Fanfiction ► Final Fantasy Omega

[Sky Bolt]

Final Fantasy Omega​

This story is something that I came up with to go with the Final Fantasy like world that I made up. To make it more like FF I’ve decided to include all of those little things that all FF games include. These are:

•Heroes
•Villains
•Monsters (Tonberry, Cactuar, Malboro)
•Magic
•Medieval style combat (swords and stuff)
•The names Cid, Wedge and Biggs
•Chocobos
•Summoning (of sorts (Ifrit, Shiva and Bahamut))
•A main character that is a warrior with an element related name. Someone else pointed this out to me. (Eg. FFVI: Terra - Earth, FFVII: Cloud – Water, FFVIII: Squall – Wind)

Chapter 1​

A girl lay on a hillside overlooking Lao Bay. Clouds lazily drifted across the bright blue sky and ferries were busy on their usual routes to and from the crowded port city of Andandrea. The city lay just to the north, and being the largest city in the world it was no wonder that so many adventures had started there. The girl, whose name was Mist, lazily tilted her head back to watch a gap in the thin white cloud where the sky could still be seen. She was lost in her own thoughts just enjoying the wonderful day.

As such, she was completely unaware of the dark figure soaring above the clouds. As it meandered aimlessly, it pondered where it should unleash its long built up rage. It had been imprisoned for an age and now it hungered for vengeance.

Vengeance against the world.

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As Mist entered the city through the south gate, she began to grow concerned. The faces she saw around her were confused and scared. Andandrea was also the most multi-cultured city in the world, so members of every race lived there, Human, Viera, Bangaa, Elf, Dwarf, Fairy, Golem, Nu Mou and Moogle. The races were collectively called Humanoids, for it was historically accepted that Humans were the first race to exist.

When Mist saw that a Bangaa was scared, she became much more worried.

“Mist, over here!” came the call of a familiar voice. She felt a wave of relief, now she could get some answers.

“Hey Lani! Hey Zan! What’s going on?”

Mist, Lani and Zan had played together since they could walk. Lani was a Viera with snowy white fur. She had radiant golden hair down to her shoulders and bright, inquisitive amber eyes. She always wore a similar outfit, a plain colored shirt, pale rose today, with three buttons at the neck, undone in her messy fashion, and faded jeans. She always had her quiver over her right shoulder, even if she didn’t have her bow or any arrows.

Zan was a roguishly handsome Elf. His tanned skin, slick emerald hair and deep blue eyes often made Mist’s imagination wander. She was much too shy to say that she liked him, and he never seemed to notice the way she looked at him. Zan’s clothes were always neat yet casual; he looked as if he was ready for an inspection and just lounging around at the same time. Today he wore a sky blue shirt, buttoned neatly, and caramel pleated pants. Standing together, he and Lani looked like a very odd pair.

Mist herself was a Human. She had short, misty, pale blue hair, which her parents were surprised at when she was born because they had chosen the name long before. Some people thought that when coincidences like that occur in ones life that they are destined for important things, but Mist didn’t believe that. She also had a cat like face; her pointed nose, slim mouth and bright, intelligent green eyes often made people say as much. She wore a plain, sleeveless, off-white top and dark green three quarter shorts.

Mist had made her way through the murmuring crowd to her friends, who were standing by one of the numerous plain, sandstone houses in the city. It was a wonderful city; the salt spray from the port gave the streets a seaside feeling all the way to the eastern side of the city. Gulls hung around everywhere and sailors from the many ships frequently at the port wandered the city during their brief time on land. The full effect of these factors meant that the city was pleasant yet crowded by all of the visitors and the locals doing business.

The crowd was packed tighter than usual, making it quite hard for Mist to navigate her way through. The people didn’t pay her much notice, buried in their own thoughts and worries. Mist waited for openings in the crowd instead of bothering the living maze of people.

“Well?” she quietly reiterated after finally reaching her friends.

“Someday you’re going to have to learn to be more authoritative,” Lani told her, “What’s going on is the temples aura is fading.”

“But that’s impossible!” Mist gasped. The Grand Temple of Andandrea lay in the centre of the city and according to historians it had been made by the magic of immensely powerful sorcerers ages ago. The magic used in its creation meant that the temple gave off an aura that restored magical energy.

“But it is possible and it’s happening right now,” Zan interrupted, “The high priestess thinks that the aura will completely fade within a couple of months.”

“What caused it? How could this happen so suddenly?” Mist asked.

“No one is sure,” replied Lani “But the High Priestess said that it must have been evil, and it must have been powerful. That’s what caused the fear.”

“Let’s check it out. I’ve gotta know more,” Despite Mist’s shy nature, she was always more inquisitive than was good for her.

“Can’t. The temple’s off limits to anyone but officials and priests,” was Zan’s simple reply.

“Then I guess we’ll have to avoid being seen,” Mist said with a hint of mischief on her face. She was shy, but if it meant finding out what was going on with the temple then Mist was ready to take the risk.

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The night air was filled with the familiar smell of wood fires from the many kitchens and fireplaces in the city, their own homes among them. Their parents hadn’t liked the idea of them going into the temple under the current circumstances, so the trio had changed their story and left any way. As far as their parents knew, they were watching the stars from their favourite hilltop spot south of the city.

The temple was an awe inspiring building, seven tiers of stone two meters tall, all apparently made of the same block of smooth white stone. At the top was a square plateau framed on either side by plain white pillars and covered by a stone roof. The plateau was about six by seven meters and furnished with simple items for the High Priestess’ use in ceremonies and blessings.

The trio prepared to enter the temple. Having lived in the city all their lives, they knew their share of secrets. One of which was a slab of stone behind the temple. Though it looked like all of the other slabs around it, after a guard passed a corner, the three of them moved to the slab swiftly, lifted it and vanished silently beneath the city. As the group landed and the slab was placed back in its slot the tunnels that it lead to became pitch black.

“Fire!” Mist called in a hushed voice.

A ball of fire was summoned to Mist’s outstretched hand. A look of deep concentration crossed her face. The trio began walking through the musty labyrinth that they had discovered when they were twelve.

Zan was eighteen now but Mist and Lani were only a month from being eighteen themselves. The two of them were born only one day apart, Lani being the elder one.

They followed a path that they all remembered from their constant exploring over the years. They took the first right, the second left, the fourth left then the second right and so on. The tunnels seemed to be made from the same stone as the temple above, as if a large square mole had dug them.

There was a dusty and stale smell in the tunnels. It wasn’t the smell of something dead; that would be unlikely since the slab was one of only two ways into these tunnels, neither of which were known let alone used by anyone regularly. And it was cold in the tunnels except for the slight warmth of the fireball. They kept going a little faster to be done and get back to their warm homes just that bit sooner.

As they continued, Mist could tell what everyone had been talking about earlier that day. The odd tingling sensation of the aura that could always be felt in the temple was fainter than usual. It felt scary.

Mist gasped and spun to face a side tunnel to her right. She thought that she had seen a shadowy figure duck around a corner but it was probably just Zan’s shadow since he was on her right.

“You’re a little jumpy. Don’t tell me you’re scared?” Lani’s words echoed down the stone hallways. She had immediately got the others attention because that was the first thing any of them had said since Mist had called the fireball, still at the end of her outstretched hand.

“Let’s just hurry and get out of here, okay?” was Mist’s timid reply.

When the trio reached the end of the maze after more uneventful left and right turns, they came to what looked like a dead end. The wall in fact slid away to reveal a stairwell. They climbed the eight flights of stairs, passing a door at the fourth that they had never been able to open. The door was wooden and had a very aged appearance. They had tried pulling, pushing, magic and even silly passwords but nothing had worked. This time was no different. The door didn’t even budge one bit, not that they had expected it to.

At the top, Lani placed a sensitive, Viera ear to the stone slab at the end of the steps, which could be removed to access the temple plateau.

“…but something must be done,” said a low soft voice. From what Lani could tell, it was the High Priestess Mora.

“But we don’t know where to start,” said a louder male voice, which was undoubtedly Mayor Falkin.

“I received word from a friend back home yesterday,” Mora continued.

“What does news from Sandros have to do with this?” Mora was a Nu Mou; so being from Sandros was not so unusual, since it was the origin of the Nu Mou race.

“There were unusual sounds coming from the Mages Tower. An apprentice sorceress was found dead yesterday morning left on the steps of the tower. Some fear that it was a warning.”

“There are some knights coming in to town the day after tomorrow. They were on a mission for me, so I’ll have them investigate it.”

“Very well. Now let us get back to what we were talking about before, about the…” the voices faded into the distance as the mayor and high priestess walked out of the temple.

