Hello everyone! Piccolo Sky here again. As I warned in "The Wyvern Battles", the next part of "The Servant" doesn't even feature Bahamut, and so it is its own story. Technically, this story belongs in the FFIX fanfictions, but because it's with "The Servant", I'll leave it here. This story chronicles the first event that leads to the fall of the espers...and the beginning of the "War of the Magi".
One other note...this story is filled with Garnet bashing. If you like her, you've been warned.
The Kuja Saga
One Thousand, One Hundred Years Later
A warbler paused long enough on one branch to quickly scan for any insects that might be nearby. When it saw none, it took the opportunity to give out a warning call, sounding to every other warbler in the vicinity that this was his territory. Yet his seeming bravery vanished a moment later, when something came tumbling through the woods. When it did, the warbler immediately bolted for it, and left the path clear for the new arrival as he walked along.
The intruder, a man with a long brown beard flecked with gray and a wide-brimmed hat on his head, stumbled his way through the forest with the aide of a walking stick. He hesitated for a moment after clearing an especially rough root, and wiped his brow. He adjusted his glasses slightly afterward, and then continued to move on. He was panting a bit from the hike he had made, but all in all he liked walking through these woods. They were pleasant to be in, and the noon day sun shone down bright and merrily. Here, he was happy. It was nothing like farther below, down in the valley…where one couldn't see the sun if their lives depended on it. Down there, the perpetual, endless mist always hung over everything like a mountain of wet blankets. Up on the side of the hill, however, this place was nicer.
As the man stumbled along, continuing to pick his way across the tree roots, he suddenly stopped. While moving forward, his vision caught the sight of someone up ahead. He immediately looked up to the source, and saw that he wasn't alone. He wasn't to the door yet…but there was already someone up ahead, and he hadn't expected that. Yet a quick look proved it wasn't anyone to worry about. Just another old man with another set of glasses and another wide-brimmed hat like his own. This one, however, was lying on the ground and holding a pair of binoculars to his eyes. He scanned the trees and canopy overhead for a moment, before lowering them and proceeding to check something on a piece of paper he had on his lap. He looked up again afterward, and this time his gaze passed the hiking man. Immediately, he pulled his eyepieces down and shot back in a bit of surprise.
"Whoa!" He gave in a light exclaim, followed by a smile. "I didn't expect to see anyone else here."
The other man held a moment, looking at him. But after a time, he gave a short nod, although his look was now uneasy. He was a very quiet and shy seeming individual…and some sadness seemed to be on his mind. "…I didn't either. What takes you so far out of the city?"
The man on the ground hesitated a moment, and then sighed and shrugged. "Oh, just unwinding after everything that's happened in the past few days. You know, what with the disaster and everything in the city."
"Ah."
"I enjoy birdwatching out here. It's a good place for it."
"…I used to like to birdwatch myself. I don't find much time for it anymore."
The lying man looked regretful at this. "Really? That's a shame. Hey…how about I tell you a little secret?"
The brown haired man perked up to this. "Yes?"
The former grinned and motioned around. "Just the other day…I saw a Orangepole Warbler, right here in this spot."
The latter raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding."
The man eagerly shook his head no with a grin. "No, I saw it. I swear to God."
"You sure it wasn't just a dull Redpole?"
"No. It had the black lores and orange wing tips and everything. My wife didn't believe me either."
The brown haired man snickered and grinned a bit at that. He was still melancholy, but this did make him smile. "How about that. I thought they were extinct."
The man nodded, and then set a finger to his lips. "Mums the word, though. This can be our little secret. This gets out, and every birdwatcher on the continent will be coming here to try and spot it. Probably ruin its habitat and chase the poor thing off to extinction." The man frowned after this, and grew a bit despondent. Sighing, he turned back to his paper. "I think that's why I really still like to do it. I want to see these things while I still can. After all…with the way the world is today, you never know what's going to go extinct next."
Hearing that…the brown-haired man swallowed. His demeanor grew grimmer, and he turned even quieter than before.
"…I think you hit the nail right on the head there." He quietly answered. After a moment or so longer, however, he nodded. "Take care."
"You too."
The brown-haired man found himself brooding again. That dominated his mind as he went on and hiked past the birdwatcher and pushed deeper into the forest. The sights and smells no longer held any sway for him. Even free from mist, he couldn't sense it so well anymore. Even the feeling of the warm sun overhead seemed to have lost its potency. He could only keep thinking about the last thing the man said now…something that had been brooding on his mind for some time. Something that the man was learning more and more with time…that everything that had a beginning did indeed have an end. It could be forced sometimes…and other times cheated. But it was inevitable.
He brooded over this for another mile. By that time, something obvious was emerging up ahead in the forest. A massive stone monolith, a great mountain on top of the ridge that overlooked the valley, was standing there. It stretched massively in every direction before the approaching man, jutting out of the forest and looking around the countryside. Most of all, however, it overlooked the city that lay just beneath it, and it was crowned with a great castle far on top of it. The nearby metropolis had been built on it centuries ago, using its natural bizarre, yet easy-to-defend and close-to-water structure to its advantage. Here was his destination. And just ahead, not much farther, it rose sharply into a rock face. It was only sharp here, however. As one got higher on the mountain, it revealed itself to be full of holes and details in it, and having lots of intricities all around it to make it a rather ununiform stone monolith indeed. Yet that didn't interest him now. What did was that the rock face had a single door built into it just ahead. That one was metal reinforced and locked. If that wasn't enough, it had a guard.
