PART XIII

"And so their journey began-"

"Aw, Uncle Swignot, I don't want to here this story again."

"Nothing's wrong with this story."

"You tell me it all the time!"

"It's the most inspiring legend in our history. You have to learn it."

"I have! I bet I could tell it to you by now."

"Ahem. What awaits the four, they do not know. Each hold-"

"Holding an orb that two thousand years ago shined with beauty from within. But now, only darkness. See? I do know it."

"You are yet to have learnt the ending."

"What's that mean."

"Oh. Nothing. You'll find out when you're older."

It struck Zinkata that Signot had been obsessed with the Light Warrior legend when he was younger. Of course, to him, it had just been playful story telling to keep him entertained. But now it suddenly had a more sinister purpose. Back then, it had been fun, he had enjoyed his childhood, and he remembered Signot laughing, and having a good time to. He shook his head in disbelief. Could it all have been a ruse? It hurt him to the core that it was very possibly true.

The four adventurers were walking along a rocky path, heading towards Jeuno. A gigantic spine ran across the entire area (it was almost impossible to imagine a creature big enough to have ever owned such a spine, it ran for what appeared to be miles.) Voldos shivered uneasily as he saw it, and was a little surprised Vivli was so perfectly calm seeing the sign of a once mighty monster. She was used to it, of course, it was a famous landmark in the Windurst area. That, and she seemed absorbed in her own problem.

She was saying very little, often looking as if she was in pain. She'd occasionally stop and strangely cradle her tail. As you can imagine, this was confusing the others, but the most tell-tale sign that something was wrong was that she hadn't complained about being left behind for quite a while. As usual, she was quite a distance behind the others, unable to keep up with their fast pace, but she had made no comment.

Zinkata let out a sigh. At least it would take his mind off his own problems.

"I'll bite. What's wrong?" He knew he could be a bit harsher than with his usual treatment. In the days they had been adventuring, he had learnt how Vivli behaved when she was upset. This was different.

"Urm, nothing." Vivli stumbled over her words.

"Well, you have to tell us now." Bootus grumbled. "So get it out so we can start moving again."

"You'll laugh." She whimpered.

"I laugh at you anyway." Bootus reminded her.

"Well, it's just-" Vivli paused awkwardly. "My tail really hurts." Bootus did, indeed, laugh. "I think you've strained it using it as a leash!" Vivli yelled over his laughing, looking for sympathy. However, to use a far too common metaphor, getting sympathy from Bootus is like squeezing blood from a rock. Voldos turned around, having come up with a carefully planned witty comment, and decided now was the time to unleash it on the others.

"If only we had a White Mage!" He cried sarcastically. "Then she could heal your wounds! But, oh my, where will we find one?" Vivli stared at him blankly.

"White Magic can't heal strains and the like. Why do you think you still ache after a cure spell?" Voldos went to reply, but clearly couldn't.

"The way I see it," Bootus began, "Is that we can either get a move on, or I can drag you." He paused. "By the tail." Vivli quickly responded to this by hurrying along as quickly as she could.

"Could you at least promise to leave my tail alone from now on?" The mage quickly asked.

"I promise nothing!" Snapped the galka.

A low roar pierced the air from a distance.

"Did anybody hear that?" Zinkata asked slowly, stopping.

"If you mean the big scary roar, then yes." Vivli replied, holding her tail which she had allowed to go limp.

"Scary? Yeah, right. I could take it!" Bootus was sadly tested. 'It' soared over their heads, a gigantic black dragon. Bootus threw himself to the floor, and by the time he clambered up, it was gone. The others looked just as scared (except Vivli, who looked about ten times more scared).

"Some. Nice. Taking. It. There." Vivli's wit was slowed by fear, but she was still proud to have gotten a jab in at Bootus.

"Well, Li, you're the local expert. What the hell was that?" Zinkata asked. Vivli looked pale with fear.

"I have no idea." She said blankly.

"Wuss." Snarled Bootus.

"Hey! I'm a Light Warrior!" She protested.

"Which I still refuse to believe." Bootus filled in.

"You're not a Light Warrior." Zinkata interjected as the middleman. "You carry a Light Warrior's spirit. You're reincarnated as one."

"Helluva cowardly Light Warrior if she's got his spirit!" Bootus smirked.

"I was the leader actually." Vivli countered smugly.

"How did they ever beat Chaos?" Bootus asked to nobody.

"I think we may have to be more careful." Zinkata suggested. "If that dragon had seen us, we would have been toast."

"Yeah, it would have come down and ripped us apart." Bootus admitted, looking in Vivli's direction. "We wouldn't have stood a chance. It would have torn right through us. Of course, not killing us, just wounding us enough to leave us slowly dieing in the dust as it prepared to eat us alive for its next meal and-"

"That's enough!" Vivli cried, having gone ghastly pale and feeling quite sick. Bootus laughed.
"You are so easy to scare." He told her.

