Christine looked from the stout dwarven warrior to Reis, who was as expressionless as usual. But Christine knew from being friends with Ramza and the others to know that Reis was probably as terrified as Miranda and herself.
"Back off Gamling," a voice came from the shadows. A pair of black leather boots stepped out of the darkness and stood about shoulder width apart. "It seems we have some visitors near the western shrine. Two Oracles and a Heaven Knight. Go deal with them. I think I can handle a couple of girls." The dwarf went into the shadows and down the stairs.
"Well," the figure shrouded in darkness continued. "It appears I finally have you all to myself. Do you know who I am? I am the greatest thief of all time: the Golden Key Valdorna. I can pick any lock, break into any safe, and steal any treasure. Including that of the ancient Sandross family. Or so I thought. I figured if I stole the sister, the treasure would come running. But it seems that Drusilla is smarter than that. She has realized, as I'm sure you have also, that as long as she stays away, you'll be alive. But I have a little surprise for you." The figure that had identified herself as Valdorna continued to step out of the shadows. Christine could now see that her boots went all the way up to her thighs and a pair of tight leather shorts almost connected them, revealing a ring of tanned skin around her thighs.
There was something hanging from the left side of her waist that particularly caught Christine's attention. It was a blade in the shape of a perfect circle, and it had arcane designs that Christine guessed must symbolize death or thievery based on the nature of its owner. She must have stared at it for a while, because the voice from the shadows commented on it.
"I notice you're eyeing the Chakram of Entropy," she said, stepping further out of the shadows revealing that her leather "shorts" were not shorts at all, but rather a skirt made out of strips of leather (a la Xena) as well as her tight, black belly shirt with major cleavage. Silver gauntlets covered her hands and met at the point between her pointer and middle finger on each hand. Her face was the only thing still left in shadow. "It's an ancient weapon from the time of the great mage Balkoth. He ruled Ivalice with an iron fist, and his servants were four warriors: One from the lands of men, one from the dwarves, one from the giants, and one from the Vianthan Amazons. They were corrupted by his great power, and soon their souls had completely dissolved. They were replaced by me."
She finally stepped fully out of the shadows. She was a lithe, attractive woman with flaming red hair put into a ponytail that began at the top of her head and fell down the back of her head. She had crystal blue eyes that were eerily beautiful in their own way. They seemed to sparkle with a childlike playfulness that did not fit Valdorna's personality at all. She had a strange attractiveness to her. Christine wasn't quite sure what it was exactly, but there was something about this strange woman.
"I am Valdorna. Well, I am now anyway. And you should fear my power!" She launched into an attack and brought out the Chakram, slicing it right for Christine's throat. Christine ducked back and fell to the floor as Miranda ran for the exit. Reis pulled out her FS Bag and struck Valdorna in the side of the head with it, and she was knocked backwards. Christine got next to Reis and prepared to fight back. Valdorna got up and faced the two other women. She smirked and pushed a rock in the side of the wall. A hole opened up beneath Reis and Christine and they fell through.
"Welcome to a more permanent prison ladies. I trust you'll find it a bit less escapable the other one," Valdorna cooed, looking up at them from the only square of light visible from the large hole the two had been dropped in. "Sleep tight my lovelies." The light began to disappear as Valdorna closed the hole again. Christine looked up as the image of the red-headed woman disappeared for good, and she was surrounded on all sides by darkness.
Then, she panicked.
"Where did you come from?" Kylie asked playfully, as if no one was pointing a sword at her throat. She bounced over to the mysterious woman clad in translucent blue. "Who are you?"
"Get away from me filth," the woman replied, and she swung her slender sword at Kylie. Kylie blocked the blow and caught the sword between her Chaos Blades.
"Come on now," Kylie whined, launching her sword back at the woman. "Don't be antisocial. Especially to someone who's, oh I don't know, not in anyway affiliated with the Acolytes."
"Liar!" The woman launched back at Kylie. Beowulf swung his Hrunting in her direction and cast one of his Status spells on her. Her arms dropped uselessly to her side and her sword fell to the ground.
"It's a truly wonderful spell, Don't Act," Beowulf said, very calm for the situation. "Now, you don't seem to be evil, and we are not the Acolytes of Ajora. Now, I'll ask you the same question posed by my companion, who are you?"
