Chapter Twenty-five
The Next Day; Zamo Basin; Early Morning
Fratley found progress to be exceedingly slow. It was not because they were being attacked, however. It was because Fratley wanted to be sympathetic was Wanderer. Wanderer walked swiftly, but Fratley could see that it was taking energy, and by the end of one travelling day, Wanderer was exhausted. Not wanting to be a tyrant, Fratley decided to come out early, giving Wanderer some time to rest.
"You don't need to do this. I can walk," Wanderer protested. He was lying on soft grass, for Vivi had melted away the snow.
Fratley looked over at Wanderer. The 28-year-old probably would've been considered sitting completely normal if it weren't for the fact that his left leg was held outward. His right leg was in an average bent position. Beside Wanderer's left side was his walking stick. Landloper sat near his owner's left, watching for any sudden moves.
"Is something wrong with your leg?" Fratley asked.
"Oh no, not at all," Wanderer said immediately. "It's just sore."
"Just sore? I doubt it," Fratley replied.
"It no sore! But it no broken! What wrong with it?" Cleo asked.
Kitski glanced over at Wanderer with a look that clearly said she knew what was wrong. Wanderer looked away. He stared at Landloper and began to scratch the dog behind the ears.
"I can't feel it," Wanderer muttered quietly.
"Can't feel it? Are you saying it's paralysis?" Fratley asked.
"Perhaps so," Wanderer said. "It will move, but I can't command it to move, if you understand what I am saying. For example..."
Wanderer shifted to rise to his feet. He took his walking this and placed it on the ground. Then, using his right leg, he rose to his feet. He then moved to fall to his knees. It took until he was very close to the ground before his left leg finally suddenly moved.
"It'll move," Wanderer said. "But not with cooperation."
"Does it hurt?" Fratley asked.
"Slash it," Wanderer replied.
"What?" Fratley asked.
"Take your spear and cut it," Wanderer said, moving into a comfortable sitting position.
Fratley took his spear. Then, nervous of hurting Wanderer, he lightly slashed Wanderer's left leg. A little blood came from the cut, and Wanderer didn't wince.
"No, it doesn't hurt. I can't feel a thing," Wanderer replied. "I can't even feel the blood."
Fratley stared with surprise. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because when you're a warrior, it's not smart to tell of these things. I can fight and run and jump perfectly fine, as I'm sure you all have noticed, and I'm extremely nimble in the water. But that doesn't matter to many," Wanderer replied.
"Good point. It matters here, not because we don't want you fighting, but because we don't want to exhaust you. If you get tired, just let me know," Fratley said.
Wanderer smiled. "Thank you, but that won't be necessary. Getting to Burmecia swiftly is far more important than my health."
"No. Fratley knows what he is saying," Kitski growled, saying something for the first time since they left. "When you grow older, that other leg of yours is going to hurt a lot. The less you use it, the less it'll hurt in the outcome. We will rest."
Wanderer found he had no complaint. He merely nodded slightly. Within ten minutes, however, the party was on the move.
"Something's wrong."
Freya was woken by Amarant's gruff voice, and she quickly understood what he meant. The ground was shaking. She rose into a sitting position.
"Demons?" she asked.
"No," Amarant replied. "Worse."
"Oh no," Freya muttered.
Quickly Freya leapt to her feet and took out her Heavy Lance. She was relieved to see everyone else awake and ready to fight. Below them, the ground was shaking roughly. Eiko and Dominic lost their footing and fell to the ground. Amarant also had trouble standing, though he only fell to his knees. Meander and Freya were both able to stand perfectly still.
Suddenly the ground exploded a few feet away, and Leviathan came out of the ground with a mass explosion of water. The serpent screamed angrily, his red eyes focused on Freya. Freya's eyes narrowed. She spun her spear about.
"I'm healthier this time, you stupid worm!" Freya screamed.
Leviathan screamed at her, apparently insulted. He then slithered forward at an incredible speed and snapped at Freya. Freya leapt in the air and out of the way. Amarant slashed at Leviathan's side just as the serpent snapped for Freya's rising body. Finding Amarant to be a worse threat, Leviathan hissed and snapped for the man. Amarant ran out of the way. As he did, Meander passed through the path Amarant had once been in the way of. Meander slashed at Leviathan's side with his mysterious sword. Leviathan screamed angrily, but soon he was even angrier, as Freya's spear slammed into his head.
