Chapter 2 - The Oracle's Shield

Are you running from your destiny or towards? I wonder…

A sudden jolt of a headache had him clutching his head in agony. It was as if a distant memory was trying to resurface from the depths of his mind. He vaguely remembered holding a girl in a coma, tenderly in his arms. He caressed her face, but everything was a blur. He could not recall who she was or how she looked. He clutched his head in agony as the memory faded.

A persistently increasing sound shook him out of his trance. Before his mind could contemplate any other thoughts, his instinct and reflexes took over. He scanned the sky in the direction of the sound. After listening closely, he recognized the sound of an airship. He deduced there were multiple airships, and they were quickly approaching.

He focused on the girl in her slumber in front of him. "Hey, wake up," he said, gently tapping her, but he elicited no response.

"Come on now, wake up-" he paused in mid-sentence to recall her name, "Lunafreya."

"This is not a good time to be napping. Wake up," he said, shaking her, still not getting any response from the girl.

'Cast a healing spell, you moron.' His mind yelled at him.

"Oh, right, that was stupid of me," he said to himself, as he cast Cure on her. The spell seems to have no effect.

He cast Cura next, hoping that it would work. Yet again, she did not wake up, and it made him uneasy. Her pulse was normal, but she was still not waking up. He couldn't help but feel like a déjà vu.

"Please wake up," he said, sounding desperate, while tapping her gently on her face. He cast the most powerful healing spell he had, Curaga. Few seconds go by, but she did not move. Those few seconds felt like hours as he observed her closely.

Suddenly, she took a deep breath and rolled her head towards his chest as he was still cradling her.

"Thank God, you are awake," he said. He supported her back and help her sit.

"What happened?" She asked lethargically, clutching her head.

"Not sure. You said something about forging a covenant and then you collapsed," he stated, while still supporting her.

He looked towards the sky and saw five airships surrounding them, hovering in the air. Suddenly, dropship's massive hangar opened, and a platoon of soldiers jumped from it.

He eyed them curiously as they landed in a very peculiar manner. Any other soldier who would have landed like that would have broken their bones, but these soldiers were different. They got up without using their limbs or any kind of support and stabilized themselves on their two feet.

"Are they robots?" He asked a rhetorical question, still not taking his eyes off them.

She tugged on his hand for support and pulled herself up standing next to him.

"Friend of yours?" He asked, hoping she would say yes.

"Not at all," she said, disappointed.

"How many enemies do you have?" He said, putting his hand on his forehead.

"Plenty," she stated, closing her eyes.

"Well, let's get to work," he remarked, as he readied his gunblade.

"I am not feeling well," she said, clutching her head as a wave of dizziness took over her.

He supported her and gently let her sit on the ground. "You sit here, I'll take care of them," he said.

"No, I'll help," she resisted.

"God, you are annoyingly stubborn," he said, sounding agitated. "This is not a matter of debate. You need to recover. I can handle this."

"But—" she said, before he cut her off. "Trust me."

She nodded in cooperation and soon drifted back to her slumber as the effect of Curaga wore off.

He charged at the robots and commenced his fight. After defeating a couple of infantry soldiers, he came across an accidental discovery that hitting at the joints broke off their appendages easily.

He soon modified his strategy. Instead of overpowering them with strength, a more calculated and calibrated attack was more impactful. With a newfound strategy, he blazed through the battlefield, taking out numerous robotic infantries.

During his fight suddenly a claw latched on to his back and pulled him back about 20 feet. He landed next to a magitek trooper (MT), and it retracted its claw into its appendages. He rolled away and swung his gunblade hard at the MT's leg, creating sparks as it collapsed. He got back on his feet and continued ravaging the battlefield.

The more he took out, the more they appeared. He heard the engine roaring again and as he looked up, he saw the airship's hangar open and a gigantic robot jumped off from it.

It was a bipedal robot towering over 30 feet with a humanoid design. It had an antenna above its so-called head. Two rocket launchers mounted on either shoulder. Turrets on the chest and back. A rail gun around the stomach area. Two machine guns around the knee area. One hand was made up of lighting lance while another had a flamethrower with spikes around it. The feet were equipped with boosters. There was a massive backpack looking thing on its back, which he presumed were for missiles. The word X-ATM092-2 was etched into its metal frame, which he assumed was the model number.

