Darkness Falls Chapter 19
By Gemini83
The rising waves of energy began to fluctuate through the air, rainbow hues engulfed the Kitana and the three dragons as the powers seethed forth from the ocean.
“Kitana!” yelled Kaede, “get us to higher altitude!”
The ship began to ascend, flying away from the surging energies.
“What was that sire?” asked Bahumet.
“I’m not-”
Before Kaede could answer, a great swell of water bubbled up, forming a geyser one hundred feet high. A giant behemoth of metalwork rose from the outpouring, causing water to disperse through the air. A blinding flash of light was accompanied by a powerful gust of wind and water, shaking the spaceship and dragons alike.
‘What in all creation did the Cetra hide down there?’ thought Kaede.
He looked to the brothers Bahumet, “Are you okay?!”
The dragons remained quiet, silently looking at the waters below as they hovered near the Kitana. Kaede followed their gaze...
What he saw nearly caused him to choke.
Deep within the depths of the ocean, the Cetra had hidden a great monolith, a bastion of their technology. And now it rose to the surface. A giant island, easily ten miles wide, came forth from the depths. Forests and archaic ruins littered its surface. But in its center laid a huge fortress. It was amazing. Cold, grey steel supported walls of bluish ivory and stone. Everywhere, shining brass accented the hulking framework, forming a startling contrast to the metalwork. It didn’t look a hundred years old. Great crystals of green light illuminated the hulk from along the edges of the city.
“It’s beautiful,” said Kaede.
“What lies within, I wonder?” pondered Bahumet.
“Only one way to find out,” answered the Planeswalker, “Bahumet, come with me, the rest of you, cover the skies and wait for us.”
“As you wish sire,” said Bahumet Zero.
Kaede lowered the ship and jumped from the Kitana’s deck, gliding down to the surface of the structure. Bahumet followed him down. They slowly made their way through the forests, taking stock of the sandstone relics of the ruined buildings. They soon made their way to the great metropolis. The Cetra artifact seemed to be a small-sized city surrounding a giant dome. Winding causeways and roads joined several buildings together, but all of them seemed to lead back towards the center.
“All these years under water,” said Bahumet, “and the structure still remains intact.”
Kaede nodded, “the Cetra built things to last through the ages.”
Kaede and Bahumet slowly trekked through the ‘city,’ making their way to the domed structure ahead. They ascended a marble staircase, and found themselves facing the dome. It was wondrous, with stone and ivory in hues of blue and white. The brass shined like gold against the dark steel. One of several giant doors led to the inside of the sealed structure.
“What do we do now sire?” asked Bahumet.
Kaede shrugged, then walked up to the gates. There seemed to be some kind of a seal on the door. Kaede tried several incantations to open it, but nothing worked. Then he remembered the White Materia. Bringing it forth, Kaede commanded the door to open yet again, in Cetra. Whirring sounds emanated from the structure, but nothing happened. He brought out his sword, still glowing with light, and tried again. The gaping passageway opened into reveal a pitch black interior. However, the light of the sun barely managed to illuminate more than a few feet.
“Well, that was easy,” grinned Bahumet, “shall we enter the Fortress of the Ancients?”
“On your guard,” warned Kaede, “I don’t trust this.”
As the two walked into the great fortress, it slowly became darker. The light from the great door faded, becoming nothing more than a splinter of light on the edge of the shadows. Soon, the only source of illumination came from the White Materia. Everything else was utter darkness, even his sword. Kaede could hardly see where he was going.
‘This is unnatural,’ thought Kaede, ‘I should be able to see more clearly than this...’
The pinpoint of light was extinguished as the gates leading outside slammed shut.
Kaede turned around in time to see the door close.
‘It’s a trap!’
That was when strange sounds cut through the darkness. A mysterious hissing filled the air. Kaede stopped in his tracks, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.
“Bahumet...”
“I sense it too sire.”
Something was in the room, something dark and sinister. Then Kaede saw a glimmer from the corner of his eyes.
“Bahumet! Watch out!”
The Planeswalker jumped in front of the dragon, as a giant ball of fire flew towards them. Kaede was thrown across the room, leaving Bahumet to search for the source of the blast.
