Chapter 10
Assault on Prison Island
"What's going on here! What are mechon?" Eda demanded. A frightened King was curled up in her arms.
"They're these big robot things from the other titan. The two titans are at war with each other." Luz explained.
"War? I thought this place was supposed to be safe! You didn't tell us about any war!" Eda shouted at Melia.
"We High Entia had been staying out of this conflict the whole time. We never thought the mechon would attack us directly." Melia said defensively.
"Doesn't look like that worked out well for you." Sharla said bitterly. Melia was taken aback but couldn't argue against it.
"Can the city fend them off?" Amity asked.
"I'm not sure." Melia admitted.
The entire room was in a state of panic and confusion, yet Luz couldn't deny that she was somewhat giddy. This was her chance to see this trained party of heroic warriors in action. She was especially excited to see what Shulk and the Monado could do.
"Shulk, what about your vision?" Reyn asked the person in question, realizing that he hadn't explained what he saw yet.
"And what do you mean by that?" Eda asked, growing increasingly annoyed at how in the dark she was about everything.
"Shulk can see the future. He's an Oracle. A really strong one at that." Luz explained. From what she'd learn in her Oracle classes, seeing perfect visions of the future like Shulk can is extremely rare. Most only get vague predictions or images of what might happen.
"It's…" Shulk paused for a moment, and Luz could swear that Shulk looked right at her during that time. "It- it's the emperor."
"Father? What happens to him?" Melia asked nervously.
"He… it… it follows my last vision. We're on Prison Island." Shulk said.
"Prison Island?" Eda asked, looking at Luz for answers. She simply shrugged, so Reyn spoke up instead.
"This big black tower floating over the Eryth Sea." He said.
"Oh, that one. We saw it when we arrived here." Amity said.
"Metal Face was on the island too. He and your father are…" Shulk trailed off. Luz didn't understand that either. Reyn didn't give any specifics to his story, instead focusing on how grand their quest is, though clearly the Bionis natives in the room understood Shulk's warning. Before she could ask for clarification, Melia spoke again.
"Why would father go to Prison Island?" Her face was in a pained mix of worry and confusion, until a realization seemed to come to her. "No! I must stop him!" She took off running out of the room.
"Wait, Melia! We're coming too!" Shulk went after her, with Dunban, Reyn, Sharla, and Riki joining him as well.
"And us too." Luz said as she chased after them.
"Luz wait! LUZ!" Eda shouted, before she, Amity, and King then ran after her.
Unfortunately, Luz had kind of forgotten about her strained legs, and by the time they'd arrived at the audience chamber a few minutes later, they were like jelly.
"Oof… Okay… bad idea." Luz panted, hands on her knees. Amity quickly made her an abomination-seat for her to sit down, while she tried to ignore the annoyed look Eda was giving her.
"Brother! Where is father?" Melia asked Prince Kallian. He was the only one in the audience chamber when they arrived. The emperor was no where to be seen.
"Melia…" Kallian did not look in her direction, though even with his back to them, his posture was beyond tense, nearly shaking.
Melia's attention was diverted to an empty case on the far side of the room. "The Imperial Staff, it's… so father has gone?!"
"I…" He once again trailed off and lowered his head. He seemed unable to articulate himself properly.
"Kallian!" Melia shouted.
"The emperor has proceeded to the island, alone. For the sake of the empire." Kallian's response was slow, heavy. He continued to keep his head down, unable to look at Melia while he talked.
"Why did you let him go alone? Father…"
"His Majesty is fully aware – of what will happen to him and what he must do before then." A new voice said. Everyone turned to the direction of the chamber entrance to see a man stride his way in, unnervingly calm given the situation. Said man, Luz realized, was shockingly familiar.
"Wha-what?! You're… that guy. From…" She slowly approached him, mouth agape. His white hair, tanned skin, blue jacket with white slacks. There was no mistaking it. This was the man that Luz had seen in her weird… dream? Vision? Whatever that was.
"Luz, you know Alvis?" Shulk asked.
The man, Alvis, gave a small bow. "You must be our otherworldly visitors. It's a pleasure to meet you all, though I wish it were under better circumstances."
"Huh?" Did he not know who she was? Was this actually the man she saw? Once again Luz questioned what it was she had seen while she was unconscious. Before she could press further, Melia came up to Alvis with the more pressing issue at hand.
