#11                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            By: Scott

Truth Unbelieved

Damien, who’s hand had inches towards his sword as the newcomer came closer, relaxed slightly. That voice had been so soft, almost dreamlike, nothing like Ellyria’s confident voice. Puzzled, Damien slumped against a tree, thinking hard. Finally, he looked up, and spoke to Maikeru.

“Wait, Great Hero? Who’s that?”

Maikeru didn’t answer, he just looked towards Damien, stunned, as if he thought the mercenary was joking. Damien just looked back, a slightly puzzled, yet expectant, look on his face. Turning towards Ellyria, Damien noticed that she to had a look of surprise on her face. Frowning, Damien moved his hand closer to the grip of his sword.

“If you don’t want to answer me, I’ll happily force the information out of you…”
“No, no… sorry… I just… didn’t know if you were being serious,” replied Maikeru. “Have you never heard of the Great Hero?”
“Only rumours and whispers,” muttered Damien, whose hand had found the grip of the sword, still frowning. “So, who is this ‘Great Hero’?”
“I… he stopped Chaos in its tracks, over two thousand years ag – what?”

Damien had burst out laughing, but it was dry and humourless. Drawing his sword, Damien swung it in front of him, only a few inches for Maikeru’s face.
“He stopped chaos over two thousand years ago, on his own? Please… I don’t have time for this. Either tell me the truth, or get out of my way.”
“But that is the truth,” pleaded Maikeru, “he really did stop Chaos two thousand years ago!”

Damien merely smirked. Sheathing Makurayami once more, he walked forwards, past Maikeru. As he did, he called back over his shoulder.
“Ha, whatever. I’m out of here.”

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#12                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    By: Kevin1292

Another Meeting

Kyoshi saw a group of people, one with his sword out. He went over to them and asked, "Hey, do any of you know where a big city is? This self-proclaimed faith told me to go to a big city... I'm having a bit of trouble finding it."

Damien responded, pointing his sword to Kyoshi. "And who are you?"

"My name is Kyoshi Deishu," he replied.

"Wait, a big city?" Maikeru started. "I was told to go to a big city as well, maybe we all have to go to the same city."

"Why wouldn't it be? We're all going in the same direction, aren't we? Anyways, I can see the walls of a rather large city, maybe that's it," Ellyria said.

They headed toward town when Kyoshi was hit in the arm with an arrow.

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#13                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             By: Dragoon Taryn

The Slip

Ellyria followed Maikeru and Kyoshi as they headed for a city, hoping it was the city that "the voice" had mentioned, then took the first opportunity to slip away.

"I work alone, the pay is much better that way," she said when she was a safe distance away, stretching her arms above her head, "And I don't need to follow some fake and phony story about meeting the Hero from 2000 years ago... pass."

With that, Ellyria pulled out the map she had been given a long time ago, a map supposedly showing all the cities and countries in the world. She checked her location, and the closest town that couldn't be "the city" the others were heading too.

"Ah, here we are. A small border town. If the two countries are at war, maybe I can get some good money for being a bodyguard."

Ellyria tucked the map away in her rucksack and headed off towards the direction where the small town was on the map.

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#14                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           By: Nightmare_Wolf

Introduction of Wolff Grandalon

Wolff opened his eyes. "Where the heck am I" he thought while he observed the chamber. All he saw was a door, a blackened window and a flickering light. He also noticed that he was strapped onto a table.

"Chief, it looks like Wolff is awake. Bwahahah, that's good". Then the door went open. Wolff saw a chubby little man standing in a bright light. The man walked towards to Wolff.

"So you're awake eh, you damned monster." the man said. "It's time for you to go. You did something you shouldn't have done, so you will have to die". The man took a dagger out of his pocket. "I always knew we couldn't trust you. But my son....saw you as a friend and he let you take the trails. And now he's dead...and it's your fault!" And he slashed Wolff in his face. A red line appeared on his right cheek.
"It wasn't my fault!" Wolff replied, but the man didn't listen. "I think I could tell you...."

Wolff couldn't hear the man anymore but he heard another voice. A familiar voice. "Wolff? Wolff please try to get away and rescue us! We're captured by something that calls himself Chaos or something. Please hurry! It looks like we are in a cave."

