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As we drove across the desert, Rikku continued to chatter about Valkyrie, their plans, allies, employees, army, and asked me roughly the same questions about Exodus and Twi-LIGHT.
“Presently, Valkyrie is pondering allying with Twi-LIGHT for their superior military strength, but they don’t know allying with Twi-LIGHT would be suicide. Since Exodus is going to launch their attack on Nioglow and all the other large Twi-LIGHT bases in the not-too-far future, Mazar will be in a half-started revolution when only parts of the government are overthrown, but the military is still fighting, and Ragnarok will be utter chaos with their own civil war going on. Twi-LIGHT will withdraw from Mazar, and focus on counterattacking Exodus. Valkyrie will be left with a half-assed military against the huge military of Mazar, and Exodus won’t be able to do a thing until they’ve got Ragnarok secured. But, Exodus is going to have a helluva making this legal, unless you govern the country for at least a year, Akhy. You’re the rightful heir, and no matter what laws Trenxi passed nothing could deny your birthright. What are your plans, anyway?”
I was silent a moment before saying,
“I don’t really know, but there’s more going on than just wars and civil wars. All the wars have taken a backseat in my mind compared to what I’ve been focusing on.”
Rikku snickered asking,
“What in the seven hells could be more of a pressing matter than the war between Ragnarok and Mazar, along with the civil wars that are going to start within both countries?”
“Skyevi.” I replied. Rikku was silent a moment before asking,
“What’s the goddess up to now? If she’s asleep, than how could she be causing trouble?”
“When you were fighting Twi-LIGHT soldiers, did you have a hard killing some of them?”
“Sure. I was fighting one that wouldn’t die no matter how many times I shot him. I had to behead him just to kill him.”
“He was part of the Special Agents group in Twi-LIGHT. Trenxi is Skyevi’s power and cells to make a superhuman army to take over Mazar. He’s trying to collect Skyevi relics, for some kind of divine revolution. This is all theory, but I think Skyevi was alive and a human in this world once, and went in search of divine relics she’d heard of. These relics were like a failsafe in this world, if things became too corrupted than they’d activate and obliterate everything. Supposedly, some kind of god called Dead Divinity broke into pieces and the relics are fragments of his or her power. When the god died, all that was left was a failsafe. Skyevi knew there’d always be conflict in the world, and that the failsafe might spring if it’s messed with. With the war over the Blood Crystal between Nohin and Silva, Key of Seventh Heaven between Ragnarok and Mazar, to name a few, and since the relics were all connected she believed the ultimate relic, ‘End of Time’ might resonate with the other relics that were in danger and were desired for, and the failsafe might spring early. I don’t know what happened in the middle, but I do know she tried controlling all the relics to fuse them within herself so she cold then kill herself alone with the divine her. I know it failed, only sent her into a death-like sleep, mutated her body into what it is now, and now has a mental connection with the relics. I’m thinking Skyevi, always having her power mutated and messed with by Trenxi, might resonate with the relics, and activate End of Time.”
“And if that happens…” Rikku paused, “Ka-boom?”
“Something like that.”
“So you’re trying to complete why Skyevi started?”
“Sorta.”
“You do realize if you were going what she started, you’d have to surrender your life just Skyevi wanted to do?”
“Isn’t there anybody else that would work?” Cloud cut in.
I knew damn well who would work, and I was hesitant to admit it. I glanced over at Cloud and met his eyes for a split second before looking forward saying,
“Akiko.”
I took a deep breath before adding,
“If the Akiko that attacked me isn’t a replica, and the real Akiko in body than she could also do it. She was able to use Skyevi relics, so she is also compatible.”
I could tell Cloud had more questions, as did Rikku probably but I changed the topic asking,
“Where’s Valkyrie HQ?”
“Uhh, not far past Karden. We could make it there by ten AM if we kept us this speed. It’s five now, and we need to be in a town by ten at the latest. Can’t be prowling the desert from ten to two, it’s dangerously hot then in these parts.”
“Let’s skip Karden and go straight to there. I want to meet the head of Valkyrie.”
“Reasonable enough.”
