Uncertain Beginnings

[Red]

Wakka’s mind bustled with questions, but after the mysterious figure’s monologue, it flashed a childish grin and giggled, quickly vanishing before the blitzballer could even part his lips.

Wakka stared into the water of the fountain, and his reflection stared right back at him. The questions he had for the mysterious figure were still running through his mind, repeating even, and as he looked harder at his reflection he could see it mocking him. Like it knew something he didn’t. It teased him. A subtle ripple flared his image for a second, but as it returned back to normal Wakka swore his reflection smirked.

He almost balled his fist and smashed it into his mirrored face; splash it into a violent tsunami. He resisted the urge. He knew his reflection would gather itself. His punch would just be misguided anger.

The place in which he found himself only exasperated his building frustration. A gaze in any direction led to the same blank sight—barren land, empty skies, something in the distance. The earth grew nothing, not even a damn weed, and it continued for miles. The sky was sunless, yet the land was still bathed in a bright perpetual light. If not for the circular fountain (probably the centerpiece) the land would have been a clean canvas.

There had to be a way out; if there was a way in there was a way out. The words echoed with the voice of Tidus behind them; the blonde’s persistence had rubbed off some on Wakka.

With a glance down to his sandals, he grabbed the bag next to his feet by the strings, flicking his wrist and wrapping it around his fist. The blitzballer was unsure of where to go, but he slung his bag over his shoulder and picked a direction.

[Eileen the Crow]

The soft whisper of metal swinging through the air was the only warning, Eileen did not even see it coming. The man, her old apprentice had vanished, the art of Quickening taking him out of sight. She had to try and guess which way he went and Eileen guessed wrong. The Cainhurst Crow, that was what people had started calling him. A good name, for this Crow had defeated his elder. Blood sprayed, creating a pattern of vibrant red on the floor of the massive Grand Cathedral, dripping down her side and covering the inside of that feathered cape. The Hunter of Hunters stumbled, her face contorting into a rictus of pain beneath her mask. However, she could not afford to stop, stopping would let him land the finishing blow he was even now pulling back for. Her left hand lifted, the elegant Hunter's Pistol clutched in her fingers. One shell was loaded, she only had six left, this would take her down to five. At this range it was impossible to miss, there was a loud, powerful crack and the shell, a mixture of quicksilver and her own blood, flew true. It struck the Cainhurst Crow and he staggered backwards, falling onto one knee as the powerful mixture infiltrated his blood. This was her chance. The Blade of Mercy went into its clasp on her belt with a flick of the wrist. Stepping forward, she jammed her hand into his abdomen, right below the solar plexus! He let out a groan of pain before she ripped it free, knocking him flat onto his back. It was not enough to kill him, but that was not the point.

When the Crow picked himself back up, a vial of blood going to his wound to reinvigorate him and heal his wounds, Eileen was already gone. There was a trail of blood though, leading towards the massive set of stairs that led to the Grand Cathedral. The great ridged heads of the Kin stared down at Eileen as she stumbled her way down, rows of them to either side of her, watching her flight. She could not slay the Cainhurst Crow, he was stronger than she, and Eileen's prime was so very long ago. The hunter of hunters couldn't give up though, but for now she simply had to rest. Would he follow? He was so mindless, he had not even spoken a single word this whole battle, brief though it was. Once outside the massive double doors, Eileen let herself collapse. Well she was forced to, the great gaping gash in her left side refusing to let her go any longer. Gloved hands fumbled for a blood vial and injected it, feeling it course into her veins. An invigorating feeling...but such a painful strike, it would surely take time to recover from. Was the Cainhurst Crow coming? She heard footsteps as she rested against the railing of the stairs, on her side and helpless. No, they were coming from the wrong direction, one of the beastly priests of the church? No...no it was that hunter. There they were, silver longsword in hand, the greatsword sheathe on their back. "Oh...is that you again?"

