Chapter two: History is told by the Winners
Zidane had an arrival somewhat similar to Dagger's. He landed hard on somebody, knocking them to the ground. They rolled away from each other with the speed of fighting instinct just before Quina thudded down on the spot they had just vacated. Zidane got up to see whom he'd landed on and saw a young man with short, spiked teal hair and yellow eyes, with a scar running vertically down one side of his face, over (but not through) his left eye. He wore loose-fitting olive-green many-pocketed pants and a green cloak, with a black shirt and leather vest underneath. But to Zidane, only one part of his attire was relevant at that moment: his drawn broadsword, black with energy that chilled Zidane's spine merely from its proximity.
"Hey, take it easy!" Zidane urged. "Look, I'm sorry about, er, dropping in like that. No need to get upset." The man didn't change his fighting stance a bit, but he did at least say something.
"Crimson, Lucca, hold on. Something's not as it seems . . ."
Then a woman's voice came from behind Zidane. "Like what?"
A deep rumble came next, also from behind the thief. "They look like mystics. . . but the manner of their appearance suggests shadow wizardry. "
"I'll say!" replied the scar-faced man facing Zidane. "I know Gates, and that was no ordinary Gate."
"Not ordinary in what way?" quested the girl behind Zidane as she scooted around him. She had chin-length purple hair, green eyes, and an outfit identical in style to the one the man wore. And her right arm held a strange looking weapon that resembled a small cannon with a handle.
"I dunno, but no ordinary Shadow wizard created it." This excited the girl, who seemed to (like the man) have momentarily forgotten about Zidane and Quina.
"Really? What do you think it was?" The unfamiliar surroundings finally cut through Zidane's hesitation.
"Who are you guys? Where are we? What's going on?"
"You must excuse my exuberant friends," the one voice still behind Zidane rumbled. "They have had an interesting day, and it has made them excitable." Zidane turned towards the voice, gasped, and took a step back in surprise. The creature standing behind him was at least seven feet tall, had dark crimson skin, two notched and painted horns on his head, two bat-like wings on his back, two four-toed clawed feet, heavy brown pants, and a large, empty sheathe hanging from his belt. And an enormous shiny red scimitar firmly in his right hand.
"You're a . . ." The creature didn't let him finish.
"Demon. Yes, I do resemble one; but rest assured, such is not my nature. I think you truly mean us no harm." He sheathed his blade and continued, "I am known as Crimson. That is not my name, but 'twill suffice for now. My comrades would, I believe, prefer to introduce themselves."
The scar-faced man, having shortly discussed whatever-it-had-been with the girl, spoke next. "Hi. I'm Aeron Zeal." He and Zidane cautiously shook hands once Aeron's broadsword was back in its sheathe. "I'm the captain and owner of the ship you're on: the New Zealian Corvette Aquilae."
"He means the privateer corvette Aquilae," the girl corrected with a lopsided grin. Aeron shrugged.
"I'm also the impromptu leader. . ." with a quick glance at the girl at his side he corrected himself. ". . . co-leader of our little band of inventors, adventurers, miscreants, and various other unsavory characters." He opened his mouth to say something else, but shut it and gestured towards the girl. Taking the cue, she holstered her weapon and stepped forward to shake hands.
"Howdy. My name's Lucca Ashtear, but I prefer that the suffix of 'the great' be added to my name to reflect my incredible god-like mental abilities." Aeron gave her a funny look, and she continued, "Oh, fine. Just 'Lucca' will do." Zidane wondered briefly about the extent of her "mental abilities."
"I'm Zidane, and that thing over there's Quina. Can you read minds?" he asked her.
"Of course I can." Her eyes rolled back, and then all around, out of sync, never focusing. Her face looked blank as she stepped close to him. "I see. . . a beautiful princess. . . strange companions. . . and a terrible dragon trying to take the princess from you. . ." Her eyes suddenly focused directly on his shocked expression, and she smiled hugely. "Gotcha." Crimson chuckled, and Aeron chortled. Zidane, however, scratched his head.
"I thought you were trying to read my thoughts, not my memories." Lucca's grin faded.
"Huh? Memories?"
"Except that the one trying to take the princess rides a dragon."
"Marle never said anything about a guy riding a dragon. . ."
"But I did," Aeron interjected. "Remember? What's the name of your enemy, Zidane?"
"Kuja," the thief supplied.
"What do you know about him?"
"That he was behind the destruction of four kingdoms and a major settlement. What else do I need to know?"
"What's the name of your world?"
"What the – are you slow or something? Gaia."
The three exchanged looks pregnant with unspoken meaning, and Aeron said, "I'm not slow. Welcome to the chaotic little world known as Elosia. One of Gaia's moons."
