Chapter Eight: Doubts and Destruction
Thunderchild woke first, lying still for a while, listening to the foreign birdsong outside. Then he got up and dressed himself in his usual clothing and walked outside.
It was a crisp morning, with an inkling of normal mist in the air. Thunderchild could almost kid himself that this was Skund forest on the disc.
He walked around for a while, then he spotted a river off to one side and went and had a quick wash to fully wake himself up. When he returned he saw Domino getting out of the tent.
Good Morning he greeted her
She turned towards him and smiled
Good morning! Are you feeling better now?
Much thanks, it was a pretty nasty knock
Thunderchild rubbed the side of his head which was still a little sore from yesterdays injury and grimaced.
Are you sure you're alright? Domino asked, concerned for his well being
Fine thanks, maybe a little woozy, but I'll be ok once we get moving. We'd better head back to Lindblum
Yes, they should be ready by the time we get back
They helped themselves to some food from Dominos backpack and then collapsed the tent and got ready to leave.
Just as they were walking out of the clearing, the moogle came running out of the trees to them.
"Kupo!" it cried
Domino turned and greeted the moogle.
"What's the matter?" she then asked
The Moogle handed Domino a small parcel
"This is for you Kupo, it'll help you on your journey"
"What is it?" Domino asked but the moogle had gone.
I said it before and I'll say it again, thought Thunderchild when they continued on their journey They're strange old things those Moogles. What did he give you then?
Domino opened the parcel and found a small silver charm necklace.
That's a nice necklace she thought to Thunderchild and then sensed his astonishment at something.
She looked down, in his hand he was holding an identical charm necklace.
What the hell? she asked
I got this from the corpse of one of the monsters we fought on the Prima Vista he explained
How the hell did a mist monster come to have a silver charm necklace?
I wonder…
They walked on in silence, over hill and dale, through mist covered valleys and up bare hills. They crossed the bridge where they met the Ionite earlier without incident, and where within ten miles of Lindblum when things started to go very wrong.
The first indication that something wasn't up was a sudden increase in the density of the mist.
Blimey it's got foggy quickly thought Thunderchild
Too quickly
Thunderchild suddenly felt eyes watching him, from all around. He felt very exposed, on an alien world, up against gods alone know what.
Domino…
I can feel them too Thunderchild, we're about to be attacked, be ready for them
Just before they arrived Thunderchild got an indication of what direction they would be coming from, he felt a large presence from the west and drew his sword and faced in their direction.
They're here Domino! he warned
Suddenly several black mages ran at them out of the mist, arms raised and fire cascading from them at Thunderchild and Domino.
A bolt of fire flickered towards Domino but before it could reach her and do any damage Thunderchild threw himself in front of her, taking the full blow. He staggered slightly but then threw himself at another Black Mage hacking both its arms off and then running it through with his sword.
Domino returned fire with fire and ignited many of the Mages that ran at them, but there were too many for just the two of them to handle, she felt the emotional charge within her build and build. Her fire became more vivid and brighter, and the Black Mages fell thicker and faster. Thunderchild too had increased his speed and agility and at the same time, both of them went into Trance but Domino went further, into Trance x2.
Her merging with the Phoenix Eidolon that resurrected her, also gave her the special gift of Trance x2. The back of her shirt ripped as a pair of firey red wings sprouted from her back and her hair went a light red. She raised her hands above her head and sent twenty or so black mages to a blazing doom, other mages were now more reluctant to attack Domino and concentrated their assault on Thunderchild who by now was starting to become weary.
By the gods Domino, just how many more are there?!! he thought exclaimed
There can't be too many more she reassured him
Then several creatures bounded out of the mist and joined the Black Mages in attacking Domino and Thunderchild, Thunderchild was the first to see them and was shocked by what he saw.
Domino! Domino! We're being attacked by genomes!!! he warned
Domino gasped as she saw that he was correct, the new creatures that had joined the assault were indeed genomes. Wave after wave of them battered the two of them, Thunderchild repulsing as many as he could but it was clear he could not win.
Then suddenly all of the attackers around him convulsed and collapsed to the ground, Thunderchild winced, suddenly gaining a headache.
