Ancestry (Final Fantasy XIII Fanfiction)

Chapter 1

The man stretched his massive wings toward the sun, letting the sun display his beautiful purple-black wings in all their glory. The leather-like appendages emerged from the top of back and broadened into their 10 foot span. While the tops of his wings were purple-black, the undersides were as dark as an abyss. As the sun illuminated his wings, many nearby females looked at him in interest.

Like many current day animals, the males of their species were more vibrantly colored than their female counterparts. Before they were blessed by the Goddess, their kind was once the beasts known as dragons. As scaled beasts, they would spend days, maybe even weeks or longer trying to get their chosen female to notice and select them as a mate. Males would display their vibrantly colored bodies and wings and bellow to get a female to take interest. The males would come in an assortment of colors like reds, yellows, oranges, blues and greens while the female's bodies were generally dark brown, green, grey and even white.

At one time dragons were almost exterminated but the Goddess Etro had taken pity on their fierce and beautiful ancestors and tried to help them. With the last of her power she turned them into a creature that had once ruled the world with its ingenuity but had eventually been destroyed by a rival God. The dragons were turned into a bipedal creature with a vast capability for intelligence with only their wings as a reminder of their heritage. The Cie'th were all that remained of the creatures called 'humans' after Lindzei had come to wreak havoc on those guided by Etro.

Dragons were not social by nature but during breeding season, which happened every 10 years, the female dragons would converge into a large group. It was instinct that allowed the dragons to know when to come to the breeding grounds at the right time. The females would be led by a single leader while the males would stalk around the fringes of the group trying to attract a mate. The female leader would have to fight for her position among her gender and was the fiercest among them. Instead of displays, the males would have to chase down the female and the one who captured her would become her mate. When she felt ready the female would sit alone in the center of the mating grounds and allow the males to draw near. Once those that were interested in taking her as her mate had arrived, she would roar out her challenge and take to the air with the males in pursuit.

After being made into this new species, their people no longer took mates this way. It was considered animistic though some men still partook in this sort of marriage. But it was exceedingly rare. Their retained wings were still used to impress potential love interests however, as beautifully colored wings were considered more attractive than dull ones for both genders.

Caius was hoping to impress a very special woman. A powerful warrior, she had been given her powers at a young age to help protect their lands. They were always under attack by monsters and the Dragon Goddess, Etro had made Claire Farron her Knight.

There was only one Knight of Etro at a time. When she passed, another would be appointed by the Dragon Goddess herself. The warriors would be imbued with otherworldly strength and magic, including the ability to summon armor and mechanical beasts from the Otherworld. The armor they could summon varied with the person and would instantly cover their body and was always in colors that matched their wings. The current warrior's armor was black and silver with golden bird design. There was even a sash of feathers which matched her ivory and gold wings. He had seen her fight many times, usually summoning a mechanical beast called Odin to help her in battle.

Caius himself could also summon the beast as he was the Knight of Chaos. He had been given his power trying to save the Seeress of Etro during the same attack that had killed the former Knight of Etro and Lightning's parents. While Lightning protected the northern side of their territory, Caius protected the southern. Unlike Lightning, his armor was purple black like his wings. He could also summon it at a whim and his chosen summon was a dragon called Bahamut.