Intermission 3: Sealing of Souls
Date: 23 human years before present time.
Location: Mysidia.
You’d think that the gift of Foresight would make things easier. But I’ll be the first to tell you otherwise. The vast expanse of unknown stretches before us all. It is just as frightening to me as it is for the innocents of the Blue Planet. Oftentimes, knowing hints of what is yet to come only works to remind you of how little time there is left in the big picture. It’s a thought that most of us would be well advised to consider.
But it’s only in retrospect that one realizes.
I can still smell the tinge of salt on the air. I can hear the rushing sound of storm-swelling surf pounding the wooden wharf of Mysidia. Though it was near dawn, the city remained huddled under a billow of slate colored clouds. On this morning the light would not break.
I knew.
Of course I knew. This was the day of my trial. This was the moment that all the events of my life converged into a final ultimatum. My choice was at hand. And I remember being afraid that I would not be able to know the best choice to make. I could see into both paths and each one seemed choked by its own circling darkness.
The air whispered hoarsely of a silence before the storm. I waited quietly. There was nothing more to do. I was faced with the inevitable. All fears and worries were shed time and time again. But nothing could stop what was meant to be.
It was my purpose. My children’s purpose. And I had learned not to let fears of the unknown run away with me.
At that time, I was known as KluYa. I do not know if that name still lingers or if it has been forgotten. That matter is not important to me. I was never the one that was destined to remain. The shadow of the mountain has always hung over me.
My brother, Fu, always said I was a brash and foolhardy spirit. Considering my heritage, I suppose I can’t really argue. But there was something more than mere foolishness that drove my actions. Coming to Blue Planet was one of the most impetuous things I have probably ever done… next to marrying a girl of the terrestrial world.
In looking back, the happiest times of my life came during the simple day-to-day means of family living among the humans in Mysidia. It is strange to think that I could say that with such honesty. But for all my days as a celebrated teacher at the Runnian Manor, it was the time I spent guiding the human race that filled my heart with the most joy.
The people of the Blue Planet were still young in so many ways. There was an air of untouched innocence to their world. It was nothing like the rigid structures of the planet I grew up on. And the humans, though their lifestyles were fickle and undeveloped, retained a basic good-will in their overall nature.
Fu would probably disagree with me when I claim that the Lunars and humans could have successfully merged in cultures under the right conditions. But I have walked among them and I believe it could be so.
I met my wife in Mysidia many years before. She was quite young then and under my training as a White Mage in the newly developing school of Magic Arts. Even then, there had been such a powerful drive within her to learn to use her untrained talents to reach out to others and bring them comfort. Maybe it was this part of her that first drew me. And it seemed the more I came to know about her, the more enchanting she became.
It was through her that I first learned what it was like to share a living bond with another. Time found us “falling in love” as the humans call it. And it wasn’t long before we both chose to take the Bonding Oath and live our lives together as husband and wife. From then on, she was one of my greatest inspirations. She worked closely at my side in spreading the knowledge of magic and machine through the world of her people.
The one truth we did not share in all that time was that of my origins. Until this day, it is something I deeply regret. I don’t know if she ever suspected. Nor do I know how she might have reacted if she had learned that I was a Lunarian… a being from an entirely different planet than her own.
I was the Son of the Dreigiau.
It was fear that drove my silence. Fear that this knowledge may have led her to harm.
It was that very fear which spurred me until the end.
I remember the last morning. I remember watching the storm clouds roll in over the ocean while sitting cross-legged on the front steps of our house. It wasn’t a big house… or a fancy house. But it was a real home. A home that we had fashioned out of the bindings of love. It was a place that represented all of my deepest dreams made into reality.
The advancing darkness reflected across the tops of the ocean waves. It was the vision that had haunted my sight since I first placed foot upon the lands of the Blue Planet. I knew that the darkness was here to take all my dreams away from me. And with these thoughts, I remember feeling defeated, lost and unsure of myself. The pit of my stomach curdled with the knowledge that there was nothing I could do but stand by and watch the shadows come and destroy my family and everything I had fought to create.
