Chapter 9: Spirits, and rejection
Yeah … These chapters will start getting longer because there's a lot of content I need to cover so I don't have to go up to a hundred chapters and you could ask who you want to see in this fic and I'll try to be flexible and write them in. Also this chapter contains something that might be a tad disturbing. Do you remember the jobs being near by thing? Well … I honestly forgot about that so that rule doesn't apply to this chapter. Thank god I have this break to do some writing, happy holidays!
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Days later Simon had done 19 jobs mainly jobs that involve fighting in some way shape or form, in fact, every job since job 13 involved fighting. He slowly improved because he would get some advice from of Ad Libitum's fighters, then Robin would beat him up. On the bright side he became faster at attacking, going from slow arm movements to faster attacks from the wrist. He also figured out how to use strike artes, well he only learned demon fang because he watched Stahn, Cress, and Lloyd. Robin also became much harsher with the training, because he would now throw in strike artes, especially sword rain, which would force Simon to focus more on defense. Kanonno would also give him some tips fighting, through she's no good with a sword, she prefers rifles. He also bet a few guild members, a white haired boy named Genis, his sister Raine, a pink haired girl named Arche, Rutee, and a muscular man with glasses named Will.
He was now on his last job, though a behind the others, they had already completed the twenty jobs, they're waiting for him. Claus gave him the job to investigate the Solar temple, with Claus and Will, which are in the Priam Mountain range miles away, about a five weeks, round trip, walking. Assigned by the vice president of the guild's Speg branch himself. Claus said that they could cut the time to, at minimum, two days by taking the train to the Mountain town, Alp then hiking up the mountain. Though he did warn that it may be dangerous if he isn't prepared, he told them to meet them at the train station in two hours. He wasn't sure about surviving in a mountain range, he thought he might as well ask Kanonno.
"You need equipment to get through the Priam Mountains?" She asked.
"Yeah, do you know what I'll need?"
"Why are you asking me, I've never been higher than 500 feet above sea level." She stated.
"Well, since the mountains will most likely be cold this time of year, and since you live in a cold place maybe you can help me." He explained.
"One, Moslin and other cold places do get warm around the summer, if you remember, two, I don't know anything about mountain climbing, other than you can get altitude sickness because the air is thinner there than it is down here."
"I don't remember Moslin being hot at all, then again …" Just as he was about to trail off, he swerved back to the subject, "I mean … you can get sick just by climbing mountains?"
"Yes, you can (probably) get it through several causes, the only one I know of is dehydration." She said.
"So I need to drink a lot of water before I go?" He asked.
"Not necessarily, though bringing water would be nice, if it wouldn't freeze." She said, "Sorry Simon, I can't really help you here, I guess you're on your own, but I would suggest to bring a coat and some mittens, or something like that."
"So I have to ask someone else?"
"If you have time, just get some things at a shop if you have enough money." She suggested.
"Well with rent, food, buying gels, and giving you that money a few days ago I might have enough for a rope and a cape." He stated.
"The rope may be helpful." She shrugged. "In any case, shouldn't you get going? I mean the train leaves about an hour and a half from now, if I were you I would get prepared."
"I should?" He asked. "Yes." She said bluntly. "Um … okay … See you later … I guess."
"Yep, I'll be slammed at a bar if you need me." She joked. Simon laughed, not getting what "slammed" meant. He walked to a shop some blocks away, closer to the royal palace, which he didn't pay much attention to.
"Huh …" He thought aloud looking at the spired buildings, thinking that it seemed out of place in a rainy area. He then went into the shop, looking for mountain climbing supplies. There were harnesses, hiking boots, walking sticks, ropes of different thicknesses, bullets, anything an outdoorsman would need, all behind the counter. He looked in his wallet then two the prices of the equipment, everything was out of his price range except a pair of hiking boots and cheap rope. He sighed to himself, thinking that he should really cut back on the gels. He came up to the cashier.
"May I help you sir?" He asked.
"Can I get a pair of hiking boots and some rope?" He asked.
"Which one?" The cashier asked, Simon pointed to the cheapest one. "That would be 275 gald." Simon gave him the rest of his money in exchange for the things, he went back to the inn to grab the jacket from Sakriny. He met up with Claus and Will at the train station.
