POV: Cid
Location: Midgar Kingdom
After my meet up with Gamma, I decided I should call it a night for now and head back home.
And by head back home I mean chill out on the rooftops during midnight.
I am way to busy to just spend this time doing nothing now.
I need to do some serious thinking, and some fresh night-time air will probably help me clear my thoughts.
Let me get this straight.
What I have learned is that the elusive elite organisation I have been chasing around these last couple nights is same as that group of people I accidentally beat up a few days ago for fun..?
So I guess... mission failed successfully?
And how have I been oblivious to such an important plot point this whole time? Are there any other major things I have missed recently?
But if the 2 organisations are one and the same, does this mean that this is it?
Now that I have already defeated the enemy, have I accomplished my goal so soon?
I was expecting a whole, drawn out battle arc... what a shame.
But what else is there to do now? I still have over 2 weeks of school break and I'm gonna be hella bored just sitting in my room.
This is the only lead I still have... the suspicious red gem which I stole back in the Lawless City. Now that I think about it, I was so preoccupied with my other activities that I never really took a closer look at this thing.
I hold it up so that it shines in the moonlight.
The quality is really good for a gemstone, if nothing else I can sell it and probably get a decent profit out of it. Hm?
This stone... I can feel it should have some magical properties.
I flow a small portion of my magic through the ruby to check the level of conductivity. A good magic material can actually be pretty valuable.
Hold on? This gem seems to be reacting to my magic? I increase the quantity of the flow, a red mist is released from the gemstone.
The red mist thickens until it completely surrounds me. Something that sounds like a voice echoes through the fog.
I get the feeling that I should not have done that.
The cloud of mist swirls and blocks my vision.
Until finally, the world around me shatters, and everything turns white.
Now that was an interesting trick.
The expanse of white surrounds me.
Hmm, this kinda feels similar to that place I ended up trapped in after I went through that door back in the Holy Lands. Maybe they are linked somehow?
And like back in the holy lands, it seems I can't use my magic here. Oh well I guess I can work around that when it comes to it, but more importantly, I guess I should start working on a way to get out of here.
Being inside a pocket dimension created by a magical gemstone is all interesting and all, but it becomes a bit unfavourable when you are trapped inside for all eternity.
Well, I should get moving then. The only question is, as I look to the seemingly endless colourless plain that surrounds me... where do I go?
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POV: 3rd person.
Location: Shadow Garden HQ
A lone figure of a beautiful blonde sits, gazing out the window to the ancient castle of Alexandria. A knock on the door breaks her out of her thoughts.
"You may come in Beta." The door swings open in reply.
"Sorry that I'm late, there was some unexpected resistance along the way." Beta walks in through the doorframe, dragging along a brown haired elf behind her.
"Ow....let me go..."
The brown-haired elf seemed to be half asleep, and half protesting against being dragged along the floor.
Alpha sighs.
"Eta."
"Yes...lady Alpha..."
"What did you do to Beta?" She points out Beta's dishevelled appearance.
"Mhm... She tried to... take me away...when I was asleep...so I activated the security system..."
Alpha sighs again.
"Beta, good work finally dragging her here. Sit down."
"Yes Lady Alpha."
"And you too Eta."
"Wait...a moment." Eta finally stirs from her drowsy state and pulls out a bottle shaped flask from somewhere in her clothes. She opens the lid and takes a quick drink from it.
"What is that?" Beta inquires.
"Master's teachings.......energy drink...helps me stay awake...and is tasty..."
"Oh? I could use one of those. I do sometimes end up having to work late hours to meet some of the deadlines for my novels."
"Mhm...strawberry flavour...works best..."
"You two." Alpha raises the tone of her voice to grab their attention.
"Oh. Sorry lady Alpha."
"...what she said..."
"We should get back to work. Have you finished your analysis on the artifact Eta?"
"Yes... Artifact report complete: The red stone, condensed essence of the calamity witch.......threat level calculated at: very big danger......if the cult has control of it.....then chance of world destruction... at 99%...."
"This could turn out to be troublesome indeed... Good work nonetheless Eta."
"...V..." She puts up two of her fingers to make a v sign.
"Now please let me...sleep...." Eta then promptly collapses and falls asleep almost immediately.
Alpha sighs for the 3rd time.
"She is quite a handful, but she does get the job done well when she actually tries. Beta."
"Yes Lady Alpha."
"Do we know where the item in question is at the current moment?"
"Unfortunately, we currently do not know of the whereabouts of the stone, however the last sight we know of was in the Lawless City."
"And what is the probability that the artifact is already in possession of the Cult?"
"Uncertain, Lady Alpha, for now at least, the Cult hasn't made any significant moves yet."
