Hello, readers!
Lately I have been suffering from depression from lack of reviews, but I'm over that now, thanks to a sudden inrush of reviews! Thank you all! (Salutes) And now, without further ado, the segment you've all been waiting for…(Drumroll, please)…CHAPTER 7!
Please accept a heartfelt apology from a writer who didn't publish for so long. But hey, would you feel like writing after your grandmother passed away? Anyone? I didn't think so.
Warning – Very serious chapter, there will be slightly less humor from now on. I want this thing to have some plot, ya know.
I do know own Tales of Symphonia. Or Rurouni Kenshin, for that matter. (You'll see. Please, Watsuki, don't kill me!)
Two worlds, One Soul
Chapter VII – Enemies
The company flew homeward under a canopy of stars, the sickle moon providing a soft silver glow to illuminate the way. It was dark. Very dark. The company thanked Shadow for providing them with the cover to fly unseen, as any viewing would be disastrous. Anyone who happened to glance upwards had a chance of seeing five sets of iridescent wings in the sky, and several more flying with no visible support at all. (Aaron and Kyle would learn later that there had been several sightings of UFO's in their town that night.) As they flew, Kratos stared at the stars, deep in thought.
(Warning: very serious monologue approaching at high speed)
The stars are so different here…and yet they are the same. They continue to watch humanity, their lives spanning billions of years, observing all, but remaining remote and unable to act. So similar to I, cursed to near-infinite existence, so far removed from those around me. So often I did not act, stayed so remote, I did nothing when something needed to be done. I should not have stayed passive and let Yggdrassil move unopposed, I should not have stayed silent during my four thousand years. I should have acted against Kvar before, foreseen an attack, and instead, I lost my wife. I should have dove after Lloyd…instead, I lost him for sixteen years. So often I have remained immobile, like a statue, as time passed me by in so many ways. If only I had acted perhaps I never would have gotten my greatest foe…if I had acted, perhaps he could have been saved…
Kratos looked up from his thoughts, distracted by a strange feeling in his gut.
Hmm? It couldn't be…I almost thought I sensed him…Orois…how could he have survived?
He flew up a little higher, searching with angelic vision.
No…I must be imagining things…he couldn't have survived the explosion…there's no way in heaven or hell that anyone could have lived…
He shook his head to clear his thoughts, resuming his normal flight path.
Heh heh heh…poor little Kratos…I suppose that you forgot that I can see every little thought wandering through that little head of yours…what was that saying of yours? Oh yes… "Blame your fate." Well, you've never seemed to get your fair share of that fate…you destroyed my family, destroyed my life, took everything I loved from me…and your precious fate has done nothing to punish you for it. And as the Japanese say, if the heavens will not deliver punishment, then weon earth shall take punishment into our own hands. Prepare yourself, little Kratos…the time has come. Prepare yourself…for Jinchu.
The black-cloaked man threw back his head and laughed. Then he vanished into the shadows he was so much a part of, like he had never existed at all.
Back at Aaron's house
"Hey…Dad." Said Lloyd.
"Yes, Lloyd?" asked Kratos, as father and son took seats in Aaron's den. Lloyd stared at Kratos with unusual seriousness.
"You looked like you were thinking really deeply about something, and now you've got this gloom around you…even more than normal, that is."
Kratos chuckled dryly at his son's little joke. "I was just remembering a little bit of my past."
Lloyd stared at him a little longer. "Humph." He said, not breaking eye contact.
Kratos sighed. It appeared his son was not to be dissuaded. "There was a time, long before I met Anna, and shortly before Martel's death, that Yuan, Mithos, Martel and I had an encounter with a man named Orois."
Lloyd's eyes widened. "You mean…THE Orois? The fabled assassin of the Kharlan war that was second to none in single combat?"
"Yes, the very one. We were mopping up pockets of resistance that didn't want to stop the battles. They were so intent on destroying their enemy that they had to be entirely wiped out. Orois was the leader of a very powerful faction of them. But this faction was different. They didn't want to kill the Sylvarants just because they were Sylvarants, for them it was personal. You see, the members of his faction, the Brotherhood of the Burning Moon, were all individuals who had lost family or friends to the Sylvarant army."
