Back again with another chapter ready for your enjoyment. Thank you for the feedback so far and I am happy to hear that people are enjoying reading. It also feels good getting back into the swing of things.
Anyway, onward to the chapter.
Chapter 24: Thoda Island
Lloyd stood dumbfounded as he stared over the pier. Although he knew that the Church didn't have too much money for a big expensive boat, he didn't expect them to be this cheap. For two-hundred gald they could've at least tried to use real boats.
"It's a…washtub?" Lloyd said with a mixed of wonder and a little bit of humor.
"Yep, it's a washtub..." Genis responded with an equal amount of shock.
"Washtubs, hmm..." Kratos murmured. He attempted to keep his voice neutral, but there was no hiding his own surprise.
Lloyd almost chuckled at seeing the normally cool and impassive Kratos taking off-guard. Even for someone like him, this was obviously the last thing he was expecting.
"Wow, this looks like it'll be fun!" Colette exclaimed in excitement.
Lloyd glanced at his childhood friend. Fun was not the word he would used to describe the situation. Especially since he was most likely going to have to roll. This was going to suck.
Noishe barked several times as he looked at the washtubs.
"I…I'm going to wait here. Go on ahead without me," Raine stuttered. She was the furthest back from the group and her left hand was griping her clothes so hard that her hand was whiter than usual.
Lloyd turned around to stare at his teacher. "What's wrong, Professor Sage?" he asked. She never turned down an opportunity to look at something new before.
"N...nothing. I'm not getting in that thing," Raine said firmly.
"It looks fun," Colette said as she bounced on the balls of her feet.
Genis walked over to his sister and firmly grabbed her free hand. "Come on, Raine!" He tugged her towards the washtub.
The moment Genis pulled, Raine let out a loud, sharp scream.
It was short, but it got everyone's attention. Even Kratos looked surprise by the strong reaction. Noishe's whimpering were the only noise that broke the awkward silence.
"…Ahh?" Lloyd repeated, mimicking Raine's scream. "Professor Sage...are you...afraid of water or something?"
Raine quickly put herself together as she pulled her hand out of Genis' loosed grip. "I…I was just starting to say, ahh, this should be fun!" she exclaimed, deeply embarrassed.
Kratos looked like he was going to say something, but thought it best to let the subject drop. At this point, there was little point in making the professor anymore uncomfortable.
"Given the size of out group, we should split into teams of two," Kratos said, getting back the main task. "I will ride with the Chosen." He looked at Lloyd. "You will ride with the professor."
"Me?" Lloyd questioned.
"Given Professor Raine's...reluctance...in sea travel, she needs a steady hand to roll the ship," Kratos explained. "I am unable to since it's my first duty to protect the Chosen."
"What about me?" Genis asked.
"You will ride with Noishe," Kratos stated.
Noishe barked happily at the news.
"Me!? That means I have to roll!" Genis exclaimed in horror.
"The exercise will be good for you," Kratos stated in a deadpan voice.
Raine shook her head. "It isn't safe to allow Genis to ride by himself."
"The sea is normally calm in this area and if the worst happens he can use his magic to defend himself," Kratos stated nonchalantly. "Besides, the washtubs are not big or stable enough to support three people, even a child."
Raine wanted to say otherwise, but she knew Kratos was right on this one. Damn her fear of water.
"We should get going," Kratos said as they all got into their respected washtubs. After a little bit of trial and error, they were rolling through the open sea.
Kratos had the easiest time guiding his washtub since he had some experience with roll boats, even if what he was rolling wasn't an actual boat. He was also able to stay ahead of the others, but held back enough so he could keep an eye on Lloyd and Genis.
Lloyd was having a hard time rolling since Raine had a death grip on the boy's arm. To his credit, Lloyd did a good job keeping his teacher calm as he guided his boat. Kratos was actually quite impressed by Lloyd's calming presence.
Genis was having a hard time rolling, especially with how awkward it was to have Noishe lean over him. Kratos was the most worry for the elf, but this was something Genis had to do. He couldn't depend on the strength of others forever.
"This is so fun!" Colette exclaimed happily. "Look at all the fishies, Mr. Kratos."
"I'm a little too busy to look," Kratos said dryly.
"But, they're so pretty," Colette said as she leaned in even closer to the water.
