"Virages?" Dart echoes darkly. "You don't mean the ones that we faced in the Volcano Villude and Kadessa, do you? You mean something else."
"I…these Virages are the originals, the Super kind. They were around when I first started to fight. They're the originals."
"Like you?"
"Yes. Maybe even older."
"Wait," Miranda makes a swift cutting movement with her hand. "What's an original Virage?"
"They're the ancestors of the Virages that you've fought, and they're much, much more powerful. It's like a magical bloodline. One parent has 100% magic, and the second generation, his son or daughter, would have 50% magic. Now think how many generations can be spawned in 11,000 years." I pause, letting the information sink in. "When the Humans won the Dragon Campaign, they sought out the knowledge and aid of Charle Frahma. The original Virages were too dangerous to be let loose, so they cast a very powerful spell and placed all the Virages in the body of the God of Destruction. They were never meant to be released. They're enormous and they're deadly—"
"And they're headed straight for us." Albert announces in a calm voice. "Hang on tight."
The Virages, flocking by the hundreds, are pouring out of the Moon and we are right in their path.
"Coolon!" Dart yells.
The creature veers sharply to the right. White sticky bodies are all around us, emanating dark energy. I grab my sword, slashing out blindly at whatever whiteness I can see.
The flurry stops suddenly. Coolon had risen above the swarm.
"Hurry and get us to the Moon!" Dart commands. "We'll be safer there!"
Something erupts next to where Miranda is sitting on the left wing and she yells. Coolon's wing had been pierced by the Virage's fire. It howls in pain, trying to balance.
"Coolon!" The Sacred Sister screams, and she stands up, raising her Dragoon bow. Arrow after arrow of white light strikes the Virage until it falls to the earth far below.
"They can be killed!"
"Yes, but we don't have the time for it!" I shout back at her. "Our main priority is the Moon, and the body of the God of Destruction!"
Coolon makes a noise like a whale and the wind blowing back my hair suddenly increases and he drops the altitude.
I black out.
I am the first one to awaken. I can not have been out for more than three seconds. "Guys, get up." I nudge at Dart with my foot. "Come on, wake up!"
Coolon is a heap of color a few meters away. He has managed to get us to the Divine Tree with his last strength. "I'm sorry. I cannot…fly…anymore…" The eyes seem to smile and then slowly close, like the third set of eyelids on an alligator.
"Everything is turning out just as Zieg wished." I growl. "The seal of the Moon was broken and Soa's plan has finally started. Those Virages are merely advance guards for the primary Virage Embryo. It seems that the birth of the God of Destruction will only be a matter of time." I run my hand along one of the thick trunks of the tree. "Does the Divine Tree, which gave birth to all species, want this as well?"
"The world is not over yet." Dart reminds us fiercely. "We can still fight to save it."
"If after you've seen those Virages you can still say that, and stay here and fight, Dart, then I will fight too." I declare. "Let's go. The Moon That Never Sets is waiting for us."
The pathways of the Divine Tree are its branches spreading out in different directions. Pools of silvery light are everywhere, and I explain about how the Divine Tree had created life with its fruit. The monsters watch from behind the limbs, occasionally coming out to fight. It does not seem as if the Divine Tree even registers us. It is like its very consciousness has been focused upon the Moon.
When the dense branches give way to open sky, there is a tall thick pipe leading up to the Moon, a rounded sphere pregnant with energy. And from it flies forth the Virages.
"The Moon is spreading poison all over the world. In order to stop the poison, we need to reach the core of the Moon before it is too late."
"Unless Shana and the 'core', as Rose says, are wedded, the God of Destruction won't be born. Right?" Albert asks. "It is a dilemma for us because we want to take Shana back. If we don't meet Shana and if we can destroy only the core of the Moon, then the world will be saved."
"But Zieg is here for sure." Miranda protests. "With Shana."
"That is the only chance to save her." Haschel adds.
"We will save both the world and Shana!" Meru swings her hammer in a wide arc to emphasize her words.
"Fate is not in the hands of the creator." Dart says. His passion is enough to raise an entire army. "It is in our hands! We won't let Soa decide the Fate of the world! That goes for Shana's fate as well! We will decide our own fate!" He turns to observe the tall pipe. "This leads up to the Moon?
"Yes." I answer him. "It has been long. Very… Let's get going."
Dart begins walking toward it, to a hole in the trunk with an air current blowing upward into the Moon. He waits, looking at the rest of us. Meru is first, her petite body disappearing up. Then the rest of them, even Kongol managing to fly without exerting any force. Dart holds out his hand for me. I shrink backward.
If I go in there, I give up my power. I will not have the time or the spirit points to grow wings. I am stepping into something far more ancient than I am. I am doing something that I do not know about.
Sheer faith. Trust in a friend. I must learn how. Trust. Passion. Faith. Friendship. I take Dart's hand and step inside.
The air disconcerts me, so that I curl up and put my arms around my knees. It is like being grabbed by an enormous bird and carried up through the clouds. It is almost gentle, but I do not like the feeling of not being in control.
When I feel the pull of gravity again, I loosen my body, opening up like an insect after the threat is gone, so that I land on my feet in time. There is a flash of white and black and then a pounding of power that makes me reel, heady with the energy it broadcasts. When it goes away, I realize where I am. Inside the Moon.
Except for the fact that the Moon looks like a forest.
Dirt pathways. Trees. Birds and hooting owls. Even a moss-covered pond.
"Is this a forest?" Dart asks.
Albert looked around and jabbed the end of his lance at the ground, as if testing to see if it was real. "I thought we stepped into be on the Moon?"
"But this is indeed a real tree." Haschel proclaims, examining the markings on the trunk of a tree.
"No!" Miranda yells, slamming the side of her hand into the tree. Leaves shake down and one lands in her hair. "Were we sent down to the earth again?!"
I tilt my head to one side like a dog straining its ears. "Shh. Listen to that."
~ Thump-thump…Thump-thump ~
"It's the heartbeat of the Virage Embryo, of the God of Destruction." The heartbeat grows louder now that they are silent. "An empty body that is the living corpse from which the soul was taken out by ancient Winglies on the day it was conceived from the Divine Tree. We must be in the Moon." My words are echoed by the thumping sounds.
