Chapter 44: The Desert Palace

I woke up, and slowly began to stand. I looked around the area. I was in a round room with one door. I also noticed that Vivi was on the ground next to me. I nudged him. "Vivi…Vivi, wake up."

He woke up, and slowly got to his feet as well. He looked up at me. "Where are we?"

I decided to state the obvious. "We're in Kuja's Desert Palace. We're trapped, and it seems that we have no way out."

He nodded. "So, what are we going to do?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. We're just gonna have to sit tight and wait."

He nodded. "Okay."

I looked at the door, and began studying it. 'I wonder how Zidane's doing. Has he met with Kuja yet?' I thought.

"Perhaps it's too much for you. I'd better send you with three of your friends just to be safe. Besides, nobody likes to fight against himself." His words confused me. Kuja obviously saw my confusion. "heheh, never mind. Speak their names when you've chosen your partners."

I thought about this for a moment. 'Hmm…who would be good in a place where you can't use magic' I thought. After a few seconds I made my choice. "I want, Freya, Amarant, and Michael."

Kuja shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't release Michael."

My eyes widened. "What did you do to him!"

He shook his head. "I did nothing to him. He's sharing a cell with that puppet of yours. I can't release one of them without releasing the other. If you choose him, you'll have to take both of them. I can't have one of them flouncing about my palace."

I thought about this for a moment. "Fine…then I choose Steiner instead."

Kuja nodded "fine. I shall summon them." He closed his eyes "Freya…Amarant…Steiner… step through the door…proceed to the center of the platform." He opened his eyes, and looked at me. "They're on their way."

After a few minutes Freya, Amarant, and Steiner were teleported into the room. I was glad to see they were alright, but before I could say anything, Kuja spoke. "Spare me the emotional reunion scene, please. Now, go stand with your friends."

I walked over to them, and stood next to Freya and Amarant. I turned back to Kuja. "You better keep your promise, Kuja!"

He nodded. "Of course. You needn't worry one bit." He waved his hand, and we were teleported away.

'I don't trust him' I thought.

We were waiting for hours. I continued to study the door, and Vivi walked around the room. There wasn't much to do, except entertain ourselves with our own thoughts. After a few minutes, Vivi spoke. "Michael…do you think Zidane will save us?"

I turned to him, and shrugged "I'm not sure. We may have to save ourselves…and the others, of course."

He nodded. "Well, what do we do?"

I smiled "I think I-" a voice from above spoke, cutting me off.

"So, how do you like the special suites I reserved for each of you?" It was Kuja. He continued to speak. "By the way, Zidane is out running an errand for me in return for your safety. But I hate keeping promises...and I so love deceit. So, I thought I would give you a special death to remember me by. My palace is home to a magnificent hourglass. As its sands fall, the floors of your rooms slowly open. Well? Isn't that a fabulous idea? Your lives will be spared if the hourglass is reset. If Zidane comes back in time, that is. Oops, just ten more minutes. Better start praying. Farewell...my sweet, lovable morons. Ahahahahahahaha!" He stopped talking.

Vivi turned to me. He looked worried. "W-what do we do, now?"

I continued to smile. "Don't worry, Vivi. Kuja may think he has us beat, but he underestimates us, and our will to live."

Vivi looked confused. "Will to live?"

I smiled. "I'll tell you about it later. Right now, we need to get out of here."

He nodded. "Alright, so what's the plan?"

I turned to the door. "I've been studying the door, and I think it's susceptible to heat, but heat alone won't be enough to break this door." I turned to him "Vivi cast a Fira spell, and after that, cast a Blizzara spell. Aim your spells at the door." Vivi looked confused, but nodded.

He cast a Fira spell at the door. It turned red and yellow; a sign that the heat was effecting it. After that, he cast a Blizzara spell. The door froze over, and I saw large cracks form in the door, but it held.

Vivi looked disappointed. I smiled. "Don't worry, Vivi. I'll handle the rest." I unsheathed my normal sword, and turned towards the door. I held my sword out in front of me, and executed a "Kuzu Ryu Sen." I stuck the door nine times at once. The force from my attack shattered the door, and the pieces went flying into the air.

I sheathed my sword, and looked back at Vivi. "Well, looks like were free. We don't have time to celebrate, though. We need to save the others." He nodded, and we ran out of the room.

When we reached the center platform, I decided that we should go left. Once we entered the room. When we entered the room, I noticed a large table that was designed to hold a person down. 'This must be an interrogation room' I thought.

I turned my sight from the table, and saw Regent Cid trying to sneak up to the Hedgehog Pie cage in order to get the key. Without thinking, I spoke. "Regent Cid."

