Chapter 22: Foreseen

It took two days for the Valak Patrol to report on the Battle of Sword Valley, but the news was good: despite a significant amount of casualties, the Homs had dealt a major blow to the Mechon population, cutting their numbers to the point where they now confined themselves to Galahad Fortress and left the valley itself mostly empty. Intelligence led the patrol to believe that most of the work was done by a single individual, a Dunban from Colony 9, said to "wield a powerful anti-Mechon weapon with his bloodstained arm". It was a bit dubious that one person could have had so much influence on such a battle, but the part about having a powerful weapon was indisputable; it had left a massive crater in the valley that glowed blue for a week afterwards. The news was not all good, however - while it was expected that the Mechon would retrieve their destroyed comrades to repurpose their parts, there was also a disturbing lack of Homs corpses. The experts all agreed it was a rather baffling change of behaviour for the machines; normally they would just leave dead organisms alone for enterprising vultures to drag back to the Bionis.

The public did not really care for these events, of course. Mechon had never been seen in Eryth Sea in recorded history, and while quite a number of the population were Homs sympathisers these days, there was still a general apathy towards the race's status and evolution. The battle barely scratched a ten-sentence article on page eight of The High Enquiry, and four months later, no one ever mentioned it.

Spurred by having watched the battle unfold from afar, Melia would occasionally have dreams about fighting Mechon in Sword Valley, with the High Entia alongside the Homs in alliance. But tonight, a completely different dream was in progress.

Melia looked around. A massive rock arched over an ocean inlet, surrounded by sandy beach, covered by a crystal clear blue sky. She could hear someone speaking, but it didn't seem to be directed at her.

She was about to walk towards one of the beaches, but realised that she was sitting down. And it was an extremely weird place to be sitting: inside the hood of a blue cloak that someone was wearing. She didn't understand why she would have ever chosen such a place to be - nor why she seemed to be unable to make the jump out of the hood.

Turning around, she caught sight of the man wearing the cloak: a boy of about her age with messy ear-length hair. He seemed to be talking with an orange Nopon with glasses and a vest. She intended to ask what was going on, but the boy was apparently finished with the conversation and turned around, walking towards the edge of the wooden ground.

At this point, Melia became lucid, now aware that she was having a dream. As a result, she no longer questioned the world, knowing that it was likely to not make sense in the first place. But perhaps it happened at a bad time.

The boy turned his head to catch Melia's eye. "C'mon, let's fly!" He lifted Melia out of his hood and kicked off the edge, holding her below himself like a skydiving duo.

Panic took over Melia's mind; she slammed her eyes shut and desperately started whipping her arms around, hoping that dream logic would kick in and stop the fall into the very much not soft sand below. To her massive relief, such did indeed happen - she could feel the air rushing by sideways rather than downwards, and upon opening her eyes could see that her sleeves were now covered in a blanket of feathers. Despite having a massive weight on her back, she could fly.

A massive "plunk" suddenly filled the world, as if someone had run full speed into a window. Seconds later, it happened again. And then a third.

Melia woke up, rather confused. Her dreams on the whole tended to not incorporate sudden noises without apparent cause. Something was not right in the real world.

The noise appeared again, emanating from the window. It sounded distinctly like someone was trying to break in, as little sense as that made.

Now wide awake, Melia hopped out of bed and summoned her staff into her hand with a single motion, standing square in front of the window ready for the intruder.

It was a Telethia, the same kind of bipedal species she had seen downtown not too long ago. But there was something rather off about this one, and it took a moment to register: it was undersized, only as tall as Melia's waist. And it was blindly crashing its body into the window, rather than using its claws or ether powers, both of which would be far more effective at breaking the glass. Furthermore, while the Telethia she had previously encountered had the ether signature of a child, this one seemed even less mature, more like a baby. Finally, the creature's glowing bits were a deep crimson red, rather than a bright yellow, green, or blue.

Melia subconsciously relaxed her defences. It must be an infant Telethia, too young to understand its strengths.

The Telethia continued to pound itself against the window, like a moth blindly trying to fly into a lamp. The window showed no signs of damage, but the noise was getting irritating. There certainly couldn't be any sleep until it stopped.

