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Disclaimer - Skies of Arcadia is copyright Sega and Overworks. I don't own these characters, places etc. Please don't sue me, if you do you'll be disappointed because I have no money anyway.

This is my first fic, I've been humouring the idea of writing one for some time. I finally thought Ahh what the hell what have I got to lose. Comments, suggestions etc are appreciated, send 'em to adamcannon@ic24.net.

Wrath of a god
by A. Cannon (no pun intended ;)

Chapter 3 - The Hunt

Drat that Gilder, thought Clara as she eat. She thought she had him this time, she was so close. She'd followed his ship all the way to Valua. She thought she had him trapped for sure, but once more Gilder had gotten away. She sighed to herself, she had gotten her hopes up this time. Gilder's ship, the Claudia, couldn't proceed any further North. The huge mountains of Valua, impassable to all ships except the Delphinus and those made by the Yafutoman Navy, would make sure that Gilder couldn't run any further North. Instead Gilder had booked passage on another ship heading south. She had no idea where to look for him next. The sensible course of action would be to stay close to the Claudia, Gilder would have to meet up with the ship eventually, but she knew that he never would. Not while she and the Primrose stayed there at any rate.

She had stayed in Valua for two days to try and gather information about Gilder's whereabouts. After coming up blank she had left two of her crew in Valua with orders to watch the Claudia and to follow it discreetly should it leave port. After finding out where Gilder was they were to meet back up with the Primrose at the Nasrad docks.

She had left Valua only one hour ago after stocking up on moonstones. It was quite an irony, she thought, how the very thing that destroyed Valua, the Rains of Destruction, only five years ago was now helping to re-build the empire. Thanks to the shower of rocks the continent was covered in moonstones, enough to fuel one thousand ships for several decades. Valua's economy was booming.

Clara pushed her plate away, she'd had enough of the small salad in front of her. Instead she took a drink from the cool liquid in front of her. She sat there in silence in her cabin, listening to the faint creak of the ship as it made its way south. She found her thoughts always returning to Gilder. She loved him fiercely, she always had ever since that first night they spent together on Sailors Island. The week after was a time that she would never forget. She'd never felt as alive as she did in that short week, and she promised she would never leave him. She had told Gilder that very thing shortly after, that she loved him and she would never leave him. That was the same night he had left her. With no explanation as to why, he had simply ran from her.

And so she had made a new promise to herself. That she would be with him one day, and that she would chase him all over the world until that was so. She sighed to herself again, little over ten years ago that had happened. She thought her feelings would have lessened some in that time, if anything her feelings for him had simply gotten more intense.

She wondered, for a moment, how Gilder felt about her. Did he love her as much as she loved him? Did he love her at all? She knew he did at one time, that time over ten years ago when they first meet. She had seen it in his eyes every time he looked upon her, felt it when they kissed. But if that was so then why did he run from her, and why was he still running now? She was going to find out one way or the other, no mater how devastating it would be to her if he said he didn't love her she was still going to find out.

Her melancholy mood was lessened somewhat by her convictions and she smiled to herself once more. The chase would go on until she had her answers.

There was a knock at her door and she called cheerfully out for the person to enter. A young woman entered, clothed in striped blue and white shirt and blue shorts. Her long auburn hair swayed freely about her round face before she quickly swept it behind her with a quick flick of her hand. She looked around quickly for the Captain with her deep green eyes, the almost permanent smile that she wore graced her features. She was little over twenty years old and had been serving on the Primrose for over three years. Clara had found her to be one of the best navigators she'd had despite her young age. She also possessed an almost constant cheery mood that had the effect of cheering up the people around her as well. People commented that her smile was contagious.

"Nicole," called Clara.

"Captain," she said "there's a strange ship under the clouds, its not the Delphinus or of Yafutoman design. Its markings are strange, we've never encountered it before and its not registered."

"Lets take a look then," said Clara rising from her seat.

They went outside to the ship's pink deck to get a better look at what the Navigator was talking about. The black clouds formed by the Valuan moon were still as strong as ever in this area. They hadn't yet left Valuan airspace. Sure enough there was the ship below the clouds where very few ships were able to travel. It was at least one thousand feet below them and she couldn't quite see it. Both due to the distance and the light grey cloud cover. She called up to the bridge above them and one of the girls threw down a long thin telescope. Clara peered down through the grey haze caused by the clouds and re-focused. The ship was suddenly bought into clarity. A long ship with a jet black hull. A red star with five points grazed both sides of the dark hull. "Strange," she said to herself. She turned to her navigator, "Can you tell where they’re heading?" she asked. It was a stupid question really. She knew Nicole would know where they were heading.

