End of my hiatus, now onto the chapters!
Next chapter up, the Man-Eating Ruins! Forgive if it's all over the place in spots: I was distracted by Monster Hunter Tri, which I've been playing a ton lately along with Star Ocean 3...
As a sidenote, however for my absence, I've uploaded a few doodles onto my deviantART account, and have found the lyrics to the song The Bird Chirps, I Sing by Konan (aka, that song that plays at the beginning of the game at Lumen Spring. It's all in Relares, but at least I have it! XD )
Themes are: Ryuusei - Hatsune Miku, Light through the Branches - Celeste Lear and Take a Bow - Muse.
Chapter 12: Take a Bow
Exiting the duct, four members of the 'Fun Bunch plus One' extra stepped out from the duct to gaze upon the sparkling gold sands of the beaches surrounding the Man-Eating Ruins. The huge pink structure seemed to rise out of the sands like an ancient subterranean monster, colored a deep rosy red from the saturated light that sunset gave. The open ocean, once violent and rough, was nearly silent as it's waves lapped gently at the beach.
Norma seemed to bounce up and down in excitement and Moses let Geit run around in the glittering sands while Jay and Shirley enjoyed the scenery. Their secondary job was making sure a moody Walter stayed with them instead of retreating back to town. "Nerifes, I hate this place…" The blond muttered under his breath, shifting his gaze from the ruin in front him towards the brilliant sunset just beginning to settle over the horizon.
Norma spun in place and edged the others on, "C'mon you guys, hurry up!" She called before turning around and racing towards the ruin.
Moses and Geit ran after her while Jay wore a tired expression upon his face. "Does she ever take these dungeon-crawling expeditions seriously?"
Shirley looked over at him, "Well, she's probably just excited."
"What exactly is an Everlight anyway?" Walter asked, quickening his pace so he was in line with the other two.
"The Everlight is supposedly a legendary object that can grant any wish… It was translated from Relares years ago, and since then treasure hunters have been looking for it. Though lately, scholars have labeled it as a mere fable and have since then shunned the thought of it even existing." Jay explained. The blond seemed to roll his eyes at the supposed idiocy of scholars on the mainland who thought they knew everything, but let it go as the four reached the entrance of the ruin with Norma at the front.
Her eyes sparkled in excitement, and she pumped an arm into the air with gusto. "Alright, let's go in! Charge!" After a long silence, a sweatdrop seemed to slide down the back of her head. She looked behind her and pouted at the others, "…Uh, guys? I feel kinda stupid doing this by myself."
"Then don't do it." Jay responded simply, which caused her to point at him."Then it isn't any fun though!" She complained.
Moses shrugged, "Well, we all are goin' into a ruin famous for man-eatin', so it doesn't seem like it'd be that much fun anyway." Shirley kept a close eye on the other Ferines, who still looked like he was having second thoughts.
"But we're hunting for the Everlight! We're hunting for treasure; how can't it be fun?" The brunette countered.
Walter shot a dull stare at her, "Loads of ways… It's called the Man-Eating Ruins for a reason."
Moses held out a hand, "An' just look what happened last time we were here, Bubbles. Ya nearly got eaten by a demon bed!"
Both blonds turned a confused look upon the girl. "Wait, you were?" Shirley asked, both curious how the situation came to be, and wanting to avoid the same fate.
"I… I had the situation perfectly under control!" Norma countered hastily, her face flushing.
By this time, the blond Ferines knew if he didn't go into the ruins now he never would. He took Norma by the arm and dragged her in after him. "Let's just get this over with…" He muttered under his breathe wondering how in Nerifes he had even gotten into this situation in the first place.
The others heard her loud protests over his annoyed mumbling, and looked back at each other. Not wasting any more time, they too ran into the coral-red ruin.
x x x
"I do not like this place…" Walter seemed to say to himself yet another time after they had entered, shaking off the remains of a diva from his hands.
