Tales of Alidaire: The Corruption Disc 2

"Well then... we'll have to patch it won't we? Maybe I can fix it when we get back to town..."

Sonia spoke rather carefully to the rather over exaggerating Trickster, as she glanced towards his hat which now had a scorched hole. She could probably fix it when they got back to town, she had learned to sew when she was younger. Turning her head away from the Trickster once again, she looked back at the same spot she has been staring at.

"Is she really dead?"

"Come on guys; we don't want to keep K waiting," Valincar spoke up with a weary smile. When Jenova decided to pelt them with meteors, he knew things could only get harder from there, but Cloud had really pulled through in the end. And he knew that he and his fellow Luz Cascata members really did a number as well. It was funny, and he had to suppress a laugh, but they had seriously just saved the world and were off to report it to their leader as if it were just another ordinary mission. But that's what they had to do, so off they went.

Upon reaching Visterre and entering the Guild HQ, K rushed out of his office to greet them. He was about to say something, but Valincar quickly thrust out the request scroll and nodded at him. He smiled warmly and nodded back, taking the scroll. "So, it seems you guys made it through all right. Here's your reward, as is the usual," he said, snapping his fingers. One of his aides brought forth a box that K rummaged around in. By the time he was done, he unloaded an arm full of times onto Valincar.

SECRET REQUEST 02 COMPLETE!

REWARDS:

Hi-Potion x4

Happy Flute x3

Arm Brace x3

Anti-Hallucinogen x3

Water Gem x2

Otherworld x1

1800 Gold

Valincar smiled uneasily and tried to sort through the stuff to put in their inventory. In the mean time, Cloud stepped forward looked at each member of the group. "In addition to all the rewards you received, I want to say thanks to you guys. I couldn't have done it without you. I usually like to fly solo, but this was one thing I couldn't handle on my own. I appreciate it." He looked up at the ceiling for some odd reason, his eyes expressing a certain longing. "I'm afraid I'll have to take my leave from you now. I wish you luck, Luz Cascata."

Cloud stopped and faced Rosetta, looking down at the hand she offered. He took it gently and shook it. It was difficult to tell whether he had a smile on his face or not, but there was definitely a softness in his eyes. "No, the honor was mine to be able to fight next to such strong warriors. Farewell." With that, he let go and turned to leave the Guild HQ. Out the doors he went, but where he decided to go was a mystery.

K smiled and spread out his arms to encompass the group. "Well, we're short on regular requests for once, so that leaves you guys free to take on this really important one I happen to have acquired some time ago." He pulled out an eloquent scroll, gold in color, and tied with a crimson ribbon. "The actual mission isn't on this scroll; as a matter of fact, it was addressed to me telling me to send the branch of Luz Cascata with the Grimoire de Origens's guardian in it to speak with the Elder. But you guys already knew he wanted to see you. I guess this was the old man's attempt at making things formal. Either way, you should go talk to him as soon as possible."

With their next task at hand presented to them, the party departed from the HQ and traversed the dirt roads to reach the Elder's house at the far end of town. Things were proceding smoothly until a familiar face was seen. The party stopped in their tracks. Standing in front of them in the middle of the road was none other than a little girl. Gothic clothes. Violet eyes. Light brown hair.

It was Aronia.

"Oh. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to see you here," she stated matter-of-factly. "Your guild headquarters is located here, correct?" She stared at them with a blank expression. "I guess that doesn't matter."

Sonia stood shocked once more. They were running into all kinds of things nowadays, she felt as if she should have been used to it by now. But she wasn't, not with what was going on... she didn't think she ever would be. Calming her shocked nerves, she tilted her head to the side ever so slightly. Her eyes dashing around the younger girl's form, as if trying to uncover whatever secret she had, or what motive she had for being here. Squinting slightly, she looked over the organist's face one last time, then leveled her head and murmured.

"What do you want?"

Lily folded her arms over her chest. Aronia, huh? Well, Lily couldn't say she wasn't surprised either. In fact, she was almost hoping for a rematch against the woman. But perhaps now wasn't the right time. Lily took a step back, more towards Lyra. She moved closer to her ear and began to explain the situation here.

