CHAPTER TWO: We Called It "Sin"
RELAXING BEFORE THE BIG GAME was always a vital part of the actual game. It was as important as playing, but Tidus needed enough rest for the tournament tonight. He sure didn't want to let his fans down.
He sat alone in a pool of water at the stadium, at the bench where he would be coming off of soon enough to tackle on his opponents. Beads of sweat trickled down his tanned face. His vivid blue eyes were closed, but at the sound of the water beginning to fill the large sphere in the center of the round coliseum, he opened his eyes.
It looked like a ball of pure, brilliant energy forming in the center of the circle, only it began to expand. Beams of what appeared to be jagged lightning bolts shot out from the circle and stretched their arms to the very edge of the sphere. The enormous strips of orange and black holding the sphere in place were rotating slowly.
The game was just beginning. Tidus could see now the door that was opening for where his opponents would come out. He waited, anticipating the victory he would certainly savor.
***
Outside of the stadium, herds of multi-colored shirts continued to press and push their way into the entrance. The large, stone statues of past blitzball players poised above them watched over them as they crowded through the entrance. Only blitzball had the ability to turn out people like this. It united Zanarkand, or divided those who were against the Abes.
***
In another place, not too far away from the stadium, a mysterious man perhaps in his mid-thirties clothed in red stood at the tip of one of the ledges protruding from a highrise building overlooking the full beauty of Zanarkand. Underneath him, he could see the hundreds of splendid buildings that were an ode to Zanarkand's strength, power, awesomeness, and technology. Behind him, the night sky rippled with an ominous vibe. He held his white jug to his side, knowing that this would be a moment to either celebrate or weep.
***
With a blitzball in his hand, Tidus rose until he stood out amongst all the other people in the stands. They lunged from their seats to cheer him on, waving their fists furiously, and screaming until their throats grew hoarse.
The bright light of the energy circulating inside of the sphere cast a ghostly radiance on Tidus as he stood staring directly into the center. The ball of energy became just a little bit bigger before it burst, like a supernova. The sudden force of the explosion forced Tidus to take a small step back, turning off to the side just a little. The fans whooped and hollered even more as a small spurt of adrenaline took control in their body.
***
Behind the mysterious man in red, a colossal tidal wave approached. It swelled into a gigantic ball, perhaps the size of Zanarkand itself. He held up his white jug to another tidal wave approaching in front of him. He knew what was coming and he knew what his duty was.
***
Finally, the blitzball match was under way.
The opposing team, the Duggles, started out with the blitzball first, but Tidus was on him immediately, like a piranha to any piece of flesh they could find. Tidus threw himself full force on the Duggle, roughly scrambling for possession of the ball. But he would not give it away so easily. More brawling occurred, more physical contact welcomed, as the fans roared outside of the water-filled sphere.
With a little bit more wrestling, Tidus managed to snatch the blitzball away and darted to the big red sign behind the triangular net that denoted the goal he needed to reach.
But the Duggles would not make it easily for him. Someone swam up behind him and wrapped his forearms around Tidus's neck, attempting to squeeze the blitzball from out of his possession. The Duggle succeeded, his strength overpowering Tidus's for the moment. They snatched the ball away and threw it headlong into the water, trying to pass it to another teammate to get an open look at the net. The blitzball stood out in the center of the sphere, alone, before it was accompanied by the several bodies that wanted to get it.
Without warning, Tidus swam up to the blitzball and seized it. He only carried the ball in his hand for a split second before he launched it into the water again. One his teammates in yellow caught it, but a female Duggle was on him immediately and managed to pry the blitzball from his possession. She held it as she spiraled around upside-down like a slow tornado. She looked more like a water ballet.
In what seemed to be a rage, Tidus charged at one of the Duggles, slamming into him with enough force to send him flying out into the stands through the water sphere, leaving a small torn hole in the globe where he had come out. Tidus stood in front of it, crossing his arms and a grin on his face as the hole quickly patched itself up and the game continued.
***
He was no longer at the top of the highrise building. He was now walking through Zanarkand. One of his black boots splashed a pool of water, but the droplets did not fall back down to the ground. Instead, they flew into the air behind him, as if they were being attracted, pulled by some force. And they were.
