Hello, everyone. The next chapter is finally up. Sorry, again, for the late update. I make no excuses. This time, I was late because I was too lazy to edit. Anyway, thank you for the feedback, the favorites, and the follows. Happy to know that people still enjoy this story.

Now, to the chapter.


Chapter 30: Across the Mountains


They ran out of the Ranch as fast as their legs could carry them. Even though Raine gave them twenty minutes to evacuate, they still didn't want to chance being anywhere near the Ranch when it exploded. Who knew how big the blast radius would be.

By the time they reached outside, the fighting from earlier had all but ceased. It also felt good to breath fresh air again. Lloyd had grown tired of the stall stench of the Ranch.

They moved quickly through the forest and they soon saw Neil waving at them with several soldiers standing beside him.

"Neil, what happened to the captives?" Lloyd asked when he came into range.

"They've been moved further into the field," Neil stated. "The Desians' line broke just a few minutes ago and they are currently in retreat."

"We should go after those bastards and put an end to each one of them," one of the soldiers said.

"We don't have time for that," Genis said franticly. "We have to get as far away from the Ranch as possible."

"Huh?" Neil asked.

"It's going to explode!" Colette exclaimed bluntly.

"What...how?" a nearby soldier stuttered.

"Never mind, do as they say!" Neil ordered. "Get all the soldiers back, now!"

The remaining soldiers ran to warn the others as Neil led the Chosen's group to safety.

It wasn't long after the last soldier was in the safe zone when a giant explosion rocked the entire area. Everyone watched in awe as a cloud of smoke and fire enveloped the forest and pieces of steel flew through the air. Even where they stood, several chucks of debris landed only a few feet away from them.

As soon as it had happened, it was over. Although the main shell of the Ranch remained intact, the structure was beyond salvaging. Even if the Desians were to return to this region, they could never use this Ranch again and it would take them months to build a new one. That was on top of losing one of their Grand Cardinals.

As Raine stated, it was a devastating blow. The first major defeat the Desians suffered in centuries.

There was a long silence as everyone took in the sufficed of what happened.

"It's finally over..." one of the prisoners whispered as they fall to their knees. "The Human Ranch is no more... The…Desians are beating…"

A loud cheer went up from the prisoners who still had the energy to move.

"WE'RE FREE!" one yelled.

"THANK THE GODDESS! THE CHOSEN CAME AND SAVED US!" several others shouted.

"DEATH TO ALL THE DESIANS!" some people yelled.

Neil had a half smile on his face. They beat the Desians, but so many innocent lives were lost. Too many.

Lloyd was more relieve that everyone was safe than happy. He fell to the ground and took several deep breaths. The adrenaline from all the fighting had long past. Now, his body fully felt the pain he was in. Even with all the healing he received, he was going to sore for a long time. "I thought I was going to die..." he whispered more to himself.

Colette looked at the happy people as they sang and danced to their victory. The soldiers were hugging each other and were just as much in tears as the former prisoners. "I'm glad everyone's alright."

Neil looked at the group and noticed that one among them wasn't there. "What happened to Chocolat?"

The happy mood among the Chosen's group immediately dropped. Lloyd and Genis looked at each other with guilty expressions.

"I think she was taken to another location," Raine answered for all of them.

Neil looked at each of them and seemed to have grasped what had happened. "I see..."

"If she's alright, she can still be rescued," Kratos said, trying to eased the somber mood.

Neil nodded in agreement. "If you learn Chocolat's location, please let us know immediately." His eyes became downcast. "Even Dorr really wanted to save her."

Lloyd clenched his fist in determination. "I swear we'll find her and save her next time." He wouldn't let the Desians destroy that family any further.

"There's also the manner of all the prisoners," Genis said as he glanced at them. "They all have something called exspheres embedded in them."

"Exspheres?" Neil repeated in confusion.

"It's dangerous to leave them as they are now," Lloyd explained further as he stood up. "You need to send a letter in my name to a dwarf named Dirk who lives in Iselia. I'm sure he'll help you get them removed."

"Dirk, in Iselia, I understand," Neil nodded, although he still didn't understand what was going on.

"We should return to Palmacosta to rest before we continue our journey," Kratos said.

Raine put her hand on her chin in concern. "Palmacosta will still be in chaos because of Dorr's death."

"Maybe so, but the news of Magnius' defeat and the destruction of the Human Ranch should lighting the hearts of the citizens," Neil said somberly. "At least we're free of the raids and murders."

