Here is the new chapter. Not much more before the series end and the sequel happens ...

Wandering among memories

Silver suddenly pointed the top of the gigantic building.

"Look!"

We all watched in awe as bricks fell from the sky to build the building. The silver-haired man frowned.

"The memories of the living go to this place and built it time after time. What a show!"

He was right. I had never dreamt of such a place before. Memoria was the antechamber of our world. It was Gaia's memory room. We walked to the castle, our weapons ready. The place seemed one can't be weirder and the monsters were strong, but none of our strength was to be underestimated. Silver himself proved to be surprisingly good as he combined ice magic and swordsmanship into very acrobatic attacks. We were walking a hanging pathway when a familiar figure appeared. I took my bow immediately.

"We meet again …"

It was Marilis, the guardian of the Fire Shrine! But her body was mutated to a more feral form. The snake body had switched from her hairs to her legs, making her look like a lamia and she had six arms, all holding a sharp saber. The snake woman snarled.

"I am one of the Chaos Guardians. Kneel before my power!"

Silver snarled.

"No can do, I don't bow before the likes of you."

I summoned a fiery arrow.

"I beat you once. Why not twice?"

Marilis cast Reflect on herself but Vivi smiled. Ramuh 's armor made him able to ignore those kind of buffs. Zidane turned to him.

"Vivi, focus and cast your most powerful spell on her!"

"Okay!"

Amarant frowned.

"Marilis was the guardian of the Fire Shrine. I bet she's still immune to fire spells."

"Not a problem!" Dagger retorted.

She span three times on herself while raising her scepter. In a flash of light, Shiva appeared.

"Freeze her to the bones!"

'Will do!'

Marilis ran at us but Silver, Beatrix and Steiner came in the way, each blocking two swords. Shiva closed her eyes and threw an icy spear over the monster. Marilis retreated and melted the attack. Zidane saw an opening and ran at sound speed to the unprotected chest. In vain. Marilis managed to block his attack, as well as Freya's jump and Amarant's flying chakram. Silver growled.

"She's got too many arms! We must cut them if we want to win!"

I smiled.

"I can do that! Falcon Claws!"

My two arrows flew and cut one of the monster woman's arms. Steiner ran and blocked a blow, only for him to grab an arm. Zidane ran and swung his dual blade, slicing it. Marilis jumped back and hissed.

"Flame Slash!"

Not thinking twice, I jumped before my old foe. The feather armor protected me from the flames but the swords cut deeply into me. It didn't matter as Eiko was already healing me. Silver jumped.

"Winter's Blades!"

Two blades of ice energy ran to our enemy and cut two arms. She howled and unleashed one more Flame Slash on us, only for Steiner to take the hit. The knight didn't finch, protected as he was by Odin's dark armor. Vivi smiled.

"Here I go! Flare!"

A violent burst of energy hit Marilis dead on. Stunned and weakened by the spell, she couldn't do a thing when Beatrix and Freya cut her remaining arms. Shiva achieved her with an icicle.

"Not that hard." Silver simply said. I turned to him.

"Went through worse?"

"Way worse, actually. Maybe I'll tell you later."

We went in a room and were surprised to see Alexandria's castle between the columns. Before our eyes, the disastrous battle of Alexandria unfolded. Silver shook his head.

"I don't know what you saw, but I saw none of it."

'Because it isn't part of your memories.' Ayden explained. 'You weren't here during the battle, hence the fact you can neither remember nor see it.'

Zidane suddenly shivered. He seemed to listen intensely before shaking his head. I looked at him.

"Zidane, is there something wrong?"

"Yeah …" The thief frowned. "Garland was explaining something to me."

Freya raised a brow.

"He's still alive?"

"Nah, I don't think so."

Silver frowned.

"Sometimes, in Eä, a soul is allowed to return among the livings for some time, mainly because they have some unfinished business here. Maybe that's the same with Garland. His soul's still with us because he still has some business to do with you."

We kept walking and reached a stormy place. There, something weird happened. Indeed, Zidane was able to witness Dagger's escape from Madain Sari alongside her mother. Garland explained something more to Zidane and we finally reached he giant eye of the Invincible. Stairs were leading to it. We went to it but jumped back as a three-headed dragon appeared before us. Steiner growled.

