Disclaimer: I only own myself, Dragon Chronicles, the overall plot-line. Everything else belongs to their representative owners.
"A dedication to all making this possible."
The Dawn of Chaos.
"I've always wonder about somethings lately... Is this for real or not?"
April 11, 20XX AD (Sunday - 15:53) Clear
A human male, in his early 20's, was working on his computer within the comfort of his own home. His name was Christopher. He invited his three friends over. Two of them, a tall one, who's named Evan, and a short one, who's named Carmen, were playing a game, Naruto Shippuden: GNT EX 3, while another, who's named Angela, was getting drinks. He was looking at his e-mail when he saw something that would shock the rest of them.
"What's this?" He said. "'Giant golden object found in ancient ruins by Archeologists.'" He then saw the picture of the object which caused him to rise out of his seat. "Holy Crap! Guys, come check this out!"
"One second!" Carmen said. "Gotcha now!"
"Dang it!" the tall, African-American said.
"No escape! Eight-Trigram, Two-Palms, Four-Palms, Eight-Palms, Sixteen-Palms, 32-palms, 75-hit-combo-palms! And that's game!"
"Aww, man, Car."
"Don't blame me, dude! I'm just that damn good!" Carmen said with a smirk. Angela walked out of the kitchen with some sodas.
"What happen?" Angela asked.
"I got raped again." Evan said, getting upset that his loses keep on increasing.
"You mean, Palmed?" Carmen stated.
"Damn, you to hell!" Evan said softly, shaking his fist. Carmen laughed at this.
"GUYS! I found something that you may want to see!" Chris said. Getting his friends attention, he moved away from the computer and looked at the monitor. "Does THAT look familiar to you?" Chris pointed to the picture displayed on the web site.
"Holy Crap! Is that..." Evan said.
"Yes!" Chris said. "The Original Zohar!"
"This has to be some sick joke!" Carmen said. "Cause I'm not laughing." They knew the dangers of the Zohar and the mayhem that follows soon after. Angela was puzzled, though.
"Wait, why's the Zohar in the real world. Isn't it from the game, Xenosaga?" She asked.
"Supposing." Carmen replied. "Now we see that it isn't."
"Oh boy... Will we hear the song, though?" Chris said, covering his eyes with his hand.
"I don't know, but we're dead if we do." Carmen said.
"I just hope we survive this." Chris said to himself. His friends nodded in response. "Well, if any of us hears the song, immediately call each other."
Same Day (21:50)
Chris and Angela were having a nice, summer night stroll. They enjoyed each others company. But with the Zohar, they knew that their time together will be cut severly. Chris was in deep thought about this and Angela couldn't help but notice.
"What's on your mind, Chris?" She asked.
"I'm just worried that we might have to part ways for a while." Chris replied. "I've waited a long time to finally meet you in person. But now it's..." Angela took a step closer.
"I'm worried myself. I don't know if I should be scared or what. But wait, if the Zohar exists, then that means..."
"Other worlds must exist! And that means... I get to meet Sonic!" His eyes gleamed with excitement.
"And I get to meet Pikachu!" Her eyes gleamed as well.
"There is some good in this. But why does the Earth need to suffer for it?"
"That must be... how fate is..."
"But, it'll be bad for us if we don't have anything to fight the Gnosis or escape Earth." At that moment, Angela looked around and saw a light coming out of a dark alley. It's was a bright white color.
"What's that in the alley?" Angela pointed. Chris looked and saw the light as well. They walked over to the alley and saw a white gemstone. It was the source of the color. The light was brighter than the street lights. Chris reaches over and grabbed the gemstone. Both of them looked at it for a few minutes.
"A Chaos Emerald?" Chris said, as it was the first thing to come to his mind.
"Wow! That's a REAL Chaos Emerald!" Angela said in amazement.
"If this IS a Chaos Emerald, then..." Chris said as his surprise expression slowly turns like a child waking up on Christmas to see his presents.
"Oh, is it, Sonic?" Angela asked playfully.
"Yes! And I'll be able to use Chaos Control!" Chris said proudly.
"Yeah! Dreams DO come true!" Angela cheered.
"Hey, If I can learn Chaos Control before the Gnosis come, we might have a chance!" Chris said. "But I can't rid the world of the Gnosis... Even with all seven emerald, it'll be close to impossible."
"What about me, Evan and Carmen?" Angela said. "Can't we help?"
"Well, we only have one available emerald. And only one of us can use it at a time."
"True."
