Tales of Zestiria: The World Beyond

Chapter 12

Arthur unsheathed his sword in response to the hellions that went after them. Celica and Lailah stood in defense at the back of the group while Sorey, Arthur, Velvet, and Vanessa stood at the front lines. Arthur sliced through a hellion that got too close to Lailah while she cast an arte. With Celica's help, the two created a tornado of fire that wiped out the first wave of monsters. Velvet continued ahead without the others and made her way to a small shrine. It was a place where the humans gave gifts to the seraphim and the place where Edna put reminders of those who died from Eizen's attacks.

There were flowers on the altar with some baskets of fruit. She used to take the baskets and leave them empty, making the people leave more for her. She stopped when her brother started acting up again and used it as a warning to stay off the mountain. Arthur picked up one of the flowers, it had to be a few weeks old, and the fruit didn't look old either. Lailah said that it wasn't long ago that Eizen became hostile towards the people. He attacked Edna, and Lailah had to get her out of there before he killed her.

It was no wonder Edna didn't want to join them, she couldn't stand seeing her brother in that state.

The group looked up to the top of the mountain, it was covered in malevolence and an eerie sound could be heard from the bottom. Celica hid behind Arthur and held onto his arm once they were safe to walk up without their weapons out. The scene itself scared Celica, she was new at fighting and didn't have the experience others of her kind did when facing that level of malevolence. She was used to smaller monsters and training with humans and other spirits.

Once again, the group was met by hellions. There was more than the last time, so the group split up to fight the horde. Sorey cut through some and used the silver flame to purify them while Lailah supported him. Arthur froze the hellions around him and shattered them with his sword as Celica used her wind artes to keep the hellions near her at bay. Velvet moved quickly and with her weaponry at hand, destroyed the enemy with ease.

Her claw and blades made it easy for her to maneuver and she used her claw to absorb the malevolence. She used the energy she gathered to hit harder and empty her supply before it drove her mad. Vanessa had the retractable halberd that she swung to take out the hellions insight. It was a heavy weapon, so it took much of her strength just to swing, which made her the opposite of Velvet and good teammates. Whenever Vanessa needed time to rest, Velvet took the reigns and cleared the area. When Velvet needed a rest, Vanessa was the one who wiped out the enemies.

The group took out the hellions and reached the top of the mountain. There, the dragon Eizen stood on top. His domain weakened Lailah and Celica and made it hard for Arthur and Vanessa to fight due to its intensity. Sorey and Velvet took the lead for that fight. Velvet slammed her hand on the ground to absorb some of the malevolence to relieve the pressure and Sorey used the silver flame to clear out some of it as well. 

"Are you ready Sorey?" Arthur asked.

"I'm ready," Sorey said.

First, they had to stop Eizen from moving around as he did. There was no straight shot and little quantities of the silver flame weren't going to cut it. They did their best up against the dragon, Sorey even used his armatus with Lailah to knock Eizen down a bit so that Vanessa, Arthur, and Velvet had a chance to get a few hits.

Arthur slammed his hand on the ground and covered Eizen's feet in a thick layer of ice, but he couldn't keep the dragon there forever. Sorey took the chance to purify Eizen, or at least try to. However, his power alone wasn't enough. Celica went by his side and boosted his power while Velvet absorbed the malevolence around them. Arthur held onto Sorey's shoulder and did the same as Celica did, with their combined power, the silver flame engulfed the entire area. When everything settled down, the group was surprised at the result.

"What is going on?" It was Eizen's voice, and Velvet recognized it right away.

"The Shepherd here purified you." Velvet responded.

"Velvet? What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story."

"And them?"

"These are the ones who helped Sorey, and this is Sorey," she pointed to the Shepherd.

"Let's get you to the inn, we have someone who would be happy to see you," Arthur said.

Eizen was a tall man dressed in dark clothing, he had blond hair and pale skin similar to that of Edna's. Despite their kind not having blood relationships, meaning they usually didn't look similar if they were siblings, he and Edna looked the same. He once told Velvet that others were born on the mountain who he didn't see as his family, but Edna was different, he saw her as his little sister and raised her.

"Hey, look who we brought back," Arthur was the first to return as he opened the door.

"Edna?" Eizen looked to see his little sister.

"Hello." She said.

"This is a bit underwhelming," Eleanor rubbed the back of her head.

"Eleanor, you're here too?"

"Who's he?" Rose asked when she and Alisha walked into the room.

"This is Eizen, Edna's big brother." Velvet pointed out.

"I see the resemblance..." Alisha tried to make small talk.

"Right," Edna walked out of the room.

"What's with that?" Sorey asked. "You'd think she'd be happy to see him."

"I think she is, maybe." Vanessa sighed.

"It's always been like with him," Velvet explained. "He's a reaper, a Malak with the presence of bad luck wherever he goes. He wants to protect his little sister from the dangers he poses."

"Reaper?" Vanessa asked.

"Reaper, a being with bad luck tied to them." He looked to Velvet.

(If you play Tales of the Rays, then that's your explanation as to why Eizen and Edna reacted the way they did. Most of the interactions will be based on Tales of the Rays since that's the latest game with the Zestiria and Berseria cast interacting. I'll add Crestoria based interactions when that game comes out.)