Final Fantasy VIII and all associated concepts are the property of Square.
I'm not sure this qualifies as an M rating, so I'll stick it at T. May contain minor corse language or adult themes; will definitely contain some violence.
Location: Winhill Bluffs, Galbadia
Date: 175 After Centra – The Sorceress War
It was a small village, one of a dozen almost identical ones along Galbadia's south-eastern coast. The Estharian army, crossing the sea from the Centra continent in a currently futile attempt to gain a stronghold in the Winhill region, would have swept it off the map like a speck of dust-- if it had not been for the tired and somewhat reduced group of Galbadian soldiers now shuffling their way back into town.
The village of Suni was almost deserted, most of its inhabitants having fled when the news of the invasion came over the radio waves. The hotel remained open, though, and most of the exhausted soldiers headed in that direction; the remainder entered the village's only tavern.
The last soldier passing through the door had to crouch slightly to fit: the man who was known as "Packhorse" by his unit and properly called Ward by his sergeant stood an impressive seven feet, dwarfing every opponent he came across. Every human opponent, anyway.
No sooner had he sunk into a chair at a table in the far end of the room than a voice said, "Drink, Mr. Zabac?"
Looking up, he met the green-eyed gaze of a young girl. She was offering him a beer from the tray in her hand.
"Yeah, thanks."
Something on her wrist beeped, a watch-shaped device Ward did not recognize. She glanced at it as she returned to the bar. Ward and his company left town the next day, and he did not see her again. He wondered for a long time where she had learnt his name.
When he eventually learned what the device on her wrist was, he wondered even more. Twenty years later, he still looked back and questioned how she could have gotten a Para-Magical Cargo Compartment-- a PaCC-- almost a decade before they were supposedly invented.
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HUNTING HYNE
--- - - - - - - - - - - ---
"COME, said the Muse,
Sing me a song no poet yet has chanted,
Sing me the Universal.
In this broad Earth of ours
Amid the measureless grossness and the slag,
Enclosed and safe within its central heart,
Nestles the seed Perfection.
By every life a share or more or less,
None born but it is born,
Conceal'd or unconceal'd, the seed is waiting."
– "Song of the Universal," Walt Whitman
Chapter I: Shadows of Things to Come
Location: Rinuald Coast, Balamb
Date: 197 AfCen
Rayner Harvey adjusted the fit of the bandana wrapped around his head, tucking a lock of reddish hair away from the lens of the tiny camera concealed within. Reaching down, he pressed a few latches on his mechanical right forearm and twisted it off with a click. The whole thing came away, leaving only the metal connector plate just beneath his elbow and the cylindrical interface sticking out in the centre.
The metal hand vanished into the PaCC he kept clipped to his belt. Then, leaning over, he inserted the interface into the end of the foot-long prosthetic gun, slightly wider than his already muscular arms, that was leaning against his leg. Flipping up a small panel, he pressed a button and the connectors shot home with a series of clicks. The weapon hummed softly as it powered up.
"Twelve minutes." SeeD Instructor Kyler Merton leaned against the wall of the sea cave, watching his student's preparations. "Whenever you're ready."
Grunting his acknowledgement, Rayner hit another switch and the arm gun went through a quick diagnostic. When it finished, a hole opened at the rounded end of the gun and a short barrel extended forward.
Rayner took a deep breath. "All set."
Instructor Merton picked up his spear from resting place on the cave wall and smoothed out the tuft of green feathers near its head. "Lead on, then."
The two advanced up a narrow path beside a stream moving through the cave down to the sea. The trail had started off sandy, but now it was thick with stones and pebbles. Rayner held his weapon at the ready, keeping a careful lookout for aggressive monsters; the Instructor was much more at ease-- but of course, it wasn't his performance being assessed.
The tunnel ended in a wide cavern, a pool with no visible inlet in its centre. Steam wafted over it, and bubbles occasionally rose from its invisible depths to break upon the surface.
"Ten minutes. All ready?"
A deep breath, probably to calm his nerves, and a nod.
"Everything junctioned properly?"
Another nod.
"Good." The Instructor's next words were directed outwards, echoing through the Water Cave. "Ready."
Without warning, the surface of the pool was rent as a long, serpentine shape burst through. Water cascaded from the dragon-like head and the wide frill that stretched down the great neck. The snake-monster screamed, a long, strangely musical sound, and thrust its jaws right at Rayner.
The combatant was already prepared and sidestepped neatly, swinging his metal arm around to smash against the beast's head, shouting as he did so, "Attack it!"
As the water guardian retreated Kyler's spear stabbed in, its spatulate blade scoring a moderate slice along the neck. The creature hissed, and swung its head around like a club, catching Kyler and throwing him right at his student…
…Who rolled, coming up with his left hand crackling with electricity and pointing right at the serpent's head. "Thunder!"
