As the bombs rage on,

A walk across the Great Lake

Churns up the salt lands

Duke Haydyn had never met the Knight before in person, but now that the chance had arrived on him he was very much disgusted with the sight. The visage of Master Almasy was painted in falsehood in its entirety-- a quirky, lighthearted and immaturish glee. It was the look of a man that could have easily been pushed over were it not for the dreadful succubus energy swirling within his eyes and glowing upon his skin. From the moment of introduction, the Duke could detect a hyperactive malice that could be unleashed so unwittingly within the vices of the man and so easily manipulated by stronger forces. The Duke was an old man, but he was positive he could probably take on this Knight when his magic powers weren't activated.

The gunblader himself was lounging in one of his seats in the newly renovated office chainsmoking cigarettes with a furious passion. His two closest aides, trembling figures in their own right, waited patiently as did he for the Duke to respond to the nasty little present the Super Guard was leaving on his doorstep.

Haydyn produced a handkerchief from his jacket and wiped his forehead vigorously. "So... Mr. Almasy--"

"--Oh do please refer to me in the proper accolades, kind sir." A shine gleamed from his teeth-filled smile.

Haydyn smiled. "Of course. Where are my manners anyway, Sir Almasy."

"Spasiba," Seifer said, smiling broadly.

"Well, now. So, I've got an army of 200,000 reluctant conscripts situated on the plains of Montereasu, 10,000 pilotless drones and twenty supertankers from Deling City on my way now?"

"Oh, they're already here. I just have to give the word."

Haydyn sighed. "This is some short notice, you are aware of that."

"Fuck your notice. Be lucky the Lunatic Pandora doesn't come here to decimate your little port town. The radiation effects would be slow and time-consuming leaving your sea dog people to suffer for almost a year or so in agony before finally... haha... dying."

"The Lunatic Pandora? That monstrosity has been sealed up for over twenty years."

"What can be easily concealed can just as easily be dug up. Especially if you have disposable Centran people to do the digging."

"How many did you waste to get the skyscraper?"

"At least 15,000. Wiped out three whole settlements of people plus the nomadic tribes on the southern edge of the Estharian continent."

"And you...you feel okay about this?"

"Okay? You shit-stained fuck. I don't care about all you silly humans and cities and cultures. You all waste your time with diplomatic efforts to bring about democracy and stability."

"What about the disaster on Lighthouse Pointe? The devil you worship now infected Edea Kramer before and consumed many souls on this western continent-- including powerful rulers and leaders-- before finally forcing myself and the mayors of Balamb, Trabia and the Horizon to fight you on those red lands. Tens of thousands people died there. The environment is polluted and has caused the deaths of thousands more in the Centran and Galbadian settlements around the area of the battle."

Seifer had been drinking some of the Duke's fine wine. He burped at the end of the Duke's speech and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Raij, you hear this old fuck?"

"Yea, I hear," he replied in a low voice, "it seems he's ran out of choices ya know?"

"Don't be so daft, boy," Haydyn sternly warned him. "You don't come off as sentimental to your Knight's cause."

"Boy?" Raijin asked, his voice rising. "Did you just call me 'boy'?"

Haydyn raised his eyebrows.

"I may not like these plans, but no fucker ever insults my intelligence, ya know?" He pulled out his quarterstaff, sharpened now at the point, and waved it menacingly at the Duke. "Ya hear that?"

Haydyn only stared at him. Fujin walked to his side and touched his arm. "SILENCE," she said as softly as she could.

"Yeah, the Duke's at a loss," Seifer said calmly. "I believe he's made up his mind."

"You're damn right," Haydyn sighed. "Although I should warn you, Sir Almasy, I've fortified the northern expanse, and the eastern and western is covered by impenetrable canyon walls populated by dangerous animals. If you send your conscription army those three ways, you will make them suffer horrible deaths."

"Well, we are going to rebuild our destroyed prison that your friend Mr. Squall Leonhart blew up. We are actually thinking of using your office here, in all its seven-story expansive glory , as the first brigand of a prison system."

"Never!" Haydyn shouted, slamming his fist on his desk.

"Oh fuck the shenanigans, Duke Haydyn. It's going to happen regardless of your wishes, wants or says." Seifer stood up, cracked his back, and smiled at the seething leader. "So what would you like? Slow and painful? Quick and delerious?"

"How about you go fuck yourself, Sir Almasy."

Seifer pointed and laughed. "Now that's a response, ha ha." Clicking his fingers at Raijin and Fujin, the two responded by walking away and alering their generals. Seifer walked two steps and then turned to face him again. "You can alert the Horizon. I'll give you a few seconds to do that. Besides, this room needs a renovation anyway. Something...erm.. a little more eccentric." He laughed his way out of the office, and Haydyn took a long time to sit back down.

It seemed like forever just sitting in that room alone. He stared at the comm translater on his desk, as if he expected it to work automatically. A loud and incessant buzzing sound cracked in his ears, but he didn't bother to shake his head to mitigate it. His thoughts lapsed into one murky stew. The officers of his volunteer army of some 60,000-- he was very happy that Squall had given him 10,000 to work with-- were now going to have to decide for themselves. Would they want to fight to the end, or surrender and amalgamate with the Guard? The force was too much, and the Garden fighers of Squall's crew were too far off. The damn Delingers had mobilized faster than he had suspected. The damn Galbadians had unearthed the Lunatic Pandora. The damn Estharians were mindlessly paying no heed. The damn bitch Adel was coming back.

All was not well in the name of the Earth.

It might've been ten minutes, and he knew he was running out of time. Numbly, he picked up the comlink and clicked a button on the registry. He waited for the clicks to stop churning before the linkup swivvled on.

"Master Haydyn!" Cid Kramer gasped from his blue holographic form. "You are horribly pale."

"Master... Kramer... it is time."

"What?" Cid asked, worried. Other people behind him, probably the mayor and his wife, gasped in horror. "It can't be time. It should be a week from no--"

"No, Cid. Seifer Almasy has just left."

"Damn."

"The Pandora's up, Cid."

"Wh----The...."

"Yes. Evacuate everyone from the Horizon. They are going to Esthar, I am sure. Still, evacuate everyone. NOW!!"

"Squall has left early, Thomas. Edea and the others have gone after him. Without Squall and you here, there won't be a hand of leadership strong enough to ward off the Super Guard."

He heard what sounded like a snap of a missile. "Cid, I have enjoyed my friendship with you. I am glad to have known you all this time."

"No. No, no, no--!"

The missile exploded into the Duke's office on the seventh floor of his estate, and his body split in three fiery chunks that snaked its way down to the earth along with the rest of his crumbling infrastructure. Smoke and fire billowed everywhere.


"Fuck!!" Cid yelled, slamming his comlink device down. Dollet's transmission remained a static mess, and the Dobes looked distraught as they stared blankly into space. Cid rubbed his forehead vigorously. "We don't even have 10,000 people available."

"What are we going to do?" Dobe asked.

Cid thought a moment. "Evacuate. Exactly as he said."

"Squall left too soon."

"I was once the same as him. Young and foolhardy. However, if we evacuate and pick up as many strays as we can, we will stand a chance."

"With what, Cid? The entire western continent is against us now. They will overrun Dollet and conscript every single one of their citizens. "

"I know!!" he yelled, unexpectedly startling the Mayor. "Still. I have a plan."

"Tell."

"We get the Balambians aware. We hire as many Trabians, Ithians and residents of Nagansett. We alert the Centran navies and the White SeeD. Plus...a secret SeeD force I had created in the wake of Edea's time as a Galbadian representative-- a little unknown force of SeeD assassins called the Blue SeeDs."

