A/N: This is actually an assignment I used in my English class when we were
assigned to write a story that demonstrated satire, hence the extensive
explanations at the beginning. I thought the whole Al Bhed vrs. Yevonite
thing would work well with that topic, and I was right; I got a got grade
on this! ^_^ I hope you all like it as much as my English teacher did!
Sin. It always comes back, no matter how many times it is beaten. It is always reborn after every defeat. No one really knows why or how it is reborn. But we do know it wreaks havoc wherever it goes. Sin is the only fear of my world, Spira. It is the bane of all our existences. I am an al bhed girl. What is an al bhed, you ask? Not only do we have our own language, but our own beliefs. We, the al bhed as a people, believe that Sin can be defeated with machina. Machina is advanced machinery, and we can make such robots that Sin would surely cower at out feet should we make enough! But that is the problem; we cannot make an entire army. The Yevonites will not allow it. Yevonites believe in a deity named Yevon. They believe that Sin was put on Spira by Yevon as punishment for overuse of machina. Once we give up all machina use, they say, Spira will be freed of Sin forever. And how exactly is that done? This is the inhumane part; they train those who have some sort of special power, which can be channeled to summon aeons. Aeons are powerful, ethereal beings. The people who call these aeons are titled Summoners, and are highly respected. And what is so inhumane about that? The Summoners must sacrifice themselves in order to defeat Sin, only for it to be reborn a few years later! The Final Aeon, once summoned, goes on a wild rampage, often powerful enough to kill Sin. But then the Summoner as well is killed by the Final Aeon. Yevonites argue that being able to lie safely in bed without having to worry about Sin, even for only a few years at a time, is priceless. But so is the life of a human. Needless to say, there is much tension between the two religious groups. Which is why I hesitated to become the guardian of my half al bhed cousin, Summoner Yuna. A guardian is one who follows and protects the Summoner until he or she had the chance to battle Sin. No al bhed before I has ever been a guardian. And I am only doing it out of love for my cousin. So I stand here among Yevonites to fight off Sin. My cousin is not yet strong enough to face its destructive force. But we hope to fend Sin off long enough to make it go away. I do have to admit though- I do feel a bit uncomfortable being the only one with machina here. But the Yevonites do not scold me, for they are afraid of me- they merely glance warily at my machina and try to pretend they don't see it. Idiots. "Rikku, you ready?" asks a tanned, red-haired man as he pulled playfully on my braids to get my attention. He is also my cousin's guardian. I nod and wait, watching Sin's slowly approaching form on the shoreline. "Good luck with your machina," he says sarcastically as he eyes my machina weapon, a high tech piece of metal strapped to my arm. "You'll be sorry you chose not to use any, Wakka," I warn him in a singsong voice. Wakka scoffed. "Sorry? Machina are evil, ya know. They are not the way of Yevon," he challenged. I only sighed and rolled my eyes at the competitive man. "Suit yourself," I said. Now was not the time to bicker. We all watched in silence as Sin approached. I held my breath. The Chocobo Knights, a special attack regiment comprised of people riding giant chicken- ostriches, tensed. And all of a sudden, the commander yelled, "Attack!"