"I'll hang on it the emerald and practice Chaos Control. Who knows when the song will play..."
"But how will we get off the Earth?"
"That I don't know. It's getting late." Chris said, putting the emerald in his pocket. He continues to walk her back home which wasn't far.
For the past few days, Chris has been spending his time perfecting Chaos Control. Out of all his attempts, he only got one off for about 3 secs at the most, to which he faints from due to exhaustion. "Too... much..." Was all he said as he flopped onto his bed.
April 16, 20XX AD (Friday - 12:00) Cloudy
For the rest of the week, Chris continued on perfecting Chaos Control as he was off from work. But who could really think of work when the world's at stake. He also trained with his sword as it would prove useful, but he really wants to learn magic. After taking a break, he when to the kitchen and made himself some ramen. He was enjoying a pleasant lunch until he heard a young girl singing a familiar melody.
"That's..." Chris said. "...the song?" At that moment Chris' phone rings. He hears the phone say: "Call from Di'carlo C." "Carmen?" He picks up the phone in the kitchen. "Hello?"
"Tell me that you're not hearing a familiar song right now." Carmen said. "Cause my ears are deceiving me."
"The song, right?"
"So you CAN hear it as well? We're dead."
"Actually I got something that can help us."
"What is it?"
"Call Ev and hurry over! I'll call Angela in advance." Chris hanged the phone up before picking it up. At that very moment the door bell rang. He hurries over to the door and opens it. It was indeed, Angela.
"Wow, you catch on quick!" Chris said.
"I was worried. So I came here as soon as possible." Angela said, letting herself in. She had a mallet with her to defend herself.
"Car just call me. He and Ev are on their way." Chris said. "I'm going to get my sword and the emerald. If Evan or Carmen is at the door, let them in."
"Roger!" Angela saluted. Chris hurried to grabbed his sword and the emerald.
"Hope we can live from thing." Chris said to himself, as he looks at the emerald. He makes the way back down the steps as the door knocks. Angela opens to see Carmen with his own sword and another sword.
"Where's those Gnosis?" Carmen said. "I'm ready to put a cap in their ass!"
"I'll put the news on." Chris said, as he grabbed the remote and turn it to ABC.
"For those just tuning in this isn't a drill. All over the world an unknown melody of a young girl singing is being heard. No one knows where the melody is coming from. But that's not all, as soon as the melody was played, most of the civilians have begun to fight amongst each other, friends, even family are tearing each other apart."
"That's the power of the song." Chris said. "Those who aren't true to themselves, will go berserk." Another knock was hurried at the door. Carmen opens it to reveal it to be Evan.
"You made it, dingbat." Carmen said.
"Yes, I made it." Evan said. "And shut up." Carmen laughed at Evan's comeback as he gave Evan the other sword he brought.
"Well, it's happening." Chris stated. "There's no turning back now."
"But how are we getting off of here." Evan said.
"I got this." Chris reveal the emerald he had.
"A CHAOS EMERALD?!" Evan said with surprise on his voice. "Holy Crap!"
"I guess that solves it." Carmen said. "Can you use it?"
"I've been learning to use Chaos Control." Chris explained. "It's tiring, but I've can hold it for 10 seconds at most."
"Nice, you're getting there." Carmen said. "I've been getting my sword training on as well."
"Our best bet is to warp to where the Zohar is located at."
"But we don't know where it is?" Angela said.
"Just picture the Zohar in your mind." Just then a crash was heard from the TV.
"What's going on? Oh my god! One of our people turned into some ghost-like creature and grabbed others." An image shows a human getting turned into a Gnosis and grabbed one of the camera crew members. The captives body begins to turn white and began to break apart and dissolve into nothing. "HOLY-!!!" The Gnosis grabbed the camera and broke it, disrupting the signal. Just then a crash was heard outside. The group looked out the window to see some of the neighbors fighting amongst each other, like the news said.
"We better go now!" Chris said. "Picture the Zohar." The group combine their power together with made the emerald glow brightly. "Chaos Control!" With a blinding flash of light, the group disappeared from the living room and re-appears in a room. It was the corridor to the Zohar.
"Perfect! The Zohar is just ahead." The group hurried to the Zohar, where they met Dr. Masuda.
"Who are you?" He asked. "The exhibit isn't open to the public yet. How did you get in here?"
"That doesn't matter right now. Have you seen the news?" Chris said. "There are millions of civilians killing each other."
"I've heard that. But what does that has that got to do with me?"
