Bloody Dawn
By Nightsong
As far from God
As Heaven is wide
As far from God
As angels can fly.
-- Garbage.
Attack from the east. That way
Celes Chere stared blankly at the letter again, green eyes glancing over
the words without really reading them. Shed read them a million times
already. She knew what they signified.
Attack from the east. That way you can kill more and more, Celes. Attack
from the east. That way you can burn again. Remember Maranda, Celes? You
torched it to the ground. Do you want to do it again? Attack from the east
from the east the east the dawn a brilliant bloody sunrise
Scorch them all Celes you know you want to just murder every one of them
for your liege lord or is it just for you
Her white-gloved hand slammed down on the table, and she forced herself to
cast the letter away. She sat in her quarters onboard an Imperial ship, on
her way with a fleet more than ready to take the city of South Figaro. At
her command, they would land on the eastern shore of the northern continent
tomorrow, and from there march straight to the great trade city. And they
would take it with ease; after all, they had a turncoat in South Figaro.
The love of gil had proved quite enough to move him to aid them in their
assault.
Attack from the east. That way, the soldiers will be thrown off-guard.
Theyll be guarding the ports most heavily, given thats the most
obvious source of attack. I shall do my part and make sure the city marshal
dies before he can rally his troops. In the confusion, the city shall fall
with ease. All I ask is that you leave my home and my family untouched, along
with the sum we agreed upon in our earlier dealings.
It was no good. The words in the letter were still etched in her mind, burning
with a million meanings.
This was cowardice. Surely thats why she dreaded tomorrow so much.
This was no honest attack. The Empire would rely on confusion and the greed
of men to carve out a niche on the northern continent. Cowardice. I
should order a change in plans, and try the naval assault we had originally
intended.
But no. She would not do that. Her officers would balk, and even though they
must surely follow her in her decisions, she would find herself in hot water
with the Emperor afterwards.
Sighing, the Imperial General stood up and went over to a small porthole
set near her cot. It was already dark out. When shed sat down to review
battle plans, it had been late afternoon. What happened to the day?
It was overcast much as it had been during the day, and the sea and sky alike
were black. Looking out her little window like this, it was almost impossible
to tell you were on a ship. Staring out the porthole revealed just murky
black, like
Like staring into the depths of your stained soul all darkness not a spark
of light oh no you wasted that all in Maranda poured it out of you in the
flames
Her gaze fell from the dark sky to the wooden floor of her cabin, strands
of her long blonde hair falling in her face.
Have I lost my nerve? Wheres my resolve? Alls fair
in love and war after all alls fair alls fair Ive done
nothing wrong nothing that another wouldnt have done I am just a soldier
no
No! she cried out, exhaling sharply as her eyes lost focus. She
stumbled about for a moment, a sharp pain becoming apparent in her head,
until she managed to grip a chair nearby. Even that barely kept her on her
feet, as her wobbly movements made it teeter back and forth as though threatening
to fall over.
She just stood there leaning over her table, over her maps and memos and
battle plans, and breathed in and out, in and out, in and out. After some
indefinable amount of time, a sharp rap sounded at the door of her cabin.
She blinked, as though not sure for a moment what it was, then spoke.
Come in.
What is wrong with me? The door opened with a protesting
creak to reveal the still-armored form of her first lieutenant, James Thade.
A
panic attack? Am I that weak? Yes,
Lieutenant? Celes asked, nodding politely at the older man. He returned
the gesture and punctuated it with a salute that felt like an afterthought,
and regarded her silently for a moment before he began to speak. Celes had
always hated how he looked at her. There was no apparent disrespect, nothing
insubordinate
but under his gaze, she felt like a little girl again,
like a foolish little girl masquerading in a generals garb.
I apologize for disturbing you, my lady, but the hour grows late and
we still need to discuss the strategy for tomorrow.
Again with the gods-cursed strategy. We slaughter, Thade. We kill and
burn and blacken my soul even more, my soul and yours and everyone else on
this ship. Yes, of course. What is it you are unclear
about?
Thade was not a tall man, but his facial features always gave that impression.
