Zacharias

Intention set aside, courage evolving from anger
And resolve never clearer, which clouds the wiser course.

Betrayal in the turn of the betrayed,
And a shattering of the heart at the new moon.


Chapter 7

The voyage toward wherever it was we were going was long and very tense. My first hope had been that we would be able to leap back out the way we had come, but no sooner had I ducked into the hold than the anchor was pulled back in and the little hatch closed behind it.

So we were left with little recourse but to sit quietly in the dark and hope that none of the soldiers found their way down into the depths of the cargo hold – which seemed doubtful anyway, considering the vast piles of useless junk and spare machinery that occupied most of the space.

Melody and I were conveniently stowed at the back of this bay, behind the largest of the crates and other parts inside. Through the small cracks between them I could see light trailing in from elsewhere in the interior cabins, but there were no soldiers and for the moment we were safe.

The problem, of course, was that I didn't want to be stowed safely aboard a Red Wings' ship. I didn't want to be aboard the ship at all.

Only my instinct toward caution kept me from cursing out loud for the duration of the voyage – that and Melody's unwavering presence nearby. She also had the sense to stay quiet, but she spent most of the voyage entranced in prayers and meditations of every sort. This disappointed me somewhat; it left me nobody to complain to.

As the thought crossed my mind I shook my head, trying to push it away. I didn't want to think I was childish enough to take such pleasure out of complaining, but I couldn't help but feel that it would have taken some of the bitterness out of the situation. Still, I would have to become satisfactorily independent sometime. Now was just as good a time as any.

It was a strange thought to have, though. I had thought I had abandoned every pretense of dependence when Kain had died at Damcyan, when I had started my personal training. But it still seemed that I was susceptible to the worst form of dependency: loneliness. Again I silently thanked whatever lucky stars I had that Melody had chosen to come with me… even if the delay had landed me here.

This time I did curse out loud, kicking at a box nearby. Melody looked sharply at me. "Shh! Do you want to get caught back here?"

"I could take them," I replied bitterly, although I wasn't sure how true that was.

Neither was she. "Just stop it, or you'll get us both killed. Once they land we can try and find a way out."

"If they land," I corrected. "And even if they do, how will we get ourselves out of here without being noticed?"

"We'll… we'll think of something."

I chuckled derisively despite myself. "It'd be easier to just kill them all now before we have more to deal with."

Melody didn't say anything to that and I sighed. I didn't like being this short-tempered. I saw it as a weakness, and I didn't want to permit myself any weaknesses. It was difficult, though, trying to shut out emotion and become more than… well, more than human.

Meanwhile, the conversation had triggered another thought in my mind. "Where do you think this ship is going?"

"I don't know. Why does that matter?"

"Because we could be flying right to Golbez. Maybe it isn't such a bad thing after all that we missed Cecil's ship."

Melody shook her head. "You're obsessed, Zacharias."

"Maybe I am. And so what if I am?"

"You're going to get yourself killed, and at this rate, me along with you." She sighed. "You know, sometimes there are more important things than revenge."

"Not to me."

"Do you really think that's what your father would want to hear?"

I couldn't think of an answer to that. She unfortunately had a very good point. My father had been one of the biggest advocates in our village for peace, and the use of magic only for self-defense and healing.

"He sacrificed himself to save your life, Zacharias," Melody pressed on. "It doesn't seem grateful to him to go and get yourself killed."

I heard the dark knight speak to me. "This resistance is futile, young Black Mage. I've sworn to take the Water Crystal from this village for the sake of my kingdom and all the others. Your father has already given his life to save yours. Would you spit on his memory in such a way by nevertheless meeting your end?"

I shook my head, trying to dislodge the memory, but more of them came to take its place.

Kain chuckled derisively. "You don't fool me. You're no humanitarian. You want to go with me and fight because you want revenge."

"Justice!" I spat bitterly.

"Perhaps the way you see it. But the truth is that you just want to get back at him – don't give me that look, you know I'm right."

The murderous expression on my face did not change as I stared back at him. "So what if I do? He killed my father, he stole the Crystal – he stole my life! So what if I want to make him suffer the same way I did? Is that really so wrong?!"

"Someone as well-versed in the Dragoon's code of honour as yourself should know the answer to that question."

The Dragoon's code of honour. I understood now why Kain had forsaken it. Why bother, when it holds you back in such a way? Still, the irony of that conversation did not escape me: I had been the one to insist that a Dragoon's honour held such high importance, and yet it was Kain who had to remind me of its precepts when he'd abandoned the code so long ago.

