Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy: The First Advent ❯ Tritoch & The Journey's Start ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Silvace Atronach 
An encounter with a long-lost Esper...or maybe two...and the beginning of the journey for four travelers.
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Post-apocalyptic / Fantasy / Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.26.2004 | Pages: 7 | Words: 8.9K | Visits: 192 | Status: Completed
An encounter with a long-lost Esper...or maybe two...and the beginning of the journey for four travelers.
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Post-apocalyptic / Fantasy / Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.26.2004 | Pages: 7 | Words: 8.9K | Visits: 192 | Status: Completed
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<P>Valeria stepped out of the gate of the train station with her "party" in tow of Anita, Biggs, and Wedge. The foursome looked around some at the city within the Seed, noticing just how rather run-down and filthy it was. Buildings were mainly constructed of red brick and wood, which was covered in a mix of black and white; black from the coal-based machinery running in the distance around the mine and white from the cracks in the Seed which let snow in. The buildings were greatly run-down, possessing cracks running through all the cement and brick, entire pieces of the substances missing from the sides of walls; as for the wood, it was moldy and warped in many spots. There was a good two inches or so on the ground, and all due to poor maintenance on the roof of the Seed and the temperature within was a victim of the snow as well. The ground wasn't exactly flat either; the Seed was built around a valley of sorts, the sides sloping up on each side with houses built along the inclines. It was a massive Seed, covering a very large collective area, but only about fourty percent was taken up by the town itself. Valeria pulled her coat tighter around her and shivered, taking the first step into the street ahead, towards the mountain directly ahead of them.
<P>"I heard that this place was a hell-hole, but I never imagined it to be this bad," Wedge commented as they traveled in a sort of diamond-like formation with Valeria at the front, Biggs and Anita second side-by-side, and Wedge in back. Biggs and Wedge had their weapons of choice, broadswords, at their hips while Valeria and Anita remained unarmed but each carried a small bag on a strap over the shoulder.
<P>"Narshe has hit hard times. They have natural resources up the ass, but can't do anything with them. However, times are changing. Ever since the Figaro Seed connected a railroad up here, trade has increased and Narshe is picking up the slack," Valeria explained over her shoulder.
<P>"That's good to hear. All I've ever heard is that Narshe is a 'hive of scum and villiany'," Biggs chimed in. "Perhaps some culture is just what this place needs?"
<P>"Somehow I don't think anything will save this town. It's just like any other mining town. People live here, they die here, they give their lives to the mine and nothing else. Leaving is unheard of, finding a different life is ludicrous. They're miners and nothing else," Anita said, sighing.
<P>"No need to be so depressing, Anita," Valeria said with a chuckle, peeking at the dimly lit display windows to each side of the empty street. She was expecting vehicles or at least townspeople to be wandering around or something, but the town was surprisingly empty.
<P>"I don't think I'm being depressing, I think I'm being realistic," Anita replied.
<P>"I think she has a point. I can't help but notice the lack of attention payed to us outsiders," Biggs said, glancing to each side as the group continued down the street.
<P>Suddenly, a dog began to bark from the left of the intersection they approached. All four froze and looked, seeing two men dressed in wraps of white cloth standing there; one had a dog on a leash. The wraps covered all of their body except the eyes, a puff of white fabric for a hat on each of their heads, and a white cloak around their shoulders.
<P>"I apologize, my old dog here barks at anything and everything," the man with the dog said, the pair approaching Valeria's group.
<P>"Oh, it's no big deal. We're probably just on edge due to how deserted the town is," Valeria said, laughing to herself.
<P>"Speak for yourself, I'm not freaked out in the least," Wedge mumbled.
<P>"That's because no one will come out due to that supposed Esper. We're with the town guard, so we kind of have to brave it out and keep patrolling regardless," the man without the dog explained.
<P>"You're the town guard, huh? Well, can you tell us how to get to the mine? We're a research party sent to examine the Esper and determine its genuity," Valeria replied.
<P>"Just go straight ahead and through that pass," the guard with the dog directed, pointing the way the foursome was going, a pass in the hills just after the edge of the town buildings.
<P>"Then head up the wood scaffolding. Tell the guys there that we sent 'ya and they'll let you in. I warn, though, that damn thing is just too creepy to look at for very long. It has these big, yellow, beady eyes and stuff..." the the guard without the dog added.
<P>"Plus it doesn't respond to anything you do to it and I swear that ice it's encased in isn't really ice. Nothing melts it!" the guard with the dog exclaimed.
<P>"I mean, this moron here," the guard without the dog said, jerking his thumb at his partner,"tapped on it, threw a torch at it, even waved his bare ass at it and nothing happened."
<P>"How barbaric! Did you try talking to it?" Biggs said, startled by their appalling claims.
<P>Both guards looked at one another. "I cut a few dirty insults at it, but that's about it," the one with the dog said, shrugging.
<P>Biggs rolled his eyes.
<P>"Alright, we just needed some directions. Thank you very much," Valeria said, then waved for the others to follow as she started walking again.
<P>"Good luck and all that. I hope it's a fake," one of the guards said, no one sure which since they had their backs to them.
<P>"I hope so too. This place sucks," Anita said, brushing a few snowflakes from her hair.
<P>"Huh? It's snowing?" Wedge said, looking up. Indeed, it was starting to snow lightly.
<P>"Probably just another batch falling in from a clogged crack or something," Biggs said sarcastically.
<P>"A little snow never hurt anyone, stop complaining," Valeria commanded to her group.
<P>"Snow just means change, just like rain. At least in a literature sense," Wedge said, smirking.
<P>"Well, I'll be damned, the oaf mutters something that used all his brain cells," Biggs said, chuckling to himself.
<P>"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, whatever," Wedge said, indifferent.
<P>Valeria growled to herself. She was cold, already aggrivated with this job, and her "bodyguards" weren't helping at all. What a day....what a day....
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>"Stop, thief!" the shopkeeper yelled from the doorway of the bakery at the figure departing across the street. Suddenly, the thief skipped and leapt all the way up to the roof of the two-story building across the street, continuing his sprint. Seeing a gap between the roofs with a stack of crates in between, he drew his spear and used the butt of it to polevault across the gap. He kept running until he reached the end of the row of houses and leapt several more feet into the air, landing down the slope of the valley on another roof, nearer to the center of town. Panting, he sat down and took a loaf of bread from his backpack, shoving it into his mouth while chuckling to himself.
<P>"Georg Dyne does it again! Hooray for me!" the thief said to himself after swallowing, smiling brightly. "Just proves once again that if I set my eyes on something, I never give up until I got it."
<P>Georg was a spirited young man of his mid-twenties. He had long, blonde hair gathered into a braided ponytail and blue eyes. He wore a red shirt and pants with a black breastplate and pauldrons, two pieces of armor at his hips, and a black headband with had the emblem of Burmecia Seed on the front. This marked his profession as that of a dragoon, also known as a dragon knight; the mighty warriors who had incredible jumping strength and an affinity for spears and lances.
<P>"Hello, what do we have here?" Georg said to himself as he looked down to the street. He spotted Valeria's party walking past rather briskly. "More morons going up to the mine, huh? Don't they know that so long as that 'Esper' is around that this town will stay pretty much closed? Oh well, only makes my get-aways easier," he said to himself. "The blonde is a piece of ass, but that shorter one could use some work," he added, looking Valeria and Anita over closely as they passed.
<P>Valeria's party passed and Georg looked the other way at the next set of outsiders. It was Kirkis and Hamru, following the lead of Valeria's party.
<P>"So why are we following them, again?" Kirkis asked Hamru.
<P>"Because they're exactly who I hired you to deal with. They're 'competition' and they're bound to know how to get to where the Esper is in the mine more than we'd know," Hamru said, smirking.
<P>"So why don't we just ask how to get there?" Kirkis asked with an eyebrow raised.
<P>"Why do that when they can lead us to it and do all the work getting there?" Hamru replied,
<P>"That's pretty smart, sir. I compliment your tactics," Kirkis said, chuckling.
<P>"We're going to go far, my boy, this will be a piece of cake," Hamru replied, patting Kirkis' back.
<P>"What do you mean?" Kirkis asked.
<P>"Nothing, nevermind," Hamru replied quickly.
<P>"Methinks something is going down here. A couple of others already came by here earlier and now these clowns. Is everyone after that Esper?" Georg asked himself, then took another bite of his bread. "Oh well, I'm not so stupid as to go after it. I'll just mind my own business out here cultivating my cleptomania," he added, then chuckled and took another large bite of the the loaf.
<P>Kirkis watched as something leapt across the street to the buildings on the opposite side, but decided to ignore it for the time being. Couldn't have possibly been human; had to have been just a pesky animal or something.
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>Valeria stayed close to Anita as the pair stepped into the dim lighting of the mine; Biggs was in front with his hand at the handle of this blade and Wedge to the rear, ready to defend the group if anything, or anyone, attacked. Valeria had a good look around; it was a fresh mineshaft, built horizontal into the mountain, but was beginning to slope downward. The walls were supported with planks of wood and the electrical lighting installed on the ceiling were far from being adequate. The shaft was several yards wide with rails running along the floor for the minecarts; however, it wasn't too high, only about ten feet in height. The air was thick and uncirculated, making it much hotter and muggier than outside the shaft.
