Final Kingdom
Chapter 3: The Beginning Of A JourneyWhile she was riding along, Kaori was constantly looking at the map, trying to make sure that she was going the right way.
Several times she found that she had taken a wrong turn, and had to turn back, and when she would rest, and get off the chocobo, eat, and let the chocobo eat, then she would always have trouble getting back on, so she would walk until she found a tall rock, or tree stump, so she could climb up onto it, and then onto the chocobo.
Several times, there were many people who helped her, she guessed that they knew that she was not from Spira.
After many days of travel, she started getting to more things that looked like they weren't from someone's imagination, but actual places.
After a while, she started thinking that instead of another world, she was just in another part of her own world, like some very distant country that she had never heard of.
She was also starting to get very confused. Every night she had that same dream of the unknown girl. Only every night, she got bigger and bigger, like something very important was about to happen to her.
That night, she found that so far, she had made it to the Moonflow, and that night, she would take the last shoopuff for the evening, and stop for the night at the inn on the other side, for she was told that there was an inn there, and the prices weren't too high.
Starting the next day, she would go to Guadosalam, and after that, the Thunder Plains. Once she heard that name again, she wondered why they were called the Thunder Plains, and not something a bit more realistic. Like thunder would only hit in one spot.
That night, once she was checked into the inn, and it surprised her that she could check into one, without I.D. or anything like that, she ate a meal that she did not have to fix, so it was not burnt, or horrible, but quite good, and then she went to bed, for it seemed, that even if you didn't want to get woken up, they woke you up at dawn.
Again that night, she had the dream of the girl, only this time, she looked slightly like her mother, and there was a man there, yet again, looking like her mother. Standing behind the girl and the man, she saw a woman. She did not understand why she was seeing all these things in her dreams, her parents told her that it was her imagination, but she didn't think that it was this time.
After waking up in the morning, she ate another meal, fed her chocobo, and left, still wanting to catch up with Yuna.
Through the next couple of days, she got very tired, along with her chocobo, got through Guadosalam, and was told by a passerby, that she was very close to the Thunder Plains.
When darkness fell, she found that a storm was coming on, there was a lot of thunder and lightning, and when she went to bed, it still hadn't arrived, but she was sure that the next day would be wet.
She dreamed about the three people again, only this time, there was a palace, and a dog, along with someone with a crown. She could not figure out who all these people were, but it seemed that every night, things got more pronounced, and she could see everything much better, or something else as well.
When she woke up, she was surprised that it had not rained that night, and that it wasn't raining at that time.
About half way through the day, she saw a tall building in the distance, and thought that she had made it home to New York, but when she got closer, there were no more buildings, and it didn't even look like a real building, just a kind of tower thing.
When she passed yet another person, she asked them where she was, and was told, the Thunder Plains. When she asked how to get to Macalania, she was told that she had to go through the Thunder Plains, but her best bet would be to go the travel agency, and talk to Rin there.
When she got directions on how to get there, she went, yet a bit reluctantly, and after a lot of searching, or so it seemed, she found it.
When she went inside, she saw some really weird looking people, they were all only dressed halfway, and they had dark skin, and weird hairstyles, not to mention weird clothes.
When she got there, she rested a bit, and then asked the person behind the desk, how to get to Macalania. When they told her which way to go, then she hurried and thanked them, and then left, not wanting to go back outside, yet wanting to find Yuna more than that.
When she got into some kind of woods, she figured that she had made it to Macalania, for she had been told that when she came to the woods, it was Macalania, and that the Thunder Plains didn't have any woods.
When she got inside a bit more, she started thinking that it was Central Park, with just taller trees than she had ever seen there.
She traveled on the main path for a while, and then found the shimmering path that Vahe had been talking about, and started looking at it.
'There is no way that that is a path, and there is no way that I will be traveling up that, or that it can even hold anything other than feather light things, or air.'
When she stood there for quite some time, she thought she was seeing things, for someone was actually walking on it, and coming down.
So far, she had fought many animals, but not a choice of her own, a lot of them, she thought were cute, but then most of the time, someone saw her, and came running, most of the time, because she was holding out her hand to pet it, and next she found out, that the animals only had one interest in her, and that was to kill her.
Now, when she saw someone on that path, she figured when he came off it, then she would start up it.
When the time came, she looked at it a bit more, then started up, not looking down, and not getting off her chocobo.
Starting up it, she came to a really weird animal, that floated and looked like a fish, only there wasn't any water near this one place.
When she started thinking back to the later version of Vahes instructions, she figured she had to fight these too.
When she got out her sword, she started thinking of one of her video games, like Prince of Persia, or of her dad and her playing out in the back yard.
When she got into the battle, she figured since these were fish, and they were supposed to be in water, then they would be water 'fiends' and so she thought for a moment, and figured out she should use Thundaga on it, from the sword like Vahe taught her to do.
After two hit for each of the fish, there were three, then she killed all of them, and continued on her way, after cleaning the sword a bit.
After some time of walking on this path, she thought that the sun was starting to set, and that it was nearly time to find a place to sleep.
After a bit more traveling, she saw the end of the path, and started running, for she had not been able to get back on the chocobo after the battle, and had been in many more since then, so she was very tired.
When she got off the path, she just found a place that looked like there weren't too many rocks, and too many fiends around, and set up camp there.
When someone passed her, and saw her, they stopped for a time, and just looked at her, then asked why she was sleeping here instead of the agency/inn. When she replied that she did not know that there was one, but she wanted to rest, he decided that he would join her for a time.
"My name is Sebastian. I am a musician. I'm trying to get to Zanarkand. Where are you trying to get to?" Sebastian asked her, cocking his head just the slightest bit.
