Got the next chapter out in only about two weeks after the last. Sorry for the slight delay, but I wanted to make sure I stood ahead of the story and was writing future chapters. Thanks again for all the reviews and favorites. Happy to see that people still care for this story.
Now, onward to the chapter.
Chapter 62: Lost Soul
Lloyd stood dumbfounded at the bed, staring at the lifeless skeleton that was once a person. Given its condition, it's been here for years.
What happened? Why didn't Presea acknowledge what happened to this person? Better question, why the heck nobody helped her? Someone, anyone, from the village should'd come here and give this poor soul a proper burial and take Presea in. Why did the people here leave this little girl to fend for herself?
He felt himself become angry as he stared at the corpse. Who was responsible for this tragedy? He wanted to beat them up and dragged them here to apologize to Presea.
Raine gasped, sounding very unlike herself when she saw the body. "Oh my…how horrible."
"What the…this is not cool," Zelos stuttered, not believing what Presea was forced to live in. He also felt his own anger rise. He was going to make the Pope pay for this. If he wanted his head, fine. But he wasn't going to let that old bastard get away with ruining a young girl's life.
"How could this happen?" Sheena whispered the question on everyone's minds.
Raine looked sadly at Presea. "Most likely the effect of exspheres' parasitism. Presea has no idea what has become of the person in that bed."
Colette put her hand to her mouth. She couldn't believe that an exsphere could do this to a person. Presea was just like her. Presea was a girl who has lost her soul. She wanted to cry for her.
"How could that..." Genis couldn't even finished the sentence. This was utterly inhuman.
Regal walked up to Presea. "Presea. Are you not coming with us?"
Presea turned towards him with dead eyes. "I must do my job."
Regal looked like he wanted to say something, but Raine patted his back.
"Let's leave Presea here for now," Raine said.
"Here!?" Lloyd exclaimed. How could anyone in good conscience just leave Presea in this house that reeked of death?
"I understand how you feel, but if we try to move her, she will just fight back," Raine replied gently. "Let's go see Altessa by ourselves to ask him about repairing the key crest."
Lloyd frowned, despising the entire situation. He felt like he was abandoning Presea. But...until they repaired her key crest there was nothing they could do for her. "...Yeah."
Colette walked over to Presea and clapped her hands together. "You will get better, Presea. I swear on the Goddess Martel."
They slowly filed out of the house as feelings of melancholy filled their hearts. The entire situation was sickening.
"That weird 'guest' of Presea's," Genis suddenly said, breaking the somber mood, "he was in Meltokio, too, wasn't he?"
Zelos turned his eyes. Rodyle was walking around Meltokio?
"Yeah," Lloyd answered. He remembered now. That man was happy about Colette kicking a dog. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Sheena lowered her eyes. "I can sense the smell of blood on him."
Colette nodded. "He has...a really bad aura."
Lloyd lowered his head. Now that he thought about it, he did have a familiar, gut-wrenching smell. It reminded him of the Ranches.
"Let's hurry to Altessa's place," Raine advised. "It's dangerous to leave Presea with that man."
Lloyd couldn't agree more.
They took an exit that was close to Presea's house. It went outside the forest and into field that led to an opened, grassy area. As they walked, Colette suddenly tripped.
"Colette!? Are you all right?" Lloyd asked in concerned as he helped Colette up.
She laughed nervously. "Y…yeah. I stumbled. I'm clumsy."
Lloyd frowned. Colette tripping wasn't the problem, since it happened at least once a day. It was the fact that she seemed injured, which has never happened before even when she fell through a wall. "Are you hurt?"
Colette smiled assuringly. "No, I'm fine. …I'm fine…" Although, it sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
Lloyd didn't believed her. He was reminded of what happened when she was losing her senses. He wanted to question her, but knew this wasn't the time for that. Right now, their concern was Presea.
"Okay," Lloyd said as they walked up to the group and went into an area where there was no grass.
The area was rocky with some pottery scattered around. There was also a door on a small mountain.
Lloyd was reminded of his dad's old house. A dwarf definitely lived here.
