The Origin Of Mount Woe Chapter 14
The Weapons Appear
By Nanaki
12,010 B.C.
Vigo woke up as the morning sun played across his ceiling. It was always a little odd to see the sun coming from below where he was standing, but that was the price to be paid when you lived above the clouds. He stood up slowly, being careful not to disturb Zeal. He glimpsed his dagger hanging on the wall, and all his troubles came rushing back into his head. He had better get down to see Maro. But then, a good thought crossed his mind. Since they were no longer dependent on the Sun stone for energy, they could begin bringing the earthbound ones back up to Enhasa. Vigo smiled as he got dressed. Maybe there would be an up side to these recent events after all.
He walked over to the Sun keep to check on the situation, but even before he got there, he could tell everything was running smoothly. He didn't bother to knock as he ventured inside Melchior's workshop. "Good morning Melchior." He said into the darkened space.
"Aah! King Vigo! Ah, yes. Good Morning. What are you doing here so early?"
"What's the problem?" Vigo asked, giving Melchior an odd look. He was not used to Melchior acting this way. Then, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. He could swear he saw a small, dark figure dash through a doorway.
"Well, your majesty, we, I mean, I was just-"
"Forget it, he saw us." Another figure came out of the same doorway. "Did you have to pick right then to get under cover, Mune?"
"Sorry Doreen. Masa told me to run, so I ran!"
"Don't blame me." Masa said, following Doreen out of the door. Vigo and Melchior were both staring at them. "Don't look so shocked Melchior," Masa tried hard not to laugh at his expression, "we would have had to talk to Vigo pretty soon anyway."
Vigo's jaw finally closed. "Er, talk to me about what?"
Suddenly, there was a blinding flash. Running to a window, Vigo saw a fair portion of the mountain roll down the slope, and off the edge of Enhasa. Fire played across the mountainside, dislodging more boulders. A few ran down toward the city, smashing through the walls. Screams came from the lower portion of Enhasa. "That." Masa shook his head sadly.
.
As Vigo ran across the plateau, forty guards and explorers instantly fell in behind him. Now he could see a shape rising up in the center of the explosion. It was faintly humanoid, but sort of hunched over, and massively muscled. The thing, whatever it was, saw them, and jumped down the mountain to the plateau in about four bounds. Vigo stopped in his tracks. Then men behind him clattered into each other to avoid hitting him. The thing used this confusion to close the gap completely.
Vigo looked up bravely, although he was very afraid. The monster was about fifty feet tall, and had light blue skin. Much of it was covered by a darker blue metal or rock, he couldn't tell which. The body was indeed humanoid, although with thicker legs, arms, and neck than any human could possess. But the head, the face resembled something out of a nightmare. A nightmare that was best forgotten. Vigo crossed his fingers and hoped desperately that he was still asleep.
"King Vigo of Enhasa?" The thing boomed in a voice like small earthquake.
"I am he." Vigo stepped confidently forward. "State your business."
The thing laughed heartily. "So, does formal talk allow you to hide your feelings?" Vigo instantly remembered that was just what Zeal did when she felt, well, when she felt anything.
"How do you know me so well?" Vigo lowered his eyes
"I am Serges, leader of the defenders of this planet. We are known by many names in mythology. Perhaps you've heard of us? We are also known as Summoned Monsters, Fiends, Guardians, Espers, or Weapons."
"So who summoned you?" Vigo planned on wringing the neck of the mage who had tampered with forces WAY beyond his control.
The Weapon laughed again. It sent shivers down Vigo's spine. "Why, the planet itself! You're sucking the energy out of it's heart. We can't allow that to continue." Then the smile vanished from it's nightmarish face. "You must stop use of your machine immediately. I don't care what else you do, but you cannot use any more of the planet's energy."
"What?! Of course not! I can't give in to such an unreasonable demand!" Serges frowned. Suddenly, blue beams of energy burst from his eyes, killing ten of Vigo's men instantly. Vigo cursed himself for his quick tongue. He should have slowly and carefully manipulated Serges to do what he wanted, like any good politician. Instead, he had spoke his mind, something a good ruler almost never did. For the first time, he also cursed the fact that Allegan had not had a rival kingdom for nearly three hundred years. If they had, he would have been better at placating angry warlords.
Serges took a step forward, and the ground shook. Dirt and chunks of rock flew up in Vigo's face as the huge leg descended. Now Vigo looked up angrily. "Its not a demand," Serges growled, "its a command. You don't have a choice. Shut that machine down, or I'll do it for you."
Vigo closed his eyes for a second, but the choice was clear. The Sun stone was only beginning to regain it's strength. If he stopped using Schala's machine, Enhasa would fall... Now his eyes opened, full of their internal fire. Yes, it would fall, and they would never get it back up again, because these were the same creatures that had tried to keep them from raising the mountain in the first place! "I will not shut down the machine."
"Very well." Serges took a step toward the Sun keep. Suddenly, six lines of green energy formed between his feet. Serges vanished in a huge explosion. When everyone could see again, there was a twenty foot crater in the middle of the plateau. It was completely empty.
