Final Fantasy- the Summoner's Story

introduction

"Darksteel ore! All right!" shouted Vivel. He pulled the large chunk from the mines and wobbled over to show Ignatious. Living in the Republic of Bastok, mining was a way of life for many, including Ignatious and his comrade Vivel. Bastok was home to the human and galkan race. The humans were moderately sized creatures who excelled in a great many of things, but most of all ambition. Ignatious was a hume, as was most of Bastok's population. The galkan were large, husky, strong-willed warriors who carried much anger and much compassion as well. Long ago, the galkan and humes were very hostile towards each other, but since have learned to co-exist peacefully.

"Congrats, old friend," Ignatious said when he saw the magnificent ore Vivel had found. "Here, let me get that" he said and took the darksteel from Vivel, carefully wrapping it and putting it in his pack. "I'll head to the Metalworks and sell our findings to the blacksmiths. Could you finish up and then meet me back home?" Vivel nodded and waved goodbye to his friend.

Working in the mines was very toilsome, especially for Vivel. This is because Vivel was neither a galka nor a hume. He was of the tarutaru, a race of timid and short yet extremely intelligent beings. Tarutaru were most well known for their ability to use magic with ease, a powerful force that could be used for destruction and liberation. Born in the Federation of Windurst amongst fellow tarutaru, Vivel journeyed to Bastok when he was younger than he could remember. His parents were investigating the quicksand caves in the notorious altepa desert searching for ancient artifacts. Vivel was left in the nearby Bastok with Ignatious, a close friend to his parents. Unfortunately, the caves were unstable and a large part collapsed, killing Vivel's mother and father. It was decided that Vivel would be raised by Ignatious, as the president saw a Bastokan tarutaru to be a great asset. Ignatious raised Vivel as a son, but also as a friend. And though Vivel was only fourteen years of age, he matured rapidly and now was a mining partner and best friend to Ignatious. Vivel was encouraged to work on honing his black magic skills, the ability to unleash deadly forces and elements. But ignatious also taught him the way of the samurai as he had trained his whole life.

Vivel scratched at his shaggy light blue hair as he gathered up his remaining pickaxes. Suddenly, something hit him from behind and he was knocked forward on to the hard ground. It was a blood sucking thread leech, and it had attached itself to his back! Vivel struggled to his feet and shook the leech off, and then turned to face it. It looked like a basketball, but distorted one at that. Vivel was frightened at this ambush, but knew he had to focus his magic to win. He closed his eyes and started casting a fire spell. The leech lunged at him and interrupted his casting, sending him on to the ground again. Vivel wobbled to his feet and quickly casted a bind spell on the leech. It worked, and the leech was frozen in place. He then frantically grabbed his great katana and held it in attack position. Being a tarutaru made it very hard to wield such a heavy blade, but Vivel was well trained enough to fight proficiently, or at least well enough to slay a leech. With a mighty strike, Vivel cut the leech clear in half, and collapsed to the ground out of exhaustion.

It was very rare to be attacked by anything in the Zeruhn mines, and leeches weren't known to be as big and bulgy as the one Vivel just encountered. He got to his feet and some something glimmering. Taking a closer look, there was a bright red ruby on the ground, glowing with radiant beauty. It must have been inside that leech, thought Vivel. He took a moment to clean it with a cloth, and looked in to it. He felt a large chill go throughout his body, a lingering tingle almost. Startled, Vivel dropped the ruby but then grabbed it back up and put it in his backpack. Surely this would be worth a lot, but Vivel wanted Ignatious's opinion first. He trudged out of the dark mines and began his daily walk home to the market's district.