Chapter 14: Arrival
Inside the black hole was terrifying. Void of all energy, it was a deadly black ethereal mist that sucked away any light that dared to come in contact with it. The three ships tumbled and bounced against one another, tossed against the inner walls of the singularity as they continued the final moments of their journey . . . locked in dreadful, silent, darkness. Madness and panic quickly spread inside each cockpit as people scrambled to get the instruments back online of the escape ships, hoping to activate life support before everyone died of horrible asphyxiation. Their frightened voices and vein screams nullified before the noise even left their lips.
Those that weren't madly smashing buttons cowered in fear, bracing themselves and holding on to one another, waiting for the immeasurable amounts of gravity to crush their ships and bodies within them at any second. They could only hope that it would be quick and painless, merely a blink of the eye and their lives would be over . . . but as the moments passed, and turned into seconds . . . and those seconds turned into minutes . . . the final judgment of their lives never happened. They waited in awe and humility, still holding on for dear life as nothing happened. The ships were pitch black, all sound gone . . . the only sense left to the crews of these ships was touch. Their bodies were still warm, their hearts still beat in their chests . . . and in an instant, each ship shook with horrible force and seemed to shoot faster than light into the exact middle of the black hole. Both escape pods and the plane kept accelerating to mind blowing speeds, seeing specs of light bend and stretch for miles on end in their cabin windows as their bodies felt like they'd be torn apart. Trillions upon trillions of light particles sped by their ships in streaks of white as they went beyond the speed of light, defying all comprehension.
Cid and Shera's pod was the first to experience the awesome speed, one by one the engineers and members of their crew passed out from the radical G-forces being put on their bodies, almost totally restricting the blood flow to their brains.
The view for Cloud was much more severe, almost nightmarish as the remains of the Aeris were pulled deeper and deeper. The hull of the ship of the ship from the original Highwind has been made completely of windows, and right now Cloud WISHED it hadn't been. Liquid light seemed to flow over the few centimeters of re-enforced glass above his head . . . the particles of energy slammed into ship as the vessel went past the speed of light, flowing in contradictory directions all over the hull of the escape ship. He couldn't tell if he was going forwards, backwards, up, OR down . . . the gold haired pilot about to throw up until the final shock rocked his body, sending the ship lurching forward with one last boost of speed and knocking him unconscious.
It wasn't much different in Nanaki's escape pod. Vincent's condition weakened his body and he was the first to succumb to the punishing forces wracking the ship. All hope seemed to be lost . . . who was left and where was this wormhole taking them? The ancient body of Red's was tougher than those before him and he still stood, although unsteadily, aware and awake of what was happening around him. He had the pleasure to see the first glimpse of pure light at the end of cosmic highway. The source of it slowly peeked in through the window and covered Red's body, along with the others. Warm and soothing, it kept his worried heart at peace. There was still a chance . . .
They were still being hurled somewhere at millions of miles per hour, forward so fast that the ship began to vibrate from the friction being put against the hull from microscopic space particles. Every passing moment led to another crewmember succumbing to the power of the forces against their bodies until Red alone was left. At this point, the ancient wanted it all to be over, for the force to overtake him. Was some higher entity playing a cruel joke on him, seeing how long he and the others could take this mental and physical misery until they snapped? No matter what Red expected to happen or predict to happen in the time that passed shortly after, it never did. He had seen the light, and for the rest of the trip he braced himself for the inevitable. The bronze beast felt as though he was prepared for anything . . .
An explosion of light suddenly filled the pod, and soon after it faded. In the brief moments that followed, the pod came to very nasty, abrupt halt. Red was caught off guard and thrown violently against the wall, denting the air purifying system and breaking most of the ribs on his right side in the process. The shock sent him into a stupor, finding himself groggily dragging his body with his two good legs to the window, compelled by some unknown feeling. Nanaki was blacking out, exhausted and battered from his ordeal, but something inside him kept him succumbing to his injuries. Staring out the window, a globe of blue, green, and white met his gaze. In awe of the inspiring, beautiful sight he saw before him, Nanaki slipped out of consciousness. His body fell the ground, limp . . . a faint whisper leaving his lips as his last words . . .