"He's gone!" One of the men shouted. There were cheers all around:
"King Vigo beat the monster!"
"He was all talk. Vigo beat him with one hit!" Vigo thought this was too good to be true. He glanced around everywhere, but there was no sign of Serges. He smiled in relief. Then, his world was turned upside down.
Vigo was thrown across the field as Serges burst from the earth. Ironically, only the men closest to Serges survived. They were all thrown out of his range. The men who were slightly farther away weren't so lucky. Serges jumped out of the ground and quickly executed a low, sweeping kick. Nearly twenty men were thrown high into the air. Few were alive when they landed. Even fewer survived the landing. The rest of the men scattered, but Serges obviously only had one real target: Vigo.
Serges raised his foot to squish Vigo like a bug, but found himself toppling over. A deadly mixture of fire and lightning flew from Vigo's outstretched hand, and Serges crashed to the ground. Vigo prepared to cast the same spell again, but a wall of earth rose up to block it. Serges smashed through the wall of stone, and Vigo was hurt badly by the falling rocks. While he was recuperating, many of the men that had scattered cast spells against Serges. The Weapon shrugged them all off. Suddenly, Serges stretched out his arm.
A huge blue explosion raged across most of the plateau. Vigo felt the life draining from his body. Many more men were killed. Those who had survived stood, open mouthed, outside the area of destruction. Vigo faintly hear their comments through his burning ears. "Its unbelievable!"
"That was more powerful than Luminaire! No wonder it didn't hurt him!"
Vigo managed to stand up. He quickly cast water on himself to put out the fire in his hair and on his clothes. The water seemed to aborb the extra electricity in his body, and carry it out of him. Maybe he could work out a spell with Maro... No! He needed his mind clear! Why was he drifting?
Serges grinned again. For all his magical prowess, this king obviously had no powers of telepathy. But scanning the area, he found there were several who did. Telepathy was not his forte. He needed to end the battle quickly.
Vigo felt his head clearing. Glancing up, his spirits sank as he saw that Serges appeared to be completely unharmed. He redoubled his efforts, and quickly cast Flare. Serges staggered back for a second, before laughing. Vigo couldn't understand it. Flare was an insanely powerful spell. Serges' laughter subsided a little. "Ah, my foolish young king, I take it you've never heard of Merton?"
As Serges began to gather his magic, Vigo's eyes glazed over. He hurriedly analyzed the magical waves that Serges was collecting. What else could Serges do with that pattern? Vigo decided to find out.
Serges grin finally faded away when the expected Nuee Ardente storm that usually came with Merton did not appear. In fact, not even a little flame came out. He did not really begin to worry until he saw an amoeba shaped ball of energy appear in front of Vigo. Suddenly, spears of every color of energy burned out his retinas and plowed into him. Now he was concerned. Where had Vigo learned Flare Star?
Vigo began to feel relief. Although Serges was still standing, the Weapon was clearly hurt. Vigo had to press his advantage. He quickly cast another spell he had seen in Serges' pattern, and hoped this would finish him. They were both running out of magical waves. If this battle turned physical again, Serges would win without even trying. Vigo stretched out his arms. The resulting spell went from white to black, and seemed to pass in and out of human vision. Finally, Serges crashed to the ground. He staggered back to his feet, but Vigo sensed that the fight was out of him.
"Sh-Shadow Flare?" Serges grumbled, rubbing his eyes. "No fair. That's Shivan's domain!" So, Serges was weak against Shadow? Vigo filed that interesting little tidbit away in his mind. Suddenly, three beams of varying shades of purple smashed into Serges' head. He collapsed on the ground, and a large purple explosion engulfed him. Whirling around, Vigo saw Schala was standing behind him with glowing hands.
After that attack, the ground around Serges seemed to warp. Their vision of him was obscured. Shouts came from the edge of the field. "Stop him! Its getting away!" But Vigo just shook his head. He knew that if Serges wanted to leave, no human could stop him. Then, the glow on Schala's hand turned white. She cast Life until the magical waves on the field were used up. She looked up at Vigo with pleading eyes, wondering what to do.
"Well Schala," Vigo smiled down at his daughter, "I guess you get to use the Sun stone again."
* * *
Violen: Serges, why did you do that? You were supposed to deliver a message, not go on a killing spree!
Serges: Ha! Take a look at his daughter. I didn't do any permanent damage.
Violen: But it was so violent...
Serges: That was just an opening skirmish. It was nice to finally meet a worthy opponent anyway.
Violen: Are you positive all this is necessary?
Shivan: Totally necessary, Violen. These people are dangerously close to discovering mako energy. They didn't care about using the Sun stone up, why should they care about using up our spirit energy?
Serges: I'm glad you're here Shivan. That little perp used Shadow Flare against me. Since you're our Shadow expert, I was hoping you could tell me how he did it.
Shivan: Well sure, just let me explain about the different magical field potential for Shadow...
Violen: .....
* * *
"Impossible. We hit it dead center!"
"70 knots!"
"Not good! Its attacking!" - Rufus Shinra and Heidigger (discussing Sapphire Weapon)
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