This is a companion piece (I can't tell whether it could be considered a prologue or epilogue, or merely a synopsis) to a multi-chapter Dissidia fanfic I'm currently working on - even though I haven't uploaded anything for the long fic yet - as told by Terra Branford after she returns to Mobliz following her part in the 13th and final cycle of the battle between Cosmos and Chaos. Terra identifies most known players in the story by anonymous descriptive names as she adapts it to be suitable for the children of Mobliz, though adult members of her former adventuring party may see hidden meanings in her words. Which characters and locations can you identify?
Disclaimer: I do not own Dissidia or any characters or locations within, nor do I own any characters mentioned from Final Fantasy VI. Only thing that's mine is the story.
Allegory of the Tale
Terra Branford took a deep breath and began to tell a story as her friends Celes Chere and Locke Cole, as well as the children of Mobliz, gathered round to listen.
"Once upon a time, in a world far from here," she began, "two divine powers fought in a never-ending cycle of conflict. One was named Cosmos, and she was the beloved Goddess of Harmony. The other was named Chaos, and he was the much-despised God of Discord. This tale is of some of the champions who fought in the great conflict on the side of the harmony-goddess Cosmos. One of them was a beautiful Red Mage, called to champion Cosmos because an evil Clown had cast his lot with Chaos, and the Red Mage alone could thwart his destructive plans. At the start of her journey she traveled with a young Onion Knight, a brave boy only a little older than many of you. The Red Mage quickly grew to consider the Onion Knight a friend, for she found his adventurous manner very charming."
"It was not long into the journey, however, before trouble befell the Onion Knight and the Red Mage. Evening found the two companions crossing a great barren plane when several shadow-soldiers in Chaos's service attacked them. One of them copied the shape of the Red Mage and attacked the Onion Knight with ice and water and lightning spells, while the Red Mage found herself fighting five others at once. The Onion Knight drew his sword and valiantly fought the shadow-soldiers, as did the Red Mage with fire and ice, thunder and wind. Yet luck was against them as a shadow-soldier, in the shape of a black-winged witch, cast a spell that at once caused the Red Mage to fall to the ground in a deep sleep."
"Just as the Onion Knight turned his sword to the last two shadow-soldiers, however, from out of the darkened sky descended a dragon—a great silver dragon with big black wings and piercing green eyes. With a sharp lash of his long tail, the dragon flung the last two shadow-soldiers far into oblivion. But the Onion Knight's relief to see the shadow-soldiers defeated was short-lived when he realized that this was no friendly dragon—this silver dragon was here because he intended to kidnap the Red Mage. The Onion Knight tried to rush to defend the Red Mage, but the silver dragon immediately knocked the boy away with a slash of one claw as he curled his tail around the unconscious Red Mage, lifted her onto his back, and flew off."
"Knowing that he couldn't chase the fast-flying silver dragon, or fight the beast if he ever did catch up, the Onion Knight ran and ran, as far as he could go, until he finally met somebody who could help. This 'somebody' turned out to be a Chocobo-knight who fought for Cosmos, and when the Onion Knight told that the silver dragon had kidnapped the Red Mage, the Chocobo-knight was utterly furious and vowed that nothing, not even Chaos himself, would stop him from slaying the silver dragon and rescuing the Red Mage."
"Meanwhile, the Red Mage woke from the sleep-spell she had suffered in battle to find that it was night, and she had been taken to a ruin that looked like it might have been a great temple in ancient times. When her captor had made himself known, however, the Red Mage was far less frightened of him than perhaps she should have been, for he was now no longer a silver dragon, but instead a man. It was only then, though, that the Red Mage realized who this Dragon-man was: he was one of those who served Chaos, just like the evil Clown."
"Said the Dragon-man to the Red Mage, however, 'You wound me with your assumption, my dear Red Mage,' when she accused him of being in league with the evil Clown. 'It's true I serve the discord-god Chaos, as does your foe the feckless evil Clown,' he went on, 'but there is something that you don't know. You see, the Clown irritates me deeply, and he grates on my nerves night and day—so much so, in fact, that I would much delight in seeing him destroyed.' As she listened to the Dragon-man's words, the Red Mage found herself…"—and here Terra faltered slightly before continuing her tale—"…strangely charmed by his persuasive manner—and eventually he made her an offer: that if only she would let him help her, he could pour his power into her, and give her what she needed to overpower the evil Clown and destroy that annoyance once and for all."
Terra paused again, and now Celes and Locke both caught the fleeting look of shame in their friend's eyes that the children missed, before continuing: "And the Red Mage agreed to the Dragon-man's proposition, partly because she knew she had to defeat the evil Clown, and partly because she feared that the Dragon-man might do her harm if she refused him. So as her captor instructed, the Red Mage lay upon an altar amid the ruin, while he, the Dragon-man, cast the many spells that would imbue the Red Mage with great magical power."
