Chapter 23

By Erik Brown

It had once been a paradise, Servan had said. The desert surrounding it had always been there, since the North World was created, but a thousand years ago a gate and wall had been built, and a desolation like that of a volcano lay inside.

They all walked through the invisible gate, and as they stepped through they could see the destruction. Trees were uprooted, and were broken and ripped apart. Thick black ash covered the ground, and flew up into the air as they walked through the waste. Overhead was only darkness, permeated with a strange light that hung about them. Fog in the distance concealed whatever lay ahead of them, and they all felt that if anything lay ahead it was no good.

Rei felt a bit odd since a few days ago he had actually stood in this waste, but it had been a lush green oasis then. How could this happen, he wondered. How could the death of one create such desolation?

"This is horrible." Someone might have said it, but they all felt it.

Palcos reached out and broke a twig off of a tree. "Why are we here? It feels like there's no point to any of this."

He had asked Servan, but she did not answer.

They were all walking though, and no one argued. They just walked forward blindly, into the mist and whatever was there.

Skabar was walking next to Rei, and so he leaned over and said to Rei under his breath. "All this mist and fog, I really hate it."

Rei looked at him. "Oh? Why's that?"

He pointed to the mist in front of them as it parted, and then drifted into the air. "Look at it, as it rises and falls as if it were all alive. And look how it's almost leading us deeper into the waste."

Rei thought he heard a bit of fear in the weasel's voice, but couldn't be sure. "I guess, to me its kind of sad. I don't know, I guess the fog to me is like a cloud that couldn't quite lift itself to the sky."

The weasel looked at him curiously. "When I was younger and traveled a lot, I spoke to a lot of people in different cultures, and you're the first to suggest something like that. Most everyone is frightened of it because of the way it hides things. When its foggy like this you can't see the path ahead of you and then you're at the fog's mercy."

"I guess it does, but really life's always like that. How are we to know what's ahead of us until the mist clears enough to see it."

"Yeah, true."

Rei chuckled. "Servan probably likes the fog then, she's doing the same thing to us."

Servan stopped and everyone halted and went silent, eager in anticipation for her to reveal something that she was hiding. "A bit further we'll find some ancient ruins, and that is where my destiny will begin."

'Her destiny?' So brash and full of herself, as the mist began to lift around them and everyone could see how selfish she was. Rei could feel Skabar tense up next to him. He looked to Palcos and saw a powder keg ready to blow. Perhaps it was time for Servan to blow all the fog away and tell them the whole truth.

What did he feel, he wondered. He should be angry too that she had lead him and everyone else out into the middle of nowhere for her own ambitions. Maybe he would have felt the same way as Skabar and Palcos had he not just touched the piece of paper in his jacket.

"What do you mean, your destiny, Servan?" Palcos asked of her, as he nervously reached for his gun.

She turned and looked at him, and a smile crossed her beak. "I mean exactly what you think, this is where my life will reach its true meaning. This is where I will exceed all of you. Just a bit further, and you will watch me ascend into the heavens! You will see me achieve my destiny!"

Skabar pushed one-foot forward, and his other behind him, as he took up a fighting stance. Both hands reached for his sword, and the sound of the blade upon sheathe filled the air. "I can't let you do that, Servan. I will have to stop you, and may that be my destiny!"

"You can try and stop me!"

"We can stop you, together!" Palcos shouted at her.

Rei just stood to the side, as he looked at a rock next to himself. He watched as the fog began to pull back and show him what it was.

Her hands curled into claws, and she pressed them near her heart. "Very soon nothing will be able to stop me. Certainly not you two."

With sword raised above his head, Skabar was ready to strike her down. "If that's true then I will have to kill you now!"

"Try it! Try and kill me!"

For a moment Rei looked at her. Briefly he had thought she sounded just like Kuja had when she had been possessed by that demon. With that thought he turned back to the rock, worried that if he tried to intervene he would become possessed by whatever had taken over his body last time.

Skabar loosened up a bit. "Sera, it doesn't have to be this way."

She shook her head. "Yes, it does."

He narrowed his eyes, and lunged forward with his sword, aiming to plunge it into her heart. Instead his blade struck another, as Aerot deflected it away from his Queen. He had shed the large pack on his shoulders and taken out his sword that no one could have seen him coming.

The weasel's eyes went wide. "Aerot, why?" he shouted.

Aerot's body was rigid, and he held his sword in front of Servan to protect her. "I'm sorry, Skabar, but I can't let you do that."

"What are you talking about? Don't you realize what she wants to do? She wants to be God!"

