Prepare to Die, Eggbear!

A month’s time gave him back stability, but it didn’t stop the pain from coming back without a moment’s notice. Hisca had been with him the entire time - watching over him the best she possibly could.  The stitches had just been recently removed from his side, so his torso was rather sore currently. 

Rest was in order, as per his usual regiment that Hisca had assigned him. He had taken quite a beating, and even he admitted if it hadn’t been for the redhead he doubted he would have survived Zagi’s assault. 

It was about mid-day now, and he barely managed to do a lap around Dahngrest before he found himself growing tired, and returning to the Inn.

A Nap.

That was what he needed. 

All he'd heard was that Yuri was hurt. And he'd heard it over and over, from everyone he knew. It seemed like he really was the last to know.

His fists clenched as they dropped from the door.

Why should he be the last to know? He was the man's freaking guild boss. He should have been the first to know.

He shouldn't be angry, and he knew that. But the alternative was being sad.

And judging by the tears running down his face, he wasn't going to be angry for much longer.

Dahngrest. The guilds’ rowdy counterpart to the pristine, orderly Zaphias. All forms of people, great and small, walked beneath the red-orange glow of its perpetual sunset.

The city bustled with guild noises. Strong men with big weapons thumped their chests, proclaiming loudly how many monsters they’d killed that day. Traders shouted above the din, advertising their wares to all who came near. Other guilds went about their business, talking and laughing among themselves.

The small boy attempting to pin a flyer to a board high above his reach, then, easily went unnoticed. He cried out when he jumped, as if the extra burst of noise could somehow propel him the necessary extra foot.

Karol was nothing if not persistent; it was nearly an hour before he surrendered, sinking into  a sitting position up against the wall he had climbed so futilely.

They still couldn’t compare to the members of the Union, but hey, it’s a start. Besides, Estelle had been so gracious to name their guild after a legend, and thus left them with the heavy task of keeping at it until they were actually worthy of living up to that name.

So when he ambled passed the bridge, eventually reaching the area with a notice board, he couldn’t help but chuckle at the lump of green and orange hunched on the pavement, forming a rather spent-looking little guild boss. An amusing sight—considering this kid was the supposed leader of a guild aiming to live up to a legend’s name. Without uttering a single word, Yuri bent down to grab the flyer from the captain’s hand and the pin from the other, afterwards pulling himself up to stick it to the wall. He backed away for a moment, taking the time to marvel at his work, then dropped to his knees and grinned.

"I could have done that," he muttered, pouting. Though both of them knew he appreciated the help, there was a slight blush of embarrassment that colored the captain's face.

His grin returned to him again, though, when Yuri questioned him.

"Well y'see, you know how the guild's been so busy lately? I was thinking that maybe if we can get people to join Brave Vesperia, we can do a lot more! With the barriers down, we've always got to be ready for monsters." He jerked his thumb in the direction of the flyer, and the words "JOIN BRAVE VESPERIA" spelled out in large block letters.

Karol didn't want to admit it, but he'd been at this for several days. Nobody was biting, despite the prestige the guild had gained from saving the world.

The small ball of white melted against his hand as he stopped it’s decent to the ground.  There was a discontented groan as he pulled his arm back inside his window and pulled the glass panes closed. Rubbing his hands against his arms he shuddered. It was too cold for what he was wearing but he didn’t have much else.  Dark eyes looked around the make of the small room he called home, and decided pulling on a warmer jacket was a good idea. 

But what though?

Looking though the outfits he’d accumulated from his journey to get back the Aque Blastia his gaze paused on a dark jacket and a maroon scarf. That would do nicely. Slipping into the outfit, he pulled the collar up, and wrapped the scarf over his nose. Fully gloved fingers covered his palms and twitched his slender digits for a moment to get used to the feeling. 

Stepping outside, he braced himself for the cold wind nipped against his skin, and the chilled air that instantly clung to his form.  The wooden steps were covered in white - a never ending blanket that covered the entire Lower Quarter and it crunched beneath his feet. 

His hands rubbed against the black fabric covering his arms again as he walked down the stairs, letting out another disgruntled groan as the small white flakes continued to fall. He let out a breath, and watched the cloud path lead back to him as the chill froze the very air around him. 

His steps halted as he looked upon the sight of the main square of the Lower Quarter, and he groaned again. The fountain was frozen, and long strips of ice hung from the roofs of the buildings and around the windows. The whole area was simply frigid. 

