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I sat down on my motorcycle, dropped my backpack in place as Kairi hoped up and sat in front of me with Yuna. While it was ten PM over in Mazar, it was morning here on the coast of Ragnarok.
Rikku and Katsu rode alone, I rode with Kairi, and Niketa rode with Cloud. We reached the town near Neivila at two PM, stopped for lunch and than continued onward. By nightfall, we were on the outskirts of Nioglow. I stopped and observed the battle ahead from the top a cliff near northern Nioglow; we were still miles away though. All the vicinity around the city was a battleground, with foot soldiers and tanks, not even counting the combat above Nioglow. Most of the battle was on the outskirts of the city, although a lot of it was in the slums. It hadn’t reached the main city. Exodus’ huge army was conquering swiftly, so much so you wouldn’t believe they were hardly ten years old.
Twi-LIGHT was holding them off, but doing a lot of falling back. Fires consumed large parts of the city, and were only fed by the winds. Smoke and soot filled the air above Nioglow, as did the sound of gunshots and other larger weapons being fired. There were many soldiers on motorcycles or in trucks barreling through the foot soldiers to get deeper into Nioglow. I had a bad feeling once they reached the main city, all hell would break lose with the Special Agents. I didn’t know how many soldiers Nioglow had, but I guessed they had a secret stock because it was unlikely it was merely used as a testing facility and the real armies weren’t located there. Who knew how many soldiers Trenxi had, if he raided Myildaypain he’d already have eight thousand people, probably six or seven thousand he could use as soldiers. The elderly he’d slaughter, the younger ones accelerate their growth and then mutate them.
It was hard to look away, since Nioglow had been my home since I was little, and it was also where almost all my memories were. More than half the slums would probably be incinerated before the fires were put out. The cathedral was on the other side of Nioglow, where the fires hadn’t yet spread.
“Are you sure you want to go to Kyvia?” Rikku asked, knowing leaving Nioglow to possibly perish was no simple task for me.
“Yeah.” I said looking away, and turning around my motorcycle. “There’s nothing we can do here, the best thing we can do for Exodus is dismantle Kyvia.”
“That’s not necessarily true, Akhy.” Katsu said calmly. “You know the layout of the Twi-LIGHT base better than anybody in Exodus. Because, my princess, if Trenxi has returned without our knowing it than Akiko might be able to activate Skyevi, which could obliterate Nioglow, Ragnarok, or even all Gaia. Who knows when Trenxi wants to make his move?”
“You’re not doing a very good job of convincing me to do the responsible thing.” I said dryly. “And don’t call me ‘your princess’.”
“But, your grace, going to Kyvia might be pointless if that’s Trenxi’s plan.”
I heard one of the large trucks approaching up the steep hill, but the others hoped to action before me, Rikku with her katanas, Katsu with his pistols, and Cloud with his large broadsword. I was ready with my divine katana last, but knew there was no need for it when Maaya jumped out of the passenger’s side and ran forward to hug me saying,
“Where were you? We’ve been looking for you all over! Do you know how ridiculously dangerous it was for you to go to Mazar? It was suicidal! You’re lucky you weren’t killed!”
“Nice to see you too, Maaya. Am I still under arrest?”
She let go saying,
“Of course not.” She looked at the rest of my group, her eyes meeting Katsu’s and registering surprise.
“K-Katsu?” She stammered.
“Nice to see ya again, big sis, Running Exodus been fun?”
After a few moments of Maaya yelling at Katsu for not contacting her, I decided to interrupt them by asking,
“Maaya, what’s Exodus’ status? It looks like you’re winning, but do you know about any Special Agents Twi-LIGHT might deploy? Or Trenxi and Akiko returning here to Nioglow?”
“Akiko?” She asked, genuinely surprised. “What do you mean Akiko?”
“Long story. Did Trenxi return here to Ragnarok?”