And anyway, there was more to be avenged than my father alone, more for which the dark knight Golbez was responsible. Allana… Kain… the people of Damcyan and Mist… and now the soldiers that had fallen at Fabul, I was certain.

"Zach?" Melody's voice pulled me back out of my trance and I looked at her once more. "Are you all right?"

I nodded. "I was just thinking, is all."

And then I heard a voice from the other interior cabins. "All hands on deck! We are on approach! All hands on deck!"

I glanced around, and then got to my feet. I hadn't realized how much time had gone by. I heard running footsteps resonating into the cargo bay, but as I waited they faded into silence and the only footsteps I could hear now came from above us, on the upper deck.

Perfect.

"Come on," I said to Melody. "Let's see where we are."

"What? Zach, have you gone crazy?"

"They're all on the main deck," I said. "That means there aren't any in the interior cabins. Now's our best chance."

I didn't bother to wait for an answer. I scaled one of the smaller boxes and hopped down, heading toward the door that led into the other cabins. I heard Melody clumsily attempting the same thing behind me, and when she finally stumbled down, I led the way through the doorway. I paused, glancing around the corner to make sure we were alone, and then I glanced to my left, toward the bow of the ship.

There were two portholes there, and a breeze was wafting through them that was actually quite refreshing; the cargo bay was somewhat stuffy. But I wasn't really paying attention to the cool wind once I neared the portholes, because what I saw in them nearly took my breath away.

"My God…" said Melody.

It was a tower in the sky. There was no other way to describe it. It looked as if the base sat atop a cushion of clouds, and in the orange light of dusk, though the clouds looked irrevocably beautiful, it was the tower that drew my eye to it, floating there, supported seemingly by nothing but air.

"What kind of dark magic is this…" I wondered aloud.

"I don't like it, Zach. I really don't."

"Neither do I."

As we watched, the tower drew nearer and nearer, grew bigger and bigger. It was massive. It seemed to scrape the very summit of the sky. And this was where we were being taken. I hadn't felt genuinely afraid in quite some time. Now, I was struggling to hold my apprehension at bay. I had thought Castle Baron was intimidating, but the comparison was like holding a candle up to a raging fire.

The airship pulled up to the tower's docking bay on its starboard side. I glanced to my right, into the ship's mess hall. There were more portholes, so I hurried over to them and looked through. Through them, I could see that the boarding ramp had already been lowered; in fact, the ramp was all I could see, as it was positioned directly above the porthole I was looking through. I moved over to another one and saw – I had to look twice – cloaked, hooded figures. Their faces were dark, but their eyes were glowing unpleasantly. Following them, I saw soldiers in very dark armour dismount. From the looks of it, whoever their commanding officer was, he had gone inside already.

I wondered privately if Golbez had been aboard the ship this whole time.

I glanced at Melody, who had only just followed me into the mess hall. "We have to go in," I said.

"What?" She hurried over to my side. "Zach, have you lost the rest of your mind?! If we go in there we'll be killed for sure!"

I shook my head. "I don't think so. This tower doesn't look like a soldier garrison. The ones that just came off this ship probably have quarters somewhere inside, so they won't be patrolling the halls. I think…" I paused. "I think this is where Golbez is hiding."

"So what? Even if you're right and we made it up there…"

"So you're not with me?"

She looked me in the eyes. "What?"

"I'm going up, whether you're coming or not. So are you with me?"

"I…" She kept staring into my eyes. She knew the truth as well as I did: there was no way she would find her way out of this place without my help.

Finally, she sighed. "I'm with you. But… I'm beginning to wish I wasn't."

I ignored the comment and listened for more footsteps from above. They didn't come. "We have to go up now, while they're away from the ship. Follow me, and don't make a sound."

Melody didn't have to be told twice, which was good, because I was not in a patient mood. I stealthily hurried out the door and glanced down the corridor once more. It was still empty, and the stairs leading to the upper deck looked vacant as well. I drew my spear, conscious that I might need it, and began to ascend.

When I reached the top, the door to the outer deck was closed. There was one small window, which I peered into and through which I didn't see any guards. Melody was breathing heavily behind me, clearly more nervous than I was. The more I thought about what we were about to do, though, the more apprehensive I became. I tried to shut the thoughts out and concentrate on what I was doing, but a respite from my well-concealed fear wasn't quite so easy.

