Disclaimer: I do not own these characters in any way or form except the original characters. I must give credit to Square for the creation of Spira and the wonderful characters within it.

"Across the Moonflow"

Chapter 5
The aeon in front of him was the one that looked exactly like the singer just moments before. Mason couldn't believe what he saw. He heard tales about the aeons. How they once guarded Spira and summoners would travel to Zanarkand to defeat the once tyrannical Sin.
Then the same soft voice from before spoke, "I am Muse. I'm the guardian of the Moonflow. The priestess will be fine. Let her rest for now. For I am the aeon of inspiration, and I guard you all."
Suddenly everybody froze in their place, and time had stopped except for the aeon, Maylina, and Mason, who stood at her side.
"I have stopped and slowed reality to speak to you," the aeon started.
"Why?" Mason asked. Maylina was still unconscious.
"A gift lies within you. Your destiny is parallel to the priestess. You must join her on her journey. Go with her to Luca, and face your past. Take this as a gift from the aeons."
She gave Mason a sword that was blue with what seemed to be water within the sword. It glowed with the lights shining on the water.
"This is the Brotherhood. Now travel to the water-city, and face your destiny."
Time began again, the aeon was gone, and the sword in Mason's hand had changed into a ring on his middle finger.
"Wow," was the only word Mason could produce.
Then in an instance Renac grabbed Maylina, and took her to her room. Mason knew he wouldn't see them for the rest of the night. As the night went on people would talk about Maylina and the aeon they witnessed.
It was unusual that an aeon would come from the temple on the Moonflow. That temple had been built shortly after Lady Yuna's death. It had been built as a way to remember the city and the people that had died when it had fallen to the bottom of the river.
When the bar closed for the night, Mason was working with Connie at the bar. He needed to make up his mind tonight, and Connie could help resolve his problem; she always did in tight times. That was why he was a good friend with her.
"Connie I think I have a problem," he started.
"Mason if it's about that priestess, I don't want to hear it."
He turned to face her, and stopped working.
"It's not directly about her. It's about her journey. Are you jealous?" he asked lightly.
"I am not jealous, but you shouldn't concern yourself with her problems. She is just trouble waiting to happen. You don't like fighting, and that's what she does as much as praying to the Fayths," Connie replied hastily.
Mason began working again, and did not say another thing to her again for the rest of the night. Connie had a good point about Maylina, and the hardships she would face eventually. He never did like fighting, and Maylina was a big problem waiting for him if he got involved, and it was not her journey that would be the problem. Just having her around him would make him unsteady. Never in his life had a girl moved him the way she had.
Even tonight the aeon that controlled her still could not rid her of her true self. When he sang with her he could feel Maylina as he held her close to his body, as they danced in perfect unison, and they sang in perfect harmony. He was in a perfect heaven when he held her delicate body with his hands. She felt so good to the touch, and all he wanted was to have her tonight alone, and being able to kiss her delicate lips. It didn't matter to him she was part Guado, that only enhanced her beauty by far in measures he couldn't imagine.

The next day came around, and Maylina had fully recovered. She had sold her wedding dress, and bought a suit that allowed her to move more easily. It was a two piece suit of a green color. The color fit the color of the forest around the Moonflow. It would greatly help, because the dress wasn't.
Renac and she were at the edge of the town, and she had to spend an hour with the children. She had enjoyed helping and making the children happy. They had seen the harsh core of the war, because the town was at the border between Spira and the Guado's territory. Now they were going to continue their journey to Luca. They would need to travel through the treacherous roads of Mi'ihen. It once was a public road that was safe, and was protected by the now extinct Youth League. The Machine Faction once resided in the ruined temple of Djose, but they had long since moved to the Calm Lands creating the great Al-Bhed city, Homestead. Now the road was infested with fiends and pirates.
As they began to leave town Maylina head someone running behind them. Renac turned quickly with his spear ready to fight, but it was Mason who was following them.
"It's ok Renac," Maylina said when Mason slowed himself down when he reached them.
"What may I do for you Mason?"
Once he caught his breath he said, "I want to go with you to Luca. I have family there, and I won't be in your way anymore. I can fight too, so I have that aspect covered."
He brought out a sword that caught Maylina's attention, because it seemed oddly familiar to her.
"We do need more help since the roads will become more dangerous even though Renac is good. I would enjoy your company Mason," she said.
"That's great," he replied pleasantly.
Mason looked to Renac, and noticed the deathly glare he gave him. He looked back to Maylina when he heard someone coming up behind him. It was Connie May.
Once she caught up with them she said, "Mason, don't even think you're leaving without me."
Maylina spoke, "It would be an honor to have you along Connie."
Connie then got in a dancing frenzy still standing in one place.
"Shall we go?" Maylina asked everyone.
She continued, "We will cross the Moonflow, and head to the Djose shore. Then through the Mi'ihen Highroad we'll make it to Luca. Unfortunately the temple in Djose is in complete ruins from being changed into a place to store machina, but that is all right. There are still plenty of other temples to go to."
They all headed to the Moonflow Bridge, and prepared themselves for their journey. They came to the guard's post at the edge of the bridge. One of the four guards approached the travelers. Maylina walked up to the guard.
"Good day sir."
"To you also milady. How may we serve you today?"
"We would like to cross the bridge to head to Luca," Maylina replied gracefully.
"We are sorry my lady summoner, but we cannot allow Guado into Spira territory without proper inspection and proper papers."
"I am Maylina Guado, High Priestess of Macalania. I am on a pilgrimage, and I am going to Luca to end the war. I do not acknowledge being Guado or Human, but I acknowledge myself as person of Spira nothing else. I serve for the better good and peace in Spira nothing else."
"Oh, yes of course. We can offer automobile travel for you to quicken your journey."
"It is quite alright. It is against my teachings to use such machina," she replied politely.
"Then us Crusaders of the New Age bless your journey, and pray for a renewed Calm and for the war to end. Be careful along the Djose shores. There are fiends along the roads, and something evil has recently been dwelling on the shores."
"Thank you for your concern," Maylina finished.
She continued walking across the bridge with Renac, Connie, and Mason following her.

