Eonari

First, very soon I'll continue my work on the bookshelf and post new weekly updates again, and that's also in part the reason for this "vacation" I'm taking.
Second, for some time now I've received more and more messages, particularly Notes coming in all the time which is likely a result of dA's own efforts as much as the bookshelf, and lately I've had problems getting anything else done in order to make replies. And once I begin posting weekly updates again, I'm sure the number of messages will only go up, so while I'm sure this will sadden some, replies in February is going to have to be reserved for only my closest friends, although I will still aim to clear out any comments and Notes I have from before February 1st from my inbox. That means some of you will hear from me in February but any messages that comes after that will have to wait until sometime in March. Hopefully I'll even make some much needed progress on a short story that's taken me half a bloody decade to edit on and off, and honestly it quite simply needs to come to an end. (And yes, it's THAT short story, and it still lives!)
So to everyone this will affect, know that I'm not simply ignoring you. I'll be on "vacation"! I love writing back and forth, but I need to switch back to spending more time being creative creating things again and actually looking around dA rather than to spend most of it being creative finding the time to reply and I hope you'll all understand.

To begin with, all this started with an article on Kotaku about making your own Final Fantasy Mix tape. But ideas tend to evolve once they get into my head so what I ended up with was this. A personal selection of Final Fantasy music to go with an original story for a fictional Final Fantasy game I would have liked to play.
Each track marks a chapter for which a summary of the events is written beneath. So if this idea sounds like fun, make your own.
After all, we all have our own opinion of what a Final Fantasy story should be and what sort of Final Fantasy we want, so rather than bitch about what's wrong with the existing ones, why not show how a story should be told instead?

And for the sake of length I've kept this to a core story even though it could have easily had twice as much, and I kept the planning down to a day to make sure it it wouldn't eat up all my time. So this is my story.

01 - Prelude/Opening Theme 

The story opens with with a grand Airship in the distance trailing smoke and fire, falling towards the ground heavily damaged from a crash with a smaller Airship before it finally crash into plain shrouded by mist.
Waking up and surprisingly enough without a scratch on you, you find a further three people alive. Two men from the larger one, one woman from the smaller one. But one of them seemed to look at you with disbelief, although you suspect it might just be shock.
In any case, the three of you take prisoner the fourth who happens to be your main target to be brought back to the empire. The leader of the Resistance whose execution is to be set on the world stage.

02 - World Map

Escaping the fog and upon entering the World Map you're met with a desolate wasteland of ashes barren of all life with the exception of monsters. The result of a long war of which there are few who can remember how began. A sight only the Resistance leader seem saddened by.

03 - Battle Theme

You encounter fierce monsters on your way but survive through teamwork, tactics and magic.

04 - Town Music

Upon entering the closest village which seems to be nearly falling apart from war damages, it's depressing aura seems to grow even heavier wherever you go as people take notice of who you hold captive. But equally as much you are met with fear by the people as no one is brave enough to deny you to pillage their homes for items and valuables, or even charge you for spending the night at the Inn.

05 - Character Theme

At the Inn you are left with little but the company of your party to spend the time. Set to guard the prisoner you learn about her and yourself, but most of all you learn that her cause for fighting the empire is very much reasonable and many of her opinions are thought that have crossed your mind as well. You have because of it been conflicted about your loyalties to the empire and with the destruction of the land, and the prisoner makes your doubt all the more whether or not you're fighting for the right side.
The leader of your company however is second only to the enigmatic head of the empire itself, even though he is well mannered and shows their prisoner the greatest respects for her courage to stand up and fight them, but he also kindly give warnings about chatting and befriending her. She is after all a prisoner.
The third however does not say a word as his tongue was once cut out for talking too much and mostly rude jokes, meaning he mostly communicates through thought bubbles mainly consisting of - ? - ! - - - and %&#!.

06 - Secondary Character Theme

The next morning you move on through the desolate land passing several abandoned and burnt down villages and refugee camps, and the more time you spend in the presence of the charismatic Resistance leader, and the more you see first hand of the destruction and suffering the empire is causing you start wondering what exactly you have been fighting for.
And you also notice that your superior starts to look out of shape, sickly even though he insists that he is fully well. But all things considered, your prisoner is actually the most lively of you all and keeps everyone's spirits up by making light jokes, even though they do mock the empire and yourself in one way or another. But as you get to know her you also realize how scarred she is for all that she has lost, and how deep her hatred runs for the empire, which makes you think. If you were to betray your fellow soldier and superior for her cause, would she even accept you as an ally, or just take the chance to kill you and them?

