Well, after what I believe is a two-year absence, SSBM Master is back with a brand new story. I would also like to point out that if I happen to type something that is obviously wrong, Its because I'm an idiot. Please don't flame me for it too much. Also, looking back over the last story I wrote, I realised that some of the things I typed in these spaces supported the whole idiot thing so I'll try to tone that down a bit too.
I don't own anything from FF:CC. Just this story.
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Chapter 1: The three potentials
The pink goblin struck again. Sett raised the crude wooden shield to absorb the blow. The Goblin's aim was thrown way off, causing it to overbalance. Sett, seizing the opportunity jabbed at its ribs drawing blood and quickly retreated a few paces back. He didn't want to have to explain any fresh scars to anyone in his home village of Tipa the next morning.
The Goblin screamed when Sett's sword had struck. It flailed its arms madly in an attempt to strike the young Clavat who had just stabbed him but Sett had had enough sense in him to back off out of the Goblins reach. Sett had very little sympathy for the monsters that lived in the Miasma but he didn't like the idea of letting this Goblin bleed to death so he waited a few moments for the goblin to tire from is barrage of attacks before running at it, shield raised. The force of his blow knocked the goblin off its feet and before it could make another move, Sett had delivered a fatal blow, thrusting his sword straight into its gut. The goblin breathed it's last foul smelling breath, and died.
Sett took his blade out of the goblin, hesitated then bent down to search the creatures pockets. Monsters that resided in Miasma often kept bits of treasure for reasons no one really knew. Sett supposed that they just liked shiny objects and picked up what they liked. Sure enough, he found a few gold coins which added up to 3 gil. It wasn't very much but Sett pocketed it anyway. He looked down at his blade. It was covered in the goblins blood. It was a lot darker than his blood, which was probably why the goblin had such a deep pinkish-purple skin colour. He moved to wash it off in a nearby stream when someone spoke behind him.
"That was very un-Clavatian of you Sett." Sett jumped and spun round. Standing behind him was Tipas elder. He was a very old man with a long beared and he had a deeply disapproving look on his face. "The creature you slew was a soulless killer who would have shown no mercy to any of us but it was not your place to draw it to you like that." Sett nodded guiltily. He was hoping to be able to tell the elder that the goblin had attacked him first but he was half glad that he didn't have to lie. He had in fact beckoned the monster into coming within reach of the towns crystal so that he could get some real training done. Sparring with wooden swords just wasn't the same as fighting for your life.
"I just wanted some practice against a monster so I could be sure I was ready…" he hesitated "In case I was one of the people chosen to gather Myrrh." The elder sighed.
"Please do not try to convince me that this is a rare activity for you." He said "I am fully aware that you come here every few evenings to engage in combat." Sett nodded again. You couldn't put anything past the old man. He was about to apologise when he saw that the elder was smiling. "Do not worry. Although officially I am outraged at your behaviour, I am also happy to see that at least one of our caravaners is an experienced and, I must also say, a skilled fighter." Sett grinned.
"Does that mean I've been chosen?" he asked. The elder had chosen the men and women who were going to collect Myrrh and they were to be announced at a ceremony tomorrow. The old man winked and tapped his nose. He turned and walked away. Sett hastily wiped his sword on the grass and ran to catch up so that he could press the subject. Before he could speak, the elder said,
"I am surprised that you do not bring your young friend Tim." Tim was a Lilty and had been Sett's best friend since they were very young. Like all Liltys, he was very enthusiastic when it came to combat and nearly always wore a steel visor. His weapon of choice was a large axe which looked too big for him but he could handle is fairly well and was at least as good a fighter as Sett was. However Sett didn't bring Tim to his Monster baiting evenings. He preferred to fight alone. He shrugged and the elder chuckled. "Your behaviour never ceases to surprise me young man." He said. Sett groaned quietly. He knew what was coming. "Sneaking out of Tipa to fight monsters. It's not something I would expect of a Clavat, even one of your age. I would find it far more likely had you been…"
"a Selkie." Sett finished for him. He knew what the elder had been about to say because it wasn't the first time he had been compared to the Selkie tribe. Clavats and Selkies were very similar, but that was only in appearance. Selkies were usually taller and lighter than Clavats making them far more agile and athletic. However this also meant that they could not deliver blows as powerfully as Clavats could in combat. The most noticeable difference between the two tribes was their behaviour. Clavats were generally peaceful and disliked confrontation. Selkies on the other hand were far more brash and usually only looked out for number 1. Young Selkies, particularly young males displayed these qualities far more obviously.
