Subj: [ffml] [MW] The Final Summons
Date: 98-11-21 09:13:20 EST
From: jandoc@hawaii.edu (Schala)
Reply-to: ffml@onelist.com
To: ffml@onelist.com
From: Schala
(NOTE: This takes place after Eric's response to Sky's battle post.)
The army was in disarray. Those Henricksons who had not seen
Bacca fall still fought on, but were soon alerted to the news by the cries
and shouts behind them. Some were goaded to anger, suddenly flying out
and quickly slaying any creatures in their way. Others lost heart, and
turned and fled. Moogles chased and easily dispatched the fleeing men.
"Fighting retreat!" Scotts yelled over and over again, in an
effort to establish some order. He tried to keep the despair out of his
voice. "Fighting retreat!"
The word was passed and those at the front line moved slowly
backward. It wasn't easy. After what seemed like an eternity, those
still alive finally escaped.
But the men were tired. Everyone was tired.
More than that, everyone was disheartened.
For the last thing many of them had seen was Drugga standing over
their fallen leader.
The men began, for the first time, to question themselves about
the war...
Lady limped into the area, her body still aching from Drugga's
throwing her. She was amazed she had even been able to make it to the
back lines. "That Drugga..." she muttered.
She saw the commotion. A tingling sensation ran all over her
body, and she felt the medallion vibrate. She clutched it. "Bacca..."
Her knees buckled. A soldier ran to her aid, and after a few
minutes she insisted, "I'm fine...I'm fine." She stood up unsteadily.
Suddenly she clutched her chest, gasping for air.
"Lady...Lady!" the man exclaimed.
"I..." She felt as if something were deflating her body, as if it
were taking the last breath out of her lungs and the very substance out of
her limbs, leaving her with a flat, two-dimensional shape.
"It's...Bacca..."
She fell in a dead faint.
"Dammit! Isn't there any way to bring his body back here?!"
Scotts yelled. "Where's Lady?! She has teleportation powers, she'll know
how to handle this!"
"She...she's not here," a nearby healer responded. She looked
harassed and worried. "Something happened to her...she fainted. We have
others trying to help her..."
Schala was among those crowded around Lady. The healers were
puzzled at her swoon, for she had been in good health until just a few
minutes ago. Then one of the more experienced mages caught on to
something. Feeling Lady's pulse, the healer touched something around the
wizard's neck. She pulled it out.
"What is it?" Schala asked.
"It's a medallion of some sort," the healer answered. She
examined it carefully, then her eyes widened. "I can't understand
everything written on here, but if I get the gist of things, this is some
kind of super-healer."
"How does it work?"
"I don't know exactly...the magic in this seems very tightly
woven. It's probably geared toward one person..."
Schala's face was grim. "I think I know who that person is. And
if I'm right, then we're in for some big trouble." She walked quickly
away, calling back, "Keep working on her. I have to see something for
myself."
Her steps became faster, her heart beat at an increasing pace.
The thoughts flew through her head in a jumbled mass.
"If Lady...then Bacca must be...but no, that couldn't be...I just
saw him...He was okay...He was doing fine...I even put some protective
spells on him...But if Lady's like this...and she's a white wizard,
too...No...he couldn't be..."
The unknown gripped her heart with an ever-increasing fear...
"Schala!" Scotts grabbed her arm suddenly, startling her. "We
need your help! Do you know teleportation?"
She opened her mouth to ask why, then realized that was a stupid
question. "I...haven't practiced them much," she said. "But I can try.
What is it you need teleported?"
Scotts' mouth was a thin line. "Bacca."
The Mystic looked at him with wide eyes. "I will try my best. In
what direction was he last seen?"
The general pointed, and she faced that direction. She closed her
eyes and did a mental search across the battlefield. She zipped through,
finally finding him in a crumpled heap at Drugga's feet. The sight was
ghastly, and she almost fell over from what she saw. The High Lord's
stillness had an eerie quality to it, and her heart thumped.
Quickly she gathered her magic and surrounded Bacca with it. She
saw the alliance leaders look confused at the faint purple mists that rose
up around the body. She cast the standard shield and invisibility around
him, hiding him from their view.
"Wotz dis?" Drugga asked as the mist coalesced around the body.
