Chapter 21

Leaning her elbow on the table, Marta bit her lower lip. "So Aster solved your world's problem in a day," she said, trying to wrap her head around it.

"Only if we can get Altessa to work on a key crest design that isn't used for battle," Aster agreed. "But if not, all I did was make a new weapon." He sighed. "I really would rather not have my name go down in history for that."

"I'll do my best to keep that from happening," Jude reassured. "More weapons is not what this situation needs. However, I'm going to need to report this to King Gaius, especially now that he's sent someone to check on me."

Marta felt Emil's hand on her knee and slipped her own hand down beneath the table to cover his. "Will Gaius respect your wishes and not use the gun to wage war?"

"There you are," Alvin said as he approached. Grabbing a chair from another table as he passed, he dropped it down next to Jude and straddled it, folding his arms on the back.

"What're you doing here?" Jude asked, cutting a look at the tall brunet.

Alvin rolled his eyes. "Ouch, cold." He gestured vaguely towards Emil and Marta. "I got dragged into this mess by those two and mostly Balan. Promise I'm not working for Gaius again." Jude met his eyes and after a second, nodded.

Marta got the impression there was a story behind that. She wasn't sure she wanted to know since it would probably make her distrust Alvin.

"As for Gaius respecting my wishes that we not put that gun into production..." Jude sighed. "He'll hear me out and do it anyway probably. But its the only working option we have right now and I'm going to have to show him it works in order to get him to take it seriously."

"Actually," Alvin said, lifting a finger. "I wouldn't suggest reporting to Gaius right away. Not that I know exactly what you're talking about but I get the feeling these guys have given you some idea of how to fix the Spyrites?"

Jude shook his head. "Not the spyrites exactly. Aster rigged a booster, spirit fossil, aspyrixis and something his people call a key crest together to create a gun that uses the spirit fossil's mana instead of the user's. Meaning it doesn't require a Rieze Maxian to wield it."

"You're sure about that?" Alvin asked, sitting up straight.

"We tested it earlier today. I could fire artes through it."

"Yeah, but you're half," Alvin pointed out.

"We can test it again tomorrow," Aster suggested. "That is, if you're Elympion?"

Alvin nodded. "Absolutely no mana producing capacity to speak of." He looked at Jude. "I see what you're worried about with Gaius then. If this works..." He tapped his heel on the floor twice. "I don't think you should report this to him just yet."

Closing his eyes, Jude nodded. "If we can get them back to Aselia, it might be possible to get someone there who knows more about key crests to create a design that is for general function."

Emil spoke up, having been silent for some time as he listened to the others talk. "The problem is getting back to Aselia."

Tapping the side of his head in thought, Jude's gaze flicked to Alvin, then Emil. "The Hallowmont."

Startled, Alvin turned towards the young doctor. "But that rift is closed," he said.

"Lord Ratatosk has power over space, I'm guessing much like Muzet does. He might be able to open a portal to the Spirit realm from there. If he can speak with Milla, perhaps they can work together to simultaneously fix the Gate of Nifelheim and repair the tears that lead to the demon realm."

"Did you really just come up with that right now?" Alvin asked.

Jude smiled. "Not exactly. I'd thought it was a possibility before, but it didn't matter if Lord Ratatosk was dead or we couldn't find him."

"Good thing he came to us," Aster agreed and grinned at Emil.

Marta snorted. "And return home without having at least tried to find you? Aster, we're not suicidal."

"The more I hear about this Richter..." Jude said softly, "The more I worry."

"Richter's a good person!" Aster objected.

Alvin laughed. "Sounds like someone has a crush."

Marta glanced at Aster in time to see his entire face turn red.

"I- it's not like that!" the blond looked away.

"Not that I know much about human emotions," Ratatosk said, "But even I can see it."

Aster buried his face in his arms on the table and quietly died of embarrassment.