Sett had nothing against Selkies but he didn't like the idea of people thinking of him like that. Though he had to admit they had a point. After all, what kind of Clavat coaxes Goblins and other monsters out of the Miasma so that they can slay them. However, he wasn't nearly as bad as some of the Selkies of Tipa. He was referring to a group of young boys who liked to vandalise a garden or bully children every now and then. Most of the Selkies in Tipa were very nice people but it was groups like these young boys that gave Selkies a bad name.
He had once tried to stop them from stealing food from the market and, although his actions had alerted the shopkeeper, he had revived a black eye from the Selkie gang.. Another of his actions that had made him "Un-Clavatin" as the elder had put it.
"Did you know," the elder continued as they made their way into town, "that for a long time when you were young, your parents seriously wondered whether one of your great aunts or uncles was a Selkie."
"I never knew Selkies and Clavats could get married." Said Sett surprised.
"That is because it is very rare." The elder said. "Inter-racial relationships between Clavats and Selkies are not unheard of because of their physical similarities but because of their different behaviour, these relationships almost never work out." They had arrived at Sett's house. The elder bid Sett a good evening before leaving for his own home. Sett crept through the door and up the stairs silently making no noise whatsoever. With all the night time trips to the edge of town, he had become pretty good at sneaking in and out of the house. Perhaps there was Selkie blood somewhere in his veins after all!
He made it to his room without waking anyone and laid his shield down on the floor. He looked at his sword again. He had done a very sloppy job of cleaning it as there were still a lot of bloodstains on it. He could still see his reflection though. He had short brown hair, which he just let grow naturally, and wore red and white clothes. He gave a yawn and put the sword down. He slid into bed and dreamt about travelling the world with Tim collecting Myrrh.
"You look bloody awful" Tim said as Sett came out to meet him. Sett gave him a swift but harmless kick. Tim avoided it. Sett would normally have elbowed him in the ribs but doing that to a Lilty was awkward as they weren't much more than a few feet high. "Didn't wake you did I?" he asked, feigning concern.
"As a matter of fact you did," grumbled Sett, rubbing his eye. "I hope you realise that any time you call for me in the morning when I'm asleep, it gives my little brother the chance to jump on me."
"Why?"
"Because mum sends him up to wake me." Tim laughed.
"You must have had a late night if your sleeping this late." He said "It's a good thing I came to wake you or you would have slept right through the ceremony." Sett stopped rubbing his eye. With a slight hint of panic in his voice, he said,
"When is the ceremony?"
"In five hours." Tim jumped to avoid another kick. "What's the matter" he said, grinning "I thought you may want to get some training in before your big disappointment. I mean, I know I'M a dead cert to become one of the next caravaners, but…you…well you may need to try and grab the elders attention if you want a chance of joining me. Don't worry," he winked "I'll let you hit me a few times so it looks like your only just capable of holding your own."
"Oh shut up you sorry excuse for an onion!" Tim laughed again, not insulted in the slightest. He had only been joking before. The fact was that they knew they were both the most obvious choices for the journey. They always had sparring matches in the town square with wooden weapons and were easily the most experienced fighters in their age bracket. Sett was Seventeen and Tim was Sixteen. Sett was probably a bit more experienced than Tim because of all the solo fights he had at night, one of the reasons he didn't bring Tim along.
"You boys aren't fighting again are you?" came a voice from behind Tim. Tim turned and saw Lillian behind him. Lillian was another Lilty and Tim's girlfriend. They had been together for a good few years now. When they first got together, Tim had spent a lot of time with her and less with Sett. This had made him jealous and he had often teased Tim about having a girlfriend but Sett had grown up and was now as good friends with Lillian as he was with Tim.
