To A Thief - Chapter 31: A Beginning to an End

"That's all wrong," The young man shook his head at the blonde-haired boy, bringing the tip of his two-handed sword to the floor towards a dull training blade that had landed before him. He flicked it back in the boy's direction. 

"Damn..." The boy cursed under his breath as he pushed himself off the soft ground and wiped dirt from his face. Looking up towards the blade landing in front of him, his eyes trailed over to the man staring down at him with a most displeased look on his face. "I can get it. I know it," The boy muttered.

"Whatever it takes to get your brawn going," The man sighed, spinning on his heel and turning his back to the boy as he walked a few feet further. He faced the rustling forest trees ahead. "With lousy reflexes like those, I don't expect much from you in the next few years, that's for damn sure." 

The late afternoon sun dared to break through the trees and shine at the boy's face as he picked up his blade and looked up at the man's back. He ran the gaze of his soft blue eyes along the edges of the man's large great sword which was rested over his shoulder. "My mind was fogging up again... let's try it once more. I can get it," He assured the young man, dropping his gaze back to his own dull training blade. Gripping the leather hilt tightly, the boy got back into his battle stance. "I'm going to let go, mom and dad... I have to. Otherwise, I don't think I'll be able to do this. Goodbye... I..." Their image began to fade from his mind.

"Hmph." The man interrupted the boy's thoughts. "You can't simply keep telling yourself that. Not giving up just isn't good enough... all it means is that you'll get beat harder and harder each time. A hard head will get you nowhere. Get it right this time, or it's over," He continued, lowering his great sword once again and readying his charge towards the boy. "Ready up."

He didn't reply. The boy simply narrowed his eyes, clenching his teeth behind shut lips and awaiting the exact moment where he would gain the upper hand; that split, open second of the man's attack that could easily go to his own favor. It's amazing how slow the world seems to move when you're putting all your attention to something so insignificant, or rather, insignificant to the untrained eye. 

Without another word, the man made his move and charged towards the boy, his large sword coming straight at his target. 

A flash of steel. Everything went white. 

******

"Heh, good job kid. There's hope for you yet." 

Draven's eyes gazed over the open patches of sky among tree leaves as the words echoed over his mind. His cleared mind. "It's been... so long since I've let go," He thought to himself, his eyes falling back forward. "Don't worry about me. I've been doing alright. I had a good teacher, after all." 

"Look alive, Draven," Vincent's voice addressed the silent young thief as the trio traveled through the damp and foggy rain forest of Zi'Tah on chocoback. They had rode through the peninsula of Sauromugue and over the barren mountains of Meriphataud to get this far. Despite the fact that it rained a lot here and the place was just crawling with goblins and leeches, it was actually quite beautiful. The trees stood as tall as the eye could see and many giant mineral stones stuck out of the earth letting out soft hues of blueish light, giving the foggy rain forest a sort of serene glow. "The coordinates Moku gave us can't be too much further from here. We need to be on our guard... Goblins aren't the only things out here considered a threat. And I'm not just talking about a possible ambush from our Descent friends." 

Many adventurers would talk rumors about how the many undead souls that supposedly roamed this quiet forest were originally fallen adventurers themselves who have been reanimated by the glowing minerals all over the area, suggesting that these stones had strange power. It was because of this that people hardly ever came here. Even adventurers. It was a sort of respect for the deceased of Zi'Tah. This also brought people to begin referring to this forest as 'The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah.'

"Yes, sir." Draven said curtly before Vincent could finish. Of course he was looking alive. It's not like he'd let those clowns get the jump on him. But he began to wonder how Vincent could have sensed that his mind was beginning to wander. Maybe he had gotten noticeably quieter than usual. 

"Don't be getting the jitters now, hear?" Veronaut snickered as he looked over his shoulder at the younger brigadier. He was riding beside Vincent throughout most of their trip, typically ignoring the welp. Still, he knew Draven was made of more than that. He was just pulling his leg. He figured at least this maggot showed some promise and did what he was told. 

"Shut up." Draven turned to face in the other direction. "Just keep your eyes on the road and off of me," He mumbled. Truth be told, even though he never really had a bone to pick with Veronaut, he just never liked the guy. He didn't exactly know why. Maybe it was the pompous smirk that was glued to his face half the time as if he was just about ready to shove someone around,  or if it was simply the way he walked around with that axe on his shoulder like he was tough s**t. He could understand Stiff or Flint hating a guy like him for all he's worth, but he himself had no real reason to do so. He just did.

