Again the four Light Warriors strolled into the eerie Northwest Castle to meet King Taoso. Logan removed the crown from inside her robe and handed it to Michael. As Michael led the four into the throne room, the king's eyes glittered when he saw the crown. Michael walked up, bowed before the king, and presented the crown to him.
"We have returned with the crown, Your Majesty."
"Good job. Let me give you your reward!" Taoso pulled a small, clear crystal out of his pocket. "Now that I have both the crystal and the crown, I will become all-powerful!"
The king's human features slowly changed to elfin before the warriors' very eyes, his ears elongating and coming to a point. Then, his skin faded to a sickening blue-gray as his flesh seemed to shrink away, leaving only wrinkled skin and bones. What was this beast?
"I am Astos, the Dark Elf! You fools did my dirty work for me!" the creature that called itself Astos cackled. "Allow me to thank you!" Michael ducked as a scimitar swung over his head. Astos tried again to lob Michael's head off, but the warrior was able to parry the blow with his own broadsword. Michael thrust for the dark elf's chest, but Astos quickly dodged to the right. The broadsword, however, made a terrible slice into Astos's left arm.
"A flesh wound!" screeched the evil elf in pain. "Time to stop playing around with you idiots!" Suddenly, Cadoc saw Astos's scimitar spinning through the air straight toward him. Cadoc dodged the blade, while a fireball formed in Aiko's hands and flew back at Astos. The blazes barely seemed to phase him as he cast his next spell.
"Rub!"
Michael flashed purple for a second, then fell over unconscious. Logan dashed into the battle in order to help her downed comrade. She quickly took a life potion from her robe and poured it into Michael's mouth. His eyes opened, but he still lay flat on the stone floor in a weakened state. As she began to chant a healing spell, she nodded at the others to carry on the battle.
Aiko shot a lightning bolt at Astos. The dark elf was knocked up against the wall, where he retaliated with an lightning spell of his own. Aiko stumbled over his own black robe trying to jump out of the way of the lightning bolt, and the shock hit him in the back with full force. He crumpled to the ground in pain.
Astos began to laugh at the fallen mage when he received a punch in the stomach from Cadoc. The enraged monk then delivered a fierce uppercut, followed by a swift kick and a few well-placed jabs to head. Astos started wobbling back and forth when Cadoc reared back and socked the elf in the face as hard as he possibly could, knocking him against the stone wall and cracking his skull.
Michael got back to his feet, helping up the stunned Aiko up as well. Looking over the body of the fallen demon, Michael spotted a clear crystal. He pocketed it, along with crown they worked so hard to retrieve for this false monarch.
"Guys, we can't do anything else here. Let's head back to ElfLand."
That night, every sat awake around the campfire, thinking about the events of the past few days.
"We were used," mused Cadoc as took to removing the bandages from a nasty wolf bite a few days ago. "That Dark Elf got us to do his bidding."
"But we thought..." began Michael.
"I know we thought he was really in need of our help. And because heroes always help out people who say they need it, they get used."
"Isn't our destiny to help people?" asked Logan, wondering what Cadoc was getting at.
"I'm just saying we should be careful who we trust. We need to be finding out how to revive the orbs, not playing hero."
"Maybe if we just go along with fate and fight evil, we'll figure out how to relight the orbs along the way," suggested Logan.
"You can talk philosophy all you want, I'm going to sleep."
After Michael and Cadoc drifted off, Logan couldn't help but look at Aiko, who was staring at his spellbook as if it were some holy text. Did she dare ask him why he saved her? There were so many things that didn't make any sense. Finally, she decided to ask.
"Aiko, back in the cave, why did you save me like that?"
Aiko shut the book and adjusted his hat. "I had to. I couldn't just let one of the people I'm traveling with die."
"Why didn't you just use magic?"
Aiko paused for a second. "I don't know. My instinct was to protect you, and I wasn't thinking about magic at the time." He looked at Logan. She seemed to that believe that. After all, it was the truth to a certain extent.
"So, Aiko," Logan continued, "you haven't told us anything about yourself."
"What do you want to know?"
"Where are you from? Why did you become a black mage?"
Aiko never wanted to hear those questions again. "Why does it matter?" he managed.
"It's just strange you keep so many secrets from us."
"We all have our secrets, don't we?"
Logan winced. "I suppose so. Anyway, would you like to know a little about me?"
