A/N: And here we have the conclusion of the Tower of Zot.

Empress of Winds

Sora: Those Magus Sisters sure sound like they were a real pain to fight.

Sasuke: That's putting it mildly.

Kyo: Those Epopts must've had a lot of faith in Cecil to just let him take the Earth Crystal without question, despite being fully aware of the dangers of it falling into the wrong hands.

Yurisa: Yeah... One might even call such blind faith foolish.

Sasuke: People of faith tend to believe that the gods work in mysterious ways. As such they're inclined to hope and pray that no matter what happens, it'll all work out okay in the end. Sometimes believing is all one can do in such trying times.

Kairi: You said that the tower had hints of technology far more advanced than anything else you had seen on that world so far. I wonder where it came from.

Sasuke: I would find that out later.

We continued up the Tower of Zot until we came upon a doorway with two familiar figures: Golbez and Kain.

"You made it past the Magus Sisters," said Golbez. "Most impressive."

"Golbez," Tellah spoke with venom.

"Where's Rosa!?" Cecil demanded.

"The crystal first," the armored warlock said coldly as he held out his hand.

The paladin held the Earth Crystal in his hand hesitantly. "Is she safe?"

"Never more so, unless you refuse. Now, hand over the crystal!" Our adversary's tone made it clear that he had no patience for stalling.

Cecil shook nervously before approaching Golbez, slowly placing the crystal in his hand. The towering man stared at the gem for a moment before our leader said, "As promised. Release Rosa!"

Golbez then turned his back and walked a few paces away. "Rosa? Whomever could that be?" he said in a very smug tone.

The paladin flinched. "What!?" He then drew his sword. "You gave us your word." He leapt to attack.

However, Kain twirled his lance, creating a gust that blew Cecil back at us. "So sorry, Cecil. But Rosa is all mine now."

Cid stomped the floor in a tantrum. "That dirty rotten cheat played us for fools!

Tellah then growled as he approached Golbez himself. "Your words are as twisted as your soul!"

The warlock turned to the sage. "What's this? A fossil of a wizard? I have no business with you, old man."

"Oh, but I have some with you! The business of the father of a murdered daughter!" Tellah then raised his arms high before suddenly a magic barrier wall emerged between him and our party, leaving just Golbez and Kain on his side of the wall.

Realizing quickly what was going on, I pounded on the barrier shouting, "Tellah! Are you out of your mind!?"

"I told you: Golbez must die by my hand!" That stubborn old fool.

Golbez just scoffed in annoyance. "Feeble old man! What can you hope to do to me?"

"We'll see who's feeble! Firaga!" The sage unleashed a fusillade of fireballs at his target. However as soon as they closed in, the warlock waved his darkness coated hand and the flames dissipated. Tellah growled in frustration before casting his next spell. "Blizzaga!" He unleashed a flurry of ice shards, only for Golbez to whip his cape, creating a strong wind that blew away the ice. "Thundaga!" He then called a rain of lightning bolts, only for the enemy to raise his arm, generate dark electricity in his hand, and catch the bolts like they were nothing. Man! Either Tellah's spells had weakened with his age, or Golbez was just that powerful... maybe a little bit of both?

"Hmph... Are you finished?" Golbez said coldly, clearly not seeing the sage as a threat.

Tellah took a deep breath. "Looks like the time has come at last... for my ultimate spell." It didn't take a genius to figure out what he was referring to.

"What do you think yer doing?" asked Cid.

"No, Tellah! You mustn't!" shouted Cecil.

"Don't be stupid!" I yelled.

"You'll be the one it destroys!" said Yang.

"So be it!" Tellah shouted defiantly. "Let my life fuel the spell that ends his!" He then seemed to gather all the magic he had.

Golbez crossed his arms. "What kind of farce is this?"

"METEOR!"

"WHAT!"

With that, a black hole appeared above them and a hail of burning rocks fell out and came crashing down onto the warlock and the area around him. Explosions created a dust cloud, obscuring both Golbez and Kain from our view. I looked to Tellah, I saw him standing almost perfectly still... before he collapsed on the floor, completely motionless.

"Tellah!" we all shouted as the sage's magic wall disintegrated.