"It's the Zohar. Awakening it triggered some melody that's causing this crisis."
"Even if that were true. What can you do about it?"
"Umm..." Chris hasn't really thought about that. "Well, we have weapons. But, they're more for show... heh..." A crash was heard from outside. Some policeman hurried into the Zohar room.
"Those strange creatures are heading this way!" The officer said.
"It's true then." Dr. Masuda said.
"Now do you believe us?" Chris asked.
"We keep firing, but nothing's working!" The officer relaying the battle status.
"They aren't of this plane. They can phase through walls and things like ghosts can, but can grab things without needing to shift planes."
"How can we fight something we can't hit?"
"Physical things can't touch them, but try explosion or flame-throwers."
"In a museum?"
"It's life and death here, bub!" Carmen said. The officer began to issue the order of using explosives and flame-throwers. Angela approached Dr. Masuda.
"Excuse me, Doctor. But isn't it possible to decipher the text? Surely we can defeat the Gnosis."
"We haven't fully translated the ancient text. And thanks to this crisis, we can't risk it."
"Shit!" Carmen cursed at their luck. A crash was heard from one of the entrances.
"They broke through!" A officer said.
"They must be after the Zohar!" Chris said. The others agreed as well. The four took up arms and prepared themselves. They saw one of the Gnosis grab an officer as Chris looked at the numbers.
"Four in total... a Goblin, a Golem, a Gremlin and a Manticore."
"You know what they are?"
"Doc, for your own safety, stand back."
The officers distracted the Golem, Gremlin and Manticore, which left the Goblin to our heroes. With their weapons unable to penetrate all they can do is block and evade. Being one of the lesser Gnosis, it didn't really pose a threat, but it was still dangerous.
"We can't just evade all day." Angela said.
"What can we do?" Evan asked, evading the Goblin's strike. He tried to slash it, but it's proved ineffective and the Goblin didn't even flinch.
"What CAN we do?" Chris said himself. 'I am Thou... Thou Art I...' Chris heard a voice reciting a familiar phrase. He got a headache from this, he began to stumble a bit. Most of the officers were too busy getting slaughtered by the Gnosis to notice this. Those that were done set their sights on Chris.
"You okay, dude?" Carmen asked. He began to feel a headache as well hearing the same phrase. Evan and Angela got headaches and heard the same phrase as well.
'Thou art the one who opens the door. The time has come. Open thy eyes and call forth what is within.' The Zohar also began to resonate with the group, a tarot card appeared in their hand.
"Is the Zohar resonating with us?" Angela asked.
"This is!" Evan said, with amazement in his eyes. Flames began to emerge from the tarot card as the four slowly grinned.
"Per-so-na!" As that line was said, flames of different colors began to engulf each group individual member entirely. The Gnosis stood their position as each member shattered the gemstone in their own way, which made the flames grow in size and more brighter. Chris's was a deep blue, Evan's was crimson, Carmen's was black mixed with purple and Angela's was brownish-gold.
'From the sea of thy soul, I come before thee.'
The flames then formed together into their own Persona. Chris was a water-like elemental, with a very distinctive, yet familiar look. Evan's was a muscular-man with horns and huffs with fire for hair. Carmen's was an armored demon. Angela's was a female infant, that don a Greek robe holding a harp.
'I am Chaos!'
"C-chaos..." Chris said as he gazes at his ego. He also notice that his weapon changed as it began engulfed by water as well. "The Dawn of Chaos!"
'I am Ifrit!'
"Ifrit..." Evan said to his persona. His weapon became was engulfed by flames. The blade, itself, was thin, but have a 6 foot reach. A chain spouted from the handle and attached itself to Evan's back. "Ah, snap!"
'I am Alistor!'
"Alistor..." Carmen said with a grin. His weapon changes into a demonic-looking as it was engulfed by lightning. "Now this is awesome!"
'I am Gaia!'
"Gaia..." Angela said to her's. Her weapon changes as it was engulfed with a brownish-gold light. The blade was extendable like a whip. "Whoa!"
"Wha-what is that?!" Dr. Masuda said, amazed at the four creatures.
Our heroes then turn to faced the four Gnosis with their new found power. "Unda!" Chris shouted as he commanded his Persona to douse the Goblin with blades of water.
"Agi!" Evan used his Persona to ignite the Gremlin.
"Zio!" Carmen's Persona electrocuted the Golem.
