Chapter 4: The Mist Cave

"Cecil..." Cecil turned around, He appeared to be in a dark room. There was nothing here. Actually he wasn't sure if he was even in a room. He felt very claustrophobic, although, there appeared to be no end to the darkness. As far as he knew, he could be dead. What he saw pushed that belief further. Cecil saw himself standing opposite from him, some three metres away. He appeared to be leaning against a wall, and for a dark place, he could see himself rather well. The fake Cecil looked at the reall one. "Fuck you Cecil. Look at you, look what you've become! Fuckin' puppet." Cecil was frightened, and shocked. It's not everyday he actually SAW himself abusing him. To be honest, it scared the hell out of him.

"What do you want?!" Cecil yelled.

"For you to see past your own selfish wants Cecil. All you can think about is being promoted. People, no, a whole race of people are going to die, and it's gonna be your fault."

"How? how is anyone gonna die?"

"Fuck you dumb-shit! Didn't you ever wonder why the ring got hot whenever you thought about it? Didn't you even think why Cid looked so frightened when he saw the ring? Didn't it even strike you as odd, how the king of Baron wanted you to take a red ring to Mist, if there wasn't something behind it? ... If I were you, I would wtach out for the King, You know there is something different about him."

"Yes, those things were wierd... But the King's orders are my orders."

"And that's why you left Baron, with barely any food or water. The King doesn't care if you die out here... Actually, sending you alone pushes the belief onto me that he wanted you to die..." The true Cecil thought about what he, in a sense, had said. It all made sense... However, he was almost finished the mission. "Do you really think that your soldiers are going to respect you if you do become captain again?" The false Cecil asked, drwing his sword. The true Cecil followed his images action, and with the force of a hundred warriors, the mirrored image of Cecil knocked the true Cecil to the ground, and started to push his fist onto Cecils chest. Cecil tried to stab his mirrored self with his sword, and the mirrored one withdrew from the attack. Cecil charged at his shadow, and knocked him to the ground. He raised his sword above the mirrors chest, ready to kill him when the mirror smiled... "Wakey, Wakey Cecil..." Cecil didn't understand. He blinked out of confusion, and when he opened his eyes. He saw Kain, cowering under Cecil's black blade, leaning against a boulder. They were in the valley, just outside the Mist Cave. The grass was damp with mildew, and the yellow rocks were warm in the morning sun.

"What the fuck, Cecil?" Kain said. He was really scared. It's one thing to be attacked by a monster, but it is entirely another to be attacked by a trusted friend. Cecil threw his sword, and it peirced a rock, wedging itself in it. He looked down at Kain and stepped away slowly. Kain started again. "Damn, it was like you were possessed... You were talking about how people were gonna die if we took the ring to Mist... It really scared the hell out of me, Cecil. It looked like you were having a nightmare, so I tried to wake you, and then you attacked me."

"I'm sorry Kain, I guess you startled me..." Cecil said. What the hell was that vision about? He guessed it would go never away if Cecil acknowedged it... but why did what the mirror say come out of Cecils mouth? Cecil pulled his sword from the rock it was stuck in and sheathed it. "Come on Kain..." Cecil said. Kain got up and followed his ally. Kain thought to himself... How could a trip, that started out so fun, turn out so horrible three days in?

The Mist cave was old. Very old. Journals from the settlers of Baron mention the cave, and that was a six millenia ago. However, it was still holding up, and exactly as the journals had described it. Thick fog permeated the air around Cecil and Kain. They could only see a couple of metres ahead, they were in a narrow rocky passage, and the looks on their faces agreed, that this would be a hell of a trial. Cecil was glad to see that Kain was more focussed on what was ahead than what Cecil had done before. Cecil drew his sword... Most of the monsters in the cave would have adjusted to the fog, and therefore, would still be able to hunt down the two Baronese knights. Cecil hugged the jagged wall to the left of him, it was wet, and smelt rather bad. Kain was trying not to let it show, but the area was so confined, he was starting to get cluastrophobic. Kain followed closely Cecil, as Cecil was known to be a valuable assett in times like this, he could use his hearing to check for monsters around a corner without looking, no problems at all. Cecil only turned a corner when he saw a roaring fire, and several Imp sitting around it, cooking was smelt like Swordrat and speaking a strange language...

