Chapter 2
The Island and the Summoner
As Before, I don't own crap. Feel free to leave reviews, constructive or otherwise. I won't mind it at all.
Water was all around the young man's body as he was starting to regain his previously lost consciousness. Water, it seemed, was the key element in everything. But the young man, really didn't care about all that, as his first thought was that he was alive, and in a strange place once again. Coughing a bit as some of the water got into his lungs, he looked around bewilderedly trying to get his bearings straight.
"Rikku!" he shouted. But there wasn't an answer. At least not the answer he wanted, as something bonked him in the back of his head. Turning around, he half-expected to be attacked by some sort of… what did the Al Bhed call them? Fiends. But instead he was greeted by an unexpected, but extremely happy sight.
"Bltizball!" he exclaimed, as he looked further noticing that he was near a sandy coast. The area looked around him was a peaceful, serene lagoon as far as he could make out. Certainly more inviting then the last place he was at. Thinking about that freezing ruin, still made him shiver. But here looked like a veritable paradise in comparison to that. Palm trees were off in the distance, a blue sky with a warm and inviting sun, warming his face. But his attention was on the shore line where several men were gathered.
" 'ey! You okay?" called out one of the men. The young adventurer couldn't make out too much about the person who asked him a question. From where he was, he could tell that the man was wearing a blue headband just above his brow. The man had bright red, almost orange hair which stood almost straight up. He had a heavy islander accent, and wore a strange outfit, but seeing as how everyone else was wearing the same kind of outfit, the young man figured that it was the traditional garb of this land. Upon a closer look, the young man began to realize that they were reminiscent of blitzball uniforms. This made since, as he was hit by a blitzball, not ten seconds before.
"Heeeey!" the young man called out, before waving his hand at the new people. He then dove under the water, before re-emerging out of the water, hitting the blitzball up into the air with his head. The young man jumped fully out of the air, before doubling over doing a double bicycle kick just as the ball was starting to descend from the apex of its trajectory. With that kick, the ball soared in a bee-line towards the group of men, as the red haired man had to move quickly before the ball smashed in his face. He turned to watch the blitzball whiz past him, his mouth open in a look of dumb-struck awe, before looking at this mysterious stranger.
"Whoa-ho!" he exclaimed, voicing what the others were thinking. The red-haired man smirked, before his lips curved into a more prominent smile. The young man began to approach the shore line, as the group ran over to him, still clearly impressed with that one action. They practically surround him, leaving just enough room for the newcomer to breathe. He smiled cheerfully, glad to be around people again, and friendly enough people at that.
"Yo! Hiya!" the young man cheerfully said, with another weak, but not strained wave. They eyed him once, wondering who he was. But it was the red-haired man who spoke again, once again voicing the thoughts of everyone else.
"You wanna try that move one more time?" he asked.
"Finally, things were starting to look up."
A blitzball was thrown up into the air, while the group stepped back and out of the young man's way. As before, he bounced the ball off of his head, jumping up, flipping over as his feet slammed into the blitzball as it was coming back down. The ball was launched in a bee line over the water at an impressive speed. The others gasped, as it looked even better than the first shot, now that they weren't potential targets. Once again, as the others murmured amongst each other, the red-haired man spoke to the young man.
"You no amateur. Who do you play for?" he asked.
"The Zanarkand Abes!" the young man said with a swell of pride. Everyone gasped again, but this time, not because of an impressed air of awe. The young man picked up on this quickly, as he suddenly remembered what Rikku had told him. But before he could justify what he said, the red-haired man spoke again.
"What team you say again?" he asked, with more than a hint of concern in his deep islander accented voice. The young man seemed like he was backed into a corner, and he didn't like to use excuses, but he didn't want to scare off his new friends by spouting off things that they thought were impossible.
