20.

Deceptive light

"Awaiting my inevitable end..."

Which did not come -- suddenly the wall behind Cecil gave way, and someone pulled him through the opening rather roughly.

"Stupid as ever!" a familiar voice hissed and a torch was lit. Cecil opened his eyes, only slowly recovering from his former rigidity.

"Jonas?" he asked weakly, trying to get a better look at the brown-haired boy before him. They were sitting in a little corridor, with a ceiling so low that one could hardly stand. To Cecil's right, the secret door had closed again. Outside, he could hear the surprised and furious shouts of his pursuers.

"Hey! Someone in there?" Jonas waved his hand beforeCecil's face, as the other still seemed to be in some kind of shock. "You can be grateful that I heard the ruckus outside, or your head would decorate the crystal sanctuary by now!" the boy snarled and then pulled at the Paladin's arm, impatiently.

"You better pull yourself together now and get up! Who knows if some of these madmen outside will discover this secret tunnel?"

"Y-yeah..." Cecil slowly stood up, his legs feeling unsteady.

Jonas watched him skeptically, but stood up himself, and motioned him with his hand to follow. The farther they got away from the door, the more muffled the voices of the angry townsfolk became, and slowly blood returned to Cecil's face and he regained his composure.

"You...you saved me Jonas... Why?" he finally asked the boy.

Abruptly, Jonas came to a halt and turned around slowly, facing the Paladin with an earnest expression. "I didn't want to feel guilty for the death of another person… Besides, you promised to help me carry the guilt for Lina's death. So I decided that I would not let you get away…" There seemed to lay the slightest hint of a smile on the lips of the boy.

"That... Jonas..." A wave of great relief and infinite gratefulness surged up in the Paladin and he was short of dropping down to his knees before Jonas just to express his feelings.

The boy seemed to sense this. "Now don't start with any funny stuff like kissing my boots or something. A simple "thank you" is enough!" he snapped, though judging from his expression, Cecil's reaction embarrassed him.

The Paladin could feel how a heavy load was taken from his soul, taking away even slightly the horror of his recent experiences. He bowed before the boy: "Thank you, Jonas. I can imagine what it might have cost you to help me. And I will never forget what you did for me," he said, laying all the seriousness and honesty he possessed into his words.

Now, a slight smile crept visibly over the face of the boy, but then his expression returned to stubbornness again. "Whatever. You owe me one for that, Paladin... And you can start right now. The Elder and a few others are at the end of these tunnels, but there's no telling when these madmen will find out where we're hiding. We need to bring them to a safe place."

Cecil nodded, reminding himself of the reason they had come to Mysidia. "Certainly. You called your people madmen - do you think that they only behave this way because they're...let's say, under a spell?" he asked the boy, while continuing to follow the way.

Jonas shrugged. "I don't know… All I know is that shortly after you'd left, some guys of a group called the Dark Paladins came to Mysidia and started recruiting people... I became suspicious as one of my friends entered their ranks; all day speaking about finding our true roots again and freeing the town from the clutches of Baron. Perhaps I'm no big admirer of your Kingdom..." he frowned, before adding in a stubborn way: "But no one is telling me what to like and what not!"

Only the seriousness of their situation was keeping Cecil from smiling - it seemed as if the ice between him and the boy had melted a lot.

"Was your friend by any chance in the possession of an amulet?" Cecil fumbled in his pocket and took out the black stone he and the othershad stolen from the sanctuary. "With a stone similar to this one in it?"

Jonas regarded it shortly. "Could be... At least he murmured something about some kind of powerful trinket every member of the group gets…"

Cecil nodded. "He surely meant this black stone - it probably strengthens certain powers. I'm sure that your friends are under a spell… Do you know if the leader of the "Dark Paladins" is still in town? A man with black hair and black armour?"

Jonas smiled quizzically: "Look: it's the Dark Paladins! They are ALL were wearing black armour... Dunno anything about a leader or such. If you still have questions, you better ask the Elder… We're already there."

He pushed a secret button in the wall, and the stones in front of them slid away noiselessly, revealing a rather big storage room dimly lit by candles and occupied by about ten Mysidian wizards as well as some familiar faces.

"Hey dude! Long time no seen!" Parom approached them together with his sister.

"Cecil, good to see you… We already thought that something had happened to you!" The little girl smiled.

Cecil greeted them, happy that the twins were in safety. Then he spotted the Elder who was sitting on a rather shabby looking chair at one end of the room, appearing exhausted and deeply troubled. It seemed as if the Mysidian had even aged more since their last visit.

"Elder! It is good to know that you're safe," Cecil addressed him.

