Chapter 31
The roots let go of Emil's leg and sank back into the ground, allowing him to step back. Marta could feel the tension drain from the area and breathed a sigh, shoulders falling.
"The worlds are connected," Ratatosk said aloud, the first words that had been spoken in nearly a minute. Marta still couldn't believe that the World Tree and Martel had actually threatened Ratatosk, or that was what she assumed had happened, although she couldn't point to any one moment that looked dangerous.
"What will your function be?" Yuan asked.
"I will oversee the monsters and reclaiming of mana," Ratatosk said. "Overseeing the dispersal of of three worlds worth of mana is hardly the job of a single individual. We will be working with Milla Maxwell, the new Lord of Spirits who will oversee the use of mana produced."
Martel simply nodded.
"You trust him?" Yuan asked her.
"He has changed," Martel said gently. "He no longer desires the destruction of people. Ratatosk wishes to protect the world and was merely distraught over the destruction of the Kharlan Tree. He truly does wish to continue protecting this world as well as the worlds of Elympios and Rieze Maxia."
"I didn't realize you felt that way," Yuan said.
"I guarded the Kharlan Tree since its birth. You didn't think I might feel a bit unhappy having just a depressing gate to look after?" Ratatosk asked and looked away. "After you lot ripped the world in two, I was destabilized and left to myself for four-thousand years."
"So you were lonely?" Sheena asked, stepping forward slightly.
Ratatosk refused to answer and Marta shook her head, able to read his expression well enough to know that yes, he had been lonely. "Summon Spirits have feelings too. They're just slightly different than human emotions," she explained and looked from Sheena to Ivar.
"Does this fix your gate?" Sheena asked.
"No," Ratatosk said and turned to look at her. "We will need to solve the issue of insufficient mana before that can be made into a permanent solution. However, with mana now flowing properly we have made all three worlds poisonous to demons which will weaken their power. The stagnation in Rieze Maxia should begin to ease within the next few days, producing more normal weather patterns."
Ivar snorted. "That'll surprise everyone in Fennmont." He folded his arms and shifted his weight. "So what was this about sacrificing me?"
Emil shook his head. "Martel was kidding, Ivar."
The silver haired man looked unconvinced, though Sheena nodded. "Summon Spirits have weird senses of humor."
"Hm. I guess Lady Milla never quite got when I was trying to joke with her." Ivar scratched the back of his neck and shrugged a little. "All right."
"Besides, you're way more interesting alive," Ratatosk added and smirked. His eyes slid past Marta in a way that made her worry.
"I wish to know more about Aster's device," Martel said. "If this can be made into something to boost the tree's mana, then all problems will be solved."
"It seems too easy," Yuan said blandly.
"I'm sure it won't be. We will need an appropriate key crest which may take some time to research," Ratatosk said. "We shall go check upon Aster and his group at Altessa's."
Marta shifted uncomfortably. She didn't like how Ratatosk and Emil were refusing to look at her. Something had happened. Gaze moving from Yuan to Martel she was dissatisfied when neither gave her any clues. Deciding that now wasn't the time to try to get Emil or Ratatosk to talk to her about it, Marta held her tongue. She caught Emil glancing at her in worry and saw him wince. 'He's such a bad liar.'
"We should get going," Emil suggested and cleared his throat. "You think you could lift the fog a little, Martel?"
"Yes," the Summon Spirit said. She waved her hand and the fog around them lifted to a just faint haze. "Please go quickly. I have kept the protections at maximum to prevent the mana thief from finding this place."
"I'd suggest hiding yourselves as a simple tree rather than using mana to create an illusion," Ratatosk said.
Yuan nodded. "Your suggestion is noted."
Marta captured Ratatosk's hand as he was about to pass her and walked beside him as he simply ended the conversation by leaving. His hand was cold and grip tight. He boosted her back onto the wyvern when they returned to their mounts and only waited a moment to make sure Ivar and Sheena were ready before urging Judith into the air.
"What's got you upset?" she asked.
"Nothing," Emil said and wouldn't look at her.
She turned to pin him with a narrowed glare. "You're a really awful liar."
Ratatosk looked at her. "Nothing. We're fine." He looked away, prodding Judith to fly a little faster towards Altessa's place.
"You say that and it just makes me more suspicious," Marta said. "Please don't lie to me."
Emil opened his mouth, looked away, closed his mouth and sighed heavily through his nose. "Just... let me find a way to fix it," he said softly. "I don't want you to worry."
"Now I really am worried!" Marta objected. "Please, Emil. Talk to me. I don't want to be kept in the dark, especially about things involving me. We're partners, remember?"
