Chapter 7: Repaying for a Life?

Golbez went out of the door and the dragoon followed. There were hurrying steps to be heard, and so Cecil and his friends came running through the corridor.

"My, how nice to see you," Golbez said, scornfully, "Now, give me the crystal."

"Where is Rosa?" Cecil demanded.

"The crystal first."

Clenching his teeth, the paladin threw a clear, glistening stone to Golbez. "There!" Cecil snapped, "Now where's Rosa?!"

"Rosa? What about her?" Golbez smirked and turned away.

"Why you...!"

Cecil's angry call suddenly changed to a yell of fear.

"Tellah! Stop!"

The other two men yelled as well as an old sage dressed in mostly purple robes despite his age rushed over the floor.

"For Anna!" he snarled, "Golbez!"

The man in black turned around with a bored look. "What do you want, old man?"

"Tellah!" Cecil screamed, "Don't do it!"

"Golbez, this is for my daughter!" the old man yelled, "Meteo!!"

"What!?"

The man's hands began to glow, and from out of nowhere burning stones came crashing down on Golbez for what seemed like forever. They dissolved after hitting him. Then suddenly, it all came to stop, and the old man dropped to the floor. Kain looked at the fallen Golbez, and his head felt strangely cool. He had to lean against the wall, suddenly remembering everything and thinking clearly for the first time in many, many days. He finally was able to break free from Golbez's spell, now seeing how he had been used and corrupted by the magic.

'Is it over?' he thought, 'Is he dead?'

But he knew it wasn't so. Cecil and the two other men had assembled around the fallen one they called Tellah. Now Kain saw that one of the other men was a warrior from Fabul, with no skirt and the little hair upon his head in a long pigtail. And the other one was Cid, the mechanic.

"I fought in hatred..." Tellah whispered, "I will pay the price..."

"No!" Cecil and his two friends called in despair as the old man took a staggering breath and then became still.

Golbez moved. He stood up, slowly. The three remaining warriors spun around as they heard the sound of movement.

"Thought you had defeated me?" the man in black armor snarled. "No, and now the old man is dead, but I still stand."

"You...!"

With a roar of rage, Cecil rushed forward, but Golbez sent him flying into the wall. The paladin shook his head, trying to get up. The man in black raised his hands, he was going to...

But Golbez never chanted the killing spell. He stared strangely at Cecil, with confusion rising in his eyes.

"You..." the dark commander slowly said, "Who are you?"

He backed off, shrugging his shoulders. "We will meet again, Cecil!" he growled. And so, Golbez disappeared without another word. Kain took a few, staggering steps.

"Rosa..." he croaked, "must hurry... Cecil... in there!"

He pointed at the door. The paladin got up and ran inside without hesitating. Cid and the man of Fabul, however, hurried over to Kain and helped him walk after Cecil. They entered the room just in time to see the paladin cut Rosa free and pull her away from the pole she had been tied onto. The next second, a heavy blade fell from the ceiling, making a deep cut in the floor where Rosa's heels had been.

Nobody said a word as Cecil and Rosa turned to look at each other. They embraced. Kain looked away; he knew they kissed. He didn't think he could take seeing it.

"I'm so relieved to have you back!" Cecil said with a thick voice.

"I knew you'd come!" Rosa whispered.

"Your absence made me realize I..."

Cecil became quiet and just smiled warmly. Rosa smiled back, then she turned around to look at Kain's resolute face.

"I know you were controlled, Kain." she softly said.

"Forgive me..." he mumbled.

"It's alright."

He looked at her and knew that she would never tell Cecil what Golbez had said. Kain managed to smile a little.

"Come, let's blast out of this place!" Cid exclaimed.

"Indeed, foul air fills the tower," the man of Fabul said.

They hurried towards the door, but...

"Not so fast!"

Kain spun around. A lightning bolt from nowhere hit the floor and Valvalis suddenly stood there, her eye's burning with anger.

