Recent Arrivals

Three long days and three long nights she traveled across Spira, her only goal was to reach the Farplane before anyone was able to catch her. The dress sphere she had acquired from the vaults of New Yevon, had been secured in a grid made for this one purpose by a young, Al Bhed genius. After that, it was up to her to make it to the one place it would work properly and activate it’s special power. Only once before had she pushed a chocobo so hard, at least this time she wouldn’t be too late. Her plan was fail proof.

The dark haired, former summoner arrived at the entrance to Guadosalam, her tattered clothes showing signs of battle wear and her face showing signs of sleep deprivation. She slowed her chocobo down to a trot as she entered the city. After leaving the tired bird with the inn keeper, knowing it would be in better hands, she began to climb the winding path to the entrance to the Farplane. Two guards stood at the entrance, the sight of which made her wince. The thought of fighting people with little to no power to hold their own, was enough to make her sick.

Taking a deep breath, she approached them as if she would just walk inside. They blocked her path with lances. “Hold it right there, it’s too dangerous to go inside the Farplane. It’s still way too unstable.” Deep blue eyes moved from one guard to the next as a slight smirk crossed her face. “If you have heard of me, then you will understand what I mean when I say, ‘my work is complete.’ All that is left for me to do is make it past you guys. You know, I am willing to do anything it takes to reach the Farplane.” She narrowed her eyes, “Including taking down anyone who gets in my way.” The guards swallowed hard and looked at each other a moment before one of them spoke. “Then we won’t keep you.” Bowing her head lightly, she stepped beyond them and continued forward a few steps before breaking into a full run.

“Who was that woman?” The other guard’s whispered question came after he had regained his composure. “That was the failed summoner, the one Yevon wanted for an assassin, Enzeru. She has been trying to bring back Lord Braska and his guardians since she failed to bring the calm, leaving them to move forward and do it.” “She is still alive?” “She no longer lives for herself. We need to tell someone about this.” The two guards ran to seek help, any help.

Grateful her bluff worked, Enzeru continued onward. her footsteps echoed off the stones, through the tunnel. When she came out on the other side, she was able to see how much ruin had come to the staircase ascending to the Farplane. Cracks and missing chunks were scattered across the once grand staircase, the rubble lay here and there, it was a depressing sight for one who has spent so much of their life here. Pursing her lips, she climbed upward, knowing that her goal was directly in front of her. Soon, the three wasted lives she valued more than any treasure in the world, would be restored.

The woman’s heart nearly stopped when she reached the platform. Parts of it had been broken off, leaving only about half of the standing room that was previously there. She clinched her fist, the spirit that had been seeking the power of Vegnagun, had ruined this sacred place of solace. “That bastard.” Her words were but a whisper, but her full disgust could be heard behind them.

Carefully, she made her way to the edge of the platform. After a deep breath, Enzeru called the memories of her old friends forward. They appeared before her, as she knew they would. A tear rolled down her cheek as her bright blue gaze remained fixed on the man she most looked forward to seeing again. “Soon, I will be able to tell you, I’ll be able to tell all of you… I’m sorry.” Slowly, she pulled out her grid and looked at it, this was the key to ending the suffering of herself and two others. The two young people who saved the world would be seeing their fathers soon.

Then, the Farplane went black, hardly any light could be seen here. The flowers wilted and the great falls came to a stop. The Farplane was dieing. Enzeru could feel her magic, her strength, her energy, being sapped from her. The grid slipped from her fingers as she sank to her knees. Delicate fingers tried in vain to grip the mystical device, but they failed. Soon she was completely unable to move. Then there was a sudden flash of light, as she reached for it, it appeared to pulled her in. Then everything went dark.

The sweet smell of flowers filled the air as a gentle breeze blew past. Had she died? No, the Farplane was gone now, she wouldn’t be dead. If the Farplane was gone, every chance she had to bring them back would be gone with it. What had happened? Bright blue eyes fluttered open and a gentle hand grasped at the soft soil. Slowly, she pushed herself up to her knees and looked about in wonder. The former summoner found herself in the middle of a field of wild flowers. Where ever she was, Enzeru knew she wasn’t in Spira anymore as this wasn‘t like any place she knew of.

Getting to her feet, Enzeru took a good look around. It wasn’t dark here like it was in the Farplane. The sun was beginning to set across the field, giving the clouds in the sky hues of purple and orange. It was just one more thing that reminded the woman of her goal, which now appeared to be a failure. With a deep sigh, she crossed her arms and looked up into the sky. “Forgive me, I failed you again. Just hold on a little while longer, I will find my way back to you.”