"Im...possible!" A chill ran down my spine as I heard Golbez's voice. After that meteor shower, he's still alive? I looked at his direction as the dust cleared. He was still standing, albeit a bit hunched over, and his right hand was holding his left side as if in pain. I also noticed that much of his deep blue armor was cracked with tiny bits broken off, and much of his cape was singed. So clearly that spell did some damage to him. "You...How could a decrepit fossil like you cast Meteor?" Well, good to know he was caught off guard for once. "Hmph... Still I can sense your life force fading fast. How foolish of you to use a spell your brittle old body clearly couldn't handle." He then grunted in pain as he put the crystal in what was left of his cape. "Regardless, the Earth Crystal is mine. Come, Kain."

We turned to the dragoon to see that he had fallen flat on the floor. Did he get hit by the spell too? Or did something else happen? I then noticed a dark mist shrouding him for a moment before it just seemed to...pop off of him and dissipate. "Sc... Screw...you...Golbez..." Well that was unexpected.

"Hmph! So the old man's interference severed my hold over you. No matter. Your purpose is served." The warlock turned to the door. "Do not think this affront will be forgiven."

Cecil brandished his sword and shield. "You'll not escape this time, Golbez!" He charged at the fiend.

"You try my patience! Cosmic Ray!" Golbez turned back to us and blasted the paladin with an intense stream of dark electricity. It hit him so hard that his sword and shield flew right out of his hands before he was sent crashing into the wall.

"Sir Cecil!" I shouted as I saw the warlock approaching him. I charged at Golbez with Yang and Cid following suit.

"Stay out of my way!" Golbez shouted with agitation, no doubt from his pain, before blasting us away with darkness.

I struggled to get up as I saw the fiend tower over Cecil with darkness coating his hand, ready to strike. But then suddenly Golbez let out a gasp as the darkness ceased and the man took a few steps back. "Y-you..."

Cecil looked at him with confusion. "Why? Why don't you finish me? Why now stay your hand?

I could swear I saw Golbez trembling for a moment. "You're... But...how?" I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at his sudden mood shift. He looked and sounded like he had just recognized Cecil from somewhere. Yes they met back in Fabul but to be fair Cecil was wearing his dark knight helmet at the time. Still, it was very strange that he seemed awfully surprised to see him all of a sudden after getting a closer look at him. Did he know Cecil? The paladin didn't seem to know him if his puzzled expression was any indication. The warlock then grabbed his head in pain as I saw his dark aura flare up for a moment. "We will finish this...another time." With that he took his leave.

As I got up, I noticed Cecil's Mythgraven Blade lying next to me, so I picked it up and walked over to him. Likewise, Yang approached him with his shield in hand. "You all right?" the monk asked as he pulled the paladin to his feet before handing him his shield, while I handed him his sword.

"I'm fine," our leader answered. "But Tellah..."

We looked over to the downed sage, where Cid had turned the old man over onto his back. We all gathered around Tellah as he let out a cough followed by a sorrowful laugh. "Thinking I could best him myself... What kind of fool was I?"

"You shouldn't talk," said Cid.

"I brought this...on myself. Letting hate consume me so..." The wizard then looked to me. "In the end...all I did was...throw my life away. Sorry...Sasuke...for not listening. Please...avenge...Anna! But don't...become...like me!" And just like that... Tellah closed his eyes and went completely limp.

"Tellah!" we all shouted startled.

Cid then began shaking him. "Come on! Open your eyes, you old fool!" But there was no response.

Yang looked down. "It's no use...his life aura is gone." He then put his hands together in prayer. "Oh Tellah... May you finally find peace in the next life."

The engineer stopped shaking and set the sage down. "Rest then... with that daughter of yours."

Once again, I was hit by the loss of another ally. It was just as painful as the others. But... I couldn't allow myself to spiral into depression again. "Your death won't be in vain. I don't approve of the stunt you just pulled, but you managed to do more damage to Golbez than anyone else. If nothing else, you proved to us that as powerful as he is, he's not invincible. We can beat him. Take solace in that, old man."

