Chapter 3: The Time Has Come



It was a few weeks after I defeated Titan and earned his pledge that I began to hear the rumors. Whispers from the monsters on the levels above us, the Guardians - Malboro, Talantla and Conjurer, who had deliberately let themselves slide into the Madness for the sake of our protection - those closer to the surface began passing down stories of a change in the air. The emotions and images picked up from these beasts did not make much sense, as enthralled in the Madness as they were; but the monsters of the Land began to whisper themselves. I strained to hear with my human ears and did not understand. Changes ...ripples in the air, whispered the secretive Arachne that guarded the entrance. Light and Dark. Thickness of our atmosphere ...changed. They are coming. And then, quietly: Danger.

The beasts in the City of the Summoned spoke in hushed tones, convening, conversing. Eventually, the change reached me as well: something dark, some horrible force, had come into the Underground. The very air we breathed was thick with magic, and it carried with it messages from the world outside our small caves. This message was a warning. I was seventeen then, and more intent on my training then I had ever been - until this.

First I asked Old Red what the change was. "Aye, very sensitive you are," he said. "There has been a shift in the atmosphere."

"Living here my whole life has done that," I replied. "I sense it as you do, though not as well. The air is different; it was darker until a few days ago, and now it has been lightened with some ...magical scent that we have never had here before."

The Red Eye nodded slowly. "Changes in the atmosphere," he repeated. "There are real names for them. I call them changes, cause I'm not that bright. Our world has been invaded by a dark force, and behind it comes the strength of Light, chasing at its heels, as always."

"Will they ...will they harm us?" I noticed my iron-hard grip on the whip and relaxed slightly, laughing.

Red blinked slowly. "Not yet. They don't have the power. But they're aiming to get it."

My eyes widened. I knew the secrets kept in the shadows of more mysterious places: the hidden crystals of power, the Tower of Bab-Il, among other things. But something he had said ...

"You said something about the forces of light?"

He nodded solemnly (which is a difficult task for a floating eyeball). "Not just any light, m'girl. The Light. You know..."

"The Light of Ordeals," I chanted with him, and we both smiled at the childhood memory. Red gave me a goodbye bob and floated away. I stayed, pensive, eyeing the ground. "But," I asked softly, "who would bring the Light into the Underworld?"

Friends, hissed the Clapper, the great snakes that guarded the caves. Friends. Foes. Light and Darkness. Danger.

It was only a few days after that my magical senses seemed to catch fire in the back of my brain. There was some feeling - a glowing, pulsing, almost painful feeling of - what? Fear, yes. But recognition as well. Recognition of my destiny. And the feeling of being needed. This feeling lasted less than a day before I found myself on the steps of Andirion, staring upward at Leviathan's great castle, wondering how my feet had brought me to this place and what, exactly, I would say.

I found my way into the castle; my magic told me Leviathan and Asura were at a casual dinner, and I followed their thoughts until I found them. I knocked lightly on the ornate wooden door and heard Asura's voice softly call: "Who is it?"

"It's Rydia."

"Come in."

I opened the door. Within sat the King and Queen, before a simple meal. "Casual" apparently meant "Come in your monster form." Leviathan had reverted to the great silvery sea serpent - albeit a smaller version than had attacked my boat so long ago. Asura - her monster form was terrible, fearsome, a beast with three heads and a multitude of arms and legs. It sat beside the horrendous snake. I would have been amused - these terrifying beasts had ceased to produce anything but wonderment for me - but the burning in my head would not allow it.

"So it has happened."

Leviathan was solemn and grave as he turned his narrow head to me; the same bright blue eyes examined me. I simply bowed my head.

"I do not know what has happened, sir, but something certainly has. There is a feeling in the back of my head, trying to tell me something. It will not leave me alone, and so I find myself here." I stretched my arms out to them. "What's happening?"

"I trust that you have been aware of the changes in the air lately," Asura said. Her beast-like form had a voice that was smoother, deeper, more mysterious; it was prone to cryptic messages as well. "Those changes are brought upon us by someone you know, and the danger that he follows."

For a moment I stared at the wall, eyes completely blank. Then I collapsed in the nearest chair. "It can't be," I said, losing all sense of formality. "It can't."

Leviathan hissed softly. "Cecil has accepted the Light of Ordeals. It is he who comes bearing the Legend into the depths of the earth. And he and the evil he fights are both seeking the secrets of the Underworld."

Cecil.

I had not forgotten.

In the back of my mind, always, there was the hope that someday I could do for Cecil what he had done for me - save him. I longed for the chance to protect him, and Rosa, and all the others. I saw them somehow as my parents: a set of parents that, this time, I could defend. The fierceness swelled up in me, and the fire in my mind ignited. I knew.

"I have to go," I said.

Leviathan looked at me, sadness and reproach in his eyes. "I had not thought to lose you so soon to the outerworlds," he said. "Your training is not complete yet."

"I will come back to finish it!" I said. "I will study every night on whatever voyage I must take. But it's Cecil. I have to go."

"Things will be different, Rydia." Leviathan closed his eyes. "I have told you before that time here passes faster than time Outside. You will be older - much older. The world will not look as different as you. Your eyes have aged; your mind has become wiser."

I shrugged. "I don't care," I said. "This isn't about me." Leviathan opened his eyes and they met mine - deep blue pools shimmering like the ocean. "He needs my help, I can tell. I have to go to him."

"This is no simple task," Asura said, her voice smooth and dark. "The Paladin you speak of, the bearer of Light, will end up traveling to the ends of the very earth to fight his battles. Would you do as much?"

"I'd do whatever I had to if I could keep my friends safe," I said, my eyes fierce.

Leviathan bowed his head slowly, his body coiling on the floor. "There is a test," he said. "The last test of a summoner before he or she earns the right to do battle to myself or my Asura. This test is of my making and can be anything I deem it to be." He looked up, trust burning in his blue eyes. "Are you sure of this, Rydia?"

I nodded. The words had choked up in my throat. Even now, I was worrying: Please let them be safe!

"This is your last test, then." He glanced at Asura for guidance. "Leave the land; have you the power to get back in, a summoner you will be. Have you not the strength to pass the test, forever on the outside will you remain."

I blanched.

"However, I will give to you two gifts. The first gift is one of right: if your friends will aid you in this struggle, you may accept whatever help they are willing to give. They may do battle both on the Path of Caves and when you face us." I was quivering. I couldn't tell at what part - the excitement? The fear?

"My second gift is as such." He leaned forward and pressed his snout against my forehead. "This land is an island surrounded by molten lava. This spell I give to you will transport you safely across the melted rock."

"And my gift," Asura said slowly, "is this: there was a messenger, yesterday. He spoke of dwarves in the castle to the south and east, and of seeing the Light."

I swallowed, hard. I couldn't believe, really, that I was about to leave my homeland. But the sense of urgency was building: hurry! I bowed to him.

"Do take care, child." Asura slipped herself back into her human form, and embraced me. "We do want to see you again. You are strong - you can do this. I believe in you."

I was an ember myself, burning with the desire to - what? To test my own strengths? To come to the aid of my friends? What? Were they in that much danger?