The Dark Elf War

Chapter Three

Dragon Lords

Rydia had been bouncing from one place to another for two and a half years. After the end of the crystal war everyone else had a place to be. Cecil and Rosa had a kingdom to rule so did Yang and Ayan; Edward had Damcyan to rebuild. Kain was gone off to prove himself worthy to be a dragoon. And then there was Edge, he would have gladly let her stay with him after Cecil and Rosa’s wedding, but she was still confused about how she felt about him. He had still been brash and self centered last time she saw him though she knew that there was more to him than that. The main problem was that even though she was physically 18 she was still mentally about 8 years old. That had been almost three years ago though. Afterwards she had returned to the land of summoned monsters, for good so she thought, but she felt out of place there, they cared for her but she wanted human contact again. Leviathan and Asura seemed to think something was wrong with her, but she just thought that she needed some time to herself. So she left, it was about six months after the crystal war and thanks to new equipment that had been sent to the dwarfs from the upper world they had been clearing areas of lava flow. The dwarfs had opened paths to both the summoned monsters cave and Tomera. She had stayed with the dwarves for a while but with the King Giott there and all the people from the upper world coming down all the time she was afraid that someone who knew her would recognize her. So she went up to look at the ruins of Bab-il from there she had stayed with the sylphs for awhile and finally she ended up in Tomera for some time. Very few people recognized her as one of the heroes of the Crystal War and she stayed out of the way. By this time Cecil, who had received a message from Leviathan about Rydia’s disappearance, was searching for her. Some people even came to Tomera looking for her, but instead of going to them for some reason she snuck out of the town before any of them found her. In the back of her mind she knew she was acting odd but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. That was when she decided she needed to return to the upper world, she would go to Cecil to let him know she was okay. Airships were now flying trips between the Dwarf castle and Agart so after traveling to the Dwarf castle she rode the ferry to Agart where she stayed for the next three months unable to leave for some reason.

“This is silly,” Rydia thought to herself “I should not be afraid to see my friends.”

She knew it was true but another part of her mind would then say, but they have lives of there own now, Important lives, all you’ve done is wonder around and do nothing for the past two years. Your friends are kings and queens what are you? She had been over this in her mind a thousand times in the last three months. She no longer noticed how that part of her mind sounded very little like her. She walked out of the inn and then out toward the docks. Most countries or villages had tended to keep to themselves before the crystal war, and Cecil had felt that this was one of the reasons that Golbez had been able to cause so much damage while he was controlled. It wasn’t until just before the Giant of Bab-il was activated that the countries had banded together to fight and it had almost been to late. After Cecil had become king he did everything he could to keep those fragile alliances from breaking down. He felt that making transportation easier between towns would help strengthen the alliances. The docks had been built about two years ago by Baron so that Agart would have more connection to the outer world. It had become a way station and trading post for men and dwarves alike traveling between the upper world and the underground. It had more than tripled in size in the last two years. A few years ago the green haired girl would have drawn a lot of attention in this town but now she was merely another traveler. When Rydia arrived at the docks she was intending to book passage to Baron as she had done almost every day since she had arrived. Every day she would always become distracted and before she would know it the day was done and she had wasted it looking at clothes in some shop or some other equally useless endeavor. She was determined that to day would be different. 

“I’m going to leave this bloody city today!!” she shouted at no one in particular as she walked down the street. A few people looked in her direction but soon went on about their business. She was angry primarily because she couldn’t figure out why she was still in Agart. She knew she was acting strangely, but every time she tried to figure it out she soon found herself thinking about other things entirely, usually things that made no since like getting new dress or getting her hair done. “She was not some pampered noble women, for Bahumut’s sake,” she had never wasted her time thinking about fashion before why is she now.

Suddenly she realized she was walking away from the docks. “Crystal’s light, I’m doing it again.” She realized somehow that if she didn’t act quickly she would probably be here another day. She quickly turned around and ran to the nearest docked ship.

