22 - The Siphon
With every step towards the resonatorium, Fordola's step felt lighter.
If she looked deep within herself, she knew the walls of Ala Mhigo would not long hold back the determination of the Eorzeans, it was so obvious now, yet why did her heart feel light? She should be charging for the walls, dying in the name of the cause would perhaps achieve in death what she had failed to achieve in life.
Nevertheless, it was as if a cloud was lifting from her soul, soon she would do battle with the hero of Eorzea, and one way or another - this would all end.
She was confident in her strength, in her 'abilities' that had been transmuted onto her very being. She would prevail, she would drag the Warrior of Light before Lord Zenos and he would triumph over all the enemies arrayed before him. She could see it now,
Flicker,
A towering wyrm, an eikon of tremendous power. Standing before it, the prince of Garlemald…
Failure? Well, that would be penance for everything that had happened. Perhaps she could beg forgiveness from those she had failed, that waited for beyond the gates of the Dark Forest and into the next world.
She neared the palace. There were multiple ways into the resonatorium, but she did not know the nearest entrance from the city. Better to quickly retrace her steps through the palace, she knew that she would not be late. She had already seen this.
This far away from the walls, the sound of battle was very faint, but still, the feeling of relentless hostility from the eyes that watched her from the city windows was suffocating as she jogged past. Suffocating, but she paid it no heed.
Finally, she climbed the steps towards the palace, a handful of Garleans could be seen here and there, several large magitek units were having final checks carried out before the walls fell. She nodded a greeting at one or two hastily thrown salutes, but she felt the hostility there as well, she did not belong, had she ever belonged? She almost wanted one of them to come forward and ask why she was at the palace, and not the walls. Alas, none dared.
She marched swiftly through the palace passageways and down the familiar steps, the side doors and the tunnels that led into the depths, her heart hammered with the coming confrontation, her fist clenched on the Garlean gunblade at her side.
Finally, the last door stood before her. She slowed and pushed it open, striding into the large underground lair of Lord Aulus.
It hadn't changed since last she'd seen it. Whatever procedure Lord Aulus had been running on Prince Zenos had clearly completed and the chamber had been vacated. A few Garlean guards lofted around the high operating table upon which the great resonant device sat, surrounded by the coffin boxes of those whose aether powered it.
She suddenly had a flash of insight, of course - the scion, Kryle was it? She was still ensconced within, so that was the reason the Warrior was heading here - was it?
"Commander rem Lupis." One of the four Garleans had moved over towards her, offering a salute. "We had not expected your presence here...if you were looking for Prince Zenos, he has already left with Lord Aulus for the throne room."
So she had just missed him...
"No, my business is here." Fordola nodded curtly, disregarding the thought. "Terrorist elements are looking to destroy the valuable equipment within, you four will help me apprehend them when they arrive."
The Garleans meager aether twitched, as if in surprise, although the expression was hidden by his full helmet. "As you say Ma'am." He gestured to the other three Garleans with a hand symbol and they moved towards her, checking their respective weapons.
Flicker,
Now she saw her, she was coming.
Her aether was unmistakable now, the soft golden hued light shone through the walls of the resonant, almost blinding - she was coming closer and closer, approaching from a far doorway.
The moment was lost when a wave of nausea hit her and she staggered momentarily, her head throbbed with pain suddenly. A side effect of her abilities? A rush of adrenaline? Either way, she fiercely tried to shake it off, now was not the time for weakness.
She gestured at the door to the Garleans,"Follow me, ready your weapons." This was it, this was the moment she had been waiting for! Damned if she was going to let a headache stop her from this confrontation.
With her new abilities, she could best the Warrior of Light, she could! She would!
The door ahead suddenly smashed out, hit by some unimaginable force. The piece of dead metal smashed to the floor with a ringing crash and Fordola watched with satisfaction as the figures walked forwards, into the meager light of the resonatorium.
The Warrior looked...different. She had swapped out her loose, flowing white clothes for tight, scaevan silver armour which offered much greater protection and gave her the look of an avenging deity of war. Her loose red hair drifted in the draught behind, her flashing eyes immediately focussed on Fordola and there was no hint of surprise in them. So...they had both expected the other here and now.
