FORSAKEN LOVE
Chapter 1: The Massacre \ Iminent Capture
'Zanarkand...I've heard stories it was destroyed by an entity from water called 'Sin'...I've also heard stories that a former athlete became a guardian and sacrificed himself to defeat this 'Sin' for the sake of Spira, who claimed to be from Zanarkand, despite the city already being ruins for a thousand years. I wish I can believe that...But when I met 'Him' in the ruins, it all changed...'-Akita Hyuusa
A helicopter approaches the ruins of an ancient city from air on an exploration trip and as well as an investigation of the sudden murders of the excavation crew by an unknown creature. A millitary crew, along with an archeologist; prepared to investigate the tragities of the crew sent for excavations.
"Okay people..." said the leader of the millitary group, named 'Gruda', "We're almost at the ruin site...Our main priorities is to investigate the ruins, search for survivors, and find out what this creature could be...Be prepared and survive, understood!"
"Sir, yes sir!" the other soldiers shouted out in a salute. Two soldiers near the archeologist began talking of a story that was originated from Spira. "I've heard that this city was in some kind of Machina War with another named 'Bevelle'...After all that, an entity called 'Sin' showed up and destroyed Zanarkand a thousand years past," said the first soldier.
"Yeah...If that's the case, then why is there a story about a former athlete, or 'Blitzer', that claims to be from Zanarkand when he came into contact of Sin?" asked the second soldier. "According to my research of the story...The people of Spira believed he was aflicted with Sin's Toxin, which causes amnesia," said the archeologist.
"That's a good possible explanation...I see you've been doing your homework, Akita," said the first soldier. Akita blushed alittle, but tried her best to hide it. "Some people are saying this former athlete had a son. I'm curious if there's a story about that?" asked the second soldier.
"There's one...The story goes that the former blitzer's son was in a middle of a sport in Spira called 'Blitzball'..Sin attacked and he was thrown into Spira, almost the same way as his father. He goes on a pilgrimage with a summoner and defeated Sin. They discovered that the Final Sending wasn't able to kill Sin permanently. All it did was destroy the armor, not the true entity inside called 'Yu Yevon'. These people are saying they really did happen, but I wish I can believe that..." answered Akita.
"Same old you, Miss Hyuusa," said Gruda, "You need proof, see it for yourself, and not a superstitious kind of person. It could be real, if you believe." "Its not that easy, sir..." answered Akita. As the conversation continued, the copter arrives at the site, landing in a junction of forks that lead in different directions of the ruined city. Everyone prepared for the worst as they left the safety of the helicopter. While the soldiers are armed with Assualt Rifles and Assualt Rifle magazine clips; Akita was armed with books, notebooks with notes, and pencils, filled with research of ancient civilizations. As the group proceeded to the excavation site, an unknown humanoid creature was watching them from a far on a pillar ledge, armed with a big sword.
"Here we are...Search for surviors ASAP...Go! Go! Go!" Gruda called out to the millitary soldiers. They splited up into different areas near the rendevous spot the search first started. Akita began translating the Spirian text on the buildings, acting like a typical archeologist.
"So many buildings...I guess Zanarkand is a huge city," said one of the soldiers near Akita. "It is...During the Machina War against Bevelle...Summoners were the front lines of attack..." said Akita.
"Dang..." awed another soldier nearby. In the northwest region of the excavation site, a group of ten soldiers examined the area; leaving no stone unturned. Same with the southeast, southwest, and northeast regions. After tense minutes of searching, scanning, and pondering; they all reached a devastating conclusion: There are NO surviors, everyone was dead.
"This is Unit 613...There are no life signs indicated here...Everyone is dead..." said the lead captain of the squad in the northwest region.
"Roger that...Same with the other areas. It looks like no one's alive...Head back to the rendevous point in the juction area," answered the soldier on the other side of the communicator. One of the novice soldiers notices a statue of a humanoid creature, armed with a big bladed sword. It was demonic in some aspects with bright red claws and wing-like shoulder guards. It wore demented dark navy bluish grey pants with bright orange fabric attached to the side of its pants with black designs on it, including a type of spikes. Its blue eyes shimmered in the light, including its white hair and unshaved face. A 'T' based design was as appeared to be tattooed in white on its chest and torso. A red headband was around its forehead, while the right side draped down. Like a stood up collar, there was more spikes around near its neck.
