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(Antidote/Luna)

L

Luna

Supernova
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Lloyd, completely unaware of the others, stared at the gigantic mass that was Dherris Karlan. Without thinking he began to run towards it. The anticipation was killing him. He had to know what caused it to come back. Why Kratos would do such a thing. He had convinced himself that this sort of thing wouldn't happen, that Kratos would be gone for a long time. But he was only nineteen, and two years wasn't a long time. Especially to those that were angels. He stopped when he was about ten yards away. His hands were shaking. Where the hell was Kratos?

"Are you really that surprised that Kratos had come back so early?" Lloyd turned and saw Yullan. He was looking at Dherris Karlan too.

"When did you get here? Do you know whats going on?" Lloyd demanded. Yullan shook his head slightly and closed his eyes.
"I have an idea...It probably has something to do with Yggdrasil." He said quietly.
"But we destroyed him, and his crystal. Theres no way.."
 
When Lloyd took off, Zelos and Sheena ran close behind him. Neither of them had even noticed Yullan's presence until he had intentionally made himself known. They were ready for a fight if necessary, but it didn't seem one would be arising just yet. Yullan showed no signs of hostility. Although he did present a very disturbing idea. Yggdrasil coming back? Surely it was impossible. But then again, a massive floating island had just crashed from the heavens. What is impossible and what is not is simply just an idea.

The small group had congregated in area close to Dherris-Karlan, and it seemed that Kratos knew exactly where they were. He was no doubt expecting them, and made quite an entrance, when he hit the ground with a terra-breaking crack. He stood up and silently looked over the group before, waiting for one of them to make the first remark.
 
Lloyd could not believe exactly what he was seeing. Yullan stayed silent. It seemed like he was only here to gather information. "Da...Kratos. What are you doing here? I thought that you wouldn't come back.." Lloyd probably sounded like a child, but he didn't care. "What is the meaning of this? What's going on?" Yullan put his hand on his shoulder, but Lloyd shook it off. Why was he getting so friendly all assuden. Maybe he really did know what was going on, but wanted confirmation.
 
"I'm sure by now you've already guessed. At least Yullan must have. Yggdrasil's aura seems to have risen again. I'm not entirely sure if it is indeed him, nor what he may be up to if it is. I doubt it's anything good, however." He paused for a moment after breaking the news, and looked at Lloyd, putting his hand on his son's shoulder. He wasn't entirely sure what he should say to him. After thinking a bit, all he could say was "I hope your skill with those swords has improved. I'll need your help, I'm sure." It was the closest he could come to being fatherly.
 
This timd, Lloyd accepted the hand. He had an urge to hug his father, but he didn't. He simply gave him a cocky smile. "Of course I got better and I hope to show you that when we go on this journey...together." He looked back at Sheena and Zelos. "Are you guys in?" He asked them, feeling a little bad for ignoring them all this time. Perhaps they should invite Genus. They needed a spell caster. Raine was away in Tethe'ala somewhere, but Genus could easily be located in Luin.
 
"Yullan. Do you have any ideas as to where Yggdrasil might be hiding? I can't pinpoint where exactly his aura is emanating from. It seems to be all over the air." Sheena butted in quickly after Kratos finished his sentence, an obvious tone of annoyance in her voice. "What are you talking about? How is this even possible? We beat Yggdrasil. There's no way he could come back. I don't even sense anything." She couldn't help but feel that that was a bit of a lie. Deep down, she felt some had changed, though she had no explanation for it. Zelos, Tethe'Alla's original Chosen had even noticed the change, regardless of whether or not he had payed it any attention.

"I'm sorry Sheena." Kratos said, understanding her frustration. "I don't know how, I don't know why. I just know something is wrong."
 
"I actually do know where his aura is coming from.." Yullan ignored Sheena's outburst. Yullan was already to steps ahead of them actually, but he wouldn't voluntarily give out information unless asked. "Underground. Under the ruins of Iselia's human ranch. It started last night. I felt it, but by the time I got there to investigate, I was too late. It seemed that someone found a secret trap door that I overlooked. And when I went down there.." Yullan trailed off and shook his head.
 
