Sightless Reality

The bright lights.

The women and children.

The buildings of the city and the stars in the sky.

Vinzer Deling stood at the foot of his Presidential Residence in downtown Deling City. The corrupt fascist leader beheld his own city as it twinkled in the night sky.

"These people... In their little houses with their little lives. Living endlessly under me...." he thought.

It had been twelve years after the final defeat of Sorceress Ultimecia. The after-effects of time compression still lingered here and there. Often times, people that were reported missing suddenly reappreared and remembered nothing of their disappearance. Other times their mangled lifeless corpses appeared in the middle of the sky and hung there until blasting apart in a flash of light.

"Bah, look at your little dog. Nothing but a dog like you are to me." Vinzer thought as he looked at a passer-by. The thoughts of what could've happened had Ultimecia succeeded sometimes haunted Vinzer, but other times he brushed it off as a slight setback.

In the beginning, there was but one supreme being. His name was Hyne. He knew all, created all, and could destroy all. But when this demented master of the universe was finally defeated after hundreds of millenia of fighting, he managed to give part of himself to a small group of his female followers. These women went on to become sorceresses, powerful necromancers who could control various aspects of magic.

But when one of these sorceressses died, she had to pass her powers onto another in order to die, or live an boundless state of limbo between life and death. So began the long chain of sorceresses that has lasted throughout the existent world as we know it today. Soon, the capital of the world, Esthar began to expose hundreds of sorceresses across the world, who never revealed themselves because of the consequences that could fall upon them. Esthar troops scanned the globe, and murdered all the sorceresses they found. Eventually, after years of elimination, fears of sorceress manifestion subsided. All was calm until one sorceress was found to have survived.

Her name was Adel. And after managing to escape the murderous hands of the Estharian troops, she watched her fellow witches murdered by the troops. She could do nothing, for she would be murdered herself. But after the wave of death subsided, she arose again. Now with an evil twisted mind directed towards destroying all who oppose her and her kind. She soon dominated Esthar, and then Galbadia, and then the rest of the world. Soon she was the most powerful being on the planet. No one dared to protest, until one man led a seemingly infantile band of men to finally defeat the tyrant. His name was Laguna Loire, a simple ex-Galbadian soldier imprisoned in Esthar during Adel's reign. This struggle became known as The Sorceress War, and was one of the darkest eras in history. But because she was immortal, the army sealed her in a capsule of air and sent her into space in a void between the gravitational pull of the planet and the moon, where her powers were useless.

So became the ritual of sorceresses being found, they would be found, imprisoned, and taken to the Sorceress Memorial on the continent of Esthar, where they too were sealed into small cells and shut off from the rest of the world. In the building, thousands of sorceresses were locked in, unable to communicate from the vacuum seal, unable to think because of the constant pressure of air. Here they stayed until they die a lonely death, upon which they are rocketed off into space at the Lunar Gate in Esthar.

"Look at you" Deling thought. "You think I protect you? Ha! You live your life as a hair on my tongue. A nuisance." Vinzer relished in the fact people looked up to him. He had defeated the world. What else kind of a leader would they want?

The party who had defeated Ultimecia were rewarded in their normal sense. They were greeted like heroes. They were compensated greatly. But their whereabout are still disputed to this day.

Squall Leonheart, the leader of the group, was reported to have returned into active SeeD duty, taking oddjobs haphazardly. There, he was believed to have been followed with his close friend, Rinoa Heartilly. The two were believed to have had an affectionate relationship during their quest to vanquish Sorceress Ultimecia.

Irvine Kinneas had returned back to his hometown, although various sources failed to discover where his hometown actually was.

Quistis Trepé had taken up the job as Headmaster of Balamb Garden, and currently resides inside the floating military school. She has been the most open of the party's locales and is often found being interviewed by newspeople.

Zell Dincht, had continued to serve in Balamb Garden, and for the past four years had been in Trabia restoring their Garden.

Selphie Tilmitt's whereabouts are unknown. Many people believe that Selphie may very well have been absorbed into time shortly after the engagement with Ultimecia, while time was still coming out of compression, which can explain her sudden disappearance after the party returned home.

Vinzer continued to gawk into his beautiful city that he believed he created himself. The cobblestone streets and the vast field of brick-laden buildings. He saw people walking up and down the streets, gaping at the sight of Vinzer Deling simply standing on his front porch.

"I could squish any of these people in my fingers. Yes, that's it, look at me with your unknowing eyes. Heh heh, if it weren't for me, you'd be living out there, outside the city. My city."

Soon after Ultimecia's downfall, Vinzer had quickly put a stranglehold with his military across the continent of Galbadia. In the confusion of time compression, he dominated half of the world. Timber, Winhill, Dollet, and Fisherman's Horizon (an important port town); all cities dominated under Vinzer's military force. Despite the fact of one-third of the world being under Vinzer's subjugation and little or no opposition, he still wanted more. After the Lunar Cry in Esthar, Vinzer thought he could easily invade Esthar and smoothly rule over it. But after repeated attempts on the continent of Esthar, Galbadian troops soon withdrew from the continent and returned home to Galbadia a defeated nation. In spite of the fact Vinzer's army had been defeated, Vinzer still hadn't lost his manner. He raised taxes in fury and canceled various sporting events in favor of a national tribute to himself.

