CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE: THE LAST VERSE

Things had been going in their favour far too much. Everything seemed like it was over. With Promathia gone it felt like the end. He should have known better. Alain walked with everyone else as they went round the outer deck of Sigma XIII to the bridge area where Esha'ntarl waited for them. Once inside the bridge, who they found waiting inside shocked everyone.

With Esha'ntarl was a large collection of familiar faces. From Bastok was Volker of the Mythril Musketeers, Chief Engineer Cid, Zeid, and two Gold Musketeers. From San d'Oria was Rahal of the Royal Knights with two other troops from the unit. From Windurst was Doctor Shantotto, escorted by a unit of four Cardians. From Jeuno was Aldo with two ninjas dressed in black at his back and Captain Wolfgang with four of his soldiers.

Hanaa whistled, "There's so much brrrass in this room I'm surprised the airship doesn't sink."

"I hear you almost did sink it!" Cid said and then laughed from his belly. "You lot almost ruined my chances of seeing this baby completed. But I got to repair it and it brought back some fond memories, so I forgive you."

Esha'ntarl spoke up, "Chief Engineer Cid worked remarkably fast to bring Sigma XIII back up to a safe level of operation. But we do not have time to chat. These representatives from each nation already know what is going on, but I must explain it to you. Listen closely and let us be brief."

The commander of Jeuno started by explaining that every person on Vana'diel had heard the call of Promathia. That call had been silenced soon after however, before it drove anyone over the edge. Esha'ntarl knew that this meant that they had succeeded and thanked them for it. Following the silencing of the calling things did not revert to how they had been.

Teleportation magic still did not function properly and the crystals in tune with the spells around the world were still acting strangely. The Emptiness appeared to have vanished from the crags where the crystals were hidden yet passage inside was blocked by some unknown source. Each nation had carried out its own investigation and had come together to try and solve the mystery. That was when Esha'ntarl brought the representatives to Jeuno in an effort to recruit their assistance for what was to come.

She believed that there was a force still trying to interfere with the Crystal Line. It was not strong enough to bring about the same calamity as Promathia had hoped to do, but it was enough to still pose a threat if it were left alone. What the force was she could only guess, but assumed that it was one or more tainted souls refusing to go back to the Mother Crystal. This stubborn act would only be enough to cause a block if it were a particularly powerful soul.

"Are you saying Promathia is still trying to cause trouble?" Prishe asked with a huff.

Esha'ntarl shook her head, "You defeated Promathia. If it were he who was trying to cause this interference then the effects would be far more severe. I regret to say…that I think it may be Nag'molada."

Alain clenched his fists. That sinister fool was still trying to make his presence felt even in death. But something still puzzled him; how had all this happened in such a small space of time? They had only been inside Al'Taieu for less than a day. He raised this point and confused looks collectively appeared on everyone's faces. It fell to Zeid to state that it had been just over a week since they had reportedly vanished from within Newton Movalpolos. As soon as Sigma XIII was able to fly steadily once more it was immediately dispatched to watch over the red beam that had appeared over the Black Sea but nothing came out.

"…A…week?" Alain stuttered.

"Selh'teus warned that Al'Taieu was trapped inside a dimension outside our own," Rost commented. "We saw how paradoxical it was when we battled while looking over Vana'diel below us despite being beneath the sea. It's clear that time was moving differently as well."

Alain narrowed his eyes, "Yeah, thanks for the explanation. So what are we going to do about this?"

"You've all been fighting alone and on our behalf for too long," Volker said and folded his arms. "We're all here to do our part. An army would have been more useful, but with Bahamut still posing a danger we can't afford to move a large amount of troops, so we're all you get."

Shantotto put her hand to her mouth and let out an incredibly loud laugh, "Ohohohohohoho! The Cardians of my homeland, you see, are notoriously well made and quite problem free. Who needs an army, when you have my guarantee?"

Finally the allied nations were moving in the same direction. Even though they only had a small number of troops each it was still relieving to hear. The few that they had were each masterful fighters in their own way and would count for many more normal soldiers. But he, and by the looks of it, the others that had just left Al'Taieu were exhausted. Nevertheless they could not turn their backs now after coming so far.

Esha'ntarl went on to explain that from what Cid and the other scientists from Jeuno on board the ship had surmised was that the red beam coming from the sea was a conduit straight into Al'Taieu with a different gravity than the air around it. Stepping into it would most likely send them straight back to the white city. They would go back into the city and find the controls of the Crystal Line and attempt to draw out whatever was causing the interference.

