THE FFXI CHRONICLES 2: HERO'S JOURNEY

Author's Note: Well, firstly, thanks for taking the interest to make it this far. A day after the original finished and I'm starting the sequel. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee this will be finished because I don't have an overall plan for it yet. I can't imagine me not finishing it because I wouldn't want to let anybody down, no matter how few people are reading it, but if it is finished it may not stay "The FFXI Chronicles 2" but instead just become a much shorter side story. I actually have a 'save the world' idea, but I'm not sure if it'll become too tiresome.

If you haven't read the first one, but want to read this, then you should be able to. The introduction will spoil the first one quite quickly, but you should be able to enjoy this anyway.

The italic 'memories' at the start of every chapter have been scrapped this time, mainly because there's nothing left to tell in them. Also, the chapters are probably going to end up shorter because I'm less certain of the plot. Other than that, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy it.

PART I

A legend had emerged in Vana'diel recently. They called it a legend because nobody understood it. The legend said that the evil Demon Lord Chaos returned, and once again, as they had a million years ago, four Light Warriors bearing four crystal shards emerged to repel him. They say they travelled across time itself, to the past, to a million years in the past, and defeated him once and for all.

What happened is not entirely clear. The four nations of Vana'diel united, and struck against the Temple of Uggalepih, which had been overrun by evil dragons summoned from the shadows. This was fact. This had happened. Four warriors had been sent through to the temple. Shortly after, the summon spell was broken and the dragons vanished. The summoner had been killed. People claim that this was Chaos, and he had gone back in time, thus his spell had worn off. Others claim the warriors had defeated him within. Nobody really knows. It has instead become another legend that spreads across Vana'diel to give hope to the people.

The Light Warrior's had no names to the people. They had no race. They had no background. Some believed they were the original four, who had gone forward in time just as the original legend said they had gone back.

In truth, they were quite different. Bootus, the gigantic galka, a monk who apparently lived to argue and mock. Vivli, a small mithra, a white mage who seemed to lack any courage or combat ability. Zinkata, a hume, a thief turned warrior who held the party together. Voldos, a dark elvaan, a womanising warrior, competent with a bow and sword. These four had saved the world.

Every journey comes to an end. Everything that begins finishes. For these four warriors, their adventure was over. But their friendship endured. The four united once more, to answer the unanswered. Questions that still hung over them. It was Vivli, the mithra, who wanted to know. She had been taken from her parents to be raised ready to fight Chaos before she was old enough to know who they were. Now she was seeking them. And this quest had brought the four to Windurst, the city of magic, so that they may find an answer.

Vivli opened her eyes with a groan. She was in bed. She let out a groan and rolled to the side. Unfortunately, the bed wasn't as big as she thought and she rolled straight off of it, landing with a crash. She groaned, rising.

"That's one way of getting up." She mumbled.

"Do you always talk to yourself?" Bootus asked, and she screamed, jumping back onto her bed.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" She cried, seeing the galka slouched in the doorway. They were staying in an inn at Windurst, and Vivli had insisted on having her own room. She certainly didn't want Voldos to be around when she was getting changed to sleep.

"I was going to wake you up, but I'm glad I didn't. That was hilarious." The galka told her with a gigantic smirk underneath his black beard.. She rubbed her eyes, and jumped off the bed.

"Where's Zinkata and Voldos?" She asked.

"Getting breakfast." Came the reply.

"You what?" She cried. "You let them get breakfast? You fool!" She bolted from the room, just knowing that they were going to do something stupid.

"No, you have to wind it in gently!" Zinkata told Voldos, who was gripping a fishing pole and dangling it in the water.

"But if I do that they get away!" The elvaan protested.

"Not if you do it subtly enough." Zinkata explained.

"Why don't you catch them then?" Voldos asked, crossing his arms smugly. Unfortunately, the process of crossing his arms meant he let go of the fishing rod and it fell in the water, drifting away. Zinkata let out a heavy sigh and rolled his eyes.

"What happened?" Vivli asked in shock as she watched it float away.

"Zinkata dropped the fishing rod." Voldos explained. Zinkata went to say something but Vivli got in first.

