"You are a complete and utter imbecile!" Palinourous vociferated directly in Ian's face. His eyes were wild and he was red in the face. "You and your own stupid motives almost blew the whole plan! What the hell were you attempting to prove?! What did you believe that would attain?!" Palinourous was highly upset. His chest was heaving up and down in exasperation with each breath he took.

Ian's swallowed hard, staring back helplessly. He was ashamed that he let his own ambition get in the way. He really did feel childish and stupid at that moment. But he still felt so annoyed by the fact that he was blindly following the orders of some guy just because he deemed a higher position than everyone else. He didn't like King Noxis in the least bit and he was highly suspicious of his true intentions. Noxis always had a hidden agenda, Ian was certain of that much. He simply couldn't understand how Palinourous could follow a person like that.

Angrily, Ian spat back at him. "Why?! Why do you even follow a guy like him!? He clearly has some personal agenda that all of us are unaware of! I mean, come on! Gathering the swords of legend? How could someone not have a personal agenda with having people selected to do such a task for him? Come on, Palinourous! Open your eyes! Don't you see that you're being used?"

"What do you take me for!? A fool? You think I didn't figure that out already?!" Palinourous roared back.

Ian sat in silence at the response.

Palinourous took a deep breath and lowered his voice. "I was blinded before. Fooled by him. But now my vision has been restored to me. I realize that this whole time I was simply being used. I was nothing more than a pawn to him. He only needed me because of my abilities and skills relating to the swords of legend. As soon as he didn't need me anymore, he would have disposed of me."

He turned away and walked to the table with the water bowl. He stared at his reflection in the tiny puddles of water that laid near the bowl. "I'm just angry that I didn't realize it sooner, like Gallows did. But now, I'm going to do things my own way." He returned his gaze to Ian and locked eyes with him. "We're going to take the swords of legend for ourselves."

Ian smiled wickedly at hearing his words. "Hmm... a rebellious Palinourous makes everything interesting." He laughed. "So, what is the plan? Do we go after the boy and Chrono?"

"No." Palinourous replied. "If anything, we should leave the boy be. He is already going along with the plan nicely. All we have to do is watch him closely and strike when necessary. Hell, we'll even help him get stronger to make the process even faster for us."

Ian and Palinourous laughed together maniacally, their voices echoing through the darkness of the silent night in unison, and abruptly dropping a blanket of an evil presence over the campsite.

Lexus' eyes suddenly suddenly opened up. He found himself in a clearing, the trees of the forest behind him. He was surrounded by a thick fog and standing before him at the end of the clearing was bridge that was laid over a large chasm. He couldn't see over the edge, down into the chasm below because it was filled with so much fog that was rising out of it

The bridge did not look sturdy to say the least. The bridge was made of rope that was fringed and looked as if it was ready to rip apart from itself at any moment. The planks that were laid across were old and some even broken. There were even some planks in the bridge that were completely missing. The wood looked brittle and cracked, eaten away and enfeebled by age.

He looked across to the other side of the chasm. There, before the bridge, he saw Chrono's light shining through the fog. But, then from out of nowhere, a silhouette of a person appeared behind it. Lexus took a deep breath and returned his attention to the rickety and perilously swaying bridge, gulping down a ball of his own saliva to moisten his throat that was dry with fear.

Will the hero have the courage to cross the bridge into a world of endless peril and despair, even when his bridge is coming down? A voice echoed through the fog. Lexus looked back up to the silhouette. He assumed it was coming from whoever that dark figure was.

Lexus breathed in deeply and held his breath as he slowly and cautiously took one step onto the bridge.

The bridge stayed firm and intact.

He released his breath and holding firmly onto the railings fashioned out of rope, he continued to make his way across the bridge, making sure to skip over the missing planks. He took one step, then two steps, then a third and the bridge made a small creaking noise.

He paused and tightened his grip on the the rope, giving the bridge a moment to rest before continuing his march across. One step, two steps, three steps. He took a fourth step and reached the middle of the bridge. There was a louder creak than before and the bridge began to sway portentously. He gripped the rope even tighter and clenched his teeth just as tight. He stood still and the bridge's swaying came to a slow halt.

Without notice, there was a sudden loud crack and the bridge dropped from underneath Lexus. Lexus yelled and held a tight grip to the rope of the bridge. The planks under his feet had snapped and fell into the chasm deep below. Lexus waited to hear a plunk or something, but it never came.

"Okay," Lexus said to himself. "That means one of two things: either there is no water at the bottom of this chasm, or this chasm is as deep as oblivion."

Then, there was a loud ripping noise. Lexus looked around, desperately searching for the source of the sound and saw that the rope was coming apart.

"No." Lexus pleaded. "No, no, no, no, please!"

Snap!

The rope broke, tearing the bridge in half and he lost his grip and fell into the chasm below, screaming as he fell and was completely shrouded in the thickness of the rising fog.

END OF PART 1

A/N: This story was written 2 years ago. I had it posted on here before but took it down in order to work on it for NaNoWriMo. Once I finished and reached my word count, I never looked at it ever again. Eventually, I will continue to write the rest of this story, that is Part 2. I hope you guys enjoyed this story and will be anticipating the release of Part 2.