Final Fantasy Tactics: The Fading Roars

An indirect sequal of the game "Final Fantasy Tactics." Ivalice is swept up into yet another civil war as the church & the crown clash. In the midsts of this struggle, a psychotic Black Mage plots to destroy the Kingdom. The only person in a position to s

 

~Arazlam~

            For centuries, much of Ivalice’s history has remained shrouded in myth. Of particular interest to me is the time frame surrounding the infamous “War of the Lions.” History tells us that, when King Ondoria III died of the plague, the prince succeeding him was only 2 years old. Instead, his guardian would reign as King. The Queen designated her brother, Duke Larg, as guardian. But the parliament, fearing an oppressive reign from the Queen, appointed Duke Goltanna to the position. The conflict between the Dukes eventually engulfed Ivalice in civil war.

            What little we know of this time period states that a commoner, Delita, married Princess Ovelia, bringing peace to the kingdom and maintaining a long rule. But is this account to be believed? Many documents have lain concealed in the church’s Akashic Records for hundreds of years. Among these documents is the tale of 3 soldiers who lived during this time period. Their accounts, if refutable, shed disturbing light on the reign of King Delita, as well as the devastating earthquake that struck Ivalice over 4 centuries ago.

~Aristotle~

            The Fifty Years War had left me, like many other soldiers, financially and spiritually drained. The monarchy thought to cut costs by neglecting peasant soldiers just compensation. That didn’t go over well. Many became thieves and brigands, plotting rebellion against the crown. For almost a decade more, Ivalice would be chaotic with battle.

            Morbid as it is to say, that was good for me. I had developed a unique form of magic that could reshape the topography of a location in the heat of battle. That was good for war, so throughout the rebellion and the War of the Lions that would come after it, I always had a job. Afterwards, I’m afraid I was reduced to being a street performer. That’s how I met Lilith. Lilith was a beautiful woman. She had glistening, green eyes, and her red hair—a very uncommon color in Ivalice—was drawn back into a single, long braid, save for her bangs. She was also—

            “Wait a tick…you mean to say you’re actually a woman?”

            “Screw you, old man!”

            —Flat as a board. Anyway, Lilith had a certain beauty and grace, but she was also rude, loud, and an alcoholic. Furthermore, she wandered around the countryside in a hooded, black cloak. Not exactly the picture of nobility. More likely to be a robber. Of course, she actually was a noble. Was. Past tense. Lilith had run afoul of the church ages ago. That made her a heretic. A deadly lifestyle, but it wasn’t so bad anymore. After King Delita took over at the end of the War of the Lions, his first official act was to declare that the church had been orchestrating the war in a bid to take over Ivalice. The church had bigger problems.

~Lilith~

            It was a dangerous situation. The King was an obstacle that the church needed to get rid of, and fast. They had the majority of Ivalice on their side, and they planned to use that to their advantage, plotting a military strike against the crown. The King hadn’t planned on them moving so early. He planned on having more time to sway the masses. In all honesty, what the church was doing was strategically unsound. They were acting out of desperation. The King was going to win this battle in the long run, and they knew it. So they chose to act now, before he had time to draw from the other knightly orders. The King needed help.

            That’s where I came in. The Knights Templar were always after me, ever since I refused to marry Cardinal Glick. He’d wormed is way up by bribing church officials, and he was not one to be denied. A few bribes later, he was declared Head of the Office of Heresy, and I was declared a heretic. Of course, I was safe, so long as I remained in Limberry. I had done more for the people there than Cardinal Glick ever would. Between tax cuts, increased wages, better farming soil, and breakthrough medical advances, they weren’t likely to turn traitor against me any time soon. Yes, Limberry was now the envy of Ivalice, and as an added bonus, I accomplished it all by not paying the church anything whatsoever. Score.

