Hi.

...So this was supposed to be done like two months ago. I... have no words really. Other than ones of apology. It's longer than normal at least, I wanted to try to give you guys an actual battle scene... I... don't really think it's all that great. Still I have something for you. I hope the quality of these is improving. I'll be working to do better. Enjoy.

Esoteric Reminiscence I

The Road Ahead

Wandering through the gateway, the casual observer might have mistaken the traveler to be lost, or immersed in the scenery. The memories riddled within the inner dimension were interesting, though not necessarily revealing. It could take quite a bit of time to find the answers he sought, especially if he needed to keep looking for them in obscure corners of Ultimecia's Castle and blundering around with his eyes closed while hoping to sense them in Kefka's Tower. It was a hazard really, and he was already vaguely frustrated with it by the time he had found his way back to Cornelia Plains.

Sensing no more recollections within range, the traveler stopped to consider the information that he had found. So far, he had found only minor instances in which the warriors of the cycle had interacted… for the most part. The events regarding the Warrior of Light and the Cloud of Darkness, however, were vaguely different. The warrior, apparently having taken the moniker "Cid" at some point, seemed to have had a vision of what very well could have been the future. In addition, the Cloud of Darkness had associated with an unknown entity. They had been spying for somebody, and that was worrying. Then again, there was no guarantee it was any problem of his, seeing as how the cycles' had already ended.

The traveler shook his head in dismissal: he didn't have enough information to come to any conclusions just yet. As that was the case, he could only move forward and seek out more of the memories. With a wave of his hand, he reached out towards the air in front of him, and so sprang forth from the aether… nothing. Confused, he tried again and was frustrated when he achieved the same result. Concerned about the nature of the problem, he did a quick mental scan of the surrounding area.

An action that prompted him to barely dodge an incoming projectile.

Manikins. They were everywhere. The Traveller muttered under his breath as the previously unnoticed enemies began materializing all around him. "Where did they come from all of a sudden? And why are there so many of them?" After the events of the twelfth cycle, the influx of manikins should have halted. Furthermore, their numbers should have been significantly cut when the warriors continued to fight them in the thirteenth cycle. He didn't quite expect them to have vanished altogether, but to see so many at once was concerning.

Unfortunately, he didn't have any more time to dwell on it at the moment. A Palom manikin made to blast him with a fireball, and it seemed a nearby Golbez manikin was of the same mind. Deftly evading the two projectiles, he pulled his weapon from beneath his cloak. A flash of steel and his katana met with the blade of a Zidane manikin. Being an automaton of a tricky thief, the copy quickly made to sweep his legs out from underneath him. Thinking fast, the traveler leaped over the attacking enemies leg and quickly blasted his opponent with a fireball of his own. Being at point-blank range, the Zidane manikin had no time to react. It was sent flying into several other manikins, but the traveler had no time to rest: Several more enemies were hoping to continue their assault from behind him.

Swiftly turning in place, he managed to just dodge the blade's of a Cloud and a Squall, or rather an Imaginary Soldier and Transient Lion, quickly making to blast them with magic as well. The Imaginary Soldier froze in place as it was struck by an ice crystal, and the Lion was knocked back by a bolt of lightning that left an acrid scent in the air. With several manikin marksmen preparing several more spells all around him, the traveler wasted no time in using the frozen Soldier as a platform to launch himself into the air. Here he began to make his own attempt at picking off foes from afar, blasting powerful magic at his opponents while maintaining awareness of his surroundings.

An orb of water and a Simulacrum fell. A blast of thunder and an Antiquity met with a similar fate. One might think he was doing well, but the sheer number of enemies meant he was forced to dodge as many spells as he had fired. It was only a matter of time before the manikin of a swordsman slipped past his defenses, or he failed to notice the shot of a well-aimed sorcerer. His fears were realized all too soon as a Champion, of all the manikins, came charging at him from behind. He barely managed to dive back down to the ground, landing with the tremor of a stone spell.

Unfortunately, his attempt to ward off any enemies below was treated as a minor inconvenience. He barely had time to bring up his guard as sword attacks of all sorts came in from several angles. Most of them he countered with his own sword, making attempts to parry and counter then and there. However, it was only a matter of time before the magic attacks started pouring forth as well. He barely had time to raise up a barrier before several more waves of attacks came crashing into it.