"I must ask you, Chosen, not to move too much," Kratos said in a somewhat calm voice. "These washtubs are barely stable enough to be seaworthy." He was surprised no pilgrim was lost at sea.
Colette frowned. "You're always so serious."
"It's my job to be serious," Kratos said. "I was hired to protect your life and I take my job very seriously."
Colette frowned deeper. "Do you only see me as a job, Mr. Kratos?"
Kratos chose not to answer.
Raine, meanwhile, felt like she was going to be sick as they hit another wave that rocked the entire washtub.
She hated water. For as long as she could remembered, she feared the sea above any beast or Desian. Not even the though of seeing new ruins was enough to eased her fears.
She didn't remember how she developed such a crippling fear, but she never gave herself the chance to think too much about it. She knew this journey would eventually forced her to take to the sea, but she thought they would only be traveling by a big boat. Not dinky washtubs. The Church would hear of this!
"Professor, you're okay back there?" Lloyd asked in concern.
"I...I'm fine," Raine stuttered in a meek voice. She didn't want one of her students to see her so terrified. She had to stay strong at all time in front of her pupils.
Lloyd turned his head to give her a comfortable smile. "Professor, I understand."
It took Raine a few seconds to comprehend what Lloyd was saying. She had been so busy worrying about herself that she had forgotten Lloyd's almost paralyzing fear of lightning. What she was going through was all too familiar to him.
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you," Lloyd assured. "You have my word on that."
For a split second, Raine loosened her grip on Lloyd's arm. Lloyd may never understand how much his words touched her. "I trust you, Lloyd."
The rest of the trip was relatively quiet with only Colette's singing breaking the silence. To past the time, she had taking to singing church hymns. Lloyd didn't understand a word she was saying since all the words were in angelic. Nonetheless, all the songs were pretty and strangely haunting at the same time.
He always enjoyed Colette's singing and used to attend the Church's services whenever Colette was supposed to sing. He stopped doing that since the priests always saw it as their chance to convert him. He actually missed those days.
Kratos didn't have time to enjoy the music since his senses were somewhere else. Since they left the shore, he had felt a familiar presence following behind them.
It was faint, but it was undoubtedly the mana of the assassin. Somehow, she was able to shadow them since reaching the House of Salvation. He probably wouldn't even known she was there if she was not expending so much energy control her washtub. Obviously, she wasn't a seafaring woman.
Nonetheless, this could complicate things more. If the woman was able to hide this well from his senses, she could sneak up on them at any moment. Even though he was more than capable of handling her, it would only take one moment for his guard to slip for her to kill the Chosen. He was going to have to be more careful in the future.
It took nearly four hours of rolling before they finally reached Thoda Island. Lloyd sighed in relief as he put his oars a way. His arms were stiffed and he was envious when he saw that Kratos was able to move around like nothing was wrong.
He did feel a little better, however, when he saw the shape Genis was in. The boy was panting hard and rubbing his arms in pain. He was honestly surprised that the young mage was able to roll all the way here with Noishe weighing him down.
"We're here, professor," Lloyd said as he looked at Raine. She was still shivering, but her color was steadily returning. After a couple of seconds, she was able to fully calm down again.
Raine carefully pulled herself out of the washtub and allowed Lloyd to help her come ashore. "We've…finally…arrived..." she murmured in relief.
"That was fun, wasn't it, Lloyd!?" Colette asked cheerfully. Her conversation with Kratos was long forgotten.
"Sea water came in and I thought it was going to sink!" Genis complained as he continued to rub his arms.
Noishe whined as if agreeing with Genis.
Lloyd gave a small chuckle.
"That was a rare experience," Kratos said as he looked over the washtubs. He knew the world of Sylvarant was poor, but surely they could afford a decent rowboat. Especially for a major tourist attraction.
A loud rumbled caught everyone's attention.
"What's that!?" Lloyd exclaimed.
Raine's mood suddenly brightened as an insane aura came into her eyes.
Genis gave a loud sigh, knowing full well that his sister was about to entered manic mood.
"That's an eruption for the geyser," Raine said in excitement.
"The geyser so powerful that the eruptions can be felt from here?" Lloyd asked in surprise.
"Of course," Raine said. "The geyser can easily shot over four-thousand gallons of pressurize water."
Lloyd's eyes widen in shock. "That's a lot of water."
"Which is why it won't be easy to get that statue," Genis stated. "It may even be impossible."
