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The Sorceress War Part I, Chapter V *************************************
There was a bright flash in front of Julia's eyes, then she suddenly felt
herself collide with Raine behind her. Then, the light was replaced
with darkness. She found herself lying in the middle of a large
forest clearing, trees and grass encircling her in every direction. It
was night, and there were countless stars in the sky, yet she could not spot
any recognizable constellations. Strange ivy grew along the bases of tree
trunks and shrubs she had never seen before, even during her hikes with Raine
and Edea in Timber's vast forests. She stood up and took a longer,
more in depth look around the area. At first, she saw nothing but
forest in every direction. An Aurora was lighting the skies above, giving
it an ethereal glow. After a few more seconds, she spotted several
twinkling lights on the horizon, indication of a large city. In
fact, it must have been rather large, since it took up most of the view in that
direction. At first she was afraid she had gotten drunk somehow, and had
woke up in the outskirts of Timber or Deling City, but something was
wrong.
Without warning, a shrill and piercing inhuman shriek pierced the calm of the
night. It seemed as though it was some sort of strange cross
between a horse's cry and a falcon's call. On instinct, the girl reached
for the staff that was attached to her back. However, it was nowhere to
be found. She then looked around for the culprit of the shriek,
seeing if she couldn't locate its source and quietly slip away.
She peered through the foliage before her, and finding no movement of any sorts
she quickly pivoted her foot to turn around behind her. Her brown
eyes widened at what lay before her. A black, shadowy figure was
charging at her, a blade of some kind extended from a twisted hand along its
indescribable shape. Two bright red eyes glared out from its cloak and
stared her down for a brief second. As it raised the blade above
its head to strike her down... the scene and the figure vanished.
Julia was breathing very rapidly at the shock of what just
happened. She glanced around quickly, looking to see what happened
to her enemy. She was inside a star field, out is space.
Terra was below her, hovering endlessly in the vast abyss. A soft glow
perked her attention to her left arm. She looked down, bringing up
her arm for a better look at what was glowing. On her skin was a
type of cross or sword, with a pair of wings for its hilt. Vines were
behind the blade of the cross, and the whole thing was glowing a bright
red. She gasped in shock when she saw the ring on the hand that she
had raised. The surface of the ring was platinum, which was
reflective. In her ring she saw her eyes. Instead of being
their natural brown color, they were bright red like the cross, the whites of
her eyes were also the same color. Her eyes and her arm were
dwarfed for a moment, as she saw a bright explosion on Terra.
She looked down to the surface of the planet. The continents
themselves were shifting, and the atmosphere was turning bright orange-red with
flames. Beams of magical energy were searing life from the major
cities. One by one, Deling, Esthar, Balamb... all were shredded by
the beams. Incinerated beyond recovery. It was as if Julia
could feel the screams of millions, and all at once they stopped and were
replaced by another dying city. That was when she saw
him. A demonic figure, bat like wings stretched out to their
fullest length, but still in a similar shape to a man. It looked
like a more powerful form of Diablos.... but far more evil than the guardian of
darkness could ever dream of becoming. It sneered at her, its
yellow eyes glowing malevolently. On each side of him stood two angel
like beings, one male with long red hair and white wings, and a female with
longer hair and large black wings. The female was wearing a loose red
robe, and had her hair in some eccentric design.
She landed on a snowfield, similar to Trabia's vast fields of endless ice
and permafrost. A woman, wearing a black robe and hood, stood before
her. A blood-stained katana was in her right hand. This time,
Julia's staff was still attached to her back. She quickly drew it
out and extended its blades, which prompted the woman to charge at her.
Katana raised high above her head, a blue/cyan colored mark on her shoulder was
seen. It was exactly the same as Julia's. She was able to
block the first three slashes from the katana, which fell to her in a swift
motion in under two seconds. Julia kicked the attacker in the stomach and
sent a Fira into her chest. The robed figure fell back, onto the ground,
lightly grunting in pain. However, she stood back up and charged
again. She raised the katana and yelled out a war cry, and before Julia could
release the Thundara she was charging, she glimpsed at a painfully familiar
pair of sapphire eyes under the cloak's hood. The katana plunged through
her heart due to her delay in action. The blood quickly spilled out
of her, onto the white snow that pressed against her knees. The
robed woman let out a low laugh and pushed Julia off her katana with a quick
kick to the shoulder, leaving the girl to bleed and spasm to death face down in
the snow.
