The embers in Cyan's fire glowed dully orange in the brisk morning air. The smell of fresh dew collecting on the grass and birds chirping confirmed it was morning to the tranquil ruler's senses. His old back creaked as he righted himself and stood up, stretching his weary body. Cyan rubbed his eyes as they adjusted to the delicate filtering of light through the forest canopy while Baram lay sprawled out over his bunched up sheet, snoring. Being the just knight that he was, Cyan found a long, slender branch on the ground and began poking it at the sides of the sleeping squire. He poked Baram in the arm, which he rubbed away, and then in the nose. He snorted and woke up with a gasp, slapping his face thinking it was a bug crawling up his face.
Cyan's chuckled heartily as his expense as the boy talked, "Wha?" Baram mumbled as he stirred in his brown wool sleeping bag.
"It's morning my lad," Cyan told him, "time to get a move on."
"Yes sire!" Baram replied as he found it difficult to free himself of the bunched up sleeping bag, tripping over his legs as he hurried to pack things up quickly.
In a matter of minutes, the fire had been put out and their small bundle of camp supplies had been placed back into a sack hanging from the side of Baram's chocobo. It too had been sleeping and warked in surprise as he did so, the short wings on its side flapping in shock. Cyan equipped his armor as Baram awoke the other bird, tying the front and back straps of his protection tightly before slipping on an outer shirt of cotton to conceal it. Baram fed both of the chocobos some greens that he had brought with him and their huge playful eyes showed their gratitude, even though he had so rudely awakened them. Today was going to be a long day of traveling, and they needed their energy.
"We're crossing the ocean today. Late last night as you slept the entire northwestern sky was aglow with light. I fear that something might have happened to my friends in Narshe," Cyan told Baram. The boy shot his king a bewildered look as he said this, "Don't look at me as though I'm crazy . . ." Cyan snapped. The squire shook his head disapprovingly, "You'll see what I mean once we reach the coastline," Cyan said.
It was a two-hour journey to the coast from their current position. Signs of late morning were popping up around them as time passed and their expedition began. Squirrels were playfully chasing each other up the trees and through the chocobos' legs. Baram watched as one of the squirrels gnawed away at an acorn from a branch in the tree high above him, it seemed to be staring at him from up at its vantage point. A couple birds sang a delightful tune from the treetops as Cyan and his faithful assistant came ever closer to their destination. The squire watched Cyan sniff the air as he propped himself up on the saddle. Thinking this odd he took in a whiff on his own and smelled the faint aroma of salt in his nostrils. The birds melody had suddenly change from a happy tune to the song of a seagull, their calls echoing out over the horizon. The forest became less dense as they reached the coastline of their continent and the animals became less visible as white sand replaced dark brown dirt. Taking another deep breath, Cyan took in as much sea air as he could, remembering back to the days when Gau had led them through the Serpent Trench (most of which is now above water since Kefka's arrogance threw the balance of the world out of sync). He watched the white foam form on top of each tide's crest seconds before it crashed into the receding current.
"Well, we're here," Baram said, not amazed as to how they would cross the ocean, although he too enjoyed the view of the deep blue water as far as the eye can see.
"Just follow me," Cyan ordered him.
Cyan led the chocobo into some shallow water and its clawed feet sank slightly into the water. He walked farther out into the water and the level of water remained constant right below the chocobo's knees.
"But . . . that's impossible!!" Baram exclaimed in disbelief, "Chocobos can't walk on water!!"
"Ahh, the miracles of chocobo breeding. I'll tell you all about it when we get back to Doma," Cyan explained, smirking and then beginning to ride towards Narshe. As the bird ran on the water, it looked as though it was running over small puddles. Instead of a big splash after every step, it left a ripple and a kick of water from its foot. Baram's chocobo had its Sunkist orange beak buried in a patch of random greens growing by a small tree instead of watching the other bird. Not wanting to be a burden on his master, he tugged at the harness and coaxed the bird into following Cyan. The untrusting boy held on for dear life as his ride sprinted towards its mate.
Moogle Caves of NarsheThe moogles' once cheerful and upbeat residence was now lying beneath a thousand tons of coal and rock. The caves would never again be host to their mystical songs, and the hay padded dance floors would never again be treaded on during joyous parties. It was a dark day for Moogle kind . . . many had lost their lives and only a few had managed to escape.
Although the deeper floors had sustained considerably less damage, they were still in decimated and beyond repair. The shockwave from the final impact had carved most of the ceiling away along with the upper levels of caves, collapsing layers upon layers of prehistoric caves upon each other. The early afternoon light had penetrated through a few of the holes and outlined the mist-like appearance of still settling dust. The lack of wind or a breeze kept the air stale and stagnant, almost unbearable due to the ash from some of the still burning landmarks in the city. A scent of decay and rigormortis would become much more noticeable as the sun's rays warmed up the ground and a cloud of death could be seen from miles away. There would have had to be a miracle in order for any living thing to have survived this catastrophe . . . a miracle in the shape of a giant snow beast called Umaro.
