Hello, everybody; ModernDayBard here with the penultimate chapter of 'Dawning Lights'. Next week is our true finale but this chapter will take us to the end of actual game play. I hope you've enjoyed reading this story, because I've had an absolute blast writing it!
In other news: This story now has it's own, unique cover, courtesy of long-time follow, Vanillite the Dragonslayer!
Still don't own the game—at this point, I don't think I ever will.
"And the oceans roar, and the wheel's in spin, and the old chorus soars—bring me back—bring me back to the beginning again!" (Switchfoot, 'Back to the Beginning Again')
They'd started some of the most important preparations—their goodbyes—before venturing into Earth-Gift Shrine, though there were a few others the four teens felt deserved a final word, however the battle would turn out. There was a stop in Melmond, in which Josh took Nathan aside one last time, encouraging him and his friends to keep on the better track. Zach also spared a few words for the town leaders, encouraging them to help their less fortunate neighbors with the restoration. Maybe they would, maybe they wouldn't, but at least he'd done what he could.
They also stopped by Onrac, Gaia, and Mt. Duregar, as well as one last stop in Cardia before returning to Crescent Lake to see Lukahn, who had no more information for them, but whom they felt they owed at least a farewell to. All of this was done while they made any stops necessary to unload necessary items, replace them with as many healing potions and brews to restore magical energy as they could carry, as well as any final magic or equipment upgrades they could manage. They saved their true farewell trip to Cornelia for the end—they wanted their last goodbye to be to their first friend, and even the old shop owner was a bit misty-eyed as he watched the four youths leave his shop for one last time.
When they finally landed their airship in front of the shrine itself, there was one last farewell and one last matter of business to see to.
As they'd discussed the night before, the four heroes said individual, personal goodbyes to every single member of the crew that'd been with them for so much of their adventure before coming to stand before their captain. The old seafarer looked at them warily.
"I can understand that me an' the boyos can't fight this monster with yeh young'ns—some things are for the heroes to do alone—but why don't yeh want us here to escort yeh home in style when you finally beat this Chaos feller?"
They'd never been able to make him understand about being from another world—he'd thought they'd meant another part of the planet that'd been magically sealed off by the appearance of the fiends that he'd be able to fly them to after the battle. They were surprised, given that fact, at how quickly he'd accepted the concept of a time loop, but were beginning to realize the implications thereof hadn't sunk in. This forced them to water down the truth a bit.
Josh shook his head slowly. "Even if we win, Captain Gunther, there's no coming back for us. Once we go into this shrine, we're either walking out back at home, or not at all. There won't be any time for flying in style—as much as we'd prefer that."
"Captain?" Leslie asked after a moment of silence in which the four could almost see the truth sinking in as the older man's face fell. "Can we make one last request of you?"
"Anything, lass," the old man said, his crew nodding mutely behind him.
Leslie glanced at the others, who nodded. They wanted to think this time would be different, but if it wasn't, they had to be prepared. "We need you to take Burning Bolt back to the desert where we found it, take out the Levistone again, and leave the airship there. Hide the Levistone in the ice cave—it should be clear of monsters, now. Then reclaim the Pravoka's Pride, and return to the life you love—the sea."
"We will, I can promise yeh that," Gunther said at last, the whole crew nodding behind him. "Traveling with the four of yeh made me realize I never should've retired from sailin'—the sea's where I belong. And I promise yeh, every time we take the Pravoka's Pride into her home harbor or out through the Aldi Canal, we'll think of yeh—every one of us."
The rest of the goodbyes were short after that, and eventually the four teens stood alone in front of the crumbling temple, gazes fixed upwards as Gunther and crew left them behind for the last time. There was no turning back, now.
After the airship left them behind, none of them felt up to plunging into dark depths right away, so they broke out the last of their food supplies, built a fire, and prepared one last meal together. It was silent at first, each chewing on worries and dark thoughts as much as on the food, but this was not how Leslie wanted to feel going into face their final battle.
"Have you guys thought about what'll be like, being back at home after all of this? We're not going to be able to go back to how it was before."
Josh looked at her, half-surprised, half-thoughtful. "Well, yeah. But will that be such a bad thing? I mean, honestly—the way we were before, we wouldn't have ever met, but going back, we'll be a couple." As soon as he said the words, he shot a worried glance at her brother, who only shrugged as if to say he'd come to terms with the fact.