Marta leaned over and rubbed his back with a hand. "Oh, don't be upset. It's all right," she said. "We'll get you home and you can sort it out with him."

"You don't understand," Aster said, voice muffled. "I like girls."

"But Richter inspires you," Jude said, "And is always there, like a rock, and when he's not you feel lost."

Lifting his head slightly, Aster peeked over his arm to look at Jude. "How would you know?"

"I have someone I feel that way about as well," Jude said and smiled.

"Maybe you'll get to see her," Alvin nudged Jude's shoulder and grinned.

"Maybe," Jude agreed, his gaze sliding towards Marta, then Emil.

Though she was confused what he had meant by that look, Marta decided to let it slide for the moment and instead played with the stupid lock of hair that stuck straight up from Aster's bangs when he put his face back down on his arms. He sighed gustily. "So how is Ivar?" she asked Alvin instead.

"He'll recover. He's pretty pissed he lost, though," Alvin said and shrugged.

Jude sighed. "I honestly thought that was done with..."

"Hey, blame Ratatosk there." Alvin pointed at Emil. "He's the enabler."

Shaking his head, Jude lifted a brow slightly. "You've yet to explain what was going on there?"

Emil hung his head. "Well... Ratatosk was hit by a spyrix weapon and hurt pretty bad. I combined with him and ended up in Elympios. Ivar was the only source of mana available at the time and if I didn't do something, Ratatosk was going to die. I made a pact with Ivar, lending him our power in return for his mana and the pact is only broken if he defeats you or gives up on it."

"So in other words, Emil's stuck with him," Alvin said with a chuckle.

"I noticed that you weren't even using artes," Aster said, deciding to rejoin the conversation.

"I didn't want to kill him," Jude admitted. "That's not to say he isn't a strong fighter or anything," he looked at Emil. "He just gets reckless when he's determined to prove something and after fighting him so many times, he's pretty much an open book."

Alvin spread his hands as he looked at Marta with a 'see? I told you' grin.

"Is it going to be a problem taking Ivar with us?" Emil asked. "Because I don't think I can just leave him behind... especially after he saved my life."

"I don't have a problem with him," Jude said honestly. "But I doubt he'll be satisfied if I throw a match wiith him and talking him out of his grudge isn't going to work either. Not even Milla could convince him."

Straightening, Marta gasped. "I know! We could train him!" She looked up at Emil until his eyes widened when he caught on. "Its perfect, isn't it? We'll train him, have you two fight again, if he's still unable to defeat you without help, you throw the match and he'll think it was because he was the better fighter."

Jude considered that.

"It might actually work," Alvin admitted. "Just means you're going to have to deal with him longer." He lifted a brow at Emil.

"I'm stuck with him no matter how I look at it," Ratatosk said distastefully. "At least this way I don't have to wait until he dies to be rid of him."

"All right," Jude said, "I agree. We'll wait until morning to head to the Hallowmont."

"Are we going to need another wyvern?" Emil asked.

Marta groaned.

"I can ride with Alvin," Jude said, then looked curiously at Marta. "Do you not like wyverns?"

"I like them, I just get motion sick," Marta explained.

Jude tipped his head. "I know a remedy for that," he said. "I'll get some this evening and get it to you before we go."

Brightening, Marta smiled. "Really? Thank you!"

...

Jude glanced at the clock in the inn lobby as he headed for the elevator to go downstairs, having seen Aster and the others to their rooms. Pushing the button to call the lift, Jude sighed.

"You look down, kid. Something on your mind?" Alvin dropped his arm around Jude's shoulders and leaned heavily on him. The doors opened and Jude stepped in. Alvin released him only to follow. Folding his arms, the taller man leaned against the wall.

Considering lying and saying it was nothing, Jude shook his head. "You've seen them interact more... Is Ratatosk involved in the relationship with Marta, or is it just Emil?"

"Ah," Alvin said. "You want to know how she managed to get a Summon Spirit to stay in a relationship with her even though he has duties."

