Part: The Sixth

Sometime Past This Day

Stunned, Kianne and Andrella found themselves standing at the Shrine of Compassion again. The Materia sword was lying on the ground pulsing with the colors and powers of the elements. Of the comet. They still had the items they had taken from Xavier. The area immediately surrounding the Shrine of Compassion, not including the small island where the ankh sat, was now desert. But beyond that...

They raced to Britain and were shocked and thrilled to find that all of the townspeople were safe and sound, though staring at the sky in awe and murmuring amongst themselves. Rushing inside the castle, they found Lord British and the others, all alive, waiting for them.

They experienced a joyful reunion, though only Kianne and Andrella truly understood why they were so thrilled.

Alexander's Death

Back at the keep, Andrella and Kianne checked on her father, who was resting in Kilmas's old room. It seemed that all of the years Alexander had spent in the generator had finally caught up with him. He looked over a hundred years old and was barely alive. But he was able to say farewell to his daughter before he passed away.

Celebration

About a week after the comet, after Kianne and Andrella had plenty of time to rest after their ordeal, a celebration was held at Lord British's castle. No one but Kianne and Andrella knew what a close call it had been, but Lord British seemed to suspect something, and at any rate, he and others were already spreading the word that the comet had been stopped by the Avatar and the High Knight, and the riots on the Avatar ceased.

Siva

Not longer after that, Andrella and Kianne received word that Lord Erimani wanted to speak with them. When they arrived in Dawn, he thanked them for stopping the comet, but said something more urgent than the daemons had come up, and asked for the moonblades to be returned. Andrella and Kianne handed over their moonblades as asked, but Erimani would not explain to them what was going on, saying only that it was an elven matter.

When Erimani was gone, Andrella overheard Anniosha crying, so she and Ki went in the cabin to see what was wrong. Iolo arrived moments later and after consulting with Anniosha via telepathy, explained to them that Erimani was going after the ancient elementalist, Siva (“Breath of the Kill”). Siva had once been a powerful hero until he fell to the power of the Dark element. He had been sleeping for centuries, but now, somehow he had awakened.

Through Iolo, Anniosha also revealed that Erimani planned to cross the moonblades. Doing so would give him the power to defeat Siva, but would also end his life.

Anxious to intercept him, Andrella and Kianne ran after him.

Elementalists

They caught up at the top of the mountain at Siva's tower. Erimani still refused to allow them to accompany him. While they were still arguing, Siva appeared and began summoning elementals. He seemed to possess far too much knowledge for someone who had been sleeping for centuries, as he was up on current events and was able to immediately identify both Andrella and Kianne.

Andrella and Ki joined the battle and there was little Erimani could do to stop them. Siva entered the fight personally and began casting elemental barriers around himself that deflected their blows. Kianne had seen this tactic before, however, and countered with spells of the opposite elements. During the times that Siva was vulnerable, Andrella and Erimani attacked him.

The battle may have turned out well, but Erimani crossed the moonblades despite Andrella and Kianne's wishes, and fought Siva while glowing in a powerful purple aura. Although this increased his battle abilities immensely, the cost was considerable.

When Siva was almost defeated, he teleported to the top of his tower, but Andrella followed him, and Ki followed Andrella. Siva claimed that his death would be only a setback, then shortly thereafter fell to Andrella's final blow.

Erimani apologized, admitting that Kianne and Andrella had been right, that he couldn't have done it alone. He collapsed next to Siva, his strength gone, and died there.

A Voice For Anniosha

Before leaving, Kianne and Andrella checked Siva's tower for anything of interest. They discovered a note with their own names written on it, along with others. The names all seemed to relate to “the Kill” in some way. Breath of the Kill, Son of the Kill, body, heart, and so forth. They were unable to comprehend it, but they took the note with them.

Kianne and Andrella returned to Dawn and broke the news to Anniosha. She surprised them by speaking for the first time that they had seen, but then she indicated a purple crystal that she held and explained that Erimani had asked “the Light” (that is, Pearl) for a voice for her. She could now talk as long as she was holding the crystal. In return, Erimani had promised to defeat Siva, and had kept his end of the bargain even though it cost his life.

Of The Kill

Andrella and Kianne asked Anniosha about the notes they had found at Siva's tower. She explained in disgust that after he had become an elementalist, Siva had thought he could conquer even Light and Dark. When Abraham had trapped the Dark element in the Materia blade and then infused its power into K'mosh, Siva had left to hunt down K'mosh. He had returned evil.

There were many ensuing battles, but one day, and no one knew why, but Siva suddenly fell asleep. He was taken by the elves to the tower to lock him away. At times the elves would visit him while he slept, hoping to cure him. He would toss and turn, speaking in his sleep about a blue mage, the beating heart, the flesh, the son...

The elven scholars believed the darkness was alive, and named it “the Kill.” The Kill was split by Vanderfall's blade, and in order to come back together, it would need to be reborn in a sense.

Anniosha said that only a few days ago, Erimani had a nightmare. He said he felt the power of awakened darkness, but it was not in reference to Siva. Other elves said they had also felt a rising of the Dark power for a few minutes, and then it passed again. Kianne realized it was probably when she was absorbing the energy from Kilmas to overload the generator. But that didn't explain why her name and Andrella's were found on Siva's list....

Anniosha said she would show the note to her scholars and get back to them.

Fighting Ov'r the Night

Wondering what sort of deal Erimani had made with Pearl, for they couldn't fathom that Pearl would have asked Erimani to purposefully sacrifice himself, Kianne and Andrella visited the Shrine of the Elements.

Pearl confirmed for them that she had not demanded Erimani give up his life, but that he had chosen to on his own. But the conversation was cut short when Pearl's glow began to fluctuate. She sensed the power of darkness in Kianne, and seemed distraught that Kianne had chosen to use it. Ki was confused, for she had felt fine up until now, and hadn't realized she'd retained any of the Dark power. Pearl said she suppressed it surprisingly well, but urged her to purge herself of the darkness.

Andrella took up doing the talking since it seemed Kianne's mere presence was harming Pearl in some way. She asked Pearl about the scroll with their names on it. Pearl said they had to destroy the Kill before it could taint those that it had chosen to be part of its reborn body. Also, if they could find the part labeled as the “soul,” they could perhaps stop it. Find who the soul had claimed, she said, and they would find the new face of the Kill.

They went outside and camped out under the stars as a change of pace. Consumed with worry, Kianne slid into her bedroll and went to sleep...and fell into a deep coma.

---

<<Previous	Main	Next>>