What was that? asked Domino
I dunno but it's given me a killer headache he replied
It looked like a large psychic assault of some kind
I don't have any kind of control over my powers! Thunderchild complained decapitating another Black Mage
Domino jumped high up into the air, but didn't come back down again, Thunderchild looked up to see her hovering in mid-air raining down fire upon her opponents.
Cheat he thought at her
Domino smiled and blasted a Black Mage that was just about to attempt to fry Thunderchild alive. Thunderchild grinned back at her and slashed at a genome.
God I feel bad attacking these genomes he thought
Try stunning them Domino offered
Thunderchild concentrated in his mind of a thought of a stun blast, he lifted his hand and pointed it in the direction of the nearest genome which promptly keeled over and fell to the ground.
Well I'll be damned! he thought
More and more genomes collapsed under the influence of Thunderchilds psychic abilities while Domino concentrated on disrupting the Black Mages, but both her and Thunderchild were beginning to tire.
I don't think…I… Domino tried to say but then she came of Trance x2 and lost her consciousness in exhaustion and fell out of the sky.
DOMINO! Thunderchild cried seeing his love begin to fall, he ran over to her, dodging mage fire and managed to catch her before she hit the ground. However with her in his arms he couldn't defend himself against the forces that were left. He felt something hit him from behind and he was knocked to the ground, turning around placing Domino behind him to protect her from whatever death he was about to meet, he stared straight into the eyes of a genome, he saw no feeling, no emotion, just pain and death.
Suddenly the genome fell down, a deep gash in its back, standing behind it was Zidane holding a large two bladed quarter staff.
"Come on, we've got to get back to Lindblum, the city defences will take care of this lot!" he shouted
Thunderchild picked up Dominos unconscious form and followed Zidane, dodging fire balls that were sent his way. They ran through the mist, Thunderchild could only just see Zidane running ahead of him through the murkiness. Behind them Thunderchild could hear the sound of a running army as the genomes and mages chased after them.
Then suddenly out of the mist loomed Dragons Gate and safety, Zidane darted through the small gate and Thunderchild followed, the gate was then shut and Thunderchild heard the sounds of battle begin on the other side.
"Will they be ok against the mages?" asked Thunderchild
"Yeah, they've got defences against them now since the war"
A loud hissing sound drowned out conversation for a moment as the aforementioned defences were put into operation.
Domino began to stir then, lifting her head up slightly and looking at her surroundings.
"Where are we?" she managed
"Lindblum Dragons Gate," assured Thunderchild "Zidane managed to clear a path for us out of that battle, the defences here are taking care of the forces now"
Domino slowly stood up, lowering herself out of Thunderchilds arms.
"There were genomes fighting against us then"
Zidane nodded
"It looks like whoever controls the mages is powerful enough to also have an army of genomes, that I do not like" he said
Thunderchild brushed some dirt of his armour and then looked at Zidane
"Is the Cleyra ready to go?" he asked
Zidane nodded "She's being loaded as we speak, we'd better hurry"
Thunderchild nodded in agreement.
Are you ok to walk Domino? he asked her
I…I will be she replied.
Zidane walked off ahead, and Thunderchild followed supporting Domino, helping her to walk without falling over. He didn't like the side-effect this hyper-trance had on her but knew there was nothing he could do to stop it, he just had to pick up the pieces afterwards.
The Cleyra lay, ready to depart in Airship dock seven, Zidane, Domino and Thunderchild ran on board as the lines securing the airship to the dock were cast off.
"That was close, you would have thought they'd have waited for us!" exclaimed Zidane.
Thunderchild walked over to and sat down on some coiled rope and sat down, he drew his sword and put it down on the floor in front of him and sighed.
Domino walked over to him and sat on the deck next to him.
Thank you for helping me back there, I can't control what happens to me during Trance x2, let alone the after effects.
Thunderchild grinned and looked up, Domino was surprised to see he was crying.
Thunderchild? What's wrong?
I can't keep up with you Domino, you could go out there and hurt yourself and there'd be nothing I could do to stop you
Domino placed her hand on his knee
I know what you mean, but that's a part of who I am, I cannot be anything else
Can't you at least try Domino?!
