[Chapter 10]
[Walking on Magma]
"Hey! Wake up already!" I got kicked out of bed by Alishia. "We've got to get going."
I yawned and sat up, "Okay... where are we exactly?"
She sighed. "We're in Cornelia's inn. Remember?" She knocked on my head.
"Oh yeah, I remember now." After the incident at the Earthgift Shrine, we woke up in the cave before it. We were all sore and close to death, even though we supposedly already died. Cid and the dwarf had carried us to Cornelia. Alishia and I knew it wasn't a dream because Alishia still had the necklace I made for her. That was all I could remember before passing out again.
"So, how are you feeling?" She asked.
"Well, my arms are really sore and stiff." I moved them around painfully.
"Yeah it kind of hurts to breath for me." Her lungs were probably pierced by bones during the battle, so it was no wonder.
"How are Donald and Jordan?"
"Well, Donald still can't move and Jordan is in shock."
"So I take we have some time to kill before we leave." She nodded. "Figures. Where are Cid and Griff."
"Well..." She looked off to the side.
"Ah, dangit!" I ran outside. When I got there, Cid was nowhere to be found. I checked the castle, the whole town, the surrounding area, and found nothing. However, the ship remained in the port. I checked it and found Cid sitting on the deck with Griff on his shoulder. In his hand was a weird game with fifteen sliding panels and sixteen spaces. He was trying to arrange the panels in a certain order.
"Stupid piece of junk!" He threw it and hit me in the face.
"Ow! Watch it!" I caught the game.
"Sorry kid, just trying to... well..."
"Figure out if you're going to leave us behind?" I threw the game overboard, it seemed pretty useless to me.
"Sorry, it was my idea." Griff said. "You see, we haven't been all that helpful so we were deciding on leaving."
I stared at them and sighed. "How about this? If we find another ship, you can go on your merry way to the ends of this dying world with this ship and anyone you want to take, besides us."
"That'd be great, but you kids are our only chance to get back home... and why would I bring YOU FOUR aboard MY SHIP?" Cid grinned.
"Didn't stop you from bringing us aboard the first time." Cid stopped grinning and sighed. "Look, Cid, I'll find a way to get you all back. No matter what it takes."
He blinked, "It sounds like you're thinking about staying."
"Yeah. I might stay." I thought for a while and shook my head. "Best not to think about that now. I'll deal with it when the time comes." I walked away.
I met up with Donald outside of the inn. He was leaning on his great axe for support. "Donald!" Jordan called after him, apparently not in shock anymore. "Get back inside now. You need to rest more."
"No. I'm fine." He told her. "I can't just lie here while the world is coming to an end. We need to find the crystals."
"Where do you suppose we look?" Alishia interupted.
I decided to join as well. "First, we should look for a volcano to find the Fire Crystal."
"Where did you get that idea?" Asked Jordan.
"We found the Earth Crystal deep underground. So the Fire Crystal would be in a place surrounded by intense heat."
"A volcano!" Exclaimed Donald.
"Really? It's a wonder you figured that out, beings I told you that five seconds ago!" I sigh. "Well, what do you say about looking at the wonderful map that Griff has to find this Hell on earth?"
"Cut the speach and let's go." Alishia said walking off.
On the ship we asked Griff to find the nearest volcano. He found one south of Pravoka. So Cid sailed us to a port to the east of it.
"Any towns on the way to the mountain?" I aksed.
"Cresent Lake is on the way there." Cid answered. "There's also a cave to the north of the mountain, and a small desert to the south."
"And you know this how?" Donald asked.
"You kids were out for a while. I learned a few things about this world." He pulled into port. "Here's where we get off." He walked onto land.
We were walking through a huge forest for a few hours until we found a lake with an island in the center. The island had a town in the middle. It seemed like a peaceful place, and it was. When we entered the town, everybody seemed fine without a care in the world. It was a small town with a few shops, an inn, and a church. It was getting late so we stayed at the inn.