I slowly eased the door open. Darkness was falling quickly, so I kept to the shadow as much as possible and glanced out, peering left and right. I quickly ducked back; the solitary door that led into the tower was guarded on the left and right by two guards in the same dark armour. They looked as if they'd be more difficult to deal with than any of the Baronian guards had been – Elite or otherwise.

My heart was pounding in my chest and I mentally willed it to stop, lest it be overheard. I felt as if it were booming louder than thunder. The hand that clutched my spear was sweaty, as was my forehead, dampening my bangs, which subsequently draped irritatingly across my face. I pushed them away and pulled up my hood, watching as the sun kept dipping lower and lower.

"Well?" Melody whispered into my ear. "What now?"

"We wait," I whispered back. "When it's dark, we move."

It couldn't have taken longer than half an hour for the last of the light to disappear, but in our position it felt like days had passed before the stars were finally the only light to be seen. I privately thanked whichever stars were my lucky ones that the moon was barely a sliver.

Melody then poked my side and pointed to the boarding ramp. One soldier was on patrol and walking up the boarding ramp, preparing, I supposed, to do rounds aboard the ship. I cursed to myself and backed away from the door, motioning for Melody to get downstairs. She did, and I followed her, stealthily moving down the hall back toward the cargo bay.

I glanced at her over my shoulder. "You remember those sentences of silence the Priestess always put on me?" She nodded. "Do you think you can give this guard a dose?"

She narrowed her eyes for a moment, and then saw what I meant and nodded again. I shifted back to allow her more room, and she put her palms together in the usual fashion to conjure up her White Magic. I watched the corridor, conscious that the guard would come before too much longer.

Sure enough, minutes later his heavy bootsteps resonated along the hall. He was carrying a torch, and the light cast ominous, flickering shadows against the wall. The light drew nearer slowly. My hand gripped my spear in earnest.

Closer…

I wiped some of the sweat off of my forehead and prepared to make my move.

The guard was mere paces from the doorway.

And then Melody parted her hands, and a dazzling blue light surrounded her, which quickly changed to yellow light and dove down the guard's undefended throat.

The guard made one or two gagging sounds, and then nothing escaped his throat but for the sounds of his teeth and tongue as he attempted to cry for help and slowly realized that no shadow of a voice would emerge.

I whipped around the corner, my spear ablaze. The guard was ready; he had already abandoned the torch and drawn his sword. I parried his first and second attacks and dove in with my own, aiming for the undefended spot beneath his helmet, at his neck.

Our weapons clashed again as he defended himself, and I began to worry that the sounds of the fight might reach the ears of the guards at the tower's door. I began to dodge more than parry, and as I did so I focused on conjuring my second-tier Lightning spell. The guard was quick but I was quicker, ducking this way and that as he lunged and slashed with his sword.

As this dance continued I realized that he might well be too fast. Without a second or two to compose myself, I wouldn't be able to cast the spell I had prepared. I ducked and weaved around him, and then my hand found the torch he had discarded.

Without a second thought I hurled the burning stick at his face, and he had barely enough time to deflect it and back away before I was at the ready, hands outstretched, a knowing smile on my face.

The lightning hurled him from his feet and send him spiralling to the floor, the charged metal leaving him limp and lifeless. Melody had to jump out of the way as the guard slid toward her, his hand clutching his sword.

She then crouched beside him, checking for any signs of life. When she looked up at me and shook her head, I couldn't mask a brief sigh of relief; it didn't seem as if the guards up above had overheard us.

"So far, so good," I said out loud.

"I don't know," said Melody. "The two guards at the front saw him come down here. If he doesn't show up, they'll get suspicious."

"Getting past them isn't going to be easy no matter how we do it," I said shortly, turning to head back to the stairs. As I reached the top I opened the door again, carefully, trying not to attract attention. There they were, still standing stock still… almost like statues.

Melody was right behind me. "This is crazy, Zach. Just… just crazy."

"You've mentioned that," I said, "and I don't care. I'm getting in there one way or another."

"But how?"

I took another long, hard look at the tower's door before I finally answered her. "I don't know yet… but I'll think of something."

But even as I said it, I privately hoped I was telling the truth.


I stand in the highest room in the tower... our tower. The Tower of Zott, so named by Golbez himself.

I don't like to think about it. I don't like this. I have never liked this. But I have realized now that I cannot escape this reality. This tower is our tower. It is no longer his alone. It is ours. He is my master, and I am his unwilling apprentice.