"Then no matter what it looks like, we gotta keep going." Dart tells the rest of us. "Come on. Let's move out."
We walk out of the forest, past the algae-covered pond. It seems almost like a reality here. An alternate dimension perhaps, a what-if. Even the monsters can hurt. I stare at the ground as the warm luscious field suddenly meets with a snow-covered forest.
Miranda stops, hissing through her teeth slightly, her amber eyes narrowed.
"Miranda, what's wrong?"
"I know this place."
"Does it look like the forest of your home?" Mille Seseau had been covered in forests like these.
"No, not only that. It is the forest of Mille Seseau where I grew up. I'll be back soon. Sorry, but wait for me here. There is something I have to check…alone." The Sacred Sister runs off, up a thin path, not skidding on the ice patch.
"That was strange. Is the Moon replicating things from our past now?" Albert asks. "I didn't know it had the…technology to do something like that."
"So we just wait here until Miranda gets back?" Meru asks, balancing herself on her hammer until it tips over and she lands on her feet. "What do we do till then?"
"We're going to wait. Miranda needs some time alone to come to terms with her past." I tell them. "We should give her that time." I run my finger along the flat of my blade.
After a while, a slender figure appears at the top of the path and makes her way down. "Hi." She says in a normal flat tone, but there is something different about her voice. Something that wasn't there anymore.
"Miranda, what happened?" Dart asks, noticing several cuts on her arms. "Were you attacked?"
"Are you really okay!?" Meru questions anxiously. "Your eyes are kind of watery."
Miranda tries a smile. "I'm fine. Sorry. Please leave me alone now. I might tell you later. Let's go. That's the only thing we can do now."
The main path leads to a shimmering portal. The kind that you hear about in fairy tales. But we have already been through so much in the time the team has been together that nothing can really surprise me anymore. I step through the portal first and I do not have to stick my head back out as I had thought I would have to, because the other six follow instantly.
The building is unmistakably Serdian. It has to be. It is made of wood, like a cabin. But the red carpet patterns and the wall hangings are like the ones I had seen in Bale. The attire of the people inside supports my beliefs.
The people?
"What…we are in Serdio!" Albert gasps. "But…and there are people. But aren't we…are they…?"
"Are they illusions?" It is Kongol that finishes for the king, who is uncharacteristically stuttering.
I draw my sword from its sheath and make a long shallow cut on the inside of my left arm.
"Rose!" Dart snaps, wincing.
Blood wells up, and so does pain. "If it hurts, it is reality. This cannot be an illusion. It's real." There is always a truth in illusion. Something within you sparks and starts the illusion so it is always created by something that you are thinking or something of your past. Illusion is just your own truth.
"Wait." Haschel holds up one hand. "Look, that girl over there…"
I follow his gaze to a pretty girl about eleven years old. She is dressed in gray, a gray dress with an overlying tunic. Her dark hair is pulled back by a red headband and even her skin looks slightly grayish. Her knuckles are callused, and her eyes are faraway and dazed. Her aura is wrong.
"That girl…" Haschel runs down the stairs after her.
"Hey wait! Where are you going?" Dart calls, and the entire team flocks after him. I plunge through another portal and on the other side is a village inside a cave. Minintos are running around. Good grief, I thought they were extinct?
Haschel passes through the village after the young girl. Though she is walking casually, we cannot seem to catch up with her. She comes to another portal, pausing for just a second to look at us before she steps through.
"Sorry, but I have to settle this by myself. Can you guys wait?" Haschel jumps in after her.
"Who was that?" Dart asks.
Say hello to your mother, Dart. I think silently. That was Claire at a young age. Haschel must find a way for her to forgive him and a way to forgive himself for what happened.
"I'm going to talk to the Minintos." I sheathe my sword and walk away from them, back through to the village.
A pair of the Minintos stop their conversation to stare at me as I walk over to them. It is not the sort of staring as one does to a fierce tiger or someone they do not want to see. The two Minintos look at me as if they had been expecting me. They are small, so that they only come up to my elbow, dressed in yellow jumpsuits with bright pink hair. A Human would think they were mischievous elves, but the wisdom in their eyes changes that.
A hundred questions fill my mind, about what they are, where they used to be, how they got here, but instead I blurt out, "Are you real?"
The one of the left shrugs. "As real as we think we are."
The other one says, "For we are only real if we believe it so."
"But then what is real?" I counter. "Is life? Are people?"
The two of them exchange smiles and look at me again. "What is reality to you?"
"If I can feel it, see it, hear it, fight it." I reply promptly. "If it hurts, it is not an illusion. It is a form of reality."
"So…you are saying that if you can see it, or register it with any of your six senses, including psychic powers, then it is reality." The left Mininto grins.
"Something like that, yes."
"But then what about people who are blind or deaf? What about mortal humans who have no sixth sense? Does that make their world less real than ours is?" The other one challenges me, and I fall silent.
"I don't know." I answer him. "I really don't. What is reality?"
"That, my friend, is something that not one person can answer, or even a million. It is something that you, yourself, must discover and adapt to." He smiles again and holds out his hand, stretching it up. I hold his hand; it feels smooth and cool, like new parchment. "My name is Miko. I believe I am real."
"My name is Andurs. I believe in my own existence." The other one says. I shake his hand too, calmly, and he looks at me with eyes that know more than the little body lets on. "Who are you?"
"My name is Rose."
"Do you believe that you are real?"
I consider the question. "I don't know. Maybe. But like you said, what is reality? I have yet to find out." I withdraw my hand. "Thank you. I should be getting back now."
"Good luck on your journeys." They called.
Eleven thousand years of beliefs, I thought, hopping over a small stream that cut through the cave floor. Washed down the drain because of two little Minintos that challenged my thoughts about reality. Maybe someday I'll figure out what reality and existence truly means. But not now. I don't have the leisure to figure it out now. I run my sword through a Trap Plant, injuring it but not killing it, as I returned to the others.
Haschel was just sitting down. "I've settled things. I…we should get going now."
Back at the inn, we stock up on supplies. Warily, Miranda tests a Healing Fog to make sure that it is actually real, and not something that the Moon made up to spite us. When it does, she fills the entire bag with healing supplies, and we leave through the door on the far side of the cabin.
