A/N: This is not the final chapter of this story, I assure you. It's also longer than the previous few chapters. Certainly took me long enough to write…geez.
This is one of those difficult chapters…where the plot is a bit suspended, and yes, it's largely filler, but it's also one of those necessary transitions before we get to the bitter end.
And yes, I realize I gave Kain a sword and you might be wondering BUT MYTH, WHAT ABOUT GUNGNIR. Eh. Based on how I've changed the events of the last few chapters, Kain has been unarmed and no one else would have carried a spear with them. Hence…why he got one of Cecil's old weapons, lol.
Some of the scenes read like vignettes. There are a few jumps and skips.
Oh, and Merry Christmas, since this update falls conveniently on Christmas Eve ;)
0-0-0-0
Dust and Bones
Rydia's hands were shaking. The kind of shake that came with winter's cold; and it crept all the way up her arms to her jaw.
She glanced up when a pair of hands covered hers, calming her shuddering fingers and sending warmth from her fingertips to forearms.
"Steady," she heard Edge's voice say; her watery eyes slowly focusing on his face in front of hers.
Of course.
Only then did her eyes spy the pale gleam of Murasame beside her—the weapon they had just paid a hefty price to obtain.
So it hadn't been for nothing, then.
The White dragon that had guarded the blade had been ancient, an Eidolon in its own right. Its form reminded Rydia of Mist; though, a colder, bleaker reflection.
She appreciated the warmth returning to her limbs, but the dragon's icy mist had burned the skin on her cheeks and nose, and her hair still hung damp on either side of her face, heavy with icicles.
"The others-?" she mumbled out through numb lips.
"Rosa's taking care of them," Edge told her quietly. "Can you stand?"
"She hasn't accidentally reorganized Kain's face again, has she?" Rydia said jokingly, unable to control the quiver in her voice.
She heard Edge chuckle. "All of his features are where you'd expect them to be," he said, and then paused, giving her a quixotic look. "You lied."
Rydia quirked an icy eyebrow upwards. "Oh?"
"You said you'd taught Rosa Lunarian."
She gave him a brief, rueful smile. "And give Cecil another excuse to send us back?"
"I'd just rather not have my internal organs outside of my body the next time I need healing," he said with a shrug.
"Don't get torn open, then," she suggested, allowing him to pull her to her feet, while the other three recovered from their injuries with assistance from Rosa and Cecil.
"Zemus controls all the fiends here," they both heard Cecil say, as he glanced over at the two of them.
Rydia nodded, looking at the shrine; still shaken by the idea that there were beings as powerful as the Eidolons bound to Zemus' service. But then; he had also controlled the Archfiends.
…Were her own Eidolons contemptuous in their "service" to her?
"Wipe that look off your face, Dragon Tamer," Edge said, batting her shoulder.
She frowned at him, not realizing she'd already been frowning. "Stop calling me that," she said.
"We're alive," he said.
"We're alive for now," she warned him quietly. "We might not stay that way."
Edge shot her an exasperated look. "Fatalist."
"Are the two of you going to continue bickering like children?" Kain asked, walking between them.
"Granite face," Rydia retorted, tracking him unappreciatively with her eyes.
Rosa sighed as she listened to their conversation; rearranging the contents of her pack with the efficiency of someone who had done more healing than fighting. "Apparently we are going to keep acting like children," she complained, glancing up at the two of them.
"This route dead-ends here," Cecil said, staying out of the argument altogether. "We'll need to retrace our steps."
"Joy," Edge muttered, "The path has but one end, does it?"
"You volunteered for this," Cecil reminded the prince.
Edge's expression soured.
"So stop complaining."
"At least we found a sword for our trouble," Edge said, his tone immediately lightening as he turned the blade admiringly in his hand.
"But why that manner of blade?" Rosa wondered aloud, studying Murasame from a distance. "Why would the Lunarians be guarding weapons resembling our own?"
"Maybe we learned the craft from them," Kain suggested, slipping his own sword back into its sheath on his belt.
"Nothing about this place makes much sense," Edge said. "Why would they fear our weapons?"
"You're still assuming these weapons are from the earth. They could just as easily be of Lunar origin," Kain argued.
Edge sheathed Murasame, and held up the scabbard for the others to see. "I'm fairly certain I'm the first ninja to set foot on the moon," he stated matter-of-factly. "Unless the Lunarians have their own secret clan of ninjas, there's no reason for this sword to be here."
"It is odd," Cecil admitted, giving some of his supplies to Rosa. "But I'm not going to lose sleep over it. We need to keep moving."
Rydia tilted her head at Edge, knowing how much he loved having a conversation end when he wasn't through with it yet.
Edge looked back at her, narrowing his eyes. "You know it's strange that there are weapons being guarded by Zemus' pets," he said conspiratorially; for only her to hear.
"What do you expect me to say?" she asked, shivering as her hair melted cold puddles of water onto her shoulders. "You have a shiny new toy; I suggest you make the most of it."
He made a disparaging sound at her but she ignored him. Instead, she blithely strode away, following Cecil back the way they'd come.
0-0-0-0-0
The direction of the path was deceiving. Just as in the Lair of the Father, the subterrane often ascended before meandering downward again. To worsen their progress, the crystalline structure of the cavern made it difficult to tell what were obstructions and what were simple reflections. Large tubular formations criss-crossed above them, leaning like fallen trees.
Rydia gazed warily up at them, no longer intrigued by the light play, and thinking only of what could be lurking in the crevices.
"I've had this thought on my mind," Rosa said cautiously, stealing Rydia's attention for a few minutes the next time they'd stopped.
Rydia absently stared down the shimmering path while waiting for an explanation; too tired to ferret out clues for herself.
"It's like some kind of children's rhyme or lullaby," Rosa elaborated, her expression hardening. "I keep thinking the words in my head, over and over. The first verse I remember, but not the second."
Rydia glanced at her archly. Had she not had her own experiences with strange music lately, she wouldn't have given it any thought; but Rosa's description raised the hair on her arms. It reminded her of the melody Edge claimed she hummed from time to time.
"A song?" Rydia asked, uncertainly. "Do you find that the words come to you without thinking?"
Rosa frowned, pursing her lips. "It's as if I'm recalling memories that aren't mine. Things I'm supposed to already know."
Rydia stared at the other woman, amazed. Hadn't she spoken almost the same words herself not too long ago?
"I don't know what to tell you," Rydia said quietly. "Maybe it's the crystals."
"The crystals?" Rosa asked sharply.
Rydia paused, glancing at her companion out of the corner of her eye. "Perhaps…" she faltered. "Perhaps the crystals are trying to teach us something."
"I don't want this in my head," Rosa said vehemently. "I don't like the idea of an alien power at work on my subconscious."
Is that how Kain felt? Rydia realized, alarmed at the comparison as she flicked her eyes in the direction of the dragoon.
"What is it?" Rosa asked, mis-reading Rydia's silence.
The summoner blinked. "Nothing," she said, shaking her head.
"What are we supposed to do about this?" Rosa wanted to know, her voice tight.
"There's nothing we can do," Rydia answered tiredly. "Not unless you want to give up using magic altogether."
