Two Years Later

Amazingly…Bahamut's best hopes regarding Palad came true.

The boy was nervous and uneasy when he first arrived. He had trouble eating, sleeping, or being happy. He was lost in a world where no one understood him, that was different even if it was pleasant, and was full of strangers. What more, he had to fear for his life from Griever still, and he kept having nightmares and thinking that he would come for him. In this respect, Starlet soon became one of his best friends. The most soothing and reconciling out of all of them, she alone was able to help him relax and go to sleep some nights, or coax him into eating. Of course, he still had some ambivalence to her too, as she insisted on giving him a bath the day he arrived.

There had been their share of problems too in the first two days. Bahamut and Wyvern were finally forced to tell the truth about Palad, and how they had gotten him. Though none of the other five had ever heard that humans were supposed to be the innate evil creatures of the dark world, they wanted little to do with that place. However, by staving off the moment of telling the truth, Bahamut showed prudence. In that time, Starlet and Phoenix had already become firmly attached to Palad, and refused to let him go back. Remarkably enough, Leviathan also came to their aide. He wanted to observe the human as well. Ogopogo, always Leviathan's shadow, immediately agreed as well. That left the only one who wanted him to go Odin, who was forced to go with the others. After that, the seven entered into a conspiracy to keep their human a secret. It was largely successful. Still, Bahamut and Wyvern were afraid that Odin would cause trouble for them. But even with his mount Slepnir upstaged, Odin too, in his own dark and serious way, showed his affection for the human. Bahamut was amazed at it. It seemed it was almost innate for all of the espers to be fascinated by humans.

Soon, the entire esper community was going crazy over the new human. Each one had their own task they loved to do with it. Starlet and Phoenix handled the clothing for it, with Phoenix using her talons to slice the hides up and Starlet using smaller strips of the hide to knit them together. After starting with a temporary loincloth, they had given the young human a jerkin and pants, and even some leather boots. They used most of the rest to give him a bedroll of sorts, as he might have to change his sleeping pattern frequently. Once they managed to learn enough of the human's language, Starlet began to lecture Palad on proper sanitation and manners, especially when she noticed his own atrocious grooming habits. She also enjoyed drawing him into her little games that she played with Phoenix. As for Phoenix herself, Palad gradually grew to admire the pretty colors and feathers of the esper, and she felt proud because of that. She showed Palad all of the combinations of flowers up in Ultima Nexus that would produce different medicinal effects, and eventually made a brooch of her own feathers for Palad to wear in his hair, which Starlet had conveniently tied back and washed.

Leviathan and Ogopogo, normally silent loners, blossomed in front of the human. They taught him how to swim, a first for the two of them. It turned out that for creatures that lived on land, they had to raise their head out of the water and breathe air occasionally. Also, Leviathan showed an affection for how his world was like just as much as Bahamut did. He asked him constant questions while he played with Ogopogo's coils, and the young man spent about as much time playing as talking to him, if not less. Leviathan had been the first one to learn Palad's language, other than Bahamut. Bahamut, who before had been on fairly quiet terms with his serpent brother, now couldn't get him to stop asking questions about every last word he knew. What more, Leviathan would frequently coil onto a rock and would seem to sleep, but Bahamut knew that he was in reality meditating as well, trying to develop his own mental abilities.

Bahamut and Wyvern were quite inquisitive as well, but the latter of the two was far more rambunctious. He played with the young human a lot, pretending to be a big savage tooth and claw, something that Palad called a bear, and having the young human pretend to kill him. Also, the boy seemed to like flying as much as they did, and over time grew bold enough to grab onto their backs as they soared in the air. Despite Starlet's doting, the young human seemed to trust and like the two flying espers more than any of the others over time.

