Chapter Two:
Visions of the Past
Pain.
At first, he could feel nothing. He could not move, nor could he breathe or blink; however, he was fully aware of his surroundings, which consisted of white nothingness so intense it was painful to stare into it for any length of time. However, this state of absolute nothingness was followed by the most painful mental state he could ever experience.
Remembrance.
* * * * *
Balamb Garden, just over two years before the present date. Clest stood in the hall on which his last class of the day was located with the young woman he considered to be the love of his life. The scene seemed to open up on a small argument in which Clest's trust was put on trial.
"...don't know about this. The training areas can be dangerous if you try to get through it alone." Clest's voice seemed to fade into audibility in an odd sort of way.
The girl, who was no older than Clest, sighed. "You know I can take care of myself. Besides, I'm not too stupid to run if I run into one of those T-Rexaurs. Don't worry about me."
"At least let me go with you," Clest pleaded. "We can make it through to the Secret Area together, with a little luck."
The girl was becoming frustrated. "I can take care of myself, Clest! Don't you trust me?"
"Yes, but..."
"Damn it, Clest! You need to have some faith in me." She began to walk away. "I'm going, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
Clest could only mutter feebly in response. "Reene..."
* * * * *
Balamb Garden Training Center, that night. It so happened to be the night before Clest's final SeeD exams. The next day, Clest was to become a SeeD.
Clest could not help but follow Reene into the Training Center. However, he oddly observed that she had not yet encountered a single monster on her way to the so-called "secret area" used as a meeting place by any SeeD and trainee who knew of its existence. Clest had been to the secret area with Reene on several occasions, but never for long. He had also heard that she would often travel there alone, and, whether from suspicion or worry, he had decided to follow her.
It would prove to be to Reene's disadvantage that he did so.
Unfortunately for Clest, his suspicions were confirmed. As Reene neared the training area, another young man of about Clest's age took her into his arms and kissed her for quite a long while. Smiling, two began to walk into the secret area, but Clest was not about to be cheated on so easily. He could not control his anger as he leapt from his hiding place. "Damn you, Jiro!" he screamed at the young man accompanying Reene. "She's mine!"
The black-haired young man coolly turned around. "Not anymore, Clest. I suggest you leave us alone before I'm forced to resort to..." He drew a long katana from his belt. "Desperate measures."
Clest was quick to pull his gunblade from its holster. "You son of a bitch! I'm going to kick your fucking ass!"
"Insults will get you nowhere, Clest. If you're ready to get the shit beaten out of you, I'd be glad to do so!"
The two young men charged at each other, their blades meeting with a sharp clang. Again and again they struck at one another, but neither were able to gain the upper hand in the battle until Clest revealed the fact that his gunblade was loaded; he brought the weapon down upon that of his opponent and pulled the trigger, causing a blast of energy to jolt through the blade. Jiro was thrown back into the wall, his weapon shattered.
Clest was victorious. But...
"Clest! No!" Reene screamed suddenly. She leaped in front of him and threw him back with all the force she could muster.
Confusion.
The sight of the flying insect beast.
The flash of its scythe-like blade.
Blood. A scream.
Reene lay on the ground, her hands grasping desperately at her stomach. "C...Clest..." she muttered. "I'm...sor...ry..."
Before he could reach her to comfort her, to tell her he forgave her, Clest fell to his knees. Reene was dead.
* * * * *
The office of Headmaster Cid, head of Balamb Garden, two hours later.
"That isn't true." Clest could not manage to say more.
"It is! I'm telling you, he persuaded her to go to the Training Center, and picked a fight with me. Unfortunately, he won the fight at Reene's expense!" Jiro's blatant lie sounded somewhat convincing as he screamed it to Headmaster Cid.
"She saved my life from a Granaldo," Clest muttered. "She...she saved my..."
"He killed her to distract me."
Clest's eyes suddenly widened. "Bullshit! If she hadn't gone to meet you, she would never have been killed by that Granaldo! You saw the whole thing, you fucking liar!"
"Please, Mr. Valian, calm down." Cid said. "If Jiro's story is true, I'll be forced to expel you from the Garden. You may be convicted of murder by Balamb officials-"
Clest sighed sorrowfully. "Don't bother. I'm leaving Balamb Garden." He began to walk away.
"I'm not done with you!" screamed Jiro. However, Cid silenced him.
"Leave him be."
* * * * *
Exhaustion.
Submission.
Anger.
Pain.
As the unending white abyss returned, Clest found that his ability to move was returned to him. The distraught young man took the opportunity to close his tear-filled eyes and scream, falling to his knees in agony. The pain of his past was far worse than the pain of any weapon or magic, and it plagued him each and every day. However, he had never re-experienced those critical moments quite as vividly as he had within the white energy.