"Whatever," Zidane replied. "We're . . ." he cut himself off as he remembered what the mages said.
"Not where you might have guessed?" Crimson supplied.
Zidane gasped. "We're not on Gaia?"
Aeron smirked, though he still looked angry. "Not last I checked."
"So you guys are aliens? Sweet!" exclaimed a voice from behind Lucca. Zidane bobbed his head to peer around her, and saw two soldiers. The one that had spoken was a short, bear-like man with green skin, a huge multi-barreled gun slung over his shoulder, and bulging pockets all over his dark brown vest and pants. His thick black goatee and deep, gruff voice added to the impression of a bear. The woman next to him wore similar clothing, but had a long-barreled rifle slung over her back. She was also not at all like the man beside her. She was a demihuman that resembled a Siamese cat, slender, with green eyes and dark hair haphazardly arranged in drooping spikes. Lucca gave the man a look, to which the woman laughed.
"It's not going to work. He loves sneaking up on people too much to quit because of an ugly stare. So, is it true? You two are from Gaia?"
"Looks like it," Zidane replied. "Who're you two?"
"My name's Seratna, but everyone except Kabra calls me Sera. He calls me Rat, so you get to call him Kab."
"Why do you have to call me a taxi?"
"Would you prefer I use the last part of your name and call you lingerie? I didn't think so." Turning back to Zidane, she asked, "How is it you look pretty much human and speak the same language as we do? It doesn't make sense."
"You really must excuse them," Crimson quietly told Zidane. "They are not quite right in the head, I'm afraid, though you will find few of us that are."
"Then we'll fit right in."
"Would you mind telling us about what Kuja's been doing lately on Gaia?" inquired Aeron.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Because he killed my father and uncle and has generally been troubling me as much as he can. And that's not to mention the assistance we suspect he's been giving humanity's former - and possibly future - enemies, the Mystics."
Zidane shrugged. "Good enough for me. It's a long story, but if you really wanna hear it. . . " They nodded, and sat down either on the couch or at the table. Crimson stood guard near the hatch to the deck, massive arms crossed casually over his chest. Zidane felt sure the giant demihuman could change that casual stance in an instant. "Ok, first you need to know more about the Mist Continent. . ."
Steiner, Freya and Amarant landed on a stone platform at the north end of what appeared to be a market square. The platform was covered with vines and rusted-out machinery, and few people occupied the nearby market so near to sunset. Freya spoke first, asking the obvious question.
"Where are we?" Of course, neither of her companions knew any more than she. A nearby vegetable stand caught Steiner's attention.
"Perhaps an entrepreneur would be willing to tell us." He clanked over to the stand, and Freya and Amarant followed. Bowing slightly to the vendor, he humbly said, "I beg your pardon, Madame, but would you be so kind as to inform me of the name of this place?"
"How polite!" the woman replied, looking up from her work. "It's . . . Oh my! Look out behind you!" She turned towards the middle of the square and yelled, "Guards! Guards! Mystics!" Steiner looked behind him, ready to tackle a threat. All he saw, however, was Freya and Amarant checking behind themselves as well, ready to draw their weapons if anything presented itself. Nothing did, and they were as puzzled as the Captain of the Pluto Knights was.
"Madame, it is but my two companions and I. There is nothing to be. . . " he was interrupted by a firm voice to his left.
"I'm going to have to ask the three of you to come with me." The three turned to see who it was, and saw a man in uniform, obviously the guard that the frightened shopkeeper had called for. Freya unslung her mythril triblade spear to its full six-foot length. As it extended, the two secondary blades snicked into place on either side of the main blade, pointed about twenty-five degrees off-axis and making for a rather intimidating-looking weapon. Amarant quietly extended his metal claws from their storage strap on his left wrist.
Leveling her triblade at the guard, Freya told him in a low voice, "We'll not be captured again."
"Sorry, miss, but if you don't come with me, that nice lady over there is going to alert the barracks. The soldiers have been very antsy in regard to mystics lately, and they're not real likely to be nice to you. So, if you'll put that thing away before you hurt someone, we'll go elsewhere and discuss this like civilized beings. Ok?"
For a tense moment, Freya continued to hold her spear ready to strike. Finally, the two secondary blades snapped back into the handle, which then retracted to its traveling length of three feet. She slung it over her back again, but patted her side briefly to reassure herself of the presence of the short sword she carried as a backup weapon. The guard breathed a sigh of relief, obviously not recognizing her patting motion's significance. Nor did he react when the dragoon cupped her left hand, touching the spot on her wrist where a throwing dagger would be unsheathed if she moved just so. Mollified by the presence of her backup weapons, Freya nodded her readiness to follow. Amarant just pulled his claws back in, and Steiner continued to be confused.