"You actually made that group?"

"I did. I was actually intending for Seifer Almasy and Squall Leonhart to join that group, considering they are skilled in gunblades."

"My goodness Cid, you are unbelievable."

"And so is what's going on in the west right now. Alert your citizens Dobe, and have West alert those in the Outer City. We need to get out of here at once!!"

Dobe and his wife sighed and nodded. They took one last long look at their beloved sea town. "What of your Garden, Cid?"

"How is she near completion?"

"About 78%"

"Able to fire up?"

"Barely."

"That's more than enough for me at this point."


The smaller army watched helplessly as row upon row of spiked drones curled over the reddish-yellow canyon bluffs and circled into the recently completed city. A city that just four months ago had been hit by a devastating round of attacks from the same weapons. The purple lasers that fired from its batteries crushed houses and toppled the skeleton structure of the condominums. Laser fire ripped up the trees in the parks, decimated ships at the port and poured into the marketplace. The first row splashed death onto a large bulk of Dolletian fighters in the central square melting the streets in swaths of bone and blood.

The Dolletians had energy tankers from Fisherman's Horizon and plasma rifles they were able to harness themselves in the rebuilding of the city. They really only had the drones to worry about, for the denizens inhabiting the canyons north, east and west of their beloved city were doing a fair job of stopping the Super Guard army. A few hundred fighters were able to break through, but machine gun fire from several lines of the Dolletians stopped the Galbadians and Delingers from advancing further in.

Several tanks fired off shots at the drones and took out ten before a large number of tanks were downed. A massive blast from a protruding arm in a larger drone uprooted fifteen Dolletians and sent their bodies in shards across the city. Another explosion ripped open a temple, two schools and a hospital. Plasma fire and the surviving tanks took down several more of the drones, before a loud blaring horn emerged from ten approaching supertankers drifting close to the pier. The ships anchored and several thousand members of the Guard poured in and surrounded the perimeters of the city. More hurled in from the northern entrance destroying the satellite communications tower in the process. 20,000 Dolletians had been slaughtered in such a short clip of time that the survivors timidly laid down their arms and piled into a large cluster in the center of the city near the damaged estate of the dead Thomas Haydyn. The surviving pilotless drones formed a tight radius around the city and held the citizens at gunpoint.

Panic plagued the Dolletian army, and the enemy soldiers and marine squads pushed all the way through the city until they were within a yard away from them. Truck squads poured in from the north, and one of them was painted in brilliant colors. Three very happy people sat in the plush seats, with one of them having a very sickly smirk on his face. The colorful truck stopped in front of the massive epicenter of the surrendered Dolletians, and the Knight hopped out carrying a brightly colored ball in his hands.

"Excellent, ladies and gentlemen, excellent. You've let these fine young citizens be martyers for your cause. Whatever that could be." He gave a spritely laugh. "So... now what will it be? Young Leonhart has been consummated for the time being, so you cannot rely on him at this moment. Shall you be prisoners in your own city or fighters for the Super Guard?"

"Never fight for you!!" rang out several army leaders, followed by large shouts of various wings of the surrendered soldiers.

Seifer looked at them all, and then broke out a slow and devillish grin. "That's what I wanted to hear!"

The ball in his hand glowed and a bright orange halo rose and fluttered within it. The sphere emitted a yellow gas, and the force of a sonic boom jammed straight out of it and felled the bulk of the crowd to their backs, causing a sharp lacerating wound to appear on their chests. Some of the elderly and pregnant died immediately, while others were mortally wounded. The whole crowd cowered to their feet, and the ones already flattened on their backs assumed immediate submissive behavior.

Raijin got a pennant with the Super Guard insignia and somersaulted up to a razed platform and planted the pole straight into the rook. Spinning his quarterstaff wildly in the air, he gave a shout of joy and the loyalists of the Guard army joined in the chorus. Seifer lit a cigarette and smiled proudly at the plan that was thus far in accordance with his mistress's wishes. He nudged Fujin who looked up at him fearfully. "Enslave those worthy enough to fight into our league. Imprison and torture the rest."

"WILL DO."


Angelo trotted faithfully off the end of the bridge and onto the gravelly sand. Dark brown pebbles and stones rested loosely on golden sand. Swirling mists of dust billowed in a slight breeze above the stones, and a few stray dislodged units broke apart and jumped across the earth. A derelict oil refinery and an abandoned railway depot littered the surroundings nearest the mutt, and a orangish haze flickered in the distant horizon. It was nighttime now, and the sky was filled with stars and a speckle of cloud.

The dog looked this way and that and found nothing out of place before giving a bark of approval. His masters appeared then out of an alcove in the bridge. Rinoa was sliding down a bit in his harness, and he was getting tired. Squall sighed sadly and walked over to the oil refinery, placing her gently down by a flickering lamppost. His shoulders and back ached from carrying her a distance of ten miles, and it had been a long trek with nothing particularly pleasing to catch his eye. He did, however, felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise several times on the bridge-- as if something was watching him. He found no trace of any object to his dissatisfaction.

Not just him either. Angelo had on numerous occasions peered over the edge of the bridge and barked at the water. Each time nothing was found.

He shrugged off those thoughts as best as he could and rubbed his shoulders and then his back. He winced when several bones in his body cracked from his pressure. It had been a while since he had properly worked out, and he half-hoped he wouldn't run into any bestial encounters while carrying Rinoa on his back.

A nagging thought caught him and he patted his jacket. No cigarettes. He sighed angrily and sat hard on his ass. He held his head in his hands and shook it slowly. "Of course. Just my luck."

Angelo barked again, scaring the crap out of him. The dog ran to the edge of the bridge and barked again at the water. Squall jumped to his feet and unsheathed the Punishment from his scabbard. He loaded in two buckshots of the strongest shotgun ammo gunstores could offer--AM shells they liked to call them, or Aftershock Methods with the stigma that they resembled the aftershock effects of earthquakes. Cocking the chamber, he walked quickly to the water's edge and searched for the sign of the troubles. He knew Angelo wasn't lying, for he felt the presence as well. The sword searched all along the brink but found nothing.

Angelo whimpered and looked at his master.

"I know, boy, I feel it too. The fuck is going here?"

Something yellow shone through the water, and he and Angelo let out a gasp and hobbled backwards. A massive yellow vessel straddled the beach and brought up a mist of waves. It beached up onto the stone-strewn earth, and the hull opened up revealing a very excited Selphie Tilmitt in the driver's seat. Irvine stumbled out looking mighty drunk, except he was actually woozy from Selphie's piloting--which wasn't exactly the best in the world. Zell and Quistis hopped out after him, followed by the driver herself and Mila. Squall wasn't quite sure why she was there, but she immediately clinged onto Zell's shoulder, and he rolled his eyes. A dafty-looking scepter was on her beltloop, and he figured she had finally mastered her magicka skills good enough to perform combat. Last but not least, Edea herself walked a little sick from the ride but still maintaining a pleasant persona.

"Yep," Squall sighed. "Just my luck."

"We thought you would see us a bit," Irvine said, straightening out his fedora and leather trenchcoat. "She was bringing us too close to the surface."

"The hell is that thing?" Squall asked pointing at it with an unimpressed look.

"Hey!" Selphie said. "Don't diss the Dolphin, okay!"

"The Dolphin?"

"Yeah," Irvine explained, "the FHers call it a Dolphin. It's an Estharian piece of technology that allows naval units to attack enemies underwater. Apparantly, Selphie can pilot anything."

"Of course," she acknowledged sweetly.

Squall rubbed his face irritatedly. "Well, that's... that's great. Wonderful."

