Michael looked out the window, wondering what was out there. For two weeks, ever since his twenty-second birthday, Michael felt like he just didn't belong in the hamlet he was raised in. He had no close friends except for his girlfriend Anne, no job except for the odd chores he performed at his uncle's weapon shop, and no idea what to do with the next forty years of his life. It wasn't even the lack of excitement that made Michael want to leave. Michael just had this vague feeling that something better than the life he lived now awaited him on the road. Seeing as how he really had nothing to lose, Michael decided to give in to his sudden, irrational love of adventuring and leave town that night.
Michael packed a good amount of food and clothing, because he knew it would take quite a while to reach the next town. Then, he turned around and moved the heavy oak dresser that stood behind him, uncovering a small secret panel. He flipped it open, revealing a dull gray orb, covered with layers upon layer of dust. He wiped the dust off and stared into the orb, thinking back to the one time he'd seen the sphere before, when his grandfather showed it to him eleven years ago.
"Any guess what that is, Michael?"
"Some sort of crystal ball?"
"No. This little ball is more important than some soothsayer's tool. This is the most important thing you've ever had a chance to see in your life. This is one of THE orbs."
"You're pulling my leg, Grandpa!"
"I'm being serious for once, Michael. This has been passed down in our family for ten generations. One of our ancestors was given this orb by a Sage who foresaw that one of the Light Warriors would come out of his family line. Maybe it's you, Michael."
"Me, a great hero? That'll be the day."
"I don't know. That story might not even be true. For all I know it's not. But it might be, so just in case it turns out to be true and you are the hero..."
Michael took the Orb and silently crept out the door. As he headed for the path that led out of town, he realized this was his last chance to say goodbye to Anne. He strolled over to her house and tapped on her window. Immediately, the window opened and Anne's face appeared. "What is it, Mike? You know how late it is?!"
"Sorry, Anne, but this can't wait. I'm leaving town tonight."
"Huh? You said you're leaving town?"
"Yes, I'm leaving town. You heard me right."
"But why? Running away from something you did?"
"It's not that. I feel like some higher power's telling me to go. I don't know where I'm headed, I just have to go there. I'm not going crazy. Just listen to me."
"If that's how you feel, go on. I won't stop you. Go have fun saving the world."
"You'll be waiting on me when I come back?"
"I'd rather kill myself than marry one of the other country bumpkins that live in this town. So come back, or I'll end up dying a nun."
"All right, Anne. I love you."
"I love you too, Mike."
Miles and miles away, in a church in a large city, a young female priest sat down and looked out the window at the rain. She kept thinking about the feelings within her that told her to leave the safe walls of the church and go out in the world. As she sat by the window looking troubled, another priest walked by and saw her lost in thought.
"What troubles you, Sister Kyra?"
"Let me be, Brother Mark."
"You look like you'd rather be elsewhere, Kyra."
"I've been wanting to leave this church for some time now, but I know it's just some foolish fantasy I shouldn't chase after.."
"You mean, for relaxation? You've been overworking yourself lately, and..."
"No, Mark, just leave. To leave the church and fight for some great purpose, although I have no idea what that purpose may be."
"You want to fight evil?"
"Yes, in some way or another."
"Then go, Kyra. You have a calling as a wanderer then, and not a person like me who could live their entire life in this church. You won't be leaving the eternal battle of good and evil, just fighting in a much more direct form. Wait... You don't suppose...
"Brother Mark quickly left the room, and came back with a small gray Orb identical to the sphere the one named Matthew had. Kyra nearly fainted at what Mark was suggesting. How could she, of all people, be a Light Warrior? Unable to say anything before Mark could hand the Orb to her, Kyra suddenly realized that everything about her being destined to leave true. Kyra nodded, and started off toward the door. Before she got out the door, however, Mark threw her a long white robe.
"Wear that. And be careful, the world out there is a dangerous place, full of sin and deceit. And be vigilant, or your beauty may turn out to be little more than a curse."
Mark's words kept repeating themselves over and over in Kyra's head. As Kyra walked by the water, she was able to catch a reflection of herself in the water thanks to her torch light. She slipped the robe on over her clothes and pulled the hood on as well. Now, she realized why Mark wanted her to wear this: she looked fairly convincingly like a man in this outfit, and thus she could walk around freely without all the dangers of being a woman. She needed a new name to go by as well that could conceivably be a man's name, and her middle name Logan would work perfectly.
Kyra realized that she had traded her old life for a new one in the space of a few minutes. She was ready to fulfill her destiny. If only those eerie feelings had been a bit more specific, she could be on the route to wherever she needed to be to save the world.
Aiko the black mage took his life savings out of the small moneybag he kept and laid it on the table in front of the merchant. The merchant searched through a small crate, found a black robe and a steepled hat, and handed them to Aiko. Aiko changed into the robe and put on the hat, then looked at himself in a mirror. What he saw was a new person, hiding any traces of the sad sixteen-year-old boy that came to Alister seven years ago because he felt powerless.
