Chapter 2: Shadow of the past

"Let's begin the research!" Raine exclaimed as she and her less excited companions set out from the Tethe'alla capital for the temple. Sheena and Lloyd were joining her. The summoner was curious of what secrets the armor could hold. Even though she had made pacts with the many spirits, including Shadow who resided in the temple, she didn't know much about them. Lloyd on the other hand, was just happy to get away from those snooty nobles and their endless useless meetings. He could never wrap his mind on how they could spend so much time talking and so little time doing anything.

Their trek to the temple wasn't known for being the most exciting journey, causing the swordsman to ask a questions he would later regret. "What do you think we're going to find there, professor?" Lloyd asked.

"I don't know," Raine said, trying to rack the many thoughts going through her mind, "The armor reacts like it has been infused with magic, similar to the various magic swords, but there is something different about this."

"You realize you just set her off into ruin mode again," Sheena whispered to Lloyd as the professor continued unloading her vast amount of knowledge.

"Sorry," he whispered back as Raine entered a full-blown lecture. While her passion scared any nearby monsters away, the two humans had no choice but to endure the torture.

"The crafting of the armor indicates that it was made in either midway through the fifth age of the Cendorian Empire, or possibly during the decline of the seventh age."

"At least I brought these earplugs," Lloyd said, handing a pair to Sheena, allowing them to continue in peace, while the oblivious maniac shared her knowledge with nothing but the various trees and plants.

After a couple hours traveling, they finally saw the mountains that encased the temple. Raine had calmed down from her earlier lecture, so the other two thought they were safe. "Come on! We're almost there!" she exclaimed loud enough for Flanor to hear.

"Wait," Sheena said, stopping the group in their tracks. "We're not alone," she said softly, so only her companions could hear.

"You think someone's following us?" Lloyd asked.

"It's probably just a jealous archeologist wanting to steal credit for this discovery."

"All right!" Sheena yelled, "You have the count of five to reveal yourself or I will start throwing sharp objects."

"Whoa whoa, put those down my lovely banshee," a voice said as a red haired man came out of the bushes.

"Zelos! What are you doing here?" Sheena asked, wondering if she should still toss the various pointed weapons.

"I'm guessing he wants to hit on the students waiting for us up ahead," Raine said.

"Only if I can't get my first two choices," he said walking up to the group. The two females had gotten used to his comments long ago, but he had not become used to Sheena's response.

"I'll smack you!" Sheena said sending her foot into the chosen's stomach.

"You said smack, not kick!" he complained rising back from the ground.

"We'll have time for your bickering later," Raine said, trying to get the expedition back on track, "Now is the time to change the course of history!"

"Don't you think she's going a bit overboard?" Zelos said, once the half-elf was out of earshot.

"It's the professor, what do you expect?" the twin swordsman replied.

After about another hour of traveling, and Lloyd attempting to tune out all the information Raine was shoving into his brain, they finally arrived at the entrance. However, instead of the students waiting patiently as they had expected, they saw a number of monsters battling the students.

A student's blade clashed with the claw of a chimera, but the beast was too strong, sending the young warrior to the ground. Several of the students were wounded, while the others used their limited to self-defense knowledge to fend off the feriousios beasts.

"We have to help them!" Lloyd said running into battle. He pulled out his twin blades of fire and ice and charged at the creatures. Zelos pulled out his sword as Sheena readied her spell cards and the two joined the fray as well. Raine ran to the students and began charging her healing magic.

Lloyd jumped into the air, and came down, slicing a monster in half with his rising falcon attack. The red clad swordsman then turned and parried the claw from another monster, before slicing through it with his deft swordsmanship.

Zelos gathered the mana that filled the air into his blade, and thrust it into one of the fiends, striking it with lightning and steel. However, several other beasts soon surrounded him, but the magic swordsman leapt through the air, slicing through the monsters all around him with his light spear attack. The wounded monsters were sent flying, many of them colliding into the side of the mountains.

Sheena deftly dodged the claws of the enemies, while pounding them with her various seals. The ninja struck a group of them with her Cyclone seal, tossing them into the air. She then saw a monster charge at a student, but blew the fiend away in a burst of light with her demon seal, stopping it from harming any more innocents.

