Wyvern inhaled deeply as he was slowly raised up on the chair. His memory was somewhat fuzzy. The last he remembered, he had been going through the operation to fix his skull. But after that, everything seemed to fade. That was odd to him. He was still where he had been before. What did that mean? Was the operation already done? There was no chance of it. He had only felt Ramuh pull off about four fragments of his skull…and next thing he knew, he was finished, rising up in the chair.

The esper opened his eyes…or, rather, sent the command to his eyelids that normally opened them. But now he had no eyes or eyelids. Instead, on sending the mental command he saw a great black iris open and expose the world before him. What he saw was dim and full of shadows, and there were lots of shades of gray on it. Everything that he could recognize as an object was in black and white. Wyvern, having not adjusted to having no eyes, reacted to this. Coming to his senses, he began to shift his head from side to side, looking at the gray world around him. Slowly, his face began to turn into a sneer.

"I'm sorry, my lord. This is the best we could do."

On hearing a new voice, Wyvern's violent nature immediately turned his senses toward killing a target. He wheeled around rapidly to the voice. But when he did, the world suddenly became colorful again. Really colorful…like a rainbow. When it did, he saw that most of the world around him was dark blue and blue. But as he keyed in on the source of the noise, he saw bright yellow light trimmed with red and green, all in a shape that looked something like Ramuh. He wasn't alone. Every other esper in the room had the same thing. The torches that were lit also cast off light. Wyvern realized it was his heat vision. Apparently, he could still key in on it. He was relieved somewhat at that, and calmed down. So long as that was still there, he was still lethal. In response, his vision switched back into black and white, and he managed to see some dim details of Ramuh's face.

Hmm…well, this is acceptable I suppose. I'm sure this crest will serve me well…

Wait a moment…why is the crest already on my head?

At that, the anger returned to Wyvern's now-eyeless face. He wheeled to Ramuh and scowled again. "Didn't I order you not to sedate me during the operation?" He harshly snapped at him. He began to grow angry. Heat started to gather around him, and the floor started to ripple. In fear, the other espers began to step back. Ramuh swallowed. "I specifically said to keep me awake! Can't you obey orders? What if my enemies had come for me?"

Ramuh trembled as he recoiled. Wyvern never had much stock in mind-reading before. He thought it was a stupid trick of his stupid brother's. However, for an esper of his power, some things came naturally whether you wanted them or not. Ramuh was now filled with fear…but Wyvern also picked up a great deal of confusion and puzzlement. Evidently, he quickly reasoned, Bahamut had never been fond of putting them in their place. He must have not yelled at them. What more, he quickly realized…he might have just overplayed his hand in his anger.

"S-S-Sir…you were in incredible pain… And I couldn't concentrate…" Ramuh slowly answered. His voice was apologetic and mild. "I had to be able to work correctly or you would be damaged." After that, however, his tone became uneasy. "But my lord…Wyvern is dead. You have no enemies here. You are surrounded by espers who would die to protect you."

Wyvern hesitated a moment longer. Inwardly, he cursed himself. Yes, of course. He had to watch his tongue more carefully now. He couldn't risk anyone deducing who he truly was. As soon as he could, he had to have Bahamut's magicite made into some sort of special necklace or something to keep on him. That way, they would always sense his true presence on him. He scowled at the thought of having to keep up this illusion. Yet he told himself to remain calm. Things were going well, after all. They didn't suspect him yet, and he could keep them from doing so until he gathered the truly faithful…and they could remove his brother's traitors from his midst. He felt fine. Evidently, Leviathan was still a simpering coward, for he hadn't exploited his one chance to kill him.

Yes, there was no reason to fret. He was rebuilt now, free of pain and with his sight restored. Now, he could truly punish those who had made Bahamut king over him. First and foremost, however…humanity had to learn its place. Crusader had been right. They did become too arrogant and powerful. They needed to be beaten back into submission…and corrected most harshly. He needed to hunt down the ones who had dared bring Bahamut out to leave him in this cyborg-like state. Once that was done, he could go about subjugating all people…taking his true position over the human that his brother had denied him for so long.

Immediately, the red esper went calm. A smile went across his face, and he gave a short nod to Ramuh. The other espers cringed a moment longer, but on seeing their master calm down…and having the quaking and heat subside…they drew closer.

"Yes, of course." Wyvern calmly answered. "I forget where I am after being gone for so long. And I do trust your judgment, Ramuh. And I want you to be at your best. You did the right thing. The important thing now is that I have been rebuilt, and that I am once again at full capacity."

The other espers relaxed at this, becoming calm and more regular. Some even ventured a smile to their king. Ramuh himself inhaled deeply and exhaled, and calmed down as well. Wyvern himself leaned back a bit more casually in his chair, and looked around the area.

"Ramuh…my eyes have trouble telling night from day. What time is it?"

"Nearly morning, my lord. It took us time to connect your new skull plate properly. We would have been done a lot sooner, but we had a problem. Many of our healers had to leave in order to tend to another who was injured: the summoner Rydia."

Wyvern snapped his eyeless head to Ramuh at that. On hearing this…he felt a twinge of delight. This was a pleasant surprise. Now he wouldn't have to hunt her down. She was right here, waiting for her throat to be cut. And injured? That would make it all the easier on him. A wide smile spread across his new face. This was quickly turning out to be the best day of his life.

"Truly?" He innocently asked. "Excellent. Ramuh…I wish to speak with this summoner at once. After all, it was because of her that I was able to confront my hated brother after so many years and give him his final moment."

Ramuh gave a nod. "I thought you would the moment you recovered, sir. In fact, she is already waiting in the uppermost meeting hall within this division of Terratopolis. King Leviathan and Queen Starlet await you as well. Even Lord Odin has come. No doubt, they all wish to greet you as soon as you are well. While you are meeting them, we can go and assist the others in preparing for your welcoming celebration."

