Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any of it characters.
Path of Ascension
Chapter 6
Lloyd reached the village just as night was beginning to fall. Upon entering the village the usual elves stared at his with a combination of disgust and morbid curiosity. "I guess they've got nothing better to do with their time. I'd love to see the look on their faces if they knew that I'm Origin.", he quickly brushed the thought aside and walked to the Elder's home.
Ayena pounced on the young swordsman as soon as he opened the door. She dragged him through before he had a chance to protest, "Lloyd is everything ok? Is anything broken? Any injuries?"
The Elder pulled the young merchant off his guest and scolded, "Ayena! Give the boy some room to breath."
She blushed with embarrassment as the young elf realized just how mother-henish she was behaving. "Sorry. I was just worried is all."
"It's alright. Kinda reminds me of Raine so I'm used to it.", Lloyd said as he accepted his host's invitation to sit on the couch.
The older elf looked Lloyd over and the young man was fully aware of it. "So...you know now. Don't you?"
The teen nodded and locked eyes with the old elf. His eyes delivered an unspoken question, "How did you know?"
Giving a soft chuckle the village leader said, "I remember the 'feel' of your mana from long ago. Even fragmented as you are now I couldn't help but notice." He offered his young guest a gentle smile before he made the teen an offer, "You should stay here...just until you figure out your next step."
Returning the smile Lloyd stretched his arms making his bones pop. "That feels much better. Hmm...Oh I see." The incomplete spirit gave a wolfish smirk at the young elf currently goggling over him, "Like what you see?"
Ayena was furious that she'd been caught. "And I tried to so hard not to get caught." She stood up and pointed her finger right in his face, "I'm just checking you over for injuries. So don't get any ideas." "Wow. I lie great.", she thought before sitting down again.
"Oh...Sorry. Well as you can see I'm fine.", he apologized. Of course he still didn't completely believe her, but she didn't need to know that. Lloyd eventually told the Elder and Ayena what he learned from the shrine.
The older elf took it quite well as he already knew, but Ayena was completely shocked to hear that the boy in front of her was actually Origin. "THE ORIGIN! THE KING OF THE SUMMON SPIRITS! THE SPIRIT OUR VILLAGE HAS ALWAYS WATCHED OVER! I never would've guessed...",she thought as she listened intently.
After Lloyd finished his tale his host suggested that tomorrow he try to find his friends. The teen agreed with the elf on this. In fact he already missed Genis, Raine, Sheena, and...Colette. "I promise I'll return you to normal. I swear on my life I won't fail you again.", were his thoughts before he turned in for the night.
In Welgaia Kratos and Pronyma entered Yggdrasill's audience chamber. "Well what have you learned thus far", inquired the mercenary.
The blonde angel glared down at Kratos and barked, "This is your mess Kratos. The seal was supposed to Origin indefinitely, not release a part of him."
The last part caught the seraphim's attention and he seemed to think the words over for a few minutes before asking, "What do you mean...a part of him?"
Glaring at his subordinate the angel spoke, "Origin has not completely escaped the seal." He sighed recalling the information he'd received from the Tower of Salvation's long-range scanning equipment, "It would appear that only part of that spirit has broken free. Currently he seems to be hiding...in Heimdall of all places."
The traitorous mercenary was surprised that the spirit would be in the one place where he would be easily found. "Origin what are you up to? Why hide in such an obvious location?" The swordsman the turned to leave and threw over his shoulder, "I'm going to find out what's going on myself."
Once the spikey haired man left Pronyma spoke up, "What do you think about this Lord Yggdrasill?"
Cruxis leader look down at her and slouched back in his chair, "It would appear as though he's on my side after all." Even so the angel could not get the feeling out of his stomach that the swordsman would eventually betray him after he forced the death of that brat the merc cared about so much. "For now I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but that doesn't mean I want keep an eye on you Kratos."
With the Renegades Yuan had just been informed of the newest twist in the history of Cruxis. "It would seem as though we may have an opening to stop Yggdrasill after all. Botta prepare a small recovery team and send them to Heimdall."
The other half-elf nodded and quickly left to select his best covert men for the job. He knew that his leader wanted Origin's power on their side for obvious reasons. "With Origin on our side Cruxis will be crippled and the endless cycle of meaningless sacrifice will cease as Martel wishes."
In the early morning hours Lloyd was again trying to sleep in but the Elder would not permit the spirit to become lazy while under his care. "Come now get up. You've got a lot to do today."
The teen growled back and pulled a pillow over his head. Seeing that the young man would not be cooperative the elf stepped outside and returned with a bucket of ice cold water. "Remember you brought this on yourself young one.", he thought before committing such a cruel act.
"WHAT THE HELL! IT'S COLD! IT'S COLD!", Lloyd shouted as he was jumped out of the now soaked bed. Once away from the bed he found the Elder standing near where he'd been sleeping with a smile on his face holding...an empty bucket. "YOU!", he started.
The old elf chuckled and said, "Oh good. Your up."
Sounding pitiful the teen grumbled, "Why? How could you do something so...so low?" He was freezing and his host was to blame for his current condition. It was true that it was much harder for a summon spirit to get sick even if he wasn't complete, but still he felt the cold and hated it with a passion.
Forcing the smile off his face the elf answered flatly, "You wouldn't get up, so I did what I had to do. Besides you've got to start your search for your friends, right?" He watched the boy nod and offered a suggestion, "Perhaps you should start in a nearby city. One of our neighboring cities has the Imperial Research Academy."
"What good will that do me?", Lloyd asked still glaring at the Elder.
"Not you.", the elf corrected, "For your friend Colette. You did say she lost her soul to a Cruxis Crystal. Well as luck would have they are studying such a crystal there."
The young swordsman's eyes light up and he asked, "Where exactly in Sylvarant is that?"
It was then that the old man realized that Origin's memories were still incomplete and that he was currently unaware of the situation. "You're no longer in Sylvarant", he took a deep breath and locked eyes with his guest before continuing, "You are on a world known as Tethe'alla."
Lloyd remembered Sheena telling him that she was from Tethe'alla and figured if she could go between worlds he could find a way home after finding out how to save his friend...no...his love. "Tell me do you know how to travel between the two worlds?"
"I'm afraid I cannot help you there.", the old man replied.
"Well thank you for the information about the Academy and taking care of me these past three days. Is there anything I can do to repay your kindness.", he said to the generous host.
"Just one thing...", the elf said giving a brief pause, "Stop Yggdrasill's madness once and for all."
Giving a quick nod the teen picked up some of the new clothes Ayena had given him the night before and he changed into them. "I'm so glad to dry again." He positioned his extra arms inside his shirt so that no one could tell that they were there and said to the old man, "I will stop him. I hope we'll meet again someday."
"Of that you can be sure...", the Elder whispered as the teen walked out of the room. At the entrance to the village the Elder and Ayena were seeing Lloyd off. The village leader offered Lloyd some food and money to help him on his journey and the merchant brought him some normal weapons and a variety of Gels.
"Thank you both for everything.", he said before leaving the village. He pulled out the map Ayena had given him showing the way to the Imperial Research Academy and began his long walk.