Legend of the Seven Swords Chapter 5

“What the Hell’s Going On Here?”

By Ybrik Metaknight

Zidane always loved the feel of wind rushing through his hair, across his tail, against his face as he rode an airship. But right now he barely noticed it, for the excitement that awaited him.

Dagger always hated the life of royalty, of responsibility, of robes and regality. She much preferred what she was doing now: riding on Tantalus’ ship with Steiner and Zidane and his friends, going towards an unknown and exciting fate.

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Tifa always loved the excitement of battle, the rush of combat, the joy of defeating an enemy. But right now, her mind could only think about finding Cloud, not resolving some small war in hopes of determining what was going on.

Reis always hated the pressure of battle, the haste of combat, the horror of striking an enemy down. She much preferred spending time with her love, Beowulf, and now rode this Highwind in hopes of finding him to remain with her forever.

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Relm always loved the company of friends, the comfort of being with the people she loved, the sense of security her allies gave her. But right now, she was worried sick that something could jeopardize those very same friends and allies, and turn her world upside down.

Magus always hated the annoyance of people, the noise of crowds, the sense of obligation his allies gave him. He much preferred planning and scheming in one of his fortresses of solitude, where no one, man or mystic, could hold anything over his head.

Mog just liked playing in the sun, and disliked little girls who tried to claim possession of him. But here he was, riding the Hilda Garde 3 towards a battle that might or might not involve his missing friends, unable to get five feet away from Eiko.

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“Fire Dance!” Sabin called out as he tapped into his own personal chakra to hit the summoner that called forth the King of Cinders with some fire of his own. As she staggered backwards, he yelled, “Oh yeah! I’m packin’ heat!” He proceeded to run towards the scalded mage to take her down with another blitz, but was stopped in his tracks by vines coming up from the ground. The summoner’s Hell Ivy tripped Sabin and tangled itself around his legs so completely that he had to stop and untangle it. This gave his opponent all the chance she needed.

“Wind, fade to silence and light, give us power! Shiva!” the summoner cried, as the ice queen descended from the heavens and chilled Sabin to the bone. He knew that one more esper would do him in. He saw the summoner drink something, presumably an ether, and then prepare to call another magical beast. As he unwrapped the vines from his massive trunks, he saw his opening. With startling speed for a man his size, Sabin ran up to his adversary and leapt towards her. “Bum Rush!” he shouted as his leap turned into a roll, and then he was on his feet, circling around her with lightning speed, hitting her with an astonishing flurry of punches. When he finished, she let out a quick, sharp shriek and collapsed.

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Lloyd could tell he was fighting a losing battle. But he should have been losing it even worse than he had been. He sensed incredible magic potential within this woman he was fighting, yet she only fought with a very long sword. Although, to her credit, she had thus far withstood all the Flares and Holies he threw at her, while he was bleeding profusely from the slice that had just barely missed his groin (thank God). He couldn’t even concentrate enough to cast a simple cure spell and he had never taken the time to learn to properly make use of items (and besides, he had none to use). So, he had an idea.

“I surrender. You win,” he said simply. “Can you help me survive?” he asked, playing on the maternal instincts he hoped the woman possessed.

Putting away her sword, the beautiful woman with the exotic green hair said, “All right, but I can’t cast any magic. I can only use some of these potions.”

“That’s all right,” Lloyd said, fully relieved. “I can cast some spells.” Then, he concentrated, gathered his magical power, and said, “Life’s refreshing breeze, heal from the sky! Cure 2!” A green aura washed over both of them, healing all of the woman’s wounds and most of Lloyd’s. The woman pulled an X-potion from the pocket of her pants and poured it into the last of his wounds.

“Now that that’s all taken care of,” she began, “maybe we can talk through this.” When he said nothing, she said, “Okay, I’ll start. My name is Terra Branford, and I have a friend that owns that wrecked airship you came out of. He attacked your leader, and my other friends and I simply supported him by attacking you and your allies.”

