HE LIVES! Well, I know that it's been months, if not years since I last updated this story, and to those fans out there, I am sorry. I got married a month ago, and have inherited two stepdaughters, so turning into a family man has wreaked havoc on my writing ability. Add to that the fact that my wife is pestering to keep working on another of my stories, the fact that I have a few other projects (like 10) that I'm working on, plus work and keeping up a semblance of a social life, and well… you can see the problem for my stories. However, I haven't forgotten Test of Time, and will continue to work on it, slow as the progress may be.

I had recently gotten some reviews, and they finally kicked me out of the apathy and the writer's block that I had with this chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to update a little more often. In any event, thank you to those who keep reading, and enjoy…


The morning sun was warm on their backs as the three young heroes followed Strago up the mountain paths. According to the old loremaster, the paths had been forged when the Knights Arcane and the families of the Magi had originally settled Thamasa, but all generations since had been forbidden from ascending.

The punishment had been exile.

"Come on, kids!" called Strago, a hundred feet ahead of them on the rocky, overgrown path, "Hurry up! The day's not gonna last forever!"

Locke nearly growled. "If he tells me to hurry up one more time I'll…"

"Do nothing," finished Shadow, not even sparing a single glance at the young rogue. "You'll do nothing because you won't harm an ally, no matter how annoying."

Terra did her best to stifle her chuckle as Locke turned red. Whether from anger or embarrassment, she couldn't tell.

"I can still give him a piece of my mind," Locke grumbled.

Even as he said it, Locke knew it was petty, and probably would be no good in any case. He easily remembered the shouting match between Strago and Relm that morning. The young girl had not been too keen on being left behind.

"We'll need to follow some paths up the mountains to the west," Strago had told them as the sun began to rise over the horizon, "there are legends that they hide powerful magical energies. Some of us also believe that it might have been in these mountains where the Espers were first created, but no one will ever know for certain."

Relm had appeared at that point, dressed for hiking, with a backpack already over her shoulders, a sketchbook peaking out through the top and brushes and pens overflowing from every pocket.

"I'm ready to go, too!" she'd announced.

"What do you think you're doing, Relm?" demanded Strago, "There is absolutely no way you are going on this journey!"

"I will so!" she'd yelled at him, "I'm old enough to help!"

"Are you old enough to get yourself killed?" Strago had yelled back, "Understand that there are no guarantees, and there are still dangerous creatures in the mountains! We might end up getting hurt or killed trying to protect you!"

"I can protect myself!" Relm insisted, "You taught me that much! I have enough magic to keep someone away from me!"

"You're not going!" roared Strago.

"Yes I am!" she'd yelled back.

Strago's face was full of thunderclouds, and his entire body had been trembling. Suddenly, Terra had felt the energy rise, more energy than she was capable of channeling at this point, and lightning crackled around Strago's hands. Relm recognized it too, unconsciously taking a step back.

But then, the energy had withdrawn as quickly as it had come, and Strago's face had softened.

"Please, Relm," he'd said quietly, "you're all I have left in the world. If I lost you, I wouldn't survive. Please stay here, where you're safe. I'd never be able to let you take care of yourself, not when I'm there at the same time."

Relm had looked like she was about to cry, but she'd acquiesced. Although her "fuddy-duddy" was shouted at their backs as they'd walked away from the house.

Locke shook his head. Yeah, giving Strago a piece of his mind wasn't likely to stop the old man from hurling insults at them.

An hour later, Strago stopped to rest. He might have been a little faster at clambering over the rocks than they, but his endurance had run out while their's was still fresh.

"Getting tired already, old man?" Locke teased.

They ate a small meal as they rested their feet. Shadow had given a single whistle, and Interceptor had bounded out of the bushes to his feet to share in the meal. As they finished their meal, Strago made his way over to the ninja.

"Master Shadow," he said slowly, "about the other night, I just wanted to…"

Shadow held up a hand, stopping the old man. "You have no idea of who I am, old man. So I don't want you to misunderstand my intentions. I just needed to get Interceptor back. I couldn't care less if you or your whelp died. Interceptor sometimes fails to think before he acts, and he rushed into the house to help the girl. One of his… less intelligent decisions, I fear."

Strago saw the ninja's eyes crinkle a bit, and for a moment could almost imagine the man was smiling.

