Tales of Xalthia

Chapter 31: Ancient Folklore

Tsuki and the others have survived a dangerous encounter with the mysterious swordsman who appears to be in league with Menorion. The situation caused quite a few potential concerns for Elle as it seems that she know who the person was but has yet to tell everyone what she knows. Not only that, but he also seemed to know about something called the Sigil. Whatever this Sigil was apparently seemed to be something of great importance and interest to him. Their experience raised even more questions that they needed answers to.

After the swordsman left the area, they wasted no time and escorted Setzu back to Dagbor. Even after being healed by Lynette, he was still in a weakened state. She was able to stop the bleeding but she wasn't able to fully heal all of his injuries, mainly some of his biggest injuries that was inflicted on him. It took them about two hours to make it back to town due to the fact that they had to support Setzu for him to be able to walk. During their trip back, they took the time to introduce themselves to Setzu to help pass the time.

Once they made it back to town, they headed straight towards the Esseand Headquarters. If there was any other safe place in Dagbor on Esseand's side of town, it was their own headquarters. They still had a couple more hours to wait in order to meet with the commander but they could use the time to discuss what they've learned and everything that had happened to Setzu since he went missing.

As they approached the guarded building, the soldier who talked with them before was going to welcome them back until he saw Setzu being carried over the shoulder due to his current condition. He then ran up to them with urgency. "Captain Setzu! You're alive!" he shouted.

Setzu, supported by Ramza, looked at the soldier and nodded. "I am and if it wasn't for Ramza and his friends, I would be dead right now. May we enter?" he asked.

The solider nodded then turned to face the other soldier. "Bring them to one of the guest rooms immediately and summon the medic to tend to the captain's injuries!" he instructed.

The other soldier saluted him. "Yes sir!" he said. He then pushed the gate open and looked at the group. "Follow me please" he said. He then walked through the gate and headed towards the building.

The group followed the soldier towards the Esseand Headquarters. The courtyard was fairly large with a massive fountain in the center of it. Scholars, officials and soldiers were walking around the courtyard. The place was heavily guarded as if it was a small fort. They soon entered the main building and headed towards the east wing. The interior was made almost completely out of granite and marble. It was a building designed and decorated for royalty. About ten minutes later, they were brought to a hallway with several rooms on each side, six to be exact. They walked up halfway before stopping at the third room to their left.

The soldier opened the door and stood off to the side. "Please, use this room to your liking. I'll go summon the medic right away so feel free to rest up" he said. He then turned around and walked back down the hallway, disappearing around a corner.

Ramza helped Setzu into the room and carefully set him down on the bed. "There we go. At least we can relax in relative peace for a while" he said. He then turned around and walked over to the window where were were three chairs set up around a small, circular coffee table and sat down in one of the chairs. He then stretched his arms out a bit before looking back at Setzu. "How are you holding up?" he asked.

Setzu sat down on the edge and took a few moments to collect his thoughts so he can wrap his head around everything that has happened. When Ramza asked him how he was feeling, he simply nodded at him. "I've been better but with all things considering, I'll live. I really am in our debt. You guys saved my neck back there" he said.

Ramza shook his head. "Don't worry about it. If you're going to thank anyone, it's Tsuki and Lynette. Thanks to Tsuki distracting that swordsman, Lynette was able to heal up most of your injuries" he said.

Lynette turned a bit red, scratching her cheek gently with her finger. "Oh, it was nothing. I'm just glad that I was able to be of some help" she said.

Ruko walked over to the wall near the door and leaned up against it, folding his arms. "Just who the hell was that guy? His strength was unreal and he was quite perceptive. He saw right through our surprise attack and even tried to attack Ramza, Lynette and Luan" he said.

Cheria placed her hand on her neck where he tried to strangle her. In that brief instance, she could feel that there was something strange about him. "Something about him felt off. That dark aura he gives off...it wasn't normal" she said.

Luan walked over to where Ramza was sitting and sat down in one of the other chairs. "I'm more curious about that Sigil he mentioned. In some of the ancient text back in Esseand that I found, there were very vague references to a sort of special, unique power that's said to have been lost. Could it be this Sigil?" she asked. Her inner historian was intrigued especially since this could be a major discovery when it comes to unraveling the mysteries that the Ancients left behind.

