Author's Notes: I wanted to try my hand at this little story that had been floating around in my head. I hope all of you will be gentle in your critiques but at the same time, I hope you all enjoy whatever comes! I realize that none of our favorite characters appear in Chapter 1 but I hope you'll bear with me to Chapter 2 where you'll see some familiar faces popping up!

Disclaimer: Square owns all characters from Final Fantasy VIII and I merely use them for my amusement.

A Call of Tomorrow

Chapter One: Discovery

Bright eyes shine in the dark, the land is awash in light.

Silent words rest on cold dead lips and the fallen angel will take flight.

The Lion's fire will die, extinguished by the hand of his Queen,

This world will suffer a darkness and no more light will be seen.

But there is still hope, one candle of light still alive.

Cradled in the warmth of her knight, in the darkness her strength with thrive.

Here she stands, this blue angel, the one last hope of our race.

Shield her well, protect her heart, for the darkness all around with give chase.

Upon the verdant fields, with cloudless sky, these two sisters will meet,

One of hope, one of loss, both will fight knowing the price of defeat.

The Old Gods will rise with the taste of blood, providing their victor a crimson crown.

If laid upon her brow, our hope will be lost, and in the innocents blood we will drown.

Hyne's true heir will reveal herself, rising from the ashes as the golden bird of fire.

With the gift of the earth blazing from her fingers, she will cast her ire.

Old Gods, masked as friends, will walk behind, ready to strike her down,

But if our Queen will call down the heavens, she will be ready to accept her crown.

The ancient burial grounds of the Centra civilization had only recently been discovered on the desecrated continent that had never fully recovered from the catastrophe that had destroyed its powerful and mysterious people. Deep within the catacombs, hidden behind several false walls, a small chamber had been uncovered and was filled with enough treasures to keep the team of four archeologists in business for the rest of their lives. Between the beautiful paintings, sculptures and breathtaking jewelry, thick manuscripts had been discovered. What they held within their fragile and dusty covers was still being translated by round the clock experts.

Dr. Strife Errol had barely left the confines of the small room which he had determined was a sacred shrine to gods far more ancient than Hyne. The exotic faces were all of women of extraordinary beauty that held an aura of power within their eyes. He hypothesized that these were the goddesses of their time, respected and revered for their power and gentle grace.

Errol was the leader of the expedition, a leading expert in Centran artifacts from the University of Deling. He had dedicated his life to the study of Centra and his belief that the old gods were a powerful figure within Ancient Centran mythology and the women were the mothers of the civilization. This find was helping to prove him right. Every artifact they had found spoke of a feminine touch, appealed to the female eye. The colors were soft, the lines were gently curved and all images featured a woman.

That night, like so many others, he spent it alone in on site. He was actively disobeying his own protocols by staying late into the night. No person was ever meant to stay on site alone. It was a matter of security and a matter of confirming finds. But Errol couldn't help himself. He was so close that he couldn't pull himself away, nor did he really want to share his findings with anyone else.

He sat alone in the small chamber, a few candles lit to provide light but not take away from the mood. The walls were polished rock, glimmering a cold blue in the candlelight. A few tapestries were hung on those walls, softening the feel. In the very back of the room, an altar had been erected with a solitary statue placed in a position of honor. It was a golden woman dressed in seductive robes, beautiful wings extending out behind her.

Staring at the statue, he clicked on his recorder.

"Statue exhibits elements of the virgin symbolism with the long hair cascading down her shoulders in direct juxtaposition of the robes hugging her form and exposing her breast in a seductive manner. Her wings I can only assume would represent her ascension in to heaven due to her purity and overall goodness. She is no mere virgin or mother. She is both and an angel above all else…"

Errol breathed out a sigh, clicking the recorder off again. The statue was the only thing in the room that had wings. None of the portraits had nary a feather to help propel his hypothesis forward. As he stood up again, he squinted around the room. There was something that had been bothering him for the past few days about the layout and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. There was a purposeful symmetry that didn't seem to complete itself.

While the altar was placed in the back of the room, it was far enough off the wall that it felt like the room should continue on and the altar instead be in the dead center, instead of about two-thirds back.

Walking silently to the back wall, Errol gave a cursory push with no response. He shook his head. Perhaps he really should get out of here. He had barely eaten or slept since the discovery had been made.

A whisper on the wind made him jump. The lifeblood of one pure will open the doors to my power…

Errol shook his head, uncertain of the words that had slunk through the room. Even as he stepped back and wiped his forehead with an old rag, the words took root in his mind. No matter how hard he tried, they seemed trapped, rolling around again and again, squeezing his heart in a painful grip.

"Lifeblood of one pure…" Errol muttered and the pain seemed to ease. "Who the hell would count as pure? Not like we have any vestal virgins available on site." His own bad joke left a sour taste in his mouth.

"Doctor Errol?" the gentle voice of his colleague, Eva Brown, whispered from behind him.

Errol jumped and spun around, grabbing at his heart to stop it from beating right out of his chest. "Eva, what are you doing here?" he asked harshly.

"Chris and I wanted to check something in the main room and I thought I saw a flicker coming from this chamber," Eva stuttered as she tried to rush an explanation. Her large brown eyes were widened with surprise at finding her boss alone in the room and with such a crazed look on his face. She had heard rumors that Errol was starting to crack under the pressure but she had never believed a word until this moment.

Errol stared hard at her wide, adoring eyes. He knew that she had watched him since she joined his team, an eager young doctor looking for a way to the top. In the depths of the night he had wondered just how far she had wanted to go to get to the top but he considered himself far too much of a professional to ever take his thoughts beyond that.