"When you went down there what?" Zelos asked, a bit perturbed. "Save your dramatic show for some other time. I'm a little dense, so maybe you should spell it out for me. What happened?" As much as Sheena wanted to poke fun at Zelos for that comment, she felt a little out of the loop as well. She didn't know what was going on either. "So, are we heading towards the Iselia human ranch? If so, we should get moving as soon as we can. Not that I'm particularly comfortable with you coming with us, Yullan." Sheena was entirely justified in her distrust of him. Once he had tried to assassinate Kratos, and when he couldn't do that, he threatened to do the same to Lloyd. This was a man who believed the ends always justified the means.

"This return..." Kratos spoke in his signature ominous tone, full of mysterious thought. "It does not bode well for anyone..."
 
Yullan smirked at Sheenas comment. "Don't worry, I wasn't planning on tagging along." He looked at Kratos, his face serious again. "Yggdrassil did experiments behind our backs Kratos. It was a laboratory. And a bunch of pods had been recently deactivated and opened. Someone has said experiments now, but they left behind two that even Yggdrassil could barely control. They give off an aura that is very similar to his, but up close its different. They're no longer dormant, just sealed."
 
"Are you talking about... Has he been experimenting on people?" Sheena was absolutely appalled. She couldn't even understand how Yullan could say something like that in such a calm manner.

"No, not humans. Angels. A human body can only withstand so much. Angels, however, provide exactly the right vessel." Kratos didn't know for a fact that they were angels that Yullan was speaking of, but it only made sense. A human body could barely withstand the strains of an Ex-sphere.

"Why would he do that? What is he doing now? Yullan, you must know something of what's going on here!" Sheena grabbed him by the cloth of his shirt with a tight fist, but let go after a moment. She knew it wasn't him she should be mad at right now.
 
Lloyd was just as upset about this as Sheena was. "It doesn't matter what they were...they were still living...No one should experiment on living things!"

Yullan shook his head. "According to the notes left on the computer, they were a new race. Neither elf, half elf, angel, or human. But I didn't have time to read the rest. I was expecting Kratos. Go. Exterminate the sin Yggdrassil created. In the mean time, I will find the ones who stole the rest of the experiments."
 
That last line seemed to have hit a nerve with Sheena. It made her remember her mission to kill Collette when she was Sylverant's chosen. She didn't want to have to repeat something like that. "We can't just exterminate them! We don't even know anything about them yet. They could just be victims in this as well..."

"That's true. But don't get your hopes up. Whatever Yggdrasil has created is likely a violent abomination. Soulless, I'm sure. We'll know what to do when we find them. I suggest we head off soon. Yggdrasil surely knows of my return. I'd doubt he's going to take his time to complete whatever he's been plotting. We've got a long trip to the Iselia human ranch, even on the reiards." Kratos looked off into the distance, his eyes a bit weary. Their last battle with Yggdrasil went as well as could be hoped. Hopefully this one would be the same.
 
Yullan nodded. â??I doubt that you will have any trouble facing them. Theyâ??ll probably be just like any other monsters youâ??ve been attacked by.â? He walked away to his own rheiard. Lloyd watched him disappear on it and then shook his head. â??Whatever they are, weâ??ve got to try at least to save them. Kratos, please. We canâ??t just treat them like insects. Sheena is right. Theyâ??re victimsâ?¦they didnâ??t want to be apart of Yggdrassils twisted experiments.â? He sighed and looked down, feeling distraught. They were a different species, but they were just like him, like half elves and dwarves and whatever. So they deserved to be treated that way, no matter what they were turned and twisted to. Lloyd didnâ??t wait for an answer; he got on his rheiard and waited for them to follow. He couldnâ??t help but wonder what this new race was, but curiosity came after the rescuing part.
 
"You two should be ready for a fight, though." Zelos caution as he walked to his own rheiard. Kratos was quick to agree with him. "Just because this was done to them against their will doesn't mean they even have their own will left any more. A battle is like to come of this. Yggdrasil has made the first move and we must give him no quarter. I doubt that what awaits us has much of a shadow of its former self left. To take pity on them might mean to kill them. I hope you are all ready." It was a cryptic prediction, but it was probably also right. Even Kratos did hope that there was a chance to save these products of Yggdrasil's sick plan. Sheena got on her rheiard, and it seemed three was all they had. Kratos walked to Lloyd's rheiard and got in front of him, making his son ride backseat.
 