"This is the guardian of the Wind Shrine, Tiamat!"

The dragon snarled.

"So you have defeated Marilis. For Tiamat, there is only victory!"

"Or death …" Zidane countered.

The fight was strangely easier than the other. Steiner protected us against the wind attacks while Vivi focused his magic. Silver and Beatrix cut one of the heads, leaving our little friend Flare the last one. This done, we kept going. We walked across ruins that reminded us of Lindblum after Atomos's assault. Further on, the place was intact and looked more like Alexandria. Passed the arch of the city, the path entered space and became twisted. Feeling sick, Vivi grabbed Silver's hand. The man kept him close to him, his eyes on the lookout. Then we saw something strange in the starry sky.

"Two moons colliding? No. they look more like planets. Why does this look so familiar?"

Garland said something to Zidane. Our friend nodded.

"That's right. I saw it in Oeilvert."

Garland spoke again and Silver sighed.

"I wish I could hear what he says. Sounds interesting."

Entering the castle at the end of the road led to a place whose exit was cut by a waterfall. When we passed them, we found ourselves underwater. The place was incredibly realistic. One could even see fishes swimming past us! But in the end, it was all an illusion. Freya grabbed her spear.

"I think I know who we will meet next …"

We nodded and reached stairs that led us above the water. Zidane frowned.

"So Gaia used to be just one big ocean."

"How do you know?" Eiko asked.

"I don't know. For some reason, it's in my memory. I wasn't even born at that time. It doesn't make sense. And I was born on Terra, not on Gaia, so how can this be in my memory?"

Vivi frowned.

"It's in my memory, too. Gaia used to be covered by water."

"I'm betting a similar feeling as well." Freya nodded.

Silver frowned.

"According to the gods' teachings, thought it was Dana, the deity of Life and Nature who created the eans, in other worlds born not from magic, life was born from water. This is why water is always seen as the cradle of life. This is where all that lives come from."

We climbed the stairs and Beatrix looked at Silver.

"You refer a lot to your gods. I can hardly believe Kuja's son is such a believer."

"Let's say Eä isn't called 'the land where men and gods walk side by side' for nothing. Our gods do exist and we can see them anytime of the day. That's why being an atheist isn't well-seen here. If you profess you don't believe in the gods, they will be quicker than you think to prove you wrong. Usually they will appear before you and scold you. If you did something worse, be ready to suffer because the gods don't exactly like incredulous ones …"

"I can believe that …" Zidane joked. Silver smiled.

"Believe me, their powers are fairly real. Especially when they target you."

We climbed the stairs until we met our new opponent. It was the guardian of the Water Shrine, Kraken. The octopus-like man stood before us.

"I am the 'Water Chaos', Kraken. Your presence is forbidden!"

Silver frowned.

"Really? Because we're going to pass anyway!"

Ice ran over his arms and his hands. Before he could react, Kraken had thrown a burst of ink in his eyes. He backed up growling.

"Dammit! It sticks!"

I used Falcon Claws to cut one of the tentacles while Zidane managed to cut the second one. Eiko used a spell to clean Silver's eyes, earning a Thanks from the man. He ran at the monster, only for him to cast a spell.

"Freeze!"

I froze. Silver was going to be paralyzed! Or so I thought, and I got it wrong. Silver froze for a moment before the spell passed in his skin and reached his hand.

"Freeze yourself!"

He unleashed a violent burst of ice that stuck Kraken. Vivi didn't lose time and combined his powers with Steiner.

"Thunder Sword!"

The thunder powered weapon broke the ice, shattering the monster inside. Freya turned to Silver.

"How can you do that?"

Silver looked away sheepishly.

"Well … It's kinda complicated. In my world, there are ten gods ruling over the elements. Those gods are tasked not only of making sure the elements don't ravage the world, but also to choose people to receive their powers and act as keepers of Eä among the different races. Those people are called Guardians and I happen to be the Ice Guardian, just like my mother was the Fire one. Because Mom had a powerful creature sealed inside of her, the beast's magic power passed into me and combined with my ice powers. Actually, I am the most powerful Guardian Eä had ever seen, to the point I can not only control ice at will but also become immune to it."

