Voyage
"...and everything's been peaceful since then, for the last three years," concluded Celes Chere. "Until about a week ago. That seems to be a common point in each of our cases. The monsters had never completely vanished, a few bands of raiders harassing travelers and the like were still around, but they recently returned in force to harass our lands, as if our triumph over Kefka had never occurred. For four days our companions fought against them to protect our world, as did Cecil and Rosa and their companions. Relm and I had been working together helping to rebuild a city when the monsters appeared, and we immediately armed ourselves and led the city's defenders for four days. And then one night we went to sleep, and woke up in an inn in Kaaris. The innkeeper mentioned that someone had brought us in, and had left our best weapons and for us. Not the common gear we had been wearing, which had been next to the bed we were sleeping in, but our mystical armor and this enchanted sword, a blade made of magic, which was absolutely worthless after magic disappeared, just as Rosa and Cecil were armed by our mysterious... benefactor. Whoever is doing this apparently wants us to be ready for a serious fight.
"And since then, we have been attempting to figure out where we are."
"Or when," added Rosa.
"When?" asked Celes.
"It is my theory that the four of us have been brought here by time-travel spells, either from the distant past or the distant future of the current time. My husband favors the theory that we are from completely different worlds, perhaps colonized originally from a single planet by airships that fly between the stars, such as we used to reach Zemus's lair." She paused thoughtfully. "Is there a city of mages named Mysidia on your world?"
Celes shook her head no, not noticing Relm's small start of surprise. Cecil saw, though. "You have heard the name, milady Arrowny?" He hoped he was imitating the local speech correctly.
Relm's face pulled itself into an odd grimace at the honorific. "That is... that sounds much like the ancient name of my home, Thamasa, city of the Mage Knights. My grandfather taught me a little bit of Mage Knight lore as a child, before the end of magic made it..." she searched for a word, "unnecessary... and one ancient volume of his, a copy of a copy of a copy et cetera of a book originally dating from long before the War of the Magi, refers to our city as 'Ta-masida.' It's been years since I read that, but the strangeness of having your home referred to by a different name has always stuck with me."
"Interesting..." mused Rosa. "Perhaps you are from our future, then."
Celes shook her head again. "I doubt it. Your descriptions of your world are far too different from ours. Our world has always had the Statues, for example; they literally defined it. And your connections with the Espers," this was her strange word for Summoned Monsters, "are too different from ours. I would favor your husband's idea."
"This is quite fascinating," said the king of Galaar. "The parallels between both your tales and the occurrences here are clear and manifold. Similar things occurred on this world three years ago, but I do not have time to tell you the tale, nor do I know all of it well enough to recount the story faithfully. But unlike your cases, I have heard nothing of our Light Warriors—the heroes of our world, or of our time—since the monsters returned. They seem to have disappeared, instead of rallying to the defense of our people as before. As you all did. I find it almost inconceivable that they should abandon us, or flee, or be killed by these monsters, but I cannot think of any other reason why they would not come to our aid.
"It is clear to me that you are Light Warriors also, if not the ones of our realm. Perhaps it is simply that, without our Light Warriors to protect us, the Spirits of the Light have brought others to... fill the void, so to speak. It is not impossible that others such as yourselves may have been brought here as well. But these things are mostly beyond my ken. I would suggest you travel to Mysidia and consult the sages there. If anyone in the world can resolve this mystery, it is them."
Cecil nodded his head. "Very well. How do we get there?"
"By ship; it is on the eastern continent. Travel to Kaaris and speak to the merchant whose shop is alongside the docks. I will write him a letter explaining a few details of the situation, and mandating that he make a ship available for your use."
Cecil did not like this idea. "We have no desire to commandeer a private ship," he protested.
"Nor do I, but the exigencies of our current situation make it necessary. He will certainly not allow you to use one without a royal mandate, not in these troubled times, unless you were to buy the ship. I have had dealings with this merchant, and he would certainly charge you much more than its true value."
