"Speaking"
'Thought'
Arte
Disclaimer: I do not own them... I just write them.
Chapter 6:
Secret of the Auracite and the Knight of Ratatosk
Last time...
Menosan was ambushed by the Dark Raiders, both the Pawns and Rookies. Our heroes went on ahead of the Raiders and destroyed half of their numbers. However, they soon met one of the Knight Generals of the Raiders. Goros. Goros easily outmatched our three heroes and was going to kill Guy with one, final shot. However, someone stopped him from doing so.
Chester Barklight. An archer with good hawkeye sharp shooter. He, along with Lloyd, wounded Goros and he could not continue on the attack on Menosan. So, he left with the two other Rookie warriors back from the battle. Chester and Lloyd defeated the three remained Rookie warriors somehow. As they were about to treat Guy and Genis, they met the mayor of the village. Rekos. The mayor wanted the heroes to come with him for something. What was he wanted to talk about?
Times have passed... And slowly, the young half-elf opened his eyes, after he went unconscious. His eyes saw a wooden roof, upon opening them. Genis turned his head around, to the right. Nothing. Then, to his left, he saw Lloyd, kneeling beside him, Guy and the other person who seemed unfamiliar to him. "Huh...?" Genis said. "Where... am I.. Lloyd...?"
"Genis! You're awake!" said Lloyd cheerfully, overjoyed that Genis was awake and fully recovered from the intense damage he took from the rock throw.
Guy smiled, relieved that Genis got his consciousness back. "Genis, you're in the mayor's house. He took you in and healed you. You looked badly hurt from the attack Goros used on you."
"Goros...?" stated Genis. "Where is he...?"
"Goros retreated. Lloyd was able to wound him down, along with Chester here." said Guy, as he showed Genis the mysterious, pale blue-haired man.
Chester nodded at Genis, showing a sign that he was friendly. "Hey. My name is Chester Barklight. I came just in time before the Knight General was able to take you all down."
"I see." Genis said, nodding in understanding. He smiled at the archer. "Thanks, Chester."
Rekos, who was just standing behind the heroes, coughed a little for their attention. They finally turned to the mayor and he smiled. "Alright. Since the young boy is awake, let me explain about why I have called you all here. It is about... Well..."
"About...?" repeated Guy, wanting to make sure what it was all about. Before Rekos started to explain, a knock came from the door. "Hm? Who is it?"
"Ah... He got here just in time..." said the mayor, as he walked toward the front door and opened it, revealing the scientist that Lloyd, Guy and Genis met.
"Gerald!" they all shouted at the same time.
Gerald was holding his arm, which was holding the crystal the last time and got himself injured through his arm. He nodded slightly to the three heroes that he met. "Hello, Lloyd, Guy, Genis. I am grateful that you three are still alive..." Gerald then looked at Chester, whom he had not know yet. "Oh! So you must be the archer that the villagers were talking about. I thank you for saving the village and our visitors here."
Chester nodded in return, smiling at the scientist. "It's no problem at all. I just couldn't stand those bastards trying to destroy this peaceful village."
"I see. I understood it well." The scientist smiled and he looked at the mayor, giving him a nod as a sign to go on.
Rekos nodded in return, facing the four heroes to begin his explanation. "I have heard from Gerald that you possessed the Auracite?"
Lloyd nodded. "Yeah. We got the Auracite from an elf named Heimal, who went into your village without being detected. Genis, show the crystal to him." Genis gave Lloyd a nod, as he dug his hand into his left pocket and pulled out a sapphire-colored crystal.
Rekos's eyes widened, at the sight of the crystal. "I see... Hm... Well, there is no other choice, but to explain to you why the Auracite is forbidden in this village..."
Hearing it, Guy looked at the mayor with a hint of curiosity and confusion. "Forbidden...? Why?"
"Well... How can I explain this...?" Rekos scratched his chin, thinking of a way to explain the situation to the heroes. "You see... The Auracite holds... a mysterious and cursed power..."
"Cursed?" repeated Genis, curious to know about the Auracite being... cursed, as what the mayor said. "Why is the power cursed?"
"Hm... Well... The Auracites... are actually... the crystals made from the devil itself." said Rekos, as he received a silent gasp from the heroes. "Yes... They were made by the gods of hell, in the ancient times. The reason why the Dark Raiders want the Auracites is because it contains the power to turn the will of the people into... darkness."
"Into darkness...?" said Lloyd.
