Author's Note: I do not own Finial Fantasy X or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong to their respective owners.
Ch.52 Dreams of the Fayth
For a second all I could see was a swirling mass of pyreflies around me and I could hear voices whispering. Then they parted and faded away, showing me that Tidus was standing right in the middle of a house. "Tidus! You okay?" I asked. But he didn't respond, or even act like he heard me. "It's no use," I heard a voice say. I turned to see child wearing a purple hooded robe with dark skin sitting on the floor, while pyreflies swirled around him. "What do you mean? Can't he hear me?" I asked. The boy shook his head. "You are only here as an observer. Nothing you say or do can interfere with what he is about to learn," he said. I wanted to protest but realized that it would be no use, so I took a step back and watched.
It was then that Tidus noticed the boy's presence, who said "Welcome home." My eyes widened. Home? So this was Zanarkand? Tidus gasped, and the boy continued "Remember me? We met in Bevelle," he said. "Yeah," Tidus said, dazed. "But that wasn't the first time we've met. I've known about you for a long time. A long, long time," he said. "I… I feel like I know you, too. Where are we?" Tidus asked. The boy laughed. "Silly, don't recognize your own home?" he asked, before vanishing. An image of Wakka appeared, asking "What's gotten into you two? Hey!" It disappeared, and another of Rikku said "Wake up! Wake up!" before fading as well. "Wait. This is a dream," Tidus realized. The boy reappeared, and said "Exactly."
"A dream? Are you crazy? I don't have time to be dreaming now!" Tidus told him. "You're wrong," the boy said. "It's not that you're dreaming. You are a dream." I looked at him confusedly. How could Tidus be a dream? He seemed pretty real to me. "Huh? Wait a second!" he called, but the boy ran out the door. Tidus followed, and seeing no other option so did I. Outside the city of Zanarkand could be seen in all its glory, a grand metropolis that's size reminded me of San Francisco. We found the kid staring at it from the edge of the platform, and when we approached him he began "Long ago, there was a war." "Yeah, with machina, right?" Tidus asked.
He nodded. "Yes. A war between Zanarkand and Bevelle. Bevelle's machina assured their victory from the start. Spira had never seen such power. The summoners of Zanarkand didn't stand a chance. Zanarkand was doomed to oblivion. That's why we tried to save it- if only in a memory," he told us. "What did you do?" Tidus asked. "The remaining summoners and the townspeople that survived the war… They all became fayth- fayth for the summoning," he replied. "The summoning… You mean Sin?" Tidus pressed. He shook his head. "No, I mean this place. A Zanarkand that never sleeps," the boy announced. I gasped. "What?!" Tidus asked in shock. "The dreams of the fayth summoned the memories of the city. They summoned all the buildings, all the people who lived there," he explained.
"The people… What, they're all dreams? Me… too?" he said hesitantly. The boy nodded. "Yes, you're a dream of the fayth. You, your father, your mother, everyone. All dreams. And if the fayth stop dreaming…" he trailed off. Realizing what he was trying to say, Tidus called "No! So what if I'm a dream. I… I like being here. "We've been dreaming for so long… we're tired. Would you and your father… Would you let us rest? Both you and your father have been touched by Sin. Sin, the around who all of Spira- the spiral- revolves," the fayth requested. It vanished. "What are you saying?" Tidus asked, looking around. He reappeared in the distance, and said "You two are more than just dreams now."
Like with Wakka and Rikku, an image of Yuna appeared. "Both of you wake up! Wake up, please!" she said, before her image faded. "Just a little more, and maybe… Maybe you are the dream that will end our dreaming at last," the fayth said, before everything went white.
xxx
My eyes snapped open and I gasped, feeling the pyreflies from the fayth that had coursed through Tidus's and my body rise out and fly away. "You're awake! Thank goodness!" Yuna said, relieved. Tidus stood and I hesitated for a second before doing the same, picking my trench coat off of the ground and putting it back on. "Hey, we were so worried about you!" Rikku exclaimed. "You okay?" Lulu asked. "I… I'm okay," Tidus said, but after hearing what he had I knew he wasn't. "What happened? First it was just you, but then Sofia tried to remove the pyreflies from your body and fainted too!" Yuna said. Tidus looked at me, his eyes questioning, and I nodded. I had been there too.
"Can you try and tell them something?" he silently asked. I shook my head. "I won't lie or keep anything from Yuna. Never again," I replied. He sighed. "Nothing… The pyreflies made me black out, and when Sofia tried to remove them she did too. We were dreaming. You called us… and we woke up," he said. My jaw dropped and he stretched theatrically and yawned, saying "Nothing like a good nap. Well, I'm ready! Let's go!" Tidus walked off, and the others followed with the exception of Yuna. She looked at me questioningly, and I looked away before hurrying ahead. I didn't want to keep anything from Yuna, but something like this would ruin her, and despite her conviction it might even make her hesitate in destroying Sin. Above all, I didn't want to cause her any additional pain.
Ahead was a hole in the side of the mountain that we entered, and inside was a huge sprawling cave. Drops of water fell from stalactites to splash into small puddles below, and the rocky walls were smooth to the touch, made so countless eons of moisture and activity from fiends. The path ahead was easily visible, but with one problem. Part of the road in front of it was completely missing. "What the-? How can we get through?" Wakka asked. "Sacred Ronso saying: 'To reach land of the dead, one must complete the Trials of Gagazet," Kimahri told us. "Trials? Like in the temples?" Rikku asked. "No. These ones are different. There are two separate trials in these caves, and only once both are complete will the pathway open. But it's less the trials themselves, and more getting to the trials that poses a difficulty," Auron explained.