They walked to the door and knocked. They stood there for several seconds before someone answered the door. Instead of a dwarf, it was a young woman with green hair that matched her outfit.
"WHO IS IT?" the woman asked.
Lloyd stepped in front of the group. "Ah, ursäkta oss. Vi har hört att det finns en dvärg bor här. Finns det någon chans att vi kunde se honom?"
The woman blinked. "Du talar DWARVEN?"
"Ja," Lloyd answered.
The woman nodded. "Du önskar en MÖTE MED MASTER ALTESSA. Kom INSIDE." She paused. "THERE IS ALSO NO NEED FOR DWARVEN. THE COMMON TONGUE IS ENOUGH."
Lloyd returned the nod. "Thank you." He turned towards his friends. "She say we can come inside."
"Well that was a little awkward. Then again, a guy raised by a dwarf would know dwarven," Zelos said.
Lloyd tilted his head. "Was it really that weird?"
"I wouldn't call it weird, just unusual," Zelos said. "Almost no one speaks dwarven, except for the dwarves."
"Let's get inside," Raine advised.
They walked inside the cave and found it to be roomier than they thought. It wasn't like Dirk's old house where the ceiling was barely tall enough to fit a full grown human. In fact, the ceiling was taller than most human's houses. Altessa was apparently a dwarf who got a lot of human visitors.
He also didn't seem to have a furnace since Lloyd couldn't feel any intense heat. Maybe he just didn't have it turned on.
"Who are you people?" a gruff voice demanded.
Lloyd looked to see a dwarf with a long white beard and no hair on top of his head. He was far older than his dad. How much, he couldn't tell since dwarves could live an upwards of two-hundred years. His dad was over fifty despite looking thirty.
Lloyd chewed his lips. The woman said there was no need to speak dwarven, but it felt rude if he didn't. "Mitt namn är Lloyd. Vi har kommit i fråga om att Presea. Vi hörde om dig
från Kate i Sybak."
Altessa's eyes widened before he shook his head. "Leave!"
"What?" Lloyd asked in surprised.
"I don't want anything more to do with that girl! Get out of here!" Altessa demanded.
Lloyd knew there was no point arguing with him. If it was one things dwarves were known for, it was their stubbornness. He sighed. "Let's go."
Genis turned towards Lloyd. "But..."
Lloyd shook his head. "There's no point." He walked ahead of them.
Slowly, everyone else filed out, giving Altessa dirty looks at they left. As soon they were outside, they could see Lloyd fuming, kicking several nearby rocks.
"What was that all about!?" Lloyd shouted to no one in particularly. "Did he forget Dwarven Vow Number Two!?"
"I APOLOGIZE. THE MASTER DOES NOT WANT TO GET INVOLVED WITH PRESEA," the woman said. She had followed them outside.
"Why?" Genis demanded. "He doesn't care if she dies!?"
The woman shook her head. "IT IS NOT THAT. IT IS BECAUSE THE MASTER REGRETS WHAT HE HAS DONE."
"Then please, save Presea! All she needs is for her key crest to be fixed," Colette pleaded.
"I DO NOT KNOW IF THAT WOULD TRULY BE IN HER BEST INTEREST," the woman stated.
"Why?" Lloyd asked, losing his patience. "How could anything be worse than living in that cruel condition while waiting to die!?"
The woman looked directly at Lloyd and then at the others. Despite not saying a word, she could tell by their expressions that they felt the same way. "IF YOU ARE THAT COMMITTED, THEN YOU SHOULD SEARCH FOR AN INHIBITOR ORE."
Lloyd was shocked. "Presea's key crest isn't made out of inhibitor ore?" He thought the metal felt a little funny, but he never expected it not to be an inhibitor ore.
The woman nodded. "CORRECT. HER CREST IS..."
"Tabatha! What are you doing? Get rid of them!" Altessa shouted from the house.
"I APOLOGIZE, I MUST RETURN. PLEASE COME BACK AGAIN. I WILL ATTEMPT TO PERSUADE HIM," Tabatha said as she turned around and walked back into the house.
