PART XXII

"Do you vow to always aid those in danger?"

"I do."

"And always heal those in need, whoever they may be?"

"I do."

"Do you vow to never kill, unless it is absolutely necessary for your survival?"

"I do."

"To never use a bladed weapon, the symbol of death?"

"I do."

"Then you have accepted the oath. Go forth."

Vivli nervously crept down the cave behind the others. She was shaking. Another roar alerted her that they were approaching something dangerous. She stopped, too scared to continue.
"Ur, guys?" She called, trying to excuse this act of cowardice. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"We have to go ahead, don't we?" Zinkata said, turning back to face her.

"We just got beaten up by a Sea Monk!" She reminded them. "How are we meant to face anything else?"

"I'd like to point out we could have taken that Sea Monk easily had we not been in a storm." Zinkata told her, getting nods of agreements from the others.

"This isn't a time to be protecting your masculinity!" Vivli cried.

"You just say that because you have none to protect." Bootus pointed out.

"My point stands!" Vivli yelled. "We don't know what's down there! And we're in no shape to fight it! We're unarmed, I'm powerless-" She paused at remembering this. She struggled to carry on, despite the sickening feeling she had inside, "-and we have no armour." She managed to finish.

"We'll improvise." Zinkata said, not sounding as reassuring as he hoped. "We'll find a way. We always do." Another roar came from the darkness.

"I hope you're right." Vivli whimpered.

"Fine. You stay here. We'll take a look. If it's safe, you can follow." Zinkata suggested. Vivli usually would have protested against this plan, but was sufficiently scared by the darkness to have no complaints. She nodded sheepishly and let the others proceed around the corner.

A few moments later, there was another roar and all three nervously stumbled back.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" Bootus asked, sounding worried.

"Good." Vivli said without a second thought.

"We're in the right place." Bootus affirmed.

"The bad?" Vivli asked with a worried look on her face.

"We're in the right place." Bootus repeated. Vivli looked confused for a moment before the gigantic head of a dragon sprang around the corner.

Vivli screamed in horror (which, in retrospect, was rather humiliating). The dragon roared.

"Bahamut?" She screamed, in disbelief.

"Fool." The dragon almost laughed. "Do you really assume all dragons are the king?" Vivli looked puzzled. "I am not Bahamut." It stated, sounding almost patronising.

"Then who are you?" Zinkata asked, stepping forwards.

"Just a dragon." The creature said. "The last of my kind. All others have left, or died. Even Bahamut is no more."

"No more?" Vivli gasped.

"He is now bound as a summon. Beyond you mortals, however." There was a certain amount of arrogance in the dragons voice.

"Is there no way we can contact him?" Zinkata asked, sounding worried. The journey had gone well, they had found exactly what they were looking for very quickly. It was a bad time to lose all hope.

"Around my neck," The dragon explained. Zinkata saw a red ruby hanging from the dragon. "With this, a summoner of sufficient power can call forth Bahamut."

"Can we take it?" Zinkata was the only one with the confidence to ask.

"It is yours." The ruby clunked to the ground. Zinkata swept in and picked it up. "If you can pass the trial." The dragon reared back, fire shooting from its nostrils.

"Trial?" Zinkata repeated in confusion.

"RUN!" Screamed Vivli, and the four bolted down the cave as the dragon flung a fireball at them.

"Didn't the legends say this was a trial of courage?" Bootus yelled as they ran.

"We're putting a new spin on things!" Zinkata cried back as another fireball impacted against the edge of the cave. Rocks crumbled. They bolted out into the open air. Bootus turned and started physically dragging Vivli, having successfully predicted that she would be falling behind. The dragon burst out of the cave and into the air.

"Oh. Somehow I thought he'd stop when we escaped the cave." Voldos commented.

"You still got the ruby?" Bootus asked.

"Of course!" Zinkata sounded offended by the suggestion he had lost it.