The numerous blows smashed against his barrier, and the force knocked him into the air. Releasing the guard, he used the opportunity to blast himself away from the direction of the crowd with wind magic. Landing in a patch of grass closer to the forest, he was now free from the horde. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be too long before they converged upon his location once more. He was honestly at something of a loss: he was lucky that he had avoided any major damage for this long, what with the sheer amount of enemies he had been facing. The number of magicians and markmen among them was quite sizable as well, a fact that was of no help to his situation whatsoever. He couldn't allow himself to be surrounded, but the battle felt like him against the world… and it had only just begun. Without any immediate means of escape, he would have to instead resort to mass destruction.

The traveler steeled his resolve as he readied a powerful water-based spell, a magical glyph appearing as they so often tended to when he made to cast spells. While his magic levels were nowhere near as high as he would like, he would need to rely on chaining together different types of elemental magic for enhanced damage. If he could clear enough space he would be able to get in considerably closer to take down some of the manikins in melee combat. However, even in the air, he would be at risk of being surrounded. Several Reapers were closing in on him, and various other magic based manikins weren't far behind. If the sheer numbers against him hadn't given him slim enough chances, then the vast array of skills that they all had seemed to cut his likelihood of winning to zero.

However, unwilling to give up, the traveler raised his hand and blasted the water spell towards several opponents closing on land. Scattered about and severely soaked, the multicolored crystalline copies were hit with a thunder spell. Several Warlocks, Champions, and Lions burst into gemstone fragments as the crowd took severe damage, but his job was nowhere near done. His katana rose to meet the incoming blade of a false hero, and the spark that ignited between the cloaked man and the soulless puppet served only to accentuate the latter's unnervingly hollow eyes.

Shoving his opponents' blade to the side, he made to slash at the blocky structures' makeshift neck. However, his own blow was blocked, and the two became locked in combat. For a few moments, the world was a haze of slashes, blocks, and parries as sparks flew. Sounds of metal grinding against crystal echoed throughout Cornelia Plains as his every attempt a blow seemed to bounce off of the creature that itself was desperately attempting to land a hit. One would think that the traveler would have been hit by several blows by now, what with the surrounding manikins. Each blow was measured though, and dodging a fireball from behind could easily give him an advantage to his front. They were, after all, mindless beings. In their blind fumbling, they could easily wind up blasting each other with magic, or some other such attack.

It was just that sort of phenomenon that he counted on to maintain a lead in the duel with the Hero. After the deflection of several more blows, it was with great pleasure that he managed to lunge at the manikins face; his hands glowing with fire magic. He grabbed hold of his opponent and heaved him up and over himself, flinging it into the crowd enemies behind him, along with the fire spell that had scorched his opponents' crystalline face. He smirked with satisfaction at the explosion that followed, sending several crystal chunks scattering about the plains. The shrapnel flew with enough force to impale several more manikins, further emphasizing the effectiveness of the tactic. Yet the fight still continued on.

Leaping upwards, the figure blasted a powerful thunder spell beneath him, shattering several more manikins. He met his next opponent in the air: An imaginary champion came soaring towards him from the side. Their two katanas met, only one of reasonable length, and the struggle continued. Rather than distance himself from his opponents' lengthy blade, the figure instead found himself twirling around it in an attempt to stay as close as possible. While he could hardly maintain contact with the sword for long, he found himself constantly maneuvering around the blade via the swords' considerably duller spine. He was able to deal several minor blows this way, performing quick jabs and thrusts to the creatures' torso and legs. It wasn't a perfect strategy of course: his nose had nearly been chopped clean off at one point. He wasn't likely to forget the uncomfortable feeling or sound of the 'whoosh' anytime soon. Eventually, he was able to plant his feet on the flat of the blade. He followed up by performing a backflip, kicking the Sephiroth facsimile in the face as well as effectively launching himself away as it finally met its demise.

Only to learn he had grown far too focused on the single opponent. In midair, backward, and upside down, the traveler could now see a Delusory Warlock with its arms outstretched. Scattered about it were several attack nodes, all of which appeared to be aimed straight at him.

"Joy." The only word from his mouth before he was blasted with lasers. He was sent flying an incredible distance, actually managing to shatter a few more manikins with his impact. Rising from the crystalline debris, he berated himself for his mistake. As he looked about the plains, he gave a heavily exasperated groan. Though the horde had thinned considerably, the enemies were still everywhere. Manikins in front of him, sparkling lake behind him, he despaired that his Journey, only just begun, may very well have been about to end. With no way to escape and a crawling mass of crystals before him, he had no immediate options to solve his predicament. Whoever had set all this up had done a good job of it. He hadn't even been able to sense the power source that animated the manikins, what with there being so many of them. All he had been able to sense so since the attack began was the energy surging all around him, through the grass, trees, and even-

"The Lake!" He exclaimed to himself as the solution occurred to him. He wouldn't have been able to notice at first, having been surrounded, but with the crowd thinned and his position shifted, he could clearly tell that the energy signature animating the puppets emanated from behind him, deep within the lake… even though no enemies were there. Glancing briefly behind himself, he caught the briefest hint of a shining light beneath the surface. Not daring to tear his gaze from his opponents, he turned back to them as they continued to surge forward.

