Heroes of Spira
Chapter One: The Beginning
As the early morning sun slowly ascended in the sky, a young man stretched out and yawned; his back was leaning against a tall tree as speckles of morning rays shone through the forest surrounding him. Slowly he opened his eyes to find himself on unfamiliar turf. Not remembering what had happened to him, he looked around in a panic, wondering where in the world he could be, and just how did he get there? After sitting for a moment, puzzling over what was going on, he stood up and adjusted his hat.
A few feet from where he stood was Exeter, rusted and dismal looking. A part of him flinched as a memory exploded in his head, this is… my gun, this is my gun, this is Exeter and… His heart wrenched at the memory; his faithful gun he wielded throughout many battles, to defend himself and others, had been destroyed. Slowly he picked up the remnants of his precious gun, all the while memories from the past flooded his head. The loss of this item though, didn't seem to be the worst of the memories. He could feel a tugging nightmare in his mind, escaping his thoughts just as fast as the thought occurred.
His memory was building, slowly, names started pulling his heartstrings. He knew, he remembered their names, he remembered their faces. Several times he called the names of his friends, yet there was no answer; only the birds could be heard, and the occasional wild animal running through the forest. He began to wander aimlessly, almost hopelessly, hoping he had not lost himself in an endless sea of forest. After wandering aimlessly for what seemed an eternity, he suddenly found himself at the foot of a large stairway made of stone. It can only go up from here, right? He thought to himself as he began to climb the flight of stairs.
It was getting hotter as the afternoon carried on, and the stairs seemingly continued forever into the azure sky. At one point, he had to stop to catch his breath. I'm beginning to regret not going down the stairs… But a part of him was pulling him toward the top. There was a reason, he felt in him, that going up was the only way to go forward from the daze he had awoken from.
A few moments passed before he heard the familiar sounds of a battle taking place not too far from where he sat. Swiftly, yet cautiously, he continued up the stone stairs and found himself staring at group of people battling a large creature. Being an Ace Marksman, he instinctively pulled Exeter from his holster. His ego took a dive as he realized that he had nothing to battle with. Without hesitation he was willing to take a chance - maybe, just maybe Exeter had it in her to still take a shot. Aiming carefully from the side of the creature, he pulled the trigger as he exhaled. An incredible blast echoed the surrounding stone platform. The kick-back from the gun and the exertion of the blast caused him to injure his shoulder.
The group of people who were battling the large creature flinched at the sound of the blast, but continued on to defeat the creature. As the remnants of the creature fragmented into the air, everyone on the stone platform turned around to where the blast had come from. A blonde man with short hair was the first to arrive in front of the cowboy, who in his daze, suddenly questioned, "Zell?" The young blond man held his hand out to offer the cowboy to help him up to his feet. After a moment of clearing his head, he readjusted his hat and took a closer look at the blonde boy.
"Hey, are you okay?" their hands both clasped together and both were soon standing face to face.
"Zell?" he questioned again, brushing his wounded shoulder.
"What? Zell? Who's Zell? My name's Tidus…" his blue eyes looked beyond the man he helped get up and saw a very rusted and broken weapon. He turned his attention back to this man in his hat and questioned back. "Who are you?"
A brief moment passed as he exhaled a sigh of despair, "The name's Irvine, Irvine Kinneas." He turned around to see Exeter in even worse condition than before. He rubbed his shoulder and rotated it to feel the damage that he'd done.
"Are you okay?" Tidus asked, seeing the disappointment in Irvine's eyes.
"I… I'll be fine, I just…" he turned around and picked up his precious weapon again, pieces scattered on the ground. I'm sorry girl. He put what was left of the gun into his holster, knowing that it was completely unusable and possibly beyond repair. Irvine inhaled deeply and exhaled, breaking beyond the emotions attached to the gun. A smile crept across his face as he started to put the pieces of his ego back together.
"Thank you for trying to help us," one of the two young women thanked Irvine. "My name is Yuna," she introduced herself, "and this is Lulu, Wakka, Kimahri, and you already know Tidus. I hope you aren't hurt too badly." Irvine nodded to each of them as Yuna said each of their names. Curiously, he took a second look at each of them. Heh… cleavage… Irvine thought to himself. His hair almost resembles Zell's in a way… And what race is that guy? I don't think I've ever seen anyone or anything like him before… And that other guy almost resembles Zell in a strange way as well… They all stood there, taking in each others company. An awkward moment lingered between the group and Irvine.
Irvine didn't recognize any of them, and a question brewed up inside of him. He couldn't keep quiet any longer and he had to know, "Where exactly are we? I don't think I've ever been here before." He knew the question may have sounded odd to them, but he couldn't seem to remember anything that had happened to him. Beyond waking up in a strange forest, his head was only filled with names, faces, and very fragmented distant intangible memories.
