The next morning the four Light Warriors gathered at the newly finished bridge across the Culligaf River. King Daniel ordered the bridge's immediate completion so the heroes could cross the river to the wilderness on the other side. The town of Pravoka was on the other side as well, and that was as good a town as any to visit, they thought. The king cut the ribbon for the bridge's opening, and the attendees of the celebration (mostly the solders who had built the bridge; the general population of Coneria was exhausted, or hung over, from last night's shindig) cheered. With a few waves and goodbyes, the Light Warriors crossed the bridge and headed off on their quest to relight the orbs.
The monsters in this land weren't the puny imps and wolves of the path to the temple. These were a higher breed of monsters. Giant iguanas attacked them every so often, and the packs of wolves were in much higher numbers than they remembered. Insane wild horses that attacked the group were no walk in the park either, but they were nothing compared to the ogres. The ogres were muscular, eight-foot-tall creatures that resembled humans but were unfortunately four times as strong. The group met only two, and each time they survived only by Aiko's magic, which he quickly exhausted, and Michael's blade.
Surviving all these monsters who wanted them dead wasn't easy, but finding the way to Pravoka was even harder. Logan said she knew Pravoka was a port city, but that didn't help in finding it one bit. After four days of pressing forward aimlessly, fighting off monsters, and crossing a small river with a wobbly bridge, the group saw a huge port city to the south. That had to be Pravoka.
When they strolled inside the town, it was obviously not Coneria. It was easily twice as large, and made up mostly of clapboard buildings arranged haphazardly around the city. For a supposed bustling port, though, it was strangely quiet. Michael asked the only person he saw around, a teenage boy with a blue mohawk, what was going on in this place.
"You must be new here, man."
"Yes, we are. Why isn't more business going on?"
"Bikke and his gang of pirates took over the city. Most people are too scared to even come outside. Bikke closed down the port as well, and this town's dead without all the sailors and merchants, ya know?"
"Thanks for the information, kid."
"Yeah. You have a pretty cool haircut too, old man."
Michael led the group up to the northwest corner of town, where a large man with a long scraggly beard stood proudly looking around the town. He was laughing heartily at the pirates under his command moving crate after crate onto his beloved ship, the Enterprise. Suddenly, he spotted the four walking around freely and walked up to them, his large frame dwarfing them. "What are ye landlubbers doin' 'round here? Ye come to pay yer respects to Bikke?"
Michael asked honestly, "Who's Bikke?"
"I'm Bikke! And I think ye landlubbers need to learn a mite o' respect fer us pirates! Get 'em boys! Show 'em the power o' the mighty pirate army!"
The nine pirates who were loading the stolen cargo onto the ship dropped what they had at the moment and charged straight for the Light Warriors. Michael drew his sword and stabbed one of the pirates leading the charge in the chest, then quickly turned and did the same thing to the pirate beside him. Cadoc twirled nunchucks and knocked the pirate charging at him in the head, sending him flying into a misplaced crate. Aiko sent a lighting bolt at one pirate, and the shock knocked him onto to ground, dead. One pirate went straight for Logan, and actually managed to slice Logan's arm with the blade. The cut, or maybe scrape would be a better word because no blood was drawn, barely phased Logan. Logan clumsily swung the hammer at her attacker, but this blow did quite a bit of harm to the pirate; in fact, it killed him. This fight against the pirates wasn't battle; it was slaughter.
After the warriors made short work of the pirates, Bikke fell at their feet. "Please, forgive me, kind warriors! You can have me ship, just forgive me fer me misdeeds!"
"Will forgiveness bring back your nine friends lying dead on the ground?" asked Cadoc. "They all died for nothing. They trusted you, and you sent them into a battle they had no chance of winning. For nothing!" Michael put a hand on Cadoc's shoulder and tried to calm him down.
"Back off, Cadoc. It's over. Let me handle this."
