The Sweet Song of Sacrifice

[Optimistic Potato]

{ NOTE }
When we change locations I will post a new blurb on where we are each time. Just as an update.

MAP OF SPIRA

Red dots are locations we will visit and the green dotted line is the route we will be taking.

KILIKA

{ KILIKA }

Kilika is an island of the southern coast of Spira. The island consists of a small port and village, a large jungle and a Temple of Yevon. It is famous for being the home of High Summoner Ohalland and the Kilika Beasts, the local blitzball team. Kilika Temple is located on the far side of the forest north of the village. It is built atop a fire mountain and the Fire-elemental aeon Ifrit can be obtained here. The fire of the temple changes color depending on whether there is a summoner praying inside, or if the temple is being visited by priests and Yevonites. The Fayth of this temple is a former Crusader.

Kilika temple is the home of Ifrit.

IFRIT

{ IFRIT }

Special Attack: Meteorstrike
Effect: Inflicts normal damage even with Protect
Overdrive: Hellfire
Element: Fire
Location Found: Kilika Temple

{ A Bit of a Back Story }​

It was just over ten years ago when High Summoner, Lord Crayness Defeated Sin and brought about the Calm once again. The people of Spira rejoiced at his brave sacrifice for they were safe from Sin's deadly attacks once again. And finally the world of Spira was safe and at peace for another decade. But as that decade came to a close, the fear within people's hearts grew. Every day was one more day nearer to the return of Sin and the curse brought down upon them by the mistakes of their ancestors who lived freely within Spira. They had relied too heavily upon Machina, and their punishment was Sin.

The deadly creature could be destroyed by a Summoner who had completed their pilgrimage. A Summoner must venture throughout Spira to gain the powers of each Aeon. With the gathered strength of the Aeons, a Summoner could call upon the Final Aeon. The Final Aeon is created by a sacrifice of one of the Summoner's Guardians. The Final Aeon has the ability to pierce through Sin's thick armour and temporarily destroy the horrible creature. After the Final Summoning, the Aeon is taken over by Sin's fleeting spirit and kills the Summoner. It takes Sin a decade to rebuild itself, in that time the people of Spira enjoy a great peace called the Calm. now that decade is up, peace is gone and Sin has returned. The world of Spira prays every day for one to come along, one who can defeat Sin once again.

{ Rina Fae }​

Last night Rina had been up late, wandering the docks of Kilika. It was her last night as an Apprentice Summoner and the village of Kilika had thrown a bit of a party, a sort of send off for the young Summoner. She had received gifts from the people, the same people she had known all of her life. When the party came to an end, Rina went back to the small hut she called home for the last time. She laid in bed, listening soothing noise of the waves against the docks. This would be the last time she'd be able to do this, just relax and enjoy the moment. But it was her choice, she didn't want people to suffer anymore. She only wished that defeating Sin was more permanent. These thoughts kept circling around in Rina's head until she knew that sleep just wasn't happening tonight. So she snuck out and decided to take a little walk until she could quiet her mind a bit. It wasn't until the sun peeked over the horizon that Rina found her way back to her home and finally got a bit of sleep.

She woke a few hours later to someone shaking her awake, "Go away." Rina grumbled and pulled a thin blanket over head to block out the bright sunlight that streamed in through her window.

"There is no time for this Rina. You have to head to the temple soon, you need to get up and get ready. " It was Rina's mother who shook her until she was sitting up in bed.

"Why does it have to be so bright?" Rina rubbed the sleep from her eyes as her mother sat down beside her. Rina's mother was always kind of distant while she was growing up. Not that her mother hadn't show her love throughout the years, she just showed it in different ways. This morning was different though, her mother pulled her into a tight hug, the kind that squeezed the air from your lungs. Although quick, the hug was a rare thing and brought Rina back to reality and away from the sleep that clung to her mind.

Rina looked at her mother, there were tears in her eyes. "Now I want you to be strong Rina, I want you to show all of Spira how strong you are." Her mother wiped the tears from her eyes and got up from the bed to collect Rina's bag. "You were always so quiet when you were little, always hiding yourself in the temple libraries. I knew you were going to join the church in some way. You were always quoting Yevon Scripture at the dinner table."