"Raine!!" Julia shrieked out as she bolted upright in
alarm. Not calling to her, but in a way that showed a hint of venom and
disgust in the brunette's voice. As she did so she clashed foreheads with Zion,
who was watching over her at that time. He rubbed his head in pain, as
did she.
At that instant Raine ran over from the group of Wolves that had gathered and
sat down at a rock outcropping not far off. They had waited for her to
wake up for two hours, and were anxious to see if she was alright. Raine
bent down to Julia's level, eyes watery and full of worry. To
everyone's shock, the usually stoic Raine quickly grabbed her by the shoulders
and gave her a tight hug. For a moment, Julia was nervously
shocked, in fact her mouth had dropped as far as it could have. It
was a rarity in their friendship that Raine was the emotional one, and
to Julia's knowledge Raine had only hugged her or Edea once or twice since age
ten. However, despite this, the shake Julia had gotten from her
vision forced her to shrug of Raine's arms.
Raine wiped her eyes, stood back up and helped Julia to her feet.
Julia sighed out of frustration as Edea and Andraia mocked her by attempting to
fake faint. She pushed Edea by the shoulders, causing her to crash into
Andraia and send both of them tumbling to the ground. The two stood back
up and stuck their tongues out at her as Julia walked briskly by.
Zion narrowed his eyes at her odd behavior. He had only known her a brief
time, but she was usually so energetic and reckless. Now, she was acting
somber and withdrawn. Her eyes seemed to be clouded in some way, as
if she had something on her mind. He made the initiative to ask what was
wrong, if no one else would.
"Julia? Are you okay?" He started, receiving a strong glare
from her in return, "I mean-- uh... you look a bit tense."
"I'm fine."
Julia turned her gaze from Zion to the large hologram-covered ladder that was still
in front of them. She adjusted her armor for a moment, then felt for the
ladder holds through the technology sealed mask. She found it and began
to climb up. As she did so, a hole opened up above her, revealing a
metallic chamber within. The Wolves gave her odd looks towards her shaken
behavior. The truth was, Julia was almost ready to break down and cry
over what she just experienced, but was able to keep a brave face to mask her
true emotions. At that time, she felt how she guessed Raine had felt most
of her life, that feeling of solitude. Lily stepped forward to
further Zion's question.
"Are you sure? You really-- " The blonde summoner started, but
was cut off by Julia.
"I told you... I'm fine!" Julia replied, with a bit of
venom in her voice. Julia realized how cruel she was being to her
comrades and apologized, "I'm sorry guys. I just had a bad dream,
after all, I did eat three chili cheese dogs for lunch in Timber, remember?"
Epsilon chuckled, "Ah ha, that's it! The ever famous chili cheese
dog nightmare effect! I've had that happen a few times myself, you know."
"Yeah, okay." Raine began, "But that still doesn't explain
why you passed out like that. You've never done that before, if I
remember right."
"I'll tell you later if you really want to know. But we got a
mission to do, and if you want Andraia to stop whining about sleep, we need to
get to a hotel!" Julia said, her trademark smirk coming over her once sad
face, always finding her own jokes on Andraia hilarious.
Andraia gasped in anger, but Lancer chuckled lowly, "Dear Hyne,
yes! We should keep moving!"
Andraia crossed her arms and frowned in disapproval. But, she chose to
keep silent, since she really did want to go to sleep as soon as
possible. Julia finished climbing into the tunnel, which allowed
the rest of the team to climb up one by one after her. Once they
entered the metallic room, Raine took a good look at her
surroundings. They were inside a small corridor, the ladder
entrance behind them and an armored door in front of them. It was just an
average hallway, and she didn't even spot any security
cameras. She signaled the team to move forward and open
the door.
Epsilon darted in front of them and opened the door. When it opened, he
drew out the Galbadian issue pistol from his bag and moved into the next
room. Once he searched it and found it was clear, he signaled the rest to
come in as well.
