Disclaimer: I do not own ANY of the Final Fantasy Characters, or many of the other characters in this story.

Chapter 4: Another Castle Falls

Location: Argass Castle

The castle of Argass stood defiantly against the mountain range, it's natural borders bringing a false sense of calm to those contained therein. The Red Mage chuckled darkly as he and Solarius appeared on the inside of the lake, which served as the castle's fourth natural border. He knew that these folk of this new land had little idea of what was happening in the outside, if any at all. They would fall quickly to him and his skeletal army, not to mention his legion of black mages that awaited all of his commands. Turning to Solarius, he let a smile play across his features, hidden by the mask. The warrior he had so easily bribed was becoming quite an asset to his army. Not even close to his own power by any stretch, but probably worth more than some of the mages that were in his regiment. "There is a town to the south west of our current location. I will send a complement of skeletal warriors with you to invade it. Do with it, as you like. I will take the castle myself."

Solarius nodded, snapping to attention the instant he was addressed. "There is also a town to the far south, Tozas. Go in without attacking at first, and do what is needed to acquire some Midgbread. There is a path that I have heard rumors about, and would like to travel. I will meet you there, and then the town may be razed to the ground. But until then, learn what you can about this world, and the thoughts that it has about the worlds being joined into one. Do you understand?" Solarius nodded again, and the Blood Dragon waved his hand, sending the young warrior across the lake along with enough skeletal soldiers to take out several towns. He then reasserted his attention on the castle, not allowing his attention to be distracted for an instant.

Closing his eyes, he let his power course through him. He hadn't allowed himself to use his full power yet, as he didn't want to alert the others to the true amount of power that he possessed. He yearned to use it, to allow these pathetic beings to have a taste of what true power really meant. But he opened his eyes, forcing himself to let the power ebb away. If they had even a small guess at the power that he was able to wield, the forces would be amassed against him faster than he could blink. Sighing as he felt the power leave him, he channeled his magic strength, and flexed the barrier of space, and hundreds of soldiers appeared in front of him, mages and undead. They all faced the castle with determination, knowing what lie ahead for them.

With another quick surge of power, the Red Mage and his army found themselves inside the castle walls of Argass. The people were completely unprepared for the assault, and many were slain where they stood. The guards were mobilized as quickly as they could be, but they were no match for the frightening efficiency of the Blood Dragon's army. Soon, the courtyard in which Red Mage had allowed his armies into was empty, save his warriors. With a quick wave of his hand, the fallen warrior rose again, their flesh falling from their bones, as they became skeletal warriors under his command. With a gesture to his mages, they blew open the door. Waiting on the other side were the king's guards, as well as the rest of the forces, amassed inside the overly large throne room.

The guards were well trained, cutting through the Blood Dragon's skeletons almost with ease. A small frown appeared on the face of the Red Mage, before he himself lifted a hand. A crimson aura appeared around his hand, and a flash of blood red light shot forth, incinerating his skeletons and the royal guards alike. His mages moved forward almost as if instructed, and the temperature plummeted as several ice spells were cast in the room, freezing men to their armor, rendering them incapable of moving. The Blood Dragon walked into the room, fixing his gaze upon the royal family, who were in the process of leaving.
Bending space, he transposed himself in front of them, and chuckled darkly. "Leaving so soon, my liege?" he asked mockingly, causing the royal family to stumble backward in fear. "I don't believe I can allow any of you to leave. In fact, I want to keep one of you quite close to me." With an evil glint in his eye, he fixed his gaze on princess Sarah, who watched him, her eyes full of fear. He heard footsteps behind him, and turned, seeing a lowly footman charging him.

"You'll never take Argass!" the footman yelled, before being knocked to ground by several blasts of lightning from the Red Mage's sorcerer army. The sword flew from his hands, and the Blood Dragon himself caught the blade in mid flight, and turned, slashing downward. Blood flew into the air as the king was split in twain, the two pieces falling to the floor as the screams from the princess and the queen filled the room. Narrowing his eyes, he placed the sword point down, and rammed it through the queen's stomach, pinning her to the ground. With a wave of his hand, the princess vanished, and he closed his eyes for a second, and then opened them again.

