From: His Dark Lordship Date: Sun Jan 7, 2001 4:41pm Subject: [HD] Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am. Celeste didn't exactly enjoy her next day. A lot of the other mages shunned her, and wouldn't let her play any mage games. So, rather silently and with low profile, Celeste gathered a few of her belongings that she felt would be relatively useful, and rode the serpent's road to Baron. Baron was a complete culture shock for a young woman who had spent most of her in the quiet serenity of Mysidia. The serpent's road opened out into a huge market. Celeste had never seen so many people at once. It was... electrifying. Celeste began wandering through the crowd. So many people! Celeste had never even considered this many people being in the world. So immensed was she in awe that she didn't see the gigantic moogle that she crashed right into. The Moogle stared down at her rather angrily. Then Celeste realized something. This wasn't jsut a Moogle, this Moogle had large tusks and outsized most of the people. It was a Moogleboar, and a fairly well equipped one at that. Celeste noticed a large crossbow tucked away under it's cloak, and on it's right hip hung a bastard sword. It's lips didn't move as it stared down at her, but a relatively high pitched tone muttered "Watch where you're going, ditz." "What the..." muttered Celeste as the cloaked boar walked away. Getting up, she ran after it, through the crowd. "Hey! Wait!" It stopped and turned. "What?" it asked in that same voice, with no lips moving. "What are you, some sort of ventriloquist?" she asked. "Umm... yes." said the boar. It turned and walked off into an alley. Realizing she just gave it an excuse, she rushed after it. Seeing a squirming object on the back of the hood, she lept up and pulled it down. There was a purple cat sitting on the boar's head. "HEY!" it yelled. "Strange. A purple cat controlling a Moogleboar." The cat snarled. "Well, seeing as you've discovered me, I guess you'll have to die." muttered the cat. Celeste turned pale. Somehow she felt like she was in over her head. "Woah, wait!" she yelled "I didn't.." "I'm just kidding." muttered the cat. "So who are you?" "I'm Celeste Nirvana, from Mysidia." "Just out of the college, eh?" chuckled the cat. "I'm Cait Sith, I'm hunting the one known as Kefka." Celeste blinked. "So am I..." "Seriously!?!" the cat jumped. Celeste merely nodded. "Well then, perhaps I could benefit from your presence." chuckled the cat. "Come with me, we have to hurry or else I'll miss the ship." THe Moogleboar bounded down the alley towards the harbour. Celeste collected herself quickly and rushed after him. Seeing him run onto a ship bearing the name S.S Bacca, she quickly ran to the ticket booth and inquired about the ship. "That ship? She's bound for Nikeah." "Give me a ticket." She handed him the cash and he handed her a ticket. She rushed aboard the ship and caught her breath. She was on her way. -- The eternal lord of darkness... Subj: [ffml] [HD] The terror below the deck. Date: 01-01-11 00:04:50 EST From: darklord@compusmart.ab.ca (His Dark Lordship) Reply-to: ffml@egroups.com To: ffml@egroups.com (ffml) The S.S Bacca sailed smoothly across the waves. The crew, however, was in a bit of a panic, probably due to the rather beautiful skyline of thunderheads in the distance. Celeste sighed. She wasn't exactly a fan of the ocean. Then again, so far just about everything she had dealt with was fairly uncomfortable and inconvenient. Her comrade, Cait Sith, was waltzing around the cabin like any feline would, having dismounted his Moogleboar steed. Already he qualified as probably one of the weirder things she expected to see. "So," said the cat. "What's your story, anyway?" "Hmm?" muttered Celeste. "Oh, since I was about ten years old I have been studying at the Mysidian majick college under the caste of Red Mage." "And before that?" Celeste blinked. Before that? Her childhood prior to Mysidia, he must've meant. "... I don't remember. I've never given it much thought..." she stammered. "You don't know who your parents are?" he asked with a bit of a sigh, almost suggesting that he had heard this sorta story before. "I do, I do..." she said. "But, I don't exactly remember them. It's hard to explain. I've crammed so much about majick and history into my skull, and that coupled with the fact the last time I recieved a letter from them was... nine... ten... eleven years ago, I probably just forgot." The cat nodded. It then hopped up to the windowsill. "Fuck of a storm out east. I'd really hate to be a ship out there." The cat laughed at his own joke. Celeste