<P>"Are we there yet?" Anita whined.
<P>"Who knows? The guards at the entrance weren't even sure just how deep it was. They said all the miners who found it just up and ran off so no one around here knows how deep," Valeria replied.
<P>"Great, so we could be stuck wandering around here for days?" Wedge said with a groan.
<P>"No, it means that we'll be going in a straight line for a while. Usually mines don't branch off this early in their construction," Biggs corrected him.
<P>"That's even worst. I hate having to wait more than I do having to worry about getting lost," Wedge replied.
<P>"I'm just anxious about the Esper itself. We don't know if it'll be a fake, or if it's real that it'll be safe to get near, or what will happen if we try to examine it, or what we'll learn when we study it and-" Anita began to prattle on with.
<P>"Anita, put a sock in it," Valeria interrupted, cutting her off. "Look, we're all nervous, okay? What human being isn't scared of the unknown?"
<P>"She's right, it's merely fear of what we don't know that has our nerves racked. Just keep your mind off of it," Biggs consoled.
<P>"I guess you're right. I mean, we have time to settle down, now don't we?" Anita said, smiling and laughing nervously.
<P>"Not exactly. Look ahead," Biggs said as the foursome walked through an arch and entered a rather large cave within the shaft. The ceiling was much higher with staglatites hanging overhead, dripping water in rhythm. Staglamites were lined along the walls and in the middle of the cave alongside shallow pools of water gathered in a much softer ground. More electrical lights were strug around from one staglamite to another, but the bulbs were just as dim as the others.
<P>"Amazing! The ground here is a bit softer, like it's permeated rock instead of the dry igneous we've been walking through in the shaft," Valeria said, squatting down to feel the ground.
<P>"But how can that be? This mine is too deep underground to have anything like that!" Anita said, scratching her head.
<P>"Could it be that thing that lended it a hand?" Wedge said, pointing up to an object at the far end of the cave.
<P>All four looked where Wedge pointed and sure enough there was something quite out of place at the far end of the cave. As they approached, the dim light could make out for them a massive chunk of ice, sitting on top of what looked like a short pedestal of rock. Biggs, Wedge, and Anita stopped to look around the immediate area while Valeria kept walking. She squinted and moved so that not so much light was reflecting off of it and as the glare moved away, it revealed a pair of beady yellow eyes. She was startled for a second, but then examined the rest of it, seeing the figure of a magnificient bird-like creature. It was primarily a turquiose color, but it had a rainbow of feathers on the tips of the wings and the tail with a white breast. Her eyes widened as she reached forward and touched the ice, then gasped.
<P>"This is impossible! It looks like it's encased in ice, but this supposed 'ice' isn't the least bit cold!" Valeria exclaimed.
<P>"What are you talking about?" Anita said, completely baffled. "You can't have ice without cold and this place sure as hell is cold enough and-". She froze the moment she laid a hand on the ice encasing. "You're right, it's actually kind of warm."
<P>"Then perhaps this must be the genuine article. Only an Esper can manipulate the laws of physics in such an obvious manner," Biggs said, looking at the creature, rubbing his chin.
<P>"If that's the case, then let's get to work," Valeria said, about to dig into her bag.
<P>Anita nodded and began looking through her things.
<P>They all paused for a moment, but Wedge spoke up. "You know, I just realized something," he said, peering around the rest of the cave.
<P>"What's that?" Biggs replied.
<P>"Nobody else is here. No guards, no townspeople, no miners, no other researchers or power-seekers or adventurers just out to see the world. It's like we're the first and only people to come here," Wedge pointed out.
<P>The others remained silent.
<P>"That's because this thing killed every single person who got close to it, no doubt," a new voice said from the entrance.
<P>"Who's there?" Biggs demanded to know, him and Wedge immediately drawing their blades.
<P>Two gunshots replied, sending Biggs and Wedge's swords from their grips and to the ground at the far sides of the cave. In walked Barts, his enormous gun held in both hands under his right armpit as he walked towards the group.
<P>"Hey! Are you crazy? Just what are you doing here?" Valeria said, dropping her bag and taking a step forward.
<P>"Back off, lady, I'm here to see to it that this thing never causes problems for anyone," Barts replied, stopping a few feet from the group and raising his gun up to a readied position to fire.
<P>"What do you mean? You want to kill it?" Anita demanded to know.
<P>"Exactly," Barts said with a smirk.
<P>Valeria's eyes widened once again, sneering. "You can't do that! We just got here! Look, you can shoot it all you want after we get our tests, okay?"
<P>"No can do, lady. This Esper needs to die, just like all the others! They're the spawn of an angry planet and they'll only corrupt us and kill more humans!" Barts said with an angry crescendo.
<P>"I can't let you do that," Valeria said, stepping directly in Barts' line of sight. "You want the Esper? Go through me!"
<P>"Val'! Be rational!" Wedge shouted. "Your life isn't worth just one Esper! We'll find more!"
<P>"How dare you threaten a lady's life in such a manner! Have at thee, brute!" Biggs shouted, rushing forward to tackle Barts.
<P>Barts easily noticed him and swung his aim at Biggs, firing off three shots in a heartbeat. One landed in his stomach and the other in his leg, the third missing entirely. Biggs collapsed halfway as a result.
<P>"Biggs! Buddy!" Wedge cried out, rushing to his friend and kneeling beside him.
<P>"All of you shut your damn mouths and get out of my way! The Esper is dead, you hear me? Dead!" Barts roared, switching his aim back to Valeria and the creature.
<P>Biggs coughed a few times and looked up. "Wait a minute, I've heard of you," he said, like nothing had happened to him. "You're the infamous 'Esper-Hunter' Barts Game, aren't you? You're the only man known to be able to use a gun of that size with that degree of speed and skill," he explained. "I would have noticed sooner, but they said you were a black-haired fellow, not a red-head," he added with a smirk.
<P>"I have a lot of impersonators, I guess," Barts replied, smirking.
<P>"You also use specially sage-crafted bullets, which are specifically meant to destroy Espers, don't you?" Biggs asked.
<P>"Quit giving away my secrets of the trade, man," Barts demanded. "Now, everyone get out of my way. I need to exterminate this pest."
<P>"I'm not moving! I've come too far to just give this one away! This Esper holds secrets that need unlocked and only then should we elminate them. Trust me, I don't like the idea of letting one loose any more than you probably do, but that's no reason to just-" Valeria started to say.
<P>She was interrupted by a shadow dropping from above and quickly holding a katana around her throat. "Easy there, the more you talk, the more breath you're wasting."
<P>"Val'! Not again!" Anita cried out. She then quickly dug around in her bag and pulled out a rather large handgun.
<P>"You brought that along? Put it away before you kill someone!" Valeria shouted at Anita.
<P>"Hey, I thought it might come in handy, so what?" Anita said as she aimed the gun at the person behind Valeria.
<P>"And just what do you want? Who are you anyway?" Wedge asked at the newcomer.
<P>"Just a freelancer with little to do with this conversation. An old man asked me to keep you restrained, lady," Kirkis, the person holding Valeria by the blade, said.
<P>"Hey, you mind moving her out of my way? I'd rather not have to kill anyone," Barts asked nicely.
<P>"I'm not really allowed to move either. That was a specific instruction," Kirkis said, smiling.
<P>"Then I'll just have to kill you both," Barts said, taking aim.
<P>"Hey! You can't kill her!" a new voice said from behind a row of staglamites. "I'm suppose to!" And with that, Terra, in a black cloak, emerged with a long, thin blade in each hand holding them outside her cloak.
<P>"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it, stewardess?" Barts said, glancing at the newcomer.
<P>"I'll kill every last one of you, that's what! Nobody gets in the way of my target and no one kills them for me!" Terra exclaimed. "And don't call me 'stewardess'! That was just so I could get a free ride on the train."
<P>"You're here to kill Val'? Why? Who are you?" Anita cried out, moving her aim to Terra instead.
<P>"Client and assassin confidentiality, sorry," Terra replied, not looking away from Barts.
<P>"I don't care who you're working for or what idle threat you spout off! The Esper must die!" Barts said, then readied himself to mow down Valeria, Kirkis, and the Esper.
<P>"You kill her and I'll kill you, buster," Terra shouted, holding up her swords.
<P>"You kill her and I'll kill you first!" Anita shouted, switching between Terra and Barts with her own aim.
<P>"And if you kill him after he kills her, I'll kill every single one of you!" Terra roared.
<P>"If anyone gets killed, I'll take down the one who started this whole thing!" Wedge said, whipping two daggers out, one from each one of his boots.
<P>"My, this is awkward, isn't it," Kirkis said with a nervous laugh.
<P>Everyone was silent for what seemed like an eternity, everyone shifting their eyes to one another, wondering who would be the first to act.
<P>"Young people, so rash and so stubborn," an older voice said from the entrance. It was Mister Hamru, strolling slowly into the room and in between each person.