"Where can we find the inhibitor ore?" Colette asked the question on everyone's minds.
"I've heard it's mined in the mountain range that extends between Altamira and the Ymir Forest," Regal answered. "I would like to help if you're going to create a key crest for Presea. I can lead you to the mine."
Lloyd stared at him. "Just what is your relation to Presea anyway?
"There is none," Regal replied bluntly.
Raine eyed him suspiciously. "Yet you sure seem concerned about her."
Regal didn't answer.
"Well, either way, you haven't done anything suspicious so far. You're welcome to come along with us," Lloyd said. There was no point turning down help at this point.
"Inhibitor ore is found relatively near the surface of the exsphere mine. The mine I know of is across the sea from here on the southern continent," Regal said.
Lloyd raised an eyebrow. Exsphere mine?
Zelos' face lit up. "You said Altamira, right? That place is awesome! Let's stop by there on the way!"
Sheena side-eyed him. "We don't have time to hang out at that gaudy resort!"
Raine groaned softly to herself. "The sea? We're going out to sea again?" Why was this journey torturing her?
Lloyd nodded. "Okay then, let's go!"
Colette smiled at him. "Yeah, let's hurry."
As they walked away, Zelos and Regal lingered behind.
"By the way, this has been bugging me for a while now. Haven't we met somewhere before?" Zelos asked. He was more than certain he did. He never forget a face.
Regal chose not to answer him and walked right past him.
Zelos narrowed his eyes, supremely annoyed. "Fine, ignore me. Not very friendly, are you?"
As they made their way back through Ozette, Lloyd couldn't get his mind off of Tabatha. There was something...off about her. "That Tabatha girl was a little strange, you know?"
Colette tilted her head. "Really?"
"How should I put it," Lloyd said, trying to find the right words. "She reminds me of you when you had lost your heart as part of the angel transformation." It was mostly the eyes. They were so...lifeless.
"Perhaps it is because she did not engage in respiration," Regal said, overhearing the conversation.
Colette's eyes widened in shock. "What? Are you saying she wasn't breathing?"
"Are you serious?" Lloyd asked in equal shock. How the heck did he missed something like that?
"So it appeared. I suppose she could have undergone heavy training to breathe silently, but..." Regal said, not really believing his own words.
"Don't tell me she's an angel too," Lloyd stated.
Although, she didn't 'feel' like an angel. But what did he know. Kratos and Yuan were angels and he felt nothing weird about them. But how could Tabatha be alive without breathing? What was she?
"She didn't seem like a bad person," Colette said cheerfully.
"We can't be too careful," Regal warned.
Lloyd said nothing, but he agreed with Regal. It was a lesson he learned the hard way. It was a bitter lesson taught to him by Kratos about what happened when you trust too much.
Colette could sensed Lloyd's change in mood and gently squeezed his arm.
She was saddened about what Kratos did to Lloyd. When she was frozen at the Tower of Salvation, forced to watch the ensuring battle, she wanted to scream at them to stop. To yell at Kratos for hurting his son.
Why did he do it? He promised to take care of Lloyd. Instead, he fought him and nearly killed him. There must be a reason. Kratos wasn't a bad person. She felt the man's heart, especially on the night before they went to the tower. Despite attacking Lloyd, he held back and couldn't bring himself to kill him. There was good in him. He was her guardian angel, after all.
A thought occurred to her.
If angels were only created through Cruxis Crystals, why did Lloyd have wings? He definitely had the aura of an angel, but it was different from the others they've seen. Yggdrasill called him an Angelus? Was that a different kind of angel? Kratos did say Lloyd was a union of a human mother and an angel. Could that make a different?
She wanted to asked the Professor, but she promised Kratos she wouldn't tell anyone. She couldn't asked Raine anything without revealing who Lloyd's birth father was.
She squeezed Lloyd's arm harder. Pietro told them that the Desians were trying to bring to life something called an Angelus. An ultimate being who could rivaled the spirits. He was talking about Lloyd. He was the Angelus that the Desians wanted.