"Let's just get out of here before whatever that was comes back." Voldos suggested in an attempt to break up the adventurer's quarrel.

The four continued down the path, considerably less at ease than they had been.

"There was something odd about that dragon." Vivli decided. "It felt as if it was summoned."

"How could you feel it?" Bootus asked moodily.

"Well, I'm not really sure. I could sense its power. That's nothing special. A lot of mages can do that if something is powerful enough." She paused, glancing to the floor. "Anyway, and something was off. Like it didn't belong here. It had been summoned."

"Why would somebody summon a dragon to fly over us?" Voldos shot the obvious question.

"Maybe it wasn't intended for us?" Vivli suggested. The others shrugged, and they continued walking.

Night fell before they could hope to reach Jeuno. They quickly went about the standard procedure of setting up a fire and gathering around it. Tents were ill advised for monsters could get to them without being seen, and were very powerful in these parts, so they decided to stick by the flames. The light was enough to scare off any undead, so they were mostly safe.

Of course, 'mostly' wasn't enough for Vivli, and she was continuously nervously glancing out into the darkness. The fire crackled, built by a large slope, meaning attacks could only come from one side. At least, that was the theory.

"You know, sometimes I think I'd miss this." Zinkata commented. "Camping by the fire, out in the wilderness threatened by danger. It's fun."

"Yeah, well, I'm scared." Vivli replied.

"No surprise there then." Bootus sighed. Vivli shot him an angry glance. This made Zinkata notice something.

"Hey, Li, you aren't one to be talking about being scared." He advised her.

"What do you mean?" Vivli shot back.

"Your eyes." He explained. "They look really spooky. Almost glowing blue." She blinked, as if that would help her see her own eyes. Voldos looked and noticed this as well, her large blue eyes were lit by the fire, creating a creepy glow. The elf shuddered.

"Hm." Bootus grumbled. "You're right. I say we throw her out in the dark, incase she's possessed or something."

"Very funny." Vivli grumbled. "You wouldn't do that." She looked at the galka. "Would you?" He went to nod, but glances from the other two stopped him. Vivli yawned.

"I'm going to sleep." She decided, curling up by the fire. The others continued to talk, but she was too tired to notice. Of course, this didn't mean she fell to sleep right away. For starters, the floor was cold and hard, and she was very uncomfortable. The heat from the fire just helped emphasise how cold her back was. She shuffled uncomfortable, before getting a chill. She realised facing the fire, her back was exposed to the dark wildeness, and anything could be watching from the darkness and creeping up on her. She shivered, turning around to check, but couldn't see anything out there. This made her shiver more. She turned back around, wishing she was up against the slope (where Bootus was sat) so nothing was behind her. Unfortunatly, her over active imagination kicked in and she started to imagine a gigantic monster crawling over the slope, and plucking her away while she wasn't looking. For some reason, in her imagination, it was a giant spider. She hated spiders. Why would I think of that? she asked herself, am I trying to scare myself? Because of this, she decided to stay where she was. She looked at the others. They were completely oblivious to how she felt. What she really wanted was for one to offer for her to cuddle up to them, so she could keep warm and feel safe. Nobody did. She sighed. They weren't watching her. That meant she could get out something she had picked up from her room at the monastery while nobody was looking. She reached into her bag and pulled out a worn and battered teddy bear, with a faded pink bow on its ear. She cuddled it tight, and curled up more against the fire, using her bag as a pillow.

Her eyes opened wearingly to the blinding sunlight. She breathed a sigh of relief, allowing her body to untense, having discovered nothing happened during the night. She looked in her arms, but only found a scribbled note.

Dear Miss Vivli,

We have kidnapped your bear and are holding it for a ransom of one million gil. Pay us, or we'll mail it back to you in pieces.

"Bootus!" She yelled instantly.

"What?" The galka casually replied, chewing on a cooked leg of something (Vivli didn't try to guess what it had been).

"Give me back my bear!" She cried. Bootus just fell backwards on the floor, laughing. "Come on! It isn't funny!"

"I respectfully disagree." Voldos smirked from the side.

"Come on!" Whined the mithra. "That thing meant a lot to me."

"Aw, can the wittle girl not live without her teddy?" Bootus patted her on the head patronisingly.

"Dammit! I'm not a little kid!" She cried infuriated.

"Aren't you currently complaing that your teddy bear has been stolen?" Zinkata asked casually. He wanted to sit out, but it was too much fun to point that out.

"There's nothing childish about having a teddy bear!" Vivli snapped.

"Again, I respectfully disagree." Voldos interjected, chewing on some food.