"I'll admit," the black wizard put in, "it'll be nice to be free of this stupid hat-and-veil-of-darkness, and I'm going to be glad about seeing Mom and Dad again, but there are some parts I'm not looking forward to."
Both football players looked embarrassed at the subtle reference to the bullying, but the more they thought about their friend being the target of their teammates, the angrier they got. "Hey, man, I've got a deal for you," Zach said at last, "We'll get those bozos off of your back if you help the debate team—it's our one competitive club or team that gets slaughtered in every competition."
Matt genuinely considered the offer and, for once, it had appeal. "I think that might actually be fun, but—you guys do realize I'm not the only one they pick on, yeah?"
"Leave that to me—the captain of the team has some weight and authority, and, if need be, I can take it up with coach. Besides, if they care about the game so much, they really should be more focused on it then, yeah?" Josh asked, already thinking of ways to use his position to bring the bullies in question into line.
Without really thinking about it, all three boys turned to Leslie, as if asking what she would do differently, but she had an answer for them. "I don't think I can fade back into the background after how I've grown here, but I wasn't the only invisible student at school. It takes one to know one—and I can attest that sometimes all you need is to know that someone sees you, someone cares."
Their food finished, all stood, standing to face the physical representation of the final challenge still squatting in front of them.
"Well," Zach chirped at last, "it's gonna be great, but we've got a job to do first. To business?"
"To business!" the others agreed in unison, before laughing in genuine humor and excitement—a foreign sound to be sure, on the threshold of Chaos.
At first, the crumbling shrine looked like nothing had changed since their first foray months before—even the monsters were the same, though now much easier for the battle-hardened teens to defeat. They were able to march in, more-or-less unchallenged to the chamber where they'd fought Garland, staring at the one object they'd not noticed before: an orb that pulsed with darkness instead of light.
"That's a lot of bad magic rolling off of that thing," Zach observed. "Wanna bet that's the key to the time loop?"
"I certainly won't bet on the opposite being true," Matt muttered.
As the four stepped closer, the orb seemed to react to their crystals, sparking, hissing, and extending its twisted aura. It was clear—one more step would be the point of no return. One more shared look, one more nod of agreement, and that last step was taken.
At first, other than the restored and cleaned look to the building, nothing seemed too different—nothing to tell them they were more than 2,000 years into the past of that strange world, until they realized that the front and back half of the building was now separated by a dark barrier of pulsing energy.
Matt frowned. "If Garland needs us to keep the time loop going, would he really put up a barrier?"
"He needs to defeat us—maybe he's put up challenges to weaken and tire us," his sister postulated.
The tried weapons and both types of magic, but nothing seemed to budge it. Josh looked over at the two other boys. "You're kind of our resident magic experts. Got any bright ideas?"
"No," Zach responded, "but I do have a crazy one."
"In lieu of anything better, we'll hear you out," Matt answered, gesturing for the taller boy to go on.
"I took a look once at that lute Princess Sara gave you, after we first killed Garland. It's got some pretty powerful light magic behind it. Not white magic—light, as in the opposite of dark. As in..."
"...As in the opposite of this barrier," Matt finished. "Do any of us actually know how to play a lute, though?"
Josh pulled out the instrument (which he'd never had the heart to sell), staring at it with some trepidation. He plucked one string, and the instrument responded by slowly, though with increasing speed, playing a tune all on its own. "A player lute? Like a player piano?" Josh guessed.
Whatever it was, it was the right thing to do, for the barrier fell and allowed the Warriors of Light to trek ever closer to their fate.
The first basement level of the Shrine—which apparently had a basement, now—was architecturally familiar to the four teens. The carved, tan walls that glowed with a sickly yellow lights, the rough, unhewn floor was coated in dust and dirt, and the whole atmosphere smelled like a long-sealed tomb: in other words, the floor could've been a level straight out of the Cavern of the Earth.
Also like its predecessor, this twisting, maze-like cavern held treasure chests and monsters alike in unexpected locations—though admittedly a lot more monsters than chests. Still, even despite the high concentration of feral foes, the Warriors of Light made steady progress, a testament to how their adventures and training had made them stronger than they'd ever dreamed possible.
