Prologue – Reminiscence

The wind blew loudly across the roof of the quiet home that was nestled into the mountainside behind it. What snow had made its resting place atop the house was promptly removed to be sent to another distant location while the house stood still amidst the strong gusts. It had been there for going on a quarter century and there was little that the wind could do to change that.

Arvis Trinbel sat in a comfortable if stiff chair in the guest room of his house that doubled as his personal library, reading a weathered book that had captured his full attention just like others had previously. Some would call him a bookworm, he preferred to think of himself as educated. But in his mind it was naught but semantic nonsense as at the heart of the matter he really did spend more time reading than socializing and the neighbors would always think him odd for it.

His glasses rested at the end of his slightly large nose and occasionally slipped down it to the annoyance of Arvis. With age comes many things, wisdom, intelligence, understanding, but he never could grasp that elusive characteristic of not becoming annoyed easily. Eventually becoming too frustrated to read effectively, he pulled his glasses off and set them on the reading stand to his side as he pinched the bridge of his nose with the first two fingers of his right hand. He couldn't seem to concentrate today anyways it seemed. Too much was going on in his mind for that.

He laid back into the chair and let his graying hair frame his face as he thought on the only thing that he had been able to concentrate on lately, Emperor Gestahl's increasingly more aggressive tactics in his ongoing war to conquer. He had a great amount of respect for the Gestahl of old, where he had built up a people and a land riddled with war and hatred and had united them with a common cause. He had conquered the most warring land in the world and had founded the greatest city mankind had seen since the near destruction of all people nearly a thousand years ago. He had began an Empire that now spanned a whole continent and he was pressing hard to encompass another. He deserved the praise that his rule had brought, but unfortunately as power was wont to do, it had made him greedy.

Reading the old texts as often as he had, Arvis was well versed in how wars started. Two squabbling groups wanted the same land or the same resources and started a fight that led to battles, which led to war, which led to leaders ordering men to their death. He could never understand how any sane man could order another to their death, for land or country or even that elusive trait loyalty, it all wound down to the same thing; men of power and leadership sent them to their death. Be it called "expansion of the kingdom" or something as simple as land reclamation, greed led those in power to covet what others had and strove for it at the cost of their subjects lives. Life was precious and should be treasured for as long as it is to be had. He knew that personally.

He could still picture her face, see her smile. His dear Shelyse was such a beautiful young woman. Life could be cruel. Just when he had been given the truly blessed gift of finding the love of his life, fate deigns to torture her with sickness. They had been married for less than five years when she became sick. It was an unforgiving ailment. She just seemed to wither away. Her muscles failed to support her and she became increasingly more fatigued from even the most simple of tasks. The pain came at random times, but when it did it came with a vengeance unseen in any race save man. Eventually she had become bedridden and he was forced to watch as she made her slow slip into death. It wasn't fair; they had loved each other so strongly. She shouldn't have been taken, she should still be here. But no amount of anguished cries or cursings at the heavens would or could bring her back. He knew that and it only added to his sorrow when she passed.

His life became lonely then; any attempts by others to marry him off again were spurned with a passion. He resigned himself to a widower's life. He thought of her daily and wished yet again that life could be different. But it wasn't, and he had to live with the hand that fate had dealt, cruel though it was. So he had honored her the only way that he knew how. Her faith in mankind and in peace was unflappable in life and he would be so in her death. He would oppose war and greed and manipulation with his all and never leave the world to its own devices. History had shown that war was often repeated by foolish men with dreams far larger than themselves, so he had studied and learned all he could to help avoid and eliminate that which led to war. When it had come to the war of the southern continent, he was too far to make a difference, yet still spoke vocally against it in his own city of Narsche. When Vector had become the military capital that it was, he opposed the increase in weaponry and aggression with words. But when the then-crowned Emperor had conjured up an army to conquer the land, Arvis could not sit by and let it come.

He had found a friend and ally in Banon Regent. He also spoke out against war, but had gone farther than that. He had begun a resistance group that opposed the Empire and all that is stood for. He had plans to counter steel with steel, and had even attempted to convince Arvis to join as well. But he couldn't do that. His Shelyse had hated fighting and he would never be able to forgive himself if he fought to end fighting, knowing that fighting only begat more. So he had watched as the Empire had expanded, and those following Banon had countered. It had been a very one-sided series of battles. The Emperor had far more men at his disposable and was far more willing to send them to death with nary a second thought. So it went on, and he had stayed out of it; until he had learned something truly terrible.

Emperor Gestahl was studying that which nearly destroyed the world in the past, that cursed yet blessed power, magic. Arvis knew the destruction it had racked upon the world during that long ago War of the Magi. It had nearly torn the world apart. Entire nations had ceased to exist through that war, seas swallowed others so completely not a single survivor was found, and the Gods themselves had been locked in a deadly struggle such as had never been seen before or would ever be seen again. Magic was more than dangerous, it destroyed all those it touched. Even when the Gods retired from the War and left mankind to its own fate, the world had been truly ravished and was left with scars that took centuries to heal, both in the land and in people's minds. Of all the foolishness that Gestahl could do, searching for that destructive force was beyond mad to Arvis' mind.

So it was with a heavy heart and great sadness, he made the decision to go beyond words of opposition. He joined those that strove for peace through action and he cursed himself for doing so and forsaking the pacifist view his wife had held so dear. He still refused to actively fight but lent aid to the rebels through resources and information, and received like in kind. But the fighting dragged on, and now it was more dangerous than ever to oppose those in power. Even worse because of what had been so recently discovered.

Information is a precious commodity and should be more closely guarded than most anything else. Yet still he doubted that the fact that an Esper had been discovered deep in the mines of the mountain range would be kept a secret for long. It was not a matter of if it would be discovered, but rather when. And when it was, the Empire would spare nothing to get their greedy hands on it. So he watched and waited, sharing information with his contact in the rebel forces, and hoped that when the Esper was discovered that the bloodshed would be small for the Empire to capture it.

Writers Notes

I was informed that a few small quotes do not a Prologue make, and decided that there was no better way to begin a story then to give an actual and important beginning to start off. To that end, I decided to make Arvis the prime character in this part. He has a very integral role in the story itself and I think that his character was left undeveloped and under-portrayed greatly. I wanted to get in his head and see what he thought before the assault on Narsche ever took place as well as how and why he ever joined up with the Returners in the first place. This is the result of letting the mind wander.

Word Count: 1,593

Uploaded: 2008/10/06