The Cleyran Priest returned to the Dragon Knights after a few moments to give out a message.
"The High Priest says he will meet with you now." The Oracle stated calmly. "He claims that you may also have some information about what has happened recently."
The Dragon Knights made an odd look with that statement. They didn't know why the tree had been revived along with all its citizens. They were the ones hoping to gain the information.
"Fair enough, please take us to him." Freya answered, eager to see the High Priest despite the odd claim.
"At once my lady." The Oracle answered and lead them into the main room of the cathedral. Inside the Cleyran High Priest, Blaine and Kildea, one of the shrine maidens and the King of Burmecia were gathered.
The Dragon Knights were surprised to see their King standing in the group, but it did make sense. He had also died in the Alexandrian attack on the tree and seeing as the Burmecian refugees had been brought back to life, logic suggested that he was alive again too.
"Your majesty!" Freya exclaimed, a little shocked to see him again. "You're alive!"
"Indeed I am." The King responded in his royal tone. "Sir Frato? I didn't know you had escaped with us to Cleyra."
"I didn't." Frato stated simply. "The only reason I am here is because I am following orders from King Puck."
The Burmecian King looked a little startled to hear that his son had taken over the throne. He opened his mouth to protest but Blaine decided to interject.
"Perhaps we should explain things a bit more clearly." He suggested, before going on. "Cleyra was destroyed by the Alexandrians during the war and the vast majority of the people in it perished. Only a few survived: Kildea was one of the survivors, she escaped from the tree during the attack."
The King and the High Priest looked a little uncomfortable with this revelation, but they cannot deny that they felt Odin's attack and remember being burned alive. The Dragon Knights weren't bothered about this, Freya and Fratley had witnessed the destruction of Cleyra and Frato had heard about it shortly afterwards.
"After the attack, I went to Duagerreo and researched into finding a way to restore the tree so I could restore our city." Kildea followed on from Blaine. "I read about an eidolon which was the guardian spirit of Burmecia and dwelled within our magic stone which powered the sandstorm. I then went to Alexandria with Blaine and retrieved the jewel before returning here to call the spirit from the jewel. The eidolon managed to revive the tree, but to my surprise it also revived our city and it's inhabitants."
There was a short silence as Kildea finished explaining her story to the group as the information sunk in. The High Priest was the first to break the silence.
"The guardian spirit?" He repeated, before his eyes widened. "Surely you don't mean the Holy Spirit?"
"I thought the Holy Spirit was just a legend..." The King replied.
"How else can we explain what happened?" Freya said, deep in thought. "Although I thought that Phoenix was the only eidolon with the power to restore life."
"This is certainly the work of something with immense power..." The High Priest said with a little shiver.
Freya and Fratley seemed very intrigued by this. They had both witnessed the power of eidolons for themselves in some form, and restoring lives did not see totally unbelievable. Frato seemed a little less sure about this situation.
"I still don't buy this..." Frato said in an uncertain tone. "If there has been a Holy Spirit in the jewel for all this time, why didn't it protect us from being killed by Alexandria's black mages and eidolons in the first place?"
"An eidolon only comes forth to a summoner's call." Blaine said. "The Holy Spirit was sealed in the jewel all that time."
This made Kildea turn to him with a look of confusion. Although Blaine's point was valid, how was he able to appear as a Burmecian and walk freely from the jewel and do as he wished? Did manifesting himself allow him to break free from the jewel?
Frato still didn't look totally convinced, but he couldn't think of a comeback to that argument. He also couldn't think of another reason as to how the city had been restored without an even more ridiculous reason such as it was a ghost town or something.
"Well, I think we should see this as a blessing from the heavens and thank the Holy Spirit for this second chance at life." The High Priest said in a cheery tone. "We could perform a special dance to celebrate and show our gratitude to the heavens!"
"Shouldn't we return to Burmecia and inform Puck about this?" Fratley asked the other two Dragon Knights.