"Seer Alvis. Did you see this coming?" She asked.
"I did. During last month's divination ritual."
"What exactly did you see?" Amity asked, just as in the dark as Luz, Eda, and King.
"The emperor's life will come to an end. On Prison Island." Even when delivering such news, his tone remained monotonous. Luz, Amity, and King were still taken aback. Eda though, looked incredulous.
"If he knows then why would he still go there then?" She asked.
"There is a dormant power within Prison Island. One that could save the High Entia from this attack." Alvis said.
"That must be the same power I need for the Monado. We need to go there as well." Shulk said.
Kallian shook his head. "The emperor had demanded that no one follow him. All pods are to remain grounded during the attack."
"Are we just expected to do nothing?!" Shulk said.
"Trust him Shulk. Father has made his peace with his fate long ago. We must all do the same." Kallian said solemnly.
"No…" Melia looked down broken. Tears threatened to fall down her face.
Luz looked around the room. Everyone was silent, the tension heavy. Were they really expected to just stand around while the emperor dies? Melia's father?
"That's stupid!" Luz's shouted before she even realized what she was thinking. Everyone's attention was on her, but she continued on, speaking her mind. "What good is seeing the future if we're not going to change anything! Shulk's right. We have to do something if we can!"
Amity nodded. "I'll help too!" She said, holding Ghost at the ready.
"We'll fight by your side to glorious victory!" King cheered, his hands raised in triumph.
Eda physically put herself between them and the other adults. "We aren't doing anything. We're not going to get involved in someone else's war to save some emperor."
"Luz, you don't want to get involved. The mechon are nothing like you've seen before." Shulk warned.
"But we can help. Our magic would work pretty well against these robots." Luz said.
"How do you know so much about all this anyway?" Eda asked.
"Reyn told me."
Eda gave him a dirty glare, that caused Reyn to shrink back. "Whoa, hey Luz. I didn't give you the full picture there. Truth is, these things are dangerous. They've killed people. Lots of people."
"Well that settles it. We're definitely not going then." Eda said.
King also looked worried, losing his confidence. Luz however, was determined.
"I'm not scared!" She said.
"No. We can't let you take that risk." Shulk said sternly.
"They're right Luz." Dunban said in a more gentle tone. "You don't need to concern yourselves with this. This isn't your fight. But it is ours." He turned towards Shulk and Melia to get their attention. "We're going to Prison Island. We're not going to let your father die just because some destiny says so. Are you with me?"
"Of course." Shulk agreed.
Sharla, Reyn, and Riki all voiced their agreement as well.
"Thank you all." Melia said.
Kallian was looking dumbfounded at everyone. "But you can't!"
"We are Homs. Do what you must, but your laws don't concern us." Dunban said. The prince had no retort.
"If our pods are unavailable, then we'll need to use the transporter that is bound to Prison Island. It is sealed by two locks that must be opened manually. We'll need to move fast." Melia informed.
Everyone gave her a nod and prepared to leave, until Luz quickly cut in.
"Wait. We can fly you guys there directly!" Luz said, surprising everyone, Melia especially.
"LUZ!" Eda snapped, visibly angry now. "For the last time-"
"Eda please! This isn't just some faceless emperor. This is a person. Melia's dad! We can't just let him die!" Luz could feel tears forming in her eyes that she hastily rubbed away. She didn't mean to get so emotional about this, but she couldn't stand the idea of Melia losing her dad.
Eda softened, but she still wasn't fully convinced. "You're still hurt though."
"But we're going to be flying the whole way, so I don't have to worry about my legs. And I promise not to get involved with any fighting." Luz said somewhat convincingly.
"Luz, that isn't a good idea. We won't be able to guarantee your safety." Shulk said, sounding just as adamant as Eda to keep them away.
"No Shulk. I disagree. Time is of the essence." Melia surprisingly said. She approached Eda, her head held low. "Please. If you have a way to expedite our journey to Prison Island, I'll be forever indebted to you." She pleaded, her voice straining not to break.
"If you understand the risks, we promise to keep you all safe to the best of our ability." Dunban said.
Eda remained quiet for several seconds before she let out an annoyed groan. "Fine. We'll get you guys there and that's it." She handed Owlbert to Luz.
"Thank you." Melia gave a bow.
Shulk looked the most uneasy with the decision, but said nothing. Everyone else seemed to accept their proposal.