Rosa clenched her jaw. "I thought using the Lunarian incantations was dangerous enough," she scoffed. "And now it's as though the language has infected our thoughts. What if it takes us over?"
"Like Zemus did to Golbez?" Rydia asked. "I don't think that's how it works."
"Zemus uses manipulation—coercion of the mind. How could one person be so powerful, if he didn't have the crystals to do his bidding?" Rosa said.
"We don't have much of a choice," Rydia said, standing up.
Rosa followed suit.
"Did you figure out the last lines of Curaga?" Rydia whispered.
Rosa sighed. "I'm sure we'll find out if I haven't," she replied with a grimace. "Or the crystals will simply offer up the words to me."
Rydia studied the white mage for a moment. "Is that how—" she wondered.
"This way," Cecil interrupted from farther ahead. Both women turned to look where he'd pointed.
The men had done a brief investigation of the passage, and now the five of them regrouped; Edge and Kain appearing like silent sentinels from either side.
Edge shot Rydia a questioning look when they were side by side. "Something wrong?" he asked.
Rydia fixed a fake smile onto her face, unconsciously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Not at all."
0-0-0-0-0
The path lengthened into sloping caverns from which unique crystalline formations grew. The five of them slid down fallen columns and meandered around blossoms of crystal that rose from the cavern floor and stood double their height. At times there were narrow openings that required the five of them to crawl single file.
Blue light glimmered from an unknown source, and unusual sounds reverberated like chimes. It was one of the most breathtaking places Rydia had ever been, and would have been beautiful if not for what dwelled there.
"Get down!" Kain hissed, his dragon scale glove gripping Cecil by the shoulder.
The other three crouched, ducking behind a pillar of the crystalline cavern wall.
"This is the third one so far," Edge muttered, glancing briefly to the front of the group.
"Another armored fiend," Rydia sighed, following the machine's distorted image through the crystal's facets.
"Feel like electrocuting the entire cavern?" Edge intoned from behind, catching her eye.
She frowned, offended. Admittedly, it had become harder to contain her emotions, and by extension, her magic. Everything felt closer here, more menacing.
"Do we wait for it to pass or—?" Rosa prodded Cecil.
Rydia saw the paladin clench his jaw, ducking under more cover as the enormous machine thumped its way past them, crunching delicate crystals beneath its mechanical feet. They held their breath, not wanting to trigger its sensors. They had fought one of the machines several hours earlier and suffered dearly for it.
Rydia's skin still crawled with the memory of the blistered burns.
No one dared make another sound until the machine had left the cavern chamber and entered the next.
"What use could the Lunarians possibly have for such machines?" Kain wondered.
"To keep the Giant of Babil company," Edge said with sarcasm.
Rosa looked back at the both of them. "Perhaps they built these for protection," she guessed. "Only it's Zemus who controls them, now."
"Seems like a lot of metal to ensure their protection; when they've got magic that could level planets," Edge snapped back.
"Magic isn't a lot of good to them if they're sleeping," Cecil mentioned.
"Cecil, don't take this personally, but I don't find myself liking your father's people very much," Edge remarked, glancing at the paladin.
Cecil stared back at him, unable to keep a straight face. Eventually, he grinned. "Duly noted."
It was Kain who led the group back into the open, carefully advancing.
"Kain, what do your dragoon eyes see?" Edge ribbed.
"Shut up, Edge," Kain retorted, checking the path ahead before glaring at the prince.
"You're the one who can sense the presence of fiends," Cecil pointed out. "Why aren't you checking ahead?"
Edge glanced boredly at Cecil. "Are you suggesting a change in our arrangement? I thought I was supposed to be keeping an eye on our backs."
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"
Edge grinned through his mask. "This journey was supposed to be his punishment," he said, sparing a knowing look in Kain's direction.
"Any length of travel with you is a punishment," Kain muttered.
"Is the path clear or not?" Edge insisted.
Kain was silent, and Rydia was almost certain the pause had been filled with a roll of his eyes. "It's clear," he answered; making a menacing sight in his dragon armor with its obsidian scales.
"This way," Cecil interrupted, finding a path in the rocks that serpentined up an incline and passed between two enormous pillars.
Rydia followed, sensing the air of the place growing thicker with malice. She glanced at Edge behind her, and his eyes relayed a similar story.
He'd felt it, too.
0-0-0-0
"Three dead-ends and a split," Kain said, brandishing his sword like a pointer.
The group had stopped to re-orient themselves after many hours and a spate of difficult battles.
"The path on the left looks like it goes farther," Cecil suggested, tightening the braces on his arms.
"So did the first two dead-ends," Edge wearily pointed out.
"Why don't we try the path to the right this time?" Rosa said, holding her bow out in front of her, and running her thumb along the fletching of an arrow.
"There are fiends in that direction," Edge said, crossing his arms.
Cecil gave the ninja an appraising look. "Aren't there always?"
Edge shrugged. "The other paths aren't quite so bad. You'll take a risk going to the right, but—"
"But?"
"It might be the most promising option of the two," Edge concluded.
"More fiends to guard the path Zemus doesn't want us to take?" Cecil mused.
Edge nodded. "Your choice."
There was a heavy moment of silence as Cecil made his decision—setting off to the right.
The path spanned ravines in the crystal cavern's structure, like spindle bridges made of the finest glass.
Rydia's boots slipped on the bridges, unable to keep her footing.
"Didn't FuSoYa say that the Lunarians built these caves?" Rosa pondered when the path leveled out again.
"He said they were living crystal," Cecil replied, stepping around an enormous crop of crystal prisms jutting out of the ground. "Grown to suit their needs."
"What needs could those possibly have been," Edge grumbled, casting his eyes in all directions.
Rydia glanced at him, having wondered the same thing. If the moon was supposed to be a vessel for the Lunarians, why had they constructed such an elaborate and wildly confounding interior?
"To aggravate the hell out of the poor bastards who would have to travel it," Kain supplied from the middle of the group.
Edge stopped altogether and stared at the dragoon with an astounded expression. "Kain," he said. "Was that an attempt at humor?"
Kain glanced over his shoulder. "Why-are you concerned that you might no longer be the most entertaining person in the room?"
Edge walked closer and decidedly placed a hand on the dragoon's shoulder.
"That will never happen," the ninja assured him.
Kain snorted, about to make a smart retort, when a crystal beside them exploded.
They all ducked out of reflex, shielding their faces from the flying shards.
"Every time you two argue, this happens," Rosa complained, lifting her bow.
"Someone's got to liven up the place," Edge said, swiftly leaving them behind to hunt down their attacker in the crystal maze.
Kain leapt, and the gust of his passing swept Rydia's hair into her face.
"How many?" Cecil called out.
"At least—" Edge began, only for his words to be lost in a cacophony of sword strikes that they couldn't see.
"Three with swords, two with staves," Kain answered from his perch above them.
"Dammit," Cecil swore, readying his shield. "Rydia—" he warned, never finishing the thought. A fiend maiden bearing twin swords leapt out from among the crystals and engaged the paladin in combat. Her sabers tore into his shield, thudding dully against the reinforced surface as she struck, spun, and slashed again.