It was a rather peculiar guard. The body was barely armored. Only a broad dome helmet rested on her head. The rest of her body was scantily clad with padding rather than metal plates. The guards here specialized in being highly mobile, not well protected. But seeing as the kingdom had been without a war for centuries, it really made no difference. Of course, the old man feared…that could change rather soon. But without a word, he walked straight up to the guard.
The moment he approached, she immediately drew her sword. The guards in this kingdom were violent, and rarely acted rationally or mercifully. As he neared, he soon found a sword point at his throat. He halted at once, and bent his head back so his blue eyes could look down on the sword.
"This area is off limits to civilians, especially in light of the recent abduction." The soldier coldly stated. "Turn back at once."
The old man was calm in response. Looking innocent, he held up a finger in a halting gesture. With his free hand, he reached into a satchel strapped to his side. He felt the cold steel of the blade touch his throat when his hand went in, but he soon emerged with it again. As he did, he looked hard at the woman. His own blue gaze began to burn with some strange power. It pierced right through her visor and touched the eyes on the other side, and he held it hard as he pulled up a piece of paper.
"…I need to do some service work on the castle." He slowly and calmly stated, accenting each word. "Here is my permit. It's from the queen herself."
The soldier stared at him dumbly for a moment longer. For a second, she seemed frozen. But then, she lowered her blade back down to her side, releasing the old man. When she did, she reached out and took the paper, much less curtly this time. She looked it over once. It was obvious from first sight that it was a wrapper for a Gyshil pickle. It even still smelled like one.
"I see." The soldier calmly answered. "Everything seems to be in order here. You may pass." With that, she calmly handed the wrapper back to the old man.
When that happened, he broke his gaze from her, and gave a nod. "Thank you." The soldier stood to one side, and the old man easily walked by. The soldier then turned and walked alongside him to the door, and once she reached it she pulled out a key and proceeded to unlock it for him. After doing so, she pulled the door open and stood to the side, letting him enter. Once he was inside the door was shut and locked behind him again, and the guard calmly resumed her duty. She had already forgotten completely what had happened in the past two minutes.
As for the old man, he calmly set his walking stick to one side of the dark hallway that he was now in. He placed his hat there as well, and undid his satchel. Now free, he walked forward into the dark hallway. It looked to be made of rock at first, but it didn't stay dark long. Lamps were already lit ahead, and soon he emerged into illumination again. The hall stretched on a bit longer, until finally he exited it, and emerged into a new hallway.
Extending up and down around him, throughout the entire interior of the stone monolith, was its innards. They were not solid at all, but were rather huge machines. Great gears, axles, pistons, girders, and every other thing that could be expected in a great piece of clockwork were there, only much larger. Catwalks snaked everywhere. Service ladders and stairs extended to every direction. Boilers hissed and spat, and huge ratchet machines slowly hissed and turned. The smell of oil was heavy on the air, and many things were moving and churning. From outside, this was both invisible and silent. The only sign it existed was an occasional burst of steam, which, thanks to some mental manipulation and rationalization, the locals thought was geothermal activity. The massive machine within the mountain extended high up for hundreds of feet, and everywhere in between were the workings of the huge structure.
However, the machine wasn't all. There were creatures running around it. Here a great blue wolf, there a muscle-bound, multi-armed fiend being, and there some sort of humanoid with giant eyebrows. The area was filled with these strange creatures, each one different from the other, and they flew about and dashed to one place or another. They had tools, and they were oiling, welding, tightening, checking, adjusting, nailing, screwing, painting, and smoothing everything in the structure. It was an irregular construction crew, and all of them were putting the great facility closer and closer to completion.
One particular creature, a great hooded cobra with monstrous fangs, stretched out its coils, enwrapped the end of a giant nut, and turned it using the tremendous torque only his own body could generate. Yet when he saw the old man come in, he immediately halted what he was doing and looked over the edge.
"Hey! Regent Leviathan!"
The man, Leviathan in human form, looked up at that, and gave a nod to the worker. "Hello, Terrato." He addressed the esper…or eidilon, as the humans sometimes called them nowadays. "Any problems today?"
"A few minor boiler leaks on pods 3, 6, and 18. Other than that, it's going great. It should finally be ready in a year, after all this time."
"The sooner the better. I'm expecting Shiva to come by in a few minutes, so I'll be upstairs waiting for her."
"I'll tell her if she comes in, my lord."
Leviathan nodded in response. Then, he turned his attention toward the side wall and made for it. He maneuvered his way through great works of machinery, turning gears, chugging pistons, and of course other espers working away as hard as they could on the machinery. It didn't take him long to pass through them all and reach a small chamber next to the stairs. It was oval shaped and covered with grating, and connected to a long cord that went up and down the entire monolith. This was a new device that the humans were working on. They called it an elevator. Apparently, one kingdom in this world, the kingdom of Lindbulm, was able to harness the power of the endless mist that now covered the world. They had many of these operating on powerful motion devices called "engines" that worked their nation of technology. As for Alexandria, however, where the operation was located, they lacked such technology…and given recent turns of events looked unlikely to get it soon. Nevertheless, it was a handy device, and so Leviathan had built a crude one inside the monolith that operated on steam power, for there was no mist up here.
Leviathan pushed the grating aside, stepped into the chamber, and then closed it again behind him. He reached over and pushed a button on a small console inside. A chugging sound immediately resulted, and slowly the chamber began to be pulled up off of the ground. Right now, it wasn't much faster than taking the stairs. But Leviathan had just completed a rather long walk in his human form, and he wasn't eager to walk up about ten stories just yet. This was well enough. He patiently waited for it to rise, and as he ascended he saw more espers running around on the higher levels, also rushing about with machinery and tools. They too were working hard on finishing the device. He watched them somewhat expressionlessly as he rose, until at last he hit his desired floor. At that, the chamber halted and shook a little, but then stopped.
