Tales of Vesperia:

Other Worldly Intervention

Raven gazed up at the midnight stars with a glint of sorrow in his eyes. It was three months since defeating the Adephagos, and Raven was staying in Dahngrest for the time being. Since some of the group went their separate ways, Raven was left alone. Karol, Yuri, and Judith were off doing guild work, Estelle was at the capital with Flynn and Rita, and Repede was also with Yuri. None of them knew where Duke was… at least for now. Raven was just exploring different cities, trying to create a goal for himself to keep on living and striving for.

"Ahhh…The ol' bright star Brave Vesperia. It always brings joy to this ol' man's heart, or something of the sort…" Raven said to himself, sitting on the street outside of the inn he was currently staying at. The man with the purple coat stood up and entered the inn.

That night raven slept without dreams, and only for a couple of hours. When he woke up, he excited the inn without anything to eat.

The outside city was full of people, moving around and getting ready for something, Raven couldn't see a person in sight without a weapon. He was astonished at the sight. When he saw Harry, the now dead Don's son walk up, he ran over to talk to him.

"Hey kid, what's goin' on over here? The city is bustlin' if ya know what I mean." Raven asked, Harry told his guards to wait by the entrance.

"Well, with the barrier blastia gone, the city is always worried about monsters, and since monsters were spotted around her earlier, a lot of them, the whole city is preparing to attack them, especially the hunting blades." Henry explained as a group of guild members ran right by them almost causing Raven to fall over.

"Geese, people have lost their manners over this little monster problem." Raven complained.

"This isn't a little problem! Anyway, maybe you could prove yourself useful to Dahngrest and help fend off these monsters, since you did help defeat the Adephagos, you should be able to do some damage with that bow of yours. Anyway, I need to go attend to other matters, so excuse me." Henry said as he walked away.

Raven drew his bow and ran to the entrance of the city, seeing for the first time the battle raging outside. "This is way worse than I had thought; I forgot how much blastia protected us." He noted as he shot down a monster with an arrow.

Suddenly a dull blue blade swung downwards and killed a monster right in front of Raven. Raven leaped backwards as he saw the Imperial Knight's Commandant Flynn Scifo come into the fight. Along with him was his second-in-command Sodia and Imperial Mage Witcher.

"The Imperial Knights are going to help with this. I never thought I'd see you anytime soon Raven." Flynn stated as he cut down two more monsters.

"Neither did I." Raven admitted shooting an oncoming monster with another arrow.

"Well, since we are both here, let's combine our strengths and take down these beasts." Flynn suggested as Raven nodded in agreement. Flynn turned to Sodia and Witcher who both accompanied Flynn deeper into the battle.

The battle ended rather quickly with the help of the imperial knights, afterward Flynn, Raven, Witcher, and Sodia stood just outside the battle field full of carnage.

"That turned out better than I thought it would." Flynn stated proudly.

"But sir, there's still many wounded and some horribly injured." Sodia reminded her now unhappy Commandant.

"You're right; this is no time to rejoice. Witcher, go help the injured, you too Sodia." Flynn ordered instantly.

"Yes sir, leave it to us!" Witcher stated as he and Sodia ran into Dahngrest.

"If only Estelle was here to help the injured." Flynn stated bluntly.

"Oh well, we can't change what can't be changed." Raven put in. "The sun is settin'; we should get into the city." Raven suggested as the two walked into the guild city.

Henry and the merchant guild's leader Kaufman walked up to Flynn and Raven.

"I congratulate you two. Thank you for your assistance Commandant Scifo and you Raven. The city was spared many casualties due to the empire; I speak on behalf of the city. If you need anything, feel free to ask," Henry stated.

"Oh, it is my duty as an Imperial Knight." Flynn said honestly.

"No, you really shouldn't be so modest." Kaufman stated. "I'm sure my guild could fix up a reward for you anytime, just ask. This offer goes to you well as well Raven." The two guild leaders bowed slightly to the two men and walked away.

"Well Raven, I will take my leave. I should go check up on the injured, so see you some other time." Flynn said graciously as he walked off towards the inner part of the city.

"Ah, young knights. Always tryin' to help. Well, this old man's gettin' tired, might as well hit the inn." Raven stated with a yawn. He walked to the inn and headed up to his room. After an hour of not sleeping, Raven excited and walked around the area of the city near the entrance.

"You always got tired so easily." Said a voice from behind. Raven spun around to see Judith standing at the entrance to the city.

"Judy baby! Why are you here in Dahngrest?" Raven asked while Judith walked up next to him.

"I was traveling the continents with Ba'ul. I thought that way I would see some of you guys as well. I mean, I missed you all." Judith explained. "I'd like to ask you why you are here."

"Well Judy, I wanted to see how old Dahngrest was doing." Raven stated looking up at the giant Entelexeia Ba'ul.

"I see." Judith replied.

"I also wanna ask, why are you away from Karol and Yuri? I thought you guys were a gang?" Raven asked.

"Well, they both got a job to gather some items for a merchant that requires lots of fighting. The fighting is not why I'm on my own, I just wanted a month away from guild work, I'll find Karol and Yuri later next month when I feel ready to get off my sort of vacation." Judith explained.

"Well, wanna take a stroll outside of the city for a while, since all the monsters are gone?" Raven asked, after a few short moments Judith nodded.

The two were soon near the back of the city after walking for a few moments. On the ground they found a fragment of crystal. To the two the crystal was odd. It was green and glowing, but nowhere near the shape of any other gem or emerald. By them was no other jewel they could find like the one they were holding.

"This is an odd gem; I've never seen one like it. I wonder what it is." Judith asked curiously, holding the gem up to her face.

