Finally. This chapter's character, Draco Cicuna, has been brought to you by Psystorm. I may or may not be using him in character, but at least he's going to be different from every other character for crying out loud! Ahem. . . sorry. I think that characters should have a more interesting background instead of all being wanderers. *Gets smacked for story 'Vagabond'* Ow. . . Anyway, I'll talk more at the end. Later!
Chapter Two
In which Rally makes an important discovery
A very large crowd had gathered around the castle's roof, watching the huge, flying ship fall gently through the air (Even if it was making a massive amount of noise) and land in the gap that was left by the surrounding audience. The engines shut off, and a large staircase lowered from the deck.
"Your majesty!" Rally stood at the top of the steps, facing the king, "Mission accomplished!"
"Well!" the old king replied, glancing around at the castle servants which made up most of the crowd, "Not bad at all! Thanks to this contraption you have. . ."
"Mine, sir!" Cid stepped into view, "I designed this thing from almost scratch, and I have you to thank for it!"
"Cid?" Salaria looked up at his, trying to focus his blurry vision, "Why Cid Soral, I had almost forgotten about you!"
"You did, your majesty," he said, "I distinctly remember your guards carving the unemployment notice onto my door."
"Oh, yes! Now I remember. . ." the king murmured, "You were diverting military funds into your projects that rarely worked. . ."
"But they do!" he said.
"Sire. . ." Rally wished to continue the previous conversation, "I would like to ask, what's the next mission?"
"Next mission!" The king said, "Come with me!" Rally bounded down the steps and followed the king back down the corridor that led to the great hall. Cid looked on, watching.
"A. . . are we out of the desert?" A voice from the back asked.
"Yes, Eloon, we are." Cid spoke in a falling tone of demerit.
"Oh. . . good." The Summoner appeared from below deck, no longer wearing the thief's disguise. "I guess that I'll be going, then. . ."
"The guards will shoot you on sight, since you're a stranger walking through the halls of Castle Salaria."
"Oh. . ." Eloon looked over the side of the hull, down at the white stone that the ship was sitting on, "I see. . ."
"So. . ."
"Well, then. . ."
"How about a game?"
"A game?"
"Yeah! Let's play some Battle Squares!"
"My spies have recently reported that Marticia may have caught wind of what we are doing," said the king as the tow walked down the white marble hallways, "And as such, we can carry out the operation, but with extra precautions."
"Sire. . ." Rally scratched the back of his neck as he made his statement, "What with all the war that's been happening, are we sure that this isn't just a last ditch effort?"
"It's very important, Rally. We are not in full danger of being wiped off the face of the earth, but we can't take any chances."
"Sire, I think it's a little much, still. The legends say. . ."
"Forget the legends." The king responded, "Nothing will happen; those were fabricated to keep people away from the tombs."
"Yes, sire. But there's always the chance. . ."
"Alright, Rally. I'll give that to you. But this mission must be accomplished. Again, the unit to unit that is to retrieve the crystal is the elite of the elite, but you are to be the scout. Check for anything dangerous that could wipe out the lot of them, and be especially on the lookout for Marticians. The war room is where it always is. The foreigner. . . umm. . . yes, General Cicuna will be briefing you."
"Cicuna? You mean the half-dragon?"
"That one. He's your commanding officer, so respect him."
Rally winced, "I don't know, sire. . . he has an awful temper. . ."
"You will do as I say. The mission starts ofter the unit has been briefed. Understood?"
"Yes, sire." Rally gave the normal salute, which he almost always forgot to give, raising his right fist to his shoulder and grabbing the wrist with his left. The king nonchalantly turned and proceeded down the hallway. Rally watched him go, until the king had left his sight, then he took his bandanna and threw it on the floor, kicking it and grinding it into the stone for effect. "Why didn't I see it before!" He yelled to himself, and grudgingly replaced his headband, and walked down towards the war room.
The castle looked even better during the day. The walls shone as brightly as the sky, the pillars toward the outer balconies cast deep shadows on the opposite wall. It was even more spectacular than the main hall to the throne room, at least, in Rally's eyes. The ceiling was maybe a hundred feet high, the pillars were enormous, and the view of the kingdom on this side was fantastic. And Rally didn't care.
The hallways resounded dully with his footsteps, and before long, he passed the kitchens. Something good was cooking inside, and Rally hoped it wasn't roasted chocobo. Sure, it tasted great, but it was kind of cruel. . . he happened to like chocobos, he thought, before he was immediately distracted once more by the memory of his recent revelation. The prophesy. Yes. . . he remembers reading a book in the library on it when he was ten years old. . .