Lloyd almost objected, but he held his tongue. "Alright, but if they show signs of humanity..any at all.." He trailed off and awaited them to take off. He was eager. Yullan had spoke of others getting kidnapped. Who would do such a thing? The Desians maybe? They had gone into hiding after their leader was defeated. Perhaps they awaited some oppurtunity, and they had finally got it. But had Yggdrasil really returned? Or was it just the aura that led Kratos and Yullan to beleve so?
 
Kratos pushed hard on the throttle and sent his rheiard into the air. Zelos and Sheena were quick to follow, already preparing themselves mentally for an upcoming fight. While Sheena held out hope that they could be saved, somewhere in the back of her mind she was sure that they would have to destroy what was previously a living, thinking, person. But if they could save one, even one... There was no quelling the hope she held onto with a fierce grip. Beneath them the terrain of the lands flashed by on their way to their destination. Back to the Iselia human ranch. Kratos let out a small sigh. He had hoped they were done with that place.
 
They landed in the Iselia ranch ruins sooner than Lloyd expected. Honestly, he was a little nervous, but he managed to keep his thought composed instead of letting them rampage about like usual. He had been working on that for a while, and secretly, he wanted to be like Kratos. Cool and collected. Once they were off their Rheiards, they walked around for a bit until they found the underground passage. Lloyd was the first one to run down their despite the risk of their possible enemies, but the place was empty. No monster is sight. No human or elf or angels. It was quiet..a little too quiet.

He found a huge computer screen, exactly the way Yullan had left it. It still had the information and even surveilance videos from not too long ago. He wasn't a tech geek like Raine, but he knew how to direct a computer to the basic things he wanted. It wasn't too hard. He managed to find some sort of diary from the assistant that helped Yggdrasil with the experiments. Everything was there. Everything they needed to know. When the others caught up with him, Lloyd began reading aloud.

"Day 1. Our lord found two very unique species today. The race they belonged to had only been spoken about in legends. The crimson nobles; the ones who feed off of energy, blood, any sustanance they could get from another living being. They were scared of us, as if we were the predators. Well, we were, but in nature, [i[they[/i] were suppose to be the ones hunting us. They don't look different from any other human beings, but they did have a different and more powerful aura. But their race had gotton weak from lack of proper sustanance. The female was happy to provide us with their recent history. They lived underneath our very own worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. The only time they went above surface was if their food supply was low, and the had been feeding on animals for the past hundred years. Their race was nearly extinct. The ones left had watered down blood that could barely survive on the blood of the animals.

Yggdrasil was pleased to hear this, because that meant that we could experiment on them with no problems, as we were more powerful than them. However, the male needed to be sedated. We were not sure if they were mates, but when we captured her, he went crazy and used magic that wasn't of this world and tried to crush us. But he failed. We will be beginning experiments on them tommorow."

Lloyd stopped reading and looked at them, wondering if he should go on.
 
Sheena held her hands over her mouth, a bit taken back and shocked. Kratos, however, motioned his hand in a command to continue reading while he examined things, listening carefully to what was being read. Zelos kept his composure, although this did bother him. Getting worked up about it here and now would benefit no one. Sheena wasn't thinking that, though. She slammed her hands into a nearby table, but remained silent. "I don't even know why I continue to be surprised." After taking brief moment to cool off, she walked over to Lloyd's side, standing close so she could read to herself while he read aloud.
 
"Day 2,
The specimens aren't reacting well to the artificial sustenance that we had given them overnight. We had to feed them humans so they'd be strong enough to survive the experiments we planned to do. We had to limit their intake, however, just in case our restraints were not strong enough. We decided that just in case we accidently killed them, it was best to preserve their DNA. Then we moved on to testing various ex spheres in them. At first they took it with no problem, like it didn't even effect them. But then they began writhing in pain and we ended up giving them an anesthetic. They absorbed all of the exspheres in their bodies, but they did not turn into monsters, like the humans. So Yggdrassil decided to proceed with the insertion of the cruxis crystal. The female was completely broken by the time we attached it to her, but the male grew more and more violent. He certainly had will power.

Day 3,

The specimens seem to have stopped moving entirely. Their heart rates are even weaker then before. Yggdrasil and I think they're dying. So we began to start injecting their infectious DNA into humans.." Lloyd had to pause after reading that particular sentence. His face seemed to be paling upon the thought of the experiments. "The humans reacted almost instantly and began their change. But they had no aura...no aura like the originals did. Of course their creations were painful, but none the less a success. However, they did not react to the expheres like the previous ones did. They changed into monsters even quicker..It is hard to understand why. Further research is needed.