The bolt of gold and blue energy snarled out, sizzling along the beast's flesh. It took Rayner a horrified moment to realize that the thing had taken the spell without flinching…and now, the cut beneath its head had vanished.
Then he was dodging another snap of the jaws as he was attacked again.
"This is the Water Cave, right?" he shouted angrily at his instructor. "This thing should be weak against Thunder energy!"
"I never said that," returned Kyler.
Swearing and dodging another bite attack, Rayner returned, "Scan it, then!" Grabbing and twisting a metal ring around the end of his weapon, Rayner heard the high buzz that meant his gun had been charged cocked. Raising it, he shot a stream of golden light directly at the monster's eyes. The blow was critical, and the creature roared its hurt to the ceiling.
"Its name is Syldra," shouted Kyler as the Scan returned information. "Not a lot of health, but more than anything you've dealt with so far. Strong versus Water. Absorbs Thunder. Fast, but not too strong."
Rayner shouted with pain as a Thunder spell took him to his knees.
"Good with magic, by the way."
"I can tell." Rayner winced and fired another bolt as he got to his feet. "Use Blizzard!"
The shot sizzled along the snake-thing's neck an instant before chunk of ice the size of a human body smashed into the back of the head. It snarled in anger.
The sound was joined by six other growls, each in a slightly different pitch, as that many other shapes burst from the water, each an exact duplicate of the snake-creature.
"That's another thing; it has several heads. The body is still underwater."
"Just great," said Rayner weakly as the seven extremities hissed and snarled above him.
One head thrust itself delicately in his direction, and water was suddenly condensing in the air around him. He tried to run, but the liquid was surrounding him, suffocating him, lifting him up…
…And throwing him right into the wall of the cave.
The camera broke.
Location: Balamb Garden
"That's it?"
Chanda Malie stared in disbelief at the empty screen on her study panel. Then she ejected the video chip, shut off the screen, and sprinted to the door of the classroom, barely allowing the doors to slide open before she squeezed through them.
The sun was shining through the windows placed high on the second floor, but Chanda barely noticed as she raced for the elevators.
As she watched through the elevator's glass door as it descended, she did take a moment to appreciate the beauty that was in front of her, that both of the weather and of Balamb Garden itself. The first floor lobby of the main building was an enormous room: the elevators rose and descended through a central column, encircled by a brightly painted walkway. The wall of the walkway was edged with slightly overstuffed planters; beyond that, dolphin-shaped fountains sprayed crystal water into a surrounding indoor pool. Another, more primary walkway, wide enough to support the multitude of students attending the Garden, made another circle over top of the water, and still others reached into eight hallways around the room's perimeter. The vast enclosure was brightly lit by the lights hanging overhead. The gentle colours and the sound of the water, blending with the distant murmur of conversation, gave the building a very welcoming, friendly feel.
The Garden was one of the few remaining Centra Shelters left in the world. When it had been purchased by the Garden's deceased Shumi administrator for the purpose of turning it in to an academy, Headmaster Cid Kramer had made sure that good money was spent turning it into a giant work of art, a place that could be called home by the orphans who were among the first SeeD students.
Chanda raced out of elevator and around the secondary walkway so quickly that she nearly fell down the stairs connecting it to the rest of the room. As her feet met with the floor again, she took off around the pathway until she passed a purple arrow painted on the floor.
She skidded as she turned and raced into the long passage leading to the Infirmary, with short walls that opened onto a courtyard on either side. She vaulted one such barrier, raced over the grass, jumped a hedge, ran up a path, skidded to a stop on some cobblestones, and threw the video chip at the young man who sat, reading, on a bench under a tree.
Rayner caught it without looking.
"You little cheat! The only important part of the test and the stupid thing didn't record!"
"You asked for the chip to study with, I gave it to you," said Rayner. "And quiet down; you know we're not supposed to record the prerequisite events."
"I am going to kill you!"
"I will entrust my soul to God," said Rayner, without looking up from the book.
Chanda sank onto the bench with a groan. "Look, you big lug, could you at least tell me what happened?"
"What's to tell? It was like a regular battle, just a bit bigger. Syldra drew a Water spell from Instructor Merton and cast it on me. Merton gave me a potion. Syldra cast Thunder on Merton who, for some reason, had junctioned an elemental defence against Thunder energy and hadn't told me, which I think is against the rules, but it kept us alive, so oh well. I was able to trigger my Special Art, so I set my gun to Gattler Mode and decimated four of the heads. Merton did this thing where he absorbed Syldra's energy through his spear. Syldra got angry enough to crawl onto land, which was a mistake, 'cause I switched to Torpedo Mode and got several good shots in at its body. Finally, it announced that I had proved my strength and it would join me."
Chanda, who had been unable to keep up with this, let her head fall into her hands. "Great, but it doesn't help me."
