Chapter 5 - Meetings and Worries

Sayako Nightbringer


I woke up to really hard flooring, which I wasn't too sure how it had gotten there. Sitting up slowly, I let my eyes come into focus, which was much harder to do than usual. After I regained my focus, I took a look at the wide room around me.

It was much bigger than any other room I'd been in, even bigger than the gym at my school. This room was longer that it was wide and had a tall, sloping ceiling. The walls were white and there were some columns against the walls that connected to the arches holding up the ceiling.

Only problem with me calling it a church was that there was no furniture in here. Almost like something huge was meant to be stashed in here.

I shivered involuntarily when I thought of just what could have been hidden here. Especially with the suspicion I had that I'd been teleported to another world.

That thought reminded me of what had happened before I'd passed out, which hit me hard.

"Crap... Mom's got to be freaking out by now..." I mumbled to myself, pressing a hand to my forehead. I didn't have much time to dwell on this thought when a door banged open across the room, startling me enough to make me scramble to my feet.

Three oddly dressed men walked in through the doorway, stopping not too far from me. They didn't say anything at first, but then the man in the middle stepped forward a couple of steps.

"So you're awake."

I didn't say anything to that, but it made me wonder just how long I'd been unconscious if they knew I'd been in here.

The man standing on the right and dressed in blue glared at me, but said nothing. I fought the urge to sink my head into my shoulders while the man who had spoken raised an eyebrow.

"I don't understand what made it so important to bring you here. But besides that, you'll be leaving once the transport gets here."

"Why?" I blurted out, my mind racing to figure out which world I could possibly be in.

"He has no reason to explain anything to you," the man standing to the left snapped. I gave in the the urge from earlier and sunk my chin to my shoulders. At least he wasn't yelling at me.

The man in the middle held his hand out slightly to the one on the left, almost as a signal to calm down, or something. "We have no need to be hostile as long as she cooperates. Though we do not have to explain anything, we can at least tell her what is to be expected of her."

"High Priest..."

The High Priest shook his head, but then gave a soft smirk which made me shiver. "No worries, everything will be as planned..."

"High Priest!"

The three men turned to see another man run into the room and up to them. He looked a little scuffed up, which instantly made me think that wherever we were was...

"We've got intruders!"

Bingo.

The High Priest scowled. "And you haven't stopped them?" he barked, making me and the messenger cringe.

"We've tried, sir! They're too powerful!"

"We can handle them." The man dressed in blue growled. I was starting to guess that they were priests, considering the main guy was called the High Priest.

The man dressed in red looked over at the other two while the messenger left. "What about the girl?" he asked. The High Priest looked back at me then at the blue priest.

"You'll bring her along. She may become useful if what he said was true."

The blue priest walked over to me, making me step back, but not fast enough. He grabbed my upper arm roughly, ignoring my "ow!", and dragging me along behind the High Priest and the red priest.

I had no choice but to follow them through the confusing mass of hallways. There were people rushing around; looking for the intruders probably. After quite a few hallways that I'd never remember, we found a set of stairs leading down into what I guessed was another storage room.

The Head Priest scowled at the sight of unconscious priests before leading us down into the darkness. I shuddered a little, thankfully keeping my arm from shaking so I didn't tip the blue priest off.

I almost didn't want to know what we were about to find, but then a voice carried through the passageway to us.

"...exactly like the room where the Eye of Atamoni was kept..."

My eyes widened, almost not believing what I had just heard. The three priests stopped at well, the Head Priest looking back at me and my shocked expression.

I really hardly noticed their careful looks, because my heart was ready to claw itself out of my chest. If I'd heard right, then the Eye of Atamoni meant I was somewhere I thought I'd never reach. Which meant I hadn't been transported randomly.

I'd been brought here on purpose. I guessed it was because of my knowledge of this world, but I had no idea who would know about it.

A more rational side of my mind spoke up. The old woman seemed to know.

I fought the urge to shake my head. But how could she? Unless I was being stalked somehow, not too many people know just how much I understand about Tales of Destiny...

"What're you grinning about?" the blue priest's voice cut though my thoughts, making me realize the smile that had fought itself onto my face. I tried to fight it down, but I was too excited to.

"Nothing much. Just reminded myself of something funny." I lied, hoping they wouldn't pry. The Head Priest 'hmm'ed and led us further down the passageway.

The four of us entered a large, dark room that reminded me of the bright room I'd woken up in except more storage-y. The high Priest reached over to the wall and turned on the light, causing the other people in the room to look over in surprise.

There were five of them. One was a blue eyed blond man with white armor, white pants, a blue undershirt, red and black gloves, and a thin cape. In his gloved hand was a red and white sword with a strange gem set into it.