But Shadow abruptly stood up and began walking away.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Locke, very concerned about the ninja's apparent departure.

"I will search for the Espers my own way," answered Shadow, "I don't like working in groups, and I think that searching separately will enable us to find the Espers that must faster, being able to cover more ground, don't you agree? Besides, you should know by now that I work better alone."

Without waiting for a response, Shadow leapt over a series of rocks, bounding into the trees and bushes with Interceptor on his heels. In the span of only a few heartbeats, they'd vanished.

Terra noticed that Strago's eyes had narrowed, watching the spot the ninja had disappeared.

"Don't worry about him, he's always like that," she assured the older mage.

Strago nodded once, and Terra stepped away. Under his voice, Strago muttered, "Impossible man. Just like…"

He shook his head, clearing the thought from his mind.

"Well kids," he announced loudly, "we should get going. This mountain's not gonna climb itself, and the day is still young. I feel as if I am too! Come on, hurry!"

Locke glowered at the older man's back. "If he tells me to hurry up one more time…"


They climbed for two more hours before Terra began to feel a strange sensation in her mind. The same feeling that she got whenever she'd been around the Espers. Following her sense, the three travelers took more treacherous paths further around the cliffs, deeper into the mountains, until the view towards Thamasa and the ocean was completely blocked.

Locke looked upwards as they walked, the sky seeming to turn dark and threatening, as if a storm was brewing, but it didn't look like there was any rain coming.

"Terra," he called, "we need to get some shelter. Something's happening."

Terra turned to look behind her at Locke and Strago. Lost in the sensation she was feeling, she'd almost forgotten they were with her.

"There are some caves here," said Strago, pulling a clump of bushes away from the rock face, revealing a small entrance barely enough for them to sit down in. Locke knelt next to the older man and peered inside.

"I can't see anything beyond a few feet, but from what I can see I think the cave gets bigger," he reported.

"We need to go in," Terra said in a quiet voice.

The two men looked at her. One set of eyes was confused, the other set was evaluating. Then they shared a glance and nodded. Strago pulled out a rod about half as thick around as his wrist and crawled in, the end of the rod suddenly glowed with flames. The three of them maneuvered their way inside, and the fire at the end of the rod glowed brighter, filling the cave with a reddish glow.

"Tunnel," said Locke simply, then hurried ahead, the others right at his heels. The passage quickly narrowed to the point that they had to travel single file, then had to turn sideways to shimmy their way through. Terra smiled in the darkness.

It's a good thing the others aren't here, she thought, Sabin and Cyan would never fit through here.

She had to resist the urge to giggle at the thought.

The tunnel unexpectedly opened to a small ledge, and all three gasped. The fire rod revealed a massive cavern, spanning nearly a hundred feet over their heads, and in front of them was a chasm that disappeared into the darkness. A single stone bridge wide enough for two people to walk carefully led from the ledge out into the cavern.

"By the Ancients," whispered Strago in awe, "it's true."

"What?" asked Locke.

"The statues," answered the old mage, his voice only barely above a whisper as he pointed out to the center of the cavern.

There, on an island of stone in the middle of the black nothingness of the chasm, a single light shone from the ceiling, illuminating a trio of glimmering golden statues. They were too far away to make out any details, but Locke was already racing across the stone bridge.

"Haha! Now this is treasure!" he laughed out loud.

Terra and Strago hurried after him, both grimacing as the rogues laughter echoed throughout the cavern. The bridge did not lead straight to the statues on the island, but rather made several abrupt turns. Locke slowed down to stay within the radius of Strago's fire rod so he wouldn't run off the edge of the bridge, and Terra began to realize there must have been a pattern to this, but couldn't figure out what it was.

The three of them arrived at the island and gazed at the statues in wonder. All three shone with golden light that they could not tell whether it was from the light from above or a radiance of their own. Each sat on a marble pedestal, and was the size of a person. All three were shaped in the form of a beautiful woman. One would have been young, no older than Terra. Another was a woman in her prime, and the third was clearly an elderly woman, though still handsome.

Despite their obvious age, they seemed unmarked by time; there was not a speck of dust on any of them, and the features of all three women were crisp and clear as if the artist had finished the sculpture only just that day.

"Say, old man," started Locke, gazing at the statues as if they were a long-lost lover, "what else can you tell us about these exquisite ladies?"