"Wow, this is one killing machine," he said, impressed with the robot.

After admiring his opponent, he launched into a preemptive strike breaking off one of its machine guns in one clean swipe. The robot fell over, giving him more time to destroy another appendage. He rolled behind the robot and attacked the unit which could launch missiles to break it off. Some MTs had now joined the fray outnumbering him. By the time he dealt with the MTs, the robot was back on its feet.

The boosters on the feet activated and within a fraction of a second, the robot rammed into him tossing him back a few feet. He landed awkwardly on the harsh ground, wincing in pain, as his gunblade landed a few feet away from him. Within a fraction of a second, the robot was at him again, sticking him with lightning lance causing heavy damage. The robot swung its other arm, and the spiked around the flamethrower caused big laceration on his face. Next few swings had caused lacerations on his hand, torso, and legs.

The robot charged up its flamethrower and aimed right at his face, ready to finish the job. He was badly beaten and hurt. He had severely underestimated the power and agility of this killing machine. He was determined not to die here. He reached into his boot to draw a survival knife. He tapped into his last reserve of energy and slammed the knife into the feet of the robot with all his might breaking off the booster on its leg. He swirled around and did the same on the other leg, knocking off the robot off its feet.

He stood up and quickly grabbed his gunblade. His eyes narrowed, heart beating fast and adrenaline ran amok through his body. It was time for his limit break. He charged towards fallen robot and slices it with a diagonal upwards cut, causing a huge explosion.

He landed on his feet after the attack and soon collapsed on the floor. He was completely out of breath and energy. His body was bruised and bloodied from all the battles he had endured. He had surely missed her healing and protective barriers in this battle.

He had only one healing spell left. He was about to cast Curaga on himself when he suddenly stopped.

He walked over to the sleeping girl and kneeled next to her. Something about her seemed so familiar, it was as if he had known her his whole life, but that was simply not possible, so he shook away those thoughts. He cast one last remaining Curaga on her to wake her up.

"Sorry to wake you up, are you all right?" He asked, with a hint of concern in his voice.

"What happened to you?" She asked, trying to reach for his bloodied face.

"Not important," he said, looking away from her gaze. "Do you have an exit strategy?" He inquired.

Still, dizzy from waking up, she was not back to her full scenes. She just blinked in response.

"How do we get out of here?" He rephrased the question.

She pointed towards the way she came from.

"Let's go, we need to get out of here before more reinforcement arrives," he said, offering his hand. She took his hand and stood up, barely balancing herself.

She looked around and saw the carnage he had left behind of all the MTs. She then looked at him and noticed blood dripping down from the side of his face.

"You are hurt, let me heal you," she slurred, as her hand started to glow.

"No," he said sternly, holding her hand. "You barely have any strength left, casting magic in this state could be very taxing."

"I still, have enough strength to cast one last healing spell," she resisted.

"Then cast it on yourself. My healing spell would wear off in a few minutes. Your magic is exponentially more potent than mine. Your healing spell should subside your pain long enough for us to walk out of here," he said, while wiping blood gushing down his face with the sleeve of his jacket.

"No, I'll manage it somehow, but let me heal you first," she insisted.

"You are so annoying. Stop being stubborn and listen to me," his words came out more harshly than intended.

"But—" she started to say something, but her throat went dry when she looked at the sky. There was a whole fleet of airship coming towards them. Within moments, the sky was filled with many dropships, dreadnoughts, and a flying fortress type dreadnought in the center.

He followed her gaze and cursed under his breath.

"They must have noticed Titan's movements."

"We need to go," he said, jarring her out of her thoughts. "Can you walk?" He asked, looking at her swollen ankle.

She tried to take a step, but immediately lost her balance as she put weight on her foot. He caught her, and she balanced herself once again. She shook her head, a bit ashamed.

"Stop being a hero and just heal yourself, dammit," he yelled.

She did not react to his words, but instead clutched her trident and cast a healing spell on herself. She took a couple of steps and it did not hurt as much.

"If you can run, I'll manage the rest," he reassured. "Come on, lead the way."

She nodded, and they both dashed towards the exit.