He jumped into the air. The Hedgehog Pie saw him, and roared at him. Cid screamed and jumped onto my shoulder. I smiled, apologetically. "Sorry about that, Cid."

After a few seconds, he jumped off my shoulder and turned to look at us. "Michael, Vivi, what are you doing here? I thought you guys were captive."

I smiled. "We were, until a few seconds ago, but we better save the others." Cid and Vivi both nodded.

I grabbed the key from the cage. The Hedgehog Pie scratched my hand, and I kicked it in retaliation. I walked over to the hourglass, put the key in the keyhole, turned the key which unlocked the wheel, and turned the wheel which reset the hourglass.

I smiled. "There, that should do it. The others should be free now. Let's go." They nodded, and we left the interrogation room.

When we got to the central platform, I noticed that the others were free. Eiko turned to us. She smiled, mostly at Vivi. "Vivi, you saved us?"

Vivi adjusted his hat, modestly. "I-it was Michael's idea, but I helped out."

I smiled. "Let's just say that without Vivi, my plan wouldn't have worked, but we don't have time for this."

Cid nodded. "He's right. I heard from two Black Mages ribbit that there's some kind of trap up ahead. They said you basically just have to turn them all on, whatever that means ribbit . Let's hurry!"

I nodded. "Let's go guys. We can't rely on Zidane this time, follow me." They all nodded, and we ran out of the room

We ran up a flight of stairs, and emerged into an extravagant chamber. 'Wow…I can say one thing about Kuja…he's got good taste in decorations' I thought.

We ran off, but before we left the room I lit the candelabra that was to my left. It activated a bloodstone that was behind me. I walked over to the bloodstone, and a voice spoke to me. "Faithful paladin, extract the power to nullify elemental properties from the ring." The bloodstones light diminished, and in its place, was a 'Promist Ring.'

Eiko spoke. "What was that about?"

I turned to her. "Well, I'm guessing that this must have something to do with this trap that Cid told us about. I'm guessing that the more bloodstones we activate, the better our chances of getting out of here will be." Everyone nodded. I decided to give the ring to Eiko. After that, we moved on.

We eventually reached a large room that had statues blocking our way. There were three unlit fire pits around the statues. I lit one of them and the stained-glass window disappeared. I lit another torch, and heard something else happen over on the other side of the statues. I turned to the others. "Vivi, Eiko, I need you two to go through that window I just opened and see where it leads." They nodded and ran off.

After a few seconds, I heard Eiko. "Michael, where on the other side of the room. There are three torches here, too. Should we light them?"

I spoke. "Yeah, light all of them."

She spoke. "Okay."

After a few seconds, I saw the window reappear on my side. I spoke. "What are you guys doing over there?"

Vivi spoke. "We lit all the torches, and the window on our side reappeared."

I spoke. "Ours did, too."

He spoke. "Maybe we should extinguish the torches over here?" I looked around my area, and noticed something.

I spoke. "No, wait; there's a torch on my side that isn't lit yet. Keep your torches lit."

He spoke. "Okay."

Cid was the closest to the torch. "Cid, can you light the torch?"

He nodded. " Ribbit leave it to me." He hopped over to the torch, and lit it. As soon as he did, there was a blinding flash of light. I shielded my eyes from the light. After a few seconds, the light vanished. I opened my eyes, and saw that the three statues that had impeded our path had disappeared.

Vivi spoke. "What was that flash?"

I spoke. "Our three statues disappeared, but there's another set of statues that are blocking the way. We'll see if we can get rid of them, too."

Vivi spoke. "Okay."

I walked into the center of the room, and saw that there were three more torches. Dagger, Quina, and I each picked one to light. Quina decided to light the one that was closest to the statues. Dagger decided to light the one that was near where the other statues previously were. I decided to light the torch in the center of the platform.

As soon as Dagger and Quina lit their torches, there was another blinding flash of light. After the light faded, I looked over, and saw that the other set of statues was gone. We were now reunited with Vivi and Eiko. They walked over to join us. I turned back to the torch I had to light, and lit it.

I turned to my left, and saw that the stained-glass that was impeding our way out of this room had disappeared. I turned around, and noticed that I had also activated a bloodstone. I walked up to the bloodstone, and inspected it. I heard the voice again. "Faithful paladin, extract magic from the chain." The bloodstones light diminished, and in its place was an 'Anklet.' I took the 'Anklet.'

I decided to give it to Quina. "Here Quina, I hope you can use this." I handed her the 'Anklet.' She took it, and put it on.

She nodded her head. "Thank you, Michael. I so happy."