"Daash guducke?" One Imp asked another

"Thu" One Imp answered, shaking his head. Cecil decided to take advantage of the fact that he could see the Imps fire, but the Imps couldn't see anything near Cecil. He snuck up to the Fire, and due to the fog, it wasn't that hard. Kain followed him, arming himself. Slowly, Cecil waited for an opportunity... The imp continued to speak the ugly language. "Gaha, nesh drem falnahad," The Imp conitinued, he appeared to be telling a story. Cecil clutched his sword, Kain his spear. Kain raised his left arm and extended his right one for aim. He threw his spear, impaling three Imps with the one blow. Cecil ran up, and thrust his sword into one Imp, sliced open another, and then, the Imp telling the story stood and drew his sword. Cecil made an attack, but the Imp blocked it with his own sword. Cecil tried to kill the Imp again, but it was faster than Cecil had expected. Cecil, who wanted to make a fatal blow to the green cheif had only wounded his left arm. The foul beast left out a gruesome scream and brought his sword down hard and fast on Cecil. Kain stuck out his spear blocking the attack, and that is what stopped Cecil from dieing then and there. Cecil unleased hell on the Imp, a dozen quick stabs to the beast's stomach and torso was almost enough to kill it. Cecil lodged his Sword into the head of the almost dead Imp. Cecil removed the dark blade and went back to hugging the wall. Now he knew that there WERE monsters in the cave, at least he wasn't left wondering. For half an hour he hugged the wall untill he found a set of wooden steps leading northwards.

The moment he placed his foot on the step, a swollen purple slug poked itself from in between two of the steps and wrapped itself around Cecil's leg. Cecil dropped his blade, and it rolled just out of reach. He couldn't cut himself free

"Kain!" Cecil yelled. He was surprised to see that Kain wasn't anywhere to be seen, he wasn't following closely, like he had been for the last, almost an hour. A gigantic, sickening moth slowly aproached the trapped knight. "Kain! Where are you Kain?" Out of nowhere a shadow was seen through the thick fog, jumping down from the roof of the Mist cave. It was easily recognisable as Kain. The moth, the root of the worries was gone. Now all that was left was the slug. Easy.

Kain picked up Cecil's sword to hand it to him, but when the sword touched Kain's skin, he froze. All of the malice that went into the blade was looking for a new host, and it had supposedely found a host... King Baron had always said how Kain would be a great Dark Knight, and now Kain knew why. In a state of momentary madness, Kain saw a cloaked figure. He was in shadow, so Kain couldn't see the specifics, however, he was almost 6'5" and wore heavy amour. Then he spoke, his voice had a chill in it.

"There are ways you could be promoted Kain. If it weren't for you, Cecil would be dead by now anyway, saying he had fallen in combat would have you being promoted... Or it could be suicide, you are holding the hilt of HIS blade." The figure chuckled evily.

"Kain, you gonna help me man?" Kain broke away from his vision. He slowly handed the sword to Cecil. Cecil pierced the larvae through it's abdomen and broke free. "Come on, we're almost there." Cecil knew what the look on Kain face meant. So, he's had a vision too... Cecil didn't want to bring it up though, they weren't exactly the most pleasant things in Baron. Cecil and Kain climbed the high set of steps in silence, and very carefully moved forward. They were at the top of a small cliff either side, but the area the could walk across wasn't as confining as the passage that they had just gotten through. The two followed it around to see a single Imp, sitting by itself. This Imp on it's own wasn't really a threat, however, Imp's are normally pack monsters. They are always in a group. Caution was applied to the on the Imp. As the two drew closer, they saw that it was crying. It grunted and spoke to the travellers.

"Doan't worwy. I woan't kiwll yoo." Cecil didn't ready his weapon, but he did make sure he could get to it easily.

"What's wrong?" Cecil said coldly. Kain whispered to Cecil,

"Cecil, what the fuck are you doing?"

"Yoo're fwrend needsh to shtop being sho shuspishish of Drol" Cecil asked the Imp again, what the matter was

"The utter Imp'sh kicked poor Drol out frum hish pack. Nutting bad. Not dat yoo hoomansh woold care." Cecil, despite hating the Imp's deeply felt sorry for the one who called himself Drol. "Now watch Drol guing too doo?" It turned around to face Cecil. His face was badly burned. "Watch the outshide wold like?" Drol asked Cecil.

"It's very nice" Cecil said, wanting to move on. Kain couldn't believe Cecil was conversing with an Imp, and niether could Cecil.

"Drol unly efar live in cave. Doo hoomansh mind if Drol takesh them out of the cave?" Drol asked. Cecil couldn't believe his luck. An Imp who can find his way through could get them out in under half an hour. Cecil agreed, Kain however saw all Imp's as deceptive. Drol lead the two through the cave. After getting around a corner, they found that they were almost off of the ledge, and suddenly, in both Cecil and Kains heads, a deep female voice called out to them.

"Turn back..." The two didn't know what it was.

"Who's there?" Cecil yelled into the mist.

"Drol be here, no-one elsh tho." The two kept following Drol as he lead them through, occassionally saying something spiteful, sounding in Imp-tongue. Kain hoped it wasn't about them. Cecil and Kain could just see the door, when three Imps came from behind the group of three.