<P>"Hamru, what are you doing here?" Kirkis asked.
<P>"Seems the stage is set, but we have a few extra cast members out here, now don't we?" Hamru said, stepping up to the creature's 'ice' prison.
<P>"What are you talking about old man? You planning on ranting about this thing too?" Barts asked impatiently.
<P>"No, I'm going to examine it while you young folks are stuck in a stand-off," Hamru said, smiling.
<P>The others were silent, unable to tell what he was really doing here.
<P>"Tritoch, you surprise me! Forcibly encasing yourself in solidified magic? You don't want humans to get near you that much?" Hamru said, placing his hands on the 'ice'. When he did, bright blue waves were sent through the 'ice', like he had put his hands in a puddle.
<P>"Hey, what's he talking about?" Terra asked, curious.
<P>"Damned if I know," Barts replied.
<P>"Psst, hey, you," Valeria whispered to Kirkis.
<P>"I can't talk to my hostage," Kirkis replied in a whisper.
<P>"Look, let me go and stop Barts and I'll give you twice what the old man is offering," Valeria said, smirking.
<P>"I don't know, he offered an awful lot and you sure don't seem like you can offer that much," Kirkis said, thinking it over.
<P>"I work for a Philosopher. Trust me, I can get the money," Valeria replied.
<P>"Well, it is a big gun that guy has and you have that assassin chick right there, so I don't see why you'd risk it and-" Kirkis began to ramble on.
<P>"Triple!" Valeria said in a louder whisper.
<P>"Deal," Kirkis immediately replied with.
<P>"I brought two with me. They need some of your counsel," Hamru said, closing his eyes as small waves kept pulsing through the 'ice' from his hands.
<P>The next few things to happen were like a blur. Kirkis threw Valeria to the ground and began charging forward over her. Valeria landed flat and then looked up to Anita and shouted,"Shoot the cloaked chick!" With that, Anita's handgun made a light whirring sound and fired a small blue blast at Terra, sending her into a staglamite. Meanwhile, Barts saw Kirkis rushing forward and began firing, three bullets whizzing by Kirkis before he could get within range and swipe at the gun. Barts' aim was knocked upward and he fired off several more shots into the ceiling, causing staglatites to fall and nearly impale everyone in the room.
<P>Barts staggered back, dropping the front of his gun to the ground, resting on one knee. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he shouted as Kirkis as the swordsman cracked his neck and stopped near a fallen staglatite.
<P>"Yay! We defeated the bad guys!" Anita cheered.
<P>"Yeah! Go...that guy!" Wedge cheered as well, pointing at Kirkis.
<P>"Woop-de-doo," Biggs said, twirling his index finger from his flattened position.
<P>"Bad guys? What?" Terra shouted, holding her left shoulder, where Anita shot her.
<P>"You two came in here swinging your weapons around and threatening lives. We just came here to study it!" Anita pointed out. "And now you got hit hard by the mighty hammer of justice!" she added with much vigor.
<P>Barts and Terrra glared at Anita.
<P>"Anyone is my target for the right price," Kirkis said, shrugging. "And I expect payment in full, lady," he added, looking back at Valeria.
<P>However, Valeria was staring at Hamru and the creature. "Biggs, you were right. Barts' bullets...look what they did!"
<P>Everyone looked back at the front of the room, where Hamru was on one knee, holding his shoulder. A bullet had grazed him, opening a wound. However, he didn't have blood coming out, nor did he seem to have any innards; instead, green static energy could be seen underneath his skin, inbetween his fingers as they tried to cover the wound. The other two bullets had entered the 'ice' and were suspended within it, glowing bright green. Suddenly, they were forced back out with the sound and similar action of something breaking glass. Shards of the 'ice' landed on the floor along with the two compacted bullets; they both stopped glowing as they hit the ground.
<P>"You fools! Stop this at once!" Hamru shouted angrily.
<P>"Look at the size of those chunks the bullets took out! That must be one hell of a gun!" Kirkis said, amazed.
<P>Valeria thinned her eyes at Kirkis' statement and knelt, picking up a handful of the larger chunks of the 'ice', putting them in her pocket.
<P>"You better believe it is, now I'm going to finish it off!" Barts said, scrambling to his feet and raising his gun again.
<P>"No! Don't do it!" Valeria cried out., suddenly getting back up to her feet.
<P>"Not this again," Kirkis said, sighing.
<P>"Enough!"
<P>Suddenly, all the lights flickered and cut off, the room falling dark. All the occupants, except Hamru, were suddenly siezed in a blue flame that surrounded each of them. The creature's eyes flared and its icy prison began to glow, getting brighter and then softer in rhythm with the blue flames.
<P>"Hey! I can't move!" Wedge cried out.
<P>"What the hell is going on?" Barts roared, thrashing about. It was like his body was mostly paralyzed, only able to swing his limbs about so far.
<P>"Tritoch, please, spare them! We can't tarnish our name any further by taking their lives!" Hamru begged.
<P>"They bicker amongst themselves, just like humans do. I don't see how they are any different," the same voice that shouted before the enigma began said.
<P>"But I brought two just to show that humans and Espers can cooperate! We can co-exist!" Hamru shouted.
<P>"How can you say that when they have been put to sleep?" the voice replied angrily. "Are you still too far under the effects of the last Purge to notice?"
<P>"Who's talking? It's like something's speaking right into my mind!" Anita squealed.
<P>"That's the voice of Tritoch, the powerful Esper you fools have just angered," Hamru said, turning back to the others and pointing to the creature.
<P>"It really is an Esper?" Valeria said, shocked.
<P>"Good, now I can have a confirmed kill...if I could just move!" Barts said, furious.
<P>"I tire of this. I hid myself away from humans for good reason and I'll see to it that I bury myself once again," the voice said.
<P>"No, wait! I can't find the others unless you aid me!" Hamru pleaded. "Join me, Tritoch, and we'll gather the others for The First Advent!"
<P>"I refuse! That's only a myth, just as we are meant to be!" the voice replied angrily.
<P>"I beg of you Tritoch, please-"
<P>"One more word out of you, Ramuh, and I'll see to it that you never set foot out of here again!" the voice quickly replied.
<P>"Ramuh? Who?" Terra asked, flailing about as Barts was.
<P>"Ramuh! The legendary Esper of lightning! Is he saying that that old man is-" Biggs began to ask.
<P>"Begone! All of you!" the voice roared and blue light exploded outwards from Tritoch.
<P>At that moment, Kirkis gasped as, in the blink of an eye, it seemed like a whole layer of reality was peeled off. As he opened his eyes again, Hamru was now a bald man with a long and large braided beard, a white cloak on with a staff in his hand. Tritoch wasn't within his ice prison, but rather was sitting atop a throne built for a magnificient bird creature like itself. And the blue flame wasn't even there; for a second, he felt as if he were suspended in a void along with them.
<P><I>This is your chance....wake up!</I>
<P>"What?" Kirkis asked himself.
<P><I>Liberate yourself! Remember who you are and why you are here...wake up!"</I>
<P>"I don't know what you're talking about!"
<P><I>After all, you're still just....a child...</I>
<P>Kirkis shuddered, unable to understand who was talking to him anymore or what they were talking about; however, at the same time, something was tugging at his mind. A feeling like something was grabbing hold and he was suddenly struck with a bombardment of consciousness. Hundreds of visions crossed his mind at once, causing him to grip his head and scream. Memories flooded his mind, remember things he never thought he ever knew; some familiar while others so radical he couldn't believe he had ever been in such situations. More blue light came, washing him away like a torrent, sending him through time and space...
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>People south of Narshe saw what happened and were abuzz all afternoon about it. According to eye witnesses, an explosion of blue energy came out of the mine and destroyed almost half of the entire Seed. It was visible from hundreds of miles away, all the way south to Figaro Seed and even to the far southeast in Bevelle Seed. Edwin Figaro sent rescue teams up to the town to see what happened and about survivors, but the train tunnels, the only safe way to Narshe, were somehow blocked by debris being sent across the town and down the tunnel. Plans were hurriedly being prepared for the dangerous travel north, through the blizzard-ridden tundra up to Narshe; but due to the nature of the climate, travel would be nearly impossible.
<P>So Edwin set into motion a non-stop excavation of the debris blocking the train tunnel. He promised that no matter what, he wouldn't abandon people in a time of crisis, and especially from a dear friend like the Narshe Seed and its people. However, rumors and fears of Espers were beginning to spread among the common people once again; whispered amongst one another in bars and taverns, discussed at dinner tables, and casually mentioned at camp fires in the ruins of less-fortunate Seeds...
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>Kirkis woke up staring at the half-missing ceiling of the Seed, snow gently falling on his face with his back on the ground. He suddenly shot up and looked around, seeing that he was laying in the ruins of Narshe; the town was quite literally flattened by what had happened. Buildings were either leveled entirely, save a few stubborn planks that stayed up, or merely singed with black marks against he wood or brick. Snow was falling rapidly from the open ceiling, sign that yet another blizzard was coming sooner or later. He shuddered and gripped his head again, almost pained mentally by what had just happened to him.
