Next chapter! Little or no fighting in this one, but next chapter will have lots, I promise.
Cid was riding onboard the Madain Sari. It was a new line of airships different from the Hilda series, and was named for the sake of his recently adopted daughter. It ran on steam power, but it was smaller and sleeker in design then the Hilda's. It also had a special open-topped chamber on top that could channel the power of the summoner to allow a more powerful Eidolon to come forth when called. It had been designed as a flagship for his daughter and him, should the need ever arise. It seemed as though this was finally going to pay off.
When Cid had heard that the Iifa Tree was missing, his immediate reaction was to think of Eiko. She was in the Black Mage Village, last he knew, and that was very close to the Iifa Tree; or where it used to be, at any rate. Something could have happened to her, even if she was in the company of Vivi. As it was, his curiosity got the better of him, so he first flew to the Iifa Tree's location. What he saw was that a massive amount of Mist-like stuff was floating up out of a crater where the mighty tree used to be. It boggled the mind. He could barely even concentrate. After calming down to think about it, he realized that the only way to figure out what it meant was to descend down into that crater. First things first, of course; he needed to find Eiko.
The Madain Sari had the nifty ability to lower down a shaft from its bow that could serve as an elevator down to the ground. Thus, Cid needed only to hover over the Black Mage Village to get down into it, especially since the trees were so thin in the area around it. He entered the village with a few guards behind him, and located one of the black mages.
"Excuse me, do you know where my daughter, Eiko, is?" he asked. The black mage just shook his head. "No. I think one of the Genomes knows, though," he said, then continued on his passing way. As it happened, one of the Genomes had overheard this, and approached him.
"You are looking for Eiko? She has gone to the Iifa Tree, and should be on her way back," he stated, plain and simple. Cid's jaw dropped. After popping it back into place, he gave a quick thank-you, then hurried back to the airship. He knew that she very well could be along the way, even despite what he had seen there, so they cruised along slowly over the mountain path. And sure enough, they saw the bloodstained dirt accompanied with the many fallen bodies. The Madain Sari was set down quickly, and Cid and company rushed into Conde Petie to see what the situation was.
Mikoto was still resting; Eiko and Vivi had finished tending to their wounds, and were now assessing the inventory of the fallen warriors. Vivi was examining one of the blaster weapons, while Eiko tried on a pair of claws. Cid took notice, and rushed over.
"Eiko! Are you all right? What happened here?" he asked in a hurried voice. When Eiko's mind registered the fact that someone was speaking to her, she looked at the source of the voice. Mind kicking back up again, she noticed that it was Cid, and dropped the weapons to rush up to him and give him a hug.
"Father! It was so awful!"
"There, there, Eiko. It's all right. Tell me, what happened? Are you all right?"
She nodded, then released him from the hug and sighed deeply.
"Well... Vivi and me went to go look at the Iifa Tree, and I don't remember exactly what happened after we left Conde Petie; we just found ourselves resting in the beds here, and then Mikoto woke us up. The next thing we knew, our magic was gone; we couldn't use it at all, and these weird people in white clothes came up here. They said that they wanted to 'take us into perfection', and that if we didn't oblige, they would kill us! So Mikoto attacked one of them, and.... Well, soon it was a free-for-all. The dwarves here all helped in the fight, and Vivi and I did our best as well, and Mikoto was really amazing. She finished them off when she Tranced, and then she had to rest, so she's in bed right now. And, we were just looking at the weapons they were carrying. Vivi seems to think that they might have something to do with the mysterious disappearance of our magic."
Cid had listened silently the whole time, but not out of respect; rather, he had been unable to speak. After a short while, he was able to recompose himself and further the inquiry.
"Eiko... where did these people come from?" he asked.
"Well, they came from the mountain path, so that means either from Madain Sari or the Iifa Tree. Of course, both of those places are ridiculous to consider. So we've also been trying to fig-"
She had continued, but Cid was no longer listening. So... the Iifa Tree was gone, mysterious people were trying to subjugate the dwarves, and they came from the area that the Iifa Tree was in. Or had been in, at any rate. The two events were just too strange to not be connected. Cid turned this over and over in his head. What to do? It seemed they were hostile, so they should probably be destroyed. But how massive were they? What was their true strength? What was their connection with the Iifa Tree? Finally, Eiko brought him back to reality with a shake.
"Father! You were staring straight ahead and mumbling some things. Are you okay?" she asked.
"Oh! Yes, of course. Eiko... when do you think Mikoto will be back to normal?" he responded.
Before Eiko could speculate, a hand on his shoulder made him turn around to see Mikoto. "I'm fine, Regent."
"I see that. That is good. Eiko has told me all about the... incident... that took place here. I have some more information, but I would like to share it with everyone onboard the Madain Sari. That means Zidane, Freya, Amarant, the entire bunch."
Mikoto wore a skeptic look. "Really? Well, what could possibly be so important?"
"Trust me. This is important."
