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#25  OH snap. WIll our heroes get back the compass. Has Lazarus been with them the entire time. What will happen next installment. FInd out in a few weeks. |
09-29-2007, 07:34 PM
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| Banned  | Hmmm. An interesting idea..... but nah. This is MY story remember? I only use game chars for plot devices, strictly. Besides, Aeris is dead and I know she's good and all, but blasting Lazarus with her virginity isn't quite what I had in mind. XDXDXDXDXD I know you meant different, and I'm just making a joke, XD. This just makes for a better story. Like Aeris, there's something hidden in one of the chars that won't be revealed for quite a while. Maybe not until the sequal............... I'm not saying anything! From what you say, it sounds like I must make my characters badass side shine a bit more.  You're gonna love it. Sorry for the long update, but school is keeping me real busy. All I need is one long session in front of the puter and chapter 14 will be up! Thanks eiko guy! I'll start working on it a.s.a.p.! |
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10-21-2007, 05:17 AM
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| Banned | Here is the long awaited 14th chapter! Enjoy! Chapter 14—Riddles The immediate feeling that swept the group was despair. Everything they had gone through, all they had fought for, had been for naught. Each one of them briefly wondered if they should even bother returning outside. They’d only die anyways, despite what they did now. “What do we do now?” Melody asked softly. “Don’t you get it?!” Jazz burst. “There isn’t anything to do! We’re done for!” The pilot was utterly distraught. To him, it was his entire fault. He’d been entrusted with the protection of the object, which now lie in the hands of Lazarus. Because of him, the world was doomed. Though unreasonable and harsh, Jazz let himself wallow in misery. He sat down, put his head in his hands and moaned wretchedly. My children, why do you despair? The voice was unmistakable. It was Gaia, her voice coming from the very walls themselves. “Gaia we have failed you,” Moriah said softly. “Lazarus has the compass. We cannot find the other objects!” Fear not. All has not been lost. Lazarus has only one piece of the puzzle. “What do you mean?” Crystal asked, standing and gazing at the walls. The compass does point towards the other objects. But you could search for years before you’d be able to pinpoint the exact location. Jazz rose to his feet, gazing at the walls desperately. “We can still find the objects then?” Yes. Written upon the altar are clues. These will help guide you to where the objects are hidden. The compass was meant to point you in the right direction, for the clues can apply to many places. However, it wasn’t vital; the clues are. Upon hearing this, everyone save Crystal immediately crowded around the altar. Sure enough, there were a number of Cetra runes separate from the rest inscribed upon the altar. What they meant, however, was anyone’s guess. Avona lightly traced the ancient carvings with her fingertips. “Gaia, how are we to determine the meaning of these runes?” Only silence answered her query. “You’re lucky I’m hear to help you!” exclaimed a familiar, cocky voice. Only Crystal heard it though. She glanced at Zack, unable to address him with the others around. “Now, you see Crystal,” Zack continued, oblivious to her plight. “I was sent here to help you. I can read this and tell you what it means. But,” he fixed her with a serious gaze that was out of place for him, “You’ll have to tell the rest of them how you know what it means.” She didn’t reply. She watched as the others began deliberating over how to interpret the Cetra runes. The two mages were discussing in undertone what each rune might translate into. Apparently, the Cetra writing bore a striking resemblance to the words of magic. Jazz was eagerly and carefully copying down each individual rune on a piece of paper. He said something to Melody about finding a translator. His demeanor had changed entirely; now he was full of energy, relieved he hadn’t caused the death of them all. “You knew you’d have to tell them someday,” Zack said softly. She gave him a look that said And how am I supposed to do that? She sure as hell wasn’t going to suddenly burst out “I see dead people!” No, it wasn’t going to happen. End of story. He shrugged and held his hands to show he had nothing to offer in the way of help. “Hey, don’t look at me. I’m dead! You’re on your own in this one.” She scowled at him. But he was right. There were a lot of things she could lie about, but suddenly being able to fluently understand the writings of a race long dead wasn’t one of them. “All right, what does it say?” she muttered under her breath. Zack grinned. “We could go back to the Forgotten City,” Moriah suggested. “We’ve found answers there once; maybe we’ll find them there again.” “No way,” Jazz muttered, still intent upon copying the runes. “He might still be following us. Then we’d just end up leading him right to what he wants. Again.” Moriah looked thoughtful. The pilot had a good point. “Maybe we could find something at Cosmo Canyon,” she