Kain opened his eyes to the darkness of new dawn. He knew it was morning, even though this part of the enchanted forest lay forever enclosed in shadow. It was horribly icy in this part of the woodland a lone; the trees became a canopy above to block out most, if not all, the heat. The chill of the western breeze blew out their magic-made campfire some time in the night, leaving as a reminder a stream of gray smoke. Kain rested his head against the backing of stone, conveniently behind the fallen log, his other arm around the elf.
No sense in waking everyone up yet... He gazed down at Decca, brushing strands of hair from out her beautiful face. She shivered in the cold as he caressed the soft skin of her cheek. He pulled the cloak--the black cloak she had brought with her prior to all this--to her bare shoulders, watching tenderly as she thawed to its warmth. She meant more than anything to him, more than mere words could tell, more than he dared to speak. And he would watch over her always. No matter where she wandered off to, he would be there to guide her home again. Then he smiled, part of him having yet to know just how special she really was in all this and the other part dreading to find out.
With the weariness of last night still pressing upon his body, he was forced to sleep more than he desired. He closed his eyes again, the rays of new light dancing on his resting face. Valzer was awake though, and he rose from the log and pressed a hand to his back. Sleeping on the ground wasn’t exactly in the way of comfort for this Black Wizard. Valzer checked to make sure his little black bag was still secured around his waist. And when he was certain it wouldn’t fall off, he turned his head to regard Decca. The elf was still resting with Kain’s arms around her, as if he were protecting her subconsciously.
“I’m glad we came with you, Kain.” Valzer sighed to himself, still watching his best friend and elf-sister in slumber. Why won’t you two admit to how close you really are? It would be nice, Kain, you to find someone again. Isn't that what you are looking for? You said something like that to me once... The wizard knelt down to scoop up Kain’s lance. Holding it within his grasp, he smiled slightly, imagining all that it must have seen in its battles with Kain. “You have no idea how much you really need one another and you don‘t want to find that out too late, my friends...”
It was six months prior to when Valzer and Kain would meet each other for the first time, and Valzer was still leaning against the wall of the tavern like he always did. The place was different back then; it didn’t seem to have that glow that Kain would soon give to it. Months before the wedding of Cecil and Rosa, Kain had left and traveled to Mt. Ordeals in order to escape from the past, his past. What he did not know was that he was to find his future within the walls of the wizards' village. On his way over to the great mountain, he stopped by the town of Mysidia. And there, like so many days before, stood Valzer.
He always remained outside the tavern doors, as if he was waiting for someone to come and whisk him away into some great adventure. It was Kain who caught his eye. Perhaps it was the charcoal and gold armor that grabbed at his attention, or perhaps it was the way Kain looked before him, dark and mysterious on top of the black chocobo, that interested Valzer. He seemed the proud king descending upon a fallen kingdom after a great battle. Whatever it may have been, it forced this wizard to wander over to him. Just by the way Kain was glancing around, the wizard could tell he was new to the town; Kain didn’t bother to hide his lost expression.
“Hey, warrior!” Valzer called over to him, smiling broadly.
Kain, at first, ignored the cries of the man, thinking he was calling the attention of another. But when Valzer’s words ventured more toward him than anyone else, he turned his head towards the blue-robed wizard, a lopsided grin on a hard face--a face that was too young to see the horrors which were bestowed upon it. Something had changed the outcome of his fate. “Are you calling on me wizard or do you mistake me for another?” He steadied the animal beneath him.
Valzer did not answer him with a response, only with another question. “You’re new to this part of the world, correct?” When he noticed the warrior’s weapon, Valzer decided on a more vigilant approach.
“Yes, I am. Why does it trouble you?” Kain raised a dark brow, eyeing the stranger in the way of curiosity, not irritation.
Kain’s two deep sapphire eyes seemed to pierce Valzer, looking through him unintentionally. The Dragoon was not threatening him on purpose, he simply had that influence on whomever he gazed upon. Valzer still kept his friendly facade. “Well, since you’re new here and I know this place, for it is where I have spent many a year, perhaps you would like me to show you about?”
