Chapter 5

The skies gathered in more darkness as I walked the street of Lower Jeuno. Grey clouds gathered in more and faint thunder claps could be heard above our heads. It was going to be one hell of a day. After my encounter with the old man I thought that maybe my frustration with the Ambassador made me invision a demon in the street. I could've been wrong. It can be something else but I couldn't put my finger on it.

I walked into the Chocobo stables in Lower Jeuno. It was a small room with 3 Chocobo's lined up waiting for more people to ride them. I walked up to the Elvaan lady and asked her kindly for a Chocobo.

"No! You may not ride any of my Chocobo's!" She screamed at me.

"Why not?" I asked.

"You know what you did in Port Jeuno. I don't rent my Chocobo's to crazy people waving around their sword in public. Leave before I call the guards!" She screamed.

"Ok, I'm sorry!" I walked away backwards and saw everyone looking at me like if I just turned into a criminal. I don't know what the hell is going on but I think Jeuno just went to hell very fast in a hand basket. For me anyway. I had to leave one way or another. I have to run through Saurmougue Champaign. I thought getting a Chocobo from Lower Jeuno would be cheaper. I guess not. I ran back to Port Jeuno ignoring the spot where I slayed the Demon which I thought I killed and left the Grand Duchy of Jeuno.

As I walked out into the big field I looked around. It started raining very hard. Now I regretted talking to an old crazy person on the street. Because now I have to risk walking it to Zi'tah. I ran into the field trying to avoid as many beastmen as I could possibly avoid. Then I saw 6 bulls way too close together. I ducked behind one of the old towers in the field.

"Could anything get any worse?" I asked myself. Then an ear shattering thunder clap went off in the sky making me cover my sensitive Mithran ears. Then it started to rain even more heavier. "I'll remember to keep my mouth shut next time!" Screaming at myself gave attention to the 6 bulls. They saw me and started to charge at an incredible speed. My actions weren't quick enough to dodge such a big thing moving so fast. I had to act quickly. I got up and saw an old wooden window on the tower. I jumped threw the rotting wood and landed on the old concrete floor of the old tower. I went into prone position and covered my head with my hands. Fear gripped me in my stomach. I knew I was screwed. I had to think of a way to get out of this one.

The 6 bulls separated and surrounded the tower. They charged the tower from all sides. Dust and bricks were starting to fall out of place around me. I looked up for a second to see if there were any means of escape. I saw stairs going up into a spiral to a trap door at the top of the tower. I had an idea. But I had to jump at a precise moment or I wouldn't get the chance again. The bulls rammed the tower again and a brick landed on my head.

"OW!" I yelped. Ignoring the pain on my head I got up quick, timing their ramming into the tower and quickly made a quick ascent up the stairs. Throwing myself forward on the stairs to brace myself for another impact, the bulls rammed the tower again causing more bigger holes in the wall. I was running out of time. I got up and ran up the stairs. My mind was shot and only had one directive and that was to get out alive. I slammed the trap door open. I was on top of the tower and it was raining heavier then before. I ran to the edge of the tower trying not to slip. I saw the bulls making their last ram into the tower. With great timing I positioned myself to jump. The bulls rammed fast and I jumped off the edge of the tower. I landed right behind the bulls, landed on my feet and rolled on the floor. I didn't look back. I started to run like hell and did it swiftly.

I saw a bunch of Goblins in my way. They saw me and took out their crossbows ready to fire. They fired their arrows at me and with a swift swipe of my sword I deflected their arrows. I front flipped in the air and slashed the Goblin in his face. He was not dead.

"Holy shit! These guys are tough!" I didn't want to mess with them but I didn't want them chasing me. I only had one choice and that was to sparkle up some fire works. The goblins ran very quick in hopes of catching me at the right time. I jumped on an old wall and back flipped of it ready to charge a Ki attack. "Chaos Blast!" I blasted them with a wave of Ki energy. I landed on my feet and saw them in pieces. I heard loud thumps in the distance.

"Dammit! The bulls!" The bulls were trying to find me. I ran forward and saw a hole in the floor. I thought 'Why not?' and jumped into the hole. The hole was half empty full of water and I was drenched in the mud water. It was up to my waist. The bulls came to the hole I was in. I started to duck down into the water wishing that they would just walk away. The bull was on top of the hole. Moving slowly smelling the area. Then the bull stuck his nose into the hole I was in. I slowly dunked my head into the mud water, holding my breath for as long as I could. If I came up for air, I was finished. The bull lifted his head from the hole and I came up for air. I gave a silent gasp for air and it hurt my throat and chest. The bulls were gathered around the area looking for me. Then they finally walked away. I jumped out the hole and started to run in the opposite direction the bulls were going in. And damn was I lucky to get out of that mess.

