I've been working on some Legend of Legaia fan art over the past few months and I've been hoping to write this fan fiction for a while. I tried to gather as much canon information as the game could give to build a story around, but it wasn't much, so all the more room to be creative . Obviously the characters of Legend of Legaia do not belong to me, they belong to Contrail. Any of you Legaia fans still out there, please tell me what you think!

The high, white city of Conkram was bedecked with flower and decorations; the air itself tasted like nectar. Merry, festive music filled the streets, sweet to the ears, making hearts light and gay. Celebrations were rare in Conkram as the years had progressed into the war with the southern city of Sol, but today was an exception, and the people were happy for a day to relax and celebrate a joyous occasion for the entire kingdom, even though a royal birthday party did seem frivolous to some.

But many were eager to celebrate Prince Cort as he came of age. The Prince of Conkram was a brilliant young man who exuded power though he lacked the lion-like stature his father the king possessed. Prince Cort was tall and slender, with a long face and pointed nose like his mother. He did not smile often, but many could say that they saw him brooding, a scowl on his face as he thought deeply of science and philosophy and religion. Yet his most outstanding feature was his eyes, one blue and one violet, most unusual since both of his parents had emerald green eyes. He was an intense fellow in conversation, polite but powerful and succinct. He was well-liked and many looked forward to the day that he became king; some even wished for King Nebular's retirement so that Cort could take over and lead the kingdom to peace with his innovative ideas. They looked up to him. They were counting on him. And today he was no longer a child, he was a man.

Cort was, characteristically, brooding. He sat in his chambers and frowned at the floor, though it was not the floor he was concentrating on with such a fixed look of general distaste. He was thinking rather of the people who waited outside of the castle walls in the city streets, with flowers and decorations and music and good food. It was frivolous for him to have such a large celebration when the kingdom was at war. The money could be much better spent on improving defense, on supplying the soldiers, but the citizens wanted to celebrate, to forget. And his father was allowing this, for them to forget the suffering outside of their walls for a whole day, to waste money in this manner. He did not want a party, and he did not want to appear before all of his future subjects so they could speculate his future rule, if he would be better than his father.

It was while he thought deeply that he dozed, ever so briefly, thinking about Seru. In his light sleep he had a ghost of a dream, of some wonderful light before him, and a voice, androgynous and beautiful.

"Prince Cort, you are made for great things in this human world," the voice stated, "The Seru-kai waits to see the great things you will do. The world was made to be yours. Are you prepared?"

And as soon as the dream was upon him it was gone, flitting away as his door opened and Zeto rushed in, his red and black cloaks swishing vigorously behind his quick pace. Zeto's dark brows were knitted together over harsh blue eyes that had many lines under them for his age of thirty-three. Today his dark hair was slicked oddly, more oddly than usual, as if he were trying to make it neater and tame his curls more than he physically could. Even when Zeto smiled he looked angry. Cort admired this.

Zeto spoke, his voice deep but quiet, "Prince, the King sent me to fetch you. He wishes to present you to the people. Are you prepared?"

Cort blinked. Something Zeto said sounded oddly familiar. Had he just had a dream? A trance? From Tieg?

"My lord?" Zeto spoke again. Perhaps Cort had paused for longer than he realized.

Cort nodded, "Yes, Secretary."

In the walk down the stairs and hall, Zeto seemed uncomfortable in the silence between him and Cort. He continuously glanced over to Cort, the lines under his eyes looking all the more pronounced.

"Have you been enjoying the festivities?" Cort asked, hoping that the odd look on Zeto's face would subside in conversation.

"I haven't had a chance to leave the castle yet, my lord, but I most certainly will after the King's speech," Zeto attempted a smile, but it made his eyes look all the more unnatural. He pressed on his hair, as if trying to flatten it even more, if that wear possible. It was impossible to tell that the hair had been considerably wavier that morning, and the flat shell of hair that Zeto now had made his appearance all the more odd than the forced smile had.

Just before the door, Zeto asked, "Are you excited? To finally be able to have some real influence on how things are done around here? In the war?" he paused, "You can do great things."

There it was again. Cort felt something bizarre in his spine, like invisible claws digging into his back, but the familiarity of words left him as soon as it had struck him. He did not answer Zeto's question. He did not point out that Zeto had not addressed him by proper title. It didn't matter, anyway. The doors opened. It was loud outside.