"Good, Clest. Scream. Allow your anger to course through your veins, boy. Soon, your destiny shall be fulfilled, and the Fire Crystal will belong to us."
Clest struggled to his feet and opened his eyes. Before him stood a tall, imposing man clad in a gold-trimmed black cloak. His white hair seemed to flow in a non-existent wind, and his glowing red eyes bore into Clest as if they were knives slowly making their way into the very core of his being. "Wh...who are you?" Clest managed to stammer.
"I am but a servant, much like yourself. I am the Supreme Avatar of our lord Chaos; often upon the mortal plane I am called Garland. Once, long ago, I was a human such as you, a mere vessel of our lord and father. Now I am a part of his being, an extension of himself, if you will. Through me, his most important tasks are carried out."
"I don't care," Clest said. "Am I...dead? How do you know my name?"
Garland laughed, producing a cruel, mocking chuckle. "No! You are far from dead, vessel. In fact, you are more alive than you have ever been; destiny closes its grip around you. Soon your body shall serve Chaos in finding what he seeks. And as for how I know your name...you shall discover soon enough."
Clest raised an eyebrow confusedly. "I don't understand. You're telling me that I'm going to help some guy named Chaos find something? There's no way in hell. Send me home."
"It is not within my power to do so." Garland shrugged. "However, you will be sent home eventually, once your assigned Seeker has possessed you."
"Possessed? I'm not losing control of myself." Clest muttered. He could think of nothing more to say to the odd man before him.
"You have a very resistant subconscious, Clest, but that can be changed. Perhaps you would like to see that unfaithful little wench die once again."
"No one talks like that about Reene!" The angered young man reached for his gunblade, but found that it had disappeared. "Let me go! Get me out of here!"
Garland simply laughed. "Good, good. Your anger is rising. When you have become sufficiently angry, your hatred will overcome the good within your soul. It is then that your destiny will be fulfilled. Submit to it, Clest! Submit! Do not fight it! You know that killing frees your soul of its burdens, boy. You cannot resist it much lon-"
Clest stared on in wonder as the odd man's body seemed to shatter as if it were glass, then disappear altogether. The white abyss around him began to melt away into a deeper, more painful black void, and Clest suddenly became aware of an intense, pounding pain within his head. He felt as if he were flying through the black field of nothingness for several long moments before passing out altogether; however, he believed he heard a voice as he fell away into a state of unconsciousness.
"Look! The boy is awakening!"
* * * * *
On the morning of the third day since his encounter with the white energy at the Centra Ruins, Clest Valian's eyes shot open violently, immediately being stung by the light that flooded into the room. "Reene!" he screamed, leaping from the bed in which he lay violently and collapsing on the floor with a loud thud. He looked up, and found that two oddly dressed individuals, a man and a woman, stood above him. "Where am I? Where is that...that man?"
As the man helped Clest to his feet, the woman spoke to him in a tender, reassuring voice. "Welcome back to reality, young man. You have been brought to the town of Albrook from the site of quite a strange phenomenon, but I'm sure you already knew about that. As for any man...there was no one else with you when we found you."
"Al...Albrook?" Clest asked confusedly. "I've never heard of this place." He was silent for a moment until the full impact of what the woman had said hit him as if it were a brick. If no others were found with him, where was Luts?
"Where are you from, boy?" Asked the man, his voice betraying slight amusement. "Thamasa?"
"Thamasa?" Clest said. "No, I'm from Balamb. You know, Balamb, not far from Balamb Garden."
"Balamb? Balamb Garden?" The woman was obviously puzzled. "Are those new villages? There have been a lot of those springing up lately in the Serpent Trench region."
"But he should still know about Albrook," the man said pointedly.
"Look," Clest said. "If you could just tell me where I am and how long it will take me to get back to where you found me, I'd appreciate it."
Both the man and the woman seemed stunned. "Albrook is a city under the jurisdiction of the Figaro kingdom," said the man. "It has been for about four years now. You should know about Figaro, or at least their king; Lord Edgar Figaro and his brother were members of that group of Returners that defeated Kefka four years ago."
Clest could not speak for a long while. "I...maybe I'm having a little amnesia or something," Clest said finally. "Let's see...what year is it?"
The woman shrugged. "Five years after the rending of the world. Why do you ask?"
"No," Clest said amusedly. "No, you're joking. This time period doesn't exist. It was so long ago that historians don't even consider its existence plausible. No..." Clest paused. "I think I need some air." He swiftly walked through the door of the small, two-room house, his eyes not wandering to survey the residence as he hurriedly departed from it.
