Disclaimer: I own nothing.
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Chapter Eight (Cavalries Arrive):
Felix's groaned. His body ached tremendously, as if he'd been taken apart, limb by limb, taped together, then pulled apart again. Strangely enough, that's almost what happened to them. It seems the gateway was conceived before the most recent Teleport Lapis. They had literally felt their bodies being ripped apart. It would've made some of their numbers hurl, except no one had the stomachs to. Felix stood up shakily, almost falling, but managing to lean against a rocky wall. He stood there for a moment, dazed, but regained his composure. He stretched for a second, hearing several cracks. He walked to Isaac and shook his comrade awake. "Wake up, Isaac." Isaac rolled over and continued his rhythmic breathing. Felix sighed. What should he do?
"Allow me to be of some assistance." Piers spoke up behind him. Felix jumped. He didn't know Piers was awake. "Douse!" Isaac's eyes snapped open and he jumped up. A mistake on his part, because his foot was still asleep. After a few minutes, everyone was awake. Tired, wet, and imagining Piers dead. Sadly enough, their reactions were almost identical to Isaac's.
Kraden led the way out of the catacombs. Behind him, Felix wondered how Kraden had lasted this long. Kraden had traveled all over Angara as a prisoner. Then he went with a boy wanted all over Angara and his "kidnapped" sister along with a girl from Lalivero who was also kidnapped. Then they proceeded to recruit a rogue Lemurian into their numbers. While this was happening, another four was in pursuit of them, intent on impaling Felix for even thinking about it. They had climbed the lighthouses in a race of time, journeyed to numberous islands all over Weyard. They visited Lemuria despite the strong currents and Poseidon blocking their way. They went through caves and catacombs, collecting Djinni and Summons for them, not to mention weaponry and armor fused with psyenergy. They ventured into ruins and rocks in search of powerful psyenergy that would aid them in the future. Then they discovered that three more adepts, possibly as powerful as the four that were chasing them now, were in pursuit of them as well. The old man had quite a heart, for now, he was ready to jump into another adventure, this one probably more dangerous, as they knew almost nothing of what they were getting into. All they knew was light the lighthouses and the elemental stars were in Anemos. They were in a world called Terra, and they needed help.
Kraden looked excitedly at the cliff they were on now, just outside the cave. "Look, everyone!" They looked, and Garet had to jump back to avoid from barfing.
"Is it just me?" He said as he was still green, "Or are those freakin' clouds down there?!"
"Yes!" Kraden confirmed, "And below those clouds seem to be the exact shape of Weyard."
"That is Weyard!" Ivan said unnecessarily. "If you squint, you can almost see Contigo…"
"Well I didn't know enhanced senses were one of your powers, Ivan…" Jenna teased.
"Yeah," Garet stood up, towering over Ivan, "And how do you know that's Contigo? It's in the middle of nowhere!"
"Sheesh, Garet," Ivan pouted, "I was only making a point."
Garet looked guiltily at the ground. The nice, solid ground, he thought.
"Come on!" Kraden called. "There's a vine right over there we could climb." Garet gulped. He prayed silently and desperately that his clumsiness would not kick in anytime soon. They climbed the vine down which was a distance of about ten feet. It seemed like days to Garet, and not even everyone could prevent themselves from looking down and freezing a little in terror. As Garet finally jumped off the vine and onto the ground, he turned around smiling, but almost fainted in shock at what he saw… a rope bridge!"
"Why did it have to be a rope bridge?" He complained the whole way, "Why couldn't it be a wooden bridge? Those are nice and you have less of a chance of falling off!"
"Cheer up, Garet!" Felix said feigning happiness, "At least it's not a lash bridge…" He muttered under his breath. Everyone nodded a little, hearing him and agreeing. "We're almost there!" Felix breathed as he jumped back on solid ground. "Look! It's a clear run across!" Kraden stood next to him, examining the area. Sure enough, it was a clear run, and the fog was just ahead. Next was Jenna, then Piers, Ivan, Mia, and Garet, with a pushing Isaac behind him.
"Let's go!" Felix ran at a sprint with the rest of their numbers following behind. "The sooner we get to Anemos, the better!"
"Wait, Felix!" Mia tried to warn, spotting the crack on the ground just in time, managing to stop Isaac, Kraden, Piers, Garet, and Ivan. Felix kept on jogging as he looked back.
"What's the matter--?" He tried to ask, but the crack gave away, revealing a dark hole. He fell down, followed shortly by Jenna, but she managed to grab onto the ledge.
