13 - Heavens Torn Asunder

Countdown to Midnight, Valefor Awakens, The Wind Crystal, First Brood, The Trio, Heavens Asunder

"Adjust course, 15 degrees to port." Desinus leaned over the shoulder of the Garlean officer at one of the control bays on the Gration bridge.

The bridge was four times larger than the one aboard his own beloved cruiser. Fully crewed, over a hundred and fifty Garleans would have sat here alone, but Desinus and Brusellus had only been able to bring fifteen with them in the cramped Garlean gunship…and several had departed with Areniir and his creations to the ship's engine room.

"Patience Captain." Brusellus stood beside him, the sharp eyes of the elderly Garlean sweeping the bridge coolly. "All is proceeding well."

Desinus nodded, trying to force calm into his actions. He felt lightheaded with adrenaline and the thrill of action! What a heist!

He turned to one of the Optio officers who was stood at a deck of controls normally manned by five men. "What's the condition of the Gration?"

The officer saluted briefly, eyes roving up and down the deck of complex readouts. "Near as I can tell Captain, she's in pretty good shape – most of the armour has been patched up and we've got four of the eighteen engines up and running, enough to give us quarter cruising speed if we push it. Some of the cannons read as operational but there is no ammo aboard, so we are otherwise defenseless if they come after us."

"A standard cannon aboard the Gration requires a total of forty bodies to crew." Brusellus remarked dryly. "We must hope there is no need for them. Thankfully Areniir's Resonants did an excellent job infiltrating the docks and crippling their fleet."

"It's just too bad we could not persuade the Consul to join us…or at least return the Gration which was only there thanks to the bravery of the VIth Legion." Desinus replied stiffly at the mention of Areniir and his creations.

Seeking to distract himself, he bent over a mammut detection grid, noting the new blips of light that had suddenly appeared on the console. "Looks like there are some survivors within the mountain docks, a dozen small craft have just left…they will be on us in three minutes."

"Where's the escort gunships from the Agathon?" Brusellus asked, voice steady as rock.

"Six minutes out Sir." One of the Garleans in charge of communications reported.

Desinus nodded curtly in response. Hunships could hardly inflict any damage on a ship the size of the Gration, still he would feel better when their own escort gunships, led by his son were around them…even better when the Gration lumbered to join the rest of the fleet.

Brusellus had moved over to an internal communications panel and pressed several buttons before leading close to the bell receiver. "Areniir, how are things in the engine room?"

Desinus walked closer, arriving at Brusellus's side as the scientist's voice crackled back through. "All good down here commander! A few stowaways and left-behinds, but they've been dealt with. The crystal is exactly as your intelligence said, I'm impressed at the Falu-Varian ingenuity, the siphons they've installed fill the place of cerulean quite handily."

"Focus Areniir." Brusellus tapped his walking stick firmly on the floor. "Will we be able to test Valefor or not?"

There was a long pause. "Yes commander." The reply finally crackled back. "We've just finished connecting the relay devices and started beaming energy and wake-up commands to the satellite. Keep us within sight of the mountain and give us…fifteen minutes."

"Understood." Brusellus turned and raised an eyebrow at Desinus. "It should be quite the sight captain, it's not every day we test an ancient Allegan weapon."

Desinus nodded, it was too bad Falu-Varius had picked the path of resistance, better to eliminate them now before they could rebuild. One less rival for Garlemald to contest with in the future.

He was distracted however, by a grainy black and white image showing on a bank of consoles cycling throughout the Gration. The image had briefly paused on two women, one dressed for a ball with a sword in her hand and the other advancing with purpose, head held high. He felt a low hiss of breath come out between his teeth as he recognized the images from Brusellus's fireplace. "Commander, you should warn Areniir and his pets that he's about to have some company…"

Above, far, far above in the coldness of the great void, a single electronic eye crackled into life.

It swiveled, assessing the cloud cover of the planet below it and then the great landmasses below that. For a moment, the electronic brain that made up Valefor struggled to understand the unrecognizable world it had awoken to. Why was there a great lake where the ancient capital of its masters, Allag Meizon, had rested? Where were the great cities of Parium, Kydonia and Laodicea Pontica? Where had these new seas appeared from and where had all the great highways of Allag vanished to?

The eye swiveled to address its immediate surroundings, where was Dalamud, the great prison it was tasked with guarding? Why had its masters not awoken it? Where were the picket ships of the Allag Empire which had once been a regular sight in orbit before Valefor had been put into hibernation?

The ancient weapon clung to the one reassurance it had; the stream of energy that flowed into it from far below, feeding its systems with energy along with a steady stream of command prompts.