"Hey man," Zell said hitting his arm, "you just gonna leave us behind." He noticed the saddle and ropes on Squall's body. "Nice contraption. Really inventive there, Squall."

Squall looked at himself, then at Rinoa, then back at all of them. Angelo trotted over and sat by his pant leg. He saw Zell was expecting an answer. In fact, they all were. "The hell do you want me to say? I did what I had to do. There's no wasting time here."

"No there isn't," Edea said. "In fact, I believe we all left just in time. I think Dollet is getting hammered now as we speak."

"Our focus is on Esthar now," Squall said. "I... guess... I could use some help getting there."

"Isn't your back hurting?" Mila asked.

"Yea man," Zell pointed out, "it's a nice contraption, but I'm sure that walk on the bridge did a number on you."

"It's no problem, y'all. I can handle it."

"Of course," Quistis teased.

"So, is the princess still asleep?" Irvine smirked.

Squall gave him a look, but before he could respond, Selphie continued, "She might need a K-I-S-S from her prince to wake her up."

His eyes widened and he gave a death look, however she and the other girls giggled furiously at his flushed skin. Edea laughed herself, and the two guys rubbed his shoulders hard and walked across the gravelly earth.

"Anything else you all want to say?" Squall asked.

"Well, Squall," Quistis said, walking up to him, "if you don't mind, Mila here seems ripe enough to join us in our quest. Also, she didn't want Zell to leave her alone now that the Garden is out of commission for the time being. What with all the stuff going on with Galbadia and Deling, it's probably wise to take her along with us. She knows a lot of powerful support and offensive magic, too."

He looked at her, and she flashed him a pretty smile. "Fine, that's fine." He shook her hand, and she went to go look at the nighttime scenery with the guys and Selphie.

"We're also Edea's escorts," Quistis said, "which means that we don't let her out of our sight. Hopefully, the Estharians won't decide to shoot her on sight when we arrive in their city."

"Hm, yeah. That wouldn't be good. Alright, that's a good plan. That's a good plan."

"You okay?"

"Fine, fine. Why you say that?"

"You're agitated. Very easy to tell."

"I just haven't had a cigarette nor a glass of alcohol in a few days."

Edea produced some gin from her totebag. "On the house, Master Squall."

Squall sighed happily, unscrewed the cap and drank the contents whole. "Mm. You're a lifesaver, Matron."

"Look who's talking."

Squall returned her the empty glass and burped approvingly. "Much grateful."

"Doc Odine may be able to tell us a lot of things, Squall. I value the protection and the well-being of us all. If Sorceress Ultimecia possesses me once more, the result will be more dangerous than you'll ever see in your lifetime. If it were feasibly possible, I would very much like to rid myself of these godawful powers. Odine may be able to save me and us from a terrible outcome."

"Then... it is imperative that we leave immediately."

Quistis giggled. "It seems you have already got the jump on that thought pattern, Squall."

"Always have. Always will."

"Damn!" the shout was distant, but it was Irvine's.

Angelo, Squall, Quistis and Edea looked in that direction and saw the other four running back to meet them. "There's nothing anywhere north or south for miles and miles!" Irvine said.

"Let's try going east!" Mila suggested.

"You said you couldn't see anything for miles?" Squall asked.

"Yeah, but there's a massive salt lake that's all dried out for the most part over east. I think there might be a path to be taken there," Irvine said.

"It is nighttime for another three hours, though," Zell said. "You think we should wait til dawn."

"Hell no," Squall said, grabbing Rinoa and harnessing her back up. "It's now or never, especially if the Super Guard's doing their romp. We haven't got much time."

They all watched in awe as he hoisted the girl up onto his shoulders and tighten the straps up. "Ready?" he asked them.

They all nodded, Angelo took the lead, and they journeyed east. Across orangish-golden land. The earth sparkled with the type of minted jewels that normally were found in spice mines in Centra and Trabia. There weren't any signs of natural life, except for the earth, causing an almost uneasy feeling to settle among them. Even though it was dark outside, lit up only by the moon, the area was flat and nothing could be seen for miles north or south. The large expanse of water blackened-blue at this hour lay to the west. Out east, miles and miles stretched out in the distance of a massive dried-out salt bed with small mountain peaks encircling it.

As they approached it, the air temperature got colder but not frigid. An overwhelming salt smell covered them almost immediately, and they could feel it at the back of their throat. Their eyes began to water, and their nose became ticklish. It would be a long walk.

"Hello!" Selphie shouted. "I don't see a city out here! Isn't Esthar, like, a city of thirty million people?!"

"From what the accounts read out," Edea said.

"Looks like we're in for a long trip," Mila noted. "Especially if you're swimming in a pool filled with salt."

Zell put an arm around her and whispered in her ear. "You ready for this?"

She kissed his cheek. "Only if you are."

"Well, that's a hell yeah, then!"

"We're always by your side, Edea," Irvine assured, "nothing will change that."

"That is really good to hear," she replied. "Remember you all, always be alert in my presence. If I am me, then all is good in the world."

Squall checked his gunblade and found it loaded and ready to kick some ass. "Every damn day is good in my book."

"Well that's a first," Quistis joked.

Squall cracked his neck, held Rinoa's weight steady with arm, unsheathed the Punishment with the other, and addressed them all. "Let's rock and roll, people."

Irvine and Zell fist-pumped the air, the girls giggled at Squall's flushed cheeks, Edea smiled and Angelo barked and led the way into the salty caverns.


A long line of women and children handcuffed to a single winding cord snaked around the dank city streets in Dollet. Each of them were covered in soot, blood and tears that still streamed down their cheeks. Their clothes had been tathered by some of the more rambunctious members of the Guard, and several who were physically weak and suffering from illness had had their limbs chopped off from the cord and their bodies dumped to the side of the street. They were being led into the Civic Center, which was being rapidly transformed into a massive armaments manufacturing center. Stern officers of the Galbadian military were brandishing energy-laced whips from the small crystals that had been embedded in the Lunatic Pandora, and they indiscriminately flogged anybody that they felt was slacking off in bomb-making and tank-constructing.

The men had been sent down to the pier and the old sea wharf village. The damage from the drone attacks had once again destroyed Dollet's naval capacity and its ships. Under constant gunpoint, they were forced to rebuild their wares a second time in less than half a year. Some of them were felled for no good reason. Either gender that refused his or her task was flogged to an inch of their life and sent into the Duke's hollowed estate, where construction of the new D-District Prison No. 6 was well underway.

The war rehabiliation was moving at a phenomenal rate. Away from the dying city high on a canyon bluff, Seifer Almasy, Raijin and Fujin looked down at the work-in-progress as well as the sprawling encampments settled around the city where the Galbadian and Dolletian forced citizen-army were being closely monitored by Super Guard drones and junta generals. Seifer was looking at a hologram map of Fisherman's Horizon. The makeup of the layered city showed that an alarming amount of people were evacuating.

The night sky was turning into dawn, and the Sun's rays shown on a very bloody scene down in the sea port.

"ESCAPING," Fujin noticed.

"They are indeed," Seifer concurred.

"Are you... going to attack them?" Raijin asked.

"Dunno. Cid was always nice to me."

He switched the module over a few clicks and saw a scene on Centra much to his liking. Zooming in further, he let the other two see that the three-hundred storey monstrosity was fully excavated and levitating off the purplish earth. The screen could not fit it all the way in its scope, and its presence was magnifying.

"Ah, it's time, it's time," Seifer chortled with glee.

He closed the module and flipped it into his coat. "Leave your best generals here for a second uptick and follow me to Centra. We must board the Pandora and fly her over to the East at once."

"YESSIR."

"Yes, sir."

