Final Fantasy VII - Whispers of the Fallen
-Prologue-
I vaguely remember my child-hood years other than the mere thoughts of how I once sought to be a member of SOLDIER's first class. Hell, what child did not want to join SOLDIER to defend the company that was basically running all of Midgar single-handedly. I pursued my child-hood dreams as I grew and succeeded in my task at achieving first class in SOLDIER. Instead of filling my hopes and dreams, over time this only cleared my vision to what Shinra Inc. once made a mirage. Shinra Inc. was the company that had SOLDIER on the pay roll, and also supplied 100 percent of the countries power source. The government basically took orders from Shinra Inc. and on Shinra's behalf there was peace and stability beyond all expectations. Throughout my term in SOLDIER and the events following after, I kept a log of activities performed by myself and various comrades along the way. Soon we would learn of Shinra's true intentions and try to stop a war before it began. I write this story hoping it will go beyond the scale of this dungeon cell so my people know the truth. Everything I write in this tale is no mere fiction, but based on my personal logs and the unveiling of Shinra's scheme. Furthermore the acts mentioned from the logs will prove my innocence to the crimes keeping me in this tattered cell, though I fear I will meet my fate here even if I am heard.
-Chapter 1 - 1 Making of a True SOLDIER – Part 1-
It was the day of my final review before achieving first-class rank in SOLDIER. I was to be interviewed by President Shinra himself to determine whether or not I was to be accepted into first class. It was very much like all the other reviews I have been through in the past except there was an extra question near the end. "Would you mind being infused with pure Mako energy to enhance your body to be of more use to SOLDIER?"... yes, those were his exact words I'm sure of it. When I inquired what the purpose of this was, the explanation of this process was to improve energy, strength, and mind power of the body. When I asked if I was to take to this pure energy to be made into some sort of 'super-SOLDIER', the president just gazed at me with his overpowering look. I quickly added that I would do whatever it took to uphold the peace I have taken for granted until now. The president then escorted me to the science department where it appeared many experiments were taking place. The next memory in my head at the time of the log was waking up in a medical facility, I must've blacked out during the Mako injection. I still remember the splitting headache caused by the Mako. On the other hand, it felt as if an energy source inside me was unsealed or released by the injection. I rested three nights straight with nothing to do but let my mind wander.
When I came to my full awareness, I was given a SOLDIER uniform and instructions to meet with a Shinra Inc. client for my first mission. I was to meet the client at the train station in Sector 7 in less than four hours. Luckily, the Mako infusion didn't shadow most of my memory as i knew exactly where my dormitory was and bolted for it. I equipped the new SOLDIER uniform and grabbed my sling-blade before rushing back out the door. I ran into another soldier knocking him into the wall beside him, another soldier in a first-class uniform. I brushed him off apologizing while studying the soldiers appearance to see if I had seen him around. Before coming to a conclusion of whether I knew him or not, he broke my concentration. "Cliff...Cliff Rosen, and you?", he startled me with the quick and humble rebuttal to being shoved into a wall. I responded, "Alfwaerd Dres, first-class SOLDIER." He paused for a second looking over a sheet of paper he picked up off the floor that was dropped from the collision. He finally raised his eyes off the paper and asked, "Know how to get to Sector 7?" I agreed to escort Cliff to the train station and ride with him to Sector 7 as I was headed there anyway. After an hour of conversation I learned that Cliff Rosen was just recently accepted into first-class and has only been on three previous missions. Also that green glow to his eyes...was he human? He wielded a short sword of a heavy-weighted design...looked to be way to heavy for a man of his size, or was this the power of the Mako infusion?
Cliff noticed I was studying his equipment and asked about the weapon I wielded. I knew he had never seen one before, it wasn't a weapon with the commonness of a sword. "I call it a sling-blade." I started to explain, "It is like a ball and chain but consists of a handle, a long chain, and a custom designed axe blade forged into the end chain-link...I also added a few materia slots, heard we could be seeing a lot of that as first-class." Cliff had no reply, just gazed at the weapon I had crafted prior to joining SOLDIER. I still do not know until this day if he gazed to mock my craftsmanship, or if he envied the design. Either way I know he was thinking "What the hell is that?"
CHAPTER 1 TO BE CONTINUED...