Chapter 17

The Temple of Light

Rinoa and the Amazons ran through the forest as quiet as possible. Squall only had two days left. Each hour, his pain would get worse. Every second was precious and had to be used wisely.

"How far is the temple?" Rinoa asked gasping for breath.

"About five more miles. We must travel quietly though."

"Why?" Rinoa asked.

"We are in the Dragons land now." Rinoa stared at her, her mouth open.

"Dragons! There are dragons?"

"Yes…this is their territory. We don't usually have problems with them because we stay on our land most of the time. So, if we want one to stay away, then we'll need to be as quiet as possible."

They continued slowly through the dense trees and plants. Birds sat on tree limbs calling to one another while monkeys hopped from tree to tree. There was no other sound until Rinoa stepped on a twig. It broke in half. Everyone stopped and was silent. Dragons could here a sound one mile away.

They didn't hear any strange sounds, so they continued on. As Rinoa walked, she looked down at the ground. "Hey! Check that out!" Rinoa whispered to Makita in front of her. Makita stopped and turned to see what Rinoa was pointing at. The Amazon's eyes got big.

"Nobody move!" Makita whispered slowly to them.

"Why?" Rinoa asked.

"Because that is a dragon egg which means…" She didn't have to finish her sentence because just then a black dragon with spikes going down its spine came crashing out of the trees. It spread its wings and roared. Rinoa didn't know what to do.

"Amazons, ATTACK!" Makita yelled. The women all ran forward, spears in hand and ran right for the dragon. Two jumped onto its back while the other one distracted it. Makita ran towards its side. Rinoa watched in shock.

The Amazon's stabbed their spears into its tough hide as hard as they could. Their attempts were becoming futile though. Rinoa couldn't stand it anymore. She had to do something! Without thinking she jumped forwards and yelled, "Triple Blizzaga!" Ice burst from under the dragon's feet, making it roar in agony. On the third hit, it fell to the ground, dead.

Makita ran towards Rinoa, a smile on her face. "Not bad…I underestimated you." Rinoa smiled back, returning her kindness. The other Amazons jumped off the dragon and ran back to join them. "Oh, I'm sorry if I never told you the names of my fellow warriors. This is Shaltwan." She pointed to the girl with blonde hair. "The one with black hair is Reliquan and the one with red hair is Tennetra. Now that we are all acquainted we shall journey on."

They continued on and on, for another three miles and then stopped at a nearby stream. Rinoa took out her water bottle and began to fill it with water when she saw a dark shadow forming in the water a few feet from her. She pulled back just as something jumped out at her.

Squall lay in the infirmary gripping his chest. "Rinoa…ah…" He said weakly. Dr. Kadowakki walked towards him and gave him some pain medicine.

"I'm not sure if this will have any affect, but it's worth a try!" Suddenly the door burst open. Zell ran in out of breath.

"Hey Doc! We lost contact with Rinoa! Something must have happened to her jet!" Dr. Kadowakki looked up worriedly.

"I'm sure she'll be just fine. Have faith…" They both walked out of the infirmary and down the hall.

Squall sat up in his bed. "Rinoa's in trouble! I have to help her…" He slid himself off the bed and grabbed his gunblade from the corner of the room. He wrote a quick note as best he could and then walked slowly down the hallway towards the parking lot. There was one more jet left. He made his way towards it and stumbled inside.

"I have to be with her…I promised her I wouldn't disappear." He closed the top of the jet and then set his destination. Then he pressed the autopilot. The jet hovered off the ground and then flew off into the air.

An hour later he saw the island. He landed the jet carefully on the shore and climbed out. He fell to the ground in pain. "This needs to stop! Ah! I have to protect her!" Using his gunblade, he pulled himself off the ground. "This will take me forever to find her, but, I have to trust myself and use every skill I've ever learned. I have to make it out of here alive!" He walked towards the forest, using his gunblade to help support his weight.

Rinoa screamed. The Amazon's turned and looked her way to see what was wrong. Then there was a sound such as medal hitting teeth. Rinoa looked up, and could feel herself wanting to cry. "Squall!" She yelled. The creature had bitten down on his sword which had gone through the top of its mouth. It slowly fell back into the water in a coil.

Squall fell to the ground. Rinoa caught him and held him in her arms. "Why did you come here? You might make yourself worse!" She began to cry.

"I…I couldn't let you go unprotected…because…I ah…" He gripped his chest as a sharp pain shot throughout his body. "I love you…" He said. Rinoa opened her eyes and held him closer.

"Oh Squall!" The Amazons stood there watching the whole scene. Then, Makita stepped forward.

"Are you the one infected with the Omega curse?" She asked him. He nodded his head weakly up and down. "We will help you on your quest to destroy Queen Morgana and save your heart from the shadows."

"Thank you…" He said slowly. Two of the amazons walked over to Squall and each took one of his arms and draped it around themselves to help him walk. Rinoa walked a little ahead of them, a smile on her face.

"Everything will be alright…I promise." She told him. Squall stared at her and managed to smile back.

"Your wearing your outfit…" He said.

"Yeah…it reminds me of you." They stared deeply at each other till Makita broke the silence.

"The Temple of Light is just ahead. We need to hurry so we can get there before sundown. If we don't, the dragons will feed on us for their dinners tonight." Everyone nodded in agreement and then headed onward.

They walked and walked for another mile when Rinoa finally saw an old pyramid in a clearing. It was very old, the stones chipped and cracked. On all sides it had steps that led to the top. Around it were sacred statues of warriors and beasts. "This is the Temple of Light. What you seek is not on top, but inside on the bottom!" Makita said.

The group walked forwards and to the large door. Across it was a message:

"Thou that comes in here with no light in their heart, shall be delivered to another dimension and trapped in the temple for all eternity in the chambers of darkness, and never be free unless the seal becomes broken by thou who has the power of the universe in their hands!"

"Well, I guess we know what will happen if we aren't good people then right?" Rinoa said with a little laugh. To tell the truth, she was pretty worried. Was her heart pure? She had lied a couple of times, but did that not make her pure? "Here goes nothing!" She thought to herself. She slowly opened the door, a bright light coming through the opening.