"Do you actually have any idea where we are going?" Fordola's voice echoed down the corridor Sara was leading them through.

"I certainly hope so." Sara replied, not slowing at a four-way intersection of identical corridors, trusting in her instincts - she turned right. There was…something…something calling to her and it was getting closer…

"Well, I hope your sixth sense is more reliable than mine…" She heard Fordola grumble behind, but the other woman kept up, their feet's pitter-pattering on the cold hull of the Gration.

Now and again, they came across a body, inevitably clad in Falu-Varian colours and almost always unarmed. Some had been shot and others slashed where they stood. Sara no longer paused for the corpses, feeling only a burning determination within herself to find those responsible for these violations.

She followed the corridors past unmanned security checkpoints, open cabins slung with hammocks and shadowy, empty storage rooms. All around the ships engines throbbed and thrummed in the background, the hull slightly vibrating underneath their feet…at least, she presumed it was the engines…

The corridor terminated at a partly closed bulkhead door. It had been unlatched and swung open on its hinge by a whisper, whoever had left it open had been in a hurry. She knew then that whatever was calling to her…was behind this door. Waiting for them…

She spared a glance back at Fordola behind. The wound which the Guardian had inflicted on her was already closed, only some dried blood marred her skin. Fast healing was clearly part of her Resonant abilities, something else they shared. All in all, it was a wonder Fordola's black dress had held together really, far better than Sara's own would have if she had been forced to stay in it. Still, there was something 'off' about Fordola's aether, it was…turbulent and agitated. There was something 'frayed' about it which Sara disliked…something worrying, should she voice her fears?

"Are we going in? Or did you just want to stare at me?" Fordola cocked a head, eyebrow raised, and Sara felt a flush run through her as she hurriedly turned back to the door and used her foot to push it open.

Immediately a blast of warm air struck them in the face. A vast chamber stretched before them, seemingly a malm long and almost as high. Taking up most of the room, facing them, were huge machina devices, massive turbines filled with motion; spinning, hissing, and whirring as they pushed the tremendous bulk of the Gration forward. Multiple levels of industry standard catwalks filled the space above them, leading each way to access different levels of the turbines and the control stations by them.

Yet both Fordola and Sara stared not at the tremendous engines taking up the bulk of the chamber, but instead the huge crystal that dominated the front.

To Sara, it was like seeing the mother crystal again. It floated slightly off the floor, its brilliant emerald surface awash with power, blazing like a miniature sun. It towered over them, reaching up almost to the top of that distant ceiling, surrounded by five levels of catwalks that snaked around the crystal.

As her eyes seemed to adjust to the brilliance, she suddenly noticed the strange…devices attached to the crystal. Great black rods had been buried into the crystalline surface leaving riven fissures that crackled and spat with aether. These rods were connected to great coils of wires that snaked up to the higher levels of the catwalks where they vanished from sight.

"Well…still think you can put this in your pocket to take back to Ul'dah?" Fordola remarked, but it was without irony for Fordola was likewise almost stunned into silence.

"Krile said the elemental crystals could not be tapped…" Sara trailed off, the sight of the black rods driven into the crystal, and the wires trailing all over its surface struck her as a terrible violation, a sacrilege of something pure and natural.

"Aye, well…she probably didn't account for common greed, eh?" Clearly Fordola felt similarly.

"How are we going to…" Sara trailed off, was she here for the crystal, or here to investigate the Garlean attack on Falu-Varius? Also, there was a high-pitched whine at the back of her head…it was building steadily…a fuzz of interference.

'Something is coming…'

"Well, we are on a massive airship." Fordola's voice sounded distant and distorted. "Maybe we should find our way up to the bridge, have a 'chat' with the Garleans? I'm sure we can 'persuade' them to assist us lovely ladies now, don't you?"

But Sara was hardly listening now, instead she was trying to listen, straining to tune into the hum building in her mind 'Midgardsomr?' The great crystal blazed with energies and suddenly there was a,

Flicker,

A sea of stars, brilliant points of light surrounded her, interspaced by the black void.

Unbidden the memory came back to her of how her journey had started those years ago, how Hydaelyn had first spoken to her, the great mother crystal.

There was a deep rumble, as ancient as the stars themselves and a vast presence brushed against her mind. Sara felt her own light flicker in its presence, like a candle flickering in a gust of great wind, yet her presence remained firm, and a moment later she felt a warmth of recognition over her.

'Again, you stand before me, little one. Long have I waited for my voice to reach thee.'

Sara could sense the dragon's essence flooding over her, ancient power and pride mixed with heart-breaking melancholy. The words were not spoken - but echoed directly in her head.

