Final Fantasy

CHAPTER 20 - ARC 7: CITY IN THE SKY

Conner stepped off the glowing red platform and onto the cold steel floor. It was similar to the way Onrac had been designed; metal walls and floors, iron pipes running along each and the sound of engines in the distance. The chamber he stepped into was closed off, but there was some strange light source overhead. It buzzed like faint electricity. The way forward was clearly the one door, but for now it was shut.

Ava appeared behind him on the platform, gliding down to his side as she also took in the strangeness of the chamber. "Who could have built such a place?"

Lumina appeared next, but instead took a step back to inspect the platform they all appeared on. "I was right... but, what is this? It's solid, and while I've heard of teleportation magic, it's as Ava said. There's--"

"No trace of magic here," Ava repeated. "It's all... constructed."

"I suppose it's not impossible," Conner mumbled, drawing his sword. "Just be ready for anything. Where's Benjamin?"

Suddenly Ben was tripping over himself down the steps from the platform. He'd entered a little quickly and was paying for it, but he managed to stay on his feet. "I'm fine I'm fine. Where are we?"

"Eden," Lumina answered.

The door opened on it's own, sliding into the wall. They were met with a blinding light, and a silhouette standing in it. When the door shut, blocking off the light, the figure approached them. It was a man in strange armor, blinking colors on it's chest and a single red light coming through it's visor.

"Lord Tiamat has been expecting you," it spoke in a mechanical voice.

"A machine!" Conner huffed, moving closer to it. "Like that White Mage protector I smashed to pieces."

The robot didn't react to the threat, just turning back to the door. "You will follow."

"Not very personable," Ben smirked.

"You've met machines before?" Lumina asked.

"Only just before you joined," Ava nodded. "Earlier that day."

Lumina wasn't sure how to answer. She'd traveled most of the world and spent many many years doing so. Stories came up from time to time of advanced man-made machines, but her quests for magic seemed to divert from those paths so she'd never come up against machines herself. Seeing one walk and talk like a person was... odd. "I do believe I've joined rather late."

The door was opened yet again by nothing and the group was blinded by the intense light. Once their eyes adjusted and they stepped outside, they were met with a sight they hadn't expected. They stood on a walkway that wrapped around the chamber they just came from, and it was open to the sky above them... and the sky below them. Storm clouds continued to snap with thunder, but it was so far down it wasn't about to affect the mechanically suspended city. The roar of the engines was also louder out here, the air thinner and the winds a bit colder.