"That's Aronia. She was the assistant to a scientist known as Albere. They were stirring up trouble, so we had to go and silence them." Lily paused for a moment to let the information sneak in. "They were a pain to get rid of though, and we didn't end up killing them either. They managed to escape with some help from mercenaries that stole the Grimoire de Origens from us."

Lily scowled. It seemed like they were doing okay, but they really were in a big pile of shit at the moment. And on top of that, they had to deal with extraterrestrial beings as well. Lily wondered whether Lyra was starting to feel like leaving soon.

The trickster simply stood by, a rather serene expression smoothing the angles of his face. If he noticed the relatively new arrival at all, he didn't show it. He only lifted his face towards the sun and smiled. "Mm, strings. Such beautiful tones." But suddenly he frowned and looked down at Aronia, consternation narrowing his eyes.

"Czeslaw."

Where was the blue? The word held significance, he knew it. It was important . . . but why? So many things in his head . . .

"Wow, now that sounds like a pain in the ass all right," Lyra whispered back to Lily. It must have happened not too long ago. An evil nemesis just shows up out of nowhere? Interesting twist of fate. Lyra just shrugged her shoulders though; if this girl were here to pose a threat, there would be some action going on already.

Aronia shook her head. "I don't want anything. I'm just walking down the street and run into you guys. How odd." She paused, eyes still vacant. "If you wanted to know, I came back to destroy the soul laboratory. I came to an agreement with the people set to demolish it which would allow me to do the work and for them to get the money. Greedy humans. They are easy to play." Another pause. "It's destroyed now. I recovered some important files...along with...something that actually belongs to you. Where are you hiding at? Don't you want to see your friends again?" she called out a tad louder than she had been speaking as if talking to someone who might be nearby.

"Hello." A boy with light blond hair called out from behind Aronia and stumbled into clear view. Slightly disoriented and rather confused, he sighed and gazed over the party with expressionless, gray eyes. There was a strange aura about him that seemed rather off, as if he was having difficulty communicating with his surroundings. He twisted his head toward Aronia, waiting for her permission to approach the party. She said nothing.

Czeslaw glared at Aronia with his piercing gaze, turned his head forward once more, and paced forward toward the party. He stood in front of them, wind bellowing through his light hair and wavering at his white robe. "Czeslaw Caldwell. I believe we've..." His voice dragged off and his gaze transformed into a thoughtless stare. Regaining his consciousness, he continued, "... met." His limbs remained motionless -nearly limp- as he stared over the party, awaiting their response. The endless gusts of wind blew a small trail of dirt onto Czeslaw's left cheek.

Something was wrong. Czeslaw didn't pick at the dirt and brush it off immediately, as his normally whiny and nit-picky self would normally do.

As Czeslaw appeared from behind Aronia, Sonia blinked for the moment and then rubbed her eyes. Was it really him? It couldn't have been... could it? Rubbing her eyes once more, Sonia confirmed it to be true. But she didn't stay focused on Czeslaw for too long, she was more curious about what had happened to him. And in his current state, he didn't seem as if he would be saying much at all. Her glance shifted to Aronia, her voice unwavering and actually outspoken for once.

"What did you two do to him?"

Aronia shook her head. "If you don't recall, after our defeat, we retreated from the soul laboratory and never returned. My visit to self-destruct it was the first one since I left." She spared a glance at Czeslaw, but it was a rather indifferent one. "Since then, this poor fellow has been left alone to wander inside the laboratory for a long while. There is no telling what...horrors...he may have come across," she explained, shaking her head some more as if it were a tragedy.

Valincar wasn't about to question the young girl. Al lthat mattered was that Czeslaw was safe. "It's....good to have you back with us at last, Czeslaw. You've missed out on a few exciting adventures, but you'll get back into the groove of things, I'm sure," the nightshade greeted. His former teammate was acting a bit strange. He wondered if he should be worried about it or not, but it probably had to do with being stuck in that creepy lab for so long by himself.

"That suffices... I guess..."

Sonia didn't quite like the explanation, but she figured there was no true other, seeing as they had no way of knowing. Turning away from Aronia, the young summoner's expression lightened, even as she turned to the rather... questionable Czeslaw. Moving ever so slightly over to him, she focused her attention on Lily, seeing as how she knew the acolyte much better than she did.

