Hey guys. I just want to thank all of you for taking the time to read this story, especially since I've been trying to come up with ideas for this fic since September or October and it's finally getting posted. I'll gladly take any comments you guys have for this, but I just have one request: please do NOT tell me what to change, any characters you think I should add, or anything else that would change the plot in any way. Like my other stories, I have an outline for this story, so I know what's going to happen down the road from now, and nothing you say will convince me to change what I've planned.
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Once upon a time, there was a great world that had a peaceful existence. The Kharlan War, however, sent this world into chaos, and several thousands of innocent people were killed. Mithos and his companions sought to end this war and rescue the world and end the destruction, but not before the damage was done. The power of the great hero was left behind after his demise. And that was the start of the Eternal Swordsman's new journey.
The sun was blazing the crystal clear blue waters as the mysterious creatures that inhabited the newly united world of Aselia swam about. Everything seemed so clear and perfect, you'd have no idea that the world was on the brink of destruction just a short while before.
All of a sudden, a quick brown flash shot across the peaceful water. It was a small brown boat, but had the power of mana to propel it to move as if it had an engine. On it were two people: one was a boy in his late teens wearing dwarf-made red clothes made of woven cloth that matched his red boots. His short, spiked brown hair was blowing backwards in the wind as he steered the boat forward.
Behind him was a girl a few months younger than him. She had an overall happy look about her as her long blonde hair got caught in the wind as it resisted the boat. Her white clothes reflected the hot sunlight.
They were Lloyd and Colette, two heroes of the newly united world. It had been a few months since the downfall of Mithos, the hero of the Ancient War. Since then, Lloyd and Colette had embarked on their journey to collect all the exspheres in the world and hopefully destroy them.
Since that fateful battle, all of the people in Lloyd and Colette's group who they had grown so tight to had went their separate ways. Their best friend, a half-elf named Genis and his sister Raine, had begun traveling to distant lands to try to make it easier for half-elves all around the world to live without being discriminated against.
Sheena, the group's summoner for their life-altering journey, had gone back to her home town of Mizuho to become the successor to its chief. She was going to help everyone do their best to move the town to where they wanted it to go.
Zelos, Tethe'alla's Chosen of Mana, was going back to his home in the Kingdom City of Meltokio, trying to get the easy life he wanted, but still keeping things in check.
Regal Bryant, the former president of the Lazareno Company, had gone back to his job there to help Lloyd and Colette excavate any areas where exspheres could be. He got some aid from his late lover's sister, Presea. Presea had since grown to forgive Regal for killing her sister, but she would never forget that he did it.
But the one who raised the most questions of their life after the journey was Kratos. Kratos was, as Lloyd called him, the angel, the one who betrayed them; the hero of the ancient war who helped them. The ex-Cruxis member and former Seraphim had gone back to Derris-Kharlan as it floated away and out of Aselia's gravitational field to watch over the angels that had lived there. The final words that were heard from him were "Don't die, Lloyd-my son."
Lloyd found himself missing Kratos a lot more frequently than he thought, but as he told his foster-father, he had his own path to follow. Lloyd had chosen his destiny, and Kratos had chosen his.
"Lloyd?" asked a sweet voice from behind him. "Are you okay?"
Lloyd snapped awake and did a few double takes. He was behind the wheel of the small boat that was just barely big enough to fit him and Colette, and even though he had been steering, he had started to let his mind wander.
"Huh? I'm…fine," Lloyd answered. "Sorry, just started zoning out a little."
"Are we still on course?" Colette asked cheerfully.
"So far, so good," Lloyd said. "We'll probably get to Flanoir in a few hours."
"Oh…okay."
Lloyd and Colette were out on the ocean and on their quest to rid the world of the remaining exspheres. The two still hadn't discarded theirs, though. And soon, they would be thankful that none of their former companions had destroyed theirs, either.
The boat ride was silent for a while until Lloyd and Colette saw something in the distance. Hundreds of feet ahead of them in the water, there appeared to be another ship. It was a dark figure on the horizon, but as Lloyd and Colette neared it, they saw that it was much larger than their boat and that there were several people on board, all of them looking very nasty and vicious.
"Who…who are those people?" Colette asked with some fear causing her voice to tremble.
"I don't know," Lloyd said, looking at the massive wooden ship. "But they definitely don't look very friendly."
"Hey!" yelled one of the men on board. He looked over the edge and glared at Lloyd and Colette's boat. Looking like he was ready to kill them, he turned to the side and screamed to someone else, "Tell the captain we've got some scum on our tail!"
"Did he just call us scum?" Lloyd asked, not thinking things through.
A small sound was heard coming from the bigger wooden boat, and out from a side socket in the ship's lining popped a cannon.
Lloyd and Colette didn't say anything, but instead just stared right at the cannon. After a few seconds, someone on the ship yelled, "FIRE!"
Knowing a cannonball was about to come shooting out at them, Lloyd had the boat make a sharp turn. A heavy black came shooting out of the cannon and landed in the water only inches from Lloyd and Colette's boat.
"Ugh…dammit!" Lloyd cursed. "Looks like they've got some big weapons. Colette, take the wheel!"
