This is an idea I came up with while playing FFVIII. No idea how that happened. Anyways, this is just a preliminary chapter, so read it, tell me what you think, and I'll see if I want to continue.
The Aeon Wars
Chapter 1: The Discovery of Water
"You know what we're gonna find down here, Braska?" Jecht asked. "Fiends, fiends, and more fiends. There ain't no Fayth down in these caverns and tunnels."
"As much as I hate to admit it," Auron grunted, "Jecht is right. Who in their right mind would place a Fayth in the Omega Ruins? Need I remind you that this is where the traitor, Omega, was banished? Bevelle didn't like him, so they put him here."
"Yeah," Jecht agreed, "Why would they make a Fayth his next-door neighbor?"
Braska remained calm and turned to his guardians. "I am well aware of all these facts, but I have a feeling that there is an Aeon hidden deep within these ruins." And he kept walking.
Jecht and Auron had no choice but to follow. After what seemed like hours of fruitless searching, they came upon a large stone in the ground. Inside was what looked like a human embedded in the stone. Adorning the statue was what looked like fish fins and a long, blue, serpentine tail. Braska looked to Jecht and Auron, a smug look on his face.
"Sure," Jecht groaned. "Rub it in, why don't ya?"
"Why, whatever do you mean?" Braska asked.
"Just pray for the damn thing and let's get outta here," Jecht shouted. "This place gives me the creeps."
"Agreed." Braska performed the customary prayer of Yevon and the Fayth of the Aeon appeared. It looked like a burly, old fisherman. It said not a word as it flew into Braska, causing the Summoner to fall over. Jecht and Auron caught him and helped him to his feet.
"I have received the new Aeon," was all Braska said.
"Well?" Jecht asked. "Let's see it. Take it for a test drive."
"And here's a perfect opportunity to do so," Auron said as he pointed to a Tonberry.
"Indeed." Braska pulled out his stuff and focused his energy into summoning. He flung the staff forward and a blue beam of light shot into the ground, forming a glowing glyph on the floor. He pulled at the beam and pulled the Aeon from the glyph, the beam of light caught in it's mouth, almost like a fishing line. Which was quite appropriate, considering what the Aeon was.. It was a long snake, almost, with fins at the sides of its head that glowed in rainbows, and a long blue body. It also had a beak and deep yellow eyes.
"Come forth," Braska called out, "Leviathan!"
Without Braska even commanding it to do so, the Aeon shot a series of quills from behind its fins into the Tonberry. It staggered and showed signs poisoning, but it slowly swung its lantern and shot a collection of dark spirits into the beats. The Leviathan cried out in pain and then started glowing. It swam through the air and started swimming in a circle. Water seemed to flow from its body and create a giant whirlpool. It sucked the Tonberry in, and almost sucked in Braska and his guardians, but the Aeon ceased its attack just before they were pulled in. Leviathan stopped swimming and there the Tonberry lay on the ground, drowned to death.
But that wasn't the end. The power of Leviathan had drawn out a great many other fiends. They all began attacking Leviathan, but it countered with its quills and the occasional whirlpool. All the fiends disintegrated in seconds. But the water created by Leviathan was beginning to pool in the lower recesses of the caverns. In minutes, the caverns would flood.
"OK, Braska," Jecht said, a little worried, "Turn off the waterworks."
"I…can't. I have no control over the Aeon."
"What?" Auron yelled. "What do you mean no control?"
"Just that," Braska said as he sidestepped a random quill. "The Aeon, Leviathan, won't respond to my commands."
"Then summon another Aeon and kick its ass!" Jecht said.
"Are you mad?" Auron shouted. "Summoning is hard enough as it is. His body can't summon and maintain two Aeons at once!"
"So? You got any better ideas?"
They continued arguing and didn't notice Braska in the middle of another summoning. Lightning struck his staff as he held it in the air. When that happened, all attention turned to him. Braska flung the lightning behind him and formed a glyph in mid air. A curved horn emerged from the seal, connected to the lightning stream, and when Braska pulled on the horn, a white stallion with a golden horn emerged and cantered over to Braska.
"Ixion!" Braska shouted to the Aeon. "Please, help me seal away this monstrosity!"
Ixion shot a lightning stream from its horn into Leviathan, causing the serpent to writhe in agony. The other fiends, surprisingly enough, decided to help the Thunder Aeon fight the Water Aeon. They all concentrated their assault on Leviathan, each blow weakening it. It finally fell to the ground, disintegrating and flying back into Braska. The Summoner quickly thanked Ixion and dismissed him. Tired, Braska fell to the floor.