Under the guidance of the great hermit-wizard Alister, Aiko learned the art of magic. Although Alister was concerned about Aiko becoming addicted to power, Aiko loved the feelings of power, mystery, and control magic gave him. In fact, Aiko made it his goal in life to become the world's most powerful mage and eliminate any weakness that existed in him. Taking in hand the gray sphere Alister had given him at the end of his apprenticeship, Aiko set off on the dusty road to the unknown, ready to take on whatever the world threw at him.
In an old guardhouse, a young man named Cadoc turned in his resignation to the captain of the guard. The captain, a middle-aged man and experienced soldier, glanced over it. Not able to believe the colossal stupidity of the soldier who just turned in this form, he read it silently a few times. Finally he read it out loud, just to convince himself it was real.
"Let's see... 'I, Cadoc, being of sound mind and health, do now hereby voluntarily resign my position in the elite guards of...' What's this rubbish? Why in the world would you want to quit the only job you'll ever find in this village?"
"I'll be leaving the village, sir. I want to go out and use all my martial arts skills to make a way for myself in the outside world. I'm already a black belt. I learned all these skills so I could go serve in distant armies fighting evil, or help the oppressed, not hang around this little corner of the world and pick off the occasional imp that gets too near the city outskirts."
"That's a nice speech, boy, but war isn't glorious. It's horrible. There's a good chance you'll lose body, mind, and soul fighting a war you don't have to be in. Being a mercenary was the six hardest years of my life. I saw every friend I had die before my eyes. I don't want you to go through that, Cadoc."
"Captain, I respect your advice, but I want to go no matter what you say."
"All right. Turn in your uniform and collect your final payment from Lise. And good luck."
After all the formalities were over, Cadoc set out on his aimless journey. It was aimless, maybe, but not pointless. He knew he had a purpose for being on this journey. He didn't learn the ways of the monk for nothing. As Cadoc was walking along pondering this, he ran into a traveling merchant walking the opposite way of him. He bought the merchant's most expensive object, a dull gray sphere that supposedly once belong to a great wizard with a name Cadoc couldn't hope to pronounce. This little beauty cost him all his gold, but something made Cadoc feel it was something special. He thanked the merchant and kept on walking down the trail.
And so the four heroes each began their journey, not knowing that their paths would all eventually converge. Neither did they grasp the true power of the dull gray Orbs which they held in their hands. All they knew was that Fate was calling them to go somewhere, and they heeded its call.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Destiny has nothing to do with it!"
- Irvine, FFVIII
Michael packed a good amount of food and clothing, because he knew it would take quite a while to reach the next town. Then, he turned around and moved the heavy oak dresser that stood behind him, uncovering a small secret panel. He flipped it open, revealing a dull gray orb, covered with layers upon layer of dust. He wiped the dust off and stared into the orb, thinking back to the one time he'd seen the sphere before, when his grandfather showed it to him eleven years ago.
"Any guess what that is, Michael?"
"Some sort of crystal ball?"
"No. This little ball is more important than some soothsayer's tool. This is the most important thing you've ever had a chance to see in your life. This is one of THE orbs."
"You're pulling my leg, Grandpa!"
"I'm being serious for once, Michael. This has been passed down in our family for ten generations. One of our ancestors was given this orb by a Sage who foresaw that one of the Light Warriors would come out of his family line. Maybe it's you, Michael."
"Me, a great hero? That'll be the day."
"I don't know. That story might not even be true. For all I know it's not. But it might be, so just in case it turns out to be true and you are the hero..."
Michael took the Orb and silently crept out the door. As he headed for the path that led out of town, he realized this was his last chance to say goodbye to Anne. He strolled over to her house and tapped on her window. Immediately, the window opened and Anne's face appeared. "What is it, Mike? You know how late it is?!"
"Sorry, Anne, but this can't wait. I'm leaving town tonight."
"Huh? You said you're leaving town?"
"Yes, I'm leaving town. You heard me right."
"But why? Running away from something you did?"
"It's not that. I feel like some higher power's telling me to go. I don't know where I'm headed, I just have to go there. I'm not going crazy. Just listen to me."
"If that's how you feel, go on. I won't stop you. Go have fun saving the world."
"You'll be waiting on me when I come back?"
"I'd rather kill myself than marry one of the other country bumpkins that live in this town. So come back, or I'll end up dying a nun."
"All right, Anne. I love you."
"I love you too, Mike."
Miles and miles away, in a church in a large city, a young female priest sat down and looked out the window at the rain. She kept thinking about the feelings within her that told her to leave the safe walls of the church and go out in the world. As she sat by the window looking troubled, another priest walked by and saw her lost in thought.
