Chapter One
“Someday,” a gentle voice that once
soothed a child, struggled “I promise, my love, everything will make sense. I’m
sorry it…” the voice faded; young, soft, vague in lost memory.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Rain hammered down from the dim gray sky, almost as though the heavens above were punishing the living for their sins. Mud was everywhere, as far as the eye could see. From a distance, a horse-drawn coach struggled down the pebble-stone clay road. The horses neighed in protest as the piercing crack of a whip rung out, breaking the silence of the rain to urging them onward. It had been raining for what seemed forever to some. The townsfolk assumed the rain would never stop and have adjusted to the slump that the rain had caused. No one had any crops left and as a result, food was sparse. All the flowers, grass, and herbs were drowned out, washed away. Everything was brown and gray, the only two colors anyone had seen in months.
What stupid fools this town has. Look at them walk about, pretending that nothing’s wrong. Idiots. They don’t even realize they’re causing their own downfall.
A tall man wrapped in a midnight blue cloak stepped out of
his carriage and went on walking to the market to buy some food. He approached
one stand with a clerk reading a magazine.
“Good afternoon” the man said to
the clerk. Without even looking up from his article, the clerk mumbled and
pointed to a sign in front of his cart. It read: “Going out of business!
Sold out.” The cloaked man chortled, walking back to his carriage with a
smug look on his face.
“I should have known that this
town was nothing more than a waste. Oh well, I have better means to attend to.”
The man snickered and stepped back into his carriage. He knocked twice on the
wall, signifying to the driver that he wished to return home.
What an oddity I have found.
An urgent town meeting held at the Citadel was called this particular evening. It was mandatory that every citizen attended. Wizards, Sages, Elves, Dwarves, Furries, merchants, soldiers… The whole town of Wendor gathered together, awaiting the start of the meeting.
“Hey, hey! What’s all this about?” whined Pink deRais, a girl who just walked through the door with her feet dragging behind her. She was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “Hope ya know some of us sleep all day!” she protested to no one in particular as she sat down.
“Ya know, I hate ta complain but it’s not gunna get no worse. Nutin’ can get worser than it is now.” Complained another voice from the crowd. It seemed that no one wanted to be there.
“This is just great,” paced the newly appointed mayor. “Just wonderful… They’re already complaining and I haven’t even given them the bad news! Ugh, I knew I shouldn’t have taken this town over. I’m not ready to handle this responsibility.” The mayor moaned, pacing faster and faster.
“Don’t worry Raz, I’m sure you’ll do fine. Everyone thinks you’re doing a great job for just jumping into this position after Silverlining up and left. Really, I have faith in you.” Soothed Guardian Dragon Magi, eager to make his Razynne feel strongly about talking to the mass of citizens that awaited her words.
“Hmm… Thanks,” she smiled. “Alright! I can do this!” piped up Razynne who took Magi’s words to heart.
A few moments later, the newly appointed mayor stepped up to the altar. Glancing at her, she appeared to be a young wizardress. She wore on her shoulders silver plated armor and from that hung a cape of mauve and gold. What caught most eyes were the jewels that adorned her, fixated here and there, and her long, wild, bright orange hair. She was short, barely five feet tall but her voice was strong and firm. She was well adored by the majority of the citizens.
“Everyone, attention please!” Her voice bellowed. The crowd took their seats and all talk ceased. “You are all aware of our current situation. In case some of you have been living under a rock and somehow missed out on everything, it has been raining for a long time. Guido, our Gadgetman, has reported there is no sign of relief any time soon. Food is becoming very scarce as some of you have found and our lake is beginning to over flow.” As Razynne cleared her throat and took a breath from all she had just said, chatter began to arise. “Please! Please everyone, please! Just let me finish! There is no need to worry just yet. I do” she paused, “have a back up plan...” she didn’t realize it, but as she finished her sentence, her voice became noticeably silent. Everyone gasped as they realized that whatever Razynne had thought of just had to be awful. Hearing some comments from the citizens, she came out of her trance-like state abruptly and raised her head. She almost forgot where she was and that she was the mayor and also that she had to set the example of courage. “I am sorry I have to have this happen, but sometimes a decision has to be made.” Proclaimed Razynne with determination. Chatter arose again as the citizens who knew what she was talking about grew angered and scared, some even began to whimper.
“I won’t ALLOW it!” a sudden voice protested, interrupting everyone’s conversations. “I know what you have planned and I will NOT ALLOW it!” Everyone turned to the figure that had just shot to her feet. It was none other than a cat-girl clad in army boots, baggy army pants, a black tank top, and shoulder length black hair. Razynne knew who it was just by her voice.
