4Final Fantasy: Crystal Feathers
Rewritten by: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Disclaimer: I own nothing of value that you could take.
A/N: This also stands as an attempt to restart this fic. I figure after 50 chapters doing Castlevania the Second Wave of Tears maybe I've managed to improve my writing skills enough to warrant this re release.
Chapter 1:
Darkness covered the land of a country in unrevealed turmoil. Stars shone in the ebony sky like small diamonds on the darkest velvet while the moons hung like a bright mother of pearl and a seductive ruby. They glistened down on a land that had been torn apart by a costly war among the dragons. Various areas of the landscape had been reduced to a skeleton forest of dead trees; charred ground while the rotting remains of numerous dragons lay about. Even from so high up in the sky the various towns of the country couldn't be seen. Which served as a testimony to how large the kingdom was. The air was fresh with the slight bite of chill as any spring night was prone to be. The kingdom had natural borders all around, with a mountain range to the north and the mighty ocean on each other side. Yet the naval forces were rather weak, with only merchant ships sailing the waters. Of course since the founding of the kingdom there have always been the knights of Bahamut, or Dragon Knights to guard all of it. With their keen eyed dragons the Knights could defend land, air and sea with both breath weapons and lances.
At least that was how it was before the war…
Before the war the Dragon Knights were the top of society, their skills, powerful mounts, and closeness to the king made them the envy of all those who failed to become one. However because of how long it took to train a dragon, in order to be a Dragon Knight you had to be born into the family. Since more then likely even if you could bond to a dragon you would die of old age long before they would be of any use in battle. Adopting these skilled youths only became an option five hundred years after the founding of the Order. When what had started out as a one thousand strong-armed forces of Dragon Knights had dwindled to five hundred through marriage. They would only marry their children off to those who had the gift of communicating with dragons. But with power came corruption, and over time those not of true Dragon Knight bloodline were not considered good enough to marry someone with pure blood.
Then came Cid's invention, the engine. Everyone at Court knew that the man had been studying abroad on the topic of flight. The man had a fancy for flight, but Dragons only carried their riders and no one else. Even if the person were close to the Knight the dragons would not be used as something akin to a chocobo for humans. Upon his return Cid had announced his plan to make an airship. A ship that would be able to carry people into the sky via the use of something called an engine. Using the power of fire given off by the remains of Bomb monsters he could make the airship work.
The Dragon Knights looked at such ideas with a deep skepticism, even amusement. After all, how could some dirty machine take the place of their elegant and powerful dragons? What they did take notice of was a new order of knights that had been formed. Unlike the long existing Dragon Knights this order had only just started. But didn't share many of the same traits as the Dragon Knights. Though devoted to the Crown, the Dark Knights were ground based fighters who were aligned with the forces of Darkness. The Dragon Knights bore armor that gave an appearance of the type of elegance the Dragons were known for. With their slender masks simulating the slender snout and ear fins of a dragons' head. Steel tipped gauntlets that protruded above the knuckles like dragon claws; even their cloaks were designed like the folded wings of a dragon. The cherished weapon of a Dragon Knight was the Lance, in all its incarnations. As it was closest to how a dragon looked upon diving down towards a target.
When a Dark Knight came to the battlefield it was like watching the specter of Death itself rise up from the ground to start slaying. They bore helmets that looked like a grinning skull, indeed the armor as a whole looked like a skeletal body. The decorations of the armor were that of an actual skeleton while the body was wrapped in black steel. While their swords… Those, what some would say accursed, weapons would audibly hum a death song once drawn from their sheaths. Even more when coated blood began to dry these swords would actually shriek in glee or wail like a banshee.
Perhaps because of the horrifying appearance the armor gave off, the Dark Knights seemed to have decided to stay in high standing of the people. Taking on duties that some would say were low for a Knight. Escorting a lost child home, dealing with some forms of civil disobedience, the Knights worked to show that they weren't what their armors showed. Compounding the problem was how people were decided into the Knighthood. As opposed to the Dragon Knights, a Dark Knight needed high recommendation, a high regard by the people, and battle skills. A slowly growing number of people over the years, who once stared longingly at the Dragon Knights, were now staring at the Dark Knights. At least with one of them there was no family business involved, it was a simple set of three objectives one had to fulfill.
Then one day Cid showed that the engine could work, he hovered a raft of wood up into the air with the power of the engine and things he called propellers. Suddenly the Order of Bahamut was now seeing a possible two-pronged attack that was poised to destroy them. From the Dark Knights came an Order of Knights closer to the common man then the Dragon Knights. Fewer people were striving for a chance to see if they could speak with the dragons, figuring being a Dark Knight would be easier. While Cid's invention would mean a possible end of the envious stares from grounded humans. No longer would people be forced to stay on the ground unless gifted with the ability to talk to dragons.