What can I do about this? Calling palace security was the first option that came to mind. But because Telethia were believed to be diurnal creatures - in the sense that they had never before been seen outside the Bionis at night - no effort was made to ensure that there would be a night shift for such experts, and therefore the situation could take a long time to resolve in that fashion. On the other hand, the creature seemed so inexperienced with life in general that she might be able to dispose of it herself. After all, it was ramming its body into its target instead of trying literally anything else, it was targeting a dark room instead of an ether storage area, and it seemed to not respond at all to Melia's appearance. Telethia were only dangerous because of their mind-reading abilities combined with high intelligence for a monster, and there was no evidence that this specimen had either.

A plan formed in Melia's head. She would motion to open the window. If the Telethia backed off beforehand, expecting the window to open and allow it passage, that would be proof it could read her intent and was therefore dangerous. Otherwise, it would continue its motions and throw itself into the room, at which point she could pelt it with a few bolts. Given its size, it was hard to believe it would require much of a sustained attack to take down. Should the Telethia understand the entire plan and try to fool her by not deviating from its pattern, it would still have to take a bit of time to process it, which would almost certainly throw off its rhythm for a moment.

Melia slowly walked towards the window and placed her hand on the latch. Like the doors, the window in her chambers did not fade in and out of existence, but rotated inwards on a physical hinge. As soon as she were to unlock it, the Telethia would be able to knock it open with one impact.

The pounding sound continued, its pattern completely uninterrupted. As this point it felt surprising that no one had yet appeared to investigate the source of the noise.

It has not reacted whatsoever to my movements or intent. I shall continue.

Melia unlocked the window and stood back. Right on cue, the Telethia barged in, proceeding to crash into the floor and tumble into the far wall.

It didn't even expect the window to give way once unlocked. It has shown no evidence of telepathy in any capacity, or any sort of intelligence for that matter. This shouldn't be much trouble.

Closing and re-locking the window, Melia summoned a bolt and prepared to blast the creature with it. But its behaviour had taken a rather strange turn - it was perched on its legs as if not used to using them, slowly and stumblingly tottering in her general direction, completely unthreatening in any way. It could be best described as "disarmingly cute".

Melia lowered her staff as the baby Telethia approached and started playfully headbutting her in the hip.

...now what? Her instinct was to take the creature to the research wing; they had never had a live specimen to study before. But the clock read three-fifteen in the morning, and no one would be there to take it until eight at the earliest - not taking into account that a special ether-free zone would likely have to be set up for containment. And there was no telling how fast it would mature to dangerous levels; research in that area was woefully though understandably bare.

The Telethia seemed to decide that it was bored of headbutting, and moved on to wrapping itself around Melia's right leg.

No, this is not okay. Get off.

Melia tried shaking her leg, but the added mass made it extremely difficult to move. It was getting harder to stand on at all, in fact; either the Telethia was getting heavier, or her muscles were getting weaker.

The realisation came relatively quickly. It's absorbing the ether out of my leg for sustenance. This must be part of the maturation process. Yes, its markings are clearly more orange than red now. No more messing around.

The previously-summoned bolt shot down from above and pegged the beast in the head. It immediately let go and let out a strange wail, which quickly changed into a small roar as it readied itself to pounce.

Wanting to check how much the Telethia had grown, Melia clumsily swung her staff down at it, her leg still feeling a bit soft and wobbly. Even before she completed half the motion, it had jumped to the side out of harm's way, its markings slowly changing to a definite yellow.

There it is, precognisance of incoming attacks. Maybe I telegraphed too hard, but there's no reason to delay any further. Melia sent more bolts at the enemy, each one interrupting its next planned attack. After a total of four bolts, it made one last moan and stopped moving.

Melia lobbed her staff back onto the desk where she had left it, where it landed silently. It's a shame that I had to kill it, science could have used it to better our understanding of them. But the timing was just too unlucky. If it had appeared during the day, I would certainly have had a better chance to have it captured rather than eliminated.

She lumbered back into bed, her leg starting to feel a bit better.

Immersed in whatever dream she had next, Melia completely forgot about the events of the night until she woke up to see the dead Telethia sitting exactly where she left it. She reasoned that she didn't have much choice but to carry it over to the research wing. Even if not alive, it could be useful for something.