"Eat my sword filthy evil doers," she replied, and attempted to pick the sword up with her droopy arms. Strawberry held up her arms, muttered a few words, and then the woman dropped to the ground, her legs useless. She said something, but it was muffled by the dark brown hair that she had swallowed when she fell. Kylie smiled and turned her on her back and sat her against the edge of the lighthouse. "Why must you insist on bothering me? Just give me back my sister!"
"What?" Strawberry said, walking up to the woman and kneeling down in front of her. "They've got your sister?"
"What do you mean 'they' filth?" the woman spat. "Don't you mean 'We've got your sister'? Since you are the Acolytes?"
"God dammit," Kylie blew up. "We are not the fucking Acolytes of Ajora! Get that through your fucking head!" She looked at her other two companions and they seemed frightened. "I'm sorry. I guess I lost my temper for a moment."
"So, you're not the Acolytes," the woman asked questioningly. "Then what are you doing here? Are you looking for the Mirror too?"
"We already found the Mirror," Strawberry said. "And we gave it to someone who I know would never give it to the wrong sort of people. It will never fall into the hands of these 'Acolytes' you speak of. Just calm down and tell me what you're looking for. You can trust me."
The woman sighed and looked Strawberry. She pulled a Ring out of the pocket in her shirt. "I don't know why I'm trusting you, but you make me feel… safe. My name is Drusilla Sandross. Since the first time Ajora rose, my family was entrusted with this Ring. That thief, Valdorna, the head of the Acolytes, came to my house and offered me a trade. The Ring for our lives. I refused, and they kidnapped my sister Miranda. They're on Nelveska. I was hoping to find the Mirror of Ajora here and trade it for my sister."
"We'll go there and rescue your sister," Strawberry assured her. "You can trust us."
"Please," a female voice shouted from the top of the lighthouse. "That is such a trite, overused line. 'You can trust me!' Pathetic." Beowulf looked up to the top of the lighthouse, and he saw a familiar blonde-haired knight perched on it. She had dark skin, but not to the extent of Rafa and Malak's. It was more of an tan color. She jumped gracefully down and landed almost cat-like on her feet. As she stood up, Beowulf know where he recognized her from. The curled blonde hair, the grungy look of her camouflage clothes, the swords crossed in an 'x' on her back, the smug smirk. "Hey Beow."
Kylie didn't know Beowulf very well, actually, Reis was the only one who knew him at all. But she could tell when someone was familiar with him. All his old friends called him 'Beow'. A gesture of familiarity and friendship.
"Do you know this woman?" Kylie asked, taking a step towards Beowulf.
"Kylie, Strawberry, Drusilla," Beowulf began. "I would like you to meet an old friend of mine: Tara Richardson."
"Hi, I'm Kylie," Kylie offered her hand out in friendship, totally unaware, as usual, that there was any danger involved in her actions. "How are you?"
"Oh, I'm good," the manly yet attractive woman nodded, drawing her swords from her back. "I feel good. I feel like kicking some hypocrite ass. What'd you say ladies? Want to help me finish him off?"
"Hey, Beow is our friend," Strawberry retorted. "And I won't let you hurt him."
"He's not my friend," Drusilla replied.
"Bring it on," Tara said, taking a step towards Strawberry. "Beow is a lying bastard. He stole my Buremonda from me."
"Wait, wait, wait," Kylie said, throwing her hands in the air. "Beow slept with Buremonda?"
"What is the matter with her?" Tara asked, and Beowulf shrugged and shook his head. Strawberry was also confused, and Beowulf looked at her and rolled his eyes.
"Buremonda loves Reis, and she's with me. Tara always saw that as me stealing Buremonda from her," Beowulf explained. "Because she loves him, and he loves Reis."
"I don't have time for a soap opera," Drusilla muttered, sheathing her sword and walking towards a boat she had docked at the far edge of the lighthouse island. "I have to go find my sister."
"I can take you to her," Tara yelled after Drusilla, and the mysterious woman stopped. Tara raised an eyebrow suggestively.
"I'm listening," Drusilla replied slowly. Strawberry looked to Kylie for some sort of moral support, but Kylie just shrugged. She bit her lip and waited for what Tara was about to say.
"I'll open the portal to the Nelveska Temple if you leave Beow here with me," Tara offered calmly, and Dru shook her head. That was when Strawberry just lost it.
"How could you even think that?" she yelled at the dark-haired stranger. "I know your sister means a lot to you, but you can't just sacrifice Beow to save her. We'll find a way together. Please, stay with us. We'll get there in time."