07 - Villain Theme

After a long and tiring journey with still a long ways to go, your superior suddenly stops. He turns towards you and kicks you in the gut, asking how many times he's told you to only guard the prisoner and not befriend her. He continues to kick you until the prisoner intervenes to stop him at which point he seems to snap.
Your mute fellow soldier intervenes and stabs the man in the back, but to everyone's surprise he hardly reacts but seems instead to become borderline insane. The three of you group together and distance yourself from him as he seems to be talking to someone or himself. With none of you feeling safe around him anymore, and even your prisoner seeming to accept you as allies you set up camp with one man always holding an eye on your superior as he wanders about the campsite, continuing to act strangely.
The night falls and things seem quiet until you are suddenly woken by your mute friend who seems very unsettled. Outside the tent they find their superior gazing motionlessly to the horizon at the edge of the cliff. A comet is seen in the skies and as you address him he turns to reveal his eyes glowing a bright silver as pale as the moon and stars. His madness from before seems to be a thing of the past as he has now gained a far more sinister aura.
He walks over to the prisoner and and seems to rob her of her strength by his mere presence alone, almost as though he is siphoning her strength, and it is then you realize her fear isn't from the unknown but from what she knows stands before her.
The previously unbreakable and high spirited Resistance leader is shaking as if naked in the snow, and the sinister man draws his sword. That is when you both step in between your superior and her as a fierce battle ensues from which you barely escape, forced to flee as he is too strong for the two of you alone to fight with the prisoner in chains.

08 - Town in Trouble

Fleeing to the nearest town you find no respite but slaughter as your former superior has arrived before you. The Resistance leader breaks out in tears and desperation as you learn that it's her hometown they have come to.
Finding yourself unable to save anyone and only gaining the information that the man walked on in the direction of the imperial city. You stock up on what little you find before the Resistance leader speaks up. She tells you of an old story of those whose souls are not of this world. It's a superstition or a story to scare kids based on a far older story long lost that speaks of people whose eyes would glow a starry silver when a comet appeared in the skies to make them do its bidding. She always thought they were just a story even though it always scared her when she was a kid.
Hearing the story and thinking of the Empire's actions, it all seems to oddly coincide with this comet and they decide they must somehow be connected. And in whatever way it can certainly not be good. She then takes you to her old ruined hideout where you find new weapons and gear alongside a secret weapon the no longer existing Riseistance were saving for the right moment. Having taken what they could they proceed to the stables and decide to go the rest of the way on the surviving Chocobos.

09 - Chocobo Theme

You bear witness to a most awkward sight as you realize the Resistance member has never ridden a Chocobo before as a result of an unfortunate event in her childhood, even though the surviving Chocobos are all too happy to see her.

10 - Boss Battle Music

You have finally reached your destination even though your cause has now changed. You ride in on Chocobo and launch the secret weapon to attack head on, a distraction that self detonates and takes out the enemy electronics to leave them in a state of chaos as you sneak in. But as stealth can only take you so far, you find yourself having to fight your way through the chaos and creating more by setting up sections of the military installations to self destruct and even using their own weapons to destroy parts of the palace.
But even so you are eventually backed up into a corner as you finally make it to your superior's quarters for payback. But he isn't there. Trapped you search for another way out and find a secret passageway that leads to some state of the art stuff.
Finding a promising console the former Resistance leader press a big red button after which alarms go off everywhere, signaling an imminent departure over the speakers.

11 - Airship Theme

Colossal steel doors open as a smoke filled sky is revealed, and rising towards it, out of the ashes, fire and smog it is revealed. The newest and largest battleship the world has ever seen that you are currently escaping in. And once the lady on board realizes this, a switch is turned inside her and she takes the opportunity to use every weapon she can find the controls for to unleash hell upon the defenseless soldiers on the ground.
But her moment of villainy finds an abrupt end as you tell her that she is no longer any better than the empire, and upon realizing this she is suddenly filled with self loathing for realizing that you are right.
But the cease fire don't last long as they suddenly lose control over the ship's weapons, and while they can still travel wherever they wish, if they come too close to any village or town the weapons will soon target it and wipe it off the map, forcing you to keep a distance to every settlement you wish to visit.
Deciding to go back to the crash site where they first met n order to get something the former resistance leader had lost before. A family heirloom bearing a flame decoration she says might come in handy. But shortly after takeoff they soon find that they have also lost control over the ship, and the ship sets a course straight for the closest town.