Before they could run much farther, a blast in front of them stopped them dead in their tracks. The dreadnought had them in its crosshairs. Soon, they were surrounded by the Imperial fleet with nowhere to run.

"There is no way just two of us can take on all of them," he said, grimly.

"What do we do now?" She asked with concern.

"I don't know. We would need some divine intervention to get out of this one now," he said, looking at the surrounding airships.

Her eyes suddenly lit up, and she said with a hint of excitement in her voice, "That's it!"

"What?" He asked.

She turned around to face Titan and started singing an eerie melody with her trident in her right hand.

"You want to sing at a time like this?" He said, placing his hand on his forehead.

She just placed her finger on his lips, suggesting him to remain quiet.

Soon the ground started rumbling as the sleeping giant awoke with a deafening roar.

"A divine intervention, it is," she said, with a charming smile.

He couldn't help but notice how captivating her smile was.

Their joy was short-lived as a huge explosion behind them almost knocked them off their feet.

He looked back and saw an imperial dreadnought approaching them at a close range. The main cannon adjusted to bring them in its crosshairs and started charging up.

"Incoming," he warned.

The cannon started glowing red as it built up its charge. Just as it was about to fire, a colossal fist smashed into it, hurling it towards the ground.

"Hmm, so that is the power of Astral? Very impressive," he admitted. "You know that this means?"

"What?" She asked.

"That he was going easy on us," he said, still mesmerized by Titan's strength.

"Yes, his purpose was to test us, not to kill us," she agreed.

With impeccable synchrony, all the dreadnought fires at Titan at the same time.

Titan took a lot of damage from it. It enraged Titan and he let out a primal howl. He slammed his fist into one of the dreadnoughts smothering it into pieces.

"I am certain imperials will try to subdue Titan," she suggested. "Once their attention is on Titan, we can make our escape."

"Using Titan as a distraction, not bad," he said, impressed with her quick thinking.

Their conversation was interrupted as all the dropship lowered in that area. Dropship opened their hangers and deployed platoons of soldiers.

"Ready?" He asked, standing back to back with her.

"I am as ready as I'll ever be. I don't have enough strength to use my magic, but my trident is still sharp," she replied, as MTs rushed towards them.

As the battle commenced, Lunafreya and Squall took out ground troops while Titan focused on aerial attacks. It was their team of three against the empire.

Squall noticed that every time Lunafreya attacked with her Trident, it left behind a hologram for a few seconds, damaging anyone who comes in its contact. "You are not too bad with that trident. Where did you learn to fight?" He asked, as he slashed another robot soldier.

"I used to occasionally spar with my brother. I picked up a few things from him. He would always give me lectures on how I should not rely on magic alone," she said, pulling out her trident from an MT.

"Interesting," he acknowledged, as he broke off another appendage of the soldier.

"What is that sword-like thing you fight with?" she asked, as she ducked from an incoming attack.

"It's called a gunblade. It is a sword with a standard shotgun's mechanism. By pulling the trigger at the right time, it can send a shockwave to the edge of the blade releasing a powerful attack," he said, as he demonstrated its feature.

"Behind you," she warned him just in time to evade MT's attack. She thrust the bottom end of her trident into the eye of the MT causing it to spark and disable.

"Not bad," he admired.

She nodded politely in response. His expression suddenly changed, and he yelled, "duck."

She obliged immediately and as she ducked a sword of MT just brushed her hair. He pointed his gunblade at the MT's head and fired, cleanly blowing off the head from its body.

The ebb and flow of the battle continued fluctuating for a while. Things changed when Imperial spearman joined the fray. They shoot harpoons at Titan with their magitek spears. Titan screamed in anguish as harpoons lodged into his body.

"Titan must not fall here. If he falls, then the providence will not be fulfilled and all will be lost. We must help him fend off this attack," she said, with heavy concern.

Squall looked at the dropship in the sky deploying more MTs with harpoons. He looked around to see if there were anything he could use against them.

He saw one of the dreadnoughts which had crashed landed earlier. It still had a turret attached close to its hull.

'Might be worth checking out in case it is working,' he thought.

"Cover me, I am going to that dreadnought," he said, pointing at the said airship.