She tried to convince the hunter to not...but despite her warnings she could only watch as they walked right through those massive doors into the Cathedral. They had proven an adept fighter against Henryk, but could they really take on that Cainhurst Crow? She could only wait feeling her wounds slowly mend. It didn't always take this long to heal did it? Eileen really was getting old. Then, naught but ten minutes later, the hunter came back. Covered in blood, looking like they'd been through the wringer, but alive! "Don't you ever listen to your elders?" They had done it though, and it was time. Yes, time, she gave that hunter the rune to become a Hunter of Hunters and bade them farewell. In her own words, "I'll be fine, just wait." Then as the hunter walked away, Eileen's eyes closed, and she passed out.

What followed was bizarre, surreal. It was an unpleasant feeling and a reminder of her old past. She found herself just floating in a black void. It was endless and unpleasant and then he appeared. A strange being all in white, no features. She had never seen the like, and when one had not seen the like in such bizarre surroundings. Well a Great One was often a safe bet to make. He spoke of strange things of a world where she would resurrect, and of some strange force called Omnillium? It struck far too much of the Hunter's Dream and the use of Blood Echoes for her liking. It brought up old, painful memories...and then suddenly he vanished, and darkness claimed her once more.

The first sound she heard was water trickling, falling into some kind of pool. The next thing Eileen noticed was that the pain in her side was gone completely. Her eyes opened, peering out of the holes of her beak like mask. A pure white void, nothing but white and...the stone of a fountain. Eileen pushed herself up, the old veteran hunter feeling oddly reinvigorated. There was just the fountain and a white void. It was so hard to tell distance with these blank, simple features all about her. Then she spotted one other thing, on the other side of the fountain. A figure, walking away but not too far yet! Were they friend or foe? If they were she could handle herself, she had...no, no the Blade of Mercy was gone! So was her pistol! The crow shifted, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. Had this 'Omni' taken her gear from her? She did not know, he had said something about the Omnillium and gaining what she needed with it. For now though she was going to take a chance. That figure did not look like any beast. So she was going to take a chance. She stood up fully and began to walk around the fountain. A hand lifted as if in greeting as she called out. "Hold there friend! I don't suppose you'd have the time to answer an old hunter's questions?" He wasn't too far, so hopefully he'd hear and answer. Hopefully he wasn't a beast.

[Red]

“Hold on there, friend!” The voice came from behind Wakka. “I don’t suppose you’d have the time to answer an old hunter’s questions?” It was a soft voice, soothing in its tone.

The blitzballer stopped in his tracks, and turned around enough to comfortably whip his head over his shoulder. His brow furrowed. The gentle voice belonged to a dark figure whose arms were veiled by long extensions of feathers, which strongly contrasted the white background. Claps echoed across the land as its round-tipped boots patted the ground. Wakka dipped head dead under his shoulder to where his eyes were level with the strings to his bag. The creature had the face of bird who rotted long ago, with eyes shrouded under the brim of a black hat.

At first glance, the creature looked like a humanoid version of Sin. If not for the gentle voice, Wakka might have taken it for fact.

He pulled his head back up and displayed a faint smile as he turned to face the creature. “Whadya need?” he asked.

Wakka pulled his bag by the strings and it climbed near the top of his back. The ball inside writhed, twining the strings together over his shoulder. He also pulled positive thoughts to the forefront of his mind. The individual before him was the only soul in sight, and with enough good thinking, maybe Wakka could convince himself the person’s intentions would match its voice more than its appearance.

[Eileen the Crow]

Eileen did not move too close. She was unarmed, and even despite that getting too close to a stranger was just asking for a beating. Not too close, he had heard her. A strange looking lad. She had never seen anyone dressed like him in Yharnam that was for sure. An outsider? There were lots of those who always came by to seek that miraculous healing blood. Either way at least she knew she wasn't the only one to get pulled into this strange dream. Her eyes watched the man through the holes of her strange mask, he was doing something, lifting slowly. Perhaps preparing a weapon? Eileen made no signs of hostility herself, simply lifting her arms and folding them. Gloved hands, leather sleeves, the crow feather cape sliding back from the simple motion. "Well, first, your name. I'm Eileen, a hunter." Surely he knew what that was, hunters were prevalent through all of Yharnam! Then again, some of the townsfolk had turned against the hunters during that last wretched night.