Something in the way Valzer presented himself made Kain desire to accept his offer. “I don’t see why not.” He dismounted the chocobo, patting its smooth feathered back.
Valzer extended a hand to the Dragoon Knight. “The name’s Valzer.”
Kain let go his hold on his chocobo’s reins and shook Valzer’s hand, his grip impressively strong. It was not long before Kain and Valzer became good friends; Kain inquiring and exploring, Valzer explaining and guiding. And soon after this, Valzer introduced Kain to his childhood friend and sister. With a laugh, he shoved Kain over to a beautiful, pink-haired elf.
“My friend,” Valzer said while pulling the elf over towards him, “this is Decca...”
Valzer blinked, suddenly escaping from his reminiscing and awaking to the forest of Mysidia. He chuckled a bit in remembrance. All of them had become close since that time, turning out to be the family that each one needed. The Black Wizard gently tapped his friend’s shoulder. “Kain?” Receiving no response, he tried again, a tad more forceful.
Kain shot up from his seat, grabbing for his lance, but coming back empty handed. When realizing that his rouser was just Valzer, he sighed and sat back down, strands of dark hair falling over his eyes. “Don’t do that, Valz.”
Valzer stifled his laughter and threw the warrior his weapon. “Sorry, but you were stirring around. It was really most annoying.” He gave a hand to Kain, helping him upward.
Decca stirred in her place, moaning slightly as Kain’s own rustling awoke her to the chilling morning. For reasons not even she could grasp, sleeping within the safety of the forest walls and waking to the beauty around her felt strangely comfortable. She, Valzer and some of the others from Mysidia had done so before when hunting or tracking down a seemingly dangerous threat to the town. Even as a child she would purposely lose herself within the splendor of this enchanted woodland.
She yawned, stretching her stiff limbs to the unseen sky above. “Hey, watch where you step, warrior.” The elf smirked, looking upon the other two with mild interest.
“Why, my elvin lady,” Kain grinned, outstretching a hand to her, “With the excellent hearing you have, such is the way of your kind, I would have thought you to be the first to wake.” Decca placed her hand within his, but instead of being pulled up, she caught him off guard, yanking him with a laugh to where she sat back on the log. "My elf is stronger than she looks!" Kain laughed and stood, but Decca merely stuck out her foot to trip him.
Meanwhile, Valzer busied himself with finding a passage through the maze of the Mysidian Forest. True, he and Decca had been here many times before, but with every step you take within this woodland, it will reveal a different path each time. “Guys...” Valzer whispered. Something had caught his eye... Not something. Someone.
“Ow! What’s wrong?” Kain ran over to the wizard, trying best to escape Decca's foot. He pulled Valzer before him, slouching down and poking his head out from behind the wizard, smiling widely. “Come now, elf, it was merely a joke.”
“And behind Valzer you think I cannot see you? He’s shorter than you, you know.” Decca reached for her bow, taking aim with her arrow for Valzer's head. “Valz, how much do you want to wager I can hit him from behind you?”
“A bet, eh?” Valzer scratched the bottom of his bearded face.
Upon hearing this, Kain came from out his refuge, one arm around Valzer and for the first time noticing that concealed under the wizard’s robes, he carried a long, white blade. “It was just in lighthearted fun.” He grinned widely.
Decca would have responded, but another sound caught her attention at that moment and she readied her bow in the other direction quicker than the eye of Kain and Valzer. Her ears twitched and her eyes narrowed. “We’re being followed.”
I know I heard something earlier. Valzer scoffed inwardly for not trusting his first instinct. “Should we arrange a little surprise attack for him?”
“No.” Decca lowered her bow, placing it back around her shoulder. “No, it would be wise to keep on our original trail and find Rydia.” The elf started walking again, her companions following whether they agreed with their friend or not.
This woodland, even when deeper explored, was nothing short of a splendid dream. The trees’ leaves drooping down and touching the ground, separated with shafts of the new dawn’s light. Being here gave a certain peace to each of them, despite the reasons to why they had came. The beauty of the forest could not be ignored, and most had to stop to admire this now and then.
