Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of the Abyss.

Chapter 22

Remday, Gnome-Decan 45, ND2019 – 9:50am local time (Mount Zaleho)

The shortcut to the passage ring, which alternated between natural volcanic formations and translucent walkways with elegant glowing patterns, turned out not to be very short. Florian began to worry more and more about Efreet. Were they taking too long to get to the passage ring? And would the sentience of fire be willing to form a bond with him, after their previous encounter?

Guy, who was walking side-by-side with Florian at the front of the group, interrupted Florian's brooding. "Hey Florian, now that you've learned Wind Blade from Sylph, would you like me to teach you some more artes? I think you could learn Demon Fang without too much trouble."

"Sure," Florian agreed, grateful for the distraction.

"All right. Here comes a monster. Now, concentrate energy in your sword... er, dagger, and let it loose as you swing your weapon. Like this... Demon Fang!"

"Okay," Florian said, and concentrated. He swung his arm, using Anise's dagger as an extension of himself. "Demon Fang!"

The wave of energy released by Florian was smaller than the one Guy had unleashed, but it was enough to stagger the Flarrail he had aimed at. He concentrated again. "Demon Fang!" His second attempt knocked the monster down.

"Once more, with feeling!" Guy encouraged him.

"Demon Fang!"

The Flarrail's spiral shell broke in half, leaving the creature flopping helplessly on the translucent walkway.

"Now stab it! Normal attack!" Guy directed.

"Yaaaah!" Florian cried as he stabbed downward into the center of the Flarrail's soft body. The Flarrail squeaked, gurgled, and died.

"Nice job, Florian!" Guy congratulated him, holding out his hand for a high-five.

"Yay!" Florian cheered, hitting Guy's palm with his own. "Anise, did you see me? I did it!"

Anise smiled weakly. "Yeah, you did great, Florian. Good job."

"Well done. But don't get overconfident," Tear cautioned.

Florian nodded seriously. "I know. I won't."

"Then let's move on," said Jade.

In a few more minutes, they came to an arched doorway elaborately decorated in red and white. "This is it," said Natalia. "Beyond this archway is the passage ring. Are you ready, Florian?"

Florian drew a deep breath for courage. "Yes," he said. "Let's go, everyone."

The chamber beyond the archway glowed with red and gold light. The passage ring was the same as the one in Tataroo Valley, except that the fonons welling up through it were red instead of green. Waiting for them in front of the passage ring was a glowing red figure with curling black horns, burly arms crossed in front of its muscular chest, no legs, a thick snake-like tail with a spaded tip, and feathery golden wings. It looked like a cross between a demon and a phoenix.

"Efreet," said Florian, bowing. "You're Efreet, aren't you?"

Some call me by that name; others call me Ifrit. I prefer Ifrit.

"Okay, Ifrit. So... you asked me to free you from being imprisoned in the volcano. What did you mean by that? Why are you trapped here?" Florian asked carefully.

This infernal device you humans call a passage ring is interfering, growled Ifrit. Innocent One, why did you refuse to aid me the last time you came to my domain? I do not forgive easily. If you wish to borrow my power, as you have with Sylph, you must convince me that you are worthy of it.

"Ifrit, you have my deepest apologies," Florian said formally, bowing again. "I'm so sorry I couldn't help you before." He straightened and looked directly into Ifrit's fiery eyes. "I didn't understand what was happening. But now I do, because of Sylph. Fonons from the core are gathering at the passage rings, right? And when too many fonons gather, they go out of control."

That is...oversimplified, Ifrit rumbled. The Sylph are such airheads. They did not explain the nature of the Sephiroth?

Florian gulped. "The Sephiroth are the planet's fon slots, right? A place where fonons gather? I read in a book once that there are ten Sephiroth on Auldrant."

Indeed. And you humans have meddled with all of them.

"By building the passage rings and raising the land?" Florian hazarded a guess.

