The Song of Eternity
Canto 2 : Gaia
Verse 11
Futility
The hero has fallen for the third time,
The evil one approaches the gathered heroes.
They battle,
Knowing they cannot win,
Trying to save those they love.
"Get them all out of the city!" Nathan shouted to the guards who were hurriedly ushering the citizens of Alexandria from the city. "Get to Lindbulm! If we die here, head to the woods, do not let him find you," Nathan shouted to the citizens passing by.
They had all arrived back at Alexandria within the last hour, quickly sharing the information they found before hearing the news. Mages began showing up in the city telling the same story, Burmecia was destroyed, many of the people escaped, but the death toll was huge. Garland was advancing on Alexandria, burning the countryside on the way. They could see the smoke coming closer and decided to let those who could make a difference stay, and for everyone else to get out of the city.
Right now their force consisted of nearly a hundred genomes and mages, Zidane, Garnet, Steiner, Beatrix, Nathan, Mikoto, Kuja, Freya, Eiko, Deklin, Amarant, and Lani. They had distributed the weapons tempered with Travis's blood earlier, giving one to each of those who did not have one.
"This sucks," Lani said as she leaned on her axe. "Think he died?" she asked Amarant, thinking of Travis.
"Probably," Amarant said grimly. Amarant turned as a genome came to speak to him.
"Sir, there is a man from Danguerro here. He says his name is Toma Shinji, he wants to see you and Lani," the genome explained, pointing to the old man down the block.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Lani said in anger as she ran down the street to her father. Amarant slowly walked down the street until he heard her yelling. "What are you doing here? This place is gonna be a war zone soon! You need to leave," she pleaded with him.
"I know, but I was already on my way here before this situation developed," Toma explained as Amarant walked up to him. "Travis came to see me yesterday," Toma explained. "He took the plain necklace that was Alek's and Fiona's wedding ring. I was keeping them in remembrance. I think he plans to die," Toma explained as Amarant looked at the fire growing closer.
"He already has," Amarant said. "He saved Nathan, Mikoto, and the others from Garland's initial attack. Garland is here now, so Travis is dead," Amarant finished.
"Dad, you need to get out of here," Lani whispered to her father. "We need to stay to stop Garland, but if we lose, you need to get as far away from here as possible," Lani said as she ushered her father towards the exit.
"Lani, tell him," Amarant ordered before he walked back to talk to Nathan and the others.
"Tell me what?" Toma asked Lani as she walked with him to the city gate. "Well?" He stopped at the city gate as people rushed by him.
"In case we don't make it, there's something you need to know," Lani said before taking a deep breath. "When I left home, I was taken in by Amarant's order of monks. We got married and he got exiled before the plague destroyed his order. We haven't been a couple for a long time, but have stayed married because divorce is against his beliefs. We are gonna try to work it out after this is all over," she said before looking back at the smoke growing closer.
"Just make it through this, I've already lost one daughter and husband. I do not want to lose you two," he said before hugging her and leaving the city.
"Get ready," Amarant ordered as she caught back up to him and they could see the flames over the castle wall.
Garland floated out of the flames into Alexandria. He looked like he had on Terra with a few exceptions. The clothed parts of his body were not actually clothed, they were just pitch black. The rest of his body was pale white and very angular looking. His eyes were the scariest part, they glowed as red as the fires that traveled in his wake. He floated into the town square, where the twelve heroes were waiting for him. "We meet again, weak humans," he snarled as he rested on the ground.
"You should have learned the lesson from what I did to the other Starmore," he laughed as he eyed the mages around the perimeter of the town square. "You think you can succeed where he failed?"
"We don't have a choice, do we?" Nathan countered as he readied his sword.
"Very well then, let it begin," Garland said calmly as he made a wave of fire wash over his enemies. Nathan ignored the flames and rushed at Garland, swinging his sword right for his head. The sword made a shallow cut into Garland, revealing blackness under the white skin. "Back," Garland shouted as he backhanded Nathan. He turned to face the others as they formed a circled around him and charged. Garland grunted as the weapons gouged into his 'flesh'. "Enough!" Garland roared as he let loose an energy blast, sending all eleven of them flying backwards.
