He was jerked out of sleep by a shout, his instincts yanking
him out of sleep. He sat up, and looked over to Dagger, white as a sheet, and
also sitting up. He calmed the rush up adrenalin that had swelled up in him, and
put his arm around her. "It's ok now" he comforted "Just a dream. Was it the
same one again?" She relaxed a little "It's always the same one, Zidane." "Why
don't you tell it to me, Dagger. It always feels better if you tell someone.
And by the morning, it never seems as scary." She nodded and continued. "I was
on a boat, and huge waves were swelling up around me. There was a person in the
boat with me, a woman. She was near death, injured in the storm we fled. And
all she said was 'the book, the book'. And then she turned to me, and her eyes
flashed crimson. 'You didn't save it. Nobody did. It lies there. You should
have saved it! Fool! Then her face was split by a demonic grin, and she
cackled, and coughed up blood. Then she slumped, and died. But I know that
didn't happen. My mother shielded me to the end. Somehow I know that it was all
a dream, nothing more. But the laugh, and the eyes…God, the eyes!" she broke
into a fit of sobbing, and Zidane cradled her head in his hands, murmuring
comfortingly. "Just a dream. Like you said, just a dream." She pulled his tail
to her, and lay there, softly stroking it, like a scared child would a
comforter. She was soon sleeping again, and he smiled. He settled back down,
and fell asleep quickly. But his sleep, this time, was restless. He saw the
burning of terra, the falling of its great trees. A stern, female voice in his
head overlaid the whole scene. This will not happen again. I won't let it.
Never. Your task is ironic, compared to your purpose. But your task is set, and
you cannot avoid it. We are power, but only in our kingdom. We need you. Be
ready…
He woke with a start. Sunlight was streaming in the window, and Dagger was sleeping soundly, now with a smile on her face, and still gently holding his tail. Her eyes fluttered open. "You were right, Zidane. It's always fine in the morning. Thankyou" She sat up, and kissed him on the cheek. "Come on. Breakfast should be ready. They left the room together, and made their way to the dining room.
She sat up and stretched, then brushed her purple hair out of her eyes. She climbed out of her bed, and walked into to the small ensuite. She walked over to the basin, and splashed water on her face. She picked up a brush, and made a token effort to brush her hair. It was not really necessary, as her hair only just fell past her ears. She parted her hair around the small horn on her forehead, and stomped rather clumsily over to her wardrobe. There was a pink dress with white lace on a hanger on the door. She took this off the handle, and dropped it on the floor. She opened the doors, and instead took out a pair of faded jeans, and a tattered old T-shirt. Hilda never gave up trying to make her into a proper lady. That could wait. She got dressed, and ran out the door, and leaped down the stairs. 'It's an age stage', her adoptive parents kept saying. "When's Breakfast?" she shouted.
He found himself rather rudely awakened, by a series of thumps coming from the stairwell. He smiled, and ran a hand through his short hair. Eiko was as loud as always, he thought, and smiled. As always, the nightmares of the night were banished by the light, and he had almost forgotten about them. They weren't all bad, he remembered with a smile, which was slightly guilty. A certain loud person had been arousing new feelings in him recently. Cid seemed to have noticed, and to his embarrassment, frequently made friendly jokes on the topic. Vivi had missed a few important parts of childhood, and only now had understood a few major things in life. Eiko, thank god, had not caught on. He was entirely unsure what her thoughts on the topic were, but he had recently noticed her furtively staring at him a fair bit. He had grown into quite a handsome young man of 15, and a few of the more courageous kitchen girls often tried to strike up conversation. But Eiko, well… He knew they had a close bond, but it was the kind of bond formed by a shared task, or reliance in battle.
Eiko, on the other had, was already causing chaos among the squires and apprentices, even at 13. She was tall and lithe, with a killer smile. Those who could get over her peculiarities often fell helplessly and futilely in love. But her insistence to wear male clothes was driving Hilda mad. "You may one day become ruler of Lindblum. Does Gaia need yet another strange queen?" said Hilda often, but to no avail. Eiko was Eiko. He shook his head, and made his way down the stairs.