“But what if he tries to attack us first? Sure, we do not know if he is hunting us, but don’t you think we should make it stay that way?” Valzer’s voice broke the silence once more.
“From what I sense, Valzer, there is no immediate danger.” Decca's impassive voice answered.
“So, he’s not after us?” Kain stopped walking, forcing his friends to do likewise. “Then he is after Rydia.” Though Decca’s elvin gifts allowed her to see more, and also into the one who sought their Caller friend, Kain’s own warrior impulse cried out that they would soon be next to be hunted.
Maybe she knew this as well. Why else would she not have stopped to enjoy the beauty of the forest? All elves, whether Wood Elves or not, would always stop at the beauty of the wilderness. But her mind was more occupied with what stalked this world, the very world she had come to know as her own. And not only did she know well they were next, she knew more than she dared to speak. This presence was all too familiar to Decca.
Kain watched her, noting the sudden hardness to her face and the tension in her shoulders. Something was wrong. He wished to ask her, but he knew she would not have the answers they both sought.
And right were both their senses. Olvin followed them with new intrigue as they continued onward. He watched in the cover of the trees. He peered through the leaves, smiling under the shadow of his hood. “They seek the Caller as well?”
Olvin smirked. No emotion for him. No emotion to slow him down. Good warrior. Cold. Like a good warrior should be.
***
“It would be wise for us to land in that clearing ahead.” Cecil said, piloting through the cloudless sky towards their destination: the great Forest of Mysidia. They departed their ship’s deck, boots falling upon the soft grass of the world once more. Cecil paused, breathing in the sweet scent of the flora. “Beauty is something that should take your breath away...” His gaze followed the slight breeze. “But I sense something else that does not belong here.”
“Yeah, us.” Edge scoffed. He did not bother to hide the annoyance that came with waking early. “I am not one to rise with the sun, Cecil.” But their Paladin King did not respond. He had already followed the dirt path into one of the Mysidian Forest’s caverns.
“Come now, Edge.” Rosa drew her bow and followed her husband. Her gifts lied more in the craft of healing magic than in combat, but she was a powerful ally nevertheless.
As they entered the forest after Cecil, the sudden aloofness hit them. Something was amiss, and the trees spoke this to all, elvin or not, that entered within their walls. But the warriors continued on, their boots squishing on the dampened earth. Inside the mighty trunks of the woods, Cecil stood breathing only slightly. They did not have the eyes and ears of an elf to aid them. He knelt to the ground, his hands searching for a branch to make a torch. Cecil found one that was relatively dry and wrapped the top portion of the wood with cloth, ripped without a second thought from his cape.
“Here,” he said to Edge. “Light this.”
Edge chanted wordlessly over the tip of the branch before his face. A spark of red, orange, and yellow appeared, taking fast to the wood, the flames greedily lapping up the dry lumber. “When you said you needed me, Cecil, I would have thought for far more important matters.”
“Edge, what I need from you right now is your compliance,” Cecil simply said. “I said I needed you. Isn’t that enough? I am searching for Kain and that is why I have called upon you.”
“Kain?” Edge's brows furrowed, for it was known Kain and Edge did not share many of the same views, especially when it came to each other. “I am here to help you, Cecil, and if that help happens to benefit Kain in some way, it will not be intentionally.”
Cecil added more dead leaves to feed the flames. As the fire cast distorted shadows of the things about them onto the forest‘s walls, the little group of three traveled on. Each with their weapons at hand, Cecil took the lead through the vagueness around them. The torch did well with the little place before their feet, dispelling the dark and replacing it with orange light.
“And if he is not here?” Rosa spoke up, watching Cecil as they pressed on. “Will we look in Fabul’s forest then afterwards? Search forever then if he is not there?”
“He is here, Rosa. I know he is. Trust that I know my ally more than you.” Cecil turned to face her. She could not find anger in his words, only concern. Perhaps he and the Dragoon Knight shared a much deeper bond than she first thought. Perhaps their friendship had stood the test of time and separation and came out victorious.
