Chapter 13

Fire God Revealed

Year of the Realm 873/311 AC; Caer Norvent, Holy Empire of Sanbreque

Cid gives a rough chuckle as Benedikta points her sword at him. Apparently, she did not take too kindly to his own stories as she put it. "Is it that hard to believe?"

"You expect me to listen to you tell me such flimsy lies as there being a second Dominant of Fire, while I have the only Dominant of Fire in my possession!?" she shrieks "What sort of fool do you take me for!?"

"Not so much a fool as a very angry girl." Cid's chuckle is cut off as the tip of her blade presses against his throat "Alright…point made."

"You are so very lucky that I won't be the one to kill you Cidolfus, so very lucky indeed."

"Lucky? I think I rather one of my girls do me in than her, least you both would be merciful."

Benedikta hesitates, contemplating just knocking the old man out and shipping him off to his demise or doing it herself here and now. So many decisions to make, and yet she can't decide which would be more fun. As luck would have it, just as she is about to draw blood there is an interruption in the form of a fireball hurtling towards her face.

"Cid!" The former Lord Commander of Waloed smiles as Benedikta is forced to move away from him just as Clive comes running to his side. "You alright?"

"Clive…what took you so bloody long? What, get lost trying to find the stairs?"

"You are alive alright," the young man stands, glaring at the blonde woman before him "You…I would have words with you."

"Just words?" Cid asks.

"You stay out of this!"

Torgal pads over to the older man, standing guard as Clive approaches Benedikta. To her, he was a nuisance. Just a common Bearer with some fire magic at his command. Nothing more and nothing less. But there was something here…that name Cid called out. Clive, was it? It was familiar to her, but she could not place from where she had heard it.

"I expected more from the old man," she confesses "And even less from you…to get through my own men is no small feat for a Bearer and his dog. Just who are you?"

"Just a man with too many questions to ask."

"Very well…Cidolfus, you just sit there and rest," she smirks at Clive "We have much to discuss but I do not feel like giving information freely. What say we make a little wager?"

Clive narrows his eyes, readying himself for a fight "What kind of wager?"

"If you somehow can best me…then I will tell you what you want to know. But if you lose…I'm certain the Imperials would be more than happy to accept a runaway Bearer as compensation for killing their men here at the Caer."

"Live or die…not much of a choice really. Very well, do your worst!"

Benedikta smiles "Oh I intend to," she flicks out her wrist, a simple aero spell hurtling towards Clive before he bats it away with his sword. "Oh? Used to deflecting spells, are we? Interesting…perhaps something stronger will do?"

Clive's eyes widen as a large talon grabs him by the shoulders and pulls him in close. This must be one of Garuda's techniques, and a dangerous one when the only plan he had thought up involved staying as far away from her as possible. Benedikta smirks, her weapon glowing green as the wind circulates around it. "Don't blink," she taunts, taking a single swing at Clive.

As the blade arcs towards him he steps back, the tip misses his chest, but the wind generated around the weapon tears through his armor, digging into his flesh beneath it. Clive grasps his chest, a faint trickle of blood streaming down the front of his armor as he feels a slight sting from the wound created from her attack.

"Careful, just a little cut could prove fatal when fighting me," she informs him, readying for another go "But I hope you did not think I would be so easy to fight, I want to enjoy this…but I do not have the patience for weak men."

Clive grits his teeth "Funny, I could say the same of you."

"What?"

"I can't stand fighting someone who can't even make it interesting, so please, do not disappoint me!"

Benedikta's eyes widen as Clive vanishes from sight. Her instincts kick in as she whirls around, blade meeting his just as he tries to go for a strike to her spine. The two push away from one another. Clive skidding across the stone floor while Benedikta begins throwing spells one after the other at him. Clive runs, circling around Benedikta while his mind races towards an answer just for her.

"No where to run, and no where to hide!" she shouts as a series of wind spells hurtle towards Clive to intercept him in his path.