"Follow me, please." The guard led them out of the market square and towards a nearby seaside village. "We're going to one of the few places around here where a couple of well-armed mystics won't be too suspicious; I don't want for people to worry any more than they already are."
"What are mystics, and what have they done to make people so fearful of them?" asked Steiner. The guard gave him a curious frown as they entered the town.
"You're joking, right? Your two friends aren't human. That makes them demihuman or mystic, and demis make it their business to stay away from humans. That makes your pals mystics. Aren't you guys from Medina?"
Steiner was indignant. "I am Sir Adelbert Steiner, captain of the Knights of Pluto of the Kingdom of Alexandria!" Their escort frowned.
"Alexandria? Never heard of it. But I never said I knew everything. What about you two?" He gestured towards Freya and Amarant as the four of them approached the docks.
"I am the Lady Freya, a Dragon Knight of the kingdom of Burmecia."
Amarant was silent. The guard gestured at him, though, and the bright red-haired giant finally spoke. "If you have to know, I'm from Treno, a city in Alexandria." The guard frowned again, a habit that was starting to grate on everyone's nerves.
"I haven't heard of any of those places. How'd you get here? Where's your ship?" In panic, Steiner looked at the docks, quickly picking out a simple but speedy-looking boat. He pointed to it.
"That is our ship." The guard put his hands on his hips, looking annoyed.
"Really? Are you sure? Because that's actually my ship. Bought her last month. Now, suppose you tell me how you really got here before I get the three of you in trouble?" Amarant extended the claws attached to his left wrist again.
"You're the one who'd get the trouble, punk," he challenged. The guard started to say something, but Freya cut him off sharply.
"That will be unnecessary, Amarant. No, that's not our ship."
"Then how'd you get here?"
"I don't suppose you would believe me if I said we were teleported here against our will?"
"Of course! I should've guessed," exclaimed the guard in a mixture of relief and anger as he slapped his forehead. "Lucca and her damned inventions! I thought she dismantled her Telepod." Steiner scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"We were traveling with others," the dragoon informed the guard. Amarant groaned, but Freya continued. "Might this 'Lucca' woman know where to find them?"
"If anyone knows where your friends are, it'll be her and her crazy shadow wizard boyfriend."
"Shadow wizard? Do you mean that he's a black mage?"
"I guess that's another way of putting it, yeah. They're both troublemakers. Lucca blew a hole in the countryside with one of her inventions just under two years ago. And one of Aeron's ancestors started a war that nearly destroyed this kingdom, even humanity itself. . . and we've got reason to think he's continuing the tradition. He's built a small private navy, more advanced than anything on the planet; and he's been yakking about some guy from Gaia coming to kill everyone. No one believes him, 'cept for the king and queen. Sheesh, he says his dad's a knight that died in the 600's, and his mother's some weird sorceress out of legend. We think he's actually just Magus' bastard child. Anyway, his corvette left port this morning, and engaged a Mystic destroyer on patrol near Lucca's manor. We were getting along ok with the Mystics, but now we have to tread lightly, 'cuz that destroyer's totaled. So're a group of Mystics that tried to investigate the fate of their ship. King and queen took another of Aeron's ships to find them and talk some sense into 'em, but I don't think it'll work. They're alone. Poor Crono. . . Lucca was his best friend as a kid. For her to betray him like that. . . "
"If they are as you say, we will stop them!" Freya interrupted, her statement backed by Steiner's solemn nod. "Do you know where they are?"
"You obviously don't know who you're dealing with. They won't be pushovers; Lucca's got fire magic that's not to be trifled with, and she's a genius to boot. She's got guns of all kinds, and knows how to use them. If Aeron's anything like his warlock ancestor, he's got fire, lightning, water or ice, and shadow. The insidious Magus could raise the dead to do his bidding, and while Aeron's not been known to do that, there's no telling what tricks he's got up his sleeve."
Amarant grunted and grinned. "Sounds like my idea of a good time. I'm in."
Freya nodded. "I, too, will come. We have faced difficult opponents before."
Steiner stepped forward. "A Pluto Knight never backs down from a challenge!"
"I was hoping you'd agree. Are you ready? Then let's get in my boat and go!" Steiner was flabbergasted.
"You would simply abandon your post?"
"No; it's almost dark, so I was about to leave anyway. That weirdo lady's the only one open this late, and some other poor sucker gets to look after her. So, I'm ready to go if you are."
"Is it a long trip?" asked Freya.
"What's the matter, you get seasick?" The Burmecian shook her head. "Good, 'cause we'll be pushing twenty-five knots, and the sea's not smooth. It'll be pretty quick; less than an hour once we get going."