After Cadoc's outburst, Michael took over negotiated a truce with Bikke. The terms were he give the warriors his ship, give all his stolen goods back to the people of Pravoka, and the citizens of Pravoka could punish or pardon him however they saw fit. Michael decided the group had better get all the supplies they needed before the people of this town decided to throw a party for them as the citizens of Coneria did. A party full of decent, normal city folk was bad enough, but a party with drunken sailors could spell their doom.
Aiko walked into the black magic shop, which took quite a while to find with the city's confusing layout, and looked to see what spells were available. To his dismay, the prices for spells here were higher than the Conerian prices, even if the magic was slightly more advanced. He bought an Ice spell, and saved the rest of his money for something he might need.
Logan walked to the outskirts of the city, where a stone church stood. This was the church she left nearly a month ago; that place she grew up her whole life in. Her conscience swirling from the battle she just participated in, she stumbled in and ran right into her old friend, Mark, the same one who urged her to go on the quest.
"Kyra? You're back?! What's going on?"
"How am I supposed to stand it, Mark? All the killing?"
Kyra quickly told Mark the story of how she got back: her first blood with the battle against the imps, how she'd allowed Michael to kill Garland, and how she actually killed another human being in battle just minutes ago.
"How? I just killed a man! How do I live with that?"
Mark didn't have an answer. He just glared at Kyra for a while, then finally managed to find something to say. He looked away, because he couldn't bear to look at her as he said it.
"Kyra, you're an angel. An avenging angel, sent to destroy evil. You can't do that without getting blood on your hands."
Mark's little words of wisdom didn't seem to help Kyra at all. He tried another approach.
"I guess I can't really help you here. You were taught all your life killing's a sin, and now I'm telling you to go do it. You have to do what you have to do, Kyra. I guess all you could do is just try not to think about it. Kyra, your destiny is to destroy what's wrong so something better can come of it. You can't do that if you're feeling sorry for whatever dark knights and demons you have to slay to do it."
"Thank you, Mark. I'll remember that."
Not knowing how his well-meaning advice could help her, Kyra said her goodbyes to Mark. Once again, she had to leave the safety of the church walls and go out in the world to fight. Kyra stepped out of the church doors, and became Logan again.
A few hours later, the four adventurers met again on the docks. The Enterprise was ready to set sail again, this time with four Light Warriors controlling it. Michael was pretty sure he could pilot the ship, but they still needed a destination.
Cadoc had a suggestion. "Let's sail out of the Pravokan Gulf, then head southeast for ElfLand. From what I heard at the pub, trouble's brewing down there. They might need our help. Besides, where else could we go?"
"We could visit the dwarves, but I have a feeling the elves are a tad bit more important." Michael walked onto the ship. "Let's set sail! Our destination: ElfLand!" Aiko and Logan lowered the skull and crossbones on the mast and raised a banner of a green crown on a white background, the international symbol of peace. Cadoc drew up the anchor, and the Enterprise set sail once again.
Michael stood at the helm of the great ship, piloting the vessel on its course. All the while, he was thinking about how he seemed to have been made the unofficial leader of the group. He was better at negotiating than Cadoc, less apt to avoid necessary battles than Logan, and nowhere near as cold and distant as Aiko. This wasn't some honor to him, just another responsibility. Michael wondered to himself what motivation he had for going on, and it quickly came to him: Anne, his girlfriend back home. He had been in fights with friends over her before, and he'd gladly kill evil demons and save innocent people to see her again.
Cadoc stayed up on the deck of the ship, practicing his punches and kicks on an invisible opponent. Pretty soon, he'd get to where he could do more damage with his fists alone than the nunchucks. Cadoc had a very good reason for the constant training: he knew this quest wasn't going to get any easier. He wanted to be prepared to face the unknown how any obstacle is best faced: head-on.
Logan walked off to herself and tried to think how to take Mark's advice. "Try not to think about it" was easy for him to say. How could she not feel anything during battle, like an assassin or mercenary? The answer suddenly came to her, yet it was so simple: just keep on fighting. Every time she had seen an imp or some other monster fall, she felt less and less. And, she reminded herself, she had never committed murder: the monsters weren't human, Garland was going to die anyway and they had just saved him the pain and suffering, and they were simply defending themselves against the pirates, as any human being is entitled to do. This little justification made her feel a little bit better, enough to sleep through the night.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"In this world are many like me who've killed their emotions. Don't forget that."