Slowly but surely, a giant rock began to list to the side, sliding off the others. Once the melee had begun, Umaro and the others ran into the caves for shelter against the storm of hellfire. Mog had no sooner led Celes and Locke to the lower levels when disaster struck. His padded white paws and small pink wings just weren't fast enough . . . A gigantic part of the ceiling collapsed and threatened to crush them under its mighty weight, but the superhuman strength of the abominable snowman wouldn't allow that to happen. He created a human barrier around his friends, holding the slab mere inches above them as hundreds of more boulders tumbled down and slid into piles around the cavern.
His grip now weakened, the beast tilted the giant boulder and dropped the rock to one side, the ground shaking as he did. Umaro then managed to somehow brace himself and push it away as hundreds of tons of rock rolled harmlessly off to the other side. With his last ounce of energy the abominable snow-beast watched the block of earth crack and shatter, making a thunderous boom as it hit the ground. Umaro fell to his knees exhausted, then onto his face, his breathing labored and blowing the dirt away from his violet-blue face. His friends, who had moved out from under him and got out of his way, hurriedly returned to his side to help. Mog was the first.
"Kupo . . . Umaro," Mog said as he used his tiny, battered pink wings to float over to his friend. The Moogle tried to flip him over, but the beast-man was just too massive. The furry little animal's eyes were empty, void of any emotion as he did his best to put pressure on his friend's wounds . . . but there were just too many. Celes buried her head into Locke's shoulder as the scene unfolded.
"We . . . survived?" She said in disbelief, tears welling up as she held her lover tightly. Locke stood her up, guiding the both of them as they walked over to console Mog. They all had cuts and bruises, but nothing to the extent of Umaro's injuries. Stray boulders had slammed into his body, tearing his fur away and gashing into his skin. Red blood had pooled all over his brilliantly white colored hair, now almost brown as it dried out. In other places it was more internal than anything else . . . the stress put onto his arms, legs, and organs was irreparable. After putting down the huge chunk of ceiling, his muscle fibers weakened to the point that they shredded apart, massive pulmonary hemorrhaging occurring all over. If magic still existed, Umaro wouldn't be in this situation. A simple cure would make him brand new . . . if it still existed. However, after the defeat of Kefka atop his grand tower, magic had disappeared from the world and had become nothing more than a dream lost in the minds of this planet's people. A fleeting dream, one so close that you could swear it was real but still nothing more than a dream.
Umaro was dying, and there was nothing any of them could do.
"Rrrraa..." the white beast grumbled as he painstakingly rolled himself over. His cold stone colored eyes stared hatefully at the ceiling above him. Mog tried to comfort Umaro as best he could, but how does one comfort a seven-foot tall yeti?
"Kupo, you're gonna be all right friend. You're not hurt that bad . . . really! Help should arrive soon save us all," Mog sniffed. He knew this not to be true yet he said it so Umaro wouldn't be frightened in his last moments. Celes kneeled down to Umaro's right side and lifted his titan-like hand onto hers. His hands easily dwarfed hers and the scene looked like she was a small child at the deathbed of her father, trying to comfort somebody she loved so dearly. The numerous cuts and gashes on the yeti's body had dyed his once snowy colored fur into a pink tangled mess. Celes tried to stroke his fur to soothe his pain, but it was too rough and only seemed to cause him more pain.
Not wanting to be a burden to the others, the other party member spoke up to break the depressing silence, "I'm gonna find a way up this rubble. We need to find a way out and get help," Locke told Celes and Mog. They were too caught up in the moment to heed him any attention but he got his bearings from the sky through the holes in the ceiling and began to climb the north face of the cave-in.
The height to the top didn't seem that bad. It was gradual in some places but a little steep in others. Locke made a note to stay away from the more jagged rocks along his path as a few gave way at a mere inkling of a touch. One bad step from his current height and he would be in worse shape than Umaro. After the countless detours and dead ends, the master adventurer finally reached the surface. The devastation he witnessed almost caused him to fall back down one of the holes.
Narshe had been wiped off of the face of the planet. Each house and building had either been swallowed up by the expanded ravine or was blown away from the last impact. Smoldering periodic foundations of buildings remained but no sign that a town had ever existed. In other parts of the city, coal, which was the life source of the people, had caused most of the destruction to continue. The immense deposits that had lined the interiors of the cliffs collapsed onto the town crushing everybody and everything that was there. The fires on the far side of Narshe were still going strong, fueled by the over abundance of ore. He was so shaken up that the sound of a loose rock falling caused him to jump.
