I in no way, shape or form take credit for creation or ownership of the Final Fantasy series. That belongs to Square-Enix.
It was time.
Jayson stood before the north gate of Cornelia, saying his final good-byes there for some time. It was a beautiful summer day, the kind of day that just seems to radiate a quiet calmness throughout the world, the kind that made you believe that you couldn't ask for a better one. The sun hung lazily over the cloudless sky; it's rays reflecting off his lightweight armor and the sheathed sword that hung at his waist. The City of Dreams, with its many buildings and homes built closely together up the slope of a low rolling hill, the Castle of Dreams standing proudly on it's zenith, also seemed to be glittering it the morning light, making it an even more spectacular sight to behold. He felt a strong wretch in his stomach as he remembered that this would be the last time he would see it in a long time.
"You be careful okay?" Eliza said with a tone of sincere concern. Her eyes starting to glaze over a little bit, it was obvious she was trying hard not to cry.
"Yeah, you bring your ass back here in one piece, alright." Firion added, with a playful smirk that meant he was being serious, but trying to keep the mood light.
"Of course I'll be careful. You guys know me!" Jayson replied with an equally playful grin, enjoying his last few moment with his friends.
"That's what worries me…" Firion said, getting a quick slap on the head from both Jayson and Eliza for it. "Ow… I was kidding…"
Dau'Mahl, still dressed in his black cloak, (Jayson wondered if he ever took it off) watched the three people standing around, laughing, and enjoying themselves, despite the fact that their group would be one person smaller within ten minutes. An image flashed through his mind of his own goodbye, of when he had to leave his "home" and he shut his eyes to try and block it out. 'Get out my head…' He willed the memory to leave with everything he had, because it only hurt to remember those few minutes. So intense was his concentration that, even with his natural alertness, he didn't notice a hunched-over figure slowly approach him, stop about a foot away, and turn to face the small group as well. A minute later, he finally came back to reality, and recognized the man beside him.
"Cautious to the very end, aren't you?" He said, tilting his head slightly to look into the deep, brown eyes of a much older man.
"I like to think so." Padrone replied, looking around to make sure no one could hear them.
"I thought we had come to an agreement on this." The Elf said bluntly, looking back towards Jayson's group of friends, who were now being entertained by Firion's impersonation of Jayson tripping over a rock and somehow dooming the world.
"Just because I accept something doesn't mean I have to like it." The elderly man retorted, "I don't trust you, especially with what you've done."
"I gave you my reasons for that."
"That's a motive, not a justification. You went too far."
"And what do you plan to accomplish by chastising me now?" Dau'Mahl asked, shifting slightly. "What's done is done."
"I hope to at least find out that you feel remorse." Padrone said, "I'd sleep better at night if I knew the Solaced wasn't under the protection of a heartless mu--"
"My only regret," The Elf cut off Padrone, a sliver of anger in his voice, "is that I didn't finish what I started."
"That's it? You regret nothing else" Padrone inquired, slightly astonished.
"I… regret the consequences as well…" Dau'Mahl muttered, his eyes faltering.
"Well, I suppose that's the best I'm going get out of you." Padrone said in an off-hand way. Dau'Mahl didn't reply.
Whilst all this was happening, two people, one a young woman and the other a young girl no older than sixteen were chatting about the upcoming journey, hidden slightly in an alley. The older girl was hidden under a heavy, dark hooded cloak that made sure no one would see, or at the very least, recognize her, while the other was dressed in a simple white robe that stopped just above her ankles, revealing her sandaled feet. Brushing a thick strand of her blazing red hair to one side, the younger girl pulled the hood aside slightly to look at the elder of the two.
"Are you sure it's okay for you to be here?" She asked, in a tone of worry that might have been a bit much for the situation.
"Don't worry Calida," Was the reply of the Princess, removing the Solaced's hand to adjust the hood, "No one will know I'm gone, I know how to get in and out of the castle without being seen. I said I was taking a bath, and that I wanted to be alone, so only someone very brave or very stupid will go looking for me. It'll be alright."