She sat at the window, just woken up.
Then she had woken, and the dream was banished. But she felt a strange urge to go to the palace, for no reason she could explain. She left her small house, and locked the door behind her, then set off towards the dock. The boatman greeted her. "Hey you look like that guy in the palace…Zidane, or whatever. You even have a weird-ass tail like him. You his sister?" he enquired. She though for a moment. Technically, she was. But this guy annoyed her, so she decided to scare him a little. "Yeah, if being engineered in the same lab counts, by the same evil guy, for the same purpose. That purpose being to destroy Gaia…" " Jesus Christ! You the one responsible for the weird stuff that screwed this place up? And why the hell is your brother in the god damned palace?" he shouted, scared and surprised. "Don't worry, bigot. We're over that now. But destroying you might just be fun. The palace, please. Quickly, or you might find a large dragon when you go home." She was enjoying herself now, even though she was completely powerless and defenceless. The dream came back into her mind, and she wondered for a moment, as the boatman paddled at record speed to the palace. She jumped off, and stared daggers at him. He paddled away again in fear. She walked up to the gate and the knights stopped her. "You Zidane's sister? I guess we let you in" She rolled her eyes, and strode into the palace. She walked up to the dining room, where she guessed Zidane would be at this time. She glared at some more knights, and pre-empted them. "Yes, I'm his sister, and you'd better let me through." They looked to each other, then stepped aside. She entered the door, and saw Zidane sitting at a table, talking to Dagger. It looked as if they had just finished breakfast. She cleared her throat. Zidane turned, noticing her. "Hi!" he exclaimed cheerfully. He noticed the look on her face, and became serious. "Can you get Dagger to make a royal order, proclaiming that the next person to ask me wether I'm your sister shall be tortured horribly?" she said, trying to keep control. Dagger and Zidane just started laughing. "You seem pretty annoyed…Sis." He said, still laughing. She smiled, and cheered up. "Don't take things so personally, Mikoto." Dagger chided. "Zidane only just stopped explaining to every knight and guard that 'yes, he did have business in the palace.' Intelligence is not needed to become a soldier, it seems…" Mikoto smiled again "So it seems. I'm not entirely sure why I came here. I just kind of came out of impulse. It might have had something to do with a weird dream I had last night." Dagger and Zidane both paled considerably "Dream?" they said, almost in concert. "Yeah. Some guy putting on armour in a cave, and a voice told me to be ready. And some other stuff about a gift, unique to genomes like us. And the voice said you would receive this gift, too. Well, it didn't actually say those words, but that's what it meant. I think. Why do you two look so worried about dreams?" Zidane looked puzzled. "Well, Dagger had a nightmare, where the was on a boat with her mother. This actually happened, but in the dream there was a demonic aspect to her. I dreamed, and saw the fall of Terra again. But there was a voice in my head to. And it said something about being ready, too…" Now it was Mikoto's turn to look puzzled. " have a bit of a theory that needs checking…" Dagger said, and continued "Eiko and I share a weak telepathic bond, after that stuff with Alexandria castle. I'll get her to come here, and bring Vivi. This just might be serious…" Dagger stared blankly for a moment. "They're coming. Should take them about 15 minutes, by airship." She told them.
Cid moped about the now huge airship dock/workshop in
Lindblum, which housed yet another skeletal airship. Airship technology had
progressed greatly, since the discovery of the Invincible. Unfortunately, only
the study of the ship's secondary drive had ever been successful. It looked as
if it would take quantum leaps in Gaia's technology to even find out what most
things did. The steering controls were one exception. At least they knew a bit
about what they did. But every scientist who had tried to use them had passed
out on the spot, and one had died, blood leaking out of his ears. Yet Zidane
had never had any problem. It seemed the human mind was poorly suited for the
contact of the ship's artificial mind. They were yet to find any manual
controls whatsoever. But for some reason, the controls had no adverse affect on
Vivi, and Eiko had experienced some faint, and primitive, conversations with
the ship. Eiko had told the researchers that the ship had been pleased, and
very surprised. This had came as a shock to Cid and his engineers. What manner
of race could create not only Artificial Intelligence, but also give this
intelligence a personality, and a capacity for emotion. Cid was frustrated and
saddened by the fact that this was the only airship he could never possibly
work out. If its creators were alive, which they weren't, and willing to help,
which they wouldn't be, then a new age would come to Gaia. Cid's dream was to
one day have a society, not unlike the one before the fall of Terra, what he
understood of it. He had funded a facility to be built at Oeilvert, the Terra
Facility. It was still in the construction phases. But he hoped to study the
recordings in those mysterious faces, and maybe fix some of the broken ones, to
hear more. But these would only tell him what was out of is reach. He sighed.