Elle looked over to Luan and nodded. "Yes. The Sigil he referred to is indeed a special, unique power. It's power used to be passed down from one Ancient to the next for centuries until the last Sigil Bearer and his lover mysteriously disappeared without a trace. The only thing left behind that linked to him was his sword which was discovered in the middle of an incantation circle. According to speculation from Ancient researchers and scientists, they believe that the last Sigil Bearer infused his own soul into some sort of object and his lover took that object and went into hiding. If you ask me, they knew that they couldn't allow the Sigil's power to fall into anyone's hands. After all, it was a dangerous power to an already unstable group of people. All of this happened four hundred years ago" she said. Due to the fact that all of this took place long before her own lifetime and how a lot of documentation from around that time is extremely scarce, she herself didn't know a lot about it. "Whatever the case, he claims that Tsuki wields the power of the Sigil. How that's remotely possible, I have no idea. Do you remember interacting with anything strange at all?" she asked, looking towards Tsuki.

Tsuki folded his arms, placing his left hand over his chin as he fell into deep thought for a few moments. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind. "I don't think so" he said.

Nagi walked over to Luan and Ramza, sitting down in the last empty chair. "So what is this Sigil anyway? What is it used for?" she asked.

Elle looked over at Nagi, shaking her head. "Unfortunately, due to the tests of time, there is very little knowledge about the Sigil. Most of the Ancients believe the Sigil was just a fabrication. A lie. Considering that the Sigil Bearer hasn't been seen in centuries, anyone who would know more about it are dead and since the Sigil derives from the Ancients, any documentation in this world would be very scarce. For all we know, the ancient text you have in Esseand that refers to it could be the only documentation of it" she said. She then started to pace around the room with her arms folded. "All I can tell you is that the Sigil bears unbelievable power, if the stories are true. Once fully mastered, the Sigil Bearer will pose as both a great asset and danger for both sides on the battlefield" she said. She then fell into though for a moment. An awkward silence filled the room as no one dared to speak. "No one really knows just what the Sigil is fully capable of but I can tell you a few things that I do know that it can do" she said.

Tsuki leaned up against one of the wardrobes, looking at Elle. "What's that?" he asked.

Elle pointed to the side of her head. "The Sigil can open the doorway between reality and something the Ancients used to refer to as the Celestial Bridge. However, this only happens when the right conditions are met. What those conditions are is a complete mystery to us" she said.

Upon the mentioning of the Celestial Bridge, Tsuki had immediate flashbacks. The flashbacks took him back to the mural chamber in the Briswater mines, the Cavern of Solace and their arrival in Dagbor. Things were slowly starting to make a bit more sense for Tsuki. Up until now, Tsuki was the only person who actually knew about it as he has yet to inform everyone about it.

Lynette scratched the back of her head, trying her best to wrap her head around everything. This all seemed to be overly complicated and way over her head. "What's the Celestial Bridge?" she asked.

Ellle shrugged a bit. "A dimension that's completely cut off from reality. Without the Sigil, access to this dimension is utterly impossible. Supposedly, the Sigil Bearer can interact with the spirits of past Sigil Bearers and even channel their power that was etched into the Sigil itself through their own body and temporarily use their power in battle. It's almost as if they bring back the soul of a lost Sigil Bearer and temporarily bring them back from the dead by using their own body as a vessel" she said.

Cheria had a flashback to when Tsuki saved her from the mysterious swordsman. She knew from that moment that Tsuki wasn't himself. Something about him was definitely off. "That would explain why he felt like totally different person during that fight" she said.

Elle nodded. "Exactly. The Sigil's sole purpose was specifically designed for the Ancients which is why the fact that Tsuki can use the Sigil's power is such an unexpected shock and surprise" she said.

Ruko scratched the back of his head with a confuse look on his face. "Why do you say that? I thought you mentioned back in Basilwell that Tsuki was an Ancient" he said. He definitely remembered her mentioning that he was an Ancient although he wasn't born as one. That comment had always confused him.

Elle continued to pace around the room a bit longer before walking up to the closed door and leaning her back up against it. "I did mention that, yes. However, it seems I didn't make it clear enough for you guys to grasp a full understanding of what I meant. Tsuki isn't an Ancient through a bloodline. He wasn't born with those powers. I mentioned this before but at some point during your lifetime, you were had those powers bestowed upon you. Due to that, he is considered a bogus Ancient in the eyes of purebreds" she said.