"Kain, you...!" she snarled, "Will you never thank me for saving your neck? Now you betray us?"

He took a step forward.

"Valvalis, I don't want to fight with you! Please listen to me!" he called, knowing she wouldn't listen at all, "As you said, we are both warriors of the air..."

"Enough!" she snapped, "Neither you nor your friends will leave here alive! Lightning 4!"

"Look out!"

Cecil threw himself and Rosa on the floor, trying to protect her with his own body. Kain ducked, and somehow even Cid and the other man managed to get out of the way of the lightning bolts.

"Valvalis, stop it!" the dragoon called.

"Pha!" she growled.

She started to spin around, her hair wrapping itself around her. Looking like a tornado, she attacked Kain. He jumped to avoid her, and for a short second he felt nothing but relief about finally jumping by his own will. He landed on the floor, just as Cid was about to get hit by Valvalis. The man of Fabul threw himself through the air, grabbed the mechanic's shoulders and brought him to safety. By now the fiend of Air had reached a spin that would kill anyone who got too close.

"Valvalis!" Kain yelled in despair.

But she didn't listen. As Cecil brought out a bow from his backpack, it grew magically in his hands. He picked out an arrow and shot at Valvalis. But her speed and hair protected her; the arrow bounced and hit the floor.

"We cannot hurt her as long as she does that tornado!" Cid yelled.

"Must stop her spin...!" Cecil growled.

He turned his head.

"Kain! Jump!"

"What?" the dragoon called, stuttering.

"It's our only hope!"

Kain stared at Valvalis, who had turned to Cid and the man of Fabul again.

"Yang, look out!" Rosa yelled.

The sunburned man jumped aside... into the wall. He fell down and wasn't going to get up standing in time.

"Valvalis!" Kain screamed, "Valvalis, stop, I don't want to fight against you!"

She seemed to slow down for a moment, then turned around, rushing towards the dragoon instead.

"Go to Hell, Kain!" he heard her growl.

He had to jump to avoid her, and did so.

'There's no other way,' he thought, almost with tears in his eyes as he floated by the ceiling, 'She will kill us if I don't... and she went through such fear because of me...' He hadn't really understood all that had been said between her, Rubicant and that invisible person they had called Zemus, but he had grasped that even the fiends were more or less controlled, just as he had been.

He grabbed his spear with both hands and pointed it downwards, aiming carefully.

"Forgive me!" he whispered as he rushed down through the air.

He hoped that she had heard him, because his planning showed result. She was hit in the back, and Kain landed on nothing except the floor. Valvalis had dissolved before she even had dropped halfway to the ground.

He didn't even get time to cry out his pain over killing somebody who had saved his life before the room started to crumble.

"The tower is falling!" Cid yelled.

"Come here!" Rosa called, "Hold onto me!"

The four men hurried to grab her hands.

"Exit!" she yelled, and the world became unclear.

Chapter 8: The Crystals of Darkness

Everything became clear. Well, almost.

"Where are we?" Yang mumbled, a bit confused.

"It's my room in Baron?" Cecil said, surprised.

"I didn't know where else to bring us." Rosa explained.

She fell down on a chair, staring at Cecil, as if she hadn't seen him before. "You're a paladin now, then?" she asked.

He nodded, smiling carefully.

"You look great." Rosa smiled.

The smile faded.

"But what shall we do?" she asked, "Now Golbez has all of the crystals..."

"No, he hasn't." Kain interrupted.

They all looked at him. He didn't know how he knew it, but he was sure. Maybe the spell that had controlled him somehow had given some of what Golbez knew to Kain...

"He only has the crystals of light," the dragoon explained, "but there's also four crystals of darkness, in the Underground. We must stop him from getting his hands on them."

"But how can we enter the Underground?" Cid asked, scratching his head with his screwdriver.

"This key can help us." Kain said and pulled out a chain hanging around his throat. A red key hung from it, looking almost molten.

'When did I get this?' the dragoon thought, 'My head feel so emptied...'