offered. Tylas shrugged in answer. “Maybe. It’d be worth a shot, I guess. But it could just be a waste of time if we don’t find anything.” Melody opened her mouth to respond but Crystal cut her off. “’Within the burning lands, The ground eats all. The eye of heaven shall open the door.’” The other’s were, simply put, quite stunned. Silence stretched as they tried to makes sense of her words. Jazz gave a half-hearted, tense laugh. “Heh, heh. Oooooooookay.” Crystal tilted her head towards the altar and the inscription upon it. “That’s what it says. You wanna write it down?” Again, shocked silence. I occurred to Crystal then, that this may not have been the best approach, but she hadn’t thought of any other way. Melody coughed politely. “Ummmm… Crystal?” “Hmm?” “How did you read that?” Crystal bit back the usual retort ‘With my eyes’ that she had been accustomed to giving to ghosts when she addressed them. “Oh, I didn’t read it. Zack did and he told me what it meant.” At their stony stares she tried to continue but found it difficult. She felt uncomfortable all of the sudden. “Well, um… I uh…” she stammered trying to think of a how best to word her strange ability. She sighed. “I see spirits,” she finished lamely. For some reason, it just sounded so corny, coming from her. There was a long pause, and then Jazz burst out laughing. “Oh, that’s a good one! You really had me goin’ there for a minute, girl!” He continued to laugh until a bone hit him on the head. Startled out of his mirth, he looked at Crystal, who was holding another in her hand. This time he managed to dodge the second bone as it went flying at his head. “Hey okay, okay, I’m sorry!” he cried as he was pelted with yet another bone. “Crystal, who is this ‘Zack’,” Tylas asked, careful to keep his jealousy from entering his voice. “Zack used to be in SOLDIER,” she answered. “He’d dead now, obviously, but it hasn’t effected his brain much if you ask me.” “Hey!” Zack exclaimed, silent to all but Crystal. Again, silence. Then, “Let me get this straight,” Jazz began. “You can see dead people, right?” She nodded. “And this Zack character is dead, and he can read this Cetra gibberish, no?” She nodded again. “Okay. That leaves only two questions.” He held up two fingers as if she were a dullard. “One, how can he read that, and two how the hell do you see dead people?” She nodded a third time, considering his questions. They were good ones, to be sure. “You know, that is a good question. How can you read that?” she asked, appearing to address the air beside her. After a moment she said, “He really doesn’t know how. He says ‘Death kinda gives you a new perspective.’” She shrugged to show she didn’t understand his cryptic answer any better then they did. “And Melody is hot!!” Zack said enthusiastically, grinning. “Shut. Up,” she muttered. “As for the second question,” she also held up two fingers, as if Jazz was the daft one. “I have no idea. You know as much as I do. But Zack here has been like a scout of sorts. He’s been keeping updated on things that’ve been happening. It’s how I knew about what happened at your town,” she looked at Tylas, “There was no ransom note or anything. Zack told me.” “So…” Melody began tentatively, “Who else knows about this? And can you see him or can you only hear him?” “Oh, I can see him, all right,” she answered, giving Zack a disgusted look who wiped some imaginary nose detritus off on his pant leg. “And only you know about it,” she added, addressing the whole group. “Not like anyone would believe me even if I told them.” There was some thoughtful nodding. “How do we know what you say is true?” Avona asked, speaking of plain curiosity. She is telling the truth. She can see the dead. Gaia’s voice, thought to have vanished, suddenly appeared again to verify Crystal’s claim. “Good enough for me,” said Jazz. “Now, what did that say again?” he fished around in his pockets for another piece of paper. Now it was Crystal’s turn to be shocked. “What? You don’t find this odd at all?” She was utterly surprised at how nonchalant their reaction had been. “Well, it’s not everyday you talk to Gaia,” Jazz said. “And no one thought an alien from outer space would land and try to kill everything,” Moriah added. “I think we can all believe what we thought previously impossible,” Valic stated. The others nodded in agreement. Crystal was downright astonished. She had expected suspicion, ridicule, and mistrust; anything but the casual acceptance she received instead. It came as a great relief to her that their view of her hadn’t changed. She hadn’t realized how much she valued the opinion and trust of these few people until now. She suddenly felt the burden of her secret vanish. Quickly shaking off her surprise, she repeated the phrase, which Jazz scribbled down on a piece of paper provided by one of the mages. Melody, looking over his shoulder exclaimed in mock disgust, “Geez, how can you even read that?!” “Waddya mean?” he returned, studying his writing. “It looks fine to me.” Melody laughed. “It looks like a chicken walked across the paper. Give me that.” She took the pen from his fingers before he could get sufficiently offended by her words. Using his back as a desk, she quickly and neatly rewrote the words on