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Final Fantasy VI: The Sands of Time

Book 1: The Begininng

Chapter 8 - Dream's End

Part 8.11 - Cold Embrace

I am sorry...

Bismark awoke to the fading voice of Elia and found himself once again in the empty dream world of his soul. The path of flames was under his feet again, only now it was much fainter than before. There was barely a candle's flicker and the path ended only a few meters from where he found himself. Was he so close to death? What had happened?

By all accounts, Bismark assumed he would be dead for sure after giving up his life's energy to Dune, but he still felt the slight tug of the physical world on his soul. He remembered seeing Dune in the Mare Magnum, alive and well, but nothing after that. And he was weak now, so weak...

You are mine, Bismark.

Bismark knew that hate-filled voice instantly. It was the voice of the frozen plain that had tempted him with revenge against Levi. Bismark looked around, and realized there was nothing beyond his tiny flame but the cold wasteland now. No Mare Magnum, no storm clouds above, no blinding sunlight beyond.

There was a tiny speck of light above him that seemed like it was a million miles away, and Bismark knew that was the remainder of his soul. The blinding sphere of light had shrunk to a pinpoint in the distance. He felt far too weak to reach for it like he had before, and it was much too far away. All he wanted now was to lie down and sleep, and perhaps wake up in the Mare Magnum, Elia's peaceful realm.

His life's flame grew even dimmer, only a glowing ember now.

There will be no peace for you, Bismark. Soon, the shackles of Cocytus will consume you, and you will be mine.

Where was Elia? Where was that other voice of power he had heard at the center of his soul? Bismark couldn't think clearly anymore, he was just too tired, too weak. He had given everything he had to save Dune, and had left nothing behind for himself. Only this dying ember of life kept him attached to the mortal world, and it would soon be gone as well. But not soon enough...

You were foolish to forsake the Mare Magnum and choose your own path. Now there is nothing standing between your dying soul and my power. I told you the path you chose was the path of self-destruction, and now you must suffer the consequences of your prideful decision.

"Elia!" Bismark cried out weakly, barely above a whisper. He had no strength to talk, not even to move. The glowing embers winked out around him, closer and closer. Perhaps he would die before that voice could take him.

No, Bismark. There is no Elia here, only Chemosh, the Doomed. I will not let you find peace. I will snatch your soul at the last moment and then you will be a Vessel of Doom, like that accursed Dune before you.

Bismark tried to resist the growing cold, but he was at the end of his last bit of power, and could do nothing to stave off Doom's power. He felt his eyelids grow heavy, and let himself go, hoping for oblivion.

The harsh laughter of Doom destroyed Bismark's last ray of hope, however.

You are mine, Vessel. When you awaken, you will be Bismark no longer. There will be only Cetus, slave to the vengeance in your heart. Now sleep, and dream only of Leviathan's blood...

Bismark's last ember of life blinked out, and the cold world of Cocytus covered his soul.

Back in the waking world, the newly awakened Dune watched in confused silence as Bismark's body froze, then was covered in a cocoon of solid ice.

"Captain?" Dune said sluggishly, still trying to come to terms with his transformation and rebirth.

"Captain!" Dune reached for the frozen prison and tried to break Bismark free, but could not.

"What have I done...?" Dune said, looking through the clear ice at the wounds on Bismark's head and shoulder, and the pool of dried blood around his body. Those were claw marks. His claws.

Dune shook his head, trying to drive away the emotions that were threatening to overtake him. First Cassandra, now Captain Bismark. Who else would he betray? Who else would he kill? Images of Cassandra's horrible death filled his mind again, and he wept as he watched her die over and over at his hands.

"I can't..." Dune said, only half-aware of what he was doing. He shook his head slowly, still not willing to accept the reality of his new world. He looked again at Bismark's body, and saw his reflection in the ice. It was not his face staring back at him. There was only the demon Maduin now.

"I am a monster," Dune mumbled, grasping at his chest out of old habit. He found the gravity crystal still hanging there, still cold. But he found it had no power over him. It was just a rock now, a bitter memory of his own weakness.

"This is because of you!" Dune howled, ripping the dead crystal from his neck just as he had in the dream world. He threw it to the ground beside Bismark, but there was no purifying light here to destroy it. It clanked harmlessly against the hard floor of the building and lay there, silent.

