Final Fantasy: The Akashic Record Arc I: Discovery

As Ilalleer followed down the path towards the Crypt of Unknown Mirages, he thought, "There's a good chance I might not make it out alive, but I need to know the truth behind my parents' disappearance...." as he neared the entrance to the Crypt of Unknown Mirages.

He stopped briefly and counted the inventory in his bag. He thought, "This should be enough for me to last for a long while. Always prepare for the worst..." as he began walking again towards the Crypt of Unknown Mirages.

Echo continued behind Ilalleer, making sure to keep himself consealed. He figured it would be better that way.

They arrived at a place that Echo couldn't even describe.

"What.. Is this place?..." He stared in awe.

Suddenly.. He felt a strange presence.

'This aura isn't good..' He thought to himself as he continued to follow Ilalleer.

Ilalleer entered the Crypt and headed over to a grave. Ilalleer smiled as he put a flower near the gravestone, responding, "Today, I find out what happened to you two." As he stared at the door leading to the lower chamber, he thought, "This is where...I would enchant the door with ice properties... He chatted, enchanting the door with ice properties:

"אייז שאַרדז, שענקען מיר די שטאַרקייט געדארפט צו גיין אַראָפּ דעם דרך צו די דעסטיניישאַן אַז איך זוכן. אַלע וואָס שטיין פֿאַר מיר, איך בין גרייט צו פאָרשלאָגן מיין כּישוף צו ענטשאַנט זיי מיט ייַז פּראָפּערטיעס. ביטע, שענקען מיר דורכפאָר אין די אונטערשטע קאַמער אַזוי אַז איך קענען געפֿינען אויס דעם אמת הינטער מיין עלטערן דיסאַפּיראַנס. איך וועלן צו וויסן אַזוי אַז איך קענען אָפּרוען אין שלום און לעסאָף קענען צו חלום, אַמאָל ווידער."

As the ice enchanted door opened, Ilalleer thought to himself, "Thank you." He then chanted, "אייז, שענקען מיר שטאַרקייט ווי איך גיי אַראָפּ דעם דרך." to power up his scythe with ice properties so that he can face the troubles in the lower chamber(s). He grabbed his weapon and headed down into the lower chamber, knowing that he might never see the light of day again.

Echo took his time to inspect the area as Ilalleer entered the Chamber.

First, to make sure that there was nobody following them.
Second, to see about the flower he placed next the grave.

The names on the gravestone were rusted and hard to read. All he could make out was the word Crystal.

The flower had caught his attention as he began to walk away. It gave him a flash back of the last day he had visited his parents grave sites and how he left them flowers too. (though he didn't know that the grave belonged to Ilalleer's parents)

Finally, he went inside the chamber, slipping his gloves on, and preparing for whatever may happen.

Back in the little town of Shigumi, the townsfolk are still hunting down the mysterious intruder

"We lost him dammit" shouted one villager

"Alright everyone head back home since the sun is setting and make sure you lock up" said the town chief, "We will report this tomorrow to the king and the royal guards"

Everyone started heading back to their own homes in fear of this intruder locking up their doors

"I better go tell Alex to lock up as well" said Cheryl as she headed over to his apartment

Hidaki wandered the village abit more, ''I might as well get out of here, I have had my fill of things.'' he thought to him self. Hidaki jumped on a wall then up to the roof of a building and started running for the front gate, on the ground he saw people look up at him an pointing at him, ''Hmpt..'' he grunted as he swiftly jumped up and landed on the ground next to the gate.

As Ilalleer entered the lower chamber, he noticed several enemies grouped in the room as well as a hall heading into the next room. Ilalleer pulled out his scythe and started to slice through the enemies through the next room, taking some damage on the way.

After all the enemies were killed, he let out a sigh, and casted a spell recovering his wounds that he gotten. He thought, "I know that I need to find out the truth. I must...in order for my mind to be at ease..." As he stared at the next door, he looked around briefly at the dead enemies' corpses. He let out a sigh and went into the next room.

(Note: I'm trying to make the crypt as a small dungeon so that there's more things to post in this Arc. Also, if you noticed that I've been typing in a different language, that's me typing out a chant using Google Translator and posting it on here. That's all it really is. ~Ryu Kuze~)

Icarus started towards the East o the next town as his mother instructed that he should do since they were far apart and there wasn't much slack for those traveling between them at nght...

"Ok East, Southeast. Maybe I should get some more provisions...or should I go ahead and head towards the next town...?" Icarus asked while looking at his compass.

"Mom said the towns lay to the East and West from our village..." Icarus started to question the effort of journey altogether.