the paper. “See?” she said, thrusting the paper under his nose. “THAT’S good handwriting.” She was right, of course. “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he grumbled, snatching the paper from her and stuffing it into his pocket. “Are we gonna get going or what?” *~*~*~*~*~*~* The wind never ceased its mournful howling here. The constantly biting wind had gnawed away at the rock, carving twisted, convoluted shapes and wearing it smooth. Countless hollows added a low undertone to the shrill voice of the wind. Lazarus stood upon a large, misshapen boulder, seemingly untouched by the wailing wind. The compass needle swung wildly, never settling on one point. Irritated, he shook it. “Show me!” he hissed. The wild swinging stopped and it wavered between two random points, as if it couldn’t choose between them. Suddenly, it began to fill with blood until the glass face cracked from the pressure. Blood spilled onto his hands and he hissed in disgust. He flung the compass to the ground, smashing it. The wind scattered the drops of blood across the worn rock. So. This planet was going to play hard to get. Fine, let it struggle. He would win. Losing was not an option. As he thought this, he looked up at the first stars just beginning to appear. He would not fail—couldn’t fail. He species needed this planet. Long ago, his own world had been destroyed by a rouge asteroid. Days before the impact, everyone had left, using their formidable powers to survive the vacuum of space. Since then, his kind drifted through the black void, living amongst the stars. Every single one of them searching for a home, a planet on which to make a new future. And he had finally found one. His kind wouldn’t last long out there, amidst the stardust. He must make this world ready for the others. And it must be done soon. Raising his arms to the darkening heavens, he called his armies to him. *~*~*~*~*~*~* “Th-thank you,” Melody stammered as Valic wrapped his cloak around her bare shoulders. She pulled the cloak around her and gratefully huddled into its warmth. The blond shivered from the icy chill of the water, even though she stood in the bright sunlight. The others were more or less dry, the water quickly evaporating in the sun’s heat. A quick change of clothes solved the problem of being cold, but Melody was chilled nonetheless. While she tried to warm herself up, the others were puzzling over the cryptic words written upon by the Ancients and translated by the dead. Already the list of possible locations took up half the page, and there was more to go yet. “Maybe its somewhere near volcanoes?” Tylas suggested. “Wutai would be a possible place then,” Avona replied. “There’s no volcanoes there, I thought,” Jazz said. “There are dormant ones,” she replied. At his hesitant look she explained. “Keep in mind that this was written over 2,000 years ago. Not very long for a planet, but long enough for old volcanoes to go dormant.” She had a good point. Jazz nodded, satisfied and Crystal added ‘Wutai’ onto the growing list of options. “What’s with the last line?” Tylas asked, tapping the paper Crystal was holding and the line in question. “I dunno. Maybe something to do with unlocking the object or something. We shouldn’t worry about it for now,” she answered. Moriah watched as Melody shuffled back and forth, trying to get her blood flowing to warm her. “Why don’t you just sit in the sand?” she asked, pointing to the hot sand alongside the riverbanks. “That’ll probably warm you up.” Melody shook her head vehemently, curls bouncing. “No way! It’s burning! I’m not that cold.” “Maybe it’s somewhere—Crystal?” said Tylas. She wasn’t listening anymore. “What did you just say?” she asked Melody. “I said it was burning. Why?” The blond gave her a curious look. Again, Crystal wasn’t paying attention. She was looking at the list of locations they had come up with and looked back at the scrap of paper with the riddle upon it. She’d found something. After a few moments, she uttered a short, exasperated laugh. “I’ve got it,” she stated. * * * “Will you please slow down!?” Melody cried hanging onto her seat for dear life. Crystal laughed. Instead, she pushed the dune buggy they had rented to even greater speeds, deftly zipping past cacti and bushes. “Crystal!” Avona called warningly. She wasn’t enjoying this ride any better than Melody was. Tylas and Jazz, on the other hand, were enjoying themselves as much as Crystal was. But at Avona’s insistence, Crystal slowed down to a more comfortable speed. This was their second day in the desert. After solving the riddle—at least part of it—they had rented this buggy and headed into desert. Their destination was the natural ring of quicksand surrounding the Golden Saucer. Within this unseen barrier was what was commonly known as Corel prison. Here is where criminals of all sorts were deposited, forced to scratch a living from the sand until they finally managed to weasel their way out. Most never did. Prisoners aside, this place was the most logical solution to the riddle. The desert sands burned beneath the suns fiery rays every day. The quicksand swallowed anything upon it, and could be seen as the earth literally eating things. It was so blatantly clear that Crystal felt