Author's Note: I didn't like Ray's sudden turn of heart in the game. We're keeping him a bad guy. One more chapter left.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Storm at the Gates

The journey south was silent indeed, for the comrades held their own trepidation of what was to come. Their long quest, their many sorrows, their sacrifices…all of it was coming to a head, now. They could all feel it. The Great Bird drove on through the skies, regal and majestic, but its confidence was not shared with its riders. Nina, forlorn and saddened, absently stroked the Great Bird's feathers, thinking of the precious times they had shared in the past. Yua looked at her brother's broad back, wondering what would happen after all was said and done—and all would be said and done, soon. Katt, too, felt apprehension. She sat nearest to Ryu, holding onto his waist her thoughts a jumble of concern for and confidence in him.

But Ryu alone looked onward. His gaze sat on the white walls of Saint Eva's Church, knowing that his destiny lay entwined with its schemes.

He wondered how it all happened. Once, he made his own path. A ranger, a guild mercenary—what had happened to that life? Dead, as Bow was dead. As Sten was dead. Now, by some strange happenstance, Ryu Bateson was an eye in the storm, and that storm's name was destiny. And the only way to reconcile it was to surrender to its torrential winds.

"Everyone knows the plan?" he asked without expecting an answer. The time for running, for chasing, for blindly advancing forward was past. Too many had died because they followed, rather than lead. If they were going to stop the madness, they had to strike first, in a way no one would expect. Ryu only hoped they survived first contact.

Suddenly, all too soon in his mind, the Great Bird brought them over the cathedral. Grabbing Katt under the arms, Ryu gave a shout, "Go!" and leaped. His wings—as Nina's and Yua's—spread out to catch the currents, gliding like a demon's claws toward the towers ahead. The three fliers elicited cries of alarm from the guards patrolling the walls, who all scrambled to ready crossbows and throwing spears. But as soon as they landed, the battle was virtually said and done.

Nina and Katt broke through the crowd with spell and staff, blasting stone and crushing bone. Yua dove in and out of the melee, striking with her small knife. Ryu, however, barreled into the fray, all muscle and scale and claw. With a sweep of his massive arm, he sent two or three armed guards through the air. With a sweep of his tail, he tripped four or five. The soldiers that survived the sudden attack quaked with terror and fled, running past a finely-robed figure with golden-red hair walking up to meet the intruders.

Ryu glared, feeling a familiar well of hatred bubbling up like so much boiling water. "Braddoc." He tasted bile at the name.

Ray flashed that charming grin. "Ryu," he replied evenly. "You've changed, grown stronger, it seems. But you're still quite a thorn in Grand Priest Habaruku's side. You should have left Simafort and Highfort well enough alone."

"So you don't deny you're behind it," Ryu spat back. Behind him, his friends were finishing off the last of the guards that stood in their way, but he was sure they noticed the air of hostility sparking between the two men. Ryu welcomed it; he was itching to claw the priest's too-pretty face.

Ray shrugged. "I do what I am told to do, as do all of Eva's servants. We are bringing a new world order, a better world."

"Your god is a demon, and you know it!"

"This world is a twisted demon already!" Ray retorted sharply. "And Eva comes with power, the power to make sense of the twisted horrors. Ryu," his tone became imploring, brotherly, "join me, cousin. And we are cousins, for we are both Dragons. Join us. This is your last chance."

Ryu did not bother to consider the offer. He raised a talon. "See this? Guess where it's going."

The priest only sighed, as if preparing himself for a long-awaited, but ill-liked, event. He removed his coat, revealing a powerfully-muscled build. "It pains me to have to draw talon on a kindred spirit," he said, eyes suddenly aflame with an eerie red glow, "but for Eva, I will slaughter my own blood for his greater glory."

And suddenly Ray Braddoc was gone. In his place was a dragon.

The cathedral walls collapsed under his great weight and size, stone crumbling, shrieking out in horror and awe at the great beast that sat upon them. Ray's wings, like glorious sin, unfurled black as night. Ryu stared in awe of his own, but quickly snapped out of it when he heard his friends' cries.

"Nina, Katt!" he shouted, looking to them. The Windian was carrying the Woren, both with faces pale with fear. "Get out of here!" he told them, glancing around frantically. Then he saw what he was looking for, hopping from stone to stone, fluttering her bat-like wings. "Yua, fly!" The three women made quick their escape, though they threw him a concern glance.

"Let's go, Ryu!" Katt yelled. But he did not turn to face her. His enemy lay in front of him.

Ray went back on hind legs, staring at the dragonman with disdain. "You will fight me in so puny a form, Destined Child?" he spat. "I'll crush you and tear your to pieces! Show me your real form. Show me what killed Barubary!"

Ryu met him glare for glare. "Fine."

And, as with the priest before him, Ryu Bateson ceased to be. In his place was the Dragon, Barubary's bane. Monstrous, beautiful, it coiled up, serpentine and godlike. Fang and claw sought fang and claw, as the two wyrms slashed and raked one another. Breaths of fire scoured the air, smelted stone, scorched scaly hide. Animal roars issued from fanged maws, shaking the very flagstones of the cathedral.

Above, Nina, Katt, and Yua watched as the terrible battle unfolded before them. "This won't go on much longer," Nina murmured.