"Paladin Cecil!" The Elder rose from his seat, smiling warmly, though the look of worry did not leave his eyes. "As you can see my people have not only turned against Baron, but against me, as well…"

"Do not worry - this is only the result of foul magic," Cecil tried to console him, though he himself knew that there was more behind it.

The Elder was aware of this fact, as well. "We both know that this is not the whole truth… You may find yourself responsible for the things Baron did to Mysidia in the past, but the real fault lies in my incompetence: I was not able to teach my people that forgiveness is a virtue as well and that you and your Kingdom took on much to right the wrong you so unwillingly committed… Because if I had done so, there wouldn't have been such a great rage sleeping in my people. I am glad that you made it here, safely."

He nodded towards Jonas. "Good work…"

The boy mumbled something incomprehensible and took a seat on of the storage boxes that were scattered in the room.

Cecil looked around. "Elder, have you seen my friends? They--"

"Cecil, there you are!" Kain and Golbez, accompanied by a white wizard, were emerging from another secret door which just had opened.

"Ah! It seems that your friends were saved by our brave wizards as well," The Elder faced the newcomers. "Sir Kain and...Sir Golbez I presume?"

At the mention of Golbez's name, a murmur went through the room and several people including Jonas shot the dark wizard a skeptical look. Golbez grinned slightly--the reaction of the people was nothing new for him.

"We shouldn't greet a guest in such a way..." the Elder admonished. "In these dark times in which friends become foes, foes surely can become allies as well."

The murmur of the wizards stopped at once.

"I'm glad that you set trust in us after all that has happened…" Cecil told the Elder, although when it came to his brother, he himself was still not so sure about the "ally" part.

The Mysidian cleared his throat. "It was time for that… I have to admit that as you visited us, inquiring about the Crystal, I didn't trust your judgment concerning your brother. I'm not even sure if I trusted you fully. But now, once again, you and your friends are the only ones helping us, although it seems to me that we didn't deserve your help after all that happened. I know that the behaviour of my people made you suffer… My deepest apologies once again, Paladin Cecil."

"Elder, now don't over exaggeratethings--he didn't even get hurt!" Jonas grumbled, only to add: "Not that I wished for that… But more important is why he has come here…" He motioned for Cecil to continue.

"We're looking for the head behind the Dark Paladins. It is a man named Mallack," Cecil explained.

"Mallack?" The Elder reflected for a moment. "I think some of these black knights spoke of him, but I cannot say that I know him. Some of my wizards were able to catch a glimpse of their leader yesterday. Sir Samon is his name, I think…"

"That fiend!" Kain clenched his fist. "They arrived here by airship, did they?"

The Elder nodded. "I believe so... The strange thing is that it looked exactly like one of ships from a construction scroll we got as gift from King Cecil after the Crystal wars. I wonder how they got their hands on it..."

"They probably had their spies for a long time in all towns. It must have been an easy game for them, especially here in Mysidia where the hate on Baron is so strong…" Cecil mused.

The elder nodded, his bald forehead creased with a heavy frown. "Yes... I'm ashamed that my children could be led astray by their hate and need for revenge so easily... But as said: I was no good example. Before I had realized the danger the Dark Paladins posed, they had infiltrated our ranks. Some of the guards even threatened to arrest me, unless I would declare war on your country. So I and some loyal fellow wizards had to hide in these old storerooms only a few people know about. These are indeed hard times where one has to hide from his own people…"

"We had to flee from Baron as well..." Cecil informed him "Tororia is under the influence of the enemy as well as Damcyan..."

"I see..." The Elder nodded. "And I can see also that you had to endure losses even more hard… I thought that Zeromus was bad, but this enemy who strikesout of the secret is far more fearful. What do you plan to do?"

"We'll have to find Mallack, but we don't know where he hides.We hoped he would be here. The good news is that we retrieved the crystal shard from a sanctuary in Tororia, as well as this strange black stone..." Cecil showed the black lump to the Elder. "We believe that this stone is the reason why the manipulative powers of Samon and Mallack work so well… Can you say anything about it?"

"Hmm..." The Elder looked at the stone thoughtfully and then touched it, carefully, only to draw his hand away in shock at once. "What dark power..." he murmured. Taking a deep breath, he took the stone in his hand and examined it. "I'll need to take acloser look at it," he finally said and called for some of the other wizards including Jonas.

"This might take a while..." he said, "so try to get some rest…"

While the Mysidians examined the stone, Cecil and his friends sat down on some boxes and were soon joined by Porom and Palom who had a lot of questions. To Cecil's relief Kain took it on him to answer their questions as patiently as he could. Normally, the dragoon was not fond of kids - especially not of these two, but as his friend looked quite exhausted, it was the least he could do.

