Author's notes: Whenever I say ShadowRider from now on, it is referring to the secret spy organization, in cases where I'm not, it'll be pretty obvious if I'm referring to the formeradventurers battalion.
Chapter 9
2 years later
Cane bit his lower lip nervously.
'Accursed prophecies!' He thought venomously as he paced back and forth in the room, he had shape- shifted into his Elvaan form and had taken the place as an advisor to the princes of Sandoria for the last 2 years, slowly turning the governments of the three nations to his will, it had been ridiculously easy and Cane now had all of the nations under his foot. The first 2 parts of his plan had gone miraculously well. The first part had been to arrange the attack on the major cities of Vana'diel. Yet the forces sent to Sandoria, Bastok, Windurst, Jeuno, Mhaura and Selbina had been paltry compared to what Tavnazian had fallen under. Cane had deliberately set an attack on all of the towns, when their goal had been Tavnazian only, really. That damned Artemis Lukita . . . he had discovered parts of the plan Cane and his father had been planning, and for that he had to die. And to keep the ShadowRiders busy, he had completely obliterated Tavnazian as well, to prevent them for discovering anymore of their secrets, and it put a nice touch in weakening the only forces that would truly injure them when the time for the revolution began. Attacking the other cities however had been a stroke of genius, no suspicion would be raised and it left things flowing smoothly. The second part, destroy the Treaty of Nations and break apart the alliance, again to further destroy the strength of forces opposing the shadows. Far too easy, brainwash the three nations into betraying Ziggeraut, Commander of the Adventurers Army, and there you had it, the Treaty was broken, and it had also shown Cane how powerful the girl had further become, a nice little bonus. Things were flowing so perfectly smooth, it left Cane suspicious that something might come along to ruin it, but that was for later pondering.
Now it was time to activate the third part, the time was ripe and he planned to jump at the opportunity. That is until the prophecy had reached his ears and messed everything up. His original plan had been to kidnap the girl, obliterate her memories and retrain her under his command, but the prophecy had changed that. By now the prophecy was being whispered across the tongues of all the races in Vana'diel, light and dark alike. No matter, it would eventually be forgotten, like a passing breeze, people's minds would shove it aside, before tossing it out completely for new information. He glanced back at the paper in his hand and reread the lines.
The Shadows Will Gather
The Evils Will Band
The Light Will Rebel
Under One They Will Stand
The Forces Will Fight
Yet The Light Will Wane
The Shadows Too Great
Light Battles In Vain
Then One Will Arise
To Strike Down the Dark
The Forces Shall Fight
Each Other Their Mark
Only One Can Destroy The Dark
Only One Can Save the Land
Only One Can Rebuild What Was Lost
Only One Can Save Man
Though The One Is All Knowing
The One Shall Atone
But Goddess Unwilling
This One Cannot Do It
Alone
"Prophecies, nothing but riddles, and why the hell do they always rhyme?" Cane grumbled wearily. His spies had delivered this poem to him in the penmanship of an Orc, after which he had immediately killed the unwary writer. Why not just scream he was a spy for the shadows!
Imbeciles. Rereading the poem, he had been frustrated at first, before calming himself down to realize, the prophecy was nothing but words used as figurative language for something else, and it was easy to discern what it was.
'The shadows will gather, the evils will band, the light will rebel, under one they will stand.' Cane thought, then shrugged, nothing new there. It simply foretold of the futuristic rebellion, a worry he could easily extinguish by playing off the pride of all the nations.
'The forces will fight, yet the light will wane, the shadows too great, light battles in vain.' Again easily translated, it foretold that in the beginning of the war, the Beastmen would reign victorious and gain the upper hand, something Cane had already foretold on his own. What he didn't get was the next paragraph.
'Then one will arise, to strike down the dark, the forces shall fight, each other their mark.' Again somewhat easy, someone, a hero of some sorts of the light would no doubt would rise up as a figurehead and lead the forces against each other again, but what annoyed Cane was who this figurehead could be. The most likely options would be Ziggeraut Doransevay or that girl, Ginryu. Or perhaps it was even some new fool they had not even heard of. Unsettling, the prophecy never even stated what would happen when this new person arised to take part of the battle.
