The Recollection Of Meira

Chapter 13

I was torn here. She wanted me to give my soul to Dark Falz, an ancient demon-- no, an ancient god of hate, malice, and destruction. It seemed, at this time, that my options were to either heed the demand, or never be able to be with Randon.

But then I had a thought. She referred to 'those who volunteer,' which made me think, that there must evidently be those that do not volunteer, but rather, are taken by force. So, I asked her about Randon. I asked her, "Did... Did Randon volunteer for this?"

Lynn let go of me, and backed away, to look at Randon. "Randon Bragwin..." she answered as she put a finger to his chin, and he stared blankly at her, "Randon put up a fight. He even killed one of us. He buckled under in the end, however." She laughed quietly to herself, after saying this, and though her back was to me, I'm certain that she had a smug smile on her face.

"It was you," I said, "who made Dragoon attack me, wasn't it, Lynn?"

"I was merely a vehicle that Dark Falz used to transfer its will. I observed from the beginning that you were a hunter of great talent. Still though, I felt I needed to test your abilities," after she said this, she paused, and turned back toward me. "And you passed the test with flying colors."

"This Dark Falz... Is this the immense hateful power that I have been sensing?"

"This power that you speak of, is merely an after shadow of Dark Falz. An emotional manifestation of the Dark Force, and just a taste of the Profound Darkness."

Then I heard Randon's voice, struggling to warn me. "Meira..." he said, "Run... Leave this... horrible place... I could not bear... To see you taken... by these... Demons... As they have taken me... So long as they cannot have you... They can never truly have my... My soul."

Lynn turned sharply at Randon. "Silence!" She yelled into his face. She then looked back at me, and I could only think for a moment, before she finally, in a calm, seductive tone asked me, "Well Meira? What will it be? Will you leave your love, or join him?"

I then remembered an incantation. It's the same incantation that is used in our seals, and powers our travel through the stars. So, I began to say it out loud. I said, "I wish it at an Alliance... From several years ago." Lynn backed off upon hearing this, and even seemed to hiss at me, realizing what was coming. My Varaha began to raise behind me as I continued, "Please protect me by virtue of your Power... Great Light!"

Lynn flapped her wings, and took to the air, and with a flash, my Varaha projected about me a shield of invulnerability. As Dragoon once was, I as now unstoppable. I ran away from Randon, to an area where he'd be clear from any projectile that Lynn might throw at me. My Varaha was jumping with excitement, and I realized what it had in store. The Profound Darkness is an entity of pure dark power, and produces a being from part of itself, known as Dark Falz. The Great Light, on the other hand, is an entity of Light, and just as the Profound Darkness can emit part of itself to dispense of its needs, the Great Light can as well. It was then, that I summoned Pilla-- the emissary of the Great Light known as The Sorcerer.

My Varaha released the energy necessary, and Pilla appeared, in all of his power. Pilla opened his great arms wide, and with the energy provided by my Varaha, he brought the wrath of the Great Light down from the ceiling, slamming Lynn into the ground with profound force. Pilla is a beautiful being, embodied purely out of the creative power of the Great Light. Though just as abruptly as he was summoned, he was gone again.

Lynn was on the ground, and beginning to stand, when the door into the room we were in was busted open. Dragoon stood there looking in, but was soon pushed out of the way by Zeirom. "Meira?? Are you okay?" Zeirom rushed to my side, and Dux ran in, first toward me, but then he stopped, upon seeing Randon.

"Randon..." he uttered quietly. I suppose he must've been shocked to see that Randon had been found. A person of his dismal outlook always assumes the worst, of course. Zeirom looked up, and I believe he was surprised as well. Zeirom's attention was caught more by Lynn, however, as she got up.

Dragoon stood about idly, tossing the miscellaneous chunks of the door that were on the ground, into the crater. Zeirom kept his sights on Lynn but said, "Hey Dragoon... Lynn's looking at you funny... With just her third eye."

