"Sylvalant Caves, did you say…" The King asked the group who had come back to Astral for another audience. "So that's what the spirits at the Parj Temple told you all?"
"Yes, your majesty." Raditz replied. "The ancient spirits told us that the 'Eye of the Truth' is hidden in Sylvalant Caves. We were hoping that your majesty would give us more information, since we do not know its whereabouts."
"Sylvalant caves… they must have meant the ancient Sylvalant Ruins." The King said. "It is inside a cave located to the east of Sylvalant. Just like the Parj Temple, its access has been prohibited for the last 700 years. The legends say that many demonic spirits have taken residence there over the years."
"Demonic spirits…" Reen said. "Sounds dangerous…"
"Well, that hasn't stopped us so far." Raditz said, cracking his knuckles. "Let's go to this place and get the 'Eye of the Truth'! Your majesty, we humbly ask of your permission once again to access this place."
"You have my full permission, brave warriors." The King said. "However, traveling directly to Sylvalant Ruins at the moment from here would be very dangerous. The enemy forces have already taken Dulce, and are heading east towards Sylvalant. Heading through the war zone at the moment would be very dangerous. Therefore, I shall also grant you the permission to use the transporter that goes directly to Sylvalant. You should be safe to travel east from there, as we have the enemy forces contained at the moment at the western front of the city."
"Thank you kindly, your majesty." Clair expressed her gratitude with a bow.
"Good luck to you all, once again." The King said, as he dismissed the party to the Transporter room.
The group transported directly to Sylvalant, and made their way towards the east to find the Sylvalant Caves. While walking, Clair noticed a sad yet determined look on Albel's face. 'Albel… I've never seen him react to someone's death in the way he did… has he changed? Or was Simone more important to him for somehow? Would he react in a same way if one of us died? If I died?'
"Albel…" Clair asked quietly. "You said you remembered the sound from the music box clearly from your childhood… and she said her son had the same name… do you think…"
"Nonsense!" Albel replied with disgust, walking ahead. "It can't be anything other than some stupid coincidence. You saw the picture… that kid isn't me. That person wasn't my father. I'm born and raised in Kirlsa, and I've never heard of this planet before now. It's all nonsense."
"But if that's the case…" Clair asked carefully. "You said that you feel too familiar with this planet… and it seemed like Simone was someone really special to you… how can that…"
"This universe is a bigger place than I have ever imagined." Albel said, as he walked even faster ahead. "So it's not surprising that there are some similarities between the worlds. There's plenty of room for some freak coincidences to occur. There is no evidence… there is nothing. End of story."
"… I guess you're right." Clair agreed, though still skeptical inside.
The group didn't have to walk too far from Sylvalant to find the Ruins. It was a fairly large cave entrance that wasn't even blocked by a boulder or anything of that sort; it seemed that they only assigned guards to the entrance, and the guards that were supposed to be on duty were obviously attending to more critical situation back at the battle front.
"Well, at least this time I won't have to destroy any big rocks or anything… saves me trouble." Lancar said. "Let's go in."
For a supposedly dangerous place, the interiors of the Sylvalant Ruins did not give the same vibe. It was obviously a little dark and chilly, as how a normal cave should be, but there were plenty of torches as well as shining rocks and minerals that lighted up the path leading in.
"This is a pretty cool cave actually, don't you think?" Roger asked everyone. "The walls are kinda bluish and it's more spacious than I expected… it's pretty bright, too. I wonder what they used this place for."
"I heard this was formerly an underground base for soldiers back in the days of the first Demon War…" Raditz said. "But that was like a thousand years ago… it certainly doesn't look that old."
As the group continued on down the ruins, Reen suddenly heard a voice talking to her mind.
'You must leave, my child'. A gentle, womanly voice told Reen. 'You do not understand its dire consequences. Please leave immediately'.
"Huh?" Reen yelled, startled, looking around. "What was that?"
"Whaaa? Reen, you scared me!" Farleen complained, shocked from Reen suddenly yelling out. "What are you talking about?"
"I thought I heard something…" Reen said, still startled and confused. "… Never mind. Let's keep going… sorry everyone."
"Heehee, are you afraid of ghosts or something, Reen?" Peppita joked. "If you're scared, don't worry, you can go back! Don't force yourself…"
"Errrrr… Peppita! It's nothing like that!" Reen yelled, little flustered. "I'm not afraid of any ghosts! I just thought I heard something! Geez…"
Actually, Reen had lied. She indeed WAS afraid of ghosts, ever since she was a little kid. Just a little bit. However, that was beside the point… she could swear that she had just heard a voice…
After going down several flights of stairs, the group arrived at a large 4-way intersection. Not knowing where to go, Lancar took out his quad scanner in order to search for an area with high energy reaction.
"There is a tremendous energy reaction coming from the area little south from here." Lancar said. "This is… an OPA-class energy level… about magnitude 2.5… this has to be it. Let's take that door to the south."
As the party stepped towards the south door, they were suddenly interrupted by dozens of spirits that appeared out of nowhere, blocking their path. They each had an eerie blue aura around their translucent body, which looked somewhat like the demons.
"Bah, what the hell?" Albel cursed. "Is this what they meant by the 'demonic spirits'?"
