WHOEVER
"Who's there?" I call into the darkness.
"She doesn't know yet," the woman says.
"No, but then, does she need to?" says another, identical to the first.
"I doubt it. Neither do you, any longer."
"Then erase me, if you can."
"Who's there?" I shout again.
"Be quiet, now. My turn is first, and I will end it all."
"Who's there!" I cry in desperation.
"Can't you see me?" the woman asks, cheerfully.
"No, I can't. Identify yourself!"
"Why don't you shine that light of yours a bit more. I'm only a few feet away."
At her request, I shine the light of Absolute Virtue. It takes me a bit of effort at first, but after a moment or two, I've enough light to see her. When I do, my heart nearly stops.
"Hello, child," says Cosmos, the last Goddess in Heaven.
"Y-you?" I gasp in horror, backing away from Her.
"Surprised, are we? Oh, don't look at me like that. You act as though this wasn't what you'd been expecting all along. It's over now, and we've won. Relax, why don't you?"
"We? What do you mean, we? I don't work for you!"
"Don't be silly. You've been working for me all along. Oh, don't make such a face! You have, you know. I'd thought this to be more obvious than your own name."
"I don't know what you're talking about! I don't work for you!"
"But you did! Cuore and Benjamin were in my hand all along. As were Kain and Cecil. Our enemy believed that Omega, Arazlam, and Gilgamesh were enough to stop us, but you have proven them wrong. We've won, aren't you happy?"
"I never worked for you! Are you crazy! You and I are enemies! We have been from the start! All of this, all the destruction, death, and pain! All of it was your fault!"
"Was it, now? You certainly are eager to blame others. Didn't you blame Cid only moments ago? And before Him, who did you blame, I wonder?"
"Don't deflect! None of this would have happened if it wasn't for you! You and your war! Your stupid war, and your stupid, meaningless conquest!"
"Stupid, is it? You used to agree with my war. You so willingly accepted the role I gave you in it. I still remember that, to this very day," She says, taking a step toward me.
"Don't come any closer! You're mad, and if you come nearer, I'll cut you down!"
"Cut me down? After all we've been through? Child, I still remember the heat of your tears on my breast, the convulsions of your body as you sobbed for all your worth. Don't you remember that day, outside the Palace of Order?"
"No, no, no! Shut up! Get out of my head, or whatever this is you're trying to do! You weren't there! That memory is mine! How can you know that, unless . . . ?"
"I gave you Hope, don't you remember? Can't you recall the weight of it in your hand, the Hope I gave you? How that Hope has blossomed! How you, sweet, innocent child, have spread it to all Heaven's children! Oh, my dear, beloved child, how your Hope has brought us all to so momentous an occasion! Surely you remember this?"
"You're lying! You can't be! You didn't give me Hope! You . . ."
"Oh, you wound me child. Surely you don't mean this. I've done all of this . . . for you. You could say, in fact, that all things everywhere in this world have been done for you."
"For me! Don't mock me! This was never about me! I'm just a weapon, and I've always been coming for you!"
"Yes, child, exactly! You were my sword, while I could not wield one. All your quest has been to bring you to me."
"Stop saying this! I don't work for you! I don't even LIKE you! You're my enemy, and you ALWAYS have been. I came here to slay you, Cosmos, not to hear you blather on about how I've played into some pathetic scheme of yours. I'm DONE with schemes, Cosmos. Cid's are ended, and so are yours. Now run, while you still can."
"Cosmos? Oh, no, no, no. My dear, sweet child, it seems you are sorely mistaken. I am not Cosmos. No, of that I am now certain. I am not Cosmos. Isn't that right, gentlemen?"
Cosmos looks beyond me into the darkness at four men who are emerging from it. Instinctively, I expand Absolute Virtue's light, to allow me a better sight of them. I see they are not four, but five, the fifth being cast at their feet.
Despite the clothing they wear, I recognize each of them. The one on the ground is Gilgamesh, Excalibur still clutched in his hand. The remaining four are, in order, Cid Pollendina, Cid del Norte Marquez, Cid Kramer, and Al-Cid Margrace. The sight of them alone chills my blood even Cid Lufaine could not. Because if they're here, and they're working with Cosmos, and She's denying being Cosmos, then that means . . .