This eyes narrowed at the sight, and he sighed. 

He knew what came next.

The tiny strings of lights, and the music along with it. He was not prepared for the ringing of bells that would fill the air - nor the slick paths of ice that would line the streets. 

No.

Karol loved this time of year.

The moment he saw the snow and the lights begin to decorate his city, a swell of excitement filled every inch of his tiny body. He kept winter clothing in his bag for just this occasion. Throwing on a coat that was already a size or two too big for him, he made his way out into the snow.

But just playing in the snow and enjoying the weather wasn't good enough for the young guild leader. No, this was Christmas. The season of spreading joy, not just having it.

And he knew exactly whom to spread it to first.

It was a pretty easy trip, even; the snow kept the monsters at bay, so he didn't have to. All around him he saw children and grown-ups alike frolicking through the snow. More than once he had to dodge a snowball aimed at his head. He would have loved to participate, but he was busy.

And as wilderness gave way to city, his grin grew even wider. How excited his friend would be to see him and enjoy the holidays with him! He paused only for a moment in his trip to adjust his santa hat; they had trouble fitting on his head.

But it wasn't terribly long before he saw who he was looking for.

--

“Sorry everyone! Something very important just came up,” Lloyd attempted to explain. “Gotta go!” 

With that, the two…or three went off to find a place to discuss such issues. 

“Let’s head to your place, Emil,” he proposed. “We can talk there.” Turning to face the boy, he gave him a soft smile. “I don’t think I got your name.” 

“Yeah! We’re not that far anyways and Aunt Flora and Uncle Alba shouldn’t be there. So we’d be safe there!”

“We’ll have introductions AFTER we’re in the privacy of the house. Understood?”

“Ratatosk…”

And of course once they inside the privacy of the house… Which was luckily empty…

“Okay… This whole mess started in Lake Sinoa Cave. There was this pink haired woman and… Well they were fighting… When she…”

“She suddenly said that she had bombs set around the cave that she was going to detonate… Unfortunately I fell for that… The black boxes on the walls were just fakes and she stabbed me in the stomach… And the last thing I could remember was the bitch’s name… Rene…”

“That’s pretty much the story. One of the Fenrirs we made pact with came to our rescue and brought us to the kid here… And that’s what happened…”

Lloyd did not know why there were an excessive amount of females that awaited his arrival in Luin. He did know that he had a very powerful image in this city, but …how powerful, exactly, was it? Powerful to assemble a whole legion of fangirls, apparently. 

“H-Hello, everyone!” he said as loud as he could so that he could reach every ear in the crowd. “It’s nice of you to come and see me today!”

An eruption of cheers was produced from the crowd. Why? He just said hello. ’Is this what Zelos feels like?’ he thought to himself. He modestly scratched the back of his head and let out a nervous chuckle. 

“Um, Lloyd?”

He looked down to find a young boy, a few years younger than he was handing him a…Centurion Core?!

Lloyd’s eyes widened to a size that could be compared to the orb. He instinctively snatched it from him and gave it a closer look. It was definitely a core and…Ratatosk’s core, at that! 

“Lloyd? Hey Lloyd!”

“Emil shut up. Lloyd… It’s a long story and I’d rather not be out here in front of all these damn people. Fuck people are already staring!”

“People are staring?! Ah… Ummm… Let’s go to my house… We might have… Uhhh…. Uhhhh….”

“Dammit stop getting so intimidated… Fine… Karol. Mind handing us to Lloyd for a moment… And you better do it now.”

"I'll explain when we get somewhere," he said quickly. "The orb-thing is right, we shouldn't talk here." News traveled fast, and he didn't want to deal with the possibility of encountering whoever did this.

“If I’m correct then we need to just keep heading straight… Lloyd should be dead… Oh shit…”

“What’s wrong?”

“It seems the Lloyd Irving fans are blocking our way.”

And just as one of the voices in the red orb had said… There was definitely a rather large crowd ahead of them! Probably the whole town was there! Yet it seemed one person took notice of the brunette.

The blonde female approached Karol with a smile on her face. She was probably one of the town’s folk.

“Hey there kid! You here to see the amazing Lloyd Irving? And you don’t seem to be from around here!… Well since you probably came a long way I’ll get ya through the crowd to see ‘em!”