Dune watched as it rolled away from him, and then he saw something else, just beside Bismark's prison of ice.

"What is this...?"

Dune reached down and picked up the glowing object. It was a string of eight pearls, larger than any he had ever seen. They each glowed faintly, except for the last one, which looked like an ordinary pearl.

When Dune picked it up he felt a surge of energy flow through his arm and straight into his chest. It felt warm, clean. It was the complete opposite of the power he had felt from the gravity crystal of Doom.

Without knowing exactly why, Dune took the string of pearls and tied them around his neck in place of the gravity crystal. There were no words, but it just felt right. Like it was meant for him.

The calming influence of the pearls cleared Dune's senses just enough for him to remember why he was here. One overpowering train of thought broke through the murky confusion of his mind pushing all his fears and doubts beneath its wake.

"...Mae...," he said with great effort, then, "Mae! I'm coming!"

Dune snapped to life and quickly took stock of what was happening around him. It was completely dark both inside the building and out, except for a growing red light. There was fire out there, and it was spreading. The storm was still raging out there as well.

Dune had no time to worry about what else might be beyond the front doors of his building. Mae was up above, not outside, he knew it. He rushed to the elevator with a burst of speed that took him by surprise. This monster's body was still new to him, and he almost launched himself head first into the elevator doors. With this speed, he didn't need an elevator...

Dune balanced himself awkwardly as he came to a halt in front of the elevator, and turned towards the stairwell. Hardly anyone used the stairs in the impossibly tall Narsillian buildings, but Dune felt the incredible strength in his new body, and he knew without thinking that he could reach the top floors faster this way.

With a burst of blue energy Dune flew into the stairwell and then shot straight up through the empty space inside the spiral of the staircase. The feeling was incredible! The speed and power stunned Dune as he rocketed upwards through the stairwell on a jet of blue, floor after floor flitting by like pages of a book.

Floor 25...Floor 40...Floor 72...Floor 96...Floor 132...Floor 168...Floor 200...Floor 256...Floor 345...

In less than a minute Dune had reached the top of the apartment building, over a mile away from the ground. He felt like he had run a mile, but the speed in which he had reached that distance was beyond anything he had ever thought possible by a human.

A cold weight fell on his heart as he remembered that he was no longer human. Not human at all. Would Mae recognize him? Would Mae accept him?

A faint pulse from the string of pearls around his neck brought him back to his primary goal. It didn't matter what had happened to him. Only Mae mattered. He would find her and save her, and there was nothing that would stand in his way this time.

Dune rapidly leaped from the stairwell into the hallways of floor 345, dashing straight for his apartment. There was no electricity in the building now , and Dune realized with amusement that he couldn't have taken the elevators even if he had wanted to. And he never would have found his way through the dark corridors without a light. It would have been impossible to reach Mae safely if he was just regular Dune.

But that didn't matter anymore. His newfound powers lit up the area around him like a ghostly torch, and the constant flashes of lightning outside flickered through the windows, giving him all the light he needed to navigate. He found his room in a few seconds, and once again had to stop himself from skidding directly into the door.

This was it. Dune took a deep breath and steadied himself, then knocked on the door. The knock was much louder than he had expected, and he had put a dent in the door as if he had punched it. This new strength of his was incredible, and incredibly dangerous. Thoughts of Cassandra and Bismark flashed into his mind again, and he struggled to push them away. He must control himself around Mae. If he hurt her like he had the others it would be more than he could bear.

Dune waited as patiently as he could for a sign of life from inside, but there was nothing. He knocked one more time, softer than before, and was relieved to see it sounded more like a normal knock this time. But there was still nothing. He thought he had head something moving inside after this knock, though.

"Mae! It's me, Dune! Are you in there?" Dune shouted in his very non-Dune voice. The sound of Maduin's voice speaking his words frightened him, and he knew it would terrify his wife. Opening his mouth had been a mistake.

He heard a yelp from inside after he had spoken, and knew it was Mae's. His heart leaped at the confirmation of Mae's presence inside. But what must she think is on the other side of this door now that he had spoken, and after that harsh first knock that must have sounded like a wild animal trying to break in?

There was nothing else to do but just break in. He knew the effect it would have on Mae, but time was short and she would never let him in willingly now.

"Mae, you have to trust me," Dune said as carefully and calmly as he could. "I am Dune, your husband. I'm coming in now, so stand back!"

