Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy: The First Advent ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

<HMTL>
<TITLE></TITLE>
<BODY>

Just a quick note to orient the readers. This is an original Final Fantasy which is heavily based off Final Fantasy 6, but includes elements of all the games. I might extend this note later on, but for now, just enjoy the prologue and I hope I can hold some attention here before things get into full swing.

<CENTER>-----------------------------</CENTE R>

Once, there was a war....

Human beings, endowed with powerful magics and deity-like strength had seized control of their own race, holding in their hands the power to tear appart the planet of their own accord. Soon, these people began to not see eye-to-eye anymore and battles began to break out among these superhuman dictators. In every corner of the globe, they fought and tore away at one another, sacrificing whatever innocent lives got in the way. Soon, the war was over and the magically endowed perished at one another's hands; and those that were left were subject to the next step in the supposed salvation of humanity.

The mighty creatures, whom were the source of these awesome displays of power, known only as "Espers", were then dispelled from their host bodies in one mighty magical blast that echoed across the entire planet. A circle of sages, whom practiced the ancient shamanism arts based on the planet's own power, had created a series of spells to eliminate the Esper threat and were setting their plan into motion. Upon the removal of all Espers from their hosts, the sages then ignited a second shockwave that once again reached across the entire landscape, sealing the Espers' power. Unable to rejoin with their masters and hosts, the Espers fled and hid, only to be hunted down by the very sages who purged and sealed them. The Espers were all eliminated, or so the sages said, and magic was thought to have simply ceased to exist.

However, without the Espers, the planet could not properly recover; for within and around each Esper was an aura that maintained sustenance for the planet. Without the creatures to provide the planet with proper health, the land remained scarred and barren for hundreds of years. The environment worldwide was reduced to a wasteland, nearly devoid of all life and the elements had seemingly become even more harsh than they were before. Rain became monsoons, snow became week-long blizzards, the sun was like an endless stream of crushing heat, and the wind was enough to carry away an entire human.

So humanity adapted and constructed mighty steel settlements; entire communities that were made to provide a temperate and bearable environment instead of the harsh revenge the planet was subjecting them to. They found ways to make good soil for crops, to make proper conditions for meats like cow and fish, and generally how to rebuild the world they lost within their own tiny little worlds, scattered across the fierocious surface of the planet. While some of these communities were self-contained domes, some incorporated brave new technologies like the power to drill within the surface of the planet to hide underground while rumor has it one managed to find a way above the stormclouds that seem to endlessly flow across the skies.... They dubbed all communities as "Seeds" in hope that someday they might spring out from them with new life and humanity may grow into the former glory it once had.

It is now nearly three hundred years later. Generations have come and gone and life within and outside the Seeds hasn't changed much. The world's climate has been subdued to the point that only the most stout and fearless (or deranged and completely moronic) may make the trek towards other Seeds. However, much to the chagrin of all humanity, the descendants of those who once wielded the power of "magic" and "sorcery" have recently become aware of their heritage and have somehow recovered fragments of their ancestors' power. Using their power as a means of extortion, they soon gathered money and social status until they became a whole new breed of human themselves, rising above the common man. They call selves Philosophers; named for how they follow their own philosophy above all others and believe themselves to have the power to make it reality and enforce it. And thus, they became the ruling class, holding sway over all Seeds.

The re-emergence of power among the Philosophers as well as the seemingly steady improvement of the planet's condition have begun to recently cause worry for the quickly dying-out eldest generation; those that remember hearing the terrible things that happened when gods-made-men clashed and tore the planet asunder. Having wished to forget the terrifying past, they refused to tell the younger generations about such things and have only recently begun to retell the stories of old. However, to younger folks, these are all just make-believe in their minds; the ramblings of old, senile fools. Magic? Espers? People commanding the might of deities? These are all just legends, myths, tall tales, and children's tales. Perhaps the truth of the past is too far-fetched to believe, or perhaps they don't want to believe that their lives are made the way they are by the corruption of power. Or perhaps the elders have just waited too long to be convincing; whichever the case, the past is merely a flurry of legends among common man. Nothing more than fairy tales and fantasies; stories for entertaining and not educating.

But, far to the north in a Seed that lies at the foot of a mighty mountain range, something has just been uncovered that just may prove the elders right once and for all. The Philosophers are rushing to acquire it while the common man goes about their way, oblivious to the new age that may dawn upon them. And the events that are about to happen, the collective story told and handed down as just another myth or tall tale to entertain, just may come to be known as the "final fantasy"....