The next day, we decided to visit the shops. First we got Donald some Mythril Gloves and a sword of the same kind. Then, Jordan learned an upgraded protect spell that works on everyone and a spell that makes us blend into the area. I learned Thundaga and bought a ring with a sythe on it. We also stocked up on Hi-potions and other items.
Later, I decided to actually look around a village. Behind the weapons shop, I saw a guy sleeping next to some graves. I tried waking him up, but he just kept snoring. I met a lady in the middle of town too. She looked kind of depressed so I decided to talk to her.
"Something wrong?" I asked.
"Yeah." She said, "My husband is always traveling, and the little time he IS home, he sleeps all day! I think he needs to get his priorities straight." Then she grunted and walked off.
After that, I saw Donald walking around. "Hey, dude." I greeted him. "What's up?"
"Nothing." He replied in a depressed voice. "I just feel uneasy, so I decided to walk around."
"Mind if I join you?"
"Yes. I do mind."
"Okay then, I'll join you anyways." I dragged him along. "Let's try the woods next to the Magic shop." He was yelling at me as I dragged him but I ignored him and took him into the woods. Soon, we were in a clearing. In the clearing stood twelve dwarves in a circle. "Great." I muttered, "More dwarf gibberish talking to translate."
The first one to speak was the one to the left of the clearing entrance. Then they all spoke in a clockwise order. This is how it went and my thoughts on what they said:
First: "Twelve sages are we, guided to this land by star and prophecy." (Okay.)
Second: "Four Great Crystals exist in this world. The light that once shone within them is now lost. The four Fiends of Chaos block the power of the Crystals, claiming it as their own." (We know.)
Third: "Fire, earth, water and wind... These are the four forces that compose our world." (...We know.)
Fourth: "The source of the four forces are the altars scattered throughout the world. Defeat the Fiends that have taken root there and lift up the crystal you carry to the altar. The crystal should regain it's brilliance." (WE KNOW!)
Fifth: "The four Fiends plot to rule the world both past and present. The Fiend of wind appeared four hundred years ago, followed two hundred years later by the Fiend of Water. Together they laid waste to the civilization in the north." (...That we DIDN'T know.)
Sixth: "The Fiend of Earth rots the land..." (Yes, that is ALL he said. What uslessness.)
Seventh: "Where the Fiend of Fire passes, all is cast into flame..." (See? Even this guy was more useful.)
Eighth: "When all four Crystals shine once more, return here. All will be revealed..." (Ooooh, creepy.)
Ninth: "Bring the light of the four Crystals to us! Warriors of Light, only you can do this!" (No pressure what-so-ever.)
Tenth: "The volcano Mount Gulg rises to the west of this town. The Fiend of Fire long slept within its passages, but she has awoken two hundred years before her time. Vanquish her before the world is consumed in flame!" (THANK YOU!)
Eleventh: "Well done, Warriors of Light. You have defeated the Fiend of Earth and restored the Crystals light. Sadly, this has drawn the notice of the Fiend of Fire, who was not to have stirred for another two hundred years. Take this canoe, and go face the Fiend in Mount Gulg!" (What? WE caused the thing to wake up? Well, that sucks.)
Then the last dwarf said to us, "I am Lukahn. I see...a cycle of wrath... A dim light...guided by destiny... That which our entire future revolves..." Yeah... he didn't help much. So I had to hold on to the canoe as well as the lute, crown, and mystic key. So we went back to the inn to round up the girls, Cid, and Griff and we set out to Mount Gulg. Fighting monsters along the river while trying to figure out how to steer the canoe properly. It was extremely hard.
Soon we came to the foot of a huge volcano that spewed lava at a steady and constant rate. As we looked up at the towering mass of firey doom, Cid said to us, "Screw that. You wouldn't catch me dead going there." Griff agreed. So we decided to leave them there.