She didn't consider what the reaction of the palace's occupants would be. Within half a minute of the first guard seeing her, she found her path blocked by a throng of people seeking proof of what they had heard. It took only two minutes for Kallian to arrive on the scene and declare that, while infant Telethia were indeed probably significantly less of a threat than adults, not once in history had one been killed by a single individual, and so it was a landmark accomplishment that would be repeated across the city for years. Sorean arrived not too long after with Yumea and echoed these sentiments, demanding that she fetch her mask and step onto the podium, displaying her skill and power for the whole population to see, and declaring that which he hoped would be repeated by everyone for the rest of time:

"Melia Antiqua has killed a Telethia!"

Of all the feats Melia had done over the years, killing a Telethia stuck in the public's minds for months as the biggest and most important, despite her trying her absolute hardest to downplay it. She didn't want to be known to history as "the princess who killed a Telethia" if all she did was pump some bolts into a confused baby. After a month of intense lobbying - three magazine interviews and a talk show appearance, which was pretty intense by her standards - the public did indeed seem to come to an understanding that it wasn't the most threatening Telethia. But it was still a Telethia, the scariest creature on the Bionis, and that still deserves some respect.

Given that it was difficult to go a day without being reminded of the feat, Melia slowly became resistant to its mention, learning to almost completely ignore it whenever it was brought up. It didn't take long for her to basically not care whatsoever, to decide that it was a meaningless event that conferred no useful experience (aside from perhaps "Telethia might suck the ether out of you"). Of course, her father disagreed; he strongly believed that this was an indication that she would have little problem defending herself should an adult Telethia ever appear.

Several months after the incident, it was reported that yet another Telethia had escaped the Bionis. But to everyone's surprise, it did not send itself into Alcamoth to cause havoc, rather taking to soaring around the sea and absorbing important ether crystal deposits. The experts were sent to deal with it, and the matter was considered closed.

A few days later, Melia was responding to a piece of mail in her chambers when there was a knock at the door. Unsurprisingly, it was Kallian. Surprisingly, he was nervously rubbing his hands around each other, a behaviour she couldn't recall ever seeing before.

"Yes, Brother, what is it?"

It took a moment for him to speak. "Father...wishes to see you." It couldn't be more clear that he was displeased about it.

"Er...a moment please." Melia closed over the door and went back to the desk, putting away the incomplete letter and picking up her staff. From there, she wordlessly followed Kallian to the Audience Chamber.

The mood was serious. The guards in the room seemed extra stiff. Sorean stood off to the side of the throne, facing the Imperial Staff placed behind it, apparently deep in thought. Yumea was on the other side of the throne, looking oddly pleased with herself.

As Melia kneeled in the designated location, Kallian went off on his own to a back corner, where he proceeded to try and remain as invisible as possible. It was blatantly obvious that he did not approve of whatever was about to happen.

After a few moments, Melia determined she would need to speak first. "Your Majesty, I, First Princess Melia Antiqua, have arrived."

Sorean was broken out of his thoughts and slowly stepped into the throne. "Melia. I have for you a task that is of critical importance to our people, moreso than anything you have accomplished in life thus far. Do you accept?"

He's asking whether I accept before giving me any information at all. This is a very bad sign. It must be some task that he knows I would reject if I knew what it was, and so I cannot ask for any more information, because he'll just not give it. And I can't just say no without cause; he knows I have no other obligations, no current sickness or injury, and a record of accepting and completing everything he has previously set me to do. I am left with no choice.

"It is my duty to serve His Majesty, and to carry out whatever deeds he sets me to do. I accept."

Sorean nodded. "Then let us begin." He paused for a moment, as if taking one last instant to determine that he was sure of his decision. "You have surely heard of the recent rogue Telethia, which has been traversing the sea and damaging its ether, most importantly its crystal deposits. Many knights have been sent to dispatch it. But this Telethia is more powerful than any we have ever seen; it is of a subspecies that has never escaped the Bionis' interior in the past, and we have very little answer to its whims. Merely yesterday, our thirty strongest warriors in the field of anti-Telethia combat were sent after it. Only four returned, with chilling tales of the creature's unfathomable abilities. Soon afterward, our scouts reported that the Telethia has repositioned itself to Makna Forest, taking its hatred of life and hunger for crystals with it. It was indeed weakened by the battles we waged, but it is far from defeated, and before long it will find the Nopon village and cause untold devastation. This is your task: to seek out the Telethia and put an end to it."

It didn't take long for Melia to predict where the speech was going from the moment the word "Telethia" was uttered, but she was still hopeful that she'd be wrong. Instead, she found herself under a crushing feeling of dread. Thirty experts failed to take down a beast, and now she was supposed to do so with one infant of experience? Granted, even the experts had very little opportunity to fight live specimens; most of their experience was theoretical rather than practical, which was enough for the average case. But going in by herself was surely madness. She had seen the pictures of one scout's report back when the creature was first seen: a massive quadruped with three heads, a far cry from the tiny biped she had killed. It looked like it could crush her into powder with a single foot.

Seeing that Melia's face was losing colour, Sorean continued. "As daunting as the path ahead of you may seem, I would not be placing you upon it if I did not have a complete and unwavering belief in your success. Your mastery of ether and elementals is more than a match for any Telethia, even disregarding the additional protection your cadre will provide. You shall go forth and show the Bionis the extent of your extraordinary power."

Melia had not budged since the whole speech began. She dimly registered that she would be accompanied by her cadre, but her overactive imagination was busy considering the variety of ways that a giant Telethia could kill her: slammed into a wall, thrown off a cliff, drained of life, torn into pieces, blasted with lightning, eaten whole, incinerated into ash...Without any response from her, the hall fell into an eerie silence.

To everyone's surprise, Yumea spoke up. "I will admit to being skeptical in the past about your abilities, First Princess. But with this mission ahead of you, I am certain you will attain the best possible result."

Melia instantly perked up. A compliment from her stepmother was like finding a deliciously sour fruit in a sea of spicy peppers. The doomsday predictions in her mind were replaced with visions of fighting the Telethia toe-to-toe alongside her four protectors. It still wasn't all that compelling, but there was a ray of hope.

Sorean picked up on the newfound optimism. "You need not embark on your task today. Prepare yourself, enjoy your dinner, sleep well, and be ready tomorrow morning. But before you disappear under the covers tonight, look at the stars. The great emperors of the past look down on us from those stars. Listen to anything you can feel them imparting upon you, as I have done many times in the past. Only with sound body and mind can you make your mark upon history."

That seems quite final. I suppose nothing I say will change a thing. "I shall heed your words and pour my full strength into the task set ahead of me."

"I am glad to hear it. Your cadre has already been notified, and are making their own preparations. Do whatever you need for your own, and be prepared to disembark tomorrow at seven-thirty. Make us proud, Melia."

"I shall, Fa-Your Majesty." Sensing that the conversation was over, Melia stood up and turned to leave. No one budged as she began the long, slow walk back to her chambers.

She didn't think about much on the journey. There wasn't anything she could do to prepare other than simply practice all the arts she could, and there was no strategy to consider other than "use Mind Blast to allow my allies' physical attacks to hit". By itself, this made her uneasy; it was only a month ago that she finally got a successful aura clear out of the attack, and while it felt like her success rate with it was fifty-fifty, she still strongly felt like it was not developed enough to function effectively in a real fight.

Walking on autopilot, she almost missed that Kallian was standing beside her bedroom door, still looking quite displeased.

"I expressly argued against this decision," he said before she could get any words out, "but rare enough are the cases on which both Mother and Father agree from the start that I had very little hope of swaying them. And I have no advice to provide you, nor any means of assisting you. Just know one thing: it is my opinion that your survival is more important than your success. Do not throw your life away simply to kill a beast."

Melia couldn't recall ever seeing Kallian this openly flustered. She spoke her mind without thinking about it. "So you do not believe I can succeed?"

Kallian's face spent a few seconds making several weird motions, clearly grappling with the question. "I do believe you can succeed. I do not believe it is worth the risk. The Telethia will fall eventually, even if we have to send a thousand warriors at once. If you succeed, those many lives will not be put into danger. But your life is altogether far more important than theirs. It is an equation with no correct solution."

It was rather disconcerting to see her normally unflappable brother acting so worried. Maybe this would be a good time to turn the tables and apply a joke. "At least he's not sending you. All you could do is filibuster it to death."

Caught off guard, Kallian fell into a chuckling loop for about thirty seconds. "Oh, how cruel and inhumane that would be for all sides." He wiped away a tear. "With three heads to debate me with, it might take an eternity to bring down through filibuster alone. I would have to take Mother and Father along to even the odds."

It was Melia's turn to chuckle. "A brilliant plan. Send three members of the imperial family to out-talk a Telethia while I remain behind and fight an unending deluge of royal duties. Yes, that would most certainly be the perfect time to take a vacation, to close all imperial business for a month and sip juice on a beach somewhere while the world's greatest debate proceeds down in the jungle. I foresee nothing wrong with this plan whatsoever."

Kallian shook his head as he slowly ran out of laughs, taking a breather before he said any more, staring into the distance. "I have business at Flasch University tonight. I may not see you again before you depart tomorrow morning. So I leave you with this: Your cadre will do whatever it takes to protect you. Do not let them return home without you." He looked back at her and forced a smile. "It's sourshrimp for dinner tomorrow. I'll see you there, Melia."

"You shall, Brother." She watched him walk away. To see him this worried about her was an ominous sign of how dangerous tomorrow would be - and a disturbing indication that perhaps her father cared much less about her well-being than she thought.

Melia woke early. Too nervous to go back to sleep, she got dressed, picked up her Practice Staff, and began going through the motions of her arts. Her previous "missions" hadn't given her this much time to prepare, so she was kind of unsure what to do with herself other than practise until breakfast.

Someone knocked on the door. Melia quizzically turned towards it. It is far too soon to depart. What could this be about? She put down the Practice Staff and straightened up.

"You may enter."

Alvis walked into the room. "Good morning, Your Highness."

You? You've never come here before. "Hello Seer. For what purpose have you come?"

"I have received an unusual vision outside the course of my regular duties." A pause. "It pertains to you, and only you."

"To me?" Well that by itself is not unusual, but he is never so direct to me about it. "Does my father know of this?"

"He does not, and I do not believe he should." Another pause. "It is much more personal than most visions, yet simultaneously much more vague."

Your normal visions are reportedly vague enough, most of them vague to the point of uselessness. I suppose I might as well listen though. "All right. Let us hear it."

Alvis closed his eyes. "There is nothing but blackness, a cold, empty void. A dazzling light cuts though the darkness and illuminates the image of a young man. Then, a voice speaks: He who wields the sword of light, shall meet the crown princess, and together change the fate of this world."

Melia nodded. "A personal and vague vision indeed." Although only the second part is all that vague; "the sword of light" seems quite specific and could not refer to anything I know of. "Tell me, what did this young man look like?"

Alvis's eyes remained closed. "A boy of pale skin and golden hair."

Golden hair? Children lose their golden hair many decades before they are able to wield a sword. Unless...it is a half-Homs that has retained it? It is a rare condition, but would stand out very strongly.

"Very well. I shall remember your words, and heed them to the best of my ability."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Alvis bowed as he left the room.

Melia continued to consider what the seer had said. How could a single man change the world simply by meeting me? If he does indeed wield a unique weapon, that by itself would be the catalyst. Meeting me would have no consequence - unless he is on a quest that requires a skilled ether user, but even then, there are likely better candidates for such a position than myself. I may be skilled, but I have other obligations.

Perhaps...if he is a half-Homs, and we change the world "together"...could this be a prophecy of marriage? It seems preposterous to bring up such a thing at this time, but...what if the meeting is supposed to occur in the near future? Perhaps soon after I have returned from this mission? Though that supposes I am successful, which is very much not a given. And more importantly I suppose, it assumes that I develop an immediate and sustained romantic connection. The seer cannot be blamed for being unaware that this is probably impossible. A lack of trying, true, but-

Hold a moment. He used the wording "crown princess". While it's a phase sometimes misused by even myself, I have never known him to sloppily dispense the terminology. Assuming this is the case, in his vision, Brother would not be in line for the throne. This by itself casts doubt on it being potentially true.

I will keep this vision in mind, but not think much of it. Melia went back to practising her arts, knowing that not much time remained before breakfast and subsequently departure.

"I wish you and your men the best possible luck," Chief Dunga finished.

"Thank you." Melia turned to leave Frontier Village, Aizel and Damil in tow. She had decided to check in with the Nopon to see if they knew anything, and indeed they did - a "Dinobeast" was seen to the west of the village the previous day. It wasn't much, bit it was better than nothing.

"How is the heat, Lady Melia?" asked Damil.

She considered the question for a moment. Her clothes seemed to be doing a good job so far of air circulation and sweat diffusion, including the moisture headdress her father had provided, which helped protect her sensitive wings from the heat and humidity. "It is tolerable at this time." It's not going to be fun during a heated battle though, possibly even if we have to walk a ways. It is a relief that Father agreed that wearing my headdress and mask would be a severe detriment to my success.