Wyvern tried hard not to laugh. How easy could it get? No doubt, the weaklings were massing together in a futile attempt to destroy him. Now he could destroy them all in one fell swoop. This was more than perfect. With them dead, it wouldn't matter how scattered his faithful were. All would turn to him in terror the moment he unveiled himself. And on top of that all, a welcome home party? He actually got to celebrate the deaths of his remaining siblings as he crowned himself Emperor of the Planet? He had to struggle not to grin as he fantasized on how the day could possibly get better.

"I feel well enough already, so I will meet them at once. I have special messages for each of them."


Within minutes, he was there and opening the door.

Wyvern made sure to take his time strutting in. As he did, he fully unfurled his great new wings, making sure that all inside new the full breadth of his power. He summoned as much power out to be worn "on his sleeve" as he dared, so that all would feel the strength radiating off of him. Soon he had passed through the great doorway and was within.

Before him, he saw his least favorite people…and, by a happy chance, the only people who knew what he looked like in his esper form that were left. Stoic old Odin was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, although he was covered from head to toe in armor now. Not that it would save him. Wyvern looked forward to searing it off of his skeleton. Starlet was nearby. He noticed that she never extended so much as a hand to him to heal him. She'd pay for that. Then there was Leviathan. Oh, he would enjoy killing him. Ever since the day they met he hated the little worm, and now he could finally make him wriggle on a hook. And finally, at long last, there was the little, itty-bity summoner. She looked just as frail and meaningless as last time. Except now…she seemed to have gotten some bizarre human decoration out and on her head. Each one of them glared at him coldly. Hate was in their eyes, and they had their hands balled into fists.

Wyvern merely smiled. He waved his hand, and shut the door behind himself using his power. That done, he cast another little spell he knew over the room, effectively making it soundproof. With all of that done, he cracked his neck and freely stretched out to his full height. His tail lashed behind him, and his dark wings spread across half of the chamber. He increased his power, and the air began to ripple around him as the lights started to dim.

"Why hello there." He casually sneered to them. "I must say, if there isn't anything better than having a nice reunion with old family and friends. Don't you all have anything to say to me after such a very long time? Welcome back? Nice to see you, brother? How've you been?" A brief pause. "I hope you rot in hell? How did you kill Bahamut? Anything at all?"

There was a pause from the group. They continued to glare at him with cold and stony eyes. But one did speak eventually, and it was the last one Wyvern expected.

"Wyvern…I am your master now." Rydia coldly stated. "You will do as I command you."

To this, Wyvern merely grinned and snickered slightly. He crossed his arms and glared down at her, making sure to accent the fact of how mightier and more powerful he was than the inconsequential little gnat squeaking at him. "Oh, don't think I forgot about you, little nothing. In fact, I came to see just you. But don't worry, I'll be seeing your friends too soon enough. And when I do, I'll make sure to send them along as well directly." With that, he looked back up and glared at the espers. "Now then…my dear family." He sarcastically hissed. "I've got a little score to settle with this ant. You can jump in if you like…but I advise you not to. Stay out of this, and I might just let you live in my new kingdom. Though you could help me if you begged…"

"You will not harm them, me, or any other living thing that I command you not to." Rydia continued.

With a bored look, Wyvern looked back down. "Hey…horned freak of a human…I don't know how you got the new headpiece, but you seem to think that gives you a right to talk to me as if you were anywhere on my level. Shut up unless I'm talking to you." With that, he turned back up to them. "Now then, as for how you should go about begging. You should start by simply licking the soles of my feet. After that, I think I'll make you eat my feces."

"You must obey me, Wyvern. You must."

At this, Wyvern rolled his eyes and sighed. "You know, I was going to do this over a longer period of time, but I grow tired of the buzzing of this meaningless insect in my ear, even after I have commanded it to stop. And so…" With that, Wyvern lowered his gaze and focused on Rydia. He opened his mouth wide, focused and spoke a few arcane words, and then spoke calmly. "Pyrin."

Nothing happened. Not a single person on the other side of the room changed.

Wyvern looked up a bit at this. Something had to be wrong with his brain after the operation. He shook his head a moment, and then aimed again, this time calling out a bit more forcefully. "Pyrin!"

Again, absolutely nothing. The cold, hateful stares continued to glare at him.

Wyvern grit his teeth slightly. What had Ramuh done to him? All of the right words were coming up. He felt the power growing within him. Yet it aborted when it was about to exit his mouth… Sneering, he screamed the next one. "Pyrin!"

Nothing.

"Pyron!"

Still nothing.

"Mega-pyron!"

"I told you not to harm me, Wyvern." Rydia calmly and coldly answered. "I am your master now. Your very flesh knows this. So it obeys even when you refuse to."

Gone was Wyvern's casualness. In its place, he began to sneer. What was this? Some sort of mute spell? Some drain of magical ability? His strongest attacks…ones he could feel burning his insides with their power…doing nothing? The summoner continued to glare at him. Continued to stare right into where his eyes were, and was cold and resolute. Seeing this…Wyvern's anger began to grow.

"How dare you look at me…filthy, pathetic, wretched human!"

With that, Wyvern lunged across the room. He quickly brought his full power to bear. Focusing all his strength, he reared back his fist and prepared to smash Rydia into bloody toothpicks with one single blow. Blasting heat and anger, the great red esper swung his fist down on the summoner…

On doing so, he felt his arm grow weak. The moment it came close to Rydia, the strength left his limbs. The neural signals ceased. His arm went numb and dead, and a full foot away from Rydia's face it froze where it was. He could move it no closer. The red esper's eyes went wide, and he stared in petrified shock.