“Well, I’m Lloyd Wright, and my friends and I came upon that airship quite by accident.” He then told her all about the secret war against Lucavi, and the not-so-secret Lion War. After he finished the tale, Terra looked quite taken aback.

“Well, that’s an incredible story,” she said.

“It’s a hell of a story,” a voice from behind her said.

“Sabin!” Terra cried out joyfully, turning around and hugging her friend, who was leading his own prisoner, the summoner, to Terra and Lloyd.

“And this girl told me all about it,” Sabin said, letting her go to her friend.

“Lloyd! I’m so glad you’re all right!” she told the master mage.

“Easy, kid,” he replied. “Scott might get pretty jealous.” Then, turning away from her friendly embrace, he said to Terra and Sabin, “Now, why were you two so surprised when Becca cast her summon spells?”

Terra and Sabin went on to tell Lloyd and Rebecca their story, about Kefka and espers and magitek.

“That too is quite a tale,” Lloyd said.

“So, there’s no magic on your world?” Rebecca asked meekly.

“No, it’s all gone back to the land,” Terra said. “So, being part esper, I am very in tune with the earth, at least in my world. This place, though, is very alien to me.”

“So, how did you get here, anyway?” Sabin asked, receiving a tale about glowing swords in return. “That’s almost exactly the same as what happened to us,” he said, retelling his story.

“So, you too are missing some allies?” Rebecca asked.

In reply, Sabin began, “Yes, but it’s about time we found the—”

“You’re all under arrest for disturbing the peace!” a large rat with a large spear said to the quartet of battlers. “We’ve already got your friends, all ten of them.” Then, turning to his subordinate rat-officers, he said, “Take these four to the castle and bring them before King Puck. And go tell Lady Freya that all of the warriors have been apprehended.”

“Yes, Sir Fratley!” another rat saluted the leader.

“Hey, Terra,” Rebecca whispered to the green haired woman, “shouldn’t there be twelve others? I mean, we had six allies, and you had six allies, so…”

“Yes, but be quiet!” Terra quietly scolded. “Someone on one of our teams, or probably both teams, is very likely planning something, and we don’t want them to get caught.”

“Quiet, you two!” a harsh rat-knight yelled at them.

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Vincent, Yuffie, and Red XIII all looked at each other, as the entire crowd waited for the answer to Cloud’s question.

“Well, you’re Cloud Strife,” Red began. “You were a member of the paramilitary organization known as SOLDIER, and then you became a mercenary hired by AVALANCHE, which fought against Shinra and Sephiroth for the fate of the entire planet.”

Cloud looked even more confused than before, so Red elaborated, telling the entire terrible, twisted tale over again for all present to hear, with interjections by Vincent.

“And this was your ultimate weapon, the Ultima Weapon!” Yuffie exclaimed, after finding a sword near the area in which they had been fighting. Handing it to Cloud, her hopes of revitalizing his memory were dashed by his still-stupefied countenance.

“Well, it’s a nice sword, very big and all, but it doesn’t seem familiar yet,” Cloud said, after examining it. “Although, it does fit perfectly into the sheath on my back.”

“Well, I think it’s time we all told our stories, so that we can all be on the same page to figure out what’s going on here,” Crono suggested as he stepped up in front of everyone.

So, all the stories were told. Crono, Marle, Lucca, and Ayla told their tale of time-traveling twists, culminating with the glowing Masamune. Link wove his own tapestry about the fabric of time, taking extra care to explain the two witches from the previous battle. Alma, Meliadoul, and Mustadio told everyone about the Zodiac Brave Story and the Lion War. No one asked for a story from the other two, for Amarant was nearly impossible to talk to, and Quina was nearly impossible to understand. As the group of heroes all heard each other’s stories, they all began to wonder one thing, as best put by Crono:

“What the hell’s going on here?”

“Crono, I think we need to—” Marle began.

“No, Marle,” he cut her off. “We need to think about what has happened to us, and why all of us have been thrown together, since we are all obviously linked by these glowing swords.”

“You have a good point, Crono,” Link started. “As for myself, I didn’t even know I had the Master Sword until it began glowing. Princess Zelda probably thinks I stole it or something.”