He had a hawkish nose and thick black eyebrows that stood out sharply against
his icy blue eyes and thinning grey hair. Whenever the man spoke, he had
a habit of narrowing his eyebrows, giving his face an almost malicious
cast.
The other lieutenants noted to me that it was not made clear in the
meeting this afternoon as to whether or not our soldiers are to take prisoners
if men yield.
Damn you, Thade. Make me think of another sin. The order shed
received from the Emperor a few days previous had not been at all unusual,
and yet it bothered her. They were, as usual, instructed to take no prisoners
among the soldiers, but that the citizenry was to be left alone if they did
not raise arms against the Empire.
No. Our orders are as they usually are, Lieutenant. Kill any man who
raises a weapon against us, whether or not he attempts to surrender.
Thade nodded, as though this order had no particular gravity. As though
I told him the sky was blue. Should I resent that, or envy that? Perhaps
perhaps its just me who has the problem. Was I always so weak?
Something inside her wanted to scream no, that she was a great soldier, not
some whimpering whore whod faint dead away at the sight of blood. But
it seemed a rather feeble cry.
Weak. Weak. Yeah, I was always weak.
.
Be strong, little Celes. The Empire takes care of its own.
Shed only been seven the day she found out. Her parents were dead and
they wouldnt tell her why. Such a horrible thing to tell a child. Such
a horrible thing to do.
She hadnt understood, then. Shed cried so much at night, yelling
at them in hopes that maybe, wherever theyd gone, theyd hear
her and be sorry, be sorry that theyd left her all alone.
Maybe it wasnt fair to say all alone, but that was how she felt.
Shed been an almost constant occupant of the Magitek Research Center
for as long as she could remember anyway, and the various professors had
always been around her.
But they werent family, no
they were all so cold. Like she
wasnt a person, like she was only a little bit more than the espers
in their glass tubes. Everyone except Cid, anyway.
Cid cared about her. Cid was so kind, so kind
even through the tests
they ran to see if it was possible to give her magic, he was so kind. She
loved him for it.
And she hated him.
The years had passed so slowly there in Vector. She had her room her
cell, she came to think of it as she grew older in the research center,
and she had her military training, and she had the tests. God, the
tests
theyd used her for everything from testing magic
resistances to playing test pilot for the magitek armor when it started
appearing. All to create a perfect Magitek Knight. All to make a little girl
into a weapon. All for the glory of the Emperor, hallowed be His name.
The day she turned twelve, they injected Kefka with the magitek serum.
Theyd been gearing up for this for years
Celes had been certain
she would be the first. Perhaps Kefka had taken pity on her hed
always been a nice sort or perhaps hed just wanted that power
for himself. Either way, it had been horrible. It worked, but it worked too
well. He gained power of the espers, but he gained the madness those in the
tanks had as well. It was so frightening, to see a man change so completely.
He kept his place in the Imperial Army, though, remained a top general; his
madness almost seemed to please Emperor Gestahl.
After that, Celes thought theyd stop the tests. Surely they didnt
want another Kefka in their midst. Surely not, surely not
but she was
luckless. They had expended resources to raise her as their little Magitek
Knight, and she would receive the serum, madness or no.
Shed been fifteen. She remembered the last day before they took her
to receive the injection, spent crying, spent yelling out pleas to gods who
either didnt exist or didnt care. Shed even entertained
thoughts of escape. By that point she was a capable soldier, after all, strong
of blade and strong of mind. Shed already raised herself to an
officers position in the Imperial Army.
But when the white-coated men came for her, she went quietly. When they tied
her to the experimenting table, she even managed not to scream. When they
administered the gas that knocked her out, she didnt try to fight back
sleep.
And by some miracle, when she woke up, she was still Celes. At least, shed
thought so at the time. Maranda would shatter those assumptions forever,
but there was something else
something before that.
.
The blade danced in her hands as she moved from soldier to soldier to soldier.
Thrust a Figaran disemboweled Slash clean decapitation
Kill another murder another murder but alls fair in love
and war.