"Are you ready kid?" Claus asked.
"As ready I'll ever be." Said Simon nervously.
"I brought spare equipment, in case any of it breaks." Informed Will, "You can't be too careful on those slippery slopes."
"Thank you Will." Dismissed Claus, as the train came, "Now Simon, do you know what this job is about?"
"You didn't give me too many details." Said Simon as they got on the train. They took a seat in the back of a car.
"This is a research mission Will and I have been meaning to get to for a while." "We're going to the Solar temple to research on one of the spirits of light, Aska. Also to research the Apocalypse Period." Explained Will.
"I'm sorry, but what are the spirits and the Apocalypse Period?" Simon asked.
"I should have known." Sighed Claus.
"Well, things we research isn't exactly common knowledge." Shrugged Will before clearing his throat. "Well, there's a legend from the Goddess cult: 'The goddesses were born into an empty space they wandered through it until they found a seed. They planted the seed and gave it nourishment until a tree sprouted from it. When the tree grew it gathered dust from its surroundings this creating the world. The goddesses noticed that the world was barren, so they decided to … fill it up with many wonders. One goddess created the sun, the moon, and the seas, as well as the stars and clouds. The Second goddess created the landforms we see and weather patterns. While the third goddess created life and the spirits that watched over life.'
"As ridiculous as it sounds the legend does hold some ground. People have discovered 'tombs' that belong to the spirits and the people can actually form a 'contract' with them and summon them when needed."
"So people have actually seen these spirits?" Simon asked.
"Yes, reports on spirits roaming around or being summoned to battle have been reported throughout history but people say they usually see the spirits within their tombs." Will explained.
"How many spirits are there?"
"As far as we know … sixteen." Said Claus, "Twelve known ones and four only mentioned in legend, never really seen."
"What are their names? I might have heard of a few." Lied Simon.
"The ones I can remember are: Undine, The water spirit, Efreet, the fire spirit, Sylph, the wind spirit, Gnome, the earth spirit, Maxwell, the lord of the spirits, Celsius, the ice spirit, Luna, the spirit of moon light, Aska, the spirit of sun light, Shadow, the spirit of Darkness, Muse, the guardian spirit, and Lorelei, the healing spirit. Only Maxwell, Muse, and Lorelei are a few of the theoretical ones." Listed Claus.
"Okay, I think I get the spirits … but what about this Apocalypse period and what does this have to do with the spirits?"
"Well, it happened at least five thousand years ago." Will began, "This world had advanced civilizations, in fact, some of our inventions are just reinvented versions of the technologies that were around the time."Anyway, despite the advancements of their civilization, the people were at war with each other. They used devastating weapons on their enemies as well as the spirits' powers. The period wars destroyed civilizations and almost whipped out the entire human race, and the wars almost killed Yggdrasil."
"I'm sorry … but how long has Yggdrasil been around before it was chopped down?" Simon asked again.
"Roughly ten thousand years." Said Will then going back to his story, "After the wars the spirits were sealed away except for of course the theoretical spirits who supposedly disappeared before the period. Life was restored to the dying planet over time and the humans had to start over from being hunters and gatherers."
"Our objective is well for me is to form a contract with a spirit, before someone gets to it and abuses its powers." Said Claus. "Also to research the anything found within the Solar temple."
"So I'm assisting you in your research." Concluded Simon.
"Smart boy." Smirked Claus just as they arrived at the mountain town, Alp.
Simon rubbed his hands trying to keep them warm, wishing that he had brought gloves Will nudged him and gave him the spare gloves. Simon nodded and put them on as they went into a cabin, an information center. Claus looked at a map posted on the wall while Simon looked outside at the snow blowing on the log cabins and the cables looming over head not too far away. He wondered what would happen if the cables snapped from the snow and wind, he shuddered.
"Excuse me," he heard Claus say to the attendant, Simon turned to see what's going on, "can we take cable cars to the Solar temple?"
