(Jason's POV)
The stunt I pulled in Bevelle would probably put me on a wanted list with New Yevon. When we returned to the ship, I ordered Kyet to oversee the unloading of the supplies while I made my way to my quarters with Musaki behind me. The whole continent would know that pirates were in Spira soon and now I needed to behave like I claim to be. "Musaki I need treasure to fill my hull with. I don't care if it's a whisper of a rumor. Find me treasure." She was gone by the time I got to the elevator that would take me to my quarters. "Need to put a bell on her." I muttered under my breath and stepped into the elevator. The very fact that she can appear when I need her, or disappear when I am not paying attention is a scary thought. I sighed as I stepped out of the elevator only to duck back inside as a bullet whistled by my nose. "For love of God! Lieutenant Esqueezeme, no pot shots in the halls!" If it wasn't Musaki ghosting me, it was Esqueezeme trying to give me a heart attack. "Save the fire arms for the training facility, there is absolutely no reason for you to discharge your weapon in the hall ways. Is that clear?"
Esqueezeme stood at attention in front of me. "Crystal clear Sir, sorry sir." I left Esqueezeme in the halls a little flushed from close proximity to me, I noticed not long after my blow up with Hellfire that the temperature around me changes with my mood. If I was pissed I could probably roast a room full of my crew. Just great, my officers are psychopaths and I have to watch my temper.
I made it to my quarters without further incident. As soon as the door hissed closed I was removing my armor. I settled into my chair at the desk and slid my hand along the smooth surface. A holographic display appeared. "Oh how I missed this." The keyboard lit up on the desk and several screens came up for viewing. The main screen was my reports and a voice log of each report. The secondary screen was videos of Trillian on repeat. The massive display was the surveillance of the ship. The screen displayed twenty different camera views at five minute intervals. I always knew what was happening in my ship. The only officer not visible was Leftenant Musaki. She was probably searching for any rumors of treasure as Newind took us to the Thunder plains. From what Kyet told him, the place was very dangerous, it was under constant threat of lightning strikes and the Albhed were the ones maintaining the lightning towers. So why not park a big ass metal ship there. I am glad Musaki fixed the shields. I searched the surveillance cameras for Hellfire, he was watching Kyet run an obstacle course in the gym. He had her running with the men he used to protect the team transporting the ship pieces in the calm lands. I guess they grew on him and he turned into a brutal drill instructor. Master Gunnery Sargent Hellfire had a skill, he made the men more afraid of him than death. Brutal, but effective. I watched him put the fear of him in his men as a knock sounded at my door. "Enter." Musaki walked in and stood before me. "I have a juicy one for you. There is a rumor going around that at the bottom of a temple in Macalania, there is a treasure. It's supposed to be hard to get to because you have a maze to go through and the treasure is at it's center."
"Has the maze been mapped out?"
"Negative, the monks have no information on the maze only that they lost a few monks trying to find it." I smiled to myself. "Sounds interesting, a treasure with no information on it in an unmapped maze. Challenge excepted." I stood up and hit the communicator for the bridge. "Newind set course for Macalania, get as close to the area as you can. We will walk the rest of the way."
I turned back the Musaki. "I want you and Esqueezeme on the ground team. Prepare for anything. Get me the map of the area." She nodded and left me to carryout my orders. I began to plan out this expedition. I studied the map she sent me, looking for any surprises or ambush locations. The temple was located deep in a frozen forest. I had to plan for a jungle run. My excitement mounted as I examined the map. from the aerial veiws of the area, we would be spending a lot of time in the trees themselves. "This should be fun."
Newind didn't land the ship, but instead hovered above the entrance to Macalania woods. "I don't have the room to land, your going to have to disembark from here, Captain." I sighed as the hanger doors hissed open, I hated jumping from planes, even in this new world, that fact remained. Musaki and Esqueezeme looked far too excited for my sanity. "The anti gravity devices I created will stop us from becoming meat paste, Captain. This is probably the best invention I came up with to date." Musaki saluted me then back flipped out the now open doors. She was referring to the silver belts we each wore. The buckle was a gravity sphere set in an amplifier that kept the user from dying if they fell off a building or jumped out of an perfectly good airship. I can't believe I approved the project. I watched Esqueezeme summersault out the door and do a professional dive towards the ground. "Fucking Psychopaths." I muttered as I ran out the door jumping at the last second.
I expected to go splat when I hit the ground, but the belt actually worked, it created an anti gravity field for a few feet around me as I touched down. Musaki was beaming at me from a few feet away. "Ok girls let's get this show on the road. Musaki right flank, Esqueezeme left flank, I'll take point."