Rydia, for the first time, smiled.

"Can't you smash this little ant, Wyvern?"

Hearing that, the heat doubled in the room. Now, plants in the window began to dry and wither. The ground began to shudder and quake. Pebbles rained from the ceiling, and Wyvern's size seemed to increase as his anger and violence became unbearable. "Damn you!"

That was only the first in a steady stream of curses as Wyvern violently attempted to rip Rydia to shreds. He cursed her again and again, calling her every filthy name in existence. Time and time again, he yelled names of his attacks, screaming them as he went on. He backed up and put as much power and speed into each of his hits as possible. Yet for all his raging and foaming, he could do nothing. He smashed his tail against the ground. He blasted furniture. He clawed the ceiling. He spat and babbled. He hissed and drooled. And yet, for all of his ranting and foaming, he could do nothing. Wyvern went wild, insane with his anger. He tried throwing himself at Rydia in addition to hitting her. But no matter how strong or potent, his limbs ceased the moment they got near her. The insignificant, meaningless, worthless human…was totally immune to him.

Soon Wyvern was covered with sweat. He leaned over and heaved, hissing and spitting all the way. His powers were useless. What had Ramuh done to him? What had they done when they rebuilt him? But then…he remembered. They had made him unconscious. He was wrong…Leviathan had done something to him. He had curse him somehow…done this to him to make him helpless. Sneering all the way, he wheeled his head violently toward the other espers. They stared at him as cold as ever.

"You did this!" He screamed in rage. At that, the red esper moved to them. He would rip them limb from limb. He would melt their skeletons within their burning carcasses. He would slice them into pieces starting at the feet and working up. He…

…saw his talon numb and stop moving a full foot from rearranging Leviathan's cold face.

"I told you that you weren't allowed to hurt them, Wyvern." Rydia calmly explained.

Now Wyvern did truly throw a fit. Unknown to him, the three espers had cast numerous fortifying spells around the room. They kept Wyvern from busting loose and destroying all of Terratopolis in his rage, which he would have. He blasted, fumed, burned, wrecked, and cursed them all endlessly. He glared at them with pure, unadulterated hate. He circled them like a ravenous dog. Again and again, as fast as he could and from as many different angles, he tried to strike them. Always his blows were stopped. He threw himself on the ground and smashed, screamed and writhed. He pounded the walls. He swore endless curses. He screamed and screamed violent babble until he yelled himself hoarse. He threw himself on them so many times that his muscles burned. He continued to rage and foam until he pulled muscles in his back and gave himself a headache. He nearly bashed his own head in throwing around. Yet for all of his trantrum, there was nothing he could do. Exhausted, he threw himself to the ground.

Nearly dripping flames from his mouth, Wyvern looked up and glared at Rydia with a stare of pure hate. He babbled incohierently a few moments more as he looked at her, promising untold curses, before he finally calmed down enough for his ragged voice to speak.

"…Stinking, cursed, wretched, bastardized, worm-fleshed, urine stained, shit eating human!" He bellowed at her. "How dare you do this to me! You are nothing! Understand? Nothing! Not a damn thing! You are a worthless bug! And I am a god! I'm your god! I'm everyone's god!"

Rydia glared back at him calmly.

"…No, you're just a wretched, insane creature." She slowly answered. "And you will never harm another living thing."

Wyvern immediately drew himself to his full height. He unfurled his wings and towered over Rydia. He blasted hot air over her, extended his talons, and made it look as if he could crush her in one breath. He hissed and foamed too. But Rydia calmly stood there, and didn't shift.

"You will learn your place, bitch! You and all of your kind! You are not stronger than me!"

"Maybe so," Rydia calmly responded. "But I am still your master."

"STOP SAYING THAT!" The monster fumed in anger…and again ineffectively tried to strike her. When it failed, he made murderous cries. "I swear I will kill you! You can hide from me, but not your world! I'll kill all you love! I'll slaughter humanity one by one! I'll turn the human civilization into a waste! I'll-"

"You'll do nothing of the sort, you filthy little troll of an esper." Rydia suddenly cut off, snapping at him. "The rest of your kind is just and noble, and have been my friends. But you're a perversion to their entire species. All you care about is making people suffer and having people serve you. So from now on, you're going to serve whoever I tell you to. And you will not harm a single hair on a single human's head. You will never harm anyone again. You serve me now."

"I WILL NEVER SERVE A WORTHLESS BITCH LIKE YOU!" Wyvern blasted, his voice deafening. Or rather, it would have been…if even now he was kept from doing anything that could possibly hurt Rydia. He felt his own vocal chords turn themselves down even as he intended to scream so loud that he would shudder Terratopolis to the ground.

Rydia merely glared.

"Oh no? Kneel, Wyvern."

At once, the anger of Wyvern vanished. Instead, he felt his knees begin to grow weak. He felt them begin to fall underneath him. To his horror, he realized his body was doing as commanded. Quickly, he flailed out his wings. He put his hands underneath him. He balanced himself with his tail. He pushed up and kept from falling.

"Kneel."

Immediately, he grew weaker. His legs began to buckle beneath him. His legs started to adjust into the position of a one legged kneel. But he refused to let the leg touch the ground. He struggled, straining and sweating, with all of his might, to keep his knee from touching. He groaned and grunted. His body trembled, too weak to hold on. It was doing as it was told, and he couldn't stop it. He looked up and glared evilly at her again. In between clenched teeth, for he was biting down and straining to stop, he hissed.

"Bitch! Filthy bitch! Filthy, worthless-"

"I said kneel! And don't open your filthy mouth again!"

