Tales of Zestiria: The World Beyond

Chapter 24

Ma'ano, the white Phoenix as Vanessa described him. The one who watched over the people in her world after the Empyreans lost their faith in humanity. He resided in the wind earth pulse, and it was there that the party needed to go. Since Vanessa knew more about Ma'ano than anyone else, she was the one who would lead the party. Sorey also volunteered as he was the Shepherd. Zaveid and Celica also agreed with Eleanor as the final member to go. The earth's pulse was a dangerous place and too many in it would likely cause more havoc than needed.

Arthur bid them farewell with Velvet who gave them good luck in the form of an apple. While Laphicet wanted to join in as well, he knew it would be too much for a being like him to be around. With the earth pulses unstable, it was best that he watched from afar and fixed any problems after the Phoenixes were calmed down.

Sorey led the team to the earth's pulse with Vanessa keeping an eye on how stable the power levels were. The power from Ma'ano was increasing by the minute, which was much greater than they were in her world; something was wrong. When they approached the chamber, the phoenix was trying to break out of a barrier that surrounded him. It was a barrier made of green crystals that formed a cone around him with each crystal in the form of a feather.

"What is this?" Sorey asked.

"I don't know" Vanessa replied, "I've never seen a barrier like this."

"Whatever it is, it's keeping that bird from leaving," Zaveid said.

"Let's get him out then!" Eleanor rushed over but was thrown back by the power of the barrier.

"Be careful!" Celica ran to Eleanor's side to help. "This power is incredible."

The Phoenix finally broke out of his containment with Vanessa's help, but there was something off about him. He immediately went after her to attack her, to which Sorey took out his sword and parried the blowback. Ma'ano was acting out of the normal to what Vanessa knew him as; he swung himself against the pillars and attacked at random.

Vanessa took out her halberd as the others prepared for a fight. With Ma'ano making his attacks randomly, it was hard to keep track of him. Even so, the group had to find a way to calm him down. Celica and Zaveid summoned a tornado to suck in the Phoenix as the others went to strike. Vanessa knew the best way to stop Ma'ano was to get him on the ground so Sorey could purify him; she went to Sorey and told him the plan. He agreed and both went to the others to tell them the plan.

Celica and Zaveid jumped out of the way as Ma'ano went for an attack against them and Eleanor used her spear to send the Phoenix back. "Be more careful" Vanessa yelled out, not wanting the phoenix to be too badly hurt.

"Wait, do you hear something?" Eleanor said as she looked up.

"It's rain," Vanessa said.

"What is with this weather?" Zaveid said with annoyance in his tone.

"I've got an idea! We need it to rain inside!"

"Vanessa are you crazy?!" Celica yelled at Vanessa. "Breaking the ceiling could make things worse for us!"

"But we have to try!"

"Let's follow what Vanessa says," Sorey agreed as he blocked an attack. "She knows Ma'ano better than us."

Vanessa jumped above the Phoenix with her halberd in hand and swung upwards to slice a portion of the rocks off. Celica nodded to Zaveid who went to aid Sorey and Eleanor. Celica used her wind artes to keep Vanessa in the air as she started her arte to break down the ceiling. The rain poured in and made the Phoenix cower away. Zaveid and Celica summoned a powerful gust of wind to gather the water in one area and used it to attack the Phoenix.

When he was down, Sorey and Eleanor could attack without needing to be boosted by wind artes. Vanessa also helped, she knew his weak spots and went for them, careful not to accidentally hurt him too much. Ma'ano started flying, water dripping down his feathers, and released a powerful gust of wind at the party. In it, were feathers that stabbed the ground as if they were sharpened.

Both Celica and Zaveid did their best to change the wind's direction so none of the feathers damaged their allies and gathered the water once more with their power. They slammed down a heavy amount of water onto the Phoenix and stopped his attack completely. With Ma'ano on the ground and weakened by the rain, Sorey purified him.

"Ma'ano?" Vanessa said his name.

"It would seem I have caused some trouble," Ma'ano said as he looked around to see the broken cavern.

"Something like that," Zaveid said then immediately got hit on the back by Celica.

"We're glad you're back," Sorey said. "But, can you tell us what happened?"

"I'm not so sure myself, I remember coming to this area, then being approached by someone. Someone I didn't recognize." Ma'ano began, "he told me to stay still, then it went blank."

"Now that everything is in order, we better go back." Celica suggested, "We still have the others to fight."

"The others?"

"The other three phoenixes, they're in earth pulses like this and we need to calm them down before the energy levels rise so much that it overloads this world."

"That is a problem, in that case. Take this" the Phoenix plucked out one of his feathers and gave it Vanessa. "Good luck out there."

The group returned to the inn and made their next plan. The fire earth pulse was next, Velvet offered to lead the next group, along with Lailah and of course, Sorey and Vanessa. They set out to set things right with the Phoenix that laid inside, Zahire.

(Update: Chapter 25 has a release date, but it won't be announced until after the cover for this story has been changed. I have custom covers in the making for this and the final arc, then after that, a sneak peek at what's to come.

The Vesperia X Xillia crossover will be in progress once this has ended and will have a beginning scene that occurs before the story begins. Which is an idea I made up when role-playing with a person we don't talk about. Enjoy.)