Chapter 5

Shaking the earth

Cecil did not feel very well this morning. Balls always seemed to tire him out. Even after one year being the King of Baron he still had not gotten used to the great crowds of people he had to face sometimes... Rosa, on the contrary, had been up very early, although she had come into bed as Cecil had already been asleep. He wondered to where she and Kain had disappeared to after the ball last night...

In the dining room he met Edward and Yang.

"Good morning, Cecil!" Edward smiled. "Did you drink too much wine yesterday? You look a bit exhausted..."

"Yeah, maybe..." Cecil lied and flashed a quick grin.

"Well, Edge surely had too much alcohol last night!" Yang stated. "Cid and I had to carry him to his room - he was really drunk, babbling something about Rydia all the time ..."

"Where is Rydia anyway?" Cecil looked around.

"Oh, she left for a walk with Diane this morning. They seem to get along just fine. "

"That's good to hear - so have you had breakfast already?"

"No, we were waiting for you to join us ..."

 "That was very nice of you!" Cecil smiled and called the maid. Being together with his friends made him feel better somehow.

"Rosa sure will have more time for them the next day - after all the ball has been a most exciting event ..." he thought as he settled in a chair.

BANG!

Suddenly the door to the dining room swung open with a loud crash.

"Your Highness! Your Highness!" A young man in silver armor burst into the room, face red of effort, followed by two distressed looking Baron guards.

"This man said he had a very important message to give to you, Your Highness!" one guard stated with a deep bow. "We could not prevent him from entering..." He gave his liege a helpless look.

Cecil rose from his chair as well as Yang and Edge did. He frowned, and then waved away the two guards. "It's all right - you're dismissed." Secretly he decided to inspect the barracks really soon - the Baron guards really weren't trained well. He made a step towards the man in silver armor, who had fallen down to one knee, head bowed.

"You may stand up!" Cecil exclaimed friendly. "You're a Silverian Messenger, aren't you?"

"Yes I am, Your Highness!" the youth exclaimed proudly, though worry was mirrored in his expression. "I've got to tell you very dire news, Your Highness!"

Yang and Edward exchanged nervous glances. Cecil tried to stay calm. "What is it? Please speak up."

"What could happen in these times of peace?"

"Just a few hours ago an earthquake shook the town and island of Agart ..." the youth began.

"Well that's something pretty normal ..." Yang remarked. "It has to do with the entrance of the underworld which is near Agart - the people there are used to earthquakes."

"You are correct King Yang," the guard bowed before him. "But this was not an usual earthquake..." he dropped his head and continued in a lower, sad stricken voice, "it was the strongest earthquake the island has ever experienced- the tremor was still perceptible in Silvera and Mysidia... We do not know how many people died, but it could be hundreds..." Cecil got pale and stared at the messenger in disbelief. Edward had problems holding back the tears – any misery always concerned him greatly. Yang had his head bowed.

"This - this is not possible ..." Cecil murmured, an expression of sorrow and grief on his face. Inside his head, the thoughts were racing. "Now you just stay calm - he said he doesn't know how many people have died, so there's still hope." He tried to pull himself together

"We have to stay calm and plan our next actions, quickly!" he finally said in a low voice giving a quick glance towards Yang and Edward, which nodded in agreement.

"We need to send a rescue team to Agart right away!" the King of Baron continued. "What nations else do know of the catastrophe and can help?"

The messenger reflected for a moment. "Since we heard that the rulers of Damcyan, Eblana and Fabul were residing at Castle Baron at the moment, we thought it best to visit you at first. Tororia is too far away, but the Mysidian wizards have already started to investigate the reason for the earthquake. On my voyage here, I shortly stopped in Mysidia - a group of Mysidian scholars will be arriving here soon - obviously they have discovered something..."

"We can use the Baronian airships to scan the area of the disaster by air..." Cecil proposed. "I'll send for Cid right away..."

"I will send a message to my wife, telling her to mobilize Fabul's fleet!" Yang added. "Maybe some people were able to flee on ships and are drifting across the ocean ..."

"Can't we do more?" Edward was feeling miserable.