The tidal wave had now transformed more into a ball of water, advancing upon the city. Citizens not attending the blitzball tournament tonight were dashing through, trying to get as far away from the water as possible. It looked like it was going to engulf them all.
Whereas everyone else was scrambling, the man remained calm, even though the imminent water was right behind him. It was now rising even higher than one of Zanarkand's soaring, spiral-topped, castle-like buildings. The top of the buildings were being ripped away, like something that was torn like liquid from a dream. It was swallowing the city now, all the buildings were being torn away and pulled towards it.
***
The blitzball soared through the water and slammed against the net of the Duggles' goal. The score was now one to zero, in favor of the Zanarkand Abes. Two of Tidus's teammates high-fived each other in the water. The fans were now in a total crazed frenzy with the first point and Zanarkand's, nonetheless.
The blitzball was now rising to the top of the sphere, untouched and loose. Both teams rushed towards the ball. But it was too far up.
This was Tidus's opportunity to stun the crowd. He lunged himself straight forward into the air, breaking through the north pole of the water, like a torpedo shooting straight up forward. The blitzball now also escaped the water, and Tidus was aligned perfectly with it.
His arms were spread out and he was flipping over backwards, preparing to do a bicycle kick to send the blitzball back into the watery atmosphere. As his leg was geared up to strike it, he now saw the immense ball of water. He could see on the front of the water ball small little holes where dozen of what seemed like "water bullets" shot out from the ball.
His eyes widened in horror at what was happening when the water bullets struck some of the many structures of Zanarkand and exploded into a flat circle of colorful water which tore apart all that it touched. It was a beautiful scene, actually, if it had not been so devastating.
Water caused the buildings to explode, looking like huge fireballs from a distance. Everything was now submerged in the water as it continued to raise higher, covering the buildings and taking it down into its watery grave. Even the stone statues and stone structures could not withstand the force. They crumbled to pieces, falling away into the power of the water.
Tidus flew down to the ground, but he managed to clutch onto a girder just above the stadium, as below him, the stadium was swallowed up and being demolished in the process in the water. His black gloved hands were too slippery. One of his hands fell away and gripped it again, but then fell away, taking his other hand away until he was suddenly freefalling through the air.
The big sphere of water fell apart with the new wave of water hitting it.
The whole world went white.
***
Tidus found himself standing at the smashed entrance of the drenched stadium. Flocks of people were still running for their lives, brushing past him in a blur it seemed. Tidus stood up and decided to follow the crowd. He started to sprint off, but then he saw him, the mysterious man in red with the white jug standing not too far away. He approached him.
"Auron!" Tidus called out. In the midst of all this uncertainty, it felt comforting to see someone he knew, someone who hopefully had all the answers he needed. "What are you doing here?"
His low, deep, and serious voice answered back, "I was waiting for you."
Not exactly what I wanted to hear, Tidus thought with pure dread. "What are you talking about?"
Without answering, Auron turned around and walked off. Not understanding and having no plan of his own, Tidus followed him. Somehow, though, he lost Auron on a street of Zanarkand. More people flooded past him as he wandered aimlessly on the street. Zanarkand was his home and yet he no longer recognized it.
He looked around, his eyes searching for Auron. Before his mouth could open to call out for him, everything around him suddenly froze. He stopped for a second and as he scanned the frozen people, captured in a moment of desperation and running, he began to panic.
"It begins."
Tidus darted around and saw a little boy in purple. He had heard this voice earlier. It sounded so familiar, like he should know it from somewhere else too.
"Wha?" Baffled, Tidus felt the urge to scratch his head, but then the little boy whose face was hidden by the purple hood said something else.
"Don't cry." His voice was soft, so eerie.
Unexpectedly, time unfroze and the people captured in their running were suddenly freed and darting past him. Tidus gasped and looked around him.
"What the . . .?" He trailed off. Then he caught a glimpse of Auron. "Hey! Wait!" he called out. He met up with Auron again. "Hey, not this way!" Even though he wasn't so certain himself, Tidus had a gut instinct that the way Auron was heading was not the way he wanted to go.
Auron said instead, "Look!"
Tidus gazed up at the ball of water hovering over Zanarkand, poised to strike it again, and he gasped in shock. What's going on? What is that?
As if knowing the question on his mind, Auron declared, "We called it 'Sin.'"