Rosa shot an arrow that the maiden deflected with a snarl; remaining unfazed as she continued to edge her way past Cecil's defenses.
Rydia hung back, her eyes following the fiend's efforts move for move; words flowing from her tongue with equal speed. The moonmaidens were simply too fast—the only way to stall them was with magic.
A thundaga spell suddenly split the air nearby and Rydia flinched; consciously steadying her focus as another crystal shattered, hurling more shrapnel into the air. The force propelled Rosa into the space where the moonmaiden had been, and Rydia's spell fell victim to poor timing. The white mage froze in place, unable to move.
"Reverse that spell!" Cecil commanded, as he fended off the moonmaiden's latest assault, blades flashing.
"I can't!" Rydia cried out, knowing that only a white mage's spell could undo her own. She watched as Cecil deflected blow for blow, painfully aware that they were in too close of quarters for her to use her more potent spells.
Cecil led the fiend away, and Rydia sped forward with a half-formed idea. She whipped an arrow from Rosa's quiver and pried the bow loose from the woman's fingers, raising her arms and nocking the arrow as she'd once been taught as a child. It was a gamble and her aim was poor, but in such close proximity…
The arrow sang through the air, piercing the moonmaiden between the eyes until all that remained was the fletching.
Cecil stared at her in disbelief as the fiend dropped limply to the ground. "I didn't know you could handle a bow," he said.
Rydia shrugged. "I figured at ten feet I had a chance," she replied, suddenly feeling a jolt run through her feet from a nearby impact.
They looked at each other.
"Kain," they said in unison.
Cecil glanced at Rosa, chanting Esuna to undo her paralysis. The white mage angrily turned toward Rydia once she'd come out of her stupor.
"I wish you'd cast those spells when I'm not nearby," she said.
Rydia offered her a plaintive look. "Sorry."
Rosa huffed with exasperation and snatched back her bow. "Where is that blasted witch," she said, striding off in the direction of Kain. "I have an arrow for her as well."
Rydia and Cecil followed cautiously, more afraid of the white mage than anything else in the maze.
They ran toward the sounds of battle and discovered Kain deflecting spells from a dark sage with only his shield. Rosa's pace never slackened. She walked forward with bow in hand and shot one arrow, then another. The witch fell backwards, and Rosa stepped closer until she stood above the fiendish woman who was spewing Lunarian obscenities at her like bitter poison. One more arrow between the eyes ended it.
Kain glanced at Cecil and then at Rosa with a cautious admiration.
"It's strange," Rosa said dispassionately as she knelt down to pry her last arrow from the corpse of the witch. "They look identical."
"Don't they all?" Kain asked, keeping his distance.
"No," Rosa disagreed. "They look exactly alike."
"Probably a result of whatever magic was used to create them," Cecil replied.
"I'm more bothered by the fact that they bleed silver," Edge said from behind, stepping over the corpse of a moonmaiden Kain had dispatched.
"Machines?" Kain wondered aloud.
They all glanced at the dragoon, wondering how they hadn't already drawn that conclusion.
"Do you think?" Edge asked.
"It's possible," Rosa said.
"Whether they are or they aren't, we've probably just attracted every fiend in the area," Cecil pointed out.
"You're right," Edge said, looking like he'd received his fair share of abuse from their last battle.
Cecil quickly navigated them through more of the crystal maze, leading them to a wider path than before.
"Wait," Edge said sharply, standing still.
"Do you—" Cecil asked.
"There," Edge replied, pointing to an ungainly mass of crystal prisms. "Keep the mages behind you."
"What are you going to do?" Cecil demanded.
Edge advanced without the paladin's approval, giving the strange crystal formation a wide berth. He eyed it like a cautious hunter, and when the crystals began to shake and loosen, Rydia realized it hadn't been a part of the cavern at all. Skeletal limbs emerged from the cavern floor, followed by ribs, vertebrae, and a skull the size of a grown man.
The fiend swished a magnificent tail and roared, rising to its full height.
"A dragon," Kain muttered, taking a step back.
"Cecil, when you see your opening, take it!" Edge shouted, not missing a beat as he took off at a run.
"What?" Cecil shouted back.
The dragon shook itself free of crystalline debris and lumbered after the prince with heavy, ground shattering footfalls.
"He's mad!" Rosa said, aghast.
Rydia watched, wondering if Edge could get the creature to stop moving long enough for her to blast it with magic…
When it seemed that he had put enough distance between himself and the others, Edge slid to a stop and sprang back the way he'd come. The dragon stumbled in confusion, its sole focus on the ninja in front of it. The dragon lunged with its fangs, but Edge slid to the side, hooking the blade of Murasame into the elbow joint of the skeleton dragon's foreleg. The sword sheared through the bone as Edge recoiled; sending shards scattering in several directions. A loud screech escaped the dragon's phantom mouth, and Edge leapt quickly, avoiding the beast's swinging tail and a brutal decapitation.
He sprinted beneath the dragon's body as it threw its weight crashing to the lunar floor; swiveling mid-stride to see that the creature had tried to crush him and failed. He grinned as it clumsily rose and gave chase, its arm giving out. It was a three legged zombie now.
Rydia's magic crackled on the air, stunning the beast with fire as it limped after the ninja, providing him with a greater lead.
"Cecil!" Edge called out, retreating behind their line again.
The paladin understood immediately and sprinted in the opposite direction, the Excalibur glowing white in his hand.
Cecil met the dragon halfway and threw his weight to the right, dodging a fearsome bite from the clacking, skeletal teeth. He lifted his sword in a swift upward jab, splintering the dragon's left mandible on impact. The jaw hung slack, but that didn't stop the dragon from attempting to gore Cecil with his remaining teeth.
Bone struck shield, and was repelled with assistance from Rosa's magic.
Cecil swung again, this time hacking into the dragon's neck and severing vertebrae from a non-existent spine. The massive skull plummeted to the ground, vertebrae falling in succession up to its collar bone.
Claws continued to rend the air, searching for flesh, but Cecil hopped out of the way of its haphazard motions.
"Damn thing's even worse without its head," Edge said, watching the battle from a distance with Kain and the others.
"That sword…" Kain mentioned with a frown.
"It was given to Cecil by Kokkol," Edge explained, wincing sympathetically when Cecil took a blow to the shoulder from the dragon's tail.
Kain stared at the ninja. "Kokkol?" he asked. "Am I supposed to know who that is?"
"A smith," Edge answered impatiently. "He wanted a special ore to make it; my guess, is that it's something Lunarian."
"A Lunarian metal to forge a Lunarian sword. But the dragons are weak against it—why?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Edge replied, watching Cecil struggle to hit the demon's glowing core. It's soul's wick.
"Rydia?" Edge entreated, tilting his head toward her.
She began to chant, summoning fire. Her spell scorched the dragon's bones with tongues of flame, rendering them brittle. Cecil took advantage and swung upward, cleaving the monster's breastbone in two. The dragon struggled to remain upright after that, collapsing into a heap.
For a moment, they worried Cecil had been buried alive beneath the ancient bones, but he emerged a few minutes later, covered in dust. A bright blue flash dispersed into the cavern, dissipating like smoke. The creature's spark of life had been guttered.