"And one of them will die at the end of it," Katt said worriedly.

"Ryu-niisan never loses," Yua said, but lacking the conviction she wanted to convey.

Nina turned to the cathedral. "We can't wait here doing nothing," she said, taking the lead. "The plan was to get inside there and find out what Habaruku's up to."

"I'll fly interference," Yua volunteered, darting through the air, Nina and Katt in tow. The trio landed away from the Dragons' battle, in a courtyard preserved from the wreckage and destruction. They ran into the cathedral, avoiding the screaming priests and guards who ran helter-skelter, trying to escape the carnage outside.

"Where the hell are we going, anyway?" Katt demanded, cursing as a soldier bumped into her; she thwacked the man in the back with her staff. "Damn it. We're not making any progress here."

Yua was having a time of it herself. Smaller and lighter than the others, she was easily pushed around as fleeing staff rushed past her. With a cry, she fell back and hit the wall and gasped when it started to cave in a bit. A rush of air alerted her to a doorway that suddenly sprang open behind her. "Nina-neesan, Katt—look!" Steps led downward, lit by a soft and eerie glow coming from deeper in the stairwell.

"What're the odds of finding this?" Katt purred in curiosity.

Nina's brows furrowed in thought. "I sense powerful magic at work," she said quietly. "We should be cautious."

The trio made their way into the depths of the cathedral, following the glow and Nina's instincts. The sounds of flight and fright softened and then disappeared as they proceeded further along. At last, they came to the bottom of the stairs and entered a chamber suffused with a sickly blue-green light. At the heart of the chamber was a man, strapped arms and legs into a strange machine of terrible design.

Nina gasped at the sight. "This machine," she babbled, so complete was her horror. She knew what it was, had studied it in the most ancient tomes. "It's a converter of some sort, but that poor man—I can only guess that it takes his energy and turns it into something truly ghastly."

The man, sickly pale and impossibly thin, murmured, "She is right. It saps my spirit and the souls and prayers of Eva's worshippers and turns it into energy for that cruel demon."

"Who are you?" Katt asked, looking into his tired face. It was clear that he was blind.

But his voice, however soft, was strong and defiant. "I am…I am Ganer Bateson." Yua let out a quiet squeak and both Nina and Katt looked on the man with surprise. "I was a priest of Gate, of Saint Eva. Until his demons came and took me here, where he turned me into his tool. The more prayers he converts, the closer he gets to becoming free. I fight…I have fought all this time…but I fear I can't fight any more."

He coughed, and the women expected blood to froth out. But there was nothing; the man had coughed up all he could long, long ago. "Habaruku," the man murmured, babbling in what could only be madness, "Habaruku went back to Gate, he said. Went back to kill my wife. Went back to let Eva free."

"Otousan!" Yua cried suddenly, her voice cutting through a decade of sadness, suffering, and madness.

Ganer's sightless eyes went to his daughter. "Yua?" he whispered even more quietly, as if testing his voice on a word he had not heard in years. "Yua…you finally came in for your nap."

"Otousan," Yua murmured, stretching a hand to touch his withered face. "Otousan! We'll get you out!"

But he shook his head. "Forget it. I'm already dead, Yua. Habaruku…he's going to kill your mother. She's a Dragon, the Dragon you always slept beside. She guards Eva's prison—Habaruku must not be allowed within the mountain, Yua!" His voice became louder, stronger, more frantic. "He must not be allowed within the mountain!" A fit of coughing stole his fervor. His breath came in ragged gasps and it was clear that death was upon him. "…must not…the mountain…."

"Otousan…."

"R-Ryu…go find…your sister…."

Outside, far from the sorrow within the cathedral, the Dragon ripped out the other's throat with a victorious howl. The slain wyrm slithered madly, thrashing with the last throes of life, crashing onto the ground amidst a shower of blood. The battle was over, the field a ruined and stained mass, pungent with the smell of death. The victor let loose one final roar and surrendered his power.

Ryu Bateson—human once more, not dragon of any kind—fell to his knees, exhausted. The Dragon slept within him, pulsing and wishing release, but he had it under control again. Blue hair danced before his face, slick with his own sweat. But it was his sweat, his self. He looked over to the fallen corpse of Ray Braddoc and shivered. Ray's body was still that of a Dragon.

"Yua—the girls," Ryu said suddenly, looking around for his friends. He saw them emerge from the cathedral, visibly shaken. Yua looked like she was crying. He rushed over to them without hesitation.

"What's going on?" he asked. "What happened? Yua?" His sister ran up to him, threw her arms around his waist, and wept.

They placed Ganer's body on a board they found, tying him down securely and then setting him off into the sea. It was better than burying him on soil that had tormented him for so long. Ryu and Yua stood on the shore, arm in arm, while Nina and Katt watched the siblings from further back. This was a quiet moment, for only the siblings, and neither woman wanted to intrude on that private pain.

But even before their mourning was over, the Great Bird came once again. Nina was instantly reminded of her own pain, but swallowed it down as she and Katt mounted the beautiful creature. The Bateson siblings joined quickly, for their journey was soon to be over. The women had learned where to go next, where to finally end it all: Habaruku was heading for Gate.

And so would they.