I have only just returned, but I wish that I could leave once more. And yet, I do not… because I worry that the next time I leave, I will see him again. Cecil. The look of betrayal on his face when he looked at me is something that will haunt me to my dying day. And to think that I almost killed him with my very hands… I still feel as if only the strongest of my resistance stopped me from doing so. But I have not since been able to exert that much control over myself. I believe that my self-proclaimed master has made certain of that.

I watch him. He stands at the top of the small set of stairs that divides the southern and northern halves of this… this evil throne room of his. On the wall above the southern door, by some form of evil magic, an image floats in the air. I do not pay attention to it. I do not need to. Whatever it is controlling my body, my actions, my words… he will know what is in that image. I do not want to.

I glance to my left. Rosa sits there, asleep for the first time in days, beneath a blade so precariously balanced that it could fall any second – which is just how the master wants it, I know. He wants her to sit there in fear, fear that she will never leave this room alive. Because, as he knows, he has no intention of ever letting her do so.

I wish the horror controlling my body would let me look away from her, but he delights in the waves of sorrow I feel whenever I look at her, bound in such a way. He reaches into the deepest of my emotions, and plays my heartstrings like some twisted orchestra of hatred and evil.

"Kain," says my master to me, and I am relieved to finally look at him instead of at the woman I will forever love.

"Yes, my master?" The words sicken me, but I say them again as I have so very many times.

"Look at this. I believe you may find it interesting."

My face looks upon the image, and for once I pay attention to what I am seeing. I immediately wish I hadn't. My heart would sink if it were under my own control.

"That is Zacharias, master. The boy who irritated you so at Damcyan."

"And he has a young White Mage girl with him," Golbez tells me, chuckling. "He certainly looks different from the last time I laid eyes on him, wouldn't you say? Somewhat… darker."

"Shall I have him killed, Master?" I wish it were within my power to say anything but those words. I want to go to the window, or out of the tower, and tell him to run, run far away.

"No," says Golbez, and my insides tremble with relief. "No, in fact I think it would be more appropriate to allow him to climb up here and witness your, erm… change of heart for himself. Don't you?"

No. No, I do not. No, he is only a boy, a boy who does not deserve to have his dreams crushed so, a boy whose life was stolen from him once already by your evil, sick, twisted gauntlet.

"Yes, my master."


"I have an idea," I said to Melody. "Maybe if I can disguise myself as one of the guards – I can take the armour of the one we just killed, and maybe…"

"Wait! Zach, look!"

I looked, and then looked again as I saw the two guards on either side of the door turn around and go inside, disappearing from sight.

"What are they doing?" she whispered.

"I don't know." I watched for several minutes, seeing if they would return, or if they were merely changing the guard. But nobody else emerged to take their place. It looked as if I had just been handed an opportunity.

Looking back, I suppose I should have been more suspicious.

Melody more than made up for my lack of caution, however. "I don't like it, Zach. It seems too easy."

"I don't care. I've just been given a gift and I'm not about to waste it."

"But Zach…!"

Before she could do any more complaining I was out the door, running quietly but quickly toward the tower door. I heard Melody behind me, but didn't turn to look; I knew that if I were going to be seen, it would be while crossing the upper deck of the ship.

If I hadn't been seen already. But I didn't want to think about that.

It didn't take me long to reach the door, and I pressed myself up against it while Melody caught up to me, panting heavily. I kept myself pressed as flat against the wall as I could, and looked upward. I had seen them before, but I hadn't put as much thought into them as I had into coming up with a way to distract the two guards. And now, the path to the top seemed so simple.

Melody tapped me on the shoulder. "Well? Are we going in?"

"I have a faster way."

"What?"

I pointed up. "Balconies. We can get straight to the top of the tower without even going inside."

I expected to hear more protests or complaints, but to my surprise Melody sighed with relief. "Good thinking."

"Stow the praise and climb on my back."

Even as she did so I closed my eyes, going through the familiar motions in my mind as I prepared for the jump. As I felt myself leap into the air, I opened my eyes and saw the starlight streaking by. I felt my boots come to a rest atop the first balcony, and I felt myself already jumping again, climbing higher and higher into the air after the next one.

And as I climbed higher along the most oppressive, dark building I had ever laid eyes on, I felt my heart soar in an inescapable feeling of absolute bliss, drinking in the freedom of streaking through the night air. I looked out on the clouds as I flew, enraptured by the glinting starlight and the dim moonlight across them. It was a sea of clouds, caught in the middle of the night in a beautiful portrait of all that was good in the world, even so close to such a horrible evil.