"Drollendarkk rrept gassa! Drollendarkk highne!" one of the Imp's yelled. He charged toward Drol and sliced their own species through the middle.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Cecil yelled.

"Impsh not help hyomansh. Drollendarkk ish traytoar." The Imp said. Cecil cast DarkWave, and the force sent the three Imps down a hole. in the middle of a cave. The two knights ran for the way out... then they heard the voice again...

"Leave now!" It said, yelling at the two telepathically. Kain couldn't resist. He had to break the tension...

"Is this the Phantom Beast talking?" Kain joked

"Kain! Is this really the time for jokes?" Cecil scolded his friend.

"Just trying to break the ice Cecil." Kain told Cecil.

"I like ice, leave it alone. Look, you can joke as much as you want when we finish the mission." Cecil told Kain. After a few more steps, they heard the voice again.

"You're from Baron... Aren't you..." The voice said.

"Who's there?" Kain yelled into the fog.

"If you turn back now, no harm will come to you..." The voice said. Kain wanted to turn back.

"Hey Cecil, let's just turn around, man."

"NO! we NEED to deliver the ring to Mist. It's the only thing I can do to get my job back!" Cecil said. There was no use in argueing with him at this point.

"Then I have no choice..." The voice finally said. All of the mist in the cave gathered around Cecil and Kain to form a gigantic dragon. It was a white, blue colour, over twenty feet tall, and almost double that in length. The dragon was seemingly solid, however, when it came down to the cretures feet, they were a little transparent. Although the knight's didn't notice, the cave was entirely clear, and unlucky for them, all the creatures were going blind because of the light NOW.

"The Phantom Beast..." Kain siad. He was more worried about actually being right about the creature existing than what he was up against. Cecil ran to strike the enemy, and to Cecils surprise, the monster recoiled in pain and charged at Cecil. Cecil evaded the attack and slice down on the dragons neck.

"Well, aren't you gonna help Kain?" Cecil yelled. Kain jumped in the air and pointed spear down. Wherever he would land is where it would hurt. However Kain didn't land. As strong as he was, the beast was stronger. As swift as Kain was, the beast was swifter. The dragon reared it's head and opened it's jaws. Kain's body was dangling by his left leg. After using Kain as a chew toy, the dragon threw Kain against a wall. It was amazing to see how much damage compressed fog could do to someone. Kain had severe gashes in his leg, they went straight to the bone as well, and to make matters worse, he was knocked out. Cecil could feel all of the anger inside of him well up. Nothing would hurt his best friend and live to tell the tale... "DarkWave!" Cecil yelled. Cecil didn't expect the Mist Dragon to absorb the wave of energy into it's being. Then something happened that Cecil didn't originally count on. The Dragon split up, and the cave was exactly as it was before. Cecil turned to tend to Kain, He rubbed some emergency potion into his wounds, and made Kain drink the rest. Kain was at least now awake, however he was still bleeding heavily, and was groggy.

"Thank you Cecil," Kain said.

"Shh... Don't speak, save your energy for your recovery."

Cecil turned around to see that the Dragon was still alive. Cecil slid under the beast and pierced his chest with the Dark Sword. The Dragon gave a cry of pain and lowered his head to see who had done this. The dragon snapped it's jaws to get Cecil in the same status as it had done with Kain. It suddenly stop snapping at Cecil and went screamed a horrible scream. Cecil crawled out from under the Phantom Beast to see Kain pulling his spear out from the creatures skull. It gently reared it's head to look at Kain, and when Cecil saw the anger in it's eyes, he knew that it wasn't dead yet. Cecil raised his sword with one hand, and brought it down hard, decapitating the dragon. It was dead.

Kain limped towards the exit of the cave, while Cecil ran to get a potion from a nearby chest.

"Kain, drink this, and I guarantee you'll stop bleeding. You'll still be a little sore but you won't die on me." Cecil pleaded with Kain.

"Cecil , I owe you my life..." Kain said.

"No, not your life. Just your pay!" Cecil joked with Kain. For someone who could have been dead by now, Kain took the joke pretty well. The finish line was in sight, but little did they know, it was more of a start line for their near futures...

Well, there's THAT chapter done. Sorry it took so long to update, but with the holidays, I've been pretty busy. The next chapter will have Rydia's entrance into the story. I think I need to work on my action a little more, but they boss fight wasn't too boring to write. I'll look forward to more criticism, ect. PS: I've changed the Cid/Rosa thing, my bad (again hit's self sorry) and I've taken typo's out of all of the chapters so far. I put some more description into the dragon now, (thank you Fake Flower, the description was up my ass) and added in a little of my twisted humour into that part of the fic. Brace yourself for an emotional chapter next, and this chap will last until the cave before Tellah makes his appearance.