Leviathan turned to the back of the device, and pulled aside the grating there instead. When he did, he found himself not facing an interior of metal and clockwork, but instead facing another short hallway. This one was dark, but was much smaller. It looked to be made of stone, and it extended out until it reached an opening into the outside world. From this high, there was a much better view of the valley and the surrounding area. Leviathan began to walk through it. Ahead, it was revealed that the opening looked rather like some gigantic grating on the side of the stone monolith, and that the opening was just one hole out of several in the grating. It was actually spired and surrounded, as if it was a fortification. Leviathan paid it no mind. He only went out until he could feel the fresh air, and then sat down in the shade and looked out over the horizon. His eyes spanned over the valley, seeing the long forest below. To his left, the mountains rose high and formidable. And to his right…a cliffside dropped down and plunged into the mist that now enveloped his world.
Extinction…
How much time do any of us have?
How many of us…are already on the last grains of the hourglass?
Leviathan thought these things and he sighed and sat down to enjoy the view. The truth of the matter was it had not been a good era for him, all espers, humanity, or the world.
With Odin finally abdicating the human throne, and a strong and just Paladin king raised in his place, things had seemed to be all right with the world. In fact, many espers began to think that their time had been over then, and that humans had at last taken the full reins of their own destinies upon themselves. Perhaps they would finally become the great civilization they always hoped.
But disaster only allowed a few generations of kings before it struck again. When all was well with all humanity, a meteor had struck the Planet. Instantly, the world was plunged into darkness and deep winter. Chaos dominated the small world as a result. Plants died off by the thousands. People succumbed to starvation and disease. Anarchy soon raised up and began to rearrange the diplomacy of the Planet, destroying the old and good kingdoms that had taken centuries to build. The Planet itself received a wound so grievous and horrible that Leviathan could feel it cry out in agony night after night again. The Lifestream itself, long hidden from the eyes of his kind and all others, bubbled forth like blood from the crater.
In the end, of all people, it was the ancient friends of the espers, the Cetra, who stepped forward into the breach. They were the ones that managed to rechannel the flow of the Lifestream to the wound to afford some sort of clot to it. They caused the world to focus on producing more of its own heat, and the winter that threatened to doom the Planet into another ice age was eliminated. It took three years for it to fully happen, but when it was done the Planet was functioning normally for the most part. Sadly, it would take thousands upon thousands of years for the wound to fully heal. Until that time, the north remained a frozen wasteland where no light or heat came near.
Tragedy, however, was not far off. The meteor hadn't come alone, it seemed… Leviathan was still not sure what had happened. Yet somehow…there was an alien life form involved in the meteor crash. And this one was not friendly as the Lunarians had been. This one was vicious and wicked. Its intention had been to ruin this world and feed off its blood. When it saw how the Cetra had ruined its plans, it infected them with a horrible disease that killed 60 percentof them and left 35 percent transformed into hideous mutants. Because of this, the Cetra named it, "the Calamity from the Skies".
Leviathan had moved to destroy this creature. Unfortunately, by the time he learned of its wickedness, most Cetra were dead. The few that were left merely told them that this was their battle. They warned that attempts to attack it would only increase its power, as it drained the energy of the Planet from everything it touched. They said that they too were the Planet's children, and that they too had the power to defend it and punish its aggressors. At that, the remaining ones left,managed to not kill but entomb the creature in a neutral-charged crystal, so that it could neither send out mental signals nor drain from anything else. That done, Leviathan sent an earth esper to make the Planet swallow the entombed monster so that it could never be unearthed again. Sadly, however…the damage had been done. The Cetra were all but extinct, and due to population bottlenecks they soon began to die out. Now, Leviathan doubted that any survived. One of the oldest races of humans, and the dearest friends to the Planet and to the espers, was now gone.
Yet aside from those few years, most of the ones afterward had been peaceful. As humanity rebuilt itself yet again, they mostly remained good and kind. There were a few tyrants, of course, but human wars took care of them. There were spats as well, but those were passed too. Humanity, overall, continued to advance, and soon began a new era. The time of knights and feudalism passed. A new society, one that was still ruled by nobility and propriety, nevertheless took form that allotted far more time to arts, music, drama, poetry, literature, and other pursuits. The human world turned away from its more militaristic youth and endeavored to create a new society, one in which each civilization tried to make themselves excel in other things besides war. Technology became rampant. The airship continued to make headwind in the world, and the knowledge was quickly disseminating. The ability to use steam to turn engines was discovered. The power of gunpowder was utilized to create weapons that mimicked the destructive power of magic.
Yet as time went on, Leviathan had noticed something differently. The humans failed to, of course. They were far too temporal to note the change, gradual as it was. And much of it occurred during the time prior to their record taking of weather patterns. But Leviathan noticed it, as did the rest of his kind.
The world…was slowly being covered with mist.
It was a deep, unnatural mist. Where it came from, no one really knew for years. It didn't blow off of the ocean or result from increased humidity. It just began to collect over the years, seeming to suddenly emerge from the ground itself. Within a few hundred years, it had covered most of the southernmost continent. It was namely because of that reason that humans called the place, "the Mist Continent". As the mist continued to accumulate with time, eventually most humans ceased to leave the continent and stayed isolated to their own mist-covered world. They interacted less and less with the other continents, until they became something of legends themselves.
