Note: I do not own Final Fantasy XII, but Jalfuran and any other name you've never heard of, I do own. Yes, I know this chapter is short. Live with it; it's just the beginning.
Anthem of Redemption
"Two years now divide us from war's bitter end, yet the shadow looms over all, stifling the infant peace, a pall only you may cast off. Achieve but this one thing, and your hatred of me and the Empire will grieve me not. I will stand fast. I will endure your hatred; suffer your slings and arrows. I will defend Dalmasca! Here I will repay my debt. I swear it now."
-Vayne Carudas Solidor
Chapter I:
My mother once told me, "War is like a piece of fruit. Let it ripen over time, and it shall perish." I was too young at the time to truly understand what my mother told me, though I knew well enough the events that have surrounded me. Landis was consumed by war, as well as the surrounding countries. With Ordalia and Valendia fallen to the Archadian Empire, Nabradia and Dalmasca will soon follow. The Landisian resistance has worked to merely quell the Imperial threat, and now as the threat moves even closer, they do not realize there efforts have all been in vain.
I suppose I should have some respect for this "resistance", since my father led this rabble. Jalfuran, his name was, or at least that's what I heard people call him. I despised him for the drunken bastard that he was. Though, it surprised me how he could lead his men. He was no infantryman; he was no general. Yet, he showed great determination in this conflict. He was not a man I would admire, but his leadership skills were what I learned to emulate. I pitied him. He was a fool to think that he could win; to think that the Galtean Alliance could stand the might of the Archadian Empire. I know I should honor my Republic, but I knew which way the wind would blow. The Landisian Republic would fall to Archadian might, and will utterly be consumed.
There is nothing to halt their advance.