"Who said anything about hiding?" he chuckles, vanishing just as the spells hit the floor. Benedikta looks around, unable to find him. He wasn't behind her or off to the side…and he was not in front of her, that much she could clearly see. So then where had he gone? There was a shift in the wind. She looks up, snarling as she hurls another spell at the man as he falls towards her from above. "Too slow!"

Clive vanishes again, this time however he reappears just before her in a crouch, his left hand extending as she slowly turns to face him. The resulting magic burst sends Benedikta across the floor, almost with enough force to have her land beside Cid who can only shake his head as he watches.

"Clive! Mind not making my little resting place part of your battlefield?"

"If she would just surrender, then it wouldn't be."

A strong aero spell nails Clive in the chest, knocking him onto his back. Benedikta snarls as she stands, pelting him with more of her spells in her anger. "You…you dare…I do not care if you are his friend or not! No one…no Bearer…no Branded will ever humiliate me!"

Cid winces, leaning over to Torgal he whispers, "Probably should have told him she has a horrible temper when she's worked up, huh boy?"

Benedikta screams in frustration as the winds howl around them. Aether gathering up in her body, wind magic channeling throughout her as wings sprout from her back. That green glow of energy to her body as she floats off the ground. Clive groans as he stands back up, grasping his sword in hand, eyeing his opponent's new change. "Terrific…she's just about primed."

"Now try this," she says, conjuring up a trio of tornados to surround Clive. While he struggled to maintain his ground and not be sucked into any of the vortexes Benedikta was not idle. The Dominant of Wind circled around Clive, pelting him with wind magic at every opportunity. "What's the matter? Can't handle a little wind?"

Clive grits his teeth as his body was battered from all sides. His armor was wearing down, at this rate he'd be lucky if any of it was still useable after this fight. As he feels the spells hitting him from behind, he smirks, waiting for just the right moment. "There!" he shouts, turning and slamming his left fist into the stone floor. The wall of fire erupts before him and just like all the times before Clive moved with the blessing of the Phoenix, every swing of his blade generating a shockwave that battered Benedikta with such intensity the likes she had never felt before.

"Not bad," Cid smiles as he observes the fight from the sidelines "Using her own habits against her, and with more grace too. Guess I owe the boy a few gil after all."

Benedikta wasn't done yet with Clive. Again, she launches that talon out at Clive, grasping him by the shoulders and pulling him towards her. The First Shield smirks, his left fist flaming as she pulls him in for what she hoped would be a devastating blow. "Not this time," he says, a flaming phoenix wing appearing just behind his arm as he delivers an uppercut, fist connecting with her chin. The attack knocks Benedikta to the ground, Clive landing in a crouch just a few feet away.

"Had enough Benedikta?" he asks, sword at the ready "I expected better from a Dominant."

"Better?" she asks, a hint of incredulity seeping into her voice "You expected better? You who are but a Branded! I…I won't lose. I won't!"

The winds pick up. Clive's eyes widen a large ball of wind magic hurtles towards him. He could not rely on the Heatwave technique here, his body had yet to recover from the last one. "Oh shit!"

The blast hits him dead on, sending Clive into the air with the power of its explosion. As his body begins to come back down, Benedikta appears by his side, grasping his head and forcing him down faster. Clive's body slams into the ground, Benedikta all but forces him to stay still as she raises her right hand. "Game over, Branded," she says calmly, a talon appearing in the air mirroring her right arms movement.

As she prepared to drive her point home and leave Clive in as many pieces as Cid could carry home her concentration was broken by a bark. Her eyes dart to the left just in time to be obscured by fur as Torgal pounces, tackling her to the ground. The northern wolf sank his teeth into her left arm, snarling as he tries to keep her pinned long enough for Clive to get back to his feet.

"Fucking dog!" she shrieks, blasting Torgal with a wind spell that knocks him back "Now…where were we?"