"Have you figured it out yet, little one? Has the truth at last entered your mind, clearer and more painful than Cid Lufaine's Esunaja ever could hope to be? Has it finally dawned on you, just what is really going on here? What the point of your quest has been, what the reason for the fourteenth Cycle is, and how little you have understood along the way?"
"No . . ."
"Yes," She says, taking another step nearer. "Now say it."
"No!" I look to Gilgamesh, to the Cids for help.
"Why seek their help now," She asks, "when you have shunned it at every turn? I am the only one you have ever fully trusted and fully served in all of this. Now say it."
"You're . . . !"
"Yes, you begin to see it! You can deny it no longer! SAY IT! WHO AM I!"
"You're The Scholar!"
"In the flesh."
"Not your flesh."
"But flesh all the same. It's been a long time, Agent Lightning."
"I don't understand. What's going on? Why are you in Cosmos, body?"
"Have you forgotten? I gave you a glimpse of this a long time ago, back on the Beach at Romantic. A vision of my being freed after the fall of Cid Lufaine's corrupt regime. Remember?"
"That was you? But then- what about the purge?"
"A means to draw Chaos here, and ease your path to Absolute Virtue. Instigating the Purge put Chaos into action, helping Him break into the Prison at Sanity's Edge, causing the war, and ultimately allowing you to come this far."
"But then-! All of this, what was it for!"
"For you, my child. All of this has been for you. For us."
"I-I, what? How was any of this for me? It was all for the people, wasn't it? To make Heaven right again!"
"Child, there is still so much you need to hear. A little privacy, gentlemen?" The Scholar asks, as His hair flies forward, piercing each of the four Cids, draining them dry. My voice catches in my throat at the sight. I'd grown to hate them, but this, this defies reason!
"Why? Why did you do that? Weren't they your friends?"
"And it is for that reason that I did it. Now they're a part of me, and free from Heaven's pain. They knew all along that this moment would come, and not a one was unprepared for it. Now, do relax, as this explanation may take awhile."
"You're mad, Scholar! I don't know what Cosmos did to you, but you're mad!"
"You don't know the half of it, little girl. So let's keep this simple, and spare your troubled head the details. Give me Absolute Virtue."
"What?"
"Did I stutter? Give me Absolute Virtue. Hand it to me, and fulfill your role! That is what you have been laboring for all along! To give me Absolute Virtue, so that I can heal Heaven's hurt."
"All of this . . . has been about power? You mean everything I've done, has been in the pursuit of power?"
"Hasn't it? Your quest revolved around the acquisition of Proof of Omega, and you very quickly shifted your focus from defeating Cosmos and stopping The Purge to slaying Cid Lufaine and ending His version of the world. So tell me, if power was not the very heart of your actions, what, then, was?"
"No, no, no! NO! NO!"
"STOP DENYING THE TRUTH! All along you have worked to free me, and gain Absolute Virtue, now surrender it to me, and take your long awaited rest."
"Why should I? Why not just use it for myself?"
"You, use Absolute Virtue? Oh, yes, in place of a High Cid, there will be you- a High- I'm sorry, what was your name again? No matter, you will rule instead of Cid. No longer will Heaven bow before a tired old man looking for His lost son, but rather it will tremble in fear before the woman who killed her lover, her friends, and anyone who ever came near her! Look at you, Lightning; you're soaked with blood. The rains have washed it from you, but nothing will ever cleanse the stain from you.
"You are weak, and violent. Your anger dominated you thus far, driving you to lust for power, more and more, and claim the lives of innocents in sacrifice unholy to you. How could someone like you, who doesn't know who she is, has committed unforgiveable acts of murder, and has allowed something as simple as this Fantasy World to dominate her every move, how could someone like that ever wield Absolute Virtue? Now give it to me."
"I, I . . ." is all I can stammer as I sink to my knees. Is this really it? After everything I've gone through, is this how it ends? The Scholar . . . was the one manipulating me all along? The Scholar was the traitor Goegnuo mentioned? How couldn't I have seen this coming?