The two of them laughed and Seifer looked in an eastwardly direction where Squall Leonhart was more than likely heading towards. "Stay alive for a little while, Squallie. Your time is coming fast."


"The hell is this earth, eh?" Zell asked.

"Yes," Mila said, "it's rich and soft to the touch."

Quistis reached down and hooked a piece in a reader. Analyzing the data, she widened her eyes. "Great Eden. The sand is loaded in minerals. Gold, tungsten, phosphourous, and aluminum. The Estharians must be a very rich nation."

"Oh they most certainly are," Edea replied, stepping over to see the reader. "They have worked for many years to build their city into something monumental. Funny, though. They don't seem too enthusiastic to show it." She looked around as if to expecting to suddenly see it. A look of disappointment came over her face.

"Do you know why that is?" Irvine asked.

"I remember coming to Esthar about 25 years ago. It was pretty big then, about nine million people. After the Sorceress War, I heard they had a population explosion along with a technology explosion, since they started strip-mining in the northeast. From what I can recall, it was pretty easy to get into the city. This salt lake was actually a lake in those days. From the war and the subsequent drillings, the lake got dried out. As you can see..." She pointed with exuberance, and they all cried out at what she pointed to. "...the process has unearthed awesome relics from the past."

"Awesome is an understatement," Squall breathed.

A gigantic skeleton of a dinosaur was embedded in a cliff near them that dipped down farther into a vast salt plain. The Great Salt Lake was carved into rivulets of salty canyons and dry riverbeds. Ancient fossils of creatures that used to live here millions of years ago lay exposed to the sunlight. The salty conditions had preserved the thousands of ancient bones for long times; now, however, the recent decades had exposed them all, and the Sun was now slowly eroding the bones whole. In another two or three decades, none of them would be left.

Besides the sea-salt smell, Squall felt it was a peaceful place. It was really a walk in a distant time and place. Millions of years ago, life that he had never seen before walked the earth and inhabited a land that resembled Esthar but wasn't Esthar. A land that had been thoroughly recycled into the earth and now produced denizens like himself and his companions to walk the earth and create their stories. He felt that this story he was walking into was a majestic and heart-stopping tale, of which he was grateful to partake in for a little time.

The sky was calm overhead, and light from the Sun was starting to pour and disperse the blackness away. Within an hour, the first rays of dawn would be upon them. The sand was golden, but the darkness of the night heightened the color to an orangish glow. One could not get lost in this continent, for the pathway was lit up beautifully at night which made it incredibly to spot and be spotted by monsters if there were any out. Yet, the Great Salt Lake was a formidable, though beautiful, place and there was no activity of life to be found, except for the dessicating fossils. Maggots and other bugs small enough to be crushed under foot were infesting every nook and cranny, feeding off of the bountiful salt deposits.

The air was frigid when the winds whipped their way through the carved-up pathways, but the actual air temperature was not that bad. As they ventured farther down in the winding pathways, they were able to buy large amounts of time of still winds saving their skin from hypothermia. The month of November was slowly becoming December and showing it in droves across the northern expanses of the continents.

They continued walking for another half-hour gazing at the same craggy rock before finally the salty smell waffled them hard. Forced to stop, and tired as he was with her on his back, Squall signalled for them to halt for a few minutes and they all sat down on the ground. The dawn's lights were coming across the tops of the cliffs above them. A faint wisp of wind curled across the golden earth and stirred up a few rocks. Squall set Rinoa down next to him and pressed his back up against the wall, longing for another glass of gin. Angelo came to him and rested his head in Squall's lap, ergo Squall obliged and scratched his ears. There was so much to think about at this time, yet his mind just couldn't revolve away from Rinoa and the dog wasn't helping things at all. His presence reminded Squall of the pink-toned resistance fighter's warmth and ambience. It was getting unbearable not to hear her voice. However, he really wasn't sure what he was getting into. For one thing, he had absolutely no idea where this fucking city was. And secondly, who and where did he go to talk to and with? He had never even heard of this Doctor Odine putz before Edea called his name out. All he wanted to do was just find Ellone, who the White SeeD claimed had been taken by the naval ships. To where though? Where in this massive city, supposing he found it, could she be? The city was reportedly massive stretching roughly a hundred square miles and practically covering the whole of the continent.

He sighed and purposely smacked the back of his head against the cliff. He was thinking too much again. He had to stop doing that shit. He looked into Angelo's beady eyes. Useless, I know. Can't ever stop thinking too much. He continued to pet the dog's ears and changed his thought patterns to that of owning a dog. He had never owned an animal before, and if this little story continued to play out he would most assuredly be part owner of Mr. Angelo here. There would be no chance in hell that he could avoid it. The thought of owning the loyal mutt brought a fresh smile to the gunblader's face which Angelo recognized and buried his head deeper into Squall's lap.

"Well, blow me down."

Everybody turned their heads sharply towards Irvine.

"What day is it?"

"Psh, like I know," Squall muttered.

"Same here, man," Zell said. "Who the hell cares what day it is?"

"Damn. I didn't know you two cared so much," Irvine said, a little depressed.

Nobody said anything in response.

Irvine slapped his forehead. "Come on, guys! What day is it, seriously?" He looked at Selphie, who shook her head. He looked at Mila, who shook her head sadly too. "Anyone? Come on guys, don't let me down here now."

"I think--"

"Good, good. Quistis knows everything."

The former instructor caressed her temples and closed her eyes. "I think... oh I wanna say it's like the 30th of November maybe. I think we're just about to head into December."

"Ha!" the cowboy laughed, clapping his hands. "I knew it!"

"Hm. Somebody seems happy," Edea chuckled.

"The hell's got you so excited, duster boy?" Zell sneered.

Irvine shook his head. "People, people. Have you all lost track of time? Especially you, Selphie!" He playfully smacked her shoulder.

"What?!?" she asked, perplexed.

"It was my birthday.. like a week ago!"

Everybody widened their eyes. "Your... birthday?" Quistis asked.

"Nah-ah!" Selphie said, clinging to his arm.

"Yes-ah!" Irvine laughed. "I just turned 17 on November the 24th!"

Everybody was silent, contemplating that.

"Holy shit!" Zell cried. He pointed his finger at Irvine and laughed. "Loser. I'm older than you by eight months!!"

"Hey fuck you brawler. You didn't even know."

"Now I do, haha."

Irvine grunted.

"I'm older than you, I'm older than you."

"You mean, your birthday was really just a week ago?" Selphie asked.

"That's right. About the time we went to go see the White SeeD was when it happened. It done slipped my mind a bit."

"Damn," Squall said. "That's some interesting news."

"Well, thanks Squall. First compliment you've given me since we've known each other."

"By the way, sharpshooter, I'm older than you by exactly three months."

"What?!"

"You are?" Selphie, Zell, Mila, and Quistis asked.

"Yep. August 23rd. Fine, ripe old date in the last days of summer."

"Tch, lucky bastard," Irvine sulked.

"Ha!" Zell laughed. "I'm still older than you even. Take that!"

Squall shrugged. "Yippe-kay-ah, motherfucker."

Zell laughed. "Squall's a sore loser, baby," he told Mila, who giggled at that.

"Well, Zell, when were you born again?" Selphie asked.

"March 17th. I heard it's a holiday date, too, in some parts of the world."

"Dammit. You're older than me, too. Mine's July 16th." She giggled at Squall and Irvine. "Still beat you two, though. Sorry fellas."

Irvine grunted longer this time. Why am I the baby here? he thought to himself.

"Awfully quiet there Quistis," Edea noticed, a grin on her face.