Dune waited a moment, then pushed the door with the same strength he would have used to open it normally when he was human. As he suspected, the door fell inwards as if he had rammed it. He stepped into the room slowly, scanning it for signs of Mae.

The first thing he noticed was that the living room was still a chaotic mess, just as he had left it. The aftermath of his run-in with Cassandra was visible in every corner of the room. He must not let such senseless destruction happen again. Dune took deep breaths, and tried to slow his crazily beating heart.

"Mae? Where are you?" Dune said quietly, not wanting his rumbling voice to frighten her.

A flicker of movement from the corner caught Dune's eye and he saw his wife again for the first time in what seemed a lifetime.

Mae was crouched behind an overturned sofa, her eyes wide with fear, breathing rapidly like a scared animal. The long black hair that Dune had fallen in love with hung down in disheveled strands around her pale face, but she was just as beautiful to Dune as she had always been. This was his Mae, alright.

"Mae...it's me, Dune."

"Get back! Stay away from me you monster!" Mae's panicked voice piped, edging on hysteria.

"Mae! It's your husband! I know I look...different, but you have to trust me." Dune was also on the verge of hysterics, seeing his wife look at him with such fear and loathing. This was not going well.

"You're not Dune! Dune is dead! My husband is gone!" Mae cried, tears coming into her eyes.

"No! I am alive! Mae, listen to me!"

"Get away from me!" Mae screamed, throwing a lamp at Dune. The lamp shattered harmlessly off Dune's rock-hard skin. This only frightened the poor Mae further, and she scrambled back from her husband, towards the large window that overlooked the city below. The look in her eyes said that she would risk jumping to her certain death before letting him reach her with those claws and teeth.

"Mae...get away from the window," Dune pleaded. "You must believe me. I love you!"

Mae flinched at Dune's words, but the look of hysteria did not leave her face. She crawled closer to the wall-sized window, and threatened to throw herself against it.

"Stop!" Dune said, and without thinking rushed forward to stop her. Again he was amazed by his speed as he almost instantly appeared at Mae's side, grasping her with his claws. He remembered at the last second to only gently grip her, and despite her screams, he did not harm her.

"Let go! You are not my husband! Dune...help me!" Mae sobbed, breaking down completely in the monster's hold.

"I am sorry, Mae...for everything," Dune said sadly as he started to put her back down on the ground.

Just as Dune was getting ready to try and break through to his wife again, the whole building shook violently as if struck. Dune looked out through the window just in time to see a massive explosion of blue light scream away from the base of the building and deeper into the crumbling city.

"What was that?" Dune said as he caught himself from falling.

Suddenly, the room lurched violently to the side, and threatened to spill everything out through the window. Dune dodged the couch and other bits of furniture, protecting Mae as he moved away from the window. The furniture slammed into the window and shattered it, letting in a great gust of wind and rain from the furious storm outside.

"We have to leave, Mae! Please, trust me!" Dune tried, but Mae's eyes were shut tight, and Dune knew she was in shock. The floor shook dangerously beneath them and shuddered downwards several feet, and Dune knew it was about to collapse. Whatever that light had been, it must have taken out the foundation of the building. In a few moments, his apartment and home would fall to the earth, taking everything inside down with it in a chain reaction of devastation.

"Mae, trust me..." Dune said softly to his unresponsive wife, and catapulted himself straight out the broken window and into the howling storm. He was afraid for only a moment, then remembered the vast pool of energy inside him. He gathered his magical aura behind him and threw his body down and away from the dying building with as much force as he could control.

He fell alongside the crumbling tower in a graceful dive that was a gross mockery of the destruction happening right next to him. Great chunks of the structure broke apart and rained down around him as he fell, but nothing could harm him. He curled into a ball to protect the fragile Mae, and continued diving towards the ground far below. Loud explosions and twisting sounds of breaking metal accompanied his descent, but he knew as long as he maintained control, he could avoid any danger.

After several minutes that felt like a lifetime, Dune saw the ground approaching. There were fires everywhere now, and a growing cloud of blue mythril dust was obscuring the base of the building as it imploded in on itself. Dune took a deep breath and shot through the cloud of dust and veered away from the ground at the last moment, flying straight ahead as far as he could, then landing like a falling star a safe distance from his crumbling apartment.