"I hope that Rosa and the others are alright..." Cecil murmured, his gaze directed at the floor.

"I'm more worried about you... You had a narrow escape back there, didn't you?" Golbez's question was posed unusually gentle.

"Yes…" His brother admitted. "I didn't know that there was still so much hate left in the people of Mysidia..."

He looked up. "I did realize something, though. I believe that I was too pushy concerning your person, Golbez. Since you came to the Blue Planet again, I didn't understand that you just couldn't leave the past behind… I pretended that nothing had happened between us in the past and expected from you the same. But today I had to learn once again that the past is something that can't be forgotten so easily... I should have left you more time instead of expecting that you would live with us like a big brother - especially as such a happy little family has never existed in our lives."

Golbez looked at Cecil, his eyes full of pain, his expression nearly angry. "You just won't learn, will you, Cecil? Don't make things any harder on me than they already are!" He snorted a desperate laugh. "There I use all the nastiness I manage, insult you, put a strain on you to my utmost in order to keep you away from me, even keep secrets from you… And what is the result? You even apologize…for my faults! Damn, were you always that way or did father make you so…so…I don't know what. Is it stubbornness or stupidity?"

"But Golbez…" Cecil stared at his brother speechlessly; his reaction hit him totally by surprise. 

"Cecil…" Golbez suddenly grabbed him at both shoulders, his grip so hard it nearly hurt and looked at him with stern eyes: "Can't you understand? Don't worry about me... Forget that I'm your brother. Stay away from me, no matter how hard it is. You don't need me--you're strong, stronger than you might know. So..." his voice was suddenly very dark and full of foreboding, "if you'd have to choose between me and yourself: don't choose me! Never! And most of all: don't trust me..." he said, his voice a low whisper now. As if being driven by some inner force, he abruptly let go of Cecil's shoulder and stood up, wandering to another place in the room.

The Paladin bit his lip. As much as Jonas' forgiveness had made his heart feel lighter, Golbez's words made it several times heavier once more. Luckily, the Elder had finished his examination by now and directed the thoughts of Cecil to other things.

"This is astounding..." he said, "it...it is some kind of crystal... Though molten and infused with some kind of dark power...some power of old..." The friends exchanged glances.

"Some dark power like Zeromus's one?" Kain asked.

"Perhaps… Maybe we didn't kill Zeromus back then and some part of his being made his way to Earth?"

"Or the stone has just a similar origin to the one of Zeromus… He was a Lunarian, but who said that such an evil might have only come into the existence on the moon?" Cecil wondered.

"We used some spells on it," the Elder informed them, "We couldn't even scratch it, but observed that black magic spells have multiplied powers when cast near the stone... So your suspect that it strengthens the manipulative powers of our enemies is right. They probably cast a spell on their victims and through the influence of the black stone, it does not wear of…"

"And one can't destroy it?" Kain asked.

The Elder shook his head. "No... There seems to be some kind of barrier around it. As if the stone is getting fed by a greater power."

"But if they possess such a great source of power, why would the Dark Paladins try to destroy the crystals?" Cecil took out the other stone and examined the sparkling shard of light. "Only to destroy the symbol of friendship between the Blue Planet and the Lunarians?"

"That's unlikely…" the Elder murmured. "Let me try something…" He took the crystal out of Cecil's hand and held it close to the black stone. Suddenly a faint humming could be heard.

"Look! The crystal seems to resonate with the dark stone..." Kain gasped.

"Yes, but only weakly... Maybe…" The elder straightened himself. "Paladin Cecil, would you try it?"

His suggestion made Cecil feel slightly uncomfortable. "He thinks that I can use the power of the crystal or at least strengthen it, but--" He remembered the fight with Zeromus where it indeed had functioned, but this had been a long time ago.

The Paladin could feel the expectant looks of the others on him--especially the gaze of Jonas…and his brother. Hesitating, he took the two stones from the Elder and closed his hands around them, trying to concentrate. The humming grew louder, but nothing else happened. He handed the stones back to the Elder.

"I'm sorry, but it doesn't seem to work..."

The Mysidian was not able to hide a certain disappointment. He seemed to have been very sure that his plan would work. He opened his mouth, as if to tell Cecil to try again, but the Paladin only shook his head.

"Great, but what could you expect from him?" Jonas grumbled.

Cecil himself felt disappointed and he wondered if Dawn would have been better able to bring out the power of the crystal--or out of him. "She would have scolded me… 'Trust yourself'..."