Garland stood in the same place he landed at earlier. Small cuts dotted his exterior, but were rapidly closing. "Magic, now!" Nathan shouted to the mages and genomes. High powered spells of all types crashed into Garland, stunning him. "Use the weapon skills!" Nathan shouted to the other eleven as they were getting up. He rushed in to attack Garland as the spells started to die off. He unleashed the special skill built into the sword as he struck at Garland. The sword bit into Garland an inch before stopping.
Garland stared at Nathan with hate in his eyes. "You have the power he had," Garland growled before pulling the sword from his form and blasting it and Nathan backwards with a blast of Ultima magic. "Who else has the nerve to face me?!" Garland roared, looking for his next attacker.
"I've trained my whole life to stop this," Amarant said as he stepped up to fight Garland.
"And I need to represent the family," Lani shouted from the other side of Garland. They both attacked in unison, moving unnaturally fast due to the power of the weapons. They took Garland by surprise, each hitting him from different sides with all their strength.
"You all have the power!" Garland roared as he swung at Amarant. Amarant barely dodged the strike and clawed a gash in Garland's arm as it passed by him. "No more!" he shouted as he let loose blasts of energy at both of them at the same time, sending them sprawling backwards.
"Much more," Freya said as she dove out of the sky, goring Garland on her spear. Garland screamed in pain as he was attacked by Beatrix and Steiner as well. They continued to strike Garland as he pulled the spear from his body. He tossed it to the ground and charged into Steiner and Beatrix, knocking them both back.
He turned around as holy magic started to eat away at his sides. Garnet stood next to Eiko, both were casting their most powerful spells at him. "Women fight me," he said disapprovingly as he stepped through the spell towards them.
"Not to mention me," Deklin said as he stepped in between Garland and the girls. "Eidelons, now. I can't stop him for long, we need to buy a little more time," he whispered to the girls. "Here we go!" he shouted as he rushed at Garland with his shortsword. Garland knocked it out of his hands before it could strike him.
"Was that it?"
"Naw, that was a set up," Deklin smiled. "Doomsday X!" Deklin shouted as the darkness surrounded both of them. What looked like ghosts whirled around in the darkness, making grooves in Garland's form and spraying blood from Deklin. "That hurt," he muttered as he stumbled away from the scene.
Madeen and Bahamut appeared simultaneously and attacked Garland for half a minute before Garland dismissed them. "You…will….pay…" Garland muttered through gritted teeth. He shuffled toward the girls as his own wounds healed rapidly.
"Better deal with your creations first," came a voice from behind him. Garland turned in time to be hit by Zidane's amplified Grand Lethal attack. "Mikoto, now!" he shouted as he finished the attack. Mikoto attacked with a similar but weaker attack, causing Garland to fall to his knee.
"Is that all…?" Garland smiled as he looked at the genomes.
"No. I am still here," Kuja said as his form appeared from behind the others.
"You…." Garland whispered in disbelief as he backed away slightly.
"With a whole new bag of tricks," Kuja smiled as he turned black as night. "This one's for Starmore. Starlight Blast!" he yelled as the power ripped out of his body, making a hole in Garland's midsection. Kuja slumped to the ground afterwards, covered in blood. "That hurt," he muttered before passing out.
Garland unsteadily got to his feet to find himself surrounded by everyone but Kuja. "Here goes nothing," Nathan said. "Brothers' War!" he screamed as an orange energy covered his allies. "I haven't been able to do that since Travis left," he said in disbelief as he saw his Trance skill working. "You have one minute of invincibility. Hurry!" Nathan shouted as he and the others began to rain a multitude of blows on Garland's form.
After the Trance wore off, they stood back to look at Garland. His body lay still on the ground. "He dead?" Lani asked as she leaned on Amarant.
"Can't tell, think he breathes?" Deklin said as he crept closer to the body. He stood a step away from Garland and stared at the body. He stood still, trying to sense any sign of life. He suddenly turned and dived back at the others. "Get down!"
The warning came too late. A powerful blast of energy spread outward from Garland's form, sending everyone sprawling twenty feet away and bleeding. Garland was standing when they looked back, his exterior was cracked, but apparently no worse for wear. "We're gonna die here," Eiko said as she helped Deklin to his feet.