“There you go, with Zelda again,” Malon began teasing her beloved.

“Now, Malon, you know Zelda and I—”

“—are nothing, yes, I know. I was only kidding.”

“Maybe if we can find some other people in similar situations, we can start figuring things out,” Lucca suggested.

Mustadio expanded upon her idea. “Yeah, most had other allies with us. They’re most likely somewhere on this world, wherever this is.”

“And perhaps there are other groups here, with a sword or two of their own, that aren’t represented here, in our little troupe,” Red XIII interjected. “And besides, none of you currently have the swords with you, except for Link. We’ll probably need to find those to find anything out anyway.”

“But how do we find them?” asked Meliadoul. “If they’re not right around here, do we just look all over the world for them? After all, it’s probably a pretty big-ass world.”

“That it is,” Amarant spoke up, earning a few startled looks. “That it is.” After this, he chuckled to himself, and everyone forgot about him again.

“And how do we get around?” Vincent asked. “That time machine can only hold six people, as you said, and horses and chocobos won’t let us fly all around the world.”

“Actually,” Amarant spoke up again, “Some chocobos can fly, but they aren’t very common and you won’t be able to actually find enough for all of you. Your best bet is to get to Lindblum, where you can hire an airship to take you around Gaia.”

“Thanks for the advice. How do we get to this ‘Lindblum’?” Alma asked him.

“Well, I already told Blondie here,” he answered back, gesturing to Marle. “Why don’t you just ask her?”

“Why you—”

“Calm down Crono, I’m all right.”

“Listen, Amarant, if you don’t want to give us anything useful, why don’t you just go away?” Link asked.

“All right, don’t mind if I—”

“Amarant, Amarant! Maybe Zidane help people!” Quina said, excitedly. “You write him, use Mognet, help them.”

“Aww, damn it…”

“Could you help us?” Marle pleaded, batting her eyelashes. “I’m sure we could find…some way to repay you.”

“Marle!”

“Shut up, Crono,” Lucca said. “Well, Amarant, will you do it?”

“…All right, but all of you owe me.”

So, they went to the inn at the nearby village of Dali and Amarant wrote a quick note. His bulky hands could barely scratch out a legible phrase, so Alma wrote it, and he signed it. He was just about to give it to Gumo the moogle when Artemecion flew through the window.

“Are you Amarant?” he asked. When Amarant nodded, he continued, handing him a note. “This is for you.” Amarant opened the note as Artemecion flew back out the window to continue his errands, looked up, and said,

“This note…it’s from my ally, Zidane.” Quina perked up. “My presence is requested in Burmecia. It seems that’s where some of the people you’re all looking for have either turned up or gone. I’m to meet him there, and bring anyone I find that could be important to this situation.”

“How do we get there?” Yuffie asked.

“We’ll take the cable car. With the new Burmecia station built a couple of months ago, and my special access to the cars, we should be there in twenty minutes, and maybe beat Zidane there.”

“Maybe I’ll get to learn more about myself,” Cloud spoke his mind as Amarant led everyone to the North Gate to get on the cable car.

.

Meanwhile, where the western wall of Burmecia met the mountain, two ninjas with an uneasy alliance planned the rescue of their comrades.

“So, how do we get in?” Alexis asked her dark companion, with whom she had stopped fighting when the rat-people began capturing their friends.

“Simple,” Shadow replied. “We climb this cliff until we’re high enough to get over the wall and then climb over to a roof.”

“Then how do we into the castle, O Smart One?”

“Don’t be such a smart ass. You’ll end up with a slit throat.” Alexis shut her mouth, shocked. “I’ve climbed plenty of mountains like this. I’ll carry Interceptor up, and we’ll use him to distract the guards at the front gate long enough to sneak in.”

“…Got it,” she replied simply, not really sure the middle-aged ninja’s plan would work. But, seeing that she didn’t have a plan of her own, she decided to go along with it.