stupid for not having realized it sooner. However, the last line remained a mystery, but that’d have to wait until later. What mattered now was that they got the item before Lazarus did. Finally, Crystal brought the buggy to a sliding halt, kicking up a cloud of dust. Everyone clambered out of the vehicle and Moriah, who’d been flying above them, came in for a landing in a lazy spiral. When her clawed feet touched the desert sands, she stretched and grinned at the others. “I could live here,” she stated happily, a delighted grin on her face. “It’s so nice and warm!” “It’s ungodly hot,” Avona replied sourly, her mood not improved by the sweltering robes she was wearing. “Come on guys, let’s try and find this thing,” Crystal said, gazing at the barren land before her. It was simply flat, ordinary sand upon first glance. However, with closer inspection, a subtle difference could be seen. Here, no cacti or tufts of grass could be seen. Not even sand dunes. It was simply flat, sand. Such looks were deceiving, and often proved to be the death of many creatures, accidentally setting foot onto the quicksand before realizing what it was. “Well, shouldn’t there be something here?” Melody asked. She had a point. There was nothing here. The need for the compass became painfully clear; they were in the right spot but hell if any of them knew where to start digging. Crystal sighed. This would take a long time—time they didn’t have. “Well, let’s go around the whole area; maybe we’ll find something to point us in the right direction,” the swordswoman offered. With no better idea, the others agreed and piled into the buggy once more. Moriah took to the skies again, gliding effortlessly on the desert thermals. Crystal drove once more, but slowly this time, so that she didn’t accidentally zoom past what it was they were looking for. Every one kept a keen eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Or for anything at all, for that matter. As the day wore on, it became apparent just how big and boring the desert really was. The endless wasteland had a hypnotizing affect, numbing one’s brain, until nearly everyone was asleep after a couple of hours. Melody was nodding off next to Valic, jerking to wakefulness every now and then before the process repeated itself. Tylas gazed dully at the unchanging scenery out the window, propping his head up on one fist. Avona was in no better state. Jazz was out cold, head resting on the back of his seat, mouth hanging open from which a loud snoring emitted. Crystal fought to keep herself awake and her mind on task. She continuously glanced out the window and the passing landscape. Nothing but sand, sand, sand, rock, sand, sand—wait. Rock? She stopped the buggy and backed up. Sure enough, there was a large rock sitting smack dab in the middle of the quicksand, defying all laws of nature. This must be the spot. She turned off the ignition and hopped out of the buggy. The absence of the droning, hypnotizing sound of the engine proved to awaken the others better than a ringing bell. “What is it?” Tylas asked, who was more awake then the rest, aside from Crystal. “I think we’re here,” she replied, studying the odd rock. It was sand-colored, easy to miss if one wasn’t looking close enough. The rock was about five feet tall, and foot wide. The truly peculiar thing about it though, was a large hole in the center of it. “Hey, I’ve h-h-h,” Melody began but was interrupted by a large yawn. “Ah! I’ve heard about rocks like that, but a lot smaller. Something to do with a river wearing away the center.” And just how did a rock of such a kind end up in a place where there were no rivers to be had? Yes, this was clearly the place. Melody whacked Jazz and he awoke with a powerful snort. “Wha? What’s going on?” he mumbled. Melody told him. Gazing around at the spot with bleary eyes, he mumbled once more, “Great. Now how do we get in?” Another good question. “Well, you see Jazz, it’s a very complicated ritual,” Crystal began. “And I’m afraid we need a human sacrifice.” She grabbed him by the arm and began to gently tug him out of the buggy. “If you come this way… I promise you won’t feel a thing…” “Hey!” He shook her off and retreated further into the buggy. “You don’t want to deprive the ladies of this, do you?” Yeah, he was awake and his usual cocky self, as always. She just rolled her eyes and turned back to the rock, which was well out of reach. “Hey, Moriah,” she addressed the hybrid as she landed, “Can you go over there and check that out for me?” Moriah nodded and winged her way over to the rock. Though a relatively small landing space, she managed it, her wings spread to help keep her balance. She inspected the rock as much as she could. It was firmly imbedded in the quicksand, though the seemingly solid ground parted like water at her touch. The rock was made of sandstone, and, despite the hole, nothing more could be determined. “Well, what now?” Tylas asked. “I guess we try and figure out what this last line means.” It was the only thing Crystal could think of that they had to do next. It would be getting dark soon; they may as well try and get as much work done as they could. After about three hours of sitting in the shade of the buggy, Crystal tapped the paper