The sound of crashing waves woke me up. My body felt like jelly as I slowly started to move.
*Okay, let's take this one step at a time.*
I opened my eyes and was surprised to see I was lying on some sand. I cautiously stood up and tried to regain my composure. My clothes and hair were soaking wet and smelled like salt water.
Apparently it was night here; maybe I'm on the other side of the world. I decided to take in my surroundings and walk around to find out where I was.
As I walked, I remembered what the little boy had told me.
"On your journey, you will meet many new people and go to many different places. Along the way, you must remember to keep your guard up. Don't reveal too much about the world you came from. You might upset a few people. And most importantly, we're counting on you to lead us to freedom. Don't let us down!"
Freedom? From what?
I continued to walk down across with descending waterfalls on the right side. This place was really pretty. I wonder what it looked like in the daylight.
Maybe I'm in Jamaica!
While I was thinking, a rabid wolf jumped out in front of me!
"AHHHHH!"
I've never seen a wild wolf before! What do I do? I tried to run away but it caught up to me and slashed me across the back.
"AGH! That freakin' hurt!"
I started to scream bloody murder as I ran down a giant hill towards what looked like a village. Of course my clumsy-ness kicked in and I tripped over nothing. The wolf came closer to me and I retaliated by throwing rocks at it.
That didn't help very much though. I prepared myself for death until the ugly beast fell over. Someone hit it with what looked like a soccer ball.
I sighed heavily and looked up to greet my savior.
"Hey! You okay?"
A man with spiky, orange hair approached me. He was very tan and muscular.
"That was a close one, ya?"
His Jamaican accent made me smile.
"Thank goodness you came! I thought I was gonna die!"
He laughed and I introduced myself to him.
"Name's Wakka. Cap'n of the Besaid Aurochs."
"Besaid?"
"That's right. The Isle of Besaid. Only a small fraction of Spira."
*Where the hell is Spira?*
I just simply shook my head.
I was too tired to find out about Spira and Besaid.
"You look tired. How 'bout I take ya back to the village to rest?"
I nodded my head and I followed Wakka into the small village lodge. He found me a bed; I thanked him for saving me again.
"Hey, no problem. Praise be to Yevon that I got there before you became dog food."
I laughed at his corny joke. I told him goodnight and he bowed down while folding his arms.
I thought it was a bit odd but I simply shrugged and laid down in my bed and fell asleep.
Maybe it was all just a dream.
The next morning, I awoke in the tent alone. I guess it wasn't a dream after all.
I slowly stood up and walked outside to a small village filled with sunshine and laughter.
This place is nothing like Vegas!
"Hey! Look who's awake!"
I turned to see my red-headed savior from the night before.
"Morning, Wakka."
"Sleep well, did ya? Never thought you were gonna wake up."
I laughed with him until my stomach started growling, very loudly. I giggled whenever Wakka took notice of my stomach making strange sounds.
"Hungry, ya?"
Come on over to my place and we'll fix you up something."
I eagerly followed him over to his hut. Inside, I plopped down onto his bed while he started making me some food.
After a few minutes of silence, I began to talk to Wakka about Besaid.
"Wakka? Where exactly am I?"
He looked at me as if I was the dumbest person on the planet.
"You're on the Isle of Besaid, ya? It's on the very bottom tip of Spira."
Even though I heard about all of this last night, I still needed to know how far away I was from Vegas and if I was ever going to be able to go back.
Just as I had started eating, a woman wearing a long, black dress walked into the hut. To be honest, she scared me a little bit.
Her makeup was very dark and she had long, black hair. She seemed to show no emotion but when she looked at me, I could hint some jealousy.
"Wakka, you are needed at the temple."
She looked back at me and slightly gasped.
Probably at the fact that I was eating like a total pig. I swallowed my food loudly and nervously chuckled. I managed to get out a small "hiya" before she went on a rampage.
"Wakka, who is she?"
"SHE would be Riley. I saved her last night from becoming a fiend. She's new around here, ya?"