"I can hear the planet's voice"
Skies above MoblizFreshly out of their prison and floating near a planet in an unknown galaxy, the ships spun forward slowly, their inhabitants unaware of the fate set before them. The two metal orbs were easily caught in the planet's gravitational pull and quickly began to orbit the planet, slowly descending lower and lower into the crisp atmosphere of this lush blue orb. The same happened to the escape plane, the much larger vessel descending at a faster speed . . . to fast perhaps. If somehow the pods and plane managed to land okay, Cloud and the others would be safe. That is, at least for the moment. Without a conscious pilot to fly each transport, it was impossible to know where each pod would crash, and whether or not they would survive the impact. As luck would have it, Red's ship was the first to fall out of the sky, thousands of feet to the ground below . . .
Town of MoblizMobliz had once been a town like any other on this planet. A small community made up of farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters, merchants . . . but during the year of chaos, the city had been ripped apart and left for dead. The earth opened up, swallowing masses of people in mere moments, and those that survived drowned the in rushing flood of water that followed the sudden changes in tide. Entire families were lost, and many children were abandoned and became unfortunate orphans in the matter of a few minutes. Ever since that fateful day the children had to take care of themselves. There was an unspoken rule that you took care of whomever was smaller than you. You'd make sure that they ate more food than you and that they stayed warmer during the bitter nights that followed an ever darkening day. Following that system they surely would have perished, if it hadn't of been for their savior.
A glowing being fell to the ground from the heavens, immediately reverting back into her human form. Not knowing what to do the children rushed her to their shelter where she stayed for weeks until fully recovering from her wounds. When she finally awoke and saw all these children looking over her, this woman cried . . . sobbing at the dirt covered faces of the orphans. She felt that this new fate that they had to endure was entirely her fault for being unable to stop Kefka on the floating continent, so she took it upon herself that she would endure their pain too. The former magitek solider named Terra became these hopeless kids' guardian. She stayed with them and protected them from the threats of this new, fearful world. It wasn't until her old friends happened upon the town and promised a revolution, an end to all this sadness, that Terra left the children alone. Once she left for the final confrontation with Kefka, the children never left her heart. Eventually she did return to the town, and once again became the surrogate mother to the diminutive inhabitants of Mobliz. Her powers had faded with the destruction of magic, but she was happy taking care of the little ones that had touched her heart just as a regular woman. Her true strength never came from her Esper powers, but from the love that had been locked in her heart for so long.
After the fall of Kefka, hundreds of volunteers made pilgrimages from all over the world to help. They were touched by the courage of these young children who had to grow up without parents and with little chance of survival. Many of the smaller kids were adopted and taken to new homes. A few moved in with distant relatives, but a majority of the population decided to stay, and were taken care of by Terra. Their city was rebuilt almost overnight through the hard work and sweat of carpenters and volunteers from surrounding towns. They also planted crops and other flora to beautify the area and established a trade route that connected the town to the other cities on the continent and a water route as well. The children still had a stake in the town itself, and owned the land once held by their family, but farms had popped up around the city, and new shops were on the outskirts of the city limits. Once a month supplies either arrived by land or sea through the generous donations from places such as South Figaro, Kohlinghen, and Doma. This system relieved Terra of any anxieties she held about the town or the kids well being. Well, as any good mother would do, she did need to worry about the kids, and worry she did . . .
