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Final Fantasy VI: The Sands of Time

Book 2: The Goddess War

Chapter 11 - Red Tide

Part 11.4 - Anger of the Land

The ground quaked, but there was no one to feel it. The earth roared, but no one heard its cry. When the trees of the forest parted and a giant that dwarfed even Maduin raged into the vile clearing, there were no eyes to see it. Elphis had summoned this mighty Esper Herald from another world, but she was no longer conscious to see the terrible effect of her call.

The giant among giants looked like a human clad with only a loincloth, his vast, naked chest rippling with thinly suppressed rage. The only outstanding feature that set him apart from mankind was his impossible size and heavily muscled frame. Standing as tall as the tallest trees of the evil forest, Titan shook with all the fury of Gaeus himself. But, this was not Titan.

This vision was but a memory, created by the magicite shard still held tightly in Elphis's hands. Titan was gone from the world of man truly, and nothing could bring his mighty form back to the mortal plane. The phantom being was real enough, though, and even a shadow of the Herald of Gaeus was more than a match for the crawling things that now stood before its feet.

With a bellow that shook the earth, Titan surged through the clearing, paying no heed to the crawling Paraladia vines swarming over him. They grabbed and stung, trying to pull the giant down with sheer numbers. They formed into thick cords to block his path. They stretched across his feet to trip him. Nothing stood in the Esper's way, all being ripped apart by the strength of the planet itself.

Soon, the summoned Titan found himself face to face with the nightmarish brain at the center of the hellish den of weeds. Fear was not a concept the plant brain was capable of, or it might have cringed back inside its protective shell of Paraladia and tried to escape the new intruder who had broken through all its advances with no effort at all. The thick tentacles whipped about ineffectually, trying to take hold of the brazen giant. No matter how hard they pulled, how tightly they squeezed, they could not move the mountain of flesh looming over them.

The mouth yawned once more, threatening to expel its horrible breath. Titan's face darkened, and with another great roar, he slammed his fists into the earth, heedless of the mire that covered the forest surface. The impact set the ground shaking like a rung bell, sending all the squirming vines tumbling back on top of themselves, as well as shaking the plant brain from its hanging perch among the trees. The shock of the blow dislodged both the unconscious Servais and his chocobo from its slimy grip.

Titan's assault was not finished, however, and another blow to the forest floor opened a fissure that split the clearing in two. Into the widening mouth of the Earth the disgusting mouth fell, the devourer itself devoured. No eyes saw the true form of the beast as it sank, exposed, into the deep underground. Only the ghost of Titan bared witness to the hideous mouth as it fell, for a mouth was all the creature was. A devilish green mouth surrounded by frantically grasping tentacles on all sides. The abomination vanished back into the darkness from whence it had crawled, and then the chasm snapped shut with a vengeance, sealing the monster away forever.

Without the plant brain to guide the Paraladia vines, they shrank back into the dark shadows they normally inhabited, tamed by the fury of Titan. The phantom Esper himself stood for a moment, watching the crack where the horrible mastermind of this perversion of Gaeus's bounty once reigned. Satisfied that the battle was over, the Esper walked with quaking step over to Elphis and Kumiro and picked both up in the palm of his enormous hand. With his other hand he snapped the stubbornly defiant vines that still entangled Maduin, and lifted him off the ground as easily as he had the tiny Elphis. He piled the three next to Servais and his chocobo, then stood silent and still, like a mountain.

There were no words, for this magic-born afterimage could not speak, nor even act beyond the command given to it upon summoning. But was that a smile on his craggy lips? Was it pleased with the events that had just taken place? No man saw the face of Titan to judge its character in that moment, and when the group came to, they were alone in the woods.

While Titan raged and Maduin slept in his thorny prison, the Esper dreamed.

The dreamscape was the same as always. Empty, colorless plains of white, stretching to eternity. Any moment Maduin knew he would see the form of Cassandra rise up, then crumble away in agony. He knew he faced physical death in the real world, where his unconscious body lay helpless. When he died, would this dream world be his new home? A nightmare there was no waking from? Titan's words through the mouth of Elphis seemed to indicate such was the fate for all Espers who left the mortal plane. A cruel joke by trickster gods, indeed.

Maduin did not have long to wait in the timeless void of his dreamworld before the familiar black-robed shape of Cassandra materialized. He watched as her face faded away to a gleaming skull, her gentle, youthful features replaced by the harsh grimace of death. As he watched with the same feelings of horror and guilt as he had the first time this image had been forced on him, something happened that had never happened before. The skull moved with the spark of life, the cold winds ceased, and the robe re-materialized onto the skeletal frame. What was this new torture his mind had conjured?