"Since I have been revived, my son is no longer the acting ruler of Burmecia." The King answered firmly. "Although we should return to Burmecia and bring back the refugees. If the war is over then we have the task of the reconstruction to attend to."
"Please stay here for a little while." The High Priest pleaded. "The Dragon Knights must have had a long journey, and it is nearly sunset. You could at least stay the night before returning to Burmecia."
"We may as well." Frato added. "Although we didn't bring enough carts and chocobos to carry all of the refugees back safely, we'll have to send a messenger to Burmecia to get some more transport for us."
"Very well, I shall send a messenger to Burmecia to report what has happened and to get some more chocobos from Burmecia." The King said, deciding the matter.
"Excellent! I shall make the preparations for our dance!" The High Priest replied with delight.
With the meeting and explanations finished, everyone disbanded and went into the settlement to either perform their task or rest up. Kildea reunited with her old friends and talked about what had happened and how she had missed them. Freya and Fratley went and conversed with the Burmecian refugees and told them it was safe to return. Frato told the sculptors and the Burmecians who had travelled from Burmecia what was happening and the change in orders. The King of Burmecia sent off the messenger whilst the High Priest gathered the shrine maidens before the two conversed again in the cathedral.
This just left Blaine, who was standing alone at the observatory point where the citizens observed the sandstorm, which had yet to be restored. He was deep in thought as he looked out onto the Vube desert and the far distance. He wasn't alone for long, as Nina the shrine maiden came to join him in admiring the view.
"Enjoying the view?" Nina enquired.
"Indeed...the Vube desert is quite a sight from up here..." Blaine answered. "You could see Burmecia if it weren't for the mountains."
"I suppose it is a good view, although I miss the soul soothing view of the magical sandstorm that protected us." Nina said with a hint of sadness in her voice.
"How could you enjoy such a view?" Blaine asked. "It must have been like admiring the bars of a cage."
"Not at all!" Nina replied with a smile. "I loved to admire the swirling pattern of the sandstorm. I had a feeling of serenity and security in knowing that nothing could harm us and disturb our peace."
"Like a child in its mother's arms." Blaine mused. "Didn't you ever want to see what was out there? Did you ever dream about what could be beyond the sands of Cleyra?"
"The world outside our city is corrupt with hatred and violence." Nina answered simply. "I was happy staying in Cleyra and practising the arts of dance and philosophising about life."
"Did you ever think about changing the world instead of hiding away from it?" Blaine asked.
"We tried to convince the Burmecians to give up the acts of war before we settled in Cleyra in the first place." Nina replied in a slightly irritated tone.
Blaine didn't bother trying to argue with that, he just continued to gaze out into the distance. Maybe it was a mistake to create the sandstorm in the first place. I know now it is possible for a place without violence and hate to exist, but what good is it if they cannot share their ideas of peace?
"You know that Gaia is at peace now." Blaine told the maiden, trying to settle things. "You could see the world without fear of malice."
Nina didn't know what to make of this. "Perhaps, but there are still those who hate us for what we are." she pointed out.
Blaine gave a little grin. "Yes, but if you could convince them that humans and Burmecians are one and the same, then you will have already removed one of the main causes of hatred in this world."
Nina couldn't think of any way to argue with that, although she doubted that she could quell many humans racist hatred for the Burmecian race. She just looked out into the distance, and continued to admire the view with the Burmecian Priest.
The sun soon set and the red light of dusk fell onto Cleyra. The High Priest had gathered many of the shrine maidens in the cathedral in order to perform some of the magical dances of Cleyra. The Burmecian King was stood next to the High Priest, ready to watch the dances for a second time. The three Dragon Knights also stood nearby, ready to watch the event. Freya did not join the dancers this time as they were performing dances that had been devised in Cleyra and that she didn't know how to perform. Frato didn't seem interested in the slightest with the dances, although when he saw the outfits that the dancers were wearing he blushed slightly.