It went silent. Then Wolff's anger took over his body. The man didn't know what was happening, but he knew it was bad. Wolff broke free and tossed the man aside. Wolff stole the dagger and murdered everyone inside. He took back his scythe and clothes, and leveled the building with the ground.

Then Wolff came back to his senses. "What have I done?" he shouted. He tried to walk to the nearest town he knew of, but after walking a few miles, he collapsed.

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#15                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       By: McCloud

Introduction of Hayate

It was a beautiful day just outside the big city. The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. One person in particular was enjoying the scenery so much, that he was able to ignore the rainstorm that was taking place only about a mile down the road. He was laying on his back, half-asleep in the grass. Even though he was almost a mile away from the city, and there was a storm, and he was almost asleep, the man in question was able to hear the sounds of combat. The clang of metal rung in his ears and he opened one of his eyes.

"Why is it," he said to no one in particular. "That I can ignore a rainstorm, but not battle? Tell me, please."

However, he didn't expect a voice to answer the question.

"You are a Sinner," the voice said. "You have been through too many battles to ignore the sound of one."

The man sat upright and began looking around for the source of the voice. There was no one around for him to see, and this made the man slightly uneasy.

"Calm down, Sinner," the voice spoke again. "I have no intention of hurting you. I have a message to deliver.?

"If it has anything to do with fighting," the man started. "I have no intention to help."

"And yet that is exactly why I have come to speak with you," the voice seemed urgent. However, the man didn't care. He flopped on his back and rolled onto his side.

"I'm done with fighting," he said to the voice. "Just let me sleep in peace."

"You are going to refuse the request of a Fayth?" the voice said, anger in it's voice.

"As a matter of fact, yes. Yes I am."

With that, the man got up and began walking toward the city that was being rained on. After about ten minutes of silent walking, the man spoke to the Fayth, which was obviously following him.

"Why do you need my help," he asked.

"The powers of a Sinner are great," said the Fayth. "You are known to be a very strong fighter, and in the Second Chaos, someone of your talents and knowledge would be essential."

"Thanks for the compliments," said the Sinner. "I guess it'd be alright if I fought... as long as I don't have to watch anyone die."

The Fayth thanked him and began to tell him some of the things he was about to encounter. Aides to the hero were already gathering in the city up ahead and the Sinner picked up his pace.

"It seems like the grand return," the man said to himself. "Of Hayate the Sinner."

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Wolff Awakes

"Ugh.. what happened?" Wolff thought. "Oh good you're finally awake. Are you feeling okay?"

Wolff saw that he was no longer outside. A cheerful lady was standing besides him.

"I'm fine." he said as he got out of bed. "Who are you and where am I?" Wolff asked.
"My name is Cassandra. I found you bleeding on the ground, and I thought that I could help you." the woman said. "Can I do any thing else for you?"
"Yeah you can. Give me my weapons so I can leave this place."
"I'm sorry but your weapons aren't here. I left them behind."
"What? Well then could you at least take me to where you found me?"
"Hmm okay. If you think you are fully recovered, we can go."
"I don't care whether I'm fully recovered or not. Let's go."

The two went back to the road. They eventually found the weapons. Wolff said goodbye to Cassandra and left. Not knowing where he was going, or what lies ahead of him...

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#17                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       By: Thanatos

Introduction of Thanatos

"Did you see that blitzball match last night?" Tyler asked Monty. "That was the best I've ever seen Zanarkand play." The two Shinra guards were on night duty sitting around watching the camera monitors. ''I'm telling you, if they put me on night one more time, I'm asking Zuto himself for a raise," said an aggravated Monty. "Tell me about it, this is my third night this week. The funds for employee pay are going down the-" He was cut off by a loud blast from above followed by the annoying beeping of the red emergency lights.
"What the hell..." they said in unison. The cameras in the whole Shinra tower went blank, not the usual fuzzy screen. It's like they went blind. The two guards immediately grabbed their guns and hit the stairs.
They got to the seventh floor when they heard an unusual disruption just beyond the main hall.

Monty motioned to Tyler that he would go first. Tyler nodded in relief. As Monty left the stairwell, he was immediately covered in complete darkness. Everything else was in it's normal dim lighting, but there was a cloud of shadow around Monty.

Tyler had no idea what the hell was going on so he did what any other scared guard would do, he unloaded on the form, not even thinking that his pal Monty was trapped inside. His face went blank and he looked down and winced. The poor guard fell to his knees, then flat on his face. The window behind Tyler was completely shattered. The bullets that had just left his weapon had recoiled back to the guard and gone completely through his, now limp, body.

At this point, the halls of Shinra tower were filled by the running footsteps of the ignorant guards. If they had known what was waiting for them, then the footsteps would be heading towards the exits, but they weren't. The creature that created this shadow form knew there would be a short battle that night in the tower. He slightly frowned, but he had been waiting for this moment ever since he was seven years old. The night where these same guards had killed his parents.

Thanatos left the bloody abyss through the very top of the Shinra tower. Leaving a menacing note in President Zuto's office:

"Game over"

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Introduction of Lanzer

Lanzer smiled as the crimson blade found its mark in the bandits' chest. Withdrawing the now blood stained sword, Lanzer's smile quickly turned into a frown.

"Go on, kill me," the bandit pleaded.

"Do you wish for death, bandit?"

The bandit had no response.

"Unfortunately for you, I do not kill lowly bandits. If you can walk, I suggest you leave this village and never come back, because if you do, I won't be so merciful."

The bandit got to his feet and staggered away, blood spilling from the wound in his chest. He wouldn't get far before he died of blood loss. Lanzer put away his sword and shook his head. Why would someone choose to live a life of crime? And why did I choose to spare him, at least for a while? Damn my moral senses, Lanzer thought before turning around and heading into the village. The small village had been kind to him for three years, ever since he stopped a group of thieves from stealing the crops the villagers worked so hard to produce.

In time, Lanzer grew to love the village, so much so that he took up residence there. In truth, he just stayed in the village because of the food and the money. For farmers, the villagers had a nice rate of income. Lanzer arrived at his home, a duplex with a kind woman named Sarah.

"How'd the hunt go?" Sarah asked, a plate of food in her hand.

"Fine," Lanzer replied, immediately shoveling food into his mouth.

"That's good to hear. Can I ask you something?"

Lanzer looked up, dropping his fork of noodles onto his shirt. He nodded.

"Well, why don't you talk about your past?"

"It was uninteresting," Lanzer said harshly, "Thanks for the food, now I'm going to bed."

Before Sarah could respond, Lanzer was upstairs on his bed with the curtains closed.

"You can't keep hiding forever, you know," a female voice said.

"I know, Aralyn, I know, but I just don't like talking about what happened to me....to us."

"You're still hung up about that? Let it go, Lanzer. Besides, now I can help you as you helped me."

"You haven't been much of a help thus far."

"What do you want me to do? Destroy some bandits? Face it, Lanzer, we're going nowhere just killing......mortally wounding bandits. We need action, excitement! We need to fight people that are challenging opponents! We need-"

"-to get the door."

The door to Lanzer's room was being pounded on like a hammer. Lanzer opened the door and saw two men dressed in cloaks.

"Are you the mercenary called Lanzer?" one man asked?

"Who's asking?"

"The ex-knight Lanzer?" the other asked.

"How did you know that?" Lanzer asked, his hands going instinctively to the hilts of his swords.

"It does not matter who we are or how we know you."

"What does matter is that we have a job for you."

Lanzer eased up. "How much does it pay?"

"$10,000 for every person in the group you kill"

Lanzer's eyes opened wide. Ten thousand could buy him food for a year.

"Who're the targets?"

"A group of people claiming to be heroes. One of them is supposedly the great hero from 2000 years ago."

"I'm supposed to kill the hero that helped put an end to the age of Chaos? Should be easy, he's gone 2000 years without practice. Wait, how can a guy from 2000 years still be alive?"

The cloaked men looked at each other.

"Will you take the job, Lanzer?"

"Sure, why not. Guess I'll ask this 'hero' personally. Let me get my bag. Can't live without water."

Lanzer went to the sink and filled five canteens with water before attaching them to a belt around his waist. He grabbed his wallet, put it in his pocket and he was ready to go.

"Okay you two, where are the heroes going to be?"

"They are meeting in a big city..."

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