Chapter 17: The World of Sylvarant

For a brief moment, Riku goes unconscious after entering the Otherworldly Gate. He doesn't feel anything as he awakens, as though his body had become as light as a feather. As he opens his eyes, he finds himself amidst a swirling mass of glowing violet energy. Around him were Lloyd and the rest of the group, who were simultaneously floating around and awakening from their unconscious state.

"Huh? Where are we?" The teenage Overlord asks in a puzzled state. He looks around, thinking for a moment that he had somehow ended up in purgatory before he remember the Otherworldly Gate and narrowed his eyes while saying in a worried voice "Oh no…"

Turning around quickly, Riku is able to see that he and the rest of the group are rapidly approaching the ground, enveloped by a comet-like projection of energy. "Everyone, brace yourself!"

The teenage Overlord summons forth plenty of rocks around his body in a sphere, while everyone else prepares their Guardian spells at precisely the right moment, with Genis covering Mithos along with himself. The comet crashes into the ground, but somehow manages to not create a crater in the impact as it breaks apart and slams the group straight onto their backs or faces.

Even with the combination of their protection and the Exspheres for everyone but Riku, the impact stung quite a bit as vibrations shook through the spines of anyone who landed on their back. "Ow ow ow!" Zelos blurts out in a rather overreacting manner.

After a few seconds of groans being spread amongst the group they started to rise back onto their feet. Lloyd rubs the back of his head and says in a pained tone "Argh…Never doing that again…" Regal, who was sturdier than the rest, was able to get his bearings faster and look around the flowing grassy plain before he asked "…Where are we?"

"…Let me see if I can identify something from that hill." Raine slowly walks to the top of the nearby grass knoll, where she finds in the distance an active port town with a few archaic stone buildings and a lighthouse out near the docks. With the smell of sea water being brought to her by the wind, Raine is able to say with certainty "It seems we've landed close to Palmacosta…"

Excitedly, Colette says "We're back in Sylvarant!" While beside her Genis looks at the warm air around him and comments in addition to what his friend mentioned "The mana level seems to have risen, but it's definitely Sylvarant."

Zelos jokes around about the matter by saying "Heh, I never would have thought I'd get to the other side that way!" He is then swiftly met with a punch to the gut from a rather angry Sheena, which causes him to lurch forward in pain and let out a raspy breath as the ninja clenches her fists and proclaims "Zelos, what the hell did you do that for?!"

The Chosen slowly stands back upright as all eyes focus on him and Sheena, leading to Zelos stating in a bewildered tone "Excuse me? Don't tell me you were serious about dying back there." Sheena glances at Zelos in a nervous manner and comments quietly "Well…"

"Come on now, it's obvious those guys would have come after us regardless of whether or not you died." Zelos doesn't give the answer so Sheena can think about the matter for a moment, leading to her answering in a stunned tone of voice "Oh yeah, Kuchinawa was working with the Pope, wasn't he?"

Raine adds her own thoughts into the matter after she gets back down from the knoll "Those assassins he had with him were the Papal Knights, that much I'm certain of. To think that so many of our enemies would be working together…" Colette walks up to Sheena after the professor was done talking, and after clasping the ninja's hands and raising them up with a smile on her face the Chosen asks of her friend "Sheena, please don't do something like that again. Don't make the same mistake I did. Nothing good will come from you sacrificing your life."

"Colette's absolutely right. You should thank Zelos, Sheena." Lloyd points out. As much as Sheena hated to be indebted to the Chosen of Tethe'alla, she glanced at him after Colette let go of her hands and said in a nervous tone of voice "Th…Thank you, Zelos."

Zelos basked in the moment as expected of him, grinning brightly as he jokingly said "Come on now, would it hurt you to give me a kiss or two?" This remark is met with yet another punch to the gut from Sheena, though this one was lighter in strength and a little more justified. Presea shows no mercy to the Chosen as she comments "Zelos…you're horrible."

As Zelos groans in pain and Sheena lets out an annoyed growl, Mithos looks at Lloyd and asks of him "Umm…What are we gonna do now?" Lloyd replies as he glances at his friends "Mithos has a point…Hmm, maybe we should find out what the Desians are up to while we're around?"