"Yes but I need to go to the bridge to use the map."

"Lets go then."

They ascended the ladder on the deck directly to the bridge. Three girls were currently on duty there. A large oak table graced the centre of the bridge. On its surface was scattered maps of varying size showing different parts of the world of Arcadia. Some maps were older than ship, turned brown with age. Nicole pushed all these smaller maps to the floor without regard for them. Spread completely across the entire surface of the table was a complete map of Arcadia contained under a glass surface. Nicole placed a point on the map and indicated that that was the ship under them. She took an instrument from the side of the table and a pen, steadied it for a moment and draw a line straight down passing through the point. She then indicated at a place along the line part way on the continent of Valua.

"If they continue on this heading then their going straight for the Maw of Tartas," she said.

"The Maw of Tartas." Clara paused for a while considering "What could they possibly want there?"

"I don't know Captain, they may change course later on but I doubt it. The fact that their below the clouds more or less means that that’s were their going. Tartas is only accusable from there, the other entrance has been sealed up again."

Clara ran her finger down the line on the glass surface, following it down. She stopped then, the line ran straight to Crescent Isle. She didn't like this at all, a sixth sense inside her told her something was wrong with this. She'd had this feeling many times before, each time she had been right and something bad was going to happen. She couldn't follow the ship to the Maw of Tartas but she knew someone who could, and if her hunch was correct they'd just had a run in with the mysterious ship. She walked over to her helmswomen. "Lydia, change our course and take us to Crescent Isle."

"Captain?" she asked puzzled.

"Just a hunch Lydia, we'll see if I'm right."

She didn't like the way this day was turning out. Gilder, run off when she'd finally gotten close and now this. Who knew what would be in store for her before the day was done.

The Delphinus had been prepped in record time. As soon as Vyse had arrived back at Crescent Isle he had been told of what had happened to Fina and Gilder. He had quickly ordered the Delphinus to be ready as fast as possible to give chase. Despite her size she was a fast ship, not very manoeuvrable but still one of the fastest. However the more time they spent getting the Delphinus ready the less chance there was of catching up.

The crew knew this as well, and after a mammoth effort the Delphinus was ready to go in only forty minutes. Normally it would take at least three hours. The faulty engine still hadn't been repaired and had instead been taken out meaning that the ship would be slightly sluggish when turning to port. The output of the rest of the engines had been ramped up to compensate for the loss of speed induced by the missing engine.

Vyse was impatiently pacing across the bridge, stopping a moment to study the map spread out on the table in the centre, and then continuing his pacing. He had never been so annoyed in his life. It was because of him Fina and Gilder had been taken he thought. He knew he had done everything possible to make it back but that didn't matter, a Captain takes full responsibility for the welfare of his crew. That was what he had always been told and that was what he believed.

He kept going over the events in his head, there must of been someway he could of prevented it, something he had overlooked. The Delphinus Two had been way outgunned, she was more than a match for a single ship but any more than that and she was in trouble.

What did they want with Fina? That had been their objective all along, to get Fina, and he just let them go on their merry way to wherever it was they were going. They knew what she was, that she was the last of the Silvites, but that was no real secret now. Perhaps that had been why they wanted her, because she was the last Silvite. It was the only reason he could think of at the moment. But if they wanted just Fina, why had they taken Gilder? Perhaps he had just gotten in the way so they decided to take him as well.

"Captain," called a tall man at communications "engineering reports we're ready to go."

"About time," said Vyse "take us out Hob."

"Aye Captain," shouted Hob.

The all to familiar hum of the engines coming to life sounded throughout the ship as it made its slow way to the now open cave mouth. The sun was low quite on the horizon, noted Vyse as the ship exited the large cave, it would be night soon. He had decided to head for Valua, Gilder had said that was where the cult were based, somewhere on Valua. That was also the direction the ship was headed in when it had retreated from the Island.

"Hob, set engines to full and put us on a course that follows that ship."

"Aye aye."

Fina felt herself drifting through an artificial state of unconsciousness. She had felt this strange feeling before, she was both awake, yet asleep at the same time. The Slipara spell had not affected her completely, she still fought it. She refused to let herself be beaten by it completely.

