From high above him, Edgar could hear the disgusting taunts of the castle intruder as he shouted down at him from the same rampart.
�The young king deserts his people in their darkest hour!" shouted Kefka. "How utterly delightful this is! Fear not, Lord Edgar, Figaro will be well treated under the rule of the Empire.�
Edgar laughed at these sentiments.
�Figaro will never give into the Empire. Long live our people!� he shouted and rode the Chocobo expertly as it sprinted across the sand around the northern edge of the castle. Edgar watched with anticipation as the Chocobo now rounded the northeastern edge and smiled as he saw two shapes hurtling through the air towards the sand.
�HAI!� he shouted at the Chocobos as Locke and Terra landed smoothly onto the sand from the connecting wall between the east castle wall and the east guard tower. At that instant, Edgar heard and felt at the same time the familiar churning of a large underground engine and knew that he had little time to spare. He hastened towards his friends, pulled up alongside them with the Chocobos in tow and signaled impatiantly for them to mount. Locke was dusting himself off and straightening his feathered cap while trying to help Terra to her feet, their backpacks lying in the desert sand next to them.
�Edgar, you�re insane, did you know that!� Locke shouted up at him from the ground, walking over to one of the Chocobos with a slight limp. �We could have killed ourselves jumping from such a height.�
�I am happy to see that Merlith�s message got to you in time but berate me later, my friend. We must ride now! We have little time to spare,� he intoned while helping Terra to mount her ride from atop his own Chocobo. �Figaro is about to purge itself of unwanted guests and we would do best to be gone before this happens.�
Locke nodded at his friend in understanding and, with no trace of his previous limp, he ran towards the Chocobo intended for him and sprang lithely upon the large, yellow bird, gripping the reins tightly in his hands. Once they were all aboard their steeds, Edgar led the way south at a gallop, away from the castle.
�Terra,� Locke shouted into the morning air, �are you ok?�
Terra had been looking back towards the castle as she rode away, and now looked despairingly into Locke�s eyes.
�All those people back there! What is Kefka going to do to them? Why are we leaving them, Edgar?� she pleaded and Edgar turned to her with a smile upon his lips.
�Nothing will be done to them, dear heart. Watch! DIVE FIGARO! DIVE!�
Even as he said this, the left and right guard towers that were connected to the main castle structure by the ridged connectors suddenly sprung to life and began to draw towards the main body of the castle. Terra gasped openly in shock and Edgar smiled with pleasure at this as he too marveled at his own ingenuity. The windows of the castle, which were visible as points of light along the towers and the walls were winked out individually with audible �clangs�, as metal shutters snapped closed over them. Figaro�s tallest steeple began to fold inwards upon itself along hinges that had not been visible from the outside, sealing itself away from the exterior and as this was happening, the three riders suddenly felt a deep pulse pass beneath them, rippling out towards the open desert as a wave of sand, originating from the castle base and uprooting the Chocobos in a flurry of squawks as it passed beneath them. Looking back, Terra could see the castle sinking slowly into the sand now as the Imperial troops that had swarmed the castle grounds before now tried to escape from the swell of incoming sand that began to fill the void left by the disappearing castle.
Within the castle walls, Kefka watched the turmoil in anger as the castle began to shut itself off from his invasion force and he felt the powerful vibrations that shook the castle as it began to sink. He watched all this take place with a hollow air of distance. His body phased slowly as he closed his eyes, becoming almost transparent as if he were made of glass. Suddenly, he was no longer standing within the courtyard of the castle. He was no longer watching the rolling waves of sand flood the interior of the castle as it submerged itself beneath the desert floor. He was no longer there with the other members of his troop, suffocating under the desert soil and screaming in pain as they were buried alive beneath the scorched and barren earth. No. Kefka no longer existed in that mortal place where shifts of corporeal space required observance of the laws of physics. He was beyond.
He regained consciousness slowly and found himself standing upon a soft mound of sand where once a castle stood. His anger was the first reminder of his physical body�s resemblance. Looking south, he could make out the three escapees as they rode swiftly away. He cursed them in a tongue that had not been spoken in over a thousand years and knew that he must move quickly. Again, he phased, closing his eyes to the world about him and reopening them to find himself among the tents and pavilions of his party�s campgrounds. Several of the men who had been sitting about a small fire, cooking on early breakfast jumped in surprise at his appearance and were visibly shaking with fear at his appearance. Kefka wasted no time.
�Mount the Machines, you maggots! We have escapees to catch!�
