Hey everybody. It's the silver-haired one again! (Music in back) I know you guys are wanting to kill me by now (sorry guys!) but as I said before, I have an inordinate amount of trouble when it comes to dealing with this story. But, never fear! The DS story is almost through. In fact, I expect this to be the second to last chapter....
The cameos were, in order, a scene from Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter where Ryu, Nina, and Lin were getting chased by Ranger Lieutenants; a scene from the Bloody Roar series with Yugo Ohgami, passing through the glass walkway in the hospital where Kenji and Uriko are currently talking; and the last cameo was from Soul Calibur 2, with Siegfried in half-demon form fighting an army of Fygul Cestemus assassins. The woman at his feet is Isabella Valentine, better known to fans as Ivy, unconscious from a former wound. Tiger got the middle cameo right, but no one else got them... guess it proves what an oddball I am. (cries) For those who have played these games and are wondering what I'm talking about, don't worry; these are either from my stories and/or the dark recesses of my mind, not the games themselves. Kudos to Tiger for one right guess!
Kudos to all my reviewers. You guys are great.
So. Here we go, my friends. Second to last....
"SHOWTIME!"
Chapter 25
And If I Should Fall
Outside Pyron's Encampment. Early Makai night. Three days after journey across Shadowbare.
Dimitri looked to his three companions and knew that if something had to be said, it had to be said now. There was no telling what might happen once the four of them were inside, and it was best to say all one had to say. The vampires, unlike many other races of Makai (Felinos and Incubi especially), had never had many sayings or legends, but they did have one about not saying all you wanted. The legend said that if one died without telling something that had to be said, even though one had been given a chance to say it, the spirit would live on in eternal torment until they finally did tell what they had to.... or the Judgement Day came. Whichever happened first.
Since Dimitri didn't want to wait that long, he started first.
" Everyone," he said, and his three friends looked at him, standing in a rough half-circle with Morrigan at the far end, Felicia to his left, and Jon right in the middle, " this is it. Whatever happens in the next few minutes will decide whether all Makai lives or dies. I'll be honest. I don't think we have much of a chance. But there is still that chance. And you know what? I think that's all that's ever mattered. Evil outnumbers Good, far surpasses it. There are more evil people in this world than we can imagine. And I'm not just talking about big evils, like Pyron and his servants; I'm talking about little evils. Every power-hungry senator who ever walked this land. Every man who ever struck his children or hurt his wife. Every woman who willingly let men into her bed when her husband was gone. Every single weak, mindless, pointless evil in this world. There is so much evil..."
Dimitri raised his head, and above him, the stars that all souls, regardless of race, have always dreamed on shone forever and ever, all in darkness, but still giving light. Dimitri closed his eyes, and somewhere far away, he heard the sound of rain receding. " But that doesn't matter. Because one good man is worth all the evil ones in the world. Because even the weakest light can penetrate the deepest darkness. Because.... Good is a harder path. Because we take that harder path, we are stronger. And God designed it that way, I think. He made it so that Good was the harder path to take. Because if, despite the harshness of the terrain, we still walk that road.... isn't that worth something? Doesn't it mean that we are more than other people? That our love of God and Good overwhelms everything else? Isn't that what it means?..."
He opened his eyes and looked at them. " We are here against all the evil that has ever existed in this world or any other. But that means nothing. Because on our side we have the sadness of our tears, tears we have shed because we have walked the better path. Our cries on the road of the true will far outweigh the childish, mocking laughter evil lets out on the path of the weak. They take a false path. We take a strong one. Maybe that's the real difference between Good and Evil. We can cry tears, tears of beauty.... they can only laugh."
Closing his eyes and drawing in one deep breath, Dimitri said, " If any of you have anything to say to each other, say it now. And let nothing be thought of as being understood without words, lest you find too late that nothing was understood."
Felicia turned to Jon, and said, " I don't want that happening."
Jon, smiling a bittersweet smile, said, " I know. I love you too, Felicia."