The Warrior advanced confidently, a wicked, long broadsword held easily in her right arm, and a golden shield in her left. Fordola could see the ease at which she held these weapons, it was as if they were weightless to her. Fordola had read about the paladins of Ul'Dar, the elite Sultansworn bodyguard who twinned swordplay with shield work - an unmovable bled of offense, 'the sword stance' and defence, 'the shield stance'. This then, was the aspect the Warrior had chosen for this clash.
Behind the Warrior, several other figures moved forward. Fordola recognised Lyse, the woman from the Reach. She had also traded out her old garb for a red, traditional Ala Mhigan dress, striking in appearance. There was also the white haired youth from Castrum Abania and another figure she didn't recognise, a tall Hyur with a blindfold over one eye, his aether almost invisible. The advancing group stopped a few paces before Fordola, Lyse looked on her with undisguised hatred and disgust, the other two were harder to read.
"I reckoned you lot would come!" Fordola shouted, drawing her gunblade, feeling the blood pumping through her body. "I didn't think you'd have the nerve to break the bloody doors down! Makes no difference to me though - time to die!"
Could she do this?
The Warrior could fight, really fight. She was a master of magic, and of weaponry, the blade of the Eorzeans, the hope of the Resistance.
Fordola bit her lip slightly, she was going to enjoy this. Focussing her energies and fighting spirit instinctively, she felt the power of the resonant flow through her. A tidal wave of raw energy surged forth, her headache, her nausea, vanished instantly.
She calmed her hammering heartbeat, prepared for the first blow, harnessing her resonant abilities to their full.
The disadvantages of the paladin style of fighting was its focus on either defence or offense at the expense of the other, there was little margin between the two. The Sultansworn of old had designed a style incapable of subtlety or subterfuge, a manner of killing with impeccable manners and form. Fordola remembered her readings of the history books as a girl, the writers had waxed lyrical about the chivalry of the paladins of old. One way of killing was ultimately not too dissimilar from the other.
Even without her gifted abilities, Fordola could easily see how the Warrior was in the shield, defensive, stance. Her left foot was slightly forward, she hefted the shield at a slight angle, the way her eyes narrowed at Fordola, the slight way the aether whispered to her, it was as plain as day.
This allowed Fordola the first chance to strike.
With a blaze of energy she lunged forwards, sword outstretched, point first - the fiercest, most undodgeable of sword strikes, a perfect gatosu.
The Warrior brought up her shield and Fordola's blade crashed into it with a force that rebounded up her arm, were it not for her enhancements it was entirely possible that Fordola's arm itself would have broken.
Instead, she whipped back the blade for a sweeping cut and the Warriors own blade swished out to meet it in a clash of steel that rung around the hall.
In the background, the Garleans had engaged the other resistance members, allowing Fordola to focus all her energies on defeating the Warrior before her.
The Warrior kept her legs rooted on the ground, shifting her shield and blade from side to side, using all the defensive capabilities of the shield stance as Fordola slashed blow after blow at the Warrior, not giving an inch for a counteroffensive.
Flicker, Flicker, Flicker
In the fires of battle Fordola felt her energies blaze forth again and suddenly, the Warrior took half a step back, and then another - suddenly she was retreating. Slowly, gracefully giving ground before Fordola's tempest of strikes, but retreating nevertheless.
Fordola allowed herself a moment of burning satisfaction, but it was tempered with admiration for the Warrior. Any other foe would have collapsed, or hidden entirely behind a shield. The Warrior of Light did neither, she simply slowly stepped backwards, body held high, shield and sword slicing through the air to intercept Fordola's own blows.
Flicker, Flicker, Flicker
Fordola saw it, a tiny opening and she bit her sword in, a gnashing fang strike and the Warrior must have seen it coming, for her eyes widened and she brought the shield but nevertheless, Fordola's blade grazed her armour before being pushed away and a scratch was left through which blood now dripped.
The Warrior of Light now retreated quickly, opening up some space between them and Fordola grinned, swiping her blade fiercely in the air. "I can read your every move!" She mocked and charged forwards when…
A burning, searing pain wrenched through her.
Flicker,
She saw her father, his body shielding her from the rocks being flung all around. She saw with a little girl's eyes the winces of pain as they bit into his back, spilling his life blood.
"Father," she whispered so only he could hear, "I'm scared."
"It's all right, it's all right" her father's hoarse voice lied to her. His arms continued to hold her tight. "They don't understand, but they'll see in time. They'll see that this is the only way to survive."