In a moment, Cassandra was once again standing before him, whole and healthy. There was a smile on her face he had never seen before. It was completely unlike the smile of a young girl. It was a sharp, knowing smile, and the eyes that now looked at Maduin were piercingly alive with some unknown intent.

"Hello Dune," Cassandra said in an old voice as unlike the girl's as the knowing smile.

"Cassandra...?" Maduin stammered, never having been spoken to in this place. This was his world, and everything in it was a part of him...right?

Cassandra looked around the empty world and scoffed. "Not much of an imagination you have, Dune."

Maduin didn't know what to make of this new act in the drama of his subconscious world. "Is that really you, Cassandra?"

The girl looked at him again, her eyes peering directly into his soul. "What do you think? Am I Cassandra? Does it matter if I am?" The smile never left her face.

Maduin didn't know what to say to that, but he suspected the real Cassandra would never act the way this ghost was acting. It was Cassandra's image, but it couldn't possibly be the same vibrant, innocent girl from his memories.

"Someday you'll know me, Dune. Everyone knows me sooner or later," the girl smirked and gave Maduin's giant body a measuring stare. "Even the Dreaming Awake come to me in their own time. I am patient, if nothing else."

"Are you...a god?" Maduin asked, beginning to suspect he was being visited by one of the unseen Masters of the world once again. He remembered his visitations by Gaeus, the Master of Earth, in the desert, Elia, the Maiden of Water, at the bottom of the ocean, and of course Doom and his icy prison.

Now Cassandra laughed loudly. "Always the scientist, always trying to figure everything out. I like that. Keep asking questions, Dune. I like that about you."

Maduin was a little unsettled by the laugh, and the personal way the girl acted with him. And he was frustrated that the thing had not answered any of his questions yet. "Are you going to tell me why you're here? What do you want? I thought the gods had decided to leave me alone."

Another un-Cassandra like laugh erupted from the girl. "I don't usually do what people want. That includes the gods. Altimus has no power over me, and I do as I please, as I always have and always will." Cassandra stopped laughing and for a brief moment there was a serious look on her face. "If I want to drop in and say hello to Elia's pet, then I can and will."

"Elia? What...," Maduin started to ask, but was stopped by a low rumbling sound. It started off in the distance, and then closed in on him from all sides. It felt like an earthquake, but that was impossible here where there was no earth.

"Gaeus is angry," Cassandra said without any apparent concern. "His anger reaches even here. When he flexes his muscles, even the heavens themselves quake." Cassandra resumed smiling as she spoke. "But! That doesn't mean anything to me, or to you."

"What is it that you want?" Maduin said, recovering himself. The quaking had subsided to a low hum, fading outwards just as it had faded inwards before. "Are you a messenger of Elia's?"

"I am my own messenger. Elia and I share the same rebellious spirit, but she is not my master any more than Altimus. Come now, Dune, can't I just stop in for a visit every now and then?"

"Am I going to die? Is that why you're here?" Maduin was beginning to suspect things were not going well in the waking world, and that he might very well be dying, or dead already. How would he know from here?

"Ahaha!" Cassandra doubled over in laughter at Maduin's questions. "What a silly question! I thought better of you! Everyone dies, Dune."

"Am I going to die now?" Maduin repeated. He was tiring of this phantom's flippant attitude.

"No," Cassandra said unexpectedly. "There, are you happy?"

"Then leave me so I can wake from this nightmare."

"Oho! So you are my master now? You have much to learn about the way the world works. I could take you right now, and there is nothing you or any force in this universe could do to stop me."

Cassandra was not smiling now, and Maduin could feel a foreign coldness growing inside his body, reaching out, threatening to grab his heart and squeeze it until it burst.

"Do you feel that? That is the darkness in your soul, reaching out to me. I could snatch it up, suffocate you with your own despair, your own unbalanced chaos. That is my power, and it is a power no man, beast, or god can contend with. But-!"

Maduin felt the dark pull vanish instantly, and he almost toppled over with the relief of the unseen pressure. There was no doubt in his mind - he had felt the cold fingers of death on his soul, and this strange Cassandra thing before him knew it.

"Not today," Cassandra said sweetly, smiling again. "You have much to do for us, yet." Cassandra put one slender finger to her lips, as if imparting a secret. "The gods may say that you are free from their power, but they lie. We all are liars and schemers, that is one thing you must learn about us, Dune. Altimus has his plans for this world, beginning to end. As do I. In time you'll learn what those plans are if you survive long enough. And then you will have to make a choice."