A grueling two hours into the dungeons, he had remembered what a pain it was battling the monsters here. Nearly all of them held dangerous toxins which spread poisons, paralysis and were even capable of petrifying a person completely into a grayish brown stone statue. While Shirley and Norma had gotten away with minor scratches most of the time, they were exhausted from continuously casting healing spells on the iron erens of the group who would often be poisoned by the monsters. The fact that Eres, Divas and even the occasional Zephyr inhabited this dungeon made it a very trying place for any warrior, skilled or not.
While they as a group were strong, Walter had yet to get used to working as a team to defeat foes, and therefore he tended to rely on himself a lot and thus accumulate more wounds. Moses and Jay stood their ground on the battlefield just fine, but at times their bickering would get the best of them and they'd fight more sloppily than usual. Shirley and Norma however, were in good form. The blond had never seen the current Merines fight before whom was a sight to behold, and Norma's spell-casting had improved drastically from when he had last fought her.
Yet even with the monsters distracting them, Norma seemed to know her way around the dungeon, searching carefully for traps to protect the group. Already she had sprung one, which had sent the red-haired bandit sliding down a shoot to the floor next to them. Even if Norma wasn't… the best treasure hunter in the world, she was a skilled one for a sixteen year old. Though…
"Ah, cheer up Wally! We'll be our of here soon: we just need to keep searching some more." The girl chirped up as she healed a gash on Moses' side.
…She was far too chipper to take seriously.
Shaking his head, the blond and the rest of the five-person band continued onwards into the dungeon. Strange lights lit their way along the narrow coral pathways through an endless pool of water. The glowing spots in the pathways and along the ceiling made the water reflect bright areas on the ceiling: a calming scenery to an otherwise horrendous ruin.
Norma looked around at the pathways in front of them suspiciously, her eyes darting from the water to the stone steps to the pillars that stood up beside them.
"Any traps?" Jay asked, somewhat uncomfortable that she could spot something he couldn't… But then again, treasure hunting was supposed to be her profession: she was more skilled then him.
Norma didn't respond right away, and after taking a last-minute glimpse behind her, she turned around. "There's no traps, but…"
The Ferines behind Shirley grumbled to himself, "There's always a 'but'…"
"Well, I can't really explain it. There aren't any traps around here, but there's no monsters either, when they're usually crawling all over the place. It just… seems off." She continued, gesturing to the empty pathways behind her.
Moses crossed his arms. "Well, if there ain't no monsters then that just means there's a bigger monster 'round here." The bandit looked to the narrow path in front of them, then to the ceiling, then to the pool of water surrounding the entire walkway. He pointed to the water. "…Which is probably livin' in that big puddle."
"I'm surprised you thought all of that out, Moses." Jay commented, a single eyebrow raised.
"Comes from livin' in the wild, baby!" The redhead grinned, banging a fist against his chest while the ninja groaned at the nickname.
"Do me a favor, please? Never call me that again…"
"Aww, is 'lil Jay embarrassed-" Moses didn't get to finish his light-hearted taunting when the younger boy threw an explosive dagger at his feet, which promptly exploded. "Hey hey hey! No need for the knives, I was only playin' with ya!"
While the taller of the two managed yet again to get on the other's nerves, Shirley had been intently watching the water after hearing the possibility of a large creature living nearby. Her eyes scanned the still water with a strange feeling of dread seeping into her stomach.
Norma, after having stopped laughing at the boys, looked over at Shirley and saw her unease. "Hey, what's up Shirl?"
Shirley bit her bottom lip. "…it's too quiet here."
The brunette looked around them and listened. The only thing they could hear was the loud noise of yelling and scuffing feet from the two teens nearby. Nothing else.
Walter turned his head to scan the water, checking for any slight disturbance. Which didn't work nearly as well as it should, as the two children next to him were still roughhousing. Shutting his eyes against the noise, he barked at them. "Will you two shut up!" The two, Jay's head caught in a headlock by Moses while Jay was pulling the redhead's hair down so he could whack him in the head, suddenly went silent for a moment. "Listen…"
The five became silent, listening for some strange noise. Their unease grew when they found out they were struggling to hear anything other than their own breathing. "Nothing…" Shirley breathed.
