I do not own Legend of Dragoon or any of the characters.
Into the Moon
Cade groaned as he stirred, feeling something lapping at hia face. He shook his head to get whatever it was to back away, then opened his eyes, staring at the three-legged reptilian creature standing on his chest. It had red along its top and underside, a single eye on the end of its pointed, cone-like head, just above it's tiny mouth, and grey skales on its head, two-clawed arns, and tail.
"Oh, you're one of those...what were they...Pseudo Dragons," Cade said, remembering his mother teaching him about the extinct species.
He groaned as he shifted and took a minute to heal himself before standing and pixking up his magic sword, switching it for his normal one. Then, he pucked up the tiny dragon offshoot and set it on his shoulder before extending his wings and flying up toward the Moon That Never Sets. He couldn't have been out for long. There was still dust in the air from the Moon landing. Just as this thought occurred to him, a pair of rosrs rang out and he spun himself, seeing two massive, feline monsters with scorpion tails and lesthery wings flying toward him.
"Hold on, little guy!" Cade said, then shot forward, the Pseudo Dragon's feet clinging to his shoulder and upper back firmly.
The first Manticore stabbed at him with its stinger, and he deflected it, slashing it along the side and killing it before rolling over a swipe from the second's claws and slashing a wing off, the manticore roaring as it fell to its death. Then, Cade was streaking upward again. As he flew, Cade was able to see fruits hatching all over the tree, monsters swarming everywhere like ants on a normal tree. Massive, brown monkeys carrying logs of wood called Mountain Apes, human-cat hybrids called Cute Cats, dragon-type monsters of all lesser kinds, manticores, horse-like monsters with masses of tentacles in place of heads and a drilled horn sticking out of the top called Unicorns. There were so many.
Cadd spun, forming a barrier just before a Virage exploded into it, tackling him into the Divine Tree. He flipped, landing on his feet and narrowed his eyes just as the others all ran into view from further down the section they were on. Meru and Dart shouted in surprise, but as they all raced to help, Cade shot forward. He sqpped sword in the blink of an eye before leaping over a swip of the Virage's arm. Then, the twisted as he fell, slashing the Virage in half vertically, the two halves falling from the tree and impacting somewhere below them as Cade switched his magic sword to his left hand, drawing his normal one in his right and keeping his magic sword's blade inactive.
"I didn't realize how strong you've gotten," Albert said. "One strike for a Virage?"
"Savan was a monster," Dart said.
"It's not just Savan," Cade said. "I took some of Faust's magic as well."
Everyone who hadn't been there stared at him in surprise as Cade turned to a hollow root that had pure life energy flowing through it to the Moon. Then, without any need for discussion, they all jumped in, being sent flying up the root and into the Moon. As soon as they landed, however, Cade's legs buckled, his eyes going wide as the shadow he'd been debating even before knowing any of the others crushed in on him from all sides. His breath came in ragged gasps, and he paled rapidly, sweat pouring down his face.
"Cade!" Meru gasped.
"He's fine, " Rose said indifferently.
"How can you say that!?" Miranda snapped. "Look at him!"
Rose shrugged. "Looks fine to me. He's not weak. He can deal with it."
"Rose!" Meru growled, only for Cade to catch her arm.
"She's...right," Cade forced out, eyes squeezed closed as he forced himself to calm down, to turn a blind eye to the shadow, to what he knew was coming.
His conversation with Savan echoed in his memory.
"The future is not set in stone. Our choices shape it. However..."
"Some thingsare certain."
Cade pushed himself to his feet, taking a deep breath, and nodded to the others. They ran along the roots that extended into the Moon, but after a short time, they stopped as the Moon begsn to shake violently, pulses of Magic Energy stronger than anything they'd experienced flashing past them from the Moon's core.
"Don't tell me...the God of Destruction is about to be born!" Dart panicked.
"It can't be!" Rose said, growing pale but shaking her head. "The God of Destruction's birth is our death!"
"Look!" Cade said, pointing as something before them swelled with each pulse of Magic Energy, like a wall of tangled roots, light shining from inside. "Something's coming!"
They all braced themselves, but just before it reached them, they were blinded by a massive pulse of Magic Energy. As the light faded, they were in a forest. For a brief moment, Cade was worried they'd been teleported out of the Moon, but the shadow was still crushing down on him.
"Is this a forest?" Dart asked.
"I thought we stepped into the Moon," Albert said.
"We did," Cade said, frowning and staring in the direction the shadow was strongest. "The Moon is trying to delay us."
Rose nodded in agreement. "Listen. You can hear the heartbeat of the God of Destruction, the Virage Embryo."
They listened, and sure enough, a low, lethargic thumping just barely reached their ears. The others all nodded.
"Then if this is meant to delay us, we need to hurry through it, and ignore what it looks like," Albert said.