'I'm sorry I could not hear until now.' She replied, the words echoing across the void, small and insubstantial.

'Yet you hear me now – and we must be quick, for our time is short.' She felt the dragon's essence wrap around her, a blanket of intent and resolve. 'There is a great evil that doth leech at the Source. You see but a part of it, you stumble on without grasping the imminent loss of everything we both hold dear.' The dragon's tone carried no reproach, for which Sara was grateful.

'Before I came to the Source, I traveled an unimaginable distance across the great void in search of a new home. During my travels, I passed near what is the center of our universe. There is a singularity there, a great darkness that devours anything that comes near it. I gave it a wide berth on my travels onwards.' A vision pushed into Sara's head, the brilliant points of light were replaced by an unthinkable darkness, a void in the sea of stars, into which nothing could survive. It was of such a vastness, such immensity that Sara's mind could hardly conceive of what she was seeing.

'In a time, centuries of years by your kind.' Midgardsomr's thoughts continued to wash over Sara. 'I drew closer to this star, the Source. Yet, as I approached, I saw another great traveler of the void. A vessel of metal and even at a great distance I could sense the malignant presence aboard, a flash of its thoughts, its desires filled me with trepidation. I thought it to be an Omicron craft for it struck at me with terrible weapons, yet I in turn disabled them before fleeing with my precious eggs.'

'Thereafter I came to the Source and made the pact with Hydaelyn, the rest of which you know. Many years passed but then at times I faintly sensed that malignant presence again, closer, somewhere on the Source. Mayhaps the vessel had drifted, rudderless in the void before being pulled down upon our star?' The dragon's presence drew back for a moment, which Sara interpreted as the Midgardsomr pondering on ancient memories. 'Yet the presence was very weak, and I had more pressing matters and thus, it lapsed for the past thousand generations. Weak and faint…until now, now it is free of whatever constraints it has, and it is growing stronger.'

Sara could feel the fabric of this dream like reality waver, from somewhere far away she thought she could hear Fordola calling her voice, her left shoulder was twitching.

"How is it growing stronger Midgardsomr?" She spoke aloud to the stars twinkling down on her. "For what purpose? And what is it?"

The great dragon paused, gathering its thoughts once more. Sara wondered if Midgardsomr had underestimated the time they had. 'A being which masquerades as a false God, this I know from its thoughts in the void. It brought ruin to its own star, the one the Sharlayans call the Azure Star. It draws its power from what you call dynamis, energy drawn from strong emotions by entrapping souls within prisons born of their own desires. It will continue to spread its malignancy, corrupt aether and gather dynamis until it drains our precious Star barren and lifeless. Whomever knowingly or unknowingly unleashed it upon our star will be its vessel…you must…destroy it…while…'

Midgardsomr's thoughts were now very faint, and Sara's shoulder continued to throb and she could feel hot air washing over her face as the stars wavered and shimmered.

From far away, the dragons' thoughts drifted. 'Destroy the vessel…before it can regain….f…before it….opens the gate.'

'S…Sara…Sara!?'

Her right shoulder spasmed, something was trying to pull away and the stars were bleeding into a blur of whiteness. Sara fought against it, trying to reach out to the dragon…and that was when…

"Sara!" Fordola was tugging at her shoulder insistently, her face right up against her own, nostrils flaring. "Get it together will you!"

"Wha…" Sara felt sudden light headiness sweep over here. Reflexively she raised a hand against her head, a sudden violent wave of nausea crashing down on her.

Fordola moved away, dress swishing with impatience, looking back at the crystal. "So, are we going to get moving? Find the ships bridge and haul this crystal back to Ul'dah or what?"

Before she could even think of a coherent response another voice echoed out from above "I think not."

It was a recognizable voice.

She dropped her hand, suppressing the nausea as she craned her neck back, there! At the top level of the catwalks snaking around the elemental crystal stood Areniir, still in the smart outfit he had danced so perfectly in. The Miqo'te flicked some of the hair that was edging out of the side of his tall white hat, positively beaming with delight, his pale, meager aether dancing with joy. "I am so incredibly pleased you came to join us! When I saw you earlier, I thought I was truly dreaming, and if that was the case I would never want to wake!" Even at this distance, far below, Sara saw the wink as Areniir leaned forwards on the railing smiling at them, tail erect behind him. "My my my…Desinus and the commander don't know what they are missing! Not only will we all get front row seats to the first test of Valefor! But also, I can watch the Warrior of Light perform, live on stage, as it were!"

