Tales of Zestiria: The World Beyond

Chapter 6

The party, with Vanessa, entered an inn located in Lady Lake. Arthur sat on the couch with Celica who looked outside the window as Sorey and Vanessa sat by the fireplace to warm up. Rose had some soup for them help with Edna's aid in making it, while the others sat at a table remembering the good old times. Despite his slightly older look, Mikleo hadn't changed a bit, he was the same ruins loving kid he always was. According to Zaveid.

"Sorey," Vanessa began. "Do you have the Celestial Record?"

"Celestial Record?" Arthur asked.

"It's a book about the history of this world. I thought you'd know about it." Sorey said.

"Oh...I do. It's just been a while since I've heard the name." Arthur made up an excuse, hopefully, it was convincing.

"Here Vanessa," Mikleo showed her the book.

"Also," Sorey said as he looked at the girl with a smile. "Can I read your book?"

"It's...it's um...it's a bit personal. But sure." Vanessa's face turned red when he asked her.

"Is it too personal?" Celica asked.

"We don't have to if you don't want to," Sorey said as he saw her look.

"How about another day? I'd like to read the Celestial Records; I never had the chance to read it before." Vanessa had a shy smile on her face.

"Do you like ruins?" Sorey asked.

"Sorey here is also what you'd call a 'ruins nerd'." Rose laughed a bit at that sentence.

"Hey!" Sorey looked directly at her a bit embarrassed.

"I'm also a bit of a 'ruins nerd' myself." Vanessa laughed along with Rose.

"I suppose you have that in common," Arthur said as he stood up.

"Going somewhere?" Edna asked.

"Just for a walk." He went out of the door and kept it open a bit for Celica to follow.

"Arthur! Wait for me!" Celica went right after him as he expected.

"At least he could've kept the little lady around." Zaveid sighed.

Arthur looked at the night sky, it was cloudy, and the stars shone dimly behind the clouds. That was when he felt something, a strong wind perhaps. He knew that air anywhere, the air of something off. He and Celica walked down the sidewalk as he followed the feeling. It was like an energy that was present, something that rivaled even Sorey or Rose's energy.

At the end of the sidewalk was a woman. She had long messy black hair tied with a bandage around the tips. Was dressed in dark colors and tattered clothing, and her left arm was bandaged. She looked up to see the castle and turned back to see the two. When she approached them, the energy got stronger? She said one sentence to them then left: why do you think birds fly? A strange question.

From the way the woman acted, she was serious about that question. There was something off about her, something he didn't exactly know. It was a familiar and foreign feeling at the same time. What was it? That was the question he had on his mind.

It was too dark to do any real investigation so both he and Celica headed back to the inn.

"Arthur," Celica said as she looked at the water. "Why do you think we're here?"

"I can't say, but I feel like there's something in this world that dragged us in. It's such a similar world to ours, so there must be a connection." Arthur made a fist with his hand. "The others from our world must be worried about it, if only we could contact them. Celica, we need to keep up this act, while it's not too hard, we shouldn't say anything of line."

"Right."

In the morning, Rose was the first one up, she had a tired look on her face and stretched. It looked as if she woke up from sleeping on the concrete ground. The others didn't look any better, they all had a hard time sleeping, even Arthur, who felt a major difference in the two nights he was there for. In Sorey's home, it was easy to go to sleep, but in Lady Lake, it was hard to get any.

"I had a hard time sleeping." Rose yawned.

"It was a rough night," Edna said in her usual tone.

"Man, I felt off all night." Zaveid rubbed the back of his head.

"Same here." Arthur sat in thought for a while. "Perhaps..."

"Something wrong Arthur?" Mikleo asked.

"When I was out, I met a woman who seemed to give off strange energy. Almost like Sorey and Rose."

"Do you think it could be a hellion?" Sorey asked.

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Let's be careful then, we don't know who it is and don't know what they're capable of," Celica said.

"First time I've heard something mature out of you." Arthur pet her head and smiled.

"Hey!"

"How about we talk with Alisha about this?" Rose suggested.

"Alisha?" Vanessa's head tilted at the mention of the princess' name.

"The princess, right?" Arthur tried to make it clear for her.

"Technically she's the queen, but we do hang out sometimes." Rose smiled from the thought of the adventures she had with Alisha.

"Hang out with the queen? That sounds weird..." Arthur kept his gaze on Rose.

"We're old friends, and, she needs some time off. She can't be ruling all the time."

"Do you know how royalty works Rose?"

"Huh?"

"Okay guys, let's not get in a fight." Sorey broke them up. "Let's go see Alisha and see what she has to say! Okay?"

"Fine." Arthur sighed; he saw the enjoyment Sorey had by just the mention of Alisha.

It was clear they all knew one another for much longer than Arthur and Celica knew them for. As for Vanessa, she was new at the whole thing. She did seem to warm up to Sorey quickly and had fun when she read the Celestial Records. Unlike Arthur and Celica, she fit in just fine. She knew some of the areas and greeted some of the passing by travelers as if she knew them.

(Boom and another chapter. This one just kept going and I was having fun writing it. I'll edit this more tomorrow, just grammar, and changes if Vanessa sees anything she wants to change about the interaction between her OC and Sorey.

Anyway, meeting Alisha in the next chapter. The queen and old friend of Sorey. Also, Maltran will be there, I think I've specified I'm following the anime for events like these. The Zestiria arc is soon to end, which was fast, and we'll be heading into the Berseria arc, and following that with the Phoenix arc.

I'll see how much time I have tomorrow to work on this, but it seems I can get a chapter out a day or every two days. No promises.

Once the Zestiria arc is done, I'll probably head back to my series and work on those since I've been putting them off for cute icons (DA only) and this. I still haven't worked on the Mystic Artes for my series, I need to do those I'm just scared of doing the backgrounds. Have a good morning, good afternoon, or good night for whenever you're reading this.)