"What troubles you, Sister Kyra?"
"Let me be, Brother Mark."
"You look like you'd rather be elsewhere, Kyra."
"I've been wanting to leave this church for some time now, but I know it's just some foolish fantasy I shouldn't chase after.."
"You mean, for relaxation? You've been overworking yourself lately, and..."
"No, Mark, just leave. To leave the church and fight for some great purpose, although I have no idea what that purpose may be."
"You want to fight evil?"
"Yes, in some way or another."
"Then go, Kyra. You have a calling as a wanderer then, and not a person like me who could live their entire life in this church. You won't be leaving the eternal battle of good and evil, just fighting in a much more direct form. Wait... You don't suppose...
"Brother Mark quickly left the room, and came back with a small gray Orb identical to the sphere the one named Matthew had. Kyra nearly fainted at what Mark was suggesting. How could she, of all people, be a Light Warrior? Unable to say anything before Mark could hand the Orb to her, Kyra suddenly realized that everything about her being destined to leave true. Kyra nodded, and started off toward the door. Before she got out the door, however, Mark threw her a long white robe.
"Wear that. And be careful, the world out there is a dangerous place, full of sin and deceit. And be vigilant, or your beauty may turn out to be little more than a curse."
Mark's words kept repeating themselves over and over in Kyra's head. As Kyra walked by the water, she was able to catch a reflection of herself in the water thanks to her torch light. She slipped the robe on over her clothes and pulled the hood on as well. Now, she realized why Mark wanted her to wear this: she looked fairly convincingly like a man in this outfit, and thus she could walk around freely without all the dangers of being a woman. She needed a new name to go by as well that could conceivably be a man's name, and her middle name Logan would work perfectly.
Kyra realized that she had traded her old life for a new one in the space of a few minutes. She was ready to fulfill her destiny. If only those eerie feelings had been a bit more specific, she could be on the route to wherever she needed to be to save the world.
Aiko the black mage took his life savings out of the small moneybag he kept and laid it on the table in front of the merchant. The merchant searched through a small crate, found a black robe and a steepled hat, and handed them to Aiko. Aiko changed into the robe and put on the hat, then looked at himself in a mirror. What he saw was a new person, hiding any traces of the sad sixteen-year-old boy that came to Alister seven years ago because he felt powerless.
Under the guidance of the great hermit-wizard Alister, Aiko learned the art of magic. Although Alister was concerned about Aiko becoming addicted to power, Aiko loved the feelings of power, mystery, and control magic gave him. In fact, Aiko made it his goal in life to become the world's most powerful mage and eliminate any weakness that existed in him. Taking in hand the gray sphere Alister had given him at the end of his apprenticeship, Aiko set off on the dusty road to the unknown, ready to take on whatever the world threw at him.
In an old guardhouse, a young man named Cadoc turned in his resignation to the captain of the guard. The captain, a middle-aged man and experienced soldier, glanced over it. Not able to believe the colossal stupidity of the soldier who just turned in this form, he read it silently a few times. Finally he read it out loud, just to convince himself it was real.
"Let's see... 'I, Cadoc, being of sound mind and health, do now hereby voluntarily resign my position in the elite guards of...' What's this rubbish? Why in the world would you want to quit the only job you'll ever find in this village?"
"I'll be leaving the village, sir. I want to go out and use all my martial arts skills to make a way for myself in the outside world. I'm already a black belt. I learned all these skills so I could go serve in distant armies fighting evil, or help the oppressed, not hang around this little corner of the world and pick off the occasional imp that gets too near the city outskirts."
"That's a nice speech, boy, but war isn't glorious. It's horrible. There's a good chance you'll lose body, mind, and soul fighting a war you don't have to be in. Being a mercenary was the six hardest years of my life. I saw every friend I had die before my eyes. I don't want you to go through that, Cadoc."
"Captain, I respect your advice, but I want to go no matter what you say."
"All right. Turn in your uniform and collect your final payment from Lise. And good luck."
After all the formalities were over, Cadoc set out on his aimless journey. It was aimless, maybe, but not pointless. He knew he had a purpose for being on this journey. He didn't learn the ways of the monk for nothing. As Cadoc was walking along pondering this, he ran into a traveling merchant walking the opposite way of him. He bought the merchant's most expensive object, a dull gray sphere that supposedly once belong to a great wizard with a name Cadoc couldn't hope to pronounce. This little beauty cost him all his gold, but something made Cadoc feel it was something special. He thanked the merchant and kept on walking down the trail.
And so the four heroes each began their journey, not knowing that their paths would all eventually converge. Neither did they grasp the true power of the dull gray Orbs which they held in their hands. All they knew was that Fate was calling them to go somewhere, and they heeded its call.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Destiny has nothing to do with it!"
- Irvine, FFVIII