PART XXV

The Raven III hurtled towards the icy glacier as the heroes stood on deck, preparing for combat.

"Right." Vivli announced, seeming unusually energetic. It was clear that she was incredibly nervous, and trying to fight it back with her own nerves. "Here's the plan. Voldos, you need to acquire the staff. Once you've done that, turn its power on itself and destroy it."

"Urm, how do I do that?" Voldos asked.

"Just feel the magical energy." Vivli shrugged.

"I'm not a mage!" He protested.

"It's easy to feel magic." Olose put in.

"You can't use magic either!" Voldos cried.

"Yeah, but that's because I'm a werewolf." Olose muttered. "Comes with the curse."

"You should be able to feel it." Vivli tried explaining to him, despite the fact she herself had struggled getting her own staff to work despite her magical experience. "You can kinda feel it, like a headache in the back of your head."

"Nice descriptive work there, Viv." Bootus laughed.

"Well, it's like a warm patch. Something in your mind that you can't quite focus on." Vivli paused, discovering she was completely unable to explain it. "Okay. It's just there, right?" She finally said, giving up with her dodgy descriptions. "All you have to do is focus on it, like when you can't quite remember something but it's there." She tried again, deciding it was as good as she'd get. "As soon as you remember it, it all becomes obvious, right? Same with magic!" Voldos looked blank.

"Yeah, Viv, quit while your ahead." Bootus advised. Vivli folded her arms, looking frustrated.

"We'll just have to improvise." Sighed Olose. "With any luck, destroying the staff may save Zinkata anyway."

"And if not?" The galka grumbled.

"Then Vivli's plan comes into play." Olose explained. "Which is, pretty much, 'ask nicely'."

"It is not!" Vivli cried, clearly upset. Olose felt bad about being harsh, but knew he had to prepare her for the worse.
"The real challenge is getting the staff." Voldos pointed out. "That's why we either need Vivli to work some persuasive magic or we have do something a lot worse." There was a pause.

"I don't think there's such a thing as 'persuasive magic'." Bootus finally said.

"I was speaking metaphorically, moron." Voldos sighed. "Oh, Bootus." Voldos suddenly rushed to the cabin of the Raven III. "I found this." He handed the galka a scythe. "Found it in the armoury of the manor. Thought you could use it now you're a dark knight."

"You're house has an armoury?" Bootus sounded surprised. "Cool!"

"Can we try and stay focused?" Vivli asked, fighting back her own tears at the thought of what they were about to do. The others fell silent.

"Would you look at that?" Came an exclamation from Olose suddenly. The warriors rushed to the edge of the deck, and looked down, finding themselves now over the glacier. The snow was turning to slush, and at the centre it seemed to nearly be water, which itself was being repelled. Brown rock could be seen underneath. Yellow energy crackled in the middle.

"It's him." Voldos stated grimly.

"Zinkata." Vivli said sadly.

"This is it, guys." Olose decided. "Do or die, we end this now."

"Cid!" Voldos cried. "Take us down!"

The Raven III cut down through the air, shaking as it was battered by the bitter winds of the glacier. Vivli was so occupied by the coming battle, not even she was sick. A grim sign of the seriousness of their challenge. They threw the rope ladder over the edge, but only Vivli climbed down it. The others jumped, using the soft snow to break their fall. They waded through the slush, finding it thinning out as they approached the centre. Vivli was completely caught off guard by how cold it was, mithra not usually being adapted to the cold, especially one like Vivli. She shivered crazily, finding it hard to think, despite the importance of the upcoming battle. Her thin dress stuck to her, the cold slush making the fabric wet with the thawed water. She shivered manically, but forced herself to hurry to catch up with the others, struggling through the slush as she went.

"You are too late." She heard a voice. "Lavos will awaken in mere moments." The staff continued to drain energy from the ground.

"Zinkata, stop this now!" Voldos ordered. Zinkata laughed.

"I don't think so." He smirked. "This entire glacier is melting! That is the extent of my power! The extent I came here to demonstrate to you. I thought perhaps it would make you back off. I was wrong."

"Zin! Please!" Vivli begged, fighting off her own shivers as the ground became warmer. "Fight it! I know you can!"

"Fight it?" Zinkata laughed. "Fight what? This is it, sweetheart. The end of the world. And there is nothing you can do to stop me." Voldos drew a sword. Zinkata's sword. The blade of the great paladin.

"There is plenty we can do to stop you!" Voldos cried.

"So another battle?" Zinkata asked. "Very well. This will be your last."