The others all nodded, and they begsn to run through the forest, Cade leading. Within minutes, the trees let out onto a cliff path, but the sky betrayed their true location. Glowing blue lines ran across it in odd shapes and patterns, betraying the inside of the Moon's shell. As they hurried along the path, a group of small, tan dragons, looking like Baby Dragons, flew down at them, but they all slaughtered their way through them quickly. None held back, or showed mercy, because they all understood they didn't have time for it. Soon, however, the path shifted on a dime into a wintery forest. Both Cade and Miranda instsntly recognized it as a recreation of the forests of Mille Seseau. However, as soon as Miranda noticed this, she said she needed to take care of something alone and ran off. Cade frowned, wanting to see if his home where he'd lived with his mother was recreated as well, but decided against it.
After a few minutes if Miranda not returning, they followed her. After a few minutes, they heard Miranda shouting and the tell-tale snap of her bow. They all ran faster, and after a few minutes, there was a blinding, golden light up ahead. Then, they stepped out of the trees and found Miranda standing with her back to them.
"Miranda?" Dart asked. "What happened?"
"Nothing," Miranda said, staring at the ground, only for Meru to bend down where she could see her face.
"Are you sure nothing happened?" Meru asked. "Your eyes are kind of watery."
"I'm fine!" Miranda snapoed, turning away and drying her eyes. "Let's keep moving. Thst's the only thing we can do."
The others all nodded and Cade took the lead again. They backtracked to a fork they'd passed earlier, then took a path that sloped down into a tunnel. Inside, there was an open cavern with a root as a bridge across the middle of it and glowing walls spread around it with roots spider-webbing across it in every direction. They crossed through quickly, only to find a spiraling portal in the cave wall ahead of them. athey all ignored the oddness of it and stepped through, finding themselves in a building that Cade was pretty sure was an inn. He frowned, looking around. There were people all around them, but Cade couldn't sense any souls.
"Why are there peoplw living in the Moon?" Dart asked.
"There aren't," Cade said. "They're illusions given form by the Moon. Everything we'll see here is both illusion and reality."
"Everything?" Miranda asked. "Even..."
"Whatever you saw was likely the same," Cade said, assuming she meant whatever the light they'd seen through the trees.
Miranda nodded just as Haschel began to run. They spun after him just as he disappeared into what seemed to be a solid wall, chasing a young girl with silver hair. They chased after him, but as they reached the other side of the obviously non-solid wall, they stopped as they found themselces in a cave with miniature buildings buikt into it. Haschel and the girl were both gone.
"Now where are we?" Dart asked.
"It seems to be a village of Minintos," Rose said.
"Which way do you think Haschel went?" Albert asked.
"He'll be back," Cade said. "I think the Moon is trying to use our past, our regrets, to stop us. Or...maybe it's trying to help us resolve them?"
The others all shrugged and they headed through the Mininto village, then followed a path on the far side of it. As they reached a fork, the right path leading to a portal, Haschel stepped out of the portal, besring multiple bruises, a split lip, and a bloody nose, but smiling happily.
"Haschel, did you also see the past?" Miranda asked.
"Yes," Haschel nodded. "But the past was not as bitter as I expected."
Miranda nodded and Cade took a stwp further along the path, only to stop, looking back the way they'd come.
"What is it?" Rose asked.
"It's shifted," Cade said. "Clever."
"What shifted?" Dart asked.
"Everything," Cade said. "If we follow the path we were taking, we'd go further from the core. But if we continue closer..."
"We'll all have to face our past," Albert reasoned. "I'm ready."
Meru agreed, and Cade nodded but glanced at Rose, who looked troubled. Finally, he sighed, shaking his head, and headed back toward the Mininto village, then to the buikding from before. He led them out of the front door, this time, and they entered a street thst looked like Basil. They crossed a square and into a portal like a funnel, or drain, dropping into it and landing at one end of another root bridge. Cade looked around, recognizing it as a space between the layers of the huge growth that had caught them when they entered. He understood what was happening travel wise a little better now. The Divine Tree was using its roots to create open spaces where the Moon filled it with landscapes taken from their pasts, and possibly the future. As for the point of them facing their past, he was unsure.
He led the others across the brdige, hand tensing around his normal sword. As if on cue, a Unicorn and one of the small dragons both charged out of the tunnel on the far side of the bridge. Cade shot forward, flipping over the Unicorn and stsbbing down into its heart from above before leaping backward, splitting its back open. At the same time, Rose and Dart slashed the dragon, killing it. Then, they continued into the next layer of the core's protection. Here, things turned strange immediately. They were standing between a pair of clouds, on a walkway of invisible tiles in odd and random shapes and with stands of clouds running between the tiles from one cloud to the other. Below them, they could see the ground. Cade stared downward at the same square of Basil they'd just left.
"What's going on?" Dart asked. "The ground's so far away."
"We're walking on top of the sky," Cade said. "Don't think about it too hard. Let's just keep moving."
The others nodded and they all followed the path quickly. As they ran onto a strip of what seemed to be a bridge of metal panels, the deafening shriek of a dragon rang out, everyone looking around wildly. At the same time, a massive shadow passed over them, kicking up a massive gust of wind.