Leviathan shook madly, dislodging Freya's spear. His tail lashed out and slammed into Amarant, who went flying straight into Dominic. The two toppled to the ground. Meander suddenly vanished into thin air, but he quickly appeared near Eiko seconds later. Freya landed on top of Leviathan's head. Leviathan tipped his head upward suddenly, causing Freya to fly in the air. He opened his mouth to swallow Freya as she came down.
A fire spell slammed into Leviathan's eye, and the serpent thrashed with pain. Freya landed on his head once again, but this time the serpent's thrashing threw her off immediately. She slammed into the ground, just managing to slide past her spear and not over it. Eiko had her flute to her lips, as if ready to call something. Meander shook his head at her, muttering that it wasn't needed.
Amarant and Dominic had risen to their feet by this point. Amarant rushed toward Leviathan, who was slowly coming back to his senses. Freya had risen to her feet as well, and she picked up her spear. Dominic watched as she ran toward Leviathan as well.
Leviathan noticed what was happening. Just at the last minute, he slithered out of the way. Amarant and Freya collided with each other. Dominic couldn't help but laugh as Amarant and Freya fell over. Freya quickly leapt to her feet and gave Amarant an aggravated kick. She then rushed toward Leviathan. Mumbling curses under his breath, Amarant rose to his feet as well and watched as Freya leapt in the air. She slammed her spear into the upper portion of Leviathan's body. Hissing with aggravation, the bleeding serpent lifted his fanned tail and used it to smack Freya to the ground.
Amarant rushed forward and slashed at Leviathan's side at the same time a fire spell nailed the same area. Both Amarant and Leviathan were hit. Meander smirked.
"Whoops," he muttered with a bitter chuckle.
Amarant, apparently, had not taken the fire spell well. Eiko quickly cast a Cura spell. The only problem was that Amarant was so close to Leviathan that the Cura spell cured both Amarant and Leviathan. Amarant cursed under his breath while Leviathan hissed with happiness and slithered toward Freya. Freya found she could only shake her head with disbelief at the stupidity of the whole situation. Then, sighing, she lifted her hand.
"Power of the heavens, send the dragon's breath!" she shouted.
A dragon's head appeared in the dirt, and it sent fiery breath on Leviathan. Leviathan screamed with pain. He was soon screaming even more when Amarant dug his claws into Leviathan's side. A fire spell nailed Leviathan in the back of the head. The serpent hissed with frustration. He then slowly vanished.
A few seconds passed. Meander then started laughing.
"That was insane! Are we awake yet? What were we doing?" Meander asked, laughing.
"I don't know," Freya muttered. "I think we were just a little stupid that time."
"Why didn't you stop moving?" Amarant asked. "You can slow down quicker than I can."
"I didn't see you coming," Freya replied. "Why didn't you move out of the way of the fire spell?"
"I didn't see it coming," Amarant replied.
"There you have it," Freya replied. She paused. "Well, now that we are awake, shall we head off? Burmecia is only a day away."
No one objected. Clearly everyone wanted to get back to civilization. Nodding silently to each other, the team headed off.
Within a few hours, Freya found her good mood to be crushed. For standing in front of her was the entrance to Gizumaluke's Grotto. For quite some time she stared at the entrance to the Grotto while her team entered. Then, with a soft sigh, she entered.
The Burmecians had made a desperate attempt to clean up the Grotto. They removed the bodies, cleaned up the tossed over barrels and supplies, and desperately tried to clean up the water. But some things couldn't be taken away. Dried blood still stained parts of the floor and walls. Some of the water still ran red. The place smelled of blood and death.
Most of the group walked through the desolate place with no troubles. But Freya's mood was dragged down the farther she walked into the Grotto. Everything brought back catastrophic memories. Freya's walked slowed, and she sighed softly. Everything was simply too depressing.
After what seemed like years, the end of the Grotto was reached. But Freya didn't like the look of the water that once held Gizumaluke. The water was a reddish brown color, and it reeked with decay.
"What's in there?" Meander asked with disgust.
Freya slowly walked over to the murky waters and looked within them. Her nose wrinkled with disgust, while her eyes grew sad. She turned away.
"Nothing but the remains of a Master," Freya muttered quietly as she walked out of the Grotto.
Meander gave her a confused look, then looked into the waters. His eyes widened, but he said nothing.
