The people of Filgaia had a broad idea on how their universe would come to an end. It was said that one day, a giant rooster would crow, echoing it's voice throughout all nine of the worlds connected by Yggdrasil, the ash tree that bound all nine worlds together and supported the inhabitants of each. The demons, who have lived plotting their revenge on the guardians who defeated them long ago, will rise up under the leadership of Loki, a demon who looked human who lived among the guardians up until the point when he was punished for killing the guardian named Balder.
At this moment the two forces, the guardians and the demons, will come together and wage battle upon the legendary battlefield that they first fought years and years ago. In this final and bloody battle that is entitled Ragnarok all are destined to perish and the worlds will be destroyed leaving none behind.
Chapter OneIt all began with a simple story read by them years before. From the young age in which a young boy can first read, and until the last time this one particular book was read. During this time the book was ever present in the lives of two young boys. However, now it sat in the earth covered in ten years worth of accumulated dirt. The pages since browning, as the illustrations faded in colour. The binding that held the worn pages together having since loosened as the words that once captivated minds in bold black became an illegible gray. The story that the book told had been lost, making it worthless, but the story had not left Filgaia. It was still available in the minds of two young men.
Yes, the two boys who had lived off of this book at one time. Two friends who were as tightly bounded as the book that brought them together. A book that had many tales aside from the one that had been written within it. The many adventures these two boys had shared was imprinted into the book's cover, even though the rest of it's story has faded.
Why though, was such an important item, such a sacred item, left to be covered over by ten years worth of sand?
"Jet!" Shouted a young woman's voice. It rang out even over the sounds of the bustling port city that she was in. The streets made of dirt and the buildings of tan clay or gray wood. Each structure simple in every way. The wielder of this agitated feminine voice however was storming through the town as people stepped aside out of fear to clear her path. The woman's chocolate brown hair flapping as much as the fire did inside of her eyes. It was now that she gives a huff of hot air as her brown eye twitched in wroth. The meal she so painstakingly cooked all day for dinner was now gone without even a single crumb left behind, and she knew who it was that ate it. The only man of the trio she was a part of that had an appetite that large was the one young man her age of twenty-one that was named Jet Enduro. It was only natural for her to take firm angry steps in the soft sands she walked on in town. The balled fists that adorned her arms and topped them off told everyone she passed that she was furious. The port town was close to the sea, so soft warm gusts of winds mixed with moisture blew across her cream skin while moving her chocolate brown skin about. Noticing that the wind kicked up dirt on her lavender dress she brushed it off in a calm manner as she allowed what anger she had to leave. It was only now that she was calm and the anger was out of her system that she realized the very man she was looking for was two steps away. "Jet, why did you eat my food?"
A young man of twenty turned to face her with a grin. "Your food?" He questioned. "If I had known it was your food I would not have eaten it." He explained closing his lightly purple eyes and Virginia assumed he smiled at her. She only assumed that because his eyes and brow seemed to show that. She could not really know though, because of his dual scarves that covered from his nose to below his neck. In all of this, Virginia just could not longer be mad at this man. "I'll get you some more, or make you something." He assured her.
She looked to his disheveled gray hair quickly. "That's all right, Jet." She sighed. "I just needed to know what became of the dinner I made." The brunette shook her head with a laugh and a smirk. "You only ate your own share of food anyway so I guess I shouldn't be so mad, but still…" She scrunched her face in disappointment. "Couldn't you have waited a few more hours to eat?"
He chuckled nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "You know me. I just can't wait that long." Jet quickly broke out of his stupor. "Uh, Virginia, do you notice anything different about the sun today?"
The woman tossed her long hair over her shoulder as she turned to look behind her. Placing her hand on her forehead Virginia looked as directly at the sun as she could without looking directly at it. "It does look a different shade of colour today. A more orange of a hue."
"Yeah, I don't like that." Jet commented as he turned and walked away.
Slowly Virginia realized as she faced away what Jet did, and turned to anxiously follow him. "Hey, don't leave me behind!" She screamed as she gave chase.
In the alleyway between the buildings made of the rock carved from the nearby mountains stood a man who was fascinated by the previous scene before him. Interested in what the two young adults said and how they interacted as he stood there in his long black overcoat, whose collar blocked his face as well as the shadows the sun produces. Turning away the man makes his way down the alley until he comes out on the other end, only to bump into a normal sized man with short green hair. The man with the green hair fixed his glasses and dusted off his long brown coat as he looked to the man he had collided with. But as soon as his death glare fell on the man who hid his face in the overcoat, the coated man was gone.