'Only one can destroy the dark, only one can save the land, only one can rebuild what was lost, only one can save man.' Cane sighed heavily. Obviously it referred to the one who would arise to fight the dark, and only this one could save the land and rebuild what was lost. What was it that was lost? Did it refer to honor? Cities? Lives perhaps? Cane wasn't willing to put anything past this damn confusing hint.
'Though the one is all knowing, the one shall atone, but goddess unwilling, this one cannot do it alone.' Cane sighed, the last line was infuriating. What did it mean the one was all knowing? Was this person to be all seeing? Filled with unending knowledge? Or something more devious? And what about the 'goddess unwilling' part? Was there something about this that blasted goddess had something to do with? The only hint he had truly been able to solve, was that this 'one' could not accomplish it alone. Finally deciding it would do not good for him to simply guess and wait to see if the 'one' would reveal themselves, he chose to guess at who it was, and chose Ginryu. The little girl, his plans would have to be altered, for it seemed the light was watching her now, and she was untouchable.
For the moment.
With a dim smile he realized he would have to split up her and her friends, if Ginryu truly was the one, she would need her friends to aid her, and what better plan than to split them up, and fortunately, he had been able to convince the right people, that she and her friends were a danger.
It was too easy.
"Cahaurme I am begging you, I know this for a fact, the ruling powers are up to something, and the only way I can protect you is if you swear allegiance to me and become a part of the Adventurers army!" Zig tried frustratedly. The Elvaan sighed wearily.
"Commander Ziggeraut, I am afraid that my wife is not willing to become a family member of someone who is an adventurer. I myself am not quite ready to go to such a level, forgive my harsh words, but my family would suffer the worst of it if I were to agree." Zig growled and resisted the urge to bang his head against the nearby wall. The two Elvaans walked down Workmen's way, and were arguing heatedly. Zig had gotten an ominous feeling two days ago and had felt that it would affect Cahaurme, more importantly Ginryu, so the Commander was desperately attempting to bring the former Temple Knight into the folds of his army for protection, Cahaurme on the other hand, seemed to have other ideas.
"Than accept it as a safety measure." Zig pleaded, when the other Elvaan didn't reply, Zig took a deliberate step right in front of him, eyes harsh. "Cahaurme . . . I am trying to protect you and your family . . . please." Cahaurme blinked at the sudden softness of Zig's tone, and sighed dejectedly.
"Gin . . . you know how I . . . feel about you right?"
"Of course I do! Or was the last 6 months all a lie?"
"Ha ha . . . Gin, you're the best."
"No way Mabs, you're better!"
"No you're the best!"
"Well you're bestest-er!"
"Cheater."
"-giggle-"
"Okay, that's it. Hands for people who are about to gag, puke, hack, choke or all of the above." Bagel said dully raising his hand. Lazarus, Lilli, Opeth and Hal's hands went up as well.
"Honestly, I'm glad you two got together finally, but can we tone down the mushy, lovey dovey crap?" Opeth asked wincing. The two Elvaans in question simply ignored him and cuddled closer together.
"Gonna hurl." Lazarus croaked out. Hal sighed dejectedly.
"Well, I guess that means we're the single people, 'ey Lilli?" The Galka asked boredly.
"DON'T LUMP ME IN WITH YOU LOSER!"
SMACK!
"OW! What the hell was that for you giant hairball!"
"You did NOT just call me a hairball!"
"AUGH! HOMICIDAL HAIRBALL!"
"GET BACK HERE!" Lazarus, Opeth and Bagel all shared a glance, and sighed at once.
"Just another day."
Vin sat with Rom looking over the courtyard, it was pitiful their security these days. Wiicloud had taken over when Artemis had died, fortunately almost all of the ShadowRiders were also Adventurers, so Zig's speech had managed to heal most of the wounds that had been created. With Pastortroy as Wii's second in command now, things had started to be set right again, and Vin and Rom had been assigned permanently to watch Sandoria until further notice. The two at the moment were sitting on the roof while munching on some rice cakes, scarily enough.
"What's a representative from Bastok, Jeuno, Windurst, Selbina, Mhaura, Kazham and Norg doing here?" Vin asked dully. As a feline type of species, she had exceptional eyesight, it was Rom that had the hearing.