"What is going on here?" Rydia had entered the room and looked at them questioningly.

Cecil filled her in quickly, but as gentle as possible. Rydia's eyes grew wide: "That's... that's horrible ... We must do something, Cecil!"

"We are already did, Rydia..." Cecil held her at her shoulders, trying to steady her as he feared she might faint. His fears were unnecessary: Rydia pulled herself together very quickly and started to ponder over something -- obviously the time in the Underworld had made her tougher.

"Wait!" she suddenly exclaimed. "What about King Giott? The Dwarfs have many tools for digging - they sure could save the buried people and help rebuilding the town. Let's send a message right away!" She was about to leave, as the Silverian messenger stopped her:

"Milady – there's no use in sending a message..."

"No use? Do you think the King wouldn't help us? Of course he will - Cecil has helped him, too!" Rydia was totally upset.

"No it's not that ..." the messenger continued. "It is just that no message will reach him - as far as we know, the entrance to the Underworld near Agart has been buried completely, thus preventing any contact between the two planes. Maybe forever..." He looked at her, apologetically.

"Rydia!" Cecil caught the limp form of the girl as she slumped down with a gasp. "Are you all right ?" He carefully stroked her cheek. "Please – don't panic. Everything will be alright. I am sure we will find a way to open the path again, when things have calmed a bit. We did it once – don't you remember?" he told her with a low, gentle voice, trying to calm her. It worked. Rydia slowly relaxed.

"Yes - you are right, Cecil. I am sure we will find a way - for us nothing is impossible...right?" She managed a shy smile.

"That's the right spirit! Can you stand?" Cecil was happy that he had been able to calm the girl so fast - he himself felt worn out pretty much and had a hard time staying calm.

"So, Your Highness - your orders?" Yang looked at him as well as Edward.

Even though they all were rulers themselves, they obviously wanted Cecil to lead them. The King of Baron first wanted to protest, but as he also saw Rydia giving him a supporting smile, thought otherwise.

"Alright! Edward - you find Cid and tell him to get the airships ready - try to wake up Edge as well... Yang - you send a message to your wife to ready Fabul's fleet as quickly as possible. Rydia, are you still strong enough to get in telepathic contact with Queen Asura and Leviathan?" Rydia nodded. "Fine, ask them about the situation down there - maybe they even know another way down. Meanwhile, I will inform the Mysidian Elder about the situation - he has great experience and sure can help..." He looked at the messenger: "You will accompany me - please fill me in on every detail ..."

"As you wish, Your Highness!"

Everyone went to work…

~*~

Two hours later, a meeting was held at Castle Baron to which even Edge, looking battered and tired, appeared. Rosa and Kain were missing, though - Cecil had not found his wife and had ordered someone to look for her. Quickly everyone gave a short report. Cid's men had already started to ready the airships, though things were going slow due to the mess Edge had caused at the landing place. Yang suspected that it would take a day until Fabul's fleet was ready, as well. Also, to everyone's relief, Rydia had succeeded in contacting the Land of Summoned monsters. With a pale and tired looking face, she reported that everything was alright there - messengers would be sent to check the dwarven towns and fairy dwellings as well as the buried opening to the upper world. The Elder of Mysidia, who was sitting next to Cecil, promised to do everything that was in Mysidia's might to help the people - still one had to wait for the Mysidian delegation to arrive in Baron to get to know more of the situation.

"I am sure that we still can save much!" the old man exclaimed. "Good work so far, gentlemen!"

"Yes - good work - especially you, Cecil ! It is just luck that you did not loose your nerves and acted so quickly - could have been me ..." Edge added, feeling he should say something, too.

"Oh, just WHO wrecked the landing place so that the start of the airships will take a while?" Cid inquired.

"Well--" Edge started.

"King Cecil - the messengers of Mysidia have just arrived together with a group of Agartian scholars which were visiting Mysidia to the time of the disaster. They are waiting at the throne room!"

"I am coming at once!" Cecil rose from his seat.

"Cid," he looked at his old friend pleadingly, "please try to find Rosa for me ... She really should be there, too!"