<P>"What just happened? Why...no, how can I remember these things? Why am I now so suddenly...familiar with things I've never heard of in my entire life?" he asked himself, curling up into a fetal position and quivering with fear and panic. "It's like I opened up an old closet full of stuff I haven't seen in years. Not so much events or people, just...things. Knowledge, concepts, skills, abilities...what is this that I can now remember? 'Spells'?" he added, looking at his now red and shaking left hand. The snow was starting to get to him, making his skin ache and itch, trying to tell him to get to warmer ground.
<P>"Hey! Mister freelancer-dude!" a familiar voice shouted from a few feet away.
<P>Kirkis unbunched himself and sat up, instantly snapping out of his panic; like somehow it all sank in at once and he was back to normal, but with noticeable change that somehow passed as indifferent to him now. It was a strange, awkward feeling, but seeing Anita hurry up to him was somehow distracting enough.
<P>"You made it, huh?" Anita said, smiling.
<P>"Yeah, so did you, I see," Kirkis replied, nodding once.
<P>"You have any idea what just happened? Or have you seen the others?" Anita asked, looking around at the wreckage as she spoke.
<P>"No, I just woke up," Kirkis said, standing up and brushing snow off his robe.
<P>"But what about Biggs and Wedge and Val'? Or how about that old man you were with?"
<P>"I told you, I just woke up," Kirkis said, sighing. He made sure to check his waist, seeing that his sword was safely back in the sheath, much like he had never drawn it.
<P>"Did anyone get the number of that train that just hit me? Or at least it felt like one did," Valeria said as she staggered around the still-standing wall of a wrecked building.
<P>"Val'! You're okay!" Anita squealed happily and ran up to Valeria, hugging her.
<P>"I'm glad to see you too," Valeria said, smiling and patting Anita's back.
<P>"Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" Anita said, letting off the hug and stepping back some.
<P>"I'm fine. I'm just walking funny because I feel like I've been asleep for a while, but with a throbbing headache," Valeria explained.
<P>"Me too, actually. Minus the headache, of course," Anita replied.
<P>"Me three," Kirkis chimed in, walking up to and standing beside the pair.
<P>"Oh, you're here too?" Valeria said, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Kirkis.
<P>"I can't die until you pay me," Kirkis said, folding his arms.
<P>"And I guess I can't die until I pay you, eh?" Valeria said, smirking.
<P>"It's part of our non-verbal contract, I guess," Kirkis said, shrugging.
<P>Valeria nodded at him, then sighed and looked at the ground. "Look at all this. This is the power of Espers? They can level entire cities just like this?"
<P>Anita sighed as well, looking at all the damage. "All those innocent people...they never saw it coming..."
<P>"What I want to know is why we're still alive," Kirkis said, butting in once again. "If we're alive, then maybe that means the rest of the people are too?"
<P>"How could anyone have survived this?" Valeria said, holding out a hand and moving it across the landscape.
<P>"Just trying to be optomistic. Maybe whatever force kept us out of the explosion and moved us to safe ground did the same for the townspeople?"
<P>"Don't be silly! Why would an Esper go to the trouble of leveling a town and not the people in it?" Valeria asked, rolling her eyes.
<P>"I don't know, maybe it just wanted to scare them off, not hurt them. Tritoch, the name that Hamru or Ramuh or whatever his name was used, seemed quite angry at humans, but maybe it doesn't really want to hurt them? It seemed to me more like it wanted to remain alone, away from them," Kirkis said solemnly. "Maybe the old legends aren't true. You heard how it spoke, right? Espers must feel things too, they aren't just powerhouses."
<P>Valeria fell silent, looking upwards at the falling snow. "Maybe...but I'll just have to see it for myself."
<P>Anita paused as well, staring at the ground instead. "Val', what are we going to do now? We lost the Esper before we could study it. I mean, look at the mine, it's caved in pretty badly," she said, pointing to the mountain in the distance. "Should we just leave or stay and try to help the town survivors, if any? And what about Biggs and Wedge?"
<P>Valeria sighed and paced around a few times, thinking. "We'll just have to head back to Treno Seed. Boris needs to know what happened here as soon as possible. Plus, I have to deliver some of these," she said, then dug out a few of the shards of the 'ice' from her pocket,"to Rune to study. I know he'll be itching to test them out."
<P>"What are those?" Anita asked, curious.
<P>"Shards of the substance that the Esper was encased in. That old guy said it was 'solidified magic' and it looks like gemstones. Who knows what these could be used for?" Valeria said, smiling at Anita.
<P>"Looks like you girls are in luck, here comes someone in one of those new all-terrain vehicles," Kirkis said, looking towards the otherside of the Seed. Sure enough, a silver four-wheeled vehicle was driving across town, over all the debris and towards the three.
<P>"Someone did live through all this?" Valeria said, awestruck as she put the shards back in her pocket.
<P>"Like I said, it probably didn't hurt anyone, it just wanted to be left alone," Kirkis said, shrugging.
<P>"But how could you-" Valeria began to ask in a whisper, but cut herself off. This fellow was truly baffling her and asking would only make things more annoying.
<P>"But Val', what about Biggs and Wedge and those other two? Do you think they made it out of the mine too? Shouldn't we go look for them?" Anita asked, a worried look on her face.
<P>"We don't have time to go back, Anita, we have to hurry back to Boris now. Biggs and Wedge are grown men, they can take care of themselves. I don't want to sound cruel or cold, but we'll have to leave them," Valeria said in a sigh.
<P>Anita bit her lip and looked at the ground.
<P>The vehicle pulled up next to the three and the driver's side window rolled down. It looked like a fully armored transport van with thin windows along the sides behind the cab and a door on the back that was as high as the vehicle was, allowing anyone to walk in and out without having to duck. Out popped Georg's head from the window, smiling at them.
<P>"Hey! Survivors! Radical!" Georg said happily.
<P>"Who are you? What are you doing out here?" Valeria asked.
<P>"The name's Georg, Georg Dyne. What am I doing? I'm getting my ass out of here. Let's just say that sticking around hotspots like this Seed aren't very healthy for me. So I borrowed this car from the deserted garage in town and I'm heading back to civilization," Georg replied, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.
<P>"Why'd you stop for us then?" Anita chimed in.
<P>"Eh, I saw you guys walking into the mine earlier and seeing as you all lived, you must be badass or something, so I was going to invite ya'll along. Traveling around the wasteland is dangerous, you know," Georg said, smirking.
<P>"I wouldn't say we're 'badass', we just had a stroke of dumb luck...or the mercy of an Esper, whichever the case," Kirkis said, leaning on the side of the car behind the cab. "Anyway, I'll take you up on that offer. There isn't much to do here and free rides are always a good idea to accept," he said, smiling.
<P>"Can you take us to Treno Seed? That's as far as we need to go, if you can," Valeria requested.
<P>"Honey, I'll take you anywhere you want to go," Georg said, arching his eyebrows a few times and smiling with all his teeth. "Anywhere."
<P>Valeria rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure I want to be around this guy."
<P>"Why not, Val'?" Anita asked innocently.
<P>"Oh, poor, sweet, naive Anita. You have a lot to learn," Valeria said, patting Anita on the head condescendingly.
<P>"Don't worry, my contract with you hasn't run out yet. I'll protect you," Kirkis said, nodding at Valeria.
<P>"Oh yes! We have this mighty knight-in-shining-armor to keep us safe!" Valeria said, patting Kirkis in the shoulder. "Then by all means! To Treno Seed!"
<P>"Yay! We get to take a road trip!" Anita cheered. "I'll get the bags! I found them over by a toilet that somehow survived the blast." With that, she hurried off.
<P>"Then all aboard! We're going A.S.A.P.!" Georg said as the back door to the car dropped, making a ramp.
<P>Kirkis stood off the car and turned to head inside it. Just then, Valeria grabbed his arm and lead him to the back corner of the car. "Alright, look. If he so much as thinks about touching me, lop off his 'equipment', got it?"
<P>Kirkis laughed nervously. "Yes, ma'am...." he said, humoring her.
<P>"And if you do it, I'll see to it that you get the same treatment," Valeria added quickly before heading up the ramp into the back of the car.
<P>"Sheesh, what an insecure woman," Kirkis said, stroking his hair. He sighed and headed inside the car as well to find that the back of it was merely two benches on each side of an aisle that lead up to the cab. "Dude, you hijacked a troop carrier! How are we suppose to survive in this?"
<P>"Don't worry, we'll make do," Georg said over his shoulder from the driver's seat.
<P>Kirkis groaned and sprawled out on the bench on the left, Valeria sitting on the one on the right.
<P>"What are you so tired about?" Valeria asked, folding her legs.
<P>Kirkis thought about trying to explain what had happened to him with the light and all the things he remebered, but then recalled that he had only known her for about ten minutes now. So instead, he just said,"Been a long day." And with that, he rolled over and started to snooze.
<P>"Traveling is the best!" Anita squealed as she pranced inside the car and dropped her and Valeria's bags on the floor before taking a seat next to Valeria.