with the riddle. “Okay, so this clearly means that this ‘eye of heaven’ will give us access to the object. Okay, got that. So far, we figure it’s a constellation of some sort. But we can’t think of any constellation that would fit this description, and any that would, aren’t up at this time of year in this particular spot. Right?” The others nodded in affirmation. She sighed and handed the paper to Avona. She lay back in the sand, covering her eyes with the heel of her hand. Her back hurt from sitting for so long. “So what does that leave us?” “Maybe it’s the moon?” Avona suggested. “Okay. So if it is the moon, then what do we have to do?” No answer. “Maybe we don’t have to do anything at all,” Tylas said finally, and joined Crystal in her position, stretching out on the sand. His back hurt too, and it felt good to stretch tight muscles. “All right,” she acknowledged. “That’s possible. Next question is, is there only a certain time when this can happen? Like, does it have to be a full moon, new moon, or what? Or can it only be on a certain day at a certain phase? What then?” Again, no answer. If that was the case, there was nothing they could do. Crystal sighed again and sat up, as much as her back protested against it. “You know what, let’s skip this tonight. Let’s just get some rest and pick up on this tomorrow. I can’t think of anything anymore.” The others agreed. Moriah was nestled comfortably in the sand, basking in the heat, which was diminishing now that the sun was about to set. She watched with one half-open eye as the others began to set up camp. Just as they were beginning, and the shadows were getting long, all heard a soft sucking sound, as though something were being pulled from mud. Or quicksand. Together, seven sets of eyes turned towards the rock, in which the setting sun was framed perfectly in the hole. As they watched, the sand before the rock twisted and sank into the ground, like some sort of sand whirlpool. The way was opened. “Son of a bitch,” Crystal said softly, heard only by Tylas and Melody, whom were standing next to her. “ ‘Eye of heaven’—it was talking about the damn sun! Gods, I feel like an idiot.” Melody laughed. “I’ll go in first!!” she volunteered excitedly. She approached the whirlpool of sand, but Valic held her back. “Perhaps a few precautions would be wise,” he advised her. “He’s right. We have no idea how long this thing will last,” spoke Crystal. She pulled a rope out of the trunk of the buggy. Jazz, at her instruction, climbed over the seats into the drivers seat and backed the buggy up, aligning it the bumper with the mysterious rock and the whirlpool before it. “Okay, I’ll go with her. Who else?” There was silence for a moment before Jazz said, “I’ll go with ya.” He added a suggestive grin to his words, clearly sending the message that he was more than happy to be alone with two beautiful women. This was largely ignored due to the seriousness of the situation, but Tylas found it irked him to no end, though he didn’t show it. Moving quickly, Crystal firmly tied the rope to the bumper. She motioned for Melody to come over and made a makeshift harness around her. “Tug once for all clear. Twice; get me the hell out. If it’s all clear, untie it, tug once, and me and Jazz will be coming in after you. Okay?” Melody nodded. Now that she was ready, she went up to the whirlpool once more. She looked back at the others; Moriah and Tylas had ahold of the rope, ready to lower her into the sand. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the sand and quickly disappeared from sight. Within short time, Moriah felt a tug. She quickly pulled the rope up and Crystal tied it around her waist. She too, was lowered into the sand. There was the sensation of being smothered, pressed in one all sides, that lasted for one moment too long for comfort. Then she was out, and her feet touched smooth cobblestones covered in intricate runes. She untied the rope and tugged on it, looking around the room she found herself in. Smokeless torches lit the room and the ceiling was purely made of sand, held up by some unknown force. The room was long, about one hundred feet, and narrow and had a high ceiling. The walls were rough, unworked, and appeared to be sandstone. At the end of the peculiar underground chamber was another altar. “I’ll go get it!” Melody announced cheerfully. “You should wait here. If we need to leave quickly, it’d be faster that way.” The others nodded in agreement. Melody cheerily skipped down the room towards the altar, her golden curls glistening in the magical firelight as they bounced around her head. As she approached the altar, she stopped and studied, curious. It appeared to be made of natural glass; not wrought by human hands, but rather the sort you would find in the desert, when dry lightning struck the sand and fused it into this sort of glass. Thus, one could not see through it, and lines in the glass obscured its smooth surface. It was also covered in runes, just as the first one had been. Resting upon the glass was a pair of normal, leather gloves. Melody tentatively reached out to gingerly pick up the gloves when Crystal suddenly yelled, “Wait!” Melody jerked her hand back, as though she’d been burned. She looked back at