The humans took the mist in stride, in the end. In fact, once they learned that the mist itself could be used as a form of energy, they harnessed it to create a massive network of airships that created a highway of commerce across the entire continent. With it now possible for anyone, anywhere to quickly go anywhere on the continent, a new zenith of human civilization was reached. Far from being considered dangerous or suspicious, the mist was eventually considered essential for human civilization. Some even thought that the kingdom of Alexandria was backward for building its city above the mist level in the sun, for now they would not be able to utilize its power.
However, Leviathan and his kin did not rest so easily. On the contrary…learning that mist, which in the traditional sense of the word was simply water droplets suspended in an air matrix, was somehow holding enough energy to power machines, made Leviathan nervous and afraid.
Fortunately, their remaining human friends, the summoners, were unaffected. These horned descendents of Rydia, once they had enough numbers, eventually built their own city on the surface: Madain Sari. Using them, the espers widened their investigation of the source of this mist. For years it eluded them, until the summoners managed to chronicle the fate of the forest near their encampment. It seemed that as the years went by, there were catastrophic dieoffs of trees there. That made no sense, as the Earth Crystal had been entombed their long ago, and the place should have been a grand forest forever. Yet as the years went by, it only continued to lose more and more vegetation, becoming dry and barren. However…that lasted only a short while in and of itself.
Gradually, as the trees died off, Leviathan realized that one tree was still flourishing. It was a kind of tree that they had never seen before. As the other trees died, it alone continued to grow larger and larger, becoming great and tall and soon dwarfing the other remaining trees. When they passed on as well, this lone tree grew taller and taller yet. Leviathan, in retrospect, admitted that he should have been more wary. He probably should have done something about it then…if he could have. Yet he spared it for the time being. After all, the idea hadn't occurred to him yet that this tree and the mist were linked. After all, there was no mist around it. And besides, it was a tree. A tree wasn't anything horrible or destructive. It was a source of life. In fact, the summoners began to think that when whatever phenomenon destroyed the rest of the forest, the Earth Crystal itself became the seed for this massive new tree. They gave it a blessed name and called it the "Iifa Tree".
Yet that didn't last.
Massive roots began to protrude from the ground around the tree for miles. Each one was as big as an airship in circumfrance. Yet as time went on, Leviathan saw that more roots began to emerge. They poked out of the soil near Conde Petite, where some of the last of the dwarf race had moved above ground to try their luck living in the true sun. Then they emerged near the coastline. Then, last of all…they began to emerge on the Mist Continent.
Leviathan realized what had happened around that time. The source of the mist was, in fact, the roots. He didn't know why it was only coming up this far away from the tree, and he was shocked that the roots managed to reach that far in the first place. Yet he knew that was the source. Experiments soon confirmed it. This renewed his interest in the seemingly harmless mist, and he began to study it more thoroughly. Yet he could find little. It did seem to hold some sort of energy charge that was stimulated by a simply current, and it had an internal combustion element to it that allowed it to perpetuate motion. Other than that…nothing.
Nevertheless, Leviathan didn't like this. He felt it was best if something was done about it. Yet the summoners considered it a blessing, and never thought of summoning espers to destroy it. Not that it might make much difference… The tree was so huge that they might have had more luck destroying a mountain. What more, its roots were already spread throughout the entire surface of the Planet. That much was obvious from what happened with the Mist Continent. Simply blasting the tree on the surface might not have been enough. And if it was producing mist…then he didn't want to know if injuring the tree might not spill out a more poisonous version of it.
So at first, tests were done. Samples were taken. Damage was done to the tree to see its effect. Espers attempted to follow its roots. The results were strange. Leviathan found that the tree itself seemed to not be a tree in the traditional sense of the word. It was more like a series of woody vines working together to form a tree shape. The roots might in fact be vines themselves. Furthermore, it was like no tree he ever experienced before. The physiology and cellular structure was unlike any other plant he had ever seen. In fact…he wasn't exactly sure that this thing was a plant. It produced no seeds or flowers, and seemed incapable of reproducing. As for damaging it, the result was a powerful explusion of mist. There was no doubt that the tree was filled with it. However, whether or not it would be harmful to a weaker species was still in debate. The roots, however, were impossible to follow. Even earth espers had a hard time tracing the roots of it.
All of this unnerved the king esper. He decided he had seen enough. He planned to destroy the tree as soon as he could. The espers that lived lacked the power…but his masterpiece did not. He put all effort into finalizing it.
Yes, Leviathan had continued to work on his ultimate plan over the centuries. He studied the notes night and day and made thousands of amendments, so that he would collect the right sort of energy. He revealed his findings to his closest friends. They were skeptical at best. This seemed to be a tremendous gamble, and none of them were sure that this wasn't just making some sort of bizarre monster to dominate the world. They definitely didn't know about serving it. This, however, was Leviathan's main counter-point. This thing would act solely based on feelings of love, mercy, and kindness. It wouldn't be an exact esper, but it would be a combination of all the positive feelings, emotions, and actions that every esper and every living thing had done. He was sure that he could make it. And so, with the greatest reluctance…they allowed him to build it. Wyvern, of course, remained ignorant. The esper was to be, after all, his successor.