Three of them were all women. There was a green haired girl with glasses and dressed in, what I guessed, was priestess robes. In her arms was a large, cracked sword that also had a gem set into it.

She was shorter than the other two women, one of which had black hair and violet eyes. She dressed in black and red with white shoulder guards. Sheathed across her lower back was her sword. I couldn't really see the colors, but I knew that it had it's own gem as well.

The third woman had orange hair and tan skin. Her sword looked ordinary, unlike the unique swords the other four in her team had. Her armor was orange.

My eyes moved to the last member of the group, meeting startled violet eyes I'd already seen twice before coming here.

He was dressed in a blue and red tunic with gold trim and white pants. Over his shoulders and clipped together by a metal clasp was a pink cape. Underneath the tunic was a violet turtleneck. In his hand was the first sword I'd seen across the mirror, Chaltier.

The High Priest spoke up while I'd been observing the group. "What are you doing here?"

The blond tensed a little bit, lifting his sword to point it at us. The priests didn't look amused, and the High Priest just smirked.

"Ah, I see we have some rodents here. I didn't think you would be able to follow us this far... But unfortunately, what you're looking for is no longer here," he spoke with a full mocking tone that made me cringe.

The blond's face pulled into a frown. "So the Eye of Atamoni was at this temple," he spoke, his eyes glancing at me in confusion. His eyes moved to where my arm was being held by the priest and then his grip on his sword tightened. It confused me at first until I glanced down at my arm and saw the problem.

Just barely visible around the blue priest's hand was a slow-forming bruise. I glared at the man's hand a little, but had to turn my attention to the conversation that was continuing without me.

"Yes. But it was taken away again by Lydon."

The green haired priestess gasped. "I knew it! Lydon was here!" she exclaimed, which I wasn't too sure why she was so surprised. From what I knew, they already knew who they were chasing. Ah, I wasn't going to get hung up on details.

I looked over to the red priest, who was watching the girl carefully.

"Hmm... I saw you this afternoon. As I suspected, you were an impostor," he said finally.

"Speak for yourselves!" The girl snapped, which was again surprising. She was a more soft-spoken person, but then again, there was little I knew about their full selves. So I guessed that there were small things I'd have to get used to. "Why don't you reveal your true identities!"

The red priest stuttered. "F, fake? We're perfectly respectable priests!"

I felt the grip on my arm tighten, which made me wince because of my new-found bruise. "We swore our allegiance to Lydon's vision- The Eye of Atamoni will control the world!" the blue priest argued.

"And when that happens, we will reign supreme over the world. We will make them understand that humans are powerless before the great Eye of Atamoni," the High Priest added with a sneer. He looked back at me, and I just stared at him, confused.

The blond glared slightly. "Hey, you're no different than us!"

"That's heresy! Atamoni's love is universal!" the priestess said. The High Priest looked away from me to look at th group again. He 'humphed'. "Nonsense! The complex teachings of Atamoni are beyond the grasp of a simpleton like you!"

She didn't seem to take that well, and I felt a little bad for her. The Teachings of Atamoni was her life, so to be told something like that couldn't feel good.

"No, Atamoni is..." she began, not quite about to find a comeback. Though another voice answered for her.

"Enough!"

My gaze switched to look at him, my heart jumping into my throat again, which I found irritating. It didn't do that when I talked to him across the mirror...

"We have no time for theological arguments! We have no use for you fools. If you tell us where Lydon went, we'll let you go!" he snapped, crossing his arms. I almost felt like laughing. He just didn't like it when people stalled did he?

The High Priest didn't look phased. "Oh, I don't know about that. But I wouldn't tell you even if I knew. All we need to do is sit back and watch Lydon's monster army take control of the world."

"The monster army?" the blond exclaimed, startled.

"Do you know what the monsters' source of life is? It's Lens. Oberon Corporation's cargo ships are pirated for their Lens shipments. The Lens is then used to produce monsters," the High Priest explained. The blond stood there in shock. All of the group seemed to be surprised by this information.

"That can't be!" he said finally, letting his shock wear off a little.

"That kind of technology shouldn't exist now!" another voice spoke, though only four others besides me heard it. I looked towards the direction of the voice and figured it'd come from the priestess's cracked sword.

The High Priest continued, he couldn't hear the other voices from the swords. "Heh, heh, heh...it's only a matter of time. Lydon will assume control of weakened countries, one by one, with the power of the Eye of Atamoni."

"I'm surprised that Lydon was behind the pirating of Lens cargo ships near Fitzgald." I looked over at the teen who'd spoken again, but this time he looked at me with a look that seemed to be trying to tell me something. Just barely, enough for him to see, I tilted my head to tell him I couldn't read his look before focusing on the High Priest.