"Valefor!?" Fordola already had her sword swishing at her side in anticipation of action, her eyes roving around the vast engine room, planning a route up to the Miqo'te far above. "What are you babbling on about?"

Sara tried to clear the last vestiges of nausea from her head, feeling overwhelmed slightly. First Midgardsomr, now this? Was Valefor the presence the first dragon had been trying to warn her about? Could Areniir be this…vessel?

"Well, we need a fitting view to observe Valefor's results, don't we?" Areniir grinned excitedly and made a hand signal along the catwalk to perhaps others waiting out of sight somewhere.

There was a great crackle and grumble of gears, and a huge section of the long wall behind the crystal began sliding to one side. Immediately, cold night air rushed in, and the wind began howling inside the engine room. Sara spared a glance out into the blackness beyond. There, far in the gloom, a sea of lights could be seen extending up into the sky.

"I didn't think much of Falu-Varius, did you?" Areniir was speaking again, his voice carrying to them despite the howl of the wind. "I'm quite looking forward to seeing that silly mountain vanish from the face of this star."

The enormity of that simple sentence was slow to seep in for Sara, the whole mountain…vanish?

"Activate the targeting sights!" Areniir gestured again along the catwalk again.

From somewhere far above, a beam of blue light sliced out of the Gration, through the open hull section, towards the mountain. A moment later the great elemental crystal started to pulse with light, akin to a great heartbeat. The low hum of the engines (which was quite distinctive from the howl of the air rushing into the engine room) was joined by another new noise. A deep, thumping, pulsing noise of something slowly building up…

"In about five minutes." Areniir had turned back to grin over the catwalk at them both. "You will have front row seats to the greatest lightshow since…well probably the Final Days last year, that would be hard to beat I suppose." He grinned apologetically; his eyes fixed on Sara's with a burning intensity she could not place.

"That's enough!" She shook her head, tearing out of the stupor. "Whatever you have planned, stop it now or I'll stop it for you!"

"Ladder, over there!" Fordola pointed to a simple ladder near the base of the elemental crystal. "We get to the first catwalk; I reckon your dragoon jump can then get you to his level."

Sara judged the distance to the ladder, the jump she could make as a dragoon, yes…it could just about work.

"So sorry!" Areniir adopted a strange sing song voice, his face brighter than ever, tail now swishing with excitement. "I can't let you do that!"

And three figures stepped up into view alongside him, before smoothly vaulting over the side of the catwalk railing, dropping the five stories towards them.

Sara involuntarily took a step back, Fordola besides her before a gust of wind magic pulsed up from the floor and the trio landed smoothly upon it, the two groups separated by twenty paces. Sara gasped, she recognized them from the Echo granted vision back in the ballroom! The delicate, feminine Au Ra, the shorter, scowling Hyur male with the twisted arm of black scars, and the slender, male Elzeen. All glad in light, black bodysuits of an Allagan design.

Each one crackled with aether…but it was so unstable, flashing and flickered like a tempest, green, black and silver. Wildest in the Hyur, calmest in the Elzeen. She noticed all three bore the distinctive mandala patter on both eyes, unlike Fordola's single.

She heard the hiss from Fordola next to her, as the realization settled into her. She was surprised then when Fordola took a half step in front of her, pointing her sword at the trio before her. "Never thought I would face others like me…can't you three think for yourself, you're just toys to the Garleans! Like I was!"

"Aulus mal Asina was a genius before our time." Areniir's mocking voice drifted down from above. "He was taken from us too early, yet I have been able to carry the torch he lit. Its fate indeed that you should be here Fordola, Aulus made extensive notes about your procedure…but you were just a prototype. Nothing more!"

"Test subject or not." Fordola jabbed her sword fiercely in the air towards the distant Miqo'te. "At least I can think for myself!"

"Oh, but these three can as well." Areniir leaned over the catwalk mockingly. "These three are volunteers that undertook the process, specifically to be here today, standing before the vaunted Warrior of Light…"

There was something in his tone that caused a lightning bolt of emotion to rock Sara…but then the Au Ra was stepping forward.

She was petite and slender; many males would have described her as divinely beautiful. Her young, perfectly round face was framed with the delicate silver horns of her race - perfectly symmetrical under a curtain of platinum hair which fell to her slender eyebrows. She held a long staff of plain hardwood, and Sara remembered how she had blasted a hole of lightning through the city Guardian like that of a cannon. "I am Celica, mage." She twirled the staff as she spoke in a soft, lilting accent. Her thin lips were drawn together in determination, even as the mandala pattern burned in both eyes. "My parents served as unarmed technicians for Project Ultima in Castrum Meridianum. You led a strike force that saw the whole Castrum turned to fire and smoke. There is nothing I would not do to bring you down."