"That's a good idea Lloyd, but we can't drag Mithos into this." Genis responds with concern towards his fellow half-elf. Colette chimes in with a rather good suggestion "Hey! Since we're near Palmacosta, why don't we ask Neil to take care of him for a while?"

"Neil? Oh yeah, good idea Colette." Lloyd replies with a smile, but Mithos has some objections to the matter as he bravely proclaims "But I want to help fight too!" Genis quickly glances at Mithos in a panicked manner and says "What are you saying? This journey is dangerous even if you had an Exsphere or Riku's powers."

Raine backs up her brother by mentioning "He's right Mithos. If you had an Exsphere, we'd probably be more inclined to have you with us. But we do appreciate your sentiment." Mithos hangs his head low slightly and says in a disappointed tone "…I suppose you're right. I understand…"

With little else to say for the moment, the group began to depart for Palmacosta, but before they went too far Raine stopped Riku with a simple and quiet "Wait a second Riku…" The teenage Overlord turns around and looks at the professor, asking in a puzzled tone as she has a smile on her face "What is it?"

Raine walks up to Riku and gives him a brief but warm hug, pulling back and saying in an appreciative tone as the teenage Overlord blinks a few times in confusion "Thank you for not telling them where I was going. Because of the time I was given, I was able to clear up a lot of questions about my own past."

"U-Ummm, no problem Raine." Riku was surprisingly flustered by Raine's hug, which led to his response sounding a little stuttered in turn. "They figured out where you were going and I had to kind of stall them in Altamira for a few hours, but I'm glad you were able to discover the truth."

"Well, questions still remain regarding why Genis and I were dropped into Sylvarant, but what I've discovered is a good enough start…But my personal issues can wait until we've dealt with the Summon Spirits. Again, thank you Riku." Raine calmly states.

"You're considering staying in Tethe'alla when the worlds part?" Riku asks, to which Raine replies after a moment of thought "Hmm, it's possible I might. It is something I have to think about. Right now, we're risking falling behind."

Before Raine and Riku turn around to catch-up with the group, Genis, who had watched the entire scene unfold, flips around with a greatly worried look on his face before he sprints off. It takes a few minutes for Raine and Riku to catch up, but once they do Lloyd immediately notices and asks "Hey, where did you two run off to?" Raine calmly replies "I was picking up some of my supplies that were dropped off by the gate. Riku decided to help to save time."

"Heh, alright then." Lloyd doesn't have anything else to say on the matter, but Zelos glanced at Riku with a brief smile on his face to show that he suspected something else. Nevertheless, he never brings it up as the group walks to Palmacosta. It doesn't take long for them to arrive at the seaside town, which had a surprisingly high number of people walking about. It wasn't as busy as say, Meltokio, but it was still bustling enough that walking through the town proved a little difficult considering the group's numbers.

Along the way, Colette started feeling a bit nostalgic and said to Lloyd "Remember when we arrived here? We took our first boat ride from Izoold with the Professor, Genis and Kra-" She stops before mentioning the last man's name, covering her mouth in an embarrassed manner with both hands before Lloyd replies in a barely upset manner "Yeah, that was a fun ride…Even if the boat smelled like fish. But we don't need to use that anymore since we got the Rheairds."

"…Come to think about it Lloyd, I forgot to compliment you on storing those in the wing pack. Had you not done so, we would be at a severe mobility disadvantage." Raine says. "Heh, not a problem professor." Lloyd accepts the compliment with a smile.

Afterwards, it doesn't long for the group to make it to the largest building in Palmacosta sans the lighthouse, where two armored guards let Lloyd and his friends enter without much of a worry. Once inside the confines of the government building, they find a young man with well-combed green hair, a cloth orange shirt, and grey pants. He looks at Lloyd and his friends in surprise, especially with their heavy increase in numbers, and says to them "Chosen One! Lloyd! How is the journey to release the seals going?"

Colette blushes nervously and comments "Ah, well…actually…" To avoid a panic by Colette slipping up, Lloyd quickly says to Neil "E…everything's going well! Anyways, we were wondering if you could take of one of our friends for a while." The boy makes a gesture towards Mithos afterwards.

"Hmmm? I certainly don't mind, but who is he?" Neil asks as he hangs one hand below his chin and thinks. Raine replies "He's traveling with us for a moment, but we're heading to an area that is too dangerous for him."