Benedikta turns, hearing a raging fire. Her eyes widen as Clive stands before her, a flaming fist driving into her stomach and quite literally knocking the wind out of her. As she begins to recover, he appears again, pummeling her body with flaming strikes. Even Cid had to wince as he watched her quite literally get the Aether beaten out of her. In the haze of Clive's sudden change in personality and the beating she was receiving Benedikta managed one last strike. A spinning talon strikes Clive in the upper chest, shattering most of his armor and chainmail, while his last strike connects with her cheek. The pair both drop, one from the injuries sustained over two fights, and the other from exhaustion due to using too much Aether.

"Well…double knockout it is then," Cid groans as he stands up, fishing out his own supply of medicinal curatives "Lets see…two hi-potions and…a single potion. Guess I'll have to have the potion then, Tarja won't let me hear the end of this one."

Torgal slowly padded over to Cid, the wolf having seen his fair share of combat today as he watched the outlaw of the deadlands see to his two charges. His ears perked up, a faint growl emanating from him as he turns, staring down the approaching Royalists.

"You're late," Cid says as Benedikta finishes off her hi-potion "What took you lads so long anyway?"

"Apologies, Lord Commander, but our lady gave strict orders not to interrupt."

"Fat load of good that did," Cid shakes his head "These two are more stubborn than the Titan's of old. Still with us are you Clive?"

"Somehow, yes." Clive groans as he sits up "Feels like I was hit by a Behemoth."

"Well, if you had been you would be little more than a corpse right about now," Cid chuckles, helping the younger man to stand "Nice job by the way, haven't seen moves like that before, curious though…not a hint of the Curse upon you."

Clive rolls his shoulders "Yes well, not being a Bearer helps…though it is only a matter of time given how much Aether I keep infusing with my body."

"How could I lose?" the soft-spoken question brought the three men's attention to the lone woman amongst them "You who are but a Branded…you beat me."

"She seems to be taking it well," Cid quips "Well, Benna, I believe there was a deal you and Clive had made…unless you suddenly are going to go back on it now."

Benedikta looks away, fighting her own pride in defeat "Fine…what do you want to know?"

"Clive?"

"Cid's man, where is he?"

Benedikta scoffs "Is that all you wanted to know? He's being held securely in the caer, further below if you must know. He is unharmed…mostly, his companion took most of the beating during the interrogation."

"What exactly were you looking for?" Clive frowns "You captured him for information, I would know what it was."

Benedikta casts a glance to Cid who simply shrugs "I would tell him if I were you, I doubt your men here could handle two of us in combat, and you are in no real shape to fight even with a hi-potion."

"There have been rumors."

"Rumors?"

Benedikta growls, fists clenching "Dominants, more than there should be. Reports of a Dominant of Earth roaming in Waloed and Dhalmekia that wasn't Titan, a Dominant of Wind in Lostwing that was not me, and a Dominant of Darkness that was not Odin. Now I find reports of a Dominant of Fire that is not the Phoenix…and fail to defeat a man blessed by the Phoenix."

"More Dominants?" Cid cups his chin in thought "I had heard the rumors of a second Eikon of Fire…but that should be impossible. And now you're telling me three more are out there? This just got a whole lot worse for us."

"Two Dominants of the same element existing at once…Lord Murdoch would surely say this was a lie if he were here right now." Clive shakes his head "What about the Eikon of Fire? It's Dominant…do you know where he is?"

"You mean you don't know?" Benedikta laughs "Why should I tell you?"

Clive crouches in front of her, looking her in the eyes he extends his hand "Please…I just want to know. I owe it to my brother to bring justice to his killer. I never wanted to kill anyone here if it could be avoided, but I will do what I must…for his souls' sake."

Benedikta looked like she was thinking it over. Before she could voice an answer, Cid swore he would stay away from Otto's brand of drink, it looked like a wind spell was working its way through her body into Clive's. The young man winced, struggling to pull away before whatever it was stopped. He fell back with such force, a scream ripping through him as he clutches at his chest in pain. Just as Cid and Torgal moved to his side there was an explosion deep within the caer, a violent windstorm battering the towers and bringing one crashing down.

"Benna!"

"This is not me…what is this?" she looked almost afraid. She could feel her connection to Garuda but nothing was amiss…she had full control and she could not stop whatever it was that was happening "Cid! Take him and leave!"