"Very well," said Cecil. He still did not like the idea, but he liked dealing with crooked merchants even less.
The journey to Kaaris was uneventful, and they headed directly towards the docks. Their route took them past the armory that Cecil and Rosa had visited, and Celes paused. "Wait here a moment," she said, and walked in. Cecil could not imagine what she wanted from the store; like his own, her gear was far superior to even the best of the merchant's wares, especially her magical sword, Atma. He had seen her fight with it, and it still defied comprehension. She had but to take the swordless hilt in her hand, and a great blue beam of light sprang from it, humming as it cut through the air, or the flesh of monsters along the road. Neither he nor Rosa knew what sort of magic this blade was made of, but it was at least as sharp as his holy crystal sword, Ragnarok.
Celes left the shop carrying a shiny new steel sword in hand. Seeing Cecil's look of puzzlement, she simply said "Atma is a powerful weapon, but it is not... compatible with all of my powers." This meant that it interfered somehow with her magic, which Cecil had also seen at work. She, and Relm also, seemed to be neither White nor Black mages, but somehow both, as FuSoYa and Tellah had been, and powerful, on par with Rosa and Rydia. And yet she is a powerful swordsman. The very thought baffled Cecil. Neither the great sage nor the Lunarian guardian had more than the most rudimentary experience in physical combat. His former companion Edge, on the other hand, had a limited amount of Black magic, but at a terrible cost to his fighting skills. Edge had been less proficient-much less proficient, even with two swords-at melee combat than himself or Kain had been. There was a balance to such things, he had always believed, part of the reason why he had never delved too deeply into the exploration of his own magical capabilities. But this woman, whose aptitude with the blade was almost equal to his own, seemed to utterly defy balance. And if her Atma sword dampened her magic somehow, than it must be even greater than he had already seen. (And with her out of practice, too!) It disturbed Cecil.
They made their way to the merchant's shop and presented the king's warrant, which he read with great interest. When he looked up, he said, "I'm sorry, milord, miladies, but I cannot offer you the use of one of my ships."
Relm's face began to turn red. "You would disobey a direct royal mandate?"
"It's not that simple. There is an enormous sea monster in the waters of the harbor, and it destroys any ship that attempts to enter or leave. I have already lost two of my fleet, with their crew and cargo, and I'm in no mind to lose another, royal mandate or no."
Celes absorbed the news impassively. "And if we were to rid you of this sea monster?"
The merchant chuckled. "If you could accomplish that, I'd give you a ship!"
Cecil seized the opportunity. "Your word of honor?"
The merchant's eyes betrayed a certain nervousness, but he'd already said it, and it was too late to take back. "My word of honor. If you manage to slay the monster in the harbor, I will give you one of my ships."
"Very well. Where is it?"
The merchant smiled cruelly. "In the bottom of the harbor. It only comes up when a ship comes by."
Cecil felt the anger grow within him again. He had had enough dealings with merchants to know what was coming next. "And without a ship, we can't fight it, and until we fight it, we don't get a ship. Very well.
"I am willing to offer a substantial collateral against the safety of your ship. If we do not manage to slay the monster before it sinks your ship, it will be yours to keep. But we need the ship immediately."
The merchant scoffed. "It would cost more money to replace that ship than the four of you together can possibly be carrying around with you! What could you have that would be worth it?"
In response, Cecil removed his helmet and shield and placed them on the table before the merchant. Then his gauntlets, and then he unfastened his breastplate and put it, also, on the table. "My Lunar Crystal armor. You'll not find a stronger set in all the world, not even with the Light Warriors." He offered his sword to the merchant and picked up the shield. "Even my holy sword cannot dent it." He gestured at the merchant to test the truth of his words.
Rosa shot Cecil an are-you-crazy look as the greedy merchant took the sword and swung it at Cecil with all his might. Again and again he struck, and Cecil turned each one on the crystal shield until, after a dozen blows, the merchant tired of swinging the heavy blade and offered it back to Cecil, sweat pouring off his face. He examined the shield very carefully and found it barely even scratched.