"Are you heading back to the Palmacosta Ranch?!" Neil blurts out in a tone of utter surprise. Genis, puzzled by the question, asks of Neil "What are you talking about? We destroyed that already."

"Huh, you're not? That's odd, we've recently received reports that Desians are wandering around the ruins. We've increased our security just in case." Neil explains himself, and with a curious perk of her head upward Colette ponders "I wonder if Magnius came back?"

"It don't know if it's related, but there are also reports that Desians are attacking the see route between Izoold and Palmacosta. They seem to be constructing some sort of giant infrastructure on the ocean floor." Neil gives out some more information, leading to Lloyd commenting "On the sea route? Didn't Altessa say Rodyle had his own Human Ranch on an island? Maybe he's working on that Mana Cannon…"

"Then we should take a look. It only makes sense, right?" Zelos points out, to which Sheena adds on by explaining "Even if it's not the Mana Cannon, this city will become the next Luin if the Palmacosta Ranch is operational again."

With those two facts in mind, Lloyd nods his head in agreement and says "Yeah. Let's head over there. We'll come back for Mithos later." Neil nods his head out of understanding towards their goals, and with a partially concerned expression he says "I know you can deal with the Desians, but good luck anyways."

As the group begins to leave the building, Mithos gives his regards to them all by mentioning "Genis. Be careful…No, that extends to all of you. Please make it back safely." Genis grins at his friend and says to him "Hehe, we'll be back in no time Mithos."

Mithos then walks up to Genis and reaches into his clothes, saying to his friend in a gentle tone of voice "Wait, before you go…" The half-elf holds out an ancient looking wood-carved flute, saying to Genis afterwards "It's…a memento of my sister who passed away." He felt a little hesitant saying that, as evidenced by him shyly looking away from his friend as he spoke.

Genis widens his eyes in disbelief and comments "W-What? You can't expect me to take something that precious from you!" Mithos looks at his friend and says to him "If you find yourself in danger, please play it. I don't know what it can do, but it may just be able to save you."

Genis glances down at the flute, and after a moment's hesitation he lifts his wiggling right hand up and takes the instrument into his grasp. Putting it away in his shirt pocket for now, Genis promises to his friend calmly "…Thank you Mithos. I will return it to you when we're done with the Desians here."

Leaving Mithos behind at the government building, the group exited Palmacosta almost as quickly as they entered it. Though Riku wanted to stay behind a little longer, his obligations to help the Chosen's group prevented him from doing so. The teenage Overlord gave a melancholy glance to the town, and thought to himself "…Could I maybe get them to believe me?"

His thoughts are broken off by Lloyd as he summons the Rheairds from the wing pack and says "Hey Riku, we're taking off now!" The teenage Overlord flips himself around and takes off of the ground while commenting in an understanding voice "R-Right! Let's go take care of the Desians!"

Taking off in the Rheairds, the group makes a straight line towards the ruins of the Palmacosta Human Ranch past the closest mountain range. It was clear that nothing survived whatever explosion took the ranch down, since only the heavily fortified walls were up around the former building. The group dives down and lands on the path leading up to the ranch to avoid detection. Back on their feet, everyone slowly approaches the ranch from the front, but when they arrive at the former entrance they are surprised by who they find.

Standing still as though they were waiting for the group to arrive was Botta and two Renegade soldiers. "Renegades!" Lloyd blurts out the obvious and draws out one of his swords as though expecting another battle, while Genis makes an observation "So that's it. Neil and the others don't know about the difference between Renegades and Desians."

Botta politely extends one hand out and gestures to the group before stating "We've been waiting for you." Regal finds this remark rather curious, and he comments in return "You were expecting us?"

"Does it really matter? We have more important things to discuss, such as joining forces." Botta's offer is met with a disapproving scoff from Raine, who explains her reaction in a calm manner as she folds her arms against her chest "You actually expect us to trust you after all you've done to Lloyd and Colette?"

"The circumstances have changed." A familiar voice calls out to the group, forcing them to turn their heads to the right and see Yuan walking into view. The man brushes aside his hair slightly and after he approaches Botta from the side he asks of the group "Tell me, do you know of the Giant Kharlan Tree?"