"What about you!?"

"Gerulf and I will make our own escape back to Waloed, just…don't die on your way home."

Cid chuckles, pulling Clive to his feet. The lad was still screaming bloody murder but was not thrashing as violently "You just look after yourself. Come along Torgal, got to get back before your master decides to croak on us."

"Well, that wasn't so bad," Cid laughs as they wander the countryside.

"Speak for yourself," Clive frowns, checking over his damaged armor "I'll be amazed if it holds together all the way back."

"Oh, quit complaining, Blackthorne can fix you up a fresh suit of armor if you like…just talk with Goetz first, lad knows everyone's weakness in the hideaway" Torgal barks in agreement "See? Even the dog agrees with me. Now…where are we?"

"The Dragons Aery," Clive informs him, scowling at the state of his armor "From here it's a short hike to Northreach…well…I say short, but the wrym's won't make things easy for us."

"Seeing as we have a bit of a walk ahead of us, mind telling me what all that was back in the caer?"

Clive winces, glancing at his right hand "I don't know…never has anything like that happened to me before now. I just…I don't know."

"Well, we can add that to the many mysteries of Clive Rosfield," Cid pulls out a cigar "Still, what do you suppose happened? Can't just be a light show like that and nothing else."

Clive closes his eyes, focusing on his inner flame. He could feel it still, but it was brighter, stronger even. As he opened his eyes he thought of that feeling, focusing on it with the same intensity as his flames. An aero spell comes to life in his left hand to his shock. With a simple flexing of the muscles in his arm the spell grew larger, as his arm relaxes it weakens and shrinks to a smaller ball of wind. "By the Flames..."

Cid meanwhile gives a low whistle "Well how about that...blessed by the Phoenix...and now Garuda. You are full of surprises Clive."

Clive glances ahead, the spell dissipating, spying a Minotaur heading their way "Cid."

"I see him…fancy taking him on? Could be some good practice for you."

Clive grins, feeling the wind pick up around him "I haven't any objections to it."

The minotaur in question was shambling closer, club resting against its shoulder, blissfully unaware of what awaits it further ahead. With Cid and Torgal hiding off to the side behind a tree of all things, Clive stood in the beast's path. He takes a deep breath, slowly feeling the air around him as the minotaur finally spots him. The minotaur bellows, raising its club and stomping its hooves.

"Just like the flames…feel it within…then feel it without." He mutters to himself, focusing on that one feeling within that was foreign to him. Rather than fight to control it Clive just let it wash over him, let the winds within fuel his fire. "Come on Clive…feel it…just feel it."

The minotaur charges, head lowered as he blindly rushes Clive ready to impale him with its horns. Just as it gets within ten feet of him the beast feels something grab onto its head and pull it to the right, changing its direction completely. Clive grits his teeth as he manifests that same talon Benedikta had used to grab him in their fight, pulling to the left and taking the Minotaur for a ride. With a mighty war cry he releases his hold, the minotaur stumbling and crashing into the dirt.

"Now…lets see if I can do what she did and pull you to me!" he tries to mirror what Benedikta did, talon grasping the minotaur's body easily enough. "Perfect…now, come to…whoa!"

Clive's shout of surprise got a laugh out of Cid as Clive was pulled towards the beast, that he tried to pull to himself. As his body smacked into the downed beasts form Clive reflexively shifts into the air avoiding a strike from the minotaur. He brings up his blade, attempting to ignite it as he comes back down with a slash of his own. The minotaur gives a final bellow before it topples over, a huge gash across its chest, far larger than his Burning Blade ever caused before.

"Well done, Clive!" Cid calls, clapping "Impressive show, loved the way your body smacked into the poor brute. Seems you have a decent grasp on Garuda's talents…though I'm still not sure why you even have them in the first place."

"Yes well…I had wanted to just burn the beast, not rip him open like that."

"Might be because you channeled wind into your sword instead of fire," Cid points at the blade, a small aero spell in effect "A little more practice should see you mastering it like you did the Phoenix's abilities."