But when at last they came to the stairs that would carry them closer to their ultimate foe, a true challenge loomed before them in the resurrected form of the first Fiend they ever faced—Lich, the Undead Fiend of Earth. He grinned at the last and only humans to defeat him (again, as a skeleton, he had little choice) as he waited for them to approach, a new, wicked-looking saber in his bony hands.
Lich locked his empty eye sockets on each in turn, lingering over Zach the longest. "So, my brother and sisters told the truth—the little red mageling who thought he was so funny survived after all. This is an oversight I shall correct: all four shall fall here, and I will raise your carcasses for Father Chaos to trap within your precious crystals. Prepare for an eternity of pain and despair!"
"The only oversight that needs to be corrected is that you were allowed to come back and keep monologue-ing!" Josh shot back, hefting Excalibur, sizing up their opponent. "And this, time, we know what we have to do to win. Come on, guys!"
They fell into the formation they knew so well—Josh in point, the Meyers' siblings bringing up the rear, and Zach holding the middle in between. This was their magical formation, since Zach remembered all too well how his magic was much more effective against the undead fiend than his sword. He helped the twins with the boosting spells before launching fireball after fireball at the giant skeleton.
Unfortunately, Lich had also apparently learned from their previous battle. He deflected the first three flames off of his sword blade then cast a spell of his own, targeting the red wizard first, then Leslie and Matt in short order. Josh heard their voices cut off and spared a moment to assure himself that it hadn't been anything stronger than the Silence spell. Before he could counter-act the magic, the sabre flashed in a downward arc, intending to cleave him in two.
He jumped backward, lifting his own blade to parry, then tried to twist the thinner sword away to open up his own line of attack, but Lich was just too fast, and instead of being able to counter, Josh found himself on the receiving end of a pommel-strike to the chest that knocked him backward, nearly winding him.
"Not much use without your magical little friends, now are you?" Lich taunted
"Maybe not," Josh granted, "so it's good we all have each other's back." While Lich hesitated, sensing a trick, the knight rattled off a counter spell three times, freeing up his friends to resume the offensive.
Lich howled in outrage, then in pain as Leslie's and Zach's spells hit home, hammering away and chipping the bones until they fell apart all together, clattering as if the Fiend of Earth no longer had the strength to hold them together. Only the skull still had a vestige of life in it, until Josh deliberately crushed it underfoot. He wanted to move on quickly, but Leslie convinced him to wait until she healed his bruised ribs, and Zach took the time to claim Lich's saber for himself.
"What?" he protested at their disbelieving glances. "Last time hurt—why shouldn't I take it?"
As expected, the next level had the pulsing red walls, the fiery lava floors, and sulfuric atmosphere of Mt. Gulg's deepest depths and flame-based creatures lurked there just as thickly as before. While the lava dwellers posed no large threat or challenge to the battle-hardened team, they all knew a greater challenge was coming at the end of the volcanic tunnel.
Sure enough, the six-armed, serpent-tailed form of Marilith blocked the stairs, her cherry-red face parted by a predatory grin. "At last! Father Chaos insisted you be taken alive—but he said I may unleash any amount of torment on you as I see fit. Now you will know the pain I felt!"
Josh and Zach moved in front of the other wizards, ready to take up the physical offense, but the Fiend of Fire was faster, opening her mouth and breathing a column of fire at the black wizard—the one who had been responsible for killing her. Mat tried to dodge, but the searing flames caught him across the back.
As the blistering pain registered, the younger boy couldn't rest crying out in pain and shock.
"HEY!" Zach shouted, moving between the Fiend and her target, acting on a hunch and using Lich's blade to deflect the column of fire. Sure enough, the blade was made to resist heat and fire, turning aside Marilith's vicious attack. "I'm the one with the fire crystal, so how about you lay off my friends and pay attention to the real threat!"
As his sister saw to the wound on his back, Matt watched in awe as the red wizard launched a flurry of blows, forcing the Fiend back almost single-handedly. Even Marilith seemed taken aback, reeling under the furious assault before rallying with a counter of her own. Josh tried to block most of it, but one saber got past the knight's guard, slicing down the red wizard's arm.