"Billy? Thomas?" Terra yelled at the top of her lungs. All the other children had already gone inside and were already sitting down to eat their dinner except these two boys. It was always them who wanted to stay out a bit longer and play, no matter how hungry they seemed to be, "Boys its time to eat!" she tried once more. This time she heard giggles not to far away and began to walk toward them sneakily. The boys probably thought they were slick but Terra was much smarter than she let on to be. She decided to play their game and acted like she gave up, "I guess they were gobbled up by some monsters, and if not, I bet they will be soon! Oh well," she sighed as she crossed her arms behind her back and walked nonchalantly towards the dining hall, "I guess that means more desert for us as well," she said rather loudly, making sure that the boys had heard her, "I absolutely love those double chocolate chip cookies from Nikeah. They are so soft and chewy . . ."
The two boys couldn't take it anymore, cookies were their weak point.
"I want some cookies!" Billy cried out as he ran out from behind a large barrel that sat in front of an unfinished house.
"Me too!" Thomas chimed in, running with his hands pumping the universal 'gimme gimme' sign. Halfway to his adopted mother, he tripped and fell flat on his face. He felt his face suddenly run hot with embarrassment as he breathed in a few grains of dirt.
"Oh no!" Terra exclaimed in a very worried tone. She ran as fast as she could to him but it was too late. He started crying a river, wailing at the top of his lung. Terra picked him up and dusted him off as she put him against her chest, trying to comfort him, "There there now," she swayed back and forth, "you alright?" The seven year old shook his head 'yes' but the tears he was trying to hold back at the moment said otherwise. The gentle, emerald haired woman couldn't help but smile as she wiped his tears away, "It's going to be okay," she consoled him while hushing his whimpering.
Thomas responded to her soft words by latching onto her neck and giggling, "Hey! Come on now!" Terra joked with the boy as he continued to hang on her neck even when she lifted him off the ground.
"Give me a piggy back ride please!" he asked with his cutest voice and widest eyes. Terra couldn't refuse his innocent stare and motioned for him to hop on. It only took him a second and was locked on, wrinkling his mother's favorite white sundress in the process. Little stains had built up over the months but the small sunflower designs could still be seen around the bottom along with an avatar of a moogle. It was the kids' favorite outfit, they always loved to see her wear it. After Katarin and Duane had their child, everybody scrimped and saved and bought it for their adopted mother. It was a small token they could share with somebody they loved so much. Terra had only walked a couple feet when Billy started to cry.
"I'll give you a piggy ride later, okay Billy?" She bargained with the other boy. However, the crying didn't cease. The little boy kept crying and ran past Terra as fast as he could. "What's wrong Billy?" Terra asked the frightened child.
"It's the bad man! He's back again! Don't let him get you mommy!" Billy shouted as he pointed to the sky above their quaint village. Terra looked up and saw what he meant. A huge ball of fire streaked through the early evening sky, leaving a trail of fire and smoke in its wake. It was headed straight for the city and she only had moments to react.
"Get underground NOW!" Terra ran as fast as she could and overtook Billy, picking him up as she madly dashed towards the house that led to the underground cave. Thomas held on for dear life and stayed on Terra's back, starting to cry again as her breathing quickened and eyes became full of fear. The fireball was screaming now and seemed to injure the sky in its wake, falling at hundreds of miles an hour. The frightened few had almost made through the door when the object hit the ground. It sent a massive quake through the ground and threw them off their feet and onto the ground. The lights shuddered and down below bewildered screams rang out.
The unknown object had crashed through the unfinished house they had been at only moments ago. It shattered the walls and crumbled the foundation as it blasted out the other side and dug into the dirt, creating a long scar in the ground before coming to a stop. Its superheated structure had set the broken wood aflame and threatened to put the entire village in flames. When Terra finally built up the courage to poke her head out the safety of the house, she saw that the orb that had done all this damage was smoldering a few hundred feet from the fallen house. It was metallic in appearance, a dull, dirty green with burn marks all over the surface from its fall through the atmosphere.
