Tales of Zestiria: The World Beyond

Chapter 25

"This Zahire," Velvet began to say. "What do we do about him?"

"Don't eat him that's for sure," Vanessa said.

"I wasn't planning to."

"What's the plan?" Lailah asked.

"We do what we did last time. We just need to beat him enough so that Sorey can purify him."

The group entered the Earth Pulse to the Phoenix was trapped in a cage. Velvet summoned her claw and broke the cage. Ready for an attack just like the one Vanessa and Sorey told her about, she slammed her claw against the cage and broke it, then in a second, jumped back before the Phoenix made his move. She barely dodged being hit by his flames and was helped by Lailah.

Lailah absorbed the flames and shot them right back at Zahire, disorienting him. Velvet appeared from behind and struck him to weaken him. He flew above the party and created a strong wind with his wings before he dived. Vanessa and Sorey defended against the attack by crossing their weapons and holding the Phoenix back. They pushed him away and attacked in sync.

When Sorey struck Zahire, he quickly spun to let Vanessa land a hit. With her heavy weapon, it was easier for her to swing it and keep the momentum going than to drop it. They continued their strategy until Zahire used his talons to grab onto Vanessa's halberd mid-swing. Velvet jumped above them and cut him with her blade, then slashed him with her claw to send him back.

He shot a beam of fire at the team and Lailah blocked it. Sorey and Vanessa attacked at the same time as Velvet ran to get in a final hit. With a team of main fighters, they made the Phoenix rethink his strategy. He rose above them and covered the ground in the fire; another attack Lailah had to block. She surrounded herself with paper and absorbed the fire before she sent it right back at him.

Vanessa, with her halberd, knocked the Phoenix into the ground, and hard enough for him to take time to regain his strength. Before he could, Sorey used the silver flame to get back to his senses.

"What's going on?" Zahire asked.

"It's a long story." Velvet said. "Someone named Lucilius has been causing havoc, and we're trying to stop him."

"Then take this to help you fight against him." The Phoenix plucked out one of his feathers and gave it to Vanessa. "Good luck out there little one."

"Thank you," Vanessa bowed.

"This is getting easier, come on guys," Sorey said.

The party returned to the inn; it took about ten minutes to defeat Zahire, a record time. Since they were expecting an attack and sort of knew what to expect, they didn't have many troubles. Laphicet commented on how the earth pulses were returning to normal, and at that rate, the world would be back to balance. That was a good thing, it meant that they were one step closer to stopping whatever Lucilius had planned.

Vanessa looked at the three feathers she had, one of pure white, one red, and one green. She didn't know what to do with them just yet; Sorey said that he had faith she would figure it out in no time once she got the rest of the feathers.

She walked outside before the group went to the next Phoenix to defeat. They had some time to rest and took that opportunity. Vanessa sat on the couch and rested her eyes, she hadn't fought the Phoenixes before in her world and didn't know it was going to be so easy to take them down. Then again, they weren't at their full potential. They were weaker than usual because Lucilius had fought them before Vanessa did.

She wasn't sure what his plan was, whether he did it because he wanted the Phoenixes to destroy the world, or if he was stalling for time. Since the group hadn't met him before, they had no idea why he drove the Phoenixes to insanity and placed them in the Earth Pulses.

Vanessa held the feathers in her hands and started to fall asleep. She was getting tired just thinking about it. She was shaken awake by Arthur, he told her that the team was going to take on the next Phoenix and needed her help. She asked how long she was asleep, and he said it was only for a few minutes. She rubbed her eyes and put the feathers in her bag before she got up and went to see the others.

"Arthur," she started to say. "What do you think is going on?"

"What do you mean?" He asked back.

"Well, we're fighting to save the world from a threat that we have never faced before."

"Are you scared?"

"I am, I don't know what's going on and I don't know how to fix these problems."

"Vanessa, you're strong, you can do anything if you put your mind to it. I know we can fix the Earth Pulses, and after we do, we'll find out who Lucilius is and what he wants."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Arthur patted Vanessa on the head, she was like Celica, she put all her efforts into saving people and making others happy. She was lucky she surrounded herself with people who made her happy as well, something Arthur wished Celica did on without his help. Maybe it was because Vanessa was human that she automatically surrounded herself with people who would become her friends.

She was shy at first but became more social when she spent more time with the group. Even though Arthur convinced her to stay, part of it felt like she made the decision. She agreed to stay and could have left at any time. She chose to stay because she was happy, she enjoyed the company of people who she just met, and she liked having people around her who shared her passions.

Her and Sorey kicked it off quickly because they both liked ruins. They both asked questions about each other and found out what they liked and disliked. They became a team because they worked together to make it happen. Arthur looked to Celica, he wished she would find someone who could make her happy.

(I was waiting until I got the cover done to make another chapter of this story, I am so tired. After Vanessa's arc is done, there will be another long break and I'll start the last arc. After that, the Xillia X Vesperia fan fiction will have its first chapter and custom cover. This one will be full fan fiction, not a crossover with my series or another series that isn't Tales.)