An hour later, she had scoured the entire town. Still no sign of Hao; no one had seen him all morning. After stopping to grab something to eat at the inn, she headed back to Lucy's house. Just as she was entering the door, she heard a loud commotion coming from the west side of town.

"Wonder what that's about?" Maru asked herself as she headed in the general direction of the noise. She reached the small crowd of people just in time to here the kid finish his story.

"And they're coming this way," the little kid panted.

"What?" Maru asked the person next to her. "What are coming this way?"

"Soldiers from Figaro," he answered. "It seems King Edgar is obsessed with bringing peace to the world through force."

"What are you going to do?" Maru answered.

"What can we do?" the man answered, "We're not trained to fight, and if there's half the number he says there is, they'll still outnumber us two to one."

"Maybe I can help even the odds," Maru thought to herself as she walked back to Lucy's house, "or maybe it would be best just to get out of her while I can. Where is Hao?"

Three hours later, the first of the troops arrived, Chocobo riders. They seemed to pay the town almost no attention as they flew around. But slowly, ever so slowly, there were more and more of them. Maru, like many other people in the town, were given armor and weapons by the merchants; the people were determined not to be overrun again.

Suddenly, a lieutenant appeared in the Western Gate of the City. "I claim this city for the King of Figaro," he proclaimed.

"Over my dead body," an old man who was standing nearby answered.

"Very well," the lieutenant said and turned to the troops behind him, "Kill him." The lieutenant, and several troops around him, fell almost immediately from arrows shot from doorways. Instantly, troops stormed into the sitting, bashing down doors and slaying people left and right. It was then that Maru signaled to several men across the road.

After pulling the pins in the grenades they lobbed them into the swarming troops. Nearly 150 troops were killed. Then the chocobo riders swarmed into town...

"Not much of an army," she thought to herself. The once proud general was realizing defeat was upon her.

"We should retreat," one of the men beside her said. "Join the others on the way to Albrook."

"We'd never make it," Maru said. "Our job was to weaken them and slow them down. It isn't done yet. And besides, I never retreat. Although, now doesn't look so bad of a time to do so."

"Never say die, huh, Maru?" Hao said as he faded into view beside her. "I see you really are in trouble."

"Hao! What the...? Where'd you come from?" Maru asked. "And where the hell did you get that sword?"

"Long story," Hao said. "I'll explain later."

"That's the Tzen Sword of Justice!" the man beside Maru exclaimed. "Where did you get that, boy?"

"Circe took me to the Orbs," Hao answered.

"The orbs?" Maru asked. "Nevermind, looks like they've decided to try it again."

"What have they got?" Hao asked as he looked at the strange devices the soldiers in the lead were carrying.

"Those are Bio-Blasters," the man replied. "They spray out a highly-poisonous toxin."

"Wish me luck then," Hao said as he leapt towards the incoming troops. Just as he was sailing over the first line the raised their weapons to fire, but he was already past them. As he was coming down he cleaved the head off of a Chocobo. Swinging left and right he wounded soldiers and Chocobos alike as he headed back towards the front lines.

Meanwhile, the last two of the archers in Maru's little group began firing into the soldiers. Suddenly chocobos were racing around the flanks of the advancing force and heading straight for them.

"Hang on," Maru said as she grabbed her gate device. Instantly her and the rest of her troops were beside Hao, in the midst of the enemy. Blood was everywhere.

Quickly Hao raised his shield as one of the Black Chocobo's swooped down on him. The force of the blow still knocked him backwards onto the ground. As he was scrambling to his feet, Maru attacked the Chocobo's rider, knocking him off of his steed.

"Gotta take out the chocobos," Hao thought as he watched one of them tear one of the five remaining townsmen to shreds.

"Tornado, Hao," a voice seemed to whisper. "Tornado." It was the Orb of Wisdom, telling him his enemies' weakness.

"Tornado?" Hao whispered as he fought off two enemy troops. The wind around him seemed to pick up for an instant. "Tornado!" Hao screamed. And all around him, the world prompty went to Hell.

"Maru!" Hao screamed. "Where are you? Getting no answer, he started looking for anyone at all.

An hour later he had scoured the entire town finding only bodies among the wreckage. Not finding Maru, he left the town in dismay. "I did all this," he thought in dismay, as he surveyed the destruction from a nearby hill. ***** Several hours later, Hao had come upon a forest. Deciding it was time to take refuge for the night, Hao wrapped his cloak tight around him, and faded from view.

