PART XXVI

"Hey Viv, don't you ever want to leave?"

"What? Leave here?"

"Yeah. We spend forever here."

"I'm not allowed. Won't even let me go into the city on my own!"

"Ha. Guess you're not responsible enough."

"They never actually said why."

"The point is, do you want to?"

"What? Go out there? On my own? No way!"

"See. That's why you're different. The rest of us have spent our entire lives wanting to leave."

"But it's safe here."

The monastery certainly didn't look safe. The outer wall had collapsed. The roof itself had been badly damaged. Vivli leapt from her chocobo and ran over, staring at the destruction. The others rushed to her side. Vivli burst into tears.

"What happened?" Cried Zinkata.

"Chaos attacked the monastery!" Exclaimed Voldos. Bootus looked at the blackened marks on the stone walls.

"That. There." He said pointing to the burns. "This was the work of those shadow dragons."

"They must have attacked the monastery to stop us." Zinkata gasped.

"They're dead!" Vivli sobbed. "And it's my fault!" Zinkata put an arm around her.

"It's nobody's fault. Except Chaos." He paused. "He knew we had to return here."

"You're back!" A voice announced from behind. The four spun around to find themselves facing the High Priestess.

"You're alive!" Vivli screamed in joy.

"Many of us are." She reassured the mithra. "We managed to repel the assault, but not without sustaining heavy damage." She paused painfully. "And quite a few loses." Vivli fell silent, surveying the devastation. "This assault is the first Chaos has launched on us, but it won't be the last. He's doing everything he can to stop you."

"It will be the last!" Zinkata snapped. "We'll stop him!"

"And how do you plan to do that?" Asked the Priestess. She observed the crystal shards, one hanging from each of the heroes necks. "I see you have the crystal shards, but even then, Chaos is a demon of incredible power within a fortress of a temple."

"We need help." Zinkata admitted. "We need to launch a full scale attack on the Temple of Uggalepih. Enough to allow us to break the lines."

"I suspected as much." The Priestess told the warrior. "The monastery has been deserted. I have invited the leaders of all great nations here. We shall use the monastery as our headquarters to plan an attack on the temple." She paused once more. "You are our only hope. The battle outside will be a diversion. It cannot be won unless Chaos is destroyed. He will continue to regenerate the shadow dragons."

"The dragons are just there to stop us." Vivli pointed out. "He actually wants to head to the past. Once he's done that, this world won't exist to fight over."

"Then we have to move quickly." The Priestess decided.

The atmosphere within the ruined monastery, now converted into a war room, was incredible. The King of San D'Oria himself, and his two Princes, had come. The President of Bastok stood within. The Star Sybil herself, flanked by the Windurst government, were sat in high chairs. The general of the mithran mercenary armies of Windurst was present. The Arch Duke himself, and his aids, waited patiently. The High Priestess stood before them.

"Our land is facing a situation more dire than any it has faced before." She began.

"That's a load of rubbish!" Snapped the Bastokian President. "We've fought off the Shadow Lord, we can handle this Chaos creature."

"Chaos is no ordinary creature." The Priestess explained. "He is a demon from a million years past. He has the magical ability to kill anything but the four warriors you see stood before you." She pointed to the warriors. Zinkata and Voldos bowed. Vivli nervously waved. Bootus did nothing.

"Why those four?" Demanded the King of San D'Oria.

"One carries the original soul of a Light Warrior." She told the ruler. "And the others formed a party to protect her. Little did they realise it, but it was her that motivated them on their quest."

"Then you are saying-" The Arch Duke began.

"Yes." The Priestess confirmed. "These four are the new Light Warriors."

"Putting our faith in four adventurers?" The President laughed. "And you want me to risk my armies for it?"

"We may not have a choice." One of the San D'Orian princes spoke up.

"If we do not move soon, Chaos will use the power of the reconstructed Temple of the Fiends to go back in time and make sure this world never existed in the first place." The Priestess told the President angrily. "He will destroy Gaia, and without Gaia Vana'diel will never come to be. These four are our only hope." There was a pause of consideration.

"Windurst will pledge its armies." The Star Sybil confirmed.

"San D'Oria will fight to save this land." The King decided.

"I will not have Bastok being overshadowed by these other kingdoms!" Snapped the President. "My armies will be present."

"And Jeuno?" The Priestess inquired.