Then he heard loud clanking noises, as someone ran down the catwalks. He could
just hear the more reserved footsteps of another. Why bother turning? He
thought to himself. He knew exactly who they were. He heard a crash, followed
by a long burst of cursing. He turned around. "What did I tell you, Eiko? Don't
run on the catwalks." He chided, but smiled a little. She grinned, but was
holding her leg. "Your scientists are always leaving stuff around!" she
complained, pointing to an upended chair. "Anyway, Dagger told me and Vivi to
go to Alexandria. Something has come up, and they want some confirmation. Can
you take us there?" Cid looked puzzled. How did she contact you?" Eiko only
just tapped her forehead. Cid looked even more puzzled "Note that down,
Thompson. It might further our Invincible studies" Cid was always at
work. And whenever anything strange happened, no matter how trivial, it was
noted down. The Invincible was an obsession of his. "Well…" Cid said "We'd best
be off. Come on, you two. They headed over to the Infinity, the product of his
Invincible research. Fast as hell, but fairly normal, except for the design.
He'd let Eiko design the basic shape of this one. At first, he was just
planning on letting her draw one, but using a different design altogether.
Unfortunately, the ship was new, and he was the only one who entirely knew how it worked. But he had taught his children enough to do the minimal amount to fly the ship. On a skeleton crew, the ship still required 10 people. So with only three, the weapons were offline. That was one thing he had insisted on putting in, and was rather proud of it. He may have revolutionised weaponry, with an adaptation of the Invincible's Secondary drive. It fired small, explosive projectiles, propelled with a small engine. He called them rockets, and they were now fitted to his entire air force's ships. If anyone started a war, they would most likely live to regret it. He gave the signal to Vivi, who controlled most of the external devices Cid had fitted. Vivi set off the alarms, that warned people in the dock of takeoff. That was a major problem with this new engine. The ship released from the dock, and sped off to Alexandria.
Dagger and Zidane, along with Mikoto, stood waiting at Alexandria's new airship dock when the ship came in. They were all impressed, but especially Mikoto. "They have mastered this technology rather quickly, it seems" she said, to nobody in particular. The side hatch opened, and Eiko ran out, and hugged Dagger. Dagger smiled. Eiko had changed little, it seems. Apart from now being up to Dagger's eye-level, as opposed to waist! "Nice to see you again, Eiko" she said, fondly. Then Cid and Vivi emerged from the door, at a more reserved pace. "Nice to see you both again" said Cid. "You king yet, Zidane? Dagger and Eiko laughed, but Zidane just blushed a little "We're getting there, Cid." Zidane said, only a little uncomfortably. "Nice ship" Zidane said, changing the subject, quickly. The diversion worked, but not quite the way Zidane wanted. It seemed they would be stuck here for quite a long time…
A young man was cornered by a group of men in an alley. They were the kind of guys who liked to cause trouble, and they had chosen to cause him trouble. It started off as cruel teasing, but stupidly, he answered back. The men had just laughed, and then he made the mistake of insulting one of them, and told them to back off. They started beating him relentlessly. He fought back a little, and kicked one of the men. The man he had kicked was angry, and pulled a knife on him. The knifeman charged, and the poor, beaten man could do little to resist. His vision tunnelled, and all he could see was the knife. As his consciousness faded, he heard a voice ring out in his head. You must survive this encounter. Use your gifts! He didn't understand, but then his head and vision cleared. He felt a surge in his mind, and partly understood. "Stop!" he shouted, and waved his hand. The knifeman froze in time, in mid-stride. The other men, who had just stood, watching, swore, and began to advance. He waved his hand again, and they stopped, too. He was shocked. It seemed as if that voice had unlocked a floodgate in his mind, and he could now exert his will upon the world. He understood a little about normal magic, enough to know that this wasn't it. This discovery had saved his life. He walked over to the knifeman, and tried to take the knife. Even with this new power, he could do with a proper weapon. He touched the knife, and it rippled, but he couldn't get hold of it. His brow furrowed. This thing was a lot harder if he tried, it seemed. But still, the knife fell away, and he caught it. I can't leave these guys here, he thought to himself. He unfroze them all, and they continued on with the exact action they had been doing before he stopped them. But then they stopped again, naturally this time. "What the hell? You got my knife. Give it here, little boy. Before I use my next one…" Threatened the knifeman. Oh shit… Why did I have to be so nice, he thought. He threw the knife, and helped it along a bit. On impact with the knifeman, it made a rather large mess of what used to be his face. The others had seen enough. They ran. Definitely, they ran. He averted his eyes from the mess, and set of towards Alexandria castle. There were a few people who knew quite a bit about this kind of thing. And he was going to speak to someone.
