Celes leaned on the well. It looked as if she was trying to see what was at the bottom with what little light she had. Stromsburg had just taken the saddle off her chocobo and was re-adjusting the straps and stirrups. Jasom was having a hard time unbuckling his as some of the feathers of his chocobo got painfully stuck in it. The chocobo made irritated grunting noise. Jasom swore under his breath as he struggled with the infernal device that wouldn't come loose.
Stromsburg said, "Need help?"
Jasom acknowledged with a frustrated look, and when he glanced back at her, he caught sight of Celes who was dangerously leaning over the mouth of the well.
"Celes!" he called out.
Stromsburg spun around just in time to see the well swallow Celes whole. "Gods!"
Both heard a splash coming from the bottom of the well.
"Help! Somebody help!" Stromsburg shouted. Two peacekeepers heard her shouts and rushed to the scene.
Jasom leaned over and squinted into the jet black darkness of the well. "Celes!" he called out again, his voice reverberating around the cylindrical chasm.
The two village peacekeepers arrived, shining their lamps over the well. They saw the shimmering bottom of the well that went as deep as fifty feet. There were no signs of the general.
"Find a rope!" Jasom barked. "I'm going down there."
The peacekeepers looked at each other uneasily. "We have none," answered the first.
"What do you mean you have none? Find one!"
"We have no rope," the second peacekeeper insisted sternly.
"Then how in Terrae do you draw water from the well with a bucket?" Stromsburg asked.
"Buckets? We don't do that anymore. We have pumps all over the village. Nobody uses this well anymore except for--" the first peacekeeper started to say but stopped before he finished. "Nobody uses this well anymore," he asserted.
"Our friend is down there and drowning! Just go and--Oh, for crying out loud, I'll do it myself!"
Jasom ran towards the nearest tool shed he could find. When he found out that it was locked, he started kicking the door open.
"Hey! You can't do that!" warned the first peacekeeper as he ran towards him. The peacekeeper tackled him and pinned him on the ground with the help of his companion.
"What are you doing?!" Jasom yelled. "I'm just trying to get my friend out of there!"
Stromsburg came to his rescue. She kicked the nearest peacekeeper on the back with her heel. The peacekeeper dropped to the ground, groaning in pain. Jasom pushed back against the remaining peacekeeper who was momentarily distracted. He followed with a punch to the temple. The last peacekeeper was strong, however. He did not fall as easily. Fortunately, Stromsburg was also there with Jasom.
Stromsburg wrapped her right arm around the peacekeeper's neck from behind and started squeezing. She had been trained with many methods of subduing criminals without actually killing them. This was one of her most effective methods.
The peacekeeper gasped for breath as he tried in vain to reach back free himself. The dark fell on everything like curtains. He started seeing stars. Slowly, the peacekeeper fell on the ground and stayed there. Stromsburg released him and felt for his pulse. He would live.
Jasom's attention was back on the locked shed. He knew that there was nothing he could do to break the lock, but he knew that the door itself was weaker. He started kicking the door in. The wood holding the hinges cracked loudly.
Another kick split the supporting lumber. They opened the wrecked door and started rummaging in the pile of shovels, hoes, pitchforks and other farming implements. There was no rope.
"Don't move!" barked another peacekeeper from behind.
Jasom and Stromsburg faced him and saw that the villager was pointing a loaded crossbow at them. Three more peacekeepers arrived with their weapons drawn. They were surrounded.
"Please! We're not trying to make trouble. We just want to save our friend!"
Lights came on from nearby houses. Farmers opened up their windows and peered out in curiosity.
"What's going on here?!" the mayor's first son asked, enraged, as he himself arrived at the commotion.
"We saw them stealing our tools. And look what they did to Farmer Teeler's sons!" the peacekeeper reported.
Everybody looked at the two subdued peacekeepers. The farmers in the houses were now intrigued. They opened their doors and went out to join the commotion. Half of the village surrounded Jasom and Stromsburg.
"Our friend has fallen in your well. We were just trying to look for a rope! Please help us. There might still be time to save her," Jasom pleaded again.
The mayor's son looked at the well and frowned. The villagers glanced at each other nervously.