He smiled at Skabar. "I know, but I must follow her. I am her knight and there is no way to change that!" Aerot's sword went forward and stabbed Skabar in the left arm. Skabar howled in pain from the blow, but was quick counterattack.

Palcos held his gun in his hand. He shook all over, afraid of how things had suddenly unraveled all around him. Not that anything had ever been anything but uncertain around him, he felt afraid by the possibilities. He looked over to Rei, and saw the bird in rapture at a rock, and knew that Rei was of no help. All he could do was train his gun on Aerot, and wait for the moment to shoot.

Of course, couldn't he shoot Servan? He looked to her, and saw her take Rei's hand. They began to walk into the mist, into the unknown.

"Rei," Palcos shouted at the top of his lungs. "Don't go with her!"

The bird turned and looked at him. "The stone," he pointed to the stone, "Tero wrote on it that I should follow her. And this letter," he reached into his jacket, "I thought it was map, but it says that Tero will meet me here, no matter what."

Palcos didn't know what to think, but he knew what to say. "Rei, if you don't do something now, Skabar could die and God knows what else."

But the bird had a look of no consequence. He didn't, couldn’t care about anything that was happening around him. "I am being called away, away from here."

Palcos fired a shot into the air, but no one reacted to it. "Damn it all!"

He looked over to see Aerot punch Skabar in the gut, and then kicked him in the face to send him sprawling. That was his chance! Five bullets rushed out the chamber of his gun in quick succession, but he watched in a daze as Aerot stepped out of the way of the bullets. Then a hand slapped the gun out of his hand, and he heard it clatter somewhere in the mist. Then a hand was around his throat.

"How? How could you dodge that?"

"I just had to anticipate when you would pull the trigger, the rest was easy."

Palcos struggled for air past the wolf's grip around his neck. "Aerot? Why? Why do this to your comrades? Your friends?"

"You of all people would ask that. It's something to fight for! Don't you see that?"

Behind Aerot he saw the figure of Skabar stand up. If he could keep the wolf talking long enough, then Skabar could take care of him. "No, it's not something worth fighting for."

"What is worth fighting for? Your petty politics you once spoke of, where did that get you? Nothing can be worth fighting for unless you can see it through!"

"And you believe that Servan can do all that? That she can change everything?"

"Yes." Then he raised his sword behind his head and held the blade there as Skabar's sword struck it with all of his might. "This power I feel coursing through me, how good it feels!" He dropped Palcos, turned around, and began to fight with Skabar again.

Palcos sat on the ground and watched the two fight. Then he looked above himself, and saw a large shadow above them. "What is that?" He said, though there was no one around to listen to him. He squinted and looked up into the air at it. He could just about make out wings and a tail. "Wait, I know what that is! It’s a dragon!"

Looking back to the ground he noticed that both Aerot and Skabar were directly beneath the dragon's shadow. Then he looked to his right and saw the large pack that Aerot had taken off before the fight. All Palcos had to do was find a weapon in that pack that he could use. In a few moments he had found the pack that held the weapons. It wasn't long that he found just what he was looking for. He slung two gun holsters over his arms, and then took out the shotgun he had found, aimed it into the air, and pulled the trigger.

Shot fled into the air, spread out, and passed right through the dragon. He threw the shotgun aside as the shadow disappeared and right in front of him stood a dragon. Long white hair and a blood red cloak swirled about its body, and in its hands it held a long spear. Palcos recognized it as the dragon he had seen on the train about a week ago.

It looked down at him and sneered. "Do you want to die, little monkey?"

…

"Just a bit further, Rei. Then you can return to your own world if you like."

He just nodded his tired head. "Yes, then I can rest."

"Follow me, follow me!"

"Yes."

What was he doing! He felt like he was in space. No movement could move him, and no sound could he hear. Darkness was all around him, and he just couldn't bring himself to care. He felt like shouting at himself, "Wake up, Rei! Wake up!" If only there were air to breathe and shout in.

Then he saw a flash of light, and a stone dragon passed by his eyes. Then another, and another. Then a painting of a dragon that seemed to be so very familiar. Then a real dragon passed by him, and he knew what was going on.

He was trapped in a shadow, pinned down by some hidden force. Something had imprisoned him. Knowing this, he knew that he could now break free.

"Come with me, Rei."

For a moment he stood dumbly, and looked around him. They were in an odd corridor that was traveling into the ground. The hall seemed to be much like the cave he had been in when he was young.

He shook his head. "No, I will not!"

Servan stood looking at him bewildered. "What did you say?"

He let go of her hand and walked off a bit, swaying side to side. "I will not follow you! You've lost the power you held over me."