"You stupid, foolish optimist," Drusilla replied, emotionless. "Do you really think life is that simple? If we traveled together, we'd only just be too late to save Miranda and then I'd have my sister's blood on my hands. Do you really think we can get there in time to save her any other way? You're so naïve. Naivety is a dangerous emotion. It has been the downfall of many a great warrior. Do you remember Balbanes Beoulve? His trust in his dark, disturbed son led to his death. His horrible, painful death by poison. I'm going to Nelveska, and we're leaving him here."
Tara snapped her fingers, and a black hole opened up in the side of the lighthouse. Without hesitating, Drusilla ran for the hole and leapt inside. Kylie ran after her, and Strawberry began to follow, but stopped. She looked back at Beowulf, but her shook his head and waved her on. She bit her lip again, and jumped after Drusilla and Kylie into the portal. The black hole closed up and Tara faced her old classmate.
"Alone at last, handsome," she said, brandishing her weapons. "Now we can settle our score."
Malak jumped up the steps in the far tower of the Nelveska Temple area three or four at a time. A flight or so behind him was a very winded Masahiro.
"My God Malak," Masahiro panted, barely able to keep up. "How can you possibly run this fast?"
"I think the question is why can't you?" Malak retorted, looking over his shoulder. Since he didn't watch where he was going, he slammed right into the Fire warrior Jeriacor from earlier. Behind him was the very sickly looking water mage. He had a wicked smile on his face as he brought his sword up over Malak's head and swung it down. Fortunately, Masahiro had already caught up with him and pulled Malak to safety at the last moment. Malak now growled something incomprehensible and drew his Rune Blade. He brought it up to strike the fire giant in the face, but he easily parried it.
"Puny little mage," he replied, and kicked Malak into Masahiro, and both young men toppled backwards down the stairs. "You will pay for what you did to my Vysantha. I'm far too strong to be beaten by a wizard and an archer."
"Then perhaps we should even the odds," Malak heard a young girl's voice echo from behind the giant. It was a dark-haired girl dressed in the robes of a Calculator, but her hair was down instead of up in a bun. She had no weapon whatsoever, and that made Malak wonder how much help she could possibly be.
"This is you evening the odds?" The giant boomed, his deep voice shaking the rafters. "A girl? This is the most pathetic force I've ever seen." The giant turned around and went pale.
"Damn straight," the Calculator said. "Who's pathetic now Jeriacor?"
"M-miss Miranda," the huge man stuttered. "H-how did you get out of your cell?"
"A friendly young woman let me out," the calculator replied. She reached her hand out, and his flaming sword immediately fizzled out. He looked at it in horror as it seemed to get bigger in his hands when in reality, he was getting smaller. He was now the same height as Masahiro. Vysantha, the water mage, tried to hit her over the head with her staff, but the calculator caught it and hit the mage in the stomach with her elbow. Vysantha flew backwards into the wall. The calculator stepped down the stairs with a smug look on her face and Vysantha's staff in one hand. He charged at her, but she just put up her hand and he bounced off of an invisible force field and he fell backwards towards Masahiro and Malak. The blue circlet on his head fell off on his way down. Malak grabbed it and snapped it in half. Vysantha screamed in pain and began to convulse on the floor. Finally, she arched her back climactically and let out one last powerful scream, and collapsed dead on the floor.
"That should end the spell," Malak said happily. He rushed back down the stairs.
"Wait Malak," Masahiro yelled half-heartedly after him, but then he just waved him away and concentrated on the much more interesting mystery of this strange Calculator.
"My name is Masahiro O'Bannon," Masahiro said, offering her his hand. Malak had either found a window and saw that she was okay or he realized that he should stick with Masahiro. "What's yours?"
"My name is Miranda Sandross," she said, shaking his hand. "I came from upstairs where there are right this moment two women being held in Valdorna's prisons. We have to go save them."
"Who are they?" Malak asked.
"Does it matter?" Miranda asked desperately. "Come on, they're up this way."
"You mean the only way that we didn't come from?" Malak asked condescendingly. Miranda rolled her eyes and ran up the stairs to the top of the tower. The thief who had attacked them there at first had disappeared without a trace, as had her two new friends. They searched the room for them, but found nothing. Then, Malak noticed something in the ground that looked like an outline of a door. It was made out of stone, the same stuff as the rest of the floor, so it was just barely noticeable.
"Hey, guys," he called his friends over to the outline. "I wonder what's down here?"
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Miranda said, and picked up a discarded lamp from the floor and began beating on the floor.