And without permission she took the boy’s hand and lead him through the crowd… All the way to see Lloyd Irving. Though it was amazing how she managed to do that without anyone getting upset.  Of course upon see the older male in sight she left them to approach him… And…

“Kid pull us out of the bag and show us to him. He’s dumb. But he’ll figure it out… Unless he’s as dumb as Raine treats him…”

“… Ratatosk…”

Ratatosk? Fenrir? Amado? The more the little orb-thing talked, the less Karol understood. He kept glancing up at the big wolf-creature and hoping that they were sincere about it not hurting him.

But needing to get away and fast he could follow. The wolf looked one way, so he picked up the core, stuffed it into his bag, and started running in the other direction.

The red orb moved around in the bag with every step the boy took. Especially from the running. The monster left behind however ran in another direction. It couldn’t be of anymore assistance now and it knew that.

“Whatever! Just keep running in the direction you’re running and we’ll be in Luin! Then we’ll be safe and you’ll get your damn explanation!”

“How… How do you know that?”

“… Emil… I sense a certain idiot that’s your friend in Luin. He could do all the explaining for us. Besides we can’t stay conscious all day.”

It seemed the two Summon Spirit’s were ‘conversing’ now.

Thank goodness Ratatosk had learned how to sense one’s signature. Though it wasn’t guaranteed they’d be safe in Luin. Hell the woman might even go to Luin… It wasn’t likely however… Since a monster is what took the core from her… And not a human… What monster was stupid enough to invade a town all on it’s own? Yet there was the problem of bandits and pick pockets…

Luin? Not any city Karol had heard of. He was definitely in another world now.

But he kept running, as the magic glowing orb indicated. He kept running as his lungs began to burn, and his feet began to feel like they were getting holes bored in them. He kept running until he reached something resembling a town.

The young guild leader stumbled back in shock, falling over as a result. Did that thing just… talk!?

“Wh… What!?” Now he was absolutely sure he had stumbled into something dangerous. He had never seen anything like this before, and it just screamed trouble.

… But if it was sentient, he couldn’t just leave it like this.

“Who am I?… Umm.. Well…! I’m Emil Castagnier and-“

“It’s none of your business who we-.” 

“And the angry sounding voice is Ratatosk… And the Fenrir is Amado! Don’t worry! Amadok won’t hurt you!… Besides we’re kinda in a really tight situa-.”

“Why are you fucking telling him everything?!”

“Because we need help? We can’t just rely on Amado to just keep running until we find Marta or someone else!”

“…” 

The Fenrir rolled the core in front of Karol. It’s eyes focused on the much smaller human. Though upon it’s ears hearing a sound from far away. It’s head turned to look west of where they were.

“I know this is going to be really confusing but we really need your help and we really need to get out of here! And fast!”

“… If we stay here any longer that bitch will find us and then we’ll be screwed.”

Ratatosk? Fenrir? Amado? The more the little orb-thing talked, the less Karol understood. He kept glancing up at the big wolf-creature and hoping that they were sincere about it not hurting him.

But needing to get away and fast he could follow. The wolf looked one way, so he picked up the core, stuffed it into his bag, and started running in the other direction.

Karol Capel had gotten himself into quite the mess. In his wandering and monster-slaying in the name of his glorious guild, he had found himself in a number of bizarre places. But he had always been able to find his way home.

Not this time. He stumbled through unfamiliar territory for what seemed like days, too uncomfortable to ask for directions. And when he did, no one knew what he was talking about. He was fairly sure he’d stumbled into another world.

Thankfully, he hadn’t run into too much trouble during his wanderings. At least until he was face to face with a giant wolf.

Karol froze, one hand over the hilt of his hammer. His entire body trembled in fear, though he did his best to stifle the shaking. He didn’t want to deal with this here, after he’d spent so much time wandering. He was in no mental state to deal with it.

Suddenly… A small light started blinking in it.

“Ugh…”

“Dammit…”

Not one but TWO voices came from the red object in between the Fenrir and the boy. Of course a small whimper came from the large creature as it brought it’s head down so it’s nose was touching the core.

“Amado?”

“Heh. Seems we got our… UGH WHAT THE HELL IS THE CORE COVERED IN?! IS IT… SALIVA?!”

“Well… It was the only way for him to carry-.”

“That’s fucking disgusting as hell! We’re covered in drool!”

“You know there’s someone else… Here right?”

“What…?!” 

The young guild leader stumbled back in shock, falling over as a result. Did that thing just... talk!?

