PART IX

"What?" Bootus cried in disbelief.

"No. You can't." Arcane stated.

"Why not?" Vivli said in shock at the reaction. "It's the only way we can save Dad."

"Vivli, this isn't some story you read." Zinkata tried to explain. "The demon isn't going to just sit there and shout at you. Here, we're dealing with a monster that will kill you if you get close. There's no way you can perform one while fighting it."

"That's why I need you guys to distract him!" Vivli cried desperately.

"Vivli, it is too dangerrrrrous." Arcane purred. "I cannot have you endangerrrring you're life. I've already lost Crrrrrruth to that crrrrreature." Vivli took a step forward, standing in the middle of the group.

"Don't you guys get it?" She called. "Lich will destroy all of us. For Altana's sake, this isn't going to be a problem we can solve through violence! You saw what he did to us! We have nothing to protect us this time! He can keep functioning in that body even if we kill it. Please, we have to try this."

"Can you do it?" Olose asked quickly.

"I-I-I think so." Vivli stammered. "I mean, nobody's done one in decades, but it shouldn't be too complex."

"Sounds like our only option." The werewolf decided.

"You'rrrre insane!" Arcane cried. "You're going to let my daughter kill herself?"

"I'll be by herrrr side." Dedji purred. "I won't let any harrrrm come to her."

"I'll be there." Olose pointed out.

"We will, of course." Zinkata input.

"This is insanity." Grumbled Arcane.

Vivli was sat in the hold of the ship bound for Seblina. The decision had been made to head to San D'Oria, in an attempt to find Lich. Despite her plan, she hadn't thought where he may have gone. Of course, the actual reason was Arcane had insisted they headed to San D'Oria so that Vivli could fully research her skills, and make sure she could cast it effectively. She was reading a book she had that covered the subject matter. She was petrified. According to the book, most of the mages that attempted it either died in the process or ended up possessed themselves. She had argued for a long time to persuade the others that this was possible, but now she was afraid. Now it seemed like she might have been wrong. She broke down into tears.

Everything had finally started to look up. She had friends, they had saved the world, she found her parents, but it all went wrong. She was actually happy, for a moment. For a moment, everything was okay. But she wasn't even allowed an hour of happiness before something interfered. Before something tore apart her happiness and stole her father, and almost killed her. She sighed miserably. It was if her entire life existed only to be misery.

"Oh Altana," She asked the Goddess in prayer, "What did I do wrong? Why do I deserve this?" There was silence. "How do I even know you're up there?"

"Isn't before casting an exorcism a bad time to lose faith?" Olose asked, walking over. She quickly wiped away her tears with the bottom of her robe, and tried to look at normal as possible.

"I-I have faith." She managed to say.

"Doesn't sound like it." Olose told her. "And believe me, I've seen mages lose their faith. I've seen people die trying to perform these exorcisms. And I don't want you to do it."

"You don't?" Vivli asked.

"No." Olose stated. "But I can see you have to. For yourself more than anything. You've been through so much, I can't imagine what would happen if your father died." Olose regretted mentioning this as Vivli burst into tears at the thought. He held her to try and calm her down. "That won't happen. I have confidence in you. You can do this."

"I can't." She sobbed. "It's too difficult. White mages far more accomplished than I am have died trying."

"Viv, if anybody can do it it's you." Olose looked into her eyes. Vivli tried to smile, but failed miserably.

Two yellow eyes were blazing the shadowy darkness.

"You're bodies." Growled a voice.

"Excellent." Lich spoke up. "You have done well." The Shadow Lord formed before Lich.

"I had to slaughter many of my own beastmen for this." The Shadow Lord warned. "I hope you are aware of the price."

"The price?" Laughed Lich. "There is no price. These are my subjects now. Vana'diel will fall to me."

"To us." The Shadow Lord reminded him.

"Are you so blind?" Lich laughed. "Yes. Of course. Blinded by your shadow. Ruling Vana'diel is no group effort."

"Be warned, Lich, I do not fear you like I feared your master." The Shadow Lord growled.

"My master? Chaos was a fool. Born of the fiends as we were born of him." Lich let out yet another laugh. "He is a pathetic worm next to my power."

"Do not betray me, or I will destroy you." The Shadow Lord warned.

"Destroy me?" Lich asked incredulously. "You my friend were a mere puppet. You are obsessed by power. The slightest hint that I can give you the world and you came running. You slaughtered the camp and stole the bodies, just for me. Did you really expect me to share with you?"