"Arguing." Rom replied softly. "It seems that someone called them all here at once, and none of them are happy why. But who would call all of them . . . ?" He trailed off, and suddenly Vin and Rom glanced at each other, and sweatdropped.
"Zig." They both said at once with a sigh.
It was night, and Cane stood on a balcony, glancing up at the stars, smiling confidently.
"I shall leave it to you two then." He said without glancing back. Cliff and Celan both nodded.
"Sure thing." Cliff replied easily.
"Easily done." Cane laughed.
"Just get the timing right, as soon as my part of the plan is activated, you will activate your part that night."
"We know Cane, tomorrow night is when we do it." Cane nodded and finally turned around to look his two companions in the eye.
"Just do it. Steal Ginryu's, Madon's, Lazarus's, Lillianna's, Bagel's, Halloween's and Opeth's memories of each other. I will steal Ziggeraut's, Chster's, Laiata's, and Scwol's group, as well as the Princes' memories." Celan giggled behind a raised hand.
"By the time tomorrow has passed, no one will remember that these children were friends."
Gin, Cahaurme and Lillith were completing the daily routine of finishing up breakfast with small and everyday gossip.
"So what are you going to do today Ginrie?" Gin blushed instantly and both of her parents could guess.
"Let me guess, going out with Madon again?" Cahaurme teased. Gin went a deeper red and made a little sound. Both her parents laughed.
"And what about you?" Lillith asked glancing at her husband as she cleared away the dishes. Cahaurme smiled at her and stood while stretching.
"Old man Rosel needs someone to help guard his caravan when he does some deliveries outside of the city. I'll be assisting in that." Cahaurme, after quitting his job as a Temple Knight had signed on as a mercenary, and surprisingly it had paid rather well, everyone was after him, because Temple Knights had been famed for their honor and loyalty, it was practically a guarantee he would not betray them like others would.
"You shouldn't call him an old man dad." Gin teased her father. "One day you'll be old too!"
"And I dread the day." He replied with a half grin. Gin giggled again and stood while glancing out the window.
"Looks like it's gonna be a nice day." She commented softly, a gently smile on her face. That was before sudden banging sounded on the door along with a harsh voice of;
"Open up!" Lillith squeaked at the loudness and accidentally dropped a plate in shock which shattered upon impact with the floor, Cahaurme immediately ran over and opened the door looking surprised.
"What's going on?" He demanded. Then he paled, two Temple Knights stood before him, and hell these were people he had even trained.
"Decreed by his lord Prince Pieuje, you and your family are being evacuated."
"Get your filthy hands offa me you pointy eared freaks! I can walk by myself!" Lilli hissed as a soldier who had grabbed her by the arm hauled her along the street, causing civilians to blink in curiosity. "This is f'ing ridiculous! I am warning you for the last time! Let go!" And suddenly her request was granted as she was flung unceremoniously to the hard ground in front of the gate into West Ronfaure. It was there she saw two faces she had hoped to never see again.
"Oh great, now what the hell do you two want?" Lilli demanded of Prince Pieuje and Trion who stood before her.
"I'd like to know that as well." A cold voice added in, and Lilli turned.
"Laz!" Lazarus nodded to her, before returning his icy glare onto the two princes.
"Ow . . . OW! Watch where you're grabbing lady!"
"Well maybe if you stopped squirming so damn much I wouldn't be forced to use so much strength!" A voice snarled back.
"You grabbed me first ya insensitive lout!" Mabs growled as he was hauled into the clearing by a particularly brutish looking female knight. Laz and Lilli were about to run forward to their Elvaan friend when the familiar voice of a seething whitemage Hume cut across the field.
"This is outrageous!"
"HEY! Let go of him before I bash your skulls in!"
"Hal, violence is not the way to solve things."
"That's right little boy, stupid little pansy." A sneering voice commented.
". . . . okay, NOW violence is the way to solve things!" And suddenly Opeth and Hal were flung to the ground, right next to Lilli who was growling, and looking extremely pissed. Then again, Laz and Mabs weren't feeling that much happier.
"Everyone but Bagel and Gin." Laz noted dully looking around.
"WATCH THE HAIR MAN! THE HAIR!"
"I'm warning you! If you don't let go of my waist right now I'm going to call harassment at the top of my lungs!"