They had all stepped back in alarm when the smoke began issuing forth.
The Darklord set his mouth. "Teleporting," he said succinctly as
Bacca disappeared from view. "It won't matter. They can't revive him, we
have his spirit."
"Lookz like wez wun da wah, den," Drugga said.
But the Darklord did not respond. There had been an aura that the
magical mists had given off. It had been an aura of great strength,
containing a fearsome power that he had not felt in millenniums. Could it
be?...
He strode quickly over to the bag that had contained the High
Lord's essence. As he suspected, it was empty.
The gods had taken their due.
He frowned.
Schala's spirit zipped back, carrying Bacca with it. She set the
body down a ways behind her. Several of the men quickly set him down on a
makeshift pallet. The commotion was enormous. Lesser healers surrounded
him, removing any shrapnel and other small bits from his body. They
quickly healed his smaller wounds and bruises. But it became apparent
that this would not be enough. They were merely doing patch healing, and
not getting to the root of the problem.
Schala opened her eyes, looked around, and rushed to the crowd.
"What's happening? What's going on?!" she asked one man breathlessly,
praying that what she had seen wasn't true...
The man turned to her, his face in shock. "It's the High
Lord...he's..."
She waited for no more. She shoved her way through the crowd and
saw the healers working feverishly. She tapped one young mage on the
shoulder, who gratefully gave up her place when she saw the Mystic.
Schala's heart froze when she saw Bacca.
His skin was so pale. When she touched his arm, it was cold.
Deathly cold. There were hardly any external marks, thanks to the efforts
of the healers, but it was obvious that hadn't worked.
She turned to Scotts. Glenn was standing next to the general, a
hand on his shoulder. "What happened?" she asked yet again in a low
voice.
His words were simple and soft. "Bacca fell..." His shoulders
slumped, his head drooped. "Bacca fell..." he repeated, the despair and
finality creeping into his words. Glenn and Schala glanced helplessly at
each other.
She shook her head feverently. "No...I can't accept that!" She
turned back to the lifeless body of the High Lord. Now the healers were
combining their powers. Schala joined in, even though her white magic was
of no real consequence.
It wasn't working. They stopped. Exhaustion and defeat showed on
everyone's faces. "It's no use..." one of them proclaimed dejectedly.
"No...NO, it isn't!" Schala said with determination. Everyone
looked up in surprise at her tone.
She motioned for everyone to give her space. The healers moved
back, pushing everyone away as they did so. Glenn and the others looked
on with some puzzlement. What was she trying to do?
Schala placed her hands over Bacca's forehead, closing her eyes
and concentrating. She didn't find what she was searching for. She could
detect no brain activity, no thoughts or feelings running through his
mind. There even seemed to be no trace of any memories...
Nothing gave any indication that somewhere, deep inside, his soul
was still alive...
*That* was what had been so odd about him. There was no spirit in
his body. It had been taken from him, held prisoner somewhere...or
perhaps it had already ridden the Phantom Train? Did the gods take what
they perceived to be their spoils of the war?
She opened her eyes and ran a hand along his neck. Soon she came
up with what she was looking for. A medallion, almost exactly the same as
Lady's. Turning it over, Schala read the words.
"A gift of healing..."
She gently replaced the medallion. If even Lady's powers had not
been enough to help Bacca...then only one thing could.
Bacca's body and spirit had been so battered over the course of
the war...He had even died once, so she had heard. If that were true,
then he had given up his one lease on life. Even a man fated against by
the gods had one chance. Bacca had used up that chance.
There was one thing left to do. And only she could do it.
For she knew now that there were two sides to Lavos...
The side that could destroy...and the side that could heal.
She turned to the crowd. "I'm going to try and restore Bacca,"
she announced firmly.
Glenn took a step forward. She halted his action with a shake of
her head. The crowd murmured.
Schala looked into Glenn's eyes. He nodded once, very slowly.
She gave him a small smile. Then she turned back to the High Lord.
She took several deep breaths. Taking her newly shaped pendant,
she placed it on the center of Bacca's chest. She held the wings of the
pendant and concentrated.
The Dreamstone glowed. It glowed brighter and brighter, more and
more fiercely, until it shot out a blinding ray straight into the heavens.