“Darn it,” whispered Lani. She knew very well that speaking too loudly would get her caught by the high priestess. Once at school, she had mumbled to herself that she hated having to practice with staves. Mora had walked in from another room and told her to quit complaining. At the time Mora had been a teacher of magic and magical fighting at the trio’s school.

“What did you hear, Lani?” whispered Zan. His hearing wasn’t nearly as good as Mora’s but he knew that they had been talking.

“Are you two up for an adventure to Sandros?” she said a little louder with the confidence that Mora was probably too far to hear her now.

“I guess,” Mist started, raising an eyebrow, “But what’s in Sandros that would be so interesting when the temple here is acting up for the first time in over a thousand years?”

“Answers,” Lani stated as if it was obvious what she was talking about.

She explained to them what she had heard as they headed back to the slab in the street behind the temple. They passed the door again on their way down the stairs but they were too busy talking quietly to notice the slight crack of unlit room beyond the slightly opened door.

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Little did those children know that they had led it right to the ancient passageway of the Nine Sorcerers of ages past. The figure followed the children through the tunnels, taking a parallel path where possible so as not to be seen. That idea almost cost the figure dearly when the one with the flame turned her head, only a quick reaction prevented her from seeing too much.

Soon they continued and reached the stairwell. After the children had left the sacred door and proceeded to the top, the figure approached the door. It waved a green, scaled and clawed hand from under its all-encompassing black cloak, in a short arch. The door gave off a very faint blue light for a moment, and then it slowly and silently swung open.

Torches ignited upon the doors opening to light the room that was revealed. It was like a study; glass cases lined one wall and a bookshelf stood against another. The room was filled with ancient objects, some magical, some weapons, some armour, a statue, but the most interesting to the figure was a simple piece of parchment sitting on an antique desk which should have rotted away nearly a millennia ago.

Once it had the parchment, the figure stalked swiftly but as quietly as possible to the door and closed it far enough to not make a noise. Once it was out, the figure noted the quiet sound of speech above it and decided to make its own way back to the exit before the children came. They would never know it had been there.

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I know that's fairly long for a single chapter and there are longer chapters to come. If you want to read more you can find everything I have thus far at fanfiction.net. You can also look at my map here.
I'd like to thank Rurouni Saiyan, who is not a forum member but someone whom I met through fanfiction.net, for beta reading the story for me, and I doubt that it would have proper grammar if it hadn't been for her. I don’t own Final Fantasy or any of it’s many trademarks.

 

[Sky Bolt]

Chapter 2​

Later that night when they returned home, their parents were very suspicious as to why the three of them wanted to go to Sandros. Mist’s mother was not opposed to the idea but she saw right through the lies.

“You went to the temple, didn’t you?” she asked Mist in a tone more sad than angry. She had a very plain beauty about her; wavy brown hair, bright blue eyes and soft, plain skin that had creased slightly to betray a deeper worry.

“Don’t worry so much about me, mom. I’ll be fine. We’re travelling together.” Mist told her mother, trying to comfort her. Her mother got worried over the slightest things sometimes. She didn’t have to answer about the temple; her mother already knew that she was right.

“I guess there’s no reason you can’t go, just be careful Mist.” Her father added. “You know that you’re our only child and that we don’t want to lose you. So watch out for each other out there and come back to us in one piece, alright?” He was a kind man, with short brown hair, the same colour as his short, bristly beard. His eyes were green like Mist’s but older and a little less bright.

Mist went to pack what she could for the next day. The three friends had agreed what each of them would bring, as though their parents had already given them the OK. Then she went to bed to get some rest for the day ahead.

Lani’s mother was more interested in the previous nights activities.

“You told me that you were stargazing south of the city. I am very disappointed that you lied to me like that.” Her mother told her. She was a tall woman, her Viera fur was almost halfway between white and brown; her eyes were like a pair of sapphires, blue, bright and sharp. She always seemed to get answers if she looked at someone the right way, just intimidating enough to cause them unease but not enough to scare them away. Lani wasn’t about to escape this argument.

“We only wanted to know what’s going on. Nothing bad happened, and I’m going to find out what’s happening in Sandros.” Lani told her mother forcefully. She rarely stood up to her mother like that but she was too excited about the idea of seeing more of the world and travelling with her friends to be stopped here. She looked at her mother expectantly, growing redder in the cheeks as what she said began to hit her.

The three friends had agreed to say that they had heard ‘something’ about Sandros but not mention specifics or they might scare their parents. Her mother rolled her eyes and turned away. “Fine. Anyway, I don’t want you hanging around here sulking that your friends got to go on an adventure and you didn’t.” she told Lani, who leaped up and hugged her around the neck before going to pack her things, then she too got some rest for the next day’s travel.

Lani’s mother stood in their kitchen where the conversation had taken place and thought to herself that Lani and her friends would be able to take care of themselves. But she still had to convince herself that it was true. She was always overprotective of Lani and now she just had to accept that Lani was old enough to look after herself.

Zan’s parents were more reasonable about what was going on.

“I didn’t think that you’d give up on going to the temple so easily.” His father said. “I suppose you want to go with the girls to Sandros now?” His father was handsome like Zan, with similar but more mature features and brown hair.

“Yes. We all want to leave tomorrow morning so that we can reach our old campsite by evening.” Zan told his parents.

His mother had pure ivory skin, as many elfin women did, with hazel eyes and long, emerald hair. “I don’t see why we shouldn’t let you go since you let us know about this instead of just running off like you did tonight. Don’t think that we’ll forget about that. I know that you’ll be responsible since you always are. But have fun and be careful.” His mother told him.

“Thanks. I will.” Zan told her. He was a very mature young man and his parents were trusting of his judgement and choices. He went to gather what he would need for the journey and, just like the others, he went straight to bed to get a good night’s sleep.

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The next day, in the twilight glow before dawn, the friends went to a shop on the north side of the city so that they could stock up on supplies. The gulls hadn’t woken yet and the only sounds to be heard were the crash of waves on the shore and the creaking of ships at the dock. The ferries wouldn’t be leaving on their daily routes for at least an hour yet.

They would need to buy potions and ethers, and due to the area that they were travelling in, antidotes as well. The forests on the continent of Cyndaria were known for their venomous creatures. Once they had their provisions they checked one last time that they had everything that they needed.

Each had their pack and their pouch of gil for the trip as well as their own belongings. Mist had her short sword, her buckler and their map. Lani had her horn bow, her ever-present quiver, her bracer and their compass. Zan had his rapier, his armguard and their bedrolls.

That was it. They were ready for the journey to Sandros. They would leave that morning, before the sun was too far above the horizon. Dawn had just shone the first warm, golden rays of sunlight over the city walls.

The three of them had often camped in the area northeast of the city, at a spot near but not too near the forests. The first day would be like all those other times, afterwards would be an entirely new experience. Mist had never been to another city before. Lani and Zan had come from the city where their races originated but were too young when they left to remember very much. This would be entirely new for them all.

They said a final farewell to their parents who saw them off as the friends set out through the north gate into the wilderness of Cyndaria.

After 10 minutes of walking, the adventurers reached a hill where they had often played when they were very young and stopped to remember some of the fun adventures that they had had on that tiny mound of grass.

“Remember when we thought that we’d found a pile of gold?” asked Lani in a cheerful giggle. She sat down on the top of the hill, her legs nearly reaching the bottom.

Mist thought back to those days. She remembered them very well; the carefree attitude, the cute clothes that they had worn and the hours of fun. “Yeah, and it turned out to be just clay. I wish it had been gold though. Do you guys remember all of the things we were going to buy?” Mist responded, drifting back into reminiscence.

“Yes. You wanted to buy the temple for your home,” replied Zan in a blunt yet obviously amused tone. He nearly started laughing, but that wouldn’t have been very nice, considering that he had thought of some strange things to buy then too.

“We were young. Not a care in the world. I wish we could have that time again.” Mist seemed not to care about the attempted criticism of her childish dreams.

The hill was tall in comparison to its width of less than two meters. It had a small stone cave in the back where the children had hidden when they didn’t want to leave. Their parents couldn’t reach far enough in to pull them out but they always found a way to make them come out. The trio had never wanted to leave, but this time they weren’t there to play; they had to move along. That was all in the past and they were too old to be thinking like little children. That and they couldn’t fit in the cave anymore. They were off on their own now, alone in the wild.

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It was getting late before they found their old campsite. It was a cleared patch near a small thicket of trees just south of the forest border. There was a blackened patch surrounded by stones, which had always been used by campers for fires. But what they hadn’t expected was a pair of lupine hounds to be resting there. They heard the trio approaching and got up to defend their territory. This presented an opportunity to the friends that they had considered earlier. Combat practice. They dropped their packs and drew their weapons.