"The Desians will return eventually, so you shouldn't allow yourself to become lacks," Kratos warned. "They will be especially vengeful given what happened."

"I have no fear," Neil said, looking towards Colette. "I am certain that the Chosen will succeed and free us once for all from the Desians."

Colette nodded, putting her hands to her heart. "I'll do my best."

Lloyd glanced at her, but said nothing. He wasn't happy that it was up to Colette alone to completely rid the world of the Desians. Well, at least he take comfort that he personally helped kick the Desians in the backside. It was a small satisfaction, but he would take it. At least now, it somewhat felt like he was redeeming himself.

The walked back to Palmacosta was a slow, but loud event. They couldn't walk too fast since several of the prisoners were too weak to walk far. There were only so many wagons and those were used for those who were too weak to walk at all.

Kratos found no point to hurry. The next seal was weeks away and they could all use the break. Between the Seal of Water and dealing with Magnius' foolishness, they all were worn out.

Besides, they've earned the right to enjoy their victory. They actually managed to defeat a Grand Cardinal. He may have had a hand in their victory, but it was them who had the will to even try.

They didn't even have to fear redistribution from Mithos. Magnius brought about his own destruction. And, despite his warnings to Nail, the Desians wouldn't bother to retake this area given how closed the Regeneration of the World was.

Still, replacing Magnius would be a pain since, despite everything at the end, he was a loyal and strong follower of Cruxis. Not to mention the balance of power within the Desians had badly shifted with Rodyle and Kvar having only Forcystus to balance them outside of Pronyma. He was going to hate the amount of paperwork he would have once he returned.

"Magnius...hmm..." Lloyd muttered.

"What is it, Lloyd?" Colette asked, noticing Lloyd's change of mood.

"Those last things he said were kind of strange," Lloyd said in thought.

"You mean about being deceived?" Kratos said. He was partially surprise that Lloyd was paying attention to Magnius. Then again, Lloyd did know when to listen when it was truly important.

"I wonder what he was deceived by," Colette wondered.

"Good question. His bet was on either Kvar or Rodyle." Kratos thought.

Magnius wasn't the smartest, but whoever deceived him was someone he obviously trusted. Could it be Yuan? Or maybe Kvar or Rodyle.

Magnius would trust Yuan since he was of Cruxis, but Yuan wouldn't risk using one of the Grand Cardinals to do his dirty work. It could leak back to Mithos. Magnius didn't like Kvar because of his snobbish personality. That only left Rodyle. But why? What did Rodyle gained from killing the Chosen other than making Mithos angry?

"There's no way to know now," Raine stated with a tone of indifference.

"Oh, I know!" Colette suddenly exclaimed.

"What, know what?" Lloyd asked.

"Magnius thought the fake Chosen group was us," Colette said happily.

Lloyd's eyes widened at the realization. "Ah, I see! Then everything would make sense!"

Both Kratos and Raine glanced at each other and marveled at how Colette and Lloyd seemed to share the same strange wavelength at times.

Genis simply snickered and shook his head.

"If that was the case, the impostors would have been killed by now," Raine said steadily.

"Just as the Professor said, there's no way for us to know now," Kratos said.

There was no point in making them worry about the politics of the Desians. He, however, was not looking forward to cleaning up the current mess. Why couldn't Mithos find more trustworthy people to do his work? "In either case, Magnius is dead. Isn't that enough?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Lloyd said, upset that the mystery remained. "Still, I really thought we'd figured it out."

It took them over a day before the towering buildings of Palmacosta could finally be seen in the distance. As happy as Lloyd was to finally arrive, he was seriously getting sick of Palmacosta. All the excitement from weeks ago had long since faded. With recent events, he would like nothing more than to leave this entire area behind.

Some of Lloyd's former excitement returned when they were given a hero's welcomed when they walked through the main entrance. It looked like people from all over the city had been gathering for hours as they threw flowers and ribbons at the returning soldiers.

Neil marched ahead of everyone to address the city. "The deed has finally been done!" he yelled to the crowd who became silent. "Magnius, the ruler of the Human Ranch, is dead and its people freed from the Desians' grasp!"

Another loud cheered went up across the streets as people jumped and hugged one another in happiness.

"We owed all that has happened to the Chosen and her group of loyal followers," Neil said as he looked towards Colette with a huge smile. He turned his attention back towards the crowd and became somber. "However, this victory has come at a grave price."