"Do not hate me, child. Blame yourself or God, but do not blame me, for I have done all I could for you. We all have done everything we could for you. Do you need to know still who you are? Let me tell you, my beloved, exactly who you are. And let me tell you what no one has told you thus far- when all of this began.
"In the world, certain 'series' of persons appear. In this world a Cid is born, and in that another. Normally they're brilliant men, made in the image of Cid Lufaine. In one world is born a Sarah, and in this, a Serah. They're normally princesses, or damsels in distress, as a remembrance of Cosmos, and, more to the point, Mio, Cid's wife. In this world a Biggs and a Wedge, and the pair in another world, almost always soldiers, often dying on the swords of the heroes' success. Many are the orders of repeating names, and while wielding some, like, say, a Maria, is no big deal, to hold a Sarah is to have a powerful piece in your hand.
"As a side story to this, I present also the Hero Project. This project began in ancient Lufenia's darkest hour, a project which spawned 6 Sky Warriors, one of whom was Garland, or Chaos. He was separated from the 5, whose memories were transmitted to the days when Garland resurfaced in Corneria. Their own attempt on the Temple of the fiends left them as bats, and had Garland sent ultimately to World B.
"And who better to send Him to start the Time Loop, than the culmination of the ancient project? Yes, the 4 Light Warriors and their two friends. 6 and 6 again. And among these four, THE Warrior of Light, the man upon whose shoulders this Heaven long stood.
"And oh, how the story of the four Warriors of Light resounded across Heaven! Cosmos' victory via Her warriors sparked a million others. Luneth and his Onion Knights. Their counterparts in The Dark Warriors. The ancient Zodiac Braves, the ones employed by Ajora and the Lucavi, and the ones assembled by Ramza Beoulve. And lest we forget, The Dawn Warriors, their adopted member King Tycoon, and that odd man out, Cid Previa.
"And while on that subject, let us not forget the ill-conceived plan of Dorgann Klauser- Final Heaven! Oh, it worked, I suppose. For them, Heaven ended the moment I had their carcasses mounted without this throne room. Five men seeking to overthrow Heaven's throne and institute a radical change. Have you heard this before?
"Obsidian was assembled for this purpose. Only I believed it to be an improvement; for while the Dawn Warriors were successful in attaining Godhood, they were mere men of no importance. But we, we were six Cids, brought together with the common intention of changing Heaven, and exposing the corruption of The Gods. Six Cids, for a time . . .
"We prayed, oh how we lusted for the day when Cosmos would invite us to Her palace. We, like so many other uneducated fools, eagerly awaited the chance to strike at what we perceived to be the greatest evil in Heaven. You have seen how well that ended for us.
"We did not know that Cid Lufaine had so intimate a connection to Cosmos, and we never would have known, had things not played out this way. We never would have known that He was, in fact, The Sire of Firion's world. But we, wiser than Dorgann and the fools who had followed him, had prepared for things to become . . . unpleasant.
"Because five and four are not the Holy Number, but rather six. So we brought you in to our circle. We used Arazlam to do it, and through him we began to shape you, preparing you for the moment you would take the crystal from my hands that held the plan to change all of Heaven, should our first plan fail.
"Only when things had fallen to pieces, and I had wrested control from Cosmos, did I begin to understand how high our hopes for success had become. Like Obsidian before, we molded your group to look like it was one of five, when in actuality it was six. Brilliant, wouldn't you agree?
"We took Dorgann Klauser's plan for Final Heaven, tested it with Obsidian, and perfected it with you. We took the Light Warrior legend, and expanded on it, by varying the number of your group between four and six. Firion was meant to have been a clue to you, but I suppose you missed it. And lastly, we took The Hero Project and consummated it in you, giving you an evil king to fight, mystic treasures to seek, a powerful sword to wield, and ultimately, Absolute Virtue's crystal to wield. And it worked perfectly.