I will never forget that feeling. How effortless it seemed to move from place to place, from stone landing to stone landing, unsure how many were left, unwilling to care. I remembered my mentor, and silently thanked him for delivering this gift to me, the freedom I had so longed for, that I hadn't even realized I was missing.

All too soon it was over, and we were standing atop the highest balcony, only a single storey from the very top of the evil tower. I looked out upon the cloudscape in awe, and looked at Melody as she climbed down from my back. Her hood fell back and her hair spilled from it, a gleaming red-orange only just discernible in the moonlight, and for a moment I wasn't even thinking about where I was, I could only think about her, about her hair in the moonlight, and about the time we had spent in Mysidia that I could never have back.

And then she spoke, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Well, let's go."

I nodded wordlessly, and turned to the glass door, opening it carefully and stepping inside.

The tower was much less dark and imposing than I had originally thought it would be on the inside. The floor pulsated with an eerie light coming from who-knew-were. The outside walls were nothing but large windows that looked out upon the sea of clouds in the moonlight. The staircase that apparently led from the lower floors was ensconced in glass – everything about the place looked to be a strange combination of beautifully majestic and eccentrically evil.

"Creepy," said Melody, and for once, I had to agree with her.

To our left, a short staircase led up to the higher half of the room, just in front of the one that led to the lower floors. I walked to it, carefully glancing this way and that, half expecting to walk into an ambush.

But none came.

"It's... quiet," said Melody.

I nodded. I wasn't entirely too comfortable myself. We were almost at the top of the tower. I had assumed at the very least that there would be a pair of soldiers at one of the doors. But as I rose to the top of the small staircase, not even the door to the final level was guarded.

"This is odd," I said. "I don't believe Golbez would just leave his tower this poorly defended."

"I'll tell you what it is," she replied. "It's a trap. Golbez baited us, and we took it."

"But..." I stopped a moment to consider this. "That makes no sense. Golbez might have known we were here, but why wouldn't he have just sent his men into the ship? And even if he did lay a trap for us, he couldn't possibly have known that I'd come up the way we did. He can't know about my--"

"He didn't know."

It was as if someone had struck me over the head with something incredibly large and blunt, so obvious were the shock and disbelief that crossed my face as I heard the inexplicably familiar voice – not inexplicable because I had to wonder to whom it belonged, because I knew the instant I heard it. Rather, my brain simply tried to deny what my ears had heard and longed so terribly to believe.

I had spun around in less than a second, and then my brain could not deny it, not after two of my senses had agreed upon the identity of the man in the room with us.

"Kain!" I raced down the stairs to where he had stepped out from behind a support post. "Kain, you're alive! And you... how did you get here? And what are you doing here?"

His reply was a dark grin, one uncharacteristic of him that forced me to take a step back. "That isn't important. I must say I was surprised to see you had survived."

"I... but I thought you'd..." I shook my head. "If you've been alive all this time, then where have you--"

"Zacharias!" The hiss had come from Melody, only a few steps behind me. "Get away from him!"

"I-- what?"

"Get away from him!! There's darkness just flowing out of him, Zach! That man is not the Kain you know!"

I spun around. "What are you talking about?!"

I didn't even hear her answer. I felt a sharp pain in my back, and then I was sailing through the air, the force of Kain's kick catapulting me up the stairs, where I roughly landed and rolled to a rest, the wind knocked out of me and my eyes clenched with pain.

Melody screamed and raced up the stairs to my side. "Zach! Zach!!"

My palms found the cold floor and I began to push myself up, trying to breathe properly. I was as confused as I had ever been. The pain in my body was nearly matched by the pain in my heart, and all the while the part of my mind that clung blindly to false hope was trying to convince me that there was something else to this, that there was a rational explanation for Kain's actions, that he was anything - anything at all - but evil. And then the other part of my mind forced me to face the undeniable truth: Kain was under Golbez's control, and no amount of pithy pleading would change that.

By the time I struggled to a stand, the flash of the boy Zacharias that had resurfaced when I heard Kain's voice was buried once again beneath my cold stare. I panted heavily and the pain in my back etched lines across my vision, but I didn't falter. "So... I see how this is."

Kain laughed as he climbed the stairs. "Such a naïve young boy. I must say, I was impressed when I heard about your handiwork in Baron... I'd never have guessed that someone so buried in the so-called Dragoon code of honour would kill so freely - so easily."