Icarus started over hills, dunes, and cliffs like as he kept East and looked occasionally down to check his compass to make sure he was heading the right way. It wasn't long before Icarus came across an unusual pile of scrap parts.

"Well I guess I can be lucky, too." Icarus said contently.

Icarus continued Eastbound looking at his new parts.

Tanaka was moving stelathily through the dark murky crypt, moving in the shadows. His mission was to infiltrate and steal a supposed powerful artifact hidden in the lowest levels of the crypt. He was perfect for the job because he was swift, ruthless and could move around in the darkness without being seen.
He heard many various sounds like the clinging of blades, hurrying footsteps of tombkeepers and then his favorite noise of all, nothing. He began walking around the crypt looking for the next level to descend.

"...I hate infiltration missions, but I'm the best suited for it and I can't argue with my master on this one. Whatever's down here must be important to send me." He continued walking when he saw a door with magic symbols on it that hid been lit in a magical light blue and had a slight chill to it. He continued through the door and on the ground were the blood-splattered corpsed of some tombkeepers, he felt the blood.

With a suprised look he said "This blood's still warm, they were killed not to long ago! Someone else is still lurking in here, it look's like im not alone."

Echo kept warm on Ilalleer's trail without being noticed.

He didn't have to worry about any enemies due to Ilalleer taking them all out. Although... He was worried about Ilalleer himself.

'Truth?' He thought to himself as he hear Ilalleer speak quietly.

Then, as Ilalleer began to move forward, he did so aswell, but suddenly came to a halt.

'We're not alone...' He thought to himself, glaring behind him, then running forward to catch up with Ilalleer.

He wasn't exactly sure if it was a good or bad thing, but anyone else who would enter a chamber such as this would have to have some intention. Whether its good or bad, they could be dangerous.

In the next chamber, Ilalleer is making his way to the next door, by jumping on rotating platforms, and slicing through enemies on the way there. He suddenly stop at the door, and he looked around again, to notice a past event occurring in front of his eyes.

***FLASHBACK/MIRAGE***

Ilalleer's Mother: "Come on, Ilalleer. You need to help us gain the Akashic Shard inside this Crypt."
Ilalleer: "No, you can't make me. I've made up my mind and I've decided to follow my own path."
Ilalleer's Father: "Let's go. We'll leave him to do his own thing, while we save the world."

As both entered the Crypt, Ilalleer turned around and made his way to the nearest city.

***END FLASHBACK/MIRAGE***

Ilalleer shed a tear to the flashback, as he went inside the next room.

Echo swiftly and easily jumped on and through the platforms, taking out the monsters that Ilalleer left behind.

He stopped as he saw Ilalleer standing in front of a door... Crying?..

"Ilalleer..." His eyes closed half way, then he swiftly jumped towards him as he entered the door.

"Halt" shouted the guards to the strange intruder, "You are under arrest surrender now to the will of the king"

the guards slowly approached the man with their lances out pointed at him.

"Alex!!" shouted Cheryl as she entered his apartment

"WHAT!" shouted Alex angrily not only once was his sleep interrupted but Twice, he was not in the mood for anything

"The intruder, he is loose in the town we need to lock up the doors and make sure no one enters" said Cheryl as she gasped for breathe, she had just ran all the way over here

"Ughhh fine, lets lock up and go quickly back to sleep" said Alex finally giving into Cheryl constant nagging

"Ok" said Cheryl happily knowing that she finally won

"Meh ill also put some security devices near the doors to warn us of anyone breaking in, and for tonight its best that you stay over with me" said Alex, "Ive got a spare bed you can take mine"

Cheryl blushed a bit after all she finally got to see his room plus stay in it, "Alright" she said... however after seeing his room she decided on the guest couch

Alex's room was filled with dust and tons of junk, well mainly tablets and writings of different languages. He had a book mountain, and a pile of clothes that needed to be clean

"Alex tomorrow we are cleaning everything up" shouted Cheryl

"Hmm but im" said Alex

"NOOO" shouted Cheryl

"ok ok" said Alex

quickly the both of them went to sleep

In the next room, Ilalleer jumped to the center platform, by jumping on the revolving platforms, rotating around the center platform. He, then, received a flashback of a mirage, depicting his father's death.

***FLASHBACK/MIRAGE***

Ilalleer's Father: "Why....?"

As a black dragon tail-whipped Ilalleer's Father into a wall, he smiled replying, "I'm sorry, Ilalleer. May your travels bring you peace in mind." The dragon then rushed Ilalleer's father and tore Ilalleer's father to shreds.