Two blood red eyes glowed in the darkness, a shrill laugh tore through the air.
“Sire!” yelled Bahumet, “are you alright?”
Bahumet could hear coughing.
“Yes,” answered Kaede’s voice shakily.
More blasts shot out from the darkness, flinging Kaede off his feet. He tried to dodge more incoming fire, while Bahumet deflected the blasts with his wings. However, they couldn’t keep this up for long...
The attacks eventually stopped. Whoever it was seemed to have run out of energy to fire at them, but for how much longer? Kaede slowly rose to his feet, weighing his options. Whatever was hiding in the darkness, it had a distinct advantage, for even Bahumet and Kaede could not see in the pitch black. Then he realized why they were such easy targets. The White Materia still glowed, giving whatever was out there a perfect idea of their location.
“Time to even the odds,” whispered Kaede.
The Planeswalker concentrated deeply, reaching out to Bahumet with his mind.
‘Bahumet!’
“Sire?” asked the dragon.
‘Don’t say anything, just close your eyes, right now!’
‘Very well,’ answered Bahumet through the mindlink.
Kaede muttered some strange incantations as he gathered energy in his hands.
‘Let’s see how they like this!’
Kaede yelled into the darkness, releasing a brilliant explosion of energy from his hands.
The flash was blinding, or would have been if Kaede hadn’t already closed his eyes. When Kaede finally saw again, the room was utterly illuminated. The spell had brought light throughout the entire room. Its beauty took his breath away, for the room was a dazzling display of marble and metal, just as impressive the outside. Tapestries and murals adorned the walls, illustrating the Cetra histories on this planet. It was a vast chamber of rich, golden brass against soft, blue marble. Kaede was soon jarred from his reverie as he realized that the red on the walls wasn’t paint...it was blood. The chamber walls were awash in crimson, but there were no bodies anywhere. What had happened?
Several passageways led off to other directions, while a large shaft in the middle of the great hall led to the upper rafters and other floors beyond the ceiling. Their enemy could be hiding anywhere.
Kaede searched through the room, trying to find the attacker. Bahumet slowly raised his wings, and opened his eyes. The dragon rose to his full height, wary of danger...
Kaede saw it first, a dark figure, hiding in the shadows of one of the passageways leading out of the hall. Kaede couldn’t make out all of it, but whatever it was...it was huge.
Bahumet sniffed the air, then growled as he caught the attacker’s scent.
“Tiamat,” cursed Bahumet.
More hissing emerged from the passageway.
“Come out,” said Kaede, “you can’t hide from us.”
The figure slowly made its way from the shadows.
“Then,” answered the hissing voice, “I will kill you.”
A mass of blue-green scales came into view. It was a great dragon, with large gray wings and razor sharp teeth. The behemoth was as tall as Bahumet himself.
Kaede looked at the beast, and was taken aback.
“It...looks like you,” he said to the King of Dragons.
“The cur,” snarled Bahumet, “is a traitor to our kind, a false brother to all dragons.”
“You know him?” asked the Planeswalker.
The green scaled beast laughed harshly, “Bahumet and I are old acquaintances.”
The King of Dragons looked at Kaede, eyes filled with rage, “the vile filth murdered many of our allies during our battles with the Jenovans.”
“And why not?” said Tiamat, “they knew the true meaning of power, as do the Drahk. You cannot stop us-”
“What do the Drahk have to do with this?” demanded Kaede, eyes narrowed, “Why should you know of their plans?”
Tiamat blinked once before sneering, “What was that worm?”
“Where are the defenses?” continued Bahumet, “even the Cetra knew enough to fortify their creations.”
The beast grinned evilly, “we destroyed them all.”
“Who is ‘we?’” asked Kaede.
Tiamat cursed under his breath.
The Planeswalker closed his eyes, concentrating. Then he sensed something, and his eyes quickly opened, “You are hiding something.”
The green dragon began to shake with rage, “I do not fear you! There is nothing that I need hide from such weaklings!”
“Then why do you guard that passageway?”
Tiamat remained silent.
