~*~Chapter 8 The crystals of darkness~*~
Everything became clear. Well, almost.
"Where are we?" Yang mumbled, a bit confused.
"It's my room in Baron?" Cecil said, surprised.
"I didn't know where else to bring us," Rosa explained.
She fell down on a chair, staring at Cecil as if she hadn't seen him before.
"You're a paladin now, then?" she said.
He nodded, smiling carefully.
"You look great," Rosa smiled.
The smile faded.
"But what shall we do?" she asked, "now Golbez has all of the crystals…"
"No, he hasn't," Kain said.
They all looked at him. He didn't know how he knew it, but he was sure. Maybe the spell that had controlled him somehow had given some of what Golbez knew to the slave…
"He only have the crystals of light," the dragoon explained, "but there's also four crystals of darkness, in the Underground. We must stop him from getting his hands on them."
"But how can we enter the Underground?" Cid asked, scratching his head with his screwdriver.
"This key can help us," Kain said and pulled out a chain hanging around his throat.
A red key hung for it; looking almost molten.
'When did I get this?' the dragoon thought, 'my head feels so emptied…'
He guessed that since the spell had been messing with his mind, memory-loss would be normal. But still, he had a vague feeling that it wasn't completely true.
"Great!" Cecil said with a broad smile and his voice filled with new hope, "but where do we use it to open a door leading down?"
Kain rubbed his forehead, trying to awake some more memories.
"Dwarves are said to live in the Underground," Cid pointed out, "and there's this city I've heard of where they claim that their ancestors were dwarves."
"The city of Argot!" Rosa said, "let's go!"
"We should rest a while," Kain mumbled, "I feel so tired…"
He shook his head. Rosa stood up and put her hand on his shoulder, noticing that he seemed dizzy.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"I'm fine… just tired…"
But he wasn't really fine. The world seemed to be all covered in mist, but at the same time, he felt like his head was almost crystal-clear. Yet he didn't have any feeling of time passing. As if he read a book in the middle of the night, he noticed that Cid somehow brought forth an airship that he called the Enterprise. There was also something about flying and then being inside a small town. And Kain was pretty sure he gave something to Cecil, which the paladin threw down a well after a short moment of hesitating. But the dragoon didn't really know why. However, then the earthquake started and Kain fell, hitting his head on a rock. It was like breaking a bubble; he managed to think again.
"What's happening?" he called.
"The mountaintop!" Cid yelled and pointed with an arm shaking because of the quake.
There really was a mountain, and its top seemed to fall into the cliff itself. The crumbling of the earth stopped, as suddenly as it had started.
"Is everyone alright?" Cecil asked.
"Yes," Kain said, frowning and resolute, "I am fine now."
'He tried to regain his control,' the dragoon thought, 'Golbez isn't going to give up that easy… but neither will I, do you hear me you monster!?'
There was no telepathic answer, and he felt relieved about that.
They boarded the Enterprise and flew over the mountain.
"How does it look?" Cid called by the helm.
"It seems to continue downwards!" Yang called back, looking over the fence, "let us try it!"
"Alright, here goes!"
Cid turned the wheel and made the Enterprise dive into the darkness.
"It's getting hot, don't you think?" Rosa pointed out.
"That's because of the lava down there," Cid yelled, "look!"
The tunnel leading down suddenly turned into an enormous cavern, so big that it even had horizons.
"I must avoid flying over the magma or the Enterprise might take damage!" Cid called, "hang on!"
He quickly turned the ship away from the molten stone, and flew over the cracked ground. But his haste brought the group into more trouble.
"What on earth is that?" Yang called and pointed.
Kain put his right hand at the side of his head to protect the eyes from the light of the lava as he tried to see what the man of Fabul meant. It was a troop of what looked like small houses made of metal, on big wheels down there on the ground.
"It's tanks!" the dragoon said.
"And the Red Wings!" Cecil yelled, "Cid, we're just between them!"
"Blast it!" the mechanic screamed.
And there were several blasts, both from the tanks and the airships. The Enterprise was hit, but Cid hurriedly brought them out of the line of fire.
"Must land…!" he yelled, "I'll try over there by the mountain!"
It wasn't exactly a soft landing, but it wasn't a crash either.
Everyone eventually got to their feet and brushed the dust of their clothes and armors. Cid hurried of the ship.
"Gotta check the damage!" he grumbled.
The others followed him, listening to his curses for a while. There was a big hole in the wood.
"Great, this was my finest piece!" Cid yelled, "damn that Golbez!"
"I couldn't agree more," Kain mumbled.
"Hey, there's a castle over there," Rosa suddenly said and pointed.
They all looked. It really was a castle, surrounded by a very resolute-looking wall. The mountain had hid it from the other side. There was also a group of short, bearded men coming from the building, approaching the Enterprise and its owners. They carried big axes by their belts, but didn't seem very aggressive.
"Lali-ho!" one of them called as they came closer, "are you the people from above who fights Golbez?"
"Indeed we are," Cecil answered, "who are you, then?"
The dwarves stopped only a few yards away, with welcoming smiles.
"We are the troop sent out by the dwarven king Giott," the leader friendly said, "come on, follow us to the castle. The king awaits you."
"How did you know about us?" Rosa asked.
"Mother Earth tells us a lot. And of course the tame monsters we've managed to capture talks a lot for only a little food. Poor things, really… well come on, lali!"