Jay looked towards the water nearby, "You may just be right about that theory, Moses…"
"So now what?" Norma said, obviously not happy about their predicament. "If there's some big fishy waiting at the bottom of this lake, then how the heck are we gonna cross over these pathways?" The stone looked sturdy, but slippery. One false footstep could land one of them into the water… and probably into the jaws of whatever lay in the deep.
Walter was silent in thought, still looking at the water. One way was just to fly, but… He doubted he could carry all five of them across the huge maze of pathways without exhausting himself of energy. A frown forming on his face, he came up with an idea. Not his greatest idea, nor the most pleasurable, but an idea nonetheless.
Reaching to his side, he untied his bag full of gels and tossed it to Norma. "Hold that please." And without a second glance, walked three long strides to the edge, and dove in.
The water was cooler than he had thought it had been, which was cold. This put the underground lake at a freezing temperature which nearly made him gasp in shock. A few moments later, air bubbles swam past his face back to the surface as his hair began to glow a familiar faint cerulean color. With the color change, the frigid temperature surrounding him seemed to taper off until he didn't really notice it anymore.
With a steadying breathe, the now blue-haired man slowly swam down into the depths of the lake, his way lighted by the dim light of his eres. Searching around for any sign of something moving in the clear water, he found a strange shape at the bottom, as still as stone. Furrowing his eyes, he went in for a closer look…
x x x
Norma drummed her fingers against the broken pillar she was sitting on, staring off into the surrounding area just like the other three. Her other hand absentmindedly rubbed the stiff fabric which the bag full of gels consisted of, she wondered what the heck was taking Walter so long to return. "What's takin' him so long?" She whined.
"Well it is a big lake…" Moses commented loudly, his voice echoing off the walls of the ruin.
Shirley looked into the water with a thoughtful expression, then looked towards Norma, "It would probably be faster if two people were-"
"I wouldn't do it, Shirley." Jay commented, looking up from where he was leaning against a pillar. "He's competent enough to take care of himself…"
"Besides, Wally would kill us if we let you go." Norma shrugged, then swallowed hard as Shirley gave her a stubborn, less-than-pleased expression. "Hey, don't blame me Shirl! I'm just looking out for my life here, and yours!" She held up her hands when the four heard a strange sound.
The four turned to the water to see a strange bubbling spot on the water, as if something were moving just underneath it. The bubbles suddenly stopped a few seconds later, letting the ripples cross the lake in long lines to the outer walls.
They looked at each other confused. "…Erm, what was that?" Norma asked.
"Dunno." Moses answered, scratching his head at the strange occurrence.
Nearly as soon as Moses answered Norma's question, a blond head popped out of the water to look at the other four. "I found something…" Walter stated in a deadpan voice before the water shook with an underwater roar. The surface of the water was no longer smooth and glassy with the amount of water sloshing around the walls and pillars creating ripples which collided with each other.
The blond seemed to wince, "Excuse me one sec." He dove back under and out of sight just as a huge black shape surged towards the surface after him. The waves churned around a spiked fin as it sliced through the water before disappearing underneath the pathways and out of sight.
Moses, hanging onto a pillar for support, looked to the water in startled fear, "Da hell was that thing!"
Jay, nearly stumbling into the water as he answered him. "Probably the large monster you were speaking of earlier."
"Oh my god, there's a giant fish in the lake and it wants to eat us!" Norma nearly cried as she crouched close to the ground in slight panic.
Shirley looked down at the dark shape in the clear water, chasing Walter around in the water. Looking at the feather quill she used to write out incantations for spells in her bag, her eyes hardened in that stubborn way whenever she put her mind to something. Plucking it from the little bag, she wrote out a quick incantation for a spell in the air, focusing on a distant pillar near the opposite wall. "Fireball!"