"Second, if you happened to remember anything before getting pulled into this dream. I'm afraid this Great One snatched me as I was trying to sleep. So I don't know if my body is still there, or if I was wholly pulled in. If you can remember anything, it might shed some light on which method it used." Words that might mean nothing to Wakka. She was hoping against hope that he understood Great Ones, something that very few people even in Yharnam did. Even most hunters did not quite understand. Then again if Gehrman was still working, maybe that had changed by now. Still even if he did not know what a Great One was, surely he at least remembered how he got here! If he had fallen asleep, then likely their bodies were still outside, wasting away. If not, well then at least she wouldn't have to worry about 'waking up' as a corpse. Although really it would just mean dying.

[Red]

Wakka thought hard about Eileen’s second question. Most of her verbiage flew over his head like a badly kicked ball, but he could still make the gist of it. He chopped it down and juggled it around until it made sense to him: remember anything before the Great One. He presumed the hunter meant the mysterious figure, which he had his own inquiries about..

“Yeah, I do,” he replied, closing his eyes.

Memories flashed across his mind like a slideshow at maximum speed. Tidus, Yuna, Auron, Kimarhi, Rikku, and Lulu—they were all there. Yuna’s head was sunken into Tidus’s chest. Her arms hung from his neck as he coiled an arm around her waist. Yuna sobbed like a fresh widow. Everyone else watched.

They stood on a decaying stone balcony. Nature gripped it with long vines, which clasped and wrapped around the guardrail; portions of moss popped from the cracks of the flooring. Wakka could remember the slight breeze, which made his bare arms goosebump.

Tidus intended to sacrifice himself, to become the final aeon—to defeat Sin—and bring another Calm to Spira. Everyone knew his efforts would ultimately be in vain. Time would pass, and the world would recover, but the wound would reopen.

Wakka refused to let Tidus become a martyr.

He opened his eyes.

“I dunno if this is some dream place or not,” Wakka replied, “but I’m Wakka, and wherever we are, it’s definitely not Spira, ya?”

[Eileen the Crow]

The man was recalling something, that much was for sure. So Eileen went silent, arms folded and waiting for him to finish. What he had to say could mean a great deal in regards to how she went about her 'journey' here. Eventually Wakka finished and what he had to say was, illuminating. He remembered perfectly, and did not seem to have fallen asleep. The crow was going to assume the safer option, she as actually physically here. A shame, if she had solid evidence that her body was still in Yharnam she could just kill herself and wake up. If she was here physically that might end badly. Then again hadn't Omni said something about returning her if she did die? What even was this dream there didn't even seem to be anything here!

"Well then, at least I can safely assume I'm here physically now." Wait, Spira? She did not know that land. "Spira...is that somewhere near Yharnam then?" Then again would a Great One even have to grab people who were close together? Come to think of it. "Oh, and how long have you been in this..place?"

[Red]

What the hunter said bewildered him—a region called Yharnam During Wakka’s pilgrimage with Yuna he had been many places, and mapped the entire world; Yharnam did not exist on Spira. Not his Spira, though he had heard more awkward stories during his life. One happened to even be true. Either way, he injected the thought of a Yharnam with his usual concoction of denial and doubt serum, and pushed the issue to the far reaches of his mind.

“It could be,” Wakka replied, and raised a gentle smile to hide the lie. “For da second question, I’m not sure.” He stole a glance to the left and right—it all looked the same, minus a blotch in the corner of his right peripherals, but he dismissed it. “You’re the only person I’ve seen here, so probably not much longer than you, ya?”

“Interesting,” Eileen whispered. The hunter tilted the tip of her mask to the ground for a moment, but then popped back up and pointed it to Wakka’s right. “Did you hear that?”

