached he house Maltos was staying in.

"I'm going in to check on my father for a moment," she said.

"Wait!" Ratix said "Didn't he tell us not to come back here? We're kind of disobeying him, you know."

"Just for a minute."

"But--"

With that, she barged inside before the boys could do anything else.

"M-milly…" Maltos said weakly but firmly "I thought I told you… not to come… back here."

"I have to do something, I can't just sit around while you and the whole world continue to be turned to stone… I…"

"S-stubborn as ever, Milly…. Go…"

Milly sighed, and left.

"C'mon, let's get that herb… we have to."

Meanwhile, back inside, Maltos took one last look at the door as it closed, Milly's form vanishing from his sight. And with that, he turned to stone, a single tear rolling down his cheek as it happened.

It didn't take long for the three to reach the bottom of Mt. Metox, as it was just a few yards from the north gate. In the night, the mountain sparked a brilliant grayish blue, its grassy and stony paths winding upwards and upwards into the sky. At the summit, one could see the entire continent if they had the right equipment.

"Alright, guys." Ratix said "Let's go."

"Be careful of Fellworms, too." Milly warned "They have a taste for Fellpool meat, you know."

"And don't forget the eggs they lay, too." Dorn shuddered "If we carried those eggs back into town, man, would we be in trouble."

"I know, I know." Ratix said, as the three began their way up.

Of course, Fellworms weren't the only thing to worry about. At night, many types of vicious biting insects came out, looking for any unsuspecting fool to take a bite into

"Ow!" Milly yelled as she smacked a bug that had bit her neck "Stupid bugs."

"Tell me about it…" Ratix sighed as he scratched his arms from the bites he was receiving.

Dorn, however, remained quiet, and didn't say a word, he was too worried at the moment to care about the bugs, which were snapping him like crazy.

Milly smacked another bug off of her as they came to a small clearing on the path. There, a relief of a lion's head stood, and out of the mouth flowed bright, sparkling water. Legends have said that the fountain never ran dry, and everyone who came here believed it, because no one had ever seen it ever happen.

"Hmm…" Ratix began "Should we take a drink?"

"It is said that it refreshes anyone who drinks it.." Milly said, scratching herself "Maybe it'll get our bites to stop… itching! Grr!"

"Sounds good to me." Dorn agreed, as the three went to the relief and scooped up some of the wter in their hands and drank.

"Wow!" Milly squeaked as the water took effect "It really does work wonders. I don't itch anymore, and I feel like I could go on for a long time!"

"Yeah…" Ratix said "This stuff does make you feel better."

"Indeed." Dorn added, but he actually didn't feel any different than before. Granted, the itching had stopped, but there were more pressing matters.

The three took some more of the water with them just in case they'd need it again. As they continued, they also picked some berries off the vines growing on the mountain walls. Nearly everything on this mountain had healing properties of some kind, the only thing that kept Metox from being called the Mountain of Healing were the creatures. Such was life, though.

Soon, they reached another clearing further up, and began to pass through it when they heard a low growl.

"What was that!" Milly asked, jumping a little.

"Dunno…" Dorn said "Probably just an animal or something."

Another growl, this one louder.

"I think I know what it is," Ratix said, readying his sword.

"Great. First, annoying bugs and now…"

Another growl, this one really loud, as two shapes scrambled up the mountainside . It didn't take long to realize Ratix had been right as they could finally see the two creatures. They were green and yellow caterpillar-looking things, with black heads, that hid underneath them red fluff surrounding a mouth of sharp teeth. These, of course, were Fellworms.

They boys backed off a little, getting in front of Milly as the creatures began to wriggle closer and closer and then suddenly stop. And with that, they leapt at them, the two rolled under his jumping attack and tried to slash at them, but their swords simply scraped against their armored hides. But his was enough to irritate them, and they went after the boys and left Milly alone.

Once again, they dodged the worms as they once again tried to jump up and bite them, Ratix managed to flip one over onto its back and stab down into its soft belly, it squirmed and wriggled and hissed for a few seconds, before falling limp, before he pulled it back out.

Dorn was having a harder time, however, as he was starting to feel really strange once again. Again, the worm attacked, but this time, it bit into him as he yelled in pain, and began to beat the creature in the head until it let go. His attacks now began to be slow and uneasy, the Fellworm was getting the advantage now, and after a few more movements, it once again leapt, but Dorn held his sword in front of him, and the worm was impaled right onto it, as he quickly swung, sending the thing crashing into the mountainside, causing rocks to fall on top of it, killing it at last.

"Ouch, that… that was tough…" Dorn began as he doubled over "Arrgh…"

Milly and Ratix began to walk towards him to help, but when they were about to help him up…

"Don't touch me. I can get up by… myself!" Dorn snapped as he pulled himself back up and applied some juice from a berry by crushing it, which miraculously closed his bite wound and stopped it from bleeding.

"What is wrong with you!" Milly growled "This is the second… time… Oh no… Dorn, are you-- You're infected, aren't you!"

"Dorn, is she right?" Ratix asked with extreme concern, now realizing what he should have before.

"It… it must have happened when I handled that bird…" he finally admitted "It must have been infected from whoever sent it off… I didn't want you to worry… besides, once we get that herb, this will be over."

"Still, you could have told us anyway… We would have understood."

"Really, Dorn…" Milly sighed.

"Let's stop dwelling on this and get that herb so this will end."

"Ratix is right. On we go."

And so, the three continued up, as the mountain got higher, plants grew less, and the biting bugs finally stopped being a nuisance. But once again, only a few feet from the summit, they had to deal with more Fellworms. Dorn stayed behind on this one and watched Ratix take them down with little effort.

"Damn things…" Ratix grumbled "Hopefully this will be the last time we have to deal with them."

"Hope so…" Dorn and Milly said at almost the same time.

"Hmm, look at that star…" Milly suddenly said, pointing up "I don't think I've ever seen it in the sky before, and it's awful big and shiny…"

The boys looked up, and indeed, there was a large, shiny object in the night sky. It looked really weird.

"That's one strange star." Dorn spoke "Let's hope it's a good omen rather than a bad one."

"Indeed," Ratix said, nodding in agreement as they made their way to the top "We made it!"

"Yes, and there's the herb!" Milly said, pointing to the enormous flower growing on the side of the mountain.

"Let's get it and leave." Dorn replied as they went forward, when suddenly, a strange noise came from out of nowhere…

"Great, more monsters?"

And that's when two pillars of white-green light just appeared before them, swirling and vibrating.

"What the!"

The pillars of light began to fade, as two figures appeared from within. The first figure was a tall, thin man with short black-blue hair, the other one was a lovely blond woman, she also had short hair, but she also had a ponytail slung over one shoulder. Both of them wore green and white suits made of some strange, smooth material. They looked sort of like soldiers…

They looked at the two, the two looked at them and then at each other, and then they began conversing in some weird language for a moment, they seemed as surprised as Ratix and his friends. Then they did something odd, tapping the sides of their heads a few times.

"That's better, don't you think?" the woman said to the man. The two had gone from speaking some freaky language to speaking the one the three spoke, and perfectly, as far as they could tell.

The three continued to gawk.

"Er…" the guy began "Ah! Hello, and greetings. My name's Captain Ronixis J. Kenni."

To Be Continued