FDB: Found this awesome picture on DeviantArt, and I immediately got an idea for this fic. Hope you like it.
Chapter 1: Brave New World
How long had I been floating here in this abyss? How long since Sin destroyed Zanarkand? How long since Auron pulled me into that strange vortex and away from my home, possibly forever? How long since anything?
My eyes finally fluttered open, only to be met with a thick veil of white mist. I glanced around and found myself floating in deep water surrounded by ruins thousands of years old. At least, they looked that old. A deep chill met my face and I shivered in the water. I had to get onto dry land and get warm. I stretched an arm out and began paddling water, but stopped due to a painful crackle in my elbows. I must have been out for a while. I'm almost never this stiff. I moved around, working the kinks out of my joints, much like my Blitzball warmups, and started swimming once again. I spotted a small stone landing in the distance and made for that. After climbing out of the water and shaking excess droplets out of my hair, I took a good look around.
Fog hung heavy in the air in every direction. A few more stone platforms rose out of the water all around, but none much bigger than the one I now stood on. I glanced down into the water, crystal clear to my surprise, and saw more ruins. This place had sunk underwater. It looked like an archaic temple of some sort. I glanced around again and saw a larger stone structure up ahead, no doubt the main chamber of this temple. If I had any hopes of getting out of the bitter cold, I had to get into that chamber.
Reluctantly, I jumped back into the water and shuddered at the cold. I swam as hard as my tired muscles would allow. I had to reach the temple. My very survival could depend on it. About halfway there, I got a slight tingle in the back of my mind, something I had developed during my Blitz training. It was almost like a radar in my head that told me when someone was near me. I glanced around; nothing. I turned my eyes to the water and saw three large fish creatures swim out of the depths and jump out of the water, nearly colliding with me. I couldn't tell what they were, but I knew one thing: these things meant to hurt me...or eat me. Either way, I couldn't let that happen. I reached to my back, where rested the sword Auron had given me: a red sword with a curved blade, reminiscent of a fish hook. It felt like years since that day, but I had more important things on my mind.
I took the sword from it's resting place and attacked the fish creatures. The first got its back fins sliced off and the second met my blade right across the jaw. They both withered and sank down into the depths. The third proved too fast to keep up with, even for this seasoned Blitz star. I had almost given up when an even larger fish creature swam out of nowhere and gobbled up the other monster. It had a pair of front fins that looked like claws and it's stomach...it almost looked like a cage of bone. I saw the remnants of the fish creature inside that cage and knew he would have a cell mate soon if I didn't do something.
I tried attacking the large monster, but couldn't seem to do a thing to it. It swam circles around me, though my good friend, adrenaline, kept me one step ahead the whole time. There was no way I could defeat something this big. It swam past me at blinding speed and spun me around in the water. That was when I saw the opening. It was right at the base of the temple, and looked big enough to let me in and small enough to keep the big fish out. I turned back to the monster and saw it swimming towards me again, it's mouth open and ready for its next meal. At the last second, I paddled backwards and jammed my sword into its mouth. It shrieked in pain, and I used its momentary confusion to plant both feet on its chin and push off with all my might. This gave me a good head start, but the distance between me and the small cave was greater than I would have liked.
The beast roared again and I knew it was after me. I didn't dare look back. I had to get to the cave. I don't know if it was a miracle from the gods or just dumb luck, but when the beast surged towards me, it created a small wave underwater that pushed me along and right into the crevice. I kept swimming, thinking the beast had pushed its way through the rock and still pursued me, but the quickly diminishing roars eased these suspicions. I soon found myself on a set of half-submerged stairs, on my hands and knees. I tried to catch my breath, but the cold air made my lungs burn, thus provoking deep, hoarse coughs.
As soon as I had rested enough to move, I stood and made my way through a moss eaten door and into a large domed chamber. The architecture was so primitive compared to Zanarkand. A balcony ran the entire circumference of the room, but toppled pillars and a collapsed ceiling meant I wouldn't be able to walk all the way around. Crushed and crumbled stone lay scattered everywhere and...what was this? I walked to the center of the room and saw, much to my delight, the remnants of a campfire. There was enough wood left to build a fairly impressive fire; all I needed was kindling and something to light it.
I searched the entire chamber and found a small bouquet of withered flowers sitting forgotten in a stone vase. I walked through the only other door in the chamber and climbed the stairs beyond. A small dresser sat smashed against one wall, and after inspecting its drawers, I found a small stone: flint. I smiled and carried my bounty back down the stairs. After tucking the dried flowers underneath the wood, a few scrapes of the flint sent sparks into the kindling, and I soon had a small fire roaring in front of me.
I curled my legs beneath me and stared into the fire. It was good to have the warmth. It helped me relax after staring death in the face. Suddenly, the adrenaline rushing through my system from my encounter earlier decided to clock out, and I found it hard to stay awake. I didn't fight my drowsiness; I had deserved a rest after evading a giant fish monster. I sat back on the cold, stone floor and closed my eyes. Sleep met me sooner than I expected, and my dreams...
Zanarkand aflame, my home in ruins. From the Jecht Memorial Blitz Stadium to the Housing District, everything...gone. Was this Sin's doing? Maybe...maybe if Auron had let me stay, I would have been able to stop Sin. But, me against something that big? Alone? No, that would be suicide. There was nothing anyone could do to fight Sin and I knew it. Auron knew it, and I guess everyone else in Zanarkand knew it right before they...
The tickle went off in my mind and I knew something was behind me. I turned to look and there, someone stood on a platform inside the ruins of the Jecht Memorial Stadium. I couldn't get a good look because my vision was a bit blurry, but he looked familiar. Those scars...that black tattoo on his chest...those ugly orange shorts Mom would never admit she hated...Dad? I tried to move closer, but the more I ran, the further the figure seemed to get from me. I had to know. Was this my dad? Had he survived Sin's attack and come back to Zanarkand? I had to find out before I...