"The legendary Giant Tree said to have existed in the Holy Ground of Kharlan? It's the tree of life, which produces infinite mana." Zelos shows a surprising amount of knowledge on the subject, but the group is left befuddled on the matter still as Colette quickly points out "Isn't that just a fairy tale?"

Yuan turns towards the group and folds his arms as they relax, commenting to them "The Giant Kharlan Tree indeed existed. But the Kharlan War exhausted its mana supply and the tree wilted away. And now all that remains is its seed left in the Holy Ground of Kharlan."

"What are you referring to? The Soul of Mithos?" Riku asks. Botta replies this time, saying in a jolly voice "Heh, now that is a fairy tale. The Great Seed, the supposed 'Soul of Mithos' and the source of the world's mana, is the seed of the Giant Tree."

"The Great Seed is absolutely vital in order to reunite the two worlds." Yuan explains, which immediately makes all but Riku flinch in shock, with Lloyd exclaiming in disbelief "Reunite the two worlds?!"

"I believe I told you before, Yggdrasill is the creator of the two worlds. Originally it was one, but Yggdrasill ripped it asunder." Yuan says, to which Lloyd quietly points out "…How is it even possible for someone to split the world apart?"

"It was possible for Yggdrasill. The two worlds have managed to survive by vying for the small amount of mana that seeps forth from the Great Seed. But if the Great Seed germinates, the Giant Tree will be restored and the cycle will be put to an end." Yuan's explanation is swiftly met by an inquiry from Lloyd "How do we resurrect the Giant Tree?"

"The Great Seed is nearly dead. We must expose it to a large amount of mana in order to save it." Yuan sounds a little optimistic in his idea, but Raine is quick to shoot it down by explaining "There's no supply of mana like that to be found anywhere in the world. Even with all the Summon Spirits…"

"Cruxis' base, Derris-Kharlan, is a comet made from a giant mass of mana. It lies suspended in the sky high above this land. All we have to do is use that." Yuan explains, but this just begs yet another question from Lloyd. "Wait, if that's true, then why doesn't Yggdrasill revive the Giant Tree?"

"He cannot. He is using all of his resources on Derris-Kharlan on Martel for the sake of her resurrection." This surprises the group again, with Colette muttering out "What?" In quiet shock. "By using the power of a Cruxis Crystal, Martel's soul lives on, existing as a part of the Great Seed."

"If Martel awakens, the Great Seed will be absorbed into her and disappear. The reverse also holds true. In order to prevent that from happening, Yggdrasill protects the Great Seed with the seals of the Summon Spirits." Botta's explanation is followed up by Yuan adding on "That is why we were preventing Martel's revival. We will germinate the Greed Seed, and…"

For a brief and rather glaring moment, Yuan didn't finish his sentence, but it didn't matter as Lloyd stated "The Giant Kharlan Tree will be reborn." Colette asks afterwards "If that happens, will the two worlds become one again?"

Yuan gives a barely assured shake of his head and says "That I do not know. The only certainty present is that the world will end if the seed is not germinated." "So you plan to have little Miss Martel just up and disappear, huh?" Zelos comments in a very serious tone.

"…I see no harm in doing that. Martel is dead. If it weren't for Yggdrasill's persistence, her soul could have disappeared a long time ago." Yuan states in a none-too-pleasant voice. "But why? Why is Yggdrasill so obsessed with Martel?" Genis questions in a pressing tone.

"What does that matter? What's important is that we see to it that the Great Seed germinates." Yuan blows the question off in a somewhat suspect manner, but before anyone can press him on it Botta comments "Up till now, the Great Seed has been protected by the Summon Spirits of the declining world. Now that you have formed pacts with six Summon Spirits, the Great Seed's protection has almost unraveled."

"Hmm, so now your intentions add up. You want us to join up with you because Sheena is a summoner." Raine comments, and while this matter was thought over by the group Lloyd asks in a brutally honest tone "Yuan, are you with Cruxis? Or are you with the Renegades?"

Desperate times called for desperate measures, and even Yuan knew that it was the time to reveal the truth about his role in this conflict. "…I am with Cruxis, and I am also the leader of the Renegades." These words, meant to gain the final bits of trust from the group, made Zelos comment in a serious tone "So, you're a traitor, for lack of a better term."