The sound of approaching footsteps was slight in the stillness of the veiled air. Soft padded feet traced their way from the front door, pausing behind me. The familiar touch dotted my shoulder as a second pair of green eyes cast a glance towards the thickening horizon.
“Ben?”
I often called my eldest son by his human name out of habit. Both he and his mother seemed to favor it over his Lunarian name, Golbez. Not that I could blame him. Though Golbez was a fine enough name to me in the Lunar tongue, it must have sounded very strange to the Mysidian populace. The boy felt most comfortable being known as “Ben” so I never argued the point.
Ben always had a sense that he and I were not the same as the humans of the Blue Planet. Though he was a very curious child, he had never questioned his Lunarian heritage aloud. He had always held an innate knowledge and acceptance of what we were. For this, I was glad. I’m not sure exactly how I would have answered him if he had confronted me on this matter. But he seemed to understand and remained content without explanation.
Ben never sought to abuse the power that he had inherited. Even at an early age he proved to be astoundingly adept at the use of magics of every sphere. His human blood had given him a balance and connection to the flow of the Blue Planet energies that even I could not touch upon. Coupled with a thirst for knowledge and a quick, energetic mind, I knew that with the right training he would one day surpass my own skills.
Still, despite all these things, Ben had always chosen to be a very normal child. He was greatly affectionate towards myself, his mother and especially his baby brother, Cecil. Just like any other peasant-born boy, he ran the streets of the town amidst the other children of Mysidia. He had many friends due to his warm and agreeable manner.
Even now, in the face of the oncoming darkness, there was softness in the understanding of his gaze. His bushy white hair had come out of his ponytail in small bunches, framing his face in a quiet curtain that lent to the sense of keen observation. The depths of his eyes were bright as they lingered upon the distant storm clouds.
“Ben,” I ventured. “What’s wrong?”
I’m not sure why I asked the boy such a question. Especially since I already knew the answer. But I was always one to prod the thoughts of others with a questioning mind.
Ben seemed unable to tear his eyes from the vision before him. He answered with an unwavering awareness that surprised even myself.
“It comes.”
“What comes?”
“The Darkness.”
I remember being chilled by the simple yet resounding tone of his voice. It was so calm. As if he knew something more than even my Foresight could tell.
Ben squinted into the distance. I remember the look of shifting pain on his face. It was as if he could see it all riding down upon him. As if he, too, knew of what the choice might bring. His little hand tightened upon my shoulder. I felt my skin prickle.
“Daddy?”
My eyes turned toward him. Distress found me too hoarse to speak aloud.
“Daddy… you can’t let him take Cecil.”
Something stirred as the truth of the words rose struck a chord within. Up until that moment, I remember myself groping blindly for any direction that might open a door to me. I had found my answer in the flicker of my eldest son’s eyes. It was then everything fell into place. I knew what had to be done.
At the very second that the thought awoke within my mind, the cloudburst broke. The darkness bore down upon the sleeping city with speed beyond any normal storm. The shutters began to rake against the side of our little wooden house, the foundations beginning to creak as the winds lashed over the land with the sting of salt. Somewhere in the back of my senses, I heard the baby begin to cry.
“Benjamin…” My voice was distant, as was my mind. The immensity of the oncoming power drowned out all other thought. Only single-minded desperation. The one thing that I knew to be true.
I remember Ben’s face. I remember his hair sweeping back as his head lifted in challenge. He stared right into the eye of the shadow as it swooped low to touch the surface of the ocean waves.
He did not speak but I knew he was listening.
“Benjamin. I want you to get your mother and Cecil. I want you to take them to Baron through the Serpent Road. I will come for you…”
“But…”
I could sense his hesitance to leave me. Now that I was ready to face the choice, he was ready to stand at my side.
“Benjamin, you must protect Cecil.”
As my words echoed into the rising darkness, he took a step backwards. Though reluctance was still there, I could hear him as he turned and ran into the house. I knew that he would follow through as he was told. Ben was always a good boy.