"Yes. I figured all that out when Heimal went inside. After researching the effect that Heimal had, I soon came to conclusion that Heimal's will has turned into darkness, thanks to the Auracite. The Auracite is dangerous. And it will soon take control of those who hold it into their will. That was why I forbid the Auracite. Because it would be a grave danger of our world..."
"The mayor already explained it all to me." said Gerald. It was his turn next. "I told you all that I felt a surge through my arm. And it was something dark. That was the effect of the Auracite's infection over the holder of it. If I continue to hold the Auracite in my hand... Well... I would turn out the same way... as what happened to Heimal..."
"So... To make it all simple and understandable for all of us..." stated Genis, reconfigurating all the informations together. "The Auracites are made from demonic creatures, like Chaos... They will turn the people's hearts into darkness. And they will try and destroy everything in their way. So... Heimal was the victim of the Auracite's effect, making him turn into something devilish."
Rekos nodded. "Correct."
"But there are two things that make me wonder..."
"And what would that be?"
"Why did Heimal gave the Auracite to me? And why aren't we... affected by the crystal, when we were holding them for a long time?"
"Hm... For the first one..." started Rekos. "... It seemed that he might be released from the crystal's effect... However, we are not sure of it... And for the second one... Well, I do not know why."
"Maybe I can be the judge of that." stated Gerald, knowing the answer of the second question. "I have been researching through the library and I read the legend of the world. Terendos is an ancient which was lost by the Dark Raiders. As the world has many, many Auracite, the Dark Raiders are trying to regain the crystals and use their powers against their victims. Like what the mayor said, the Auracites have the power to change the hearts of the people into something chaotic. But..." He started to walk toward a book shelf, which was standing on the wall left of Rekos' side, and he looked for a certain book to explain the answer. "Ah, there it is..." he said, pulling out a book and opened it, reading some parts of it. "This book says... The Auracite will not affect the chosen heroes, as their heart are as pure as the heaven's light... Meaning..." He closed the book, with a smile on his face. "... You four are not affected by it, because..."
Guy, who understood what Gerald was trying to say, was rather surprised. "Wait... You mean...? We're actually the... chosen heroes...?" The other heroes had the same reaction as he did, looking at Guy for the moment before looking back at Gerald.
Gerald nodded. "That is correct. You four might be the chosen heroes that we're long needing. The heroes who will help us bring peace to Terendos. The heroes who will bring an end to Chaos and the Dark Raiders... You might be our savior from the legends."
"We're... legends...?" said Lloyd, who could not believe what he heard. But somehow, he was overjoyed.
Rekos, who was smiling all this time because of the moment behind the legend, looked at the heroes with joy. "You four have saved us from the Dark Raiders' destructive attack. It made me believe that you all... might be our savior that we have long needed for so long..." He bowed to the four heroes. "... I humbly give you all my gratitude... You might be the chosen heroes of light..."
"Us... The chosen heroes of light..." said Chester, starting to believe that, after all the actions that the four heroes had made, they were the chosens of Terendos. Then, he realized something amiss in it. "Wait, hold on a sec. You mean to tell me that we're the only chosen heroes? There has gotta be more than just us."
Gerald nodded, answering to Chester's question about it. "You're right. There are actually more chosens than you all of the chosen heroes formed together as one, legendary group... There will be a possibility that they will defeat the one who reigns havoc on this world."
"Yes. That must be it." said Rekos. "If you seek all of the chosen heroes of light, you will be able to defeat anyone standing in your way. Even the King of the Dark Raiders. Chaos."
"Yes. Only the chosen heroes are capable of defeaing the great evils of the world. Only you and the rest of them are able to defeat him. Only you!"
Lloyd grinned, overjoyed of what he was hearing, thus, was also confident about all of this. "Alright! That sounds like a real blast! All we have to do is to find the other chosen heroes and we'll go on and defeat Chaos without any problem at all!" he said.
"Hold on a second, Lloyd." said Guy. "Even the chosen heroes need some time to level up. If we find all of them and go straight ahead to Chaos, there will be a chance that we'll lose. So, even if we find all of them, we need some time to get stronger, Lloyd. Don't think ahead of yourself like that."
"Oh... Right... Sorry, Guy." said Lloyd, who went from joy to depression. "But... How are we supposed to find the rest of the heroes? In Traverse Town? In Menosan? Where?"