Shed opted to lead her troops into battle, as had become her custom
since Maranda. Her lieutenants offered their usual half-hearted expressions
of concern for her safety, but she ignored them, as always. Didnt they
understand she didnt want to be safe? By leading the attacks,
perhaps she could die, perhaps she could wash her hands of all this.
But it was never that easy. There were only a few hundred Figarans in the
city to her thousand Imperials. The only advantage the opposition could boast
were a few squadrons of auto-crossbowmen, and even that was futile when put
up against the two dozen suits of Magitek Armor Celes army had brought
across the ocean.
And these men resisting her now
they werent even soldiers. That
much was apparent, with every thrust slash chop of her blade. There
was no honest fight here. She had only been in danger once when five of them
rushed her at once. And even then, her hand had spread open wide, and the
magic had raced out.
A little more of the light left in me expended.
The five men had slowed almost immediately as the first telltale signs of
frost began to show on their armor, a chill wind coming from this hellborn
general they faced. Then, too late, too late, theyd tried to
speed up as the frost hit their exposed faces, and penetrated beneath their
armor. Theyd tried to stab her even as their fingers froze, even as
their sword handles shattered icy in their grasps.
She struck the first across the face with the flat of her sword, and his
face almost seemed to explode. The blood made so thin like ice-water was
in their veins
it was no more than a nosebleed, but his lifeblood ran
out before her eyes, and he collapsed after a scant moment.
The others tried to run, but they could not, their legs heavy with the ice,
their feet blue with the frostbite. Her blade danced, danced like
a child under the summer sun, and they all fell like slaughtered cattle to
the ground.
The city gates stood before her. Oh, so easy to take them now. All too easy.
All around her, the last bits of Figaran resistance died. Her legions were
marching for the gate. The Magitek suits would blast it to bits within minutes,
and then they would pour into the city, a black plague rushing into the wound.
And it would fester, and the disease of the Empire would claim South Figaro
as a piece of their rot.
Imperial dog!
The voice belonged to a lone soldier. The blade he held between his hands
was many-notched, and the face behind it was dark-eyed and scarred. This
was no summer pup, no crofter defending his homeland. This was a real soldier
of Figaro, and the blade he held was a warriors blade and he would
die just like all the others.
Dog? Why yes, yes I am. A cur of the Empire, just a gutless
dog serving its master. Youll pay for those words,
Figaran.
The Imperial General could have rushed him. The way he held his sword, it
was unlikely hed have been fast enough to stop her. But Celes wanted
no quick battle, no sure victory. Shed drink in his danger and forget
her sins for a moment. Shed drink in his danger and perhaps choke and
die on it.
She began the game with a simple low jab, not too fast, downplaying her own
abilities. If the man saw her strategy, he did not care to share in it. Her
sword was knocked wide by his own within the blink of an eye, and she
surprisingly found herself on the defensive for once as she danced back from
a wide slash aimed at her neck.
The young woman surprised herself by smirking at the man, and waving one
white-gloved finger at him. Youre too slow. Disgusting
arrogance. She ran at the man then, who to his credit showed no reaction
to her words, and thrust again, this time at his heart.
A quick sidestep kept him from death then, but the swords tip still
bit into his shoulder, and drank deep of his blood. Cursing through the pain,
the Figaran managed to pull himself back and off the deadly blade, and swung
wildly at her neck while she was still a bit off-balance.
He was luckless in this, though, for her weapon spun around in her grasp
to meet his sword point-down. The two soldiers wrestled for control for a
moment, the Figaran thinking himself at an advantage against this smallish
girl.
The thought was erroneous, he found as he was knocked back off of his feet
into the bloody grass. Celes had an unnatural strength about her, and he
felt his bravery disappear as she sneered down at him, blade pointed in his
direction.
What in the hell are you? The soldier said, his dark eyes
wide and fearful now.
Celes took a quick step forward and jammed her blade into the Figarans
throat.
A monster.
.
Monsters. Should be just over that ridge.
Only sixteen, and a captain. It had been her first major assignment;
take a team of Imperial troops out into the forests west of Vector and clear
out a monster problem people had been reporting in recent months.
