But before they could make it to the bridge to warn the rest of the party, the ship shuddered under the wyrm's attack. Both women lost their footing and fell to the floor – hard. Moira hit her head against the wall and was dazed. Auron came running around the corner to find her sitting on the floor, holding her head in her hands. He came skidding to a stop at her feet and bent to pull her up. As she reached her feet, the wyrm attacked the ship again. She lost her footing and almost pulled the warrior to the ground with her.
"What the hell is that thing?" Moira yelled.
"Evrae. The guardian wyrm of Bevelle." Lulu answered.
"What does it want from us?"
"Bevelle is the seat of Yevon. We have destroyed Spira's "hope" remember? Bevelle considers us enemies, infidels. Evrae is only the first of several attacks I'm afraid."
"Well they started big didn't they?" Moira said wryly.
"The red carpet has teeth," Auron remarked.
Moira laughed, momentarily forgetting the giant dragon bent on their destruction.
"Rikku!" Cid's voice rang out over the intercom. "We'll get up close to that thing! Get out there and show it what you've got!"
"There he goes again," Rikku said. "Always quick to jump into action, no thought of danger."
"The ferryman asks a high price," Auron muttered.
"We need to get outside! We can face the wyrm from there!" Tidus called as he opened the hatch.
The entire party rushed out on to the deck. It took a moment for them to find their footing in the rushing wind but they quickly formed ranks across from the wyrm. It was flying beside the rushing ship, somehow able to keep pace with it.
Evrae let out a roar that shook Moira to the core. She'd always liked dragons but this was more than she wanted to see. The wyrm had blood red scales and long black horns. She could see a greenish grey fluid slowly dripping from its massive fangs. Poison no doubt, Moira thought. She could smell a foulness on the wind coming from it. Something told her they were in for a fight like none other. As often happened before a battle, Moira found herself thinking of what her "old self" would make of the situation. If a huge, pissed off dragon had come knocking on her shop door in her old life she would probably have dropped dead of shock on the spot. Now, a scant few weeks later, she was flexing her hand around the pommel of her ice brand, instinctively finding the perfect grip while running through all the spells she knew. She went over the words of the latest spell one last time; she was ready to use it, to see the destruction she felt it could bring.
"We'll have to find a way to avoid its breath!" Auron shouted over the rushing wind.
"Dad! Can you move us closer and farther away?"
Cid's voice crackled over the intercom.
"Yes, but give me some warning. This bucket of bolts won't move too quickly!"
"Move in now!"
The ship moved laterally towards the wyrm. Once it settled, the dragon's body was just barely hanging over the edge of the deck. Evrea roared again. Without warning, claws went ripping through the air and almost shortened Tidus by half.
"WHOA!"
"Be careful!" Yuna called. "Are you hurt?"
He smiled at her quickly before turning to return the blow. He connected with the dragon's paw, cutting a claw away. Moira could see a flash of electricity leap from his sword. The dragon flinched.
Auron and Kimahri made a double attack, thrusting and stabbing as quickly as they could. Suddenly the wym jerked backwards, throwing its head to the sky and inhaling loudly.
"Move back!" Auron shouted.
"Dad! Get us away from it!" Rikku shouted. Sadly it was too late. By the time the ship was beginning to move aside, the dragon had engulfed the deck in a rank fog. They couldn't see their hands in front of their faces and breathing became impossible. Hacking and choking they fell to their knees desperately searching for fresh air. As the cloud began to thin, Auron was able to see that not everyone had succumbed to the poison fog.
Yuna alone seemed to be unharmed – he was unsure how that was accomplished.
The ship finally limped away from the beast and in a strange show of sportsmanship, the wrym did not follow. It was not sportsmanship though. Its front paw was badly damaged and it was giving it a rest.
Yuna, in a surprising show of adeptness, sent a welcome cloud of esuna spells over the group. Feeling her mind clear of the poisonous fog, Moira's first instinct was to see that Auron was unharmed. He seemed fine to her so she turned her attention back to the dragon.
Throwing her arms into the air, she sent a series of gravity spells across to the wrym. They had little to no effect.
"Dammit!" she muttered, trying desperately to think of something else, something devastating.
"Flare!" she heard Lulu call. The dragon flinched noticeably at this new spell.
"That's it!" Moira called. "Yuna! Can you cast flare as well?"
"Yes"
A plan formed.
"Move the ship closer and we all strike as one!"
The ship drifted closer to the wrym. Auron, Tidus, Wakka and Kimahri were all ready to strike physically. Rikku was ready with a massive grenade that she had made using whatever she could find. Lulu, Yuna and Moira had agreed to send a barrage of flare spells at the dragon.
The ship got as close as it could and the party let loose. Every attack hit home with brutal force. Blinded by the flare spells, Evrae lashed out in random directions. Green slime dripped from its screaming jaws, leaving burn marks on the deck of the airship. The warriors' weapons bit into the dragon's flash numerous times. Every strike was met with a furious scream.
Moira changed tactic, sending a brilliant flash of holy spells, one after another. Lulu noticed this and smiled to herself.
"No need to teach her about casting a fury," she thought to herself.
The onslaught was working! The wrym's attacks grew weaker and they could see they would be safe from any blast of poison fog as its breathing was laboured. But even a weakened attack could be disastrous. Auron was taking no chances. With a huge, almost impossible leap, he ran his sword into the neck of the beast.
The deck of the airship became slick with the monster's blood. Everyone else stood back waiting for the beast to vanish in a cloud of pyreflies. There was only one lone fly, and it did not come from the dragon.
Moira watched in panic as a second pyrefly escaped from Auron's chest. She met his eyes and he shook his head. She understood at once that he would be ok but needed rest.
"Is it dead?" Tidus asked.
"No"
"Then kill it!"
Ignoring the impertinent command, Auron calmly walked over to the wrym, raised his sword and plunged it without ceremony, into the creature's skull.
"Now it's dead." He was panting as he spoke and Moira rushed forward.
She grabbed his arm and whispered to him.
"Are you alright? That was madness!"
"I'm fine my love. Nothing to worry about."
"Nothing to worry about?! Are you saying that I hallucinated those pyreflies?"
"Moira," he said turning to her, taking her face in his hands. "I am fine. This happens all the time and it cannot harm me."
She choked back a sob at the thought of Auron disappearing. She tried not the think of the number of times "all the time" meant. She did promise herself that the subject was not closed. She had finally made her mind up to stay in Spira, to give up her old life, family, friends and dreams. She was not going to let this gorgeous, reckless man out of her sight.
"How do we get rid of it?"
Before anyone on deck could reply, Cid's loud drawl came over the loudspeaker.
"I can take care of that! But you guys better get inside and hang on to something!"
In typical Cid style, there was no warning of what his plan might be and before they found something to hang on to, the airship lurched violently to one side.
"What in Yevon's name?!" Wakka yelled.
"Just trying to shake this bug off!" Cid's voice screamed. "HANG ON!"
The ship did a seemingly impossible spin and they could just barely see the monster's corpse slide off the deck and begin to fall. There was no need to worry about what damage it would do to anyone on the ground as it burst into a cloud of multicoloured pyreflies. There was always beauty in death here in Spira. Somehow it didn't seem to be final, no matter what happened. The ship quickly righted itself, Tidus was sick after the jerky motions and as for the rest of the party, they were all in their own way celebrated this victory. But they all knew without saying that there was so much more to come. So much death. So much destruction. So much pain.