The four of them carefully approached as Cecil's sword ceased glowing and was retired to its sheath.
Rosa hopped over a vertebrae to reach him. "Are you injured?" she asked.
"Fine," Cecil replied, trying to shrug off the blow he'd taken to his shoulder.
Rosa placed light touches on the dented pauldron, offering her own opinion. "Just bruised," she decided, appearing annoyed.
"I never thought I'd find dragons here of all places," Kain said off to their side.
Rydia and Edge both turned to look at him.
"Why is that so odd?" Edge asked.
"The dragons vanished a long time ago—most of them, anyway."
"Yet we keep running into them," Edge pointed out. "What about Leviathan?"
"Leviathan is an Eidolon," Kain said off-handedly. "The lesser dragons were hunted nearly to extinction. But why would they be here?" he wondered, kneeling down to examine the creature's skull.
"Looks like all that's left of them is their bones," Edge said, kicking one of the dragon's talons.
"I wonder if the Lunarians had something to do with that as well," Kain said.
Cecil sighed, rolling his shoulder. "Where are we now?" he asked.
"I think we've gone downwards," Rydia answered him, having kept some idea of their bearings.
"But are we on the right path?" he asked, breathless.
"I think so," she repeated, looking at this new chamber whose floor appeared slick and slippery like glass.
"Let's go," Edge prodded, slipping katanas into their sheaths with ease and striking off at a slow jog.
Rydia narrowed her eyes and awkwardly juggled her pack as she tried to keep up with him. "Where are you—" she tried asking.
He pointed instead to a decline in the cavern ahead of them. As she got closer, she saw that it looped around three tall pillars before vanishing into a dark tunnel below. It was the most likely route they had seen so far, and after the racket the dragon had just caused, the sooner they left the area the better.
An Ahriman swooping out of a crevice near the cavern ceiling, however, quickly dashed her hopes of a smooth getaway. It beat its webbed wings as it descended upon the humans, its singular eye focused on the running prince. Rydia slid to an ungainly stop. Edge hadn't seen the fiend, and she was too far away to draw its attack.
"Edge!" she cried out as she struck off again at a run. Either he hadn't heard her or hadn't cared.
They had suffered an attack from an Ahriman before, and such encounters were best kept brief. If they couldn't kill it before it had a chance to unleash its magic….
Rosa fired an arrow from behind her, the twang of the bowstring loud in Rydia's ears as the projectile whistled past her shoulder and tore through the fiend's delicate wing. The creature shrieked, ignoring its former quarry as its massive eye fixed upon Rydia, the next closest target.
Rydia froze as the eye glowed yellow, gathering magic.
Words of magic bubbled furiously to her own tongue, but the fiend never had the chance to level its devilish gaze where it intended. Three well-aimed shuriken had pried the fiend's eye away again.
"Idiot!" Rydia shouted, when she realized what Edge had done. She closed the distance between them just as she saw the fiend's magic brand his arm with the mark of death.
He waved her off. "Stay back!" he ordered.
Rosa fired two more arrows in succession, striking the creature's eye and other shoulder. It screamed as the arrows thudded into it before finally plummeting to the ground. Edge approached with the Murasame in his hand, impaling the creature with ruthless efficiency to finish it off.
Rydia never slowed down. She strode right up to the ninja as he was sheathing his sword and struck him hard across the jaw.
"Now you're just getting careless," she accused.
"Flushed it out for you, didn't I?" he said, grinning weakly.
Rydia rolled up his dark sleeve and inspected the cursed mark on his arm. It crawled like living ink along his skin, spreading as far up as his elbow. It would continue until it reached his heart, and then it would be over. Rydia had seen it before.
"You'll be there when I wake up, right?" Edge asked, his face already losing pallor.
"You knew it was there," she said angrily, looking up at him.
"Figured it was my turn," he answered.
When the other three joined them, Rosa pried her arrows out of the fiend's corpse and returned them to her quiver. No use wasting anything, she'd said.
"How far has it spread?" Cecil asked.
"Shoulder," Edge said simply, massaging his cursed arm.
Cecil sighed, looking around. "We'll have to find a place to lay low and wait," he said.
"I can keep going," Edge contested.
Cecil almost laughed, glancing back at the ninja. "Without knowing what we'll find down there, I don't want to end up in a battle and have you expire in the middle of it. We'll wait."
"For me to die," Edge said.
"This isn't funny," Rydia said disgustedly.
"No," he agreed, glancing idly at her. "But it's becoming redundant."
"This is what happens when you keep using yourself as bait," Cecil told him frankly.
"You should have let me handle it," Rosa said once she'd retrieved her arrows. The white mage was all business as she also inspected the mark on the ninja's arm.
"Within the hour," she assessed, looking at Cecil.
Cecil crossed his arms as he walked, his eyes searching for adequate shelter. "This is as good a place as any," he decided, steering them toward an alcove that was hidden from view of the main chamber.
"Any idea how much farther?" Edge asked with a sigh, trying to distract them all with conversation as they sat on the uneven ground.
They had started a bet on the subject several hours earlier, all in the interests of killing time; and Rydia stood to part with a number of ethers if she lost….
Somehow, she was unsurprised that this was how Edge had chosen to deflect attention from his imminent death.
"We're not going to make much progress if we keep running into situations like this," Kain mentioned drolly.
Cecil spared Kain a glance. "There's not much we can do about that," he said. "Zemus has gone to a lot of trouble to keep us out of his domain. We never expected this to be a quick or easy journey."
"It's a damn maze," Kain muttered. "What else does Zemus have here to keep us out?"
"As many foul creatures as we can think of, is my guess," Cecil answered, his brow furrowing as he looked at Edge. The prince had gone almost as pale as his hair.
"It makes me wonder how many Golbez had under his control on earth," he said slowly, redirecting the conversation at Kain. "How did he do it? He couldn't have decimated the kingdoms with just the two of you and the Archfiends."
Kain met his companion's even gaze.
"There were others," Kain told him warily.
"Others," Cecil repeated.
"Other lieutenants," Kain elaborated.
"Makes sense," Edge said. "You can't lead a campaign of that size without carefully placed pawns."
Kain stared at his hands. "No," he agreed. "You can't."
"I already know about Baigan," Cecil said. "But were there others in Baron?"
"There were up until the invasion of Eblan," Kain informed the paladin. "I didn't see many still alive when I was last among Golbez' company."
Cecil's frown deepened. "So there may still be traitors at large."
"If Golbez didn't already put them to death, that may very well be," Kain agreed grimly. "I was more surprised to see someone of Eblan in Golbez' ranks. I didn't realize he had recruited from that nation."
"Someone from Eblan?" Edge asked, his attention immediately fixed on Kain. "Who—" he began, but a violent coughing fit stole the words from his mouth.
"Cecil," Rosa directed, walking quickly to Edge's side. "Help me set him down."
"So—this—" Edge sputtered between coughs. "Hurts like hell," he gasped, turning to his side. His coughs rasped from his throat, like a drowning man not able to get enough air.
Alarmed, Rydia stood; fleeing the shelter of the alcove.
