Dissidia Final Fantasy: Unus Mundus

Chapter Thirteen ~ A Meeting of Two Kings (Cecil)

Ceodore wasn't sure how long he'd fallen asleep, but when he came to, he was rather sore. He fell asleep below the deck of the ship Palom, Porom, Ursula, and Leonora arrived in, and woke up to the sound of wood creaking and the ocean's currents running against the hull outside, as well as a brief kick from Palom.

"Rise and shine," he said, rolling Ceodore over onto his back. "Land ho, or whatever."

Palom walked away as Ceodore stood up, stretching as much as he can as the sore feeling spread all throughout his body. That's the last time I sleep while wearing armor, he thought to himself. On the hardwood floor of a ship, no less... Once he finished stretching, he ascended the stairs and walked up to the deck of the ship, where everyone else was already awake, including his father, Rydia, and Edge. And just as Palom's enthusiastic declaration declared, Ceodore saw land out in the distance. It appeared to be a rather empty land.

"I wonder what sort of death traps await us there," Edge said nonchalantly, which was immediately countered by a swift slap across the back of his head from Rydia.

"It doesn't look familiar," said Cecil. "Any of you know where we're going?"

"We were kind of hoping you would know," Porom replied. "You've traveled more of the world than a lot of us have."

Cecil crossed his arms and looked forward at the mysterious continent they sailed for. The closer they got, the more he could see where they were heading. It appeared to be a vast desert surrounded by mountains. "It looks like a desert, but not one I'm familiar with."

"Well, no problem with a bit of an adventure," Ursula sighed lightly, trying to maintain an optimistic demeanor. "There any ports we could weigh anchor at?"

"Not that I can see," Rydia said, standing up on the bow of the ship. As she watched the land grow closer, the air around them growing hotter as the neared the desert. "Maybe we'll just have to stop at the coastline."

"Parking illegally again, huh?" Ceodore scoffed, nudging Palom a bit.

"Don't test me," Palom said impatiently. "I know Meteor, Ceodore, and I'm not afraid to use it."

"He's not worth it," said Cecil. "Don't do it."

"Dad!" Ceodore exclaimed, and Cecil only laughed. "What the hell!?"

The banter quickly stopped as they neared the shore. Palom got the ship close enough to the coastline to where the sand stopped it. He lowered the sails, and Edge began rotating a lever to lower the anchor down into the sand. "It's hot here," he groaned as he fanned himself.

"Well, it is a desert." Rydia hopped off the ship with ease while the others climbed down the ship's side . "You didn't expect it to be cold, did you?"

Upon stepping onto the beach, Cecil surveyed the area briefly before looking ahead at the mountains. "Well, let's get to climbing," he said. As they walked forward, Leonora stuck close to Palom and held onto his arm.

"Could s-someone tell me why w-w-we're going into potentially d-dangerous territory?" she asked, a bit panicky at the sight of anything moving.

"Blind adventuring into unknown lands," said Porom. "If none of us have ever been here, maybe it'll, I don't know... be beneficial or—Cecil, could you explain why we're doing this? I fail to see why it's necessary."

"We have no leads on what's going on," Cecil said, grunting a bit as they began to climb up some of the steep mountain cliffs. "The second moon is red again, people and places are disappearing entirely, and it seems that this is a place none of us have ever seen, so it's possible that among all the confusion, places we've never seen before are appearing in place of other locations. Also, I have no idea where the Lunar Whale is, so we currently have no way of going to investigate the moon."