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Chapter 9: Oracle of Change

"In the name of the Goddesses, we condemn you to death!" Koume and Kotake spoke in unison, their respective elements building around them. The end of the sentence was punctuated by twin bolts of fire and ice, screaming toward the two Links standing at the opposite side of the clearing.

It only took a swing of his sword to deflect the fireball. Vincent narrowed his eyes, not liking the look of Kotake's grin. Perhaps he had spells that could not be blocked? In the future, he'd have to be more cautious. The twins were both smiling and he noticed too late that energy seemed to be building between them, a swirling mass of red and blue.

Beside him, there was a blur of motion. Something dark flew from Altair's hand, becoming a sheet of shadow as it moved. The black surface quickly expanded, cutting into the ground and blazing in between their opponent. Both jerked to the sides, barely avoiding the streaking attack and ending up well away from each other. Vincent glanced at the other man and gave a slight nod, then sprinted toward Kotake.

The wizard realized the tactic immediately and moved to rejoin his partner. She was running in his direction as well, but abruptly his view of her was cut off by a flashing blade. Vincent's sword sliced through several locks of his hair and Kotake nearly lost his balance in the desperate evasion. Another slash was coming his direction, forcing him to put a burst of magic into flying backward.

Given a bit of range, he charged a quick fireball and sent it at his opponent. To his surprise, Vincent ducked forward. When he did so, he revealed the mass of ice slashing at his back. The opposite elements met and an explosion of force rent the atmosphere. Pushed forward by this explosion, Vincent was upon the wizard even sooner with another attack ready.

"No!" Kotake gave a loud cry and flames burst from his hands, leaving trails of fire through the air as he slashed wildly. Vincent was nearly nicked by the first attack and stepped back, but once he recovered his footing he dodged past further sweeps and swung horizontally. Only by lifting himself into the air did Kotake avoid a grievous wound to his chest.

Meanwhile, Koume struggled to her hands and knees. The explosion had taken place directly in front of her and sent her spinning through the air. She could hope that it caught the Link as well, but she doubted it. If she joined the battle quickly enough, they could probably take him out easily, but-

As her head rose, two dark boots appeared in her field of vision. Throwing herself back on a reflex, Koume sent an indiscriminate blast of frigid air around herself, freezing the grass solid and making the air sharp with tiny ice particles. None of this seemed to bother Altair, who stood before her looking down with expressionless eyes. For the first time, she felt a chill.

"Good day to you," he told them cordially. A glove touched the white fabric of his tunic as the Link gave a slight bow, never taking his pale eyes from them. "Gracious of you to arrive in a timely fashion."

Standing at the edge of the massacre, Hero and Link could only stare at the other man. Cid had drawn his sword and was standing calmly, almost too calmly. There was a moment in which no one spoke, but the Link in white seemed unconcerned, merely watching them with the slight smile fixed on his face.

"Who are you?" Cid demanded.

"A Link, like the three of you. But you may call me Light for the sake of convenience." With another slight smile, he crossed his arms and continued to watch them casually. "I am rather surprised how popular green is among our counterparts. Overall I have been disappointed. It seems all worlds were not created equal, much less identical."

"Why are you here?"

"Come now, is that the best question you have?" Light shook his head slightly. "I came to this world seeking a Shard. The conspicuous tower seems a good place to look, doesn't it?"

"And these?" Cid gestured roughly with his sword to the bodies. For a second Light blinked, glancing at them as if for the first time.

"Corpses. Battles tend to produce those."

"No, you idiot!" Hero yelled, waving his sword. "Did you kill these people? Or were you just fighting the monsters and couldn't save them?"

"Couldn't save…?" Abruptly Light's face split in a dark grin. "Against such miserable creatures, I would hope no one would be beyond a Link's power to save. But you obviously seem worthless, and the kid over there has done nothing but gape in shock. I suppose it is again time to remove the trash."