*~*~*
"Ah!" I cry out as some kind of medicine is painfully applied to my leg and my arm. I bite my lower lip and look away as the rest is administered. Many of the men here are wounded far worse than I; we were able to ward off Sin for a time, but at what cost? Over half our men were killed, and half of the remaining was wounded very seriously. This is not right. I see my cousin standing next to me as I look away from the medicine. Forgetting the pain, my face lights up happily. "Yunie!" I exclaim, and I proceed to hug her with my free arm. Her calm eyes smile at me. "Are you alright, Rikku?" my cousin asks. I nod enthusiastically. "Yeah, Yunie, I'm fine. Everyone okay?" I ask. But I know the answer. Everyone is okay. Everyone is always okay. "To tell the truth, I just came here to see you first," says Yuna. I nod, and hop to my feet, ignoring the jolt of pain sent up through my leg. "Well, I'm gonna go find everyone," I say. "Bye, Yunie!" I call as I jog outside the Infirmary. My cousin waves. My eyes widen as I step outside. The beach is littered with corpses and the ground is barely visible. The small amount of sand that was visible was drenched thick with blood. I scanned the area quickly, praying that I didn't spot anyone I knew. I had a sinking feeling that maybe.just maybe, not everyone was okay this time. I stepped forward with my uninjured leg and, not finding any sand to set it down on, set it lightly on a corpse. As I heard a sickening crunch underneath me, I breathed in sharply, vowed not to look down, and headed out toward the shoreline. Upon reaching the shoreline, I shivered despite the harsh noontime sun as I cast my eyes to the water just beneath me. It ran thick with blood. And as I looked out upon the water, I had a grotesque realization that I could not point out where the blood became ocean and the ocean became blood. The two liquids intermingled freely. Disgusted, I looked away and scanned the shoreline for familiar faces once again. Suddenly, my breath caught in my throat and I ran a couple feet to my right and knelt down beside a dead man who was lying face down. I reached for the dead man's arm, but flinched away at the feel of cold flesh. Braver this time, I again reached for the corpse's arm and managed to turn it over as the corpse it landed on crunched sickeningly. "No." I stared unblinking at the redheaded corpse of Wakka that lay before me, its unseeing eyes open wide in fear. I looked out at the ocean once again, this time focusing on the pieces of metal and driftwood that was the only reward for our hard-fought battle. I looked again at my deceased friend. I don't know how, but somehow I managed to drag Wakka's corpse to the shoreline, where I managed to find a piece of driftwood big enough to lay it on. Don't ask me why I laid his body on the piece of junk and pushed it out towards the sea; I wouldn't be able to tell you. But I did know I couldn't just leave him lying there along with everyone else, to be buried under hundreds in a mass grave. "Kuut poa, so vneaht," I whisper as I watch him drift out to sea. Good bye, my friend. "Oui cruimt'ja icat sylrehy," I said as I turned to leave. You should've used machina.
Sin. It always comes back, no matter how many times it is beaten. It is always reborn after every defeat. No one really knows why or how it is reborn. But we do know it wreaks havoc wherever it goes. Sin is the only fear of my world, Spira. It is the bane of all our existences. I am an al bhed girl. What is an al bhed, you ask? Not only do we have our own language, but our own beliefs. We, the al bhed as a people, believe that Sin can be defeated with machina. Machina is advanced machinery, and we can make such robots that Sin would surely cower at out feet should we make enough! But that is the problem; we cannot make an entire army. The Yevonites will not allow it. Yevonites believe in a deity named Yevon. They believe that Sin was put on Spira by Yevon as punishment for overuse of machina. Once we give up all machina use, they say, Spira will be freed of Sin forever. And how exactly is that done? This is the inhumane part; they train those who have some sort of special power, which can be channeled to summon aeons. Aeons are powerful, ethereal beings. The people who call these aeons are titled Summoners, and are highly respected. And what is so inhumane about that? The Summoners must sacrifice themselves in order to defeat Sin, only for it to be reborn a few years later! The Final Aeon, once summoned, goes on a wild rampage, often powerful enough to kill Sin. But then the Summoner as well is killed by the Final Aeon. Yevonites argue that being able to lie safely in bed without having to worry about Sin, even for only a few years at a time, is priceless. But so is the life of a human. Needless to say, there is much tension between the two religious groups. Which is why I hesitated to become the guardian of my half al bhed cousin, Summoner Yuna. A guardian is one who follows and protects the Summoner until he or she had the chance to battle Sin. No al bhed before I has ever been a guardian. And I am only doing it out of love for my cousin. So I stand here among Yevonites to fight off Sin. My cousin is not yet strong enough to face its destructive force. But we hope to fend Sin off long enough to make it go away. I do have to admit though- I do feel a bit uncomfortable being the only one with machina here. But the Yevonites do not scold me, for they are afraid of me- they merely glance warily at my machina and try to pretend they don't see it. Idiots. "Rikku, you ready?" asks a tanned, red-haired man as he pulled playfully on my braids to get my attention. He is also my cousin's guardian. I nod and wait, watching Sin's slowly approaching form on the shoreline. "Good luck with your machina," he says sarcastically as he eyes my machina weapon, a high tech piece of metal strapped to my arm. "You'll be sorry you chose not to use any, Wakka," I warn him in a singsong voice. Wakka scoffed. "Sorry? Machina are evil, ya know. They are not the way of Yevon," he challenged. I only sighed and rolled my eyes at the competitive man. "Suit yourself," I said. Now was not the time to bicker. We all watched in silence as Sin approached. I held my breath. The Chocobo Knights, a special attack regiment comprised of people riding giant chicken- ostriches, tensed. And all of a sudden, the commander yelled, "Attack!"