"Does that mean you can't feel cold," Dagger asked.

"Yep. However, being powerful has some drawbacks."

He lowered his head.

"The first drawback is during the Awakening, the moment a Guardian's power awakens. My powers were so great that no amount of Guardians could tame them. I was forced to run from my home and my friends, so that my magic outbursts would harm no one. In the end, it required a Titan-King to tame them."

Beatrix raised a brow.

"A Titan-King?"

"An old god. Telling you the whole story would be too long so I'll save it for now. Anyway, the second drawback is that when I enter Rage, the ean equivalent of Trance, I become extremely destructive. Because, contrary to Trance, when one enters Rage, he loses his mind. That's why I have to carry a small talisman that helps me remain myself during rage."

Steiner nodded.

"I understand. You may be incredibly powerful, but those powers give you some serious responsibilities."

"Yep, although 'responsibilities' isn't the exact word …"

We reached the end of the stairs, crossed a messed up giant clock and reached a platform. A latter was to take us to the top while a big fire sphere stood afar. Zidane whistled.

"Geez … That's one big fireball."

"Could this be a moon?" Steiner asked.

Garland spoke and Zidane frowned.

"That's Gaia?"

Garland spoke again.

"What's above the ladder?" Zidane asked.

Garland answered something that made Zidane frown. When asked, he growled.

"We'll see for ourselves."

So we climbed the ladder to a strange gazebo, or an observatory depending how you looked at it. No long after we entered, the walls and ceiling disappeared to leave us among the stars. Silver shivered.

"So that's how what's beyond the sky looks like."

"Can't you simply say Space?" Eiko asked. Silver rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry. No ean crossed the sky before. This is a forbidden place. The few who tried got severely punished … Wait, what is this?"

We looked as a tall undead-like monster appeared. Zidane growled.

"The guardian of the Earth Shrine …"

The creature looked at us.

"I, the Earth Chaos Lich, commend your feat. But your life ends now."

And he meant it. The creature had a vast array of death-based attacks. Fortunately, since he was an undead monster, I weakened him with Regen and Eiko and Dagger made short work of him with Phenix and Curaga. Once the fight was over, we went to the edge … and jumped.

"There's nothing! Is this it? Is there nothing else?"

Garland spoke and Zidane had a grim smile.

"That's easy for you to say …"

And so we walked among the stars. It was the end of Gaia's memory. A white light appeared before us and Garland's voice was heard by everyone.

'You have entered a new realm. There are no worlds. There is no more space. Follow your memory, your original memory, and march forth …'

Zidane looked up.

"Garland, what exactly is our memory? Why can I remember other people's experience and events that happened before my time?"

Garland didn't answer. Zidane frowned.

"Garland, please tell me!"

'Do not limit memory to just one individual's experience from birth. That is only the surface. Every life born from this world, whether natural or artificial, requires a parent. And that parent also requires a parent. Life is connected, one to another. If you trace the root of all life, there exists one source. The same can be said for memory. All life constitutes an intelligence that holds memory beyond experience. Memory isn't isolated within individuals. It is an accumulation of generations of memories that continues to evolve. You can say that memory and evolution go hand in hand. But most life forms do not understand the true nature of memories, which explains why most memories never cross paths.'

Zidane nodded.

"So, what am I gonna find by tracing back our roots?"

I was the one to frown.

"We will find the Crystal."

Everyone turned to me. I looked at them.

"Remember Shinryu's tale? Gaia's core is a drop of the Great Dragon's blood. It is the Crystal, the source of all the life in Gaia. We rangers have known of its existence for ages and can use nature magic because of our link with it."

Garland seemed satisfied.

'Exact, young ranger. You are on your own now. Zidane, Silver … take care of Kuja. And protect the Crystal. Farewell …'

And so, Garland faded forever. The white light engulfed us and took us to the core of the world. This is how we entered the Crystal World.

I like Garland's little explanation about life, memory and the origins of the world. Well, here it is for now.

See you soon!