It is another portal; I can feel the magic warping and changing in the air until it forms a different location, a different time. Neatly paved walkways and streets, and stairs leading up to wrought-iron gates, beyond which is the Indels castle of Bale.
"We're in a different time now." Albert says in a low voice. "The castle has been redecorated since this time, but I recognize that style as the way the castle looked when my uncle just took over. We're back twenty years."
He walked up to one of the guards at the gate, who replies, "Now, His Majesty Doel is on an expedition to the Home of Gigantos. Please come another time."
"So Uncle Doel has already assassinated my father…" Albert closed his eyes briefly, letting out a shaky breath before turning his attention to a little boy who is sparring imaginary enemies with a blunt wooden sword. The future King of Serdio tilts his head and his eyes widen as he kneels down beside the boy. I walk over to stand next to him.
"Hello." Albert says gently to the boy, who stops slashing and looks at him. "Are you practicing to become a knight?"
The boy smiles a sweet, sweet smile with all the innocence that children do have. His golden hair gleams in the sun. "Yes, sir. I want to grow up to be a knight just like my father Servi."
Surprised, I crouch down to stare at the boy's eyes. Gray-blue, cadet blue. "Hello, Lavitz."
He smiles quizzically and looks at me. "Do I know you, ma'am?"
I shake my head. "You will." I murmur quietly. "You're going to grow up to be a fine knight, Lavitz."
"Your lance will make you a hero among the Court, but your undying loyalty will make you a friend to the king himself." Albert says, ruffling the boy's hair. "Keep training, friend. It'll pay off."
"You do realize we may have altered the course of history?" I ask the king, giving him a hand up.
"Yes. I understand, but Lavitz…" He stares at the boy, who is continuing his onslaught of the invisible monsters. "Well, it's been a long time since I've seen him. I keep having this feeling that perhaps I should have done more. It's not only with Lavitz, but with my father as well, and my uncle…" Albert shakes his head. "Besides, it's probably not real. It's just the Moon's illusions created from our past."
"Who were you talking to?" Dart asks when Albert and I return. "Who is that boy?"
"Lavitz."
The red-clad warrior turns to look at the boy. "Come on, we've no time to dwell in the past."
The next portal is on the street, next to a pub sign. Casually we step through, even though it probably wouldn't matter if anyone saw us. The portal leads to a cave, damp and wet, making everyone's hair flatten instantly. We follow the darkness of the cave to a light in the distance, and when my eyes adjust, I realize I am standing in the sky. The surface I am standing on is a thin beam, which then spreads out like a spiderweb across the sky. We are above the clouds, and if anyone fell off the beams and through the gaps, it would certainly kill.
Meru automatically lengthens her wings of light to keep afloat. Haschel yelps and Miranda clutches one pale hand onto the rock tunnel we have just emerged out of.
Dart crouches to maintain his balance better. "What is this? The ground is so far away!"
Meru hovers with her wings, darting back and forth like an anxious pixie. "I've never been this high up before! We're above the clouds!"
I stretch out with my mind and step off the beams. My foot encounters resistance as I am seemingly stepping on thin air. "It's all right." I tell the others. "It's just another 'illusion' that the Moon made for us."
The Wingly female lightly treads on where I am standing with her wings still on her back and when she realizes it is safe, she retracts them and stands on her feet. "She's right. It's okay."
The beams eventually widen into a pathway of bluish stone that leads up stairs and into the distance. "Why are we just wandering around like this?" Miranda demands. "Shouldn't we be finding the God of Destruction?"
"We don't know where it is." Dart tells her patiently. "We're lost and we're wandering around to find it. The Moon is throwing these obstacles at us like a test, to see how we will fare."
A shadow passes over us, and if I did not recognize it, I would not give it a second thought. Many of the birdlike monsters have been flying over us, casting shadows. But this one was not merely physical; it cast a shadow over my thoughts as well.
A familiar shadow.
Thoughts of warmth and happiness, shielding me from the cold. Air rushing against my face, breezing my hair back, carrying my laughter. Good times, times when I still laughed because I still had my best friend.
But now his thoughts are furious, bloodlust, like they had been a thousand years ago.
He comes into view now, his body making a few rounds above us.
"That is…Oh no! Michael!" I scream. "Michael!"
The Dragon circles once more and disappears, flying away.
"Rose?"
"No! I couldn't have been mistaken! I was with him for over ten thousand years!"
"Is that your Dragon, Rose?" Dart asks.
"It was the Vassal Dragon. My Dragon!" I scream, feeling him return just before he physically appears. The skin on his chest stretches taut before it splits open, and his ribs rustle. Black energy spills forward. The first two shots miss, creating pits in the ground, breaking the appearance of the clouds.
Dart grabs my hand and leaps into one of the pits. I don't care where it is going. As long as it takes me away from here, away from Michael and his insanity, then I am willing to go. My body is lax as I follow him through the air. I feel gravity pulling on me again, but only for a second until I hit the ground.
I shake the stars out of my vision and look up at Dart. He helps me into a sitting position and looks around at the location. We are not in a cave, although the ground seems to be made of rock. Vegetation peeks out from various places, and I can hear the sounds of a strange animal in the background.
"I understand that we have been separated from the others because the Dragon attacked us. But why? Was it to bring the two of us here, the place filled with Dragons?"
I look down at my hands. "I think…we will find out. Soon. Let's go. Either to destroy the Virage Embryo…or to fight against Zieg. I need everybody with me." I get up and start to walk.
"Rose…" Dart's voice is amazed.
"Don't be so shocked." I call to him over my shoulder as he hurries to catch up. My own voice is as calm as usual as if I had not just showed him that revelation. "I trust everybody too."
Since the way behind us is a dead end, we follow the path, hoping that it will lead back to the inn-cabin. The sounds of the strange animal become clearer, until I step off the path and look into a nest created by rocks and sticks. Inside are three little pink Dragons, straining their necks up like birds waiting for their mother to regurgitate food for them.