"Hey, Clive!" Jet ran up to the green-haired man quickly, but as he came to a stop his eyes focused on the man who was running away. He slowly lost his smile as he stared after the runaway stuck in a thought.
Virginia came to a stop catching her breath. "Who was that, Clive?" She questioned.
Clive gave a slight shake of his head. "Someone dangerous I believe." The older man by five or eight years looked to the shorter man beside him. "Did you know that guy or something, Jet?"
Jet continued to stare after despite the fact the mysterious man in the coat was long-gone. "Huh?" Jet blinked, realizing Clive's question and turning to face him. "I don't think so, but you never know for sure." He looked skyward to the sun that was too orange for him. "Excuse me, if you will, but I need to go back to the ship." Jet lied as he turned on his heel and walked slowly towered the docks and the ocean.
Virginia and Clive slowly exchanged looks with one another as worry took Virginia's large heart. "You want to go after him?" Clive asked, not the least bit interested in the situation. "You probably should." He recommended as the woman thought things through in her mind. "I've never seen him act so seriously before." With a clicking sound from his mouth Clive turned and faced the opposite direction that Jet went. "I think I should perhaps look for that man that I ran into. He seemed to be somehow connected with Jet's awkward behavior." Taken a hat of straw from his side, Clive placed it firmly on his head giving Virginia a nod. Turning in silence he walked off and left the girl to begin his search.
Jet came to the outskirts of the port town of Jolly Roger. Solemnly looking over the ruins of once was Jolly Roger ten years ago before the short war began. All that was left now in this barren land were the brick walls that stood up out of the sand that were once homes, but now only halved and scattered rocks. This particular place he stood now, as his boots pressed themselves into the earth, was the Enduro home he and his father once lived in long ago. He had lived here until the age of ten, when the Ark of Destiny came and razed this place in order to stop the Council of Seven's Yggdrasil Project. It was an odd history he was not happy to be a part of.
The truth is, that the Ark of Destiny, was once just a government body to the east that made up the other continent across the sea. They had once been an empire though, but they broke down and eventually became multiple countries, provinces, and states which all came together to be one union. There were seven countries who were never part of the empire that was the Ark of Destiny, and that was what came to be known as the Council of Seven. This was the name of the governmental body that controlled those seven regions, and the council was made up of the seven leaders of each of the seven countries.
In a treaty that was made between the two, the Ark and the Council, they banned any projects that involved genetic engineering or manipulation, and leiline research. Twenty-one years ago the Council broke that treaty because of a project they started codenamed Yggdrasil. It was set up to restore life to the world when it became noticeable that five of the seven Council countries and parts of the Ark's own were dying. They assumed the rest of the world would be after, and despite the risk, and illegality of their actions, they began this project, the forerunner of it being the Filgaia Sample idea. A project approved by one of the Council named Werner Maxwell, and undertaken by a team led by Eliot Enduro in a lab just outside of Jolly Roger. Among many things this involved genetic manipulation and leiline studies, and this is the most illegal part of their actions.
Jet knew that story well, being the first Sample made out of several. Eliot had decided that if he was taking the risk, he might as well not make other people suffer, and instead only his own flesh and blood. The whole idea was that a human who could wield the power of Filgaia and restore it's life, most likely utilizing a machine, would be the answer to all of the problems. It was only that the info was leaked after eleven years, and the Ark decided to attack the Council's nations, and most importantly, put an end to the Yggdrasil Project. Jet was not aware of what really happened after that. Eliot refused to follow some order the Council gave him, and the two ran from Jolly Roger, leaving his life behind.
And Eliot died soon afterwards.
Everyone he knew was gone, and he would never see them again. This is where Jet's whole life began that led to him becoming a meaningless Drifter. He hung his head in silence.
"What is this place?" Came the soft voice of Virginia who came quietly to his side. Usually he could sense such things, but not this time. "Jet?"
He formed a scowl. "Why are you here?" Jet asked with acid in his voice.
Virginia was shocked by his reaction, and turned away from his with a downcast expression. "I'm sorry. I'll leave you alone then."
As she moved away, Jet quickly grabbed her arm at the elbow, stopping her. "Wait," He drew in a breath while she turned in his grasp to face him. He let go of her arm and stared into her eyes. "I didn't mean to sound that way." He apologized. "I wanted to be alone, but," He gave her a soft smile through his scarves, lightening her expression. "I think your being here is for the best. I'd rather be here with another then be here alone."