"If you say so…" She said with a voice that still had a trace of worry in it.
"I know it's somewhat unorthodox, but I felt the need to say farewell in person. I hate using messengers…" A small grimace crossed her face as she spoke.
"You didn't need to do this just for me. A messenger would have been fine." Calida stammered, her cheeks taking on a slightly reddish hue.
"No, don't worry about it." She re-assured the girl who had become her friend despite their relatively short time together, "I didn't get a chance after the ceremony, and this was the only time left. I wish I could stay longer, but…"
"You have to leave already?" She asked,
"Yes. I'm sorry, but I should be getting back soon. It will take me a little while to get to the castle, and I've been in the bath for about an hour so far." The Princess said with a rare smile on her face, then she turned quickly, and disappeared back down the alley she emerged from minutes earlier. "Goodbye Solaced, and good luck."
"Goodbye…" Calida muttered, watching her run off. Her eyes stung a bit, because she knew this might be the last time they met, but she was quickly brought to her senses when a sudden movement to her left startled her.
"Are you ready to leave?"
Calida breathed a silent sigh of relief as the familiar, albeit somewhat unnerving, frame of Dau'Mahl turned out to be the movement she saw. He had a slightly angry look on his face, and his cold voice earlier had made it clear, intentionally or not, what the answer he wanted was.
"Y-yes, of course, I'm ready when you are." She replied, shaken up a bit. Whether it was because the Elf had been able to approach her without making a sound, or because the Princess who had been so kind to her for the past week was almost caught out of the palace, she couldn't tell. The young girl simply followed Dau'Mahl over to where Jayson was chatting with his friends.
"We're leaving." His voice, though quiet and withdrawn, seemed to ring through the trio, practically forcing them all to acknowledge his presence. There was something about Dau'Mahl that made you listen when he spoke.
"Well… This is it buddy." Firion said grimly, extending his hand. Jayson wasted no time in returning the gesture, and pulled his long time friend in closer for a quick hug. Once he let go, Eliza was there quickly after, giving him an equally heartfelt embrace.
"I'm not saying good-bye, just good luck." She said, as he pulled away, not wanting to delay the trip any longer. As much as he wanted to stay there with his friends, head down to their favorite café on the corner and enjoy the perfect day, a part of him wanted to leave on the journey right then and there. Certainly not because of his friends, but because of the slight hope that had been deep inside him for half the year, as well as the excitement that had been welling up inside him for the past week.
"See you two later then." He flashed a quick smile as he spoke, and then hurried off to catch up with Calida and Dau'Mahl who were already out the gate and heading northwest. They had decided first to head to the Chaos Shrine, where the powers of all four orbs congregated. "Decided", Jayson thought, was too strong a term. Calida had more or less informed them the night before that she had to go to the shrine to receive a blessing from Munen, the God who had created the earth and all life on it, before she would have the power to re-light the orbs.
So left with little choice, the group headed through the Serine Forest that almost surrounded Cornelia, except for a gap in front of it's southern gate. The winds peacefully blew through the leaves and his hair, giving him an elated feeling of calmness and creating a soothing sound as it whistled slightly through the trees. Calida, who was just ahead of Jayson and slightly behind Dau'Mahl, was softly and beautifully singing a song he hadn't heard before, and one he most definitely wouldn't mind hearing again.
Beyond that, they mostly traveled in silence. Calida was busy singing, and Jayson didn't want to interrupt her, nor did her humbling presence made it any easier to speak up. He wasn't really interested in talking to Dau'Mahl, and Calida only asked one or two questions before she gave up due to his taciturn responses. This all worked out actually, because the Elf, it seemed, had no particular interest in talking to them. Save for warning Calida about an out-growing root or a low hanging branch, he mostly kept to himself, leading them towards the shrine. The animosity that had been building up between Elves and humans in recent years was, as it seemed, quite strong even in such a small group.