"Stay here you two," Terra told Thomas and Billy as she crept toward the metal ball apprehensively for a closer inspection. It was very dangerous, perhaps even stupid, but only she could do it. She was scared, taking each step with the utmost of caution. It was as if she feared the ground beneath her feet wasn't entirely stable and could give-way at and second. The closer she went, the hotter the air seemed to be. Sweat beaded off her brow and dripped down her neck. It became so hot at one point that Terra had to stop walking forward and back off until it cooled down, using this time to make sure that the children hadn't followed her.
Dirt and soot were settling in layers on top of the grass and buildings close to the ship when she was finally able to journey forwards once more. With her first step steam shot out of the pod for a couple seconds in a loud whoosh. It caught her off guard and she felt on her backside, quickly scurrying backwards along the ground. Once it had cooled, the latch to the door exploded and blew the door off its hinges, letting it land a couple yards away and leaving a heavy depression in the soft dirt. Stale, recycled air came out of the interior of the ship and blew around leaving the capsule wide open to prying eyes, but Terra had already made her way back to the waiting arms of the boys and was watching to see what would come out of the darkness. She hoped that whatever it was, it was friendly . . .
"Look at that!" Billy shrieked as he pointed to a paw shakily sticking out of the door. Another paw followed and soon the figure of a proud beast emerged from the hole. A feather shifted gently in the mane of the animal as wind blew past it. Blood dripped in many places from its body which seemed to have an effect on the creature's balance. No sooner had it evacuated the escape pod, the beast's legs gave way and caused it to fall to the ground in an unmoving heap.
"Monster!" Thomas screamed as buried his face in Terra's dress. He became too scared and ran underground to hide. Red may have been a monster in appearance, but little did they know of the huge role he would play in saving their world.
Skies above Neo VectorCid and Shera's pod had flown a great distance over the strange land. Their trajectory had been set automatically by the ships undamaged navigation system and they were now falling towards the signs of what seemed to be a great city where they could be helped when woken up. The name of the city was Neo Vector: an immense metropolis spanning for countless miles in every direction. Roads formed an intricate design resembling a spider web all the way up to the outer walls of the city, which protected it from attacks and other dangers such as the monsters that roamed its wastelands. But that wasn't the only form of transportation. Located on the top floors of most military controlled skyrises were cavernous hangars that sheltered thousands of fighter planes and Airbases of the Imperial Royal Air force. There were also coal-powered trains that ran to and from all the major parts of the city. Most were used for transporting cargo, but a few took passengers as well. If Cid and Shera had been conscious, they would be hard pressed to distinguish Neo Vector from what Midgar had looked like decades ago on their planet before Mako had been discovered. Soon they would find out that another similarity between the cities was the dictator-like control of the Vector government and how it so closely resembled the cutthroat mega conglomerate known as Shinra.
Bar in the Slums of Neo Vector
"You heard about the monster that attacked us yesterday?" the pub drink slobbered as he asked his traveling merchant friend.
"God, that's been the talk of the town forever, of course I have," the drunk's friend harshly replied as he poured a shot of Chocobo Jack whiskey into a glass.
"The higher ups have ben saying that it was sent by those Returners," the man continued, stumbling over his words, "There's been talk of war too."
"Yeah, I head about that," the merchant responded as he tipped his glass back to drink. Right as the liquid left the glass, a loud boom rang out and shook the entire establishment, knocking over bottles and drunkards alike who fell to the floor. The bartender dodged a glass as it fell from above and tried to save whatever alcohol he could from the bottles that had tipped over. He had to get soaked in the alcohol first before he realized it was an utterly useless task.
"What the hell . . ." the merchant was the first to talk, hell, he was one of the only ones that hadn't passed out that afternoon already. His drink had been spilled all over his work shirt and he tried to wipe it off. His friend the drunk was laughing his ass off at what had just happened to him. The merchant shot him an unamused stare and the abruptness of the gesture caused the drunk to fall out of his chair. When he didn't get back up right away, the merchant got up from his seat to check on him. He walked over to buddy thinking the worse but was relieved when he heard deep snoring coming from him . . . he had passed out. After propping the chubby drunk man in a sleeping position on the table, the merchant ran outside to see what had just happened.
