War had begun in Burmecia, the ranks of Dragon knights and Burmecian soldiers were fighting the black demons that were causing havoc in the rainy city. As soon as the creatures had breached through the main gate they began using their magic to destroy buildings and kill innocent citizens who had been unlucky to cross their path. The presence of the mages could be felt by the Burmecians in the city as smoke rose up from the burning fires from buildings attacked by the mages.
Frato and a few others had gathered together a large group of Burmecian soldiers and Dragon knights, assembling a good fraction of the Burmecian army. The troops marched towards the billowing smoke near the gates, with lances and short-swords poised and eyes and ears alert to try and locate the mages. It wasn't long before their ears detected the monotone chant of "KILL!" from the black mages. Their eyes then saw the figures of the black mages marching through the rain; arms raised gathering energy for their spells.
A charge command was issued by one of the senior Dragon knights and the army raced towards the mages with their weapons poised to impale. Some of the knights leapt onto nearby buildings and threw their lances at the group of mages, causing the mages to fall over and cease moving. A barrage of fire spells was then fired at the advancing Burmecian army killing the front line. The second line of the Burmecian troops managed to reach the mages and slash many of them down but the mages quickly prepared another barrage of spells to cause them to fall.
Frato began to see the pattern emerging of Black mages using fire, Burmecians reaching them and slaying them, before another wave of fire was unleashed. He had already thrown his lance at one of the mages and decided it was currently too dangerous to try and retrieve it. He started preparing a Dragon knight ability in his palms, gathering white energy which caused his hands to glow. A few of the other Dragon Knights were also charging up some of their own abilities as well. Unfortunately, some of the knights were paying too much attention on building up their attack and did not see some of black mages at the back of the squadron firing spells at the rooftops they were standing on. Only Frato and three or four of the other Dragon Knights managed to leap out of the way of the spells whilst charging their attacks.
The Dragon Knights finished charging their attacks, and cries of "Cherry Blossom!" and "Dragon's Breath!" were shouted from the rooftops. Petals poured into the group of mages as two or three dragon heads appeared on the rooftops in the hands of the Dragon Knights. The petals burst into flame, engulfing a good number of the mages as the dragon heads fired energy blasts into the mages at the back of the squadron. The soldiers who were charging had backed off as the attacks exploded in a light of fury of their enemies.
When the dust had settled, there was a pile of black mage corpses littering the streets. The Burmecians roared to celebrate their victory over the squadron of mages. The Dragon knights picked up their lances and some started to check the bodies of those who had fallen to check whether they were alive or just wounded. When Frato had retrieved his lance he jumped back onto the rooftop he had attacked the mages from. He scanned into the distance to check for signs of any more mages. One of the Dragon knights called the attention of the army of Burmecian soldiers from the front of the squad. He began to speak.
"Good work knights! We have proved victorious over these black demons! However, we must now tend to the wounded and secure the southern gate..."
"We've not won." A voice called out.
The Dragon Knight turned angrily to look at the source of the voice and saw Frato, stood firmly on the rooftop gazing into the distance. His face was filled with a look of concern.
"What did you say!" The Dragon Knight asked incredulously.
"We've not won. Not yet." Frato repeated before pointing out towards the southern gate. "Look."
The Dragon Knight leapt up onto the rooftop where Frato was standing and looked where Frato was pointing. His expression changed slowly to one of horror when he saw another large squadron of mages marching done the streets towards them. The knight turned towards the army beneath him and began barking out instructions.
"Prepare yourselves for battle! Take your positions! There is another group of mages coming!"
The Burmecian soldiers followed the order and they attacked the second group of mages in the same fashion as the last squadron. Mages were slain, Burmecian's were blasted down with fire by fireballs that were flying everywhere and Dragon Knight incantations were exploding across the street which had become a bloody battlefield. Once the second group of mages had eventually fallen, there was only a small handful of soldiers left standing. The rest were either dead or seriously wounded by burns. After the battle the standing soldiers began attending to those who had been knocked down by the mages and trying to heal those who were wounded. Frato came down from his perch on the rooftop to help, but not before he ensured that another soldier had taken his place there to keep watch for more mages. They did not want to be ambushed whilst they were attending to the injured. It wasn't too long before the Burmecian Frato had stationed on the roof shouted a warning to his comrades below.