He rested his forehead against hers, arms tightening almost uncomfortably. "I will fix this." She was sure that was Ratatosk who said that, which only made her worry more.
Questioning him further wasn't an option, they had arrived and Judith was circling for a landing near Altessa's home. Genis opened the door just as the wyvern landed and squinted up at them. "Done with Martel already?" the half-elf boy asked.
Irritated at Emil, Marta slipped out of his arms and jumped to the ground herself. "Yeah," she said. "The worlds are connected now. How has your project gone?"
"Pretty well, I'd guess. It took them a while to find a key crest that would work for what they wanted to make," Genis said.
Sheena hopped to the ground as Ivar's wyvern landed and dusted off. "How come you're not helping?"
"I was," Genis said. "Aster's just working on some wires right now and it's more of a one-person job at the moment. Altessa is modifying the asparyxis and Jude's looking at Richter again."
The ninja hugged Genis, petting his hair. He grumbled uncomfortably and pulled away and opened the door to Altessa's home, gesturing for them to proceed in. "Hey Aster, you done yet?"
"Just finished!" Aster called and thudded up the stairs from Altessa's work area. He blinked in surprise when he saw everyone, then waved with the crude device in his other hand. It flapped wires and generally looked awkward.
"That's not another gun, is it?" Marta asked.
"Nope! It's even better!" He approached and held the thing out to her, dropping it into her hands.
The contraption was heavier than she thought it would be, consisting of a metal tube with the Rieze Maxian technology welded to it, a switch on one end and a glass bulb on the other. She looked at Aster, then curiously flipped the switch. Light flickered to life in the bulb and she flipped it off again. "But we have something like this already," Marta said. "How is this different?"
"It produces and burns its own mana," Aster said. "Instead of depleting ambient mana, thus it isn't a drain on finite resources and is self contained requiring nothing from the user and no recasting of artes!" He gestured gleefully with both hands. "We did it! From proof of concept to practical use! We have a lamp!"
Sheena came over to look and reached past Marta to flip the switch. "You're sure it's not draining mana from the air?"
"It isn't," Emil confirmed. "It's making more mana than it needs, so it's actually helping."
"Then if it meets your approval, Lord Ratatosk," Jude said, "We'll need to discuss what happens next."
Marta looked his direction as he set a teapot and tray with cups on the table. There weren't enough chairs for everyone to sit, but after handing Sheena the lamp, Marta claimed a seat at the head of the table and smiled at Jude as he handed her a cup of tea. Emil stood behind her, a hand on her shoulder and refused the tea Jude offered him.
Sheena took one of the other chairs and set the lamp on the table in front of her. Jude handed her the cup of tea he had offered Emil. Ivar chose to pace the room anxiously. Aster took the seat at the foot of the table and Altessa joined them from his workshop, grunting as he made his way up the steps. Jude gave him the final seat and perched on the edge of the table after he had served Aster, Genis, and Altessa.
"How's Richter?" Marta asked.
"It's going to take him a while to recover. I don't think he should travel again anytime soon," Jude said.
"I'll let him stay here," Altessa said. "He's not bad company and it's gotten a little too quiet around here since Tabitha ran off."
Aster smiled at the dwarf. "Thank you, sir."
Grumbling, Altessa sipped his tea.
"What did you find out at the World Tree?" Genis asked.
"The worlds have been combined successfully, their mana flowing between each and regulated by the monsters and the World Tree," Emil said. "Which should fix the stagnation on Rieze Maxia and begin pumping ambient mana into Elympios again. This will also make the worlds less habitable for demons. Mana is poisonous to them. The problem is that there's still only a fourth of the mana needed to sustain all three worlds."
"Is there some way to use a booster and key crest to make mana?" Genis asked, looking around the table.
"There might be a key crest that could do that," Altessa agreed. "I'd have to look for it. But the problem is, with only so much mana available to boost, you're still only going to be getting drops in an ocean compared to what we need."
"So we get someone who can produce mana to link with the Tree and - why are you shaking your head Jude?" Sheena said.
"The problem is the boosters. Overuse of one can kill the user; even third generation boosters that are far more stable. The only person I've ever seen that didn't seem to suffer any ill effects from having a booster was Elise. But I still wouldn't want to put her in that kind of danger," Jude said.
"If it's not one thing its another!" Ivar strode over and slammed his fist on the table. "Why do you keep making new problems?"
"This isn't something I made up," Jude actually sounded a little irritated. "I've been looking into it for the last year to figure out how to make boosters more stable. At the time they were our best bet to speed up production of spyrites."
"It's a flaw in the material," Altessa said.
They all turned to look at him.