She nodded and moved forward to take an aggressive stance.

He cleared out a few MT and entered fallen dreadnought. He positioned himself at the turret, and was happy to see that it was rotating just fine. He targeted unsuspecting MT to test if turret could fire properly.

'Bingo.' He rejoiced internally as it was fully functioning.

He carefully aimed at the MTs with the harpoon and fired a volley of bullets. He successfully destroyed them and in turn help dislodge the spears from Titan. One after another, he shoots down most of the Imperial spearmen, until the turret overheated.

Free from the harpoons, Titan wreaked havoc on the rest of the airships in his vicinity.

From a distance, he saw Lunafreya being surrounded by MTs. He feared he would not reach there in time to assist her so he had to think of something quick. He looked around and saw one of the fallen MT had a hookshot appendage intact. He picked it up for closer inspection. He wore it on his arm and tightened the strap below it. He pointed the hook at an MT about to attack Lunafreya and fired it by pressing a button on it. It immediately latched on to the target. Pressing it again, pulled the MT towards him as the cord retreated into the hookshot.

"This might come in handy," he said, as he pulled his sword out of the MT. He picked off a few MTs surrounding Lunafreya until she had the upper hand.

"Should we try to sneak out while they are busy with Titan?" He asked, joining Lunafreya.

"Yes, these remaining troops should be no match for the Archaean," she affirmed.

Squall carved the path towards their exit and Lunafreya followed.

Squall stopped in his tracks when he noticed sparks flying around X-ATM092-2, a robot which he had defeated earlier. Suddenly, the robot started to move.

"Damn! It is self-repairing itself," he said, with utter disbelief in his voice as to robot got back on its two feet.

"Run," he instructed Lunafreya. She ran ahead of him and he followed her at a distance, occasionally stopping to shoot at the robot.

The robot started shooting in their general direction but missed its target.

'Its scope must have been damaged in our earlier fight.' He deducted, noticing an erratic firing pattern.

Failing to hit the target, the robot gave them a chase, all the while spraying bullets in their general direction. Thankfully, with the booster in its legs broken, the robot could not dash like before.

The robot stopped and charged its rail gun.

Soon the two of them came to a rock wall. He noticed that the wall was too high for her to leap up, so he ran past her and aligned himself next to the wall.

"Step on it and jump," he instructed her as he intertwined her figures and extended his hands out, so she could step on it.

Once she stepped on his hands, he gave her a boost, almost tossing her to the ledge above. He took a few steps back and jumped to catch the edge of the ledge. As he was pulling himself up, she grabbed his hand and helped him get up.

They quickly ran and leaped out of the way as the blast from the railgun exploded close to them.

All the heat emanating from the lava was making them dizzy and quickly draining their energy. The robot was gaining on them, so he stopped and fired a few rounds of bullets from his gunblade to halt its momentum.

He noticed that she was struggling at running.

"Why are you wearing heels on a battlefield?" He said, a bit amused and a bit annoyed.

"I wasn't planning to fight Archean. I came to merely awaken it from its slumber," she defended.

"I guess he doesn't like being woken up," he said, shaking his head.

"What are you doing here?" She finally asked the question which was bugging her.

"Long story," he said, as he jumped over a small pit.

A blast just to the left of them broke their conversation.

They ran and eventually came to a narrow ledge that wrapped around the cliff. One false step and they will be in the pit of lava. "No room for error here," he said.

She was about to go first when he held her hand, "I'll go first."

He started slowly but steadily inching his way around the ledge. After allowing him a moment to ensure the stability of the ledge, she followed. The two continue inching their way along; it was a slow going.

"You doing all right?" He checked on her noticing uneasiness on her face.

She nodded and tried to focus on slowly moving along the ledge, ignoring the dizziness caused by excessive heat radiating from the lava below.

"Almost there," he said, grabbing onto a branch from a tree that extended out over the ledge.

Another powerful explosion close to the ledge startles her, causing her to lose her balance and fall forward out over the ledge

Holding onto the tree branch with his right hand, he reaches out with his left hand to grab her arm just in time and swung her around onto solid ground. He then leaped from the narrow ledge and landed on the ground safely.

