The Song of Eternity

Canto 1

Parm: The Forsaken Realm

Verse 6

The Desert Tower

They fled from town,

Heading to their dark master,

The truth, so close,

But still out of reach.

            "Get to that other airship, we need to stop them!"  The wereman shouted as he pulled Deke to his feet and strode over to the closest airship.  "We have to catch them before they get to Ashura, hurry up!" he screamed over his shoulder at Cid, Eiko, and Pearl.  He set Deke down on the deck and slapped his face lightly.  "You okay?"

            Deke's eyes flutterd open and he groaned.  "Peachy, I feel like I got hit by a boulder," he joked as he staggered to his feet and leaned on the rail of the airship.  "They got away?"  He asked when he saw that Jack and Deklin were nowhere in sight.

            "Yes," the wereman replied.

            "Let's go get 'em then," Deke replied as he stood up on his own.  "You three coming?"  He shouted over the rail at Eiko, Cid, and Pearl who were slowly walking over, talking among themselves.  The three of them stepped onto the airship, eying the wereman and Deke strangely.

            "What is going on here?  What are you not telling us?"  Cid asked the wereman calmly.  "You seemed to be one step up on their operation the entire time, now spill it." 

            The wereman looked at Cid in annoyance.  "Let's get airborne first, we can't let them get away.  I'll tell you everything once we're in the air."

            Cid agreed and all five of them went into the airship's control room.  The wereman looked at the foreign controls and shrugged.  "Eiko, can you fly this thing?"

            Eiko looked up from the controls like something scared her.  "Why would I?"

            "You lived with Cid in Lindbulm for a couple years, I figured you picked something up," the wereman explained.

            "How do you know that?"  Eiko asked the wereman, studying his face.

            "I'll explain in the air, now can you fly it?"  The wereman growled, growing impatient from the wait.

            "I'll try," Eiko nodded as she turned to the controls.  She looked down at the controls, spotting the throttle, steering, then a large button at the bottom of the console.  "I hope this is the starter…" she whispered as she pressed the button as the ship shuddered and came to life.  She timidly grabbed the controls and slowly got the airship into the air.  "Whew, it's been a while," she laughed as she pointed the nose of the ship out towards the exit and sped the ship up.  They were airborne a minute later, following the small dot of the other airship on the horizon.  "Start explaining, I'll keep following them," she said seriously to the wereman.

            "To do that I need you to help me," he explained as motioned for Deke to take the wheel.  Eiko gently gave him the controls and stepped over to the wereman.  "I need my true form back.  With your magic, you should be able to find a way to fix this," he gestured at his lupine features.  "Just try to remove whatever status effects are affecting me now, it should work," the wereman ordered as he stood back against the wall and braced himself.

            "Here goes nothing," Eiko muttered as she cast the most powerful heal spell.  The pink light covered the wereman as his body began to change.  The fur all over his body melted into clothes.  The claws on his left hand disappeared, turning into normal flesh.  The claws on his right hand, got larger, but looked different, it was hard to tell through the pink glow.  Finally he pitched forward, catching himself on his hands and knees as his insides restructured themselves.  Finally the glow faded away, and Eiko looked down at him.  All she could see was the top of his head, she noticed the long red dreadlocks and blinked, not believing her eyes.  The wereman stood up, finally returned to his past glory.  "Amarant?" she whispered, recognizing her old friend.

            "Yes, it is I, Amarant Coral," he said, checking himself over, making sure he was back to normal.

            "That's nice and all, Eiko please take the controls again, I think I'm gonna pass out," Deke said as he grabbed Eiko with one hand, pulling her to the controls.  Eiko fiddled with the controls for a minute, finally turning on the auto-pilot.  She turned around to find Deke being supported by Cid. 

            "Curaga," she said as she cast the healing magic on Deke.  The light seeped into his body, closing some small wounds, allowing him to stand on his own.  "Is that really you Amarant?"  Eiko asked as she turned to her old friend.

            He nodded and was about to speak as Cid finally spoke up.  "Time for explanations Amarant.  What is going on here?"  The knight asked impatiently, looking past him out the window.

            "I tracked Eiko and followed her here through the same crystal she touched six years ago.  I was changed when I arrived.  Through my travels and searching over the years I formed a theory of how to get back to my true self, and maybe out of here.  This world's crystal was broken fifteen years ago, shattered and scattered across the land.  My plan was to use the princess's crystal to try to transport me home or to somehow change my form back to normal.  But since Eiko has her powers back there is no need."

            "My ring and the pendant, are both parts of the crystal?"  Cid asked as he squinted into the distance.

            "Yes, we can't let Ashura get them, there is no way to tell what kind of power he may gain if he controls them.  He is a cruel warlord who will kill everyone that gets in his way," Amarant finished.

            "What does this have to do with me?"  Deke asked as he tried to spot what Cid was watching through the window.

            "You may look a little different now, but you are from our world as well.  I lived in the same town as you for half a year.  You and your brother were great fighters, the best I'd ever seen.  Your real name is Travis Starmore.  I figured it would be best to keep an eye on you."

            "What is the plan?  Get the pendant and get out?"  Pearl asked as she looked at the ground passing them by.

            "Make it up as we go along, try your best," Amarant nodded.

            "Eiko, you better take the controls, we are almost at Ashura's tower.  Starmore, come with me, we need to find you a weapon," Cid commanded, leaving the cabin.

            "Weapon….  weapon…" Travis muttered under his breath as he followed the knight.

            After they had left Amarant spoke to Eiko and Pearl.  "We need to be careful around Deklin, he has regained his power as well, now that he has the pendant."

            "You mean…."  Eiko stopped as it dawned on her.

            "He is a black mage."