"Never mind." Laz amended when his friends were suddenly dragged in. One soldier had eventually just flung Gin over his shoulder to save himself some hassle, while another was dragging Bagel by his hair looking extremely pissed.
"Colin, I believe I said no unnecessary cruelties." Pieuje said glancing at the soldier who held Bagel.
"Forgive me sir but I felt it was necessary. The little thing BIT me!" Bagel heard this and grinned wildly, showing all of his pearly whites.
"Would you mind explaining all of this?" Tya demanded as she, as well as Cahaurme, Lillith and all the other parents were brought into the courtyard, escorted by evidently hostile guards. Bagel's parents upon spotting the condition of their son, immediately raised both their hands and a ball of light appeared before each Taru, Colin got the point and hurriedly dropped their son. Pieuje simply smiled grimly at all of the people in the clearing and cleared his throat.
"Of course, it has come to our attention that your son and his friends are a hazard to the citizens of Sandoria, and such dangers must be removed for the safety of the citizens." Cahaurme could swear he heard Zig's words echo in his ears that very moment.
". . . the ruling powers are up to something, and the only way I can protect you is if you swear allegiance to me and become a part of the Adventurers army!"
'The boy's a seer or something . . .' Cahaurme thought angrily at himself.
"Say what!" Mabs demanded angrily.
"Are you mental or something!" Lilli squawked indignantly. "And you! Hulking brute with the delicate Elvaan female on your shoulder! Put her down before you kill her!" She snapped rushing over to the surprised Elvaan who was quickly elbowed in the gut. Giving an 'oof' he dropped Gin who was speedily caught by Mabs.
"Ugh . . . thanks guys." She mumbled slightly red in the face. "This is the last time I wear a dress I swear . . ."
"And how the hell do you expect to remove us!" Alayna snapped angrily, feeling extremely fed up with these damned princes.
"We banish you from the cities." Pieuje replied instantly, with a sneer. There was a silence.
"Wait- the cities! Where the hell are we going to live then!" Tya snarled. It was then that Cahaurme noticed behind the two princes stood an emissary from Windurst, Bastok, Jeuno, Mhaura, Selbina, Kazham and Norg.
'This is not good.' The Elvaan thought worriedly.
"That is your concern, not ours." Pieuje said evenly. "You must be gone by high noon."
"SAY WHAT? Hey-! WAIT UP YOU SON OF A-!" Alayna snarled moving forward, when suddenly two swords were crossed in front of her, she glanced at the wielders to find two Temple Knights, and the Mithra swore vividly beneath her breath. Lillith had turned extremely pale and Cahaurme tried to comfort her.
"It'll be alright Lillith . . ." His wife closed her eyes and tried to take deep breaths, she was panicking. The thought of being banished from her homeland and forced to live out in the wilderness where some Beastmen could kill them off . . . it was too much for her. Her movements had caught the eyes of a few occupants in the clearing and for a moment Gin felt guilty, staring at them from where she stood, held by Mabs.
'This is all my fault . . . if none of these people had ever spoken to me . . . then they . . .'
"Wait!" Gin suddenly yelled glaring at Pieuje who paused for a moment to glance back, Trion simply observed from the sidelines, he hadn't said a thing yet. "This is my fault, don't punish them because of me!" She cried wriggling out from Mabs's embrace.
"Gin!" Hal squeaked surprised. Lilli gaped in shock.
"What the heck!" Gin stopped a few feet away from Pieuje, her face determined.
"If you leave them out of it . . . I'll . . . I'll sell my life to you in exchange, and you can use this light thing I have any way you want!" She called, her body shaking.
"Ginrie no!" Lillith cried starting forward, but Trion held his hand up and immediately two guards blocked her path. "Let me through!" Lillith cried.
"Gin no!" Lazarus yelled, and it was repeated by the rest of her friends as well. "It's not worth it!"
"Especially when you don't have to." A humorous voice suddenly broke in. All eyes in the clearing suddenly turned to the newcomer who stood there laughing, 2 years had done little to change him, and he was followed by his usual groupies. "I can't turn my back on you people for two seconds and already you start planning something behind my back." Ziggeraut commented dryly, his voice sounded amused.