the swordswoman looking guilty, though she’d done nothing wrong. “Let’s have our friend read that first, just in case,” Crystal explained. Melody nodded and stood back for the invisible spirit to read the runes. “Zack?” Crystal called softly, ignoring Jazz who was watching her curiously. “Where are you?” “He can’t come at the moment,” spoke a feminine voice to her right. “But maybe I can help you.” The same woman in pink from the Forgotten City materialized in the air. “Thanks,” Crystal replied. Aerith smiled at her and went to the altar. Apparently, she knew what Zack was doing to help them. She bent over the altar for a minute then said, “Do you have anything to write it down with?” “  ,” Crystal cursed. “You have anything to write with?” she asked Jazz who shook his head. “Can’t help ya.”She cursed again. “Uh, no, sorry,” she replied. “That’s okay. I’ll tell you later then. Good luck,” Aerith wished them, and then vanished. Crystal gave the go-ahead to Melody, who stepped up to the altar once more. She gingerly picked up the gloves and sprang back from the altar, startled by sudden light from the runes. The light vanished and the three waited, not daring to breath in anticipation. Nothing happened. Melody let out her pent up breath in relief. A grating sound, like rock sliding on rock, was heard in the still air. Melody looked around confusedly, searching for the source of the sound. It came again, louder this time, and she saw one large cobblestone sink into the ground. Slowly, it sank further until it fell away, revealing nothing but a black hole in its absence. Suddenly, she noticed that the floor around her was sinking in, and she was standing in the middle of a bowl-shaped depression in the floor. “RUN!” Jazz yelled at her. As if his words were a trigger, Melody leapt into action—literally. She immediately did a back flip just as the floor suddenly fell away from where she’d been standing not a second earlier. But she didn’t stop there. She continued to make her way to the rope that was her only exit in a series of backhand springs, the floor crumbling away just inches from her. But those inches were slowly falling away. Crystal had already pulled on the rope, and she and Jazz were being hauled up to the surface by the others above. They had seconds to get out. Crystal was already going through the ceiling, and Jazz was dangling in the air, holding onto the rope. Despite their added weight, they were steadily rising. Melody was still coming closer with her maneuver, but the floor disintegrated faster than she could move. In the middle of one spring, she twisted in the air, facing towards her ascending friends. As she was in midair, one foot reached out and landed on the wall. Her next move began, and she jumped from wall to wall, the narrow distance between the two allowing her to perform this feat. In this way, she raced towards the rope, the ground disappearing beneath her. Jazz’s arm was going into the sand, now, and his head would soon follow. He saw Melody coming and reached out to her. She leapt… And grabbed his hand just as the floor completely fell away, revealing an empty black void. They were ascending faster now, and once more Melody plunged into the pressing darkness, accompanied by the slight sensation of claustrophobia. She couldn’t help but notice that it felt different this time, thicker, heavier. It was if the sand were wet concrete… realization made her heart stop for a second. Their time was up; the whirlpool was vanishing, turning into quicksand once more. She gripped Jazz’s hand even tighter and hoped they both made it out. Just when she thought she could hold her breath no longer, she broke the surface. She gasped for air as firm hands pulled her out of the sand and laid her on the ground. She lay there for a minute or two, simply catching her breath, which had gotten a good head start. After a minute, she sat up and held up the gloves for all to see. “I got it!” she said triumphantly, if somewhat breathless. In answer to her words, Jazz let out a cheer. “Hell yeah! Girl you have got some sweet moves!” This brought laugher from most of the group. Melody giggled as she stood and dusted herself off. As the others talked, Melody quietly assured Valic that she was okay. “Say, why don’t you try those on?” Avona asked, indicating the gloves the blonde had taken from the altar of glass. “Hey, good idea!” Melody slipped off her own gloves and tucked them into her pocked then slid on the ones made by the Ancients so long ago. They were a little big for her, but the leather was still amazingly supple. After all these years sitting in a desert, she had thought the gloves would’ve long turned brittle and cracked. Though this surprised her, what happened next astounded everyone further. Seconds after she had worn the gloves, they had begun to change. As they watched, the gloves shrank to fit her hands perfectly. Melody could feel metal plates suddenly spring into being, and curved to fit her knuckles exactly. Thick padding protected her hands from the metal plating, making her punch a much harder blow while protecting her own hands as well. When the transformation was complete, she gawked at them. “Now that’s what I call awesome magic,” Jazz stated, admiring