"I'm sorry sir, those are for tours and going to the higher places in town the highest they can take you is to the mayor's residence." The attendant said. "We can't even use the cable cars now because of this storm. We're not allowing any hiking until we take care of the possible avalanche areas."
"How long will that take?" Claus asked. "At minimum … two days longer depending on how long this snow lasts."
"I see …" Claus walked up to Will who was examining the map.
"Are we going back?" Will asked. Claus looked over to Simon, who resumed to space out.
"No, we're going to wait out the storm, besides I can't do an evaluation on the kid if we turn back."
"Are you crazy? The boy might get killed out here!" Will exclaimed, which caught Simon's attention.
"True, he might die since he's not too well prepared, but I think it might do him some good." Said Claus, "It will definitely teach him that he needs to be prepared no matter what the situation." As much as it hurt, it was true, he was the least prepared of the three of them. If anything, it taught him to spend his money more wisely so he can get the equipment he needed.
'I'm screwed, at least I never leave without my sword.' Thought Simon looking for consolation, trying to think of mountain climbing uses for a sword. He couldn't think of any.
"We should at least get to an inn." Said Claus, then calling to Simon.
The three left the information center to the inn down town. Claus checked in a room at the inn.
"As you probably know, we're going to be stuck here until the snow passes." Began Claus. "We won't be able to go to the solar temple." Simon mentally sighed with relief, because it meant that he wouldn't have to hike and die. "However, I do not intend to go home empty handed which is why I decided to try to make it stop snowing."
"How will you do that?" Simon asked, while Will darted a glare at Claus, Claus smirked back pulling out a book.
"Well kid, let's just say you're about to learn a few more things about spirits." He said taking out a ring then flipping to a page. "Come forth maiden of ice! Celsius!" A magic circle appeared on the floor on the room a woman with blue hair and skin clad in blues and whites rose from the floor. Simon fell over out of amazement and shock.
"What have you summoned me for master?" She asked, bowing down to Claus.
"Celsius, are you able to control snowfall?" Claus asked.
"I can master."
"It's snowing outside, will you be able to stop it?"
"Very well." Said Celsius raising her hand. A light came from her hand then faded away. "It should be able to make your travels easier. I should warn you, because of the snow, you might run into an avalanche, if you're in the mountains." She warned. Simon watched the spirit in awe while Will rolled his eyes. Celsius snapped her head towards Simon, he shivered, she walked up to him.
"What's wrong Celsius?" Claus asked, thinking that it's rather unusual for her to take an interest in a pacifist like Simon.
"Who might you be?" She asked the boy.
"I … I'm S-Simon …" Introduced Simon, voice shaky. She smiled before Claus commanded her to return. She disappeared.
"Sorry about that kid, it seems that she's taken up an interest in you. Anyway, you now know that the spirits can control nature. We should rest now." Once Simon and Will fell asleep Claus summoned Celsius again.
"Yes master?" "I want to know Celsius, why have you taken up an interest in Simon?" Claus asked. "
I'm sorry master, I just became curious. There was something about him that seemed familiar." Stated Celsius, bowing her head.
XXX
The next morning, before dawn the three started climbing the mountain, Simon noticed that he was having a hard time breathing. He figured that he couldn't already be tired since he started climbing not that long ago. He noticed that Will and Claus' breathing became harder as they got higher up the mountains. It became especially noticeable once they got past the tree line. The wind became stronger as they got closer to the summit it made the inside of Simon's ears hurt. Claus warned him to be careful as they got higher up because the slopes are slippery. Just after when he said that, Simon slipped , but he was able to maintain balance, he slipped a few more times as they got higher.
They stopped at an indent in the mountain which lead to a giant stone slab with writing on it. Claus pulled out a dictionary of sorts and flipped through it, then looking up at the slab. He put the dictionary away and pulled out a ring with a reddish gem on it. He inserted the into an impression in the wall and took it out. The stone slab slowly slid down and flames lit up the entrance hall. The three walked in.