Cort's father was standing not far from him, on the steps that led from the castle to the city. The crowd swarmed below, a hoard of faceless people cheering and waiting to see their future king appear before them for the first time as a man. Cort did not feel nervous – he could not feel nervous when all he could think about was the trance, of what the message was, if there even was a message or a trance.

He was now standing right next to his father. His father's hand was on his shoulder, the other arm outstretched as he boomed a speech to the waiting people below. King Nebular looked something like a lion, and had a voice to match; his brown beard and hair were a noble, slightly graying mane around his bold, square jaw and brow. His eyebrows were thick over his green eyes and long, flat nose. His voice echoed when he spoke, he roared when he laughed and when he yelled, he bellowed when he was angered. Cort looked at his father's outstretched arm. Beneath the long purple sleeve King Nebular had thick, stocky arms with an unruly layer of hair on them. His entire body was boxlike and squared, and he was tall and robust and intimidating. Cort knew how awkward he must look next to the booming giant that was his father; Cort was tall like him, but was thin and pale, with long slate colored hair and strange eyes. He did not look sickly, but he did not look like a beast in a purple dress robe either.

He looked over at his mother, standing a few feet off to Nebular's other side, slightly behind him, looking on with proud and caring eyes. Mother was sweet and like a bird. She also had green eyes, big and wide and shining, and red hair, long and flowing. She smiled at Cort when he caught her eye.

Cort refocused his attention elsewhere, now to the people he might know in the crowd. His father was still going on about something next to him, but he had tuned that out. Instead he was looking at two people who moved through the crowd constantly near the steps. The third of them was off to the side, ready to jump to defend the King. The two moving through the crowd looked drastically different from each other. One was a short young woman, his age, with a shock of magenta hair and matching eyes. She walked with a swagger, waving her hips about even when she was clearly working. Several of the men she passed stared or smiled at her or made some remark that made her smile and blush. The other, her brother, was immense and muscular and wide as a wall. His skin was tanner than his sibling, and his blond hair was a mo-hawk. He was brutish and ugly, but several of the wealthier women that he passed gave him secret smiles when he passed, smiles that he would not return until it was dark.

The third sibling and bodyguard, the one off to the side, was also very different in appearance from his two siblings. He was tall, slim, but toned, with reddish eyes and brown spiked hair. His chin and nose were both very pointed, and he was definitely much more attractive than his gorilla of an older brother, easily the male counterpart of his pretty, curvy younger sister. It was obvious that Lu Delilas went to great lengths to draw attention to herself with makeup and perfumes and clothes that emphasized her assets. Gi Delilas needed to do nothing to easily be the most handsome man present in the city, yet somehow his foul elitist brother Che Delilas had more of a reputation as a womanizer. Cort smirked at how strange the family was.

Cort then heard his father say something that was unpleasant for him to hear.

"And now our High Priest will bless this occasion with praise to Tieg," King Nebular announced.

The High Priest was a tall stick of a woman who wore a puffed out dress to make it appear as if she had hips under there somewhere. Like Lu Delilas, the High Priest Zora also wore a lot of makeup and perfume, but to a much greater extent, so much that Cort wanted to gag when he smelled her nearby. Her voice, like her perfume, was disgustingly sweet, high and light and obnoxious in every way. Her purple makeup matched her purple, feathery hair and her purple fingernails on long, thin fingers. She spread out her hands and looked up into the sky, or at least pretended to. Zora's face tilted up, but her gaze remained fixed on Cort, leering at him. She made him sick, and she adored him.

Zora called on Tieg to bless and watch over Cort in his future endeavors as he strove to be the next great ruler of the blessed city of Conkram.

After Zora's prayer, King Nebular spoke again, and now Cort listened, out of other things to focus on.

The King said, with a voice full of pride, "Prince Cort, my son, it is time for your mother and I to present you with a long overdue present. May you make all of the progress with it that we hope you will."

Queen Minea spoke with a beautiful voice, "Cort, the laboratory beneath the castle that Court Scientist Jette works in is now yours to work with as you please. Jette will assist you in your work there."

Cort genuinely smiled now. He had worked with Jette several times before in the big laboratory beneath the castle, and now it was his, and Jette was his assistant. He could feel greatness in his fingertips now; he could taste it on the tip of his tongue. Jette was now standing next to him, and they shock hands, both happy with the situation. Jette was Cort's height and had a long, narrow face and beak of a nose and red hair that stuck out behind him in spikes. He was a brilliant man and would probably have to teach Cort a lot about the laboratory before he could truly run it by himself, and Cort looked forward to learning from him.

