Attack on Bevelle: An Ancient Evil Returns
[Hello readers, and welcome back to another exciting chapter of Shadows Over Spira! Last time, the story ended with our heroes arrival into Bevelle airspace and their defeat of the sacred guardian dragon Volvagai; but now the airship barrels towards Bevelle, the party on-deck clinging on for dear life. The wedding ceremony is almost in full-swing, too. The unsent Seymour and Yuna walk up the steps to the altar, together, although she doesn't look extremely pleased. Maester Kinoc looks up into the sky and sees pyreflies descending, knowing that Volvagia is no more. Cid orders the airship to attack]
Kinoc: Fire!
[Seymour grabs Yuna's hand.]
Seymour: Come.
[FD Link takes off toward the edge of the airship and he and the party grinds down two metal lines anchored into the pavement. They jump off just as the gunfire snaps the lines free.]
Link: Yuna! I'm coming for you!
[The party hits the ground running. But FD Link bolts toward Seymour and Yuna cutting a swathing path through the warrior monks, but is stopped short by Kinoc, who flashes a gun.]
Kinoc: This has gone far enough!
[Auron holds FD Link back.]
Auron: Stop!
FD Link: Lemme Go!
[Monks surround the party. Yuna stands in front of Seymour, rod ready to send her undead husband-to-be to the Farplane.]
Seymour: You would play at marriage just for a chance to send me? Your resolve is admirable. All the more fitting to be my lovely wife.
[Yuna starts to send him.]
Mika: Stop! Do you not value your friends' lives? Your actions determine their fate. Protect them...or throw them away. The choice is yours.
[Yuna throws her rod down.]
Seymour: You are wise.
[Seymour kisses Yuna, much to the chagrin of her party.]
FD Link: (to himself) That fool will pay with his life!
Seymour: Kill them.
FD Link: !
[Kinoc points his gun at FD Link's face.]
Kinoc: I am sorry, but it is for Yevon.
Auron: Aren't those weapons forbidden by Yevon?
Kinoc: There are exceptions.
Yuna: No! [Yuna stands on the Tower of Light's ledge.] Throw down your weapons! Let them go, or else...
[Seymour makes the soldiers, Kinoc included, drop their weapons.]
Yuna: Leave now! Please!
Link: (Takes off the FD Mask) Not without You!
Yuna: Don't worry! Go!
Seymour: This is foolish. If you fall, you'll die.
Yuna: Don't worry. I can fly. Believe.
[Yuna falls backwards off the ledge.]
Link: By the goddesses! Yuna!
[As Yuna falls she summons Valefor and it catches her.]
Rikku: Cover your eyes!
[Rikku throws a flashbang at Seymour, who looks at it stupidly as it explodes and the party makes their escape.]
Wakka: Wh-What was that?
Rikku: An Al Bhed flashbomb!
Link: (struggling to get free and grab the FD mask) Let go! I'm gonna kill that Seymour!
Kimahri: Yuna said leave! We leave!
Lulu: We'll join up with her later!
Auron: Break through!
[The party runs to the entrance to the Tower of Light.]
Rikku: Where'd Yunie go?
Kimahri: Bevelle Palace is temple. Yuna goes to one place only.
Link: The Chamber of the Fayth!
[The party walks into the next room.]
Lulu: "It's too quiet. A trap?"
Link: Does't matter, we need to get to Yuna.
Rikku: Huh?
[Rikku goes to an electronic control panel and fiddles with it.]
Wakka: What's a machina doing in the temple?
Rikku: I suppose it comes in handy.
Wakka: That's not what I mean! The teachings! What about the teachings?
Rikku: Hey, don't look at me!
[The party takes the machina down to a lower level. Rikku finds another panel.]
Wakka: Another machina? Man...
Auron: So this is Yevon's true face. They betray their own teachings.
Wakka: They treated us like dirt.
Link: ... Typical of people like Ganondorf
Wakka: Who?
Link: ... nothing. Forget it.