He guessed that since the spell had been messing with his mind, memory-loss would be normal. But still, he had a vague feeling that it wasn't completely true.

"Great!" Cecil said with a broad smile and his voice filled with new hope, "but where do we use it to open a door leading down?"

Kain rubbed his forehead, trying to awaken some more memories. "Dwarves are said to live in the Underground," Cid pointed out, "and there's this city I've heard of where they claim that their ancestors were dwarves."

"The city of Argot!" Rosa said, "Let's go!"

"We should rest a while," Kain mumbled, "I feel so tired..." He shook his head. Rosa stood up and put her hand on his shoulder, noticing that he seemed dizzy.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine... just tired..."

But he wasn't really fine. The world seemed to be all covered in mist, but at the same time, he felt like his head was almost crystal-clear. Yet he didn't have any feeling of time passing. As if he read a book in the middle of the night, he noticed that Cid somehow brought forth an airship that he called the Enterprise. There was also something about flying and then being inside a nice little town. And Kain was pretty sure he gave something to Cecil, which the paladin threw down a well after a short moment of hesitating. But the dragoon didn't really know why. However, then the earthquake started, and Kain fell, hitting his head on a rock. It was like breaking a bubble; he managed to think again.

"What's happening?" he called.

"The mountaintop!" Cid yelled and pointed with an arm shaking because of the quake.

There really was a mountain, and its top seemed to fall into the cliff itself. The crumbling of the earth stopped as suddenly as it had started.

"Is everyone alright?" Cecil asked.

"Yes," Kain said, frowning and resolute, "I am fine now."

'He tried to regain his control,' the dragoon thought, 'Golbez isn't going to give up that easily... but neither will I, do you hear me, you monster!?'

There was no telepathic answer, and Kain felt relieved about that.

They boarded the Enterprise and flew over the mountain.

"How does it look?" Cid called by the helm.

"It seems to continue downwards!" Yang called back, looking over the fence, "let us try it!"

"Alright, here goes!"

Cid turned the wheel and made the Enterprise dive into the darkness. "It's getting hot, don't you think?" Rosa pointed out.

"That's because of the lava down there," Cid yelled, "Look!"

The tunnel leading down suddenly turned into an enormous cavern, so big that it even had horizons.

"I must avoid flying over the magma or the Enterprise might take damage!" Cid called, "Hang on!"

He quickly turned the ship away from the molten stone, and flew over the cracked ground. But his haste brought the group into more trouble.

"What on earth is that?" Yang called and pointed.

Kain put his right hand to the side of his head to protect his eyes from the light of the lava as he tried to see what the man of Fabul meant. It was a troop of what looked like small houses made of metal on big wheels down on the ground.

"They're tanks!" the dragoon said.

"And the Red Wings!" Cecil yelled, "Cid, we're just between them!"

"Blast it!" the mechanic screamed.

And there were several blasts, both from the tanks and the airships. The Enterprise was hit, but Cid hurriedly brought them out of the line of fire.

"Must land...!" he yelled, "I'll try over there by the mountain!"

It wasn't exactly a soft landing, but it wasn't a crash either. Everyone got to their feet and brushed the dust of their clothes and armors. Cid hurried off the ship. "Gotta check the damage!" he grumbled.

The others followed him, listening to his curses for a while. There was a big hole in the wood.

"Great, this was my finest piece!" Cid yelled, "Damn that Golbez!"

"I couldn't agree more." Kain mumbled.

"Hey, there's a castle over there." Rosa said and pointed.

They all looked. It really was a castle, surrounded by a very resolute-looking wall. The mountain had hidden it from the other side. There was also a group of short, bearded men coming from the castle, approaching the Enterprise and its owners. They carried big axes by their belts, but didn't seem very aggressive.

"Lali-ho!" one of them called as they came closer, "Are you the people from above who fight Golbez?"

"Indeed we are," Cecil answered, "Who are you, then?"

The dwarves stopped only a few yards away, with welcoming smiles.