Leviathan had been carving him out of this mineral rich mountain ever since. He worked alone at first, but soon he recruited more espers to help. It had taken hundreds of years. Leviathan went through countless blueprints for how he wanted it to look and how he wanted it to be made, but they were slowly building it. The mountain was gradually swapped out on the inside for metal. Great towering limbs and a huge torso were crafted for it. The insides were filled with dials and gears and mechanical workings of all kinds. They were all designed to work together to give the creature that was coming a large and powerful body, one greater and mightier than any other force alive. This was ultimately Leviathan's master plan. He wished to give this new creature an artificial body with an innocent, untampered brain. If another esper or person was to eventually take the entity of the being into themselves, their own darkness might eventually tempt it to evil. He dared not risk that. He incorporated technology from Golem, Ark, and even the Giant of Bab-Il. However…he also incorporated designs that, of all places…he received from the Planet. To his unease…it seemed as if the Planet somehow knew how to build great and terrible weapons itself…
Of course, it would be a lifeless shell if not for receiving a spirit from Leviathan's version of the Oblivion Stone, the Crystal Stone. This gleaming crystal was given to the denizens of Madain Sari. When the time came, the espers warned them, they would call on their race to bring forth the esper contained within the Crystal Stone. Until then, it was left to gain more positive feelings and emotions from all the world, and increase the entity's power within.
That, however, was when the greatest tragedy struck.
Leviathan was still trying to figure out how it happened. He had very little to go on. But something one night…sixteen years ago…struck Madain Sari. He wasn't sure of the nature of the attack, but to his worst fears it destroyed the Crystal Stone and nearly all the summoners. The stone was broken into four parts. It was still functional if they were brought together, but it could no longer gather power. Initially, there were only three survivors. Two of them were left in Madain Sari. They were a summoner couple. One had their legs crushed and their back warped by falling debris. The other lost her sight and had her face disfigured by fires. But they did live, although both were in chronic pain for the rest of their lives. They could tell little, for one had been blinded early and the other had been buried under rubble for most of the night. Leviathan, nevertheless, sent a troop of moogles led by none other than the esper moogle ancestor Mog to care for and provide for them. Yet they had been too heavily injured. They hung on for about nine years, but then passed. Luckily, before they did, they managed to give birth to another summoner. Leviathan ordered the moogles to guard this summoner, Eiko, and the two shards of the Crystal Stone she possessed with their lives.
As for the final survivor, somehow she and her mother had managed to escape Madain Sari with the other two shards. She was little over a baby in age when she and her mother went into a boat and were nearly flung across the sea to a harbor in Alexandria. The mother died during the voyage, but the young summoner lived. She was called Sarah until that point…but that changed. Now, most people knew her by the identity she had replaced, Princess Garnet Til Alexandros. She had taken the place of the recently deceased princess of Alexandria. Shortly after doing so, Alexandrian surgeons removed her horn. To Leviathan, that was a slap in the face. That horn was a symbol of a summoner's unity with her espers. That was an eternal reminder of the price the espers paid to ensure that the summoner race would continue. They cut it off like a wart or any other inconvenience.
Nevertheless, that left two summoners left in the world. Of the two, however, Eiko was the only one who held Leviathan's confidence. It was a pity that she wasn't directly in Rydia's line. As a result, the blood of the espers hadn't been passed on to her. That blood went to Garnet. Within her body, she commanded power beyond that of any other normal human. She knew this…but, to Leviathan's irritation and worry…so did the Queen of Alexandria. The woman was an aberration both physically and morally. Leviathan had kept an eye on her for some time…and saw that she, like the dark kings of old, had a heart that slowly twisted more and more toward greed and a desire for power as time went on. And she was only surrounding herself with people who reinforced these base emotions. Yet Garnet trusted this woman implicitly. She told her everything…including when she learned of the power of the espers inside her. This only made the sea esper more nervous. It was one thing to love and be faithful to someone…it was another to be foolish and imprudent. Garnet was a problem…
"…Enjoying the view, father?"
Leviathan turned his head to this. When he did, he looked behind and saw that his guest had arrived. Shiva, framed in the elevator hallway, was standing there. Her look was cold as always, and showed little in the way of what was on her mind. However, as Leviathan looked her over, he realized that she had brought something with her. Rather, she had dragged it. It was in a rather massive bag that she had been dragging behind her, one that was at least her size. Leviathan looked back up to her.
"…I didn't know you would be bringing me a gift, Shiva."
"You better hope it's the only one I bring you." Shiva darkly responded. With that, she pulled it forward and threw it in front of herself. It landed with a sickening plop, seeming to be rather heavy and soft inside. She bent down, and with a wave of her hand generated a blade of ice. She soon began to cut the bag open. As she did, Leviathan turned fully around and walked closer to her, until he too was near the object. He bent down close and looked it over as she cut it open. While she was still cutting, she explained.
"I was residing in the Ice Cavern, the place you told me to remain to keep an eye on our wayward summoner. I figured they would be coming through anyway after escaping the Evil Forest. Sure enough, they came and began to make their way through. But they weren't alone…"
With that, Shiva finished cutting. She made the blade disappear, and then grasped the edge of the fabric. She held for a moment as she continued.
"Someone…or something, as you will probably agree…came after them from the opposite side of the cave. I'm not sure exactly where they came from, but the only guess I have is that it was the town of Dali. It had magical ability. It increased the chill in my cave to make it nearly unbearable to human bodies. The summoner and her little group managed to make their way onward regardless, but their bodies were weakened enough by the cold that almost all of them fell asleep when this thing followed up with a sleeping spell. Only the tailed one snapped out of it."
Leviathan rose an eyebrow to this. "You mean…the anomaly?"
Shiva nodded. "He killed it, but typically left the body behind. Here it is."
With that, Shiva unfurled the cloth and revealed it. Leviathan was taken aback at once as he looked on it, cupping a hand to his mouth. His eyes widened in surprise and for a moment he was captivated.
