Wings of Narshe II: Chocobo

At Sabin's hometown of Narshe, Celes had arrived at the door of his house and she briefly knocked against the varnished wood. The building was overall well kept. After a few moments, she heard the quick fumbling of padlocks unlocking before the door opened.

There in front of her, she saw a tall woman with long brown hair and hazel eyes. She was dressed in blue robes, covering her body. Around her neck she wore a plain pendant, of a copper colour. It had a plain face, like a coin without the embedded design. "Hello?" The woman poked here head through the crack in the door. "I'm Celes, friend of Sabin. You are Kateran right?" She asked.

"Yes I am," Kateran modestly replied opening the door further "He told me about you,"

"Is Sabin in right now?" Celes asked.

"Sadly no," Kateran frowned "He went meditating in the fields of Narshe,"

("Still as diligent as ever,") Celes thought to herself.

"Although," Kateran continued "The hard snowfall is to start soon, so I doubt he'd be much longer. Would you like to come in?" Since Sabin hadn't returned yet, it would do no good to stay outside and wait in the freezing cold so Celes accepted the kind offer. Kateran guided her inside.

The coal fire in the living room was wondrous. The interior was mainly wooden, stained dark beams held up the ceiling. Kateran sat down in an armchair adjacent to the fire. "Please, find yourself a place to sit," She urged.
Celes quickly did as she was told. "So," Kateran resumed her inquiry " Sabin tells me you helped him in defeating Kefka?"
"Yes, but it wasn't just me, several others too."
"Oh really?" Kateran wondered, curious "Who were they?"
Celes still remembered each and every name vividly "Locke, Setzer, Umaro and Mog, Cyan, Edgar of Figaro and Terra. Each and every one I'm indebted to."
Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by a heavy knock at the door. "Sounds like my Sabin," Kateran presumed.

Before she went to answer the door she turned to Celes and presented a strange pendant; similar to the one Locke had salvaged for Rachel but Celes hadn't caught eye of it at the time and thought nothing of it.

"What is this?" Celes asked with curiosity. She looked up at Kateran's necklace, it looked similar but this one was Silver instead, with the design of a bird like- creature with four talons, a pair of wings and a reptilian tail.
"A good luck charm," Kateran revealed.
"But..."
"Consider it a thanks for offering to help me. Just take it."
"It's not a problem but... It looks valueable. I can't take this from you!" Celes replied.
"Look just..." Kateran was interrupted again by a knock at the door. Kateran sighed with annoyance went over to the door and opened it. She saw Sabin carry Bartz.
"Oh my, what happened!" She asked.
"It's a long story. Let's hurry up and help this man, I will tell on the way,"

It was a long night. The snow storm had transformed into a blizzard overnight and Sabin and Celes tended to his wounds.
"I see," Katerans face remained glum.
"You're still worried about the Chocobo arn't you?" Sabin predicted.
"It's just this storm. While it's not in my interest to set out and look for him during it, birds as small as him don't do well in the cold," Kateran had become worried.
"Don't worry, I'll find him." Celes replied "I'll have to leave the tending of wounds to you,"
"Celes, alone it is too dangerous for you, I will also come," Sabin objected.
"What about me!" Bartz detested rising from the bed.
"You still need to recover," Sabin ushered.
"I'm grateful for that, but I can't sit here if I can be of help some way!" Bartz rebelled.
"Suit yourself," Sabin replied turning away from him "You may be selfless but you are also putting yourself at risk. I will not stop you, but I'm hoping you are aware of those risks,"

Sabin was unaware of Bartz's former talents, and at that, his true potential, concerning the events of quelling Exdeath and restoring his world from the void. He had suffered plenty more than a few cut wounds.

"Alright then. Kateran, stay here," Sabin requested.
She quickly nodded and approached Bartz and grabbed his left hand ("This new boy seems oblivious enough,"). In his hand, she placed a silver pendant, the same one she had tried to offer Celes into taking earlier. Before Bartz could say anything, she simpled murmured "A goodluck charm," And pushed him away with Sabin and Celes.
Strangely, it's shape, size and design instantly reminded him of the tycoon pendant. It was similar, but the tycoon one was made of a gold material instead, and embossed with a different emblem.
"Hurry up and let's go!" Sabin shouted out of the blue.
Bartz quickly put the object away and followed Sabin and Celes out through the door into the snow. the ravaging blizzard was still rampant, and it was an instant fight against the weather. Kateran smiled and waved as she saw them go, before closing the door. She leaned he back against it and thought to herself. And so it begins...

Zanpaktezar the esper dragon looked into the pool of water. The other espers had begun to work around, assigned on various tasks. Bahamut Zero had been dragged back to the cave and was having his wounds tended to by the Esper Ki-rin.
"It would seem one of my associates has issued the emblem trap as planned."
"What exactly does it do?" Shiva asked.
"As you may already know, there are several other dragons besides I and over the course of our time we spent it in studing the total extinguishment of the human race," The dragon continued "We discovered technology that crosses the worlds, too dangerous to contain in one. There are many more worlds than just these. How many exactly, I cannot say. To prevent the calamity the codes of the universe were torn from the pages and scattered across various zones to prevent misuse. The emblem I speak of is technology we developed using the puzzle pieces of two particular worlds."

"Is travel between worlds really possible?" Shiva wondered in awe at the possibility.

"Yes, but only the dragon-kin espers are able to cross worlds or bring others with them. With that ability in hand, we could harvest informationand relics we collected. It's far from complete, but we are able to rebirth deceased espers; blight them; by using vessels,"
Shiva was shocked and suprised "So you intend to use the humans as vessel?... but wait, does that mean we were all once human?"
"Yes..." Zanpaktexar confirmed "We overcame our being as ignorant humans and were chosen to conduct a superior race of esper,"
"So you plan to recreate that event?" Shiva felt somewhat displeased with the rational idea. The humans did not deserve such a reduction as extereme as extinction, but on the other hand a world of espers would be a peaceful one.
"Any filth that rebel against this ideal will be blighted"