"What is this place?" Virginia muttered as she looked at the ruins of what might have been homes and other buildings.
"This one nearest to us was my home."
She quickly looked to the dirt as she searched her mind for a correct response to such a statement. "I, I see." She found none.
"I don't want your pity." He requested. "I know that's what you give me once that face comes on." Jet gingerly placed his hand under her cheek, causing her to look away from the dirt to him.
"I guess you would know all my mannerisms by now, wouldn't you." She commented with a livid blush.
"Well, how long has it been since we met?"
"I, I'm not sure." Virginia lied. "Don't you know?"
"I know you do." He scoffed. "You are a horrible liar."
The brunette closed her eyes out of embarrassment. "Still, I won't always be here for you, will I? You'll have to learn to remember things for yourself soon enough."
"It's been six months." Jet simply replied, with a look of determination.
"So, if you knew that, why ask me?"
He looked into her eyes. "You said you wouldn't always be here for me." Virginia's brow creased with puzzlement as she opened her eyes to see him. "Virginia, do you intend to leave?"
"I can't stay with you and Clive forever." She sighed. "We may be travelling together now, but we will only do that for so long." Virginia explained, averting her eyes from his glance. "Did you really think we'd all be travelling together forever?"
Jet's hand fell away from her face as he walked away from her, and from what she could make out, into his home. She watched him slowly wind around rocks until he fell to the ground and sat in what's left of a corner of a room. The sand floating about him. After watching him there in quiet, she made her way through the home, until she got to the doorframe that still existed to that room Jet sat in.
"I know that this is all temporary." Jet confirmed. "I just don't want to lose you, Virginia. You really have been improving me just a bit with every passing day." He gave a heavy sigh. "Clive is teaching me things, and I think the three of us together as it is now is the best thing to always have."
"We will continue as it is for now," Virginia began, "But I am telling you that eventually we will all go off our own ways." She leaned against the doorframe, hugging her body. "We will get older, and trekking as we have will become harder. Clive, myself, or you may find better things and go off to do them."
"Virginia, I don't want to go off and do other things." He mentioned. "Not without people I know." Jet's hand turned to a clenched fist as it lied on the sand. "I won't lose any more people!"
Virginia remained still, before looking down to him with pity-filled eyes. "I'm sorry." She slowly knelt down to his side and draped her arms around him in a hug. "Who did you lose?" Jet grunted, and acted like she was not there. "Don't be that way." She pleaded.
"What do you care?" He asked with annoyance. "You just said, that eventually we will part ways. That means that whatever I tell you now will be irrelevant."
"No, no, that's not what I said." She anxiously replied. "I said we would part, yes, but I never said that didn't make what we share now meaningless. We'll part ways, but we will never forget one another." Virginia urgently argued.
"Still…it doesn't matter." Jet replied, standing upward and breaking the hug she had on him. "Go back to Clive, and leave here." He commanded. "I will stay."
"Jet, what are you saying?" She cried out as she stood beside him.
"If we will part ways, one day or another, why not do it now?" Jet gave with a grunt as he walked past her and out of the home. He stopped, but never faced her. "I won't travel with you guys. I was always better off alone." He said just loud enough to be heard.
Virginia quickly ran through the home and cut off Jet's escape. Without hesitation he went to go around her, but was met with a slap across his face. With shocked eyes he looked to her face that bled tears that slowly flowed down to her jaw. "You can't leave me!"
He took that as an insult. "You're leaving me! You said that just a moment ago!" Jet argued with her. "By saying that we will eventually part ways you imply that you want to!"
"I never said that." She sobbed. "I never wanted to say that." Virginia continued. "I thought that you wanted to leave us, so I lied and told you all of that. I never want to leave you, Jet." She sobbed again as she moved forward, gripping his coat with her fingers, and shoving her face into his chest as far as she could. Letting her tears dry against the harsh fabric of his coat. Slowly, and awkwardly, Jet let his hands embrace her softly, running his hands up and down in a comforting manner.
"I, I…I won't leave you, Virginia." Jet said, moving his hand to weaken her hold on his coat. "Not ever. That I promise you."
She rubbed her face against his coat, drying her tears fully. Her eyes puffed and red crated a feeling within her mind that she most look unattractive with such features, but that didn't matter. "Jet. I feel safe, with you here."
"The same with me." He replied, looking to the ground not far away on his lawn, and suddenly his body went taunt and tense. Virginia for a moment thought she was touching a statue as Jet's arms around her went limp and fell to his sides. "That…book."