Everyone shielded their eyes.
The glow spread out over Bacca's body, slowly covering him like a
cocoon, until only a vague outline could be seen. The energy lapped over
him like waves, humming with its strength.
Schala was surrounded by a pink aura. It changed color, darkening
to red then lightening to white, and briefly becoming all the colors in
between. Then the dark colors -- the red, the black -- began appearing
more and more often in the cycle of colors.
She chanted, and once again Glenn heard that eerie voice that had
so frightened him before...
"Oom kal pa ni ran y dur..."
She raised her face to the skies. "We are One...We are One...WE
ARE ONE..."
The thin red beam expanded to include all of Bacca. It glowed and
spun slowly around. Schala spoke in a more normal voice.
"I summon the powers of the Planet...I ask for their life-giving
powers to restore the soul of Bacca...
"He whose soul has gone to You...I ask it be returned to the
mortal realm...
"And I who summon You...I am prepared to fulfill all
obligations...to do all penance...to serve You for eternity...
"I summon You...
"Lavos..."
Glenn started at hearing the name.
The red aura began to dominate. Schala felt her insides tearing
away at her. The same pain and heaviness in her chest that she had felt
before now flared up again. She gritted her teeth and concentrated
harder. She must not let the anger and destruction flow...she must
control it and channel its power to different ends.
The beam of light swirled faster and faster. The Dreamstone
glowed so brightly it became a miniature sun. The ground rumbled
strongly, shaking everyone off their feet. The rumbling became so intense
that everyone ran to find cover, afraid that something would fall down
onto their heads.
Lavos was resisting her summons. It was the work of the gods.
The gods had declared Bacca the defeated one, and Lavos, though it was the
Power of the Planet itself, was still subject to their desires. It was
being blocked by the infernal tug between its summoner's wishes, and the
forces that were larger than she was...
But even the gods could not resist the strength of belief, the
strength of love and caring and compassion -- and the strength of hope --
for very long...
Schala put all the energy of her life into the pendant...
The rumbling died away. The deep red glow began swirling
restlessly again, once more changing. But this time the light colors --
yellows, pinks, white -- emerged.
The pendant glowed white. It spread over over Bacca and Schala,
chasing the red color away. The red beam was replaced by a pure white
light shooting to the clouds. It split into two beams that surrounded
them separately.
Schala heard a question in her mind. She saw images of faint
wings. She nodded slowly. "I am ready," she called out to an invisible
being. She had a high, clear voice, like that of a child.
"I am ready to fulfill the Sacrifice..."
Her aura intensified. She closed her eyes. The churning within
her decreased. The pain faded away. In its place was a soft humming, one
that relaxed her body and her spirit. It filled her with a peace greater
than she had ever known. She felt lightheaded, her feet seemed to lose
contact with the ground.
Schala's aura faded while Bacca's increased. Another, stronger
beam of light shot from the sky and struck her chest, then quickly
expanded over her entire self. Her body convulsed with the power. She
felt she was being tugged upward, felt something being taken that she
could not hold on to. Then the light contracted again and faded back into
the clouds.
Those who braved the brightness and had opened their eyes later
swore that they saw a spirit descend from the heavens and enter Bacca's
body...
Their two auras became one. The pendant pulsated, and so did the
light. It grew into a large dome over Schala and Bacca. The Mystic's
hair was blown about by a tornado contained within the light. Her face
showed no pain even as her head was flung back and her body was arched far
backward.
Suddenly, with a blinding flash, the Dreamstone exploded,
shattering into a thousand fragments every which way. Schala was thrown
back, hitting the ground with a hard thud. The light disappeared.
Everyone opened their eyes. Glenn saw Schala lying on the ground
and rushed to her, cradling her. Her face was like a ghost, her body limp
as a rag doll. The healers surrounded her, but Glenn motioned everyone
away.
"Schala...Are you okay?" he asked anxiously.
She did not reply.
"Schala...SCHALA!!" He caressed her face, willing her eyes to
open.
"Lady's coming around!" one healer exclaimed.
The white wizard opened her eyes and sat up. "What's going on?"
she demanded.
"You fainted...we don't know what happened..."