"You're in Kilika," Lulu answered as she shook her head, a slight sigh escaped as she answered. The name didn't sound at all familiar to Irvine. He thought for a moment, trying to remember this place, but he knew he had never been here before; he suddenly felt very lost and foreign.
Trying to dig deeper into his memories, breaking past the names and faces, the memory of Time Compression came back to him like a tidal wave. Only the last moments before the darkness played in his head - feeling immeasurable pain and agony before the darkness took over. A voice, an eerie and malevolent voice, echoed in his head: Kompression of Time… You kannot eskape it…
Is this a dream? What the hell is happening? What the hell happened? Time Compression… Did we really lose that battle? Irvine sank his shoulders and looked down, with a tight grip on his hat. He didn't want to think of such a thing. He could never believe he had failed to save the world. But how is his existence possible? Could the Time Compression have suspended their existence? This isn't happening. No way.
"Where is Balamb? Where can I find Esthar? Has the Sorceress been defeated?" Irvine asked tentatively, hoping for an answer he wanted to hear. The group standing before him all had confused looks on their faces.
Lulu covered her face and shook in disbelief. "Great, another one from a different world." She sighed deeply, and Irvine could feel the tension building between them. The group was wide-eyed, particularly Tidus; he had a wanting look in his eyes, as if he had found something he had been searching for.
Wakka broke the silent tension and answered, "There's no 'Balamb' that I know of here in Spira… I can't make sense of what you're saying…" He had a look of worry on his face as he walked closer to Irvine and tapped him on the head. "You must have gotten too close to Sin's toxin, ya? What's the last thing you remember?"
Irvine thought again for a moment, conjuring up the strength to remember the string of painful memories. He knew now that Time Compression had happened, and that the spell is so great that it creates a rift in time. The past, the present, the future all intertwined and suspended within a spell where people, places, objects, everything could potentially be erased or replaced. Time Compression itself was a paradox. Irvine couldn't wrap his mind around the thought that he could potentially never see his friends again. Never.
Irvine decided to ask one more question, just to make absolute sure, "What happened to Sorceress Ultimecia?" If they didn't know the answer to this question, Irvine would know for sure he wasn't where he was supposed to be. Everyone just looked at him oddly for a few moments. Irvine frowned and knew by the looks on their faces that they had no clue as to what he was talking about.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think I've ever heard of anything you just said," Yuna answered in dismay. She could tell the gunslinger was hoping for a different answer. "Perhaps you did get too close to Sin, and your memory is fogged up right now. The same thing happens to a lot of people when they get too close to Sin," Yuna looked at her friends, who had all turned their attention to Tidus.
"What you may think are real memories, might in fact be completely fictitious and made up in your mind, all due to Sin's toxin," Lulu added. "You must be as ill as this one over here," she tilted her head towards Tidus.
"Sin? What is Sin?" Irvine asked, feeling completely clueless and lost. Irvine's mind had flooded once again of everything terrible. He was confused beyond imagination; he knew he wasn't in the right place, and if he wasn't in the right place, his friends may not be either. They could be in a different world, existing in a different time or even another dimension. He felt helpless as he collapsed to the ground. Selphie…
"Are you okay?" Yuna asked worriedly. She could tell he wasn't sure of anything. A slight breeze blew by them for a moment. The afternoon sun was high in the sky and it was continuing to get hotter as the day progressed. A few seconds later, Irvine lifted his head.
"I'll be okay," Irvine answered assertively, but with a slight shake in his voice. He then lifted himself up from the ground and dusted the dirt on his coat and knees. Although his thoughts were abysmal, he felt there was still hope; if he ended up here, it could be possible that everyone ended up here as well. Not everything was too different from his world. Magic still exists, as do monsters… If he could be guided by this group of people, he just might end up finding his friends.
"Hey," Irvine piped up, "you think I can hang around you guys, 'cause I have some friends that might be around here somewhere. I'm completely at a loss here and you seem to know where you're going."
Yuna smiled and replied, "Yes, you can come with us. You can follow along until we find your friends." Irvine smiled back at her. He wasn't sure what to expect if he really was in another world, but surely being with a group of people would enhance his chances of finding his friends.
"Come on," Lulu spoke with a very serious look on her face, "we have a pilgrimage to be on, we mustn't waste our time over petty things." Her voice sounded slightly annoyed and stern. It didn't seem as though she approved of Irvine tagging along. Kimahri didn't say a word, but the expression on his face struck a hint of fear into Irvine.
"No worries, ya?" Wakka said as he patted Irvine on the back. "Let's get up this last set of steps!"
"Right," Yuna nodded. They began to climb the last set of stone stairs, finally reaching the top.
