Piccolo Sky's Quote-for-the-Day: "Ray...if someone asks you if you're a god, you say, 'YES'!"

"Ah."

"You remember now."

"Surprised to see us?"

Bahamut couldn't grasp it. It was impossible. There was no way that Tiamat could have been revived. Only Phoenix had the power, and her magicite was safe and tucked away. Even if it wasn't, Bahamut had oblierated the creature's body. Only ash was left.

"There wasn't anything of you left to revive..." Bahamut exhaled.

At this, the heads laughed evilly. Their noise was cruel to the ear and loud and booming. Three of the heads tipped back and sounded loudly. The others merely glared evilly at Bahamut and laughed long and loud. They kept doing so without explaining themselves. Theymocked the esper, as if insulting all of his attempts to kill them. As this went on, Bahamut felt his astonishment leave. His anger began to grow instead. His hands balled back into fists. He sneered at the thing, but it only continued to laugh and mock him. The esper glared in fury at it, and decided he had taken enough. As Tiamat continued to laugh, he began to summon his power inside him. There was no sun, but his Mega-pyrin had grown more than strong enough to kill Tiamat a hundred times over. He could sense that even its evil wouldn't withstand this. It was time to destroy this monster.

Finally, as Tiamat continued to laugh, Bahamut opened his mouth, exposing the burning ball of light within. "MEGA-PYRIN!"

The Fiend of Air continued to laugh as the huge blast erupted from Bahamut's mouth. Huge red balls of light soon struck the monster in its central head, and erupted immediately. A huge explosion tore through the castle, so strong that Bahamut was forced backward from the blast. But he continued to focus, and bombarded the creature with more orbs of burning energy. One by one, they struck the monster and exploded. One by one, the huge fiery blasts tore through the creature. Fire and heat rocked it, blasting into its flesh and searing its very blood.The monster's laughter was swallowed up into the sounds of fire and destruction.

Finally, however, it died down. The chamber filled with more fire and smoke than ever, but it managed to dissipate somewhat. Bahamut staggered back a bit more, feeling soreness in his neck and mouth. It had been generations since he had done that attack, and he was severely out of practice. However, he had managed to focus it much more intensely than before. Otherwise the whole castle might have fallen down. As it was, Tiamat was the sole recipient of the attack. He breathed a bit heavily from that move, a bit tired out from performing it. However, ahead of him, he watched the smoke clear, and was satisfied with his results.

A black, bloody stump was all that was left of Tiamat. The entire upper torso and six heads had been totally vaporized. The tail and the legs continued to stand, but that was all. The laughter still echoed, but it was fading quickly. The monster was gone. Bahamut glared at this, and exhaled one last time to get his breath back. It was over. That thing had talked big, and sadly had done a great deal of damage, but it was gone now. The only problem that Bahamut could see was why Odin hadn't been able to destroy it. Considering how easy that had been, it must have been much weaker than Odin. One Gunge Lance would have done it. But it was no matter. The thing was gone. Bahamut prepared to turn and leave...

...until the esper noticed something, causing him to wheel back around to the monster.

Its power hadn't changed.

It hadn't lost any energy.

"What the...?" The esper began to remark.

However, that remark was swallowed in a gasp of surprise, as the monster's top suddenly bulged. To Bahamut's shock, the tail and legs began to move again. Then, in a sound of twisting sinews, muscles, and gushing blood, the monster's blasted torso began to invert and cover, like the stump of a tree that had a limb cut off begins to grow over itself and cover it with bark. Only this happened with scales and flesh, and worked much quicker. To Bahamut's horror, once it was covered, it began to bulge and elongate, and the torso began to reappear. Soon, two shafts of flesh erupted from the center of the former stump. These shafts turned out to be arms, and as the stump continued to elongate and flesh seemed to pour out of the center, the two arms shifted back into their former position. Finally, the top of the stump bulged, and held for a brief moment. In a flash of blood it suddenly exploded...and to Bahamut's surprise the six heads on each of their six long necks came out and fixed themselves back in position. They paused only a moment...but then looked up and grinned evilly at Bahamut.

"Miss us?" They all asked together.

