The title sucks, i know... Sorry about the light years that i haven't posted up a new chapter.. I was having my rest break! Summer holidays are meant to be full of laying in bed all day. (for lazy little me anyway..) Well, here's the next chapter, and the background explanation on Terra... and (gasp) Garland's past!
Chpt 12 : The Power of Impulse
"Aww man! I swear if I pull out another octopus tentacle I'm gonna flip!!!" The fisherman leaning over the side of his fishing vessel; 'Mist-Walker', pulled over another slimy chunk of octopus, covered in ink. His fellow fisherman approached him.
"Hey, man! Keep those chunks! That octopus must have been huge!!" He picked up the fleshy chunk in his hands and admired it with fascination. "Oh, your such a pessimist.. We could get loads of money for this at home!!"
"Ha! In Daguerreo?! All them scholars will look at it and turn their noses up!" The pessimistic fisherman laughed.
"Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions.." The other fisherman scowled.
"Yeah, whatever old man.. huh?" The pessimistic fisherman felt the net pull hard. "If this is another octop -"
"Oh, shut-up and just PULL!" Both of the fishermen pulled the net slowly but surely. They had either got a big fish or something else completely..
"A monster!!! AHHH!" The pessimistic fisherman took one look in the net and sped off into the cabin.
"Come back, you fool! It's a human.. with a horn?" The wiser fisherman by the net pulled the 'human' over and inspected it.
"Oh well. It looks like a boy to me.." The pessimist came over and crouched a few feet away.
"I think it's obvious.. would girls wear that hairstyle? Plus, his face looks like a boy's aswell." The wiser fisherman put his ear against the horned human's chest and listened closely for a heartbeat.
"Well?"
"Shh!"
"Sorry.."
"Wait!! He's got a heartbeat! Quick! Help me pull him into the centre of the deck!" The wiser and pessimist fishermen pulled him into the middle of the 'Mist-Walker' and the wiser put his hands on the boy's chest and pushed them up and down hard, trying to get his heart to beat a little faster.
"Is it working?" The pessimist asked with concern. The wiser continued for a second before pausing. The boy's eyes fluttered before he shot straight up off the floor and threw up seawater.
"That's it, lad. Get it all out of your chest.." The wiser patted the boy on the back.
"T-Thanks... Huh? Where am I? Who are you? Where is everyone?" The boy looked around in a panic.
"Calm down, lad. You must have been in a ship wreck of some kind.."
"S-Ship wreck? I remember an octo -"
"An octopus!! I knew it!! That's where all the pieces came from!!" The pessimist jumped up and down in excitement.
"Oh for the Water-Dragon's mercy, would you shut up?!" The wiser fisherman barked at the pessimist, who promptly silenced himself. "Now, what's your name, lad?"
"Huh? My name is Darson. Darson of Mandain Sari." Darson rubbed his head gingerly.
"Who's son of what when?" The pessimist asked confused.
"Just shut up, you idiot." The wiser fisherman gave the other fisherman a quick but sharp slap round the back of the head. Darson looked at the two squabblers and shook his head.
"Do you two know where we are?" Darson inquired.
"Yeah, we're three miles off the island and settlement of Daguerreo. That's near about umm.." The wiser fisherman used his fingers to count something. "..Hmm about nearly a hundred miles from the southern peninsula of the Forbidden continent." He finished happily.
("I floated that far?!") Darson panicked. "Have you seen anyone else in the water?!"
"Well.. wasn't there that other fisherman, Robinson, who found a boy with a horn like Darson's here?" The wiser turned to the pessimist.
"Yeah, but he was dead. They said that they also found lots of ship boards and a few more like the dead one. They were also dead, been crushed by something, or drowned.. or the shark's got em'." The pessimist sighed.
("They must have been my friends from Mandain Sari!!") Darson's head was overcome by numbness through loss. ("I wonder what happened to Dagger, Mariah, Sarah and Iifa? Were they killed? Why am I so far from the docking point?!")
"Hey, lad. You should go into the cabin and rest for a bit. You're in shock, boy." The wiser fisherman patted his back and sent him into the dark cabin. Darson quickly collapsed onto some blankets and let sleep engulf him.
************************
"Mister Garland, sir!" Eiko called from the eye of the Invincible. "I found Kuja! I found him!" Garland and Mikoto rushed over to the purple haired summoner, jumping up and down in excitement with all four of her eidolons behind her.
"Where is he?!" Garland barked.
"He's back on Terra, sir! He has Mariah with him too!" Eiko added a hint of worry to her young voice. Mikoto and Garland looked at each other and nodded.
"Umm, what's going on? Are we going to rescue Mariah?" Eiko asked the two Terrans. Garland laughed.
"I don't think so! She's more likely to help his evil schemes than stop him!" He beckoned them both to the control room. "I also highly suspect that you 'friend' Mariah has led Kuja to Sarah.. which means.."
"The Assimilation is in danger!" Mikoto finished hysterically, putting her hands over her pale face.
"Indeed.. If Sarah dies to Kuja's hands... Iifa will turn against Terra, believing that Kuja's actions were my intention.." Garland stroked his beard before thinking hard. "Where is Iifa?"
"According to the Invincible's readings, he is inside Ipsen's Castle, heading for the portal." Mikoto tapped away on the Invincible's controls. "He will be entering Terra within the hour."
"Excellent. Iifa is sure to stop Kuja if Sarah is involved.. We have to be there too! Mikoto!"
"Yes, master?"
"Head the ship for Terra! The Assimilation will begin soon!"
************************
Darson awoke slowly, his vision making swirling patterns with his surroundings. A beautiful face appeared leaning over him, she had raven hair and looked awfully familiar...
"W-Where am I?" Darson spoke out, still trying to focus his eyes.
"In Daguerreo.. south of the Forbidden Continent." The beautiful face spoke, revealing a perfectly toned voice. "Are you okay now?" Darson's memory came back as fast as lightening, the Gigan Octopus, the Sussurus, the two fisherman.. news of his friends' death...
"Dagger?!" He bolted upright, recognising the attentive teenager who he had just spoken to.
"Phew, I'd thought you'd lost your memory for a second there.." Dagger sighed brushing some of Darson's hair from his forehead.
"How did we end up here?" Darson questioned Dagger, who thought for a moment before replying.
"It turns out that fisherman picked up loads of people around the shores near here, two of which being me and you.." She sighed again, obviously relieved to see someone familiar. "Most of your summoner friends are dead.. I saw their bodies at the dock.. I...I-I'm sorry Darson.. I really am.." She started to cry for him, she had always hated to see loss. Darson remained silent as she wept. He thought of how close they were to docking the ship, and how everything had gone so wrong.
"It seems fate has given me and you a separate paths from the others.." Darson rose to his feet, seeing the townscape of Daguerreo around them.
"What do you mean?" Dagger wiped her tears away.
"I mean that they are gone. I will mourn for them once this whole dilemma is settled." Darson said, emotionless. "We know that Iifa plans to destroy this world... I don't know about you, but I don't want that to happen.."
"I don't either, Darson, but how do we get to where he is? Even so, where is he?" Dagger confronted. He saw her point and retreated into silence one more.
"Listen Darson.. maybe we should talk to a few people here before deciding what to do.."
"Your right.. But.." He paused. "I have a question. What were you doing on the Sussurus?" Darson raised one eyebrow.
"You tell me why YOU were on there first, then i'll tell you my story." She put her hands on her hips.
"Fine, fine, fine... I was on there to try and stop Iifa when he got to the Forbidden Continent. Me and my friends were hunting him down for taking Sarah.. But when I saw his power, I changed my mind. He has this power... it can't be confronted, not even by a skilled group of summoners.." He took a breath. "I got on that ship with the intention of killing Iifa and taking Sarah back home. But she is out of my hands now.. Iifa cares for her....and if I did return home, I would be the disgrace of the town; for taking revenge on a now-proved eidolon, and for the death of my friends.." Dagger stared at Darson in sympathy.