Mikoto figured that the Regent of a city like Lindblum wouldn't be kidding about something like this. So, Vivi, Mikoto and Eiko followed Cid, Vivi taking the blaster along with him, onto the Madain Sari. They flew towards Alexandria, hoping they could catch the Red Rose 3 before it left the Mist Continent; it would be easiest to pick everyone up that way. As they flew, Vivi couldn't help but ask Regent Cid a few things.
"Can't you just tell us what it is? If it's something really surprising, it will be easier to keep everything under control to tell us now," he mentioned.
"Yeah! Tell us!" Eiko pleaded. Cid finally gave in.
"Very well. It concerns the Iifa Tree... you see, it is no longer there."
As he said this, Mikoto practically froze in shock, while Vivi and Eiko just paused and became thoughtful, though in a somewhat pained way. And as they did, their memories of the previous times started to rebuild themselves. Suddenly, it began to fall back into place for Vivi.
"Of course! I remember, now!" he exclaimed.
"What? What do you remember?" Cid asked, Mikoto just waiting for the answer and Eiko still thinking.
"What happened when we went to see the Iifa Tree. It wasn't there. Instead there was a bunch of fog. And, Eiko and I went to explore it, and.... Shoot. I'm drawing up blanks." Vivi shrugged. Suddenly, Eiko had a burst of epiphany as well.
"Oh yeah! We went down this elevator thing that was just like the one in the Iifa Tree! And then something screamed at me for being nice... or something like that... ah, that's all."
Mikoto continued to listen, while Cid attempted to jog their memories by asking some questions. "Did you meet anyone down there... like the people you fought at Conde Petie?" he asked.
"Oh... I think so, but... oh, gee, I can't remember exactly. Oh well," Vivi said, sighing.
"That's it!" Eiko shouted.
All three of the others, in unison, asked, "What's it?"
"O! That was the name of the freaky guy who we first met down there! And he stole our magic! And he tried to turn us into one of those... things, which we fought! Remember, Vivi?"
"Yeah! That's right! I remember! And then, we tried to escape... and then fell asleep. Next I knew; we were in Conde Petie, and I couldn't remember a thing. What do you think happened, Eiko?" Mikoto and Cid were both silent for the sake of the conversation. Eiko shook her head.
"I don't know. Maybe we were just too hard for them to crack?" she suggested.
"Maybe... but wouldn't they then have killed us? He said we would be discarded if we didn't join them."
"How should I know? I guess they just didn't want anything to look suspicious, so they wiped our memories and transported us out."
"But isn't that a little obvious? I mean, they were just about to attack the place they transported us to. Not any smarter then letting us live in the first place."
"Who knows? I think that all of those people are stupid! And I say we get Dagger to call on Odin and have him lance the place to smithereens!" she shouted. Mikoto stepped in now.
"But, how will you get your magic back if you destroy the people who know how to restore it?" she asked.
Eiko shook her head, sighing. "No! Don't you see it doesn't matter? They're trying to take over the world! We have to defend it!"
Suddenly, Vivi remembered one more thing. "Wait. Didn't they say something about Necron? Yeah, it was something about being the opposite of him. Doesn't that make them... well... really strong? I don't think a single summoning will work. Not entirely, anyway."
"So?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"Well... I guess you have a point there. Really, unless we want to join their loveless and friendless society, we don't have a choice, do we?"
Everyone shook his or her head.
"Right then. We flush 'em out with an Eidolon, and then we pick 'em off with cannon fire! We'll show those freaks that they can't come around pushing 'perfection' on us. Right?"
Mikoto agreed with a loud "Right!" Cid nodded, and said, "Well put, Eiko."
Vivi just stared at her solemnly for a bit, then looked up at the sky. Eiko had never been this violent before... maybe she was upset about something. Or maybe that battle had changed her. At any rate, there were more important things to worry about now. The airship had reached the Mist Continent; or, as it was now being called, the Hero's Continent, and the Red Rose 3 was still just taking off from the Alexandrian airship dock. It had taken time for Zidane and Dagger to prepare to leave, but fortunately they had quite a number of people capable of holding Alexandria stable while they went off to explore something. Steiner and Beatrix, also recently wed, were with them, of course. By the time the ship had left the Alexandrian portion of the continent, the Madain Sari was in close proximity. Recognizing the Lindblum flagship, it was easy for them to pull within speaking distance of each other.
"Oy! Regent Cid! What are you doing here?" asked one of the crew onboard the Rose.
"We must speak with the King and Queen. It is extremely urgent."
"I see. I will get them right away."
The crewmember disappeared into the depths of the ship. In the mean time, the others just stood there, pawing the deck softly and gazing about, thoughts wondering everywhere. Shortly after, Zidane and Dagger appeared, dressed in their fighting clothes. It seemed they thought something fishy was up as well.
"Uncle Cid! So good to see you again," Dagger said, bowing.
"Been staying out of trouble, I see. Still human," Zidane snickered. Cid ran a finger through his moustache.