That, and by creating the circulation of fonons you named the Planet Storm. By meddling with the Sephiroth at the north and south poles of this world, you humans forced fonons to circulate in and out of the core, disrupting our power as the Six Great Sentiences and causing our fonons to mutate. That was the origin of the Mutant Fonon, and the sentience Lorelei.

"Hmmm," said Jade. "If that's the case, then stopping the Planet Storm and releasing Lorelei from the core must have had some effect."

Correct. By releasing the Mutant Fonon from the core to become the seventh layer of the fon belt, your friend the Light of the Sacred Flame caused the hyperresonances in the core to cease.

"Hyperresonances in the core..." said Tear. "Is that why the core was vibrating?"

Be silent, descendant of Yulia! You are not welcome here!

"I'm sorry," Tear whispered.

"Ifrit," said Florian, to distract the sentience before it – or he? – could harm Tear, "How can I free you from Mount Zaleho? What must I do?"

As with Sylph, you must form a pact with me and become my vessel. By doing so, my power will be stabilized – but only if you make use of it from time to time. Because of the passage ring, I cannot reach the fon belt as I did in ages past. You must provide that channel instead. When you use my power, you will reduce the strain on this Sephiroth.

"I... don't understand how that works," Florian replied slowly. "The Sephiroth are pretty big, right? Wouldn't I have to use a lot of fonons, really often? Especially if I'm going to help all six sentiences?"

You need not fear, Ifrit reassured him gently. For just a moment, Florian was reminded of a warm hearth fire instead of a raging blaze. You have reduced the stress on the Tataroo Valley Sephiroth already, through your pact with Sylph. And you have used Sylph's power several times since then. Surely you can do the same for me. But if you wish to know more, seek out my sister, the Wise One, on Mount Roneal. She has always been a more patient teacher than I – and you will be going to her aid in any case, will you not?

"The Wise One on Mount Roneal... you mean Undine?" Florian asked.

Yes.

"Okay, got it," said Florian. He clasped his hands together in prayer, just as he had done with Sylph.

"But Ifrit, why does it have to be Florian?!" Anise cried out in distress.

The Innocent One is receptive to the power of all six elemental fonons. There are no others alive, in this degenerate age, who have such capacity.

"Why is that?" Jade inquired.

I do not know. The Innocent One is what he is. That is all.

"Is it because Florian is a replica?" Jade pressed.

No, said Ifrit. Florian had a feeling that the sentience of fire was getting annoyed with Jade. His creation from the Mutant Fonon has nothing to do with it. The original human from which the Innocent One was created had the same capacity. The same resonance. You, Imperial Jewel, are able to use all six elemental fonons, but only by force. Your resonance is strongest with Gnome, Sylph, Undine, and myself. But you have almost no resonance with Shadow or Rem. It is impressive that you are able to use the powers of darkness and light at all, with so little affinity.

"Interesting," said Jade. "Thank you for the clarification."

Time is short. Innocent One, you are ignorant, but you are pure of heart, as a human must be in order to bond to one of us. You are my only hope. Make your vow.

"Okay," said Florian, bowing his head. "Ifrit, I promise..." He looked up uncertainly. "What should I promise?"

Visit all the remaining Sephiroth, and form pacts with all of the Six Great Sentiences. That would be the easiest vow to keep, since it is what you already plan to do.

"I promise to visit all the remaining Sephiroth and form pacts with all six sentiences," Florian repeated. "Please, lend me your power."

Accepted.

Ifrit's form blurred into flickering flames of red light that surrounded Florian and sank into him. Florian bit his lip to keep from crying out; the burning heat of Ifrit's power seemed to sear his every bone, muscle, and nerve. He fell to his knees.

"Florian!" Anise's voice seemed far away.

"I'm fine..." Florian said faintly.

The power of my hellfire is now yours, Ifrit's voice said in Florian's mind. Use it well.

I will, Florian thought back to Ifrit, hoping the sentience could hear him.

He was pleased to hear Ifrit reply gruffly, Thank you, Innocent One.

"So the passage rings really are interfering with the flow of fonons, just like we thought," said Guy, as the group made their way back through the volcanic caverns to the Albiore.