"What?" Virginia looked to his face with confusion. A knot in her stomach. Gently, Jet left her frame and walked a few yards until he bent down and picked up an item. "Jet?"
"It's still altogether." He stated in shock, picking up a red canvas covered book, worn with dirt and ragged edges. Jet brushed as much dirt as he could off of it, but the title was still illegible. "This thing is still here after so long."
Virginia slowly came to his side to look at the book. "What is that?"
"A book." Jet shook his head vehemently. "No, not a book, a great book." He replied with a content smile and tone that seemed so far away from Virginia and Jolly Roger now.
She glanced at the tattered tome, and noted that what text the book had was all illegible, inside and out, as Jet flipped through the pages. "What story was on these pages? I've never seen a book like this one ever before." Virginia observed as she studied the features of the book. She has read many books, and at least seen all of those made before, and yet, not this one.
"This book had three separate stories. One regarding the mighty thunder guardian, Thor, when he lost his hammer. Another chronicles his adventure into Jotunheim to meet Utgard-Loki, and lastly, a story regarding Ragnarok, the final battle of good and evil." Jet explained.
"That all sounds vaguely familiar." She observed with thought. "However, in all of my days at Ark's University I don't think I ever came across something like this."
"The legend is not know to many." Jet noted. "This book, may just be the only written record of them left."
"What good is a book that nobody can read though?"
"Only two people can read it still; myself included." Jet commented.
"The other?"
"My friend, Norris, but he may be at rest with the other's of Old Jolly Roger with the others who were not as fortunate as me." Jet grimly replied, looking to the field in the distance where the dead could be found. Those who died when Ark attacked Jolly Roger ten years ago. His mouth went agape. "Amigone."
"Amigone?" Virginia questioned.
"Nothing." Jet dismissed it with a shake of his head as he stood upward with Virginia. "Listen, let's go back and eat dinner. I'm starved."
"Jet, you just ate your meal two hours ago, remember?"
"Oh, right." He lamented. "Then I guess there's no rush then."
"Jet, tell me about your life. I want to know everything there is to know."
"You really don't want to." Jet suggested. "Too much to say."
"I have the time." The woman responded with a smile.
"There isn't all that much to say when it comes down to it." Jet lied. "I was born, I grew up, and I lost my family, and then I became a Drifter of this planet until I met you."
"Too short." The brunette remarked. "I know you skipped many important things. Tell me it all. Like, about you as a kid."
"Well, when I was a kid I…was alone. Lonely." Jet stated openly. "I, I didn't have all too many friends until this one day."
"Oh? What happened that day?"
"I met Norris, and from then on we were the best of friends." Jet absentmindedly clutched the book. "It was at that time my father gave me this book here that my mother had owned before she died at my birth. Back then, you could read the pages, but Norris and I were still too young to know how to read." Jet explained with a bent brow. "This book is what made he and I want to read so badly."
"It must have been a really good story then. I'd love for you to tell me it one day."
"For years, we would get into all sorts of trouble, and this book would always be along for the ride." Jet continued, never acknowledging Virginia's words, and seemingly ignoring her, caught up in his past. "That all changed one day."
"What happened?" She asked, noticing his sudden trouble with words. This was way too personal, but he finally was opening up to her, and she really needed to know about him.
"What else happens between two male friends that isn't a girl?" Jet stated, as Virginia looked away. Jet had loved a girl in his past, and she was not sure if that love still stood. "But, that wasn't the end of the book. The end of the book came the night that all of these homes were destroyed by the Ark." Jet slowly looked up to the dusk sky with the sun that seemed too orange a colour for him today. "If you wouldn't mind, I don't want to really go into more detail about that now."
"I don't mind. Actually, I advise that you don't go too far into all of that." Virginia replied, placing her soft hand softly on his shoulder. "Your friend and you, what happened to the girl?"
"To answer that question, I'd have to go into what happened that night, and I'm not about to revisit that memory just yet."
"Understood." She returned, closing her eyes. This mysterious girl that he loved still on her mind. "So, so you wish to find that girl?"
"I can't lie and say that I wouldn't like to see her again. She is my friend after all, but, I'm sure that I no longer love her. She is in my past now, and she is probably dead, so I know I don't feel anything for her any longer. I've only recalled her now that I'm back here in Jolly Roger." Jet's words trailed off into unintelligible words that Virginia could not make out. "Virginia, I, I will tell you the story that was in this book. You will put the story back into it, right?"