Cid gave a quick nod and hurried away.

Yang obviously felt that Cecil was worried. "I guess there's no need for all of us to accompany Cecil - too many people will only cause more chaos!" He looked at Edge who tried to ignore the hint.

"Yang is right," Edward agreed. "I think he is enough - you two can fill us in later."

"So then it's set."

The Elder, Yang, Cecil and the messenger hurried to the meeting place.

The delegation was already there: Two seriously looking female White Wizards, accompanied by two Black Wizards, one of them being not older than 16. Next to them two learned looking men with a somewhat shaken expression were standing. Their red robes made them recognizable as Agartian scholars. As Cecil and the others entered the room and went in the direction of the throne, the group of people fell to one knee, except for two of the wizards - one being the young one. Cecil wasn't bothered in the least, smiled and motioned the others to stand up.

"No time for formalities," Cecil said. "Please be so kind to fill us in on the situation..." "I wonder where Rosa is?" he thought, somewhat missing her normal support.

"Certainly, Your Highness! We are very grateful for your interest in this matter, " one of the female wizards exclaimed though did not look at him, but at the Elder.

Cecil noticed this. "I wonder if the Mysidians still hate me? Or are they afraid ? Asking a man who helped killing some dozens townspeople for help isn't something very easy..."

But at the moment, there was no time for such thoughts.

"We've already sent some wizards towards the side - it seems that great parts of the town were destroyed, though due to the cautious behaviour of the townspeople which are used to earthquakes, most people survived. The number of victims may even be under 10, though many people are hurt."

Cecil gave a sigh of relief, "It's good to hear that not too many lives were lost ... We have good trained White Mages at Baron - they will be leaving on airships very soon and help your people tending the injured."

"Well - seems the situation isn't as dire as expected," Yang said hopefully. "Remains only the problem with the buried entrance to the Underworld. Hmm - any idea what caused this earthquake anyway? Probably it just had natural reasons - an underwater volcano maybe?" he suspected.

The wizards and the scholars started to exchange nervous glances. The young black wizard was the first to speak: "In fact we DO know what has caused the earthquake and unfortunately it isn't natural at all!" He suddenly stared as Cecil hatefully.

The young King, somewhat surprised by this openly showed sign of anger, felt suddenly very nervous. "I wonder what the problem is - I wish Rosa was here..."

"What do you mean it's not natural?" he asked, and threw a harsh look to the wizard which left the youth unimpressed. Before the boy could start again, one of the scholars interrupted him. "Well, Your Highness - you see, even in the days before the collapse we noticed some unusual things... "

"Like?" Cecil felt himself getting impatient. "There's something clearly wrong..."

"Haven't you felt the increase of black magic energy in the air lately?"

Cecil and Yang shook their heads.

"Well that possibly has to do with the fact that we two are not well versed in the ways of Magic - maybe Lady Rydia did feel more..."Yang objected.

"And you, King Cecil? As a Paladin you should be very receptive for vibrations of any kind – didn't you felt somewhat strange during the last days?"

Cecil frowned. "As if something was wrong? Well I surely had this feeling now and then but..." He wanted to add that he was feeling very distressed lately, but was cut off by the sudden outburst of one older black wizard, a sturdy man with a long beard.

"Lets stop with this and play our cards open ..." His companions said nothing.

"Let's put this straight. The earthquake at Agart was not the first during the last weeks - there had been unusual many and sea-level seems to have risen... We've already faced this situation once..."

He looked at Cecil meaningfully.

The young King felt how the blood left his face. "You mean ..."

"Yes, the Lunarian moon has returned again ..."

"So soon?" the Elder gasped. "We thought his orbit around the blue planet would last at least 50 years!"

"We thought so too, honourable Elder!" the scholar continued. "But there is no doubt - the moon is about to return - it was already in reach for our telescopes."

"Golbez!" Cecil thought. "So - so you believe it's the fault of the moon that Agart was buried by an earthquake? Somehow that makes no sense. "

"I agree." Yang added "We can not sure if there's a connection between the two incidents - maybe it's just a coincidence that the moon is returning just now ..."