"I was looking at Aster's gun and the booster you supplied. The metal isn't pure and it causes a resonance that eventually will make the booster shake itself apart." The dwarf set down his teacup.
Jude tipped his head back to look at the ceiling with a sigh. "Of course it was something that simple. I thought it was some problem with the angles of the crystal component."
"Is there a way to fix the metal?" Aster asked.
"Possibly. I'd need supplies for it, though," Altessa said.
"Then I'll get them," Aster said firmly and looked around the table. "Looks like we'll need to split up again?"
"We need someone to report back to Gaius," Jude said. "I should do so, probably."
"I'll go with you," Emil said to Jude then looked at Marta.
She nodded. "Of course I'm going with Emil."
"Can I come too?" Genis asked.
"Ivar," Ratatosk said, looking at the silver haired man. "You will escort Aster. He is not a fighter and will need protection. This is important."
Brows furrowing, Ivar pouted petulantly. "Yes sir."
"Sheena, if you wouldn't mind going with him and showing him more about Summoning?" Ratatosk said.
Flushing as she looked from Ratatosk to Ivar, the ninja cleared her throat. "Yeah. Uhm. If that's okay with... you?" She looked up at Ivar who stared down at her in confusion.
"Where would we find some of this metal?" Aster asked.
"Probably in the research facility near Xian Du," Jude said. "Ivar should know where that is."
Ivar glared at Jude. "Of course I do."
"I'll have to call another winged dragon for Genis and Jude," Emil said, heading outside.
Marta watched him go with an irritated expression.
"He seems a bit... odd," Aster said.
"Martel told him something and he won't tell me," Marta said firmly. "It's got something to do with me but he won't say. Makes me so mad." She folded her arms firmly with a huff, then slid her gaze to Aster. "You know, don't you?" she demanded and stood, bracing herself against the table. "You tell me right now! What do you know? How do you know?"
"Uh I- uh!" Aster stammered and glanced at the door before blurting quickly, "You're probably dead too. Richter and I figured that would be the only reason why Ratatosk would warp time like that!"
Marta collapsed back into her seat.
The door slammed shut as Ratatosk pushed it closed with more force than necessary, pinning the researcher with a cold stare. Aster sprang to his feet, holding his hands out, "Now - don't get - too upset! I'd planned on figuring out a way to make the changes permanent anyway and-" Ratatosk crossed the room so quickly Marta didn't even see him step and hoisted Aster into the air by the front of his shirt.
Marta stood, jumped onto the table and walked across it to glare at Ratatosk. "Put. Him. Down. Right. Now." She thumped her fists on her hips.
"I didn't want you to know." Ratatosk shoved Aster away. The young researcher tripped over his own feet and landed on his rear on the floor.
"Maybe it's my right to know!" Marta shouted. "It involves me, doesn't it? And you're not going to solve the problem by yourself!" She stabbed a finger at Aster. "Apologize to him."
Ratatosk stared at her in silence.
"It's okay-" Aster started to say.
"No. It isn't," Marta interrupted. "Ratatosk. Apologize." She could already tell that it was Emil staring up at her, which didn't make her any more pleased with him. Still, they were both silent.
To her surprise, Ratatosk returned, looked down at Aster and hissed, "Sorry," between his teeth before retreating behind Emil again.
Emil's shoulders slumped and he sighed, offering a hand down to help Aster up. "I tried to stop him..."
"No... I mean. I understand why he was upset," Aster said. "But if you knew, you should've told her."
Looking shyly up at Marta, Emil said, "We didn't want to worry her. I'm sorry too, Marta." He dropped his gaze.
Marta stepped forward, dropping off the table, glared at Emil and Ratatosk for a moment, then turned and marched outside, throat hurting from trying to hold back tears. Finding a nearby rock to sit on, Marta pulled her knees against her chest, trembling as she focused on breathing.
...
"What are you doing?" Alvin asked as Tiger wrapped a bundle of tiny sandwiches in multiple napkins.
"These are really good." Tiger tucked the sandwich-bundle into his pocket and started on making another. "And I might get hungry again later."
Alvin rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "Can you hurry up at least? Zelos has everyone distracted."
Glancing towards the redhead, he found the man doing party tricks and making ladies swoon. To all appearances, Zelos was enjoying being the center of attention and didn't look like he had any trouble coming up with new material to keep everyone occupied. "He can probably do that for hours."
The tall brunet sighed. "Probably, but we don't need to take hours."
"Okay, okay." Tiger shoved the second bundle of sandwiches into his other pocket. "Let's go."
