The party ran up the flights of stairs and ran
out to the now open gate.
"Who opened the gate?" Delita was puzzled. He
didn't believe in magick, yet it was occurring right before his eyes, all his
possible assailants that knew his whereabouts were with him at his
side.
"Delita Hyral," a
dark clad ruffian shouted, "we are
ordered to kill you on sight, prepare to die! Anyone else who is with him dies
as well!"
"You think a threat like that is going to frighten
me, you malicious mongrel, my sword will drink your blood this night!" Delita
roared Death Sword drawn.
Swords were drawn and the battle cry was
sounded. There were 15 soldiers altogether, making each warrior outnumbered by
two. Agrias had the luck of being surrounded by four of them.
Agrias
quickly pointed her sword to the sky, "Strike the ground
and those upon it with fear, Thunder Sword!" And with that, a huge
series of electric sword strikes seemed to come up from the ground and fell each
dark knight about her. But to her horror, each knight that lay dead slouched up
and had a red glare in their eyes.
"They're not dying?!" Delita said
through several sword thrusts to a knight's abdomen.
Amla speculated,
"These knights aren't even human at all, they are the undead. Everyone with a
stone, bear it out, now!"
With that everyone who had a stone took it in
their hands, then Amla chanted out, "Evil with a human mask, reveal yourself
Revenants of the past."
Immediately a holy light flashed across the
field, nearly knocking every dark knight over, but what truly happened made
Delita a true believer in the Zodiac...
All the Black knights' armor
melted away revealing them to be translucent beings known only as Revenants or
evil spirits.
Delita tried to slash at his assailants, but now they were
untouchable and were throwing electrical charges at him.
Suddenly, Amla
stepped in front of Delita and touched the ghost with the stone, which just as
suddenly phased out the ghost and glowed a strange crystal blue
hue.
"What did you do? Why is that stone glowing?"
Amla smiled,
then turned to the rest of the group, confusing Delita even more.
"No
time for questions, everyone, quickly raise your stones to the sky and repeat
what I say!"
Holy stone, keeper of the
power,
I shall guard you with my heart,
Destroy the evil and death
sower,
And you shall reveal your part.
Immediately the
stones each glowed with rainbow colored hues and a blue flame surrounded each
creature and burnt them to oblivion. Leaving nothing but the warriors
alone.
"Why were the stones glowing, what power did they have?" Delita
was in shock at what he just saw.
Azmar explained, "these are 5 of the 13
Zodiac Stones, apparently they came to us in our time of need."
Amla
stated, "The need was great enough, so each of the stones transformed into the
Zodiac Stones, each representing a member of the Zodiac Braves. You shall know
if you are a true Zodiac Brave if the stone in your hand glows and contains a
symbol of the Zodiac."
Delita, still doubtful asked, "What does it mean
to be a Zodiac Brave? And you say there are 13, I thought there were only
12...Plus with the exception of driving away the dead, what else are these rocks
good for anyway?"
Agrias was quick to answer his first question, "You've
never heard of the legend of the Zodiac Braves who defeated the great
demon/angel and protected our land? Those who saved this land were an obscure
band of men and women who came from different eras and places to defeat the
lucavi....if you're a Zodiac Brave you must fight in the Zodiac
War."
Reis followed up, "The legend also said that a dark and vile man
who humbled himself for his friends and trusted in those he cared for would
become the 13th Zodiac Brave."
"But we only have five of the
stones....how do we know who the braves are? And what about the other 8 Zodiac
Stones?"
"Delita, stop asking so many stupid questions....," Azmar
snapped, startling him, "if you haven't noticed we already found five of the
Braves as well as the stones."
“As if you could ever pull rank on
me…” Delita slightly sneered, so no one would notice. The last anyone had
ever treated him like a commoner was…
"Azmar's right, the stones reacted
as soon as we used them, so with the exception of yourself and Gildenstern, we
five are braves." Beowulf spoke with a mystical finality.
"So what Brave
are you Beowulf?" Delita asked sarcastically.
Amla answered his question
patiently, "Beowulf is Taurus, Azmar is Leo, Agrias is Libra, Reis is
Sagittarius, and I myself am Virgo..."
"So what am I,
dumb-arsius?" Delita quipped, feeling left out.
"Sire, I hardly
think this is a time for jokes, we have to eliminate this threat to Ivalice."
Gildenstern said scoldingly.
"Very well....sigh...we will go find the
remaining stones and put the church back in its place."
That night
sleeping in a monk's quarters, Delita had a lot to think about before he fell
asleep. "It's been so long since I've been treated like a commoner, I feel so
different, yet I feel liberated, as if the guilt that led me to the throne has
dissipated. Apparently what my knights say is true, much to my discovery. So
they are in fact, Zodiac Braves, but what makes me suspicious is that they are
simply dragging me along some false expedition for a pile of stones that glow in
the dark for all I know. But when they spoke of what sign each represented I got
to thinking about Ramza....he once said he was a Leo, I wonder if Azmar knew of
him at all.”
“No, that's foolish, from the looks of it, Azmar
really considered Ramza a heretic even after what the Villagers said of
him.”
“The last time I ever saw Ramza, we fought side by side at
the top of a church steeple in Bervenia. I shook hands with the only man I ever
truly trusted that day. Yet for some reason I feel I can trust all the men and
women in my company right now, even more than I could trust my own sword. Blast.
More than that, I feel like, as much as I’ve never cared to admit, that I can
trust Azmar with my own life. My life, which I’ve never trusted to anyone, in
his hands like. . . . . . . .Ramza.”
“I--I feel sorry for him
being scarred all over his face. He must be truly ashamed of his face. But
someday I wish to look upon that face and say that he truly is a man of brave
stature, and I will do everything in my power to keep him alive, we shall
protect ourselves. Zodiac Brave or Former Black Knight and King, I will owe my
life and my sword to Azmar, and if he fights in this Zodiac War, I shall fight
with him.”
