(A/N) Hello all! I'm on fire right now- I think it's just 'cuz I really don't want school to start. Another quick update, this one dedicated to my sister because it's her birthday today! Happy Birthday! Anyways, enjoy, and drop me a review if you want!
Disclaimer: If I owned Namco, then I would know there was a Tales of Xillia ahead of time, and not named my OC Xilia by complete coincidence...*ugh facepalm*
Chapter 20
Kratos tightened the straps on the light pack that made up the brunt of their possessions. Their camp had been more of a soft patch of grass sheltered in shrubs than a true lean-to. No campfire could be lit due to proximity with both Sylvaranti and Tethe'allan forces this close to the border, nor should one have been. The territory was not as lush as he had imagined it. Yuan spoke of Ossa Trail as a peaceful mountain retreat, not this desolate, browning region with brittle, dried-up grasses and thinning trees. It was as if no rain had reached these areas all season, as if the land was being dissolved into the desert just beyond the edge of the mountains. A fire would surely catch and destroy what life there was left here.
Yuan had woken early enough to view the sky lighten even though the sunrise was blocked by the mountains looming to the east. He was strangely solemn this morning, at least to Kratos' eye. The halfling knelt down and brushed his hand through the squashed down grass he'd been sleeping on, ruffling the crackling brush enough to erase his presence. Their system was simple like that- use little, leave nothing.
Yuan gave the area a final sweep of his eyes, satisfied there was no trace of them before he turned to Kratos with a melancholy set to his features.
"Do you suppose the war did this?" The tilt of his head suggested little, but Kratos knew easily enough what he was talking about.
"The mana weapons sap vast regions of life's energy. It's likely the only possibility aside from drought." Kratos let his eyes fall on the dying vegetation. Yuan had seen it before this change had revamped the entire mountainside. The contrast must have been shocking. Sighing, the half-elf adjusted his gauntlets and started off in their desired direction.
The funny thing about it was how perfectly they fit the situation. To travel through both sides of Ossa Trail single-handedly would be a near impossible feat. Together, though, a Sylvaranti and a Tethe'allan might slip through with knowledge of tactics of both parties. Kratos felt his mouth twitch up into an ironic smirk.
The pathway they'd have to cross through was relatively narrow in comparison to the rest of the chain of mountains- the valley was steep sided like an elevated pathway with walls on either side. Yuan had informed him of Sylvaranti patrol details, and he hoped that Tethe'alla followed their same protocols from so many years ago. Even if they had changed, inherent behaviors usually didn't, and Tethe'allans loved groups of three or four, whereas Sylvaranti preferred border line enforcement.
At the moment, they were circumnavigating the Sylvaranti line by passing as close to the mountainside as possible, coming from the south. Sneaking expertly through one of the only holes in the Sylvaranti defense would be easier than anticipating what lay on the other side, though.
Passing without a hitch between the dying trunks of once exotic trees and not once encountering a Sylvaranti soldier was near miraculous, in Kratos' opinion. The trail curved like a snake through the confines of the valley, a rocky and grassy incline that passed up and between the two giants on either side. Quick and quiet, they both made good time and were well within the shelter of the neutral mountainside by late morning. Despite the lingering scent of decay and death, Kratos could pick up the hum of cicadas and twitter of birds. The land was not past saving just yet.
He was immediately put on his guard by the sound of jovial voices in the distance- sounds no normal human would be able to pick up. Just as he'd thought, a group of four guards were doing their customary run-through of the Tethe'allan side of the trail- probably a circling and meandering route that was checked off every half hour or so. When Yuan had perked up to his side, he knew the half-elf had heard the sound of humans coming.
"So unprofessional," he heard Yuan mutter at the volume of the supposed border guards.
Being as central as they were in the heart of Ossa Trail, Kratos doubted the voices would dare come in this far, for fear of instigating a skirmish with Sylvaranti forces participating in similar patrols. They both held their ground quietly listening to the faceless voices that steadily grew louder. Several minutes later, Kratos could make out the words, apparently consisting of trivial gossip.
"So the trial will finally be held after all these years." one of them proclaimed cheerily.
"I wonder why they waited so long," another piped in, "it was such a big incident- it set us back a full year restocking mortars. You'd think he'd a been taken care of immediately." Kratos felt his ears prick up. They couldn't have been discussing what it sounded like they were, could they?
"You know how prisoner-of-war trials go." the first one explained drily, "they try to get as much as possible out of them before they try them, and then a case that big has tons of wait time before they can get the military counsel free to weigh in on the sentencing." Kratos was thoroughly confused. Since when was there a military counsel? Laughter kept him tuned into their conversation, though.