The Hyur with the burned arm came alongside her, he was only slightly higher, with short dark hair and restless, twitching eyes that kept flicking to his burned left arm. Sara saw no obvious weapon; yet his aether burned with a furious tempo that filled her with…anticipation. When he spoke, his voice was deep and gravelly. "Ralf, but now I am the Dragon of Lord van Procard! My entire family was consumed in the death of Garlemald, for which you are to blame, hero." He spat on the ground before flexing his hands. "I've gone through the fires of the inferno to unlock powers beyond your imagination."

The last, the tall Elzeen with long silver hair that flowed almost to his waist had a composed expression, eyes almost closed. His left hand rested on one of the longest, thinnest blades Sara had ever seen. "There is little point in speaking my name to one that is about to die. Many, are the reasons I would see you dead."

"I'm impressed Sara." Fordola muttered next to her, eyes focused on the trio before them. "You've got a proper fan club here."

Was…was Fordola trying to cheer her up? Sara thought distractedly, her mind a whirlwind of emotions but then, words rang through her mind, clear as day through her mind. The voice of Zenos…

'What does any of this matter, come hero…you have a job to do after all.'

She did.

"Fordola!" Sara pointed to the ladder behind the trio. "Let's go!"

She turned back to the trio, readying her chakrams…but then noticed the Au Ra had a milky white arm extended out in front of her two comrades. "We agreed, they're mine to toy with first."

"I will not wait long." The short Hyur rumbled in retort, but then he, and the Elzeen blurred in a flicker of shadows, before reappearing back against the wall by the ladder. Some sort of…shadow step?

"Well, so kind of them." Fordola showed a wolfish smile as she took half a step away from Sara, circling left slightly blade twirling. Sara, for her part, focused on calming the raising beat of her heart. Her dance abilities would not be appropriate here, she sought the requisite job stone in her mind and allowed the change to sweep over her.

The dancers chakrams vanished, and her light gear vanished into the aether even as sturdy, black armour covered in ruins wove into place, covering her from toe to neck. She suddenly weighed twice as much, thrice as much when the mighty sword Chaosbringer flashed into being between her two hands. The wicked slab of metal was covered in the same runes adorning her armour, the blades heavy weight reassuring in her hands. All of which would provide increased magical protection.

Are you watching Frey ? She thought, watching the mage carefully. Having seen what, the diminutive Au Ra had done to the city Guardian, even with the Dark Knights abilities specifically to counter magic users, she wouldn't want to take a blast head on.

"Careful Fordola." She murmured as she moved a fraction right, tensing her legs, judging the distance to close on the mage.

Fordola might have said something, but Sara was distracted by the sudden flaring warning that pulsed through her head as the Au-Ra…vanished from where she stood. Another shadow step?

"It's actually a Shundō" The Au Ra's voice whispered sensually in her ear from behind. "And you should worry about yourself, Warrior."

Sara didn't hesitate, trusting the sixth-sense warning that flared through her being, that had kept her alive all these years! She dived forwards just as a crack of lightning spiked down from the air, a burning smell washed over her as she straightened, blade at the ready as the Au-Ra smirked at her.

"Sagitta Magica." The Au Ra chanted in a sing-song voice, twitching her staff up as over a score of fist-sized white orbs flared into being around her staff " Triginta octo!"

Again, the flare of warning blazed within her and she darted right as the orbs raged forwards, trailing lines of light that impacted with flares of crackling, blazing energy where she stood scant seconds before.

Sara desperately darted right before raising her great sword to deflect the remaining two orbs of light which crashed against her sword, thud, thud! She looked up; she was now further away from the Au Ra who was already raising her staff again…

"Forgotten someone?!" A harsh cry rang out as Fordola charged the mage; sword outstretched.

The blade came close, but again the Au Ra flickered out of existence, appearing a dozen paces and now several fulms above the ground, a fierce grin on her face, an incantation already being chanted.

More lightning bolts crashed down, this time on Fordola and although she tried to dodge - the lightning crackled and sparked all around her, closing in. She slipped and half fell to one knee as the lightning ringed around her, in a moment it would converge on her and…

Flicker, the city Guardian armour was cleaved through, a hole akin to a ships cannon blasted through his torso.

Sara charged forward and leapt through the lightning, feeling it wash over her thick armour before planting herself above the prostrate Fordola. Sara bit her lip and raised her sword up, the dark knights power flooding through her as the lightning crackled all around them.

"Fulguratio Albicans!" The voice of the Au Ra could only just be heard and Sara had a second to brace before a single, huge, interconnected blast of lightning erupted towards Sara and the fallen Fordola.

