A/N: Whew, it's been about two years since I've played this game, so I can't remember everything. Luckily, I found a game script for the story portion. I tried to find a decent game FAQ for the rest, but it left out enemy attacks. Anyway, enjoy.

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History forgotten. Long ago, the War of the Magi reduced the world to a scorched wasteland, and Magic simply ceased to exist. Thousands of years have passed... Mechanics have been rediscovered, high technology reigns, and the times of the Magi have been stricken from history books. But there are those who would enslave the world by reviving the dread destructive power known as "Magic." Can it be that those in power are on the verge of repeating a senseless and deadly mistake?

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Part One

Chapter 1: Narshe



June 25th, 2023, 1750hrs



Summer so far north could hardly be called as such. Freezing snow still covered the ground and the winter chill whipped across the land. Daytime ruled the sky for every hour of the day, but that did not change the cold.

Biggs and Wedge stood on the cliffs with their high-powered binoculars fixated on the direction of the tiny mining town. After a few moments of searching, Biggs spotted Narshe in the distance. He poked Wedge and, after getting his partner's attention, he pointed it out.

"There's the city." Biggs said, his voice sounding raw from the cold air

Wedge took a look for himself. It was hard to make out, but it was definitely Narshe. The lieutenant lowered the binoculars then turned to Biggs. He let out a small grunt.

"Hard to believe an Esper's been found intact there, all these years after the War of the Magi..."

Until a week ago, the men hadn't even known what an Esper was. A debriefing, though not very detailed, had been necessary for the pair to carry out their orders. When the Captain explained as much off the history as he could, the lieutenants thought he was joking. Magical beings weren't real. Captain Hawkke was deadly serious, though.

"D-do you think it's still alive?" Biggs said nervously

"Probably. Judging by the urgency of our orders." Wedge huffed again.

Biggs swallowed hard. That was an obvious answer. Captain practically forced them in the armor then shipped them out immediately. Biggs wouldn't have been surprised if Captain had strapped them on a missile and fired them to Narshe.

He looked back at the third member of the trio. Biggs used his head to gesture to the girl.

"And this woman, this... sorceress, why's she here? I heard she fried fifty of our M-TAS's in under three minutes!" Biggs whispered excitedly

Wedge shrugged. The debriefing barely covered the girl. All Captain Hawkke said on the matter was that she had magical abilities and that would be under their control.

"Not to worry. The Slave Crown on her head robs her of all conscious thought. She'll follow orders."

Biggs sighed nervously. The girl looked very intimidating in her snow camouflage uniform and the large war armor even with the vacant look. Small tubes directly from the M-TA stuck out of her skin visibly. He wondered if she knew, even with it draining her, how honoring using the armor was. The military hadn't deployed them in the public until today. They kept the technology secret as well as the training.

"Alright," Biggs said as he climbed back into his MagiTec armor, "We'll approach from the east. Let's move out."

Wedge hurried to his own armor, climbing in and activating the weaponry system. "Let's put her on point. No sense in taking any risks. Forward!"

The metal armored feet thumped into the snow all the way down to firm ground. Machinery inside whirred and hissed as the machines began to move from the cliff to flat land below. The big clanky armor handled slowly, so the trek to Narshe would take some time.

'This should be a quick in and out' Wedge thought in the silent walk across the snow plain. Luckily, the Canadian Parliament agreed to allow the US to handle the Esper instead of having conflict and dealing with the extensive Canadian infantry. They didn't want it there so they were more than happy to turn it over to Gestahl's people. Of course, the higher ups had to feign ignorance on the matter and turned the other cheek as the US military raided the obscure town even though they knew a notable death toll would be involved. Chances were that no one would even hear about it. Narshe seemed separate from the rest of the country, anyway, but with good reason.

That's how they wanted it.

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Police officers on guard watched outside the city. For the most part, they had no worries that anyone would visit. The town wasn't well known. No tourists ever visited. The government barely acknowledged the damn place, but the citizens didn't mind. The solitude suited them well.

One of the seated men stood up quickly, taking another look out into the snowy plain. He gasped audibly as the other three men with him joined him.

"Yankee armed forces?!? Not even Canada is safe anymore!" he yelled out, sounding the city wide alarm.