The dances commenced and the Cleyrans began to celebrate their blessing. As this blessing took place, Blaine was still stood in the observatory point. Nina had left to attend the dance, leaving him alone to delve into his thoughts. His ears pricked slightly as he heard a voice.
"Blaine! There you are!" Kildea called out before coming to greet him.
"I thought you'd be at the dance with your friends." Blaine said without turning around.
"I didn't see you there so I came out to find you." Kildea explained. "What have you being doing here all this time?"
"I've been thinking." He replied simply.
"Why didn't you come to watch the dance? It is in your honour!" Kildea asked, sounding a little hurt. "Is something the matter?"
Blaine gave a little sigh. "I sense a bad omen."
Kildea's eyes widened. "A bad omen!"
"Yes...but don't worry. I'll protect you." Blaine said, turning to smile at her. "Now come, we ought to attend the dance at the cathedral."
Kildea still looked a little worried, but decided not to pursue the matter. She lead Blaine away from the observatory towards the cathedral.
He is coming. I can sense it. Blaine thought as they walked towards the cathedral. I will not fail the Cleyrans a second time!
Inside the cathedral, the Dragon Knights, the King, the High Priest and a few others had gathered to watch the shrine maidens dance to the tune of the harp, which had also been restored and the jewel placed back in its place on the top of it. This dance was different, involving more delicate movements and looked harder to perform than the dance they had done with Freya to strengthen the sandstorm. Freya was watching them and enjoying their display of dancing ability, which was greater than hers merely due to the fact that practising the art of dance much more than she did.
Frato looked a little uncomfortable, seeing as the dancer's clothing was much more revealing then anything he was used to seeing. Fratley was glad that he could see the Cleyran's dance after missing his chance in his last visit, but he had hoped to see Freya dancing. Even though he had seen Freya practising her dancing in Burmecia before.
The High Priest and the King looked on as the dance came to an end. The High Priest smiled as he spoke. "Excellent! I'm sure the Holy Spir-"
"My Lord! The jewel!" A shrine maiden exclaimed, interrupting the High Priest as she pointed at the jewel.
Everyone turned to look, and they saw it glowing with an eerie red hue. Pulsing with light as it stood above the harp.
"By the gods..." The High Priest exclaimed. "Could this be...? Is the spirit about to appear before us?"
Outside the cathedral, Blaine's ears pricked as he sensed the jewel's activity. His eyes widened and he ran as fast as he could towards the cathedral. Kildea looked alarmed as she saw this.
"Blaine! What is it?" She asked worriedly as he hurried after him.
Blaine didn't answer, he just continued running.
The jewel continued to pulse with red light, and a white mist spewed out of the jewel towards the floor in front of the harp. The dancers backed away from the mist, as did the maiden at the harp. Everyone watched in anticipation as the mist gathered to form a sphere on the floor. The mist condensed to form a figure, and it gained some colour. The mist then faded to reveal a Burmecian hunched up on the ground.
The High Priest had a smile on his face, and he turned to look at the King, who looked suspicious of this figure.
The Burmecian slowly got up onto his feet, and everyone could see he was clad in red Cleyran robes that looked tattered and were cut up in places. The Burmecian lifted his head up, throwing his scruffy black hair back so his face was visible. It was then that all the Cleyrans had looks of horror on their faces. The Dragon Knights place a hand on their spears, ready to draw them out in a second. Everyone could now see that this Burmecian's eyes were not coloured like a normal Burmecian's eyes. They were completely black, like the eyes of a demon.
A little smile formed on the demon's lips as he looked around the room, surveying the crowd of cowering Cleyran maidens and the Dragon Knights who were ready to fight if necessary. He then heard someone rush into the room, he turned to see Blaine, who was a little out of breath from his run. The demon then gave a low growl...
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX or any of the characters in it. I do own Frato, Blaine and the figure that came out of the jewel.
Author's Notes: I am glad to see that I have a new reader, although it would be nice if I didn't have to advertise to get people to read this. All constructive criticism is welcome.