Bahamut was speechless. There was no way they could have survived that assault. However, he didn't hesitate long. Soon after, he spun around and swung his tail at the six new heads of Tiamat. It smashed into two heads, but when it reached the third, the neck coiled out and curved inward, stopping the tail cold. The monster retorted with swinging its own fist at Bahamut. The esper quickly extended his own hand and clenched the fist as it came to his head...but a moment later the monster simply drove another head forward and smashed it into Bahamut's face. The esper soon went flying backward from the blow, staggering in pain. However, he righted himself soon after, and stopped his body in mid flight. He looked forward and glared at the beast.

"You're weaker than me. You can't win." He told the monster.

Tiamat merely began his wicked laugh again.

"Can't we?"

"Your puny brother spouted similar nonsense."

"You don't get it, do you?"

"You don't have to be stronger..."

"...When you're immortal!"

Bahamut sneered, and quickly shot forward again at the monster. As he reached it, he quickly swung one of his claws in a chopping shape at one of the creature's necks. It connected, and immediately he heard the vertebrae snap in the neck of the beast. Its head bent to one side limply. However, to Bahamut's surprise, the monster grinned and brought up another head to fire off a Pyron at point-blank range. Bahamut soon was sent flying off of Tiamat with another explosion. As he did, the monster brought up an arm and merely snapped his head back into place. Bahamut, on his part, soon got up, and quickly braced himself to attack again. But Tiamat didn't give the chance. The monster lowered two of its heads, and spat off a pair of Pyrons right at the dragon esper. Bahamut's eyes widened to see these coming, but he merely gave a yell and punched. His fist connected with both Pyrons at once, and detonated them. After that, Bahamut shot forward through the explosions and fire to attack again. But right before he could attack the monster again, Tiamat spat out two more Pyrons. Bahamut, who had twisted around to drive his feet right at the monster, connected with them, and another explosion soon sent him flying back. Moments later, he righted himself again and landed on the ground. He huffed and puffed now, and sweat was forming on his brow.

"You're out of shape, Bahamut." The thing mocked.

"You don't get it yet, do you?"

"Odin refused to understand either."

"You're wasting your energy trying to kill us."

"Your power will fade..."

"...While our power never decreases."

"Your injuries will add up..."

"...While ours heal instantly."

"Your loss is inevitable."

"Your strength is irrelevant."

"In the end, you are mortal."

Bahamut grit his teeth. He was furious at this thing, while at the same time realizing it was right. He was not only out of shape and practice, but he was getting weaker while Tiamat remained unchanged. Somehow, the thing wasn't losing any power. And it wasn't taking any lasting damage either. But how was this possible? Why was it suddenly this strong? What had even made it return? Bahamut sneered and rose to his feet again, preparing himself for another attack. But instead of doing so, he yelled out to the monster.

"How are you doing this? How did you even come back?"

The heads laughed at this in response. They seemed to have been waiting for this answer, and grinned on hearing Bahamut talk of it. They seemed to be all too eager to inform him, and were plotting some wickedness with the answer.

"You really want to know?"

"Very well."

"In truth, it's your fault, Bahamut."

The esper's face turned to shock again at this. "What?" He answered, his tone in such disbelief that he couldn't be shocked. "That's a lie. I did nothing to revive you. I'd just have soon see you burn in hell."

Tiamat merely grinned back wickedly. "You're a fool. You were a fool when we met you, and you haven't improved much."

"After all these years, you still don't understand the nature of the Crystal. Or Crystals. Whatever you like to call them."

"What nature!" Bahamut demanded. "Make some sense!"

This only made the Fiend of Air more amused. However, he didn't taunt any longer. He spoke with a malicious glee.

"We were evoked from the dark side of the Crystal."

"The Crystal can take on a light or dark nature, depending on the hearts and nature of those who 'eclipse' it, so to speak."

"Griever had powerful evil in him. His evil overshadowed the whole world and the Crystal with it, and changed its nature to darkness."

"We, the Four Fiends of the Elements, were born out of that darkness...living representations of the dark side of nature."

"But you and your brethern destroyed both us and Griever..."

"You removed the darkness that covered the world, and threw the balance back to light. Because of that, the Crystals became light, and we faded away."

"But..."

"You left the potential for great evil alive on this world..."

Bahamut sneered again at the monster. He didn't know what it was talking about, but he had left no evil. He had disposed of Griever's magicite. He had seen Hades and Ark rubbed out, and had destroyed that dark temple as well. He had fought an endless battle against wickedness in the world. For a moment, he was about to demand the monster tell him what evil he had left. He would accuse them to tell him what monster still lived...

