Tales of Zestiria: The World Beyond

Chapter 19

"From how I see it, the best bet is to wait for the others to come back to the meeting spot. You did set up a meeting spot, right?" Magilou asked.

"Uh..." Vanessa started. "No."

"You've got to be kidding me! How are we supposed to get out of here now?"

"We'll find a way, let's try to retrace our steps." Velvet suggested. "We don't exactly have all day."

"Velvet's right, we don't know how long Arthur will last without help," Celica said.

"We should head back to the surface," Eleanor suggested.

The group headed back out with Zaveid and Mikleo staying inside to find the others. Just when they thought it was over, the rain began to pour down on them. It was a thunderstorm and a bad one at that. The timing couldn't have been any worse, as it was then that the rest of the party made it out. They had no choice but to sit out in that weather. Titania was the last place they wanted to be, and it was the last place they would find anything to help Arthur.

The storm made it hard to traverse the waters and without a compass, Eizen didn't know where they were going. He eventually crashed the ship into the land and couldn't get it anywhere else. The storm tattered the sails and the land broke the bottom of the ship, making it sink. The party got off and looked around, there were trees everywhere and a pathway; their only hope was to follow the path and pray it led somewhere other than the middle of nowhere.

Velvet led the group and was the first to see where they were. The rain hadn't let up, so it was hard to see, but beyond the mist was a familiar house. She opened it up and saw that nothing had changed. It was her home, which meant they were in Aball. She looked through the medicine drawers to find everything was in place from how she remembered it and even the scarfs she and her old friend made were intact. Eleanor looked around in shock and even Magilou was stunned. It was like time hadn't ticked a moment after she left the house.

Velvet went into her brother's room to see it was in perfect condition. She froze in place, she expected the house to look dusty and old, not new. Then, two familiar voices called out her name and she turned around to see her sister and brother were watching her. She approached them; it had to be an illusion. She knew it had to be. They died years ago. Then again, both she and Eleanor were in standing in the room and they were from the past.

"You brought guests?" Her older sister asked. "Oh Velvet, I do wish you tell me these things."

"Velvet hasn't been feeling good remember. She probably just forgot." Her brother said.

"Please introduce me to your friends."

Velvet snapped out of her shock and introduced her friends to her family. All except for the seraphim and Celica. Her sister was Celica Crowe and her brother was Laphicet Crowe. Her sister saw Arthur with Sorey, since she couldn't see Mikleo, Sorey took him and offered to help. Unlike Velvet, she was a gentle and sweet woman. She was what Velvet could have become if not for the incident. When asked, Crowe didn't seem to know who Artorius was or what he did. Even Laphi did not know of it.

Crowe asked Velvet to join her in the kitchen and the two made up some food for the guests. As a test to see if it was real or not, Velvet tasted the food she and her sister made. There was no taste. But she couldn't let her sister know so pretended it was good. Crowe smiled and brought out the food. She sat down with the others and started a lively chat. She said that she and Laphi had to take care of Velvet for years, according to their version of Velvet, she was the one who was sick and always had to be in the house.

Eleanor excused herself from the table and grabbed Velvet with her. There was something deeply wrong with that explanation. It was Laphi who had the disease and Velvet who always took care of him after Crowe died. It had to be a trick. Velvet grabbed onto Eleanor's arm before the girl went to confront the two, she wanted one day to see if they were the people that they said they were. Eleanor knew it was an excuse to be with them again, so let it go. They returned to the table and said it was just "girl talk" and continued to speak with Crowe and Laphi.

Laphi said that one day, he wanted to take Velvet out on an adventure, to see the world. But since she was always at home and he was too young, he couldn't. He was happy to see Velvet out and about and asked to go with her and the party to wherever they were going. They all said they would think about it and once dinner was over, they congregated in Velvet's room.

Velvet was the most skeptical of Crowe and Laphi since she knew them the best. She asked Magilou if it was a magic trick and the witch shook her head. No magic or arte was present. At least that she knew of. Mikleo wondered if it was the same power that brought Velvet and Eleanor to their time. Perhaps they were from a different version of the world. A time where Crowe never met Arthur and the crimson moon existed.

Sorey overheard Crowe and Laphi talk about a temple, where they entered for two seconds and turned around, and left. They returned home to see that it was dusty and some of the furniture was broken; they decided to fix the house and put things back where they were. They kept Velvet's room clean in hopes she would return and be ecstatic to see her with new friends. Of course, they were worried about her arm, since it was bandaged up.

She said it was from a small incident and would be fine after a while. She didn't want them to know she was a daemon or worry too much about her safety. From how Crowe acted, she didn't want to leave Velvet alone for too long.

(Well that's all for today, I wanted to get something out for you guys who like my fanfiction. This is still the Berseria arc and unfortunately, we won't get answers until the final arc. Rokurou joins the next chapter, then Laphicet, not her brother, and then Vanessa's arc will start. This has been a long arc, I guess I'm more into Berseria than Zestiria. Let's blame Zestiria's awful camera during battles for that one. Anyways, hope you like these stories, check out my original series if you're interested in other work I've done and my DA for art and updates. Love you guys.

Also, you can theorize what's going to happen in the comments. I do have a plan for this so I want to see who can get it right.)