Disclaimer- I don't own any of the Final Fantasy characters in this story. I do own Trevor and the Spectral Knights though. :D
Author's notes: Writing the history for the Spectral Knights has been fun and a unique experiment.
I've been able to create Terra as I wanted it to be, and even better, I've created all these new characters which instantly leapt off the page and had people caring about them. I guess all my practice helped out over the years. XD
Well, this is the conclusion to the Blood and Nightmares trilogy. It's long enough that I could easily justify breaking into 2 chapters, but I figured that since you guys have been so awesome with your reviews and whatnot, that I would put extra effort into this chapter. I've been writing over 1000 words a day for the last week (NOT an easy task) just to fill space and get everything ready. Hope you guys love it. XD
Chapter 11- Blood and Nightmares Part 3
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"I'M THE REAL KAITEN!" the copy shouted again.
"We know!" Zidane said, still struggling to take the copy down. "We heard you the first dozen times!"
I felt helpless standing by the sidelines while Zidane combated the Terran warrior. They matched blow for blow, often with Zidane barely keeping up. I knew Kaiten's fighting style and I might be able to create an opening, but fighting one's counterparts in this place just lead to serious injuries. I had to stay back so the others wouldn't question me more than they already would.
I was in big trouble. Already, my mind was searching for the next lie I would tell to cover myself.
"This has gone on too long," Freya said, readying her polearm. "I'm gonna end this."
As Zidane kept the clone busy, Freya ran out behind their scuffle. I could tell that the clone was a far cry from the real Kaiten, because Freya was able to sneak up behind him and slash his legs open just below the knees. The real Kaiten would have engaged both of them at once, using one sword to fight each of them if he had to.
As the clone fell, Zidane finished it up by digging around his armor, cutting through his chestplate and slicing the Kaiten copy's neck open. Blood spurted out for a moment before he collapsed and disappeared.
"Awesome, he's dead," Amarant grunted. "Let's get moving."
"Just a sec," Zidane said, winded. "I need to catch my breath."
"We should keep moving," I said. "We don't know what else could be in here."
We needed to get moving so we could run into the boss monster here. The sooner we did, the sooner the others would be distracted and they wouldn't ask me about—
"Hang on," Freya stopped me. "What was that just now?"
"Uh… what was what?" I stalled. I knew what she was going to ask and I still didn't have a good explanation in mind for the Kaiten clone.
"You know what," Freya said. "That gargoyle copied you like it did the rest of us, but it didn't make a copy of you. It was some guy named Kaiten."
"We don't have time for this shit," I said. "Who knows what Kuja could be doing to the others right now! We need to go back!"
"No, she's right," Zidane said. "You're hiding something Trevor, and two minutes won't make a difference."
The three of them cornered me, cutting off all hope of escape. I felt like a mouse surrounded by three large, hungry cats.
"Guys, can we NOT do this?" I asked. "I have no idea what's going on."
"Normally, I wouldn't care," Zidane said. "But you're holding something back from us. Remember the 'two souls' thing from when we fought that mist monster?"
"Two souls?" Freya asked.
"I didn't tell you?" Zidane asked. "When we fought the monster that made mist, it grabbed Trevor and said he had two souls. None of us knew what it was talking about."
"Oh really?" Freya asked, crossing her arms.
Great. Like things could get any worse.
Kaiten, I could use some help here!
Like before, my shouts to the voice in my head were met with an unsettling silence. Whatever Kaiten was doing, I didn't hear a response.
KAITEN!
"So what is this?" Zidane asked, stepping closer. "What are you hiding?"
"What, you don't trust me?" I stalled.
"I can't comfortably fight alongside someone if they hold important secrets from me," Freya said. "Don't make me lose that trust Trevor."
My pulse raced and I started to panic. Ideas swam through my head all at once, each competing fro my attention. What should I tell them? Malfunctioning gargoyle? No, they wouldn't believe that. Long lost brother? Not enough truth. Evil twin? Too much truth. There was always the actual truth… which would cause more questions than answers, as well as continuity errors. The rest of them didn't even know about Terra yet, much less Earth.
"Trevor!" Zidane shouted. "Come on! What's wrong with you?"
"I… it's just…" It was at that exact moment that I had an epiphany. If I played my cards just right and carried the lie far enough, then the others wouldn't take this any further.
"I don't… I don't exactly like talking about it," I said, nervous that someone would catch me in my lie.
"Why not?" Zidane asked, still very suspicious.
"It's just embarrassing," I said, doing my best to blush. "When I was younger, I lived in the barracks with my father, Captain William Delores. I used to dress up like a soldier and pretend I was this hero named Kaiten Saeis. My father let me have this blue ceremonial armor and a pair of decorative swords. I was thinking about it when the gargoyle attacked me. Maybe it read my mind and copied the image."
I looked at the others to gauge how they were reacting to the story. Amarant's expression was unchanged, but that wasn't news. Zidane's eyebrow rose and Freya scrunched her face. My heart raced again as I started glancing about for a way to run.
"I dunno," Zidane said. "Is that really it? It doesn't sound right."
My mind snapped. If a lie wouldn't work, then misdirection would have to.
"Look, this place clearly isn't normal," I said. "What about you? You can read the scribblings around here! And what the hell is this 'Mother Terra' thing?"
"How would I know?" Zidane said, getting defensive. "Like I said, it was like the words were just popping into my head. And we all saw that room with the faces."
"Let's just agree that this is a weird place and that we should leave as soon as possible."
"Yeah, sure," Zidane said. He seemed unsure of himself, but waved a hand our way anyway. "Let's just get through this. I don't want to spend any more time here than we have to."
He started walking into the next room and the rest of us followed. As we began walking again, I looked at Amarant and Freya. Amarant didn't even seem cognizant of the conversation we just had. Freya though, seemed suspicious. She stared at me out of the corner of her eye, until we reached the platform.
I knew she didn't believe my story.
"You can't trust her."
I nearly jumped at the new voice. At first, I looked around, thinking that Soulcage had somehow survived and come back to haunt me. After a moment though, I realized that the voice was coming from my head. It was just like the first time Kaiten talked to me.
"You can't trust any of them," the dark voice said again. "They know too much and they don't trust you."
Who are you? I demanded. "How are you talking to me? Did you get injected into my head too?"
"I'm here to help you," the voice said calmly. "The others would never understand about Earth, or video games. Their existence is a lie, but yours is truth!"
But wha… how do you—
"Let me help you Trevor. They already don't trust you. You can see it in their eyes. They talk about you when you're not around. You know they don't like you."
What are you talking about? I started to question, but a quick glance at Freya's accusing stare reminded of what she was thinking.
Oh, right. But how can I trust you? Who, or what are you?
"My name is Damien. I'm here to help you."
Damien?
I was met with only silence. Whoever—or whatever—Damien was, he was gone for now.
Great, I thought. Now I have two of them up there.
XXXXXXXX
"All members sound off."
"One ready."
"Two ready."
"Three ready."
The members of the Spectral Knights counted off, one by one. They were understandably nervous. After walking for two weeks through treacherous mountain passes and sneaking too far into Brummian territory, they were hundreds of miles from the front line, cut off from supplies, friends, and even radio contact with command.
For this mission to work, they had to isolate themselves completely from their homeland and keep their enemies all around them. Even they, the so-called Monsters of Olesta, were tense in these surroundings. Now that they were ready to carry out their mission, they approached Ckelen-te-Clu's compound, entering through strategic points.