A face of anger covered her face. "That's impossible! How?"

Smiling, he told her, "A dragon. I don't know why or how, but a dragon broke the spell."

"What do dragons have anything to do with this?"

A voice came through the stone that they stood next to. "Everything!" Then the dragon appeared before them, as if he had squeezed through the bricks in the wall.

…

"Die!" Palcos took out the twin guns that he wore and fired off every round at the dragon.

The bullets just bounced off of the things thick skin. It hadn't reacted to the attack, hadn't even flinched.

"Palcos," Aerot shouted at him, "Get a blade, or better yet a spear! Bullets can't kill dragons."

Palcos smiled as he turned to look for something with a blade. Aerot had snapped out of whatever trance he had been in, and was now helping them again. He watched as the wolf leapt into the air and brought his sword hard against the dragon. Shreds of red cloth flew into the air as the two spun about, claw fighting against sword.

Skabar then jumped into the air to join them, and Palcos watched in amazement as the dragon fought both warriors. Soon the red cloak was just tattered ribbons around its body.

"You fools! I am not a dragon that any of you could possibly kill! There is no weapon forged that can pierce my flesh!"

Two swords flashed through the air, and one of the warriors shouted at the dragon, "We'll see, wyrm! We'll see!"

He held a knife in his hand now, but still he watched the three fight. There was no way he could keep up with them, so what could he do? Guns had been the great equalizer for him, gifted with a talented aim. Swords and strength were not his thing. A peculiar thing crossed his mind, as he watched the ground beneath the three.

"What is this? Their shadows?" He watched the three shadows as they moved across the ground. Skabar's and Aerot's were normal, they followed the warriors as naturally as anything, and it was the dragon's shadow that worried him. It moved without thought of its owner, and not only that, it seemed to have a shield and a sword in hand.

"This is crazy," Palcos said to himself. "The dragon's shadow is the one deflecting the blows."

He knew he was right as he stared at the ground. Sword and shield held up in perfect synch with the defense of the dragon.

"Aerot," he shouted, "Skabar! I've got a plan."

"Make it fast," Aerot yelled, as he struck again and again at the dragon.

"On my mark strike at the dragon at the same time." He waited a second, and then shouted, "Now!"

Both swords struck the dragon, and then the blades were held there. Palcos took his knife blade first, raised it above his head, and threw it at the center of the dragon's shadow. There it stuck in the ground.

The two warriors lowered their weapons as the dragon stood transfixed with horror on his face. A wound opened up on his chest, and blood began to dribble down its chest.

The dragon held his hand to his chest, and looked at the blood. "So you figured it out, eh?" Then the beast reached to its chest with both hands, and wrenched an invisible dagger away from it. The knife in the shadow was picked up from the ground, and both shadow and dragon tossed the knives aside.

"Doesn't really matter, you'll all be dead soon. Why don't you run to the other two? Perhaps you'll still have time to say 'good bye' to each other."

In a flash of what seemed like a burst of shadows, the dragon was gone. The three grabbed whatever weapons they thought the might need and then spun off in the direction of Rei and Servan.

…

The dragon stood on all fours, and eyed Rei and Servan. An unearthly glow hung about him, illuminating him even in the thick darkness. If he stood up he'd probably stand twice as tall as Rei, and even on all fours he seemed horribly regal and dangerous. A thick green cloak hung off one side of the beast, and armor could be seen underneath. In one hand it held a crude ax.

Then it sighed. "I didn't really help you, Rei, I just sort of nudged you in the right direction."

Rei smiled. "Don't be so modest, Teip."

Something that sounded like rocks grating against each other came from the dragon's gut. Servan gasped, realizing the horrible sound was laughter.

"Now then," it said to Rei, "I didn't expect one such as you to succumb to using such dirty tricks."

Rei didn't flinch. "What are you talking about?"

"The ability to read people's shadows has never been an ability used by anyone except for a dragon long ago. That power was in my brother, and none other."

The bird smiled at the dragon. "Eh, probably just a fluke."

"No, it takes more than that. A fluke was when your father stabbed my brother through the chest with a curtain rod. Power like the stuff you're showing comes from deep within." Its mouth became a wide, sharp-toothed grin. "Deeper even than your heart and mind."

Teip stood up on his hind legs, as a gust of wind blew his cloak about him. Reaching for its belt it took out a sharp knife.

"I hope you're not trying to threaten me."

The dragon licked the blade of the knife. "Not going to threaten you, I’m going to kill you."

Rei looked to Servan and saw a drop of sweat collect at the tip of her beak. She was afraid! Fear of not getting what she wanted, and even of her heart being broken, were gone from her, and now she wished only to keep her own life.

