3.

 Book and Cover

The next day Cecil and his companions broke up early. It was a grey morning and stormy clouds were visible through the brown-red roof of leaves over the forest. While Edge seemed rather cheerful and started to tease Yang, Cecil was even more deep in thought than the day before. Jonas led the way, but did not say one word during the whole voyage, and carefullyavoided the others - especially Cecil - as well as possible. The Paladin was not too surprisedatit -- after all, Jonas had never made a secret of his dislike for him. Besides Cecil was brooding over the things Yang had said to him the night before. "My hatred against myself." He had never really thought about his time as a Dark Knight in that way. He had been aware of the deeds he had done, but his thoughts had always centered more on the damage he had inflicted on others, instead of the damage he had inflicted to his own, very soul. The night before, the Paladin had told Jonas that he would never be at ease, and though his words had been the truth, he had the feeling that another terrible meaning was lurking behind them...

The picture of Golbez came into his mind again and he wondered if his brother would have had an answer to his question... "Probably not... He'd just look at me with that mocking smile of his." Sadness and slight anger crept up in him, althoughhe did not want to think about his brother in such a negative way. Then again, Golbez had notgiven him any reasons to think positively about him. He quickly tried to ban such thoughts from his consciousness and to concentrate on the tasks before him. He slowed his walkinga bit in order to talk with Yang and Edge about what to do next when arriving at the shrine.

Yang smiled, sensing once more the inner conflict of his friend between his own personal problems and the greater being: the task at hand. But while other people surely would have worried about the troubled mental state of a leader such a Cecil, Yang and even Edge trusted his judgment to the fullest. If there was one reason why Cecil was appointed leader of the group, it was because he possessed the ability to put his own problems -- no matter how great they were -- last, so that they would not cloud his judgment in the hour of need.Even in the most heated battle, Cecil would normally keep a clear head, always putting himself behind the needs of others. That was one reason why Yang was happy that he had a chance to talk to him the day before. As the King of Fabul had already noticed that something was about to tear up the young Paladin from the inside, he had wanted to lighten a bit the burden his friend was carrying. He did not want that Cecil sacrificed his own happiness for others too much.

"We're nearly there... Behold, the Shrine of the Serpent!" Jonas said, suddenly. Before them, a clearing opened in the midst of the high trees of the forest, though no ray of light fell on the building, which was towering before them.

"It does not look very cozy..." Edge remarked, as he looked at the big stone building, which lacked any kind of ornamentation, like statues or decorations, and looked more like a withered cave.

"Seems that the Lunarians didn’t have much in the way of style... I wonder if they built Baron, too," he added with a grin to Cecil. Even Edge had noticed by now that his friend was troubled and tried his own special way of lightening up his spirits.

To his surprise Cecil did not listen to him. He onlystood very still, slightly shuddering, his blue eyes fixated not on the building, but on something else, something only he could see.

"Err... Fromyour look I guess that something's not right?" Edge asked, frowning. He knew that as a Paladin and Half-Lunarian Cecil possessed the special gift to feel the atmosphere and possibly danger better than any other.

His friend shook his head. "I--I'm not sure. For a moment I felt some kind of presence, but it is gone now... I can't describe it--it felt strange and somehow dark. But not hostile. It did remind me of something...or someone."

"Do you want to go in, or not?" Jonas called from across the door of the sanctum. "We needn't anger the spirits here any more than necessary."

"He's right." Cecil nodded, though was still puzzled about the strange feeling he just had. "If I could just figure outwhat it reminds me of..."

~*~

"Dawn! Didn't Rosa order you to stay a bit longer in bed? Are you feeling better?" Kain welcomed the silver haired woman with a smile, asthey met her in one of the castle hallways that morning.

"Yes, I'm feeling quite well again, thanks to Rosa's efforts. It's nice to see you, Kain-- though from what I heard so far, our meeting back on Mt. Ordeals brought nothing but trouble for you," Dawn said.