Knowing he had to think quick, the traveler considered if he should just jump into the water. However, the several forms of ranged weapons and magic at the manikins' disposal made the low-speed option an incredibly disadvantageous one. He considered instead using the manikins themselves to boost him along: the puppets were relatively mindless, as had occurred to him earlier, and they tended to follow through with actions in spite of predetermined failures. While not all were so base as to neglect to pull back and defend from a dodge and counter, a large majority of them could easily be conned out of a win in such a way… not that it had helped him much earlier.

It wasn't a perfect strategy, but if he could use their attacks to push him far enough out into the water and give him some distance, then he could propel himself down to the red glyph with magic. It seemed his course of action was set… until the intense heat from a fireball nearly baked him. He decided to just leap into the water while propelling himself with wind magic. Quite quickly as well.

Holding his breath, he continued to propel himself further into the depths of the lake after the effects of his initial launch had begun to fade. Kicking furiously, the traveler silently despaired at the crest location at the lake floor as he several spells flew past him and fizzled out nearby. Thankfully none of them seemed to be of the mind to use thunder spells… yet. He didn't dare to look back to see if any of them had bothered to dive in after him; the various burst of magic that were all exploding into steam and leaving frozen threads leading to the surface was proof enough that his adversaries had not yet given up on him, even if they weren't directly following him.

The crest was still too far away.

He was getting close to the bottom, but between the pressure and his inability to breathe underwater, he wouldn't be able to go much further. It occurred to him rather suddenly that his opponents still weren't using any thunder spells. It was something he found suspicious since a single one would-

...Effect everything underwater.

The manikins were mindless, but avoiding damage to the only thing that animated them would be instinctual. Ceasing his descent deeper into the lake, a glyph appeared around his hands as he began to charge a lighting based spell. He turned to glance at the surface he had come from and saw several forms swimming towards him. Ephemeral Dreams, fittingly enough. They were still some distance away, so it was safe to assume that they hadn't dived in too long ago… but Tidus played an underwater sport for a living, and the manikins based on him were approaching fast.

Readying another Glyph in case he needed a quick barrier, the traveler tried to divert energy into the thunder spell more quickly. He was deep underwater with little oxygen, and several opponents considerably more adapted to water approaching. He had to make his spell as powerful as possible. He only had one shot to destroy the stigma.

The Tidus facsimiles drew closer, their swords sharp and deadly. His lungs were screaming for air.

He was out of time.

Bracing himself for the inevitable pain, he released the spell. Electrical energy exploded into the water, arching about and shattering several of the manikins. His preparation seemed to amount to naught as his muscles screeched in pain. He himself let out a silent, futile cry into the water, his breath escaping him. Darkness began to overtake his vision-

-Only for him to flop gracelessly onto the cold soil outside of the gateway, gasping for breath all the while. Pushing himself from the ground, he quickly checked his immediate perimeter to make sure his coughing and sputtering wasn't masking the sounds of any manikins hoping to get a shot in. Thankfully, there were no threats in vicinity… at the moment. He could at least consider himself relatively safe from any threats from the gateway; without the emblems' power, many of the manikins would fall apart. Others would just lose all inclination to follow after him, and would remain within the territory of the gateway. Still, he remained vigilant as he steadily rose from the ground. However secure he might be at the moment, he could tell by thick red-black smoke on the horizon that the Gateway of the Forsaken Kingdom was far from the last one he would have to free from a stigma. The young traveler sighed as he thought about the long road that still lay ahead of him.

Someone really didn't want him getting his answers.

AN: So, not much to say here. Kefka's Tower and Ultimecia's Castle are mentioned, but we don't go to those places this chapter. You know what manikins are, even if you aren't familiar with all the names that are used for them here. I could list them, but I think I pretty much mentioned what each one was in the chapter. I... still intend to take that little hiatus to get a backlog going... that could take anywhere from a month to a year... SO yeah. Hope you enjoyed this. I might make some more notes on this later.

Ciao for now.