"Rose, what are these?" Dart asks, cautiously waving one finger above them and jumping back as one of them lifts up higher as if to bite him. "Jeez…"
"This is a baby Dragon. It's called a Pseudo Dragon." I inform him, looking around at the scene that is vaguely familiar to me. "It seems everything, including the future and past, exist here. My favorite Pseudo Dragon didn't make it to the present age. But I am encountering the past now." I jolt myself out of my trance, surprised at the dreamy reminiscent tone of my voice. "But we don't have time to be sentimental. Let's go."
The rock path continues to face a cliff. A circle made of stones surrounds the clearing. Darkness still reigns here. I can feel it.
"I knew it." I declare with no triumph in my voice. "I knew this place. It's where I met Michael for the first time."
"Darkness Dragon, I'm sorry. We don't have time. Winglies are mighty. Mighty enough to annihilate us, and the entire species." I said to the writhing dark shape on the ground. "In order to liberate Humans, we have to sacrifice you, Dragon. Now is the time to decide, extinction or war."
The Dragon became nothing but black smoke, expanding. I held out my hand and it compressed, forming a shape. The smoke was sucked into that shape, and a baby Dragon was shrieking.
"We choose war." Zieg spoke fiercely from behind me, putting one hand on my shoulder. "The Dragoon Spirit left behind by the Darkness Dragon and this newborn Dragon will be the spearhead of the war." He was encouraging me, but at the same time he was also explaining to me the true amount of pressure I would have as I accepted the responsibility of a Dragoon.
I was only seventeen then.
I knelt down by the baby, waving my finger in front of it. Hypnotized it followed my finger and chirped softly. "This baby needs a name." I told Zieg, looking up at him. The baby Dragon took the opportunity to pounce onto my finger, and sharp teeth bit into my skin. I winced, then smiled, picking it up. "Black Burst Dragon, Michael. How about Michael?"
"Rose's Vassal Dragon, the Darkness Dragon, the Black Burst Dragon, Michael. It's a good name." Zieg agreed. "So now can we go?" His patient tone disappeared into amused annoyance, teasing. I knew he had only come along because I asked him to. He was so sweet, to care about me.
"Yes. The real war has not started yet."
In the present, or the past, or the future, or wherever the hell I was now, with Dart beside me, there was black smoke again, condensing into Michael's grown form. It sprang up into attack formation, wings keeping it a few feet above the ground, just high enough to meet our eyes. There was menace in his eyes and mind.
"Michael!" I yell. "Don't you recognize me!? It's me Rose! Michael! Don't you remember me?"
Dart leaps back before Michael's claws can take his head off. "Not fondly, obviously." He growls. "It seems not to be working."
It takes all my courage to draw my sword. "It's out of control, just like last time. He forgot the pride of the Dragon and turned himself into a mere raving beast."
"Michael, no! Don't!"
"Rose, what is he doing?"
"Darius, stay back!"
It was the last human contact I had willingly. After Michael, I just didn't care anymore.
Dart suffers as Michael rams into him with all his body weight and draws a crack straight through his armor. "Damn! What a Dragon! It has wildness beyond that of Feyrbrand! It yields to neither sword nor magic!" He slashes with his sword, but the blade merely glances off of Michael's skin.
Lifelessly, I toss the reusable Psychedelic Bomb at him. He howls but it doesn't leave a scratch.
"The Darkness Dragon is the strongest Dragon of all." I report to him. "It has the best attack and defense, along with having the best agility." Michael, I remember you were among the fiercest in the Dragon Campaign. Sometimes I shared your fierceness. But we shared memories too. Have you forgotten that? Are you back into your bloodlust again?
"I don't need to hear about it!" Dart snaps. It is the first time he has raised his voice to me, aside from when we argued about the Moon Child. "Is there any way to defeat him?"
"Michael's shell is special armor of the Darkness Dragon. It repels any attack by the enemy." I know everything about this Dragon, from its statistics in fighting right down to what sort of humans it likes to what food he hates.
Michael turns to his ultimate weapon, the black laser.
The dark energy is something that has long since attuned to me, so I know how to put up the shield. The shield blocks most of the power, and the excess I drain into myself, using it to fuel my own power. Both being darkness, I know how to deal with his power.
But I cannot help Dart, who has to sit through the attack. I watch helplessly as he curls into a ball, the black energy surrounding him, draining him away. He screams from the pain, and I cry out. When the laser fades away, I reach into my pouch and run over to him, tilting his head back and pouring Healing Fog down his throat. I rub the front of his neck until he swallows and regains consciousness.
Michael watches this through narrowed eyes.
Dart comes around and stands up, picking up his sword and wavering a bit. I can feel him drawing on his own element and transforming into the Fire Dragoon. I back away from his beating wings. "What should we do? None of our attacks will hurt him." He says after trying Final Burst.
Michael reels back from the attack in annoyance, and lunges forward, drawing a long gash along my collarbone and then again a deeper gash right below my ribs. I hiss in pain, screaming in hurt and anger and betrayal, and I slash with my sword, my emotions fueling it. The blade ricochets off his armor and he retreats back a few meters.
"Rose? You must know something about him. How did he die before?"
I cover my face with my hands. "There is only one blind spot."
"What is it?" Dart demands. He dives out of the way of another black laser. The recoil gets him and myself, and I am lifted into the air, feeling weightless and deprived of all senses, like a leaf blowing in the wind. I pick myself up off the ground. "Tell me now!"
God! What should I do? I can't… Tell him Michael's weakness or keep it a secret? If I tell him, I betray my best friend yet again. I can't…I can't…not again. "I can't…tell you…" I whisper.
"Rose! What are you doing? We have to do something or we'll be finished!"
I stand there, my sword in my hand but completely useless, as Michael rakes his claws across my arm and chest. The pain is there and I register it, but it is like my body shut down and I cannot do anything about it.
The wind in my hair, the most pleasant experience. The Midlake by Bale, our favorite hiding place. Flying upward and suddenly plunging downward, my favorite stunt. But I was never afraid, because I knew that you would never let me fall, Michael. I trusted you. Years of togetherness, centuries of friendship, millennia of trust. Eternity of love. I loved you, Michael, perhaps almost as much as I loved Zieg. But now you are back again, and I must kill you.
"Rose!"
I'm sorry.
