The Power Unfold The Power Unfold
Sky H Ainsworth
Bacca sat on a stone in a glen in the small forest surrounding the Dark Lord's keep.
It was two days after the Lance Henriksen army had arrived and the human soldiers were now patrolling both inside and outside the ravine that held the Dark Lord's keep.
The orcs were found to be out of the valley and moving off, their destination unknown. All contact with Mog's army was lost and all that was known was that they had other plans on their minds.
Bacca had assumed the thinker pose and after a while stood up. He walked a few paces away and faced the stone. He took a stance, with his fists forward.
Opening each fist, Bacca drew in his hands till they were behind his body. As he did this, a small orb of energy formed in the cup his hands had formed. The further back he pulled, the brighter and bigger the orb grew. At the point where his hands began to shake from the amount of energy he was holding, Bacca unleashed it. Pushing forward with both hands, the orb flew at the stone and shattered it.
With a loud explosion and debris flying all about, Bacca stood straight and admired his handiwork.
Lorinan spoke behind Bacca and the warrior turned and gripped his sword hilt, surprised at the chemist's arrival.
"What was that?!" asked the bewildered Lorinan.
Bacca, realizing who it was, relaxed.
"It is a trick a some friends of mine taught me," answered the High Lord of All That Kicks Ass. "Really, I watched some guys do it and applied what I learned from a friend of mine named Quy Chia Cain. I have been practicing some techniques lately and honing my skills."
"Wow," said Lorinan. "That stuff rocks. Hey, could you teach me that?"
"Can you spare ten years?" retorted Bacca. Lorinan's grin dropped to a frown. "Sorry brother. It is just a difficult thing to learn and you must have complete control over your body. That is why I could never beat my friend Bruce Lee. He had perfect control over his body. I still think he is the greatest fighter in the universe. No one can beat him, not even death." Bacca winked.
"Cool," said Lorinan. "Hey, I was wondering, where are we going to go when we leave in eight days?"
"I was thinking about that a while ago and asked around," said Bacca. He wiped his brow. The sun was not that hot, but the exertion from controlling the forces of nature and energy was difficult. "Ku-Sam mentioned a place called Crystal Peak and Jaana was indifferent to where we go.
"I have decided that we will march and start retaking some of Mog's captured towns. I know we will not find much there, but I am hoping to give the troops battle experience and draw out the moogles into a confrontation.
"Whatever we do, our first battle will be a defense. These troops have not tasted blood yet and they need to be hardened to it before we engage in anything serious.
"Since Crystal Peak is on this continent and not too far away from some towns, we will go there, see what is there, and then go on to retake some towns."
"I see," said Lorinan, nodding his head. "I was wondering, what do you think our chances of success are?" The young warrior looked concerned and took a seat on another stone in the glen.
"Well," began Bacca as he took another seat, "I am still sketchy on this talk of gods and apocalypses. I know war and soldiers, not gods and celestial planes. So, it seems that no matter what we will do, this will go a certain way no matter what. Well, I do not believe that and still trust in my sword." For emphasis, Bacca grabbed the hilt of his weapon.
"I will tell you this, we will defeat the moogles, whether they be white or black. The only thing we need is time. Give me enough time, and I will dwindle the moogles down from their million moogle army and then we will turn the tables and put them on the defensive. But time is needed.
"And speaking of time, how much time did you spend practicing with your sword?"
Lorinan looked down at his weapon. A short sword, he was still unused to it. "I practiced for an hour this morning, but my hands hurt. How can you hold this thing all day long? And carry it for that matter?"
"One of the limitations of your body that you learn to overcome," answered Bacca. He stood up and walked over to Lorinan and inspected his hands. Forming a symbol in the air, he pointed his hand down and pressed it against Lorinan's.
Healing energy flowed from Bacca's hand into Lorinan's, almost a burning heat.
After a while, Bacca removed his hand and Lorinan flexed his.
"It feels better. What was that?"
"It's called Reiki," said Bacca. "It's a way of controlling the energy within your body and direction outwards, to heal someone else."
"Wow," said Lorinan.
"Those Lance Henriksens, do you know what they can do?" asked Bacca.
"Other then look the same and trip me out with their deep voices, that is about all I know," said Lorinan.
"Well, if you saw those large shields they have, they are made entirely out of wood and weigh close to forty, fifty pounds. Also, their spears weigh twenty pounds," said Bacca. "They can carry those, plus a sixty pound ruck on their backs and march all day long. At the end of that day, they can take off those rucks, run for two hours straight in full body armor and with weapons in hand, and then fight for another hour. Have you seen their hands?"
Lorinan shook his head no. Bacca held out his hands for the young warrior to see.
The skin was leather. Calluses from holding a sword were evident all over.
Lorinan whistled.
"Their hands are even more hard core then mine," said Bacca. "Because I get to ride a chocobo all day and don't have to carry a my weapons in my hands. But I can still fight five hours straight and run all day. In this army, where we must use our two feet to get us places, we have to hurry often and running is important. But what is the use of running if you are tired at the end of the day and cannot do anything else. So that army is trained very hard and they trained well. You almost cannot find a better army then that, especially not at that size. "One squad of those soldiers could take on a dragon, they are that good. But that has nothing to do with moogles. Moogles are tougher and smarter then they look and so they have to be ready for that."
"I see," said Lorinan.
"Go practice some more," said Bacca. "When you have done six hours practice today, jog for two hours and then relax. You will need more then our potions to rely on in the upcoming battles."
Lorinan nodded his head and walked back to the keep.
Bacca stood and surveyed the glen. He picked out five targets; two trees and three stones. Facing them, he raised his hands above his head and in a quick motion spun around. From his body, wind syckles flew out and cut through the objects. The stones either shattered or fell apart and the trees fell over.
Smiling, Bacca returned to the keep.
Lorinan
While heading back to the base, Lorinan thought about what Baaca had told him. He didn't know just how useful he'd be as a fighter, after all, Chemists aren't known for their strength. However, he determined that if Baaca thought he could do it, he would. Lorinan had heard about some potions that could help with training, but he'd have to experiment to get the right mix. Maybe Ku-Sam could help. After training, Lorinan went out to find Ku-sam.