Disclaimer: All the main characters in the story belong to me, but the non-player characters, dungeons, towns, weapons, and armor mentioned in the story belong to Square Enix. Final Fantasy III also belongs to Square Enix.
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Chapter 2 is up. I hope you enjoy reading this one. ^^
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She ran into the clearing where her friend, Celestia, was, but she saw that her friend was being bullied by the other kids. One of the kids said, "Hey, why don't you go to that haunted village over there? That would make us so proud of you if you made it there."
Celestia hung her head in sadness, but tried to keep on a brave face as she ran past Sora and the other villagers. Sora ran after her as she said, "Don't run away from me! Can't you see that I'm here?"
She ran after Celestia who was running to a nearby village and stopped there for Celestia was breathing heavily from all that running. She tapped on Celestia's shoulders, but Celestia got scared for a moment.
Sora said, "It's okay. You don't have to run away from me again. It's me, Sora..." Then, Celestia calmed down and looked worriedly at her when she said, "Well, in that case, I would like to go with you as I want to be brave like you."
She agreed to go with Celestia in order to investigate what was wrong in this village and read a sign which said, "Kazus." She was skeptical that her friend claims that the residents in the village were ghosts.
She decided to check out the inn nearby and saw no ghosts, but people who looked like sticks. A stick person said, "Hey, you over there. I'm Cid Haze. Listen to me carefully. I have turned into a ghost as a result of the curse, but you can help us all, so I'll lend you my airship to travel to the cave."
Sora said while nodding slightly, "All right. We'll lift the curse placed on you and thank you for letting us borrow your airship." She ran out of the door and went into the airship.
She found another person standing over where the steering wheel was and said, "Uh, I think Cid asked us to do some important thing for him and he's letting us use this airship." The unknown girl turned and said, "Well, my father and I built this airship together. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't properly introduce myself."
The girl added, "My name's Circe and I am the daughter of a smith. However, my father was also placed under the curse and the only way to lift the curse is a mythril ring. I just remembered that the king of Sasune had a mythril ring made by my father."
Celestia said, "Good. We can go to the castle and ask the king if he still has the mythril ring with him." Sora nodded in agreement and said, "We'll let you join the fun, but I don't think a helpless girl like you should be fighting..."
At this crude remark, Circe said, "Hey! That's not funny!" Both Celestia and Sora chuckled a little at the words coming out of her mouth before turning to the steering wheel and operating it.
Sora said, "All aboard!" The airship took off and left for Castle Sasune where another unknown girl was standing at the gate. They got off the airship and talked to the girl who said, "Who are you? What brings you here?"
Sora, Celestia, and Circe approached her and Circe answered, "I am the daughter of a smith in Kazus. We were all wondering if you could take us all to the castle and speak to the king."
The girl said, "Ah, yes. An audience with the king can be arranged for I have narrowly escaped the curse myself. Follow me to the throne room." Sora nodded her head and followed the girl into the throne room where the king resided.
Sora and the others saw the king and was deeply saddened by what they saw in the throne room. The king had also been cursed and he said, "What brings them here, Hilda?"
HIlda answered, "Your Majesty, they are trying to find a way to lift the curse upon you." Circe said, "Your Excellency, I am the daughter of a smith in Kazus and I was wondering if you still have the ring, my father gave to you and we will be thankful if you do have it."
The king hung his head sadly and said, "Alas, I would have had the ring in my possession, but my daughter has the ring and she has been missing for hours."
Celestia asked, "Then, what shall we do? We can't just leave this place cursed." Hilda said, "There's only one thing left to do. Take me with you for I will help you break the curse."
Sora said, "Yes. We could agree to that for we could use one of the king's soldiers as well." And with that, the four children went back to their airship and parked it near the cave.
Once they were inside the cave, Sora said, "I have some weapons and armor that everyone should have equipped before exploring the cave together and some spells for people to learn since we're all Freelancers here."
Circe, Celestia, and Hilda took the longswords and strapped the leather shields to their backs. Circe also chose to learn the Sleep spell while Celestia chose to learn the Cure spell.
They all equipped their armor for the finishing touches and explored the cave together. Sora wondered if there were new monsters inside the cave, but she didn't dare think about it.
The four youths continued walking inside the cave until they encountered two skeletons and a mummy. Sora and the others knew what to do and sliced the skeletons.
Celestia casted Cure on the mummy and the mummy immediately dissipated into thin air. Sora congratulated her friend for defeating her first enemy for the first time.