My eyes lifted unerringly into the sky. The clouds billowed forth in great pillars of rolling shadow. It was a storm unlike any other that had swept across the ocean tides. Something within me warned that I could not let such a tempest pass the steeples of the human city.
I could feel my family scatter towards the Road. Three pinpricks of warm light… two a bit brighter than the third. Ben had led them out the back door towards the town as I had instructed.
Now, with them safely away, the battle would begin.
As my mind became increasingly aware, my body flickered away, growing more and more insubstantial. Time and space drifted off through the putrid fog that rained down in sheets over the coastlands. No longer was I standing upon the solid ground of my home. Through simple projection, I found myself drifting through the swirling clouds far above the sleeping human habitat.
The ghosted outline of my form was fuzzy around the edges as power seeped into my veins, drawn by the flow of energy around me. Just as I had come, I was ready. I knew that he waited within the heart of the storm.
“Zemus!”
A vast gale cycloned around me at the sound of his name. I resisted the pull.
He had ever been my rival… however the years of stewing in cold sleep seemed to have increased the power that he held. I could not understand what it was that he had come for. It was certain that his destruction would be eminent should his shadow challenge me — especially now that my brother was not there to hold my hand from striking against him.
The clouds parted, slipping away into fragmented vapor trails. Something was there. Something hidden deep within the churning mass of moisture. And it certainly did not look or feel like Zemus.
“KluYaaaaa…”
His voice hissed through the shadows. I could recognize that painful arrogance anywhere. What he had become, I couldn’t tell. The mists were too thick. I could only see a dense conglomeration of writhing blue.
“What do you want from me?” My voice was calm. Much calmer than I actually felt..
“I have come to offer you the choice.”
“Return to your sleep, Zemus. Or I’ll have to report your activity to FuSoYa.”
I was bluffing. And I knew it. But the question was… did he know it?
“Report? FuSoYa? What do you take me for? A fool?”
Obviously he did.
“You have not reported back to FuSoYa since you came to this world.”
I gave a soft grunt.
“Do not cast empty threats at me KluYa. It is a waste of my time and yours,” he continued.
“So you have come with your own empty threats, I see. Do you think you can harm me with nothing more than a shadow projection?” I grated in return.
“You have not been paying attention, KluYa. It is quite the shame…” His sentence bubbled off in cold laughter. The clouds began to grow more dense. More cold.
My skin began to prickle. Something told me there was more to this visit than a simple shadow projection.
“What do you want from me?” I repeated myself. This time I was much more cautious. Something was very wrong.
“To offer you the choice.”
“Which is…?”
“Do you plan to show me your true power?”
I grimaced, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I suggest that you remember,” his voice had become somewhat more distorted. “Or your family will be the ones to pay for your lapse.”
I grit my teeth. I didn’t believe he could hold any power over my family. They were safe in Baron by that time.
I had no idea how wrong I was.
“Show me your true power, KluYa!”
My eyes narrowed. I knew exactly what he was talking about. And I knew the danger that it represented not only to myself but all those I loved. Perhaps I might save them anguish now. But should I give in to Zemus’ demands, they would only perish later by my own hand.
“No…” my voice was hoarse within my ears.
The darkness shifted in agitation.
“You are truly a fool, KluYa… And they shall suffer because of you…”
He must have sent minions down when I didn’t see. Maybe it was his intention to distract me. One way or another, the creatures slipped through my detection. I never knew that my family was in direct danger. Not until it was too late.
Not until I felt the sharp pang in the pit of my soul.
It was far away. Distant. But I knew. I knew blood had been spilled. I could feel sacrifice. I didn’t have to be there to sense the cruel deliberation of death.
Images shattered before my eyes. Images of the life I had come to know upon the Blue Planet. And the one love that had made me more real to myself than I had ever been in my life. Like so many grains of sand, it all slipped through my fingers.
My wife was gone. He had taken her from me. My children would be next.
I felt the rage swelling up within me. I grew until it filled the entire cavity within my soul… and beyond. Pressure building from within… rage that I had not felt the likes of since the destruction of my world. Rage that brought me upon the knife’s edge of disaster… for it was what Zemus would have wanted from me.