But even as he opened his mouth to speak...he changed. His eyes softened again. His anger vanished. A great fear sank into his soul, and his mouth slackened and collapsed. The final words of Griever echoed in his mind again. He grew silent, and a horrible, pervasive fear filled him.

No...it couldn't be true. It couldn't be possible. They...they had good in them... They had the potential for it... The world had grown bad...very bad...very, very bad... But certainly...it couldn't be...it couldn't possibly have gotten as bad as it was under Griever! It couldn't have gotten that evil and horrible!

...Could it have?

It wasn't true... It was impossible... It had to be! This couldn't be...

"Those precious humans you loved so much..." Tiamat taunted, driving icy cold daggers deep into Bahamut's soul.

"You thought they were so good and kind..."

"You loved them so pathetically..."

"We warned you about them."

"But you wouldn't believe us."

"Now...their evil has grown beyond Griever's!"

"They have turned this world into one of darkness!"

"Their hate and wickedness has unbalanced the Crystals..."

"...And we have returned to rule the world again!"

Bahamut's eyes were wide with fear. He glared at the monster. However, he clenched his mouth, and shook his head. "No...no, that's not true..."

"Believe it, fool!" One mocked in glee.

"Even Griever's evil was too little to totally eclipse the Crystals!"

"But the evil of the humans..."

"Concentrated and reinforced..."

"It has been enough to turn the Crystals completely dark."

"Their light will never return."

"Their darkness is now eternal."

"And because of that..."

"...We will live forever!"

"And it's all thanks to you!"

Bahamut's eyes filled with terror. Crusader rang out through his head. It joined the rest of his fears, doubts, and growing hatred of humanity. Now, they all danced around inside his head as the monster before him continued to laugh hideously. Bahamut was horrified. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. His head bowed in shock and defeat. The heat and smoke seemed to press in on him from all sides, and everywhere there was mocking and taunting for years. It couldn't be true...it just couldn't be...

And yet, he knew it wasn't. The evil he had felt...all that there was to feed it was humanity. Years had passed...centuries... But they continued to grow more wicked. With nothing to restrain them, their evil continued to swell and grow. Their sins and darkness had become oppressive and loathesome to all espers. And yet they only continued. Love was being beaten down daily. Thoughts of honor and justice were fading. Now, all any thought of was selfish evil and gain. Neither Gilgamesh nor Odin had stopped this. It had just continued on and on...growing along with dark creatures, dark dragons, and structures like the Temple of Chaos. Nothing would restrain this reckless evil and wanton destruction. Humanity had grown so corrupted...so impure since Palad. They bore no trace of the innocence he once had. They were sickening perversions...wretched beings that Bahamut had wanted to wipe out centuries earlier, before they had grown even worse... He realized in terror and horror that Tiamat was right. It was their evil. The whole time...their growing evil had done these monstrous things and had been boiling over to bring a return of darkness. Now, the world was slipping back into darkness...and it was all because of their evil. They were consuming all life with it...and now they had unleashed the powers of chaos themselves. Never...never had he dreamt that the humans would grow so wicked...but they had grown even more so. They brought back the destructors...the monsters that Bahamut and his family had fought and died to free them from. The light they had worked so hard to win for them...they had rejected it in favor of darkness. And now, if Tiamat truly spoke the truth...if their very evil had turned the Crystals...then the Planet itself would...

Abruptly, Bahamut's anger returned. His sadness and shock faded, and he glared up hatefully at the laughing face of Tiamat. He bellowed only one word of rage before shooting forward at the thing once again.

"NO!"

Before Tiamat could prepare any type of defense, Bahamut was on him. He tackled the massive creature and unloaded on him. His claws slashed down again and again, and his fists pounded the flesh of all six heads. Black blood flew everywhere. Bones crushed and splintered in his hands. Flesh and juice was thrown off and flung everywhere. Devouring fire poured from his mouth and roasted the flesh of Tiamat again and again, as he continued to rip and tear without any relenting or mercy. He wanted it to stop laughing. He wanted it to stop being so smug. He wanted it to feel pain. He wanted it to suffer in terror. He wanted the thing to just die...die...DIE!