Except for a short while where they had to pass through Dwarven territory, it was a relatively uneventful trip. The outskirts of the Dwarven land was situated in a sort of crossroads, with grassy plains to the north and south, a small mountain range to the east, and worn lands that once had been proud peaks like those it faced lay on the west. That passage, known as Fallen Crest, was where the armies would travel through, should either side choose to attack the other directly. Shuddering to think what might become of Cornelia should that happen, Jayson kept going, confidence coming from the fact that as long as the Solaced was with them, the Dwarves wouldn't dare touch them.
And on their second day of travel, just as the shrine rose up over a hill, night began to spread its way across the sky; it's stars shining brightly across a dark tapestry of nothingness. As they stared down at the dilapidated building that look as though it would collapse at any moment, it was Dau'Mahl who spoke up and put what Jayson was thinking to words.
"Do we go in now, or wait?"
They both turned to Calida, who shook her head slightly. "No. It's a crime to enter there at night, and there are no exceptions. Death is the only punishment." Her voice dropped to sad whisper and her head hung slightly when she spoke the last sentence.
"Then wait it is." Dau'Mahl muttered, as he quietly withdrew a blanket to sleep on from his small satchel. Jayson returned a few moments later with tinder and logs from the nearby woods, set them on a small patch of dirt, and started trying to make a fire. It had taken him at least an hour to get it right last time, and by then Calida, the only person interested in talking to him, was already asleep. Grumbling, he knelt down beside the pile of wood with his flint in hand, when Dau'Mahl cleared his throat, signaling him to move. The Elf knelt down beside the fire just as Jayson had (but with a touch more grace), stared at it for a quick moment and then spoke, his voice seeming to echo throughout the area.
"Hidden flames, reveal thyself and raze what I command you. Fire!"
The tinder quickly burst into a small fire, and spread unnaturally fast throughout the pile. Jayson stared at it, stunned slightly, and turned his head slowly to the Elf.
"Why didn't you do that last time?" He asked, rather annoyed.
"I found it funny." Dau'Mahl replied, with the closest thing to a smile Jayson had seen on his face so far.
"I found it funny…" Jayson mimicked as he watched their guide walk off to try and forage some food. They had been eating the food they had packed for the past two days, but he knew they would run out of that eventually, and the chances of being close to a town when that happened was relatively slim. Dau'Mahl had a wide array of knowledge about wild plants and roots that were edible, so he was the logical choice to send on food hunts, leaving Calida and Jayson alone by the fire.
"So," Calida said after a short period of silence, "why'd you decide to join the journey?"
"Uhh, well, it wasn't really me that decided…" Jayson said sheepishly. He was still getting used to being with the Solaced, a humbling figure almost as legendary as the Light Warriors themselves.
"Really?" Calida snapped to attention, her eyes wide with shock. "They forced you to go!"
"N-No!" He stammered. Calida had gotten the wrong idea. "No, I signed up for it, and the High Council picked me as the best choice. No one forced me!"
"Oh…" She said, a relieved smile spreading on her face. "I thought you were."
"Nope. I'm here 'cause I wanna be." He replied, and he couldn't help but smirk as he did.
They talked a little bit longer before Dau'Mahl came back and convinced them to put the blaze out, lest it attract unwanted attention in the middle of the night. He raised his hand towards the now burning embers that had once been a roaring fire and started muttering something, but Jayson threw a small bucket of water and doused the blaze before the Elf had a chance to use his magic. Basking in the fact that he had one-upped Dau'Mahl, he lay down that night content with himself. He was close to falling asleep, and Calida's quiet breathing behind him was slowly lulling him ever closer. He jumped a bit when she made a strange noise unintentionally, but she just muttered something and drifted back into her dreams.
Himself half-dreaming already, his mind jumped all over the events leading up to where he was, and how significant everything seemed to be in retrospect. Even some stupid thing Kirtus had said when they first saw Dau'Mahl in Padrone's school struck him as something strangely important. Finally, with the bright summer stars gazing at them from above, he drifted into a long, peaceful sleep.