There is a few moments of pause between the group members before Yuan asks "So, what's your decision?" It was Lloyd who took the lead in giving an answer, and said in a certain tone "Okay Yuan, we'll help."

"Lloyd, you're going to trust him?" Raine steps beside Lloyd and asks of him. Lloyd nods his head and states in response "He's revealed that he is a traitor. He's putting himself on the line, which is far more than I can say for Kratos…For Yuan, that has to mean something."

"I'll trust him, too." Colette adds her support to Lloyd's decision, leaving little disagreement from the rest of the group afterwards. Yuan comments afterwards "Now that that's settled, I do believe you were headed toward Rodyle's ranch, correct?"

"Hmm, you sure know a lot about what we're doing. Do you have a spy watching us?" Zelos comments. "No kidding. But either way, we have to stop that Mana Cannon before it's completed." Lloyd says in response.

Presea steps forward and mentions "We also have a debt to pay back to Rodyle." Yuan nods out of an understanding before commenting "The ranch and Mana Cannon systems should be interlinked. Disabling the control room should be our first priority."

"We have a reason to infiltrate Rodyle's ranch as well. We can guide you to the entrance, if you'd like." Botta offers politely. "We're teaming up, right? Of course, please take us there." Lloyd replies afterwards.

"Wait, why are you going to the ranch?" Sheena felt the need to ask this of their new allies. Yuan seriously comments "We need to make preparations to fire mana at the Great Seed. By the way, the Rheaird dimensional transfer system will be offline while we make our preparations. You'll have to wait until after we infiltrate the ranch if you want to get back to Tethe'alla."

"That's fine, we weren't planning on leaving anyways." Riku comments in a blunt tone towards Yuan. Yuan scoffs the comment off and says "I know we were enemies for a time, but you can trust me now, Elemental Overlord. Anyways, talk to Botta when you're ready, I shall leave it all in his hands."

Yuan gives a trustworthy glance to Botta, who nods his head and says simply "Understood." Yuan then leaves the ruins of the Palmacosta Ranch behind him as he wanders off to take care of some other affairs. Botta looks at the group, gesturing out politely as he says to them "Well then, whenever you're ready to take off."

There is no hesitation regarding departure, leading to Botta, the two Renegade soldiers near him, and the group taking off with their Rheairds towards the sea south of Palmacosta. They fly towards a lone island with a gigantic mechanical tower built onto it, and once they are on the sandy shore they get off their machines and gathered before the entrance in the side of the rocky base.

Before everyone enters, Botta makes a point of noting to the group "We have work to do on the mana reactor in here. If you head straight, it should connect to the ranch…One more thing though. It seems you've destroyed every ranch you've been to, but we need the mana reactor in order to sprout the Great Seed. Don't destroy this one."

Most of the group direct their glances at Raine, which leads to her commenting in a rather offended tone "…It's not like I destroy them for fun, you know." Botta and his two Renegade allies sprint straight for the insides of the ranch, leaving the rest of the group to discuss things over for a few seconds.

"In order to disable the Mana Cannon, we need to go to the control room." Regal comments. Lloyd nods his head and points towards the top of the ranch while commenting "My intuition tells me it's probably the room farthest in. So let's go up there." Colette praises Lloyd in a happy tone "You're amazing, Lloyd!"

Genis sarcastically replies "Yeah, we've been to enough of these places already, so things like that should be obvious by now." Lloyd glares at his friend in an infuriated matter, leading to Zelos then commenting before they get too off-track "Well then, let's get going and look for that control room."

Upon going through the entrance to the ranch, the group finds themselves in the presence of a strange arrangement of blocks in front of a large door. "Hmm, seems we need to activate all these blocks to open the door." Lloyd comments. Riku stretches his arms in front of his body and steps forward while commenting "Good idea, let me handle this one."

The teenage Overlord coats his hands in electricity and kneels down, placing them both directly on the first block and sending electricity through every single block. But the blocks don't activate at all, causing Riku to pause for a moment as he steps up and says "What? My electricity doesn't work?"

"Rodyle must have planned for that…That's a little worrisome. But don't worry, I think I know the solution to this puzzle." After Raine comments on this matter, she walks onto the first block in front of her, causing a little light to appear atop of it. She walks along the path to the left and goes around the entire arrangement until they are all aglow, which causes the large door to open up and allow the group passage to the next room.