" 'Sin'?" Tidus repeated, not knowing what to make of it.
Tentacles spewed out from the ball of water and smashed into a nearby building on the bridge-street they were standing on. Many small pods ejected from the tentacles and landed on the ground, blocking their paths. The pods opened up into small creatures that looked like insects, which surrounded Tidus in a demi-circle. He swatted at them with his hands, trying to fight them off, but to no avail. He only ended up falling backwards.
"Take it," Auron commanded, handing Tidus a sword with a reddish tint to its blade.
Tidus took the sword and raised it to the sky. It was so heavy that first moment that he nearly dropped it.
"A gift from Jecht," Auron added.
Surprised, Tidus asked, "My old man?"
Tidus stepped forward, swinging the blade. Some of the insects moved backwards, but Tidus himself fell down back first and struggled to his feet once more.
Feeling a little nervous although refusing to show it, Auron commented, "I hope you know how to use it."
Finding a solid position now, Tidus held the sword with more confidence so that it now obeyed. They cut up some of the insects, but more fell pods fell to the ground, opening up another generation of the insects.
"These ones don't matter," Auron told him. "We cut through!"
Their swords found more of the insects and they killed them, but more continued to fall. It seemed pointless to Tidus at this point—no pun intended.
Auron continued to instruct him. "Don't bother going after all of them. Cut the ones that matter, and run!"
How am I supposed to know which ones are the ones that matter? Tidus felt like asking him, but he didn't. He followed Auron's lead, picking out ones that "mattered" and they ran forward through the small opening they had created. More pods dropped behind them.
***
Before they had even finished making their way through, Tidus heard a strange, loud noise. He looked up at Auron for guidance. Auron only began to run to the direction of the noise, pinpointing its exact location.
They stopped and eyed a huge monster made out of tentacles, surrounded by some of the pods and winged insects from before. It was the Sinspawn Ammes, Auron knew.
They struck it a few times, and they eventually defeated it. It blew up, signaling the end of that battle. Auron wasted no time in leaving. He ran ahead of Tidus, rather fast for man of his broad muscles and age. Tidus followed him.
They ended up on the same bridge where Tidus had started, by the blitzball stadium. He remembered traveling down this bridge, listening to the blitzball announcer reflecting on the "good old days."
As they continued to run past the billboard, Tidus gazed stoically at it but he felt the hatred bubbling up inside of him. "What are you laughing at, old man?" He turned his attention to Auron. "Auron! Let's get out of here!"
Auron paused. "We're expected."
"Huh?"
Auron dashed off.
"Gimme a break, man!" Tidus called out tiredly from behind him and then proceeded to follow him. He could do nothing else.
More of the small pods fell onto the ground and now they were completely surrounded, swarmed in a sense.
"Hmph," Auron sounded as if he was realizing the direness of the situation for the first time. "This could be bad." At that moment, he eyed a piece of machinery and turned Tidus's attention to it. "That—knock it down!"
Utterly lost, Tidus asked, "What?"
Auron remained firm. "Trust me. You'll see."
They attacked the machine. Around the third or fourth hit, the machine began to rattle with energy. Another hit by Auron did the trick and it exploded, falling off the bridge and creating a massive explosion underneath them. The insects were now destroyed.
It's like creaming two blitzball opponents with one tackle, Tidus could not help but think.
But now, the bridge began to blow up. Chunks of it soared in the sky.
"Go!" Auron shouted, urging him to do anything but stop.
They resumed their running, nearly dodging the bridge blowing up not too far behind him. The bridge broke off in front of them, snapping in half. With fear growing in his heart and doubt, Tidus took a leap of blind faith and managed to clutch the edge of the other half of the broken bridge, which was now jutting upwards at the sky. He hung precariously on the ledge, not knowing how to get himself out of this tight spot.
From above, Tidus saw Auron walking close by. He stood just above Tidus's hands.
"Auron! Auron!"
Sin, that ball of water, now hung close above them, gigantic and foreboding, sucking everything from below it into the sky, into that vault of water. It was like a vortex, only a water vortex. Auron looked up at it, at Sin.
"You are sure?" It sounded like he was talking to it. He averted his gaze back to Tidus. "This is it," he announced. His hands reached out and picked up Tidus by the collar of his yellow shirt. "This is your story," he told him and then paused for dramatic effect.