Ckelen-te-Clu itself was a castle, complete with perimeter walls and high towers. Hart Innural was somewhere inside the central keep, but beyond that, they didn't know what this building housed. They each had their own objective to cover and squads to follow.
"Alright, everyone's in position," Kaiten said. "I don't need to tell you guys twice to be careful. Stick with your groups and carry out the mission. This will be Brummia's deathblow."
"Yeah, about that," Remus called out. "Doesn't this seem a little unbalanced? I mean, Cyl, Borrik and Aiex are in one team, but Ank and Karis are with me. Shouldn't we split things up a little?"
"These orders came from General Saiko himself," Kaiten said. "He would only tell us to divide like this if it would work out best for us."
"Alright," Remus said cautiously. "If you say so LT."
"For the record, I don't like this either," Aiex called out over the radios.
"Enough complaining," Kaiten ordered. "We have our objectives. I'll see you guys when Aitris, Makareth and I find Innural."
"Fine, copy."
A round of grumbles came out from the radios. Zareth heard everything from a dark corner in the courtyard. He pulled his staff out, ready to begin summoning his next beast. All he had to do was keep a distraction outside for the facility's security force. Multiple summons while keeping himself hidden were just another part of the job.
"We'll go when Zareth signals us," Kaiten said. "Zareth, you ready?"
Zareth took a step out from the shadows, keeping himself against a wall. "Ready," he said slowly.
Zareth began chanting, holding his staff out as a summoning circle appeared underneath him. It glowed slightly in the twilight, but he was in an isolated section of Ckelen-te-Clu. He would attack the other side of the base and the security force would never find him.
"Adremmelech!" Zareth finished.
There was a brief flash, followed by sparks shooting out of the ground where Adremmelech appeared. He was a Capricorn, with the body of a man and a head of a goat. The torn wings on his back, which seemed too small, complimented his twisted visage and had most of the flesh carved from them. Somehow though, he was able to use it to keep himself in the air.
"The tower," Zareth ordered, giving the goat demon its first target.
Zareth reached to his earpiece to signal the others. "Go," was all he muttered.
"You heard him!" Kaiten called. "Move out!"
"Gee, Zareth sure is chatty today," Remus teased.
Zareth ignored both of them, concentrating only on keeping himself hidden while watching Adremmelech attack the base. He flew high into the air, spun once, then charged up an attack. Lightning poured from his mouth like he was drooling it. The more he collected, the brighter it grew. Finally, when it seemed it couldn't get any brighter, he launched the lightning, striking against a large tower. The Intel they had said it was just a research tower, but the assault was more than enough to get the guards' attention.
Zareth glanced to the side, hoping his teammates were alright. He didn't talk much, but they were the closest things he had to friends. Growing up, he was constantly mocked for his dark attitude and his preference for ancient scrolls. In the Spectral Knights, he found a group of people who would not only lay their lives down for him, but actually expected him to help them as well. That feeling of importance was vital to Zareth.
They were all very deep in hostile territory. Zareth stepped out of the shadows, swearing that he would keep all the guards out of the building, and he would crush any resistance who tried to enter Ckelen-te-Clu. It was the least he could do for his friends.
It was too bad he never saw the sniper on the neighboring building.
Innural had expected them to come today and had more than a few surprised ready for the Spectral Knights. And one of them was looking through a scope, aiming right for Zareth's heart.
With a squeeze of the trigger, a silent shot cut through the air. It hit its mark, striking Zareth right in the lung and knocking him onto his back. He didn't even know what had hit him at first. It was like the air solidified just to punch him. However, when he saw the glint of the sniper's scope reflect off the moonlight, Zareth knew he was in trouble.
He pointed to the sniper, using his psychic connection to Adremmelech to signal the next target. With another mouthful of lightning, the goat demon made short work of the sniper, blowing up the rooftop he was hiding on and the rest of the building.
Zareth was hurt. The sniper round cleared straight through him, leaving him with a gaping wound in his chest. He had to signal the others… No… Zareth reasoned. They were too far away and he would only distract them from the mission… maybe even get some of them killed.
He had to radio the others… so he could say goodbye…
Zareth laid on his back as his arm slowly worked up his body, to reach the earpiece. But even as he did, three more snipers gazed at him through their scopes. Before Zareth's hand made it even halfway to his headset, three more shots rang out, each hitting their mark… One in the arm… one in the stomach… and one through the heart…
As Zareth's lifeforce disappeared, so did Adremmelech, until there was nothing left of either of them.
XXXXXXXX
"Sir, we've taken down their summoner, Zareth Melth."
"Excellent," Hart Innural said to his guard reporting in. "Make sure to extract his soul quickly. We need to contain it before it leaves the body."
"Already underway sir," the guard saluted.
Innural sat back in his chair deep within Ckelen-te-Clu. Thanks to his "dear friend" General Saiko, he knew every detail of the Spectral Knights' plan. There was nothing they could do to stop him or escape. It was just a matter of time before he possessed the ten most powerful souls on the planet.
He flipped through the monitor channels until he found one of the squads running through the hallway.
"Which team is this?" he asked another guard.
The guard flipped through the dossier General Saiko had sent over. "That would be… Remus Tilfan, Karis Wark, and Ank Fultide, sir."
"Good, they're the next ones to fall into my traps."
Innural pressed a series of buttons on the console before him and let the traps take care of the rest.
XXXXXXXX
The green platform we rode on looked just like the one in the stone face room. It glowed as we rode it down in an elongated spiral deep under the earth. Only a few stones lit up the under regions of Oeilvert. There was a large room underneath, decorated wildly with colorful stones on the walls and floors like a mosaic.
Most notable were the triangle tablets we had been seeing all over the ruins. There was one large triangle at the far end of the room. It sat upright with some decorative stones beside it, set up like an altar.
I knew that inside was the Gulug Stone Kuja needed.
"What an empty room," Freya said, craning her head to look around. The corners were so dark that we couldn't be sure where they were exactly. It looked so vast that I wasn't sure if it wasn't an illusion. "Why would this room be so open? What was it used for?"
"Who cares?" Amarant said. "Is this where the stone is?"
"Let's try that thing," I said, pointing to the altar.
Zidane walked up to the altar. As he approached it, it lowered violently, jerking quickly after decades of uselessness. Zidane jumped back at first, but when a small panel opened up inside the altar, revealing a smaller triangle stone, he approached it again.
"I guess this is the thing Kuja was harping about," he said. He grabbed the stone and stuffed it into his pack. "Time to head back guys."
Zidane hopped down from the altar, but barely made it three steps before the whole room started to shake. It forced us to our knees as we looked around for any signs of danger.
"What is this?" Freya asked.
"Maybe the stone was trapped!" I shouted. That was just what we needed. Maybe the boulder from Indiana Jones could come out and chase us just to complete the image.
"Something's coming!" Zidane yelled. He ran to our side just as the far wall, clouded in the darkness, burst open. Dust rolled in, as did several large chunks of wall. They bounced a few times, echoing in the open room, but as I listened to them crash, I heard something new. A whirling sound, like several large helicopter rotors spinning at once.
In moments, we all heard it. The sound filled the room, as did the sound of steam and ancient creaking metal. As the sounds got closer, the defense system of Oeilvert came into view.