"Really?" I finally caught my breath, and my voice stopped trembling. "After what your master has done, I don't see how any of that could surprise you."

"Ah, yes, I'd almost forgotten how obsessed you've been with getting revenge. Is that why you've come here, then?"

I shook my head. "You should know the answer to that."

"What, that you've come by accident?"

"Call it a lucky coincidence."

Kain had begun to pace slowly toward me, and I backed away, crossing toward the wall of windows that looked out upon the moonlight. I kept one hand tentatively within reach of my spear, though I couldn't ignore the little voice in the back of my mind reminding me that it had once been his.

For his part, Kain chuckled again. "It was certainly lucky, I'll give you that. You've come a long way since we parted if you can hide yourself so well under my nose."

My eyes narrowed. "So that was your ship. What do you want with Cecil?"

"The same as you, I imagine - simply a means to an end. Unless, of course, you still want him dead, in which case I can't say I disagree either."

"Want him dead? What do you mean?"

"Zach, don't listen to him!" Melody had returned to my side and was staring darkly at Kain. "He's just trying to manipulate you."

"Oh-ho!" I tried to decipher the triumph in Kain's voice, but it was to little avail. "It seems your little White Mage friend knows something you don't."

"Shut up!" I pulled out my spear, holding it at the ready, and glared at my former mentor. "If you're going to kill me, dispense with the pleasantries and do it already, if you can."

"As you wish."

He moved faster than I had imagined was possible. I moved to defend myself with barely a millisecond to spare, but already he was moving again, striking at me with the butt of his spear. It caught me in the gut and I stumbled back, winded. Trying to clear my vision, I could vaguely make out the blur that was his spear sailing through the air towards me. I ducked down, nearly losing my balance, but struck out with my foot and caught him in the leg. He stumbled slightly and didn't fall, but it was enough for me to get to my feet and begin to strike back.

The clang echoed in the cavernous room as our weapons clashed, sending vibrations through my fingers and straight to my skull. I struck again, aiming a blow at his head which he parried easily, and again, this one aimed at his thigh, and again, and again, and soon my limbs were moving of their own accord as the instinct I had spent those long weeks trying to perfect came to the forefront and I simply stepped out of myself to watch. Here I was, fighting Kain, the man whom I had known - and mourned - as my mentor, trying to suppress all the anger and betrayal I felt, worried it would sway my focus, that I would find myself outweighed by his swiftness and his skill.

But the cloud of rage would not die away. As I fought, my blood boiled and I trembled. My attacks became less and less calculated and precise, slowly becoming more and more aimless, random, and inaccurate. It was everything I had told myself time and again never to do. But I had been prepared for anything - anything at all - but this.

Another of Kain's well-placed kicks and I was sent flying backwards, landing roughly on the floor. I was winded again, and I tried to stand, but found that I couldn't, leaning heavily on my spear as I tried to support my own weight.

My former mentor laughed again, lowering his spear. "Still the same old boy you were back in Mist, aren't you? Always letting your fits of rage get in the way of what really matters."

"Shut up!" I said, still panting heavily. "Do you still want to fight? Come on!"

"Zach, no!" Melody was at my side again, trying to help me stand. "He's too strong for you!"

I shoved her off. "No! If he wants a fight he'll get one!"

Kain sighed, shaking his head. "Still he thinks with his fists. Well, so be it, I suppose."

And then another voice chimed in, making Melody and I jump. "Oh, darling, don't wear yourself down... let me play with this rascal of yours."

"Oh, no..." I said quietly.

The voice laughed, sending chills through my spine. Beside me, Melody clutched my arm. A breeze soon began to toss my hair about my head, growing cooler until I felt goose bumps rising under my sleeve. I knew who was coming to join us, but I refused to give her the satisfaction of a shiver.

"W-what is it?" Melody chattered out beside me.

My frown deepened. "Barbariccia," I said.

The air grew colder, and then suddenly began to form into a swirl of fog. The fog grew narrower and narrower, and finally parted to reveal a woman of surpassing beauty. Her long, yellow hair flowed well past her knees, swaying about in the unnatural breeze that emanated from her porcelain skin. Her yellow eyes flashed hungrily as her bangs floated away from her face and her plump, red lips. She was wearing scarcely enough clothing to cover a newborn infant. She laid a hand seductively on Kain's shoulder, and toward us, flashed a frightening grin.

"So this is your protegé?" she said, looking me over. I tried my best to stand defiantly, but in my state I think all I was able to manage resembled a starving zombie. "Not quite what I expected, I must admit."

