Chapter 5: The Fragment and Aer
Town in the Middle of the Desert (8:00AM)
Karol has just woken up from his sleep, given the events in the day previously, it was no surprise that everyone woke up late, with the exception of Flynn. Flynn was out and about, managing things before he and the party leaves to look for Yuri.
"Ah! Flynn! You're up already?" Karol said as he saw Flynn from the Inn window.
"Yeah." Flynn replied, while he gave of a signed permit for a letter bound for Zaphias. "I'll be managing things around here before we leave for our next destination."
"Ok." Karol said as he packs his stuff. "I'm going to wake up the rest and head for some breakfast."
Surprisingly, everyone slept well and was fully energized for the day ahead of them. The party decided to have breakfast before leaving. If Flynn was going to cook for them, they'd probably never reach Yuri.
After an uneventful breakfast, Judith went ahead to get Baul while everyone waited a few meters away from town. Rita has been busy tinkering with the fragment and her makeshift blastia, if she was left alone, she probably wouldn't have eaten her breakfast. Raven in the other hand, had several wounds as he was beaten up to prevent him from embarrassing the group and flirting with every lady he sees.
As Baul arrived along with Judith, they headed off to the south-east direction.
Heading South-East (9:30AM)
Estelle and Karol were on the look out for any trace of Yuri or even footprints in the sand to hopefully find some more clues where Yuri might be. Flynn, Judith and Raven were talking about some other things which they refuse to tell others about. Repede has been by Rita's side observing whatever the latter was doing. Everyone had something in their mind, so it was pretty much quiet during the ride on Baul.
After talking with Flynn and Raven about matters that may have occurred to Yuri, she then approached Rita who had a determined look on her face.
"Found anything about our mysterious fragment?" Judith asked.
"Not much." Rita said as she continued to do some more analysis on the fragment and along with her makeshift blastia. "What I can tell so far is that it can manipulate aer like a blastia, aside from that I still can't find anything else…"
As time passed by, Karol then notices a ruin in the desert that had footprints heading in to it. Even Repede was barking, it didn't take long for the others to put two and two together that Yuri might be in there.
In Front of the Desert Ruins (11:25AM)
After landing Baul a safe distance away from the ruins, they proceeded to head inside the ruins. The inside was a mess. Rita then started going about trying to analyze the walls of the ruins, for her it seemed like Christmas has come early and she's now all over the place analyzing, and figuring out what the pictures on the wall means.
The ruin has just recently become visible as the wind seemed to be blowing the sands that covered it.
"Umm… Rita, this isn't the time you know." Karol said, though his words were having little effect on the mage. "We're looking for Yuri…"
"Yeah, yeah. Just give me a few more minutes, I'm almost done deciphering these pictures." Rita said.
Flynn, Estelle, Judith, Repede and Raven went on ahead to find more clues on where Yuri could be. Though the footsteps leading here were fresh, they can't say that whoever went in here has left already.
"I wonder why Yuri didn't call us to help him." Estelle asked suddenly. "We are his friends after all…"
"Yeah…" Flynn said quietly. "But he just seems to be one to shoulder all the responsibilities, it's like he's still acting like a lone wolf."
"Even though, I feel that there must be something as to why he disappeared, he even left Repede with us." Raven said as he observed Repede lead the way. "…that and he not only brought his katana, but also Vesperia No.2."
After a few minutes of walking, they ended up on a stair that leads deeper into the ruins. They were about to go onwards when they realized that the aer concentration in the area was too high, to the point that it was color red. So they decided to wait for Rita, and Karol.
"Hey Raven." Estelle said facing Raven. "Was Yuri acting odd before he went to his one week break?"
"Well, now that you mention it…" Raven said as he scratches his chin. "He seemed to go out for long walks alone without Repede every now and then. Then it got more frequent, until he asked for a week break."
"He may already have noticed that something was after him." Flynn said as he looks towards the roof of the ruin.
"Knowing him, he probably felt that since it's his problem…" Judith said looking at the approaching figures of Karol and Rita. "… he should solve it on his own."
"Yeah. But isn't it technically also our problem since we helped him beat the Adephagos?" Estelle said as they continued on down the stairs now with Rita and Karol.
"Unless that's only half of the story." Rita said. "Something may have happened to Yuri when he wielded the Vesperia No.1 to destroy the Adephagos. It's only a copy of Dien Nomos, not the actual thing. So it's not that hard to imagine that something may have gone wrong when he wielded it."
"If something did go wrong, what could have happened that made him the target of those monsters?" Karol asked.
"Well whatever it is, we can find out as soon as we ask the man himself." Judith said.
The pathway that they're in was pretty much straightforward. There were no multiple hallways that littered the ruins as to confuse them, and oddly enough it was dimly lighted by the small rays of the sun that pierces the ruin walls. As they continued onwards, the concentration of aer was becoming more and more concentrated to the point that it was somewhat affecting Rita's makeshift blastia and the fragment with her.