Lloyd was shocked. "And what does that have to do with you?"
"I was the reason he began that Brotherhood."
"What? How?" Lloyd looked incredulous.
"Yes, do tell!" said another voice behind Kratos. Kratos yelled, jumped probably six feet off the ground, and fell out of the chair. He looked up, straight into the Ruin-Mode-crazed eyes of Raine. Behind her was the entire remainder of the company, which had somehow snuck up behind him.
"Well, at least it saves me the trouble of telling it twice." Commented Kratos dryly, immediately regaining his composure and settling back into the chair.
"Please, Kratos. Continue your story." Said Colette.
"All right, all right." He said. "Some years before, during the war, our little company was fighting in a small town near where Palmacosta is today. We had been ambushed, and were fighting for our very lives. We knew the only way to escape was for us to unleash the full measure of our magic." He paused. "The village was annihilated. It was never our intention, but the spells fused in a way we had never seen before, unleashing power we had never dreamed of."
-- FLASHBACK --
The ones who would be called the four seraphim stood huddled together inside a ring of hostility. They knew there was only one way out, and they didn't like it.
"We have no choice!" yelled Kratos over the noise of the fray. He parried the thrust of an armored warrior, and his riposte took the man's life.
"But what if-" cried Martel, staff poised to bash in the next head that presented itself.
"There's no other option! Just do it!" shouted Yuan, as he barely avoided an enraged mercenary.
The four focused their powers, and cried out
"Judgment!" roared Kratos.
"Indignation!" shouted Yuan.
"Holy Lance!" cried Martel.
"Prism Sword!" yelled Mithos.
As soon as the spells were cast, things began to go horribly wrong. The crystal weaponry of Holy Lance and Prism Sword sparked with the godly lightning of Indignation as they rained down not only on their targets, but on the town, the houses, and the innocent people running for their lives. And at the climax of the chaos, the Light of Judgment came down upon the town in a gigantic column, obliterating everything. As the world went white, there was only the sensation of hurtling through the air, then everything faded to blackness…
-- END FLASHBACK --
"Whoa…" said Lloyd.
"How did the spells interact like that? That never should have happened." Said Genis.
"None of us knew." Said Kratos.
"How does that have to do with Orois?" asked Sheena.
"Orois' brother, the last member of his family still alive after the Kharlan War, was the leader of the men who attacked us. He died in that battle. Although I did not kill him personally, the blast that resulted from our mixing magic did." Said Kratos.
"Kratos…" said Raine, "How horrible…"
"Word soon came to Orois that his brother's company had been destroyed. Somehow, he got word that it was me."
"And then what?" asked Zelos.
-- FLASHBACK --
Kratos walked silently and alone along the path of a forest no one in the company recognized. He came upon a fork in the road. One path lead off into a long tunnel of green, identical to the one he had been traveling for some time. The other went into a clearing, where a town had sprung up around a mercenary fort. Several of the mercs were putting up posters with badly drawn portrait scrawled across its face. Kratos stared hard at it for several moments before recognizing it as his own.
"Do I really look that bad?" muttered Kratos.
"Now hear this!" cried a voice, startling Kratos from his criticism of the (horrible) artist.
Kratos ducked into the shelter of the trees. On silent feet, he crept carefully around the outskirts until he had a safe perch in the top of a giant maple. From this height, he was safe from prying eyes, and his superior hearing allowed him to hear everything that was going on.
"Listen, all!" shouted the man, waving a poorly drawn poster, "This man is a danger to us all! He destroyed an entire town for the sake of a handful of men! One of the men who lost his life because of him was my own brother…the only one I had left…and he murdered him, along with everyone else in a half-mile radius! He is a murderer! A horror! Bring him in alive! Allow me the chance to avenge my brother and all who died by his hand, and you will receive one million Gald!"
As the crowd cheered, Kratos silently seethed. He had never intended for anything to happen…there had been something there to influence the spell. They never should have mixed in that way. And now this man dared accuse him of mass murder?
