Chapter 11: Legends Can Be Real

By  Ismail 'Slipgate' Saeed


Kim, Jason, Slipgate, Atma, Linda, and Cherubae were still
walking to AGFFH through the hot barren desert. They'd all fallen
silent a few hours ago, shortly after the last rest stop (if you
could call it that in this heat). Cherubae ruefully wondered if
dry heat really was more manageable than humidity. She decided
that she could do with a bit more water in the air. She could fan
herself, sure, to keep a bit cooler, but the lack of any liquid at
all was a double whammy.

At the same time, the others were also all lost in thought.
Atma and Linda were constantly keeping an eye on each other, although
it was such an empty place that you would have committed someone who
told you anyone was around for hundreds of miles. There was hardly
any danger, except maybe of dehydration. Jason wasn't in the most
pleasant situation either, however his grimace was markedly a little
less pronounced than the others, which they all wrote off as some sort
of internal contentment brought on by the Memento Ring now on his
finger. Kim just walked quietly, thinking to herself about what to
think about. There wasn't anything inspiring in the area to bring on
any sanity-saving deep thought. Sure, there was the wierd glow of the
Memento Ring, and Slipgate's... well anything about him, really, and
Atma's sword, and stuff... but after hours and hours you get used to
them and stopped thinking about them.

Slipgate meanwhile was bored to an almost exasperated level.
Something kept privately between himself, Craxton, and Bahamut (and
their respective loves, of course) was just how very immensely bored
Slipgate got when there wasn't anything for him to do. He was one of
those people that paced around for hours and hours trying to find
something interesting to think about or do, or in his case, pace or
fly about. He was holding out on just screaming through great effort.
He'd found nothing to keep his interest long enough in his own
thoughts, and had already been so bored and so wanting of interesting
(and pleasant) thoughts that he had discreetly probed the minds of his
companions a couple of times, only to discover they were about as grim
as he was, and weren't thinking of anything interesting either. He
sighed. Everyone heard the draconic sigh, and nobody could disagree
with it.

After a few more hours that felt like millenia to them all, the
sky began visibly darkening, until it reached that dark blue color
humans associate with that thing called "night." The group stopped to
set up camp, but didn't bother with a fire. They didn't want to keep
warm, they were relishing the cold night air. They set up tents from
those odd supply bags that Final Fantasy characters and AGFF regs always
seem to have. As they were sitting around in a circle (waiting till they
were sleepy, which was surprisingly not yet the case for any of them),
Kim commented, "Considering the business AGFFH deals in, you'd think
they'd be a bit more accessible, a bit less far away from the main lands
of AGFF. No cops 'round here that'll stop AGFFH from being perverted,
after all... that's like telling clouds not to be white." Slipgate began
laughing out loud, but quickly sobered up, embarassed. He'd been so
overjoyed at a joke that he'd gone a little overboard. It didn't help
that the others were looking at him oddly now. "Boy, do I know how to
make the right social impression," he thought.

Jason retired before the others, an inward smile on his face
as he opened the flap of his tent and said farewell to his companions.
Cher was next, she was tired of this desert. Her logic went something
like this: If she slept sooner, she'd get up sooner, they'd get moving
sooner, and they'd get out of this place sooner. Atma and Linda came
up next, and they were sharing a tent, but Atma gave Slipgate and Kim
a really hard look to not DARE to GFS that or parade that info around.
Now Slipgate and Kim were left in what was no longer exactly a circle.
Seeing Atma and Linda go into a tent together reminded Kim about the
person she truly cared about, and when Slipgate turned to face her with
the hopes of making conversation he found newly made tears on her cheeks,
with more quietly forming.

Slipgate drew nearer with a concerned expression on his face. Kim
saw and said, "Thanks for laughing at my joke earlier," and promptly broke
into more tears. Kim suddenly grabbed Slipgate's hands with her own and
said, "Tell me, please! Is he still around? You can read minds, so you
can find his if he's still alive somewhere out there, right?" Slipgate did
not know the answer to her question, but he knew the answer he had to give,
and it pained him deeply to do so. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Yes, I
can read minds, but it's an ability where if I know where the person is,
THEN I can mentally probe that area to find them. For example, you are right
here, I know exactly where you are. Jason is right in his tent. Craxton was
in the moon's atmosphere when last I probed him, and I figured he'd be there
after finding out where he was going and guessing from how long ago he'd
left. I knew where those people are, to read their minds. Kain may be out
there, but I don't know where, so I can't say whether he is or not." Another
breath. "I do believe that man who says he's alive, because I felt Relm die,
yet I somehow don't think I felt Kain die, but I can't confirm whether he's
alive or not, right now. He may have been killed then, he may not have been.
He may be dead by now, and he might not be. I'm sorry, I just have no way of
knowing."