~Seraph~

            Seraphim are the highest choir of angels, said to serve the gods themselves. I received this lovely little epithet when I was orphaned during the start of the 50 Years War. I had always had a talent with magic, which is why the Knights Templar sought to include me in their ranks. In time, I became their most devastating weapon. My powers could easily topple armies, dismantle kingdoms, and warp the very fabric of reality itself! But that didn’t stop them from leaving me high and dry at the end of the 50 Years War. My age was starting to show, and I guess they thought they could do me in. In the interests of time, I’ll spare you the gory details. Suffice it to say, they were dead wrong. 

            I had taken residence up on Germinas Peak, a mountain to the north of Limberry. Thus far, I had not been bothered, but there was a Confessor planning a trip to this region, some sort of heretic hunt. That was a mistake. I tensed as I saw the carriage drawing near. The electric pulses coursing through my fingertips…the heat I could generate with just a thought…oh yes, it had been a long time since I’d enjoyed myself quite this much….

~Lilith~

            “Oh crap! Get down!”

            I grabbed Aristotle and dove behind some rocks. Not 30 feet ahead of us was the carriage that carried a Confessor tasked with hunting down heratics. There was no mistaking it. All scarlet, perfectly clean, and ornately decorated with gold, it was driven by a large, flightless white bird known as a Chocobo.

            “Who’s that?”

            I looked where he was pointing, surprised to see a small crevice in the mountainside, and even more surprised to see a man hiding in the shadows. He wore blue robes and a hat that appeared to be the pelt of some giant lizard. The fangs framing his face were decidedly bad a*s, but they looked sort of comical on a guy that could easily be my grandpa. Seriously, the man’s hair—beard included—was all frizzled and gray, and “wrinkled as a prune” would be an insult to prunes.

            I nudged Aristotle. “You don’t think he’s going to try taking on a Confessor, do you? They aren’t just old guys in robes. Most heretics are violent criminals who’ve spent months fighting the Knights Templar—don’t look at me like that—where was I? Oh yeah, heretic hunters are usually extremely powerful sorcerers, and for to send one right to the doorstep of Limberry, this one in particular must be decidedly badass.”

            “’We have to help him,’ right?”

~Seraph~

            The carriage stopped and out stepped 4 knights boasting scarlet capes and, right on their heels, a bald man in white robes with green trimmings. The whole affair just screamed, “Ooh, look at me, I’m a Confessor of the church, Heretic Hunter # Nobody Cares, and I look so cool in my robes.” Cool, huh? Well, did I have a solution for that!

            I snapped my fingers and blew the quintet up. Have you ever seen 5 grown men running around, crying like babies, praying for forgiveness from spontaneous combustion? It’s hilarious. Just as they fell over, 2 people leapt out from the rocks behind me, swords drawn, mouths agape, and just generally looking like idiots. One was wearing armor and had neatly trimmed blond hair and blue eyes, looking basically like every other knight in Ivalice. The other one had red hair and looked like a drag queen. The black capes told me he was from the Southern Sky.

~Aristotle~

            “Wow…mission accomplished? He didn’t need our help at all…I feel sort of worthless….”

            “You should be used to that.” Lilith stepped forward, waving at the mage. “Hi there! My name’s Lilith, and—“

            “Wait a tick…you mean to say you’re actually a woman?”

            “Screw you, old man!”

            Thus the narrative of how we got to be on Germinas Peak has come full-circle. It was still a few days’ trip until the capitol city of Lesalia, but Lilith thought we had some time to enlist Seraph’s aid. After all, any enemy of the church’s was a friend of ours. That was how she saw it, anyway. But, for all the more brilliant Lilith is, she’s woefully ignorant when it comes to matters outside of her little squabble with the church. Seraph had resigned himself to a bitter life of solitude ever since he was ditched by the church. As he aged, his hatred intensified, but his grip on reality seemed to diminish. There were rumors that he went into small towns and burned them down for fun. He was not someone I wanted to be around, but I had no proof, and arguing with Lilith was nothing short of impossible.

            “A gilded chariot seems sort of…extravagant and wasteful,” I noted, stepping forward to join the conversation.