A plume of smoke rose in the distance. Where there was smoke there was fire and where there was fire there was more often than not people. It was her best bet for finding out where she was and why. She had barely taken a step when a fiend burst out of the grass, teeth bared and growling. Enzeru was barely able to lean back out of the way. “Just who do you think you are messing with?” She held out her hand to cast a fire spell, but nothing happened. “What in the…” The mage tried again with her other spells, but nothing happened. Something was wrong and it was starting scare her. This was a strange land and she was apparently defenseless.

WC: 1150

Another day, another gil. Lucky for the redhead, he could get away with sitting here in the nearly empty bar while on duty, at least until he got a call. It was one of the perks of being a Turk. He took a look at his beer before taking a gulp. He never imagined becoming friends with the rebel group known as Avalanche before everything happened. Now, he couldn’t imagine things being any other way. They were alright people and the beer at Seventh Heaven was cold. Tifa even let him smoke in here, when no one else was around to complain.

Grinning, he took out one of the white tubes and his match box. Sticking one of the tubes in his mouth, he struck a match just in time to hear his phone ring. He spit out his cigarette and clinched his teeth. “Damn it, what now?” He reached into his unbuttoned jacket pocket and pulled out his phone. “Yo, Reno here.”

“Reno, are you sitting in the bar again? We got a big problem at the edge of the city.” Rolling his emerald eyes, the young man propped his chin in his opened palm as his elbow rested on the bar counter. “Surely isn’t not that bad.” “You’re wrong, we got some nasty clouds approaching and…” “You’re calling me for clouds? Tch, stop wastin my time.” “…and everything in their path is turning grey, like all the life is being sucked out of everything.” Reno jumped off the bar stool and deposited some gil on the counter to cover his tab, “Why the hell didn’t you say so sooner?! Never mind, I‘m on my way.” With a flip of the wrist, he hung up his phone before returning it to his pocket.

After leaving the bar, Reno stretched his legs before setting off at a run. Whatever this cloud thing was, it sounded nasty, like Jenova nasty. For a moment is considered calling Cloud in on this, but decided not to. It was time that the Shinra company start taking responsibility for what they had done, even Rufus had said so. If this could help restore people’s faith in them, then it was worth a shot.

It was far from a short run to the edge of town, but having worked hard to build up the muscles in his legs, Reno was able to sprint for longer distances than your average person. The power of his kicks helped to get him the position he held in the company as a sort of bodyguard, enforcer.

When he reached the edge of town, he didn’t need to ask where the ominous cloud was, all he had to do was look up. His jaw dropped as the open desert in front of him, one a shade of tan, turned gray and black. As the people in front of him, whom had arrived to witness the spectacle, began to sink to their knees, appearing instantly weakened by the shadow overhead, the Turk began to slowly back up. There was no way he could beat something like this on his own. He cursed under his breath, knowing he should have called Cloud or at least told Tifa about this. At least the thing wasn’t killing people, that was a plus. Figures this would be the day he and Rude would be off doing their own thing, he could use another person thinking this through.

The redhead turned and began to run as fast as he could, he had no choice but to get the hell out of here. Once he escaped, he would be able to come up with a plan to get rid of whatever was causing this. Maybe a big fan or something could blow the clouds away. His first thought was of the helicopter, but it was too small to get the job done. He needed time to think, but he wouldn’t get more than a few more seconds. The dark energy sapping cloud was right behind him and gaining. It wasn’t long before it was on his heels, literally. A bright light appeared before him and he reached out for it, hoping it would save him. Suddenly, everything went dark.

His emerald eyes shot open and he bolted up, looking around for the cloud that threatened to take him. He sighed with relief when he realized that it was gone. This was not where he was when he saw that light, and this didn’t look like any area or Gaia he had heard of. It certainly wasn’t Midgar, not with all these flowers. Looking around a moment, he saw smoke in the distance. Maybe they would have some food, he was starting to get hungry. How long was he out for anyway? The redhead checked his watch and frowned, it was past lunch time. Slowly he began to walk in the direction of the smoke. He felt weaker than he normally did, like something had sapped his energy. That damn cloud must have got him. Was he dead? No, this wasn’t the life stream.

He heard a snarl behind him and turned just in time to see a rabid monster lunge at him teeth first. He dropped to the ground to avoid it. Getting back up and kicked it in the jaw, causing it to yelp and run away. As he continued forward, other beasts tried their luck, but none succeeded. He could still kick, at least. A few times, he had checked for his weapon out of instinct, but every time he was disappointed. His weapon had been lost on his way to this world, it was indeed a new world, there was no other excuse for it.

As he continued forward he heard another person’s voice, it sounded like a woman. It was a great relief to hear another person out here, he had been thinking he was completely alone. He made his way to the sound of her voice and noticed she, too, was being attacked by vicious monsters. “All you gotta do is kick them in the face, like this.” Reno smirked as he kicked the drooling beast in the jaw, causing it to cry out and run away. “Those things are a bunch of chickens anyway. Speaking of chicken, I missed lunch, care to join me? That is if I can find a place.” He face changed from charming smile to puzzlement. It felt a little weird to be asking a girl out in a place like this, but he had just saved her life so she might be willing to accept his offer.