"Wait…" Cecil said to the Elder as he was about to wrap the crystal into a piece of cloth.

Without a word, but smiling, the Mysidian handed him the jewels again. Holding the two stones clasped tightly in his hands, Cecil closed his eyes and concentrated once more, trying to think of nothing else than the objects in his hand. Once again, the dark waves of the black stone forced their way into his soul and reached for his heart with an icy grasp, but the Paladin just tried to ignore them, trying to grasp the warmth of the crystal. This time, he was not disappointed, as slowly light seemed to fill his mind, a calm light which brought peace to his troubled heart for moment - then Cecil heard a high-pitched sound and something, similar to a painful explosion seemed to rock through his being...

"By Bahamut! Cecil..." He heard Kain gasp.

The Paladin's eyes snapped open immediately. Everyone around him was staring at his open hands: the crystal shard was shining faintly, lying on a pile of black dust.

"The crystal has destroyed the black stone..." Jonas stared at the remains of the cursed item.

"Yes! That means that we still have a chance!" Kain balled his hand to a fist out of enthusiasm. "If the crystal can penetrate the shield around the black stones and destroy them, we might be able to destroy the source of power which feds them, as well--"

"--thus rendering all the little stones useless and releasing Mallack's victims!" the Elder stroked his beard, thoughtfully. "This all sounds rather vague in the moment, but fact is that our enemies had a strong interest in destroying the crystals: obviously not only to render the Lunarian inventions helpless, but as they probably know about the danger the might of the Crystals poses to their plan…"

"Now the only question is where Mallack is hiding... It is quite likely that this "source" of power we're talking about is there, as well…" Cecil frowned, carefully thinking, although for the first time since Dawn's death, hope seemed to flare up in the Paladin again.

"Well… We're talking about an old lump of stone here. Maybe we should reflect about where Mallack might have found such a thing? How about some cave or something else deep under the earth?" Golbez suddenly proposed, having watched the whole scene with interest, but without saying much.

Cecil and Kain exchanged glances. "The island mines near Silvera!" both exclaimed nearly at the same time.

"Yes. These little isolated islands are a perfect place to hide upon, even to build some kind of headquarter without anyone noticing it!" The Elder nodded. He cleared his throat, his expression rather embarrassed all of a sudden. "So, might we ask you again to help us? Although the Dark Paladins are a danger threatening all of us, I would also understand if you would decline. You have done so much for us and especially we Mysidians have not done much to return the favour…"

Cecil shook his head: "That is not important, maybe we did not always give you much reason to trust us, as well. Of course we will help. In fact we don't even have a choice in this matter," he continued. "Our own people are also under Mallack's spell and lives have been lost already... Precious lives…"

"He's right." Kain stepped forward. "That's not only something we're doing for the kingdoms, but something personal as well. Mallack has toyed with us long enough!"

The Elder bowed, a sign of respect he did not show very often: "I cannot say how grateful I'm... And hopefully I don't speak for myself alone..." He shot Jonas a skeptical look. "All I can do to help you, is to give you the crystal: Do with it what you want in order to bring peace to the Blue Planet again.."

As Cecil was about to store away the precious shard, loud voices were audible, coming from the outside of the room.

"Oh no! They've found us…" the Elder gasped. "Quickly, you have to flee from here as I can not guarantee for your lives!"

"But what about you? We need to bring you to a safe place!" Cecil insisted.

The Elder shook his head. "No... I don't believe that we are in real danger. My people would never harm me! They only want to bring me onto their side…"

"Besides we're here as well to protect the Elder!" Palom and Porom exclaimed. As they saw Cecil frown with worry, they added: "Don't worry! We will not use the "Stone" spell again, at least not on ourselves!"

"What are you waiting for? You heard that we'll get along without you! I'll bring you outside…" Jonas said, earning surprised looks from the Elder and the group in return.

"Will you stop staring! I'm only trying to help!" the boy murmured, visibly embarrassed. He pushed open another secret door at the end of the room. "Through here!"

Wishing the Elder and the remaining Mysidians much luck, Cecil, Golbez and Kain followed the young man though the door, right into another maze of tunnels. Behind them, they could hear the noise of a door being broken open and the angry shouts of some wizards.

"Quick! It's not far!" Jonas whispered and the group doubled their steps.

"Oh no! They're following us..." Kain hissed. Indeed, as Cecil looked around, he could spot several people entering the secret tunnel as well. Then the first ice bolt soared over their heads.

"Darn! They're using spells..." Jonas cursed and suddenly stopped.

"What are you doing?" Cecil asked him, surprised.