Back then, her magic had been a secret. The Emperor didnt want any
rebel sympathizers to know that a teenaged girl had the magic as well. To
be entirely honest, he likely would have preferred it if no one had known
of Kefkas either, but the man was a bit of a lunatic, and word spread
quickly in Vector.
There shouldnt have been any trouble. After all, what were monsters
to a well-trained Imperial team? But no, things werent so simple, as
shed later learn. Things were never simple in the Empire.
While there were some wild dogs in the woods, they did not turn out to be
the real monsters. Celes had learned that quickly enough, when crossbow quarrels
appeared in the chests of the men around her.
Bandits, shed first thought. Or Returners. But no. No,
the men who dropped from the trees, auto crossbows and swords in hand, were
Imperial special operatives. They killed her entire unit while she watched,
barely managing to keep herself alive amidst chaos and blood and flashing
steel.
And then the confusion and rage and sorrow welled up within her and she exhaled
and all was left cold in her heart. Cold in her heart, matched by the frozen
landscape and rime-covered corpses that surrounded her.
It had been the first true test of her magic. Indeed, thats all it
had been; Kefka and his unit had come out of nowhere as she wept on the ground
like a child and explained the whole thing. Just a test, with human lives
as fodder. Shed seen such tests done on that half-esper girl, but
she wore a slave crown. She had no thoughts to call her own. She had no will
of her own.
And neither, it seemed, did Celes.
.
Celes woke up with a gasp, sitting bolt upright in bed. With one hand she
wiped her brow, which was cold with sweat, her eyes slowly adjusting to the
darkness. She was in the chambers shed chosen for herself in the home
of their South Figaran informant.
Again, I dream of that. Will I never be free? She shook her head,
and pulled herself to her feet from beneath satin sheets onto the too-cold
wood of the floor. Locked in a prison of my own making. Shivering,
the young general reached for her clothing, neatly folded over a chair, and
pulled her shirt over her head. Or perhaps thats misleading. Look
at all of this. The spoils of war. Paid for in blood I had no claim to.
Fully clothed but not armored, she picked up her sword belt and strapped
it around her waist. A quick glance out the window showed the night was clear;
the moon was full, the sky was starry. Yet I took it, didnt I? Bleed
the world, Celes, bleed your own soul dry.
Pulling on her heavy white officers cloak, she walked out of the room
and made her way outside.
Security on the streets was about as heavy as shed expected for the
time of night; patrols were watchful, but not plentiful. Indeed, with the
magitek troops placed strategically throughout the town, and from how much
of the towns strength had been spent, there was little need for further
vigilance. Celes was, for the most part, left alone with her thoughts as
she walked down the cobblestoned streets.
It was a cold night for South Figaro; it seemed winter was slowly making
its presence known in these last weeks of autumn. Fitting, the general
thought. Too fitting for myself.
What am I, anymore? Another soldier in war, just following orders for
the glory of the Empire? Or am I worse?
She stopped before a small pond along the edge of a row of houses. A waterwheel
sent ripples through the waters as it slowly turned through the night, and
distorting her reflection as she looked down.
Im a hypocrite. All of this guilt in me, but what does it matter
in the end? Im bloodthirsty. Just a beast, a vicious dog let loose
by its masters on helpless people. Im not just following
orders. I give the orders. Cold as ice. Cold
The piercing scream of a young woman knifed through the night air, jarring
Celes from her thoughts. As she looked around confusedly, the cry came again,
more desperate this time, and mixed with just a hint of a choking sob.
Later, she wouldnt be able to say just what had made her look for the
woman screaming. It went against her outward character in many ways, the
confused half-concern shed felt but had been unable to identify as
that, and certainly against any sort of better judgment. After all, the city
was well in hand, and the soldiers of the Empire were, as a rule, not female
anyway.
The scene she came upon in the alleyway behind the weapons shop should thus
have not been surprising in the least. The woman whod screamed was,
in truth, no more than a girl she couldnt have been a day over
16 but that meant little to the four Imperial Soldiers who had her
pinned against a wall, one of them kissing her forcibly as the others looked
on and laughed.