"We need to get out of here and get you to a temple for healing," Auron said.
"No," Braska said defiantly.
"Listen, bud," Jecht said reaching down for his friends arm. "You've been through hell. You need a break…"
"No!" Braska said with more emphasis. "I cannot…will not leave these caverns until this Aeon…no, this monster is hidden deep within these ruins. Future Summoners should not have to contend with such a malevolent spirit."
"You honestly think we can carry a Fayth statue on our own?" Auron asked.
"We're not alone," Braska said calmly. "They seem willing to help."
Auron and Jecht looked and saw that the fiends had gathered near the Fayth statue and were already attempting to lift it. They understood what Braska wanted, and they wanted to help. And together, they carried the Fayth even deeper within the ruins, hiding it away and even convincing Omega Weapon to guard it. Braska sealed the Fayth back inside the statue and prayed that no other summon would find it.
As they left, the fiends didn't try to attack them. They all understood, as far as they coud, that Braska was a hero in a strange way. Sure, he had brought on a force that nearly destroyed them all, but he had helped seal it away, never to be spoken of again.
50 years later…
"Master Rone, sir," a solder in a blue uniform ran into a dark room with a handful papers in one hand. "Private First Class Higs reporting."
A man with a dark coat stood behind a large desk, eyes glued to a large map of Spira. He held in one hand a staff with a greenish sphere set in the tip. Without turning, he muttered, "This had better be good."
"It is sir. I was looking through official records, and I found a medical record for High Summoner Braska."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Rone tapped his staff on the floor impatiently. "Will it help us find that Aeon?"
"It may, sir. You see, one of the monks at the temple, after examining the High Summoner's injuries, found what looked to be a yellowish quill stuck in Braska's robes. He kept it and did a little research. He discovered that the quill was similar to the quills found on the Aeon, Leviathan."
Rone turned his head and stared at Higs. "Really? So Braska did find and summon Leviathan. But where?" He stroked his chin and turned back to the screen.
"One of Braska's guardians spoke of the Omega Ruins, sir. I believe that is where the High Summoner received his injuries."
This time Rone whirled around and slammed the tip of his staff on his desk. Only then did the soldier get a good look at his master. He had a thick broad chin, an aged complexion, and slicked back dark green hair. Around his neck was a pendant that held a stone similar to the one set in his staff. "Then dispatch a search unit to the Omega Ruins and tell them to find that Aeon!"
"Done and done, sir," the soldier said, standing straighter. "As soon as I received this report, I dispatched a team of our best to the Omega Ruins to find the Aeon."
"You did, did you?" Rone asked, stroking the tip of his staff. "Tell me: Why our best?"
"The fiends in the Ruins are especially violent due to the proximity to the Unsent, Omega. I believed our strongest warriors would fare well in the Ruins. And since they are the best, we should be receiving confirmation any minute now."
And as if on cue, the screen behind Rone lit up and a soldier in a darker blue uniform saluted. "Sir, we have found signs of a Fayth statue being here, but no Fayth have been found in the immediate area. We will continue our search deeper into the ruins. You will receive progress reports every hour, on the hour. Signing off, sir."
Rone looked over his shoulder at the screen, and then back at the soldier before him. "Well done, Higs. Well done. You found actual evidence of Leviathan's existence, reported them to me, and even took the liberty of dispatching some of my best men to an extremely dangerous location. I should promote you."
"Really? Sir?"
"Really, but I'd like to show you something first." Rone then tapped his staff on the floor twice, and electricity shot from the tip. A portal of pure dark energy appeared at the ceiling and from it came a red and black demon. Its face was black, its wings and hands were black, and the rest was red.
"Summon!" Rone shouted. "Diablos!"
"Wh-what are you doing, sir?"
"I'm showing you what happens to subordinates who act without my orders. Diablos! Death Pendalum!"
The demon, Diablos, held out its right hand and from it fell a black pendant. It swung back and forth…back and forth…and from it came a dark energy that shot into Higs. He dropped his papers and dropped to the floor screaming in agony. He rolled around and continued screaming until Rone waved a hand and Diablos stopped.
"That's what happens to people who act without my orders…Corporal Higs."
Higs crawled out of the dark office in pain, without even acknowledging his promotion. Diablos disappeared in a flurry of bats and Rone turned back to the screen, his eyes zeroing in on the Omega Ruins.
"Soon, it will be mine. The great Aeon, Leviathan. The Sea Serpent with the power to control the waters and tides. Just imagine what I could do with such power. Power over all forms of water, and no one to stop me…"
Miles away, on the island of Besaid, a young girl was climbing the ruins outside of the village. She wore a tight white shirt, baggy shorts, and a blue vest. Her friends were at the top cheering her on. She looked up at them with one blue and one green eye and brushed away a strand of brown hair.