Rosa bowed her head, her long, golden hair falling over closed eyes. “I trust you, Cecil, and it is true that I do not know Kain as well as you, but I do know him. And he wants to escape his past, not welcome it. I do not want you setting yourself up for more regret.”
***
“This way!” Decca called to them, sprinting passed the trees until they were nothing more than streaks of emerald. “I can sense her.”
Kain pulled Valzer along. As much as they tried, for it was challenging to keep the pace with their light-footed elf friend, Decca always seemed miles ahead. “You don’t look too good, Valz,” Decca finally slowed her pace, allowing Kain a better look towards the wizard. Feeling his forehead, the Dragoon’s face dropped in sudden fret. “You feel warmer than you should in a place that has barely any heat.”
“I’m fine, Kain.” Valzer gave him a weak, yet reassuring smile. But this warrior could tell by Valzer’s color of flesh that his words did not hold truth to his health.
Leaving him, Kain came to Decca, who was watching with her fixed gaze on Valzer. “I’m worried about him, Kain,” The elf said, glancing over to Kain.
“He says he’s fine.” Kain looked back as well. “He’s probably having liver problems from drinking too much.”
“Look who’s talking.” Decca smiled slightly.
“Me?” Kain grinned innocently, tilting his head to the side.
“Kain, he looks awful.” Decca came by Valzer’s side again, with Kain behind her, hands clasped behind his back. “I think it would be best for Kain to carry you.”
Kain, who had been nodding with her words until now, shot her a confused look and crossed his arms. “You want me to carry him?”
“As much as the thought of being escorted around befits me best, I’m fine. I just need to sit a moment.” Valzer planted himself on the nearest bolder, grunting as he did so. After noting his problem in resting, not to mention his lethargic reactions and the way he kept holding his other arm, Decca grabbed his hand.
“What’s this?” She asked pulling back the sleeve to his robe, examining the swelling on his arm and two distinct holes, which pieced his skin. “It looks like snakebite.”
“Now that’s why I should have brought a tent. Too many things can get to you when you’re on the ground.” Kain and Decca exchanged looks with blank expressions. Valzer laughed at his friends, nearly falling over. “I mean it probably bit me when I was sleeping. I'll just use some herbs on it and we’ll be on our way.” Valzer retrieved from his velvet pouch a clear bottle filled with a pinkish powder; the substance glowed and dissolved into his bite mark when sprinkled upon his flesh. “See? As good as new,” he said, capping the bottle and putting it back into his black bag. "Hmm. Not too many healing herbs left..."
“I always have my magic.” Decca reminded him as they began walking again, knowing well if his bag of herbs ran out, they would rely solely on her for healing magic. Decca absentmindedly began twirling the golden chain of her newly found necklace around her finger. Its stone shone within her eyes, reflecting her image when she looked upon it.
“You’re still wearing that?” Kain fingered the jewel himself, holding the cold stone within the palm of his hand. It suddenly felt hot and let it go. Decca didn't seem to notice this, so he dismissed it as simply his imagination. The magic of the forest was getting to him... He shook his head slightly.
“Do you have a problem with me wearing it?” She smiled, moving it away from his fingers. “Besides, it goes well with my outfit.” As she pulled it away from Kain‘s curious hands, the stone began to glow within her grasp. Startled, she allowed it to drop from her fingers and fall back to her chest.
Now that couldn't be just his imagination. “How did you do that?” Kain breathed slowly, watching the necklace dangle slowly from its place.
“I didn’t do that.” She grabbed it once more, looking it over as its glow played over their faces. It felt warm and it only grew worse as the moments passed.
“Perhaps my presence has something to do with the glow of the little trinket you carry, my child.” A deep voice carried its way through the wind, echoing in the caverns of the trees.
“My child?” Decca repeated dryly. Something in those words bore much more meaning than an idle title.
“And who might you be?” Kain pointed his lance towards the voice. The one who has been following us has reared his head?
Decca's stomach tightened. Perhaps it would have been wise to have attacked prior to this meeting. Their newcomer came out from his refuge, still shrouded with the darkness of shadow. But as plain as the streams of light lied in his arms Rydia.
MYSIDIAN FOREST