At the bottom of the murky pools were the decaying remains of Gizumaluke. The waters were slowly eating him away.
A few hours progress brought not only slightly warmer weather, but also a new traveler. The sun in his eyes annoyed Fratley, but soon he was distracted as he immediately recognized a Burmecian heading toward them. The Burmecian looked injured.
"Oh no," Fratley muttered, and before anyone could ask what was wrong, he ran over to the other Burmecian.
Rose had seen Fratley coming, and she stopped walking. She was exhausted, angry, and hurt. But seeing Fratley alive and well shocked and delighted her.
"What happened?" Fratley asked.
"Step one when Ebon rules," Rose managed to say, as her energy suddenly left. "Never return to Burmecia after one threat."
Before Fratley could even begin to ask, Rose collapsed. Kitski walked over.
"What happened?" she asked, kneeling down beside Rose.
"I'm not sure," Fratley replied. "But something is very wrong in Burmecia. Something about Ebon rules..."
"Ebon is the new king of Burmecia," Wanderer supplied, slowly walking over to Fratley. "Rose got mad at him, and apparently tried to speak her mind. This is what she got. She went to Freya, told her what was happening, then returned to Burmecia. Then she really got walloped and chose to try Alexandria. Then we found her."
Fratley was so surprised that he didn't even ask how Wanderer knew everything.
"She'll be all right," Kitski said. "I can give her a few simple potions and she'll be okay in no time. We'll probably be stuck here for the rest of the day though."
Fratley nodded. "Let's set up camp then."
Normally Fratley would've been frustrated. He would've been complaining about losing time and not getting to Burmecia in time. But it was his mother that needed care, and it didn't matter anymore to Fratley. If they had to stay in the middle of the wilderness for a week, he would.
And something within his mind told Fratley that Freya would do the same thing.
------ Bah, school needs to die! Because of it I couldn't update... Grrrr! =( Sorry, I was loaded with a ton of work for the past few weeks, and it's not over. I'll try to update, but I haven't been able to write until tonight! I'm so sorry, and I'm very tried of making excuses! Please bear with me!
This story is copyright to me. Some characters, locations, events, and Gaia in general are copyright to SquareEnix.
The Next Day; Zamo Basin; Early Morning
Fratley found progress to be exceedingly slow. It was not because they were being attacked, however. It was because Fratley wanted to be sympathetic was Wanderer. Wanderer walked swiftly, but Fratley could see that it was taking energy, and by the end of one travelling day, Wanderer was exhausted. Not wanting to be a tyrant, Fratley decided to come out early, giving Wanderer some time to rest.
"You don't need to do this. I can walk," Wanderer protested. He was lying on soft grass, for Vivi had melted away the snow.
Fratley looked over at Wanderer. The 28-year-old probably would've been considered sitting completely normal if it weren't for the fact that his left leg was held outward. His right leg was in an average bent position. Beside Wanderer's left side was his walking stick. Landloper sat near his owner's left, watching for any sudden moves.
"Is something wrong with your leg?" Fratley asked.
"Oh no, not at all," Wanderer said immediately. "It's just sore."
"Just sore? I doubt it," Fratley replied.
"It no sore! But it no broken! What wrong with it?" Cleo asked.
Kitski glanced over at Wanderer with a look that clearly said she knew what was wrong. Wanderer looked away. He stared at Landloper and began to scratch the dog behind the ears.
"I can't feel it," Wanderer muttered quietly.
"Can't feel it? Are you saying it's paralysis?" Fratley asked.
"Perhaps so," Wanderer said. "It will move, but I can't command it to move, if you understand what I am saying. For example..."
Wanderer shifted to rise to his feet. He took his walking this and placed it on the ground. Then, using his right leg, he rose to his feet. He then moved to fall to his knees. It took until he was very close to the ground before his left leg finally suddenly moved.
"It'll move," Wanderer said. "But not with cooperation."
"Does it hurt?" Fratley asked.
"Slash it," Wanderer replied.
"What?" Fratley asked.
"Take your spear and cut it," Wanderer said, moving into a comfortable sitting position.
Fratley took his spear. Then, nervous of hurting Wanderer, he lightly slashed Wanderer's left leg. A little blood came from the cut, and Wanderer didn't wince.
"No, it doesn't hurt. I can't feel a thing," Wanderer replied. "I can't even feel the blood."