The scream did it. At once, Wyvern's strength was shattered, and he dropped to one knee. Struggling and straining all the way, his head was bowed and he bent over to touch one arm to the ground, in the perfect position of servitude. He struggled to curse, to swear more damnation and pain to her. But his lips were sealed now. No matter how he tried to breathe or exhale, he couldn't make sound come out of them. He couldn't even swear.

With that done, Rydia continued to glare darkly at him for a moment. Then, she slowly stepped away from the other espers and went up to Wyvern. The red esper struggled in vain to break his position and bite her head off, as she bravely walked right up to the seething, giant esper and stood before his head. After that…to his shock…she extended one of her boots and propped it up in front of him.

"Clean it." She ordered.

Wyvern quivered, struggling to hold back with what strength he had left…struggling to swear or glare at her…

"Clean it!"

At that, Wyvern's strength broke. He struggled to hold himself back, but it was useless. Quivering and slowly…he felt himself slowly lower his giant, hellish head right down in front of the summoner. He bowed it almost to the ground. Once he did…his lips quivered and slowly cracked open. His tongue very slowly slid out. He tried so hard to stop that buckets of sweat bullets dropped from his brow. Yet he was powerless to keep his tongue from going fully out, and slowly began to lick the summoner's boots.

Now, a change came over Wyvern. His anger was totally spent. Instead…tears began to run from his nostrils, as he no longer had eyes to shed them from. He was crying. As strong as he had become…as powerful as he was…after having killed his brother and now taken his place as king of the espers…his pride was shattered. He was reduced to merely licking a human's boots, and was powerless to do anything about it. The humiliation began to break him even as he cringed there. The greatest of espers…a human's slave.

Wyvern hated to admit it…and was furious at himself when he did this…but he thanked the heavens when Rydia finally pulled her foot away from him.

"Now…" Rydia stated grandly. "Who do you serve?"

Wyvern's tongue was loosened again. He struggled to speak now…struggled to blare out a curse, struggled to tell Rydia to go to hell, struggled to even blast defiantly in her face, "I serve no one." But he could do none of this. He tried to make a different sound come out of his mouth. As he heard himself sound the syllables, he froze each time and tried to make them something different. But it was useless. No matter what he did, the only sounds he could make were the sounds of his lord and master.

"…Ry…d…ia…"

"Rydia what?" The summoner sharply retorted.

Wyvern began to cry again. The humiliation…the feeling of helplessness…it was greater pain to him than any blow that Bahamut had done to him. His voice began to break. His lip quivered. At long last…Wyvern was revealed for what he truly was. With his anger gone, all that was left was a miserable, wretched child.

"Master…Rydia…"

"…You are released."

At once, Wyvern collapsed flat to the floor. His body was aching from having struggled so hard to disobey Rydia in the least. Now, he had no strength left. What more, however, his pride was broken. He was reduced to a quivering shell of the mighty esper he had once been. He had been fully humiliated and humbled before the lowliest of species, in his eyes. He could only lay there now and struggle to gain the strength to rise.

"Alright Wyvern, if you're quite finished," Rydia began to say to him a moment later, as she turned and walked back to the others. "I will now address you. And I'm commanding you to listen, in case you want to screen out anything I have to say. But I warn you, you should listen, because this is very important for you.

"You thought it would be fun to steal Bahamut's identity when you returned. Very well. If you want to be Bahamut, you are going to conduct yourself like Bahamut. That means you will come to the aide of humanity when they call you, and the rest of the time you will patiently observe them. You can do whatever you want on the Planet, but you are not allowed to do anything that interferes with humanity. No destroying resources, no burning crops… If you so much as bother a fly into buzzing over to a child, you will pay for it.

"You will also not hurt any of your people. You can take on the name of king now, but you will be a figurehead. You will defer all cases to Leviathan and Starlet. You will leave all matters to them of state and policies, and especially in dealing with humans and the development of this world. You can attend all of the parties and functions and show off your power, but you are not allowed to strike any of them for any reason. You can come to the defense of them when you need to, and you can run around doing whatever you like here provided it doesn't hurt any espers. You can take in all the glory, admiration, and credit as king…but you will never act as king.

"You are also lord of dragons, but you will not command them to attack anything. You may rule over them if you like, but they will never make a strike on anyone under your rule. You will be in charge of stopping rogue dragons, but you cannot order them to attack anyone, human, esper, or whatever. You will report all of your doings to Leviathan, and he will tell you what to do if more force is needed.

"I now command you, Wyvern. And rest assured that when I die my child will do the same. As will hers, and then hers, and then hers…forever. Leviathan will keep a careful account of your actions and then report them to me and my ancestors whenever discipline is required.

"That said, I give you a warning, Wyvern. You will obey all that I have commanded you forever, not deviating from it in the least. No one knows who you are. No one knows about this fit you just threw, and that you are nothing more than the plaything of a human now. For now, you still have your pride. And you still have the admiration of your people. So long as you respect life as I have told you, and conduct yourself as a civilized benefactor and not a screaming child, you will continue to have that. Perhaps one day you will remember the value of life and grow to like helping others, and if you do my children will consider freeing you. But if I hear that you bent the rules, found a loophole, or did anything sinister behind Leviathan's back…I will bring you before the assembly of espers, and there I will present you with some of my own feces and have the entire assembly watch you slowly eat them. Is that understood?"

Wyvern was broken. The fates he had plotted for his family had come back on his head. For now, he was made humble again. He could do nothing, of course, except slowly murmur in a defeated voice the answer. "…Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, master…"


Leviathan actually felt like celebrating when the party came that evening.

At that time, he came before a great assembly of espers. All of them had gathered, and had covered Terratopolis with decorations and lamps. Great food was piled up everywhere, and singing espers chanted in angelic voices while bands played. When night fell, fireworks went off into the sky, both magical and man-made. The celebration reached its zenith when all espers arrived and all partied and rejoiced. And when that happened, "Bahamut" was presented.