"Hold on, Jenna!" Piers rushed to her aid, quickly lying on his stomach and grabbing Jenna's small wrists to pull her up. "Help!" Isaac and the others created a chain as they grabbed Piers's ankles and started to pull him back. Jenna started to breathe a sigh of relief as her whole arm managed to make it to the surface, but received a shock as her Golden Circlet slipped off Piers's grip. She fell to the darkness as well. Piers scrambled back to the dark hole, trying to grasp Jenna's hand before she fell, but he missed. Not only that, but his momentum sent him diving back after her. The three adepts were now nowhere to be seen.
"What do we do now?" Ivan asked. "We have to find Felix and the others." Everyone thought for a second, until Kraden spoke up.
"What do you think, Isaac?" He asked their newly appointed leader. "Do we continue or look for the others?"
Isaac pondered for a moment, looking down at the hole where Felix, Jenna, and Piers fell. "They'll be fine." He decided finally, "If they survived the fall, which I'm pretty sure they did, they'll find a way out. When they do…" He looked to the others, "They'll know where to go." Mia sobbed behind Ivan. How could she have let things go so far? Maybe she could've done something. Immediately, she felt Isaac's touch on her shoulder. "Cheer up, Mia." He smiled warmly, but his eyes were sad. "They'll live. They've survived against worse odds. Heck…" He looked to the others trying to be optimistic, "We chased them all over our world! What's a tiny hole gonna do?"
"Oh, I don't know…" Garet said sarcastically, "Kill them?!" Everyone looked to the ground. Of course Garet was right, but they'd rather give their right arms to accept it Felix, Jenna, and Piers could not be dead. They absolutely can't. After all they'd been through, they must have found a way to stay alive.
"C'mon, everyone." Isaac ordered, "We're done here."
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Sure enough, Isaac was right. Below them, Felix was stirring. He looked up groggily, now even more sore. He jumped back alarmed at the sight of Piers on top of Jenna. "You little fuck!" He cursed as he conjured Grind to make a piece of rock jolt up sending the two flying. Jenna landed on her back, but got up painfully on her knees. Piers landed on his feet, ready for action, but let his guard down as he saw Felix. "I can't believe you just tried to seduce my sister!" Felix ranted as he sent down Spires after another after Piers. Piers could only wheeze as he darted back and forth to avoid getting a rock drilled into his head.
"Stop!" Jenna gasped as she tackled her older brother. She was stronger than he thought. "Felix didn't try to seduce me! He tried to save me!"
"Oh?" Felix said angrily, "He sure as hell wasn't doing a good job of it!"
"No, you idiot!" Jenna smacked Felix on the head, "He must've fell after the circlet slipped out of my wrist."
"Huh?" Felix looked questioningly at her. "What do you mean?"
"I managed to grab onto the ledge after we fell!" Jenna explained impatiently, "Piers grabbed on to my wrist, but the circlet slipped off along with his grip! He must've fell after that!"
"Oh…" Felix said stupidly. "I'm—…"
"Are you quite finished?" Piers interrupted between breaths. Felix nodded sheepishly and apologized quickly. Piers merely nodded and stood in front of Jenna. "I believe this belongs to you…" He handed her the Golden Circlet in his right hand. "Felix, you should've known better, having traveled with me for some time, that I would not, in any way, take advantage of Jenna." He added sternly to the Venus Adept. "Besides, the age difference there is quite tremendous. I'm older than Kraden."
Felix just nodded, not even asking for Piers's age, because he knew he wouldn't answer. "Sorry." He apologized again, sincerely.
"I acknowledge your apology by not retaliating for your stunt earlier…" Piers muttered grumpily. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to find a way out of here."
"Yeah," Felix agreed, spotting a door nearby. "Let's go!" He led, followed by Jenna and Piers. They ran up what seemed like a million staircases. It seemed Terra had a thing for them, for he heard the story of Crossbone Isle from Garet once, while he was drunk. The big oaf had said that the Isle had numerous staircases. Of course, it might have been exaggerated. He wouldn't be surprised if it was. It was Garet after all.
"Look!" Jenna screamed in delight. "Light!" Sure enough, as Felix looked up and squinted, there was light at the end of the tunnel. They rushed out of the cave to find that they were just near the rope bridge.
"Come on, everyone! I don't know where Isaac and the others are, but I have no doubt that they're in there!" He pointed to the fog that engulfed everything.
"Hmmm…" Piers looked intently at it. "They might've defeated the god by now. I don't know how long we were out."
"Take no chances." Felix cautioned, "We have to hurry, but grab onto someone! We have to stick together." Everyone nodded as they held hands. "Let's go!" Felix led them into the fog.