"Hello Lil," Tim said. Sett had noticed that Tim became far more mature when he was around Lillian even though she knew him well enough to know what he was really like. Sett had a hard time telling Lilties he didn't know apart from each other but that had never been a problem with Tim or Lillian as Tim had his steel visor and Lillian always wore a red bandage with holes in so she could see around her eyes.
"Don't let me interrupt you," she said smiling.
"We were just getting psyched up for this afternoon." Said Tim "Just think, this time next week, the three of us will be on the road, fighting monsters and collecting Myrrh." Sett noticed a slight look of unease come across Lillian's face. Lillian had often said that if she went she would find it hard to cope without her family. They all would of course, but Lillian seemed most upset about the prospect of leaving them behind.
On the other hand, Lillian would be a valuable partner on the trip. She didn't enjoy fighting hand to hand as much as Sett and Tim but she had become quite talented with spells and magic particularly cure.
"….that's providing, of course" Tim continued "That our tall friend here can squeeze his way into the finalists."
"For your information Timothy," Sett said "I just happen to be the only one of us that is guaranteed for a place in the caravan." That got the Lilties attention
"How can you possibly know that?"
"Well, last night I met the elder and he…well he let it slip." But Tim wasn't buying that.
"Come off it, you really expect me to believe that the elder just 'let it slip?'" he said "If he told you, its because he wanted to tell you." Tim certainly had a point there. The elder was very old but he was also very sharp. It was hard to catch him off his guard and it was rumoured that in his prime, he was one of the greatest caravaners of his time.
"Now that you mention it, he didn't seem sorry about telling me." Sett pondered. "Maybe he did mean to tell me."
"Well if he did," Lillian said sounding shocked "I mean that's terrible, caravaners cant know who they are until the ceremony. It's traditi…" she was interrupted by Tim
"What's that?" he asked sharply. He was pointing at Sett's sword. Sett glanced down at the sword tied to his belt and groaned. It was still smeared with goblin blood. In his haste to get up to meet Tim he had forgotten to wash it. He wondered vaguely whether he could move it out of Tim and Lillian's sight but it was pointless as they had already seen it.
"This may seem like an obvious question, Sett," Lillian said finally "but why is your sword covered in blood"
"It's my blood," Sett said. Even as he was speaking, he could imagine how stupid he must have looked saying it. "I had a bad accident. Bad night last night."
"It must have been the most godforsaken, awful night in history if you lost that much blood" Tim said staring at the bloodstained blade.
"Ok," said Sett "the blood came from a goblin." The two Lilties looked shocked. Occasionally a monster of some sort would wander into the village and attack but this was very rare and the few times it had happened had been the only times that Lillian and Tim had ever seen anything from the Miasma.
"You fought a goblin?" Tim hissed excitedly "What was it like?
"Messy." Sett said truthfully "To be honest, for a long time now I've been sneaking out at night to fight monsters.
"That's really dangerous. Lillian whispered, in case anyone was listening "What if you had been hurt or if the Miasma had got you?"
"I stayed inside the crystals influence." Sett said. Lillian often looked at things from a safety point of view. "And as for getting hurt, well…I did. Loads of times. But nothing serious."
"You could have told me." Tim grumbled. Sett thought that Tim would see things that way. Fortunatly Lillian was with them "I…I mean Sett," he said, as Lillian turned to scowl at him "to say that…I'm glad…you didn't because you would have got me into trouble and I…" he trailed off into silence.
"Well now that that's all sorted out," Lillian said "I can finally tell you both what I came here to tell you."
"Which is…?"
"I've volunteered you both to help prepare for the ceremony." She said smiling "Come on" and she lead them off. As the walked, Tim looked longingly towards the towns entrance. Sett leaned towards him and whispered so only Tim could hear.
"Don't worry mate," he said. "We'll soon be free to slay all the monsters we want!"
Well, hope you liked it. I'll put up the next chapter when I finish writing it (Of course I'll have to start it first) And also unlike my last fic, I haven't planned out whats going to happen. After all I haven't got very far on the game yet!
