Chapter 9

The Two Halves of Gaia

Xu shut her flip phone, looking shaken from hearing the emotion in her old protégé's voice. She put it back into a pocket of her SeeD uniform, worn proudly and openly in free territory.

'Rhodry has junctioned with Shiva, but they got to Selphie and Irvine first,' Xu said sorrowfully. 'He said that Irvine is dead, and Selphie is missing! Their home is in ruins!'

Rinoa looked inquiringly at her. The Sorceress resembled the shorter Xu somewhat, with her jet-black hair and her brown, slanted eyes. But her skin was paler, like a moonlit backdrop. Her youthful looks were retained by her power, unspoilt by the years gone by. Although the faint smile Rinoa often wore was not present, the razor-edges of her Angelwing pinwheel were, attached to her left forearm. Rinoa was in her tested battle attire; a pale-blue duster over a black, formfitting bodysuit, with matching boots.

'Irvine,' Rinoa whispered softly, the emotion unreserved in her own voice upon hearing the fate of her long-time friend.

'Rhodry is determined to defend Adaryn!' Xu exclaimed. 'I couldn't sway him! He's only gonna get himself killed! Fucking Hyne, if Shiva falls to Esthar as well!'

Rinoa said nothing as she turned and walked a few paces towards the Tomb of the Unknown King. She and Squall had not seen Irvine or Selphie for many years. A tear came to her eye at the memory of the Gunslinger, even though she could have easily suppressed it with her sorcery. But she quickly accepted there was nothing they could do for him, now.

Just beyond Rinoa was a young SeeD cadet named Raine, also in uniform. She had been handpicked by her uncle, Squall, to accompany the two wiser women on this trial. She stood proudly with a sizeable quarterstaff in both hands, both ends encased in steel. The aspiring cadet was the daughter of Ellone and Raijin. With some of her father's substantial height, Raine stood several inches taller than Rinoa and Xu. But she was very comely and well proportioned, with light brown skin and green eyes. Her hair, normally in ringlets, was neatly clasped back with a golden hairpin. She stood to make her parents proud by becoming a Neo-SeeD on the eve of the coming battle.

'I haven't seen Irvine since I was little,' Raine commented. 'Since before Balamb fell. Mom said a lot about him, that he was in love with Selphie from childhood.'

Wiping her tear with a slender thumb, Rinoa asked, 'So, Rhodry doesn't know what happened to Selphie?'

'He assumes she was taken,' Xu said. 'Most likely to Esthar.'

'But what for?' Rinoa wondered. 'I thought that Reina wanted our powers for herself.'

They knew that the enemy Sorceress – whom Thalassa had warned was the present day Ultimecia – had been enslaving Guardian Forces with her magicite over the years. Doctor Odine was still in Esthar, no doubt kept alive only for his brilliant mind. Had she somehow forced the famous scientist to develop something that could enslave other Sorceresses to her will, like they did with the Lunar beasts? It was the only explanation Rinoa could think of.

'Xu, tell Squall what has happened,' Rinoa said. 'But we need to get going.'

Xu tried to call her Commander, but it went to voicemail, and trailed behind them as she rapidly sent a message. If Squall and Quistis were already at the Deep-Sea Deposit, they would not receive it until they emerged. After sending it, Xu jogged along the cracked, uneven slabs of the Tomb's forecourt to catch up.

Neo-SeeD had made haste to recruit the free GFs heeding Thalassa's warning. Rinoa and Squall never doubted her integrity for a moment. They had too much respect for her and her father.

The Tomb of the Unknown King was regrettably overgrown, looking much the same as it had to Rinoa twenty years ago. Before it had come under medieval Dollet's dominion, the Tomb had been known as the Earth Shrine, and was still the lair of Sacred and Minotaur. Falling into ruin by modern times, it had never been restored following the collapse of the Holy Dollet Empire, and was now just within Galbadia's border. Located at the very tip of the Gotland Peninsular, it did not see much footfall, situated many miles from the nearest town. It was sometimes visited by daring sightseers. It was also the lair of many dangerous monsters, those very fiends proving a trail of prowess for cadets from Galbadia Garden.

When Sorceress Jadis had taken Dollet's throne, she led her supporters here, smiting the usurped King that had once exiled her on the plains before the Tomb. Vengeful and cruel, Jadis had cursed his spirit to remain trapped within a sarcophagus for a thousand years.

Back at her companion's sides, Xu drew her weapons. In her right hand was a double-edged, straight jian; in her left was a shorter, curved doa. Strapped to her bare thighs were a couple of thin sai prongs, and she carried various shurikens in her pouches. Now forty-five, Xu was the longest serving member of SeeD, one of the first to pass out under Headmaster Cid during the early days of Garden. Now second-in-command to Squall, Xu had commanded SeeD for many years while he and Rinoa had lived in isolation at Obel Lake. Though she had unquestioningly handed the reins of power back to Squall after Timber fell to Esthar.