"We are the troop sent out by the dwarven king Giott," the leader friendly said, "Come on, follow us to the castle. The king awaits you."

"How did you know about us?" Rosa asked.

"Mother Earth tells us a lot. And of course the tame monsters we've managed to capture talk a lot for only a little food. Poor things, really... Well come on, lali!"

Chapter 9: Rydia of the Espers

Kain and his friends were brought into the castle of the dwarves and into the throne-room of king Giott. After bowing and curtsying to greet this ruler and his daughter Luca, they could get to the point.

"I do welcome you to my land," Giott smiled, "Your deeds have been told by the Earth itself. She was most relieved as you killed the fiend Milon."

"So you're well aware of Golbez, then?" Cecil carefully said.

The king nodded gravely. "Yes. He has already stolen two of the crystals of darkness. But he won't get the last two if I've got something to say about it! They are well protected."

"That's great, but we still have to get the other ones back." Cecil said.

"He keeps all of his crystals in the tower of Bab-Il, in the north," the king said, "It's said that the tower reaches to the Overworld. We've been trying to storm it."

"You know what?" Cid said, "We'll surely need the Enterprise if we're gonna fight Golbez. But since it can't take flying over the lava, I'll have to bring it back to the surface and make it an armor of silver-plates. It seems that things are more or less under control here; we should take the risk of me leaving."

"We'll be fine, but can the Enterprise fly all the way damaged?" Cecil asked.

"Sure, boy, don't worry about me. See you later." And so the mechanic left.

"How's the battle against Golbez going, Your Majesty?" Rosa asked.

"Our tanks withstand his airships for the moment. Nothing to worry about." the king said with a smile.

"Where is the remaining crystals, then?" Yang asked, frowning.

"They're safe right behind me, in a hidden room." Giott answered.

For some reason, Kain suddenly felt very cold.

"In there?" Yang said, pointing at the wall.

He looked very concerned. Kain felt relieved that he wasn't the only one feeling uneasy.

"Yes?" Giott said.

"I feel something evil coming from behind that wall!"

"Are you sure?" Cecil asked.

"Yes!" Yang said.

The king stood up from his throne and nodded at the guards. "Open the door!" he demanded. One of the guards pulled one of the torches and a part of the wall moved, revealing a secret door.

"Let us hurry!" Yang said.

Followed by the dwarves, the four warriors from above approached the opening. There was a screeching, mad laughter to be heard from inside the big room on the other side of the wall. Several small, strangely child-looking creatures were jumping around inside of the crystal's room.

"Those are my dolls!" Luca exclaimed, peeking from behind her father's back.

"Golbez must have given them life somehow," Kain growled and grabbed his spear. "Your Majesty, it's best that you and your men stay back and let us deal with this. It could be dangerous."

"Very well," king Giott said after hesitating shortly.

"Come on!" Cecil called and drew his sword.

Kain's head seemed to become numb as he jumped, aiming for one of the dolls. Once more, he couldn't think clearly, and didn't care about it. He missed the doll, and it danced closer to its companions, laughing hysterically. The puppets almost looked as if they were...

"They are combining!" Cecil yelled, "Be careful!"

But there wasn't much to worry about. Yang hit the gigantic doll in its stomach, making it fall to the ground. Then the paladin and the dragoon easily cut and tore it to pieces; it was too clumsy to fight back or get up.

"I'm sorry about this, princess Luca!" Rosa called as she heard the girl's gasp.

"Nevermind that!" the little girl yelled, "Behind you!" The four warriors spun around. There was a shadow standing on the stair leading up to the crystal.

"Damn you..." Kain harshly whispered, and clenched his grip of the spear.

He finally noticed the mist in his head, and shook it a bit to get rid of the spell.

"You're getting on my nerves." Golbez said as he stepped out of the shadow.

"You!" Cecil, Rosa and Yang yelled, ready to attack.

"Indeed," Golbez sneered.

"And now, why don't you take a nice deep breath of this..."