"Even the mere interruption of the Lens supply to Seinegald will help our cause. It will disrupt their economy, because Lens is an important part of Seinegald's industry and finance. Since the Lens is also used to create monsters, it's truly a case of killing two birds in one stone. Well, I've had enough idle chatter. We won't allow you to interfere with Lydon. We will destroy you now. Attack them!"

The blue priest pulled me aside before dropping me by the wall. He and the two other priests rushed to the group, but that wasn't the surprising part. What scared the heck out of me was the monsters that filed in behind them.

Instantly the blond's group was in action, trying to hack down the monsters and the priests at the same time. The priests didn't make it easy for them, alternating between hiding behind the monsters and then taking the front of the action.

A low growling pulled my attention to the area in front of me, and I nearly screamed. Nearly.

In front of me was a dark wolf on the slightly large side, and it was eying me with its bright yellow eyes.

I saw the muscles under it's rough fur tense, and this time I tried to back away. Though the only thing I could do was press against the cold wall.

Before the wolf could lunge – and rip my head off – a wall of earth ripped through the ground, coming up beneath the wolf and knocking the wind out of it. It backed off, but then turned to it's offender and attacked.

I watched the teen's sword rip through the wolf's skin easily, coming away bloody. At first this fact confused me, but then I realized that this wasn't a game where monsters dissipated to keep the rating low.

People could really bleed to death here, and that fact hit me hard. Let's just say I'd been hoping that there wouldn't be any blood and guts. Blame the horror movies I'd been forced to watch.

The priests were forced back, scratched up and panting, with bodies of dead monsters all around. The High Priest glared and summoned almost twice as many monsters, trying the assault again.

This time the monsters didn't bother with me, just focusing on the ones killing their comrades, if they thought that way. It didn't matter though, bodies were still ripped apart by flames and walls of earth.

The priests stumbled back again, probably not quite believing that they'd been beaten, twice. The high Priest looked over at me with a dark look that made me shudder before the three of them escaped to live another day.

The dark haired teen sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Hah, powerless lackeys. Well, at least we know what our next destination is."

The blond grinned at him. "So now we..." His gaze moved over to me, and dropping his grin for a confused look he said: "Who's that?"

I cringed, but made my way to my feet. There were five – not including the talking swords – pairs of eyes on me, which made me nervous.

"Um... Hi?" Crap, that wasn't supposed to sound like a question.

The teen crossed his arms. "Why were you with those priests?" he asked, watching me carefully.

I shook my head. "I really have no idea. I woke up probably a half an hour ago, so I've got no real clue to what they wanted with me. Though I'm sure it had something to do with what they must have been hiding here."

"The Eye of Atamoni," the blond filled in for me. I nodded.

"Yeah, that thing."

"Were you planning on helping them?" the woman with dark hair asked, not looking too happy with me.

I shook my head. "Heck no. That's not even on my list of things to do, so there's no chance." I replied, cradling my left arm with my right so I could study the bruise.

"Do you have any more information to what they were planning than what they told us?" the dark haired teen asked.

I thought back to my conversation with the priests earlier. "Well... They said that I was going to leave once someone came by to pick me up. But we were told that you guys were here before they could tell me anything."

"Then we'll need to go to... Fitzgald, right?" the blond said, looking at the teen.

"Exactly." he replied.

"What about her?" the orange haired woman asked, speaking up finally.

The group studied me for a moment, and I had to fight down the urge to fidget. The dark haired woman spoke up after a moment.

"If we take her along, we might be able to trick them to tell us what's going on when we catch up to Lydon. If he was the one who wanted her, surely he'd want to try and get her, so we can get our information then. If nothing else, then if she would be the thing to tip the scales to their side, then we have a sure victory. And then the reward is mine!" she said, cackling softly to the last sentence.

I laughed nervously. Though I was glad to be coming along, I was really afraid of them doubting me.

"We'll take her along, even if it's only to keep her out of Lydon's hands," the teen agreed, looking over at me. The blond stepped forward.

"Well, as long as we're going to be traveling together, might as well introduce ourselves. I'm Stahn. Stahn Aileron."

The black haired woman sighed. "Rutee Katrea."

The green haired girl smiled sympathetically. She probably understood the feeling of just being a tag-along that I would probably feel after a while. "Phillia Phylis."

The orange haired woman actually walked over to me and held her hand out. "Mary Argent," she said, letting me reach up to shake her hand.

"Leon Magnus."

I dropped Mary's hand and looked over at him. He looked a little irritated, probably wanting to question me. I nearly shuddered but then sighed to relax my nerves.

"Erica Karsath."