"If you wish to die instead, so be it!" The Shadow Lord flung dark energy at Lich. He levitated back into the air.

"I am growing ever more powerful!" Lich warned. "Allow me to demonstrate. See the power of my magic. See the power of Nuke. The greatest spell of ancient times." Lich fired the spell downwards, and the Shadow Lord exploded in flames.

Vivli had been studying all the way to San D'Oria. More than once she had almost walked into a goblin, absorbed in the book she was reading. She was now confident she could cast the exorcism spell. Of course, one of the first warnings in the book was that an exorcism is not a spell, and the exorcist must simply call upon the goddess Altana and beg for her help. The fact that Vivli still thought of it as a spell just reminded her that she was still completely unprepared.

Having arrived in the elvaan capital, she had headed straight to the city library while the others attempted to gain an audience with the King. Since they had Olose, a friend of the King, the Light Warriors and the Queen of Kazham with them they figured it wouldn't be difficult. This left Vivli alone in the gigantic library, reading everything she could about possession, demons, exorcisms, and the general darker side of the world. As if she didn't already have enough things she was scared of. Her doubt was growing. It seemed every successful past exorcism was performed by a tarutaru (always noted for being the most powerful race when it came to magic). The odds were ridiculously against her, and she wasn't particularly good when it came to luck.

In the King's chamber, things were not going much better.

"Allow me to make sure I fully understand this." The King began. "You are telling me that the Fiend of the Earth which was resurrected in your battle with Chaos a million years ago has possessed the king of Kazham, acquired himself an army of invincible undead and orcs and is planning to attack the city?"

"We're only speculating on the attack." Bootus felt it was useful to input.

"And that our only hope is for a young white mage to cast an unpractised spell that hasn't been used to generations on the fiend while avoiding being destroyed?" The King was in disbelief.

"That's the general idea of it, your highness." Zinkata said nervously.

"It's not really a spell." Olose input.

"And to top it off, you instruct me to not fight the fiend?" The King had to double check this.

"If I'm right," Olose felt he should explain, "Then the attackers will not die. Lich is a master bone craftsman, his undead warriors will not die. They will march on the city and take it, slaughtering all in the way if they have to."

"What Olose is saying, your highness, is it is better to live defeated than die fighting." Zinkata explained.

"That is somewhat debatable." The King shot back.

"I agree." Voldos wanted to side with his King, but couldn't betray his friends. "But if they do attack, and we do surrender, we can fight back at a more appropriate time. I say we pull all non-vital citizens out of the city, and move them to Seblina. It would be the safest option."

"You want a mass evacuation of San D'Oria?" The King exclaimed.

"All the nations." Zinkata pointed out.

"All four nations to empty? It's unheard of. It can't be done." The King seemed in utter disbelief.

"I believe if an attack is launched, it would make most sense to take out San D'Oria first. It is the toughest target, and so Lich's primary goal will be to conquer it."

"Isn't an established strrrrrategy to take out the weakerrrrr tarrrrgets firrrrst?" Dedji asked.

"Not with Chaos or the Fiends." Zinkata laughed. "They'd target the strongest. A show of power."

"I have dealt with many ridiculous requests and suggestions in my time but this is-" The King was cut off as a messenger ran into the room.

"My lord! My lord!" He cried. "An army has been seen amassing near the plateau!"

"What?" The King exclaimed.

"Orcs. But they aren't normal. They won't die. They wiped out our entire battalion and not a single one fell! We sliced them to pieces, but they kept coming. Arms, legs, heads, just moving." The messenger was panting, and clearly wounded.

"Do you not see?" Zinkata asked.

"San D'Oria has never been breached." The King stated, choosing to ignore the orcish attack a few months back.

"There is a firrrrrst time for everrrrrrything, yourrrr highness." Arcane put in.

"This is the only way we can win." Olose told him. "Meaningless death in this war will not help. It will just strengthen Lich's numbers. But if we surrender, he will not kill us. He will not waste potential resources fighting. At least not until he's conquered the whole of Vana'diel, and that gives us time to come up with a counter strategy." The King took a deep breath. He was about to make the most difficult decision of his reign.

"Guards!" He cried. Two guards entered. "Order all civilians to leave the city at once." He paused, the weight of his words setting in. "We are evacuating San D'Oria."