And as he struck it...he realized he began to see the faces of every filthy, loathesome, disgusted specimen of human he had ever seen in his life. He bashed these in. He tore them off and crushed them. He hated them all...wanted them all dead. They were killing the Planet. They were killing his mother. They spat in his face after all he had done for him. Their evil was perverting the natural order of all things, and still they would not stop! He had suffered so much for them, and still they continued! He tore through more and more faces, until the evil ones vanished and regular humans as well began to put themselves on his face. But they faded too...for even the evil had come from good ancestors. Yet they didn't make their children better. Their existence meant the birth of evil humans later. Their race was poisoned. They were all wicked. They all had evil in their hearts. They were a cancer...destructive no matter how much good they had. Their evil would always win...would twist the world... They were all guilty...all horrible...all worthy of death...

And at the peak of his anger...Bahamut saw Palad's own face on Tiamat's.

He paused only a moment...before he drove his fist forward and smashed every bone in the skull.

Traitor...

That was the last blow he could get in. After that, Tiamat's fist came up and abruptly struck Bahamut in his own face. The blow was powerful and focused enough to send the esper flying off of the Fiend's body, and sent him flying backward across the chamber once again. He soon landed, and the Fiend of Air quickly twisted and stood up once again. His six heads grinned again at the fallen esper as he rose up and began to mock him once again.

"Oh, don't waste your energy on trying to kill us."

"We don't want the fun all to ourselves, after all."

"Our brethren will be coming back soon enough."

"They want a piece of you as well."

Bahamut exhaled. The fury in his mind died down somewhat, but he was still full of anger. He hated the Fiend more than anything now...and hated that he couldn't destroy it. At any rate, Tiamat went on.

"Don't be so worried yet, Bahamut..."

"What's the wind, after all?"

"Birds will be grounded."

"High altitude plants will die."

"Ships won't be able to move."

"Nothing that good."

"Of course, we will be able to cause destruction."

"And the other elements will continue to die..."

"But just wait for another 600 years to go by..."

Bahamut's eyes opened a bit at this. "Why? What happens in 600 years?"

Tiamat grinned in delight.

"Why Bahamut, that's when the water will turn fetid."

"And that's when Kraken will return."

"Then all the fish will die..."

"People will drink poison..."

"Plants will begin to wilt..."

"And the rain will stop."

"Give it another 600 years, and all fire will turn cold as Kary returns."

"Eternal night will cover the earth."

"...And the world will turn to ice."

"And in the final round of 600 years, Lich will finally return."

"Then the earth will totally rot..."

"...And turn to lifeless rock."

"In the end, the Planet will be a lifeless wasteland."

"There won't be one human left."

"Or any esper for that matter."

"After all, there's no need to do this all at once."

"We may as well drag it out for a very, very long time!"

The Fiend of Air began to laugh hideously again at this. Bahamut could only stare. The shock was still settling in. The anger of everything that had happened...and this latest bit of information... He could barely fathom it. All of this...it had been happening right under their nose and he hadn't even been aware of it. And now, he realized the horrible truth. He realized this thing wasn't lying. He was really going to do all of this. All he had said was the truth...and there was nothing he could do anymore. He couldn't destroy it. He couldn't stop it. He couldn't do anything...and it was all because of the evil of mankind. They had brought this on themselves and now it was going to kill everything... It was going to destroy the very planet itself.

"So what will you do, Bahamut?"

"Will you attack now?"

"Or will you wait for us to kill you?"

"Or do you want to wait for the Planet to rot to nothing around you?"

Bahamut glared at him. He wanted to do something else, but he couldn't. Right now, his mind was too awash with anger and fury. Too much confusion was going through it. He couldn't focus. He needed time to sort things out. He needed time to think harder. And right now...he didn't even care if an entire continent worth of humans died during his absence. He glared one last time at Tiamat, but then reacted.

In a flash, the esper turned around and took off. He shot back out the way he came, and then rocketed back into the sky. As he left and went back into the smoky night, the hideous laughing of the monster rang in his ears for miles.

"This...this is impossible..."

That was all that a stunned Starlet could remark three days later. It took Bahamut that long to return home. Without the wind, he could barely fly. In the end he needed to use his power of leviatation to move himself, and he had already exhausted so much power fighting Tiamat that it took him a while to regain it. However, he had returned at last. But the espers, who by now were all up and in arms about what had transpired, were hard pressed to gain anything from him. They had never seen him so brooding and angry before. It was a few hours before he stopped fuming long enough to tell them what he had seen. When they heard the news, they were understandably shocked. At the moment, only the highest espers on the council knew about it. It was only a matter of time before the others found out, however. When they did, there would be much more panic and fear at what was going on. And that was understandable. They were dealing with nothing else but the end of the world, and there was no way to stop it.