Moving his gaze to the queen, he cast her a look of pity, not to be mistaken with remorse, while she gurgled up her own blood upon the floor. Looking up to his mages, he said. "We're done here. Solarius is on the move to nearby towns, and we shall meet up with him soon. But for now, let us relax." With a nod to his mages, he bent the fabric of space, relocating them and himself back to his home, where he needed to think. Soon, he would have control of the entire world. He knew that this portion would fall easily, and Solarius was from the next, so it would fall quickly as well. But after that, he did not know. His mages were not gaining information nearly as quickly as he would have liked, but there was little he could do, save go there himself. Sighing, he sat in his chair, watching through Solarius' eyes, waiting for the warrior to make it through Tozas, where he would join him.

/-/-/

Location: Baron Castle

Suki made her way through the town of Baron, everyone seemed so blissfully ignorant of what was coming their way; she could feel the evil energy, and it was only getting stronger.

Seeing a young girl, about 4 or 5 years old and most likely a peasant, since her clothes were both worn and torn in places, holding her tattered old teddy bear, Suki vowed to protect this town, or at least as much as she could, from the evil that was slowly approaching their home.

Making her way through the shops she finally stood a few hundred yards from the castle, looking it up and down, she noticed the resemblance it held to the Castle in Coneria, a small town back in her homeland.

She glanced at the guards by the door before knocking on the aforementioned, it was large and wooden, quite medieval looking, in her opinion. The servant who answered the door looked at her apprehensively, not really knowing what to do, for she stood quite silent, standing perfectly upright.

"What can I do for you?" the servant asked, his voice wavering slightly as he spoke. Suki, seemed to break out of a trance suddenly, her expressionless transformed into a smile.

"Hello, I wish you, nor your king harm, I simply wish to speak with him, your king, that is."

The servant seemed to calm down, as he had stopped shaking, he shook his head quickly and frowned.

"I'm sorry, but that would be impossible, his majesty had no time to speak with commoners like yourself, I'm afraid you must leave."

Suki, though usually calm and polite, was not feeling very patient, nor understanding at the moment, for she then grabbed the servant by the neck roughly, her almost unaturally white colored hood slipping slightly, revealing her fair unflawed face and unusual blueviolet colored eyes.

"See here, I am not a commoner, nor will I leave! I am one of the most powerful mages in the 1st realm, and could easily slay you and all the other servants here to get what I please, if you want to live, you will let me in!"

The servant shivered and nodded, he knew she wasn't lying; the confidence in her voice was obvious. As she released him, he took a step back and then spoke, his voice hoarse and slightly squeaky.

"Follow me, then."

The servant was silent as they moved down the corridors and passages, finally he stopped by a doorway, and turned to her.

"Stay here, I will speak with my lord."

Nodding slowly, Suki walked into the room, it seemed to be a place for guests to rest after a long trip; there was food and fresh flowers, fresh water and an elegant fireplace. The materials in the room were fine, each looking very expensive and handmade, the furniture carved with great care and the wood glossy, seeming to be covered with some kind of shellac, Suki sat down carefully, crossing her legs and pulling the hood from her cloak off her head.

Cecils sword danced through the air as he went through a smooth series of movements once more. He was bare from the waist up, and sweat freely dripped earthward. His hair was matted down with his perspiration and he simply stood there for a few moments holding his sword out in front of him. Suddenly he heard a door open behind him and moving as fast as he could he leaped into the air, spinning around, as his blade arched downwards, but Cecil stopped the blade about six inches from the servants forehead.

Almost fainting from the shock the guard went to his knees as he took a few deep breaths. Cecil sheathed his sword as he chuckled a little nervously, "Sorry about that, you just came up at the wrong moment." He helped up his guard and said, "Now what can I do for you good sir?"

Looking his king in the eyes the guard remembered why all of the people appreciated, and respected him. Dropping to his knees again he spoke clearly yet slowly, "I am sorry my Liege, but I was rude to a guest who came to ask an audience of you. I let my thoughts drift, and told her that commoners could not hope to see you."

Cecil looked down at him and sighed as he said, "It's ok Baston, but you know that I value no one person in this kingdom above another, except for the queen of course. She will always hold her own spot."