" Jon," she said, and wrapped herself around him. A few small tears rolled out of both their eyes. " I love you so much..."
Morrigan looked at them for a moment, caught in their embrace, and then turned her head to Dimitri. Her eyes said everything, but her lips still formed the words.
" I love ye," she said simply.
" And I you," Dimitri said.
They embraced.
Some small, eternal moments later, both couples let go, and turned as one towards Pyron's camp. And they plunged into darkness with courage.
A listener standing there could have heard, somewhere far away, the sound of beautiful teardrops striking the pristine surface of a pure lake. Each made but a few ripples, then the lake was clear.
Pyron jerked his head up, feeling something come into his camp. Some force, some being, was walking in on eight legs, with four heads, four hearts, but one soul. And that force was anathema to his being, water to his flame, light to his darkness. He raised himself up to call to his guards-
Then the surface of his body rippled like water being struck by stones, and he knew no more until Dimitri burst open his door and flooded azure light into the room.
Pyron's Encampment. Same time.
Dimitri and his friends had made an unspoken agreement, in those last few seconds before they entered the camp- there was no way they could avoid a fight. They could sneak in and be caught, or they could walk in and begin battle. And which was the better path? Which way would serve them best?
Or, to take a different route- which path was harder?
Dimitri was at their front. He raised the Ebonrule, and it's flame shone brighter than bright, blue on black, and the force of it was such that the red flames of the torches and fires in the camp shrunk back before it. It's surface ran with watery power, and the entire spear seemed to shake. Dimitri's eyes blazed with fervor, with the fire that possesses those men who are bound to do justice and no more or less.
The first group of guards took one look at him and ran. They left behind their armor, their weapons, and everything they had robbed or pillaged from nearby camps. They fled into the night, unable to stand before such an onslaught.
Though most guards followed their pattern, a single group withstood them. This group was composed of lunatics and Pyron worshipers. Confident in their madness (both mental and religious), they suited up into their robotic armor suits and went to war. The first one was a screaming, raving madman who raised up his armored claw and took a swing at Dimitri. Soon he was a screaming, shrieking madman minus one hand. Dimitri blew in the faceplate of his armored suit with Ebonrule's pointed edge. The other robots soon followed suit, torn apart by Jon's teeth, Felicia's claws, and Morrigan's tentacles. No one else bothered to oppose them.
As Dimitri walked through the camp, he noticed the huge numbers of small women and children gathered as slaves- and with a jolt of insight and disgust so sharp it was almost painful, he saw that they were all female. The men of Pyron's army had been using them for pets and concubines. A black rage so filled Dimitri that his vision clouded over, and for a moment or two he saw nothing but utter destruction all around him. Without meaning to, he activated his psi, and the men running from him and his friends burst into flames. Dimitri didn't notice. Nor did he care. He looked back at his friends, and from the looks on their faces he saw that they, too, had noticed the women all about. Without saying a word, they broke the chains open (Morrigan was particularly vicious in her destruction, shattering chain after chain with her lashing tentacles). Soon they were free, and running north. Why north? Maybe because the men of the camp were all running south, in an unconscious, general fashion. Maybe because north lay Jedah's ragtag army, and some kind of safety. Though one must wonder- how did they know that? Maybe they didn't have to. Maybe someone else knew for them. Maybe someone was guiding them- a someone who could not act directly, but now could guide them.
Dimitri and his friends stomped through the camp, leaving a path of utter destruction in their wake. Enemies and slaves flew before them, each heading their own way, and before long the group was standing before the awesome structure that dominated the camp. It hadn't seemed to even exist, moments ago... and then suddenly, it rose up, dwarfing and mocking the camp. It was as dark as a starless, moonless night, black as the soul of the demon inside and imposing as hell. It cut a black swath across the night sky, and the designs on it (which seemed random at first, but on second glance were revealed as scenes from the darkest pits of Hell) seemed to glow with their own inner light. Dimitri gazed up it's length, and then broke out laughing. It was a mocking, sniggering, cheerful laughter that seemed to make the entire structure shiver.
