Chapter 4 – Return To Templar
Templar
Roia walked slowly through the forest path, not noticing Robes until he was almost beside her. "Good morning, Roia!" he said jovially.
"R-Robes! What a surprise!"
"Ah, indeed." He offered her his arm. "Since no one in the infirmary seems to be injured yet, why don't we take a little walk?"
Roia accepted the gentlemanlike offer, and together they paced along the unpaved road.
Then Roia pulled her arm away when she saw where Robes was leading her.
"No," she whispered.
Robes stopped but did not turn to face her as he stood on the hilltop, looking over the rooftops of Templar. The same hilltop that Zed always visited whenever he wanted to see the city in a different view. "When will you stop waiting for Zed?"
Roia started, taken aback by his blunt question. "I'm not waiting for him!" she retorted angrily.
"Oh?"
"I'm not waiting for him…because…because I know he won't come back," she muttered, holding back tears.
"Roia…do you love Zed?" Robes asked innocently, but by then she was running, away from him and away from the memories.
Seekers' Ship
Sagiri tiptoed along the halls of the Seeker ship, clutching several shifting shards firmly in her hand. "Sagiri!" A woman's beckoning call came to her. "Coming!" she lied back, trying to buy time.
Then she ran along the decks of the ship, dashing through countless bulkheads, until at last she was in the central dais.
Her resolve wavered, and she stepped back, uncertain. Then she thought of Noa and clenched her fist.
Noa…I'm coming for you!
A cyanotic glow illuminated the walls of the room, then disappeared, compressed into a small, radiant orb that ascended into nothingness.
Calm
Zed watched as the swirling gusts converged, melding together and fabricating the resplendent circle that he knew so ominously well.
There's no point in turning back now.
He stepped into the shimmering portal.
Templar
"Hey, Miki?" Noa asked.
"Yeah?"
Noa paused, pondering. "Do you think Roia will be alright?" he said at last. Miki heaved a sigh. "I'm not sure, actually. She's strong, but…" His reply trailed off into silence. "She really misses him."
A portly man, clad in dark blue robes and hands clasped behind his back, entered the bakery. "Sebastian!" Noa exclaimed.
"Noa! It is good to see you out of that wheelchair," Sebastian answered warmly.
Noa nodded, smiling. "Definitely."
Their greetings were cut short by a cyanotic glow. "Shifting?" Sebastian muttered incredulously. "Here?"
A young girl appeared in the center of the shifting circle. Noa started in surprise.
"Sagiri?"
Roia sat on the grass, hugging her knees as she sobbed quietly. "Zed…"
She buried her face into her hands. "I couldn't tell him not to go…I couldn't tell him not to leave me…I couldn't do anything…"
"Zed…" she murmured again. "You said you'd come back…"
An iridescent circle unfurled before her, and a familiar figure stepped out. A figure in a crimson jacket, dark jeans and vest, and a pale yellow shirt; a figure whose eyes, once piercingly amber, were now a soft blue. The battered ruins of a medallion swung gently from his belt as the wind tousled his white hair.
Roia's eyes widened. "Zed…"