"Some ugly statue...Don't you think?" asked the soldier to the novice. "I agree on that one...Maybe Akita might know what it is," replied the novice. As the two looked away, the statue actually blinks and begins to breath on its own, as if coming to life. The two then began to hear raspy-based breathing behind them. The two began to panic as they began to turn around, coming face to face with the statue again, but it began to blink and move; grabbing hold of its sword. Then; it spoke, "Get...Out...Of...My home!"
The two panic in fear as the creature slashed its sword at them in an instant death move, causing a spray of blood to splatter on the pillars of the ruins as the soldiers gave a final scream. The other soldiers heard this and made their way to the location they were at. They arrive, but only too late. The two soldiers were dead, massacred by an unknown assailant, but not unknown for long. The creature approaches the armed group, with a spray of blood across its torso and more dripping off its blade, which was black with red designs near the hilt. On the left ring-like hoop of the handle, a chain draped downward.
"Of all people...Leave this place in peace! I'm going to keep killing if you don't leave...That I will til I get the point through to you!" it roared. All the soldiers open fired at the creature, but like stone; the bullets didn't pierce its skin. "You can't kill me...No one can...So, you challenge the great Jecht, huh? Bring it! I won't be able to hold back," it chuckled, as if daring the soldiers. It charges forward as the soldiers continued to fire.
"Incoming!" cried the captain of the squadron. Gruda started to get worried, so in a nick of time; he contacted the squads in the locations. Out of the four, there was no response from the three. He had a bad feeling that somehow they were dead as well as the excavators. He contacts the last area, getting something else in response.
"Get it! Make sure it doesn't get away!" a soldier screamed out in the background. "Unit 613! What is going on over there!" cried Gruda. "One of us found this statue! It was a creature in disguise and it killed the excavators and others just to get us out of the ruins...Take that thing down!...We're not going to last long if...Graahhhaaahhh!" the communication between Unit 613 was cut off with the death of the team. Akita began to panic, but tried not to show it. It was too late, Gruda saw it clearly.
"We're the only ones left...This thing is going to kill all of us...We need to evac...Now!" Gruda said. His call could save, or cause more casualties. His call was clear to Akita: Get the hell out of Zanarkand and the creature will calm down. The rendevous team rushed to the evac site for extraction. In three minutes; they arrive, but got the shock of their lives. The helicopter was torn to shreds and cutted up. It was wrecked to the point of unrepairable. The source: the creature that attacked Unit 613 in the northwest region of Zanarkand. Akita couldn't believe what she's seeing.
"We need to get away...That thing is the Final Aeon a high summoner named 'Braska' used...Its dangerous," Akita said to Gruda. "Lets go...Our escape has been tampered with!" said Gruda.
"No one is going anywhere! You cannot escape these ruins alive...No one...NO one, escapes Jecht...Alive," the creature said, revealing its name to be 'Jecht'. "Lets get out of here! Move! Move!" shouted one of the soldiers. Everyone back tracked back into the ruins. They traveled into a maze of pillars, ruined buildings, hoping to lose 'Jecht' in the process. Akita reveals some of her research info to the group. She even tells them of the information she gathered at a ruin site in Spirian text.
"So...That thing is the new 'Sin'?" asked Gruda. "Unfortuantely...Yes. As far as I gathered; the deity, Sin, has four forms: One is its armor form as a shield, mimicking a whale in someways. Two is the Final Aeon used to destroy only the armor, thus it becomes part of Sin as its second form. Three is its real self, the deity that it is and its final form is human, masqurading as one of us in disguise...Sin mostly is water-based, it basically manifests through water," explained Akita.
With this shocking piece of information, they rested near a lake, knowing they could get attacked at any moment. Gruda looks around the area, so does the other soldiers. "Sir...I don't see anything-" the soldier's words were cut off as a big, bladed sword pierced through his torso, splurting out a huge gush of blood spraying to the ground and up. Behind them, 'Jecht' was half way emerged from the water with his sword out. The soldier, knowing he was quickly dying, stutters in panic as he was slowly lifted upwards towards the Aeon formed deity.
"Grrrrrr...Get off my sword," was all 'Jecht' said, pulling the soldier off his blade into the water, "The Farplane awaits you..." It turns its attention to the others, who were also panicking. "Open fire!" Gruda called out. The group open fires at the creature, but as before, the bullets didn't pierce its skin like stone. Everyone backs away as it moved towards the group with its sword in hand. They traveled further into the death maze, but one by one; each soldier was killed off like flies. Gruda and archealogist Akita were the last two.