"How do you intend to….draw out the problem?" the Gentleman Thief asked.

"Ulmia will do it," she replied.

They turned and looked at the shy Bard, who looked away in embarrassment. Esha'ntarl explained that with help from Tavnazia they had been able to translate ancient texts that revealed the lyrics to the final verse of Memoria de la Stona. Ulmia would sing the full song and draw out the darkness still inside the Crystal Line and they would defeat it in that form, forcing it to travel to the Mother Crystals.

"A better place to attempt this would be within the space where we fought Promathia where the Mother Crystals themselves seemed to be present," Rost said. "We can lead you there, if the pillar of light still exists inside the palace."

She accepted this plan of action as a better course to take and ordered them to leave immediately. Cid would remain on board the airship as he was not a fighter, but everyone else prepared. Sheepishly, Alain asked if there were any spare weapons on board that he could use as his scythe was gone. The only suitable substitute was part of the equipment brought by the Royal Knights from San d'Oria in the form of a long sword. Given that it was built for an Elvaan stature it just about passed as a thin great sword for a Hume. Either way, it was better than a dagger and he accepted it from one of the knights.

As they left the bridge Rost walked with Rahal speaking of what had happened since they last met. Renene and Nokum-Akkum walked with Shantotto and her Cardians, seemingly obsessed with watching the contraptions move and react to their attempts to trip them up. Volker and Zeid walked closely together a short distance in front of Alain, he was sure his former mentor had looked his way briefly but nothing was said.

With Esha'ntarl going first to test her theory, she stepped out into the red beam that shot high into the sky next to the Sigma XIII and immediately vanished. One by one they followed, heading back into Al'Taieu.

Within the palace of Hu'Xzoi the pillar of white light that had been formed by Promathia was still in place. After stepping through this, they once again found themselves high over Vana'diel in the paradox also created by the Twilight God and in the sky the Mother Crystals gently hummed. Those that had not been there before were startled by the sights around them and more than one almost collapsed. Alain noted that there did not seem to be any sign of Selh'teus.

"Astounding," Esha'ntarl whispered.

Ulmia and Prishe had been whispering to each other, but now all eyes were on them they both seemed to suddenly become shy. He had expected it from Ulmia but to see Prishe act in such a way was strange. Esha'ntarl revealed a scroll with words written on it and handed it to the Elvaan Bard. After looking it over and mouthing the words for the last verse silently, she raised her harp and gulped.

"Are…are you all ready?" she asked.

"Yes," Esha'ntarl replied. "Do not stop no matter what is drawn out from the Crystal Line. We will handle it and keep you safe. You must do this, Ulmia, and you must not stop."

Taking a long breath, Ulmia hung the harp in one arm and stretched her fingers out over the strings ready to pluck.

"May Altana be with us…"

She closed her eyes and in that instant picked the first few strings beginning the magical tune. After two bars she began to sing the first lines of the first verse and all eyes turned to the Mother Crystals around them, waiting to see what would happened.

High over head and at the opposite end of the area they all stood a small purple circle began to appear. Soon after, another appeared, and then another, until there were at least two dozen small circles.

"To arms Musketeers!" Volker cried and drew his sword.

Flailing white tendrils began to force their way out of the purple circle. Alain and the others recognised these things and knew it was monsters formed from pure Emptiness. It did not seem possible, the Emptiness was supposed to be gone, but perhaps Nag'molada's tainted soul still retained enough of the darkness to give life to the creatures. Behind the first set of circles more and more appeared as small creatures created from the Emptiness burst into the open space. Soon there were at least thirty readying to strike, with more on the way.

"Ninjas scatter!"

"For Jeuno!"

"For the pride of San d'Oria! Attack!"

From either side of him soldiers charged forwards. Swinging the sword from his back into his hands, Alain joined them in the charge. Tenzen appeared at his side and nodded as their eyes met. The dozens of creatures charged in kind.

Before the two groups met the creatures were struck with a colossal storm of lightning ripping almost half to pieces. Alain skidded to a halt and looked around to see Shantotto laughing to herself with smoke coming from her hands. Some of the survivors swooped around and past the soldiers in an effort to reach her, but were swatted away like flies as her Cardian protectors leapt with the agility of a ninja to strike with their staves.

Tenzen broke off away from him as a larger creature appeared and rammed his katana into the side of it, sinking the blade all the way in. Alain swiped upwards, catching one creature, and then twisted and blew another away with a ball of fire. Over head a Ninja flipped forwards, unleashing handfuls of explosive tags at the area the circles were appearing from.