He stood and watched as the great tower he had called home for so many years tumbled to the ground, a slain giant. So, it was gone. His home, his life, and even his captain. All gone, except for the one thing that truly mattered right now. He tore his gaze from his lost home and looked cautiously at Mae, still wrapped safely in his arms.

"Mae, I will save you..."

"Dune...where are you?" Mae said sleepily, only half-aware of what was happening now.

Dune sighed heavily, and started making his way towards the city's exit. There was nothing here for him now, and he wondered if any of his friends were still alive now. He would return to the city and search for his friends once Mae was safely away from all this destruction.

As Dune was escaping the dying city, he kept on the look out for any survivors, hoping to save at least some poor soul. But there was no one left now. Only bodies littered the streets, hundreds of them. The vast scale of the city's demise stunned Dune. So many lives lost, and he was unable to save any of them. He knew he was partially to blame for the events that had led to this nightmare, and the guilt was killing him with each dead body he passed. How could he ever atone for a sin this great?

"Please...help.." A weak voice said from somewhere in front of Dune. It was too dark to see anything from this distance, but Dune thought he recognized the voice. Whoever it was, he had to try to save them.

"I'm coming! Hold on!" Dune shouted, his voice still sounding cruel and bestial.

When Dune reached the source of the voice, he was shocked into silence at the sight before him. Kneeling as if in prayer, covered in blood up to his shoulders was a ghost-white man dressed in the garb of a doctor. There were dozens of dead or dying Narsillians all around him, and in his arms was a stunningly beautiful woman with golden hair. She was covered in blood as well, and looked dead.

"Please, anyone...help..." The man wailed, half out of his mind with grief and shock.

Dune walked up to the man, slowly, not wanting to frighten him. A mutilated body let out a frail final breath as he walked past, then died. The carnage here was unspeakable, and at it's center was this poor man, struggling to save the last bit of his city. He could see the signs of emergency triage all around the man, but it had done him no good. From the looks of things, the doctor was only able to save himself, despite what looked like a valiant effort to help the wounded around him.

The man looked up at Dune as he approached, his eyes wide with shock and anguish, blood and rain splattered across his face. Dune said nothing, in shock himself at the bloody sight before him. If Dune thought his own face looked like a demon, then this man was the devil himself. He had never seen such a vacant stare before, and it chilled his cold soul looking into those empty eyes.

The man looked slowly down at the body of the woman in his arms, then at the death around him. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then shut it noiselessly. If the sight of the monstrous Esper approaching him frightened him, he gave no sign.

"Why..." the man rasped, his dead eyes filling with tears. "Why, why, why..." He looked straight at Dune with his mad gaze.

"Why...Why, God, why! Why is this happening?" The man screamed until his voice broke, his tear- and blood-stained face raised up at Dune, looking at him, through him, and beyond him to the skies above, and into the black void of his forsaken God.

"I..I'm sorry.." Dune stuttered, feeling completely helpless before the cruel reality of this broken man.

The man's stare focused back from the abyss and now he saw Dune. Without letting go of the woman's body he stood up and approached the Esper with no fear.

"You...you did this..." He growled, half-feral. "You, you, you, you!" The man took several steps towards Dune, and Dune stepped back, real fear in his heart. This sad little man was no threat to him, but he was terrified of him all the same.

As the man closed in on Dune, a bolt of realization hit him. He knew who this poor soul was. This was Doctor Atma, the man who had cared for him when he had been injured in the Thanas, so long ago! Dune marveled at seeing this man here again, at this time.

"Dr. Atma! It's me, Dune! Dune Karn!" Dune said nervously as the madman moved closer to him.

"Dune...is dead," Atma said hollowly. "He's dead...Maria's dead...we're all dead here...dead, dead, dead.." he chanted.

"Please snap out of it Doctor! We're not dead yet, I can save you!" Dune pleaded. He was growing impatient as the sound of destruction rang in his ears. This place was not safe, and he had to hurry. He had to get Mae out of here, even if it meant leaving Atma behind.

"You, you, you! Dead, dead, dead!" Atma cackled, out of his mind. "Nothing to save! Maria's gone! The children, dead! We're all dead now! Hahahahaha!"

"Dammit..." Dune groaned, not knowing what to do. "C'mon!" He urged, trying to grab Atma in his free hand.