The lupines looked like normal dogs but much more vicious. The most noticeable difference was that their tongues always stuck out a few inches below their jaws, constantly dripping drool. Their eyes were focussed on anything that came close, anything that they could hunt. There were many different types of lupine too. These ones were the Viper Hound variety, called so because of their poisonous bite.

The hounds began to approach slowly, splitting up to come from either side. Mist and Zan took up defensive stances and Lani, who stood between them, nocked an arrow. The lupines came around to stop on opposite sides, ready to pounce. But Lani struck first, loosing her arrow at the one on her left, Zan’s side. The arrow struck it in the upper leg but it didn’t seem to notice very much. It leapt right at Zan who held his rapier out to spike it. The hound went right towards the sword but merely scratched its face and glanced off to reassess its prey. On Mist’s side, the hound crawled in closer and once it was in her range she took an aimed swipe at it. The lupine ducked and just took a nick to its ear. Then it leapt at Mist’s leg while she was open, only to be struck in the shoulder by an arrow as Lani spun, nocked an arrow and almost immediately fired. The arrow whooshed past Mist’s waist and had it been an inch to the right it would have hit her.

“That was too close for comfort!” Mist shouted at Lani over the deep growls of the lupines.

“So. I hit it, didn’t I?” She retorted.

The hounds drew around to the front again, guessing that they had better odds together. Lani nocked another arrow and Zan held his rapier in a ready position but Mist sheathed her sword.

“What are you doing?” Zan asked in a confused and concerned tone.

“Practicing my magic.” Mist replied as she held her hand out straight. She pointed her index finger and middle finger up, with her palm down and curled the other fingers in.

“Thunder!” She called as she flicked her extended fingers down. Momentarily a rumble and flash occurred in the air above the hounds and then a bright bolt of lightning struck them. It appeared to come from nowhere, but it was from the same spot as the flash and sound.

The hounds were hurt and obviously confused because they turned to see where the attack had come from, leaving their backs exposed. Lani fired at the back of the one on her right, scoring a hit to its neck, killing it instantly. The other turned back but not fast enough to stop Zan from stabbing it through the heart.

The dead forms slumped to the ground and just as they stopped moving they turned into dark shadows of their former bodies and began to dissipate into smoke. Where the creatures had fallen, there was now a small pile of items. Firstly were a few gil; there were also a couple of fangs on a string, which was a pendant that could protect against poison. There was a potion as well that would be helpful. A potion was a small green ball of magical fluid, when injured you could press the surface to break the ball and release the fluid to pour on the injury or to drink if you aren’t externally injured. Potions tasted like most medicines, a good incentive not to get injured, particularly not internally.

Once they were done the group gathered their belongings and set up for the night. The warm, orange glow of sunset shone out west above the distant hills of the surrounding plains so they needed to get a fire started soon.

“No problem. All we need is some wood and I can use magic from there,” suggested Lani. So the trio found some broken branches and leaves and built a small pile in the fireplace. Lani concentrated and held out her hand.

“Fire!” she called and a fireball leapt immediately from her hand to the wood in front of her. The flames began crackling and smoking and settled into a regular fire.

“Alright, now we can eat!” said Mist almost drooling as she looked at Lani’s pack. Lani had been trusted with the food because she wouldn’t sneak little snacks like the other two would.

“OK, just remember that we have to ration the food we have to last us the whole trip. I couldn’t carry too much and if you wanted snacks then you should have packed them yourself,” Lani told her.

They had a dinner of cooked vegetables that Lani had packed for the first night, knowing that they wouldn’t last too long. The rest of the rations were mainly dried meat and fruits, bread and rice. Zan was carrying six bottles of water for the same reason as Lani having the food. She didn’t eat very much, ever, and his body required water less often and he wouldn’t sneak a drink every now and then. Mist was carrying the non-perishables; tools, pots, bowls, cups, spoons and most of the Items, but they each had a few Items of their own.

Zan laid out the bedrolls near the light and warmth of the fire. Of course he wouldn’t be using his for a while yet. Since they had found two lupines in the campsite they would have to have a sentry and because of his better low-light vision and because of his natural ability to go for longer periods with little sleep, Zan hastily volunteered. He felt it his duty to protect his friends where he was better able to do so. He had a natural feeling of responsibility.

Mist and Lani lay near the fire, still too excited about their new adventure to sleep.

“Tomorrow we have to go through the Venomwood, so have you practiced that Esuna spell that I showed you?” Lani asked Mist with a slight pride in her voice, knowing that she was teaching someone. She had never really liked school since she was always being told what to do.

“I’ve tried but I still can’t get the motions right,” she replied.

Magic required three parts: capacity, motions and focus. The capacity was obvious; it was the required magical energy for the spell. The focus is simple; you merely need to think of an image or object that was specifically for that spell. Each spell had its own focus that was passed on from each generation of spell caster to the next. Finally, the motions were a series of waves of the casters arm and hand. Moving fingers and hands perfectly was the key to casting spells at their full power.

It was said that magic was split this way so that unlearned or dangerous people couldn’t cast powerful magic without knowing it. One or even two parts were useless without the other or others. Humanoid magic usually worked by having the caster say the name of the spell as well, but there were exceptions to that so that was not considered a requirement for casting magic.

“It’s simple. All you have to do is move your fingers like this.” Lani told her and began to wave her right hand. Her index and middle finger were pointed upwards with the others curled up. She moved her fingers in a simple clockwise spiral and once they reached the centre, she tilted her hand so that her fingertips were in the same place but her palm pointed almost straight down. She then gently lifted her hand straight up and put it back by her side.

“See, simple!” she said happily. Without using the focus it also meant that the motion of a spell could be practiced without actually casting the spell.

“I guess,” Mist said meekly. She was still unsure, but that spell would prove invaluable in curing a poison if one of them got hurt in the days to come. She lay back to sleep. Zan would come to wake her in a few hours to take over watch so she needed to get some rest.

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This chapter can be found on fanfiction.net along with the rest of my fanfic in it's current state.
I still don't own Final Fantasy or any part of it.

 

[Sky Bolt]

Chapter 3​

It was three or four hours from dawn when Zan woke Mist for her turn on sentry duty. Mist wasn’t an early riser, so she took some convincing in the form of a pointed stick to get up. Once she was up though, she was ready to keep watch. She decided to go on a search of the area, to see if there were any creatures close by, if there was anything edible near them and most importantly whether there was a source of water. If there was water near by then they could drink more and refill their water bottles before they ventured into the forest. They hadn’t had much yet but it would help if they had to go further in the next few days with no source of fresh water.

She wandered in a spiral from the campsite, which was mainly a clear patch of ground and a few trees. She passed a small hole, probably a field mouses home, a group of birds in a bush, nothing to worry about there, but as she passed the side near the forest she thought she saw a dark flicker of movement. A shiver ran down her spine and she got goose bumps up her arms. She was almost certain that she had felt something like that before, but that was just silly. After watching the length of the forest for a few minutes longer, she only saw the calm swaying of the trees. She must have imagined it.

Mist headed back to camp after finishing her rather uneventful spiral. She didn’t find any water, so they would have to go with what they had for now. She hadn't expected to find any water since they had camped there before and she'd never seen a river or the like. Once she got back to the trees on the northern side of the campsite she sat and kept watch over the forest and her friends, occasionally giving a longing glance at Zan, she hoped he wasn't awake. The night slowly gave way to dawn as a soft glow crossed Mist’s face and sparkled in her eyes.

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It could see the girl leaning against the tree from its position just within the Venomwood. She had sensed its presence, something that had not happened for a long time. She had seen it again but would not know it, which was fortunate for her or she would not be allowed to survive. But killing her posed it’s own troubles.

“She could be a problem,” came the breathy hiss of the figure, but none heard it in the lonely forest save the trees and the venomous creatures that lived there.

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The sun rose over the distant eastern canopy of the Venomwood as the trio prepared to continue their adventure to Sandros. Their journey took them through the northwestern side of the dangerous forest, which lay just to their north. It couldn’t have been more than an hour since the sun had cracked above the trees, yet the group had already had a meagre breakfast of dried fruit, to the disappointment of Mist, gathered their gear and started walking towards the forest. They had their weapons at the ready, not knowing when a creature might attack. Lani kept an arrow nocked, ever alert as she kept watch around and behind them so that they wouldn’t be caught by surprise.

They walked constantly for at least an hour. They chatted quietly and watched small critters scurry around the forest floor and up the sides of trees. Most of them were dangerous and venomous fiends, capable of infecting you with a scratch or a bite. If the need arose, Mist had used some of her time on sentry duty practicing the motions of the Esuna spell and she was feeling more confident about it.

As they continued slowly along a natural trail between the densely packed groups of trees they approached a small clearing covered in low, flat tree roots. A shallow layer of leaf litter and twigs were strewn across the ground as well. An unnaturally calm, gentle breeze blew through the trees and light broke through the canopy in a thick beam in the centre.