He met with thunderous applause. Gifts were poured on him from the people. Odes were chanted to him. The dragons arrived and saluted him with aerial shows. Great speeches were made chronicling his deeds. And after it all, in a grand ceremony, Leviathan "passed his title" onto "Bahamut", and everyone rejoiced as their king was crowned again.

Through it all, "Bahamut" did not smile. His look was somber and low, and the more people tried to cheer him up the more he pushed them away. He even began to snap at them to stop singing and stop playing after a while. That, however, was when their great summoner, Rydia, came forward and stepped aside with the king for a moment. When he came back, he managed a weak smile and mild appreciation for what they were doing. He bowed to them, and managed a very weak, seemingly half-hearted speech to the crowd thanking them all.

The party went long into the night. Espers were still dancing and rejoicing. Starlet, now a lady instead of a queen, called the new "Regent" Leviathan out for a dance when the moon reached its most beautiful point and the lanterns were let low. Leviathan had felt like doing so at that point. Wyvern was now safely restrained. His fears, for now, appeared unjustified, as Rydia reduced him to a figurehead puppet. He would not threaten them. Already, Leviathan could feel him desperately trying to think of a plan to escape this fate, and all the while promising revenge on Rydia and her family. However, he could think of nothing now, and at the time he was broken. Leviathan liked that he could sense him, for that meant if he ever did start putting a phony nice routine up, he could see his true intentions. Wyvern never had trained his mind half as well as the rest of them. Sadly, Odin, Shiva, and Atomos were having trouble enjoying the party, particularly Odin. He knew full well that if Rydia or her children wished, they too could make him bow down and kiss their feet. Yet Wyvern's restraint was good for now, and though many mourned the death of Unicorn, they were overjoyed that Rydia was alright. Some of the younger ones called her an esper herself, thinking she had become one when she grew the horn. All was right with the world.

At yet, Leviathan could not celebrate.

The peace was far too fragile for his tastes. The very fact that Wyvern still lived was a source of fear to him. Their true king was dead. Their great benefactor…and Leviathan's best friend…was gone. This part was still an illusion, praising his killer and not the man himself. Leviathan would now be king of the espers forever, though he would always be simply manipulating the puppet of Wyvern instead. And that was no source of comfort to him. The kingdom would be built on illusions. And controlling Wyvern was a ridiculous idea in and of itself. He was a loose cannon. He was a bomb waiting to explode. And the day that he did break free…which seemed likely enough…Leviathan knew that the terrible wrath he saw vented uselessly against them this morning would be unleashed on the whole world. Seeing this, he had left the party once his duties were done and returned to his study.

Wyvern had to be stopped. He had to be kept in check by true force. Yet there was no other like him. No other esper was innately that strong, and no other esper had bathed for centuries in the Lifestream to dramatically increase their own ability. Quite simply, there was nothing that existed that could hold him back. And even if there was, what then? What if this esper grew as corrupt and wicked as Wyvern? What if he or she lusted for power as well? Could an esper with more power than Wyvern ever be depended on to remain pure forever? Wasn't it more likely that they would eventually turn to evil, corrupted by their own strength? There wasn't a completely pure ruler in the world anywhere. No one that would be both strong and stainless as time went on.

Yet to that end, Leviathan received another idea.

If he couldn't find such a leader…could he make one?

Deep in Leviathan's library, he had the notes of Hades. The mad esper had tried to make an object called the Oblivion Stone. He intended for it to be an incredibly malevolent force, something that not only was made of pure evil and wickedness, but would channel more feelings of darkness, hate, and cruelty into it to increase its power. With this power, eventually the Oblivion Stone would take on a consciousness of its own. And when it did, it would be possibly to evoke the embodiment of this stone…which would be a curse on all life on the Planet…chaos itself personified.

Luckily, Hades had never completed his mad vision. Leviathan, on recovering the notes, locked them deep away in his Labyrinthine study. Unlike a normal library, the sole card catalog for that place was Leviathan's own memory. Without it, finding any specific book was useless. He had of course hid it well. If he hadn't, he feared one day that someone would find it and try to replicate the mad vision of Hades. Yet he hadn't simply destroyed them, and a day like today was the reason why.

Leviathan believed that he could apply the same construction principles to do the opposite. He believed he could make an object made out of pure goodness and kindness, that would channel more feelings of mercy, love, and peace to it with time to increase its power. Hopefully, given enough time, not only could something like this be built but it too would evoke its own personality. And when it did, the being that came out would be one of radiance and justice, bestowing an era of peace on the world and to all who lived in it.

It was a gamble, but Leviathan believed he had enough knowledge to do it. He was nervous about it too. After all, was it really possible for someone to make a perfect being? Similar delusions led people to accomplish great acts of maliciousness and evil, not to mention horrible boastful acts of pride. Perhaps his being wouldn't be perfect. But it would be good and kind, and ruled only by good emotions. And it would be strong enough to destroy Wyvern himself. And at the moment, that was all Leviathan cared about.

With that in mind, he had to leave his wife without a dancing partner. He had many plans to draw up, and he wanted to get underway with his main plan as soon as possible.


Far away, in the kingdom of Troia, a celebration was going on. Under the eye of their Eight Clerics, the people of the Earth Crystal rejoiced as their sacred object was finally returned to its proper place. The castle and city was filled with feasting and dancing and merriment the likes of which had not been seen in the history of that city or its continent.