"I wonder how the humans of the time were able to activate all these flames …" Will wondered to himself. Further down the hall it became darker, Will lit up a lantern. They saw skeletons and corpses that looked like they might still have a layer of dry wrinkly skin on them. They could see the bodies that looked like they were cut open and snapped bones that had dried blood stained on them. Dried blood stained the walls. There were smeared handprints below the characters Simon couldn't make out below figures that looked like a men with wings. The smeary hand prints were also on top of the writing and the drawing. Streaks and pools of dried blood nearly painted the floor. Simon gasped out of horror.
"Just like in Celsius's tomb." Hissed Claus. Will examined the skeletons and the floor.
"It looks like the people started killing each other then maybe afterwords they might have started eating each other." He concluded.
"But why?" Simon muttered to himself.
"Curse our kings, curse the divine ones, curse the angels, curse god's children …" Claus read on the walls. "Even the writing is similar … curse the spirits, curse the builders, curse Yggdrasil for creating those wretched beings. Descenders … Descenders Descenders burn for sins, come here so we can feast on your flesh. Let us gouge out your heart, hope you're alive when you watch us drink its blood and when we rip out your wings and hang them on our walls. Curse you curse you curse you. May you, descender, have your entrails removed while you're awake. Let us feast on them, let us feast on them! …"
"What happened?" Simon asked shivering.
"From what we gathered from the writing on the walls, the wars of the apocalypse period were caused by descenders, who are also dubbed as god's children. After the period we don't hear much about descenders, except about the descender, Mary, from two thousand years ago." Explained Claus.
"Foolish boy in our territory." Simon heard a voice say, he turned to see nothing behind him.
"We should get going." Ordered Claus.
"Simon, we'll be seeing more of this further down the hall, if you're uncomfortable with this I suggest you stay near the entrance." Will warned.
"I have a job to do, I can't run away from something like this." He told Will.
He then turned when he heard someone laugh: "Stupid stupid boy."
They continued down the halls of the temple and they saw much of the same thing. Simon wondered why Claus and Will weren't hearing the voices that were laughing and taunting him. He figured that he should ignore them, it would make the job easier if he ignored the voices. He shivered at random intervals even though the temple was much warmer than outside. He felt disapproving glares on him. They would stop every once in a while, so the two men can take some note and collect research material. The voices Simon heard stopped completely once they approached a room with a very high ceiling, an altar with a locked coffin on it was in the center of the room. Claus approached the lock muttered something and the lock broke and the coffin snapped open. There was a flash of light and a creature with two heads, a bird head and a lizard head appeared, it looked like a crazy alchemist spliced together a bird and some reptile.
"I am Aska." Said both heads at the same time, "The one who watches the world in the day, for what have you disturbed me for?"
"My name is Claus F. Lester, I wish to form a pact with you!" Demanded Claus.
"A pact?" Said the lizard head.
"Very well, you may form a pact but only if you can prove your strength!" challenged the bird head. Aska flew up stopping before he could hit his head on the ceiling.
"Here he comes! Simon try to get close to him!" Claus ordered.
"Yes sir!" Replied Simon running up to the altar then jumping up trying to slash Aska but he missed by a mile.
"Photon!" Aska shouted a blast of light hit Simon, slamming him into the ground.
"Healing power come! First Aid!" Will Chanted, Simon's wounds were instantly healed and he sprung back to his feet and used demon fang while Claus summoned Celsius.
"Celsius! Get Aska!" Claus ordered. Celsius obeyed, assisting Simon by casting ice spells, causing Aska to crash to the ground, Simon ran up and slashed him with his sword. Once Aska got up Simon jumped up and gave Aska an upward slash followed by a downward slash.
'Wait … this attack …' he thought, realizing that it looked oddly familiar.
"Holy Lance!" Aska shouted, blades of light appeared and impaled the party, minus Celsius.
"Will heal us!" Claus ordered. Simon swallowed an apple gel to heal some of his wounds.
"Freeze lancer!" Celsius shouted, blades of ice shot at Aska.
"Demon fang!" Simon shouted but the attack missed. Simon and Celsius ran up to Aska. Will used first aid on Simon then did the same thing with Claus and himself. Celsius jumped up and punched Aska several times over and Simon jumped and used his new attack, tiger blade, on him. Aska's bird head tried to peck Simon but he blocked the attack, but the lizard head bit his leg then threw him against the wall.