Meeting Raine on the other side, Lloyd compliments her for figuring it out, and they move on to the next room. Inside, Lloyd finds another Sorcerer's Ring Altar, which allows him to change it's function. Upon doing so, he creates a loud "Ping!" that radiates around the room and creates a little shockwave. "What a bizarre sound…" Lloyd comments after the ringing exits his ears.

Raine glances around and notices that one of the doors in this multi-pathed room has opened after the sound went off. "So the machines in this facility resonate with that sound…Looks like this will be our key to reach Rodyle." "Rodyle's definitely an idiot for keeping something like this here. If he removed this, we'd be stuck in the entrance and never be able to stop his plans." Riku notes.

"To be fair, he expected us to perish at the hands of the dragons. He likely doesn't know we are alive." Regal says in a wise tone. Presea pulls out her axe and holds it along her hands, commenting in a rather bitter tone "Good…"

Moving on through the newly opened door, the group crosses a bridged hanging over a deep chasm, where they find themselves in front of a column with an elevator and a large series of jail cells filled with humans that were taken from Palmacosta. The elevator goes really high up, possibly to the very top of the ranch itself, but it doesn't seem to be active.

"Can the ring work on this?" Lloyd asks himself as he touches the ring and activates the sound wave to try and turn the elevator on, but fails to accomplish his task. "Hmmm, guess only the Desians know how to work this elevator." Raine comments immediately afterwards.

"So what are we going to do then?" Zelos asks in a curious tone. "We have only one choice…Let's free the captives here and cause a disturbance. Once the Desians come down, we'll kill them and use the elevator." Raine replies in a morbid sounding tone.

"…That's rather cruel, but they don't really leave us with any other options." Sheena points out. "Indeed…Lloyd, go around and use the ring to open the cells. Colette, Riku, help bring the captives down to the ground. Lloyd, once you're done you and Zelos should wait outside the elevator to stop the Desians."

Understanding the plan, Lloyd runs around the base of the column and uses the Sorcerer's Ring to activate the jail cells, opening them up instantly to free all the tattered clothed humans inside. Colette and Riku quickly work to help the captives on the higher floors get to the ground. Once they've freed everyone, the teenage Overlord urges the ones he saved "Go! Get out of here quickly!"

Once all the humans were out of sight, Lloyd and Zelos pulled out their swords and waited at the elevator door. It opens about a minute later, and the two Desians that emerge are immediately shanked through the hearts by Lloyd and Zelos' blades. Blood shoots through their chests as the swords are pulled out, and their bodies fall to the ground and bleed out as Lloyd and Zelos sheathe their weapons. The only one who really has pity for the fallen Desians is Colette, everyone else gives a neutral glance to them as they walk into the elevator and activate it to head up the highest possibly floor in the ranch.

No one drops a comment on what they just did, and this silence remains until the elevator stops and releases the group in front of a slightly elevator platform that released a cone of white light. It was the only thing of note in this room, leading to Riku commenting "This has to be a teleportation panel…Which means a maze."

"A maze, seriously? What is the point of this?" Zelos comments in a rather annoyed tone, leading to Raine stating "Does it matter? We will only waste a little time with this, and then deal with Rodyle at the top."

The group walks into the teleportation device, ending up in another part of the ranch above them, and after a good seven minutes of wandering between devices they end up in front of a door with a bigger shape and grander design than all the rest atop a small staircase. It was clear where this would lead to, but before they went through it Lloyd turned towards the group and held his arms out while commenting "Is everyone ready? Now we have Rodyle right where we want him!"

"He will pay for what he has done." Presea firmly comments. "Indeed, for everything Rodyle has done, even hell is too good for him. Let us show him no mercy." Regal says in a surprisingly fierce tone of voice.

"Once he's done for, Sylvarant and Tethe'alla will be in a better shape. You have my support, Lloyd ol' boy!" Zelos cheerfully comments. There was nothing else from the remainder of the group that needed to be said, so with a nod of his head Lloyd turned towards the door and pointed towards it, and with a brave charge everyone runs for it as it opens, ready to deal with Rodyle and his accursed Mana Cannon…

Next Time: Nothing is Set in Stone…