V.E.: I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long, but I was busy with my other stories. Plus I had writer's block. It was so bad, I considered giving up this story.

Cassie: You shouldn't have thought that.

V.E.: I know, I know.

Cassie: Valkyrie Elyon only owns the appearances of the Centurions besides Aqua and Tenebrae and Ratatosk's appearance.

V.E.: Please enjoy the chapter and sorry if it's short. Last chapter was supposed to be combined with this one.

The first impression of Remiel Lloyd had was...

Stiff.

He sounded so important, when in actuality he probably was one of the lowest in Cruxis' order. Being the Oracle was one of the worst jobs in Cruxis besides supervising Desian ranches.

Anyway, being raised by Ratatosk and the Centurions had made him pretty anti-Church of Martel. For the most part, he zoned out on whatever Remiel was saying.

That doesn't mean he didn't notice Colette's wings. That was pretty cool. The other thing he heard was the next seal being across the sea, also the fact that Remiel was pretending to be Colette's real father to get Colette to want to regenerate the world even more.

After Remiel vanished and Genis and Colette were playing with Colette's new wings, Lloyd turned to Kratos and Raine.

"So I guess we should probably go through the Ossa Trail to Izoold."

Raine didn't seem to like that idea.

"I thought you said there was a land route."

Lloyd nodded.

"There is, but that path has much more dangerous monsters. Traveling by sea gets you to Palmacoasta and a is lot less dangerous."

"But I wonder if there are any ships sailing at the moment."

Kratos decided to put in his thoughts into the discussion then.

"Let's go to Izoold and see what we can find. If there isn't anything, we'll try the land route."

Lloyd turned to Genis and Colette, who were still playing with the wings.

"Okay, we get it you two. That's enough."

Colette and Genis smiled slyly at Lloyd after Colette put her pink wings away. Something in their voices told Lloyd they weren't done playing with them just yet.

"Okay."

As Lloyd turned to leave, he signed inwardly with relief. Ignis hadn't found out he was here, which was good. He could travel with the group until he reached Palmacoasta, then he could probably help Marble find where ever she was supposed to go. He would say goodbye to the group and his secret would be safe. He would be back to square one with his search, but his secret would be safe.

And yet...

Something was wrong. Really wrong. Ignis should know he was here. The monsters were an advanced network that would report if anything happened at the Centurion's resting places. By all reason, Ignis should have found him. Yet, he hadn't.

Why?

The answer would come sooner than Lloyd would think.

A quiet, deep sounding voice, filled the room. It was singing an unusual sounding song, the words were completely unfamiliar to everyone except two, though they could all hear it. One being our protagonist, the other need not be mentioned.

Lloyd recognized it. He definitely recognized it.

That's the lullaby Ignis used to sing to me when I was a kid. And that's Ignis' voice...

Colette was the first to react.

"What a beautiful voice. Who's singing?"

Raine turned her head toward the front of the room and walked toward an unusual looking symbol.

"It's coming from behind this wall."

Lloyd walked up toward the wall and noticed the symbol. Without thinking, he pushed his hand beneath the seal of Cruxis.

The symbol of Cruxis spun around as the two pictures on the side glowed brighter, emitting a low pitched sound with the singing voice. The symbol slid down into the ground and revealed an open doorway. The sound got some what louder.

The whole group, besides Kratos, seemed surprised.

Genis voiced the question in almost everyone's head.

"What's that?"

Raine's eyes lit up insanely.

"It seems to be a hidden passage that preexisted before the temple to Efreet was erected!"

Lloyd gulped. It could only go one place...

He turned to the warp pad.

"Shouldn't we go now?"

The look on Raine's face during Ruin Mode was really starting to scare him.

"AND MISS THIS CHANCE TO TAP INTO THE MYSTERIES OF THE TREIT RUINS!"

Genis looked down the dark hallway with interest as well.

"I wonder what's down there?"

Colette smiled at Kratos and Lloyd. It was her adorable 'Can't say no to me smiles.'

"Can we please go look? Just for a little while."

Kratos looked at the hallway then sighed.

"Very well."

Lloyd gulped.

Please let that voice not be who I think it is.

THUMP!

Genis crouched down and helped Colette up once again.

"Are you okay Colette? That's the fourth time you've tripped."

Colette brushed herself and smiled.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Lloyd sighed as he saw a light at the end of the tunnel. The tunnel was really dark.

"I'm surprised I haven't tripped on something without light for this long. There's a light up ahead."

A loud maniacal voice shouted from where the light came from.

"MARVELOUS! ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS!"

Lloyd, Genis, Colette, and Kratos'(who had been silent the whole time through the tunnel) had a blank expression.

Lloyd turned to Genis in disbelief.

"Did your sister run on ahead of us without us knowing?"

Genis sighed.

"Marvelous, absolutely marvelous."

Lloyd chuckled.

"I see the resemblance between you two."

Genis sulked slightly.

"Don't remind me."