"So how exactly are you getting us there then? Is Eda supposed to fly us all there?" Reyn asked.
"We all will." Luz said, as she and Amity placed their staves between their legs.
"What do you mean-" Reyn went quiet as soon as he saw both girls floating above the ground.
"What the hell?" Sharla stunningly questioned.
"And here I thought I'd seen all the weirdness from you guys already." Reyn said.
Dunban, Riki, and Melia all looked equally shocked as well.
The light from Eda's transformation caught everyone's attention. The yellow glow faded soon afterwards with her in her harpy mode.
"What the hell!?" Sharla said again.
"Okay, now this I've seen." Reyn said.
"Come on. We'll get you guys to Prison Island in no time." Eda said.
"Wow." Shulk marveled as he was flown across the Eryth Sea. While he still felt uneasy with Luz joining them, the view from the flight was a nice distraction.
"This is certainly an experience I never thought I'd have." Melia said from her position in front of him.
They both rode with Luz on top of Eda's owl staff. Riding on what was essentially just a stick was certainly an awkward thing to get used to, but they were managing fine. Though the same couldn't be said for everyone.
"Are you sure this is safe?!" Reyn cried out. His eyes were shut tight and he had such a vice-grip on Amity's staff that Shulk wondered how much force would be needed to snap it in two.
Sharla winced from the loud shouting behind her. "We'll be fine. Now will you stop shouting! You're going to rupture my eardrums!"
Luz flew in closer to talk to Reyn. "Don't worry about falling, Reyn. It's not that bad. You pretty much black out immediately so you don't even feel the excruciating pain until you wake up."
"Aah! Get me off this thing!"
"Luz, not helping!" Amity admonished.
"Sorry. Couldn't resist." Luz grinned mischievously.
"Reyn! You're a Colony 9 soldier. Act like one." Dunban reprimanded. Eda was carrying him by the waist while Riki and King rode in her hair.
They all flew relatively low, trying their best to avoid the attention of the mechon as they battled Alcamoth's automated drones. The sounds of battle became more pronounced as they neared Prison Island. Both sides exchanged volleys of ether fire, but it was clear which side had the advantage.
"The High Entia's forces won't last long at this rate." Sharla said.
"Still, we might be able to use the battle as a distraction to sneak into Prison Island." Shulk said. "Melia, do you know where you're father would be?"
"He must be at the top by now, but would we be able to get there directly? It's at the heart of the battle." Melia looked above worriedly. Multiple explosions were going off all around the tower's peak.
"We can with these." Luz pulled out three pieces of paper with a specific pattern drawn on them.
"Your invisibility glyph!" Shulk exclaimed, recognizing them from the sample Luz gifted him earlier.
"Yup. We can use these to sneak right past them all." Luz passed a copy of the glyph to Amity and Eda. "But we all need to hold our breath for it to work."
"Like I haven't been doing that this whole time!" Reyn shouted.
"Let us hurry then. If our forces fall, Alcamoth will be left defenseless." Melia said.
"Okay then. Everyone ready?" Luz asked. After receiving an affirmative nod from all she said, "Let's go!"
After everyone took in a large breath, Luz, Amity, and Eda activated their glyphs and flew full-speed towards the tower's peak. Shulk saw everyone disappear before his eyes, as did the staves carrying them. Looking down at his own body, he was surprised that even that was invisible to his own sight. He was glad that Reyn had his eyes closed beforehand. He's not sure how his best friend would react to seeing the staff underneath him disappear.
They were half-way up the length of the tower and the mechon still showed no signs of noticing their approach. It seemed like their plan was working perfectly.
"SKREEE-"
The loud screech bellowed out from inside the tower. Their ascent slowed down as well, Luz likely just as caught off guard by the noise as he was, though thankfully no one's invisibility wore off.
A second afterwards, hundreds of dark winged creatures started pouring out of Prison Island. The large creatures made a mad dash towards the mechon above, looking to protect their home.
Luz made sure to avoid crashing into them, weaving around the creatures until they had all exited from the tower. Unfortunately, they spent so much time avoiding detection that Shulk felt like his lungs were on fire. He's certain that everyone else must be in the same position.
Melia was the first to give in, reappearing before him, gasping for air. It wasn't long before everyone else began to reappear as well. They were exposed and not far from the battle above. The winged creatures had started attacking the mechon, but they could still easily get caught in the crossfire.