“He’s in flight now, Exodus has sent ships out to take out the ship and apprehend Trenxi for questioning, it probably won’t work but anything to slow him down would be welcomed. There haven’t been any Special Agents yet, but we don’t know what they’ll pull out when we reach the main city.”
“Nobody ever knows what Twi-LIGHT is going to pull out of their ass…” I sighed. “But its definite Trenxi is on his way to Ragnarok.”
She nodded as I continued,
“Kyvia has a large stock of Special Agents. Send a team of assassins there in advanced to take out the base, I’ll upload the data into your computer to distribute as you see fit. If I can get into Twi-LIGHT HQ, I can cause enough trouble to mess things up for them and break Skyevi’s connections to the Special Agents to starve them. It’s what we planned to do in Kyvia, but I think Nioglow takes priority if there’s not a bounty on my head in this country too. Well, aside from Twi-LIGHT’s bounty on my head.”
Maaya smiled weakly saying,
“Before you do that, I need you to lead a platoon of soldiers to secure the cathedral. Can you do that first?”
“Sure.” I replied, “Who do you want to send with me?”
“How about Katsu and me head to Kyvia with that platoon of assassins like Akhy said? I know the layout since Akhy told me. Kairi and Niketa can stay at an Exodus stronghold while Akhy, Anan, and your soldiers get to the cathedral.” Rikku interrupted.
“Alright.” Maaya said.
I glanced to Cloud asking,
“Tagging along this-”
“You know I am.” He replied before I finished.
“So it’s a plan?” I asked. “Rikku and Katsu head to Kyvia while Cloud and I get to the cathedral?”
Maaya nodded, as did Rikku and Katsu. But, nothing could go so smoothly because Niketa was around.
“And you just plan on leaving me with Kairi at an Exodus stronghold so I don’t get into trouble? I don’t think so.”
“You can’t fight, so you can’t come. Simple as that.” I said irritably. “You’re far too weak to tag along, even if you were allowed in the cathedral.”
After what seemed like forever at the Exodus camp ten miles from Nioglow, I was in complete Exodus bullet-proof attire, another bullet-proof vest, this one went over my clothes, thick black bullet-proof gloves that went a few inches past my elbows, and tall black knee-boots, which, yes, were also bullet-proof. I pulled on the helmet, which resembled a football player’s but it was slimmer, didn’t have a front thing, and had a sheet of glass to go over your eyes if you needed night vision. I had my Valkyrie pistols, two katanas, along with Skyevi’s Pendant and the Blood Crystal with me. Best place to keep them was on my person, at least then I didn’t have to worry about them being stolen and not being able to do anything about it.
I inwardly noticed Exodus, although mainly female soldiers also had requited male soldiers for this attack.
“Akhy!” I heard Maaya call out, “We have visitors, and they’re not hostile for a change!” Maaya called jogging over to me.
“Who?” I asked.
“They want to see you.”
“Who?” I asked again with a scowl.
“Just c’mon!” She said half pulling me off my motorcycle. I jogged to keep up with her, and I heard the mummers of a large crowd as Maaya lead me up an announcement stage and pedestal she’d previously used to make announcements to the Exodus army. I looked on to the huge crowd of at least five thousand soldiers before me, silent for a moment before my mind kicked into gear. It was a small fraction of the Ragnarokain army, the ones that had served as assassins for my parents, the elite military division called Alpha Grid. I recognized a large amount of them from seeing them at the capital building on the grounds from six years ago. I pulled off my helmet dreading making a speech, for I was never good at it.
“I only recognize half of you if that, but I’m still the same Akhyia Ragnarok.” I said into the microphone. “And I have every intention of fighting for the liberation of Ragnarok, just as my parents would have. Twi-LIGHT’s rein has gone on long enough, and it’s time to stop it. I know I’ve been gone for nearly six years now, and that if we let Twi-LIGHT continue to control Ragnarok, and only use our country as a way to conquer Mazar, that it’s only going to kill more innocent people than it would have if Mazar attacked first this time, and the counterattack’s was Mazar.