"Sera! Do you have a gun or a knife, or something?"

She didn't move, but Teip did. Rei pushed Servan to the ground, and then he jumped into the air as the ax crashed into the ground. Instead of merely crushing the ground, the ax instead caused a kind of explosion in the ground. The force was so great that it sent him and Servan flying even further away from each other.

"No! Not a gun or a knife! I want you to fight me for real, Rei!"

It felt like a rib had been busted in his chest when a chunk of debris had hit him, but he couldn't tell. He groaned, then yelled at Teip, "What do you mean? My bare hands?"

Wings appeared behind the dragon, as he pushed himself through the air at Rei with his knife out first. Rei leapt up and then to the side. Teip stopped in mid-flight, dropped to the ground on all fours, and threw the ax at horizontally. He threw it just to the right of Rei, hopping to lead his throw, but the bird dodged to the left instead.

"Hah! Of course I don't expect you to fight me like that, but you can't expect to kill one like me with anything made of metal!"

He was right, but how could Rei kill him! Maybe a weak spot on its chest, just right for an arrow, but he didn't have bow or an arrow. Wait, his father had killed the one dragon with a lance, which actually hadn't been a lance at all. That's all that he needed, a long rod of metal.

Again he dodged Teip's attacks, and spun around so that he could face the darkness that stretched deeper into the ruins. Perhaps there he could find something to kill the dragon with. He took off running down the corridor, hoping in all hope that he could find what he needed.

"Running away, Rei! I told you! Fight me!"

"Follow me, then I'll fight you!" Just as soon as he got a weapon, then he could fight the dragon.

Claws scrapped against stone as Teip chased after him. "I can look into your heart, Rei! I'm telling you, you can't kill me with a weapon! Even an ancient one from these ruins."

He turned and shouted as he ran. "And I can read your shadow, and I know that there is one weapon that can kill a shadow."

"Don't be a fool, let go of what you can feel and touch, think of the fantastical or you know nothing! I know that you are thinking of the Dragon Slayer that your ancestor Lulf wielded, but it is lost among the stars! There is a weapon that can kill me, but it's not something you can find!"

The dragon's shadow was full of lies, Rei could feel that much. Then what did the dragon want? He thought about it, and realized that the dragon his father had killed wanted only a fight, and to kill Lulf. And when it learned that Lulf was truly dead… it couldn't be! Had the dragon allowed his father to kill it?

"Rei! Something that is not in my shadows I shall tell you. Before he died, the King of Dragons had but one son. My older brother was the true son of the King and Queen of Dragons, but I was a bastard child born from shadows!"

He wasn't listening to the dragon. "Don't hear his lies," Rei told himself. He came to a halt, as the corridor stopped and opened into a large room. He gasped, here was an exact copy of the tomb he had been in as a child, and there in the center was the most horrible sight he could imagine.

Rei slowly walked forward. Light gently flowed from the Eclipse Stone, and filled the room with an eerie glow. The sound of running claws stopped behind him. He didn't care about the dragon anymore, not about killing it or being killed. Of course with the silver orb that he saw before him, what could possibly kill him.

Just as before the light began to pulsate as he approached it. No! This wasn't how it was before; the light had reverberated off of Tero, or had it? It must have responded to Rei from the very beginning! The Eclipse Stone had never called to Tero, but to him!

"Do not touch that orb." The dragon's words, while weak compared to his own power, was enough to loosen the spell the Eclipse Stone had cast on him. "Don't touch it, not until you have killed me."

"You will die soon enough," sadness filled Rei's heart. "Yes, I can read that in your shadow."

"Can you read what else is in my shadow? Can you tell that it is approaching a sort of meltdown?"

Rei squinted and concentrated. "I'm sorry, I didn't see that earlier. I suppose I must kill you."

A knife hit the ground with a 'klang' sound, which echoed around the room for a long time. "Now, bird protected by an angel, kill me the only way one can kill a shadow!"

Rei nodded, and looked at his hand. Light, appearing from nothing, filled his hand. More and more the light grew, and then stretched into a long shaft of light. Weightless a lance of pure light rested in his hand. It was the lance of an angel.

"Any regrets?"

"Many, but there's just no time, you know."

Rei nodded, and threw the lance through the dragon's heart. Teip's body suddenly became a pure blob of shadow as the lance vanished into the air. Then the shadow that may have been his body became a physical form, and like so much water, began to fill the room.

Shadows ran over Rei's head like water, and it felt like he was about to drown. Before that could happen he opened his eyes, and was in paradise.