***END FLASHBACK/MIRAGE***

He, somewhat stared at the next room, muttering to himself, "A son typically follow in his father's footsteps. How ironic..." He let out a sigh, and jumped onto the platforms heading to the next door. He stopped at the door thinking, "If this is what happened to my father,..." as he entered the next room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the next room, Ilalleer was surprised to see his mother standing in the middle of an open Colosseum-like room. Ilalleer said in shock, "Mother?!" Unfortunately, he noticed that it was a mirage, and the image of her mother began to twist and transform. He instantly thought, "My mother killed my father?! But why? What happened?" To his thought, his suspicions were right on the mark as the dragon began to show from his mother's image. Unfortunately for him, the dragon...wasn't a mirage. Ilalleer drew his scythe and rushed the dragon.

The dragon nailed Ilalleer with his tail, and started to breath fire around the area. He thought, "It might be best to go long range and use a bunch of spells instead." Ilalleer gained distance from the dragon, trying to get enough distance to make both him and the dragon use long-distance attacks. Ilalleer chanted, "אייז, דעסענד אַנטו די באַטטלעפיעלד, ימפּייל דיין שונא מיט אַלע איר זאל. Ice shards began to show up where Ilalleer is at and started to fire at the dragon. However, the dragon's fire breath melted the ice shards. Ilalleer dodge the flames, but was singed by the heat, leaving first-degree burns on his back.

Ilalleer thought, "With his flames, I won't be able to get a hit on him, even if I tried. However, let us try this out instead." As he began to heal his wound on the back, he chanted, "אייז, שענקען מיר מיט אייער שטאַרקייט. גרענט מיר אַ באָולדער און פֿייַער עס בייַ דיין שונא." An ice boulder began to appear above Ilalleer, and Ilalleer fired it at the dragon, while running to dodge the flames again. The dragon let out more fire and melted the ice boulder with his fire breath, however, Ilalleer summoned another ice boulder and nailed the dragon, leaving some damage to it. However, the dragon recovered from that attack and nailed Ilalleer with his tail.

The dragon pinned down Ilalleer with his claws, and stared to breath fire on Ilalleer. However, Ilalleer chanted, "אייז, פאָרעם אַרום מיר און קלאַפּ אַרויף, נאַקינג מיין פייַנט צוריק." Ice began to form around Ilalleer and it shot out in all directions, knocking the dragon back from that attack, letting Ilalleer free. However, Ilalleer began to feel the toll for casting too much magic. He thought, "I won't be able to last much longer. If I'm drained of magic and all I'm left is with my scythe, I'm done for." As he looked at the dragon, he thought "Looks like I won't be able to take down that dragon for some time. He took some damage from my attacks, however, since he knows fire, he won't sustain much damage from my attacks." The dragon recovered and rushed Ilalleer again with his tail. Ilalleer quickly chanted, "אייז, קלאַפּן אים צוריק." Ice formed in front of Ilalleer and blasted the dragon back into the wall. However, Ilalleer is slowly reaching his limit and went down to one knee. He thought, "Just a little more....please, just a little more."

Ilalleer thought, "I can do probably a few more spells, but since he's a dragon. I will probably need to use them while finishing him off." Ilalleer chanted, "אייז, שענקען מיר מיט איין לעצטע שטאַרקייט. ימפּאַלע דעם שונא מיט אַלע דיין זאל. לאָזן גאָרנישט הינטער" Ice shards began to rain down on the dragon again, but this time from all sides of the dragon. The dragon began to felt pain and blood began to pour from his body. However, Ilalleer went down to both knees and is breathing heavily for a bit, thinking, "Just a little bit more. One more spells should end him."

Ilalleer began chanting again, "פון מיין מיד נשמה, ביטע שענקען מיר מיט איין לעצטע בקשה. פרירן דיין שונא מיט אַלע דיין זאל, און סאַווידזשלי גיין נאָך זייַן ווונדז." Ice began to impale him again, and the blood flowing from the dragon was freezing. The dragon let out a roar, throbbing in pain. However, Ilalleer's mentality was becoming exhausted. After the attack finished, the dragon was still alive; however, it was angry at Ilalleer. The dragon went after Ilalleer, grabbing him, and knocked him into the wall. Ilalleer collapsed on the floor, face-down, and blood began to flow away from his body. He somewhat regained consciousness and slowly began to get back up. However, the dragon grabbed him again, lifting Ilalleer into the air. As he began to lose consciousness, he thought, "A son follows his father's footsteps..." The dragon threw him into the wall, and from the impact Ilalleer lost consciousness. From Ilalleer's motionless body, the dragon began to stare a hole through Ilalleer as he prepared to attack again...