The quite confused young man found himself in what resembled a residential area on the water. He stood upon a wide road of gray bricks that extended twenty feet to the water before him, where its entire length was lined with a wooden railing. Looking around him, Clest could see that the house from which he had emerged was one of many in a long row of similar houses that extended down the road, being broken in several places by stairways that led to a higher-elevated section of the town. The sun shone brightly in the sky to Clest's right, showing him that he was facing south. For the first time, the young man realized that the water before him was the ocean; he approached the railing, and, looking toward an area of piers, spotted archaic steamships arriving and leaving the town carrying both cargo and other people. Clest noted that each of these people were dressed in old-style clothing that consisted of simple dresses or wide breeches, a shirt, and a vest or overshirt.
Most would think of it as being quite a serene and relaxing sight. Clest did not agree.
Much to his dismay, Clest could think of no other explanation for his new surroundings than that given to him by those whose house in which he had awoken. Though his knowledge and grasp of reality denied that time travel was quite impossible, his mind could not formulate any other solution than a leap through the ages. It was always possible that he had died, but Clest greatly doubted this possibility. The intense pain in his head felt quite real to him.
"Have I really gone back in time?" Clest questioned, speaking to none in particular. However, he received an unexpected reply from behind him.
"It certainly seems as if you have, does it not?"
Clest spun around to face a tall, blond-haired, and fairly young man dressed in what appeared to be elaborate, regal clothing. His eyes looked the dumbfounded Clest over before he spoke again. "Edgar Figaro, king of the Figaro kingdom," He said, extending a hand. "I'm going to help you as best I can."
Clest slowly shook the man's hand. "I'm...Clest. Clest Valian." He released Edgar's hand. "Now, can you explain to me what in creation that white field of energy was, and why I seem to be standing quite a few thousands of years before I was born?"
"You'll have to come with me," Edgar said. "I and those with me will try to figure out the answers to your questions, provided you will help us."
"N...no problem," Clest replied. As an afterthought, he added, "Was there another man with me when you found me, by any chance?" He had not quite accepted the information given to him by those who had revived him.
"No, there was no one else, but if he was drawn into the energy field with you, he could be anywhere."
Clest's eyes looked toward the cold ground. "Anywhere..."
Visions of the Past
Pain.
At first, he could feel nothing. He could not move, nor could he breathe or blink; however, he was fully aware of his surroundings, which consisted of white nothingness so intense it was painful to stare into it for any length of time. However, this state of absolute nothingness was followed by the most painful mental state he could ever experience.
Remembrance.
* * * * *
Balamb Garden, just over two years before the present date. Clest stood in the hall on which his last class of the day was located with the young woman he considered to be the love of his life. The scene seemed to open up on a small argument in which Clest's trust was put on trial.
"...don't know about this. The training areas can be dangerous if you try to get through it alone." Clest's voice seemed to fade into audibility in an odd sort of way.
The girl, who was no older than Clest, sighed. "You know I can take care of myself. Besides, I'm not too stupid to run if I run into one of those T-Rexaurs. Don't worry about me."
"At least let me go with you," Clest pleaded. "We can make it through to the Secret Area together, with a little luck."
The girl was becoming frustrated. "I can take care of myself, Clest! Don't you trust me?"
"Yes, but..."
"Damn it, Clest! You need to have some faith in me." She began to walk away. "I'm going, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
Clest could only mutter feebly in response. "Reene..."
* * * * *
Balamb Garden Training Center, that night. It so happened to be the night before Clest's final SeeD exams. The next day, Clest was to become a SeeD.
Clest could not help but follow Reene into the Training Center. However, he oddly observed that she had not yet encountered a single monster on her way to the so-called "secret area" used as a meeting place by any SeeD and trainee who knew of its existence. Clest had been to the secret area with Reene on several occasions, but never for long. He had also heard that she would often travel there alone, and, whether from suspicion or worry, he had decided to follow her.
It would prove to be to Reene's disadvantage that he did so.
Unfortunately for Clest, his suspicions were confirmed. As Reene neared the training area, another young man of about Clest's age took her into his arms and kissed her for quite a long while. Smiling, two began to walk into the secret area, but Clest was not about to be cheated on so easily. He could not control his anger as he leapt from his hiding place. "Damn you, Jiro!" he screamed at the young man accompanying Reene. "She's mine!"
The black-haired young man coolly turned around. "Not anymore, Clest. I suggest you leave us alone before I'm forced to resort to..." He drew a long katana from his belt. "Desperate measures."