It was an airship of sorts. It was painted black, gunmetal and gold, with a few streaks of red on the side. It had the body of a boat, but with three massive propellers—two in the front, and one massive rotor where the main mast belonged. One the bow was an insanely angry looking dragon's head, mostly as decoration. Underneath the head was a sword, hilt and all, measuring about two-thirds of the length of the thing's body.
The entire body turned to face us, making Ark, the Lost Eidolon, look even more menacing.
I stared up in a mixture of wonder and horror. "This… is gonna suck…"
XXXXXXXX
"All I'm saying is, it's weird."
"Remus, enough," Ank complained. "Yes, the bosses have never sent us on a mission like this, but the LT says it's alright, and I'm gonna trust him."
"But they could be lying to him too!" Remus argued. He tapped his staff against the ground as they walked.
Ank sighed, juggling a lone throwing knife in one hand. "Always with the absurd theories."
The dark tunnels of Ckelen-te-Clu accommodated the Spectral Knights well. The closed quarters gave Remus plenty of walls to bounce his magic off of, or contain his powers. The short halls let Karis and Ank sprint to their targets or in Ank's case, just hit them from afar without much threat of engagement. Zareth had hit the power terminal in part of his initial strike, shutting down all non-essential power. The halls glowed a deep red as the emergency lights came on to keep occupants from crashing into things.
It had been an easy assignment so far.
"It's not that crazy if you think about it," Remus said. "You know how the other soldiers look at us."
"And that leads to some paranoid worry with no proof behind it," Ank was quick to point out.
With Ank and Remus arguing, Karis had plenty of time to think for himself. Their mission was to find and destroy a new weapon being developed, code named, "Neutron Star". Intel reported that it had the ability to kill everyone within a five-mile radius while leaving all vehicles and buildings untouched. Such a weapon would allow the Brummians to overtake all Olestan advances made in the last year and retake their territory in a matter of days.
It should have been an easy objective, but something bothered Karis.
"Hey, guys?" he asked.
But Ank just kept pushing the argument. "This is just like your idea that Aitris was putting spiders in your bed!"
"Aitris WAS putting spiders in my bed!"
"Guys?"
"You said he was trying to kill you! He was just trying to toughen you up."
"No, I said he could have killed me and that he probably didn't care either way."
"GUYS!"
"What?" both Remus and Ank shouted at him.
"Don't you think it's been a while since we heard Zareth blow something up?"
All three of them stopped in the middle of the hallway and listened. All of Zareth's summons were big and caused widespread destruction. The only reason he would stop destroying things would be because either his target was obliterated or there were no more enemies around. Since the Brummian army would arrive any second to help protect Ckelen-te-Clu, there was no shortage of targets.
"You're right," Remus agreed. "It is odd."
"Maybe the Brummians haven't sent in their army yet," Ank suggested.
"I'm calling it in," Karis said. He pressed his earpiece and waited a moment. "Zareth, you there? I don't hear anything blowing up."
There was a moment of static, then silence. The three Spectral Knights traded glances, worried that maybe something had happened to him. Zareth insisted on fighting alone, sure that he would be able to stay hidden in the shadows. Now that confidence seemed like too big of a vulnerability.
"Something's wrong," Remus said, starting to worry.
"Well, hey, you know how he is," Ank said, nervously trying to come up with an alternate explanation. "He barely speaks. Maybe he's standing there with his radio on."
"Lieutenant?" Karis continued. "I can't seem to raise Zareth. Request permission to backtrack and locate him."
To his horror, Karis was only met with more static.
"What is this?" Ank asked. "They can't be gone too."
"Lieutenant Kaiten was with Aitris and Makareth," Remus pointed out. "They wouldn't be taken out by anything short of half the building blowing up, and since I haven't heard anything like that, I'm sure they're still alive."
Remus touched his hand to his ear, checking his radio as well. After a moment, he stopped and came to a grim conclusion. "They must have activated a jammer. We're out of contact with the rest of them."
"Well, we should have seen that coming," Ank pointed out. "Let's just finish this so we can regroup faster."
"Alright," Remus said. "How much farther to the weapon we need to blow up?"
"Well, if our Intel could be right about one thing, it's probably down that hall over there," Ank answered, pointing to a T-junction up ahead. The lights seemed to glow in that direction, as if they were guiding the three.
"Let's get this over with," Karis said, taking a few steps forward. "I don't want to leave Zareth hanging if he needs help."
"You and me both," Remus said, walking forth as well.
The three of them only made it to the three-way intersection though, before a cackling laugh over an intercom system stopped them in their tracks. A section of wall slid open opposite the intersecting hallway, revealing a screen that hummed to life.
Hart Innural appeared before them, looking down at them from the monitor.
"And so the mighty Spectral Knights come to bother my place of business," Innural taunted. "How wonderful that you have no idea how much trouble you're in."
"This looks like a live feed," Ank said, talking as if Innural wasn't even there.
"Guess that means Kaiten hasn't reached him yet," Remus added. "Won't be long though."
"To hell with you three," Innural said distastefully. He detested anyone who didn't admire his brilliance, for he was indeed a genius.
"Hey, can you knock it off?" Remus said. "We're trying to have a conversation here."
"I can see you're not interested," Innural said. "Perhaps this will change your mind."
The image on screen flashed, changing to a camera monitoring the outside of the compound. Ank, Remus and Karis all watched curiously at first, but soon watched in horror and disbelief.
On screen, Innural's guards were tossing Zareth's corpse into a transport truck.
The angered Spectral Knights watched as the guards laughed, kicking at the summoner's body, ripping his hat off and tossing it around like a Frisbee. All three viewers felt their blood boil. Learning that one of their own was dead was bad enough, but to see him desecrated was unspeakable. Karis' hands glowed with raw power and Remus' staff trailed fire. Ank was the first to react though, grabbing a throwing knife and lancing the screen. The stored energy released and shattered the monitor, kicking it out from the wall.
"Miserable bastard!" Ank yelled.
However, they could still hear Innural laughing at their misfortune. It echoed in their head, but they had no time to plot revenge. With the screen gone, a new enemy poured from the walls like water.
Aracharons.
The exploding robots crawled like the insects they were designed as, chasing after their new prey. Remus reacted quickly by soaking flames into the newly created hole in the wall. Thousands of tiny pops went off as the aracharons exploded, but it didn't slow their advance at all. As soon as Remus tried to catch his breath, the spider-bots regrouped, forcing the Spectral Knights to retreat.
"Quick, down this hallway!" Ank shouted, taking the lead down the intersecting hallway. Not a second later, ceiling panels collapsed and more aracharons pressed forward. They covered the floor, casting it in shining silver. Impressive as the display was, just one was enough to kill, and with the modifications Innural's team put on them, they were right behind the retreating invaders.
"Go faster!" Karis yelled.
"How could they design an entire hallway like this without any rooms or other halls?" Remus asked while they ran.
"It's a trap!" Ank yelled back. "They must have set this up!"
"We need another way out!" Karis shouted. "Cover me!"
All three of them stopped running. Remus kept a firewall between them and the aracharons while Ank took pot shots, taking out dozens of robots for every throwing knife. However, for every robot they destroyed, there were literally hundreds left to replace them.
Karis went to work quickly. He pressed his hands against the nearest wall and spread his energy into it. They needed to hop into another room where the aracharons couldn't follow, just like in Allumant Fortress. He channeled the energy through the brick and mortar until he had gathered enough and was ready to blow a hole wide open.
"Karis!" Remus shouted. "Any time now! I can't keep this up!"