His blade emerged from his sheath gleaming brightly. Cid shot a hand in front of Link to prevent him from moving, but he needn't had bothered. The young man could see the golden mists that were flowing from Light's feet, slowly covering the area around him. Only an idiot would rush into a situation like that, which meant…

"I am not worthless!" Blade and hookshot flying into position, Hero was already rushing toward his opponent. He stepped into the mist without apparent ill effect, but Light seemed equally unconcerned. When the hookshot fired at his head he tilted it just slightly, avoiding the blow as he moved forward. His own sword shot out, clashing off Hero's, and then his free hand struck the other man's stomach, knocking him backward.

That was all Link saw before he was distracted by something else. Around the two battling figures, the corpses were beginning to lift into the air. Flesh and bones fell from their bodies, but all remained suspended by invisible magic. As the mists continued to spread, more and more of the bodies rose.

Just in case he needed any further indication they were enemies, their eyes began to light up with unholy bright flames as weapons lifted to their hands. Link shivered but mastered his fear. They would probably die just like anything else, as Cid proved when he cleaved entirely through the nearest.

As he moved to attack as well, though, the boy found his body heavy and unresponsive. Not good; he was still too tired from running. One of the corpses attacked clumsily and he managed to knock it down, but the brief conflict left him gasping for breath. Time for a change of strategy, then. He backed carefully to one of the fighters that Cid had defeated and then quickly ducked to snatch up its shield. It would have to do for the time being.

Not far away, Hero was flung through the air, knocking several animated corpses aside. He crashed to the ground and groaned, not moving until a white boot flashed at his head. Though he managed to roll out of the way, Light was still standing over him, his sword raised. Hero fired the hookshot straight up, forcing the other man to throw himself back abruptly, the tip brushing the tail of his cap out of the way.

"You're fond of that thing," Light observed calmly. Hero didn't answer, pulling himself to his knees and preparing to fire another shot. Unworried, his opponent began to walk toward him slowly. "I had one myself, but I threw it away. Handy for a few situations, but ultimately not as effective in combat as a sword."

The weapon fired at him, but he knocked the tip aside with his blade and darted forward, slamming his knee into Hero's chin. Somehow he managed to land on his feet, skidding back and looking up just as Light attacked again. Four of his blows were deflected by the wild swings of his opponent, but the fifth bit through flesh. Hero dropped his hookshot and grabbed the injury in pain while Light flipped his sword back into combat position.

"Miserable. You aren't so bad in combat, I suppose, but you seem intrinsically inferior. Really, it's almost merciful to put you down." Spinning his sword a few times, Light abruptly shot forward, his sword knocking aside Hero's and doubling back around for another blow. All Hero could manage to do was block as many blows as possible, each that made it past his defenses adding another lines of red to his skin and slowly weakening him.

Without warning the white glove was flying toward his face. He tried to hack at it, but found his blow deflected and the fingers around his throat. Grinning, Light lifted Hero off his feet and prepared his sword for a thrust. At the last second his eyes flickered to the side and he moved.

Though several meters back, Light hissed in irritation. A thin cut had been put in the sleeve of his tunic, blood beginning to stain the fabric. Hero coughed on the ground, no longer trying to get up. Standing in front of him was Cid, his sword at his side casually.

"Excellent!" With that cry Light attacked, almost flying through the air to slash at the man standing in his way. Blows were exchanged for a few fierce seconds before he saw his chance and slashed overhead. Somehow the attack slid just to the side of Cid and abruptly there was a knife heading for his stomach.

With unreal agility Light's body twisted backward in mid-motion, letting the dagger's point sweep just past him. Even as it missed he was flipping away, landing on his feet and bringing his sword to bear again. His breath was coming readily through sharp teeth, parted in a slight grin.

"This is what a Link should be," he acknowledged. The other man only took a step forward, raising his blade carefully. "Don't get me wrong, I'd like to continue as well, but perhaps this battle is unnecessary. I think you would be well served to join us."

"Us?" Cid's eyes stared at him, hardly blinking. "I don't think I want to have anything to do with an organization interested in people like us."