"Well.. It did bring some trouble for us all, I'll have to admit that. Especially for Cecil and Rosa... However, that was not your fault, but my own... Had I told Cecil earlier about what had happened on the mountain and that I'd nearly fallen victim to the evil side again, things would have been different. Though thanks to you, everything was resolved in the end," Kain said, looking a bit uncomfortable during that moment.

Dawn laughed, causing some servants to turn around in awe. It seemed that Dawn's beauty amazedpeople wherever she went. The young woman did not seem to mind the stares, though, and continued talking to Kain. "But it wasn't me who resolved the situation, Kain. I just helped you onyourway. The decisions you made were your own, born from your own mind."

Kain smiled, Dawn's word easing his mind as they had done the first time they had met. "You're too modest... Anyway, I'd like to talk some more to you later, but right now I have an important appointment..."

"I understand. I was about to search for Rosa anyway... I want to thank her properly."

Kain seemed to reflect for a moment. "As Cecil's away right now, Rosa might be in his study... It's just down this hallway and then to the right. Though be careful not to cross Golbez's path. Believe me, he's not someone you would want to meet..." he added, his expression nearly bitter.

"Oh, but I'm a specialist for such hopeless cases!" Dawn tried to sound cheerful, but something seemed to worry her all of a sudden. "Kain--are you bothered by something?" She watched the blond man intently.

"What? Of course not..." Kain was slightly taken aback. "Maybe I'm just a bit nervous as my ‘appointment’ is with a certain young lady," he said after a while, grinning mischievously.

Dawn smiled only quietly. "It's good to hear that you've found a new love... I'll see you later..."

"Yep!" Kain bowed before her, then left for the stairs downstairs, maybe a bit too quickly as if he was afraid that Dawn might pose even more questions.

Dawn watched him leaving with a slight crease on her forehead, as if thinking very hard about something. Then she shrugged and went downthe corridor.She stopped abruptly as she spotted a man looking out of a window just before her. He was rather tall and had long, black hair, which nearly seemed to form some kind of solid mass together with the black cloak the man was wearing.

"So...you're Dawn, I presume?" The man asked her without turning around. His voice sounded strange--it was dark and deep with a bitter tone in it, as well as an ironic one as if he wanted to mock her.

Dawn did not move for a moment, her features a strange mixture out of surprise, curiosity and...confusion. Nearly with some hesitation, or so it seemed, she approached the man and joined him next to the window, trying to get a better look at him.

"Yes. I'm Dawn. It seems that in this castle nothing stays unnoticed for long... I presume that you are--"

"Golbez..." The man stated plainly, his dark blue eyes only glancing at her briefly. Though his features were elegant, they also had something haughty to them, though Dawn was not sure if this impression was not only a facade.

"Oh--so you are Cecil's brother, right?" She smiled.

Golbez gave a slight nod, then his voice grew even more mocking than before: "Seems that you made enquiries about me..."

"Kain mentioned you..." The silver-haired woman replied, calmly.

Golbez raised an eyebrow. "And he didn't tell you to stay away from me?"

Dawn shrugged. She uttered a short laugh, which was so clear and unusual, that again people stopped in their daily workto look at her. "In fact he did, but I'm not easily frightened.”

Golbez answered with a chuckle, which was so bitter that it caused Dawn to turn around. She leaned her backagainst the window ledge so that she was able to look Golbez directly into the face.

The man returned her gaze with a rather calm and composed manner."So you're not afraid of me? It seems that you do not know much about my past..."

"Everyone knows about your past. Golbez: the black wizard under Zeromus... Besides you would be surprised of the things I know..." Dawn said in a neutral tone, her gaze not leaving Golbez for a second, though her blue eyes had a strange glow to them.

Golbez turned his head sideways, now watching her as well, intently. Though his eyes did not show what he was thinking, his look was as dark and mocking as ever. "You surely do not know as much of me as there is to know, or as you wanted to know..." His lips curved slightly into a smile. "And this way you won't find out much about me, either."