"Pata!" Angela's Persona ensnared the Manticore with roots from the ground before being pierced with it. Each attack caught the Gnosis off guard and knocked them down. "The enemies down! Now!?" Angela asked. "Got it! It ends here!" The group began to rush in and attack all the downed Gnosis. The assault kicked up dust as slashes and whacks were heard. Some of the group keep getting knocked back, but continued the assault. All remaining was the Golem, still dizzied. Carmen attacked him to finish it.
"That's... how it's done!" Carmen said, as victory was assured.
After the battle, the group looked up at their own persona as a phrase recited in their heads. 'Thou has face thy other self... thee has obtain the facade to overcome life's hardships.' The Personae returned into tarot cards again before fading into their representative owner's soul.
"Wow, then this means..." Chris said as endless possibilities began to flow through his mind. Angela jumped for joy and hugged him as she was happy too. Evan and Carmen exchanges high fives with each other.
"Dr. Masuda! It's okay now!" Chris said. But he heard no response. "Dr. Masuda?" The group saw the doctor lying on the ground motionless. "No! Don't tell me!" He rolls the doctor over to see that his eyes were open, but no soul nor glimmer was in them.
"What's the cause?" Evan asked. Chris looks up at the Zohar.
"My guess is that he wasn't worthy enough to receive such power and the Zohar must of siphon his soul when it resonated with us."
"But now what do we do?" Angela said. "Without Dr. Masuda, we have no way of deciphering the text."
'What do thou seek?' A voice was heard from the Zohar. Chris got up as he heard the voice.
'For love? For hate?' Angela gazed at the Zohar.
'For truth? For lies?' Evan turned to the Zohar.
'For power? For allegiance?' Carmen looked at the Zohar.
'For life? For death? For vengeance? For dream? For heroism? For villainy? For destiny? Whatever thou seeks, thou shall open the door and obtain what is most desired. But proceed with caution, for thou has no way of turning back.' As the phrase was said a door appeared in front of the Zohar.
"W-where did that door come from?" Angela asked.
"So it's not just me." Chris said.
"Where do you think it leads to?" Carmen asked.
"Anywhere is better than staying here." Chris stated. They didn't really have anywhere else to go with the Gnosis still on the loose. Evan and Carmen each grabbed a handle on the door and pulled it open. All was in there was a think fog, which was way too dense to see anything.
"S-should we really do this?" Angela asked nervously. "There's no return once we go in, right? How do we know if we'll be together?"
"To be honest, I don't know." Chris admitted. "But if we stay here, we won't get anywhere. But I have a feeling we'll meet again. At any rate, I can't wait to start this journey."
"You almost sound like Sonic." Angela stated.
"Maybe his persona's rubbing off on me." Chris chuckled.
"We do have an invitation to party." Carmen said, revealing his tarot card. "Better not pass up this opportunity. Shall we, dingbat?"
"Oh, I'm ready." Evan said. "Don't worry about me!" Evan and Carmen proceed to enter the door and disappeared into the fog.
"Umm..." Angela was still nervous about going. Chris lend out his hand.
"We'll go together!"
"Yeah!" Angela grabbed Chris's hand as she followed Chris into the fog. The door closes behind them and disappears into thin air.
Upon entering through the door, the group finds themselves within the foggy area. They found themselves on a pathway that slowly stretches forward. They walked down to find a platform with a mural Super Sonic fighting Perfect Chaos with the seven Chaos Emeralds in it, circling around the Master Emerald, the fog here was least dense than on the but the fog around the edge was very dense. The pathway behind them disappeared and four alters appeared each holding a weapon, one's a sword and shield, one's pair of daggers, one's a staff and one's a bow and a bible.
As the group went over to the alters. Chris picked the staff. Evan picked the sword and shield. Carmen picked the dual-daggers. Angela picked the bow and the bible.
Four iron maidens suddenly appeared in front of them, quickly opened up as hands grabbed each member and pulled them in the iron maidens as they closed and vibrated a bit before shoving the four back out with a different attire. Chris had a mage robe on over his attire, Evan was equipped with a chainmail, with a red shirt, and legguards, Carmen had leather jacket, over his shirt, leather pants, and leather boots and Angela had a leather robe over a shirt and some leather pants. There weapons were also thrown out as the iron maidens disappeared. The group gets up and sees a pathway become visible as the fog was a bit clearer.
The quartet walk down this path until the got to another platform this had a mural of the Son of Sparta fighting Mundus. A shadow appeared from the floor and began to form into a ball-like creature with a mouth, it had a mask on it's back. The quartet began to fight the shadow as more appeared after it until one was left. As it fade into the platform darkness began to over take it, but another pathway was revealed as the quartet began to hurry across it to another platform with a mural of a woman in a robe being sealed in a coffin.