"Yes," the former instructor replied. "My birthday is October the 4th. Just recently, too. I believe we were too busy being stuck in prison at the time for me to notice properly. Deary me, I can't believe I forgot about that."

"October? Hey, that means Selphie, Squall and myself are older than you, ha!" Zell laughed.

"Nah, not quite. My birthday's the year before you all." Quistis flashed him a sly smile, and the brawler frowned at that.

Mila tugged at his arm. "Uh me too, honey."

"What?" Zell asked, shocked.

"I was actually born on Squall's birthday in the same year as Quistis's."

All of them widened their eyes at that, and the pretty library girl smiled at their befuddled expressions.

"Wait, so I'm dating an 18-year old?"

"That's right, Zelly."

The brawler chuckled. "Ye--ah! I'm dating a cougar."

She hit him hard in the ribs, and the rest of them laughed and shook their heads.

"My, my. You all have great memories of that. Each of you is entirely correct," Edea said.

"What year is it, Matron?" Squall asked.

"Yeah," Selphie asked. "That was one thing I could never get down correctly. We spent too much time chalking down years in history but we never figured out what our current year was."

"Well," Quistis said, "if you remember from history... I'd wager we are in the 3000s in the chronological time frame. But I can't remember which age of life we are in."

"My goodness, Quistis," Edea said, looking at her in wonderment. "Are you the brains of this group to Squall's brawn?"

"N-No, not really." The former instructor was really red.

"She's being bashful again," Irvine laughed. "Common trait, Matron, common trait."

"Always was," Edea said. "Why I remember when you were six or seven, Quisty, you had walked into Cid's library and fished out all the books relating to the history of the Trabian kingdoms. Went back at least five thousand years of history. I couldn't believe it. You had memorized every single king and queen who had ruled in that time frame from start to finish. Even the ones who were killed off in their acceptance speeches. Off the top of my head, I want to say that that was at least 200 of them. Most likely more than that!"

The redness was deepening. "It spanned two ages of life."

"Indeed it did. Well...let me think here for a second. It's been a while." Edea thought for a bit, her forehead showing signs of thoughts churning. "We....We are in the sixth age of Man and in the twelvth age of Life. Each age of Life spans 10,000 years, and each age of Man spans just 2000 years. This.... this is....this is the Year 3003 of the Twelvth Age of Life and the 1,989th year of the Sixth Age of Man."

Everybody was silent for a long time. The dawn's morning light had now swept fully in. It was about 6:30 in the morning.

"A...Seventh Age of Man is coming?" Squall asked. For some reason, his throat seemed dry when he said it.

Edea looked at him seriously. "The future of Mankind is up to the hands of Eden to decide."

Squall leaned back again, dismayed. He didn't hardly care for that too much. "Are you sure of that?"

Edea read him for a few minutes and then noticed the others had the same looks. "You children are not believers in that realm, are you?"

"No, ma'am," Irvine said solemnly. "With all due respect, of course."

"Yes, with all due respect," Mila said. "I spent countless hours in the library on my off-times looking at all the philosohical books written by ministers and theorists in Fisherman's Horizon and Esthar who contemplated what Eden had said. I never really cared for it too much. It didn't seem to ring true to my ears. It was almost a fake sense of hope and justice."

"That's what many people say about it," Edea said. "I.. admit.. that I find it to be rather rash, too. Being a Sorceress, though, for a time being, I met the so-called 'other half of the coin' to Eden's being. They call it Hyne. The flowing power that encompasses all supernatural and otherworldly beings such as sorceresses."

"Hyne?" Quistis asked.

"Yes. Eden represents life on this earth, and I guess other earths. Hyne represents the force that propels the life of abnormalities on this earth. The two supposedly work in tandem in a ying-yang sort of way, with Eden supposedly the more dominant one. I think it's the other way around sometimes, though. I can surely support that conclusion."

"I concur," Squall said.

"Still... in just ten years and a month... a true test of mankind will erupt. What it'll be, no one knows of."

"What happened 2000 years ago?" Zell asked.

"A violent earthquake that shook up the great cities that housed this very continent that we are on now. Cities that even dwarfed the purported size of Esthar. In the west and in the north, the landmasses split apart by an underwater faultine and powerful tsunamis to form the continents as they are today. After five hundred years into the Sixth Age of Man, human civilizations crept down into what is now known as Galbadia and Deling and built their cities there. Before, it had been what is now Trabia that had been the most populated. Centra had always remained skeletal and forbidden. I think you would have to go back four ages when it was different, but I cannot recall at this moment. I am sure the libraries of Esthar would explain it all quite clearly... if ever we got there."

"So all that could happen again in just a decade?" Selphie asked.

"Could is the key word in that sentence, young one. Each timeframe was marked quite differently and filled with much different people. In ten years, there may not even be men on this earth anymore. Men could go extinct, be replaced with another creature. Maybe similar, maybe entirely different."

"How did man come about?" Mila asked.

"Same way I suppose. We probably replaced an extinct organism who bares some resemblance with the character and makeup of our systems."

"How do Sorceresses come about?" Zell asked.

"That... is where this whole thing gets twisted, Zell. That is where Hyne's presence takes hold. I cannot really explain it fully without showing you all visuals so you can understand. Odine I am sure will have them." She sniffed. "This blasted salt smell is really getting to me."

"Me too," everyone said.

"It's not so bad," said a disgusting, croaking voice.

Squall and Irvine were up in a flash, gunblade and shotgun brandished immediately. Zell stood up after them, fists clenched tight and his Meteor orb-laced gloves shining brilliantly against the golden sand. Mila and Selphie gripped their blunt weapons, and Quistis slowly moved over to Edea and held her hand. Angelo stayed by Rinoa and growled at something over to the east. The humans looked at his mutterings.

Nothing.

Squall cocked the chamber ready, and Irvine did the same. "Who's out there?"

"Just me."

"Who the fuck is me?"

"Now that's a silly question that you ask of yourself!"

That voice. Squall knew he had heard that before. "Show yourself!"

"You've got five seconds to show before we kick your motherfucking ass!" Zell said excitedly.

"Hush, Zell," Irvine said.

"My goodness, my goodness," the croaking voice sputtered. "First cadets, then Seeds, now warriors. My, my, how times change."

Squall noticed a shadow approaching out of the gloom, and then the familiar sickly creature showed itself. "Ah, shit. You're that Golem creature from Ifrit's cavern and the Tomb of the Unknown King."

Zell, Irvine, Quistis, and Selphie shuddered and slowly dropped their weapons.

"Aww, you say it with such depression and loathing." The Golem had seen some hard times since they last saw him. His skin was ragged and torn, and his eyes were pale and melting in the sockets.

"So, really, what the fuck are you doing here?" Squall asked.

"I live here."

"I thought you lived in Ifrit's tomb."

"You bastards disturbed his home by unhooking the Garden!"

Squall looked at his friends with confusion. "How could that disturb a Guardian Force who has no earthly home here? He inhabits shrines!"

"Yes, yes. Of course, of course, human. But still, it was my home, and you all made a lot of noise! So, naturally, I moved away and found someplace much more to my liking. I always had a secret pleasure of watching my eyes melt from all the salt seeping in them."

Squall couldn't tell if that was sarcasm or an actual truth. Either way, the visual was disgusting. "May we help you?"

"I am afraid I don't have any games for you to play today. Much too fed up with all that, with all the shenanigans that are going on in the world today."

"Well, that's a relief," Zell said, crossing his arms.

"However, I couldn't help but noticing that you need to go to Esthar."

"How did you notice that?" Edea asked.

"Me ears are quite large, and they pick up lots of things. Lots of dumb stupid things like birthdays and mindless chatter from young people and all that shit. However, one constant thing among you all is to go and meet people in that wonderful and beautiful city known as Esthar. And drat it all, it's not quite easy to get to these days."