Woe unto he who disturbs any of the four stones that protect the land, the seas, and the air
Woe unto the man who moves the Crystal of Wind, the winds shall cease and poison will fill the sky
Woe unto the man who moves the Crystal of Earth, the ground will spoil, and plants shall cease to grow
Woe unto the man who moves the Crystal of Fire, drought will plague you forever, and the sun shall scorch you
Woe unto the man who moves the Crystal of Water, never again shall you sail on the seas or drink pure water
Woe Woe Woe
The planet shall rot out of the galaxy
and fall into the abyss
That was a particularly brutal curse, Rally realized. He'd take another look in that book when he had the time, but he decided it would be best to go and get his mission briefing from General Cicuna. Yeah, he was a half-dragon, from a region pretty far south; he joined the military academy and rose up in rank within four months to general. He was amazing to watch in battle; why he was left to brief soldiers on tactics and not on the front lines leading the best battalion of troops to an easy victory up in Marticia was beyond him. That did seem rather odd. . . the greatest general in the Salrian army left behind to do a tactician's work. Maybe he'd ask the king about it later, who'd probably give him another runaround answer.
The guard at the tactician office door saluted Rally, "Password, please."
"Let me in, you idiot!"
"Sorry, the word going around is that Marticia has sent spies across the border. You'll need to give the password."
Rally groaned, "But I hate the password!"
"You gotta do it."
Sighing and burying his face in his palms, Rally said the password softly, "Great be the imp, now lend me your ear, he'll sneak right up behind you and stab you in your rear."
"Sorry, a little louder?"
"GREAT BE THE IMP, NOW LEND ME YOUR EAR, HE'LL SNEAK RIGHT UP BEHIND YOU AND STAB YOU IN YOUR REAR! NOW LET ME IN!"
The guard snickered and opened up the door, "Right this way. . ."
"I am so going to slit your throat while you sleep for that." Rally pointed at the guard as he walked into the passage. The door closed behind him, and General Cicuna looked up at Rally, "Having fun with the password, I see."
"Shutup. Let me hear about the mission."
"Alright. . ." General Cicuna stood behind a table that had a rather large map of the Northern Lands, as well as several figurines representing various forces that would probably be interacting with Rally soon enough. "This is the elite force you'll be scouting for." Cicuna pointed to a red figurine of a knight with his pointer stick, "and here is the front lines." Parts of it were getting very close the the standard path to the temple. "The team needs to deviate right here and go through this area right here."
"You're kidding; that's the Marshlands!"
"Not anymore they aren't. They finished the draining project last week. Luckily for us, the enemy hasn't found out about it yet, so hopefully they'll ignore the troops once they move here. But still, you are to investigate areas here, here, here, here, here. . ." Cicuna pointed to a whole lot of places on the map, "The problem is that there's only one of you, and we can't rely on many other scouts too well especially at the speed we're going. Here's the deal: Most of the locations are just rumors; Intelligence doesn't want to take any chances, but they listed no priority points. The best way to find out would be to go over the reports yourself. One thing, though. This point right here must be checked no matter what the reports say. Remember also that you disbanded the thieves, so that most reports of them can be ignored, except maybe up near Bahamut Valley. It'll be a good idea to check towns along the way too, the troops can only fend off so many attacks since they're traveling so light. Is this clear?"
"Sure thing. When do I start?"
"You mean when do we start."
"We?"
"Yes, the king requested that I come along. I'll be leading the elite troops."
Something about that sounded awfully suspicious to Rally.
Eloon yawned. He had no clue how Battle Squares became the game of the region, because to him, it got boring very fast. The fact that he didn't have any good battle pieces didn't help much, either.
"I win again!" Cid grinned, Eloon had to look away from the repulsive stare of the engineer, or maybe from the spit that was probably corrosive.
"Good job, I suppose." He collected his pieces back up, or rather, what he had left. Battle Squares was played on a board of 25 squares, and the players had their own pieces. Five pieces were placed on either side; each different piece had a different power. The object was to get one piece to the opposite side, and the loser had to give away any pieces that were not on the home row. Needless to say, Eloon's travel pack was lighter than it was when he arrived, and he hadn't even taken a break for breakfast yet. But it was probably lunch now anyway. "Sun's high in the sky; shouldn't we get something to eat?"
"Huh? Oh! Sure, I suppose the guards will let you into the kitchen. They know you know, right? Well, by the way they've been looking around the ship since we've been here, they should."
"Right. . ."
"But if anyone gives you trouble, you'll need to remember the low-level access password: 'Cactaur Running.'"
". . . what?"
"'Cactaur Running.'"
"Okay, that's weird. The only way it would be more weird is if the password was that stupid 'Professor' Daravon poem about the imp stabbing you in the rear."
Cid gasped, "How did you know the high-level password!"
Eloon sighed, burying his face in his gloves.
There was very little left to say before the mission began that afternoon, but Rally made one stop to the library, just to check on the book. The librarian showed him the way to the Lore section, after a brief bout with the high-level password ("COME ON, YOU KNOW IT'S ME!") again, and Rally found the tomb with relative ease. It must have been the oldest book there.
Opening it, he saw the curse on the first page. That was a slight shock, as he thought it would have been buried among a lot of ancient poems, but this entire tomb, he realized, was dedicated to the Crystals. He turned to the next page. . .
