Lezaford Village

[Sephiroth]

Lezaford is a relatively peaceful little town nestled in the hills surrounding Mt. Kudik. There are a dozen half-timbered houses built on the west bank of a stream, surrounded by gardens and threaded by paved paths. There is a bridge across the stream, and another, wider path that runs parallel to the water. On the far side of this path is the mansion of the village elder, an item shop, a blacksmith, and an inn, going south in that order. To the north the stream comes down over a cliff in a waterfall; to the east and west the slopes of the hills rise up to wooded crests, and to the south the street becomes a dirt road that provides the only link with the rest of Ivalice.

The blacksmith is renowned for the weapons it produces. That and using the village as a point from which to explore the hills is the only reason outsiders come to this place, which is populated by Humes plus one Bangaa who works in the forge.

[Sephiroth]

It was a dark night. The Moon was full, but it was just a sickly blur behind the clouds. In the little hollow the only lights were those of two lanterns, carried by a pair of sentries armed with rusty halberds. All the good folk of th evillage slept the sleep of the innocent, trusting to these two guardians to protect them from the rumours of aggressive monsters.

However, there were other points of light in the darkness. Three pairs of glowing, feline eyes were staring down at the town from the shadow of the pines on the eastern hill. Two pairs were red, the third green and partially obscured with the silhouette of light-coloured hair: all were filled with the same malicious hunger.

"Hm." Kadaj's mouth quirked in a slight smile. Finally, he had found something bigger than a party of "heroes" or the odd hermit's hut. He could do some real damage to this illusion.

He knew this world was a lie. He had been dissolved into the Lifestream. There was no way for him to have been reformed -- that girl who was not Mother could not even save herself, much less anyone else. This had to be the Planet taunting him, showing him visions of happiness he could never possess. Well, he'd show the Planet. The only friends he needed were his brothers; the only happiness, doing Mother's will.

His two companions were monsters of this dream-world. Fragments of hatred, maybe, like himself that the Planet had woven in to destroy him when it could not convert him. He had turned the tables, though. The beasts had tried to drain his blood through their tentacle-whiskers. They had instead become imbued with his essence, linking them to his will. It had not been much of a change, really; all three of them were predators.

"Go." The command was really more subliminal than verbal. The two beasts slun off, left and right, melting into the shadow. The youth himself broke cover, running lightly down the hillside. When he reached the right point, he launched himself forward.

He landed on the apex of the roof of the elder's mansion, catching himself on the chimney. After a moment to gain his balance, Kadaj raised his left hand. Two plumes of darkness shot across the bridge, forming into galloping Shadow Creepers. Hearing their pounding feet, the closest sentry turned around, holding his lantern high.

"Who goes -" The Creepers jumped forward, ramming into him and knocking him to his back. Lantern and halberd went flying, the former smashing against one of the houses, spreading burning oil across the wooden façade. Meanwhile the Creepers proceeded to maul the helpless watchman.

Kadaj laughed at the show, but he was not quite finished. As the second guard ran into the street, the Bahamut materia in Kadaj's arm lit with a red glow.

[Zell]

Gabranth made his way through the tranquil woods, the sound of crickets and other nocturnal animals were all that kept him company. It is hard to fathom such a peaceful place, yet it exposes this world as a fake. A place so peaceful cannot exist naturally. Gabranth then noticed a growing light further up the trail, followed by the sounds of screams.

Gabranth ran up the trail as fast as his legs would carry him, once he reached the bridge leading to the village he saw the remains of a guard being devoured by several nightmarish beast. Gabranth began walking towards the feeding beast, the sound of his armor alerted them to his presence.

The monster turned snarling before running at him. With a quick thrust he ran the first through, after flinging the corpse aside his blade claimed the life of the second savage beast. Surprised that the creatures dissolved back into shadows, Gabranth looked around for the magician behind this spell. He then noticed a young man standing atop one of the buildings with his arm glowing a peculiar color, his attention focused on the worried guard that was in the middle of the village.