He raised his hands, and a purple cloud flooded from his fingertips, so fast that the warriors weren't able to react before it was to late. Kain gasped without wanting to, and felt his strength fade immediately. He dropped to his knees and vaguely noticed that his friends also did so.

'You'd been better off staying as my minion, Kain,' Golbez' voice smirked inside of the dragoons head, 'but I could be willing to give you a second chance... maybe.'

'Why then?' Kain harshly thought, desperately trying to get to his feet, 'Want to show your power? Never, Golbez. You will never control me again!'

'Very well, fool.' Golbez' voice said, listlessly.

"How do you feel, lying there unable to move?" he sneered aloud, "come, my Shadow dragon!"

By his side, a dark, long creature materialized. It looked like a combination of a snake and a dragon, with short legs and evil eyes.

"So who'll be first?" Golbez said, thoughtfully.

Kain managed to move his head a little, and saw all the dwarves also lying on the floor, hit by the gas. They couldn't help. This didn't look good...

'Is this how it will end?' Kain bitterly thought, 'Trapped here, bound like sheep in the slaughterhouse?'

The dark dragon awaited its master's command to kill, twisting impatiently. "Calm, my beast," Golbez smirked, "I have to think a little. Should I kill Cecil first, or his friends and beloved?"

"Me..." Cecil stuttered, whispering, "please... kill me... first..."

"If that is your wish, I certainly won't," Golbez sneered, "I'll let my pet start with your friend of Fabul, I think..."

The dragon hissed and rushed towards the bound Yang. Kain closed his eyes, couldn't bear the awful sight that approached...

"Mist dragon, I conjure you!" a young woman's voice shouted.

Suddenly a large white dragon appeared in front of the dark one. The pure creature opened its mouth and blew out a storm of ice-crystals at it. With a snarl, Golbez' pet dissolved. The white dragon turned around and opened its mouth once more. The wind blowing from inside of it's chest scattered the remaining gas.

"Good, come back!" the woman called.

The white dragon growled in a friendly way and then softly became more and more transparent until it was gone.

"Who the..." Golbez snarled as he turned around, and his eyes widened, "What? You!?"

"Hang on, people!" the voice yelled, "Stand up!"

Kain suddenly felt that he could move again, and he got up, grabbing his spear. Before anyone else had regained their senses, he had jumped, his rage filling his whole body. "This is for Valvalis, you demon!" he snarled as his fall brought Golbez to the ground. But the evil one got a grip of the spear before it hit his stomach, and sent Kain flying several yards away. He got up again and was about to jump when he heard the sound of footsteps. He turned his head and saw a young, green-haired woman run over the floor towards Cecil, Rosa and Yang, with her green cloak flying behind her and the end of her whip crawling over the floor. She looked strangely familiar...

"Get up, what are you waiting for!?" she yelled as Kain's friends just stared at her. "Lightning 3!"

Golbez threw himself backwards to avoid the bolts, and Kain clumsily hit him in the back with the blunt end of the spear. The evil one staggered forward again, and Yang hit the right side of his neck with a powerful stab with the bare arm. Then Golbez growled in pain as Rosa's arrow penetrated his armor by the shoulder, like Kain's spear had hurt Cecil in Fabul.

"For all who have died!!" the paladin screamed and rushed forward.

Time froze for a moment. Kain stared at the tip of Cecil's sword, which had cut through Golbez' cloak. The paladin was standing on the other side of the foe, looking almost shocked.

"Damn you all...!" Golbez stuttered, growling.

Then he dissolved and Cecil stood there, sword in hand.

Kain slowly stood up. Somehow, he had thought that he would feel a lot more relieved, but instead he felt empty. He didn't feel anything at all; no triumph, no wish to yell of relief. Nothing.

"You did it, Cecil!" Rosa called, most relieved.

"Good work, Sir!" Yang said with a broad smile.

"Finally he's gone!" the young woman who had saved them said, smiling.