No matter what, she had to protect him. Even if it meant surrendering herself to Cruxis, she wouldn't let them have him. That terrible Kvar wanted to make Lloyd into a weapon. She imagined that Yggdrasill and even Yuan wanted the same. She wouldn't allow it.
Despite knowing what Martel was, she prayed for her to protect Lloyd. He was one of her children, after all.
"Hey, are you okay?" Lloyd asked, startling Colette.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Colette said before laughing. "I kinda spaced off there. Sorry"
Before Lloyd could say anything more, he noticed someone glaring at him as they walked through the village. He was immediately on guard and touched the hilt of his sword.
Sheena did the same, getting several cards ready in her hands. They could be ready to turned them in to the Pope.
"You're all with her, aren't you," the man accused.
Lloyd tilted his head. "Her?"
"Presea, you're with that monster!" the man yelled.
"Don't call Presea a monster!" Genis shouted.
"She hasn't aged a day for the longest time," the man said.
Regal looked at the person. "What are you talking about?"
"That's not all. Even though her father is dead, she won't even make him a grave," the man went on. "She's a monster. Half-elves are nothing compared to her."
Lloyd mentally gasped. So that skeleton they saw….that was Presea's father. He felt even more sick.
Genis was fuming. It took everything he had not to throw a Fireball at him.
Raine firmly placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
Lloyd glared at the man once he finished processing what became of Presea's dad. So that's why he got such a cold response when he asked where Presea lived.
"Will you guys take that monster and get out of this village," the man requested like he was asking them to take out the trash. "I'll thank you for that. You won't regret it."
Lloyd remained still, attempting to collect his thoughts before he exploded at the man. "How can you say that!?"
"Oh, are you saying that a child that never grows up isn't weird!?" the man exclaimed in disbelief.
"Well, I..." Lloyd stuttered before he collected his thoughts again. "There's a reason why Presea is like that..."
"I don't know what it is, but that doesn't change how freaky she is," the man interrupted, not caring for any explanation Lloyd gave. "I doubt you outsiders would understand!"
"Thank the goddess for that," Genis snorted as the man walked off.
Sheena folded her arms. "It's true we didn't watch Presea stay young while everyone else grew old."
"But that's not Presea's fault!" Genis yelled, feeling betrayed by Sheena's words.
"It is the same reason why half-elves are persecuted," Zelos suddenly spoke up.
Raine nodded somberly, squeezing Genis' shoulder again. "Yes. If half-elves could live apart from humans like elves, things might be different. But half-elves have no choice but to live in human villages."
"And humans experience the difference in the passage of time and are constantly reminded of the fact that they are a different species," Regal finished.
Lloyd shook his head. Even when it was explained to him, he didn't get it. So what if they were different? Everyone was different. This world was built on diversity. One shouldn't fear the other for being different. If he could understand that, why couldn't anyone else?
"Let's save Presea," Lloyd said in a tight voice. "Nothing good can come out of it if she stays this way."
With their goal clearer than ever, they left the sleepy village of Ozette.
They walked down the field, looking for a good spot to place the EC.
"Exsphere mines, huh? Right..." Zelos mused to himself.
"What? Something wrong with that?" Sheena asked, overhearing him.
Zelos glanced at her. "Surely you know about it too. Exsphere mines in the vicinity of Altamira. What else is there besides the Toize Valley Mine?"
"Ah, that one that's connected by tunnel to Moria?" Sheena answered.
"And if that's the one, think for a moment about who it is that owns the mountains in that area," Zelos went on.
Sheena shrugged. "I guess it'd have to be the Lezareno Company. But so what?"
Zelos sighed and shook his head. For someone part of a spy network, she was dense. "Oh, brother. Is your chest the only part of you that's well-endowed?"
Sheena's face turned a bright red and she smacked Zelos across the face. "You better shut up or I'll smack you!"
"Don't say it after you've smacked me! Sheesh," Zelos moaned while rubbing his sore cheek.
They finally found a pier and they were off to the southern continent.