“Why couldn’t more of the forest be like this?” Lani asked. She walked to the middle with her arms above her head and her eyes closed, taking in the warmth of the sun.

Mist and Zan joined her in the sunlight. “I dunno, but I wish it were,” Mist added.

“Wishing won’t make it that way,” Zan put in, spoiling the bliss that the girls were imagining. They gave him miserable looks. “Sorry,” he said meekly, worried that they’d turn on him. Without him the girls would certainly become too distracted. They didn’t like it much when he ruined their fun with reality, but he was there to keep them grounded and focused. That’s why they made such a great trio.

They heard a rustling in the bushes to one side. All three of them became serious and focused on the situation. Through the trees they could see the shapes of three creatures emerging from their environment. They were a Viper Hound and two Bite Bugs, the latter stayed out of reach near the cover of trees.

A Bite Bugs was like a giant, pale blue bee. It had little scythe like arms and a huge pointed stinger. The rest of it was just the larger version of a regular bee, except that its stinger was extremely poisonous.

The friends didn’t need to say anything. They put their packs down and drew their weapons. Lani prepared to attack a Bite Bug while the other two directed most of their attention towards the Viper Hound. The Bite Bugs looked content to stay in their distant vantage points, so Lani waited for the right moment to strike instead of bringing them into the fight too soon.

The lupine moved closer, curling in to the side instead of going straightforward and leaving itself exposed to direct attacks. It was halfway around to the group’s left when it moved to lunge at Mist’s throat. She took a diagonal swipe at it, striking its face and forcing it to look away. Lani stepped back to let Zan lunge his rapier into the unsuspecting hound’s belly. It quickly fell to the ground, cringing in pain but not quite dead. However it would not pose a threat any more.

The Bite Bugs were now moving slowly closer but staying high enough to be out of reach. Lani chose her moment to attack and launched an arrow at the closer target leaving less chance of missing. The shaft pierced the bug’s lower abdomen and it fell to the ground and quickly vanished in a shadowy whiff of smoke. The other Bite Bug took the chance to swoop in low and charge at its foes.

“Aaarrgghh!” Zan cried. The bug’s stinger had hit him in the arm and he had dropped his sword. Mist took a swift slash and cut the bug in two, making it vanish on the spot.

Lani had caught Zan as he fell and laid him on the ground. She immediately shut her eyes and imagined a flask of yellow liquid. She formed a spiral with two of her fingers, "Esuna," she called, and Zan began to look more relieved as a group of small columns of light rose from his arm. He was still bleeding badly so Mist broke open a potion and poured the viscous, green contents on Zan’s wounded arm. The injury seemed to close up instantly.

A growl sounded behind them and all three of them turned to see the Viper Hound back on its feet, if a little unsteady. Lani lifted her bow and let an arrow fire instantly. The shot struck the lupine in the jaw and it slumped, became a shadow and vanished in smoke.

“I don’t like getting poisoned very much, so let’s not let that happen too often,” Zan said as he got up, apparently fine now, “I’m sure that I wouldn’t enjoy doing that again,”

“Which way were we going again?” Lani asked as she realised that they had turned around during the brief fight and there were several paths leading from the clearing.

“Check the compass, Mist,” Zan suggested. Mist went and got a small, round, silver object from her pack’s side pouch. She opened the cover and observed the small red pin inside.

“That way,” she pointed towards a group of trees, “Oh. Then in that case we go that way,” she said as she pointed to the adjacent path to correct herself and gathered up her pack. The other two just laughed quietly and followed suit.

Noon passed and the trio broke out water and rations for lunch. It was much the same as breakfast but they didn’t mind much. They ate as they walked. They weren’t willing to stop and invite creatures to come and prey on them while they were vulnerable. Though the trio had faced a few more lone creatures with little resistance, they didn’t want to wait for more to meet up and attack together.

Soon after, they heard a low hiss in the distance and were caught off guard when suddenly the trees gave way to a ledge, two meters above a dark river. The river was over ten meters wide and there was canopy cover all the way along the river as far as they could see, which wasn’t that far since the river went around a gentle curve back south in either direction.

“We could try to climb across using the trees. They look strong enough,” Lani suggested.

“That would leave us open to attack from the many tree climbing and flying fiends here,” Zan pointed out.

“Yeah,” Mist agreed “And besides, we can’t trust that they’ll hold us unless you think that you can beat that current down there,”

At a second look, Lani realised that the river was not only dark, implying a very deep riverbed, but it was also rushing very fast, which was the cause of the hissing sound they could hear. Lani cringed at the thought of swimming in that deep, rushing river. She had never liked swimming regardless of the fact that she lived in a port city. Plus they only had one change of clothes each, so they would have to stop to let their wet clothes dry.

“So, do you have a plan?” Lani asked her, a bit sour that her idea wasn’t going to work.

“We use the bridge,” Mist told her in a tone that implied that it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. She was pointing to an object suspended above the river upstream.

They began walking east to investigate it, leaving a line of trees between them and the ledge in case it became unstable. When they reached the object they discovered that it was a rickety, old rope bridge, fraying in old age. Some of the boards were missing or splintered, and the foundations were dangerously close to the crumbling ledge.

“Yeah, that looks safe,” Lani said with as much sarcasm as she could manage.

“It didn’t look so bad from where we were before,” Mist replied meekly with an apologetic smile on her face.

Lani sighed, “It’s alright, but stop apologising for things that aren’t your fault. I can get across if I step lightly,”

“And I believe that I can balance across the rope on the right, it seems in good condition,” Zan added.

“That means that you can either walk across carefully or run across as fast as you can,” Lani said as she turned to Mist, placing a hand on her shoulder, “Do you think you can do that?”

“I guess so,” Mist told her with a shrug. The bridge didn’t seem in that bad a condition to walk across.

“Alright, here…we…go!” Lani shouted as she did when she was about to do something impressive. She crouched, pressed a foot back behind her and leapt forward. She landed silently on a board a good two meters in and sprang to the next one with only a quiet creak from the bridge. After four more jumps she was almost there but as she leapt for the end of the bridge, she fell short, hitting a damaged board and tearing off the last three boards at that end of the bridge.

“Lani!” her friends cried in unison.

“I’m fine!” she reassured them. She had managed to grab the strong guide rope and pull herself up to the riverbank, “Piece of cake!” she said, hiding the pain that had come from colliding with the cliff edge.

“That may be a burden to you,” Zan stated to Mist, gesturing at her pack “Let me carry it so that you can make that jump,” That comment made Mist notice that there was now a gap over a meter long at the far end of the bridge.

“Are you sure that you can carry it?” Mist asked him.

“Of course. I can use it to balance myself,” he told her.

Mist handed over her backpack and Zan began to stand on the strong guide rope with his pack in his left hand and her pack in his right hand. He stood upright and walked calmly and gracefully across the river with his arms outstretched, bags in hand. When he reached the other side and got off, the rope seemed a bit lower than it had when he started, but that was probably just Mist’s fear trying to get the better of her. She prepared to step out onto the bridge…

“You’ll have to run to leap over the gap!” Lani called out to her, but Mist had already come to that conclusion. She began to run.

The bridge creaked loudly under her pounding strides. She heard the crack of a board behind her and ran a little faster. The bridge swayed as she kept going and a creak and twang signalled the break of a lower support rope, the ones supporting the planks. Mist stumbled and grabbed the strong guide rope and she stared in disbelief as the wooden foundations two meters in front of her gave way. The wooden pole that had supported the right half of the bridge fell, and Mist fell with it. Her friends cried out to her as she plunged towards the river below.

Mist could feel the chill even before she touched the river. It ran up her spine and she got goose bumps down her arms. Then she hit the water and her mind began to fall into darkness.

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This chapter can be found on fanfiction.net along with the rest of my fanfic in it's current state.
I still don't own Final Fantasy or any part of it. (God willing, I will someday.)

 

[Sky Bolt]

Chapter 4​

Mist stood up. She was in a dark place. She couldn’t see beyond a ring of nine tall pillars encircling her at a few meters distance. On each pillar were roughly carved images. Upon closer inspection they looked like the nine races of the world. She walked towards the one that had the images of Humans on it. She ran a finger along the line of an arm. It felt worn, very, very old.

She moved past a few more pillars and stopped at the one of her favourite race, Moogles. She had always wondered what having a pompom was like. She poked the pompom of the Moogle on the pillar playfully and remembered a time when she had done that to a real Moogle when she was five. That Moogle hadn’t seen what was so funny and she had run home crying, but it was funny now when she looked back. She walked on.