Genis groaned in annoyance, looking down on Lloyd's lack of information. "Lloyd, Terendos is a world, remember?!" He slowly stood up from the ground, after a long explanation from both the mayor and the scientist. "Traverse Town and Menosan are not the only places in the world. There are also others. You just have to go and travel around and look for some new towns and villages."
"The boy is right." confirmed Rekos. "It is quite possible that most of the remaining heroes might be somewhere in the other places of this world. You just have to seek them out. However..." He turned himself around from the heroes, fearing the worst that might happen to them. "... There will be some places... that are occupied by the Dark Raiders..."
Genis gasped. "What...?"
"It is sad, but true... Half of the world's population, half of the towns and villages... are at the Raiders' control. They could not escape from this terror. They have no hope left for this... It is quite sad, unfortunately..." The mayor hanged his head down in sadness. "... If they ever try and resist their control... They will be executed... Or worse... The Dark Raiders will turn the people's will into darkness, by the use of the Auracite..."
It was now Gerald's turn to hang his head down. "... Not too long ago... We lost some of the villagers to the Dark Raiders... And soon then, the warriors of the Pawn class attacked... We handled them all, but we founded out that they were the captured villagers of our home... We could not tell why they turned against us... But It is most likely that the Dark Raiders turned them evil..."
"That's... horrible..." said Lloyd.
"So... You four... with all of our hope..." Rekos began to kneel down to the heroes. "... Save our world... Save it from Chaos' forces... Save it with your life... I beg of you... Please, bring the peace back in our world..."
"... Rekos..." Lloyd was sad, learning that this world had suffered from the Dark Raiders' chaotic destruction. He could feel what it was like, to live in a world filled with sadness, hatred, vengeance and destruction... He couldn't stand this much suffering. "... Alright... We'll bring the peace back into this world. We will stop Chaos from bring anymore suffering in this world. We WILL save Terendos! I'm sure of it! Right, guys?!" He turned to the other heroes, awaiting for their answer.
Genis, who was also confident of bringing the peace back, nodded. "Yeah! We can't let someone like Chaos trying to bring more havoc in this world! We gotta do it! For Terendos!
Guy nodded, with a face that was so serious than anything. "Chaos and the Dark Raiders must be stop. We cannot let this go further into the world. For the people of Terendos, we will bring back to lost peace which was taken away from them."
Chester agreed to the three heroes' wishes. "We can't let the people of Terendos suffer like this. It's time for us to bring the peace back, after all those times. It's time for us to fight back against the Dark Raiders. So you can count on us to finish the job with Chaos!"
"... Thank you... Chosen heroes of light..." said the mayor, grateful of the strong will that the heroes have possessed. "Now... I think it's best that we will entrust you with these..." Rekos walked toward a desk, on the other side of the room. On the desk was a bag. He grabbed it and went back to the others. "This bag contains 10 apple gels, 10 orange gels and 5 life bottles. Use them well. You can also put in other items, as you wish." He handed the bag to Lloyd, who then took it from his hand.
"Thanks, mayor. I'm sure that those items will be useful." said Lloyd, giving the mayor a smile.
"Now then... Chosen heroes of Terendos... The heroes who will bring light to our world... Begin your journey around the world, to seek for the rest of the chosens. And bring peace back into this world... To defeat the demon that brings havoc in this world... Let your journey... Begin now." Rekos stated, bowing to the heroes. "I give you all my hope."
Gerald also bowed to the heroes. "You are our only hope for peace... Protect us, my friends..." Then, Gerald soon realized one thing. "Hold on! I forgot about something!"
Genis looked at him, with a questioned look. "What is it, Gerald?"
"If you found Heimal... Please, bring him back to us. His crimes are forgiven."
Guy nodded. "Will do."
"Thank you."
"Alright!" exclaimed Lloyd. "Dwarven Vow Number 1: We must all work together for a peaceful world!" He was quite happy that he was able to bring one of the dwarven vows into mind.
Genis chuckled. "It's about time you decided to say one of the dwarven vows! Hah hah!"
Guy and Chester, however, did not know what the dwarven vows are, since they did not live in their world. "Hm... Must be running in their world..." said Guy. Chester nodded in agreement.
"Alright, you guys! Let's go on a journey!" shouted Lloyd, as he walked towards the front door, exiting the house. Genis, Guy and Chester went along with him, to begin the journey to search for the rest of the chosen heroes.
As they left the house, Rekos had only one thing to say. "... Be strong... Saviors..."
As the four heroes left the house, Lloyd stretched out his arms and gave the others a cheerful grin on his face. "Alright! Another journey, another way to start off fighting!" Lloyd was about to continue to walk, until he stopped. "Uh... Where are we going?"