"Ready!" Karis said. "Watch for shrapnel!"
Karis released the door and let the energy set itself off. After a moment, he covered his head and an explosion blasted all around him. Karis glanced up at their salvation, ready to be done with these damned robots.
But there was no other room. All he had done was tear out a chunk out of the wall. This would not save them.
"What the hell is this?" Karis shouted, dumbfounded that the plan had failed.
"Fall back!" Ank called out. "I'm almost out of knives!"
"I need a breather!" Remus said. The firewall collapsed and he treated. "Come on Karis!"
The aracharons pressed forward, still numbering in the tens of thousands. They swarmed the hallway, overtaking everything until it was impossible to see through them. However, if the rest of the hall was like this, then there was no telling if they would be able to escape. They could even be running towards a dead end. Karis already lost Zareth.
He would not lose Remus.
"Karis!" Remus called. "Come on! Get moving!"
"You guys go!" Karis called back. He powered himself up, setting a deep purple glow all over his body. "Someone has to keep you two safe."
"Karis, what are you doing?"
Karis knelt down and pressed both hands in the hall's corners, keeping his feet spaced evenly apart. The aracharons came close enough and hopped onto Karis' skin.
"Karis!"
Karis gave Remus a slight glance back. "Tell Kaiten I'm sorry. And kick this Innural guy's ass for me."
"NO! KARIS!"
Karis suppressed the need to scream in pain as the robots began digging into his skin…
Suddenly, the whole hallway shook, overcome by one final explosion. As Karis released all the energy in his body, he blew open a hole in the floor. The hall might not have had rooms, but there was an entire floor below for the robots to fall into. The aracharons that were immediately around him exploded with him, destroying his body in the process…
"KARIS! YOU CAN'T DIE!" Remus cried out. He jumped out to reach for his comrade.
"Remus, STOP!" Ank shouted. "You can't do anything!"
Ank held onto Remus desperately, trying to keep him away from the blast zone. The aracharons poured into the hole like a waterfall. Although they should have been relieved, both Remus and Ank could only stare at the bottom of the hole as the robots dispersed.
…All that was left of Karis was a gory pile of meat.
Remus fell to his knees as he looked at his best friend's pitiful state. After all the years of backing each other up and keeping each other alive, this is how Karis died. Sacrificing himself because Remus couldn't outrun a swarm of micro-bots. He felt miserable.
"Remus?" Ank nudged gently after a moment. Remus was still in shock and didn't react at first.
"Remus!"
"Huh- what?" Remus looked back at Ank in confusion.
"C'mon," Ank finally said. "We need to continue on mission."
"Oh, yeah… right," Remus finally said. "Let's go."
Remus stood, slowly, giving Karis one last look. They still had a chance to complete their objectives and get away, but as far as Remus was concerned, this mission was a complete disaster.
How could things get any worse?
"Hey, Remus?" Ank asked. "Do you hear an alarm?"
XXXXXXXX
The buzzing alarm blared while red strobe lights flickered. It made running down the hallway much harder than it already was. A terrible nerve agent flooded the hallways, coming out of the vents and making passage impossible.
Cyl, Borrik and Aiex ran as quickly as they could, but the gas behind them was deadly. One touch of the organophosphates and they would be paralyzed, subject to death when their lungs stopped working.
"This is bad!" Aiex shouted. "We have to hide somewhere!"
"Door!" Borrik said. "We'll hide there!"
Borrik was the first to reach the room. He threw the door open and fell in. Aiex ducked in next and grabbed Cyl by the hand, carefully pulling him inside as well. Cyl had to bow as he entered as his massive armor barely fit in the doorway. As soon as he was through, Aiex jumped against the metallic door, sealing it behind them.
"That was close," Borrik panted.
The room itself was empty. A rubber seal on the bottom of the door would keep the gas out, preventing a horrid death. The only detail of the room that stood out was a section of wall that jutted out, almost like there had been a hearth there that was now covered by smooth plaster.
All three Spectral Knights sat down to catch their breath. They had triggered the trap releasing the gas on the other side of the complex. After running for several minutes, it had finally stopped flowing, but still filled the halls.
"This is insane!" Aiex complained. "We were supposed to raise a little hell and free some POWs! This mission is all kinds of screwed up!"
" I don't understand," Cyl said. "It is as if this mission goes wrong at all the worst times. We've seen no signs of POWs, countless traps, our radios are out, and I haven't heard one thing blow up from Zareth for twenty minutes!"
"I'll try the radio again," Borrik said, pressing his earpiece. "Kaiten? Are you there?" He was only met with a few seconds of static. "Kaiten? Aitris? Remus? Is ANYONE there?"
"Give it up Bor," Aiex said. "For all we know, we're the only ones left."
"No!" Cyl yelled defiantly, his voice echoing inside his helmet. "We are simply out of contact! I am sure the others are fine."
"I hope so," Borrik said, sadly thinking what it would be like as the last Spectral Knights.
Suddenly, like with Ank, Remus and Karis, a screen opened on the wall on the far side of the room, just over the covered hearth. Hart Innural appeared before them, chuckling to himself in glorified superiority.
"And so I find another group of rats crawling through my home," Innural gloated.
"Another group?" Borrik asked. "Did you attack the others?"
"Calm yourself," Cyl said. "He is attempting to anger us to cloud our judgment."
"You're all so much more polite than the last batch," Innural said. "Still, you will end up the same as them. You were supposed to collapse in the hallway, but as I AM a genius, I planned for this."
There was a soft mechanical whirl, like a drill unscrewing several bolts. The sound came from the hearth as its paneling started to shack. After a few seconds the panel fell, revealing a very large, very threatening bomb. It wasn't a standard explosive, but was instead a shrapnel bomb, covered with large barbs. With an explosive charge the size of a football, the barbs would have no trouble cutting through even Cyl's armor.
"It could have been so much easier for you three," Innural said. "Your deaths would have been painless, but now I have to resort to this. Just remember that you only have yourselves to blame."
Borrik reacted immediately by bringing his cleaver straight through the screen, cutting Innural's image in half. The meaningless destruction felt comforting, but it didn't help them in the slightest when the timer on the bomb lit up.
It read 00:10.
It started counting down at once. 00:09.
"Borrik!" Cyl called out.
"Got it!" Borrik shouted. He held his hands out at the bomb and concentrated his magic.
"Slow!"
00:08.
An orange orb fell over the bomb, slowing time within it. It helped, but it only delayed the inevitable.
"Well, this sucks," Aiex said. "We can get blown up in here or we can suffocate out there. Not to sound like Ank, but this is a shitty way to die."
"Perhaps," Cyl said, pacing the room. "Or perhaps we can find a way out."
"How?" Aiex asked. "Hope that we can somehow fight our way through an entire hall filled with nerve agent? Or that somehow Borrik can slow the explosion so much that it won't effect us when it goes off? Sorry, but that's not how physics work!"
00:07.
"Oh yeah," Aiex continued. "And drilling through the floor won't work since we're on the bottom floor! Isn't life grand?"
Cyl turned his head to gaze at Aiex through the side of his visor. "Brother, you have too little faith."
Cyl brought an armored hand up and threw a solid punch into the adjacent wall. It echoed for a very short moment.
"This wall is hollow," Cyl announced. "It probably has another hallway on the other side."
00:06.
"Are you sure?" Aiex asked. "What if it just leads to another room?"
"Even if it doesn't, will waiting around here doing nothing accomplish anything?"
