Final Fantasy:

Requiem of Life

Prologue

THE MASSIVE AIRSHIP TRAWLED ACROSS the open expanse of the sky. Its motors hummed monotonously and the rotors turned in great slow revolutions around and around. Men strolled the upper decks, some taking large drags on lit cigarettes, slowly letting the smoke out through their nostrils. They were all dressed in a navy blue uniform with a large red stripe, with a smaller black stripe abreast, that traveled down the side of their pant leg. Their shirts were also navy blue, knit together with golden buttons. Each of them wore different colored ribbons that showed rank or authority. They wore white caps with a black brim and the caps bore the insignia of the Promortics government. Two swords that impaled the body of a phoenix; the phoenix's beak opened in a large cry of agony and behind it, tongues of fire danced.

One man leaned against the railing of the airship and let out a plume of smoke through his nose from the cigarette he had pulled from his mouth. He had brown hair and the smoke singed the mustache that curled down to his cheeks. The bright red ribbon that hung from his uniform showed that he was a Commanding Officer. He spoke to another man that stood nearby.

"This world is going to the dogs," he announced, "What with all these monsters and crap that they bring with them, it's only a matter of time before we get overrun by them."

The man he spoke to was silent for a moment. Unlike the other men, he wore a long black trench coat, his hair was also black and flowed down his back. His green eyes were slanted and they looked as if they had seen events that no mortal man could dare live through.

"Maybe," he said calmly, his voice was deep, but not intrusive, "but if so, then I would die fighting them and taking as many with me to the grave as possible. I wouldn't want such scum to live on this green earth that was gifted to us."

The navy officer laughed aloud and replied, "Hah! Don't we all wish that we could fight them, but they bring with them weapons that not even we can destroy. Anyone who faces them is killed."

"Then why do we continue these patrols?" asked the man in black, "Why, do we continue them if we know that the monsters will kill us anyways? We should go into hiding and run away with our tails between our legs, correct?"

The Commanding Officer paused for a moment before saying, "God knows why we continue them. If it was me who was in charge I would go into hiding and try to stay alive as long as possible. We can't fight them. Only the power of the dreaded Sephiroth could stop them, but he's been dead for over a millennia."

"You would call on Sephiroth? The demon that tried to destroy the earth?" the man asked with quiet incredulously.

"If he could destroy the monsters and save us? Yes, I would without a doubt," replied the officer. The officer looked at the man closely, his cigarette hanging loosely in his hand, then asked, "Who are you? You do not wear the uniform of the army, nor do you wear anything that ties you to the government. Why are you here?"

The man was silent a long time, his hair blew across his face. He finally responded, "My name is Requiem. I did not give the name to myself, and I do not know who gave it to me. I do not know who gave me birth, but I do know that the Promortics government found me abandoned in an old, burned-down, genetic laboratory from the Shinra era. The government found a slip of paper lying next to me that read, 'Requiem', and this they named me.

"As I grew in the government's care, I realized I was different from others. I knew skills that no one else knew. I could wield a gunblade at nine with ease; at eleven, I had mastered using two gunblades in each hand and could use a pistol with them. The government, awed at my talents, pressed me into their service and gave me the position of 'Special Assassin' when I was thirteen. My missions concerned the assassinations of people whom the government feared. These were wealthy businessmen and corrupt politicians. By the time I turned sixteen, I had murdered over five-hundred people."

The officer's mouth dropped in astonishment, "But that's so young!" he exclaimed, "How could the government do something like that?"

"Who knew of me?" the young man responded bitterly, "No one knew of my existence except the government and the people I killed. But once I reached my twenties, I was tired of them and told them I had had enough. Over a thousand assassinations and yet I didn't receive anything. No one knew me, I had no friends, and the government had the gall not to even pay me for my deeds. I was finished.

"But the government responded with a grudge. They told me after all they had done, raising me and providing for me, that I was insolent for leaving them. Like I cared. I pulled a gun on my superiors and said they all deserved to die for what they did. They panicked and told me I could leave. I should have shot their pitiful bodies then and there, but I didn't. I walked out and they left me alone for five years. I was happy, people knew me and they weren't afraid."

"Then I received a call from them. They seeked my help and it wasn't assassinations they needed. They wanted help against the monsters that were swarming from the earth's depths. At first I said no, but they warned me of the consequences. Millions of people would be killed and the earth's population would be wiped out. I hated the way they made me feel, like it was up to me to save the world, but I couldn't refuse. I said yes. I was swept away from my happiness and thrown into this war against monsters, and yet there you stand saying how you would rather just give up and run away. It sickens me how I gave up my life when the government doesn't even want to fight."

The officer gaped at the man and then bellowed with laughter. "It's your own fault for falling into their trap!" he exclaimed, "If you had said no then you would still be happy and living a life of peace."