Then there was Odin. Despite his cold opposition to keeping a creature from the dark world, and his initial distrust of the human, he too began to "play" with the creature. However, it wasn't in the same way as the others. Odin made a rough axe out of stone and gave it to Palad. The young man was uneasy about owning a tool at first, but did better over time. Odin frequently taught the young man how to fight, getting into play battles with him using his own huge sword. All the time, Odin threatened the young man to give his best shot or pay the price. However, Bahamut knew better. Although Odin was more than a match for the weakling human, Palad frequently seemed to "outdo" the strong esper. When Palad asked one day if he could ride Slepnir, a request that Odin would have lashed out if asked by an esper, the dark esper blushed in anxiety for a moment before regretfully saying Slepnir would throw him off. Cold as he was, and as much as he would deny it, Odin cared about the human as much as they did.

Crusader never suspected a thing. Most of the time when Crusader was around, Palad stayed in Odin's cave. Seeing as Crusader was more of an occasional supervisor, it was easy to keep him in there for just a few hours then let him out again. The closest he had come to being spotted was when all of the espers were gathered around the lake, celebrating Palad's first year with them. Crusader dropped in, and Leviathan quickly coiled around Palad until he was completely invisible to their matron. However, most of the time he was hid well, and Crusader never even thought they could be hiding something from her. As she left for greater lengths of time, Palad had more free reign with the rest of the espers.

Palad himself did great eventually. Now in a warm environment with plenty of room to run about, his health improved greatly. Feeding on the honey and nectar that the espers ate did help him incredibly, and his skin and hair turned as healthy as Starlet's and Odin's. His body became more meaty and strong, and his speed, agility, and strength increased dramatically. His initial eternal nervousness disappeared, and now he was bold, jovial, and even a slight bit adventurous with his new-found family. He grew from being ashamed of his new possessions to being thankful and proud of them. His constant terror of Griever vanished almost entirely, until he barely said anything about him anymore.

That was probably the best years of Bahamut's life in Ultima Nexus. Every day the young human grew stronger and more fascinating. And he did at last what the other espers couldn't do on their own, served as a basis to unite them. Crusader was very pleased with this unexpected turn of emotion, typically, but so was Bahamut. Nobody was an enemy or at odds with one another. Everyone had become more open in some regard. Life was very happy, and times were good. There was never a minute that passed that the espers didn't grow more kindly disposed to the human, and all was right with the world.

"Ha-ha! Come on! Go higher!"

"Higher? Heh! You're so light I expected you to soar off my back a long time ago!"

Bahamut raised his head up and gazed from his small cliff. He smiled again at this sight, though he had seen it before. He had Palad on his back frequently and flew around. However, he talked to him most of the time, and he never risked flying nearly as high as Wyvern did. But, he had learned to deal with it for the time being, and looked after the two of them with hopes that they wouldn't do something stupid.

Bahamut had learned a lot from Palad until now. The young human had said much about the world below. Just a few things were that the big lake was actually the ocean, and that the tall plants were all trees. Normally, a fire had to be started on them or something that would burn, and fire itself was not evil. It gave warmth and heat, and it was better to burn meat and then eat it rather than eat it raw. At least, for humans it was. Bahamut thought deer tasted fine on their own. Only Griever could make fire. After it was made, it would continue if it was placed on another branch that hadn't burned yet. However, Bahamut wasn't thinking nearly so much about basic things like that anymore. He thought more about social structure of these humans.

They had parents, unlike the espers. Apparently, two of them had to engage in some complicated biological ritual. Once they did, the female would have young that it would eventually produce out of its body. After it did, the life form would grow and eventually would mature into a full grown human. Palad was still in the process of maturing himself. The humans lived together in large groups. They had to for warmth and for the added ability for hunting. However, they showed no partiality toward old or young, letting them all fend for themselves equally. Bahamut was puzzled by that. Crusader had always told them not to pick on weaker creatures, and to look out for each other. What Palad said seemed to be a contradiction.