Aiex could see the logic behind it. It was a creed that Olestan soldiers were constantly told. Better to die fighting than beg for more time.
00:05.
"Guys?" Borrik said hastily. "Whatever you do, do it fast!"
"We need to cut through here," Cyl said. He hoisted his sword up onto his shoulder. "We shall cut through the wall."
With one mighty swing, Cyl took action. His sword, Zweil, pierced the wall and sliced through it like a loaf of bread, but stopped suddenly. There was a two-foot scar in the wall, deep and dark. Cyl pulled his sword out and could see a layer of iron beyond the layer of brick he already cut through.
00:04.
"This… may complicate things," Cyl said. For the first time that either Borrik or Aiex had known him, Cyl was showing fear. He stood back from the wall, unsure if they could actually make it out now.
00:03.
"My control is slipping!" Borrik said. "We're not gonna make it!"
But Aiex wouldn't have any of it. "Like hell we are!" He grabbed his war hammer and swung it around his light frame, twisting back as far as he could. Cyl barely had time to cover his visor before Aiex swung back, crashing it into the brick wall. He released his energy within the blow, destroying an entire chunk out of the bricks. All that was left was a sheet of iron. There was still a scratch left from Zweil's strike.
Aiex twisted back and swung again, crashing into the iron wall. It wasn't enough to break through, but it did bubble, showing its weakness.
00:02.
"One more will do it!" Aiex said. He started to pull back for a third strike.
"Wait!" Cyl said. "Lets make sure it works!"
Cyl struck in Aiex's place. One strike cut through the thinning metal along a diagonal, then an accompanying strike cut in the other way, leaving a large X in the wall and allowing light from the next hallway over to shine in. The light was their salvation.
"Quickly!" Cyl shouted. Aiex twisted back...
00:01.
The war hammer crashed into the wall. This time, it burst open, spilling light through. Aiex's face lit up and he threw his hammer through the hole. He pulled his way through, offering his hand for his teammates to climb through with him.
"Guys, come on!" he encouraged. "You can make it if you hurry!"
Cyl made a motion to climb through, but stopped as soon as he started. He looked at the hole, then Borrik. He stepped back, stabbing his sword into the ground at his side.
"Aiex," he said slowly. "Go."
"No…" Aiex said in disbelief. "No, I'm not gonna leave you guys behind!"
"You have no choice," Cyl scolded. "The hole is too small for me to crawl through, and Borrik can't move without cancelling his magic. There's not enough time for us to get out. You can make it." The heavy arms soldier turned to face his death, rather than let the barbs stab him from behind.
00:00.5."
"Just leave Aiex," Borrik pleaded. "This mission was a complete snafu. You need to get back to Olesta and find out what happened. Maybe someone sold us out. Please, find them and kill them for us."
"Guys…" Aiex said slowly, horrified. "I…"
00:00.
Borrik's control over Time magic had done all it could, but the bomb finally reached the end. The explosive ignited, sending a chain reaction off. The blast wave kicked the barbs out at twenty thousand feet per second. Borrik was killed instantly as a barb pierced his head and his body was impaled on the far wall against the door. Cyl's armor did nothing to protect him, though it did stop most of the barbs from penetrating him completely. As he was knocked back against the hole, Aiex could see his friend's back lined with spikes like a hedgehog pie. Blood seeped down each puncture wound like tears.
There was a sudden silence that for a long time, Aiex didn't think he could break. He didn't know how much time passed as he watched the blood drip down Cyl's back. Finally, as the shock slowly wore off, Aiex stood up, pulling himself with the use of his hammer.
Aiex finally broke the silence in the only way he could. He arced his head back and let out a long, mournful roar. He screamed as loud as he could until his lungs burns and his throat threatened to close on him. He had just watched two of his teammates die, from a squad that just that morning, he would have called invincible.
Aiex's power coursed through him, powering his hammer the second he grabbed it. In his rage, he smashed every piece of brick wall along the hallway as he wandered deeper into the base.
Hart Innural was going to pay dearly.
XXXXXXXX
Ark was far stronger than I would have guessed.
So far, Freya and Amarant were the only ones who had any hope of attacking the airship. Though it was largely stationary, hovering in the cramped room, Ark still had plenty of defenses to throw at us. Freya was able to jump attack every now and then when Ark wasn't attacking, while Amarant could grab rocks and chunks of rubble from the ground to toss up at it.
"This is insane!" Zidane shouted as we ran side by side across the massive room. "How are we supposed to hurt that thing?"
"You could try trancing again!" I suggested. "I can't use my magic in here, so that's probably our best bet!"
"You know we can't fully control when that happens!"
"It was worth a shot!"
There was a loud, mechanical click coming from the back of the room. I had heard it in the game a few times, but I still had to see it to know what was happening. A pair of disks slid to Ark's side from his undercarriage and pulled themselves back, like a frisbee.
"Duck!" was all I had time to say.
The disks launched themselves out and came within feet of us. Ark's perfectly aimed throw would have sliced us in half if Zidane and I hadn't fallen to our stomachs. The golden disks flew overhead, then boomeranged back into place on Ark's body. It would have been amazing to watch if it couldn't kill us so easily.
"Dammit!" Zidane cried out. "We can't keep doing this!"
"I have an idea!" Freya shouted. "Amarant, I need him distracted!"
"Don't tell me what to do!" Amarant said grumpily, but he complied all the same, throwing more rocks at Ark's faceplate. The enormous airship turned around to stare him down, as if they were both setting up for the most one-sided fistfight in history.
"Good," Freya said, reaching Zidane and myself. "Now we can win. Zidane, you hold onto me and we'll hop onto its back. I don't think it can reach us there. We'll just find a way to destroy it from there."
"Good plan," Zidane said, taking her hand. "Let's go."
"Hang on!" I said. I saw the way Freya was talking, speaking as if I wasn't even here. "Don't leave me behind. I'm going with you."
Freya glanced at me, still obviously distrustful. "It's enough of a strain to get one of you up there," she said. "I don't know if I can get both of you up onto that thing."
"So you'd rather leave me down here, where the next attack could kill me at any moment?"
"Freya," Zidane bumped in. "We'll need every bit of help we can get. And besides, you haven't been able to use your dragon magic, have you?"
As Freya weighed her options, there were a dozen loud hisses coming from Ark, like a bucket of water being poured into a hot pan. Dozens of strings of light shot out of some cannons on Ark's main deck, aiming right for Amarant. The strong-armed bandit had only seconds to react as the Photons crashed into the ground where he had been standing, but it still kicked up a mess of rubble.
Amarant was quickly knocked out of sight.
"We don't have time to argue!" Zidane said. "Freya, get us up there!"
"Alright, fine," she finally said. She grabbed both of our hands and we took off towards Ark, but Freya kept talking as we went. "But no weird stuff from you," she glared at me. "I've had enough mysteries for one day."
"Yeah, sure, whatever," I muttered.
Like I could control when weird shit happened to me.
XXXXXXXX
"ALL UNITS, COME IN!" Kaiten shouted into his earpiece as he ran at a mad dash. "DAMMIT, SOMEONE ANSWER!"
"Give it up!" Aitris yelled from his side. "We haven't been in contact with them since we walked in here!"
Kaiten just growled at his sergeant. "I have to try! Makareth is dead! We don't even know what happened to the rest of the squad!"