“Jasmine, you know as best as I do that he can help us.” Razynne spoke calmly.
“Rubbish! He put himself asleep eternally to atone for his sins! He’s apathetic! He won’t care to help us! You’ll just be putting us all back into danger!” Jasmine hollered, clenching her fists and muscles. Everyone had silenced completely and was now staring at Jasmine in awe as she was now arguing with the well-respected mayor.
“Jasmine, look. I do apologize for having to make this decision, but I have this feeling that this time, he’ll help us. He has connections with other towns and cities that I don’t right now. We don’t even have any materials to build barriers to stop the lake from flooding us all.” Jasmine sighed angrily and threw herself into her seat, enraged that she had lost the verbal fight.
You know trouble will result from this…
Razynne sighed and stepped back from the altar. When she had just became mayor, she had found a sort of spell book in a desk drawer. In it held just about every secret to Wendor, but she could only access one part of the book. It was about something or someone held asleep in the Citadel. She thought back to what the book said…
“Underneath the altar sleeps great power
awaken it, and all will cower
Pure, hatred, sins divine
Don’t even think to look behind
Only the one who holds such rank
can bring up this splendid crystal tank”
“Now if you will all stay silent, I can begin the awakening.” She gulped, not really knowing what she was getting into. She had remembered the passage. Razynne knew she had to push the altar aside as the ‘tank’ the passage spoke of wasn’t behind the altar, but under it. And to her satisfaction, underneath as foretold was a garnet stone shaped like a flame was embedded in the cold stone floor.
This must be it!
She knelt before it and held her hands cupped over the design. She closed her eyes and a red glow began emitting around her hands. The garnet flame too began to glow in response and an upright tomb of crystal rose from where the design once was.
Excellent! It’s working!
As the tomb rose, Razynne stood up with it, the magic from her hands pulling it up. As she pulled apart her hands, the tomb’s cover came loose and slid open. Out from it emerged a tall mysterious figure. The tomb was closed and returned to the ground as Razynne dropped her hands. The awakening was completed. As soon as she dropped her hands, the figure’s eyes jolted open. The whites of his eyes gave away his pupils, which were small and black. The cloak that was wound about him flew open with a burst of wind. His eyes went red and the solid wooden door flung open. With a whisk of his cloak, the man was gone. It had happened so fast that one would have been considered lucky to have caught a glimpse before he escaped.
“Well Ms. Know-it-all, now what?” snickered Jasmine, swaying her tail in delight. She was excited because she had proved to everyone that she was right. Why was she so excited? Because she knew him and she knew that he wouldn’t cooperate. Especially just after being awoken.
I knew he wouldn’t stay to help. That mysterious Turk would never hang around where he didn’t belong.
She looked over to Razynne who now had her head dropped into her hands, weeping. Groups of citizens began to leave, leaving only Jasmine and Razynne alone in the Citadel.
~*~*~*~*~
“Mmph… Ouch… Where am I?” a
dazed girl struggled to try to pull herself up to a sitting position. She tried
to breathe but with the rising of her chest came a sharp pang, signifying that
something was wrong. She was weak, and sitting up wasn’t an option at this
point. She looked over at her arms. Bandages.
A dream…? No… Too painful…
She turned her head away from the wall and noticed there was a warm fire lit in the hearth and there was a table in the middle of the room with some soup and bread left on it.
I am so hungry. But the food’s so far away…
She tried to pull herself up again but failed.
Damn. What happened to me? Why am I here? Who brought me here? Grr… I never get any answers!
Frustrated, a soft cough escaped her lips followed by an audible “ouch.” A few moments later, a head popped into the room.
“You’re awake? Good.” Spoke a rather tall shadow.
“Oh!” the girl winced as her chest throbbed in pain from speaking. “Who, who are you?”
“Sparrowhawk Valinoris.”
“Why am I here?” the girl whispered. She found it easier to speak softer as it didn’t hurt that much.
“You were laying in the mud aside the road. I found you as I was returning home in my coach.”
“Oh…”
“Indeed. I should have left you to die, but something about you caught my attention. That amulet you have about your neck appeared rather rare. You’re lucky I’m in a good mood; I could have just stolen it from you, as that’s what most treasure hunters do. We steal and then make fast so no one knew we where there.”
The girl nodded solemnly. She was confused and things were still a little foggy. Nothing came to memory as she tried to recall the past. The girl had been able to pull herself up to a sitting position by now, and was eyeing the food. The angle she was sitting at allowed the fire that was lit in the hearth to dance in her deep blue eyes.
“This is the first I’ve noticed your eyes. Interesting, that they are. This brings me to ask who, and what, are you?” Sparrowhawk inquired, staring at the girl he had just brought into his home for what reason even he didn’t know.
“I think…” she stammered, “I think my name is Suiren. Suiren Tinwetari. I guess I’m just a wanderer… I really don’t know what I am other than that…” Suiren trailed off. She really had no memory of anything other than her name and what she had just learned. A silence fell; in this time, Suiren had tried to study the shadowed man who loomed in front of her. She had noticed that Sparrowhawk was what they would call a half-breed. The soft light that had been illuminating his silhouette gave away his long pointy ears, as they caught most of the light. He was half human and half elf.
“Well… Now that you know some about me, tell me about you.” Suiren spouted suddenly, bashfully, trying to break the silence.
“You know enough. All you need to know is that I am Sparrowhawk Valinoris and that I am a treasure hunter. The rest will be unfolded later, if I choose to reveal it.” He answered coldly, turning to walk out. “Oh, by the way, you’re too weak to try to go anywhere so you may stay here. I shall take care of food for you. All I ask in return is that you clean up a bit and keep my familiars company.” Suiren nodded, this seemed rather fair to do for a perfect stranger healing her and taking her into his home. She felt a weird calm feeling around him and wondered why she wasn’t afraid of Sparrowhawk.
I guess it’ll all come together sometime soon… I hope.
Sparrowhawk left her with those words. She watched him leave, realizing that she never saw more than his ears and what appeared to be a cloak or a cape of some sort hanging off him. She wanted to know more, to see what this man who rescued her looked like. When she looked back to the table, something caught her eye that wasn’t there before. A white rose was laid on the table, next to her bowl. She smiled as the rose made her feel more comfortable just being there. Slowly she eased herself off the bed she was on and found her way to the table, sitting down in one of the large cushioned wooden chairs. And for the first night in a long time, Suiren sat down at a table and enjoyed a warm soup and retired calmly to a soft, warm bed. She was prepared to have a blissful evening.
In another room, Sparrowhawk had settled down for the evening himself. He was already informed by Rumor, one of his feline familiars, of what had happened in the Citadel.
“This creates quite a dilemma. I must rest incase tomorrow brings a rather interesting day. And that girl… Suiren, was it? Yes… Suiren Tinwetari. May haps that girl remembers more than she lets on. I hate to say it, but her eyes give her race away. Indeed, she is one of the last of the Cetra and if she doesn’t know it, she will soon as her powers have to awaken some time or another…” Sparrowhawk trailed off, sleep overcoming him.
~
Goodnight, Rumor. ~
~
Goodnight. ~
After Sparrowhawk had fallen asleep, Rumor padded out of his room and assumed position outside of Suiren’s door. There he curled up on the floor and laid his chin across his folded paws.
I have a bad feeling about tonight… I promised to look after her for Sparrow and I will uphold that promise.
*~*~*~*
“Mommy? What’re you doing?”
“I’m praying to the Life Stream.
You’ll learn all about this soon enough.”
“Oh… But mommy, I want
to know now! Why must you always tell me that I have to wait?”
“Because my love, if I give you
everything you want, when you want it, it might hurt you. And I don’t want to
spoil you. You have to learn patience, respect, kindness, peace, and love.”
“I understand. But what IS the
Life Stream mommy?”
“Let’s see… The Life Stream is
the place where souls go to rest. It is the place where life is recycled;
basically the place of energy for us all.”
“Oh… I’m sorry mommy, I don’t understand.”
“It’s all right my love. I didn’t
expect you to. I just want you to
remember that what I am doing is natural to us and that you too will know to do
this some day. Here, use this wisely.” The mother placed a marble-sized silver
stone in her 5 year olds’ hands. The stone had a thin silver chain attached to
it; so the little girl placed it over her head and let it hang around her neck.
“Oh mommy! It’s so pretty! Thank
you!”
“You can not take that off now –
it is yours forever. Take good care of it, all right?” the little girl nodded
earnestly, not really understanding but wanting to please her mother. Suddenly,
there was a pounding on the door.
“Open this door! Come out and
cooperate with us – if you don’t, you leave us no choice but to kill!” bellowed
a voice through the door.
“Run outside and hide in your
tree. Don’t ask any questions, just go--quickly.” The mother whispered to the
little girl. Obeying, she ran outside and across the lawn, scurrying up the
tree. There, she heard her mother’s voice speak to the voices that they had
heard behind the door. The girl sighed and looked across the way to the lake
that was just about in her back yard. The harvest moon hung low and dim in the
sky, reflecting glumly in the lake. Despite the luminosity that wasn’t there,
the little girl smiled up at the moon and stared at it with a sense of longing
in her eyes, almost as if the moon provided her with the sensation of a warm
fire on a cold night—that comforting, fuzzy, warm feeling.
“Come with us, now!” the voices
had become loud enough for the girl to hear now, even outside in her tree. She
was shaken from her daydream-isque state and forced back to the cold, harsh
reality she had grown to hate.
“No!”
“Then you leave me no choice.”
“No, please, President Shinra.
Leave me alone!”
“Last chance, come with me.”
“I am not changing my answer.
No!”
“Mommy! Noo!” the girl gasped and
turned her head towards her house. Her heart began to race and she began to
shake.
~* B A N G *~
“Suiren, get
up! We have trouble!” came Sparrow hawk’s voice. Suiren had shot up in bed when
she heard the firing of a gun—so loud and realistic, she thought she had been
reliving her dream.
Sparrowhawk? Was that a gun? Ugh… I thought
I was dreaming…Oh mother, why didn’t you just go with them? Why were you so
selfish to take your life and leave me here…”
Suiren jumped out of bed. As she
did, her bandages fell off. Startled, she looked to her arms and saw that there
was not even a scratch on them. In the few hours she had been asleep, her
wounds were completely healed. Suiren shrugged and scanned the room for her
boots. She noticed a closet and flung the door open. Inside, she found her
boots, gauntlets, armbands, finger-less arm gloves, and silver belt. On top of
her midnight blue Elvin tunic she was currently wearing, she threw all her
accessories on. The tunic was given to her when she rescued a small race of
Elves. Suiren wore it proudly and what made it so special to her was that the
tunic had been said to be sewn with the serene, resilient silver strands of
moonbeams. Standing up, she tucked any of her flowing loose ankle-length auburn
hair behind her ears. Later, she decided, she would tie it back or braid it—her
mother always made sure her hair was as soft as freshly spun cotton and she
vowed to keep it that way.
“Where are
you?!” Hollered Suiren. She had barely finished strapping on her accessories as
she began to run down the long hallway. She had just about stumbled over Rumor
who was guarding her door. She had a strong premonition that something was just
not right.
~ Halt ~
Suiren stopped
dead in her tracks.
“D-Did
someone just call me?” no reply. “Hello?”
~ I said halt.
Don’t be alarmed. I am Rumor, one of Sparrowhawk’s familiars. You’ll need a
weapon for the task at hand. I think a staff shall suit you well. Open the next
door on the right--that’s a weapons room. Take the silver and onyx staff
hanging in the display case. ~
Bewildered, Suiren didn’t know if she should follow this
voice that was apparently only in her head or to continue her dash. Her legs
were shaky as heart pounded stronger and stronger inside her chest as the
adrenaline was pouring through her body. Slowly, she turned around. Behind her
was a black moor cat.
“How do I
know you’re not tricking me?”
~ You don’t. I could be lying or I could be telling the truth. It’s all
your choice. ~
“Suiren!
Upstairs!” bellowed Sparrowhawk’s voice again.
“Argh!
Fine!” Suiren ran into the room and, as told, the staff was there in the
display case. Not even taking time to open the lock, Suiren punched through the
glass, which shattered effortlessly and grabbed the staff. With her new weapon
at hand, she found her way to the stairs and sped up them. Her heart was still
weakened from her previous wounds so the panicking and running were starting to
wear at her. Suiren decided to give up on panicking and to take whatever
happened as it happened. With new confidence, she ran up what seemed endless
flights of stairs. When she reached the top, another long corridor of identical
doors awaited her.
“Crap. I
hate playing guessing games.” She growled, closing her eyes as a headache was
beginning. As she closed her eyes, she got a mental picture of a room with two
men fighting. One had a rune blade in hand and the other had a .357 Magnum.
When she opened her eyes, she knew just where to go. It was as if they were
both guiding her.
Suiren
cautiously entered the room. To no surprise, both men had battle wounds
already. She had no idea when they had started fighting or how injured either of
them were but she knew it couldn’t have been that bad because they were both
still alive. She took a quick glance about herself and realized they were
fighting in Sparrowhawk’s massive library. The second man, who Suiren had never
seen before, stopped firing at Sparrowhawk who was hidden behind a dome of
light, as soon as Suiren entered the room. He pointed at her and his anger
induced red eyes gleamed and faded to black.
~ You. ~
Suiren gasped. This was the second time now that someone
had interrupted her thoughts and was speaking directly into her mind.
~ I sensed you were here. You are in great danger if anyone finds out
who you are. ~
She just stood there shaking her head with a look of
disbelief and shock on her face. Sparrowhawk stared at Suiren, wondering what
was going on. Apparently he couldn’t hear what the darkened man was saying to
her.
“Look you bastard! If you’re doing
anything to her, you have better knock it off!” Growled Sparrowhawk. The man
turned to him and raised his hand, palm out, slamming Sparrowhawk back into the
wall of bookshelves. With all the excitement and noise, Suiren didn’t notice
that Rumor had ran into the room to his master to protect him.
~ Suiren, this is the man that the town of Wendor awoke to help them.
He’s a Turk who put himself asleep a long time ago to atone for his sins. He’s
dangerous and he’s looking to seek revenge on those who have awoken him. ~
Suiren stood there, not knowing what to do or who to
believe.
“STOP!” she
screamed. She was getting tired of people talking IN her mind rather than to
her like any normal person would. Being new to all these things really was
starting to drive her crazy. It was too overwhelming for her all at once. “I
don’t know why you all must insist on driving me stir-crazy by talking to my
mind than to my face, but it’s going to have to stop until I know just what’s
going on!” Reflecting back to what Sparrowhawk had just said, Suiren caught a
term that she had recognized and had bad associations with.
A
Turk…? Wait… I know who they are… Let’s see, where have I heard that before?
Oh—that’s right! The Turks were high-ranking officers in the Shin-Ra Inc. and
were employed by President Shin-Ra himself to do his dirty work. Oh how I hate
Shin-Ra…
Suiren turned to the darkened man and paused. She decided
that before she would fight him, she would get as much information out of him
as possible.
“Who are
you?” She demanded, pointing at him. The man refused to answer but pointed out
the broken window that he had apparently entered through and began to exit. As
he turned, his blood red cloak flapped behind him giving him a regal-baring
look. Suiren glanced over at Sparrowhawk to make sure he was going to be all
right. He really wasn’t, but Rumor nodded towards the window; Suiren followed
the man through the window.
Out in the
moonlight, Suiren could see exactly what the man looked like. He was tall,
roughly six and a half feet. He had jet-black hair that was long and choppy,
falling in small and large chucks out of his blood red bandanna he wore about
his head. Underneath his cloak was nothing but black – a black short sleeved
shirt, black pants, black gloves, and black army boots. His eyes were even a
piercing black. But Suiren saw something other than coldness in his eyes. He looked
at her and bowed short—in respect of a lady of course. And then he spoke to
her.
“I am Arula Dalynth—a former Turk
through former President Shinra.”
Suiren’s eyes narrowed as her knuckles turned white due to
her grip on the staff as it tightened. Those words made her want to beat the
hell out of him. She couldn’t stand those two words in the same sentence. Her
only enemies since they killed her mother. Arula noticed her reaction and
reiterated what he had just let out.
“I said, former Turk. I
hated that rat bastard of a president. He was a lying sack of shit. There were
so many underground, illegal, sneaky things they were either doing or were
involved in that I just didn’t and couldn’t agree with. So, I killed the
bastard President in hopes that that would calm the company down. But all that
resulted was the president’s son Rufus taking over. I give you no reason to—or
not—to kill me; I know what happened to your mother—and I give you no reason to
trust me. Personally I think, though, that you will find soon you will need my
help. I think I am the only one around that can relate to you, dear Cetra.”
The smirks and the sarcasm in his
voice pinged her with hate, bewilderment, and concern at the same time. This
was what made everything in Suiren’s mind seem so fake, so confusing. She was
overwhelmed with feelings. Hatred, anger, sadness, fear, stress… All of these
and more were coursing through her and were fatiguing her tremendously. Arula
noted her symptoms and nodded to himself.
“I’ll leave you now, Suiren. I
trust you’ll know where to find me when you decide to. You won’t know how but
at the same time, you will. Don’t worry—not a word of this conversation is to
be repeated to anyone or I will unfortunately be forced to kill you.”
“Wait. How did you know my name?”
Stammered Suiren.
“Perhaps another time. You’re
being overwhelmed with information that has been a stranger to you for many
years. Go back inside; none of this happened.”
She began to feel really faint
and wavered before kneeling to the ground on one knee.
“Hmm… You seem to be well wanted.
Promise me then, that you will stay out of trouble until I come to you again? I
have so many questions to ask you and I can’t risk you dying. Promise me?
Please?” Suiren’s crystal blue eyes glistened in the moonlight. Her whole life
had been removed and more than none promises have been broken. She thought
Arula was her only key to any information that she could gain at all about
anything. With out really promising anything, Arula vanished in a flash of
light.