"I would choose to follow Altimus long before I choose to follow you," Maduin said defiantly. He knew little of the Holy Master, but he felt safe in assuming the god was not evil, or at least not as unpleasantly disturbing as this thing.

Cassandra's smile widened, and looked about to laugh again, but this time she held her peace. "How little you know of this world. Good and evil have no place in the realm of the gods. The Balance is all that matters. Altimus is on one side, I am on the other, and the mortal world is between. Not all is as it seems, and if you plan on fighting, it would be best to know what side you're really on."

"I do not want to fight. I am not a tool of the gods anymore."

Now Cassandra couldn't help herself, and laughed so hard that tears fell from her eyes. "A weapon that does not wish to fight? Learn your place, Esper. You will fight. It is what you were made for, what your body craves. There is no escaping destiny. You will fight. It is just a matter of knowing why you fight, and who you will fight for."

"And you want me to fight for you? Is that why you're here?"

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm just here to get a look at you. I do not beg for help. You will choose for yourself in your own good time who and what you will fight for." Cassandra stepped back, lowering her voice. "But! You will fight."

"We'll see about that." Maduin was done with this ghoul who claimed to be a god. "Now leave me. I need to protect my friends, and as long as you're bothering me, I can't do that."

"Oho!" Cassandra cooed, stepping further away. "Chemosh certainly had the right of you. Careful you don't let that pride get away from you. The results could be quite...entertaining, ha!"

Cassandra faded away completely, her thin smile leering at Maduin to the last. Maduin was alone again, and he had never been more relieved by his solitude.

In a flash Maduin felt himself being pulled out of his dreamworld and back into reality. The white blurred into the soft greens and dull browns of the forest, now calm and peaceful. Beside him were Servais, his chocobo, and Elphis and Kumiro. Everyone seemed to be safe, but what had happened?

A look around the clearing told Maduin the battle was definitely over. There were no signs of the creeping vines except on the edges of the darkest shadows. Where the massive plant brain had been was only a large crack, tightly shut. It looked like a gruesome scar in the earth, just beginning to heal. There was no vegetation where the crack was visible, just one lone green tentacle, severed savagely from the rest of the creature. Something had happened here while he was unconscious, but what?

Servais was waking up now, as was his chocobo. They both looked rather green, and Servais had his hands on his stomach.

"Ugh, I feel like I ate something rotten. Whatever that breath was, it was potent, that's for sure. I'm pretty sure I'm poisoned, and Sable doesn't look too good, either."

"Why did you insist on putting yourself in danger like that?" Maduin said, still fuming from his encounter with the Cassandra-thing . "We might have been able to win if you hadn't stuck your head in its mouth."

"For a sample of course," Servais replied nonchalantly. "I am hunter, and I have never seen anything like that thing before. I think I will call it a Malboro. A fitting name, don't you think?"

Maduin only looked at the man in disbelief. He was a scientist, and he knew the thrill of discovery could be intoxicating, but this man was a fanatic.

Servais seemed to read the Esper's thoughts. "You think I'm crazy for putting myself at risk like that. Perhaps I am. You have to understand, this is my passion, my life. I hunt, and I collect. And what I collect, others study. This is how progress is made. Look!"

Servais stood up shakily, and walked over to the lifeless tentacle, lifting it in his hands and weighing it like a rare gem. "Now this will make a fine sample! A Malboro tentacle! Based on that breath of his, there must be some fascinating chemicals flowing through its veins. Greffuhle will love this."

Maduin didn't know what to make of the man. He seemed a good sort, but reckless. Servais continued to survey the area, picking up bits and pieces of the carnage with glee.

"Look at this! The paralyzing fluids in these Paraladia stems will make great wine," Servais called out, talking to himself more than his companions. As he spoke, he took a quick pull from one of the dead Paraladia, sucking out its juices. "You know, they call these things Over Grunks in Zwill. Any more than a sip of this stuff undistilled and you'll be keeled over just like we were a moment ago, heh."

"Careful!" Maduin shouted out, appalled as he watched the brazen hunter drink the vile green ooze. "That might be poisonous!"

"Poisonous?" Servais laughed, placing the Paraladia vine in his ever-ready pouch. "Only if you drink too much. A quick sip is good for the body, gets your blood flowing faster. It will get rid of the Malboro poison quicker," as he said this, he fed a small piece to his chocobo, and it did seem as if the green left its face a bit. "See? No harm. You just have to know what you're doing."