"Okay, why were you there?" Darson continued.
"I was on that ship to mainly keep Mariah company, plus, she had to meet up with her boyfriend on shore. He's Terran you know?" Said Dagger, fiddling with her gloves.
"Boyfriend? You mean this Kuja guy?"
"Yeah."
"Him?! He's a freak! He came into town for her when I was a child, he creeped me out.." Darson did a mock shudder, to which Dagger laughed at.
"Well, when she washed up on the shore ages back, my mother took her in and we became best friends. Kuja still visited her though, he gave my mother some of the strangest weapons... Anyway, My mother then asked her to give up one of her summon thingies-"
"Eidolons.." Darson corrected.
"Yeah, that's the one. So she gave my mother one called Bhramit-"
"Bahamut.."
"Oh yeah, sorry.. So, my mother could use it for her protection. That's when Mariah convinced me to leave the castle.." Dagger shrugged.
"So that's where you left off, huh? So have you heard anything about your mom since? Whatsername.. Queen Bearn?"
"Brahne.."
"Yeah.. Can we stop the correcting thing now?!" Darson rubbed his forehead.
"You started it.." Dagger said under her breath. "Okay, give me a few minutes, I'll ask what's happened around here.." Dagger ran to the nearest local and began a stream of questions.
************************
Sarah gritted her teeth as Kuja threw another lethal spell at her and Taharka, whilst laughing maniacally. His face twisted and evil as he found pleasure in their torture. Mariah simply stood by, too afraid to say or do anything.
"~I will destroy Gaia and Terra!! Destruction awaits!!~" He cackled again. Sarah froze as it hit her. She naively thought that he was out to spare Gaia, but what business would a Terran have with Gaia? He was out to destroy both!
"~If you destroy both worlds, then you'll die too!~" Taharka spat as she clutched one of her wounds.
"~Not so, my dear Taharka! I have created another dimension! Where one may live without fear of pain!~" Kuja formed another spell in his hands.
"~Another dimension?!~" Taharka breathed hoarsely. Kuja did not give them time to think as he threw them back once more, sending Taharka unconscious. Sarah feared this was her end, she was bleeding from multiple wounds and had her entire left arm had been broken in several places. Her bruised and broken ribs ached as her body strained to push up the blood and bile from her stomach.
"~Now, sweet Sarah, Iifa's only weakness... I will give you pain before your death!!~" He drew lightening from his hand, and Sarah knew her time was up. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, thinking of the pain which stood a breath away from her. The pain never came. She felt a shadow fall over face swiftly, and the sound of the raw power of Kuja colliding with something infront of her. Her entire body bursted with relief and excitement as the familiar black and silver feathered Angel of Death shielded her with his magnificent six wings.
"~NO!!~" Sarah heard Kuja wail as Iifa not only blocked the attack, but absorbed it, giving him more power.
"~This can't be!!~" Kuja breathed. He was now face to face with the little mistake he had mis-nurtured 9 years ago. By imprisoning Iifa he had made himself the enemy, not Garland. By plotting against and torturing Sarah; Iifa's liberator, he had set his own inevitable death trap. But this 'little mistake' had a hundred times more power than anything that existed on either Gaia or Terra.....and this 'little mistake' was very angry.
"~Iifa!! No!! You must understand!!~" Kuja tried to worm his way out of the situation.
"~I understand perfectly...~" Anyone could tell from Iifa's voice that he was ready to spill blood.
"~I-I-Iifa! I saved you!! Remember?! Remember your childhood?!~" Kuja pleaded, to no avail. Iifa's face was hardened like Kuja's was merely seconds ago. Iifa saw red in his vision, as all sense and reason vanished. Only the will to rip Kuja and Mariah to pieces remained. Sarah tried to move, as much as she hated Mariah for betraying her, she couldn't let a fellow summoner die. Her body didn't respond as another wound she didn't know she had opened on her chest, making more blood cover her already crimson soaked clothes and skin. Kuja saw Sarah's struggle as a chance to escape.
"~Iifa! You are blinded by your rage! Kill me, and your girl dies!~" Kuja pointed to Sarah, who was edging fatality. "~You do not have time to deal with us both!~"
"~Please Iifa! Heal Sarah!~" Mariah begged. Iifa saw that time was not on his side. He was powerful, but not curatively. If he battled Kuja, Sarah would die from blood loss, which was already in effect.
"~Live today, fight tomorrow, brother..~" Kuja sneered.
"~Except that you will not see tomorrow, 'brother'.~" Iifa growled, realising that Kuja had got his way.
"~I expect we will meet again.~" Kuja gave him a disgusted look before opening a portal, which he jumped through. Mariah followed after mouthing 'I'm sorry' to the near-dead Sarah. Iifa immediately turned his attention to Sarah, who was barely living.
"~You came..~" Sarah whispered, struggling to breathe because of her broken ribs. Iifa felt guilt that he had not been there to protect her.
"~I'm sorry, Sarah.. forgive me...~" He knelt down beside her, and picked her up into his arms. "~I should have been there for you..~" His head drooped in shame, but she managed to smile.
"~But you still came.~" She struggled. He could sense her body was finding it impossible to sustain her with the wounds it had received. She closed her eyes in pain for a moment, making Iifa panic.
"~Sarah?!~" He shook her gently. He had no idea how to help her.
"~It hurts, Iifa!~" She sobbed, grabbing Iifa's clothes. "~It..It.. burns..~"
"~Sarah?! No!!~" Iifa held her tightly as her body began to relax, and her breath shorten.
"~SARAH!!!!~" Iifa shook her again, her eyes blinking slowly for the last few times.
"~Don't leave!! You can't!!! I WON'T LET YOU!!!~" He felt his emotions burn, igniting his power. Only one thought filled his head; she must live!
"~I am the Angel of Death! I choose when you die, and it is not now!!~" He felt salt water burn in his eyes as he watched the girl he loved ebb slowly away. "~YOU WILL LIVE, DAMMIT!!~" Power filled his veins again as raw energy encircled them both.
("~I need curative magic!! Of all the power I wish for that!!~") He thought frantically. The energy grew more powerful as his gaze rested on Sarah. Her eyes were wide open and her face an expression of shock, horror, and pain. From her mouth came a bloodchilling scream that echoed throughout Terra, and her hands held Iifa tightly. Iifa saw the reason of her pain, and sudden revival. The energy he was giving her was making Sarah's body rapidly heal itself, the bones of her body were cracking back into shape, causing excruciating pain. All he could do was hold her, since his grief seemed to be automatically fuelling this healing energy. Her scream came to an end as her healed body slumped in his arms, she was revived, but comatosed.
************************
"Can I see her?"
"No."
"Can I see her?"
"No."
"Can I see her?"
"No."
"Can I see her?"
"NO, DAMMIT!!!" Iifa yelled at Eiko, who recoiled at an alarming rate. Silence returned to the Bran Bal labs, and only the bubbling of test tube water could be heard. Iifa sat outside the 'sick-bay' room of the lab, formerly a genome 'repair room'. He, the unconscious Taharka and the comatosed Sarah were picked up by the Invincible some time after Iifa had resurrected Sarah. Mikoto had taken Sarah and Taharka and began to heal them. Only Taharka had awoke, but with many wounds. Eiko had been jumping around for the last few hours, saying how she could have beaten up Kuja for Iifa, only to have him yell at her several times. Garland had wanted to see Iifa, so the opportunity was taken. Iifa left his sitting place and headed to Pandemonium, where Garland was waiting.