"Commander!" Tya cried a little shocked, and relieved. Chster and Byuu stood by his side, looking just as amused. Pieuje however was a little less than entertained by this sudden interruption.
"Begone Ziggeraut, this has nothing to do with you." He snarled. "These children and their families are being banished from our cities, and there is nothing you can do."
"Oh but it has very much something to do with me, and there is in fact something I can do Pieuje." Zig commented mockingly and made a 'come forward' motion with his hand. Byuu suddenly stepped forward, carrying a darkened wood chest, and opening it, it revealed several scrolls while Byuu smirked at the princes, as well as the emissaries, Zig seemed to pause for a moment to give affect, before he took the chest from Byuu's hands.
"These scrolls are signed enlistments . . . . of the seven families you seek the banish." Zig explained calmly, a humorous twinkle in his eyes. "Thus, they are no longer yours to do with what you will, the parents of all these children swore an oath of allegiance to me. As such, they are all Adventurers, and no longer your citizens to play with." He said before firmly closing the case and locking it, returning it to Byuu, the smile and mirth from his face suddenly vanished.
"So don't even try it." He snarled to their openly stunned faces, Chster was smiling blithely, relieved that they had manage to pull it off, out of those 7 scrolls, 3 of them didn't have signatures. Lazarus, Hal and Opeth's parents hadn't signed on, but fortunately if the others were stupid enough, they would never guess. So technically, Pieuje and Trion could have done whatever they wanted with those three families, and the Adventurers wouldn't have been able to publicly do a thing. After a moment of stunned shock, Pieuje was the first to recover and his face was unpleasant.
"It changes nothing, they are still banished."
"On the contrary, I'm calling up my favors, and each one of you owes me one."
"Owes you one what?" The emissary from Selbina snarled.
"You each owe me a favor, since it was my decision to assist you in that fateful battle 2 years ago. You swore a promise of a debt to me, and I have come to collect." The Adventurer Commander said mockingly, his voice cold and angry. It was then that they all blanched and turned away, furious at having been beaten, even Pieuje had to concede defeat at that. Sandoria was a land of honor, and they never went back on their word, it would be a catastrophic uprising if it ever got out that they had.
"Name your damned price." Trion snarled. Zig nodded to Byuu who took over.
"One, you allow these families to stay in the city." Pieuje snarled at the Elvaan in reply, and his retort was sharp and biting.
"Sandoria will take no more then one of these damned accursed children and their family." The other emissaries nodded agreement and Byuu sighed, he had been afraid of this.
"Very well, each city must agree then to take one family." There was a chorus of mutterings and dissension, but finally there was a consecutive nod from all of them.
"Second, you are not allowed to banish them forever, there is a maximum of 5 years."
"10." The emissary of Bastok suddenly broke in.
"5." Byuu repeated softly. Before the rash Hume could comment further, the emissary from Windurst, a Taru, kicked him in the shin before looking to Byuu.
"6."
"Done." Byuu voiced curtly. "Third, you will spread no rumors about these families, saying that they are cursed, and evil. If you do the full force of the Adventurers will come bearing down on your gates. Are we clear?" There was again multiple murmurs of anger, but finally a tense quiet as each one nodded again.
"Now . . ." Zig said softly, the part he hated the most had arrived. "Which city will take which family?" There was a deadpan silence as the emissaries glanced hatefully at the families. Mabs protectively wrapped his arms around Gin who buried her face into his chest shivering. Finally the emissary from Selbina stepped forward.
"We will take the Taru." He said pointing to Bagel whose shoulders slumped forward in defeat.
"I hate seafood . . ." The Taru grumbled.
"Sandoria will keep Lazarus." Trion said before Pieuje could, and his younger brother glared at him, a glare Trion blatantly ignored.
"Windurst will take the Mithra." The Taru commented glancing at Lilli who closed her eyes and began to cry silently, Opeth wrapped his arms around her, in what he hoped was comforting, before glaring up at the emissaries, obvious disgust in his eyes.
"We'll take d'Hume. Boy's got courage glaring at a man like me like that." Norg's representative said laughing.
"The Galka can stay in Mhaura." A female Hume said quietly glancing suspiciously at Hal who flinched. That left only two families left. Immediately both Gin and Mabs tensed, feeling trapped.
