Final Fantasy and its plot are property of Squaresoft, Inc.
Prologue
The five Sky Warriors stood before the dark building. A great burden was upon them; the weight (and the fate) of the world was on their shoulders. The control over the Wind which mankind had learned throughout the centuries suddenly began to wane. The Twelve Sages fought this as best they could, to no avail, though they were able to pinpoint the cause of the energy drain at an old temple out in the wilderness. The Sages gathered the five greatest warriors that the Lefeinish people, for that matter humanity, had to offer, to find out the source of the problem and succeed where they had failed. The five, christened the Sky Warriors, defenders of civilization, flew the new Airship to this supposedly deserted temple. The party knew that they were simply delaying the inevitable by standing outside, so each ignored the feeling of dread they felt and continued inside.
Josiah pulled the huge sword off his back and readied himself to use the weapon in battle. Aerick, the great dragoon said to have slain hundreds of dragons in his twenty-eight years of life, steadied his lance as he prepared to face an even greater foe than the mighty dragons. Harkiro, an archer and veteran of more battles than he could count, prepared his bow and arrow to strike the first enemy that appeared. The silent swordsman Gibifern pulled both of his long swords from their sheaths and held them ready to use. The mighty wizard Loracus brought up the rear, preparing to utter spells to lay waste to whatever evil the group might stumble upon. The Sky Warriors were ready to vanquish any human that dared steal nature's power, but nothing could have prepared the group for what awaited them.
Four strange beings were gathered around a circle on the ground, talking amongst themselves. A giant skeletal demon draped in black floated ominously. Beside him, a woman with the body of snake from the waist down, six arms, and red skin impatiently slithered in place. Across from her was a giant octopus flailing about, looking extremely out of place on land. At the head of the group was a large four-headed green dragon. Deciding caution may be the better part of valor, the Sky Warriors watched and listened as these strange things argued.
"Tiamat, the date is wrong! Garland's spell only sent us sixteen centuries forward! It will be four hundred more years until Garland's day!" the snake-woman cried.
"Quiet, Marilith. It will take at least three hundred years to claim control of the elements way from those puny humans, because they have twelve very powerful wizards stopping us from doing so. I told Garland to send us a good bit further back than his lifetime, and this is the best he could do," the one called Tiamat responded.
"Tiamat, we aren't immortal yet," crackled the skeleton.
"Do you think I don't know that, Lich?" retorted Tiamat. "I'm already working on stealing the Wind's power. As long as the humans don't know who's behind it, we're safe."
The Sky Warriors realized that this was who was responsible for the drain. They attacked from the shadows, all aiming for the green dragon Tiamat. Josiah struck one of the heads, nearly severing the neck with his huge broadsword, Gibifern got in two solid slashes to the stomach, and Harkiro's arrow hit one of the dragon's eight eyes. Tiamat recoiled instantly, roaring from the sudden pain.
The other three fiends prepared to join the battle. Marilith the snake-woman took a sword in each hand of her six hands and began flailing away at the heroes. As soon as she did, a mighty blast of meteors and fire came her way and knocked her backwards into the octopus, making the water spell the octopus Kraken was casting fizzle. The skeleton simply grabbed the nearest fighter, who happened to be Harkiro, and began draining the life out of his victim.
Aerick vaulted himself into the air to finish off Tiamat. At the zenith of his jump, he pointed the spear downwards, straight at the dragon's heart. Aerick gained speed as he fell, preparing to kill the fiend threatening his world. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a lightning bolt hit Aerick, shocking him severely and knocking him off-course. Aerick landed beside Tiamat with a pathetic thud, unconscious.
"That's what you get for underestimating your foe!" yelled Tiamat, still reeling form the first blow the heroes dealt him.
Josiah suddenly turned toward Lich, the one who held Harkiro in its grasp. Yelling a fearsome battle cry, he hefted his huge sword and instinctively thrust it into where Lich's heart should be. The sword tore through the robe, but Lich was unharmed. This monster literally had no heart. Lich dropped Harkiro, who was still barely alive, and decided to pay back Josiah for his little move. Josiah lobbed at Lich's head, causing a deep gash in the bone, although Lich seemed unaffected. Then, a column of fire came from behind Lich and seemed to start reducing him to ash. The fire subsided, and Lich was down on the ground, gasping for energy.