"Rydia—" Kain said in warning, glancing up at her as she walked past.
She paused, staring guiltily at where Edge lay on the ground, struggling to breathe.
"It's not safe away from the others," Kain told her.
"I won't be going far," she said, walking with brisk steps until she could no longer hear the sound of desperate gasps behind her.
She slipped around a large crystal column in the main chamber and pressed her back against it; hugging her arms to her chest. There was no reason for her to fear death so long as Rosa was with them—the white mage could practically reverse time with her words—but to watch friends endure suffering on her behalf…. She slid down the pillar until she was sitting at its base.
Several minutes went by, and Rosa's concerned face appeared around the side of the column.
"Why did you leave?" Rosa asked, crouching down nearby.
Rydia gripped her knees. "I've seen magic like this before," she said defensively. "I've even died a few times myself. But this all seems so hopeless."
Rosa's eyes fell regretfully to the ground. "It's a slow, painful death," she admitted. "It would be easier if it was quick."
"Is there really no way to reverse the effects?" Rydia asked.
Rosa shook her head, giving Rydia a sympathetic look. "You're worried about him."
"Of course I'm worried," Rydia objected. "I'm tired of losing friends and fighting the same battles over and over again."
"You weren't this bothered when it was Cecil," Rosa said matter-of-factly.
Rydia frowned, insulted. "I was worried—we were all worried."
"I'm not saying you weren't," Rosa contradicted her.
Rydia stared at the other woman, annoyed at the unspoken implication. "There is no reason for me to care more about Edge's welfare than Cecil's."
"He's your friend," Rosa said. "He gives you courage."
"I thought you told me to stay away from him," Rydia pointed out.
Rosa raised both brows hopelessly. "I did, didn't I? I guess it was like trying to hold back the tide, asking that."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rydia demanded.
Rosa sighed. "You're too alike," she said wearily. "In temperament and in spirit. There are times when even I don't understand the both of you, but you seem to have no such troubles."
"Is it over, then?" Rydia asked, hoping that she had missed the worst of it.
Rosa shook her head. "No, not yet."
"Then why did you come to get me?" Rydia asked reproachfully.
"You should be there," Rosa told her quietly.
Rydia scoffed. "Why? To watch him suffer until the end?"
"All of us are going to suffer eventually," Rosa said. "Running away isn't an option here."
Rydia fought the urge to roll her eyes, feeling pestered.
"Besides, I don't like the idea of you being out here by yourself," the white mage insisted, offering her a hand.
Rydia reluctantly allowed herself to be pulled to her feet, following Rosa back to the others.
She blanched when she saw Edge, whose condition had worsened.
"The curse has nearly reached his heart," Cecil informed Rosa, who left Rydia's side to attend to her patient.
Rosa sighed, placing her fingers on Edge's throat. "I'm sorry," she said.
He gave her a weak smile, before burying his face into the ground with another round of painful gasps.
"We have to wait until your heart has stopped completely before the curse will loosen its hold," Rosa explained.
"So—stop—fighting?" Edge wheezed.
"You'll be revived soon enough," Rosa assured him.
Rydia anxiously stood nearby, watching as Edge's lips lost their color.
Rosa eventually leaned down and whispered something that only Edge could hear. His smile was fleeting, before his features went slack and his chest haltingly failed to rise.
"Is it—finished?" Rydia asked in a small voice.
Cecil glanced up and nodded. Rosa began to chant softly as the black mark on Edge's arm receded until fading altogether.
Rydia paced furiously, angry that Edge had taken the attack himself—as if he were her sole protector. This hadn't been the first time.
She listened intently, and after a few minutes of carefully worded incantation, Rosa's magic took effect. Edge pulled in a sharp breath of air, rolling onto his back.
"Welcome back," Cecil told him.
Edge's hand thudded limply to his chest, as if to check if his heart was actually beating.
"Hell's teeth," Edge said weakly. "That curse is awful."
Rosa rested her hand on his shoulder, glancing knowingly at Rydia. "Take a moment," she told him, beckoning Cecil to follow her as she stood.
Rydia remained where she was, not even noticing the clever maneuver on Rosa's part.
"Are you just going to lay there?" she demanded, placing one hand on her hip.
Edge languidly slid his gaze in her direction, sprawled out as he was on the ground. He knew he was perfectly healed, but his mind was having a hard time letting go of the last minutes before his revival. He wasn't feeling quite ready to stand.
"Why, are you impatient for me to give you a more impressive sign of life?" he sniped. "Here," he said, waving his hand. "Happy now?"
"Don't toy with me, Edge," she snapped. "I just watched you die."
He frowned, closing his eyes. "So you did stay," he said.
"I did the same for Cecil," she reminded him.
He hummed. "You did," he admitted. "I was just hoping you stayed for other reasons."
Rydia stiffened and turned her gaze away.
"If you're thinking you should have taken that curse, you're a fool," he told her more seriously, opening his eyes again.
She glanced at him just long enough to gauge his sincerity. "It's always the three of you," she said. "You, Kain, and Cecil."
Edge groaned as he pushed himself up to his elbows. "You'll have plenty of opportunities to suffer horrible deaths," he assured her.
"Why are you always the one running headfirst into danger?" she demanded. "What do you do-shut off your brain when you decide to take matters into your own hands?"
Edge finally got to his feet. "Rydia," he said solemnly. "Shutting off your brain is a necessity for this place."
She sighed. "Maybe next time I should ask Rosa to just let you succumb to your own stupidity."
Edge contemplated her threat. "That would be unfortunate," he decided. "Understandable, but unfortunate."
"Have you made peace yet?" Rosa asked, poking her head back into the alcove.
"No," Rydia said flatly.
Rosa looked past her, at the ninja who was looking doubly beaten. "I did tell you," she reminded him, referring to something Rydia hadn't been privy to.
The summoner raised an inquisitive brow at the white mage, but Rosa didn't supply an explanation.
Edge walked around her, keeping his distance.
"Next time," he said, giving her a passing look. "I'll be sure to let you take all the beating you want."
She glared at him, feeling both chagrined and infuriated.
"It's not that I'm ungrateful," she said.
"Really?" he asked, rejoining the others who were waiting in the cavern. "Because that sounds like ingratitude."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Kain had a personal philosophy of not getting tangled into things that were none of this business, but the last few hours had been incomparably long.
He wasn't exactly certain what had passed between the summoner and the ninja, but the resulting stalemate had done something to the group as a whole. Kain sighed, not sure why the discord affected him at all. Perhaps it was because the lack of conversation had left him alone too long with his own thoughts, or perhaps it was simply the air of the subterrane affecting his mood.
Either way, he was glad they had finally stopped to rest again, taking sleep in shifts. His feet rejoiced at the novelty of sitting down—bruised and bloodied as they were from one too many jumps. Every item they found in the caverns—everything of use—had been kept under guard. The entire place was a trap set to spring.
Kain sat facing the cavern chamber, keeping watch. Edge was sitting not far away, serving as a second pair of eyes; and Rydia, asleep behind him.