"Uh I meant… forget that. I got too uh… too close to Sin and my head's all foggy-like. So I don't know where this place is. Or even where I came from." The young man quickly explained. Which wasn't exactly false, but not completely true in his mind either. But the explanation seemed to appease those judging eyes. As the rest of the group went about their business. The young man knew that they were whispering about him, whether good or bad, but he couldn't really care at the time. The red-haired man eyed him again, but after a moment he seemed to believe the young man's explanation too.
"Sin's toxin got to you. But you're still alive. Praise be to Yevon." He said, before he would move his right forearm above his left, his hands curved into a circle, and he bowed forward slightly. The red-haired man's movements reminded him of those three kids back at Zanarkand… just before his life went completely loopy. It was strange to see this grown man do the exact same thing, but he decided not to say anything about it. After all, it didn't seem like it was his place. He then turned back to the group, and called out. "All right, back to practice!"
The group started to practice again, more energetically, it seemed than they had before, after seeing the young man pull off a spectacular looking shot not once, but twice. The red-haired man then nodded, looking back at the young adventurer.
"I'm Wakka, coach and captain of the Besaid Aurochs, brudda." He said, finally introducing himself. The young man was about to introduce himself, but his stomach seemed to answer for him. Wakka smiled, hearing a sound that was familiar to anyone who had a mind for food.
"What? You hungry? Okay! Back to the village. I'll get ya somethin'." Wakka said as he began to walk off. The young man began to follow him, eager to get to civilization, and more importantly, to food.
"I felt like I could trust this Wakka, so I just had to ask."
"It's true, that Zanarkand was destroyed, right? A thousand years ago? So it's just a pile of rubble now, isn't it?" the young man asked. Wakka's face became grim, before he turned to look at the young adventurer.
"Long time ago, there were a lot of cities in Spira. Big cities with machine—machines—to run 'em. People played all day, and let the machine do all the work. And then, well, take a look. Sin came, and destroyed the machine cities. And Zanarkand along with 'em." He said, before giving a sigh, "Yeah, that was a thousand years ago, just like you said. If you ask me, Sin's our punishment for letting things get out of hand. What gets me though… is we gotta suffer 'cause of what some goofballs did way back when! Course, we must always repent for our sins! That's important! It's just that, it's hard to keep at it, ya know?"
The young man stayed silent listening to everything Wakka had to say. This further gave the young man insight of why a monstrous creature could appear, though he was skeptical that because people used these… machines, Sin decided to destroy everything. He also realized that Wakka was a religious sort. Not that the young man had any problem with religion, just people who tried to push their religions on him.
"It was just as Rikku said. Rikku and Wakka couldn't both be lying. Why would they?" Wakka began to laugh, shaking the young man out of his puzzling thoughts. Wakka seemed to be a jovial person who didn't let things get too serious, and that was a relief to the young man.
"But you from the Zanarkand Abes—that was a good one. Hey I'm not saying that team never existed, ya? But you gotta figure a team living in luxury like that'd be pretty soft, eh?" Wakka said lightly. The young man nodded a little, with a faint smile.
"I appreciated the fact that Wakka was trying to cheer me up. But at that time, all I could think about was… everything that happened to me—all this—happened with Sin. Maybe if I could find Sin one more time, I could go home! For now I'd just live life until that time came. No more worrying about where or when, I was. Sure it was hard not to think of home. But I started to feel better already. A little better… maybe."
"Hey! It's this way!" shouted Wakka, who once again shook the young man out of his thoughts. The young man ran after Wakka, who had walked a distance while he was still clouded by his thoughts. Wakka began running inland some, prompting the young man to follow behind, running after him. After running about sixty meters, the two of them approached a ledge that overlooked a pool of water. The water was crystal blue, as they could see the bottom as clear as anything else. The young man stared intently down into the water. So intently in fact that he didn't notice Wakka stealthily sneak up on him until the last second. Wakka pushed the young man into the water.