Fratley stared with surprise. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because when you're a warrior, it's not smart to tell of these things. I can fight and run and jump perfectly fine, as I'm sure you all have noticed, and I'm extremely nimble in the water. But that doesn't matter to many," Wanderer replied.
"Good point. It matters here, not because we don't want you fighting, but because we don't want to exhaust you. If you get tired, just let me know," Fratley said.
Wanderer smiled. "Thank you, but that won't be necessary. Getting to Burmecia swiftly is far more important than my health."
"No. Fratley knows what he is saying," Kitski growled, saying something for the first time since they left. "When you grow older, that other leg of yours is going to hurt a lot. The less you use it, the less it'll hurt in the outcome. We will rest."
Wanderer found he had no complaint. He merely nodded slightly. Within ten minutes, however, the party was on the move.
"Something's wrong."
Freya was woken by Amarant's gruff voice, and she quickly understood what he meant. The ground was shaking. She rose into a sitting position.
"Demons?" she asked.
"No," Amarant replied. "Worse."
"Oh no," Freya muttered.
Quickly Freya leapt to her feet and took out her Heavy Lance. She was relieved to see everyone else awake and ready to fight. Below them, the ground was shaking roughly. Eiko and Dominic lost their footing and fell to the ground. Amarant also had trouble standing, though he only fell to his knees. Meander and Freya were both able to stand perfectly still.
Suddenly the ground exploded a few feet away, and Leviathan came out of the ground with a mass explosion of water. The serpent screamed angrily, his red eyes focused on Freya. Freya's eyes narrowed. She spun her spear about.
"I'm healthier this time, you stupid worm!" Freya screamed.
Leviathan screamed at her, apparently insulted. He then slithered forward at an incredible speed and snapped at Freya. Freya leapt in the air and out of the way. Amarant slashed at Leviathan's side just as the serpent snapped for Freya's rising body. Finding Amarant to be a worse threat, Leviathan hissed and snapped for the man. Amarant ran out of the way. As he did, Meander passed through the path Amarant had once been in the way of. Meander slashed at Leviathan's side with his mysterious sword. Leviathan screamed angrily, but soon he was even angrier, as Freya's spear slammed into his head.
Leviathan shook madly, dislodging Freya's spear. His tail lashed out and slammed into Amarant, who went flying straight into Dominic. The two toppled to the ground. Meander suddenly vanished into thin air, but he quickly appeared near Eiko seconds later. Freya landed on top of Leviathan's head. Leviathan tipped his head upward suddenly, causing Freya to fly in the air. He opened his mouth to swallow Freya as she came down.
A fire spell slammed into Leviathan's eye, and the serpent thrashed with pain. Freya landed on his head once again, but this time the serpent's thrashing threw her off immediately. She slammed into the ground, just managing to slide past her spear and not over it. Eiko had her flute to her lips, as if ready to call something. Meander shook his head at her, muttering that it wasn't needed.
Amarant and Dominic had risen to their feet by this point. Amarant rushed toward Leviathan, who was slowly coming back to his senses. Freya had risen to her feet as well, and she picked up her spear. Dominic watched as she ran toward Leviathan as well.
Leviathan noticed what was happening. Just at the last minute, he slithered out of the way. Amarant and Freya collided with each other. Dominic couldn't help but laugh as Amarant and Freya fell over. Freya quickly leapt to her feet and gave Amarant an aggravated kick. She then rushed toward Leviathan. Mumbling curses under his breath, Amarant rose to his feet as well and watched as Freya leapt in the air. She slammed her spear into the upper portion of Leviathan's body. Hissing with aggravation, the bleeding serpent lifted his fanned tail and used it to smack Freya to the ground.
Amarant rushed forward and slashed at Leviathan's side at the same time a fire spell nailed the same area. Both Amarant and Leviathan were hit. Meander smirked.
"Whoops," he muttered with a bitter chuckle.
Amarant, apparently, had not taken the fire spell well. Eiko quickly cast a Cura spell. The only problem was that Amarant was so close to Leviathan that the Cura spell cured both Amarant and Leviathan. Amarant cursed under his breath while Leviathan hissed with happiness and slithered toward Freya. Freya found she could only shake her head with disbelief at the stupidity of the whole situation. Then, sighing, she lifted her hand.
"Power of the heavens, send the dragon's breath!" she shouted.