Kain glanced at the prince of Eblan, the young man who was only one oath shy of a crown. Edge had been silent for a long stretch of time, and it wasn't that Kain minded the silence, so much as he wondered at its cause. He suspected it had something to do with his feud with Rydia, but he could never be certain of anything when it came to the prince.
"Does something ail you?" Kain asked.
Edge looked at him askance; surprised, possibly annoyed, at having been spoken to. "What?" he asked.
"Does something ail you?" Kain repeated.
Edge glanced away tiredly. "It's something you said earlier," he mentioned before letting the thought trail off.
"When—to Cecil?" Kain asked.
Edge frowned. "You said there were others."
"Golbez' lieutenants," Kain said. "Yes."
"What did you know about Lugae?" Edge asked.
Kain stared back at the prince, having a vague idea of where this was headed. "You don't want to go there, prince," Kain warned.
"The experiments he was performing," Edge said. "He had to have tested them first."
Kain clenched his jaw, remembering briefly, the few times he had crossed paths with the Doctor and his lab. He had been a peculiar and perverse sort of individual. The destruction of his lab had been an experience the dragoon did not soon want to remember.
"I never dealt with the doctor directly," he admitted. "His lab was home to…many foul things."
"But he did have test subjects."
Kain sighed. "Some of Golbez' servants were given 'enhancements' through Lugae's research. It was some form of magic that had been recovered in the tower, for which Lugae was trying to find new applications."
"Enhancements," Edge muttered, staring at his hands.
Kain wondered what Edge was implying. "Did you have people go missing?" he asked cautiously.
Edge nodded. "A few years before this happened, we would have individuals drop out of patrols. There were reports of suspicious activity near the tower. We assumed they were casualties of the mountains or the fiends there."
"Now you think otherwise," Kain said.
"You mentioned someone you thought might be one of my people," Edge remembered.
"I did. A woman. She fought with swords like yours and called herself Griffon."
Edge went very still, staring at Kain with a sharp gaze. "Griffon," he repeated.
"You know her?"
Edge gaze wandered. "I do—did," he amended.
Rydia, who Kain had thought had been sleeping, was now propped up on her elbows, listening intently to their conversation. "Was she the person you were looking for in the tower?" she asked Edge.
Kain looked at Rydia and then at Edge who appeared startled.
"You were looking for someone?" he asked.
"A different person," Edge replied, shaking his head at Rydia.
"You still don't look pleased," Kain said.
"I'm not sure if I should be more pleased to know if the person I'm looking for is alive or dead," Edge answered. "It's troublesome enough to know that Griffon is involved in this. Are you sure it was her?"
"Positive," Kain affirmed with a grimace. "But if she wasn't the person you were searching for, I hesitate to think what happened to the other," he said, curious now as to how much Eblan had involved itself in the tower's affairs.
"I was hoping to find one of my clansmen," Edge explained. "A ninja capable of illusionary magic—shape shifting. The kind of magic that could have terrible applications if it fell into the wrong hands."
"You're wondering if that person was one of Lugae's subjects," Kain realized.
"The magic he used on my parents," Edge trailed off, taking a moment to steady himself. "It's too much of a coincidence."
Kain crossed his arms, remembering that there had been an assistant in the doctor's lab that Barbariccia had spent long hours hurling insults against.
"A girl," Kain mentioned at last. "An assistant. I heard that there was someone who worked for the Doctor, but when we infiltrated his lab, no one else was there. More than likely, she was killed."
Edge didn't look convinced. "I have a report that the person I was looking for escaped alive."
"From whom?" Kain asked.
Edge shook his head. "Doesn't matter. What I need to know is whether my person and this—assistant—are the same. And if they are the same, whether she became one of his monsters, and if not, if she was complicit to his perversions. If her magic was the foundation for his research…"
"You think her magic could have been responsible for your parents' deaths," Kain summarized.
"It's a disturbing possibility," Edge said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Was that all you wanted to know?" Kain asked.
Edge nodded with his eyes closed. "I'm starting to see more of this picture," he replied, stiffening. "I just don't like it."
"What if they are the same person?" Rydia asked.
"It means that sick bastard was using my people as butcher's meat," Edge answered.
Rydia looked ill, swallowing hard. "How many people did you lose?"
Edge shrugged. "Enough," he said flatly. "And if Golbez somehow found a way to enslave the survivors, I need to know who they are and how far the corruption has spread, starting with her."
"Why was that one girl so important that she be found? You're acting like she's responsible for every bad thing that's happened to your kingdom," Rydia pointed out.
"She's powerful," Edge answered. "So is Griffon. And now they're both somewhere in the world with an agenda that I don't fully understand. Either one of them could be gathering the enemies of Eblan right now, ready to take over in my absence."
"Baron will have its own manhunt to contend with," Kain acknowledged. "Plenty turned allegiance and betrayed the true king. Many of them became monsters for the master's army."
Rydia stared at Kain. "How many others were working for Golbez?" she balked.
Kain paused to think. "He had agents in Fabul, Damcyan, Troia; even Mysidia."
Rydia looked at Edge. "He was using our own people against us?"
Kain shrugged at Rydia. "It's the game of war, Rydia. It's how wars are won or lost—by how many pieces you have on the board."
"They're still somewhere out there," she said, looking disgusted.
Edge glanced in her direction. "Now you understand the work we have waiting for us when we return."
"But if Golbez is gone, and if Zemus is defeated, they will have nothing left to fight for," Rydia argued, trying to find some good in the situation.
Edge laughed harshly. "People will still choose to do evil," he said. "Even without a leader, someone new will rise to the challenge."
"Not all of Golbez' servants and commanders were under the influence of mind control, Rydia," Kain told her. "Some of them volunteered."
She went pale, and Kain was reminded of just how young she was.
"They volunteered," she repeated.
Edge sighed. "The chore will be weeding out the willing participants from the victims," he said.
"Edge, take my advice," Kain suggested. "Focus on surviving this first before you worry about the rest."
Edge glanced up at Kain with a lopsided expression. "I'll take that under advisement," he said.
Just then, Cecil approached the three of them, ready to take his turn at watch. "Did I miss something?" he asked. "You all look so serious."
Kain and Edge exchanged looks, the ninja shaking his head.
"Nothing out of the ordinary," Kain told Cecil, content to let the dark shadows that dogged their footsteps stay as they were—shadows.
After all, there were far worse things waiting ahead than any that lay behind.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Paths mirrored paths, up became down, and the malice of Zemus' presence in the core of the moon clung to them like a persistent sweat—unpleasant and cloying. Hours stretched on, and now it was everyone in the group who had taken a disinterest in speaking.
The silence that had settled on them was deafening, and the doubt of not finding Golbez before he found Zemus was weighing more heavily than any of them cared to admit.
"We won't make it in time," Rosa lamented as she sat down, cradling her head.
"Rosa, we have to keep going," Cecil prodded, trying to lift her up again.
"It's hopeless!" she cried, throwing his hand away. "By the time we find FuSoYa and Golbez, they'll be dead. Zemus will have found some new way to complete his plans."
"This is Zemus' thoughts affecting you. Shut him out," Cecil ordered, resting both hands on her shoulders as she held back desperate sobs.