They began to climb, using some of the small daggers she always carried with her for catching hold of the rock. She had never climbed a mountain this steep before, so she was always a few feet below Shadow. How is he managing to keep that dog so close to him and climb so quickly? Looking up, she saw that Interceptor was tied to Shadow’s back, and that the dog was being very still, apparently trusting the ninja fully. When Shadow got to a height just above the wall, he climbed over, and dropped down on it. Then he looked at her and beckoned her to hurry up.

“Come on, you can do it,” he encouraged her. Not wanting to seem incapable in front of such an experienced ninja, she found a new burst of energy within her and climbed the rest of the way without stopping.

Dropping down onto the top of the wall, she said, “That wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.”

“You can do anything, as long as you try hard enough,” he told her, apparently comforted to be a mentor of sorts to her. And she rather enjoyed getting pointers from a master such as he. “Now, be careful jumping over to this rooftop. This constant rain probably makes everything a bit slippery.”

Suddenly wishing to impress him, she ran and jumped to the nearest rooftop, landing perfectly, light as a feather. When he followed her actions, she said, “It’s not as bad as we expected. I guess this roof is made out of a material that absorbs a lot of water.”

“Or perhaps it’s magically sealed,” he pondered. They made the remainder of their trek in silence. When they got close to the castle, Shadow took Interceptor from his back and almost whispered to him, “Now, you go and distract those guards, you understand?” The old dog did indeed seem to comprehend fully, as he gave a short yap.

He really seems to love that dog, Alexis thought as Shadow lowered him to the ground. Interceptor ran up to the guards and began jumping up, scratching at their bare legs.

“Hey, boy,” one guard said. “You seem to be really friendly.”

As the two guards became distracted with Interceptor, Shadow and Alexis leapt over to the wall of the castle, and then dropped to the ground below, all without a sound. “And we’re in,” Shadow whispered to her.

“What’re you gonna do about your dog?” Alexis asked him quietly.

“He’ll be fine where he is,” Shadow answered her. “I’ll get him later. He’s used to waiting for me. Let’s go find the dungeon.”

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“Why are they keeping us here?” Edgar asked, exasperated. “Disrupting the peace!? In the middle of the desert!? And where the hell are we!?”

“Well, we’re in a dungeon,” Locke began, trying not to snicker, “in a castle,” Edward’s nerves beginning to crumble, “in the kingdom of Burmecia.”

“Shut up, you smart ass,” Edgar practically yelled at his old friend, “before I recommend you for the death sentence.”

“Come on, Edgar,” Terra coaxed. “Locke was just trying to cheer you up.”

“And besides, Brother,” Sabin joked, “they wouldn’t listen to some foreign king anyway.”

Feeling his tensions ease, Edgar chuckled. “I guess you’re right. I guess you’re right.”

“Here, Cyan,” Celes said, pulling a potion out of a hidden pocket in her cape, “let’s heal those wounds.”

“I hath had worse,” Cyan said, stubbornly refusing to let her see his pain. “Tis but a scratch. A flesh wound.” The sizzle of the liquid soothed his pain. “But even still, I thank thee.”

“Hey, what happened to Shadow?” Setzer asked no one in particular. “Didn’t they capture him too?”

“No, I think he may have gotten away, with that girl he was fighting,” Locke answered him. Then, turning to look across the prison at their fellow captures, he called out, “Hey, um, Scott.” The knight turned from his lady friend. “Is your sister over there?”

“No, she isn’t,” Scott returned. “I think she and that ninja friend of yours slipped away as we were all being captured.”

“Thanks,” Edgar said to him.

“Anytime,” Scott replied, turning back to Rebecca. “I just hope Alex is all right.”

“I’m sure she’s just fine,” his love tried to ease his worries. “She’s a big girl. She can take care of herself.”

“Yeah, I bet she and that ninja are planning to break us out even now,” Lloyd said. “Not that I couldn’t do it myself,” he added, juggling three small fireballs.

“Now, Lloyd,” Rebecca scolded, “you and I agreed to wait this out, and to not use our magic to break free unless absolutely necessary.”

