Disclaimer: I own not Tales of Symphonia, nor do I own anything contained therein.
Josh and Kuraido Strifu: Thanx for your compliments. It's always nice to know that people like to read your story.
With a leap, Kratos evaded the "aqua laser" aimed at him. Without waiting, he dashed in and swung sideways with his Crystal Sword. An Ether Sword, worn from all the use since it had been bought from the shop at Heimdall, met Kratos' sword and stopped it. With a flick, the human disengaged the sword lock and drove in from above. His opponent ducked to the side and countered with a "wind blade" attack.
The moment the spell activated, Kratos braced himself with a "guardian," linking it to a "double demon fang." As the half-elf facing him winced with pain from the direct hit, Kratos hopped back, distancing himself and commencing the chanting for a level two spell. By the time the spell had completed, the half-elf was up and rushing in with his weapon.
The Ether sword was suddenly raised in defense as a "thunder blade" spell descended from the sky. As the half-elf activated a "guardian" to protect himself from the spell, he had his sword knocked away by Kratos. The interruption broke his spell, causing him to take the full impact of the falling electrical sword. With a grunt, he fell to the floor.
"One and a half minute," Kratos stated. "Better than my estimation. I suppose you're improving, Mithos, but your swordplay is too slow and unfocused."
From the floor, Mithos sat up and nodded. His entire body was soaked in sweat despite the cold climate and his lack of a shirt. His thin, brown pants were drenched and clung to his body. Kratos, on the other hand, wasn't even breathing hard. His mahogany hair was covering the right side of his face, adding to the shade that the trees around them provided. Covering his body was a suit of deep blue, the color of water, inscribed with elven designs in a bright green pattern upon the back. His hands were fully sheltered from the cold beneath a pair of thick, black gloves, yet he managed to wield his sword without the slightest difficulty.
"Master Kratos…" Mithos gasped out as he drew in large gulps of air. "Again… Once more."
"You are tired, young apprentice. This is enough for today."
"No! I… want to battle… at least one… more time. Please… Master Kratos."
"If that is your desire. This time, you shall lose in under half a minute."
With a sudden dash, Kratos took off, blazing Crystal Sword coated in electricity for his "lightning blade" attack.
The village elder approached Kratos. He spoke softly, sitting beside him under a large tree. Words of condolence were exchanged. Two friends, sharing feelings, sought to comfort one another. Human and elf. Friends.
Later, an unconscious girl and her younger brother were found in a demolished house. The rubble had injured both, and it would have killed them had it not been for the unconscious use of magic on the older sister's part. Her body, reacting to her and her brother's peril, had sent forth streams of mana to cure the wounds inflicted upon them by the falling wood from their house. The decade-old girl had slumped down and lost consciousness as a board of wood lodged itself above her, enclosing her in a cage-like part of her house.
As she had woken up, she had found that a human slightly older than herself, Kratos as her mother had called him, had rescued her and her brother. He was know kneeling on the floor beside her dead mother. Having made sure that there was not the slightest hope to revive her, he drew a white cloth over her. However, as he did so, the girl rushed forward and grabbed her mother's cold hand over its white glove.
As Kratos gently pulled her hands away, the glove slipped off, revealing a shining red crystal set upon a golden seal. Inscribed in the seal were the words "to Mithos, when he is of age to bear the responsibility." Silently, Kratos pulled the crest and crystal off and then continued covering the dead body, hugging the crying girl close to him at the same time.
Once he was done, the young man stood up and walked towards the house, seeking for the mana of the missing baby among the ruins of the house. Having found it, he approached a teepee made of fallen planks of wood. Carefully, he removed a few of the planks from the top of the pile, making a hole large enough for him to reach through and grab the fainted baby.
While he emerged from the shambles, he held the boy in one hand and the had his other hand on the shoulder of the girl beside him. Painfully, he sent as much of his mana as he could to heal the wounds that the collapsing roof had inflicted upon them. Once he arrived at the elder's house, he released all the mana he had left and collapsed, once more coming to the door of death.
Kratos stopped walking and turned around. He stood on a mountain overlooking a small port town known as Izoold. As he looked back to see how Mithos and Martel were doing, he remembered the coldness towards the elves that he felt. They had turned out the two half-elves based on nothing other than their race. Now, they headed slowly towards Palmacosta, the capital city of the Sylvarant Kingdom. There, being the son a general, Kratos hoped to find some help. He knew that having half-elven companions might hinder him, but that couldn't be helped.