Everyone became silent again as the grief from the days ago hit them. Some sobs could be heard.

"Dorr...Dorr gave his life fighting the Desians and we have to assure that his death was not in vain," Neil said with a tight voice. "There is still much to be done to mend the scars of our broken city, but we finally have a fresh start. Let us show the Desians that their years of oppression has ended!"

Another cheer went up as the former prisoners of the Ranch were led into the city. They had to keep most of them from running into the crowd to search for their families since they couldn't afford to lose sight of them until their exspheres were removed.

During the chaos, Neil walked over to the Chosen's group and gave a deep bow. "We're forever in your debt, Chosen One. Stay within our city as long as you need. It's the least we can do."

Kratos glanced over the group and saw the ware on everyone's faces. Their battle with Magnius had taken everything they had and they didn't have the chance to properly rest on the road. He knew that they would need at least a day of rest to restore themselves as well as their supplies and armor.

"We thank you very much for your offer," Raine answered for all of them.

"I will have one of the soldiers take you to the best hotel we have," Neil said before he went back to greeting the people.

"Man, I was hoping we could leave soon," Lloyd whined.

"We're in no shape to travel," Kratos said firmly as he looked over Lloyd's torn clothing. "You also need to repair your outfit."

Lloyd pulled absently at his jacket. "I guess."

"It's good to see everyone so happy." Colette suddenly said as she watched people dance in the streets.

"Having the Desians defeated in this area has restore their hope," Raine said with a small smile.

"Everyone!" someone yelled from the crowd. They looked up to see Cacao coming towards them in her wheelchair.

"Cacao, you shouldn't be out like this," Colette said in worry as she ran to meet the injured woman.

"I could hardly stay in my shop when I heard the news," Cacao said as she searched among the group. "Is Chocolat with you? I didn't see her among the others being taken to the church."

Lloyd fell silent. "Chocolat...we didn't save her…"

Cacao's eyes widen in horror. "By the Goddess, is she..."

"No, she isn't dead," Genis said quickly. "She was taken to another Ranch. We don't know where though."

"What happened?' Cacao questioned.

"It's my fault," Lloyd blurted out before anyone could answer. "Chocolat didn't want to be save by us because she found out what happened to her grandmom."

Cacao looked between Lloyd and Genis before her face became downcast. A glint of tears could be seen in her eyes. "I see...my mother has passed away. But, how does that relate to Chocolat not wanting to be rescue?"

Lloyd bit his lips as the guilt tore through him again.

Before he could answer, Genis stepped in front of him. "I met Marble at the Ranch by Iselia. We became friends and the Desians turned her into a monster because of me."

"I killed her," Lloyd said bluntly. There was no point making excuses.

"I see and Chocolat turned on you because of that," Cacao said as she shook her head. "Chocolat was being foolish."

This caught Lloyd and Genis off-guard.

"Chocolat was closed to her grandmother," Cacao said somberly. "Because of their bond, Chocolat never considered that Marble might never returned to us. Learning the truth of what happened blinded her and caused her to make a terrible choice."

"I swear I will bring her back," Lloyd said firmly, putting his fisted hand to his chest. "You have my word."

Cacao gave a sad smile. "Thank you. Chocolat may be rash and irrational at times, but she's still my only child. She's all I have left now."

"So, you're not mad at us?" Genis asked slowly.

"Of course not," Cacao said firmly. "The people who killed my mother were the Desians. It was cruel of them to force you to spill blood in order to protect yourselves."

Lloyd was left speechless at Cacao's forgiveness. He thought for certain that she would hate him too for his crime.

"Chosen One," one of the soldiers said as they walked next to Colette. "We're ready to take you to the hotel."

Colette gave slight bow. "Thank you very much."

"There is nothing more to be done here," Kratos said. "Let's retire for the day."

The trip to the hotel was a blur for Lloyd and Kratos was right about them needing to rest. He didn't realized how tired he was until his head hit the pillow. He was out before he could realize how soft the bed was.

The entire next day was spent resupplying and repairing their clothes from all the previous battles.

It wasn't all bad, however, since the people were still celebrating their victory over the Desians. Many came to the hotel to leave tributes for Colette. This made Raine happy since that solved the cash crisis they were starting to have, despite Colette's best attempts to return the money and other presents.

"This will go a long way to helping us," Raine said as she counted the money.

"It's still not enough for us to pass Hakonesia Peak," Kratos stated as he cleaned his sword. "Even with the Spiritua Statue, I doubt Koton will let us through without paying full price."