"Luz, do you have more invisibility glyphs?" Amity asked, worriedly looking at the fighting above.
"I only have one left." Luz replied looking panicked herself.
"Forget it then. Let's just book it." Eda said.
"SKREEE-"
Another screech, this one sounding alarmingly close, caught their attention.
"Big fish incoming!" Riki shouted, pointing straight up to one of the flying creatures that was barreling right towards them.
"Scatter!" Dunban shouted.
Luz, Amity, and Eda managed to move them out of the way of the creature as it rushed right through where they were just at. The creature quickly corrected its course and began giving chase to Eda.
"Ah! It's gaining on us." King shouted. Despite its size, the creature was fast, while Eda was being weighed down as well.
"King! Combine your attack with Riki's!" Riki quickly suggested.
King nodded and together, they both released their ether attacks at the flying beast. Dual blasts of sound and fire slammed into the creature head on, knocking it off course and disorienting it.
Eda took the opportunity to regroup with everyone else.
"What the hell is that thing?" Eda asked.
"It's like a flying manta ray." Luz gasped. "A skyray!"
"I've seen fossils of creatures like this around the capital. They're one of the oldest creatures on Bionis. To think they'd be inside Prison Island." Melia said.
"Whatever it is, it's in our way. Everyone, get ready." Dunban commanded, drawing his sword.
Everyone quickly drew their weapons. Melia also summoned her elementals; one of wind, fire, and bolt. They were all prepared for the monster's incoming attack. Well, almost everyone.
"Oh man. We're so screwed. This is it." Reyn murmured.
"Reyn, will you calm down and help keep me steady! I need both hands free!" Sharla said.
Reyn reluctantly opened his eyes and slowly brought one of his large arms around Sharla's waist to pull her close while the other held on to the part of the staff in front of her. With Reyn holding her steady, she was able to release her own grip around the staff and retrieve her ether rifle from her back.
Sharla quickly fired two thunder bullets into its body, forming an entry point for each hit, but also causing the skyray to let out an intense screech. It then began to form a dark purple ball of ether in its mouth.
It soon released a large stream of ether in an arc from its mouth, forcing everyone to move out of the way of the powerful blast. Eda pulled straight up while Luz moved to the side and Amity attempted to fly below the attack.
The skyray's attack followed Amity's path, which ended up forcing her close to the its position. It soon stopped its attack and flew towards her. Once it was in range, it quickly turned around, swinging the full force of its tail on her.
Amity quickly solidified her abomination into a hard shield to take the brunt of the attack, while also moving in the direction of its swing to minimize the damage. The force of the blow still managed to knock her off balance, sending them all spinning.
Just as the skyray was about to take advantage of the situation, Sharla managed to hit two more thunder bullets mid-spin into the creature's underbelly, stopping it in its tracks.
Amity was soon able to steady herself and in time to back away from the creature's next tail smash.
"Stay away from my Amity!" Luz shouted. She approached the skyray while its attention was on Amity, and she and Melia were able to pelt it with multiple blasts of elemental ether. Balls of lightning, fire, and ice hit the creature square in the back. Once they were close enough, Shulk also managed to get a swing on its wing with the Monado, leaving a large gash.
The skyray began to flap its wings faster now, trying to compensate for the wound on its wing. It was on its last legs now and began to back away from the group. Shulk hoped that meant that it was ready to retreat, but it only flew back a few meters. Once it had put some distance between them it began charging another ball of darkness, but unlike before, it pointed the ball straight up, seemingly not aiming at any of them in particular.
"What's it doing now?" Luz question.
Shulk's eyes began to glow and he expected an answer would soon revealed.
He saw them all flying in front of the skyray as its attack was being charged. All except Luz. Since Luz was the one flying Shulk and Melia, he immediately knew the issue here as they both began to fall in the vision.
A distortion hit the vision and Shulk and Melia were back to their previous position. Only to fall again once the vision picked up. This same repeat of events happened several times in a row.
It wasn't just Shulk and Melia that were being affected here. Everything in the scene changed just a bit with each iteration of the vision. Eda and Amity's positions would change suddenly as would the stances of their passengers. The skyray's position in the air constantly swayed as well while its ether ball would change size randomly, but there was no hint on what it would do with it.
With each new iteration of the vision, the next distortions would come sooner and sooner. The vision eventually looked more like a series of images, none of which seemed to flow into each other properly until the vision abruptly ended.
