Hello everyone! It's Piccolo Sky again! Or...maybe for the first time for you.

If you've been keeping up on me, you're probably a little surprised to see me posting again so soon. Well, I decided to go ahead and try something out. If you know me, you know I like to post stories in their complete form. I like reviews as much as the next guy, but I hate keeping people in suspense, and I especially hate threatening readers to end the story early if they don't give me reviews of my current chapter.

That said...one of my readers said that if I wanted to get more people to read my stuff, I should try posting it in installments. Otherwise, by the time a reader gets around to finding it, it's already buried under four web pages worth of new postings. So for once...I figured I'd try it out. This isn't the full story, just the first chapter...the first of MANY...

Well, the formalities are out of the way. Let's talk about the fanfiction you're about to read!

Right from the day that the original Final Fantasy bumbled it's overly large file size onto the NES so that the first boss could blurt, "I, Garland, will knock you down!", my favorite Final Fantasy character has been big, bad Bahamut. Powerful...wise...and always in a positionover your own heroes.In some games he's rather sadistic, in others egotistical, but in most he is the ultimate esper who is out to help you in some way. It has been very nice to see him over the years from one game to another.

Now, most people would say that each Final Fantasy game takes place in its own universe. I do not. I think of them all taking place on the same world. This could cause numerous problems and confusions, but if it was true then it would mean that Bahamut would be one of the only personalities that continues to exist through all the games. And for years, I fantasized about how Bahamut's history would unfold through these games. With each new game that came out, one of my first thoughts on completion would be, "How would Bahamut's own personal story tie into this?"

With this in mind, prepare to read the beginning of a monstrously long fanfiction. In its current form (which isn't all posted here, of course), the fanfiction is only a quarter of the way completed, and it is already one of the longest fanfictions I have ever done. You have the potential to enjoy this fanfiction on three different levels...

1. The fanfiction is, most basically, the story of Bahamut. Everything that has happened over his eons of life from his birth to his rise to power, his kingship to his fall, his death to his rebirth...and far beyond.

2. This fanfiction is also a viewpoint on how many of the deep seated evils that later permeate the world of Final Fantasy began, as well as how many of the great wonders of the world came to be.

3. Finally, this fanfiction is a supreme "unifier". This fanfiction is a crossover of almost every Final Fantasy in the main series, and will at least contain allusions to FFI-X.

This fanfiction is so monstrously huge that one subsection on will not be able to hold it. Hence, "The Servant" is broken down into six smaller fanfictions (but each one is still rather large). Chapter One of the first, "The Griever Saga", is what you are about to read.

Furthermore, although this is indeed a monstrous Final Fantasy crossover, if you are reading it simply to see the elements from other Final Fantasy games, you may want to look elsewhere or bear with the story for a while. The story won't really start going through the Final Fantasy games until the second fanfiction. Also, if you're not a particular fan of Final Fantasy VII, you may want to look elsewhere. By the time this story reaches the fourth fanfiction, the story will have gone from a crossover to almost entirely a Final Fantasy VII fanfic, and will remain so for the rest of the series.

With these things in mind, read and enjoy! (Pause) You can't do one or the other. You must do both! (Evil eye)

THE SERVANT

The Griever Saga

"One of the great tragedies in nature is when a creatures finds out, while still young, that it is inevitably going to die. Time becomes a shifty character that day. Do you take his hand like an old friend and calmly walk along the road? Or do you cower like a ragged crook awaiting the executioner? Do you take the sands falling from his hourglass as a reminder to yourself of your own temporality? Or do you run like mad...fearing the old madman catching up with you and finishing his prey?"

I dub thee…Bahamut…

The small creature cracked its eyelids, first one, then the other, and peered out into the world. The sky was blue, and a gentle breeze went by. That was all. The creature opened is mouth and yawned. It stretched out its small little limbs and separated each of its claws. It uncurled its tail and let it extend over its surroundings. Its tiny little wings fully unfurled with the sound of the leathery skin unsticking as they came out. Once they had reached their full height, the creature recoiled them, then raised its serpentine head. Its neck popped, and it turned its head from side to side. Its serpentine eyes blinked again and looked about.