"Well, we can at least look where the statue fall," Lloyd said as they began to walk up the stairs that was cut into the rock face.
There was nothing particularly special about Thoda Island. There was little to no green life and the island was mostly just a giant rock formation in the middle of nowhere. Nonetheless, there was still a crowd of people staring in wonder at the geyser. The area around geyser was fenced off to keep anyone from accidentally falling in. Lloyd also noticed that it was much hotter and humid up here than it was at the bottom of the island.
Another rumble shook the ground as a giant pillar of water shot into the air. Even Lloyd couldn't turn away as saw the wall of steaming water reach into the sky. It took several minutes for it to dissipate.
"That's amazing!" Lloyd yelled in awe. He never thought boiling water could be so incredible.
"A geyser is a type of hot spring that periodically erupts with boiling water and water vapor," Genis explained, once again repeating his lessons.
Lloyd blushed deeply since he didn't understand a word that Genis had said. "Y…yeah. I knew that."
Colette walked right up to the fence and leaned over to get a better look at the geyser. "Hey, look everyone!" She pointed to something that was on the far side of the geyser.
Everyone walked towards Colette and looked in the direction she was pointing.
Lloyd's mouth dropped when he saw the Spiritua Statue. He had expected it to be near the ledge by the fence, but the statue lay clear on the other side of them.
"How did that priest managed drop it way over there?" Genis asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
"Drop it!" Lloyd gasped. "That priest had to have flung it!"
The ledge where the statue sat didn't have a walkway for people to reach. There was no physical way for that priest to walk and drop the statue by mistake. He was starting to wonder if the priest ditched the statue on purpose.
Raine shook her head in dismay. "This will make things much harder."
"That's an understatement…" Genis muttered.
Kratos rubbed his chin in thought. "Any ideas?"
If he could use his wings, he could try to fly over there. Maybe the Chosen could do it, but given the Chosen's…lack of balanced he wouldn't chance her falling into the geyser.
Lloyd folded his arms. "Well, maybe Genis could freeze the geyser with his magic."
"What, are you kidding me!?" Genis asked in shock. "How am I supposed to freeze an entire geyser!? Not even the best elven magician can do that!"
"Maybe you can just do parts of it," Lloyd suggested. "You could freeze little sections for me to land on and I could use them to reach the statue."
"That's crazy!" Genis yelled.
"And it's too dangerous," Raine said adamantly. "The water is so hot that it can easily burn right through your skin."
"But professor, my clothes will protect me," Lloyd assured as he pointed towards his jacket. "It was made to handle these types of temperatures."
Raine shook her head. "It's still too dangerous. I could never look at Dirk again if anything was to happen to you."
"Professor, please trust me," Lloyd attempted to assure. "We can't continued the Journey of Regeneration if we can't find the other Seals, right? So, it's something we need to risk."
"He has a point," Kratos said neutrally.
If the worst happened, he could always lead them to the other Seals. However, he wasn't sure how to do so without given himself away. It would make his job much easier if they figured out things on their own.
He was also curious to see if Lloyd could achieve the task before him. Lloyd's plan was daring and would required fast reflexes and steady nerves to succeed. If he ran into trouble, he could always save him.
Raine sighed in defeat. "I still don't like it."
Lloyd turned back towards the mage. "Can you do it, Genis?"
"It will take a great deal of magic, but I guess I could try," Genis said hesitantly.
Lloyd nodded. "It's settled then."
"Let's go to a higher ledge then," Kratos advised.
They walked up several more stairs until they reached an overhang over the geyser.
Lloyd felt his heart beat faster as the full weight of his task hit him. Saying he could do it was one thing, but actually doing it was another. If he failed, he could be swimming in boiling water. Even with his current protection, he highly doubted that he could live through that.
Colette seemed to sense his doubt and gave his arm a comforting squeezed. He looked towards her and gave her a grateful smile.
"The ice I can make will…well, it's just an estimate, but I don't think it will last more than about thirty seconds," Genis said as he scanned the geyser.
Lloyd nodded. "Gotcha."
"Be careful, even my healing arts have their limits," Raine said with deep concern.
"You have a bad habit of getting cocky," Kratos stated.
Lloyd glanced at Kratos in annoyance. Why do Kratos always picked times like this to be a smartass?
They waited for the geyser to erupt again before Genis made his move. Once the water faded, he lifted his kendama. "Icicle!"