- Shadow, FFVI
The monsters in this land weren't the puny imps and wolves of the path to the temple. These were a higher breed of monsters. Giant iguanas attacked them every so often, and the packs of wolves were in much higher numbers than they remembered. Insane wild horses that attacked the group were no walk in the park either, but they were nothing compared to the ogres. The ogres were muscular, eight-foot-tall creatures that resembled humans but were unfortunately four times as strong. The group met only two, and each time they survived only by Aiko's magic, which he quickly exhausted, and Michael's blade.
Surviving all these monsters who wanted them dead wasn't easy, but finding the way to Pravoka was even harder. Logan said she knew Pravoka was a port city, but that didn't help in finding it one bit. After four days of pressing forward aimlessly, fighting off monsters, and crossing a small river with a wobbly bridge, the group saw a huge port city to the south. That had to be Pravoka.
When they strolled inside the town, it was obviously not Coneria. It was easily twice as large, and made up mostly of clapboard buildings arranged haphazardly around the city. For a supposed bustling port, though, it was strangely quiet. Michael asked the only person he saw around, a teenage boy with a blue mohawk, what was going on in this place.
"You must be new here, man."
"Yes, we are. Why isn't more business going on?"
"Bikke and his gang of pirates took over the city. Most people are too scared to even come outside. Bikke closed down the port as well, and this town's dead without all the sailors and merchants, ya know?"
"Thanks for the information, kid."
"Yeah. You have a pretty cool haircut too, old man."
Michael led the group up to the northwest corner of town, where a large man with a long scraggly beard stood proudly looking around the town. He was laughing heartily at the pirates under his command moving crate after crate onto his beloved ship, the Enterprise. Suddenly, he spotted the four walking around freely and walked up to them, his large frame dwarfing them. "What are ye landlubbers doin' 'round here? Ye come to pay yer respects to Bikke?"
Michael asked honestly, "Who's Bikke?"
"I'm Bikke! And I think ye landlubbers need to learn a mite o' respect fer us pirates! Get 'em boys! Show 'em the power o' the mighty pirate army!"
The nine pirates who were loading the stolen cargo onto the ship dropped what they had at the moment and charged straight for the Light Warriors. Michael drew his sword and stabbed one of the pirates leading the charge in the chest, then quickly turned and did the same thing to the pirate beside him. Cadoc twirled nunchucks and knocked the pirate charging at him in the head, sending him flying into a misplaced crate. Aiko sent a lighting bolt at one pirate, and the shock knocked him onto to ground, dead. One pirate went straight for Logan, and actually managed to slice Logan's arm with the blade. The cut, or maybe scrape would be a better word because no blood was drawn, barely phased Logan. Logan clumsily swung the hammer at her attacker, but this blow did quite a bit of harm to the pirate; in fact, it killed him. This fight against the pirates wasn't battle; it was slaughter.
After the warriors made short work of the pirates, Bikke fell at their feet. "Please, forgive me, kind warriors! You can have me ship, just forgive me fer me misdeeds!"
"Will forgiveness bring back your nine friends lying dead on the ground?" asked Cadoc. "They all died for nothing. They trusted you, and you sent them into a battle they had no chance of winning. For nothing!" Michael put a hand on Cadoc's shoulder and tried to calm him down.
"Back off, Cadoc. It's over. Let me handle this."
After Cadoc's outburst, Michael took over negotiated a truce with Bikke. The terms were he give the warriors his ship, give all his stolen goods back to the people of Pravoka, and the citizens of Pravoka could punish or pardon him however they saw fit. Michael decided the group had better get all the supplies they needed before the people of this town decided to throw a party for them as the citizens of Coneria did. A party full of decent, normal city folk was bad enough, but a party with drunken sailors could spell their doom.
