Tangerine Dream - Tangram (Set 2)

The Lost Years, Part Five (Finale)

...

…While the turmoil spread into Klaire and Kilde, and victory was decided by the men and women who followed Siegfried and Frigg, the unexpected happened.

From the distance of that afternoon , when the sun was about to settle down and everyone was preparing to celebrate the end of the battle, Red Masks burning each of the their infected clothes, Kain saw the entirety of Bulu and its inhabitants went away into the colossal mouth of the beast called Atomos, in possession of Necro, whose void absorbs its victims to a place no one knows where it leads, presumably the afterworld.

It lasted less than a minute, but a second was enough for Kain to fall in despair. Off all things done for the sake of his people, who faded away from the material world in an instant, whose time lugged longer as the attempt of a shout failed, to later be drained into the tears of a desperate soul as Kain.

The sky became from the orange who once emanated into each of the candles the Bulus carried over as the ties on their tails, the same Kain still possessed, until that moment, when red as the blood were painted over its entirety.

Siegfried, like many of the others, had no words left to say, the same for the Red Masks who were strangled by such feelings they felt, a remnant of their past scattered long ago. Frigg knew of such, and even went for such kind, alike Gizamaluk, who tried his best to comfort the one he called by father since that fateful day, when they meet each one another on that same fountain belonging to Kilde, spouting of the water that boy, only his, once looked through it, and now, he sees himself flowing as the tears of Kain. His father, the same one who gave him a value, a reason to live for years, now felt worthless in minutes.

Frigg watched over Kain, in contempt for the one who caused it. It was all my fault, she said with such affirmation. Had I been attentive to the words of Necro, his plan, his frustration, his power, his insanity... this wouldn't happen. Frigg pretended she could blame herself, to redirect the pain felt by Kain into her, on the way similar to how her son felt after that day, ill in a cage, surrounded by the cells of Klaire and Frigg's given orders.

To staunch the bleeding one by allowing herself to be the one who's bleeding most; did Frigg feel better, or worse? It didn't matter. Has Gareth felt the same way since that day, before he left her alone as at the beginning of that life she was forced to live into the Mist?... That's when Frigg pointed to Kain her finger to the Mist, and said to him that there were still people, his and her people, whom he needed to guide into this land Bahamut promised.

Anything was better than nothing, and it was time for the Vastitas to stop seeking the destruction, the nothing, over the order, a peace for each of their minds led this way. That's what Frigg thought, and maybe Kain. Sitting still on his own, even with Siegfried, Gizamaluke and Frigg on his side, Kain stood quiet, and still focused.

That was just a battle, he thought, but the war hadn't settled the score of the winner yet. But, as many of the battles fought, the price had a cost, a weight to bear. Could he bear such weight? Yes, but the aftertaste remained, no matter the time, or the erasure of such an event by history. And Kain was tired, exhausted of the days spent beyond the doors of Yashar, below the Mist, over the nearest mountains, befriending new people... it was such a journey that lasted, Kain agreed. But it was yet to be over.

Survivors. The world rang on all ears.

Berkana, the priestess of Kilde, came running, alongside a group of Black Masks to the cracked vestiges of what were once the doors of Klaire. Alongside her and the Black Masks, came a boy, whom Siegfried recognized. It was Baldwin, his younger brother, who seemed rather scared, yet with a look of serenity in his eyes.

With his clothes ripped and marks of minor injuries left by sharp objects hanged on by a body almost covered in by tons of black charcoal and gray ashes, Baldwin narrated to Siegfried of the events which happened before Atomos went to Bulu. Archibald, their father, went to Bulu before that beast came to destroy, as he kept his brother to take care of their family, who went away from there by a presentiment of misfortune felt by the same one who decided to return to Bulu. Unlike father, Baldwin fell for another prognostic, who told him to return to the same place as his father once was.

