Archive of Our Own ^beta

When the previous tale ended Edea passed around a bag of marshmallows and Cid handed out skewers so they could roast them in the fire. It was something Quistis hadn’t done in ages. She hadn’t been around a fire that wasn’t trying to kill her in a long while. It was nice, she didn’t bother toasting hers nicely, as they weren’t making s’mores. She lit it on fire, turning it constantly to make sure the fire covered all of it, then bringing it toward her to blow out the flames and look it over in all its blackened glory. She didn’t miss Selphie’s grossed out face or Seifer’s approving smirk, but she ignored both. Being burnt meant it was super gooey on the inside. She shoved the whole thing in her mouth and hummed with approval.

Edea’s amused voice called out, “Quistis, would you like to tell a story next?”

Quistis inclined her head, she’d been waiting for this. She had gotten stuck in a unique period of time for a while during Time Compression and learned a bit of local history for the place they sat right now. “Long ago, there stood a castle of white stone...”

The castle had been built on the most beautiful of seaside expanses. The stones were imbued with magicks to help it stand the test of time and chaotic ocean brought weather. It shone as a beacon of light, glowing even in the darkest, cloudiest nights. It was just as good about warning seafarers of the coastline as the lighthouse some ilms away. A dock was never built on its beach, for the people who lived there used the beach for play and worship, and wanted nothing marring the view. The people were pious believers in Hyne’s Gift, headed by the Sorceresses of each age. It stood for thousands of years, the land mass it was on being renamed many times over the course of human existence. The Castle however was never called by a name, it was whispered about both in awe and in fear, as the Castle of Light.

Then on a particularly stormy night a change was made, and the Castle and its residents gained a new title. Those further inland began calling it Hyne’s Castle, and Hyne’s People, instead of ‘those religious folk in the Castle of Light’.

It isn’t wholly believed, history books and religious texts conflict with themselves and each other over what happened (Quistis had gone and looked it up when she’d gotten back). The storm itself was called Diablos and it was said to be sent by the Guardian Pandemona for its ferocity. The lighthouse was wiped from the map, the small town that had grown further inland from the Castle was destroyed. The ocean crashed and beat against the castle, flooding its inner courts and hallways. The vegetation carefully cultivated within were gone, all the herbs and foods that could have helped save the people beyond its walls now uselessly soaked with sea water.

The Head Sorceress of the time and her small band of believers had been in the inner sanctum performing a ritual while the storm raged. Four nights, three days it lasted. When the ritual ended and they opened the doors, the sea flooded into the sealed room. None could believe the devastation, however, the Sorceress did nothing but smile. One of the acolytes found this strange, as the ritual they had just performed should have been one to protect the lands and keep them vibrant. Or so they had all been told. It hadn’t seemed different than the ritual performed every year, so he assumed something else had happened, or perhaps something had gone wrong and they hadn’t noticed.

They all knew that the Castle had been built on a source of power, a place where magic flowed strongly through the world. Not only did it make magicks used there more powerful, it called all sorts of magical beasts to it. The followers of Hyne had always studied such creatures, so when they left the inner sanctum and found the destruction wrought by a fierce storm and found ancient denizens of the Deep slithering about, they were shocked anew.

The great Serpent Leviathan was among them, and he was very upset. He and his brethren had cut into the land around the castle, effectively cutting it off from the mainland, and ilm of ocean now stood between the small island the Castle was on and the rest of the continent. The Serpent Guardian spoke only to the Sorceress, so it’s not known what was said. What is known is that the Sorceress laughed, pointed a claw-like hand at the Guardian, and suddenly Leviathan was gone, a crystal floating in the space he had been. The Sorceress gathered it to her and used the power within to drive the other creatures back into the sea. The acolytes were told that the ritual had worked wonders, and now Life could go back into balance, they the followers of Hyne would be revered again instead of outcasts the people were afraid of.

The acolyte who had thought all of this strange, knew she was lying. He had been an acolyte since before she had come into power. He’d done the ritual before, and it had always brought a noticeable change to the land, having flora grow stronger and the fauna multiply. It had never wrought destruction such as this. And her containing a Guardian Force was against the teachings. He could do nothing but keep his own council however, as everyone else was devoted to the Sorceress and saw nothing wrong.