"Huh? Waaaaaaaah!" shouted the young man as he was first confused about the sudden silence, then exclaimed as he was falling into the water. Fortunately the water was deep enough for him to land in safely. A few moments after, Wakka dove into the water, resurfacing next to the young man, who was obviously annoyed that he got pushed in.
"What's the big idea?!" he demanded to know. But Wakka just laughed and began to swim off, motioning for the young man to follow. With a huff, the young man followed Wakka. After swimming for a while, Wakka submerged into the water, swimming under the young man, before coming up again behind the young man, putting him in a headlock.
"Lemme go!" shouted the young man, starting to get frustrated with Wakka. Of course, Wakka seemed rather harmless in comparison to what he had been through recently. And down inside, Wakka was only trying to be playful and cheer the young man up. Wakka didn't release the young man.
"Gotta favor to ask ya." Wakka began, but the young man already had an idea of what Wakka wanted to ask.
"You want me on your team, right?" Wakka let go of the young man. The young man then sank into the water, before coming back up again.
"A major blitzball tournament's coming up. All the teams in Spira'll be there. It's so huge that someone there will recognize you! Then you can go back to your old team, right? It'll be fun! What do you say, huh? Come on! Come on!" said Wakka.
The young man just floated on his back in the water, before he would look back at Wakka.
"Sure thing." He said less than enthusiastically, but it seemed to be enough for Wakka. The young man began to swim a distance from Wakka, seeing a shore line.
"Dude! Our team is gonna rock, eh!" Wakka exclaimed as he swam to catch up.
"I thought then that blitzball and Sin were the only things that Spira and Zanarkand had in common. … …I wasn't that far off, either."
The two of them came up on the shore, beginning to walk, looking about before reaching the edge of the cliff that they seemed to be standing on. Out in the distance, the young man saw what seemed to be a village that this cliff overlooked.
"This is where I was born. I started blitz when I was five. I joined the Aurochs when I was thirteen… ten years ago. Ten years… and we never won a game. Well, after last year's tournament, I quit. Time seemed right." Wakka said, before walking off, to follow the path that lead downward presumably off the cliff, and again, the young man followed. The young man's stomach growled. "So, after quitting, I got this new job, ya? But every time my mind wandered, I thought about the game."
The young man nodded, listening to Wakka. He wondered how anyone could stand losing every game they ever played for ten years straight. It didn't make much sense to the young man. But in one sense he sympathized with Wakka.
"Ten years without a single win'll do that." Said the young man.
"My first match last year was my big chance. But something else was on my mind. I couldn't focus." Wakka said. The young man mentally rolled his eyes.
"Nice excuse." The young man said, the sarcasm practically dripping off from his words.
"Hey, hey!" said Wakka, as if that was a suitable defense.
"So you want to win the next tournament-go out with a bang." The young man mused. Wakka gave a simple nod. "So, what's our goal?" Wakka looked at the young man.
"I don't care how we do, long as we play our best. If we give it our all, I can walk away happy." Wakka said. This began to light a fire in the young man. Clearly he was annoyed with Wakka's lax attitude. Not that the young man was an uptight stiff, but he was passionate about blitzball.
"No, no, no, no, no. If I say 'What's our goal?' you say 'Victory!' When you play in a blitzball tournament, you play to win!" the young man exclaimed. Wakka gave the young man a look that seemed almost contemplative.
"Victory? You serious?" asked Wakka. The young began to wonder if he had any faith in his team, to be asking these sorts of questions. But the young man just nodded as the two of them were walking down the path. They were nearing the village, when they came across two other people. They were both wearing breastplate armor, but the young man found it strange that underneath the breastplate, they were also wearing tropical clothes. Hell the dark-skinned shorter one of the two was wearing red swim trunks. The other one was slightly tall, and had a calm and collected air about him.
"Ah, the one from the sea." Said the taller of the two, in a "matter-of-factly" sort of way. The other one stepped forward.
"Be on your guard, there're fiends on the roads today." He said.
"After surviving your run-in with Sin, 'twould be a shame if something happened now." The taller one said. With that, they turned around to walk back into the village.
