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By the time they
reached the base of the giant mountain, the sky was dark and
littered with stars, and Tseng announced that they would wait until
morning to begin the journey up the peak. Rydia was confused at
first, because there had been nothing salvageable from the airship
crash, and sleeping in the open, while nothing she hadn't done
before, didn't seem preferable while chasing a dangerous fugitive.
Tseng produced a tarp from his pocket, folded into a tiny square and
wrapped in a bit of plastic, and within minutes the Turks had gotten
the makeshift tent set up just off the rocks that signaled the
beginning of Mt. Ordeals itself. Rydia should have known they would
be prepared for anything– and even though she was a bit impressed,
she kept her mouth closed.
It was cool beneath the blue of the tarp, but not nearly as cold as
the Eblanian caves had been. The Turks went about their business of
cleaning their weapons and largely ignored her, until she scooted
closer and asked to see Tseng's gun. It was heavy, just like Reno's
rod had been, and she thought it ingenious how the small gears
worked together, just like an airship engine.
"Where you come from, there are large cities?" she asked, handing
the weapon back to Tseng.
"Huge," Reno said. Rydia wrapped her arms around herself.
"And they are all technologically advanced, like these weapons?" she
continued, and when there was a nod, she smiled. "They sound
wonderful. I wish I could see them."
"They'd overpower you," Reno said, smirking. "You'd get completely
lost."
"I would not!" she exclaimed, biting back the urge to explain how
she had been able to find her way through the twisted corridors of
the Land just fine, and had been able to maneuver her way around the
magma and rocks of the Underworld in order to find Cecil and the
others when they were in danger. She didn't think the journey would
translate well when compared to cities as advanced as the Tower of
Babil had been. Her own village must have paled in comparison to the
otherworld cities. "Anyway, it doesn't really matter. We have no
cities like that here."
"If we don't catch this guy, you won't have any cities period," Reno
pointed out, and the thought seemed to harden and twist in Rydia's
stomach. She frowned.
"What makes him so dangerous?" she asked.
"His cells are corrupted," Tseng said. There was something on his
features that she could not quite read. "The cells– they are
connected to the lifestream, in a way, and now that he is here, he
can use the energy in any way he wants to."
It sounded familiar– almost too familiar.
"He's like a rogue Mage, then?" she asked, though mostly to herself.
"In a way," Tseng answered. "He can manipulate the energy."
"Are there many like him?" she asked, looking at Tseng. She needed
to know what sort of danger the Blue Planet was in from subsequent
attacks. If one could get through, what was to stop more from doing
the same?
"Not anymore," Rude replied, startling her. It was a better answer
than she was hoping for, and it settled her screaming nerves a bit.
She sat back on her heels, listening to the wind rattle the tarp
over their heads, batting the material against the branches of the
surrounding trees. The low hum of insects surrounded them, and it
was soothing, and every once in awhile she would hear the quiet hoot
of an owl. She had missed sleeping in nature, and though she liked
living in Baron castle, there was something infinitely calmer about
being out among the trees and animals, something that she felt
deeper inside, like a tug.
"That's good," she answered, finally, after a few moments had
passed. She laid back onto the ground, and she could feel the dirt
shift under her weight. "That's something, at least."
"It's always something," Reno muttered, and she didn't quite know
what he meant. She decided not to ask– her eyelids were growing
steadily heavier, and she knew that they should rest in order to be
ready to tackle the steep mountain pass the next morning. It seemed
the others sensed the same thing without her voicing it, and they
all seemed to settle down against the ground, shifting until the
proper alignment with the rocks was found.
Rydia was asleep almost immediately.
-------
When she awoke, the sky was still dark beyond the blue tarp, and she
rolled over slightly, pushing at a pebble that was in the way of her
arm. The insects were still loud beyond their perch, which meant
that no monsters had shown up to disturb their peace. She was about
to let herself slip back into the blissful dreams, when she noticed
that there was one less figure lying beneath the tarp then there had
been when she had fallen asleep. Startled and worried, she pushed
herself upright, palms digging into the dirt.
She didn't think it was possible for someone to have attacked while
they were sleeping– she slept far too light for such a thing, and
she assumed the Turks were trained to do the same, and her mind
searched wildly for other solutions. As soon as she stepped out of
the blue tarp, she saw the missing form sitting on a nearby rock,
hair a splash of red against the green scenery.
Feeling foolish, and slightly peeved, she approached him and sat
down next to him in an ungraceful flop.
"It isn't smart to leave the cover of camp alone," she said. He
hadn't looked her way yet, and she wondered if he'd known she was
there the moment she'd left the tent.
"You lecturing me now?" he asked, kicking lightly at the dirt.
"It must happen often," she quipped, and was pleased when his mouth
quirked upward slightly. There was a moment of silence. "What are
you doing out here?"
"I thought I'd do some star-gazing in the middle of a hunt to find a
criminal," he said, and she knew he was rolling his eyes. For a
second she wondered how someone who took everything so lightly could
be aligned with the others like Tseng and Rude, but she'd seen him
in action, and he fought well, as well as her old comrades had. She
scoffed slightly, in response to his answer, and stared up at the
twinkling lights in the sky.
"You know, I could give you a sleep spell if you can't manage on
your own," she said.
"Is that how you deal with everything?" he asked.
"Is sarcasm how you?" she shot back. She met his annoyed gaze with
one eyebrow raised, and smirked when he looked away and shook his
head.
"You're good at getting under people's skin, you know?" he said,
still shaking his head. He tapped his weapon against his shoulder in
a rhythmic fashion, like a heartbeat.