Genis groaned once more at Lloyd. "Idiot! You're the one who spurt it out without thinking!"
"Hey, don't blame me! I don't know what are the places in Terendos! What do you expect me to know about it?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right..." Genis looked at Guy. "Guy, do you know where should we go first?"
"Hm..." Guy placed his hand on his chin, doing a thinking position. "I'm not really sure. I couldn't tell where we should go next. Hm... Where...?"
"Syranas." stated Chester.
The three heroes looked at Chester. "Huh? Syranas?" asked Lloyd.
"Yeah. I forgot to tell you guys that I'm looking for someone. Her name is Arche Klaine. She's a friend of mine. And we were separated from each other after we got sent into this world. I searched in Traverse Town and Menosan, but no luck. So my next stop is in Syranas. And I hope Arche is in there, at the very least..."
"Syranas, huh?" said Guy. "Isn't that the place close to the ocean? The one called "The Water City"?"
Chester nodded in confirmation. "That's right. I'm heading there as soon as I can. I need to find Arche as soon as possible. She might be there."
Lloyd nodded, smiling. "Alright! Syranas, it is, then! Hopefully, we can find at least the chosens in there. Right, Guy?"
"Yeah. It is most likely the case. Alright. Let's head to Syranas, to search for Arche and the chosens. You with us, Genis?" He turned to look at Genis, to get some word out of him. But all he saw was that the young half-elf just stood here, thinking about something. "Genis?"
Genis was in a deep thought about all that happened. And the information he gained about Terendos. Then, he came to a conclusion. "Guys... I'm sorry... But I have to stay behind."
"What? What do you mean, Genis?" asked Lloyd.
"After all that happened lately... I need to learn more about Terendos and maybe the origin of the Dark Raiders. So I won't be able to join you guys for this. I'm sorry."
Guy only nodded, smiling at him. "It's alright. After all, there are still so many things that we don't know about Terendos. Or even the Dark Raiders. So, if you have any specific information for us, go and look for us around the world. Ok, Genis?"
Genis nodded, with a face full of confidence. "I'll do my best!" He then looked at Lloyd. "And Lloyd... Save Colette... for the good of all of us. Alright?"
Lloyd nodded. "It's a promise. I will bring Colette back from the Dark Raiders. Just wait and see, Genis." And with that, he placed his fist on Genis' head and rubbed it around, chuckling and smiling.
"H-hey! Stop that, Lloyd!" Genis was laughing along side with him. Since the two of them were best friends, they get along real nicely.
Smiling at the two best friends, Guy decided to separate them. "Alright, you two. There's no time for that. Come on, Lloyd. Let's get going. And Genis, do your best on searching for some information." With that, Guy walked away, along with Chester.
"Alright! See ya around, Genis!" said Lloyd, as he left off with the two others.
Genis could only watch the three heroes leaving the village, in search for the other heroes of light. "Good luck... Lloyd."
And so, Lloyd Irving, Guy Cecil and Chester Barklight left Menosan to go on another journey to search for the rest of the chosen heroes of light, the saviors of the world of Terendos. They learned that by gathering all of the heroes together, in hope to bring peace of the world, they will be able to fight against Chaos and win. However, Terendos was a big place. And there are many places to find the heroes in. This might be a long journey...
Syranas was, as they called it, the "Water City", as it was close to the ocean, at the shore. However, it wasn't the only thing that they called it the Water City. Our heroes will know for sure why they called it that...
About half way to the road to Syranas, after a lot of battles against monsters outside, our heroes were, not surprisingly, not tired after all these fights. They were capable of taking care of themselves. A bunch of fights was not enough to tire out our heroes. After walking down the road for quite a long time, Lloyd's stomach growled in hunger. He held his stomach and chuckled nervously. "Heh heh... I guess it's time for some lunch, huh?"
Guy and Chester, who were just in front of Lloyd, turned around to look at him. Guy could only chuckle at the sound of the stomach growling. "Well, it's been a long time since I last ate. So, let's stop here for some lunch."
Chester nodded. "Yeah... There's always a good time to take a snack before continuing on. Any ideas on what we should eat?"
Lloyd smiled, as he dug in his pocket to pull out a small bag, which contained a sandwich. "It's a good thing that I bring a sadwich with me, before I got sucked into that world!"
