For the record. I have NO idea how this chapter is gonna go. ^_^ However it turns out from this point on- I hope you enjoy it. Oh yes- Golbez's PoV once again. Possibly some others, depending on how I choose to do this.

I "awaken" to the steady rustle and rattle of branches being woven together, the rushing sound of waves throwing themselves against sand, the feeling of something soft landing upon my skin only to vanish into nothing. My hands are bound..and I can hear sobbing off to some distance. As sight returns to my eyes, a sky slowly lightening to pre-dawn is revealed....

A sky filled a thousand small, drifting feathers so far as I can see. It was these I felt brushing against me, vanishing against my skin as a snowflake might. I close my eyes and lean back against the post I find my bonds attached to..just thinking. With every light touch, more of "myself" is returning, that other self, created from the memories of past versions from dead worlds fading.....

I can remember all of it. I know what I did- I know what I had become- just destiny's puppet dancing upon her strings again, as surely as I had once danced on Zemus'. It angers me to no end- but I'm powerless to vent that rage...I feel far too weary to even begin to struggle in the bindings. I had sworn to myself to never be such a thing again. To never again play the part of a mere tool...

With each passing moment, my mind is fast becoming it's own once again, no longer twisted even slightly to that higher will. I had gone to the Dark Moon in hopes of stopping it- instead, I had begun to destroy the world for it. I had become it's puppet....

And yet, it seems I had done so willingly. I had nearly undone my own careful work and sought instead an ending rather than a beginning. Yet..it was not Cecil who had stopped me. The one who truly had saved this world from even me...from destiny's endless games-playing- lay on a bed of branches. Torches were nearby- they were going to burn him?

A flash of memory...Palom resisting the spells laid over that shadow-graveyard within the moon....Porom actually reaching and touching me even though she was caught in a mere dream...and then an older memory... 'The restoration of this Balance is not so important as the maintaining of it. Anyone can restore it- very few can keep it.'

Fools! Bloody fools! I know fully well what they intend to do. Burn Palom- and then sentence me to death. That thought DOES cause me to begin struggling in the ropes- and earns me a sharp smack from one of my watchers. Seven mages in all...what sorts I cannot be sure as they all wear the dark gray and black robes of mourning. I try to speak- but words are denied me. A mute spell to keep my spells at bay. Damn them!

If Palom and I were to both die...then the balance that had been so hard won would go to hell in a beribboned handbasket. Damn it all! I should have told them before hauling them there- but they never would have believed me. Cecil would have immeditally dragged those damned crystals into this and then-

That thought derails itself within moments..the Crystals. The spell I had once used to come here had called on them as a...tie of sorts. And the spell I had used to gain reach to the moon had also been cast in Mysidia. Two traces of powerful spells- both ones that had required no words to weave, only a symbol. Of course, there was still the small problem of my magic being denied me. Such a weaving may or may not require my own power as well. I have no way of knowing until I try...

Those days in the Lunar library seem far away indeed, all the knowledge slipping away from me even as I try to grasp desperately at it. I force myself to calm as those idiots gather up branches and driftwood..working my hands just a bit against the ropes. Not enough to get free- I need something to draw with. And all I have available at this point is blood, provided I can get enough life back into my hands to draw. It can't be too complicated- I'm sure to make mistakes if I try for a complex spell.

As the blood trickles on my fingers, I begin to sketch against the post..simply willing something to happen through those ties. What, I don't care. I don't have time or skill at present TO care. Just let SOMETHING happen. Before these fools ruin everything...

The moments slip by and nothing comes of my efforts... I can only bow my head in defeat and await the inevitable. Were Porom more alert- she may come to realize the mistake being made. I don't expect my brother to figure it out. Cecil has many good qualities no denying- but intellegence and observational skills are not among the ranking ones. And I can't voice the truth to them.

Palom is not dead. Did those two not see him resisting all the spells I had thrown their way? Only one of purely black magic rather than of the Dark Champion's power had truly affected him. All else had been useless...and the sword had just been another spell. Anyone thinking...would know this wasn't possible. He couldn't have died. The sword might have shocked him, or perhaps his own mind thinks he SHOULD be dead, but I'd bet my life on his being alive.

Mainly because in this instance..I have to.

I trace the rune again, growing more desperate with the motions...and still nothing. Mouthing a silent prayer to any benevolant force that might be listening, I trace the rune a third time- and hear shouts. I break my concentration and look to the shore- where the waves have begun pounding the shore fiercely, far higher than they should be able to reach. The Mysidians start backing off, but for every step back the group takes, the higher the waves reach, persuing them.

This wasn't quite what I had intended...maybe I should have tried for a more complicated spell...