"Stay away!" Atma shouted viciously, slapping Dune's clawed hand away and still clutching the dead woman in his other arm. He drew blood when he struck Dune's outstretched claws, but the injury didn't faze him at all.

"Demon! Leave us! We're dead! There's nothing left here but death! I hate this world! Hate, hate, hate, hate!" Atma's voice trailed off into an unintelligible rush of curses and emotion, and he fell back to his knees and wept into the still chest of the woman.

"I..." Dune said.

"Leave us!" The man screamed through his madness, no longer looking at anyone or anything but the blood-soaked woman in his blood-soaked arms.

Dune could not approach him without triggering a wild reaction, and he made the difficult decision to leave the tortured soul to his fate here, like he wanted. Perhaps death would be a welcome relief to the poor doctor.

"Atma...I am sorry, this is all my fault," Dune said quietly as he backed away from the gruesome scene.

Dune, haunted by what he had just witnessed, ran out of the city as fast as his incredible body could move him. He reached the great mythril gates in only a few minutes, and found another grisly scene awaiting him.

The crush of people here was phenomenal, and in their mad rush to leave the city they trampled over anything and anyone that was in front of them. There were tens of thousands of people pushing out of the city in a single great mass, and countless bodies were being thrown under the mindless march. Anyone who couldn't keep up, young or old, alive or dead, was crushed to a pulp beneath the never-ending avalanche of people leaving the city. Dune just wanted to cover his eyes and disappear, forgetting everything he was seeing. He could feel Atma's madness creeping up inside him as he watched the final last gasp of the great city of Narsille.

As Dune watched the cruel exodus, Mae stirred to life again in his arms.

"Mae? It's me, Dune. You're safe." Dune said softly, hoping beyond hope she would recognize him.

Mae looked dully up at her husband, and Dune knew in an instant that nothing had changed. Her eyes grew wide with fear and she thrashed wildly in his arms. Dune put her down quickly, afraid she would injure herself on his stone skin.

"Demon! Monster! You're not my husband! Dune is dead!" Mae wailed.

"Mae..."

"Get away from me!" She shouted, and turned to run away from him.

Dune reached out a hand to stop her, then stopped. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps her husband really was dead now. Dune wept silently as he stood his ground and watched Mae merge into the throng of people fleeing the city. Yes, Mae's husband was gone.

Dune continued watching Mae's figure until it had completely disappeared into the horde of people, waiting until he was confident that she would not get eaten by the massive collective she had thrown herself into willingly. Once she had vanished, Dune turned and headed back into the city, unsure of what he should do next. Mae was as safe as she could be, even if it meant he had to give her up.

"Why...?" Dune said, echoing Atma's futility. "Damn you! Damn you all!"

Dune shot his fist into the sky, and without intending to he fired a great shard of ice out into the darkness above. He had no idea how he had done it, but it felt good. He let his anger and despair flow over him again and fired another volley of ice upwards. He howled like the demon he appeared to be and laughed at his cruel fortune in the same breath.

While Dune raged at the heavens, a black wisp of smoke had started flowing at his feet. He stopped and looked down at the ground curiously. This smoke had been all over the ground as Dune had fled the city, but he had paid it no attention, and it had paid no attention to him, repelled by his magical aura. Now, though, it seemed like it was calling out to him. He felt something alive inside it as it mingled with his own aura.

"What are you?" Dune asked, not really expecting an answer.

Join us...

Dune leaped away from the gathering smoke at the sound of that voice inside his head. He knew that voice, or rather, voices. It was the voice of Sade, but more than that.

Join us, Dune!

Dune heard the strangely tripled voice, and recognized who they belonged to. It was Sade, but also Eva Dehr and Adam Cruz.

"Adam Cruz...Sade...Eva Dehr...? What..."

Yes, we are no longer three, but one. We are Cruz, Sade, and Dehr...we are...

Dune watched as the smoke swirled around him, trying to engulf him. He tried to fight the smoke with his own aura, but it was gathering faster than he could ward it off, and Dune watched helplessly as the smoke covered him in total blackness.

We are...

Dune felt his body being pulled downwards as the smoke echoed inside his mind. He fell straight through the cracked street and into the boiling underground world of Narsille's subterranean world, and was lost in despair, guilt, and rage.

We are...Crusader! And you...you will be purified, Esper!