"And know that the world was going to die? Knowing that the people around me might face horrible deaths if I didn't help? What kind of life is that?" Requiem spat.

"A life better than this one," the officer responded. "Living in fear all the time, seeing comrades of yours perish at the hands of some nameless beast? Devoured alive, their screams still echoing in your head? Only the insane would still fight."

"Then I must be insane," Requiem said.

"Yes, you must be." The officer took one last drag and tossed his cigarette over the rail. He turned to walk away when something caught his eye behind him. He turned and saw his cigarette smoldering on the wooden planks.

"What the--?" was all he got out before a black beast leapt over the rail and crashed into his body. The monster swiped a sharp claw across the officer's throat and blood spewed from the gash. The officer gurgled and dark red blood trickled from his mouth. The life quickly faded from his eyes and his red ribbon was swept away by his own blood. The last thing he saw was a black blur sweeping over him towards the monsters.

Requiem, meanwhile, as soon as he saw the cigarette return over the rail, had thrown himself into the air, performing two full backflips and drawing two swords from his concealed belt. When the first of many monsters appeared he had just landed on the opposite rail and catapulted himself towards them. He let his body spin, his two swords whirling in a deadly circle. The beast that killed the commanding officer just had time to look up before his head was sent spinning away, the blood from its neck splashing on top of it.

Requiem landed within a maw of black, biting creatures that resembled large dogs except for the fact that long, black, slimy tendrils slithered down their spine and trailed behind them like leeches.

One snapped at his throat and Requiem just managed to bring up a sword to cut through its middle, sending a wave of dark red splashing down, making the deck slippery. Requiem jumped high into the air, performing a somersault and pulled a gun from his pocket. While coming back down he snapped the gun into a slot in one of his swords, making a much more powerful gunblade. With a flourish he sheathed the other sword and pulled out another pistol. He let gravity power his downward thrust and he slammed into the bulk of monsters, sending body parts and innards flying.

He fired several shots with the pistol, sending three of the monsters back over the rail, falling to their deaths. The soldiers on deck of the airship were caught off-guard and most of them had been killed by the initial onslaught, but a few still stood, letting off shots with hand guns since the machine guns lay locked in the weapons room below. It was apparent that the airship wasn't going to hold for much longer. The dog-like beasts continued to clamber over the rails and although Requiem was able to kill at least five with each swipe of his gunblade, it wasn't enough to kill them all.

A large explosion rocked the deck and Requiem looked up. The beasts had invaded a fuel room and several kamikazes had launched themselves at the tanks, breaking through the metal, thus igniting the tanks and destroying the motors nearby. The airship started to slant downwards towards the ground at an alarming speed. Dead corpses slid off the airship and hurtled down to the rocky ground. Requiem gripped a stairwell with the hand that also gripped the pistol to keep himself upright and continued to battle the able-footed dog-like monsters with only his gunblade. He decapitated three more and with the backswing impaled another two. He flipped the sword through the air, sending several beasts hurtling back and when he caught it swung it around in a broad swipe that sent five monsters crumpling over in unison.

Yet still there were more to take their place. This isn't going to work, Requiem thought. He loosened his grip on the stairwell, and placed his foot on it. He tensed himself and as he brought his gunblade up to his chest, hurtled himself straight through the pack of monsters. He continued to fly through the monsters, the blade mowing them down as he flew by.

Another explosion ripped through the airship and the slant worsened. The few men who were still alive cried out as the deck beneath their feet vanished. They plummeted to their deaths, screaming in terror as they were swallowed up by the sky.

Requiem let his weight carry him headfirst down the length of the airship, seemingly falling to his death. As he neared the bottom of the ship and death he let out a roar and plunged his gunblade deep into the deck. A massive tear in the deck appeared and the entire ship detonated. Wooden planks and parts of the airship blew in all directions, impaling monsters left and right. Those who survived the impaling were vaporized as all the remaining fuel tanks exploded. Requiem had let his blade slide out of the deck and airship and had fallen from the air before the fuel tanks had lit. He leapt from bodies to pieces of the airship down the thousands of feet to the ground.

As he lightly landed on the ground, he looked up. Pieces of the airship were still falling, crashing into the earth around him. Bodies also littered the area around him. The men who had served on the airship lay lifeless. Requiem scanned the bodies, looking for one of a monster, but there were none. All of the monster's bodies had disappeared.

He sighed and shook his head. He could never find a body to examine. Every time he slew one, the bodies would mysteriously vanish. Requiem scanned the area around him. He had landed in a canyon. There was little protection from the sun and already the blood from the bodies was starting to evaporate, making the air around Requiem red.

Several vultures had descended and were already making due the bodies of the soldiers. Picking away at their skin, looking for the red meat that lay beneath.

Requiem let out another sigh. This wasn't going to be easy getting back.