"Jeuno has long been a peaceful bystander." The Arch Duke explained. "However, if we do not stop Chaos, there will be no peace to preserve. Jeuno will assist."

"Excellent." The High Priestess announced. "Then the four great nations once again march as one!"

"Exciting, isn't it?" Bootus commented to Voldos. Voldos pretended not to hear him.

The four heroes now sat in a room full with military strategists. An elvaan general, who had been given control of the united army of Vana'diel stood before the them.

"The battle will not be easy." He explained, pointing to a board displaying a map. "We cannot outflank them. They will attack from the air. We cannot pin them down or stop them in any way due to their ability to simply escape into the sky. The elvaan and mithran armies shall attack from the West, and the hume and galkan armies will attack from the East. This shall give us a combination of agile fighters and strong warriors on both fronts. The tarutaru mages shall attack with spells before the main attack, awaiting to recharge their magic skills before rejoining the fray. We will stop the charge, here and here." He pointed to two spots significantly away from the temple. "Our objective is to lure the dragons, nothing more."

"But sir, they will just bombard and slaughter our troops from the air!" Protested a hume.

"That is where Jeuno comes in." The elvaan general explained. "The Red Wings, our united air force, shall be flying high above. They shall open fire with cannons, blasting the creatures to the ground where we shall engage them." He paused. "Commander Antilles?" He turned to another general.

"Yes sir?" Antilles responded.

"You and your regiment shall be onboard these ships to repel any that may attempt to land on and destroy said vessels." The general explained.

"Yes sir!" Antilles announced.

"Commander Darklighter?" He turned to a large galka. "You and your squad shall be responsible for getting the Light Warriors to the temple."

"I understand." Boomed Darklighter.

"Then prepare to move out!" The general ordered. "And good luck."

It took time to organise the armies, but they were soon in position, staring across at the Temple of Uggalepih. Vivli knew in her heart it was really the Temple of the Fiends. It had that dead look about it. It had once been overrun with tonberries, but they had all been slaughtered. It was covered in what looked like black slime, but was in fact thousands of dragons hoarding around the building.

"I'm scared." Vivli muttered.
"I hate to say it, but me too." Admitted Voldos.

"Me three." Zinkata confessed.

"You're all cowards." Bootus laughed. The four, along with Darklighter's entire team, were sat upon chocobos.

"We hold back until the battle has began." Darklighter explained. There was a few tense moments of waiting. Then a fireball was unleashed.

The tarutarus had began casting. Fireballs, shards of ice and lightning bolts rained down on the dragons from all angles. The dragons broke away from the temple, soaring towards the two armies at opposing ends of the temple. The Light Warriors were sat to the North, able to watch from far away. Arrows were suddenly unleashed on the dragons from the hoards. A few fell from the sky. The chugging of airships could be heard as the Red Wings flew in overhead, and opened fire.

Dragons fell from the sky. The mages ran back and the armies charged stampeding towards the temple. Every dragon departed, filling the sky with blackness, soaring towards them. The temple was left almost entirely undefended, but instead surrounded by battle.

"Damn." Grunted Darklighter. "We're going to have to cut directly through the hoards." The battle had clearly failed to keep to its assigned sides, and instead surrounded the temple. The armies were panicking, being plucked from the ground and eaten alive. An airship above exploded, bring shards of burning wood down.

"We have to move!" Vivli cried. "Now! They're dieing!"

"It's a war." Darklighter growled. "That's what happens."

"They don't stand a chance!" Gasped Zinkata, watching as the men were plucked away like rag dolls. Cannons were knocking the dragons down, but there were far more than they had expected.

High above the dragons turned to the airships. Antilles had his men unleash arrows before they started to fight them off with swords and spears as they landed to tear the ships apart themselves. Fireballs began to rain down from the air. The regenerated tarutarus started casting reflect and shell spells to stop them and launching attacks of their own. Magical spells flung back and forth between the air and the ground. Dragons fell, airships exploded and many adventurers and warriors were finding their lives cut short.

"Dammit!" Darklighter growled. "You're right! We have to charge!"

"Here goes nothing." Sighed Zinkata.

"ATTACK!" Bellowed the galkan general, and the four heroes and an entire squad of Bastokian warriors charged the hoard.

Vivli clung tightly to her chocobo as it darted through the hoards. Zinkata held his sword in one hand, cutting down anything dragon-like he could get it to. Voldos leant back, firing his bow and staying on the chocobo through the use of his legs and sheer willpower alone. Bootus punched down anything he could get to. The Temple of the Fiends loomed ever closer.