"Celes . . . "Locke whispered as he saw her walking to join him.
"Umaro was fading fast. Mog wanted to say goodbye in his own way before it was all over, so I let them be," she spoke to Locke, almost whimpering as she wiped a tear away from cheek, "I've seen entire cities burned to the ground. I've seen a whole village tortured and killed just to satisfy the whim of the emperor. But none of those acts were as horrible as what happened today . . ."
"Why does something like this happen," Locke asked rhetorically asked, not expecting an answer.
"I think I could answer that question," Cyan said as he jumped off his chocobo, its claws dripping with saltwater.
"Cyan!" Celes and Locke cried in unison. The former Magitek infused knight ran over and gave him a quick embrace, kissing him briefly on the cheek before Locke walked over and locked his hand with Cyan's. It was a relief, a sign of hope to see somebody else alive after hours of anguish underneath a boulder.
"I came here out of a detour, and thank god I did. Are both of you okay? I thought that perhaps the Empire had attacked us when I saw the smoke but as I got closer, I saw the cliffs and thought you were all dead . . . it wasn't the Empire, was it? What REALLY happened here?" Cyan inquired, grabbing a cloth from his chocobo's pouch to clean up Celes' wounds.
"A meteor storm appeared over the town yesterday evening all of the sudden and pounded it into oblivion. It felt as though the heavens were crumbling when the huge pieces of rock slammed into the surrounding area," Locke explained to him, "If it wasn't for Umaro . . ."
Cyan saw a diminutive figure emerge out of a one of the holes in the ground. It was Mog and his stare was fixated to the ground. Nobody had to guess what would be said next. Instead of having somebody else say it, Locke spoke first, "What Umaro did was the bravest thing I've ever seen anybody do. I have him to thank for saving all our lives. We will never forget your friend," and that was it. The group watched with patience as Mog reluctantly joined them, staying to the outside of the circle however as the discussion continued.
Baram had already begun handing each of them some of his rations and treating their wounds with proper material. He used bandages and ointments from a kit that he had brought from Doma and there were a couple moments were Locke screamed out in pain, but that soon subsided. After everyone had been taken care of, he collected what kindling he could find and started a small fire. The northern city of coal was a cold one, and in the weakened state of his king's friends, their condition could get only get worse if they weren't properly cared for. The squire took some small pieces of kindling from a decent sized pouch hanging over the side of the chocobo and tossed a few small logs over them as he got a fire started. They were soon engulfed and Locke could feel the warmth of the blaze on his injured skin, almost falling asleep before remembering to ask Cyan about what he said earlier.
"Hey Cyan," Locke asked his friend as he relaxed his head onto a folded blanket," What did you mean by saying you might know what caused this?"
"I think it may have something to do with Sir Gau. He was acting rather strange when he visited me the other day. Some of my subjects said he was carrying a glowing object which he seemed to be quite taken with. However, it was observed to use no flame and had a glasslike appearance," he informed everyone around the fire.
"Was it Magicite?" Celes said quickly, although the others had all thought of the same thing but didn't want to say it.
"Could be," Cyan continued, "if it is we need to find him fast. By the wings of the carrier pigeon, I have found out from one of my spies in Neo Vector that he was headed in that general direction. It's bewildering to think how he got over there without a chocobo, and I haven't the slightest idea why he would go-"
"You've got to be kidding! Even a master of disguise such as myself wouldn't dare get close to a place like that without backup of any kind. That's suicide," Locke told Cyan.
"I know. As much as I don't want to go there I have to. Gau is my friend. He was a great help in the battle to win back the world and helped Sabin and I when we were lost and wandering on the Veldt. We would have forever been lost on that continent had he not guided us to the underground river. I must help him in anyway I can . . . I owe him that much as a friend to at least find out what's going on," Cyan stated.
Before he had to ask for their help, Locke and Celes knew that their answer would be 'yes', "You have our support then, or at least as much as we can muster," Cyan gave them a warm smile, his mustache slightly curling as he put a thankful hand on his friend's shoulder. Once they had all agreed on the decision, they looked to the Moogle for his response.
"When do we leave Kupo?" Mog asked as a surprise to everyone.
"Daybreak tomorrow. You need to rest now and regain your strength. It will be a long trip and very hard so you'll need all the energy you can get. With that being said, see you all in the morning," Cyan said as he sat down against a rock to sleep. Baram agreed happily with that decision and soon curled up close to the fire. Even the smallest of people needed their sleep. Locke was the last to go to sleep from the group as Celes had placed her head on his lap, her long blonde hair laid over the side of his legs carefully. Thinking to himself, he stroked her hair, holding her tight with his other hand. Was he the only one worried about what tomorrow would bring?
Whatever awaited them he knew to get sleep as well, and with that, he closed his eyes and began to dream.