Chapter 12: The Messatii
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"What were those things back there?" Hao asked as they rested at the top
of a hill.

"I'm not sure," Maru answered.  "But I'm positive there were more than
just those two."

"Then they're probably looking for us," Hao muttered as he shuddered in
the cold.  "As many other things probably are," he added as he looked
around.

"Don't worry," Maru replied.  "It seems the monsters have regressed as
much as the humans around these parts.  Come on, I want to try to find
some shelter."  Saying that, she headed north.  Quickly Hao followed.

"Tell me more about the Messatii," Hao said.  "And their quest to
eradicate magic."

"Our race is basically a warrior race," Maru started.  "We have always
relied on technology more than magic because, for us, technology has
always been more reliable.

"Shortly after King Uxis took the throne, bad things began to occur
across the vast Kingdom.  Even our technology had a difficult time coping
with it.  One day, a strange man from the mountains on the western edge
of our Kingdom came to visit the King.  He told the King that an evil
magic rising in the North was to blame for all the troubles that had
befallen our nation.  Right then and there, the King ordered the
destruction of all magic.

"Only a few soldiers of the first expedition force returned from the
northern continent.  Enraged, the King sent his entire army and navy to
attack the magic across the Sea to the North.  The plan was that we were
to attack from the South, East, and West, but I don't know how it ended,
my forces were trapped in the island cave by the storm."

"Almost sounds as if that storm was magical," Hao replied.

"I thought so too," Maru answered.

By dawn, Hao and Maru had reached the southern edge of the field of
destruction caused by the collaspe of Kefka's Tower.  Here they rested
while they ate breakfast.