“Who is the head of Valkyrie, anyway?”
“A pretty cool dude, he’s half Ragnarokain and half Nohinog. His name is Takanori Ayanaga. He became the head nearly five years ago. His brothers hang around the base too, the youngest one is pretty cute, but the middle brother is really good looking.”
“Is the middle brother’s name Katsu?” I asked, hoping my suspicion was wrong.
“No, but I’ve heard him called that. Why?”
“This Ayanaga guy, was he ever called Kazuki?”
“No.” She replied. “I’ve only met him once, I see the youngest one, Shinji, and the middle one Ayato a lot more.”
“And they’re all half Ragnarokain and Nohinog?”
“Why are you so interested?” She asked playfully. “You’ve already got a boyfriend.”
“It’s not like that.” We said at the same time, making Rikku smirk. I was glad Kairi had fallen asleep long ago.
“I’m interested because I want to know if it’s Kazuki, Katsu and Ryuu.”
She gave me a surprised look asking,
“Maaya’s brothers? I never met any of them, so I wouldn’t know. I’d be surprised though, if they were still alive why would they be starting another rebellion group instead of helping Exodus? Why would they help the good people in the country that’s their archenemy?”
“They’re all supposed to be dead after all.”
We passed Karden and continued to the city of Ifalera. Karden was in the middle of the desert, while Ifalera was a large oasis. It was more like a group of oasis’ and it was closer to Lake Evaren that fed the oasis’. Lake Evaren was in central south Mazar, and north west Silva. It wasn’t in Nohin at all, which was probably a good thing with how much the two countries fought. They never really had calmed down since Gideon became Silva. Nohin had always been Nohin, they only united a few countries to form a large united one, as did Silva.
It was still extremely hot though, since though near a lake we were still driving across the worse of the Mazarain deserts, where the sand was a perfect scarlet.
Around ten thirty when we reached Ifalera. I was surprised about how huge the city was, too. Paved roads, side-walks, skyscrapers, apartment stores, strip malls, and full of people. There was a mix of races here too, Mazarains, Silvaites, Nohinogs, and a few Ragnarokains. I guessed because it was the biggest city close to Nohin and Silva, but I was still surprised. It was kinda nice though, to know that Mazar wasn’t as different from Ragnarok and Nohin as I first guessed.
“It’s going to take forever to reach the base on these things.” Rikku sighed as we eased along in traffic. Like most cities, this was a walking city where driving cars or riding motorcycles was painfully slow unless you had to go on the parkway.
“We’ll drop them off at my place and continue to Valkyrie on foot, okay with you?” Rikku asked.
“Sure.”
After walking for about fifteen minutes Kairi was already bothering me to get her a souvenir, and I argued that I didn’t have any Mazarain currency, but she had to be a smartass and suggest I borrow some from Rikku and pay her back later, even though after a half hour of this I finally did let her pick something out in a gift shop saying as she skipped into the air-conditioned store,
“Only one thing!”
“You spoil her.” Cloud said matter-of-factly.
“I can’t believe she remembered I was issued a credit card by Exodus that covered all currencies…”
Kairi came jogging forward, holding a white cat stuffy, same size as Megami had been. It had a red ribbon around its next, but otherwise was completely white.
“Can I have this?” She asked holding up the cat stuffy.
I felt momentarily guilty, mainly because it was my fault she’d lose her original.
“Sure.” I said with a smile. “What are you going to name it?” I asked as I slid my card through the checkout and the security device was removed from the cat’s ear. I singed my name in the usual illegible scrawl, and put the card back in my wallet and handed the cat to Kairi. She smiled broadly saying,
“Yuna. It means moon, and since she’s white I want to name her Yuna.”
“Sounds good.” I said as we left.
“Another twenty-dollars for your little brat?” Cloud asked idly, quietly while I was passed so only I heard and Kairi didn’t.
“As always.” I sighed.