“Where is this ship bound,” Rydia demanded of a large sailor who was obviously the first mate.

He jumped when she spoke to him, “we’re leaving for Eblan in a few hours but there is no room for more passengers.”

“Eblan,” Rydia groaned to herself. But she knew that if she didn’t go on this ship she wouldn’t make it to another ship. “Perhaps Edge could help me sort things out,” she thought to herself. “Listen, I will pay you ten-thousand Gil to take me to Eblan,”

“Ten…thousand?!!! Well that would be something wouldn’t it. Well I’ll not be taking you with out the money, give it here.”

Rydia threw a bag of money at the man, he opened it and eyed the coins suspiciously. “only five thousand is in this bag…what are you trying to pull.”

“You’ll get the rest when we reach Eblan,” The first mate looked ready to object but she broke him off. “Five thousand is already ten times your normal price for passage. You have my word you will have the rest in Eblan. In the mean time I wouldn’t try to take the money from me if I were you. I am a black wizard of great talent and I could burn this whole ship to the ground in a minute.” She didn’t mention her calling ability since most people thought callers were a myth anyway.

The first mate looked her over and then slowly nodded his head. “I think I can wait for the five thousand till Eblan,” He laughed uneasily and said, “Not like there’s any place to spend on the open ocean any way.

“Fine, Now if you would show me to my cabin” Rydia said.

Once she was in her cabin she had time to reflect on what happened on the dock. Somehow she had overcome the force that was controlling her enough to book passage and even threaten to burn a ship to ashes. “Something is trying to control me,” she thought, “But why, and how was I able to resist it,” she thought to herself. Soon, however, she found herself thinking about what kind of clothes were fashionable in Eblan at this time of year. She knew there were more important things to think about but somehow she never got back to them.

Obaram knew he was in trouble. The girl had managed to leave Agart and of all places was heading towards Eblan. That job had been assigned to Naeya. He knew she would not be happy. There was nothing for it though he had to let her know. He only hoped that he could keep the high lord from discovering his failure before he could turn the situation to his advantage. Then he could simply play this off as if he had planed it all along. He reached out to her telepathically and waited for a response.

“What do you want Obaram,” a voice returned.

“The girl has got on a ship,” Obaram responded.

“What concern is it of mine that you cannot do your job,” Naeya responded.

“The ship heads for Eblan,” Obaram winced at the response he knew would come.

“What!!! You fool this could ruin everything,” Naeya said.

“There was nothing I could do, you forget that she is a summoner and…,” Obaram began.

“And you forget that she is your responsibility, our master is quick to reward those who serve well, but even faster to punish failure.”

“Still it would be worse to be discovered. Kail would be quick to try to take advantage of our failure if he can, thanks to the betrayer our numbers are not what they once were and the high lord is even more suspicious of us than he used to be,” Obaram said.

Naeya thought about this for a second. “What you say is true; still do you really think any of those pathetic monsters she has bonded with could since one of our power, maybe leviathan but still…”

“Leviathan is not our only worry…I have been probing her summoning bonds carefully for the last few months and I believe she had bonded to Bahamut as well,” Obaram said.

“Bahamut…bonded to a summoner, are you sure; I did not even know such a thing was possible. If he were to become aware of our plans it would prove difficult, however she is obviously growing resistant to your manipulations, and that could create problems in Eblan.” Naeya said.

Obaram sighed, “Humans were so easy to manipulate, they are stronger somehow. And she is more resistant than most.”

“Perhaps her time with the summoned has made her more aware,” Naeya suggested.

“It’s more than that, you know as well as I that subversion requires a knowledge of what the person or people desires, for the life of me I can’t figure out what she wants. I try to fill her head with trivial things like clothes or something, but she becomes more suspicious every passing day.”

“Even without being able to probe to deeply you must have learned something in the last six months,” Naeya said.

“No I…wait there is something that might help. She has feeling for the king of Eblan,” Obaram said excitedly. “She tries to pretend she doesn’t but she thinks of him all the time.”