"Is there any other sentence but death?" The rhetorical question held the soldiers at bay, but now they were close enough to discern footsteps heavily crushing gravel and snapping brittle twigs. Kratos had begun to think that he may have underestimated their reach into the trail, when his doubts were relieved by the steps momentarily pausing before receding to the right. He heard Yuan let out a breath as his own fears were put at ease.
Waiting a brief moment longer to ensure they wouldn't be detected, Kratos signaled Yuan to follow him as they lightly crept down the trail, in a way tailing the last batch of guards out to avoid the next group. If all went as planned, they'd clear out with no interaction whatsoever. Their luck had held thus far, and officially, they were now within the confines of Tethe'alla.
The conversation had been unsettling nevertheless, and Kratos found his mind drifting with the possibilities. It sounded as if they were talking about the Latheon Gorge incident he had regrettably been the cause of- yet they had never caught him. So either it was a separate occasion, or there was an innocent on trial for his own actions. Kratos wouldn't prefer either of those situations, but he put the thoughts on the backburner while they continued following the trail. He couldn't afford to lose focus in here of all places.
Yuan tread lightly behind him, the soft footfalls reassuring him of his speed. The mountains were dropping away to either side, and their rocky slope was descending towards the land below- meaning they had nearly made it through the treacherous border region.
When Kratos heard the soldiers ahead begin to grow louder again, he checked his pace. They were around a curve of the path, the bend putting a much needed rock ledge between them. Slowing to a halt, his heart stopped when they continued to come closer- they had turned around. Inwardly swearing profusely and motioning for Yuan to retreat, he realized the effort was futile. They were on a relatively straight, albeit bumpy stretch of path with no grasses to slip under or trees to perch in. The grayish stone was the unforgiving background- not a place to hide or scale to avoid detection.
The Tethe'allan guard must've switched from looping patrols to overlapping segments. It was a smarter system, but he cursed his luck for this being the way he'd find out. The four would be rounding the corner at any moment, so he readied his sword, and absently noted Yuan doing the same from the glow of green light that drifted across the edge of his vision.
He hadn't noticed while traveling, but the bandages dressing his wound must've been tighter than he expected, because his stance was hindered by the tug of the encircling strands of white. Perhaps the strain on his body would be too much; there was no way of telling in his current position. Ignoring the murmurs of paranoia that the thought invoked, he indiscriminately struck the first soldier to cross the threshold across the jaw. The helmetless man fell limply backwards onto the gravelly road, but the others were not caught standing for long. Yuan had managed to sweep the legs out from the second with the flat of his blade, but by that time, the two remaining had composed themselves.
A yell of surprise escaped the shorter of the two, and the hardy armor he wore clanked as he backpedalled once and drew his short sword. His reflexes saved him from being cut at the knees as he dipped the metal down to block the would-be-crippling blow. Kratos swiftly countered with a maneuver to the left and a kick to the man's side before either of their swords was free. As he fell, the redhead slammed the butt of his hilt onto his head- knocking him out.
The last knew he was outmatched by far, but there was not retreat option as Yuan had twisted his body to cover the way the troops had come from. The moment was long and still as the man kept a barely trembling hold on his blade. Kratos and Yuan had left the choice up to him, but they always made the same choice- whether it be for honor, obligation, or stupidity, it varied. The erratic breathing of the stranger sped up, and he made his decision in a heartbeat.
He called out loudly as he charged Kratos, sword held high and hasty in his form. The Tethe'allan swung the weapon across his body wildly, something Kratos easily dodged by jumping to the side as Yuan finished him off from behind.
The entire fight lasted only the briefest of minutes, yet Kratos had felt as if they'd wasted too much time already. Sheathing his weapon, they were off again without another word. They would need to clear the remainder of the trail before the unconscious forms were discovered by the next patrol. The ground had easier footing, though, and more foliage to cover them than the previous territory, so they were in the clear without further intervention.
Only when they had put a considerable distance between themselves and the border did Yuan slow his pace and audibly exhale.
"A pleasant welcome back into the arms of Tethe'alla." He chuckled darkly, posture relaxing with the first spoken words in over an hour.
"Indeed." Kratos muttered in return, eyeing the terrain with a calculated gaze. If they curved northwards with a generous berth around Meltokio, they would cross through a slim section of woodland before reaching Sybak. If they kept up their lightning pace of travel, they might even make it before the day was through. That was hard for him to discern exactly, though, as the forests to their south were wrapped tightly in the darkness of a ferocious thunderstorm that raged off in the distance. The tendrils of clouds had clawed their way to obscure the majority of the sky, despite the fact that the weather was perfectly pleasant to the northern side. His musings on the weather and their exact route were cut off by an annoyed nudge from Yuan.