The creature soon saw that a nest of straw and other small pieces of wood have been woven around it, and that it was sleeping within the confines of the nest. As it continued to look around, recognition began to stir in its brain. Knowledge began to materialize spontaneously, and things that the creature didn't know it had known until now appeared. Memories began to be forged, and the creature began to sense time for the first time in its life. But it didn't know what happened before that, where it was, or why it was there.

Suddenly, its wondering was made short as it felt something pressing hard against its side. It was forceful and rough, and, caught off guard, the lizard creature found itself suddenly pushed to the edge of the nest, closer to where it dropped off. The creature grew nervous. All that it could see besides the nest was blue, and it didn't think it could stand on that. It turned its head to see what was pushing it.

Much to its surprise, it saw another creature just like it. The only exceptions were that while the creature itself was a dark blue, the other was a dark red. For a moment, the creature wondered if the other was surroundings or a part of itself. But when it began to move without it telling it to, it knew that it wasn't a part of it nor nonliving. It was pushed again, and inched closer to the edge. The creature began to frown. Then, suddenly, knowledge of strange noises filled its mind, and in a desire to express its wishes to the other creature, babble stumbled out of its mouth.

"Stop pushing me!"

Both creatures froze at that and looked up to the first creature. That one rose a talon to its mouth, shocked at the sounds it had just made. Somehow, it knew that if it wanted the other creature to stop pushing it, it had to utter those sounds out loud, moving its tongue and teeth as it did so. However, it was soon surprised again as the other creature also made sounds.

"I…understood that!"

The former creature now recoiled along with the other. The first creature realized it too understood what the thing was saying, and the red creature shrank back as it realized it too could make sounds to express its thoughts. Both of them, now quite confused with each other and where they were, blinked and looked at each other. Then, at last, the blue creature risked making sounds again.

"I guess…uh…I can talk…"

The red one swallowed. "Uh…me too. I can understand your noises…"

"I can too…"

"Er…"

"Um…"

"…This is weird. How come I can't understand that blowing around me then?"

"Well…I guess that there's only some things we know how to say so far…I think."

The red one blinked. "I don't remember learning how…" It mused aloud. However, after a few moments, it merely shrugged its shoulders, raising its wings as it did so. "Oh well." He answered, and then proceeded to shove into the blue one again, backing him closer to the edge.

"Hey!" The blue one cried. "Stop that!"

"You're hogging the place!" He answered.

"So are you!"

"You kicked me first while you were asleep!"

"How did you even get here? I was here before you were!"

"Uh-uh!" The red one protested. "I was!"

"No I was!"

"Oh yeah? Then how did you get here?"

The blue one froze. In all truth, he didn't remember. In fact, the only thing he could remember was waking up a few moments ago. Before that, he couldn't remember a thing, especially not learning how to talk and move and all that. He swallowed, and shrugged. "I…I dunno…" However, before the red one could seize on the opportunity, he called out a challenge. "How did you get here?"

"I've always been here." The red one confidently replied.

"Since when?"

"Since…uh…a long time ago."

"How long?"

"You're hogging the place!" The red one shot back, changing the subject and shoving the blue one again.

"Cut it out!" He protested. "What are you, anyway? And why do you look like me?"

"Like you?" The red one replied in shock. "You look like me! And I'm a Wyvern. What kind of creature are you? Another Wyvern?"

The blue one hesitated. What was he anyway? Wyvern… He was sure he had never heard that word before. He was sure he had never been called it, despite his lack of a memory. But then again, as he continued to think, he did remember dimly something calling him some name… It was black and dark…cold everywhere… But he could still recall being addressed a single time…

"…Bahamut." The blue creature answered. "I'm…Bahamut."

"Well, Bahamut," The red one answered, seeming rather straightforward. "You're hogging the place!" And with that, Wyvern suddenly rushed forward and butted Bahamut with all of his strength. That was too much for the young creature. It called out in shocked, flailed its arms for a moment, flapped its wings ineffectually, and finally lost all control. Giving out a cry, he spilled backward and fell off of the nest.