“I understand that warring isn’t going the better us in any way, but the only way we can start ending this war without losing more innocent lives is regaining control of our country. Once we do that, then we can start bring peace back to Ragnarok and Mazar. And end the conflict between us and them once and for all.
“We’re all here because there’s somebody we want to protect, and that’s also why the Mazarain soldiers fight. Because nobody wants to lose the ones they love, not everybody is selfless enough to lay down their own lives for the life of another, and that’s also why we’re here. To protect the ones we love, and for the people that aren’t strong enough to fight so they don’t have to feel the pain some of us have to. Twi-LIGHT hasn’t done anything to help the citizens of Ragnarok, only exploit Skyevi for their own interests. I do not believe in what Twi-LIGHT is doing with the Special Agents. I don’t know how many of you know that Twi-LIGHT is using Skyevi power to alter the genetic structure of able humans, to make them stronger and harder to kill. It’s like giving them the ultimate steroid, but half of them die of Evi poisoning unless it’s done perfectly. You’ll be fighting these soldiers, they’re strong but they can be killed. Due to their strength, I ask you all to be careful when we reach Nioglow and Twi-LIGHT HQ.
I paused before adding,
“And I’m willing to govern this country down the correct road, as the heir of the Ragnarokain thrown. I’m not going to run anymore, I’ll face what’s mine.”
The crowd cheered, and I hoped off the pedestal feeling uncomfortable and rather embarrassed. Maaya smiled at me encouragingly saying,
“What an inspirational speech, Akhy! And you said you’re bad at speeches!”
“I still don’t like making them, c’mon I need to get to the D Block and secure the cathedral. It’ll be dawn in another four hours.”
“With the Alpha Grid on our side we’ve got nothing to worry about!” Maaya said brightly. “With Exodus and Ragnarokain assassins, they should be able to take out the Special Agents without too many casualties or fatalities.”
I jogged back to where I’d been gearing up, to meet Cloud, Celes, Phyress, and two other Exodus assassins, one female and the other male. I glanced away when my eyes met Celes’ saying,
“Um, I-”
“No hard feelings?” She asked with a smile and held out her hand. I smiled with relief saying,
“None.”
We shook hands and I started up my motorcycle and pulled my helmet back on as the other did the same.
“Have ya worn that spongy circus peanuts shirt yet?” Phyress asked brightly.
“A couple times, actually. “
“Glad to hear it! I have mine under my armor.”
I smiled slightly and was about to press the gas when Kairi came jogging over calling,
“Wait!”
I stopped and lifted her up and gave her a hug saying,
“I’ll be back soon, don’t worry.”
“This is for luck.” She said holding out a small silver key on a chain. She clasped around my neck and I slid it under my cloths saying,
“Thanks, Kairi.”
She smiled saying,
“Mommy gave it to me, but you’re going to need it more. It projects a shield better than any of the other relics.”
She jogged off back and back to Maaya saying,
“You’d better be back soon.”
“I will.” I said and sped off. We started to circle around the combat in a large circle, to the eastern half of Nioglow that had yet to be attacked, where the church as in the D Block. We got there fairly quickly, and this division of the city was yet to be engulfed in combat. I stopped at the edge of the city, and hoped off our motorcycles running in on foot silently to take out the patrolling Twi-LIGHT soldiers.
I ducked behind a building as one turned the corner, and when he was close enough I clicked my silencer into place and fired one shot, which hit him through the heart. He fell with a thud that seemed deafening, and five more soldiers ran around the corner of the building and I took out two while Celes took out the other three from where she was stationed across from me. I gave her a thumbs up and we ran toward the front of the building the bodies lay in front of. I glanced around the corner, slid down the visor of my helmet and spotted ten Twi-LIGHT soldiers. Cloud and the female Exodus soldier that had accompanied us, Kerla Vin, both stood across from Celes and me. I nodded and gave the signal to attack on my mark.