"So he is in love with her?"

"Marta's about the only one who can control him sometimes," Alvin said and rubbed his neck where a small red cut was visible just under his scarf. "So, yeah. I'd bet he's fond of her. Maybe you should ask her how she did it? My best guess is that she stubborned her way to his heart."

Jude laughed softly. "I think I could see it happening like that..." On the first floor, the doors opened again. He had to step past a couple people looking to enter and looked back to find Alvin still following.

"Maybe you'll get to see Milla again soon." Alvin patted Jude's shoulder, "get another chance to convince her to give a relationship with you a shot. You may be sixteen but you're pretty mature for your age."

"Thanks," Jude said honestly.

Alvin shook him by his shoulder and smiled. "If you need a wingman, just ask. I've got your back." He opened the front door and let Jude exit first, following him out onto the landing overlooking the square.

Lifting his eyes, he shot the man a look. "That's what worries me." He smirked as Alvin hammed up his hurt reaction, putting a hand to his chest and looking to the sky.

"You hear that Milla? He's picking on me!"

A breeze wafted by, tugging at their clothes and hair. Alvin's scarf flipped up, thwacking Jude in the face.

"Ha! See? She thinks you should be nicer to me," the brunet said.

"I'll believe that when she says it herself." Jude pushed Alvin away. "Get some rest. I'd like to leave early tomorrow."

"Jude," Alvin paused. "All this seems a little surreal. Too convenient almost."

"I'm trying not to get my hopes up," Jude agreed. "There's still a lot that could go wrong and I'd hate for the end result to be that we just have another weapon to kill each other with."

Alvin nodded. "We'll do our best, Jude. I at least intend for something peaceful to come out of it. No matter how you look at it, we attacked another world and it's only luck that the ones who ended up here aren't mad as hell. You bet if the situations were reversed Elympios would be racing to find a way to retaliate."

"You think its the Otherworld Reactor Plan again?"

Putting his hands on his hips, Alvin sighed as he looked down at the ground. "I'm not sure. I've been staying away from Elympios since my last run-in with my family. But I've heard some things from Balan about the Svent family putting a lot of money into some top secret project. They keep trying to squeeze him, and me through him, for any extra gald we might have. He's avoided giving them anything by telling them the truth; he's barely getting paid for what he's doing. I've been trying to stay out of my family's politics, but Balan... doesn't have as much choice. The new patriarch of the Svent family is young and insecure. He's sent his crazy twin after me a couple times already, thinking I was out to steal power from him. I had to track the kid down personally and knock his head into the wall to let him know that if I wanted it, I'd come get it and his psychotic brother was no match for me."

"I bet that went over well," Jude folded his arms.

"Yeah. I was banned from the manor." Alvin laughed. "Haven't been back since. If there's anything I need to know about what's going on, Balan lets me know, but I've officially been disowned, which is fine with me."

"Means you're officially no longer considered a threat," Jude said.

"Sadly Elympios politics don't work like that. Outlying branches keep coming to me pledging their support. I've been doing my best to stay out of contact, which only makes them surer that I'm up to something." He pondered a moment and tapped his chin. "You know, maybe this whole trip couldn't have come at a better time?"

"Or maybe not," Jude said. "Maybe it's all connected?"

"How do you mean?"

Jude dropped his hands to his sides and looked up at the sky. "What better way to obtain power than to solve a world crisis?"

"With the least amount of change needed," Alvin agreed. "I don't know if Vance has that kind of power, though. He's certainly ambitious enough for it, but whether he could pull it off..."

"I seem to recall something about Elympions and their love of betting," Jude said and smiled slightly.

"Always a possibility," Alvin agreed and shook his head. "I'll send a note to Balan and get him looking into it. But I don't know that the Svent family is behind it. I hope they aren't anyway." He waved a hand at Jude. "Go pick up those anti-nausea meds for Marta."