WC: 1100

The appearance of the strange red-head was unexpected. Enzeru was almost certain she was the only person out here. She allowed herself a slight smile, for his benefit more than her own, and nodded. “Maybe there is a place in that town over there. I kinda skipped lunch the past three days… and dinner now that I think about it. My how time can get away from you when your mind is on other things.” She looked away, a bit embarrassed that she had not been tending to her own needs properly. It had really been three days since she stormed the temple in Bevelle, broke into the vault, and took the sphere. Now suddenly here she was in a strange new world and no longer running for her life. It was actually very peaceful here. She remembered she had not introduced herself and shook herself from her serene thoughts. “Excuse my manners, I’m Enzeru. I’m not from around here, as you can probably tell by my encounter with the fiends.”

It had been years since the last time she found something she couldn’t fight or escape. Sure she could have attempted to fight the fiend hand to, um, claw, but Enzeru knew she would have lost. Losing against a fiend usually meant becoming one yourself. However, it was more troubling to her that her magic had not worked. If it didn’t work, then surely the magic that circulated through her was beginning to falter, and that would mean her age would soon show. Not only her age, but her physical weakness. Her very life could soon be in more danger. How could she possibly fix this? For a moment she sat in thought before remembering her company. “I’m sorry, it seems I have a lot on my mind. Thank you for helping me. It would be in our best interest to get to the nearest village quickly."

The sound of howling fiends could be heard in the distance, causing Enzeru to give an involuntary shiver. Those things were ill tempered and seemed to be starving from the looks of them, and that was never a good combination. Soon, if they were not already, they would begin invading inhabited areas in an attempt to feed. While she was here, Enzeru was determined to find out the cause of this. “So, shall we be on our way?” The raven haired woman turned in the direction of the smoke and began to walk, carefully, though the tall yellow grass and the scattered patches of aromatic flowers. This place, this new world, was lovely from what she could see of it. Living here would be out of the question, but a short visit couldn’t hurt. Maybe let things calm down in Spira and then return to the Farplane and try again to call her old friends back. She had no tolerance for her failures, and silently vowed to prevent them from causing any further damage. Surely, when she returned, he would be waiting on her.

WC: 502
TWC: 1652

Reno stared at the woman a moment, his bright green eyes examining her more for her personality than her appearance. Something about her reminded him of Rufus Shinra, his boss. Then it hit him, like a shock wave flowing through his body, he had no idea what had happened to the others. He was alone except for this stranger. Reno had no orders, no plan, and no idea what was going on. Taking a deep breath, he decided to do what he normally did when something went wrong on a mission; wing it. Forcing a grin he crossed his arms and looked over to where, what looked like chimney smoke, was rising. “Yeah, that would be our best plan. I’m not from here either. Friends call me Reno, enemies call me that damn Turk, and ladies call me stud.” He laughed at his own introduction, knowing full well no one ever called him stud.

He noticed that she seemed to be deep in thought about something. Enzeru couldn’t have been in this world much longer than he had if she was still looking to get to a town. As far as he could tell, she was unarmed and unaccompanied. “It‘s alright, I‘ve got a lot going on in my head as well. Let’s get to that village and find out where we are.” Reno walked behind the dark haired woman, keeping his eye open for fiends and taking them down when they attacked. He knew this wasn’t where he needed to be, but he had no choice but to go with it for now. Once he knew how to get back, he would go check on his boss and fellow Turks. It was a pain being the hero, Reno understood why cloud was always so emo.

“So, um, Enzeru, do you have anyone back home waiting for you?” It was a strange question, but it was too quiet, and he needed to say something to break that awkward silence. “My friends are probably wondering what happened to me. I hope my boss didn’t get into any trouble, I’d hate to miss a party.” He didn’t know why he let that last bit of information slip out. Damn, this woman was too easy to talk to. The redhead shoved his hands in his pockets and attempted to remain quiet. The last thing he wanted to do was to let too much information about himself slip and her end up some kind of enemy, then again, she looked so harmless. Was it even possible someone so small built could cause him any trouble? Even if he had some doubts about his company, at least the scenery was nice. It wasn’t often people from Midgar saw flowers, and never flowers like this. He couldn’t keep from talking anymore, the silence was too much out here. “What is it like where you’re from?” Reno hesitated before answering his own question, “We definitely don’t have many places where flowers like this grow back home. We don’t really have many places for flowers to grow at all. Too much city and not enough nature, ya know?”

WC: 520
TWC: 1620