Xu had long since earned the moniker of Torama Fang among her comrades. Widowed during the Battle of Balamb, her husband Sabin had been killed by Memnon. But they had three children, now all in their late teens. Tian was already a White SeeD. Liu and Zhang, twins, were on the verge of being anointed as Neo-SeeDs.

They passed the crumbling water feature in front of the open entranceway, which was almost dry. Only fetid water remained at the base, and it was covered in an opaque layer of algae. Giving the stench a wide berth, they reached the crumbling steps to the Tomb and ascended.

'Like I said, if we just keep heading straight, we'll reach the mausoleum,' Rinoa said. 'Hopefully, Sacred and Minotaur will both be there, and we won't have to run circles around the place.'

Rinoa had brought the old map they had been given by one of her father's guards all those years ago. Although the layout of the Tomb was not perplexing to those familiar with it, and she had given it to Raine lest they were somehow separated. If Brothers were not by the sarcophagus in the centre of the ruins, they would just hug the sides of building until they reached the other chambers. Following the same course, they would eventually be brought back to the exit. As Rinoa had been one of the ones to prove themselves to Sacred and Minotaur two decades ago, they did not expect to have to do so this time around.

Entering the huge archway that was flanked by round pillars, they were quickly plunged into darkness. Inverting her right palm toward the high ceiling, the Sorceress summoned a perfect sphere of quicksilver. Casting it high above them, it lit the pathway for many yards ahead, hovering like a small moon.

Xu had stocked up on thunder para-magic prior to their journey, largely to deal with the water-elemental flans known as blobras that were in abundance here. But she would only use it in an emergency, instead relying on Rinoa's vast reserves of power to clear a path to Brothers. Raine had drawn on wind-elemental magic. She apprehensively tightened her grip on her staff, as she had much less experience of expeditions to such places. But she could draw confidence in her more seasoned companions.

With their path lit, Rinoa turned to Raine.

'Ready?'

'As ready as I'll ever be! Let's do this for Selphie and Irvine!' the SeeD hopeful replied, hefting her staff, and leading the way in a show of bravery.

They passed several openings to their left and right, undistracted as they headed forward. From a fourth opening, there was a loud squelching sound that Rinoa immediately recognised. The coalescing blue forms of blobras came at them from both sides. Raine and Xu both took fighting stances, but Rinoa briskly moved to stand at the cadet's side. Opening one of her hands in their direction, she fired a small sphere of lightning at the lead flan, not powerful enough to kill it, but potent enough to make it shriek and recoil.

The lead blobra's constantly morphing mass backed up, sliding back across the stone floor. It seemed to communicate something to the rest of the pack, as they abruptly halted. Rinoa summoned another lightning ball but left it to hover threateningly in front of them. The sphere grew, changing the colour of the hallway to a combination of the moonlight shade of the luminous ball and a strobing, lightning blue. The entire pack shrieked in horror, shrinking into pools of blue slime that covered the ground, moving back around the corners to flee.

Raine was in awe, having never witnessed true sorcery before. With the threat passed, Rinoa relaxed, and the ball of lightning vanished.

'If only I could have done that the last time I was here!' she remarked. 'Those things gave us hell before!'

'Flans are my pet hate.' Xu said. 'They're never easy to deal with, and without para-magic, you can only avoid them. It's a good job they only reside in places like this.' The SeeD looked at the Sorceress. 'That was pretty good discretion, Rinoa. You could have fried them all without breaking a sweat! I always thought you would have made a great SeeD, if fate had not sent you down a different path.'

'Thanks, Xu. I did learn from the best over the years, yourself included,' Rinoa said humbly.

They moved on, Rinoa allowing Raine to take point once again, as it was supposed to be her initiation. After walking cautiously for several minutes, they were almost at the centre of the ruins.

The opening to the internal mausoleum was now in view, along with the silhouettes of hulking figures blocking the entrance. They were fully grown armadodos, with glowing blue eyes and dark protective shells on their backs. They had sloping shoulders and beefy, rust coloured arms, long enough for their talons to scrape along the ground. There would be no reasoning with them; humans had intruded upon their lair. With shuddering cries, they charged, their arms out wide with every intention of ripping them limb from limb.

'Time to prove yourself, Raine,' the Torama Fang said quickly, before pouncing forward like the felines she was named for. She slew the nearest beast with a quick upthrust of her longer blade, through its unprotected torso.

Rinoa fired her elegant pinwheel at one of the farthest, the angelic-winged edges slicing cleanly through its neck. It would have beheaded it if not for the shell covering the back of its neck. Fashioned from her own sorcery, with the guidance of Edea and the input of a master weapon modifier, Angelwing was both magnificent and deadly.

Raine unleashed her para-magic on an armadodo that was almost on top of her. A spiralling gust of white wind appeared at its feet, launching it up to the ceiling with a sickening crunch. The passageway shook, thick dust and fragments of stone showering around them.