Hearing this, Dragoon stopped what he was doing, and looked at Lynn. Suddenly infuriated, Dragoon rushed at Lynn, who was still recovering from the blast from Pilla. Though, as fast as Dragoon is, Lynn was ready for him by the time he got to her. Lynn touched him on the forehead as he came close to her. There was a spark, and Dragoon fell limp for a moment, before straightening up.

Lynn smiled again. "Good HUcast. Your simple AI has served me well. Now, dispose of Meira. If she cannot be made to join us, then she will do us better if she is dead," she said.

Dragoon went to hit her again, but couldn't bring himself to do it. He struggled with himself as we all watched. He eventually fell to one knee, and gripped his head with screams of "Nooo!!", "I won't!" and "I can't!" until finally, it overcame him, and he stood again, pointed toward me, and charged.

I tried to ready myself, but he rammed into me, transferring all of his momentum into me, and I went flying at an alarming rate, toward the huge hole that I have thus far referred to as a crater. Fortunately, my MAG had me in a state of invulnerability, so I didn't take any damage, but on the other hand, I do believe that Dragoon's impact on me was enough to break the barrier of invulnerability, as I observed that immediately after Dragoon hit me, the barrier was gone.

As I flew through the air, for that giant crater, I was certain that I was finished. Dragoon had killed me after all. It wasn't his fault though, he didn't do it because he wanted to. He had no choice, he was not himself. I never blamed him for it, he was as much a victim as I was.

When I saw the ground underneath me end, I was even more certain that I would die then, as I looked into the dark, and seemingly endless abyss that was this huge hole. I couldn't see the bottom, though I supposed that I didn't want to. It was over, though. That was it. I was going to die. My only regret, was that I would never be able to see Randon again, and there was nothing that I could do about it. I wasn't as sad about it as I expected I would be, though. For some reason, I felt like there would be a warm place waiting for me on the other side.

But then something happened. Suddenly, I wasn't falling anymore. I was looking straight down, and everything was dark, so I had no visual indication that I wasn't falling, but there was no wind, and I was still alive, so I was certain that I hadn't hit bottom. Then I realized, however, that there was something very tight around my ankle. I looked up, toward my feet, to see Zeirom hanging his upper-body over the ledge, hanging onto my ankle by just one hand.

"That was a close one, Meira," he said, "Let's not do that again." I was speechless at this. Zeirom had come through when I really needed it, and saved my life, when I had no chance of doing so on my own. Zeirom had most definitely proven himself to be a friend that is more than well worth having.

As he pulled me up, I could hear the sounds of Zonde-series techniques, and when my eyes came over the ledge and I could see what was going on, I saw that Dux was incapacitating Dragoon with a single continuous burst of Zonde, intensified in such a manner that only a FOnewmn could possibly achieve. I was quite impressed.

Zeirom set me back down on the ground, and I then saw that the sack that contained Randon was being lifted back to the ceiling, by the control of something that Lynn was doing, while Dragoon had us all distracted.

I became furious then. All this time, Lynn had lead me around, making me believe that she was a friend, and even worse, she was at least in some way responsible for Randon's current condition. I charged at her with the same kind of energy that I had used to push Dragoon off of me when we were fighting Vol Opt, but just as she did with Dragoon, she was ready for me, and countered my attack.

Having countered my attack, she took to the air, and hovered there for a moment, as her skin became a shiny, metallic color. Zeirom pulled out his rifle, and shot at her a few times, but it did no good. The photon bullets fizzled out of existence upon impacting with her.

Her metallic shade began to fade, but not until she had started to develop a large ball of energy between her hands, which I was confident, she intended to shoot at us, with intent on killing us. I couldn't let this happen, and I ran to Zeirom. "Zeirom!" I said, "If we let her release that, we're all going to die!"

"I can't shoot her now," he said, "If she dies like that, it'll only discharge the ball..."

