Author's note:  AAAAAACK! I'm so sorry it took me two months to get this chapter out!  It was a bitch to write, I just had no inspiration to do it and I'm not all that happy with the results.  Virage is a touch character to write, being a God and extremely intelligent and alive since the beginning of time but having no experience with emotion and sense like human and mortals do.  I want her to seem realistic in coping with changes like that, but it is a challenge to do so.  These next coming chapters may be the same situation, coming out a bit more than a month like I was trying to do before… ::sigh::  

Chapter 7:  Death, Destruction, and much Chaos

            Meru sat silently next to Lloyd's bed, lost in her thoughts of their upcoming venture to Vellweb.  "To release the god of destruction…that's what Charlie said…" Besides the fact that it was the Destroyer they were bringing into the world, how on Endiness where they supposed to go about doing such a thing.  Perhaps Soa will tell us; after all, it's her that is making Lloyd do this.  Almost on cue with her thoughts, the man beside her moaned and rolled onto his side, dry heaving into a small basin that had been placed between his bed and the wall. 

            "…Lloyd?"

            Hazy red eyes glared through tangled silver locks, focused on his fisted hands lying in his lap, sleep had left him moments ago.  Meru panicked, thinking he had heard her talking aloud to herself about the god.  Charlie had said it best not to tell Lloyd yet, give him a days rest, even if it would not do anything to help his condition, but such information could cause an unexpected reaction they did not need.

            "Meru?"  his voice was weak with fatigue and cracked slightly from his throat being so dry.  She had tried to get him to drink some of the sweet water they had in Ulara, but his stomach protested even to that.  The bags under his eyes gave him a sense of death, which would probably be the case with his condition if not for the fact he was immortal. 

            "How do you feel?"  Meru noticed how weak her own voice was, barely above a whisper and gave away the fright she had been trying to keep from showing to Lloyd.

            "The same as I have all day."

            "You slept for nearly an hour that time."

            The conversation was hesitant.  Betraying the emotions both Lloyd and herself were feeling, her own fear and anxiety, and Lloyd's surprising anger, fright, and stress, mirroring the absent Albert's feelings.  Albert had left for the bar about halfway through Lloyds slumber, saying he needed something to take his mind off of what they were going to have to do.  The man had changed greatly since the last she saw him.  Emily's death proved far more destructive on him than the king let on.  The once light-hearted, graceful, optimistic king was now much more…dark?  His outlook on life was more serious, which could be due to his dragoon days and Emily's death, but it was overcast with a sense of despair.  He seemed to loose everyone relatively close to him, his parents, Lavitz, and now his wife.  The only constants that seemed to keep him going were his recent friends and his status as king.  But now even that role had been ripped from him.

            "Where's Albert?"

            "Right here."

            "Oh."

            "How are you?"
            "The same."

            Meru frowned and sat back further into the softly upholstered fabric of her seat.  Albert looked brighter than he had when he had left, but was obviously not drunk.  Meru couldn't smell any trace of alcohol on the mans' breath as he sat next to her and smiled slightly.  And though bright was a strong word to use, for Albert lately it meant relatively pleased. 

            "I've been talking to Charlie, she seems more upset than before."

            "I'm only sick Albert, it will pass," even Lloyd didn't seem convinced.

            "Albert…" a strict tone of warning directed at Albert caused the king to blink, the action so very unlike Meru.

            "She said it was alright, that sooner will be better, before he's too weak to travel."

            "Oh…"

            "What are you talking about?"  Lloyd turned his gaze from human to winglie and back again, "My sword isn't here?"

            Meru couldn't help but smile at the naïve statement; Lloyd still thought it was as simple as that.  The innocence that she had never noticed before now flowed unheeded in Lloyd's slightly delirious state.  He couldn't control his mannerisms and block off certain emotions as he was capable when healthy and Meru found it adorable.  Her thoughts moved back to when they had first bought Lelian and Narneel, and that refreshing ride where Lloyd actually laughed, genuinely, from pure happiness.

