Terra followed her three companions as they were led deeper into the cavern through several naturally and artificially formed archways in the stone. As she made her way along, she noticed that there was a strange force emanating from within the caverns, something which her conscious mind only now tuned onto, but which had been growing steadily since they had entered the cave, maybe even before. It felt� familiar somehow.
She stopped abruptly in her tracks, suddenly recognizing the growing sensation, and the other three moved forward without noticing her halt, lost in their observance of their surroundings.
�Locke.� The green-clad adventurer turned at the sound of his name from her lips and he walked over to her, noting the concern on her face.
�What is it, Terra?� he asked slowly.
She looked around in confusion as the dim sensation of an unexplained presence waxed in intensity with each passing moment, a tide building slowly in her mind. The walls of the cavern pressed upon her in a powerful, yet not malevolent, manner and she instinctively reached out with her mind to it. She looked over at Locke in surprise, eyes wide with wonder.
�There is someone within this cave with magical powers, Locke.�
Edgar and Sabin, who had stopped a short way ahead of them, suddenly tensed visibly with alarm and strode over to the other two, joining in the conversation.
�Are you certain?� Sabin questioned her, scanning the interior of the cavern quickly for sign of any intruder as a brilliant glow surrounded his clenched fists in reflex. Edgar had drawn his crossbow and already had loaded three bolts across the top. Locke looked over at Terra and whispered softly to her.
�Do not mention this to anyone here. We must go straight to Banon. He will know what to do.�
As silently as possible, the group quickened their pace the remainder of the way to Banon�s room, standing outside the entrance while the door guard announced their arrival. The sentry disappeared for a moment, the muted sound of conversation barely audible through the wooden frame, and the growing echo of footsteps announced his return.
�Proceed,� was all the sentry said and he resumed his previous stance.
Edgar led the party into Banon�s room. It was small and sparsely furnished, the atmosphere suggesting a temporary place of respite rather than a permanent living chamber, easily emptied should the need arrive. A small fire crackled within a charred brick fireplace along the far wall providing a cozy, lighted atmosphere to the room. Weapons hung in arranged fashion along the room walls apparently meant for aesthetic purposes rather than true combat. A large bookcase stood against a small dividing partition at the center of the room filled from top to bottom with huge, dusty tomes of amazing age, some with titles written in languages that were undecipherable. Terra gaped in wonder at the sight of this den, walking slowly and absorbing as much as she could from each ancient artifact within it.
�I have sensed your power, child,� came a voice from the shadows of a dark corner where the firelight did not reach. It was cracked and broken, drained of all youthful tones and as ancient as the mountain itself that surrounded them. �I knew you would come.�
From amidst the darkness enveloping the far corner of the den, a shape slowly resolved, hobbling along upon a cane of aged birch, topped with a bronze eagle that stood erect in posture as the sigil upon their flag. The old man stood there before them dressed in crimson robes, sandals upon his feet and as Terra looked upon his face she saw�
Terra gasped in shock.
�You are blind!� she exclaimed suddenly, as she stared at glazed, white eyes, devoid of any life. His dead globes swiveled in their sockets rhythmically as he stood there, unmoving and unblinking. Even Locke and Edgar, long-time students of the elder, were hard-pressed to keep eye contact with him.
�Yes, child,� he spoke to the room in gravelly tones, chin lifted into the air, eyes unfocused and staring emptily past their heads. �It was a gift of my passionate and ill-spent youth. Action without thought is but a fool�s struggle against the wind.� His face then centered eerily upon that of Terra�s, almost as if he knew exactly where she was standing. A smile crept slowly across Banon�s face as she stood there staring back at him.
�Banon,� Edgar spoke now, as he stepped towards the older man, taking Banon�s hands firmly in a gesture of affection, �we have brought her to you. This is the girl of whom I spoke in my letters to you.�
Banon nodded, slowly took his hands from Edgar�s grasp, placed them upon his walking cane, and wrinkled his already fissured forehead in thought, his full head of white locks swishing to and fro in its ponytail. He turned away, heading towards a small desk at the rear of the room and as he walked, the limp in his right leg was obvious.
�Is she the girl that can talk to Espers?� he asked with little regard, as if the question were of no significance. With his back still to them, Terra turned to Locke and mouthed the word to him in confusion. Espers? Locke looked back at her giving nothing away with his expression.
Once he had reached the desk, Banon rested his hands upon it and the desk bore his weight as he breathed deeply in obvious discomfort. He took up a letter from the milieu of pages that were strewn about the flat surface and waved it over his head to the people behind him.
