10. Aftermath
The three of us – me, Ether and Munchin – stood tensely before the leader of the Occuria and the one who got us into this in the first place: Gerun. Each of us gave him the coldest stare we could muster, but it didn't seem to bother him too much. Most of all, he looked disappointed that his entertainment show was over so soon.
After we woke up from our sleep after the final battle in the Necrohol of Nabudis, we had found Kel and his team still unconscious, and didn't give a damn about that. We took the keystone and departed, flying to the spot where we had hidden the rest of our keystones. There the three of us found out that the keystones could be fit together, like some sort of puzzle. The end result when all three came together was a human-figure standing in a pose like Da Vinci his Vitruvius man. When we touched it, Gerun appeared.
"Congratulations with successfully gathering all the keystones," the Occuria said, sounding totally unconvincing. "Could you three really not have taken it a bit easier and slower? We were having so much fun watching you."
"Not a chance," Ether snapped. "We got what we needed, god-boy, now change us back!"
"Fine, fine, you're right, you won. And I won't have it be said that we Occuria don't keep our word." The so-called god of Ivalice let out a deep sigh. "To reward you for entertaining us and gathering the keystones, each of you may do a wish and I'll grant it."
"Really?" Munchin asked sceptically.
"Yes, really," Gerun answered impatiently. "There's no catch, no trap, no hidden deal or anything. You can do a wish and I'll grant it. That's it. Now let's hear it."
"Give us our real bodies back, but let us keep our powers," was Ether's wish.
"Make it so that we'll be able to travel freely between our home world and Ivalice, and swear that you'll never, ever, bother us again," Munchin demanded.
Gerun tiredly closed his eyes, but accepted the demands. He glanced at me. "And what will your wish be?"
I thought about it for a moment. Ether and Munchin had already pretty much covered what I was going to wish initially. So I had to think for a moment for a good wish, but an idea came to mind quite quickly. A devious, evil smile appeared on my face as I voiced my request.
---
The following day, the three of us sat, in our normal bodies and all our wishes granted, victoriously in the Sandsea in Rabanastre. We had just gotten our drinks, and now raised our glasses together, to toast on an adventure well-ended.
"Let us drink to our normal bodies, our powers and Icy's wish," Ether proposed. Munchin and I saw no reason to complain, and clanked our glasses against hers.
"Though it has to be said, you are evil, Icarax," Munchin noted with a grin after taking a sip from his beverage.
"Kel will never forgive you, that's for sure," Ether added with a similar grin plastered on her face – a face that happed to be far more handsome now that it no longer looked like a scarab, but I guess the same could be said for all of us.
I shrugged. "What can I say? I'm good at holding grudges, and love taking revenge. Besides, I could have made their fate far worse. In all honesty, I held back."
"I suppose that's true…" the only female of our little group said. "Remind me to not go home as often as possible."
"I think that goes without saying, Ether," I replied with a smile. After taking another sip from my drink, I added: "So what are we gonna do next? There's a whole world out there that we can now explore as much as we like. Where do we go? Personally, I'd love to see the Phon Coast in real life."
"That's as good a place to start touring Ivalice as any," Munchin agreed. "Though let's take our time and see how Rabanastre looks from every angle in real life."
"You know, in the end you could say we should actually be grateful to the Occuria for what they did to us," I remarked thoughtfully. "If they hadn't, we would never have won their little game, and never would have had the chance to do our wishes and have them granted."
"True as that may be, that still doesn't make me feel even the slightest urge to forgive them," Ether snorted with disdain. "I still want to rip their innards out."
"Same here," Munchin agreed, nodding. "Though the wishes were an unexpected surprise."
"Well, let's not think about it too much then, and put this whole insect-business behind us," I decided with a smile, after which I downed the rest of my drink. "A new life starts today guys, so let's enjoy it regardless of how we got it."
My two friends agreed with that, and we fell silent for a moment. Regardless of what I said before, about putting it all behind me, I still found myself thinking of my time as an insect. It was almost too strange to believe, and to convince myself that it had, in fact, happened, I had decided to type this out on my computer should I ever go home for a moment. This morning I had woken up expecting to see my hands be blades, and was incredibly startled to see five moveable fingers instead. It was a relief, though. And I still had my repulsion power, which was what I had enjoyed most about my insect form. I could still fly now, Ether still call upon past selves of her, Munchin still was insanely strong. And we all looked good doing so.
Really, we looked good, we had powers, we had Ivalice, what more could a guy or girl want? Satisfied with the strange twist our lives had taken, we all leaned back in our chair to relax. Maybe I would even catch a short nap. Just as I was about to do that, Munchin's voice kept me awake.
"I wonder what Kel is doing now?"
---
The Nabreus Deadlands thought that after the weird events of the past few days, they'd be free from giant mechanical insects once we had left. Unfortunately, it thought wrong, as a red-and-silver insect-like being crawled through the mist on its four blade-like limbs. Flanking it were a black-and-silver, giant beetle, and a blue-and-silver mosquito. The red and silver one was muttering and grumbling, cursing my name.
Well, I suppose Kel had every right to hate me now, as my wish had been that whenever me, Ether and Munchin were in Ivalice, he and his friends would be stuck in that hateful swamp as insects, just like we had. Not being totally heartless, though, my wish allowed them to explore Ivalice as humans whenever me and my friends were no longer in this world. Too bad for them we quite enjoyed Ivalice, and didn't plan on going home a lot. Revenge is sweet indeed.
Kel let out a deep sigh as he stared tearfully at his now blade-like hands. Then, his sad cry resonated throughout all of the swamp, and all monsters for a moment looked in the direction of the cry in confusion.
"I WANT TO GO HOME!"
The End
And that's it, my friends, the end of "Spirits of the Mist"! And I made it before 2010 started, if just barely. I enjoyed this little adventure of me, and I hope that whoever read this did as well.
Ether and Munchin, thanks for suffering through this with me, and Kel, Blaze and Gale, don't take it personally. It's just a story, after all! =)
Now what other adventures might await me and my friends? A story where I get trapped in the classical shooter "Doom II" or its amazing sequel "Final Doom: The Plutonia Experiment" is very tempting to write. Hmm…
Anyway, whatever I do after this, happy new year, and a fantastic 2010!
-Icarax-