"Mastered? Hardly, the basics I mastered, but for the more advanced techniques…I need that book back."

"Book?"

Clive sheathes his sword, magic dissipating "Forget it, not important right now. We should be getting back to the hideaway."

"Right you are, but we will be talking about that book of yours." Cid smirks as he passes him by, followed closely by Torgal. "Now…which way is home? Wouldn't want to run into Benna again…perhaps looping around? Hmm…what do you think Clive? Clive?" Cid turns, eyes widening as he sees his companion clutching at his head, writhing on the ground "Clive!"

Clive for his part did his best not to scream. The pain in his head was great, greater than it had ever been before. A scream tore through his throat, back arching as he felt his head ready to split in two. He could see things…strange things. He saw the Phoenix in flight once more, scenes of a battle he himself never witnessed. He could see a man, flames erupting from his shoulders. But as Cid tried to sit him up, there was only one thing Clive saw. His arm slowly rising, shakily pointing forward as his eyes went wide. "I-it's…him!"

Cid was confused at first but as he turned his head and saw the man in a brown cloak just down the path from them…suddenly Clive's story about what happened at Phoenix Gate was starting to make more sense. "Alright, I don't know who you are or why you are here but if you don't leave right now…" he let the lightning engulf his body "I will put you down!"

The man seemed to regard Cid carefully before turning his gaze towards Clive, his headache now ceasing, "You are still not ready. Yet you are close enough for this."

"Y-you said…there was s-something coming," Clive winces, still not fully recovered just yet "That I w-wasn't strong enough y-yet."

"The vessel is strong enough, but you are not. Soon you shall be, and we can begin."

Cid raises his blade, eyes narrowed on the man "How about this then? You start telling us who you are, and I don't run you through right here!"

The man turned his attention to Cid. In what Clive could only describe as a bored tone he says "The Father should know when he is not needed. Seen but never heard, lest he be struck down without a second thought."

"The Father?" Cid chuckles "Haven't been called father in years, just my girls call me that when they were younger. And you? You are not my girls!"

Cid made to attack the man, raising his sword high for the swing. Clive watched him be flung into a tree with a simple wave of the stranger's hand. "Hear me my champion. Go to the Apodytery at Phoenix Gate. Deep within I can show you everything you need to know. Time is still on our side, but it will not last forever."

Clive slowly stands, glaring at the man "Why should I trust you? You were there at Phoenix Gate…after I saw you…everything fell apart. Joshua lost control…that…that thing killed my brother! And it all began with you! So, tell me this, who are you, and what do you want from me?" The heat within flared to life with his every word, building up into an inferno just begging to be unleashed. The man almost seemed tense as he stared Clive down.

"I go by many names. Red God, the Heart of Fire, Lord of Light, and God of Flame and Shadow…but the name I went by before all of those is R'hllor. And you, Clive Rosfield, are my champion. The prince who was promised, Azor Ahai." Flames danced around the man, this R'hllor, as he spoke "Go to the Apodytery, my time here is over."

As Cid got to his feet, he watched the man burst into flames. The same way Clive would use the phoenix's powers to teleport around. "You alright lad?"

"Yeah…you?"

Cid rubs his head "Bit of a nasty hit, just glad there wasn't a fight…not sure we could win against him. Was he that other Dominant of Fire you told me about?"

"No…but he was there at Phoenix Gate. Which is also where he needs me to go, said he would tell me everything there in the Apodytery." Clive glances down to Torgal "Fancy a trip down memory lane boy?"

Torgal barks, standing prouder by Clive's side as his master ruffled his fur. Cid shook his head; things were starting to get interesting around here with Clive. Course he couldn't be lax with his own preparations. Being too relaxed leads to an early death on the battlefield and Cid would like to live to a ripe old age, no matter what his girls may say.

"Alright you two, lets get going before Tarja decides to confine us to the infirmary." Cid chuckles as Clive begins to move forward "And don't worry, I'm sure your girl is just fine too."

"Jill is not my girl!" Clive growls at the man as he holds his hands up in a placating gesture.

