(A/N): New prologue added as of March 20, 2024 to establish an important character earlier on for better build-up. The old prologue has now been retitled "Chapter 1: Officers of the Council."
Prologue
~A Fleeting Dream~
"Strike me down."
"Extinguish me." "End it here."
"Please… Defeat me." "Soon... Eternal rest." " Take my life."
"Thus I atone." "Stop the suffering."
"Gotta say goodbye."
"Don't cry."
A lone pyrefly descends upon a ruinous, desolate landscape.
Northern lights and aurora borealis guide its tumultuous journey across the emerald gold plains, from the snowy mountain tops to the sea of stars, lured by the song of wailing pyreflies, clinging to a singular, propulsive thought. Zanarkand.
It hovers close above ground now, rippling and glowing bright, anchored by emotions not of its own, of anguish and grief, hatred and resolve—
"I hate you, Dad."
"—You're gonna cry. You always cry. See? You're cryin'."
"Everyone! This is the last time we fight together, okay? What I'm trying to say is... After we beat Yu Yevon, I'll... disappear! I know it's selfish... but this is my story!"
—and inner peace.
Hope and happiness, love and acceptance.
Voices sing the Hymn of the Fayth. Aeons fade into the aether. A young woman dances atop the zenith, marking the end of a long and beautiful dream wrought with death and destruction. She runs through open arms to embrace cold empty air, he runs on spectral feet to fall through golden clouds, and the pulsating pyrefly finally coalesces, reaching out for his father's outstretched hand.
A phantom hand obscures the light of the crescent moon overhead while azurian eyes flicker inside the shadow of a black hood.
The Unsent blinks, floating above a broken bridge as they gaze upon a starry, cloudless sky.
"Who... am I?"