The blitzballer went to ask the obvious question—what sound?—but before he could it was answered for him; he caught a faint clomping, and whipped his head to the right. The noise belonged to the blotch he dismissed earlier.

Eileen and Wakka shared a moment of silence as they watched the blotch in the distance slowly come into focus, and form into a human riding a brown, four-legged beast.

The approaching person wore a full outfit of metal armor. In one hand he held the reins to his beast, regulating its pace. The other hand gripped a long spear, which he kept upright by his side, unyielding to the rocking motion his body acquired from the beast’s strut. His mount’s feet echoed off the ground, producing the clomp sound Eileen had noticed. Every few steps the beast bobbed and jolted its head, and the strip of hair running down the back of its neck would swat the air.

“Whatchu think up with this guy?” Wakka inquired, glancing back at Eileen. He shrugged a string off his shoulder and swung his bag around to his yellow overalls, cradling it in his arm as his opposite—left—hand dug into it.

“Not sure,” the hunter responded, never sparking an aggressive motion. She kept her stance firm, and her beaked mask pointed towards the approaching person. “Let’s give him or her an opportunity before we take any measures.

Wakka gritted his teeth, but pulled his hand out of the bag empty. He thought about going against Eileen’s wishes (unveil his blitzball, and bank shot it off the ground so it ricochets right under the beast’s belly), but calmed himself before taking action, and eventually responded with an uneasy nod.

[Eileen the Crow]

'It could be.' Not exactly the most reassuring of words. Just the very statement itself carried doubt or ignorance. Wakka was either an ignorant village fool who had managed to ignore even word of Yharnam, or there was something far more mysterious afoot. Where Great Ones were concerned it wasn't always foolish to assume the latter. He also didn't seem to have been here that long, and hadn't seen anyone else. Were they just the only ones in this dream? It was possible, but dreams always had their own inhabitants. A sound came drifting forward, reaching Eileen's ears through her hat and metal beak of a mask. Her head shifted towards the sound, beak pointing like an arrow towards that dark blotch, which was becoming more clear as it approached. A knight on a horse? The only knights back in Yharnam were the Knights of Cainhurst, and they were not friendly folk. Still enough was odd about this situation for her to not try and fight right away, well she also didn't have any of her weapons so that helped too.

She remained confident though, as cool and sturdy as a crow examining something from the tree tops. Wakka asked her a question and she replied simply. "Not sure, let's give him or her an opportunity before we take any measures." Sound advice she thought, and fortunately her strange companion seemed to listen. So they stood and waited as that knight approached. He was not using one of Cainhurst's trick weapons, another reassuring sign. No Chikage, no Reiterpallasch. So she waited and the armored figure eventually reined in their horse not too far from them.

"Ho there!" The voice was male. "Are you Primes? Arrived or reborn?"

His questions were...utterly baffling to Eileen. What was a Prime, and reborn? Arrived at least made sense she could deduce what that meant. "I do not know what a prime is, but I am relatively certain that freshly arrived does well to describe us both."

[Red]

The crown of the figure’s helmet gleamed as he looked down upon Wakka and Eileen, from atop his mount. His armor looked new, still retaining its polish, fortunate enough to have never seen combat; it shined like futuristic metal.

“Ho there!” the man said in a hollow voice; the bliztballer presumed it was produced by the cage in front of his mouth. “Are you Primes? Arrived or reborn?”

“Eh?” Wakka furrowed a brow high enough to hide under his blue bandana.

He turned his head to look at his hunter accomplice. Whatever veiled Eileen’s visage guarded her emotions and thoughts well, but Wakka sensed she was just as mystified by the man’s words as he was.

The hunter replied to the armored man’s questions, answering them to the best of her knowledge. Wakka considered following up after her, but knew his response would have simply been a regurgitation of Eileen’s reply, minus her grace.