As he watched Martel slowly climb up the mountain, he remembered how shocked she had been at her mother's death. She had always been very gifted when it came to the possession and usage of mana, and when she lost herself to grief, her energy was sent flying in all directions. Magic was skewed and near impossible to use in the vicinity of Hiemdall for a full month after the incident due to her emotional outburst. It was a really fortunate thing that she despised war and would never use her mana to hurt anyone.
Ahead of Martel, someone reached down and pulled her up. Coming up, past an unusually large rock, she looked down at her helper. Mithos' light green eyes stared back at her. When they had first set out from the Ymir Forest, it had always been her helping her younger brother along, but after his training with Kratos began, he was quickly surpassing her in physical ability.
As he turned around, the young half-elven boy's mind flashed back through the past ages. Since he had left the elven village, they had been assaulted by monsters on multiple occasions. In order to learn to protect himself, Mithos had apprenticed himself to Kratos. Although his mana was far stronger than that of the human, Mithos found that Kratos could defeat him even without the use of a sword because of his expertise at controlling his magic. Slowly, Kratos had begun to teach him both, the art of the sword, as well as the art of magic. Now, they had come to be matched evenly in magic, but the half-elf was not built to use a sword, and he was thus the weaker of the two.
Kratos looked down from the mountain, measuring the distance left till they reached the city of Izoold. Had he been traveling with his mother and Mark, they would've gotten there within a day or two. However, not only did Mithos and Martel require more stops than his former companions, but they also took longer to rest. On top of that, he spent a great amount of time sparring with Mithos. For the trio, it would take another month to arrive at the port town.
"Martel is tired, Master Kratos," Mithos gasped out as he came up beside his teacher. "We should stop here and rest for awhile."
"…" Kratos remained silent, brooding on the boy's attitude. Mithos was as tired as his sister, yet he refused to show it. His perseverance was good, but his reluctance to acknowledge his flaws would have to be fixed. "If Martel is tired, she can rest here, and if you are tired, then you may rest as well. However, if you are not tired, then we can spar while your sister relaxes."
Mithos visibly paled at the thought of fighting the human swordsman while in a state of weariness, yet he would not show weakness. "Alright," he gulped out, "let's spar."
In a sudden flash, Kratos' silver blade was in his hand, slicing towards the young half-elf. With a cling, it came into contact with the superior ether sword, and a second later the two came away as the mightier weapon was sent spiraling away. Mithos bent down, hands upon his knees, breathing deeply; Kratos' blow had been very strong.
"You are tired. You should rest as well, Mithos."
As the young half-elf sat down, Kratos walked off to retrieve his lost blade. Martel approached her brother and bent down beside him, using her mana to restore his energy.
Silently, Kratos sat on a tree's roots, gazing up at the stars. They fascinated him. Behind him, a soft flame crackled, lighting up the darkness of the night. Around the fire, two half-elves slept peacefully.
Eight years. It had been eight years since the day when the meteors had fallen upon Heimdall. For all eight of those years, Kratos had wandered around the land, staying close to the elven forest, yet never daring to enter it. He knew how Mark had felt. Although the memory of the kindness with which the elven leader had accepted him remained, now he also knew how perilous the wrath of the elves was as well. They had been so furious when they had banished Mithos and Martel from the village.
Their reasoning was that Mithos and Martel were dangerous to the village. The assassin had not been killed; he had escaped. That meant that one day he might return to kill the two children. However, Kratos knew that the only reason they did not want them in the village was because of their race.
A slight crack reached the swordsman's ears as a twig broke just behind him. Within a second, he had gotten up and turned around, sword point at the intruder's neck. His mana senses told him that the culprit was half-elven. His sight told him that he was a human. The person standing in front of him had round ears without a hint of being pointy. Blue hair descended from the top of his head to midway down his back, tied behind him in a ponytail. Sapphire eyes stared out of a face that belonged to one who had died years ago.
"Hello, Kratos, I see your skills have improved," Mark said.
... well, what do you guys think of this? Let me know in your reviews. Again, any suggestions for chapter names are welcome (and don't feel offended if I don't use your suggestion) as well as any about the summary.
Next chapter might take awhile (I never realized how busy taking 20 credits in the summer could make me. Hope the 40 during the fall semester doesn't prove too much).
On a side note, I've started a little thing in my profile which tells how much of the next chapter I am done with. Also, I'm pushing around the idea of writing another short one to two chapter fanfic on the ending of the symphonia game. It might take a while to come out.