But now as he watched her lower lip tremble slightly, an unspeakable urge rose up. He wanted to taste that lip, bite it until she cried out. He wanted to know if her nut brown hair was really as soft as it looked. Were those curls real or manufactured with hairspray and time. He wanted to tug at them. Pull. Pull harder and harder until they just ripped out of her scalp.

Errol swallowed hard, flexing his hands slowly. "Eva… good, you've come," he muttered, struggling to keep his voice steady. "I needed your help in measuring some of the readings in this room. I believe that residual power of the Old Gods still resides here. If we could find a way to tap into it, we could learn more."

"Of course… just let me find Doctor Stevens and we can both help you," Eva replied, backing toward the narrow hallway that would lead to the main room.

"NO." Errol's voice came out stronger than he had intended, rolling off the walls, shaking the very foundation that they stood upon. He bounded forward with one strong surge, a hand clamping down on the young woman's wrist, dragging her forward.

In his head, he screamed at himself to stop, but something else had taken over Errol's thoughts. His dreams, his ambitions, they all stood within this room and nothing would stop him.

"Doctor Errol, stop, please!" Eva cried out, tugging at her wrist.

His grip only tightened, painting bright red marks across her pale skin that would darken in to bruises in just a few hours time.

With a quick jerk of his arm, summoning strength he had never known lay within him, Errol threw Eva against the supposed back wall, her head connecting with the hard stone, knocking her unconscious.

Take your prize, the voice inside his head cackled with delight. In most cases, Errol was a rational man and would normally never take advice from voices in his head, let alone cackling voices, but desire bloomed in his head. He was a man still strong and virile, powerful. No one could deny him what he wanted.

He strode across the room, body quivering at the prospect of enjoying a woman in what seemed like thousands of years. The last time, he remembered, was atop a tower, taking his offering. Feeling the rich fabric of her robes being torn from her body, hearing her cry with desire…

Errol stopped in place for a moment, struggling with the memories that were flooding through his mind. Some were foreign. Events that had never taken place. Faces, unfamiliar. Places long gone. He couldn't understand what exactly was going on. Perhaps he was going mad. Looking around the room, he saw the unmoving form of Eva Brown and panicked. Had he brought her here? Had he hurt her in some way?

The revolting desire to possess her was creeping back but he was positive that that wasn't truly him or his wants.

The lifeblood of one pure will open the doors to my power…

The power. Errol wanted the power. For once, he wanted to be the strong one, the one women looked to and men feared. His own youthful days had been spent in libraries and hiding away behind books. He had been laughed at, teased, mocked for his intelligence, never celebrated the way others had…

"Doctor Errol, what's going on in here?" Christopher Stevens was the second on the expedition. He was relatively young for such a position of power which spoke of his intelligence and mark on the archeological community during his still growing career. To make matters worse, he was strong, ruggedly handsome and everything that Errol had always desired to be. Watching the way his golden hair casually flopped in front of his light blue eyes made his blood boil. Why did he get to be a god among men while Errol had suffered teasing and ridicule for following his passions. Why did that inferior man get sculpted abs and the love of beautiful women while Errol struggled with a sagging belly and alimony payments from a wife who had left him years ago.

"Strife… what's going on? Where's Eva?" Chris tried again, moving further into the room.

He'd been deeply concerned about his colleague since they had uncovered this room. Dark things had been running through his head of late and it concerned him. Now, finding him here, alone, made Chris know that he had no choice. He had to report Errol to the board of directors overseeing this important archeological find. They'd remove him from the team and likely put Chris in charge. Though he'd always wanted to run a dig site (and what a site to run!), he hadn't wanted it to happen this way, to a man he had long looked up to and admired.

"Strife… where's Eva?" he asked again.

Eva had been a bright spot during the dig. Young, beautiful and his intellectual equal. Both had fallen in love so easily and they'd spent their free time dreaming of their bright futures, both as archeologists and building lives around each other.

Errol smiled and Chris' blood ran cold. It was the smile of someone who had completely tipped over the edge and rejoiced in it.

"Eva! EVA!" Chris shouted, looking wildly around the room. Everything was dark, hidden in shadow but against the back wall he saw a crumbled form. He whipped his gaze back to his former mentor, eyes furious.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" he screamed with barely contained fury.

"Her lifeblood will give us our ultimate discovery, Chris," Errol replied with glee. "One little sacrifice and we will be known as legends forever."

"Screw you and your demented thoughts. You're not sacrificing her to the voices in your head, old man," Chris retorted, stalking over to the unconscious form of his girlfriend, breathing in a sigh of relief as he saw the rhythmic rising and falling of her chest.

Chris gently brushed her soft curls back from her face, seeing a small trickle of blood right at her hairline.

"You want blood, you crazy old coot," Chris shouted. "Here's your fucking blood."

He swiped his finger across the cut, holding it out for Errol to see. With disgust, he wiped his finger against the wall to get it off his skin, gathering Eva in his arms. She stirred ever so slightly, smiling up at him, even without opening her eyes. She knew he was there, just by his touch.

Behind them, the heat of Eva's blood spread out from its first contact point, shifting old spells woven into the wall, revealing what was supposed to stay hidden for all of time.

Chris barely had time to look up to see the wall falling away, heavy rocks tumbling down on top of them. He held Eva close to him, whispering a final I love you before they both met their end.

Errol watched impassively as his two colleagues and former friends were crushed to death by the rocks. It mattered little because their sacrifice opened the doors to his life's dream. Waiting at a safe distance until the dust had finally cleared, he glided across the room, stepping over an uncrushed limb without a care in the world, to a double door cast in bronze. Wings were inscribed on the doors. The doors were so large, the little that remained of Errol's logical side wondered how he would ever open them. They spanned almost the entire back wall, reaching almost ten feet in height.

It didn't matter. Behind those doors was his salvation.

Errol pushed hard on the doors to open them.

Nothing happened.

The old man screamed in despair.