“I know, but still…” Lloyd whined.

“No magic, Lloyd,” Ramza commanded his soldier. Turning to Agrias, Orlandu, and Beowulf, he said, “I hope we do get out of here soon, so I can find Alma and everyone else, and figure out what’s going on here.”

“My ‘twin’ over there told me that they are lost as well,” Agrias said. “Maybe we’re all just unsure of what to do.”

“Perhaps, but I’m sure that we need to find everyone before we make any big decisions,” Beowulf said, obviously anxious to see Reis again. “And I’m sure Meliadoul would like her sword back, if I ever get it back.”

“What about those swords?” Orlandu pondered aloud. “The Chaos Blade and one of the Ragnaroks were glowing before we arrived here. What was that about?”

“Excuse me, Goodsir Orlandu,” Cyan asked his earlier opponent from across the room. “Didst thou say that the blades were glowing?”

“Yes, I did,” he answered. “Why do you ask, Sir Cyan?”

“My Atma Weapon and Edgar’s Excalibur were glowing before we were transported here,” Terra explained.

“Interesting coincidence,” Scott said.

“Or perhaps not,” Edgar spoke up. “I think the two events are probably directly related.”

“You may have a point,” Ramza said. “But I think—”

His thought was interrupted by a short series of crashes from the other room, followed by the entrance of two familiar ninjas with a set of keys.

“Come on, get out of there,” Shadow told his allies, unlocking their cell.

“Yeah, we don’t have much time,” Alexis said to her friends as she freed them as well. “We have to get out of here before more guards come.”

“Too late,” a voice that some recognized as belonging to the Sir Fratley that had captured him. To his side was a female rat-knight in brilliant red armor. “Surrender now.”

Held at spear point, Shadow and Alexis handed their weapons over to the guards.

“I am Lady Freya,” the rat woman said. “King Puck wishes to see you all now. Follow me.”

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As the Highwind set down outside Burmecia, Vivi found his ever-present paranoia climbing. He never much cared for conflicts, and this had all the markings of one of the biggest in his life. He now saw a strange machine with wings sitting outside the town, and six people sitting in chairs inside the clear domed roof of the vehicle. He recognized only one of them, his ally Quina. As he and the other six passengers of the airship climbed out, along with the passengers of the other two airships, the six people emerged.

“Magus! Glenn!” a blond woman in the group called out to the frog and the wizard, running over to them, followed by a young man with spiky red hair. Quina happily bounded over to Zidane and Dagger to find out what was going on. Two nerdy-looking people, a blond man and a fuchsia-haired woman with thick glasses remained behind, talking to each other. And the other passenger, a man with spiky blond hair, looked around as if in a confused daze until…

“Cloud!” Tifa nearly ran over Vivi as she ran to her old friend. Giving him a strong hug, she asked him, “Where have you been? What are you doing here? What happened to you?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know you,” Cloud said, backing away from her. As her face darkened, and she seemed about to cry, he said, “Of course, I barely know myself. I don’t have any memories before three months ago.”

“What’s that, Cloud?” Barret asked, walking up behind them with Cid. “Amnesia again?”

“You aren’t getting off that easily again,” Cid said.

“Guys,” Tifa began, saddened. “I think this is for real.” Noticing the sword on his back, she brightened a bit, and said, “But look! He found the Ultima Weapon.”

Then, five chocobos and a red horse came riding up to the group, flanked by a blond woman running like an ape and a red cat bounding across the plains. The five chocobo riders and the two horseback riders dismounted, and walked over to their respective allies, followed by the woman and the cat. After some greetings and introductions, Regent Cid quieted them all down.

“We should all head inside. King Puck is expecting us,” he said, leading the way into the stormy city.

“King Puck?” Vivi asked, hoping someone would answer.

“Yes, Master Vivi,” Steiner said. “Prince Puck became Burmecia’s youngest king ever last month.”

“You hadn’t heard, kid?” Amarant said. “Oh well, it’ll be nice to see Freya again.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Zidane said, astounded. “He does think of some of us as friends after all.” He shut his mouth at the glare from the ninja.