She continued around the circle a few times and eventually stopped at the pillar that must have been for Golems but she couldn’t work it out, the lines on it didn’t make sense. She began to wander around the pillar itself and realised that the whole pillar was designed to look like a Golem. She placed her hand on the pillars hand.

Suddenly the Human, Moogle and Golem pillars began glowing and three sparkling images came forth. Mist went back to the centre of the circle for a better look at them. They were very realistic images of a Human, a Moogle and a Golem.

The Human was a woman with long, wavy blond hair, bright blue eyes and pale skin. She was wearing what looked like a sorceress’ robe, long, dark blue velvet with wide sleeves at the wrists and a hood drawn back. The Moogle was a male with big yellow eyes, a blue pompom and tan fur. He was wearing a sorcerers robe like that of the Human but a whole lot smaller and a pair of small teal wings protruded from the back. The Golem was another male. He was very tall, almost three meters was Mist’s guess. He had a slightly ape-like appearance. The inner side of his very long arms were a pale cream but the rest of him that Mist could see, not concealed by his sorcerers robe, was olive green, including, she guessed, his big hunched back. His brown eyes blinked.

Mist gasped and fell on her butt.

“I’m sorry,” came a gentle rumble from the image, “Are you alright?”

“Do not be frightened, young one,” a soft, kindly voice told her. Mist turned her head and looked up at the woman, for the voice was feminine, “I am Eve,” the sparkling figure said, “And these are Fenrir,” she gestured to the Moogle, who nodded, pompom bouncing, “And Bahamut,” she gestured to the Golem who gave a short bow.

Mist began to right herself after her ungraceful fall. “I’m pleased to meet you all,” she said politely, thinking to herself that she must be mad talking to a bunch of floating illusions, “My name is Mist.”

“Mist,” Eve began “Your mind has taken you to the Hall of Sorcery,” and suddenly the room lit up with a warm light.

Mist could now see that she was in a long, wide room. The floor had resolved into alternating cream and red diamond shaped tiles in a chequered pattern. The walls were amber around huge arching windows that were framed by royal blue curtains held back with gold tassels. Candles lit the room from polished wooden tables all around the room; their random heights and shapes gave the room a magical theme. Mist looked up to see a magnificent chandelier with dozens of candles sparkling through twice as many crystals.

The Hall of Sorcery was said to be where the Nine Sorcerers had lived and trained. These Sorcerers had been so powerful that they had supposedly even created spells here.

“I thought this place was pure myth,” Mist said in awe of the amazing room.

“It is real, but no longer does it remain as you see here, kupo,” Fenrir said, “This is the image of what it was one thousand and one years ago.”

The Moogle flew, if you could call floating no more than three meters high while flapping his wings as hard as possible flying, to the top of his pillar and sat down. “You are here for a reason, Mist.” He said in his oddly-deep-for-something-that-small voice.

“Always to the point, Fenrir,” Eve told him, “She is our ally and a guest, be polite,” Eve’s voice had an airy sound as if she always spoke in a calm and slow manner, “I suppose explanations are in order. We, Mist, are speaking to you through your mind. You have a great potential with magic, which makes it possible for us to do so. Our bodies have turned to dust centuries ago but our minds and spirits were preserved in magic, for we knew this time would come. We have much to discuss.”

“What do you mean, ‘this time’? What has happened?” Mist asked, obviously very confused.

A chair formed behind Mist. It had the same sparkling appearance as the floating sorcerers. “Sit, please,” rumbled Bahamut with a calm smile.

Mist was unsure as to whether she could sit on it or fall right through, but she trusted these ‘people’. She couldn’t take many more surprises like this standing up anyway.

“Mist,” Eve started in her calm voice, “We are three of the Nine Sorcerers that lived in an age well known to those of your time. We are those who built the Temple in Andandrea, and the same ones that banished the evil and powerful creatures from the surface world. But we have bad news,” Eve bowed her head.

Mist knew all these things from history lessons. These Sorcerers were the most powerful people ever to walk this world. Their magic lived on in the nine races of the world for each of the Sorcerers was from a different race. The pillars were beginning to make more sense. But Mist was bothered; anything that these people considered bad would be considered a thousand times worse by any normal persons scale.

“The most menacing of creatures, known as Omega, has managed to escape his prison in the heart of the world and is seeking revenge,” Fenrir continued, “His rage may not have destroyed this world yet but if left unstopped it will.”

“Omega is a dragonoid. He was thrice the size of a regular dragon, capable of intelligent thought, very advanced at magic and his hide was nearly indestructible,” Bahamut added, “The only way we could defeat him was for all nine of us to seal him in the very heart of the world where his magic would be silenced, if not for good then at least so that he could not touch the world from his prison. He feeds on life energy, making it impossible for him to die of hunger or age in his prison since he could feed on the other creatures banished there.”

“His magic may yet be weak and there is still a chance that he can be destroyed this time,” Eve said.

“Hold on!” Mist yelled, her eyes bulging and widening as far as they could, “You’re not implying that you want me to defeat him, are you?”

“We are,” Eve said, still calm after Mist’s outburst, “You, Mist, have a power within you that very few people in the world have, the power of Summoning. You will discover it soon enough on your quest. You must find out how Omega escaped and destroy him, or at the very least seal him away once more.”

“No!” Mist shouted, standing up, “My friends and I are going to Sandros because we’re curious, then we’re going home. We just wanted to know why these weird things are happening, that’s all. We aren’t going on some epic quest. I can’t fight a dragon. Choose someone else, please!” she pleaded, too scared at the prospect of what Omega could do to her world to even think about having to face him.

As she shouted, the room around her faded slowly and swirled out of sight leaving darkness behind.

“But it is your destiny. And one that you must fulfil, for the sake of us all,” Eve’s voice echoed faintly in the emptiness as Mist began to fall though the darkness once more, “For the sake of us all.”

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Mist could feel a cold breeze all over her body. Her lips were warm though. Something brushed them. Someone was kissing her! She cracked one eye ever so slightly and managed to see Zan’s face. She began to blush and she knew that that would give her away so she sat up quickly.

“You’re alive!” Lani said and leapt at her friend. Mist was easily knocked down, feeling as weak as a kitten.

“Ouch!” was all she managed to say.

“Sorry,” Lani continued, “I’m just so relieved. We thought we’d lost you.” She knelt down next to Mist who had stayed lying down to save the little energy she still had.

Lani filled her in on what had happened. They were a fair way down stream, at a sharp turn in the river where Mist had washed up. Zan had resuscitated her and Lani had bandaged her wound. Wound?

Something finally clicked in Mist’s mind that she had noticed when she sat up. Her shirt was torn just above her navel and there was a bandage around her.

“Why didn’t you just use a potion?” she asked, since a potion should have fixed a wound like this.

“I used two,” Zan announced, “The first one didn’t heal it fully and the second one didn’t do anything. There must be an infection so we need to find a healer soon. There’s one in Sandros so I suggest we get going.”

“Mist, you should probably put on your spare clothes. These ones are soaked,” Lani told her as she squeezed a small flow of water from Mist’s collar.

Zan handed Mist her pack and walked off around a few trees to keep watch while Lani helped Mist get changed. She had a spare shirt that was like Lani’s, but plain white, and a pair of green tracksuit pants. Once Mist was changed Lani helped her up and they began to walk.

They had to keep moving as much as possible while they were in the Venomwood. Lani helped Mist stay upright with an arm around her shoulder and Zan carried his and Mist’s packs. The trio continued on their journey as Mist tried silently to puzzle out her weird dream.

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The shadowy figure stood by the wreckage of the rope bridge. Its earlier sabotage had done the job. It could not sense the girl, and so it turned to the forest and vanished to seek out its treasure. It would find the treasure. Regardless of how long it took, the figure would find it.

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Two men stood on the wooden dock in Andandrea. They were watching as their large, yellow birds were unloaded from the boat. The mayor had sent a messenger informing them of the mission to Sandros and they had gathered supplies for the journey.

The dock crew finished retrieving their mounts from the ships hold. “Here are your chocoboss, ssirss,” a Bangaa from the crew said as he handed the reigns to one of the men.

“Thank you, good man. Here, all of you, for your trouble,” the other said in a proud tone as he threw a small pouch of gil to the dock crew.

“You are very kind men. What are your names, sirs?” asked a human from the crew who picked up the pouch.

“Why we are…” said the men in unison, “Wedge and Biggs! The amazing Chocoknights!” As they spoke, they posed in mirror images of each other side-by-side. They bent forward and held their inner hand in a fist up close to their face and their other hand flat and pointed outwards in a heroic type manner.