"Who's stopping you?"
"Okay. There's really nothing much to say. At birth, my parents gave me to the church to raise."
"You never knew your parents?"
"No. I was raised by the church. When I turned fifteen, I decided I wanted to be a healer, so the high priest began teaching me the art of white magic. Any school of magic takes years to learn, so six years later, I'm fairly competent at white magic. Anyway, a few weeks before I left I started having these intense longings to leave on a journey. Brother Mark had enough foresight to see I was one of the Light Warriors convinced me to go on this quest."
"I see... thank you for the story."
"Oh, Aiko, one last thing. Could you... take off your hat? All this time I've been wanting to see your face."
"Will you take that hood off your head?"
Logan didn't say anything. If she removed her hood, her long beautiful hair would give her away. Her face and soft voice were bad enough, but then Aiko would see enough to finally realize she was of the feminine gender. She had to find a way out of this.
Aiko spoke first. "I see. I'll just let you owe me another favor."
Aiko took off his steepled mage's hat. His face was quite possibly the most beautiful thing Logan had ever seen. His dark brown hair, his skin tone... Every feature seemed as it should belong to some heavenly archangel. His eyes were a different story. Something about his dark brown eyes didn't match the rest of his emotionless face. Aiko put the hat back on after a few seconds, again shrouding his face in darkness.
Two days later, the warriors arrived in ElfLand again, and were met at the gate of the castle by Minister Aureus. "Warriors! Our scholars have found what will reawaken the prince! The only thing that could save him from Astos's curse is a plant called the sylvan herb. If you could only find a sylvan herb, we would be eternally grateful."
"We shall return with the herb, sir."
It was back to the town to find out where one of these herbs might be. By sheer luck, the little old man in the potion shop knew his crazy old sister Matoya, who lived in a cave on the far north end of the continent, grew the herbs because she liked the taste of them. Everyone sighed. They knew where the herbs were now , but it looked like another good week's worth of walking and fighting was in the works before they could get their hands on one.
As the Light Warriors left town and headed toward Sylvan Harbor and the waiting Enterprise, Michael took the crystal he got out of his pocket and looked at it. Why in the world did Astos care about this little piece of quartz, and what use could it possibly have?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"How does it feel to know you've been working for us?"
- Kefka, FFVI
"We have returned with the crown, Your Majesty."
"Good job. Let me give you your reward!" Taoso pulled a small, clear crystal out of his pocket. "Now that I have both the crystal and the crown, I will become all-powerful!"
The king's human features slowly changed to elfin before the warriors' very eyes, his ears elongating and coming to a point. Then, his skin faded to a sickening blue-gray as his flesh seemed to shrink away, leaving only wrinkled skin and bones. What was this beast?
"I am Astos, the Dark Elf! You fools did my dirty work for me!" the creature that called itself Astos cackled. "Allow me to thank you!" Michael ducked as a scimitar swung over his head. Astos tried again to lob Michael's head off, but the warrior was able to parry the blow with his own broadsword. Michael thrust for the dark elf's chest, but Astos quickly dodged to the right. The broadsword, however, made a terrible slice into Astos's left arm.
"A flesh wound!" screeched the evil elf in pain. "Time to stop playing around with you idiots!" Suddenly, Cadoc saw Astos's scimitar spinning through the air straight toward him. Cadoc dodged the blade, while a fireball formed in Aiko's hands and flew back at Astos. The blazes barely seemed to phase him as he cast his next spell.
"Rub!"
Michael flashed purple for a second, then fell over unconscious. Logan dashed into the battle in order to help her downed comrade. She quickly took a life potion from her robe and poured it into Michael's mouth. His eyes opened, but he still lay flat on the stone floor in a weakened state. As she began to chant a healing spell, she nodded at the others to carry on the battle.
Aiko shot a lightning bolt at Astos. The dark elf was knocked up against the wall, where he retaliated with an lightning spell of his own. Aiko stumbled over his own black robe trying to jump out of the way of the lightning bolt, and the shock hit him in the back with full force. He crumpled to the ground in pain.
Astos began to laugh at the fallen mage when he received a punch in the stomach from Cadoc. The enraged monk then delivered a fierce uppercut, followed by a swift kick and a few well-placed jabs to head. Astos started wobbling back and forth when Cadoc reared back and socked the elf in the face as hard as he possibly could, knocking him against the stone wall and cracking his skull.