"Wh... What!?" Now he was absolutely sure he had stumbled into something dangerous. He had never seen anything like this before, and it just screamed trouble.

... But if it was sentient, he couldn't just leave it like this.

It was only normal for the Summon Spirit to get curious upon receiving a letter from an anonymous person asking for him to come to Lake Sinoa cave. After all curiosity brought temptation…

Red eyes scanned the area of the cave as footsteps descended deeper and deeper into the dark areas that only had little light provided. A calm expression on his face did not hide how cautious the Summon Spirit was. After all… Who would send him a letter anonymously to come down here? A hand rested on the hilt of his sword as he entered the altar where the Centurion Lumen’s core had once been held.

A woman with pink hair stood before him.

“I must admit… I didn’t think you’d actually come. I’m rather impressed and stunned that you would either be so daring… Or very foolish.”

Was the first thing to pass the woman’s lips as a hand held her own weapon of choice which was a unique shortsword. A thoughtful look was on her face as she looked him over.

“My aren’t you a piece of work?”

“Well it seems you definitely aren’t here for some simple chit chat.”

The blond drew his blade and pointed at her. A look of fiery determination burned in his eyes. He wasn’t in the mood for some chick to come out of nowhere and challenge him for no reason… So he’d be quick with this one.

“Any last words before we fight?”

A shake of the head soon was followed by the sounds of metal colliding with one another as swords clashed… Artes were cast… And even punches and kicks were thrown at any given opportunity…

However it wasn’t even an hour later when the two were worn down… A black remote looking object was in the female’s hand.

“I didn’t expect to actually use this… I didn’t really want to use a bomb to dispose of you. What a pain…”

She muttered to herself as she pretended to sigh. Her thumb floated right above what looked like a button. Which Ratatosk knew would set it off in less than a heartbeat.

“Are you actually going to blow us both up?!”

Red eyes grew wide as he suddenly took a step back. Was she actually serious?! Was she that insane?! He froze in his place as red eyes scanned the altar again… Little black boxes were mounted on the walls… This was no joking matter. If she had taken time to actually set this up… She was very serious…

However while eyes rested on one of the black boxes… He heard a small ‘click’ as a red light seemed to have beeped on each of the boxes… Yet… They didn’t detonate right away… Did this mean they were duds?! Then that meant…

A smile graced the woman’s lips as the sound of sword piercing through flesh rang in her ears. An eye opened as she looked proudly of where she stabbed the other being.

“You let your guard down ‘Lord’ Ratatosk~ Such a shame. This was easier than I though~ I’ll give you my name to curse while you go to sleep~ Rene~ Remember it. The woman who outsmarted you~!”

She whispered into his ear as the blade was slowly removed. She watched the male drop to the floor and in a flash… A beautiful red core was able to been seen by her eye.

“Finally now I can wipe Tethe’alla off the face of the map~!”

The delighted woman exclaimed out loud to herself. However before a hand could reach the orb… A monster much larger than she appeared before her and quickly took a careful hold of the core with it’s mouth. A fenrir…

“Beast! Return that to me!”

A voice filled with rage called out before the wolf like monster ran off.

“Get back here!”

However her attempt at following the creature failed… And she soon found herself standing at the ruins of the Tower of Mana…

Alone… And without her prize.

However a good distance away… Between the path to the remains of the Tower of mana and Luin… The Fenrir ran as if it were running for it’s life. All legs going as fast as it could go as it’s one destination rested in it’s mind.

Legs finally stopped moving when it came across something. A boy? He didn’t look that old… And seemed rather harmless actually. Deciding on blocking the young male’s path…

The Wolf like being rested the core on the ground as it stood it’s ground silently before the boy. A calm appearance one might say…

Karol Capel had gotten himself into quite the mess. In his wandering and monster-slaying in the name of his glorious guild, he had found himself in a number of bizarre places. But he had always been able to find his way home.

Not this time. He stumbled through unfamiliar territory for what seemed like days, too uncomfortable to ask for directions. And when he did, no one knew what he was talking about. He was fairly sure he'd stumbled into another world.

Thankfully, he hadn't run into too much trouble during his wanderings. At least until he was face to face with a giant wolf.

Karol froze, one hand over the hilt of his hammer. His entire body trembled in fear, though he did his best to stifle the shaking. He didn't want to deal with this here, after he'd spent so much time wandering. He was in no mental state to deal with it.