Echo finally finished the last monster off, reaching the door that Ilalleer entered.

"Finally..." He muttered quietly, entering the room.

As soon as he got in, his heart sank and his eyes widened, horrified. He saw Ilalleer on the ground, covered in blood, and a large dragon about to strike him.

Suddenly, flash backs started to haunt and attack him.

Flashback Echo: "MOTHER!!! FATHER!!!"

He saw their dead bodies, covered in blood.

"No..." He whispered quietly, the dragon began to attack, striking forward.
"NO!!" Echo began to gather the mana around him as he began to chant.

"Oh divine heavens, pass your judgement in the memories of this holy song.. And engulf the soul of the being in form of "NIGHTMARE!"

He began to sing.. "הימל משפט איז דורכגעגאנגען. אין לעבן און טויט, איר 'רע צוקונפט איז סוף!"

Suddenly, an aura of darkness began to surround the area, covering it with a black mist.

"That should hold him for now.." Echo whispered as he dashed to Ilalleer, grabbing him, and moving him to an area where he wont be hurt.
Laying Ilalleer down softly, Echo looked at the wound. "Ilalleer..." He moved down slowly and hugged him, then looked up quickly as the dragon broke free of his spell.

Echo slowly got up. "Don't worry.. I'll take care of this for you... Ilalleer.."

He jumped out of hiding then jumped to the other side of it to draw its attention away from Ilalleer.

"You're gonna pay for what you did to him.." He said angrily..

The dragon struck its tail forward. Echo ran towards the tail and flipped over it, then used the wall in back of it the bounce off and jump back onto the tail.

The dragon began struggling and swaying to get him off as he began running up to the top of its head.
"Now!" A spell circle appeared around him as mana began to rise. Wind began to surge into the arena.

He began to chant. "אוי סערדזשינג ווינטן, שטיי אויף צו וואַנגקוויש אַלע שונאים און אָפּלאָזן זייער נשמות אין די טיפענישן פון דעם תהום!"

Suddenly, a large gale of wind surrounded the dragon, trapping it in a vortex and slicing through it slowly.

"Now you're mine!" Echo yelled as he jumped high into the air, being carried up with the wind, almost appearing as he was flying. He finally dove down, aura appearing around his feet as he twisted his body and slammed them onto the head of the dragon, the wind all pushing down ward and forcing the dragon to crush into the ground.

It was now motionless.. Echo felt a bit dizzy, barely able to stand after the force of his own attack, he still managed to get over to Ilalleer.

"Ilalleer... We won... We did it.. don't leave me now..." He lifted Ilalleer's head and held it as he leaned his back against the wall and slowly drifted to sleep from exhaustion.

"I think...we lost...them." Byrin heaved as he sat down on top of a tombstone, not even flinching or hesitating to use it as a chair. After running as hard and long as he did, however, no one could really blame him. Somehow, Byrin and the other guy he dragged along managed to shake off their pursuers by going all over the city and eventually making their way to a graveyard. Currently they were catching their breath outside of what looked like a crypt, but for the moment that place was sanctuary.

"Man, I didn't think they'd be that persistent." Byrin muttered under his breath. "Do they know what they're after...? Nah, can't be, they must think it's another pretty treasure." He tightened his grip on the wrapped object in his hand.

Ilalleer slowly regained consciousness and looked around briefly at the dead dragon. He began to make his way towards it, using the scythe as a cane, and slowly getting up from where Echo placed his head. Ilalleer thought, "So, Mother, where is that item that you held so long ago?" From one of the legs of the dragon, a shiny object was wrapped around one of the legs of the dragon. He thought, "This is it, Necklace of Shiva." As Ilalleer picked it up, the ice energies of the necklace bounded itself to Ilalleer, and it wrapped around Ilalleer's neck and hid itself under Ilalleer's clothing.

He went back to where Echo was and laid back down so that he can rest from exhaustion and try to keep himself conscious by bandaging up his wound. He slowly fell back asleep, so he can slowly recover from the battle and to heal up all wounds.

(Note: The only way the Necklace of Shiva change hands is through either A) Killing the summoner. or B) Killing Shiva. That is all. ~Ryu Kuze~)

(Another note: Each item of that caliber would have different properties and different ways of the item changing hands. Just mentioning that so people know what to do. ~Ryu Kuze~)

Klen slumped backwards into a tree, his hand on his chest as he tried to catch his breath. "You're asking me? You're the one they were chasing, you tell me."

