Tales of Symphonia: Back to the Future Pt7

Two Hours Later, Thoda House of Salvation

The path to the docks was boring, but once we got there things got a little hectic. And by hectic, I mean Raine screaming like a little kid when Genis tried to push her into the wash-tub, er, boat. Afterwards, we made our way all the way to the Thoda Geyser.

According to Raine after she recovered from her shock, the geyser erupts every twenty minutes and has been around for over 200 years. This was a problem for us, since we had to wait until the geyser calmed before Genis could use his magic.

“It’s just an estimate,” he told us thoughtfully, “But I think I can freeze the geyser for about thirty seconds.”

Emil looked at Lloyd doubtfully. “That doesn’t sound very long.”

Lloyd grinned in response, and immediately began jumping across the surface like a rabbit as soon as Genis cast his spell. He just managed to grab the statue and return before the whole ice sheet melted away, and came back to Colette clapping her hands in glee.

“That was so cool, Lloyd!” she exclaimed.

Emil and I were almost as impressed. “I bet you Emil could have done that,” I said with a side glance at him.

Emil blushed a little and said, “Um, I don’t know about that…” His eyes began wandering around until they rested on a sign behind Raine. “Hm?” He started walking towards the sign, curiosity bright in his face.

“Emil?” I asked.

“Hey, Raine, could you look at this?” he asked from behind the sign. He waved Raine over, and they both looked at the sign with curiosity until Emil declared, “Hey! There’s an oracle stone behind the sign here!”

“Good call, Emil!” I said.

Lloyd gave a disgruntled look. “Aw, man, I didn’t even need to grab the statue!”

“You don’t know that,” Kratos argued, “There may be more seals beyond this one.”

“Anyway, I’m gonna put my hand on it…” Colette walked around and placed her hand on the imprint. Within seconds, a bunch of rocks broke away on the rocky side of the geyser, and a brilliant bridge of pure light materialized from the edge near us to the newly made hole.

“Incredible,” I breathed, “I bet this bridge is made of mana!”

“Either way, we have our seal,” Kratos said in a businesslike tone, “We should be on our way.”

“Wait!” A shout from behind us caught our attention, and we saw Sheena running towards us with strange cards in her hands. “I’ll kill you this time! Corrine!” She swiped a card in front of her, and from a puff of smoke formed a small foxlike creature with three blue-colored tails and a cute bell tied around its neck.

Immediately, I felt a tingling in my forehead from Ratatosk’s core, and Emil twitched just as quickly. Corrine, too, flinched slightly and squeaked, “Sheena! They have a Summon Spirit, too!”

“What?!” Sheena snapped, surprised. She looked even more shocked as Emil walked forward, his eyes flashing bright red. Both she and Corrine backed away as Emil began sneering, Ratatosk Mode in full swing, his sword out of its sheath and resting dangerously on his shoulder.

“If you and that little pet of yours want to fight, bring it!” he challenged, “But let me tell you, you don’t stand a chance against me. I am Ratatosk, the Summon Spirit of Life. I could crush you with a mere thought!” He swung his sword effortlessly and pointed it at Sheena, whose face paled with fear. “Care for a demonstration?”

“Emil, stop it! You’re scaring her!” Colette said.

“Good!” he snarled, “If she wants to kill any of us, she’ll have to go through me first!”

“She’s just trying to protect Tethe’alla!” I cried, standing in front of him to block Sheena from his view.

Almost immediately I knew I had made a huuuge mistake. Emil snapped out of Ratatosk Mode and looked at me fearfully, but everyone behind him (except Kratos) just looked confused.

“How…how do you know about Tethe’alla?” Sheena whispered.

“I mean…I don’t…” I stuttered, looking at Emil earnestly for help, but before either of us could move there was an explosion behind me and smoke began flowing at my feet, alerting me to Sheena’s exit. I might’ve saved her from explaining herself, but I couldn’t say that for us.

“Marta,” Raine began in a low voice, “What do you mean, she was trying to protect Tethe’alla?”

“Yeah. Why would she be trying to protect our moon?” Lloyd asked, “And from what?”

“I…erm…well…”

Amazingly, Kratos spoke up. “When we entered the House of Salvation, I distinctly heard her mention Tethe’alla before we interrupted her prayers,” he said calmly, “It is possible the Desians are planning to do something involving the moon.”

“But…that’s ridiculous!” Genis said.