"Well...he obviously had to be lying..." Ogopogo spoke up at last, giving a shrug from his position. However, he already betrayed his true feelings. He had turned a pale shade ever since hearing that Tiamat was alive again, and he had not yet died down.

Leviathan, however, sighed and shook his head in response to this, causing the council members to turn to him. Leviathan had been conducting his own investigation during Bahamut's absence. He had only returned recently with news, but what he had to say was not good.

"I'm afraid that he might have been telling the truth." He sadly answered. "I've sensed the other Crystals and checked the Fire Crystal. What he confirmed was true. I can no longer sense any warmth or light coming from them. They've turned completely dark, without a trace of light still in them. And the elements are changing. I can sense it, and I'm sure the rest of you can as well. The elements are dying on this world. They're growing weaker every day. The wind is completely dead, but the water is beginning to grow dirty as well. With the wind alone gone, we can expect massive dieoffs of plants and animals in the world. And none of our dragons or flying kindred will be able to soar in the air again."

"I tried to inspect the Wind Crystal, but it was impossible." Ramuh sighed as he slowly shook his head. The others turned to him, and again noted that Ramuh was sporting one arm in a sling and leaned a bit uneasily on his staff. He had seen some action in the past three days as well. "The entire Lufenian City is overrun. Only one out of ten of them survived. They have fled to the Planet in a desperate attempt to rebuild. They are frightened and overwhelmed at what has happened to them, and they now fear us and all others on this world. As for the palace itself, all manners of mechanics and devices are now under the control of Tiamat. None may enter without encountering their wrath." Ramuh sighed a bit, and looked down to his arm with a frown. "I myself barely escaped a massive metal creature they named WarMech..."

"The fortress is the least of your problems." Shiva suddenly spoke up from her own position, causing everyone to turn to her and her spouse, Ifrit. "When the Crystal changed, the world itself seemed warped. Natural creatures became perverted and dark. All manner of loathesome beings exploded out of the sky and are now swarming the earth, attacking humans and civilizations everywhere. The people who are stranded at sea...well, it's probably already too late to save them. But everywhere else is now struggling to defend itself against the hoardes that are rampaging the Planet."

"And Tiamat is the worst." Ifrit added. "That monster is destroying everything on the Northern Continent. He's annihilating everything he comes across. Odin's forces have regrouped and have focused their attacks on the creature, but they aren't able to stop it."

"If what Tiamat said was true..." Leviathan darkly whispered, staring out ahead blankly and fearfully at the center platform of the council chamber. "...Then there isn't an attack they, or any of us, can do to stop that thing."

The people went silent here. Not one esper spoke again, but all formed fearful expressions.The younger had heard stories of Griever and the Four Fiends. The older ones had experienced it firsthand. But neither believed such times would ever come again. And even if they did, they didn't think it would herald the end of the Planet itself. The world was literally dying now. The Crystal had turned to darkness. The Planet itself was slowing fading. And they could do nothing against it. They could only stand and watch as things turned to evil.

Leviathan turned to Bahamut, seated on his king's position at the head of the council. But he offered no advice. The dark look from before was in his eyes, and he glared ahead at the ground. His chin was in his hand, and his eyes burned the floor with a fierce look. He seemed greatly angered about something, which Leviathan knew was the human involvement. Yet there was nothing he could say. In truth, Leviathan was shocked as well. They all were. But that didn't change the fact that he wanted Tiamat stopped. He wanted the Planet saved while there was still time.

"There has to be something we can do." Starlet protested. Her voice was growing whining and desperate, wanting an answer to all this trouble. "Is there any way we can relight the Crystals? That would kill Tiamat, wouldn't it? And bring the wind back?"

Leviathan paused darkly in response to that. The others were silent and motionless, not knowing what else to say. But at length, Leviathan raised his head and began to speak slowly. "The Crystals are completely dark. They cannot be relit under their own power. There is only one thing that could possibly relight them. When they were broken into four pieces, parts of them were fragmented off into shards. If those shards weren't perverted by Griever's evil and still bore light within them, and somehow they survived being snuffed out by this recent turn of events, and somehow they were brought back to the original Crystals...then perhaps they would get some light back and have a chance of relighting. But not only would the darkness of this world likely snuff them out just as quickly, the shards have been lost for thousands of years. We would never find them again. They could literally be anywhere on the Planet. Even if all espers were searching for them, we might never find them."