They looked like they expected others to be impressed but they were met by silent, confused and almost frightened stares. Wedge and Biggs hurriedly gathered their belongings and mounted their chocobos then they headed towards the north gate of the city, and towards Sandros. They would reach the city by the trade routes that lead north and around the Venomwood. It would take them a few days, even by chocobo but they couldn’t take their chocobos through the forest. Sandros wasn’t going anywhere though, so they could take their time.
Well, I promised you Wedge and Biggs and I delivered. They'll be making more and more appearances later in the story. Not too frequently to begin with but later...I won't say anymore for now. I also have plans to incorporate many other FF trademarks later on. I still don't own Final Fantasy.

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This chapter can be found on fanfiction.net along with the rest of my fanfic in it's current state.
I still don't own Final Fantasy or any part of it.

 

[Sky Bolt]

Chapter 5​

The Venomwood began to thin as the trio approached the calm and quiet town of Sandros the next morning. They had had to stop after a while and make camp the previous night. Lani had stood watch to let Zan get a good nights sleep. She didn’t mind keeping the fire lit and listening for nocturnal predators, her Viera hearing was very sensitive when she couldn’t see well. She had fought off a few little critters but nothing she couldn’t handle swiftly and without waking the others.

As they neared the town Zan noticed that the creatures, and even the animals, shied away from them and the town. When they drew nearer, there were none at all.

Sandros was a big town but not big enough to call a city. It was quiet because few travellers had reason to go there unless they had business there. Other than traders, few people’s journeys brought them to Sandros and so at least eighty percent of the townspeople were Nu Mou. Sandros was the town where Nu Mou ancestry led.

Almost immediately after reaching the main street, the friends were greeted by two Nu Mou who insisted that the trio bring their injured friend to the town healer. Not knowing what else to do, Mist was carried to a house just off the main road.

It was a nice small house. The roof was pointed and made of thatch and the walls were made of large stones. Once inside a short, old Nu Mou wearing a white robe and wielding a gnarled staff greeted them.

“I am Meranim. Please, sit while I heal your friend,” she said, gesturing for Zan and Lani to sit in the two armchairs in the front room of the house.

The room was cosy, with strange symbols marking many objects like rugs and cushions. The house was dimly lit. Only candles gave light since the curtains, which also had strange and likely magical symbols on them, were stretched out to cover the windows and show the symbols properly.

Mist lay down on the sofa across from Lani and Zan. The three chairs, a rug and two tables were the only furnishings in the room. The kindly old mage stood next to Mist and undid the bandage around Mist’s stomach. She held her hands in front of her as if holding an invisible ball with one hand on and one hand under it. Next, she slid her hands around the imaginary ball until they had swapped places. She then brought her hands together pointing up, fingers and thumbs perfectly aligned and tilted them towards Mist.

“Cura!” cried the old mage in a hoarse voice.

Small green flashes of light surrounded Mist as two semi-transparent bells rang almost silently above her. The sight lasted only a few seconds and then disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. As it did, so did Mist’s wound.

“There you go, young sorceress. Now I suppose you’ll be wanting to go about your business. Off you go then,” Meranim said in a cheery way.

“Sorry, but I’m not a sorceress,” Mist replied as she got up, a little careful of where her wound had been.

“Well strike me down if this be the day when I don’t recognise a sorceress’ aura,” Meranim said just a little offended, “You have a powerful magical presence about you, and all around you. If you aren’t a sorceress then you should be. A sorcerer would be proud to have one like you as their apprentice.”

“Well while we’re here, maybe you can learn a few new spells,” Lani told her enthusiastically.

Mist shrugged. “I guess I could.”

“If I may ask,” Zan interrupted, “why don’t the creatures from the surrounding woods enter the town? I find it curious that they are afraid to come near the town border.”

“That’s because of the Expel Barrier,” Meranim explained, “A large and powerful barrier surrounds our town, preventing any creatures from crossing it. They instinctively avoid it, so that’s why they don’t even come close. The original barrier was made by the Nine Sorcerers themselves.”

“Original barrier?” Zan queried.

“Oh, yes. The barrier was breached once and we were forced to erect a new one,” Meranim replied.

“How could the Nine Sorcerers magic be breached?” Lani asked, quite stunned.

“Well that was our fault,” Meranim answered, “A few elemental monsters attacked the outskirts of the town with magic so we tried to add a magic proof barrier as well but the two spells cancelled each other out. After that we had to re-erect the original barrier using an ancient spell that very few sorcerers know of.”

“That’s pretty interesting, Meranim. But, guys, lets not forget to do what we came to do,” Mist said.

“And what is that, young one?” Meranim asked, now rather curious of the children.

“Oh, we came to investigate the noises coming from the Mage’s Tower,” Lani answered, caught off guard by the unexpected question.

The white mage frowned and turned away. “Evil things be in there now. None have dared enter since we found the dead apprentice. Such a nice girl she was, Eve.”

“Did you say Eve?” Mist asked hurriedly and with more energy than she thought she had, “A sorceress named Eve?” She sounded both shocked and frightened.

“Yes, that’s right. Her name was Evelyn, but we all called her Eve,” Meranim replied. She smiled as she thought of the kind, young girl. “Why? What’s wrong dear?” She asked Mist.

“Yeah, Mist. What’s wrong?” Zan asked with concern.

Mist had paled a bit at the reminder of her odd dream. It was a dream, she told herself, wasn’t it? “It’s nothing,” she told them.

They thanked Meranim for her help and offered to pay her but the kindly mage refused.

“I work for free in this town and in return everyone around here helps this old Nu Mou for free as well. It’s just a nicer way for the world to work, I think,” she told them.

The friends headed to the tallest building in the town. It wasn’t hard to find. The Mage’s Tower was a seven-tiered, octagonal building with a wide level at the bottom, and slightly smaller levels as the tower got higher. The ground level was made of red bricks and the others were made of sand-colored weatherboards. Each level had a rim of red tiles that ran around the edge of the roof and the top floor had a cone of tiles on it.

As they approached the tower they heard them. They heard the sounds that had been occurring since the morning of the apprentice’s death. Eve’s death.

First was a piercing scream, then a deep, beastly roar and finally a loud, muffled sound that even Lani’s Viera hearing couldn’t identify.

“That happens every hour and a bit,” a voice said from in front of them.

The trio had been paying all of their attention to the tower so they didn’t notice that a human sorcerer had approached them from the tower steps.

“None are allowed to enter until the Head Sorcerer has deemed it safe. He is investigating it now,” said the sorcerer. He was wearing the light blue robe of a sorcerer who had trained in the tower. Sorcerers from Sandros often came to Andandrea.

“But we’ve come to help. Word was supposed to have been sent from Andandrea,” Zan told him.

The sorcerer went to confer with his companion still waiting at the steps.

“What are you doing?” Lani asked in a shouted whisper.

“Getting us inside. You don’t want to have to go home now after all this, do you?” Zan replied as the sorcerer returned.

“We did receive word that some adventurers would be coming to investigate. You’ll find the Head Sorcerer inside somewhere. Be careful,” the sorcerer told them as he went to open the door.

Zan followed in a manner that implied that he had expected nothing less while the girls stood dumbfounded that his plan had actually worked. After a discrete gesture from Zan they recovered and hurriedly caught up to him before he reached the door. They entered the dark structure together and the door was shut behind them.

The torches that normally illuminated the tower were, for the most part, extinguished. Only a few of them that would normally have lit the main entrance hall were burning in their notches along the walls. Under the assumption that the rest of the tower would be lit in the same way and with the possibility of creatures as well, the trio took an extinguished torch each and lit them from the burning ones.

They began to venture along the hallway and came upon a stone, spiral staircase. The torches along it were sparsely lit and it had a very eerie presence, but that wasn’t going to stop them. Nothing could be as terrifying as those sounds. They went up the counter-clockwise spiral and found that it only went up one floor.

“How are we supposed to go up from here? Magic?” Lani asked in anger. She seemed to be directing her question at the roof.

“The tower is set out as a test for apprentice sorcerers.” Zan explained as they went around a corner into another spooky corridor. “They must face their masters on each floor and can only reach the next floor if they can cross the one that they are on.”

“I’m glad we don’t have to do that.” Lani said as they turned a corner and she was forced to eat her words.

In the middle of the floor were four gelatinous blobs. The room was better lit than the main entrance and they could be identified easily.

“Flans.” Mist stated, “I figured that magical creatures, if any, would hide out in here.” She had a touch of worry in her voice. Flans were very resistant to physical damage and could only be seriously hurt by magic.

The flans turned to face the intruders and began breathing heavily. Their colour and breath revealed their elemental alignments. One of them was orange and breathed fire, so it was obviously a Heat Flan. Another one was blue and breathed bubbles, that meant that it was an Aqua Flan. The third was green and breathed electricity, making it a Shock Flan. Finally, the fourth one was blue but breathed frost, which meant that it was an Ice Flan. Because they knew their opponents elements it was possible to use the right magic to severely harm them and use the least amount of magical energy needed to beat them.