Celes and me both jumped into danger zone, and opened fire with out pistols. Kerla shot with precision with a machine gun, Cloud missing the first two shots he had with a conventional pistol. Since Celes and me had to duck behind the cover of the building a few times so Kerla did most of the work. I gave Cloud a dry look and he smiled innocent and joined us as we rounded the next corner.
“You guys alright?” I asked as I took aim at the soldiers on the next block that were running toward us.
“Fine.” Kerla relied.
“So, Cloud, how long has it been since you fired a gun? Kairi would have better aim.”
“Thanks.” He said sarcastically as we opened fire, missing two shots this time before hitting one of the soldiers and having to do it twice to finish her off. We jogged forward firing at the rest of the charging soldiers as he added,
“It’s been…about three years, probably.”
I shook my head saying,
“Did you ever have good aim?”
“I was sent to Mazar, wasn’t I?”
“And after that you just used swords, eh?”
“You weren’t exactly the best shot when we first got together.”
“Yeah, but I picked up and got my skills back, didn’t I?”
“True, but I didn’t start firing as soon as you did. See? I only missed once that time.”
“You had to fire three times to finish him off though; you couldn’t shoot yourself out of a paper bag.”
“I’d like to see you have a fraction of the speed I have with broadswords.”
“Oh, so you’re changing the topic because you know you’d be dead meat if you were the only one expect to do the shooting in this operation?”
“I concur, I probably wouldn’t be able to shoot myself out of a paper bag filled with Twi-LIGHT soldiers, but I doubt I’ll ever run into a paper bag big enough. Most of them only fit some groceries or curious cats, after all.”
“I’ve seen spongy circus peanuts in paper bags.”
“Would you two stop chattering and focus on combat?” Celes sigh taking out two Twi-LIGHT soldiers.
“Yes, mother.” I said dryly.
“Love birds…” I hear Celes mutter. I let her slid though, although I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for the fact we were being fired at.
When we rounded the corner, I saw the cathedral in the open circular paved clearing. There were at least twenty Twi-LIGHT soldiers patrolling it.
“This should be fun.” I whispered. “Let’s spread out, Phyress and Vorn are on the other side. Cloud, Celes, you two cover the left side in different places, one on each side of that building. Kerla, you stay here and I’ll head to the right. Got it?”
They nodded and ran off. I used the shadows to hide me and got ready with two pistols. I decided to see if my aim would hold firing two at once. Since Kerla and Vorn both had machine guns, they made quick work of the soldiers on the front and back of the cathedral. Cloud and Celes got rid of the ones to the left of the cathedral and I took out the ones to the right.
We met in front of the cathedral and even though the other hung back I jogged forward, but the door was locked. I scowled, vaguely surprised. I pulled out the Key of Seventh Heaven Kairi had given me and fitted it into the lock. It fit perfectly and I opened the door to see the cathedral was fine. Nobody had been here since Cloud, Niketa, and I by the looks of it. I closed the door and re-locked it saying,
“Alright, Celes, Phyress, Kerla, Vorn, you guys stay here while Cloud and me head toward Twi-LIGHT HQ. Call Exodus and tell them to send in an eight soldier platoon so we have an equal twelve of you here. We’re right on time, if not a little ahead, so we’ll be able to infiltrate Twi-LIGHT by the time the combat gets here and in the heart of Nioglow. Be careful.” I added examining the Twi-LIGHT motorcycles the soldier left as Kerla and Vorn took care of the bodies.
“I think we can use these to get to HQ quicker.” I said as Cloud started one of the other motorcycles agreeing,
“Probably, these two don’t have any bullet-holes.”
I started mine up saying,
“Let’s go.”
We sped through the deserted streets of Nioglow in an eerie silence. I’d expected to be attacked by Twi-LIGHT soldiers ever few feet, but it seemed they’d sent the rest of their soldiers to fight off Exodus.