"H...how long do you think he'll be like this?"

"Lily..." Czeslaw's cheek began to swell a reddish tone, yet he made no effort to cease the bloated flesh, "I know who you are." He gazed at the young girl, eyes emotionless and unchanging from their solid gray hue. "I know I should be happy." He stated bluntly and stood his ground, unmoving.

"They did nothing to me." Czeslaw's head twisted toward Sonia, "I didn't allow them to." He then proceeded to give off a quick glance at Valincar, stoic and unresponsive to the frantic Lily. "The groove of things..." He entered a daze once more before checking back in with reality, "There is no 'norm' for me anymore. You've seen what abominations dwelt within that laboratory. I figured you would understand that without me needing to explain anything to you, of all people."

"Hello." He stared blankly at the girl known as Lyra for a short second or two before turning back toward Lily, "I wasn't lost." Czeslaw's tone remained ominous and monotone; he aimed his hateful glance directly at Aronia, and then continued to speak, "I know..." His voice dragged off, "... I wasn't lost in that laboratory." His message was short and to the point, and then he shot a deadly stare into the eyes of Lily, "I wasn't lost, not in the slightest." His eyes squinted, and he continued his short little monologue, "I knew where I was. I knew exactly where I was."

Annon stood by watching the whole exchange with a growing sense of relief, even happiness. Exactly why, he didn't really know. Perhaps if he was in more control of his self-awareness, he would, but he didn't. So when he suddenly strode forward and wrapped the somewhat indifferent Czeslaw in a lanky hug, the trickster didn't question it.

He stood back a bit with his hands on Czes' shoulders and grinned brightly. "The blue comes home! They've paid much while you were out." Annon ruffled the acolyte's hair and stepped away towards Sonia, hands going to his pockets. Pretty much acting as if he hadn't just hugged someone he'd never seen before.

"Pancakes for everybody?" He asked Sonia, a hopeful look on his face.

Sonia nodded at Lily in agreement, hoping that the acolyte would be able to make a full recovery. His current state of mind was rather... annoyingly strange. So much that it rather bothered the cleric, but she could deal with it. She wasn't around Czes much usually before all of this happened. Wouldn't change a thing for her.

That was when Annon asked her something in his usual curious language. Though it had been a while since she had last translated, much less spoke the speech form, which she dubbed 'Trickster', she knew what it meant. Her lips curved upward, a small smile as she looked towards him. Closing her eyes, she nodded and spoke once more.

"Pancakes for everybody."

Lyra's eye twitched. "A grand hello to you too...er," Lyra replied, a bit irritated. She had to calm herself before she called him a vulgar word; he was Lily's friend, after all. However, she was certain she wouldn't be wasting anymore breath on this lame ass.

"S-so....I don't know," Valincar said uneasily. Czeslaw was definitely acting strange. "I'm sorry." It was all he could muster. He had seen what dwelt in the laboratory, and he knew Czeslaw must have seen far worse than that. Valincar glanced at Aronia who turned around.

"If Albere had wished to do something to Czeslaw, I would have made it so that he would be able to," she remarked, the comment obviously directed at Czeslaw, though the statement held no malice nor much of anything really. It was more of a stated fact. "I have other business to attend to. Farewell." She started to walk away. "I have a feeling that the next time we meet will not be under pleasant conditions such as this."

Lyra sighed. "I'll just take your word for it, dear," she said. She couldn't shake how odd this fellow was. It almost made her curious as to how he used to be, but that wasn't the point now. From her vantage point, she noticed a very familiar eagle flying about in the sky. She shook her head in a subtle manner.

"Well, either way, it's good to have you back, Czeslaw," Valincar said. "We were on our way to the Elder's house; he had a request for us to do. It's something concerning the Grimoire de Origens. I don't think we should keep him waiting." Knowing that Valincar was right, the group set forward to their destination, the Elder's House.