Colors, blue and all sorts of other bright tones, flooded around Bahamut for a moment. He cried out in terror, thinking that he was going to fall into the blueness and be lost forever. That bunch of sticks and straw was all he had known, and now he was out in the middle of nowhere. He was doomed… He screamed and tumbled through the air a few times, thinking he would be doing so the rest of his life…

Until he suddenly landed on something soft and hard. Rather, it felt soft on the outside but hard on the inside. Bahamut continued to scream for a moment, thinking he was still falling. However, it only took a few moments for him to realize he had stopped. He cut off his tone, and then blinked in confusion and puzzlement. He raised his head a bit, and looked around to try and see where he was and what new world he had ventured into outside of that small area.

There was still a lot of the blue everywhere. It filled most of the world around the young creature. The area that wasn't blue was mostly looking hard and crumbly and dark colored. Right behind him, Bahamut saw that the pile of sticks and straw had been built up on top of a pile of the substance. It surrounded him all the way around, but in some places was covered with stringy green things in large clumps or mats. There were a few odd things also around. Bahamut saw that there was some sort of clear blue stuff in a hole a short way down from where he was, and two long rope-like things were moving around in it. Some of his vision was cut off by the big thing that held his nest, but he could see another thing on the other side of it with another pile of sticks and straw on top. He also was laying on some white thing. It felt soft on top, but underneath it was something hard and lumpy. A small pink orb poked out from the edge of the soft covering, and it was covered with long brown strings. He couldn't be sure, but he thought the image on the pink orb was changing as he looked at it. Last of all, he found himself surrounded by a lot of puffy white material. The whole area was.

"Wow…" Bahamut remarked. But before he could ponder the meaning of what he just said, something else hard landed on top of him. He was soon pressed against the soft thing as the lumpy mass of what was Wyvern landed on top of him. Bahamut winced under the weight, and then looked up with some irritation. But the red creature wasn't thinking about him, but was looking around at the whole area and seeing all that Bahamut had seen.

"Amazing! Look at all the stuff!" Wyvern called out loud merrily. "It's all so…so…colorful…and odd shaped! I wonder how much of it's alive?"

Bahamut frowned. "I'm alive, and you're squishing me!"

"Me too!"

Both Bahamut and Wyvern leapt into the air and shrank back in terror. They looked to the source of the new sound, moreover one that they understood, and their eyes soon rested on the pink orb. It looked at them with what they thought was an angry look, and suddenly rose. As it did, the soft covering fell off of it, revealing that the hard thing was actually another creature. It was covered with soft pink stuff rather than scales, and it wore white thin stuff all over it. Some sort of shining metal was encircling its head. Its face was also much more compressed than theirs. Its teeth were far flatter and not nearly as menacing, and its eyes were circular rather than serpentine. At any rate, the creature frowned at them, and yelled at them in a voice that sounded much higher than theirs.

"You dummies! You woke me up!" The thing hesitated a moment, then looked them over for a brief second, and frowned more. "What kind of dumb looking girls are you, anyway?"

Wyvern instantly frowned. "I'm not a girl! I'm a boy!" With that, he turned curiously to Bahamut, and looked over him in puzzlement. "I'm not sure about that one though…"

Bahamut turned to him and snarled. "I'm a boy too!"

The creature scratched her head in confusion. "What's a boy?"

The other two stared at her for a moment, both obviously as confused. At last, Bahamut scratched his own head. "I dunno."

However, Wyvern grinned and looked more prideful. "It's better than every girl there is! Especially a boy Wyvern, and that's exactly what I am!"

The girl frowned. "You liar! A Starlet is just as good as a Wyvern! And that's what I am! A girl Starlet… That's even better than a regular Starlet!"

"Well, neither of you are better than the Odin."

All three froze at that, and turned their confused expressions over to who had spoken recently. Another creature like the girl was there. Only this one seemed to have huge horns and ears, and his eyes were red rather than blue, like the girl's. A large flap of something also was attached to its neck and going out over his back. Its arms were crossed and it gave a frown to all of them, looking bolder and more superior than all of them put together. Bahamut blinked a few times at it.

"What are you?"

"I'm Odin." The creature coldly answered. "I'm the best and baddest creature there is, and don't you weaklings forget it. And since I'm obviously better than a Wyvern, that makes me three times as good as a girl."

