Chapter 33: Apocalypse rising
Mizrahs POV
The teleportation of the army had stopped and for now the Mist Continent was
relatively safe. But there was still the matter of the remainder of the army
that we faced. About a hundred or so genomes, fifty or seventy-five Black Mages
and two dozen monsters, not a seriously large army but the fact that they were
on the Mist Continent was worry enough.
“Can’t we bomb them?” repeated Snikity
“No way!” yelled Mikoto
Beatrix and Snikity gave her a strange look.
“How many more of us must die!!?” she yelled, tears falling from her eyes.
“She has a point…the genomes and Mages are not our enemies,
you remember what Jara did during the occupation of Ankh-Morpork.”
”But what are we to do with them?” asked Beatrix “We can’t just leave them
there, sooner or later they’ll get organised and head for Lindblum…then they
really will die and so will so many other good people.”
“Well, then we must head for Oeilvert and stop Fury before they do. Stop him and this madness will end…and this madness MUST end.” Said Mikoto, a steely determination in her voice.
“I must say, you have totally surprised me Sam…and Kuja too I see.” Said Fury, not noticing Jara hiding inside the cell.
“This madness has to end Fury.” I said
“For me, nothing will end…for you, it depends on how lenient I feel. I see a rescue attempt was underway. A pity that you left the secret door open, how did you find it?”
“Pika PiKA!” yelled a voice at ground level.
Fury looked down in amusement at the little yellow mouse.
“Ah, Pikachu, the electrical rodent. I can’t say I’m surprised to see you here…you will be useful though, my generators could do with a backup power source.”
My eyes briefly took in the forms of two silver type genomes standing behind Fury, they looked terrified, and obviously they knew nothing about this secret of Furys.
“What the hell was going on here?!” stammered the female silver genome.
“It’s none of your business Rhiana.” Said Fury, shooting a sharp look at her.
“Are these dead genomes?” asked the male silver genome.
Fury turned and looked at him, narrowing his eyes.
“Unless you want to join them Ilvian, you will shut the hell up!”
He turned back to us and crossed his arms.
“Needless to say, you are both now in my custody. Any attempt to resist or escape again will be met with painful results for yourselves. Ilvian, Rhiana take them to the cells we put the other prisoners in. Make sure that Kuja is closely guarded, he may have had his memory wiped but he’s still too powerful for his own good.”
The two genomes stepped forward and pointed their particle weapons at us.
“Why are you obeying him?” Kuja asked them.
They didn’t reply, in fact they avoided his gaze completely.
“Because they have no other choice genome. Soon, you will join them.”
I shook my head.
“No chance Fury, your teleporter is down. Your plan to conquer the Mist Continent has failed!”
Fury walked over to me and punched me in the face, I reeled with the impact and fell onto my knees.
“Silence fool. Ilvian, Rhiana take them out of my sight before I do something to them that they will regret.”
We were carried out and up the stairs, deeper into Oeilvert.
I kicked the door leading into Ash, Jesse and James cell shut, trapping them inside it for a second time, this time with their stupid Pokemon as well, the magical field preventing them from using their weak magic.
“You nearly got lucky there my friends, but now I shall see you rot in hell.” I said mockingly at them, laughing as I walked out of the room and up the stairs in Oeilvert.
I stalked through the corridors, my trenchcoat billowing around me, I was livid that my plans had been ruined, in fact I was tempted to go back to the dungeon and torture those pathetic things, but at the moment it didn’t seem worth it. So I decided instead to visit the crystal.
As I walked along the corridor I heard laughter, mocking laughter and I turned to look behind me.
“Who’s there?!”
The laughter increased in intensity and volume until it echoed through the corridor.
“Dammit!! Show your face to me!!!” I screamed, drawing my sword.
And then HE appeared in front of me, his face like mine, his body like mine but his mind so, so different.
“What’s the matter Fury?” asked Thunderchild “Plans going wrong?”
I sliced at him but Surrelus went straight through him and did no damage.
“You’re losing Fury, I will take control of you, you are nothing but a passing phase. I own you!” said Thunderchild with a sneer.
“No! No, you bastard! I will kill you!! I will kill you!!” I screamed slashing at him with my sword, even though it did no damage.