Was... Siegfried heard such words, and said nothing, because he already knew what happened. On his own, Baldwin went to Bulu, and could not find his father, or part of what once was Bulu. Archibald, as Ekkehard, fought until the end, the iminent one. Without a father, the one who had remained of the family were Siegfried and Baldwin. Two went away into distance, and only one was left, as many of the people who were alive.

As a Highwind, it was Baldwin's task to to keep on the continuity of the last member of the family, who secured the remaining lives for the sake of his own. As a Highwind, even young, he never awaited to stand still while everything went moving. Thus, Siegfried understood briefly from infancy, and after these days he planned the rebellion and made new friends, that matter became well understood.

When told of the situation of the ones Baldwin saved, confidence filled in Kain once again, but he already overwrought himself too much. Even knowing the aftermath of the lives of Bulu, he couldn't think of anyone else, besides the one who he thought to be lost forever. Many of his neighbors were there, but she wasn't. Then, from the inside of the crowd, a voice of a familiar traveled into the barrier of shouts.

Kain recognized this in an instant. From there, came Lucrecia, his first love, holding their son, Nate. The reunion brought tears into Kain's eyes, who thought the worst happened to his wife and son. Fortunately, they were alive, and both were filled in by many stories to tell.

From the day Kain went away to fulfill Bahamut's wish and onwards, Nate learned of many things, as Lucrecia told. He learned to slowly see the world on his own, as his eyes bare of the sunlight in a few steps he was also still learning to do. Even without Kain, Nate was there for his mother, and Lucrecia was there for her son.

Days passed, and that infant learned more of the world, and other feelings. He spend his days on a happier mood, but when night came, Nate cried to be given a cuddle. When that baby opened his eyes on a morning, he saw another side of such world he lived with mother. Still young to understand, but able to see he was, and still he would be. Kain looked at Nate, who looked back at father, and said to him that they would, one day, see a new world, given by Bahamut as that same child were given in to his. Children, because Gizamaluke would never be forgotten by Kain since that day.

With the support of both Black Masks and Red Masks allied with them, Kain and the party planned to take down Necro, but before they could infiltrate his castle, destroy each poppy seeds or find his life were the main objective. Without the 'Drive', there would be no power for the infantry, and without his life, Necro was nothing more than a corpse hanging on a throne.

Kain decided to stay with Lucrecia to take care of the ones who survived at Klaire and Kilde, while Frigg and Siegfried would find out where Necro kept his life. They had no hints, until Berkana told them his life was hidden underneath the sea of Leviathan. Berkana knew about Necro's life because they were once acquaintances. What Berkana felt for Necro lasted a long time ago, as told by the vivid colors shown by the Priestess, unlike the pale of the one who stood with the Mist, the one who refused to accept his destiny, and to have a trust unreachable by anyone.

Siegfried decided to not go with Frigg, because he had a matter to do. Like Kain and his family, he decided to stay at Klaire and Kilde, to treat the wounds belonging to the ones he injured, some injured by the tip of his weapon, and others injured by the fault of his when they needed him most. Instead of going in search of Necro's life, Siegfried went in search of what his life meant.

To harm others, he compared himself to Necro, but unlike his, he felt compassion for those whom his blade harmed, victims of the oppression of Necro and the ideals carried with their later Kings and Emperors. The Vastitas were no more his enemies, only Necro, the one who indirectly had done the killing of Ekkehard, his father, and his people, the people of Bulu and the new people who the Vastitas pretended to change into.

In support of the cause, Siegfried gave to Frigg his Chocobo, and to Baldwin, who followed her as Gizamaluke, the Durandal, his sword, were given in. As told by Kain, that sword had something to do with taking Necro's life to an end, presumably he hid it underneath a rock. Only the sword of the Highwind, the one passed down to father to son to brother, would tell. As Frigg, Gizamaluk and Baldwin went away to the sea over Chocobo, the Black and Red Masks went into the Mist.

