Chapter 4:
A small fire was lit in the fireplace of the lone hut a little ways outside of the Black Mage Village. Vivi liked to be with the black mages and the genomes, but he felt more comfortable away from the hussle and bussle of the rapidly growing little village. So, when he built his cottage, he built it outside the town far enough that he felt secluded, and close enough that he could get there in about ten minutes of walking. It was a reasonable arrangement, and he found that he really liked living there.
Eiko, Dagger, and Vivi sat in chairs in front of the fire, but Cahira stood in the doorway with her back to them. She assured them that she was listening and that she didn't want to let her guard down because they were in familiar territory. Dagger and Eiko just smiled; they were used to Cahira's temperament. Dagger was more so because she lived with her in Alexandria Castle, but Eiko visited often, so she was also very familiar with how Cahira acted. Because of this, they didn't hound her about standing at the door.
Vivi sighed and looked into the fire. "Strange things have been happening here in the Village more than anywhere else. I will tell you about the rest later."
"It began sometime early this spring, when we started feeling it. As you know, a few years ago, we discontinued the ban of magic, so that we could use it for everyday things like starting fires and freezing food. All in all, the whole process was working quite well until recently. As I said, early spring."
"At first, it was the genomes who noticed it. They said that something smelled funny in the air whenever we used our magic. We couldn't smell anything, so we just let it pass as a fluke of what the genomes are. But then, our magic started misfiring. We became really worried when Mr. 438 tried to light a fire in his fireplace and set the adjacent house on fire! By this point, we knew something was going on, so we called for a meeting with the Council of the Village, which is comprised of five mages and five genomes, plus the head of the Council: me."
"After a long discussion, we decided that maybe it was just Mr. 438, but we would be careful with our magic. That was a few weeks ago."
"No, all of a sudden, the power of our magic has diminished greatly. It takes great effort to make even a small fire, or to ward off the few of the minor monsters in our forest. Sometimes, we even have to gang up on them to get enough magic to scare them away. At this point, last week, we sent some members of the village out to see what's going on with the dwarves and at Madain Sahri. The genome and mage that went to the dwarf village told us that nothing has happened, and that all is quiet there. However, the genome and mage that went to Madain Sahri have never returned."
"What about the Iifa tree?" Eiko asked. "Has there been any new action since we destroyed it?"
"None," Vivi admitted. "That's one of the first things we thought of, so I went to check it out myself. Nothing. No one has broken the new seal, and there is no action from inside."
"Strange…" Princess Dagger murmured.
"Not really, Dagger," Eiko said. "Your asked Bahamut to seal the Iifa tree up. It would take a lot of power to get past Bahamut, especially since he himself sits at the gate. That's a pretty fearsome sight, let me tell you."
"I suggest we go to Madain Sahri," Cahira suggested softly. It was the first real sentence she had spoken all evening.
"Why?" Eiko asked. She had gone back there often enough to visit the moogles that lived there, but for some reason, she felt very nervous about going back there again.
"Well, it's really the only logical place to go, since the genome and black mage that went didn't return," Cahira pointed out.
Dagger agreed with her. "We should go there. I think that it might lead us to whoever was behind that massacre in Lindblum. Maybe we'll find out who Eiko's deadly admirer is…"
Eiko slowly nodded. "All right. Then tomorrow morning, we'll head off for Madain Sahri, and see if we can find that missing genome and mage."
Meanwhile…
Kuja's old desert castle had been in silence for years. The halls had been covered with dust, and the magic was weakening as time went by. No one had warded the castle after Kuja disappeared. It was almost like the world had forgotten it's exhistence. But one person knew about it.
A man walked toward the main room, leaving footprints in the dust as he went. The candles, long unlit, began to glow in his very presence, and the ethereal quality of the castle was once again present.
Monsters inhabited the place, from weak, worthless ones, to powerful bosses from fifteen years earlier that our original group of heroes did not kill, but none of them tried to dispute ownership of the forgotten palace with the man who confidently walked through its halls. They scurried out of his way, like servants trying to avoid their master's watchful gaze. But none of them left the castle. They waited to serve their new master, to bring approval into his eyes, or they knew they would die. They could not resist him. They could not destroy him. They must only serve.
In one of the back rooms, though, there were three forgotten enemies of the past, broken, abused, and alone. The man touched the last, the most powerful one, and it shuddered under his hand. "My Waltzes. I will revive you again, and you will be more powerful than before. And you will bring my bride to me."
With that, he continued toward the main hall, where he could finally establish his true mastership of the castle.
There was a picture of Kuja there, and he smiled as he looked at it. Then, he pulled his giant sword from his back and slashed downward. The picture split in half from corner to corner.
A grim smile played over his full lips as he lovingly touched one half of Kuja's face. "I am master of your castle now. And Eiko is my queen."