History of the Crystals
The Crystals of the Elements were first crafted under order of Lord and King Firion of The Holy Empire of Ivalice. In doing so, he created the Order of the Twelve, whose jobs it was to make sure the stones stayed secret, and safe. The great prophet Lukahn warned the great King that the crystals had so much power, that if they ever fell out of their destined spots, the earth would crumble, as told in the Prophesy of the Curse. However. . .
The page was torn off. Rally checked the quality of the tear. . . it was recent. Someone had been here not but a fortnight ago. The rest of the book seemed unimportant, about the forging themselves, but even if it was important, Rally didn't have the time to dig out the right information. But he did turn to the back page, to see if there was anything else of importance.
On the deathbed of Lukahn the prophet, he spoke these words:
The crystals shall be removed exactly one thousand years from their forging. . . and the world shall not fall into peril, only if the True and Last Hero of the world shall awaken, and destroy them once and for all. . .
Rally shivered. That didn't make too much sense. After all, they were moving the crystals, but this book couldn't have been written more than four hundred years ago, and its still much older than most of the books in the library. In fact, the oldest, The History of Alexandria was only six hundred years old; it was the only book retrieved from the library fire during the Fall of Alexandria, and it was the first book to be stored in Salaria's archives.
Oddly enough, that book was the only survivor of Salaria's own great fire. . . Even so, the Holy Empire of Ivalice was the only country of importance, wasn't it? They made the crystals. It was said that the magic power in the world sharply decreased, and that most of the magic of the world lay stored in the crystals. That certainly ought to have caused the Holy Empire to rise in power, since they held all the world's magic.
Or did they? The crystals were held at four precise points on the globe; for the Holy Empire to hold all of them, even if at its peak, must have been a herculean task. All the magic in the world could be counteracted by one small force that was bent on seizing the power, after all. And then it dawned on him.
The stories of the Light Warriors! Rally replaced the ancient prophesy book on the shelf, and scanned the case until he found another, a much newer book, written within the last century. It was an old story, probably shrouded and tainted by myth, but Rally had a feeling there was some deep meaning hidden somewhere.
He pulled a red book off the shelf, and opened it to the first page, where it showed a sketch of the Light Warriors, who were responsible for single handedly restoring the world to peace. In the traditional story, Rally remembered, they even did battle with the Emperor himself. Although the exploits of the heroes took up almost all of the book, near then end it told of the Crystals. They were locked away, and temples were built around them, with monks devoting their lives to keeping the secrets of the crystals, and making sure they never fell into the hands of a country again.
King Salaria hoped that his elite troops could stand up to them, because nobody had even tried to seize the crystals for four centuries. Also the king had a back up plan. . . Of course! That's why General Cicuna was to be sent with the troops! Rally flipped to the last page of the book. It read that the crystals will never fall to any man. Keyword, there. . . And though a woman would have probably served a similar purpose, Rally doubted that there was one as powerful as General Cicuna. . .
Rally replaced the book onto the shelf, quickly scanning the bookcase again before returning to the open foyer.
It was three in the afternoon. Cicuna sat on his Chocobo mount, looking into the distant Marshlands, when Rally ran up to him. "Reporting for duty," Rally said, giving the salute, "Any immediate signs of the enemy?"
"Not at all. Check near the battle lines, though, especially the towns. Spies will be relatively easy for you to spot, but be careful."
"Absolutely, sir."
"We'll set out in one hour. Better get going."
"Certainly." Rally hopped onto his chocobo. He pulled up the reins and spurred it with the pointed ends of the daggers hidden in his boots, and the Chocobo ran forward. Another joined him, Cicuna watched, that Bounty Hunter. The half-dragon wondered if Rally was paying him or what, not that it mattered. Rally was sincere about his jobs, and he wasn't flaunting when hiring allies; he'd know if that character was a spy or not.
Cicuna sighed, spurring his Chocobo to turn towards the city entrance, walking to the start point. The general sighed; if only he'd listened to his father. . . if only he stayed in the valley. . .
Two guards on the wall watched him pass. "That's General Cicuna, ain't it?" one asked the other.
"Why, sure it is!" The other replied.
"Why's he looking so sad?"
"They say he's always like that. Ever since he came from his homeland to fight in the war, he's never been happy. I worked with him once, when he was just another grunt. He was so mad at his commander, that he ousted him in the field. Said he caused him to get killed, then took over as leader of the unit, and was later promoted to that position. Happened a lot of times. But he never was happy taking orders from anyone."
"But he's a General now, and an incredible one at that! He could be leading the whole army to victory."
"Still, he takes orders from the king. And although I've only heard rumors, they say he's going to marry the princess so he can take the throne. . ."
"That's a lie!" Cicuna called up to them. After all, he had the hearing of a dragon, "I have no interest in politics!"
Both guards looked at him, then the first one shouted, "Then what would you be happy doing?"
Cicuna didn't really know.
End of this chapter. Before I can do any more chapters, I'll need someone to send in a concept for the final boss. Okay, then! Ciao!