Gabranth ran passed the mauled guard and into clear sight. "You cowardly fiend! Why would you attack a helpless village?!" Gabranth's voice rang out from beneath the judge's helm.

[Sephiroth]

Kadaj's quick eyes caught the arrival of the new man. Or at least he assumed it was a man, though in that fancy armour it was hard to tell. Not that it mattered. Just one more illusion. The man quickly struck down the two Shadow Creepers with an interesting looking sword, then ran out to the middle of the street, illuminating by the now-burning house.

"Why?" Kadaj called back down from the roof of the house. "Why not? It's not my fault nobody has put up a fight! Though you look strong. If you survive this, maybe we can play!"

As he finished the sentence, glowing symbols began to swirl out of his arm and around his body. Then he vanished.

The clouds above the town thickened, blocking out the moonlight completely. But suddenly they parted, directly above the elder's mansion, forming a well of light that was brighter than day From this well hurtled a purple shape, which twisted and unfurled its wings to reveal Bahamut. The Dragon King wasted no time. Hovering far beyond the reach of any attack, he opened his mouth, and began charging Mega Flare.

[Zell]

Play? Gabranth scoffed at the man's childlike attitude he broke his swords apart and prepared to jump at the man but before he could move he disappeared within a flash. Gabranth began scanning the surroundings for the youth, until his attention was pulled to the skies, clouds began to thicken until a light brighter than the sun gave way to a massive dragon that began charging some sort of attack.

"You would kill these people for fun?!" Gabranth's rage was reawakened by this youth's actions so much so that a summoning glyph of his own appeared below him. "Come forth, Zeromus! Strike down this fool and his ambitions!!"

Gabranth was enveloped within a bright light that faded to reveal a massive monster with a huge claw. "Now, go. Destroy him!" Zeromus shot off like a rocket towards Bahamut, leaving Gabranth on the ground. Zeromus' lower shell opened to reveal an antenna-like tail that began to glow with dark energy, thrusting him closer to the Dragon King, he aimed his claw at the dragon and opened it to reveal an evil looking eye that shot a ball of charged dark matter at Bahamut.

[Sephiroth]

Bahamut's eyes narrowed. Never had he been challenged like this before. Recalled from his rest in the Lifestream, his majesty had always over-awed his opponents even when they could have struck back. Save one, but even the deformed god had only been able to shield himself from Mega Flare, and did not strike back at the King of Dragons.

Not that it mattered. With a beat of his wings Bahamut evaded the blast of dark energy. Then, unable and unwilling to restrain his own energy any further, he unleashed the full force of Mega Flare directly into Zeromus' face.

The Esper screamed as the blast ripped through him. Although by the bond of his seal he would have had to depart this world after performing his attack anyway, being struck down in this way, by a mere dragon, stung deep into his pride. In retaliation, his fathomless hatred bubbled up. Despite the fact that he was disintegrating as he fell, Zeromus held on, his malice continuing to sustain his attack.

The sky behind Bahamut, in the very radiance of the well through which he had descended, the dark sphere burst apart. Waves of reality-warping energy spread downwards. The Dragon King twisted his neck, and beheld the destruction falling upon him. Attack delivered, he should now disappear. But he knew that if he should, Big bang would destroy the village below. That indeed was the purpose for which he had been summoned, but the noble Bahamut would not see the sheer hatred of his foe satisfied. So he stretched forth his wings, and was ripped apart by the swelling tidal stresses of the gravitic attack.

Kadaj reappeared on the rooftop, and staggered. he just barely caught himself on the chimney. "What ..." He looked down at the town with bleared eyes. Apart from panicked cries arising from the burning house, nothing had changed. And why did he feel like he'd just been slugged in the gut?

His eyes fixed on Gabranth, pupils contracting to slits. "You! You interfered!" He took his hand off the chimney and drew Souba. "It couldn't have been easy to stop Bahamut's attack ... well ... I'll play with you, then!"

