Chapter 2: Waiting Squall did not come for Zell that night however. Zell slept, only to be awoken by nightmares at exactly midnight. At the same time that Zell woke up, Squall, Selphie, Rinoa, Irvine, and Quistis sat upright in their beds and screamed. Halfway across the world, the president of Esthar woke up sweating, and heard Kiros�s scream.
Farther south, in the ruins of the once great kingdom of Centra, a single man pulled a sword out of the grip of a long dead skeleton. Before it collapsed in a heap, the skeleton screamed vengeance. The man felt a ripple of cold pass through him and fell over dead, his soul ripped from his body.
In Galbadia, General Caraway saw the ghost of his beloved Julia. The servants in the residence were all sound asleep. Julia reached out and took his hand. Caraway screamed loudly, then passed out, unconscious, and fell to the floor.
In Fisherman�s Horizon, Seifer was deep asleep. In his dream he was fighting Squall. At midnight, Squall slammed the Lionheart into Seifers chest. Seifer woke up and grabbed the Hyperion, which was now cracked and useless from the fight with Squall.
Edea dreamt that she had her powers back. Only this time, she willingly enslaved Galbadia. In the other room Cid sat straight up in bed with fear on his face. He had dreamt that Squall had killed everyone he had come to rely on.
All of this originated from the summoning of a creature that is so horrible it has never been given a name. It is a thing of the ultimate evil. It was once a person. Once it was a wealthy nobleman and excellent sorceror. Brought back to life, it remembered nothing of its past existence. It had only the desire to kill.
The first to do, it thought, was to find the sword that could lengthen it undead life. Any blood shed by this sword, gave more life essence to the user. To the living it could make a great warrior immortal. To an assassin it could lengthen their life about ten-fold. To the undead, it was the only way to survive.
The man that had summoned it stood by looking at it with wonder. Yes, he thought. I really could have the ultimate army with these things in it. But the man did not expect that the thing could still talk after having been dead so long.
The things mouth opened and closed, and after a couple of second it began to talk. �What did you call me for? I was sleeping nicely, content in what the Goddess had to offer me.� It�s voice was thick and grating.
The man stumbled back in horror and revulsion at the thought of this thing being actually alive and able to think on its own. With a trembling voice he responded. �I- I need y-y-your help.� I w-wish to d-d-destroy a s-s-ertain Resistance f-fact-tor in a city that I c-c-c-control.� The man was stuttering, something he only did when terribly frightened.
�Very well. However, you must find me a sword. It is known as the Draikslai. It is one of the relics left by the ancient gods. I need it if I am to survive. Also, I want to know where and when this is, and what my former life was that you chose me to fulfill your tasks instead of some other unlucky soul.�
�Whatever you ask, it shall be done. I swear it on the name of my father, Jedrid.� With that, the man left, and the thing followed him.
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Squall came for Zell in the morning. �C�mon man, we got to go.�
Zell got up and left. His thoughts went back to his dreams. There was something in it. Something that was undefinable. It looked like a grotesque mask of flesh and bones. Zell thought that it had once been a person. Now it was impossible to tell.
Once, that type of creature was used in armies. The people that called them from the grave often gave their lives for it. The high priest would then rename the newly awakened thing. In that time, these monstrosities were known as liches.
Often, when they came to life they would have no clue of their past lives. They awakened with the urge to kill. Each was given a sword or dagger that would suck the life force from its victim. That force would go directly in to the wielder. These weapons were required for a lich to stay alive. Had a mortal wielded it, he could live until the end of all living things.
Zell didn�t know how he knew these things. He just knew that he knew them. He walked along side of Squall in an unusual silence. He just walked along and thought these weird thought of his.
Without watching where his feet were taking him, he found himself already in the front hall, with everyone else waiting for him. �Hey.� That was all he could say right now.
�Alright people, we need to leave if we are to get to Timber in time to prepare for a resistance.� Squall sighed. �This is probably going to be very easy, but still. We need to be in top fighting condition when we attack them, so we need to train. And don�t always train with the same person. Irvine, you need to work on your sharpshooter skill. Rinoa, practice accuracy so you can take down the target in one hit. Keep your magic supplies high, and keep up relations with your GF�s. We need to pull this off quickly so we can get back to our new duties as soon as possible.�
Squall felt as if he had never talked so much before in his entire life. But one more thing needed to be said. �Timber is depending on us. We cannot let them down.� Squall started walking away. �We leave for Timber now!�
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Later that day the six of them were on a train to Timber. As usual, Selphie demanded admittance to the SeeD car. And also as usual, Squall reluctantly opened it for her. She ran into the hallway with Irvine hot on her heels. As the door closed Squall could hear Selphie sing Train, Train Take Us Away.
�Won�t she ever stop that infernal singing when we are on a train! It�s driving me nuts.� Squall really thought that Selphie was a good singer though. She just had the habit of picking all of the worst songs. An out of key voice joined in and soon got in key with Selphie. �Oh great. Now Irvine�s singing it too.� He hung his head in despair.
�It�s not that bad you know Squall. Selphie and Irvine sing very well together.� Quistis defended her friends. �Besides, They�re singing to themselves, not anyone else. They don�t have to sound the best. And they aren�t exactly taking requests.� Quistis laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. �Besides, you can�t do a damn thing about it.�
Squalled cursed under his breath. He sighed then walked out into the SeeD Room. Suddenly felling sleepy, he sat down on the sofa, and promptly passed out.
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Que ran through the city. The monsters were attacking from everywhere. A steady stream of them still came from the sky. Peoples bodies lay strewn all over the street. Blood soaked the dirt beneath his feet.
A huge 6-legged monster rose up in front of him. ? A foreign thought flew into his head. What the hell is this place? Where am I. Que lost his footing and slipped. The monsters attack flew right over his head.
He looked up and saw the creature slash again at his face. Que turned and ran. More and more of these weird monsters fell from the sky. Que had no clue where they were coming from.
One of his people ran up to him. �Ethin! We�ve got to find a way out of here! Monsters are raining on us.�
�The Lunar Cry. Her voice was filled with great horror. �Somebody has used our greatest weapon against us. I never thought the Lunatic Pandora would be used on us.� She broke down and cried.
Que took her by the hand and they started running through the city of Centra. Que ran and tripped over the arm of some fallen warrior. Ethin ran ahead. �C�mon Que hurry up. If we can make it out of here we can still survive.�
Que face got thoughtful, then very sad. �Ethin, I must stay behind. I can stop the creatures from spreading further than Centra. Even now, they have stopped falling constantly. You go on ahead. If I live through this then I shall catch up to you. Always remember that I love you.� With that he turned and ran into the heart of the city. Ethin fell down and cried. A few minutes later, she stood up and left the city forever.
Que ran towards the support structures for the city. The control pads allowed him to fell one support after another. Slowly the city collapsed around him. On the last one, he Whispered that he loved Ethin one more time, then the city collapsed on his shoulders.
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Squall awoke with a start. His friend were standing over him.
�Sleeping beauty finally wakes up.� Zell laughed. �You couldn�t stay knocked out forever. We�re almost at Timber now. Just sit back, relax, and we�ll be there in no time.�
Squall did just what he was told.