"~I'm glad you have come. We need to talk.~" Garland handed Iifa a chair, to which he sat down on. "~I understand that you have harnessed your full power, destructive and curative..~" Garland took his place behind his desk, which was littered with paperwork.
"~You never told me I could heal as well as destroy..~" Iifa questioned.
"~Now, now. We haven't seen each other in at least nine years! I'll do the questions, old friend!~"
"~Listen, master- ~"
"~No, you listen. I want to know how you cured that girl of yours..~" Garland fired.
"~Well, I..er.. just wanted her to live.. I suppose. I don't think there was a method to it, it was more impulse..~" Iifa tried to explain.
"~Interesting.. That is what makes you my heir.~" Garland chuckled.
"~That's something I wanted to ask you about...~" Iifa started.
"~And you shall hear about it, Iifa.~"
"~So..?~" Iifa said expectantly.
"~I made you my heir because you are the most powerful being on both planets. Not just through power, but through your control of emotions, and your sense and loyalty.~"
"~What about Kuja?~"
"~He is nowhere near as powerful as you, since you were my first and favourite creation, you eventually received more power than him. He can only use his power by concentrating his power into spells, which makes him slow in battle. You, however, use powers by impulse.~"
"~Meaning?~"
"~You only have to think what you want, and it will happen. For example, if Kuja were in your place, Sarah would have died because he would not have enough time to concentrate on a powerful healing spell. You healed her because you wished it to happen. You do not require concentration for spells, nor the skill to learn them. If you see a spell you do not know, then your body will automatically learn it. That is what makes you such a powerful and dangerous adversary to Kuja. He knew this from the beginning.~"
"~Okay, I get you so far. But if I wanted Sarah to be healed, why is she in a coma?~" Iifa asked, obviously still mentally and physically disturbed from the incident.
"~I think you gave her too much energy. You went beyond the point of simple healing...~" Garland shook his head.
"~Then what did I do?!~" Iifa became impatient.
"~You 'over-healed' her, if there is such a word..~" Garland pondered for a moment. "As well as giving her too much energy, I think she was tired from her ordeal. This is probably her body's way of saying 'enough'.~"
"~I tried to protect her..~" Iifa sighed. "~But it's impossible... How am I supposed to protect Sarah and fight Kuja at the same time?!~"
"~It's not impossible..not for you anyway...~" Garland corrected. "~Remember, you are the Angel of Death, Destruction and also of Protection if you see it fit. Well, Angel of Protection to Sarah, at any rate.. Your powers have no limits.~"
"~Well, if I am 'all powerful' as you say, then Sarah is coming outta that coma as soon as I look at her!~" Iifa got off his chair and headed for the portal back to Bran Bal.
"~Remember, Iifa! Your powers will not work if you concentrate too hard! You must act on impulse!~" Garland said, making Iifa pause at the portal that lead out of Pandemonium. He knew that if he were 'all powerful' then Sarah could be healed from the coma in an instant... But questions continued to circle in his head.
"~Master?~"
"~Yes, Iifa?~"
"~Tell me... everything..~"
"~Pardon?~" Garland said, confused.
"~About the Assimilation, Old Terra, and this 'other dimension' Kuja has made..~"
"~Are you sure?~"
"~Yes. Aren't I Terran? ...and your heir?~" Iifa turned to face Garland, pulling himself up to his full height.
"~Very Well. You might as well sit down, this could take some time..~" Garland sighed, preparing to divulge his master plan and history to his favourite creation. "~It all began more than 100 thousand years ago... Terra was claimed the largest and most civilised planet of them all..~"
"~There were other planets than Gaia and Terra?~" Iifa raised an eyebrow.
"~Yes, many others. But none as civilised and developed as ours. Terra was the grand central of all wisdom and knowledge, run by one Emperor and his Empress. But then tragedy struck. Our sun, Tsunis, started to decrease in efficiency and go into super-nova.~" Garland shook his head. It was obvious this had affected him in some way.
"~Anyway.. ~" Garland sounded. "~The other planets in our solar system did not have enough technology to survive... so in our haste to survive ourselves, we assimilated them and their people. When Tsunis finally died, our gravity was thrown off course and our planet drifted, only barely surviving off the energy the other planets had us. Our race, the Terrans, were very intelligent. We found a way to a new solar system using out state of the art space-fleet. Soon, we had to absorb the planets in the new solar system...~"
"~Why?~"
"~Because our planet could not survive off their tiny sun, so we became a locust planet, moving through space devouring planets as we went. Of course, this all happened over a course of thousands and thousands of years..~"
"~I-I see..~" Iifa nodded.
"~Then came a period where our fleet failed to find new planets for us to absorb.. so the best minds in Terra gathered in the capital cities; Talodium, Iyaden, Maero, Xatec, Crinaris and the largest city on Terra; Tielas-Aiumi. We discovered a way to preserve fauna and flora, but only in stasis. Eventually, seven people were chosen to take a potion, which would prolong their life until a certain point. The entire nations of Terra died, apart from these six people. They set up base in a town outside Tielas-Aiumi; called Bran Bal.~" Garland put his hands out on each side of him, symbolising this was the place.
"~Cool..~"
"~These seven people worked hard to find a way to restore the nations which had died. One day, a planet was discovered. It meant the survival of our race.~"
"~..Gaia, right?~"
"~Indeed. We entered the gravitational field of Gaia and joined in it's orbit. We were never to far away from Gaia, and not too far away from it's sun; which had enough power to sustain our planet. We rejoiced at this.~"
"~We? You were one of the seven?~"
"~Yes, I was.. I was much younger back then.~"
"~Who were the others?~" Iifa asked curiously.
"~Well, there was me; I represented the citizens of Maero. It was my job to check the soul flow of the planet. There were two women from Talodium; Tanze and Eni. They were in charge of creating a new prototype of vessel to keep the souls in. Those two designed the genome, and they modelled it on our race.~"
"~You mean to say that all Terrans had tails? Even you?~" Iifa cracked a smile.
"~Yes, but I will come back to that..~" He dismissed. "~ There was also a woman from Iyaden; called Kaia. She kept the fauna and flora in perfect preservation, and also recorded our history. Then came Aikand, he represented the people of Crinaris, and was in charge of building a new ship that could enter a planet's soul stream. Being the most brilliant mechanic, he built the Invincible, which works until this day. Next was Kronos; he represented the people of Xatec and was in charge of building a suitable assimilation catalyst. He was my best friend.~" Garland looked down at the table. Iifa chose to stay silent.
"~....Then came Sirriai. He represented all from Tielas-Aiumi.. and was our leader.~" Garland spoke once more. "~He wasn't the best of leaders...~"
"~So if it's just you, what happened to the other six?~" Iifa interrupted.
"~Well.. When we discovered Gaia, we all set to work on our jobs. I managed to break into the Soul Stream of Gaia, letting Aikand take data from it using the Invincible. Kaia then travelled to Gaia, scanned the area and constructed the Elders of Oielvert to tell of our history. Then, from this data Aikand and Kaia gave, Kronos built an assimilation catalyst.~"
"~What was the 'Assimilation Catalyst' anyway?~" Iifa scratched his head absent-mindedley.
"~The Iifa tree.~"
"~Oh...But.. I thought you created me?~" Iifa showed a slight trace of worry in his voice.