Woman and children screamed in alarm along the streets. Everyone rushed into their homes, locking the doors tightly behind them. The police force of Narshe gathered weapons and took positions along different points on the street.

"Narshe's freedom depends on us!" the chief yelled through their walkie-talkies

The officers buckled down the fear. The Chief was right. Narshe depended on them. No one else would come to their aid, not even Parliament.

The armored tanks--as best as anyone assumed the armor was--stomped into the town, guns blazing. The first barrage of bullets wiped out the first of the fighters guarding the entrance. Blood splattered along the snow coated paved streets, followed by chunks of flesh. The armor stepped on the fallen bodies with sickening squishing sounds, then led a trail of blood behind them.

Narshe weaponry fired down on the American intruders from all sides. The armored group turned the guns to the villagers, sending rounds of bullets and blazing hot lasers. The lagers chopped off limbs from the rebellers causing them to fall from rooftops and cliffs leading to the mines.

Biggs and Wedge removed themselves from the battle, mentally, as trained. Their weapons continued to mutilate and murder Narshe's people. Both men had looks in their eyes nearly as vacant as the sorceress'. Wedge barely noticed when one of the villagers somehow managed to shoot him in his shoulder through the glass. The sorceress turned to him quickly, sending out a pulsating and warm beam of light and his wounds began to heal. A second or two later, the wound disappeared, not even leaving a scar behind.

The girl's armor had many more abilities than Biggs and Wedge, from curing to poisoning. Neither of them understood how that was possible, but it came in handy. She eliminated more of the town's officers than both of the men combined, using rays of fire, ice, and lightning.

The police had them surrounded on all sides, guns still firing, but now using grenades.

"We have them surrounded!" one of the rookie cops yelled out, thinking that this conflict was to be over soon.

"We must defend the mines!!" the Chief screamed through the walkie-talkies

The officers pummeled them more. Desperately, they tried to find a way to disable that damn armor, but to no avail. Beams emanate from the laser cannons, quickly eliminating most of the police. Horrific screams of pain echoed through the city as the men fell. The mechanical parts of the armor whirred again, stomping on those who'd died and continued to the mines.

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Narshe's men stood down for now after the three had almost completely obliterated any rebellion. Wedge, Biggs, and the girl stood at the entrances of the mines.

"According to our source, the frozen Esper was found in a new mine shaft..." Wedge said softly, pointing off to his left, "Maybe this one..."

The trio entered the mines. The scent of coal and metal ores filled their noses as they passed through the torch lit caverns. Both men mused how outdated these people obviously were.

A few guards here and there dared to attack them, but the three easily laid waste to these enemies as they had the ones outside. Even a few impossibly large rats came at them in defense of the mines. They exterminated the vermin quickly.

"Hey wait, what's that?" Wedge said as they passed through another corridor

"I don't know..." Biggs said as he approached the glowing object

He stepped up to the object. After further examination, he realized that the light linked to a cable port. He pressed a few buttons on the armor and a cord popped out of the suit, linking to the port.

"Seems to be a data port of some kind."

Information blurred across the tiny monitor inside the M-TA. Biggs didn't catch it all, but it had to do with what they'd done on the mission so far. The file compressed and loaded onto the server to send directly to the Pentagon. "Would you like to save now?" flashed across the screen.

"Would I like to save now? What the hell?" he repeated out loud.

"What?"

Biggs turned to Wedge. "This thing is asking me if I'd like to save..."

"You sure it doesn't say 'send'?"

He turned back to the screen. It did indeed say "send" and not "save."

"Oh, heh, must have read it wrong." He pressed send.

The information sent its way through the port, then shut down. The cord for the M-TA returned to the armor.

"Well, let's get going." Wedge said, heading back into the depths of the cave.

Endless twists and turns waited for them. The mines seemed as though at some point they'd stretched all the way to the center of the earth. Biggs was starting to lose his patience.

"Did they have to make the seats so uncomfortable? And the design....sort of reminds me of something out of Star Wars..."

"Biggs, just shut up." Wedge said while sighing.

Biggs flipped the other man the bird, though he knew Wedge couldn't see it. Right before he started to vocalize the idea to Wedge, they spotted something in the distance. Slowly, the three approached.