Zidane heard a knock on the door. "Come in!" he yelled. The door opened, and soldier entered. "Um, Queen, Zidane… There's some weird guy at the docks, and he wants us to let him in. "Your definition of weird is applied to many things by soldiers, it seems…" Mikoto sniggered at this, and the soldier looked a little uncomfortable. "Uh…well, sir…No offence meant to you or your sister, Zidane…" Zidane and Mikoto started laughing, and then the rest of the room joined in. The soldier was looking really uncomfortable now, but he still continued "All I mean is…I've never seen him before, and his clothes are all wrecked, and there's a fair bit of blood on him, sir. Looks like a bad sort, a criminal. Not the type of guy you let into a palace, sir…" Zidane raised an eyebrow, then he and Dagger started laughing again. The poor soldier had a 'oh god, I'm going to get fired for this' look on his face. "Congratulations. You managed to insult the Queen's consort twice, and offend his…sister." They all started sniggering uncontrollably again. "May I suggest, that if you leave the soldiery, I have a friend who you might want to meet. She runs a theatre, in the town. She's been looking for a good comedian for a while now. And from today's performance, you'd go far. Now go let that poor man in" The soldier scurried from the room. The same thought came back to everyone in the room, and they all started laughing again. Not your usual court session. Not your usual court, either…
Minutes later, the man was brought up to the room by a pair of soldiers. The soldiers left, and closed the door behind them. The man walked up, look almost matching the soldiers. Uncomfortable. "You wanted to see me?" prompted Zidane. "Um…yeah." He noticed the appraising look he was getting from Mikoto, and became even more uncomfortable. "Something really…weird…happened today, and you seem to know a lot about that kind of thing…" Everyone cracked up again. The man looked as if he wanted the floor to collapse from under him. Zidane wiped his eyes "Go on, don't mind us. We're in that kind of mood today" The man cleared his throat. "Well, I was mugged today, by a group of thugs… I fought back, and one pulled a knife on me. I was pretty messed up by that time, and thought I was about to die. As he was running at me, I heard some weird voice in my head. It told me that I had to survive, and told me to 'use my power'. At first, I had no idea, what it was talking about. But then, my mind cleared, and I stood up. I felt a kind of surge, and told the guy to stop. And he did. But not like the stop running kind of stop, he froze in mid stride. The other guys advanced, and somehow, I froze them too. I took the knife off the guy, and unfroze them. So the guy pulls another knife on me, and walks towards me. I threw the knife at the guy, and it span way more than it should have. I felt another surge, too. I'll spare the details for the kids in the room, but suffice to say, he ended up very dead. But, I have no idea what's going on. So, I came to you" Zidane seemed worried. "Was the voice a female voice, um…what is your name, anyway?" Zidane asked, puzzled. "Yes, the voice was female…Why? And my name's Mikhael. No surname I know of." He said, finishing with a self-mocking bow. Zidane was now very puzzled. He, Dagger, Eiko, Vivi and Mikoto had all had dreams of some sort, with either an ageless female voice, or a sexless, but demonic, voice. And now this guy had heard the voice, too. Plus, Mikoto had come here on what seemed to be impulse, and so did this guy. This could be leading up to something… "What do you do? For a job, or whatever?" Asked Dagger, trying to make up for Zidane's thoughtful silence. Mikhael blushed a little. "Nothing steady. Odd jobs…Shop stacking, shop thieving, contract killings… Not the kind of guy you expect to get mugged." Eiko's eyes widened "Cool!" she exclaimed excitedly. Mikhael smiled "Watch this one…Never know what she'll turn out like." Then a thought came to him, and he turned to Zidane "Hey, did this