"~I created the part of you that was human. Kronos just built the shell.~" Garland nodded to himself. "~Anyway.. We successfully harnessed onto Gaia and began the Assimilation. But at the last moment Sirriai went..well, a little mad.~" Garland shrugged. "~He began to lose his mind, and we began to fear for our safety. Soon after discussing what to do with him, Sirriai stabbed Aikand to death. We found his body in the dock the next morning, and Tanze, who had been in love with Aikand, hung herself. This shook Kaia, Eni, Kronos and I, and we had no idea what to do.. since Sirriai had hid himself somewhere in Bran Bal. So we all made our last will to each other, so if one of us should die, the others would fill out that wish. Kaia wasn't sure what she wanted, Eni wished to be one with her creation; the genome.. and Kronos wanted to protect his creation.~"
"~What did you want to do?~"
"~I wanted to stay alive..~" The old Terran explained. "~So We took some supplies up to the test room, and waited for Sirriai to show up; he never did. We tried to warn her, but Eni decided to scout outside... and on the first step she took, he shot her from the top of one of the buildings. Kaia, Kronos and I were trapped with Eni's body in the lab basement. I had never been so scared in my life.~" Garland looked solemnly at the table before carrying on. "~Kronos finally came up with a plan. We were to rig the whole lab with explosives, and lure Sirriai in.~"
"~That's a bit of a dumb plan...~"
"~It was the only way with the equipment we had. Kronos managed to step out of the lab to lure him in, and...~"
"~Boom?~"
"~In short, yes. We blew him to pieces in that lab, and without much injury.. Kronos had three fingers blown off, and my tail was blown off too.~"
"~Ouch.. so that's what happened to your tail..What about Kaia?~"
"~Kronos shielded her from the blast, so she was unhurt. We buried Aikand, Tanze and Eni in the fields on the outskirts of Bran Bal, and mourned for them there. If I am not mistaken, their graves are still there to this day.~"
"~That was nice of Kronos to shield her, I take it those two had something going on?~"
"~It's unorthodox of you to say so, but yes. They did like each other very much.~"
"~So, by all rights, Kronos and Kaia should still be around then?~" Iifa looked around him.
"~Well, if you let me finish..~"
"~Sorry..~"
"~Ahem..About 20 years ago I came across Tanze's Soul in Gaia's Soul Stream, so I caught it, and put it into a prototype genome that I had been designing. It was a female shape-shifter.~"
"~Wait a minute... Taharka?!~"
"~Yes. I gave her the name Taharka so Tanze's soul would be oblivious to where it was. She is still very much oblivious to who she really is. About five years later Eni's soul decides to surface, so I have done the same with her soul.~"
"~Sorry, I can't guess that one..~" Iifa shrugged.
"~Your little sister Mikoto will answer that one for you.~"
"~Oh, man..this is heavy..~" Iifa sighed. "~Any other bombshells you'd like to drop?~"
"~Yes, one more.~"
"~Go ahead..~" Iifa rubbed his forehead in disbelief.
"~Ten years after Sirriai was killed, Kronos was mortally wounded when the lab's system became unstable and blew up on him. It took three days for the wound to take his life, and Kaia was distraught when he did die. She revealed to me they had been lovers for some time, and that she could not live without him. But I refused to let her take her own life as Tanze had done for Aikand.~"
"~What did you do?~" Iifa began to feel an enormous amount of pity for his master.
"~I convinced her to go into stasis, that I would wake her when the assimilation was over. She did so, for 5,000 years.~"
"~How long ago did she go into stasis?~" Iifa began to get confused.
"~Approximately 15,000 years ago. Only 10,000 years ago I woke her up when the stasis became unstable around the Flora and Fauna, and she was the only one who could fix it. She managed to repair the problem, but..~"
"~But what?~"
"~You know the cliffs about ten miles from here? She threw herself off them so she could be reunited with Kronos. I found her body in the gorge underneath the cliffs, so I buried her next to where I had buried Kronos along with the others.~"
"~That's one of the most depressing accounts I've heard...~" Iifa sunk into his chair, feeling thoroughly unhappy for his master's past.
"~But things got better...~" Garland chirped up. "~About a year after Kaia killed herself, I reconstructed Kronos's personality and built it into the Iifa tree. Therefore your personality is infact...~"
"~Kronos's...~" Iifa finished.
"~Yes. That means you can guess who's soul is in your body..~" Garland got out of his chair and went to the window, looking out on Terra.
"~I'M KRONOS?! How come you never told me?!~" Iifa leapt from his chair in protest.
"~Well, I just have, haven't I? I thought It was wonderful when I created a genome that bared the exact resemblance to Kronos, and his personality! Why do think I keep calling you 'old friend'?~" Garland explained with a smile.
"~Grr.. Whatever...~" Iifa slumped back into his chair. "~So, 'old friend'... What happened to Aikand, Kaia and Sirriai's souls, then?~" Iifa lent back on his chair with a certain lack for authority.
"~I have not discovered Aikand or Sirriai's souls yet. Not that I would want to find Sirriai's...~" Garland stroked his beard. "~But I know exactly what happened to Kaia's.~"
"~Try me..~" Iifa said with a note of anger in his voice.
"~Her soul was one of the many which slipped through to Gaia's stream of souls. A little mistake I made some years ago..~"
"~Well done, 'old friend'..~" Iifa said sarcastically.
"~There is only one Gaian on Gaia who has a Terran soul... One Gaian who is the reincarnation of Kaia; and they look very, very much alike... They even have the same personality..~" Garland reflected.
"~Have you found that Gaian yet?~" Iifa started to take an interest.
"~I don't have to. Kronos seemed to pass on a certain emotion for Kaia to you, Iifa.. ~"
"~No! Don't you dare say it!! There is no way on Gaia or Terra that..that..~" Garland's underlying message struck Iifa like a slap around the face.
"Iifa.. You have to accept it. You know it makes sense.~" Garland said calmly.
"~SENSE?! SENSE?! SHE CAN'T BE!!~"
"~Have you met Kaia, Iifa?~" Garland scorned.
"~No, but I know what you're gonna say...~" Iifa's black tail whipped around in anger. "~I refuse to be the victim of 'love beyond the grave'.. It's stupid and sick-making..~"
"~But true. You have fallen in love with Kaia's reincarnation, and she has in turn fallen in love with you.~" Garland sighed. "~Sarah is the only Gaian with a Terran soul. She is Kaia's reincarnation, and you know it.~"
"~She's never gonna believe me..~" Iifa put his hands over his face and sighed. "~What do you want me to tell her?! 'Oh, Hi Sarah! Did you know that both of us were lovers in a previous life? And now we're in love again? Isn't that great?' WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO?! THIS IS ALL CRAZY!!!~"
"~Are you calling your's and Sarah's relationship crazy?~"
"~No!~"
"~Don't call it crazy then. You should also watch your tendency to blow up like that in a temper. Kronos had a bad habit of doing that too.~"
"~I've heard enough... I'm gonna ask you one more question, 'old friend'.. What is this other dimension Kuja has built?~"
"~I don't have exact details, but you have been there once.~" Garland sat back down again.
"~Me? Another dimension?~"
"~Think about it... It's a place made of memories.~"
"~Memories?~" Iifa recalled the time he had collapsed on the Sussurus. "~He took me to a place where I was a child again..~" Iifa finally said.
"~Yes.. He took a long lost memory of you, Mariah and him playing in a field whilst he stole your power. That way he could occupy you whilst your power was drained, that place is called Memoria. It was created by Aikand, Kronos and I.. but Kuja has claimed it as his own.~"
"~So that's where he's hiding?~"
"~It seems so..~"Garland muttered.
"~How do I get there?~" Iifa sat up straight.
