Prologue – Deliver Me
She arrived screaming.
The moment was drowned with the crack of thunder, and so none could have heard, even had there been witnesses. If there had been a witness, they would have beheld a grim tableau, etched black and white from the lightning. There was she, held in the air: head tossed back, teeth bared savagely, eyes clenched with agony, slim throat white and straining, the curve of her spine pitched backwards, arms held out as if in supplication, the muscles of her limbs visible, her toes pointed yet inelegant. Part of the sickly silver light in the clearing was cast off her own skin in crackling energies – abruptly they vanished and she fell. As she collapsed into a foot or so of cold, clear water, she gasped; so her first breath, back amongst the living, was quickly followed by choking.
She was near a place she'd been only once before: Baaj Temple. The quickly fading aura of light surrounding her billowed downwards like mist, roiling around her even as she rose to a crouch in the water. Those rainbow pyreflies quickly spun away, some fading as they went. What remained was her naked body, spasmodic with coughs, pale flesh quickly rising to gooseflesh in the icy temperatures.
She made her way forward in a series of lurching, shivering motions, stones slick beneath her hands; somehow she got to the steps ahead, wiping her mouth slowly on the back of one hand. The downpour around her washed the tears from her face while they fell. Her shivering came not just from cold, but from the triumph felt by one who has just done what is presumed impossible- the pilgrim at their destination. She wept for the world she had sworn to protect but failed to, and wept for her friends, and for herself. She wept that she now had the chance, after so much struggle and pain, to regain some of what had been lost. Perhaps there was still time to right the wrongs she'd brought about – to correct her mistakes.
Unsteadily, cautiously, she tested her already strengthening legs and tried to stand. Once, she stumbled, but managed to make it upright... Almost instantly, there came a sense of terrible urgency, an irresistible wave which whirled her around towards the mainland in a shambling near-run. It brought her to her knees once more, for she knew her magicks were no longer strong enough to fight with, and that if she 'died' here... she would once more be slung into oblivion, and forced to make the journey back. She resisted, oh how she resisted, and eventually the squalling of the demon within her quieted down enough that she could breathe again. To be Sent to the Farplane now would be to sacrifice something more of her soul on the way back; there was always a blood toll taken, though not always of blood. How much of her will was stolen by obsession? Looking into the quavering pools of water on the stone below her, she noticed only now that the changes she'd long felt occurring had become so much more than internal or emotional: her eyes, once so bright and clear, were dulled down nearly to grey. Her fingertips reached up to lightly touch her cheekbones, then, and when contact was made – flesh to flesh – a rainbow sheen of light passed across, echoing the ripples made by the rain beneath her.
She was weak, but solid enough. And it would have to be enough, because now... she forced herself to her feet again, and directed attention at the gaping maw of the decayed Temple before her. The Aeons would be needed again. Since they had helped her once, they would help now. Their aid would bring her victory this time.
She could not smile at the thought then, and has yet to now that she's returned.
For the dead smile but rarely, and Yuna had long run out of laughter by the time she became Unsent.
I'm baaaaaack
Along with the new and hopefully improved 'A Sense of Life' story.
Thank you to all my followers who stuck through this and reviewed the original story; I hope you can forgive the deletion of the chapters and a complete change of pace. My writing style will be very different, I promise you, so please forgive that as well - I feel like I've started finding my 'voice' as an author and so that'll have an impact on the overall effect I try to make. Please feel free to tell me what sucks and needs improvement, so I can do better : )
Spira is portrayed as a much darker place than in the original version of this story. For instance, I've introduced a cannibalistic cult which will make frequent (and disturbing) blood offerings. Seymour is a ruthless tyrant, but also a very cunning one. He's still completely insane.
The other characters roles have changed: Lulu is no longer a schoolteacher, Rikku is still a rebel but a more... rebellious one, and Tidus... well, you'll see next chapter where he's at.
Aiming for 3 chapters per month, more if I can handle it; it depends on University workload.
To all the old readers, welcome (back) to their brave new world.
To all the new readers, thank you so much for joining me. I hope you won't be disappointed.
