Dawning Skye

Skye had Zazzy keep a lookout from above for Richard while Tidas, and Ralph cleared everyone away. Zazzy had circled back about six minutes later, and gave the okay for them to make a ruckus. She flew off again to continue to act as an early warning signal, just in case Richard was drawn by the noise.

Skye had already funneled enough magic into the ground to where she knew that she could manage the ground. The few buried were pretty deep, and it had actually surprised Skye to find most alive. Only one had died from it.. ‘So far..’

As the thought crossed Skye’s mind, Tidas walked over to her side and said; “I have Shamans on standby to heal the wounded. Do you know how many there are?”

Skye nodded; “Aye: six in total. One is gone, two be bleedin’ badly, and the other three aren’t bleedin’ but I canna tell anythin’ further til I get ’em out. Why did ye call over Shamans? I can handle-”

Tidas shook his head; “I know you most likely could, but what if Zazzy were to call out two seconds after you save them? You’ve been using a lot of your magic lately, and I don’t want you to exhaust yourself right before we go after my uncle.”

Skye nodded, unable to argue with his logic. The two might need her expertise if they had extensive internal injuries, but the other three should be fine. As Skye started to shift the loose earth, she took extra care not to bury them any further, and cause them to panic.

Combining her Earth and Shaman traits had allowed Skye to find the Reinbolt soldiers within the ground, and identity any broken limbs and leaking fluids. But she still had to physically touch them to be able to ascertain their exact condition. It was a limitation of the Shaman trait, and one Skye had been trying to find a work-around to.

After playing a certain game with the Highlanders, Skye had seen a character cast ‘healing magic’ over the members of her party while they were fighting. It made her wonder if she could create a similar move, but so far, the basic principles of her Shaman trait prevented her from coming up with a solution.

.....

Bringing her thoughts under control, Skye got back to fully focusing on the task as hand. The soldiers were fine after a good healing, but mentally broken after Ralph and Tidas had chewed them out for disobeying a direct order. They were lucky that was all the two did did to them; they were lucky that they were Reinbolt’s men.

Skye used the remainder of the magic she’d pumped into the ground to make a staircase capable of handling their extra cargo. The generators that she and Jakub had made weren’t very heavy individually, but their quantity and shape made them difficult to carry.

Bags of long, flat, and wide discs were trudged along mainly by the Power Tanks. They switched off with the Hybrids son occasion, but most of them were reserved for the front lines. Only top tier mages like Skye, Tidas, Amara, and Murdoc were built to generate magic at a high output.

Most mages still had to wait for their magic to replenish after strenuous use, but the Generals and above recovered at an astonishing rate; comparatively speaking. Skye was extraordinary at her magic recovery, but that was because she had a small trick to it..

Since she was a Shaman, Skye could speed up her body’s digestive capabilities, and store away excess energy in a thin layer of fat. When she went all-out in a fight, like during the Mage Trials; she’d visibly looked thinner after. It was because when she’d fought Tidas, she’d used up more magic than she’d anticipated.

She had instinctively burned away her fat during her mad dash to the finish line, and realized it afterwards. It was also why Skye ate like she was pregnant with triplets: she both burned up, and stored ridiculous amounts of magic. Especially since she followed Tidas’ habit, and kept her Tank trait constantly active at a low level.

As soon as Skye had finished making the stairs, she had immediately requested food again. Amara had already gotten a few sandwiches ready for her, which she was utterly grateful for. Skye hadn’t of planned on using so much magic along the way, but could help it.

Spring was the time when animals established their grazing and hunting areas. If the lands remained barren for spring and summer, then it might take another full year before the area started to flourish again. Skye and the rest of the RMC didn’t plan on staying in the Highlands much longer, so she wanted to heal what she could, when she could.

They had plenty of rations, and Zazzy could always take her and Tidas hunting if they needed it. As Skye munched on the sandwiches, she daydreamed about Alfred and Peggy’s cooking..

‘Peggy.. I hope she’s doin’ okay.. She was wit me parents fer the holidays, but was she healthy? Happy? How’s Genie? Will he still be in Alcon when we get back?’

As the questions piled up, Skye looked up at her dreary-looking namesake. The clouds were growing darker, stealing the majority of daylight from them. As the day pressed on, a slight chill was in the air, making Skye rub the sides of her upper arms.

Suddenly, she was engulfed in warmth as strong arms enclosed her. Skye grinned softly, not even needing to look at how it was, but wanted to. Glancing up, she was met with the heartbreaking smile.