"Like when you tried to peer into that Malboro's mouth?" Maduin retorted. He had to admit, he was impressed with the man's nature lore, but he still thought he was reckless.

"Now, now. Forgive an old man his weaknesses. We're still alive, aren't we? I'm not sure what happened, but it looks like we won. Perhaps you destroyed the creature just before you lost consciousness? And besides, I have my sample of the beast here. I bet you could make a helluva drink from this thing! Malboro Wine...who knows? It might be the next big thing in Zwill. Dragonetti, at least, would be brave enough to try it!"

"Don't try it," Maduin warned as Servais rambled. He hoped Servais wouldn't be crazy enough to drink from the Malboro tentacle next!

"Hah!" Servais laughed, slapping his knee. "I'm not that crazy. I've hunted Paraladia for years. I know their make and mien as well as any beast." Now he looked at where the Malboro had been, only a mound of dirt with a slithering crack across it. "But that...I have never seen anything like that before, and I have been over, under, and through these woods more times than I could count. No...that creature was not here a month ago. I'd swear it."

"Wild magic is flowing over this world, warping regular plants and animals into monsters, and spawning all sorts of impossible creations from the very earth and air," Maduin explained. He was not really sure of this theory himself, but the more he thought about it, and the more he saw, the more he was convinced that the events atop Crescent Mountain were having larger implications than he had at first assumed. Something else was unleashed that day when the Ultima Gate was destroyed and he and the other Heralds had been let loose on the world. Something that should never have been.

"Magic, eh?" Servais said, less surprised than Maduin would have thought. "I wouldn't believe it normally, but looking at you, and looking at this place. Yes, I believe it. I've been around the world enough to know there are strange things lurking in the shadows, just waiting for the chance to thrive," Servais sat down on stump, rubbing his clean-shaven chin in deep thought. "Magic, though...that's a new one. I will have to be more careful. I was confident of my knowledge of every living in this world...but obviously with creatures being spawned left and right that I have no experience with, and that have the power of magic on their side...hmm...these coming times will be hard times for hunters, I think."

"They will be hard times for everyone, I'm afraid," Maduin said, sitting down on the ground cross-legged. "There's a war coming, and these magical monstrosities will be the least of our worries."

Servais perked up at that. "A war, you say? Explain yourself, man. It's my business to know the people of this world as well as the beasts. If any nation was trying to overstep their boundaries, I would know it."

"This is no mere border dispute. The gods that created me created others like me, and I assume are still creating even more as we speak. They are readying themselves for a global war with Esper armies led by powerful Esper Herald generals. No one will be safe from their reach. Narsille fell quickly to their power. What other nation could stand up to power like that?"

Maduin's voice was sad as he told his story. He explained about everything that had happened to him since he became an Esper. Servais listened silently, keeping his thoughts to himself. When Maduin got to the part about Antissa and Cerberus, and the Lady Blunt, Servais looked up, acute awareness in his eyes. Maduin saw his glance, and his suspicion that this man was a Stradivari like the Lady Blunt was renewed. He stopped his story and put his theory to the test.

"Servais, are you a member of the Stradivari?"

Servais said nothing for a moment, looking carefully at his newfound companion. "It's best if I don't answer that, friend. The less you know, the better. I know the Lady Blunt, though. You've got the wrong of her, I think. She is a very efficient mercenary, I'll give you that. But you have to understand something about her before you judge her."

"She threatened both me and Elphis, merely for information. I think I understand her quite well."

"No, you don't. She is looking for her partner, the man you knew as Agent Phantom. When a Stradivari is in danger, the other members will stop at nothing to rescue them. Or avenge them, as the case may be. If she thought for a second you had anything to do with Lord Dunn-Raven's death, your life would be forfeit. Esper, child, it doesn't matter. You would not be sitting here right now chatting with me. We-they are a very close-knit organization. The Stradivari are a family...and the Lady Blunt was especially close to Lord Dunn-Raven. If it was your Elphis that was in a similar predicament, what would you do?"

Maduin listened to Servais's words, but his opinion of the Lady Blunt did not change. He knew he would do anything for Elphis, but he hoped he never had to stoop to the level of a cold-blooded killer to protect her. "I would do what I have to, I guess. But I do not like that woman, and I certainly do not trust her. Are all the Stradivari like her?"

Servais couldn't help but laugh at Maduin's assessment of the Lady. It was a fair one. "There are not many who can appreciate the Lady Blunt's...er, abrasive personality. But you can trust her to her word, whatever that word may be. If she has sworn to kill you, she will kill you, even if it costs her own life. If she has sworn to defend you, she will do so to the death. She can be your worst enemy or your greatest ally."