He threw out his right hand. A shadow flew down the side of the mansion and across the ground, forming into a shadow Creeper right at Gabanrath's feet, and it leaped up at his throat. It was just to buy Kadaj some time while he recovered.

[Zell]

With his focus on Kadaj, who had appeared on the rooftop again, Gabranth didn't notice the shadow beast dive up from the ground. The beast's claws and fangs scratched against his armor as the beast knocked him to the ground. "Foul beast! Begone!" Gabranth drove the Chaos Blade through the beast's stomach. It howled in pain but continued its assault upon him, his fury was growing even more with each claw swipe from the beast faint lights began to swirl around Gabranth and then a burst of energy turned to a red aura surrounding his body.

Gabranth had cast Dragon Force on himself and with it freed his other arm from under the monsters weight, then drove highway star deep into its side and with that was able to get out from under the beast, as he tore his blades from its body the beast let out one final blood curdling howl. Panting slightly Gabranth turned his attention back to Kadaj. "The time for your judgment has come to pass! Now witness the power of a true Judge!!" Gabranth dashed towards Kadaj jumping off the peak of the building closest to him and swung his Chaos Blade with his and Dragon Forces combined powers at him.

[Sephiroth]

The Shadow Creeper had served its purpose. Kadaj was now recovered from the destruction of Bahamut, and he watched Gabranth's approach with eager eyes. Knowing that he was not in the best position to fend off an attack, thoguh, he bent his knees. As Gabranth landed on the rooftop, Kadaj jumped clear over his head, twisting in mid-air to face him, and pulling out with his left hand as he did so.

"You have a lot of passion," he said, "for an illusion." The Fire materia in is arm lit up with a green glow. "Let's see how you handle this!" He shot the Fire3 spell -- not at Gabranth, but at the roof, to collapse it under the "judge's" feet. Meanwhile, Kadaj landed on the bridge, coming to a crouch with his twin-bladed katana pressed against his arm in a reverse grip.

[Zell]

Gabranth grew ever more annoyed as his blade claimed nothing but empty space, he tried to recover for another attack but the youth flipped to far out of his reach. "Illusion? How daft can you be?!" As Kadaj launched his spell Gabranth readied to parry the spell but nothing came until he felt the roof give out from under him.

As he freed himself from the wreckage his anger was growing even more, Gabranth rushed towards the door slicing it apart before coming out into the open plaza. "I hope you didn't think that feeble spell would halt a judge!" Gabranth ran towards Kadaj with the Chaos Blade in front and the Highway Star in a reverse grip to hit him once Kadaj's defense was occupied.

[Sephiroth]

Kadaj rose, casting Haste on himself while he waited for the "judge" to emerge from the mansion. Soon after the augment took effect, he heard steps coming up behind him. He turned around, to see the second watchman charging, halberd upraised.

"Die, monster!" The man swung the halberd. Kadaj smirked as he flicked Souba out, catching the axehead between his weapon's twin blades. Then he grabbed the man's throat in his right hand, and spun, throwing the guard past him. The disoriented fellow stumbled down the bridge, and directly into Gabranth.

Kadaj twirled Souba around, watching to see how the "judge" would respond to this. It was fun to bait him, but Kadaj was secretly a little unsure of fighting someone with all that armour. Behind him, the fire spread to another house.

[Zell]

Seeing the guard flung at him Gabranth lowered his sword and jumped over the man falling towards him before turning his attention to him. "You need not worry about that man, your concern should be those fires!" Gabranth's command echoed beneath his helm and the man scrambled to his feet and ran for water.

He then turned his attention back to Kadaj, his grip tightened around his swords. "I grow tried of your cowardly tactics, a pitiful dog such as yourself shouldn't challenge those much more powerful!" Gabranth took his stance once again, hoping his words would fling the man into attacking.