"Heh, what a punk,' Veronaut smirked to himself as he faced forward once more. "I'm glad you thought to bring entertainment," He muttered to Vincent. "Kid hardly talks." 

"Eh. It's not that... he just doesn't like you is all. Give it a few years and he might get used to you," Vincent responded as he tugged lightly on his chocobo's reigns, causing the yellow-feathered avian to reduce the length of its strides. The Brigadier leader's dark eyes began to scan the area thoroughly, contrast to how he had kept them glued so forward before. 

"Yeah? Well I don't got a few years," Veronaut retorted. But he slowed his own chocobo as he saw Vincent seemingly looking for something. "What do you see, boss?" 

Draven could feel the air around them shift. "Has it gotten foggier?" He thought to himself as he, too, took to slowing down his mount. Indeed, the fog seemed to thicken around this section of Zi'Tah. The sun looked as if it had completely vanished from above.

"What's with all this damn fog?" Veronaut grunted as he yanked the reigns of his chocobo to a halt and squinted his eyes. "I can't see a thing." 

"This is no fog," Vincent murmured as he approached the wall of what they mistook as mist at first glance. Reaching over to touch it, he could feel that it was in fact rock solid. But it wasn't rock... it was a type of cermet with a fog-like hue to it. "It seems as though we have found our location or rather, part of it. This must be the border around the area," Vincent said as he pulled his head back to look up. The wall appeared to stretch on forever and it was hard to see the end of it with all these trees.

"I guess now we know where the sun went," Veronaut said in disbelief as he tried to look past the trees. It was practically impossible to see how far up the border which blocked the sun entirely from this area went. 

"Maybe we can go around it," Draven suggested as he joined the other two. "There has to be an entrance somewhere."

"And that's exactly what we're going to do," Vincent replied as he turned his chocobo away from the wall and had the group begin their trek towards the east, keeping close to the wall. "A border made entirely of cermet, cleverly hidden amidst the heavy fog and the great trees of Zi'Tah. It is impossible to see this location from outside the forest and almost as much from the inside. Whoever or whatever built this was clearly secluding themselves from the world," Vincent let his thoughts run out of his mouth. 

After going on for what seemed like forever to try and find an opening into this border, the trio finally found it. But what they found was quite spectacular. Rather than an opening, there before them stood a large flight of stairs the led right up into whatever stood on the other side of the border. Leaving their chocobos behind and making their way up, their eyes met with a marvelous view of what appeared to be the remains of an ancient civilization made up entirely of cermet. It was as if the gods had taken a gigantic slab of cermet and carved an entire city out of it. There was no other material used in the architecture of this place. 

What was more spectacular was that the sky and the sun shone clearly upon the entire city. There were zero traces of fog. It was as if the fog and the trees themselves were guardians to the city, wrapping it away from the world but leaving it untouched in all its beauty. However, there appeared to be no sign of life whatsoever in any of the structures.  No animals, no humanoids, no plant-life, not even insects. The only thing that seemed out of place was that much of the cermet off the walls had fallen apart most likely over time. Just ahead, an even larger flight of stairs stretched on towards a towering structure at the top. If one looked closely, they would see many designs etched from the cermet it was made of. However, the structure itself appeared to be unreachable due to many wide crevices and gaps in the stairway leading up to it. Whatever it was probably held some importance to the abandoned civilization... so much so that the ridiculously long stairway was destroyed. Water appeared to be flowing from within the gaps though and around the city. 

"This place even has a damn water system," Veronaut croaked in awe as he looked around. He cocked his head back in disbelief towards the other two. "You telling me these a******s have their own city?"

"They don't," Vincent said as he began making his way towards a small overpass to the right. "There is a forgotten story of an ancient city inhabited by a powerful race known as the Zilart. Centuries ago, these Zilart began to believe that there was no such thing as a goddess- our goddess Altana. After a time full of research and convert, they began to believe in other gods," He began as the group went deeper into the labyrinthine-like sections of the city. 

"Gods?" Veronaut cocked his head. "What made them think there was more than one?" 

"Nobody really knew," Vincent continued. "But somehow they also managed to come up with the idea that there was a giant paradise in the sky where these so called 'Gods' made their slumber. The Zilart figured that for whatever reason, these gods were trapped up in this paradise, locked away from Vana'diel. With their research, power, and technology, the Zilart came to the conclusion that they had been put into this world to unlock the gates of paradise so that their gods may finally live on Vana'diel alongside them. With the combined knowledge and power of their gods, the Zilart were intent on making Vana'diel an even greater paradise fit for such mighty avatars. Naturally, they started to believe that only those of Zilartian blood may live on this world in peace and harmony with their own gods.