"And I see that even being a king hasn't changed you one bit. I must say, that is truly impressive. But, we must dispense with the pleasantries; there are serious matters that must be discussed. I also want to get Freya, Fratley, Amarant and Quina in on it. I think we will need their help, and it will be easier to explain it to everyone at once."
"Oh? Is it really that bad? Then I guess we should find them, shouldn't we?"
"Indeed."
Eventually, everyone had been gathered in a campsite just outside of Treno. It was far too crowded to hold a meeting in that city, so they just enjoyed the chill night air outside as the discussion began. They were all sitting around a fire, just like in the good old days.
"Well. I'm sure that most of you are wondering why we've called you here," Cid announced. Quina wasn't really paying attention; s/he was too busy roasting some bird s/he had caught in Treno. Everyone else mumbled a yes or nodded.
"Very well then. We have a situation in the Outer Continent. Vivi? Eiko? Tell them about it," he said, handing the floor over to them.
"Right, father. You see Vivi and I were just going to take a curiosity peek at the tree. But when we got there, it was gone, and this weird fog was all over the place."
"Gone? What do you mean, gone? It can't just disappear, can it?" Freya shouted.
"Heh. My guess is that someone powerful just wanted to show off," Amarant suggested.
"But why would someone do something like that?" Dagger wondered.
"I don't know, why don't we let Eiko and Vivi finish explaining?" Fratley concluded.
"Thank you, Sir Fratley. Now, we explored the crater that the Tree had been rooted in, and uncovered quite a few facts. The Tree was incinerated by the impact of an inter-planetary transport device. And there are thousands... millions, maybe more, of people who have made a home in a cavern system down there. Vivi?"
"Thank you. We asked as many questions as we could of the one person who wasn't asleep. Unfortunately, our magic had been sucked right out of us by some weird thing. We still can't use it. We learned that they were here to 'preserve life under perfection'. Basically, they wanted us to become little more then emotionless drones. Of course we said no, and we tried to escape, as he threatened to kill us if we did not join his people. But something put us to sleep, and the next thing we knew, we were in Conde Petie. From there, an attack force of these people showed up, and tried to take the Dwarves into their 'perfection'. We fought back, and thanks to Mikoto, we won. But it was close. Anything you'd like to add, Eiko, Mikoto?"
Mikoto did. "Yes. These fighters possessed a very high level of skill. They are far superior in training to the soldiers of Alexandria or Lindblum; I know this because for a moment, they actually held the advantage over me. And, I also know for a fact that I am at least as skilled as Zidane was when he went after Kuja, possibly more so. As you can see, these are no ordinary fighters."
Now Eiko had something to say, over the slight grumbling of Cid and Beatrix.
"Also, we don't know how many of them they might have. What we saw was probably just a small detachment; before they sent us away from the cavern, we were told that they had an entire branch of warriors; I imagine that they probably have one warrior for every fifteen citizens. That gives them quite a large army..."
Everyone except Quina was looking down, considering this. After Quina finished munching the bird, s/he had something to say.
"Quina say we cook scary people! Maybe they taste good!"
Everyone gave an awkward stare to Quina, and then Cid had a few things to say.
"Er, yes, that was the general idea. These people are here to subjugate us and take us into a life that we do not want. So, our only choice is to destroy them. They won't be sent away, I am sure, and they won't be convinced to leave us alone. So, it's either them or us. I say that it should be them. Does anyone have any thoughts on that?"
There was silence, all around.
"Good, then. I have already made out a plan of attack in my head. First..."
Late into the night, the plan was laid down, discussed, reformed, re-laid, and run through, until they finally had the perfect strategy. Of course, there was a fatal flaw in every strategy, and theirs was no exception. That flaw was the assumption that they knew more then the enemy. In this case, they were rather mistaken. Their enemy knew much more then they did. Despite Eiko and Vivi's wish to take the Dwarves away from Conde Petie with them on the Madain Sari, they had chosen to stay. They had said that they loved the place too much to leave it, and would sooner die defending it then let scum like the Clariyans take it over. As it happened, both events occurred; the Dwarves were now dead, and Conde Petie had become an outpost for the servants of Mistress Clariya.
The Mistress continued to ponder her strategy. She knew all about the Eidolons; she had, thusly, erected a shield against such things around the crater. She knew also that a full force attack would probably be headed her way. However, it would have to get in first, and the space down there was so narrow that the advantage could surely be hers. Defending that position was probably the easiest thing in the history of military skirmishes, in fact. It was almost too easy; she didn't like it. Something didn't quite fit.
Perhaps it was that ever-nagging feeling about the power possessed by those 8 on this planet. They would likely be coming at her all at once; that would not do at all. She needed someway to split them up. She didn't ponder too long before her answer came to her. And it was truly a wonderful answer indeed. Clariya relished in her perfection; her perfect design, perfect drive, and perfect mind. Soon, there would be nothing to rival her, and the everlasting perfection of life would be hers at long last. She let out a hysterical cackle; one that she herself could only here vaguely before the darkness about her swallowed it up.