"Fair enough, but humor me a moment longer. I have no more interest in the causes and goals of some cryptic organization than you do. They mean to kill all of us, unless I miss my mark. But they clearly have no idea who they're dealing with. Those with the eyes to see can take this opportunity for themselves. Don't you find that at all appealing? To be able to possess whatever you desire, from any world?"

"Yeah, I like the sound of that. I like it too much." Without warning Cid's sword arm snapped out, blade flickering at his opponent's face. Light deflected the blow and reacted with one of his own, meeting Cid's second strike head on. Their blades crashed into one another and both men put their weight behind them, pushing against the other.

"Too bad, then."

With those words Light jumped backward, leaving the battlefield entirely. He landed lightly on a small balcony of the tower, replacing his sword in its sheath. At the base of the tower, the massive stones began to rumble and shift, magic blazing among them. Cid started forward but halted before going too far, realizing they had been cut off.

"Since the tower's defenses are fully charged, I should be about my business," Light explained. The entrance to the tower was disappearing amid the mass of shifting blocks, which was building to cover up the entrance to the balcony as well. "Take some time to think about what I said, unless you can actually break this kind of barrier. But either way, you might want to worry more about your friends at the moment unless you're ready to abandon them yet." Link caught a final glimpse of a grin before the white tunic turned away and was blocked off by the blocks.

"Damn." Cid slammed his sword back into its sheath and folded his arms. The remaining corpses had fallen apart, probably out of range of Light's ability. Link seemed to be about at his limits and Hero was lying on the ground, covered in his own blood. More concerning, however… "Link, take care of Hero," he commanded. "Follow me when you can." With that he burst off into the trees, heading due east.

Link blinked, taking a few seconds to digest what had been said. He hurried to try and help Hero to his feet, desiring to get away from the tower as soon as possible. Though Light should theoretically be occupied for a while, he wasn't sure he trusted anything the white-clothed man said. The further away from him the better. Hero groaned but did manage to stumble along with him.

Reaching into his pouch, Link found several small red potions. He forced Hero to take one and watched, still slightly awed as the magic knit together his skin and clothes. It didn't look like it would be enough to get him back up to full speed, but it was still better than anything he had used in his world. After some thought, he took a quick drink from one of the other potions as well. Immediately sparks flooded his body as if every limb had fallen asleep. Bruises and cuts seemed to fade from his mind. If he was going to be useful at all in future conflict, he would need to be in as good of shape as possible.

That was what he told himself, anyway. As he followed distantly after Cid, Link's mind was filled with images of a flashing white tunic.

By now the air was filled with tiny shards of icy, reflecting the magic light from Koume's hands. She launched a swift burst of ice spikes, but they were all knocked aside. Casually. Effortlessly. Altair continued to walk forward, seeming more apathetic about her assault than anything else.

It was time to try a different strategy. Pausing to build a bit of magic, she abruptly stepped forward and hurled several shards of ice at once. One at a time was getting her nowhere, so – in an instant all of the shards shattered, breaking into pieces that rained across the ground. Had he even used both hands?

"Don't bother with this farce any longer," Altair told her flatly. "Save us all time and teleport away."

"How can you be so arrogant?" she demanded. Her rage was tapping into deeper levels of magic, but she held it around her tightly instead of wasting it on a hasty attack.

"Arrogant?" His head tilted slightly and after a split second he shrugged. "I do not believe so. You must have noticed that none of your attacks have touched me."

"You're all talk. Earlier you split us up, which shows you're rightly afraid. Together, my brother and I are far more powerful. Think you can toy with that kind of magic? You'd be singing a different tune if that other Link wasn't here to distract him!"

Her next sentence faltered as the other words dashed themselves against Altair's unchanging eyes. They shifted just slightly, and she had a bad feeling that he was smiling underneath the cowl. It would not be a comforting smile. "Really? I think you should be very glad Vincent is here. If he were not, I could actually extract real information from you. As things stand, I have to go on crumbs like everyone else."