"Alright, Lloyd! A simple sandwich always help our stomach out. Let's cut it up into three pieces." said Guy, as he took the bag from Lloyd and took out the sandwich. He drew out his sword and slowly and steadily cut it into three pieces, for the three heroes to eat it up. "Alright, it's time. Dig in." Guy gladly took a bite from the piece.
Lloyd, as hungry as he was, chew down almost half of his piece of sandwich with delight. "MM! It's still good!" he said it with joy.
Chester also took a bite from it, who seemed impressed by the perfect mix of ingredients fromthe sandwich. "Wow. Gotta admit, it does taste good. You made this?"
Lloyd chuckled, with his mouth full of food. "Yep! My phader thaut me how tho make a loth of food!"
Chester chuckled, when Lloyd talked with his mouth full. "Hey, remember to keep your manners. Girls won't be interested in you if you do something like that." Guy chuckled along with Chester. Then, the three heroes ended up laughing in their moment of time.
However, they did not notice that someone... Two people, even... were watching them from the shadows of the leaves of the tree, which was over the heroes. Their eyes were pratically visible. One person had flame-red eyes, while the other one had sky-blue eyes. They were looking down on Lloyd, for some reason.
"Lloyd... Irving..." said the red-eyed person.
"There he is... We finally caught up to him..." said the sky-blue-eyed person. "... Let's bring back Lumen's core from him... Ready?"
The red-eyed scoffed. "I'm always ready... When it comes with him!" With that he jumped off the branch, as well as the sky-blue-eyed one.
Guy was the first to notice the quick ambush from above, alarming the two heroes. "Guys, look out!" He jumped out of the ambush's range.
"Wha...?" Lloyd didn't know what Guy was talking about, until he noticed the ambush, thus, avoiding the attack, by jumping back from it.
"Grr...!" Chester did the same thing as Lloyd and Guy, avoiding the range of the ambush. A few dust of earth were made around the ambush point, hiding the two people's appearances. Then, when the clouds are cleared, they are exposed.
The red-eyed person had a blond hair. He wore a black scarf around his collarbone, some kind of blue, short robe, with straps around it, a pair of black pants, with a yellow stripe on each side and around the end of each side of his pants, which the stripes was continued down on his shoes, of the same color. He also wore a pair of long-sleeved gloves, with two short arm warm-ups from each side. His sword was carried behind him, tied on his waist, along with his pouch.
The other one, the sky-blue-eyed girl, had a long, pale brown hair, with two flowers attached on the side of the upper part of the head. She wore a dress, or at least, two top clothes. A black one and over it, a white one with pink lines and a small, yet cute tie. On her arms, there was a long-sleeved cloth, matching the color of her dress, and a pair of white gloves. On her right hand, there was a dual spinner attached to it. Also, she wore a pair of long, black socks and brown pair of shoes.
With their appearances shown, they both looked at Lloyd. "Lloyd Irving! I found you!" said the blond boy.
"Huh? What the...? How did you know my name? I never met you before..." said Lloyd, rather confused on how they know his name.
"I am here... to KILL you, you bastard!"
"What...?!"
"Remember me? I am Emil Castagnier! The one who will bring an end to your destruction to the people of Sylvarant!" The blond boy drew out his sword from his sheath, pointing it at Lloyd. "Prepare to die!"
"What... What's going on?! What are you talking about?! Destruction to the people of Sylvarant?!"
"Lloyd Irving... My name is Marta Lualdi..." said the young girl, opening her dual spinner. "... I believe you have something that you took from us. Hand over Lumen's Core!"
"What...?! What are you two talking about?!"
"Don't play dumb, you dumbass!" shouted Emil. "You can't pretend that you don't know what happened or that it wasn't you! I saw it in my very eyes... you KILLED my parents!!"
Lloyd was in shock. He could not believe what he heard. "... Killed... your parents...? But... What's going on...?! What's going on, damnit...?!?! What are you two talking about?!"
"Enough playing around! Let's do it, Emil!" said Marta, as she charged at Lloyd with a fierce offense.
"Right!" Emil did the same thing, out of rage, at Lloyd.
Lloyd was immobilized. He could not move and inch because of what he heard from the two people. He could not move after that, even when the two of them were charging at him.
Can our hero of Symphonia be able to stand up against them?
End of chapter
Hey, guys. It's me again. Well, another chapter done! And don't forget, the skit chapter witll come real soon. And don't forget this either. Do you want me to put Luke in the main team? I await your answers soon.
Until then, see ya! And review, please!