Raine sighed in frustrating as she put the money down. "I have been trying to figure a way around that. We may have no choice but to try go around the mountain."

Kratos frowned. "If we do that, it will take us months to reach Asgard. Not to mention we would be putting the Chosen's life at great danger because of the stronger monsters."

"I'm aware of that, but we don't have too many options," Raine sighed as she leaned into her hands.

"Can't believe we still have to work around that jerk," Genis complained as he sipped his orange juice. "Can't we just fry the bastard and be done with it?"

Raine glared at Genis, quickly shutting him up.

"Because of the trade agreement he made with Palmacosta we can't legally pass without road passes," Kratos said.

Raine knew by Kratos' undertone that he was suggesting they pass through Hakonesia Peak illegally. Given that they were currently in good standing with the government of Palmacosta, they didn't have to fear too much from them.

Asgard, however, was another matter all together. If they were caught, they could be arrested and they couldn't use the Chosen's name because of the impostors. Given the choices, however, crossing illegally may be their best option.

"Road passes, you mean like this one?" Colette asked as she held up a wooden card with several characters on it.

Raine got up from her seat to take a better look at the card. She was left speechless for several seconds. "This is a travel agency card pass! How did you get it?"

"When Chocolat was being taking away, it dropped from one of her pockets," Colette said before her eyes became downcast. "I thought it was something important to her, so I picked it up."

"With this, we can pass through Hakonesia Peak without paying for individual passes," Kratos stated, amazed by their good luck. Perhaps fate finally decided to have mercy on them.

Lloyd chose not to say anything. It was good that they got the pass, but he wished they had gotten it in a different way.

"With that settle, we can finally head to Hakonesia Peak in the morning," Kratos said as he sheathed his sword. "We've allowed ourselves to be held back for too long."

"But we helped the people here break free from the Desians," Colette said as she turned towards Kratos. "So it wasn't a waste of time."

"And there are many more like Palmacosta that are suffering," Kratos said firmly. "You can't save them all without regenerating the world."

Colette flinched at the harsh words.

"Kratos..." Lloyd growled angrily.

"No, he's right, Lloyd," Colette said as she shook her head. "In order to save everyone, I must complete my journey and became a true angel. Then, the Goddess Martel will awaken and banish the Desians."

"Colette..." Lloyd whispered.

Kratos suddenly stood up. "Lloyd, let's go. We still have time for some training."

"This late!?" Lloyd exclaimed.

"You haven't trained in several days and you still have much to learn," Kratos stated coldly.

"But..." Lloyd started.

Kratos gave him a hard stare. "Have you changed your mind about wanting to protect the Chosen?"

Those words stopped whatever Lloyd was about to say. His eyes hardened as he stood up and stared at the older swordsman. "Just let me get my swords." He stalked off.

"You sure have a way of encouraging Lloyd," Genis mused.

"I wish I could get him to study with such vigor," Raine sighed.

"Lloyd's biggest strength and weakness is his pride and his desire to protect others," Kratos said as he walked outside. Lloyd was very much like another former student.

The sun was barely up before they were once again on the road. Neil was kind enough to loan them some horses until they reached the boarder of the Palmacosta region. It made things a little easier on Lloyd since he was still half asleep.

Even with the faster mode of travel, it still took a day before they reached Hakonesia Peak.

Koton was surprised to see them as they walked into his small house. He looked ready to yell at them for entering his home until something shiny from Lloyd's bag got his attention. He knew immediately what it was because of the halo of diamonds.

"Oh, that is indeed the Spiritua Statue!" Koton said greedily as he rushed toward the group. He licked his lips in excitement, creeping out Raine and Genis. "Give it to me!"

"First, keep your end of the bargain," Lloyd firmly, keeping his bag out of Koton's reach.

"I know, I know," Koton said dismissively as his hands clenched and unclenched. "Just be sure you remember, I'm only letting you look at it."

Lloyd rolled his eyes as he reached into his traveling pack and handed Koton the Spiritua Statue. Koton grabbed the statue and stared at it with a look of wonder and admiration.

Raine and Colette were already looking at the Book of Regeneration and carefully turning its pages.

"So, what does it say?" Lloyd asked as he looked over Colette's shoulder.

"There's quite a lot of text," Raine answered as she scanned over the old writing. The parts about Spiritua's journey and her old companies were indeed an interesting read. There was so much to learned from the book, so much hidden history, but now was not the time. When all this was over, she would have to return here. "Colette, please read aloud just the parts that concern the seals."