The storm was real bad. Wind blowing in my face and the rain blinding my sight. I didn't know where I was going half the time. It as so bad I slipped a couple of times. Thunder roaring in the sky hurting my sensitive ears making me want to meow. But I had no choice but to hold my tongue or I could give away my position to the beastmen. I kept moving forward. It sucked but if I didn't do it, I'd die either way.

I made it to Meriphataud Mountains. The rain kept pouring down over head and I still had a long way to go. I saw a large path in front of me as I walked. A terrain was in front of me. The terrain led half way to where I needed to go. So I followed the path and hoped to whatever god is watching me that nothing jumps at me. Because for some reason these beasts are more tougher then that damn Snake I fought. I walked into the terrain and kept on moving forward. My legs were getting tired and my ears started to hurt with all the rain pounding on my head like lead weights falling from the sky. I wished that I made it there already but I wasn't even close to Zi'tah as of yet.

Half way through the terrain, two goblins jumped off the sides of the terrain. One in the front and back. There was no way of escaping them. The goblin in front of me took out a bomb and threw it at me. I leaned back and the bomb went over me and hit the goblin behind me. Now I was against one Goblin. Trying to get the water out of my nose from the move I made, I take out my sword and ready myself to hammer this Goblin. The goblin then points at me. I was wondering why he did that. I turned around and saw 10 more goblins behind me. Now that was going too far.

"Oh for the love of..." Before I could finish my sentence the Goblins started shooting at me and throwing bombs. I jumped over the Goblin in front of me and made a break for it. Upon leaving the terrain I do a 360 flip in the air and shoot a blast of Ki energy on both sides of the terrain walls. The walls starts to crumble down and blocks the Goblins from reaching me.

"Suckers!" I say in relief and in victory. I leave the terrain I was running through for the past hour and finally see the large dragon bone. It's a long ass bone in the air crossing the Meriphataud Mountains from east to west. It's an incredible sight to look at but it was also a pointless one with all this rain in the way of me seeing the bone. I needed to go east of the bone. As I ran east I saw more Goblins sitting around and pondering their walking route. Whatever the hell they are walking around for never made sense to me. I can see that they walk over their own footsteps. Well I may never know, they could be guarding something priceless or maybe not. I could be just imagining what they could be hiding. Probably nothing anyway.

I start to plan on how to pass these idiots. Or how to take them out one by one. I look at whats around them and I have a pretty good idea on how to take them out. I put a sly look on my face. It was time to slit each and every one of their throats by using some basic stealth tactics. The sides of them had bushes and a big enough cliff so I can hide their bodies. It was time to go to work. I hid behind a rock big enough to hide me and at the right time I took the Goblins head and gripped him hard and quickly slit his throat. I slowly slid his body on the muddy floor and kicked him over the cliff behind me. The next Goblin to take out was trying to build a fire. What a retard. Who makes a fire when there is rain out here? Instead of slitting his throat I made sure non of the other goblins are paying attention. At the right moment I get up quick, slash at the Goblins shoulder level and cut his head off. I take his body and throw it into the small bush and keep his head. The other two goblins were close enough at the right moment. I through the Goblins already chopped off head right on the side of them. The two Goblins freak out and try and look for me. I sneak behind the two goblins silently. I stab the Goblin on the right directly in the middle of his back and quickly slash left to slice off the other goblins head off. Success! I took out the goblins and went ahead to Zi'tah.

Zi'tah's entrance was moist and gloomy. As I walked in I prepared myself for the worse. As I walked in the forest it was very misty and I can hear the hard rain hitting the tree's very hard above me. These tree's were very tall. I don't know who would want to climb these tree's. Who ever does and makes the climb they could probably see their house from up there. I can only imagine. As I look forward I see green glowing bugs flying around giving the forest a small amount of light to illuminate my path. Well, at least something is giving me a source of light. Since the rain isn't hitting me anymore I decided to take out the map for this place. The marking I had made for the Piece of Time was directly in front of me but I had to take a couple of turns and paths to get there. Going back was going to be a treat.