Before them stood a building, a temple of some sort. Irvine stopped to take in his surroundings, trying to conjure up any memories of this place. He took in every detail around him and still nothing stood out in his memory. Nothing around him even felt familiar. The others continued walking toward the entrance to the temple.
Just as soon as Irvine caught up to this new group, another group of men, who were pretty much dressed in the same clothing style, came out of the temple. The red haired man began to talk to Wakka in a sarcastic tone. Then the men dressed like Wakka appeared and stood next to him with a burning sense of defence and aggression.
Irvine walked a little closer, curious to see what all the noise was about. He guessed that since they were wearing identical clothing, they must be on a team of some sort. Irvine happened to catch a bit of the conversation, "Who needs to pray? The Luca Goers always win." The red haired man seemed pretty amused as he laughed arrogantly.
Tidus suddenly jumped in and aggressively said something back to him, but Irvine couldn't make it out. Moments later, the Luca Goers left with arrogant smirks on their faces. As they walked by Irvine, one of them purposely bumped into his shoulder. He tried to hide the flinch of pain in the shoulder he had injured.
With ire, Irvine swung around to watch them walk down the stairs and managed to mutter a few curses. He then walked over to Wakka and asked, "What the hell was that all about?" Wakka wasn't at all thrilled to have run into one of their rival teams.
"Ah, those were the Luca Goers, ya?" Wakka replied. "They win every year, but this year, we're gunna win! Right boys? We have Tidus!" Wakka grinned and the guys on his team cheered. "They're gunna be sore Luca Losers when we're done with 'em, ya!" Wakka added with a smirk. "That Blitzball trophy is ours this year!" After a few moments of Wakka's team cheering, it was time to enter the temple.
Everywhere Irvine looked, people were praying to statues, which he found slightly odd. He also heard something unreal; a hymn of some sort, flowing in from what seemed to be everywhere and nowhere. There were no speakers in sight and no chorus of people singing it anywhere around the room in which he stood. Wakka kneeled down in front of a statue and began to pray, making a strange arm movement. Soon after, Tidus joined him and did the same thing, as if he had done it before. Irvine shrugged; he was unfamiliar with it but decided to join the two of them. He kneeled down next to Tidus and attempted the same hand movements. After a while, he had it figured out.
"So what exactly is this that we're doing?" Irvine questioned quietly. He wasn't too sure what was going on and curiosity got the best of him. Everything felt unfamiliar and surreal, almost mind-numbingly unbelievable.
"We're praying to Yevon," Wakka replied with faith. Irvine guessed that this 'Yevon' was like a god to them, perhaps almost like Hyne, except no one prayed at the foot of any statues of him, if there were in fact any. Wakka soon stopped to get up and both Tidus and Irvine followed behind him. The group gathered together again and began heading up the stairs. Both Tidus and Irvine lingered at the back of the group.
As they reached the top of the stairs, they entered another room. A scantily clad woman escorted by a very tall and muscular man stood in Yuna's way. "Well, well, what have we got here?" the woman stared daggers at Yuna and the group, almost with utter disgust. "Quite a large group," The woman scorned Yuna. "Do you really need all those Guardians?" she laughed, "I only need one."
"These are not just my Guardians," Yuna countered with a very defensive tone, "they are my friends, too, and I trust them." The woman shook her head and exited the room with her Guardian. The tension could be felt by everyone; Yuna defended each and every one of her Guardians and Irvine believed everything she said. Shortly after the altercation, Yuna and her Guardians continued onto the platform in front of them. Kimahri turned around and shoved both Tidus and Irvine off with his arm.
"Hey, what's the big deal?" Tidus stood back, with Irvine at his side clearly confused.
"Only Guardians can enter the Cloister of Trials," Lulu answered. "And you two, are not Guardians." Yuna had an apologetic look on her face as the platform made its descent to the bottom floor and returned.
Before Irvine and Tidus could turn around, the scantily clad woman had come back with her Guardian. Using one arm for each of them, the woman's Guardian tossed Tidus and Irvine over his shoulders and dropped them down onto the platform. The woman snickered as the platform lowered, and Irvine knew he and Tidus were going to be in some serious trouble.
Once the platform stopped on the bottom floor, they found themselves inside the Cloister of Trials. Even from here the hymn could be heard, more clearly than before. There was no sight of Yuna or the others and neither Tidus nor Irvine had ever been in a 'Cloister of Trials'; they had no idea what was going on, or what to do.
"So… uh…" Irvine tried to make conversation, "where are you from?" Although he knew it was a pointless question, it was a conversation starter at least.
Tidus turned to Irvine and answered, "Well, this might sound crazy, but I'm from Zanarkand." The name didn't seem familiar at all to Irvine. "I'm hoping I'll be getting back home soon," Tidus began to walk while Irvine followed. "So, where are you from?" Tidus asked, as they continued following the path and trying to make sense of everything.