Hearing this, Starlet's pink face suddenly turned red colors. Quickly, she threw off the soft covering all together and jumped out of the raised area she was on. She marched bravely across the green thread stuff and right up into Odin's face. Her hands were on her hips and she frowned at him hard. "Listen you! I don't care what you say! A Starlet is plenty better than an Odin!"

"Sorry, but I'm the best. You're just a dumb old Starlet." The creature softly responded.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Prove it! I can do anything an Odin can!"

"Do you have a sword?"

Starlet hesitated, and blinked, then shrugged. "What's a sword?"

"You don't even know what a sword is." Odin mocked. "I've got one. I'm better than a Starlet then."

Starlet frowned and fumed some more. She balled her hands into fists and shook them. "Oh yeah? Then where is this dumb old sword thing anyway?"

At this, Odin seemed to grow a bit nervous. Sweat began to form on his brow, and he swallowed. "Well…uh…it's a little heavy, and I couldn't bring it with me… But it's just on the other side of that hard thing!" Here, he pointed to where the piles of sticks and straw were mounted on. "I'll show it to you if you come to the other side."

"Ha!" Starlet shot back. "I bet you don't even have a sword! I bet you don't even know what one is!"

Odin flushed in anger. "I do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too-"

Odin froze, for Starlet suddenly got a mischievious look on her face, darted forward, and seized Odin's horns. In a rush, she pulled the horns, and what looked like the outside of Odin's head, right off his body. Giggling, she turned and began to run with the horns and head. Odin was shocked, and froze in surprise for a moment as she ran. But then, he grit his teeth and charged after her, bellowing at her to give it back immediately. Starlet just kept giggling and running, laughing behind her and taunting the angry Odin.

However, Bahamut and Wyvern had gotten bored a long time ago. Neither of them were girls, so they went their separate ways. Wyvern went over to the other large gray thing, and began to look around it. After a moment, he grabbed the sides of it, and then, testing slowly, making sure he could do it, began to crawl up the side toward the pile of sticks and straw at the top. Bahamut, on his part, became intrigued in the pool with the thin things swishing about inside of it. Blinking, and staying low to the ground, he walked toward it on all fours. He stayed cautious, only occasionally poking his head out at it. He knew very well that everything he had seen moving so far turned out to be alive, so he didn't want to risk upsetting another creature. Gradually, he made his way off the same raised area and onto the green stuff. It was soft, but not nearly as soft as the raised area had been. Nevertheless, he made his way over to the pool, and looked down inside.

Sure enough, two long things were swishing around in it. They were longer than Bahamut, but what he supposed was their heads were smaller than his. They seemed to be shifting their bodies from side to side in order to move through the liquid. Bahamut blinked and stared at them a long time. At last, however, one of their heads turned to him. Then, abruptly, it shot straight at him. Bahamut gasped, and quickly tore his head backward in surprise. Moments later, the head burst out of the liquid all together and came above water, and parts of the liquid went onto the green stuff. Bahamut stared in surprise.

The creature looked around a moment, and then frowned. "It's colder outside of the clear stuff…and I can't swim here…" He muttered aloud. But after that, he turned his full attention to Bahamut. "What're you looking at?" The creature asked challengingly.

"You." Bahamut responded simply, though still looking rather amazed.

"Well we don't like being looked at!" The thing shot back.

Moments later, there was another explosion out of the liquid, and the other thing's head was poking out. It too looked about in confusion for a moment, trying to make sense out of the new environment. But then, it turned its head to Bahamut as well. Just like himself and Wyvern, these two creatures were red and blue. "Yeah!" It shot out, echoing its partner. "We don't like being looked at!"

Bahamut blinked. "What are you things?"

"Leviathan." The blue one spoke.

"Ogopogo." The red one said at the same time.

Both of them then looked to each other, and with frowns said at the same time. "No I'm not!" A pause from both. "Well I'm not either!" They spoke again. They both frowned at each other a moment, then sighed and looked away from each other. They didn't seem to be in that good terms with one another. Bahamut continued to look at both of them, and finally he smiled a bit.