"Come on, Elayn! You're almost to the top!" One of them shouted. She had green eyes with deep swirls in the middle and blond hair. She wore a yellow shirt that revealed her midriff, baggy green pants and a blue bandanna.
"Shut up, Ria! I know I can do this!"
"You better," the other shouted. "I don't want to carry you back down like last time." She wore black shorts, a black shirt and had a necklace with a cross on it. She had light red, almost orange eyes and black hair with a highlight of gray along the left side.
"Leave her alone, Lucia!" Ria said jumping up and down. "She can make it!" And just as she said that, Elayn reached the top. All three girls stood at the top of the ruins looking out at the ocean. Each one was 15, but Lucia claimed to be a few months older than the other two. Because they were so young, no one in the village took them seriously. That was why they studied summoning, so everyone in the village would respect them. Over the past few months, Fayth statues had been appearing all over Spira. It was then that people all over the world decided to learn the almost dead art of summoning.
They turned around and came face to face with a Fayth statue. Like all others, it had the ever so creepy human body embedded in it. But this one had elaborate blue designs all around it. It almost looked like a small garden surrounded the Fayth.
Lucia and Ria already had Aeons of their own, and had spent the past few weeks trying to find a Fayth for Elayn. They finally found one at the top of the ruins that would be perfect, and that was the one before them. Elayn was a little squeamish because she didn't know what would happen when she prayed for the Aeon.
"Come on, Elayn!" Ria shouted. "You can do it! You need that Aeon so we can show everyone in the village that we aren't just three little girls. We need to show them that we can hold our own in a fight."
"Ok," Elayn said. She walked over to the Fayth and performed the customary prayer. She squeezed her eyes closed and focused her entire mind and spirit on receiving the Aeon. That was the only thing on her mind. She focused all her want, all her need into her prayer, hoping that this wouldn't be like last time, when she prayed for an Aeon and…
Nothing happened.
She opened her eyes and stared at the Fayth before her. It just sat there, a lifeless statue. She sighed and turned around to say something to her friends, but they were looking behind her. Elayn turned around and saw the Fayth floating above the statue. He bright blue robes that matched the designs around the statue, and glasses. He flew into Elayn and she collapsed, her mind aching with all sorts of new information.
Lucia and Ria picked their friend off of the ground and brushed her off. Lucia was the first to speak. "Are you okay? What happened?"
"Forget all that!" Ria exclaimed. "Did you get the Aeon? Huh? Did you?"
"I don't know," Elayn said with a hand to her forehead. "What went through your minds when you received your Aeons?"
Lucia looked up and said, "The name of the Aeon, attack names, abilities it could use…"
"And what the Aeon looked like," Ria added. "Why what's wrong?"
"Nothing…nothing went through my mind when I received the Aeon. Just a light headache, but other than that, nothing."
"Weird," Lucia said.
"Yeah," Ria agreed. "Maybe…it's got some kind of…delay…maybe."
"Well," Elayn said, pulling out her weapon of choice, a small staff with a phoenix tip, "we'll never know until I summon, right?"
"No we're talking!" Ria said pulling out a small red dagger. "Take it away, Lucy!"
"Call me that again and I'll have to hurt you." Lucia pulled out a sword with a cross set as the hilt. "My name's Lucia. Don't forget that."
"Summon! Quezacotl!"
Lucia focused her summoning energy into her sword, and soon a storm swirled overhead. She held her sword up and a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky into it. She held it like that for a few seconds before slamming the sword into the ground. From that spot flew a yellow, winged serpent covered in electricity. It flapped its wings a couple times before coming to rest next to its Summoner.
"Summon! Carbuncle!"
Ria spun her dagger around and threw it into the ground. A hole formed at that spot and the dagger fell in. Moments later a blue bunny-like creature with a ruby set in its forehead jumped from the hole with the dagger in its mouth. It scrambled to Ria, returned the dagger, and the climbed up on top of her head.
"Summon!"
Elayn swung her staff out and a ball of blue energy formed on the tip. It fell from the tip and hit the ground. It glowed brighter and then burst with the strangest noise ever heard.
Pbbbtt!
Elayn sat there and stared at the ground where the blue ball had been. She decided to try it again.
"Summon!" Pbbbtt!
"Summon!" Pbbbtt!
"Summon!" Pbbbtt!
"Oh, man," Ria said. "We were so close."
