Ch11-4: The Watcher
Luccious could see the Lunar Homeworld through Joran’s misty eyes. He could feel the warmth of the damp, balmy air against her skin.
Something about the way the light shifted across the ground through the tall, deep-green fronds was familiar. Something locked in the depths of dead memory told him that he should know this place… that one time long ago, he may have felt the soft tropical breeze on his own body. During a time before all he could feel was cold mist and spirit light.
But just as quickly as it came, the feeling was gone.
There was no room for feeling. No room for emotion. Not where he was. Not where he would take the rest of them.
The last survivors of the Dreigiau’s people. He had found them. After many long centuries of hunting, searching, battling the Trine. The Dark Sygnus would descend upon the last of the Dregiaiu’s people and fulfill his destiny as their Bane.
Perhaps then, the Hatred that boiled within him would rest. Perhaps not. Perhaps the Chaos that drove Zeromus, his claimed-father, to his downfall would finally grip him as well. Who knew what waited beyond the fringe of final fulfillment.
There was nothing… no one… left in the living world for Luccious. The concept of Earthian love was only a faded dream of his short-lived childhood. All that he had once held dear, he had destroyed. So there was nothing left for him to do but move forward and destroy the rest.
Joran’s footsteps changed in tone. She was no longer walking along a dusty path. Instead, she was mounting the crystal-stone steps to the front of a tall, mountain-appearing fortress. Spires of glittering crystal jutted up towards the sky, seeming to have been summoned from within the stone of the planet itself. It was where Incrytan was leading them. Towards the final remaining Crystals.
As the girl walked forward, a sudden stream of young Lunarians bustled through the doors. There was the sound of sharp commands and numerous complaints as the children made their way down the stairs in a disorganized manner.
The Lunarians were evacuating the fortress.
This meant two things. That the others knew the next target would be the Crystals of the Moon. And that they had arrived before Joran had. If orders for evacuation had already been given, then it would be very likely that the Crystals would be protected. Or in the process of being moved.
Either way, the trifling must stop. Luccious was far too close to freedom for the Earthians to come and stand in his way.
“Joran?!” a voice called. A hand reached out and grasped the girl’s wrist, bringing her advance to a stop. “What are you doing here? Where have you been?”
A Lunarian boy stood there, his face lit with recognition as the green eyes stared up into her face. It seemed that the girl was known there. Not knowing what to say that would not blow her cover, Luccious caused the girl to shake her head slowly.
“You can’t go back in there,” the Lunar intoned gravely. “We’ve been given the orders to evacuate everyone.”
“I know,” Joran answered in a dull monotone. “But I have to.”
“Come with me,” he began to tug back on her arm.
It would have been nothing to have taken out Incrytan and done away with the boy right there. But it would have made it far more difficult to get into the fortress if they did. It would have certainly raised an alarm to the others, and that was not something that Luccious wanted to do. If he could take them by surprise, all the better.
“Let go of me!” Joran snapped forcefully. With a jerk of her arm, she yanked back from the surprised young Lunar.
“Joran, wait!” he called.
But there was no time to wait. Her feet were moving. Running. Making speed up the steps towards the fortress. Weaving in and out of the bobbing white heads that all flooded in the opposite direction. Soon his calls faded into the din of the evacuation. The boy did not seem to be so stubborn as to make a chase.
That was all well because Incrytan had begun to glow. Joran kept the stone wrapped away in the pouch of her belt, yet the closer they got to the rest of the Crystals, the more it had begun to react. Though most of the Lunars were far too busy making an escape, there would always be that one or two that would stick their nose where it wasn’t wanted. Instructed to ignore calls and shuffling of feet, Joran pushed her way through the tide, following the direction of the thrumming under her fingertips.
Before long, she had arrived in an area that was quiet and dark. There were little signs of other Lunarians here. The halls had grown wider and taller, arching high and bearing faint glowing designs on the face of the crystal stone. Ahead, the hall was lit with a luminous light, spilling out around the arching corner. Luccious could feel the pressure of a deep hum that seemed at once both immense and quiet at the same time. It vibrated through the girl’s body, making her steps shaky.