The young man rolled his eyes, apparently annoyed with the two.
"Who were they?" the young man asked. Wakka looked at the young man.
"Luzzu and Gatta, crusaders." Wakka answered, as he pointed them out to distinguish the two of them. The young man didn't seem to understand.
"Crews of what?" he wanted to know. Wakka just looked at him, almost in disbelief.
"What, you forget that too?" he asked. But when the young man hung his head, and seemed like he was lost, the blitzer realized that he might have hit a sensitive spot. "Hey, sorry. Don't worry, I'll help you out." The young man seemed to brighten after hearing that Wakka was going to offer his help.
"Cool," said the young man. "In return, come tournament time, I'll make sure we take the cup." Wakka smiled.
"Cool. About the Crusaders, you can ask them yourself. They've got a lodge in the village." The young man nodded as they began to walk closer to the village. But before they made it there, they came across two lupine creatures. They resembled wolves, but they were built slightly differently, and a little more muscular than the average wolf. The young man was just glad that these weren't twenty feet tall monstrosities. The young man readied his sword and dashed after one of them, slicing into it watching it disappear into the same cloud of strange lights as pretty much anything else that died here. He was about to go after the other one when he saw a blitzball, the very same blitzball Wakka had been carrying around zoom past him, smashing into the face of the other lupine. It too, disappeared into the cloud of lights. The young man wondered why Wakka was so modest, when his blitzball was strong enough to do something like that to a fiend.
He was about to ask, when Wakka pointed to the village, signifying that they had finally made it.
"Besaid village." Said Wakka, introducing the young man to it. Of course, after everything he had been through, the traveler couldn't give a rat's ass about what its name was. Just…
"They got food there?" the young man asked. Wakka pointed to one of the huts.
"We'll get you something over there later. Take a look around first. Let's see… The Crusader's lodge is over yonder. Luzzu and Gatta are usually over there." Wakka said pointing to a large blue tent. "Oh, right! Over here." Wakka walked behind one of the huts, to which the young man followed shortly after him.
"Huh? What's up?" asked the young man, confused.
"You do remember the prayer, right?" asked Wakka, with an urgent tone.
"I don't remember." The young man said.
"I didn't know it in the first place, to tell the truth."
Wakka seemed exasperated, that his new friend seemed to have pretty much all of his memories, save the ones that had to deal with blitzball, stripped from him.
"Man, that's like the basics of the basics. Alright, I'll show you." Wakka said. With that, he performed the same arm and hand gestures that he did when the two of them first met. "Now you try." The young man was hesitant, but he mirrored the same gesture that Wakka had done. Wakka nodded, seemingly pleased that the young man picked it up relatively quickly. "Hm, not bad. Why don't you check out the Crusader Lounge, then present yourself to the temple summoner.
"Any blitzball player would know that prayer. It was the blitzball sign for victory."
Wakka had walked off, to carry on whatever business that he had to attend to, while the young man walked around a bit, scratching his head, unsure of what he was supposed to do. With a shrug, he decided that he may as well take Wakka's advice and have a look around town. The young man decided to check out the temple. He didn't really have any desire to visit the Crusader's after their snide remarks.
It wasn't a very far walk to the temple, which on the outside, seemed like a simple enough building, despite it being the largest out of the entire village. Inside however was another matter. It was darkened, but not so much that there was no light shining through. It reminded him of the ruins that he was at before, when Rikku came in, to help him defend himself against that bug-like fiend. But here, there were tall statues the depicted men in robes, to which the young man figured that they were priests or otherwise important men. Around the interior, the young man noticed that people were praying in front of some of these statues, while others were milling about, going on their business, whatever that was.
"It was then, standing in that place. I began to realize how different this world was from my own."