"Tellah..." said Cecil. "We will avenge your death and Anna's. I swear it." We then heard a groan from Kain, we turned to see the dragoon had managed to get up on one knee, holding his head disoriented. Cecil ran up to his best friend. "Kain! Are you alright?"

Kain looked at the paladin in the eye for a moment before answering "Cecil... What have I done?"

Cecil shook his head. "Golbez held sway over your mind. None of it was your doing."

The dragoon looked down in shame. "But...I was conscious of everything. Yet all I did was watch. Rosa, she...I..."

Cecil's eyes widened at that reminder. "Rosa! Where is she!?"

Kain let out a frightened gasp. "Above! Quickly, we have no time!" The urgency in his tone told me that something bad was about to happen. He wasted no time bolting for the next doorway and we quickly followed him.

We ran up a long flight of stairs until we reached a large chamber. On the far end we saw Rosa chained to a contraption with a large blade positioned above her threatening to drop onto her like a guillotine. The white mage herself was looking up at the blade with terror.

"Rosa!" Cecil shouted.

The woman looked to us. "Cecil! Hurry! This contraption is shaking!" That didn't sound good. That told us that the blade was gonna drop any second. We all picked up the pace.

Kain let Cecil run in front of him before he twirled his lance again. "Cecil, jump!" The paladin did as instructed as the dragoon unleashed a gust of wind hard enough to blow him right up to Rosa. Cecil then cut her chains and pulled her away...a split second before the guillotine dropped. That was TOO close!

Everyone stopped in their tracks in relief, as we all took a moment to catch our breaths. The winded paladin soon turned to the shaken white mage. "Rosa... Are you alright?"

"I'm okay... They didn't hurt me or anything... That was scary though."

"I'm just glad you're safe now."

It took a moment for Rosa to settle down, but she soon looked to Cecil with grateful eyes. "I knew you'd come for me. When I heard you had become a paladin, I just knew things were gonna be alright."

Cecil put his fist up to his heart. "Rosa I... I realized the moment you were taken from me... I...don't ever want to lose you again. Rosa, I..." He seemed hesitant at first, but soon gathered enough courage. "I love you." And there it was. He finally confessed his feelings for Rosa. He told me once that she had confessed her feelings to him before, but he never gave her a proper answer due to fearing his darkness hurting her. I suppose since he's a paladin now, he has no reason to fear that now. Even still, it looks like he did think about what I said to him after all. It may seem like a strange time to confess now, but can you blame him? The woman he loved was just a split second away from getting her head chopped off. Circumstances like that can remind someone that life is short, and sometimes it's best to just let your feelings be known while you have the chance, otherwise you'll live or die with regrets. And hey, I heard that Master Kaname confessed his feelings for Lady Rimi during a castle invasion.

Rosa stared at the man she loved with awe. I couldn't blame her. She had confessed to him who knows how long ago and finally he gave her his answer, and a positive one no less. She then smiled lovingly as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. "Oh, Cecil..." She then threw herself into his arms as the two shared a tender kiss.(1)

I couldn't help but smile at the now official couple, once again reminding me of my master and his wife. I also remembered hearing about how my father rescued my mother before proposing to her. All in all, I was happy for them. "Well it's about time. Boy, Rydia would've loved to see this."

"Indeed," Yang agreed.

"Goodness gracious!" Cid exclaimed playfully. "Things are certainly heating up in here!" I then saw him walking towards a bow, a quiver of arrows, and a staff that were lying on the floor, Rosa's equipment I presumed.

I looked over at Kain, who was looking away from the couple. He had taken his helmet off, showcasing his long blonde hair, and I could see the dejected look on his face. If what Dark Cecil said was true, that Kain also harbors feelings for Rosa, I could imagine this was probably quite painful for him.

The couple broke off before the white mage spoke up again. "By the way, I'm proud of you for becoming a paladin. You finally found a path that truly suits you."

Cecil chuckled as he blushed. "Well, I have to admit, I did it for you. I know how much you worried about me following the path of the dark knight, how I was hurting myself using the power of darkness. I also worried about my darkness hurting you. And as much as I wanted to be like King Jared, the real one that is, lately that path was starting to feel wrong to me. But most importantly, I knew I couldn't fight Golbez with darkness. If I were to have any chance of rescuing you, I needed a new power. So when the opportunity to become a paladin came up, I took it. I'd do anything to keep you safe."