"Fainted?" Her hand flew to her medallion as her eyes widened.
"Bacca! Where is he?"
Helped by the healers, she stood up and ran to find him.
A movement from the pallet distracted Scotts, who reached it with
swift, long steps. He saw the color return to Bacca's face, the fingers
twitch, the eyelids flutter. Scotts' mouth dropped open. "Bacca...he's
alive!" the general shouted. "He's alive!"
Gasps of shock ran through the crowd. Several men ran over and
helped the High Lord sit up. He held his head. "What happened?" he asked
hazily.
"You...you were...dead," Scotts said. "And Schala...brought you
back..." His look and his voice held so much amazement that Bacca
suddenly felt very alert.
"Where is she?" The men helped him stand and brought him to where
the Mystic lay. He saw Glenn holding her. He knelt beside her.
Slowly, she opened her eyes. She smiled. "It worked..." Her
voice was hoarse.
"Schala...what did you do?" he asked softly.
Shivers ran up and down her body. Glenn held her more tightly.
Finally she spoke. "I...used the healing power of Lavos...of the
Planet...to recall your soul from the dead..."
"But Lavos is destructive," Glenn said. "I know...I fought
against it..."
Tiredly she shook her head. "I channeled the destructive part to
intensify the healing," she replied. "Only one side can be used...and it
can be used only once..."
Lady pushed through the crowd. Her joy at seeing Bacca was
short-lived when she saw Schala. Bacca stood up and Lady took his place.
She checked the woman's life signs. Her breathing was shallow, her pulse
very faint.
"Can you do anything?" Bacca asked.
But Schala shook her head. "Nothing...can be done for me," she
murmured. "This power...has a price...The life...of the summoner..." Her
hands twitched as she continued.
"Even if...not for that...the gods...are against you...They cannot
be...deprived...of what is their due...
"In order for them...to release...your soul...back...to this
world...they demanded...a replacement....
"I...am that...replacement..."
Glenn had gone very still, his face white. Now, when he spoke,
his voice was choked. "Don't leave me...Please..." He spoke
pleadingly...
A shudder ran through her body. It was getting painful for her to
talk. "Glenn..." Her voice was much fainter. "I...will always...be with
you...even if...you can't...see me...And someday...in another
life...we...will be...together...again..."
He did not try to hold back his tears. "Schala...I...love you,"
Glenn said, his voice faltering.
Her eyes softened. With her last bit of strength she brought a
hand up to touch his cheek. She smiled gently.
"I...love...you...too..."
Schala's vision was fading. She felt so tired, yet excited. The
feeling built to a point where she felt she were flying. Up, up to the
skies, higher and ever higher...She was weightless, filled with joy as she
floated to the bright, life-giving sun. To the light that she had sought
for so long, that had eluded her and kept her in the darkness. But no
more. For now she had found what she was looking for. She had gained the
understanding of all time.
Her peace had come.
Her life was complete...
Schala's eyes closed, and her hand fell to her chest. Her head
drooped slightly to one side. Her body relaxed in his arms. The small
smile remained on her lips.
Glenn bowed his head, closing his eyes and letting the tears flow.
When Lady's gaze met Bacca's, her stricken face told him all he
needed to know.
A movement from the corner of their eyes made Bacca and Lady look
up. They saw a white dove fly gracefully through the sky. Another, red
bird winged powerfully from the opposite direction. They met and flew in
a tight spiral upward, so fast it was impossible to tell where one ended
and other began. Then in a flash, the two were one, and the bird was the
one that Schala's now-broken pendant had been re-formed into.
The bird circled several times, high above where the Mystic lay. It
seemed to pause and hang there for a few moments, beating its wings in a
tender farewell.
The dove soared further and further upward until it seemed to
touch the sun...then...it disappeared.
The way to meet your fate
is to try your hardest to avoid it.
---
Wilma Jandoc aka Enya *ICQ: | "We Immortals can't afford to waste
jandoc@hawaii.edu *14710984 | our tears on their brief little
nabiki_tendo@geocities.com | lives. We must think of ourselves."
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~jandoc | - Masato,
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9800 | "The Mermaid's Scar"
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Subject: [ffml] [MW] The Final Summons