Raine used her revitalize spell, healing nearly all the wounds the students had experienced so far in the battle. She continued using her more concentrated spells until she was sure that they weren't in life threatening danger. Then she turned her attention to the monsters her companions were battling. With a fury of light spells, she destroyed many of the dark based monsters, forcing the monsters to flee back into the temple.

"It's a good thing you came when you did," one of the students said as he walking up to Raine.

"I never thought we'd be attacked by monsters that strong when we were still outside the temple," another said.

"Is everyone all right?" Raine asked.

"Well, Jake and Scott took a few blows from the monsters, but they seem to be doing better now. Jeff was able to defend himself without taking any serious hits, but you might want to take a closer look at Ben and Nathanael though. Dave was able to use his martial art skills to kill several of them, now he's just trying to get the monster's flesh off his once clean uniform."

"What about you Rob?" the professor asked.

"I'll remember this battle for a while, but I'm fine."

"Hey Raine, don't the monsters normally stay within the temple?" Sheena asked.

"Yea," Raine said, "Occasionally one or two may leave, but never dozens attacking like that." She knew that something was wrong, but it only strengthened her curiosity. There was something she didn't know, and it was taunting her, but she would find out.

"Perhaps this armor lured them," a student suggested, "After all, they could have responded to the powerful mana concentration in the armor, especially since you theorize they were crafted by the summon spirits themselves."

"Which means we'll need to exercise more caution as we delve into the unknown," Raine said.

"Are you sure it is wise to continue with so few of us?" Jake asked.

"We have the heroes of world regeneration on our side, I don't think we have much to fear," Steven added.

"So we're just meat shields?" Lloyd asked as they started into the dungeon.

"That's fine with me, but where are all the chicks?" Zelos asked.

"Unfortunately, nearly all of the magitechnology engineers are males," Raine stated.

"Well at least I still have my voluptuous honey."

"Do you want my foot across your face?" she threatened.

"We'll I'd prefer other parts of your bod-"

*Smack*

"I never noticed this temple has such an echo," Raine observed after hearing Zelos cry out in pain.

The team continued through the temple, on the watch for any monsters lurking as they descended further into the darkness. Several duluhans attacked, but they were quickly dispatched by the swordsmen.

"Professor, do you notice something odd with the mana here," Scott asked.

"Now that you mention it, there is something peculiar the farther down we go," she answered.

"Are you a half-elf?" Lloyd asked, considering he and other humans couldn't notice irregularities in the mana that filled the world.

"Y-yea," he replied nervously.

"What, you got a problem with us?" Jake retorted, ready to defend his friend.

"Not at all," Zelos calmly said, "my bud was just curious."

"Yea, I don't care what race you are," Lloyd added.

"See, this world is starting to change for the better," Raine said, trying to ease the memories of prior injustices.

After what seemed like a long time of traveling, the team finally made it to the final level, where the concentration of mana was strongest. Along the ground, they saw a pitch-black sword. If it weren't for the bright blue trim along the edge and hilt, it would have completely blended in.

"That sword possesses incredible power, I must have it," Raine said as she charged at the weapon. When she went to pick it up however, a force prevented her from grabbing it.

"Its mana feels just like the armor," Jake said.

"Perhaps the helm wasn't the final piece," Raine thought aloud.

"What do we do from here then?" Sheena asked

Before she could get an answer however, the ground began shaking, and the summon spirit of darkness materialized. "Shadow, what's going on here?" the ninja asked, knowing she didn't call him.

"Go" he raspily replied.

Before they could make sense of the command, the various pieces of armor the students were carrying shot out of their backpacks, and hovered around the sword. Lloyd and Zelos drew their swords incase a fight would soon ensue. The various shards of armor combined together into a full suit, hovering above the sword. The blade then rose from the ground, as the hand opened, accepting the weapon.

The onlookers couldn't identify exactly when it happened, but what once was an empty suit of armor was now filled with a person.

He landed on the ground, where his sword once laid, and gazed at the various confused people. "Hello."

_

End of chapter!

Tiger: And one of my evil cliffhangers. This time though, Xylek was the evil mastermind.

Xylek: *Goes to play psp*

Tiger: Review please?