"We need to get rid of that pesky mage!" yelled Marilith the snake-woman. She charged at Loracus, all six swords swinging. Right before she got to the him, though, she felt two sharp stabbing pains in her back from Gibifern's twin swords. Marilith turned and started attacking him. Against any human, Gibifern was without peer in swordfighting, but he was having to exhaust every bit of his potential to even parry and dodge against Marilith's blows. After what seemed like an eternity of swordplay, Marilith finally landed a glancing blow on Gibifern, knocking the man backwards six feet and rendering him unconscious.
Marilith turned to face Loracus and began to chant a fire spell to reduce him to cinders. At the same time Marilith cast her spell, Loracus released his spell of ice. The two magics harmless passed beside each other in mid air, then hit the intended target. A huge fire consumed Loracus, and he fell to the ground in a heap, unconscious, with severe burns over every inch of his body. A blizzard of ice and snow fell on Marilith, sapping her fiery powers. She dropped her swords and fell sprawled out onto the ground. The attrition rate in this battle was starting to climb very quickly.
Josiah was about to finish off Lich when the giant octopus tried to sneak up on him. The octopus being hopelessly out of its element, Josiah nearly hacked off two or three of its tentacles before it retreated. Josiah again faced Lich, wondering how he could destroy this abomination.
Then Tiamat once again roared and charged at Josiah, obviously having recovered from his earlier wounds. Josiah took a fighting stance, ready to fend off the giant attacker. However, before Joisah could score a solid hit on him, Tiamat slammed one of his heads into Josiah, knocking him over and incapacitating him.
The Sky Warriors were defeated, though they had caused the Four Fiends a great deal of inconvenience. The takeover would proceed as planned. Four hundred years from now, the group would be nearly omnipotent, and they owed it all to Garland, or as he should be called with his newfound powers, Lord Chaos. Still, the four wondered what to do with the defeated heroes.
"They need a new form. Zombies?"
"No, Lich. These were warriors put up a good fight. We should give them their wings!"
Slowly, the defeated Sky Warriors' forms began to change. They gradually morphed into their new shapes: those of bats. They were doomed to face eternity in these dreadful bodies, made even worse because they kept their human minds. Tiamat simply laughed, then resumed drawing the force of the Wind from the Twelve Sages.
Prologue
The five Sky Warriors stood before the dark building. A great burden was upon them; the weight (and the fate) of the world was on their shoulders. The control over the Wind which mankind had learned throughout the centuries suddenly began to wane. The Twelve Sages fought this as best they could, to no avail, though they were able to pinpoint the cause of the energy drain at an old temple out in the wilderness. The Sages gathered the five greatest warriors that the Lefeinish people, for that matter humanity, had to offer, to find out the source of the problem and succeed where they had failed. The five, christened the Sky Warriors, defenders of civilization, flew the new Airship to this supposedly deserted temple. The party knew that they were simply delaying the inevitable by standing outside, so each ignored the feeling of dread they felt and continued inside.
Josiah pulled the huge sword off his back and readied himself to use the weapon in battle. Aerick, the great dragoon said to have slain hundreds of dragons in his twenty-eight years of life, steadied his lance as he prepared to face an even greater foe than the mighty dragons. Harkiro, an archer and veteran of more battles than he could count, prepared his bow and arrow to strike the first enemy that appeared. The silent swordsman Gibifern pulled both of his long swords from their sheaths and held them ready to use. The mighty wizard Loracus brought up the rear, preparing to utter spells to lay waste to whatever evil the group might stumble upon. The Sky Warriors were ready to vanquish any human that dared steal nature's power, but nothing could have prepared the group for what awaited them.
Four strange beings were gathered around a circle on the ground, talking amongst themselves. A giant skeletal demon draped in black floated ominously. Beside him, a woman with the body of snake from the waist down, six arms, and red skin impatiently slithered in place. Across from her was a giant octopus flailing about, looking extremely out of place on land. At the head of the group was a large four-headed green dragon. Deciding caution may be the better part of valor, the Sky Warriors watched and listened as these strange things argued.
"Tiamat, the date is wrong! Garland's spell only sent us sixteen centuries forward! It will be four hundred more years until Garland's day!" the snake-woman cried.
"Quiet, Marilith. It will take at least three hundred years to claim control of the elements way from those puny humans, because they have twelve very powerful wizards stopping us from doing so. I told Garland to send us a good bit further back than his lifetime, and this is the best he could do," the one called Tiamat responded.