"Please?" Vivli sobbed.

"Fine, it's over there." Bootus sighed irritably.

Of course, Bootus's irritation was an act. He knew perfectly well where the bear was. He had hung it, by its bow, to the branch of a rotting tree just away from the campsite. He had reached up and put it there easily. Now he could watch Vivli try and get it down.

Vivli reached up, failing miserably. She jumped, and still failed. She let out an irritable sigh. She tried shaking the tree, to no avail. Her eyes lit up as she got a bright idea. She unbuckled her staff, and threw it up, trying to knock it down. She tried this a few times, and ended up with her staff stuck up the tree.
"Dammit!" She cried.

"You really must make up the entire staff business of Vana'diel." Zinkata laughed. "No wonder they sell so many. You're always losing them!" He added for further reiteration of his joke.

"This isn't fair!" Vivli yelled grouchily. She had just woken up and wasn't in the best of moods. "You people always mock me!"

"You do make it kind of easy." Zinkata pointed out. She looked up at the teddy bear.

"But I like my bear. Keeps me feeling safe." She whimpered, glancing to the ground. She looked up slowly to Zinkata, teary eyed. It was difficult to tell if she was putting it on, or it was a result of the stress of the past few days. Either way, Zinkata instantly felt incredibly sorry for her and reached down her stuff.

"I can't believe you fell for the old puppy dog expression!" Bootus snapped.

"Don't you mean kitty cat expression?" Voldos asked.

"I'm not good when it comes to specifics!" Bootus cried back.

A short time later and the party had hit the road again, walking still in the direction of Jeuno. A screech from behind them made sure they all ducked. The black dragon soared over them and span around, thudding down hard directly in front of them.

"It's back!" Vivli screamed as she stumbled backwards, falling over.

"Thanks for that. Didn't notice!" Bootus yelled as he charged the creature. It spat a ball of green fire at him and he found himself rocketing back down the path, badly burnt. "Dammit Li!" He yelled as the little mithra sat, shaking on the floor. "Do something! Heal me!" The instant she heard Bootus confess he wanted to be healed, she snapped out of her fear induced trance.

Jumping to her feet she cast a bright white light over Bootus. He rose up. Voldos and Zinkata had their hands full trying to subdue the dragon.

"Dia!" Vivli yelled as she cast the spell of the same name.

"Thanks for announcing that one, Viv." Zinkata cried sarcastically, dodging the chops of the dragons mouth. The dragon jerked back as Vivli finished the spell and a white light pierced it. This distraction gave Voldos a chance to slice through its neck with his sword. Green juice spewed forth, before the wound quickly healed.

"We might have a problem." The elf admitted.

"Never fear, friend!" A deep voice cried from behind. A blue armoured blur ran and leapt onto the dragon's head. It was struck by lightning as this happened. Black Magic, clearly. The figure swept his sword through the dragon's neck, taking it out. It dropped down dead. "Let's see it regenrate from that." The figure remarked, now clearly a man in dark blue armour, with large horns on the helmet, mostly helmeted, but dull grey eyes could be made out and a fairly majestic purple cape flowing behind him. He was clearly some form of dark knight.

"I've been tracking that bastard for a good couple of days." The knight told them. "Glad to see I finally got him before he could take out you chaps."

"Who are you?" Voldos asked.

"My name is Garland. I'm a knight, headed Jeuno way. That where you fella's are going?" His cape bellowed in the wind as he spoke, like some perfect hero.

"Yeah, actually, it is." Voldos replied.

"Say no more, old friend, we can travel together. I can watch your back." Voldos didn't even notice the 'old friend' comment. It made no sense considering he had known him for about twenty seconds, but he let it slide.

Vivli had fallen over again when Garland had run past. She got up, dusting herself off now, feeling a deep chill at seeing the figure for reasons she didn't know why.

"Wow, you didn't tell me you had the Goddess of beauty in your party!" Garland exclaimed. Vivli nervously giggled, before regaing control of herself. "And who might you be?"

"Vivli." She answered nervously. She was very flattered by the mysterious knight. Suddenly her brain rocketed into overdrive.

This didn't make sense. Nobody talked to anybody like this man did. And to top it off, she felt something was wrong. She pondered this as the others ran their introductions. There was something deep down she couldn't quite remember. Something that made her suspicious. And it was all so convenient.

The dragon was summoned. This she knew. What if it had been summoned in some plot so Garland would kill it? It seemed so likely to her, but she knew the others would dismiss it.

"I know you Goddess types can't waste your time on the mortals, but we really must be moving." Garland advised. Vivli snapped out of it, finding herself flattered again. Dammit, think rationally! her brain screamed. "Follow me!" Garland led the way as the party ventured forth, ever closing on Jeuno.