            "It's not so much about your sword anymore Lloyd," Meru moved closer to the man as he cringed, a violent shiver taking hold of his body, placing her arm around his back and drawing his head to her shoulder.  He was burning up with a fever, and the small action seemed to invite sleep, Lloyd closing his eyes and sighing irritably at his weak status.

            "What do you mean?"

            At that point Albert waved Meru in question, asking if he could explain the situation.  Meru nodded in agreement, looking to the top of Lloyd's head for any reaction.

            "Lloyd, Charlie found out why you are sick.  It's because we left Vellweb.  She says that Soa requires you to be there to perform some type of action for her.  Because you left, this sickness is acting as an alarm for you, telling you you've missed something, that you need to go back."

            "What am I supposed to do there?"  The question was innocent enough, while the answer was something altogether different.

            "Bring into the world the god of destruction."

            Silence.  Then a cry.  Lloyd roughly pushed Meru aside, the sheets entangling themselves in his legs as he clawed violently at his hair.  Frantic cries echoed off the walls as the silver haired man dragged himself out of bed, leaning against the wall before sending a fist right through it's hard exterior.  Meru yelped and jumped from her seat as Albert quickly caught Lloyd as he slid to his knees.

            "I didn't think she was serious, I new it wasn't so simple, nothing ever is…damn you…I just want to be at peace…"

            "Lloyd?  Lloyd, come on, get back in bed…" Albert, worried, looked to Meru for help; she had more experience with the man and his fits, though this was nothing like the other ones the young girl had witnessed.  The king struggled with the taller man as he sat him down on the edge of the bed, Lloyd's body limp as h fell onto the soft mattress, eyes blank.

            "Maybe it wasn't so good to tell him after all…"

            "Albert, he'll be fine, he's been through worse…I think…"

            "Why does this have to happen to me, I should be dead.  I should not be resurrecting the god of destruction," Lloyd had slumped into Albert's arms and Meru aided him in laying him down on the pillows.

            "He's talking to Soa, she's in for it…"

            Lloyd's body thrashed viciously as he snarled at his unseen target.  "I don't care!  That was before!  Before I knew what would happen!  I stopped this from occurring through damned Melbu Frahma and I refuse to personally cause the destruction of Endiness!  I didn't know what I was doing before, I thought the world would be at peace, not destroyed."

            Meru ad Albert simply sat staring, only guessing at what Soa was telling their companion.

            "Bloody hell.  Fucking bloody hell.  Judgment my ass.  So you're only saying that there is a slim chance the world will be saved, that this god will deem the world uncorrupted.  That's bloody refreshing isn't it.  I do not wish to speak to you anymore."

~          *            ~

            Soa groaned, exasperated.  Why couldn't her little winglie just do what she asked?  It wasn't much of a task, and if the world were destroyed why would he care so much, he would cease to exist and finally receive the rest he believes he deserves.  He will obey, he has know other choice, he knows this well. 

            Soa turned her attention to another being that had caught her attention of late.  Lucious and his small band of followers were become quite an annoyance.  He was tracking her winglie quite well and could very well, surprisingly, and Lloyd had yet to even notice anything suspicious.  Perhaps I should tell him about Lucious…ah better not to, who knows how Lloyd would react and he can't draw any suspicion to himself for what I need him to do… At that particular moment, Lucious, and the two others, were camping for the night.  Failing to find Ulara, they had stopped to re-strategize and wait out to see if Lloyd reappeared from where ever he had disappeared to.

            Focusing her mind on that of another, Soa roused the being from their dormant sleep with a silent call of their name, *Wake up *

            *Yes, what is it? * a drowsy mind answered.