"Zinkata!" Vivli sobbed, no longer able to fight her tears. "Please! For everything we've been through! Everything we've faced! Don't do it!" Zinkata smiled, lifting the staff and allowing it to pop out into the long quarter staff. He spun it and it cut through the air with an audible swoosh.

"You're pathetic." He spat. "Let us end this. Now."

Before any of the Light Warriors could react, he charged Voldos, attacking. Voldos was caught off guard, parrying wildly to stop his furious swings. Zinkata blocked the elvaan's sword down and kicked Voldos away. Voldos fell, managing to fall into a front roll and come up a fair distance from Zinkata. Zinkata couldn't pursue his assault on Voldos as Bootus swung in with a scythe, tearing him across the chest. Zinkata span around without reacting to the pain, and began to repel Bootus, the scythe and staff clashing as they duelled. Vivli shrieked as she saw Zinkata bleed.

"Zinkata! Please!" She begged uselessly, sounding ineffective and pathetic. Olose had drawn twin swords he had acquired from Voldos's house and ran in, leaping at Zinkata. Zinkata caught Olose in the air with a blast of yellow electricity, and hurled him into Bootus. Voldos fired an arrow, and it thudded into Zinkata's back. Zinkata tore the arrow out and hurled it to the ground, snapping it so roughly it made the cut deeper and more painful, much to the horror of Vivli.

"So this is your solution?" He sneered. "To kill me? Can you all handle that?" He smirked at Vivli, who was sobbing, her tears almost becoming frozen despite the heat rising from the ground.

"Zin! Please! Stop this!" She cried. "There is good in you! Fight it!" Zinkata laughed, blasting Voldos back. Bootus charged Zinkata, but was blasted back also. Olose got in close, attacking with his two swords. Zinkata blocked wildly before hitting upwards with the base of the staff and sending Olose reeling backwards.

Vivli was watching in pure terror, letting her tears flow freely. She didn't know what she could say. What she could do. Zinkata seemed to ignore her every plea. She noticed the ground was beginning to rumble. She backed away in horror, noticing the centre of the revealed ground, where the staff had been drawing its energy from, was glowing orange.

"RUN!" She suddenly yelled as loud as her voice would allow her. Her soft voice was tough to hear over the battle, and was easily disregarded as further attempts by her to dissuade Zinkata. "RUN!" She yelled again, running closer to the group. "LOOK OUT!" The warriors noticed as Zinkata flipped away. The heroes ran clear as the ground exploded, and lava rocketed upwards into the sky. Voldos attacked Zinkata, refusing to stop as the lava crashed down behind them, melting the snow and spreading out. Voldos drove Zinkata back, away from the lava flow. Vivli, Bootus and Olose ran behind them, wading through the thick slush which was hissing behind them as the lava seeped out, turning to stone. Voldos pushed Zinkata to the floor, and he pulled Voldos down with him, flipping him over his head. Bootus attacked with his scythe, but Zinkata blocked behind him. Vivli stumbled, unable to wade through the slush as easily as the others due to her smaller height, and she could feel the burning lava catching up with her, her entire body stinging from the contrast of hot and cold. Olose grabbed her and pulled her along.

The four gathered around in the snow, a safe distance from the now dried lava flow. Here the snow was thicker than usual, piled up from where Zinkata had repelled it, and it remained fairly solid.

"You see?" Zinkata taunted. "The first step! Lavos is awakening!"

"We will stop you, Zinkata!" Voldos cried, diving for him. Zinkata hit him with the butt of the staff, and blasted him away. Bootus waded towards the warrior, but movement in the snow was difficult. Zinkata cast a simple dia spell, causing Bootus to drop to one knee as he felt his life energy being seeped away. Olose leapt from the snow and tackled Zinkata, causing him to fall to the ground. Olose's body suddenly flew away with a crackle of yellow electricity, crashing down back near the melted snow and dried lava. The lava itself was still building up in the centre of the glacier, and he knew it was only a matter of time before it spread to them.

Voldos fired three more arrows, all of them catching Zinkata in the chest.

"VOLDOS!" Vivli screamed, trying desperately to stop him. Zinkata laughed. He pulled all three out with one mighty sweep, letting the blood pour out.

"My paladin powers allow me to heal myself." He stated. "But let's see just how far you're willing to go." He let the blood run freely as it splattered down on the white snow.

"We will kill you if we have to!" Voldos warned, reading more arrows. He was taken out by another burst from the staff before he could fire, rocketing back across the snow.

