Chapter Three:

Needless to say that after watching the heretical Sphere, Kisrel didn't spend much time hanging around the Temple. Instead, she threaded her way through the seemingly endless crowd, until finally, after countless bruises, she found herself at the edge of Al Bhed territory. She had always been told to avoid 'those people' who were only slightly more liked than the Guado, but Kisrel had never seen exactly why the Al Bhed were so unpopular. Either way, it was irrelevant now, because she needed a speeder and they had them.

The first shop she came to was closed, the second one had burned down, and the third one had rats coming out of it. Not a very encouraging sight, but she refused to give up hope, having been fueled by the revelations in the Sphere. The thought of turning back now never even crossed her mind.

The fourth shop she came to looked a bit more promising. At least it was clean, which was more than could be said for the man behind the counter. He had a healthy layer of dirt all over him and when he smiled as Kisrel entered, he revealed yellow teeth with more than a few holes. Kisrel tried to appear as if she knew what she was doing, but nervousness made her stomache churn.
"What can I do for you, little lady?" he asked, in what was probably supposed to sound friendly, but came off as leering. Kisrel cleared her throat and made her expression professional.
"I would like to aquisition one of your speeders," she informed him. The man laughed, slapping his hand against his thigh, which made a most peculair sound. She raised her head, trying to look offended.
"Is there something humorous in this situation?" she inquired, voice icy. Wiping a tear with a dirty digit, the Al Bhed shopkeeper shook his head.
"No, we just don't get a lotta your type in here, that's all." He smiled again, then came around the counter. Without meaning to, Kisrel back pedalled to get out of his way. He opened a door, then bowed to let her go first. Surreptiously fingering the knife Toka had given her, Kisrel preceeded the man into the warehouse.

No matter the man's appearance, he was obviously talented. Many of the speeders looked spectacular, and she bet they were all incredibly fast. And incredibly expensive.

Eventually, she found one, a dark, ancient thing, that she could afford and still have some gil left over. She paid the man as quickly as possible, then got out of there, leaving the shop keeper laughing and shaking his head.

Traffic was non-existent, and she made good time. It didn't take long before she was completely out of New Zanarkand and out into a world she had never known.
About five miles from the city, she sensed something was wrong. Unfortunately, she didn't do anything about it, before the net had snared her and ripped her off her brand new speeder, bearing her to the hard road....

With the Eternal Calm brought by the Lady, and the dissipation of the Fayth, fiends had all but disappeared from the world of Spira. The ones that were left, were actually tame, bred for experimentation and for certain forms of punishment that you only heard of in rumors.
But with the absence of these evils, a new one had arrived. Marauders. They were Spirans, an eclectic mix of Al Bhed, Guado and others, most starting off as poor and wishing for a life of 'daring adventure' they thought stealing could provide. Marauders were, in essence...the dark side of the Thieves Guild. Actually, the Guild hated Marauders. It was a known fact that a Marauder would rather be turned over to a Crimson Knight then a Guild Member...because the Knights had more mercy.

None of this mattered to Kisrel, whose only thought was how she was going to get out of the net that she was tangled in. She felt bruising all down her back where she had made contact with the hard ground and her head was still spinning.
She was vaguely aware of laughter, but until her eyes cleared, she couldn't make out any real shapes. Only shadows. Oddly, she felt heat coming from inside her jacket. It was the Sphere, glowing brightly. Kisrel hoped that whatever the Marauders took, they would leave the Sphere. She didn't know why she felt it was so critical, but she wouldn't let them have it-or anything else for that matter-without a fight.

After what seemed an agonizing eternity, Kisrel could make out her attackers, who so far had made no move to hurt or help her. There were seven of them. Seven...the holy number. The number of companions Lady Yuna had had on her journey.
One of them-a burly man with a massive chest and was absolutely covered in grime- leaned very close to her. His breath stunk of ale and dead meat and he leered suggestively.
"Now, what have we here?" he asked, inanely.
"Maybe it's a little bird," one of his mates suggested, bringing about a chorus of crude laughter. Kisrel tried to wriggle out of her bonds, but the big man grasped her arms and yanked her up, forcefully, bruising her shoulders. He wasn't that much taller than her and she glared at him with all the force of a raging fire.
He turned her around a few times for inspection, making her even more angry. Finally she could take no more of it. While he and his friends laughed and jived, she carefully took out her knife and began to slice at the ropes. She was close, so close, before one of the Marauders figured out what she was doing and decided to put a stop to it.
"Hey!" he yelled, giving her a sharp backhand across the face.

"Now, now," an odd, almost melodic male voice said from somewhere Kisrel couldn't see..."That's no way to treat a lady."
And then the world exploded in a flurry of motion.

Kisrel didn't stick around to see her rescuers; she didn't even care if that's what they were. She all but ripped the rest of the net loose from around her, and grabbing up her small bag, she raced away from the battle. The Marauders were hopelessly outnumbered but they decided to be valiant and fight anyway. Kisrel just thought they were stupid.

She had no real idea of where she was, so the first building she saw looked really inviting, especially because of its strong looking doors. Doors that took all her strength to open. And just as much to close. She leaned on one for a moment to catch her breath, then took a few seconds to let her eyes adjust to the lack of light so she could get her surroundings.
The building appeared to be a very small, VERY OLD, Yevon Temple. They had either been abandoned or reworked as Yu Yuna Temples over the years. This one was obviously one of the former. It seemed like there was a foot of dust over everything, and the air was close, muggy, making it hard to breath.

She walked forward, just trying to get away from whatever horrors were going on outside and she was a light. It was dim, she had to strain her eyes to see it, but it was real. It glowed a light blue and Kisrel felt a ray of hope as-

She fell through the floor.