Final Fantasy: Chaos
Version 2

Prologue: Darkness Advent

There was something wrong, very wrong. You didn't have to be one of those prophets from Crescent Lake to know that. All one had to do was look around and you could see it. You could see it in the way the normally regal looking flags of the castle now hung like corpses from the spires, not even a breeze stirring the air in several hours. You could hear it too, or rather, you couldn't hear it, as the air was as quiet as it was still, which was disturbing as there was a rather large forest only 500 meters away. It was as if everything was dead. Even time seemed to stand still, the new moon making it almost impossible to tell how much time had passed from one moment to the next.

Wedge nervously looked around for what seemed like the hundredth time, almost wishing for something to happen, just to break the tension that now permeated everything. He shuddered as he gazed at the stone towers of the castle. In the weak torchlight, they seemed much duller then usual, making them look more like claws of some hideous demon then the pillars of strength that they normally represented.

Shuddering once more at the strange mental image, the guard once more took up his rounds of the courtyard.

A few moments later, he ran into another guard, a friend of his. They stopped as they approached each other, both taking a final look around to both make sure there was no threats about, nor any officers to catch them slacking.

"Creepy night," Wedge said to the other man.

"You can say that again," replied to other man, hacking briefly then spitting out a wad of dislodged phlegm. "Haven't seen a night like this ever."

Just as he finished, a chorus of howls emanated from the forest nearby. The discordant sound made the hair on the back of their necks stand on end, not only from the strange tone, but because it was the first noise either of them had heard all night.

"Definitely creepy," the other guard said.

"Seriously though, Biggs. I've got a really bad feeling about this night."

"Damn it, Wedge! You've always got a bad feelin' 'bout somethin' or another," the larger man said. He paused for a moment. "Just the same though, I'm gonna keep a good look out for anythin' outta the ordinary t'night."

Wedge simply nodded his agreement, taking a look around again out of reflex, or perhaps paranoia. "We'd better get back to work. We'll be in deep trouble if we get caught slacking on a night like this."

"Aye," Biggs agreed, stepping past his thinner friend to resume his rounds.

The eerie howls from the woods continued for well into the hour. Wedge noticed that the other guards were starting to get on edge as well, glancing about in a panicked manner at every furtive movement, ones that seemed to be increasing. Sometime after, someone shouted out at one of these movements, demanding to know who goes there. He received no reply however.

It was only minutes after Biggs had again crossed paths with Wedge that a loud noise followed by the shrill sound of the castle alarm broke the silence, causing many of the guards on patrol to jump in spite of themselves. The men quickly reported to their posts, waiting for instructions. Biggs looked at Wedge with a worried look on his face as they stepped into line beside each other. A high ranking lieutenant soon made his way from deeper within the castle. The night watchmen all saluted as he neared, the officer giving a quick salute in response.

"Alright men, we don't know exactly what the problem is yet, but we're certain that we're being attacked from within. The Royal Guard is currently handling the situation so it should be solved quickly. As you all know, in the unlikely situation that the Royal Guard fails to solve the problem, we are to ensure that the attacker doesn't leave the castle grounds," the lieutenant addressed them.

The men shuffled nervously as more loud noises, most likely explosions, and shouts continued to come from inside. The noise ended abruptly after a final explosion and it seemed as though things had been solved. Moments later, heavy footsteps resounded from the passageway leading to the castle proper. The men tensed.

They all visibly relaxed when they recognized the figure that emerged from the darkness of the passageway. The lieutenant stepped forward and addressed the figure, a knight standing an imposing seven feet tall wearing dark armor.

"General Garland, has the situation been handled, sir?" the officer asked.

Garland gave no reply, but simply tilted his helmeted head to the side slightly like a curious or confused animal might.

"General Garland?" the lieutenant said again. He then noticed that there was something terribly wrong. An unsightly amount of blood and gore dripped from the tip of the knight's massive blade, more so then a single being could have supplied. The horrified officer's eyes then traveled up to the general's face, seeking some sort of answer. It was then he noticed the motionless shape slung over his shoulder. With horror, he realized what the shape was.

"Princess Sara? Are you-," the officer began. He was cut off as he was cleaved nearly in half by the still bloody sword of Garland.

The gathered troops gasped and sprung into action as Garland strode toward them. The two friends, Biggs and Wedge, were two of the first to attack. They worked well together as their sizes complimented each other, Biggs being the shorter, and more powerful of the two where Wedge was thinner and much more agile. It mattered little though as Garland cast them both aside with a single swipe of his massive sword, luckily for them he had struck with the flat side of the blade.

The other guards' attacks proved to be no more effective, many being injured beyond the ability to fight and some losing their lives. When they finally seemed to be mounting a decent defense, Garland suddenly unleashed a powerful magic spell that severely injured those closest to him and knocking back the rest.

Pausing to survey the damage he had done to the guards, Garland deemed them no longer a threat and made for the castle gates that would lead him to the city and ultimately, out of Coneria altogether.

Biggs was helping Wedge to his feet as a distinguished, middle-aged man emerged from within the castle, his sword drawn and ready for battle. A small regiment of the Royal Guard followed close behind him. Looking over the human wreckage sprawled out before him, he turned behind him to issue a few quick orders before striding up to the two friends, who had been among the first to their feet.

"Report, gentlemen," the older man said to them.

Both men saluted before speaking.

"General Cid," Wedge began. "We tried to stop him, sir. He caught us off guard and was simply too powerful. He has Princess Sara!"

"We failed, sir!" Biggs said, to ashamed to even look his superior in the face.

"You did what you could. Garland was our best soldier, there was no way any of you could have beat him." Biggs looked up at him, grateful to have been forgiven. "Gentlemen, we're in a tough position right now. Garland decimated the majority of the Royal Guard that was on duty and many of the guards as well. I'm going to take what's left of the Royal Guard and some capable soldiers and we're going after the Princess. I'm going to need some reliable men to take care of things while I'm gone and you two will do fine. Welcome to the High Guard, lieutenants. First thing I want you to do is get everyone who's injured to the infirmary, then I want you to seal off the castle and city behind us and try to organize the rest of the men into some sort of guard. The city will be under martial law until this is cleared up. There's no way of knowing if Garland was alone in this plot. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" they both said at once.

"Then get to it and don't make me regret my decision."

The two men saluted once more and began to execute their orders. Cid looked around the courtyard once more, running though the events that just took place through his head once more and sighed.

It's going to be a long night, he thought as he motioned for his men to gather around.

Garland, having just dispatched the gate guards, was making his way out of the city and towards a barely visible structure off in the distance; The Temple of Fiends. A large group of monsters had assembled about 100 meters away from the walls. As the large knight neared, they backed away in fear, clearing a path. All eyes were on the knight as he slowly walked on, his blood red cape flowing behind him despite the lack of air movement. A single warg began to howl, soon being joined by the others. It was an omen of things to come. . . .

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In another part of the world, a young woman convulsed in her sleep, her eyelids twitching spastically as her eyes rolled to the back of her skull. She woke suddenly with a scream, several images burned into her memory, most of them so unpleasant, no mortal should ever be cursed with their sight. Sitting up in her bed, alone, she cried in the darkness, frightened of what she saw in what she knew was not a dream, but a vision of the future. . . .

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