I smiled, and turned to the others. "Alright, let's keep going." Everyone nodded, and we moved on to the next room.

We were in a hallway that had statues of angels, and in front of each of them, there was a candle. The only thing that was weird was that there were three candles, and only two of them were lit.

I walked over, and lit the other candle. As soon as I did, a bloodstone appeared. I inspected the bloodstone, and heard the voice again. "Faithful paladin, extract the strength to resist from the armor." The bloodstones light diminished, and in its place was 'Shield Armor.' None of us could wear the armor, but I took it anyway. I had a feeling that it would come in handy later. After I retrieved the armor, we moved on.

We walked up a flight of stairs, and found ourselves on another walkway. Vivi noticed a candelabrum on our right, and lit it. As soon as he did, the stained-glass behind us lit up. After that, we moved on.

We found ourselves in a library. There was a giant stained-glass window that was blocking our way. We looked to our right and noticed another candelabrum. Sighing, we lit the candelabrum, and a flight of stairs appeared near the bookcase; it lead to the third level. We climbed the stairs, and found another candelabrum. 'What's with Kuja and these candle puzzles?' I thought. We walked over there, and lit the candelabra. This caused the bookcase behind us to rise up; revealing a hidden passageway.

I decided to check it out. I walked through the door, and found a bloodstone. I inspected the bloodstone, and the voice spoke again. "Faithful paladin, extract the power to dodge from the bracers." The bloodstones light diminished, and in its place were two 'N-Kai Armlets.'

I found this odd. 'Why are there two?' I thought. I put one on my arm, and I felt the words of a spell enter my mind. I reached out my hand, shouted "water," and successfully cast a Water spell. I was surprised. 'Well, guess that's one more spell to add to my repertoire' I thought, happily. I turned back, and reentered the library.

The others walked up to me. Vivi looked curious. "What did you find?" I held up the other 'N-Kai Armlet,' and handed it to Vivi.

I smiled. "This is for you, Vivi." Vivi looked surprised, and put the bracelet on. I looked at the others. "Come on, we still need to get out of here." They nodded, and we moved back down the stairs.

We decided to go to the second floor of the library. On that floor, we found another candelabrum. I lit the candelabra, and the bookcase rose up; revealing another hidden passageway. We all entered the passageway, and found ourselves on a walkway. We ran up the stairs, and found another candelabrum. Vivi lit this one, and the stained-glass image behind us lit up. We continued to run up the stairs, and found yet another candelabrum. Eiko lit this one, and a stained-glass image appeared behind us. After that, we went back to the library, since we couldn't go any further.

Once inside the library, we went down to the main floor, and lit the candelabra down there. This caused the bookcase down here to rise up as well. Quina spoke. "I see what in there." Before any of us could say anything, she ran through the passageway.

After a few seconds, the large stained-glass window that was blocking our way lit up. Quina came back, and saw the change. She looked at me. "What this mean?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure, but maybe…" I walked over to the stained-glass. I moved my hand towards the glass, but, to everyone's surprise, my hand went through the glass. I pulled my hand out, and saw that it was unharmed.

I looked at the others, and smiled. "I'll see you guys on the other side." I stepped through the stained-glass, and emerged to find myself in a hallway. I turned around, and saw the others emerge from the stained-glass as well.

I smiled. "Well, shall we get going." They all nodded, and we continued our journey.

We entered the next room and saw two statues; an angel, and a devil. There's a candle on each side of the two statues.

Vivi spoke. "What do we do here?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it has something to do with these two statues." I noticed a doorway, and decided to go through it. The others followed me. We found ourselves on a walkway that lead to the other side of the room we were just in. We walked down the walkway, and into the room. I immediately noticed a candle under a painting. I lit the candle, and the painting became illuminated. There was an inscription on the frame. It read…

Dead spirits seduction

Dare not follow those of evil. Strive to follow those of good.

Eiko spoke. "what does that mean?"

I turned to her. "I think it means that we should have the devil follow the angel." I looked over at the candles. I walked over to the one on the angels' right. I lit the candle, and saw that the light caused the statue to cast a shadow of an angel flying to the left.

I smiled, and turned to Vivi. "Vivi, can you go over there and light the candle on the right side of the devil statue."

He nodded. "Okay."

Eiko turned to him. "I'm going with you."

Vivi looked at her, and nodded. "Okay, sure." They ran through the doorway, and were heading to the other side of the room.

I saw them emerge from the other doorway. Vivi walked over to the statue, and lit the candle on the statues right. The light cast a shadow of a devil, and it was following the angel. As soon as Vivi lit that candle, a stairway of light appeared out of thin air. It led to the upper level.