Off in the corner, was a statue of a man, clad in robes, holding a staff. There was something about this particular statue that drew the young man to observe it closer. The depiction of the man, was that of a calm, and yet sad man. A man who looked like he had the weight of the entire world, as if it was placed directly, and solely on his shoulders. As the young man gazed at the statue, an older man, which the adventurer presumed was a priest in his own right came up to him.
"Ten years have passed since Lord Braska became high summoner. And finally we received a statue for our temple." The older man said. The adventurer seemed confused about this.
"What's a high summoner?" the young man asked. After he asked, the young man heard a familiar gasping sound, as though his question was borderline treachery. "I… I got too close to Sin's, uh, toxin."
"It was funny hearing myself use the same excuse over and over. Funny, and a little sad."
The patrons of the temple eyed him, not quite sure what to make of all of it, but after a moment or two, they seemed to accept his answer. The young man was relieved that they didn't try to ask his hundreds of questions. The older man who had spoke to him before, gave a slight nod, before he would turn fully to face the young man.
"The summoners are practitioners of a sacred art, sworn to protect the people of Yevon. Only a chosen few become summoners, who call forth entities of great power: the aeons. The aeons hear our prayers and come down to us. They are the blessing of Yevon." The older man said.
"So what he meant… was that we should respect some kinda great man or something like that… I figured."
The young man after a moment or two decided that he had enough of the temple, and borderline heresy to a religion he had absolutely no understanding about. He turned and as politely, but as quickly as he could left the temple. He then decided to go to the Crusader's lounge, to get a further insight as to what it was that they did. Approaching the blue tent, he entered inside to find Luzzu and Gatta, lounging about. Almost as soon as he entered, he saw Gatta, the shorter, darker skinned Crusader hop up and approach the young man.
"Hey, you! You were recently attacked by Sin, right?" Gatta asked. The young man didn't exactly like it when people just came up demanding answers… much less these two. But, instead of telling them what he thought about them, he decided to give them a chance, and humor them.
"Yeah, it was pretty recent…why?" the young man asked, slightly suspicious. Gatta seemed over exuberant.
"Then…Sin can't be far away! You're not hiding anything, are you?" Gatta said, casting a scrutinizing eye at the young man, suspicion clearly in his tone. The young man wanted nothing more than to punch this upstart in his lips. But, starting a fight with these guys probably wasn't the best way to make himself known in Besaid. Especially not after asking what a High summoner was, and already grabbing the attention of the clergy.
"Why would I hide something like that?" the young man demanded to know.
But it was Luzzu who spoke next. The young man was grateful for that, since it seemed that Luzzu was the collected type, and probably the senior of the two.
"If Sin is nearby, then it'll attack the island for sure," Luzzu explained. It was clear from the man's facial expression, that Luzzu was deeply troubled by all of this. "I wonder why it hasn't."
"I'm sorry that I can't help you, but I don't really know anything. I don't even know what the Crusaders are." The young man confessed. Both of the other men gave him a look of shock, and of course, Gatta was the one who decided to voice his shock.
"You're kidding, right?" Gatta asked. The young man, once again suppressed his annoyance.
"Sin! The toxin's affected you, hasn't it?" Luzzu asked, cutting off any tension that the young man had with Gatta. "Gatta, tell him who we are." Gatta stood up and gave a military salute before he began his sphiel of the history of the Crusaders.
"Yes sir! The Crusaders are sworn to battle Sin! We have chapters throughout Spira, accepting all who wish to join our struggle. The hero Mi'hen formed the Crusaders eight hundred years ago as the Crimson Blades. Later, our ranks grew and we called ourselves the Crusaders. We've been fighting Sin Ever since." Gatta said, without even trying to hide his pride in his affiliation with the crusaders. But this left the young man in a pondering state. How could a group of people fight that thing for as long as they have, and not beaten it?
"What, you've been fighting eight hundred years, and you still haven't beaten it?" the young man asked, with obvious emphasis on the word 'still.' Gatta seemed at a loss for words, as his shoulders visually slumped. Luzzu sensing his subordinate's hesitation spoke up.