�A pigeon carrier,� he began breathlessly, taking breaks in between words to breathe, �brought this information to me, not two days before your arrival.� His words were toneless, without emotion. Edgar and Locke looked at each other uneasily for they had never seen their leader so withdrawn and tactful. It was almost as if this was someone else before them, not their kind and wise tutor of old.
Banon lowered the letter and began to read.
�Banon!� Locke suddenly shouted in alarm, not believing the accusations that were being made. This was more than unexpected on the part of their leader, it was unfounded. �She was controlled!� he cried openly and with a heat that took the others by surprise, yet which did not affect the stature of the white-haired elder.
�Locke, be at ease,� Edgar interjected with an air of self-control that he did not truly feel. �Banon, surely you do not believe these reports in their entirety?�
�She is a soldier of the Empire, boy," Banon responded matter-of-factly, not acknowledging Edgar's regal title, "and it is a huge risk you take bringing her to our encampment.� He kept his back to them, mulling over the letter as if all the time in the world were his.
�Lord Banon,� Locke began once again, though still somewhat heated, �she is of no danger to us. She was controlled by the Empire and would never truly help them in their unholy ploys. She does not remember anything!�
�Listen to me, all of you,� Banon spoke up, curbing all further talk. �Terra is an Empire soldier. She has been used by them for their purposes against our own people and now you bring her to us, safely delivering the Empire�s greatest weapon of destruction into our arms. She can never return to the Empire if we wish to keep our lands and our people safe. Therefore�� he turned now to face them, passing over each of them individually, as if he were studying them silently, and then continued, �there is only one thing that we can do with her.�
Terra gasped in horror at the suggestion and was about to speak in her own defense. She barely opened her mouth however before Banon suddenly turned to her in swift surety, pointing a finger directly at her, his deathly white eyes bearing down upon her and striking her to the core.
�Do not move!� he shouted into the cavern and the authority that accompanied the outburst shook them to their cores. They all froze, either by command or by control, but not a single one of them moved an inch. In that moment of time, it felt as though the very stirrings of air within the cavern slowed and stopped at Banon�s command. Terra stood there, staring into white nothingness, unable to look away.
Banon then began to approach her and all Terra�s guilt, shame, fear, hopelessness, despair and sorrow seemed to ebb away from her towards the old man as he approached. She felt each of those emotions strongly as it gathered within her conscious mind and flowed away from her in a strong current of negativity. She gazed into his eyes, confused at what was happening and lost in the increasing sense of righteousness within her being.
Banon began to speak.
�There is a story,� he said with a softness that belied the vast swell of power radiating toward Terra, �that tells of a time when all people were pure and innocent. There was a box, one which the people were instructed never to open, but one man opened it despite the warning. From within the box emerged all the evils that continue to plague the world: envy, greed, pride, violence, control. When all these were gone, only one thing remained within the box, Terra.�
Her name echoed throughout the cave, reverberating a million times and more within her entranced mind. Banon raised his arms towards her, taking her face into his hands, framed on either side by her green hair. She saw his face clearly, not as it was a moment ago, old and with the eyes of a corpse, but as it was in his prime, bold and chiseled, with a smile that was as genuine as it was glorious. His aura was blinding to behold and she listened eagerly to the story�s conclusion.
�Only a single ray of light remained within the box of all evils. That single ray of light, young Terra, was hope; the hope that all mankind could resist the temptation of these evils.� With eyes of deepest black, focused directly upon her own, Banon looked at Terra from within the depths of the illusion that immersed her. �That ray of light,� he continued slowly, �is you. We now face all these evils of which I spoke and only you can save us, Terra. You are our only hope.�
The illusion faded, the moment snuffed out like a candle�s light in the night�s wind, and darkness enveloped her as the room returned to its original somber state. She soon became aware of her friends standing about her, looking at Banon in awe as he walked away from her, limping upon his cane. It occurred to her now that the darkness which fell upon her was actually the return of her senses to the world about her. Already, the experience of those few moments were dissipating from memory and all too soon would become nothing more than a sense of lost splendor. It seemed as if the world about her was now the illusion, her previous vision just a brief glimpse of a reality always eluding her.
�Banon!� she called out to him, wanting to ask much, wanting to know more.
�I am tired, children, and I must rest,� he spoke between heavy breaths. His back was bent over almost double, his head hung heavily upon his weary shoulders, and the cane with which he supported himself creaked with the strain of his weight. He strode slowly yet deliberately out of the room as they looked on in stunned silence, avoiding the obstacles within the room with the ease of the sighted. The door closed softly behind him.
When he had gone, Terra turned to them and spoke softly and her words chilled them to the bone.
�He can use magic.�
