Final Fantasy: Essence of Life

Chapter One: The Great Desert

The planet Inculta was a desolate planet with so very little water that the substance was almost considered holy, but the lack of water on the desert planet was not the greatest threat that it had and would ever face for something terrible would happen.

A great earthquake the world wide tore at the planet opening huge wounds in it baron surface and unleashing the energy with in the planet, the planet's soul, Essence, and this Essence depending on many things could be both a gift and a curse as many people lost their lives that day, the day that Inculta bled.

OOO

Ten years later…

The desert was vast, nothing to be seen for miles other than sand and rock, although the tips of mountains were visible just past the horizon in several directions as alone figure trudged onward through the vastness of this global wasteland.

The figure was a young man by the name of Dean Harkness, a slim built twenty-year-old with short light brown hair and blue eyes, the colour of water and shining with the energy of an ever-optimistic heart. His skin was slightly tanned, a by-product of walking through the blistering heat of the planet's sun, a heat that everything had long since grew accustomed too, for clothing he wore a cream tank top that fit his body tightly, his cream denim jacket was tied around his waist obviously too hot to be worn properly, his lower body was clothed in cream denim jeans and cream military boots, a pair of dark black goggles hung loosely around his neck ready to be used to shield his eyes in case a sand storm were to pick up.

A strange metallic device was held tightly in his hands, it looked strikingly similar to a metal detector with two handles but from the empty transparent canister on it and the tubes that led down to the circular sensor at the bottom it was most certainly not. It was, in fact, a water detector. In a place as vast and desolate as Inculta, water is precious and those who have it can sell it for great amounts of Gil. But from the look of boredom on his young features made it obvious that he wasn't having much luck at finding the water, that and of course the loud yell of…

"Damn it all!"

His voice was blisteringly loud in the quiet and vast surroundings as he tossed the strange device to the ground and crossed his arms over his chest, his voice filled with a rare trace of annoyance for the usually rather patient man.

"There's just no water out here…"

He sighed, his body relaxing and his shoulders slumping while his arms fell to his sides and he closed his eyes tiredly.

"Man…I've been out here for hours and still nothing…better get going I suppose…before some Phiends find me…"

He picked the device up and slung it over his shoulder before beginning his walk on, he'd travelled through this area of desert so much that even in its plainness he could tell exactly where he was; besides he had been taught by the best how to navigate through these burning waste lands.

The corners of his mouth turned up in a nostalgic smile as he recalled his life with the Desert Kin, the Children of the Sand. He didn't know much about how they'd found him, from what he had been told he was wandering about in the sands, naked and alone and looking like death warmed up. Several of the tribe had found him, and although they had strict laws against allowing outsiders into their homes the leader's son had been very adamant about letting Dean stay.

And I never stopped thanking Stephen ever since that day…he was pretty much an older brother to me, he taught me to defend myself, how to navigate through the sand and how to survive…he was the only real family I ever had…

His smile weakened slightly, but stayed none the less. He had no recollection of his life before the Desert Kin; they were all he really knew of his past. Never knowing the names of his parents, what they looked like or how they acted and although it grieved him greatly to think about this he still couldn't help but smile, as he knew that he did have a family in a way. After just a few days among the desert's nomadic race they had grown rather fond of him, he had become a part of them and treated him as one of their own. They were his family.

And what a family! I mean, there was never a dull moment with Stephen around or his brother, the two always trying some new stunt to get at their father…and to think they're the heirs to the tribe's leadership…they were just too laid back…

He laughed aloud to himself as he remembered the time the two had captured a rather large but relatively harmless spider and let it loose in their father's bed. The scream the Desert Kin leader had let out when he awoke was almost beyond what Dean thought humanly possible.

Just then he noticed something out of the corner of his eyes and he froze on the spot, his mind going blank as the sense of danger caused his well trained senses to flare, he slowly looked around the area managing to keep his steadily rising panic in check as he did so even though he was slowly coming to the realisation that he was unarmed.

There, movement to his left. He spun to face it and in the second it took him to make that simple movement the sand in front of him erupted into three separate forms and he staggered back falling down onto the burning sand as he took in the three creatures before him.

They were long, roughly two meters or so, with a rough texture to their cylindrical bodies, their skin just an offshoot of the colour of the sand they had erupted from. They didn't appear to have heads, instead the top half of their body opened to show rows upon rows of small but decidedly sharp and deadly teeth, they had no eyes but Dean knew the three large worms could see him and he muttered their name through gritted teeth.

"Sand worms…"

He was unarmed; apart from the water detector there was no real way he could fend these creatures off as they began to slither their way sinisterly towards the young man, who leaped to his feet. He knew his chances for survival were slim but he'd be damned if he'd let them take him down without a fight.

"Dean! Use this!"

