Here it is! Chapter 4!
Many many thanks to the reviewers and readers who put my story on their alert/favorite list!
I will left from July 16th to July 24th for a music course... I will bring my computer with me, but I don't know if there will an Internet connexion there... anyway, I'll see.
And again, I don't own Tales of Vesperia.
Enjoy!
04. Confusion
The first lights of dawn were annoucing the beginning on the day. A strange day. People woke up with the memory of what happened last night. That strange column of light which raised into the sky; some found it pretty, others thought of that as a bad omen.
In Estelle's room, Judith was standing in front of the window, looking absent-mindedly at the rising sun. She was interrupted in her thoughts by weak moans coming from behind her. She smiled, visibly relieved.
"Huh... urgh... oww... where am I?..."
While hearing those words, Judith turned round. "Looks like you're awake. Welcome back."
"Judith?" Yuri sat with difficulty on the bed. He looked around him, a bit confused.
"This is Estelle's room." Judith explained.
"… how did I end up here?"
"You don't remember?"
"Well..."
"I'll give you a clue: you arrived in Halure yesterday."
Halure... memories began to slowly come back to his mind. Yes, after the guild job was finished, he paid Estelle a visit during the festival... when they were attacked by two strange persons...
"In that case, why didn't you killed him? Humans are so difficult to understand, sometime..."
Yuri, Estelle and Judith frowned. The female voice they just heard was unknown to them.
Just in front of them, coming from nowhere, someone wrapped with dark clothes and the head hidden under a hood, was standing.
"Oh, Miss Waterflow, it's you?" Estelle asked, a little bit relieved.
"Waterflow? I see, this is how she's called here... How long do they intend to play comedy with humans?"
Estelle and Yuri looked at each other. What was she talking about?
…
A second person, much bigger than the first one but wearing the same clothes, came out from the dark. "Miryoku, I took care of the princess, thanks to the human girl you were controlling."
"Ooh, Kenmei! And...?"
"I sent a her a wood stick and she ran after that, like a good dog! So, Miryoku, are you ready?"
"Yes!"
The woman stretched her arms and, in a whirl of light, a strange-looking instrument appeared in her hands. An instrument composed of several small bells, with the handle decored with several multicolored ribbons. Without hesitation, her companion immediately rushed toward Yuri.
"No!" Judith interposed herself between the called Kenmei and her friend.
"Don't fight us, Krytian. It's better for you."
Judith smiled to him. "Well, my intuition is just saying that I can't let you lay a finger on my friend."
"Well, you don't give me the choice. Miryoku, I take care of that one. You, do what you have to do."
Even if her face was darkened by the hood she was wearing, a devil smile clearly appeared on the woman's lips.
Repede didn't hesitate. Dagger firmly maintened between his teeth, he jumped on the woman... but a gust of wind stopped him in his rush and sent him against the tree. He fell on the ground, no longer moving.
"Repede! Are you okay?" Yuri shouted, looking at the immobilized dog.
…
Yuri was ready to draw his sword, but Estelle was faster and took her own sword. She stepped before the woman.
"Estelle..."
"I don't know what you want, but I won't let you hurt him!"
The woman sighed.
"Humans... so strange... young one, a princess shouldn't play with a sword, right? Now go back to your castle and play with your dolls! Or... hey, wait a minute..."
"Princess? How do you know that?"
"Now, that's enough!" Yuri was really angry now. He drew his sword and was ready to attack, but... "Estelle?"
The princess was slowly turning to face him. Her eyes was now lifeless, and her face expressionless.
"Estelle, what's wrong?"
Behind Estelle, the woman started to snigger.
"I need time to prepare the spell, and Kenmei is busy with that Krytian. Finally, maybe I can use you, young princess! Ah, controlling woman's soul is sooo easy!"
Yuri was too surprised to react. Everything happened in a flash; his sword slipped out from his hands, and his back was against the tree. The princess pointed her sword on Yuri's neck.
"Estelle... wake up!" She was possessed, no doubt about it. Yuri can see it through her lifeless eyes.
Estelle slashed in diagonal, ripping Yuri's shirt and revealing entirely his chest. Then she pointed her sword on Yuri's neck.
"We kitsune are well-known for our soul-controlling ability" the woman explained, getting closer to Yuri. "Be sure he doesn't escape, candy girl." After she pronounced those words, Estelle dropped her sword and pinned Yuri against the tree's trunk.