I lower my sword, my head tilted toward the ground in weariness. "After he shoots the black laser," I whisper to Dart in a resigned tone. "His defense falls for a second, showing his heart. That's his only weak spot."
I've betrayed your trust in me. I've betrayed our love.
I thrust my sword back in its sheath, and collapse to my knees, covering my face with my hands. I cannot bear to watch. I know that Dart is a powerful warrior, and with the vital piece of information I have given him, I know he will kill Michael.
I shut my eyes, trembling in fearful anticipation. My fears are confirmed when I hear the agonizing shrieking of the Darkness Dragon dying. I scream along with it; our minds are still connected. I feel his pain and betrayal and tears. I shut my eyes tighter, trying to close off my mind. I move my hands to cover my ears.
When the shrieking dies away both psychically and physically, Dart walks over and puts his hand on my shoulder, kneeling down beside me. "There was no other choice, Rose. He would have killed us."
I continue to rock back and forth, lulled into a false illusion of peace. I break it with my mind, knowing that peace never lasts long. "A Dragon's body is capable of enormous endurance." I take a deep breath, and open my eyes, taking my hands away from my ears. "But its heart is not. After many fights, it became savage and started to blindly attack people. In the end, he wouldn't listen to the orders of Dragoons either, not even me." My voice raises as I jump to my feet, pointing to the black smoke that was all that was left of Michael's body. "That's why I killed Michael! I killed him with these hands!"
Dart grabs my shoulders, shaking me roughly so that my head lolls around on my neck. "Rose!" he snaps me out of my hysterics. "That's enough of looking back at he past. You have lived for 11,000 years because you didn't want to see the future be destroyed, right, Rose?"
He strokes my cheek gently, the way Zieg used to. I take a deep breath. "You are right. Thank you. You reminded me of what's important."
Damia, Shirley, Syuveil, Kanzas, Belzac, and even you, Zieg. Your sacrifices will be honored. I won't let them be in vain.
I stare wistfully at the black smoke, burning like a fire. "I'm sorry, Dragon, but you've given up your honor by attacking us."
Dart holds out the bottle that once held the Healing Fog that I had given him during the battle. I take the crystalline flask from his hands, stepping forward into the smoke. I crouch down and swipe the bottle, catching the smoke inside. I shove the stopper in, to see that I have successfully caught a part of him. I close my eyes and breathe in, absorbing his power into mine, bonding once more, like the first time, when he bit my finger and I had winced.
But no sooner did I try to try to merge minds with his shade did the smoke disappear.
I step away, hurt and confused. But I understand. I have given away his secret, killed him twice and again. Why would he forgive me and let me absorb his power again? He doesn't want to merge minds anymore.
"I'm sorry, Michael." I whisper, lowering my eyes.
"Wait, Rose." Dart takes my hand as I am walking away so that I turn around.
The smoke hadn't been disappearing. It had been condensing again.
Lying in its place was a new sword.
"Oh…" I pick it up in my right hand. It is lighter than my previous sword, the Gladius. This one was light and compact, but I could feel the power emanating from it, see the gleaming polished silver and titanium. It would be a powerful weapon, uneasy to break or rust. It fit perfectly into my grip, as if I am already used to it. "It's perfect. The Dark Death." Its name springs up to my lips as if I had known it all along. "Michael, thank you."
"Rose, come on. Let's look for Albert and the others. Then we have to head for the core of the Moon." Dart gestures to the path where we came from, seeing as how ahead is a dead end. "Besides, you're injured."
"So are you."
"All the more reason to get back. Come on."
The portal this time had opened where there had been solid rock before, a cliff face nearby where we had found the Pseudo Dragons. It hurts to go through the portal. The magic sprinkles into my wounds like salt water, and it stings.
We find the others on the opposite side, already waiting in the inn. Albert smiles warmly and comes over to us. "We knew we would find you here. Did you also go through a challenge?"
"Rose did. She faced and defeated her challenge."
"Hey, Rose!" Meru appears from behind Albert. I have not forgotten her words in Mayfil, where she called me her sister. "Wow, you're totally scratched up. What happened?"
"I had to face Michael and my past." I tell her calmly. For some reason, the challenge had sent a sense of peace through me, as if I had come to terms with what I did to Michael. It is one heavy load off of my chest.
"I too, had to face my past." Albert says. "I fought my Uncle Doel and found out the reason why he assassinated my father. Kongol had to fight his own challenge as well, but that is for him to say."
"Maybe later." Miranda says. "I've found a blacksmith on the west side of the cabin. I've been examining his work; it's pretty good. He makes cloth armor too, Rose. By the looks of it, you need new armor. Is that a new sword?"
"Yes. A gift from Michael. But I don't need new armor."
She makes a face at me. "Your armor is torn up and you have gashes all over your body. Not only do you need a new set of cloth armor, you need a good rest as well. We all do."
"I can repair my cloth. I don't want a new piece of armor."
Her eyes meet mine, defiant and challenging. "There are rips and tears all over. You need a new armor."
"I can sew it back up." I say through my teeth. We are back to arguing again. It is more of a tradition than actual anger, but I really do not want new armor. I have had this for centuries now.
"With what? Twine and long weeds?"
"If I need to."
"Stop arguing, you two." Albert steps between us. "Miranda, you can't force Rose to do anything she doesn't want to. But Rose, Miranda makes a nice point. Your body is racked with injuries and you're wavering. You're going to keel over any second now. You need a rest. Even when your body has recovered, the armor will be virtually useless during the next battle. Do remember that this isn't a normal battle. We're fighting for the sake of the world. Be practical, Rose."
I consider his words and finally nod. "Very well. Since you asked so nicely. Where is this blacksmith?"
"I'll show you." Miranda offers roughly, moving at a rapid pace down an empty corridor. I must hurry to catch up, and that hurts. No doubt it was what she intended.
The blacksmith is a polite young man who is concerned with my injuries. I wave it off. "I need a new set of cloth armor. Preferably stronger than this one, but still dark and within the Amazon designs. Do you think you can pull that off?"
"Yes, ma'am, but uh…" he holds out a tape measure, unsure and embarrassed. "Would you please? You're a female, and…"
Appreciating his politeness, I take the tape measure from him. After thinking and measuring, I give him the numbers, and he promises to have the new armor done by this time tomorrow.