[In the next room, the party finds...]
Lulu: The entrance to the Trials.
Rikku: I wonder if Yunie's really in there.
Wakka: Let's go and see!
Lulu: Let's go!
[They make it through the Trials and come to the Bevelle antechamber.]
Link: Yuna?
Wakka: Inside, maybe?
Link: What are we waiting around here for?
[Link tries lifting the heavy drop-down door to the Chamber.]
Wakka: H-Hey!
Link: To hell with your taboos.
[Kimahri helps him lift the door, and Link rolls underneath. In the Chamber, Yuna sits praying. A figure of a boy (the 'Strange Boy' from Hyrule, to be precise) is there in front of Yuna.]
Link: What in Farore's...
Auron: A fayth. They join with the summoner and together receive the aeon. They are human souls, imprisoned in stone by ancient Yevon rites. The dead should be allowed to rest.
[The fayth joins with Yuna in front of the two, and she collapses.]
Link: Yuna!
[Link picks her up and starts to carry her out.]
Rikku: Wait, don't come out!
[Outside, Link can see Kinoc and some monks.]
Kinoc: There's the last of them. You are to stand trial.
Auron: I expect it will be a fair trial.
Kinoc: Of course it will.
[The guards seize the party, and they are taken out of the Temple. Soon, court is in session.]
Kelk Ronso: The High Court of Yevon is now in session. The sacred offices of this court seek nothing but absolute truth, in Yevon's name. To those on trial: Believe in Yevon, and speak only the truth.
Lulu: Maester Kelk Ronso.
Kelk: Summoner Yuna. You have sworn to protec the people of Yevon, true?
Yuna: Yes.
Kelk: Then, consider: You have inflicted dire injury upon Maester Seymour Guado...conspired with the Al Bhed and joined in their are traitorous and unforgivable crimes that disturb the order of Yevon. Tell this court what possessed you to participate in such violence.
Yuna: Your Grace... The real traitor is Maester Seymour! He killed his father Jyscal with his own hands!
Kelk: What is this!
Seymour: Hmm? Hadn't you heard?
Yuna: Not only that... Maester Seymour is already dead!
Lulu: It is a summoner's sacred duty to send the souls of the departed to the Farplane! Yuna was only doing her job as a summoner!
Yuna: Grand Maester Mika... Please, send Seymour now!
Mika: Send the unsent to where they belong?
Yuna: Yes! [Mika chuckles.] Maester?
Mika: Send the dead...hmm? [Pyreflies come out of Mika.] You would have to send me, too.
Wakka: What!
Link: Typical...
Kelk: Grand Maester Mika is a wise leader. Even in death, he is invaluable to Spira.
Kinoc: Enlightened rule by the dead is preferable to the misguided failures of the living.
Seymour: Life is but a passing dream, but the death that follows is eternal.
Mika: Men die. Beasts die. Trees die. Even continents perish. Only the power of death truly commands in Spira. Resisting its power is futile.
Yuna: But what of Sin? I am a summoner, my lord, like my father before me! I am on a pilgrimage to stop the death that Sin brings. Are you... Are you telling me that, too, is futile? Grand Maester Mika, I am not alone! All the people who have opposed Sin... Their battles, their sacrifices - were they all in vain?
Mika: Not in vain. No matter how many summoners give their lives, Sin cannot be truly defeated. The rebirth cannot be stopped. Yet the courage of those who fight gives the people hope. There is nothing futile in the life and death of a summoner.
Auron: Never futile...but never ending.
Mika: Indeed, that is the essence of Yevon.
Yuna: Lord Mika!
Mika: Yevon is embodied by eternal, unchanging continuity, summoner.
Yuna: No...that can't be right!
Mika: Those who question these truths - they are traitors!
Yuna: Lord Mika!
[Mika and the other Maesters turn and leave, and the party is split up and taken off Unbeknownst to Link and our heroes, a sinister dark shadow remains watching intently.)