Strago seemed at once to be afraid… and sad. "Their names are lost to the ages, but these women were the last of the Magi," he said, gently putting a hand on one of the pedestals. "It is said that when the Espers left this world, the Magi that were left became even more vicious, releasing monsters in a pale imitation of the Espers. Magic ran wild and uncontrolled, and some Magi were torn apart by their own enchantments. Finally, only these three women were left.

"Realizing that their magic had torn the world apart, the three women came here, and using the last of their power, drew in the power of all magic across the world. They harnessed it within their own bodies, their own spirits. Then they transformed themselves into these statues, so that their power would never be used. This has been their final resting place for a thousand years. For all that time they have harnessed the magic of the world within themselves. Since then, they have become known as the Goddesses."

"Sooo… they're goddesses of magic then?" Locke asked in confirmation, and Strago nodded in reply.

Terra could feel the power within them, pulsing like a living being. It was power beyond that which she'd felt within Strago or herself. It was beyond what she'd felt from the Esper in Narshe. The power made her ache to give in to the part of her that was Esper; to morph into the other form and pull that energy into herself. Energy that should incinerate a mortal body… energy that a human could never truly appreciate… It was energy that could reshape the world.

She shook her head, clearing those thoughts from her mind.

"These statues represent the source of all magic," continued Strago, "power beyond imagining."

"If the Espers were attracted to Crescent Isle by the power of these statues, then they must be around here somewhere!" reasoned Terra. "Locke! Are you coming?"

Locke tore his gaze away from the statues and turned to his friend. He shook his head slightly, his mind now coming to grips with the reality of the situation before them. For years he'd sought out treasure, then pursued revenge. Now, his safe little world of plundering and information gathering had turned into the monumental task of keeping a secret on possibly the greatest source of power in the world.

"Locke," said Terra quietly, and rogue turned to face his friend. "Come on, we have to keep looking for the Espers."

He nodded and began to follow her out, when a drop of something landed on his cheek. Locke brought a hand up to brush it away, and found it sticking to his hand.

"Uggh, what is this?" he wondered aloud.

"What?" asked Strago.

"This glob of…" Locke's voice trailed off as recognition formed in his mind, and he looked up. "Look out!"

Terra and Strago looked up as Locke leapt backwards, then they too scattered as the massive purple body of Ultros dropped from the ceiling and directly into their midst.

"You lot have escaped me one time too many," snarled the creature, "and while your friends may stay safe and protected in the fields of Vector, you two crossed my domain. Now I will finish you off one… by… one!"

Terra and Strago tried to hurry around Ultros, trying to get away from the edge of the platform. Although Ultros' eyes were honed in on Locke with malicious glee, a pair of tentacles whipped around, knocking the other two off the feet. A third tentacle slammed into Locke, knocking him back into one of the pedestals.

Ultros laughed and turned his gaze to the statues. "Now they are mine! The power of the Goddesses shall come to me, and the world will tremble as the Lord of the Deep displays his power!"

"Fiend!" spat Strago, "You are no descendant of the Ocean Lords! Your claim to the title of Lord of the Deep is a false one!"

"False? FALSE?" roared Ultros, "I am descended of the Ocean Lords! Does not my presence here, on land, far from water prove it! Perhaps I shall take you down with me to my realm! Deny me my birthright then! You are no Magi! You make the false claims! YOU are the fraud! A pretender!"

"You won't beat us," growled Locke, as the three of them made a united front, "you never learn."

"I was always said to be a slow learner, but as you will find out… I eat fast!"

Tentacles lashed out at the three adventurers. Strago and Terra took blows to their chests and were knocked to the ground. Locke spun around the blow, driving his dagger into the purple tentacle. Odd-colored blood flowed from the wound before the tentacle was withdrawn.

Terra climbed back to her feet and rushed in, managing to stab Ultros on the side of his mouth, but two tentacles grabbed her arms and began to pull in opposite directions.

"Let's see how well you fight when missing two of your limbs," snarled Ultros.

"Let her go, boy!" roared Strago. His hands rose above his head, forming a ball of fire between them. The old wizard seemed to throw the ball of flame into the ground, where it raced towards Ultros, and a lance of flame thrust itself into his face. Ultros screamed in agony, tentacles snapping.