Christine and Reis waited in the dark of their prison for someone to come and save them. Reis paced around nervously in the dark until she was hit in the shoulder by Christine.
"Stop doing that," she yelled. "You would not believe how many tries it took to find you in this darkness."
"Our eyes will adjust," Reis replied bluntly.
"I have a better idea," Christine said, annoyed. "Why don't you use that famous dragon power you have and spit some fire to light this place up so we can actually see where we are."
"What if I spit the fire at you instead?" Reis replied. "That's why I don't like doing that."
"So spit it into your hand and make a torch," Christine yelled. "Do something!" Reis snapped her fingers a few times, and nothing. She snapped her fingers again, and a flicker of flame appeared in between her thumb and forefinger. She held it up to the walls, and Christine could see the creepy stones used to furnish the inside. Then she looked closer and saw that they were not stones at all: they were spiders. Spiders were the one thing that she was more afraid of than anything else. There were thousands of them, moving along the walls at an alarming rate. Not an inch of stone was showing. Christine merely stared at the wall, unable to speak. She backed slowly into Reis, who gave her a questioning look. She pointed wordlessly at the walls.
Reis, however, could see only stone.
Suddenly, one of the spiders jumped out and latched itself onto her arm. She screamed as another furry creature jumped into her hair. She tried to swat them away, but by now they had already gotten a taste for her. She was swarmed on all sides by spiders everywhere. Her entire body was fully engulfed in spiders, she reached the last part of her body that had not been covered, her right hand, out of the massive pile of furry spiders and tried to scream for help, but they climbed into her mouth too, preventing any cry for help.
Reis looked over at her companion, wondering why she was lying on the floor writhing in pain. Then she felt a tiny droplet of water fall on her head. She immediately looked to the ceiling and she saw a massive lake just sitting above her head. She looked in fear, because ever since she had been dropped in the lake and nearly died as a child, she had always been afraid of water. Her uncle was supposed to be watching her and Beowulf, but she ventured too close to the edge of the docks and fell in. If Beowulf hadn't run for her parents, she would be dead. She backed against the wall as more droplets of water fell from the ceiling, and they kept falling more and more frequently. Soon, the water was up to her ankles. She began to climb the walls, but the water dripping down it made the stones slippery, and she couldn't get a good foot hold. She fell backwards into the water.
Christine, meanwhile, was buried under a mountain of spiders. She screamed and screamed, but no sound came out, so she just decided to cry "Spiders!" over and over again. Reis just looked at her like she was crazy. There were no spiders in this hole.
"Chris," she yelled, and Christine didn't even care that she called her by her masculine name. "There are no spiders here. Just lots and lots of water." By now the water had reached her waist, and she was really beginning to panic. She jumped on Christine's back, which flattened her to the floor. Christine was panicking too, and she felt Reis on her back but was too terrified to wonder why the spiders weren't storming her too.
Then it dawned on her: none of the spiders were real. That's when she just grabbed one by it's tiny legs and looked the horrible creature right in the eyes.
"You don't scare me," she said, her voice low and pronounced. She threw it against the wall, and it splattered against it, dead. She began stomping on the disgusting monsters and they ran for the holes in the walls. She turned to Reis, who looked like she was drowning, and screamed at her.
"None of this is real," she yelled. "It's a trick of the light, or magic or something. You have to fight it Reis."
Reis was still fighting to keep the waters, which was up to her mouth, out of her lungs. She was still trying to be cool and composed, but her facial expression, or at least what she assumed Chris could see, conveyed a sense of real fear. She began to tread water to keep her head in the air. Her breath came out in short gasps because by now the fear had completely taken her over. She looked at Chris, and she was muttering something to her and gesturing for her to come down, and Reis fearfully shook her head. Chris just grabbed her leg and pulled, and Reis went under and took a breath. She could see everything above her going dark, and-
'Wait," she thought, confused. 'Nothing's happening. There is no water. Chris was right.' And with that thought, she inhaled. She didn't feel the water rushing into her lungs. She didn't feel the breath leaving her body. She was okay.
"Alright," Christine said, walking closer to Reis. "What the hell was that? And put up your fire again."
Reis snapped her fingers and threw the fire up in the air. It grew, and the entire cavernous hole lit up, somehow brighter than before. This time the whole area was visible, and the dingy walls of their prison seemed to be closing in on them. It was a little eerie. Christine noticed that Reis's clothes and hair were wet. It seems that what she had felt was real enough.