"Alright, alright, but I never did give a name."

Clive frowns as they walk. Some things it seemed would never change.

Benedikta glanced at he hands as she and her surviving men marched for Waloed. They would be walking till they reached the coast, taking a ship back to Ash and avoiding the Crystalline Dominion and its hospitality completely. Even still, the journey would be long, and hazards always existed in the wild. "But what was that back there? Like my power was being taken and yet…it's all here?"

"My lady," Gerulf speaks up from ahead "We should be a safe distance from any Imperial patrols. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Gerulf," she says dismissively "Just…a lot on my mind. That Branded…he shouldn't have the blessing of the Phoenix…that would mean that he was…"

"Clive Rosfield, my lady. He's just as the reports said he would be, but I do not think that he will bend the knee to our liege. I think he might just become an obstacle."

Benedikta furrows her brow in thought. Clive Rosfield? That was a name that many years ago had been on everyone's mind. The youngest knight in Rosaria, blessed by the Phoenix, and the eldest son of the Archduke Elwin Rosfield. He had been a danger to every kingdom that heard of him. What would he be like were he to grow up? If he were to be a full-fledged and experienced knight for Rosaria…no kingdom would stand up to him. As it was, short of priming, even a Dominant would be hard pressed to fight him.

"You are just full of surprises, aren't you Clive?" she muses with a laugh.

"To arms!"

Benedikta's eyes narrow as the call goes out. Her men draw their weapons as the sounds of battle up ahead catch their attention. Gerulf glares off to the left as bandits come out of the trees, engaging them at all sides. "For the king! Kill them all!"

"With pleasure," Benedikta smiles, wind kicking up around her as she goes to work ripping through the bandits with her talons. The poor souls didn't stand a chance as the Warden of the Wind struck them down. Some were pinned to trees rather violently; others were ripped limb from limb. Benedikta did not care how she took care of them. She just wanted them to die. Amid this surprise attack and the slaughter that followed she caught sight of something peculiar on the field. A man in a brown cloak, watching her specifically as she fought the bandits off.

As the last bandit fell, Gerulf pulling his blade free of his body, there was an eerie calm over the woods. No beast, no bandit, no sound whatsoever from anything that might try to kill them. He would almost say it was a perfect respite from all the fighting they had done in the last few days.

"Gerulf!"

"Yes, my lady?"

Benedikta sheaths her sword, slowly approaching her trusted right-hand man "When we return to Waloed and I inform his majesty of what has happened…I want you to gather up all the reports you can find, every scrap of information that we have on this second Eikon of Fire and Clive Rosfield."

"It will be done my lady, soon as we return."

"Good…this day just keeps getting more and more interesting."

AN: So, there we are, my great catfish of a chapter title. Admit it, you all thought it would be Ifrit that was the Fire God. So yeah…no Garuda vs Clive or even Ifrit in this chapter. Reason: I have bigger plans for the first official Eikon vs Eikon fight. As for Cid vs Benedikta in the previous chapter, hopefully the hints are subtle enough without outright saying it that you all know what's happening there…otherwise, this will be fun. And a roadmap for you all…we only have 2 chapters left until we get to the meatier portions of the story…so good luck, because while the guideline might exist I have not a clue as of this moment how the chapters will go, hope you don't mind the wait. I can say this, chapters will likely be posted when completed and read through for errors; while that happens errors can still exist as I am only human, so if you see something, do let me know so i can go back and fix it? And I almost forgot...the reviews...which are a bit odder this time around.

dragon slayer of death 98: I will absolutely not be doing that last part. Nope. Not that cruel. As for the first two parts... I won't spoil it, but that second part...well, hopefully what was revealed this chapter will give you some hope for that to happen because there will be a lot of those in the future.

Jebest4781: ...well you sir are only the second one to actually shock me with a review, and that was more for the name and not the content. All I know for fact is you like this story...and that is it. I dont have a clue about what details you like or dont like and frankly...I find the mystery of that both interesting and infuriating. Well played sir, well played. Hopefully the rest of the plan is something you will like.