“Hmm perhaps we could use that to our advantage, we will talk again when she arrives in Eblan and perhaps I can turn you failure into an advantage.”

With that the connection with Naeya was severed. “Hmm, she thinks to maneuver herself into a better position with Ishmael,” Obaram thought to himself “she won’t act on her own, but she will try to take credit for it or at least discredit me for failing to control the girl. Something will have to be done about her.” Obaram was certain they would win but he meant to be the high lord’s right hand when they did win.

Rosa slowly drifted back into consciousness. She was vaguely aware of several people standing over her. One of them looked like Yang’s wife Ayan. Suddenly, the memories of last night flooded back to her. She had tried to combat the dark magic that had poisoned Yang. Just remembering it made her nauseous. It was the blackest magic she had ever seen, and she had once fought Zeromus, the embodiment of hatred. She fought down the urge to vomit as she realized that it had almost killed her. 

Suddenly Ayan spoke to her, “Are you alright.”

“I…I think so, is Yang…” Rosa managed weakly.

“He’s unconscious but improving.”

The white wizard next to Ayan spoke up, “I watched you with yang last night, I’ve never seen such a massive amount of power used by one person.” His voice was filled with awe.

Rosa slowly set up, “I…I was almost trapped by the weave of the spell…it was a very powerful spell.”

“Trapped by the weaves?” Ayan asked.

“It’s difficult to explain,” Rosa began, “a spell is a complicated thing, the analogy of a weave works well. A spell of the kind that was in Yang’s head is difficult to counter, one cannot simply destroy the spell, doing so could kill the person under the spells effect. I had to pull the spell apart, Pull in the right place and the spell collapses on itself, the wrong place and almost any thing can happen. I almost got trapped the spell trying to find a way to pull it apart.” Her strength was returning now and she got out of the bed. “It was the most evil thing I have ever seen; I don’t know what wove the spell but it was quite powerful.”

Ayan thought about this for a seconded, “Rosa I should tell that the castle is under a siege.”

“What? When did this happen?” Rosa asked.

“They surrounded the castle just before morning; they have demanded our total surrender.” Ayan said.

“Did Cid take the airship to warn Cecil?” Rosa asked.

“He was going to but the long range drive was sabotaged, we sent a runner last night to Damcyan but it will take at least a week.” Ayan said.

Rosa picked up her bow from the corner, “I should go and see Cid then, there has to be a way to hold them off for a week.”

“He’s up on the walls. Are you sure you’re strong enough?” Ayan looked at Rosa appraisingly.

“Thanks, and I’ll be fine,” Rosa said as she opened the door.

She walked down the corridor to towards the castle walls. She had told Ayan they could hold a week but if the same people that attacked Yang were the ones attacking the castle she didn’t see how they could. Finally she came to the door leading out to the castle walls; it didn’t take her long to find Cid.

“Rosa you’re up…how is Yang,” Cid looked her over.

“All he needs is rest, he should be fine, and you can stop looking at me like I’m about to collapse. I’m fine, though it may be a day or two before I cast any more spells.”

Cid looked at least partially convinced, “Well as you can see we’ve got something of a problem.”

Rosa could see the army surrounding the castle, it was huge, and easily three times the number of soldiers in the castle with siege engines as well. The bulk of the enemy was made up of goblins, not strong by themselves because they had the brains of rocks, but the rest of the army was made up of humans. “Or are they,” she thought. Goblins hate humans, why would they be helping them. Now that she looked at them closer they didn’t seem quite right. They were about the same size as humans but something about them was inhuman. “What are their demands?” Rosa asked.

“Their commander came to us but an hour ago he told us that we either surrender the castle by night fall or they will take it by tomorrow morning anyway. By the look of that army they are not making a simple boast,” Cid looked grim.

“What are we going to do,” Rosa asked.

