CHAPTER NINE
HOW THEY GOT OFF
With the demon ahead and the shades behind, Terra, Calogrent, Edgar, and Sabin took a defensive stance in the aisle. They stood back to back, with Terra and Edgar facing forward and the other two opposite. There was little room to fight, and, anyway, they had no idea if their weapons would have any effect.
The four shades that Terra saw when she looked over her shoulder approached confidently now, and threateningly, writhing like smoke. And the monstrous, hungry form of the boar-like demon ahead filled her with trembling. Her heart beat rapidly, and she began muttering some prayer without having any idea what she was saying.
At a look from the wer-boar, a hideous grin, Terra's skin began to crawl. She looked down. She was covered with insects! She was instantly thrown into a state of panic, screaming, scratching, and batting at her skin. She had just enough presence of mind, however, to notice the laughter of the shades, and also that her companions were panicking too. But there was nothing on them. Terra looked again and found that it was only a trick of the mind; there were no spiders or worms on her. But the others—they were thrashing and flailing about with weapons in their hands.
"Stop it!" cried Terra to her friends. But it was no use. Edgar spun around; his sword glanced Calogrent's head by accident, just as Calogrent in turn slashed Sabin's arm. Terra dove aside onto the seats. Sabin was first to recognize the real danger, and, in two fluid movements, disarmed both men and arrested his brother in a hold.
About the same time, the cruel laughter stopped abruptly when the forward door slid open. A light filled the car. Terra looked over the seats and saw a Bright Figure standing in the doorway.
All five shades were smitten by its brightness, and fled (or vanished) with parting whimpers of defeat.
"What mischief is here?" said the Bright One. His voice was a delight to the ear, like the delight of listening to music, though he didn't sing, and Terra couldn't imagine that the sound could be improved by any instrumental accompaniment. "What mischief is here?" he said.
Terra stood up in the aisle, the better to behold him. He shone with a certain glory, illuminated by the light of his mind. He was clearly not a living man, but he was so bright and solid that to call him a "shade" would be ridiculous. Compared with him, Terra and her companions were mere wraiths.
He approached. "I see that the Wisps have been playing tricks on you; they are a spiteful bunch." He spoke of them as naughty children, and the innate joy in his voice at once emptied Terra of all fear. She felt as she had not felt in living memory, unless it had been the peace of living with Arvis. Arvis! Had she not seen Locke and Arvis board the train as shades?
"Sir," Terra said tentatively, "We are still living. I mean"—the thought of so distinguishing herself from one so brimming over with Life was absurd—"I mean, we haven't yet died. Could you tell us how to get off this train? And also, sir, could you tell us if anyone we know is aboard?"
"I've found one other man still in his first flesh. I'll take you to him, and then we'll see about getting you on your way. But first, we should attend to your friends."
Terra only now remembered them. She turned and saw that Calogrent and Sabin were bleeding, Calogrent from a gash in his head, Sabin from his arm. Calogrent's wound wasn't fatal, but he was bleeding profusely. All the color had drained out of his face, and he appeared to be on the verge of unconsciousness. Sabin was holding his arm. They had all been struck with amazement.
Calogrent put his hand to his head. Edgar launched into a barrage of apologies and tore off a strip of shirt to bandage Calogrent's head, while Terra helped him sit down. Sabin could take care of himself. While Edgar wrapped Calogrent's head, Terra put her hands on him and prayed that his wound close. He stared vacantly ahead, and then lost consciousness. His head lolled to one side. Alarmed, Terra held his head and continued to speak in a hushed tone while Edgar finished.
Then another set of hands were laid on Calogrent. Terra's mind cleared and her heart opened up. Together, Terra felt her own efforts redoubled and the power increase exponentially. There were two surges of light and all wounds were closed. The color returned to Calogrent's face and he awoke; Sabin's arm and legs were healed.
"Now let's see about your other friend," said the Bright One, and then, adding with some gravity, "I'm afraid his is a more difficult case."
They followed in the dazzling, resplendent train of the Bright Man and had no fear. If Terra had been allowed to follow him until the end of time, that would have been fine by her. But then they found Syan.