"Yes," Squall said looking around, "we can see that."

The Golem looked at him and laughed wickedly, almost falling down on his ass. "Oh you silly human, ha ha! For you, it must be exceptionally hard, ha ha. But for me! Nah. Not at all. I see it as plain as I can see the nose on your face."

Squall cocked his eyebrow. "What?"

"Silly human. Look. It's right over there." The Golem pointed off to the east.

When Squall and the others looked, they could see nothing but a limited view of miles and miles and charred land in the Great Salt Lake and flat golden-orange land of the Estharian continent.

"Where exactly?" Mila asked, annoyed.

"Uh yeah," Selphie said. "I don't see anything resembling a massive city."

The Golem slapped himself. "Aye, humans. Always debilitating freaks you are! Come. Follow me, I'll show you where it is."

"What?" Squall asked.

The Golem looked at him. "Follow me. You'll have to cross some rough terrain and some liquid to get to Esthar. Be mindful of your surroundings, too. Not all is what it seems to be."

"So, you're a guide?" Edea asked.

"I am a chauffer," the Golem said. "Besides, I doubt you all know the way back to the Horizon bridge."

The humans looked behind them and were dismayed to find that statement true. Squall looked at his companions who in turn looked at him. He sighed and grabbed Rinoa. "Looks like we have no choice."

The others frowned, nodded and waited for him to get settled. They followed the cackling Golem as the light began to penetrate deeper into the saltbed.


The source of the dreaded salt smell revealed itself to be a massive underground lake that was not visible from high up on the golden-orangish lands of Esthar. Indeed, from a birds-eye view, the Great Salt Lake had a landscape that tilted quite inward almost in a crater-like state and emptied into a brooding lagoon ripe in salt and brimming in warm heat. It was a veritable wasteland with no plant life and large salt clusters embedded in nooks of the whitish-blue cliffs rimming all around the churning lake.

The Golem cackled continously as it scampered heartilly down to the edge of the lake where a large boat lay. Whether it could hold eight people, a dog, and a Golem was beyond everybody's comprehension. All the humans covered their noses as best as they could, and Angelo sneezed incessantly and even watered at his eyes. A thing haze of salt fog was quite visible coasting the surface of the lake.

"This way," the creature giggled, "come, come."

The Golem hopped daintily into the boat and caught hold of the oar. Squall looked at his friends warily and felt his heart sink when they gave him the same look. He sighed and planned out his will while setting Rinoa carefully in first. Angelo hopped aboard and settled in next to her form, and then Squall helped Edea in. Irvine and Zell helped the other three girls and then got in themselves. Squall looked for a minute at the boat and saw much of it sinking further into the brink. Swallowing heavily, he slowly got in, and the Golem pushed off with an incredible thrust.

"See, see," it giggled, "no problem at all, hee hee."

The boat stayed afloat by some magical means. The Golem deftly stroked his oar in the thick, salty stew below them, and the crowded vessel slowly waded across the lake. The hazy fog covered much of the eastward path, and in time the westward shore they had left disappeared from view. Their surroundings on all sides slowly evaporated away, and the group became very uneasy.

"Um..." Squall started to say.

"What is it, Master Squall?" the Golem hissed with pleasure.

"Shit. You still remember my name?"

"Don't be silly, Commander Squall. Aye, humans. Your kind was always an abysmal wreck. Don't be so clueless all the time, you make life on this earth look bad." The Golem scratched the inside of his eye, pulled out a yellowish gob of goo and then bit into the gob crunching whatever it was into tiny giblets before spewing it out into the lake. "Squall Leonhart the leader, Zell Dincht the brawler, Irvine Kinneas the lady's man, Quistis Trepe the bookworm, Selphie Tilmitt the bubbly cheerleader, Rinoa Heartilly who's fallen terribly ill it seems, Milena Chabert the newbie on the team, Edea Kramer the former dreadful succubus, and Mr. Angelo the mutt. My, my wait til I tell my friends whom I have encountered."

Squall felt his gut go flat. "Your..... friends?"

"Oh. You want to meet them? They are terribly friendly."

"Uh, look Golem, we just need to get to Esthar."

"Oh, shit-a-ma-git. There's plenty of time for that. You haven't seen the sights of the lake yet."

"I don't think we want to," Selphie said.

"Oh, no. Don't say that," the Golem said sadly. "There's a lot of history here, dear one. Just brimming with ancient lore."

The girls stole a peek overboard and gasped. Mila and Selphie clinged to their guy's arms, and Quistis did the same to Squall. Their grip was quite tight. All three men tried to get them off, but when they looked overboard they stopped doing so.

Headless corpses passed them slowly by, followed by many severed heads with eye sockets gaping wide and maws twisted in agony. The salt preserved the bones, and all the skulls were pure white. The bodies had some flesh left, but that was slowly dissolving away and the rib cages and pelvises were as white as the skulls. There were many bones in the lake, and they repeatedly rammed into the boat as it passed.

"Oh my," Mila gasped. Selphie did the same. The guys were at a loss for words.

Edea sighed. "This... is a gathering place for the fallen."

"Mostly from the Sorceress War," the Golem explained. "Millions of people died in those thirty years, largely during the last five. Very fascinating time it was. Very fascinating. I made many a trip here to watch the slaughters."

"You have no contempt for the suffering?" Edea asked.

"Hell no! What kind of a silly question is that? Oh... wait.. I forgot you were a Sorceress against your will. Silly me, you were forced to commit acts that you didn't enjoy doing. How shameful."

Edea shook her head sadly.

"How much longer, Golem?" Squall asked.

The Golem made a guttural sound and did not answer, and no one felt compelled to pry further.

They continued for at least another hour in silence, and Squall began to grow a little tired and a little hungry. He heard the stomachs of the others rumble as well, and he felt only slightly relieved at that.

A terrible shriek suddenly pierced the air somewhere around them. Where exactly? Not one of them could tell. Their eyes darted everywhere, but the Golem kept silent and steady at the helm.

"Hey!" Irvine yelled at the creature, who looked at him in shock. "Did you not hear that?"

"It was fucking loud!" Zell said.

"Sounded like bones breaking," Quistis shuddered.

"Oh I heard it," the Golem said, nodding.

"Then... what is it?" Squall asked, darkly.

The Golem slowly turned his head back to the east and rowed a little faster. "One of my friends who wanted to say 'hi'."

"Ye---Yeah," Zell said queasily.

"That's.. uh.. great, Golem," Squall said, "but could you move a little faster please?"

The shriek occurred again, followed by a loud splash in the grimy lake. A large shadow moved in front of them in the mist, and the ripples cascading through the lake sent the skulls floating by careening against each other in a sickly sound.

The Golem laughed, or tried to (it sounded like nails on a chalkboard), and croaked, "It looks like he wants to meet you all, too."

The boat suddenly hit land and beached abruptly, knocking most of them out onto the gravelly sand. The sound of wings slashing against the air hit their ears, and the mist died down to reveal a horrid-looking creature. It stamped its three-toed feet roughly on the ground, stirring up gravel and rock like a bull ready to rush. It towered an immense thirty feet in the air and had two blackened horns the size of a full-grown man protruding out of its maw. A red mane, speckled with the dried blood and bits of human flesh, wavered in a knotty mess out the back of its mutated skull. Dark blue wings, wan and fragile, fluttered against the wind and made sharp cracking sounds against it. Its arms were bulbous and wide with absurdly large hands with small knives replacing fingers, each tarnished with dry blood. The thing looked like a gargantuan zombie stalwart, and it behaved with an equally voracious rage.