“Well we still have an advantage; the airship is still ok for short flights just not long ones so I can use it against them when they attack, it could give us the edge we need,” Cid said.

“I hope so,” Rosa said as she looked over the army camped in front of the castle.

Kain had been dreading this moment since he had left the mountain, but somehow he was here in front of castle Baron for the first time in three years. Still he had to let Cecil know about the problems in Mysidia and the strange tablet that had been unearthed. “At least Ryanna is with me, that will help,” he thought to himself. “Where did that come from,” he thought just a quickly. He and Ryanna finally had gotten across the draw bridge to the castle and a large looking guard stopped them.

“What business do you have at the castle,” the guard asked.

Kain looked the guard over carefully, “I need an audience with King Cecil Harvey,” he asked in a voice just as tough as the guards.

“Tell me what your name is and where you come from and I will see if the King will see you,” The guard responded.

“My name is Kain Highwind and I have just come from Mysidia, tell Cecil I have important news for him,” Kain said.

If the guard was offended at Kain calling the king by his first name he didn’t show it all his said was, “I shall let the king know.” He turned to walk away.

Kain stopped him, “Has Baron changed so much in three years that you will not allow us to wait inside the castle walls.”

“I’m sorry but the king ordered an increase in security yesterday since there was an attempted assassination on the king of Fabul,” then the guard hurried off.

Ten minuets later the guard returned. He was looking at Kain with a great bit more respect than he had earlier. “Kain Highwind…I had no idea…” he caught himself stammering, “The king will see you, if you will follow me to his study.”

Kain and Ryanna were led through the castle until they stood in front of a large wooden door. The guard knocked and when a voice inside said come in the guard opened the door and motioned Kain and Ryanna inside.

“Hello Cecil,” Kain said. “I have…”

He got no further than that because Cecil had leapt out of his chair. Much to Kain’s surprise Cecil came over and gave Kain a hug.

“Kain…it’s good to see you again,” Cecil said.

“Is it?” Kain asked.

“Of course it is, Rosa and I have missed you, she’s not here right now she’s in Fabul caring for Yang, she’ll be awful mad when she finds that she missed your homecoming,” Cecil said.

“Homecoming? Why are you being so nice Cecil after what happened…I thought…you’d never want to see me again,” Kain looked at Cecil questioningly.

“Kain, despite what happened I am still your friend, and…I have forgiven you. I hope one day you will forgive yourself as well,” Cecil smiled at Kain. “You said you had information for me what is so important that you left your mountain to tell me.”

“Cecil, this is Ryanna,” Kain began. Cecil looked at her as if he had just now realized she was in the room. “I met her and another man on Mount Ordeals.”

Kain told Cecil of the men that attacked them, their flight to Mysidia and the mysterious tablet that the Elder was trying to translate.

“This is an interesting tale you tell me Kain. You said the people that attacked you carried forward swept swords?” Cecil asked.

“Yes, it seemed they were made for close quarters fighting and they had strange markings on the blade,” Kain added.

“Some of the reports I received from Fabul mentioned the attackers on mount Hobbs using the same kind of weapon, I wonder if there is a connection,” Cecil said.

Ryanna spoke up, “I think they must be connected, it doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me.”

“She’s probably right Cecil, I have a feeling these things must be connected,” Kain added.

“Well perhaps we’ll know more about the situation when Rosa and Cid return from Fabul in a day or two,” Cecil said finally. “You two must be tired from traveling Serpent Road. You’ll stay in the castle tonight.” Cecil looked at Kain a moment and then smiled. “Should I have the maid prepare one or two rooms?”

“Two rooms will be fine,” Kain shot back. He could feel himself blushing. “Damn,” he swore, “it’s stupid to blush over that.” But he kept blushing anyway.

Cecil stood, “I have some things to see to but…I’d like to talk to you tonight Kain…we have much to catch up on.”

“O…Okay,” Kain said.

