Story:ORPGS/Yojimbo's stories

From Virtualsoil

Revision as of 20:26, 11 March 2006

The stories on this category are all posts I'm doing in the Collaborative Writing ORPG group called Spira which is at ezboards and has been going for over a year.

Zanarkand Reborn: Dome - Freedom

Rowen woke up with a start. A blinding light pierced his eyes and the noise assaulted his ears. This wasn't his familiar prison at the bottom of the Calm Lands gorge.

- "Oh, sorry buddy, didn't mean to wake you... What the hell ?!" said the stranger alarmed at seeing Rowen's sword one inch from his throat.

Rowen looked at the man who had tripped on him: Young, with baggy overalls, no weapons and a broom in hand. He seemed harmless. Rowen lowered his sword without saying a word.

- "Thanks I'll just clean up the other wing, if it's ok by you buddy. Al right ?" said the man slowly retreating, wanting to put as much distance as he could between him and this stranger.

The boss better not complain that wing F was not well swept! Dealing with a maniac with a sword sleeping on an empty blitz stadium on broad daylight wasn't part of his job description!

After the man left Rowen looked around puzzled. Where was he ? He could see a blitz sphere, but in a much more luxurious stadium than Luca's. No, this was new. Never in his 800 years he had seen a place like this.

He had heard that some fayth were coming back to life but never expected himself to be one of those. His was a different case. He was not from the age of Zanarkand's prime, he was created much later, by a completely mad undead Summoner.

Zanarkand! That must be where he was. He recognized the stadium now. Many in the Farplane had described it for him.

It made sense. His body had died at Zanarkand, at Yunalesca's Dome. This must be on top of where the dome was, or at least near it. This craziness in the Farplane wasn't very predictable but one thing seemed to be constant: revived people would wake up close to the site they died. And he had died in Zanarkand, giving his life to a Summoner, to be his Final Aeon.

The memory of his betrayal by Ghirlon still felt heavy, even after all those years. He had given his life willingly, but he had not included his family honor in the gift. With his betrayal Ghirlon took away from Rowen his only chance to redeem his family name and his own name. And that would take a lot more than 800 years to forget. Even if it had granted him his Yojimbo form.

Being back to life was a nice surprise. A cool breeze was blowing, the day bright and sunny. Rowen could smell food being cooked nearby. The sun hurt his eyes but it felt good on his skin. He wondered if he would be able to taste the food. Taste! Smell, touch, taste, how wonderful they felt, after 800 years without it!

He hated the reason he was back - Amon's evil meddling - but he was glad fate had given him this second chance to be alive on Spira.

His stomach complained loudly. He had forgotten the downside of being able to taste food. One must eat to stay alive. Oh well, that kind of problem would be a welcome change from his life.

Up to now his life had been spent either locked in a deep dark cave waiting for Summoners or being at a Summoner's beck and call to be their Aeon . Not that he had minded serving Yuna or Braska, those two last Summoners had been outstanding masters, honorable, dutiful, committed to good and respectful of him / Yojimbo. But their predecessors!

Another pang of hunger reminded him that his days of endless meditation were over. Rowen walked out of the stadium following the smell of food. He was glad he always kept his pocket full of gil, he would need it now to pay for the food.

Zanarkand Reborn: City - A stroll through a city reborn

Rowen looked at the vibrant city fascinated. So this was the famous Zanarkand the other Fayth missed so much!

No wonder, just in his walk from the dome he was able to see that this city was much more vibrant and active than Luca. The people smiled more and there were no Church vultures around, no Yevon signs to revere or make the bow every five minutes. A very pleasant place, but he couldn't stay.

Given another opportunity at life, Rowen had set himself on the quest that had dominated the last 3 years of his previous life: Clean his name, his family's only legacy.

To do that he needed to find out if the snakes on Bevelle had also come back to life. He also had to seek for his family, as they too could have been revived by this madness in the Farplane. And they would be revived at sea!

The thought alarmed Rowen. He knew his father and his older brothers were good swimmers but he couldn't remember if his mom could swim. He had been only 10 when they drowned, their ship attacked by Sin near the Omega ruins.

If they came back, they were in serious danger, even if they made it to shore. The Omega ruins was no place for exhausted castaways to land. Many a Summoner party, well rested and composed of trained fighters, had perished there. He himself had been in one of those while being Yojimbo to a Summoner.

Rowen cursed himself at the memory. He hadn't held back, he could see the dungeon was too dangerous for his usual games with the Summoner. Every time he was called he performed Zanmato. But the Summoner had called him too late, many of the larger beasts there were immune to his Zanmanto and Break moves. To make matters worse, all the other Aeons were gone by then. He and Daigoro had truly done their best but the Summoner and his entire party had died unsent. They probably were fiends by now.

The pain of failure couldn't make Rowen forget his duty to his family. Time was of the essence. He had to make his way to the Omega Ruins shore and stand guard there, rescuing his family and /or any others who were revived at sea!

Remembering he was human now he stopped at a market to gather some supplies, healing and shielding items, tinder for fire, etc... Rowen knew exactly what he needed, having done this kind of trips many times with his past Summoners but he was still awed and confused at the variety of new goods this revived Zanarkand merchants had for sale. In a rare deviation from his penny pinching ways he even allowed himself to buy a gun with some dreadfully expensive "Cry in the Night" bullets . Those were guaranteed to work on Break immune opponents had said the vendor. If this was the same "Cry in the Night" Yojimbo had seen when Yuna conquered the Bevelle Cloisters dungeon those bullets were priceless. If they weren't that vendor would feel his wrath later.

Well fed and with supplies bulging from his travel pouch Rowen left Zanarkand on foot, taking the ramp to Mt. Gagazet

Mt. Gagazet Summit - Giant Faln Attacks

Rowen quickly got to the summit, not bothering to stop at the Fayth Scar and the Hot Springs. He had only paused long enough to glance at the statue of Yuna that the Ronso made.

While trekking the mountain Rowen was absorbed in his thoughts. He was almost fond of the serene and brave High Summoner. Of the Summoners that he had aided over the years she was in a class apart, along with Gandof and Braska. Not only they had defeated Sin, but they had been friendly, respectful and honorable.

But of the 3 three High Summoners he had had the honor to accompany Rowen had only allowed himself to befriend Gandof. He owed that much to the man. Six hundred years ago Gandof had saved him from going slowly insane abandoned and alone as he was in the bottom of a deep fiend infested cave. He had been there for 200 years, in a cave at the Calm Lands Gorge, immortal, unable to rest his wondering spirit. Thanks to Gandof he had had a goal in his afterlife: to preserve his mentor's dream. He started to take part on pilgrimages, and that had brought in enough Gil to fund the Crusaders for the past 600 years. Lord Mi'hen would be very proud of him, wherever he was.

The pilgrimages added variety and spice to his life and he was not allowed to brood for centuries like Yunalesca and Shuyin had. Rowen felt his anger rising. Yunalesca had her deffects, but she had never manipulated him or brought dishonor to his name, so he could forgive her insane actions. Forgiveness for Shuyin was much harder. Shuyin had used Vegnagun to force him and the other Aeons to control fiends and to battle Yuna. By making Rowen turn into a dark Aeon Shuyin had cast him in even more dishonor and shame. Rowen could not make himslef forgive this insult. He knew Shuyin had been insane at the time but that was no excuse. Not for what he did. One day he would settle this score.

See Also

• Yojimbo