"Well...then..." Starlet began to respond, pausing for a moment. Finally, she shook her head and spat it out. "We'll just need to get more help. What about humans? We could get every human in the world to help us."

Ogopogo frowned at this and looked puzzled at it. "Do you really think after all these years that the humans would just go and help us? And besides, why would they drop everything for that? They've got to defend themselves from Tiamat now."

"Well...that's just the thing." Starlet threw back. "They'll all trying to save themselves from Tiamat. They can rally now. They can unite together against this and be committed to saving the world. Maybe this could mean a change. Maybe this will be an end to their evil, and we'll have a chance to finally bring back a world where the Crystal can flourish."

"Sorry, Starlet, but I wouldn't bet on it."

Again, the whole council turned to look to a new voice. This time, however, it was in the doorway. As they turned and looked, their eyes fell upon a new arrival...Palidor. She seemed tired and winded. She had the best power over levitation and flight, but she was still struggling to fly in thie wind. It was barely possible even if one generated their own lift. But she had managed to come out, and now she had come back. However, her expression was dark and sad. Bahamut had been ignoring most of the dialogue until now, not so much as looking up to anything. He did now, looking to the esper and focusing on her.

"Palidor...what did you find?" Leviathan addressed immediately.

Palidor sighed and kept her head bowed, but finally began to respond. "Odin's army regrouped. They fortified their position again, and prepared for another assault against Tiamat. The sortie failed. There wasn't a single survivor. Odin then put out a call for a truce with the warring civil factions. He told them of Tiamat and wanted an alliance with them to destroy the Fiend of the Air." Here, Palidor paused and began to catch her breath again, for she was still breathing hard.

After a few moments, however, Leviathan asked again. "And...?"

Palidor looked back up, and her eyes filled with sadness.

"The factions attacked Odin's encampment immediately. They inflicted heavy casualties on civilians. Now, the factions are lapping up at the heels of Odin's forces. Every time Tiamat inflicts a loss, they rush in and compound it."

The espers were stunned. They fell back in their seats. Shock pervaded the room. Leviathan's face was filled with the most horror of all. He was totally appalled at this. He couldn't comprehend it. None of them could. This was crazy...insane! Could they have possibly heard right?

"Fools..." Ifrit sneered. "All of them! They need to unite, and now they torture each other!"

"Do they not realize that this is their own extinction? They are flirting with annihilation of themselves and the Planet!" Ramuh blasted in response. "If they don't unite now, there won't be any kingdoms left to unite when Tiamat has finished!"

"How could they have come to this point?" Leviathan breathed in astonishment. "How could they become so shallow and petty? They actually are encouraging that monster to finish their opponents for them! They actually want it to annihilate their fellow man! The Fiend of theWind was speaking the truth...humanity has grown so wicked that their evil is leading them to self destruction. The world itself is dying...and they still want to continue their petty little wars!"

"Then we can't depend on humans any longer, I guess." Ogopogo sighed and spoke up as he shook his head. "We'll have to take Tiamat out ourselves. We could destroy the Wind Crystal..."

"Yes, yes..." Starlet snapped back in an irritated, sarcastic voice. "Then the wind will be dead forever. Even one destroyed Crystal is enough to eventually destroy this world. We need to find another way. Even if it means searching for that shard ourselves."

Leviathan was still shocked. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head, stunned at what was going on. Inside, he too was angry at humanity for this. But knew that merely being upset would accomplish little. In the end, he turned to Bahamut. The king was still looking to Palidor, but his eyes were downward and focused on some other object. He was doubtlessly deep in thought again, and said nothing. At last, Leviathan inhaled and spoke up to him. "Bahamut...what do you think we should do? How should we proceed?"