"My knight in shining armor!" Rosa teased before she turned to us. "Sasuke, Yang, it's good to see you both okay too."

"As we are relieved to see you well, Rosa," replied Yang.

I scratched the back of my head. "Hey, uh, I don't know if you caught what was said about me back in Fabul but..."

The white mage held a hand to stop me. "I know you're from another world. And don't worry, I understand why you didn't say anything about it before. There's no need to apologize."

She then turned to the engineer. "Cid! It's great to see you again!"

"No kidding!" Cid exclaimed as he handed her equipment. "Do you have any idea how worried sick you and Cecil made old Uncle Cid!?"

We all shared a laugh, until Rosa finally noticed the dragoon and she flinched as she clutched Cecil's arm. "K-Kain!?"

Cecil held her reassuringly. "It's alright. He is himself again. No more does he work for Golbez."

Kain shook his head, refusing to look Rosa in the eye. "Forgive me, Rosa. Not all of what I did was because of Golbez's spell. I just wanted to keep you...to keep you by my side...forever... "

Rosa sighed. "Kain..."

"Furthermore, my feelings of jealousy and rivalry towards Cecil...were far stronger than I like to admit. Golbez's dark power merely amplified those feelings, overpowering my friendship. In the end...I was weak...because of my own selfishness... Rosa, Cecil... Please accept my apologies."

There was a tense silence in the room for a while, which was understandable. Cecil and Rosa looked apprehensive, which made sense, they were childhood friends of Kain, yet he sided with an evil warlock. Yes the dragoon was under Golbez's spell, but he just admitted that part of it was his own selfish desires. Betrayal was not an easy thing to get over, no matter what the circumstances.

Cid also looked like he had his own reservations about the dragoon. From what I heard, he had known the trio for a long time, being a sort of uncle figure to them. He disapproved of what his airships were being used for, and certainly was not happy that Kain played a part in that.

Yang just stood there with his hands together, waiting patiently. His literal first impression of Kain was as an enemy. The dragoon did take part in the invasion of Fabul, and was the one who injured High Master Long, and for all we know, might've struck down a few monks on his way to the Crystal Chamber. Yang had good reason to not trust Kain. But he was a wise and level-headed monk, who never struck me as the kind of man to hold a grudge. Plus it wasn't that long ago that he too was used by the kingdom Golbez took over when he was struck with amnesia and tricked into working for them, so he probably understood Kain's plight to a degree. Whatever the case, he probably believed that it wasn't his place to judge him, leaving that up to Cecil and Rosa who were personally affected the most by his actions.

As for me, I was pretty much an outsider to this drama. I didn't really know Kain at all, nor did he really do anything personal to me. I honestly didn't know how I should feel about the situation personally. I had first heard about Kain from Cecil as his best friend who went missing after Mist, then I met him in Fabul as an enemy who betrayed Cecil, and now it's confirmed that he was brainwashed by Golbez. Thanks to my master's teachings, I've come to put loyalty in very high regard, so long as said loyalty is well placed. The idea of traitors to a good cause really bothers me. But I also can't ignore it when a situation is more complicated than that. Is it right to judge a traitor if their betrayal wasn't entirely their fault? I suppose it depends on the circumstances. Part of me wanted to give the dragoon the benefit of the doubt, while another worried that if the darkness got to him once it could do it again. In the end, I decided that it wasn't my place to judge Kain either. And so I decided to trust Cecil's judgment...and Rosa's...whatever they chose.

Soon Rosa took a deep breath before approaching Kain. She placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "Why don't you join us in our fight?"

Finally Kain turned to Rosa in surprise, his indigo eyes meeting her turquoise. "Rosa.."

Then it was Cecil's turn to approach, and he held out his hand. "Kain... Let's go."

"Cecil..."

"You'll help us fight Golbez, won't you? We could use your help now more than ever."

The dragoon stood silently for a moment, looking at his two best friends in awe. Until finally he said, "Certainly," as he grabbed the paladin's hand in a pumped fashion. "Thank you, Cecil... and you, Rosa."