Over the next several months the Sorceress gathered up every Guardian Force she could find, crystalizing them all. Saying they would be needed this way in the future. That she had the power to contain them at all was unheard of, the acolyte could only concede that she did indeed have Hyne’s Blessing to do so. Then another storm ravaged their coast, a coast that hadn’t healed from the previous one yet. It ripped gouges into the land, and the Sorceress was frightened. Kept murmuring to herself that this wasn’t right, that she’d done as requested, they should not have to suffer so.

Hyne himself showed up in the inner sanctum when she herded them inside to pray, his light and wrath filling the large room, putting out the flickering candles that were the only light in the current storm. The acolyte instinctively protected the Sorceress when Hyne’s great sword Hyperion cleaved down to smite her. His own faith in the man before him protected him, giving him only a scar across his chest from left shoulder to right hip. He was still reeling from his instinctive act of protection and the wound when Hyne’s voice boomed, “If thou shalt protect this usurper, then be Knighted for thy fealty!”

The Sorceress’ mind crashed into the acolyte’s, merging not only their memories but their powers. Once they’d steadied after the sensation the Sorceress smiled evilly at him. Her words whispered in his head, her mouth unmoving, “Odin, my thanks. I had so hoped one of you would protect me.”

He shuddered and turned as she bade him, pulling a great sword from the aether and testing it against Hyne’s own. His thoughts were so consumed by the battle and trying to stay alive that he never knew what the Sorceress did. Suddenly Hyne was gone, the Castle was black as pitch, it now glowed an ominous purple. The other acolytes lay dead around the altar and the Sorceress was much changed. She was larger and her hands were more claws than fingers, her face a twisted mask of black and purple markings. He assumed he was changed in much the same way. He understood now that the rite they had performed had not been the usual one to reinvigorate the earth, but a summoning of the moon. A rite that went against Hyne’s teachings and the laws he had set.

He could see the large orb outside the windows as he raced out of the Castle, mad with anger and sorrow. That their leader could do something so vile. Change the moon’s course, setting the tides into confusion. It hadn’t been Pandemona who had sent that squall, it was simply the moon moving out of turn. He had made it to the Castle’s gates before claws raked through his mind.

“Where do you go my Knight? Would you abandon me now, at the height of my reign?” The words were honey in his veins and slowed his escape, forced him to return to her side. “We must punish the wicked who gave up on Hyne’s Blessings. Who turned to false gods and Guardian Forces for protection instead of us! Yes, we shall make them pay.”

The Sorceress pulled his face close to her own, wrapping her arms around his neck as she pressed her lips to his. He could not disobey, his body was no longer his own. The Knighthood of Hyne was absolute, you could not break it alone. And he had no one left to save him.

She had him build a tower where the former town had been, and there she made a great summoning that descendants of survivors called the Lunar Cry. The Sorceress called down monsters from the moon, decimating the planet with the force of their impact. The tower barely survived, the Sorceress lay dying at his feet, he hadn’t been able to protect her. As atonement she cursed him to become a new Guardian Force, and to wait for someone worthy to serve again.

The dark Castle was washed into the sea, Siren sings of its purple glow beneath the waves, and how it puts all who go near to sleep. Hyne’s Castle and his murdered devotees were forgotten by time, only the long memories of GFs might remember the truth.

Quistis looked around at everyone with a raised brow and then pointed behind her out at the ocean where a purple glow could be seen beneath the waves.

Seifer stood up so fast he nearly face-planted into the fire, his whole body seemed to shake as her tale found lodging in his mind. He’d defeated Odin so easily, his own sword was Hyperion, though he doubted it had belonged to Hyne, it had certainly destroyed a GF. And none of them could deny the glow in the water, something he hadn’t thought anyone else had ever noticed before, always so sure he was the only one awake so late at night when they were small. Not all of the GFs they used with the Para-Magic system were from crystals, but a lot of them were...

“You were supposed to tell a scary story Q. Not give us a history lesson.”

“Aww, is the tale of the first Lunar Cry not scary enough for you? Didn’t have enough death and destruction? We could always go take a swim, Almasy. See how brave you really are.” Quistis winked at him.

Seifer sat down with a huff, “I don’t have a GF to equip to keep me from falling asleep from whatever happened to that Castle. I’ll pass... for now.”

Quistis burned another marshmallow and waited to see who’s story was next.