"Incoming Empty, ground level!" a soldier shouted.

Larger circles began to appear on the level of the invisible floor and from them appeared the mammoth creatures they had seen within the Emptiness. Some were on four long legs, while others moved almost like wild cats. This group made a break for them while the smaller ones swooped around in the air drawing their attention.

Zeid descended from the sky on another bulky creature, splitting it in two. Drawing power into his sword he then ripped it up through the floor, sending a crescent moon into three more. Volker was at his back and unleashed a flurry of blows into a group of six smaller creatures.

A large legged Empty struck at Rahal, but his stalwart shield empowered by his Sentinel ability caused it to bounce backwards. After parrying another attack from one of the front legs, he swiped sideways and cut all four legs clean off. The body fell to the floor with a thud and then received the tip of the blade through its skull.

Another group of spawning smaller creatures was blown away by a cascade of powerful magic, leaving Alain and the others with close combat weapons to deal with the seemingly endless waves of the ones that walked. Alain rolled out the way of a pouncing tiger like one and then skewered his blade straight through it as it tried to advance. Hanaa appeared in front of him slicing through a flier with her rapier and then firing off a blast of fire at an enemy off to his side. She grinned as she past, encouraging him to keep going. They were all tired, but had to carry on.

Ulmia continued to sing and play her harp, despite how many creatures were being summoned. Prishe stood near; throwing punches at anything that came close. Catherine stood with her, ready to use protective shields and holy magic. Nokum-Akkum was quite nearby with Renene, who was in the process of summoning.

One of the Gold Musketeers had been cornered away from everyone else by three of the tiger like Empty. As they were about to pounce, one was rammed across the floor as Fenrir collided with it. Still moving with the same momentum, the summoned Avatar struck into the second, sinking its teeth straight through the glowing heart. The Musketeer fought off the third successfully.

"Ahhhh, curse you!" someone growled.

Alain looked over and saw that one of the long legged creatures and managed to stab through the breast plate of one of the Royal Knights. He changed direction instantly; there was still time to save him. He rushed past people fighting at every side and batted three flying creatures out the way as he went. Though blood dripped from the Royal Knight's mouth he was determined to bring down the foe that had wounded him. He tugged the leg that was stuck through his chest closer and cut upwards, bringing the creature off its point of balance. As it dropped he cut upwards and managed to catch the side of its glowing heart, shattering it. The body safely fell beside him and he was able to sever the leg stuck through him so that he could move, but his wound was serious.

As he reached him, Alain swung just in time to slice a flier out the air that had aimed directly for the wounded knight. To his surprise, Rost was next to come to the aid of the wounded Elvaan.

"I will take him to Catherine to heal his wounds," Rost said.

Alain grabbed Rost's arm, "No. You aren't as exhausted as I am. I'll take him."

Silently, Rost nodded and returned to the fray. Alain put his sword across his back and then did his best to hoist the wounded Royal Knight up by the arms to drag him over to Catherine. She saw him coming and left Ulmia's side just long enough to help. While she applied magic to close the wound, Alain watched in silence breathing deeply. He was nearing his limit.

A long groan caught his attention as he saw the largest kind of bulky Empty charging towards Ulmia. He tried to get up off his knees and almost fell to the floor. He cursed out loud; he was more exhausted than he thought. Samuel moved forwards with gun drawn and used a technique that split the bullet in the chamber. The front of the gun burst as if it were imbued with magic and five bullets battered into the creature, ripping it to pieces and bringing the mammoth to a stop.

High over head a new circle appeared that was bigger than the others hanging above. From it appeared the form of a man that most of them recognised. Nag'molada looked down at them all with an emotionless gaze. Esha'ntarl saw him from where she had dispatched numerous creatures in her amber armour and shouted to everyone to leave him to her. She leapt into the air and he met her halfway, their fists struck into each other and sent a wave of energy in every direction, knocking most of them away. Nag'molada pushed her to the invisible ground, but she kicked him off and then instantly appeared next to him to exchange more blows.

"Why aren't those circles disappearing?" he heard Catherine say nearby. "If Nag'molada was the cause why are they still coming? Everyone's fighting their hardest but soon we'll be overwhelmed…"

She was right, not matter how strong they were sooner or later their stamina would run out or they would simply be overrun by the constantly appearing creatures. Another wounded soldier was brought over, this time one of the soldiers under Wolfgang's command had been savaged by a tiger-like Empty. Alain saw a large shadow appear at the opposite end of the floating space and could not believe what he saw.