The humans were largely dependant on Griever. They were not allowed to make tools ever, or to do anything much more than eat, sleep, huddle together, and listen to Griever. They could play, but they didn't have time, and in a hostile environment like that it wasn't much good to. Most of the year it was cold, but Palad said that around this time of year it was warmer, and the snow, the white powder, finally melted. He had indeed never seen the sun. No human had, either the sun, the moon, or the stars. All they saw was the cloud cover always. Most of time it snowed, but sometimes it rained during the warmer part of the year. Then, big bolts of light would crash in the sky. Occasionally, those would cause a fire too. But those weren't good fires. They would burn down most of the forest, and usually killed several humans. They were usually thought to be punishments by Griever, or simply something bad that happened.

The humans lived off of whatever edible plants they could find, which weren't many, and deer. There was never enough to satisfy hunger. One of the reasons Palad had become so fast and strong was because he finally felt neither hungry nor weak. Humans died frequently, so in order to keep them going they had to have children frequently as well. There were only few human gatherings in the world, and Griever made sure they didn't interact. They were always centered around the statue, the shiny object, of Griever. Those statues hadn't been made by nature, however. They had simply always been there for as long as anyone could remember.

All of this, however, left one large question in Bahamut's mind. While he was plenty concerned about this dark world and what the humans and Griever had to do with it, he thought also about that spear that Palad had used two years ago. From his own experience, Palad, while an intelligent little lad, lacked the intelligence to have made such a thing on his own. He never said that spears were forbidden, but tools. And it seemed kind of stupid that Griever would show them how to make a spear, then say not to make it. Seeing as it was so foreign and unknown to everyone else in his group, Bahamut began to wonder how Palad had learned how to build it in the first place. He had begun to even ponder the possibility that he hadn't learned it himself at all…but that someone had shown him.

Bahamut was thinking of this possibility again this day. It was another day without Crusader, and the espers were out again. Ogopogo and Leviathan were actually out now too, out of the water, that was. They rarely did so before Palad arrived, but did so freely now. They slithered around and chattered with Starlet. Starlet, on her part, was saying something to Leviathan that was turning the blue beast red. Phoenix was grooming herself up above on one of the higher heights, and Odin had retreated into his cave to train again that morning, with Slepnir with him. Wyvern and Palad were soaring high in the sky, but Bahamut knew they wouldn't be up there much longer. Palad got light headed when they did. Once he got down, he would resolve the issue at last.

Sure enough, after a few more minutes in the sky, Wyvern made for the ground. Bahamut groaned when it was in a dive, making Palad grab and hold on tight as he fell. However, the human seemed to like it, calling out in a bright laugh as they dove down. They went down and down, right for Bahamut's location. Then, finally, at the last moment, Wyvern swept around and down to turn his feet against the ground, and landed nimbly. He collapsed to all fours, and Palad hopped off of the side. He grinned and looked up to the red beast. "That was great! You went even higher and faster than last time!"

Wyvern merely basked in his own enflamed ego at that, and rubbed his claws against his body. "Heh…nothing to it."

Bahamut gave his disapproving look. "You know, you might hurt him one day doing that." He warned his brother.

"Ah, stop being such a wimp, Bahamut." Wyvern replied, waving his claw at him. "You're starting to sound as nagging as Starlet."

"Yeah." Palad playfully replied, waving his own hand at him.

Bahamut formed a mock-irritated look. "Whose side are you on, anyway, you little runt?"

Wyvern and Palad merely snickered at this, and after a moment Bahamut laughed a little himself. It was still all in good fun, and Bahamut wasn't that old yet himself. He was still a tad reckless himself. However, he also remembered the matter at hand, and was eager to get it resolved with their little human. After laughing a little bit, the trio stopped, and Palad walked over to the blue esperr.

"Come on, Bahamut!" He called to him. "I bet you could go higher! Let's find out!"

"Heh, not higher than me, Palad." Wyvern replied confidently.

Bahamut held up a stopping claw. "Maybe later, Palad. Right now, I want to ask you a question."