"Estelle!" Yuri tried to free himself, but Estelle was too powerful. "Dammit, since when she's so strong?"
"Now, we can begin".
The hooded woman ringed the bell. A surnatural and powered sound came, causing Yuri to shout in pain.
…
The sound of the bell... Each ringing was hurting his body more and more. Then he was plunged into a blinding light. And after that... nothing.
"Oh yeah, now I remember..."
Judith sat next to him, a pile of clothes in her hands. She handed them to Yuri.
"There. The tailor really did a great job."
"Thanks... I remember you were pretty beaten yesterday. Are you all right?"
"I copped with just a few scratches. Their goal wasn't to fight nor kill us." As she was saying those words, Judith returned to the window.
"Where are they, anyway? Mages?"
The Krytian remained silent.
"They easily surpassed us. And the mind-something that woman was babbling about..."
Judith sighed.
"What's wrong, Judy?"
"Hmm? Oh, nothing."
"You seems to be... miles away."
"Do I really give this impression?"
"Yes. Is it, by any chance... because you know something about what happened yesterday?"
Judith lowered her head, hesitating. She stayed like that during several and long seconds.
"Judy?"
"Did you heard about travelers been attacked on the roads by strange monsters?" She suddenly asked.
"Yeah... I heard knights talking about it when I was In Dahngrest... it was a week ago. Why?"
"It was them. It's a supposition, but... After hearing the travelers's stories... savages attacks with unusual precision and speed, even the most skilled warriors weren't able to do something... I concluded that only them were capable of such things."
"You mean, the two of yesterday?"
"Not only them... the species of their kind. They aren't Entelexeia. They are called Demons."
"Demons?..."
"Demons are mythological creatures endowed with strange abilities. Some can take human forms and can speak our language. There are several types of demons. I don't know much of them, so I can't tell what type of demons the two who attacked us were."
"Strange abilities, you say... I understand now, that woman was controlling Estelle's mind..."
"The ability to manipulate people's souls and to left the victims with no memories of what happened," Judith explained.
"I never heard of Demons before... maybe the boss know something..."
"No. Humans normally don't know about them. And those who were enough unfortunate to meet them... they never escaped alive."
"Really? So... what about you? How do you know about that? And wait, you said those who met them didn't escaped alive... but you heard the victims's stories, right? So there are survivors, after all." Yuri wasn't angry when he said that, but he knew something was wrong. Judith didn't answered.
Judith frowned, visibly irritated. "I'm sorry. I can't tell more."
Yuri sighed. "Well, most importantly, we must be careful about those demons, right?"
"I'm sorry."
"Stop it, you sound like Estelle now..." That made Judith smile a bit. "By the way, how are the others?" Yuri continued.
"They're workind hard to repair the damage caused by the attack. I explained everything to the others, but not about the demons yet."
A few seconds of silence followed.
"Oh, I just noticed it. I didn't know you love tattoos."
"Tattoo? What tattoo?"
"On your chest."
The man loweled his head and caught sight of the famous tatoo, drawn on the right side of his chest. The drawing, as if it was painted with black ink, was depicting a flower with strange symbols written around.
"Huh? What is that?"
"You don't know about it?"
"I... I don't remember having this before I came here."
"Hmm... you know, even if I as beaten, I was still conscious. I saw that thing glowing when the demon was using the bells."
"Great... more confusion..."
Yuri sighed, visibly overtaken by events.
"Demons, tatoo appearing from nowhere, lights... Why the hell all the crazier things come across me?"
"A real trouble magnet."
"Well, it's not new..." He took off his blanket. "So, I'm gonna get changed."
"And?"
"And what? Well, that's obvious! Unless you think that watching at a man changing himself is really interesting?"
"Hum... maybe so... I didn't tested that before."
"You're not serious, huh?"
The Krytian smiled and got to the door. "Just joking. I'll let you and your privacy alone. I'm not like that demon who asked you to undress, after all. Although I must admit she has guts."
And as she closed the door, Yuri sighed once again.
"Demons, huh... But... there is something I can't understand... Why were they after me?"
When he left Estelle's house, the sun was already high in the sky, and the streets crowded. Stepping at the door, he saw Repede happily coming toward him.