"Well we've steered Sin away from towns many times! And that's all we can do. Nobody's ever been able to defeat it. Our mission as Crusaders is to protect the temples, towns, villages, and people of Spira." Luzzu said. Hearing this only made a little bit of sense to the young man, so it seemed inevitable that he would ask.
"So then whose job is it to defeat Sin?" the young man asked. Once again the two of them looked at the young man with a startled glance. And once again, Gatta spoke.
"Is Sin's toxin really this bad, sir?" Gatta asked, not realizing, or not caring that the young man was able to hear Gatta's question. Luzzu seemed contemplative.
"It does seem rather bad… We could just tell you, but I think it would be better for you to try and remember. Go pray at the temple. Perhaps Yevon will help you regain your memory." Luzzu said. The young man was fed up with talking to the two men, so when Luzzu seemed to dismiss the young man, he was more than willing to oblige. Of course, since the young man had already been at the temple, and having no desire to return back to the temple, he decided to find Wakka. Remembering which hut he had gone to, the young man went over to the hut, and was invited in.
"Sorry, man. No time for lunch, yet. Take a nap! You look bushed." Wakka said. The young man was not about to argue with that, as he would move to the bed, that seemed like it was specifically made for him to crash on… which he did.
…White Flash…
"I hope someday, when I get older, I could be a person who could really make a difference in the world. A person who can bring even the tiniest bit of happiness to the world." Michelle said while they were at the woods where the young boy and Michelle would always meet. The young man was across a small little stream that flowed from a pipe out into the woods in which they played in.
"You will, Michelle. And when you do end up making a difference, promise that you'll remember all the little people like me that you climbed over to get there." He said jokingly.
"You know I could never forget you." Michelle said.
…White Flash…
"You could at least go see how they are doing." Said the priest from the temple. The young man was stirring in his sleep, as he heard voices.
"We can't interfere. It's a rule." Wakka said, mutedly, so as to not wake up the young man.
"But it's been nearly…" the priest said, as both he and Wakka exited the hut.
…White Flash…
Several People were gathered around the house. It having been almost five years since Michelle had died. The young boy had grown up and now there were people gathered inside the house.
"It's been nearly a day now. I suppose there's no denying it anymore. Adam's dead. And people are saying that it's your fault, that my brother was killed. But I know that you're not responsible for it." Said a teenager, who was seventeen. Just a year younger than the young man. The young man, had a grim look upon his face. "And then… there's well, uh…"
The young man knew what was coming next.
"There's my father. You can say it Nick. My father also died recently, but they never found his body." The young man said.
"Yes, the authorities are looking out for him now, see if they can't find any evidence." Said Nick. The young man didn't seem to be paying attention to him. "Hey man… you know you never did tell me what happened with Michelle. Is what they said true? Did you really kill her?"
"Nick…" the young man began to say. But Nick held his hand up, to stop him from talking.
"I know. You'll let me know when you're ready to say anything. I know how much she meant to you. To all of us, really. You, me, Adam, Mike, Anna… everyone really. She was the light of our group back then, you know? The bright star. But… ever since she died… well, the Darkness in all of us began to grow, you worse of all."
"You know me well, friend. Brother." The young man said.
… … …
"Who cares whether he comes back or not?" the young man asked to his mother.
"But, he might be dead." His mother said.
"Good! I hope he is!" the young man said.
"Do you… do you hate your father so?" his mother asked. The young man nodded. "If he's dead, you'll never be able to tell him how much you hate him."
…White Flash…
The young man woke up finding himself alone. Looking around, he wondered where Wakka was. Something told him, with the way that Wakka seemed to be the religious sort, he would make his way to the temple. Not specifically because he wanted to revisit the temple, but because he wanted to find Wakka.
"Wakka?" He said, before he getting up and moving to the temple. When he got there, moving inside, he glanced around the temple once again. After all it was a pretty impressive sight. But he found Wakka, and the old priest, so he walked over to them.