"I will not stand for this!" he cried, beginning to rise from the tree, but caught himself, "That would be playing right into his trap. He probably knows I'm watching him now. It would definitely be better to wait. I can deal with him later."
"Heh, it looks like wanted posters run in the family." Said Genis.
Lloyd, miffed, looked away.
"So…what became of Orois? The legends say he was killed in a great explosion when his fortress was destroyed. Is that correct?" asked Regal.
"It is." Said Kratos.
"Was it you that destroyed it? And killed Orois?" asked Presea.
"Regretfully." Said Kratos.
"Talkative today, aren't we?" asked Aaron sarcastically.
Kratos gave him the "Patented Seraph Death Glare"
"Shutting up," said Aaron meekly.
"I must know…how did he die? What happened at the fortress?" asked Raine.
"I'm worried that he didn't die…" murmured Kratos.
"What was that?" asked Lloyd.
"No…nothing. At the fortress…" said Kratos.
-- FLASHBACK --
"Are you sure about this, Kratos?" asked Yuan.
"It is the only way. Besides, I am the only one he wants. If you are with me, you are only endangering yourself."
"We've already lost Martel…I can't take it if we lose you too. So like it or not, I'm going with you."
"Out of the question."
"This isn't negotiable. I will not allow you to." Said Kratos.
"Oh? Won't ALLOW me to go? Since when do you have the authority to-"
Kratos knew this wasn't going to work, so he resorted to desperate measures. "I'm sorry, Yuan." He said. Before Yuan could even blink, Kratos lunged in, grabbed the hem of Yuan's cape, and brought it down over his head. Yuan's yells of indignity were smothered as Kratos tucked the fabric around his head again and tied it with the most complex knot he knew. He took off immediately towards the castle, leaving a furious and confused companion staggering in circles wondering what the hell had happened.
"That should fix him long enough to get to the fortress." Thought Kratos, as he sailed through the air in slowly falling darkness.
He crested the hill, and found what he was searching for. Orois' fortress, resembling the Desian Ranches that would come about in later years, was built partially into the side of an artificial cliff carved from the side of the mountain. Mercenaries with Orois' blue flame-cloaked silver crescent moon emblem patrolled the walls and manned searchlights that made approach from the ground impossible. Kratos climbed rapidly, then paused, angling himself with a flat space near the top of the base. Then he put away his wings. As the wind screamed by him like a banshee's howling song, he righted himself so he was falling feet-first. At precisely the right moment, he flared his azure wings, and spread his arms and legs to slow his descent. It was perfect. Without a sound, he set down on the roof, his descent far to fast for any guard to notice. Without looking back, he entered the highest chamber. He couldn't, however, shake the feeling that his entry had been far too easy…
It appeared his suspicions were accurate. As soon as he set foot inside, he heard the telltale "snick" of a trap being released, and threw himself forward in a roll. He heard the deadly darts whistle past inched behind him, and when they passed, he stood. In hindsight, a big mistake.
Snick.
Thwap.
Kratos fell to his knees, his hand immediately going to the dart imbedded in his right shoulder. Instantly, he felt the cold fire of a toxin flood his body. He struggled to his feet, fighting the paralyzation threatening to immobilize him.
"I knew that would get you." Said a cold voice.
"Wh- Where are you? Show…yourself!" Kratos struggled to speak.
His enemy stepped from the shadows. Clad in a silver-lined black cloak and silver-embossed black leather armor, Orois emerged from behind a pillar. His face could not be seen, hidden by a silver-edged black cowl.
"Ah, my mortal enemy. We'll see just how mortal you really are…" with this, he drew a pair of glittering silver daggers from concealed sheaths. Cast in the shape of wings, they looked as deadly as they were beautiful.
"Coward..." grunted Kratos, barely staying upright.
"We'll see about that," said Orois, lunging. The daggers flashed in the moonlight from windows in the ceiling, as he slashed with blinding speed. (Insert "Fatalize" music here) Kratos barely managed to get his sword out in time to deflect them away. Orois spun adeptly, gracefully leaping and spinning as his daggers formed a cage of flashing silver around him. He charged again. Kratos sidestepped, and slashed weakly at his enemy's flank. Orois skillfully parried, and continued his dance of death. He seemed to be in three places at once, and Kratos' poison-numbed body could barely follow. Orois' blades sliced him from all angles, cutting long, shallow wounds in Kratos' arms, legs, chest and back.