"Well, this is probably going to sound crazier than your answer, but…" Irvine began, "I think I came from a completely different world…" Tidus stopped and looked at Irvine. A completely different world? "None of this stuff is familiar to me. If what I think happened really did happen in the past, than I am definitely in a different world completely."
Tidus could relate this subject, but at least he knew one part of Spira: Zanarkand. "How did you get here then?" Tidus asked curiously. He thought that maybe Irvine had come from Zanarkand, too, but his memory was just fuzzy from the toxin. "Do you remember anything at all? " Tidus wondered if they might have even known each other before getting too close to Sin's toxin. It seemed like a farfetched idea, but anything seemed possible at this point.
Irvine thought deeply as they wandered the corridors of the Cloister of Trials, continuing to solve the puzzles and move forward. His memory slowly caught up to him in waves. They felt surreal at times, but tangible in a paradoxical way. Irvine stopped and concentrated on his thoughts.
"Okay, well, as far back as I can remember…" Irvine started; there was a lot to unload onto Tidus. As Irvine told the story, they made their way through the Cloister of Trials. "My friends and I were on a mission to destroy the Sorceress Threat. When I first joined the group, I never thought this would happen though…" He explained how he became a part of the group in the first place, and all the things that followed. "…So we had to save Rinoa from Sorceress Adel and at the same time, destroy Adel, who was inside Lunatic Pandora. We were successful, but after the battle, a future Sorceress, Ultimecia, had cast a powerful spell: Time Compression," Irvine explained it as best he could.
"It was very confusing, but we managed to survive. It was such a strange feeling, but our bond was strong enough for all of us to stay together. We finally made our way to a point in time where we would encounter Ultimecia's Castle. We had definitely been thrown forward through time, where the world was almost desolate. We worked our way through the castle and finally came upon Ultimecia's room, where she sat upon her throne. The Time Compression had set us quite a few years into the future in a matter of seconds."
Irvine paused for a moment and thought of something, then continued while Tidus listened, "It was a long hard battle, we fought as hard as we could, but…" his voice quivered slightly as he continued, "it wasn't enough. Once she junctioned herself unto Griever, she summoned a spell… Apocalypse… The battle had gone on for what seemed like years, and that last spell she cast was just too strong for all of us." Irvine flinched, "Her ultimate goal was to cast the Time Compression spell… and when we failed to defeat her, the spell was cast and we became tangled in the strings and waves of time."
"Well? What happened next?" Tidus had never heard of anything like this before. He wasn't even sure if he could believe Irvine's story as it seemed all too unreal. The tone in Irvine's voice as he told his story insisted it was true. During the pause, the hymn could be heard even louder, indicating that they must be getting closer to the end. "Go on!" Tidus urged.
Irvine nodded and continued, "I just thought of something crazy. Maybe I'm not from another world. Maybe I am from this very world, thousands of years ahead of my time. Time Compression couldn't have sent us to another world. This has to be the world I'm from. It only takes seconds of Time Compression to be sent thousands of years into the future." Irvine suddenly felt a hint of relief and hope, "It has to be! And that means Selphie, Zell, Rinoa, Squall and Quistis are all here too." Irvine was determined, he believed firmly in his reasoning. "The Time Compression must have just worn off or something, I mean, we all have to be here somewhere, right?" Irvine felt his heart beat faster. It was a hell of a story, and a lot to take in.
For all of this information to rush into Irvine's mind was almost confusing to him. There was definitely an emptiness somewhere, but at the same time a void that was full - as if he had unlocked a vault in his mind.
"That's a lot to take in…" Tidus replied, trying his best to look as though he truly believed Irvine's story. "I think this is end of the Cloister of Trials?" Tidus inserted the last Sphere into the hole, hoping that it was the last puzzle. As they entered the next room, everyone looked their way in disbelief. Every one of them stared daggers of disapproval and disbelief at the two foreign men.
"What are you two doing down here!" Wakka demanded. He was not pleased at all. Irvine looked at the room he was now in; he could hear the hymn even louder than before. It was calming, tranquil even ethereal. Irvine's whole body felt relaxed and refreshed. There was something hypnotic about the constant hymn.
"It was that woman and her Guardian!" Tidus blurted out, defending himself and Irvine to Wakka and the others.
Moments later, Yuna emerged from the finely decorated door behind Kimahri. She looked exhausted which lead Irvine to wonder just what happened behind those doors. None of her 'Guardians' were with her. I thought these so called 'Guardians' were supposed to protect her? Irvine was clearly confused and desperately wanted to know just what the hell was going on, but this wasn't an appropriate time to be interrogating.