12 - World in Crisis

As the ship moves destroying one town after the other you realize that it's not only destroying but absorbing the souls of everyone it kills. Forced to find a way to destroy the Airship you head out to find the engine room. But while running around in search of it they find the ship's layout to be quite odd, almost as if there is no way to the more innermost parts of the ship but only to the installations around it.
When they eventually do find it, it's in the nose of the ship which you can only reach through two parallel corridors in the far end, and once there it also seems less like an engine room and more like a temple with depictions of constellations and of ancient deities like Ifrit, Shiva, Ramuh, Odin, etc.

13 - Final Dungeon

Upon entering what would normally have been the engine room they find no engine but a warped space. A wide open starry sky stretch out above and beneath you, and along the path beneath your feet you find a grand celestial palace opening, the entirety of the place almost as if it were built within the comet, if indeed the comet was made of a clear crystal. Sensing what awaits you, you prepare yourself for the battles you know are soon to come.

14 - First Stage Boss Battle

Entering the grand ballroom of the Celestial Palace you are reunited with your former superior, his eyes glowing a fiery silver as he says nothing. He just draws his swords and waiting for when you're ready.
During the battle you also learn how the Resistance leader managed to bring down their airship ten times the size of her own as it turns out she has been keeping a secret. The reason she knew about the story of the comet and the silver eyed was because she and her ancestors where of a group of people the empire had hunted down because of their knowledge and relics related to channeling the strength of the old deities.
She got her relic back at the crash site, so now once more, hers to channel was the full strength and flame of Ifrit that to their great surprise saw her eyes glow a fiery orange.
It is also then they realize why her spirits was always so high, because she was never truly their prisoner as she could have escaped at any given time, even without the relic using Ifrits fire. She just found that she would have been bored going back to her hometown without company.
But upon defeating their foe however, he would only utter a single word before the light faded from his eyes. "Run!"

15 - Final Boss Battle

Entering the innermost heart of the palace they find a man that at the same time is no man at all. It was as if the ghost of a dragon had taken the likeness of a man, and all around him, feeding him were the stolen souls of the dead. The people whose souls was not of this world as they suddenly saw their recently defeated enemy among them before he disappeared into the ghostly creature.
It then proceeded to speak but no with sound. Staring at them with an intense stare while they could hear its thoughts and see its memories. Memories that proved to be the origin of the tale previously mentioned to be lost.
The creature had come long ago with the other deities, travelers who befriended the humans. They had bestowed upon them the gift to channel their strength and elements men came to call magic and things were good, for a time.
But once they had tasted power they grew greedy. It was not unusual that they would wage war amongst themselves, something that did not improve with the inclusion of gifted channelers, and some even saw themselves above others for being able to channel. But it was when the deities thought to leave and move on everything changed.
Those who could channel would lose their power, and so they all gathered together and worked as one to bring down the very some who had gifted them. They tore apart their bodies and their very souls; their essence and distributed it amongst themselves and made relics out of them, and those who took their piece found themselves naturally channeleing their full powers and were stronger than those who had learned but held no relics.
But there was one of the deities who escaped, although not unscathed. It fled to a passing comet where he made a home, controlling from afar those who had stolen its essence, for his in particular was so potent it seeped in and changed their very souls. A change that passed from generation to generation.
But the reason they now found themselves before him was not out of their own free will. And he could sense the mocking question the creature thought. "Did you not think it odd how fast you would heal?"
A memory from his superior's eyes flashed before him as he saw himself lying among the airship wreckage with wounds no man could live with, yet here he stood. And it was then he realized that just as the lady had the flame and strength of Ifrit, he had this deity's gift of healing. A gift it needed in order to return to it's former glory, this fallen king of dragons, Bahamut.
And then his eyes attained the glow of silver while it possessed his body, but as it did he was given one last secret. Why the grand Airship was built the way it was and how it absorbed the souls. The Airship itself was built around the husk and remnants of Bahamut that the empire had collected over the years and for what the war was waged, for it was only its will and spirit that sought refuge in the skies.
But as much as he wished to tell and warn the others of this he could not. He was instead forced to fight his own companions, but loses in the end.