Baston nodded and said, "Ok sir shall I let her in to see you?"

Shaking his head Cecil told him that he wanted to go clean up a little bit and then he'd see to the guest. Sending Baston off with the purpose of asking her if she wanted any refreshments and explaining the king would see her shortly. The guard went off just as Cecil went to his room to clean up after his exercise. Baston rushed down the corridors as he entered the guest room and he bowed lowly, "I'm sorry for my earlier rudeness ma'lady... I have had a request to see that you were properly taken care of, and comfortable. Would you like any refreshments or something while you await the king? He shall be with you shortly."

Baston waited for the guests response with his arms folded behind him neatly, not moving a muscle.

When the servant appeared at the door she immediately stood up, her very proper manners and raising showing as she did so. It wasn't often in this day and age that you'd see a great warrior and magic user showing respect to a servant.

Suki shook her head, not wanting anything to eat or drink, as she had stopped at a bar a while back and refreshed herself. She brushed her cloak off, smoothing out some wrinkles and dusting off some imaginary dust, it was definitely imaginary, since Suki was very meticulous about her appearance, never letting her clothing get dirty or torn, when it did, she had it immediately cleaned and sewn.

Suki brought a hand up to her face to brush some of her hair behind her ear, she had a feeling in her stomach that made her very nervous, like something was going to happen.

Suki glanced at the clock on the wall, time was wasting away, she could wait no longer, every second counted. She pulled some paper from her pocket and wrote a message quickly onto it. Folding the paper she handed it to the servant.

"Give this to the king please, make sure he reads it, for it may save his life."

The servant took the letter and watched as she left. Once she was out of the castle and nearly out of the town, he open the letter and read it.

"Your Highness,

A great evil is steadily approaching your Kingdom, I came here to warn you, but there are many other places that I must also attend, you must prepare, or hide, for this evil is not to be underestimated, the way your city is now, it would easily be overtaken in a matter of minutes, and do not think I am exaggerating.

I wish you the best of luck and my condolences,

The White Mage"

After reading this message, Baston quickly refolded it and ran to find his King.

In the Throne room...

Cecil sat in the throne room awaiting the arrival of the guest, as he sat with his back perfectly straight in the throne. He wondered what this visit was about, because it wasn't very often that visitors from other country came. Baston seemed to give off the impression that the guest had seemed to have urgent news. After a few minutes he decided that he'd go ahead and go to the guest since they hadn't arrived. It was far from against his beliefs to go and meet someone when they came to visit you. Something that Cecil was not, was a harsh and bitter king so he stood up, and with his cloak flowing behind him he walked to the entrance of the throne room.

Once he got there he opened the doors and headed into the chamber that lay before him. The hallway wasn't the widest, but it wasn't really all that narrow. At least now that Palom and Porum had been healed it wasn't. He remembered a time when the two of them had been stone monuments after selflessly saving him and a few of their allies. Smiling he noted that the guest was gone as Baston approached him with a note and said, "I am sorry sir, I guess that she decided that she didn't have time for a proper visit but she seemed to have urgent news."

The King of Baron frowned a bit, it was a shame that his guest wasn't able to deliver the message personally, but if they didn't have the time there wasn't any choice. Wondering what it was he didn't bother to leave Bastons presence as the other man handed him the note. Opening it quickly, Cecil scanned the contents of a note before he cleared his throat. Looking at Baston he calmly said, "Ok this is dire news. I don't think that anyone would go to the lengths that this one apparently did for the ruse. With that said I request for you to prepare the knights, Red Wings, and what few Dragoons we have for battle."

Baston stood perfectly straight the entire time that his King read the message. Once he heard what the king had to say Baston bowed and said, "It shall be done... shall I send out notices to other kingdoms for help?"

He would have told Baston he didn't need to be so formal but Cecil knew it was useless. He listened to the man who was slightly older then him and shook his head. Smiling Cecil said, "No that isn't necessary. For I shall go myself and request their aid." Noticing Baston was about to cut in he raised his arm and said, "Do not worry about me my friend. I will be fine, and I'll leave you in charge until Rosa chooses to show herself. At that point she can lead if I have not returned."

With that Cecil bowed and spun on his heels as he started to make his way down to where the airship rested.

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