"Sure." Palad replied. Readily, he sat himself down on the ground, knowing that Bahamut could be a bit lengthy on his questions sometime. Wyvern sighed and leaned against a pile of rocks as well, knowing very well that this could indeed take a while. Bahamut himself lay down a bit longer, and swallowed. He knew that this wasn't the best question to ask Palad. Despite how much he had changed, despite having a weapon and clothes now, he didn't like talking about that day very much. However, the blue esper had no choice. He wanted to know.

"Palad…I have to ask you about what you made…about the spear."

The change was instantaneous. The human, who had been fairly loose and carefree until that point, suddenly flushed another color. He swallowed a bit, and shuddered slightly. His gaze turned downward, and he began to tuck a bit in toward himself, more into that ball that he was when they first met him. Wyvern blinked and looked at him, but listened to the rest of the conversation with intrigue.

"Palad…you didn't make the spear yourself, did you?" Bahamut asked very slowly. "Someone showed you how to make it, didn't they?"

Palad continued to sit silently for a little while, and didn't say anything else. Bahamut continued to look at him. Wyvern also looked in with more interest. The young man breathed slowly and kept his eyes to the ground, not speaking anymore. At last, Bahamut exhaled slightly. "Palad…you can tell me. I'm your friend."

Palad stayed silent for a moment longer. But then, very faintly, he cracked out in a small voice.

"…I've never told anyone…I was afraid…"

Bahamut blinked, his look growing concerned. "Afraid of what?"

"…Afraid that they'd think I knew what he knew…that I did what he did…"

Bahamut's interest was stimulated. "He? Who is he?"

"The old man."

"What old man?"

Palad shivered again, and drew in a deep breath. "I didn't want to meet him…" He muttered. "But I went out one day looking for food. It was winter. I got lost…I got cold… Everything kind of went dark after that… Then I woke up in his house in a cave. I was very sick…I could barely move. But I was scared. He made a bed for me just like you did. He made a fire without help, and he had one burning. He made medicine and mixtures of plants. He wore clothes and made tools too. Everything forbidden…he did. I wanted to run away, but I was too sick. I had to stay for a few days, until I got better… He took care of me the whole time. He fed me and he gave me some of the stuff he made, and I didn't feel so achy so I could sleep. I finally got well enough to leave, so I ran away…and somehow I found my way home… I never went near that area again. I was afraid…I'd get blamed for everything…"

Bahamut hesitated for a moment, rather amazed. Yes, Palad was right. This person did do a lot of things that the young man found forbidden, as did his family and his village. However, Bahamut was rather puzzled by a few more things. This one old man seemed to have a great knowledge of a lot of things if what Palad said was true. Not only did he know how to make tools and medicines, but he also knew how to make fire, it seemed, without the aide of Griever. If Griever was universal in his rules, then he no doubt was going against the rules of him in doing all this.

"There was no statue of Griever there?"

"No. He didn't do anything Griever commanded."

"Was he a human?"

"Yes."

"And you learned how to make the spear because you saw him doing it?"

Palad swallowed, and bowed his head. "I didn't want to… I had no choice. I could barely move, and he did it right in front of me…"

Bahamut went silent after this as Palad trailed off, and began to muse about all that he had learned. As for Wyvern, he snorted himself, and walked forward to pat the young man on the shoulder. "Ah, no worries, Palad. Remember, there isn't any Griever here. If you ask me, that old human seemed to have more sense than that old statue. He was smart enough to use his brains to make things and use them."

Palad still looked hesitant, but raised his head a little. "I…I have been thinking about him a little…" He spoke aloud. "I used to think he was bad…and I didn't tell anyone about him. But now…I'm thinking maybe he was like you guys…that he was just wanting to help me and he didn't know any better…"

Bahamut said nothing, but continued to muse. Very interesting…but it opened a new question. If Palad had learned what he knew from this old man, how did the old man learn it? And if he had learned it from someone else, who had taught him? Or had the old man figured it out all on his own? He had to have some advantage, being able to live all by himself.