"That's..." Rose's eyes went wide. "Oh no! Michael!" She shook her head. "It can't...No. I can't be wrong! I was with him for more than ten thousand years!"
"Is that your dragon, Rose?" Dart asked as Cade saw sorrow, anguish, and regret fill Rose's eyes, along with fear.
He also felt the Pseudo Dragon on his shoulder trembling, and reached up to stroke it.
"It was my Vassle Dragon!" Rose said.
Lasers began to rain down at them from Michael, blasting holes in the sky.
"Run!" Rose shouted.
Most of the group went right. Rose and Dart went left. Cade shot toward the hole Dart and Rose had dropped into, only for a laser to flash directly toward him. He swore, leaping backward and shielding himself and his pet with a barrier, barely holding back the explosion as he fell after Meru and the others. Below him was the Home of Gigantos, but just as he fell through the hole and his barrier faded, the wond ripped the Pseudo Dragon off his shoulder. However, within a second, Meru caught it and they flew down to the others together.
"Aw, he's cute!" Meru smiled, petting the Pseudo Dragon. "What is it?"
"A Pseudo Dragon," Cade said, reaching out to pet it, only for it to jump to Miranda's shoulder. "Oh come on. Don't be like that. I didn't mean for you to get thrown, and I would have caught you."
The Pseudo Dragon hissed at him, and Cade sighed.
"Where are Rose and Dart?" Miranda asked.
"They fell through a different hole," Cade said. "It looked like the Mointain of Mortal Dragon below them, so they're probably not around here."
"Are you two okay?" Meru asked.
"No," Cade said, feeling the shadow press in on him and fighting to ignore it. "Let's keep moving."
Just then, someone screamed off to the side. They all turned as several bandits shouted about exterminating the Gigantos, only to flee as Doel arrived. Then, a Gigantos child walked out of his hiding place, and Xade saw at a glance thst it was Kongol's turn to face his past.
"Human...get out!" the young Kongol shouted.
"I am a human, but before thst, I am a man who wishes for the coexistence of all species," Doel said. "Don't you like peace?"
"Me...Kongol," the young Kongol said. "Everybody dead. Kongol alone."
"Then come with us," Doel invited.
"Is this something from Kongol's heart?" Meru asked, Kongol nodding.
"Then, is thst the truth of my uncle Doel?" Albert asked.
Kongol grabbed his head suddenly, trembling with rage and sadness. "Emperor Doel! Emperor Doel! Emperor Doel! Emperor Doel!" He lowered his arms. "I have something to do! I go now!"
Then, he turned and ran up the nearby stairs. The others followed just behind him, but as they reached a courtyard with a large circular seal in filling the center, Kongol stopped and turned to them.
"Emperor Doel said, strong leader is required to make equal world," Kongol told them. "Strong leader needs strong power. Kongol will get strongest power." He sturned, heading for a set of stairs ahead of them. "Dart needs Kongol, so Kongol go."
"Kongol, what are you talking about!?" Meru called after him.
"Wait for him here," Cade said. "This is his trial."
"Trial?" Albert asked. "Is thst what these are?"
"Whether by design or necessity, the path won't be clear, and we can't progress, until everyone faces their past, it seems," Cade said. "This is Kongol's."
Everyone nodded and they all waited in silence. Finally, a light shone from the door Kongol had gone through and they all ran up the stsirs to the same room where they'd fought Gehrich and Mappi, finding Kongol facing away from them.
"You've overcome it, haven't you?" Albert asked.
"Brother...praised Kongol," Kongol said. "First time for Kongol to praise. Kongol happy."
"But, what does the Moon want to show us?" Haschel asked.
"Maybe Soa wants us to die happy," Cade shrugged. "Maybe he knows we have no chance of stopping his plan without these experiences, and he really does want us to choose if the world lives or dies. Maybe we're just beating the Moon's attempts to use our past traumas to stop us."
"Who cares!" Meru said. "Let's go! We gotta look for Dart and Rose!"
"They're dealing with Michael," Rose's trial," Cade said. "Dart's will be raising his sword against his father, controled by Melbu Frahma or not."
"Most likely," Albert nodded. "Come on, Kongol. We need to move on."
Kongol nodded and they all headed back out of the building, then to a nearby portal, which took them back to the path near the Minintos' village. They returned to the building on the other side of the wall, and Cade looked to Albert.
"Go," Cade said, Albert's eyes widening. "You need to face your uncle. Before Melbu Frahma sent Lloyd to manipulate him. You need answers."
Albert nodded. "I'll be back soon."
Everyone nodded, and Albert left, heading for Doel's palace, which had been sealed and guarded before.
"What will your trial be?" Meru asked. "Your heritage? You mother?"
"My future," Cade said. "My trial will be my dream."
Meru went pale, but nodded. "We'll overcome it together."
Cade remained silent, and they all found a sest to wait. As they did, Cade felt the shadow press in. He hadn't mesnt the vision of their battle against the Virage Embryo.
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