A distant, piercing scream on the wind caused the vision to turn to a swirling vortex of red light.
A terrible nausea gripped her, Fordola cried out aloud, stumbling backwards. "Seven hells, my head...the pain!" She was hardly aware of her own voice as the vision of the past swirled around her. Terrible sadness and anger gripped her and she tried to shake it free.
Her eyes made contact with the Warriors, and she saw the strange, wand shaped object attached to the inside of her shield, and realised with a jolt that she could no longer see the Warriors aether. Instinctively, she knew the object within the Warriors shield was the subject of her misfortune.
Her own body felt sluggish, stiff, in pain. Her vision was hazy, the colours more muted, the smell and sight of things less vibrant.
And she was very...very tired.
Then the Warrior switched into the sword stance, her right foot swept forward, she lowered her blade and launched a stinging assault on Fordola. There was no other warning, no insight and the speed and strength that the Warrior employed was as awesome as it was terrifying. Again and again the paladin's blade flashed in the light and again and again Fordola had to dart to one side, put up a desperate parry or roll away from the vengeful blade. Only her battle hardened instincts kept her from the fateful blow that would end her life.
As they clashed back towards the center of the resonatorium, slowly, but surely the Warriors aether began to pulse again, and Fordola started to see the flickers of the attacks again before they happened. Her abilities were starting to return, she could taste the blood in the air, smell the Warriors sent as she redoubled her efforts to drive Fordola back.
But Fordola had stopped retreating, she could now see the Warriors movement before they happened and she was now launching her own strikes back and the Warrior in her sword stance could only just block them in time. Neither moved back, neither gave an inch as they're eyes met and the air trembled to the ringing steel.
"Use the siphon Sara, use it now!" An unwelcome voice rang out, the white haired youth who was battling back a Garlean blade.
Now, the Warrior jumped back, opening up space between them and Fordola tensed as she saw the wand affixed inside the Warriors shield suddenly pulse with burning light and…
Flicker,
Prince Zenos chuckled, his lip twitching as he looked over the crowd of nobles watching them dance. "I have no wish to be emperor, It just so happens that I was born to be emperor...I'd sooner see it all burn."
He held her briefly, as the music and the murmurings all died away. In fact, everything slowly faded until it was just the two of them, slowly entwined together.
"Prove to me you are the wolf I think you are!" His last words equal part mocking as they were critical, his face and body dissolving into red mist.
Such terrible pain, it was almost unbearable. She could hear shouting as if from a great distance away. The world itself seemed to swim before her eyes, and she realised that for this one brief moment, she was completely helpless. A single strike would bring her down and her eyes fought to make out that shining beacon of aether, the Warrior standing, poised before her. Poised...yet still.
Why did she not strike?
She was defenceless, the Warrior could have closed the distance and rammed the sword through Fordola's throat...but Fordola could see something there in the Warriors eyes as she looked at Fordola...what was it in those eyes? Those terrible, beautiful eyes that shone with that blinding light.
Flicker,
A crystal tower...a sky of burning, golden light...an underwater city of unimaginable size...
Fordola wavered on the spot, feeling the burning pain recede. Letting out an anguished howl of rage and confusion she leveled her gunblade at the Warrior, pumping the trigger sending several shots zipping out at the Warrior. The bullets zinged off against the shield and the Warrior advanced again and battle was rejoined.
In her weakened state, Fordola could do little before the Warriors strength and determination as a dozen strikes sliced around Fordola grazing her, nicking her, blooding her. She would not beg for mercy, she was strong, she would not fail!
Slowly, her strength and abilities started to return and again Fordola slowed her retreat, even halted it briefly before an unwelcome guest made her appearance.
The woman, Lyse, had pummelled her adversary to the ground and now joined the fray, with the Warriors approval or not. Fordola had to divert her attention to block a spinning kick with the flat of her blade and push the red garbed woman back.
"So it's to be the two of you after all!" Fordola hissed as her two adversaries circled around her.
"Let's finish this!" Were the only words Lyse responded with before battle was joined again.
Compared to the Warriors' indomitable strength and supernatural abilities, Lyse was a lightweight. Nevertheless, the Ala Mhigan moved with lightning speed and struck with devastating strength in a blur of martial arts. Luckily, the woman had almost no control over her emotions and every move was plainly obvious before it landed, with or without Fordola's resonant abilities.