In their attempts to reach Innural, Kaiten, Aitris and Makareth had encountered multiple traps. They quickly tired, leading to Makareth making a wrong move, placing him in front of a soul-enhanced Vulcan cannon. He never stood a chance. Kaiten didn't have the stomach to count how many pieces Makareth's body was blown into.
"So, the plan's the same?" Aitris asked as they rounded another corner. A sentry gun popped out of the floor in front of them, but he took care of it at once with a Fin streaking across the ground. Traps like that had been springing up intermediately.
"Find Innural," Kaiten commanded. "I'll kill him before he can pull anything else. Then we knock out the communication jammer, stop all his traps, then pull everyone else out."
"Boss, you know, we might be the—"
"We are NOT the only ones left!" Kaiten barked. "We only know that Makareth and Zareth are down. Everyone else must have completed their objectives by now."
Aitris didn't have the heart to confront Kaiten on his foolish enthusiasm. Both of them both knew what the others' chances were. Someone had set them up back home, most likely some cowardly appeaser, linking mission Intel to Innural or someone in Brummia.
Kaiten was gonna have a lot of asses to kick when he got home.
"That bastard's central control room should be around this corner!" Kaiten said. "If there's one thing right about our Intel, please let it be the map!"
Aitris had never seen Kaiten like this. Mission after mission, they went up against overwhelming odds, yet he always stayed calm and led his men to victory. The thought of losing one man drove Kaiten to near insanity. Aitris didn't even have to wonder though, if this rage was caused by losing his troops or losing the battle.
Kaiten was as loyal to the other Spectral Knights as they were to him.
"Here!" Kaiten yelled, skidding to a halt in front of a large door.
The door was ornately designed, complete with a sleek shine and a detailed, golden doorway. The rest of Ckelen-te-Clu was cast in drab, grey walls and ancient architecture. This room, however, matched Innural's need to stand out. Obviously, he had redesigned it after he became the chief scientist to match his ego.
"Let's go," Kaiten told Aitris, without even asking if his sergeant was ready. Kaiten powered up a pair of Explosions on the tips of both his blades, then crashed them together. The Whirlwind that formed burst through the doors, utterly destroying them. They fell in chunks and splinters, revealing the control room on the other side.
Inside, the room was cast in bright white, making it look far cleaner and more sterile than any other section of the facility. The lights were bright for a change, and computers lined the walls. There was a high ceiling, taking up much of the floor above, allowing for greater supercomputers. Several holograms showed statistics and video feeds, many of which showed the dad Spectral Knights. Aitris almost stepped back in horror at the sight. They had suffered far worse casualties than he had feared.
Kaiten saw all these things in his peripheral vision, but focused all his attention and fury at the desk in the back of the room, sitting high and mighty on a raised platform.
Hart Innural just stared right back.
The madman of Ckelen-te-Clu wore a flowing white lab coat, unbuttoned with a clean and pressed dress shirt underneath. He was the epitome of performance in Ckelen-te-Clu and his attire and composure matched. He stood proudly, but without a smile, gazing at Kaiten, aware of the danger the man still posed.
"HART INNURAL!" Kaiten shouted. He had never been so angry before in his life. He barely kept it together as he took the first few steps into the room. Aitris entered behind him.
"Your continued crimes have led to countless deaths of my countrymen," Kaiten snarled. "And you killed my squad"
"Six of them," Innural was quick to quip back. "And if I recall, you broke into my office."
"You're a monster!" Kaiten's arms and blades glowed as his rage fueled his power. It flowed throughout him like wildfire.
"Purple magic," Innural speculated. He wanted to move closer to investigate, but he knew that moving from his desk would lead to his immediate death. "Such a mystery. Your power is second only to the legendary power of Trance, but of course, no more Trance users exist. Such a shame…"
"Will you shut up!" Aitris yelled. "I'm sick of you. I'm gonna rip your arms off and beat you to death with them!"
"Your arrogance was your undoing," Innural taunted. "You all believed yourselves invincible, and when reality struck you, you couldn't face it. You only have yourselves to blame for this."
"I dunno," came a new voice from the doorway. "Blaming you seems pretty satisfying."
Remus walked into the room, beside Kaiten. His powers were overflowing as well. His entire left arm was coated in ice that fit him like a sleeve, constantly streaming and never stopping. Fire covered his right arm and moved the same way. His control allowed him to wield the magic without feeling the slightest hint of heat of cold.
"And the third survivor arrives," Innural said, folding his arms behind his back.
"Remus?" Aitris asked. ""What happened to you?"
"Karis sacrificed himself to save us," Remus said. Steam poured out of his mouth as he breathed. "Ank died while we were running to this room. Five sentry guns popped out of nowhere at once."
"You can thank my automated defenses for that," Innural said.
"THAT'S IT!" Aitris shouted. "YOU DIE!"
Aitris was about to charge and give way to his bloodlust, but a loud thumping began shaking the entire floor. The supercomputers shook as the thumping drew ever closer, until it began echoing in everyone's ears. Then, there was a brief pause, followed by three concussive bursts. On the third one, the wall to the Spectral Knights' left blasted open, collapsing a panel of computers. A cloud of smoke and electric sparks flew as a silhouette walked through, wasting no time in entering the room.
"You miserable fuck!" Aiex said, dragging his war hammer in behind him. His hoisted his hammer up, slamming it down into the floor and cracking most of the floor tiles in the room. He walked the entire way to this room destroying and damaging everything near him. He wasn't about to stop.
"And now all the survivors are here," Innural said, still showing no sign of fear. "I must admit, you managed to get through all the traps I set out before you, even though I knew your every move. I'm impressed."
"So we were sold out," Kaiten said, calming down. He was glad to see that he had at least a few squad mates still alive. "We're going to kill you Innural, then we're going home and killing everyone involved in selling us out."
"Well, you would have," Innural said confidently. He walked behind his desk and took a seat. "Too bad for you that I am a genius. I have planned for every contingency, even if every one of you had made it to this room."
Innural pressed a button at his desk, and soon, mechanics began rotating and pushing things into place. Suddenly, a thick glass sheet slid from the floor and connected with the ceiling, shutting Innural off in a large glass box. He folded his hands in his lap and leaned back in his chair.
"You should have left when you could," Innural said. "But I'm glad you didn't. I've been experimenting with souls lately, trying to outdo my predecessor Boleman. You see, his theories are rather limiting, and I would very much like to break them. I don't believe he ever had the honor of studying souls infused with Purple magic."
"Then you're going to be disappointed," Kaiten said. "Knights, attack the same point on the glass! It could be bulletproof."
"I'm afraid you won't get the chance," Innural said. "This glass is triple coated in selazane. It is physically impossible for any of you to break it, even with Purple magic. And besides, you have other problems to deal with."
Another sheet of glass slid over the door to the room. There was a sharp hiss from the ceiling as a white cloud started seeping through the vents. Outside, all four Spectral Knights could see a hail of gunfire pumping out of three or maybe four sentry guns. Even if they did run out, they would be torn to shreds in seconds.
"My desk isn't ventilated for a reason," Innural pointed out, pointing around the ceiling. Indeed, the section of glass he was contained in didn't have any vents. It was completely airtight.
The heavy gas sank to the floor quickly, cutting off any chance of escape through any more holes in the walls. All four remaining Spectral Knights gripped their weapons tightly and stood back to back, staring down the room in all four directions. Kaiten looked straight at Innural, understanding the weight of the situation.