Kitiara’s POV
I ran towards the source of all the shouting and saw Fury slashing at nothing
down the next corridor.
“Err…Fury?” I asked
He turned, breathing heavily and carrying Surrelus tightly in his hands, he looked wild with anger and perhaps a little scared.
I silently chuckled at his appearance.
Oh how the mighty have fallen I thought.
“What?!!”
“There’s nothing there.” I said simply, crossing my arms.
Fury turned, his sword raised, and then he turned back.
“Didn’t you see him?”
“See who?”
“ME!”
I blinked and shook my head.
“I didn’t see anyone.”
Fury snorted and put Surrelus back in its scabbard, then he continued walking, pushing past me as he did.
I laughed as I continued walking to my room.
Fury’s losing his fragile grip on sanity I thought to myself.
There was a long pause after Fury had left but finally Jesse spoke up.
“Who are you?” she asked our new colleague.
“My name is Jara Gedyen, I’m sorry that you’ve gotten wrapped up in this affair, it’s my fault.”
I put my head on one side.
“How so?” I asked
Jara sighed and sat down on the edge of one of the beds.
“A year ago I was evil, I was hell bent on destroying this world to create another. I was wrong, I know it now but at the time a great evil had overcome me, I was not behaving as I should have.”
“And?”
“And I poisoned Yissan to bring him onto my side, I made him turn against Domino and the rest of his friends so he could finally be with me. I thought the poison had been removed from his body when he merged with his sister but evidently it had only been suppressed. What triggered it to activate again, I do not know.”
There was another pause as we digested this new information.
“How come you didn’t confront him just then?” asked James.
“Yissan believes I’m dead, I want to use that against him. Surprise him if you like, and then I can use that moment of weakness to stop him. Even though, I don’t want to have to kill him…I will if I have to.”
“Didn’t Domino say something about a Jara once?” asked Jesse
I nodded and Jara smiled.
“I would have thought she did…I’m Dominos original form, my personality was transferred to her many years ago.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Wha?”
Jara shook her head.
“It’s too complicated to explain now, lets just get out of here.”
I nodded.
“Pikachu, thunderbolt that door!” I commanded my little yellow Pokemon.
Pikachu nodded and turned towards the door.
“PikaCHU!” it yelled but nothing happened, puzzled the little mouse ran up to the door, sniffed it a few times, ran back and tried again.
“PikaCHU!!”
Still nothing happened.
“Allow me.” Said Jara, she put both hands out in front of her and created a large fireball which smashed the door off its hinges and across the room.
“Why didn’t Pikachu’s attack work?” I asked
Jara shrugged.
“I guess it’s the anti-magic field around this place.”
As we stood up and walked slowly through the door, limping slightly I shook my head.
“But you used magic.” I protested, coughing slightly.
“It’s my heritage.” She said dismissively.
We walked out, free people at last.
“Now I’ll show you the way out of here, and then you must get as far away from this castle as possible, head towards the rising sun and avoid the monsters.”
Things were quiet in Oeilvert as I walked towards Furys room, too quiet. I was preparing to confront Kitiara, I didn’t like her…I hated her.
“NO!!” I heard a yell from with Furys room and suddenly the door was knocked off its hinges. Fury came out of the room with a wild look on his face.
“Where is it!!?” he yelled, grabbing me by the arms and picking me up off the floor.
“Where is what?” I asked, kicking my legs uselessly.
“The damn crystal genome! Where is the damn crystal?!”
I shook my head.
“What crystal?!”
He threw me against the wall and I fell down onto the floor.
“It’s her…that stupid bitch! I’m going to kill her…I’m going to KILL her!!” he yelled, drawing Surrelus and running down the corridor.
I stood up, more than a little confused and changed my destination. I had been told by Rhiana that some new prisoners had arrived, including my brother Kuja. I wanted to see him, to find out what was happening.
Confusion had taken the place of anger and rage. I was lost, and I knew it.
As I ran through the corridors I felt the walls crack slightly as my anger discharged itself, I tried to contain it to contain the powers I knew that I would need.
Kitiara was going to pay for this, I would see her dead!
We had been thrown into a dark cell, both Kuja and I. The silver genome was unconscious when we were thrown into the cell but awakened soon after.