Once both made their way around the ledge, the ground began to shake again from another explosion. He reached down and helped Lunafreya pull her to her feet. They looked back just in time to notice the bipedal robot losing its footing around the ledge and sliding down in the pit of lava.

"Thank God," she exhaled, looking at the robot's demise.

Both of them proceed down the path, eventually sliding under a narrow rock archway on a short incline. There was a tomb-like structure on his left, but he ignored it and kept moving forward. He finally saw a huge gate at a distance, which added a new spring to his steps.

They ran uphill and finally got to a high vantage point overlooking the gate to the Disc of Cauthess. He froze when he saw what was in front of him.

A small scowl appeared on his face, which she noticed. "What happened?" She asked.

He gestured her to come over and look at it herself. She saw what he was looking at and her heart sank too. There was an entire brigade guarding the gates.

"They were not here when I came in," she said, in utter disbelief.

"Guess, we can't go that way anymore," Squall said dejectedly, as he sat down and let out a big sigh.

Following his suite, she sat down as well. She leaned back on the boulder and used it as a support. She inspected her ankle, which seemed to get worse.

As they both sat in silence, they could see Titan combating at a distance.

After a long bout of silence, Lunafreya was the first one to speak. "Thank you, for saving me back there."

He just nodded in acknowledgment. "I am sorry, I yell at you earlier."

"It's all right. I can be very idealistic sometimes," she said, admitting her flaw.

"Ya, you are stubborn." He did not mince his words.

"I am determined, not stubborn," she corrected.

"Whatever."

"May I ask you something?" She inquired politely. Once again, his response was a simple nod.

"Who are you and why are you helping me?" She knew it was not the best time for such a chatter, but her curiosity could not be contained any longer. His fighting style was unlike glaives. He can't be from Nefilhelm. He was certainly not from Tenebrae that much she knew.

"I am a soldier from a different world. Shiva asked me to be the Shield and protect the Oracle. In return for helping you with your trials, I will be able to go back to my world. It sounds crazy now that I say it out loud," he said, placing his hand on his forehead.

'Gentiana sends him to protect me?' She was surprised as Astral rarely interfered directly like this.

"I am glad you came," she said, with a smile.

How she could smile despite being in so much pain was a mystery to him.

"Let's figure out how to escape from here first, we can talk later," he said, refocusing on their current situation.

"Escape. Right," she agreed and started to look around for an escape path.

A primal shriek from Titan interrupted their conversation. Titan had smashed the last remaining dreadnought from the sky and it crashed on the ground with a huge explosion.

"Look they are retreating," she said, pointing at the sky.

He followed her gaze and was happy to see that with all the dreadnoughts gone, remaining dropships were starting to retreat.

She turned around and looked at the guardian. "Thank you, kind Archean. You truly are a merciful being to aid a mortal such as I. You may rest now until the King of Kings arrives for your trial."

She waved her trident and golden aura surrounded both her and Titan. Titan retreated and coiled into a cocoon in his dormant state.

"We still have to find a way out of here," he said, crossing his arms. His forehead furrowed as he was lost deep in thought.

Lunafreya sat on the ground from exhaustion. She felt light-headed as the effect of her spell was the start of wear off.

"We should get close to the gate. Maybe there is another exit somewhere," he said, and started walking. After taking a few steps, he noticed there was no sound of footsteps behind him.

He turned around and saw her sitting on the ground clutching her swollen leg with pain visible on her face.

"You can't walk," he stated the obvious.

"Of course, I can," she said defiantly trying to hide her pain.

"Stop being so—"

"Stubborn?" She finished his sentence before he could.

They both chuckled.

He placed his hand on his forehead, trying to think.

It was at this time she noticed just how much he was hurt too. There were cuts and bruised all over his body. The blood on his face had dried out with dirt sticking to it. She felt horrible that someone else had to suffer for her.

Not wanting to be a burden on him any further, she said, "I might not be able to walk properly but I can limp."

"And you plan to limp your way through those soldiers?" He replied, expecting no further comeback from her.

She just looked at him with a sheepish smile.

He was quietly evaluating all his options when something suddenly caught his eyes.

"I found our exit," he said, proudly.

He extended his hand, which she used as a leverage to stand up.