"It is not from this land, at least." Said a deep voice from behind the two. Judith and Raven spun around to see Duke walk next to them. He gestured for the jewel, and Judith placed it into the man's hand.

"Well hello there, thanks for the warning." Raven said sarcastically.

"Well, then where is it from?" Judith asked Duke, the man still turning the gem left and right in front of his eyes.

"I do not know. What is for certain is that this gem is not from this continent, and I surmise that this gem is not from any other continent. This gem is formed from a different substance then other gem-stones, and radiates a powerful energy. I have been around the world before, but I do not know much, if anything at all, about this mineral." Duke explained as he still held the gem.

"Do you know anyone that would know more?" Judith asked, determined to know more about the gem.

"You might ask the empire about the gem. Possibly someone might know about it at the capital. You might try asking that new emperor, Ioder, for assistance. Another place might be the Krytian city in the sky, or even Aspio." Duke concluded, handing the gem to Judith.

"What about you Duke, you seem like you want to learn more." Raven said.

"I have other matters to attend to that have a higher priority than this one. I will seek you out and find you when the right time for me to know more has come. It was a pleasure seeing you both again; I will take my leave of you now. Good luck with that gem-stone." Duke said as he walked into the surrounding forest.

Judith turned to face Raven. "Let's get some sleep, and then leave for the capital tomorrow." Judith stated as the two reunited friends walked back into the city and into the city. All night Judith didn't sleep, she just clutched the peculiar gem in her hand and thought what it could be…

Judith and Raven stood at the entrance to the city. When they were about to head out and get on Ba'ul, the two heard some shouts from behind. They turned around to see Flynn, Sodia, and Witcher running up to them.

"I heard that you found an odd gem and plan to go to the capital. May we go with you?" Flynn asked. Judith nodded. "Thank you." Flynn said graciously.

"What, you guys resorting to hitch hiking now?" Raven teased.

"Why you, how dare you mock the good name of the knights! I swear I'll have your-" Sodia began to rant as Flynn placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"I'm sorry about my second-in-command's comment. Anyway, are we going to ride on that dragon-thing to get there?" Flynn asked as Judith looked infuriated.

"He's a flying Entelexeia, not a dragon!" Judith blurted angrily. Flynn took a couple of paces back.

"I apologize. Anyway, we should get going." Flynn said; the group headed for Ba'ul.

Up in the air with Ba'ul the group sat all around the ship carried by the Entelexeia. Tokunaga stayed on the ship because he liked the places where Judith always went with Yuri and Karol.

"The capital is only twenty minutes away." Tokunaga announced.

"So, Raven, what are planning on doing after this?" Flynn asked trying to make the time go by faster.

"I don't know quite yet. I'll worry about it when the time comes." Raven answered without a care.

"If this fails, then where will we go next?" Flynn asked curiously. "Since the time is more or less peaceful, I would like to travel with you."

"Of course you can travel with us." Judith replied. "Anyway, Duke said to go to the floating original Krytian city afterward, then Aspio, where we could ask Rita for help." Judith explained.

"Rita…" Flynn whispered quietly so no one could hear him.

Witcher looked insulted. "You're choosing her for information over me?" Witcher blurted out at once.

"Well, do you know anythin' about the gem?" Raven asked, knowing what the answer would be.

"No, but…" Witcher admitted sadly.

"There ya go." Raven stated. "So Rita might be our only choice in the end. Bummer."

"What do you mean bummer?" Flynn asked quickly. "I…I mean wouldn't you want to see your friend?"

"Of course. It's just we really want to know about this gem and we don't want to wait, that's all." Judith answered.

Sodia stood up and pointed in front of them and yelled, "Look sir, quickly!"

Flynn stood up slightly annoyed, at least until he saw what was ahead of them "Sorry to say everyone, but we have sort of a problem on our hands." The rest of the group stood up and were stunned at what they saw. In front of them was a modified Heracles, which had been Alexei's war ship. It was headed away from Ba'ul and the group to the side, towards where Zaude use to be. Out of the 'Heracles' cannon came a giant green blast which hit the water right in front of where Zaude had been. To the group nothing happened, but Heracles dived under water.

"Oh no, what are we goin' to do?" Raven asked bitterly.

"I don't know. We don't have the power to do anything right now. We should just inform Ioder and ask him about the gem." Flynn suggested.

"I agree." Judith said.

"Sir, we can't ignore such a serious problem to the population! How can we just stand by and watch that machine shoot everywhere? Eventually it could start attacking cities and even the capital!" Sodia yelled at her Commandant. "As the second-in-command I suggest that we summon all the knights we can and attack, we defeated something like it before!"

"Sodia!" Flynn yelled as Sodia instantly went silent. "Calm yourself and obey my orders, understand?"

"Yes sir, I apologize." Sodia stated reluctantly.

"Sodia…" Witcher said solemnly.

Tokunaga walked out from the helm and stood before the group. "We are just about to arrive." He announced as the group saw the capital getting closer.

"Oh, thank goodness! Ba'ul looks like he needs a rest!" Judith rejoiced.

"He's not the only one who needs a rest. These ol' bones need a rest." Raven complained to everyone's annoyance.

Flynn stood up in front of the group and turned to face them. "Alright everyone, telling Ioder about the phenomena of finding this rare jewel and the issue of the new Heracles is of the utmost importance." He explained the obvious.

Ba'ul landed a mile from the city and began to take a rest. The rest of the group continued towards the city. The sun was setting with brilliant colors forming all over the sky. The party knew they had to hurry or the gates to the city would close and they would be stuck outside, not knowing what Heracles might do.

"Well, the party has just begun…" Said an ominous voice from behind the trees. "This will be extremely entertaining, if I do say so myself. Good luck, heroes…"