He had continued to walk forward as he spoke; somehow he was almost in front of her before she realized it. Throwing everything she had into one attack, Koume froze the entire area in front of her into a solid column of ice. Her eyes gave a glint of satisfaction that died as she realized the ice in front of her was clear and empty.

A blow struck the small of her back, smashing her into the frosty wall. Though her magic prevented it from doing immense damage, she could still feel the frigid surface burning against her skin. Altair moved his leg back and seemed ready to kick again, but after reflection paused and put his foot back to the ground. Not yet.

Across the field, Vincent was having a significantly more difficult time. Even with defensive magic in place, flame had singed his tunic in multiple places and he had several burns that would be painful once the adrenaline wore off. His opponent had stopped casting bolts of flame and was using whip-like arcs that snaked through the air and defied attempts to parry them. Still, some of Kotake's blood stained the grass and his breath was coming much faster now.

He ducked beneath a slashing wave of fire as he continued forward, eyes on his opponent. Advancing normally was useless, as this one could fly. If he wanted to get close enough to use his strength to his advantage, he needed to do it in one burst. Just as he pushed against the ground to move forward, he noticed that Kotake had only been using one hand for several seconds. The other was clenched, but flashes of red could be seen between his fingers as they opened…

Vincent brought his other foot down just as dozens of burning red sparks flew toward him. He managed to change his pattern of movement, contorting in midair to avoid them. The movement brought him within range of his opponent, but he had lost too much speed in the jump; his blade was pushed back by a shield of flame and the next moment the Geurdo mage was out of range.

In midair, though, he wasn't attacking. At that moment Vincent realized there were heavy noises behind him, previously drowned out by the magical flames. He took a step forward, feeling something swish past the back of his head even as he turned. Looming in front of him was a soldier of stone, clumsy movements made dangerous by the weight behind them.

It was already moving the other arm toward his head, but too slowly. Vincent swept his blade to the side, cracking the arm enough that it broke off before hitting him. He leapt at the Armos before it could recover, putting his full weight behind the kick. As the monster fell backward to hit the grass heavily, he looked past it and discovered several more were approaching. Reinforcements... not good, especially with-

Only a leap backward allowed him to avoid the burning comet streaking toward his head. He whirled and knocked a few small flames aside with his sword, but several fire whips were already coming in his direction.

Before they could arrive, crushing pain expanded through his skull. He dropped instantly, only barely seeing the Armos behind him through darkening vision. Much faster than normal… the blow was only a setback, but a few seconds would be all Kotake needed to end it. A deep sigh drifted from Vincent's soul. Din… I'm sorry…

Suddenly she was there. He caught only a glimpse of her, red dress flashing past him. The flames slicing down toward his head were snuffed out by the wind. The Armos moving to crush him froze, frost covering its body. He heard Kotake's yell of rage and felt the heat of a column of flame burst down toward them but split against a fierce wind.

She couldn't stand up before an assault like that for too long, though. Forcing himself to his feet, Vincent abandoned his sword and grabbed the frozen Armos with both hands. With all his strength, he managed to hurl it, close enough to Kotake that the Geurdo struck out in surprise. The stone warrior shattered and Kotake glared back at them, but at that instant he was struck head on by an avalanche of stones leaping from the ground and was buried.

"Vincent…" Din was abruptly in front of him, her arms wrapping around him tightly. He stiffly lifted his limbs to hug her back, looking for the remaining Armos. Most seemed to be lumbering toward Altair, so they were not likely to remain much of a threat. For a few seconds he let himself forget the outside world, reveling in the familiar body and silky hair.

"I'm so glad you're safe," he finally whispered, pulling her away to reassure himself she was real. She gave him a quiet smile that transformed her face.

"Where have you been?" she asked, her eyes becoming more serious as they searched his. "I waited and searched, but you seemed to be entirely gone. Then recently there have been monsters and I had to hide out in the woods… oh, here's your sword. I wanted to make sure no one would steal it." She pulled the strap off her back and handed it to him. He took it from her gratefully as he answered.