"Was this the fishing rod outside my room with 'Vivli's: do not touch' inscribed on it?" She asked.

"Yeah, why?" Voldos inquired. Vivli just let out a sigh of exasperation, tugging at her hair. "It's not like you use it. How many things have you caught with that?"

"That's not the point!" The answer was, of course, none. "The point is, it's mine!" She turned to Zinkata. "What happened to your fishing rod?"

"Think I left it in Seblina three lifetimes ago." The past seemed so distant recently that a 'lifetime' had become their standard unit of measurement between the adventurers.

"But I only brought that two weeks ago!" Vivli had a knack for losing things. She now had a small paddle like staff, despite once swearing to never buy another one, but interestingly, it was tied to her belt with a length of rope. This was to make sure she never lost it again. She had a gut feeling it would never work.

"How long until we go to Kazham anyway?" Voldos asked, having been desperate to get to the mithran paradise since he heard of its existence.

"Guess we should leave pretty soon." Vivli grumbled. "Nobody's heard of anybody who might be my parents here." She sighed as she heard an all too familiar stamping. Bootus thundered over to the group.

"So, where's my breakfast!" Cried the galka.
"Voldos dropped my fishing rod in the water." Vivli gave in answer.

"We were going to eat fishing rod?" Exclaimed Bootus. "I'm glad he dropped it."

"Fish you moron!" Vivli tried to hit Bootus across the head, but discovered she was too short.

"Or, we could, you know, buy some food." Bootus suggested. "Not like we're low on cash after all. The reward money was pretty damn high."

"Yeah, but we can't go to the restaurant anymore." Vivli explained. "We just get mocked ever since Voldos tried to persuade everybody we were the Light Warriors. Without the crystal shards, nobody believes us."

"Well, you're the one that shattered them!" Voldos said in his defence.

"So I could cast Ultima and defeat Chaos!" Vivli protested. "I'm sorry if I broke your precious little proof of our heroism just so that we could, you know, save the whole freakin' world!" She wasn't as angry as she seemed, and was more making a joke. Luckily the others caught on, and let out a snigger.

"Well, Viv, contrary to popular belief there's more than one place to eat in Windurst." Zinkata told her.

"Really?" Vivli gasped in sarcastic surprise. "I was unaware of this! Damn, if only I'd lived here all my life!" Zinkata rolled his eyes.

"Viv, no offence, but you're not funny." He told her. Vivli grumbled something.

"Nah, it's not she doesn't know about them." Bootus explained. "It's just she's too posh to eat anywhere but a restaurant."

"That doesn't even make sense!" Vivli cried at this insult.

"Well, diddums." Bootus told her. She let out an infuriated scream. She didn't even know what 'diddums' meant.

The four heroes did eventually acquire food. And after that, Zinkata decided to show his latest discovery to the others.

"Look at this, guys." He said, getting out four black pearls.

"Linkshells?" Inquired Voldos.

"Yeah." Zinkata told the others. "Thought it was about time we got them." Vivli looked strangely horrified. "What's wrong?" The warrior asked.

"This means wherever I go, whatever I do, I'll always be able to hear Bootus." She said in fear. The others laughed.

"What did you call our group then?" Voldos asked Zinkata.

"What else?" Zinkata told Voldos.
"Light Warriors." The four said together.

The four heroes had come to an agreement. They said they'd spend the morning finished anything they had to do in Windurst before heading to the chocobo stables by the afternoon and riding to Jeuno, where, in turn, they'd catch an airship to Kazham. Vivli was glad of this light hearted attitude, as she had at first felt a little selfish, gathering them all to look for her parents. But it had become much more of a holiday, and they spent most of their time having fun, free from danger, and asking around just for something to do. They had been enjoying themselves like this for quite some time, and had now become convinced they had explored the whole of Windurst, met every mithra, and found no trace of anybody who could be related to Vivli.

She had spent this final morning in the city shopping for clothes. She figured now the world was saved, she no longer had to stay in the same robe all the time, and could worry about more trivial things. She was also planning to let her hair grow. It was usually very short, with two little pig tails hanging down the sides, but she had decided she didn't need to worry about keeping it short anymore. She didn't even know why she had in the first place. Unfortunately, before she could think any more about her appearance, Voldos blundered into the shop.