Woke up. My eyes snapped awake and I sat up. Just a dream. It was just a dream. Or was it? Something about it seemed real, but at the same time, it felt like I was in a different world altogether. Like the Zanarkand I saw was just an illusion. I shook my head and glanced down at the fire. The last few embers sat glowing feebly in the dark. I shouted at the fire not to go out, even though I knew it couldn't hear. It was better than nothing. I would not be able to find any more wood before the embers went black.
I turned, hoping to find a chair or something, despite my rational mind saying to give up, when I heard it. A scurrying sound, much like tapping the tip of a sword on rock. But it was much too fast to be that. It sounded like...footsteps. The sound started again and I turned around to see what it was. Nothing on the ground. The tingle in my mind told me to look at the balcony, and when I looked up, clinging to the stone wall was a lizard with what looked like scythes for legs. It leaped down and scattered the remaining ashes of my fire and with it my chances of survival. It eyeballed me much like I would eyeball a big, juicy steak, especially now with my stomach already grumbling at me.
I took sword in hand and prepared to assault the beast. It came at me and swung its forelegs down at me. I caught them across the blade of my sword and flung the lizard away from me. It hopped quickly back to its feet and ran at me again, this time snapping at my legs. I swung my sword hard at its head, but miscalculated my grip and instead of striking with the edge, I caught it in the temple with the flat of the blade. It flew away again, and was slower to regain its footing. This encouraged me, but only until it jumped into the air and spun around, legs out, meaning to slice me up. I dove to the side, but not soon enough, because it caught me along the right shoulder, cutting through my blitz uniform and into flesh.
My left hand flew to my fresh injury and I felt warm liquid seep through my fingers. I didn't dare look at it; blood always made me a little squeamish. The lizard ran a long tongue over its left foreleg and cleaned it of my blood. Great. Now that it had a taste of me, it would be hungry for more. I did my best to push my pain from my mind and tried to attack the beast again. My sword arm was injured, so I was attacking slower. To make matters worse, I think the lizard knew that. It jumped around me, dodging ever blow and keeping just out of reach. It was playing with me.
I had just about resigned myself to my fate when an ear-shattering explosion ripped through the silence. I turned and saw four people walk in. They were dressed unlike anyone I had seen back in Zanarkand. The leader, I could only assume, was a woman. She wore a skin-tight black jumpsuit with purple stripes down the front. She had a black helmet on with a purple visor, and her blue-purple hair streamed out of the top. The other three were men and dressed similar to their leader. Each wore a jumpsuit and either goggles or a gas mask. The three men each held a gun while the girl had a blade glove on her right arm.
The woman turned her head to the lizard that had cut me and muttered some command to the other three that I couldn't understand. The three nodded their heads and ran back to guard the hole in the wall. She then walked up beside me and cracked her knuckles. She said, "Syga drek xielg," or something like that, clenched her right fist, and made the blades extend from her glove. I have no idea what "siga dreck zelg" means, but that I can understand.
She ran at the monster, jumped over it, and ran her claws across its back. It turned to face her, and taking that opportunity, I hacked into its hind legs with my sword. The beast shrieked and turned back to me, then second guessed itself and turned back to the woman. She ran at it again and the lizard raised its legs into the air, meaning to catch her, but she slid beneath it, clawed up its belly, and kicked it off of her. The lizard flew back towards me and landed on its back. I tried to administer the killing blow, but it rolled away and I only managed to scratch its side.
It staggered backwards and shrieked again, this time not as menacingly. It was dying, and it knew it. The woman reached into a small bag hanging at her side and removed a small, green ball with a small pin sticking out of the top. She pulled the pin, tossed the ball beneath the monster, and grabbed my arm. She was pulling me away from the monster when I felt another concussive blast quake the air and through me off my feet. The woman, due to her tight grip on my arm, went down with me. I pushed myself onto my knees and looked back, but instead of finding the monster, there was nothing but a small cloud of strange lights floating in the air.
The woman was already on her feet, brushing herself off when her friends came over and hauled me to my feet. I had no idea what to think as they argued in some language I couldn't comprehend. It sounded very similar to the "siga dreck" speech the woman used. I may not have understood their words, but body language told me enough. Apparently, the woman was defending me, and by the way one of her friends was waved a gun in my direction, she was saving me from him.
I tried to apologize for whatever I had done, and thank the girl for helping me, but she ignored me. She walked up to the man who wanted to kill me, said something in their language, and turned away. I guess he didn't take to kindly to being talked to in whatever manner she did, because he leveled his gun, not at me, but at her. Right before he pulled the trigger, the woman spun around, knocked his gun out of his hands and into the air, and twisted his arm behind his back. She caught the gun with her free hand and pressed the barrel to the mans head. She whispered something to him which he no doubt understood, because he nodded his head vigorously.
She released the man and walked towards me. I tried to ask what was going on, but she didn't answer. She walked right up to me and looked me right in the eye. I asked if I had something stuck in my teeth, but she ignored that. She reached up and slid her visor up into her helmet, and it was then that I noticed something strange about her. Her eyes were blue, but not a normal blue. They glowed a bright, neon blue the likes of which I had never seen before. She leaned forward, looked me right in the eye, and squinted at me. I asked her again what she wanted, but she blinked and pulled her face away from mine. She said two words (at least I think they were two words) before she slammed the but of the gun right into my left temple.
"Krid ib."
FDB: So, how do you folks like it? It's quite different from my past writing styles, but I'm trying something new for a change. I really need to develop my writing talents, and I think I've found the perfect place to test them.