"Enjoying the show, sweetheart?" Zinkata snarled to Vivli, who was stood watching helplessly. At her size, she was up to her waist in the thick snow, and so cold she felt completely drained of energy. She couldn't struggle through the snow any more, the cold having drained what little strength she had, and she was utterly unable to move. She was beginning to feel faint, but fought the bitter cold to stay awake and do everything she could to save Zinkata.

"Zinkata!" She yelled. "Please! Come back to us! Push this corruption away!"

"It cannot be done." Zinkata stated with a glare.

"It can! You have! You did it before, when you carried the staff!" She begged. Zinkata laughed.

"I was but lucky. Now, there is no escape." He told her. She sobbed.

"Zin! Please!" She cried. "Fight it! Just try!"

"There is no fighting it." He stated blankly. Vivli couldn't tell if that was a sign of his real self, or his defiance. Bootus had risen, the dia spell barely affecting the mighty galka. He had waited to see if Vivli could talk Zinkata out of his evil actions, but clearly she had failed. He charged Zinkata, spraying snow everywhere as he pounded through it. Zinkata smiled, bracing himself. Bootus was about to hit the hume when he dove to the side. Bootus spun around, swinging his scythe. Zinkata blocked it, but was knocked off his feet by the pure strength of the galka. Slamming down he sent snow flying upwards, temporarily blinding Bootus. Zinakata burst out of the snow and hit Bootus back. The galka stumbled, falling and disappearing in the whiteness.

Voldos fired two arrows at once, but Zinkata blasted them out of the air. Olose ran in, but paused. Zinkata had turned, holding the staff out to Vivli.

"Viv! Move!" Voldos ordered.

"I can't." Vivli answered weakly, feeling fainter and fainter because of the cold, and unable to pull herself out of it.

"Time to die, sweetheart." Laughed Zinkata.

"Zin, please, no." She wept. "Please! Fight it!" Zinkata seemed to be hesitating.

"You will all die regardless. What is one early death?" The yellow staff began to crackle with energy and Vivli shut her eyes tightly. "Goodbye, Vivli."

Vivli's mind faded away as she finally let the cold get to her. She saw no point in feebly clinging to reality any longer. She was dead. It was over. She had failed. She felt her head pounding as everything turned dark. Voices became echoes. She could hear something echoing. An explosion? It became a voice.

"I am your humble servant." It sounding boyish, yet powerful. What was it? She opened her eyes, and struggled to pull her mind back to the freezing reality. She was clutching Carbuncle's ruby in her hand. She didn't notice that she had taken it out, but she had. Zinkata was lying sprawled quite some distance from her and Carbuncle, the small greenish rabbit creature, stood before her. "I have leant you my strength." He seemed to state in her mind, and she felt her own focus returning. "You have travelled with me and I trust you. I shall now aid you in battle." The voice continued. Vivli tried to clear her thoughts, managing once more to stumble through the snow, albeit with great difficulty. She took a deep breath.

"Carbuncle! Use your searing light attack, now!" She ordered. Carbuncle leapt into the air and a burst of light rocketed out, slamming into Zinkata.

Zinkata felt it painfully tear through him, as if it was ripping his mind from him. For a moment, he felt free. It was fighting back a heavy weight on his mind, the corruption of the staff. He could hear echoing words.

"Fight it Zin!" Vivli was yelling. "Please! I love you! You have to fight it!" Zinkata closed his eyes. She loved him. He loved her. He would not harm her. He could not. He was a hero. The son of a paladin. A Light Warrior. And he was Vivli's protector. He felt tears forming in his eyes. He loved her so much. How could he harm her? He couldn't. He had to fight it. He knew he could. He knew he would.

As the Searing Light attack began to wear off Zinkata felt his mind begin to be strangled again by the corruption.

"No." He managed to say. "No!" He began to fight it as it tried to tangle around his brain. "NOOOO!" He finally yelled, feeling it burst away from his mind. Zinkata's eyes lit up and the yellow energy crackled out of them, exploding into the sky and disappearing in a thunderous clap. Zinkata dropped down, defeated.

"ZIN!" Vivli screamed, running to his side, struggling through the snow. "ZIN! SPEAK TO ME!" She sobbed desperately. Zinkata had collapsed. She didn't know if it was from his wounds or from the energy of repelling the magic, but he had. She tried to cast a cure spell, but Carbuncle had drained from her any magical power she had left. She was too exhausted to cast. Olose, Voldos and Bootus watched in a mixture of awe and terror. Vivli was sobbing. "There's nothing I can do!" She wept to the others. "I didn't save him just to watch him die! I didn't!" She cried angrily. She took a deep breath. "There's one thing left I can do." She took in a deep breath. "CURE!" She announced as a bright white light took over Zinkata's body.