It was a short walk, and they arrived at what appeared to be the largest tree in the city. There was a door carved in the trunk, and the whole thing appeared to be hollow. It was much like most of the other buildings in the city: built into nature for nature's convenience, not theirs. Since the door was open, the group walked in. The inside was filled with wooden tables and cabinets with numerous folk art placed on display: dreamcatchers, quilts, straw dolls, beads and bracelets. The party proceeded a little ways into the room which happened to be a living room of sorts until they were standing on a colorful rug. Before them, sitting on a bundle of large, green leaves was an old man. His eyes were closed, and he looked as though he were meditating. An ancient staff rested at his side. Behind him was a fire, an iron cauldron sitting upon it. Whatever was boiling inside was letting off a fragrant aroma, similar to that of wildflowers.

As Valincar started to speak, the old man instantly raised a hand as if to silence him. "There is no need to announce your presense; I could feel your footsteps through the earth. It alerted me to your arrival," he said, his voice cracked slightly, weary with old age. He opened his eyes, both a dull hazel color as if he were going blind. They were warm and gentle, full of wisdom. He watched as the nightshade landed upon the ground and bowed before him. "Rise, lad. And don't any of you follow his example. I am but just another member of this city."

"But Elder, you are one to whom praise should be given--one truly worthy of respect," Valincar replied as he rose and took back to hovering.

"Nonsense. But it matters not. You have come to learn the details of your next assignment, have you not?" he asked, looking around at the other party members.

As the group entered the Elder's office(?) Sonia stood back with Annon. She figured this would be a rather quick visit at first, but it was turning out to be very very different. When the elder asked if they were ready for their next assignment, Sonia nodded ever so slightly, as if she could speak for the group as a whole.

"Y...yes sir..."

Sonia then spoke up, though her voice was still rather low as per usual. Her previous outlook, which had been provoked through Aronia, had disappeared. But it didn't matter much, all that mattered right now was receiving their mission and completing it with as much ease as would be allowed.

"What is the o... objective?"

Annon, apparently more interested in his surroundings than in the strange man in front of them, poked about the shelves inspecting the numerous items. One of the dreamcatchers caught his eye and he held it up for appraisal--then pressed it to his face. "I see little stars." Then he made a sound of indifference and hung it back up.

The trickster moved on and picked things up as he pleased, smiling at some and shrugging at others. When he chanced upon a short strings of beads however, he beamed a bright smile. He turned to the old man and held it up. "Can I have this?" The beads were beautiful, a bright collection of colors that just sung. How could he not want it?

The old man chuckled loudly. "Ah, if it is knowledge you are seeking, you have come to the right place. We...won't discuss my age," he stated lightheartedly before glancing over at Annon. "My son, you may do with it as you please. I have many trinkets, so the loss of one means not much to me," he said, giving permission for Annon to have the beads. But he had more important things to discuss with the group now.

The Elder arose suddenly with speed that would seem unlikely for someone his age. He grabbed his mighty staff and slammed the end of it into the ground causing it to shake slightly. "Listen to me children! You are about to embark on a journey that shall span this very continent. You know from the legends that the Grimoire de Origens possesses the mana needed to awaken a god, correct? Well, this mana cannot just be merely released. Mana with that potency would wipe out everything. It must be focused into a certain...gemstone." He paused and murmured words in the ancient language. The room grew dark and a sphere appeared in the air between the Elder and the party. It looked like a beautiful crystal, red in hue with swirling orbs of a lighter tint of red inside of it. It was mystifying.

"It is said that these gemstones hold the very power of the god or goddess they correspond to. That power is linked to the respective deity, so if the gemstone is filled with mana, so will the deity which will surely awaken him or her. That is what whoever has the book is planning on doing. They will seek out the gemstones and fill them with mana from the book to awaken the deities slumbering throughout Selva. It must be their intent to hold the favor over the deities in an attempt to control them. Only destruction could come of that." The Elder fell silent and the room became filled with light again, the image of the gemstone disappearing in a cloud of mist that quickly dissipated.

"It is for this reason that I am tasking you, Luz Cascata members, to go out and seek these gemstones, and to bring them back to me so that I, along with the noble guilds and guards of this city, can protect them from the hands of evil. It will be perilous for you, but you must not stop." He paused to let everything sink in. "Are there any questions, brave warriors?"