"You had better kill us," Kaiten said. "I don't know what you're planning, but if you leave even one of us alive, we will kill you and destroy everything dear to you."
"Bold words," Innural said, finally flashing a cruel grin. "But you're too late. I will take every precaution to ensure my total victory."
As the gas seeped closer to the center of the room, Kaiten could only stand proudly as an Olestan soldier, and more importantly, as the leader of the Spectral Knights. He raised his sword up, standing defiant to the end.
"THE SPECTRAL KNIGHTS WILL NEVER DIE!" he cried out.
"GARUUU!" Aitris, Remus and Aiex cried with him.
The cry lasted as long as it could, until the gas finally overcame them. It rendered them all unconscious in mere seconds. Kaiten fought it as long as he could, but fell to his knees and dropped his swords. The last thing he saw was Innural, staring down from behind his glass shield.
"Somehow…" Kaiten muttered as his teammates passed out. "Someday… I will kill you…"
With the last of his strength gone, Kaiten fell forward. He was asleep before he hit the ground.
XXXXXXXX
It turned out that Freya's plan didn't go as well as we thought it would.
Although Ark was a large airship hovering in a cramped room, he was able to bank and rock, trying to knock us off of its back. Zidane didn't last long and fell below and hit the ground hard. The situation got worse when Ark turned his attacks on us, even though we were right on top of him. A series of Photons kept Freya busy as the ship turned and banked.
I managed to hide myself away in a small alcove in the stern of the airship. I was protected from Ark's rapid movements as well as his Photon and Boomerang attacks. I couldn't do much to attack, but in all truth, we should have retreated when we had the chance.
"Trevor!" Freya yelled as another cluster of Photons pounded the deck. "We need to do something! Find a weakness!"
"How?" I yelled back. "This deck is solid, and I don't see any doors or hatches anywhere!"
I had managed to make a few nicks in the paneling, but as far as any actual damage went, I had made no progress. My magic was still sealed by this damn place, otherwise I could cut Ark in half. Amarant had made a few dents in the faceplate and I lost track of everything Freya was able to do, but so far, things were looking bad.
We were going to die at this rate.
Kaiten, I thought, using up my last trump card. I don't know what happened to you, but I could really use a hand here…
Like before, Kaiten was silent. Now, with him gone, Zidane and the others barely holding it together in this fight, and me without my magic, I really didn't know what to do. My story couldn't end here, could it?
Kaiten!
"…No…"
My eyes shot open. I even stood, gripping the paneling so I could keep my balance. Kaiten, are you alright?
"NOOO!"
Suddenly, the world around me exploded. A sudden rush of wind overtook all my senses. I could feel power rushing through me like never before. My eyes went numb, even though I still saw everything with perfect clarity. However, the sound of Ark's rotors was deafened by the overwhelming wind all around me, as if there were small tornados in each of my ears.
The sensation probably lasted a few seconds, but it felt like it took a minute to complete.
When it ended, my entire body was numb, and my body was glowing a deep blood red. I wanted to look, down, to examine when had happened, but I wasn't in control of my own body. Kaiten had taken over.
"Kaiten? Did you Trance?"
I was hardly a mind reader, but I could tell that Kaiten was too forgone to talk to me. Something had happened to him. Perhaps it was because he had been silent for so long, or because this place had done something to him.
Kaiten stood away from the paneling and walked so calmly, it almost seemed like Ark was hovering perfectly still.
"THE SPECTRAL KNIGHTS WILL NEVER DIE!"
Kaiten rushed out from cover. He moved so fast that red followed behind him like a shadow. He made for the main mast, clearing the distance in mere seconds. He struck quickly, digging my orange short swords deep into the wood. Even without Chi, Kaiten could still do some serious damage.
Ark noticed the damage at once. Even though it wasn't enough to seriously hurt the airship, he still took notice of it. Ark fired a barrage of Photons at us, piecing them closely together.
Kaiten just stood his ground and watched as they got closer.
"Kaiten?"
Just as it seemed too late to dodge, Kaiten jumped backwards. He moved so quickly that I barely registered the moment. In a split second, my body had moved ten feet away, just out of range of the Photons. Instead, they crashed into the mast, adding to the damage that Kaiten had already inflicted. The wood split and cracked, breaking beyond the point that the metal trusses could support.
Kaiten took another balanced stance and swung the short swords through them once more. Using finesse rather than strength, Kaiten was able to sever enough of the remaining mast, causing it to collapse. It fell to one side, chipping and creaking the entire time, until finally, the main mast fell free and Ark fell out of the sky.
"Look out!" Freya shouted as Ark plummeted. She jumped free and prepared for the impact. I could only hope Zidane and Amarant weren't underneath the airship. Kaiten slammed the short swords into the deck and gripped right.
When the impact finally came, a rush of wind came out from under the hull. The others were probably knocked away by it. I was just glad that my entire body was numb, because the shock that wracked it would have completely thrown me off. I could tell that my joints were barely holding together, even after the crashing ship threatened to pop my joints out.
"Oh god," I muttered. "Do you think you could warn me next time you do something like that?"
"Not over!" was all Kaiten said, though I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or to himself. Almost as if in response, Ark let out another barrage of Photons from the stern. Kaiten took off, this time running for the bow. The Photons punched into the deck again, further adding to the damage around the remains of the main mast.
The explosion behind us shot splinters everywhere, but in his Trance state, Kaiten was able to outrun it in a split second. His speed, agility, dexterity and strength were hitting tiers that I didn't think my body was capable of. I wondered what he could do if Oeilvert's magical seal wasn't suppressing him.
As Kaiten neared the bow, he jumped. He leapt over the end of the ship and aimed for the thick neck leading out to the dragon-shaped faceplate. The guardrail was barely noticeable, but it was enough to hold on to. The neck wasn't meant for people walking on, so Kaiten had to anchor himself on the guardrail for the next attack.
He struck a short sword deep into the back of the head. The faceplate may have protected from frontal attacks, but its back was considerably weaker. A twist of the thrusted blade and the metal panels were forced open, revealing rows upon rows of circuitry and wires.
Kaiten wasted no time in slashing through the wires. Sparks crackled everywhere and jumped at him, but he kept cutting through. Ark seemed to whine in protest, just as a fire sprouted to life within his head. With one final stab deep into the back of Ark's head, the last vestiges of "life" within Ark started to fade. An explosion deep within the faceplate brought fire and smoke pouring out at Kaiten. He hopped the distance to the ground, landing hard, but gracefully.
Ark was left sparking and damaged beyond repair. The others gathered to watch as Kaiten just walked away, not bothering to watch the smaller explosions that ripped through Arks hull.
"Trevor!" Zidane said excitedly. "That was amazing!"
"Wasn't bad," Amarant said, folding his arms. Freya just watched from a distance.
"But, one thing's off," Zidane continued. "I thought you turned green when you went into Trance. Why are you red?"
Kaiten made no effort to interact with Zidane or the others and just kept walking towards the elevator platform. He stepped up and the large green stone hummed to life.
"Hey, Trevor!" Zidane called out. "Wait for us!"
But Kaiten did no such thing. The elevator zoomed off, leaving everyone else behind.
"Kaiten!" I called out to him. "What the hell are you doing? The others are gonna get suspicious!"
The color finally faded from my body as Kaiten's trance left him. He sat down quietly in the middle of the platform, obviously trying to rest for the long ride.
"Kaiten?" I asked after another minute. "What's going on? Are you alright?"