As they headed inside, a dog came bounding up to Relm. “Interceptor! Is Shadow here? And the others?” The dog yipped happily, as if to answer her. She took the dog inside with the rest of the entourage.

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“These people look like good folks to me,” King Puck told Freya. “Why don’t we just let them go?”

“Lord Puck,” Freya said to him, “they were fighting, disturbing the peace. We can’t let them get away with such reckless actions.”

Thrusting open the doors to the throne room, Regent Cid of Lindblum called out, “King Puck, Lady Freya, Sir Fratley, I ask you to let these people tell their stories. I feel that what they have to say could have an effect on all of us.”

“Gau!” Cyan cried out to his son.

“And Mog and Relm,” Terra said.

“And my dog. See, I told you Interceptor would be all right,” Shadow said to Alexis.

“Reis!” Beowulf called out to his love, as she ran to him.

Ramza looked over the crowd pouring into the crowded throne room, and one by one located the members of his team, all but two people present. Turning to Agrias, he asked, “Where are Rafa and Malak?” He was answered with a short and simple shrug.

So, Edgar told the story of Kefka and the Returners, finishing out with Shadow’s note and the glowing swords. Ramza told of the Zodiac Braves and their glowing swords. To recap, Crono, Link, and Red XIII told their stories, ending, once again, with the glowing swords. To fill all the others in, Zidane told his story as well.

“Well, after hearing all of this, I implore you to let these people go, so that we may begin unraveling the threads of this mystery,” Cid IX cajoled King Puck.

“All right, whatever,” Puck said, completely uninterested, as always. “Hey Vivi, good to see ya.” Vivi smiled in response (not that anyone could see it).

“Lord Puck,” Freya began, “I wish to accompany them as well.”

“If Freya goes, as do I,” Fratley said.

“No, Sir Fratley,” she told him. “You must remain behind to protect our king and country.”

“All right,” Puck said, slightly annoyed. “Freya goes, Fratley stays. Satisfied?” Although Sir Fratley clearly was not satisfied, he simply nodded and sulked, dragging his feet to his liege’s side.

All present went outside, after the sixteen who were fighting earlier were returned all their equipment. The eleven Returners led everyone to the Falcon, where a surprise awaited them all, especially for Setzer. A woman with platinum blond hair already waited on the deck of the Falcon, next to an oddly dressed mime. Beside them were a fat man surrounded by two men and a woman dressed in dark clothing. On the other side of the woman and the mime were a purple octopus and a pink cloud-like thing. In front of them all was a shapely female assassin with a large axe and a middle-aged man dressed in an odd amalgam of exquisite robes and sturdy armor, armed with a fearsome-looking spear.

“Th-That’s…Daryl,” Setzer stammered.

“And Gogo,” Sabin continued in disbelief, “and Ultros and Chupon.”

“Don Corneo,” Tifa snarled, bringing up her fists.

“And the Turks,” Yuffie added, preparing to fight as well.

“Lani…you and I have unfinished business,” Amarant said to the assassin.

“So glad so many of you recognize us,” the blond woman, Daryl, said. “For those of you who do not know me, I am Daryl Ledani, former consort of Setzer Gabbiani, and true owner of this airship.”

Stepping further forward, the middle-aged man called out to all those present, “Hear me! I am Francis Nogard, representative of the almighty Culex and his Order of the Dark Crystal, and the Dark Crystal Syndicate! We come today not to fight, but rather to extend an offer: those wishing to join us will be offered full quarter in the coming battle for this world and those that lie beyond! Come forward now, if you wish to join.”

“Hey Celes,” Locke joked, “you wanna?”

“Quiet!” she chided.

At first, none stepped forward. However, just as Nogard was about to speak again to condemn everyone, Amarant stepped forward.

“I shall join.” Gasps arose from the crowd of heroes. “So that I may settle the score with Lani, and perhaps later with Zidane.” Zidane started to pounce on the larger man, but Dagger held him back.