"We're going to lose," she murmured dully. "Too tired to keep doing this…"
"She's starting to crack," Edge said. "Give me a few more hours and I'll be right there with her. We haven't made any progress in hours."
"We're not going in circles," Cecil argued, looking at the ninja.
"We've walked past that pillar four times," Edge pointed out. "I know because I marked it."
"Why didn't you say anything sooner, then?"
"Because the first two times I didn't notice; the third, I thought I'd try an experiment."
Cecil sighed with exhaustion. "This place goes on for days," he said, shutting his eyes. "Why couldn't Golbez have left some sign of his passing?"
"Maybe we're on the wrong path," Kain said.
"We could always head back and try a different route," Edge suggested.
"That would take longer," Cecil complained.
"Better than walking in circles."
Rydia's shoulders sagged as she listened to the debate and stared at the cavern around them. Rosa wasn't the only one who wanted to give in to exhaustion, and Rydia knew that if they didn't find another path soon, she was going to lose her calm altogether. Her nerves were already frayed to within an inch of sanity, and her magic felt close. Too close.
They had stopped in a large cavern with tunnels that ran in several directions. They had probably explored all of them by now, and come to no different results. She cast her eyes about again, searching for something they might have missed—a crevice, a bridge, anything. A rectangular block of stone caught her eye. How many times had they walked past it without noticing it was there?
"Everyone wait," she said, pointing to it. The stone was large, at least ten feet in length, and several feet high. From a distance, it appeared to be nothing more than a part of the cavern wall, but the crystals above it gaped like an open mouth, from which a green light filtered through.
"There's something on the other side of this crystal," she said, walking closer to prove her theory true. She hopped on top of the smooth, glassy stone, and saw what she'd hoped for—a steep path cutting down into the lower halls of the subterrane.
"Rydia," she heard Edge warn from behind. "Don't—move."
There was a note of strain in his voice, and she sensed the danger without having to turn. Slowly, she tilted her head, feeling the breath of something on her neck and back. The sleek purple hide of a behemoth filled her limited field of vision, and she froze, unable to move even if she wanted to.
Swords were drawn, but the action sounded too slow to Rydia's ears; her attention fixed on the beast between herself and her companions. Where had it come from? How had she not seen its approach?
"That stone triggered a trap!" Cecil called out to her. "Whatever you do, don't move!"
The beast turned its eyes away from her, whirling on its haunches to deal with the noise makers.
She let out a breath, watching it slink toward the others with fluid steps. The creature roared and pounced, scattering the other four as they lunged out of the way of its fearsome claws.
Edge and Rosa were casting magic before Rydia could hop down from the stone and ponder a plan of attack.
Illusions sprang to life and circled the behemoth who snarled and snapped at them as if they were flies.
Rosa and Edge continued to craft spells of concealment, speed, and protection, while Kain jumped and Cecil charged.
Rydia dared not cast magic—not isolated from the others as she was—but she felt helpless watching Cecil singlehandedly draw the behemoth's attention to himself, shield raised.
Edge joined the battle from the side, slashing at the behemoth's hide and distracting it long enough for Cecil to land a blow on the beast's muzzle. It snarled and lunged sideways, eliminating one annoyance first before dealing with the other. The first swipe, Edge avoided—the second sent the ninja sprawling until he landed—hard—back-first into a crystal.
Rydia sprang forward, then, determined to reach the others; but the behemoth had heard her, flicking its long tail into her waist and buckling her to the ground. Her palms and cheek dug into the sharp crystals as she slid beyond her control before finally stopping.
She glanced upwards, seeing Kain just as he landed-his sword piercing the creature's hindquarters with a violent effort. The behemoth staggered, howled, and whirled again, batting the dragoon away as if he were nothing but a feather. Kain rolled to a stop near Rydia, groaning.
But almost as soon as he was down, the dragoon was up again, raising his shield as the creature lunged and struck, the full strength of its arm bearing down on Kain's defenses.
The blow didn't shatter the shield, but human bone and dragon scale were two entirely different things. Rydia heard the crack of impact and saw Kain drop to his knees, choking on a scream.
And then Edge was up again, all-too-aware of the dragoon's plight, and had thrown one of his swords expertly at one of the behemoth's paws. It whirled again, outraged, but Edge slipped beneath its snapping mouth, and stabbed its jaw with the Murasame from below.
The behemoth swept its head to the side, finding Cecil's shield waiting as the ninja slipped away again.
Rosa's magic filled the air, shields of green fixing into place, and Rydia finally saw her opening…
She began to chant. Words and rhythms and melodies all tied together, but then began to slip apart. She felt it before she heard it, the crystals wanting to twist her words again. They strained and pulled, but she held on, feeling like she was balancing on a teetering pinnacle that could plummet at any moment. She had to hold on…
And she did—until the very last moment. Magic exploded out of her like an avalanche, Quake tearing open the seams of the cavern and scattering crystal in every direction. She screamed, realizing she had cast a fissure into the very rock she'd been standing on. A rock that was now slipping into an abyss, taking at least a quarter of the cavern with her.
She fell in a cascade of stones and prisms, tumbling down a slope that tore at her skin and robes, and battered her bones as she struggled to keep her head above the debris. The fall was long and seemingly endless, and she prayed for either the fall to end or her life to be over, just so long as the horrible feeling of terror abandoned her. Would she be crushed beneath the weight of the lunar cavern, never to be found again?
She lost track of time, and possibly consciousness, and came awake again to realize she had come to a slow stop; the crystals beneath her no longer shifting in their headlong dash. She lay half submerged in crystal dust, bleeding from some-dozen cuts and gashes, and her head throbbing from a hard blow to her temple. She blinked her eyes at this new place where she had landed, and waited until she adjusted to the change of light.
It was dark and close, and a strange sound called from the deep. A sound accompanied by two advancing pairs of pinprick eyes.
Rydia swallowed and frantically glanced around. To her surprised dismay, she saw an armored hand escaping the pile of rubble beside her. She pried herself loose and crawled to her companion, throwing stones to the side and digging with her raw hands until she had uncovered a head.
Kain.
She sat back on her heels, startled. Of all her companions, this was the least likely person she had expected to end up with at the end.
She shook his shoulder, hoping to wake him, but the fall had cost him his consciousness. She was entirely alone.
She whimpered with pain and terror, finding it hard to stand, let alone mount a defense. She wanted nothing more than to lay down and cry. Never had she been so pushed to the edge of exhaustion.
All she could do was watch as the beasts in the cavern approached, the tell-tale sound of their lumbering feet betraying them for what they were-dragons. At least two of them.
She closed her eyes and steeled her emotions, breathing hard.
She stood shakily, her legs mutinous at the effort, and uncoiled the whip from her belt. Her palm screamed at her as she forced her fingers to grip, and grip hard. Blood dripped down the braided leather, and Rydia bit her lip to distract herself, trading one pain for another.
The dragons had come to investigate, and now they saw her standing there. A lone summoner half-dead with exhaustion.
"Come on!" she screamed from cracked lips, snapping the whip in her hand with a satisfying crack that reverberated off of the walls.