Terra's cheeks had flushed when she told of the Red Mage having accepted the Dragon-man's offer, but now her eyes were wide with fear again, and she had to take a few fortifying breaths before continuing. "Yet not a moment sooner was the ritual of the Dragon-man casting his empowering spells on the Red Mage complete," she went on, "than the evil Clown reared his ugly head again. Quite suddenly and without warning he engulfed the entire ruined temple in a powerful magic blast, knocking out and severely wounding Red Mage and Dragon-man alike." Celes, Locke, and all the children gasped in horrified awe. Terra went on, however: "Fortunately, in the dark of that night the brilliant light of the Clown's magic blast drew the attention of another hero who served Cosmos: a Liegeman, skilled in fighting with every kind of weapon. This Liegeman bristled with anger to hear the evil Clown's maniacal laughter, for he knew that it was a sure sign of wickedness afoot. He engaged the Clown in battle, shooting arrows and throwing knives and hand-axes whilst the Clown danced about casting black magic of every sort—until the Clown managed to steal the wild rose that the Liegeman carried upon him always, and taunted the Liegeman:"—and here Terra racked her voice into a scarily accurate impression of their enemy Kefka Palazzo—"'Keep fightin' me and y'might just get your pretty posy back—but you're far too late to save the lovely rosy Red Mage!' just before he vanished without a trace."
The children all looked worried now, but were not nearly as frightened as Celes and Locke. Terra took another breath to compose herself before speaking again: "Shaken to the core by the evil Clown's taunting remark, the Liegeman sheathed his sword and immediately ran in the direction of where he had seen the magic blast until he reached the ruins of the temple a short distance away. The sight that greeted him made the Liegeman's blood run cold, for not only could he clearly see how badly wounded the unconscious Red Mage was, but when he lay eyes on the Dragon-man in a similar state of harm, he knew exactly what the Dragon-man had done to the Red Mage before the evil Clown interfered. Leaving the Dragon-man where he lay—for he was, after all, a man who served Chaos—the Liegeman managed, with great effort, to extricate the injured Red Mage from the magic-blast wreckage and begin carrying her to the Temple of Cosmos and a Warrior-priest there who could help to heal the Red Mage of her wounds."
"Soon after the Liegeman had carried the injured Red Mage away from the ruined temple, the Onion Knight and the Chocobo-knight happened to come within sight of the rubble-pile that had once been the ruined temple. Bidding the Onion Knight stay back several yards, the Chocobo-knight began to sift for clues in the rubble, but, being ignorant of the Liegeman having been there, he did not find the Red Mage as he had hoped. He did, however, catch sight of the wounded and unconscious Dragon-man in human form—but human form could not hide the enemy's true nature; the Chocobo-knight knew at once that this man was, in fact, the silver dragon of which the Onion Knight had spoken, and who had kidnapped the Red Mage after the fateful battle with some shadow-soldiers. The Chocobo-knight was so filled with fury that he was about to finish off the Dragon-man then and there—but suddenly a fearful cry from the Onion Knight cut through the Chocobo-knight's rage. He turned up and around to see that not one, but two more soldiers of Chaos—a Colossus and a Snake-charmer—had ambushed and outnumbered the unguarded Onion Knight! Drawing his great sword, the Chocobo-knight leapt into battle to fight the Colossus while the Onion Knight fought the Snake-charmer. The Onion Knight gained reward from fighting the Snake-charmer in the form of one of the Crystals for which all those who served Cosmos searched, but the Chocobo-knight was not so lucky. Why, you ask? Well, as it happened, as the Onion Knight fought the Snake-charmer and the Chocobo-knight did battle with the Colossus, more shadow-soldiers appeared and carried the incapacitated Dragon-man back to Chaos's temple for the discord-god to heal him."
"Even with the aid of the harmony-goddess Cosmos and the Warrior-priest who served her, as well as the aid of the Liegeman and the Chocobo-knight (who later returned to Cosmos's temple along with the Onion Knight)," Terra breathed a sigh of relief to finally be approaching the end of her story, "it took a long time before the Red Mage was strong again, and able to seek vengeance against the evil Clown for what he had done, that she eventually found her Crystal and returned the wild rose to the Liegeman in gratitude for his assistance when she had needed it the most. But she learned a valuable lesson from her ordeal: Never accept the help of such a one as the Dragon-man, no matter how his offer may charm you. For even though no champion of Cosmos bore the Red Mage any reproach for her mistake—not even the Chocobo-knight, who knew that his enemy the Dragon-man was a master of manipulation—no one ever knows what error will be the false step for which one's allies are not nearly so forgiving."
Celes could wait for Terra to confide the details in her later on, when Locke was away and the children were all asleep. But she knew well, from the way her friend told this story, that it was no mere bedtime story, nor even a simple fable meant to teach a lesson. Terra had lived this tale: she had herself been the Red Mage of the story, and the Clown—surely the evil Clown represented the much-despised Kefka. But Celes was curious all the same: who had been the other players in Terra's colorfully-woven tale?