"I wonder if it's an inner ear problem," Jude mused. "Good night, Alvin." He turned away and headed down the stairs to the street and turned, heading back towards the hospital.

...

"I'm doing all I can with the resources available," Regal said with a sad shake of his head. "The people left don't want to leave their homes. They're entirely justified in their feelings and I can't force them to evacuate."

"With the breached Otherworldly Gate right on your doorstep-" Raine started to argue.

"Even when storms come in and shut Altamira down, I can't get everyone to evacuate, Raine. This is the best I can do. Those with somewhere else to go have gone, but the fact remains that travel by ocean isn't an option right now and now you're saying that Palmacosta is destroyed." Regal's gaze slid towards Richter briefly, which he saw reflected by the tint of the windows in Regal's office.

Remaining near the window, the half-elf stood with his arms folded, staring out at the deceivingly placid waters. On the horizon to the north east was a glowing bubble that had completely engulfed the peninsula upon which the Otherworldly Gate used to be. It was obvious to anyone with any kind of brain that something disastrous had happened. Spots of darkness spewed from the bubble occasionally as demons punched through the barrier before they were closed off again. Monsters had gathered in the area, fighting the demons on command of the Centurions, which was the only reason why Altamira had not been overrun already.

According to Regal at any rate, though Richter found little reason to not believe him.

The elevator announced its arrival. All three turned to look as Lloyd strode in with Yuan, looking troubled.

"That was quick," Raine said.

"I talked to the King of Tethe'alla and the Church. They're offering military assistance," Lloyd reported and stood with his weight on one hip, wrists resting on the pommels of his swords.

"But?" Regal said, lifting a brow.

Lloyd sighed gustily. "Yuan and I tried to explain the situation and their first thought was to use the mana cannon at the Otherworldly Gate."

"I thought that was destroyed?" Raine asked.

"I thought so too," Lloyd shook his head. "On top of that, they've started issuing exspheres and key crests from some store I didn't know about and I'm so angry right now I can't even think."

Richter pushed his glasses up with a finger. "The Tethe'alla government has been stocking up and planning on a war for quite some time."

Lloyd gripped his hair and groaned. "I really was hoping that wasn't the case - that maybe it was some other reason. But why?"

"The same reason they sent Sheena to kill Colette," Regal said and tiredly leaned back against his desk, tipping his head to stare at the ceiling.

"So what do we do?" Raine asked, rubbing her temples, eyes closed as she began pacing.

"Take the help the Church and King are offering for now," Yuan said. "The demons are getting through that barrier in greater numbers. We need to get this situation under control before they have the mana cannon operational. Firing it would destroy the World Tree."

"What can Martel do to help?" Richter asked.

"Martel is directing mana towards the ruined gate in order to help the Centurions with their barrier. Demons cannot stand mana, it's poisonous to them," Yuan said.

Raine stopped pacing and turned to look at him. "That would mean that she's burning mana we don't really have to spare."

"Thus making it more unlikely they'll have the capacity to fire the mana cannon the longer this situation lasts," Richter added.

Lloyd scratched his head. "That would also... mean we would run out of mana faster too... Any way you look at it, this could be the end of the world."

"Unless a replacement Gate can be built," Richter said.

Raine turned to look at him, eyes wide. "You can't be thinking... One man alone wouldn't be able to rebuild something like that. Even with a Cruxis crystal. You simply don't have enough mana."

Richter looked away from her.

Speaking softly, Yuan said, "It might be possible. If he were to work with the Centurions and Martel, and be absolutely ruthless in harvesting the mana from the soldiers who will undoubtedly die trying to secure the gate."

"Might! Maybe!" Raine shouted, throwing her hands in the air. "I won't accept that as the only way."

"Woah! Hold on a second!" Lloyd shouted as he stepped between Yuan and Richter. "I do not like this plan at all!"