With an avaricious gleam in his eye, the merchant showed them to the pier where a ship was tied up. The look on his face made it clear that he wouldn't mind in the slightest to lose one more ship. Not this time, at least...
Rosa was a little bit nervous as they set the sails and began to move the ship out towards the edge of the harbor. Afterall, the last time she and Cecil had boarded a water-bound ship, it had ended in catastrophe; a giant sea monster had ended up sinking the ship, and they were lucky to escape with their lives. And now they were doing it again, on purpose this time!
Only a few ripples betrayed the monster's presence. Luckily, Celes noticed and immediately threw a huge lightning bolt at the enormous... thing... that came up right off their starboard bow. Rosa had seen Leviathan face to face, but this was nothing like the great Consort-Prince of the Summoned Monsters! It had the body of an enormous squid, but it was dark brown in color and covered in tough fish-scales, and instead of tentacles, it had a long, serpentlike tail, perhaps a hundred feet in length, perhaps longer. No sooner had it surfaced, than it snaked its tail underneath the keel of the ship and tried to bring it up over the top. Cecil lunged forward-unprotected! thought Rosa-and slashed at the powerful tail, with Celes's two swords following a split second later.
Rosa felt the familiar tingle of magic being worked nearby, from the direction of the sea monster, and began to work a protective shield, until she saw Celes shake her head at her in a very clear no. Wondering what this was about, Rosa strung her bow and fired at the monster's scaly head, keeping an eye on the warrior woman the whole time.
What she saw contradicted everything she had ever known about magic. Celes took her new sword and held it above her head, chanting and focusing magical energy into it until glowing runes appeared along the length of the blade. She remained motionless in this position until the monster conjured a fierce Aero that would surely have blown the ship onto the dock and severely damaged or destroyed it. But the magical wind somehow bent itself and slammed into Celes's runic blade, then vanished as if the sword had somehow... unconjured the spell. The impact rocked Celes back a step, but aside from this she appeared completely unharmed. The instant the sword's runes stopped glowing, Relm retaliated with an immense bolt of lightning, which slammed into the sea monster's body with crackling bolts of power dancing all over it. The giant creature's eyes rolled back in its head, and its grip on the ship loosened. Rosa thought it looked dead, but Cecil stepped forward, perhaps to be completely certain, and rammed his great crystal blade into the monster's eye, all the way up to his elbow. He did something with the sword-Rosa couldn't tell exactly what he was doing without his forearm being visible, but it looked like he gave it a quite vicious twist inside the creature's skull-and withdrew the sword. The sea monster immediately went totally limp and began to float in the top of the water, as dead fish do.
"That was your terrible sea monster?" asked Cecil with just the right amount of contempt in his voice as he collected his armor from the merchant. "Hardly even a challenge." The merchant was completely flabbergasted by the ease with which they had dispatched the monster that had been terrorizing their harbor, and had gone quite pale as the four warriors re-entered his shop, completely uninjured.
Being a skilled businessman, however, the merchant quickly recovered from his shock. "The Spirits of the Light be praised!" he whispered in an awe that Cecil was not certain was feigned. "The Light Warriors have left us, but new ones have come to take their place in our day of dire need. Take the ship, Light Warriors; it is yours." With sudden politeness, he showed them back to their ship and saw to it personally that they were well-stocked with provisions.
As they sailed out of the harbor, Cecil wondered aloud what had prompted his sudden change in character. Relm just looked at him incredulously. "You say you're a king, and you don't understand political maneuvering? We're the new Light Warriors now, the replacements for the great heroes of this world. And now he's a trusted friend and supporter of the great Light Warriors."
"Relm!" Celes scolded. "There's no need to be rude to him!"