A dragon's head appeared in the dirt, and it sent fiery breath on Leviathan. Leviathan screamed with pain. He was soon screaming even more when Amarant dug his claws into Leviathan's side. A fire spell nailed Leviathan in the back of the head. The serpent hissed with frustration. He then slowly vanished.
A few seconds passed. Meander then started laughing.
"That was insane! Are we awake yet? What were we doing?" Meander asked, laughing.
"I don't know," Freya muttered. "I think we were just a little stupid that time."
"Why didn't you stop moving?" Amarant asked. "You can slow down quicker than I can."
"I didn't see you coming," Freya replied. "Why didn't you move out of the way of the fire spell?"
"I didn't see it coming," Amarant replied.
"There you have it," Freya replied. She paused. "Well, now that we are awake, shall we head off? Burmecia is only a day away."
No one objected. Clearly everyone wanted to get back to civilization. Nodding silently to each other, the team headed off.
Within a few hours, Freya found her good mood to be crushed. For standing in front of her was the entrance to Gizumaluke's Grotto. For quite some time she stared at the entrance to the Grotto while her team entered. Then, with a soft sigh, she entered.
The Burmecians had made a desperate attempt to clean up the Grotto. They removed the bodies, cleaned up the tossed over barrels and supplies, and desperately tried to clean up the water. But some things couldn't be taken away. Dried blood still stained parts of the floor and walls. Some of the water still ran red. The place smelled of blood and death.
Most of the group walked through the desolate place with no troubles. But Freya's mood was dragged down the farther she walked into the Grotto. Everything brought back catastrophic memories. Freya's walked slowed, and she sighed softly. Everything was simply too depressing.
After what seemed like years, the end of the Grotto was reached. But Freya didn't like the look of the water that once held Gizumaluke. The water was a reddish brown color, and it reeked with decay.
"What's in there?" Meander asked with disgust.
Freya slowly walked over to the murky waters and looked within them. Her nose wrinkled with disgust, while her eyes grew sad. She turned away.
"Nothing but the remains of a Master," Freya muttered quietly as she walked out of the Grotto.
Meander gave her a confused look, then looked into the waters. His eyes widened, but he said nothing.
At the bottom of the murky pools were the decaying remains of Gizumaluke. The waters were slowly eating him away.
A few hours progress brought not only slightly warmer weather, but also a new traveler. The sun in his eyes annoyed Fratley, but soon he was distracted as he immediately recognized a Burmecian heading toward them. The Burmecian looked injured.
"Oh no," Fratley muttered, and before anyone could ask what was wrong, he ran over to the other Burmecian.
Rose had seen Fratley coming, and she stopped walking. She was exhausted, angry, and hurt. But seeing Fratley alive and well shocked and delighted her.
"What happened?" Fratley asked.
"Step one when Ebon rules," Rose managed to say, as her energy suddenly left. "Never return to Burmecia after one threat."
Before Fratley could even begin to ask, Rose collapsed. Kitski walked over.
"What happened?" she asked, kneeling down beside Rose.
"I'm not sure," Fratley replied. "But something is very wrong in Burmecia. Something about Ebon rules..."
"Ebon is the new king of Burmecia," Wanderer supplied, slowly walking over to Fratley. "Rose got mad at him, and apparently tried to speak her mind. This is what she got. She went to Freya, told her what was happening, then returned to Burmecia. Then she really got walloped and chose to try Alexandria. Then we found her."
Fratley was so surprised that he didn't even ask how Wanderer knew everything.
"She'll be all right," Kitski said. "I can give her a few simple potions and she'll be okay in no time. We'll probably be stuck here for the rest of the day though."
Fratley nodded. "Let's set up camp then."
Normally Fratley would've been frustrated. He would've been complaining about losing time and not getting to Burmecia in time. But it was his mother that needed care, and it didn't matter anymore to Fratley. If they had to stay in the middle of the wilderness for a week, he would.
And something within his mind told Fratley that Freya would do the same thing.
------ Bah, school needs to die! Because of it I couldn't update... Grrrr! =( Sorry, I was loaded with a ton of work for the past few weeks, and it's not over. I'll try to update, but I haven't been able to write until tonight! I'm so sorry, and I'm very tried of making excuses! Please bear with me!
This story is copyright to me. Some characters, locations, events, and Gaia in general are copyright to SquareEnix.