Kaede turned to Bahumet, “Someone else is here, I need to get through that doorway.”
The King of Dragons nodded
Tiamat rose to his full height, spreading his wings to bar the way. Steam hissed forth from his nostrils as he threateningly raised his claws at the pair.
“You fools! Nothing can save you now! YOU WILL NEVER AGAIN SEE THE LIGHT...OF DAY!!!!!!!!”
Tiamat let forth a giant blast of fire towards the pair. Kaede jumped to one side, as Bahumet charged at the dark dragon. The two locked talons with each other, and they span through the air, trying to hurl each other away.
The Planeswalker made his move, heading for the now vacant doorway.
Sensing this, Tiamat broke his grasp on Bahumet, sending the King of Dragons crashing to the floor. The then scourge headed for Kaede.
Kaede was thrown against the wall as Tiamat slammed against him. He raised his head in time to see the beast’s jaws drawing close. Kaede grabbed the dragon’s maw with his hands, desperately trying to keep the mouth from closing. The Planeswalker could see his reflection in the gleaming teeth. Tiamat roared as he tried to snap his jaws shut, the foul stench causing Kaede to blanch.
“Bahumet,” grunted Kaede, his arms beginning to burn from the strain, “a little help would be nice.”
A mammoth figure slammed into Tiamat, smashing him into the opposite wall.
“Pardons for the delay sire,” grunted Bahumet.
Kaede slowly got to his feet.
“Forgiven,” he laughed harshly, “can you hold him off while I go after the other?”
Bahumet raised his eyes to the staggering Tiamat.
“It will be a pleasure to destroy him,” he growled.
“My thanks,” said the Planeswalker.
Kaede ran for the open passageway again. This time, Tiamat had no chance to stop the man, for Bahumet crashed into the beast again, sending a flurry of talons and scales thrashing about.
Kaede ran through the now lighted halls. It seemed his trick had worked. The spell he had used to light the City of the Ancients had also worked to illuminate this place. The back of Kaede’s mind was screaming at him that this was the key, that within these halls was hidden the reason for all of this.
Kaede soon came to another large room. It seemed to be alive with machinery and equipment. Monitors and screens flickered on and off. Communications arrays emitted a low hum of static. Blue-green hues of light engulfed the room, adding an ethereal quality to the place. But there was something wrong here, he could feel it. Kaede shuddered, but from more than just the cold.
He heard a strange buzzing noise, and his instincts shouted out warning. Sensing an unseen danger, Kaede immediately jumped away from where he was standing. An explosion sent him plummeting through the air as an evil laughter echoed through the room.
“Hello again Kaede,” said the voice, “you die for real this time.”
The Planeswalker gathered his wits as he took in the surroundings. A small fire was blazing against the cool blue of the room. Kaede groaned as he got to his feet, he had to meet his attacker.
He rasied his head as he heard footsteps come near, and came face to face with...
“Xizor,” snarled Kaede.
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Author’s Note (warning: FF8 fixation syndrome): OH YES! HAHAHAHA! BOOYAKA! Wait a minute, that’s from FF8... I’d really like to think that nobody saw this coming, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you did. Xizor’s death seemed too quick to be true. This chapter has actually been the hardest for me to complete so far, just because I was so obsessed with the planning stages.
Anyway, here is a description of the city for those of you who need it. Of course, the surface contains lots of forests and stone ruins, as any good island should...they serve a purpose later on (i.e. games of cat and mouse, you’ll see). There is a futuristic city in the center. This new city is supposed to look something like a cross between Esthar from FF8, an Aztec temple like in the FF7 game, and Atlantis. In the city’s center is a giant dome, something that looks like Balamb Garden, again from FF8.
One more thing, yes I know that Tiamat appears in FF8 and not FF7, but I really wanted to write him into the story (gee, I pulled a lot of stuff from FF8 didn’t I?). I like to think of Bahumet(s) and Tiamat as mortal enemies in any existence.
I really wish you all could read the italics I try to post here, it would probably make the reading during flashbacks and thoughts easier to read. But ‘notepad’ has been spazzing on me as of late. As always, write me. Heck, e-mail me if you have the time!
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