"Zeid!" he heard Volker shout.

"I know," was the reply.

Rising from the shadow came a beast with dark purple energy flowing in the veins around its body and forming an aura of power around its body. It did not seem possible but there could be no mistaking who it was; the Shadowlord. Together Zeid and Volker charged their former foe with weapons drawn. The Shadowlord's gigantic blade ruptured the invisible floor as they approached, but was not quick enough to catch them. Zeid dragged his sword up the Shadowlord's arm, cutting into the rock hard skin and sending a spray of purple into the air. Volker leapt up onto its arm and stabbed down into its shoulder, before being batted off and leaving another spray of purple blood.

Two more circles appeared, along with the seemingly never ending Empty. Alain gulped hard as two familiar figures began to appear, two that he had hoped never to see again. Kam'lanaut and his brother Eald'narche; the two Zilart that had caused everything to go wrong.

Aldo finished dispatching a large Empty by cutting its throat with his dagger and then saw the two that had just appeared. Moving instantly, he met Kam'lanaut as the former Archduke sprung forwards to strike one of the Duchy's soldiers in the back. His dagger locked with Kam'lanaut's sword and they stared at one another.

"Finally, I will avenge the pain you put Verena through," Aldo said through gritted teeth, and forced his opponent back.

He had lost sight of Eald'narshe; he had not been paying enough attention. Alain was stunned as he saw the Zilart boy's figure materialize next to him and turned only quick enough to see the small hand reaching for his neck. He was forced backwards, skidding across the floor, being held up by his throat as the boy pushed him with the force of ten Galka. He heard Catherine call out for help but no one was close enough.

"You…you were the….one," Eald'narche said in a ghostly whisper. "I will…have my…revenge!"

Without the powers Promathia had given him Alain could not hope to match the strength of a Zilart imbued with Magicite. He tried to break free from the small hand around his neck and was then struck to the floor. He saw blood drop from his mouth as he tried to focus his vision. Someone tried to come to his aid, someone had been nearby after all, but with a flick of Eald'narche's hand a burst of energy knocked them halfway across the floor. The Zilart pulled back and hovered in the air, gathering a tremendous amount of power into his fist, ready to unleash it at point blank range. Alain tried to get up but only managed to stagger onto one knee. Eald'narche pushed his hand forward.

"You will not injure him," a voice stated emotionlessly.

Selh'teus hung between Alain and Eald'narche and had grabbed the Zilart's hand in the air and held it tightly, despite the Zilart's infuriated efforts to free himself.

"I will be your opponent."

With ease, Selh'teus swung up, throwing Eald'narche high into the sky. With a powerful flap of his wings, Selh'teus pursued him with amazing speed and blasted into him with a ball of white light formed in his fist. Alain tried to get up again but could not.

He raised his hands as the last form of defence he had as he saw a creature fly towards him, but to his surprise it was shot out the air. Samuel appeared in front of him with a worried look on his face; next to him were Catherine and the Gentleman Thief. They began to fight off the Empty trying to pick him off as a weak target.

"Don't worry about me, help the others," he said as he wiped blood off his lip.

"I can't comply with that order, boss!" Samuel stated.

"They can handle this, Alain! We're not letting anything happen to you! Not now! Not this close to the end!" Catherine cried at him.

-

The Shadowlord cried out with a mixture of pain and rage as more cuts were torn into his flesh armour by Zeid and Volker. They were successfully wearing it down while the Gold Musketeers kept any of the other creatures from interrupting. Zeid flew through the air, drawing even more strength into his great sword. The Shadowlord raised his huge black sword in defiance and the two met in mid air.

"Ground Strike!" the Dark Knight roared.

The power collected in the blade burst through the sword empowering it enough to cut clean through the black sword of the Shadowlord. As the two halves of the sword split, Volker leapt up and through this gap as Zeid hit the floor.

"Savage Blade!"

Volker dragged his glowing short sword up the chest of the Shadowlord, sending purple blood in all directions as it went. At the peak he kicked off the Shadowlord's chin before descended straight down, stabbing his blade into the beast's forehead. It hung like a puppet for a few seconds before swaying. Volker dropped from it and then backed away with Zeid as the body suddenly exploded into white specs of light, which were drawn upwards into the largest crystal overhead.

-

Esha'ntarl continued to exchange blows with Nag'molada on equal footing.

"Such power…you hid it…well," the husk whispered.

"I hid nothing Nag'molada; you were blinded by your own arrogance!"