"I bet." Raditz said, unsheathing his newly tempered aura blade. "Looks like they don't want us to pass."
"There's… way too many of them, don't you think?" Farleen asked in panic. She was indeed right. The dozens of demon ghosts in front of them suddenly multiplied into many more, eventually filling the whole cave with the ghosts surrounding the party.
"Hey, this isn't fair!" Roger yelled, with the whole party closing in together as the ghosts surrounding them started slowly creeping forward. "This is too much!"
With the party seemingly in unprecedented danger, a sudden blue flash filled the entire cave brightly. Everybody shut their eyes in reaction to the blinding light, opening their eyes again couple seconds later. To their surprise, every single one of the ghosts in the cave had disappeared.
"Wh…what?" Albel asked, confused. "Where the hell did those ghosts all go?"
"Farleen, did you cast a new spell?" Clair asked Farleen.
"No, Lady Clair… I didn't do anything…" Farleen replied. "How did they all disappear like that?"
"Either way, I'm glad!" Reen said. "Now we can go on ahead!"
At that moment, Reen heard the same voices in her head that she heard before, speaking to her again.
'I do not want you and your friends harmed, my child…' The voice said. 'So please… please leave immediately.'
"HUH?" Reen yelled, startled yet again. "But why?"
"Reen, what is it?" Peppita asked, annoyed. "This is the second time you reacted suddenly like that!"
"The voice…" Reen said. "The voice told me to leave… for us to leave this cave immediately…"
"Whaa? What voice?" Farleen asked, puzzled.
"Whatever your so-called voice said, I'm not listening to it." Albel said, walking south towards the door. "We're not turning back just because some imaginary voices in your head told us to."
"But… Albel!" Reen pleaded. "I really did hear a voice…"
What was that voice? Reen asked herself. It certainly didn't too hostile… it had a voice of a gentle woman, and it really sounded like an honest plead. It had also called her 'my child'… what was that supposed to mean?
The group went through the southern door, and then went through couple more doors leading west to arrive in a big room with many torches around the walls. In the center of the room, there was a big ice block; a large chunk of ice with something encased inside.
"An ice statue?" Peppita asked, surprised. "And there's a person trapped inside of it!"
Everybody stepped near the ice statue to see what exactly was encased inside the huge ice block. It was a body of a young woman with wings; a Featherfolk.
"She's a featherfolk!" Reen yelled. "How did she get trapped inside this ice? I feel so sorry for her!"
"There's no time to worry over her." Albel said. "We got more important things to do."
"The energy reaction is coming from the room in the back over there." Lancar said. "That must be the 'Eye of the Truth'… let's go get it."
"No… I cannot let you have the 'Eye of the Truth'." A gentle, womanly voice said out of nowhere. "You people do not understand the risk involved."
"Where the hell did that voice come from?" Albel yelled, startled.
"That's…that's the same voice I've heard before!" Reen said. "It kept telling us to leave!"
"By using the 'Eye of the Truth', you would be putting our world under a great threat." The voice continued. "Opening the portal to the Daemoneum… the dimension of the demons… means that you will be invoking another war in our world. It will only result in destruction and lives lost. I cannot allow this."
"The voice… it's… coming from that ice statue!" Roger said.
"But demons are already out there invading us!" Raditz pleaded. "They are already causing so much destruction in our world… we have to stop them as soon as we can… that is why we must retrieve the 'Eye of the Truth' as our ancestors did 700 years ago!"
"…Is that so?" The Featherfolk inside the ice block asked. "My name is Elise, the guardian of the sacred artifact known as the 'Eye of the Truth'. I have stayed here for over 700 years in order to protect this device from the reaches of evil and greed, to prevent the war from ever happening again. So you say that the demons have already began the invasion of our world?"
"That's right!" Reen replied. "And we must stop them! That's why we need the 'Eye of the Truth'!"
"You are certainly one of my direct descendents… I feel my blood flowing within you, my child" Elise said. "I feel that you are indeed telling the truth, but I must now test you."
"Test us?" Clair asked.
"I must now test you all to see if you are worthy enough to be in possession of the 'Eye of the Truth'." Elise said, suddenly breaking out of the ice block, and floating up in the air. "Unless I can see that you're strong enough to defeat the demons, opening up the gates to the Daemoneum may potentially speed up the destruction of our world, instead."
"But we don't want to fight!" Reen yelled. "I don't want us to fight each other!"
"Do not be afraid, my child." Elise said. "If you truly want to save the world… you must show me your strength."
"Gladly." Albel said, unsheathing his Katana. "I didn't really want to kill you, but if that's what we must do, then I guess I won't have any regrets."
"Please do not hold back." Elise said, charging up her palm with blue energy. "As I will also come at you with all I have."
Elise suddenly released the energy in her hand, shooting out numerous blasts of blue laser beams in front of her. Everybody avoided the beam just in time, as the impact from the laser shook the entire cave violently.
"GYAAA!" Raditz yelled as he jumped in the air to deliver his twin slash attack. However, Elise simply extended her palm out in front of her, deflecting the attack and knocking Raditz back with her blue shield aura.
"PALM OF DESTRUCTION!" Albel yelled, as he fired a powerful energy wave from his hand towards hovering Elise. Elise simply stood where she was, and swiped at the energy ball to send it back to the source. Albel dove away from the spectacular explosion, dodging his own attack just barely.