The skeletal dragons hummed and chirped to each other, sounding almost like raptors as they strode forward and circled their prey. Rydia eyed them warily, lashing her whip into the face of one that strayed too close.
It screeched at her and balked, then lunged. Rydia ran forward rather than back, rolling underneath its head as it dove to snap at her. She remembered aim not being one of its stronger suits.
It hopped and snarled as it tried to reach her, but she was small and quick and knew how to avoid its feet.
It wasn't long before the other dragon grew curious enough to join the hunt, and threw its weight into its companion, bones cracking into bones. The two dragons squabbled over their quarry, and Rydia took the moment to slip away again, hoping they would stay near each other long enough….
Firaga.
The spell sang to her and she merely latched on to it, fulfilling her role as the conduit.
Fire spewed down on the dragons like molten metal, puckering bone and stripping joints. They screamed with fury, but only one had borne the brunt of the spell. The other had dashed forward, and only its tail had suffered indignity.
It was furious now, and charged Rydia in a mad dash. Her terror bubbled over, knowing she wasn't fast enough to escape this.
She was too tired to summon Bahamut or even Ifrit, but how she longed for the power to tame a dragon in that moment.
The crystals must have heard her longing , for the spell they gave her was one she had cast only once before.
One she had no business casting a second time, let alone in this condition.
Words coupled with fear, and time seemed to draw itself out painfully. Rydia felt heat fill the space like a furnace caught in the bellows. Dragon fire tickled her skin, made her hair stand on end.
The fiend never had a chance to reach her. It simply evaporated, bones withered to dust and blown to atoms.
Rydia felt the spell ravage her reserves like a hungry fever, and she fell to her knees as blood dripped from her nose and over her mouth.
Darkness closed around her again, but the last thing she saw was a lingering pair of eyes. Pinpricks of fire in the dark.
One dragon left...
0-0-0-0-0
The heat of a mighty furnace brought Kain awake again. The world spun, felt upside down, and by all rights, that was the truth as he understood it.
Rydia's spell had cracked the cavern wide open, and they had both fallen to their peril. Fallen where, he wasn't sure, but to some place where fiends still dwelled.
He heard the shriek of a dragon, one that was limping and dangerous, searching for revenge.
A pool of green and gray robes lay on the ground some distance away. The summoner had exhausted herself to oblivion, unaware of the new danger she faced.
Kain struggled to stand, using both arms until he remembered that one had been broken. He cried out in anger and dismay, clutching his shield arm to his ribs, and sucking in a painful gasp.
His sword…did he have it still?
He grappled at his waist, finding nothing but an empty scabbard. The dragon was closing in on Rydia, ready to tear her apart, when his fingers rested on the handle of something else.
The axe he still carried on his belt…
How he had fallen all this way and not caused himself injury on it, he didn't know, but he drew the weapon from his belt and tossed it in his hand until he felt sure of his grip.
"Over here, you damn beast!" he shouted, shaking the axe in the air until the dragon turned its head toward him, clacking its teeth together with an eager hunger….
0-0-0-0-0
Flying. That's what it was. She was flying away on the wings of death.
Oomph.
The jolt and accompanying grunt convinced her otherwise, interrupting her thoughts with the discomforting sensation of reality.
She cracked open her eyes, wondering why she still felt disoriented and ill, only to realize she was upside down, slung over a shoulder.
She groaned as memories flooded back.
"What…happened?" she asked groggily.
She knew it was Kain from the cut of his armor and the hardness of its scales, but she didn't know how he had gained consciousness and had had the wherewithal to rescue her instead.
"Edge was right," he informed her, getting ready to spring into another jump.
"About what?" she asked, trying not to lose control of her stomach.
"You are part dragon," he said with a tinge of irony. "Or a dragon tamer at the very least."
She groaned again, feeling his strong legs propel off of stone and vault them both into the air again. She was sensing a monstrous headache returning.
"I couldn't stop," she admitted when they finally landed at another jut of crystal on their upward climb.
He simply stared at her while they both rested, listening to her account.
"I felt like I could take on the whole world in an instant and nothing could stop me…" she explained, wiping her hand across her mouth and finding blood there. She gaped at her hand, feeling woozy.
Kain was silent, appearing slightly dazed himself. And then suddenly he laughed, looking up.
"What?" Rydia asked indignantly.
"This reminds me of the first time we met," he said. "You broke the earth open then, too."
Rydia started at the memory, feeling her past and present collide unpleasantly. "My mother's dragon…her rod…" she murmured, glancing away.
They were silent for a long moment, lost in recollections. For one, they were memories of only a few months' past; for the other, an entire lifetime.
"It's the same," she realized, blinking away tears as she crouched down. "The same."
Kain watched her, seeming unable to find the right words.
"You summoned Titan to protect you," he said finally. "You were frightened, and you had every reason to be."
Tears and blood mingled on Rydia's cheeks, and she brushed both away. "My fear drew Titan's magic to me," she said, and then paused with a sudden realization. She glanced up at Kain and stood, staring into the darkness of the lunar ravine. "My fear," she murmured. "My fear drew Titan, then; it drew the power of the lunar crystals, now. They fed on my need…"
"And somehow I ended up unconscious both times," Kain mused.
"I've always had this power," she said to herself, her eyes shining with a revelation that was all her own—both terror and amazement.
"But this time, I have a chance to do what I lacked the courage to do last time," he told her frankly.
She glanced at him, uncomprehending; sensing they were not having the same conversation.
"I didn't protect you," he said, slinging her back over his shoulder with mild protestations. "Now I can set that to rights."
He crouched down, preparing to spring, and then took off again into the air; not stopping until the light grew brighter and they could once more hear the sound of voices.
Kain flew them into the cavern where their companions still waited, their faces grim and drawn with worry. He set her down again where the cavern floor was even, past the destruction of her spell where the floor had lost its purchase and plummeted to ruin.
Rydia took an awkward step away and then turned, staring at the dragoon with equal parts surprise and gratitude. "Thank you," she said, fumbling over the simple words.
He nodded silently and put some distance between the two of them, as if he had taken one too many liberties for an entire lifetime.
Rydia stood, shaken; a little too overwhelmed by recent events to fully understand all that had happened.
She was alive—for now—and she had Kain to thank for that somehow.
But in the meantime, the darkness was too difficult to resist. Unconsciousness was closing in again, smearing reality and memory into a dull roar of distant dreams...
A/N:
UGH.
To those of you who made it all the way through…um, you're amazing, because the last half of this chapter took me almost three full days to write. Yes, full days. I am…exhausted.
I had more to put into this author's note, but now I'm too tired to do even that. Suffice it to say, that this chapter got full of crazy. And the next chapters are going to get even more crazy. Be prepared.
I've also begun to notice that my POVs have become somewhat fluid…lol. One minute I'm from Edge's POV, the next, Rydia's. The omniscient narrator! Sorry if that's bugging a few of you…I honestly didn't realize I was doing it until I read a few scenes and went, huh. But it's a lot of text to back-track through, so I'll trust you to keep up.
Holy flashbacks to Escaping the Flames, batman ;)
Thanks everyone, for reading. Have a wonderful holiday season :)
~Myth