However, Bahamut thought of something more. Perhaps…perhaps this man was only as much a human as Starlet and Odin were, in appearance only. And if he was…then perhaps he knew more. Perhaps he knew about Griever, and about the dark world. Perhaps he could finally answer the question as to what was evil in the dark world. Perhaps he could answer the question of why the humans lived as they did. All at once, the blue esper was enthusiastic and excited again, his knowledge stimulated. And, for the first time, a dangerous thought entered his own mind…

Bahamut suddenly raised his head, and looked out to the field. Leviathan and Ogopogo were still slithering around with Starlet walking nearby them. The blue esper hesitated a moment, but then called out to them. "Hey! Leviathan!"

The esper turned his head toward the source of the noise.

"How long until Crusader comes back?"

Both Palad and Wyvern raised their heads at that, intrigued. Leviathan himself shrugged his coils. "Tomorrow morning, I think." He called back.

Bahamut nodded, and then looked away. Leviathan himself looked confused to his brother and sister, but then merely kept slithering onward. Wyvern and Palad looked back to Bahamut now, both of them looking rather curious.

"What was that all about?" Wyvern asked.

Bahamut hesitated a moment, licking his lips. But then, he turned his head toward the young human nearby. "Palad…could you show me where that old man lives…if I took you back to the dark world?"

Palad blinked in a bit of fear. "Huh? Why?"

"You're going again! How many more rules do you want to break!"

"We already broke this one before." Wyvern simply replied.

"This isn't a good idea, you three." Leviathan stated, shaking his head and voicing his concurance with Starlet's own nagging tone. Unlike last time, now that everyone knew about the young human Bahamut and Wyvern had decided to get the whole group together in on it, and tell them all the news. Now, the other five espers were all gathered around. Seeing as none of them had broken the rules yet, all of them looked rather nervous…with the exception of Odin. He merely stood coldly against a rock, his arms crossed before him and his glowing gaze looking expressionlessly at the ground. "Who knows what would happen if Crusader caught you?"

"You said she wouldn't be back until tomorrow morning." Bahamut answered. "This shouldn't take long. I've got to know more about that world."

"What's there to know?" Ogopogo asked. "It's an evil place full of evil creatures. Let's leave it at that."

"Palad is most certainly not evil!" Phoenix squawked back at her brother.

Starlet groaned. "He had better not have a cold when you get back!" She called at them both. Even as she said so, she finished tying a newly made thick cape around Palad's neck and putting the hood over on his head. After that, she turned him around and handed him his stone axe, which he readily took. The young human looked nervous, but he was sure that the old man wasn't bad anymore, and he'd do anything for his friends. Of course, he might have thought a bit differently if he knew that Bahamut and Wyvern were both suspicious of that large monster coming out again when they got there. However, both of them were ready to defend Palad with their lives. Starlet, after adjusting Palad's clothes, bent down in front of her.

"Now you stay close to Bahamut and Wyvern, Palad. And hold on tight when they fly."

"I will." Palad assured Starlet. The esper hesitated a moment, but then leaned forward and gave him a big hug. The young human readily returned it, After a short embrace, he parted and stepped away. Then he turned and rushed over to Wyvern. As many times before, he readily got onto his back and held on like he had so many times before. After warmly bidding goodbye to the human, Starlet looked up to both of the espers and lashed out at them.

"And you two better make sure he doesn't have a single scratch on him or I'll skin your scaly butts!"

"Ah, stop worrying." Wyvern snorted in reply, waving at Starlet.

"Do be careful." Leviathan spoke solemnly, joining in. "She's right. Bahamut…I'm still trying to develop my own mind…but I'm already getting a bad feeling about that portal. Every time I meditate on it and feel uneasy. It's not safe down there."