 With this in mind, the Zilart constructed several monumental crags around Vana'diel that were all connected and would harbor the power of the planet's mother crystals. They would activate all of this using devices built into Delkfutt's Tower which served as the base of all the crags and enabled them to start accumulating power from the crystals. At the same time, they had built a city right under the supposed paradise in the sky along with a magical gate for the gods which would be the epicenter of it. They would drain the power of all the mother crystals using the crags and siphon it all to this magical gate, giving it enough energy to connect with the gods' paradise up above. If I remember correctly, this ancient city that the Zilart built was called Ro'Maeve. 

With Ro'Maeve and the gods' paradise connected by the gate and energy, the Zilart would gain access to paradise to awaken their slumbering gods and offer their world to them. However, another ancient race known as the Kuluu began to intervene with the Zilart's plans. To drain the power of the mother crystals would bring the planet to deteriorate, and eventually crumble... destroying all life in its existence. Unfortunately, the Zilart were too driven by their self-centered needs and research to lend an ear to the Kuluu. They believed that the gods themselves placed the mother crystals here on Vana'diel so that their children may one day open the gates of paradise. 

This caused a violent struggle between both races, but the efforts of the Kuluu were naught but fruitless. The Zilart were far stronger than them and had access to dangerous technology. But the Kuluu never gave up... they went on and on until their resolve was heard. By some miracle, they were able to stop the northern-most crag from draining anymore power from the mother crystal after a full scale attack. This disrupted the balance of the crags, and broke the connection between the others. 

The Zilart no longer had enough power to open the gate of the gods, and with nowhere else to go... all that power from the mother crystals was released into Vana'diel, engulfing the planet in a blinding light of energy. It is believed that all that energy destroyed both the Zilart and the Kuluu. Once Vana'diel was re-stabilized by the mother crystals, life began anew. If you ever wondered where such structures as the crags and Delkfutt's Tower in Qufim Island came from, now you know," Vincent finished as the group walked into a large circular area resembling an amphitheater. But no more than a second later, he clutched his forehead and dropped heavily to his knees. "Ungh!" 

Veronaut and Draven had both been staring at Vincent in confusion as he spoke of matters that have never been heard of in Vana'diel. Where had he learned such history from? There were absolutely no records of such things anywhere in the world... but it all somehow made sense. The two shot unsure glances at each other just before their leader which never seemingly showed weakness dropped to his knees in pain. 

"Boss!" Veronaut called out, rushing to his side. "What the hell happened to you? What's all this about, eh?" 

"Sir." Draven said without comfort. It was just strange to see Vincent showing signs of weakness or pain. It was very rare. "Are you...?"

"I'm fine...! Don't touch me. I can move," Vincent grunted, forcing himself back on his feet. "I don't know what got over me... all of that was naught but a flicker to my memory. It was a tale an old tonberry that I happened to run across had once told me. But the moment I stepped into this place, it all came rushing back to me... I couldn't even control what I was saying. Just forget about-"

"Welcome to Ro'Maeve," An unfamiliar voice suddenly burst out into the amphitheater. "What your leader has just told you is quite accurate. There is nothing to forget..." The voice continued as a pool of darkness began to form at the center of the amphitheater. "For it is what shall come to pass once more..." The pool began to stretch out along the perimeter of the amphitheater, blocking off all exits as multiple beings began to walk up and out of the darkness. In the middle of them all, stood the one who spoke in that loud and menacing tone. He was the only one of them all who wore a hood. All you could see under it was a pair of green narrow eyes that were slit vertically and seemed to glow in the shadows that hid the rest of his face."... With the resurrection of the Shadow Lord," He finished. Among the large group of figures stood familiar faces like Daan and Gazo, as well as the female ninja spy that had infiltrated the Brigade's ranks during the battle against Warlord Jagodek. 

"It's them..." Veronaut gritted his teeth, taking out his axe and gripping the handle tight. "It's those Descent jackasses." 

"Hmph," Draven grunted, fingers twitching just barely as his eyes scanned the room frantically. 

"Easy, Draven," Vincent's voice murmured to the young thief. "We didn't come here to die."

"I believe our meeting has been... a long time coming," The hooded figure spoke as he began making his way towards the Brigade trio.

___________________________________________________________________________________

The leader of the Descent has finally met eyes with the leader of the Brigade! 

With no way out of the amphitheater, the Brigade leader and his two members are forced to stand before what appears to be the entirety of the Descent. 

Find out what happens next in Chapter 32: The Descent