Shulk growled in anger once his senses returned to him. He looked back at the skyray to see that the ether attack it was charging was growing far bigger than it had before.
"Shulk. What'd you see?" Reyn asked.
Shulk's eyes kept looking over the skyray, hoping the answer would come to him. He knew everyone was looking to him for answers but none came.
"Shulk! What do we do?" Reyn sounded panicked now.
"I don't know! Be ready for anything!" Just as Shulk gave his warning, the skyray fired its dark ether attack high into the air. As it gained altitude, it also quickly expanded in size, growing even larger than the skyray itself. After a few seconds, the orb of ether exploded into multiple smaller orbs, all of which proceeded to fall back down towards their group.
"Move!" Dunban shouted.
Luz, Amity, and Eda began weaving between the hundreds of ether orbs that were raining down on them. Amity also kept her abomination shield above herself.
The ether meteors slowed down soon afterwards, but not before one stray blast landed right on Amity's shield. The sheer power of the blast was immense and while the shield absorbed most of it, the intense heat still managed to burn through the abomination and landed on her right arm.
She yelled in pain as the blast burned through her sleeve. Hurt and dazed, she was unable to keep flying straight, and they began to rapidly lose altitude, causing a panicked yell from her passengers.
The skyray noticed Amity's descent and took the opportunity to charge right at her and her passengers.
"Amity!" Luz shouted in a panic before she flew full speed towards them.
"Eda. Drop me now." Dunban shouted from above.
Sharla quickly fired a healing round up in the air. The restorative ether fell back on Amity's arm, reducing the intensity of the burn, but she was still dazed from the attack. Sharla began shaking her to try to get her senses back, and before long she was able to shake her dizziness away and stopped their fall. However, the skyray was still closing in, and Shulk realized that they wouldn't be able to intercept in time. Someone else did though.
Dunban landed right on the creatures back. With all his might he imbedded his sword directly into its head. It gave one last shriek before its movements slowed to a halt.
The creature began to plummet to the sea below just as Eda flew down and grabbed hold of Dunban again.
"Amity, are you okay?" Luz asked nervously once she arrived by her girlfriend's side.
"I'm okay now. Thank you Sharla. You too Dunban." Amity said.
"Why did that thing attack us? We're trying to help here." King said, sounding annoyed.
"I doubt it's sentient enough to understand that. They likely just go off instinct. Attacking anyone who approaches." Dunban reasoned.
Shulk looked up to the raging battle above. The mechon had nearly destroyed all the drones sent to protect the tower, and their focus was now on the hundreds of skyrays defending themselves. "We'll never get to the top that way. We'll be caught in the cross-fire before we reach the peak."
"We'll have to go inside Prison Island and make our way up from inside. We should be near the platform that houses the entrance teleporter. We can land there." Melia said.
"That's likely are only option then. Shulk's right. We can't fly to the top directly." Dunban said.
"Then let's go!" Eda said. Melia led them towards the direction of the platform, and they touched down on it a few minutes later.
"Oh finally. Solid ground." Reyn said as soon as they landed. He bent down on his hands and knees and started kissing the stone floor, only to immediately start coughing up a storm. "The floor is so dusty."
"No one has been here in centuries. What did you expect?" Shulk shook his head at Reyn as he rubbed the taste of dust out of his tongue.
They had all decided on a momentary rest after their hectic sky battle. Eda was calming a scared looking King while Melia and Riki were talking amongst themselves. Off to the side, Sharla was tending to the burn that Amity had received earlier. The injury seemed very minor at this point though that didn't stop Luz from fussing over her girlfriend.
Dunban came over to Shulk and Reyn during this lull. "Shulk, what happened back there? I've never seen you be so unsure about how to handle a vision." He said in a hushed tone so no one outside of them would overhear.
"I'm sorry Dunban. I couldn't… I-"
"Come on Dunban, that's not fair." Reyn jumped to his defense. "So he didn't know how to handle a vision one time. Aren't you expecting too much?"
"Couldn't the Monado Shield have protected us from that attack?" Dunban asked Shulk.
"It… probably could have." Shulk realized with hindsight that a well time Shield would have defended everyone without worry. He looked back at Amity, feeling responsible for her arm as it was wrapped up.
"Oh great. You're hiding something again ain't you?" Reyn said to Shulk, getting him out of his head. "I know that look. There's something you're not telling us."