The whole chamber went silent and turned to Bahamut at this. All quieted their own anger and distress, and turned to their leader. They expected a grand decision from him, or some plan to deal with this new difficulty. But they saw nothing. Bahamut kept his eyes downcast. He didn't move or shift in the least. For a few moments, they just stood in silence.He had been silent the whole time, and he didn't stop now. Finally, he turned one tired, dark look to them all for a moment. Immediately, he turned it away again, and then returned it to them a second afterward. At long last, he did speak to them. But his voice was not booming or commanding. It wasn't calm or controlled either. It was simply tired and weary. For Bahamut had been thinking long and hard since his fight with Tiamat. And as he did, all of the actions he had taken were brought up to mind. More and more, he felt betrayed. After all he had done, the humans had grown more wicked. They cared nothing for goodness or right anymore. They cared for nothing but themselves and for evil. He thought again and again about what Griever had said before he died. For centuries, he had feared thinking of that. He was afraid that he'd believe it and that he'd attack the humans or dominate them. He thought he'd make himself a tyrant over them and make their very souls into his slaves. Now...he hated the fact that he didn't take that advice earlier. He hated the fact that he didn't subjugate the humans long ago. They were now destroying both him and his world due to their hate. And now, he had the answer to this.

"Proceed...?" He responded at last, darkly and slowly, half disconnected from the conversation. "How should we proceed...?" A brief pause went by. "Here's how we shall proceed. We shall sit by and do nothing."

Silence once again went through the chamber. But this time, it was due to surprise. Puzzlement struck the faces of the espers. They seemed to think they had not heard right. Bahamut hadn't just said that. Leviathan blinked, and leaned his head in. "Um, sir?"

"You said it yourself, Leviathan." Bahamut simply answered. His face showed no emotion, just a dark demeanor. "They're letting Tiamat destroy their opponents for them. Turnabout is fair play. Let us let Tiamat destroy the humans for us."

Now the group really was shocked. Their stiffened in surprise at all of this, and began to uneasily shift in their spots. Had Bahamut just encouraged the destruction of humans? Bahamut loved humans more than any other esper. And yet now, he just said he wanted them dead? Ogopogo scratched his head a bit, and spoke uneasily up in reply to this. "Er...Bahamut...am I getting you right? You actually want us to stand by and do nothing? The humans will be destroyed. There is no way they can stand up to any of this. And you're ok with that?"

"Is there a reason I shouldn't be, Ogopogo?" Bahamut half-snapped back, actually causing his brother to recoil a little. "The humans are the ones who caused this. They brought this evil into the world. They perverted the Crystals. If they were gone, there would be a chance of recovery. But as long as their evil remains, they'll poison the Crystals again. Their very wickedness is slowly turning this Planet into a wasteland. They'll kill all life through their evil, including themselves and us. Is there any reason I shouldn't allow Tiamat to kill them? In fact, is there any reason I shouldn't be going out and slaughtering humans myself?"

The espers were visibly shocked now. They had never heard such things from Bahamut. It sounded almost like a different person. Never had any expected Bahamut to say such things. It was overwhelming. It was even more shocking than the news that the Planet was dying. They were stunned. Some were even horrified. Starlet, who too had a love for the humans, was flabbergasted. Her mouth hung open in shock. She retorted in amazement at the dragon esper. "Lord Bahamut...have you gone mad? What are you saying? This is talk of a madman!"

"No, it is talk of a practical man!" Bahamut suddenly snapped. The esper drew himself to his full height, and power suddenly flew out from him. A shock went through the air, and as he revealed his intimidating power and body, the other espers shrank back in fear and stared at him in surprise. But Bahamut was angry now.He glanced around the room angrily blasting out. "All of you, open your eyes! What is this you are saying! Save the humans? Rescue them as we once did? Feh...why? Why did we save them last time? We wanted them to live in freedom and peace! We destroyed their oppressors and the source of evil in this world! We did not think of saving Griever, our brother, or the Four Fiends before, did we? No. We showed them no pity because they were destroyers of the Planet and creatures of evil. Why should we not be the same for these humans? Look at them! Murders! Thefts! Rapes! Molestations! Destructions! Burnings! Tortures! Wars! They've proved themselves as evil, heartless, and selfish as Griever a thousand times over for thousands of years! And yet we put up with it for so long as their race grew more and more preverted! Time and time again we endured them and allowed the few good on this world to try and outdo the bad, and time and time again the evil have smothered them and continued to grow! We saved them! Provided help for them! Ensured their prosperity! And this is how we are repaid? I for one have had enough. My duty is to ensure that this planet survives, not that a race of destroyers survives. I will help them no longer. Their evil brought this out. Their evil can deal with it now. Humanity can reap what it has sown. This world will never recover so long as they live."