“This has been disturbingly simple so far.”
“Don’t jinx it. Exactly what are we going to do when we reach Twi-LIGHT HQ?”
“Head down to the underground labs where Skyevi is, and shut down the generators. Without power, the Special Agents won’t be able to awaken successfully since they’re all hooked up to Skyevi power, being experimented on, have Evi poisoning, on life support, or anything else of the like. Exodus and the Alpha Gird can handle a helluva lot of normal soldier, but if there’s Special Agents mixed in…who knows?”
“When we shut down their power, won’t Twi-LIGHT soldiers come teaming down by the hundred to come kills us?”
“Probably. We just have to hold out until Exodus can get here to save our asses; they should be reaching the main city just about now.”
“You think you’ll have to confront Akiko again?”
I was silent a moment before saying,
“Maybe.”
We were able to get into Twi-LIGHT HQ undetected; it was easy to duck the security camera since there weren’t any guards around. When we reached the underground I pulled up the Twi-LIGHT map on my cell phone and compared it to what I remembered of the base.
“Looks like we’ll have to slip up. I’ll head down to Skyevi’s chamber and cut the direct connections to her, and I’ll e-mail this map to your phone so you can go take out their generators. Since the generator and back-up generator are right beside each other, you should be able to handle it.”
“Don’t be a wise ass.”
He flicked open his phone as I e-mailed it to him saying,
“Got it. How long do you think we have until Exodus gets here?”
“To be truthful, I’ve got no idea. Call me when you reach the generator room, okay? I’ll cut the Skyevi connections same time you deactivate the generator, I also e-mailed the code to you’ll need to type into the computer attached to the generator, okay?”
“Gotcha.”
I slid my phone into my pocket, and felt a little awkward a moment before jogging off saying,
“Best we hurry.”
“Be careful!” He called as I turned a corner.
I reached the large metal doors and started clicking away at the computer there. It was harder than I originally through to hack into the locks, I’d ran the whole way so I figured I probably got here before Cloud got to the generators. After typing in long strings of codes, having more than half of them rejected, the large metal doors slid open. There was a sphere in the center of the large spherical room, with coursing white power within it. The relics I had with me had started to get hot a long time ago, but I had to wear the Key of Seventh Heaven and Skyevi’s Pendant on the outside of my attire since it had started burning my skin. The Blood Crystal was wrapped in a sock (which didn’t smell very nice, might I add) in my pocket so it didn’t burn a hole in my pants. There were a series of wires attached to the base of the sphere, and I it took a while to figure out which ones were part of the ancient machines keeping Skyevi “alive” and which were collecting power or connected to soldiers in floors above.
As I approached the sphere I caught a glimpse of what was inside, and stepped back still startled at the site of what it was. The female form inside was mainly covered in metal armor, but what had been a human body now had blue-ish white skin along with deep cuts in the arms and torso that had stopped bleeding long ago, but never healed. I’d never seen Skyevi’s eyes, but once when I was little I’d seen two bright crimson lights in the sphere. When I got closer, they’d turned blue then closed.
When I reached out with my katana, not Skyevi’s, to cut one of the wires I was thrown back by a blast of wind from no where. I landed hard on my ass, seeing Skyevi’s eyes flash red through the pulsing white light, which only pulsed harder as her eyes glowed. I didn’t move, and I didn’t hear somebody entering the room behind me or firing an arrow.
I felt it burry itself into my left arm, right above my armor. I jumped to my feet and my katana pointed at my attacker, it was Akiko. The arrow disappeared with a flash of silver and re-appeared in her hand. She restrung it to her bow with the ease of a professional even though the real Akiko had never lifted a bow in her life. She still looked the same way she did last time I saw her, twenty-four, three years older than me.