Yet hundreds of miles away, on the edge of the continent, far on the other side of the deep endless forest that sprung forth from the rivers and power of the Earth Crystal, something else was taking place. Only a few forest creatures…a buck grazing…a chipmunk stuffing nuts into its cheeks…were there to witness it. And when they did, they merely regarded it with puzzlement, before going back to their own business. Deep within the forests, just overlooking the ocean, something strange occurred in one of the clearings.

Slowly, a metal sphere descended from the heavens. It had small fires on it, bursting out and making sure to lower it slowly to the ground. They slowly died in intensity as the sphere came closer and closer to the Planet. It passed through the tree line, and then went deep into the canopy. The buck looked up and chewed its cud, seeing the strange gleaming black object come down from the sky. At last, when it was only about a foot from the ground, the object halted. And there it stood, hovering in mid-air for a moment. The chipmunk forgot about its nuts and looked up and sniffed the air around it for a few short seconds.

The sphere hovered for a brief moment. Then…it made a whirring sound. A small panel slowly opened from right beneath it, right between the small fires that kept it suspended. When it did, a small metal arm slowly descended from it, straight for the ground. It appeared to be a gigantic catheter or needle of some sort, with an open area on the end as the arm came to a point. On touching the ground, another whirring sound went out, followed by the sound of suction. The arm readily vacuumed up all of the plants on the ground over it, and then began to suck up the dirt as well beneath it. It didn't do it for long. It only made a three inch deep hole, and then stopped. All noise went off.

Slowly…a small seed was dropped out from the end of the nozzle and into the hole. Once it landed, the machine reversed and spat the dirt back out on top of it, lightly burying it back under the ground. Soon it had vanished again, and was one with the rest of the clearing.

Its mission done, the sphere retracted its metal arm and closed it inside again. With that, the fires burst forth with new light, and the sphere shot back up into the sky once again. Within moments, it had cleared the canopy and continued to ascend into the heavens, where it rose until it vanished into a tiny blank dot and was no more.

The buck chewed once, and then turned back to the ground. The chipmunk turned away, already interested in sniffing for more nuts.

And the small seed broke open, and immediately began to take root.


FuSoYa moved his hands over a few crystal diodes. They responded by shifting themselves and turning colors. Centuries ago, Lunarians had lost the need of having push-button consoles. Now, they had devices that were keyed into their own bodies, and simply hand movements could manipulate anything, even a vessel of this size. It was child's play for him to be able to start powering down the systems of the ship, preparing to set it into drift until it reached a new planet and initiated orbit.

The son of KluYa now slept with the rest of his race. And with Zemes destroyed, it appeared as if they wouldn't be bothered again for quite some time. That left FuSoYa alone on board the monstrous, moon-shaped vessel of the Lunarians. Already, he had made them leave the orbit of the Blue Planet, leaving the people there to adapt again for a few more hundred years. There was some good news out of all this. Apparently, the humans were far more advanced than originally calculated, especially if four of them plus his nephew, a half-Lunarian hybrid, had managed to destroy Zeromus. Because of that, FuSoYa felt comfortable adjusting the hibernation clock to be much less than before. Now, they would sleep for only about five hundred more years. By then, their civilization would be advanced enough to at least take them in…assuming there weren't any more incidents like Zemes.

The ancient alien slowly sighed and stretched a bit as he finished adjusting the console. He wished that he could sleep as well. But as the guardian of the Lunarians, he would have to stay awake for the next five hundred years. Fortunately, the life support systems on the lunar craft ensured that the denizens aged very slowly. That still left FuSoYa alone for the next few centuries. To be honest…at least the incident with the Giant of Bab-Il had provided some stimulation. Now he had no one to talk to or anything to do. He groaned a bit at the thought, and with a sigh and a shrug supposed that the best he could do was take up the old libraries of the Lunarians again and read for the first thirty years or so…

Beep beep.

However, FuSoYa was snapped out of his thoughts much sooner than that. He had just been turning away from the console, but now he fully turned back to see what had happened. When he did, he looked up over the crystal diodes and saw a clear, transparent sheet of crystal hung over it, framed in other crystal shards. On seeing this, FuSoYa noticed that the radar had come on. He had turned it on just as he was programming the orbit in, for that was standard procedure. On his current heading, he doubted he would find anything. Yet it seemed he was wrong.

On the far side of the Blue Planet, which was rapidly leaving his sensors, there was something on the move. At first it appeared to be a large piece of debris. However, as the sensors continued to work, a sub-window was opened and showed the results of the 3D imaging sonar. Something far more uniform and crafted than debris began to be formed. To FuSoYa, it looked similar to the Blue Whale shuttle model that his own people built. Only it was sharper and had different engines. This one was meant to actually be able to travel through space a little. That wasn't all, however. It seemed…as if this ship was aware of him. It was rapidly moving to the dark side of the Blue Planet now, getting out of sensor range.

Hello… FuSoYa thought. What have we here? Maybe I should investigate this a few moments longer before going any further away from-

"Alert! Alert! Foreign object approaching!"

The Lunarian soon forgot about that, however, and instead turned his attention to the new sound that was blaring from his machinery. He looked down to the display, and watched as it changed from being an image of the long range sensors to show a graphic of the Lunarian moon itself. When it did, however, a small spherical object was highlighted from a far distance away. A small identifying line tagged it, and monitored it as the object slowly drew nearer to the moon. FuSoYa now focused totally on this.

"Magnify." He ordered.

The screen immediately formed a screen-shaped small frame around the object, and then seemed to take a snapshot and bring it forward. Soon, it enlarged until it filled the entire screen. What FuSoYa soon saw was a great black spherical object. It was a bit rough around the top of it…yet not so much as he would assume from most meteors or asteroids. Normally, they could be very rough and oddly shaped, but this one…seemed very, very smooth.