A familiar voice rung though the air as it yelled his name and he turned his head slightly, his reflexes acting quickly enough to grab the object thrown towards him before he saw the familiar figure that had thrown it. His hand rose almost of its own accord, dropping the water detector as it did so, and grabbing the hilt of the bronze sword and readying himself for the creatures' attacks.

One leaped toward him, using its body as some kind of maniac spring, its viscous jaws open wide and ready to deal fatal damage to the twenty-year-old, that was if a loud bang of a gun firing didn't ring out and a projectile faster than any human eye could see struck it from the side and sent it sprawling across the sand, purple blood oozing out as it died almost instantly from the shot.

The other worms were distracted now, and it gave the water hunter enough time to get a good look at his saviour, and he couldn't help the smile that crossed his face. There, standing not ten feet from him was a man slightly taller than himself, messy brown hair and tanned skin, his eyes a strange shade of yellow that Dean knew all Desert Kin had, he was wearing a long brown cloak over his shoulders, its collar high and hiding the lower part of the man's face, the cloak at present only covered the man's right hand side as his left arm was raised and pointing a large revolver-handgun at the two remaining worms, smoke raising from the barrel. It was Stephen, but Dean couldn't continue his observations of his friend any longer as one of the two remaining worms lunged back toward him, with practised ease he let himself drift to the side, dodging the creature's attack then raising his sword into the air and bringing it down in one swoop through the creature's long body, cutting it in two, killing it instantly.

He spun back round, ready to attack the other worm, but only smiled as he saw it leap towards his friend which wasn't the smartest of things to do, when the worm was within arms reach of the Desert Kin the man moved with lightning reflexes, his left arm dropping to his side as the right of his cloak kick up and away from his, decidedly more dangerous arm and with nothing more than a glance of the bronze gauntlet that held a long silver and slightly curved blade that Dean knew his friend carried the worm dropped to the ground in several pieces.

"You really should carry some weapons or something Dean; I can't be around to save you all the time"

Dean locked eyes with his friend, and knew that the desert Kin was smiling behind his cloak, he couldn't help but smile back as he shook his head, he could now take more of a look at his old friend. He hadn't changed at all, he still wore that black chest plate under the cloak and the same brown baggy trousers with black knee pads, on his right arm he wore a simple bronze gauntlet that covered his entire lower arm and grasped tightly in it was the signature weapon of the Desert Kin a long and rather thick katana which put the regular sized bronzed broad sword Dean now carried to shame, and he even kept that ever relaxed air about him which just made the younger man smile even wider. Stephen hadn't changed at all.

But this made the young man curious; it was against the laws of the clan for one of the ruling family to leave alone, just why was his old friend here?

"Well thanks for the help Steve, but just why are you here anyway?"

Stephen shrugged as he holstered his revolver at his side and rested the back of his blade against his shoulder while looking at the ground, breaking eye contact with his friend; he then spoke but looked off into the distance so that he didn't make eye contact with the younger man.

"Well you know me, I get worried about you easily…" his voice carried a slight distance to it as if he wasn't really thinking his words and just saying them as an automatic answer, "I kind'a followed you ever since you left just to keep an eye on you…"

Dean knew there was more to it, but he also knew that getting Stephen to talk about something he didn't want to was near impossible so he just smiled at his friend and put the sword into the sheath on his back, it was meant for the water detector but right now the device was out of order to say the least as he caught a glimpse of its now two separate pieces on the ground.

"Well it's good to know I have a guardian angel, and it's good to see you again"

With that the yellow eyed man looked back at him, an obvious grin on his face even if it was hidden, he sheathed his long blade at his side then strolled over to his younger friend and tossed his left arm over the young man's shoulders while grinding his other hand into the slightly shorter man's head.

"You know you're always glad to see me little buddy!"

He let go and then raised both his hands behind his head.

"What do you say we get out'a here before the bigger badder mother of these three decides to check on them, we can catch up on the past on our way to Hera Settlement"

"Yeah…I've been out here for hours so a nice rest at an Inn would feel great"

With that, the two men began their journey in the direction of what was the nearest Settlement, both sharing stories about the time when they were apart not that Dean's mind was really on the stories he was telling seemingly automatically, his mind was on his friend.

He hadn't seen the older man in two years, and he had finally realised something. The Desert Kin warrior hadn't aged, not that one would age that much in two years but the heir to the desert Kin's leadership had the exact same appearance as when they had met roughly eight years ago, in fact if what the stories he'd heard when he was living with the clan were true, then young master Stephen hadn't aged since his eighteenth birthday, it was rather strange to say the least but after just a few minutes of being around his old friend his mind soon left that line of thought and returned to more pressing matters, like how was he going to pay for the mountains of food his friend would obviously devour at the Settlement, he sighed mentally at the thought, but in any case it was good to see the other man again.