Sara summoned every Dark Knight magic deflecting ability she knew as washing over her, deflecting away from Fordola. Gods it hurt! But the worst of the damage was deflected by her sword, armour, and magic cancelling abilities.

She looked down to check Fordola was okay and for a moment, their eyes met as the last of the white lightning danced around them. "Go Fordola!" Sara shouted between gritted teeth. "Stop whatever weapon they are powering up! Leave this to me!"

Fordola looked like she wanted to say something else, but she thinned her lips together and made the smallest of nods as the lightning now fully died away…Sara could sense the Au Ra drifting closer, eager to see the damage done…

And with a sudden movement Sara leapt high into the air - defying gravity itself with the massive sword held high!

She had a moments satisfaction of seeing the smirk falter on the Resonant's face, but again she flickered out of resistance a hairs breadth before Sara could make contact. Even as Sara fell back heavily to the deck, she saw the mage reappear closer to the great opening in the engine room through which the wind howled.

So…could she only teleport short distances?

Keeping her momentum - Sara charged the mage again before she could recover, and this time the sword was on target. With a grunt Sara brought it crashed down towards the Au Ra's head – only for it to crash against a shield of sparkling energy that materialized between them.

The shield was unlike anything Sara had seen, her blade was wedged in mid-air, barely a dozen ilms from the mages face. The shield of light sparkled, aether weaving back and forth in a half egg around the Resonant who once again offered a half smile, both her eyes blazing with the mandala pattern.

"Fulguratio Albicans!" Lightning ripped out once more at Sara and she had a split second to decide, hack more at the shield or leap away.

She chose the latter, kicking off the ground to avoid the stream of lightning that sliced away to explode against the ceiling. As she landed, she hurled a blast of unmending dark energy at the mage who this time didn't even bother to dodge, simply allowing the energy to splash across whatever strange shield protected her.

"Sara!" Fordola's voice called out and she risked a glance. The Elzeen with the long samurai blade was standing across her path to the ladder, the short Hyur with the burned arm watching on as the Elzeen chopped at Fordola with surgical slices of the blade blurring left and right.

Fordola backpaddled, only just dodging death and Sara could see the gulf in skill between the two. Fordola was a savage fighter, but she was facing a peerless master with the blade.

"Don't forget me." The Au Ra's sing song voice sounded, and Sara turned, feeling her skin goose prickle at the crackling of aetheric energy filling the room.

"Flans Paries Venti Vertentis!" The Resonant cried, outstretching her staff and a buffeting gale of wind sliced at Sara with tremendous force! Her armour protected her from the worst of it, but she was picked up and thrown heavily back, away from the elemental crystal and closer to the open hanger door.

Pain sparked up her spine but she managed to pull herself up just in time to see Fordola make a tremendous backflip away from her opponent to land next to Sara. "Not making much progress are we Hero." She said drily, eyes flicking between the trio of assailants that were now slowly advancing on them in a line.

This time it was the Elzeen who spoke, pointing his long, thin blade to Fordola. "Your unrefined fighting style almost fully negates the abilities you were gifted with." His half-shut eyes flicked to Sara and…she felt breathlessness at the pure hate within his eyes. "You may have good instincts…but you don't know when you've already lost."

"My, my, this is very disappointing." Areniir's mocking tone carried down to them, freezing the Resonants in place. "I had expected better from the Warrior of Light and the first successful Resonant prototype…I really expected you to maybe reach me…"

Sara felt shock ripple through her, how long had they been fighting? She had been so focused on keeping ahead of the mages attacks…and Fordola hadn't even made it to the ladder…

Behind the trio of Resonants, the elemental crystal light pulses were now coming faster and faster as energy flooded out of it, sucked up by the devices attached to it, what was about to be unleashed?

"Your time is just about up." Areniir shouted over the rising din, even from this distance she could see the mocking glint in his eyes. "I'd move fast if I was you…"

"Allow me to end this." The short Hyur pushed roughly in front of his two colleagues, pulling the sleave of his right arm to his shoulder revealing a shocking web of scars and twisted black skin. "It's time for you to face the Dragon of Darkest Flame and be eliminated forever!"

"No!" Areniir's voice suddenly shouted out, Sara dimly noticed the tinge of panic in his voice. "Don't unleash the full dragon inside the Gration!"

The Hyur crackled with flares of black and red aetheric energy as he flexed his writhed hand, seemingly paying no heed to the scientist "Dragon of the darkest flame, heed my call!"

The other two Resonant's flanking the Hyur flickered away, reappearing by the crystal just as an orb of bright energy pulsed around the Hyur, blinding in its intensity.