"Whether you like it or not," Yuan said, "It's a better plan than letting the King fire the mana cannon - which we don't even know if that will do anything other than make the situation worse."

"We already know it will make the situation worse," Richter said, "Just use of that much mana will be the death of this world. Whether it will do anything to stop the demons is debatable. It might just blow the hole bigger and would certainly make the world more tolerable for the demons in general."

Clenching his fists, Lloyd shook his head. "I just won't accept it!" he turned to Richter. "I get that you want to make up for what you did, but I don't think killing more people is going to be for the best."

"They're going to die one way or the other," Yuan said. "The mana from the time warp is running out. It's a matter of days before everyone who was brought back disappears. Not that the Centurion's barrier will last more than a few days either and it's unlikely it will take long for the King to get the mana cannon functional again. We need to come up with a plan that can be implemented quickly."

Lloyd's hands slowly lowered to his sides, head bowing. "You... are so in love with the 'hard choices'. What about the other Summon Spirits?"

Richter shook his head. "They don't have the right kind of powers to be of any help in rebuilding the gate. I'd thought of that, but Ratatosk's power was over dimensional space. The Ginnungagap wasn't a place exactly, it was merely tied to the Otherworldly Gate as a means to anchor it to this world."

"Then how does your plan fix anything?" Lloyd demanded.

"I would become the new gate," Richter said.

"That doesn't sound comfortable at all," Regal said.

"Undoubtedly not," Richter agreed. "I would need to be locked away somewhere and watched."

Raine put her palm to her face and turned away again.

Lloyd's jaw dropped. "I can't believe you would say that with... Don't you feel anything? Is it because Aster is gone? Why?"

Richter's teeth clenched briefly, but he kept eye contact with the young brunet. "You are trying to save everyone and it simply isn't possible. This solution offers the best outcome given the situation. You are choosing to let the entire world die in order to prevent the suffering of a few people. Idealism isn't going to solve anything, Lloyd and the sooner you grow up and realize that, the better."

"Enough!" Raine shouted as she turned to face him. "So what if he's idealistic? That doesn't make his opinion any less valid than yours."

"If everyone could calm down," Regal said, lifting a hand. "You said we have a few days, right?" He looked at Yuan.

"Approximately," the dark haired half-elf said.

"Much as I dislike it... Let's allow Richter and Yuan to begin preparations for their solution. Raine, Lloyd, we'll try to come up with something else in the meantime and absolutely stop the mana cannon from being fired. That with undoubtedly end the world faster than anything else we could think of to do."

They all turned to look at Regal, meeting his gaze as he looked from one to the next.

Raine nodded reluctantly. "I'll go with those two," she pointed at Richter and Yuan.

"I'll get the rest of my people to evacuate Altamira," Regal said. "I can't promise they will all leave, but I might be able to persuade a few more. Lloyd..."

"I'll go find out where they've got the mana cannon and destroy it once and for all," Lloyd said firmly. "I'm so tired of that thing popping up." He turned away and stalked into the elevator, stabbing a button with his finger, discontent glare fixed on Richter as the doors closed.

"What will you need to complete your plan?" Regal asked.

Richter could tell it pained the man to have to admit that perhaps letting people die was the only option to save the world. "A Cruxis crystal. I'm not sure where the one I was going to use originally went."

"I'll find one," Yuan said and turned away to call the elevator back.

Richter glanced from Raine to Regal then went to join Yuan. "I'll meet you downstairs whenever you're finished," he said to Raine.

She scowled at him as the doors closed.

"I'm mildly surprised you went along with my plan," he said to Yuan, staring at the door.

"As of the moment, it is the only viable option. I do understand Lloyd's feelings on the matter, but people are going to die one way or another. We shouldn't let their deaths be wasted or meaningless."

The doors opened on the first floor and Yuan strode out to get aboard the ferry. Richter headed for the waiting room to pick over the table of refreshments.