UnShaekable (FFXII)

XLVII) The Sun-Cryst

I sling the greenish blood from the tip of my spear to the sandstone beneath my feet, grimacing at the scent of rotting flesh that seeps from the crumpled creature before me. Vaan hisses as Penelo gingerly looks over a gash in his arm from one of the beast's curled gray claws. Sheathing her sword, Ashe steps toward the towering gates of the tower's base, walking steadily past the gray, wrinkled undead dragon to her left. Vaan walks past her, staring up at a bronze plaque on the stone wall.

"Hey, Fran. Something's written on the wall."

"Engraved by someone, it seems," the viera replies, taking long steps up to his side. "It's quite old." One of her speckled ears twitches and she begins to read. "'Lo, seeker in days unborn, god-blade bearer. Know you: this tower challenges the sky. Ware the watcher; the ward of the Three Waits, soul-hungry, unsated. He without power, want it not. He with power, trust it not. He with sight, heed it not. Rend illusion, cut the true path. In blood, Raithwall.'"

"The Dynast-King?" Ashe cries, rushing forward.

"Does it startle you?" Fran replies, a gentle laughter surprisingly clear in her voice. "The Dynast-King took his sword from the Occuria. It was here he claimed the nethicite. He must have known he was not the last the Occuria would choose. He left this for you." Fran shakes her head, walking past Ashe. "Rend illusion, cut the true path. Words of much mystery. Yet his blood run sin your veins. Perhaps it whispers to you the truth?"

Awed, Ashe steps up to the enormous gates of the tower, pressing a palm to the golden gate. A brilliant blue flash lights up the sky and the seam between the doors, a low rumbling rising from the ground beneath us.

Basch is hot on her heels, stepping inside the temple with a stern expression, scanning for enemies in the dim blue light. I follow Fran, blinking to adjust my eyes to the darkness. The sound of crashing water floods my ears. A waterfall pours down the very center of the towering structure, casting lights across the blue brick walls. But this water is different, for it flows toward the sky in stream of fine mist. Penelo dares to approach the edge of the ground floor, reaching out a hand to touch the water, Gasping, she pulls away with the droplets scatter away from her, continuing their journey to the top.

"How's that even possible?" Vaan asks, scratching the back of his head. Balthier crosses his arms, watching the falls.

"Something's pulling it up," he muses. Fran's ear twitches; Vaan turns and frowns at the sky pirates.

"But why? Does it make clouds or something?"

"Or it's being used to fuel something," I suggest, shrugging when I earn everyone's eyes. "Steam power, perhaps. Power for what, I don't know. At any rate, I can't be bothered to speculate about this any longer. We should get to the Sun-cryst as quickly as possible."

"Agreed," Ashe nods, glancing at the dark passageway that echoes with the growls and cries of the monsters that lie within.

"Shall we?" Reddas asks, arching an eyebrow.

"Better now that never," I mutter with a sigh, leading the charge into the darkness with only the fuel of the sudden urge to face Vayne once and for all energizing me to make my move. Your turn, brother.

~|~|~|~|~

The eight of us are beaten, bloody, bruised, and beyond exhausted by the time we make it to the final lift at the very top of the tower. Vaan's lip has been busted several times over, Penelo's weak from the sheer number of times she's casted the same simple curing spells, Balthier has a strip of Basch's shirt tied around his bicep to stop the bleeding from a gash, and our supply of potions and patience ran out long ago. Ashe walks with a slight limp alongside Basch, who's covered in enough cuts to butcher a cockatrice and then some. I walk beside Fran, my muscles aching, my sides pinching, and my feet screaming for a break. As long as the Imperials don't stop, we keep going.