As soon as the door was opened and he walked outside, somebody running by bumped into the merchant pretty hard and sent him to the ground. Focusing as hard as he could, the merchant got back on his feet and followed that person down the street. No sooner had he ventured into the sector square was he met by a plethora of onlookers. A long gash in the pavement cut the top layer of the square in half and finally ended where the group of people gathered. The merchant continued to press onward through the growing crowd and saw that whatever had done this had crashed though the wall of an apartment building on the northeast side of the square. Rubble was still dropping from the fresh hole and furniture had been thrown all around. It was probably lodged in the interior of the building so he would have to get really close if he wanted to see it. The crowd had grown in upwards of 200 people by the time he pushed his way to the front. He saw a shiny object, perhaps metal … and was about to venture inside to see what it was when the military showed up.
All dressed up in their official uniforms of brown and green, they entered the building from another entrance and pushed everyone backwards, away from the scene. "Nothing to see here folks," a green soldier toting a corporal's rank explained," It's time to move along. We'll take care of everything."
And as if they needed any more force, a special civilian model Magitek armor looked over the crowd to keep them in order, it's pilot yelling at the onlookers with a megaphone as the metallic beast clanked around the area. The merchant knew this was something big and that only made him want to find out even more. As time waned on, a squadron of Imperial Airbases flew overhead creating a cacophony of noises amongst the crowd below. Trouble was brewing . . . an uneasiness spread across the bystanders. It was a feeling that nobody had felt since the last great war a few years ago. Were those days or violence and suffering soon to return?
Kefka's TowerEver since the intrusion a few days ago, security around the entire tower had been stepped up. Four patrols walked up and down twenty flights of stairs in both directions, and armed sentries were posted every 7th floor. It was a seemingly airtight system. The worshippers lives would be forever changed by the events of that day . . . over 100 people had died at the hands of the three assassins. How had they become so powerful? Only three of them had killed a hundred! If there was more they could have wiped out the entire tower! It was as if they were their own army! The guards were there in essence as lookouts only. If a problem arose they would alert the population, and as a whole entity, the fanatics were unstoppable. No matter how strong the enemy, the tower of worshippers working together could topple civilizations.
However it all depended on these "guardians of the tower" so to speak. If they were spot on in delivering the message as quickly as possible, it could mean the life and death of the entire tower. They had to know and see everything . . . and they had up to now. They had always expected an attack to come from below, and in hindsight that was their gravest mistake.
Escape Ship"Warning!" The computer voice for the ship blared as auxiliary power began to fill the power lines trying to slow the ship, "Proximity alert! Proximity alert! Initiating emergency ejection sequence . . ."
Cloud was strapped in tightly to the pilot's seat . . . unconscious since the ship had begun it's decent into the planet's atmosphere. Unbearable g-forces had deprived his brain of oxygen and the ship's escape plane was spinning out of control, spiraling white smoke through the sky. Depleted of fuel, and hemorrhaging air, the remnants of Aeris were now nothing more than a missile. Small explosives blew a compartment of the roof off the ship and miniature rockets ignited simultaneously on the side of Cloud's seat, propelling him away from the escape plane and out of harms way. The burst from the rockets abruptly ended and the 300-pound seat suddenly lurched forward and fell with terrible speed. The parachute immediately shot out from the back of the seat and slowed Cloud's drop. Signs of reawakening began to show on his body as his hands twitched. There was a slight grimace of pain on his face as the cold wind bit at his uncovered skin, but all the time he kept his eyes closed.
