Chapter 29: Spiritua Reborn

Elpida sat some ways from the house, listening to the others. They were scared. She didn't blame them. She drew her knees up to her chest, rested her arms across them, and leaned her head on her forearms, and waited. She heard the cute half-elf, Genis, say, "You said she was nice!"

"I did. She is," Athan said, his tone bewildered. Then she heard him say suddenly, "Professor, what are you doing?"

Raine's voice sounded a touch embarrassed. "Well, I was just going to go ask…"

Genis sighed. "Not right now, Raine."

Elpida waited, wanting them to work things out on their own.

Lloyd stood in Koton's house. The old man seemed even smaller in death than he had in life. Methodically, his eyes took in the scene.

Koton's torn body was lying in the middle of a puddle of sticky blood. Lloyd noticed footprints, in brownish-red, going here and there on the floor. They'd walked through his blood while they were carting the old man's belongings out.

Lloyd hadn't liked Koton. The old man had been greedy, insulting, and disrespectful to women. Yet, somehow, his murder infuriated Lloyd. Through the white-hot flows of anger, he remembered something Zelos said. "The people that I like, and the people that I don't, all have a right to be here." Something like that, anyway.

Lloyd left the little house that stank of blood, and fixed a flat look on his friends. "Help me find a shovel," the swordsman said.

They hurried to comply—except Zelos. The redheaded man shifted. "Lloyd, I'm going to back out of this one." He glanced, seemingly unconsciously, to where Elpida sat. "I'm going to try to talk to her."

Lloyd's face softened slightly. "All right. And…tell her I think I know who she is."

"Who?" Zelos asked intently.

"Ask her yourself." Lloyd went to look around the house.

Elpida tilted her head slightly. She heard someone walking up behind her. Graceful, but masculine. A bit rustly, like…silk. And a glow of mana, the color uniquely his.

"What is it, Zelos?"

Zelos, for all of his skill at talking, could only think of one thing that was even remotely close to appropriate. "Are you okay?"

"No."

He sat down beside her. "Lloyd thinks he knows who you are."

She broke off from staring into space, and looked up at him, emerald green eyes a mystery. "Did he say what, exactly?"

"No. He didn't seem angry about it, though." Zelos risked a smile. "Want to tell me?"

She sighed, and ran a hand through her rich purple hair. Then she laid back, staring up at the sky. When she settled, she finally said, "You're from Tethe'alla, right?"

"Yeah."

"I imagine the stories about Spiritua aren't very nice. That, or they covered it up."

Zelos grimaced, getting an idea. He paled.

"Funny. They didn't get my name right. Spiritua was just a…a title. I mean, who'd name their kid Spiritua.?"

"So you're…her?" Zelos had to say.

She sat up partially, reached out a hand, and thumped him on the back of the head. "Yes, Zelos, I am Spiritua." When she said that, she sounded older.'

Zelos took in a breath and let it out slowly. "Wow…so…what really happened? Where were you born?"

"This side, actually. Little-bitty hick town called Iselia. It was basically a shop and a few houses."

"It hasn't changed much," Zelos said. Now he tried silence, to see if she'd elaborate on her own.

It didn't work. Finally, he asked. "How'd you become the first Chosen?"

"It started with dreams. A beautiful angel came and told me I'd do great things. My family thought I was crazy when I told them. Then he came in person." She giggled half-heartedly. "Yggdrasill was just as hot as he was in the dream." She smirked at the memory. "To mess with him, I asked him out on a date."

"You what?" Zelos started laughing. "That must have confused him."

"Yeah, he blushed like a little boy, and the look on his face! After that, he told m to take the crystal in this monotone voice…it was like he was reading from a script." She giggled.

Zelos was interested. "Then what?"

"I took the crystal, and he said I had to go on a journey. Then this hot guy with blue-green hair appeared and blondie said he'd accompany me."

"Yuan, right?"

"You've met him?"

"Several times."

"Yeah, well, blondie left, and Yuan said we had to go to Triet and do a ritual there. We went there, and, me being my charming self, we picked up a couple of people who just…came along. Yuan didn't care much for that, but I brought him around. And we got to what he called the seal, and he gave me this ring. Tacky, but it could do cool stuff, like shoot out a little bit of fire." She frowned. "I wonder what happened to that ring…"

"What happened at the ritual?" Zelos could predict, but he wanted confirmation.