A couple of hours later Kain had taken a bath and was standing on the balcony of his room out of his armor he was wearing a plain set of clothes that the maid had given him. There was a knock at the door. “Come in,” Kain said as he walked in from the balcony.

Ryanna walked in to the room.

“What happened between you two,” She asked Kain, not needing to say who the other person she was talking about was.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” Kain replied.

“Well when will you want to talk about it?!” Ryanna was suddenly angry. “You never tell me anything about your past. I know, I know, you don’t like to talk about it, but I’m trying to be your friend and you keep shutting me out.”

Kain studied her for a moment, “I’ve hurt you haven’t I.” He sighed and sat down in a chair. “The Crystals know I hurt to many people already.”

Ryanna sat down next to him, “Ever since I met you on the mountain all those months ago I could tell you were running from something, maybe yourself, I just want to help you.”

“I know you do, but well you’re right I am running from something. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to face my past. I’ve done things…bad things.” Ryanna actually saw fear on Kain’s face. “Please don’t ask me to tell you about them, you…you might hate me and I wouldn’t want that.”

Ryanna spoke, “do you have that little faith in me.” Kain started to speak but she waved him off, “I would never hate you Kain, maybe you’ve hurt others but you’ve always fought by my side honorably and I am happy to call you a friend. I trust you, Kain, and know this someday you’ll have to stop running and on that day you’re going to have to trust someone…trust them to not judge you by your past but by your present.”

Kain smiled, “Are you a prophet then?” he asked.

“No it’s just common sense.” Ryanna turned to walk out but before she left she said one more thing, “I promise I won’t pressure you to tell me about your past again, but I be waiting for you to tell me when you’re ready.” With that she was gone leaving a very confused Kain behind.

“She trusts me?” he thought.

Kain was already confused enough but he had promised Cecil they would talk so he went off to find him. He found Cecil in his room.

“Kain come on in,” Cecil said when he saw him standing in the doorway. “Let’s go out on the balcony…We just had it built a few months ago. How do you like it?”

“It’s lovely,” Kain said dryly. “Why did you want to see me?”

“Why to catch up just like I said,” Cecil said.

“We can’t go back to the way things were Cecil you know as well as I,” Kain said. “Things have changed to much…we’ve changed to much.”

“Your right Kain we can’t go back, but…we can go forward, our old friendship is gone but we can have a new friendship,” Cecil said.

“A new friendship,” Kain thought about it for a seconded.

“Kain, sometimes you just have to take a chance and trust someone,” Cecil said.

Kain laughed, something he was unaccustomed to doing.

“What’s so funny?” Cecil asked.

“Ryanna said something similar to that to me earlier,” Kain said.

“She’s a wise woman,” Cecil said in a humorous tone, then becoming serious, “Kain be careful around her.”

“What do you mean?” Kain asked.

“She’s hiding something, I don’t know what but she is,” Cecil said.

“You think she’s evil?” Kain looked doubtful.

Cecil shook his head, “No, No, Not evil I’m sure, she is a good person of that I am sure, but she is more than what she seems, remember that.”

“I will,” Kain said.

They stayed up late that night talking like they hadn’t done since they were children. Kain was almost able to forget about his past that night.

Yang regained consciousness five hours before sunset and after eating he was able to walk around on his own though he was still a bit weak. As the sun set the leader of the enemy sent a runner to find out if they intended to surrender or not. Yang told them that the runner that he could tell his captain that Fabul would not surrender to the likes of them. The karate fighters had been preparing for battle all day as soon as the runner had left the portico was lowered. Cid went to prepare the airship for launch. The goblins started moving siege engines into place against the castle walls. The Baronian archers that had come on the airship sent volley after volley into the mass but every time one fell another took his place. Wizards also tried to strike at the mass of goblins, and they started pouring hot oil over the walls onto the siege engines and setting them on fire. It didn’t matter the goblins were in a frenzy they would climb burning ladders to get to the top of the walls. Suddenly the Enterprise lifted over the castle wall and set to work bombing the goblins and the siege engines. Cid set to destroying the siege engines that the goblins held in reserve. Slowly but surely they were wining. If they were able to destroy the siege engines the force could not take the castle before Cecil could send reinforcements. This went on for some time then suddenly a shape somehow blacker than the night around it emerged, and went towards the airship. Cid was in shock when he realized that he was looking at a dragon. This dragoon was twice the size of any dragon he had ever seen. The dragon looked at the airship and then spoke.

Its voice was rough and harsh, “FOOLISH HUMAN, THE SKIES BELONG TO US; I AM KAIL AND I WILL TEACH YOU A HUMAN’S PROPER PLACE.”

It launched itself at the airship, Cid managed to turn the ship to the side but the dragon sunk its claws into the side of the ship pulling out a hunk of the hull. It breathed fire into the gash and the ship burst into flame. Cid knew the ship was going down he fought to control the descent. It spun and turned until it crashed into the middle of the courtyard of the castle. Rosa came running along with other who had water to put out the fire. She crawled through the wreckage of the ship looking for Cid. She found him injured but still breathing.

“Thank the crystals,” she breathed.

The wounds Cid had sustained would have proven fatal but Rosa was the most powerful white wizard in the world, she could heal anything short of complete death. She began chanting a powerful spell of healing and soon Cid’s wounds appeared as nothing more than year old scars.

Cid sat up and rubbed his arm. “Could a sworn that arm was broken,” then he glanced up at Rosa, “Well I guess I got you to thank for this,” he said holding up his healed arm. He looked around and then said, “Crap enterprise is toasted; it’ll never fly again.”

Rosa hugged him, “I thought you were dead.”

“Me, nah you can’t kill me I’m to tough,” Cid laughed.

Truly, however, there wasn’t much reason for laughing. The goblins had been thinned out a bit and the dragon having destroyed the airship seemed satisfied and was no where to be seen, but the other soldiers that looked like men had joined in the fighting. They were stronger and more dangerous than the goblins and far smarter. Within an hour the enemy was fighting on the wall and it was just a matter of time before they were fighting in the streets.

Yang was commanding the battle from the top of the wall giving orders keeping the lines closed up, trying to prepare for the next assault on the walls. He knew they could not hold back the enemy until tomorrow morning at the latest. Something had to be done to save the people of Fabul, and there was only one thing he could do.

He called one of the guards over to him, “Lin, I want you to go find my wife and the two people from Baron and tell them I need to see them.”

“Right away sir,” The guard responded and then he was gone.

The guard returned with all of them a bit later.

“We aren’t going to be able to hold them more than a day at most.” Yang said finally.

Cid looked sad, “I figured as much. What do you want us to do?”

“Organize the all the people in the castle. They will sneak out the tunnel; it leads to the mountain range west of here. You should be safe there. I don’t know about these others, but the goblins will not go anywhere near those mountains for some reason.” Yang said.

Cid thought about it for a moment, “It’s risky Yang.”

“We have no other options though. The tunnel is over 100 miles long and wide enough for ten people to walk abreast of one another. It’s safe; it was built by the dwarves after all. We will stay and hold off the army as long as we can. Once through destroy the entrance to the cave so they can’t follow you.” Yang said.

“Honey, you must come with us,” Ayan suddenly interjected.

“No my place is with my soldiers,” Yang said stubbornly.

Rosa was shaking her head, “Yang you are not a soldier any more you are a king. As a soldier it was your job to die to protect the people, as a king you must live to help the people rebuild.”

“She is right sir,” Lin interjected, “We will die to protect you, but you must leave with the people so that Fabul can be rebuilt someday.”

Yang looked irritated, “Your right, I know you are, but I don’t have to like it.”

It took time to organize the people but soon they began marching through the cavern, the soldiers on the walls fought back wave after wave of the goblins and the black cloaked soldiers with the forward swept swords, they held the castle almost until night fall the next day, much longer than any thought possible. By the time the enemy killed the last soldier and took the castle they found nothing but the sound of the wind whistling through empty rocks.

About five thousand refugees found themselves setting on the side of an unnamed mountain. The sun had just set as the last of the Refugees came out of the cave. Some of the people were discussing the best way to close the tunnel but before any decision was made Cid had already decided on a course of action. He walked over the entrance and unloosed his great war-hammer. The hammer was magical, imbued with the power of Earth magic. He swung the hammer against the ground in front of the cave and the earth split under it. The cave opening quickly collapsed. 

Suddenly a black shape covered the sun. Cid looked up and saw the dragon flying over them. “Crap,” he said.

The refugees were already running. Rosa and Ayan and Yang came running up to Cid. The dragon landed in front of them. DID YOU THINK TO GET AWAY FROM ME LITTLE HUMAN,” the dragon snarled. Cid ran at the dragon with his hammer raised, “this is for Enterprise.” The dragon knocked Cid aside and he smashed into a rock wall. The dragon turned towards Rosa, “I WILL ENJOY KILLING YOU, WIFE OF DRAGON BAIN.” Rosa chanted her most powerful spell, “Holy” she shouted. A white globe formed in her hand and she threw it at the dragon the globe turned in to a chain of globes like a string of pearls and they slammed into the dragon. It was shocked at the force of the blow but it came towards them anyway. Yang stepped in front of Rosa to receive the dragons blow but before it could strike the ground collapsed under it and it slid down the side of the mountain. It was injured and one his wings was broken making flight impossible, but it began climbing back up the hill immediately. 

Cid was back on his feet, he had used the hammer to break the ground. “Run” he shouted to them. “I’ll hold him off until you get away.”

“No Cid you can’t,” Rosa shouted.

“Rosa I’ll do what I must, maybe I’ll bring the whole mountain down around him, I’d like to see him get out of that dragon or no.” 

He did not mention that bringing down the mountain on the dragon would kill him too. Rosa was about to say just that when Yang stopped her, “We must run Rosa, he sacrifices himself for us and Fabul, do not let his sacrifice be in vain. She turned to follow, but as she ran she cried harder that she ever had before.

The dragon made it back to where Cid stood. It was more wary of Cid this time knowing about the magic of the hammer. “HAVE YOUR FRIENDS LEFT YOU HUMAN,” the dragon asked.

“Nah I sent them on ahead, they were just getting in my way anyways,” Cid said sounding braver that he felt.

“YOU THINK TO SAVE YOUR FRIENDS, HOW TOUCHING.”

The dragon shot fire out of his mouth and Cid dogged it barley showing more agility that one would think a man his age possessed.

“Time to die dragon,” Cid said as he hefted his hammer. The hammer slammed into the side of the mountain, sending a crack up it all the way to the summit. Cid did mean to bring the mountain down on the dragon. The dragon ran towards Cid in a blind rage. Cid brought the hammer down again, and the dragon realized what was happening as the mountain began to crumble.”

“NO YOU CANNOT, YOU WILL DIE HERE AS WELL YOU HAVE SEALED BOTH OUR FATES.”

“It is worth dying to see that my friends are safe,” Cid said calmly.

The dragon had never understood the human willingness to sacrifice themselves for others; he would stab even those closets to him in the back if it meant some gain. “NO, THIS CANNOT HAPPEN TO ME, I AM KAIL A DRAGON LORD, RULER OF A THOUSAND WORLDS, I CANNOT DIE BY THE HANDS OF ONE HUMAN…”

The rest was lost in a tumble of stones as the top of the mountain slid down on top of both him and Cid. Then the mountain was still. Farther down the mountain a group of refugees running for their lives saw the mountain crumble and the dragon die, Rosa watched and cried.

Next chapter: Rydia meets Edge in Eblan. Rosa, Yang, Ayan and the refugees are on the run from the goblin and Mordihel army, and an interesting discovery is made about the identity of Ryanna.