"Did you hear me?" Had he zoned out? Apparently so, Kratos decided with astonishment. How uncharacteristic of him. Shaking his head 'no' to the half-elf resulted in a furrowed brow and stern expression.
"I asked if you were doing okay. You still look pale, and this traveling probably isn't doing you any good." Kratos shook off his concern like water.
"It's fine," his body had been holding up throughout the journey up until this point, "though I do find the bandages restrictive." Kratos added as he remembered the concise battle. Apparently that appeased Yuan to some degree, because his face shifted from apprehensive to one of lightly scolding amusement.
"That's too bad," his shoulder mockingly bumped Kratos', "considering you'll be needing them for quite some time." At Kratos' near sulking frown, Yuan laughed before they sunk into silence yet again. Combined, the proximity with his hometown and the current circumstances were making him more detached than was usual- something duly noted by the half-elf to his side. It was reassuring to both him and Yuan that he could still act like himself.
The world had a surreal quality of ancient familiarity to him. His memories still seemed fresh in this place, the woods both the same and different. Five years wasn't long for a tree, yet it appeared as if there were less of them. No one characteristic gave it away, but the land was sickly and almost quiet. On the whole it felt like it was at its breaking point, just one more straw to push the area could smash it under a crushing load that had built up in his absence.
Keeping what Yuan obviously picked up on as well unsaid, Kratos found the path on auto pilot. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but wonder if Nyx was in the palace of Meltokio as he walked. A short left turn could take him back there to know for sure. But he didn't let himself dwell on that- he still wasn't sure how he stood with the Tethe'allan government now of all times, or if they even knew he was alive. He had to focus on one objective at a time, or his mind would be spread so thin that nothing would turn out the way he intended. Focusing his entirety on Sybak was not as difficult as he expected.
Mithos found himself stepping closer to Martel as they neared the construct on the grassy plain. Each crack of lightning was thrilling in a way, but his qualms lay in his knowledge of thunderstorms. Martel was continuously streaming assurances that they would not be fried to a crisp, but eventually even she slowed to a stop when the flashing arcs mercilessly rained down in a flurry of strikes between themselves and their destination.
"This isn't safe." She muttered thoughtfully, as they sat just out of reach of the rumbling center of the storm. At least the lightning was confined to the relatively small region, Mithos rationalized. The waist high grasses were brittle and washed out as it melded with the grey hue of the tempest in the distance. He nervously snapped the blades in half, bending and peeling the strands apart absentmindedly as he thought of a solution. Xilia stood to his left and was holding her chin while examining the flashes of light that barred their entrance to whatever held the answer to all of their questions.
"As the territory is so flat, it would appear proceeding further would be impossible without casualties." Martel nodded with a creased brow.
"But we can't give up after coming this far already, from what I know, it's almost always like this here." Mithos tore up another fistful of grass and cocked his head to the side.
"Lightning will always strike the tallest thing first, right?" Xilia nodded, tearing her gaze away from the building ahead to meet his eyes. He could see the arcs of the storm flash in her glasses, and her next words were drowned out by a roar of thunder.
"That's why we can't go any further without almost surely getting struck." Mithos caught the tail end of the statement and pieced it together for himself.
"So if there was something much taller than both us and that building over there, we could get in no problem." his supposition was met with nods of confirmation. Face lighting up, he yanked out his kendama and shut his eyes. Pinpointing the exact location he wanted to focus on was easy because there was nothing to block the flow of mana in the form of trees or animals. Chanting quickly and with as much articulation as he could at that speed, Mithos could see the light spring up around him in the elaborate shape of an intermediate spell circle, flattening the surrounding grass with a gust of downwards wind.
"What's he doing?" he could hear the human researcher ask his sister. Evidently, Martel had picked up on his plan, because he could hear the smile in her voice when she answered despite the fact he was fully concentrated on one of his strongest spells.
"He found the solution." The magic had reached its apex, and Mithos funneled it cleanly into the earth at his feet, directing it to his intended location smoothly.
"Stalagmite!" He called as the mana released into the tallest pillar of stone he could muster ripping from the ground upwards. The power coursed through him as he heard the soil and bedrock crackle with the crashing of lightning a short ways away. The circle faded, and he immediately felt tiredness seep into his limbs and weigh him down like so many rocks piled into his bag. Despite the freshness of waking not long ago and packing up camp, he felt his eyelids drooping to half-mast. His magic had never been pushed that far before, but he couldn't say he wasn't pleased with the results.