"Barbariccia, I presume?" I said to her, still panting. "I was expecting more myself, after what I heard about Scarmiglione and Cagnazzo – or have you always been the whore of the group?"

Melody's horrified expression didn't tame my satisfaction at the dark look that crossed Barbariccia's. "Perhaps this pupil of yours would look better as a block of granite," she said menacingly, taking a step forward.

"Now now," said yet another voice, and this time my blood ran cold with fury. "Surely such civilized people can solve their problems without all this violence…"

It was as if a dark shadow had fallen on the room. What little moonlight was left seemed extinguished, the clouds becoming dark and ominous, as Golbez strode into the room from the crystalline staircase that led from the top of the evil tower. Barbariccia humbly slinked back to Kain's side, laying her right arm over his shoulders and delicately brushing the fingers of her left hand over his breastplate. Kain himself watched his new master smugly, his own fingertips weaving their way through her obscenely long hair. The scene made me sick to my stomach.

"Well, now that we've all settled down," Golbez said through the impenetrable darkness of his helmet, his cape sweeping the floor around him. "What do you think of my tower, boy? A masterpiece, don't you think?"

I couldn't answer. My eyes twitched with rage. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Kain suppressing a chuckle.

After a moment, Golbez made a small motion which I took to be the equivalent of a shrug. "Oh, well… there is just no pleasing some people, I suppose."

"Shut up!!" I finally managed to say. In retrospect, I should have just left it there; instead, I blundered on stupidly, "I'm here to put a stop to you! You've got too much innocent blood on your hands!"

"Have I?" Golbez chuckled. "And what would you know of the blood on my hands?"

"I know enough! I saw what you and your people did to Damcyan! I saw you burn the village of Mist, and I watched you kill my father!!"

There was a sudden silence when I finished. It was heavy with something I couldn't quite put my finger on. Everyone in the room was staring at me, including Melody, with a look of perplexity.

And then, as I looked on in shock, Kain began to laugh.

It was a long, pealing laugh, one that made me shiver without quite knowing why. Next to him, Barbariccia was smiling broadly. I was ever-conscious of the eyes on me, and when I turned around to look at the tears forming in Melody's eyes, I began to consider for the first time that Kain might not have been lying… that maybe she – and everyone else – did know something I didn't.

My voice was surprisingly calm and level when I spoke. "What?"

Melody's lower lip trembled and she closed her eyes, heaving a very shaky sigh. "Zach… Golbez wasn't… he…"

She was interrupted by Kain, who had finally finished laughing. "This-this is hard to believe… how can it be that I didn't see it sooner…?"

"That will do, Kain," said Golbez, much in the same manner a parent might indulgingly chide his son. "It is a true tragedy we see here before us… all this time, the poor boy has been chasing the wrong man."

"Wrong man?" I spun to face him, holding my spear menacingly. "What do you mean, 'wrong man'?!"

"I'm afraid…" He paused, bent his head, and then chuckled quietly before continuing. "I'm afraid that I had nothing to do with the murder of your father. In fact, I have never set foot in Mysidia."

The feeling of one's heart sinking to the bottom of one's stomach is quite unlike any other experience – with the exception, perhaps, of traveling by the Devil Road. To learn such a truth is a feeling of morbid humiliation accompanied by absolute horror and confusion. And in the face of this inevitable sensation, my reaction was no different than anyone would have expected.

I gulped for air as I tried to make sense of what I had heard. "You're… you're lying!"

It was Golbez's turn to laugh, a much darker, more foreboding laugh than Kain's had been. "Denial is such an unfortunate thing. I suppose we should tell him who was responsible… don't you think, Kain?"

I looked, distraught, to Kain, and for less than a second, I was sure I saw something twitch in his expression, the evil grin momentarily gone and replaced by a look of revulsion and fury. But soon the grin was back, and Kain was looking at me with a perverse joy spread across his face. "Yes, Master," he said.

"Kain…" I tried to say, but my voice was so unsteady it emerged as little more than a whisper.

"In fact," said Golbez, "perhaps the best person to ask would be the very man you've been searching for."

With a look in my eyes that could kill, I said with a trembling voice, "what do you mean?"

"He means," Kain interjected, "that the man who killed your father was none other than Cecil himself, and you've been too stubbornly obsessive to realize it."

The colour left my face. I could feel something shattering inside of me. I could only shake my head in disbelief. "No... it's not true! It can't be true!"