…What…is this new devilry?
The thing appeared to be vaguely humanoid. However, it was twisted and misshapen. It seemed almost more like an ape in its structure. Its upper torso and forearms were far too big for its tiny legs, and the thing would have had to hunch and walk on its knuckles to move. Its clothing…looked to almost be stitched into its skin rather than actually covering it. A dull-colored set of vestigal wings burst from its back, complete with feathers. They looked more ornamental than useful, but he could see they were fixed into its back. Other than that, there was only a small bell hanging from one of its dead hands…and a wide brimmed hat covering its head. Leviathan hesitated a moment…and then slowly raised his hand to the hat and grasped it. At first, he pushed it back only a little, and looked at its face. But it couldn't be seen. It was totally obscured by darkness.
"Shiva…is this what-"
"Your suspicions are the same as what I visually confirmed." Shiva explained. "Its eyes glowed with their own light, just as the black mages of old used to."
Leviathan paused at that, and frowned. "So, you were there. I don't suppose…?"
"No, she didn't."
The esper clenched his teeth. "She was lying there freezing to death…and still she refused to call for your help. The girl frustrates me more by the hour…"
With that, Leviathan turned back down to the body. He proceeded to yank off the hat. What he saw wasn't that appealing underneath. It had a head…bald and shaped like a rough-hewn piece of wood, as it was. The nose and chin were too long, and the face was sagging. It looked like only a vain attempt to make a face, and was rather ugly indeed. It was a good thing that the creature, whatever it was, did keep its face concealed. However, before Leviathan could cover its head again, he noticed something. It appeared that there was a tattoo on the side of its head. Seeing this, the sea esper lowered his face and looked at it, and slowly deciphered words.
Black Waltz No. 1.
The esper frowned and leaned back up. "So, this is what you meant by more presents…" He sighed. "There are at least two more of these things."
"They're similar to the one that looked like a little black mage. Only that one actually looks like a human child underneath his hat. And he wasn't nearly as sadistic and cruel sounding as this thing."
Leviathan paused and stroked his beard. He tapped a finger against his leg. "You say it probably came from Dali…"
"That's only because that was the closest place. I haven't been keeping up on airship travel that well, so it might have come from as far as Lindbulm. Yet we know pretty well about dealings there and Alexandria, and we haven't seen them make anything like this."
Leviathan rose an eyebrow at that. "…Make?"
Shiva frowned and leaned in closer, pointing to the body. "…I don't think this thing was alive in the classical sense. I've already examined it. It contains two separate hearts, one for the pulmonary region and one for the body. It utilizes all of its brain at once. It lacks any sutures along its fused bones. It has only a single kidney. If I didn't know any better…I'd say this thing came into this world already in its full form, and it was designed to operate in a more simplistic manner. What more…though this thing had magical power for certain, I didn't see any specific source. Rather…it was almost as if it had some internal supply of magical power that was just energy, not a soul or spirit or anything."
The sea esper grew very intrigued indeed at this. He was in agreement with Shiva on most of those theories about the physiology. However, it seemed impossible. Yet as he looked back down to the body, he too began to pierce its flesh with his gaze, and saw much of the same things. That wasn't all. The blood that he saw circulating was mostly plasma that lacked erythrocytes. It lacked any sort of lymph nodes, and the lungs were unbranching. If he didn't know any better…or perhaps he didn't…this thing didn't appear to be a living creature at all. It was too basic…too removed of "complexities". It looked almost like…
…one of my earlier models for the stone monolith.
This realization made the sea esper tense up. Yes…it was the same basic package. It was using organs and flesh rather than steel and stone, but the basic structures were much the same. It seemed almost like some vague attempt to build a machine…or perhaps even to build a man. If that wasn't enough, based on what Shiva had said…that notion sounded more and more like a possibility. If this thing indeed only had basic "stuff" for a soul when it was alive, then that meant…just perhaps…
…Maybe this thing was being driven by mist.
Maybe this thing…is a mist machine.
Shiva was right about one thing. Alexandria and Lindbulm lacked anything like this in their regions. And yet…that didn't rule out all factors. The Queen was interacting with more and more insidious characters. They had bases of operation that could be anywhere…perhaps even in the small town of Dali. It would be the least likely place. He didn't know what was going on here…and he didn't like the theories that were coming to mind regarding this abomination that lay before him. He already had one theory that was too frightening and terrible to imagine. Yet he needed more information to see if it was correct.
"And one more thing." Shiva ended. "Though I haven't seen anything like this in Alexandria…right after knocking out the group the thing began to chant a spell of hypnosis. It was targeting Garnet when it did so."
At that, the sea esper froze. He looked back up to Shiva immediately.
"…I need to report this to Terratopolis." He stated quickly. "I'll be returning at once. Do you know where she and her group are now?"
"They too are headed for Dali."
"Follow them. Stay back and hidden, and do not interfere unless Garnet calls for you. If not…let her suffer the price until she realizes she needs your power. But investigate that town and report to me at once whatever you find. I shall be in Terratopolis myself waiting for you, and relating this latest news to our so-called 'king' and the others there."
"Yes, my lord."
It took an entire day before Leviathan had managed to get back. He was not as skilled atauto-aero as Bahamut and Wyvern were, and he lacked any ability to fly. The best he could do was levitate himself into the ocean, and from there use his superior swimming ability to propel himself as quickly as he could to the north. Yet still, it was a long way. And before he reached there he was forced to leave the ocean again and levitate to the nearest entrance. When he finally did arrive, it took him time to gather everyone to himself again. Yet at last he did, and on doing so he immediately related the story.