A wave of ice flowed out of the kendama and rushed over the geyser's holes. Within seconds, all the holes were covered a thick layer of ice. However, the ice were already started to break and shattered in several places.
"Go now!" Genis shouted.
Lloyd didn't waste a second as he jumped from the ledge and began to hop along the breaking ice face.
People stopped to look as they saw Lloyd jumping from one ice platform to another. They were several mutters about what that moron was doing.
Sprays of boiling would randomly shot out of several places, nearly hitting Lloyd in the face. He was fortunately able to dodge most of them and the ones that did hit him got him on the arm or legs. Even with his heat-resistance clothes, he could feel the heat of the water.
After what felt like an eternity to Lloyd, he finally reached the ledge where the Spiritua State sat. He carefully picked it up as the ice around him began to shake and shatter further.
"He got the statue!" Colette cheered in excitement.
They didn't have time to celebrate since the ice around the geyser was collapsing.
"Hurry back!" Kratos ordered.
Lloyd had no problem following that advice as he began to hop back on what was left of the ice. The platforms were further in-between and less stable. Some broke the moment he made contact with them, forcing him to redirect to another platform.
"This isn't good," Raine said in worry. "The geyser is going to erupt soon."
Kratos leaned forward; ready to jump in if Lloyd didn't make it in time. At this point, he didn't care how much of himself he might reveal.
Lloyd jumped as fast as he could and was more than a little frustrated that he had to backtrack at times when the ice broke too soon. He felt the rumbles of the geyser as another eruption approached.
Just when time was about to run out, he made it closed enough to the rock ledge to make a leap of fate. As he soared through the air, a giant gust of water shot of the hole and hit him on his legs.
Lloyd sneered in pain, but he was able to make the jump and land safely next to his friends. He legs gave the moment he touched the ground.
From below, Lloyd could hear several claps. Apparently, the tourists thought he put on some kind of show.
"Lloyd, are you okay?" Colette asked in horror.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Lloyd said with a small smile.
Raine ran by Lloyd's side and pushed him on his back. Before Lloyd could protest, Raine pulled his pants leg up and surveyed his injuries. Despite some redden of the skin and swelling, there appeared to be no real damage. It would appear that the long johns protected Lloyd. He was extremely lucky.
"That was crazy stunt you just pulled," Raine reprimanded as she started to heal his legs.
"Hey, I got the statue, didn't I?" Lloyd said with a cocky smile as he held up the statue in question.
"A statue is not worth a human life," Kratos said as he took the statue from Lloyd and placed it in his traveling bag.
Although he would never say it out loud, he was impressed. Even with an exsphere, Lloyd performed several nearly prefect jumps with little room for error. It was something he certainly couldn't do at that age.
"You can never give a compliment," Lloyd whined as his legs were healed.
"Had to admit, you cut it kind of close. I didn't think you would make it," Genis sighed, happy that his friend wasn't boiled alive.
Instead of commenting further, Kratos noticed that Colette's eyes had turned away from Lloyd. She was staring at some object not too far behind them. He already knew what it was, but it was best to play dumb. Looks like they wouldn't have to backtrack here.
"What is it, Chosen?" Kratos asked. That got everyone's attention.
"There's something behind that sign," Colette said. "It looks familiar."
Lloyd got up and walked towards the place that Colette was looking. Everyone else followed shortly behind him. "Hey, isn't this a whatchamcallit stone?"
"An oracle stone," Kratos sighed.
"That must be why it looked familiar!" Colette exclaimed.
Raine's eyes lit up. "So this is the Seal of Water!"
Aww…that sucks," Lloyd whined. "I didn't even need to get that Spiritua Statue." He was not happy about having his heroic deed overshadowed.
"Cheer up, Lloyd," Colette said in comfort. "Just think of it as giving you the opportunity to have fun riding in the washtubs."
Lloyd couldn't help but to chuckle at that. "Yeah, I guess, but…"
"Let's hurry on inside!" Genis exclaimed in excitement. He really wanted to see what the temple of water looked like.
Raine was also shaking in excitement.
"Okay then," Colette said as she put her hand on the oracle stone.
It lit up for a second before a giant explosion caught them all off guard. Everyone jumped when they saw several rocks fall from the mountain face to reveal a large hole that was hidden away. Once the opening was revealed a white light arched over in their direction, creating a bridge.