"There are more demons coming!" The Burmecian screamed. "Take cover!"
"We must pull back and regroup!" One of the few remaining Dragon Knights stated. "Let us retreat into the city!"
All of the able Burmecians carried some of their wounded comrades before spreading out and hastily making their way into the city. Frato and two of the other Dragon Knights headed towards the palace. When they were halfway along the route to the palace they saw Leo running up to them. He stopped in front of them before speaking urgently.
"His majesty has ordered me to inform all the knights to evacuate the citizens from the city." Leo spoke whilst taking deep breaths. "We must save as many lives as we can."
"Where is the King?" One of the Dragon Knights inquired.
"He is being escorted out of the city with some of the royal guards to Cleyra." Leo answered. "He is leaving outside of the west gate. I suggest we get the citizens through the same gate as quickly as we can. The city is becoming far too dangerous."
"Let's spread out and search for the citizens." Frato ordered. "Now! Those demons are making their way down here!"
The Dragon Knights obeyed and ran out in search for citizens. Frato banged on the door on the various houses, shouting to see if there was anyone inside. A couple of the doors opened to reveal shocked Burmecian women. Frato ushered them out, yelling "Come on! The demons are coming! We have to take you to West gate!" The women obeyed, although a few went back inside to bring out their children. One of the other Dragon Knights rounded them together and led them towards the West Gate. Frato decided to travel further into the city to look for other citizens. Thankfully, word had already got round to most of the inner parts of the rainy city and most of the homes had already been evacuated.
After checking the inner-city Frato decided to head towards the western gate himself to ensure that the citizens had escaped. He leapt onto a rooftop nearby and started leaping towards the West Gate. Through the rain he could see the billowing smoke from burning houses which seemed to be getting closer towards the Royal Palace.
"Just what are these creatures?" Frato thought to himself as he bounded across the rooftops. "What is the purpose behind their destructive warpath? Who is controlling them?"
Frato managed to reach West Gate and he saw the citizens being lead out of the open gate, some were travelling out as families although many were travelling out as groups. Lion-heart was guarding the gate and watching the area along with Leo and a few other knights.
"Sir Frato!" Leo called out as he landed. "Good to see you're safe."
"Likewise." Frato said nodding at Leo and Lion-heart. He looked at his father. "Where's mother?"
"She has already escaped with some of the other knights and their families." Lion-heart replied. "Sir Leo and I have been given orders to keep a lookout for the mages and to ensure that the citizens are evacuated safely."
"I've been searching the area for civilians." Frato stated. "Everyone near the palace has been shifted, I'm going to go and check the east side of the city."
"Very well, I will come with you." Lion-heart replied. "Sir Leo, keep a lookout from this gate. If the mages come here, find us and we'll take the civilians through one of the other gates."
"Yes sir." Leo answered affirmatively with a short salute.
"The black demons are heading towards the royal palace." Frato warned. "We may have to go near the Southern gate on our way to the eastern side of the city."
"We'll need to be careful." Lion-heart added. "Let's go." The two knights took off and left Leo to watch the gate.
Disclaimer: Look, I don't own Final Fantasy IX or the characters featured in it. If I did, do you think I'd be wasting my time writing this? I'd be busy bringing the Burmecians back in a future FF release and designing wonderful fantasy worlds and stuff. As it stands I can only come up with Frato, who is mine.
Author's Rants: I'm sorry I took so long to update, I've been away for most of the summer. Well, from the looks of it I'd think all you guys are on holiday too! How come I only got one review? All constructive comments are welcome, don't be shy.
Dazz Combo: Glad you're enjoying it. Yes I think they are Type A mages, although I don't think it would make much difference if they were Type B or C. I might consider reading your story seeing as there is nothing else worth reading on at the moment.