Another woman was standing at the edge of the platform, before turning to the group and spouts a grin as four lights emerge from behind the group as their shadows eclipse the woman who begins to absorb them and manifest into a bigger, and more fierce, shadow, Shadowself. It was black and had a upside-down heart mask over the center of it's torso, a wyvern mask over it's head, and two wings, one of them looking like it's been ripped of. The group had no where to run and began to engage it with all their might, Evan distracted it while Carmen climbed up it's back and started slashing it. Chris started casting spells, while Angela was shooting the head with arrows and heal whenever someone needed it.
After the battle, the shadow began to summon portals underneath their feet and began to pull them in as undead hands grabbed them. Evan and Carmen pushed Chris and Angela out of there portal as they sank in. Another portal formed under Chris and Angela, in which Angela pushed him out of, but was pulled in herself. And finally a third portal formed and pulled Chris in, his last vision was Shadowself as it finally goes dark around him. He heard a voice: 'And so... it finally... begins...'
A pair of eyes opened up to see fog as far as they can see, but it looks like the being is standing on a dock. Through out the fog a pair of lights was seen. The being moved out of the way as the lights reveal the lights were headlights of a boat, a yacht to be exact. It came to a halt in front of the dock as one of the yacht doors opened up.
"Come in..."
The being did just that and sat down. Two figures were already seated on the other end of the room. One was a young, mature-looking woman, she had blond hair with a blue hairband and don a blue suit. The other was an old man with a very mysterious look on his face. He had a cane, a long, pointy nose, and wear a black tuxedo.
"Welcome... to the Velvet Room." The old man said. "Ah... it seems we have a guest with an intriguing destiny..." He chuckled. "My name is Igor... I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a 'contract' may enter... It maybe that such a fate awaits you in the near future. Don't worry, I already know who you are, you don't need to tell me." He chuckled. "Now, let's take a look into your future, shall we?" With a wave of his hand a stack of cards magically appears on the table.
"Do you believe in fortune telling?" This yet another wave, the cards moved on their own before separating into seven cards in V formation across the table, pointing towards the person. "Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different..." He chuckles. "Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it? Now, let's see." Igor flips a card.
"The card representing the past is... The Tower... In the upright position... A terrible catastrophe was imminent in which the lives of many had their destiny changed." Flipping the next card.
"The card representing the present is... The Fortune... In the upright position... A power fate awaits you at your destination which intertwines with your destiny. Our meeting and your new found power is such a fate." Flipping the next card.
"Oh my, the card representing the immediate future is... The Death... In the upright position... In the places that you're going to, a terrible tragedy is imminent as many lives will be lost... I most certainly only hope that you aren't one of them... The cause is unknown at the moment."
"The card representing the pathway through this is... The Justice... In the upright position... Your sense of justice will allow you to rise to the challenge, use your new powers to fight against it and make the choice you think is right."
"The card representing the surrounding energy after this is... The Magician... In the upright position... Your awakening to your power will allow you to face the current threat and those who wish to do you harm."
"To do that, you'll make new friends who will help you as you assist them with their lives... as stated by The Hierophant representing the resistance... In the upright position."
"And the last card is... The Fool... In the upright position... The result of completing your current journey, you will then partake in a new one and form a contract, after which you will return here. The coming years is a turning point in your destiny, if your quest goes unfinished, your future maybe forever lost. My duty is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does not happen." He waves his hand and made all cards vanish.
"Ah! I have neglected to introduce my assistance to you." He turns to the woman sitting next to him. "This is Margaret. She is a residents of this place, like myself."
"My name is Margaret. I'm here to accompany you throughout your journey." Margaret said. "Next we shall give you a class that would suit you the best. You're a careful person, who works hard to make sure everything works right, but you're afraid of being indecisive with choices. You care for your friends more than your own well being. You'll like to take on challenges you can handle and prepare yourself for the challenges ahead. Your desire to live and protect awaken the power within you. Your recommended class is the mage." Margaret waved her hand and thrust it towards the being. "You've automatically given yourself your own set of spells to use and clothing to better suit your class."
"We shall attend to the details another time. Until then farewell... and good luck..." Igor said, before the vision around the being began to fade.
Next: Baaj Temple and the Airship
Chris awakes to find himself alone in Spira and must do whatever he can to survive.