Bahamut was reminded of the creature again that he saw come out of the ground, but swallowed and proceeded to lie. "Don't worry. I can handle anything down there. The most dangerous thing down there is a bear, and we didn't have any trouble killing one last time. We'll be back as soon as we can."

At that, both Wyvern and Bahamut reared up, and began to flap their wings. As they did, their bodies shook, then began to rise off of the ground. The espers began to look up to them as they departed, and all of them, save Odin, reached up and began to wave.

"Good-bye!"

"Come home soon!"

"Good luck you three!"

"Palad, wear that cape tightly!"

After the last few goodbyes, both Wyvern and Bahamut took off. The two flying espers were soon headed full speed back for the mountain cliffs at the rear of Ultima Nexus. The four espers left behind sighed, and gradually dropped their waving hands and watched them leave. Starlet's face went troubled almost instantly. Odin, for his part, glared out at them as they went and maintained his cold look.

"I hope they'll be alright…" Starlet murmured.

"They're crazy for going down to that dark world again, if you ask me." Ogopogo hissed. "Crazy the first time too."

The espers talked among themselves for a few short moments, but then turned and began to walk away back to their own activities again. They were all full of worry now, both to their brothers as well as to their little human boy. However, they had only gone a few steps when Leviathan turned his head back. He noticed that though the two espers were already gone from view, Odin was still standing there and coldly looking out. The blue esper blinked.

"Aren't you going to practice?"

"…Not today." Odin darkly answered. "I think I'll wait for them this time."

The Crystal shed it's light silently…illuminating the cavern of darkness.

"…They're back."

"Eh? Really? Are you sure, master?"

"Find them and destroy them. Do not fail this time."

"Grrr…I wouldn't have failed last time either, master…if you would have told me they were coming for him…"

"Just be quiet and do your job, Lich."

"He-he…feeding time…"

A few moments of darkless…a funnel of clouds…and suddenly, Bahamut found himself once again floating over a sea of blue and diving through the heavens toward it. He went ahead and did so for a moment, feeling the cooler winds of the dark world strike him. Wyvern quickly approached his side, Palad holding onto him with his cape whipping in the wind. Both espers fell for a few moments, but then both pulled up as one once low enough, and were soon soaring through the sky once more. The day was lighter now, light despite the thick cloud cover. Things were visible. And it was a bit warmer than last time, so both of them were more able as well.

"We're back." Wyvern announced out loud.

"Alright." Bahamut readily answered, eager to get underway. "Palad, where is the old man's cave?"

"We'll have to get back to my village first." Palad called back over the wind. "I can only find it from there."

"Well then, let's go."

Soon, Bahamut and Wyvern were tearing across the sky. Both of them flew faster than before, as both were a bit older and stronger now. Also, Bahamut wasn't nearly so interested with sightseeing this time. Yet even as he raced across the sky, he was able to appreciate the world below a bit better. He now knew what everything was, that he was really looking over a forest, and that the seashore was lashing against it as he went. Mountains and hills were rising up and down all over this forest as he went, and he was able to see deer going to and fro as he flew. He was a bit hungry for meat, a taste that once it had reached his mouth have never really been satisfied by anything else he ate. There was other stuff too. The snow was gone from the ground, and small clumps of grass and other wildflowers were emerging from the soil. They weren't nearly as brilliant looking as the ones in Ultima Nexus, but Bahamut was fascinated with them none the less. Anything new fascinated him.

The two espers shot across the sky for hours. They grew a bit tired this time, not taking any breaks or stopping, not to mention not going at a leisurely pace. But they were still in good enough shape to keep moving. The sky rumbled a few times, something that scared and startled both Wyvern and Bahamut. Palad said that was rain and thunder. That relieved them, but only for a moment, for he said soon after that it always struck the highest point. The two espers immediately dove much closer to the tree line. Yet no lightning came, and except for a few flecks of liquid, which Palad said was rain, there was nothing too bad. The two espers were able to rise again, and flew on stronger.