girl go with you guys, when you saved the world and all? And that quiet guy over there?" Zidane didn't look up, but said, "Yeah" Mikhael shook his head. "Jeez. He turned to the two. How didja battle? I mean, can't have been anything physical…" He said words fading away. Then, "What the…sorry…She's got a horn? You're one of those summoners, aren't you. Jeez. Not gonna cross you anytime soon!" He finished, a little awestruck. Eiko tried to put on her most nonchalant look, but failed miserably. "You think? I want to learn how to fight properly. What do you use?" Mikhael smiled again. They really gotta watch this kid, he thought to himself. "Opportunism. If it's there, I use it. But I can go without, know a blend of martial arts I've picked up, and mashed together with a load of dirty street fighting tricks. Only one weapon I feel attached to. Crossbow, and believe me, it's one beast of a crossbow. Called the Demon by the guy that gave it to me. Guy was too old, couldn't even draw it back. Gave it to me for helping him. Fires bolts as long as yer arm…" he was interrupted by Zidane. "You seeing a connection here, guys? Because I am. Aside from two of us, we all saved the world last time 'round. Mikoto was kind of there, plus she's garland's third little experiment. I'm either his first, or second. I think first, but not by much. Dagger and Eiko are both summoners. Who knows about Mikhael here, but I bet something weird is going on here. Look at him. Closely. Sorry about this, but I noticed something strange, if you don't mind." Mikhael waved it off. He knew, just nobody noticed. Or didn't bring it up. Must be the second one. It is the kind of thing people would notice. Mikoto say up straight, suddenly "The eyes! They're too green, and the pupils are the wrong shape…why is that familiar?" Zidane thought the same "Yeah, me too. There's another puzzle piece. Why do the eyes seem familiar to us? We' can't even see all the pieces to this puzzle, and we have no idea what it will turn out like. We're slowly finding pieces, but none of them fit together…" Mikhael yawned. As strange as this whole mystery may be, he had no idea what was going on, and he was never one who could stay in one place for too long. He walked out onto the balcony, and nobody seemed to mind.
Eiko soon followed him. "Bored too, eh?" he asked. "Yeah. Zidane pacing 'round in circles, muttering to himself, Dagger musing over something, Vivi being quiet and shy, and Mikoto doing a perfect 'normal, boring genome' impersonation. Not riveting stuff." Mikhael laughed. He liked this girl, he decided. "What was Terra like?" he asked, out of interest. She grinned "Boring and weird. Nobody there spoke a word that made sense, and had no personality whatsoever." He was interested. "Zidane and Mikoto are genomes too, right? They're not totally emotionless. Well, Zidane's definitely not, and Mikoto was normal enough to keep staring at me…" he grinned at that, and Eiko laughed. "Well, I dunno exactly, but I think those two were special ones. Supposed to help take this world over. Kuja, evil bloke, was also a genome, and some argument back on Terra ended up with Zidane here. Zidane lived a normal life, and forgot everything. Because of the capacity for emotion, he became like us. Mikoto's kind of new to it all, but she seems to be fairly normal. Normally boring, that is" Eiko grinned again. Mikhael was kind of interested in it all, but Eiko said no more on the topic. He took a bit of a stab in the dark "Are you and that Vivi kid a couple? He kinda kept shyly looking at you, and I wondered if you noticed." Eiko laughed. "Couple and Vivi don't belong in the same sentence right now. But yeah, I have noticed his apparent interest." Mikhael continued "Well, strictly from an observers point of view, you are something worth looking at…" he grinned at Eiko, who was now blushing. "I don't mind him, but it kinda annoys me that he doesn't say anything to me. He's a bit shy, I think. Shame, he isn't all that bad looking. If he ever asked me out, or anything… I'd like it, but it isn't gonna happen anytime soon." She grinned. Mikhael could tell she'd wanted someone to talk to about this stuff for quite a while. "Why don't you talk to him? If he's too shy, you gotta make the first move. Start it off as a 'friends' kind of thing, then let things go naturally, and see what happens." He suddenly felt like an older brother, and laughed at the mental picture. "What's so funny?" Eiko asked, curious "Just imagining myself as an older brother. Pretty funny, considering my background." They heard Zidane calling them from the room. "Well, duty calls. But remember what I said about that Vivi guy…" With that, he opened to door and walked back into the room.