"It's kinda strange. Aren't they supposed to be illusions?" Miranda asks as we walk back. She has slowed her pace considerably, as she is not angry with me anymore. Now I can limp along slowly. Michael's claws had ripped a length of my thigh.
"Not necessarily. Illusions come from something within you. I wanted to see Michael again, to come to terms with my past. I was granted that wish. Albert perhaps thought of this Serdian cabin and here it is. It all comes from something inside. You yourself faced something in the forest when we first arrived. Obviously someone wished for a blacksmith, perhaps also you. But it's not at your beck and call. It's something subconscious."
"My challenge…" Miranda slowly shakes her head. "I wonder if we can all share our challenges?"
Albert has finished paying for renting the room in the inn with the seven beds, and I am relieved to lie down, taking the weight off of my leg. Meru helpfully tosses over a Healing Fog and I drink it swiftly.
"Kongol?" I call out suddenly to the Giganto. He had taken the mattress off the bed because the boxspring would not support his weight, and placed it on a clear spot on the floor. He barely has to lift his head to look me in the eye. "What was your challenge?"
Kongol pauses, frowning. "Kongol's challenge was big brother Indora." He clears his throat, remembering his grammar. "My brother Indora was a big hero in Giganto clan. K—I thought I would never match up to him. I had to fight him to prove my strength. I continue go—to go with Dart to prove my strength."
"My challenge," Albert says. "Was to find and defeat my Uncle Doel. But…I also had to find out why he killed my father." He gives a short laugh. "It turns out that Carlo perhaps was not the best king to rule Serdio. Doel killed him to save Serdio from ruin. I suppose…it would be the right thing to do, right, Rose?"
I do not understand why he is speaking to me until I think about it, and I cast him a gentle look.
"My challenge," Haschel speaks up suddenly. It is like everyone is dropping all their mental barriers and revealing what is most important to them. "Was to find my daughter Claire. I realized that I was too tough on her in her training. She was only a child. She deserved to be out having fun with her friends instead of concentrating on fighting all the time. She ran away. I had to find her forgiveness."
I stare at Miranda only to find her glaring at me in return. "Your turn." We both say at the same time. "No you. I don't want to go until I hear yours."
Sensing we are on the border of another argument Albert intervenes. "Ladies, if I may speak? These challenges are for yourself to know. You don't have to share them if you don't want to. However, I hope that throughout our journey, we had become more than teammates, and had become friends. If you are going to share your challenges, then it should be something that you want to do."
I glance at Miranda and she shrugs. "Me first then." We both say, and I throw my hands up in exasperation. It is like our minds are alike. "You first." Again we are simultaneous, but this time it is gently, generously.
Finally Dart tosses a coin. Heads. Miranda first.
"I recognized the forest as the place where I had grown up. I went in, and walked to the place where I saw my mother last. In the clearing was a single blood red rose. That's why I hated roses, because my mother was always hidden in roses and she had hurt me. But…it turns out she did not want to hurt me. She left my family because she wanted a better life. Father was addicted to the drink and she hated how he used up her money. She left to build up a stronger life, and when she came back to get me, Father chased her away. That's why she named me Miranda. After the goddess of compassion and virtue and kindness."
"Miraroshi." I murmur. "Mortal name Miranda."
"I kept the flower that I found after I made up with her." Miranda holds up a jar like the one I have the black smoke in, and red flower petals and lying on its bottom.
Haschel makes a face and holds up a red circle of cloth. "My daughter's headband. She gave it to me as a token of her forgiveness."
Wordlessly, Kongol holds up the new axe that I had not noticed. It is a polished bronze, well used and already broken in. Powerful, definitely belonging to a Giganto. No other being would be strong enough to use it. "Indora's axe." He rumbled.
Albert reaches for something tucked into his belt and pulls it out. Two pieces, one light and one darkness. They glow with the element they represent. The light is like an angel's halo and the dark is like the diamond-starred night. "The chipped off pieces of the swords belonging to my Uncle Doel, Emperor of Sandora-Serdio. This one belonged to his sword of Darkness and this one to his sword of Lightness. The sword cracked on my Dragoon armor, and when I defeated him, he gave them to me, to show to me the true minds of people, how everyone has a darkness and light."
Briefly my mind brings me back to when I first reconciled things with Miranda. "Light was born out of darkness and there is darkness in every light."
"We each received a momento as a token of the forgiveness or understanding that we were searching for in our challenges." I pause. "I had to fight my Dragon, Michael. We were partners and friends for over ten thousand years. But he had lost his self-control and honor and needed to be defeated. He dissipated into smoke after he died, and I kept some of it." I hold up the jar, as well as the sword. "He also gave me my new sword, the Dark Death."
"It is hard to go against friends and family," Albert says quietly. "It is the most difficult strength to accomplish."
"What about Meru and I?" Dart asks.
"…Just before Michael attacked us the first time," The dancer speaks up. "I felt something drawing me up those stairs. I would guess that it is my challenge. But Dart…"
"The entire blasted thing is Dart's challenge." I mutter, snuggling under the covers at the sudden cold. "He has to face his father and find out what happened to him. He is the leader of our group, therefore our mission is his challenge. Good night."
"We should probably all get new armor and weapons." Miranda suggests. "What was the last boss fight that we all had together?"
"That creepy bug thing that changed into a faerie." Haschel says. "Imagi? Imago? Something like that. But we had our challenges with fights and we all fared well."
"That was more of an inner fight." Miranda snaps at him. "We're getting new armor and weapons. I saw a bow that I particularly liked at the blacksmith's. It would make sense to get everything as powerful as it can be now before we must fight the final battle."
"She has a point." Dart concedes. "Let's go."
"Ah, madam." The blacksmith bows to me once, surprising me for a second with his politeness before I remember to nod my head once in acknowledgement. "I have your cloth armor. I think you'll be very pleased." He heads into a back room and after a while calls for me to go in after him.
Hand on my sword, I walk in warily. I had been attacked once this way, knocked out cold, so one must understand why I am cautious. When he comes up behind me, the sword comes all the way out of its sheath and I would have killed him had he not held up his hands in defeat. His hands are empty.
"Sorry." I mutter. "Reflex."