I made my first dash to the left side of the wall so I can make sure that I could see any Goblins or anything that looked dangerous. But so far the paths seemed empty. I was starting to guess that the beastmen didn't take over this area yet. I wondered why. I didn't see a thing. All was too quiet for my tastes. All I can hear was the rain hitting the tree's above me and the bugs making their noises around me. But I wasn't putting my guard down. If I did that I would hate myself in the end. So I knew better then not be prepared for some psycho son of bitch to jump me out of nowhere. My day was bad enough as it is to do something so stupid.

I kept moving to the point where I got kinda bored. Then I saw something move in the instance. But all I saw was tree's and bushes. I didn't know what to expect but my nose wasn't catching anything. I wasn't smelling anything odd or anything that could be alive. Something was very strange about this. Then I heard some tree branches moving in the instance to where I was heading. I tipped some of my blade out of my sheath ready to take it out. As I turned the corner a branch moves out of nowhere and smacks me hard sending me flying backwards into a pile of tree branches. I got up with my eyes wide open.

"What the hell just knocked me the hell out?" Then I looked up. I couldn't find any words to describe what I was seeing. Except it was a giant tree with eyes and a mouth. It uses its branches to hit you and some of its branches were sharp enough to stab you with. It raised its branch ready to strike and I move out of the way. I stumble backwards trying to think how I'd take down this tree. "How the hell do tree's attack someone? What the fuck is going on in Vana'diel today?" I don't know why there is a moving tree that goes and bitch smacks you across the field, but I wasn't about to think about that when there is a giant tree wanting to turn me into a Mithkabob.

The tree tries to swipe me again but I jump over his swipe and back flip away from him. I wasn't taking any more chances of being struck down again. Then it hit me, I could start a fire and flame this guy and run for it. I needed it to near something flammable. As I kept walking backwards it stepped into the right spot I was waiting for. An area of Dry bushes. I shot my Ki at the branches and watched the dry bushes erupt in a huge fire fest. The giant tree started to go nuts and swiped everything with its branches. It hit the tree's next to it, everything. I watched it burn and fall over finally. I jumped over the giant tree's burning corpse and kept going forward.

I was finally near the first piece. Then I hear voices. I was in trouble. If anyone finds out about this piece, then I have no choice but to... But I can't. I can't kill someone who is not a beastmen. I walked toward the voices in hopes that they didn't find anything.

"Hello guys. What'cha doing over there?" I asked.

"Oy! Hey look! It's a little squirt! Look at em'!" The first guy said.

"Eh... He looks like less of a challenge to be reckoned with. Let's just take this doo'hickey and get the hells out of ere'." The second guy said.

"Hey hey! I need that!" He was holding the piece of time.

"Look ere' squirt. We found it first. Now beat it you lil' runt before we stick yer'!" The guy took out his small dagger and threatened me with it.

"Look, that is important. If you give it to me I promise I won't hurt you." I said.

"You urt' us!?" The both of the guys start laughing. "How er' ya gonna urt' us ul' lil' runt?" He asked.

"Like this." I jump on his shoulders and kick him in the face with the tip of my shoe. As I land his whole face is bloody. It looks like I broke his nose. The guy behind me gets ready to tackle me.

"Come er' you lil' Shit!" I somersault off his shoulders and slam my wrist on his neck causing him to loose conscience. I take the first piece and put it into my pack. I look at the two men and decide to not kill them. They don't even know what it is. So what harm can it do?

I run out of Zi'tah. It is still raining outside. When I stepped out I saw a guard waiting for me outside of the entrance to Zi'tah.

"You have the item?" He asks.

"Item? What item?"

"The ambassador sent me to retrieve it."

"I have no clue what your talking about". I walk off into the rain. He charges at me and I was ready for it. I spun around him, tripped him, and had him on the floor with my shoe directly on his neck. "What the hell do you want!?"

"Errr... I am ordered to kill you by the Ambassador..."

"Why!?"

"He know someone else found out. Ugh... Now Vana'diel is after you...!"

"How the hell does he know I allowed them to live!?"

"He is... the ambassador... Ah!! How am I supposed to know?" Then it hit me. What he said to me earlier. About his eye being something that no one could ever experience. That he has his eye on all of Vana'diel. That bastard was watching me the whole time!

"Good night and sorry about this." I twist his neck in a way that it doesn't kill him, but makes him fall asleep. Vana'diel was after me. Because of the Ambassador. My only option was to see this through to the end. I had to return to Jeuno and retrieve that map and find the 2 last remaining pieces for myself and destroy them. I ran in the direction to Jeuno with one thought in my mind... And that was survival.

To be Continued