On the wooden porch outside the village's entrance, Garan was inputting something into the Illustrious Alighting's touchscreen, with Hogard waiting alongside.

"How did it go, Lady Melia?" asked Garan, today's pilot. "Do we have a lead?"

"Somewhat." Melia wouldn't call it a lead - it was still half the forest, after all. "The Telethia was seen to the west of the village yesterday. Understandably, the Nopon proceeded to avoid the area, so no further accuracy is available."

Garan nodded. "Very well. I've prepared your craft to seek shelter in a known safe place, to the west of Bridge Four. Once we encounter the Telethia, we will disembark, and I will send it to safety while we fight."

I was wondering about that. Now we can remove the unknown of how a Telethia would respond to an unmanned vehicle rich in powerful ether. "A wise course of action."

"I do not believe we should travel too quickly while seeking the beast," Hogard suggested. "It would create a louder ether signature that would attract unwanted attention from both the local creatures and the Telethia itself."

"Of course. If we can launch a surprise attack, we may be able to inflict significant damage before the Telethia is prepared to fight." Melia spoke confidently, but was still very much uncertain. True, Telethia could only read the minds of those it knows to be present, but it might still be able to sense their approaching ether signatures before a good shot could be launched.

"We think with the same logic, Lady Melia," Aizel said. "Let us away."

The party of five boarded the Illustrious Alighting and set off to the west at a sprinter's pace, hovering above the giant grounded creatures and taking care to avoid the aerial ones. The mood was slowly tensing up; Melia could sense that the others were mentally preparing for the upcoming fight. She wasn't sure if she should do the same - being too tense would ruin the flow of her ether arts. Instead, she watched the landscape pass by below.

Melia couldn't see the clock on the dashboard from in back, but it felt like just a few minutes before Damil pointed towards the ground.

"There," he said softly.

Not too far from some sort of Nopon construction, the Telethia was pounding against a crystal deposit, breaking chunks of crystal off and scarfing them up with its three heads. Just seconds after it was spotted, the deposit was gone, and it began dashing to the southwest.

Aizel turned to Melia. "Lady Melia, what is your call?"

Melia was about to make a decision when the Illustrious Alighting was blasted by a pulse of ethereal lightning, causing it to jolt upwards. The Telethia had spotted it, and was flying upwards to intercept.

Several things happened at once. Damil fired a Blinding Beam down towards the Telethia in an attempt to halt its movement. Garan activated the ship's prepared retreat, causing it to spin around and dart towards the river. Finally, Hogard grabbed Melia and leaped off the craft, with the other three fighters quick to follow.

Not completely aware of what had just happened, Melia thrashed about for a few seconds before realising that everyone had bailed. Immediately upon realising such, she could feel Hogard hit the ground and crumple, leaving her to clumsily impact the grass rear-first. There was no injury, but it stung quite sharply for several seconds.

"Form up!" Aizel yelled as the other three protectors landed safely and drew their weapons. Hogard collected himself and stood ready.

Melia staggered to her feet and looked up. The Telethia was hanging motionlessly in the air, apparently deciding whether to go after the ship or its occupants.

We can't have it get away. She fired a bolt towards the creature, impacting it in a knee. It took a few seconds to consider it, but then it dove downwards, landing with a massive thump that shook the land.

The cadre didn't waste any time. Aizel and Hogard began attempting to attract the Telethia's attention while Garan and Damil began the attack. But it was clear from that start that things were not going well - even with four foes against it, the creature easily evaded all of their physical attacks. Only ether arts were dealing any damage - meaning that the beast would quickly turn on Damil after inevitably shaking off the lock-on Aizel had placed on it. And that wasn't to say that said lock-on was doing much good anyway, as it was launching ether attacks with such a large range that they were landing on three or four members of the cadre at once.

Melia knew what her role was: generate a burst aura and use Mind Blast to suppress the Telethia's ability to read minds. Summoning a wind to boost her allies' agility and an ice to defend against its ether attacks, she started pelting it with bolts and flares. But about halfway to her goal, the lock-on broke, and the enemy was now coming directly towards her.

"You fiend!" Damil, having used Ethereal Grasp to absorb some of the Telethia's power, unleashed a Sword Beam that knocked the enemy's three heads into each other.

"Lay no paw upon her!" Garan thrust her weapon into its side with Luminescent Stab, an ethereal rapier attack.