The espers were shocked and stunned. They couldn't believe this. Starlet was overwhelmed. Palidor was too, as were many other good natured espers. But ones like Leviathan, Shiva, and Ifrit kept their heads bowed. They thought of what Bahamut had said, and sadly...it made sense. It was the evil of men that had done this. Their wickedness had grown so strong that the world itself was beginning to die. Their very existence was killing the Planet. They were no longer the innocent and pure individuals they once were. Now, they had grown so perverse and horrible that they were only a shadow of the good creatures they had once been. Even if they did save them...their evil would continue to grow. And it would cause this incident to happen again. Already, the world looked doomed to die. It would take a miracle to stave off its destruction. And if the humans lived and simply caused it to be destroyed again...what good would it do? Perhaps they were the problem now...

"Bahamut..." Starlet spoke at last. "You...you can't mean that... You must remember Palad..."

"Palad is dead, and he sired filthy offspring." Bahamut coldly retorted, shocking both Starlet and everyone in the room. He no longer had any love for that name, something that even the hardest of the old espers had. At any rate, he turned to the others and spoke again. "I will take no action until the last human draws his final breath. Only then can this world be saved. My last order until that time I issue now. Leviathan, you are to gather as many creatures as you can that you feel will be threatened by the coming disasters, and preserve them until the crisis is over." With that, Bahamut turned away from the council, and seemed to start to walk out.

The group was shocked at this. Quickly, they rose to their feet in reply, Leviathan among them. He called out after him. "Lord Bahamut, what do you mean? Why is this your last order? Are you going somewhere?"

"Indeed I am." Bahamut answered, pausing and turning his head slightly behind himself, but not turning around. "I will be deaf to any pleading on behalf of the humans. Doing so will incite me to anger. And I can no longer stand to be here and watch the world turn to dust before my eyes as they destroy it. I will seek solice and solitude with my kindred southwest of here. And I hereby forbid any esper from visiting me. They may only come when summoned. Should I desire contact, I will send my offspring out to acquire it and present it to me. Do not move to dispute me on this. Right now, before God, I am so vexed with the entire human race that one more word about them will likely send me joining Tiamat in carrying out their annihilation."

The group was stunned, but they would not dispute their master. They could only stand there as they watched him turn back around and storm out of the chamber. Soon he was gone, and the sounds of his footsteps faded as he left the hall. Leviathan stared back and sighed in response. He bowed his head slightly and raised his human hands to rub his temples. This was the last thing he wanted. He wanted to do something about the Crystals and the Fiends right now.They couldn't afford this bickering. The future of the Planet itself was at stake! They could all be dead within a few thousand years! And yet...what could he say? A part of him agreed with Bahamut. Humanity...they had gone against their wishes so badly. They weren't even a shadow of the innocent creatures they once were. Even if they could fix the Planet, what good would it do? If humanity continued to remain so dark, then they would not be able to save the world even if they could relight the Crystals. Their evil had done the unthinkable. It would do it again. Something wasn't that right about all this, however. Leviathan had a feeling that there was something more to this than just the evil of men... But regardless of what it was, the evil of men was causing it. And Bahamut was sadly right. How could they save them or the Planet if humans were around to do more evil?

However, Leviathan was truly content to sit by the sidelines for one other reason. That was for hope at reconcilation. Perhaps this danger and chaos would one day change humanity. Perhaps the wicked of the old generation would die out, and in the crucible of pain and struggle truly innocent and just humans would emerge again. People who were willing to stand against this evil and forget their petty differences and squabblings. It was in such situations thousands of years ago that people like Palad came into the world, humans with hearts pure and true. Maybe this incident could make them change. Maybe they could allign to save themselves. Perhaps true goodness would be exposed once again, and there would be a chance for true reconcilation. Then the world would turn good again...and then, perhaps, the world could truly be saved and the humans could live there. They might once again become the race with potential for good that he and his family had saved so many years ago.

And perhaps...Bahamut too could become reconciled to them at that time.

However, there was nothing more to be done at the time than carry out Bahamut's orders. As the espers turned from the door and back to Leviathan, the sea serpent in the guise of an old man rose up once again and gave a nod. Many of them looked upset to just sit by and do this, but others seemed content for now.

"Right." He spoke. "We will carry out Bahamut's final orders, and hope for his return and a soon end to this madness."

Some frowned, but bowed their heads in acceptance. Others shook their heads and turned away, and some looked upset. Leviathan himself lowered his head a bit, and spoke out another comment.

"This will be a difficult time for us all, and let us pray that it will be short. The Age of Chaos has begun."

To be continued...