The ship's retro rockets suddenly cut out and its thrusters went out of control, turning the hunk of metal into a deadly projectile the size of a two story building. It suddenly veered to the right from the drag on the open hatch and pieces of metal of the roof started to rip off, breaking apart the plane from the inside at a terrifying rate. Had this had happened higher up in the atmosphere it would have disintegrated and been nothing more than a shower of heated metal . . . but it was too late. The ship crashed through four floors of the tower, ripping through iron and steel like it wasn't even there. Stone supports crumbled away and fire spread from the chemicals spraying everywhere as the escape plane blew up directly under the next floor. Dozens of bodies were immediately seen being blown from their rooms, falling hundreds of feet to the ground below as their bodies were burned asunder. Guards that had been walking Kefka's tower screamed to the survivors above on the 60th floor and higher, telling them to be calm and await rescue.
The fire was starting to spread, and the high winds near the top of the building were pushing against the only side that remained holding up the upper floors. The flames grew ferociously as the harsh winds pushed them up through the building, and those above had to run to higher ground. The walls creaked and split as the weight penthouse became too much for the supports to bear. The tower leaned dangerous forward, metal barb shattering and snapping as the fires continued to roar. People had evacuated the lower levels at this point and were now anxiously watching from below. Frightened whispers and gasps erupted from the crowd as one of the survivors tried to jump down to the lower levels. He jumped away from the flames, trying to grab onto the handrail and stop this fall but his speed was too great. His hands bounced off the railing and his body slammed into the face of the tower, tumbling bloodily down until his body slammed on the ground.
"Get away from here! There's nothing you can do! The building is going to fall!" a survivor screamed from the 63rd floor as the wreckage of the plane tumbled out the backside of the building and was strewn about on the mountain behind.
"Lord Kefka no!" the worshippers screamed as they panicked and ran from the base of the tower.
"We have to do something!" a person from the crowd yelled out. He surged forward to run up into Kefka's Tower but a sentry held him back.
"It's too late! Get away from here!" the guard shouted at him. He pushed him to safety just as the only side of the wall gave away. The upper levels slammed onto the lower, extinguishing the flames in metallic dust and cinders and then teetered precariously over the edge. A few tower guardians had been trying to form some sort of ladder to rescue those trapped above but it was too late. They scurried down the stairs fearfully now, falling down their only chance of escapes as the entire building creaked and moaned under the immense pressure being put on it.
People cried in horror and disbelief as the top of the tower scraped against the edge it had landed on and began to fall along side the building. Sparks and fire rained everywhere as the hunk of metal screeched and burned, bodies flying out, some charred and some still alive as the monstrous object feel. It slammed into the mountainside with a thunderous boom and shattered apart. The worshippers below screamed and ran away as a dust cloud enveloped everyone, turning the day to dark for a few minutes as the smoke blew across the valley and blanketed the sun. It was Armageddon.
Eerie silence swept over the few hundred survivors of the calamity. Aside from the occasional coughing and blowing of the wind, there were no sounds. Half an hour later the area had cleared up enough that people were starting to organize and begin a damage assessment. Through the hazy environment surrounding the tower the top could still be seen burning lightly. Debris was scattered at the base of the tower as well as the countryside. Kefka's Tower had somehow survived, but no longer could the people of the dead deity's cult reside there.
Eyes were swollen and red . . . puffy from the tears and dust that had been thrown about. They shifted around in both fear and anger . . . praying, HOPING that the pilot of that plane had somehow survived so they could extract their revenge. And with a strong blow of wind a white parachute near the western side of the mountain range whipped around a seat and the outline of a body.
"No fucking way . . ." somebody said as they saw movement behind the white veil. Then they heard a cough," NO FUCKING WAY! THE MURDERER IS ALIVE!"
The fanatics of Kefka's Tower quickly took notice and a few people started to sprint towards the foreign body.
"Don't let him escape!" somebody from within the group shouted out.
