--- - 7 - ---
(Author's Note:
In response to the questions in the reviews thread....
Eventually, all of the characters ARE going to come together. Not just yet, but sometime. FFIX is around here... it will come in about the time that all the characters form the other three universes come together. As to commitment, I tend to be very committed to stories for which I receive a good stream of replies. The only stories I've ever even temporarily abandoned are ones for which I've posted up about fifteen or so chapters and gotten no replies. So, yes, I think I'll be able to finish this one ;). Hyne/Yevon/other random deity knows that I've finished longer ones....)
"...to what, then, is the main energy of Man directed? It is towards no obvious goal--or, rather, such goals are temporary and transient. Instead, it is geared toward the nebulous objective of 'improving the human state,' which has no practical application outside that of human comfort."
Nanaki was animatedly describing the principles of the Study of Planet Life, causing most of the members of the party to exchange glances and roll their eyes. The newcomer had certainly brought it upon himself--he had bother to ask. Soon he, like everyone else, would know never to ask a Cosmo tribesman about the Study of Planet Life unless they wanted their ears to be talked off.
The newcomer--Tidus, or something to that effect--was making a gallant effort to act interested, but the sheer boredom of the topic won through. It was impossible to enjoy the Study unless one was in a comfortable room, reading about it with time granted to digest the information. Only an Amararchi could appreciate learning it all by ear.
Nanaki has just launched into some tirade about the Greater Balance of something-or-other when he was approached from one side by Vincent. Nanaki trailed off just as he began to explain the Cycle of Life Energy, turning to look at the man in red. Tidus shot Vincent a thankful look, which he ignored.
Vincent said nothing, merely holding out a hand. In his palm were three green marbles, slowly melting.
"Ultima, Fire, and Restore," he said gravely. "Can Materia revert?"
Nanaki's inhuman face grew grim. Leaning forward, he sniffed the materia uncertainly. His nose wrinkled, and he shook his head. "This is not reverting to Mako," he said. "It is rotting."
"Rotting?"
"Materia? Revert?" As usual, Tidus felt like everyone knew something that he didn't.
"Materia is the highly condensed form of Life Energy," Nanaki explained absently. "It is the source of magic, as it is used by humans. I have neither seen nor heard of a time when it could rot."
Tidus leaned over, touching one of the small green balls. It was strangely warm to the touch, and it left a tiny glowing droplet on the tip of his finger. "Weird," he said.
"Yes. Most disturbing."
"So... if all this... 'material' melts or whatever, does that mean you can't use magic any more?"
"Materia," Vincent corrected.
"It means that the Balance is being upset," Nanaki growled. "That the flow of Life Energy was not corrected by Shinra's defeat, and that an even more abominable force is at work!"
"Oh," Tidus answered lamely.
"Grandfather," Nanaki muttered to himself. "Grandfather told me that even if we destroyed Shinra, even if we stopped Meteor, even if we shut down every reactor on the Planet, it was still doomed. But how? How?"
Vincent stood up. "Most of the materia is rotting, but some are still intact. A few are growing larger."
"Larger?" Nanaki stood up, the hair on the back of his neck bristling and making him look quite a bit bigger. "Which ones?"
"Bahamut," Vincent said. "Odin. Leviathan. Ifrit. Shiva. Alexander. Ramuh."
"Only the summons?"
"Yes."
"Only those?"
"Yes."
Nanaki grew silent, lost in thought. Finally, he looked up and said "Bring Bahamut to me."
Vincent nodded, and moved off.
"So what's the big deal with the Life Energy?" Tidus asked tactlessly. Nanaki shook his head.
"If you did not learn while I explained it to you a moment ago, you will not learn now."
Tidus winced and waited for Vincent to come back.
Vincent returned shortly, carrying a small red marble. Nanaki took it between his teeth, and dropped it into an upturned paw. Closing his eyes, he murmured something in his native tongue and disappeared.
The sky grew cloudy, shadows intertwining above the landscape and twisting upwards to peak at some point out of sight. There was a roar, and a dragon swept down out of the sky, wings snapping open as he fell. With infinite grace he righted himself, and--
--a massive dragon set foot upon the ground, and--
--a massive dragon soared through the sky, and--
The universe twisted. That was the only way to describe it--what had heretofore been a nearly normal continuum bent across itself, bringing with it a sensation of being stretched too far across too many worlds. A kaleidoscope of images merged and separated, and then the universe snapped back into place. Nanaki reappeared, eyes wide and ears back.
"What happened?" Tidus demanded. Nanaki shook his head.
"I don't know," he said. "I don't know."
--- - - - ---
"Bahamut!"
Yuna woke up with a start, staring at the flapping canvas walls of her tent. The noise of activity outside told her that is was still day--that she had slept in again. Staring at an indefinite spot just above the door flap, she touched a hand to her forehead. Sweat--it must have been some dream.
There was the sound of rustling fabric, and she silently dropped her eyes. There they remained riveted--focused on the Fayth of Bahamut, who was sitting silently on foot of her bed, crying.