The Ice Flan and Aqua Flan began shuddering as if they were about to explode.

“They’re casting spells. Move!” Zan shouted and the trio moved just in time to avoid a column of water and a barrage of icicles.

They all dropped their torches and prepared their spells. Mist raised her hand and thought of a candle flame, burning in darkness. She pointed her outstretched arm at the Ice Flan.

“Fire!” she shouted and a fireball leapt from her hand to the flan. It writhed in pain as the flames scorched its body making it slump over, refusing to die. Another fireball finished it off and it turned into a shadow and vanished in a whiff of smoke.

Simultaneously, Zan held out his hand with his middle and index fingers outstretched and his palm down. He focused on a rolling storm cloud and jerked his wrist down.

“Thunder!” he called and a bolt of lightning struck the Aqua Flan, seemingly from nowhere. It too faded to black and vanished in a wisp of smoke.

Lani held her hand out, palm up and with her three middle fingers outstretched. Her focus was a single drop of water; once she was ready she flicked her fingers straight up.

“Water!” she called. A column of water erupted from beneath the Shock Flan, it tilted its head back and began to melt into the now damp floorboards, and then it vanished into smoke as well.

Now only the Heat Flan remained but since none of them had been watching it, they were caught by surprise when it cast a fireball right at Lani. She ducked swiftly but not fast enough to completely avoid the flames. The fireball zoomed past her and singed her left ear.

She yelped as the pain quickly registered. Zan didn’t see where she had been hurt and immediately rushed to see if she was all right. That left Mist to deal with the flan. She held her hand out palm up but with her wrist twisted back. She thought of a simple snowflake and flung her hand outwards.

“Blizzard!” She shouted as a volley of ice fragments flew towards the flan, pin cushioning it, making it turn into a shadow and vanish just like the others.

“Is she going to be ok?” Mist asked Zan who was examining Lani’s ear. She didn’t look too happy about that.

“She’ll be fine. Her fur is blackened a bit but she isn’t hurt.” He announced.

“Don’t talk like my fur doesn’t matter.” Lani said trying to act as offended as she could. Like every Viera, she was very concerned about her fur.

The rest of the tower was much like the first part. Every level, the trio would encounter a group of magical creatures like flans and elementals, becoming more powerful each time. After they had defeated them they were able to reach the next staircase.

On the fifth floor after they had beaten a group of Gold and Red elementals, lightning and fire types respectively, they found a small, dry fountain in the wall. The instructions read that a water spell cast in this fountain would produce a healing drink.

“Let’s try it,” Lani said enthusiastically. She just wanted to get rid of the burn marks in her fur.

“Fine, but you’re the test subject,” Zan said as he cast the spell and the fountain filled up. Lani cupped her hands and drank some water. Slowly the burn on her ear vanished and she bounced up and down joyously, so the other two drank some and felt rejuvenated.

“I think we’ve stopped long enough,” Zan said after a few moments rest. The water did make them feel rested. They proceeded to the next staircase and climbed to the sixth floor where they encountered a large and fierce looking creature.

The chimera was eight feet tall and it had three heads, a bull, a lion and an eagle. It had a very muscular, red-purple, human like body and a snake for a tail. Its hands were claws and its feet were hooves. Large black wings stuck out from its back and flames spouted from the bull’s mouth.

“If I recall correctly, the heads and tail all have their own elements, so if we use the right spells on the right parts then we can beat it,” Zan said quietly while the Chimera still hadn’t noticed them.

They each prepared to cast different spells and entered the room. The creature turned from the nearby corner and roared at them. It crouched down and curled the snake over its back. Static crackled along the snake.

“Mine,” said Mist who had been preparing a water spell. She forced the water to fall from the roof to reach the snake, a very difficult variation of the water spell sometimes used to imitate rain. The snake hissed and sizzled before collapsing on the Chimeras back. It wasn’t too pleased with that and took a swipe with its claw just short of reaching the trio. They split up, Mist and Zan on the creatures left and Lani on its right.

The bull’s head was still spitting flames and it was side on to Zan who was ready to cast a blizzard spell. He took aim and flung the ice shards, which struck it in the face when it turned as it heard him cast the spell. Its vision was not impaired in the least since it still had an eagle’s sight. The lion’s side arm, the right arm lifted above its heads and formed a ball of water.

It was about to splash it down on Mist and Zan when Lani called out “Mine,” and cast a thunder spell on the lion’s head. The Chimera was disoriented and weakened and had only one target and one element left.

“Mine,” Zan called and he launched a fireball right at the eagle’s head. It screeched and the Chimera backed up leaving a defenceless body. The three of them drew their weapons and attacked head on. Their swords and arrows hit without resistance and the Chimera fell to the floor. It turned into a giant shadow and slowly shrank as wisps of smoke blew away, leaving a tiny pile of gil and two ethers.

The trio knew that this wasn’t the source of the sounds for it had sounded nothing like what they had heard outside. That meant that the top floor, as they had suspected, was where they would finally get answers.

As they began to walk towards the staircase at the back of the room they heard a strange sound unlike that of before and very soft. They spun around to face the corner behind them, weapons raised in a defensive posture.

A man sat in the corner with his arms wrapped around his knees. His eyes were as wide as they could be, maybe wider if that were possible. His pupils were tiny and he looked as if he had truly lost his mind. His bushy grey eyebrows were raised almost to his white hair that was covered mostly by his wizard’s hat. He wore a blue robe like all other sorcerers who had trained in the tower and he also wore a white cape that could barely be seen against the wall behind him. He was mumbling something inaudibly.

“Who is he?” Mist pondered.

“Obviously he’s the Head Sorcerer,” Zan stated.

“What do you mean ‘obviously’?” Mist asked sounding honestly curious but a little hurt.

“The only person other than us who is allowed in here is the Head Sorcerer according to those guards. Therefore he could only be the Head Sorcerer,” he explained in a deductive tone.

“Well, what is he mumbling then? Lani?” Mist looked at Lani who understood the request.

She twitched her long ears and focused very hard on the sorcerer. She could barely make out the sounds but she put them together using the movement of his mouth.

“I think he keeps repeating ‘The beast has risen.’ Or something like that,” she told them.

Mist frowned. It couldn’t be, but I’ll bet it is. She turned in a swift motion picking up her torch, which had once again been dropped in apprehension of battle, and she dashed for the staircase.

The other two followed her after a brief moment of confusion. They wondered what could make Mist so eager to go that she would risk going without them.

They reached the top of the stairs and entered an antechamber. It was better lit than the rest of the tower and it had a tapestry on the left and right walls depicting a battle where magic was being used to stop the fighting. There was a similarly decorated rug running from the stairs to the double doors on the opposite wall.

Mist approached the door and her friends stood to either side, no longer as curious about why Mist had run off as they were about what was beyond the door. Their journey from the entrance must have taken over an hour but they would finally find out what was making those awful sounds.

Mist reached for the silver door handle and pushed the door open, and she went pale at the sight that was revealed.

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Dun dun dun! I finally got to use a cliffie! Wait, what finally? I’m only up to chapter 5. Oh well, tune in next time for the dramatic conclusion. By the way, I decided to put a link to a map of the world I created in my profile page on fanfiction.net. In true FF tradition I shall take the story to all of the main cities. Expect this to be a long story!
This chapter can be found on fanfiction.net along with the rest of my fanfic in it's current state.
I still don't own Final Fantasy or any part of it.

 

[Endgame]

C&C welcome, I assume?

It's not a bad story, and you've written it well. My only complaint is that it lacks direction. A nemesis, an antagonist, or some form of crisis should be at least hinted at near the beggining, otherwise, it's just following the group. Take all the FF series. FFX? Sin destroys a city in the intro scene. FFVII? You blow up a Shinra Reactor right off. Even KH. Heartless rip Destiny Islands apart. You need an objective or antagonist to grab attention early on.

 

[Sky Bolt]

Hmm, you're right, Zets. An S-E cliché that I've missed, and a fairly big one too. Well, since I'm already a long way into the story I can't do much about it now. Thanks for the criticism. It really helps me to find where I can improve, even if that point may be too late this time for me to fix. I'll post a few more chapters soon. I have a fair few already written.

 

[Lycanthrope]

OMG. This is amazingly well-written. I really enjoy every part of it so far.

 

[Sky Bolt]

Chapter 6​

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!” came a woman’s high-pitched shriek. She was standing across the room from the trio. She wore a sorceress’ robe, but it was white to show that she was an apprentice. Her bright blue eyes were full of terror, her blond hair was dishevelled and her skin was almost as pale as her robe.

The room looked as if a tornado had blown through it. There was a broken table and chair strewn all across the room in dozens of pieces and shreds of rug and tapestry, as well as candles and small items that were probably sitting on the table.