The waves are lapping at my feet now, the water rising steadily higher as the now panicking mages begin to vacate quickly- then from the flooded shore comes a loud crashing followed by a splash, and Porom's sudden distressed cries. Palom's pyre had just been swept over, taking the body with it.

Damn, damn and double damn. So much for THIS brilliant idea- I may have just done their job for them- and eliminated myself as well as the water jerks at the pole with every wave- the sand slowly pulling away from the post. Even as Porom is trying to plunge into the water and save her brother, Cecil is now seeking to come to drag me from the water- my brother, the ever forgiving fool. Or perhaps he's just THAT determined to see his brand of justice done.

All panicked screaming ends on a bewildered note however, just before the waves drag me over and into their embrace...

"....aaahmm............eh? ..........hey, whasgoin' on?"

>From the floating pile of branches- Palom appears, clinging to them and just staring around like someone awoken from an odd dream only to find reality all the stranger by far- hat gone, robe soaked. And then all I'm seeing is sandy water and wave-froth as my own summoning seems determined to prove my undoing, dragging me down....

When I awaken later- I almost wish I hadn't. My lungs are burning, and my abdomen feels like someone was punching it repeatedly. I certainly don't want to sit up, but after a moment- someone grabs my shoulders and pushes me up, lightly slapping my face to supposedly help me awaken I guess.

They are going to lose that hand if they don't stop it.

I may have mumbled that aloud for the slaps stop- and when I can focus again, it's Cecil who's pulled me up. Beside him stands Porom- and Palom. The girl is just clinging to her twin as if afraid he'll vanish without warning any moment...After thinking him dead I suppose that's an understandable fear...

Still, bewilderment seems to be the order of the day. I'm simply glaring up at Cecil and the twins when the Elder clears his throat..disliking mysteries, no matter what unexpected boons they bring...

"Golbez...you seem to reside at the center of all these mysteries..what is goin-"

Now my glare slides over to him- and a frustrated sign claws it's way out of my abused throat. I must have swallowed half of the ocean, as rough as it feels... and rather than answer, I simply shift about to show my bound wrists...if the elder wants answers, he can start by releasing me. The old mage is hesitating- then I feel a blade moving through the ropes- Palom cutting me free, despite both Cecil's and Porom's starting protests.

"Hey- give 'im a chance. He looks like he's back to normal.." Still, he's sounding a little less than certain. No matter. It was time to lay this whole mess to rest, before someone upset it once again.

"The lot of you might as well get comfortable...this will take some time..."

And time it certainly did take. Explaining the dreams, the Balance, even Klu Ya's still unwelcome intrusion into my dreams...it's a tale many hours in the telling and which leaves my poor voice suffering after partaking of the sea water and then playing storyteller. Even at the end of my tale however...it seems there are still some questions to be answered...

"How did you know Palom wasn't dead?" This now being asked by Porom.. "And how did you conjure up the flood, even without your magic? The Elder's mute spell is the strongest in the town...not even someone like you could just shake it off!"

"I knew he wasn't dead because of the simple fact none of my OTHER attacks using the Moon's power had worked. Why would a conjured sword? It had no actual substance." To emphasize, I gestured to Palom's robe- devoid of blood, though with him standing there now, the cut in the fabric of the robe is plain to see. "Had it been you or Cecil- you would have been cut in two. Palom, however, was attuned to the same power as the moon by being a black mage."

"Meaning I absorbed it and got one hell of a shock." Now Palom is nodding- thank the powers, there's hope for him yet. He truly CAN think when he tries... "Or something like that. That's why I was- er...."

"In a coma. And after such exposure- sensing your life force under the power you had taken in would have been almost impossible for anyone here." At that announcement- the mages, twins and Cecil are all turning a most unhealthy shade of white. They had nearly burned a living comrade of theirs. I can imagine that giving someone quite a pause..."You were lucky that the shock of suddenly being in the ocean's water appeared to have snapped you out of it."

"But that still doesn't explain one thing, Golbez.." Now it's Cecil looking to me...and repeating the earlier question which I had deliberately not answered. "How did you summon the waves?"

I suppose I could tell them the truth. Some might have even understood that it had been nothing but channeling power already tied to me into the crystal and dragging some of ITS power here in a desperate, uncontrolled spell...

Or I could simply...smile, smug as I've ever been and simply say..

"It was something I learned from Fu So Ya."

Blinks and stunned looks abound all around- the mages likely wondering what else I can do with their crystals then..but the Elder looks unconvinced, the twins as well.....and Cecil is simply giving me a look that suggests I may have underestimated his intellegence a bit.

Just a tiny bit....

(Concluded in: Told By the Wind)

Wee..just one chapter to go and this will be finished. BTW, I'm making an FAQ file for this, so if you have any questions, send them on in either reviews or emails.