'He's killing me by inches…and there's nothing I can do.' He thought. At that point, the poison finally took its toll, and he collapsed, unable to move. Orois came over and kicked him in the ribs, sending him rolling against the wall. Orois grasped a fistful of Kratos' cape and dragged him upright.
"Now die, you pathetic excuse for a man, and suffer as my brother did!" as the silver point whistled through the air, there was a sudden sound of steel clanging on stone, and a whistling noise as something flew through the air. Orois gasped, clutched his side, and let Kratos slip to the ground. Kratos saw Yuan standing over them, and one of Orois' darts in his hand.
"I've given him a taste of his own medicine. Come on, old friend…let's go."
"No…wait…we cannot leave him. If he lives, his group will continue to slaughter…innocents. I cannot…allow that to happen."
"But if you do that, it will make him just as he says! A murderer!"
"Is the life…of one…truly worth more than the life of many?" He had no idea how much those words would come back to bite him in the butt later.
"Fine. Here, let me help you." The two flared their wings, Kratos supported by Yuan, and they both chanted with one voice.
"Sacred Powers… Cast your purifying light upon these corrupt souls. Rest in peace, sinners! SERAPH JUDGEMENT!"
Hundreds of beams of powerful light blasted down from the heavens, striking Orois' mercenaries and shredding the fort's walls. Strangely, the main tower was left untouched. Kratos and Yuan both felt a great surge of mana, and knew something was going terribly wrong once again. At the same time, they both shouted "We have to get out of here!"
Kratos leaned on Yuan and they quickly moved to the balcony where Kratos landed. Looking up, they saw lightning sparking in the shy above the fortress, and they felt mana gathering in an amount they had never witnessed before. Flaring their wings at the same time, they flew as swiftly as they could to the safety of a nearby hill. Just as they touched down, the heavens opened and unleased the Light of Judgement in a force that they never imagined possible. It completely blinded them, and the resounding shockwave knocked them back twenty feet. When they regained consciousness, they made the slow clime to the top. What they saw was beyond description. There was nothing left of the base or the mountain it was built into except a hundred-foot deep crater at least three hundred feet wide. Not even a scrap of metal remained, only smoke, fire, and death.
(Man, THAT was long)
The company was too stunned to respond for several minutes.
"Did Orois survive?" asked Sam.
"No. There was absolutely no way anyone could have survived that blast." Said Kratos.
"Why would this happen? Surely you did not summon that much power willingly…or with such an intention." Said Regal solemnly.
"No, of course not." Said Yuan, speaking for the first time that evening, "But we reached the conclusion that it was Orois' doing."
"What? You mean he blew himself up? Are you crazy?" exclaimed Lloyd.
"Not in the slightest. We believe that his body produces an aura of sorts that can amplify magic to almost obscene proportions."
"Astounding!" exclaimed Raine. "It's a pity he was annihilated, I would have loved to examine him…amplify magic…amazing!" her eyes glowing with ruin-frenzy, she wandered off, muttering about things like "Mana catalytic properties" and "esoteric intensification dynamic". Lloyd kneaded his head, the magitechnological terminology giving him a headache.
Out of the blue, Yuan chuckled.
"What's so funny?" asked Kratos.
"Heh…I told you you'd need my help!" said Yuan.
"I did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
The company burst out laughing at the sudden display of immaturity, especially from their most stoic and severe members. It continued for several minutes, and everyone was glad for the respite from the gloomy topic. A few minutes later, they resumed the conversation.
"So…what made you start thinking about Orois?" asked Sam
"…I thought I sensed him as we were flying here…but that's impossible."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that, little Kratos…" said a cold voice. As all color drained from Kratos' and Yuan's faces, there was a crash and tinkling sounds as the window shattered. To Kratos's horror, a horribly familiar sound was heard over the chaos.
Snick.
I heartily apologize for the long update, and I swear that it will be much faster next time. In the meantime, please review!