“Not quite,” Kratos explained, “800 years ago, during Spiritua’s journey, she managed to stop a group of Desians from converting the Balacruf Mausoleum into a replica of Thor’s Hammer, the mana cannon developed by the original Desians during the Ancient War. While the Asgard Kingdom was lost regardless, the people at the time were saved.” During this explanation, I could’ve sworn he gave me a shadow of a wink. “If the Desians were capable of converting an entire mausoleum into a weapon, it’s not completely impossible to imagine a grand scheme revolving around Tethe’alla.”

At first I thought he was talking crazy, since Raine was just looking at him silently, but then she said, “That’s true. During the Ulfric Uprising 1,300 years ago, a small group of half-elves who were in league with the Desians attempted to form a pact with the Summon Spirits of Light, Luna and Aska-“

“Uh, shouldn’t we get out of here before that girl comes back?” Lloyd pointed out. His interruption irritated Raine, who kept talking as we headed inside.

Seriously, after this journey is over, I hope I never have to go back to school again!

Fifteen Minutes Later, Seal of Water altar

Our trial to reach the water altar was relatively straightforward, except for an embarrassingly funny moment when Emil said that I said I was wet. Both of us were bright red in the face, but Lloyd, Genis and even Colette found it funny. As a result, we reached the altar in good spirits.

Genis stood before our group and held us back. “I feel…mana welling up,” he said, frowning at the altar, “It’s the same as the Seal of Fire.”

Almost as soon as he finished talking, a giant waterspout erupted from the altar, spitting out a trio of monsters. The middle monster looked like a large mermaid with a hammerhead shark’s head and sharks for hands, while the two monsters beside it were mermaids equipped with strange looking musical instruments resembling harps.

“Glad we already know their weakness!” I called out as I dodged a spray of bubbles from the bigger mermaid.

Emil was less lucky; he tried to block an attack from one of the smaller mermaids, and got smacked in the face by her tail as a result. “What’s their weakness?” he asked, jumping back.

“Electricity!”

“Kratos, Genis, try attacking at the same time!” Lloyd yelled, charging at the third mermaid with his Sonic Thrust arte. “Use Thunder Blade!”

“But that’ll only hit two of them!” Genis shouted back.

“Just do it!!”

Kratos silently nodded at Genis, and the two of them began their incantation just as the bigger mermaid did the same thing. It finished its spell before them, and sent me flying with a spout of water beneath my feet.

“Ahhh!!”

Just as I began falling, Emil managed to jump underneath and catch me. “Gotcha!”

As soon as he landed I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his cheek. “I knew you were my prince!♥”

“No time for flirting, you guys!” Lloyd yelled as he dodged more bubble sprays from the boss.

Emil set me on my feet just as we heard Kratos yell “NOW!” and saw both of the smaller mermaids flail in pain as they were stabbed in the gut by electric swords simultaneously, disappearing in bright flashes of light and sparks. The larger mermaid replied by angrily flinging Lloyd at a nearby pillar.

“Lloyd!” Colette flew to his side, distracting the boss with her new Angel Feathers spell.

“Emil, I have an idea!” Raine called out, quickly healing Lloyd. “Use Heavenly Tempest! I’ll back you up!”

“Oh, you mean the Unison Attack?”

“Yes!” She stepped in front of Lloyd and Colette to block the mermaid’s tail with her staff.

Picking up the hint, Emil readied his sword and sent himself flying at the mermaid with his Heavenly Tempest arte. At the same time, Raine pointed her staff at him and enveloped his sword in light. In a bright flash of whirling, shining steel, Emil spiral-dived straight through the boss and carved it into two smoldering halves.

“That was awesome!” Lloyd remarked as the mermaid’s remains disappeared.

“Well, I was already practicing with Marta,” Emil replied, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, “So I had a basic idea on what to do.”

“Hey!” I pointed at the altar, which gave off a soft blue light. Immediately, it transformed into a shrine similar to the Seal of Fire, complete with tiny waterspouts. As a bright blue ball of mana appeared, the altar returned to normal and we heard Remiel’s voice once more.

“You have done well, Chosen One. Now, offer your prayers at the altar.”

“Yes!” Taking her place at the foot of the altar, Colette knelt down and chanted her prayer: “Oh, Goddess Martel, great protector and nurturer of the earth. Grant me thy strength.”

As she finished her prayer, she summoned her angel wings and began floating in front of the altar. Same as before, the ball of mana faded away while Remiel’s own ball of mana glided slowly in front of us. Materializing in a flash of light, he grinned at Colette and said, “You have passed this test as well, Chosen One. Let us grant you our blessing.”