"What do you mean?" She wondered. "I don't like how you said that." Virginia responded with a voice of worry. "It seems like you want me to write the story down, so you can go die, and the story will live on after."
"I don't want to lie. That's why I want you to write it down, but, it's not my choice to die."
"What do you mean? What are you talking about?"
"There's a reason fate brought me back here again. I'm not sure what it is, but I know I will soon come across it. I'm not sure I can live after all of this." Jet regretfully informed her.
"Jet." She uttered, with a loss and lack of words. "You can't die. Not now."
"I wish it were that easy." Jet looked to her with a smile as his hand gently took her own, allowing his warmth and softness to ease her worry. "Don't worry, Virginia. I never said I would die. You just can't be too careful anymore, you know, so I want to make sure the story is put back down on paper." He chuckled. "I also don't think I'll always remember the story forever. I am getting older with each passing day."
"All right then." Virginia replied, squeezing his hand. "Let's go back to the ship and see what Clive is up to."
The time of twilight came about as the sun hit the ocean in the horizon. As the darkness swooped in the air became cooler, causing Virginia to shiver as she and Jet walked down the wooden planks of the docks. The sound of the harbor waves moving back and forth and hitting the wooden post near to them as they walked together down the length of the docks. The sound of water like this had become a comforting one for Jet over the years, and almost could be considered the sound of home to him. He could easily be at peace with such a sound. As the light posts along the way lit up, Jet's ears twitched due to a second noise, causing him to stop.
"What's wrong, Jet?" Virginia wondered as she stopped and looked to their twenty-four foot boat just three ships away.
"There's somebody here." Jet noted as he glared into the distance before him. Into the blue of the night. "C'mon out, Adven!"
"Adven?" Virginia muttered.
A man with dirt brown hair with a green headband through it stepped out from behind the nearest post between them and the boat that hung a light above it. Once Adven was under the light his build and height, similar to Jet's own, and Adven's red shirt and white pants came into view for Virginia and Jet to see. The ends of his headband moving in the cool wind as a grin came to his face. "Nice to see you as well, Jet."
"What is it this time? Do you want to fight?" Jet groaned.
"Nah, not this time around." Adven replied as the three met under the light. Adven Bok, a friendly rival Jet had made following his time on Filgaia. For years the two have fought about a stupid action figure of Advens' that Jet broke when they were fourteen. "I came to see you. I have something to show you."
"You do? What sort of something?" Jet asked with intrigue as a puzzled expression took his face.
"I learned this, I don't know what you call it, but I learned this 'attack' from this old man and I wanted to show it to you. See what you think of it." Adven explained. "Ah, hey there Virginia. How's it going? Keeping my bud here out of trouble?" Adven questioned, looking to the woman as Jet mouthed the word 'bud' in confusion.
"Everything's good with me. As for Jet, I'd say he's been up to his usual antics."
"Heh, do you've had your hands full." Adven commented. "Anyway, I'm gonna stay with you two and your other pal for tonight and tomorrow, and I'll reimburse you with this 'attack' that the old man taught me."
"Oh, I get it now." Jet stated with an annoyed grin. "You need a place to stay so you come to us. That's why suddenly I'm your 'bud' of all things."
"Well, as much as we fight Jet, I still see you as one of my best friends. Actually, you three and one other are probably the only friends I have." Adven admitted sadly.
"Uh, awkward." Jet noted. "Guys really should not express themselves like that." He said more to himself even though the other two heard him. "Whatever, you can come stay with us."
"Thanks a bunch. Trust me, this attack will be worth putting me up for a night or two." Adven reassured.
"C'mon Virginia, let's get going." Jet simply said.
Within a dark alley of the new Jolly Roger, came a soft noise of garbage being kicked aside. The man in the overcoat settled against the side of a building. Catching his breath he shoves his hands in his pockets to draw from it a communicator of some sort. "I've located the prototype you ordered me to find."
"Good job, I want him alive."
"Sir, if he is too much to handle, may I kill him?" The overcoated man, with a young and smooth voice wondered.
"Only if necessary."
"Understood."
"Are you sure you can handle fighting that man, Jet Enduro?"
"Yes sir. Just because we have a connection does not mean that I will treat him any different."
As the man put the device away and walked from alley. Leaning his head back from the roof ledge above the bespeckled partner of Virginia and Jet quietly observed the man who he had bumped into that afternoon. Clive stood and darted off in stealth, hopping from one roof to another.