Leviathan stood in the chamber of the 'king' at the moment. Wyvern, their acting Bahamut, had been forced to be in a subservient role for over a thousand years now. He never enjoyed it. However, it appeared that time was having something of an effect on him. He grudgingly consented to it for now…at least it seemed so. Usually, he did what he was doing now. He sat on one of his throne diases, crossed his arms, and glared darkly at all assembled. Leviathan could feel that he still hated each and every one of them, but he was more in a state of misery and anger regarding his own sad state than them. He no longer thought endlessly of killing them, like he did for the first fifty years.
Leviathan had been trying to "make up" with Wyvern, so-to-speak. The two never liked each other, and Leviathan would not forgive him for murdering his beloved brother. Yet they had to get along somehow. Early on, Leviathan had turned to Wyvern in small decision matters, asking him what he thought. At first, Wyvern had angrily spat back curses at him and asked him if his opinion really mattered. Initially, therefore, it was a failure. But Leviathan was smart, and knew how to work Wyvern. Soon, he began to proclaim cases in front of the great wyrm that held Wyvern's personal interest. One example was when the esper Typhoon went rogue and started to obliterate human settlements. Wyvern bore no love for humans…but he hated espers who ran around showing off their power even more. To him, it was a joke. He knew he was the greatest esper, and for the weaklings to run around boasting of their own ability was an insult. What more…over time he did begin to take it more personally. He was only a figurehead king, but he was king. And Typhoon believed he was the true king. When he went rogue, it was, in truth, a challenge to him daring him to do something about it. When Leviathan had brought that case before him, Wyvern, for the first time when offered a chance to rule on it himself, seized the chance and declared that he had to be stopped.
Fortunately, Wyvern also responded to measures that stroked his pride and ego. When Leviathan asked him if he wanted to take care of the matter himself, Wyvern was all too eager. The message was relayed to his current summoner "owner", and she consented. His full power was unleashed again, and within an hour he had tracked Typhoon down and beat him into submission. When the fat esper began to plead for his life, luckily for him Wyvern found something groveling at his feet for once to be most agreeable, and let him live so that he would do it more often in the future. From that point on, Leviathan knew he could at least make Wyvern compliant in some matters.
Of course, it was more than the two of them. Phantom Odin was here as well, and was easy enough to get now that he lived in Terratopolis. His wife Starlet was also present. In addition, there were some new additions to the immediate council with the loss of so many others over the past few millennia… They were all first generation espers. Ifrit, scratching his neck with a long claw, sat halfway on the ground like a dog. Ramuh, balancing on his staff and stroking his own long white beard, was close to the throne of "Bahamut". Palidor was near her mother, pruning herself slightly as she heard the story. However, none of them did many other of these small actions. Mostly…they sat enraptured by the tale. This was shocking news indeed.
At the end, Wyvern merely glared at Leviathan and snorted. "Hmph…I told you that the nation would be trouble. I should just go there and level the place. That will put an end to them."
Leviathan swallowed at this. He had indeed…and if it wasn't for the fact that thousands of innocent people lived in Alexandria…and the fact that things weren't that bad just yet...he might have been tempted to let him. But there was also the matter of his work-in-progress under Alexandria…and he certainly wasn't going to let it be destroyed. Until now, Wyvern had failed to learn anything about it, never fully honing his ability to use his own mental power. And he wanted it to stay that way.
"We don't even know if Alexandria is making it." Starlet replied with a shrug. "So it was going after Garnet. There are lots of reasons for that. They may have wanted her for ransom. Or the people who hired Tantalus could have hired whoever made it too. It didn't have to necessarily want Garnet because she was a summoner."
To this, Odin snorted. "…Not to mention the fact that if they wanted the princess back, all they would have to do is ask her." He grumbled, following up with a snort. "That worthless excuse of a summoner would do anything the fat cow asked of her."
Leviathan swallowed a bit at this…but he had to admit that Odin had a point.
Alexandria was currently the hot topic among the espers. Everyone could sense now the growing lust for power and greed within Queen Brahne's heart. It was leading her to begin a massive military buildup in her kingdom. She had few airships of her own, and lacked the technology to manufacture them on a wide scale. But she was dramatically increasing the size and power of her Red Rose Fleet, her naval military. And she was devoting more energy to training soldiers and guards. Her nation was increasing its munitions output dramatically, and locking down more of the kingdom to international relations. If that wasn't enough…another race seemed to have fallen. The Paladins had pledged their fealty to the royal family of Alexandria in more peaceful times, and now their descendants…particularly a heartless, cruel, and shockingly powerful Paladin named Beatrix, were in her service. All of these and other signs seemed to indicate that she was preparing for a world war.
Fortunately, all espers knew she seriously underestimated her enemies if she planned to attack them with what she had. The great myomorph race of Burmecia had a wild tribe of rat people that were tamed, educated, and trained by the Dragoons. Now, they were their successors, and were deadly in combat. Even Alexandrian troops were no match for them. And strong as their navy was, they were little compared to the air force of Lindbulm. Their own upgraded balistas and heavy cannons were an entire generation backward compared to their weapons. A world war from Brahne would cost many lives in a futile maneuver, but in the end Alexandria and the Queen would be forced back into their place.
Leviathan feared, however, that the Queen did indeed know this. And that she was seeking help from alternative sources. In particular…her foster child.