I didn't have to look back to see if they did as ordered, I knew they would. As we walked through the forest, I began to notice that the trees themselves were crystalized. "It's a giant crystal forest." Musaki exclaimed in awe. "Stay alert, we don't know what we are going to run into in here." I brought them back to the mission at hand as I searched for signs of fiends as we slowly progressed through the crystal trees. The stillness of the woods caused me some concern. "Musaki scout ahead, it's too quiet."
"Sir." She took off ahead of me and Esqueezeme, disappearing into the trees. "Captain, we should be fighting fiends already."
"Be ready." Esqueezeme nodded and summoned her dual ended sword. The electric red light pulsed up and down the silver blade in rhythm. I decided to used a bastard sword instead of summoning Phoenix Heart and causing the temperature around me to change. That way I don't advertise our location to any nearby enemies. I shelved my thoughts when Musaki came back. "Sir, all fiends in the immediate area are already dead or dying. Someone else is responsible."
"Are you sure it wasn't something bigger?"
"Positive, most known fiends in this region don't use a sword." She explained kicking a carcass over and revealing a slash wound to it's chest. I sighed, frustrated that I wasn't the first to head this way. I took the knowledge that the maze has of yet isn't cleared by anyone as a silver lining. "It's a race then. Game on. Musaki we follow the trail, they just gave me this win." I grinned to myself. What moron leaves a bloody path straight to the location of the temple. "We have a newbie on our hands, girls. Let's give them a proper lesson in treasure hunting." I didn't voice out the obvious. We ourselves have never searched for treasure before. Yet every skill I possessed in warfare and battle tactics came roaring into action. Lesson one, never leave a clear beacon of your location to the enemy.
It didn't take long for me to see the mayhem Musaki found ahead of us. Mayhem was too weak a word to describe the mess and carcasses left in their wake. The blood literally glittered as it clung to the trees. "Did they kill a fairy?"
"Negative Captain, the blood is reflecting the light from the trees, making it sparkle."
"That's not spooky at all." Esqueezeme muttered as she gingerly stepped around the glittery red puddles. "Focus girls, morons to catch, treasure to steal."
"Sir." They said with confidence in unison.
We followed the sparkly trail through the trees, careful not to touch the blood or bodies. I didn't want to wash my uniform just yet. Musaki was right, these idiots killed nearly every fiend in the path towards the temple. I was looking forward to gaining a few more skills during this expedition. Now I feel like I'm just on a nature walk through a crystal forest.
My thoughts turned as we neared the temple. I started getting that gut feeling as we moved from a crystal jungle to a canyon, blanketed in a foot of snow. "Musaki, get in touch with Newind, have him bring the ship closer, I have a feeling it will get messy."
The girls groaned. "Seriously, stop saying that Captain, I'm still not over the stunt on Gagazet." Musaki pouted but complied with my command. It wasn't long before The White Phoenix was taking up a good portion of the sky above us. "Tell Hellfire and Kyet to standby for my orders. I'm not sure what we are going to run into in there. Be ready girls" They nodded and I started towards the temple laying in the frozen crater at the center of the canyon. The temple was beautiful, almost asleep in the frozen wonderland it rested in. I lead the girls to the doors. They were wide open, a man in monkish blue and yellow robes lay in the open doorway. "Shit, Musaki." She was already calling Newind. A shuttle craft was heading our way as I check the monk's vitals. "Pulse is thready, where are the medics!"
"On their way now Sir. Hellfire and Kyet will be joining them as backup."
"Investigate the temple, bring any still breathing out for transport to Medical. Let's save as many as we can."
Musaki and Esqueezeme ran inside to find the remaining monks as medics took over reviving and stabilizing the one in the doorway. I surveyed the temple, searching for clues. I was startled by a weak grip on my arm drawing my attention to the frail old man. His eyes swelled with tears as he begged. He croaked with an emotionally cracked voice. "Please young man, save my disciples." The frail old man had fear and sorrow in his eyes. Something I recognized from the many refugees I helped on countless battlefields. "Be at ease good monk, I will try to help if I can." The man smiled faintly then he slumped down to the floor. I then noticed the massive slash to his back.
The monk pushed himself just enough to cry for help. The ice started melting around me. "Musaki, Esqueezeme, we go in. If it moves it dies."
The girls were beside me in an instant. I turned to Hellfire and Kyet as they came inside. "Watch over the medics, anyone comes up here that isn't us. End them with prejudice."
I turned back to face the wide open entrance to the maze, not waiting for a reply, I entered.
The maze itself was a headache. There were no shadows to tell where the turns were located and the walls were snow white. It was annoying running into them as we moved quickly through the maze. Musaki decided to set markers for which direction we came from as a basis for which way was the center.
We ran with Musaki leading the way when she suddenly stopped moving all together. "Musaki hop to it, we don't have all day!"