Inside, we came to our first obstacle....... the frickin magma inside! "Any ideas on how we get through this guys?" I asked scratching the back of my head.
"Donald," Jordan began, "You're the leader this time. Any ideas?
"I've got one." He said skeptically. "But it's very painful." Before we could ask, he started RUNNING on the magma.
"What the-!?" Jordan, Alishia, and I asked in unison and amazment. Then we all ran too and let me tell you, IT HURT! I promised myself to NEVER walk on hot coals under any circumstances.
"Okay, how, for the love of the Crystals was that possible!?" I asked Donald very agitated.
"We're in a different world so the laws of our universe don't count sometimes?" He answered.
"It sounds like a bad excuse to me." Replied Alishia.
"Who cares?" Said Jordan. "As long as it works."
Just then two Sphinxes ambushed us. Now, for those of you who don't know, a Sphinx is a creature with the head of a women, the body of a cat, and wings. They separated us. Donald and Alishia were forced back by one and the other had pinned down Jordan. Now being non-athletic I couldn't kill it with my strength so I had to use magic, but all of it was wide-ranged or too weak. So, I had to try out my ring. And out of nowhere, I started to chant a spell too.
"I call upon the powers of the underworld to do my bidding. Bring forth the denizen of eternal slumber and darkness. I summon you... DEATH!"
Then a skeletal form appeared in front of me knealing. It held a sythe and "What do you desire to slay, master?" It aksed in a bone-chilling (pardon the pun) whisper.
"Reap the Sphinx's soul!" I commanded pointing at the monster getting ready to kill attack Jordan.
"I shall do my best, master. But I can't guarentee I will accomplish this task." Then Death turned around and the creature's soul appeared in front of it. It was an exact replica of the creature, but translucent. "Nighty-night kitty." Death chuckled dryly and cut through the soul with it's sythe and both disappeared. I watched as the Sphinx stood above Jordan.... and collapsed.
I ran over to aid her by rolling the Sphinx off. "You okay?" I asked. She nodded shakily as Donald and Alishia ran over.
"What just happened?" Donald asked. "That thing just dropped down dead."
"I killed it." I answered, "With a some help." I added, holding up my Death ring for them to see. They just stared at me. "You... didn't see it?"
"See what?" Alishia asked. "You just started talking to yourself and the Sphinx died."
"Ah, who cares?" Donald said. "It's not important anyways." On that note we, painfully, marched on into the volcano. We found the stairs on the opposite side of the floor and went down. There, we found a long hallway filled with magma and a door next to the stairs. So we had to choose between magma or the monsters behind the door... we chose monsters. Inside was a maze filled with treasure chests. We fought many of them and got a Mythril helm, tons of gil (again), a great sword, mythril gloves, a mythril shield, a mythril axe, a phoenix down, a mythril helm, an antidote, a tent, and a hi-potion. Yeah, there was an area with most of the treasure bunched up.
It was then we found a door to the hall outside. We still had a bit to go, but we made it and went down stairs. On the third basement floor, the floor was randomly separated by gaps of magma. After getting lost twice, we ran down a snaking hallway and got burned a lot at random times. Soon, we found the next flight of stairs. The next floor was a nightmare. There was practically nothing BUT magma and the only safe ground was near the natural pillars of the floor. Also, wouldn't you know it, we had to go UP the next flight of stairs. The floor after that was a maze of magma. We got lost, went in circles, wound up back at the staircase, and soon found the way to continue.
"I'm getting real sick of this." I gasped. We were all tired and panting. "Not only are we out of breath, but it's hard to breath in here AND we'll be dehydrated soon."
"I'm more worried about burning to death." Said Alishia.
"I think we should rest." Offered Jordan. "Don't you think?" The question was directed at Donald.
"Fine." He said. He was really tired but not as much as us because he had the highest endurance. He pointed to a room next to the stairs. "We'll go in there." There were two chests inside and no magma (hooray!). One chest had a gold needle and the other had... gil again (Booo!).