Day 4,

The original specimens have awoken but they stopped responding at all. As if they had no souls, just like the others. Yggdrasil was pleased, that meant they had become true angels to him. But when he released them, they did not obey. They just layed there. So Yggdrasil struck the female, and thats when the mail reacted. It seemed his wings were tainted with some unbelievable aura. They were black, and almost as large as Ygdrassils. Had the female reacted as well, Yggdrassil would have been destroyed. It took everything he had to defeat the male, and to our dismay, we realized we would not be able to control the two. They still had free will. So we sealed them up into a deep sleep until we could provide the proper means to control them both.

Lloyd stopped, unable to go on. The rest was about the infected humans and what they did to them. "I..can't believe this." He whispered.
 
The description of events that were brought to these people was enough to stop even Kratos in his tracks. But that wouldn't help them at all. He shook his head and continued to search around. It seemed it would be fruitless. They apparently left in a hurry, so much so that they weren't able even to delete the files that Lloyd was reading now. It wouldn't hurt to ask anyway. "Lloyd, see if you can find anything about any possible future experimentation locations. Seems that's all we can get to go on." Sheena continued to read the documentation of these horribly cruel experiments with an aghast expression on her face. Out of a natural reaction, she placed her hand on Lloyd's shoulder for comfort. "I hope we can help then..." She said quietly, sorrowfully.
 
Lloyd nodded at both Sheena and Kratos and tried to find any other locations. But before he could search properly an alarm shouted and one word showed up on the large computer screen. "Breech..?" Lloyd said, his eyes going to Sheena. "Didn't Yullan say they were here?" More information popped up on the screen. "They're thirty floors down..no..twenty nine...twenty eight.." Lloyd wasn't exactly sure how they were getting up the floors so fast. They were probably flying. "Kratos?"
 
"Wait, is it the Crimson Nobles or Yggdrasil on his lackeys?" Zelos drew his sword regardless of the answer. If it was the Crimson Nobles, they were likely wrathful and filled with a need for vengeance. Their group could be targeted whether they had anything to do with the experiments or not. If it was Yggdrasil then the outcome didn't need explaining. "It's the Nobles. They've escaped their containment... Perhaps that is why Yggdrasil fled." Kratos slowly unsheathed his sword as well and gave Lloyd a look bidding he do the same. This was not a time to be naive and hope that the Nobles had some sense of humanity left in them.
 
Lloyd drew both of his material blades, but his eyes remained on the screen. He was hoping that it wouldn't come to violence but...the way they were described..the way the male was described anyway, there was a high chance that it would happen that way. Suddenly, a concentrated beam of energy came from the floor and he whirled around. As the dust settled, two figures could be seen in the remaining cloud of debris. Lloyd first say the woman who was on one knee, breathing heavily as if she were the one who generated the blast. She had had hair that was down to her calves that was a dark shade purple. But that was the only thing he could see at that point.
 
As the smoke settled a second figure distinguished itself, standing over his exhausted female counterpart with an expression that was, easily said, less than happy. He looked over the people staring at him and the female in awe, his mind chaotic with a passionate rage. Though for someone who had been through so much, he was calm and in control of his actions, even if it didn't seem that way when he raised a hand in front of himself and waved it, resulting in a thunderous gust of wind knocking everyone else in the room to the walls behind them. His power was fierce, but still he remained collected and logical. A berserker's wrath would not likely be the best course of action for someone in their position. Messy windblown scarlet hair blocked the left half of this Crimson Noble's face and fell to his mid-back like blood stained drapes. With careful eyes he examined the stunned individuals present in the room. "You... Don't look like them. Who are you? Be quick. I will shed no tears for you if I deem you necessary to kill."
 
Lloyd smashed into the computer and he could hear the glass break and a slight electrical buzzing. His swords did not leave his hands though. He looked around and realized he wasn't the only one caught off guard. "We want to help you, if you'll allow us to." Lloyd said carefully. Now that the dust had settled, he could see the woman more clearly. She seemed a little too pale. Almost sickly. "I'm sure one of us can help your friend. She looks sick."
 
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