I smiled. "Good work you two, but I wanna try something before we go up those stairs." I walked over to the other candle, and lit it. As soon as I did, the staircase vanished, but I saw that a bloodstone had been activated. I walked over to the bloodstone, and inspected it.

I heard the voice again. "Faithful paladin, extract the power to dodge magic from the shield." The bloodstone's light faded, and was replaced by a 'Venetia Shield.' I picked it up.

I smiled, and looked over at Vivi and Eiko. "You guys try that, and see what happens." They nodded, and Eiko lit the other candle. Sure enough a bloodstone was activated. Vivi walked over to the bloodstone. I saw the light from the stone diminish, and Vivi took something from where the stone was.

I spoke. "What did you get?"

He spoke. "A 'Black Hood.'"

I nodded. "Alright, now let's get that staircase back." They nodded and Eiko extinguished the candle on the left side of the devil. Dagger extinguished the candle on the left of the angel. After that was done, the staircase appeared again. Dagger, Quina, Cid, and I ran over to the other side of the room. Once there we rejoined Vivi and Eiko, and ran up the stairs.

Once we reached the top of the stairs, I could see a lone candelabra in front of us. We ran over to the candelabra. I reached out to light it, but then I heard a voice. "Intruder alert. Defense system activated. Initializing automatic countermeasures. Transferring from observation to attack mode."

We looked around to see where the voice was coming from. Eiko spoke. "That wasn't Kuja's voice."

I nodded. "Yeah…whoever you are, show yourself!" That's when a huge stone slab fell from the roof; it was Valia Pira. Cid hopped away from us, and gave us room to fight. We readied our weapons, and prepared for battle.

Before the battle started, Valia Pira spoke. "Enhancing defense systems. Detecting active bloodstone…failed to disable Elemental Attacks…Magic Power enhancement failed…Defense enhancement failed…Evasion enhancement failed…Magic Defense enhancement failed…Magic Evasion enhancement failed…enhancement through bloodstones failed."

Quina looked at me. "What he talking about?"

I looked at her. "He's probably talking about those stones that we picked up. They must've been able to boost his power, but since we took them, he doesn't get his power boost."

Eiko spoke. "That's fine with me. Let's get him!" We all nodded, and charged at the thing.

I jumped into the air, executed a "Ryu Tsui Sen," and brought my normal sword down on Valia Pira. My strike managed to chip a piece off of it, but it didn't do much else. I landed on the ground, and retreated back to the others. 'Guess I'm gonna have to use my magic' I thought. I was about to cast a Water spell, but I stopped as soon as I saw a red aura surround it. It had cast a Reflect spell.

"Guys stop; he just cast a Reflect spell." They turned to me.

Vivi spoke. "Well, what do we do now?"

I smiled. "Don't worry, thanks to the 'Reflect Ring' Mr. 288 gave me, I have a Reflect spell on me all the time."

Eiko smiled. "Oh, so we can…" she paused.

I smiled. "Fire away!"

Vivi cast his newly learned Water spell at me. It bounced off my shield and struck Valia Pira. The water proved very effective against Valia Pira. I decided to cast my own Water spell as well. I cast the spell on myself, and the shield reflected it towards Valia Pira. My spell proved almost as effective as Vivi's own spell.

Eiko summoned Fenrir. Fenrir made his appearance, but this time, the big stone monster didn't show up. Instead, Fenrir charged at Valia Pira, and jumped into the air. That's when he launched a wind attack at Valia Pira. It was Fenrir's "Millennium Decay 1000 Year Gust" attack. A tornado surrounded Valia Pira. After a few seconds, the tornado disappeared, and so did Fenrir. Eiko's attack proved devastating to Valia Pira.

I turned to Dagger. "Dagger, summon Leviathan and finish this." She nodded and prepared to summon Leviathan. Suddenly, something happened to her during her spell. I sighed when I saw this. The summoning had failed, Dagger couldn't concentrate.

Valia Pira took advantage of this, and cast a Thundaga spell on Quina. A purple mist formed above Quina. Then a huge bolt of lightning descended from the sky and struck her. After the initial strike, multiple bolts of lightning jumped up from the ground to continue electrocuting her. After the assault, Quina fell to the ground, and for a brief moment I thought she was dead, but she was still breathing. I breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to face Valia Pira.

In retaliation for its attack I cast an Aera spell on myself. The spell bounced of my Reflect spell, and went towards Valia Pira. My spell proved more effective against it then I had though it would.