the gloves. A deep groan that the felt as much as heard seemed to answer him. The deep sound coursed through the sand dunes, traveling up the soles of their feet, making their bones vibrate in accord. In the distance a long, serpentine figure stretched into the sky, a silhouette against the massive orb of the setting sun. Though far off, it was still huge. Again they heard the deep, thundering bellow, and the figure plunged into the sand. Without having to say anything, they all piled into the dune buggy, Jazz at the wheel. Moriah once more took to the skies, and winged her way towards the rapidly approaching creature. Jazz started up the buggy, and hit the gas. It turned out that sand buggies could accelerate from 0 to 60 in about ten seconds. Though they were speeding through the desert at breakneck speed, the advancing creature was coming closer nonetheless. Moriah quickly returned and flew low and fast next to the speeding buggy, as close as she could get. “It’s a sand worm!” she shouted to the others. Crystal looked at the monster. She’d never seen one so big. It steadily advanced upon them, plunging into the ground and reemerging thousands of feet away. This technique rapidly closed the distance between them. “Now we’re in for it,” Tylas said, more to himself than anyone else. Crystal smiled. “Hey, this is what we get paid for. What happened to job appreciation?” He couldn’t help but smile at her dry humor, even in a situation like this. The worm was closing in. Now that it was closer, the sheer size of it became clear. The thing was easily a thick as a two-story house, and hundreds of feet long. The circular maw was lined with concentric rows and rows of razor sharp teeth. It launched itself into the air again, and the bellowing roar issued from its maw. With a crash that must’ve registered on the Rictor scale, it went into the earth one more time. “Jazz!” Crystal had to yell over the roaring engine. “In a minute, this thing will come up in front of us.” She’d seen it happen before, when and entire armored car loaded with soldiers had been smashed into the sand when trying to flee a sand worm. “When that happens, you turn this thing around and start in the other direction! Everyone else, get ready to hit this bitch with whatever you got!” They all nodded, and Melody selected some Ice materia; her feet and fists wouldn’t be able to penetrate that thick hide. Just as Crystal had predicted, the great beast suddenly exploded from the ground in front of the buggy, sand flying in all directions. The buggy swerved madly and barely avoided colliding with the worm. The end of the buggy swung wide and kicked up sand as Jazz gunned it and it began to turn the back the way they’d come. Jazz was one hell of a driver; just as the buggy began to accelerate once more, the massive bulk of the sand worm came slamming down on the ground where the buggy had been not seconds before. “Now!” Crystal yelled, leaping out of the buggy, the others in following suit. Crystal, Tylas, Valic, Melody, and Moriah from above, attacked the worm. Jazz and Avona were left on the buggy still. Wasting no time, Melody fired off the highest Ice spell she could throw at it, and the worm jerked. It didn’t like that. Crystal and Tylas dug their weapons in, but had a hard time with the thick hide. The worm beneath them raised its massive head into the air. Valic and Melody slid down the worms back. Tylas caught Melody’s hand, he and Crystal holding onto their weapons they dug so deep into the worm’s hide. Moriah swooped low and caught Valic as he plummeted to the ground as well. “Hang on!” Crystal shouted to the others as the worm’s head stopped rising and began to reverse. With a bone-jarring crash, the worm slammed into the sand once more. Crystal barely managed to hand on, but Tylas’ spear lost what tenuous hold it had. He and Melody fell once more, but this time they slid down the side and landed safely on the sand. Crystal stood, pulled her sword free and stabbed both of them deep into the worm as she could drive them. A booming roar came from the creature. It felt that. She yanked her swords out and drove them in again. In an attempt to get rid of her, it wildly shook its head. She was tossed about like a rag doll, unable to keep her footing now that the creature had raised its head again. It managed to shake her swords loose and she rapidly fell towards the ground. Not twenty feet away from the sand was she caught by Moriah. They hybrid quickly swerved to avoid the worm’s toothy maw as it lunged at her. Then Moriah turned to set Crystal upon the ground. Meanwhile, Tylas, Melody, and Valic attacked the worm. Both Valic and Melody cast their ice spells, the green energy pooling at their feet. Both spells hit at the same time, forming icy patches on its thick hide. The worm responded by lowering its head and roaring at them. The blast of wind created a sandstorm, the sand cutting flesh as though each grain were a knife. Everyone covered their eyes, unable to do anything against this force of nature. When the biting sand finally stopped, Moriah swooped low, unleashing a burst of flame from her mouth; her dragon DNA had granted her many gifts. The flame, however, washed off the worm like it was water. The worm