The group came into the light. They hurried down the stairs to the bottom. What lay in front of them astonished all of them(even the stoic mercenary).

A golden looking device was in front of Raine as she rubbed her cheeks on it. Before it was a glowing design that seemed to be pulsing. The device was quite huge for the little thing it contained, which was more startling than the device itself.

It was odd looking jewel, tear drop shaped. A yellow jewel with orange hues toward the bottom. A certain type of energy seemed to emit from the jewel that was pure, invigorating, and hot all at the same time.

The most unusual thing was that the voice that had been getting louder as the group had gone, seemed to be coming from the jewel.

Raine stopped pressing herself at the golden and her eyes started to sparkle at the jewel.

"This jewel is unlike anything else I have ever seen! The heat pulsating from this jewel is pure mana and this song is an ancient language I have never studied before! What is this? Where did it come from?"

Kratos sighed.

"Miss Sage, please calm yourself down."

Lloyd was in the middle of freezing and dropping his jaw slightly. What was this jewel? This was where Ignis would be. Unless...the reason the jewel was here...the reason he hadn't been found...

Raine tried to grab the tear shaped jewel.

"I MUST STUDY IT CLOSELY!"

Kratos pulled the teacher away from the jewel.

"Get a hold of yourself. We have no idea what that jewel is or what it could do. Leave it be."

Raine glared at Kratos who didn't seem fazed.

"You cannot be serious. The doors that could be opened from the knowledge gained from that jewel..."

Lloyd noticed Colette's face(no he was not glancing at her occasionally because she was kind of cute) had gone stark white.

"Colette are you okay? Your face is really pale."

Colette smiled tightly.

"I'm...fine..."

Raine snapped out of Ruin Mode and immediately went to check on her student. Genis looked slightly shocked.

"Lloyd's right, you don't look so well."

Raine nodded in agreement.

"Colette your face is turning purple. We should get you to a doctor."

Kratos shook his head.

"No. Remember what the angel said about overcoming a trial. Rather than taking her to a doctor, we should probably get out of the ruins and let her rest for awhile."

Colette nodded slightly.

"Okay."

Genis glanced at the jewel, the lullaby still being sung.

"So what about that jewel? Do we just leave it here?"

Kratos nodded briskly.

"If there really is mana radiating from it as your sister says, it would be dangerous to move it from here. Best to just leave it here."

Raine had a disappointed look on her face. What Kratos was saying made good sense, but she didn't want to leave a great research opportunity where she would probably never get to come again.

As the group was about to leave, the singing got louder which turned their attentions back to the jewel. Mana pulsating from the jewel got more intense and frequent until it lifted higher from where it was and floated over to the group.

That caught the group by surprise as the jewel lowered itself closer to the group, the song quieter than before and only slightly emitting mana.

It finally lowered itself in front of Lloyd who had a look of surprise.

What the...?

The jewel circled around Lloyd as the song started to die away more and more. It glowed as it stopped in front of him.

Lloyd raised his hands and the jewel dropped into this had. A single word rang through his head.

Lloyd.

Lloyd stared at the jewel for quite awhile.

That voice...Ignis...it is you...

Lloyd.

"Lloyd."

Lloyd snapped to Genis, who had a concerned look on his face.

"Are you okay? You've been looking at that jewel for awhile."

Lloyd shook his head.

"I'm fine. It's just been awhile since I've heard that song.

Raine and Kratos' eyes widened. Raine in interest, Kratos in suspicion.

Raine was the first to react to the news.

"You've heard that song before?"

Lloyd nodded.

"When I was really little kid."

"What kind of language..."

Lloyd glanced at Colette and pointed at her.

"Let's go over this after we get out of here. Colette needs to rest after all."

Raine nodded, relenting for then.

"All right."

Lloyd tucked the jewel in the pack where the group kept their stuff. Obviously, this jewel was coming along now.

This energy...just now...it's impossible...

Emil glanced at the black dog companion.

"Tenebrae, are you okay? You look like something's wrong."

Tenebrae hesitated before shaking his head.

"It is alright Emil. Go train with Lady Marta."

Emil seemed surprised.

"You're not going to watch?"

Tenebrae shook his head once more.

"No, I need some time to myself."

Emil glanced at him once more before turning away.

"If you say so Tenebrae."

As soon as Emil was out of sight and hearing distance, Tenebrae let out a long sigh.

It can't be. We haven't visited Ignis yet. There is no way he could be on the move or emitting that kind of mana concentration.

Richter and Aqua are close by so it couldn't be them. Perhaps someone else in the Vanguard?

...Or is it someone completely different?

V.E.: Again I am so sorry it is so short! I'm going on vacation for tomorrow so I wanted to get this finished today since I didn't finish it during June. I will update another time this month.

Cassie: Please review. Or else she might go into review withdrawal again and not update any story period.

V.E.: PLEASE!

Dart shot in V.E.'s neck and she collapses to the ground as Cassie holds up her shooter.

Cassie: I do not wish to use all my darts. I'll need all I can get in August.