"It tells you that Merton, nice as he is, is an evil-minded snake-in-the-grass who gets some kind of perverse pleasure out of throwing his students unprepared into dangerous situations. Good grief, what in Hyne's name is a Thunder-element Guardian Force doing in a place called the Water Cave, anyway?"
Chanda moaned. "I'm going to get killed."
"He should have told me he had a T-Elm-Def. I'd have had some heads up then."
"I've never been killed before. My first death is going to be during an exam."
"Oh, well. I lived, and got a GF. No harm done, I suppose."
"I'll probably kill my Instructor, too."
Rayner set his book aside. "Who's going with you?"
"I don't know. Maybe Instructor Hudson, knowing my luck."
"I don't know her."
"She's the poisonous old frog who does Exotic Anatomy lessons."
"Oh, yeah."
The two friends stared into space for a minute. Chanda was imagining Instructor Hudson's famous glare sapping the strength out of whatever GF was a part of the event; Rayner was wondering what sort of bizarre things were taught in a class called Exotic Anatomy.
"I think you'll pass," said Rayner eventually.
"And then I can take the SeeD practical and get myself killed again, along with whoever is unlucky enough to be in my squad." Chanda released a deep groan, and sat up. "Why am I here? I can't fight."
"You fight fine."
"I'm a wimp."
"Not once you've got a good Guardian Force to junction." Rayner cocked his head. "What GF are you borrowing for the event, anyway?"
"Golem's the only one available."
"Same one I had. He's cool. Very friendly, comes quickly when summoned. A bit too defensive for me, though."
"Humph."
"I'm sure you'll do fine."
Chanda sighed and stood up. "I'm going back to the dorms. I'll study Elemental Junctions or something."
Rayner returned to his book. "You're working too hard!" he shouted to her retreating back.
As Chanda returned to her studies, the Moon hung overhead, a silent behemoth in the late afternoon sky.
Thirty years ago, the test Chanda is about to take-- the hunting and obtaining of a Guardian Force-- would have been absurd. Even if people had known GFs existed, it would have been suicide to try and catch one.
That fact that it can now not only be done, but can be done safely enough to be used as an examination, is a testament to the genius of Dr. Odine.
Odine, a selenocratlogist from the Sorceress-ruled country of Esthar, was the first man to grasp the nature of the flows of energy running between the Planet and the Moon, to understand the eddies that roiled among those currents. Through the examination of these things he discovered the Guardian Forces, the energy beings who lived within those flows, and was the first man to capture and hold one in a setting in which it could be studied. He is known for other discoveries as well, some of which have changed the face of humanity.
Odine examined the technology of Esthar and Galbadia and Dollet, countries that rose from the doomed Centra civilization. He looked at the energy that people took for granted, that powered the weapons of the Galbadians and the cities of Esthar, and imagined a day when people could command that power without the use of tools.
That day arrived when Esthar's ruler Adel permitted Odine to study her power, the sorcery that had been passed from woman to woman in the eons since it was given to humanity by Hyne himself. Through his study, Odine developed a greater understanding of the nature of the Sorceresses – and realized how their power could be echoed, if not duplicated, by everyday humans.
Thus was para-magic, the human control of energy, envisioned and invented.
Time goes on, and things change. Esthar launched the bloody Second Sorceress War, which ended in the imprisonment of Adel and the withdrawal of Esthar from global affairs. A vast weapon intended to harness the power of the Moon, called the Lunatic Pandora, was built-- and was crashed into the ocean by a mildly incompetent rebel before it could be used. Radio Silence began: noise across all frequencies made communication by radio waves impossible. The mercenary group SeeD, combat specialists who combined with GFs to strengthen themselves and their magic, was founded and quickly grew to have influence worldwide.
Odine's technology changed too. In the distant future, the Sorceress Ultimecia used one of his inventions to send her consciousness back in time in a bid to compress time together and gain the power of all Sorceresses throughout history. In less then a year, a new set of changes rocked the world: Galbadia was taken over by the Sorceress, and turned against the rest of the world in a new Sorceress War; the Lunatic Pandora was recovered and unleashed; monsters poured from the Moon in a Lunar Cry that devastated Esthar; Adel was released and slain hours later; Radio Silence ended after seventeen years; and Ultimecia's plans were realized, as she created Time Compression.
As the past, present and future fused together, a group of modern day SeeDs moved to the future, killed Ultimecia, and undid all that she had created. The endless moment of Time Compression was bypassed.
Times have changed again since then. Esthar, overwhelmed by monsters and quickly running low on resources, is re-entering the global village. The dictatorial government of Galbadia has collapsed in the wake of Ultimecia's defeat, and a new one is being constructed. The Planet is exhaling after a catastrophe which could have marked the end of creation. Seeds of the future are being planted.