They continued walking inside the cave until they found some more treasure chests which contained another Cure spell, 500 gil, another Antarctic Wind, another Potion, and some Eye Drops. Along the way, they found a young woman looking around inside the cave.
Hilda recognized the young woman and said, "Milady! You are here! I was getting worried about what the monsters did to you." At once, the young woman turned to the four youths. She looks like a princess to me, Sora thought.
The teenage princess said, "My name is Sara Altney. Who are those three who are with you, Hilda?" Hilda answered, "These three are with me, milady. Fear not, you are safe with us."
Sara said, "Then, I shall go with you four. I am here to banish the Djinn from this cave." Hilda said, "Thank you, milady. Our combative abilities will serve you well."
They battled more monsters until they reached the bottom of the cave where the Djinn resided. Sara said as she took out her ring, "With this ring, I shall banish you for good."
The Djinn laughed when the ring didn't work on him and said, "And who said that the ring should work on me? I shall not be captured." Sora and friends decided to fight the Djinn in order to weaken him.
The Djinn attacked with his scimitar and Sora took the blow for she had to protect her friends with her life. Celestia casted Cure on Sora to heal her wounds while Circe was using an Antarctic Wind to weaken the Djinn and Sora saw this as her chance of attacking.
The Djinn was weakened by the icy touch of the item and Sora sliced him with her sword. She blocked his attacks with her shield, but she noticed another implement in his strategy.
The Djinn casted Fire on all of the party members, hoping that they will burn from his spell. They suffered some minor burns, but Sara casted Cure on all of them. Thus, the spell healed their burns and they continued fighting the Djinn.
Finally, the Djinn was weakened and Sara pulled out her ring again. She banished the Djinn inside the ring and the party hastily returned to Castle Sasune by airship, but before they could get out of the room, they were about to be transported to the room where the Wind Crystal was.
Sara was the first to notice their leaving her behind, but Hilda said, "Don't worry, milady. We will be fine. Go back to the castle by yourself." At last, they disappeared and Sara went back to the castle by herself.
They were transported to the room and Sora recognized the Wind Crystal and said, "I remember this place. This is the room where I went to. Maybe the crystal will tell us what to do."
The Wind Crystal said, "You have all lifted the curse placed on by the Djinn and now, I must thank you. You four are chosen to be Warriors of Light and I shall bestow upon you my light. Go, Warriors of Light. Go forth and learn the truth about your destiny!"
The party saw a flash of light as they were granted new jobs by the Wind Crystal. Sora looked upon herself and gasped. She was no longer wearing her Freelancer clothing. Instead, she was wearing red robes with what looks like to be a red fedora hat with a single feather on top.
Celestia looked at herself and said, "I think I'm a white mage and you're a red mage." Sora said, "Yes. I think we've been blessed by the crystal's light itself."
Circe said, "I'm now a black mage and I don't know what Hilda is." Hilda said, "I'm a thief now. We all have new jobs to have." They all agreed to help save the world and went into the portal.
They went back up to the surface where the portal took them and hastily went back to the castle where the king awaited them. The king was happy to see them and said, "Welcome back. You have saved us all from the Djinn. I think my daughter wants to speak to you four."
Sara approached them and asked, "Will you come with me in order to cleanse the ring?" Hilda said, "Of course, milady." They followed Sara to the spring and Sara threw the ring in the water where it will be cleansed.
Sara thanked them all for coming with her and wished them luck on their journey. They nodded slightly and went back to Kazus where Circe's father was waiting for her. He said, "Come on, Circe. Let's return home." Circe said, "Yes. I'm sorry that I made you worry."
Sora and the rest of the party went back to the inn again and talked to Cid who was a portly man for his age. Cid said, "Yes. Finally, I can upgrade my airship to make it even better. You'll have to just wait a moment for me to get this done."
Finally, Cid was ready with the new airship and as Sora and friends were about to board it, Circe said while she approached them, "My father decided to let me go with you, guys." Celestia said, "That's all right. We were just about to break that boulder."
Cid asked, "While you're at it, could you also take me to Mrs. Cid? She's been worried about me all day and she's also sick." Celestia said, "Well, okay. We'll take you to your hometown."
The airship used a drill to break the boulder into pieces and Sora and friends arrived in Canaan where Mrs. Cid was waiting for them to cure her of her illness. Little did they know that there were more surprises in store than they thought...
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Sorry if this is an extremely short chapter. Please R&R and I appreciate constructive criticism. Chapter 3 will be coming soon.