“That is fine. Anybody else?” Nogard offered one last time.

“Yes. I will come with you,” Setzer said. When his allies stared at him, shocked, he turned to them. “I must find out what’s going on with Daryl. I don’t wish to betray you all, but I feel I must go with her.” This received a few nods. Then, looking at Locke and Edgar, he added, “If you can, get the Blackjack fixed and get it running again. If I don’t return, she’s yours to use as you wish.”

“We…understand,” Edgar said. “Just go.” And with that, Amarant and Setzer walked up to the airship.

“Is that all?” Nogard demanded.

Looking around at the stone-cold faces of his own troops and his newfound allies, Ramza stepped forward. “Yes. No one else is going to join you. We will all fight your pathetic troops and win.”

“Pathetic are we?” Nogard taunted. “We shall see who is pathetic.” A portal opened in front of him, and a man and a woman, both dark-skinned and dark-haired and dressed in white robes, dropped out, their hands tied behind their backs. Ramza and his band gasped, as they recognized the two as their missing allies, Rafa and Malak, with looks of pure terror on their faces. “These two found us first, and tried to fight. This is what happens to all who resist us.” With his left arm he impaled both wizards with his mighty lance, holding them in front of him. With his right arm he reached back, gathering magical energy, and thrust forward, shooting a fierce stream of flame, roasting both Rafa and Malak. “Let these two be an example,” he declared, dropping their smoldering corpses to the ground. “Hear me! Take the Seven Swords and their corresponding warriors to the Iifa tree by the end of this fortnight, or suffer the consequences.” Then, Daryl started the airship, rose far above the sands of the Cleyra desert, and drove through a hole that opened up in the air, disappearing completely.

After a few moments of pure shock, Ramza and Meliadoul ran to the bodies of their comrades and checked for any sign of life. They found none. Ramza looked back at his friends and shook his head, tears trickling down from his eyes. Then, something glimmered in Reis’s pocket, and something in Alicia’s. Two stones flew out. They were the Zodiac Braves that Reis and Alicia had been assigned to protect, Gemini and Pisces. Gemini hovered over Malak, while Pisces floated over Rafa. Both stones began to glow more fiercely, and then each shot a ray of light in to the body under it. Next, each stone projected an image of that body, before death.

“Ramza, and everyone,” Rafa said. “Hear our last words before we proceed to the other side.”

“Culex and his Order of the Dark Crystal are very dangerous,” Malak announced. “They are attempting to take over as many worlds as possible, first this world and then all those connected with it, such as all of your home worlds.”

“He has allied himself with enemies of each group here,” Rafa continued, “and has brought in some of his own fighters. Together, they are all very, very powerful.”

“We do not know how to defeat him, but we feel that the ‘Seven Swords’ may have something to do with it,” Malak said. “We don’t know what these swords are, but you must find out and acquire them, for they must surely be the keys to fighting the Order, and this must be the reason they want to get their own hands on them. You must not let these weapons fall under their power!”

“And one more thing, before we go,” Rafa began. “We heard Culex saying that the ‘Hero of Time’ could give them trouble. If that is one of you, then you must be careful. You are very likely a target. Farewell, all.”

“Goodbye, and thank you,” Malak said, as he and his sister faded away, as did the light from the stones, which then flew back to their guardians.

“Let’s go,” Ramza said gravely after a long, uneasy silence. “We must find out what’s going on here.”

.

“Doth thou desire the power?”
--Grahf

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Author’s notes: The titles of chapters two through five come from a friend of mine, and an inside joke we have. It is simply a randomly-uttered string of phrases that goes, “Where am I? Who are you? Who am I? What the hell’s going on here?” Just thought you might want to know. Oh, and I will be providing a back story of sorts for Rad, Alicia, and my four original FFT characters (Scott, Alexis, Lloyd, and Rebecca) in the pages of another fanfic, “The Story of Delita,” which I am currently writing and hope to have approved and on the page soon. One last thing: sorry about the length of my chapters so far. I’ll try to write shorter chapters in the future.


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