Indeed, SeeDs are everywhere: acting as ambassadors and diplomats for Esthar, hunting monsters deposited by the Lunar Cry, even creating a temporary government for Galbadia as an official one is set up. SeeD has become famous; they have been lauded as the Planet's first line of defence against rampaging Sorceresses, and are advertising themselves as such. And even as they advocate for a new era of peace, they recruit new members, and sharpen their swords.
Time Compression happened; nothing can change that. For one instant, past, present and future melded. The Planet left the worst of its effects behind – but how does one truly escape from a calamity that reached to touch each and every instant of time?
Chanda's roommate was absent, which was fortuitous for the SeeD candidate, because she was free to make a mess of the dorm.
A pair of magnifying goggles had been placed over her eyes. With a set of tiny tools she was carefully hooking together a series of small wires in what was, when she began, one of a dozen digital clocks she had purchased in pawn shop in Balamb, and when she ended would be the last of a dozen small explosives designed to rain burning death down upon whatever monster was stupid enough to get in her way, GF included. The tiny adjustments she was making would filter out the Fire energy, making sure the damage was non-elemental; if she going after a Fire GF, she didn't want to heal it with each attack she made…
As she sealed the casing shut and placed it in her PaCC with the others, there was a tap at the door.
The man standing outside was dressed in dark blue jeans and a familiar violet shirt with a silver dragon coiling up and over a shoulder, with black hair and a sparse beard, both showing hints of grey.
It was Instructor Kyler Merton.
"Hello, Chanda. Ready to go?"
Chanda blinked. "What, just like that?"
Merton smiled. "Just like that."
"OK."
"Do you need to get anything?"
"No…I'm all set."
"Then let's be off."
"Welcome to Mistway."
They had walked up to the mountains on the west side of the Balamb continent, on Raha Cape; there had been a couple of random encounters with monsters on the way, but nothing the two of them could not handle. Now, Chanda was standing at the foot of a peak, looking up at cleft in the rock.
"Your GF's inside that cave," said Kyler. "You are free to use any means necessary to capture it: attack it with your weapon, with your special techniques, with the magic you've drawn from your opponents, anything you wish. The GF has been sleeping for several years now, and is weak as a result; to pass the test, you just need to overpower it. I'll accompany you and help you in any way I can, but I can't do it for you or provide you with resources you haven't acquired on your own. Understand everything?"
"Yes."
"One last thing: the event is timed. Anywhere between fifteen minutes and an hour for this route."
Chanda watched the cave nervously. "I'll go with fifteen, then."
Kyler smiled and nodded. "Let's go."
A member of the Garden Faculty blocked the entrance. As Instructor Merton spoke quietly to him, Chanda produced her specialty weapon, a war fan, from its resting place in her belt. She had spent almost half a year figuring out how where to buy this; the material, while being as flexible as fabric, was still strong enough to shrug off a sword blow, and it was laced between blades of metal instead of pieces of wood. She had another in her belt, and a third in her PaCC, just in case.
The Instructor waved her over. "The clock is ticking. Lead the way."
There was a breeze blowing from inside Mistway, as cold and hard as ice.
Ten minutes later, it was even colder. Chanda was wearing a grey halter top, along with a comfortable pair of worn jeans, and not for the first time since the test had started was wishing she had asked to change before they left. She had expected the air to be warmer this far underground; instead, frost was crystallizing on the walls.
She advanced carefully through the tunnel, hands held loosely at her sides. Kyler kept pace behind her, his spear-point tracing curving paths through the air as he kept watch as well. Buels and Red Bats infested the cave, and the two warriors had already been involved in several fights. Of slightly more concern were the squid-like Glacial Eyes, who were slightly stronger than the ones Chanda had tackled coming up the mountain.
"How am I doing so far?" ask Chanda as they paced their way through the tunnels.
"Nine minutes left. You're doing well," said Kyler softly. "Looking forward to a GF of your own?"
"I suppose so."
"How's Golem doing?"
"Excellently," replied Chanda, quickly checking her junction to him as she did so. It was unnecessary; the Guardian had obviously been doing this for a long time, and the link was secure. Golem sent a hum of reassurance into her head, and settled back into place. "He's a friendly one."
"He's been with Garden since it was founded; he came in with Instructor Mosuki. Enjoy him while you have the chance. This is his last job."
"Really?" Chanda found herself grateful for the conversation; it helped to keep her mind off the struggle ahead. "Why's that?"
"Mosuki's retiring. When that happens, he wants Golem to go free."
"That's a pity," said Chanda, feeling the warmth of the junction. "Not that he's going free, I mean. But he's a nice GF to start off with."
"Yes." The Instructor's eyes had gone forward. "But you won't need him for much longer. The heart of Mistway's ahead!"
Chanda looked, and indeed, the tunnel ended not far off: a set of stairs sloped upwards, into a new section of the caverns. After running into several dead ends, it was a bit of a relief.
They stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked upwards. The stairs disappeared into a thick fog.