" I'm fumbling in the dark here, but I think we should go to
Madain Sari. This dream stuff seems to mean something, and Dagger's mentioned a
book, in Madain Sari. We should give it a look. Oh…And Mikhael, you're coming.
Seems something is going on here, and you're involved. The little group walked
back to the airship dock, and headed towards the invincible. The little hatch
opened, and they stepped inside. Mikhael fell to the floor, grimacing. "What is
this?" he groaned. He felt a magnified version of the surge he felt in the
fight, and the pain cleared. He felt a strange intelligence in his head. Who
are you? What are you? He thought to this intelligence. The thing replied
simply.
"I'm starting to agree with you, Mikhael…" Zidane said,
looking around hopelessly. "How are we going to find anything in this pile of
rubble?" Mikhael finished his sentence, grinning. Zidane walked over to Eiko.
"Just how big is this place, Eiko…" He asked her, not really wanting to know
the answer. She shook her head. "Big. Maybe bigger than Alexandria… But if the
book you're looking for is the one I think I know something about, we should
look around the centre." Zidane looked interested "What is the book you know
of, Eiko." "Well…" she said slowly, gathering her thoughts. "There is, or was,
a book of prophecies made by the summoners gifted with that power. Seeing as it
was mentioned in a dream, I thought…" "Yeah. That makes sense to me, too. The
middle is as good a starting place as any" Zidane agreed. They set through
destroyed streets, lined by mounds of masonry that were once houses. He found
himself walking next to Mikoto. "We screwed this place up pretty good, eh sis."
He had subconsciously slipped into that form of address, but Mikoto didn't mind
in the least. He had also, over time, accepted fully his heritage, and the
things attached to it. Mikoto nodded "Yeah. Look at it. Not many recognisable
things standing, is there. Garland deserved the fate you dealt to him. He used
us, he killed the people of this city, and he almost did the same to
Alexandria." Her face turned thoughtful. "You were with Kuja at the end,
weren't you." Zidane nodded "Yeah. He changed so much. Shame he didn't do that
earlier. He no longer felt the hate he had for me, his brother. I accepted him
as mine. A bittersweet ending, as they say. I left him, and went back to
Dagger." He smiled ruefully. "That day, all the nobles who were there would
have sworn that we'd marry within the month, if not the week. I'm not sure why
we haven't gotten 'round to it, yet." He chuckled "Although technically, we're
married already. At Conde Pete, we went through a ceremony to get past to the
path behind the town…" Mikoto sighed a little. "You're lucky to have her,
Zidane. I wouldn't worry too much about marriage. You're happy now, right? One
of the things of this world I've never gotten around to experiencing. Love.
I've never found anyone. I've never looked, either. None of the other genomes
came close to understanding the concept." " Don't worry about it so much, sis.
Not everyone finds love right away. And you're gonna get nowhere if you don't
look." Zidane said, then grinned slyly. "Someone else is looking, though…" He
said with a nod of his head in the general direction if Mikhael, who was
discovering new ways to look at someone without even admitting to himself that
he was. Mikoto looked at him out of the corner of her eye, and grinned evilly.