Terra found herself hurled through the air and crashed into Strago, knocking the wind out of both of them.

Locke drew a crescent-shaped blade from behind his belt. He'd been toying with the weapon for a while, and now was as good a time as any to test it out. Locke hurled the blade, snapping his wrist as it left his hand. The blade spun end over end, curving in an arc. The edges of the blade had been honed razor-sharp, except for one small bit for Locke's hand. The crescent blade struck Ultros, tearing a long gash along his purple flesh and continued in its arc, then curved back towards Locke who caught it just as he'd been practicing.

Hey, thought Locke, that worked out surprisingly well.

"Insufferable wretch!" bellowed Ultros, "I will destroy you!"

Six tentacles whipped forward, a pair slamming into Terra and Strago, knocking the two of them back to the ground, and the other four hammered at Locke from four different directions. The crescent blade was knocked from his hand, and the final blow sent the young rogue stumbling backwards. Locke banged his head against the pedestal of one of the statues, opening up a gash along the side of his head. Blood quickly stained his collar and began seeping down his shirt.

"Now," Ultros growled slowly, "you die."

"I don't think so!" a voice sing-songed. A figure suddenly appeared bouncing into the air, landing atop Ultros' head, causing the creature to roar, then just as quickly sprang off.

Relm landed amidst the others, next to Terra and Strago.

"Grandpa, I'm here!" she cheered.

"Relm?" shrieked Strago. The old man scrambled to his feet, glaring at the young girl. "I told you to stay home!"

"But it's so boring there," she said, her words contrasting with the happiness in her voice. She reached into her backpack, and then brandished a brush and her sketchbook. "Besides, I just couldn't miss a chance to practice my painting."

She winked at Strago, then turned to Ultros, and smiled as if seeing the monstrous creature for the first time. "Say sweetie, who are you? Would you mind posing for a portrait?"

"Sweetie? How dare you! I am Ultros! Lord of the Deep, Master of the Sea Realm and descendant of the Ocean Lords of the Age of the Magi!"

"That all sounds really cool!" Relm said with a wide grin. "Listen, Ulty, someone as powerful as you needs their portrait done. Why don't you strike a pose for me?"

"I am no child to be drawn as a stick figure!" Ultros roared, "Do not dare speak to me as if I were a mortal child! I will pose for no portrait!"

Relm sniffed, and suddenly looked like she was about to cry. "Fine. Mean old king. You don't even deserve a portrait. I don't even want to paint you anymore."

The young girl let out a few more choked sobs. Ultros' rage seemed to be dissipating, as he merely split his glare between Relm and the others. Terra moved over to Relm and put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

Terra was shocked when Relm winked at her, then turned back to continue her sobbing.

Terra turned to Ultros, her eyes burning like green flame. "How dare you!" she snarled at Ultros, "You make a claim of royalty, but you don't even know how to treat a young girl! You have not an ounce of nobility in you, for all your claims!"

Ultros' glare became one of irritation and indignation. "And what exactly, would you have me do?" he snarled.

"Ask her to draw your bloody portrait," said Locke, then he sneered, "she might actually make you look pleasant."

Then, under his breath, Locke muttered, "If nothing else, it'll get her quiet for a few moments."

Ultros' spiteful glare roved over each of them in turn, but he was silent for some time. He seemed to be weighing his options in his head.

"Very well," said Ultros at last. "You… whelp. You may paint a portrait of me. Be sure to catch the majesty of the Lord of the Deep, before I look… unpleasant, when I eat your friends."

Relm let out a loud cheer and spun around, holding her sketchbook in one hand as her paintbrush moved in a blur.

"Trust me, Uncle Ulty, you're gonna love it!" she exclaimed.

Everyone was silent for a few moments as her brush looped and whirled across the paper. After several seconds, Relm seemed to be finished, and was looking at what she'd drawn with a critical eye. Then she nodded to herself, closed her eyes and put a hand on the paper.

The paper beneath her hand glowed with a soft yellow light, then the image that Terra, Locke and Strago could just barely see began to shine. Suddenly the portrait seemed to leap off the page and grow massively. In the blink of an eye, the portrait, an exact duplicate of Ultros, right down to the cuts on its tentacles and face hovered in the air in front of Relm.

Silently, the creation slammed one tentacle into Ultros, who grunted in pain and moved backwards in surprise.