A shadow dragon in the air noticed what appeared to be a small yellow hoard tearing towards the temple. It unleashed a fireball.

The blast slammed down directly next to Voldos.

"Break!" Ordered Darklighter. The squad split in two, presenting more targets for the dragon. Fireballs began to rain down around them, blasting away the people around. A dragon landed nearby, and fired a fireball that exploded next to Vivli. Her chocobo reared back and she was flung off, crashing to the hard ground.

There was another explosion the sky, and an airship began to crash down, ripping through one slightly lower as it fell.

"Damn formation failures!" Darklighter grumbled as the two burning airships slammed down, crushing man and dragon alike.

Vivli got up with a whimper. People were rushing by all around her. She felt like she was so small they couldn't even notice her. Somebody knocked her over, and she fell back down. There was a roar, and she saw a dragon before her. Several mithra warriors charged it, and started stabbing it. It snapped them back. A lightning bolt struck it from a mage. It growled and swept down at Vivli. Something picked her up before it could get her.

"Dammit! Can't leave you alone for a second!" Bootus cried, throwing her on the back of the chocobo. Vivli just shook from fear. The dragon that had nearly killed her was defeated.

More men were plucked from the ground. A galka was thrown across the battle field and slammed down on a tarutaru, crushing her.

"Damn!" Cried the elvaan general. "FALL BACK! ALL UNITS, FALL BACK!" He had seen enough devastation, he knew they were in trouble. They only had to lure the dragons away. The armies began to retreat as the message quickly spread by linkshell.

The surviving ships in the air also got this message.

"Commander Antilles!" The Captain of the airship Invincible reported. "We need to retreat."

"I am afraid, it is too late." Antilles told the captain as he watched a dragon unleash a fireball. The Invincible exploded.

The four heroes bolted into the entrance to the temple of the fiends, jumping from their chocobos. The battle could still be heard raging outside. They quickly approached an altar with a glowing black orb. Before it stood a purple caped man in blue horned armour.

"Garland!" Cried Zinkata.

"Chaos!" Voldos added in a snarl.

"Light Warriors!" Garland announced, turning to face them. "I am glad you could come."

"This ends now Chaos!" Zinkata yelled.

"Oh no, my dear Zinkata. You are mistaken." Garland explained with a smile upon his face. "This ends a million years in the past. In the dead world Gaia. You cannot stop me."

"We'll give it a damn good shot!" Vivli tried to sound heroic, but it didn't come off very well.

"Please, I could crush you like the bugs you are." Garland taunted. "But I won't. No. I know what you desire."

"The only thing we desire is to see you die!" Voldos yelled.

"Then, the past is where you must go." Garland told the elvaan. "There is no future. Not anymore. It is dieing outside these very walls."

"The battle outside won't last." Bootus told the evil creature.

"You are correct." Garland said with a loud laugh. "Because soon it will never have existed." He spun around to face them, his cape whirling. "I have constructed my own crystal you see. It draws upon the dark energies of the temple." He pointed to the black orb. "Here it just serves as a gateway to the past, but there it shall resurrect the four fiends!"

"The four what?" Bootus asked.

"The four fiends!" Vivli cried. "They drained the power of the original crystals! They were basically killing the land. The original Light Warriors stopped them. If they hadn't, then the world itself would-"

"-die. Yes." Garland finished. "This planet will die as the four fiends leech off it. The years will pass, and the ground shall crumble, the wind shall stop, the seas shall drain and the air will turn stale. There will be nothing left but pathetic people left on a dead land. And when there is nothing natural left, all will die."

"Why?" Voldos asked. "Why kill the land?"

"It is my nature." Garland told the hero. "For when nature fails, people do not know how to behave. Without any way of behaving, they resort to chaos. When chaos reigns, I reign. I am in my element. This world shall have no choice but to follow my will."

"I've had enough of this!" Cried Zinkata, drawing his sword.

The others followed suite, charging at Garland. The demonic creature turned around and disappeared in a black flash. The four skidded to a halt beside the orb.

"Where did he go?" Zinkata cried.

"To the past!" Vivli announced.
"After him!" Voldos ordered. They could see the world around them crumbling. The ground was rotting from beneath their feet. The air was disappearing. They all slammed their hands against the black orb and vanished.