I spotted the Valkyrie towers in the distance, all black with tinted windows. There were four in a diamond shape with a courtyard and training yard between them, Rikku described. There was a large twenty-foot tall and four-foot thick black wall with halls inside that had halls inside them that connected the buildings and divisions of the undergrounds. On the side of each wall, all in white the Valkyrie emblem was painted. It showed a young woman with large white angelic wings with a sword in her right hand. She had armor over her chest and torso, with a long white shirt with cuts in it not to limit movement. They had designs all over them, as did the extravagant armor, wrist guards, gauntlets, and knee boots. All the guards, including the boots, looked to be made of metal. She had long hair that swirled around behind her. Under the valkyrie in large capital white letters was the word, “Valkyrie.”
“Like the logo?” Rikku asked idly sliding her card into the box on the front of the building. “It was Ayanaga’s idea.”
The large automatic black doors slid open and we enter a air-conditioned lobby, decorated rather plainly. Red carpets, white walls, and palm trees grown in pots randomly around. There was a receptionist at the desk off to the left of the large white room, who looked up asking,
“What can I do for you, Agent Arzifal?”
“I’d like to see Ayanaga.”
“Reserve agents-”
“I’m Akhyia Ragnarok.” I cut in. “I’m here to talk with the leader of this organization to talk about our countries. You can sample my blood, if you want to DNA scan it.”
“What is Mirakula?”
“The blood pact of Ragnarok.”
She nodded saying,
“You may proceed. Rikku, escort them.”
“What the hell is with the Mirakula stuff?” Cloud asked quietly once we were out of ear-shot of the receptionist.
“A code only Ragnaroks know. It’s use as a test to prove the bloodline.”
“I see.”
Rikku lead the way as we entered the elevator and went down.
It seemed like a small eternity until I was walking through the door to Ayanaga’s office. He stood at the window looking out over Ifalera. He looked just like I remembered, short hair messy black hair, and dressed nearly identically to the way he did last I saw him, not counting that weirdass Neivila vision, in jeans, T-shirt, and leather jacket. He turned to face me, his green eyes meeting mine evenly as he said,
“It’s nice to see you again, Akhy.”
I scowled giving him a cold look saying.
“I figured it was you, Kazuki.”
Rikku lead the way as we entered the elevator and went down.
It seemed like a small eternity until I was walking through the door to Ayanaga’s office. He stood at the window looking out over Ifalera. He looked just like I remembered, short hair messy black hair, and dressed nearly identically to the way he did back as the head of Exodus, in a black suit. He turned to face me, his green eyes meeting mine evenly as he said,
“It’s nice to see you again, Akhy.”
I scowled giving him a cold look saying.
“I figured it was you, Kazuki.”
“Why so surprised, Akhy? Did you truly think I was dead?”
“That’s besides the point, do you know how much Maaya has struggled running Exodus? You completely abandoned her! You left her to deal with a organization in ruins after their boss was supposedly killed!”
“If I didn’t know Maaya could handle it, I wouldn’t of let them think I was dead. Can you deny that she has handled Exodus well?”
“Yeah, but as her older brother shouldn’t you of protected her from that?”
“You of all people know what’s like to be a leader and to be depended on, you were forced to lead people to what could be certain death if you weren’t careful, just as Maaya did.”
“Yeah, but I always knew I’d have to be a leader sometime, I was never sheltered with the thought of having somebody to protect me.”
“Do you want to know why I didn’t go back to Exodus, or do you just want to argue?”
I closed my mouth, ready to retort rudely but it always bothered me when Kazuki turned the conversation around so I looked childish.
“The only reason I didn’t return to Exodus at first was because Twi-LIGHT was after me, and if I reclaimed my post at Exodus Twi-LIGHT would have opened fire and started out with the all-out war that’s about to start now. Exodus wasn’t ready then, and the counterattack would have been hopeless, if Twi-LIGHT brought Ragnarok’s military into it. All returning then would of done is gotten us all killed. After Exodus was stable again, and growing, I was still being hunted by Twi-LIGHT, and even though Exodus wasn’t in a panic anymore, it would of still been suicide to return since Twi-LIGHT wanted, and wants, me dead.