The older Black Wizard raised a brow: "Unlikely. Well - we also have an increase in monsters around the Mysidian area. The town was attacked by monsters twice last week ..."

Cecil looked at the Elder in surprise. "You didn't tell me you had problems, Elder..."

The old man escaped his gaze. "Err - there was no need for you to know - killing them was no big deal for our trained wizards - besides we still did not know were they came from."

Since the defeat of Zeromus on year ago monster attacks had become very rare.

"We know where they came from, Elder ..." one of the female wizards said, suddenly sounding nervous again. "They are coming from Mt . Ordeals ..."

"WHAT?" Cecil and Yang exclaimed at once.

"That is not possible!" the Paladin said with widened eyes. "It is a holy site! In times of peace there shouldn't be any monsters there... "

"Don't you understand?!" the young wizard burst out suddenly. "First the monsters start increasing and then this damn lunar planet comes into sight again! It is all starting anew!"

"But we defeated Zeromus one year ago!" Yang said in low voice. "There must be more to it than just the return of the moon ... Maybe Golbez ?"

Cecil shook his head. "No..." he said slowly. "He has changed - besides Fu So Ya is there to watch over him ... But something is strange, alright - I wonder why I haven't felt the appearance of evil on Mt . Ordeals - maybe I just was too distressed lately ..."

"No!" the young wizard said angrily. "We haven't felt it either - the spirits were silent. Shall I tell you why?" One of the White Wizards held him back.

"Don't - King Cecil is doing everything in his might to help us. He is not at fault ..."

"Fault ?" Cecil frowned.

"YES! It is all your fault! The spirits are angry because a man with a stained soul has become a paladin!"

"Behave yourself, wizard!" the Elder scolded. "King Cecil had received the holy sword from his father - he has redeemed the evil within him!"

Cecil stared in shock at the youth; Yang was also unable to say a word out of surprise.

"Such evil as his cannot be redeemed!" the mage pointed at the King. Suddenly tears started to shimmer in his eyes. "You and your men killed my sister back then, you damn lunarian! She was just an apprentice - still she volunteered at once to defend the Crystal!!!" He lunged forward and grabbed Cecil's tunic.

Cecil, who was by far taller and stronger than the young wizard did not move an inch. Instead, he started to talk to the boy in a soft voice, not trying to move him. "Listen - I know that what I've done is unforgivable, but you must understand that I--"

"I must understand? You should understand that you and your race are the root of all evil - you may have become a paladin, but not by normal means - the spirits didn't talk to you,  but your father - a Lunarian like yourself ... I don't know what your trial was, but he surely made it easy for you - being his son and all. By normal means the likes of you would never become granted the holy power!" The young man's tears were flowing freely now and he desperately held tight on Cecil's cloak.

"That's enough!" Yang shouted angrily and whirled the wizard aside, easily.

"Cecil is one of the purest and most noble men I know! He has suffered enough for the things he did when he was a Dark Knight and has repaid you with many good deeds!"

He stepped up next to his pale and slightly shaken friend and placed a strong hand on his shoulder. "This man has risked his life for all of us more than once and now is willing again at once to let everything fall to help. If this isn't the behaviour of a real Paladin I do not know what ... Isn't it this way, Elder?"

The Elder cleared his throat. "Yes, indeed well spoken. I am sorry for the behaviour of my people." He bowed slightly.

"There may be problems on Mt . Ordeals, but it sure is not your fault Paladin Cecil – you've never failed in your duties ..."

The Agartian scholars nodded their heads eagerly as well as one of the female wizards- the rest of the delegation stayed silent. The Elder raised one brow. "Still the return of the moon is a disturbing sign indeed - we cannot say for sure what Golbez may be up to ..."

"He's up to nothing - I know it ..." Cecil murmured, head still bowed. "There must be something else ..."

"See!" the young wizard exclaimed proudly. "He doesn't realize that Golbez is evil! Maybe he got hypnotized by him - or why didn't you kill him back then on the moon?!"