"And why's that?" Rikku asked. Deiru's eye lit up. "I remember Auron telling me about this: Each of the trials can only be reached by an underwater passage. And where there is going underwater, there's also fighting fiends underwater," he said. My head went up at that, and when I looked at Tidus I saw him smiling. "Underwater fighting, huh?" Wakka asked. "Guess that's us!" Rikku exclaimed. "Are you sure that they can't be reached another way?" Yuna asked them. Auron shook his head, and she sighed. "Alright," she conceded, and the four of us walked to the edge of the water. "Looks like we got a job to do, ya?" Wakka said. "If anything should happen in the water, we're relying on you three. If it gets dangerous, pull out quick," Lulu warned.
We all nodded and dived down into the water, kicking our feet and wading forward. The bottom of the water was covered with various crystals which glowed with an unnatural radiance, and farther ahead was another hole in a wall which led to another chamber. I looked at Tidus, Wakka and Rikku and they nodded, all of us swimming forward. We didn't get far though before a quartet of pyrefly clouds appeared, solidifying and forming four groups of fiends. There were two groups of Splashers, an Archelous and a Maelspike. Instantly the Splashers rushed forward and snapped at us, acting very much like a pack of piranhas. I dodged them and cast Blizzard, but down here it and Water was really the only spell I could cast. A fireball would just turn into smoke, and if I cast Thunder I ran the risk of frying myself and everyone else from being submerged in water.
Tidus could cast magic though, and bestowed us all with Haste before hitting the fiends with Slowga. The single pair of spells almost doubled our speed compared to fiends', and that was proven when Wakka threw his ball twice at the Splashers before they could even react. Rikku pulled out a Smoke Grenade and threw it, and when it stopped in the space between us she had enough time to grab it and throw it again. The blast was large enough to hit all of the fiends at once, killing one of the packs of Splashers and injuring the others. The center of the Achelous's chest pulsed with light, and did so again when I swam forward to slash at it. I wondered what it could mean, and found out when Rikku punched it and it unleashed Sonic Wave.
The blast of power sent me tumbling back through the water along with the others, and the Splashers swam forward to sink their teeth into Wakka's arms and legs. His eyes bulged in pain and he thrashed around, while green liquid began seeping from the teeth marks to mix with the water. My eyes widened as well; those fiends' teeth secreted poison! Without a word Rikku and I used Entrust to give Tidus the power of all our Overdrive energies before we swam forward. He stayed behind and used the energy we had given him to occupy the fiends with Slice and Dice, Spiral Cut and Energy Rain. I grabbed the Splasher biting Wakka's arm and pulled its jaws apart until it came off, blood also coming from the wound into the water.
I focused a very small Thunder spell into my hand and gripped the fish-like fiend tighter, and it writhed in pain until it went limp. Rikku pulled out an Electro Marble and threw it at another and it eyes rolled back into head from the sudden voltage. That left just two more, and I flipped my sword over in my hand before stabbing both of them. Wakka nodded his thanks and pulled them off, quickly drinking an Al Bhed Potion that Rikku handed him. During this whole time Tidus had been using move after move to hold both fiends off on his own, and using yet another Spiral Cut to finish off the Archelous. Wakka gestured to us to move back, and we did. I guess the feeling of getting bitten by four savage fish-fiends with poisonous teeth had made him want to vent some frustration.
That was just what Wakka did when he used Status Reels, and when he threw his ball it sailed through the water until it hit the Maelspike, turning it to stone on impact. The statue feel down through the air until Wakka reclaimed his ball and swam towards it. He lifted the ball over his head and slammed it down hard enough to create a crack in the stone. That crack quickly grew and spider-webbed, and within seconds the statue of the fiend shattered into countless pieces. I sheathed my sword and crossed my arms, smirking on victory while Tidus and Rikku pumped their fists. Now that the fiends were gone we swam into the next chamber, inside which a set of stairs was that led above water.
Once above water Tidus shook his head and body like a dog, sending water droplets everywhere and even onto us. "Hey, watch it!" Rikku scolded him. While he rubbed his hand in embarrassment Wakka stepped forward, looking at our first challenge. It was a small sphere of whitish crystal surrounded by spinning plates of stone and metal, and I looked at it confusedly. "Okay, so what do we have to do?" I asked. "I think we have to hit the sphere in the center. But all those plates are surrounding it, so we have to time it really well," Rikku suggested. Tidus looked at Wakka. "Well, Wakka? Think you can do it?" he asked. Wakka smirked. "You know it!" he said, before walking forward and pulling his arm back.
He was still for about a few minutes, until he called "Got it!" and threw his ball. It sailed true and hit the ball, which turned red and released a grinding and that seemed to come from above. "Nice one!" I said, and he smiled. "Now let's go get that other trial!" Rikku said. We nodded and dived back underwater, but I knew one thing. Once we got past these trials and unlocked the way to Zanarkand, I had a feeling that something wasn't going to just let us go.
xxx
Another day, another chapter, and the battle with Sanctuary Keeper draws closer. And once it has been defeated, the party finally arrives in Zanarkand!
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