"How sickeningly sweet!" a sultry feminine voice suddenly echoed throughout the chamber. We instantly went on alert as an ominous wind blew around us. The voice let out laugh before speaking again. "It seems I underestimated you. I'd not have thought you strong enough to successfully climb my tower, defeat my Magus Sisters, and most surprisingly wound Lord Golbez! I commend you."

Kain growled angrily, "Come on out, Barbariccia, Archfiend of Wind!"

Soon the wind gathered in front of us forming a twister that looked just like the one that seemed to suck up the lingering souls of the Magus Sisters earlier. When the twister died down, we were greeted by what at first glance looked like a human woman, but we knew better. She was taller than the average human adult, like eight feet give or take. She had pale skin, her eyes had brown irises but yellow scleras, her nails were yellow and shaped like claws, and she had golden locks that were far longer than her own body. She wore a yellow-green outfit that...well let's just say left VERY little to the imagination and leave it at that. She clenched her teeth, showing her vampire-like fangs, as she glared at the dragoon. "Kain. So you've betrayed us."

"Betrayed you?" Kain put his helmet back on. "I've merely returned to my senses!

Barbariccia scoffed. "And with all that strength too...such a waste! I should've killed you and Rosa both when I first had the chance. Allow me to amend my past mistakes!"

The dragoon pointed his lance at her, as we all readied our weapons. "I welcome you to try. You're not the only one who can ride the wind, Barbariccia!"

"Oh! And you've grown arrogant as well, I see! But that old wizard is gone now and that Meteor with him. You don't stand against the Empress of Winds!" The archfiend then began levitating off the ground, as the winds started blowing around us.

Barbariccia opened by swinging her arms a few times, unleashing blades of wind. I had heard about this technique before, something my father had to combat, Razor Wind. The six of us scattered to avoid them. Cid was the first to charge in with his hammer and axe, only for that ridiculously long hair to wrap around his leg and throw him into a wall.

"Cyclone Sphere!" Kain twirled his lance and launched a ball of wind magic at her, only for it to be whacked away by her wrist.

"You dare use my own element against me?" The woman snarled before unleashing a strong gust to blow him away. Then one of Rosa's arrows grazed her outstretched arm. She glared at the white mage. "Oh, you're gonna get it now!" She then gathered energy into her claw-like nails before zipping towards her, only for Cecil to intercept the strike with his shield.

The paladin counterattacked with a Light Slash, which the archfiend avoided. But then she got a flying kick to the face courtesy of Yang. I finally chose to strike as I dashed to her ready to swing my sword at her, only for her hair to whip me away.

Cid then stepped beside me. "Alright lady!" He then pulled out another device, similar to what he used on the outskirts of Troia. "With how little you cover yourself, let's see how you take the cold!" He magnetically attached the device to his axe, pressed a button, and a frosty mist shrouded the blade.

"Please!" Barbariccia barked back. "I live high in the sky! You think I can't handle a little cold?"

Soon, the fight got into a pattern. Three of us attacked from up close: Cecil with his sword swings and shield bashes, Cid with his hammer and axe swings, and Kain with his lance trusts and swings. While the rest of us attacked from a distance: Me with my Sonic Waves, Yang with his Qigong Waves, and Rosa with her arrows and light magic. And Barbariccia fought back with her wind control, claw swipes, hair whips, and occasionally electric shocks. It was a wild fight.

Eventually, the archfiend unleashed a burst of wind that knocked most of us off our feet, only Kain and I managed to stand our ground. The dragoon then pulled his lance back as he gathered energy into it. "Wyrm Javelin!" He threw the spear with enough force to fly so fast that his target was barely able to avoid it, her cheek grazed...and cut a little bit of her hair off.

That seemed to set her off. "You'll pay for that one!" She then gathered a lot of wind magic into one hand. "Razor Gale!" She then unleashed a fusillade of Razor Winds at Kain.