            “Yeah, well, that’s the Glabados Church for ya,” Lilith responded with a shrug. Seraph was stepping over the bodies and making sure the Chocobo’s reigns were still firmly attached. He then opened the door and hopped in, turning to address us. “I know what you’re going to ask, so don’t bother: I don’t do escort missions.” With that, he closed the door and drove off.

***

            A few days later, we arrived in Lesalia without incident, but the city was a ghost town. Most of the cottages were partially—if not completely—destroyed, the slums were on fire, and there was an encampment right outside of the castle. Lilith came up with a brilliant plan to cover our entrance, but now she wouldn’t stop sobbing inside the front gate….

            “Lilith…this is sort of embarrassing….”

            “Don’t you have any respect for the dead?! We lost one of our best men out there!”

            “What men? You threw a Molotov Cocktail into the enemy ranks!”

            “And it was my best booze!”

            “Can we please just go see the King now…?”

            Reluctantly, she rose to her feet, and we made our way to the Throne Room. The lack of guards disturbed me. I voiced my concerns to Lilith.

            “You know, the fact that there’s an encampment outside means that we’re too late to stop the Templars’ assault, right?”

            “Yeah, that was bugging me, too. But I can offer him the support of the Order of the Southern Sky, if we can get there in time. That might be of some help.”

            There were 4 main Knightly Orders in Ivalice: The Lionsguard was the royal family’s personal guard, the Knights Templar served the church, the Order of the Southern Sky served the provinces of eastern Ivalice, and the Order of the Northern Sky served the provinces of western Ivalice. As Marquis of Limberry, Lilith held a great deal of sway over the Southern Sky ordinarily. This was a fact she sought to make use of by saving a large portion of Limberry’s budget for rations and equipment for the troops. As such, the Southern Sky knights were sure to come to the King’s aid the moment Lilith opened her mouth.

            In the time it had taken us to discuss the idea of an alliance, we had reached an enormous set of double stone doors at the center of the castle. It had to be the throne room. “Well, after today, you’ll never have to worry about heretic hunters again. Sure, we’re too late to stop the assault, but once the Southern Sky joins up with the King, the Northern Sky will almost surely join the alliance, and then the Glabados Church will have no choice but to surrender to our terms.”

            Lilith’s eyes brightened and her face split into a wide smile. “You know something? You’re absolutely right! Come on, let’s—get the Hell out of here!”

            She had pushed the doors open to reveal a horrifying sight: the room was filled with scarlet-clad knights.

~Seraph~

            I was standing on a platform in the middle of the room. To my left was a man in an ornate, golden chair. He wore similarly gilded armor with a white cape. All told, he was gaudier than the church’s goons. The room was ringed by Knights Templar and the King’s own Lionsguard, all eyeing each other intensely, none daring to make a move. As the doors burst open, I glanced behind me. It was Lilith! This was all too perfect….

            “—Get the Hell out of here!”

            “No need for that. It seems that the High Confessor and those next-in-line met with an unfortunate ‘accident.’ Namely, they were assassinated by some of the Knights Templar—or should I say ‘undercover Lionsguard’? Anyway, it was decided that an emergency meeting be held up in Bervenia, a city not that far away from Germinas Peak. Then the bishops there met with a little ‘accident’ of the fiery kind. Since I just so happened to be ‘passing through,’ completely unrelated to the arson incident, I took the time to move that I be reinstated into the clergy, as High Confessor. None of the priests objected. So here I am now, to negotiate a peace treaty.”

            “…Wow. Now I feel useless.” The woman was first to respond. I’d heard of her from my new knights. Evidently, she’d been giving the church trouble for ages. I knew she’d be good fun, if I could only find the right button to push.

            “Of course, my King, you understand that we’ll need someone to blame for the deaths of those clergy members. How about her?”

            The King looked up from the document he was reading for the first time. He barely even registered what was going on before nodding.

            “What?!” the girl shrieked in outrage, but she and her partner were immediately surrounded by several Lionsguard. One covered her mouth. I launched a fireball over their shoulders. They dropped Lilith immediately as she fell to the ground, rolling and clutching at her face. The other one made a move towards her, but stopped when one of the knights pointed a sword at him.