"Let's head for the coast." Vivli managed to get out while panting. The four were in such a dangerous situation, they didn't debate this question and ran. The dragon unleashed fireballs downwards, slamming into the forest and beginning to burn it apart.

"And it was going so well!" Voldos cried, dodging falling flaming logs.

"Yeah, for a moment there, I thought we got lucky!" Bootus yelled. They burst out onto the beach.

"What now?" Screamed Zinkata. Voldos drew his bow and fired arrows at the dragon. They all missed.

"Nice shooting." Grumbled Bootus.

"It's a fast moving object in the air! Nobody could hit it!" There was a bang and the dragon toppled out of the sky. The four spun around to see a battered ship with a single smoking cannon on its deck. It was the Lightning.

"Swim for the ship!" Bootus ordered, diving into the water.

"I can't-" Vivli began, before being dragged in by the galka.

Olose threw a rope down, and the four climbed up. In fact, three climbed up, and Bootus pulled Vivli out of the water like a drowned rat. She coughed.

"I hate being pulled around like a rag doll." She muttered.

"You found us?" Zinkata was surprised.

"Of course." Olose replied. "I wouldn't leave you to drown. I figured you'd be fine." Zinkata began to observe the ship. The mast had been replaced with what looked like a tree, with a replacement sail blowing from it. "You saved us all, you know. So now, we're even." There was a roar from the land.

"Deal. Now let's get out of here!" Zinkata cried. Olose ran to the back of the ship, and began to steer it about. The dragon burst out of the forest it had fallen in, and flew towards them.

"We could be in trouble." Vivli muttered, sounding very worried.

"Ready the cannon again!" Olose ordered. As the crew hurried about in preparation to fire, and started to angle it, it became apparent the dragon wasn't attacking. Instead it soared over their heads and flew away.

"What was that about?" Voldos asked, confused.

"Must have got fed up with us." Zinkata guessed.

"Dragons don't just get 'fed up with us'." Bootus pointed out.

"Probably going to tell Chaos knowing our luck." Vivli sighed.

"Well, let's get out of here before it comes back." Olose suggested.

"I'm all for that!" Voldos put in his vote. The ship began to move.

A day passed uneventfully. The journey back was going to be as long as it was out. Zinkata was leaning against the edge of the ship on deck, looking over the ocean. He was pondering many things. What he'd been through. What they were going to do. What Olose was up to, and why he had been so desperate to get away from Norg for a few days. They were all confusing. He was snapped from his thoughts by a scream of agony from below. He bolted into the ship's hold.

Vivli was sprawled on the floor, curled up in pain. He stopped.

"Did you try and cast again?" He asked. She had attempted a few times when she first lost her powers, but she had learnt not to.

"I thought-" She stopped to groan in pain. "I thought that it might have gone. That I might have my ability to cast back."

"Are you alright?" He asked, concerned she may be seriously hurt. She didn't respond but began to cry. "Calm down." He advised. "Look, we'll sort it out. We'll be back on the mainland soon." She continued to cry. He sighed. He decided to try and divert her interest to another subject, so she'd forget about the pain. "Urm, you realise we need to find a powerful summoner to use this ruby, don't you?" Vivli looked up, teary eyes.

"Yes." She replied. "Alexandria is the only one we know. Unless we return to the monastery." She paused, and started crying again. "And I can't go back. Not like this."

"So our only option is to trust her again?" Zinkata seemed rightfully sceptical, but his choice in words were just to get Vivli to continue speaking, instead of dwelling on her problems.

"I can't see how she could betray us. We'd keep an eye on her at all times." Vivli replied.

"We have to find her first." Zinkata reminded Vivli.

"Shouldn't be too hard." Vivli gave in response. "I'd imagine she's near us, either out of guilt or because she's our enemy. I wouldn't be surprised if she's in Norg, either plotting or helping."

"Ideal. She's either waiting for us to kill or waiting for us to help." Zinkata said with a laugh. "Why would she be waiting for us to help?" He suddenly said in confusion.

"I'd imagine she feels she can only redeem herself if she redeems herself in our eyes." Vivli paused. "I'd feel that way."