            *The time is nearing for you to be brought back. *

            *I know this well, you've told me many times lately. *
            *Oh, and what is lately to you. *

            A disrespectful silence followed the remark, followed by a shallow menacing laugh.  *You are not as great as you think, Soa. *

            *I must be, at least more than you and the other gods, for you're all under my instruction and service. *

            *The other 'gods' aren't even what you call them.  They don't have minds as we do.  It is only you and I, not them. *

            *They serve me, and not you, is what matters, not what they are. * more silence followed, and taking that as a sign to the end of their conversation, Soa willed the other beings mind away from her own and went back to watching Endiness go about it's monotonous duties.

~          *            ~

            Lloyd had forced himself out of bed and into a bath only a few hours after his 'talk' with Soa.  That being utterly unproductive and enraging, the winglie decided that he was better off becoming healthy and obeying her orders than ignoring her 'request' and continue in his present state; which could very well become worse, Oh, perhaps I could just go into a coma for the rest of eternity, that wouldn't be so bad… Soaking away his many worries, Lloyd sighed and sank lower into the warm salted water, the faint scent of lavender helping fight the queasiness he had been feeling.  Once satisfied that he was clean enough, Lloyd climbed out of the water, wishing silently he could stay there for longer while not being so weak, and dried himself off.  Redressing in his usual thick leather pants, boots, and black and silver vest, he met Meru and Albert outside the door and walked with them until they were greeted by Charlie.

            "I wish to speak with Lloyd, since I've yet to have the chance," she smiled sweetly and beckoned the man into her room, closing the door behind her.

            "Charlie," a curt nod of his head was the only greeting Lloyd gave the elder winglie.

            "Lloyd, I don't know where to start, but I want you to know that I will help you in any way that I can.  No matter your past, you don't deserve this fate."

            "But isn't it you who is always telling us that fate is not the limiting factor, that we can change it if we must?"

            "Yes, but never have the gods come so close to directly effecting Endiness."

            "I'm her damned pawn, Charlie, what do you expect me to do?  I have no free will, she's manipulated the situation around her own wants and there has been nothing that I could do to stop her."

            "Manipulate back then, Lloyd."

            Lloyd stared blankly at the woman for a few moments before shaking his head in resignation, "And how am I supposed to go about doing that?"

            "You're a clever man Lloyd, obviously, you've come this far throughout your entire life.  I respect you for being so strong, even if you goals and motivation were not ones that I approved of."  Lloyd couldn't help but smile at the woman, the two had never gotten along with one another, and it was she out of everyone who could understand what was going on.  She was nearly immortal herself; the spell cast on the Winglie City causing the people inside to not be effected by age, disease, or death, things like that just didn't come naturally to them.  "I've got something for you, Meru says you've been looking for it for awhile now…"  With a flick of her hand, Charlie summoned the red and golden swirling blade that was the Dragon Buster.

            Lloyd stumbled slightly as he reached to grab the blade, the sword in return extending tentacle like arms that wrapped around half of his forearm, binding the two together physically.  The sword would only find a new owner when it's current one either died or passed it on.  Lloyd's sickness suddenly felt miles away, he had accomplished something at least, he had his sword back, and even though it now seemed trivial to everything else going on, it was probably the happiest moment in his entire life.  Something had turned out for the better for him.

            "Thank you Charlie," a smile had plastered itself to Lloyd's cheeks.

            "It's yours, I have no use for it!" she waved him out of the room to join Meru and Albert at the transporter where they stood with their runners.  Seidan growled unhappily at their departure, dreading heading back into the dessert.  The Dragon Buster had, being a symbiotic like weapon (meaning Lloyd could summon it whenever he pleased) disappeared.  The sword Meru's father had given him remaining at his hip.

            "Is everything alright?" Meru stepped aside to allow room for Lloyd to stand next to her on the pad.

            Grinning happily, Lloyd summoned the Dragon Buster quickly before mounting Narneel.

            "Figures that would be the only thing to make you happy."

            "Let's get out of here before it wears off, we can probably make it to Vellweb in two days if we ride hard," Albert waved to Charlie as he tried to keep Seidan under control, the other Winglie sending them off.

