My Mother's Gift

Hello, my name is Virginia Maxwell, age 18. I'm just starting out on my journey as a Drifter today, and am really excited. I hope I do well, this is the first time I've been away from home on my own. I'm lucky to have such a good memory, so I can keep track of the usage of all of my weapons.

Just hope that things don't get too hairy. Else I might have to use my deepest secret, the power handed down to my from my Shamanistic ancestors. Luckily, I'll be fighting mostly monsters, so they won't be able to bring any information on what I'm doing back to a town.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. You see, a thousand years ago, the Shamans were blamed for calling this demon that tried to destroy all of Filgaia. Most of them were killed off, but a few survived. One of those survivors, Prince Rudolph of Adlehyde, was my ancestor on my mother's side. I've known this ever since I was old enough to understand, but it was only ten years ago that I was told the full story.

~ ~ ~ ~

When I was eight, things were much different. I lived with my mom and dad in the little town of Boot Hill. My father's brother Tesla and his wife Shalte also lived with us, and we were one big happy family. Daddy taught me how to fire an ARM, and got me interested in the art of fighting with two pistols. Mommy, on the other hand, had been teaching me Crest Sorcery, a form of magic her ancestors had used a long time ago. Ever since ARMs became really popular, the usage of Crest Sorcery dwindled, so it was a simple task of creating enough Crest Graphs to bind with a person's Crest Board. Thus, by the time I was eight, I could fire off all 32 spells that were on my chart.

But my happy life didn't last forever. One day, my father just up and left the rest of the family to head on out into the Wastelands. He didn't even bother to say goodbye. I remember crying myself to sleep that first night. In fact, I ended up sleeping with my mother so we could cry for him together.

Now mother was coming down with a bad case of pneumonia, at least that's what the doctor told us. She, however, believed that her sickness was due to her broken heart over my father's sudden choice to leave us all behind. I remember very well the day she finally succumbed to her illness.

* * *

"Virginia," Aunt Shalte had called from across the yard, "Your mother would like to speak with you. Can you come inside for one moment?" There was a sense of urgency in her voice.

"Coming Auntie," I yelled back. Immediately, I abandoned the game of marbles I had been playing, and ran back towards the house. I went to my mother's room right away, not stopping to look around. If I had, I would have seen the tears in my aunt's eyes as I walked past.

Once I was inside, I said, "Mommy, I'm here. Is there anything I can do to help you?"


She coughed a little bit. "No dear, there's nothing you can do for me. I don't think I'm going to live much longer. But before I die, I'm going to have to talk to you about the Shamans."


"Mommy!" I exclaimed, "You can't die! You can't go away and leave me like Daddy did! If you do that, I'll be all alone. Please, don't die Mommy, you can get better, I just know it."


"I appreciate your belief Virginia. But I must die. My life was over the day Werner left home, I've just been biding my time until the day that Ge Ramtos comes to take my soul to the afterlife. There's so much I need to tell you, and so little time to tell it. Even though it's a bit sad, you need to know this. Have you ever wondered why I don't want you telling anyone about your Shamanistic heritage?" she asked me.

I replied, "No. You've always just told me that it's our little secret. Is there a reason for why it's been our little secret ever since you began to teach me to use Crest Sorcery when I was five?"


She nodded. "Yes, you see it has to do with the great purge that happened a thousand years ago. In those days, a demon attacked the world, and tried to destroy it. The Shamans called upon the Guardians to help protect them, and their wish was granted. Adlehyde never scored a direct hit in the whole war. But the people who weren't Shamans wondered what our people had been up to. They believed we'd called the demon to Filgaia. So they came to Adlehyde one day, and torched it to the ground. Then, they slaughtered all of our people. Man, woman, child, even the unborn were silenced with one blow of the sword. But Zephyr was with us, and a group of Shamans managed to escape to keep our hopes and dreams alive. One of them, Prince Rudolph, was our ancestor. Now, after the attacks, great disasters such as fires, droughts, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and tidal waves struck the world, as the Guardians were enraged at what happened. Many people were killed in those dark times. The prince eventually begged them to stop, saying that vengeance wouldn't bring his people back. The Guardians listened, stopping the disasters. Rudolph changed his name to Rudy Roughnight after his ancestor, and hid away our sacred family treasure, for a time when it is needed again."

I remembered her telling me the stories of Rudy Roughnight the First, consort of Princess Cecilia during the Second Demon War. I also remembered her talking about a family treasure. But since that had happened so long ago, no one remembered what the treasure's name was. That wasn't important at the moment, though, my mother's life was slipping away right in front of me.


"Mommy," I begged, "Don't leave me all alone. Please, there's still so much I need to learn about being a Shaman. I only know how to cast my spells, but you promised to teach me all about our beliefs."

"Read the book in the chest I keep my Shaman supplies in. Better yet, move all of the things in there into a safe place. I don't know what would happen if someone found out what I really am. Because I won't be able to protect you if that happens. Goodbye, Virginia," she whispered.

She shut her eyes, and a smile crossed her face. When I looked up, I saw the hazy form of Ge Ramtos, Guardian of Death. I could see a light leave my mother's body, and then the Guardian faded away. In that instant, I fell down on my knees, and began to cry over my mother's dead body.

- - - -

Teefa's Last Words…

Yeah, this is only my second attempt at first person POV. This is mostly going to be about her and the Guardians, how she meets them, and what goes on in her mind, since she has her Shamanistic powers. Yes, other Guardians from old titles. Well, Ge Ramtos is much more interesting than the Grim Reaper. For those of you who played the last two games, you know how the boards you see when you're in the shop are set up. For those of you who are on your first Wild ARMs game, it goes sort of like this: In a strait line at the top, from left to right, go Geo, Flam (or Fray), Wing, and Muse. In a strait line on the side, from top to bottom, go the elements in the same order. Each square has a spell for Level one and Level two spells. WA1 separated offensive and defensive magic into two separate charts, but WA2 combined them. This is based more on 2's chart, but with some spells from 1. I'm writing this as if I'm looking at each row, telling you the one from the first column, second column, third column, and fourth column.

Geo Lv. 1: Break, Dark Blow, Light Blow, Heal

Geo Lv. 2: Hi-Break, Darkness, Saint, Hi-Heal

Flam Lv. 1: Rainbow, Flame, Analyze, Protect

Flam Lv. 2: Remedy, Hi-Flame, Rage, Hi-Protect

Wing Lv. 1: Valkyrie, Spark, Vortex, Freez

Wing Lv. 2: Reflect, Hi-Spark, Hi-Vortex, Hi-Freez

Muse Lv. 1: Revive, Dispel, Shield, Aqua

Muse Lv. 2: Hi-Revive, Restore, Hi-Shield, Hi-Aqua



E-mail me if you don't know what certain spells do. I'm too tired to explain it all here, when most people can probably figure it out on their own (especially the elements), and/or have played previous titles. This chart holds true for any of my Shaman mentioning fics, so if you are wondering what she uses, you can always refer back to here.