The Song of Eternity
Canto 1
Parm: The Forsaken Realm
Verse 13
Salvation
Those destined to meet in battle clash,
Given hope and a chance by others' actions.
They call upon their power,
To battle the tyrant,
And go home.
Amarant, Cid, Lani, and Jack stood facing the oncoming force of Ashura's desert forces. "Charge!" Cid shouted as they led the attack against Ashura's main forces. They became separated as they fought their way through the enemy and their own forces joined in. None of them had seen Deklin, but it was reported that he went to the armory earlier in the day. Eiko and Pearl were hanging back, casting as much curative magic as they could on the front lines, hoping it would be enough. The dwarves and Deke were quickly advancing through the ogre forces. Suddenly the undead army burst into flames, and chaos reigned.
Amarant quickly dodged an attack by a mercenary as he noticed the fire to his side. He swung his claw, ripping into his opponent as he pondered the situation. "Kuja or Deklin," he said to himself as he swung at another opponent. He found himself caught with an opponent to each side, and eyed them warily as they prepared to strike.
Suddenly an axe came crashing out of the sky, taking out one of the soldiers. Amarant took advantage and killed the second one quickly. He frowned as he looked behind the soldier the axe killed and saw Lani grinning as she pulled the axe out. "You owe me one," she smiled as she swung the axe, keeping the enemy a respectable distance away. "We need to press the attack, most of our soldiers have little experience. We need to form a wedge and start cutting through so we can separate the enemy."
"I could have handled that myself," Amarant grunted as he swung his claw with force, taking down a pair of enemies. "Any idea why the fire stopped?"
Lani glanced over to where the thick smoke obscured the view of where Kuja was battling. "Nope. I give up on trying to watch after magic users. It's better to just concentrate on what you can do in the here and now," she commented as she swung at another soldier. "What was the deal with you when I told everyone my name anyway?" She questioned him as they continued to fight forward, through the troops.
"I never knew you were Toma's daughter. I can see the resemblance now," he explained as he heard something familiar in the area where Kuja was. "Down!" He shouted as he dove and tackled Lani, keeping both of them close to the ground. They both looked up as a blast of energy ripped across the battlefield, vaporizing parts of soldiers and continuing on.
"What the hell was that?" Lani shouted as they both regained their feet. There was an area of fallen bodies across the entire battlefield, hundreds hurt or killed by Kuja's blast.
"Looked like a Starlight Blast, but that's impossible, it came from the wrong direction," Amarant explained. He saw the blank look on Lani's face, then continued. "I'll explain later, but your brother-in-law is supposed to be the only one who can do that."
"What brother-in-law? What are you talking about Amarant?" She shouted angrily as she got back to chopping down the stunned enemies.
"Later. Ashura is up there, I can see him. Signal the others," Amarant ordered as he went ahead into the battle, leaving Lani to raise the signal flag.
Cid frowned as he stood back to back with Jack. They had ogres closing in on one side and desert warriors on the other. "Any ideas?" Cid asked, hoping the thief had some trick up his sleeve.
Jack laughed when he spoke. "I thought you didn't like me Cid."
"I don't, but we are stuck together it seems," Cid replied.
"Wait a minute, check it out, the signal," Jack exclaimed as he pointed across the battle field. "How are we supposed to get over there?" He asked Cid as he looked over the soldiers in the way.
"I guess we have to fight our way over," Cid reasoned as he held the ogres back at sword length.
"No, I'm supposed to get you over there. Now hold on," Deklin spoke as he appeared beside them. He reached out and grabbed them before they could react, as a cloud of smoke surrounded them and they all disappeared.
They reappeared a second later beside Amarant, Lani, Eiko, and Pearl. "Give us a hand here!" Amarant shouted as he grappled with an abnormally large desert warrior.
"The old royal guards, supposedly the best fighters in the desert a decade ago," Jack explained as he Cid and Deklin rushed into the fray. Several dozen sword strokes later and nothing stood between the seven heroes and Ashura but ten feet of open ground.
Ashura stood there, prepared for the battle. He wore no armor, but had an enormous sword in each of his four arms and looked ready for battle. "Where are the others?" Eiko asked as she got ready to cast a spell.
Deklin shook his head. "Not coming. Kuja's down after that energy blast. Deke is surrounded by ogres and I'm afraid if I try to pop in I'll get hit by him or the ogres. We're on our own."
"I tire of your chatter, time to begin," Ashura growled as he advanced on the heroes. He grinned a sharp toothed grin as he swung a sword, scattering the seven. He continued to press the attack, sending everyone but Amarant flying backwards. Amarant swung his claw, ripping into Ashura's abdomen, spraying blood all over. Ashura ignored the blow as it already was healing. He swung his arm back, sending Amarant backwards landing in a bloody heap. "Fools, you can't stop me," Ashura gloated.
Eiko rushed over to Amarant quickly and began to heal him. "He'll live, but I'll need to work on him for a while," she assured the others.
Deklin stood in front of Ashura, trying to figure out how to stop him. "Flare!" He screamed as he bought some time by igniting Ashura's flesh. "How do we stop him?" Deklin asked the others as Ashura slowly got to his feet.
Eiko leaned down to Amarant's face as he tried to speak. "He says get all the crystal pieces close to Ashura. He's using his pieces to regenerate, if we get them close enough they should put themselves together and end this."
"On three," Cid ordered as they all got ready to rush the monster. "One," he counted as Ashura finally got back to his feet, completely healed, but weaponless. "Two," he continued as Deklin disappeared. "Three," he shouted as he and the others ran at Ashura. Eiko grabbed the pendant off of Amarant before she rushed in. Ashura laughed as the they struck at him, not grasping their plan until Deklin arrived with Kuja.
"What…?" He muttered to himself as he felt his power start to leave him. The assorted rings and pendants all began to glow, covering them in the midst of combat.
Kuja opened his eyes, becoming conscious again. "It needs power….," he muttered before passing out again.
"Power…" Deklin closed his eyes and concentrated, focusing all his power on pouring pure mana into the gems and the glow surrounding them. Suddenly the glow expanded, covering the battlefield and growing larger. It kept growing as Deklin continued to pour more power into the glow. Finally the glow began to fade. And with it went the most of the people it covered. Jack and Pearl were left on the desolate battlefield with a tenth of the soldiers that started the battle. Everyone else was gone.