Zinkata opened his eyes and sat up, his head pounding. He had memories, but they were not his own. Memories of harming Vivli. Memories of trying to destroy. He knew what he had done, and broke down into tears.

"I-I-I'm so sorry, everyone." He wept. The others were silent. He looked up. What are they looking at? He asked himself. He suddenly saw it. Vivli was lying in the snow, having completely collapsed. "What happened?" He yelled.

"She couldn't cast anything." Voldos explained. "She didn't have the magical power left. Carbuncle drained it all."
"Then what happened?" Zinkata sobbed.

"She cast anyway." Olose said sadly. "She cast her spell to save you, without the power to do it." Zinkata held her limp body close.

"No." He sobbed. "No! This can't be happening!" He held Vivli tightly. "You saved me! Let me save you!" She suddenly curled up to his body, and purred. He suddenly burst out laughing. "She's not dead!" He cried joyously. "She's asleep!" He laughed. The stern expressions of the other warriors broke into warm smiles. "She's asleep!" He cried again.

"The spell must have drained her stamina, meaning all she could do was fall to sleep." Olose smiled. Zinkata looked down at her with teary eyes and held her close.

Voldos bent down and picked up the staff, examining the yellow jewel.

"You know what?" He commented jokingly. "It does kinda feel like a memory." He held out the staff, and suddenly a yellow beam of energy shot out, before it curled around and slammed back into the staff itself, destroying it. Voldos dropped it as the jewel exploded in a crackle of yellow energy. "That was easier than Viv made out. Maybe I should be our mage." The elvaan laughed. Bootus smiled as Olose knelt down by Zinkata.

"We should get her out of this cold." He stated. "She's not looking well." Zinkata nodded, carrying her back to the Raven III.

The five sat in the hold of the ship, still at the glacier. Zinkata was still looking down on Vivli as she slept quietly.

"You know, the lava is still flowing out there, don't you?" Voldos sighed.

"It's only a matter of time until it stops, I'm sure." Olose tried to sound optimistic. Zinkata brushed Vivli's hair back revealing her soft face. She was smiling in her sleep. She knew what she had done. She knew she had saved him. He smiled too, lifting her up and holding her against him. He suddenly became aware she was moving her own arms around him. She smiled at him as her eyes fluttered open, pulling herself closer to Zinkata despite her weariness. The two kissed without words. Even Bootus smiled warmly, seeing the two together. Vivli stared into his eyes as soon as the kiss finished, and seemed to stare at him, unable to think of anything to say. She just hugged him tightly again, resting against his shoulder.

"I love you so much." She whispered. Zinkata smiled.
"And I love you." He said in response, tearfully. "I'm so sorry for everything."

"Shh." She placed a finger on his lips. "It's over now. It doesn't matter." The ground suddenly rumbled and the two looked up.

"I think you spoke too soon, Viv!" Bootus cried. The five bolted out of the hold and onto the main deck of the Raven III.

It was resting on the ground, sunk slightly in the soft snow. Cid had landed it next to the heroes after seeing the light from Zinkata's rejection of its power. The five's eyes went wide. From the lava hole in the ground came a gigantic form. Lava covered it for a moment, but soon ran down, revealing the gigantic shell of a spiked monster. The spikes were dark and grey, and at the base of the huge shell was a large monstrous mouth, one that looked much like a squids, although it was far more horrific and monstrous than any creature the heroes had even imagined. As the final bits of lava dripped from its massive form, they could see that it seemed to be covered in brown and red strands, like an ancient wiring, shapes that had been formed from centuries of lava flowing around it. It's mouth opened and it let out a horrific high pitched squeal. Voldos readied his bow subconsciously. Olose stared in awe, never having seen anything like it in his six centuries of life. Bootus found himself baffled beyond all thought. Vivli cuddled against Zinkata for protection. Only Zinkata spoke. Only Zinkata realised what he had done.

"Lavos." He stated.

Author's Note: Sorry for the atrocious description of Lavos at the end. It turns out it's fairly hard to describe. I based that description off the sprite of it. Anybody dunno what it looks like and wants to know, then I can show you the picture if you e-mail me. Come to think of it, I could also show you screenies of the Light Warriors if you were curious! Feel free to ask if your curious, my descriptions of things are always crap.