With a clear threat the Dragon Knights began long discussions on the problem. They had to find a way to keep their high positions while they still held the king's ear. Their pride simply would not allow for them to become relics of a now useless past. The conversations started out small, in the corner near fires of the Inns. Then became meetings of more Knights. Then came a late night council styled meeting of the whole Order to discuss the problem.
Then came the solution they felt would get them back to their high standings.
Then came the Dragon Wars.
It was a complete and utter military failure.
The plan had been simple, if they brought more dragons into the country, surely some of the commoners would feel the pull of a dragon that they could bond to. These commoners would then be able to work with the dragons as a type of handler, though they wouldn't be Knights per say, they would be able to work with the elegant creatures. If they could just increase the numbers in their fold they could stop what was becoming a rapid decline. They used their closeness to King Alexander to convince him of their idea. Though they hid the fact that they felt threatened by the other Order and by Cid's invention. It took some work, King Alexander still having misgivings about so many Dragons being in his kingdom all at once. He finally conceded.
But pride can be a terrible thing when too much of it is used. Pride could make a person forget the important things in life, or neglect the small things. With over five generations of Dragon Knights serving the royal family and country that pride came back to haunt them. Since the first group of bonded dragons mated, the Order had only been bonding to Dragons born and breed in this country. With each clutch of eggs the willingness to listen to a certain bloodline became stronger in each Dragon. Thus the Knights never even tried to communicate with a wild hatched, wild raised Dragon.
They paid for that folly dearly.
The most they could explain to these wild Dragons was the concept of food or shelter. Thus the wild Dragons came to the Kingdom in search of these things. What they got though was a flight of Dragons already there, and though yes there was food, there was no territory of their own to claim. So they started claiming.
Anarchy broke out that day.
Dragons, bonded or not, fought night and day everywhere in the kingdom destroying as they went along. Repressed instincts about Dragon behavior in the bonded Dragons resurfaced with a vengeance. Fighting for females, fighting for land, fighting for food, suddenly there was no way to tell apart a Dragon Knight's dragon from a wild one. While the emotional backlash from the bonded to their Knights created chaos in the kingdom as well. The Knights went crazed attacking like their partners having never before to block out their bondeds emotions. Anyone that was of their own kind, thus a Dragon Knight, was attacked. Fights began breaking out in the streets scaring the people into their homes and sending out the soldiers and Dark Knights to patrol the streets.
Finally Richard Highwind, the captain of the Dragon Knights took a stand. Mounting his own Dragon, Sun in Glory, he took to the air to try and drive out the wild Dragons. Without the wild ones he hoped the bonded would calm down thus calming down their human partners. He settled for a group of warring wild Dragons to push back first, but got attacked by more. Several crazed Knights misunderstood his reason for being in the air and attacked while he was preoccupied. In the end they knocked Sun in Glory out of the sky and onto the young dragon's back. Killing Sir Richard instantly.
That had been just over ten years ago.
About five years later Cid's first airship took flight. At grand presentation it could only fly something the size of a fisherman's boat, but over time the designs were remodeled till a full ship could soar through the sky. When a few cannons were added onto the ship so that it could defend itself against flying monsters, the Dragon Knights heard their own Orders' death knell.
Richard was both a widow and a father at the time of his death. His son, now an orphan, was placed under the care of King Alexander. Because of previous injuries the King had no heir for the throne. Thus he adopted the child Kain, as heir to the kingdom, which made the child the only ray of hope the Order had left. Which grew stronger when the King suggested that Kain become a Dark Knight when he got older. Only to have the youth turn him down in favor of his father's own Order. For the citizens this seemed like a logical decision, the boy being the son of a high ranking well respected Knight. However there was always a question unanswered by the people. For Kain was not the only child that King Alexander adopted.
He never explained his reason for it, yet the King took in a lone orphan of unknown origins. The boy had always been pale beyond words, aloof and distant from everyone around him. He also had no memories of his past when Sir Farrel had found him during a winter storm before the Dragon Wars. The boy was taken in with the Airships, and showed a great skill with bladed weapons, as he got older. Thus Alexander believed this would be a suitable match, with one son as future king and the other the commander of all the forces to protect the King.
The winds whipped by the female dragon as she flew on till off in the distance Castle Baron could finally be faintly seen. Quick nimble paws set to work fastening down everything to the furry body before the small creature began his climb to the dragon's head.
"Make a close pass to the left tower I'll drop off there Hum!" the tiny being called out into the finned ear.
The Dragon nodded her head and altered her course towards that tower. The small creature let the wind slide him back towards the body before catching hold again. With a quick wash of the face Namingway jumped up after learning this aerial trick from watching flying squirrels. Gliding down with a pair of small goggles for his eyes, his turban in his mouth, his paws out to help keep him in the air, and his tail as the steering rod. He glided down to an open window, sucked in his breath and flew inside the room of the second child of King Alexander. Sir Cecil Harvey, the second adopted son of King Alexander, Dark Knight and Captain of the Red Wings.
