Chapter Four :: Only For a Moment
Johnathan stood in a void that was dark, and utterly chilled - but not totally devoid of other things. A presence was there, and as he looked around, shapes took form; a ground below, a rising mast, rotted wood that decays with the ebb and flow of time. The "sky" - if you could call it that - was a shade of twilight only caught at special moments in time and lost again, a moment of deepest melancholy as the day itself dies.
He pushed the hair from his eyes quickly, scanning around for that dreadful presence he could feel almost into the pit of his soul. Like a sickened disease, it felt like it writhed within, yet was totally without, and started taking form at the bow of the ship that had manifested itself below his feet.
Tall, sleek, dressed in reds and pale as any cloud, with impressive wings stood a woman who easily could have been confused for a Holy Angel - but his gut instinct told him she was far from that. He subconsciously knew this thing - this demon - and it seemed to know him just as well.
"Chalthriem. a name that sounds familiar. a surprise to cross one I did not intend to beyond the ties of the mortal world, in the land where men can only dream of their desires. and we can whisper promises of a truth to them to blind them." Her voice was like pure Ryozan Silk, smooth, yet a cacophony of dissention to his ears. It was like watching the world through a broken mirror, hearing and witnessing one thing, but knowing another within. It was disorientating, and he only could hope this was nothing but a dream.
"Who are you. what- what do you want?" he asked, shaking his head to try and clear the confusion raving within.
"Altima, the Holy Angel of Lucavi, supreme leader of them and most powerful of all. As for what I want, it certainly wasn't you . your soul- it's not the one I wanted to haunt. You're near him though. Why I crossed you is - wait. Chalthriem. Yes... I know now. But this matter is nothing you need concern yourself; you have no place in our business. Not now, not ever. Forget me, unless you wish your soul to be cast to eternal damnation like those around you. We Lucavi will torment your existence forever should you cross my words."
"That matters not here," he said, pressing the issue. "I don't fully grasp your words, but I won't forget this - you speak with a tongue of honey, but your words are like poison to me. You look like an Angel from Heaven as I've heard in some circles, but you make my soul retreat as though you were a demon. I've heard that word. Lucavi."
"Heed my warning, unless you wish to suffer the same fate as those you know and lose just as much." She vanished then, and as she did, the world around him shattered - imploded - without her will. He woke then in a cold sweat in his own bed, the dark of night still holding tight as the first light tried to break out. He could hear faint noises, and rose, dressing quickly, his mind awash with thoughts and memories. He only had to take a few steps forward in that dream-like world and touch her to know - but was afraid he might be scalded, or die at the mere touch. Something about her was alluring - yet highly repulsive at the same time.
He cracked open his bedroom door and spied what the main source of noise was - Alma, sitting in a rocking chair, rocking gently, eyes closed. On a makeshift bed slept Agrias, the blonde knight's sleep seemingly restless as his was only moments ago. A fleeting thought made him wonder whether this Altima had been after her, but dismissed it. She did not seem the type the angel wanted.
"Alma, are you alright?" he asked in a low whisper as he walked out, startling her. As her eyes opened he caught sight of tears in her eyes, and it hurt him to see her so upset. He crossed the distance as she stood, drying her eyes and embraced her carefully. "What's wrong?"
"It - it was nothing but a dream, Johnathan," she said, holding him back. "A dram of things I wish I could forget."
"Funny you should mention dreams. I had one just now. and. yet it wasn't a dream."
She looked up at him, perplexed slightly. Agrias stirred slightly, and Alma shook her head. "Let's go to the back porch and talk." They snuck through the kitchen quietly, avoiding disturbing the colossus that was Worker 8 as they walked through. They stopped just outside the back door, the stars above twinkling in the sky above like so many jewels.
"So what was it?" Johnathan asked. "Was it someone named "Altima"?"
Her eyes went wide, her cheeks paled in the faint light. "How - how do you know that name? How do you know of my dream?" She sounded frightened, worried, and mostly - flat-out scared.
He looked out over the fields, releasing a breath he had held in as she had responded. "Because that "Altima" seemed to come into my dreams uninvited, unwanted, and talked to me. about looking for someone. But it must not have been you, because you are awake, and had a dream already."
They heard something faint, and Alma shook her head. "Ramza then. I woke him once form the dreams and it was not pleasant. So I've learned not to interrupt them. If what you speak is. no. No."