Dawn did not take her gaze away from him. "What do you mean?" she asked, somewhat absentmindedly.

Golbez's grin did not disappear. "What I mean is that I'm wondering how long you'll try to read my mind... As you can see it's no use..."

Surprise crept over Dawn's face, but only for the glimpse of a moment. "Yes, you've built some kind of wall around yourself that my powers cannot penetrate..." With a slight amused smile on her face, she continued, "But I'll only stop if you will discontinue reading mine,as well..."

Golbez laughed again, this time less bitter than before, but sounding amused as well. "So you figured it out already? We should both stop with this mind reading stuff then, seeing that it is no use to any of us... You've build a wall around yourself as well, it seems..." He directed his gaze away from her and stared out of the window again.

Dawn tore her gaze from him as well and stared at the opposite wall instead, still leaning against the window ledge. "You, someone who is able to read the minds of others as well, should know that it is necessary to lock one's own mind away, for you do not only treasure your own thoughts, but the ones of others as well. Where did you learn that ability?"

"Zeromus taught me many things... Though it would be a mistake to compare your power with my one..." Golbez said without emotion. "I'm not interested in ‘healing any souls’. My power was always used for something else... If you think of your mind as a book, I'm not reading it, I‘m--"

"Rewriting it." Dawn completed his sentence. "You wield the power of manipulation in a strong form, though in your present state your powers would probably not be enough to manipulate higher life forms."

Golbez looked at her, a real look of astonishment on his face for a moment, though as always it disappeared after some minutes and his feature showed nothing else than irony and bitterness again. "I'm surprised. You seem to posses good powers of observation. I guess I need to apologize for my behavior. It seems that you know more about me, after all... Cecil was right to tell me to talk with you..."

At the Paladin's name, a slight smile brightened Dawn's face. "Cecil told you to speak with me?"

"Yes..." The dark haired wizard raised an eyebrow. "It seems that he hoped to make a better person out of his brother by this proposition..."

Dawn shook her head. "No...that was certainly not his motive..." She brushed some strands of her long silvery hair behind her shoulders and cocked her head slightly aside, as if teasing someone. "Maybe he just wants to learn more about his brother, who is so busy trying to hide his true feelings from others."

Golbez features did not move an inch, but his voice sounded more strenuous than before. "What an interesting theory... Who knows, maybe somewhere inside of me there's the spirit of a holy Paladin like him or the benevolence of a lady like you..” He laughed without humor.

Dawn seemed unimpressed and smiled. "I'm not as benevolent as you might think. As well as you are not that different from Cecil as you might think."

"You presume too much. Though I appreciate your efforts to heal my soul, I can only give you the same advice our ‘friend’ Kain gave you: stay away from me if you can. A promising young lady like you should know where dangers lie."

"Dawn! Here you are!" a female voice suddenly shouted from the other end of the hall. It was Rosa, who was standing in the door of Cecil's study. "Were you searching for me?"

Dawn waved in her direction. "Just a moment!" She shouted, then faced Golbez again. "I know very well where dangers lie. And I know that you are not one of them." she stated, her tone becoming firm.

Golbez raised an eyebrow, again. "So you think so... I thought you couldn't read my mind?"

Dawn laughed mysteriously. "You forgot my powers of observation! I've seen enough!" Then she turned around to join Rosa.

Though Golbez’s lips were curved in a smile, his eyes showed bitterness. "You have not seen enough..." Still he called after her: "Then I'm looking forward to our next talk!"

Dawn waved at him without looking back. "Yes, so am I..."

~*~

The air in the Sanctuary of the Serpent was musty and had a strange sour smell to it. Dust lay thickly on the stone floor of the great hall the group was standing in.

"At least there's light here..." Edge sighed in relief, pointing at some torches on the rough walls, though these sources of lightbarely illuminated the room and the strange ornaments beneath the dust on the floor.