"Well it's not my fault if he doesn't understand what's as plain as-"
Celes silenced her impetuous companion with a quick spell, then turned to Cecil, her face quite flushed. "I must apologize for her behavior. She has not yet learned to control her tongue as well as she does her magic."
Cecil nodded his acceptance. "Don't be concerned. I regularly hear worse from my own wife," he joked, causing them all to laugh, except for Relm, whose mouth was still unable to produce the slightest sound until Celes felt that she had been disciplined (Cecil could think of no better term for it) sufficiently and released her.
Relm glowered at her older companion. "Sheesh, Celes! You're so uptight sometimes!"
Cecil simply laughed all the harder.
It was six days before they sighted land, and they were all glad to reach it as quickly as possible and get off the ship. Not that they had found each other unpleasant company; once Relm had been sufficiently persuaded to keep herself under control or so that Celes would not do it for her, they had all become good friends very quickly. The three women, especially, were always talking together about one detail or another of magic on Celes and Relm's world, a topic which fascinated Rosa endlessly and mostly bored Cecil, who spent most of his time either piloting the ship or practicing swordsmanship with Celes. It was a new experience for both of them, fencing on the rolling deck of a sailing ship, and they both agreed that they should practice as much as they could, in case they ever needed to be able to do it for real.
It was simply that there was something overly restricting about being on a ship in the middle of the ocean, and also the constant pitch and yaw made them all slightly nauseous. Rosa had worked out a healing spell that helped somewhat, but they were all happy to reach solid ground. After a few hours of rest on the beach, they decided that they needed to make their way to civilization. Rosa cast a magical wave that would travel outwards in all directions and resonate if it touched other people. This "seeker" spell was developed originally to locate lost or missing people; now they were the lost ones and she was using it to find a city.
Rosa raised her staff, closed her eyes, and concentrated, sweat breaking out on her brow from the effort necessary to cast a field of magic over such a vast distance. Finally she lowered her hands and exhaled heavily. "There's a city to the north of us. It's pretty far; too far to walk before tonight."
Everyone groaned at this. More time on the ship.
The new Light Warriors arrived at the port town of Vinaiy about an hour before sundown. The dockworkers helped them find a pier and tie the ship up, and they got directions to the local inn; they were all quite weary by this time. As they approached the inn, they spotted a very conspicuous man. His black hair was longer than any of the men of this town wore it, and his white shirt, bright blue vest and red trousers were in sharp contrast with the muted colors they had observed in the local tastes in clothing. The man looked confused, wandering around aimlessly as if searching for something, but without any idea as to where to start looking.
Cecil walked over to the man. "Are you all right, sir?"
The man had a strange look in his eye, one that Cecil recognized too well. This was a man under a great deal of stress, one whose world had been turned upside-down and shaken violently. He had seen it all too many times in the last war. But the look in the man's eyes went beyond that. He is like us, thought Cecil. He's from another world.
The man looked at Cecil, and the three women with him, and turned quite red. In an embarrassed tone of voice, he said "I... I think I'm lost. I... got separated... and I can't find my way back to the inn."
Relm rolled her eyes at this, and had not Celes sent a minor jolt of magic through her body as a warning, she would have made a sharp comment regarding the man's intellectual capabilities; the inn was right over there! Rosa spoke up instead. "We're heading to the inn too. I think it's this way. Would you like to come with us?"
"Oh yes, thank you. It's almost dark; I've gotta get back quickly or Quistis is going to kill me!"
"Quistis?" asked Relm. It was about the strangest name she had ever heard. "Is that a man or a woman?"
"Woman. Quistis is my traveling companion. She's a... we're... well... wait until you meet her. She could explain it better than I can; I'm not even sure I understand myself."
The party traded knowing looks. They had found another pair of new Light Warriors.
"And what did you say your name was, sir?" asked Cecil.
Sorry it's been three months since the last update. I've been really busy with work and college and various other things, but I'm getting back to work on FFR now. More chapters coming soon.
Keep the reviews coming!
Mason Wheeler