But soon, opposition arose. Small rebel bands across the world soon allied together and formed a misfit army of a few thousand. Despite it's small numbers, the army soon declared war on Galbadia, and soon after Esthar joined also. Soon, Vinzer was forced to liberate Fisherman's Horizon, but when demands were heard to emancipate other towns, Deling launched a huge counter-offensive. He launched wave after wave of bombings onto Esthar City and other cities across the world.

When word reached Esthar City officials that Vinzer intended to bomb the Sorceress Memorial thus releasing all the sorceresses and wreak havoc upon theworld, Esthar soon attacked Galbadia in full force. Timber and Winhill were both utterly demolished by Esthar bombings, and the ground troops soon killed hundreds of city residents. When the forces were found to be headed toward Deling City, Vinzer quickly filed a surrender. Knowing of Galbadia's military power, Esthar made the conditions for the surrender particular. In the treaty, Vinzer Deling and the people of Galbadia agreed to pay 4.7 trillion Gil and release Fisherman's Horizon from Galbadian rule. This war was later known as the Galbadian War, and this eight-year war caused the most worldly damage.

Vinzer soon walked back into his mansion and sat down on one of his couches to relax. His smooth, relaxing instrumental music played softly in the background, and the clip-clop of horses treaded outside.

"Those Estharians. Think they're so great. I would've beaten them if I hadn't lost…"

Vinzer stood up and went into his game room. His dark brown hair waved in the background and his sruffy, unshaven face was constantly being rubbed by his large hand. Suddenly, Vinzer felt a sharp sting in his side.

"Just like getting shot…" he thought.

Vinzer looked down and saw that he was shot. Abruptly another bullet hole appeared through his chest. Blood streamed out from the wound and spilled onto the expensive carpet. Deling turned around and could see no shooter. Without warning, a small flash of light suddenly appeared from the top of a building. The invisible bullet shot down through the sky and hit Vinzer in his neck. Blood poured out from the wound and covered Vinzer's body. The weakened man dropped to his knees, knowing his own fate. He looked back to where he saw the previous flash of light and saw four more go off. Deling never made a sound as the bullets ripped through his body; he simply dropped to the ground and died a wretched waste of a leader.

* * *

The Second Sorceress War was what the battle involving Sorceress Ultimecia came to be known as. The evil sorceress from the future possesed Edea, a simple orphanage caretaker who had lived in southern Centra. But after Ultimecia used her machine to transport her consciousness to the past into Edea, she soon became heralded as the "Bringer of World Peace." Various festivities were thrown in her honor, all unknowing of her true meaning.

Soon, people began to suspect things. And soon Ultimecia's true plans were unveiled. A group of young people who banded together to defeat Ultimecia forever uncovered that she wanted to use magic to achieve time compression. In time compression, all events, time, space, and existence is condensed together. By doing this, Ultimecia would be able to obtain the powers from all the sorceresses who ever existed and become the most powerful being in the universe, and also absorb everything in the universe. She would then become the "Ruler of Non-Existance" as she called it.

Her insane plans were soon derailed when the group of young people allowed time to be compressed, but only for a moment. They would quickly compress time and enter Ultimecia's time period where one-third of the world's population had been murdered ruthlessly under her hand. The party defeated Ultimecia once and for all and were able to return back to their own time.

* * *

Squall woke up early that morning. The sweet morning smell of the ocean drifted it's way into his nose. Squall sat up and quickly got dressed in his usual clothing; a jacket and jeans. He walked outside of his room and entered the main lobby of Balamb Garden.

Balamb Garden had once been the premier military training base in the world, along with Trabia Garden and Galbadia Garden. Ultimecia-possesed-Edea destroyed Trabia Garden and Galbadia Garden was now used for a floating military fortress, Balamb Garden was now the remainging SeeD training unit.

SeeDs are high-ranking military soldiers who specialize as mercernaries who were often assigned to help battles waged around the world. But soon, SeeD became a group of freedom-fighters who fought against the sorceress of each era. Squall was one of them.

He walked up the stairs in the lobby and entered the elevator. One of the junior classmen stood inside also. Squall reached out and pushed the third floor button.

"Wow, are you a SeeD?" the boy asked.

"Yes, why?" Squall replied.

"I wanna be a SeeD! They're so cool!"

"It's very hard to become a SeeD, it takes a lot of hard work"

"I could do it!"

Jus then the elevator reached the second floor. The little boy got of the elevator and scampered away into his classroom. Shortly after, the elevator reached the third floor and Squall stepped out. He was on the flight deck, as they called it. From here, the Garden's trajectory and piloting was centered. He got onto a mini-elevator and reached the main deck. There, Nia was at the control of the ship.

"Hey, Commander Squall. Is there somewhere you want to go?"

"Not really, just came up to look at the scenery."

Outside, Squall could tell they were over the ocean. The sun twinkled off the water's ripples and the moon shine through the day-time sky.

"Pretty day, isn't it Squall?"

"Yeah, hard to believe there's fighting going on somewhere in the world."

Just then, Headmaster Quistis entered the main deck. Her bright purple outfit and eyeglasses sparkled in the sunlight.

"Squall! Get down here quick! Something's happened!"

Squall ran back to the mini-eleavator and brought himself back down to the main floor of the room. He walked up to Quistis and saw she was on the verge of crying.

"Vinzer Deling was assassinated last night. It's all over the news." She said.

"Good, that heartless bastard deserves it." Squall replied.

"Don't you know what this means!? Galbadia is already preparing thousands of troops for a counter-attack against Esthar! Even though Esthar denies responsibility, Galbadia's gonna bomb the hell out of them!"

"Oh no…" Squall uttered.