Martel tugged him to her side in a half-hug. A proud smile graced her beautiful features, and she gestured to his towering spike of stone, raw and unpolished yet a secure structure nevertheless.
"It works, Mithos!" the lightning had been drawn to the single fluctuation in the landscape almost immediately. The top of the stalagmite acted like a lightning rod in the cities- a path of least resistance for the coursing electricity to run itself into the ground. The echoes of rolling thunder remained constant, but no longer a threat to their livelihood. "I'd say it's safe to move forwards, now!" Martel rubbed his shoulder supportively and set off on her march to the mysterious building.
Mithos knew a smile was tugging at his lips, but he felt the stare on his back after a short while. Turning to see the human once again sizing him up, he didn't like the calculating gaze she was pinning on him. It wasn't as if he'd grown wings or a tail or anything. He hated the feeling of alienation, but he wasn't sure that was what it was. He couldn't peg the emotion that drove it, but she averted her glance as soon as he narrowed his own.
Xilia felt a mix of fear and awe at the power Mithos wielded as such a young boy. It was earth-shattering and simply too much for a person to handle. How could so much energy pour through one little body? It scared her how strong these two seemingly innocuous half-elves were. How could she sit here completely defenseless when they held the destructive forces of nature in their hands?
They neared the archaic stone structure that had been subject to strike after strike of lightning, but it appeared perfectly intact. When they were close enough to read the engravings above the pillars, she was shocked to realize that she couldn't translate the language. She was fluent in several forms of ancient tongue, but perhaps this one was even older than the others. Getting over her initial start, she could see some minute familiarity in the gracefully twisted characters chiseled into the smooth grey rock. One such character looked uncannily familiar to her eldest language's figure for lightning- or electrical power. And another could have been the root of the character for energy- or better yet mana.
"I can't read all of this, but I think it has something to do with lightning and mana- like a primordial temple of sorts." Xilia conjectured while pushing up the bridge of her spectacles and swiping some brown bangs away from her eyes. Martel's eyes widened in anticipation as they all continued to the cavernous entrance, doorless and dark, but even so a hallway crafted out of the same purplish grey stone and brick.
"It would make sense for older civilizations to create shrines of sorts in such areas with higher mana densities. To a culture with little in the ways of magitechnology, it would be like a flux of life, lush and vibrant in better times. It might even be seen as sacred." Martel added in, while trailing her hands across the cool stone of the pillars they were passing. Reaching the front, Xilia found that the temple must also continue underground, due to a decreased slope in the roof.
"It's bigger than it looks," Mithos beat her to the statement, eyeing how the pathway dipped low and deep, extending far below ground level. Their feet echoed softly amidst the tumult of thunder on the stone, but none stalled in their curious march. Only when the dimness was periodically interrupted by the bleak squares of light pouring from what must be skylights, could they see each other's faces clearly. Here and there water trickled down steadily from past rains, pooling on the floor and rippling as feet splashed lightly in the puddles. The hallway was expanding rapidly, but pathways branched off as well to either side.
"What even is this place?" she heard the boy question at the magnitude of the room. She couldn't keep her eyes from wandering up and down the walls, ornately constructed and reinforced with polycarbonate in beautiful depictions of a people's history. The ceiling was also a marvel, and she craned her neck upwards to see the beams crisscrossing the enormous space above their heads. It was a magnificent building, probably the crowning jewel of an entire culture.
Martel lit up the circlet of her staff with a simple light spell, casting pure white glow around them and shifting all of the dark shadows into a better light. Her face lit so brightly was one of elated wonder, but she turned to Xilia with a purposeful look.
"Do you have the mana sensor? It might be best to use that to navigate this place. Though I could wander these halls all day, we need to find the exact center before we study the rest of it." Xilia nodded once and slid her backpack off of her shoulders to better access the flap. She dug around briefly in the coarse canvas before slipping out the fortified and adapted mana signature device.
"Here," she handed it to Martel, still enraptured with their surroundings despite the distinct smell of dampness and moss that grew where the water dripped down the walls. The machine whirred to life with a few button presses, and Martel turned her head to look down the right passage.
"It looks like it's that way." She inclined her head and her green locks billowed behind her as they all followed her lead and the bobbing brightness that was her staff.
"Hey Sis?" Mithos had never ceased his grip on his kendama and now held it in front of him defensively, "Do you think there are any monsters in here? I can't really tell." Martel pursed her lips for a moment and nodded.