"Actually…a lot. We barely scraped through against this big hellcat-thing. Then Yggdrasill showed up again and said I had proven myself worthy." She gave a silvery little laugh. "I asked him if that meant the date was on. But, no, he said I had to become an angel. And…that crystal I'd been carrying attached to me. It's still a part of me."

Zelos gave her an odd look. "Where is it?"
She absently touched her chest. "My heart."

The former Chosen suppressed a shudder. "And then?"

"That night I was woozy and achy, like I had a fever. My wings sprouted and…things got weirder from there on."

Zelos remembered his own transformation, and what he'd heard—and seen—of Colette's. "I know what you mean."

"Aside from that, things were amazing. I had a purpose! It felt like I was on fire! Yggdrasill gave me a book and said I should preach of the Goddess Martel. My first sermon was at Palmacosta."

She smiled at the past. "It was fun. I made a lot of friends, we had good times, and the entire time I felt like I could reach into the sky and pull down fire. At each seal, I got stronger and stronger. Eventually, this huuuuuge tower appeared and Yggdrasill said I had to go there.

"I did…and only Yuan came with me. He said we were close to the end. But when we were inside, Blondie said I had to do the same thing for another world."

'Tethe'alla," Zelos stated.

She nodded. "And I just walked out of the tower, and I was someplace else. Yuan was still with me, but I didn't really need him tell me what to do."

She sighed, and went quiet.

Zelos nudged her. "So…?"
"I opened all the seals. Fired people up about Martel. And then that damn fool king tried to mess me up." She shuddered. "That was a nightmare…"

Zelos thought of the slaughtered mercenaries. "Er…yeah."

"Something…took over, and I watched myself kill all those guards and the king. Then, well, the Prince was too afraid of me to do anything, so I figured the Church was safe, and I'd arranged things as I was told to. I picked out my successor, ad then went back to the Tower of Salvation. Yggdrasill said I had earned my reward. I felt, well, normal, and asked him if there was time for that date. He said no, and I just sort of fell asleep." She continued, half to herself, "I slept for so long…I thought, 'So this is death. It's not so bad.'"

Zelos felt oddly small. The sheer acceptance in her voice. He didn't say anything.

"Next thing I know, I'm waking up in an Exsphere mine, with all these dwarves looking down at me." She sat up, running a hand through her hair to dislodge leaves. "Is that enough for you, Zelos?"

"Everything I wanted to know. Thanks." He put an hand on her arm, asking roguishly, "Feel better?"

Her smile was mischievous. "Yeah." She pulled him down and planted a kiss on his nose. "Thanks, Fred."

She rose to her feet and picked up the daggers she'd laid down. She turned them over, almost fondly. Zelos watched as she examined one more closely, as if reading something. Then she noticed his attention. "Pretty things, huh? I need a weapon, so…these will do." She walked to the pile of junk they'd come from and dug through it. She came out with a belt and matching sheaths. She buckled it on and sheathed her daggers.

Elpida stared at the bodies of the dozen men. She shrugged, and went through the gristly business of checking them. "Zelos?"

"Yeah?"

"Go away. Help the others or something."

Zelos complied, glancing over his shoulder at her.

On each of the bodies, she found what she was looking for. Each man had an Exsphere. And the leader…she frowned, and pulled off his other gauntlet.

Yes, the leader had another one, but it was an odd color. A Cruxis Crystal, she decided. She removed all of the Exspheres from the bodies, and went from corpse to corpse. A quick chant over a body produced a ball of light that incinerated the corpse to ashes.

She cremated each one, and, stowing away the Exspheres, walked around the house.

Lloyd had found a shovel, and he'd been making use of it. His strength and endurance let him dig almost mechanically, the stoic expression suggesting that he would continue until it was done.

Eventually, Genis timidly asked for the shovel. The swordsman handed it over, and the half-elf continued the task.

Sheena gave her fiancé a questioning look. "Why are you burying Koton?"

Lloyd said quietly, "Because no one else will."

Lloyd, Genis, Zelos, and Athan took turns with the shovel. The grave was the proper depth, but with their combined efforts, it was done by sundown.

Elpida helped them lower Koton to his rest, and helped fill in the grave. When it was done, she prayed over it—a general prayer that hoped that he would be judged by his best and not his worst.

Afterwards, the others went to build a fire and set up camp. Elpida wandered around until she found a convenient rock. She kneeled by it and, using the tip of a dagger, crushed the Espheres against it, one by one.

As each one was destroyed, she felt the tiny sigh of relief and exultation. When the dozen exspheres and the Cruxis Crystal were destroyed, she sheathed the dagger, and went back to the others.