"Huh…Wha?" Colette asked, confused as ever.
"Just do it!" Lloyd commanded, but in a low tone.
Nervously, Colette walked over to the steering wheel on the small boat and grabbed a hold of it. When Lloyd was sure she was in control, he jumped up into the air. He looked at the blue jewel in his hand, and as he did it. In less than a second, a pair of multi-colored wings sprouted from Lloyd's back. Gravity no longer was a problem for him, for he could now float with his angel wings.
With his wings, Lloyd soared just a few feet over and onto the giant ship that just attacked them. Looking around, it was clear that he was on a pirate ship.
The second Lloyd plopped his feet onto the wooden floor of the pirate ship, he reached both of his hands at the side of his dark colored pants and pulled out his two material blades with such speed, it was a literally a "blink-and-you-miss-it" moment.
Lloyd took his red and blue swords and ran over to one of the pirates working the cannon and took two savage swings at him. The pirate screamed in pain as he fell on the ground after being struck numerous times by Lloyd's powerful weapons.
After taking down one pirate, Lloyd turned around and saw that there were three others coming up from behind him. They had pulled out their swords, which looked like really thin, dark gray scimitars.
Lloyd stared at the three of them with furious eyes. Even though they outnumbered him three-to-one, he wasn't the slightest bit afraid of them.
As the three pirates started closing in on him, Lloyd took slow, small steps backwards from them, but still kept his swords ready to strike.
The pirate in between the other two was the first to make his move. He jumped in screaming loudly and had his scimitar in the air, ready to strike Lloyd with every ounce of his strength.
But just as the pirate was about to slice Lloyd's head open with the sword, Lloyd put up the blue sword in his left hand and used to block the oncoming strike. Lloyd then took the Flamberge in his right hand and made a quick, clean cut across the pirate's stomach with it. Defeated, the pirate slumped onto the wooden floor in a crumpled heap.
Lloyd quickly looked up from the pirate he just killed and stared at the other two. They both started charging in savagely, looking like they were about to improvise any fighting moves they were about to perform on him.
The two pirates closed in on him and surrounded him from both sides. They looked much more menacing now since Lloyd could, at that moment, only concentrate on one of them. His focus was even more broken when it looked like the meanest pirate that Lloyd had seen yet walked out in the open.
This pirate wasn't round, but he certainly had a larger-than-normal gut. His eyes were dark brown, but he didn't have a bandana, a weird hat, a hook for a hand or a peg leg. He did, however, have messy brown hair and his teeth were out of place.
"Kill him!" yelled , the strong looking pirate. "Don't let him get away!"
Saying that???? walked in a door that led inside the ship, which Lloyd assumed was the captain's quarters. As he turned his attention back to the two other pirates, both were ready to make quick work of Lloyd by slashing at his throat.
Lloyd turned his attention towards one of the pirates and stabbed him a couple of times with his material blades before making a final stab into the pirate.
But just as Lloyd finished off one pirate, he turned around and saw the other. Before Lloyd could react, the third pirate kicked him in the stomach and knocked him to the ground. When Lloyd looked up, he saw the pirate about to stick his sword right through Lloyd.
Lloyd didn't have any time to react or to defend himself, and it looked like it was over. But out of nowhere, a swishing sound was heard and something circular with sharp edges struck the pirate on the side of the head and knocked him off the boat and into the water. Lloyd sat up and saw one of Colette's chakrams come flying back into her hand, like a boomerang. It looked like, for once, she had saved his life.
Lloyd didn't see any more pirates for a brief second, and he was going to take full advantage of it. He ran over to all the cannons in place and started smashing them with his two swords until they all broke.
When Lloyd destroyed the last cannon, he turned around and saw over twenty pirates staring at him, all of them ready to attack. Not wanting to stay there any longer, Lloyd sprouted his angel wings and flew off the pirate ship and back onto the one he had been driving a little while before.
As Lloyd landed on the boat, he ordered Colette to step back. Without saying a word, Colette got out of Lloyd's way and let Lloyd take the wheel.
Lloyd made the boat go as fast as he could and got away from the pirate ship, not once looking back. When they finally far enough away, Lloyd slowed the boat down and got a moment to catch his breath.
"Whew," Colette said. "Good work getting rid of those pirates, Lloyd."
A small smile spread across Lloyd's face. "It just wasn't their day." But then, something happened that made the smile go away and get replaced by anger and frustration. "Dammit!"
"What is it, Lloyd?" Colette asked, worried.
"Those stupid pirates sidetracked us!" Lloyd answered, annoyed. "I lost our course because of them! Now we're stuck in the middle of the nowhere with no idea where we're going!"
"Lloyd, don't worry," Colette said, trying her best to comfort him. "We'll be okay. I'm sure any moment now we'll see somewhere to dock."
Lloyd exhaled deeply, but didn't say anything, so Colette wasn't sure whether or not he agreed or disagreed. Then, Lloyd looked up and suddenly had become very nervous. "Uh-oh."
"What's wrong, Lloyd?"
"Colette," Lloyd said in a whimper now. "We're lost at sea, and it looks like a giant storm is coming…"