“Where are we?” he asked
“Imprisoned, we failed.” I replied with a heavy note of sadness in my voice.
“Failed? No, we can’t have!” protested Kuja.
“We have, there’s no way we can get out of here.”
He sighed and brought his legs up so his head was resting on his knees.
“So this is it…what do you think he’ll do with us?” he asked
I shrugged.
“I don’t know…probably try to bring us over to his side. There were another two silver genomes, Rhiana and Ilvian, with him. Although I doubt they will be for long.”
I cursed that I knew no magic, it would have been so useful at this point to escape but even if we had I doubted we could have gone far, the guards outside the door would have made sure of that.
We sat in silence for a while when we heard footsteps outside.
“I’ve come to see the prisoners.” Said a familiar voice.
“Domino?” asked Kuja quietly, I nodded, a new hope springing up within me.
“Very well Mistress Yugami.” Said one of the guards and my hope hit rock bottom.
“Damn.” I whispered, Kuja looked at me strangely but then the door opened and she walked into the cell, the door slowly shut behind her. The brief moment I saw her clearly I could see that she had changed her attire into a dark black and red outfit which matched her personality now.
“So…it is you.” She said after a while, looking at Kuja.
“What’s the matter Domino?” asked Kuja
“I am not Domino…my name is Yugami.”
Kuja blinked.
“I remember a Yugami…a long time ago…but she was evil. You are not evil.”
She chuckled and shook her head.
“How little you truly know me brother, I have changed, changed beyond your understanding, Awakened and this is the new me.”
Kuja shook his head.
“No Domino, this is a passing phase. Like my reign of terror, you are not evil Domino, you are just misled.”
“Silence.” She muttered, clearly not liking what she was hearing, but I could see that she was open to it, something had changed within her and she was no longer as openly hostile as she had been.
“Yugami…Domino, what’s happening to you?” I asked
She turned, a slight surprise registering on her face as if she had just recognised me for the first time.
“Sam…” she whispered
I stood up and walked over to her, I put my hands on her shoulders.
“You’re scared Domino, I know…I helped make you, please, understand this, Kuja is right. We didn’t design you for evil or for terror, we designed you to help us live.”
“You designed me as a tool!” she yelled, pushing me away.
“I know…I know, but look how you’ve turned out now…it’s not our fault Lawrence took control of you. You’ve come so far Domino, please…don’t throw it all away.”
She stood still looking at me, inside I could see her wavering, her decision not made.
Then there was a small explosion outside and two screams. The cell door opened up slowly and there was a silhouette of a young woman.
“Hello Domino…it’s been a long time.” Said Jara.
“Rhiana…I’m worried, we must get out of here and fast.” I pleaded with her.
“I know…but if we leave he will kill us.”
We stood in the main entrance hall of Oeilvert, the wind whistling through the old stonework.
“If we stay he’ll kill us anyway!”
Rhiana sighed and nodded, she lifted up her rucksack and put it over her shoulder.
“Where are you going?” asked a voice behind us, I turned and saw Lawrence standing there with his arms crossed.
“We’re getting away from here before that madman kills us all!”
Lawrence smiled and beckoned with his left hand.
“Then come with me…I will bring you salvation.”
Something within me made me agree and we both followed Lawrence unquestioningly, even though our minds protested.
Kitiara’s POV
As I broke my gaze away from the question the door to my room disintegrated and
Fury stood in the doorway.
“I knew it.” He growled.
I picked up the crystal and clutched it to my chest.
“This is mine.” I hissed at him.
“No Kitiara…you are meddling with powers you will never understand. Give me the crystal.” Said Fury as he walked into the room.
“Over my dead body Fury.” I warned him, putting the crystal on the bed behind me and drawing my daggers.
“As you wish.”
I never even saw the energy bolt coming but suddenly found myself flying through the air, I hit the wall but didn’t hit the floor. As I floated a couple of inches from the ground I smiled and threw an energy bolt back at Fury. He shrugged the attack aside and stepped closer to me.
“You have quite a temper Kitiara…but it won’t save you now.”
I sent another attack at him but he deflected it with a shield, then he gripped me with a telekinetic field and threw me headfirst into the wall on the other side of the room. Dazed I fell to the floor but then gathering myself stood up again.