She turned round and waved to him, mock-innocently. He took up archaeology, and
found an interesting piece of masonry to stare at, while blushing furiously.
The sound came again. Zidane looked worried. "Seems some monster is in there. Probably made a nest… It sounds reptilian, almost. I might be wrong…" Then, as if on cue, two horrors steppe out from behind the rubble. The light heartedness of the walk was gone, all knew what to do. Except Mikoto, who had no idea. "Um…Zidane. They don't look friendly, and I can't do anything about it…" Zidane swore "Damn…Stay close" Mikhael was true to his word; he was a man of opportunistic talents. He took an iron bar from the wreckage, and wielded it. It was about ten feet long, with rusted, jagged edges. Eiko, to the surprise of all other than Vivi, did not take out her flute. She instead stood in a ready position that looked rather painful to hold for more than a few seconds. Yet she managed. Dagger took out her rod, and Vivi a large staff, about as long as Mikhael's lump of iron. Mikhael looked closely at the horrors for the first time, and gulped. They truly were horrors. Slightly insect-shaped, they had chitinous armour that seemed to drink in the light. They were covered in various blades, and had a mouthful of very pointy teeth. Mikhael put on an expression as cold as the iron he held. "Time to party, boys and girls!"
He charged the beast closest to him, giving it a solid strike with his club. The thing shook its head, and bared its teeth. He jumped back, as the beast swiped a claw at him. He jabbed the bar at the beast's softer belly, and broke the skin. Black, slightly corrosive blood spattered the ground. But it was a flesh wound, and the monster fought on. He swung at it's leg, and heard a satisfying crack as whatever hold the thing together snapped. The leg hung limp. The monster was angered, and fought viciously. Mikhael found himself retreating…
Eiko was fighting calmly, or as calmly as possible. Calm was the way she had been taught. Anger and fear only caused mistakes. Fatal ones, in a real fight. Which was now! She had found her punches to be of little effect, and had switched over to only kicks. Any throws or moves relying on weak-points were useless; she had no intention of grappling with the fiend, nor knew its anatomy. She leaped, and crescent kicked it, hitting right at the jaw. She heard a satisfying snap as it's neck broke, and it fell to the dirt, twitching. She looked over to the other creature, where Zidane was slicing it up pretty good. But he was getting nowhere. Mikhael pulled away from the fight, grinning, and stared blankly for a moment. Then black gore spattered over all present, along with a pitifully small amount of brain matter. Hopelessly stupid creatures, it seemed. Mikhael was grinning from ear to ear. "It worked!" he breathed, excitedly. "But I couldn't have managed a smarter creature. Still, it worked…" Dagger didn't seem as pleased. "Dammit. I bet this stuff doesn't wash out…" Mikoto only raised her eyebrows, and smiled a little. Eiko headed towards the dome structure "Well, what are you waiting for? This is what we came for, right?" The others soon followed.
They stepped into the shadow, and waited for their eyes to adjust. They looked around. Rotted shelves in various states of disrepair lay about, with tattered books strewn around randomly. They stepped over mounds of dust, which was more dirt by now. Behind a still standing bookshelf was a family of rats, which skittered away as soon as the party was sighted. "Eww…" said someone. They rounded a bend, and saw a pedestal. Still standing, it supported a massive book. The book was still there, intact. The years that had been put into the binding and every page showed, and had kept the book alive and intact. Mikoto walked over to the book, and opened it. The spidery script inside was unreadable. "Huh?" Eiko walked over, and peered over Mikoto's shoulder. She breathed in sharply. "Temple Sarian!" she exclaimed. Everyone just looked at her. She blushed. "Sorry. Temple Sarian was the language of priests, only learned by the members of the faith. One of the first parts of becoming an acolyte was to learn the script, to read this book. This is the book of prophecy, the centre of Sarian faith. Although we were known for summoning abilities, we placed quite little importance on them. A seer was seen as near-royalty. And every prophecy, no matter how mundane, was recorded…" Zidane coughed politely "We didn't really come for a history lesson. I need a yes or no answer for this…Can you read it?" Eiko hesitated, and replied: "Yes. Just. I learned a bit. But it will take me a while to find anything of importance…" Dagger looked puzzled "Why?" Eiko smiled helplessly "Well, this one says: 'There will be a dry spell, and the beasts of the field will die…' Most of these are mundane, and useless to us. Try to relax, everybody. This will take a while…"
Mikhael was aimlessly walking around the wrecked library,
seeing what else was intact. He picked up a book, with a faded red cover. The
title was unreadable, so he opened the book. He took one look at the page, and
blushed a little, snapping the book shut. He held it like a dead fish, trying
to find a place to put it back. He heard Mikoto come up behind him. "What's
that book? Looks in ok condition, to me…" she inquired, curious. "You really
don't want to know what's in there, Mikoto…" He warned. She shrugged, and took
the book from him. She opened it, and her reaction was strangely similar to
his… "Why would they write a book about that? I thought it was the kind of
thing that… came naturally…" She dropped the book, and moved to another shelf.