Thinking fast, I used Flash Cover to jump in front of my ally, and absorbed all those wind blades with Moon Cutter. As I did so, I couldn't help but be reminded of a story a retired guard once told me, about how my father defeated the founder of the Insurgos. Well looks like I was gonna repeat history. As soon as the Gale stopped, I swung back at her. "Sonic Hurricane!" I unleashed a flurry of wind powered Sonic Waves.

While the attack did a lot of damage, she had used her wind control to cushion some of the blows. "Nice trick! But try this on for size! Devil Storm!" She then raised her electrically charged hands in the air, and a blanket of dark clouds formed above us and bolts of lightning started raining down on us.

I quickly raised Moon Cutter to attract and absorb any bolts that came my way. Rosa quickly cast a Shell spell on everyone to mitigate any damage we received from the lightning. Everyone else did their best to avoid the bolts, soon moving closer to me once they realized that my sword was attracting the lightning. Soon I felt like I was starting to absorb more than I could handle, but fortunately Rosa fired a holy charged arrow at the electric orb between the archfiend's still raised hands, causing it to explode above her and stopping the storm cold. I then followed up by releasing all that lightning I absorbed back at her.

Barbariccia growled at us before looking to Kain. "You know, Kain, it really is a shame that it has to be this way. I really did like you. A warrior of the air as strong as you would've made an excellent partner for an Empress of Winds like myself. But no! It was all about Rosa with you! A woman who never returned your feelings, only ever having eyes for your rival! Do you have any idea how frustrating that is?! You waste your attention on a lowly commoner when you could've had a real queen! When Lord Golbez accomplishes his mission, you and I could've ruled the sky together!"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you," said Kain. "But quite frankly... I never had the taste for harlots!"

"AGH! HOW DARE YOU! THAT'S IT! I'M GONNA TEAR YOU ALL TO SHREDS! HURRICANE VEIL!" The archfiend then started to spin as intense wind gathered around her, forming a tornado that covered almost her whole body, with only her head sticking out from the top of the funnel, her long golden locks colored the twister. Eventually she stopped spinning herself but the tornado kept going. She then moved to us with the twister, prompting us to scatter.

Cid then attempted to rush at her, only to get sucked into the vortex and sent crashing into a wall. Okay so getting up close is a bad idea. I tried launching Sonic Waves at her, but they all got dissipated by the hurricane wind. Cecil and Yang tried to fire Luminous Shards and Qigong Waves, but got the same results. And Rosa's arrows kept getting blown away. Great! What are we supposed to do now? I thought.

As the archfiend decided to chase Cecil, I noticed Cid looking at the storm intensely, as if analyzing the situation again, while Rosa was healing him. He then looked like a lightbulb turned on in his head before he gestured Kain over to him. My attention was then grabbed when it was Cecil's turn to be sent flying and it was my turn to be targeted by the twister. Whatever plan Cid was cooking up with Kain, I decided the least I could do was give them an opening for them to exploit. I stood my ground and held up Moon Cutter in defense, letting it absorb as much wind as it could as the tornado approached. I wasn't sure if this was going to work, it was a gamble. I could still feel the vacuum pull, but thankfully my sword's enchantment lessened it.

That's when I saw the dragoon leaping high above the archfiend. He did a few flips as he charged energy into the tip of his lance. "Wyvern Dive!" He thrust down and came down on her like a meteor. The impact caused the twister to explode into a burst of wind that blew me off my feet.

When the dust settled, we saw Barbariccia lying on her front on the floor...with Kain's lance impaled through her back. She trembled weakly and let out a cough. "Im...possible... H-how could you...get p-past my d-defense?"

"The funny thing about hurricanes is that their winds are most calm at the eye of the storm," answered the dragoon. "Your defense was almost perfect, but had one clear weak spot. All I had to do was attack you from directly above." This must have been what Cid realized earlier and relayed the plan to Kain. Soon, the rest of us, gathered around.

"T...Traitor... You may have b-bested me... but the l-last archfiend, Rubicante, still r-remains!" Her body then slowly disintegrated into gold dust that scattered in whatever wind was left in this chamber. For a moment, I felt relieved that it was over...until her voice rang out one last time. "Not that you will ever leave this tower alive to meet him!" Her haunting laughter echoed throughout the chamber as suddenly the tower began to shake. Soon the walls and ceiling began to crumble, even the advanced technology hidden under the stone seemed to be falling apart.