Within that day and the tomorrow, gone were the main plantations of the drug and the Vastitas who left, in such ways. Those who defended the same were either convinced by the words of change; the stubborn ones rather fought the ones who once fought alongside them, and the ones remaining of the aftermath were few who allied with the enemy, now seen as the victorious ones. In result, with the gathering of forces, as the 6 Demiurges felt in misery, only one remained, and it was the King of all of them.

From the moment The Red and Black Masks stepped into Grignard. Frigg, Gizamaluk and Baldwin went to the nearest shoreline. Frigg called upon Leviathan, the God who ruled over the waters below the sky of Bahamut, and demanded of the God's will to open a hollow field filled with air into his domain.

At first, Leviathan, who appeared physically as a colossal sea serpent, refused to do what the lady told to his, but after listening to her words about the life of Necro being hid below his sea, Leviathan obeyed, as he immersed into his watery land to allow a hollow to be made and sustained by his coiled tail. Frigg and those who followed her came walking across the lands once covered by the blue of the salt sea, searching for that rock where Necro kept the candle of his life. Near that space filled in by the atmosphere, lies the place where Hades forged its weapons.

Hades, the one who gave the power of every weapon Necro took from him, and used on his own sake... wasn't Hades the one responsible for all the problems kept along these years before and when Necro came? Thought Frigg, but that wasn't the time. Now, the only power they needed at such a moment was the one belonging to the Highwinds for generations.

When the suspicious stone was found, Baldwin took the Durandal out of its sheath, and as its tip shined when urged by his both arms, he let it fall above that rock. It would be all over for Necro, if it wasn't for the way he found to secure even more his life, the tip, as the entirety of the blade carried by the Highwind, would not be broken. The Durandal could break the stone, but not the egg found inside.

As Necro felt his life in danger from his palace at Grignard, more of his followers came to fight and put an end to what he thought to be another uprising against his. Meanwhile, with the Durandal gone, what were Frigg, Gizamaluke and Baldwin supposed to do? There were no time for thinking, only action. On the way they followed into the narrow corridor made by Leviathan, they decided to go into Hades hideout, to seek for a weapon capable of breaking such an egg, whom Gizamaluke holded.

The candle still inside the egg illuminated their way into the underground grotto, where the weapon synthesizer lied within. Hades grated their presence, meaning only a few ones could gather in that place, or even know about it, but before those people could became his clients, Hades fought against them. After a merciless and what seemed to be another meaningless conflict, Frigg won against Hades, and became another of his clients.

When asked by the forger, all Frigg needed was a weapon able to break the last seal, the shell of the egg harder than any rock of Gaia, so she could take away the life of Necro, one of the other few of the clients of Hades who attained that same location. Hades confessed to Frigg that he, as her, shared the same hatred against Necro, but no matter the hatred towards that person, he was still his client. The decisions taken by his clients implied certain consequences that were meant to be taken by his clients and only. He never planned to kill one of his clients, but instead, Hades led others to do what they were meant to do.

Another client of his or anyone that's the 'other' of Hades could kill one of the clients, such as Necro, and resolve of this matter at once, being the only way Hades could interfere is by following what he was supposed to do, to forge weapons by synthesize items, such as gemstones, other weapons, pieces of cloth or something that has a value, personal or universal, and give it on the hands of his client and led him do whatever he's supposed to do, anything or nothing.

Frigg agreed about the implications of the use of such weapon, and considered that each action is tied into a certain consequence. In fact, she was the consequence born of the implication; the means they used against her and many to become Vastitas justified such an act. Once again, Frigg looked at her scarf, and thought of what lies beneath it.