He grunted as his hand moved down, inspecting the scratches he had received during the chase. "Nothing major... Were they the ones who gave you that wound in the first place?" He looked around as he tried to get back onto his feet, a little dizzy as he stepped forward.

A few hours later, Echo gained consciousness, finding himself on the floor, next to Ilalleer.
They were so close to each other that Echo could feel the heat from his body.

He slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position, using one of his hands for support and the other hand holding his head. Then took a glance at the dragon, closing his eyes half way.

His heart almost sinking, he quickly looked back at Ilalleer, remembering that he was injured badly. The wounds. He took off Ilalleer's shirt to see that he was poorly bandaged, so he re-bandaged him, then picked him up, putting Ilalleer on his back, picking up the scythe, then began to make his way out of the colosseum. His legs were still a bit week from his attack, but he found the strength the manage.

"You're not alone anymore.." He whispered.

Alex quickly woke up around 3-4 am in the morning

*Yawnnnn "Time to get to work" said Alex to himself

He quickly got dressed, got his equipment ready, "hmm better bring some armed weapons just in case of that intruder" thought Alex, "better not wake Cheryl she is way to tired from last night man hunt"

Out the door and quickly he went to the front gate, went all the way up the hill into the cave

"Maybe ill find something new this time i haven't explored all of it yet" thought Alex

Deeper and Deeper into the cave he went...

"Yea, those would be the same bastards." Byrin said, his breathing finally back to normal. Now that he had a chance to rest, he was feeling somewhat better. "They took me by surprise while I was just outside town, and I've been running from them for quite a bit. I thought I'd lost them when you found me in that alley, but I'm guessing they were that hard pressed on cash."

Reaching down, he pressed his hand against his wound. Despite the boost from the potion, it still was a bit painful. Hissing, Byrin accidentally dropped the object he was holding. When it hit the ground, some of the cloth wrapped around it came loose, revealing what appeared to be…?

“Shit,” Byrin swore as his hand darted out and picked it back up. As he did so, his hand brushed the unexposed part and his body suddenly went stiff.

“GYAAH!” Byrin cried in pain, clutching his head as images and information flooded his mind all at once. Quickly he jerked his hand away from the exposed part, gasping for breath. All of a sudden, his head jerked up as he looked at the other man before standing up, grabbing him and dragging him into the crypt.

"Come on Klen, there's someone we're supposed to meet down here," He said, "and I hope that when this thing is all over, I'll get some big ass reward."

Echo continued walking through the crypt. His legs were still numb, but he still managed to keep walking. Recognizing the halls that he passed earlier, he knew that he was close to the exit.

"Just a bit longer.." He whispered to himself as he continued walking, though slowly.

Suddenly he came to a halt as he heard voices. They were getting closer.

'I was sure that nobody followed...' He thought to himself.

He looked at Ilalleer.

'I can't risk getting him hurt...' He set Ilalleer on the ground, leaning against a wall and stepped forward, using the scythe to help hold his balance as he waited, prepared for almost anything...or so he hoped.

The two of them descended down into the Crypt, which was actually somewhat bigger than it appeared from the outside. Although Klen whined and tried to shake free, Byrin continued to drag him further and further down. Finally, the two of them rounded the corner and came across....a kid.

"There you are." Byrin said as if he weren't too thrilled to see them. there were two people in front of them, a kid of about....16 or 17 years old, and an older man lying against the wall. They looked pretty beat up and injured, though the kid was clutching onto a big scythe.

"YOu can put that thing away, I'm not here to mug you or anything." Taking Klen, he shoved the other guy forward. "Go on, use a few of those potions you stacked away on them, or would you rather watch them die in front of you?"

Klen grunted as he looked over the two of them. "Bad enough to need it..." He sighed before closing his eyes, placing his hand in front of his mouth and muttering something under his breath. It took a moment before a few sparkles of light appeared from his hands, slowly falling down onto the two of them.

"I wouldn't overdo it, but that should be enough to get you on your feet." He looked around at the wounds, making sure they had closed. "How is it that everybody I meet today's got a serious injury..."

Echo watched them closely... Confused.

"Who are you?.." He blinked as one of the men began muttering. He began to gain energy back quickly, his legs no longer feeling numb.

'A healer?' He thought to himself, then looked back to Ilalleer, no longer using his scythe to support himself.

"T..Thank you.." Looking at the two men, he became even more confused. They didn't seem hostile.. But.. Anyone who would enter a place like this would have to heave a reason.. Now the question was.. Was their intention good or bad?..