"Mother, I-" Rina could feel the tears starting to form.

"I want you to know that I am proud of you, proud of the woman you've become. You are smart and strong and good, and I know you will do great things." Her mother handed her her traveling bag. "Now you get ready and don't forget, I love you Rina." With a kiss to the forehead, Rina's mother left her small room.

Rina stood there, in all of her years, she couldn't remember a time when her mother had said so much... Ever since before she could remember... She took a moment to collect herself, strengthening herself for what was to come.

About an hour later, Rina was ready to go. Her disheveled hair was fixed and she was dressed. She was tired though, her late night adventure was catching up to her, but if she was lucky, she'd get a good night's sleep tonight before the boat to Besaid arrived tomorrow morning.

With the staff that the Priests had gifted her, she made her way to the temple where she would meet up with her friends and guardians and begin her Pilgrimage.

 

[Gaz]

Ryle had been eagerly anticipating the pilgrimage as well. He had lived in Kilika for almost twelve years now, and he yearned for adventure, to explore to travel! See the world, visit new places, chart areas no one had ever discovered before! Find long lost, hidden treasure! Visit his home of Luca again...

Of course, young Ryle's reasonings weren't entirely so selfish. Rina was his friend, after all, and had been since he first washed up on this island so many years ago. He had vowed to her to protect her, and wasn't about to let her go wandering into danger without him. Fiend attacks had been increasing at an alarming rate, lately, even on a peaceful island like Kilika. Sailors always warned that Sin was being sighted, and they always heard tales of ships being wrecked and smashed by the indomitable Sin or his wicked spawn. If Ryle could do anything to stop that, if he could somehow contribute to even a temporary peace or respite...

Besides, protecting Rina and his other friends was ALWAYS his top priority. Occasionally dubious morals aside, Ryle was never one to let down a friend in need. He had yet to work out if there was a way to stop Sin without any sacrifices, but he was sure he would work something out when it came down to it. He always seemed to be able to wing his way into improvising a plan when the chips were down, after all. It was going to be a long journey, he'd have plenty of time to think about it!

Ryle was perched atop a tree in the jungle that surrounded Kilika town, on the winding path towards the temple. He was out picking fruit for the journey, when he saw Rina leave town alone and head into the forest. Grinning, he called her name and waved.

"Yoooo! Hey, Rina! Up here!" He shouted, smiling broadly and waving eagerly. "Surprised to see you up so early! Makes a change, haha!" Ryle joked, with a teasing smirk. With impressive acrobatic, he scrambled down the tree, landing next to her. In one hand was a small bundle of bright blue fruits. "Thought you'd get a headstart on the others? Guess you're headin' to the temple already? Don't mean to sound all strict on you now, but maybe you should wait for the others? After all, there's fiends an' stuff in the jungle, and it'd totally suck if you got hurt or somethin' before you even gotcha Aeon!"

Grinning again, he held out one of the bright fruits for her. It was an Azure Fruit, a speciality of Kilika that only grew there. Many of the island's specialist pies and desserts used Azure Fruits, and they were something of a delicious local delicacy.

"Here, have one! You're up so early I betcha missed breakfast!" Ryle said, in an almost infectiously cheerful voice.

 

[Neobullseye]

<Drake>

Slowly, Drake got out of his bed in his room at the temple. He hadn't attended the party yesterday night, instead trying to both make some final preparations for the journey ahead and get some sleep. Where it was acceptable for a Summoner to be tired -- or an Apprentice one, for that matter --, Guardians were not granted this luxury; It was their task to make sure the Summoner would be kept safe, all else be damned. As such, being well rested and well prepared was more important than anything else, including parting ceremonies to the rest of the villagers. He understood that it was especially hard for Rina though, for who this would likely be the last time she would see her home and family one way or another, not counting the return trip from Besaid. Of course, all that meant for him was that it was his job to be doubly prepared.