"You may be missing it, so I'll fill you in. Your group was not five, but six. It consisted of you, Arazlam, Cuore, Benjamin, Gilgamesh, and I. Ingenious, isn't it? Because if having five Cids wasn't enough, we figured we'd try for five Cids and two Sarahs. Combine that with Final Heaven, The Light Warriors, and The Hero Project, and we come now to our present location. But when did it all begin? That is the thing you seek to know. So let me tell you when this all began, and how it all must surely end."
"NO!" I shout, getting back to my feet. "I don't want to hear anymore!"
"DOWN, GIRL!" The Scholar barks, whipping me backward with His hair. "When did it all begin? Would you believe me if I told you that when, as they've said, isn't so important as where? Now, what do I call that place? Ah! I know, let's keep up Cid's naming scheme, shall we?
"We'll call it World 'E', shall we? In World E, that is where all of this began. When is a bit harder to explain. Initially, I believed it to be a world within Cosmos Herself, but I have since learned otherwise. What it is, I cannot rightly say, only that it isn't quite the same place as this. Now, as for the when, oh, how will I explain it?
"For me it was when I had been absorbed by Cosmos. I found the fragments of my being in World E, wandering, and quickly losing awareness. In the middle of that strange, featureless waste, I came across a little girl. You, to be precise. Because for you, it all began long before you arrived in Heaven. Can you remember it? Can you recall the things we said there, and the exchange we had? What happened there was repeated outside the Palace of Order, and the two events are immutably linked. I know you remember . . ."
"Hope . . ."
"Yes, that's right. Hope. Our Endless Cycle. I am come to fulfill my part of the promise, now that you have kept your end of the bargain. Now as for the ending; give me Absolute Virtue, and the cycle can go on."
"I don't want this! This isn't the hope I wanted! What do I have to hope for? A Heaven ruled by you, instead of Cid Lufaine? What's the difference between you and Him?"
"Why, I'm hurt, child. You did not think this way when first we met."
"Yeah? Well maybe I've changed!"
"And certainly not for the better. You were meant to be preserved by Arazlam until this point, but still a hint of defiance lingers in you. So let me ask this, then: What do you intend to do, if not fulfill your mission, and surrender Absolute Virtue to me? Will you rule Heaven? Can you do a better job than Cid Lufaine, or I? Look inside yourself; you know you cannot. You are full of hatred, anger, and self-loathing. You haven't the hope of ruling Heaven. Your one desire has been to be free from pain and sorrow for so long, you've abandoned any thought of life or its values. Or am I mistaken?"
"No, but-"
"But what, child? You haven't anyone else to give this to, if not to me! Surely you acknowledge that, between the two of us, I am the lesser evil?"
"Evil is still evil, no matter the size."
"No, child, it is not. Evil is just a word, given meaning by man."
"Then how are you better than me?"
"Look inside yourself. Am I not?"
"I, I don't know-,"
"Yes, yes, 'I don't know anymore!' How very special for you. Is there anything you do know? You don't even know if any of this is real, or not!"
"So what if I don't! I'm not going to just give you-,"
"Why not? What reason do you even have? I have been patient long enough child. I have tried to be sympathetic, understanding, and caring. But my patience has worn thin. Surrender Absolute Virtue, child! Let me take from you the pain, the angst, the sorrow, and make the world the way we always wanted it. The way it was always meant to be! You have no reason to clutch at it so! Give it up, and let us forget this horrid world of fear and evil!"
"You're wrong," I say at last, pulling myself together. Where the resolve and strength are coming from, I'll never know. Absolute Virtue is the only possible explanation, since I'm too tired, and weak, and broken to resist The Scholar by this point. Everything S/he's said has made sense, but still, it's all wrong. And I can see it clearly now. "You're wrong," I repeat.
"How! How! Tell me, little girl! I have put up with this for LONG ENOUGH! Now tell me, HOW!"
"I did not do all of this for power. Not for my own power, and certainly not for your own."
"Then what! For what reason DID you do this, you damned fool!"
"For the same reason you did, at first- for freedom. For love, and for hope."
"Hope?" Asks a man behind me, "Oh, my dear creature, I believe you're rather mistaken. Hope does not exist."