"All ready?" said Kyler, looking upwards.
Chanda took a deep, steadying breath, trying to slow her heart down. "As much as I'll ever be."
"Lead on, then."
As she ascended the staircase, cold mist swirled and danced around her ankles, thickening until the steps she climbed were obscured. A surprisingly short climb brought her to a level surface; the tunnel's walls stretched outwards, but she could perceive nothing of the place she had entered through the choking fog.
"Instructor?"
"Walk forward."
She did, one hand drifting up to where her PaCC rested on her belt. In a moment she had lost the tunnel entrance entirely; she now had no sense of direction or location at all, and could have been floating in space for all she knew. The cave's namesake mist was so thick she could not see her hands though it.
No, she could see her hands through it.
"I think the mist's thinning, Instructor!" she said excitedly. When there was no response she turned to face him, or at least to face the direction she thought he was.
"Instructor? What's wrong?"
As the mist began clearing, Kyler's silhouette became visible. It looked like he had struck and was holding a pose; he was at ease, leaning on his spear, one hand raised in a SeeD salute.
"Instructor, what are you…doing…" Chanda's voice trailed off as the fog thinned further.
Kyler was Petrified. His spear remained unchanged, but his body and clothes had turned to stone; his face was frozen into the slightly mischievous grin of a magician revealing his trick.
Chanda's heart pounded within her. Holy Hyne, I've walked into a trap.
And Merton was expecting it, the rat.
Trying to use the relaxation techniques Instructor Nanashi had taught her, Chanda stood motionlessly for a moment, scanning the clearing air around her for any sign of her target. When several seconds had passed and there was no sign of an attack, she relaxed a bit. Whatever trick Kyler had prepared for her had not completely revealed itself.
The trick had not, but the cavern had. As the fog faded from the air, it was revealed as exactly that: a great cavern, as wide as Balamb Garden's lobby, its floor scattered with large rocks. There were no stalactites or stalagmites; the stone of the distant ceiling was dotted with crystal deposit, creating a realistic illusion of a night sky. The omnipresent mist swirled everywhere. The room was incredibly beautiful.
Leaving Kyler, Chanda walked towards the chamber's centre. Despite the flow of the mist, she could feel no movement in the air, and the cavity was completely silent; her footsteps echoed off the distant walls.
The centre of the chamber came into view. An iron cauldron sat on a pile of stones; mist frothed and boiled over the edges as Chanda approached cautiously.
A voice suddenly rasped from inside.
"An intruder comes to my cave."
Chanda stifled a yelp of surprise as fog billowed out from the cauldron, shrouding the ground and air further. The hazy cloud swirled upwards, spun, condensed…
…And where before there was only vapour, there was now a shape. Pale smoke writhed and flowed into a vaguely humanoid form, a shadowed figure wrapped in a grey robe from which tendrils of mist continued to drift. Two piercing, yellow lights shone from where the figure's eyes would be expected.
The hissing, rasping voice came not from the Guardian Force's head, but from the gaseous streams trailing off of it.
"If you wish to borrow my power…prove your strength."
All of a sudden one arm dissolved into a rushing stream of vapour that sprayed like a hose at the SeeD candidate.
Caught off guard, Chanda was unable to block the blow. The semisolid appendage passed straight through her, as if she were the insubstantial one; the impact was nonexistent, but the pain it caused was very real. Chanda leaped away from the creature with a gasp as it struck again.
The ghost struck a third time, but now Chanda had raised her guard: her hand snapped up from her waist, flicking away the shuriken deftly pulled from her PaCC. Fuelled by Golem's strength-enhancing junction and her own personal power, the spatulate blade shot forward as if propelled from a gun. The GF's arm dissolved into a hazy cloud as the metal tore through it, ruining the attack.
The Guardian's outline blurred as it flew into the air, pausing only to thrust another pseudo-arm at Chanda. She dodged it easily, reaching as she did so deep into her mind, calling up another junction and tracing its path down to its source.
Strength rushed back to her, the feeling of Golem moving in her and with her. Together, they reached into the place where Chanda kept her magic, releasing a pattern of invisible energy waves and letting them draw power from the air.
Her opponent's shape seemed to freeze in midair as red and green lights overlaid it; patterns and text only she could see flashed in her vision as the Scan spell analyzed the creature and returned information.
Phantom, Chanda thought as she read the results. A ghost of the void, making its home in Mistway; an honourable spirit, it will lend its abilities to those it deems worthy.
Flying, Undead. Not as much health as she expected. Poor strength, but good magic power; not hurt easily by physical attacks, but may be vulnerable to black magic. Very fast, good at evading damage. Immune to Wind energy, absorbs Water and Ice. Very weak against Fire.
The readout vanished.
The data had been processed so quickly that Phantom had not even begun to attack again. The two opponents circled each other, Chanda's mind racing to create a strategy.