I turned back to Dagger. "Dagger, try and summon Leviathan again, please." She nodded, and tried again. This time, Leviathan made his appearance. I saw the huge tidal wave heading straight for us. Instinctively, I braced myself for impact. I noticed the others do the same, but to my amazement, and utter relief, the tsunami passed right through us. I turned, and saw Valia Pira take the full brunt of the wave. After the water from the attack receded, Valia Pira began to fall apart.

It spoke. "Terminating defense system." It began to sink into the ground, and electricity started to erupt from where it was burying itself. After a few seconds Valia Pira was gone.

I turned to the others. "Good job, everyone." They all nodded and I walked over to Quina. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a hi-potion, uncorked it, and poured it into Quina's mouth. She got up, instantly.

She looked around. "Where big stone?"

I smiled. "Dagger took care of it."

She nodded. "Oh, okay." I turned to the candelabra, and saw Cid light it. As soon as he did, the floor on the central platform began to glow.

Eiko spoke. "I guess we walk onto the glowing floor." I nodded, and we all stood on the floor. As soon as we did, we were teleported somewhere else.

After a few seconds, we reached our destination. As soon as we got off the teleporter, I saw Freya, Amarant, and Steiner. I walked up to Freya. "Freya, where's Zidane?"

She looked surprised to see us. "He went forth to Kuja's domain alone. By what means did you escape?"

I spoke "well-" Eiko cut me off.

"There's no time! We gotta go stop Zidane!" I nodded in agreement, and ran off towards Kuja's domain. I felt that the others were following me.

I ran through the door, and saw Zidane talking to Kuja. I heard Kuja speak. "Well, will you hand it over or not?"

I ran into the room. "Don't give it to him, Zidane!" Zidane spun around, and saw me as well as everyone else. He looked shocked.

He turned back to Kuja. "So, who's inside this cage?"

Kuja looked surprised by our arrival, but he quickly regained his composure. "Oh dear, I wasn't expecting this. That's right, the ones inside are fake! But don't think you've won yet."

Zidane looked confused "what do you mean?" Kuja just laughed.

"Aaa! Leave me alone!" the voice came from outside the room.

We all turned towards the door. Zidane spoke. "Eiko!"

That's when we heard another voice. " Rrrrribbit! I'll protect you!" it was Cid.

We heard another voice after that. "What a freak! This frog can speak!" it was Zorn.

Another voice spoke. "Frog that goes squish, you'll make a fine dish!" it was Thorn. After that we heard the sounds of battle.

After a few seconds we heard " R-Ribbit " Cid had lost.

Zidane kicked the ground. "Aw man." Kuja lifted his hand, and retrieved the Gulug Stone from Zidane with his magic. We all turned to him.

He spoke. "I wanted to finish you off after getting the Gulug Stone and killing all you friends...instead, I'll just take the girl. I hope we meet again." He walked over to the teleporter and escaped.

Zidane ran over to the teleporter, and tried to go after him, but it wasn't responding. "Arrg! It won't respond."

I spoke. "Zidane, he probably escaped to the Hilda Garde 1."

Zidane nodded. "Let's get him." We all ran out of the room, and took the teleporter to the docking bay.

As soon as we arrived, we noticed that we were too late. Kuja had taken the ship, and escaped. We ran out of the hanger bay, and saw the Hilda Garde 1 flying away from us. Zidane looked at the retreating ship. "Dammit! He got away!"

Cid spoke. "We can still follow him on the Blue Narciss."

Zidane turned to him. "Great minds think alike! Let's go people!" We all nodded, and quickly made our way back to the ship.

As soon as we got on the ship, we began chasing the Hilda Garde 1. We followed it to what I would consider the polar region of this planet or close to it. The air started to get cold, and there were a few icebergs in the water. We saw the Hilda Garde 1 descend near a temple like building.

Blank spoke. "He headed towards some weird looking structure."

Freya turned to him. "Is there something beyond there?"

Zidane spoke. "What the hell is Kuja up to…? Why did he take Eiko?"

I turned to him. "He's probably after her for the same reason he was after Dagger. Her Eidolons."

Zidane nodded. "I think you're right, Michael. That's probably why he took her." Dagger looked deeply troubled by this.

Zidane turned to her. "Don't worry, Dagger...we're not gonna let him have his way. Kuja's got a lot to answer for."

A few minutes later, we docked at the beach of the Lost Continent. We got off the ship, and approached the structure that Kuja had landed near. Thankfully, the cold weather here was slightly more bearable then the cold in the Ice Cavern. After a few minutes of walking, we entered the temple of Esto Gaza.

I have a new spell

Water

A spell that causes water damage to the target/targets.