“Thank you, my lord.” Colette closed her eyes as Remiel held his hand in front of him, once more summoning four glowing balls of light that quickly dissolved into her body.

“The next seal lies north of here, in a mausoleum for the honored dead. Offer your prayers there, at its altar.” Remiel paused, making Colette look briefly confused. “I shall await you at the next seal, my daughter.”

“Ah…Father?” Colette barely finished speaking before he disappeared in a brilliant flash of light.

“Sheesh, he sounded more arrogant than last time,” I muttered as Colette landed in front of us. Without warning Raine walked up to me and slapped my face. “Apologize to Colette!” she snapped.

Colette folded her hands and said, “It’s alright. Father…Remiel really does sound like that.”

Lloyd shrugged. “Well, shall we get going?” he asked, “Although he was confusing as usual.”

Genis rolled his eyes. “Confusing? That was pretty clear to me. He meant for us to travel to the Balacruf Mausoleum!”

“Something tells me we’ll need to set up camp again, though,” Emil said, with a sidelong glance at Colette.

Ten Minutes Later, Palmacosta Beach

Just as Emil predicted, Colette had collapsed in front of the geyser just like at the Seal of Fire. Raine dually titled her condition Angel Toxicosis, and Lloyd held onto her as we got back to shore and made our campsite. Later that night, I pulled Emil away from the others so I could voice my concern again. Before I could say anything, though, he held his hand up.

“I know what you want to say, Marta,” he said in a low voice, “But I still think we shouldn’t say anything yet.”

“Why not?!” I whispered furiously, “You saw Colette. She could barely keep her balance when Lloyd helped her in and out of the washtub!”

“It only lasts for one night, remember?” he reminded me, “And Lloyd looks like he’s doing a good job keeping an eye on her.”

“But did you forget what happened after Lloyd got the Spiritua statue? If it weren’t for Kratos…” My voice faded as Emil put both of his hands firmly on my shoulders. Blushing slightly, I tilted my head to meet his emerald gaze head on, which was abnormally calm.

“Marta, everything will be fine. Trust me.”

“But…” I tried protesting further, but he silenced me with a kiss. Blushing furiously I savored the feeling of his lips on mine, as though he was filling me with his self-confidence. When we finally pulled apart, I looked him in the eye and nodded to indicate my agreement.

“You still need to make up for what happened earlier,” I said with a slight grin. He looked confused until I elaborated, “When Chocolat kissed you, you didn’t exactly refuse her.”

Now it was Emil’s turn to blush. “That was because we just saved her mother’s life! It’s not like she meant anything by it.”

I sat down on our mat and pretended to be angry, presenting him with my back. “But she flirted with you back at the Travel Agency. She kept looking at you when we were leaving, too.”

He sighed and sat down next to me, putting his arm around my shoulder. I looked at him and joked, “Wow, since when have you been this bold?”

Emil grinned and pulled me closer, but before he could answer we heard someone clearing their throat behind us. We turned to see Kratos giving us a faint but noticeably discouraging expression. “While it’s good to strengthen your relationship, you might want to reconsider your surroundings.”

Both Emil and I blushed even brighter in embarrassment. He sighed and said, “At any rate, I have a question for you two.” He sat down next to us and bowed his head slightly, making sure his voice didn’t carry over to the campsite. “How long have you known of Tethe’alla?”

I froze – it was the first time since the Seal of Water that the subject had surfaced. Seeing my hesitancy, Emil replied, “Actually, we knew ever since we revived the Summon Spirit of Life, Ratatosk.”

His comment shocked me even more, and I gave him a warning look. Amazingly, Kratos didn’t even look surprised – on the contrary he looked thoughtful, even focused.

“Hm. How exactly did you revive him?”

I managed to thaw my statue-like figure enough to mumble, “Emil and I were teleported to the Ginnungagap a few months ago, on the night of the full moon. In exchange for letting us live, he’s using us to maintain his own mana levels.”

“I see.” He folded his arms, his brow still furrowed. After several moments of silence, he asked, “And has Ratatosk been…civil…towards you two?”

Emil nodded. “He sometimes treats us like siblings. In a way, he’s more of an older brother to me than a spirit.”

Kratos chuckled softly. “So, his opinion has changed…” After some more deep thought, he thanked us and returned to Noishe’s side at the campsite just as Colette returned to bed.

“What was that about?” I wondered aloud.