"The tower is collapsing!" Cecil exclaimed.

We turned to the exit, only for a massive hole to form on the floor around it, preventing us from walking out of here.

"She left us with no escape!" said Kain.

"We'll never make it to our ship!" shouted Cid.

I growled in frustration. "Why does every archfiend seem to have some post-death contingency?!" Seriously, first Scarmiglione comes back from the dead stronger, then Cagnazzo turns a corridor into a crushing death trap, and now Barbariccia is destroying her own flying fortress with us on it. What's next?

"What now?!" asked Yang.

"I have an idea!" Rosa exclaimed. "Everyone, gather around and hold hands!" We did as instructed. She then turned to the paladin. "Cecil, I need you to lend me as much of your power as you can for this to work!" With a nod, both closed their eyes and their bodies began to glow. I could just feel the power emanating from the couple. In fact, I could sense their power synchronizing with one another, similar to how Palom and Porom used Twincast. Soon Rosa opened her eyes and called out, "Teleport!"

We then found ourselves enveloped in a bright light. For a moment, I couldn't feel the ground beneath me. But when the light faded, we were no longer in the Tower of Zot, but in what looked like a bedroom.

We let go of each other as Cecil seemed to recognize the place. "Aren't We in...

Rosa nodded, "Your bedchamber, in Baron Castle." She then suddenly started to fall over, but Cecil was quick to catch her.

"Rosa! Are you alright?"

"I'm...fine... Teleporting us all here...from miles and miles away in the sky...just took a lot out of me. If you hadn't shared your power with me...I don't think we would have made it."

The paladin then laid her on his bed so she could rest. "How about you don't do that again then."

The white mage giggled weakly in response. "Well...it saved our lives... didn't it?"

"But couldn't you have teleported out of those chains at least?" I couldn't help but ask.

"They were enchanted...to block my magic."

"Oh... I see."

"Should be safe enough here now that the impostor's gone," Cid stated as he pulled out a device and started fiddling with it, it looked like some kind of old time remote controller.

"Cecil, there is something you must know." said Kain, "It's about the remaining crystals."

"Kain, we lost the Earth Crystal. Golbez holds all of them now."

The dragoon shook his head. "Not quite, he only holds four."

"Only four?" I inquired.

"You mean to...say there's more?" asked Rosa.

"Come to think of it, I've heard tales of others!" Cid said as he walked up to a window. "The Four Elemental Crystals are otherwise called the Light Crystals."

"And for every light there is a shadow cast," surmised Yang.

It was then that I remembered something. "Say didn't the twins mention a rumor about this? About dark counterparts to the crystals?"

"The Dark Crystals," concluded Cecil. "You mean they're real?"

Kain nodded. "Quite real. So in actuality, Golbez holds half of the crystals. Which means he still doesn't have everything to carry out his plan."

"And what exactly is his plan?" I asked.

"He said when all of the crystals were gathered, the way to the moon would be opened."

"The way to the moon?" asked Cecil.

"I understand it no more than you do. He never told me what he intended to do once the way was open."

"Well whatever it is, we must reach them before he does. Where are they hidden?"

"Where their name implies... the deep, dark bowels of the underworld."

"The underworld!?" asked Yang.

"You mean like the land of the dead?" I asked.

Kain chuckled. "Maybe in the world you're from. But in this world, it is merely a land hidden deep underground."

"How are we s'posed to get there?" asked Cid, still fiddling with his device while repeatedly glancing out the window. "Start digging?"

Kain then pulled out a black rock with a yellow-orange gem sticking out of it. "Golbez gave me this Magma Stone a while ago. He said it was the key. Supposedly, there is a place where it must be offered, and doing so will open a path to the underworld." An object called a Magma Stone is the key to getting into an underground land... Gee I wonder if that's an indication of what we might find down there. Even if it's not the land of the dead, it could still be deadly nonetheless.

"But...where?" Asked Rosa.

"That much I do not know. I never had the chance to use it. And Golbez didn't tell me everything."

Yang crossed his arms. "So we're stuck without a lead. And it's only a matter of time before Golbez finds his own way underground."