The other dark wizard murmured something in agreement.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Cecil felt the anger rising within - he would never forgive himself what he had done to the poor people of Mysidia, but this was going too far. He lunged forward, grabbed the collar of the young wizard and pinned him to the wall without much effort.

The boy gasped in view of the young King's strength and agility.

"You ask me why I did not kill my own brother?" the Paladin hissed. "You lost your sister yourself and ask me why I did not kill him? Maybe I deserve how you feel about me - I cannot express how sorry I am about what I did to you and others - even if I know that this won't change a thing for you..." He slowly released the wizard, his voice calm, again.

"Still there are other people in need just now, and I am not willing to risk their lives because of your silly presumptions! I just want to help - neither I nor Golbez have anything to do with the present situation ..."

The young wizard was breathing fast. "See Elder!" he murmured. "A real Paladin would never act as violently as that ..." He smiled triumphantly.

"I am sorry; " Cecil said. "I guess I am a bit nervous lately ..." He glanced at the Elder, looking for support.

"Yes - you obviously are ..." The Elder studied him, with  concern. "I was already wondering at the dinner why --"

"But Elder," Yang said reproachfully, "that really wasn't Cecil's fault - he had to defend himself, everyone would have acted this way ..."

Cecil gave Yang a thankful smile. He wouldn't ever forget the support his friend was lending him in this hour of need.

"Yes, yes," the Elder said. "I know - I am sure Paladin Cecil has no fault in the happenings of late. Besides, YOUR behaviour isn't proper for Mysidian wizards as well!" He looked at the four magicians. "And I mean ALL of you ..." The wizards bowed their heads - even the young, fierce one.

"Still we do not know what the return of the moon will cause." He paused.

"Lunar is a world of Magic - we do not know what it's vibrations and it's gravity will do to the Blue Planet and it's people when it comes closer..." He looked at Cecil.

"I..." the paladin began to protest, but was cut short by Yang.

"Don't worry Cecil!" he said friendly: "No one is blaming you for anything. The sudden happenings just make everyone nervous. For now let's just go on as planned and see what the rescue team can tell us - the moon can wait... There's still time until its orbit will reach the earth.... Ain't I right?"

"That's correct," the two scholars agreed.

"Yes - just what I wanted to propose..." the Elder nodded. "For now, we all should get some rest ..." He bowed. "My apologies again, paladin Cecil! I am sure that my fellow wizards will realize their impossible behaviour once I have spoken to them ..."

With a commanding gesture he motioned the four wizards outside. The scholars followed, obviously interested in the coming lecture.

Cecil looked after them for a while, then turned to Yang "Thanks for defending me ..."

"No great deal, my friend ..."

"Yang... Do you also think I am behaving strange?"

"Cecil!" Yang gave him a slightly annoyed look. "You may be a bit nervous - no wonder with the preparations for the celebration and Kain's sudden return. Your mother-in-law is sitting next to you, then this catastrophe occurs, and a mad wizard insults you badly - everyone would become nervous in your momentary situation!"

Cecil only nodded. "I guess you're right - would you please tell the others of this meeting? I will try to find Kain - he has spent a year on Mt . Ordeals and maybe has noticed some unusual things ..."

"Yes – that's a good idea, Cecil! And please – don't worry too much ..." Yang gave him a friendly clap on the back and left the room.

"Whew!" Cecil let himself fall into his soft cushioned throne. He felt tired and completely miserable. The words of the young wizards echoed through his head - he didn't know some of the Mysidians still hated him that much...

If that had been his only worry, but the happenings on Mt .Ordeals disturbed him, as well-- were the spirits really angry? And what about the moon ... He wondered if his Uncle Fu So Ya and his brother Golbez were awake again ... And then he, himself...

"Am I really just nervous ?" He wished that Rosa would be there to talk about these things, as they normally did. He suddenly felt very alone- well at least Yang had been on his side. "It is really good to have some friends you can trust ..."

Still, Rosa's constant absence angered him – only to regret the thought a minute later, again. "You're behaving like you did as a Black Knight - pitying yourself!" he scolded himself.  "She sure has reasons why she did not take part of the meeting… " He slowly rose and began his search for Kain...