The eight humans had little time to react. The massive creature let out a roar that shook several salt clusters loose from the cliffs, and both of its arms crushed down towards the boat. Edea, Mila and Irvine jumped out just in time before the arms smashed the boat to pieces, while the other five scrambled away. Squall hauled Angelo to the side and told him to somehow watch over the unconscious Rinoa. He then managed to pull out his gunblade, but he was flung into the air by the creature's short stubby tail. Selphie and Quistis each stabbed the creature with their weapons. Quistis's bladed whip snapped into the creature's exposed rib cage and stuck. She somersaulted end over end onto the creature's back and rained down lightning magic into the bones and saggy flesh to little or no effect. Selphie spun crazily across the ground, whipping her nunchaku around in dazzling arcs and managing to crush and knock out several of the creature's exposed bones.

Edea had retained some of her magicka, and she sent strong firebolts and ice shards into the creature's stomach and skull when Quistis wasn't in the way. Zell tag-teamed with her to beat the creature's legs along with quick shotgun blasts from Irvine. The creature managed to kick Zell away with a sharp thrust to the brawler's stomach, but Mila was there to back up with a powerful flare spell that tore a whole gob of flesh off the hide followed by a whirling spin attack with her knife. An AM blast from the Punishment genuflected the creature and knocked Quistis off the creature's back. Her whip snapped out, and several ribs flew down to the ground.

The towering behemoth had many flowing wounds, yet it did not seem unwavered. Squall, Selphie and Irvine unloaded with shotgun blasts, nunchaku swipes and sword thrusts but the creature managed to beat them all away, even managing to open a bloody wound across Irvine's face. Quistis reached for a spell on her whip and fired it at the creature but gasped right after firing it. Instead of another bolt spell, she had accidentally charged off a cure spell. She cursed and stamped her foot on the ground, but the creature yelled out in pain and reeled back and knocked its skull in a low overhanging cliff.

"What the hell?" Zell asked.

"I...I hit it with a Cure spell," Quistis said.

"Hit it again!" Squall shouted.

The behemoth angrily snorted, charged Quistis with its head reared down and its horns protruded dangerously out. Squall cursed and hauled Quistis away from the thrust; only he got sliced apart in the back and he fell on the ground beside her. The creature roared, took to the air with it surprisingly powerful wings, circled once or twice in mid-air, and slammed back down to the ground. The shockwave sent Zell and Selphie airborne and into the salty lake. Irvine was drilled back into a salt wall, and a clump of salt got into his facial wound and burned like a motherfucker. Edea and Mila were flung back into Rinoa and Angelo, who gave a surprised bark.

The behemoth laughed wickedly, and the Golem who had hid in the salty waters laughed in his croaking way as well. Surveying the befuddled humans, the behemoth snorted and seemed to chortle as it slowly walked around the mess it created and tried to decide which one to off first. Squall was grunting and gingerly touching his back, and Quistis was dazed and confused, so the behemoth decided to attack them first. Irvine, despite his excoriating wound, found a true aim and sent a shotgun shell into the creature's face successfully tearing off a horn. The creature reeled back again, and Irvine fired another shell into the creature's ribs before his chamber ran dry. The creature stumbled again, snorted and charged the bloodied sharpshooter. Irvine gulped and waited for the impact, but Edea stood up and showered ice and fire magic across the creature's side. That stopped it, but it snorted even worse and kicked the kindly Matron across the face and sent her flying.

Milena grunted and got up. She twirled her scepter and found a Curaga spell laced around the rim of the hilt. The behemoth looked at her and let out a screeching yell that pierced her ears. She could see quite clearly every facet of the creature's gullet. Steeling her resolve, she let the magic glow in her eyes and sent the support spell straight into the behemoth's mouth. The spell coarsed through the bones and raggedy flesh at lightning speed and tore off the creature's wings and one of its arms. The haggard monster fell back hard but still remained standing. Steadying herself, and wishing not to do it, she pulled out a green vial from her pocket and flung it at the wobbling creature. The vial exploded on its chest, and a green soupy goo overflowed it and burned the monstrosity alive. A large puff of smoke escaped out of the red mane, and nothing but ashes fell down to the ground. The library girl took a sigh of relief and fell down to the ground, where Angelo rushed to soothe her.

"Holy shit!!" Zell said. His eyes were wide, and red from the salty sea but he hardly cared about that at the moment. He slowly walked out of the lake and looked at his girl, who was quickly breathing and receiving the medicine that Angelo had in his leash case. He walked over to her, and they both smiled at each other before he reached down to give her a kiss.

"And you call yourself a nervous girl," Selphie said, laughing.

"I must say," Edea said, coming to her side and dragging Irvine with her, "that was a brilliant maneuver by you."

"Thank you, Matron," Mila said breathlessly, "I didn't know I had it me."

"So modest. You held your ground at a dangerous time. That's first-rate SeeD training."

"Hell yeah!" Zell shouted. "What was that vial you used?"

"An X-Potion. I don't know why they call it 'X', but it seemed to be pretty powerful." Mila was blushing as she said it, and he hugged her long and hard.

"Irvy, Squally," Selphie cooed, "are you two alright."

"Squall's okay," Quistis said, dragging him over. The gunblader seemed a little agitated. "He seems used to being the rescuer of maidens in trouble."

Selphie laughed and then grew a serious frown at Irvine's face. The cowboy was slowly wiping his cut that ran across his forehead. A mountain of sand, or what seemed like it, was slowly falling out of it, and he was wincing badly. "Baby, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Selphie. Bastard got me good, though-- Ow! Angelo." The dog's tail had accidentally whacked him in the face, and the mutt gave an embarrassed whimper.

"Where the fuck is that piece of shit?!" Squall suddenly cursed, making them all jump. He had taken off his leather jacket, that now had a massive hole in the back of it, and he was stitching his back up as best as he could. Quistis and Edea were helping him. "Where is he?"

"Quiet, Squall," Edea said, "you're making your wound open up more."

"Some friend of his, eh?" Zell asked.

"Of course, gentle humans," the crackly voice picked up, scaring them all again.

The Golem looked at them all from high up on a cliff bluff. How he got there, they didn't know, but they were about ready to tear him to pieces. That was probably why he was high up there.

"You cocksucking piece of shit!!" Zell cursed.

"For once, I agree with Zell's language," Quistis said, her face frowning as if she had eaten a ripe lemon.

"Oh, no no. You humans keep killing off all my friends."

"Well, your friends keep trying to kill us," Squall seethed.

"Oh... they're just being... friendly." The Golem giggled like a little schoolgirl.

"That's it!!" Irvine yelled getting up.

"Yeah, I'm with you!" Zell shouted, getting up as well.

"Boys! Sit down," Selphie said.

"Yes," Squall agreed, and the others looked at him surprised. "Just tell us, once and for all, how to get to Esthar. No more fucking tricks."

The Golem slapped his forehead and slowly shook his head.

"Look, creature. It may be easy for you, because you know things and see things that we cannot know or see. None of us are as attuned to the worldly being as you and your friends are. Now, we would like to know. Maybe we could interact a little better and be more trusting of each other if we did. Ever think of that?"

The Golem scratched his chin. "Well, now. That's the answer I have been wanting to hear all this time." He steadied himself and hopped down to their level to their surprise. "Can you stand, Master Squall?"

"A little. Why?"

"Do so."

Squall did as he was told, and the Golem lead him a few feet further up the incline. "Now. Look over there." The creature pointed to the east, over a broad expanse of much of the same terrain as Squall had seen previously for the past three or four hours. "Do you see that?"

Squall looked for at least a minute all around. "See what?"