"Hey Repede, looks like you're in great shape!"
"Woof!" The blue-fured dog energetically barked, happy to see his friend back to health.
Both of them joined the top of the hill, where the Tree was standing, contemplating the damages. The ground was totally cracked... as if the cause was an earthquake. There were enormous water puddles scattered everywhere and around the Tree. Fortunately, the Tree doesn't seems to be affected.
"Wow... Did Rita casted a water spell here?"
"Yuri! Yuri!"
"Oh, and here is the boss..."
In one second, Karol was next to him, followed by Rita.
"Yuri, you're okay!"
"Of course I am! You know how I'm strong!"
"Well, when we saw the villagers taking you to Estelle's house, it wasn't the case" Rita said, crossing her arms. "Judith told us. You were attacked, right?"
"Yeah... though I don't know why..."
"Yuri... you're really a trouble magnet." Karol said with an upset face.
"Trouble magnet, huh..." Yes, now he was used to this, but... this time was different. So many questions, so many mysteries to shed light on... it was just too incredible to simply take it lightly.
Estelle wasn't too far away: she was discussing with the mayor and some villagers. All of them had serious expressions on their face.
"They're planning to cancel the festival," Rita said, guessing that Yuri wanted to know what Estelle and the others were talking about. "The events of yesterday caused serious damages, and people are too shocked and worried."
"But what happened yesterday was really strange! It went BOOM! The ground shaked and a strange light coming from the bottom of the tree and piercing through the sky in a WOOSH! And after a SPLASH!" Karol said, waving his arms.
"Wow, wow, calm down!" Yuri said, smiling.
Rita looked at him. "Yuri, you may know something, right? That light came from the place you and the others stayed..."
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't know either."
After Estelle finished her talking, she noticed Yuri and joined the group.
"Yuri, are you feeling better?"
"Yeah, thanks."
"I was so worried! When I faced that woman, I was suddenly feeling drowsy, and I collapsed... I was so scared they did something to you!"
"No, don't worry. Looks like they went soft on me."
"Actually, she spent most of the night casting First Aid on you." Rita explained. "Although you didn't appeared to have serious injuries."
"Rita!" Estelle faced the mage, blushing. "No, that's not true! I... I..."
"You really did that, Estelle? Well, thank you. Thanks to you, I'm alright now." Yuri winked to Estelle.
"Yuri..."
But now, the swordsman noticed something: Estelle doesn't seem to remember what she did last night.
"I need time to prepare the spell, and Kenmei is busy with that Krytian. Finally, maybe I can use you, young princess! Ah, controlling woman's soul is sooo easy!"
Yuri was too surprised to react. Everything happened in a flash; his sword slipped out from his hands, and his back was against the tree. The princess pointed her sword on Yuri's neck.
"Estelle... wake up!" She was possessed, no doubt about it. Yuri can see it through her lifeless eyes.
Estelle slashed in diagonal, ripping Yuri's shirt and revealing entirely his chest. Then she pointed her sword on Yuri's neck.
It's exactly like Judith said: "The ability to manipulate people's souls and to left the victims with no memories of what happened". Freaking... Yuri choose to not tell her. No need to worry her much more. She's already stressed with the festival's matter.
"By the way, where is the old man?" Yuri asked while looking around.
"Somewhere" Rita simply answered, with a selfless expression. "That guy is just keeping popping around, and when you were just get used to his presence, he disappears. What a pain!"
Karol looked up at the former princess. "So Estelle, what have you decided?"
"Well, no surprises, the festival is cancelled. With what happened yesterday, the festival won't possibly continue in good conditions. What a shame!"
"Yeah, and you seemed to be really happy to organize that..." the young boy said to her.
"Besides, we don't know where Miss Waterflow is. It's like she... vanished."
"Humph, I knew that! She was playing the Ice Queen, but in fact she's a real coward!" Rita exclaimed, indignant.
"So, what are we gonna do?" Karol asked to his friends.
"It's up to you, boss"
"Mmh... maybe we should go to Dahngrest and expose the situation to the Union. Maybe they know something."
"Not a bad idea." Everyone looked back to see Judith coming in their way. She and Yuri exchanged a brief sight. "Bau'l just arrived. He can get us to Dahngrest."