Garnet was the most frustrating summoner that the espers had ever dealt with. She was so plagued with inner confusion, self-doubt, a total inability to stand up for herself, and utter self-faithlessness that she was, quite honestly, a weak person. There was no easy way to say it, but it was the truth. She had the personal drive and power within her to be a great leader and powerful summoner, but she refused to take it. She feared herself too much. To her, everyone else in the world was perfect and exactly where they should be. She alone was the one in confusion and doubt. If something went wrong around her, it had to be her fault. If there was a risk that something bad would happen, it was because she had the chance to screw up. If something went wrong that couldn't possibly be her fault, then she rationalized either she was the one to fix it or she simply didn't understand that what was going on was natural. She had a total and utter lack of independence. All her life she had simply taken what people had told her and let it sink in. She let people plan out her entire life for her and make her own decisions for her. She didn't even have enough self-confidence to pick out her own attire. She was a bird in a gilded cage.
It was finally getting to her. She was finally realizing how utterly unhappy she was because she never took charge in her life. She was too afraid that everything would screw up and it would be her fault. Everything was always her fault if something ever went wrong. She feared responsibility because of this, like a cat fears water. Yet even now, because of her own naiivity and lack of ever taking charge of her own life, when she finally decided to leave Alexandria and run off to Lindbulm to talk with her uncle about the Queen, she had made many stupid mistakes. First of all, she refused to insist that she be allowed to. She had to rely on bumbling kidnappers, removing herself from responsibility again by "letting them" take her. During her own escape, she had risked her life several times doing stupid stunts, all because she was too sheltered to realize that what happens on a stage is different from real life. Now she was bumbling through the countryside, constantly snatched out of the jaws of death by the monkey boy anomaly, not even knowing enough to keep a low profile. She didn't even try to act like a normal person until it was suggested to her. She was hopeless…and yet she was the one who carried the abilities of the four espers with her.
Because of all these things, Leviathan feared greatly that Garnet, in the end, would stupidly walk right back home. Right now, he wanted her on the other side of the planet from Brahne. He couldn't trust the two of them together. He was tempted to "spirit her away" into Terratopolis as he had to Rydia centuries earlier. The only reason he didn't was because Garnet was so full of self-doubt that she feared the espers within her, and confronting her with them would only make her fear them more. They needed her to become brave enough and independent enough to use them. Leviathan could only thank God that she was at last showing the slightest inkling of scruples to her foster mother. If the two of them got back together…he feared greatly that the Queen would try and persuade her to use the espers for her own service… And that was the true possibility too terrible to imagine.
"It may not be a problem." Ramuh reminded the group. He didn't know about the blood exchange, but he too realized that a summoner could be a threat to them if she was the tool of evil. "Without her horn, Garnet lacks the power to focus her ability. Even weak members of our race might be able to resist her power."
On hearing that, Leviathan did feel a slight ray of hope. He had forgotten about that. Without her horn, the only way that Garnet could summon espers that hadn't been granted to her by birth was to use special embued crystals that were specific to each esper. She could focus her power by placing them over where her horn previously rested, and call the matching esper. Even so, without her horn…she did have the link to the four special espers. Leviathan only hoped that without her horn she was weakened enough that they would refuse her if summoned for an insidious purpose… Then again, Garnet was so full of self-doubt that if she tried to summon one of them at this point, it was unlikely that she had enough confidence to be able to fulfil the teleportation.
"Besides, we still have the whelp." Wyvern calmly contributed with a shrug. "She already knows how to summon Fenrir. She'd probably surpass the older one."
Leviathan rolled his eyes and sighed at this. "We are not going to knock them off each other like pawns." He coldly retorted. Wyvern merely snorted and looked darkly up again. After a moment, Leviathan sighed and spoke again. "Besides, forget Garnet. The important thing now is what that creature was. Now, I don't know what the rest of you think, but to me it looked like a mist machine."
Palidor grew uneasy at that. "You really think the humans are that far along to build something like that?"
Ramuh shook his head with a frown. "Impossible. They barely know how to utilize steam engines. Right now, they use mist as a combustible fuel. This sort of thing would require manipulating bodies in the womb, or piecing together a patchwork set of organs and muscles. They haven't the knowledge. They only became somewhat accurate in their renderings of their own bodies fifty years ago."
"Maybe it's just some creature we haven't run into yet…" Ifrit threw out. "Why are you all saying it was 'made', anyway? A body isn't something you can just spit out of a smelter."
"I might agree with that, if it wasn't for the fact that the internal structure was too simple to have some from anything organic." Leviathan responded. "Maybe I could expect structures this simple on an earthworm, but by this point of evolution it should be well beyond that. And if Shiva was telling the truth, this thing was soulless. Based on what she said, it sounded like it gave off a similar sensation to the mist airships. The mist itself sends a detection of some spiritual energy, but nothing concrete."
"This is all good in speculation, but I don't think you're seeing what it means." Odin retorted in an interruption. "So it's not a living creature. And it's not being made by the humans. That begs a rather important question. If it is a machine, and the humans didn't build it…then who did?"
The room was silent at that. Leviathan himself froze. He hadn't thought of that. He had considered Alexandria until now, but that was too advanced even for them. It was too advanced for Lindbulm or anywhere on the Planet, even the espers, who had the advantage of thousands of years of wisdom and knowledge. But if they didn't, and this thing was a machine…then what did make it? Or who made it? No one knew the answer…
Leviathan himself couldn't help but feel that this was tied to those strange people Brahne was seeing…and the anomolies that he was picking up as of late…
"…We'll be in a better position to argue this soon." Leviathan finally answered. "Shiva will be returning and making her report. After that, I'm sure we'll all have a much better grip on what's going on."
To be continued...