“Ye know, it really should be illegal fer a person ta be so attractive,” Skye muttered low to him.

Tidas’ smile stretched to angelic proportions as he replied; “Then you would’ve been locked away years ago, love.”

“...Again, we can All hear ye!” Murdoc yelled as he sat on a makeshift chair with a group snickering mages.

Skye blushed while Tidas smirked and said; “What, I can’t flatter my own wife now?”

Murdoc chuckled; “Except it don’t ever stop there! Ye two ready, by the way? I’d prefer ta set up camp here fer the night, but we should use Skye’s stairs before the rain washes ’em away.”

Skye grinned confidently; “Those stairs ain’t movin’, but this wee valley is a keen place ta get smacked wit another landslide. We should keep goin’ a wee bit more.”

With everyone in agreement, they moved their camp up the stairs, then up to the very top plateau. The Old Capital was just a few more miles to the east of where they were now. As the reached the top, Skye’s heart sank..

In every direction as far as the eye could see: the ground was charred black. Not a single bush or blade of grass was in sight. The entire topside of the mountain, all the way to the ocean was nothing but dead lands. As Skye used her Tank trait to peer into the distance, she could see the capital..

Large grey and black walls surrounded what used to be a thriving city hundreds of years ago. The majority of buildings had crumbled a long time ago, but the palace still remained. Several towers and a small section of wall facing the ocean were piles of rocks and dust now, but the bulk of the building still stood.

As she stared at the enormous structure, Skye thought that she had seen a giant black mass walking passed a line of the palace windows. Her heart jumped into her throat as she realized that it was Richard..

“He’s there,” Skye pointed to the castle in the distance; “I just saw him walk past some windows.. Richard is in the old palace.”

Tidas used his Tank trait, and peered into the distance as best as he could. He could see the blackened castle, but didn’t see Richard. Calling out to the nearest Tamer, he had them fly a bird over the palace to confirm.

As soon as the hawk neared the palace, it refused to get closer. Telling them Tamer telepathically that it felt something terrible within the building that frightened it to the point of molting a few feathers. Understanding the situation, Tidas assigned teams of Tamers to monitor the palace for any movements.

“At least we know where he is now. I can call Zazzy back and tell her ta stay out of sight of the palace.. Don’t want Richard ta see her, and come lookin’ fer us,” Skye stated as she smushed herself against Tidas’ side.

She wasn’t looking forward to the battle, just going home afterwards. If she never actually had to see Richard again, Skye would’ve been ecstatic. When she wasn’t having foreboding dreams, she was having nightmares about her husband’s uncle.

Everyone dead on the ground around her with Richard before her. The way he killed her varied, but Richard always killed her in her dreams: except one.

Skye wasn’t sure if it was just a dream, or a full-blown premonition, but she felt like it was a clue to beating Tidas’ Uncle. In the dream; she would fall from the sky with the Ethereal Spear, and run Richard through. The sun would shine on a thin man as he smiled at her...

It was the most pleasant dream she’d had for the past couple of weeks, and felt different from any others she’d had. It had felt similar to the dream she’d had on her honeymoon, but more vivid. As they setup camp, ate, and crawled into their individual tents, Skye lay in her sleeping bag wide awake thinking about it.

She listened to the rain hitting the outside of her tent at varying speeds until in finally stopped. After about two hours of staring at the tent’s ceiling, she got up to go cuddle with Zazzy. When she reached her scaly bairn’s tent, Skye saw Tidas sitting on the wet ground with his legs crossed like a kid, talking to their dragon..

He was saying something about ‘following through with their We-B-F plan’, but stopped talking when they heard her approach. When she greeted and asked what they had been talking about, both Tidas and Zazzy clammed up. Not taking ‘no’ for an answer, Skye pressed her husband until he broke.

“We were just going over our plans, that’s all,” Tidas replied nonchalantly.

Skye looked him up and down with scrutiny before saying; “I’ll believe that when I can pick up and throw Zazzy a thousand yards..”

Zazzy flashed a disgruntled expression, prompting Skye to add; “Don’t gimme that look! Ye weigh thousands of pounds! Of course ye would be impossible fer me ta throw!”

Zazzy snorted huffily, then laid her head back down to drift off. Tidas patted his lap, beckoning his wife to sit. She sighed deeply as she sat down, and looked up at the cloudy black sky..

“Yer not tryin’ ta make a getaway plan wit Zazzy if things go bad, are ye?” Skye finally asked after hesitating for a few minutes.

Tidas didn’t answer...