"What is Altima? What does she want? She seems so convincing and like honey, but she feels like a sickness to my soul and a discord to the mind."
"Altima was - is - the leader of the Lucavi. They were what Ramza ended up fighting in the battle against the Glabados church. The Lucavi were possessing members of the church in their goals. And Ramza was involved because I - I was the suitable host of Ajora - for Altima herself, linked through him. Since that day when he raised, when everything went upside down, and we thought we defeated them - I - we - have had nightmares, of those times, of when that happened, and our aftermaths." She swallowed. "I was possessed, but managed to break free - but . oh, the power, the sheer darkness - Oh Johnathan it haunts me so, and it wakes me form sleep so often, and still scares me. I cannot believe the Church did what it ahs done to us - Ramza and I - when all that occurred. No one has questioned. We have only suffered."
"But Altima was in my dream. she spoke to me. I don't know all she meant, but she mentioned something about suffering of those around me. I - she seems to be upto something. And her words about tempting. what exactly are Lucavi?"
"Ramza would know more - I only caught slivers of whatever Vormav would speak with any of the others. It was nonsense to me - I wanted to be free, back with my brother Ramza. But I do not know if he would be willing to divulge it, but we can see. I- with Aquarius missing from Worker 8, there is the possibility a stone with a Lucavi is free - and potentially in the wrong hands. It would not take much for the Lucavi to rise again - we did not destroy them completely. We were ill prepared for that task. We could only do what had been done before, and seal them in the stones." She sighed.
"So then what do the Lucavi want?"
"Our world." Alma shook her head. "If Altima is causing the nightmares, and not our own memories, then something is going on. Everyone's scared of that possibility; no one's liking the prospect of going through that again. We all had our own battles to fight even after the combat ended to win. And its something no one wants to relive. I don't. I spent days afterwards crying once we had returned to Ivalice. Before we came to you."
Johnathan nodded, sobered by the hints of what was and what could be. He always knew Alma as a strong girl, capable and steady with little bothering her. If something bothered her this much - trauma aside - then it was something to worry about. Altima had jarred something in his mind with a terrible shock, but he could not place what. However, they could only wait until the dawn and everyone being awake before they could truly delve into the matter at hand.
Johnathan stood in a void that was dark, and utterly chilled - but not totally devoid of other things. A presence was there, and as he looked around, shapes took form; a ground below, a rising mast, rotted wood that decays with the ebb and flow of time. The "sky" - if you could call it that - was a shade of twilight only caught at special moments in time and lost again, a moment of deepest melancholy as the day itself dies.
He pushed the hair from his eyes quickly, scanning around for that dreadful presence he could feel almost into the pit of his soul. Like a sickened disease, it felt like it writhed within, yet was totally without, and started taking form at the bow of the ship that had manifested itself below his feet.
Tall, sleek, dressed in reds and pale as any cloud, with impressive wings stood a woman who easily could have been confused for a Holy Angel - but his gut instinct told him she was far from that. He subconsciously knew this thing - this demon - and it seemed to know him just as well.
"Chalthriem. a name that sounds familiar. a surprise to cross one I did not intend to beyond the ties of the mortal world, in the land where men can only dream of their desires. and we can whisper promises of a truth to them to blind them." Her voice was like pure Ryozan Silk, smooth, yet a cacophony of dissention to his ears. It was like watching the world through a broken mirror, hearing and witnessing one thing, but knowing another within. It was disorientating, and he only could hope this was nothing but a dream.
"Who are you. what- what do you want?" he asked, shaking his head to try and clear the confusion raving within.
"Altima, the Holy Angel of Lucavi, supreme leader of them and most powerful of all. As for what I want, it certainly wasn't you . your soul- it's not the one I wanted to haunt. You're near him though. Why I crossed you is - wait. Chalthriem. Yes... I know now. But this matter is nothing you need concern yourself; you have no place in our business. Not now, not ever. Forget me, unless you wish your soul to be cast to eternal damnation like those around you. We Lucavi will torment your existence forever should you cross my words."
"That matters not here," he said, pressing the issue. "I don't fully grasp your words, but I won't forget this - you speak with a tongue of honey, but your words are like poison to me. You look like an Angel from Heaven as I've heard in some circles, but you make my soul retreat as though you were a demon. I've heard that word. Lucavi."