"I'm fairly certain a few are lurking in here, it's an excellent form of shelter for monsters, dark and dank. Stay on your guard." Xilia felt herself tense at the words, she had hoped they were safe within the confines of the temple, but she supposed the abandoned quality detracted from the overall security. Perhaps when she returned to Sybak she should equip an exsphere and see if that might better her self-defense. At the moment, she was helpless and it worried her. Then again, an exsphere may or may not help her at all. Didn't you need some innate skills to begin with?
She was no longer sure. Her research into that field had been cut off as soon as Daisuke disappeared. She was put on a number of other projects almost immediately, and exspheres were forgotten. Who needed stronger soldiers when you could create stronger machines that easily replaced a thousand men? The government had been pushing all forms of magitechnology in weapons when they had finally broken the nature barrier.
Now that the military counsel had been formed and reduced the monarch to little more than a figurehead, all resources were pooled into the war effort. They were making a difference, too. All of a sudden, Tethe'alla was winning the war, pushing back the Sylvaranti until an enormous act of espionage landed Sylvarant with the science to build their own weapons. The escalation evened out in the end, but casualties were higher now than any earlier point in the past hundred years.
Either way, she wouldn't be embarking on too many of these types of journeys in the future, so an exsphere was out of the question. It was a dead field of study, and she was shocked that the notion even crossed her mind.
Instead, she trailed behind the halfling siblings, listening attentively and losing track of the turns they completed on an increasingly narrowing chamber. The temple really was vast, but what was its purpose?
Kratos and Yuan had made it to the university district without any more trouble. Now they could easily see the sun, directly ahead signaling early afternoon. Kratos heard Yuan sigh quietly at the lack of security around the entrance. The dull buildings were unchanged and low to the ground as always, and Kratos couldn't help but remember five years prior.
"Do you remember when we escaped here?" Yuan had read his thoughts and traced the pathways fondly with his eyes. Kratos hummed softly in acknowledgement and Yuan continued, "Or when I woke up in the inn and went to find you in the market." he reminisced aloud, "I was so sure that you were long gone, but you just stuck around all cocksure and spouting nonsense about chivalry." He laughed to himself and Kratos smiled slightly at the memory. The half-elf had been an odd character when they'd first met.
"I still never got an apology from you for that kidnapping attempt," Kratos muttered. Yuan broke into a full-blown grin at that.
"I'm still not giving one." Kratos sighed in mock exasperation, he really didn't mind, but he gave the appearance he did. The memories were rich in this town, even though he hadn't stayed long after his escape. They felt distinct and separate, like a past life. Despite that, he easily found his way through the simply laid out city and spotted the old research institute, looking no worse for wear.
A couple of surprised glances were cast their way. He supposed two weapon-bearing strangers in battle armor would draw a few stares in a peaceful town quite a ways from the border region. Thank goodness their attire was fairly standard and bore no markings of Sylvarant. They wouldn't fit in here in Tethe'alla, but they wouldn't stand out too badly.
He pushed the heavy door open and strode in purposefully, Yuan at his heels and seemingly tense for some reason. The area was almost deserted, and Xilia was nowhere in sight. He spotted a young woman at a work station across the room, the only person past the lobby area he could see, and made his way over to her.
"Pardon me," he got her attention, "is Xilia in today?" The woman looked a bit surprised at having her work interrupted, but shook her head.
"I'm sorry, she went on a research expedition with Martel south of here. They might not be back for several days." Kratos inwardly sighed. Of course she wouldn't be there.
"Does anyone else specialize in exsphere research?" Perhaps another could remove it? That hope was swiftly crushed as the woman shook her head yet again.
"No sir, I believe that area was discontinued in favor of others with better funding." Yuan shifted from foot to foot at his side impatiently.
"Where did Xilia go exactly?" He interjected not quite rudely, but hastily enough to mean they'd much rather leave.
"Ah, well, they were following the mana flow. The best I could tell you would be the center of that thunderstorm. That's where they thought their destination would be, but it could be nearby." Yuan murmured a 'thanks' and they turned on their heels to leave. As the door swung shut behind them, Yuan adjusted his teal ponytail and scowled at Kratos.
"Damn your luck Kratos. This never happens to me." The Tethe'allan sighed in unspoken agreement and made to walk down the path.
"We might as well go find her. I'm not waiting several days to see whether or not she'll come back." his voice was low and monotonous. Yuan fell into step with him as always, albeit a bit confused.
"I didn't think it was that urgent." Gazing up at the clouds on the horizon that flickered occasionally with sparks of electricity Kratos set his new course.
"It just might be." Yuan made a noise of agreement and they both set off into the surrounding forest with a new objective.
(A/N) So yea. Review xD?