"There is nothing that you can do to your friend. It is too late."
"What?!" he exclaimed, dumbfounded.
"There is a river that runs under this very village. The water is quite... violent. We've lost a few of our own this way," the mayor's son explained.
"But... there has to be something that you can do!"
"We won't even risk it. It is far too dangerous."
"I'll go," Jasom volunteered.
"No!" thee mayor's son answered adamantly. "You have broken our law and attacked two of our own. I ought to order my men to detain you. But seeing as how you've lost a friend, I shall be more forgiving.
"I order you to leave our village. Know that we grieve for your loss. But if you ever return here, our peacekeepers will shoot you on sight.
"Take them away!"
Jasom attacked the peacekeeper closest to him, but he was hopelessly outnumbered. They grabbed him by the arms and legs and carried him bodily off the ground. He kicked and struggled in vain, cursing.
"We've come as friends to warn you about the Empire attack tomorrow! And this is how you treat us?!"
The villagers who heard him looked at each other uneasily. They started to whisper among themselves.
Unlike Jasom, Stromsburg did not struggle. Two peacekeepers held her by her shoulders and led the way out of the village. She noticed at how anxious the villagers have become.
"That's right, people! The Empire will attack tomorrow! We've come to warn you, but your mayor would not listen!" she shouted.
"Silence, woman!" the mayor's son commanded. "Your pardon hangs in the balance."
"It's true!" Jasom shouted again. "Tomorrow at sundown, the Empire will mmph--!" The peacekeepers forced his mouth shut.
"You are all in danger!" Stromsburg continued, but didn't take long till somebody gagged her mouth, too.
"What are you folks doing outside your houses? Curfew is in effect. I'll have the lot of you fined if you do not get back in your houses this instant!" the mayor's son threatened.
The villagers reluctantly obeyed, their minds heavy on the dire news.
"The strangers lie! The Empire is not at war with us. Their claims are preposterous!" he explained further with a nervous laugh.
The peacekeepers dragged Jasom and Stromsburg out of the village. Another peacekeeper offered them their saddled chocobos. Jasom was in tears.
"What we tell you is the truth!" he tried to explain, one last time. "Don't let our friend die in vain. Leave the village and save yourselves! At least, save the children!"
The peacekeepers were quiet. Their faces were solemn. The leader stepped forward. "Leave," he said simply, his eyes filled with pity.
Jasom looked at all of them in disgust. Suddenly, he had this feeling that they all deserved to die for letting his friend die in the well. For not even lifting a finger to try and rescue her. For stopping his lone attempt to save her.
"Come sunset tomorrow, I will be the one looking down on the lot of you."
Jasom and Stromsburg took their chocobos and rode into the night.
For two hours, Jasom and Stromsburg wept. Neither talked to each other. The trip seemed to have ended in a tragedy. Jasom had lost a friend. Stromsburg had lost a son. It was only when one of them realized that there was no way for them to return to Vector that they started to ask each other for a plan.
Jasom and Stromsburg were able to leave Vector because they were invisible. That was no longer true. The second they attempt to cross the belt, the Spitfire patrol in the air would open fire on them. Or perhaps, the Magitek Armors stationed on the ground would bombard them with explosive bolts from a mile away.
They stopped on the road and rested. They didn't want to move. They didn't really want to think of a plan. They had been doing that since yesterday morning and they hadn't had any decent sleep or rest.
Jasom tethered the chocobos to a tree in the middle of a grassy field. Stromsburg sat down and leaned against the trunk of the tree to rest. Jasom, on the other hand, laid down on grass, his back, flat on the ground. He stared into the nothingness of the sky and thought.
"You know," he began sounding as casual as he could, "The Empire just lost another general." Jasom laughed. Not because he thought it was funny, but that it was ironic. "Without a general to test, maybe they wouldn't attack the village tomorrow at all!"
Stromsburg didn't say a word of response.
"Maybe Celes wouldn't have died in vain at all," he stated, trying his hardest to sound positive. "But what a sacrifice!"
"What a sacrifice," Stromsburg repeated, her voice soft and thoughtful. "Do you suppose she did it on purpose?"