One more thing If at any point I stop updating for a few weeks, it's because I've gone on holiday. Please review
I don't own anything from FF:CC. Just this story.
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Chapter 1: The three potentials
The pink goblin struck again. Sett raised the crude wooden shield to absorb the blow. The Goblin's aim was thrown way off, causing it to overbalance. Sett, seizing the opportunity jabbed at its ribs drawing blood and quickly retreated a few paces back. He didn't want to have to explain any fresh scars to anyone in his home village of Tipa the next morning.
The Goblin screamed when Sett's sword had struck. It flailed its arms madly in an attempt to strike the young Clavat who had just stabbed him but Sett had had enough sense in him to back off out of the Goblins reach. Sett had very little sympathy for the monsters that lived in the Miasma but he didn't like the idea of letting this Goblin bleed to death so he waited a few moments for the goblin to tire from is barrage of attacks before running at it, shield raised. The force of his blow knocked the goblin off its feet and before it could make another move, Sett had delivered a fatal blow, thrusting his sword straight into its gut. The goblin breathed it's last foul smelling breath, and died.
Sett took his blade out of the goblin, hesitated then bent down to search the creatures pockets. Monsters that resided in Miasma often kept bits of treasure for reasons no one really knew. Sett supposed that they just liked shiny objects and picked up what they liked. Sure enough, he found a few gold coins which added up to 3 gil. It wasn't very much but Sett pocketed it anyway. He looked down at his blade. It was covered in the goblins blood. It was a lot darker than his blood, which was probably why the goblin had such a deep pinkish-purple skin colour. He moved to wash it off in a nearby stream when someone spoke behind him.
"That was very un-Clavatian of you Sett." Sett jumped and spun round. Standing behind him was Tipas elder. He was a very old man with a long beared and he had a deeply disapproving look on his face. "The creature you slew was a soulless killer who would have shown no mercy to any of us but it was not your place to draw it to you like that." Sett nodded guiltily. He was hoping to be able to tell the elder that the goblin had attacked him first but he was half glad that he didn't have to lie. He had in fact beckoned the monster into coming within reach of the towns crystal so that he could get some real training done. Sparring with wooden swords just wasn't the same as fighting for your life.
"I just wanted some practice against a monster so I could be sure I was ready…" he hesitated "In case I was one of the people chosen to gather Myrrh." The elder sighed.
"Please do not try to convince me that this is a rare activity for you." He said "I am fully aware that you come here every few evenings to engage in combat." Sett nodded again. You couldn't put anything past the old man. He was about to apologise when he saw that the elder was smiling. "Do not worry. Although officially I am outraged at your behaviour, I am also happy to see that at least one of our caravaners is an experienced and, I must also say, a skilled fighter." Sett grinned.
"Does that mean I've been chosen?" he asked. The elder had chosen the men and women who were going to collect Myrrh and they were to be announced at a ceremony tomorrow. The old man winked and tapped his nose. He turned and walked away. Sett hastily wiped his sword on the grass and ran to catch up so that he could press the subject. Before he could speak, the elder said,
"I am surprised that you do not bring your young friend Tim." Tim was a Lilty and had been Sett's best friend since they were very young. Like all Liltys, he was very enthusiastic when it came to combat and nearly always wore a steel visor. His weapon of choice was a large axe which looked too big for him but he could handle is fairly well and was at least as good a fighter as Sett was. However Sett didn't bring Tim to his Monster baiting evenings. He preferred to fight alone. He shrugged and the elder chuckled. "Your behaviour never ceases to surprise me young man." He said. Sett groaned quietly. He knew what was coming. "Sneaking out of Tipa to fight monsters. It's not something I would expect of a Clavat, even one of your age. I would find it far more likely had you been…"
"a Selkie." Sett finished for him. He knew what the elder had been about to say because it wasn't the first time he had been compared to the Selkie tribe. Clavats and Selkies were very similar, but that was only in appearance. Selkies were usually taller and lighter than Clavats making them far more agile and athletic. However this also meant that they could not deliver blows as powerfully as Clavats could in combat. The most noticeable difference between the two tribes was their behaviour. Clavats were generally peaceful and disliked confrontation. Selkies on the other hand were far more brash and usually only looked out for number 1. Young Selkies, particularly young males displayed these qualities far more obviously.