So occupied were they that they didnt even hear her walk up behind
them. And as she looked on, Celes felt something deep inside herself break.
Her blade slid out of its sheath too easily, glinting slightly in the night.
The soldiers heard the noise, but scarcely had time to react before she moved.
She grabbed the nearest of the four by the throat and pulled him off-balance
towards her. As she did she slapped him across the face with the flat of
her sword, so hard that his helmet was knocked from his head.
G-General Celes? one of the men stammered in fear, fairly shrinking
back against the wall. She paid him no mind, her burning eyes locked on the
one she had in her grasp.
What in the hell do you think youre doing? Celes
words were little more than a growl, and scarcely recognizable as anything
human. Rivulets of blood running down his face, the unlucky soldier tried
to shrink back in terror. The strong hand around his neck made the attempt
little more than thrashing, and its grip only tightened, further restricting
airflow. As the others looked on in horror, the young woman slipped away
unnoticed. Celes let her go.
I
I
our captain had given us leave to
he choked
out, his eyes wide.
To what? Rape innocent children? Is this the glorious Empire?
General
I, well, the child was no innocent. One of the
other guards, making sure to keep out of swords reach from the crazed
woman, hesitantly put in. W-we caught her wandering the streets, which
you had stated as forbidden. We were only, I mean, having a little fun with
her before we killed her.
The lady general went silent at that, shutting her eyes briefly. When they
opened again, they centered on the man who had spoken, cold as ice. A
little fun, soldier? Her eyebrows narrowed slightly, but still, no
true emotion was readable in that face. A little fun. The man
in her grasp choked desperately as her grip tightened once more, and she
began to lift him off the floor. Just
a little
fun. Answer
me, then. Does anything about this look like fun to you?
As she spoke the words, she dropped the nearly-unconscious soldier, who went
to the floor without any resistance with a flat sound like a bag of rocks.
The other three soldiers winced slightly, then drew back in horror as their
seemingly-mad general flipped her sword about in her hands and drove it straight
into the mans skull. There was a sick, dull sound like a melon being
split open, and blood spattered onto the womans fine Imperial clothing
and white cloak.
One of the remaining three bolted immediately; Celes did not pursue him,
instead turning her glance to the soldier whod spoken up to her. Her
eyes looked dead, hollow.
Well? What do you think? I think it would have made old Gestahl
proud.
I
General
General, why? He was breaking no laws, he was
a good man.
A good man!? Her face came alive again at that, twisting
in rage as she fairly shrieked the words. What, about anything
we have done in this land, has been good? This man was a killer, a
man who took away peoples lives for the glory of a madman sitting
thousands of miles away! This man was a rapist, this man thought nothing
of the lives of the people here! And youre all just like
him.
And youre not? Celes whirled around at the unfamiliar voice,
only to see Lieutenant Thade standing along with two magitek suits. Their
weapons were trained firmly on her, and Thade had his sword in hand.
Lieutenant! What are you doing here? she said, her rage gone
as if on the night breeze, replaced with an empty sense of almost-confusion.
General Celes, I had hoped I was wrong. I have been noticing your strange
moods these past weeks all of the officers have but I had hoped
they were something you would work through. You were such a brilliant warrior.
But
to catch you in this? Murder of a law-abiding soldier of the Empire,
coupled with these treasonous words? He shook his head slightly, and
he almost seemed to show pity for her even as he nodded for the two soldiers
nearest Celes to draw their own weapons. It cannot be overlooked. General
Celes, I hereby declare you under arrest for the crimes of treason and murder.
Come with us peaceably, and you will not be harmed. You will be granted a
Just what it was she would be granted would never be stated, because right
at that moment magic burst from between Celes fingertips, engulfing
the alleyway in a stinging and visibility-reducing blizzard.
The momentary confusion would have been more than enough for the woman to
simply slip away, but instead she found herself attacking one of the soldiers
that had witnessed her betrayal. He never even saw her coming, so preoccupied
was he, and her sword slipped between layers of armor almost effortlessly.