Suddenly, a powerful blue aura completely surrounded Elise as she charged up for her most powerful attack. She finally released her gathered energy in one brilliant blue-white flash, yelling "NIBELUNG VALESTI!" The powerful wave of energy completely decimated every attack that was coming her way, blasting everybody back to the wall and down.
"G…gaahh…" Albel moaned. "P…powerful…"
"It seems that my powers have diminished greatly over the last 700 years…" Elise commented, charging herself up in blue energy once again. "But this next attack will be more powerful than before… it will surely destroy all of you. Please… before its too late… show me your worth."
"I'm…sorry…" Reen said faintly as she charged her orbs in shining white energy, with her eyes sparkling brightly. "I didn't want to do this…"
"NIBELUNG…" Elise began to yell, as she got ready to release even more powerful burst of energy towards everybody. Right before Elise released her attack, Reen rose up in the air, then shot her charged energy orbs towards Elise yelling "HOLY ORB!" With a bright, spectacular white flash and sparkle, the holy energy from the orbs blasted Elise off the air, knocking her down to the ground.
"I…Impressive…" Elise commented, as she slowly struggled back up. "You have certainly surpassed my own powers… my child."
"Ahh…" Reen yelped as she dropped to the ground, drained of all her energy.
"Do you want more?" Albel asked as he got back up to fight. "I'll gladly beat you down again if you wish."
"No… you have certainly all proven your… worth." Elise said, struggling for her breath "It was a short time… but I saw the potential within all of you…I can see that you are all certainly capable of defeating the demons…"
"So you're letting us through?" Lancar asked. "It's behind that door over there, right?"
"Yes." Elise confirmed. "It's behind the door. Please use it wisely."
"So… mother Elise…" Reen asked weakly, struggling back up to her feet with help from Farleen and Raditz. "How did you… end up here…? Why… were you… enclosed in that ice…? In this cave…"
"My story no longer matters. If you are able to defeat the demons, then you will be able to free everybody else who happened to be the victim of the demon's vile acts…for those who share the same misfortunes as I have in the past." Elise said, pointing to Albel. "Like that young man over there…"
"What?" Albel asked, confused. "What are you talking about?"
"That is all…" Elise said, slowly fading out like a ghost. "Please save this planet… and the universe from the demons…brave warriors…"
With those last words, Elise faded out and disappeared completely before everyone's eyes.
"She had… a very sad look in her eyes…" Reen said. "I wonder what had happened to her in the past…"
"…Enough of that." Albel said, still wondering about what Elise had said. "Let's go. 'Eye of the Truth' is right there."
The group walked in the back room, where they saw an altar with a glowing redorb on top of it. Albel went over to it, and picked it up.
"We finally got it." Albel said. "The 'Eye of the Truth'."
"This thing has the same properties as those relics we got back in Elicoor…" Lancar said, analyzing the device with his quad scanner. "If we use this, we'll be able to reach the Daemoneum for sure."
"Let's go back to Sylvalant, then head to that Island where I first met you guys!" Raditz said. "According to the legend, we can only open the gate to the Daemoneum from there!"
"Alright, let's move!" Albel said, as everybody ran back up towards the exit.
Chapter 35: Enemy from the past
As soon as the group got out of the Sylvalant Ruins, they headed back to Sylvalant Port and took the Ferry to the Southeast "Demon" Island. Once they arrived, everybody stepped out to the sandy beaches of the Island in determination, bracing themselves for entering the Daemoneum.
"This place…" Clair said, reminiscing. "It wasn't too long ago when we first appeared on this Island… but now that we're back, it certainly feels like it has been forever…"
"Yeah…" Roger agreed. "A lot of things have happened since then…"
"Raditz…" Clair said, turning to Raditz. "I just want to thank you for helping us the whole way through. Without you, I have no idea where we would be right now."
"Heh, don't sweat it…" Raditz replied, a little embarrassed. "I had a blast traveling with you guys all the way through… It was my pleasure. If anything, I want to thank you guys. I've learned so many things about myself during this whole journey… about my own abilities, about my family history, and all that good stuff! Thanks…"
"Raditz, you know what? Technically, you have accomplished what you were set out to do… to lead us back here…" Farleen asked Raditz. "Now we're going to go into the Daemoneum… are you sure you want to come with us? I mean, it's going to be really dangerous in there, and you might never even make it back home… this was really our mission, and not you guys… I feel bad for having you and Reen getting caught up in our mission…"
"Whaaaa? Farleen! How can you say that?" Reen yelled back. "It's not 'your' mission anymore, guys! This involves us now too!"
"She's right!" Raditz agreed. "I want to follow in the footsteps of my ancestors and help you guys defeat these demons… and save our universe. Come on, you guys didn't think that we were just going to leave now, did ya?"
"Haha… they're right." Lancar said. "We can't just leave them behind now. They've come too far already… and besides, they're our friends. You can't just leave friends behind."
"Let them come." Albel said. "Though I didn't think they would be of much use at first, they've become quite an asset in our battles… we might need all the help we can get."
"Umm, thanks I guess… haha…" Raditz said, scratching his head.