" I know I said that Good cries while Evil laughs," he said, still chuckling, still grinning, fangs shining in the now-weak firelight of the fast-emptying camp. " But sometimes Good laughs. It laughs when it sees Evil trying to be impressive. Look at all this!" he said, sweeping his hand back, indicating the camp all around them. " It's nothing! We are four against many. There might have been thousands of warriors here. Yet they all fled before us. Their shiny toys and fancy tents have come to mean nothing now! This place is nothing. Evil is nothing. And that's why Evil has all these things and glorifies it's looks- it has to terrify you, it has to impress you. Because if it can't, you might look past the make-up and see how little it really means." Still chuckling, Dimitri put his hand on the cold stone of the castle. He felt some other will strike at him, try to make the stone dark and frightful, to call up images in his mind of nightmares and dreams past.... but he shoved them all away and focused his will. " You might see how weak it truly is."
With one shove Dimitri shattered the illusion of the castle. And it did not fade away, or break apart and disappear in the wind- it just went, as though it never were. And inside that grand illusion, a very small and very plain black box could be seen. Inside, lying dazed on the floor, was Pyron- although the friends could not see that, for the box's only entrance was closed- and their goal. Dimitri stepped forward and placed his hand on the entrance. He looked to his friends, and they nodded. Dimitri seemed to glow with an inner fire, with something in him that could not be stopped. He was like a guided missile that had finally found, after many days of wandering, it's target, and was preparing to deliver one final blow.
Dimitri broke down the door.Pyron's Room. Same time.
Pyron woke up at the same time that Dimitri burst into the room. The strange, disjointed feeling in his body, a feeling that had come from nowhere, came back just as suddenly.
[ Am I real?] Pyron thought strangely, then a surge of hatred and almost insane denial went through him. [ What am I thinking? This is me! I am here! Here!]
Yet that feeling of unreality, of not-thereness, flooded over him.
" What..." Pyron began, but Dimitri silenced him with a look. Pyron's courage faltered. What was this thing before him? What was this mighty thing, wielding a spear he couldn't even see anymore? What was it?....
" For crimes against the people," Dimitri began, an age-old saying that judges used before sentencing a murderer to death, both in his lands and in lands beyond, " for crimes against the soul, and for crimes against the Lord God.... I sentence you to death."
Pyron's eyes widened at this strange opening line, then twisted in a snarl of rage. " What! You, judge me? Come at me, boy! I shall- aah!"
Pyron's arrogance was cut short as Dimitri stabbed forth with the Ebonrule, and struck him in the chest. Pyron jerked and shook like a fish on the end of a hunter's spear.
" What- aaah!" Pyron screamed again, as his body jerked and flailed.
" Killing you isn't enough," Dimitri said. His eyes flared. " You are nothing, mean nothing. It's what's inside you- the curse inside you- that I want."
As Dimitri's friends came into the room, he turned to them and shouted.
" Everyone! Let's heal this world! Let's restore humanity to it's rightful place as one of the Four Races! Let us give vampires the gift of sunrise and dawn- let us give this world a second chance! Let us touch the sky- and hear, once more, the music of the spheres...."
Dimitri pulled with all his might. Pyron's physical body changed into a whirling, burning pool of flame- and the Deeping Dream opened.
They fell....
The Deeping Dream of Hell. No place. No time.
The world burned. It gnashed and raved. A field of open, broken rock lay bleeding, as flames danced all around, as the light was stolen from vampires, as the power was stolen from humans, over and over again, never ending, never stopping, madness for all time.
Dimitri stood up. Behind him, Felicia, Jon, and Morrigan stood as well. And above them, in his true form, Pyron screamed.
" For a new dawn," Dimitri whispered, closing his eyes for a few seconds, then opening them to gaze upon Pyron's true shape.
And even in his stout heart, fear found a home.
-R and R, people! And in one week: the grand finale of Deeping Dream!