"Li!" He yelled. "I have some stunningly brilliant news!"

"What?" She quickly asked, excited.

"There's a bandit raid outside town!" He told her with a smile.
"What? Why's that good news?" Vivli inquired, confused.

"Because it means we get to stop it!" He cried cheerfully. "With any luck, we'll save some really hot girl from certain death and she'll be indebted to me and we'll-" Voldos's rambling and general attitude was getting on Vivli's nerves, so she hit him with her paddle. He snapped out of his trance.
"Let's just go." She sighed.

"Great!" Voldos beamed. "Bootus and Zinkata are already there."

Four scruffy looking rouges beat back Zinkata and Bootus. Zinkata successfully disarmed one, but got hit to the chest by another. A white light engulfed him as Vivli came to his side, panting.

"You never told me they were so far away." She gasped between breaths.

"You are seriously out of shape." Bootus mocked in the middle of battle.

"Can we concentrate?" Zinkata asked, getting up. "Please?" Bootus pulled back, and the four heroes stood in a line. The rogues did the same.

"Ha." Snarled one of the thugs. "Look at them. Standing there like they're some legendary warriors."

"Shall we tell them?" Voldos inquired.

"They'd never believe us." Zinkata replied.

"Yeah, I think we can take 'em." Another rogue decided. Voldos drew his bow and arrow, and shot him.

"You thought wrong, pal." The elvaan taunted. Another rogue drew his sword, and charged at Voldos. Bootus jumped in, grabbing the thief with his hands and threw him back. The rogue crashed down, turning and running. Bootus beamed a smile. The other two looked at each other and ran. The heroes looked particularly proud of this.

Vivli suddenly noticed a mithra curled up on the floor. She ran over and quickly cast a healing spell. The mithra sat up, looking quite scared. She had long orange hair running down her back and was about a head height taller than Vivli was.

"Are you alright?" Vivli asked, before getting shoved aside by Voldos.

"Lucky we were here to save you!" The elvaan exclaimed. "I can think of a repayment, if you want to know." He said with a smile. Vivli sighed.
"Sorry about him." She said.

"It's okay." The mithra shook her head. "I'm fine. My name's Dedji." Vivli blinked for a moment. It was a fairly strange name.

"What happened exactly?" Zinkata asked.

"Those dammed bandits ambushed me on my way to Windurst." She told him. "Think they're looking for someone. Thought I was her." Bootus looked over her. Red hair. Vivli had ginger.

"Vivli? Have you pissed off some other demon lord?" The galka asked.

"Hey!" Vivli protested. "There are a lot of mithra! Just because some bandits are hunting one doesn't mean it's me!"

"Well, we'll make sure you find somewhere safe to stay." Zinkata told Dedji. "Then we'll drag Voldos away to make sure you stay safe." Voldos looked disappointed. "We're heading to Kazham, I guess that's where you came from?"

"Yeah." Dedji answered.

"If we see anything, we'll let you know when we get back." Zinkata was a fairly good team leader for all his faults.

They took Dedji to the inn at Windurst, where she could stay, and literally did find themselves dragging Voldos away by his large elvaan ear to stop him hitting on her. The four headed to the chocobo stable, and prepared to depart.

"Well," Zinkata sighed, "At least if bandit attacks are common the journey will be fun."

"Yes." Vivli said blankly. "Fun. I just love getting attacked."

"Now, now, Viv." Bootus began sarcastically. "Not all of us are cowards."

"I am not a coward!" She yelled.

They walked into the chocobo stable, paid, and climbed up on their steeds.

"I honestly think you are." Bootus told her as they rode out.

"I'm not!" She cried.

"She's not really." Voldos said. For a moment Vivli smiled as he came to her defence. Then he continued to speak. "She's more girly than cowardly."

"What?" Vivli yelled. "I am not girly!" Bootus let out a loud laugh and Vivli grumbled to herself.

They had only just left and things were already back to normal.