The young boy looked at him, a grim determination on his face. "You leave this maze. The exit is just around the next corner. I'll stop them…"

"Jonas… No! You're no match for them!" Cecil shook his head, although he knew that even if they all would fight, they could not win against the wizards, who were in the majority.

The boy glared at him. "This is not about winning, but about buying enough time so that you can get your lazy butts out of here! I said that you should go... NOW! And stay alive, Paladin. As well as I will..." He grinned, though his eyes were dead serious. "We do have a deal, don't forget it..."

"I won't ever forget it…Thank you, Jonas!" Cecil would have liked to tell the boy more, but there was no time for it: their pursuers had already become dangerously close and if they wanted to escape, he had to do it now, no matter how much the decision of leaving Jonas behind was inertly tearing the Paladin up. But Jonas was right, there was no other choice.

"Please take care!" Cecil shouted, shooting the boy one last worried glance, before he quickly followed his friends into the dark tunnel ahead.

"You can bet!" Jonas closed his eyes and murmured some incantations to protect himself from the coming fight. Then he turned around and faced the incoming Mysidian wizards - some of the faces were familiar to him, being former friends or acquaintances, but as Jonas beheld the wild expression of the people, he had to realize to his horror that the Elder had underestimated the power of the spell lying on their people. These Mysidians were no longer willing to distinguish between friend and foe, but had only one goal: Taking revenge on the former Dark Knight Cecil, no matter what stood in their way -- or who.

"Shit!" Was the last thing the boy murmured, before he prepared casting the most powerful spell of his young life so far.

~*~

As Cecil had reached the last step of the ladder leading out of the tunnel, a great explosion from below catapulted him outside onto the grass.

"Jonas… No..."

The Paladin scrambled to his feet and stared at the opening in the ground next to him: Smoke was coming out of it and the shouts of their pursuers had stopped abruptly.

"Jonas!" he shouted desperately. No answer came.

For a second, Cecil dared to think that Jonas might have survived the impact, but he knew as well that he could not risk to venture down into the tunnels, again, but had to go on as it had been Jonas' wish--and Dawn's.

Thus, he swallowed his grief, feeling it seeping down his soul like a thick, sticky mass, covering his heart and making it feel heavy. Feeling strangely numb, as if the blood had stopped rushing through his body, he followed Golbez and Kain into the dead streets of Mysidia.

~*~

They found Rosa and the others very quickly - all houses in the town were empty, so the young Queen, Rydia and Yang had waited for the others near the town gate. Rosa watched her husband with a worried look as he informed her and the others shortly about what had happened in the tower. Though he did only roughly mention his escape from the Mysidian crowd and Jonas' decision to stop their pursuers, Rosa seemed to feel that these experiences had disturbed her husband greatly.

"Don't worry too much... I'm sure that the Elder and Jonas will be fine. After all, the Mysidians were after you, Golbez and Kain. Mallack's magic might be strong, but remember that it only strengthens existent feelings. I cannot believe that it can make people kill members of their family or friends…"

"Unless they had a grudge against them…" Golbez murmured and earned an evil look from his brother, which seemed to amuse the black wizard greatly though.

"So it's the archipelago near Silvera..." Rydia sighed. Obviously she wasn't looking forward to travelling once again.

"Yes… We better start walking back to our ship right now..." Cecil suggested, but was held back by Kain.

"Maybe we don't have to walk at all!" The dragoon pointed to a little speck on the dark horizon which neared with great speed.

"That's Cid!"

In fact, it was the Enterprise which landed on a field a bit outside of town. How Edge and Cid had managed to repair it in just one day was beyond Cecil's understanding, although on a closer look, especially the propeller of the ship looked rather scrappy. Luckily, the friends were too nervous and exhausted to worry about this too much…

"We have to get away from here as fast as possible!" Yang shouted upon approaching the ship. "Mysidia's under Mallack's control and your arrival surely did not stay unnoticed!"

"Alright!" the engineer shouted. "Everyone on board! Hey, where's Lady Dawn?"

The silence and Rosa's sobbing was the only answer he got. Edge started to knead on arm nervously as if to check if this all was reality. "Don't say she's... she's…?"

"There was nothing we could do..." Golbez said, his expression deeply serious.

"That's not true!" Rosa snapped at him and for the first time tension seemed to build up between the young woman and the brother of her husband. Both turned around to face Cecil, as if waiting for his reaction. The Paladin just regarded his brother with a very earnest expression, as if something in him was too tired to be even angry.

"Let's save this discussion for later," He said. "For now let's leave here at once. It's… To Silvera!"