After getting dressed and refreshing himself, Drake looked out of a nearby window, seeing the sun hovering slightly above the horizon and basking a new day in its warmth and beauty. Maybe one day, this sign of new hope would rise over all of Spira, when Sin would be gone forever. Until then, however, there was only one way in which they could provide a short dawn for Spira; the Final Summoning. And for that to happen, Rina's journey had to be completed, which in turn required the help of her Guardians. To be honest, Drake had some doubts about some of her other guardians; especially that youth, Ryle. On one side, he seemed honest enough in his intentions to protect Rina. On the other, however, he just didn't seem to be... serious enough for a task like this one. Now this could be excused by the fact that he was still practically a child, but it could be a liability on the road ahead. Drake just hoped that Ryle would grow up quickly. Actually, now that he thought about it, everyone but Drake himself was still relatively young, so youth alone wasn't an excuse anyway.

Well, it was almost time to go to the meeting place. After one final check if he had everything -- weapon, armor, notes, map--, Drake left his room and walked towards the temple plaza overlooking the jungle. In hindsight, he probably should've found a room in the town so that he could actually escort his protégé to the temple. Too late for that now, though.

 

[OmegaVelociraptorsaurus]

Touma

Touma let out a loud yawn as he woke from his slumber. It was dawn and he was almost back to Kilika, he couldn't wait to see Rina. Touma made sure to take down all of his camping equipment, and store it all back into his satchel, he loaded his faithful Chocobo up and was on his way. He had trained really hard and was now ready to to protect a certain person. The thought of her being the one to go on the pilgrimage sort of bugged him but he knew it was her choice. Touma tried not to think of it as he rode to town.

Finally reaching Kilika Touma stopped by the local market to pick up some snacks for himself and his Chocobo and he even grabbed a gift for Rina. Feeling ready for his return to her, Touma hopped onto his chocobo and headed for the Temple. As he sped towards the temple the chocobo suddenly went berserk and charged towards a strange theif looking person.

Touma tried to stop the crazy bird, but was flung off into a tree while the bird went in for its assault. The bird attempted to bite the strange mans butt as he was next to the chocobo's love. Touma had forget that his chocobo had a crush on Rina. So he really wasn't expecting the onslaught of bites that were sent at the unlucky thief.

It wasn't like Touma could do anything, he and his fancy new adventuring gear were stuck in a tree.

 

[Optimistic Potato]

Rina Fae​

Rina heard a familiar voice coming from above, she looked up just in time to see Ryle get down from the tree branches with ease. "I don't know how you can be so energetic this early in the morning." She laughed a little and accepted the fruit. "Thank you." Of course she would forget breakfast on a day like this. "The jungle shouldn't be too bad, I heard the villagers were headed out early this morning to clear a path for us. They've been at it since da-" She was cut off as a blur of yellow attacked Ryle and effectively knocked Rina over.

When she got her bearings back, she looked at the yellow fluffy bird, it kind of looked familiar... "Oh my goodness, Fluffikins no! Don't eat Ryle, he isn't bad!" She shouted and rushed over to pull the chocobo off of Ryle.

"Are you okay Ryle?" She was concerned for her guardian, she knew that the chocobo could be a little odd at times, but to attack some random person? Usually the only person the chocobo attacked was-

Then it hit her, if Fluffikins was here then... "Touma?" She looked around everywhere but couldn't find the chocobo's rider. But why would Fluffikins be here and not Touma?

"Fluffikins, where is Touma? Did you leave him behind again?" She asked when a fruit from the nearby tree fell beside Rina's foot. She looked up to see what had caused it to fall. Somehow Touma and all of his traveling gear had ended up in the tree above.

"How on Spira did you manage to get yourself up there?" Rina couldn't help but burst into laughter. This whole day was starting off a bit on the strange side.

 

[Gaz]

[Ryle]

Ryle was in mid conversation when the yellow blur shot towards them. Some crazed, wild, possibly rabid Chocobo was charging them from nowhere! Without time to think, his first instinct was to protect and shield Rina...However it soon became obvious to him that this violent bird was solely focused on attacking him! Yelping, he managed to barely evade the initial onslaught of pecks, but the Chocobo was relentless!

"Ow! Yow! H-hey, stop it, you damn overgrown chicken!" He yelled as the chocobo bit at his arms and chest. The large bird wasn't stopping, however! "Argh! H-hey, not the face, not the face!" Shielding his exposed face with his armguard, he managed to block or deflect a few of the pecks, before nimbly leaping backwards on top of an overturned, log. Rubbing his arm, he took a deep, thankful breath as Rina was able to tug the aggressive Chocobo away and calm it down somewhat.