"I'm sorry. I got sent to another world, and it's taken us a long time to get back."

"Us?" She looked at him quizzically and he gave a soft laugh.

"That's going to be tricky to explain. My companions are all like versions of me from other worlds. A lot has been going on, but-" He cut off as Din's eyes narrowed, snapping to the side as they both felt something shift.

"You bitch!" The earth broke apart in a pillar of magma that for a moment seared the area a bright red. As it faded Kotake stood on the molten ground, eyes blazing with fury. Din and Vincent's eyes widened at the amount of magic he was channeling. Hopefully this was his full power, because if not…

Without warning he exploded forward, leaving a trail of flame in his wake. Before Vincent could even react he was past him, striking Din in the stomach. His flames were blown out by a gust of wind, but the physical force still doubled her over. A second later her husband's sword slashed horizontally, but Kotake was already streaking into the air, pulling her with him. By the time Vincent looked up, they were already a red spark high overhead and two Armos were stomping across the ground toward him.

High above, Kotake tried to channel flame down his arm, but it was met by a surge of water. The liquid seemed to cling to him, moving over his arm and up his body – he gave a roar of anger and all the water evaporated. Through the steam he saw Din watching him carefully, momentarily suspended in midair just across from him.

She hadn't started to fall by the time he attacked again, snakes of flame lashing out. They were met by slashing winds that broke them apart, but the embers sizzled just past her face. Magic raged between the two of them in a vicious globe, enough force being unleashed that both remained in the air.

How could this be happening? This was just the woman of some Link, another permutation of the idiotic hero archetype! Yet this magic power was only several steps beneath his own and her face was hard and serious. She was ready to fight to the death, a situation he was most eager to create. At least he could rob the fool down below of someone precious to him.

Too late he realized that snow was swirling around him. It began to sweep at him from all sides, forcing Kotake to defend himself with a sphere of flame. Din smiled just slightly, one hand thrusting forward and nearly touching the fire. Wind pierced the shield and struck her opponent in the chest. He hurtled away, emerging from the brilliant chaos of the magical battle.

A second later she dropped as well, no longer suspended by the power. Though she was already collecting a warm wind underneath her, the house and ground were coming up startlingly fast. Her eyes searched below for a familiar form in green. Was Vincent still alright?

There was someone else, though, not her husband. He looked very similar but wore a brown tunic, at the moment standing on the edge of the battlefield with his arms folded and the remains of several Armos around him. At the same time she saw him he glanced up toward her. Without hesitating he bolted across the field.

Instead of drawing his sword, he dodged past the Armos that swung clumsily after him. When he vaulted off the ground, kicking off one's face and launching himself into the air, she realized his objective. Even without the slight guidance of her wind he would have made it, catching her in his arms before both of them plummeted.

His boots shattered the thin roof and they crashed to the floor amid a shower of wood and dust. Surprisingly, he managed to land on his feet and his knees bent to absorb the majority of the impact, though the abrupt halt still made her vision go blurry for a moment.

"I assume you're one of my husband's friends?" she asked weakly. Cid glanced at her and nodded brusquely, but before he began to say anything a voice came from the doorway.

"Well, this is new." Vincent stood there, a relieved smile on his face. "I've never had to worry about coming home to find my wife in the arms of another man."

Din laughed softly and Cid rolled his eyes, not quite dropping her to the floor as he got to his feet. "Yes, yes, you're very clever. Let's trade quips after the battle; I don't think the Armos coming at you from behind appreciates sarcasm."

Vincent's smile didn't leave his face, but he did raise his sword in front of him. It was different than the last one, Cid immediately noticed, a thinner and somewhat longer blade that looked like it might be slightly curved. In any case, it flashed from its sheath in an arc that cleaved entirely through the Armos' stone body. As both halves crashed to the floor, Vincent straightened and returned the sword to its sheath. "Agreed."

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This is one of my favorite chapters overall. Light is properly introduced, Din joins the story, and Vincent gets his original sword back. In two weeks there will be another interesting update with some new developments.