A spark of panic, even fear nestled in Sara's senses. Something terrible was coming, something that had to be avoided. She thrust forth her hand and shot a wave of energy at the Hyur, but it again splashed harmlessly against the orb of energy projected around him, and then it was too late to do anything more.

"Unleash!" The Hyur cried aloud, his voice a mix of agony and ecstasy as he thrust forth his terrible burned hand and a terrible, serpentine, black form surged forth. Sara had a brief impression of teeth, flashing eyes and imminent death before this terrible creature drove towards her, a hissing, screeching cacophony of death! Sara felt her legs numb, unresponsive and she watched her death howl towards her.

"Get out of the fecking way!" Fordola shouted and Sara was suddenly shoved to one side, a fleeting image of the teeth and eyes snapping past her before the rest of the serpentine energy washed over her.

She felt her armour and mind fray as the terrible attack washed over her, she was thrown back…back and back out through the cargo doors, out into the darkness beyond, the night sky slicing at her. As she fell, her last sight of the Gration engine bay doors was the rapidly shrinking white face of Fordola staring out after her.

Desinus remained glued to the mammut detection grid as the dots representing the Falu-Varius gunships converged on the Gration. A moment later he felt a very faint tremor run through the ship.

"Looks like they are making a pass along the underside of the ship." Desinus remarked to Brusellus (and the rest of the meager crew aboard). "Might have got lucky and hit one of the Ceruleum storage tanks."

Like most Garlean airship designs, the Gration was designed around air/ground bombardment. Almost all its heavy caliber weapons faced down, for no enemy of Garlemald possessed fighting airships…until now. True the dragons had always been a threat - but massed small arms fire from dozens of automated turrets had generally proven itself effective. It was too bad they had not managed to activate the Gration's defense grid.

Desinus watched the light blips move slowly towards the front of the Gration, and suddenly realized what was about to happen. The bridge of the Gration on which they stood was at the very front of the ship, a huge, armored glass canopy afforded a superb view of ground targets and for navigation. Yet against air targets…

"Get away from the windows!" He shouted, just as a single Falu-Varian attack gunship suddenly rose out of the dark in front of the Gration's bridge! He recognized the design as Garlean in origin, a bulbous head for the single pilot in front of the large engine compartment flanked by navigating wings. He also noticed the four cannons trained on the bridge windows. Armored yes, impenetrable, no.

There was a crackle of gunfire and Desinus winced, but the windows did not shatter, nor was the bridge engulfed in fire – instead the Falu-Varian gunship blazed with sudden smoke and fire, yawning of to starboard as a true, Garlean fighter gunship swept into view, flying in perfect formation with a dozen other ships.

The Garlean gunship swooped down out of sight and Desinus could hear the crackle of distant gunfire, the distant crash of explosions, and then…silence.

Then the gunships, good Garlean gunships, reappeared into view. Flying in tight formation in front of the Gration. Desinus saw the lead gunship, surely the one that had saved them all flash a signal light which blinked in code to them.

He turned expectantly to the Optio officer who was the designated communications officer who was watching the flashing light closely. "Skies are clear." The Optio's voice was tinged with relief. "Your son Sir, wishes you a pleasant trip."

Desinus almost laughed aloud, though he would have to scold his son later for such a frivolous message in front of Brusellus, but the old man was already leaning over the internal communications array. "Areniir?" He called, waiting a few moments before repeating, this time with an impatience undercutting his voice. "Areniir?"

"Sorry, sorry!" The scientists echoed voice came back through the speaker tube. "Yes, I'm here, just about to watch our guests leave us."

"Is Valefor ready?" Brusellus demanded impatiently, Desinus moving closer to him.

"Yes…yes we are ready to fire."

"Good, then do so!"

"Yes, just a moment." There was a crackle of interference then they heard a distant. "Don't unleash the full dragon inside the Gration!"

There was silence, and Desinus raised an eyebrow at Brusellus whose wizened face had clouded and his weathered hands clenched around his walking stick. Desinus wisely decided to keep his peace.

A moment later there was another tremor which rippled through the ship, followed by silence.

Just as Brusellus seemed about to say something, Areniir's voice echoed through the receiver. "Fire command sent, any moment now."

"Good." Brusellus looked up at Desinus and his eyes glinted with malice. "Let us see what a terrible thing we have awoken, Captain. Then, we shall re-join the fleet and set a course for Eorzea."

Desinus nodded grimly, as outside the black, midnight sky began to brighten with a sudden light.