Domino shook her head
As much as I love you Thunderchild, I cannot be anyone other than who I am, and if that means I take risks then so be it
Domino put her arm around his shoulder but Thunderchild shrugged it off and walked to the bow of the ship, Domino watched him go and then got up, sighing she walked below deck.
She walked down to where Zidane had told her her quarters were and walked into them, she perched on the edge of her bed and thought long and hard about what Thunderchild had said. He was right, she was arrogant and headstrong, she had hurt many people just by speaking her thoughts as she was want to do. The last thing she wanted to though, was to hurt Thunderchild but she knew that she undoubtedly would because that is what she always landed up doing.
She sighed at the futility of it, she always landed up hurting those she loved the most, alienating herself from the rest of her friends. She didn't want to be alone any more, she had found her love and now she didn't want to be parted from him. She had to change the way she looked at life somehow, to change herself and yet stay the same…It had to be possible, didn't it?
She thought about this until the late evening when all was dark outside but lanterns planted here and there lit the way for her as she returned to the main deck.
Above her high in the masts sat Thunderchild. He too was thinking about what had been said. He was thinking that he had asked too much of her, to change what she is. He knew that they were in love, well, he knew he was in love and he hoped she felt the same way about him as he felt about her but he had overstepped the mark this time. He knew however that part of what he said was true, that he couldn't keep up with this hyperactive genome, flitting from one special power to the next, although for all he knew he could have special powers to the equal of her but he didn't know what they were or how to use them. He reassured himself that soon they would be back on the Disc, where he knew what happened, no special powers, well out of the ordinary there. Just business as usual, or so he hoped.
Domino walked around the main deck searching for Thunderchild, she telepathically projected his name out but he either couldn't hear her or was ignoring her. She looked everywhere but couldn't see him, she sighed Oh where are you Thunderchild?! She thought.
Thunderchild looked down, he saw Domino on the deck below him and crouched further into the shadows, he didn't want to speak to the genome, he had overstepped the mark and she probably didn't want to speak to him either.
Domino walked over to one of the Lindblum crewmen on the deck and asked him where Thunderchild had gone.
"Funny lookin' fella, wears armour? He went up the main mast half an hour ago, I haven't seen him come back down so I presume he's still up there"
Damn helpful crewmen Thunderchild thought
Domino thanked the crewman and then climbed up the main mast, Thunderchild crouched even further into the shadows, praying she wouldn't see him.
She got to the top of the mast and looked around, she couldn't see him though and sat down on the edge of the mast, sighing.
"Oh Thunderchild, If only you knew how much I loved you and how much I'd sacrifice for you" she sighed and started to cry, she knew she had hurt her lover just like she always did, hurting those she loved the most.
"If only you knew how much I loved you and would sacrifice for you" said a voice
Domino put it away as her overactive imagination.
"I love you so much I'd sacrifice my life for you. I didn't mean to be angry with you, and I'm sorry. If I've hurt you that much then I guess it's best we don't meet up. I'll go back to the disc and you stay here." Said the voice
Domino turned around and looked, she could just make out something in the shadows by the mast.
"Thunderchild? Are you there?"
Nothing…
She walked over closer to the mast, and she could see him now. Crouched with his face resting on his hands.
"Thunderchild!" she cried hugging him close
"Domino?" he replied, confused at this show of emotion just after he'd had a go at her
"You stupid idiot," she said "I couldn't bear to be parted from you, not again! I don't care what it takes, I'll change the way I am if necessary…"
"No Domino, I was just being selfish. Don't change the way
you are. You're already perfect."
Domino blushed
"Well, I'm far from perfect but I try my best"
"You are the best" he replied
She grinned and hugged him again, sitting next to him she looked down on the landscape passing by below. There was a blackened ruin of a large tree passing by far below.
"Cleyra" she whispered
"Pardon?" said Thunderchild
"The Cleyra settlement, the place that got destroyed by that eidolon, we're just passing over it"
Thunderchild looked down.
"Ouch…That's a mess, how many died?"
Domino shook her head
"No-one really knows the true death toll, somewhere in the low hundreds I should imagine, it wasn't a very large settlement but it was totally obliterated"
They watched as the ruins of Cleyra passed by below them and disappeared into the dark night, far above them the stars shone brightly.