They wasn't much to do on the trip since there was hardly room to move and Regal took up a lot of space given his sheer size.
Despite the cramp space, Regal passed sandwiches to everyone. He apparently made them before leaving Mizuho. Like everything else created by Regal, it was good. He also seemed to picked up on the eating quirks of the group; like giving Lloyd extra meat on his sandwich while Colette had strawberries on hers.
"Your cooking is really good," Lloyd said as he ate his sandwich.
Regal smiled. "Oh, thank you. Praises like that it makes it worthwhile to be a cook."
"You know, Genis is a good cook too," Lloyd said. In a cooking contest, he wondered who would win. "I guess guys are better at cooking, huh?"
Regal hummed in thought. "Now that you mention it, most chefs are males."
"Maybe it has to do with strength," Lloyd guessed. "Cooking is pretty labor intensive. Especially when you have to hunt your own food."
"But if that's the case, then women are said to be more suited for fighting," Regal said.
Lloyd looked up in shock. "What!? They are?"
"It's something I read. The reasoning is because women are not afraid of blood," Raine explained.
Lloyd thought about that. That made sense since women had those monthly things. "I didn't know that. Man, women are scary." And he had Raine to proved it. Even little Presea who could swing an axe like it was a butterknife. Heck, even Colette was scary given she could burst holes in stone even before becoming an angel. "But I guess I get a little scared when there's blood."
"Yes," Regal said, "also we must not forget that some women in our group are stronger than us. We must work harder so that we are not a burden."
Lloyd nodded. "Yeah, you're right." He wanted to become stronger to protect everyone, not just the women.
"Let's work hard together," Regal said with a smile.
It took almost two hours before they reached shore and another half an hour before they finally reached the mine.
At a glance, it seemed like any normal mine. That was until they saw the security system. The walls were lined with what looked like blue mechanical eyes. In the middle was a door that was sealed.
Zelos was greatly amused. "Wow! So this is that sealed mine! It sure looks like it might house a ghost or two, don't you think?"
Sheena growled at him. "Will you just be quiet for a little while!?"
Zelos looked at Sheena in confusion. "What's with you? Don't get mad, Sheena."
Regal frowned as he stared at the door. "This isn't good."
"What's wrong, Regal?" Lloyd asked.
"The door's guard system is out of control. Someone must have destroyed it when trying to force their way through," Regal stated. He had a clue who did it and it made his blood boil.
Lloyd unsheathed his swords. "Then let's bust it up even more!"
Zelos grinned wolfish as he removed his own sword. "That's our Lloyd! That's an easy to understand plan!"
Sheena had her cards ready. "Yeah, I'm fine with that too."
"Well, if Lloyd says so, it's fine with me," Colette said.
Genis took out his kendama, knowing there wasn't any reasoning with anyone. "Don't blame me if it goes wrong."
Raine sighed. "Honestly!"
As if sensing the hostility, the security system came alive. Floating drone seemingly came out of nowhere and a laser like mount appeared from the floor.
The drone shot lasers at them along with the mount on the floor, causing the group to scattered.
"We need to divide up!" Lloyd yelled. "Genis, Zelos, take care of that droid on the left! Regal, Raine, deal with the droid on the right! Colette and Sheena, you're with me taking out that mount!"
"Right!" they yelled, diving into their respected groups.
Zelos charged his droid, hitting it with a furry of hit from his sword. When the droid attempted to shot him, he blocked the blow with his shield. Still, he got a nasty shock when the droid touched him.
"Hell Pyre!" Zelos shouted, setting the droid on fire as he hit it.
The droid responded by shooting him several times, which he blocked handily.
"Absolution!" Genis yelled, freezing the droid in place before the ice exploded.
The droid reeled back, but rapidly fired at the young mage, who had to quickly create a Force Field to lessened the damage.
Zelos used the distraction to hit it with a Super Lighting Blade, shocking the droid's systems.
"Hey, kid, let's try a combo on this thing!" Zelos yelled.
Genis looked to Zelos. "What kind?"