"It all begins here."
RELAXING BEFORE THE BIG GAME was always a vital part of the actual game. It was as important as playing, but Tidus needed enough rest for the tournament tonight. He sure didn't want to let his fans down.
He sat alone in a pool of water at the stadium, at the bench where he would be coming off of soon enough to tackle on his opponents. Beads of sweat trickled down his tanned face. His vivid blue eyes were closed, but at the sound of the water beginning to fill the large sphere in the center of the round coliseum, he opened his eyes.
It looked like a ball of pure, brilliant energy forming in the center of the circle, only it began to expand. Beams of what appeared to be jagged lightning bolts shot out from the circle and stretched their arms to the very edge of the sphere. The enormous strips of orange and black holding the sphere in place were rotating slowly.
The game was just beginning. Tidus could see now the door that was opening for where his opponents would come out. He waited, anticipating the victory he would certainly savor.
***
Outside of the stadium, herds of multi-colored shirts continued to press and push their way into the entrance. The large, stone statues of past blitzball players poised above them watched over them as they crowded through the entrance. Only blitzball had the ability to turn out people like this. It united Zanarkand, or divided those who were against the Abes.
***
In another place, not too far away from the stadium, a mysterious man perhaps in his mid-thirties clothed in red stood at the tip of one of the ledges protruding from a highrise building overlooking the full beauty of Zanarkand. Underneath him, he could see the hundreds of splendid buildings that were an ode to Zanarkand's strength, power, awesomeness, and technology. Behind him, the night sky rippled with an ominous vibe. He held his white jug to his side, knowing that this would be a moment to either celebrate or weep.
***
With a blitzball in his hand, Tidus rose until he stood out amongst all the other people in the stands. They lunged from their seats to cheer him on, waving their fists furiously, and screaming until their throats grew hoarse.
The bright light of the energy circulating inside of the sphere cast a ghostly radiance on Tidus as he stood staring directly into the center. The ball of energy became just a little bit bigger before it burst, like a supernova. The sudden force of the explosion forced Tidus to take a small step back, turning off to the side just a little. The fans whooped and hollered even more as a small spurt of adrenaline took control in their body.
***
Behind the mysterious man in red, a colossal tidal wave approached. It swelled into a gigantic ball, perhaps the size of Zanarkand itself. He held up his white jug to another tidal wave approaching in front of him. He knew what was coming and he knew what his duty was.
***
Finally, the blitzball match was under way.
The opposing team, the Duggles, started out with the blitzball first, but Tidus was on him immediately, like a piranha to any piece of flesh they could find. Tidus threw himself full force on the Duggle, roughly scrambling for possession of the ball. But he would not give it away so easily. More brawling occurred, more physical contact welcomed, as the fans roared outside of the water-filled sphere.
With a little bit more wrestling, Tidus managed to snatch the blitzball away and darted to the big red sign behind the triangular net that denoted the goal he needed to reach.
But the Duggles would not make it easily for him. Someone swam up behind him and wrapped his forearms around Tidus's neck, attempting to squeeze the blitzball from out of his possession. The Duggle succeeded, his strength overpowering Tidus's for the moment. They snatched the ball away and threw it headlong into the water, trying to pass it to another teammate to get an open look at the net. The blitzball stood out in the center of the sphere, alone, before it was accompanied by the several bodies that wanted to get it.
Without warning, Tidus swam up to the blitzball and seized it. He only carried the ball in his hand for a split second before he launched it into the water again. One his teammates in yellow caught it, but a female Duggle was on him immediately and managed to pry the blitzball from his possession. She held it as she spiraled around upside-down like a slow tornado. She looked more like a water ballet.
In what seemed to be a rage, Tidus charged at one of the Duggles, slamming into him with enough force to send him flying out into the stands through the water sphere, leaving a small torn hole in the globe where he had come out. Tidus stood in front of it, crossing his arms and a grin on his face as the hole quickly patched itself up and the game continued.
***
He was no longer at the top of the highrise building. He was now walking through Zanarkand. One of his black boots splashed a pool of water, but the droplets did not fall back down to the ground. Instead, they flew into the air behind him, as if they were being attracted, pulled by some force. And they were.
The tidal wave had now transformed more into a ball of water, advancing upon the city. Citizens not attending the blitzball tournament tonight were dashing through, trying to get as far away from the water as possible. It looked like it was going to engulf them all.
