Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with Final Fantasy
Prologue - True Pain
A man grunted as he climbed up a steep mountain on one starry night, guided only by the moon shimmering over the vast sea. He reached the edge of a cliff which gave him an incredible view of the Alrynite Valley.
Between all the trees in the valley lied a quiet village. This village was home to many great people, all throughout history. Many generations of warriors hailed from here and returned victorious from countless battles.
But as time passed, this village had stopped producing these heroes. The world had become fairly peaceful for many generations. There were no great wars or evil alarming this village. It's people were cheerful and happy, unmatched by any threat or challenge, and able to dwell among each other peacefully.
They had decided to cut the rigorous training down of their youth to become deadly fighters, whose one goal was to utterly destroy anything that threatened them. They wanting to finally live a better and easier life.
The man gazed over this village, where he had grew up in. Memories flooded his mind as he looked at each section of this village, remembering his experiences there as a young, happy boy.
He looked toward a small neighborhood and saw his family and friends there, who were always smiling and waving at him. He pondered one day why everyone was always like that, having no other emotion besides joy.
That was the day he changed. The concept of happiness poisoned him. It completely sickened him. He hated it all. He hated everyone. Happiness didn't exist to him. It was nothing but a fraudulent lie.
He knew there was more than that in this life. He wanted to know more about the world. He left that village and was absorbed into the darkness. He felt evil course through his cold veins. He gave this village one more cold glimpse before turning away, placing his black, spiked helmet back on his head, and disappearing into the night.
He hated this village…
On one fall afternoon, a boy walks along the road as he heads towards his home. He passes a group of kids, who were laughing and playing together. As he sees them run around so joyously, he shoves his hands in his pockets and stares at the ground, continuing without saying a word.
There is something that keeps him from feeling this bliss, unlike them. He is alone. Nobody likes him.
In Alryne, the village of warriors, strength is one's true pride. Despite these peaceful times, the children always compete against each other with strength, because their nature is passed on from the earlier generations of Alryne. They contain the blood of a warrior.
The boy doesn't have any of this strength. He is just a weak kid that everyone laughs. The other kids ridicule and bully him because his arms are thin and he can't wield a sword properly or defend himself.
As the boy shakes his head in anger at these thoughts, he is suddenly stopped. A girl blocks his path, looking at him with a devilish smirk.
She is much taller than him, and always bullies him for her own enjoyment. He glares at her, balling his hands into shaking fists but she only laughs.
"That will do you nothing you dimwit and you know it!" Her devilish eyes grew wide as she advances towards him.
Frightened by her towering appearance, tears form in his eyes as he turns and starts to run away. She quickly catches up to him and strikes him on the back. He winces in pain as he falls on the dirt. She violently turns him on his back and starts beating him in the face. He screams and struggles to retaliate but it is no use. Her weight on top of him was too much.
When another kid finally pulls her away, he gets up narrowly escapes, blood dripping from his face. The girl laughs and yells after him, "You better run! There's no place for a weakling like you here!" He hears even more laughter fading away as he escapes them.
He finally reaches his home, but is too furious to go inside and hide himself like he always does, and continues running into the forest. He just wanted to escape from that stupid place for a while.
Stopping in front of a tree, and flustered by being beaten up again, the boy begins to wail at it, punching the bark with all of his might. He beats the tree until his hands are raw and bloody. He screams until he couldn't scream anymore, letting loose all of his turmoil.
But suddenly he stops as he hears leaves rustling, and footsteps hitting the ground nearby. He becomes dead silent and crouches behind the bloody tree.
"I know you're there, don't you hide from me!" A voice appears from where the footsteps where.
He was afraid again, fearing that someone had followed him and wanted to get in a few rounds on him..
He decided he would just get it over with and slowly peaks from the edge of the tree, toward the voice's location.
He notices a kid who looked about his age, and the gear he was wearing was from Kurina, the small ninja village in the forest neighboring Alryne.
With a quick sigh of relief, the boy exits his hiding spot and makes his appearance known to the small ninja.
"Who are you? Why are you walking away from your village?" he asks.
"It doesn't even matter who I am… I'm nothing but a failure to my village." The ninja replies, looking down at the ground. His tone of voice sounded shameful, as if he had been utterly defeated.