"You okay kid?" Claus asked.
"I'm fine!" Replied Simon, rubbing his shoulder then running back up to Aska.
"Lightning!" Will shouted, a bolt came down and struck Aska, Simon jumped up and used tiger blade again then Will used the spell fire storm, trapping Aska in a vortex of flames for a time. Celsius used freeze lancer again and Simon landed a few more slashes on him. Will also casted freeze lancer followed by stone bast then fire storm. Simon got thrown around and impaled with holy lance before Celsius dealt the finishing blow. Simon collapsed after the fight breathing heavily, Will went up to him and healed his wounds. Celsius disappeared when Claus ordered her to return. Aska got back up, as if he hadn't been hurt at all.
"You have proven your strength, now do you have the topaz ring?" Aska asked. Claus pulled out the ring that he used at the entrance. "Let us form the pact." A light glowed from the ring and Aska seemed to be absorbed into the ring.
"Can you stand kid?" Said Claus.
"Um … yeah … I'll be fine." Said Simon.
The trip down the mountain was just as hard as trip up, Simon had a hard time walking down the mountain. He nearly slid down the mountain. By the time they got back it was just as dark as when they started out, it was already the next day, since the trains ran for a full 24 hours, they took the train ride back to St. Gabriel. Simon was out like a light once they got a seat.
"Rough day for him today." Said Claus, filling out the evaluation.
"He's still young so something like this is overwhelming for a boy like him." Said Will. "Besides, he's a very inexperienced fighter so fighting Aska was tough for him. Hell, he would have been killed if we weren't there."
"That's a good point." Stated Claus. They were silent for the rest of the train ride. It was already the next day when they arrived in St. Gabriel. Will made sure Simon got back to the inn, while Claus went to sleep after sticking a sac containing ten thousand gald in Simon's pocket and putting Simon's evaluation on his desk.
When Simon woke up it was past noon so he ran to guild's building only to remember that he did all twenty jobs so he stopped himself and figured that he should look around St. Gabriel. He had breakfast, or rather, lunch at a small coffee shop and paid with some of the money he found in his pocket. He bumped into Kanonno who he noticed that she's wearing something different, as opposed to the overalls she normally wears. This time she wore a button up shirt, a vest, rolled up pants, stripped stockings and heeled shoes.
"Hey where have you been?" She asked.
"Mountain climbing." He said bluntly.
"I see, Robin was freaking out yesterday wondering where you've been." She explained.
"Oh … He's gonna murder me during training." He mused. "By the way, did you do some shopping yesterday?"
"Nope, I had this change since my normal clothes are being washed at the river." She said.
"Huh …" Said Simon, noticing that St. Gabriel was sunny, for once. "Kanonno, can I travel with you to Cademeca?"
"What about the guild?" She asked.
"Well, I'm not an official part of the guild yet." Said Simon. "
In any case you should stick around until you get your results. If you get rejected, then knock yourself out." She said. "Okay, I will." Said Simon. That night he got a letter from the guild, he knew that Robin had been accepted into the guild.
The letter read: To: Simon We appreciate that you applied but we are sorry to tell you that you did not make it into the guild. Sincerely, Ad Libitum.
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Leave it to Claus to take all the credit while Simon does all the work, not too far from what he did in Phantasia when you first meet him. In any case sorry if this chapter went on longer than it should, I just wanted to get this arc over with so some of the fun stuff happens. If you found the temple a little disturbing well it's going to reappear. To keep in mind, Robin uses a bo-staff and he knows sword rain, note, Xillia's Leia also wields a bo-staff and she knows sword rain, so don't please don't complain about it. Also, I'm using the Eternia model of Celsius while I made up the models for the other spirits, minus Muse from Xillia. Yes I'm putting in characters from all tales games thus far, including Radiant Mythology and Summoner's Lineage (Well … Radiant Mythology is kind of obvious because I'm basing this fan fiction off of it). I'm not doing Nakiri Dungeon and I'm debating if I should put in Tempest and Dawn of the New Radiant Freeze for reviewing so anyone else who's reading this please review, and if you have any criticisms, criticize away! This chapter is very much rushed.