'Note to self,' she thought, making a face, and spitting on the floor. 'Brush teeth.' Reis saw the whole display and held the flame up to her hair to dry it off. She didn't think very highly of Christine. It was the whole her liking Malak thing that really turned Reis off to her. Or the whole dangerous animal experience she had. Reis never really knew what happened with that.
"So how are we getting out?" Christine snapped Reis out of her trance. Reis nodded as the ceiling shook. Well, it wasn't really the ceiling, it was actually the floor, but it shook nonetheless. Christine looked nervously around, then up at the ceiling with Reis. The ceiling shook again, and both women got into battle positions. This time, a few bricks almost fell on their heads, and through the light, they could see the face of the woman they met and had run away. What was her name? It escaped Reis's mind.
"Miranda!" Christine yelled excitedly, and her face lit up. "Thank Ajora! We're saved."
"Chrissie?" Christine heard Malak's voice coming from the hole and her face, if it was possible, lit up even more. "Here, take this rope." He fed a rope down the small hole to her, and she took a hold. Reis wrapped her arms around Christine's waist. Malak, even though he obviously lacked the upper body strength to accomplish it, attempted to pull the two women up. Masahiro saw his plight, and grabbed the rope as well. Miranda helped pull up Reis and Christine as well. Soon, they got to the small hole in the ceiling that Miranda's manic attack had produced. Miranda rolled up her sleeves and leaned down into the hole.
"Hold on to the rope," she said, and Christine nodded. "No matter what." Her hands touched the stones and mortar that made up the floor of the ancient fortress, and she closed her eyes. The stones turned gradually into dust, and Christine and Reis had to turn their head to avoid getting a mouthful of dust. Soon, there was a wide hole in the middle of the floor, and Malak and Masahiro pulled Reis and Christine up and out of the dark, dank chasm. Miranda, Masahiro, Malak, Reis, and Christine looked into the deep darkness that lay in front of them.
"Let's get out of here," Miranda suggested, and everyone else agreed. Masahiro, Reis, Malak, and Miranda headed for the doorway, but Christine stayed behind for a moment.
"Malak," she called out, and he stopped and turned towards her. "Thank you."
"Anytime," Malak said, and he smiled. "Anything for you Christine." Christine stood for a moment, just staring at him.
'He didn't call me a friend,' she thought in complete and total awe. 'My God, he didn't call me a friend. And he didn't call me Chris. Is it possible that he could-'
"Hey, Chris, Malak," Masahiro called, and both of them snapped out of their trances. "You coming?" Both people nodded, and followed their companions down the stairs.
Rafa Galthana sat up sharply and took her first real breath in about an hour. Luna and Gene looked on excitedly.
"Yay!" Luna exclaimed, grabbing tightly onto Rafa's stomach. She pressed her head a little to friendly into Rafa's chest and breathed deeply though her nose. "You're not dead!"
"Luna," Rafa asked politely. "Luna!" Luna let go and just looked at her, and Rafa shook her head. Luna made a puppy face, pleading with her, and Rafa shook her head again. Then, everything loose, hair, clothes, banners on the tower, billowed wildly as something huge began to set down right next to the three companions. It was a large balloon attached to a mechanical structure with people in it. Rafa could not make out the faces, so she and the two Oracles backed slowly away from the impending vehicle. When it landed, the stairs dropped out of the mechanical part, and Ramza descended from the steps. Rafa squealed with joy and ran up to him. She jumped on top of him, wrapping her around his neck.
"Ramza!" she yelled, and he choked. "Oh God, please let's get out of here."
"Rafa, we can't do that right now," Gene coached. "Remember that Malak and Masahiro are still in the tower."
"I know," Rafa sobbed, still latched onto Ramza. "But this place, it has a weird effect on you."
Just then, a darkened portal opened and from it emerged Kylie, Strawberry, and a dark-haired girl that Ramza didn't know. Directly afterwards, Masahiro and the others came running down the steps of the tower. Ramza looked incredibly confused.
"Okay," he said as Olan, Agrias, Balmafula, and Mustadio exited the airship after him. "Somebody's gonna have to debrief me."
A/N: Sorry to still leave that cliffhanger with Mel and Delita unresolved, but I'll take care of that next chapter. Just don't forget about them. And I don't know where Miranda got all those powers from, but I'll try to make this stuff make sense. Bare with me.
By the way, Jeriacor, Vysantha and all the other Acolytes are from an amazing computer game called Lords of Magic.