At last, the two espers began to cross over the area where Palad had lived. Wyvern reached out and pointed to the ground when they came there. Palad looked over the edge and down. For a moment, Bahamut saw a great longing in his eyes, and an inner sadness. The blue esper couldn't blame him. It wasn't until he got to knew the human, and respected him less and less as a creature and more and more as an individual that he realized how powerful the impact had to be on him when he left. However, that didn't change the fact that Palad could still not go back. At least the sign that his village was still there was encouragement. It had obviously been spared by Griever. He hesitated only a moment, but then turned and pointed in a new direction.

"Ok. Go that way." He said, a bit slowly.

Immediately, Bahamut and Wyvern turned and did as they were told, flying in the new direction. Bahamut looked to the sky again and frowned. It was getting dark already, despite how hard they had flown and how they had struggled to get to this point. Soon it would be night, and chilly again. Luckily, it was still nowhere as bad as it had been that winter, and that was always a relief. Bahamut still found himself frequently looking to Palad. The young man looked well enough, but he didn't want to see him starting to get too cold.

The landscape changed as they went along, giving more sights for Bahamut to see. For one thing, a large body of water appeared as they rushed overhead. He thought it was a sea for a moment, but it was a lake, just like his own back home. There was more too. The trees began to part for a little while, and in their place there was a large prairie covered with grass. Big creatures, bigger than bears and deer alike with two little horns and solid bodies, walked and grazed along it, arousing more of Bahamut's attention. He would have liked to look at them more closely…or sample their taste…but resigned himself to wait until later. There were more herds of deer here too, running about on the field. Bahamut noticed that smaller creatures with teeth and claws chased them, but they looked a lot different from bears. They had longer ears, walked on all fours, and had big tails. They also amazed the esper, but he turned away again and looked ahead.

It was still another long trip for them. Hours went by once more, and the sky gradually turned completely dark. At that, Bahamut's tension renewed a bit, and he looked down more closely for any large monsters like that one had been out that one night. He saw nothing though, and as they flew on the forest gradually returned and swept over the area again. Realizing he wouldn't get to see much of anything, he turned his head up and merely kept flying onward. It didn't really matter, he supposed. They were too high and too fast for any creature to get to them. Still, he didn't like where they were that much.

"Hey Palad…" He called out at length. "How much longer until we reach this old man's house?"

"Well…at this speed…I'd say another thirty minutes." Palad answered after a short moment of thinking.

Bahamut sighed. "Great. That's a major relie-"

"UH!"

Abruptly, Bahamut halted in mid-air, and stared in shock. In a flash, a form had shot out from the trees below and had rocketed into the sky like a thunderbolt, until it collided right with Wyvern's chest. The esper blinked for a moment, but then began to make out the figure. It had a huge, hideous body…large forearms…and an evil red glare… He began to feel the evil and power radiating off of it.

It was the creature.

"Hah!" The thing roared in its voice as it smashed its fist into Wyvern. The impact was so strong that Palad was thrown violently off of Wyvern's back. The thing sneered and then fell again, shooting back toward the ground. As it did, Wyvern moaned and slumped over, and began to free fall as well. But he wasn't alone. Palad was now off…and was falling as well! The boy tumbled over in the air, crying out in terror and anguish.

"Palad!" Bahamut yelled out.Bahamut had never tried diving before, but he quickly became brave enough to attempt it once he saw the young human falling. He immediatelyshot straight for him, and extended his claws to grab him. Moments later, he snatched the screaming boy out of the sky and quickly pulled him in protectively to his body. Wyvern continued to fall for a few moments…but then gave out a groan and began to unfurl his wings again. Bahamut himself looked down to the pale, sweating lad as he struggled to pump his wings back into the air.

"Are you hurt?" He asked frantically.

"N-n-no…" Palad slowly replied, stunned by the whole act. However, his eyes suddenly went wide in fear. "Look out!"