"What about the army sir?" The messenger cried in disbelief.

"Wait until the citizens have safely made it to Seblina, and then send a message that the Kingdom of San D'Oria stands down."

"WHAT?" The guards exclaimed.

"This is not a battle we can win by strength." The King echoed the words of the Light Warriors. "We must surrender now if we want a chance to win later. A dead city is no use to anyone but the evil Fiend himself. Tell them we stand down and will accept their occupation."

"Y-y-yes sir." The guard could barely believe it.

Vivli felt a gentle rocking. It just made her want to sleep more. Somebody shouted something and she startled awake, hunched on a table in the library.

"Wake up!" Bootus roared. "We need to go."

"Go? Go where?" She whimpered.

"They're evacuating the city." Zinkata explained. "Lich's army is coming and it cannot be stopped."

"San D'Oria has surrendered." Voldos said, in disbelief.

"We have to get out of here." Olose told the little mithra. "If they catch us here, they'll bring us in front of Lich himself."

"Isn't that what we want?" Vivli asked. Silence fell over the crowd.

Zinkata finally decided to take charge.

"Olose. You take Dedji and Arcane safely away from here." He ordered.

"What?" Dedji cried. "I can take carrrrre of myself!"

"It is dangerous. We'll need you to watch over the retreating citizens anyway." Zinkata paused letting the words sink in. "Olose, your immortality should be useful when it comes to protecting them."

"And you four?" Olose inquired.

"Lich won't conquer a surrendered city. At least, not until he has spent all he resources in the war that is to come. We'll see if we can see him." Zinkata turned to Vivli. "And give him a little persuasive speaking."

"This is nuts." Olose sighed.

"Isn't everything we do." Voldos laughed.

"Very well." Olose commented. "I'll lead them away."

"Vivli!" Arcane walked over to her. "You be carrrreful. Come back alive."

"I will." She replied as bravely as she could. She was actually used to people being overprotective of her. Most people had to be.

"Let's split up then." Zinkata said.

The four Light Warriors could but watch as the skeletal beastmen marched into the cities, shoving guards aside and taking their place. They spoke with an angry growl, repeating the same message.

"San D'Oria now belongs to the great Empire of the Fiends. All shall fall under its flag." It was Voldos who felt the most pain, seeing each troop walk within the walls of his beloved city. They took up positions guarding. The four retreated into the library. They could but listen outside as the message was repeated.

"This is one helluva gamble." Bootus grumbled.

"At least it's just us four again." Voldos was almost smirking.

"Just like old times." Sighed Zinkata.

"The streets are lined with beastmen." Voldos muttered. "The greatest nation has fallen. I don't see it as being like old times."

"Greatest nation my foot!" Bootus laughed.

"Although some things remind me of it." Voldos half sighed, half laughed.

"What are we planning?" Vivli asked, craning her neck to look up at Voldos.

"Urm. Good question." The elvaan said.

"We sit tight and lay low." Zinkata explained. "We'll wait for things to settle so when we stir up trouble they won't just kill us on the spot, but send us to Lich."

"Why would they send us to Lich?" Bootus asked.

"We're the Light Warriors, remember?" Zinkata smiled. "He'll want to finish us off in person." Outside they heard a loud ruckus.

They ran to the window to see the King, kneeling before the floating figure of Lich. Voldos instinctively bolted for the door.

"No!" Hissed Zinkata. "We have to take him when he's alone."

"Hand power over to me!" Insisted Lich. "Give me San D'Oria! Step down as King!"

"You'll never make me do such a thing!" The King protested.

"Do I have to kill your subjects?" Lich asked. "Do not think I wont. You're surrender was nice, certainly wiser than the Shadow Lord." The King was chilled.

"You defeated the Shadow Lord?" He gasped.

"A mere insect when compared to my might. Now. Hand over power." The King reluctantly removed his crown, passing it to Lich.

Voldos turned away. He could not watch his nation's fall any longer.

"No." He bitterly said to himself. "This can't be happening."

"It's only temporary." Zinkata reassured him. "We will succeed." Zinkata peered out the window.

"Seblina." Lich confirmed to his troops. "They will be hiding in Seblina. We will secure San D'Oria, and then crush what is left of the elvaan nation. If they do not surrender, they shall die and fight on my side!"

Zinkata turned back to the heroes.

"We have to be fast."