"I can tell that you are a warrior, miss. A fine warrior you must be too." He smiles. "I have your armor ready." He holds it out, neatly folded and I take it from him, sheathing my sword.
The cloth is made of some soft silky fabric, shimmering like a gentle waterfall when I touch it gently with my fingers. He had imitated the same outfit I wear now, with the long tapering sleeves and tight bodice. Shorts that are short enough to show skin even when I wear my right thigh boot. As I had requested, it is the deepest black that I have known, like a moonless night in Gloriano. But the sides, where my ribs are, he has sewn in silver web-like threads to form intricate Amazon designs. The designs crawl up my chest to intertwine at my neck.
"Amazing." I breathe out. "Very nicely made. A fine blacksmith you are."
"Also, miss—"
"Rose." I tell him. He has done such a fine job of making my armor that I feel it is the least I can do to tell him my name.
"Miss Rose, while I was making it, I also realized that it would not quite match the accessories that you have, such as your boots or your…hair pieces." He says. "So I also took the liberty to make them in black." He holds out two pairs of items. The first is a pair of headpieces, black as night, plain except for the wavering silver line running the length of it. Attached to the bottom are two metal fastenings, easy and quick, so that I can slip them into my hair and make them stay there, like the ones I have now. The second pair is a set of boots, soft but strong leather, already broken in, made with the same color as the armor and the headpieces. A thick silver spidery line is embroidered at the top and from the ankle to the heel. They are different lengths, one thigh high and the other ankle high. Exactly like the ones I wear.
I accept them gratefully, but my mind reverts to the caution that I had entered with. "I'm running low on money. I didn't ask you to make these, therefore, I cannot pay you for them." I leave the sufficient amount of money on the table. The pouch is much lighter now, almost weightless. I had been at the bottom of my Gold pouch lately, as the monsters here do not carry Gold for me to take after I defeat them.
The young man smiles, as if he has been expecting that comment. "It was hardly any work at all, ma'am, I assure you, and the materials are not costly. They will be free of charge, since, as you said, you did not request them."
I narrow my eyes. "Why are you being so nice? Are you expecting me to do something for you? A favor?"
"No, ma'am. It was…when you came in and requested the armor, I saw that your eyes were sad, very sad." My hands fly to my face in reflex, but he continues. "I wondered what could make you so sad. You have a strong influence on people, Miss Rose. I wanted to make you happy. Since I did not know you, I didn't know what I could do to make you happy. But you are a warrior, this much I can tell just by looking at you. If I could not make you happy by a personal thing, I might as well try to please you through the armor that you need. Maybe then the sadness in your eyes would go away."
I take one of his hands in mine. "I don't know who you are. I don't know whether or not you are just an illusion. But what you have done for me, I appreciate. You have my gratitude for trying to help me. And do not concern yourself over me. My sadness shall be over soon."
His small act of kindness has added a new light to my day. Throughout the eleven thousand years that I have been alone, few have ever tried to reach out to me in a sincere way, or to be nice to me for no reason. However, this young man, illusion of the Moon or not, is one of them and I appreciate that. "Thank you."
I pick up the armor and leave the room. I can feel him smiling.
Ignoring the others' questions, I duck into an empty room, bolt the door and quickly change. It feels so soft, the new cloth armor, the way bathing in a lake feels, free and gentle. It is the same style as my old armor, yet it emanates with a different power, energy of cleanliness, of purity. I slide on the boots and the headpieces. They fit perfectly, all soft and comfortable. The blacksmith did a fine job. Perhaps he is only an illusion, created by my unconsciousness, but he has made me feel gratitude toward a stranger.
The old armor is useless now, but it has too many memories for me to just throw it away. I fold it and stuff it into a carrying bag. I take the bag with me and leave the room. As I leave, I suddenly feel a strange sense of new beginnings. Damn, and a new set of armor was all it took.
"Wow, this blacksmith must be even better than Miranda told us." Dart says. "The quality of that material and the strength of it is amazing."
"Not to mention it is very flattering on you, Rose." Albert comments. "It does justice for your figure."
Unused to nice compliments from people that I know, color rises to my face and I lower my eyes.
"Rose is embarrassed! Is the world coming to an end?" Haschel smirks at me.
"Never mind that." I snap. "Are you all going to get armor or just marvel at mine?"
"Slight difficulties." Dart says, holding up the Gold pouch. "We're having a bit of a financial problem."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I counted up the Gold we have and the amount that we need to get new armor and weapons and supplies." The red-clad warrior informs us. "We're short."
"Sell old weapons." Kongol suggests, holding up the previous axe he had used.
"I've counted up how much that would get us. It's still not enough."
I eye a man in the room down the hall. He is dressed in silken clothes and is too drunk to stand properly. "That man over there calls himself Dran the Rich. He's drunk and his money pouch seems too heavy for him." I tell them and raise an eyebrow. "I could pull it off without him knowing anything."
"We're not stealing, Rose." Dart says, exasperated.
"I doubt he'd like it if he had the money to help us save the world and declined our request."
"We're not stealing." The red-clad warrior repeats, slowly and deliberately, as if to drill it into my mind.
I shrug. "As you wish."
He smiles, losing the tension in his shoulders. "It's nice that some things never change."
I look down at myself. I have given up wearing rings and necklaces, aside from my choker, since meeting Zieg. My family had been very prosperous, but I had sold the jewelry during the Dragon Campaign to get money for the supplies. I hadn't worn any jewelry since then. I found it an unnecessary bother.
Desperately I wished that I had kept something, a bracelet, a ring, anything at all of value so that I could help the others. My desperate longing surprises me. I would do almost anything for these people, I realized.
Albert was right. Somewhere along the line I had grown into a friend with these people, and they into mine. But when exactly had that been? When Lavitz sacrificed himself? When we survived the Phantom Ship together? When they had been so happy to see us again after Dart and I returned from falling off the ship and ending up in Lidiera? When I laughed in the guestroom of the palace in Fletz? When Meru revealed that she was a Wingly? When Dart and I reconciled? When we freed the Dragoons?
"Here." Miranda says roughly, tearing something off her arms. "These should be worth something."