"Yeah, you guys can't just kick us out now!" Reen said, wrapping her arm around Albel's. "Besides, I don't want to leave Albel I'm coming with him, heehee."
"Beh…" Albel said shrugging her off, though he really didn't seem to mind Reen's affection for him that much anymore.
"That's right… we will all go together." Clair said. "And we will all fight together… until the end."
"Everyone get ready." Albel said, taking out the 'Eye of the Truth' from his pocket. "We're entering the Daemoneum, right now. Brace yourselves."
With a bright flash of red light, the 'Eye of the Truth' created a large, circular black portal in front of the group. Without hesitation, everybody jumped into the portal, transporting to the Daemoneum.
"CAPTAIN!" One of the crewmembers of the New Diplo yelled. "We have finally picked them up! We've picked up their signal!"
"What?" Cliff asked, running up to the computer screen. "Where? Where are they located?"
"They're on… Planet Roak, Captain." The crewmember said.
"Roak? Why the hell would they be at that planet all of a sudden?" Cliff asked. "Alright… track down their coordinates and establish communication with Lancar, pronto!"
"Cliff?" Sophia called, running in from another room upon hearing about the news. "We have found them? Thank god they're alright!"
"Yeah, good thing." Cliff said. "They're on Planet Roak, for some reason, though… I have no idea how they traveled couple hundred light years from Elicoor to there in such a short time, but… we'll ask them about that after."
"They're on… Roak?" Sophia asked, being quite familiar with the planet. It was the same planet that her and Fayt went to two years ago in order to reunite with her parents and Aunt Ryoko.
"Get them on line!" Cliff yelled. "Lancar, do you read me?"
"…" There was no response from Lancar's communicator. Only static.
"Captain, we cannot establish connection… and we've…we've lost their coordinates?" one crewmember yelled, dumbfounded. "We can't find them!… it's as if… they've just disappeared…"
"What? DAMN!" Cliff cursed. "We lost their coordinates? How can that be possible? Continue the search!"
Through the circular black portal, the group arrived back at the Daemoneum. It was much of the same from what they had seen in their previous trip; a floating continent in the middle of space-like atmosphere, filled with thunder and lightning. It was all new to Raditz, Reen, and Peppita of course.
"This…this is the Daemoneum?" Raditz asked, amazed. "We're finally here… it's nothing like what I had expected."
"You can say that again…" Reen agreed. "It's nothing like that they talk about in the books and stuff…"
"AHHH!" Peppita yelled, startled by the loud thunder. "This place… is creeping me out…"
"Yeah, this is exactly where we were last time." Lancar said, walking ahead. "No mistake about it. We're at the Daemoneum."
"We're heading to that building called the 'Time and Space Lab'." Albel said. "That's where their base is."
"Yeah, that's what it said in the memoirs, too…" Raditz confirmed. "The home of the Demon King…the Time and Space Lab…"
"It is that big Green building you see over there in the far end." Clair said, pointing towards the big tower-like structure looming over the continent. "Let's go."
As everybody marched forward, Albel's mind started glitching out once again, just like the last time he was here.
'You've now signed your soul… ther… is no…back… out. Get… the… orb in the new… worl... DA…DAD! NOOO! If you want… to liv… retri… orb'
"Gah!" Albel blurted, holding his head in pain. "What's… this…"
At that moment, something flashed in Albel's mind. He had been here before. He realized. No, he wasn't thinking about the last time where they met Romero; he had been here once LONG before that time. He could swear that he had.
"Albel?" Clair asked in concern. "What's going on?"
"I've… been here…?" Albel muttered, his mind getting hazier with more he tried to remember.
Suddenly, a group of demons appeared from behind the rocks to surround them. "Mortals? How the hell did they enter our dimension?" One demon questioned, ordering the other to attack. "Attack the intruders! Kill the Mortals!"
The group entered a fight against dozens of demons. Although the demons were all strong in their own right, the power and skill of Albel, Clair and the rest were too much for them to handle. With each slash, each punch, each blow, and each spell, the demons fell one by one, succumbing meekly to the group's powerful attacks.
"Huff… that's all of them." Albel said, gasping for breath.
"We won… somehow…" Peppita said, tired out.
"The lab is right around the corner!" Raditz said, running ahead towards the entrance to the Time and Space Lab. "Let's enter that place quickly before more demons show up!"
Right before the group got to the doorsteps of the lab entrance, a vile, chilling wind interrupted them from advancing forward. "Heh… it's the same mortals from before… I knew they would be back…"
WHAT? Albel asked himself. That voice… He knew that voice. The soft, eerie voice. He had heard it before.
"I have no idea how you were all able to access our dimension again…" The voice said, as he slowly materialized in front of the group to show himself; a demon with long white hair, pair of black wings, dressed in a black robe. "But it looks like you are all still driven by your foolish bravery. Would you all like to die for good this time, mortals? Let me assure you… unlike Romero, I won't let you go so easily. I, Saphiro, will make sure your lives all end right here, right now."
"THAT VOICE!" Albel yelled. "YOU!"
"You're…" Saphiro said, thinking carefully, and finally remembering. "Of course… how can I forget? The failure. I'm surprised that you're still alive."