"It's strange that some of the torches are still burning. I think it's some kind of magic..." Jonas explained, his eyes trying to adjust to the dim lights. "Stay close to me. Though I wouldn't mind if something would happen to certain people here--" his gaze fell on Cecil, "--the Elder wouldn't be too happy about me returning alone. This place could be full of traps, even I barely know my way around here. Only from some old construction scrolls from the library can I find my bearings..." He pointed towards a dark corridor which lead away from the main hall that they were standing in. "I think that’s this way... Follow me, but watch your step." He took a torch from one of the walls and led the way.

"It's strange..." Cecil said to Yang as they followed the young Mysidian wizard. "There's still this strange feeling in the air, but I cannot decide whether it's for good or evil..."

"I for one do not like this place..." Yang frowned. "I wonder what kind of traps we'll find here..."

"As long as it's not some kind of mechanical firing device like in the tower of Bab-il..." Edge muttered, wincing as he thought of it. Back then, as they had tried to rescue Rydia out of the grasp of a man named Kieran, the wizard nearly had killed him with the help of such a device.

In contrast to the main room, the walls of the corridor they now were walking in, were lined with an endless variety of tiles bearing strange symbols on it, which not even Jonas or Cecil could decipher. After they had followed the passage for quite some time, Edge, who was at the end of the group, obviously became bored. "Will this corridor never end?" he complained. "All this strange motifs on the wall tiles are making me dizzy... One can not even make out what's painted on them."

Jonas, who had said nothing until now, rolled his eyes. "No one knows what they mean--it's supposed to be some sort of old native language, a language only known to the Lunarian elders or the spirits themselves... It's supposed to... Oh no!"

"What is it?" The others asked surprised.

Jonas pointed ahead. The corridor was splitting to the left and right, but straight ahead there was only a big wall. "From what I know the way we have to go is supposed to be straight on..." Jonas said. "Unless the construction plans were wrong..."

"Maybe it's a door that needs to be opened..." Yang wondered.

"It could be one of the tiles..." Cecil ran a hand along the wall. "But which one... they all look alike to me..."

"Hey guys!" Edge suddenly shouted, "Look at this tile! It's slightly familiar to me..." He examined some part of the wall more accurately. "Hmm...looks like a crystal..."

Yang joined his friend. "And there's something else...behind the dirt there..."

"Let me see..." Edge started to rub the aforementioned place with his thumb.

"Don't touch anything! It might be a trap!" Jonas warned.

"He's right, please be careful, Edge... It would be too easy if a crystal tile would open this door..." Cecil said, frowning.

Edge rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know... Now you all think that I'm the idiot who's pressing some hidden button in the wall, thus triggering some trap which will kill us all! But this time you really don't have to be afraid! I only wanted to see what's behind the dirt, but I can't even get the mud off." He stopped rubbing at the wall, givinghis friends a disappointed look. "See, nothing has happened. I'm not always doing everything wrong..."

"We're sorry Edge," Cecil said. "We didn't want to insult you."

Yang took another close look at the wall. "Hmm. It really seems to be dirt..." He started to rub at it. "Still, there must be some way to get it off... There seems to be something shiny under it and I'd like to know if..." Suddenly there was click and the "dirt" sank under the pressure of his fingers into the wall. The ground under them began to rumble slightly.

"Err...sorry..." Yangsaid rather meekly, upon noticing the angry glares of his friends.

Suddenly the wall before them began to move and slowly sank into the ground with a loud grinding noise.

"Seems I was right after all--the crystal tile is the key!" Edge smiled triumphantly. "Seems that the Lunarians who build this place weren't so creative after all..." He stopped when it suddenlygrew dark around the group.

"I don't like this at all..." Jonas whispered. "My torch has gone out – seems the fire wasn't magical, after all… There seems to be a breeze coming from somewhere..."

"Yes...I feel it too..." Yang said. "And did you hear the shriek just now?"

Cecil drew his sword. "Vampire bats..." he stated plainly. The flapping of wings got louder.

