Thread: Final Fantasy XVI

*In the morning*

The young man walked through the bright forest. It was alive with small creatures this morning. A small squirrel stopped on a nearby branch and peered down at the young man. He looked up and smiled.

His face was not incredibly beautiful but he was somewhat handsome. He was seen as a blessing in his village. The man continued down the worn path. He stepped over a large root that had grown out onto the path. He looked around and peered into the trees. He could see faint traces of fires far in the distance. He shook his head. The war was tearing the countries apart.

He looked farther up the path and saw some men walking towards him. One of them was dressed lightly. He looked like a mage; the other man had a heavy sword on one hip and a lighter dagger. He looked like a normal soldier. He must be an escort for the person. Though the young man wondered why a mage would ever need an escort. He shrugged.

The group was getting closer. He kept his head down. The soldier nodded slightly to the young man. He gave a slight nod back. They passed each other without a sound. The mage halted for a second.

“You there, do you have any magical items on your person?” He asked.

The young man stopped. He turned to look at the mage. He shook his head slowly. “Not any that I know of. Why?” He asked.

The mage looked him up and down. “Never mind.” The mage said slowly. “Sorry for disturbing you.” The mage said and turned away.

The young man smiled. “No problem.” He said politely.

The group of men continued on their way. When the group was out of hearing range, the young man took off his pack and untied the string connecting a sword covered in cloth to his pack. He uncovered the sword. The hilt glistened golden in the sun.

The young man sighed. “Carrying this thing around may cause me problems yet.” He said. He looked ahead and continued walking down the worn brown path through the forest.

In the small human village of Avalon lived a little boy named Xanas who stayed with an elderly couple on the outskirts of town. This little boy was not their own but they loved him just the same. The elderly couple had taken him in and raised him as their own for 10 years before the incident for which the little boy was driven from the village.

Xanas never did fit in; in fact he was an outcast in his village for no other reason than his differences in appearance. Outside of his adopting parents no one even spoke to him, this however did not stop Xanas from being as friendly as he could to everyone he met. Always seeking the acknowledgement of others he helped the farmers in the fields, brought in fresh water for the bakers, even brought an apple everyday for the school teacher. But no matter how hard Xanas tried no one would be his friend.

Because in Avalon, outsiders are just that and never accepted in. But Xanas didn’t know why they despised him so for you see in reality his surrogate parents found Xanas washed up on shore of a near by beach. He was exactly the same height and appearance in age he is now but had no memories of anything before waking up in the home of his surrogate parents. To him he belonged there just like all the other Avalians.

Xanas learned very early on in his life at Avalon that he could use magic; however, at the guidance of his parents he never spoke of it or performed it in front of others. Then one day, a little girl in the village fell from the barn loft she and some other kids had been playing in, breaking her arm. Without thinking Xanas rushed to her side and cast a spell returning the child’s arm to normal. Such a feat in any other town would be worthy of praise, but in Avalon things outside of the normal only served to frighten the villagers and poor Xanas was therefore banished by the town leaders.

Before leaving, the parents who loved and took such care of Xanas, informed him to his mysterious entry into their lives hoping he would seek out that which he was before and bestowed upon him the only thing he was found with on the day he washed ashore, a wrinkled and worn treatise written in a language no one in the village understood.

Exiled from the town where he has spent the last 10 years and everyone he knows, including the surrogate parents he loves so very much; Xanas is forced to make his way through the lone trail from Avalon to the near by port of Vandria. The Avaian Path use to be a mountainous trail some thousand years ago but now is a mere soggy path through the marshland. Xanas is alone, tired and hungry.

“It’s been three whole days now and all I have found to eat are these bango berries and a couple of mesoshrums. I really could go for some of ma’s collarabbit soup! Boy she always knows what hits the spot.”

Xanas starts to tear up at the thought of his loved ones but tries to remain strong.

“No, no I mustn’t cry, ma and pa told me I was strong, I---I-I can do this. B-bu-but I miss them so much, it-it-it just isn’t fair. I didn’t do anything wrong, why did they all make me leave?”

Unable to hold back the tears he has wanted to cry for three days Xanas flops down on the soggy marsh ground and sobs his little heart out. After crying for some bit, Xanas begins to rub the tears away from his eyes at the sound of some rustling in front of him.

“Wh-who is there?” he says…

Izak continued walking on the path. He encountered a few more groups of people and he also came across a big troop of soldiers. He turned around and watched them until the horizon swallowed them up.

He turned around and sighed, “I am going to be seeing a lot more of them in the coming days.” He said.

He turned to face the way he was originally walking and started forward again. He watched as the sun continued on its way up to the center of the sky. The forest animals were not as active right now. The sun was blisteringly hot. Izak decided it was time for lunch. He turned into the forest to find a clearing.

He walked around for about 5 minutes before he came across a mildly large open space. He un-shouldered his pack and set it down. He sat down and loosed the drawstrings on the bag. He pulled out some food; it wasn’t much but it would do for him. He sat and ate quietly.

After he finished up his food, he gathered up his things and put them back in his bag. He stood up and stretched his legs. He started walking back towards the path. He entered back onto the path about 30 feet from where he originally went off. He smiled at his luck. He didn’t get as easily lost as he would have thought. That would be very handy in the days to come. He turned to face the west and started walking down the worn path once again.

Xanas opens his eyes to see a small group of people in front of him. Their appearance would make a normal person weary of their current situation however Xanas being the friendly howbeit naïve person he is continued to speak to them.

"He-hello?"

Thug Leader: "Looky what we have here boys"
Thug # 1: "What is it boss? Looks a troll"
Thug Leader: "No you idiot, it’s a moogle"
Thug # 2: "moo-gill? What the heck is a moo-gill?"
Thug Leader: "A moogle you moron, is a very rare creature in these parts for sure."