<P>"Alright, time to hit the road!" Georg shouted with a laugh and hit the gas, sending the car into a fishtail before the wheels caught and it barreled towards one of the ancient exits of the Seed. The door opened automatically and the new party of travelers went out in into the wasteland, about to face all the dangers the ruined world could throw at them...
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<P>Valeria stepped out of the gate of the train station with her "party" in tow of Anita, Biggs, and Wedge. The foursome looked around some at the city within the Seed, noticing just how rather run-down and filthy it was. Buildings were mainly constructed of red brick and wood, which was covered in a mix of black and white; black from the coal-based machinery running in the distance around the mine and white from the cracks in the Seed which let snow in. The buildings were greatly run-down, possessing cracks running through all the cement and brick, entire pieces of the substances missing from the sides of walls; as for the wood, it was moldy and warped in many spots. There was a good two inches or so on the ground, and all due to poor maintenance on the roof of the Seed and the temperature within was a victim of the snow as well. The ground wasn't exactly flat either; the Seed was built around a valley of sorts, the sides sloping up on each side with houses built along the inclines. It was a massive Seed, covering a very large collective area, but only about fourty percent was taken up by the town itself. Valeria pulled her coat tighter around her and shivered, taking the first step into the street ahead, towards the mountain directly ahead of them.
<P>"I heard that this place was a hell-hole, but I never imagined it to be this bad," Wedge commented as they traveled in a sort of diamond-like formation with Valeria at the front, Biggs and Anita second side-by-side, and Wedge in back. Biggs and Wedge had their weapons of choice, broadswords, at their hips while Valeria and Anita remained unarmed but each carried a small bag on a strap over the shoulder.
<P>"Narshe has hit hard times. They have natural resources up the ass, but can't do anything with them. However, times are changing. Ever since the Figaro Seed connected a railroad up here, trade has increased and Narshe is picking up the slack," Valeria explained over her shoulder.
<P>"That's good to hear. All I've ever heard is that Narshe is a 'hive of scum and villiany'," Biggs chimed in. "Perhaps some culture is just what this place needs?"
<P>"Somehow I don't think anything will save this town. It's just like any other mining town. People live here, they die here, they give their lives to the mine and nothing else. Leaving is unheard of, finding a different life is ludicrous. They're miners and nothing else," Anita said, sighing.
<P>"No need to be so depressing, Anita," Valeria said with a chuckle, peeking at the dimly lit display windows to each side of the empty street. She was expecting vehicles or at least townspeople to be wandering around or something, but the town was surprisingly empty.
<P>"I don't think I'm being depressing, I think I'm being realistic," Anita replied.
<P>"I think she has a point. I can't help but notice the lack of attention payed to us outsiders," Biggs said, glancing to each side as the group continued down the street.
<P>Suddenly, a dog began to bark from the left of the intersection they approached. All four froze and looked, seeing two men dressed in wraps of white cloth standing there; one had a dog on a leash. The wraps covered all of their body except the eyes, a puff of white fabric for a hat on each of their heads, and a white cloak around their shoulders.
<P>"I apologize, my old dog here barks at anything and everything," the man with the dog said, the pair approaching Valeria's group.
<P>"Oh, it's no big deal. We're probably just on edge due to how deserted the town is," Valeria said, laughing to herself.
<P>"Speak for yourself, I'm not freaked out in the least," Wedge mumbled.
<P>"That's because no one will come out due to that supposed Esper. We're with the town guard, so we kind of have to brave it out and keep patrolling regardless," the man without the dog explained.
<P>"You're the town guard, huh? Well, can you tell us how to get to the mine? We're a research party sent to examine the Esper and determine its genuity," Valeria replied.
<P>"Just go straight ahead and through that pass," the guard with the dog directed, pointing the way the foursome was going, a pass in the hills just after the edge of the town buildings.
<P>"Then head up the wood scaffolding. Tell the guys there that we sent 'ya and they'll let you in. I warn, though, that damn thing is just too creepy to look at for very long. It has these big, yellow, beady eyes and stuff..." the the guard without the dog added.
<P>"Plus it doesn't respond to anything you do to it and I swear that ice it's encased in isn't really ice. Nothing melts it!" the guard with the dog exclaimed.
<P>"I mean, this moron here," the guard without the dog said, jerking his thumb at his partner,"tapped on it, threw a torch at it, even waved his bare ass at it and nothing happened."
<P>"How barbaric! Did you try talking to it?" Biggs said, startled by their appalling claims.
<P>Both guards looked at one another. "I cut a few dirty insults at it, but that's about it," the one with the dog said, shrugging.
<P>Biggs rolled his eyes.
<P>"Alright, we just needed some directions. Thank you very much," Valeria said, then waved for the others to follow as she started walking again.
<P>"Good luck and all that. I hope it's a fake," one of the guards said, no one sure which since they had their backs to them.
<P>"I hope so too. This place sucks," Anita said, brushing a few snowflakes from her hair.
<P>"Huh? It's snowing?" Wedge said, looking up. Indeed, it was starting to snow lightly.
<P>"Probably just another batch falling in from a clogged crack or something," Biggs said sarcastically.
<P>"A little snow never hurt anyone, stop complaining," Valeria commanded to her group.
<P>"Snow just means change, just like rain. At least in a literature sense," Wedge said, smirking.
<P>"Well, I'll be damned, the oaf mutters something that used all his brain cells," Biggs said, chuckling to himself.
<P>"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, whatever," Wedge said, indifferent.
<P>Valeria growled to herself. She was cold, already aggrivated with this job, and her "bodyguards" weren't helping at all. What a day....what a day....
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>"Stop, thief!" the shopkeeper yelled from the doorway of the bakery at the figure departing across the street. Suddenly, the thief skipped and leapt all the way up to the roof of the two-story building across the street, continuing his sprint. Seeing a gap between the roofs with a stack of crates in between, he drew his spear and used the butt of it to polevault across the gap. He kept running until he reached the end of the row of houses and leapt several more feet into the air, landing down the slope of the valley on another roof, nearer to the center of town. Panting, he sat down and took a loaf of bread from his backpack, shoving it into his mouth while chuckling to himself.
<P>"Georg Dyne does it again! Hooray for me!" the thief said to himself after swallowing, smiling brightly. "Just proves once again that if I set my eyes on something, I never give up until I got it."
<P>Georg was a spirited young man of his mid-twenties. He had long, blonde hair gathered into a braided ponytail and blue eyes. He wore a red shirt and pants with a black breastplate and pauldrons, two pieces of armor at his hips, and a black headband with had the emblem of Burmecia Seed on the front. This marked his profession as that of a dragoon, also known as a dragon knight; the mighty warriors who had incredible jumping strength and an affinity for spears and lances.
<P>"Hello, what do we have here?" Georg said to himself as he looked down to the street. He spotted Valeria's party walking past rather briskly. "More morons going up to the mine, huh? Don't they know that so long as that 'Esper' is around that this town will stay pretty much closed? Oh well, only makes my get-aways easier," he said to himself. "The blonde is a piece of ass, but that shorter one could use some work," he added, looking Valeria and Anita over closely as they passed.
<P>Valeria's party passed and Georg looked the other way at the next set of outsiders. It was Kirkis and Hamru, following the lead of Valeria's party.
<P>"So why are we following them, again?" Kirkis asked Hamru.
<P>"Because they're exactly who I hired you to deal with. They're 'competition' and they're bound to know how to get to where the Esper is in the mine more than we'd know," Hamru said, smirking.
<P>"So why don't we just ask how to get there?" Kirkis asked with an eyebrow raised.
<P>"Why do that when they can lead us to it and do all the work getting there?" Hamru replied,
<P>"That's pretty smart, sir. I compliment your tactics," Kirkis said, chuckling.
<P>"We're going to go far, my boy, this will be a piece of cake," Hamru replied, patting Kirkis' back.
<P>"What do you mean?" Kirkis asked.
<P>"Nothing, nevermind," Hamru replied quickly.
<P>"Methinks something is going down here. A couple of others already came by here earlier and now these clowns. Is everyone after that Esper?" Georg asked himself, then took another bite of his bread. "Oh well, I'm not so stupid as to go after it. I'll just mind my own business out here cultivating my cleptomania," he added, then chuckled and took another large bite of the the loaf.
<P>Kirkis watched as something leapt across the street to the buildings on the opposite side, but decided to ignore it for the time being. Couldn't have possibly been human; had to have been just a pesky animal or something.
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>Valeria stayed close to Anita as the pair stepped into the dim lighting of the mine; Biggs was in front with his hand at the handle of this blade and Wedge to the rear, ready to defend the group if anything, or anyone, attacked. Valeria had a good look around; it was a fresh mineshaft, built horizontal into the mountain, but was beginning to slope downward. The walls were supported with planks of wood and the electrical lighting installed on the ceiling were far from being adequate. The shaft was several yards wide with rails running along the floor for the minecarts; however, it wasn't too high, only about ten feet in height. The air was thick and uncirculated, making it much hotter and muggier than outside the shaft.
<P>"Are we there yet?" Anita whined.