~          *            ~

            Lucious, Terain and Rin ran as quickly as they could to the cliff overlooking Vellweb.  They had decided on staying at that area, positive that the strange activity going on would draw their three charges back to it.  Being correct of course, they had spotted the two winglies and former king coming up the steep trail that led around the ruins.  Not wanting to be spotted, Lucious had signaled to the other two that they should head back up to the cliff and hide themselves behind one of the large boulders located behind it.

            "Do you think they saw us Lucious?" panting, Rin bent over herself, hands resting on knees before sliding down the rock face to sit on the ground.

            "No, I'm sure they didn't, just wait here, and stop breathing so hard," Lucious scowled and peeked over the boulder's top.  The three stood at the base of the trail leading down to where the monsters had gathered and thus the mouth of the Vellweb ruins.  They were discussing something, the girl seeming quite peeved and upset, stomping her foot on the ground and flailing her arms about her head violently.  Suddenly, the tallest, the male winglie, turned and stormed down the steep trail, leaving the girl and the former king with the runners.

            Lucious watched as the man disappeared within the ruins, sliding by the monsters without any incident, "Come on, now's our chance!"

~          *            ~

            Lloyd stood silent, merely a few paces inside of the ruins.  He felt completely cured, healthy as ever, and had never been so thankful for feeling good ever before in his life.  The sickness that had once plagued him felt as if it had never existed.  And while that was surprising, what he found inside Vellweb was even more so.  The once ruined and dilapidated structure appeared as new as ever once inside.  The walls were whole and covered in gold and silver crafted scenes of winglies and humans from the beginning of time.  The ground was an ivory color, the winglie insignia carved into it in various sizes, leading a path as far as Lloyd could see.  Floating orbs of light, a slight blue hue, lined the sides of the walls, even though it seemed as though the sunlight could reach through the stone walls with the intense brightness the ruins held.

            Following the path of crescent moon insignias, Lloyd made his way down the hall.  About five hundred paces from the entrance he encountered a set of large double doors.  They reached about three times his own height and were ivory just like the floor.  A large, altered, version of the crescent moon was carved into the planes, red fluid flowing through the grooves, which met at a single slit about shoulder height where the doors met.

            As Lloyd peered closer at the slit, he realized it was large enough for the blade of a slim sword to fit in, not the buster, but rather the one of the size that Meru's father had given him.  As he pulled out the blade, the ruins carved into it glowed and hummed happily, shedding green light across his features and turning the red liquid into a murky black color as he inserted it in the slit.  The doors swung open with a groan, as if they had been closed since the beginning of time.  Lloyd could see nothing beyond the hallway he stood in and so entered, without a word, into the room before him.

            Upon entering, the winglie was met with a high pitched wail, the sung hymn returning full force to his ears, and he was amazed to see that the room was bathed in green light, the same color emitted from the ruins on the sword.  As he walked further into the cavernous expanse, the lights turned to blue, just like the ones lining the hallway.  Yet, even with the glowing orbs, Lloyd found it difficult to see far into the room, trusting that the flowing grooves in the floor would guide him to where he needed to go.  The floor was covered with grooves, all different colored liquids flowing through them, blue, maroon, violet, gold, green, red, white, indigo, and Lloyd finally realized that they were the eight colors representing the different Dragoon colors.  There were others, but not nearly as significant or numerous, orange, brown, and clear, as well as a few others in varying shades of the others mentioned.

            I wonder if that means that there are other Dragoons?  Lloyd surveyed the grooves once more before deciding to follow the black one, the color that the door grooves had turned into.  He didn't have far to walk, merely a few paces, before something huge, stretching from ceiling to ground, flickered into the light.  The top and base of the structure were gold, bulky, and flowing with living metal.  In between the two bases a water-filled, glass orb, the size of two of himself, had been placed.  Bubbles floated through the liquid, a tiny whirlpool at the bottom, and Lloyd realized that the liquid in the grooves was coming form the orb.  Branches of tubes had sprouted from the base and moved into the ground, only to reappear in the grooves.  The liquid inside was the color of water, clear, with a slight aqua tint to it.