My form shifted and twisted, expanding as the power of a frenzied fury grew too large for me to contain. For the first time since I had come to the Blue Planet, I embraced the gift that had been planted within me by my father’s hand.
As vast as it was, this was not the power that Zemus desired to see manifest in me… this I knew. I would never give him the pleasure of knowing the secret that I refused to tell even myself.
The Dragon raged through me. It ripped away my thoughts, my feelings… my every desire, dream, and wish. The fire pounded within me and I quivered within the power’s grasp. I was terrified yet exultant. In fury yet balanced. I commanded and it came with ease, filling my soul with the song of the sacred beast.
Bursting up, reaching, filling my vision… fang, claw, scale, wings. I was no longer man, but beast — fury in raw form, shimmering scales of gray pearl. It had always lived within me, though I had fought to hold it dormant for so long. Now gripped within the greatest of rage, I rose up as a terrible shape in the sky.
“Ap’Dreigiau.” His words mocked me. They mocked my father. They mocked all that I had stood for… all the visions that I had for the people of this world.
At the time I thought that my rage was my power. But now I know that it was my greatest weakness.
All I knew was fury… and the desire to hurt him the way that he had hurt me… the way that he had hurt the ones I loved. Without a shred of caution, I leapt upon him. As we came together, I could not feel the pain of my own flesh being ripped asunder, only the joy at each wound I inflicted. Fierce elation swept me skyward, twisting, plunging, and tearing.
I led my rival away, tracing crimson lines across the sky.
The summit of the mountain called to me. Nameless and alone, it appeared below us in the midst of the storm. I aimed for the craggy peaks in order to bash the darkness against the cold stone. But Zemus held similar ideas.
The mountain rushed up to greet me as I flailed wildly to gain dominance. Snarling and snapping, raking with my limbs, I fought madly as I became more and more tangled within his cerulean web. The mountain top embraced us just as the last ounce of rationale was ripped from my mind.
It was then that I heard it. His voice. One that I knew to belong to my father who had passed from these realms long ago.
-My son… you must not fight now…-
Confused and battered, I could not understand at first. My family… my sons… my wife… their images floated through my scorched mind and forced my fury to further heights.
-KluYa, to win this battle will mean the death of this very planet… you must stay your hand!-
My breath tore at my lungs as I heard these final words. I understood. Anger draining from my form, I finally lowered my head. And I believed.
It was with this knowledge that I fell to the darkness.
My body lay broken on the summit of the desolate mountain. No longer the Dragon, I clawed helplessly at the grip of my blade while lacking the strength to draw it.
I felt Zemus’ hatred growing ever stronger. Only then did I realize how I had foolishly fed its hunger with my own anger. And I tasted the defeat of my own making.
The rock rose up around me. It swallowed my being and embedded my heart into the mountainside. I was both imprisoned and sheltered. My soul had been ripped from my battered flesh and entombed within the crystal closures of the tiny room upon the summit.
My vision became instantly clear.
I could see more clearly into the future than ever before — the paths that would be chosen, the people that would be used and the ones that would use them. The darkness would eat away at the light. It would take the ones I love and use them against each other. And I had no choice but to stand by and watch it all happen.
I could hear the Hatred’s mockery as it left me encased within the cold crystal. The call of the summit had been the song of eternal unrest.
As time lost all meaning and my mind drifted into eternity, somewhere in the distance a speckle of light flickered and quietly began to grow. I could feel greater things at work in the cosmos. My imprisonment — my sanctuary — upon this mountain was but a single element, a key of freedom for the future of the Blue Planet… as well as my own people. With this knowledge, my grief gradually subsided.
Another thought filled me. I knew that somehow, one still remained — my youngest son.
Cecil.
I knew there would come a time that he would have need of me. I had to be ready for that day.
I bowed my head over the shadow form of the crystal blade in my lap. It had been my companion for over two centuries. Now, it could not even show me my own reflection. I knew my son’s hand was destined to take this blade and that he would honor its name well. With what was left of my power, I began to inscribe…
One to be born
From a dragon
Hoisting the light,
And the dark…