"I'm trying to get to the Calm Lands. I've come from Besaid. Do you know about how much more I have to go?" Kaori asked him, hoping it wasn't far, she did not know how long it would take Yuna to get there, but she hoped that she was still there.
"You will get there late tomorrow, walking, but on a chocobo, you should get there midmorning. If you get up at a reasonable time." Sebastian told her, with a questioning look on her face.
Nearly everyone in these parts knew how long it would take, especially if they were traveling it.
"Well, I have been getting up at dawn, but I don't like mornings, so I'll probably sleep in as long as possible." Kaori told him, trusting him already, even though she hardly knew him.
"Well, if sleeping is what you want, you don't want to be out here, the fiends will find that you are here, and it won't take them long to get here. Come. I will take you to the inn." Sebastian told her, standing up.
Since she hadn't really unpacked anything, it didn't take long to get going.
When they had at last gotten to the inn, Kaori checked her money, and found that she could stay and then have a few more coins, if their rates were the same as the other place.
When Sebastian saw that she did not have much money left, he decided that he would pay for both of them, since she was but a child.
Not knowing that he was going to stay, she decided that she would sleep in her little spot from earlier, for she had found out that the rates here were too high for her to afford.
When she had nearly gotten to the door, Sebastian turned around, asked her where she was going, with a smile, and told her that he had paid for her to stay, she looked at him with a question in her eyes, then just shrugged her shoulders, and walked back over to him, got her key and room number, and walked to it.
After a while, she had prepared for bed, and went out to take care of her chocobo, and found that someone was already taking care of it.
When she saw this, she asked the guy what he was doing, and he said that he had been paid by her friend to take care of it.
When she heard this, she again shrugged her shoulders, and walked back inside, and went to bed.
This time, when she fell asleep, she dreamed again of all the people from the last dream, only this time, she could also see some really pretty lady with black hair, dressed like she was really important.
When she woke up, she found that it was not yet light outside, yet she could not figure out what had woken her. When she found that it was because of a noise in her room, for she heard it again, she looked around, and tried to figure out what was going on.
When she saw someone in her room, she used one of the harder spells that Vahe had taught her, petrify, and once the spell had taken effect, got out of bed, getting her sword on the way, and went over to see who it was. To see she had to light a candle, but once that was done, she could see that it was the man from the front desk, and wondered why he was going through her things, but saw that in his hands, he had her token, that she was supposed to show Yuna, or anyone really, to let her know that she was ok, and was really who she said she was.
When she saw this, she decided that she would have to go, packed her things, dressed, and went to Sebastian's room with a note, and told him of her hasty departure, and why she had to leave, she thanked him, and then walked downstairs, where she went to the kitchen, and got some bread and something that she did not recognize, but packed those in a small bag, and went to get her chocobo.
When she found which chocobo was hers, she put on the bridle and her special saddle, since she could hardly ride as it was, and found a high place to get up on him.
When she was on, she made sure that her bags were secure, and then looked at her map, to figure out which way to go.
When she found it, she left as fast as she could get the chocobo to go, and with half a mind, guided him, while making sure they were going the right way.
Since it was still the middle of the night, she was very tired, as was her chocobo, so once she figured it would be ok to slow down, they started going at a walk.
When the sun started to rise, she thought she saw something, but wasn't sure, so she kept going at the same speed.
After sometime, she saw a valley, and a gorge, and then she saw a tent in the middle. When she looked at her map, she saw that she had finally made it to the Calm Lands.
By now it was bright enough to see behind her, so she looked, and saw what feared.
Behind her there was the man from last night, in her room, and there was the man that took care of her chocobo, and there were others, which were standing around in the front room of the inn.
When she could, she got her chocobo to go as fast as he could, which didn't seem very fast, but it seemed fast enough to stay about the same distance from them, except they were very slowly gaining, she saw the next time she looked back.
When she got toward the middle, which was also the tent, and she saw people, she started yelling for help, not sure if this was good or not.
When the people behind her caught up to her, they surrounded her, so that she could not run. Though she had already gotten the attention of someone, she could not tell whom, they did not come.
"Well, little one, you have been a very big pain. I should have finished you off last night, but I thought I would just get your medallion, so you could not join with anyone. When I had been gone for some time longer than I had planned, my partner came to get me, and found me petrified, and used the counter curse on me. When I found that you had left, I rounded up everyone I needed, and quickly came after you. And now you can see, you shall not survive." The leader told her, looking quite smug.
"We'll see. You may kill me, but not without a good fight. And later, when my friends find out, you will regret it." Kaori told him, already in her fighting stance with her sword.
"So…you are going to put up a fight? Very noble, but foolish." Said the man from the stable the night before.
When they attacked her, it was probably around twenty men total there, come after her, about half of all of them, attacked her at once.
After, by some miracle, she had taken down four men, she heard someone behind her yelling. Though she did not dare look, she thought that she recognized the voice, and that it was Yuna.
She kept fighting, and took down another five, but then she saw something above her, and realized it was an aeon, Bahamut actually.
When Bahamut landed, he just kind of looked at her, then got into a stance, and looked at her. She was still fighting, but then she realized what he was waiting for.
"Attack them Bahamut! Help me!" Kaori yelled, still fighting.
After a few more moments, she was fighting the last person, and once he was dead, it would be over, but she was out of energy, and could not defeat him. When she was about to give him over to Bahamut, she saw the slash of a sword, and he was down.
When she actually looked, she saw Yuna, then, because of injuries, she fell unconscious.
The last thing she remembered was the little girl from her dreams running toward her in blackness, and then everything went dark.