Clest was quick to pull his gunblade from its holster. "You son of a bitch! I'm going to kick your fucking ass!"
"Insults will get you nowhere, Clest. If you're ready to get the shit beaten out of you, I'd be glad to do so!"
The two young men charged at each other, their blades meeting with a sharp clang. Again and again they struck at one another, but neither were able to gain the upper hand in the battle until Clest revealed the fact that his gunblade was loaded; he brought the weapon down upon that of his opponent and pulled the trigger, causing a blast of energy to jolt through the blade. Jiro was thrown back into the wall, his weapon shattered.
Clest was victorious. But...
"Clest! No!" Reene screamed suddenly. She leaped in front of him and threw him back with all the force she could muster.
Confusion.
The sight of the flying insect beast.
The flash of its scythe-like blade.
Blood. A scream.
Reene lay on the ground, her hands grasping desperately at her stomach. "C...Clest..." she muttered. "I'm...sor...ry..."
Before he could reach her to comfort her, to tell her he forgave her, Clest fell to his knees. Reene was dead.
* * * * *
The office of Headmaster Cid, head of Balamb Garden, two hours later.
"That isn't true." Clest could not manage to say more.
"It is! I'm telling you, he persuaded her to go to the Training Center, and picked a fight with me. Unfortunately, he won the fight at Reene's expense!" Jiro's blatant lie sounded somewhat convincing as he screamed it to Headmaster Cid.
"She saved my life from a Granaldo," Clest muttered. "She...she saved my..."
"He killed her to distract me."
Clest's eyes suddenly widened. "Bullshit! If she hadn't gone to meet you, she would never have been killed by that Granaldo! You saw the whole thing, you fucking liar!"
"Please, Mr. Valian, calm down." Cid said. "If Jiro's story is true, I'll be forced to expel you from the Garden. You may be convicted of murder by Balamb officials-"
Clest sighed sorrowfully. "Don't bother. I'm leaving Balamb Garden." He began to walk away.
"I'm not done with you!" screamed Jiro. However, Cid silenced him.
"Leave him be."
* * * * *
Exhaustion.
Submission.
Anger.
Pain.
As the unending white abyss returned, Clest found that his ability to move was returned to him. The distraught young man took the opportunity to close his tear-filled eyes and scream, falling to his knees in agony. The pain of his past was far worse than the pain of any weapon or magic, and it plagued him each and every day. However, he had never re-experienced those critical moments quite as vividly as he had within the white energy.
"Good, Clest. Scream. Allow your anger to course through your veins, boy. Soon, your destiny shall be fulfilled, and the Fire Crystal will belong to us."
Clest struggled to his feet and opened his eyes. Before him stood a tall, imposing man clad in a gold-trimmed black cloak. His white hair seemed to flow in a non-existent wind, and his glowing red eyes bore into Clest as if they were knives slowly making their way into the very core of his being. "Wh...who are you?" Clest managed to stammer.
"I am but a servant, much like yourself. I am the Supreme Avatar of our lord Chaos; often upon the mortal plane I am called Garland. Once, long ago, I was a human such as you, a mere vessel of our lord and father. Now I am a part of his being, an extension of himself, if you will. Through me, his most important tasks are carried out."
"I don't care," Clest said. "Am I...dead? How do you know my name?"
Garland laughed, producing a cruel, mocking chuckle. "No! You are far from dead, vessel. In fact, you are more alive than you have ever been; destiny closes its grip around you. Soon your body shall serve Chaos in finding what he seeks. And as for how I know your name...you shall discover soon enough."
Clest raised an eyebrow confusedly. "I don't understand. You're telling me that I'm going to help some guy named Chaos find something? There's no way in hell. Send me home."
"It is not within my power to do so." Garland shrugged. "However, you will be sent home eventually, once your assigned Seeker has possessed you."
"Possessed? I'm not losing control of myself." Clest muttered. He could think of nothing more to say to the odd man before him.
"You have a very resistant subconscious, Clest, but that can be changed. Perhaps you would like to see that unfaithful little wench die once again."
"No one talks like that about Reene!" The angered young man reached for his gunblade, but found that it had disappeared. "Let me go! Get me out of here!"
Garland simply laughed. "Good, good. Your anger is rising. When you have become sufficiently angry, your hatred will overcome the good within your soul. It is then that your destiny will be fulfilled. Submit to it, Clest! Submit! Do not fight it! You know that killing frees your soul of its burdens, boy. You cannot resist it much lon-"
Clest stared on in wonder as the odd man's body seemed to shatter as if it were glass, then disappear altogether. The white abyss around him began to melt away into a deeper, more painful black void, and Clest suddenly became aware of an intense, pounding pain within his head. He felt as if he were flying through the black field of nothingness for several long moments before passing out altogether; however, he believed he heard a voice as he fell away into a state of unconsciousness.