The armadodo behind it hesitated only fractionally at the unseemly levitation of its buddy, but its animalistic instinct won over. Lowering its head as it crouched, it curled into a ball, launching itself at Raine before the other beast thudded back to the ground. With an oft-practiced, swift roll to the side, Raine came up with her staff in both hands as the armadodo rolled by. She ran after it, and it stopped rolling, uncoiled, then turned. But its face was met with a firm crunch of steel from the end of Raine's staff, and it dropped with a thud. Quickly establishing that it was still stirring, Raine killed it with another two firm strikes to the head.

Turning back to the beast she had struck with a spell, Raine saw it was back on its feet, though it seemed to be in pain. Measuring the distance, the cadet allowed it to get just close enough for her to shatter its jaw with an underhand blow. It toppled onto its back, howling as its arms and legs flailed in the air. Following through, Raine struck its soft underbelly, crushing its chest.

'Not bad, Raine,' Xu complimented, the bodies of three armadodos at her feet. 'You would give your Pop a run for his money with that quarterstaff.'

'Thanks,' she said happily.

Praise from the Deputy Commander would mean a lot to her. Rinoa could see Raine was trying to keep a reserve as her adrenaline coursed through her. She probably did not want to spoil herself with gloats and boasts of excitement, as Rinoa was sure Raijin would have done. Her father had never been a SeeD, but was one of the strongest men alive, and the bearer of a GF in his own right.

Closing her eyes, Rinoa made no sound other than her slowed breathing. Opening them again, she said, 'I can sense Brothers ahead.'

To Raine's amazement, the impression of two tiny, white wings on the back of Rinoa's duster started to glow radiantly. From them grew two semi-transparent, angelic wings that reached a great span, shining brilliantly throughout the ruins, much brighter than her floating ball of quicksilver. The Sorceress turned to the opening, with Raine and Xu walking tentatively behind her magnificent form. She crossed the rickety wooden drawbridge that had not been raised since her last visit, into the former prison of the Unknown King.

The slight Minotaur and the robust Sacred sat silently atop the grey sarcophagus, closed once more after the spirit of the Unknown King had been freed by the Children of Fate. The GFs both gripped spiked maces and leaned forward in appreciation of the Sorceress they immediately recognised, grinning to reveal their jagged teeth.

'Howdy doodie, Rinoa!' Sacred blurted with his gruff voice, facetiously imitating the speech of modern humans the way he did, which Rinoa still thought was startling behaviour for such a legendary being. 'It's been a while!'

'It gladdens my heart to see you again, Descendant of Hyne,' Minotaur said, much quieter. But his voice was still commanding, with a calm authority. 'Are you in need of our aid?'

'Yes, we all are,' Rinoa said carefully.

She took care to speak to them more formally than she would have in her youth, recalling that she had giggled at Minotaur upon first meeting the diminutive GF.

In a tone befitting a Sorceress, she continued. 'I'm not sure if you have ventured from the Tomb much since we parted ways, but a Sorceress named Reina has been enslaving your brethren in her quest for world domination. Tiamat, Doomtrain, Leviathan and some others have already been taken by her, and now Shiva is in danger.'

'Reina, huh?' Sacred said.

Minotaur shot an annoyed look at his 'brother'. In reality, they were not really brothers. Having once been a single, more powerful GF known as Gaia, their power had been split as punishment for their alignment during the War of the GFs, the brains divided from the brawn.

'Yes,' Rinoa said. 'She is Adel's successor, who I am sure that you are more familiar with.'

Minotaur said, 'Yes. Adel was indeed a baleful Sorceress, even more so than Jadis. I am pleased that she has finally passed on from this realm.'

'Damn right!' Sacred grunted.

Rinoa spoke again. 'And now we have reason to believe that she is the present day Ultimecia.'

The GFs looked at each other. Minotaur whispered, 'Ultimecia. Is that so?'

'Zell's daughter claims to have met someone from the future, who insists this is true. But my Knight and I are not really surprised; we noticed the resemblance between Reina and Ultimecia in Timber. Either way, she is just as evil as her predecessor.' Rinoa allowed emotion to creep into her voice now, putting her fists onto her hips. 'Ultimecia is about to march on Galbadia to complete her conquest, the only country remaining outside of the Empire! We seek the power of the free Guardian Forces so we can stop her! She has just killed your old summoner, Irvine, and she murdered Zell and Edea several years ago! Selphie is now her hostage! Ultimecia will stop at nothing! You must lend us your power to ensure your own freedom, Brothers!'

Something passed between the two GFs as they looked at one another again.

'The Gunslinger is dead?' Minotaur asked quietly.

'Yes!' Xu said suddenly. 'My comrade said he was killed in cold blood!'

Sacred rose from the sarcophagus, hefting his giant mace. 'Damn, I liked him! We gotta join 'em, bro! They got Tiamat, too!'

'For once, you are right,' Minotaur said, dropping to the ground. 'Let us tarry no longer! We have yet to junction with a Sorceress; it shall be an honour, Rinoa!'

They turned into blue clouds tinged with the red colour of their horns. Both essences surrounded Rinoa until all that remained was a brief gleam in her eyes, which slowly faded away. Rinoa's white wings retracted back into herself as though they had never been, the light from her orb seeming dull in comparison.

'Great job!' Xu said. 'One down, two to go!'