*~*~*
"Ah!" I cry out as some kind of medicine is painfully applied to my leg and my arm. I bite my lower lip and look away as the rest is administered. Many of the men here are wounded far worse than I; we were able to ward off Sin for a time, but at what cost? Over half our men were killed, and half of the remaining was wounded very seriously. This is not right. I see my cousin standing next to me as I look away from the medicine. Forgetting the pain, my face lights up happily. "Yunie!" I exclaim, and I proceed to hug her with my free arm. Her calm eyes smile at me. "Are you alright, Rikku?" my cousin asks. I nod enthusiastically. "Yeah, Yunie, I'm fine. Everyone okay?" I ask. But I know the answer. Everyone is okay. Everyone is always okay. "To tell the truth, I just came here to see you first," says Yuna. I nod, and hop to my feet, ignoring the jolt of pain sent up through my leg. "Well, I'm gonna go find everyone," I say. "Bye, Yunie!" I call as I jog outside the Infirmary. My cousin waves. My eyes widen as I step outside. The beach is littered with corpses and the ground is barely visible. The small amount of sand that was visible was drenched thick with blood. I scanned the area quickly, praying that I didn't spot anyone I knew. I had a sinking feeling that maybe.just maybe, not everyone was okay this time. I stepped forward with my uninjured leg and, not finding any sand to set it down on, set it lightly on a corpse. As I heard a sickening crunch underneath me, I breathed in sharply, vowed not to look down, and headed out toward the shoreline. Upon reaching the shoreline, I shivered despite the harsh noontime sun as I cast my eyes to the water just beneath me. It ran thick with blood. And as I looked out upon the water, I had a grotesque realization that I could not point out where the blood became ocean and the ocean became blood. The two liquids intermingled freely. Disgusted, I looked away and scanned the shoreline for familiar faces once again. Suddenly, my breath caught in my throat and I ran a couple feet to my right and knelt down beside a dead man who was lying face down. I reached for the dead man's arm, but flinched away at the feel of cold flesh. Braver this time, I again reached for the corpse's arm and managed to turn it over as the corpse it landed on crunched sickeningly. "No." I stared unblinking at the redheaded corpse of Wakka that lay before me, its unseeing eyes open wide in fear. I looked out at the ocean once again, this time focusing on the pieces of metal and driftwood that was the only reward for our hard-fought battle. I looked again at my deceased friend. I don't know how, but somehow I managed to drag Wakka's corpse to the shoreline, where I managed to find a piece of driftwood big enough to lay it on. Don't ask me why I laid his body on the piece of junk and pushed it out towards the sea; I wouldn't be able to tell you. But I did know I couldn't just leave him lying there along with everyone else, to be buried under hundreds in a mass grave. "Kuut poa, so vneaht," I whisper as I watch him drift out to sea. Good bye, my friend. "Oui cruimt'ja icat sylrehy," I said as I turned to leave. You should've used machina.