"Thanks Judith, it will be of a great help!" Karol exclaimed, delighted. "But first, we have to finish our job."
"Job? What job?" the swordsman asked.
"The mayor hired us to help in clearing the village."
"So, what are we waiting for?" Judith started to leave the group. "And you, Rita?"
"Well, I'm not not in your guild, so I'm not concerned by that. But... I think I'm gonna give Estelle some help."
"Oh, thank you, Rita!"
"But I can't stay too long. I need to go back to Aspio quickly. You know, after Tarqaron's mess."
"Oh yes, that's right... How are things in Aspio?"
"We finished extracting bodies of people who were trapped under the rubbles. Our library was miraculously spared. My house too, surprisingly, so it means I can continue my researches."
"So there were dead people... I'm sorry for them..."
"Well, life is life. They were just too unfortunate to be in Tarqaron's way."
Karol tried to brighten the atmosphere.
"Hey guys, don't forget about the job!"
"Yes, yes, boss..." Yuri started to walk, following Judith. "Come on, let's go."
"We are in a real critical situation. I never saw that since hundreds of years. And to think that I could have prevent this from happening..."
"Don't worry, Shinsetsu. It's absolutely not your fault. We fulfilled our duties as we always do. Those demons managed to secretly make their plan, they confused us, and took advantage of our doubts and worries to strike."
"Chie..."
"Yes, don't worry, Shinsetsu!" Kansei's eternal optimism gave confidence to Shinsetsu.
"Yes, you're right. We don't have the time to mope about it. So, what are we going to do?"
"I just contacted Okugi. She's still in Halure, keeping secretly the demons away."
"Wow, they're fast! They don't waste in time! That means they really need him." Kansei said.
"The demons sended are still weak, so Okugi has no difficulty while dealing with them. We must react quickly. So, listen to me carefully..."
After a day of hard work, the Tree's place was now nearly back to normal...
"Hum... we tried really hard to fix the ground, but..." Karol was sweeping the entire place. "There are still traces. I can easily say something happened there."
"There are irreversible rifts." Judith concluded.
"Well, it's better than before." Yuri reassured them.
Night had started to fall. During all the day, people were leaving the village in a hurry.
"Was it really okay to let them leave like that? What if demons attacked them?" Yuri couldn't help but think of that.
Consecuently, at nightfall, the village was nearly empty... and depressing. Not like the feeling of joy he felt when he arrived last night.
Raven joined them at noon. Even if he didn't talk about the reason of his sudden disappearance, Yuri knew he was dealing with the knights presents for the festival, as Schwann. He saw him at the village's entrance.
But when Raven came back, he didn't helped them. He was just snoring and occasionnally teasing Rita and the others. Yuri sighed while remembering that.
"Thank you very much for your help!" the mayor bowed.
"We're sorry about what happened yesterday..."
"Oh no, don't worry about that, Mister Lowell! We'll just have to organize a new festival next year. Miss Estellise is already impatient to do that."
"That's good to hear."
"Unfortunately, we spent all of our money in preparing the festival and... repairing. So... I'm afraid I can't give you your reward right now..."
"No need to be worried, you can pay us later. Just don't forget." Karol said to the mayor.
"So, how about a good night of sleep? Old Raven is tired after all this work..."
"Tired... of doing nothing, yeah!" Rita crossed her arms.
"No, no, ya're wrong! I was encouraging everyone! It's pretty tiring, ya' know that?"
"Then, we don't have the same notion of encouraging." Judith said with a mocking tone.
"Oh, I know! I will ask the innkeeper to let you sleep for free at the inn. What do you think?" the mayor asked.
Karol thought about that for a few seconds. "We're all tired, and... Estelle wanted to invite us to her house, but it's too small for all of us... okay, we accept."
"Alright! I'll go inform the innkeeper."
As the mayor left, Karol faced his friends.
"So tomorrow, we're leaving for Dahngrest, right?"
"Yep. Let's have some rest." Yuri answered him.
The village was now completely empty and silent. At the inn, in the boys's room, Yuri was just laying on the bed, arms crossed behind his head and contemplating thoughtfully at the ceiling.
After a few minutes, he finally got up. The others were still asleep: Karol with his childish carefreeness, the old man with his legendaries snores.