"No, I'm not," he finally said. "Not by a long shot."
XXXXXXXX
Kaiten stirred, trying to wake himself up. The knock out gas did a number on him and the rest as the surviving members of the Spectral Knights.
The room he was in was dark. There were no windows and there were no lights. There was only a dull pain in both his arms as his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness.
"The hell… happened?" he asked. "Guys…? Where are you?"
Kaiten blinked, trying to find his bearings as quickly as possible. It was only then that he realized that he was hanging by his arms. His feet weren't touching the ground. And the pain in his arms was only getting worse.
There was a noise to the left. Kaiten turned his head to see what it was and saw three silhouettes, two standing next to a cart and one hanging from the wall. Kaiten narrowed his eyes to look at the figure on the wall. It took him a moment, but he could tell who it was.
"Aitris?" Kaiten called over weakly. But Aitris didn't respond. He just hung motionless, as if the brush of wind could knock him over. There was a weak glint in his eye that Kaiten had seen thousands of times before.
Aitris was dead.
"Aitris!" Kaiten called again. The shock of seeing one of his last remaining friends succumb to death awoke him to his surroundings. The two men sitting by the table came into focus. Hart Innural was one of them. He was holding a large vial filled with a thick green gas in both hands to the second man, his assistant. The gas inside the vial was highly charged, shifting with bolts of energy every few seconds.
"Innural!" Kaiten hissed. "What the hell did you do to my sergeant?"
"You're awake?" Innural said, honestly surprised. "I guess the leader of the famed Spectral Knights has far more potential than I suspected."
"Don't fuck with me you freak!" Kaiten shouted. He thrashed in his confinement, but soon found the pain in his arms to be too much. He yelped in pain and settled down, but the pain did not subside. He examined his arms and saw a dozen hooks inserted into the skin, some even threading through muscle tissue.
Innural just had to torture him even while his was unconscious.
"I don't suppose you know what this is, do you?" Innural said, tapping the vial on the table. There were eight others just like it joining the first. "No, I don't suppose you would. This, my dear fellow, is a soul, ripped from its host and contained in a pure energy form."
"What the hell are you doing?" Kaiten demanded, biting through the pain as he spoke.
"Klemison, give me another extractor," Innural said to his assistant. "Souls can make for an amazing power source. Once you pull one out of a body, you can use it to power anything you would like. You've noticed a few of my own experiments using these inside turret guns inside this facility. You can even power a tank, or an airship for over a year on a single soul. But, of course, the body requires a soul and dies without one. Why, just look at the rest of your squad."
It was only then that Kaiten noticed how large the room was. It was set as a deep underground dungeon, complete with chains and tables set out, either for experimenting or torturing. General Saiko's office was only slightly smaller than this room, but was much less horrifying.
Dotting the edges of the room were the corpses of Kaiten's fallen squad.
"And now, you shall join them," Innural said happily. He held a soul extractor in both hands. It looked like an overly large surgical needle, but with cybernetics attached to the needle. A vial for holding his soul was connected to it from the table. "Oh, I can't wait to see what I can do with a soul infused with Purple magic! Klemison, hold his head down."
Kaiten struggled to free himself, but even the slightest movement brought unbelievable pain to him. He could only shout in anger as Innural's assistant held him in place and forced him to look at the floor.
"Listen to me you sick bastard!" Kaiten said in his final moments. "I will come back, even if you kill my body, I WILL find a way to kill you and avenge my squad!"
"To hell with your squad," Innural gloated. "Their power will help me change the course of Terran history! I will go down as the most brilliant mind of all time!"
"INNURAAALLLL!"
As the needle pressed into Kaiten's spine, he could feel something dragging him backwards, even from within his motionless body. There were only a few seconds for Kaiten to wonder if this was it for him…
And then there was darkness…
XXXXXXXX
"And… that's how your squad died?" I asked.
"The rest of them, yeah," Kaiten said. "Fucking miserable. They deserved to die as heroes, not lab experiments."
The elevator reached the top of its flight. Kaiten walked off the platform just as it glowed again and began a descent. Zidane and the others must have called for it from the bottom. We had a few minutes to wait until they arrived, probably very angrily.
"The next thing I knew, I was standing around this big empty white room. Your subconscious. I was in such shock that I didn't even move for days. When I finally did, I was so angry that I think it affected you a little."
"Wait, you mean the feelings of bloodlust I had in the Festival of the Hunt?"
Kaiten nodded, a redundant habit when it was just the two of us. "Yeah. I wanted to kill anything and everything that I could to get back at Innural. But, it was blind and undirected rage, so I guess all it did was alter your perception a little."
"Yeah, maybe." Kaiten's story still had me in a shock. I was glad that he was able to open up to me, but it couldn't have been easy for him. I knew how hard it was to open up to people sometimes.
"Kaiten, you have no idea how sorry I am," I sympathized. "I felt the same way when my mother died."
"It is NOT the same!" Kaiten blurted out. "You lost ONE mother! I lost NINE lifelong allies!" There was a slow, awkward moment as Kaiten collected himself. "But… thank you for the sentiment. I'm sorry I shouted."
"No, don't worry about it," I said. "I know how it is."
I heard Kaiten grunt at me comparing our situations again. He just walked over to the nearest wall and sat down while we waited for the others to show up. I decided to drop the subject and ask another pressing question.
"So, I saw you Trance back there. I didn't know you could do that."
"Neither did I," Kaiten admitted. "I had been wondering what it was like ever since you Tranced in the Iifa Tree."
"Yeah. Trance is supposed to be a really rare ability. Lucky that we have two more people who can do it in our party, huh?"
Kaiten thought for a moment. "Yeah," he said after a while. "But what if it's not luck?"
"What do you mean? Coincidence is kind of a stretch here as it is. I mean, we both use Chi, and we can both Trance when we're pissed off."
"That's my point exactly. My Purple magic stared to combine with you when I started to come out of shock during that festival. My powers coming back must have affected you by giving you your own powers."
"And I Tranced first," I said, seeing where he was going with this. "When I Tranced, it must have unlocked something in you, so now you can use it too!"
"Exactly. That's why our Trance forms have different colors."
"That is… both awesome and freaky."
"Yeah… really."
Kaiten stood and walked into the next room. The projector that showed the two worlds absorbing each other had disappeared, leaving me without a chance for Kaiten to translate it. It must have used the last of its power, because nothing started up when we walked into the middle of the room and stopped.
"Trevor," Kaiten said, using my name for the second time ever. "You take over. I'm going to rest. Just, please… get me out of this place…"
My sensations came back to me as the numbness left me. I flexed my arms and grabbed the hilts of my short swords, still in their sheaths.
"Yeah, sure thing buddy," I told him.
"Thank you."
Kaiten went silent, presumably to rest, or to avoid the rest of this place. I decided not to let him down and started walking towards the exit.
Zidane and the others could meet me outside.
XXXXXXXX
34 pages and 12000 words. Not my biggest chapter by a few thousand words, but certainly one of my longest. XD I just felt like celebrating. ^^
I wanted to make this chapter bigger than this and give all of the Spectral Knights a more endearing send away, but I had a small incident to fix. Instead of working on Shattered Mind last weekend, I had to take care of a friend who had been assaulted by her boyfriend (she's fine now), so if this chapter seems like it's not all it could have been, I'm sorry, but real life is a bitch.
That's why I like living in fantasies more. ;)