"The Great Salt Lake has many things inside it. Many...openings and exits. Remember what I told you earlier? Not all is what it seems?"

"What are you---" He stopped short.

A whiplash of light had blazed across the expanse, and it startled him.

"The hell was that?"

"What?" came the voice of Zell, and the brawler was right beside him dukes up and a wild look in his eye.

Selphie and Quistis came up as well. Angelo even came to sniff it out.

Nothing further showed itself, except for the miles and miles of white and golden land. And a shitload of disturbed rocks.

"I...saw a flash of light there," Squall said defeatedly, pointing his hand out east. "It was so sudden."

"Squall, there's nothing there," Quistis said.

"Oh really?" the Golem said laughing.

"Dear creature," Edea said as patiently as she could, "we really, really do not need these--"

A sound of static electricity snapped across the air, followed by another flash of light. Irvine was wiping away mucus that built up around his cut that was fast healing from Mila's magic. He, however, dropped his damp rag in mid-motion and gasped, "Is... Is there a .. forcefield up there?"

More static sounded off and what looked like visible radio waves started spiralling within the air. There was some type of a forcefield, a very powerful one. They felt their bodies pushed back slightly by an intense beam of energy followed by a warm heat that tingled their fingerips. The Golem was still laughing and chortling something in a different language, as stronger and stronger beams of light started revealing shapes that looked like skyscrapers, residential neighborhoods, temples and superhighways. There was a sharp addition of color that periodically sprang up against clouds and across rocks before disappearing again.

"Holy...shit," Squall said. The others followed his words, every single one of them.

"Gentle warriors, behold just one percent of the glorious city of Esthar. Hidden all this time, until now. The beams of light are only strong like this, because they know you are standing right here."

"Who?" Squall asked.

"The President's aides. They know exactly who you are, too, ha ha."

All of them looked uncomfortably at the Golem, until a suction-like sound alerted their gaze. High up in the sky above a solid plateau several yards in front of them, a dark hole appeared isolated in the middle of the sea-blue sky.

"What the?" Zell said. Mila and Edea were shocked for words, and Angelo couldn't bark.

"How can there be a hole in mid-air?" Quistis asked, unable to take her eyes off it.

"Goodness me," the Golem giggled, "walk up and see."

"What?" she asked.

"Don't mind the clamminess now, hee hee."

"The fuck?" Zell asked.

Squall looked at the Golem, thought he understood, and then walked towards the hole.

"Squall!" Zell shouted.

The gunblader walked across the plateau slowly and kept an eye on the hole. He extended his right foot out to test and was slightly surprised to bump into something. It was invisible to the naked eye, but his hand slowly crept around the slimy rung of a ladder. He pulled his palm back and was shocked to see traces of green puke across his digits.

"Been a long time since they've cleaned it," the Golem giggled.

"What is it?" Irvine asked.

"A ladder that leads up to one of the seventy hangar bays for airships," the Golem explained.

"Airships?" Selphie asked, highly intrigued.

"They still have them?" Edea asked.

"Shit-a-ma-git!! Go up and see for yourselves! Goodness me, I'll never understand the logic of humans."

"It is a ladder, y'all," Squall said. "Bring Rinoa to me."

Zell and Mila hauled her up along with the brace, and he saddled her up on his back, breathed one long sigh and slowly made his way up the ladder, cautiously judging where to place each step.

"I've got the mutt!" Irvine said.

"I'll back you up, just in case he falls," Zell said.

"Will you be okay?" Selphie asked Irvine.

"No sweat, sweetheart. Angelo's not that heavy."

Angelo only gave a bark that sounded like a child's laugh.

All eyes were on Squall first, though, to see if he could make it up there. They were quite surprised at the strength he possessed with carrying maybe 105 pounds on his back plus all his magicka orbs, health potions and his sword while climbing up an invisible ladder. He made it to halfway when Irvine and Zell started. Edea went next and then the other three girls. The Golem watched them leave and laughed cruelly at a couple of their missteps on the rung.

"You humans are really silly," he giggled before slipping back into the grimy salt lake.


Seifer smoke a cigarette nonchalantly, gazing listlessly at the empty sea town. The Horizon had never looked this empty before, and it was quite haunting. None of the ports were active, and the ships were all gone. None of the windmills were turning, and the houses were all dark and cold. None of the shops were open for business, and there was no sign of life. Hundreds of Super Guard troops patrolled both sides of the bridge and stormed through the streets conducting raids on all the properties within the city limits. Dozens of warships held guns at the ready all around the city. The Garden was gone, the Mayor was gone, and Squall and his wartime friends were gone.

That made Seifer mad, and he cracked his knuckles out of their joints before forcing them back in again. A leuitenant of his came up to him timidly and told him no one was in the city. He took the young man's head in one hand and snapped his neck and tossed the body into the sea.

Everybody looked at him, and he wheeled around. "Get the Pandora skyborne. We're heading to Esthar!!"

A reluctant cheering sounded, and the vast majority of soldiers left to hurry to their transports.

The hidden transponder that had stowed itself away in the dilapidated casket of a windmill recorded the whole exchange and reported it stealthily to Cid Kramer hiding in a bunker on Alcauld Island. The Headmaster saw the troops at Fisherman's Horizon and prayed that the Guard wouldn't fire on the city. He was sadly disturbed when several of the ships blew up the Mayor's House, all the temples and much of the residential neighborhood in Outer FH.


The acoustics were a major problem in the narrow hallway, and their footsteps made unbelievable noises that no one could ignore. When Quistis was the last to enter safely into the hallway, the large hole shut completely with a sickening close scaring her and the others. The Great Salt Lake and the entire world was shut off from view.

A thin strip of light panelling went from the gateway hole down into the abyss of this monster that they were in. Each of them looked at each other and then finally to Squall. Angelo walked up to him and looked ready to lead the way.

"They know we're here," he said. He saw the others shift their weight a bit. "They seem to have vast and superior technology far beyond anything on this planet. How... I am not so sure, but we've come this far. There is no other way in."

"Right you are," Irvine said, scratching the back of his neck. "Let's be on our way!"

"Follow me," Squall said, and they obeyed.

The pathway snaked downward and gradually opened up, with the light expanding to fill the whole room. Hundreds of derelict aircraft sat on platforms below them and suspended in the air by strong metal hooks. Sounds of a bad air filter rummaged away somewhere above them, and the air was filled with dust. They stared in awe at the array of aircraft and suddenly felt that if the Estharians made war with any nation on the earth, no one stood a chance. And this was just one of seventy hangars!

The hallway platform they were on ended at a door that automatically opened within five feet of Squall's presence. Each of them felt hundreds of eyes on them at all angles, yet they couldn't see any surveillance system. It was a very weird feeling. The door gave them a new area that was octagonal in shape and very claustrophobic and dark. When all of them were in, the door shut and plunged them in total darkness. Selphie and Mila gasped a bit, and Angelo barked up a frenzy. Lights slowly turned one at a time followed by a whole host of strange noises and suddenly they were being lifted up in a massive elevator. Along the way, small windows revealed the city itself teeming with people, cars and airships and more buildings than they could tell that inhabited the entire world. They just stared in complete awe and could not find any words to express it.

When words could come, they were immediately drowned. A piercing sound cracked in their ears, and Squall, Zell, Irvine, Selphie and Quistis saw a great white light and fell down to the floor.

"Ah!" Mila cried. "What's going on?!?"

Edea reeled back herself but managed to hold on. She held her temples taut and fought to keep from retching. After breathing a few times, she held Mila close to her and said in a soothing voice. "It's okay, it's okay. They are having a flashback."

"Of what?"

"Some things that need to be seen."