"Is something wrong?" the young man asked. Wakka turned to look at the young man.
"The summoner hasn't returned from the trial." The young man gave Wakka a confused look.
"Eh?" the young man uttered.
"Well, apprentice summoner really." Said Wakka. But it was clear that Wakka's explanation, or rather, lack thereof had appeased the young man's confusion.
"Ah?" the young man again uttered.
"There is a room in there called the Cloister of Trials. Beyond is where the apprentice summoner prays. If the prayer is heard, the apprentice becomes a full-fledged summoner, remember?" Wakka explained.
The young man wasn't exactly sure that he understood what Wakka was trying to say to him. But his concern for whomever it was, was genuine enough.
"So someone is in there somewhere and they haven't come back out. Right, got it." Said the young man. It seemed over simplistic enough, but then he pondered at what this meant, if the summoner hasn't come out and had Wakka concerned.
"A day's already gone by." Wakka explained.
"Is it particularly dangerous in there?" the young man asked. Wakka nodded.
"Sometimes, yes."
"Why don't you go in and help?" the young man asked, still not quite grasping this concept.
"There's already guardians in there. Besides, it's forbidden." Wakka answered. The young man wasn't going to have that nonsense put on him, as he began to run partly up the staircase that leads to the Cloister.
"Hey, but what if something happens? What if the summoner dies?!" the young man asked, as he turned back around to look at Wakka.
"The precepts must be obeyed!" said the old priest. The young man growled a little bit, already annoyed with the religious fruitcakes that this village seemed to be filled with.
"Like I give a rat's ass!" he shouted as he ran up the rest of the stairs and entered into the Cloister of Trials. All he could hear was the shocked gasps of all the people who was in the room he just left.
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all."
The Cloister was a labyrinth of walkways, orbs, and walls. It seemed to overwhelm the young man at first, but eventually after running around removing orbs here and there and trying out different combinations eventually the young man made it through to a wide room, where Wakka eventually caught up with him.
"Hey! What's gotten into you?" asked Wakka, angry. But then quickly his demeanor changed back to his usual jovial nature. "Hey it's okay. Only apprentice summoners, summoners and their guardians can enter here. It's tradition. Very important." The young man looked at Wakka.
"So what about you?" he asked, wondering why Wakka would be in here then, if he was all about precepts, and religious traditions and all.
"Me? I'm a guardian." He said with a hint of pride in his voice. Again, the young man seemed confused.
"A guardian?" he asked. The two of them stood on a stone platform which seemed to function as an elevator of sorts.
"Summoners go on a pilgrimage to every temple in Spira. Guardians protect them. The guardians in there now… one of them's gotta short fuse, and who knows what the other one's thinking. Well, now that we've come this far; might as well go all the way!" Wakka explained.
The two of them walked into a room, which was furbished eloquently, which made the young man think that this was probably the most important room in the entire temple. He began to notice in the background that someone was singing, but he couldn't really make out the words, if they were even words to begin with. Other than the room and the music, the most obvious things that the young man came to notice was that standing in the room already was a woman.
The woman was slightly shorter than he was, a pale-skinned woman who wore an interesting black dress. The thing that was so interesting about it was that it was comprised mostly with belts. Her black hair was partially done up in a bun, but allowed enough freedom for the length of her hair to come cascading down to her shoulders, perhaps a little past. She seemed to cast a calm and collected air about her, even more so than Luzzu. The young man could only hope that she wasn't as snide as Luzzu was. But he could only hope. But what really caught his attention was an eight foot tall humanoid like creature. His shoulders were broad, and his fur was tinted blue, which made the young man wonder if he was a fiend. But fiends weren't allowed in the temples, were they? The young man didn't think they would be. He caught notice that the beast had his arms crossed against his chest, but was also holding a dangerous looking spear. One that had probably skewered its fair share of fiends, or perhaps people.