"You're funny creatures. What are you doing in that liquid? Why don't you come out on the green stuff like me?"

Both of them turned back to Bahamut at once, looking mildly surprised. But then, both of them smiled, and both developed a bold and self-upright look of pride.

"Ha!" Leviathan chimed. "We don't need to walk on that stupid green mat!"

"Yeah!" Ogopogo answered. "The best place to be is in this liquid! Out of it the world pulls down on us, but in it we can move anywhere!"

Bahamut hesitated a moment, but then frowned. "Being stuck in a pool doesn't seem that good. I wonder if a Bahamut is better than a Leviathan and Ogopogo."

Both of them turned to Bahamut in fury.

"What!" Ogopogo bellowed.

"Leviathan and Ogopogo are the best creatures there are!" Leviathan blasted.

Bahamut didn't change. "How can you be? You're stuck in that hole."

Leviathan grit his teeth. "I am not!" He shouted vehemently. But then, suddenly, he smiled. But it wasn't a good smile, Bahamut realized. It was dark and mean, and not friendly at all. "Think the water's not that good, huh?" The creature challenged. Abruptly, the liquid shot upward. Much to Bahamut's shock, a ring of the creature's body came out, and then laced itself around Bahamut's own long neck in an instant. Bahamut gasped as the ring tightened, and suddenly had him. Before he could react, the rope yanked back down and ripped Bahamut's head into the liquid.

Bahamut was instantly shocked, for when he tried to breathe he choked. He coughed rapidly, purging the liquid back out of his lungs. However, after being held down for a few moments in the liquid, he realized he wanted to breathe badly. But he couldn't at all in the liquid. He tried to pull back, but Leviathan held him fast. He wouldn't let him up. Bahamut's face turned to fear and shock. He struggled to pull himself out of the liquid, but Leviathan wouldn't let him go. He pulled and pulled, growing furious in his attempt to get free, but he couldn't. Bahamut nearly went crazy trying to get out, throwing a fit under the liquid. But at last, as he began to do so, Leviathan let him loose.

Bahamut quickly pulled his head out of the liquid. Back in something he could breathe, he began to cough and hack, forcing the liquid out of his lungs. As he coughed and wheezed, Leviathan and Ogopogo rolled over in the water and laughed. They pointed their rope tails at Bahamut and giggled their heads off at his misfortune. Bahamut continued to spit, and frowned at the creatures, seeing that they could easily breathe the liquid as well as the air around them. Inside, he felt a little hurt. He couldn't breathe liquid. Did that mean that Leviathan and Ogopogo really were better than Bahamut? The thought didn't bode well, and he began to frown and look slightly downcast. As the two other creatures continued to laugh at him, he sat in silence for a brief moment.

"ACK!"

Immediately, all three creatures, as well as Starlet and Odin, still running, froze and turned their heads to the noise. Bahamut was just in time to see Wyvern now at the top and looking over the edge of the sticks and straw. However, he held on only a moment before crying out in fear and then letting go and falling to the ground rather hard. Yet it wasn't he who had been the one who screamed so loudly. That was the voice of another creature, the like that Bahamut had not yet heard. It came from the pile at the top of the hard stuff. All five creatures looked to see what it was.

Moments later, a small little head came out over the edge of the pile. It was a bunch of bright colors, all red and yellow and orange. However, it was indeed small, and only had a small little hard thing for a nose and mouth. It looked down to Wyvern, who was now sprawled on the ground and looking a bit senseless. After that, it screamed again. However, that was only for a moment. It then looked and saw everything around it that it had not noticed before. It screamed again at that. Then, it turned and looked to the five other creatures, and screamed at all of them too. Bahamut, getting rather annoyed with it all, tried to cover his ears.

"Would you stop that?" He called out.

"Monsters!" The thing cried. "Monsters are all around me! They're trying to eat me!"

"I was not trying to eat you!" Wyvern scowled as he struggled to pick himself back up. "Besides, you're too noisy to eat!"

