Prologue
A Terrible Tragedy
Standing around a bonfire, many villagers watched a man speaking to his congregation, as a young woman danced about before him. This ritual signified the celebration of the great phoenix, a bird that would perish in fire, and be reborn from the ashes, in a never ending cycle of life and death. Inside the orb on an altar, was half a stone that contained the image of that bird. The woman continued to dance about before the statue of the phoenix, as the flames of the bonfire danced behind her. But it was on that one fateful night, that the ritual was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of a band of renegades, lead by someone who had evil intentions, after learning of the fabled blood of the phoenix. Arrows flew about in all directions, taking down some of the participants of that ritual, and the circle turned into a battleground. The man took the woman's hand as she watched in awe, and bade her to run for her life, while the carnage continued, as he undid the seal and took the half of the stone. The spears surged towards him, but they had managed to teleport out of sight, just in the nick of time, as the soldiers continued the brutal massacre. Despite teleporting out of the village square, the man fell before the woman and passed away, but not before asking her to take the stone and to leave as far and as fast as she could go. By dawn, in another part of the village, another battalion of soldiers had found the other half of the stone and presented it to the general. Meanwhile, the young woman ran, whilst clutching her side that suffered a serious wound from one of the spears, until she collapsed onto the ground, and lay motionless for many years to come. And so, in the four hundred years that had passed, she was now alone, without any friends to guide her, as well as no shelter, as she would forever wonder about the world that was called Earthland.
Somewhere, in the heart of the Imperial City of Niflheim of Eos, the wicked Sephiroth approached Emperor Iedolas, who was flanked by his two high ranking commanders in the Empire, Kurai and Azrael Izunia, the sons of Ardyn, Salem, and Galaxia. They were now standing on the dais where he would be giving a speech to his assembled forces, with the Imperial Chancellor standing to one side.
"The Empire requires the sacred artifact called the phoenix stone. Soon, with this powerful force on our side, we will use it to remake the entirety of all the other worlds to serve our purpose. Even now, our capable forces, led by Ardyn's children, are striking back at those insurgents, the RGRO," announced the Emperor.
A massive armada of imperial dreadnaughts and battleships surrounded by millions of starfighters and bombers were now traversing across the Realm of Light, searching for any RGRO outposts and listening posts to destroy, as Kurai watched through the viewport of his own flagship, the Anima.
"That fleet is unprepared for our attack. Send word to my brother to launch his fighter squadrons," he said to one of the communications officers.
At his signal, the Diabolos then launched a swarm of imperial gummi fighters from its hangar bay, which Kurai acknowledged at once.
"This RGRO stronghold has no hope of escape. Commence the attack!" commanded Azrael.
"Yes sir!" replied his subordinate.
Soon, the large collection of imperial fighters swarmed the stronghold that was now orbiting the world of Remnant, which was still on the verge of recovering after the fall of Salem and her empire. Cannon fire rippled everywhere, as a bomber squadron launched a volley of torpedoes to destroy some of the RGRO fightercraft that looked very much like the old Sylph class gummi fighters, along with the Remora, Stingray Type B, Imp and Serpent class attack fighters used by the best pilots. Some of them had been destroyed by the attack, but a small handful had already launched from the stronghold's hangar to strike back at the imperial fighters. However, two imperial Adamant gummi fighters surged after the last of the other ships that were trying to flee, so that they would not have any witness to warn Reeve Tuesti and the other Warriors of Light. Both pilots were killed, but one lucky soul had managed to escape just in the nick of time. This attack was only a prelude to the start of a brand new war that was coming, as the Empire would still continue to expand its influence, by inviting numerous more organizations into its fold. As this was going on, a shuttle, resembling a Typhoon class gummi ship launched from the hangar of the imperial battle carrier Anima, then vanished into hyperspace. Sephiroth was now tasked with hunting down and claiming the phoenix stone, a fabled relic of the past from over four hundred years, after being told that he would work with the soldiers of a kingdom who were loyal to the one who would eventually become king. A smile formed on his face, as he was contacted by one of his children, who appeared via holocom.
"Ah. Nuno. How are things progressing now?" he asked.
"As of this moment, they are progressing smoothly, Father. Mother has also received word that an ancient force known as the Clow is being kept in another world that's a far off distance away. Apparently, history has said that these cards that were connected to the Clow, nearly went rampant and tried to destroy the entire world, until the guardian Keroberos was sealed away following the capture of those cards. I believe that if we were to have some of those cards run rampant across the realm of light, it would spell disaster for all of us in any world we visit. But what if we used the power of the rampant cards that have been unleashed to our advantage, after the seal of the Clow Book has been tampered with? It's an interesting theory, and could work to our advantage," replied his son.
"Good. When the time is right, we will proceed to have the cards' powers run rampant. Make sure you keep a close eye on the one who intends to open the book of the Clow, so that you will be ready to strike. For now, I request that you take Hyena with you on this endeavor for now. When you find the one who's responsible for releasing the Clow Cards, you will eliminate her," replied Sephiroth.
Nuno nodded, then bowed and shut off the transmitter.
"The one who will release the Clow Cards to wreak havoc across the world she lives on will surely be destroyed, but only if I present an opportunity to strike at her when she least expects it. This will be a great challenge to me," he grinned.
He soon boarded his shuttle, and rocketed away to another world far off in another part of the Realm of Light.