"Look! The boy is awakening!"
* * * * *
On the morning of the third day since his encounter with the white energy at the Centra Ruins, Clest Valian's eyes shot open violently, immediately being stung by the light that flooded into the room. "Reene!" he screamed, leaping from the bed in which he lay violently and collapsing on the floor with a loud thud. He looked up, and found that two oddly dressed individuals, a man and a woman, stood above him. "Where am I? Where is that...that man?"
As the man helped Clest to his feet, the woman spoke to him in a tender, reassuring voice. "Welcome back to reality, young man. You have been brought to the town of Albrook from the site of quite a strange phenomenon, but I'm sure you already knew about that. As for any man...there was no one else with you when we found you."
"Al...Albrook?" Clest asked confusedly. "I've never heard of this place." He was silent for a moment until the full impact of what the woman had said hit him as if it were a brick. If no others were found with him, where was Luts?
"Where are you from, boy?" Asked the man, his voice betraying slight amusement. "Thamasa?"
"Thamasa?" Clest said. "No, I'm from Balamb. You know, Balamb, not far from Balamb Garden."
"Balamb? Balamb Garden?" The woman was obviously puzzled. "Are those new villages? There have been a lot of those springing up lately in the Serpent Trench region."
"But he should still know about Albrook," the man said pointedly.
"Look," Clest said. "If you could just tell me where I am and how long it will take me to get back to where you found me, I'd appreciate it."
Both the man and the woman seemed stunned. "Albrook is a city under the jurisdiction of the Figaro kingdom," said the man. "It has been for about four years now. You should know about Figaro, or at least their king; Lord Edgar Figaro and his brother were members of that group of Returners that defeated Kefka four years ago."
Clest could not speak for a long while. "I...maybe I'm having a little amnesia or something," Clest said finally. "Let's see...what year is it?"
The woman shrugged. "Five years after the rending of the world. Why do you ask?"
"No," Clest said amusedly. "No, you're joking. This time period doesn't exist. It was so long ago that historians don't even consider its existence plausible. No..." Clest paused. "I think I need some air." He swiftly walked through the door of the small, two-room house, his eyes not wandering to survey the residence as he hurriedly departed from it.
The quite confused young man found himself in what resembled a residential area on the water. He stood upon a wide road of gray bricks that extended twenty feet to the water before him, where its entire length was lined with a wooden railing. Looking around him, Clest could see that the house from which he had emerged was one of many in a long row of similar houses that extended down the road, being broken in several places by stairways that led to a higher-elevated section of the town. The sun shone brightly in the sky to Clest's right, showing him that he was facing south. For the first time, the young man realized that the water before him was the ocean; he approached the railing, and, looking toward an area of piers, spotted archaic steamships arriving and leaving the town carrying both cargo and other people. Clest noted that each of these people were dressed in old-style clothing that consisted of simple dresses or wide breeches, a shirt, and a vest or overshirt.
Most would think of it as being quite a serene and relaxing sight. Clest did not agree.
Much to his dismay, Clest could think of no other explanation for his new surroundings than that given to him by those whose house in which he had awoken. Though his knowledge and grasp of reality denied that time travel was quite impossible, his mind could not formulate any other solution than a leap through the ages. It was always possible that he had died, but Clest greatly doubted this possibility. The intense pain in his head felt quite real to him.
"Have I really gone back in time?" Clest questioned, speaking to none in particular. However, he received an unexpected reply from behind him.
"It certainly seems as if you have, does it not?"
Clest spun around to face a tall, blond-haired, and fairly young man dressed in what appeared to be elaborate, regal clothing. His eyes looked the dumbfounded Clest over before he spoke again. "Edgar Figaro, king of the Figaro kingdom," He said, extending a hand. "I'm going to help you as best I can."
Clest slowly shook the man's hand. "I'm...Clest. Clest Valian." He released Edgar's hand. "Now, can you explain to me what in creation that white field of energy was, and why I seem to be standing quite a few thousands of years before I was born?"
"You'll have to come with me," Edgar said. "I and those with me will try to figure out the answers to your questions, provided you will help us."
"N...no problem," Clest replied. As an afterthought, he added, "Was there another man with me when you found me, by any chance?" He had not quite accepted the information given to him by those who had revived him.
"No, there was no one else, but if he was drawn into the energy field with you, he could be anywhere."
Clest's eyes looked toward the cold ground. "Anywhere..."