Cecil turned around, slowly.

"Rydia...?" he whispered, "You're alive?"

Everyone looked at her. Even Giott, Luca and the other dwarves, who had also recovered and now had come into the room. She smiled and nodded. "Yes. Leviathan never ate me, instead he brought me to the Land of Espers. The flow of time is different there, and I've grown and learned a lot. However, I can't use white magic anymore, just black and summoning."

"I'm so glad you're alive!" Rosa smiled and hugged the green-haired one.

"I've missed you too." Rydia said, warmly.

"Lali-ho!" Giott happily cried. "Let's celebrate! Golbez is dead and the crystal is safe!"

They all went towards the door, when an awfully familiar voice cut through the air. "I'm not... gone yet... fools..."

Everyone spun around and saw a black glove rise from the floor. It rushed up the stairs, grabbed the crystal... and was gone. So was the stone.

"No!" the men and women screamed.

'I knew it!' Kain thought, 'He wasn't gone, I wasn't completely free...!'

'Indeed I wasn't, and neither you,' Golbez's distant voice smirked inside of the dragoon's head. 'My plan to lure you into a trap by giving you the Magma key might not have worked as I expected, but I still have the crystal. And now, give me your life-power, so that I can recover...'

Chapter 11: Golbez's Call for his Minion

"You!" the ninja stuttered.

"I am sorry about your parents," Rubicant said. "I didn't know about it. I'm not like the others; I want to play fair."

His eyes stopped at Kain for a moment, but there was no expression in the flaming, red eyes.

"Shut your pie-hole!" Edge roared, "I will avenge them!"

"Well then," the fiend said, "let us fight, though you are too weak. I will restore you all to make it fair."

'Sleep, Kain.' Golbez commanded, and the dragoon couldn't fight the mist. He knew he fought, but he didn't do it very well. Only well enough to make the others believe that he was fine, just had a little bad luck. But even though he almost didn't hit Rubicant at all, the fiend finally dissolved under several magical waves of water and icicles. Kain hardly mentioned it, trapped deep inside the wicked magic. Somebody talked a bit, then there was the sound of many footsteps leaving. Had they closed in earlier? Maybe. Kain wasn't sure, and he really didn't care. Cecil said something about a crystal-room, and Kain felt himself walking. Four voices suddenly screamed in surprise and fear, and there was something about falling for a long time. Like through a wall, the dragoon heard voices talking.

"We're close to the bottom of the tower!"

"Inside of the Underground? Great..."

"Let's see if there's a way out."

Walking again. Shortly or for a long time, Kain didn't know.

"Hey, it's an airship!"

"Great, let's go!"

'Too bad that your abilities are about zero in this suspended mode...' Golbez's voice said.

'Let me go, demon!'

'First you will bring me the last crystal, my slave.'

'I won't!'

'You will.'

Flying? Yes, he was on an airship. But why? Then landing and walking again. And some familiar voices, but Kain didn't know whom they belonged to.

"Lali-ho, you're back!"

"We didn't get the crystals..."

"Well then, there are two things that I need to tell you. First, Golbez is about to break the seal of the Sealed Cave, so you must get the crystal before he does. Luca has the key to it."

"And what is the second thing?"

"Your friend Cid is still alive. He's in the healing-quarters. Wait, if you go visit him, be careful, he's wounded. Come back here when you've greeted him."

Kain felt rushing and heard happy yells, but didn't understand what the excitement was about. He heard some more voices, but everything felt more and more distant.

'Careful, Golbez,' a woman's voice inside of the dragoon's head said, 'If you drain more he might collapse.'

The voice almost made Kain scream. He recognized it, he wanted to see the one it belonged to, so much that his heart ached. But why...?

'It's the only way I can keep him under control, Valvalis. Now pipe down.' Golbez said.

It was dark again, and there were big things with fierce jaws. Kain heard somebody yell that some cave was totally screwed up, filled with living doors, and that almost touched his mind only because of the strangeness of it.

