Tales of Zestiria: The World Beyond

Chapter 8

As the party continued forward, they stopped at the fountain to reminisce. That was a place where Sorey, Mikleo, and Lailah first talked about the means of becoming a Shepherd and a bit of what it meant to be one. Lailah was vague about it, back then, so Sorey decided it was best to learn on his own what it meant to be the Shepherd.

Alisha also told the story of how she met Sorey. He found her in a dungeon and took her to his village, she made a fool of herself in front of the seraphim by talking to them without seeing them, and became a squire to help him. They had to part ways when her kingdom and another were going to war, which was around the time Rose joined as the next squire. She liked Sorey and how determined he was to help the people, it gave her the strength to do her best as queen.

Sorey investigated the fountain, and Mikleo followed his lead. Rose and Alisha talked about the old times and the rest of the seraphim sat on the fence, except for Zaveid who was all over Celica. Even Lailah at a point went over to talk until Arthur took Celica away. It was hard to be the center of attention and Celica didn't like it at all. She wasn't exactly the most extroverted person in the world and had a hard time when it came to attention.

Vanessa read the Celestial Records and lifted the book to see Rayfalke Spiritcrest in both drawings and out in the distance. Sorey came up from behind her Mikleo to see what she was doing and made her jump a bit.

"What is it?" Arthur asked.

"This place here, Rayfalke Spiritcast, isn't it where Edna lives?" Vanessa replied.

"Something like that," Edna opened her umbrella and used it to cover her face.

"Right, Eizen is still there." Rose reminded the group.

"Eizen?" Arthur asked another question that got the other attention on him.

"Eizen is Edna's big brother," Rose explained. "He turned into a dragon a while ago and still lives up there."

"So, it's the same in that regard," Arthur whispered before he spoke out loud. "Can we do anything?"

"Not unless you can purify a dragon." Lailah shook her head.

They had tried once before, but they couldn't. They had only purified a puppy once, a young dragon, but not a fully formed one. Even the one during the war wasn't purified. The rest of the party had sad looks, Eizen was close to Edna and Zaveid. Edna was his younger sister and Zaveid was an old friend. Edna kept her head under her umbrella and didn't show her face to the group, she didn't want people to see her upset.

Zaveid also had his hat cover his face, it happened whenever the topic of Eizen came up. It was like he had multiple personalities depending on the subject, if it was normal, he was happy and flirty with the girls, if it was serious, he looked angry and about to hit someone, and if it was personal, he didn't speak at all. Lailah clasped her hands together, she most likely had seen her friends become dragons and be killed by Shepherds in the past. 

That alone gave Arthur the motivation to go up and see for himself. He was crazy, according to them, which wasn't wrong; he wasn't a Shepherd and didn't have that power, at the very least though, he had to have some form of knowledge that would help. He didn't like to see the group unhappy, like his allies from Lumina, he wanted to cheer them up, and of helping Eizen meant seeing their smiles, then he would do it. He had no intention of killing anyone and would keep going until Eizen was the person he was before he became a dragon.

There wasn't anything to change Arthur's mind, which in a way, was much like Sorey. His determination gave the party hope and they decided to go for it and try one more time, there was nothing to lose if they did. Arthur and Celica's power could boost Sorey and Rose's flames of purification, maybe it was just what they needed to help Eizen. He had done so with his allies when they fought together and when Celica needed a greater boost to her wind.

Celica, while not as experienced as him, helped boost his ice to cover an entire temple or help him travel faster if she used it on herself. If all Sorey and Rose needed was a stronger flame, then he and Celica would give it all they could.

The group was all together and nothing was in their way, besides the strange woman from that night. And because Arthur was the idiot he was, he forgot about her in a heartbeat. Sorey was worried about a hellion roaming around the kingdom and him being gone. Alisha as well, if the kingdom fell to malevolence while she was out, she would all credibility to her name as queen. She didn't want to leave until the problem was solved.

Celica suggested they split up to find out more about the hellion. She, Arthur, and Zaveid formed a team to do research, and the others split into their teams. Sorey, Vanessa, Lailah, and Mikleo were another. And Edna, Rose, and Alisha were the last. They were to meet up before the day ended and share what they found out about the hellion. It took priority over Eizen since it was an immediate threat.

(I'm a bit stressed on time since I'm at work, but here's another chapter. I did want to wait for my main series to have an update before I updated this, so there's the reason for the late delay. I'm surprised how much this is growing, and a bit jealous it's getting more attention than my main series, but hey, everyone loves a good fanfiction of their favorite game series. I want to keep it interesting and keep everyone in character.

Yes, we are starting the Berseria arc, Velvet is sure to make her appearance in the next chapter with a surprise character, then onto Eizen. Also, I'll be getting some more help from Vanessa for cuter VanessaXSorey scenes, all in favor of more cuteness.)