Shulk stepped back, realizing he was caught. Reyn and Dunban were looking at him now, waiting for an explanation. He looked over at Luz again before letting out a sigh.
"Yes. You're right. I found out something today. About my visions…"
Shulk shared all that he'd learned from Alvis. How Luz can affect his visions and the distorted visions he'd seen. By the time he was done, Reyn and Dunban were wide-eyed.
"So that's why you didn't want Luz to come with us?" Reyn asked.
Shulk nodded. "With Luz around, I can't give accurate warnings about what's going to happen." He looked towards Dunban, his mentor deep in thought. "What do you suggest?" He asked, hoping for guidance.
"The prideful side of me wants to say that we don't need to rely on visions to get by, but I can't deny that your warnings have saved our lives many times in the past. On the other hand, despite our little scuffle just now, we still managed to arrive at Prison Island much faster than if we had walked here. Regardless, what's done is done. We can't exactly ask Luz and her friends to leave. It's far too dangerous for them to return to Alcamoth right now. We'll just have to deal with no visions as best we can."
"Okay. Your right. Should I at least tell everyone what's going on? We should all be on the same page."
"Wait, don't!" Reyn quickly jumped in, much to Shulk's surprise.
"Why? I figured you more than anyone would want me to be upfront with this."
"Well… it's like Dunban said. We can't change anything now. So it don't matter regardless. Besides," Reyn looked at Luz. "I don't want her feeling guilty about all this. It ain't her fault."
"Very well. We'll keep this to ourselves for the time being." Dunban said. He turned to address the whole group. "Okay everyone, let's move. We need to make our way to the top of the tower."
"Amity, are you sure you're okay? Do you need anything?" Luz worriedly asked, as they all walked further into Prison Island. Her eyes kept looking over her girlfriend's bandaged arm.
"It's okay Luz. Sharla's healing magic fixed most of the damaged. I'm still amazed that you have weapons with healing magic in them here." Amity said to Sharla.
"It's nothing special. It's a pretty standard issue ether rifle. I find your control of ether far more impressive." Sharla said, earning a proud smile from Amity.
"Well does it hurt to move your arm? Should I carry Ghost? You can lean on me if it's too much trouble-" Luz stopped mid-sentence, realizing what she was doing. Amity gave her a knowing look. "I'm starting to understand why you were so worried about me all day."
"And I'm starting to understand how annoying that is." Amity said in a faux-serious tone that quickly devolved into giggling from both girls. "Seriously, it feels fine. I promise."
"Okay. I believe you." Luz relented.
"You two are just adorable." Sharla said to the couple, earning an embarrassed blush from each of them.
They all walked for a few minutes before they reached their next obstacle.
"Whoa! Big door! Whatever needed this door was massive." Reyn exclaimed at the giant door that was blocking their path. It was pure black with multiple spikes on the edges pointing towards the middle of the door. A golden pattern similar to those seen around Alcamoth was glowing on the door's center.
Staring at the door gave Luz a strange sense of familiarity. On either ends of the door stood large statues in the shape of birds, but with a beast-like head and no visible eyes. They also felt familiar but she couldn't figure out why.
"Ah! Dinobeast!" Riki cried out, his voice quivering in fear, getting everyone's attention. He walked over to one of the statues, clearly recognizing what that creature is.
"It's just a statue. Don't freak us out like that." Reyn scolded.
"What's a dinobeast?" Luz asked.
"It's what Nopon call a telethia. They're supposedly the protectors of the Bionis, but all the ones we've faced have been hostile." Shulk said.
Melia nodded. "They're extremely dangerous. They are able to absorb ether, ripping it out of the environment or even drain a person dry of theirs, reducing them to dust." She looked down sorrowful. "I've seen it firsthand."
Amity winced at that explanation, a shiver going down her spine. Luz wrapped an arm around her for comfort which she leaned into gratefully. Luz remembered the basilisk that had attacked Hexside. All the witches it had drained were rendered weak, but they were still alive. Could that basilisk have gone farther? She's not sure she wants to know.
"Why would there be a statue of a telethia here?" Sharla asked.
"Could this be the appearance of my forefathers? The legends tell that they differed greatly to how we look now, but I would never have thought they'd look like telethia." Melia said. She looked closer at the statue, specifically at the strange writing that was engraved into the base. "These engravings are by the forefathers."