He died within moments, and her sword came up again, the blood drying almost
immediately in the biting wind.
The second warrior managed to get his blade up in a desperate, half-blind
parry as she rushed him, but he fell back several steps in the process. But
her second stroke came around almost unseen, biting into his arm and nearly
knocking him from his feet. The third knocked his sword from his hands and
left them numb and worthless.
What sort of devil are you? he shouted, barely audible
above the raging blizzard winds. His only answer was yet another methodical
slash of the sword, one that took his head off.
It was about that time that the magitek pilots managed to react to Celes
spell, as they almost simultaneously let loose bursts of flame from one of
their arm cannons. The magically-formed blizzard thinned some as they
methodically turned about and walked forward towards the woman.
Knowing her spell-borne advantage to be all but lost anyway, Celes let it
fade, and ice and snow vanished in midair as though it had never been
there to begin with.
Surrender yourself to us, Celes. Dont be a fool! Thade
yelled, trying to be heard over the roaring fires that still jetted out from
the magitek suits that were still walking directly at her.
If the traitor general had even heard the man, she gave no sign, so lost
was she in her own battle rage. She lifted her bloody sword as if in salute
to the machinations before her, then closed her eyes, wrapping both hands
tight about the hilt of her blade. As she did, a faint glow began to pour
off the sword. It was impossible to give the resulting color a name; it was
million-hued and it was nothing.
The scientists back in Vector had dubbed the strange ability Runic
Blade when they first observed it, citing some sort of ancient word
dating from near the time of the War of the Magi. Celes hadnt known
what it was referring to at the time, and certainly didnt care now,
so long as its magic worked.
To watch the scene, it would have looked almost as though Celes blade
had become a magnet for the flames, pulling them towards her. But rather
than engulf her as seemed logical, they simply wrapped around the blade of
her sword, then slowly disappeared into it.
The pilots had scarcely a moment to react as the last of the flames vanished.
The only hint of what was about to happen was the look in Celes eyes:
they very nearly glowed with the power of the magic shed absorbed.
Silently, the woman stretched out her left hand in front of her, her cloak
billowing out behind her as a cold wind started to blow. The pilot she watched
at just began to move, started to set the hulking machine to turning, when
the spell took shape.
A massive spear of ice formed in front of Celes face, and, within the
blink of an eye, launched itself at and directly into the magitek
armor before it, impaling it with all the force of a harpoon. The pilot shrieked
and desperately pulled at the restraints that tethered him to the suit, but
it was an action that came too late.
The armor exploded, tearing the pilot apart and knocking Celes from her feet
back into the alley wall. As consciousness left her, she had just the time
to think: my God, what have I done?
.
She awoke in chains, in a filthy stone cell below South Figaro. Her eyes
slowly came into focus, darting about in horror and confusion until remembrance
came to her several seconds later.
What have I done? Her wrists had been manacled to the wall, and were
bruised and swollen; it seemed theyd been bearing her full weight for
quite awhile. My god, I killed my own men. Her clothes were torn and
filthy, and, from the look of her blood-spattered cloak, were apparently
the same clothes shed been wearing before. They lent further reality
and gravity to her situation, and she hung her head.
My guilt was so strong inside me that I put more blood on my hands as
if to cleanse them. After all
after all after all the soldier was a
killer, a murderer. They all were, every last damned soldier in our Empire.
Every one.
For a moment, she almost felt better, when anothers words came back
to her, like a slap to the face.
And I am one of those soldiers. I am no better
no. No
I am
less. The others are the killing machines Gestahl wanted, but at least they
are that. I murder indiscriminately. To satisfy my own moral hypocrisy.
Her head fell even lower. Wouldnt you be surprised, my Emperor.
You never did perfect the magitek knight process. You never did. Kefkas
insanity was simply more visible. My own
is to kill and kill, even
as I hate myself for it.
But if I live through this
she muttered, her teeth tightly
clenched, I swear I will kill you for what you made me, Kefka, Emperor
Gestahl.
And for once, the thoughts of murder brought no pangs of guilt with them.