"~By reminiscing of old memories. I wouldn't be surprised if you saw some of Kronos's memories as well as your own while in that place. So don't be shocked if you see Sarah with a tail while you're in there.. it's just Kaia.~"
"~Fine. But I want to wake Sarah up first. Then YOU can be the one to explain who she is, 'old friend'..~"
I hope you liked that. That was some heavy background history, no? The next chapter will be solely dedicated to Tei, so if you don't like her, then you don't have to read it. Although it would be nice if you could. ^_^
Chpt 12 : The Power of Impulse
"Aww man! I swear if I pull out another octopus tentacle I'm gonna flip!!!" The fisherman leaning over the side of his fishing vessel; 'Mist-Walker', pulled over another slimy chunk of octopus, covered in ink. His fellow fisherman approached him.
"Hey, man! Keep those chunks! That octopus must have been huge!!" He picked up the fleshy chunk in his hands and admired it with fascination. "Oh, your such a pessimist.. We could get loads of money for this at home!!"
"Ha! In Daguerreo?! All them scholars will look at it and turn their noses up!" The pessimistic fisherman laughed.
"Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions.." The other fisherman scowled.
"Yeah, whatever old man.. huh?" The pessimistic fisherman felt the net pull hard. "If this is another octop -"
"Oh, shut-up and just PULL!" Both of the fishermen pulled the net slowly but surely. They had either got a big fish or something else completely..
"A monster!!! AHHH!" The pessimistic fisherman took one look in the net and sped off into the cabin.
"Come back, you fool! It's a human.. with a horn?" The wiser fisherman by the net pulled the 'human' over and inspected it.
"Oh well. It looks like a boy to me.." The pessimist came over and crouched a few feet away.
"I think it's obvious.. would girls wear that hairstyle? Plus, his face looks like a boy's aswell." The wiser fisherman put his ear against the horned human's chest and listened closely for a heartbeat.
"Well?"
"Shh!"
"Sorry.."
"Wait!! He's got a heartbeat! Quick! Help me pull him into the centre of the deck!" The wiser and pessimist fishermen pulled him into the middle of the 'Mist-Walker' and the wiser put his hands on the boy's chest and pushed them up and down hard, trying to get his heart to beat a little faster.
"Is it working?" The pessimist asked with concern. The wiser continued for a second before pausing. The boy's eyes fluttered before he shot straight up off the floor and threw up seawater.
"That's it, lad. Get it all out of your chest.." The wiser patted the boy on the back.
"T-Thanks... Huh? Where am I? Who are you? Where is everyone?" The boy looked around in a panic.
"Calm down, lad. You must have been in a ship wreck of some kind.."
"S-Ship wreck? I remember an octo -"
"An octopus!! I knew it!! That's where all the pieces came from!!" The pessimist jumped up and down in excitement.
"Oh for the Water-Dragon's mercy, would you shut up?!" The wiser fisherman barked at the pessimist, who promptly silenced himself. "Now, what's your name, lad?"
"Huh? My name is Darson. Darson of Mandain Sari." Darson rubbed his head gingerly.
"Who's son of what when?" The pessimist asked confused.
"Just shut up, you idiot." The wiser fisherman gave the other fisherman a quick but sharp slap round the back of the head. Darson looked at the two squabblers and shook his head.
"Do you two know where we are?" Darson inquired.
"Yeah, we're three miles off the island and settlement of Daguerreo. That's near about umm.." The wiser fisherman used his fingers to count something. "..Hmm about nearly a hundred miles from the southern peninsula of the Forbidden continent." He finished happily.
("I floated that far?!") Darson panicked. "Have you seen anyone else in the water?!"
"Well.. wasn't there that other fisherman, Robinson, who found a boy with a horn like Darson's here?" The wiser turned to the pessimist.
"Yeah, but he was dead. They said that they also found lots of ship boards and a few more like the dead one. They were also dead, been crushed by something, or drowned.. or the shark's got em'." The pessimist sighed.
("They must have been my friends from Mandain Sari!!") Darson's head was overcome by numbness through loss. ("I wonder what happened to Dagger, Mariah, Sarah and Iifa? Were they killed? Why am I so far from the docking point?!")
"Hey, lad. You should go into the cabin and rest for a bit. You're in shock, boy." The wiser fisherman patted his back and sent him into the dark cabin. Darson quickly collapsed onto some blankets and let sleep engulf him.
************************
"Mister Garland, sir!" Eiko called from the eye of the Invincible. "I found Kuja! I found him!" Garland and Mikoto rushed over to the purple haired summoner, jumping up and down in excitement with all four of her eidolons behind her.
"Where is he?!" Garland barked.
"He's back on Terra, sir! He has Mariah with him too!" Eiko added a hint of worry to her young voice. Mikoto and Garland looked at each other and nodded.
"Umm, what's going on? Are we going to rescue Mariah?" Eiko asked the two Terrans. Garland laughed.
"I don't think so! She's more likely to help his evil schemes than stop him!" He beckoned them both to the control room. "I also highly suspect that you 'friend' Mariah has led Kuja to Sarah.. which means.."
"The Assimilation is in danger!" Mikoto finished hysterically, putting her hands over her pale face.
"Indeed.. If Sarah dies to Kuja's hands... Iifa will turn against Terra, believing that Kuja's actions were my intention.." Garland stroked his beard before thinking hard. "Where is Iifa?"
"According to the Invincible's readings, he is inside Ipsen's Castle, heading for the portal." Mikoto tapped away on the Invincible's controls. "He will be entering Terra within the hour."
"Excellent. Iifa is sure to stop Kuja if Sarah is involved.. We have to be there too! Mikoto!"
"Yes, master?"
"Head the ship for Terra! The Assimilation will begin soon!"
************************
Darson awoke slowly, his vision making swirling patterns with his surroundings. A beautiful face appeared leaning over him, she had raven hair and looked awfully familiar...
"W-Where am I?" Darson spoke out, still trying to focus his eyes.
"In Daguerreo.. south of the Forbidden Continent." The beautiful face spoke, revealing a perfectly toned voice. "Are you okay now?" Darson's memory came back as fast as lightening, the Gigan Octopus, the Sussurus, the two fisherman.. news of his friends' death...
"Dagger?!" He bolted upright, recognising the attentive teenager who he had just spoken to.
"Phew, I'd thought you'd lost your memory for a second there.." Dagger sighed brushing some of Darson's hair from his forehead.
"How did we end up here?" Darson questioned Dagger, who thought for a moment before replying.
"It turns out that fisherman picked up loads of people around the shores near here, two of which being me and you.." She sighed again, obviously relieved to see someone familiar. "Most of your summoner friends are dead.. I saw their bodies at the dock.. I...I-I'm sorry Darson.. I really am.." She started to cry for him, she had always hated to see loss. Darson remained silent as she wept. He thought of how close they were to docking the ship, and how everything had gone so wrong.
"It seems fate has given me and you a separate paths from the others.." Darson rose to his feet, seeing the townscape of Daguerreo around them.
"What do you mean?" Dagger wiped her tears away.
"I mean that they are gone. I will mourn for them once this whole dilemma is settled." Darson said, emotionless. "We know that Iifa plans to destroy this world... I don't know about you, but I don't want that to happen.."
"I don't either, Darson, but how do we get to where he is? Even so, where is he?" Dagger confronted. He saw her point and retreated into silence one more.
"Listen Darson.. maybe we should talk to a few people here before deciding what to do.."
"Your right.. But.." He paused. "I have a question. What were you doing on the Sussurus?" Darson raised one eyebrow.
"You tell me why YOU were on there first, then i'll tell you my story." She put her hands on her hips.
"Fine, fine, fine... I was on there to try and stop Iifa when he got to the Forbidden Continent. Me and my friends were hunting him down for taking Sarah.. But when I saw his power, I changed my mind. He has this power... it can't be confronted, not even by a skilled group of summoners.." He took a breath. "I got on that ship with the intention of killing Iifa and taking Sarah back home. But she is out of my hands now.. Iifa cares for her....and if I did return home, I would be the disgrace of the town; for taking revenge on a now-proved eidolon, and for the death of my friends.." Dagger stared at Darson in sympathy.