FuSoYa snorted. So, a meteor was coming. That was odd. Based on Lunarian astral projections, they should have automatically accounted into their course logs for any natural meteor or comet phenomenon for the next two hundred years. That could only mean that this meteor came from something that was unnatural… Perhaps an unexpected planetary collapse. Or some other space vessel crashing into an asteroid and sending it drifting. Although…that was a bit confusing too. It was approaching far too fast to be just from drift. It almost looked like a comet in that sense…

"Data on object."

"Object is a class V meteor. Approaching Lunarian vessel at 1.4 million kilometers per hour. Time to impact: 20 minutes, 17 seconds. Extremely dense material. Top four primary composition elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen."

Until now, FuSoYa had been frowning at the "class V" meteor rating. That was the worst. His people nicknamed that the "Planet Killer". Those kind of meteorites striking a planet the size of the Blue Planet would create a new ice age. Striking a vessel like theirs would probably be fatal…causing severe damage to 20 of the ship, ruining its gravitational stability, and probably decimating life support.

Yet all that was forgotten when he heard the composition of the meteor. He had expected iron, selenium, copper…things like that. Instead…he froze when he heard the four chief elements making up the meteor. And knowing that they were kept in ascending order of importance, he turned and looked to the display again. It hadn't changed…but his earlier suspicions were correct. It did look too perfect of a sphere to be natural.

And those readings…they're what you find in almost any life form in the known universe.

At once, FuSoYa didn't like this meteor.

"Engage parabolic course to avoid meteor."

The screen beeped, and a trail was projected on screen that rounded the meteor. FuSoYa stood patiently and looked up at the screen as it engaged. This was damn peculiar, and he didn't feel that great about it. The natural sphere shape was the worst part. If he didn't know any better, he'd say it was a vessel himself, bearing some cargo. But if it was a vessel, then the scan should have revealed mostly titanium or some other durable metal. The fact that it revealed mostly those elements…indicated that the meteor itself would be the life form…

Abruptly, a siren went off.

"Error. Unable to engage parabolic course. Time to impact: 19 minutes, 34 seconds."

FuSoYa looked up at this in surprise. However…a cool feeling began to run through his chest as well. He didn't like this. He didn't like it one bit.

"Reengage course."

The machine beeped and did as it was told. FuSoYa stared at the screen this time and waited, seeing what would happen. Yet after a moment…the proposed trail vanished.

"Error. Unable to engage parabolic course. Time to impact: 19 minutes, 2 seconds."

FuSoYa swallowed a little. "Reengage course with modification. Allow for double the distance between the ship and the object."

Again, the computer beeped, and FuSoYa slowly exhaled and waited. His palms began to sweat.

"Error. Unable to engage parabolic course. Time to impact: 18 minutes, 48 seconds."

Now the Lunarian was growing uneasy. He licked his lips, and looked back out to the meteor for a moment. It was time to get serious.

"Calculate projected path of object. Engage perpendicular course to projected path."

The computer beeped, and soon new lines were traced on the screen. FuSoYa watched these. Soon, a line was drawn from the meteor to the vessel. There was no way that their ship had enough of its own gravitational field to draw that object to it. And yet, if it did…this should do the trick. Soon, a line was drawn perpendicular to this one, and he soon saw his own vessel began to go along it. Slowly, they moved out of the incoming line…

And then, the line connecting the object and the ship suddenly turned red…and its terminal point shifted slightly so that it continued its heading for the Lunarian vessel.

"Error. Unable to engage perpendicular course. Time to impact: 18 minutes, 19 seconds."

FuSoYa was now sweating. That had sank it. The object, whatever it was…was trying to hit them. What more, if it had changed its course, and the time to impact was still counting down…that meant it was picking up speed. This was not good. He glared again at the close-up of the meteor, and narrowed his gaze at it. What the hell was this thing?

"…Arm the mark 4 charges. Prepare a spread of eight to target the incoming object."

"Charges armed."

"Fire."

A new image appeared on screen, as a spread of eight small dots suddenly flashed onto the display. They beeped, and the computer assigned lines of code to follow each of them, but FuSoYa didn't care. He focused instead on their path. He watched as the small dots slowly snaked through space and made their way to the phantom object. It didn't attempt to change course, it seemed. It let the charges fly to it. Moments later, he saw the dots change position and go onto the magnified screen of the incoming object. They soon connected with its surface, and the computer's image for an explosion displayed as they erupted.

A small time bar appeared across the display showing the meteor, indicating in Lunarian to please wait. FuSoYa inhaled sharply and stared onward.

Soon after, the crystal diodes turned red, and a larger warning sign went off.

"Warning: object has increased velocity. Time to impact: 8 minutes, 53 seconds."

FuSoYa felt his heart start to race. His mouth dropped in shock. He turned to look to the display…only to see that the meteor had only a slight depression in it from where the charges had hit. But now, it was coming faster than ever. If that thing, unbelievable as it was, was alive…he had just made it mad.

"Arm the mark 10 charges!" FuSoYa yelled at the computer, his voice growing fearful. "Prepare a spread of sixteen on a continuous stream of eight spreads to target the incoming object!"

"Charges armed."

"Fire!"

Again, the image returned. This time, it wasn't just a small series of dots, but one series after another, each one containing sixteen. The meteor was now clearly moving closer on the larger display. FuSoYa folded his hands and inhaled deeply. He began to feel himself chanting a prayer. After a few moments, the spread hit. The others quickly followed up. One series of eruptions after another struck the object, and again the display went dark. He inhaled deeply, and awaited the results…

"Warning: object has increased velocity. Time to impact: 2 minutes, 8 seconds."

