Scene 5

The sight Cecil saw upon the approach to Baron was as a dagger slidding between his ribs and into his heart.

The city was in flames, smoke climbing into the sky like pillars of black spirits. Wyverns circled the Red Wings, the former vastly outnumbering the latter, crimson stones among an afternoon sky of gray and blue. The Lunar Whale's prow cut through the clouds, hurling towards the city at a pace that was definitely unsafe yet not nearly as quickly enough to sate the young knight's fears.

How did his family and friends fare? Had the crystal fallen into evil hands?

Landing in the courtyard, the paladin took his father by the arm and lead him down the ramp. A wyvern swooped down and spewed a cone of fire at them. Without thinking Cecil threw up his cape, the magical fabric repelling the attack, leaving only a spark on his hair to blow away. After the cape was lowered, Klu-Ya lifted his staff and a bolt of pure white lightning struck the wyvern, sending it plummeting to its death a few feet away.

"We must protect the crystal at all costs!" Klu-Ya shouted, his blue eyes alight.

Cecil nodded and took to his heels towards the castle doors, flinging them open the moment his hands reached the cold stone. His father was not far behind. The castle quaked as another blast rocked it to its foundation and a chandlier plunged to its glassy ruin on the floor. Bookshelves burst apart. Everywhere the wreckage made the pair's trek towards the crystal room a perlious one.

As they entered the throne room joy washed over Cecil as he saw Rosa rise from the floor. She was bloodied and dirty, her white robe torn probably for make-shift bandages. She was visibly shaken. But her face lit up smiling and she enveloped him in a crushing hug.

"I thought...I thought..." she kept repeating, never finishing her sentence.

"I'm alright, I'm alright," he kept repeating, stroking her hair. Then they broke apart and the paladin gestured to his father standing in the doorway. "Rosa, this is Klu-Ya, my father."

His bone-white staff leading the way, his father stood before them. "I wish our introductions could be more pleasant, but our time is short. We must secure the crystal."

Cecil turned to his wife. "Rosa, take the wounded to the Infirmary. Once I'm sure the crystal is safe I'll-"

"It's you!"

"You're here, how?"

Twisting, the paladin saw his father and Kain staring at one another like the other was the reincarnation of Zemus. Klu-Ya's staff was aloft, in a pre-spell glow while the dragoon held his spear poised for the older man's heart. Gasping, Cecil rushed to place his body between the two, his eyes aghast. What could possess two of the most important people in his life to prepare to go to war as surely as the battle occuring outside their walls?

Possess...

Bring me the crystal.

No...

The paladin put aside the chill that voice spidered through his body as he tried to put aside the hostility between his father and his friend. "What's the matter with you two? Kain, this is my father. Klu-Ya, this is Kain, I've known him since I was a child. Put down your weapons and let's go to the crystal together!"

"I'm sure he'd love that," Kain said dryly, his spear not lowering an inch.

"So speaks the traitor," his father retorted. "Cecil, you must not trust this man."

A snort from the dragoon, he added, "Funny, I was just about the say the same thing about you."

"What's going on?" Rosa was by Cecil's side, encircling an arm around his. Her presence sent a surge of strength through his body.

Anmosity stirred with a palpable touch in the room as the dragoon and the lunarian glared at one another. Klu-Ya spoke again, his voice dripping with venom. "This man carries the taint of the Wellspring of Darkness, the soul of Zemus." His eyes flashed over to Cecil. "He must be destroyed, Cecil!"

In his mind's eyes materialized the sight of piercing his brother with his blade, killing him. That cold shiver was a river before, now it was an ocean threatening to drag him under. While the others staggered as the castle took another blow, the paladin didn't so much as blink, drowned by his own sorrow and indecision.

Seeming to see those very emotions on Cecil's face, Kain choked out, "You can't believe this, Cecil! Look at that man...he is not your father! He is the living embodiment of Zemus! Was it not strange that he suddenly appears now, seeking the crystal?"

Rosa squeezed his arm, reassuring him. Kain was right that this was a bizzare series of events, and the dragoon had proved his loyalty in the recent past...but this was his father, the one who gifted him with the light, slaying Zermus himself a long time ago.

As if exposed to the light of a sand pearl the knight realized a quick resolution to his dilemma.

Walking over to the crest that hung above his throne, Cecil removed both Ragnarok and Excalibur. Ragnarok gleamed like a mini-sun while the Excalibur's own light was that of molten stars. Both were blades of holiness, and any man who tread the path of darkness could not lay on hand on them, let alone wield them.

So he told them, adding, "Each of you will hold a sword and this will tell me who is tainted and who is not." Swallowing, Cecil kept his stance steady as he held the swords before them, hilt first. What if Kain couldn't bear the blade? What if it was his father that couldn't? The best scenario was that both of them were paranoid, and neither had any difficulty.

But what if neither of them could touch the blades?

"Bring it on!" Kain tossed down his spear, gripping Excalibur without flinching. A self-satisfied smirk crossed his lips as his fist tightened to make a point.

Then the dragoon was in the air...after taking a lightning bolt to the dead center of his chest. He flew backwards and crashed into the wall.

"Kain!" screamed Rosa. She rushed to his side, words of a healing spell spilling from her lips.

Shocked, Cecil turned around to see Klu-Ya vanish through the door at the back of the throne room, the door that lead to the stairs down to the crystal room. Ragnarok lay on the ground, smoking as if it savored the flesh of darkness. His head spinning the paladin fell to his knees next to his friend, tears burning in his eyes.

"Is he...?" the paladin could barely utter the words.

Kain sat up, groaning. "I'll be alright, you fool. He's gone after the crystal. We got to beat him to-" With a loud gag, the dragoon slunk back down.

"You're in no position to go anywhere, Kain!" the white wizardess admonished. "I need to heal you or your wounds could kill you."

"No time! We need to get to the crystal!"

Feeling a weightlessness that he had not before, the paladin stood. "I will safeguard the crystal." With the same lack of effort Cecil lifted Excalibur, leaving Ragnarok smoldering on the carpet.

"Are you mad?" snarled Kain. "He's too powerful to take on alone."

Cecil's eyes trailed to Rosa just as the blonde woman turned her head to look up at him. Fear danced in her eyes, fear for him, for what was he was about to do. She knew who he was-he would give his life to defend the crystal, to defend the castle, Baron, her, their child. Somedays Cecil could see her almost wish that he wouldn't be a hero. Just be hers, just be safe.

"Be careful," she whispered.

Bringing his unoccupied hand to his lips as if to either extend a kiss or to receive one, the paladin spun around, down to the deep depths of Baron's bowels.

To the crystal room.