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That didn't seem to last long at all.
"Ugh… Five more minutes…" He mumbled as he twisted over onto his side to shield his eyes from the barely rising sun.
"We have to get moving." Dau'Mahl said, as if that fact alone made getting up an irrefutable idea. His voice was awake and alert, as if he had actually slept in.
"I think he's right Jayson." Calida piped up groggily, as she tried to untangle the mess that was her already uncontrollable hair. "This might take a while."
The young knight sighed, knowing that he could refuse to do things for Dau'Mahl, but he had to listen to the Solaced. He sat slowly and blinked, letting his eyes adjust to the light. The Chaos Shrine loomed in the distance, still looking as fragile as it did the past evening, but slightly less menacing due to the light that was starting to fall on it.
"So, have you ever actually been to the shrine before?" Jayson asked. The previous night had made him more comfortable around Calida, and he managed to find his voice.
She bowed her head down slightly and her brow creased in concentration. "Once, I think. I was really young, but I remember the priests taking me somewhere important." She hesitated for a moment, looking at the temple that was looming ever closer. "Yes, I'm sure I was, because they said that it was were my journey would begin and end."
"End?" Dau'Mahl asked, looking back.
"W-well, I have to come back here when we light all the Orbs." She said quickly, her eyes were suddenly wide for some reason, and she seemed to tense up. After her first sentence though, she appeared to calm down slightly, although there was still a nervous edge to her voice. "I have to come back here and pray to Munen, so he knows that I succeeded."
"Then what?" The Elf pushed on as they passed through the main gates.
"Then the world is saved." She replied, a look of sudden determination in her face. Dau'Mahl looked at her for another moment, then accepted the answer and turned his gaze back towards the shrine, not even a minute away.
'Talk about mood swings…' Jayson thought to himself, looking back towards where they were headed; he didn't think Calida was in the mood to talk right now. And as he did, he saw something that made his blood curl.
A large, burly figure in the shape of a man dressed in pure black was approaching them from the temple. It's heavy armor, which left almost no part of it visible, made a loud, hollow 'clank' with every step he took, which seemed to be at least twice as fast as any living man could move in that armor. A massive sword was swinging at its waist, and Jayson had serious doubts that he would even be able to move it, yet it didn't hinder this thing at all. But that wasn't what made the hair on his neck stand on end. Beneath the dark helmet, glowing ominously beneath the facemask was a pair of blood-red eyes, with yellow pupils staring straight at them, which seem to cut right through him and peer into his very soul.
It stopped about five feet in front of them, and made a jerking motion with his head, as if expecting something. No one moved. Dau'Mahl's ears were tense and erect, and Jayson saw his arm reach down behind his cloak to his sheath. Cautiously, he gripped his own sword, wondering if he'd even be able to focus well enough to survive a fight with this thing, let alone win. The creature grew impatient, and grabbed the hilt of it's over-sized sword with a high-pitched screech of a sword hadn't be used in a long time. He drew his to try fight it, knowing he may not be able to win, but could give Calida enough time to run. But just then, as the monster before them raised it's blade to take a wide, reaping swing, a voice shouted out from behind him.
"Sein de'ne parvaja! Meka no vay. Mekav re Solaced, huy a re godra reling, exeno byr ri rold Munen! Havriro derav Kelfer, ro fermeke Munen raith!"
It was Calida.
And once she spoke, the creature stopped. It sheathed its sword, nodded towards her, and turned back towards the temple. Jayson put his sword away with a look of awe on his face, it just now occurring to him now how fast he was breathing. Dau'Mahl took his hand out from under his cloak, but still held a fighting stance and continued to stare at the thing.
"He won't attack you now." Calida said with the utmost confidence. The Elf looked at her briefly, then eased up, though his eyes still watched the figure cautiously. The group hesitated for more than a few moments, but eventually followed the armored monster, per Calida's assurance that it was safe, into the Chaos Shrine. "This is a strange place. Stay close together."