"Ack! Where am I? How did I get here? What's happened to me?" The creature continued to shriek, looking around in confusion at everything. It grew terribly panicked and frightened, and at last ducked its head back into its mass of straw and sticks once again. The other six creatures blinked at it a moment, and then looked to each other, trying to see if anyone else had any ideas of what that creature had been. But all of them looked just as confused as they did. They didn't know what that creature was, but moreover none of them knew where they were, how they got there, or why they were suddenly awake with the knowledge they had. They were all huddled in one small space, and none of them knew anything at all of what to make of it…

Starlet blinked and looked around. While she did…two much larger hands like hers bent down, grasped the piece of Odin's head, and then took it from her. Starlet gasped and quickly looked to the source. Everyone did as well, and saw it as it looked down on the creature below.

"Now, now…that's not yours, Starlet."

The latest voice was smooth and slow. It was very calming and soothing, and Bahamut knew from the moment he heard it that the owner was kind and gentle. It was so relaxing and pleasant that the creature in the other pile of stuff looked up and blinked at the source. This being looked a bit like Starlet. However, its strings on its head were golden, and the stuff around it was all golden as well. It was also as tall as three Starlets. Furthermore, it had no shiny material on the top of its head. All of the creatures stared at it in confusion, as it turned smiling gently, and slowly bent down to Odin. Even he was frozen and stared silently at her, and barely noticed as she slowly returned the piece of his head to him. Bahamut on his part barely noticed, staring at her as well. She seemed to radiate light, and her impressive size and kind face gathered all of their attention spans. She looked to them all, and smiled softly.

"Hello children. My name is Crusader." She spoke simply. "I am your nanny, and ruler of the realm of Ultima Nexus. Welcome home."

Bahamut and the others didn't know what to say. They stared at this creature, this one called Crusader, with confusion and puzzlement. Bahamut didn't know what those words meant…ruler…nanny…realm…Ultima Nexus…or even home. But all of those words seemed soft and light, pleasant things…not dark or dangerous in the least. That last word especially made Bahamut feel a bit warm inside. He liked to hear it…and the talking of Crusader made him begin to like her as well. Her? Yes…at this point Bahamut believed he could tell the difference between boys and girls, and decided that since Starlet was a her and that Crusader looked so much like her, she had to be a her too. But other than that, he and the others were still confused.

"Home?" Leviathan asked, genuinely puzzled.

Crusader smiled warmly and nodded. "Yes. This is your new home. It's a place where you live. It's a place where your family is. And that's who you all are…family. You are all brothers and sisters."

Ogopogo scratched his own head with his rope body. "Brothers? Sisters?"

"Those are very special people." Crusader gently explained. "You all are the children of the planet. You are each other's brothers and sisters. The boys are brothers, and the girls are sisters. Brothers and sisters are supposed to love and get along with each other. They trust each other. There is no one you depend on more than your brother or sister." With this, Crusader turned and pointed a finger to Bahamut, and a small laugh, merry and light, parted her lips. "Your name is Bahamut. You are not a Bahamut, Bahamut. What you are, and what everyone is, is an esper. And none of you are better than anyone else here." With that, she turned to the red creature. "Your name is Wyvern." She turned to Odin next. "You're Odin." Then she turned to the rope things, and pointed to each. "You're name is Ogopogo, and your name is Leviathan. You all are the boys." After this, she turned to the one who looked like her. "You are Starlet." Lastly, she turned to the last pile of sticks and straw. "And you are Phoenix." Seeing herself addressed, the creature recoiled back into the nest. Crusader laughed slightly again, and then began to walk over to the nest. "You are the girls." She explained as she did so. In moments, she was at the nest. She was so tall that she easily looked over the top of it. She smiled into it, and very slowly raised her hands and arms to it.

"Come on, Phoenix. I won't hurt you. None of us will. This is your home." She explained, very soft and soothing to the creature. "You're always safe at home."

Crusader continued to stand for a moment, but at last it seemed as if the creature got into her hands. At that, Crusader gently lifted Phoenix out of the pile. She was an odd creature, her body thin and having huge flaps that looked fuzzy and bright, just like her head. The moment she was out, however, and Crusader indicated that she would put her on the ground, she shrunk back and tried to get closer to Crusader. The woman merely smiled, and held her closer to her own chest and let her rest against her. She then turned her head up to all of them.