This kid must have been banished from Kurina… I heard that the ninja there have similar to warriors in Alryne. Those that are weak are deemed as abominations and are never allowed back into the village. Man, that's the worst thing that can ever happen to him. He thought, feeling his pain.
The boy looks at him sympathetically before realizing that the ninja's position in his village is the same as his own in Alryne… He saw his feeble look of depression, as if looking at a mirror.
The ninja looks up and notices the bloody hands and face of the kid who had been hiding.
"Hey, are you alright? You look like you just killed someone…" Judging by the tears on his face mixed with blood from the wounds on his cheeks, he was convinced him that the kid was the one who was attacked, not the other way around.
"Yeah, I'm alright…." It didn't really hurt him anymore. His anger had overpowered the pain of his wounds.
The boy looks up and says, "It looks like I am kinda like you, I guess. I'm just a stupid weakling to them and that I'm not worthy enough to be an Alrynite warrior." He shoves his hands in his pockets and stares at the ground in shame as well.
"Alryne, huh…" The ninja had heard stories about Alryne.
Despite their hard-headedness, the toughness of those warriors are even on par with elite Kurina ninja. And they're no joke…
He shivers at the thought of the deadly, cold stares that those ninja give, even if you simply just walk by them.
"'Strength is pride', isn't that right?" the ninja asks him.
As he hears the infamous motto of his village, the boy looks up at him and nods slowly. He knew that he was nowhere near close to being able to represent this statement, which represents their pride and glory.
They both remained completely silent for the longest time.
Ill-tempered at the thought of his banishment, the ninja finally breaks the silence.
"I'm sick of it! I want to prove that I have what it takes to be the greatest ninja of them all!" He shouts.
The boy continued to stare at the ground, but even though he had never said it out loud, he feels the same way. He always had that sensation dwell inside him. He wanted to prove that he could be strong as well, and to everyone, especially that stupid girl, that he could be a mighty warrior.
That thought swelled his chest with pride. But then he recalls his past, and reveals his other side. The side that has no hope. The side that tells him he is just too weak, and there was nothing he could do about it, just like everyone else says.
He sighs and faces the ground again.
The young ninja also recalls his haunting past, reminding himself time over time of his own failures. He could never even do his beginner techniques right, and his speed was always lacking compared to his peers.
The harrowing words Last place return to him, from hearing that so many times, he couldn't help but run away from Kurina and never return.
With these thoughts flooding his mind, he strives to become stronger, quicker, and sharper, like a true ninja.
He turns to the kid who solemnly stood there, staring at the ground with his hands in his pockets, and decides to finally break the second long and bitter silence.
"Hey, what's your name?" He asks.
The boy didn't react for at first but realizing what he had just said made him look up, confused and shocked, as he had never heard someone ask him that before.
Anxiously, he stammers, "Uh...Neal. What about you?"
The ninja walked up to him, extending his hand. "Sevrin."
Neal stood there, looking at the hand waiting to accept his own. This is a sacred symbol of friendship that exists everywhere in the world. That word friendship struck his mind, and especially his heart. A friend. A companion. These words returned that feeling of hope inside him. Neal never had a single person in his life that he could think of in this way.
But maybe it was time for a change. Here stood a boy who was just like he was, who has experienced the true pain of being alone.
He wants to do something about this pain? He really wants to become stronger, and to conquer his weakness? Then you know what?! So do I!
A fire lights in his mind. A fire of determination and pride. He grinned and firmly shook Sevrin's hand.
"What do you say we start training together and become strong, and show everyone what we're really made of?!" He shouts with his new-found determination.
Pride swelled up into their chests, completely melting the depressing atmosphere when they first encountered each other. Sevrin smiled, seeing the passion and pride of a warrior in Neal's heart.
Their new-found determination that began on this very day would soon bring them the strength that they have always desired, and exceed everyone's expectations; even their own…
But this new-found strength wasn't their only significance is this wicked world. Their destinies will change forever when they meet two young mages...
Author's Note:
Hello. Thanks for reading my first ever fan fiction! I've had this story mapped out in my head for a while, so I wanted to write it down. It is going to have influence from FFIII and IV, but the difference is, in this story I want to breathe more life into the four heroes. What goes on in their head, what emotions the adventure brings to them, etc. I also want to show that the Warriors of the Light aren't perfect and that they make mistakes and go through extreme hardships along the way. I plan on four parts, ten chapters each.