"It's the Esper." Wedge whispered softly

From no where, it seemed, two large guards charged at the trio.

"We won't let you have the Esper!" one guard yelled

"Whelk, get them!" the second exclaimed afterward

Wedge cocked a brow after killing the guards, wondering what the hell a "whelk" could be. His answer came quickly and a gasp from the young man. A large snail-like creature slithered its way from another corridor, making an odd moan sound. Goo trailed behind it as it moved closer and closer to them. Wedge's eyes went wide as he noticed Whelk's large spikes protruding from the shell.

Spikes launched from the shell at them. Biggs barely missed one aimed for his head. Wedge defensively blocked himself with his M-TA's mechanical arms.

"Hell!" Wedge yelled out while the spike made a clang against the metal

He charged up his fire beam, unleashing the burning laser on the creature. Whelk screamed--if you could call it that--then headed deep within its shell. Seeing the success in his actions, Wedge charged for another attack.

"Hold it!" Biggs yelled out, "Think back to our briefing."

Wedge gapped at Biggs. Now was the time to attack, not to have flash backs.

"What about it?" he said exasperated

"Do you recall hearing about a monster that eats lightning?..."

Wedge thought back. The Captain had mentioned something about it.

"...And stored the energy in its shell!" Wedge finished the statement

He held off his attack, keeping the energy blast stored for an attack on the head. Biggs heard the whirring sound of the charge up and decided to make sure Wedge understood.

"Right. So whatever you do, don't attack the shell!"

Wedge rolled his eyes. "Alright, already..."

Whelk came out from hiding. Wedge fried its head with another fire beam. Biggs followed with his own beam, while the girl armed her missiles at the beast. The missiles flew from the cannon, three in a row, each pelting the head then exploding. Whelk roared angrily, using his own attacks at the trio. Biggs took a damaging blow, nearly knocking him over. The sorceress immediately healed him with her cure beam. Biggs was back on his feet right after.

She launched another barrage of Mtec Missiles at the beast before it could retreat into its shell. The weapons detonated, exploding on the gooey skin of the Whelk. Pieces of snailish flesh splattered on their M-TAs, covering different parts but affecting nothing.

The final missiles did away with the beast. After a loud groan, Whelk's head collapsed on the ground with a squishing thump. Puss-like substance oozed from its opened wounds. Biggs and Wedge took a few moments to cheer themselves, but the mission wasn't over yet. The trio headed closer to the frozen Esper.

Cracks and peaks on the ice made it hard to figure out exactly what the beast looked like. It was colorful, made of blues and yellows. It seemed to have wings, but neither man could be sure with the watery distortion.

There was a slight hum in the air. At first Biggs nor Wedge could hear it. Then the sound grew just enough to be on the edge of their hearing. The girl seemed to hear it more, though. She jumped out of her armor, still in the misty cloud of control by the Slave Crown. She continued to approach the Esper.

"Hey!" Wedge called out after her, "What's the matter? You know something we don't?" the last part came out with a worried whisper.

She didn't speak, not that Wedge had expected her to. She had no mind of her own, really. Instead she just continued to get closer to it. Wedge moved to approach her, when a blinding light flashed, surrounding him.

"Where's that light coming from!?" he yelled

The light burned his flesh. His body felt like it was about to fade away. Screaming, he disappeared.

Biggs heart pounded hard. His hands began to shake as he looked around, fearfully.

"Hey! Wedge?!" he called out in a trembling voice "W-where are you?"

The light surrounded him now. Every part of him felt as though it were splitting into a million pieces. "What's happening!?" he yelled out right before he disappeared

Still, the girl said nothing. The Esper had her entranced. She stood before it, swaying side to side. Electrical tendrils reached out for her, grabbing her. Something passed in between herself and the Esper, warm and familiar. A voice reached inside her mostly vacant mind. Tritoch, it whispered over and over again. She could feel its need to connect to her as though it had something to say, but she couldn't. Not yet...not yet...

An aura took hold of her, holding her close. For some reason it felt like home. Again it tried to speak to her, but her mind became overwhelmed. She slumped to the ground as the world fell into dark unconsciousness. Even in the depths of her sleeping mind, she heard the name repeat over and over. Finally, it left her mind with a request.

"Free me....sister..."

****EDS****