"What does it say?" Luz asked.
"Unfortunately, I do not know. Many researchers have tried to decipher its meaning, but none have succeeded."
"Hey Shulk. Look at that symbol." Reyn pointed to one of the characters in particular.
"You're right. It's similar to the Monado's symbols. What could it mean." Shulk questioned.
"This is all quite interesting but it's not helping us get through this door." Dunban said.
"Indeed, but I believe I know how. It's said that only a true successor can open this door." Melia walked up to stand in front of the door. "Forefathers. I, your descendant Melia Antiqua, stand before you. For the sake of our world, release the seal!"
Several disc-shaped teal lights came from the center of the door and around Melia. The discs periodically moved up and down her body.
"What's it doing?" Reyn asked.
"Aren't we going to help?" Sharla asked.
"It looks like it's scanning her." Luz said.
"Don't be alarmed. This is only verifying that I am a true successor to the throne." Melia reassured.
Soon, the teal light faded as did the large yellow rune on the door. Once they were gone, the door opened up to a massive hallway that was even longer than it was tall. A large staircase was situated at the end of the hall. At the base of the stairs was what looked to be an Alcamoth teleporter, but it was colored an ominous pitch black instead of the more inviting greens that the other teleporters shared. At the very end of the room, past the top of the stairs, a large stone head was visible even from the doorway. The unique shape and long horns sticking out from the top was immediately recognized by Luz. She let out a loud gasp that caused everyone to turn to her.
"Luz, what's wrong?" Eda asked.
"That statue. It looks just like the mask on our portal door." She looked around the hall and another realization hit her. "That's why this place looks familiar. The architecture here is similar to the portal door."
Everyone looked at Luz shocked. Amity, King, and Eda quickly took another look at the hallway around them.
"You're right! The portal would look right at home here." Eda said bewildered.
"Statues of varying sizes like that one have been discovered in ruins all across the Bionis." Melia said.
Another giant bombshell hit Luz. "Eda, could that mask we used have actually come from the Bionis?"
"Ma-maybe? I found it decades ago near some old ruins. I never found any information about it so I just chucked it in the basement until we needed it."
"What does this mean? Could our titans have interacted once before?" Shulk asked.
"If they had, it was before recorded history of the High Entia. This place wasn't built by my forefathers. The stories tell of this place existing long before my people." Melia was deep in thought for only a moment before she shook it away. "Nevermind that now. We must hurry. That teleporter should lead us to the top of the tower."
"Your right. We'll theorize later." Luz agreed. They all headed towards the black teleporter.
"That thing don't look too inviting." Reyn said nervously, but as everyone else rushed past him he was forced to swallow his fear and follow them in.
As Melia predicted, the portal sent them to the top of the tower, just below a raised terrace. From her position, Luz got her first good look at the mechon. Using the skyrays as reference, she could tell that they were large and bulky. The lights of their mechanical bodies glowed brightly across the night sky. She also realized that the number of skyrays around them were greatly diminished, and most of the mechon were now making a beeline towards the tower.
Everyone reached for their weapons, but before the mechon could close in, the tower itself began to shake. A bright glow began emanating from the terrace above where the emperor must have been. At the same time, eight blue orbs of energy came shooting out of the tower's peak. The orbs flew high up above the island, forming an arc. Once the orbs had stopped a large blanket of green energy was dropped from the orbs and quickly surrounded Prison Island in a dome-like barrier. A second later, green streams of energy were fired out from the orbs and began seeking out the approaching mechon. A few were immediately struck by the powerful magic and sent hurling to the sea below, while the remaining began to scatter from the tracking rays of light.
"We sure the emperor needs our help? Looks like he's got everything covered here." Eda said, looking amazed at the powerful display of magic.
Melia though did not stop and ran around the corner and up the terrace's steps. At the center of the terrace stood the emperor, his back turned to them.
"Father!" Melia ran up to the emperor, but stopped short when she noticed the other being that was there with him. "Father, who is this?"
Before the emperor was an enormous man kneeling on the floor. Even in his crouched position, he towered over everyone there, not even Reyn or Eda passing his chin. His arms were shackled by magic to a strange looking device behind him.
The giant man turned to the group as they approached. His sight immediately went to Shulk. With a booming voice, the giant spoke.
"Welcome, True Heir to the Monado. I am Zanza."