"Huh? The Failure…?" Clair asked, puzzled. "Albel… you've…seen him before?"
"It is indeed pretty surprising that you managed to live…" Saphiro continued. "Too bad your father weren't as lucky as you were … hahahaha…"
"YOU…YOU SCUM!" Albel yelled in rage, unsheathing his Katana. "I've been waiting for this! I'm going to slash you up into little pieces… you disgusting maggot! I shall finally have my revenge!"
"You surely talk big as you did then. And you look just as helpless, as well… hehe. Typical of a defective project." Saphiro laughed. "I'll make sure I burn off more than your arm this time around."
"Hah! You think you can take us all on, Demon?" Raditz asked, as everybody went into their ready stance to fight. "You have no chance!"
"No, let me correct you… it is you who have no chance." Saphiro said, as he flied slightly off into the air. "You are mere mortals, and I have been granted the 'gift of god'. You cannot hurt me."
"WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT, MAGGOT!" Albel yelled, lunging forward at Saphiro in rage. "GWAAAAA! TAKE THIS!"
Albel leaped high in the air with his katana swung back over his head to deliver his Head Splitter attack. However, Albel's powerful slash went right through Saphiro, as if he wasn't even there.
"What?" Albel yelled, puzzled.
"HIYAAA!" Reen and Peppita both yelled at the same time as they delivered their Raven Orb and Instanto Blast attacks at the same time. The orb and the blast shot directly at Saphiro, somehow going right through him without any impact.
"ACROBAT LOCUS!" Lancar jumped at Saphiro to deliver flurry of powerful punches and kicks onto his body. His efforts were also futile, however; he was only punching and kicking through air. "Shit!" Lancar cursed.
"H…how?" Roger asked as his axe shot had also gone right through Saphiro without any effect. "It's just like last time… we can't hit him!"
"Farleen!" Clair yelled, as she charged up for her most powerful symbology spell. "Let's hit it with a power spell at the same time!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Farleen yelled back, as she also began her spellcasting.
"Go ahead." Saphiro said confidently, not budging. "Waste your energy, fools".
"SOUTHERN CROSS!" Clair yelled. Her Southern Cross spell created a cross-shaped light pattern on the ground as five stars charged in mass energy fell down from the sky towards Saphiro.
"STAR FLARE!" Farleen yelled as a gigantic wave of bright star energy showered down towards Saphiro, combining with the Southern Cross spell to create a devastating massive explosion on the ground.
"We got it!" Lancar yelled in triumph. "There's no way he could have survived that blast!"
However, when the smokes cleared, Saphiro walked out without a single scratch done to him, to the despair of everybody in the group.
"I really enjoy watching your desperate and futile attempts, I have to admit." Saphiro. "The looks on all your faces are truly priceless."
"GWAAA! TAKE THIS!" Raditz yelled as he jumped into the air to surround himself in a blue, dragon-shaped aura. He dove in towards Saphiro covered in tremendous wave of energy, yelling "DRAGON HOWL!" However, just like with anything else, Raditz's technique effortlessly went through Saphiro without having any effect.
"You mortals are really all quite stupid." Saphiro sneered with a cocky grin on his face. "Such useless attacks… why even bother?"
"H…how?" Raditz asked, completely out of energy. "How can everything… just go… right through…"
"It has been fun watching, but I must end your lives now, as promised." Saphiro announced, charging his hands with mysterious force of gravity energy. "TRACTOR BEAM!" The gravity energy lifted everybody high up in the air against their own will, flipping them upside down and driving them all down head first right into the ground. Peppita, Reen, Roger, and Farleen were all knocked out from the impact of the fall.
"Gya…aa" Albel muttered as him, Lancar, Raditz and Clair slowly got back up to their feet, not ready to give up.
"Haven't had enough?" Saphiro asked, charging his body in lightning energy. "LIGHTNING FEATHER!" The massive Lightning Feather attack shocked and burned anyone who was left standing, knocking them back down on the ground, defeated.
"S…shit…" Albel cursed faintly. "How can we…"
"Now I shall blow you all away into nothing." Saphiro said, as he flied high up in the air, with dark feathers from his wings flying everywhere around him. A symbol flashed on his forehead, gathering massive amount of energy in front of it. "ETHEREAL…"
Right before Saphiro could deliver his Ethereal Blast attack, Lancar suddenly heard a distorted voice coming from his communicator. "What… the…" Lancar muttered in disbelief. Somebody was contacting them.
"L…LANCAR!…C…can you hear me?… This… this is Sophia! Please answer me, PLEASE! ARE YOU THERE?"
"That voice!" Saphiro yelled, canceling his attack and listening up. "Could that be?"
"S…Sophia?" Lancar replied weakly into his communicator. "How can you… reach us here? Please… beam us up… as fast as you can…"
"LANCAR? What's going on there?" Cliff asked over the communicator. "Where are you guys?"
"In…the…Daemoneum…" Lancar replied. "Please… you have to transport us now… or else…"
"Heh… great. How convenient." Saphiro sneered. "Take all the time you need. Run away. Don't worry, I won't kill you."
What the hell? Albel wondered, right before passing out. Why the hell would he let everyone go?