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Isaac was hurled back crashing into a boulder painfully. The battle ahead was intense. Zeus didn't even receive damage until Ivan summoned Thor. In front of him, Ivan and Garet were fighting side to side in perfect rhythm as Mia ran to him healing his back. Isaac was no ready to jump back into the fight. Kraden collected rocks and started throwing them at Zeus. "Judgment!" Isaac summoned. He looked to the angel of the apocalypse in delight as Garet and Ivan jumped back with one final blow. Zeus looked at the angel boredly… that is until it shot off a ball of light with it's cannon right at his head. Zeus found himself kissing the ground a moment later as explosions erupted around him. Now he was pissed…
Mia cheered, but it died in her throat as she saw Zeus get up angrily. "Wish!" She cast, as everyone used psyenergy until their Djinni were ready for action again.
"Eruption!" Garet called.
"Spark Plasma!" Ivan yelled.
"Mother Gaia!" Isaac jumped in.
The reaction was immense. As Garet's Eruption opened up the ground, and started spewing out lava, Isaac's Mother Gaia made the opening wider, also sending out the power of the Earth. Zeus was engulfed by the power of Mars and Earth while lightning continually struck him. It seemed as if the god had been defeated. They all breathed a sigh of relief as they sat down, exhausted. However, Zeus got up shakily behind them. He roared an unearthly battle cry that made the group pale. They turned around quickly only to meet Zeus's mighty fist. They were smacked bodily into the boulder. As the fist retreated, the four dropped to their knees and then to the ground, clutching weakly for consciousness. There was so much blood.
"Take that!" Kraden raged as he threw rocks hard at Zeus's back. "And that! And that! And…" He ran out of rocks. Zeus scratched his back annoyed. He started towards Kraden as the old man circled around to hide behind the boulder. "Uh-oh…"
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A cycle beam pushed Zeus to the side like a rag doll. It cleared some of the fog as it went. A quick flash of a blade rose from the ground and came down with the force of a meteorite. "Megiddo!" Felix called as it came down on the dazed god.
"Diamond Berg!" Piers charged forward and performed some astounding moves. Kraden watched in awe as Zeus howled in pain.
"Meteor!" Jenna summoned. A barrage of unearthly rocks came down on Zeus hard. Explosions erupted all over his body and huge blisters formed. The battle was taking its toll on him. Not only had he exhausted his psyenergy with the last fight, but now these three were just as strong.
"Boreas!" Piers called.
"Judgment!" Felix summoned beside him. The two summons tag teamed on Zeus, sending the god flying and landing on the ground with a loud thud.
"Thunder Fist!" He cast at the three. The three were shocked. It was still fighting? A huge fist made of electricity flew at them, catching them unaware. It sent Piers and Felix flying and they flew at Jenna, who was slammed to the ground by their bodies. Zeus dragged himself forward wearily. He stood, looking down on them. Pathetic little mortals, thinking they could defeat a god.
"THOR!" A faraway voice screamed into the air. The fog cleared as a solitary bolt of lightning descended from the sky and hit Zeus head on. Zeus jumped back in pain. In front of him, the mighty god of Thunder stood, identical to the one that hit him earlier. Only this time, he seemed more powerful. Thor slammed his hammer's end on the ground, sending bits of rock flying. The hammer charged and lightning erupted from it, sending massive amounts of damage at Zeus's direction. Zeus could only stare wide eyed at its fate. It struck him in the temple and he jumped up. As he did so, he disappeared off the face of the earth. If he had stayed, he would've noticed that Thor had gone back to where it had been contained.
The eight people stood up, ignoring the pain. All they could do was look at the newcomer wide eyed. With a dazzling new Shaman's Cloak and powerful rod, she stood at an overhang near the battlefield.
"Sheba!" They greeted. Some, more loudly than others. They ran to meet her, Felix in the lead. They had been reunited, and together, they took on another god. Sheba's stern look disappeared and turned to a wide grin as Felix grabbed her in a bear hug, spinning her around. Everyone waited patiently, but crowded around her as she stopped spinning. A shadow nearby alerted them. They raised their blades and staffs ready for battle, but Sheba tried to stop them.
"These your friends?" Sir Arthur asked. He had long shaggy brown hair with a brown beard. "They don't look too tough." They all frowned. "But we all know looks can be deceiving. Never have I seen such power… and you're all so young!"
"Thank you." Kraden grinned. Everyone laughed. Piers laughed along, knowing full well that he was well over twice Arthur's age.
"Why didn't you tell me you had such power, Sheba?" Sir Arthur chuckled. "I might've reconsidered your imprisonment."
"You imprisoned her?" Felix looked at him incredulously, unsheathing his Sol Blade. Sheba grabbed his arm, holding him back.
"Calm down, boy." Sir Arthur said soothingly. "If she had appeared to you as she did to my party, you would not have thought differently."
"What's he talking about, Sheba?" Felix asked her, "How did you get here?"
"I'll explain later, once we go back to Anemos." She stated slowly. "Come on." She led the way, holding on to Felix beside Arthur. The fog started to clear and up ahead, they could see it. The city in the sky. The city of Anemos.