"Well good work, we should try to keep an eye out over Midgar to see if anything changes. We will send some of the numbers to patrol around, and focus some of our efforts on trying to locate the stone before the cult can get their hands on it. As for you Beta, you should report our current situation to Lord Shadow, likely is he has already thought of something beyond our comprehension."
"Things will inevitably become problematic soon, and we should do our best to prepare."
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POV: Cid
Location: Unknown
I've been walking around for a while now. Specifically I don't know how far or how long I have travelled, but the one thing that I noticed is that there seems to be a strange voice following me around. Which is not creepy in the slightest.
The sound of the voice seems to be similar to that one I heard beckoning through the red mist earlier. Was that their way of telling me they are trapped in here and want me to go rescue them? In that case, should I be looking for the source of this creepy voice?
Hmm. Let me access the situation here.
Option 1, continue to walk around endlessly for all I know.
Option 2, head straight towards the sinister voice.
Yea I'm choosing option 2. If modern culture had taught me anything, then it's that following the weird voice seems like the thing you would do to get the good ending in this situation. And if the good ending means freedom then I'm all for it.
Of course if all else fails I can just utilise the secret final option.
Option 3, blast apart this whole dimension.
But that is only a last resort for now.
"Hey, weird voice thing, are you in here somewhere!"
"What? w-who are..." The voice reached out, it sounded like a young girl's. But there seemed to be a hint of panic in her voice, a visible panic which seemed to make the dimension shake.
"Shh, I'm here to help and get you out of this place."
"Help? me?"
"Yea sure, now show just show yourself and then we can all leave together."
"You promise?"
"Of course I do."
The space of white began to distort, a red mist formed in the sky. The mist grew thicker until it condensed into the form of a young girl.
Wait? I know that person. That's the young kid version of Violet I saw back in the Holy lands... but this one looks very young, younger then before. Why is she here?
"Ok, I'm going to come closer, alright?"
"N-no don't come any closer!" She seemed to be terrified at the thought of me approaching her.
"It's ok I'm not going to hurt you."
"N-no, I-i can't control it!"
A flash of red light appears. A raging magic blast shakes the space. The image of the little girl began to distort and transform into the figure of a hideous monster. Oh that was probably a mistake.
The beast of red mist gave out a half roar, half cry before bursting out a wave of magic in my direction with the intent to kill.
I dodge the blow, but without my magic here, I need to be careful.
More desperate blasts of magic are sent my way, I avoid most of the damage however my clothes get a little torn. Each step I take brings me closer to the monster.
This thing could actually be very dangerous. Each blow possesses extraordinary amounts of excess magic which could vaporise me in a single hit. Unfortunately, it has no idea how to use this strength properly and is more focused on decimating the area around me with manic explosions.
In that respect, it is very much like Gamma.
I reach closer to a point where I could touch the beast. I open the palm of my hand, purple magic glows but is extinguished short after. However the next time, the flame returns with a higher intensity. It took a couple tries, but I managed to successfully break through the barrier of magic absorption.
I reach out my hand, so that I touch the side of the beast. The monster struggles but the purple magic overpowers the light of the red mist. It's pretty much exactly like curing demon possession.
And then suddenly.
The world around me shatters.
And I am transported back to the rooftops of Midgar.
Damn, that was a pretty interesting experience. You don't usually get those in sentient gemstones.
Yea I think I'll be holding on to this for a while longer.
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POV: Unknown
Location: Unknown
"Sir!"
A nameless grunt rushes into the room and kneels before me.
"What is it? Don't you know that I am busy?"
"Ahh... I am most sorry for the intrusion, however we believe to have a matter important enough trouble you."
"Well get on with it."
"Y-yes sir, well you see, our magic sensing devices have picked up a strange signal emanating from last night. And the specific wavelength of the signal seems to correlate to that of the activation sequence of the artifact."
What?
"You mean to say that you found the artifact?"
"While it is only a rough outline, we believe the signal originated somewhere from within the Midgar Kingdom."
So some person just happened to pick it up and activate it?
"Send out personnel to search all the likely places in the capital. Use whatever means necessary, we must recover the item at all cost, understood?"
"Yes Sir."
"And I want it in effect immediately, begin the search tonight if you must."
"As you wish, now please excuse me."
It is important that I have this item in my possession for the plan to be successful.
It seems that it will not be long now... although the problem remains if Shadow Garden is to make a move.
It seems Midgar will become a puppet warzone over the next few days.
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Ahem this is the author here
Happy new year people.
And as I said last chapter, this did come out a year later.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading.
I'm also just here to say that I will be taking a break from writing this fic.
Writing is hard and my sanity is dwindling.
So expect not much updates for a while.
Ahem cya.