"Incredible," murmured Terra, a small smile on her face.

Locke was staring at the young girl with his mouth wide open, but Strago split his watchful gaze between his granddaughter and Ultros.

Ultros stared at the illusion in front of him with a mixture of disgust and horror.

"How…" he started, "how can this be? Truly, am I no more than a stupid octopus? Am I truly seen as nothing more than a joke? No greater than a thousand others of my people beneath the waves? Does no one see my ancestry? I… I can't…"

Ultros roared in pain and grief and rage, a deafening sound that echoed throughout the chamber. Then he used his tentacles to spring into the air and over the side of the ledge, disappearing into the darkness of the chasm below.

"That… was… awesome!" yelled Relm, jumping up and down in victory as the illusionary portrait of Ultros faded away. "Gramps, did you see me? Did you see me? I was awesome!"

"Young lady," growled Strago, "I thought I told you…"

"I suppose it can't hurt to have you along," interrupted Terra, smiling at the young girl, "you have a pretty powerful talent, especially for such a young girl."

"Yeah, I know," replied Relm smugly, posing and preening.

Oh Ancients, thought Locke, Edgar's bad enough, but are we going to have to endure a miniature female version of him too? Kill me now and end my misery. Please?

Strago was looking at Terra, who returned his gaze with one of her own. After a few moments, the older man nodded.

"If you insist, then I won't stand in the way, Relm," he said softly.

"Awesome!" cheered Relm, then she ran over to Strago and wrapped him in a big hug. "Did you really think I was just gonna stay home by myself, Grandpa?"

Strago laughed quietly as he shook his head ruefully. "I should have known better."

"Wait a minute, kid," said Locke, "I was keeping a pretty close eye out on our way here. Were you following us the whole time?"

"Well… yeah," answered the young girl, "except once the clouds and the lightning started moving in, then I ducked into a cave. I was just trying to find my way around and get back to Gramps when I found this room from over there."

She turned and pointed, down a stone bridge like that which Locke and the others had used to get to the statues, going off to a side cavern.

"There was some kind of really cool-looking door in the ground there too," continued Relm, "but I couldn't get it open."

"That might be where the Espers are hiding," commented Terra. "Let's go."

The four of them made their way from the stone island, leaving the golden statues behind them. Relm quickly led the others to the trapdoor that she mentioned, and Locke and Terra knelt down next to it while Strago pulled Relm to one side to talk quietly with her.

Locke pulled a few items from his backpack, including some lockpicks and a crowbar, and began to work at the door in silence.

Terra looked at him. "What is it?" she asked.

"Dunno," was Locke's short reply, "things aren't going right. And that kid… heh, she and Edgar together are gonna be handful, that's for sure."

Locke finished with more cheer than he felt. Something was making the little hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and he didn't like the feeling.

Terra smiled as she glanced at Relm. "Yeah, she is. Edgar's going to have some competition when we see him again. Seeing Relm there, so happy and carefree, it's wonderful. It almost makes me want to…"

"Got it," Locke said abruptly, pulling the door open.

Strago and Relm came next to them in a heartbeat, and all four of them stared down into the inky darkness. None of them spoke for a few moments.

"Neat," said Relm finally, "let's see what's down there!"

With that, she hopped through the opening and dropped into the blackness.

"RELM!" yelled Strago, peering down, but after a few feet nothing was visible. "That little mongrel."

"Let's go," said Locke, who then hopped down after her. He tried to brace himself against the walls and did little more than scrape his palms on the way down. He could hear Terra and Strago coming down along with him, as well as feel the stones bouncing off of his head as they knocked them loose.

After a few moments, he hit empty air and fell the last few feet to the ground, grunting as he landed. Bright light seared his eyes, and Locke squeezed them tightly shut. He didn't dare move, and thus became the bottom of the pile that became him, Terra and Strago as the others fell down atop of him.

"Whoa," the three of them heard Relm mutter.

Slowly, their eyes became used to the light, and they were able to begin cracking their eyes open. Terra's first awareness was of a pair of clawed, three-toed feet just slightly ahead of Relm. The scaly, reptilian skin was a dark blue. She followed it up where it met a thickly muscled body, sprouting a pair of heavily muscled arms with hands tipped with razor-sharp talons. The head was composed of a long snout with sharp protruding teeth, and a pair of massive leathery wings were on the creature's back.