A large pinkish-red ball of fire shot out of her hands towards the wall behind them, closely followed by two more. They hit the coral-red wall, weakening a chunk of the wall enough that a large piece fell into the water with a colossal splash. The shape that was chasing the other Ferines paused briefly in it's pursuit, curious of the loud noise, and turned to speed off in that direction.
"Hey Shirley, why'd ya shoot the wall?" Moses asked curiously, his head slightly tilted to one side.
Jay caught on nearly immediately, "A distraction…"
Very soon after Shirley shot off another volley of fireballs towards the outer walls behind them, a voice called to them from the side of the platforms, "Hey! Care to pull me up before that thing comes back and eats me?"
Norma looked over the edge at Walter, whom was giving her an impatient look. Nearly laying on the ground, she grabbed his hand and pulled, but not quite enough that she could lift him out of the water. A few moments later, Moses joined her in helping the soaked Ferines out of the water.
Walter sat back, the slight blue glow of his hair finally fading back to it's familiar platinum-blond color. Water dripped into his eyes and he swiped the wet bangs away as he looked at the water. "Well, you were right, bandit. There was a monster living in the lake…"
"Ha! So I was right!" Moses pumped a fist into the air while Jay gave him a very dry look. "Moses, that just means that there's something in the lake that can kill us. That isn't a good thing…" He said, his head whipping up as a fin swished along the surface before disappearing back into the water.
"Well, we have to get across the water somehow, so what do you suggest?" Norma asked, leaning back on her hands.
"Well we could always have Wally-" Moses started.
"I'm not flying anyone across that lake unless there's no other option left. And do you have to call me that?" Walter responded, his expression annoyed at the bandit's new adopted nickname for him.
"Yep!" This only made the blond glare at him with a new-found ferocity.
"Enough, you two." Jay spoke up, an irritated expression on his face.
Shirley looked over at where the fireballs had hit the wall across the way. "We could always distract it, then just walk across the pathways."
Jay looked at the others for a moment, then spoke up, "Well, it seems like the best plan we've got, so let's do it."
The others nodded, and while Jay and Shirley stood to the side ready to throw a dagger or cast a spell, the others tip-toed across the pathway. "Ready guys?"
"Yeah!" Norma called from the front of the path.
Jay nodded, and he and the young Merines unleashed their attacks. As Shirley cast a spell and sent three fireballs towards the wall, Jay sent a dagger loaded with an explosive residue hurtling in the same direction. The knife coupled with the fiery blasts of energy ran into the ancient stone, causing a large chunk of rock to shift loose from it's place on the wall. The fire licked the tag attached to the knife enough that it ignited, creating an even louder and larger blast, sending rock and debris into the water with loud splashes. This seemed to be enough to call of the monster under the water, as a small ring of ripples spread out along a path on the surface towards the opposite wall.
All at the same time, the three in front bolted for the other side of the underground lake, careful not to slide across the slippery surface into the water. After them came Jay and Shirley quick on their tail. More then once, they nearly stumbled as their feet nearly came out from underneath them, and Moses would have fallen in had Jay and Walter not roughly pulled him back at the right moment.
After a muted roar from beneath the water made the surface shudder into dozens of tiny ripples, the five were nearly halfway across the raised walkway. Moses looked back and shouted, "Looks like it figured out our little trick. Here it comes!"
Norma's eyebrows furrowed together in an expression that was supposed to look brave and slid to a stop, turning and pulling out her straw in one fluid movement and casting a quick spell. "Grave!" A spot on the side of the walkway glowed for a moment and huge spears of brown rock shot out from it, colliding with the shadowy fish in the water and causing it to veer off course.
"Norma! What are you doing?" Jay shouted as he noticed the lack of her pattering footsteps behind the rest of the group.