"The wall's closing in!" somebody screamed.

There were so many screams. How irritating. Kain wished that they would all become quiet so that he could get some sleep.

He walked again, for a long time. The others seemed very relieved about something. Then Golbez's voice spoke:

"Well done."

"Watch out!" Cecil's voice snarled.

"Kain," Golbez sneered, "return to me and take the crystal with you."

The world became clearer again. Golbez. Cecil, there. Edge and the women, looking concerned.

"I'm... I'm fine," Kain stuttered, "He can't control me..."

Cecil has the crystal. He is over there. Go. Hit.

The paladin dropped to the floor, and Kain snatched the crystal as it fell from Cecil's hand.

"Now we have all the crystals..." the dragoon snarled harshly and hurried out of the small cave.

In the enormous cavern, he ran as far away from the entrance of the Sealed Cave that he could.

'Well done, Kain.' Golbez's telepathic voice said.

'You!' the inner part of the dragoon growled.

'Now, you will return to me.'

'No!'

'Yes, indeed. Valvalis, go fetch.'

A wind made the dust on the ground dance, and the fiend of Air emerged from it. Her eyes were overfilled with a mixture of anger, pain and confusion.

"We meet again, Kain." she said.

He somehow knew he should be surprised about seeing her, but he couldn't remember why. She grabbed his shoulders, and wind whistled in his ears. Then he stood inside of a small room with white, slightly flashing walls. Golbez was there, and a dark figure in a robe, Kainazzo, and even Rubicant. Why were they there, they shouldn't, really... but why, and did it matter?

"The crystal." Golbez said.

"My liege."

Kain sat down on one knee and held his hand up high. Golbez took the crystal and then smirked.

"Stand up, my good man." he said.

The dragoon slowly obeyed.

"I will leave the crystal in it's room," the man in the black armor said, "You just guard our friend here for a while, my dear fiends."

"Surely, Golbez." Kainazzo sneered.

The man in black disappeared into a shadow. "And you can wake up, Kain." his distant voice said.

The dragoon blinked and shook his head. He lifted his hand to his forehead, but before he could touch it, he was thrown into the wall by a massive wave of water. Staggering, he got to his feet, desperately grabbing his spear. All his memories and knowledge returned, and he realized where he was and who was there with him.

"You!" he stuttered, "You are dead!"

The one in the robe (Kain was glad the cloth hid the body, it didn't seem very pretty) edged closer.

"Surely," it hissed, whispering, "we were all dead, sssweet dead..."

"Master Zemus brought us back to life," Kainazzo sneered, "and now, you belong to us, you foolish man."

Valvalis and Rubicant said nothing. The robed one (Kain guessed that it was Milon of the Earth) reached out a twisted arm and put his rotting, clawed fingers around the spear. He didn't seem very strong, but he easily pulled the weapon out of the dragoon's frozen hands.

"Hang him from the ceiling," Milon hissed, "Let me play with him..."

"No, I will drown him!" Kainazzo snapped, "and this time, I'll have the water rise slowly..."

"No." Valvalis said.

The other two fiends angrily turned around.

"What are you going to do?" Milon smirked, "Blow him to death?"

"I won't kill him and neither will you," she said, "the master still wants him."

"Golbez is the only one who wants him alive," Kainazzo snapped, "and we were never under Golbez's control, remember?"

'You are wrong, my faithful.'

It was that terrible, cold voice again. Kain dropped to his knees, the feeling of total evil was so violent that his soul trembled.

"You do want him, master?" Kainazzo said, a bit surprised.

'Indeed. It makes me very irritated that I cannot control him completely. Golbez will have to work with him until I am satisfied; he's got one of the most stubborn minds I've ever encountered. I am pleased to hear that you feel my wishes, Valvalis.'

"Thank you, master..." she mumbled.

'When all is over, you will finish both him and Golbez off, my four faithful. This is your reward.'

And so the evil presence left.

"I will take care of this." Rubicant snarled.

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