Father spoke a little while longer while Cort fantasized about the waiting laboratory. If only he could escape to it now...

But now the real celebrations were beginning; people were eating and drinking and dancing and singing in the streets, and Cort, his family, and the other officials went out into the crowd to socialize and speculate about Cort and the wonderful things he would make for Conkram in the laboratory that was now his.

Cort caught up to Jette quickly before he disappeared into the street, "I'm really looking forward to working with you from now on," he said, meaning every word.

Jette smiled, "Likewise, my lord. This city is lucky to have your brilliant mind. You'll do great things with the resources we have. I have an interesting gift for you waiting in the lab whenever you're ready to head down. Enjoy your party, Prince Cort, and I'll see you later," he shook Cort's hand again; his hands were rough and calloused from his work. Cort wanted to have hands like that one day.

Cort hoped to find Gi next, but didn't need to – Gi found him, smiling and playfully punching at his shoulder, "Hey, sparring buddy," Gi started, then realizing the present surroundings he straightened up to look more official, "Greetings, Prince Cort," he said, though there was a hidden tone of humor in the official address, "How goes being a man, my lord?"

Chuckling, Cort replied, "If I make it through the next few hours alive, I'll tell you."

"Well it's a good thing that you have me as your personal guard today, so you'll most likely still be in one piece by the end of the day."

"Maybe you can help keep me sane instead. I'm worried these fake smiles are going to get stuck on my face at some point. I don't even know who these people I'm greeting are. You know any of them?"

Gi scoffed, "Are you kidding? If Che saw me socializing with commoners he'd crush my head in."

"And somehow you'd manage to slit his throat at the same time, then we'd have to find two new bodyguards."

"True. And they don't make bodyguards like us anymore. The Delilases are a unique brand of fighters."

Cort laughed, "Maybe some Biron monks then?"

"You can't be serious."

"Of course I'm not being serious. You, my good man, are completely irreplaceable, as a friend and as a fighter."

Gi smiled, a beam of pride quickly flashing across his face, "You mean that?"

"Absolutely," Cort paused, "So how are your siblings, anyway? Looks like Lu is enjoying the party."

Cort could see Lu across the way, a gaggle of men following her and Queen Minea as they went about. Lu was constantly laughing or smiling about something, happy for the attention paid to her, though a good deal of the attention was fixed on queen Minea's simpler, cleaner beauty. King Nebular and Che were not far from Minea and Lu, and Nebular would join his wife in conversation occasionally between their separate social interactions. They would hold hands, still fairly young and completely in love. Nebular's age showed more than that of his lovely wife, certainly from the stress of the long war with Sol. Cort had not seen him smile much in the past few months, but he was certainly glowing today, proud of his family and their achievements.

"Lu and Che are well enough. You know that Lu came of age a few months ago and has quite a few suitors already."

"Do you think she'll be married soon?"

"I think she's enjoying having so many worshipers too much to bind herself to just one so soon," Gi laughed, though the thought of Lu courting and marrying appeared to trouble him beneath his jovial smile. She was a tough fighter who could fend for herself, but she was also his younger sister, and he felt instinctively protective of her.

Gi was quick to change the subject now, "I overheard Jette talking about having a present for you in the lab. Man, speaking of the lab, that is some gift. I bet you're excited."

Cort nodded vigorously, "Absolutely, it's the best thing my parents could do for me considering the times we live in and the war with Sol."

"Just don't overwork yourself, Prince," another awkward subject had come up, the war with Sol, "What do you think Jette got for you?"

Cort shrugged, "All he said was that it was 'interesting'. Maybe a new Seru specimen to work on? Some soldiers did just recently return from their mission in Uru Mais. I wouldn't be surprised if he bought some artifacts off of one of them under the King's nose. Uru Mais sounds like one hell of a place. I hope the war ends soon so I can go there and see it for myself."

He had heard so many stories of Uru Mais – tales of ghosts and unusual Seru and a big black altar to Tieg. Many said it was a gateway between the human world and the heavens.

The voice came back into his head ever so briefly, and he remembered some of what he had heard earlier.

"The Seru-kai," he muttered to himself.

"What's that about pie?" Gi asked, perking up like a dog in the presence of food.

Cort gave Gi an incredulous look and the two burst into a fit of laughter.