“Instead of troubling Exodus I came here, to Mazar. Katsu and Ryuu followed me of their own wills, and I started Valkyrie here. Although you’re going to antagonize me about not returning to Exodus and calling the shots behind Maaya’s name, because I realized Exodus was doomed to only having the military power to reclaim Ragnarok. They wouldn’t be large enough when the time came to do more than war for the country, while then the remainder of Twi-LIGHT would set off to collect the remaining relics as a single party, use Akiko to harmonize with Skyevi after she obtained End of Time, and then simply obliterate Ragnarok, then who knows what else. Knowing Trenxi, he’d obliterate all life aside from the lives of his followers around him at the time to restart civilization with so he could be a supreme ruler. I don’t know what his plans after obliterating Ragnarok are, but with Skyevi active in his hands, he’d have command over god-like power.
“I will inform you of the rest with your party downstairs, Rikku and the little one with you probably have their ears pressed to the door trying to hear what we say after all.”
He pressed a button on his desk and the automatic doors opened, and tumbling in came Rikku and Kairi.
“Although this child eavesdropping makes sense after traveling with Akhyia for a while makes sense, you on the other hand, Rikku, don’t have any good excuse.”
She sat up saying,
“You abuse me! You call me in only for big raids, don’t tell me any classified stuff, let me think you were some big shot when you were only Nikoji’s brother! I was respectful to you for years for no good reason!” Rikku jumped to her feet continuing, “I should be getting all kinds of perks to this job! I should at least get to stay at Valkyrie HQ instead of the crap shack apartment I’ve been living in since joining Valkyrie! You even let me waitress just to pay my rent, when you could of spoken up at anytime on who you were!”
During her speech, she was marching over to him waving her finger the whole time. She poked him saying,
“You owe me big time!”
She looked absolutely ridiculous, since her head was only a few inches below his shoulders, and Rikku had always struggled in acting serious since I’d met her more than eight years ago.
He side-stepped her saying,
“If you wish to follow Akhyia, Mr. Nimbostratus, and myself you may.”
She looked disturbed by his response, and followed unsatisfied.
He lead us down to a dark circular room and a large screen on the wall lit up, showing a meeting table in the center of the room. A map of Gaia appeared, along with blinking red dots in a few locations.
“Valkyrie is temporally allying with Twi-LIGHT for Advent, Twi-LIGHT’s attack on the Mazarain capital and Exodus’ attack on Nioglow. We’re using Twi-LIGHT to weaken Mazar so they can’t attack while Ragnarok is in pieces. If all goes as planned, the Mazarain government will be obliterated and the military will be quarantined so they can’t communicate with each other. After Mazar is completely immobilized, then Valkyrie will start dismantling Twi-LIGHT. By then, Ragnarok will be a complete battleground. Exodus is taking a risk going after the capital first, because they could be surrounded by making it their stronghold, but since they’ve got armies attacking the other bases at the same time they should survive. Valkyrie will pursue Twi-LIGHT as they head to Dalmara for End of Time. Although I doubt we’ll be able to take them down, that’s where you come in.
“The red dots on the map mark Skyevi relics. The large black dot marks Skyevi. As you can see, there are no relics in Ragnarok presently. At the Twi-LIGHT base over here, you see three blinking dots. Those are Akiko’s, Skyevi’s Bow, Arrows, and Ring. And here,” He said pointing to where we were in Mazar, “You see another four blinking dots. Akhyia’s presently has Skyevi’s Sword, Pendant, and the Blood Crystal, correct? And Kairi has the Key of Seventh Heaven. The dot blinking in Niveldon is Blood of Fayt. The dot blinking on the center island landmass of Spherical Line is the Infinity Tear. Under Ragnarok on Dalmara is the final relic, End of Time.
“We have the advantage presently, with the Blood Crystal and Key of Seventh Heaven. Not only must all the relics be gathered to access End of Time, the Key of Seventh Heaven literally acts as a key to open the door. End of Time is not a physical relics, it is a forced that was locked up long before Skyevi’s day. End of Time was supposed to enter the body of Skyevi’s reincarnation, and then when the reincarnation came in contact with Skyevi they would become one, and what fate that would bring is unknown. Whether it would obliterate everything, shift it into something entirely unknown, or simply open the door to another world is all impossible to predict.