"Okay, why were you there?" Darson continued.
"I was on that ship to mainly keep Mariah company, plus, she had to meet up with her boyfriend on shore. He's Terran you know?" Said Dagger, fiddling with her gloves.
"Boyfriend? You mean this Kuja guy?"
"Yeah."
"Him?! He's a freak! He came into town for her when I was a child, he creeped me out.." Darson did a mock shudder, to which Dagger laughed at.
"Well, when she washed up on the shore ages back, my mother took her in and we became best friends. Kuja still visited her though, he gave my mother some of the strangest weapons... Anyway, My mother then asked her to give up one of her summon thingies-"
"Eidolons.." Darson corrected.
"Yeah, that's the one. So she gave my mother one called Bhramit-"
"Bahamut.."
"Oh yeah, sorry.. So, my mother could use it for her protection. That's when Mariah convinced me to leave the castle.." Dagger shrugged.
"So that's where you left off, huh? So have you heard anything about your mom since? Whatsername.. Queen Bearn?"
"Brahne.."
"Yeah.. Can we stop the correcting thing now?!" Darson rubbed his forehead.
"You started it.." Dagger said under her breath. "Okay, give me a few minutes, I'll ask what's happened around here.." Dagger ran to the nearest local and began a stream of questions.
************************
Sarah gritted her teeth as Kuja threw another lethal spell at her and Taharka, whilst laughing maniacally. His face twisted and evil as he found pleasure in their torture. Mariah simply stood by, too afraid to say or do anything.
"~I will destroy Gaia and Terra!! Destruction awaits!!~" He cackled again. Sarah froze as it hit her. She naively thought that he was out to spare Gaia, but what business would a Terran have with Gaia? He was out to destroy both!
"~If you destroy both worlds, then you'll die too!~" Taharka spat as she clutched one of her wounds.
"~Not so, my dear Taharka! I have created another dimension! Where one may live without fear of pain!~" Kuja formed another spell in his hands.
"~Another dimension?!~" Taharka breathed hoarsely. Kuja did not give them time to think as he threw them back once more, sending Taharka unconscious. Sarah feared this was her end, she was bleeding from multiple wounds and had her entire left arm had been broken in several places. Her bruised and broken ribs ached as her body strained to push up the blood and bile from her stomach.
"~Now, sweet Sarah, Iifa's only weakness... I will give you pain before your death!!~" He drew lightening from his hand, and Sarah knew her time was up. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, thinking of the pain which stood a breath away from her. The pain never came. She felt a shadow fall over face swiftly, and the sound of the raw power of Kuja colliding with something infront of her. Her entire body bursted with relief and excitement as the familiar black and silver feathered Angel of Death shielded her with his magnificent six wings.
"~NO!!~" Sarah heard Kuja wail as Iifa not only blocked the attack, but absorbed it, giving him more power.
"~This can't be!!~" Kuja breathed. He was now face to face with the little mistake he had mis-nurtured 9 years ago. By imprisoning Iifa he had made himself the enemy, not Garland. By plotting against and torturing Sarah; Iifa's liberator, he had set his own inevitable death trap. But this 'little mistake' had a hundred times more power than anything that existed on either Gaia or Terra.....and this 'little mistake' was very angry.
"~Iifa!! No!! You must understand!!~" Kuja tried to worm his way out of the situation.
"~I understand perfectly...~" Anyone could tell from Iifa's voice that he was ready to spill blood.
"~I-I-Iifa! I saved you!! Remember?! Remember your childhood?!~" Kuja pleaded, to no avail. Iifa's face was hardened like Kuja's was merely seconds ago. Iifa saw red in his vision, as all sense and reason vanished. Only the will to rip Kuja and Mariah to pieces remained. Sarah tried to move, as much as she hated Mariah for betraying her, she couldn't let a fellow summoner die. Her body didn't respond as another wound she didn't know she had opened on her chest, making more blood cover her already crimson soaked clothes and skin. Kuja saw Sarah's struggle as a chance to escape.
"~Iifa! You are blinded by your rage! Kill me, and your girl dies!~" Kuja pointed to Sarah, who was edging fatality. "~You do not have time to deal with us both!~"
"~Please Iifa! Heal Sarah!~" Mariah begged. Iifa saw that time was not on his side. He was powerful, but not curatively. If he battled Kuja, Sarah would die from blood loss, which was already in effect.
"~Live today, fight tomorrow, brother..~" Kuja sneered.
"~Except that you will not see tomorrow, 'brother'.~" Iifa growled, realising that Kuja had got his way.
"~I expect we will meet again.~" Kuja gave him a disgusted look before opening a portal, which he jumped through. Mariah followed after mouthing 'I'm sorry' to the near-dead Sarah. Iifa immediately turned his attention to Sarah, who was barely living.
"~You came..~" Sarah whispered, struggling to breathe because of her broken ribs. Iifa felt guilt that he had not been there to protect her.
"~I'm sorry, Sarah.. forgive me...~" He knelt down beside her, and picked her up into his arms. "~I should have been there for you..~" His head drooped in shame, but she managed to smile.
"~But you still came.~" She struggled. He could sense her body was finding it impossible to sustain her with the wounds it had received. She closed her eyes in pain for a moment, making Iifa panic.
"~Sarah?!~" He shook her gently. He had no idea how to help her.
"~It hurts, Iifa!~" She sobbed, grabbing Iifa's clothes. "~It..It.. burns..~"
"~Sarah?! No!!~" Iifa held her tightly as her body began to relax, and her breath shorten.
"~SARAH!!!!~" Iifa shook her again, her eyes blinking slowly for the last few times.
"~Don't leave!! You can't!!! I WON'T LET YOU!!!~" He felt his emotions burn, igniting his power. Only one thought filled his head; she must live!
"~I am the Angel of Death! I choose when you die, and it is not now!!~" He felt salt water burn in his eyes as he watched the girl he loved ebb slowly away. "~YOU WILL LIVE, DAMMIT!!~" Power filled his veins again as raw energy encircled them both.
("~I need curative magic!! Of all the power I wish for that!!~") He thought frantically. The energy grew more powerful as his gaze rested on Sarah. Her eyes were wide open and her face an expression of shock, horror, and pain. From her mouth came a bloodchilling scream that echoed throughout Terra, and her hands held Iifa tightly. Iifa saw the reason of her pain, and sudden revival. The energy he was giving her was making Sarah's body rapidly heal itself, the bones of her body were cracking back into shape, causing excruciating pain. All he could do was hold her, since his grief seemed to be automatically fuelling this healing energy. Her scream came to an end as her healed body slumped in his arms, she was revived, but comatosed.
************************
"Can I see her?"
"No."
"Can I see her?"
"No."
"Can I see her?"
"No."
"Can I see her?"
"NO, DAMMIT!!!" Iifa yelled at Eiko, who recoiled at an alarming rate. Silence returned to the Bran Bal labs, and only the bubbling of test tube water could be heard. Iifa sat outside the 'sick-bay' room of the lab, formerly a genome 'repair room'. He, the unconscious Taharka and the comatosed Sarah were picked up by the Invincible some time after Iifa had resurrected Sarah. Mikoto had taken Sarah and Taharka and began to heal them. Only Taharka had awoke, but with many wounds. Eiko had been jumping around for the last few hours, saying how she could have beaten up Kuja for Iifa, only to have him yell at her several times. Garland had wanted to see Iifa, so the opportunity was taken. Iifa left his sitting place and headed to Pandemonium, where Garland was waiting.