"Haaooo," a voice snapped him from his sleep.

"Yes, I'm here," Hao answered.

"Your death is imminent, boy," the voice answered off to his right. Glancing that way he could see a black form seeming to hover above the ground. "The orbs can not protect you forever, boy," the voice continued.

"Sacred power, Hao," the orb whispered.

With a smile, Hao stood and decloaked. "Have a little Sacred Power, bastard." Suddenly, a bright white flash eminated from Hao and slammed into the black form. Instantly, it disappeared. Calmly, Hao restored his cloaking and went back to sleep.

After searching for half an hour he found a cave and settled down for the night. Just as he was about to fall asleep, the sound of faint music began to fill the air. Standing up, Hao began walking farther into the cave, searching for the source of the music. As the cave got darker, his shield began to glow, providing him with the light he needed.

Soon, he could see light coming from the end of the tunnel. Crouching close to the wall, Hao slowly advanced. When he reached the mouth of the tunnel, he looked out on a magnificent, if not frightful scene.

Before him stood a huge tower. On the side was a mural of a man Hao had never seen before. The man was fighting with several beings that seemed to be surrounded by an aura. At the base of the tower were nearly a hundred people, some playing musical instruments and others chanting madly. Hao had the sudden feeling that these people, whoever they were, were serving some evil purpose. Cautiously, he turned the other direction and headed back through the cave. Finding a crevice halfway back through the cave, Hao climbed into it and went to sleep.

Carefully Hao peered out into the early morning sunshine. Quickly he worked his way down to the valley floor.

"Lucky for me they liked to drink along with their dancing," Hao muttered as he began searching around. Finding a couple loaves of bread and a few fruits, Hao headed back through the tunnel. At the other end, he turned north towards Nikeah.

*********************

At mid-afternoon, Hao was standing on a hill overlooking Nikeah. Dropping his cloak, he walked down toward the town. At the gates of the city, he found several townsmen were playing the part of cityguards.

"Who goes there?" the guard on the right asked as he drew his sword and stepped forward.

"I am Hao," Hao answered. "An adventurer from Tzen."

"Tzen?" the guard asked. "We heard that Tzen had been destroyed by some freak tornado."

"That is correct," Hao answered. "I am on my way to Figaro to avenge my friend."

With that the guards began laughing. "You don't stand a chance against the forces of Figaro," one of the guards said.

"Maybe, maybe not," Hao answered as he walked past them. "But that is where I'm going."

"Okay, anything else?" the waiter asked.

"No," Hao replied. "That's all."

A few minutes later the waiter returned with Hao's soup. As he was eating it, Hao began thinking of what he must do next. The first thought that popped into his head was that he must sneak into Figaro and kill this Edgar person who had attacked Tzen. But he knew that would be tough; Figaro was sure to have formidable defenses, and he had heard there was some powerful source of evil behind Edgar.

As a second thought, Hao decided he would search for Maru, but that would mean going back to Tzen and starting over and he had already traveled so far, so Hao was relunctant to do that.

Finally, Hao decided he would goto to Figaro, or at least South Figaro, to get more information. Then he would decide what he would do. So after finishing his soup, Hao got a room for the night and went upstairs.

At the top of the stairs he turned to the right and heard a door open off to his left. Ignoring it, Hao continued down the hall.

"Hao?" a voice said behind him.

"Maru!" he exclaimed as he spun around. Grabbing her, he hugged her tight. "I thought you were dead," he said.

"You can't get rid of me that easy," Maru said with a smile.

"After the tornado I found my self on the beach south of here," Maru answered. "I had no idea about where I was, so I just started wandering. I eventually ended up here."

"Do you still have the gate device?" Hao asked.

"I did, but I must have landed on it because it was shattered," Maru answered. "And there's no way to fix it."

"Bummer. Guess we have to get to Figaro the old-fashioned way."

"Is that where you're going?" Maru asked. "To face Edgar?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure that's a smart idea? The villagers say he has some sort of demon controlling him."

"Well, maybe we can unmask this demon and free Edgar from its control? I'd say it's worth a shot."

"Worth getting us both killed?"

"I don't intend to die," Hao answered with an irritated note.

"Well, I don't think they're going to just let us march in there, do you?" Maru asked.

"I don't intend to just march in there. I intend to sneak in."

"What do you mean?" Maru asked.

"I'll explain later. Come on, let's get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a big day for us."