Most of the books there were undamaged, and she could read many of the titles
on them. She beckoned over to Mikhael "These people wrote books about the
strangest things… Desert Delights: 100 edible plants, and how to cook them; How
to raise an obedient child; These people had way too much time on their hands."
She laughed. She sneezed, and looked into a shaft of sunlight. It seemed there
was more dust than air "The dust is getting to me in here. Let's go outside"
The stepped over the broken shelf-bits and book pieces, and into the desert
sun. Mikoto found a stone block in the shade, and sat down. Mikhael followed
her. They just sat for a while, neither of them saying anything. Mikoto turned
to him "Have you ever thought why everything seems to be turning out the way it
is? I just decided to go to the palace, for no reason I could think of. From
what I gather, you did too. We all had dreams involving a stern female voice,
or a demonic rasping one. The former saved your life in that fight, by telling
you what to do. And your powers only suddenly became apparent…" Mikhael nodded
"Yeah…" Mikoto continued on. "It seems like something is supposed to happen,
and it's going to, wether we like it or not." She paused for a moment. "Do you
believe in gods?" she asked him, tentatively. To her surprise, he thought, and
answered seriously. "Kind of. I think I accept the fact that there might be
someone out there. But why would they be special? Wouldn't they just be another
race, like you're a Genome, and I'm Gaian? They might have unimaginable powers;
they might be immortal. But why would they feel any responsibility towards us?
Even if you accept the creation theory, you, more than anybody but Zidane,
I've never seen any evidence, no miracles to bolster their claim. I've seen a lot against the interventionist theory." He paused, and looked a little depressed, but continued.
"Come on you two! I think I've found something!" Eiko was surprised, happy for them, and jealous all at the same time. Why didn't these kind of things happen to her? I know why, she thought to herself. Because the guy I want is clueless, and to shy to make any moves. Mikoto and Mikhael both looked confused, and a little embarrassed. The three of them stepped through a crumbled hole in the wall, back into the library. Lying on top of the book was a piece of paper, with almost indecipherable handwriting scrawled all over it. "Read it" prompted Eiko, thrusting it into Mikoto's hands. Mikoto took a while to get use to Eiko's horrible handwriting, then managed to read through the bits of a promising passage Eiko had managed to translate partially. It didn't look very bright…
"
After the time of danger, a period of peace will grace the
world. All will rejoice, even the displaced ones, and those who should not be
Those who fought, the Legacy, the Deceived, the Orphan,
the Loyal One, the One Who Should Not Be, the Failed Warrior and the Wolf, form
the Eight.
That doesn't make any sense to me… How many of you fought
Necron? Eight, wasn't it… I'll keep going…
…until the number of years has passed, the number which is sacred to the gods, as they number this. Then shall the…This word's missing…arrive, and bring with him…This sentence isn't finished. The foul host dwell where none other may be, and here they will hide until they are ready. This thing's so cryptic, even if all the words were there it still wouldn't make any sense.
"But the … shall then ready his standard of terror, and
his minions will prepare their arms, and some many will be sent to
trouble the world. He shall then unleash a … upon the very earth, and the rock
itself will….