The thought hadn't really occurred to Jasom. The notion was inconceivably desperate.
And yet... why not? Jasom thought. "She just let herself fall in, didn't she?"
Stromsburg had a sudden look of sorrow in her face. "I didn't know her well enough. But if that is true, she's now an unsung hero, if I've ever seen one."
"Celes was a very rational person. If there was any doubt that her actions would not accomplish anything, then she wouldn't have done so on purpose. I know that much," Jasom replied.
The two fell silent again, still staring up into the sky. There was nothing left on the horizon to look at. The night had conquered that. The haze that prevented the stars from showing cleared slowly starting from the east. Familiar constellations began to show themselves. Jasom noted Bismark the Navigator, to the north, followed by its tamer, Siren of Sea Songs. To the south were the warlords, Bludvick, Skythe, and Magysze--collectively known as the Crusaders of the mythological War of the Magi. To the west was the great, fanged wolf Fenris, whose constellation was only complete if a red full moon situated itself in his mouth. A full moon in its mouth was uncommon enough, let alone a red full moon which would be a physical impossibility for the moon was silver.
Terrato was to the east--an exiled serpent of Terrae. According to legends, it was one of the planet guardians who have failed in its task. As punishment, the great snake was uprooted from its home and forced to stay in the sky where it remained powerless to do anything but watch the ground in longing. The exact crime varied from preventing the assassination of a great king to the betrayal of one of the Goddesses of Magic. A third tale told of Terrato stealing away the Sword of the Ender, Ragnarok, that now hovered precariously above its head.
Jasom enjoyed those stories when he was just a kid. They were written in books and in the night sky. Directly above them was the greatest of all constellations--Alexander. The Knight. The Armor. The Tower.
Borrowing stars from the Crusader and Ragnarok, Alexander the Knight was formed. If one were to join part of Unicorn, Kirin, and Seraphim together, Alexander the Armor would be seen. The third form of the constellation was a mystery. Many books claimed that the third form of Alexander really existed but only at one time. After the War of the Magi, the night sky changed so drastically that the stars have been misaligned. Some were missing, while newer ones emerged. The drastic change had made the visual identification of the third form impossible. Astronomers tried in vain to remap the constellations from old texts. The more they tried, the more they became convinced that Alexander the Tower was nothing but a myth.
Jasom was no astronomer, but that didn't stop him from trying to find the missing form using only his imagination. He had come up with a few possible theories of his own. He reviewed his favorite in his mind. If only the Fenris constellation wasn't in the way, and if one were to borrow certain stars from Titan, Bismark and Ramuh, and fill the Void with well placed imaginary stars, then--
The Void. Where is the Void? Jasom thought as he looked for a distinct spot in the sky where no heavenly body shone. He recalled his star map from memory. South of Bismark, east of the Terrato's tail, north of the Crusaders, and west of Alexander the Knight. Jasom looked carefully and identified the familiar constellations. Try as he might, he could not find the Void. Instead, three unidentified stars shown in perfect equidistant formation where the Void was supposed to be.
Odd. I've never noticed those three before. Though not many imaginative minds could make up creative constellations with just three stars, the 'Triangle in the Void' seemed to be demanding their own identity by their mere presence.
"What are you going to do now?" Stromsburg asked, breaking the silence.
"Me?" he chuckled. "I absolutely have no idea. But I do know that I wouldn't want to be the bearer of bad news to the Empire. They'd kill me."
"I thought as much," Stromsburg muttered. "We're exiles. I should've joined my son."
Jasom sat up and looked at her thoughtfully. "Celes showed me the uglier side of the Empire. Joining the rebels is beginning to sound like a good idea to me."
It was then that Celes decided to speak.
"Traitor! I ought to kill you right now!"
The two of them got up on their feet and faced her way. They saw her dismounting her chocobo.
"Celes?!" Stromsburg said in disbelief.
"General! But... how?!" Jasom's eyes and mouth were wide open. They looked like they had seen a ghost.
Celes stood before them alive and well... and very wet. Her hair hung flat and limp. She didn't wear her disguise. She shivered slightly in the night breeze.
"I know how to save the villagers," she announced, not wasting any more time.