[Sephiroth]

The guard managed to stop his momentum, and turned to face Gabranth, wondering how he was supposed to fight the fire when it was on the other side of the stream. What was he supposed to do anyway? He didn't have any ice magic or anything. Meanwhile, the residents of the house had fled into the street, and, joined by their neighbours, were beginning to raise a hubbub of panic.

Kadaj's face was taken up by a cruel smile as he heard the screams. This man was going to be a real problem, but hearing the shrieks of his prey like that filled him with confidence. Speaking of which, he called out to his two "packmates" to come and help.

"Oh, I'm the coward?" he asked, as the materia in his lower left arm began to glow. "I'm not the one hiding inside a shell." There was almost a sing-song lilt to his voice as he stopped twirling Souba and pointed the twin blades at the man. "Why don't you take that ridiculous armour off, and play fair?"

As he finished speaking, the haste spell took effect. A phantasmal clock appeared around him, its face showing time speeding up. Kadaj felt the world shift, as the augment was added to his already great speed.

((Oh yeah. When the cats show up, I'll be playing them as my NPCs.))

[Zell]

Gabranth was unfazed by the mans taunting attempts. He then linked his weapons together aand with his free hand removed his helm to reveal the blonde man beneath it. "Feel honored, dog! Not many witness those beneath the judge's helm and live!" When the clock appeared around Kadaj he soon recognized it as the haste spell. This does not bode well, this boy trumps me in speed already. I better level the field and try to match him.

A magical light appeared around Gabranth's feet and soon became a clock of his own that increased his speed to higher levels. Gabranth then shot off towards the youth, then shot two blade slashes at him, one high and the other low.

[Sephiroth]

Well, his taunt had succeeded to an extent. Without that helmet, the "judge" had at least one vulnerable spot. But Kadaj had not realised that the man's swords could be fused into a staff like that. If anything, that made him harder to deal with.

Kadaj saw a brief window while the man was casting Haste, and so, before the spell closed the difference in their speeds, Kadaj shot a Fire3 at him. Then he jumped up onto the bridge railing on his right, evading the man's attacks for the moment.

Then the guard on the shore screamed. Kadaj's connection registered that both of the Blood Panthers had arrived, and cast Vampire on the man simultaneously. With his life force- being ripped in two, the poor sentry had fallen dead. The large cats seemed to materialise from the darkness, long whiskers undulating as they stalked forward, red eyes fixed on Gabranth's back.

"It seems I have you outnumbered," said Kadaj, grinning. "In this dream world, it is I who control the nightmares."

((The Blood Panthers are big Coeurl-type creatures, pure black except for thier eyes. As far as Gabranth is concerned, they're probably more dangerous than Kadaj.))

[Zell]

Gabranth had not noticed the spell being flung at him but with the speed boost he was able hit it with his first Innocence slash, engulfing himself in a thick cloud of smoke, his second slash burst through the cloud and ended up cutting a tree in half. This boy's acrobats are becoming a great nuisance! His attention was then grabbed by the screaming of the last guard. "What now?!" Gabranth turned but through the cloud could only see the demonic red eyes, he then linked his weapons together and spun fiercely the force of his attack blew the remains of the smoke away.

The massive monsters were now visible. Hm, Coeurl's nasty beasts in packs, best rid myself of them before they cause more damage. Gabranth then broke his weapons apart again and began charging some sort of attack. "Now feel the crushing power of wrath!!" Gabranth then released a blast of force and a blood red aura surrounded his body. He shot towards the panthers slashing them with blinding speed he kept dashing through the monsters each slash more powerful than the last until he jumped back and encircled the monster pulling them from the ground by the sheer force of his attacks and within his tornado he slashed again and again before emerging from the whirlwind.

The tornado died off and the limp carcasses of the two Blood Panthers slammed into the ground, each covered in multiple lacerations. Gabranth then fell to one knee panting heavily his body exhausted by the ferocious assault. "Blast! That was only the beasts I still have him to deal with. I don't know how long I can continue in this state!" He then pulled himself to his feet and raised his weapons towards Kadaj as he scanned the area for a possible escape route.