"Down!" Cecil shouted, pulling Jonas to the ground with him as about twenty winged creatures flew over their heads. "Darn... There’s quite a lot and it's too dark to see anything..."

"We have to get away from here! Let's take the new corridor!" Yang proposed.

"All right..." Cecil jumped to his feet, dragging Jonas with him. Luckily, the boy was still too surprised by the sudden attack to protest. "Let's go! Edge! Yang! Hurry!" As he and Jonas had just passed what in the darkness they thought to be the continuation of the corridor, there was a strange rumble again. "Oh no... the door..." Cecil whirled around, stretching out his hand. Where the opening had been some seconds ago, there was only the cold feel of stone. The door had closed again.

"And what now?" Jonas hissed sharply. "Are we waiting here?"

Cecil ignored his tone, for he was too occupied with trying to open the stonewall again.

"Just great..." Jonas murmured behind him. "If we could at least cast light, but that will probably draw the attention of every monster in this dark hall to us..."

"Shh!" Cecil held up his hand, silencing Jonas. "I think I hear Edge's voice through the door.” He pressed his ear against the wall. "Edge? Is everything okay?"

The ninja’s voice sounded muffled through the thick stone wall. "We're all right, Cecil! Yang is just about to find the tile to open the door again, but that might take a while in this darkness... He says that you should go on ahead. After all, we don't know when the bats will strike again. We'll follow you shortly..."

"All right!" Cecil answered. "Be careful! What corridor do we have to take next, Jonas?"

The young wizard did not answer. "Jonas!" Cecil repeated, rather sharply. "Edge and Yang need to know which way to take when they've opened the door again."

"It's the one to the left, right here..." Jonas murmured, avoiding the Paladin's gaze stubbornly.

"All right, got it!" Edge shouted. "Take care..."

"Let's go!" Cecil said and felt his way around the wall until he found the corridor. Jonas followed him without a word. “Great... now I'm alone with him.” Cecil wished that things had not turned out this way, but they had no choice in the matter. Vampire bats were ferocious hunters and they could certainly see better in the dark than they could.

The two men followed the dark corridor for some time. After a while it turned and led into another great hall which was illuminated by magical torches. "Light!" Cecil sighed, relieved. "It should be safe here to wait for Yang and Edge..." He looked around in the room. It had a high ceiling and a stone floor with broken tiles. Suddenly the Paladin had the strange feeling of another presence besideshim and Jonas.

Then he remembered what this feeling reminded him of . "The moment on Mt. Ordeals, as father spoke to me... There's this feeling of familiarity here as well, though not as strong as back then... Besides this presence also feels...wrong..." He felt nervousness creeping up in him. Being in this room made him feel uneasy. "I hope that there are not any more traps here..." he whispered.

Jonas said nothing, but started to examine the room on his own.

"Be careful! The floor looks cracked!" Cecil warned him from afar.

Jonas shot him a defiant look. "I can take care of myself. Besides, therecords say that it's safe... I'm not letting you order me about. I don't care if you're a king or not!"

"I wasn't trying to order you about!" Cecil began to argue. "I just don't want something to happen to you..."

"As if you could protect anyone... I heard you couldn't even protect your own wife, Lady Rosa, from getting abducted..." Jonas snapped.

Though the words hit Cecil deep, the stubbornness of Jonas also angered him. Still he reached out for the young boy's arm to keep him back. "Let me at least try to protect you..." he begged.

Jonas turned around, his gaze hurt. He suddenly reminded Cecil so much of the way Rydia had looked back then as she had awoken in Kaipo. "Don't touch me!"

Cecil drew back his hand before he had reached the wizard’s arm. "Jonas... I don't want to harm you. I know that you can't musterthe least bit of sympathy for me, but please try to trust me..."

"Do you know what you're asking of me?" Jonas glared at the Paladin.

"Maybe I do..." Cecil ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe he's right… It surely wasn't easy for Rydia to trust me, as well."