Stahn looked over at Leon. "We should probably get back to the ship. Right, Leon?"

He crossed his arms and gave Stahn the 'Are you really that stupid?' look, which made the blond splutter.

"Of course we're going back to the ship you blockhead. Get moving!" he barked, startling them into action, and startling me into staying put. He watched the others go on ahead then looked at me. I 'eep'ed when he walked over and headed towards the door.

"Erica."

I stopped and looked back at him. He had a serious expression on his face. It melted into a half anger which I don't think he was going to hold back, even towards me.

"Do you have any idea how scared you made your mother before we lost contact?" he hissed unhappily. My heart sank to my feet as I remembered just how I'd gotten here.

I'd vanished in front of my mother's eyes. How long was she going to believe that I was still alive? She wouldn't know where I'd been dragged off to, so she couldn't be sure I'd run into Leon. I'm sure she'd told him something from the angry look in his eyes, but I didn't want to ask.

He walked over to me and pushed me forward slightly to get me moving. "H-Hey! What's up with you huh? I've only been gone a few hours! It's nothing to worry about!"

Though I had doubts that I'd been asleep for only a few hours. Last time I'd talked to Leon he was around the point where Phillia got her weapon. But I didn't know how far away that was from here.

We walked silently in the hallways for a while, a bit away from the others before he spoke up again.

"What did your mother mean about you two talked about me before?"

I stopped in shock, my eyes staring at my feet. He stopped a few steps in front of me, but I don't know if he looked at me or not. I had really hoped he wouldn't bring that up, especially that!

My heart was pounding, almost rendering me unable to speak. I was somehow able to pull my voice back though.

"The... story... of this time is kinda... um... written down in my world. The stories of a lot of worlds are. And... I really like your guys' story that I tended to talk about it a lot," I started. The longer I talked, the more my heart calmed down enough for me to speak. "Though whenever I mentioned about wanting you guys to be real, mom would never listen and always say how she wished some characters existed but knew they didn't. She'd try to say that I was going though the same thing she had. I wasn't though. I knew there was a difference, and I couldn't get her to see it. It's why she said that."

Leon was quiet, taking all this information in. I started to wonder if he noticed that I hadn't explained everything when he sighed and pulled me forward so we could start following the others again. I kept walking when he let me go, but I didn't look up.

"You were missing for three days." he said finally.

That is when I looked up at him.

"What? It's been three days since I'd talked to you last? How?"

"I don't know. They might have kept you asleep if you think you've only been out for a few hours," he replied, looking back at me slightly.

I looked at my feet again as we walked out into the sunlight, making me squint a little from the dark hallways. Looking up, I gaped at the difference from this world from my own. The towns didn't have very big houses, not more than two stories probably. I'm sure that only castles held more than two floors, but it was surprising.

"Oi, Leon! Erica! Hurry up, we don't want to be late!" Rutee called. We glanced at each other then ran after them, reaching the dock after a minute or two. I gaped at the large ship in front of me, not finding the words to fit. Even if our drawbridges back home opened up, this ship wouldn't fit under a couple of them.

"Come on."

I looked up at Leon then nodded, following him onto the ship. Once there my eyes widened at the view. Even at the edges of the horizon, the sky was clean. No tinge of smog at the edges of a beautiful sky. I ran to the other side of the ship, gripping the edge and watching the horizon.

"Well, we don't have to worry about that at least," I heard Stahn say. I looked back at him to see him looking at me.

"What?" I asked, completely confused.

"I mean we don't have to worry about you being afraid of the ocean."

I shook my head. "I love the water. I only lived near a big river back home. The only time I've seen the ocean is when we went of beach trips."

Stahn shrugged and left to go find the others. I looked back at the ocean and frowned. Thinking about just how long I'd been gone made me worry about mom. She'd probably told my older brother and my dad by now.

"Crap..." I mumbled, putting my head in my hands. If she'd told my dad, how would he be taking this? He and mom had become really protective of me over the past few years. Sure there was a lot that had been happening, but I could take care of myself. I wasn't going to get killed on this journey. Scratched up and bruised, yes, but not killed.

I just wondered how I'd handle that...


Sayako: Holy crap, I managed to get another chapter up. I'm sorry it took so darn long, but my first write-through of this chapter was really bad so I had to write it over again. I feel better about this version, but I still want to hear what you guys think. I'm really happy that so many of you are reading this(even if you don't review). Those that do review, I've got something to ask of you:

Tell me whenever something seems off or rushed to you. I'm still working on writing fights and whatnot so I know that's bad, but please tell me if something is good or bad and be specific. I need to know what is good and what isn't.

Either way, I hope you continue to enjoy this story and I don't own Tales of Destiny.