Zach didn't let it stop him, though. Seeing an opening, he surged forward, thrusting with his new saber. It struck home, slipping between Marilith's ribs. He yanked upward, carving a wicked gash, then whipped his sword free as the serpent-tailed woman collapsed, as dead as cold ash.
"Fighting to kill—that's bad enough. But enjoying causing pain? That's just evil."
The other three said nothing to the red wizard's words, completely taken aback by the blazing fury he'd unleashed. As Leslie healed the sword gash on his arm, the strawberry-blonde boy actually struggled to pull himself back under control. They began to realize that, though he'd never shown his true stance on many issues before, that didn't mean lacked any or all strong feelings.
The next floor was completely submerged, but Aeliana's spell still held, and they could breathe well enough to walk, and well enough to fight the sea monsters that swarmed towards the humans that had invaded their territory.
It wasn't the smaller, more numerous monsters that worried the questors. No, Leslie knew from the looks the boys cast her way when they thought she couldn't see that they were thinking of Kraken, who was undoubtedly waiting to challenge them. None could forget their battle with them—how close the boys had come to dying, how long it had taken Leslie to recover from her magical exhaustion. If Kraken had improved his skills as much as the other fiends had, they could only hope that all they'd faced after the Sunken Shrine had prepared them enough.
The bulbous, shark-toothed Fiend of Water hovered in the water, waiting, his beady fish eyes fixed on the White Wizard, filled with murderous rage. Josh reached an arm out to his girlfriend, and though she took his hand, she didn't hide behind him, choosing instead to hold her head high and meet Kraken's gaze steadily.
The white wizard might not have flinched, but the Fiend did, though he rallied a moment later, screaming as he surged forward into an attack, "You're going to wish Father Chaos would let me kill you!"
Unexpectedly, it was Matt who stepped forward to counter the pounding attack coming their way, rattling off the strongest version of the hold spell—which actually managed to slow Kraken, though not stop him entirely. It was all the opening the three boys needed however, as they swam forward and began hacking off the squid tentacles as fast as they could, trying to minimize the damage the fiend could inflict. Matt interspersed his cutting with lightning bolts, and his sister floated up near Kraken's head, her new hammer crackling with electricity. Kraken's beady eyes widened in fear, but he was too late to stop the crushing blow already in motion.
It only took two hits, but the first one might as well have felled the beast, for all the damage it did. At last the carcass sank, opening up the way ahead, though there was a moment's hesitation before they moved onward, mostly because none of them could really believe the battle had been as simple as that.
To no one's surprise, the next level down was the same glass-and-stone design as the Flying Fortress that had held the Wind Crystal, complete with a view of the stars if one looked out or down. Had they come here straight from their battle with the last fiend, such a sight would've unsettled them, would've made them debate and wonder whether it was an illusion or a transportation spell they hadn't felt, but after a week of plowing through weirder labyrinths than the shrine, nothing about heading downstairs to go above the sky fazed them at all.
At the end of it all, Tiamat crouched, all five heads watching them approach, but once again not charging, forcing the four to come to her.
"You were a fool not to take my offer, Matt Meyers," one head hissed.
The others flinched in surprise—Matt hadn't told them about Tiamat knowing their names, knowing about who they were in their own world—but the black wizard had no visible reaction. "You're the fool, Tiamat—you show your hand too easily, and it's what helped me figure out the time loop all those times ago, when this all started. Since then, we've been able to build on that knowledge."
"Yet you always lose!" Tiamat countered. "Pathetic mortals! However hard you work, however wise or strong you think you become, you always fall like weak infants in the face of Chaos, and you always will.
"A time loop as you say, wizard. Then you should know that a time loop can never be escaped—you are trapped in an eternal cycle of pain, torment and despair, for nothing can defeat Chaos! Oh, you will undoubtedly vanquish me, here. Then you will think me a false prophet and march boldly onward to confront Father Chaos, unaware of how exhausted and weakened you are by battling my brethren and I, because the adrenaline pumping through your bodies at what you believe to be victories deceives you.
"He will crush you utterly, in the most painful ways possible, but he will not kill you. No—no, he will do worse than that! He will trap your souls within the crystals in such pain and torment that you will never have a moment's peace or rest, and from that agony and despair, we the Fiends will be born of you anew and undo all that you worked so hard to accomplish, and you, trapped as you are, will be linked to us, and see it through our eyes as well as what remains of your perceptions, and you will fell our pleasure at the death and destruction, and you will enjoy it too, though it also sickens you to the core.