Aiko walked into the black magic shop, which took quite a while to find with the city's confusing layout, and looked to see what spells were available. To his dismay, the prices for spells here were higher than the Conerian prices, even if the magic was slightly more advanced. He bought an Ice spell, and saved the rest of his money for something he might need.
Logan walked to the outskirts of the city, where a stone church stood. This was the church she left nearly a month ago; that place she grew up her whole life in. Her conscience swirling from the battle she just participated in, she stumbled in and ran right into her old friend, Mark, the same one who urged her to go on the quest.
"Kyra? You're back?! What's going on?"
"How am I supposed to stand it, Mark? All the killing?"
Kyra quickly told Mark the story of how she got back: her first blood with the battle against the imps, how she'd allowed Michael to kill Garland, and how she actually killed another human being in battle just minutes ago.
"How? I just killed a man! How do I live with that?"
Mark didn't have an answer. He just glared at Kyra for a while, then finally managed to find something to say. He looked away, because he couldn't bear to look at her as he said it.
"Kyra, you're an angel. An avenging angel, sent to destroy evil. You can't do that without getting blood on your hands."
Mark's little words of wisdom didn't seem to help Kyra at all. He tried another approach.
"I guess I can't really help you here. You were taught all your life killing's a sin, and now I'm telling you to go do it. You have to do what you have to do, Kyra. I guess all you could do is just try not to think about it. Kyra, your destiny is to destroy what's wrong so something better can come of it. You can't do that if you're feeling sorry for whatever dark knights and demons you have to slay to do it."
"Thank you, Mark. I'll remember that."
Not knowing how his well-meaning advice could help her, Kyra said her goodbyes to Mark. Once again, she had to leave the safety of the church walls and go out in the world to fight. Kyra stepped out of the church doors, and became Logan again.
A few hours later, the four adventurers met again on the docks. The Enterprise was ready to set sail again, this time with four Light Warriors controlling it. Michael was pretty sure he could pilot the ship, but they still needed a destination.
Cadoc had a suggestion. "Let's sail out of the Pravokan Gulf, then head southeast for ElfLand. From what I heard at the pub, trouble's brewing down there. They might need our help. Besides, where else could we go?"
"We could visit the dwarves, but I have a feeling the elves are a tad bit more important." Michael walked onto the ship. "Let's set sail! Our destination: ElfLand!" Aiko and Logan lowered the skull and crossbones on the mast and raised a banner of a green crown on a white background, the international symbol of peace. Cadoc drew up the anchor, and the Enterprise set sail once again.
Michael stood at the helm of the great ship, piloting the vessel on its course. All the while, he was thinking about how he seemed to have been made the unofficial leader of the group. He was better at negotiating than Cadoc, less apt to avoid necessary battles than Logan, and nowhere near as cold and distant as Aiko. This wasn't some honor to him, just another responsibility. Michael wondered to himself what motivation he had for going on, and it quickly came to him: Anne, his girlfriend back home. He had been in fights with friends over her before, and he'd gladly kill evil demons and save innocent people to see her again.
Cadoc stayed up on the deck of the ship, practicing his punches and kicks on an invisible opponent. Pretty soon, he'd get to where he could do more damage with his fists alone than the nunchucks. Cadoc had a very good reason for the constant training: he knew this quest wasn't going to get any easier. He wanted to be prepared to face the unknown how any obstacle is best faced: head-on.
Logan walked off to herself and tried to think how to take Mark's advice. "Try not to think about it" was easy for him to say. How could she not feel anything during battle, like an assassin or mercenary? The answer suddenly came to her, yet it was so simple: just keep on fighting. Every time she had seen an imp or some other monster fall, she felt less and less. And, she reminded herself, she had never committed murder: the monsters weren't human, Garland was going to die anyway and they had just saved him the pain and suffering, and they were simply defending themselves against the pirates, as any human being is entitled to do. This little justification made her feel a little bit better, enough to sleep through the night.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"In this world are many like me who've killed their emotions. Don't forget that."
- Shadow, FFVI