"Damn it...I'm out of ammo...I guess we're the last two. Til we get out of here, I'll protect you with my life. Your too important to this mission. We're near water, we better keep moving-" "Hold on...Sin is not just a brute...I think it wants us to leave this spot so it'll get us in an ambush. Sin is smart, not stupid," said Akita, thinking alittle further.
"Really? If we stay, we'll die," said Gruda. "As I ivestigated further, the new 'Sin' can be soothed by a song Spira called 'The Hymn of Fayth', or in our case, 'Song of Prayer'. It appears to be its favorite song...I'll demonstrate," said Akita. She searches through her notes for the lyrics to the Hymn of Fayth. She finally finds it and sings it. Above the two, 'Jecht' heard it, calming down to the song instantly.
'That song...She can sing it very well...Why is she here? Is this the Fayth's doing? Did they send her here because of the years of being a hermit here and alone?...Why?' the Aeon formed deity pondered in thought. Akita finished the song, leaving Gruda in awe.
"What a voice...Have you ever thought of changing careers?" asked Gruda. "Yeah, I have...Everyone always said that I had a lovely singing voice; they to this day still don't believe why I became an archealogist," she answered. After the conversation was over, Gruda was looking left of their location in survey, but then; he spots small debris of tiny pebbles falling from above. The two look up, spotting 'Jecht' looking at them.
"Sin!" cried Akita. The two fled backwards into the deeper sanctum of thr ruined city, but 'Jecht' followed with relentless percision. Gruda didn't have any ammunation left, so he had no choice but to use his combat knife; puting himself in danger against the Final Aeon. It found the two perfectly. "Go...I'll hold it off," Gruda told Akita, "After you sang that song...I think its after you."
"You'll die against it...I can't-" "Don't argue! You have to find a way out, Go! Now!" Gruda interrupted Akita's words of concern. Before she ran off into the deeper sanctums of the maze, they saw that the creature was glowing in a fire-colored aura. In a burst of fiery energy, it reveals another of its forms: Human. Now human, the creature was revealed as a man with black, messy hair, tanned skin, and wore a right armed gauntlet with the strap across his neck. Most of the features remained the same, but the 'T' based tattoo was now black, not white.
"You have got to be kidding..." said Gruda. Akita stood in fear, but fled the area; just as Gruda told her. Gruda held his ground, amed with only a combat knife against 'Jecht's' sword. "I won't let you pass!" Gruda called out.
"Are you serious? If you want to live, move out of the way, I have to get to who the Fayth sent to me for so many years I suffered in lonliness," said 'Jecht'. Akita continues to flee down a ledge path from the battle scene. Gruda stood his ground. Akita then began to hear the scuffle from the distance. With her long, dark navy-blue hair obscuring her view, she misses a step and falls down from the ledge onto the steps downward, accidently bumping her head. Gruda makes his mark on 'Jecht's' chest, but within seconds, the wound automatically healed.
"Don't be an idiot...You must stay alive!" 'Jecht' roared out. He attacks Gruda and slams his right gauntleted elbow into his head, knocking him out instantly. The warrior then turned his attention to Akita, then went after her. After a tense ten minutes; 'Jecht' finds her, slumped down on the stone ground. She was dazed, but still conscience..
"No...Please...I don't want to die...Please...Don't kill me..." Akita whimpered, trying to crawl away from the savage brute. She was running out of strength, holding onto her notes and research. The warrior approached slowly, then said, "Don't waist your strength...You need to recover." Akita tried to flee, but the warrior halts her, grabbing her by the waist to pull her towards him. She screamed.
"No! Let go! Let go!" she screamed out, slapping the warrior's face with both hands. He grabbed hold of her hands to cease the assualts. She then tries to bite him, but the pain of the bite didn't phase him. "I know all too well about pain...I don't feel it at all..." he said. It was too late for her; all her strength was used up. Akita falls to the ground in exhaustion, fainting in front of 'Jecht'; right in his arms.
"I told you not to use up all your strength...Come on...I bet you bumped your head on the way down," he said. 'Jecht' picks up Akita and her bag, filled with research notes and books. He carries her in his arms to another location; a location where he belongs deep inside the ruins of Zanarkand.