?: ... Even after 1000 years... That fool lives. How? Bah, no matter. I need to regain 'MY' kingdom, it will be rebuilt. And a certain Maester will be the perfect pawn! Muahahahahahahahahaha... Gahahahahahahahahahaha.
(Later on, after court's adjourned, Auron and Link are held captive in a hanging cage.]
Link: Get me out of here! I swear to Din! If you don't let me out, I'll...
Auron: You are wasting your breath.
Link: Damn it... (sighs) I hope Yuna is okay.
Auron: She's strong. She'll make it.
Link: why, just so she can die?! Why in Din's name does everything in Spira revolve around death!
Auron: Ahh, the spiral of death.
Link: Huh?
Auron: Summoners challenge the bringer of death, Sin, and die doing so. Guardians give their lives to protect their summoner. The fayth are the souls of the dead. Even the maesters of Yevon are unsent. Spira is full of death. Only Sin is reborn, and then only to bring more death. It is a cycle of death, spiraling endlessly.
[Kinoc walks by the cage.]
Kinoc: Come out. Your sentence has been decided.
Auron: Sentence? Don't you mean execution?
Kinoc: Really, now, what person would execute a dear friend?
Auron: You would.
[Later on, Link stands by some indoor pool, a gun barrel on his back.]
Warrior Monk: Looks like you're next!
Link: Next for what?
[The monk pushes him into the water.]
Warrior Monk: Get going!
Link: Where's everybody else?
Warrior: Floating down there somewhere, maybe.
Link: Tch... These guys are morons. They left me my equipment; which means ... (puts on the Zora mask) i can survice underwater!
[Z-Link finds Wakka after swimming down some water channels.]
Wakka: Oooh! You made it!
[Rikku swims over.]
Rikku: Uh... Link? That you?
Z-Link: Yeah, it's me. So... What's our sentence?
Wakka: Think they expect us to give up and die down here.
Link: ... I knew those guys were fools.
Rikku: Where's Yunie?
Link: I don't know.
Rikku: Wonder if we should wait for her...
Link: Hmm... Let's wait at the exit.
Rikku: If there is an exit.
[Somewhere, Seymour, Kinoc, and Mika are conversing.]
Mika: How fares the Ronso maester?
Seymour: It seems my father's murder troubles him.
Mika: Ever the Ronso. Hard-headed, hardly useful.
Seymour: However... The summoner Yuna, daughter to High Summoner Braska... She may be of some use to us alive.
Mika: She has disturbed the order of Yevon. She cannot be allowed to live.
Seymour: I understand.
Kinoc: Let it go, Seymour. No one thrown into the Via Purifico has ever survived.
Mika: Yet, there is always a small chance that they might. Place guards at the exit. Kill any who emerge.
Seymour: Sir. Leave that to me.
Mika: First your father, now your bride?
Seymour: Allow me to do this because she is my bride.
Kinoc: Wait. I will go, too.
Seymour: You do not trust me?
Kinoc: Would you trust a man who murdered his father.
Seymour: Very well. As you wish.
[Elsewhere Yuna and the rest of our heroes near the exit of where they were left to die. Isaaru approaches]
Isaaru: Lady Yuna... So it is you!
Yuna: Why are you here?
Isaaru: We rode the airship to the Calm Lands, then came to Bevelle. Maester Kinoc summoned us then. Ordered us to 'deal with the traitors.'
Auron: You will fight us?
Isaaru: The temple's orders are law. Even if you are Lord Braska's flesh and blood... You're a traitor! Forgive me, Lady Yuna.
[The two have an aeon fight, Isaaru saying with each summon:]
Isaaru: "Your aeons against mine!" "It's not over yet!" "I cannot let you pass!"
[Yuna wallops Isaaru's aeons with ease.]
Yuna: ... It is finished.
Isaaru: Stay away! There's a way to the surface up ahead.
[Yuna leaves, and Auron walks to Isaaru, delivering the line:]
Auron: Your pilgrimage is over.
