In a faraway ruin, a metal fragment appears out of thin air. The atmosphere of the ruins rapidly change with the presence of the fragment. It's eerie red glow fills the air. Curious monkeys within the ruins gather around it. One in particular walks up to it. It extends a hand out to grab it, but runs off with the others, as the fragment pulses even redder. Out of the dust, a skeleton arises, clutching it. The skeleton's muscles rapidly return to their original form. The flesh also returns, and the person's long, blue hair as well. The man clutches the fragment, amazed. "I…have returned?" He asked. "I…am no longer in the farplane! But how…?"
The man's view shifted to the strange, metal fragment in his hand. Memories of great battles fought over fragments like it, knoweledge that it used to be part of a weapon, and desire to gain all fragments like it, and reform the weapon, flooded his mind. "I see." He said. "This…weapon, this…Soul Edge, I must have it. Only then, will I regain my power! Only then, will I rule Spira! I, Seymour Guado, have returned!" Seymour laughed, a maniacal, twisted, laugh.
"The time is ripe, you shall become part of me!" A man clad in azure armor said, turning to another, and pointing his phantom sword. "You are my first sacrifice!"
The one he said this to, clad in a red gi top and grey pants, as well as black moccasin boots, drew his sword. "You said that before, Nightmare. And yet, I still defeated you. It seems that history will repeat itself."
"Ace! Be careful! He's more powerful than last time!" A third said, clad in silver armor, but with a deep, vertical gash across his chest. He was carried by two others. A woman, blonde, and with a sword and shield. And a young man, with firey red hair, and a scimitar at his waist.
"Thanks for the warning, Sigfried. Yun-seoung, Cassandra, take care of him." The two nodded, and carried Sigfried off.
That left Ace and Nightmare, circling each other. Ace was in an unorthodox stance, while Nightmare held his blade at his side. They stared each other down, until Ace disappeared in a puff of smoke. But Nightmare knew where he was. The demon swung his humongous arm behind him, striking Ace just as he reappeared, and sent him flying into a wall. Nightmare then charged at him, his gargantuan blade raised high in the air.
But Ace was able to jump out of the way. Ace took his sword, and did repeated stabs with it, knowing he'd puncture the armor with one hit. But Nightmare kept on blocking them with his blade. Before the battle could continue, completely by accident, Ace struck the phantom blade in it's eye. The purified fragments within Ace's blade began to react substantially with the corrupted phantom blade, and tore open a black void, which sucked the heavier Nightmare in first, as he let out a scream of fear and confusion.
Ace tried desperately to hold onto a nearby column, but his hand slipped too far. As he fell into the void, he yelled out, "Here I go agaiiiiiiiiiin!"
As the portal closed, a man with a scythe stood atop a pillar, with a disappointed look in his face. "Hmm…" He said. "That wasn't supposed to happen"
Seven days later…
"Hey Gullwings! We got trouble!" Buddy shouted as an alarm blared.
Yuna, Rikku, Paine, and Tidus ran up, crowding around Buddy's console. "What is it?" Tidus asked. "Another sphere?"
"Not really. We're getting reports of ghost sightings. In the vicinity of Zanarkand." Buddy answered.
"Well we should go check it out!" Rikku said, slightly dancing.
"Hold on." Buddy interrupted. "There's also strange sightings at the Thunder Plains. They say a new type of fiend is terrorizing travellers. The most common report is a half man, half fiend with a gigantic sword."
"We could just ignore it." Paine suggested.
"No way!" Yuna said. "People are getting hurt by this thing! We have to stop it!"
Paine shrugged. "You're the leader."
"Yahoo! Thunder Plains or bust!" Brother revved the Celsius' engines, and took off.