"You think maybe the Aeon was a dud?"
"Summon!" Pbbbtt!
"Yep."
"But I still wonder," Lucia said. "Is the Aeon a dud, or is it that Elayn can't summon?"
"Summon! Summon! Summon!" Pbbbtt! Pbbbtt! Pbbbtt!
"Yes," Ria said.
"You're saying that Elayn, Granddaughter of High Summoner Yuna, Great Granddaughter of High Summoner Braska, can't summon? There's irony for you."
"No kidding…"
"Guys!" Elayn said, finally giving up. "I think it's a dud!"
"What was your first clue, Sherlock?" Lucia asked.
"What Lucia means," Ria said, giving the dark haired warrior a death flare, "is that maybe this is a really powerful Aeon and you don't have the skills to summon it yet."
"Maybe not. But I'm getting tired of this! I usually pray for an Aeon and nothing happens. This time, the Fayth actually acknowledges me, and nothing happens when I try to summon." She walked over to the edge of the ruins and sat down. "Imagine that: I'm the granddaughter of the greatest Summoner of all time, and I can't summon worth crap."
Ria and Lucia looked at each other, and then back to Elayn. They didn't really understand what she was going through. Neither of their grandparents were great Summoners, though they did help Lady Yuna defeat Vegnagun almost 40 years ago. Elayn was under a lot of pressure, probably more than she needed.
Ria and Lucia dismissed their Aeons and decided to leave Elayn alone for the time being. They walked over to the Fayth statue and knelt before it. Maybe there was some clue as how to summon its Aeon.
"I'm still wondering what the Aeon would have looked like," Ria said.
"From the elaborate designs of the statue, I'd say it's a pretty powerful Aeon."
"No way. Look at the bright colors! It has to be cute, like my little Carbuncy!"
"'Carbuncy'?"
"Yeah! It deserves a cute name because it's so cute!"
"Yeah, well my Quezacotl is a lot cooler than your 'Carbuncy'…"
"Nuh-uh! My Carbuncy could whip your Snaky Snake in two seconds."
"Considering it only knows defensive spells?"
"Well…yeah!"
"Yeah, right," Lucia said looking back down at the statue. "Your little bunny wouldn't last two seconds against…hey, what's this?"
Lucia was pointing to some moss covered writing around the edge of the statue. After cleaning it off, they managed to read some of it:
'Here lies the first Guardian Aeon, the Garden in the Sky, εδεξ"
That last wordwas a word that neither Lucia nor Ria could read. They looked at each other then back to the message before them. What was a 'Guardian Aeon'? And what was its name?
"Hey, Elayn!" Ria shouted. "Come here! I think you should see this!"
"What is it?"
"I think we know why you can't summon the Aeon," Lucia said. "Look, this message says something about a Garden, then when it's about to show the Aeon's name, it goes to some language we can't understand."
"Maybe if you knew the name of the Aeon, you could summon it!" Ria said, jumping up and down.
"Really?"
"Yeah," Lucia said, pulling out a pen and a small slip of paper. "Let's write it down and take it to one of the monks at the temple. Maybe one of them can read it."
Down in Besaid Village, an old woman walked over to a small chest in the corner of her hut. She opened it and pulled out a small letter. She opened the envelope and pulled out the slip of parchment inside. Flipping it open, she saw three names midways down the letter in a language she couldn't read. The first name glowed a bright orange. She looked out the window and blinked at the darkening sky with her one blue and one green eye.
"So, someone found one of the Guardian Aeons," Yuna said. "That means someone must be searching for Leviathan."
This is what the letter said:
My Dearest Yuna,
If you are reading this, then I have died fighting Sin. I hope this letter finds you with Kimahri, the Ronso I sent to find you. There are a few things you should know about my pilgrimage that may have a serious impact in the future.
First of all, I must tell you of one of the Aeons I found on my pilgrimage: Leviathan. This Sea Serpent has the power to control water and is very powerful, but I must ask this of you: do not search for it. It was too powerful for me to control when I first found it, and I expect it would be too powerful for anyone else. I hid it deep within the Omega Ruins so the massive numbers of fiends would discourage future Summoners from searching for it.
Second, should anyone search for Leviathan, I have found three Aeons, called the Guardian Aeons that should have enough power to seal the beast away. I do not know their names, but I have written them below. I believe that the only way to summon them is by speaking their names.
Εδεξ
Αςλ
Λξιηθτσ οζ τθη ςουξδ
Whoever finds these Aeons will be charged with sealing away Leviathan for good. I hope and pray that this fate will not befall you, my daughter.
My everlasting love,
Your father