Any thought Jayson had five minutes earlier about this place not being creepy in daylight was instantly dissolved, as the sun threw disturbing shadows along it's large, uneven face. The few windows that were on the structure were black with dust and grime, and through them he could've sworn he saw another pair of red and yellow eyes glare at them for a split second before disappearing into the darkness. Darkness that also enveloped the entrance, which was at least twice as large as it needed to be, hiding everything that was inside from his view. Praying that the doorway wouldn't collapse on him as passed under, like it looked like it would do, he let out an audible gasp as he entered the shrine.
Everything looked perfect. There were no signs that the building could collapse at any moment, nor that people had even been in here. For nothing, not even dust, or sunlight, or warmth seemed to be able to enter this sanctuary. Torches were lined against the walls of the temple, and dispersed evenly through the open areas, providing some light and little heat, which made the temple a sharp contrast to the warm bright day they just left. Deep red tiles went from the doorway straight ahead to meet with another, the panels perfectly straight, outlined by tall pillars that reached higher than the building seen from the hilltop the night before would have allowed. Much higher.
He blinked, staring at them. 'But… They're too big. No way, this doesn't make sense.' Rushing back a few steps, he left the temple, darkness covering the passageway inside again, and ignoring the sudden blast of heat and light, he looked up towards the roof. He was right, there was no way pillars that tall could be inside this thing, it just didn't work. Looking around in a slightly stunned state, he also noticed that the inside of the shrine looked much larger than it's exterior would suggest, and unless there was a second layer of brick just for the inside, the inside was in better condition too. Realizing that Calida had said to stay close together, he decided to leave this mystery for another time, and ran back through the dark veil into the temple to catch up with them, only to come to another startling conclusion.
They weren't there.
He didn't understand, he'd only been gone ten seconds, he should at least be able to see where they were going, or hear the echoing footsteps of the thing that was leading them. But there was nothing there, nothing, nothing but an empty room and a deafening silence. He started forwards, the sound reverberating within the entrance hall, which was getting eerier by the moment. Twice he could've sworn he saw a shape dart through the sparse light, as if the shadows themselves could move, but by the time his eyes turned to look, it was gone. And no matter what he did, he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched, like someone just outside his line of vision was perpetually staring at him. Gathering his courage, he made towards the large door ahead of him, believing that it was the most likely route they had taken. He pushed on the massive doors, moving them aside, and entered a much smaller chamber.
There wasn't very much to it. Everything, the floor, the walls, the pillars, everything was made from simple granite stones with no hint of adornment, a complete inverse to the grandeur hall he'd just left. A highly raised platform stood at the far end of the room, which wasn't all that far really, and had curved stairs that led onto it on either side, hugging the edge of the dais. He turned to leave, when something caught his eye, something that compelled him to stay, to fight the overwhelming urge that he shouldn't be there. In the center of that podium, sitting serenely on a pedestal, was a round crystal ball. It was pure black, and Jayson saw as he climbed the steps towards it, it did not reflect any of the light that shone upon it. His eyes were attracted to another object there, one that he hadn't seen before with the platform blocking his view of it. Just in front of the spherical crystal was a second pedestal, it's head tilted slightly away from it, was a large, dusty book that looked like it hadn't been used in ages, and had been around for much longer. This finally brought him back to reality, and he turned towards the doorway to make his long awaited exit, when he literally jumped back.
Someone was staring at him.
Much like the warrior that had more or less greeted them upon their arrival, this person was covered in pure black robes that gave them both an almost evil look, with the same red and yellow eyes. Unlike the warrior however, the person that stood before him didn't wear an excessive amount of armor, merely some robes, a pair of metal gauntlets and a long, flowing cloak. He could also see this one's face, and had the situation been less dire, he might've blushed slightly, for it was a female face that looked back upon him, and a beautiful one at that. Beautiful, until you got a good look. The shade Jayson had attributed to the darkness of the room and the coloring of her robes was, as he quickly realized, neither of those. Her face, her hair, every bit of skin he could see, was all the same deep black as the rest of her, save for her eyes, which Jayson noticed had the same piercing attribute that the warrior had, and he nearly succumbed to the pressure of being held under that stare. She took a step forward, and though she said nothing, Jayson somehow knew what she wanted.