Bahamut reacted to that cry, and suddenly sensed the great evil coming back. In a spastic movement, he collapsed his wings and threw himself to the side. Moments later, the hulking beast tore by him, once again punching out with its claw hands. One of its hard talons slashed against Bahamut's shoulder as it did so. The esper cried out in pain, but forced himself to hold on hard to Palad. He began to free fall as well now, his wings tucked in.

The thing glared down at them wickedly and licked its lips. "You're lunchmeat, you flying lizard! First the fleshy whelp for an appetizer, then your scaly face for dessert!" Soon after, he began to free fall back down to the ground as well, cackling all the way through his hideous grimace. Bahamut gasped and looked after him for a short moment, falling as well. But then, as the creature fell below him, he unfurled his wings, turned in mid-air, and began to lift off again, sending himself back into the sky.

As he did so, Wyvern, looking plenty furious, closed in on him. He coughed hard, sounding sore. "That little slimeball…" He hissed. "Where is he! I'll claw his face off!"

"Forget fighting!" Bahamut called back. "That thing is too powerful! Fly for it!"

"HA!" The monster cried out from far below, obviously able to hear them even as high as they were. Both espers turned their heads in shock back down to the ground, but the thing had already vanished back into the trees. "No one escapes me! You're all my midnight snack!"

With that, the hideous behemoth suddenly sprung back out from the tree line and raged back up to the two espers. Immediately, Bahamut and Wyvern turned and began to take off, flying out of his attack pattern as quickly as possible. However, Bahamut only got a few feet when he hesitated. That creature couldn't fly. It could only jump in one direction off the ground. In the air, it had nothing to balance its force on. Realizing the advantage, the esper flew on a bit more, but then suddenly changed directions and turned back to the thing. The monster instantly formed a confused expression as it shot into the sky, noticing Bahamut's change. However, it didn't look confused long. As it neared the same level as Bahamut, the blue esper suddenly swung his tail back, and then whipped it forward to strike the creature with all his might. Thunder sounded as the two body parts collided.

Moments later, the creature was flying through the air in the opposite direction like a giant having hit a ball as hard as he could. As he vanished into the sky and began his long arch downward, the creature emitted a steady stream of nasty language and words that Bahamut had never heard before, all directed toward the three of them. But the esper was more focused on his tail, which now ached through and through for having hit the creature with all his might. Not wanting to be around when the thing came around, Bahamut quickly turned and tore off with renewed vigor in Wyvern's direction. His brother, it turned out, had held back as well. But when he saw Bahamut appear, he turned and readily flew with him, and both soared as fast as they could.

"What in the world was that creature?" Bahamut bellowed in a mixture of shock and anxiety.

Wyvern groaned. "Something that felt worst than diving onto a pile of rocks…" He replied as he rubbed his stomach.

"Have you ever seen a creature like that before, Palad?" Bahamut asked his small passenger.

Palad was still rattled, but shook his head no. "N-n-never, Bahamut. It didn't look at all like Griever… Maybe it was a demon."

"Whatever it was, it's dead meat the next time time I see it." Wyvern hissed.

"Don't be so reckless, Wyvern." Bahamut warned. "I could sense the power of that creature. It makes the both of us look like butterflies. The only reason I was able to do that to it was because it had no base to attack me from. Even so…I think I dented in some of my scales hitting it."

Palad sounded rather worried at that. He had long thought that Bahamut, Wyvern, and the other espers were the strongest creatures there were. Hearing that only made him nervous. "What are we going to do?" He asked them.

Bahamut and Wyvern looked to each other. Neither of them had any immediate answers to give. At length, the former sighed, and then looked back to their flight path. "For right now, we'll head on to the old man's. When we head back, we'll take a long way around to your village, and we'll stay low to the ground to avoid that thing finding us. For now, let's just get there."

"And fast." Wyvern added. "I don't like the idea of Tiny catching up to us at his ability to jump."

To be continued...