A chill on the spine could be felt, it was natural to be felt. To reach such desired end for the pain of the childhood that still persisted over that tighten neck, Frigg was the only there to do what were meant to be done, for the sake of many who fought alongside her and many who are still fighting over distance. When Frigg showed Hades the Gungnir,

Hades recognized such weapon in an instant. It was him who forged the same Gungnir Frigg holded, and Gareth used to. Hades asked to the one who holded of the spear if the power came from such weapon, which Frigg answered a single not. Frigg knew since Gareth's true power lied not only on the Gungnir, but instead on a thing Frigg never had the will to attain, a thing she had , even if by a little, that someday would reach its plenty : a heart.

Without Gareth's power, Hades would do nothing to improve the Gungnir. For him, according to Frigg, his power died within him, and Hades needed such power to forge that weapon so it would be able to break the egg where the candle of Necro persisted. It was then that Frigg realized Gareth's power still lied on another self, she could feel it. That same power lay within that boy of hers, Gizamaluke, who claimed to his mother that he wasn't worthy enough.

He tried to end his own life two times, and even if he had his father's power, it wasn't able to suffice in a satisfactory way. Frigg came near her son and told him that no one was pure. Each one is made of failures, weaknesses, but as one. Frigg cut a strand of Gizamaluk's hair, as she had done with her own, and said that as long as they stood together, like the hair of both, everything would went well.

Gizamaluke saw Frigg in the eyes of Kain, and agreed on what she said. The one who saved him that day, Kain, wasn't perfect either. No one was meant to be. By being imperfect, by having problems, those things would not seem to disappear and become unnoticed, if it wasn't for the other. Codependency is something contrary to coexistence. If you exist, then another does, for the sake of taking away your problems by sharing their ones, same as yours or not.

The Vastitas kept their problems to never be resolved, the turmoil buried into their souls trembled into days, months, years, centuries. The way found for such turmoil to be released was to spread such into new life. Frigg never wanted her inner turmoil to fall like a landslide into her son, the son of Gareth, the true new life hard to be found in the domain of the Vastitas. Instead, Frigg wanted something other than violence to be shared and assimilated into her son, something that could only be found in another place.

This another place, the place Gareth belonged, Kain belonged, and where Frigg wished herself and her people to belong... was near. By combining both her and the son's hair to be synthetized with the Gungnir, Hades forged of a weapon that carried on the power of Gareth, his trust for Frigg, who trusted in Gizamaluke's life since the day he was born, and thus he created the first Dragon's Hair.

Told to be the 'divider of Heaven', the spear known as the Dragon's Hair was the last hope to be found for Frigg, Gizamaluk, and those who went alongside her way. Carrying of such spear, Frigg and those who followed her all the way into the lands of the sea and Hades, went outside of its grotto, and before the sea sustained by Leviathan could swallow themselves, the Dragon's Hair, holded together by Frigg, her son and Baldwin, whose sword would never come back, but his will as Highwind was still there within him, broke the egg released into thin air, and blew the candle.

The life of Necro... was over.

Some say that, when the war of Grignard was over, and Necro felt to never walk again, the soldiers of Necro tied his legs with the ones belonging to Siegfried Chocobo's, who ran in circles around the destroyed palace, dragging the body of the deceased King of Vastitas, the last one. The remaining people who were still at Grignard followed and fled from the ruins to go along the ones who won against Necro. Those ones needed to follow someone, to live somewhere, and there was only a place to go.

Days passed, and a village was found by Kain, the new leader dicted by his people, and his allies, who lived on the houses built below the clouds of the wetlands blessed by Bahamut with the eternal rain, a sign of no more wars against his own people. In homage to his wife, Kain named his newfound kingdom with her name.

And so, this land became The Kingdom of Lucrecia, whose name became Bulumecia after Kain's demise, later renamed as Burmecia, after the spelling reform came in Year 1100, and since them, Kain's descendants and those who follow of his way of world ruled over this land for centuries...

...

— ...And that's all, my Prince.

— ...

— ...My Prince?...

— ...zzz...ZZZ...zzz...

— ...Very well. Have a good night, Gabriel.

— ...Good night, Sig... zzz...zzzzz…