"Coordinates confirmed…what? It's not even in numbers or letters? But we have it nonetheless… alright, transport them up to the Diplo, now!" Cliff was heard saying over the communicator. With a blue flash, everybody disappeared into thin air.
"Hmph, I shall finish off you mortals a little later." Saphiro said, not looking particularly disappointed by the fact that they've escaped; in fact, he looked more pleased than anything. "There are more important tasks at hand."
"Heh, hypocrite. You just let them escape as well." A voice sneered at Saphiro, as Romero appeared in front of him. "You have some explaining to do."
"Those mortals can be finished off at any time. They pose no threat to us." Saphiro said. "I've found something more important. I've discovered the target. The fools revealed themselves to us."
"The target?" Romero asked, surprised. "So we finally found her."
"Yes," Saphiro replied. "As soon as we have her and the orb, our mission will be complete. The human world will finally become ours."
"Indeed" Romero agreed. "Then let us begin our search."
"We search for a spaceship called 'The Diplo'." Saphiro said. "Let's begin at once."
Chapter 36: Siblings in debt
"Alright, transport them up to the Diplo, now!" Cliff ordered the crewmembers of the New Diplo as Sophia looked on worrily.
"Yes sir!" The crewmember said. "Transport sequence will be completed within 20 seconds!"
"If they were in the Daemonium for real… then I can't believe we were just able to reach them." Cliff said, looking at Sophia. "It's supposed to be another dimension, so how could that be?… could it be… your powers of connection, Sophia?"
"I don't know…" Sophia said. "I just wished really hard to speak with them… like I did with the Time Gate 2 years ago… I didn't think that my powers would still work anymore…"
"What's more surprising is that they weren't even in 4D space or anything like that…" Cliff commented. "I guess you have the ability to connect any existing dimensions to our world. Either way, I'm glad it worked. They should be here any second now."
"CAPTAIN!" one crewmember yelled, in panic. "The Transporter Activity… has failed!"
"WHAT?" Cliff yelled, in disbelief. "What do you mean it failed?"
"Oh no!" Sophia yelled in shock.
"We lost them during the transport sequence!" The crewmember said. "They should have appeared here in the Diplo long time ago… there's been an error in the system!"
"An error? In a time like this?" Cliff asked, frustrated. "What's the deal here? Have we lost them completely? Have they disappeared?"
"The computer says there is a 91 percentprobability that space-time differences between the two dimensions is the cause of the transport disruption!" The crewmember reported. "Fortunately, there is only a 2 percent probability that they have disappeared altogether… which means that they're probably just transported to somewhere else in the universe!"
"Well, it's a relief that they haven't disappeared completely, but… now we have to search for them again?" Cliff whined in frustration "How the heck are we supposed to do that now?"
"It's most likely that they have been transported to another coordinate point that we have used sometime in the past..." The crewmember said. "All we can do is to check the transporter history log for the Diplo, and try to find them from each coordinate points in record…"
"Every single coordinate points?" Cliff asked, baffled. "For the Diplo, that would date back to almost 10 years ago! Damn… everyone, get on it!"
"I'm sorry…" Sophia apologized. "My powers weren't strong enough…"
"It's not your fault, Sophia." Cliff consoled her. "There was nothing we could do. Don't worry, we'll find them as soon as we can."
"Please be okay, everyone…" Sophia prayed. "Please be safe…"
'It's dark and cloudy in the forests as usual…' the small long-eared girl thought to herself as she ventured into the forest, dressed in her usual red shirt and blue skirt. Truly, there never seemed to be a nice day to walk in this forest. Yes, it certainly wasn't a pleasant forest to go out to by any means, but she had to go. For everyday in the last couple weeks, she had walked out to the forest in search of herbs. The harsh winter was coming up, and the village needed all the medicine they could get. These were indeed harsh times for the villagers, but nowhere as bad as how things were 2 years ago, she thought. Compared to back then, a little hardship like this was nothing. They at least had their freedom now, free from the tyrant's grasps.
Thanks to Fayt.
'I wonder where he is now…' The girl wondered.
As the long-eared girl walked deeper into the forest, she shockingly discovered a group of 8 people lying motionless on the ground. They were all unconscious, and badly hurt.
"OH NO!" The girl yelled, examining each of them. "Those wounds… I wonder what had happened to them?"
'These people are surely wearing some strange clothes…and… they have weapons!…', the girl thought, still a little intimidated by the scene. But she couldn't just run away; these people were badly hurt, and she just had to help them.
"I… I have to heal them!" The girl told herself as she kneeled down to pray. "FAERIE LIGHT!" As the girl prayed, many Faeries appeared from above in a bright light, covering everybody down on the ground with a warm, holy light. Magically, their wounds all disappeared, and they all regained their consciousness.
"Wh…what?" Albel muttered as he regained consciousness. The last thing he could remember was Saphiro saying that he's letting them go, then a flash of bright blue light. Now he was in middle of a dark forest with a little girl staring at them curiously as if they were zoo animals. 'Where the hell are we?' Albel wondered.
"Where… are we?" Clair asked faintly, feeling like she had wakened up from a deep sleep.
"Yay… my spell worked! I'm so glad!" The little girl said. "Are you all ok now?"
"Um… so you healed us?" Raditz asked. "T…thank you…"
"What happened to you all you guys? Did some monsters attack you?" The girl asked. "You should be more careful! This forest is really dangerous!"