"And what is she to you?" Maduin asked, hoping to get the man to fully admit his ties to the Stradivari.

"I trust her. That is all you need to know," the hunter said with a sly wink. "I don't ask that you trust her, but don't judge her too harshly. She has never been one to make good first impressions." Servais got up and walked over to his chocobo, stretching his back and arms. "Now then! I feel a little better, and I think it would be a good idea to camp here for the night. The Paraladia are not aggressive by nature, and without that Malboro mastermind, they shouldn't give us any trouble. If I light a fire, we will be perfectly safe. They hate flames."

"Maybe you're right. I am feeling quite exhausted after that fight. Those things drained much of my magical store of energy."

"Yes, they did seem to like you, didn't they? This magic stuff will definitely take some getting used to. Hey! Look! Your moogle friend is coming to."

As the two talked, Kumiro slowly twitched, then fluttered his wings. In a moment he was up and flying around, as if the battle was still raging.

"Kupopopo!" Kumiro squealed, confused and worried. The last he had seen, Elphis had fallen from his grip and he was powerless to save her.

"Calm down, Kumiro," Maduin said. "The battle's over. We won, somehow. Elphis is fine, but she is completely exhausted. She's sleeping, and safe."

But was she sleeping? Maduin didn't know. Her breathing was even and strong, and she seemed deep asleep. Her face looked paler than usual, as if she had been drained of energy. Had the Paraladia gotten to her, too? Whatever had happened, they all seemed safe for the moment, and now was a good chance to regroup and gather their strength before reaching Zwill.

"Don't worry about the girl," Servais said. "I checked her out and she's alright. Just asleep. We'll find out what happened when she wakes up, I'm sure."

"I hope so," Maduin replied, uncertainly. He remember the trembling earth from his dreams, and wondered just what had really happened while he was having his chat with the false Cassandra.

"Po! Po, po!" Kumiro yelled excitedly, pointing his little clawed finger at something on the ground behind them.

Servais stopped making the fire, and looked in the direction the moogle was indicating. Maduin took his eyes off of Elphis to see what the moogle wanted as well.

"By Gaeus's beard, look at that!" Servais said, getting up and walking over to the spot Kumiro was so fixated on.

Leading out of the forest, and almost right up to where they were camped was a trail of enormous footprints. There were no footprints leading away from the clearing though, as if whatever had made them had vanished. Or was still here.

"Maduin...those aren't yours are they?" Servais said, a rare note of concern in his voice. He didn't like being this far out of his experience, and there was no doubt. Those massive depressions were way out of his experience.

"Definitely not...," Maduin trailed off, stepping onto one of the wide tracks. His foot barely even covered a quarter of the space inside the track. Whatever had made these was as much a giant to Maduin as Maduin was to a normal human. And yet the footprint was plainly that of a human. It was unbelievable.

"What is going on here?" Maduin mused.

"It's like Gaeus himself was here, protecting us. Is that possible, Maduin? You said the gods are real, and I'm afraid there seems to be no other explanation. No beast I could ever dream of could make a mark like that on the land." Servais was awed at the spectacle before him. Magic was real, alright, and it had made its mark on this place. Servais rubbed his forehead and turned back to the fire, defeated by the impossible sight at his feet. He thought he knew everything about every creature that walked this earth, but there was no accounting for the being that had walked among them while they slept.

"I don't know...I really don't know...," Maduin said, as awed as Servais. Something, some force greater even than Maduin had saved them. Were the gods protecting him? Were they still planning, still trying to guide him to some unknown goal? What if Cassandra was right? Who could he really trust in this world? He trusted himself, and he trusted Elphis, and if he could free them, he would trust his friends as well. Beyond that...Maduin just wasn't sure. The Fallen Masters, the true Masters, the other Espers, and now the Stradivari...there were too many forces at work on this world, pulling from a thousand different directions at once. Trying to find his place in this maelstrom of desires and dreams made Maduin dizzy. All he wanted was peace. Was that an impossible dream, even for the gods?

"Thanks Titan," Elphis mumbled in her sleep, clutching the magicite tightly, like a crystalline stuffed animal. There was a peaceful smile on her lips as her sightless eyes fluttered beneath their lids.

"Elphis...?" Maduin whispered, her brief statement interrupting his thoughts. "Hmm...just what are you dreaming about, I wonder?"

The tired Esper did not know, but he hoped her dreams were more pleasant than his.