"I am your nanny." She gently spoke. "The Planet wants me to take care of you. If you ever hurt, are hungry or thirsty, are angry or sad, come to me. A nanny takes care of those things. You may call me Crusader, or mommy, if you like."

Bahamut blinked. "What's Ultima Nexus…mommy?"

Crusader smiled at Bahamut when he said that, especially when he hesitated on the last part. "That's your home, Bahamut." She gently answered. "All of you…watch closely…"

With that, Crusader removed one hand from Phoenix and extended it. She pointed it at the white powder that surrounded the small piece of land they were on. Curious, all seven espers turned and looked to what she was doing. Crusader hesitated a moment, but then shifted her hand one way. When she did, to the shock of all present, all of the white powder, surrounding everywhere except where there was blue, parted all at once. And the moment they did, light from the sky began to shower down on everything below, and the amazing landscape that was beneath the white powder was at last revealed.

Bahamut gasped in astonishment. The bit of hard stuff that they were standing on was only a small part of a much larger portion extending downward and filling up a large mass of land. What stretched ahead of them for what seemed like close to forever was a huge valley, all filled with that green stuff. But that wasn't all. There was a long ribbon for the blue liquid to go through, and far to the northeast there was a large place for the liquid to collect in. It all seemed to come from another huge pile of hard stuff which the blue liquid ran down. Despite his experience, Bahamut thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Lots of green threads burst up everywhere along the landscape, and they had bright colors on the end of each one of them. Little specks were hovering around them, also brightly colored. Hills and valleys rolled throughout the huge basin, and in some places there were huge piles of hard stuff making larger hills and even cliffs. Some of the hard stuff was smoothed flat, and some hard large circular pieces of hard stuff standing with something over them. Far, far in the distance…almost farther than Bahamut could see, were more huge piles of hard stuff. They were the tallest yet. Beyond them, large masses of the white powder walled up. In fact, all around the huge area they were gathered, the powder surrounded it everywhere. Bahamut was overwhelmed. So was everyone else.

A few of the little specks made their way over to the seven of them. Starlet saw one and recoiled in a bit of fear. Crusader merely smiled and laughed. "Don't be afraid, Starlet. Those are butterflies. They won't hurt you."

"Wow…" Wyvern uttered. "What is all that green stuff out there?"

"That's called grass, Wyvern."

"What about the liquid?" Leviathan asked.

"That is water." Crusader answered, then quickly went on. "I'm sure all of your have many questions, and you'll be wanting to know what everything is. But the most important answer of all, is that all of this is yours. You're free to live here and to whatever you want in Ultima Nexus. This land was made for just us eight.

"However…" Here, Crusader's tone became much firmer and harder. "There is one rule. There is only one way to leave Ultima Nexus. It lies beyond those mountains far in the distance." Here, she pointed to the large pieces of hard stuff far away. "It is a hole in the ground surrounded by clouds. You must never go there…not one of you."

"Why not?" Wyvern asked, curious.

"A dark world lies below Ultima Nexus." Crusader warned. "The things that live there are not good, like the things here. They all are evil and mean. They devour each other and kill each other. They will hurt you…perhaps even kill you…if you children ever go down there. You must never go there, for in that place I cannot protect you. You may never be able to go back."

All seven were rather unnerved by this. Crusader spoke so dark and coldly that one could tell she was not kidding. She didn't have room for a single solitary joke in her voice, and left no room for defiance. Yet Bahamut didn't care. If that place was so terrible, he never wanted to go there. This place was far better. It was pretty and warm and beautiful, and he liked it already. He liked that it was his home, and that he could live here and call it his home. He'd be able to play and explore and find out what other things besides grass and water and mountains were. He was happy here. He was content.

"I won't go there, mommy." Bahamut readily said.

"Me neither." Leviathan added.

"Me too." Phoenix spoke, a bit quivering.

Realizing that they were a bit fearful, Crusader smiled again. "Oh, I know you won't. You don't have to tell me. And don't be so frightened. You're safe here. Now…let's go and enjoy our new place to live."

That's the first chapter. More is coming tomorrow!