"Heed my warning, unless you wish to suffer the same fate as those you know and lose just as much." She vanished then, and as she did, the world around him shattered - imploded - without her will. He woke then in a cold sweat in his own bed, the dark of night still holding tight as the first light tried to break out. He could hear faint noises, and rose, dressing quickly, his mind awash with thoughts and memories. He only had to take a few steps forward in that dream-like world and touch her to know - but was afraid he might be scalded, or die at the mere touch. Something about her was alluring - yet highly repulsive at the same time.
He cracked open his bedroom door and spied what the main source of noise was - Alma, sitting in a rocking chair, rocking gently, eyes closed. On a makeshift bed slept Agrias, the blonde knight's sleep seemingly restless as his was only moments ago. A fleeting thought made him wonder whether this Altima had been after her, but dismissed it. She did not seem the type the angel wanted.
"Alma, are you alright?" he asked in a low whisper as he walked out, startling her. As her eyes opened he caught sight of tears in her eyes, and it hurt him to see her so upset. He crossed the distance as she stood, drying her eyes and embraced her carefully. "What's wrong?"
"It - it was nothing but a dream, Johnathan," she said, holding him back. "A dram of things I wish I could forget."
"Funny you should mention dreams. I had one just now. and. yet it wasn't a dream."
She looked up at him, perplexed slightly. Agrias stirred slightly, and Alma shook her head. "Let's go to the back porch and talk." They snuck through the kitchen quietly, avoiding disturbing the colossus that was Worker 8 as they walked through. They stopped just outside the back door, the stars above twinkling in the sky above like so many jewels.
"So what was it?" Johnathan asked. "Was it someone named "Altima"?"
Her eyes went wide, her cheeks paled in the faint light. "How - how do you know that name? How do you know of my dream?" She sounded frightened, worried, and mostly - flat-out scared.
He looked out over the fields, releasing a breath he had held in as she had responded. "Because that "Altima" seemed to come into my dreams uninvited, unwanted, and talked to me. about looking for someone. But it must not have been you, because you are awake, and had a dream already."
They heard something faint, and Alma shook her head. "Ramza then. I woke him once form the dreams and it was not pleasant. So I've learned not to interrupt them. If what you speak is. no. No."
"What is Altima? What does she want? She seems so convincing and like honey, but she feels like a sickness to my soul and a discord to the mind."
"Altima was - is - the leader of the Lucavi. They were what Ramza ended up fighting in the battle against the Glabados church. The Lucavi were possessing members of the church in their goals. And Ramza was involved because I - I was the suitable host of Ajora - for Altima herself, linked through him. Since that day when he raised, when everything went upside down, and we thought we defeated them - I - we - have had nightmares, of those times, of when that happened, and our aftermaths." She swallowed. "I was possessed, but managed to break free - but . oh, the power, the sheer darkness - Oh Johnathan it haunts me so, and it wakes me form sleep so often, and still scares me. I cannot believe the Church did what it ahs done to us - Ramza and I - when all that occurred. No one has questioned. We have only suffered."
"But Altima was in my dream. she spoke to me. I don't know all she meant, but she mentioned something about suffering of those around me. I - she seems to be upto something. And her words about tempting. what exactly are Lucavi?"
"Ramza would know more - I only caught slivers of whatever Vormav would speak with any of the others. It was nonsense to me - I wanted to be free, back with my brother Ramza. But I do not know if he would be willing to divulge it, but we can see. I- with Aquarius missing from Worker 8, there is the possibility a stone with a Lucavi is free - and potentially in the wrong hands. It would not take much for the Lucavi to rise again - we did not destroy them completely. We were ill prepared for that task. We could only do what had been done before, and seal them in the stones." She sighed.
"So then what do the Lucavi want?"
"Our world." Alma shook her head. "If Altima is causing the nightmares, and not our own memories, then something is going on. Everyone's scared of that possibility; no one's liking the prospect of going through that again. We all had our own battles to fight even after the combat ended to win. And its something no one wants to relive. I don't. I spent days afterwards crying once we had returned to Ivalice. Before we came to you."
Johnathan nodded, sobered by the hints of what was and what could be. He always knew Alma as a strong girl, capable and steady with little bothering her. If something bothered her this much - trauma aside - then it was something to worry about. Altima had jarred something in his mind with a terrible shock, but he could not place what. However, they could only wait until the dawn and everyone being awake before they could truly delve into the matter at hand.