            “Proof that she was involved in the fire, of course. Amateurs really shouldn’t use the forces of nature for political terrorism. ‘Playing with fire,’ and all…. Oh, but I do have one more term.”

            “What is it?”

            “Stand up.”

            As the King rose to his feet, I grabbed the metal rod I laid on the Queen’s empty throne earlier. Rearing back, I swung it like a golf club in between his legs with all of my strength. As he dropped to the ground, I grabbed the treaty from his hands.

            “Did you really think I did all of this for your political benefit? I just wanted to get you to let the Knights Templar in here so they could ransack your castle. I don’t give a damn about this ‘treaty.’ Promises of peace aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.” To punctuate the speech, I waved the treaty in the air a few times, before causing it to combust. I threw the ashes into his face, then turned to leave, smiling as the Lionsguard and Knights Templar were busily hacking each other to pieces.

            Second greatest day of my life.

~Lilith~

            I couldn’t believe it. The King I had just come to save sold me out without a moment’s hesitation! I wanted to kick his a*s, or shout at him, or something but every time I moved, it was like being stabbed in the face. The burning wasn’t serious, but it would later cause scarring. The Lionsguard knights that had surrounded us rushed at Seraph, but were blown away by a flurry of electricity. The rat b*****d actually stopped in front of us. Aristotle grabbed his sword hilt, but stepped back when Seraph pointed an electrically charged hand at me. He then resumed his ranting.

            “I hate people like you and Delita the most. That king up there sent his best friend to an early demise for power. He orchestrated the assassination of Dukes Larg and Goltanna during the Lion War. He pretended to be a loyal Knight Templar and did everything he possibly could to seize power. But you know something? He’s still just some loser who belongs to a family of horse breeders. Not that the Nobility are any better. You may have the Kingdom’s best interest at heart, but you still achieve your goals through petty little schemes. It disgusts me! Tell ya what: If you think your brilliant planning can actually accomplish anything meaningful in this world, come to Bervenia Volcano. I’ll give you your chance to change Ivalice.”

            Seraph walked around us and put his back to the door. He held up a hand wreathed in fire and electricity, warning away anyone who might attack him, and slowly backed out the door. As he disappeared from view, I could hear him racing through the halls. Some of the Lionsguard went after him, but were caught in an explosion he threw back. The doorway and much of the hall collapsed, stopping anyone from running after him. Well…almost anyone. While everyone else was busy fighting, Aristotle propped me up and advanced towards the door. He held out a hand, blowing the debris away, and we limped out of the room. I took one final look back at the King, who was looking at me with pleading eyes. Clearly, we were his last hope. So, I flipped him off and continued on my merry way.

~Aristotle~

            It was a few more days before we reached Bervenia volcano. We stepped precariously over blackened rocks perched frightfully close to a sea of raging fire. The sky was coal black, occasionally raining down ashes or hot cinders.

            “So…if there aren’t any gods, then where does all of this fire come from?” I had often entertained myself by offering Lilith queries such as these. She never failed to deliver an answer, even though it usually disagreed with Ivalice’s scholars. They were, nonetheless, quite valid.

            “You know how when you squeeze your hands together, they get warmer? Similar concept, really. The rock is under a tremendous amount of pressure and so it liquefies.”

            “BORING!”

            Seraph launched himself out from behind a large column of rock, smacking Lilith in the face with his staff. She fell over and rolled dangerously close to the lava. As she was picking herself back up, I ripped out my sword and slashed at him. He dodged out of the way, but when it made contact with the ground, I sent a trail of spikes towards him. He managed to dodge that by jumping as well, and was now on top of the rock he had originally hid behind.

            Slashing with his staff, he sent a large ice crystal into the lava. It bubbled and seethed and exploded outwards, raining lava down on us. We ran behind the rock Seraph was standing on for cover. Seeing us, he shot another ice crystal, but I slashed, deflecting it away. He jumped down to attack directly, but Lilith pulled out her own sword and blocked his strike.