Sett had nothing against Selkies but he didn't like the idea of people thinking of him like that. Though he had to admit they had a point. After all, what kind of Clavat coaxes Goblins and other monsters out of the Miasma so that they can slay them. However, he wasn't nearly as bad as some of the Selkies of Tipa. He was referring to a group of young boys who liked to vandalise a garden or bully children every now and then. Most of the Selkies in Tipa were very nice people but it was groups like these young boys that gave Selkies a bad name.
He had once tried to stop them from stealing food from the market and, although his actions had alerted the shopkeeper, he had revived a black eye from the Selkie gang.. Another of his actions that had made him "Un-Clavatin" as the elder had put it.
"Did you know," the elder continued as they made their way into town, "that for a long time when you were young, your parents seriously wondered whether one of your great aunts or uncles was a Selkie."
"I never knew Selkies and Clavats could get married." Said Sett surprised.
"That is because it is very rare." The elder said. "Inter-racial relationships between Clavats and Selkies are not unheard of because of their physical similarities but because of their different behaviour, these relationships almost never work out." They had arrived at Sett's house. The elder bid Sett a good evening before leaving for his own home. Sett crept through the door and up the stairs silently making no noise whatsoever. With all the night time trips to the edge of town, he had become pretty good at sneaking in and out of the house. Perhaps there was Selkie blood somewhere in his veins after all!
He made it to his room without waking anyone and laid his shield down on the floor. He looked at his sword again. He had done a very sloppy job of cleaning it as there were still a lot of bloodstains on it. He could still see his reflection though. He had short brown hair, which he just let grow naturally, and wore red and white clothes. He gave a yawn and put the sword down. He slid into bed and dreamt about travelling the world with Tim collecting Myrrh.
"You look bloody awful" Tim said as Sett came out to meet him. Sett gave him a swift but harmless kick. Tim avoided it. Sett would normally have elbowed him in the ribs but doing that to a Lilty was awkward as they weren't much more than a few feet high. "Didn't wake you did I?" he asked, feigning concern.
"As a matter of fact you did," grumbled Sett, rubbing his eye. "I hope you realise that any time you call for me in the morning when I'm asleep, it gives my little brother the chance to jump on me."
"Why?"
"Because mum sends him up to wake me." Tim laughed.
"You must have had a late night if your sleeping this late." He said "It's a good thing I came to wake you or you would have slept right through the ceremony." Sett stopped rubbing his eye. With a slight hint of panic in his voice, he said,
"When is the ceremony?"
"In five hours." Tim jumped to avoid another kick. "What's the matter" he said, grinning "I thought you may want to get some training in before your big disappointment. I mean, I know I'M a dead cert to become one of the next caravaners, but…you…well you may need to try and grab the elders attention if you want a chance of joining me. Don't worry," he winked "I'll let you hit me a few times so it looks like your only just capable of holding your own."
"Oh shut up you sorry excuse for an onion!" Tim laughed again, not insulted in the slightest. He had only been joking before. The fact was that they knew they were both the most obvious choices for the journey. They always had sparring matches in the town square with wooden weapons and were easily the most experienced fighters in their age bracket. Sett was Seventeen and Tim was Sixteen. Sett was probably a bit more experienced than Tim because of all the solo fights he had at night, one of the reasons he didn't bring Tim along.
"You boys aren't fighting again are you?" came a voice from behind Tim. Tim turned and saw Lillian behind him. Lillian was another Lilty and Tim's girlfriend. They had been together for a good few years now. When they first got together, Tim had spent a lot of time with her and less with Sett. This had made him jealous and he had often teased Tim about having a girlfriend but Sett had grown up and was now as good friends with Lillian as he was with Tim.