I saw Fury reach down onto the bed and pick up the crystal, as he put it inside his cloak I saw the source of all my powers being lost to him and jumped across the room at him. He was surprised and we both fell to the floor, I gripped my hands around his throat and started to squeeze with a vicious force. As I felt his life slip away a hidden rage glowing within his eyes and he punched me on the side of the face, again and again with a powerful force behind his fists. The fourth blow forced me to let go of my death grip and I fell off him to one side. Fury quickly stood up and kicked me in the face, blood marred my vision briefly as I fell backwards. I tried to get up but a boot landed on my chest and prevented me. I raised my hands and summoned a spell to blast him away from me but it wouldn’t come and I suddenly found myself powerless to stop him, I pulled out one of my hidden daggers and stabbed him in the leg but he didn’t even seem to feel it. A red aura glowed around his body as he bent down and whispered to me.
“And so ends your life…Kitiara.”
He reached his hand up into the air and his sword Surrelus materialised with its hilt in his hand, he turned it so it was facing blade down and placed the blade at my throat.
“If you’re going to kill me then kill me…” I croaked.
Fury smiled and stabbed me, the pain racked through my body and I saw blackness at the edges of my vision, I shut my eyes and surrendered to it.
“Domino…you have been misled, we all have. Come, let me clear your mind.” Jara said, reaching up and touching Yugami on the forehead, instantly the genome stiffened up and fell to the floor.
Kuja stood up.
“What have you done to her?!” he cried, but Jara put a finger to her lips.
“Watch.” She replied.
Yugami sat up slowly, one hand on her head.
“Ow…what hit me?” she said.
Jara knelt down next to her.
“Feeling better?” she asked
She nodded.
“How the hell did I get here?”
I blinked, recognising the tone behind the voice.
“Domino?”
“Sam?” she asked
“I’m confused.” Admitted Kuja.
“Come on, you must go!” said Jara, waving at the open door.
We ran outside and Domino pointed out the way we should go, as we began running I noticed Jara wasn’t coming with us.
“Where are you going?!” I asked her
“Don’t worry about me…just get yourselves out of here!” she yelled.
Kuja grabbed me by the arm and we ran further down the corridor, stopping outside a door leading into another prison cell.
“This is the one!” said Domino
“The one what?” asked Kuja but he didn’t get a reply as Domino opened the door.
Inside were two people I recognised and two people I didn’t.
“Zidane? Garnet?” I asked
“Sam?” asked the queen of Alexandria.
“Yugami?” asked the male person I didn’t know.
Domino shook her head.
“No Nagy, it’s me Domino…I’m back…I’m sorry.”
Nagy shook his head.
“How can we trust you?”
Domino ran in and grabbed him by the arm.
“There’s no time for that, come on, we must get out!”
They left the room and we ran down the twisting and turning corridor to where Domino said the exit was.
“What’s happening?” asked Zidane.
“Dominos back…Jara did it!” I replied
“JARA?!” yelled Zidane, stopping suddenly.
“It’s a long story…but she’s on our side now.”
“But she tried to destroy Gaia!” protested Garnet.
We continued running.
“Why,” said Zidane “Does it seem like I’ve been left out of the know in this.”
I shrugged and chuckled.
“These things happen in war.” I replied.
Now that that stupid harlot was out of the way I could focus on the other things at hand, the crystal was with me now as I walked down the second level corridor towards the prisoners cell, but something didn’t feel right. I pulled the crystal out of my pocket and prepared to merge myself with it.
“You know…you rely too much on that crystal.” Said my voice behind me.
“You don’t exist…there’s no-one there.” I replied flatly.
“Oh, but I am here Fury…I’m waiting, waiting like a predator waiting for its prey to slip up, then I will move in for the kill.” Said Thunderchild.
“You’ll have a long wait.” I replied, pressing my finger to the crystals surface and feeling its knowledge course through my brain, its power flow as one with my body.
They were escaping.
I blinked, and delved deeper into the crystal, in my minds eye I saw Domino, Nagy, Zidane, Sam, Xola, Garnet and Kuja running down a corridor in Oeilvert, they were running towards the main doors. Escaping.
With a chuckle I put the crystal away and ran for the control room where I could control all aspects of Oeilvert.
“You can run…but you’ll never hide from my wrath.” I said quietly.