Incrytan was fully glowing now in response to the other Crystals. It would not be long.There came the sound of voices ahead – only two, wrapped in the soft intonation of magic. As Joran crept closer, her eyes fighting to pick out shapes within the Crystal light, it became apparent that one voice belonged to an ancient, bearded Lunar. And the second belonged to a tall, white-haired man. They were working together to draw warding energies around the Crystal room, in hopes to deflect that which they could not escape.
Joran’s eyes rested on the white haired man momentarily. Something about him caused her to pause, even at the force of the Dark Sygnus’ will against her mind. There was an emotion there, so deep and longing. Something strong enough to muster the will to struggle against him, as weak as the struggle was.
It was nothing to restrain her again. But Luccious couldn’t help pondering the intensity of her response.
He, too, knew this white haired man. It was the one that OMEGA had targeted. The one that was called Golbez. And in stopping to get a better look at him, Luccious realized the impossible.
This man was a Sygnus-Half.
But how could such a thing exist? Either one was a Sygnus or was not. There was no in between.
Yet, against his better judgment, there it was. A Sygnus-Half. One who stood divided, his power shared with someone else. But who… who could that someone else be?
Before he had a chance to observe further, a shout rang out across the hall. Other people were within the Crystal Chamber along with the two mages, but it had been hard to tell that before with the feeling of light and power flowing through the room. Now Joran had been spotted.
It was time to act.
Luccious’ will crushed the breath from her lungs as he forced the girl to rush into the chamber. She flipped open the top of the pack at her hip, pulling the brilliance of Incrytan out between cupped palms. The others reached for her, lunged to grab the girl. To capture her and hold her back. But Incrytan’s energy was fed from his own. Walls of silver mist-grown-solid sprang up around her, violently throwing anyone back if they got too close.
Their shouts of frustration and pain were rewarding. There was nothing they could do to stop the girl as she sped up to the dais that held the waiting Crystals. The warding that the two mages had been placing was incomplete. Though it took a bit more of a shove to break through the ring of protection, Joran walked over their boundaries and straight into the center of the chamber.
“Joran!” Golbez’s voice was hoarse, hands still dripping in the warding magic that he had been so desperately casting. Seeing that the spell was now worthless, he dropped his hands at his side. “Please… please don’t…”
Again, that welling feeling rose within the girl. Enough to make her pause. Enough to make Luccious have to repossess her.
“Please just give Incrytan to me. We can help you…” he reached out to her. Strangely, he seemed more worried about reclaiming the girl than his Crystal.
Taking a bit of pity due to the miserable look on the man’s face, Luccious forced words into the girl’s mouth, “Joran is not here. It is not her will to carry Incrytan. It is not her will to do what must be done.”
Golbez reeled back from her voice as if he had been bitten. His green eyes were round and horrified, mouth stammering, “Who… who are you? What have you done to Joran!?”
It would seem that this Sygnus-Half was a complete idiot.
The sound of low laugher echoed in the hall, “You fight against something you do not understand. And what do you think you can accomplish? How can you hope to fight me? You are nothing but a mere Sygnus-Half.”
“Luccious…” the elder Lunar hissed between aged lips.
At least one of them seemed to know something.
“No…” Golbez almost groaned, his tone turning pleading, “Let her go! Surely whatever you need to do doesn’t require an innocent girl!”
“The time for talk is over,” came the reply. Then the girl’s hands lifted, Incrytan shivering between them.
“No! Joran!” he implored yet again.
Futile.
Already the Moon Crystals had begun to respond to the light of Incrytan. The sound was tremendous – the pleading keens of the living stones as their magics began to boil and break down from the inside out. Cracks split the surface of the Crystals, one at a time. And Luccious could feel it. The bonds on his power, on his awareness, slowly… slowly… coming free.
“Joran!!!” Golbez cried through the growing maelstrom of energy.
“No, boy!” the old Lunar grabbed the Sygnus-Half by the arm. “It is lost. We cannot stop what has begun. We must get out of here before we are consumed!”
“But Uncle! The castle… the Lunars..!”
“No time! Save what can be saved!” he began rushing through the chamber, pulling the bigger man along with a strength his old body wouldn’t have appeared to possess on first sight.