"~I'm glad you have come. We need to talk.~" Garland handed Iifa a chair, to which he sat down on. "~I understand that you have harnessed your full power, destructive and curative..~" Garland took his place behind his desk, which was littered with paperwork.
"~You never told me I could heal as well as destroy..~" Iifa questioned.
"~Now, now. We haven't seen each other in at least nine years! I'll do the questions, old friend!~"
"~Listen, master- ~"
"~No, you listen. I want to know how you cured that girl of yours..~" Garland fired.
"~Well, I..er.. just wanted her to live.. I suppose. I don't think there was a method to it, it was more impulse..~" Iifa tried to explain.
"~Interesting.. That is what makes you my heir.~" Garland chuckled.
"~That's something I wanted to ask you about...~" Iifa started.
"~And you shall hear about it, Iifa.~"
"~So..?~" Iifa said expectantly.
"~I made you my heir because you are the most powerful being on both planets. Not just through power, but through your control of emotions, and your sense and loyalty.~"
"~What about Kuja?~"
"~He is nowhere near as powerful as you, since you were my first and favourite creation, you eventually received more power than him. He can only use his power by concentrating his power into spells, which makes him slow in battle. You, however, use powers by impulse.~"
"~Meaning?~"
"~You only have to think what you want, and it will happen. For example, if Kuja were in your place, Sarah would have died because he would not have enough time to concentrate on a powerful healing spell. You healed her because you wished it to happen. You do not require concentration for spells, nor the skill to learn them. If you see a spell you do not know, then your body will automatically learn it. That is what makes you such a powerful and dangerous adversary to Kuja. He knew this from the beginning.~"
"~Okay, I get you so far. But if I wanted Sarah to be healed, why is she in a coma?~" Iifa asked, obviously still mentally and physically disturbed from the incident.
"~I think you gave her too much energy. You went beyond the point of simple healing...~" Garland shook his head.
"~Then what did I do?!~" Iifa became impatient.
"~You 'over-healed' her, if there is such a word..~" Garland pondered for a moment. "As well as giving her too much energy, I think she was tired from her ordeal. This is probably her body's way of saying 'enough'.~"
"~I tried to protect her..~" Iifa sighed. "~But it's impossible... How am I supposed to protect Sarah and fight Kuja at the same time?!~"
"~It's not impossible..not for you anyway...~" Garland corrected. "~Remember, you are the Angel of Death, Destruction and also of Protection if you see it fit. Well, Angel of Protection to Sarah, at any rate.. Your powers have no limits.~"
"~Well, if I am 'all powerful' as you say, then Sarah is coming outta that coma as soon as I look at her!~" Iifa got off his chair and headed for the portal back to Bran Bal.
"~Remember, Iifa! Your powers will not work if you concentrate too hard! You must act on impulse!~" Garland said, making Iifa pause at the portal that lead out of Pandemonium. He knew that if he were 'all powerful' then Sarah could be healed from the coma in an instant... But questions continued to circle in his head.
"~Master?~"
"~Yes, Iifa?~"
"~Tell me... everything..~"
"~Pardon?~" Garland said, confused.
"~About the Assimilation, Old Terra, and this 'other dimension' Kuja has made..~"
"~Are you sure?~"
"~Yes. Aren't I Terran? ...and your heir?~" Iifa turned to face Garland, pulling himself up to his full height.
"~Very Well. You might as well sit down, this could take some time..~" Garland sighed, preparing to divulge his master plan and history to his favourite creation. "~It all began more than 100 thousand years ago... Terra was claimed the largest and most civilised planet of them all..~"
"~There were other planets than Gaia and Terra?~" Iifa raised an eyebrow.
"~Yes, many others. But none as civilised and developed as ours. Terra was the grand central of all wisdom and knowledge, run by one Emperor and his Empress. But then tragedy struck. Our sun, Tsunis, started to decrease in efficiency and go into super-nova.~" Garland shook his head. It was obvious this had affected him in some way.
"~Anyway.. ~" Garland sounded. "~The other planets in our solar system did not have enough technology to survive... so in our haste to survive ourselves, we assimilated them and their people. When Tsunis finally died, our gravity was thrown off course and our planet drifted, only barely surviving off the energy the other planets had us. Our race, the Terrans, were very intelligent. We found a way to a new solar system using out state of the art space-fleet. Soon, we had to absorb the planets in the new solar system...~"
"~Why?~"
"~Because our planet could not survive off their tiny sun, so we became a locust planet, moving through space devouring planets as we went. Of course, this all happened over a course of thousands and thousands of years..~"
"~I-I see..~" Iifa nodded.
"~Then came a period where our fleet failed to find new planets for us to absorb.. so the best minds in Terra gathered in the capital cities; Talodium, Iyaden, Maero, Xatec, Crinaris and the largest city on Terra; Tielas-Aiumi. We discovered a way to preserve fauna and flora, but only in stasis. Eventually, seven people were chosen to take a potion, which would prolong their life until a certain point. The entire nations of Terra died, apart from these six people. They set up base in a town outside Tielas-Aiumi; called Bran Bal.~" Garland put his hands out on each side of him, symbolising this was the place.
"~Cool..~"
"~These seven people worked hard to find a way to restore the nations which had died. One day, a planet was discovered. It meant the survival of our race.~"
"~..Gaia, right?~"
"~Indeed. We entered the gravitational field of Gaia and joined in it's orbit. We were never to far away from Gaia, and not too far away from it's sun; which had enough power to sustain our planet. We rejoiced at this.~"
"~We? You were one of the seven?~"
"~Yes, I was.. I was much younger back then.~"
"~Who were the others?~" Iifa asked curiously.
"~Well, there was me; I represented the citizens of Maero. It was my job to check the soul flow of the planet. There were two women from Talodium; Tanze and Eni. They were in charge of creating a new prototype of vessel to keep the souls in. Those two designed the genome, and they modelled it on our race.~"
"~You mean to say that all Terrans had tails? Even you?~" Iifa cracked a smile.
"~Yes, but I will come back to that..~" He dismissed. "~ There was also a woman from Iyaden; called Kaia. She kept the fauna and flora in perfect preservation, and also recorded our history. Then came Aikand, he represented the people of Crinaris, and was in charge of building a new ship that could enter a planet's soul stream. Being the most brilliant mechanic, he built the Invincible, which works until this day. Next was Kronos; he represented the people of Xatec and was in charge of building a suitable assimilation catalyst. He was my best friend.~" Garland looked down at the table. Iifa chose to stay silent.
"~....Then came Sirriai. He represented all from Tielas-Aiumi.. and was our leader.~" Garland spoke once more. "~He wasn't the best of leaders...~"
"~So if it's just you, what happened to the other six?~" Iifa interrupted.
"~Well.. When we discovered Gaia, we all set to work on our jobs. I managed to break into the Soul Stream of Gaia, letting Aikand take data from it using the Invincible. Kaia then travelled to Gaia, scanned the area and constructed the Elders of Oielvert to tell of our history. Then, from this data Aikand and Kaia gave, Kronos built an assimilation catalyst.~"
"~What was the 'Assimilation Catalyst' anyway?~" Iifa scratched his head absent-mindedley.
"~The Iifa tree.~"
"~Oh...But.. I thought you created me?~" Iifa showed a slight trace of worry in his voice.
