Final Fantasy XVI - Thunder's Torrents

Ch. 20 - Golden Cage

Suddenly, he pressed her back against the mattress and leaned over her. His look was serious as he said, "I want to give you something."

"Didn't you just do that?"

He smirked. "And I would like to do it many more times tonight, but that's not what I mean. Please stay still."

Before Erie could ask him what he was planning, he had already placed his hand on her chest. And before she knew it, lightning flashed around them, the air began to crackle. Reflexively, Erie wanted to free herself as she felt herself being electrified, yet Cid increased the pressure on her upper body, leaning down to place his lips on hers.

She closed her eyes, her body arched as the electrifying feeling spread. Once she had overcome the initial shock, it started to feel warm. Incoherent images appeared before her closed eyes, none of which she could assign, yet she felt they represented answers to questions she didn't know. Strange beings and familiar faces showed themselves, connected, but how, she didn't know, as the images flashed in her mind and disappeared again.

When the power of Ramuh ran out, she opened her eyes, looking puzzled into sincere eyes.

"What did you do?" she asked as he ran his hands over her arms, soothing her overstimulated nervous system.

"I gave you a piece of me to keep here," he explained, and Erie recognized her own words from earlier in his, "As long as I exist, no matter where I am, nothing will happen to you. The power of Ramuh will protect you. Just try."

She looked at him for a moment, confused, not quite understanding what he meant. But something inside her had changed, and when he let his fingertips touch hers, it sparked.

Startled, she pulled her hand back, stared at her fingers. Deep inside her, impossible for Erie to locate exactly, but unmistakably there, she felt a strange power ready to be activated by her will.

Erie thought of Clive. He had received the Phoenix's blessing from Joshua and could use the power of the Eikon of Fire in battle to better protect Joshua. Was that what Cid had done to her now?

She turned her hand on its axis. As if it had always been this way, she conjured up crackling electricity. Small flashes of purple and blue danced across her hand, illuminating the immediate area. Erie watched in fascination as her new power traced paths across her hand and arm, the power of Ramuh strengthening her. However, she realized how the use of this power did not come without an effort of her own. A slight fatigue spread through Erie as she cast the magic. How long would it take for her body to show the signs of this power, too?

Clenching her hand into a fist, she finally commanded the power to cease, and so it did. The room was once again plunged into twilight.

"I've seen things, images that have shown me a truth I can hardly believe." She looked from her hand back to Cid's face, who frowned at her words.

"I suspected that side effect of Ramuh's power might affect you too, but I wasn't sure. Scared the hell out of me when he took over my body back then. The cursed knowledge of Ramuh, the inkling that everything we know is part of a grand plan, including the Eikons, the reason why we Dominants can never live a quiet life, even if we wanted to."

He took Erie's hand in his and looked down at their interlaced fingers. The reason Cid wanted to leave Ash was because he felt responsible for a better world. Not the one that the God of Barnabas and Benedikta wanted to create, but a world in which people could shape their lives without external control.

"If you have always known all this, why have you never told us? Why have we been here for so long and done nothing?" Erie asked.

"Because I only recently caught a glimpse of what this knowledge means. I now know better than ever that this 'god' that Barnabas and Benedikta worship will be our downfall, and I intend to derail his plan for our world. I have to leave Ash now, it can't go on like this."