16 - Ending Theme

Bahamut, having not yet gathered all the pieces that was taken from him, is weakened enough for you to regain control. And it is then, with the dragon king's power you bring down the palace, shatter the crystal comet, and overload the grand Airship.
The mute, seeing what is coming finds the palace tearing itself apart, so he grabs the lady's arm as he reluctantly pulls her with him to flee. Taking one last glance at his friend before they run.
Once outside they find and take one of the smaller Airships on the warship's deck as they witness the airship heading back from where it came, crashing into the empire's grand city as the comet shatters in the night sky.

After Credits
While people are busy and cheerfully rebuilding, some even making a business selling crystal shards that surprisingly enough sees life grow in their presence, you suddenly see the mute and the lady gear up for another adventure as someone ask why they are dressing for war now that peace has finally arrived. The only answer the person is given however is a gaze to the skies and and a smile following the words; "I don't like to keep people waiting."

Once there was a wee little lad who had little to do, little to say, and even less ideas of how to say what little he needed. Needless to say and as surely as the sun may rise, this was indeed a very, very long time ago, for as all who since came to know him now very well knows he well near never shuts up. But how did this change occur one may wonder and how did he end up here? This is his story.
For years and years it was often he would come here to this very place to see the wonders herein, for if ever there was a thing he had it was thoughts of improvement upon stories that all else would bow down to worship through the sacrifice of money.
"How odd a thing it was," he would think "to worship what held no ingenuity, no creativity, no originality but was instead made not out of passion but for money."
Having seen so much yet so little that differed he had grown bored, ever wishing, yearning, imagining all the things that yet could be that none ever seemed to be able to see. So here he came, drawn by the wonders and creativity, the originality of those deserving of more.
But for years, all he did was scour their wonders, adding to his imagination the thoughts and ideas of these masters of imagination, until one day when his mind would overflow into a sea that could not be contained.
While indeed he could draw, it was simply too great a task to endeavor, and film, while ideal, sadly requires too much to make, but through the art of words he found all that he would require. Ideas put to the page, described and told yet with room enough to allow for the creativity and imagination of others.
For years he wrote and naught but horrible, mangled strings of words while he himself would say little more than a word, "I'm sleepy", but one day the words grew less horrible until they one day even made sense. And then at least came a day in the year 2009 when he would join. A year when he thought the time was right for the horrors of the web to shiver in fear of his arrival, and perhaps to find some expert advice on his tales and to reach his dream that one day he may be a storyteller of equal quality as those whose works he had for so long come here to see.
While his writing was a thing of nightmares still, his story was less so, earning him a comment from one across imaginary lines of land and sea whom he befriended and even later met, and it was not long before found even more would follow.
But the more he seemed to write, the more he would know to expand upon even the simplest of things for amusement and charm, until one day the lad who once had nearly a thing to say no longer knew the meaning of restraint. And so for amusement or annoyance, for better or worse, still here I am and here I will stay, but if not for the wonders, for advice or even out of boredom, surely I will for people who are here.

To deviantART a happy birthday, and to all of you my gratitude and thanks for making this the place it is. And one day I'll reward you with my seemingly neverending story from times of old. (Though we will hopefully not be the same when it's done. -_-')

Okay, if you are watching this it means you'll probably have forgotten that you do for so long as it's been since I last wrote one of these. So what's new?

01 - Revenant
Concerning "A Tale of Old" which I've been editing for years now, it's now become two separate stories. So yes, I'm still alive and kicking and I'm still writing and I always will, I've only had a lot on my plate so writing haven't been as large a priority. But sadly I still can't say when it will be done as the language style is still very inconsistent, although splitting the story into becoming two separate stories should give me less to work with and speed things up a bit.

02 - I'll soon be making some large changes in my life and I might be offline for a while once this week is over, so if anyone writes something and come to wonder why they don't seem to be getting a reply, that would be the reason.

So until next time, have a nice summer.