Luan sat back in her chair, crossing her right leg over her left leg. There was still a lot of mystery behind the Sigil and the Ancients but she was slowly starting to connect the dots. "He's a bogus Ancient yet he was able to wield the power of the Sigil with ease, a feat that most purebred Ancients could never attain. I'd love to see the look on their faces when they find out about this" she said. She couldn't imagine the amount of envy and jealousy that would stir from the fact that a bogus Ancient achieved something the purebreds could hardly ever do.

Elle looked over at Luan and fell into thought for a moment. What she said rang truth to her ears. Even she couldn't believe it at first. It made her really think that she had been giving Tsuki far too little credit. After another moment of awkward silence, she shook her head from those thoughts and broke the silence. "Anyway, the Sigil is also capable of an extremely rare ability known at Materialization" she said.

Nagi tilted her head, putting a finger to her chin. "Materialization?" she asked. She then remembered the members of Draxus talking about something like that. It was somehow related to their worshiped God. "I remember some of the members of Draxus talk about that. They said it's not only a rare ability, it's also extremely versatile and at the same time taxing on the user" she said.

Elle looked over at Nagi and gave her a slight nod. She then drew her sword and held it out, pointing it straight up into the air with the tip pointing at the ceiling. "They weren't wrong. Materialization is an ability that most people, even the Ancients themselves, believe to have existed in old legends and folklore. In all notable records of the Ancients, there has only been a very few number of people that have wielded it. Most of those people, however, took advantage of its power and paid the price for it. If you recall when the enemy disarmed Tsuki, an axe formed in his hands from out of thin air. Materialization gives the ability to turn Mana into a physical form. Meaning, it can take the form of practically any weapon the user wishes and it's because of that privilege that people took advantage of. Aer, the very thing that Mana is comprised of, can't normally be visibly seen. However, if the Aer is strong enough, it can take its form in a simple Arte spell such as the healing Arte, Fairy Circle. However, Aer that is far stronger can take its form into a physical shape. This process became known as Materialization" she explained.

Ramza tried to process what Elle has been talking about. He felt like these topics were way over his head. He barely understood the entire conversation about the Celestial Bridge and now they were talking about some ability that was apparently the stuff of legends. He couldn't help but scratch his head in confusion as he tried to understand whatever he could. "If Materialization is an ability that grants the user to an unlimited arsenal of weapons that they can summon at will whenever they want, I can see how such an ability could of been easily taken advantage of. Something like that could turn one person into a one man army. Put that ability in the wrong hands and you could potentially have a huge disaster and an incredibly dangerous enemy. How exactly did those that took advantage of it pay the price?" he asked. While he was ignorant to most of what they've been talking about, he knew a lot about Aer. Being exposed to high concentrations of unfiltered Aer without proper protection could have some potentially dangerous and fatal results. As such, he had an idea about what would happen but he wanted to know for sure before he began to speculate.

Elle sheathed her sword and glanced over to Ramza. "Materialization consumes a large amount of Mana. If one were to simply keep forming weapons, the toll will cause extreme tension and stress to the body. Abuse of this ability will literally destroy your body until there's nothing left. It will kill you and no amount of medicine or healing Artes will be able to save you" she said.

Ramza rubbed his chin a bit as he hummed to himself. The end result was exactly what he thought it was. "So basically, as long as Tsuki is smart and uses the ability wisely, he shouldn't have any problems" he said.

Elle nodded a bit before looking over at Tsuki. "Yes, that would be the case...if Tsuki had full control over his powers and the Sigil. There's still much that lays dormant inside of him and until he's able to tap further into those latent powers, I would highly advise you not to use Materialization, if you can avoid it" she said.

Tsuki scratched the back of his head before chuckling nervously. The fight itself after he had that sudden burst of power was extremely fuzzy. It was like his body was there but his mind wasn't. "Well, to be honest with you, I don't recall anything after I had that burst of power. It's all extremely faded in my memory. I wouldn't even know how to use the ability in the first place" he said.

Cheria tilted her head a bit before walked up to Tsuki and stood next to him, examining his face. She then brushed his hair away from his forehead and placed her hand on it. "You can't remember? Could this be the result of that Celestial Bridge stuff? I mean, you did say that the Sigil had the power to bring back the souls of past Sigil Bearers in order to use them in battle. I definitely remember sensing a change inside of Tsuki when he had that power surge. It was like there was a different presence surrounding him at the time" she said.