Frantically, I turned to Melody, but in her I found no reassurance; tears welled in her eyes, and through gasping sobs she said, "I tried to tell you... I thought you knew, I thought you wanted revenge back in Mysidia, I..."

She could say no more. My head was spinning. "I didn't... I wanted to..." I said aloud, to nobody in particular. "I stopped the soldiers... I protected him...!"

"Aw, the wittle bwack mage has wost his hewo," said Barbariccia in a grotesque, babyish voice. "What's wrong, boy? Can't take knowing that your so-called 'Holy Knight' is a lie?"

I heard her laugh, but distantly, as though I wasn't even in the room. The blood had returned to my face, which now burned a fiery crimson with humiliation and anger. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. I wanted them to be lying, even Melody, but there was no denying the truth... and the weight pressed on my heart.

My knees buckled and I fell to the floor, my palms slamming against the floor. I balled them into fists and brought them down again, so hard that I felt my hands beginning to bleed. I felt Melody's hand on my shoulder and heard her sobbing, but I shoved her away. She was a traitor. She didn't tell me. She knew all along but she didn't tell me...

"Poor, pitiful child," Golbez said as he strode toward me, his bootsteps echoing off the walls. "Now you learn that there is no... how did you put it? Ah yes, 'innocent blood.' Truly, there are no innocents. There is nothing but power and those who use it. The 'innocents' you speak of have not yet discovered power... and as you have now learned, men like Cecil need only understand what their power can be used for, and it will then sweep them away with the rest."

I gritted my teeth, my eyes clenched, face toward the floor. "And... and you? You're a moster! How are you any better than he is?!"

"In fact, I don't cling to the foolhardy belief that I am any different, and neither should you. I have seen, boy, how much pleasure you extract from the kill... it feels good, does it not, to know that you have power over those whom you have laid to eternal rest?"

"Shut up! I am not like you!!"

"Oh, but you are, more than you can imagine, except that unlike those like you, who have power but who waste it on one another, I use mine for a greater purpose..."

"Greater... rgh... purpose...?"

He turned from me, his cloak sweeping around him as he did so. "Yes... what you feel right now is utterly insignificant, for when I gather all of the Crystals and the Way to the Moon is open, everything will be as it should be."

He began to walk back toward the staircase he had descended, and then stopped. "Oh, Kain... you may kill him now."

I looked up sharply, feeling for my spear, and realizing it had fallen from my hand and rolled away. I looked at Kain, and saw him grin with glee as he raised his own and began to walk toward me. "I will enjoy this," he muttered as he drew nearer.

And then I looked into his eyes with all the hatred and fury I could muster, and I saw him falter. Something happened in his eyes, as if something inside him were fighting for control. The spear, poised high above his head and ready to pierce the last of my life from me, halted in midair, and he looked as if he were struggling to bring it to its destination.

"Kain..." I whispered.


"Kain," he whispers, and still I struggle. I fight for control, I fight the beast that has haunted me for so long. The spear trembles. I am fighting as hard as I can, but I am losing. The beast will win - my master will win. I stand there, the spear poised above me, willing Zacharias to get out of its way before I can finish the job.

A tear struggles its way from my eye. He sees it... he recognizes it. I am sure now. He recognizes me, he knows that I cannot control what I am about to do. He knows what I have become... and I am flooded with a mixed sense of relief and horror, and above all, I want him to collect his spear, to defend himself as I would have taught him to do had I been given the chance.

"Kill him!" I hear Barbariccia say, and my heart is filled with loathing at the thought of the distasteful acts my body has committed with hers. The spear wavers. I know that if I do not kill him, she will, and far more efficiently than I. I battle with myself again, wondering if I would be showing mercy to just kill him now, rather than let her have her way, which would undoubtedly make both Zacharias and his White Mage friend suffer greatly.

But before I can make that choice, moving faster than I had thought she was capable, the White Mage leaps over to Zacharias, her hand on his, and there is a brilliant flash of white light. I see the last of his revulsion, rage and pity, feel it wash over me, before they both disappear and the light begins to fade.

The point of my spear reaches the floor. The sound of metal on stone resonates through the chamber.

Zacharias is gone.

I hear Barbariccia's shriek of rage, and I hear her raving at me for my cowardice, but I do not care. He will live. I remain content with wondering whether, perhaps, there will be a day when I am no longer Golbez's captive... a day when I can see him face to face as myself, and tell him how very proud I am.

My body turns and starts toward the stairs, ascending to await the Master's punishment.