            And while that was interesting and could hold one's attention for a long while, what Lloyd seemed to be focused on was the floating figure inside the orb.  It was a clothed woman, age undecipherable due to the younger body, but the feeling of ancient times.  She appeared asleep, golden hair hovering about her sharp-featured face, thin lips, frowning brows, and a gracefully straight nose.  Her chin and cheekbones were sharp and gave her a piercing look, softened only by the fact that she was floating.

            Lloyd recognized the figure immediately; it was the woman from his dreams.  And the woman from his dreams was the God of Destruction.

~          *            ~

            Albert! Meru cried out in her mind before voicing her alarm, "Behind you!"

            The king whirled around and came face to face with a tall violet haired man chanting a spell, hands outstretched before him and aimed at his chest.  Not being able to believe that they were being attacked, from right behind a rock, Meru was slightly stunned before she realized that she should be fighting with her mallet instead of standing and yelling at Albert to watch his back, the King knew how to fight.

            Pulling the weapon out from the holster she had strapped to her back, she charged at the woman who had come to confront her, swinging deftly at her small form.  She dodged easily, to Meru's surprise, and came back at her with a well-aimed kick to the backs of her knees.  Meru tumbled face forward and rolled a few times before stopping herself and leaping back to her feet.  "Hey!"

            The woman said nothing, simply came running back at her, Meru was forced to sidestep the woman, otherwise risking being thrown over the ledge of the cliff.  Albert was faring the same as her, keeping up his own defense but failing to get any hits into his opponent.

            Where did these guys come from!?  On no, and is that a third, what's taking Lloyd so long!  Ah, probably in there testing his strength against the god, it would be just him to try and kill it…

~          *            ~

            He knew he couldn't back down now, this was fate, and he had tried to change it and failed already.  Stepping over the tubes protruding from the base of the structure, Lloyd ran his hands over the flowing metal, trying to find a way to open or drain the orb.  He assumed that he needed to get the woman out of there, revive her or something, but had no idea how to.

            What the bloody hell, I swear… Lloyd mumbled a few choice curses before placing his hand on a humming black orb that looked a lot like a Dragoon Spirit.  The hymn in his head ceased abruptly and the tubes coming from the base enlarged along with the groves in the floor, becoming small streams of color.  The orb was draining.  Lloyd turned around, staring at the floor, a living multicolored stream of loops and curves.  The water was flowing rapidly out of the orb, proceeding to move out of the room entirely, the grooves on the ground crossing to flow along the wall, the liquid somehow able to not splash out.  Forced to blink a few times to adjust to the many brightly colored hues now invading the room, Lloyd's attention was brought back to the orb as a shattering sound was met with shards of glass pelting his back.

            With that noise, the water moved even faster, the streams cracking the floor around them before it collapsed altogether form the pressure.  The base Lloyd was standing upon stayed intact while the room around him began to crumble and fall around him.  The woman inside the orb was still hovering, the liquid dripping from her wet hair and limbs.  Lloyd scrambled to reach her as a significantly large piece of ceiling fell to his left, showering him with dust and large particles of soft marble.

            "Oh, come on, wake up!" Lloyd carefully shook the pale shoulders, impatient for any response and hoping that the hallway leading out to the entrance was not blocked.  The woman failed to move, a slight moan escaping her though as he squeezed her arm a bit too tightly while pulling her body towards him and out of the remains of the orb.  The room around him was suddenly filled with a deep black emptiness.  The light from the raging cracked streams the only color.  The moon insignia seemed to glow in the darkness and as Lloyd looked back at the woman, he was met with a pair of flashing green eyes.  She was staring directly at him, a slight smirk on her sharp features.  Many would have deemed the woman delicate with just a glance, sweet and perhaps even innocent, she was neither.