"Bastok will have the boy." The male Hume said calmly glaring at Mabs who tightened his arms around Gin. There was a quiet silence, before a male Elvaan stepped forward.
"Then Jeuno will take the girl who wields the light."
"Fine. Emissaries, take your guards and escort these people back to their homes, as soon as it's cleared out, I want them out of this city as soon as possible." Pieuje snarled. "This has left a bad taste in my mouth." And with that he started to walk off. Suddenly rough hands seized Mabs by the shoulders and hauled him back, an equally rough hand had grabbed Gin's wrist and started to drag her off. Gin yelped with pain as she stumbled before looking back over her shoulder to see her loved one being dragged away.
"Gin!" Mabs yelled struggling to make the hands let him go.
"No! Stop! Let me go- Mabs!" Gin yelled, her free hand reaching out in his direction in futile.
"Dammit let me go!" Mabs yelled kicking his holder, who blatantly ignored him. "Goddamit! GIN!" And the last they saw were tear stricken faces as both were pulled away from each other. It would be the last time anyone of the group would ever see each other for again, for 6 long years.
2 days later
"Do you have it?" Cane asked walking up. Celan smiled and held up a tray full of clear glass bottles with odd runes on their surfaces, a sparkling light, much like a light spirit summon floating around inside the jars.
"I have the memories of the children and their parents right here."
"Good, I have the memories of those emissaries, the princes, and anyone else who might have remembered that those young ones were friends." Cane commented adding his own bottles to the tray. Cliff smiled.
"So now what?"
"Now we watch, and wait. Celan, you are free to do what you wish with the bottles, just don't break them, or else those retched things will go flying back to their owners." Cane said turning his back on them and starting off.
"As you wish." Celan said softly, standing, the bottles slightly jingling against each other. There was a soft silence, before Celan suddenly called out to Cane before he left the room. "Cane!" The mage paused before the door and looked back over his shoulder.
"Yes?"
"Can't memories fade? What's the point of keeping them?" Cane suddenly laughed and turned to face the front again, shaking his head at Celan's naïve appearance. Starting out the door again he called back to her;
"Omoide Raivu Matsudai, Celan. Memories live forever."
End Segment One.
Disclaimer: I own all OC characters, whoever made the other characters owns them and I own plot, that is all.
Author's notes: Finally! (Stretches happily) I am so proud of that last line, fits in nicely with the title. (grin) Anyway, some ending story notes . . .
Did you know?
1) Originally the story of Ginryu as a child was only supposed to be a paragraph (one chapter max) long!
2) In the first draft, Cane, Celan and Cliff's names were Kane, Celan and Tien.
3) The first story was supposed to end with Gin and co. being 11 to 12 years old, instead it ended with;
Gin - 12
Mabs - 13
Bagel - 12
Lazarus - 13
Lillianna - 13
Halloween - 12
Opeth - 12
4) After seeing I was going to make their childhood into a full story, it was only supposed to be 6 chapters!
5) There were supposed to be quite a few more relationships revealed in this story, but it didn't work yet.
6) The prophecy used was actually a spoof off from my other fiction I'm calling Arcane and it goes something like this;
The shadows will gather
The evils will band
The light will rebel
And together they'll stand
The forces will fight
The light will wane
The shadows too great
Heaven battles in vain
Then he will arise
To strike down the dark
Dark beings will fight
Each other their mark
Only when he of balance
Accepts his true fate
Will the bells ring across churches
And ring into late
He is an incarnate
Fearing no god nor no man
Fearing no demon, no spirit
Living as one can
Neither will live in peace
So long as the other is free
But light will raise swords
And give lives to he
:D Basically it talks about a vampire Arcane, but that's ruining plot and me and Kiki-chan hope to make it into a webcomic, so yeah.
NOW YOU KNOW!
(Okay that was pathetic, never doing that again. OH! Andrew man! I went on again last night for the first time in 5 weeks! I was so happy I was almost crying. XD Noxes has become Foxy Noxy and Chster is the missing letter man! Oh, Noxes is also Darth Vader, I'm Luke, Amand is A-man-duh/c3po and Avadon is r2d2 (or is it the other way around?) we lost track of who's Jabba, Chewbaca, or something . . . Lai was Leia and . . . I can't remember who was Han. XD Come back to join the insanity!)