“Originally, it was supposed to be Skyevi’s reincarnation. But, now there is a reincarnation and an incarnation.”
Kazuki turned away from the screen on face us and met my eyes saying,
“There are two people alive in this world that can invoke End of Time, Akiko and Akhyia. One of you is the incarnation and the other is the reincarnation. Although you can both invoke End of Time, only one of you can control it and Skyevi. At this time, we do not know which one of you is which, but there is only one chance. Only when all the relics are on Dalmara, and the two of you are will we know. Should the incarnation invoke End of Time, Skyevi could reject the her and End of Time will spread its dark wings, and we shall be obliterated. If the reincarnation invokes End of Time, then only will we have any chance of survival.”
I was silent a moment before saying,
“So you’re asking me to collect the Infinity Tear and Blood of Fayt then go to Dalmara to either sacrifice myself, or be obliterated while trying.”
“For now, we can only focus on Mazar and Ragnarok. Then we will go after Infinity Tear and Blood of Fayt. After that, we will proceed to Dalmara and either abduct Akiko or continue with you, should you decide to help us. Nobody is forcing you to do this.”
I was silent a moment, and looked at the floor saying,
“How can I refuse? I could never put myself over the rest of this world.”
Kazuki nodded saying,
“Should you change your mind, nothing binds you to this. Spend the night here at Valkyrie HQ, and then during the attack on the Mazarain capital we’ll head to Niveldon for the Blood of Fayt. We want to avoid Ragnarok at all costs. There is always the risk Silva and Nohin will try taking over Mazar and Ragnarok, but it is a risk we will have to take. Tomorrow we’ll move out, so I suggest you rest. Maaya and her party should be reaching Ragnarok now.”
I nodded saying,
“Sounds good. I’ll need to some new body armor, do I have permission to pick what I need from your armory?”
He nodded saying,
“The two of you are welcome to pick out what you need. You may get yourself new equipment too, Rikku. I’ll put you back on the payroll and only charge you half price for the armor.”
She scowled and pointed at him saying,
“You owe me! I should get a free equipment upgrade!”
“Soldier only get free equipment upgrades when they gain a higher rank.” Kazuki replied calmly.
“But, if I’ll be going along with you than legally you’ll have to up my rank quite a few levels!”
“You could just come along as a civilian, or merely by Akhyia’s choice. I don’t necessarily even have to pay you.”
She scowled and pouted saying,
“You’re just being unfair now!”
He smirked slightly saying,
“But for finding Akhyia and Mr. Nimbostratus and not e-mailing me a hundred times about upping your rank so you saw more action, I suppose you earned yourself a free equipment upgrade.”
“But I did e-mail you a hundred times, I just got my hands on your personal address this time.” I could tell by the look of “Oh, shit, why the hell did I just say that?” that she instantly realized her flaw. “But best we be going!” She said pushing Cloud and me out before Kazuki could reply. Kairi followed and I heard Kazuki chuckle as the automatic door closed behind us.
“To the armory! I’ll lead the way.”
We entered the underground, which look a lot like the aboveground just less fancy with no carpets or borders around the top of the hallways.
We entered a large armory, Kairi and Rikku following me into the woman’s armory. I scanned the body armor, unlike the bullet proof vests this was skin-tight and more durable than the vests. They were bulletproof, waterproof, had heat shielding technology, were fairly comfortable and hard to tare. I picked out a no-sleeved shirt my size dismissing the pants or shorts since, although they meant well, there would never be a skin-tight armor that went under your clothes that didn’t give you wedgies.
Rikku was scanning the shelves of weapons on the other side of the room, trying to pick what katanas to use. When a person used two katanas, they came together and were usually three feet, not the regular four to six.
“So, who’d you end up with that Anan guy?”
“Long story.”
“We’ll I’ll be picking katanas out a while, so I’m listening.”
“He was at Twi-LIGHT part of the Special Agents program when I escaped. We stuck together a while just because we were both being hunted by Twi-LIGHT, and I didn’t complain because having two combatants made it easier to fight Twi-LIGHT forces since we had a girl named Niketa with us for the longest time before getting together with Exodus. I let him tag along we went to Neivila, and by the time we got to Nohin we was already looking for his brother.”