As the thugs conversed back and forth, Xanas couldn’t help but listen and wonder to himself: "That man there called me a moogle, I have never heard of such a thing…is that what I really am?" As Xanas sat there thinking to himself the thug leader turns his attention back to Xanas.

Thug Leader: "I’m Shinkie Malestorm, tell me moogle watch ya doing on our path?"

"Yo-your path mister?"

Shinkie: "Yeah that’s right, our path, everyone around here ‘nows this here is Oogway territory. You do at least have the passin’ toll don’tch ya?"

"Passin’ toll? I-i---i’m sorry mister all I have is a few bango berries and a couple of mesoshrums. Wi---will they be enough?"

Realizing the naïveness of the little traveler in front of him, Shinkie seeks to take full advantage of the mild mannered Xanas.

Shinkie: "ENOUGH!? Bango berries and Mesoshrums…ENOUGH!? What do you take me for, it costs 1,000 gil to pass through these parts and you offer me bango berries and mesoshrums!? Why I bet you even picked those up off our trail along your way too didn’t ya?"

Thug # 1: "Yeah, yeah didn’t ya?"

Xanas, now lost in his predicament was unable to even respond to the forcefulness of Shinkie’s claims. Shinkie realizing he may have over did it a little bit but confident the traveler would do as he says now, follows up by saying: "Look, if you don’t have the gil then you will just have to come and work for us until your debt is paid off ya understand?" Nodding his little head, Xanas follow Shinkie into town.

The group was back in the village an hour later as the sky to the east was losing the pretext of night and was slowly gaining some color figurations. The guide and the Necromancer went back inside the guide’s house while Hinel stood outside. The Dark Knight’s back was reclining against the guide’s house, his head was facing up. His helmet was off and in his right hand. His reptilian head cast a shadow of pale green on the house from the moon’s light.

Hinel sighed.

“Undais,” he said, speaking softly into the night. He knew the god could hear him as easily as if he shouted the name out loud. A pause, then, “Never mind.”

Hinel placed his helmet back on his head and entered the building, closing the door as he stepped through.
Upon entering Hinel was hit full force with the smell of cooking meat. His mouth salivating immediately, Hinel went in search of the Necromancer and found him hovering inside the kitchen. Hinel took one hopeful look at the food before turning to his partner.

“Hey, got a minute?” he asked. The Necromancer nodded and the two left the kitchen to look for a place with some privacy.

The two sat on their guide’s couch. The Necromancer looked at Hinel with an indifferent face. “What’s on your mind?”

Hinel struggled for several heartbeats long for what he had to say, then just decided to get it over with, he blurted it out, “I think we should go our separate ways now.” He did not meet the Necromancer’s gaze.

“Okay. To be honest, I was expecting this for a while now. What took you so long to bring this up?”

“I don’t know. Fear, probably. We were partners five years ago during the Great War, when I preformed my first Passover.”

“Oh yeah, that was when you almost peed yourself because you used ‘Death’ on the souls instead of ‘Life’. Nearly killed us both.”

“Hey, I succeeded in the end!”

“Yeah, after I slapped you with the brunt of my sword to get you to stop crying, ya damn wuss!”

The two reminisced far into the night and didn’t stop until the sun had risen in the east.

The heat of the day began to gave way to the cooler temperatures of the night as Akeisha walked gracefully across the forest floor. The canopies above had provided shelter for she and her companion through their travels of this part of the land. Now they only covered the wonderful starry night and the glorious moon she enjoyed staring at. ...They had also hidden the ever-present reminder of the war. Smoke filled the sky at times, displaying the closeness of the battles. The animals were pained; she was constantly told these things by the passing creatures. It angered her that the animals of the land were being involved in this ridiculous battle. She reached out with her hand to touch her friend on the back. The animal turned its head towards her in question. She only smiled and kept walking.

Nala, a snow leopard, has been with her ever since she could remember. Always, if she was in trouble, Nala would aide her in any way possible. She had been told that her animal was given to her by her mother's snow panther. She remembered when she fell as a young Vispera into a chasm. Nala could not fit into the trench, and had been distressed. For nearly two hours, Nala had howled, snarled, and whined as loud as she could to attract attention. Though she was frightened for her tamer, Nala had stayed with Akeisha instead of leaping off for help...eventually, Rpex had arrived. Akeisha smiled as she ran her fingers through Nala's soft pelt. The memories she had were both good, and bad....She frowned and changed her thoughts. She observed the forest more thoroughly.

The floor was covered in leaves, creating a soft blanket for her bare feet as she and her childhood friend strode along. Vibrant pinks, oranges and blues bloomed in clusters around the bases of some bushes bearing some sort of fruit. She would have investigated, but she had learned young that experimenting with unknown berries could be lethal. Akeisha stopped, leaned against a tree and grabbed at Rpex's wrist. "Why don't we rest?"

Rpex looked up the moon he always felt at peace when night came. He called for Ookami, his wolf givin to him at birth. He was hunting in the woods for his food, Ookami always searched for his own food. The night reminded him of the time he meet Akeisha. Rpex smiled slightly at the past, but quickly it disappeard a painful memorie coming up to the surface that he just as quickly beat down.

Rpex felt someone grab his wrist, he turned around to see it was Akeisha. "Yes, I think it is a good time to rest." He said to her. It had been a long time since they both left the village togeather. He had no regreats of this, though he wished he could go back and change one thing before they left. Ookami came out of the woods with a little bit of blood on his muzzel. "Seems you ate well." He said to his wolf, "What do we have to eat Akeisha?" He asked looking for a good place to rest for the night.