"You will be trapped in the paradox of at once being yourself and your antithesis, and it will drive you mad, if the pain did not—mad enough to call yourselves back from the past and begin the loop again, rather than accept destruction, chaos, and ultimately, oblivion!"
"Cheerful," Josh remarked glibly, hefting Excalibur.
Zach held up his own blade, apparently addressing his own teammates instead of the looming fined. "I stopped listening after 'false prophet' since that seemed to be all the relevant bits. Is it just me, or did she come back a lot more talkative this time?"
"It's just you," Matt replied in similar manner as he began boosting the two athletes' speed and strength. "She was plenty talkative last time—though a lot less bitter. I'd even venture to say she's a little miffed we killed her."
As the final defense spell was completed and the two swordsmen charged, Leslie spared a moment to glance at her brother. "Apparently, she should get used to it—it seems to happen on a regular basis."
This time, Tiamat had one head each focused on the physical attacks, with a third supporting the one in most danger, switching constantly and forcing Josh and Zach to stay alert, while two heads focused on the twins—one each, forcing the siblings apart. Matt's glare hardened when he realized Tiamat's strategy. She was trying to injure Leslie, cause her pain, all to rattle him and weaken him. He held a knife in each hand, and even as he stabbed and sliced at the head attacking him, he shouted spells aimed at the one snapping at his sister.
Leslie, for her part, was managing to keep the head at bay well enough with the sparking hammer she carried—not as strategic and targeted as her brother's knife blades, but with a lot more strength and force behind them. No, her concern was that she had absolutely no time to cast any kind of healing spells, and Tiamat had managed to land a few stray bites on the twins and more on the football players. If Leslie couldn't start casting again, soon, Tiamat's prediction might just come true after all.
Suddenly, the battered and bruised head whipped sideways, then curved back in, finally getting past the hammer and catching the white wizard in the chest, knocking the girl flat and cracking a few ribs. While Leslie was still trying to catch her breath, what remained of that head's jagged fangs (many had gotten knocked out when one of the hammer-blows had caught the hydra full on the mouth) sank into her shoulder, biting down with crushing force.
Matt—who had finally gotten a knife strike in the right pace to dispatch the head that'd been fighting him—watched, horror-stuck, the pain cross his sister's face, but he couldn't risk a spell at that range, since his strongest spells affected whole areas and would hit Leslie as well as Tiamat. No, this he'd have to fight with his knives. The black wizard charged, and though the fifth head swung to intercept him, he blasted it with the Flare spell and kept running as Tiamat tried to pick up Leslie by the fangs still sunk in the girls shoulder. To her credit, Leslie was struggling and putting up a fight, even though her mangled arm couldn't hold her hammer anymore.
Desperately, Matt launched one of his knives at the base of Tiamat's skull, silently apologizing to Josh for all the numerous, bitter complaints he'd lodged when the other boy had tried to teach him this trick. It flew true, and the neck and head dropped, limply. From the corner of his eye, Matt saw his sister stand and start the healing spells, but he'd already turned on his heel, determined that the Fined of Wind would do no more injury to his sister or friends, aiming a final Flare spell, this one at the main bulk of Tiamat's body. The spell struck true, and what remained of the blue-scaled hydra was incinerated, leaving the three others staring at the black wizard, who, despite the raging fury blazing in his glowing yellow eyes, spoke calmly to the defeated fiend.
"You were right—time loops can't be escaped. However, they can be broken, and that's what we intend to do."
As used as they were to the shifting, alternating floors that harked back to their prior journeys, the return to the Chaos Shrine's normal architecture actually came as a shock to the questors—for some reason, they'd expected something a little more...dramatic, for the realm of Chaos. Even more surprising is that they were able to walk up to the door of the only room on that floor unaccosted by monsters—apparently their enemy wanted to defeat them himself, or else he simply couldn't stand the presence of lesser beasts.
At the door they paused, and Leslie dispersed healing potions and the restorative tonics. Tiamat's words weighed on them, and they were determined not to go into their final battle at anything less than their full strength. That done, they glanced at each other, but found there was nothing more to say—either this time they would win, and make good on the promises already made, or they would spend the next 2,000 years in agony and despair, hoping that some later versions of themselves would finally break the cycle.