Although his message for her was not good tidings, hearing that he
had felt Relm die but not felt Kain die gave Kim some hope. She had seen a
bit too much to still rule out magic existing. Although, she did want to
do something, that she'd closed her eyes through before. She asked earnestly,
"Could you take me on a short flight? I want to see the flying in action,
without my eyes closed." Slipgate smiled, and said, "I'd be happy to oblige,
milady." Swiftly turning into his complete draconic form, he turned around
for Kim to climb aboard, and then took off at breakneck speed on a joyride.
Kim was shouting happily and marveling at the distance from the ground. If
only the scenery wasn't plain flat desert she'd be marveling at it too.
After a few minutes they set down at camp again. She said, "Now I really do
believe in magic, if a short flight over such a barren desert can bring such
respite from despair. Thank you very much." Slipgate scolded, "Such formal
language! Although I'm glad to see the change." He smiled. They sat for a
while longer, in their own thoughts.

In the quiet of the night, Slipgate mentally reviewed what he had
heard (and felt) about the battle Kim and Jason had with Mr. X on the roof.
Kim and the White Lance had some affinity for one another... probably because
Kain had used it and Kain and Kim of course knew each other well, so his
Lance must know her too. Thinking back to the games themselves that spawned
AGFF, his mind fell on FF4. The Mysidian Legend... heh, just a little bit of
short prose can have so many meanings, not all of which have been deciphered.
Of course, FF4 only had the last part of the Mysidian Legend in it. For the
mental exercise, Slipgate decided to see if he could remember the whole thing.
In about another minute, his face went white as he put two and two together.
Kim... the Lance's affinity to her... the Spearbearer of the Legend? Maybe
it wasn't just knowing her through Kain after all... in fact... he stopped.
"Oh my Bob...", he mouthed.

The next thing he remembered was that Small Girl had given the White
Lance to him before heading off to the wounded camp when they first set out
for AGFFH, sans Kim and Jason, in case they needed it. She'd found it on the
floor oddly enough, not where Kim had left it. It was the White Lance, he had
been able to verify that easily. He had forgotten he was carrying it with
him. He realized it probably warped there since nobody would have had a
chance to retrieve it from the roof. If Kim was the Spearbearer of the
Legend, if the Legend was actually playing out in full... the ramifications
boggled the mind.

But, if the Mysidian Legend was indeed playing out, that meant two
very big things, in the immediate present. The White Lance was also known
as the Holy Lance. Just like there was a dark counterpart to Craxton's
Crystal KnightSword, there was a Demon Lance. He suddenly realized Craxton's
possible role in the Legend. He needed to find its counterpart, and Kim, if
she was the Spearbearer, needed this, plus the Demon Lance. Besides the need
to find those weapons as well in order to succeed, it also meant another
thing. The world was subtly saying that it was time for yet another group of
Light Warriors to rise and save it from a terrible threat. He began realizing
that this (now somewhat separated) group of Defenders and Defilers, who began
on an admittedly simple quest to save Relm from death, one he almost didn't
join, were the new Light Warriors. Armageddon was coming. Suddenly he heard
a familiar voice in his head. "Took you long enough... I got the hell off
the moon almost a day ago already." His father Bahamut. Oh shit, this was
HUGE.

He became conscious of the real world in time to see Kim opening the
flap of her tent, ready to get in. He quickly stopped her. He said,
"Something big is happening here. We have to wake everyone up right NOW."
His deep draconic voice was so booming that the dog-tired Kim didn't bother
questioning him at all.

======

Meanwhile, Craxton suddenly found himself on the dungeon level of the
Lunarian Palace. The trip through the Worldgate had taken some time, he
felt... or had it? Was time meaningless to the Worldgate? Focusing on where
he was, he moaned. "Oh gods, why do you mock me?" he said, realizing he'd
have to escape all over again. However, he accidentally said that out loud.
In response, he heard a familiar voice say, "Is that you, Craxton?" It was
Spoony's voice!