The Telethia did not seem too deterred from these interferences, though instead of continuing to dash at Melia, it decided to leap into the sky and circle around.

Almost there. Melia decided to take the risk, detonating her ice and launching her wind at the creature, almost but not quite reaching burst aura completion.

A disturbing roar covered the landscape; it seemed as if the Telethia's three heads were designed to sound dissonant together. It began diving back towards the ground, looking a little silly with its legs running through the air.

Damil stood firm in the creature's path, shield raised for the inevitable hit. Melia was about to yell at him to move, but realised that it didn't matter - it would hit him no matter what he did, so he might as well set up a solid defence.

The impact was massive, sending Damil flying a good twenty metres across the ground. The Telethia seemed completely unaffected by the collision; it continued along its path to bump into Garan, knocking her down and unleashing another roar.

Aizel kept trying to get the beast's attention, but he was quite exhausted from the effort of having to continuously do so. Hogard seemed more concerned about blocking the creature's line of sight to Melia than to try and make any more futile attacks. Melia wanted to fire some more elementals to get the critical burst aura, but her concentration was shot, staring off to the side at the completely unmoving Damil.

Garan stood up to face the beast once more, but its reaction was instant: a punch directly to the face, snapping her head back with a sickening crack and sending her weapon flying.

The two remaining soldiers huddled around Melia.

"Lady Melia!" Aizel said. "Withdraw to the Nopon village and let us handle this beast!"

You fool, I'm the only one who has a hope of landing a blow. "No, Aizel. Do you really expect me to leave you, run away, and save myself?"

"Permit us this once, Lady Melia. It is our honour and our duty to protect you with our lives. Do not fear for us. Flee!"

Where has your common sense gone? "I will not. I cannot return to the capital with this monster still standing!" I'm so close, I just need a few more seconds of distraction-

The Telethia bellowed once more, emitting a wave of violet energy that battered the three remaining fighters. As far as Melia could tell it wasn't really much of anything aside from an ominous-looking wind, but Aizel and Hogard were so exhausted already that they were knocked to the ground.

"Aizel! Hogard!" Stand your ground, you never went down that easily in our mock battles!

The two collapsed bodies suddenly vanished, turning into bright clouds of light that the Telethia then absorbed into its body. It proceeded to run around the battlefield to do the same to the other two, leaving no doubt that only two combatants remained.

Melia was left in a stunned trance, mindlessly staring at the place where her protectors had been just a moment ago.

She wasn't given much time to do so before the Telethia soared at her head. Acting on instinct without thought, she ducked and raised her staff, turning the attack into a glancing blow. It still knocked her to the ground, but it didn't really deal any damage.

The enemy was now circling overhead, seemingly considering its attack vector on its next victim.

A multitude of emotions crashed together in Melia's mind, trying to figure out how best to proceed now that her lifelong companions and allies in battle had all been killed in less than a minute.

"...Aizel...Hogard...Garan. Damil!" The words and emotions grew stronger, forming what felt like a surge of power as the enemy landed alongside. "Bestow the light of your life unto me!"

Instinctively raising her staff into the air, Melia detonated a Burst End - resulting in activating her burst aura, which was the opposite of how things were supposed to happen. The Telethia roared as it got buffeted by the energy, but it stood its ground.

With no more allies to work with, Melia began summoning and discharging elementals as fast as she could manage, focusing on raw damage more than anything - there wasn't much point of fooling around with Mind Blast if she didn't need to stop the monster's telepathic aura anymore. She knew she was getting somewhere when the enemy's movements became more sluggish and strained, and fired up her focus even more. Self-preservation was no longer relevant - she would give one life to avenge four others.

Unfortunately, there was still a trick up the creature's proverbial sleeve. Recognising that Melia was a source of raw ether energy, which would help revitalise it, it leapt forwards, grabbed onto her with both front legs, and started to drain the energy out of her.

What...no, get off me! While she didn't need her arms free to keep firing elementals, she couldn't knock the Telethia's grip off with them, and it was becoming more and more difficult to maintain focus. ...get those filthy...paws off me...

The Telethia did indeed let go of Melia, but she simply collapsed to the ground as it continued to leech her. Her burst aura was now fully depleted, and she could barely get off one more bolt before becoming too weak to summon anything more. The world started to lose colour and brightness.

...no...can't lose...now...not finished...must...keep... ... ...nnnooo... .. .. . . .