Wordlessly, then, and in unison, they moved through the doorway to find the figure waiting for them still looked very much like Garland, despite Lukahn's warning that Chaos would be unrestricted by human form or weaknesses. The armored figure turned, seeming to be neither surprised nor worried.
"You're late," an echoing, inhuman voice chided from within the all-concealing helmet. "We expected you over a week ago—I nearly had a rebellion on my hands from Marilith and Kraken. One would be tempted to say you didn't want to play your part in our little drama here." They didn't rise to the taunt, and the echoing voice adopted a tone of mock surprise. "What—no clever quips? Did you use them all up on the fiends? I must say, I'm disappointed—I wanted to see what passed for human wit this time around. Do I not get a single word—I, your true enemy?"
"Only two:" Josh answered, no humor in his tone or face. "Never again!" With that, the four slipped into formation and held their ground, daring Chaos to come to them.
The armored figure obliged, hoisting a broadsword even bigger than the one that Garland had used against them, the whole blade inscribed with archaic runes. Josh met the first strike, twisting it aside and thrusting, but Chaos was gone, reappearing behind Zach before the lanky boy could turn. The broadsword came crashing down, and the only things that saved Zach's life were his friends' warning shouts and a sideways roll, though the blade still caught his left arm, nearly severing it.
Josh tried to charge Chaos, hoping to draw his attention away from Zach long enough for Leslie to heal the red wizard, but Chaos vanished again, reappearing ten feet to his left, with a laugh and a cry of "Too slow, boy!"
Josh turned, silently grateful that the move had at least given the white wizard the opening she needed to help Zach. Chaos teleported again, this time right behind Josh, who swung his sword backwards, having expected something like this. He felt the adamantite blade pierce Chaos's armor just as the flat of the archaic broadsword struck him and sent him tumbling. When he regained his feet, Chaos had moved away again, one gauntleted hand pressed to his side, his whole form radiating outrage.
"For the embodiment of Chaos itself," Josh spat, starting breathe hard, "You sure are predictable!"
Chaos made no reply, but continued his constant vanishing, hit-and-run tactics, clearly making an effort to never stay in range of the twins for longer than it took to attack Zach or Josh, seeming to never tire despite the obvious weight of his sword and armor. In contrast, even Zach was starting to tire from the constant movement, and speed and agility came much more naturally to him than to his best friend.
Still, the two sword wielders had managed to inflict as many injuries as they received, and the black-and-silver armor was beginning to crack in places. Exhausted, Josh swung desperately when Chaos came next in range, knowing he'd have no more energy left to keep his guard up. When Excalibur made contact, the armor shattered in a golden burst, and everything around the Warriors of Light went utterly black.
When their eyes adjusted, they found themselves standing on apparently nothing, suspended over a nebula of gas and stars, staring at an inhuman, golden dragon, who hissed at them triumphantly. "You have utterly drained yourselves, leaving your precious magelings undefended, and myself in as good a health as ever. You will fall to Chaos!"
The dragon began chanting—apparently decided to change tactics with his new form, when a blast of white light caused him to reel back, roaring in pain. Matt took over chanting the next spell—Flare, if Josh was right in recognizing the incantation—while Leslie used the distraction her Holy spell had caused to do what she could to heal Zach and Josh, though their main problem was exhaustion, not wounds.
Zach tried to struggle to his feet. "Looks like he's fighting magically; let me help with the—"
"No!" Leslie insisted. "You're too drained. Try to keep something in reserve: rest. Something tells me this isn't the last change he's going to make. Let us buy you some time to recover."
With that, she joined her brother, both twins trading off casting their most powerful spells, leaving Chaos almost no time to counter—almost. The draconian figure managed to get in a few spells, just as powerful, and had the twins not been light on their feet, the battle may have ended then and there.
"What is he doing?" Zach asked, watching. "He's not attacking with his full strength—he's allowing us to stay even with him!"
Josh remembered the taunt Chaos had opened this new battle with, and dread settled in the pit of his stomach. "He's playing with us—stringing us along and tiring us out. Once we're too exhausted to mount an effective counter attack, we're done. You and I are almost completely wiped out, and they can't go on like this forever—those are the strongest spells anyone can cast. It's amazing they've been able to cast them as many times as they have!"