A shroud of darkness covered her vision and for a moment she had panicked slightly, thinking that perhaps the spell had taken affect and she was dreaming that same dream all over again. No, she was still partially awake as she had been throughout. She had felt it as she was carried away into one of the small boats. She had heard the sound of the voices around her, although she couldn't make sense of them. She had known when she was slung over somebody's shoulder and thrown onto the bed she now lay on unmoving. Her body wouldn't respond to her, she felt exhausted, a result of the Slipara magic.

Still she fought it until finally she could move again. She flexed her fingers experimentally at her side then opened her eyes. A blurry world appeared to her, she could see a grey metal roof but that was all from her position. She craned her neck to the side to try and get a better view of the world around her. Her body was still not responding properly. She couldn't see much of the blurry room in which she was held. She could see that the room was sparsely furnished. The only thing here was a door leading to the outside and another bed.

She could see a figure on the other bed but she couldn't make out who it was. Had they captured somebody else from the Island as well. She tried to force herself up using her hands to get a better picture of who it was but she collapsed back down before she managed to get an inch. She was still much to weak.

Finally she decided to wait. The blurred image of her world slowly focused in front of her. She could see now the groves in the grey metal ceiling, a lone lamp in the centre cast light into the room. Looking around at the figure that was lying on the other bed across the room she finally found out who it was. It was Gilder. For some reason they had brought him here with her. But for what purpose? They had only wanted her, why take Gilder as well?

Feeling her strength returned to her slightly she tried once to force herself into a sitting position. It was easy this time. Since she felt fairly confidant she decided to try getting up, lying here would do her no good. She swung her legs around to the side of the bed and shuffled to the edge. Finally with the aid of the bed she pushed herself up onto her legs. She felt dizzy for a moment as she stood, and leaned heavily on the bed to keep her balance. Once the dizzy spell had passed she walked over to Gilder to check on him.

He was under the same Slipara spell that had caught her. However Gilder was heavily under its influence. She often wondered how the power of the moons came so easily to her. It was somewhat common knowledge that women were more adept at controlling the moons magic, however it was different with her. While others had to constantly fight with the magic, to force it to do what they wished, all she had to do was guide it. As such she found using the magic a lot easier than most and could fight off almost any magic induced state. This time it had been different, the user had been a lot stronger than her and it had taken everything she had to stay semi-conscious. Gilder would be asleep for a while longer. Once she regained her strength she would try to fight the spell for him but until then there was nothing she could do.

She was startled as the door behind her was pushed open. Fina swung around to face the person and found herself looking at a young woman. The woman looked younger than her, barely out of childhood it seemed. Fina guessed her age to be somewhere in the late teens. She had a slender face and shoulder length black hair. She wore the familiar black clothes with the small red star that Fina had seen the people who attacked the Island wearing. The woman seemed surprised to see Fina awake.

"Yo... you're awake?" asked the woman, her voice seemed nervous.

"It would seem so."

"How?" she said "Nobody has ever been able to break the acolytes magic. Only they themselves can reverse it."

"And yet I am standing here talking to you." She found the young woman to be not quite what she expected of her captors. On the Island they had been ruthless, with one singular objective, to capture her. They had not seemed to care how they went about it, some had simply thrown themselves to the blades of the pirates. They were mindless in their objective. This woman however was completely different. She couldn't even imagine her belonging to the same group of people. But none of that really mattered, she was still a prisoner on this ship. "Why have I been taken prisoner aboard this ship," she demanded.

"Prisoner?" she sounded surprised "You're not a prisoner here, you're our guest. You're the one the great lord has summoned to speak with him. Does this look like the brig?"

"Can I come out of here? Can I see more of this ship?" she asked "If I'm a guest as you claim surly that should not be a problem."

"I'm sorry Miss. You are here for your protection only. You wasn't even supposed to be awake until the acolytes came for you?"

"So in other words I am a prisoner here in this room." The woman attempted to object but Fina continued talking "Who is your lord that wishes to speak with me?"

"The great lord Zelos."

"Zelos? That's impossible, Zelos was destroyed over five years ago."

"You are mistaken. After the war in which he tried to save our people he slept for a time. Once his strength was regained he came us, told us the truth about himself. He wished only to save us all from damnation but was stopped before his task could be completed. He exists once more with us, to lead us to a new future where mankind can be saved."