<P>"Who knows? The guards at the entrance weren't even sure just how deep it was. They said all the miners who found it just up and ran off so no one around here knows how deep," Valeria replied.
<P>"Great, so we could be stuck wandering around here for days?" Wedge said with a groan.
<P>"No, it means that we'll be going in a straight line for a while. Usually mines don't branch off this early in their construction," Biggs corrected him.
<P>"That's even worst. I hate having to wait more than I do having to worry about getting lost," Wedge replied.
<P>"I'm just anxious about the Esper itself. We don't know if it'll be a fake, or if it's real that it'll be safe to get near, or what will happen if we try to examine it, or what we'll learn when we study it and-" Anita began to prattle on with.
<P>"Anita, put a sock in it," Valeria interrupted, cutting her off. "Look, we're all nervous, okay? What human being isn't scared of the unknown?"
<P>"She's right, it's merely fear of what we don't know that has our nerves racked. Just keep your mind off of it," Biggs consoled.
<P>"I guess you're right. I mean, we have time to settle down, now don't we?" Anita said, smiling and laughing nervously.
<P>"Not exactly. Look ahead," Biggs said as the foursome walked through an arch and entered a rather large cave within the shaft. The ceiling was much higher with staglatites hanging overhead, dripping water in rhythm. Staglamites were lined along the walls and in the middle of the cave alongside shallow pools of water gathered in a much softer ground. More electrical lights were strug around from one staglamite to another, but the bulbs were just as dim as the others.
<P>"Amazing! The ground here is a bit softer, like it's permeated rock instead of the dry igneous we've been walking through in the shaft," Valeria said, squatting down to feel the ground.
<P>"But how can that be? This mine is too deep underground to have anything like that!" Anita said, scratching her head.
<P>"Could it be that thing that lended it a hand?" Wedge said, pointing up to an object at the far end of the cave.
<P>All four looked where Wedge pointed and sure enough there was something quite out of place at the far end of the cave. As they approached, the dim light could make out for them a massive chunk of ice, sitting on top of what looked like a short pedestal of rock. Biggs, Wedge, and Anita stopped to look around the immediate area while Valeria kept walking. She squinted and moved so that not so much light was reflecting off of it and as the glare moved away, it revealed a pair of beady yellow eyes. She was startled for a second, but then examined the rest of it, seeing the figure of a magnificient bird-like creature. It was primarily a turquiose color, but it had a rainbow of feathers on the tips of the wings and the tail with a white breast. Her eyes widened as she reached forward and touched the ice, then gasped.
<P>"This is impossible! It looks like it's encased in ice, but this supposed 'ice' isn't the least bit cold!" Valeria exclaimed.
<P>"What are you talking about?" Anita said, completely baffled. "You can't have ice without cold and this place sure as hell is cold enough and-". She froze the moment she laid a hand on the ice encasing. "You're right, it's actually kind of warm."
<P>"Then perhaps this must be the genuine article. Only an Esper can manipulate the laws of physics in such an obvious manner," Biggs said, looking at the creature, rubbing his chin.
<P>"If that's the case, then let's get to work," Valeria said, about to dig into her bag.
<P>Anita nodded and began looking through her things.
<P>They all paused for a moment, but Wedge spoke up. "You know, I just realized something," he said, peering around the rest of the cave.
<P>"What's that?" Biggs replied.
<P>"Nobody else is here. No guards, no townspeople, no miners, no other researchers or power-seekers or adventurers just out to see the world. It's like we're the first and only people to come here," Wedge pointed out.
<P>The others remained silent.
<P>"That's because this thing killed every single person who got close to it, no doubt," a new voice said from the entrance.
<P>"Who's there?" Biggs demanded to know, him and Wedge immediately drawing their blades.
<P>Two gunshots replied, sending Biggs and Wedge's swords from their grips and to the ground at the far sides of the cave. In walked Barts, his enormous gun held in both hands under his right armpit as he walked towards the group.
<P>"Hey! Are you crazy? Just what are you doing here?" Valeria said, dropping her bag and taking a step forward.
<P>"Back off, lady, I'm here to see to it that this thing never causes problems for anyone," Barts replied, stopping a few feet from the group and raising his gun up to a readied position to fire.
<P>"What do you mean? You want to kill it?" Anita demanded to know.
<P>"Exactly," Barts said with a smirk.
<P>Valeria's eyes widened once again, sneering. "You can't do that! We just got here! Look, you can shoot it all you want after we get our tests, okay?"
<P>"No can do, lady. This Esper needs to die, just like all the others! They're the spawn of an angry planet and they'll only corrupt us and kill more humans!" Barts said with an angry crescendo.
<P>"I can't let you do that," Valeria said, stepping directly in Barts' line of sight. "You want the Esper? Go through me!"
<P>"Val'! Be rational!" Wedge shouted. "Your life isn't worth just one Esper! We'll find more!"
<P>"How dare you threaten a lady's life in such a manner! Have at thee, brute!" Biggs shouted, rushing forward to tackle Barts.
<P>Barts easily noticed him and swung his aim at Biggs, firing off three shots in a heartbeat. One landed in his stomach and the other in his leg, the third missing entirely. Biggs collapsed halfway as a result.
<P>"Biggs! Buddy!" Wedge cried out, rushing to his friend and kneeling beside him.
<P>"All of you shut your damn mouths and get out of my way! The Esper is dead, you hear me? Dead!" Barts roared, switching his aim back to Valeria and the creature.
<P>Biggs coughed a few times and looked up. "Wait a minute, I've heard of you," he said, like nothing had happened to him. "You're the infamous 'Esper-Hunter' Barts Game, aren't you? You're the only man known to be able to use a gun of that size with that degree of speed and skill," he explained. "I would have noticed sooner, but they said you were a black-haired fellow, not a red-head," he added with a smirk.
<P>"I have a lot of impersonators, I guess," Barts replied, smirking.
<P>"You also use specially sage-crafted bullets, which are specifically meant to destroy Espers, don't you?" Biggs asked.
<P>"Quit giving away my secrets of the trade, man," Barts demanded. "Now, everyone get out of my way. I need to exterminate this pest."
<P>"I'm not moving! I've come too far to just give this one away! This Esper holds secrets that need unlocked and only then should we elminate them. Trust me, I don't like the idea of letting one loose any more than you probably do, but that's no reason to just-" Valeria started to say.
<P>She was interrupted by a shadow dropping from above and quickly holding a katana around her throat. "Easy there, the more you talk, the more breath you're wasting."
<P>"Val'! Not again!" Anita cried out. She then quickly dug around in her bag and pulled out a rather large handgun.
<P>"You brought that along? Put it away before you kill someone!" Valeria shouted at Anita.
<P>"Hey, I thought it might come in handy, so what?" Anita said as she aimed the gun at the person behind Valeria.
<P>"And just what do you want? Who are you anyway?" Wedge asked at the newcomer.
<P>"Just a freelancer with little to do with this conversation. An old man asked me to keep you restrained, lady," Kirkis, the person holding Valeria by the blade, said.
<P>"Hey, you mind moving her out of my way? I'd rather not have to kill anyone," Barts asked nicely.
<P>"I'm not really allowed to move either. That was a specific instruction," Kirkis said, smiling.
<P>"Then I'll just have to kill you both," Barts said, taking aim.
<P>"Hey! You can't kill her!" a new voice said from behind a row of staglamites. "I'm suppose to!" And with that, Terra, in a black cloak, emerged with a long, thin blade in each hand holding them outside her cloak.
<P>"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it, stewardess?" Barts said, glancing at the newcomer.
<P>"I'll kill every last one of you, that's what! Nobody gets in the way of my target and no one kills them for me!" Terra exclaimed. "And don't call me 'stewardess'! That was just so I could get a free ride on the train."
<P>"You're here to kill Val'? Why? Who are you?" Anita cried out, moving her aim to Terra instead.
<P>"Client and assassin confidentiality, sorry," Terra replied, not looking away from Barts.
<P>"I don't care who you're working for or what idle threat you spout off! The Esper must die!" Barts said, then readied himself to mow down Valeria, Kirkis, and the Esper.
<P>"You kill her and I'll kill you, buster," Terra shouted, holding up her swords.
<P>"You kill her and I'll kill you first!" Anita shouted, switching between Terra and Barts with her own aim.
<P>"And if you kill him after he kills her, I'll kill every single one of you!" Terra roared.
<P>"If anyone gets killed, I'll take down the one who started this whole thing!" Wedge said, whipping two daggers out, one from each one of his boots.
<P>"My, this is awkward, isn't it," Kirkis said with a nervous laugh.
<P>Everyone was silent for what seemed like an eternity, everyone shifting their eyes to one another, wondering who would be the first to act.
<P>"Young people, so rash and so stubborn," an older voice said from the entrance. It was Mister Hamru, strolling slowly into the room and in between each person.
<P>"Hamru, what are you doing here?" Kirkis asked.
<P>"Seems the stage is set, but we have a few extra cast members out here, now don't we?" Hamru said, stepping up to the creature's 'ice' prison.
<P>"What are you talking about old man? You planning on ranting about this thing too?" Barts asked impatiently.