Yuri left the room. Even if the sound of the door closing was almost inaudible, it woke up Repede. The dog knew something was wrong. Generally he lets his master alone... but now was different. Repede might be a dog, certainly, but he understands when things get wrong.
He decided to exit by the window. Passing through the door will be impossible, it will just wake the others. Repede sat on the window's edge and sized up the situation. Fortunately, the room is located on the first floor. So no risks.
Repede jumped and landed softly. He was now behind the inn. He went around the building and reached the entrance, just in time to see Yuri walking in the direction of the village's entrance.
"Woof!"
Yuri stopped, surprised. "Repede? Is that you?"
"Woof!"
"But... what are you doing here?"
The dog continued with a series of barks, agressive and worried at a time. Yuri sighed.
"What are you talking about? I'm just out for a walk."
Repede growled agressively in response.
"Looks like you already figured it out. Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I didn't want to make the others worry about me... you included. But I guess it didn't worked, huh?"
"Woof!"
Yuri looked at the moon.
"I'm going to Zaphias alone. What happened yesterday was pretty crazy and confusing but... they were after me. Only me. I know that perfectly well, even if I still don't know why. It will be a problem if the others are dragged into this mess, right?" He resumed his walking. "Repede, you should stay here too."
"Woof!"
"Thanks, but you will be in danger too. Look, they didn't hesitated in attacking you."
"Woof! Woof!"
The dog rushed and standed in Yuri's way.
"Woah! Okay, okay, I give up... Now that I told you that, you won't let me alone, right?"
"Woof!"
"Okay then. Let's go."
After a few hours of walk, they finally reached Deidon Hold, located between two mountains. As in Halure, the place was quiet, with just a few knights patrolling here and there. It must be around midnight now.
There is no inn in Deidon Hold, but Yuri noticed Karen and Rich, itinerant innkeepers and owners of the King's Adventure.
"Hey, is that...?"
"Woof!"
"Oh, it's you!" Karen said cheerfully.
"… hello..." Rich mumbled, quite uninterested.
"Brother! Be more polite and cheerful!"
"I see, still happy as a grave..." Yuri said. "I thought you were on roads running your itinerant inn?"
"Well, actually..." Karen said, "Our next destination should be the roads between Deidon Hold and Zaphias, but... see, they blocked the access. We can't pass through Deidon Hold."
Yuri followed her finger pointing at the hold's entrance, leading to the roads to Zaphias. And she was right: the giant doors were closed.
"I think it's because of yesterday" Karen continued. "Did you saw that light? I think it was coming from Halure. When it appeared, Rich and me were still travelling, and when we arrived here, the knights refused to let us pass."
"Travelling? Were you attacked on the roads?"
"Hum... no. Actually, we crossed the plain without any problems."
Yuri remained silent.
"I hope the situation will get better to-"
Karen was interrupted by a scream resonating in all the outpost. It was an... indescribable sound. Actually, "inhuman" should be the proper adjective to qualify it...
"What's that sound?" Karen asked. "It's... scary..."
"It's coming from the warehouse." Rich claimed.
Yuri, followed by Repede, Karen, Rich and the knights in patrol rushed to the warehouse. But before the swordsman could touch the door's handle, another ear-splitting scream stopped him in his rush, forcing him and the others to cover their ears.
"Dammit, what is that?"
Repede was the one who suffered the most; the dog was now totally confused, his head spinning.
"Wow, that even made Repede all fuzzy..." Yuri managed to say between two screams.
The inhuman and piercing screams were accompagnied by noises of strikes, slashs, kicks... even noises of blood splashing. Someone – or something – is fighting.
Everyone waited, preparing for the worst.
After a few seconds, the noises stopped. Yuri hesitated... He slowly turned the handle. But the door was locked.
"Dammit..."
"What... what was that?" Karen asked, panicked.
"I don't know" Yuri answered. "But certainly that sound wasn't human..."
Monsters?... or maybe... demons?
"Demons... yeah, that would make sense. Maybe they were following me secretly..."
Yuri heard a "click!".
"The door? It opened?" Yuri once again turned the handle and opened the door.
No blood on the floor nor the walls. No traces of fight here. Just... flower petals scattered on the floor.
There it is, one more chapter over! Actually, I'm not really satisfied with it but... I couldn't write it better. So I'm going to let it like that.
Now, on to chapter 5! (and finishing to prepare my baggages...)