"It's a learned skill," she said with a smile. He turned to her, and
this time it was his turn to smirk.
"I didn't say it was a skill," he replied.
"You didn't have to," she said, grinning. He laughed then, and both
turned their faces up to the sky again. The atmosphere felt more
relaxed, languid almost, and a firefly lit up next to her, the glow
pale and yellow in the moonlight. She pointed up at the moon, waxing
almost full.
"There used to be two moons in the sky," she explained. "I remember
when I was young, I thought it looked eerie how they would reflect
off of each other. I never imagined I would go to the second one and
be a part of what saved the planet."
"You never do," he mused, and the smile on his face was gone,
replaced with something harder. Rydia dropped her arm back down to
her side.
"You all, you Turks," she said, biting her lip slightly, "who do you
work for?"
"Ah, not important," he replied.
"But what do you do?" she prodded again. "If you are chasing that
man, it must be something big."
He looked at her, hard, and she knew the moment had been lost. She
would get no answers unless the forcibly pulled them from him.
"You should get some sleep, yo," he said, with a lazy, easy shrug.
"Gotta big day tomorrow."
She sighed, annoyed that she was still no closer to figuring out the
strangers than she had been originally, and stood from the rock
she'd been seated on. He was a riddle she couldn't crack, and she
left without bidding him goodnight. The blue tarp felt slightly
stuffy when she crouched underneath it again, but she was still
tired, and fell asleep quickly when she laid back down, tucking one
arm underneath her head.
-------
She had expected to meet with resistance on Mt. Ordeals, as they had
while in the airship, but as they made their way up the rock-strewn
pathway, there were only a few monsters that they encountered along
the way. The creatures were zombies, with rotting flesh and sunken
eye sockets, and while they gave off a horrendous stench and would
most likely give her nightmares later, they were not particularly
difficult to dispose of. Rydia was not sure if the lack of
resistance should be worrisome.
The bottom of her boot slipped against the pebbles, and she
stumbled. There was a hand on her arm, and she looked up to see
Tseng steadying her, eyes still turned towards the path ahead.
"Thank you," she mumbled, embarrassed that she could fly to the moon
and fight her way through the Lunar Palace, and could not even walk
up a mountain pass without very nearly falling on her face. He
nodded, stiff, just like all of his actions, and his fingers left
her arm. "I expect we are halfway there."
"Yes," the black-haired man said, nodding again. "We will reach the
summit by sundown."
"Do you expect to find him there?" she asked, continuing up the
narrow path. In truth, she did not know what she herself thought
they would find on the summit– she knew only what Cecil had found,
and then, later, that Kain had found something as well. Vindication,
perhaps, or, like Cecil, the voice of a man long since gone from the
world. They could even find magic, as Tellah had, spells trapped
within the confines of the mountain's aura. Thinking of such things
worried her, for if the man was indeed able to use the mystical
energy as they had said, he might be able to grasp the spells held
dormant at the peak.
"Could be something, could be nothing," Tseng replied, effectively
dodging her entire question. The Turks were good at that, it seemed.
She asked no more, since she knew she wouldn't get answers anyway,
and they continued climbing in silence, until the sun was far
overhead and Rydia's legs were sore and trembling with exhaustion.
The peak looked no different than the rest of the mountain had, and
it was devoid of any sign of movement, though Rydia could feel the
buzzing in her veins. There was definitely magic there– something
strong enough to cause her senses to alight with its rage, and she
shivered despite the hot sun. It was crawling under her skin, and
she didn't like it. She turned to explain to the others, or at least
gauge their reactions to it, when there was a sudden pop to her
left, like a cork, and all of a sudden, the pain in her knee flared
up.
"They're here!" Rude yelled out, and by the time she'd whipped her
head around, she knew what he was talking about. There were zombies,
hundreds of them, by the look of things, and they were all stumbling
out from behind the rocks and craters lining the summit path. She
knew what the pop had been, and cursed herself for not realizing it
sooner. The man could control the monsters, and he was doing
so again. She did not know who or what he was, but he was beginning
to grind her last nerve.
She readied a Firaga spell between her hands, thankful, then, for
the rest she had gotten last night. When she aimed and fired, the
spell took out several creatures that were clumped together, and she
turned and began to charge it up again. She could see the Turks
fighting as well, and sometimes their suits would get lost in the
surge of undead monsters, and she hoped that they were holding their
own.
Another Blizzaga spell, and they just kept coming. Her magical
energy wasn't what it used to be, as the airship battle had shown,
and she worried that she wouldn't be able to continue if the
creatures continued as they were doing. She maneuvered through a
group of them, pointing to direct the Thundaga spell into their
forms, and tried to find her comrades.
"There!" Rude yelled quite suddenly, and she whirled to look where
he was pointing. On the summit of the peak there was a door, a door
that led to an other-worldly looking silver dome, and it was where
the bald man was pointing. There was a flash of movement by it, a
streak of something almost silver in color, and she thought wildly
that must be the man they were after.
She was close to the door, close enough to get there, and she
blasted several zombies with Blizzaga in order to clear herself a
path.
"Reno, go!" Tseng shouted, and Rydia caught sight of the red-head in
her peripheral vision. He was slightly behind her, and she kept
going, shoving one final monster out of her way in order to wrap her
fingers around the door handle. When it didn't budge, she let out a
frustrated cry and pushed, hard. The portal fell away, depositing
her inside, and Reno's form tumbled in behind her.
It was a room, comprised nearly entirely of glass and crystal, light
reflecting in colors around them, and the air inside was cool and
still, eerily quiet.
She knew something was wrong as soon as she hit the floor.
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