"Wow, it's so beautiful," Colette said in awe.
"Excellent, wow, let us begin the excavation at once!" Raine exclaimed as she rubbed her hands.
"We're not here to excavate anything," Lloyd pointed out, earning a slapped on the back of the head.
"Should had kept your mouth shut," Genis said as he rolled his eyes.
"Sheesh, what did I do?" Lloyd grumbled, rubbing his sore head.
Kratos glanced from the side of his eye and saw the assassin.
She looked tired from all the rolling she undoubtedly did to get here. She was waiting in the shadow of a sign, out of sight from most of the group. She was most likely waiting for them to go inside so she could ambush them. She certainly wouldn't want to kill the Chosen in plain sight. She would never make it off the island alive.
Kratos grabbed the hilt of his sword as the others stated to move inside.
He was little frustrated and annoyed that no one took noticed of the assassin. The Chosen's senses were still dull since she wouldn't have her full angel senses until she became a complete angel and the Sages were too distracted by the temple to pay much noticed to anything.
Lloyd as a training warrior should known better and he was greatly disappointed that his son remained oblivious. He was going to have to increase the boy's training. Otherwise, it would only be a matter of time before they all get themselves killed. He couldn't be the only eyes and ears within the group.
Sheena watched the group carefully as they walked into the newly revealed temple. She was taken off-guard when the mountain opened up, but she thankfully didn't blow her cover in her surprised. If she wanted to have the best chance of success, she had to remain unseen for as long as possible.
Fortunately, no one took any noticed of her, not even the tourists. It was strange how impassive the people of Sylvarant could be at times, especially with her clothes that were beyond the norm even in Tethe'alla's. But she supposed as long as she wasn't a Desian, most people took no noticed of another human.
Once the group was out of sight, she saw her chance to make her move. As she started to follow them, a pang of guilt came over her again.
Despite her big words, she wasn't looking forward to achieving her mission. Killing someone in cold-blood, especially an innocent like the Chosen, didn't sit right with her. She knew it was all to save her own world, but the act still disgusted her.
She partly wondered why the vice-chief chose her for such a task. Her village hasn't done hired assassin work in decades and there were people far better trained than her in the village. She wondered if this was a test to see her loyalty to the village. Given her current standing, succeeding in killing the Chosen may finally earned her redemption from the other villagers. In either case, she had a job to complete. She could worry about the moral dilemma afterwards.
She moved to catch them within the temple. Just as she walked out of the shadows, however, a giant dog-like creature suddenly jumped in front her and blocked her path.
She backed away as she sized up the beast. She realized that this was the creature that accompanied the Chosen's group. She overheard his name as Noishe.
The dog-like creature growled viciously at her. Wasn't this creature supposed to be a coward?
Not wanting to waste anymore time, Sheena brought out a sheet of paper and summoned her friend Corrine.
The little foxlike summon spirit stared down the beast, but it refused to backed down. If anything, it became even more aggressive. Corrine sized up his opponent, planning the best time to strike.
Before the showdown could happen, the bridge of light that led to the temple disappeared.
Sheena growled in annoyance as her only pathway to the Chosen closed off. Even with her skills, she could never do the series of jumps necessary to reached them, especially with the waterfall in her way. She also couldn't attack them once they left since the tourists would undoubtedly defend the Chosen, causing unnecessarily deaths.
"Grr, I'll get you next time for sure!" Sheena grumbled.
Despite her current frustration, a part of her felt relieved. She felt even angrier with herself for feeling grateful that something kept her from completing her mission. Her entire world was at stake as well as her village, yet she hesitated. What was wrong with her?
Noishe seemed to howl in victory as he continued to stare at Sheena.
"Why does this weird animal block the way!?" Corrine asked in annoyance.
Sheena let out another growled. "We're leaving."
Corrine looked at Sheena for a moment before he finally nodded. He hopped on Sheena's shoulder and gave Noishe one last glare as Sheena made her way back towards the washtubs. She wasn't looking forward to the trip back.
Given the state of this world, Sheena also began to wonder if it was right to condemn it to further misery. Between the mana shortage and the Desians, how long could Sylvarant last if their Chosen failed?
She decided it was best not to think about it any further.
Finally at the second seal and we get some stuff from Sheena's point-of-view. Not a big chapter, but we are moving.
Until next time.