“Have thou seen any stormtroopers?” filtered through the man’s visor. His beast shot air from its nostrils and whipped its head, triggering Wakka to issue a snarl as his upper lip reared back.

“You all we seen so far,” the blitzballer was quick to answer. “This place pretty empty, ya?”

The figure did not respond immediately. He threw his head back—towards the direction he came from—and calmed his mount with a yank of his reins. The creature dipped its head and scraped its front legs against the ground, but ultimately ceded to its master’s order.

“Come to Camelot,” the figured said, turning head his back to the Primes. “If thou wish, thy could guide thee there.”

Wakka’s eyes drifted over to Eileen for an answer.

[Eileen the Crow]

Things did not get simpler as the conversation continued, they only got more complicated...and perhaps even worrying. What was a stormtrooper? Eileen was saved from answering as Wakka just gave the simple answer, they hadn't seen anyone but this strange knight. What was a storm trooper anyways? The name at least implied some form of heavy cavalry or shock trooper. It gave her an image of armored knights storming a gate or keep. Somehow she didn't think that was accurate, and then the man said something even more worrying. 'Come to Camelot.' She had never heard of any such place, it was utterly mysterious to her, that was twice she'd been given the name of a place that she did not know. At least Camelot was understandable. It must be a location in the Great One's dream. Although the name, combined with the man's knight like appearance...it struck her to much of Castle Cainhurst. She did not want to judge though. So she nodded, "That would be helpful...but I'm afraid I don't know what this 'Camelot' is."

The knight nodded, "Of course, Camelot is the Verse of my king, the central power of the kingdom itself! There all thine questions and fears can be assuaged. I wouldst explain myself, but they are far better suited to do so."

Eileen pondered this for a moment, her arms folded, before she nodded again. "Well then, I see no issue with you leading us there."

"Excellent! If thou wouldst follow me." He turned his horse around, to start leading them off to the distance, where the gate to Camelot would be. Eileen took that moment to step close to Wakka and whisper.

"Be on your guard. I do wish to trust him and at least see where he wishes to lead us, but this Camelot and this knight sound and look similar to a rather...terrible place of my home. Castle Cainhurst. It might well be nothing, but stay cautious nonetheless."

[Red]

He doubted the knight was much of a threat (his armor didn’t look ball-proof, and though he carried a large spear—at least six turcas—with a sharp tip, his ball had trumped worse), but this was a new world. Eileen had proven that much; just as she was a good scripture wrapped in an eerie cover, the knight could be more powerful than the beast he mounted.

Wakka took heed, nodding as Eileen pulled away from him.

The blitzballer just wanted answers (as many as possible without actually having to inquire)—what was this new dimension, or who was the figure? All in good time, he supposed.

For now, the two would follow the knight.

The journey to Camelot was long. Wakka occasionally glanced over towards Eileen; she walked with a posture much greater than his own, and the beak of her mask never teetered from its position. A few times his sights caught her own, and even fewer times, he could almost see her eyes, but her mask did a helluva job concealing them.

Then his mind wandered (it was better than viewing the empty landscape, or gazing forward, into the large ass of the knight’s beast). Camelots, stormtroopers, and versus—what did it all mean? Versus involved fighting, but Wakka doubted the knight meant it in that context. Stormtroopers sound liked some sort of mage soldier . . . preposterous; those two classes together definitely clashed with traditional teachings. And Camelot . . . Wakka would learn soon enough.

“The portal be not far from here,” the knight proclaimed, and pulled his spear to a horizontal position; the sharp tip pointed ahead. “Only a furlong or two.”

Wakka leaned his head to look around the beast’s ass. In the distance, he could see an oblong object. It seemed to be an arch, comprised of stones so smooth they glistened.