<P>"No, I'm going to examine it while you young folks are stuck in a stand-off," Hamru said, smiling.
<P>The others were silent, unable to tell what he was really doing here.
<P>"Tritoch, you surprise me! Forcibly encasing yourself in solidified magic? You don't want humans to get near you that much?" Hamru said, placing his hands on the 'ice'. When he did, bright blue waves were sent through the 'ice', like he had put his hands in a puddle.
<P>"Hey, what's he talking about?" Terra asked, curious.
<P>"Damned if I know," Barts replied.
<P>"Psst, hey, you," Valeria whispered to Kirkis.
<P>"I can't talk to my hostage," Kirkis replied in a whisper.
<P>"Look, let me go and stop Barts and I'll give you twice what the old man is offering," Valeria said, smirking.
<P>"I don't know, he offered an awful lot and you sure don't seem like you can offer that much," Kirkis said, thinking it over.
<P>"I work for a Philosopher. Trust me, I can get the money," Valeria replied.
<P>"Well, it is a big gun that guy has and you have that assassin chick right there, so I don't see why you'd risk it and-" Kirkis began to ramble on.
<P>"Triple!" Valeria said in a louder whisper.
<P>"Deal," Kirkis immediately replied with.
<P>"I brought two with me. They need some of your counsel," Hamru said, closing his eyes as small waves kept pulsing through the 'ice' from his hands.
<P>The next few things to happen were like a blur. Kirkis threw Valeria to the ground and began charging forward over her. Valeria landed flat and then looked up to Anita and shouted,"Shoot the cloaked chick!" With that, Anita's handgun made a light whirring sound and fired a small blue blast at Terra, sending her into a staglamite. Meanwhile, Barts saw Kirkis rushing forward and began firing, three bullets whizzing by Kirkis before he could get within range and swipe at the gun. Barts' aim was knocked upward and he fired off several more shots into the ceiling, causing staglatites to fall and nearly impale everyone in the room.
<P>Barts staggered back, dropping the front of his gun to the ground, resting on one knee. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he shouted as Kirkis as the swordsman cracked his neck and stopped near a fallen staglatite.
<P>"Yay! We defeated the bad guys!" Anita cheered.
<P>"Yeah! Go...that guy!" Wedge cheered as well, pointing at Kirkis.
<P>"Woop-de-doo," Biggs said, twirling his index finger from his flattened position.
<P>"Bad guys? What?" Terra shouted, holding her left shoulder, where Anita shot her.
<P>"You two came in here swinging your weapons around and threatening lives. We just came here to study it!" Anita pointed out. "And now you got hit hard by the mighty hammer of justice!" she added with much vigor.
<P>Barts and Terrra glared at Anita.
<P>"Anyone is my target for the right price," Kirkis said, shrugging. "And I expect payment in full, lady," he added, looking back at Valeria.
<P>However, Valeria was staring at Hamru and the creature. "Biggs, you were right. Barts' bullets...look what they did!"
<P>Everyone looked back at the front of the room, where Hamru was on one knee, holding his shoulder. A bullet had grazed him, opening a wound. However, he didn't have blood coming out, nor did he seem to have any innards; instead, green static energy could be seen underneath his skin, inbetween his fingers as they tried to cover the wound. The other two bullets had entered the 'ice' and were suspended within it, glowing bright green. Suddenly, they were forced back out with the sound and similar action of something breaking glass. Shards of the 'ice' landed on the floor along with the two compacted bullets; they both stopped glowing as they hit the ground.
<P>"You fools! Stop this at once!" Hamru shouted angrily.
<P>"Look at the size of those chunks the bullets took out! That must be one hell of a gun!" Kirkis said, amazed.
<P>Valeria thinned her eyes at Kirkis' statement and knelt, picking up a handful of the larger chunks of the 'ice', putting them in her pocket.
<P>"You better believe it is, now I'm going to finish it off!" Barts said, scrambling to his feet and raising his gun again.
<P>"No! Don't do it!" Valeria cried out., suddenly getting back up to her feet.
<P>"Not this again," Kirkis said, sighing.
<P>"Enough!"
<P>Suddenly, all the lights flickered and cut off, the room falling dark. All the occupants, except Hamru, were suddenly siezed in a blue flame that surrounded each of them. The creature's eyes flared and its icy prison began to glow, getting brighter and then softer in rhythm with the blue flames.
<P>"Hey! I can't move!" Wedge cried out.
<P>"What the hell is going on?" Barts roared, thrashing about. It was like his body was mostly paralyzed, only able to swing his limbs about so far.
<P>"Tritoch, please, spare them! We can't tarnish our name any further by taking their lives!" Hamru begged.
<P>"They bicker amongst themselves, just like humans do. I don't see how they are any different," the same voice that shouted before the enigma began said.
<P>"But I brought two just to show that humans and Espers can cooperate! We can co-exist!" Hamru shouted.
<P>"How can you say that when they have been put to sleep?" the voice replied angrily. "Are you still too far under the effects of the last Purge to notice?"
<P>"Who's talking? It's like something's speaking right into my mind!" Anita squealed.
<P>"That's the voice of Tritoch, the powerful Esper you fools have just angered," Hamru said, turning back to the others and pointing to the creature.
<P>"It really is an Esper?" Valeria said, shocked.
<P>"Good, now I can have a confirmed kill...if I could just move!" Barts said, furious.
<P>"I tire of this. I hid myself away from humans for good reason and I'll see to it that I bury myself once again," the voice said.
<P>"No, wait! I can't find the others unless you aid me!" Hamru pleaded. "Join me, Tritoch, and we'll gather the others for The First Advent!"
<P>"I refuse! That's only a myth, just as we are meant to be!" the voice replied angrily.
<P>"I beg of you Tritoch, please-"
<P>"One more word out of you, Ramuh, and I'll see to it that you never set foot out of here again!" the voice quickly replied.
<P>"Ramuh? Who?" Terra asked, flailing about as Barts was.
<P>"Ramuh! The legendary Esper of lightning! Is he saying that that old man is-" Biggs began to ask.
<P>"Begone! All of you!" the voice roared and blue light exploded outwards from Tritoch.
<P>At that moment, Kirkis gasped as, in the blink of an eye, it seemed like a whole layer of reality was peeled off. As he opened his eyes again, Hamru was now a bald man with a long and large braided beard, a white cloak on with a staff in his hand. Tritoch wasn't within his ice prison, but rather was sitting atop a throne built for a magnificient bird creature like itself. And the blue flame wasn't even there; for a second, he felt as if he were suspended in a void along with them.
<P><I>This is your chance....wake up!</I>
<P>"What?" Kirkis asked himself.
<P><I>Liberate yourself! Remember who you are and why you are here...wake up!"</I>
<P>"I don't know what you're talking about!"
<P><I>After all, you're still just....a child...</I>
<P>Kirkis shuddered, unable to understand who was talking to him anymore or what they were talking about; however, at the same time, something was tugging at his mind. A feeling like something was grabbing hold and he was suddenly struck with a bombardment of consciousness. Hundreds of visions crossed his mind at once, causing him to grip his head and scream. Memories flooded his mind, remember things he never thought he ever knew; some familiar while others so radical he couldn't believe he had ever been in such situations. More blue light came, washing him away like a torrent, sending him through time and space...
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>People south of Narshe saw what happened and were abuzz all afternoon about it. According to eye witnesses, an explosion of blue energy came out of the mine and destroyed almost half of the entire Seed. It was visible from hundreds of miles away, all the way south to Figaro Seed and even to the far southeast in Bevelle Seed. Edwin Figaro sent rescue teams up to the town to see what happened and about survivors, but the train tunnels, the only safe way to Narshe, were somehow blocked by debris being sent across the town and down the tunnel. Plans were hurriedly being prepared for the dangerous travel north, through the blizzard-ridden tundra up to Narshe; but due to the nature of the climate, travel would be nearly impossible.
<P>So Edwin set into motion a non-stop excavation of the debris blocking the train tunnel. He promised that no matter what, he wouldn't abandon people in a time of crisis, and especially from a dear friend like the Narshe Seed and its people. However, rumors and fears of Espers were beginning to spread among the common people once again; whispered amongst one another in bars and taverns, discussed at dinner tables, and casually mentioned at camp fires in the ruins of less-fortunate Seeds...
<CENTER><P>-----------------------------</P></CENTE R>
<P>Kirkis woke up staring at the half-missing ceiling of the Seed, snow gently falling on his face with his back on the ground. He suddenly shot up and looked around, seeing that he was laying in the ruins of Narshe; the town was quite literally flattened by what had happened. Buildings were either leveled entirely, save a few stubborn planks that stayed up, or merely singed with black marks against he wood or brick. Snow was falling rapidly from the open ceiling, sign that yet another blizzard was coming sooner or later. He shuddered and gripped his head again, almost pained mentally by what had just happened to him.