"And what of the Rains of Destruction? How did his plans to save us all fit in with that?"

"Those with unclean thoughts must be cleansed. The Rains of Destruction was merely a way to cleanse the people."

"Cleanse the people? That was genocide!" she shouted. How could this woman believe any of this.

"You don't understand, but you will once you have talked to our lord. I must leave now, the acolytes will wish to know you are awake." The woman turned around and stepped through the door leaving Fina alone with an unconscious Gilder.

Fina stared at the door for several minutes after the woman had left. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Zelos, still active? But the silver Gigas had been destroyed, she had been one of the one's that had helped destroy it. Nothing had been left except for a small silver ball. That woman had strongly believed in what she said, Fina didn't think she could change her mind about her beliefs no mater what she told her. She had obviously been brainwashed by this strange cult. Yet what if some off it was true, that the Silver Gigas was still activated. But the Silver Gigas was not conscious, it merely followed the order dictated by the one that held the silver moon crystal. How could it have ordered them to bring her to it? It must be the ones... what did the woman call them? Acolytes... yes, it must be the acolytes that controlled the people. They had brainwashed these people to believe that and they were the ones giving the orders. But then why would they want her?

Her face went suddenly pale. Only the one that held the silver moon crystal could control Zelos, and each Silvite carried a piece of the silver moon crystal within them. That’s why they wanted her she concluded, so that they could force her to control the Silver Gigas for them. She wouldn't let them, not mater what it took she would not let them control her, or the Silver Gigas like that, she would die first.

Where are they taking me? she thought after a moment. She looked around and noticed a small porthole on the far wall. Upon approaching it she peered outside. The ship wasn't in clear sky, it was in some kind of large cave. She recognised the large yellow crystal formations almost instantly. Only one place had crystals like that, she had been here before. The ship was inside the Maw of Tartas.

The door opened again behind her. She turned around and herself facing looking at one of the dark acolytes. Its face hidden behind a hood and cloaked in shade. It still carried with it the long black rod. It walked towards her, its black cloak billowing slightly behind, until it stood only four feet away. Fina still could not see a face behind the hood, she wondered if there was even one there at all. It spoke to her in low voice.

"You are stronger than I thought. I see now why the lord wants you." Two more of the acolytes came into the room and stood on both sides of the first. "This time however, the spell will hold you."

Fina knew what was going to happen next but there was nothing she could do to stop it. She also knew that this time she would not be able to fight the spell as she had before. One by one the black figures rods were transformed from black to blue, and then she felt it hit her. The Slipara spell, more powerful than any she had felt before hit her with the force of locomotive, she didn't even have time to attempt to fight it. Darkness claimed her vision at once and she collapsed almost instantly.

Vyse and Aika were on the deck of the Delphinus peering out towards the setting sun, the wind causing Aika's hair to fly around behind her. The sun had transformed the normally white clouds to patches of pinks of reds. Behind them a sailor swabbed the deck while another two people prepared the large cannons for a possible confrontation.

They used to do this years ago when they lived on Pirate Island. They would ascend the large ladder up to Lookout Island and watch the sunset. The sight had always conjured up images in them of what was out there. They stood there in silence, neither one daring to speak. They watched the clouds as the Delphinus sailed through the sky, letting their minds conjure up images from what they saw.

Vyse found his thoughts returning to Fina. Was she okay? he asked himself over and over. He had made a promise to her years ago that he would always protect her, and he had just let the people of that... cult take her and go on their merry way. How could he have been so stupied? His thoughts strayed to last night when they had been outside Fina's room. Fina had kissed him then. It was just a simple kiss lasting no longer than a second, but it had brought up feelings in him that he didn't think he had. For that instant that empty void that he had been feeling for several years had suddenly been filled. He realized then for the first time that he cared for Fina more than simple friendship, and he knew that if he ever lost her he would never forgive himself.

"How will find them Vyse?" asked Aika breaking the silence, her voice filled with worry. "We have no idea if that ship even came this way, it could have turned of ages ago."

"I know Aika, but we'll get them back." He turned to her then said, "don't worry, there's a way out of every storm, no matter how bleak it may seem."

"They're going to pay once I get my hands on them!" shouted Aika "just let me get a clear shot then, blam!"

