Helping is Evil?

After setting out into the heartlands of the continent, Stein was ready and eager to show Jack that he was capable of greatness. He had sent his mecs all over the eastern border in search of ways to make Jack's influence be known. As he kept an eye on them, he noticed they kept stopping in the same area. Stein headed toward the area to find out what might be the cause, as he began to get closer and closer, he noticed the trees around him began to wither. Taking notes along the way, he kept his eyes peeled for suspicious behavior. As he journeyed even further into the forest, he noticed the tree no longer had any leaves at all and the vegetation was dried up. He finally arrived at the site where his mecs were being stopped.

"Wow, I got myself so worked up over this... a dumb spider web? I'll give them credit, that's quite a massive web." Stein mumbled to himself as he moved in toward the web.

As Stein began cutting the web, he finally noticed what it was attached to the largest tree he'd seen since arriving in this world. It was hollowed out, all that was left was the shell of a once great tree. After cutting down all the webs, his mecs fell to the floor and made a loud clash.

"Hey what's all the noise?" said a stranger stumbling out of a hole in the hollow tree. "One moment, please! One moment!" He continued.

The man crawled out of a hole from the top of the tree and on all fours toward a branch. After reaching the end of the branch, he started slowly falling down, letting out a silken web line behind him. Completely shocked, Stein's eyes almost popped out of his head.

"Wha.. what... WHAT IS THAT?" Stein screamed.

"Hrm..?" the strange man grumbled.

"You're Spider Boy, the friendly village hero!" Stein yelled pointing but still in shock.

"I don't know what you're going on about, boy." He replied. "Are these your flying metal things?" He continued

"Yes, they're like flying eyes I can use to find people who need help." Stein said.

"Why're you here to help?" the old man said wide eyed as he dangled upside down, suspicious of Stein's presence.

"Well, I'm here to show the people of the world how amazing the man we follow is and spread help in his name, Jack." Stein said, carefully reciting the note Gar gave him with his directions.

"You're in time to help, but there's not much help you can offer young one." the old man said.

"I'm sure I can help in some way." Stein pressed.

"As you can see, this forest has rotted away. The problem is, not even a few days ago it was the most vibrant place on this entire continent." He said. "It was clearly done with the use of wicked magic, and I don't sense an ounce of it in you." He continued.

"No magic here grandpa, just the power of my brain!" Stein said proudly beaming with joy. "Anyway, what seems to be the problem going on, do you think?" He continued.

"Well, I suppose I should start from the beginning… if you really want to help that is.." the old man said. Then he quickly scurried up his line to the branch again. "Get down here, ya old hag!" he randomly yelled, throwing the drones at the tree.

Suddenly, the giant hollowed out tree began to shake. There was a crackle inside ending in a loud thud.

"ARGHHH!" a woman shouted as she bursted out from inside the tree with extreme rage. After shielding his eyes from flying bark everywhere, Stein yet again was astonished to find an old lady possessing the strength to do that.

"Why're you making all that noise?" She yelled, whacking the old man with the tree's debris.

"This boy says he'll help us with the events that have befallen us." The old man said.

"Huh, there's someone here?" She said squinting right past Stein pretending not to notice.

Stein waved his hand right in front of her but she still pretended not to notice.

"Well, first thing's first, do you guys have any idea what's happening? Or what might be causing this?" Stein said, suddenly getting unflustered.

"If we had any idea, it would be solved by now!" the old woman yelled at him.

"Oh, so she does know I exist." Stein thought to himself suppressing an eyeroll. "Let me see if I can figure something out from here." Stein said.

Putting on his metal suit to fly and his goggles to see any magic molecules around, he was shocked at what he was seeing. A massive amount of magic was flowing from the surrounding land into the sky and headed east.

"What is just east of here?" Stein asked.

"It's our holy village." They said at the same time.

"Someone is literally stealing the life from the land around here and they're in the direction of your village."

Shocked that Stein had found the problem, two elders looked at each other and vanished into thin air.

"Oh no you don't!" Stein said, launching toward the village.

Stein noticed that the molecules were flying at incredible speeds and certainly headed straight for the village. But upon getting there, he was quite surprised to see the village itself also in a decrepit state. Stein landed at the entrance of the village, most of the buildings and homes were in shambles. Walking through the main road of the village, it was clear the village was once great, but now the old cobblestone was covered in brown moss.