"Don't give up now!" Zach snapped, hearing the tinge of despair in his friend's voice. "I, for one, would like to be able to finally have the chance to tell Kristen Schoplan how I feel about her!"
Josh surprised himself by laughing—even here, in this situation, Zach could keep his cool enough to joke about girls? Or maybe he was serious, but either way, it was the proverbial slap he'd needed to get back into the fight. And just in time, too, for the dragon exploded in another burst of light, and the battle changed yet again.
Now, they were in the nebula, surrounded by glowing lights, gas, and stranger things the knight couldn't even name. The only darkness was the gaping hole, a ragged tear or mouth in the fabric of reality, like a sentient black hole, that stood before them. Somehow, they all knew it was Chaos—his true form: devouring all light, life, and hope that dared get near him.
The twins were nearing magical exhaustion, Josh and Zach had barely recovered any from the first battle, and their enemy was stronger than ever, yet the Warriors of Light refused to surrender: for their families back home, who would never know what became of them if they failed to return, for all the friends they'd made on their journey, for the world itself, though they belonged to it not, they had to keep fighting, and so they would.
When Chaos spoke, his voice was stranger still—as if the words were being sucked into the mouth, rather than issuing out of it. "Now feel true despair as I devour your very essences and trap you in your precious crystals. There isn't a one of you who is strong enough to beat me now! Darkness will rule—for this is the end of your precious light!"
Josh and Zach now stood between the siblings—all four warriors of Light standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a line rather than any of their normal formations—ready to face whatever happened as a single unit than as a group of individuals.
The dark gash opened wider, and all four felt like a searing knife had plunged into their core and begun to roughly dig out their organs. In that moment, their confidence wavered and doubt entered; they instinctively they grabbed for each other's arms, and at that instant of contact, the same idea ran through the line like an electric shock.
As their leader, Josh took it upon himself to speak, fighting against the agony in his gut to keep his voice level. "Only in one way are you right, Chaos: there isn't one of us strong enough to beat you. But there isn't one of us any more than there is one element. Together, we can pierce your darkness with four dawning lights becoming one."
Matt and Leslie began chanting their strongest spells one more time. They shouldn't have had the strength for that blast, but Josh and Zach began chanting as well, channeling what remained of their magical and physical strength into the two wizards, trying to boost the spells, and keep their friends alive, as this much magical exhaustion could be lethal.
As if sensing their plan, Chaos opened his mouth wider, and the last words of the single spell, cast in four voices, were delivered in screams of absolute pain. But the spell was finished, and a blast of pure energy, tinged with the colors of all four elements, burst through the gash that was Chaos, melting the space around it, melting reality back together and sealing Chaos into the void, where he could never return from to trouble the world.
The pain abruptly halted, and the four teens collapsed as one, with no energy left to stand, as the nebula around them faded into nothingness, then into something else...
The time loop was severed at last...The endless struggle that raged over two thousand years had ended, and peace prevailed once more.
The light of the four Crystals restored the forces of wind, water, earth and fire.
It was a mere trick of fate that had given rise to the chain of Garland's wrath. But magnified by the four forces meant to guide our world, that trick of fate also gave birth to the Fiends...
When was this fateful day that sent time spiraling into a loop? None can say.
It seemed the cycle into which time had fallen would last forever. But the bravery of four young travelers changed that. They took the forces that filled the world with darkness, and used them to bathe the world in light.
None will ever recall the struggle the four endured, for the breaking of the chain means that it never existed. But within the tales of fantasy that people tell, the memory of their deeds lives on: tales of dwarves and elves, of dragons and shining civilizations that reached for the heavens even as they fell...
Only those around whom the loop revolved would ever remember those months—that year—that never was, and all that befell the Warriors of Light during that time. Their faces and very existence faded from the memories of even dearest friends—captain and crew, weapons-smith and dragon king—with only two people in the whole world who would ever know the tale.
So, yeah. I didn't use the whole epilogue of the game in an attempt to preserve my version of events—which apparently doesn't fit quite as well with the game as I thought (and I'd already planned to diverge a bit, more on that next time).
Anyway, if you saw something you liked, or something you think I can fix/improve on for next time, don't hesitate to leave a review and let me know!