Alvin turned and strode off, leading the way. At the door a guard noticed them and squinted suspiciously. "Kid's gotta go to the bathroom," Alvin said, gesturing with his thumb at Tiger. Doing his best to look impatient, Tiger shifted from foot to foot and stared at the guard.
"Down that hall-" the guard started to say.
"Hey, I know where it is. I grew up here," Alvin interrupted. "Sheesh. You'd think people would remember that this used to be my house." He walked past the guard, leading the way down the hall to the right, where the guard had pointed. To Tiger's surprise, they actually did enter a bathroom. The room was split with a door leading to a private toilet and the main room with a large mirror and several sinks. Tiger caught a glance in the mirror and started, realizing now why everyone had underestimated him.
"Wow, I didn't even realize. I don't feel that bad," Tiger put his hands to his pale cheeks.
"Yeah, kid, you're starting to look like death warmed over."
Tiger grinned at him. "I am." He looked back at his pale reflection and slapped his cheeks a few times to see if color would return.
Lifting a brow, which Tiger saw in the mirror, Alvin gave him an incredulous look.
"Did no one tell you?" he asked. "I died seven years ago. Emil took my name and pretended to be me. That's why I go by Tiger Festival."
Alvin's tongue ran over the bottom edge of his teeth as he considered that, then nodded. "Not as bad as some of the names I've gone by," he admitted. "But dead... Huh. Then why do you need to eat?"
"I don't know. I still get hungry and sleepy like anyone else." Tiger shrugged. "I try not to think about it too hard."
"Right," Alvin said. He shook his head and gestured for the young man to wait a moment while he stuck his head out into the hall for a quick glance. "Okay, Zelos has his attention again, move quietly, follow me."
Tiger nodded once and crept after Alvin as he opened the bathroom door and slipped into the hall again. Alvin actually led them past the guard standing at the door to the patio again, heading down the left side of the hall to a door. He held his breath as they passed the guard and felt almost as if something were draining out of him again, the way he felt when he used his full attack power. The guard didn't even twitch their direction as Alvin silently closed the door. Though he wanted to ask where they were going, Tiger kept his mouth shut and went so far as to bite his lips together to remind himself not to speak. Alvin seemed to know where he was going, so he held his patience as best he could.
They were in a library, though there seemed to be very few books in the room and mostly tables and chairs. As if reading was a decoration rather than an activity. Not that Tiger particularly liked reading, but that seemed a bit odd anyway. Passing through the other side, they were in a large dining room. The mansion was built on a grand scale, almost like the church in Palmacosta with tall ceilings and columns, but all in lifeless colors of white and grey. Paintings of lush imaginative scenery decorated the walls proving further that either the people of Elympios had no idea how trees were supposed to look, or maybe the wildlife in this world was a completely different than anything on Aselia. Tiger glanced at one painting of a forest of giant flowers and covered a laugh with his hand.
Alvin led the way to the other side of the room which turned out to be a door to a porch that ran along the side of the building. He crept low under windows and kept his head below the railing. Tiger did his best to follow his example. They passed at least ten windows before Alvin stopped and crouched down beneath another. Reaching into his coat, he pulled a small flat piece of metal out and glanced around. "Make sure no one sees us," Alvin said.
"What're the odds that someone will?" Tiger asked.
"Slim. But keep an eye out." Alvin peeked into the window again and stood, sticking his shiv into a crack between the two panels of the window up at the top. He jiggled it a moment and opened the window. Climbing in, he gestured for Tiger to follow then closed the window silently behind them. "We're in the back end of the house where guests aren't supposed to be, so stay quiet," Alvin whispered.
Indeed they appeared to be in a bedroom. The ceiling was high, but not as high and grand as the front of the house had been.
Alvin crept past the bed and opened the door on the other side of the room, peeking out briefly before opening the door and slipping out into a dark hallway. Tiger followed and quietly shut the door behind him before following the tall man down the hall at a quick trot. He still wasn't sure where they were going, but when he heard a noise, he grabbed the back of Alvin's coat to stop him.
The man froze.
Tiger struggled to identify the noise, then heard it again. A soft rustling and a coo. He pointed down the hall when Alvin looked at him. Wearing a grim expression, Alvin nodded and continued, treading even more quietly. Two rooms down, he stopped and put his ear to the slightly ajar door, then opened it, slipping in. Closing the door, Tiger blinked in the sudden light as Alvin flipped a switch. The room smelled odd. A pad to keep a rug from slipping on the hardwood floor was crumpled up in a corner of the office, the floor in the center of the room recently mopped.
Alvin had already crossed the room and was inspecting a bird in a cage set on the desk. "Shit," he muttered.