The room was silent for a moment. During that silence, I couldn't help but reflect on what happened in the tower. We lost Tellah today. He may have been a stubborn old fool, but he didn't deserve to go out like that. All he went through to avenge his daughter had gone to waste. He managed to learn the strongest spell he could, sacrificed his life to cast Meteor on Golbez, but in the end, while it did wound the warlock, it didn't kill him, and he got away. And now the sage is dead, with nothing to show for his efforts. It just goes to show what going in over your head pursuing revenge can lead to. Still despite the disagreements we had, I couldn't help but feel bad for him. I also couldn't help but lament that in our panic to rescue Rosa we had just left the old man's body there and we couldn't retrieve it to give him a proper burial.

And if that wasn't enough, we were unable to keep the Earth Crystal from Golbez. Captain Jessie of the Troian Guard probably won't be happy about that, though I suspect the Epopts won't hold it against us given they've already told us that if we lost it then they had faith that we'd get it back. Color us fortunate that the warlock doesn't have all the crystals yet, which buys us more time, but we still had no leads on where the entrance to the underworld could be. What were we supposed to do now?

The silence was broken by Cid. "What's to worry about? We've got the Enterprise! We can fly circles around the world in the blink of an eye!"

Cecil raised his eyebrow. "Cid, we left the Enterprise at the Tower of Zot."

The engineer chuckled. "Thinking ol' Cid's gone senile on you, eh? Take a look!" He pointed out the window. Everyone, except the exhausted white mage, gathered to look and to our shock the shiny airship was just making a landing in the castle airship dock. "I told you, didn't I? The Enterprise is strides beyond those other ships! I've already flown her back here by remote control! Hahaha! That old hermit's blueprints sure work wonders!" Ah! So that's what he was doing this whole conversation. Honestly I was surprised anyone in this world was even capable of using remote control devices. Probably would've been downright unbelievable if it had returned here via autopilot or something.(2) I really had to wonder where this hermit Cid keeps mentioning has been getting these designs.

Rosa chuckled. "I don't know what we'd do without you, Cid!"

Cid snickered pridefully, "Me neither."

"Then I believe our course of action is decided," said Yang.

"It's getting late though," Kain said pointing at the setting sun. "And after all we've been through today, I think we could all use some rest."

Cid nodded, "Guess we'll leave in the morning, then. No better way to start searching for an entrance to the underworld than with a sound night's sleep!"

"Yeah," Cecil said looking down in thought. "But I wonder... What made Golbez falter... right when he was about to finish me?" He spoke quietly, as if not intending for anyone to hear.

"Is something the matter?" Rosa asked concerned.

The paladin shook his head. "No, it's nothing." He then picked the tired white mage up bridal style, which I couldn't help but inwardly chuckle at. "First things first, we should get you home...let your mother know you're okay."

Rosa giggled. "Of course."

With that, we all left the bedchamber. As we climbed down the castle tower, I could help but think about what Cecil just said about Golbez. He wasn't fooling me, I knew it was bothering him. I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me too. The warlock was literally just about to finish the paladin off, but then suddenly stopped. Why? He acted as though he had recognized him and was surprised to see him. What could this mean? I couldn't shake this feeling that there was some kind of connection between them that Cecil didn't know about...

And that there may be something deeper going on with Golbez.

A/N: And that was the Tower of Zot. Sadly Tellah is dead, but Kain is back on the side of light. The party loses the Earth Crystal, but Rosa is successfully rescued, and another Archfiend bites the dust.

Next time: Sasuke finally learns the truth of how he came to the Land of Twin Moons.

Footnotes:

(1) Yeah I decided to spice up this scene with Cecil and Rosa a little. In the game, Cecil was awkwardly struggling to find the words and the two only hugged each other. But since the subject was brought up in an earlier chapter between Cecil and Sasuke, I decided to have Sasuke's words encourage him to confess now and have Cecil and Rosa share a kiss.

(2) How the Enterprise returns to Baron differs depending on the version. In some versions it's through autopilot, and in others it's through remote control. Both sounded like stretches for the setting, but I decided that remote control was more plausible than autopilot.