They found him in a private car, in an empty room, sitting down in a corner. His head was bowed almost as if he were asleep, except that, upon closer inspection, his mouth was moving. It seems impossible to say that he had slumped down in the shadows, for the room was so filled with light that at first Terra had a hard time seeing anything at all.
Indeed, when her eyes adjusted to the light, the first shapes she saw were those of Bright People, each as luminous as their guide. They seemed not to move but to dance, though they were not dancing, and their gaiety brought tears to Terra's eyes. Many of them seemed to be children, though such wisdom dwelled in their faces that their age was out of all reckoning. The only thing that kept her from joining hands with them was pity—pity for Syan.
Their light seemed not to be able to touch him, if such a thing were possible. Syan choked a sob and his mouth continued to move, despite the fact that a Bright Woman was kneeling beside him and trying to console him. Terra had to move closer to hear what he said.
"How I hate that villain, Kefka! The goddamned murderer. I hate him for...for my poor family. How shall I ever see them again? The damned fiend! I only thank the gods for restoring my sight so that I could have my vengeance. So that I could avenge my family!"
And all the time the Bright Woman was saying, though he seemed neither able to see nor hear her, "No, my love, don't fill your heart with such thoughts. You'll make it hard and brittle. Of course you weren't given your sight to do any such thing. You must forgive him, my love, not for his sake but for yours. You'll destroy yourself if you go on like this!" Indeed, he was already beginning to look a little thin and wraith-like.
Terra wept. "Can't anything be done for him?" she cried, turning to the Bright Man.
"Only what you see being done for him already," he said.
"Is some demon tormenting him?"
"No, not now; what you see is the sin of his own heart, and that cannot be removed without his consent. If it were a mere matter of some Wisp playing tricks on him, it would be easy, but, as I warned you, this is a more serious matter."
"Do you think he could hear me?" Terra said.
"You can try."
"Syan," she pled, kneeling down to him, "you must let go of your hatred. Your family is safe and happy. They're here. Come back to us."
He stirred and lifted his head for a moment, as if he heard something. He looked at Terra and seemed to see her for a moment (or so she thought ever afterwards), but then it was as if he was looking past her, or through her, to a great distance. His head sunk to his chest and didn't rise again.
"Can we try to pick him up?" she suggested.
Edgar and Sabin got on either side of him to try to lift him, but their hands merely passed through him. There was nothing to get a hold of.
"Will he stay like this forever? Where does this train go?" Terra asked the Bright Man, as she and her friends left Syan to the efforts of the other Bright Ones.
"As long he remains inconsolable his family will stay with him," said the Bright Man. "It is no burden for them, for it is ever the desire of Light to illuminate. And it is our Father's will not to tell us which shadows will give way, not until the Great Transition. He may yet be returned to you.
"I'm afraid I must speak in riddles. How can I describe the Things Above without leading those in their first flesh into error? It is a difficult thing, and dangerous. Knowledge carries great responsibility, and even the good and the wise are yet given only glimpses. And yet, glimpses are allowed, for they are harbingers of hope, little unveilings to precede and foretell the Great Unveiling of Him-Whose-Name-Is-Yet-To-Be-Given-To-Men.
"I tell you the truth," the Bright Man continued, "some of you in your first flesh will live to see one such of these unveilings. And one of you will be chosen to go before Him as His forerunner."
"Are you Him of whom you speak?" asked Terra.
"I am not," he replied. "I am a fellow servant with you and all who love Him, though you do not yet know His name."
Terra was at once filled with humility and courage. She would need it for what lay ahead, for who but the gods know whether she would have survived that Dread Arrival she had long feared had it not been for those provisions of strength and fellowship, measured out to her all through the course of her quest?
The next thing she knew, Terra found herself in a field of tall grass on the edge of the Accursed Forest. With her were Edgar, Sabin, and Calogrent. Syan they never saw again, though Terra remembered him in her prayers. They appeared to have come out on the southern end of the wood—alone, for the other Returners had either fallen behind or gone ahead...or had been lost.
They wasted no time. The Returners set out southeast for Mobliz. Edgar maintained ever afterwards that the whole episode had been a dream or a shared delusion, though his argument quite pointedly failed to account for the injuries they had sustained.