"Distracting it, whadaya think!" She shouted back, readying another spell as the shadow swam in a large arc to come back around.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed towards her, and a glow of violet eres signaled another person next to her. Walter waved at the other three in front of them with a frantic motion, his fingertips leaving a glowing arc in the air as they moved, "Move it, you three! We'll distract it for you!" Instantly turning after the three started moving, he chanted Relares in quick succession as he charged up a spell. At that same moment, the monster finished it's curve and shot towards them, it's fins coming out of the water like a gigantic shark.
Norma finished her spell, and a triangle of light appeared atop the water, "Thunder Arrow!" The triangle locking onto the shadowy finned shape as three spears of lightning shot down into the monster. It screeched in pain, flailing both at the pain of the spears and being electrocuted. Still the monster didn't stop though. Instead, it only seemed to rush towards them quicker than before, the ripples around its fin turning into churning wakes, tipped with white.
Finished in his low chanting, the blond next to her steadied his arm with one hand, the other shining as he shouted, "Icicle Volt!" A huge bluish white icicle seemed to materialize out of thin air over the monster. Slowly, gravity let go of it's hold on the icy stalactite, and it slowly dropped down onto the monster with a crash. The huge behemoth roared, its angry cry echoing through the ruin as it wavered from its course, swimming unsteadily towards them as if it could no longer control its movements.
Eyes widening, Walter took Norma by the arm and bolted for the direction of the inner sanctum of the Man-Eating Ruins. "Come on!" The two rushed along the walkway, not caring if they slipped at the moment. The only thing the two really cared about was outrunning the frenzied pace of the aquatic monster behind them, blind with pain and rage.
Norma nearly tripped a few times, struggling to keep up with the fast pace Walter had set for them. Not that she really cared at the moment. Looking back, she saw the shadowy figure getting closer and closer, the upper part of the beast nearly out of the water from how much water the upper fin cut through. With her attention away from the path, her foot caught a large crack in the ground and she fell forward.
Feeling a tug on his arm, the Ferines stopped and quickly hauled her to her feet. Looking over her panting shoulder, the figure was less than twenty meters away from them: too close. Gritting his teeth, he wrapped an arm around her waist, and feeling his wings materializing in the air, kicked up from the ground and shot into the air.
A second later, the huge aquatic shape leapt out of the water with a gaping mouth of crooked teeth opened wide to devour whatever had been in the spot they were standing not two seconds earlier. The fat body collided with open air, and slid back into the water with a splash, leaving a clear slimy residue on the ground. The ripples around the area where it fell into the water settled, with it's maker having returned to the deep.
The two glided back down to where the others were, Walter setting them back onto their feet as the violet wings dissipated away from view. Letting go of Norma's waist, he let out a relieved breath as the other three trotted over from where they had stopped at the edge of the walkway, all gasping for breath.
"Well… that was fun!" Norma grinned breathlessly.
Moses had his hands on his knees as he took in huge breaths of air. "That wasn't… fun at all, Bubbles!"
"I don't like… running from monsters." Jay said with a stern look, panting just like the rest of them.
"Can we go now?" Walter asked, his hair damp and slightly tangled.
Norma stood up a little straighter and nodded at him with her grin still apparent. The group stayed in the small area to catch their breath for a few minutes, then continued into the ruin. Here there were much less monsters than usual, only a few powerful Divas and the occasional Angler.
Soon they passed by the same room where Norma was nearly killed by sleeping in a monster bed, surrounded by the petrified remains of the unlucky people who had come before them. Whether they were treasure hunters, researchers or just a curious citizen, they all looked the same in death. Stuck in the position they had been petrified in: brown, still and lifeless. With the blond among their group looking at the statues with ill-disguised unease, they continued on.
Sooner or later, they arrived in the burial chamber of the ruin, perfectly-formed pillars surrounding them as they did to an ancient civilization years ago, only viewed by the odd individual and time. Bright crystals which reflected the light stood perfectly formed atop pillars around the center of the room, where a large stone slab lay carved with strange symbols. Three intricately carved stone legs stood in a corner: the original resting place of the Whispering Crystal.