"I-I'm here with… th-the Solaced." He stammered, slowly descending the stairs, his arms raised slightly to show he was unarmed. Her expression didn't change, but he felt an aura of irritation that followed an inadequate answer surge through the room, and forced himself to continue. "I don't know where they went. I… I thought they might be in here, and I came to look and… and I saw that and I just had to see it more closely."
This time her expression did change, and Jayson's stomach clenched as it did, for her brow furrowed, and the aura she seemed to emanate grew stronger. "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to be in here." He was desperately trying to find a way out of this situation now, and he saw the figure turn around, grudgingly, to lead him. And then he felt something whiz past his head, like a flash of lightning. Turning to see what it was, he saw two strands of his own blond hair fall gently to the ground, as if they'd merely been dropped. And looking back further, he saw something almost made him lose the small breakfast he'd had that morning.
Sticking out of the wall, still vibrating with the impact, was a short knife made of a material he didn't recognize. Swallowing hard, he looked back towards the woman, which only made the situation worse. She hadn't turned at all, she was not looking at him in any way, and her cloak was only barely swaying with the motion exerted not even two seconds ago. Again she said nothing, but he understood what this meant better than he understood anything in his life. She could kill him. She could kill him, and it would be easy. Feeling what had to be an instinctive survival precaution, he grabbed his sword, and waited for her to start moving again before he drew in a flash and was lunging at her in another. He aimed quickly, targeting the neck. He had never been an overly violent person, but nevertheless, he intended to kill this person, and she had almost done to him. He braced himself for the slick and disgusting impact of steel tearing through skin, but instead, felt his sword hit and stop dead.
She had blocked it. With two fingers, she had used her gauntlet to block a sword like it was a toy, a toy that hovered not even a centimeter from her smooth skin. Her turned her head back to look at him, and Jayson felt a rush of terror like never before when he saw her eyes. They weren't angry, insulted, or even annoyed, they were the eyes of someone who had waited a long time to crush something, and was finally getting their wish. She wasn't chastising him at all, she was instead mocking him!
He stood frozen to the spot as she grasped the blade of the sword with her free hand, taking care not to touch the edge, and using her fingers to act as leverage, flung the sword out of his hands effortlessly. Admiring her own handiwork, she allowed herself a slight grin, only to turn back towards him to have it wiped off of her. He didn't know what made him do it, what kind of reserve courage he had used, but he punched her squarely on the side of the head with everything he had. Which as it turned out, wasn't enough.
She didn't fall, she didn't even sway. He just rubbed her cheek with her slender fingers, a look of awe on her face, which gave way to anger as she raised her head back up to level with his, and the last thing he remembered was seeing a muscle above her mouth twitch slightly. He hadn't seen her move, or felt the impact of her attack, but he was now reaping the consequences of his foolish actions. He had attacked her first and lost, and now he was at her complete and utter mercy.
I know I said that we'd get to the journey in this chapter, but after spending so much time visualizing this scene in my head, I couldn't help but do it justice. Besides, wekinda got to seethejourney, albeit only a small bit of it.
Fatalis Prime – Damn, I had meant to mention this last chapter. The Blitzball mentioned in Chapter 2 isn't the same as the one you remember. In fact, I've never played Final Fantasy X, and I know next to nothing about Blitzball, I just wanted to add in some sort of sport to show that Jayson isn't a machine who pretty much lives swordplay. Normal sports just felt too ordinary for a Final Fantasy world though, and for lack of a better idea, I went with Blitzball. It's unlikely to be mentioned later, and if it is, it will be of little relevance.
SmurfKiller – Thanks. This is more of a sequel to FF1, and has no connection to the other games. And there's no hidden meaning behind it, "Firion" was just a name I picked, nothing more to it.