lunged straight up at her, stretching itself to astounding height, and she found herself desperately back winging away from its maw that came closer and closer. On the ground, Tylas leapt into the air, spinning as he did, and the spear made a deep slash in the worm’s belly. Moriah had managed to gain enough altitude and the worm fell back to the earth with an earth-shattering thud that sent everyone to the ground with a painful landing of their own. The landing made all their hearts thrum erratically and knocked the wind out of them. Before they could recover quickly enough, the worm roared at them again, and the resulting sandstorm bit deep. When it had passed, Crystal dashed up to it, and slashed it only a few times before she had to flee when the worm slammed the earth again. This was it’s tactic: Slam, roar, slam, roar. They simply couldn’t do enough damage to the thing in the short time between the roar and the next slam. The best they could do was fire off an ice spell, as Melody had managed to do, and get in nothing more than a couple of slashes. This couldn’t keep going. “Get out of the way!” Valic snapped at Tylas, who’d been advancing as the worm rose again. Valic closed his eyes, held his arms out slightly with his palms facing the sky, fingers curved slightly. The air far above the mage swirled and darkened and snow, of all things, fell to the earth. Through this portal a beautiful woman with blue skin descended, snow swirling around her. Shiva hovered in front of the black mage, facing the giant sand worm. Lifting her slender arm above her head, a ball of blue energy formed at her fingertips, which grew larger and larger as they watched. Suddenly, she pointed at great worm before her and the ball exploded into snow. The icy wind that enveloped the worm was more than just snow. Great sheets of ice formed over the worm, and biting wind blew frozen air into its maw. The ice quickly faded and the blue-skinned woman vanished. But the blow told on the worm. It let out a terrible high-pitched squeal. Instead of attacking, it withdrew into the ground and the rumble of its passage under foot quickly faded. There was a pause, as everyone comprehended that the worm had actually run away from them. Then Melody rushed to Valic and gave him a big hug for being ‘the best mage in the whole world!’ Tylas and Crystal also praised the mage for his timely summons. Just then, the buggy returned carrying Jazz and Avona. “Where is it?” Jazz asked as the others approached. “Gone!” Melody answered gleefully. “It ran away! You should’ve seen it!” She began to excitedly describe the summons to him, which he clearly didn’t understand, since she was talking so fast. Avona tsked at their wounds and set herself to healing the bad cuts from the sandstorms. The wounds themselves were an angry red, and resembled a bad carpet burn. Despite shedding sand whenever they moved, everyone was okay. “We better get going, in case it decides to come back,” Crystal said, and they all quickly got in the buggy once more. During the drive, Jazz and Avona happily recounted their own tale as to why they’d been gone so long. Apparently, the ruckus caused by the first worm had attracted another large sand worm and they had a hard time getting rid of it. “Jazz is a wonderful driver, I might add,” Avona said. “Because of his driving, the worm went headfirst into a large boulder. It took excellent timing and amazing skill to pull it off.” “Aw, thanks Avona. I’m so glad my chick-impressing skills also work on you,” Jazz answered with the slightest hint of sarcasm. Everyone laughed at this as Avona blushed. Seeing this he said, “It’s okay. I get that reaction often. Can’t help it.” With Jazz driving, the trip out of the desert was faster for some reason, probably because he delighted in jumping over as many small sand dunes he came across. In any case, they reached the small town they had rented the buggy at within a day. After everyone had shower and was quite free of any sand, the group gathered the in Crystal’s room the next day. “So, what’s our next mission?” Jazz asked, putting on Crystal’s sunglasses that were laying on the nightstand. “Let me ask,” Crystal replied, taking the sunglasses off his face. “Zack? Aerith?” she asked the thin air. After a minute or two, Zack appeared. “Hey!” “It’s Zack,” Crystal told the others. Then to Zack, “Did Aerith tell you everything?” He nodded. “Sure did. The gloves prevent the Lazarus from changing shape, by the way.” Crystal repeated this to the others, whom inspected the gloves again. Taking a pen and paper, Crystal prepared to write down the next riddle. “Okay, the next riddle is!” Zack began dramatically. “The lone survivor of the ages, Branches strong and wide. Reap death or sow love.” Crystal quickly wrote it down. “Great! Thanks Zack.” He nodded but didn’t reply. “Crystal, there’s one more thing I had to tell you.” “Go ahead.” She handed the riddle to Avona, who studied it and passed it on. Zack took a deep breath; odd, she thought, since he was already dead. He said in as calm a voice as he could make, “Wutai is gone.” |
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10-28-2007, 05:40 PM
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This cannot be the end.