Time and time again, Fordola would block and be on the edge of launching the counterattack that would lay the woman in red down, but then the Warrior would intercept, and Fordola would be forced to dance away, to defend herself from her greatest foe.
"Still got that siphon Sara!?" Lyse shouted out as Fordola blocked another series of devastating haymakers. "They use it!"
Flicker,
She lay on the operating table, the huge machina looming over her. A mass of wires, blinking lights, nozzles and at the heart of it all, a bright, blinking blue light larger than her face. It came closer and closer to her head until it filled her vision. The power crackled through it, the power that would cut through realities, and knit their worldlines through the fibers of Fordola's being.
Suddenly, a flickering inkling passed through her. The hume psyche was not meant for such intrusions, when the deed was done - it would burn her soul out before her thirtieth nameday and then consume her body and all.
"After the pain, you will slip into unconsciousness." Aulus was continuing, oblivious to her internal ramblings.. "From our recent success with test subject XXIV, we have an understanding of what comes next…."
His lies turned to a red dust that spread over Fordola as the vision faded away.
Her head rang like a drum, a drum pounded for days and nights without respite. She could no longer see the strikes from the Warrior and Lyse, only her reflexes and battle experience kept her staggering from side to side. Unmitigated rage and grief welled with her. Without understanding, without comprehension, she sent sizzling beams of raw aether out in all directions, slicing through the air, wild and untamed, and very far from their targets..
A final wracking headache hit her and her vision blurred as Lyse sidestepped a desperate swing and struck her with a double palm strike, throwing her back and she staggered on the spot. The ground beckoned invitingly, inevitably. Fall, just fall and this would all be over.
But she thought of her former Crani Lupi. She thought of her mission, what she had strived to accomplish in this life. She could not fail, she would not fail!
She felt the energy built up within her, she would transcend her limits! She would strike down her enemies!
But then she saw the Warrior had sheathed her sword, and in her right hand now held the strange wand device in her right hand. The aether coalesced around her, a shining beacon of white light which built...and sliced out in a dazzling beam of flickering energy before Fordola could move!
Flicker,
The royal gardens extended before her, the palace with the purple flags of Ala Mhigo on her left.
She was at peace, the twilight filled her with warmth where there had only been cold, bitter failure.
"Are you coming?" The Warriors voice floated back to her. Had she ever spoken to Fordola? Her voice was soft...and young.
There was something there...something that she could almost read but Fordola wanted to reach out and hold it tight and never let go.
And yet...
She stumbled, all her energy suddenly deserting her and then Lyse raced forwards and this time her palm strike hit her squarely in the abdomen. Fordola was sent flying, landing painfully on the ground, her legs buckling, the cold ground pressing against her back, gunblade clattering away from her spasming fingers. She felt the last of her energies ebb away, as if into the ground. Suddenly feeling true coldness struck her for the first time as her resonant abilities faded away, she vainly forced herself to her feet, facing the duo.
"No...not after everything…" She mumbled incoherently, hardly hearing herself. "I cannot lose...I will not!"
If only saying it would make it so, a point Lyse no doubt found ironic. But when she spoke there was only fierce determination on her face as she approached Fordola. "Oh, but you will." The young woman's voice was mocking. "Without your tricks, you're nothing!"
Nothing
Nothing, was she nothing?
No...she had lasted years before the resonant abilities were granted to her…
This woman knows nothing...where was the Warrior...she would understand…
"Conrad, Meffrid, your own comrades!" Lyse was still monologuing angrily. "I should kill you here and now for what you did!"
Then do it...just stop talking...I'm so tired.
"But there's no place for that kind of justice here. Not in my Ala Mhigo."
Something about the way Lyse spoke those last words caused a spark of energy, a feeling of defiance to crackled back into Fordola's blood.
'Her' Ala Mhigo? How virtuous.
"Oh, how very bloody noble of you!" She managed to curl her lip and make an attempt at a sneer. "You'll pardon me my sins, will you? After you and your 'freedom fighters' come and tear down everything we've worked so hard to build!? We were fighting for our people's freedom!"
While you...you abandoned our city and our people to fight Eorzeas enemies...how many years was it before you even thought to return to your homeland?