This room was darker, and in the shape of an octagon. It had a more eerie
feeling to it as well, which made Raine get the vibe that something was
about to happen. Just as the thoughts graced her mind, the steel door
behind them slammed shut, leaving them trapped in the room. Most of
the team jumped up in alarm.
"Okay," Raine began an order, "Just spread out and
look for an exit! There has to be one!" I'll be damned if I get
stuck in some trap....!
"This is freaky!!" Corin exclaimed, thrusting his fist in
the air angrily.
"What if some, like, giant monster is let loose in here! Raine, I'm
scared!!" Andraia wailed, looking around frantically for some kind of
exit.
"Just calm down you two," Epsilon replied reassuringly, "There's
a way out some how, we'll force the door open if we have ta!"
All of a sudden, a large metal clanking sound was heard. A clank which
had the vague sense of metal against metal. The floor was actually some
kind of lift, and now it began to rise up the large shaft that it was it.
As Raine looked up, it seemed to be vast less.
"What the hell...?" Lancer asked to no one in particular.
That phrase pretty much summed up most of Wolf Pack's feelings at the
time.
Since both the elevator and its shaft were both completely black, there was nothing
to use as a kind of frame-of-reference to tell if they were really moving or
not. However, the sick kind of nauseating feeling people got when they
were going quite fast in a straight vertical path was distinctly present in the
Wolves stomachs. Raine looked around for some sort of a hatch that the
team could escape from, but seeing nothing but black metal she sighed heavily
and awaited the elevator's stop in ascent. Andraia and Lily were quietly
whining to themselves, praying silently that the lift would stop soon and they
could find a way out. Edea counted the seconds that they continued
to rise. Thirty... forty five.... sixty.... seventy.....
Then, all of a sudden, it stopped. Julia and Lancer exhaled in
relief now that their ascent into Hyne knew where had stopped. Raine's
eyes darted around for a moment, seeing if she couldn't spot some sign of
activity. A metal door slid open in front of them, revealing yet another
black room.
"Raine? What do we do?" Edea asked, placing her hand on
her hip and looking towards her commander.
"I say we go in."
"What?!" Andraia exclaimed, "After all that stuff
that just happened? You're tripping!"
Raine spun around to face her, "Well it's better that staying on this
lift, isn't it?! Would you rather be flying around on this screwy thing?"
Andraia shook her head no, and they all turned towards the new door. One
by one, they each entered and looked around their new surroundings. After
the last person entered, the door slammed shut behind them. Edea sighed,
not wanting to relive what had happened only a few seconds before.
Instead, to her amazement, two panels opened up, revealing the sparkling
sapphire city below. Esthar... it seemed to stretch as far as the eye
could see, and since it was dusk it gave the city a red tint to its
buildings. If it wasn't ruled by the enemy, Edea would have wanted to see
as much of the city as possible. But... she did value her life after all,
so that was out of the question.
Lilliana gasped in wonder as she saw the city. Having grown up in Timber,
she wasn't used to seeing these types of places very often. It had blown
her away when she saw Deling City for the first time, and now this city was
about to make her faint.
Andraia smiled. She was glad she was going to get to a hotel so she could
sleep finally. But, she had to marvel at its beauty, "Wow... it's so
prett-- WHAA !!!!"
Before Andraia could have finished her phrase, the platform they were on
skyrocketed downwards at an amazing speed. Usually, at these speeds,
people would have flown off... but somehow they were all still standing
securely on the platform. The buildings and suspended roads flew quickly
past the team, at an excess of over one hundred miles per hour, it
seemed. They could hear talking and the roars of engines around
them, but as soon as they heard these noises they seemed to cease when the flew
past them.
"My God!" Lilliana screamed, "Raine! Make it stop!!"
Raine would have said a quick and nasty retort if she wasn't so freaked out at
the moment. Julia had jumped in between her and Zion in a surge of fear,
and was holding onto Raine for dear life. However, Raine could feel them
slowing down, and spotted a gunmetal colored balcony of sorts directly in front
of them. After a few more seconds, the platform had come to a complete
stop and locked itself onto the gunmetal platform. Two Estharian officers,
dressed in blue and yellow armor similar to the kind that Wolf Pack was
wearing, came up to them and halted their progress.
