Chapter Two-Chaos Above, Chaos Below
All was chaos. That was the first thought that ran through the head of Telin, King of the Tonberries as he fled from the throne room of his liege, King Bahamut X. His liege lay dead in the wreckage of the crystal chamber, blasted by light from above, shredded and impaled by thousands of crystal shards from the shattered roof and walls of his throne room. Of his newborn son, no one knew where he was or if he'd shared his father's fate.
In the meantime, the Crystal Palace was collapsing under the onslaught of repeated bursts of devastating energy. Telin saw Sir Odin, General of Chialla's armies, standing side-by-side with Crusader, the Captain of the Royal Guard. They were rallying Chiallans around them, but as Telin watched, a blast rocketed towards their position. An Earth Chiallan, part of Titan's honor guard, hurled a massive chunk of a fallen crystal pillar at the blast and the crystal shattered, spraying the room with razor-sharp shards. Telin lost sight of the crowd, save for one shriek of pain, and the emergence of a spheroid Chiallan wearing the badge of the Royal Guard.
"Rings of Saturn!" A series of concussive force blasts, each in the shape of a multi-colored ring of sparkling energy, flew from the sphere towards the unknown source of the energy blasts and vanished. Seconds later, another blast ripped through the sphere, cutting it in half with violent force. Telin was sprayed with the Chiallan's silver ichor as he fled across the cracked floor, trying to dodge the crystal shards that threatened to shred his bare green feet. His own honor guard was dead or cut off from him by shrieking courtiers and fallen crystal. He stumbled towards the door, which thankfully had not been blocked as yet, but he felt himself being pulled away suddenly.
"Ahh! Help me!" He was flailing in the air, being yanked upwards by some sort of beam of black light. He tried to reach for the knife hidden in his robes, but he couldn't move his arms! He couldn't shift to his giant form or anything! All he could do was scream. Fortunately for him, that scream was answered.
"Anger of the Land!" The earthquake that ripped through the ground of the blue moon went unnoticed in the general madness, but the massive chunk of crystal floor and lunar ground that hurtled through the air did not. It interrupted the beam and was dragged up, dropping Telin, who looked gratefully to his left.
"Thank you Titan! I...Titan!!!" As he watched, the massive King of the Giants was blasted from above by a searing bolt of white light. He fell to the ground in a heap. Telin quickly rushed over, heedless of danger, and opened one eye. It was staring into nothing. Telin felt a sick feeling in his stomach. Titan was dead. There was nothing he could do but grab up his fallen lantern and rush from the scene, leaving his friend to lay dead in the wreckage.
He made it from the throne room out into the Great Hall, and from there downstairs, dodging courtiers, staff, and soldiers alike as he made his way towards the outside. His small size helped him duck around most of the fleeing people and his speed helped him stay a step ahead of the exploding crystal, razor-sharp shards, the energy beams blasting through the walls, and the cracking ground as he went. Screams echoed all around him and he could do nothing...until a particularly piercing scream caught his attention. He looked to one side, through a cloud of crystal dust, and saw two children, probably some diplomat's kids, trapped behind a fallen pillar. Telin looked around for help but everything was jostling past him towards the exit. There was no choice. Telin drew his knife and a deep breath and began swinging his lantern back and forth slowly. He waddled towards the pillar, concentrating his powers intently.
He reached the pillar, the sole focus of his concentration now, above the noise and tumult. "Chef's Knife!" His concentrated power was focused through his knife and in one swift stab, he shattered the pillar in half. He became aware of his surroundings again as his energy was released, and grabbed the frightened children, who looked to be from the Dark Realm, and ran for the door...only to have it blocked as a few tons of ceiling smashed down in front of it! "Oh no!"
"Bust through it mister! Like you did before!" One of the children looked up at Telin trustingly and the Tonberry King was suddenly afraid for their lives, not just his own.
"I'm sorry children. But even in Mega Tonberry mode my Chef's Knife and other attacks cannot "bust through" such a thick mass." He tried to console the children as they began to cry and huddled them close to keep the despairing wails and curses of the trapped people from reaching their ears.
On the planet below, Database and his friends were faring no better.
Nexus Plaza had erupted into a sea of swarming bodies and chaotic madness when the attack from the skies came. Flying ships, like and yet unlike some the Chiallans had encountered before, blazed through the air. The white beams they shot lanced through the Skydancers, tearing some to shredded pulp. As the fragments of the beautiful fae-folk fell on the crowd, the mob of people began to break and run in all directions.
Some tried to fight. The Cyber Knight Pixie had insulted drew his electron sword and fired energy blasts through it at the ships. A beam blasted him apart. The barrage of fireworks stopped suddenly as Alexander VIII joined his father, the reclusive Alexander VII and his grandfather Alexander VI. The three androids opened their various cannons and blasters and let loose with blasts of holy light that temporarily stemmed the tide of carnage. But soon beams of black light highlighted the trio and hauled them away into a ship. Across the Plaza, across the world, the pattern was repeated. First white light destroyed all in its' path, then black light seized those survivors and those too slow to escape.
"We have to get out of here! Now!" Pixie looked at her two friends, her eyes wide and wild.
"Affirmative. Chances of survival are..."
Anacondaur saw the white light striking near their position and clamped Database in his mouth quickly. Pixie flew to his head and he began trying to to bull a path through the mob with his size and strength, but he could find no room to move his great bulk, not against the press of the crowd on both sides. The three friends could only watch wide-eyed as a black beam swept over them like a cool, numbing wave and carried them away.
Telin could only gasp in relief as he was carried from the ruins of the Crystal Palace. He and the two children were now safely held in the claws of Diablos, who had flown in just before the entire ceiling had come down on them and the trapped courtiers. The Black Lord had blasted a hole in a wall and carried him and the kids out, then blasted open another hole for all the trapped people at Telin's urging. Below them now was the Doomtrain, badly battered by still running on his own track. As Diablos flew down over the pitted surface of the moon, the door opened to allow all four in.
Diablos deposited the others and took a seat without a word, his face heavily bruised and bleeding. Telin looked around at the survivors of the attack: a few scattered courtiers and staff, some small children, and a few of the more influential Chiallans. Besides himself, there was Ifrit, now sporting a broken arm and a splinted leg. Alexander XI lurked in a corner, smashed almost to destruction. Ramuh was there, thankfully with only a few heavy bruises. Diablos was on the ceiling, much of his body shredded and his tail nearly cut in half. All in all, Telin was the lucky one with only a few cuts and bruises and sliced-up feet.
"What happened? Where's Mama and Papa?!" One of the children Telin had rescued tugged on his monkish robe.
Telin looked over at the battered nobles, then to the panicked eyes of the child and his brother. "I....I wish I knew, child."
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this. I know it's been a while since I updated, but I have some ideas for this one now and hope to update again in a couple of weeks, if not sooner.