The energy of hatred and despair drove her forward, she could not let this woman belittle all her efforts. She grasped her scabbard, tearing it from the belt and lunged at Lyse, raising it high to strike her down…
But against a trained martial artist, and without her resonant abilities it was pointless and Lyse struck her a second blow square in the chest sending Fordola stumbling back. Ignominity was added as a kick connected with her back and she was driven to the ground, the scabbard slipping from her hands and sliding across the floor.
"You're slaves to a tyrant!" Lyse shouted passionately, her voice admonishing Fordola's backside. "There's no freedom in that!"
What would you know about freedom?
She lay there, all thoughts deserting her...she could not even see the Warrior now from the ground, she could just sense the burning energy of Lyse, watching her, as in the background she could hear figures moving, murmured voices.
"No, I'm taking her back with us. Alive. She's going to answer for what she's done…" She could hear Lyse's voice very close now, and through raw force of will Fordola turned to grin up at her.
"Listen to you, talking like you've already won." She managed. You've not seen what I've seen. "Zenos is going to tear you apart. He commands a power echoing that of the eikons." I've seen it.
"What are you talking about?" Lyse demanded, but Fordola saw the sudden flicker of uncertainty in her gait.
"The hunt, you stupid cow - I'm talking about the hunt!" Even the words sounded confused to Fordola as they spilled out of her mouth "He said you'd come. And here you are, his willing prey. You and your friends are dead - just like mine. And all our misery, all our sacrifice...it was all for naught!"
Did she will Lyse to finish her there and then? For a moment she did and she saw the moment pass on the other woman's face as she considered it.
"...No." Lyse said finally, as the moment passed. "You're gonna live long enough to see us win our freedom. I promise you that."
"May I live a thousand years…" Fordola felt her heart fall and this time she did not seek to rise. Instead she allowed herself to slip away, into oblivion.
She stopped talking, and offered Lyse a sardonic smile. "Did I miss anything from your perspective...councilwoman?"
Lyse snorted, not rising to the bait although her eyes flashed passionately. "Only how I carried you out across my shoulder, before personally throwing you into a cell of my choosing."
Fordola felt the blood pound in her ears, but bit her lip again to remain silent.
Alphinaud coughed primarily and the Admiral sighed in exasperation. "For goodness sake Alphinaud, drink some water to cure your throat!"
The youth looked abashed, but covered for the moment by shuffling his papers importantly in front of himself. "I think we will take a final recess, before the judges deliberate and move to closing remarks and sentencing...unless there are any objections…?"
He glanced left and right at his judges, seeing no change in their stony expressions.
"Hang her!" Beckmann's voice muttered in the background, loud enough to be heard by all those in the room and there was a rumble of agreement from the watching crowd.
"Enough!" Alphinauds voice flared with real, genuine anger. He gestured to Sara, the Warrior of Light. "Take her to the holding cell, we will reconvene later this afternoon."
Fordola gazed forwards stonily as the Warrior approached. She could sense the other woman's emotions brushing against her own thoughts. Pity, concern, apprehension and a dozen other swirling thoughts and emotions that Fordola met with a flinty, apathetic, mental wall.
The Warrior wordlessly gestured for Fordola to follow her out of the chamber and she stepped down, keeping her head held high.
Finally, it would all soon be over.
So...well the last three and a bit weeks have been a roller-coaster personally. I can't decide if I am grateful to be out of the office for six months to spend with 'the baby' or suddenly wish there was an office to run to hide away in.
Two observations from a new parent - whoever said 'sleeping like a baby' is full of honest to goodness rubbish! Also, the latest part of the FFXIV relic quest can honestly, jog right on. I had ground every stage 2 relic weapon for every single job, but no way am I running Crystal Tower all those times for every single class, no sir-ee. Its Minecraft and games that can be easily paused for the foreseeable future!
This chapter was a little hampered by trying to be loyal to the cannon events of the game itself, including the dialogue and actions, ah well - tis how I wanted it to be.
I am very excited though, to be thinking about a followup of sorts from the Warriors own point of view (among others), in the post Shadowbringers time-frame, unburdened by the need to closely follow the story of the game. Will it allow me to bring Fordola up again and push this story on much further? Well lets wait and see how this ends...
This story will shortly conclude, and I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart if you have read this far! Stay safe all.