"Y-yeah, you just got lucky, bird! If Rina wasn't here, I'd have to unleash the fury on you!" Ryle shouted at the animal, before wincing a little. "I swear, if I catch rabies..."

Nursing his arm, he noticed the Apprentice Summoner call someone atop a tree. Looking up, Ryle noticed him too, a young man with a large pack of gear clinging desperately to a high branch.

"Hey, hey that your chocobo, buddy?" He shouted up, hopping off of his perch atop the log. "You...you need to put a leash or somethin' on him, man, before he hurts someone! That thing is a freaking menace! Whatcha doin' up that tree, anyway?"

Rina had seen the funny side and was laughing, causing Ryle to sigh and rub his head. "Just...just get down here, 'fore that pet of yours attacks me again!"

 

[OmegaVelociraptorsaurus]

Touma

Touma broke free from the entanglement of branches only to realize that gravity existed. That of course led to Touma and all of his gear to plummet to the earth. The sheer amount of crap that Touma had with him had become a barrage of falling objects to bombard both Rina and Ryle. After a loud thump Touma and about half of the tree he was in landed on the ground. He turned to see if everyone was okay, sure he could handle a hit. The question in his mind was could Rina take those kinds of hits.

Just before Touma could even think of asking if everyone was okay Fluffykins charged out of nowhere and sent all 3 of the adventures tumbling towards the jungle. Fluffykins simply tilted his head and watched as everyone was on their way. The ever heroic chocobo followed the tumbling adventures. Touma ended up slamming into another tree. He let out a grumble "why is it always a tree…"

 

[Optimistic Potato]

{ Rina Fae }​

The walk through Kilika's thick jungle was fairly uneventful, despite it's interesting start. Rina chatted with Touma and Ryle after introducing the two. Finally the Temple steps came into view as the forest thinned a bit. Rina came to a stop just before the steps. This was it, there wasn't really any going back after this. She looked up the steps, the temple still out of view. She was supremely nervous, this would be the beginning of her Pilgrimage. Before she knew it, the four of them would be at Zanarkand and then... She shook her head at the thought. She was thinking about the end of her journey before she even got her first Aeon, and who knew if the Aeon would even give it's power to her. Rina took a deep breath, "Well here goes nothing..." She muttered to herself before turning to face Ryle and Touma.

"I think Drake said he'd be waiting for us at the Temple, we should probably hurry up. We don't want to keep him waiting." She smiled at the two before sprinting up the stairs.

 

[Neobullseye]

<Drake>

Drake sighed. Okay, this was taking far too long. Did something happen to Rina? He should've never let her alone! What kind of horrible Guardian would lose his Summoner before the Pilgrimage even started?!
Fearing that Rina and the others might be in danger, Drake ran down the stairs... incidentally crossing a blind corner at the same time Rina did. Though he could avoid crashing straight into her, the extremely sudden stop caused Drake to lose his balance. As much as he tried to regain said balance -- by screaming, wildly spinning his arms and trying to move his body weight foward --, it was to no avail, causing him to tumble down the long stairs all the way down to the next platform. "Ow... Rina? Any White Mage? A bit of healing would be nice...," he muttered, trying to push himself back to his feet. As much as logic would tell Drake that neither Rina nor any other healer would hear him if he kept his voice down like that, as it turns out, logic doesn't work quite as well if you just fell down several stone steps.

 

[OmegaVelociraptorsaurus]

TOUMA


Touma was enjoying is little chit chat with his old friend Rina. Fluffy was starting to take a linking to Ryle and gave the poor boy a slobbery chicken kiss 0_0. ( OOC can not even think of a way to describe what I Just wrote) All seemed well until Touma heard the echoed noises of crashing near the temple entrance. The sound caused Touma to spring into action drawing his blade and summoning his shield. "who goes there!" He stated loudly using a scary sounding voice, which he quickly dropped as soon as he saw the strange mage falling. Touma had no white magic as of yet so he tosse
d the crazy man a hp pot "you might want to be more careful". Touma then turned back to Rina and sighed "you know if this is your guardians, your damn lucky I came along, otherwise you would be screwed..."