It's undead. Weak against curative magic, then. A Cure would harm it, and something that could cause life to return could destroy it – or, since this was a GF, sap its strength. She had some Phoenix down in her PaCC…
No, she decided, remembering the Guardian's opening words. Phoenix down might beat it, but it would hardly demonstrate her skill. She needed a slower way to achieve victory.
Not really a problem; there are plenty of slower ways.
Phantom attacked again, its arm striking with blinding speed.
The time it took for the vaporous jets to close the gap between the two was all Chanda needed to yank her war fans into her hands and snap them open. One weapon blocked the blow, and the other lashed out in retaliation; the ghostly appendage dissolved as the blades struck it. The fog felt like paper ripping.
For the next minute Chanda stuck to her defence, moving only to block attacks. Phantom moved in quick bursts of swiftness, suddenly moving around her every couple of moments, pausing only to strike out with semisolid arms. Chanda observed it carefully, memorizing its movements, waiting for an opportunity…
Now.
As Phantom dodged behind her, Chanda reached out to Golem again, shaping a new spell. As she spun to face her enemy, a ball of flame ignited in the air over her fan as she fashioned and altered the magic.
As the Guardian attacked, Chanda swung her weapon, shouting, "Fire!"
The fireball launched forward, boiling away the attacking arms and blasting into Phantom's torso. The ghost leapt away through the air with a surprised snarl at the sudden offensive.
Chanda pushed it, leaping forward in a series of flowery manoeuvres to cut at the smoky torso. Phantom hissed at her as it retreated.
"Show me your true strength, human."
"Veiling Mist!"
The fog returned in a rush, rising off the ground and wrapping itself around Phantom. The Guardian Force swelled, shifted, changed…
…and expanded in a cloud of mist with an audible snap, filling the air with chilling droplets. Chanda flinched as the cold air struck her, and in that moment, Phantom vanished.
Chanda backed quickly away from the cauldron, eyes rapidly scanning the chamber for movement. The flicker of Phantom's silhouette in the corner of her eye brought her fan around, but the blades cut through empty vapour.
"Your time is running out."
The SeeD candidate whirled around, her heart beating wildly, but the space from which the voice had projected was empty.
As she turned again, a Blizzard spell crystallized in the air around her, and she cried out as the heat was painfully sapped from her body.
"You are failing."
A jet of mist lashed out of the air, sending a lance of pain up her side. She was shivering with cold now.
"You are freezing." Blizzard.
"You are helpless." Mist blow.
"You are failing." Mist blow.
"You are weak." Blizzard.
"SHUT UP! Fire!"
The red light of the spell blossomed through the mist, but failed to damage its target. The sudden gusts of ice and whispered taunts rained out of the cloud around her unabatedly.
"You are not a fighter."
"You are not a mage."
"You will NEVER be a SeeD."
"You will die."
"You have no defence."
The last heatless blow caught Chanda full in the face, sending her reeling. She caught her foot on a stone, stumbled backwards, and fell. As she tried to regain her footing, she reflexively reached to Golem for help…
…and realized she was not defenceless.
"Come, Golem!"
Location: Centra Crater
Wheels skidded over the dust of Centra as a buggy made its getaway.
The two men inside the vehicle – two thieves – were confident in the success of their endeavour and escape. Every part of the plan had been executed with precision.
Therefore, they were completely and quite understandably caught off guard when the cartoon hero Laliho the Dwarf, complete with the white beard and the rocket-powered jetpack, appeared in midair alongside them and proceeded to use his Magic Hammer (forged for the conquering of the Goblins of Mischief !™) to violently cripple their wheels.
The buggy skidded out of control as the first wheel met its fate, and spun to a rough stop. One of the two men leapt out, raising a gun to dispose of the flying television personality, only to fall to the ground with an arrow between his eyes; an almost imperceptible instant later a single shot split the air, and the driver of the vehicle twitched in his seat and was still.
After a moment, three figures stepped from behind the cover of sparse vegetation that was scattered over the near area.
"You know, you really didn't have to kill them," said Cole Guzo. A gesture with his green gloves brought Laliho back to him; as soon as his hands touched the dwarf, its life and size seemed to be drawn out of it, reducing it to the small plastic toy it actually was.
"Actually, I missed. I was aiming for his shoulder." Katarin Casey pressed a small knob on the hollow metal bow hanging loosely her hand and it folded in on itself, the sliver bowstring vanishing with a click.
"Really? Bummer. I'd have aimed at an arm, then." Mackenzie Zand replaced the spent bullet in his revolver before returning it to its holster.
The three approached the wreckage, where a cursory examination revealed the thieves' quarry.
"Here," said Katarin, holding up a disk. "Is this all they took?"
"It looks like it," said Cole, Scanning the vehicle before turning his attention to the disk itself. He blinked in surprise as the spell analysed the object. "Huh."