"Hello Lil," Tim said. Sett had noticed that Tim became far more mature when he was around Lillian even though she knew him well enough to know what he was really like. Sett had a hard time telling Lilties he didn't know apart from each other but that had never been a problem with Tim or Lillian as Tim had his steel visor and Lillian always wore a red bandage with holes in so she could see around her eyes.
"Don't let me interrupt you," she said smiling.
"We were just getting psyched up for this afternoon." Said Tim "Just think, this time next week, the three of us will be on the road, fighting monsters and collecting Myrrh." Sett noticed a slight look of unease come across Lillian's face. Lillian had often said that if she went she would find it hard to cope without her family. They all would of course, but Lillian seemed most upset about the prospect of leaving them behind.
On the other hand, Lillian would be a valuable partner on the trip. She didn't enjoy fighting hand to hand as much as Sett and Tim but she had become quite talented with spells and magic particularly cure.
"….that's providing, of course" Tim continued "That our tall friend here can squeeze his way into the finalists."
"For your information Timothy," Sett said "I just happen to be the only one of us that is guaranteed for a place in the caravan." That got the Lilties attention
"How can you possibly know that?"
"Well, last night I met the elder and he…well he let it slip." But Tim wasn't buying that.
"Come off it, you really expect me to believe that the elder just 'let it slip?'" he said "If he told you, its because he wanted to tell you." Tim certainly had a point there. The elder was very old but he was also very sharp. It was hard to catch him off his guard and it was rumoured that in his prime, he was one of the greatest caravaners of his time.
"Now that you mention it, he didn't seem sorry about telling me." Sett pondered. "Maybe he did mean to tell me."
"Well if he did," Lillian said sounding shocked "I mean that's terrible, caravaners cant know who they are until the ceremony. It's traditi…" she was interrupted by Tim
"What's that?" he asked sharply. He was pointing at Sett's sword. Sett glanced down at the sword tied to his belt and groaned. It was still smeared with goblin blood. In his haste to get up to meet Tim he had forgotten to wash it. He wondered vaguely whether he could move it out of Tim and Lillian's sight but it was pointless as they had already seen it.
"This may seem like an obvious question, Sett," Lillian said finally "but why is your sword covered in blood"
"It's my blood," Sett said. Even as he was speaking, he could imagine how stupid he must have looked saying it. "I had a bad accident. Bad night last night."
"It must have been the most godforsaken, awful night in history if you lost that much blood" Tim said staring at the bloodstained blade.
"Ok," said Sett "the blood came from a goblin." The two Lilties looked shocked. Occasionally a monster of some sort would wander into the village and attack but this was very rare and the few times it had happened had been the only times that Lillian and Tim had ever seen anything from the Miasma.
"You fought a goblin?" Tim hissed excitedly "What was it like?
"Messy." Sett said truthfully "To be honest, for a long time now I've been sneaking out at night to fight monsters.
"That's really dangerous. Lillian whispered, in case anyone was listening "What if you had been hurt or if the Miasma had got you?"
"I stayed inside the crystals influence." Sett said. Lillian often looked at things from a safety point of view. "And as for getting hurt, well…I did. Loads of times. But nothing serious."
"You could have told me." Tim grumbled. Sett thought that Tim would see things that way. Fortunatly Lillian was with them "I…I mean Sett," he said, as Lillian turned to scowl at him "to say that…I'm glad…you didn't because you would have got me into trouble and I…" he trailed off into silence.
"Well now that that's all sorted out," Lillian said "I can finally tell you both what I came here to tell you."
"Which is…?"
"I've volunteered you both to help prepare for the ceremony." She said smiling "Come on" and she lead them off. As the walked, Tim looked longingly towards the towns entrance. Sett leaned towards him and whispered so only Tim could hear.
"Don't worry mate," he said. "We'll soon be free to slay all the monsters we want!"
Well, hope you liked it. I'll put up the next chapter when I finish writing it (Of course I'll have to start it first) And also unlike my last fic, I haven't planned out whats going to happen. After all I haven't got very far on the game yet!
One more thing If at any point I stop updating for a few weeks, it's because I've gone on holiday. Please review