"Well, at least we have a plan of action." Zinkata said, standing to leave.

"Zin?" Vivli called after him. "Thanks."

The rest of the journey was as eventless as the trip to the islands had been. Vivli became sea sick again, but that was pretty much commonplace and they had become used to it. It wasn't until they hit port back in Norg things really began to kick off. Olose tied the ship up and got ready to say his goodbyes to the heroes.

"Thanks for everything, Olose." Zinkata said kindly.

"That's Captain Sampson." Olose replied with a smile.

"Yeah, whatever." Zinkata laughed. The two walked away. The adventures had paid with what money they had before the trip, and so that was all that was left to be said.

"OLOSE!" Came a cry from the dock. "I know you're there!"

"Aw nuts!" Cried Olose, diving behind the ship's wheel.

"What is it?" Voldos asked, running over.

"Remember how I was running from someone?" Olose began. The adventurers nodded. "It was a pirate Captain. I stole his cargo. I figured if I left port for a few weeks he'd be gone."

"OLOSE!" The voice cried again. Bootus looked to see who it was. He burst out laughing.

"What is it?" Vivli asked, feeling very confused.

"It's Bikke." Bootus replied.

Bikke was fed up with waiting.

"Yar, prepare to attack!" He cried to his cohorts. He had with him a band of about a dozen thugs. They drew their swords, prepared. Something covered by a sheet moved to the edge of the deck above. Zinkata stuck his head over the edge of the ship.

"Hello!" He called.

"Arr!" Bikke screamed in surprise. "It be me traitorous crew!"

"Take a look at this!" He pulled back the sheet, to reveal the cannon. Voldos lit it and fired. It blasted a hole in the deck and sent many of Bikke's thugs running. Zinkata, Voldos and Bootus leapt from the ship and attacked. Bikke drew his sword.

"Ar, this be me more fun!" Bikke spat. "Crew! Bring me their heads!" The pirates rushed the three heroes. Olose leapt from the ship above as well, landing and drawing his sword. He engaged Bikke in combat.

Olose fought Bikke back along the dock, the two duelling closer to the water.

"Yar, you little thief won't survive to be walking me plank!" Bikke cried in what was apparently a threat. He swept at Olose's feet. Olose leapt over this and parried behind his back as Bikke attacked again.

"You'll have to beat me first." Olose reminded the pirate captain, hitting Bikke's sword to the floor and lunging him. Bikke jumped back, and ran in attacking overhead. Olose fought Bikke away, and froze, waiting for his next attack.

Bootus hurled a pirate into the sea. Voldos took one out with his sword. Zinkata knocked a blade away and slammed one of the thugs in the face. The others charged in at the three. Something swung down on a rope from above, knocking them over like skittles. Vivli fell off the rope and rolled to the floor.

"Wow, you get a lot of momentum on those things." She muttered, staggering to her feet. The pirates rose with angry grumbles.

"Vivli, all you did was piss them off!" Bootus pointed out.

"Well, I don't have a weapon!" Vivli reminded the galka.

"Neither do I!" Bootus screamed. Voldos and Zinkata had picked up swords from the ship, but they had no weapons for a monk.

"But you don't use weapons!" Vivli protested.

"Not my fault!" Bootus cried back.

"Shut up!" Voldos snapped. "We have more important issues." The pirates rushed them, and the heroes fought them back.

Olose beat back Bikke, but Bikke kicked him to the chest. Olose fell down, dodging a lunge from the pirate. He flung himself onto his feet, and fought as wildly as he could to beat Bikke away and get control back in the fight. Eventually, he just ran, and leapt over a crate, turning around to have put enough distance between himself and Bikke to prepare for another battle. Bikke ran at him, and Olose swung past him. Bikke drove Olose back, leaving him parrying wildly. Olose dropped down, letting Bikke lunge over him. A swift kick to the back meant that Bikke stumbled forwards. Olose rose up, and lowered his weapon.

