“I thank thee, Lady Jane. Thou art truly blessed. Though, I wonder why thou art cleaning in such a way. And why it stings.” Elain would do that sometime. She would bandage his smaller wounds and good naturedly grouse about his injuries. ”What good you will be to our children if you can’t move.” She would save, but she still loved him. What Lady Jane said, though, pushed him out of his recollections.
“But, Lady Jane, Kefka wasn’t influenced by others.” Cyan said with a start. ”It is unclear whether he poisoned Doma on his own, or Emperor Ghestal gave him orders, but what happened next.” Cyan frowned. ”I shall skip ahead a bit. I joined the Returners and our group picked up several more members. Lady Celes, who used to be a general for the Empire until she defected. Sir Shadow, a mercenary. Sir Gau, who lived in the wild of the Veldt, Lady Relm and Sir Strago, two natural born mages. Lady Relm can paint anything and turn it to life. Sir Strago could imitate several attacks that he saw. Sir Gau could also mimic any monster. We also gathered Sir Mog, a moogle, and Sir Setzer, an airship pilot. Actually.” Cyan smiled softly. ”Lady Celes tricked Sir Setzer into helping us. She pretended to be an opera singer, she is very talented, and then when he kidnapped her, she rigged a coin toss so he would have to help us.” He chuckled. ”Mayhaps thou should have been there. To continue.” Once Lady Jane was done, he flexed his hand.
“We also discovered that Lady Terra was half esper at this point and that magicite were the bodies of Espers and it granted more power. But, that paled unto what happened later. You see, Lady Terra managed to release the Espers in order to talk to them, but they overran the Empire. Emperor Gahstal quaked at their true power and tried to organize a peace treaty with the Espers. Lady Terra and Sir Locke went to organize it, met Lady Relm and Sir Strago, and then the Emperor freed Kefka behind my back and then Kefka killed all the Espers and General Leo.” Cyan shook his head. ”General Leo was a great man, and it’s a pity that he could not lead the Empire after that.” Cyan cleared his throat.
“Kefka also released the Triad, the three most powerful of magic beings and who created the Espers in the first place. They were the source of all magic, and they had sealed themselves away to keep from destroying the world by fighting. We tried to stop them, but.” Cyan looked down again. The crash, the fear,… it was a good thing he had left the Phantom Train out of this story. With everything else, he didn’t know how he could handle it. “Emperor Gehstal tried to gain the power, but Kefka murdered him. He moved the Triad out of alignment and then absorbed all the magic. But moving the Triad out of alignment meant destroying the world. The continents were changed and scattered. Cities were wiped out. Lady Celes tried to kill Kefka, but it was too late. He had become the god of Magic. ” And then he had run away. “Shall I continue, Lady Jane? The ending is happy, but it is not that happy leading there.”
Jane focused on bandaging his wound carefully once it was cleaned. She looked on with concern, and just did her best to remember what she’d learned from her mother. She liked to think she’d inherited a bit a of Lucinda’s nurturing nature, especially now that she was going to have a baby. She was very careful, but quick and studious as she dressed the wound.
She listened while she worked, frowning at many of the details, but she seemed to show a particular interest when he mentioned the Triad and their magic. It sounded like a challenge she could live up to stopping, especially if the magic worked similarly to that of Asgard. Plus, it was an existing threat, to this planet and the Realm Eternal, possibly.
"Well, someday I will be the Goddess of Modern Science, I hope," she said, finishing the dressing on the wound. “It’s possible that I can stop Kefka, if he hasn’t been stopped already."
The destruction of the world - that sacrifice hung in her heart, though. It sounded like tough decisions Thor would have to make, or might.
"Please, continue."
"We scattered, for about a year. Lady Celes was responsible for bringing us back together. Admittedly, I knew where Sir Gau was, he was a bit like Owaine, thou see. But Sir Edgar became a thief, Sir Locke tried to find a way to bring his dead loved one back, Lady Celes was in a coma, Lady Terra lost her Esper powers and instead took care of a village of orphans. I... I fled. I spent mine year on a mountain, studying machinery and Bushido." He looked at Lady Jane. "I am not as noble as thou thinks, sometimes." Another breath, and he looked out.
"But, Lady Celes managed to get us all together, in fact we gained two members. Sir Umaro whom is a yeti. And Gogo whom is some sort of androgynous mimic." He shrugged slightly. "So, we gathered what we could, learned what we needed to, and fought up to Kefka. We had to defeat the Triad to get there. It took hours to get there, and we were separated. We met up in front of Kefka. " The thunder crashed, Kefka laughed, and there they all stood. Happy? Determined? Terrified? It varied on the person. Terra was practically on fire with her purpose. Celes had let ice coat her arms. Locke played with his dagger. Shadow stood still, like Cyan.... They all reacted in their own ways. "Kefka asked us why we bother creating, when all shall be destroyed. We gave our answers. New families, a better tomorrow, for the love of our old ones...." He looked down again. "Kefka laughed at us. So, we fought." It was a tough fight. Strago was the first to go down, and Relm could not help out too much. "I managed to get the killing blow."
He had dropped to his knees almost immediately afterward as Kefka laughed his last laugh before he faded.
"And somehow, we escaped. There was no more magic, so the Espers and our spells disappeared. Terra held on long enough to lead us out, but she collapsed on Sir Setzer's ship. She almost completely faded, but because she loved the children in her village so much, she stayed on. She was always asking about love, I am glad she found it."
He looked back at Jane. "There is not much after that. Destroying magic allowed the world to be put to right, at least partially. Our world lost most of it's citizens, but the green came back. Cities were rebuilt. Like Doma. I have managed to rebuild it, but it shall take time to be repopulated. Sir Edgar has his kingdom again, they were the most unscathed since they could disappear under the sand. Lady Terra went back to her children, a human. Lady Celes and Sir Locke got married, I believe. Sir Setzer is still gambling. I never found out what happened to Sir Shadow. But Lady Relm and Sir Strago were finally reunited. Sir Gau went back to the Veldt. Sir Mog and Sir Umaro are exploring the world, I think. Gogo just disappeared. And Sir Sabin took in students, like his master taught him." He counted on his fingers. "I am missing someone." As he tried to remember, he stood up, and looked at Lady Jane.
"And that is mine story. And now thou knowest why I did not take well the news of thy poisoning. "