Whereas everyone else was scrambling, the man remained calm, even though the imminent water was right behind him. It was now rising even higher than one of Zanarkand's soaring, spiral-topped, castle-like buildings. The top of the buildings were being ripped away, like something that was torn like liquid from a dream. It was swallowing the city now, all the buildings were being torn away and pulled towards it.
***
The blitzball soared through the water and slammed against the net of the Duggles' goal. The score was now one to zero, in favor of the Zanarkand Abes. Two of Tidus's teammates high-fived each other in the water. The fans were now in a total crazed frenzy with the first point and Zanarkand's, nonetheless.
The blitzball was now rising to the top of the sphere, untouched and loose. Both teams rushed towards the ball. But it was too far up.
This was Tidus's opportunity to stun the crowd. He lunged himself straight forward into the air, breaking through the north pole of the water, like a torpedo shooting straight up forward. The blitzball now also escaped the water, and Tidus was aligned perfectly with it.
His arms were spread out and he was flipping over backwards, preparing to do a bicycle kick to send the blitzball back into the watery atmosphere. As his leg was geared up to strike it, he now saw the immense ball of water. He could see on the front of the water ball small little holes where dozen of what seemed like "water bullets" shot out from the ball.
His eyes widened in horror at what was happening when the water bullets struck some of the many structures of Zanarkand and exploded into a flat circle of colorful water which tore apart all that it touched. It was a beautiful scene, actually, if it had not been so devastating.
Water caused the buildings to explode, looking like huge fireballs from a distance. Everything was now submerged in the water as it continued to raise higher, covering the buildings and taking it down into its watery grave. Even the stone statues and stone structures could not withstand the force. They crumbled to pieces, falling away into the power of the water.
Tidus flew down to the ground, but he managed to clutch onto a girder just above the stadium, as below him, the stadium was swallowed up and being demolished in the process in the water. His black gloved hands were too slippery. One of his hands fell away and gripped it again, but then fell away, taking his other hand away until he was suddenly freefalling through the air.
The big sphere of water fell apart with the new wave of water hitting it.
The whole world went white.
***
Tidus found himself standing at the smashed entrance of the drenched stadium. Flocks of people were still running for their lives, brushing past him in a blur it seemed. Tidus stood up and decided to follow the crowd. He started to sprint off, but then he saw him, the mysterious man in red with the white jug standing not too far away. He approached him.
"Auron!" Tidus called out. In the midst of all this uncertainty, it felt comforting to see someone he knew, someone who hopefully had all the answers he needed. "What are you doing here?"
His low, deep, and serious voice answered back, "I was waiting for you."
Not exactly what I wanted to hear, Tidus thought with pure dread. "What are you talking about?"
Without answering, Auron turned around and walked off. Not understanding and having no plan of his own, Tidus followed him. Somehow, though, he lost Auron on a street of Zanarkand. More people flooded past him as he wandered aimlessly on the street. Zanarkand was his home and yet he no longer recognized it.
He looked around, his eyes searching for Auron. Before his mouth could open to call out for him, everything around him suddenly froze. He stopped for a second and as he scanned the frozen people, captured in a moment of desperation and running, he began to panic.
"It begins."
Tidus darted around and saw a little boy in purple. He had heard this voice earlier. It sounded so familiar, like he should know it from somewhere else too.
"Wha?" Baffled, Tidus felt the urge to scratch his head, but then the little boy whose face was hidden by the purple hood said something else.
"Don't cry." His voice was soft, so eerie.
Unexpectedly, time unfroze and the people captured in their running were suddenly freed and darting past him. Tidus gasped and looked around him.
"What the . . .?" He trailed off. Then he caught a glimpse of Auron. "Hey! Wait!" he called out. He met up with Auron again. "Hey, not this way!" Even though he wasn't so certain himself, Tidus had a gut instinct that the way Auron was heading was not the way he wanted to go.
Auron said instead, "Look!"
Tidus gazed up at the ball of water hovering over Zanarkand, poised to strike it again, and he gasped in shock. What's going on? What is that?
As if knowing the question on his mind, Auron declared, "We called it 'Sin.'"
" 'Sin'?" Tidus repeated, not knowing what to make of it.