"Yar, you be surrending?" Bikke asked.

"No. But if you're wise, you will." Olose taunted. Bikke spun around. He saw three adventurers stood, waiting. He looked down a bit and realised it was four. The four of them had their arms crossed, and beamed a smile.

"Aw, curses." Sighed Bikke.

Bikke was thrown into Olose's brig, until he could decide a punishment. It turned out Olose had hijacked a great deal of equipment from Bikke's ship, including weapons and armour, which he allowed the heroes to make use of in anyway they saw fit due to their assistance.

"See ya." Came the goodbye. "If you need to go anywhere, do anything or find anything out, I'm your man."

"We'll remember that offer." Vivli said, smiling. "We're bound to need you at some point in the future."

"It was a pleasure. I'd be happy to help you at any time." Olose told her. They waved, and parted ways.

The four wondered back to the tavern. They were weary from travelling and wanted to get some sleep. Vivli especially looked forward to a night on dry land, with as little throwing up as possible. Of course, recently, she had been recovering from her depression, and so the rats bothered her again. This meant she barely slept at all, until physical exhaustion overloaded her body and she dropped into sleep.

She woke up early, and wondered up into the tavern from the basement. Her body ached from the tiredness, but she was happy to be up before everybody else. There were multiple people sat around, and she felt very uneasy as most of the males again stared at her, as if checking her out. She hurried over and sat down at a table alone.

"You're not gonna stay there by yourself beautiful, are you?" A voice asked. She sighed, looking up at a male human. He looked very rough, for lack of a better description.

"I-" She began, without a suitable way of getting rid of him.

"She's with me." A voice said. Vivli looked over to a robed figure, recognising it straight away. The man grumbled and wondered off.

"Thanks Alex." Vivli smiled. "I was hoping you'd show up."

"I feel safe talking to you." Alex explained. "I was hoping to catch you alone."

"What? Because you think I'm the only one who'll trust you?" Vivli sounded slightly surprised. "I felt more betrayed than anyone by you!"

"No, I feel safe talking to you because, unlike the others, you have the combat ability of a three year old and so don't scare me in the slightest." Alex smiled at her own joke. Vivli seemed slightly offended.

"We need your help Alex." Vivli said bluntly, trying to avoid the offence she felt at Alex's comment.

"If you're willing to trust me, I owe you everything I can." Alex told the mithra.

"We need you to summon Bahamut, King of the Dragons, for us." Vivli explained. Alex laughed a little. "We have a ruby you can summon him with."

"Vivli, to earn a summon, you don't need an item. You need to defeat him in combat." Alex told the ex-white mage. "If I summon him without having defeated him, I can't vouch for what will happen. He'll probably destroy us all."

"We'll do what we have to. The fate of the world hangs in the balance." Vivli paused. "Or maybe I was wrong to think I could trust you."

"No. No. I'll do it if it'll help." Alex reassured. "But I'm not convinced it's a good idea. Bahamut could destroy us all."

"We'll give you time to escape. It'll be us he'll be interested in. We're after the information." Vivli explained.

"Okay." Alex was nervous, feeling that the plan the little mithra had was ridiculous. "I'll do it." She decided she had no other choice.

"Thanks Alex." Vivli smiled. "If you do this for us, with no tricks, know this. I'll forgive you." A loud thundering could be heard coming up the steps.

"What's going on?" Bootus cried. "Hey! Li! You found her!" Bootus stormed over. "Things have been extremely convenient for us lately." He pointed out.

"They have." Vivli muttered. "I assume it's fate guiding us, just like fate guided the Light Warriors."

"I hope you're right." Bootus mumbled.

"What else could it be?" Vivli shrugged.

"Dumb luck?" Bootus suggested. "You give off that 'dumb' kind of vibe."

"Shut up!" Vivli cried.

"Seriously though," Bootus warned, "If it's not fate, it's something else."

"What?" Vivli asked.

"Chaos." This sent a chill right down Vivli's spine (and up her tail).