"~I created the part of you that was human. Kronos just built the shell.~" Garland nodded to himself. "~Anyway.. We successfully harnessed onto Gaia and began the Assimilation. But at the last moment Sirriai went..well, a little mad.~" Garland shrugged. "~He began to lose his mind, and we began to fear for our safety. Soon after discussing what to do with him, Sirriai stabbed Aikand to death. We found his body in the dock the next morning, and Tanze, who had been in love with Aikand, hung herself. This shook Kaia, Eni, Kronos and I, and we had no idea what to do.. since Sirriai had hid himself somewhere in Bran Bal. So we all made our last will to each other, so if one of us should die, the others would fill out that wish. Kaia wasn't sure what she wanted, Eni wished to be one with her creation; the genome.. and Kronos wanted to protect his creation.~"
"~What did you want to do?~"
"~I wanted to stay alive..~" The old Terran explained. "~So We took some supplies up to the test room, and waited for Sirriai to show up; he never did. We tried to warn her, but Eni decided to scout outside... and on the first step she took, he shot her from the top of one of the buildings. Kaia, Kronos and I were trapped with Eni's body in the lab basement. I had never been so scared in my life.~" Garland looked solemnly at the table before carrying on. "~Kronos finally came up with a plan. We were to rig the whole lab with explosives, and lure Sirriai in.~"
"~That's a bit of a dumb plan...~"
"~It was the only way with the equipment we had. Kronos managed to step out of the lab to lure him in, and...~"
"~Boom?~"
"~In short, yes. We blew him to pieces in that lab, and without much injury.. Kronos had three fingers blown off, and my tail was blown off too.~"
"~Ouch.. so that's what happened to your tail..What about Kaia?~"
"~Kronos shielded her from the blast, so she was unhurt. We buried Aikand, Tanze and Eni in the fields on the outskirts of Bran Bal, and mourned for them there. If I am not mistaken, their graves are still there to this day.~"
"~That was nice of Kronos to shield her, I take it those two had something going on?~"
"~It's unorthodox of you to say so, but yes. They did like each other very much.~"
"~So, by all rights, Kronos and Kaia should still be around then?~" Iifa looked around him.
"~Well, if you let me finish..~"
"~Sorry..~"
"~Ahem..About 20 years ago I came across Tanze's Soul in Gaia's Soul Stream, so I caught it, and put it into a prototype genome that I had been designing. It was a female shape-shifter.~"
"~Wait a minute... Taharka?!~"
"~Yes. I gave her the name Taharka so Tanze's soul would be oblivious to where it was. She is still very much oblivious to who she really is. About five years later Eni's soul decides to surface, so I have done the same with her soul.~"
"~Sorry, I can't guess that one..~" Iifa shrugged.
"~Your little sister Mikoto will answer that one for you.~"
"~Oh, man..this is heavy..~" Iifa sighed. "~Any other bombshells you'd like to drop?~"
"~Yes, one more.~"
"~Go ahead..~" Iifa rubbed his forehead in disbelief.
"~Ten years after Sirriai was killed, Kronos was mortally wounded when the lab's system became unstable and blew up on him. It took three days for the wound to take his life, and Kaia was distraught when he did die. She revealed to me they had been lovers for some time, and that she could not live without him. But I refused to let her take her own life as Tanze had done for Aikand.~"
"~What did you do?~" Iifa began to feel an enormous amount of pity for his master.
"~I convinced her to go into stasis, that I would wake her when the assimilation was over. She did so, for 5,000 years.~"
"~How long ago did she go into stasis?~" Iifa began to get confused.
"~Approximately 15,000 years ago. Only 10,000 years ago I woke her up when the stasis became unstable around the Flora and Fauna, and she was the only one who could fix it. She managed to repair the problem, but..~"
"~But what?~"
"~You know the cliffs about ten miles from here? She threw herself off them so she could be reunited with Kronos. I found her body in the gorge underneath the cliffs, so I buried her next to where I had buried Kronos along with the others.~"
"~That's one of the most depressing accounts I've heard...~" Iifa sunk into his chair, feeling thoroughly unhappy for his master's past.
"~But things got better...~" Garland chirped up. "~About a year after Kaia killed herself, I reconstructed Kronos's personality and built it into the Iifa tree. Therefore your personality is infact...~"
"~Kronos's...~" Iifa finished.
"~Yes. That means you can guess who's soul is in your body..~" Garland got out of his chair and went to the window, looking out on Terra.
"~I'M KRONOS?! How come you never told me?!~" Iifa leapt from his chair in protest.
"~Well, I just have, haven't I? I thought It was wonderful when I created a genome that bared the exact resemblance to Kronos, and his personality! Why do think I keep calling you 'old friend'?~" Garland explained with a smile.
"~Grr.. Whatever...~" Iifa slumped back into his chair. "~So, 'old friend'... What happened to Aikand, Kaia and Sirriai's souls, then?~" Iifa lent back on his chair with a certain lack for authority.
"~I have not discovered Aikand or Sirriai's souls yet. Not that I would want to find Sirriai's...~" Garland stroked his beard. "~But I know exactly what happened to Kaia's.~"
"~Try me..~" Iifa said with a note of anger in his voice.
"~Her soul was one of the many which slipped through to Gaia's stream of souls. A little mistake I made some years ago..~"
"~Well done, 'old friend'..~" Iifa said sarcastically.
"~There is only one Gaian on Gaia who has a Terran soul... One Gaian who is the reincarnation of Kaia; and they look very, very much alike... They even have the same personality..~" Garland reflected.
"~Have you found that Gaian yet?~" Iifa started to take an interest.
"~I don't have to. Kronos seemed to pass on a certain emotion for Kaia to you, Iifa.. ~"
"~No! Don't you dare say it!! There is no way on Gaia or Terra that..that..~" Garland's underlying message struck Iifa like a slap around the face.
"Iifa.. You have to accept it. You know it makes sense.~" Garland said calmly.
"~SENSE?! SENSE?! SHE CAN'T BE!!~"
"~Have you met Kaia, Iifa?~" Garland scorned.
"~No, but I know what you're gonna say...~" Iifa's black tail whipped around in anger. "~I refuse to be the victim of 'love beyond the grave'.. It's stupid and sick-making..~"
"~But true. You have fallen in love with Kaia's reincarnation, and she has in turn fallen in love with you.~" Garland sighed. "~Sarah is the only Gaian with a Terran soul. She is Kaia's reincarnation, and you know it.~"
"~She's never gonna believe me..~" Iifa put his hands over his face and sighed. "~What do you want me to tell her?! 'Oh, Hi Sarah! Did you know that both of us were lovers in a previous life? And now we're in love again? Isn't that great?' WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO?! THIS IS ALL CRAZY!!!~"
"~Are you calling your's and Sarah's relationship crazy?~"
"~No!~"
"~Don't call it crazy then. You should also watch your tendency to blow up like that in a temper. Kronos had a bad habit of doing that too.~"
"~I've heard enough... I'm gonna ask you one more question, 'old friend'.. What is this other dimension Kuja has built?~"
"~I don't have exact details, but you have been there once.~" Garland sat back down again.
"~Me? Another dimension?~"
"~Think about it... It's a place made of memories.~"
"~Memories?~" Iifa recalled the time he had collapsed on the Sussurus. "~He took me to a place where I was a child again..~" Iifa finally said.
"~Yes.. He took a long lost memory of you, Mariah and him playing in a field whilst he stole your power. That way he could occupy you whilst your power was drained, that place is called Memoria. It was created by Aikand, Kronos and I.. but Kuja has claimed it as his own.~"
"~So that's where he's hiding?~"
"~It seems so..~"Garland muttered.
"~How do I get there?~" Iifa sat up straight.
"~By reminiscing of old memories. I wouldn't be surprised if you saw some of Kronos's memories as well as your own while in that place. So don't be shocked if you see Sarah with a tail while you're in there.. it's just Kaia.~"
"~Fine. But I want to wake Sarah up first. Then YOU can be the one to explain who she is, 'old friend'..~"
I hope you liked that. That was some heavy background history, no? The next chapter will be solely dedicated to Tei, so if you don't like her, then you don't have to read it. Although it would be nice if you could. ^_^