“And you like him?” Rikku asked idly examining a set of katanas in detail, getting the feel of the hilt and all.
“For the ten thousandth time, we are not boyfriend and girlfriend.” I sighed.
“But you went on a date!” Kairi argued.
Rikku turned around and if she had cat ears they’d be pricked forward as she asking,
“So you are more than friends!”
I sighed saying,
“I’m starting to think this is one battle, that I’m not going to win.”
After I’d changed into clean clothes, re-loaded my pistols, set the Exodus ones aside and replaced them with Valkyrie ones, and got my katanas clean and sharpened. Rikku saw me rooting through my bag and caught sight of the spongy circus peanuts shirt saying,
“Where’d you get that? I love spongy circus peanuts!”
“A acquaintance of mine, Phyress Uzuki of Exodus, made it for me.”
“Any chance she’d be willing to make one for me once things calm down?”
I smiled slightly saying,
“Probably.”
Rikku had decided to give us the grand tour of Valkyrie HQ, but through the tour Cloud was unusually quiet. Well, he wasn’t very talkative in the first place when out people were around, but he was distinctly quiet. Rikku volunteered to watch Kairi for the rest of the day after the tour, and I looked out the window to the courtyard and saw the two of the chasing after each other, playing tag.
Figures Rikku would enjoy playing with Kairi…when she gets hyper, although there’s a ten-year age difference their maturity is roughly at the same level.
It was after dinner that I finally got to talk to Cloud in private. Kairi and Rikku were still playing, I think they were playing hide-and-seek in the Valkyrie underground. Did I mention the underground was off-limits to normal Valkyrie personnel and civilians? Rikku got a new cardkey, so that’s how they got down there.
“You were unusually quiet today.” I said stopped two feet away from him. We were in the courtyard, at the center platform surrounded by a pond. Even though it was supposed to look natural with the water lilies and the like, you could still see the concrete bottom and sides.
“I thought I heard you coming.” He said turning around to face me, cutting right to the chase asking, “Do you really realize what you’ve agreed to do for Valkyrie?”
“I’m not doing it for Valkyrie or Exodus. I’m doing it for myself, if I don’t know I did everything I possibly could to save this world I’d never be able to live with myself. Everything that’s happening is partly my fault anyway, Trenxi never would have gotten Skyevi if I hadn’t been away all the time working with Exodus. If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t matter so much who’s the reincarnation and the incarnation, because Akiko and me wouldn’t be enemies.”
“You couldn’t of known what it would lead to, that hardly counts.”
“If you were put in such a situation, would you be able to refuse knowing how many lives depended on your actions?”
“Still though, wouldn’t it make more sense to find out whether or not you’re the reincarnation or not before you agree?”
“If it hadn’t been for my screw ups, then it wouldn’t matter who was the reincarnation or the incarnation. It’s make more sense if I was the reincarnation anyway because I always had a connection to Skyevi, and I get the visions.”
“There’s no guarantee though.”
“It’s more likely though.”
He looked away saying,
“Don’t you see there are people who would miss you if you were gone?”
We were both silent before he added,
“I know I’d miss you if you were gone.”
Before I was even able to reply, the sky lit up as we heard a huge crash in the distance. The ground shook with the impact of the bomb, but I was reassured that it wasn’t a nuclear warhead due to the lack of mushroom cloud with the proper tint.
“Damn.” I cursed, “That looked like it was from the Mazarain capital.”
“But Twi-LIGHT wasn’t supposed to attack until morning.”
“I guess plans were bumped up. That means Exodus will attack sooner too and Trenxi and Akiko will leave the country during the cover of night…damn.”
“Akhy!” I heard Rikku yell as she ran out of the Valkyrie building toward us. She stopped half way calling, “C’mon! We gotta get out of here, Twi-LIGHT is sending bombers right here to Valkyrie! Kazuki’s launching the counter-attack now, but we need to evacuate! Kazuki needs to go over the plan with you guys first, we gotta hurry!”
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