Michael got back to his feet, helping up the stunned Aiko up as well. Looking over the body of the fallen demon, Michael spotted a clear crystal. He pocketed it, along with crown they worked so hard to retrieve for this false monarch.
"Guys, we can't do anything else here. Let's head back to ElfLand."
That night, every sat awake around the campfire, thinking about the events of the past few days.
"We were used," mused Cadoc as took to removing the bandages from a nasty wolf bite a few days ago. "That Dark Elf got us to do his bidding."
"But we thought..." began Michael.
"I know we thought he was really in need of our help. And because heroes always help out people who say they need it, they get used."
"Isn't our destiny to help people?" asked Logan, wondering what Cadoc was getting at.
"I'm just saying we should be careful who we trust. We need to be finding out how to revive the orbs, not playing hero."
"Maybe if we just go along with fate and fight evil, we'll figure out how to relight the orbs along the way," suggested Logan.
"You can talk philosophy all you want, I'm going to sleep."
After Michael and Cadoc drifted off, Logan couldn't help but look at Aiko, who was staring at his spellbook as if it were some holy text. Did she dare ask him why he saved her? There were so many things that didn't make any sense. Finally, she decided to ask.
"Aiko, back in the cave, why did you save me like that?"
Aiko shut the book and adjusted his hat. "I had to. I couldn't just let one of the people I'm traveling with die."
"Why didn't you just use magic?"
Aiko paused for a second. "I don't know. My instinct was to protect you, and I wasn't thinking about magic at the time." He looked at Logan. She seemed to that believe that. After all, it was the truth to a certain extent.
"So, Aiko," Logan continued, "you haven't told us anything about yourself."
"What do you want to know?"
"Where are you from? Why did you become a black mage?"
Aiko never wanted to hear those questions again. "Why does it matter?" he managed.
"It's just strange you keep so many secrets from us."
"We all have our secrets, don't we?"
Logan winced. "I suppose so. Anyway, would you like to know a little about me?"
"Who's stopping you?"
"Okay. There's really nothing much to say. At birth, my parents gave me to the church to raise."
"You never knew your parents?"
"No. I was raised by the church. When I turned fifteen, I decided I wanted to be a healer, so the high priest began teaching me the art of white magic. Any school of magic takes years to learn, so six years later, I'm fairly competent at white magic. Anyway, a few weeks before I left I started having these intense longings to leave on a journey. Brother Mark had enough foresight to see I was one of the Light Warriors convinced me to go on this quest."
"I see... thank you for the story."
"Oh, Aiko, one last thing. Could you... take off your hat? All this time I've been wanting to see your face."
"Will you take that hood off your head?"
Logan didn't say anything. If she removed her hood, her long beautiful hair would give her away. Her face and soft voice were bad enough, but then Aiko would see enough to finally realize she was of the feminine gender. She had to find a way out of this.
Aiko spoke first. "I see. I'll just let you owe me another favor."
Aiko took off his steepled mage's hat. His face was quite possibly the most beautiful thing Logan had ever seen. His dark brown hair, his skin tone... Every feature seemed as it should belong to some heavenly archangel. His eyes were a different story. Something about his dark brown eyes didn't match the rest of his emotionless face. Aiko put the hat back on after a few seconds, again shrouding his face in darkness.
Two days later, the warriors arrived in ElfLand again, and were met at the gate of the castle by Minister Aureus. "Warriors! Our scholars have found what will reawaken the prince! The only thing that could save him from Astos's curse is a plant called the sylvan herb. If you could only find a sylvan herb, we would be eternally grateful."
"We shall return with the herb, sir."
It was back to the town to find out where one of these herbs might be. By sheer luck, the little old man in the potion shop knew his crazy old sister Matoya, who lived in a cave on the far north end of the continent, grew the herbs because she liked the taste of them. Everyone sighed. They knew where the herbs were now , but it looked like another good week's worth of walking and fighting was in the works before they could get their hands on one.
As the Light Warriors left town and headed toward Sylvan Harbor and the waiting Enterprise, Michael took the crystal he got out of his pocket and looked at it. Why in the world did Astos care about this little piece of quartz, and what use could it possibly have?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"How does it feel to know you've been working for us?"
- Kefka, FFVI