"Are you thinking of this girl again?" Jonas snapped, startling Cecil. Obviously the story had wakened the interest of the wizard.

"Yes... In order to survive she had to trust someone, as well..." the Paladin told the boy, hoping that this would satisfy Jonas' curiosity. Unfortunately, it did not.

"You said that she lost a dear person as well as I did... So, did the person she had to trust had something to do with the loss of this person?" Jonas asked, and for the first time showedno anger within his voice, only curiosity.

Old wounds brokeup again within him and forced Cecil to bow his head. "She had to trust the man who killed her mother... Hebegged to let him protect her..."

"That...that sounds horrible! Who was this girl?" Jonas asked, suddenly real concern in his voice. He even took a step towards the Paladin again.

"It's too late to lie now." Cecil cursed the moment he had started to tell Jonas about the incident. "She's called Rydia... Maybe you saw her briefly as you visited the castle..." Cecil said as neutral as possible. He did not want to bring up their fight in the throne room back then.

Jonas' features stiffened and he backed away a bit. "So...she is this friend..." he murmured and suddenly realization, a horrible realization was mirroredonhis features. It was then that Cecil knew that everything was lost. Jonas had probably already fathomed the terrible reality. He bit his lip, waiting for the last merciless question, feeling like a convicted man waiting for the sentence.

The boy stared at him. "So...the man who killed her mother was..."

"That wasme... I had been sent on a mission by the King of Baron. However, I didn't want to... "

"Shut up!" Jonas, who had known the answer to his question the moment he had seen Cecil's shoulders slack down, interrupted him. "So I'm not the only victim of your doings. And that time you even killed the person with your own hands..." He backed away, slowly, his face a mask of horror and disgust.

Cecil shook is head, his expression full of pain. "Jonas, please. I told you this story to show you that--"

"That you understand?" The young wizard shouted, clenching his fists. "The only thing this story shows me is that you're a monster! I don't know what you did so that the girl forgave you, but it won't work with me..." He quickened his steps, not caring to look where he was going, his face all pale from rage and shock.

"Jonas, I didn't want to kill her mother as well as your sister... Please listen to me and come back here!" Cecil shouted after him.

Jonas shook his head. "Murderer! I won't listen to your foul words forone moment longer! And you want to protect me?"

"Jonas..." Cecil did not know what to say.

Jonas gave him an arrogant look and backed away even more as suddenly a tile gave way under him with a loud crash.

"Jonas!" Cecil raced towards him, though he was not fast enough. Another part of the floor collapsed under Jonas. Luckily, the young wizard was able to cling to the edge of another tile However, even from afar, Cecil could see that only black emptiness loomed under him. "Hang in there!" The Paladin shouted, though hehad to slow down his steps as he saw that the floor around Jonas looked extremelyunstable.

"Great...it's all decayed. But I have no choice..." Cecil let himself down on his stomach and crawled forward, carefully, until he had reached Jonas, who was clinging to the edge of the hole. His face was pale and his eyes were full of fear.

"I'll get you out of there..." Cecil said and grabbed the wrist of the young man. Under him, a stone gave way, but only slightly.

"Don't!" Jonas cried, "If you try to pull me up the weight will bring the other stones to collapse as well..."

"Not if I'm careful!" Cecil tried to sound as confident as he could and shifted his weight a bit to the left, away from the tile which had just cracked. "Can you take my arm?" he asked. Jonas nodded with clenched teeth and carefully let go of the stone with his left hand and grabbed Cecil's arm, which was holding his right wrist firmly. "I'll pull now..." the Paladin said and started to heave up the young man, while trying to balance his own bodyon the floor. With much effort, he finally was able to pull the wizard onto the floor next to him, panting heavily. However, there was no time to relax, as the floor was once again creakingominously.

"We have to get away from here! The floor here will not hold our weight any longer..." Cecil panted and for once Jonas did not protest, but nodded. They carefully crawled forward on their stomachs, but had not even covered three tiles before the floor under them collapsed, taking the two into the unsure darkness.