Sara tumbled through the black, midnight sky, the howling wind cutting at her like a thousand knives. Above the huge bulk of the Gration, below – somewhere, the ground was rushed up to meet her, she couldn't tell how many seconds she had.

She didn't panic, but she did have to make several decisions very fast.

Seizing the summoner jobstone in her mind's eye she felt the heavy black knights armour melt away to be replaced by the soft fabrics and silks she loved so much, among all her professions. Even before the clothing had fully formed, she already was calling out mentally, hands spread wide through the air.

'Bahamut!'

The night sky twisted, pulsed and a bolt of blue lightning streaked past her even as she tumbled over again, seeing the great blue spectral wings of Bahamut spread out below her! She threw her arms out around the summons neck, hugging her body to its spectral blue back. As soon as her arms closed the great egi beat its powerful, massive wings her stomach fluttered as she was now flying up, up into the blackness.

She gasped for breath, feeling the adrenaline (and pain) flooding through her body as their upward motion slowed as Bahamut awaited further commands.

She searched the night sky frantically, spotting the distant running lights of the Gration, already so far away but she could catch it; she would catch it!

Before she could even command the egi to dash after the monstrous airship she felt her skin prickle with anticipation. A sixth sense, the sense she had relied on all these years filled with a sudden, ominous dread.

The wind had seemed to vanish, there was complete silence apart from the heavy beating of Bahamuts wings, as if the whole world itself were holding its breath.

She turned her head, unbidden, back towards the great mountain behind her, the sparkling of lights that made up Falu-Varius, the distant fires that still erupted from the mountain airship docks.

Above, high above the mountain, the night sky lit up in a dazzling aurora, sheets of blue, green and purple washing across the sky. A distant roar could be heard, getting louder and louder and Sara felt her heart pounding within her chest...

Suddenly a beam of incandescent blue light burst down from the heavens! It stretched down, a snarling, hissing, searing beam of energy that caused the night sky itself to vanish before its brilliance.

For a second, the city of Falu-Varius was perfectly visible, the lower city of squalid buildings clustering around the base beneath the billowing black smog. The elegant upper city, marble buildings and grand plazas in their many tiers stretching up the mountain…

Then the terrible light smashed into the mountain, gouging it in twain and for a moment, Sara saw the buildings, from the Consuls grand residence to the factories far below - all lit up in hellfire. A great rushing, a roar shattered the world and the whole mountain itself vanished into a cataclysmic orb of light and death roaring out, devouring everything in its path.

She had one moment of horrified fear, a scream for all the people within when the sound-wave smashed into her and Bahamut, a wall of pure anguish and energy.

Bahamut tumbled down, spinning out of control as it took all of Sara's control to keep her arms fastened around his neck and then with an enormous CRUNCH the egi smashed into the ground beneath.

Such was the terrible impact, that Bahamut could not sustain its form and Sara could not spare it the aether in her dazed state to reinforce it. The egi vanished in an instance and Sara was dropped, dazed, and wracked with pain to the ground with a crunch, her bones cracked, and her ears boomed with concussion.

She lay, panting with her face up, trying to summon a mote of energy, to command her body to move but it was all she could do to keep her eyes open as the dazzling aurora died away and the night returned, almost apologetically to the skies.

Her last thought before she lost consciousness was of the dim lights in the south-eastern sky of the Gration in the corner of her vision, heading…towards Eorza.

She had to warn them…she had to move…but then her vision dimmed, and her mind fled into darkness.

Hello there, lets have a chat, you and me? :)

This marks the end of 'part one' (To Falu-Varius!) and the next chapter is the start of 'part two' (The battle of Ala Mhigo), part three is then the culmination of the story.

I can understand why this story has proven to have a lot lower views etc then my previous fict (The Trial of Fordola rem Lupis), and thats fine - this was written for fun - and if you are one of the few people that have read this far - I would love to hear from you.

In hindsight, this fict suffers from a number of issues. The raising threat (The Occuria) has had little scene time (that will change), the plague that strickens Eorzea is largely out of scope at this stage and so forth. I recognize there are lots of original characters, loose ties to other fanfictions (the Resonant abilities are clues to these). Also some readers may be surprised to know the Judges which were alluded to in the prologue was not a FFXII reference but a more unusual Judge reference (rhymes with Fedd...).

Anyway, I still hope you've found it interesting if you've got this far. I need to go back reformat the whole thing and maybe make some further tweaks at somepoint...hmm. The next five chapters are sorta written, but the release will slow much now, partly as work has picked up and partly because...well lets be fair, its not like there is people subscribing to it or anything haha.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know - if you've read this far - I appreciate it, and thank you.

03/05/2023