<P>"What just happened? Why...no, how can I remember these things? Why am I now so suddenly...familiar with things I've never heard of in my entire life?" he asked himself, curling up into a fetal position and quivering with fear and panic. "It's like I opened up an old closet full of stuff I haven't seen in years. Not so much events or people, just...things. Knowledge, concepts, skills, abilities...what is this that I can now remember? 'Spells'?" he added, looking at his now red and shaking left hand. The snow was starting to get to him, making his skin ache and itch, trying to tell him to get to warmer ground.
<P>"Hey! Mister freelancer-dude!" a familiar voice shouted from a few feet away.
<P>Kirkis unbunched himself and sat up, instantly snapping out of his panic; like somehow it all sank in at once and he was back to normal, but with noticeable change that somehow passed as indifferent to him now. It was a strange, awkward feeling, but seeing Anita hurry up to him was somehow distracting enough.
<P>"You made it, huh?" Anita said, smiling.
<P>"Yeah, so did you, I see," Kirkis replied, nodding once.
<P>"You have any idea what just happened? Or have you seen the others?" Anita asked, looking around at the wreckage as she spoke.
<P>"No, I just woke up," Kirkis said, standing up and brushing snow off his robe.
<P>"But what about Biggs and Wedge and Val'? Or how about that old man you were with?"
<P>"I told you, I just woke up," Kirkis said, sighing. He made sure to check his waist, seeing that his sword was safely back in the sheath, much like he had never drawn it.
<P>"Did anyone get the number of that train that just hit me? Or at least it felt like one did," Valeria said as she staggered around the still-standing wall of a wrecked building.
<P>"Val'! You're okay!" Anita squealed happily and ran up to Valeria, hugging her.
<P>"I'm glad to see you too," Valeria said, smiling and patting Anita's back.
<P>"Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" Anita said, letting off the hug and stepping back some.
<P>"I'm fine. I'm just walking funny because I feel like I've been asleep for a while, but with a throbbing headache," Valeria explained.
<P>"Me too, actually. Minus the headache, of course," Anita replied.
<P>"Me three," Kirkis chimed in, walking up to and standing beside the pair.
<P>"Oh, you're here too?" Valeria said, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Kirkis.
<P>"I can't die until you pay me," Kirkis said, folding his arms.
<P>"And I guess I can't die until I pay you, eh?" Valeria said, smirking.
<P>"It's part of our non-verbal contract, I guess," Kirkis said, shrugging.
<P>Valeria nodded at him, then sighed and looked at the ground. "Look at all this. This is the power of Espers? They can level entire cities just like this?"
<P>Anita sighed as well, looking at all the damage. "All those innocent people...they never saw it coming..."
<P>"What I want to know is why we're still alive," Kirkis said, butting in once again. "If we're alive, then maybe that means the rest of the people are too?"
<P>"How could anyone have survived this?" Valeria said, holding out a hand and moving it across the landscape.
<P>"Just trying to be optomistic. Maybe whatever force kept us out of the explosion and moved us to safe ground did the same for the townspeople?"
<P>"Don't be silly! Why would an Esper go to the trouble of leveling a town and not the people in it?" Valeria asked, rolling her eyes.
<P>"I don't know, maybe it just wanted to scare them off, not hurt them. Tritoch, the name that Hamru or Ramuh or whatever his name was used, seemed quite angry at humans, but maybe it doesn't really want to hurt them? It seemed to me more like it wanted to remain alone, away from them," Kirkis said solemnly. "Maybe the old legends aren't true. You heard how it spoke, right? Espers must feel things too, they aren't just powerhouses."
<P>Valeria fell silent, looking upwards at the falling snow. "Maybe...but I'll just have to see it for myself."
<P>Anita paused as well, staring at the ground instead. "Val', what are we going to do now? We lost the Esper before we could study it. I mean, look at the mine, it's caved in pretty badly," she said, pointing to the mountain in the distance. "Should we just leave or stay and try to help the town survivors, if any? And what about Biggs and Wedge?"
<P>Valeria sighed and paced around a few times, thinking. "We'll just have to head back to Treno Seed. Boris needs to know what happened here as soon as possible. Plus, I have to deliver some of these," she said, then dug out a few of the shards of the 'ice' from her pocket,"to Rune to study. I know he'll be itching to test them out."
<P>"What are those?" Anita asked, curious.
<P>"Shards of the substance that the Esper was encased in. That old guy said it was 'solidified magic' and it looks like gemstones. Who knows what these could be used for?" Valeria said, smiling at Anita.
<P>"Looks like you girls are in luck, here comes someone in one of those new all-terrain vehicles," Kirkis said, looking towards the otherside of the Seed. Sure enough, a silver four-wheeled vehicle was driving across town, over all the debris and towards the three.
<P>"Someone did live through all this?" Valeria said, awestruck as she put the shards back in her pocket.
<P>"Like I said, it probably didn't hurt anyone, it just wanted to be left alone," Kirkis said, shrugging.
<P>"But how could you-" Valeria began to ask in a whisper, but cut herself off. This fellow was truly baffling her and asking would only make things more annoying.
<P>"But Val', what about Biggs and Wedge and those other two? Do you think they made it out of the mine too? Shouldn't we go look for them?" Anita asked, a worried look on her face.
<P>"We don't have time to go back, Anita, we have to hurry back to Boris now. Biggs and Wedge are grown men, they can take care of themselves. I don't want to sound cruel or cold, but we'll have to leave them," Valeria said in a sigh.
<P>Anita bit her lip and looked at the ground.
<P>The vehicle pulled up next to the three and the driver's side window rolled down. It looked like a fully armored transport van with thin windows along the sides behind the cab and a door on the back that was as high as the vehicle was, allowing anyone to walk in and out without having to duck. Out popped Georg's head from the window, smiling at them.
<P>"Hey! Survivors! Radical!" Georg said happily.
<P>"Who are you? What are you doing out here?" Valeria asked.
<P>"The name's Georg, Georg Dyne. What am I doing? I'm getting my ass out of here. Let's just say that sticking around hotspots like this Seed aren't very healthy for me. So I borrowed this car from the deserted garage in town and I'm heading back to civilization," Georg replied, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.
<P>"Why'd you stop for us then?" Anita chimed in.
<P>"Eh, I saw you guys walking into the mine earlier and seeing as you all lived, you must be badass or something, so I was going to invite ya'll along. Traveling around the wasteland is dangerous, you know," Georg said, smirking.
<P>"I wouldn't say we're 'badass', we just had a stroke of dumb luck...or the mercy of an Esper, whichever the case," Kirkis said, leaning on the side of the car behind the cab. "Anyway, I'll take you up on that offer. There isn't much to do here and free rides are always a good idea to accept," he said, smiling.
<P>"Can you take us to Treno Seed? That's as far as we need to go, if you can," Valeria requested.
<P>"Honey, I'll take you anywhere you want to go," Georg said, arching his eyebrows a few times and smiling with all his teeth. "Anywhere."
<P>Valeria rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure I want to be around this guy."
<P>"Why not, Val'?" Anita asked innocently.
<P>"Oh, poor, sweet, naive Anita. You have a lot to learn," Valeria said, patting Anita on the head condescendingly.
<P>"Don't worry, my contract with you hasn't run out yet. I'll protect you," Kirkis said, nodding at Valeria.
<P>"Oh yes! We have this mighty knight-in-shining-armor to keep us safe!" Valeria said, patting Kirkis in the shoulder. "Then by all means! To Treno Seed!"
<P>"Yay! We get to take a road trip!" Anita cheered. "I'll get the bags! I found them over by a toilet that somehow survived the blast." With that, she hurried off.
<P>"Then all aboard! We're going A.S.A.P.!" Georg said as the back door to the car dropped, making a ramp.
<P>Kirkis stood off the car and turned to head inside it. Just then, Valeria grabbed his arm and lead him to the back corner of the car. "Alright, look. If he so much as thinks about touching me, lop off his 'equipment', got it?"
<P>Kirkis laughed nervously. "Yes, ma'am...." he said, humoring her.
<P>"And if you do it, I'll see to it that you get the same treatment," Valeria added quickly before heading up the ramp into the back of the car.
<P>"Sheesh, what an insecure woman," Kirkis said, stroking his hair. He sighed and headed inside the car as well to find that the back of it was merely two benches on each side of an aisle that lead up to the cab. "Dude, you hijacked a troop carrier! How are we suppose to survive in this?"
<P>"Don't worry, we'll make do," Georg said over his shoulder from the driver's seat.
<P>Kirkis groaned and sprawled out on the bench on the left, Valeria sitting on the one on the right.
<P>"What are you so tired about?" Valeria asked, folding her legs.
<P>Kirkis thought about trying to explain what had happened to him with the light and all the things he remebered, but then recalled that he had only known her for about ten minutes now. So instead, he just said,"Been a long day." And with that, he rolled over and started to snooze.
<P>"Traveling is the best!" Anita squealed as she pranced inside the car and dropped her and Valeria's bags on the floor before taking a seat next to Valeria.
<P>"Alright, time to hit the road!" Georg shouted with a laugh and hit the gas, sending the car into a fishtail before the wheels caught and it barreled towards one of the ancient exits of the Seed. The door opened automatically and the new party of travelers went out in into the wasteland, about to face all the dangers the ruined world could throw at them...
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