Her cold and calculating eyes met mine as she said,
“Akhyu Zahra, the audacity you have for coming here knows no bounds. If you think just because you can wield Skyevi relics you’re the reincarnation, you are very wrong. I ducked her arrows, one coming dangerously close to my head. I stepped too far back, leaning against Skyevi’s sphere and I was thrown forward harder than before. I hid the ground with a solid thud as one of Akiko’s arrows hit my other bullet-proof jacket. I still had the tight Valkyrie body armor on under my clothes. I struggled to my feet, my right side screaming with pain. I looked down to see I was bleeding from a deep wound, along with numerous bleed one to two inch cuts along the rest of my body.
I struggled to my feet, only to have an arrow imbedded into the small gab between my bullet-proof vest and my neck. It arrow disappeared as dizziness over took me and I fell backwards with a thud. Akiko aimed an arrow at my head, but I held the Key of Seventh Heaven in my hand and it was deflected.
She fired at least another ten arrows, but I didn’t let go of the key even when she stopped. I heard foot-steps entering the room and Trenxi saying evenly,
“So she gave you the Key of Seventh Heaven.”
“It would seem so.” Akiko said calmly.
“Don’t bother firing at her, the shield will hold until she bleeds to death even after she loses consciousness. How does it feel, Akhy?” Trenxi asked evenly addressing me. I looked him squarely in the eyes even though my vision was blurring. The blood from the main wound and the others was slowly forming a puddle around me.
“To be betrayed by the only person you had all of your life, and then killed by the force that has guided you all your life? I know exactly how it feels to die from wounds Skyevi inflicted Akhy; you are not the first she lied to than killed.
“Although I may not have been able to watch her own death, she killed me over five-thousand years ago. The fact I was reborn with all the powers I had then and regained my memories so quickly was only proof it was fated that I was supposed to guide the reincarnation to Dalmara and have her invoke End of Time to liberate this world, and go onward to a new one.”
“And it’s time foolish incarnations stop playing games, for only the true reincarnation can invoke End of Time.” Akiko said coldly.
“By the way,” Trenxi added smirking slightly, “Do you enjoy hanging on to life only because you’ve got the key I entrusted to my daughter?”
What? Wait, does he mean…Kairi is…Akiko’s and Trenxi’s daughter? If Akiko is the reincarnation that maybe that’s why that one Exodus soldiers was talking about a “Kaianoreri”, Kairi could be short for that after all. So…does that mean Exodus has been infiltrated without Maaya knowing it? If Exodus was infiltrated, than Twi-LIGHT knows exactly what their plans are and no matter what we do Exodus will be stopped Kyvia! What if…what if my rash thinking is going to get Rikku and Katsu killed trying to break into the Twi-LIGHT building there…and Cloud…what’ll happen to him?
I felt the cell phone in my pocket vibrating and a sound in the distance as everything went black.
“Did you just feel that?” Kairi asked quietly. Maaya squeezed her hand saying,
“I’m sure Akhy is okay.”
The battle entered the main city of Nioglow shortly thereafter, but when an army of ten-thousand Special Agents was released, the Exodus army was dismantled. Alpha Grid lasted longer, but didn’t have any hope in winning. The previously small fatality numbers on Exodus’ side sky-rocketed in hardly an hour.
It was late at night and Exodus was getting as far away from Nioglow as they could, but it took hours to move all the equipment from their camp. Rikku Arzifal and Katsu Nikoji were taken as prisoners in Kyvia. Valkyrie was standing strong in Mazar, but had much work to do in repairing the cities Twi-LIGHT had left in ruins after destroying the capital and killing all the legal officials then withdrawing from the country entirely to take Ragnarok back.
The cathedral surrounded by Twi-LIGHT soldiers was dark only illuminated every so often by bolts of lightening. It was pouring rain, but the cathedral never leaked or got dank, for one reason or another. Although the symbols and carving on the far wall were known to light up with silver light every now and then.
“Is she still breathing?” Niketa asked quietly.
“Shallowly.” Anan replied.
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