"W…where are we, anyway?" Lancar asked, wondering how they ended up in some forest. "We should have been transported to the Diplo…"
"Where do you guys come from? How come all your ears are so round? And where did you get those weird clothes? Tell me, tell me!" The little girl asked excitedly. For such a small, cute kid, she certainly wasn't too shy.
"Umm… that's what we need to ask you first…" Roger asked the little girl. "Where… are we?"
"Huh? Did you guys lose your memory, too?" The little girl asked. "We're in middle of Pesotto Forest… I just found you guys lying unconscious on the ground… so I had to help…"
"Pesotto…Forest?" Reen asked. "This isn't Roak anymore, is it?"
"Roak? What's that? Tell me" The little girl asked, full of curiousity.
"Damn, it looks like we somehow ended up in another planet…" Lancar said. "It was probably a transporter failure…"
"Transporter failure?" Peppita asked. "You mean, we're now totally lost?"
"Well, be glad that it wasn't something worse." Lancar said. "In a worst case scenario of transporter failure, it's possible for us to just disappear altogether, erased from existence… we should be thankful that we're at least still here in one piece."
"Arrggg…" Farleen whined. "How are we ever gonna find Fayt and Lady Nel now?"
"FAYT?" The little girl asked, shocked. "You guys know Fayt? How? How?"
"What?" Roger asked in surprise. "You know who he is?"
"He saved our village two years ago!" The girl said, excited about discovering someone who knew Fayt. "And he also fixed my music box! Then he just disappeared one day… so are you guys his friends? Where is he? Tell me… please?"
"He what?" Albel asked. "That worm was here before?"
"T…that's right… I remember now! Cliff told me the story…" Lancar recalled. "From what she says, this planet must be… Vanguard III! Fayt crash landed here two years ago while escaping from Hyda, and Cliff and Mirage was sent here to rescue him!"
"Vanguard III?" Reen asked. "I've never heard of this planet before…"
"It's another Underdeveloped Planet." Lancar explained. "Not many people would have."
"Um… planet? Vanguard? Crash? I don't understand…" The girl mumbled, confused. "And I don't know anyone named Clip or Miran… I only know Fayt!"
"I'll explain it all pretty soon." Lancar assured her. "Hey, there's supposed to be a village pretty close to this forest, right? Can we go back there first?"
"You want to go back to Whipple first? Well… okay!" The little girl said, leading the way. "But you have to tell me everything once we get there… Please? Promise?"
"Heh… sure…" Lancar said, thinking that it would be pretty hard to tell her the story without breaking the UP3. "I promise. Let's go back to the village first. By the way, I'm Lancar. A friend of Fayt."
"My name is Meena! Nice to meet you!" Meena introduced herself. "Then let's go back to the village… I'll introduce you guys to my brother!"
Whipple was pretty much the same small run-down village from 2 years ago. However, the streets were much more lively with people chatting, some of them even welcoming the group to the village now that they were much more accepting to strangers.
"Here's my house!" Meena said, standing in front of her small house. "I'll go call my brother… Niklas! Niklas! We have guests!"
"Guests?" Niklas asked. Niklas was now much more grown compared to two years ago. He had grown about two feet, and had a much deeper voice. "Meena, who might these guests be?"
"They're Fayt's friends!" Meena told him. "Can they stay and chat for a while? Please?"
"Fayt's friends, you say?" Niklas asked, surprised. "If that's the case, they are very welcome. Please, come in. Any friend of Fayt is friend of ours. My name is Niklas… Meena's brother. Pleased to meet you."
Everybody entered Niklas and Meena's house, which was way too small to host 8 guests in the first place. However, after everybody somehow fitted into the room, and Lancar started explaining the story to Niklas and Meena; excluding some information so that he doesn't break the UP3, of course.
"So… you say that Fayt is now captured by your enemies…" Niklas asked. "That is indeed very bad news…"
"Oh nooooo!" Meena cried, worried about Fayt. "I hope he's going to be alright…"
"I hope you can all succeed in rescuing him soon…" Niklas said. "He is the hero of our village, and I certainly hope that he could visit us one more time. We, the village of Whipple, are at his debt. Please, if there is anything we can do to help, tell us. We will all try to help as best as we can."
"I'm sorry Niklas… we appreciate the thought… but…" Lancar said. "There is not much that you guys can do. He is captured in a place that is really far away from here. But don't worry about him; we'll get him back, and I'll make sure he comes back here to visit!"
"I'm sorry we could not be of any real help…" Niklas said. "But if it helps any, you are free to stay in our village for the night… as it is already getting dark outside. Please stay at our village for tonight to rest up. Do not worry about the money for the inn; I shall take care of it."
"Maybe that's not a bad idea…" Raditz said. "We can't really do much right now, anyway."
"Thank you very much, Niklas." Clair expressed her gratitude, with a bow. "Thank you for your wonderful hospitality."
Before Lancar and others could get up, he heard a voice coming from his communicator. "Lancar… do you read me? This is Cliff! Please respond!"
"Cliff?" Lancar exclaimed, running out of the house and reaching back for his communicator. "Captain, It's me, Lancar. Do you read?"