Already distracted, Tiger continued his inspection of the room and discovered a chair shoved to the side with a suspicious rusty stain on the cushion back. He leaned in to look at the marks on the wood and the only thing that came to mind was the eerie feeling that someone had been tied to the chair... In fact, he had an eerie feeling that someone was calling - screaming for help.
"We need to get out of here," Alvin said. "This was the note I sent Balan. What are you doing?"
On his hands and knees now, Tiger reached into the dusty gap under the sideboard, his hand falling upon something cold and metal and slightly wet. Grasping it, he pulled the device out and turned to look at Alvin as the man gasped.
"What is it?" he asked, holding out so the man could see. "It's making noises."
"That's..."
Looking down at the strange device, Tiger swallowed, realizing that he now had blood on his hands and bits of rope were stuck to it. The voice had faded to a faint sobbing and he stood holding the device out to Alvin.
"He might still be alive," Alvin said with a look of desperation on his face as he took the device and shoved it into his pocket. "We have to find him."
Frowning at the blood on his hands, Tiger finally wiped them on his black pants and followed Alvin out into the hall again, remembering to turn the light out and close the door like they hadn't been there, though his delay caused him to fall behind the older man some distance. He hurried to catch up as Alvin paused at a cross-hall and turned left. Their destination was a door at the end of the hall that led back outside to a private art garden. Tiger could make out the private pier in the distance to the right and squinted as he saw movement that direction.
Alvin was already running.
Speeding to catch up, Tiger was in time to leap and kick the second man in the face as he turned around. Alvin had already taken out the first guy with a solid punch to the back of the head. Both men wore grey suits and dark glasses like Red and Gando, though they were far more muscular.
"No!" Alvin cried as he dropped down into a small boat that the men had been untying from the dock. Tiger made sure the two men were out cold with another good kick before turning to find Alvin unrolling a carpet that had been dumped in the boat. "No - no -no!" Anguish choked him and he slowly stood, blocking Tiger's view of what he had found. Alvin's fists clenched tightly. His shoulders shook. "This is the last straw." He turned and climbed out of the boat.
Tiger glanced down at the bloodstained carpet, which had been folded back over its contents, then followed Alvin as the man boldly strode back towards the house with a set to his shoulders that looked like trouble for whoever got in his way.
This time, Alvin didn't even bother with stealth. He marched straight up to the house, opened the back door, and went directly down the hall. They turned once at the second intersection, came out in another door to the library, then exited into the first hall with the guard. The party had apparently heated up in the time they had been missing and there was now music.
Alvin shoved the guard standing in the door to the patio aside and pushed through the crowd to find Zelos surrounded by a flock of ladies in colorful dresses.
"We need to leave," he said to the redhead.
"So soon?" another voice asked.
Alvin turned on his heel and stared coldly at the one who had spoken.
The crowd had parted between Alvin and this new man. He was tall, though had a young face and long black hair tied in a tail at the nape of his neck.
"It's been such a long time, Alfred. I thought perhaps we could... catch up a bit."
"Like you caught up with Balan?" Alvin demanded and jabbed his finger at the man. "You are treading on very dangerous ground and you know it. As soon as Gaius hears what you've done, you will not live long enough to regret it."
The young man threw back his head and laughed. "I'm not afraid of that old crow. I have the power of a whole world at my disposal. Ladies... Gentlemen. I'd like to make the announcement that the Otherworld Reactor Plan is back in action. A suitable world has been discovered, uninhabited but full of mana, ripe for the taking."
"Excuse me, I'd beg to differ on the uninhabited part," Zelos said.
"You're just an actor Alfred hired," the young man said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Party tricks and illusions. You're simply a Rieze Maxian with a flair for the dramatic. Hardly a threat. Your shenanigans and presence here only proves what I've been saying about you all along. You still want the Patriarchy, even though you passed up your chance to get it a year ago. I don't take kindly to threats, Alfred." The young black-haired man gestured at someone else. "Oh, and one last thing... I haven't introduced you to my fiancée yet, either. She'll make a wonderful addition to the family. Don't you think?"
A beefy man in a grey suit strode over, propelling a young blonde girl in front of him, partially holding her up as her head drooped and knees seemed unable to support her. She blearily blinked as she looked around, obviously drugged out of her senses.
"What do you say, Alvin? Teach this little upstart a lesson?" Zelos asked casually.
"My thoughts exactly," Alvin growled. "Politics are one thing, Vance, but you've made it personal and I am going to kill you."
Alvin looked down at Tiger and pointed at the man in grey. "Tiger. Smash him."
Cracking his knuckles, he grinned broadly. "With pleasure!"