[Back in the waterways, Z-Link's party goes through the 'water course' of the Via Purifico and come into an inclosed pool leading to dry land. As they get ready to leave they are attacked by Morpha, a giant amoeba, who is able to control water, using it as tentacles.)
Wakka: What its that?
Rikku: It's ... alive!
Z-Link: It's Morpha! Keep your distance. Rikku, take my hookshot! Aim at the red ball at its center and pull it toward you, out of it's body!
Rikku: I thought you said to stay away from it?!
Z-Link: When it is away from its body, Wakka and I will attack it!
Wakka: You serious?
Rikku: o..ok!
(The trio attack Morpha. It is a touch and go fight but they manage to take it down, allowing them to escape the waterways. Outside, the trio meet up with the rest of the team.]
Rikku: Yunie! You're all right? We were so worried! It's good to have you back!
Yuna: Thank you.
Link: Yuna... I...
[Behind Link, Seymour, Kinoc, and some Guado appear, followed by the mysterious shadow. Although, Kinoc isn't walking - he's being carried by his collar, because he's been killed.]
Auron: Kinoc!
Link: Damn you! (sensing the shadow) ... it can't be.
(the Shadow starts spreading toward Seymour, influencing him)
Seymour: I have saved him. He was a man who craved power. And great power he had, but he feared losing it. Trembling at unseen enemies, he spent his days scheming petty schemes. Chased by his fears, never knowing rest. You see... Now, he has no worries. He has been granted sleep eternal. Death is a sweet slumber. All the pain of life is gently swept away... Ah, yes. So you see...if all life were to end on Spira, all suffering would end. Don't you see? Do you not agree? That, Yuna, is why I need you. Come, Lady Yuna. Come with me to Hyrule, the lost city of the dead. With death on our side, we will save Spira, and for this...I will take from you your strength, Yuna, your life, and become the next Sin. I will destroy Spira! I will save it!
[Kimahri brandishes his spear.]
Link: GANONDORF! I WON'T LET YOU!
Seymour (Ganondorf): Ah... Link! So good of you to notice me; So, what are you going to do to stop me? You failed once before, and i killed your precious Midna and Zelda! You are now nothing to me! No Master Sword and NO TRIFORCE!
Wakka: What he talking 'bout?
Link: ... Yeah... that's right. I don't have either, but i will still fight!
Seymour (Ganondorf): Unfortunate. Very well. I will give you your death. You seem to want it so.
[Seymour turns his entourage and Kinoc into pyrelifes, absorbs them along with the rest of the shadow, and turns into an ugly monster.]
Kimahri: Run! Protect Yuna!
Auron: Go!
Link: No way! I'm fighting!
Auron: I said go!
[The party starts to leave Kimahri to Shadow Seymour.]
Yuna: I won't leave Kimahri behind!
Auron: He is a guardian. Protecting you is everything.
Yuna: Auron!
Link: Exactly! We're all guardians! You know what that means? Yuna... Anywhere you go, I'll follow!
Yuna: Anywhere I go?
Link: As Nayru as my witness!
Yuna: Well, then!
Link & Yuna: Let's go!
Link: (Puts on FD Mask) Hey, Kimahri! Leave some for us!
Wakka: Hey! Wait for me!
Rikku: Me, too!
Lulu: I'll go, too!
[Everyone runs back to fight Shadow Seymour. Its a back and forth fight between our heroes and Shadow Seymour but they wallop him. And unbeknownst to Link, his right hand begins glow abit brighter with the power of the triforce of courage]
Link(narration): I'm not really sure how we got away unharmed, but Yuna lost something. I could already tell, her faith was shaken. She was betrayed by Yevon. I wish there was something i could do to console her... but I was just as lost as she was. And then...)
(Damn... that was one hell of a show down! Anybody else as surprised as I am about Ganondorf returning? Join us next time with another exciting chapter of Shadows Over Spira! Next Chapter: The Calm Lands: Hyrule Bound!)