"Rita! The fragment and your blastia! They're reacting!" Karol said as he noticed the light that was coming out of the mage's pocket.
When Rita took out the fragment, the red aer around them started clustering closer and closer to the fragment to the point that Rita dropped it, and everyone ran for cover.
Once the aer was absorbed into the fragment, the aer around them started to turn color green signaling that aer concentration is now back to normal.
"Wha – What just happened?" Raven asked as he along with the others approached the fragment.
Rita then picked up the fragment and put it closer to her makeshift blastia. "hmm… could it be that… this fragment can manipulate, store and absorb aer?"
Rita then broke a small piece of the fragment and put it to the core of her makeshift blastia. Then she looked around, and laid her eyes on Karol.
"Wha – What is it?" Karol asked, despite he knew what's going to happen next.
The events that happened next could be called a moment of 'happiness' and 'despair' depending on the person you talked to. Happiness for Rita since she finally created a somewhat workable version of a blastia that doesn't react badly to high concentrations of aer, and despair for Karol as he was nearly charred to a crisp. Well, it's a good thing Estelle was a healer with or without blastia.
"Why did you have to hit me Rita!" Karol shouted at Rita, whom apparently, is not showing any sign of remorse.
"Well you're the one right next to me and the second most easiest target." Rita said as she does a few more checks with her makeshift blastia.
"Anyway, let's keep going." Estelle said as she finished healing Karol. "We need to hurry, we don't know what's in this ruins."
After walking for what seemed like hours (which has only been 45 minutes), the party arrived at a wide hall. There was a hole on the roof that let sunlight in, along with sand. There were several statues, but most of which have been broken by someone. The one thing that stood out the most to the party was the broken katana that Repede was sniffing at, and next to it, two similar broken fragments that Rita has.
"This katana…" Flynn said as he approached where Repede was sniffing. "It's Yuri's!"
There was a blood trail leading from the katana, deeper into the ruins. So if the katana did belong to Yuri, he must be pretty badly injured, that and he's pursuing something further in.
"We've got to hurry!" Estelle said as she motioned everyone to start running and follow her.
As they ran onwards onto another long hallway, no one said anything but prepared there weapons for the worst-case scenario. Once they reached the end of the hallway, they reached yet another wide hall. There, they see Yuri holding onto Vesperia No.2, with light emitting from the said weapon similar to the feather blade but in a small form. Yuri also had a deep wound right above the right side of his hip. He was clutching it to prevent anymore blood from coming out. He was barely standing, yet he was still holding onto his weapon, his weapon however, was also in the verge of breaking.
"Yuri!" Estelle shouted, though it seemed that her voice didn't reach Yuri, as he didn't react but kept facing the man in front of him.
There was a man several feet in front of Yuri holding on to what looks like Dien Nomos, but had a dark aura covering it. He was wearing a suit that looked a lot like Duke's but he had an armor piece in his right shoulder and two gauntlets. He had a short buzz cut red hair, and his pupils were color yellow. He was facing Yuri and was smiling.
"Hmm… You really did surprise me with the control you had with the power you have gained from that incident." The man said facing Yuri, his smile never leaving his face. "Even managing to defeat two of my minions on your own and putting up a fight despite your current state is a feat worthy of praise."
Yuri said nothing, but continued to face the man. The man then faced backwards and the roof of the ruins then exploded revealing two monsters with red aer covering there entire body.
"Well it seems that my minions have found the exact location of 'that' item." The man said as the monsters approaches him. "Playing with you was a great way to pass the time, Yuri Lowell… Hopefully you'll stay alive to give me the same entertainment that you gave me today."
The man then hoisted himself to one of the monsters and started to depart from the ruins.
"Wait!" Yuri said as he tried to give pursuit to the man, but his wounds prevented him from going any further and he collapsed to his knees. "…darn I was too careless."
With those words, Yuri finally collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Author Notes:
Well, Yuri is finally here in this chapter.
I find that my descriptions need a bit of work, but if you find something wrong in terms of details, please let me know.
The katana mentioned here, is the default weapon of Yuri in the opening of Tales of Vesperia, and just to clarify things if it isn't clear, Yuri was carrying two weapons in the beginning of his disappearance in this fan fiction, the first is his default katana and the second is Vesperia No.2.
Just a note, school is going to start soon for me so my updates might be delayed. At most it should be 3 weeks before the next chapter is up or if I'm not busy, only 1 week.
Also, I have posted Chapter statuses in my Profile so if anyone is curious as to how close I'm finishing a chapter, it'll be in my profile, but do remember even if I'm finished with a chapter, I won't post it until Monday (well Monday from where I am). It'll also show my current status if I'm under a project, test or in a holiday. That way people won't think I'm 'dead' if I don't update for quite a while.
Reviews and corrections are welcome.