Seymour stood at the entrance of his manor. He was waiting for his carriage to come. He was planning to go to Luca, and to meet his wife there. The peace treaty would be signed, and Spira would be united. All the people would unite under Maylina, and she belonged to him.
The carriage being taken by four horses' road up to Seymour quietly. Even though it was against the Guado's policy to use animals for transportation, Seymour had changed that this morning. Already many of the Guado were using animals to pull them around the city. He entered into the carriage, and it began to leave Guadosalam soon after. Only Seymour knew the truth about the darkness in the far sea. It was like history repeating itself. Everywhere in Spira people used machina, even the Guado in the heat of battle. Another Sin was being born from the people's own hearts. Their hatred had disturbed the dead, and Maylina's presence in the Farplane had jumped start the beginning of the end. It had taken Seymour years to finally come upon the right opportunity to fulfill his plans. Another summoner had been born, and would begin the cycle of death again. The darkness of Sin came from the people when they abused their privileges with machina and the hatred they fume. Now this war between Spira and the Guado was repeating history. Once Seymour tried to control a summoner, but failed. Now another was awakened from a deep slumber within Maylina. She was the key to his final success. All he needed to do was to get her to Zanarkand, and have her awaken the final aeon, and with darkness of the living, dead, and herself will bring Sin back. With that he would become Sin.

They had made it to the Djose shores. The shores were empty, and had a feeling of a graveyard. While on their way to the shore, they had encountered many fiends. There were a variety of them, but with a diverse group of guardians, the fiends were defeated easily. Maylina was good at healing and taking care of small creatures and magic using fiends. Connie was great at stealing items, and care of old machina robots that were not controlled by someone. Renac was good at taking care of big creatures that had armor or thick skin. Mason was good at defeating fast fiends and flying ones.
Now they watched the sea water wash onto the old sandy shore. Once machina were used on these shores in an attempt to defeat Sin, but it failed. Pyreflies were flying around along the shores. They were the creatures that would take the form of someone who one knew died. Almost like memories of the dead haunting the living. Aeons came from the same source as the spirits of the dead.
Maylina walked along the edge of the water, and she began to feel something strange. She closed her eyes for a moment, and opened them a moment later. The water had changed from its dark blue color to a blood red. The water had become blood, because there were bodies everywhere in the sand. Where Mason was standing was someone who was standing there also. The man, around Mason's age, was half-transparent, and was carrying a sword that looked exactly like Masons'. The man wore odd clothing. He had on shorts, one pant leg longer than the other, he had an earring in his ear, he wore a necklace with the same symbol on his pant's leg, and he had the same kind of hair cut as Mason, mid cut shaggy hair, except it was a bit longer and it was dirty blonde.
Suddenly everything returned to normal, and it was only Mason there.
"That was weird," Mason said.
"What?" Connie asked. She was next to Renac.
"I was looking at Maylina, and there was someone else there. The other person was human with brown hair, and she wore ancient summoner clothing. Clothing no one has worn in centuries. It was weird, because she seemed familiar."
"I had the same feeling about you just now," Maylina replied.
Of course there would be no time to go into details, because there was a crash behind Maylina in the water. They all faced the water to find a huge water dragon fiend in the water. It had four heads, and was ready to kill. It was the fiend the guards had spoken of before.

To continue...