            The eyes held a laughing look to them, the smirk turning into a full smile that was anything but sweet.  She held her hand out expectantly to Lloyd, waiting patiently for him to take it perhaps, or maybe she expected him to bow or greet her as one did for royalty.  But Lloyd merely stared, she did not seem like the woman from his dream, she was kind, had saved him from the monstrous shadows.  He faltered while reached to the hand, the woman seemed to be struggling with herself, the feral smile turning into a snarl as her hands flew to grab at her hair, a frustrated cry escaping her throat.  The moment passed quickly though, and the woman looked back up as him, panting just slightly and frowning, she seemed upset and spoke the one word Lloyd needed to hear to understand what had just occurred.

            "Soa."

Lloyd nodded, complete understanding dawning on him, the Goddess of Creation had attempted to overtake her body. The woman smiled back at him, happy, eyes closed briefly as she nodded her head once and slid forward gracefully onto the liquid metal base. She was average height, reaching just a touch above his shoulders, with a lean athletes' form. All she wore was a sleeveless brown leather leotard, high-cut up around her hips with a turtleneck that came to a point between her shoulder blades.

It was an eerie moment; Lloyd felt his mind touching her own and knew that she was experiencing the same thing. He understood her completely, though if one asked him to put into words what she was, it would be impossible for him to do so, just as he could feel her sifting through his thoughts and feelings, learning from him. And just as suddenly as he felt this, the darkness receded and the two were back in the collapsing room, standing silently facing one another.

"I am Virage." Lloyd blinked. The tone she used had been a commanding one and she immediately frowned again and licked her lips. She opened her mouth once more and said more slowly, "I…am Virage?" she looked to him for approval, and Lloyd found that most amusing.

 "That is your name?" Virage is an ancient Winglie created monster…a peculiar name.

"Yes, Virage," she was speaking much more normally now, though her tone held a slightness of superiority just as Albert's did, and his own if he thought much about it.

"My name is Lloyd, and as much as I am curious about you, we really must get out of here. Or else I fear we may be trapped inside this place," Lloyd went to move from the platform, expecting Virage to follow him, but she grabbed his arm and shook her head in disagreement.

Virage bent down, placing her palm upon the black orb that had caused the orb to drain, smiling and tracing her fingers over the object in a sort of dazed motion. She didn't seem to notice that the metal that once formed the base was now flowing over her skin and forming what looked to be armor. As the last of the metal moved to different parts of the new 'clothing', the orb dropped into her palm. "It's very…smooth, the sphere."

"Yes I-"

"And cold, I like it, it is most beautiful," Virage smiled up at him again.

"Um…well, yes, that is what most stones and jewels feel like."

"Oh, there are more of these types of things?"

"Yes, a lot…"

"You must show them to me, I like them greatly."

Lloyd remembered that he was to be her guide in Endiness and groaned inwardly, "I suppose, but we really must leave now."

"Alright," Virage, taking the led, gracefully moved through the falling debris as if it weren't even in her way, falling pieces of marble seemed to just avoid her, unfortunately for Lloyd who ended being pelted with the rock. Once they moved through the large double doors, the havoc behind them ceased and Lloyd noticed that the ruins were back to their original state, ruins. The hallway was no longer full and whole, but a mess of crumbled rock and filtered-in sunlight. Virage turned around to face him before turning her face up into the warm light. He hair gleamed, turned even more golden from the suns rays and while Lloyd expected the Goddess of Destruction to be something dark, evil, she appeared to more like a sun sprite.

Soon she put her attention back to Lloyd and walked over to him, placing a cool hand on his cheek as her green eyes searched his own silently. "Do not worry Lloyd," she smiled again, "I dislike Soa just as much as you do, so do not let her fool you. Things are happening for many different reasons, and judging Endiness is only one of them."

"I try not to."

Retracting her hand, Virage bit her lower lip and frowned again, "I have so much to tell you, but it is so very hard to express things in a mortal body, it is very frustrating."            Lloyd smiled at this, remembering when their minds had touched before, "I know, but you'll learn I suppose."

"Of course!" Lloyd took Virage's wrist and led her down the now ruined hallway back towards where Meru and Albert waited.