[Eileen the Crow]

It was a bit of a walk to be sure, across the same featureless white landscape. It was enough to drive most people mad for certain. Eileen could only hope the walk wouldn't take too long. It did give Eileen plenty of time to contemplate things, such as her missing weapons, and some of the things Omni had told her. The crow thought she knew how to get her weapons back, but she couldn't test it. It was something she wanted to be sitting to try, and for now she'd much rather get out of this void then obtain her weapons. There's little conversation, but Eileen wasn't much of a talker, and the knight had said they'd get answers at Camelot. So far this dream had not been as hostile or dangerous as the last one she'd visited, but on the other hand, it was far more mind numbing.

When the knight said they were nearly there it was something of a relief. She leaned to the side to look past him and there was...an archway? Indeed it was, and it grew closer as they kept walking, a good sized archway. The stones were...well very remarkable for certain. Eileen had never been a mason so she had no idea if these were even possible under normal circumstances. They certainly looked fine, even if you tossed out the simple fact that she had barely seen anything else since getting here. Anything new would be marvelous under these circumstances. It was the strange misty glow within it though, that was more important. "Here we are. All thou must do is walk through. Here, I shall go first, follow after me." The knight nudged his horse, and it walked through with him, his body slowly vanishing and then disappearing from sight. No hesitation at all.

"Hmm, well better than a lantern at least." A statement that would likely baffle Eileen's traveling companion as she stepped up towards the portal. "Well, life waits for no one hm? See you on the other side." Then, the woman would step through, into blinding light that would pick her form apart. She was strung along through time and space, her being undone and then remade, blasted apart before molded together, as she stepped out the other side of the portal. Immediately sunlight washed over her, and shade, contrasting light sources. Standing stones were all around, and simple brown dirt surrounded the gate, leading into grass between the tall stones. Just so much sensation! After so long in the Nexus it was almost overwhelming for the Hunter of Hunters. Fortunately the knight was just a few meters away.

"Prime, thou should move, before thy companion comes through."

With a start, Eileen recovered and quickly took a few steps forward, the mask hid it but there was a bit of embarrassment on her face. It wasn't like her to lose herself in the moment like that. It might have gotten her killed back in Yharnam.

[Red]

The knight aligned his mount with the opening of the archway, pausing to gaze at his reflection. Something walled it off—a substance. The knight squeezed the reins to his mount and gave it a tug; with a scrape of its hooves, and an upward whip of its head, the knight’s beast blasted a short exhale from its nostrils and lunged through the stone archway’s center. The liquid substance swallowed them whole, only burping out a tide of ripples to show for it.

In an instant, Wakka’s mind had been blown. He jolted backwards, but caught himself before losing balance. His eyes shot over to Eileen for some type of comfort, condolence, anything.

The hunter looked over at Wakka and gave him a piece of her perspective—there were worse ways of traveling (ways the blitzballer couldn’t understand, by the lingo of it). Then she said she would see him on the other side . . . of the archway he assumed.

Wakka’s response processed into a mere brow furrow; before he could gather his words, Eileen approached the archway, unhesitant, and stepped through. The liquid substance swallowed her all the same.

He gazed into the liquid. It rippled in the same fashion as prior, subtly splashing around the stoned rim of the archway. Now his reflection stared back at him—that mirror face, nearly taunting him, challenging him.

Wakka called its bluff, and stepped through the archway.

The light hit him immediately. It hit him like a warm rag to the face. He groaned, and threw a hand up to shield his vision. His other hand reaffirmed he still had his ball, gripping the strings around his shoulder.

Wakka moved forward, but not on his own accord. Space and matter itself pulled him like a meteor caught in gravitation. He tried to resist—flexed every muscle he knew existed to help hold down the fort—but his body began to . . . disperse.

He howled to the deaf ears of loneliness, and instantly, exploded into a mass of particles. Then atoms.

* * *

“Why the screaming?” It was the voice of the knight; the hollow echo from his caged visor made it true.

Wakka unlatched his eyes, and was greeted by familiar figures. Eileen stood over his left side like a tower, looking down at him through the holes in her mask, while he sat on the ground. The knight stayed atop his beast, to the bliztballer’s northeast.

“Man, was that as freaky to you guys as it was to me?” he asked in a shallow voice.