“JORAN!!” Golbez’s last call came as the two rushed down the other side of the dais, running for the door.
Slowly the stones had begun to dissolve, fragments rising into the air, energies drawn to the pulse of Incrytan. Frantic shouts rang from outside the spiraling ring of energy.
“Golbez! FuSoYa! What’s going on!?”
“I can’t see anything!”
“Chase? Are you alright!?”
“Cecil, we’ve got to get out of here… fast!”
“Rydia!? Where did you go?!”
“I’m right here! You can let go now?”
“We’re screwed! If this whole place is going to come down on us anyway, we should stay and fight!”
“Chase?! Where are you?”
“Enough — we must run! NOW!”
“Shit! There’s nothing we can do at all!?”
“RUN! THIS WAY!”
The shouts broke off, obscured by the roar of the energy vortex as it grew. The walls shuddered, trails of stone raining down as the hall groaned and rocked from the pressure swelling within. Slits of red appeared on Joran’s body, tiny gashes where fragments of flying crystal grazed her flesh. Her body was shaking under the impact of power drawn into Incrytan, only held up by his will alone.
She was growing weaker, her heartbeat erratic and breath labored. Feeble as Earthians were, he needed her to last just a little longer. Long enough to complete his release. Once that was done, she would be destroyed, along with the rest of the Dreigiau’s people.
There was no pity for the Lunar children, those who were descended of the Old Worlders. Their arrogance and intolerance had brought their own ruin. They had never accepted him… had treated him like the Bane. And the Bane he had become, true to their word.
He would be sure to repay each and every “Lei’ Igro” that had fallen from their lips.
As if in response to his eagerness, one of the Dark Crystals gave way completely. The implosion nearly sent Joran sprawling as Incrytan jolted in her hands. Part of the far wall cracked, a tall gash racing along the surface, up to the ceiling.
From the middle of the raining debris and dark haze, a form began to materialize. At first, it seemed just a trick of light and shadow — it was merely a small thing. But then it began to move. Approaching.
Yet another Crystal buckled, shattering like brittle glass into the roar of the vortex. Yet the shape continued forward, into the maelstrom of Crystal power unhindered
A little boy stepped out onto the dais.
At first, he appeared merely human — soft child features under a flow of sandy brown hair. But when the boy’s gaze lifted, burnished gold eyes blazed with an ancient, knowing light. A power radiated in shimmering golden waves around him, clam and controlled. As he had always been.
“Aur,” Joran’s forced words spoke. “So… Zemi sends his Guardian Watcher to do his work for him?”
“I will not allow you to destroy this place,” the boy responded quietly. Golden eyes watched, unblinking.
“I see,” came a soft laugh. “You are even weaker than when I last saw you. What do you — a washed-up Guardian trapped in a child’s form – expect to do?”
“I will do whatever I must.”
A statement to test out. So Luccious did. Yet another Crystal quivered, cracked and shattered. More red lines began to stripe the white of Joran’s arms. The walls groaned again, stone leaning under the impact.
Then suddenly, the groaning stopped.
A golden light spread from the boy’s form, wavering as it fought to absorb the shock of the energy blast. It rose up, expanding into the shape of a colossal golden lion, arching tall over the Crystal platform in a luminous, protective shield. With all the power that was left to the Watcher, he strove to contain the tempest of Crystal annihilation.
“You believe you can protect them, Watcher?”
In vindictive response, Luccious gathered his own will – now stronger with each Crystal that shattered. Then with a terrible focus, he unleashed it — a pounding wave of Incrytan’s light, spreading in every direction. As it flashed over the last remaining Crystals there was a moment of cold silence. Then a vast release as each living stone splintered apart simultaneously.
“Are these Earthians worth that much?”
The surge welled up against the great golden form, as its ethereal claws anchored down, holding against the blast. But the Crystal light was too much. Patches of gold began to dissolve and burn away. Streams of white broke through the shield, piercing through the beast’s body like a hunter’s arrows.
“What are you willing to sacrifice?”
“Everything,” came the Watcher’s answer.
Gold gave way to burning white Crystal light as the shield shuddered and failed. And a tremendous howl of anguish shook the Lunar Fortress.