The source of girl’s terror was right in front of her. A dark figure wearing a black cloak with its hood drawn up so that only the girl, for she couldn’t have been more than sixteen, could see its face. Its body seemed rather large or its head was low but something about it didn’t seem humanoid at all. It stepped closer to her and she backed up against the wall, trapped.

Mist felt compelled to do something so she crept up behind the cloaked figure and took a swipe with her sword across the figures back. Her sword went right through, but it didn’t leave a mark, not even its cloak was torn.

The figure tilted its head back and let out an unearthly roar. As it did, its hood fell back and a scaly, green skinned head was revealed. It had webbed wing-like things around the back of its head and wide pointed ears. Its face was still turned away from them though.

The first two sounds had been identified but they hadn’t worked out what the last one was. They were about to wish that they never had.

The creature lifted an arm and a clawed hand was pulled from the long sleeves. It held its arm back horizontally and Mist knew what was coming so she tried again and again to hack at the creature but all of her slashes met with air.

The creature lunged forwards and its hand went straight through the apprentice sorceress. There was a dull, muffled squelch as its hand pierced her skin and her pure white robe began to turn crimson with the blood that flowed down from her chest. The creature retracted its claw and the apprentice slumped to the floor, her eyes staring into nothingness.

The creature and apprentice blurred and flickered slightly and the trio realised that they were illusions, very realistic and graphic illusions. The two images clarified again and the creature approached the apprentice.

It threw down its cloak and Mist’s fears were truly confirmed. The creature was green and scaly like a fish. It had a barbed arrowhead tail slowly swaying above the ground and most impressive of all were a huge pair of scaled wings that protruded from the creatures shoulder blades. They reached up to just above its head and down to just above the ground when drawn back as they were, and they must have been what made the creature seem so strange under its cloak.

It bent down and grabbed the girl by her throat. It reached to a hole in the wall and punched it, Mist took a moment to realise that the wall would still have been solid when the creature punched it. It took something from the hole in the wall then turned to leave. The same terror that had filled the girl’s eyes now filled Mist, as the red on black evil eyes of the creature seemed to stare right into her, even though it couldn’t know that she was there. It walked straight towards her and, although she knew it would do no good, she raised her sword and stood stiff, unable to move.

The creature was only a few feet away; it had not even slowed as it walked right at Mist. It reached her and Mist felt a chill that went right to her spine. She felt as though she were being frozen from the inside as the image of the creature passed right through her and blurred out of existence as it reached the door.

Mist fell to her knees and rubbed her arms to try and restore the warmth stolen by the illusion. Her friends stood to either side of her and tried to reassure her that she would be all right.

“What was that thing?” Lani asked, not expecting an answer.

Mist opened her mouth to tell the others about her dream and Omega but before she even took a breath a voice answered for her.

“That was the creature Omega,” said the soft and kind voice from some unseen place in the room. Suddenly a glowing, semi-transparent figure appeared. It was the apprentice sorceress that had died right before their eyes. She hovered just above the mess on the floor with her hands clasped together in front of her waist, “If you’re wondering, I am Evelyn.”

“You mean you’re the apprentice who was found dead on the steps of the tower?” Zan asked in an unbelieving tone.

“Yes. A warning from Omega to try to prevent people from uncovering his plans,” Evelyn replied.

“And what are his plans? Did he kill you because you know?” Lani asked and blushed as she realised that talking about her death so lightly may offend Evelyn.

“No. He merely used me as a warning. I was to take my final test the following day and I came up here to meditate as all apprentices do the night before their tests,” Evelyn explained, “I was the only one to have a test the next day, so I was alone in the tower. I have haunted this place until someone would come and discover the evil that has occurred, else my death would be for nothing.”

“Who… or what is Omega?” Zan asked, quite confused about the conversation so far.

Evelyn opened her mouth to answer but Mist felt that it really was time she let the others know what she knew, “Omega is a dragonoid," she began, "He is a creature from the time of the Nine Sorcerers and he was so powerful that they banished him to the heart of the world to be trapped there for all time. He doesn’t age and his hide is practically invulnerable. He’s supposed to be three times the size of a dragon though.”

“His power is still weak from centuries of being unused,” Evelyn interrupted, “If enough of his power is restored then he will become strong enough to return to his true form. If that happens then the world is likely doomed.”

“We have to tell someone about this. The world needs to know that there's a super-powerful dragon loose,” Lani said obviously worried after being told that the world might be doomed.

“I think we’re supposed to do it. We’re supposed to save the world,” Mist said weakly, almost sounding defeated. She still knelt on the ground rubbing her arms as the warmth was finally returning to her.

“How do you know all of this, Mist?” Zan asked her, “How do you know about Omega and why do you think we have to stop him?”

“When I fell in that river in the Venomwood," she explained, "I had a dream and I met three of the Nine Sorcerers, who told me that they want me to stop Omega. I didn’t want to believe that it was real, but when I heard about a sorceress named Eve I felt that there might be more to it than that.”

“Why is my name so important?” Evelyn asked.

“Because the Human Sorceress was called Eve and she looked like an older version of you,” Mist told her.

“Hmm. Perhaps this attack on me was more planned than coincidence,” Evelyn said as she thought, “Did you see the Head Sorcerer in the tower? He may be able to tell you more about Omega and the Nine Sorcerers. He came here and I thought that I could pass my message to him but he fled when he saw my death.”

“Yes we did see him,” Zan replied, “And I think I understand what he was saying better now. ‘The beast has risen’ means Omega has risen. He does know something.”

“Wait,” Lani interrupted, “What message are you talking about?”

“I must tell you of Omega’s plans,” Evelyn began, “I didn't know them in life, but in death I have learned much already. When Omega left, he took something from the tower, a piece of parchment from a hidden alcove over there.” She gestured to the hole in the wall at the back of the room right next to where she had died.

“The parchment was a note written by the Nu Mou Sorceress, Exodus. She had written one of the most powerful spells ever known on it. The sorcerers themselves almost never used them. That is why they wrote down how to cast them, they didn’t use them often enough to commit the method to memory. The other sorcerers have the rest of the instructions to other very powerful spells written down and stored somewhere as well. If Omega finds and reads all of the instructions then he will be able to cast the most destructive and powerful spells in the world. The only way to stop him would be to discover and obtain the spell instructions from each of the Nine Sorcerers before he does. Their magic is too powerful to overcome with regular spells. If the Nine Sorcerers have faith in you to stop him then good luck and journey well,” The image of Evelyn faded as she said her final words and the room became a touch darker without her glowing presence.

Lani turned to face Mist, “Why didn’t you tell us about that dream of yours? Didn’t you think we’d like to know that we might be needed to fight the most powerful being in the world?” She finished yelling with her arms waving above her head.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t give it much thought. I thought that I had imagined it. I didn’t mean to leave you guys out,” Mist babbled with her head stooped and a slightly sad and scared look on her face.

“You know that Mist wouldn’t lie to us, Lani. Give her a break,” Zan said in Mist’s defence. She was relieved that he was still on her side. Her friends had every right to be mad at her, “But why don’t you tell us more about it, Mist.”

“Yeah,” Lani added, more restrained now, “I’d like to hear about it too. Sorry I lashed out like that, you know me. I just overreact sometimes.”

They sat on the ground and Mist told them the details of her dream. They talked about the hall, which they had all heard of from bedtime stories and history lessons. There was no debate that the hall had once existed. Images of it had been found in the ruined city near Flondaire. They also discussed the ‘summoning’ power that Mist was supposed to have.

“Do you think that it’s the same power that Meranim saw when she looked at you?” Zan asked Mist. It was a reasonable conclusion, considering Mist’s otherwise normal magical skills.

“I suppose it could be,” Mist replied, “But what exactly can I summon?”

“Who knows, but I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough,” Lani assured her.

They proceeded to return to the sixth level and found the Head Sorcerer exactly where he had been, as they now realised, obviously in shock from the sight he’d seen. Mist and Lani held him up and carried him by the shoulders while Zan lead the way with the torch. They met little resistance from creatures on the way down, nothing Zan couldn’t deal with single-handed. All the way down the Head Sorcerer was still quietly repeating, “The beast has risen.”

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I hope this relieves some people from the stress of a cliffie. Sorry that it's so much shorter than last chapter. This chapter can be found on fanfiction.net along with the rest of my fic in its current state.
I still don't own Final Fantasy or any part of it.

 

[Evarae]

Keep it up bro. Despite that I haven't read all of them, I think it's a great story from what I've read. And one last thing is about what Zets said further up. FFVIII didn't have much of a direction at the start. It took a while before the major plot of the game had unfolded, which I liked in my opinion.

Post another chapter XD.