"Just think Thunderchild," said Domino "One of those stars is Terra and another may be your Discworld"
Thunderchild nodded
"And to think all those times I looked at the night sky, so many millions of miles away, you were possibly looking back at me"
Domino smiled and kissed Thunderchild
"Come on, shall we get back down from here?"
Thunderchild nodded and picked Domino up, putting her over his shoulder he climbed back down again, when they reached the bottom he put her back down again.
"I could have climbed down by myself." She said
"I know, but it was the thought that counted I guess"
She grinned.
They walked back down to their quarters hand in hand, where they retired to bed, sleeping well in each others arms.
Less than two hours later though, there was a heavy explosion and the whole ship shook from end to end. Thunderchild immediately sat up in bed and looked out of the window. Something silver shot past the window at a high speed, he got up and quickly donned his armour. Domino opened her eyes.
What's the matter? she asked
We're under attack!
She immediately got up and quickly put her clothes on, reaching for her sword she charged out on deck, Thunderchild was running just behind her.
Out on deck there were several Lindblum soldiers firing bows at dragons which circled the ship, a couple of them drew close and set fire to the main rigging.
Zidane ran up the stairs behind them
"Damn, it's worse than I thought," he said "Silver Dragons!"
Thunderchild drew his sword and ran up to the front of the deck where a dragon was beginning a strafing run, he ducked to the left of the hot fire which scorched the deck and jumped upwards, grabbing hold of the dragons tail.
Thunderchild!? What are you doing?!! called Domino
I don't know, give me a chance
Get off the dragon!
Thunderchild climbed up onto the dragons back and held onto it's neck for dear life, as he looked around he saw two other dragons fly side on to the ship and open fire, creating a heavy explosion which tore a large chuck out of the side of the ship.
"First mages and now dragons, whatever next" he muttered
Then he turned and looked at the dragon.
"Silver Dragon, hear me now, call off your attack and return to your place of origin"
The Silver Dragon turned its head to look at Thunderchild, it looked surprised to see someone on its back, for a moment Thunderchild and the Dragon looked each other in the eye then the Dragon turned about and headed back towards the ship.
"NO Dragon, don't do it. Cease your attack!" Thunderchild called against the sound of battle raging in the background.
Domino slashed at another dragon as it passed low overhead, she couldn't see Thunderchild and she didn't know what the hell he thought he was doing, riding a Silver Dragon like that, it was bound to get him killed.
The ship lurched slightly to the left and began to lose altitude.
"We're going down!" screamed Zidane
Another dragon bore down on them, the deck heaved under Dominos feet sending her over on her back and knocking her sword out of her hand. As the dragon opened it's mouth to send her to a fiery death suddenly another Silver Dragon flew straight in front of it and knocked the attacking dragon off course. The saving dragon then swooped around and landed on the tilting deck, roaring defiantly into the night sky it caused all of the other dragons to turn and look at it. They hovered expectantly. The Silver Dragon roared again, louder and longer this time and then turned to something on it's back and nudged it with its snout.
Thunderchild stepped off the back of the Dragon, he shouted up into the night sky
"Return to your home now, and do not listen to your summoners, there is no reason for you to serve us anymore. Return and live a life of peace you noblest of the noble creatures!"
He raised his hands to the dragons, beside him the Silver Dragon roared in encouragement. All of the other dragons circled nervously, then as one they turned and headed north.
Thunderchild turned and knelt before the Dragon.
"Thank you" he said
The Silver Dragon spread its wings wide and briefly nuzzled the top of Thunderchilds head before flying off to join the other dragons.
Domino ran over to Thunderchild
How the hell did you do that!? she asked
I don't know, I just asked and he responded. Although I sensed something of deep respect within the Dragon, I think he thought I was his master!
His master?!
Yes, the same person who called him to battle here. I don't know why, but that's what I felt
The deck tilted in a more alarming angle.
"Oh Crap," swore Zidane "Here we go!"
The Cleyra smashed into the mountainside sending Thunderchild flying over the side of the ship, the front of the ship caved in, sending planks of wood soaring high into the night sky. Domino was thrown uncontrollably into the main mast and knocked unconscious.