sighed. She didn't exactly find it funny, hell, she was having a bitch of a time with these "calm waters." The last thing she wanted to think about was a storm. "I'm going for a walk." she said, starting up. "Suit yourself." muttered the cat as he hopped down. She left the room without a word. Outside, the sailors were still in a panic from the skyline. With a shrug, she decided going below deck would be easier on her senses. One sailor saw her heading down the stairwell and looked somewhat amazed. "If ya see 'ole Billy down 'der, 'ell 'im ta bring me up a flagon." She nodded rather obiently and shrugged it off as she walked below deck. The grubby bastard should be drinking on the job anyway. Once she decided she was safely below deck, she looked about. It was deserted. A loud thumping behind her made her jump. Cait Sith barrelled down the stairway with little grace. "Somehow I had this feeling that you were in need of assistance. Guess I was wrong." Celeste nodded. Almost as quickly as the cat grinned, she turned around and gasped. In front of her, hanging off a rafter, was a head. A recently decapitated head. "I guess that's Billy." muttered the cat, drawing out a rather large crossbow, that looked too big even for a gigantic Moogleboar. "We should probably get back up on deck." Celeste nodded in agreement. Drawing her sword, the pair slowly began to backstep back to the stairway, and instead hit a wall. Celeste looked upwards. "Umm.. Cait Sith..?" "Yeah?" "You're not gonna believe this." "You're not gonna believe this either." "The way to the above deck has mysteriously disapeared, ladder, hole and all." "About five feet in front of us is a large, black lizard." Celeste darted her head down. Before the pair stood a huge beast, at least nine feet high. Standing on two feet, it bore two hands with long, razor sharp claws. It's head, saurian in nature, was adorned with many random horn growth. Golden eyes cast an eirie glow onto it's snout as the remaining light in the room faded away. It's feet, establishing fine foundations for powerful legs, bore a sickle like claw on each foot. A long, erect tail carried a impressive set of spikes at it's tip. "Black Horror..." gasped both Celeste and Cait Sith on the same beat. Cait Sith raised an eyebrow. "The last remaining creatures from Thanatos, the Dark Lord's once powerful army." finished Celeste. "What is it doing here?" wispered Cait Sith. "Attempting to reach Nikeah to take care of some business." said the horror suddenly. "But since not too many people think too kindly of my former lord, I have to travel in secret." "Don't even try it." stammered Celeste, trying to sound brave, despite her actual feelings. There were legends of these creatures, always few in number but never effectively outnumbered. Guessed to have originally been twenty four in existance, five having died at the hands of some mysterious fuzzy reaper, and several others hunted down or disapeared following Thanatos' fall from power. However, she did know that her and her companion weren't exactly in a position to fight it out with this thing. It, in response to her threat, let out a snicker. "I like your attitude." it said. "Fine, I will spare your life should you fuffill a promise not to tell anyone of my presence here." Celeste nodded rather quickly, and then, feeling somewhat confident, decided to ask; "What business do you have in Nikeah?" The Horror, which was turning away at the time, stared back with a snarl. "What is yours?" Celeste blinked, then finally spat out "I'm shadowing the one known as Kefka." The horror snickered again. "Ironic, that's what I was doing." "Perhaps we should join forces. We could certainly be gifted with your divine presence." cut in Cait Sith, eying Celeste. "And you would only slow me down." retorted the Horror, then his face turned to a grin. "But, it sounds like a challenge. I will see you at the docks." Then, in an instant, it was gone. Hidden in the shadows of the vessel. The stairway suddenly re-appeared as the pair silently made their way back to the cabin. Once in the privacy of their cabin, Cait Sith grumbled. "Didn't even tell us his name." "Saaldor. His name is Saaldor." said Celeste. "How do you know that." "He told me.." she said quietly. They said nothing more for the day. -- The eternal lord of darkness... "And if our dreams sometimes come true, then what of our nightmares?" -The undisputed Master of Final Fantasy 2 -GM of FF2c -Lord of the FFML ICQ UIN# 23424269 IRC Nicks: TheDarkLord, GannondorfDragmire, occasionally Blackthorne System: Amiga 4000/040 Cybervision64 & Opalvision ---INTEL/MICROSOFT FREE---