"What are you doing here? Didn't think we'd be able to handle it?" the woman said to Wakka in an almost icy tone. Wakka seemed apprehensive, as he answered her.
"No, it's uh…it's just…" Wakka began, before turning to the young man, "see, I told you she gets mad easily." The young man nodded before he turned to the woman.
"Is the summoner all right?" he asked.
"Who are you?" she asked. The young man was a little annoyed that she disregarded his question, but chose to ignore it since he was the one intruding. He opened his mouth to answer the woman's question, but was cut off as he noticed a door sliding open. The apprentice summoner staggered out of the doorway, head bowed low, so the young man couldn't see the apprentice summoner's face. But from what he could tell just from his quick glance, was that the apprentice was indeed a female, which caught him off guard. She had soft brown hair that seemed to extend only to about her shoulders. She had a slim, and petite body. She wore a white top, which was and a purple dress which was reminiscent of a kimono. The apprentice summoner looked for all intensive purposes, drained of all of her energy. She began to stumble, and before the young man could even move, the beast rushed forward to catch her from completely falling. She fixed her hair, by running a hand through it before she would open her eyes to look at the others. The young man saw that she had heterochromatic eyes. One of them clear blue, the other… emerald green. The young man had never seen anything like them, and instantly he seemed enraptured by them. She had been sweating profusely, and because of it, her face seemed to sheen through the glistening of the sweat. The young man clearly was surprised by how stunning the summoner looked. But he had no time to stare, as she began to stand up on her own volition now.
"I've done it. I have become a summoner!" the apprentice summoner said, the sound of exhaustion evident in her voice. When she was ready to go, the summoner, Wakka, the beast man, the pale-skinned woman, and the young man, exited the Cloister to move to the foyer of the temple. There were happy exclamations that the summoner had returned. As they began to surround her and her guardians. The young man, just hung in the background not wanting to get caught up in the chaos, and also to not remind them of what he had done so quickly. He just watched as they began to exit out of the temple, leaving the young man to his thoughts.
"Man, was I surprised. And here I was thinking that summoners were all old geezers."
The young man had enough of temples for one day, as he ran outside to join Wakka and the others. When Wakka saw the young man, he called out to him.
"Hey! Over here!" Wakka called out. He grabbed the young man and dragged him over to where everyone else had gathered. Which seemed to be a circle within the village. This was where the summoner and her other guardians were at.
"What? Ow!" said the young man. Wakka, smiled, as he turned his head to the young man.
"Wait till you see this!" said Wakka with obvious anticipation in his voice.
"I don't see anything." The young man said.
"Ready." Wakka said to the summoner. The summoner nodded meekly looking at the crowd that had gathered.
"Okay." She said. The summoner nodded once, and then twirled her blue and gold staff in a series of complicated patterns as a series of glowing sigils appeared around her. Then, in response to the magic, a huge birdlike creature dropped gracefully out of the sky and landed before the one who called it. It, or she, rather, had magenta feathers, a lavender tail and legs, beige wings, and strangely enough, the torso of a human female. The great bird lowered her silvery head and shut her diamond bright eyes in a lazy kind of bliss as her caller gently patted her beak. Everyone was clearly impressed with the summoner, as the young man was in awe of her, and this creature that looked more fierce and anything else he had ever encountered in his life seem so docile in front of the summoner. Wakka and the female guardian entered the circle congratulating the summoner. He had overheard from some of the people who were talking amongst themselves that the creature's name was Valefor. It was a strange name in the young man's opinion, but somehow, he thought that it fit it perfectly.
"I had never seen anything like it in my life. Sure, it was a little scary, but still… I could feel a strange kind of gentleness from it."
The crowd began to surround the summoner again, as the great bird like creature took to the air again. And again, the young man just stepped away from the crowds, not wanting to get lost and swept up in it.
"I remember… that night we talked for the first time. I didn't know it then, but after that night, everything changed. For everyone… for me…"