Terra somehow managed to bite back a scream, but she couldn't help but feel terrified as she scrambled to her feet.

Looking around, she and others could see that the one was not alone. Others stood nearby, of every shape and size imaginable, from Relm's size to some creatures that towered more than ten feet over Locke's head.

"Espers," breathed Terra.

"Gramps, take Relm and clear out of here!" yelled Locke, pushing the younger girl into her grandfather's arms. Strago took hold of the younger girl's shoulders and pulled her back towards the ceiling tunnel.

A figure blurred into motion in front of them and solidified into a figure that looked like a man, wearing a rough, white linen tunic and pants, soft walking boots and a brown conical hat. The figure's arm blurred and suddenly was holding a slightly curved, single-edge sword against Strago's throat.

Strago peered into the Esper's eyes and saw… nothing. There was no emotion, only a calm, focused concentration.

Relm glanced at the blade at her grandfather's throat and let out a terrified whimper.

"Raiden," said a voice, "put that away, there is no need for violence. Not yet."

The sword-bearing Esper nodded slightly, and with another blur vanished. When Strago turned around to the others, he could see the Esper, Raiden, standing amongst the others with his sword sheathed.

A pale-skinned Esper stepped forward from the crowd. It was mostly human in appearance, though sharp teeth protruded from its mouth and his hands bore talons. It wore no more than a loincloth, but it's hands were curled as if holding a weapon that wasn't there.

A soft blue light engulfed the Esper, and then another surrounded Terra.

"Grandpa?" cried Relm, "What's going on?"

Strago could only stare at Terra and the Esper, as the aura of magic in the chamber amplified and continued growing until it threatened to overwhelm his senses. He had never felt such power before, and even his studies of the ancient world could not convey the certainty that this was power that could reshape the world, and in fact had done so once already.

"The power," he murmured, "I have never felt anything like it. The intensity is unbelievable. There is even potential for more. It… it is terrifying…"

"Oh Ancients, don't say she's going to go ballistic again!" gasped Locke. He couldn't remember what had happened when Terra had transformed in Narshe, having been unconscious. But he was sure that if Terra exploded with magical power that there was no way the three mortals in this chamber would ever survive it.

But a moment later, the glow around both Terra and the Esper faded, though they continued to gaze at each other as though nothing had happened.

"You," started the Esper softly, "you are different, somehow. I feel the power of one whom I know flowing within you, speaking to me of trust and friendship.

"Yura," breathed Terra, the name feeling familiar. Only with the utterance of that name did she remember the visions she'd had in Zozo of her father and mother. Yura had been the gatekeeper of the Esper world, and a friend of her father's.

The Esper looked at her, suspicion creeping into his features. "How is it that you know my name? None of your people have crossed the threshold in almost twenty of your years."

Terra swallowed, then spoke loudly enough for the entire group of Espers to hear her. "My name is Terra Branford. I am the daughter of Maduin, and of his human wife, Madonna, who was permitted sanctuary within your world by Elder Tenteki. I was taken by the forces of the Empire when they invaded your realm eighteen years ago."

"She lies!" rasped one of the Espers, a hulking bear-like creature with spurs protruding from its fur at every joint. "We should destroy them so the others cannot find us!"

"No, Ursa," said Yura quietly, "she does not lie. I can feel Maduin within her. This girl's strength comes from our lost friend."

"I agree," said Raiden softly, blurring into existence next to Yura. "She has her mother's eyes."

"So you survived the raid by the humans," said Yura quietly, "but Maduin? Your mother?"

Terra's eyes water and her breathing hitched. She touched the emerald around her neck, and with her other hand drew out the Magicite shard that was all that was left of Maduin… of her father.

"They have joined the lifestream," she said softly.

Yura stepped forward, lightly touching the shard of Magicite. His eyes were sad and heavy. "Maduin," he murmured, "may the light of the Ancients illuminate your journeys ahead. May they light the way for us all."

"Espers," said Strago quietly, drawing the attention of Yura and the others, "I am Strago Magus of Thamasa. On behalf of our Council, I have been given permission to offer sanctuary to all of you."

Yura peered deeply at the old man. "You are a descendant of the Magi," he said wonderingly, and Strago nodded. "Do the Knights Arcane still exist?"