Tentacles spewed out from the ball of water and smashed into a nearby building on the bridge-street they were standing on. Many small pods ejected from the tentacles and landed on the ground, blocking their paths. The pods opened up into small creatures that looked like insects, which surrounded Tidus in a demi-circle. He swatted at them with his hands, trying to fight them off, but to no avail. He only ended up falling backwards.
"Take it," Auron commanded, handing Tidus a sword with a reddish tint to its blade.
Tidus took the sword and raised it to the sky. It was so heavy that first moment that he nearly dropped it.
"A gift from Jecht," Auron added.
Surprised, Tidus asked, "My old man?"
Tidus stepped forward, swinging the blade. Some of the insects moved backwards, but Tidus himself fell down back first and struggled to his feet once more.
Feeling a little nervous although refusing to show it, Auron commented, "I hope you know how to use it."
Finding a solid position now, Tidus held the sword with more confidence so that it now obeyed. They cut up some of the insects, but more fell pods fell to the ground, opening up another generation of the insects.
"These ones don't matter," Auron told him. "We cut through!"
Their swords found more of the insects and they killed them, but more continued to fall. It seemed pointless to Tidus at this point—no pun intended.
Auron continued to instruct him. "Don't bother going after all of them. Cut the ones that matter, and run!"
How am I supposed to know which ones are the ones that matter? Tidus felt like asking him, but he didn't. He followed Auron's lead, picking out ones that "mattered" and they ran forward through the small opening they had created. More pods dropped behind them.
***
Before they had even finished making their way through, Tidus heard a strange, loud noise. He looked up at Auron for guidance. Auron only began to run to the direction of the noise, pinpointing its exact location.
They stopped and eyed a huge monster made out of tentacles, surrounded by some of the pods and winged insects from before. It was the Sinspawn Ammes, Auron knew.
They struck it a few times, and they eventually defeated it. It blew up, signaling the end of that battle. Auron wasted no time in leaving. He ran ahead of Tidus, rather fast for man of his broad muscles and age. Tidus followed him.
They ended up on the same bridge where Tidus had started, by the blitzball stadium. He remembered traveling down this bridge, listening to the blitzball announcer reflecting on the "good old days."
As they continued to run past the billboard, Tidus gazed stoically at it but he felt the hatred bubbling up inside of him. "What are you laughing at, old man?" He turned his attention to Auron. "Auron! Let's get out of here!"
Auron paused. "We're expected."
"Huh?"
Auron dashed off.
"Gimme a break, man!" Tidus called out tiredly from behind him and then proceeded to follow him. He could do nothing else.
More of the small pods fell onto the ground and now they were completely surrounded, swarmed in a sense.
"Hmph," Auron sounded as if he was realizing the direness of the situation for the first time. "This could be bad." At that moment, he eyed a piece of machinery and turned Tidus's attention to it. "That—knock it down!"
Utterly lost, Tidus asked, "What?"
Auron remained firm. "Trust me. You'll see."
They attacked the machine. Around the third or fourth hit, the machine began to rattle with energy. Another hit by Auron did the trick and it exploded, falling off the bridge and creating a massive explosion underneath them. The insects were now destroyed.
It's like creaming two blitzball opponents with one tackle, Tidus could not help but think.
But now, the bridge began to blow up. Chunks of it soared in the sky.
"Go!" Auron shouted, urging him to do anything but stop.
They resumed their running, nearly dodging the bridge blowing up not too far behind him. The bridge broke off in front of them, snapping in half. With fear growing in his heart and doubt, Tidus took a leap of blind faith and managed to clutch the edge of the other half of the broken bridge, which was now jutting upwards at the sky. He hung precariously on the ledge, not knowing how to get himself out of this tight spot.
From above, Tidus saw Auron walking close by. He stood just above Tidus's hands.
"Auron! Auron!"
Sin, that ball of water, now hung close above them, gigantic and foreboding, sucking everything from below it into the sky, into that vault of water. It was like a vortex, only a water vortex. Auron looked up at it, at Sin.
"You are sure?" It sounded like he was talking to it. He averted his gaze back to Tidus. "This is it," he announced. His hands reached out and picked up Tidus by the collar of his yellow shirt. "This is your story," he told him and then paused for dramatic effect.
"It all begins here."