The side of her knuckle caught the side of his face, throwing him back down towards the floor. As he met with it he flipped to his feet and skidded along the floor. As he came to a halt he was distracted by a sudden overly loud laugh coming from behind him.

"Lust for power fed your thirst, but now you can have a taste of Burst!"

Unable to move from shock, Nag'molada faced the magic head on. Esha'ntarl moved instantly behind him and pushed both hands forward as she unleashed her own blast. Caught between both incredibly potent abilities there was no chance of escape. The magic of two colossal forces mixed and exploded, leaving only white specs of light behind. As everything settled between them, despite the battle raging on around, Esha'ntarl smirked and bowed before the power of the Tarutaru Black Mage. Shantotto leant back and let out another disturbingly loud laugh.

-

Aldo flipped his dagger into the air, catching the white armour of Kam'lanaut. Twisting around in mid air, he tugged his other arm from his robes and caught it, before lashing out and finding the mark once more. The spinning outer layer of the former Archduke's shield tore into his shoulder, eventually hitting flesh and spurting blood into the air. Aldo retreated slightly but would not back down and, after righting his dagger once more, ploughed forwards. Kam'lanaut raised his blade once more, but Aldo stopped mid dash and grappled with his opponent's hand, stopping the sword from descending. He glared at the Zilart's face.

"It's over for you, Kam'lanaut. Evisceration!"

Blood red energy leaked from Aldo's dagger as it blurred from moving too fast to avoid. It dug into the chest plate of his enemy, stabbing into the skin five times in less than a second. Kam'lanaut's eyes rolled back as he fell towards the floor, breaking into white balls of light before going all the way.

-

Eald'narche blasted a ray of black energy towards the winged boy, who dispelled it with an equally potent white blast. Enraged, Eald'narche charged forwards, but was knocked away effortlessly.

"What you are trying to do is pointless," he told the Zilart.

"No…you're wrong…" was the whispered reply.

By this point the creatures born from Emptiness had stopped appearing and Ulmia had completed her song. There was no more darkness to be drawn from the Crystal Lines. Eald'narche looked around and saw everyone gathering in preparation to finish him off, his allies had been sent on their way at long last. He backed away and still hung in the air.

"You won't…"

He raised his hand and a blast of light shot into the red crystal over head. A new circle appeared in the air a few seconds later.

"Something else is coming, watch out!" Esha'ntarl shouted to everyone.

A body appeared from the circle. It appeared to be cradling a piece of crystal. Alain got to his feet and could not find his voice, but he recognised the person. He had not seen them for a long time. She had vanished that day on Tu'Lia, she had thrown herself into the crystal to stop Tu'Lia from falling. As the woman suspended in the air opened her hands the shard of crystal she had held tightly against her breast burst into white light and was drawn upwards. A second later, her body went limp and fell towards the ground.

"Lion!" Aldo and Zeid cried.

Selh'teus swooped under the falling girl and caught her in his arms. He floated to the floor with slow flaps of his wings and handed her over to Aldo. Alain rushed over and looked at her. It was the same yellow dress she had worn; her hair was the same dark shade of red. It was definitely Lion, the daughter of the pirate king Gilgamesh.

"She was holding a crystal…" Esha'ntarl stated. "She was keeping them all at bay…all this time. What a remarkable woman."

Eald'narche cursed at them all, "She has relinquished the final piece…finally I can access…the Crystal Line…I will…attain…paradise…"

Selh'teus gazed upwards and formed a ball of white light in his hand. Instantly and without a flap of his wings he appeared in front of the Zilart boy and thrust his hand straight into his chest. Eald'narche jerked forwards and blood gushed from his mouth, he was trying to speak but could not.

"You are at peace, paradise is waiting," Selh'teus said.

The final body of the enemies spawned from the Crystal Line turned into white light and was absorbed by the Mother Crystals. Selh'teus turned to them all and thanked them. Alain could have sworn that there was almost a smile on his face as the boy seemed to fade away. After that all eyes were on Lion's unconscious body. She was alive though, her chest moved with calm breaths.

"We're here at last!" a high pitched voice bellowed.

With weapons drawn they turned back the way they had came expecting to see another enemy. To their surprise they saw three troublesome Tarutaru siblings, equally shocked to see so many armed people glaring at them.

Kukki-Chebukki moved closer to his siblings, "I think we missed the fun."

Cherukiki slapped her brothers around the head, "I told you I should have piloted the airship!"

"That would be the airship you stole, correct?" Wolfgang asked sternly.

The three siblings exchanged glances.

"Escape…"

"Plan…"

"…Run!"