What had started as a small group eventually became a stampede as the entire population poured onto the unknowing individual that had killed dozens of people. He had done this . . . the person that would be safe after it was all over. They were bloodthirsty and would take out their anger on him tenfold. The white sheet between Cloud and the mob served as no barrier and it was torn apart in seconds. The first person reached the blonde murderer and greeted him with a nasty right hook that rudely awakened him from his groggy fall and managed to loosen a few teeth. Another person threw a rock at him, knocking his head to the side and somebody else took a mangled piece of metal and sliced his arm with it. A two inch laceration appeared on Cloud's left arm and fresh blood matted down his hair on the same side. The first high priest was about to sink his cold dagger into the cretin's heart when a gunshot rang out. The screams of the mob suddenly subsided and a very large figure walked forward.
"Wait!" it was the third in rank from the top, the Cardinal of Sins. IN reality he was one of Gabe's men from the Empire in disguise, but to the Fanatics he deserved great respect. "Do NOT touch him any further!"
A few of the cult members backed away but the man with his hand on the foreigner spat on his captive and punched him again in the nose, "that's bullshit! He must die!" The crazed man reached for his dagger and raised it above his head for the final blow when another shot rang out. The attacker suddenly reeled over in pain, clutching his hand as a bullet wounded oozed blood from his palm.
"The Cardinal said stop," a cold hearted, brown haired and blue eyed man commanded as he put his gun back under his robe. It was the head of the defense force, Lord Banes, also one of the undercover agents from the Empire.
"What do you think we should do with him instead!" the wounded worshipper shouted back to him angrily.
"Everybody here lost somebody very close to them. What the HELL gives you the right to take vengeance for all of us? No doubt those evil Returners did this to give us a message, we do still have their leader after all," he looked over to the bruised king of Figaro that had been pulled from the tower by his jailers as the chaos began. The skilled soldier was an exceptional instigator of hatred as he spit out propaganda against the Returners like a seasoned intelligence officer. He knew that it was impossible for them to do something like this, but he was following orders and helping to create as much confusion as possible. It would help the Empire by turning Kefka's followers against the Empire's enemy while at the same time getting them off of their own backs. Thinking on the fly, he came up with yet another brilliant plan," Now we can't stay in the tower anymore. We'll have to move everybody into the mountain shelters by the end of the day. Before this had happened our fearless spiritual leader Gabriel had ordered that the brave king Edgar there be entered into the tournament tomorrow in case you don't remember. Now that we have two Returner infidels, I don't see a better way to get revenge than to let the dogs kill each other! And if one survives we'll have a public execution as well!" The crowd started to stir and talk about his idea, indicating that it was to their approval, "Slave crowns will ensure that each fights to their full potential, and they'll fight to the death! What say you my brothers and sisters?"
"It's a grand idea brother Banes," the Cardinal vocally agreed. Other priests and worshippers nodded their head and also voiced their agreement after the high priest had. A brisk rain had begun to fall in the valley, sweeping away the remaining smoke and putting out the smoldering fires up above. The people were worried but confident in their leaders, and were relieved that the perpetrator would be dealt with accordingly and quickly.
"Now everybody, we are a strong people! We have survived and we will continue to survive. Let us come together in our most dire time and become even stronger! Move whatever you can into your new residences in the mountains. Look for wounded and prepare yourselves for the coming weeks! Our destiny is upon us, we can't fail here and now!" Banes shouted to the crowd energetically. The people of Kefka cheered him and praised his words. Everybody quickly spread out and began preparations, leaving Cloud alone. The strange visitor was startled. He barely had hits wits about him and still unable to talk coherently. Those that had been guarding Edgar brought the king over and picked up their new prisoner. They walked towards the mountains with their captives. The two would be in their new cells shortly. Cloud tried to struggle, even explain the situation to the group of jailers holding him and the other guy down, but he was punched in the face once more and told to save his energy for the following day.
The damage was done already, and Cloud's punishment had been carried out. In the next 24 hours he would be fighting to save his life.