Anise was crying. "We have to do something!" she sobbed. "We can't just let Florian carry the burden of balancing all the fonons in the world!"

Jade nodded. "I agree. The strain may cause Florian's fonons to eventually separate – perhaps not immediately, but as time passes, that risk becomes a near-certainty."

Florian, who was walking at the front of the group with Guy on his left and Anise on his right, glanced back at Jade. "I feel better this time than I did last time," he offered tentatively. He shifted his gaze to Anise. "Don't cry, Anise," he pleaded. "I'm fine. Really!" He reached for Anise's hand, wanting to reassure her, but she didn't let him take it; instead, she stepped sideways to avoid him. Florian felt a pang of guilt and sadness. He didn't want Anise to worry or be unhappy, but he wanted to help the sentiences... especially since he'd be saving the whole world by putting a stop to all the disasters. The prospect of being a hero was very exciting. I could be just like Luke, he speculated. Or maybe even Yulia!

"Hmmm," said Jade. "In that case, perhaps the risk of fonon separation isn't as high as I thought. Nevertheless..." he trailed off.

"It's still a lot to ask of one person," Guy commented. "I mean, if Florian is going to be the sentiences' only channel to the fon belt, then if anything happens to him, the sentiences will be trapped at their passage rings again."

"Could we alter the passage rings to allow fonons to flow more freely?" Natalia asked.

"Perhaps," said Tear. "We changed the way the passage rings worked on our previous journey, when we connected all the Sephiroth and lowered the land. Since the Sephiroth are no longer supporting any weight, the passage rings aren't in use anymore."

"Unfortunately, we can't accomplish anything with the existing controls," Jade warned. "If the passage rings are still contaminated, then Tear would probably absorb miasma again. Moreover, the system is useless in its current state. To call it 'sabotaged' would be putting it mildly. In fact, if I recall correctly, the most common fontech engineering term for such a mess is, ah, 'buggered all to hell.'"

Guy, Anise, Tear, and Natalia all stopped to stare at Jade in surprise. It was hard to tell whether Jade blushed, since everyone's face was red from the heat of the volcano.

"Wow, Jade. I've never heard you use that kind of language," said Guy.

"That was bad language?" Florian asked, as the group started walking again. He knew the word hell, but he wasn't sure about buggered. "What does it mean?"

"Ahem..." Jade cleared his throat. "As you may remember, Van locked us out of the system, so we used Luke's hyperresonance to bypass the standard controls and reprogram it using brute force. Without Luke, we can't use that method. Well, I suppose we could get Tear and Natalia to combine their power as Seventh Fonists and produce a hyperresonance that way. But the precision required to inscribe new commands would be much more difficult for two people to achieve, even with extensive training."

"Couldn't we just get rid of the passage rings?" Anise asked, wiping her face with her sleeve. "I mean, if they're not being used for anything and all they are is a problem, can't we just take them apart?"

"That would be complicated, and possibly dangerous," Jade replied. "We still don't know the mechanics of this interference. If we make a mistake while dismantling the passage rings, the problem may become even worse."

"Yeah," Guy agreed. "Even with my knowledge of fontech, I wouldn't want to try taking apart a passage ring. I don't even know how they work in the first place!"

"Tear," Natalia said thoughtfully, "does Yulia City have any records regarding the construction of the passage rings?"

"I've never seen any," Tear replied with a sigh. "But I could ask Grandfather to search the archives. He may have a better idea of where to look."

"Would the library in Daath have any information?" Florian asked.

"Not in the main library," Anise told him. "This stuff is too confidential. But the Fon Master's private library might have something."

"Then let's go to Daath," said Jade. "We can search for information there and plan our next move. But if we intend to modify the passage rings, it will take a great deal of research...and time. We may still need Florian to form pacts with the other four sentiences as a stopgap measure, to temporarily stabilize the Sephiroth."

"I already promised I'd do it," Florian pointed out. "I won't break that promise, no matter what you all say. After we're done in Daath, I'm going to Mount Roneal to see Undine, with or without anyone else."