In a completely unexpected move, he hugged her with one hand tightly wrapped around her waist. Her eyes widened, her heartbeat went berserk, and her brain froze. She felt like her heart would leap out of her mouth.

Before she had time to process any of that, he said, "brace yourself. Here we go."

He aimed his hook at the retreating Imperial dropship. The hook latched on to the hangar door bar, and with a sudden jerk, they were lifted off their feet.

Hanging from the airship, they got a bird's-eye view to the Disc of Cauthess from the top. From their vantage point, the meteor seemed to glow like a gigantic diamond when sunlight hit it; it was truly a sight to behold.

"I am losing my grip on you; Do you mind holding tighter?" He said in his usual monotone. She looked at his face and saw an impassive expression on his face, which ironically made her at ease in this awkward situation.

She wrapped both of her hands around his neck for a better grip.

They saw platoons of soldiers still guarding the gate. Within moments, they flew over the gate and for the first time he saw the world beyond.

She finally sighed in relief that she had made out alive from this trial. She couldn't wait to just lie down on a bed and rest. She unconsciously placed her head on his shoulders.

The sun was setting as they soared through the sky like birds. Their bodies intertwined. Their breath mingled. There was a whole world below them, but up there, in that moment, it was just them.

The dropship flew at a lower altitude. He could see the lights of a town at a distance as they flew over the river. The gate to the Disc of Cauthess was behind them and so was the Imperial Army.

"Do you think we are safe now?" He asked, looking at her.

"Yes, I think so," she replied, quietly.

Suddenly, they felt a jerk. He looked up and saw the cord had a big tear in it.

"Son of a b—" Before he could finish his sentence, the cord snapped, and they fell from the sky. Luckily, there was a river below them. They fell in the water with a huge splash. They lost their grip on each other on the impact as they both submerged in the water.

Squall came out first gasping for air. He noticed that Lunafreya had not come out of the water, so he dived back in. The current was strong. He noticed some white cloth going in the direction of the current. He swam towards it and lifted her out of the water. Lunafreya gasped for air. He grabbed her with one hand and tried to steer her towards the shore. Eventually, they got there, and both collapsed on the shore breathing heavily. Lunafreya coughed some water and lay back on the ground.

After a few silent moments, he said, "Well, at least all the blood and dirt are washed off now."

"The sun is about to set, we need to go before the daemons come out," she cautioned.

"What?"

"Under the blanket of darkness, dangerous demons come out," she stated.

"I am in no mood for fighting right now. Let's go," he said as he pushed himself into a sitting position and then stood up.

He offered his hand for support and using that she pulled herself up. She tried to hop on one leg, but soon lost her balance and fell to the ground. Squall just shook his head. He helped her get up again. This time, he placed his hand on her back and wrapped her right hand around his shoulder. Surprisingly, she did not resist his assistance.

"Let's get to the road, we should be able to get a ride to Lestallum," she said, pointing at the distant town with her free hand.

"Okay, let's go."

She was hopping on one leg, not even letting her injured leg touch the ground.

Once on the highway, she sat on the rock nearby while Squall was monitoring the road for any cars to hitch a ride.

Few minutes had passed, but they had no luck getting a ride. A couple of cars had passed on that road, but they speed past them, ignoring their plea for help. It was getting darker by the minute.

He finally saw a car coming in his direction. Instead of politely weaving for a ride, this time he stood in the middle of the road with his arms outstretched.

The car, with a number plate WH-1637551, applied hard brakes and came to a screeching halt just inches before him.

"Are ya out of your mind standing in the middle of the road?" Yelled a spunky girl in a heavy southern accent, rolling down her window.

Gentiana watched them from afar as they hitched the ride. She closed her eyes and said, "While the King has the comfort and the strength of his retinue, the Oracle has none to console or confide. Squall, protect the Oracle, be her shield, for in her success lies your redemption. If she fails, so shall the new King of Light and this world."

Author's Notes:

This chapter plays a key role in shaping the ending of this story. There are few hints for eagle eye readers :)

Speaking of eagle eye readers, this chapter's question: What is the significance of "WH-1637551" (this is a hard one)

Next chapter will starts to unravel the plot.

Please leave a comment if you've enjoyed the story so far. I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks :)