And so the count down goes on.... ^_^ Long chapter ahead- since I hadda explain some things. Like..how they get up there. -_-;; And since it took so long "Rebirth of a Dark Champion" wound up being shuttled another chapter ahead. gomen! I did try to make it shorter- but then it seemed too contrived..and breaking it up just didn't work.

I had awoken to see the wings fold into a form much more familiar to me now...an orb of darkness stealing away all light and warmth. I had always thought we had been visiting that frozen dream by night- now I know it must have been day, for the night's cold was so bitter now nothing could live in it unsheltered for long....

I look away from the window to Cecil and Palom- and the boy's sister, Porom who came sometime during my dream -as they pour over various reports. Mysidia and Fabul were severely damaged but would survive..their respective crystals had carried them through the worst of it. Damcyan however, was gone. The Fire crystal had not been able to protect from the sands of the desert swallowing up the castle. The fate of the prince and said crystal was still unknown.

Mist was gone, buried under ice and stone when a landslide was triggered. Eblan as destroyed as well, coated in thick ice. The caves so close to the castle had spewed forth so much of that freezing black fire the castle had never stood a chance. It's King and Queen were still unaccounted for. Toroia was not yet lost, but soon would be- the castle sinking fast into earth far too swamped by it's rivers for the Earth crystal to be able to save it.

And the island that had held the way to the Underground....was gone completely. Blasted to nothing by the moon's rise, it had become a great gaping mouth in the middle of the sea that was soon frozen over. The tower of Bab-il had fared little better. The other cities- that small desert town Cecil had once fled to and the silver-town where the inhabitants consisted of pigs and frogs- were completely unknown.

All of this in one event. How had that other world held on so long? Here in Baron, the people were fighting visciously against the cold- bonfires burning all about the city to keep the enroaching ice at bay. Even so, it found niches and crannies to begin it's growth in, away from the flames. They were merely delaying the inevitable unless the moon could be stopped.

And for the first time- I see my brother despair. Rosa attempts to aid him as well, but her own news is of no heartening nature...Cecil was hoping to regather those who had helped him save this world once before from Zeromus...but of Kain there was no word at all. No one could survive the trek to Mount Ordeals to see if he had found some way of surviving. And Cid.. he had vanished during the chaos seeking his daughter. Neither had been sighted since.

The paladin it seems, has lost his greatest strength: those willing to fight beside him. He is visibly giving up his plans of fetching the ship from Mysidia- if it can still be used- and trying to reach this new danger...

How pathetic.

Three steps to the table- and I toss what little water remains in my cup into my brother's face, getting a mixture of startled and angry looks. Rosa begins to speak up, but I am not about to listen to someone defend my brother's useless behavior...

"Golbez! You-"

"Be silent. You have no part in this."

And NOW Cecil looks angry, starting to rise from his chair-though he's quite easily shoved back in it by me. Even he looks a little startled at that..I certainly don't look that strong...perhaps there's some small perks after all being what I am during a time like this...

"You have what you need right here, Cecil. Are you going to give up so easily simply because you can't do it the way you want to?"

"What are you talking about? We can't-"

"We can and we will. Call it something your beloved father told me. Not to mention two tools here at present that could actually be of more use than any of your more powerful friends."

Both Palom and Porom blink at me when I look to them...yes, they could be quite useful. Two we could drag along and not worry about them clashing with what I wish to accomplish. Twins, one a black mage and one a white mage. We were going into a delicate place...we would have to obey it's rules to some degree.

"If you cannot find the summoner, then your wife must stay as well, Cecil. If you have to- tie her to the damned throne to keep her from coming. It's not as hard as you might think."

Tempers flare again- Rosa's in particular- but that this point, I think I'm beyond caring. Not that I'm liable to have cared in the first place.. If we can't stop this, we're as good as dead- or worse- anyway. I start past the whole gaping pack, heading for the door...I'm still weak but there is no time for me to lay about in bed and regain it. I have no idea how long it will take the moon to devour this world...

"When you are ready, meet me at the gate to the road to Mysidia. While I highly doubt Klu Ya's ship has survived this, there is another way...."

And without waiting for another useless comment or protest- I leave the room, heading for that destination as well. They will have no real choice. Palom and Porom have not yet come properly into their own, but they could still be of use in this matter...though I doubt my brother can see this. He is far too used to handling such threats with only the power of a battle. And while I don't doubt there will be such at the end of this course- perhaps it's not so important as the path TO it...

Amazingly, they only make me wait some fifteen minutes...though I still want to strangle them. Fifteen minutes in this cold was a freezing eternity. And miracle of miracles- that woman, Rosa, actually isn't with them. Either she had heeded some inner wisdom at long last....or Cecil had made use of some of the rope lying about the castle. Given the twin's rather...guilty looking faces, I'm starting to lean heavily toward the latter as having come to pass....

The path to Mysidia leaves us all quite tired- I'd be lying to say I wasn't heavily tempted to simply find a warm corner to sleep in for a time before proceeding- but it's off to the Tower of Wishes for us. So far, Cecil and the twins have been silent...probably trying to figure out what I'm doing. Apparently it's not every day a man snaps out of a coma and starts telling them what to do.

The Elder, oddly enough, doesn't seem at all surprised by our arrival..or what I have to ask of him. Perhaps this world does have some intellegent life on it...

"I need to use your tower to open a path to the Dark Moon-"

"I had suspected as much, young man. Our mages will support you as well as they can..but please understand we are not familiar with the sort of magic you will be using. ...and kindly leave the crystal out of it this time."

A tone so mild and vaugely reprimanding, it's actually more of a slap in the face than him sounding angry about my little stunt of a few months ago. Though I am inclined to wonder why I would even care what he thought- bah, a pondering for another day. One when we AREN'T about to get wiped from existance...

"Send all of the mages you have available to the tower then. I will be on the top floor."

And the next few hours are spent teaching Palom the virtue of drawing STRAIGHT lines when working with magical diagrams, while Porom and Cecil are placed in charge of arranging unlit torches about the edges of the circle. The sky has turned deepest black with only faint pinpricks of stars before we are finished..and the base of the tower itself is alight with the many mages standing about the bottom, holding candles as they prepare their prayers and wishes...

The closing of the door signals the start of the spell. Palom and Porom are the only mages not aiding in this- and I am acting only as a guide. And Cecil..well, he has very little REAL magic to start with. A few weak White spells do not a true caster make.

Darkness much like what I had called to me on the Moon begins to engulf us again as the mages lend me their strength..swirling around us and swallowing us...I'm dimly aware of Palom and Cecil's shouts and Porom's cry when the room is swallowed- then falling away from us. I can feel my feet leave the floor as I'm swept away like a leaf on a river...tumbling on through the darkness. I feel someone clinging to my arm in an attempt to keep us altogether- who, I can't tell...

And reality shatters, taking consciousness with it. My last thought before losing all capacity to think...

Let me be first to wake before those fools ruin everything......

(Continued in: Rebirth of a Dark Champion)

And now we're almost done. Only a few chaps left to go...sorry for this one being a yawner. ;_;