The woman looked at me a third time and I decided to flash her a big smile. She seemed a bit taken aback but nevertheless she greeted me.
"Welcome to the village."
She must've been in a hurry because right after she said that, she left. I frowned a bit at the thought of someone disliking me after just meeting me.
"Don't worry about Lu. She's always been like that. But c'mon, we gotta go to the village temple."
I nodded and we made our way up to the temple. Inside, I instantly got goosebumps.
The most perfect song was echoing through the entire temple.
"Wow." That was all I could manage to say.
"It's the Hum of the Fayth. Really touching to the soul."
Some guy I guessed to be a priest approached me.
"It's beautiful."
"The faith sacrificed so much for us, and to think, even this song is a part of something much more."
I looked around at some of the statues. I had no idea who any of these people were.
This was nothing like churches back in Vegas. Churches in Vegas weren't even fit to be labeled as churches. They were just buildings where drunk couples could get hitched so that they wouldn't have to spend a ton of money for a big, classy ceremony.
This whole place was just…different.
After a few more minutes of listening to the song, Wakka came back over to me followed by a girl who looked about my age.
She wore a white and blue kimono with flowers on it.
Her brown hair was a bit below her shoulders and her eyes were two different colors.
"Yuna, this is Riley. She's new to the village."
She smiled brightly at me and bowed before me.
"Praise be to Yevon that you're alive! Wakka told me all about how he saved you from a fiend."
I chuckled lightly and rubbed the back of my neck.
"Hehe, yeah. I was almost dog food."
She giggled at me and introduced herself.
"My name is Yuna. Future summoner of Besaid."
"Nice to meet you. I'm not from around here so if I say anything funny, don't pay any attention to it."
I began to chuckle nervously as Wakka studied me.
"Uhhh, how did you say you got here, again?"
"All I remember is that a little boy was in my dream then he was somehow transported me here…I think. I mostly just remember washing up on the shore here."
Yuna and Wakka started exchanging strange looks.
"You don't think…?"
*Oh no, what did I do wrong this time?*
"Sin?"
"I think that might be it."
"It seems to make sense, ya?"
"Yes! This must've been what happened."
I started to feel left out so I butted myself into their conversation.
"Uhhhh, so what happened?"
Yuna apologized for ignoring me and explained it all to me.
"We believe that you were brought here by Sin."
"Huh?"
"That would explain why she doesn't remember anything that goes on around here."
It seemed to make sense, to them. I was just as confused now as I was when I got here.
We left the temple and I talked to Yuna. She told me all about Spira, summoners and their duty, and some of her past endeavors. All that summoners have to do is get this Final Aeon thing and save Spira from Sin. It sounded simple enough.
I also met the Besaid Aurochs. They told me all about the game of Blitzball. Think about a combination of football, soccer and swimming. That's what Bliztball is.
Yuna and I tried to play with all the boys, but I ended up getting a bloody nose and she got yelled at by Lulu. Neither of us cared though. We had fun anyways.
It became official to everyone in the village at the daily bonfire that I was a new kid and that everyone would help me out if I ever needed anything.
Apparently I was staying at the Crusaders lodge here until it was time to leave. Everyone here is so pleasant and nice!
It's nothing like people in Vegas.
Yuna even bought me some new clothes.
Since I couldn't bear to part with my hi-top Chuck Taylors, I kept those and put all my old clothes in a bag.
Yuna said she liked them because they reminded her of clown shoes.
Besaid is a warm place, so I settled on wearing black spandex bottoms, a neon blue tank top with a white one underneath. I left my hair down, since it was naturally straight anyways and I hated wearing it up. I topped off my outfit with black, fingerless gloves and my heart pendant.
Yuna told me I looked drop dead sexy. That girl made me laugh even when she doesn't try to be funny.
She was a really nice. I learned she was 17 years old and we actually had a lot of common.
She was almost like a sisterly figure to me. And Wakka was like a brother.
Even though this isn't Vegas, it was still pretty fun.
Besaid had begun to feel like home to me.