She is holding two glittering white gold bracelets in the palm of her right hand. "Her Majesty Queen Theresa gave these to me as a present when I became the First Sacred Sister of Mille Seseau."
"Miranda!" Meru gasps. "They're precious to you! You can't possibly give them up!"
The Sacred Sister makes a face. "True, Queen Theresa gave them to me, so I cherish them. However, I doubt that Queen Theresa will be pleased if I do not give up her gifts to help save the world. Besides, they can be replaced. The world cannot. I'll go pawn them now. I'm a good dealer; I should get a fine price for these." She nods once and hurries down the hallway.
"This…feeling…" I venture onto new and dangerous ground warily. "Is it called friendship? When one would do anything and everything to help one's team?"
"To help one's friends." Albert corrects me. "Are you telling us that you've never felt friendship before?"
I consider his question very carefully. "Well…I suppose…not to this extent. As a child, I was a spoiled brat. My family's wealth attracted many people to be 'friends' with me, but I don't think it was for the right reasons. In fact most of the guys proposed because they wanted to have a share of the money I would inherit. When I joined the Dragoons, I was infatuated with Zieg. I think that he was the only one I actually knew very well, the only one that was my friend and beyond. Of course, Shirley and Damia and the others, they were also friends, I guess. But I never made much of a move to become very good friends. But what I feel for you people," A tiny part of my mind was warning me to back away, screaming at me that this was going beyond rational and safety. I ignore it. "Is something greater than that. I'm not quite sure what it is."
Haschel throws back his head and laughs, a loud rumbling laugh that turns the heads of the people for a moment. He claps me on the back so hard that I stumble forward a step and glare at him. "Ha! You act like you know everything and you're so cold, Rose, but you're just like the rest of us. You want friendship too."
Automatically I reply, "I do not." I pause. "Are we friends?"
They are all laughing now, with Meru giggling hysterically, Albert turning his face as he tries to stifle a chuckle, Haschel nearly on the floor rolling with laughter, Dart clamping his lips together and trying to keep silent, failing. Even Kongol is smiling widely.
Albert puts his arm around me affectionately, but innocently, as if I am a male friend of his. He has given up trying not to laugh. The silky brown hair flies back from his shoulders as he throws his head back. "You're so insecure, Rose. Gods, if only we knew this before…" He sobers slightly. "Of course we're friends. I don't know about the others, but we were friends the moment you cut the ropes around my wrists in Hellena Prison and taught me about Dragons. Remember when I gave you my cloak in the snow fields?"
Yes. I didn't know why you did that at the time, but I was grateful, though confused. I think I wanted to be your friend at that moment in the dark castle when you asked me what I was afraid of. You seemed so wise, but evading all my barriers, and I could only defend myself by attacking."For me it was when you snarled at me in the Arena. You said, 'don't tootsie me. My name is Rose.'" Haschel says through wheezing for air. His darkened face has turned red from lack of oxygen.
Really now? I wanted to slap you. But I was intrigued when you knocked out Lavitz so that he wouldn't run off and get himself killed irrationally.
"Rose is my friend since I asked her to kill me." Kongol says. "In Majesty Doel's castle. I was defeated by Dart, Albert, Rose. I said I cannot live in shame and for them to kill me. Rose almost did before Dart stop her."
That made me your friend? I would have really killed you…Gods, I could have changed the course of history… But you looked so heroic and self-sacrificing as you held up the pillar to keep us from being killed. Your sheer honesty, as well as the loyalty and devotion to your friends is admirable, just like Belzac's undying love for Shirley."I knew Rose and I would be friends in the bar in Fletz. She was drinking and I made a face at her. I think I started talking too much, and she started walking around the bar to get away from me." Meru laughs and hugs me. "You looked so funny, like you were being tortured."
You have a real motor-mouth at times, Meru, and you're often too impulsive, but you were kind when you told us your secret. And in the Valley of Corrupted Gravity, you were looking at the Virage when it fell down the abyss. You said, 'it's gonna have one hell of a headache when it wakes up.' You seemed so innocent then, pure and delicate like Damia was. Inexperienced and sweet, willing to help.Dart is the last to step forward. He touches one of the demon headpieces I have in my hair and shakes his head. "You were my friend the instant you saved me from Feyrbrand. Not because you saved my life. But because you risked your own."
I wouldn't have been killed… If I knew there was that chance, would I still have taken it?"When you swooped out of the sky to save me from Kongol, you were like an angel descending. That was the moment where our minds linked. I knew that I would know you, truly, as a friend and as a trusted confidant." He smiles. "I don't know why you wear the horns of a demon, Rose."
Dart, there is too much to say about you. I don't know when exactly I became your friend. But I admire your passion, your chivalrous honesty and selflessness, your way that you can motivate us, the way that you're so determined you would go against fate. Your father would be proud of you… Your mother, as well."What's going on?" Miranda asks, coming up with her money pouch full. "There was some weird woman who just fell in love with the bracelets. I managed to persuade into a good price. What happened? Why are you all breathless? Was there a fight?"
"In a way. We're trying to teach Rose about friendship." Haschel snickers. "We were telling her when we first thought her a friend."
Miranda's mouth threatens to smile. "I think we first became friends when I slapped you."
Funny. That seemed to be breaking new grounds for me too. I can't say I was completely happy about it, in fact, I was furious, but it changed my view of you. I developed a sort of respect for you that would eventually lead to our current friendship. Or maybe it was when Haschel and Albert kept saying that we were alike."Friends." I taste the word on my lips. "You are…my friends." I can feel something well up inside me, trying to bubble out. Laughter. But I pinch my mouth into a straight line. They can't see me smile.
"You're cold and boring at times, Rose," Meru says, giggling. "But we all know that you love us, right?"
I cast her a look. "Of course." I say sarcastically, although I mean. "Why else would I come this far?"
I stand to the side as they purchase their new armor and weapons. We refill our items stock and by the time we are done, we barely have enough Gold left to get a decent meal.
The new armor looks nice for them and looks basically the same. It has a different shade of red, or a new style of a cape, but it is basically the same, though more powerful.
We set off through the portal again, the one that led to the spot where Michael had first attacked us. Meru would need to face her challenge next. And though she would face it by herself, she would not face it alone. We would be there. Myself…and my friends.