"I read you, buddy." Cliff said. "First things first... is everybody all right?"
"Yeah, we're all fine, thanks to Fayt's old friends here." Lancar replied. "We're on Vanguard III, by the way."
"Yeah, so it seems…" Cliff said. "I have no idea how you guys ended up at THAT hunk of rock…sorry about the transporter failure."
"Don't worry about it, chief." Lancar said. "So where are you guys? Are you guys ok?"
"Yeah, we're all fine. And luckily, we were pretty close to the Vanguard System already… so we're coming to get you right now." Cliff replied. "We should be there in about 8 to 10 hours. Hold tight till then… Get some sleep or something."
"Gotcha." Lancar said. "Sorry captain, but we couldn't defeat the demons… we've tried twice now… but I'll explain it in detail after we meet up."
"Don't worry about it for now… I'm sure you have your reasons." Cliff said. "We'll talk about it in the Diplo. I'll contact you again when we're there. Talk to ya later."
"Yup. See you soon." Lancar replied, communication over and out.
"So what's going on, Lancar?" Peppita asked. "Is someone coming to pick us up?"
"Yeah, Cliff's Federation ship will be here by tomorrow morning." Lancar replied. "We'll discuss what to do next when we get there. For now, let's just rest for the night"
It was middle of the night, but Albel was wide awake, and staring at the stars in the sky standing in the balcony. He couldn't sleep; he couldn't sleep after thinking about what had just transpired at the Daemonium. They were defeated yet again. They were all powerless as they had been against Romero the first time. Worst of all, this time, it was against Saphiro, someone who he was waiting for all those years to have an opportunity at revenge. This was his reason in life for training all those years, and this was his reason in life for becoming stronger. To get his revenge. And yet, he was defeated just as easily as he was back then. He couldn't even put up a fight. Albel clenched his right fist in rage, furious at himself for his own powerlessness.
Have I not become stronger at all? Albel asked himself. Am I a failure, a defect, just as Saphiro claimed him to be?
Failure? Defect? What did he mean by that, anyway?
"Albel?" Clair called his name, interrupting his thoughts. "Why aren't you asleep?"
"I cannot sleep knowing that I've been defeated." Albel said, not looking at Clair.
"Don't be too harsh on yourself…" Clair said. "None of us could defeat him… we couldn't even hit him, as if he was protected by some mysterious power… I don't think we lost because we were weak."
"There is no excuse in losing." Albel said. "We lost, plain and simple. But don't think that I'm just going to back out. No matter what kind of power they have, I'm going to keep going at them. I won't stop until I'm dead."
"…" Clair was silent, not knowing what to say. After a few seconds, she asked him a question. "Albel… about that demon… was that the…"
"That's the same demon that killed my father and burned my arm." Albel finished the sentence for her. "He's the only reason that I've lived and trained for… to get my revenge on him. I will not rest until I have my revenge."
"Don't tell me you still believe in that… living for revenge…" Clair asked. "After everything we have gone through, I thought your views might have changed…"
"Are you going to repeat your silly lecture?" Albel asked coldly. "Because if you plan on doing so, you can spare me. I don't need to listen to nonsense yet again."
"You're right. I do not plan on repeating it, because you already know what I mean." Clair replied, walking away. "Deep inside, I know you do."
"Hmph. Believe whatever you want." Albel sneered.
"No… Albel…" Clair said, just before walking out the door. "Please believe what you want. What you truly want…"
What did she mean? Albel wondered. What did he want to believe?
He wanted to believe that he knew exactly who he really was… Now he wasn't so sure.
He wanted to believe that he was strong… He wasn't strong enough.
He wanted to believe that he could have his revenge… He couldn't.
He wanted to believe that he could have saved Simone in time… He had failed.
He failed because he was a failure himself.
"Lancar… do you read me?" Cliff asked over the communicator. "We just arrived at the orbits of Vanguard III. Get everyone ready to be transported to the Diplo."
"Sure thing, Captain." Lancar responded, walking out of the Inn. "I'll have everyone ready in a few minutes. We'll be out near the Town exit."
"Make sure no one sees you there… we don't want to violate any UP3 laws here… " Cliff said. "I'll be waiting."
"Roger." Lancar replied, as he walked up to the rest of the group to tell them that they're going to be leaving. "Alright guys, it's time to go."
"Niklas… Meena… thank you very much once again." Clair said, with a bow. "We'll visit again once everything is over. And don't worry… we'll rescue Fayt. You can count on us."
"I wish you all the best of luck in your journey." Niklas said. "May all of you be successful in rescuing Fayt. I shall pray for all your safety."
"Please be careful, alright?" Meena pleaded. "Please rescue Fayt… and come back here together when it's all over, okay?"
"You bet!" Raditz said. "We won't fail!"
"See ya!" Roger said his farewells, waving. "We'll come back!"
After heading into the forest, and making sure that they were away from the sights of the Villagers, Lancar contacted Cliff.
"Okay Captain. We're here." Lancar said over the communicator
"Alright Lancar, everyone… get ready…" Cliff replied. "Okay crew; be ready to receive 8 people via transporter. Coordinates confirmed… one… two…three."
With a flash of blue lights, everyone got transported instantly to the New Diplo.