Not having survived the end of their battle, Walter had no idea where it resided now. Never having retrieved it however, he couldn't help but admire the room in the same awe Senel's group had when they had arrived here over four months earlier.
The group of erens grabbed a spot to sit down and rest save for Norma, who looked around the room with the same gleam in her eye as she had discovering the trap Moses had stumbled into earlier. She examined a few of the pillars, then the tomb-like beds on either side of the chamber. Rubbing her chin in thought for a few moments, she turned to the rest of the group with an apologetic smile and a shrug. "Well, it isn't here."
"What!" The group exclaimed all at once."You've gotta be kidding!" Moses said.
She shook her head, "Sorry guys, but I've looked all around this place and the Everlight isn't here. We hit the wrong place."
"You mean we went through this hellhole for nothing?" Walter seethed.
She nodded glumly. "Sorry guys. I didn't mean to bring you through this place if the Everlight wasn't here…" She turned around and ran a hand through her hair, muttering something to herself, "I could have sworn my research said it would be here…"
Shirley looked over at her, her eyes showing concern at her uncharacteristic action. "Norma, are you alright…?
Norma looked back up at them surprised, then pumped her fist in the air cheerfully. "S'ok! We're try harder next time!"
The Merines was silent, blinking as Jay spoke up, "There's a next time?"
Norma put her hands on her hips and nodded. "Of course! Until we find the Everlight!" Everyone looked at each other with strange looks on their faces until she spoke up again. "Alright, on the move again! Let's go!"
Jay gave her a dry look. "Where to now?"
Norma gave him that 'what are you, stupid?' expression again. "Outside to go camping, duh! I'm starving."
Moses shrugged, "Well at least Harriett isn't cookin'-"
Jay smacked the redhead before he got any farther. "Don't insult her cooking when she isn't even here to defend herself... Or her lack of skill."
Shirley shook her head, "That isn't very nice, you two." Though even as she said this, the expression on her face was odd, as if remembering a particular bad taste in her mouth.
Walter looked at her in curiosity, "Is her cooking really that bad?"
"You've no idea, Wally." Norma nodded.
x x x
Finally out of the ruins a few hours later, the group was pretty exhausted. Norma found part of the beach that was covered in drift logs which held a flat grassy spots, which the team cleared for a small place to sleep. Lighting up a campfire nearby, the team talked to each other before falling asleep one by one, the twinkling stars shining above them like fireflies. Few people would have been up this hour, yet one person stayed awake in their thoughts.
Why wasn't the Everlight at the ruins…? Norma thought to herself, watching the skies as the stars twinkled above her. My research said it was there… If it isn't there, then where is it?
x x x
And that's the end of this chapter. For all of you who have forgotten a bit about the story, the boss of this dungeon was one of those huge angler fish, which is what the monster was… With a few quirks. Really, fighting it head-on didn't fit in, so you'll all have to settle for this little taste of action. As for meeting Zammy in town and going to the Ice Monument, well… that comes in next chapter. See you next time!
Reviewer Comments:
Shiroi Iyasu: Why thank you~ Really, these four are my favorites of the party, so I couldn't resist having Wally interact with them.
Ranchdressing: So in other words, Walter becomes like Sven? XD That is a rather endearing mental image, though I expect it'd probably be moreso like partners rather then teacher-student. Then again, Norma actually is good at treasure hunting, so wouldn't that make Wally the newbie? ...Hmm, it's a rather interesting idea. It has potential.
PlanetStorm: After reading your review, I went searching for a theory of mirror-characters and didn't find anything on it. However, I'm still REALLY curious about reading this theory. And I adore Walter too, hence why I write mostly about him. As for SenelxChloe, well... I rather like them together, but I also appreciate Shirley as a character, so I'm split down the middle. Probably also because I feel bad for her "Die for our Ship" status most of the time. Also, what with Senel not returning Chloe's feelings at the end of her Character Quest, I can sense something occuring from there. It's just the whole "Wally's dead" thing... :sigh: