13th installment of the VGNU.
Dragons and Broadswords,
Mystery and Adventure,
Final Fantasy has them all!
The beginning of Phase 2 for the Video Game Novel Universe.
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Darkness covered the world in 2,000 year cycles with only a brief moment of light before resetting once again. Over and over, new heroes were called to play the Warriors of Light, and over and over they would hold their own.
From facing Garland in the Chaos Shrine, to helping the civilizations around the Aldean Sea. From stopping the Lich in the southwest, and Kary in the southeast, to Bahamut's Dragon Quest. From the Kraken in the northwest, to Tiamat in the northeast. Each new group of heroes faced their own adversities, either amongst themselves, or against the world, but they always persevered. Always... until the end.
Hundreds of cycles had come and gone. No longer did the Council of Elders meet. Sadda remained in Melmond. Matoya hid in her mountain cave. King Winters sat on his throne in Cornelia. Lukahn still told the prophecy as he always must, sending out the call to arms to this cycle's heroes. But the others knew it was useless. Every couple hundred of cycles, it would seem the Warriors had finally cracked through Chaos' defenses, but... the all powerful all knowing God knew a counter for everything 2,000 years before it happened.
There was no stopping him, and even as the new heroes stood at King Winters' throne-- a Fighter named Nova and her three mages-- all Winters cared for was the safety of his daughter. Every time it made it to this point, he remembered. It was always this moment when all other memories flooded back to him, and he relived the kidnapping of his daughter several hundred times over. Every time he was reborn, and saw the truth of the world, the cruelty of the world, he cared a little less about saving it.
But these heroes set out, like all others before them. From fighting pirates in Pravoka, to fighting Astos in the Western Keep, they followed the same path that all other heroes had tread before them. And right on cue, like clockwork, the Light Warriors called on Matoya to wake the Elf Prince. She'd stopped bothering trying to convince them to give up. They never did. She suspected the will of the Crystal Shards forced them to keep going, even against their individual wills perhaps. She'd seen heroes who hadn't wanted to be chosen, yet they walked the same paths. Some lived, others failed as she knew they would. So many faces, so many heroes that deserved better. But she played her role, and sent them on their way yet again.
And after passing through the channel, the Warriors arrived in Melmond. Sadda offered them advice, sometimes a helpful tool if the timeline called for it, but he had resigned himself to staying put as well. Matoya had finally gotten to him, and he had given up hope for the Warriors. It felt like minutes passing. He'd help one set of Warriors, and the sky would light up, then it would darken and he was introduced to a new set. There was no point. No victory. No end. There was only the might and will of Chaos.
The Fiends no longer put up a fight either, if the Warriors were strong enough. There was no show, no flash. They needed to be defeated, and so they were. And after the Lich, and the Warriors traveled to Crescent Lake, they were met with the last of those that remember the cycles. Lukahn held tight to the belief that they were on the right path, that they must trust the will of the Crystals that had protected their world for so long before the coming of Chaos. He memorized and knew by heart every face and name of every hero that called for his aid. He knew not when this cycle would end, only that it would. Someday, the power collected by the Crystal Shards would rival that of Chaos.
But until then, the heroes moved on to Bahamut's Quest, gaining power that would only help them in this moment, but be ultimately useless. Then to face the Kraken... Then to face Tiamat... and then it was time once again for these heroes to die, and this cycle to end.
With heavy hearts, the Council of Elders was forced to watch Nova and the three Mages, River, Fredrick, and Yung, march to their deaths. They faced Garland in the Chaos Shrine, believing themselves prepared for the worst. But they never were.
They too, gave their lives to the Crystal Shards, and Chaos had won.
And so came the close to the thousandth cycle...
One thousand times, this story has played out.
2,000 years, repeated 1,000 times, for a total of 2,000,000 years of hell.
How... How could this possibly have a happy ending?
This version represents the way most people perceive the game. As a 2D JRPG, FFI has never had grand scale flashy theatrical fights. Regardless of dialogue or how many pixels are in a sprite, each NPC only matters once and no enemy is a threat if you wasted enough time getting your numbers high enough. It all just kind of... ends.