FuSoYa now was definitely scared, as well as shocked. Those charges were the strongest they had. That level of spread and continuous series would have blown the Blue Planet's moon in half. As he began to tremble in fear and felt his heart pounding, he looked over to the display of the meteor. It was being updated now, and he saw that about a quarter of it was now missing, leaving only a dented sphere. But it was still coming, and now it was coming faster than ever. FuSoYa felt his mind begin to panic.

"Arm the mark 10 charges! Maximum spread! Continuous stream of maximum spreads! Use every last one we have!"

"Error: mark 10 reserves depleted. Time to reload: 8 minutes."

"Just fire them as soon as you got them!"

The computer beeped, and soon complied. FuSoYa felt himself starting to pant now. One by one, mark 10 charges began to go out toward the object. But at only one at a time, he knew they wouldn't do much. This was a desperate act, and he knew it. He had to think of something. That thing was coming for them. He had to do something about it, but he didn't know what else he could do. The ship was exhausting its defenses.

"Error: volume of object miscalculated."

FuSoYa turned to that. An error? It was reading its size wrong? He almost felt like sighing in relief. About time. He knew that the payload had to have done more than that…

"Error: volume of object miscalculated."

As the computer repeated its message, however, FuSoYa's look turned to puzzlement again. He stared at the screen and began to grow uneasy…

"Error: volume of object miscalculated."

When this latest message went off…FuSoYa gasped in horror. As he stared at the object in the display, he saw that it was changing. Every time the computer reported an error in volume, the display would change…revealing a slightly more complete sphere. To the Lunarian's terror, the sphere was rebuilding.

Or…regenerating…

"Warning: object velocity is accelerating. Time to impact at projected acceleration rate: 1 minute, 5 seconds. Take evasive action immediately."

FuSoYa was now sweating profusedly, and starting to tremble. He was out of time. The thing…whatever it was…was coming for them. And when it crashed, it would cause a power and life support failure that could kill half of the Lunarians on the ship. However…it would definitely kill any Lunarian who wasn't in hibernation, and that included him.

"Full reverse! Maximum speed!"

FuSoYa actually shifted a bit at this. The contents of the entire planetoid did. The other movements it could buffer, but this was too great. No doubt, it was banging around some of the sleeping denizens, and may have screwed up some machinery, but he didn't care. They needed to get away. Soon, the ship was going in the opposite direction, and quickly accelerated to maximum speed. Seeing that, FuSoYa hoped and prayed they could get enough distance to fire an effective payload. Maybe at maximum they could destroy it, before it could put itself back together…

"Warning: object velocity is accelerating. Time to impact at projected acceleration rate: 32 seconds. Collision is now eminent."

With that, the screen turned to a series of Lunarian characters, all counting down from thirty two to the fateful value.

FuSoYa paled. That was it. That was the last thing he could do, and he still couldn't stop it. The Lunarian was scared now. Few things in the world could scare him, but in the universe…this definitely could. It was going to hit them. In spite of everything he did, it was going to hit. Thousands were going to die in seconds. Perhaps they all would die if the damage was too great. He had failed. His duty was to guard the Lunarians…but now it was too late. Nothing could save them now.

There was only one thing left to do.

"Prepare hull reinforcement. Activate all auxiliary power sources. Automatic rerouting. Prepare my hibernation capsule."

The computer immediately went about doing so, as the clock ticked down to twenty seconds. There was little time for him. Luckily, it didn't take time at all for the floor behind him to open up, and for a large gray chair to rise out of it, covered with technology and independently working computer systems. The display ahead of him altered to the view screen, for the object was now in view and fast coming. This was all he could do now. Try to cut their losses. He had to put himself into hibernation at once. It was the only way he could survive a life support failure. He was to the chair now, and quickly sat down in it. A few buttons later, and the system began to engage. A clear glass shield, yet stronger than most metals, slowly extended down over the front of where he now sat, and soon it sealed and became airtight. FuSoYa didn't have time to get comfortable or to inject himself with the probes that would keep him dreaming and nourished as he slept. He had to go to sleep now, and soon the chemicals that would knock him out before his body was placed in stasis began to enter his chamber.

FuSoYa looked back up to the screen through the glass. Ten seconds left. The next few months, he realized in growing fear, were going to be terrible. It could take weeks for the automated Red Giant robots to carry out enough auto-repairs for partial life support to be restored. When they did, whatever Lunarians were still alive would be in for a rude awakening when FuSoYa woke them up to commence whatever repairs they could to take their ship to safe place to dock and rebuild. There would be nothing for it, however. He just had to pray that whatever this thing was, that not only did it not destroy the ship on impact…but that it wasn't alive and sentient afterward…moving around and throughout the ship.

FuSoYa felt himself grow drowsy quickly. His senses left him, and his eyes began to droop. But as the clock ticked down to zero, he looked one last time out at the display as the meteor became so close he could see its surface clearly with his own eyes.

And for a brief moment, right before passing out, FuSoYa saw the surface…and thought that it looked almost like some sort of bizarre humanoid…glaring right at the screen with mercilessness and hunger.

Without the drugs to keep him having pleasant dreams, FuSoYa's own nightmares were soon filled with this horror for the next few weeks…

…this…"Calamity of the Skies".


To be continued...


Time for another note, Bahamut fans.

The next few chapters of this epic story of Bahamut seemed to be misplaced to me...as they don't include Bahamut in any of them. So rather than include these chapters in the "main storyline" as I originally intended to, they will be placed under their own fanfiction heading as an "addenum" to "The Servant". Keep in mind, however, that although this new section doesn't feature Bahamut, it is part of "The Servant", and hence you won't be able to understand parts of it unless you have been reading this fanfiction. At any rate, the story will mostly be told from Leviathan's perspective, just as this story is mostly told from Bahamut's perspective.

And just so you know what's coming, the name of this addenum will be "The Kuja Saga"...