"What?"
"A blueprint. Just one."
"That's a good thing," quipped Mackenzie.
"It's a design of a rather old Galbadian missile."
"That's not so good."
"So what do we do with it?" asked Katarin.
"We give it to Garden." Mackenzie began leading the way back to the hidden car. "There's not much else we can do; we don't have any evidence of what their plans might be."
"This is a weird contract," said Cole; a twitch of his hand sent Laliho orbiting around his head. "Why'd they put so much effort into stealing one out-of-date weapon, and then drag it halfway across the world to the most barren continent on the Planet?"
Icy droplets sprayed through Chanda's skin again, but now she could feel Golem's power gathering in her body. The old Guardian absorbed the blow without flinching.
"Nothing can aid you, human."
"Come Golem, come Golem, come…"
Chanda winced as another Blizzard struck at her, but again her Guardian Force took the damage for her. In the brief respite from chill and pain the gentle guardian provided her with, the fighter chanted softly at the edge of her breath, calling Golem, whispering about his target and his attack, trying to control the trembling in her arms and legs as the new power filled and subsumed her own.
She had summoned GFs before, of course, but in training exercises and low-level fights only; if she lost her focus now, then she would have done nothing but drain her partner's strength. Worse, if the undead thing she was fighting could Silence her, and kept her from starting again the sub-vocalized litany that directed the summoning…
Don't you dare think about that.
Phantom struck and spelled again and again, no single blow doing great harm, but never stopping, slowing, or missing. Chanda blocked as best she could with the energy pulsing through her, throbbing as she chanted the name.
"Come Golem…"
Faster that she would have dared to hope, the metal creature was there, pouring out of the dark crevices of her mind to fill her completely, like a star igniting within a lamp.
"Come, Golem!"
Her fans snapped outward from her face as she put the last twists into the weave of the spell.
"Earthy Embrace!"
The magic poured from her without restraint; her body vanished from the cave, even as the cave itself shimmered and changed, the polished ground being replaced with grey rock. In a moment, the chamber had been completely displaced by the invading stone, leaving only the dense mist unchanged.
And there, looming through the mist, was Golem himself: a massive, misshapen amalgam of mechanical parts, five or six times as tall as a man, ejecting jets of hot steam from his joints and surrounded by the sound of rasping gears, with two yellow eye-lamps burning fiercely in his unadorned face. He took a few groaning steps toward the cloud, and his eyes flared brightly; he threw back his head and the heavy, thick metal jaw fell open, releasing a grinding, echoing roar from deep within his torso.
His hands reached out toward the fog, and hatches snapped open all over his arms and body. With one boom after another, small shells erupted from the various compartments, twisting through the air and trailing gouts of smoke.
Each one detonated as it struck the ground, vaporizing the mist around it.
As quickly as it had begun, the attack ended. Golem and his semi-tangible arena vanished, and Chanda was there again, catching her breath.
Phantom was there, too, its protective fog destroyed.
"An Earth attack?" The ghost hissed laughter as it retaliated. "I fly, foolish girl. Earth can't hurt what it can't touch…"
"What…!"
The jet of burning cold gas struck and slid along the translucent, shimmering, blocky armour that covered Chanda from head to foot, the secondary effect of Earthy Embrace. It becameinvisible again as Phantom cut off his attack in surprise.
She lunged before the ghost could recover from his confusion, dancing forward to slash at him. Phantom hissed in frustration as it struck again.
A second time the blow was absorbed, and this time Chanda did not allow it time for another move. She reached for a spell again, but this time she channelled it into her weapons, breaking apart the wave and letting the energy flow through the metal.
"Imbue Fire!"
Red light and waves of heat radiated from her fans as she lashed out in a furry of attacks, the burning blades striking through Phantom's substance again and again. As attack after attack hit, the Guardian shrieked in anger, surprise, and pain.
As Chanda leapt backwards, it stopped moving and spoke quite calmly. "That will do."
Chanda slowed and stumbled to a halt. "What?"
"That will do. You have proven your strength."
She stared. "I…just like that? I won?"
"You did." When this did not provoke an immediate response, Phantom started to say, "Do you know…"
"YES! I did it!" The GF was interrupted as Chanda shouted to the ceiling of the room and collapsed in a fit of relived laughter.
"I did it. I did it. I really did it…"
When Phantom spoke again, it was with a hint of amusement. "Yes. Do you know how to draw my power?"
"Yes, yes I do. Thank you. God, I can't believe I won!"
"Then do so."
Chanda tried to focus, but she was still giddy with the thrill of accomplishment. She had done it! After months of training and preparation, she had taken her first step to becoming a SeeD.
Gentle prompting from Golem brought her back to the matter at hand. Calming her breathing, and trying to control her thoughts, she followed a junction back to Golem and tapped his power. Then she reached out to Phantom, feeling the familiar waves of energy that could be rearranged into Cure spells, Blizzard, Scan…and one other incredibly complex shape, one she knew she was only feeling because Phantom allowed her too.