"Their blood has mingled with that of the survivors and others who have found their way to our retreat," replied Strago. "Our records are no longer certain of who is descended of the Knights, of the Magi, or of outsiders. I am sorry."

"What happened, Yura?" asked Terra, "How was it that so many of you came through the Gate so quickly?"

Yura looked abashed for a moment, staring at the ground. When he replied, it was in a low, solemn tone.

"After the invasion by the humans, we had sworn never to visit your world ever again. The remaining of the elder Espers made it law, a first for our people. But Maduin had been highly thought of, and we feared for Ramuh, Ifrit, Shiva, Stray, Shoat, Bismark, and the others. We few had gathered near the gate, to discuss plans of how to find and rescue those of us who had been taken. It was coincidence, or perhaps the work of fate, that enabled us to be close enough to the gate to hear Terra's plea."

Terra kept her face impassive, but inside her mind was churning. There were less than thirty Espers standing before her, possibly less than two dozen. It was hard to tell. And Yura had said that only these few had gathered. Less than thirty Espers, and they had leveled Vector and wreaked havoc with the Imperial Army. Terra was suddenly afraid of what might have happened if there had been more Espers near the gate.

"When we heard Terra, we thought that it was one of the kidnapped Espers who had managed to return home," continued Yura, "so we bonded our minds in the manner of our people, and saw the memories and thoughts Terra held. When the truth of the results of the invasion became known to us, we felt a rage like never before and bolted through without hesitation and without thought.

"But once we entered your world, we forgot the strength of our magic, and our powers raged uncontrolled alongside our hate and desire for vengeance. At the time, our anger burned so hot that we cared nothing for the destruction left in our wake. But we remember that we leveled one of your human cities, the one where are friends and compatriots had been kept. We had hoped to find some alive, and when we didn't…"

Yura left the rest of the statement hang in the air. He didn't need to say anything else. Terra and Locke had seen the devastated remains of Vector, the destruction of the Magitek Facility and the Iron Fortress.

"The same thing happened to me," commented Terra, "after coming face-to-face with an Esper frozen in the snow of Narshe, I lost control completely. I almost hurt my friends and flew across half the world before I was found by Ramuh. I was terrified of what I could do and of who I might hurt."

Yura nodded in agreement. "I remember very little of this world, I was only created a few months before we retreated into our refuge. But Bahamut and others have explained that in this world, we are closer to the known sources of magic, and thus our power is amplified. After a thousand years in our own world, we forgot the power of our magic."

"And your people no longer build structures meant to withstand us," commented another Esper, a bulky being in plate armor several inches thick.

"Despite Alexander's tactless words," said Yura, "we are deeply sorry for the pain and suffering your people have endured and will have to survive because of us."

"The past is past," Locke spoke up, drawing the attention of the Espers. "However, we came here with an offer. The Empire is the nation responsible for the invasion and for what happened to your people. It is their city of Vector that you attacked. They seem to want to talk to you about forging some kind of peace agreement. If you come with us, I think we can work something out."

One of the other Espers stepped forward. He looked like a nine-foot tall man wearing elegant, knightly armor.

"You think this Empire would forgive us so easily? For the harm we have done to it?" he asked.

Yura nodded. "Crusader has a valid point."

"Waiting for us is General Leo of the Empire," explained Terra, "and he is one of the kindest, most honorable men that I've met. I am certain that he would be eager to meet with you."

Yura turned to regard the other Espers, and all of them seemed to be having some kind of silent conversation. After several moments, he turned back to Terra and nodded.

"We are in agreement that we must work to make peace with your people," said Yura. "Our access back into our own world has been blocked, possibly forever. Our future is this world, now. We cannot allow ourselves to remain unchecked. We will learn to live in this world, with your people. We will refrain from using our powers, to avoid hurting any humans even by accident."

Terra saw the other Espers nodding their agreement. Smiling, she and the others joined the Espers as they walked out of the mountain caverns and out into the late morning sunlight.

The sun warmed Terra's face and her heart. They were close to a lasting peace. Soon, there would be peace between humans and Espers. The Empire would no longer be waging a war of conquest. The Returners would not be needed. For the first time since she awoke in Narshe, Terra allowed herself to dream of what she would do for the rest of her life.