"Ugh... why do these things almost always have gil?" I asked while we rested. I was sitting next to the wall, Donald was by the door, and the girls were in the middle of the room.
"What's your problem with some extra gil?" Alishia asked.
"Nothing. It's just some useful items would be nice."
"Well Donald got that Axe from earlier." Jordan tried to cheer me up.
"I'm not using it." Donald replied. "Those things are harder to hit with." He grabbed his sword and started to walk out of the room. "You all ready?"
"Yeah" I stood up. "Might as well go kill this whatever it is." I thought for a second. "What is this thing again?" Everyone just shrugged. "Huh. Okay. So we're in the dark this time. Figuratively, of course." I gestured to the magma outside the room.
The next room we found had..... yes, more gil. Another had an antidote, a sword that froze everything it touched (geez), a glowing hot sheild (GEEZ!), and..... gil! I quietly gave the gil a "screw you." Donald took the sword and shield. Another room had only a little gil, and by little I mean 1, so I yelled, "SCREW YOU!!!"
The next room had a regular staff and, you guessed it, GIL!!! Luckily, the stairs were past that. The next floor branched into 8, count 'em, EIGHT paths. We went north first and found a dead end. Then we went south and found a long path with a bunch of turns and ended up at another dead end. Then we went south-west. There we found a door. It was really hot and we knew, just knew, that the Fiend was behind THIS door. So we healed up before entering.
The room was the same as the altar for the Earth Crystal except with a red crystal and orb. Unlike Jordan, Donald just blurted out, "I know you're there, freak! So come on out already!"
Then we heard a woman speak, "So you are the ones who defeated the Fiend of Earth and roused Marilith from her slumber." Then a red serpent-woman appeared. She had yellow hair, that flew around from the volcanic air, and six arms, each holding a unique sword.
"So what if we are?" Challenged Donald.
She glared at him. "The power of the flame is mine and mine alone! Those who should oppose me shall burn in hellfire!"
Donald raised his sword and pointed it at her. "I beg to differ you insane freak!" He then muttered something to us. "Stay out of this everyone." We got out of the way. He grinned. "She's mine." He then ran towards her. "Take this!!!"
He jumped swung his sword, only to be blocked by a sword in mid-air. He was then flung across the room. He landed perfectly, Marilith then lunged at him and barraged him with sword strikes. Donald parried them but got cut up a bit. He swung again and cut off one of her hands. She shrieked in pain. "You impudent worm! You'll pay dearly for that." She threatened.
Donald wasted no time in striking again. "You're the only worm here lady!" He was blocked by another sword. Marilith then tried stabbing from all around Donald. He jumped back just in time to avoid her attack. But he fell and landed on his back. Marilith then pinned him down with her swords. I was about to help him but Donald quickly broke free and cut off another hand. Marilith tried barraging him again but he knocked her blades back with his own. She surrounded him with her arms but he was able to block all sides. As he turned to block an attack from behind, she tried stabbing him from he back. He quickly stepped to the side, turned around and stabbed her. She then dropped all of her swords and stared down at Donald as she started to freeze. "Go to hell." Donald muttered and he removed his blade. As soon as he did so, Marilith crumbled into frozen dust that melted and evaporated before it hit the ground.
Donald appraoched the Crystal then and held up his necklace. The Crystal regained it's glow and an earthquake began. "Glad that's over with." He sighed.
"This is bad." I said. "We have to get out before the volcano erupts!"
Donald looked around. "Anyone up for teleportation?" He pointed to a red glyph.
"Not again." I complained, but I stepped on it regardless. We all got out safely.
Author's Note: "Hey. What's the big idea? Why does Donald get an epic fight scene but Jordan didn't?" You may be asking. Well, let me put like this. Imagine a White Mage from ANY game slaying a giant monster on her own... see? It just doesn't work.
[Apologies to Jordan (if you're reading this) and all White Mage fans]