"Draw Phantom!"
The command set off a mental trigger so well practised as to be almost unconscious. She and Golem reached out together to touch the complex shape, to coax it into her.
The body of Phantom collapsed, the recognizable shape breaking down into a spinning cloud of mist. Streams of gas leapt in arcs out of the cloud and sprayed against Chanda's skin, the tiny droplets being absorbed right into her body.
When it finished, Phantom was gone.
At least, gone to everybody but Chanda.
"I did it!" She laughed again as the tension left her body. She dropped to her knees, nervous laughter still shaking her. "What in God's name just happened? I won!"
"And with a minute and a half left on the clock. Not bad."
Chanda turned with a start to see Merton, standing as casually as a bystander watching a sport.
"You! Why the heck did you do that to me?"
The Instructor met her gaze with a smile. "You did fine."
"What if I had gotten killed?"
"You didn't," Kyler said with satisfaction. "You proved your worth. Phantom thinks you can be a SeeD."
That brought Chanda up short.
"Stand up, now. Junction Phantom, and try him out on the way back. I picked him for a reason; I think you two will work well together."
It was night when Chanda and Kyler walked down the mountain.
"We should probably get a hotel in town. It's easier than hiking back tonight."
"Sounds good to me."
"Feeling better?"
"Much."
"Now, are you still grumpy that I made you spend an hour drawing Cure spells from monsters?"
A sigh. "No, Instructor." There was a chuckle in response.
A minute later, Chanda said, "I was really surprised it quit so quickly."
"Phantom has been beaten a couple times before. Its last host was killed in action; it's been living in Mistway for five years. Most beginner GFs are like that. They're rather weak when they sleep for a long time.
"Is that all it was? That it was too weak to fight for long?"
Even before her instructor answered, a familiar, raspy voice entered her mind. Unlikely, girl.
"Probably not. Phantom has done this before. It knows how to recognize strength in humans."
Chanda hoped the darkness hid her sudden grin. "Huh." Recognizes strength!
Do not read to much into it, girl. You must pass one more test to become SeeD, and it will be a difficult one.
Fighting Guardian Forces is supposed to be difficult, old guy. Honestly, how hard could it be?
In the silence of her mind, Chanda felt Golem's amused resignation. If it had possessed eyes, it would have been rolling them.
Wait and see, human. Phantom settled back into her mind, shuffling itself around until the junction became comfortable.
The Balamb continent was cast in silver by the overhanging Moon. The lights of the town of Balamb were obscured by trees, and lost to view. On the other hand, the more distant glow of Balamb Garden was quite visible, a solitary beam of pale light reaching for the stars.
On the other side of the tiny continent was a small forest. In the centre of the forest, a T-Rexaur was dead.
The giant lizard, the monster of which Balamb mothers told stories to frighten their children into good behaviour, had been slit open from jaw to tail-tip, its innards sliced up and strewn in a wide radius. It had not been killed: it had been mutilated.
A trail of blood stained the grass, leading towards the edge of the forest. At the boundary of the Alculd Plains, it smeared its way right up the trunk of a tree.
A figure knelt on one of the thicker branches. She was small, and slim, and covered in blood. The sticky fluid darkened the already murky grey of the rags she was wearing, and still dripped from the long, thin metal claws strapped to the backs of her hands.
The spectre's eyes were fixed on the far-away glow.
The forest was silent but for the wind in the trees and the person's whispering.
"Sleep, sleep children. No more rest, not for you. The One is coming, with her fiery truth…Hyne is coming…"
The figure ran her claws slowly along the branch. Curls of bark fell to the ground.
"Sleep while you can, children." The girl's lips split in a giggle, like a child with a new toy. "It's a wild night."
The figure leapt from the branch, and landed silently. Stealthy as a shadow, she moved quickly towards the remote spike of light. The only sound she made was another small chuckle, a sound imparting contentment and anticipation and the promise of murder.
Notes and Trivia:
-- I hope I've done a good job of writing this for a non-FFVIII-playing audience.
-- The genre's a bit vague on this. Action / adventure works, and I certainly hope to turn it into a spiritual, but it may also contain elements of supernatural and suspense or, more likely, drama. I even hope to dabble in horror a bit.
-- Any long-reaching story with this game will, of course, involve a calendar laying out the author's perceptions of the game's internal history and events. Mine's getting attached as an appendix. I'm considering adding character dossiers as well.
-- The word selenocratology and its derivative selenocratologist come from Greek selene, "moon," kratos, "power," and logos, "discourse." It means, basically, the study of the power of the Moon. It seemed appropriate.
-- Please be patient if updates to this one are slow in coming. There's a lot I can do with it, and I want it to be as perfect as possible.