Colette nodded as she looked over one of the pages. "Raging flames in an ancient city deep within clouds of sand overlook the city, lighting the darkness. Pure, flowing water floating, overflowing, in an isolated land becomes a giant pillar and rains down from the sky. Sublime wind, ancient city, the world's... enshrined in the center of a giant stone seal lurks evil, impersonating a holy force. Shining…gazing up at the summit of the gods, giving praise to the pillar of the world…from the top of the tower of ancient gods." She strained to read the rest. "Two giant...the rest is too damaged. I can't read it..."

"Then we don't even know how many seals are left," Genis sighed in disappointment.

"Indeed..." Kratos said in slight annoyance. He had hoped that the text would be more forth coming and didn't speak in riddles. Then again, the writer was a friend of Yuan's so he should have expected it.

"The 'raging flames' part at the beginning must be the Seal of Fire, right?" Lloyd observed as he rubbed the back of his head. "What do the other parts mean?"

Raine put a hand on her chin. "The Seal of Wind must be...the Asgard Ruin. If we travel to Asgard, we should be able to find some clues." Her eyes lit up at the thought.

"What about 'gazing up at the summit of the gods'?" Genis asked.

"I think that's probably the Tower of Mana," Colette said. "From there, you can see the mountains around the Tower of Salvation, so that's probably the summit of the gods."

Kratos was too busy thinking about Asgard to pay too much attention to the current talk.

Given his history with that city, it would make things complicated. He had hoped that they would skip that city since no seal was there. But, he could hardly say that without raising some serious questions. He could only hope that no one remembered him. It was almost twenty years ago, after all.

"At any rate, we know where the seals are now," Lloyd said cheerfully. "Thanks, Gramps."

"Thank you so much," Colette said with a slight bow.

Koton was in a much happier mood now that he gotten his statue. He already placed it in the middle of one of the walls like a trophy. "Come back whenever you like if you want to look at it again."

They left the house and took in the fresh air of the morning.

"Well, I guess we're off to Asgard," Genis said.

"What luck that our journey will take us to that marvelous city," Raine said with stars in her eyes. She was practically bouncing. "Think of all the research we can do."

"Raine, shouldn't our first priority be the seal?" Genis asked in a dry tone.

"Of course, of course. But, why just pass up an opportunity like this," Raine said, not bothering to hide her excitement.

"In either case, it will take us three days to reach Asgard," Kratos stated.

"Three days!?" Lloyd exclaimed. He wasn't looking forward to those many days of walking on top of Kratos' training from hell.

"It would give us plenty of time for you to work on your sword skills," Kratos said, causing Lloyd to groan out loud.

He wanted to make sure Lloyd was prepared. They were now entering Kvar's territory. As bad as Magnius was, he was tame compared to that man. Not to mention that Kvar has personally reason to hunt Lloyd.

He also still wasn't sure if Mithos knew about Lloyd. Cruxis knew about the Angelus Project, but did they connect the dots about Lloyd still being alive? He didn't want to chance his son falling into that mad man's hands again. If fate was with them, they could avoid him all together.

"You seem worry about something, Mr. Kratos," Colette suddenly said, breaking Kratos out of his musing.

"It's nothing of any concern, Chosen," Kratos said in his normal calmed voice.

Colette frowned. "You're worried about the Desians."

Kratos was surprise by how well the Chosen read him. Was he that obvious?

Colette looked towards Lloyd who was talking to the soldiers who were guarding the pathway to the Asgard region. "You're worried that they may strike back at us for destroying the Ranch."

"You indeed made yourself a bigger target," Kratos said. More specially, Lloyd and the Sages made themselves bigger targets.

"I know, but I feel everything will turn out right," Colette said as she with a huge smile. "We have you protect us."

The way the Chosen said that last part left Kratos feeling unnerved. It was almost like she was seeing through him. Did she know?

"Kratos, Colette, we're ready to go!" Lloyd called as he waved at them.

Without another word to each other, they made their way to the rest of the group.


And, it's finally done! The Palmacosta's story arc is completely. It felt like forever given the long break I took. Still, I hope you all enjoyed it. I put a lot of work into it, especially with given Magnius more depth compared to the games. Now, we move on to Asgard section, although it will be quite some time before we see everyone's 'favorite' Grand Cardinal.

Until then, see you next chapter.