"Tiamat, we aren't immortal yet," crackled the skeleton.
"Do you think I don't know that, Lich?" retorted Tiamat. "I'm already working on stealing the Wind's power. As long as the humans don't know who's behind it, we're safe."
The Sky Warriors realized that this was who was responsible for the drain. They attacked from the shadows, all aiming for the green dragon Tiamat. Josiah struck one of the heads, nearly severing the neck with his huge broadsword, Gibifern got in two solid slashes to the stomach, and Harkiro's arrow hit one of the dragon's eight eyes. Tiamat recoiled instantly, roaring from the sudden pain.
The other three fiends prepared to join the battle. Marilith the snake-woman took a sword in each hand of her six hands and began flailing away at the heroes. As soon as she did, a mighty blast of meteors and fire came her way and knocked her backwards into the octopus, making the water spell the octopus Kraken was casting fizzle. The skeleton simply grabbed the nearest fighter, who happened to be Harkiro, and began draining the life out of his victim.
Aerick vaulted himself into the air to finish off Tiamat. At the zenith of his jump, he pointed the spear downwards, straight at the dragon's heart. Aerick gained speed as he fell, preparing to kill the fiend threatening his world. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a lightning bolt hit Aerick, shocking him severely and knocking him off-course. Aerick landed beside Tiamat with a pathetic thud, unconscious.
"That's what you get for underestimating your foe!" yelled Tiamat, still reeling form the first blow the heroes dealt him.
Josiah suddenly turned toward Lich, the one who held Harkiro in its grasp. Yelling a fearsome battle cry, he hefted his huge sword and instinctively thrust it into where Lich's heart should be. The sword tore through the robe, but Lich was unharmed. This monster literally had no heart. Lich dropped Harkiro, who was still barely alive, and decided to pay back Josiah for his little move. Josiah lobbed at Lich's head, causing a deep gash in the bone, although Lich seemed unaffected. Then, a column of fire came from behind Lich and seemed to start reducing him to ash. The fire subsided, and Lich was down on the ground, gasping for energy.
"We need to get rid of that pesky mage!" yelled Marilith the snake-woman. She charged at Loracus, all six swords swinging. Right before she got to the him, though, she felt two sharp stabbing pains in her back from Gibifern's twin swords. Marilith turned and started attacking him. Against any human, Gibifern was without peer in swordfighting, but he was having to exhaust every bit of his potential to even parry and dodge against Marilith's blows. After what seemed like an eternity of swordplay, Marilith finally landed a glancing blow on Gibifern, knocking the man backwards six feet and rendering him unconscious.
Marilith turned to face Loracus and began to chant a fire spell to reduce him to cinders. At the same time Marilith cast her spell, Loracus released his spell of ice. The two magics harmless passed beside each other in mid air, then hit the intended target. A huge fire consumed Loracus, and he fell to the ground in a heap, unconscious, with severe burns over every inch of his body. A blizzard of ice and snow fell on Marilith, sapping her fiery powers. She dropped her swords and fell sprawled out onto the ground. The attrition rate in this battle was starting to climb very quickly.
Josiah was about to finish off Lich when the giant octopus tried to sneak up on him. The octopus being hopelessly out of its element, Josiah nearly hacked off two or three of its tentacles before it retreated. Josiah again faced Lich, wondering how he could destroy this abomination.
Then Tiamat once again roared and charged at Josiah, obviously having recovered from his earlier wounds. Josiah took a fighting stance, ready to fend off the giant attacker. However, before Joisah could score a solid hit on him, Tiamat slammed one of his heads into Josiah, knocking him over and incapacitating him.
The Sky Warriors were defeated, though they had caused the Four Fiends a great deal of inconvenience. The takeover would proceed as planned. Four hundred years from now, the group would be nearly omnipotent, and they owed it all to Garland, or as he should be called with his newfound powers, Lord Chaos. Still, the four wondered what to do with the defeated heroes.
"They need a new form. Zombies?"
"No, Lich. These were warriors put up a good fight. We should give them their wings!"
Slowly, the defeated Sky Warriors' forms began to change. They gradually morphed into their new shapes: those of bats. They were doomed to face eternity in these dreadful bodies, made even worse because they kept their human minds. Tiamat simply laughed, then resumed drawing the force of the Wind from the Twelve Sages.