I looked up at Lynn and watched as the ball got bigger, and the expression on her face got meaner. Then I looked back at Zeirom. "Throw me..."

"What?!?"

"Throw me at her! I'll kick her arms, and make her throw the blast into herself!"

"I really don't think--"

"Just do it! It's the only chance! Dragoon has gone nuts again, Dux doesn't have the kind of combat skills to do it, and you're too big to get yourself up there! It's the only way, or we'll ALL be stolen by Dark Falz!"

Begrudgingly, Zeirom nodded and agreed. "I don't like it," he said, "But you're right. It's the only way. Here, put your foot in my hands." He made a stirrup with his hands, and I stepped into it, getting ready to be thrown.

Zeirom counted to three, and then I was launched. Again, I was flying through the air, but this time, I was not in danger. I knew that Lynn must've seen me coming, because she looked up at me, but because she was preparing this blast, she couldn't maneuver to get out of the path I was in.

As I grew closer to her, I stabilized myself in the air, and prepared myself to kick. This was it, there was no turning back. This was going to be over very soon. I was a little bit scared this time, because I didn't know what would happen. I didn't know if I could make Lynn take the full brunt of the blast, or if some would still effect me. I had bet that I'd probably get hurt, and this was definitely why Zeirom didn't like the idea.

I came closer yet, and I could see the dismay in Lynn's face, as she saw what I was about to do. She wasn't ready to release the blast yet, but she knew she couldn't hold onto it. So she started to point it at me. I was still coming though, and I wasn't going to be stopped. As I got closer, I refined my aim, and she refined hers.

Then, I was finally there. It was time for me to release my kick, and Lynn tried to rush to release this ball of photon energy that she'd gathered. Just as she was about to let go of it, I stretched out my knee at her hand, slamming my foot into it. The ball of photon energy was dragged back with her fingers, as I continued toward her, pushing her wrist back into her gut. With that much of the blast disturbed, I quickly swung my other foot into her other hand, which was now well in front of her.

I pulled back my first kick, and when my second kick made contact, I pushed that hand back into Lynn's gut as well, forcing the ball with it. As the ball impacted with Lynn's body, it exploded, releasing all of that photon energy. Myself, however, I was falling into Lynn, so I took on much of this explosion, as well.

I remember being flung into the ceiling, where I hit hard, and stayed for what seemed like hours, but must've been only a few moments. When the concussion waves of the blast declined enough, I finally fell back to the ground. I hit the floor with a hard thud, and I remember hearing Zeirom clank up to me, pick me up carefully, and whisper to me that I'd be all right. Then, I blacked out.

I eventually woke up again, laying in a hospital bed. As I've healed from my wounds, I've had a lot of time to sit and recall all that happened, and as I've done so, I've written everything down, into what you've read so patiently right here. It's taken several months to write all this, but I think that it's mostly been for me.

Every once in a while, Zeirom or Dux will drop in, not to mention a few of Randon's other friends, such as VanGarrett the RAmar, and Artemis the HUmar. I haven't seen Dragoon, but Zeirom says that he's back to normal, in whatever sense the term 'normal' may apply to Dragoon.

Dux says that he's gained new interest in exploring Ragol, ever since our trip to the Ruins, and that my determination has somewhat inspired him. He also says that there's a new assignment that hunters are being recruited for down on Ragol, and while it's very important, the details are limited. All he knows, is that they're going to test his skills. He says that when I get out of the hospital, I should join him there, but I'm really not interested in such assignments-- I just want to get back to the Ruins and find Randon. I think that just maybe, by now, he just might be out of that sack of goo. I'm just hoping that the doctors will be able to do something to bring him back to normal when I go back down to save him.

So, I guess that's really all I have to say on the matter. I do sincerely hope that anyone who reads this finds it to be rather informative, and I ask from the bottom of my heart, that everyone who reads this should take example from what I've endured, and cherish every moment you have with that loved one in your life-- because you never know when their next trip to Ragol might threaten to be their last.