"Do you have an earth attack?" Zelos asked.
Genis nodded. "Yeah."
"Do that," Zelos said as he prepared his spell. The droid attacked him with several laser hits, but his held his ground. "Grave!" he yelled as he finished his spell.
Genis also finished his chanting. "Ground Dasher!"
The ground opened up and a waved of stalagmites shot forward, hitting the droid at the same time as Zelos' Grave. The combination actually caused a giant rock to come loose from the ceiling and crushed the droid into dust.
"Yeah! One down!" Genis cheered.
Zelos looked at Genis. "You had a powerful spell like that under wraps?"
"Give me a break, this was my first time using it. I didn't even know I could do it," Genis said.
"You bet our combo attack on an attack you've never used before?" Zelos asked in disbelief.
"Well, combat is the best place to try out new spells," Genis stated.
Zelos sighed. "Really, kid?"
Meanwhile, Regal was beating his droid with a series of powerful kicks that were so powerful that it dented the metal. The droid kept getting back up and attempting to show the former convict, but Regal easily evaded each shot.
"Triple Kick!" Regal yelled as he spun around three times, knocking the droid back. "Crescent Moot!" He did a high spin kick, that lifted the droid into the air. "Swallow Dance!" He kicked the droid several times with spin kicks in mid-air, sending it crashing down.
Raine forced her magic. "Holy Lance!"
A spear of light impaled the droid, causing it to exploded.
"Easy enough," Raine said with a nod.
Lloyd was hammering the mount with sword slashes, while Sheena covered him by using Mirage Seal Pinion and Mirage Seal Absolute to take down its accuracy and defense.
"Hammer Rain!" Colette shouted as several hammer landed on the shooting it.
It shout at Colette, who evaded using the increased ability of her wings.
"Raining Tiger Blade!" Lloyd yelled as he stabbed and sliced the mount. He then released a wave of mana forced the guns on the mount to shot in the other directions. He moved for the finisher. "Super Sonic Thrust!" He impaled the mount, causing it to explode.
"Okay, we took those things out." Lloyd looked at the security door. "Now, we need to take that out."
Sheena put her hands together. "On it." She chanted. "I call upon the maiden of the mist. I summon thee. Come, Undine!"
Undine appeared and made her way towards the security door, viciously slashing it with her sword.
Genis also got his spell ready. "Absolution!"
"Holy Lance!" Raine shouted.
"Angel Feathers!" Colette yelled, merging her attack with Raine's.
When they combined, crosses appeared and damaged the door.
The security system attempted to protect itself by crushing them with giant pillars that were attached near the wall. Several were hit, but Raine was able to quickly heal the damage.
"Demon Spear!" Zelos yelled, impaling the door. He was forced to retreat, however, when a pillar nearly crushed him.
Regal charged towards the door. "Wolverine!" He spun and kicked the door with such forced that broke apart instantly.
Lloyd was shocked. How strong did a guy had to be to break steel like that with brute force alone?
With that final kicked, the security system shut down and everything went quiet.
"Okay, good work everyone!" Zelos exclaimed as he sheathed his sword. "Now, let's go get that whatchamacallit."
"Inhibitor ore!" Genis yelled. He swear, Zelos was just like Lloyd at times.
Zelos dismissively waved his arm. "Yeah, that! Come on, let's go!"
Lloyd sighed as he led the group into the mine.
Regal stood behind for a moment as he regarded the group. "They're all so violent."
The boy, Lloyd, really did have some good leadership skills, but he was a little too...direct at times. He didn't even try to reprogrammed the system before he decided to busted the entire thing apart. Then again, the rest of them were hardly better. What sort of group did he get mixed up with?
He supposed it didn't matter. As long as they saved Presea, he would deal with them. He quickly went to joined them.
We're finally moving to cure Presea and we get more bonding time with Regal since he's now part of the group. Writing the dymatic for the characters is so hard now since they're so many people to keep up with and the story isn't as straighforward anymore compared to Act 1. Hopefully, I can keep everyone active.
Until next chapter.