"Captain someone is crying in that direction." She pointed in front of her and at a wall. "Literally a wall there Musaki." She frowned. "Go back to the last intersection, I'm blowing it." She didn't even wait for us to run. She began setting up a device. Esqueezeme and I skidded to a stop and turned to watch. Musaki yank us to the ground as a deafening explosion took the wall in question. She let us up then began running again. "I'm blowing walls as we go stay a hundred yards away from me. Fuck this maze." She ran up the left wall and hit a switch barely visible in the pristine white. the floor opened up and frozen spikes gleamed below in it's depths. "I'll try to set off the traps as we go. Don't fall in."
"Now she fucking tells us!" Esqueezeme yelled behind me as we jumped clear of the pitfall. Musaki wasn't paying attention to us, she was setting another explosive.
I began to hear the faint cries she was talking about as we blew the fifth wall open. Musaki slid along the floor avoiding the ice blue saw blades coming out of the wall on each side. She shoved a throwing knife into the blades and stopped them from moving long enough for me and Esqueezeme to go under them. Musaki turned the left corner and stopped. I thought she was going blow another wall until she began running full tilt towards whatever caught her attention. " God Dammit Musaki!" We shouted in unison as we slid round the corner trying to close the gap and ran after her. I caught up in time to watch her parry a sword that was going to cut down a statue of a woman.
The statue was beautiful. The woman had long hair styled in large braids that swept the floor around her. she wore what looked like a bikini made of ice. A single piece of fabric tied to the bottom piece of the bikini. Bangels on her ankles and wrists finished the look.
Musaki now stood between the man with the sword and the statue. "Stand aside, woman. I must finish the mission." A delicate brow lifted and I knew that he just fucked up. Musaki's expressionless face told me she was pissed. "He just fucked himself." Esqueezeme said, crossing her arms and leaning against a wall to catch her breath. "She sure can run."
"Are you the one that killed those monks?" She tilted her head to the left as she asked him. "I slaughtered the ones who prayed to their heathen gods. Such a disgrace to His work should never be allowed." I stared at him in shock. "What the fuck is he talking about?" Esqueezeme whispered to me, just as lost as I was. "Son of a bitch." I whispered. We stumbled across something I thought I wouldn't find here. These people were very religious and believed wholly in their faith. He wasn't from Spira. "Kill him Musaki." I ordered her.
If I ever get the chance to witness her skills against another human being, now would be the perfect time. She was lethal with a gun, but put a knife in her hands and she can create a bloody artwork too beautiful to turn away from. The way she twisted in and out and around the man as he tried and failed to score even a scratch on her flawless milk white skin. I barely caught the tell tail glint off a thin wire that she was wrapping around him as she evaded each swing, thrust and slash of his sword. Soon enough the man stopped moving all together as the wire held him tightly in place. Musaki smiled like a small child. "Look at you, wrapped up like a present on Christmas day." She spoke in a very chilling voice. "Wait, what's Chris-"
She yanked the wire hard. The man literally tuned into meat paste. I smiled. "Outstanding!" She then looked at the statue and bowed to the woman. A jewel encrusted chest at it's feet began to glow. The coffin itself was ice blue with Crystalline snow flakes embossed on it's surface. The lid was made of clear ice and a pair of frozen circular blades lay on a blue velvet cushion inside the chest. They reminded me of chakrams. The blades were connected by a golden rope that shimmered with power. Each blade was silver with a colbalt crystal edge that lightened to a pale blue which glittered with a silver light. Weeping could be heard in the room with the statue. The sound echoed around us. The shape of the blades reminded me of tear drops. It was like they were the tears of the woman forever immortalized in the statue. Musaki bent down to read the plaque at the base of statue beside the ornate chest. "Here we lay to rest the most beautiful of her time. So beautiful, she was forever wanted by many a man. Her heart turned to ice for they wanted her beauty. The queen of the immortal cold palace, Shiva." I looked back up at the face of the woman. Below Musaki's feet a low humm could be heard through the floor. The sound was melancholy as it echoed off the walls around the room and our very souls. The sound was sweet yet sad all at once. "Captain the weapon in the chest is the only thing of value in this room, other than the statue of their frozen queen."
"Take them. but leave her statue. I think the monks deserve to keep it for all the trouble that hamburger caused." Musaki opened the chest and retrieved the weapon. Esqueezeme shoved us both down as the ceiling above us suddenly exploded. "We have company." Esqueezeme gripped the dual ended sword and it began to glow with a faint pinkish light. Letters appeared along one of the blades and it split apart at the center hilt, turning into two swords. I didn't think twice about summoning Phoenix Heart, fire danced along my right arm licking it's way along my body to my spine and heating up in the spot where my shoulder blades met. Musaki backed away from me, the Chakrams in her hands glowed with an ice blue light. I rose up into the air above me. Flaming wings kept me right there as we prepared for whoever came down that hole.