"Hello!" he shouted. "This place looks like it hasn't seen sentient life in centuries." Stein thought to himself.

After finally arriving at the main square, he noticed the old folks were standing by a massive hole in the ground and surrounded by some of the villagers.

"What's going on?" Stein asked.

"We've been studying the forest since it died and failed to realize the village succumbed to the same fate." the old man said.

"What are you saying?" Stein asked.

"He's saying the village has died as well. When we left for the forest, these streets were teeming with life and the rustle of day to day life." the old woman said.

"We've found the reason for it all as well." the old man said before continuing.

"To explain, we have to take a look back at the history of these lands. Long ago before any man, beast, or monster walked this world, that tree was all that stood here. That tree gave birth to the ones we know as gods, but not all were good, some had nothing on their minds except destruction. These creatures are known as 'World Eaters'.

"Among the World Eaters, one rose to power and came to be known by the name Bahamut. He was truly the most frightening of them all. Eventually, he devoured every other World Eater and set his sights on the very tree that birthed him. As he made his way toward the tree, the gods, knowing of his intent, did everything in their power to stop him from reaching the mother tree.

"Many of the gods got together and wove a powerful spell and gave up their mortal lives to banish him from this world's surface, trapping him so deep he could never return. The remaining gods, severely weakened by the fight with Bahamut, used the tree to create us. We built this village as a shrine for divine protection. After they created us, we worshipped them, and they were able to ascend to a higher plane.

"Our ancestors have protected and prayed on these lands for as long as we have roamed the world. But we fear that perhaps Bahamut has awakened and is drawing strength to break out." The old man said recounting the teachings taught from generation to generation.

"What can we do to stop him from waking up? Stein said with his heartbeat racing.

"We're not sure. He was never supposed to come back." the old lady said with tears building in her eyes.

"I'm afraid this may be the beginning of the end of our time in this world." the old man said with a look of fearful defeat in his eyes.

"It may have been brief, but it was nice to meet a young man with such a nice heart before it's all over. But you might want to return home now, in hopes to see your friends and family one last time before it is over." the old man said.

"Return home in hopes of a brief moment? I've lost everything once already. I'm not prepared to go through that again!" Stein recounted his time waking up randomly in a new unfamiliar world.

"Weren't you listening, boy?! There's nothing you can do now!" the old woman said, screaming as tears streamed down her eyes.

"Yeah, I heard you loud and clear!" Stein shouted back.

"Then why aren't you flying back in your suit to say your goodbyes?!" she yelled back.

"God's... World Eaters.. Hell, even magic, I don't know much about any of that. But if I heard you correctly, all I have to do is go down there and face some Bahamut so I can return home in hopes to make more memories. I'm not saying goodbye again, I'm going to do it!" Stein yelled as his eyes started getting teary.

"You can't get down to the bottom let alone defeat Bahamut!" she yelled, now out of fearful concern for the young man before her.

"Maybe not, but if I don't try, how can I even face the one that saved me from my gloomy world?" Stein said remembering how much fun and excitement he's had since Jack came to him.

Stein walked up to the crater in the ground, peering down he felt immense pressure that was almost suffocating to be around. His legs started to tremble as he was getting ready to jump.

"Wait!" The old woman yelled. "Take this… and good luck if you're really going.." she said crying.

"What's this?" Stein asked.

"We put the last of our power into that, we'll fade soon now. We're the last two remaining guardians of this world. I'm Diderot and she's Caesura." The old man said.

"WAIT! You're the gods of old?!" Stein asked in complete shock.

"I'm sure glad he's the one we brought here." Diderot said, smiling as they disappeared.

Crying his eyes out and filled with so many questions, Stein turned his attention back to the hole. Clutching the pendant tightly, he jumped down into the crater that was surrounded by crying villagers. As he fell down the seemingly endless hole, the further he got, the harder it was to breath. More and more it felt like life was beginning to leave him. His metal suit was even rusting and rotting away the further down he dropped.

"I must do this, I have to do this, I CAN DO THIS!" was all that was running through his mind.

As he landed on the bottom and looked up, he saw a man inside a glowing orb with an aura so dense he could barely move. He stood in front of it and grabbed a remaining piece of metal from his suit. It was jagged. He planned to thrust it through the Bahamut before he awoke. As Stein lifted the jagged metal, Bahamut's eyes opened. Stein was frozen in place by the sheer amount of pure loathing and hostility he felt radiating from the World Eater so close.