"Just make sure you miss Gilder this time, I don't think he will appreciate you getting him again. Not after this morning." They both laughed slightly, then stared out ahead of them once more. Several moments passed in silence.

"Are you worried about them?" Aika asked after a while. Vyse didn't say anything, he simply nodded.

"We'll find them," he said to reassure himself.

Neither said anything at all again for several minutes. The sun had nearly disappeared completely when somebody spoke again.

"Cap'n!," the lookout Nester shouted down with his deep voice. "There's a ship approaching dead ahead."

They both looked over towards the front of the Delphinus, sure enough a ship could be seen. It could be barely made out due to the distance but it could be easily seen that it wasn't the one they were searching for. "Who is it?" Vyse called back up to the lookout.

Nester was looking through his telescope at that time. He answered after a moment. "Its the Primrose Cap'n," he called down.

"The Primrose?" asked Aika. "Maybe Clara's seen the black ship," she said enthusiastically.

"Maybe, at any rate she's heading straight towards us. Even if she doesn't know of the ship she deserves to know what’s happened to Gilder." He turned towards his lookout calling out to him "tell Hob to pull us up along side them."

"Aye Cap'n"

The pitch of the engines changed slightly as the ship was slowed down to approach the Primrose. The Primrose could be seen easily now, its pink hull un-missable. Finally after little under five minutes the two ships were side by side barely half a meter apart. Clara came out of her bridge, down the small ladder leading to the deck and approached them with a smile.

"I'm glad to see you're all okay. We were worried slightly over here, we were on our way to Crescent Isle to see if everything was ok. I assume you're looking for the black ship."

"How did you know?" Vyse asked.

"Nicole here," she said pointing to girl standing next to her "is the best navigator I've had. We flew over them not one hour ago. She determined where they came from and we think we know where their heading as well."

"Where?" asked Aika enthusiastically.

"The Maw of Tartas," answered her navigator.

"What are they going there for?" asked Vyse "more specifically how. Most ships aren’t designed to travel that low."

"We don't know but they were below the clouds when we passed them." she caught site of something in Vyse's eye. There was something else yet to tell "Is everything okay Vyse. What happened?"

He told her briefly of the events that had transpired. About the attack on Crescent Isle and how Fina and Gilder had been kidnapped.

"Gilder, they have Gilder as well. Well that settles it, I'm coming with you Vyse."

"What? Clara you can't, what do you expect to achieve by coming with us?"

"A lot more than I'll do here."

"We need you to do something else. Enrique needs know about them. Their hiding under his nose. That will help more than you coming with us. Please Clara."

She considered it quickly "On one condition," she said her smile breaking into a large grin "once their safe, you wont let Gilder leave until I've seen him first. Deal?"

They all laughed "deal," said Vyse.

"Okay then," she said "we'll warn Enrique about the blacks ships under his continent. You just make sure you get Gilder and Fina back safely." She turned around to face her bridge "Lydia," she called up "prepare to turn the ship back around, we'll be going back to Valua." The helmswoman answered with a nod. Clara turned back towards Vyse and Aika "Good luck to you two."

"Thanks Clara, luck to you to."

Clara bent over the gap to give them a quick peck on the cheek before she disappeared back into her bridge. As the Primrose begun to swing around to face Valua, Vyse had entered the bridge. He called to Hob to head for the Maw of Tartas as fast as the Delphinus could go, and the two ships speed across the sky on their separate ways.

It took the Delphinus just under an hour to reach the Maw of Tartas, the sun had long since disappeared over the horizon, not that it would of made a difference in Valua. The large entrance stood directly in front of the Delphinus. It looked for all intense and purposes exactly as its name implied, a huge animals maw opened wide showing its sharp teeth. The Delphinus approached it steadily until it was finally swallowed up into the caves beyond.

Authors comments:

That’s chapter three out of the way. Sorry for the lack of any action in this chapter. Things start getting considerably darker in the next chapter, and after that one everything goes to pot.

I tried to explore slightly the relationship between Gilder and Clara at the beginning. How do you think I managed it? I'm not to sure about it myself, though that’s probably because I'm my worst critic. I'm actually thinking of writing a seperate fic centered in the past when Gilder and Clara first meet after I've finished this. That's if I can do a half decent job at it anyway.

Anyway I hope you're all enjoying it. As always any thoughts, suggestions, or if you just want to say 'hey' then the email address is at the top of the page.