Elle thought to herself for a moment. What Cheria said made sense. Materialization is an incredibly advanced ability that even some of the strongest Ancients can't ever hope to wield due to its high taxes and strain. Knowing that, it was utterly impossible for Tsuki to wield it on his own with his current level of power and skill. The only other explanation would be what Cheria had said. It was the only thing that could justify him using it which was a bit of a relief to her on a personal level. "That's probably the case. From what I remember, there were only two Sigil Bearers strong enough to wield and master Materialization. Due to the change in Tsuki's battle style and skill in the middle of the fight, it would make sense that he unconsciously took on one of those souls" she said.

Setzu remained silent as they all spoke. What they were all saying was way over his head so he didn't think if would be appropriate for him to speak up. Ancients, the Celestial Bridge, the Sigil, Materialization. These were all topics he was completely ignorant of and didn't even know where to begin commenting or speculating. It all sounded like something straight out of a fantasy game or something. "I'm not entirely sure what you're all talking about and frankly, they all seem to be incredible. However, it sounds like a major headache to me and I'm glad I'm not a part of it or I think my head would explode" he said.

Ramza laughed a bit as his comment. "You were never smart enough to understand complicated subjects. You'll just drive yourself insane if you try to figure it all out now. Hell, we can't even make sense of most of the stuff that we have encountered" he said. There was still a lot that they didn't know. They haven't even begun to scratch the surface to the bottomless pit of all their questions. It makes him wonder just what other crazy stuff is out there that they had no previous knowledge of.

Tsuki brushed Cheria's hand away and sighed heavily. "Honestly, I think we're involved with something way over our heads half of the time. We have enough worries to think about as it is" he said. He then looked over at Setzu. He fell into silence for a few moments as he examined him closely. Ever since he first heard of his name, something's always been bugging him. "On a different note, there's something about you that seems familiar. I feel like I know you from somewhere" he said.

Setzu chuckled a bit and felt a bit hurt at his comment. "What, you don't remember me? Well, I don't suppose you would. You never did trust me back then" he said.

Tsuki tilted his head in confusion. Apparently, they met somewhere before but he couldn't remember it. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

Setzu grinned a bit, pointing to himself. "I was there when you were on your little quest for the Moonlight Flower. Remember that suspicious hunter you encountered upon leaving Celestial Hills?" he asked.

Tsuki thought back to his endeavor for the Moonlight Flower. Thinking back on it, he realized how long it's been since he sought out the Moonlight Flower. That was at the start of his journey. A lot of things have happened since then. After a moment of silence, he eventually remembered. "Oh, now I remember! Yeah, you helped me on my way back to Crescentia. You disappeared before I could properly express my gratitude" he said.

Setzu scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I apologize for that. I had places to be so I was in a bit of a hurry to get back to what I was doing at the time" he said.

Luan didn't know that Setzu made a trip to Cayhill. This was a surprise to her as she was in almost constant contact with him up until the attack on the outpost. "What were you doing there? Why didn't you tell me you were in Cayhill?" she asked.

Setzu stretched, yawning a bit. "I was visiting some friends that I knew. Nothing too big. Don't worry, I didn't go looking for any ruins without you. I knew you would kill me if I did" he said. He was starting to grow a bit tired. He hasn't had any decent sleep for the past few days due to everything that's happened.

Ramza noticed that exhaustion was starting to catch up with Setzu as well as everyone else that seemed to be drifting off. "I think that's enough discussion for the time being. Our conversation seems to be putting him and some of us to sleep. We should take this chance to rest up and recover while we have some time to kill" he said. Then, he looked over at the clock. There was still some time before their meeting with the commander. "We still have about two hours before our meeting so I say we split up from here. Get some sleep, resupply on items, do whatever you want" he said. He then stood up and headed towards the door. Before exiting the room, he looked back at the group. "If you need me, I'll be at the pub. I got to inform Claude of our success. Plus, it's been a good while since I've had a drink" he said. He then left the room, disappearing around the corner.

Tsuki nodded and looked at everyone else once Ramza left the room. "He's right. We'll all meet back up later when we meet with the commander" he said.

They all nodded in agreement and left the room to let Setzu get some rest. Once they left, everyone split up and went their separate was. With two hours before the meeting time, they had some time to rest up and relax. While it wasn't much, they took advantage of whatever respite time that they could. It gives them a chance to build up spent energy, sort things out and gather any new information that may have came up since they left for the forest. There wasn't much for them to do at this point as they were stuck until they meet up with the Esseand commander.

To be continued...