            “You’re wasting your time, you know. This whole place is gonna blow sky high in just a few minutes!”

            “We’ll see about that,” I said, gesturing towards the top of the volcano, which sealed immediately. Seraph’s eyes grew wide and he began running in the opposite direction.

~Lilith~

            “Aristotle, wait! Don’t do that!” I tried to warn him, but the sounds weren’t leaving my mouth. That a*****e mage must have silenced me with magic!

            I ran behind them in silence for what felt like hours, but was really only minutes. I kept making random words to see when the effect would wear off. “Apple—orange—ahh! My voice is back! Aristotle, you have to unplug—“

            I was cut short as we were all thrown to the ground by a tremendous shaking. Seraph was laughing hysterically.

            Aristotle got up and caused the stone around Seraph to shoot out several stalagmites, creating a makeshift cage. “What’s so funny?”

            “I know what he’s laughing about. Lava is under extreme pressure…by sealing the volcano, you just caused it to release elsewhere.”

            “So…wait…you mean I….”

            “Thaaaaaaat’s right! You just destroyed several miles of the surrounding countryside in a huge earthquake!”

~Seraph~

            It was perfect! Being a pyromaniac, I naturally knew about convection. It didn’t take me long to realize that it was the source of volcanic lava, and from there, I understood why there was so much evidence of ancient earthquakes around the volcano. The fact that it was an open spout kept there from being many earthquakes today, but that could change. The greatest part about this whole thing was that I didn’t have to do anything! No planning, no scheming, I didn’t even have to do the deed! The self-proclaimed saviors of Ivalice had done it for me! The capital was surely destroyed, along with the church. All that was left now was for the citizens to freak out and tear the place apart! And so I just sat there and kept laughing. I knew they had me beat, but so what?

            I held my hands together, charging them with heat. As the fireball expanded rapidly, it swallowed up me and my cage, as well as the very ground we stood on.

~Arazlam~

            Sources in the Akashic Records indicate that Seraph’s final attack did not succeed. All of them had somehow survived and made it to safety, but were later found and incarcerated in Fort Besselat, where they wrote memoirs, which the church would later find and confiscate. King Delita had survived the attempt on his life and city, and was not at all forgiving. He ordered their execution and later organized the new church to be under the crown.

            But even King Delita lost out in the end. His wife, Ovelia, had been paranoid for years that he considered her a pawn to be used and disposed of. Fearing for her safety in the coming invasion, he had sent her away to a remote part of the country. However, she had assumed that he was plotting to assassinate her. About a month into the cleanup of Lesalia, Delita took leave to visit her on her birthday.

            It wasn’t until a week later that anyone came to look for him. It is unclear what happened, but both the King and the Queen had succumbed to stab wounds.

            The King’s advisor, Orran Durai, was arrested and burned at the stake for the crime of heresy. In the 2 months of Delita’s absence, his adopted son, Prince Clemence, had become a devout follower of the Glabados religion. When he attained the throne, the church was again the dominant power of Ivalice. It would be nearly 4 centuries until Ivalice became a secular nation, as Lilith had intended.

            This is one of Ivalice’s darkest tales, to be certain. But it’s not all terrible. Lilith had a younger sister, who ensured that the improvements she made as Marquis of Limberry stayed in effect. The other provinces adopted similar programs, and Ivalice slowly crawled out of the dark ages.

Author's Note

Regrettably, there were many things I couldn't fit into this story because it was supposed to be short--much shorter, in fact, than it actually turned out to be.

Reviews

[Lithp]

Why, thank you. I'm glad it can go completely differently from how it was supposed to go and still entertain people. Or entertain them to begin with, for that matter.

"Wonderful write here."

Was that a pun?

[deeps]

Oh! Man! This was so awesome! I liked this alot. Your set up is really amazing as well, it made the story just flow along winderful. I liked this alot. powerful detail and vivid imagery. Wonderful write here.