"Halt!" One officer said, then turned to Raine, "Soldier, why
are these two out of uniform?!"
"We were out on patrol, sir," Raine began, trying to find a good lie
as an excuse, "and we found a Malboro. We barely escaped, sir, but
their armor was badly damaged and we had to disguard it so we could move
quicker."
The Estharian pondered this for a moment, and eventually replied,
"Alright. Those things have been giving us trouble, so go
back to the barracks and grab some new ones for these two. Hey-- what's
with that katana strapped to you're back!"
"Don't be alarmed sir, I claimed it from a dead Galbadian in our last
battle. I thought it would make a good present for my son,"
Raine lied again, trying to sneak away before any more questions.
But, the officer nodded and waved them toward the road that would take them to
the main part of the city. Once out of hearing range, Raine sighed with
relief. Now they were finally within the vast city. Now all they
had to do was find a hotel, and create espionage plans to enter the palace the
next day. Her soldiers were keeping up with her towards the main road,
but Andraia was frowning at her.
"Yeah Raine," She began, "That lift was just sooo much
better than the elevator. I swear, I don't think I've screamed like that
for months!"
Raine shook her head, Yeah right 'Draia. You scream like that whenever
someone tickles you. Either that or you squeak like a little mouse.
The team came at a crossroads. Raine looked around for a location of
a hotel. Lancer offered his help.
"Raine, on the way down, I think I noticed some shops over in that
direction," Lancer said, pointing down the left road, "Maybe there's
a hotel down there?"
"Thanks Lancer, good job." Raine replied, motioning for the
team to follow her down the road.
A few hundred meters of walking brought them to a shopping center. The
plaza was filled with dozens of people, so surely one of them could help them
find their way to a place of rest.
Andraia went up to one man and tapped him on the shoulder, "Excuse me sir,
where is the nearest hotel?"
"Get out of my way."
Andraia returned to the group with a frown, "How rude!"
Raine sighed and went up to a couple of teenage girls, and since she was
wearing trooper armor, she made more of an influence, "Where's the
closest hotel?"
"I-it's... right over... t-there... " One managed to choke out,
pointing to a tall building another hundred meters away, fearful of her life.
"Thanks," Raine said curtly, "Okay team, let's go!"
Julia quickly returned from her brief window shopping with Celeste, and the
team marched in order towards the hotel. The building was tall and
sapphire, like most of the other buildings in the city. Luckily, it was
tall enough that they could leap out of a window and use the roofs of buildings
as transportation instead of using the crowded streets, which would probably
get them spotted by Estharian troops. Also, it was remote enough so that
it could be used as a makeshift Headquarters for the Wolves. Raine was
very thankful that the team would finally get to go to sleep. Andraia,
the most exhausted member, was sprinting towards the doors despite how tired
she was.
They entered the cool atmosphere of the hotel and approached the young female
clerk at the main desk.
Celeste spoke for the group, "Hi! Do you guys have uh... ten rooms
available?"
After the clerk typed her computer for a moment, she smiled, "Yes we do!
That will be 10,000 gil please."
Corin's jaw hit the floor, "What?! That much for rooms?!"
"Well you did want ten. It's 1,000 gil per room."
Julia grumbled under her breath, but handed the clerk the money. In
return, the clerk handed them the keys to their rooms. Each team member
took a key and practically ran into the elevator. Finally... they had
made it safely to the high-tech city, and now they had a place to sleep for the
night. Despite Raine's worries, she thought they might just make it
after all.... ***************************** A.N.:
Okay, a few of you guys E-mailed me asking for the Wolf Pack profiles.
So here they are! Also... in your reviews, I'm curious, tell me who your
favorite characters are right now! I want to know.... seriously! (I
Americanized all heights in the profile... so if they seem a bit tall... just
ignore it.) --
Raine Leonhart --
Julia Heartilly Age:
19 --
Edea van Neil Age:
20 --
Zion Caraway Age:
20
Age:
20
Age:
20 --
Lilliana Frieda Age:
19 --
Lancer Age:
20s --
Epsilon Kinneas Age:
20
Age:
18 ********************* Maintained by: |
