Subj:	 [ffml] [HD] Earthborn
Date:	01-03-22 17:13:58 EST
From:	dshumate@bbtel.com (Shumate)
Reply-to:	ffml@yahoogroups.com
To:	ffml@yahoogroups.com (Final Fantasy Mailing List), HillionDynasty@egroups.com (Hillion Dynasty Mailing List)

*Okay... this post turned out differently from what I expected... but here
it is. Hopefully this will resolve the whole 'Arc screwed up and annihilated
the landscape, now let's everyone make fun of him' thing DLE started? Though
it actually focuses more on Gray... Ah well ;-p

----------------------------------------------------

 Gray made his way carefully down the steep, rocky slopes of Calypso
Mountain, his tail helping balance him as he made short leaps onto
protruding ledges. The beautiful expanse of the Anything Goes School of
Sexual Arts towered above, but Gray had already explored most of the
compound. Now he explored the mountain that the harem was perched on. While
the path may have been an easier way down to the base of the moderately
sized mountain, incrementally leaping down the cliff face was faster, and a
heck of a lot more fun.

 Gray jumped from the last ledge and landed nimbly on the rocky expanse of
the mountain's foothills. Trees pressed up against the steep cliff,
determinably seeking purchase in the rocky ground. But when Gray looked
ahead, his mouth fell open in astonishment. The trees began thickening
farther from the base of the mountain... but not ten yards from where Gray
stood, the landscape was a blackened, flat expanse of charred earth.

 Gray walked inquisitively up to the charred landscape. It extended for a
good fifteen or twenty yards away, in a perfectly circular ring that seemed
to stretch around the mountain. Gray scratched his head in wonderment,
guessing that this must have been the effect of that strange blast of energy
that had erupted above the harem earlier in the day.

 Gray stepped out onto the charred expanse and gasped in surprise. As he
crossed over the line where the flattened landscape began, an almost
painful, cold rush ran through him, as if he where stepping through a
cascade of icewater. He realized it was probably the magic that had
protected the harem from that spell. Magic. Gray quickly and fearfully
darted through it.

 An acrid, sulphuric aroma overpowered the air suddenly, the result of the
burnt landscape. That was odd... apparently the strange magic kept the
eye-watering stench at bay, for Gray had not smelled it until just now. He
knelt down to lift a paw of ash in his hand. Gray realized that it wasn't
the smell that was making his eyes water... for the landscape to be
destroyed so.

 Gray glanced around in surprise as he heard a small sound. Far to his left,
Gray could identify the esper, Arcanis, leaning up against... the air!? Gray
took an involuntary step back before looking closer. It was odd for him,
having met Arcanis several hours earlier that day. Gray's feline ears
flicked in embarrassment as he recalled how he had prostrated himself before
the esper, before Arcanis had gently taken him aside and completely
shattered Gray's religious views, explaining that while espers were
powerful, they couldn't hold a candle to most true deities.

 Gray took a hesitant step towards the esper. Arcanis had seemed friendly
enough, though distraught about... something. The esper had seemed
distracted and sad while he had spoken to Gray earlier, for some reason.

 Arcanis had apparently not noticed Gray. Gray, deciding that it might be a
good time to apologize for the embarrassment he had caused earlier, advanced
towards the esper, brushing ash out of the fur of his paw.

 Arcanis was leaning heavily against the air, directly above the line where
the grass met the charred earth, as if there were an invisible wall there.
The espers eyes were closed, and his head tilted skyward. Gray faltered,
wondering if Arcanis was meditating, or doing something else magelike.

 "Hello, Gray," Arcanis spoke quietly, not opening his eyes. Gray jumped a
little, nervously wondering if the esper was casting a spell of some sort.
Espers may not be deities, but that didn't change the fact that Gray didn't
particularly like, or trust, magic.

 "Hi, Mas-- er, Arcanis," Gray flinched at his slip of words. "I'd just like
to apologize for the--" Arcanis waved Gray silent.

 "Don't worry about it," the esper said, opening his eyes and glancing at
Gray. "Lia did the same thing... a little worse, actually, when we first
met. I doubt she would care to talk with me right now, though..." Arcanis
trailed off, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against that
invisible wall.

 "Really? Why wouldn't she want to talk to you? I thought she was your
apprentice?" Gray inquired. Lia seemed nice; she had been the first avariel
Gray had met to date.

 Arcanis sighed and took his weight off the invisible wall, opening his eyes
again. He gestured, taking in the strip of blackened land with his arms.
"Don't you see this?" he asked Gray sadly. Gray nodded hesitantly. Arcanis
sighed again. "It's my fault. A misfired spell..."

 Gray swallowed and studied the charred strip again. "That's amazing... do
all the espers have this power?" he asked reverently.

 Arcanis shook his head. "This is just the edge of the spell, luckily. And
no, I'm the only one who knows how to perform this particular feat of
destruction," he whispered. Gray saw Arcanis' eyes watering, and didn't
think it was from the acrid smell. "That is no more, though." Arcanis spoke
with finality. "I have sealed this spell, even from myself. But that isn't
enough to bring this back..."

 "Can't you just, um, cast a spell to heal the earth?" Gray asked after a
while, unsure of what exactly magic could do.

 Arcanis fixed Gray with his sad gaze. "Don't you think I've damaged it
enough, without haphazardly trying to force it into repairing itself?"

 Gray shrugged uncomfortably and knelt down in the ash, running a clawed
finger through the soot. "I dunno. I mean, you couldn't hurt it anymore,
this part of it is dead anyway..."

 "How would you know that?" Arcanis asked, fixing Gray's squatting form with
an inquisitive look. Gray shrugged and remained silent, absently running his
paw-like hands through the ash.

 Arcanis jumped in startlement as a green sprout popped up through the ash
at his feet.

 All over the charred strip of land tufts of green grass and the beginning
of trees were rising out of the ash, like a multitude of emerald phoenixes.
Arcanis stepped back, bumping against the barrier that was visible to his
trained eyes as the soil quickly absorbed the ash, letting life flourish
much faster than was possible. Arcanis wouldn't have been unnerved
normally... except that he didn't detect any type of magic being used. None
at all. Which meant, however improbably, that none *was* being used.

 After a few moments, the growth stopped. Except for the levelness of the
ground, it appeared as if the earth had never been touched by the Cataclysm
spell at all. Arcanis looked to Gray, who had fallen backwards from his
squatting position onto his hands. The Lithe was staring out across the
healed landscape with a mixed look of surprise, wonderment, and overwhelming
terror.

 "Gray," Arcanis swallowed, his voice cracking a bit in his surprise. He
walked hesitantly the agape young Lithe. "How in the goddesses did you do
that?"

 "I don't know..." Gray breathed, still staring. "I just wished that the
land hadn't been destroyed... and..." the Lithe swallowed and fell silent.
Arcanis idly noted that Gray's stutter had oddly disappeared.

 Sudden realization struck Arcanis. "Geomancy..." the esper breathed,
looking back to Gray.

 "I... I didn't mean to use magic..." Gray murmured, still in shock. Arcanis
put a hand on the young feline's shoulder.

 "Geomancy... isn't magic, Gray..." Arcanis spoke quietly.

 "It isn't?" Gray asked, looking up hopefully.

 Arcanis shook his head. "No... I've only seen references to the ability in
a few old tomes... it's an old and very rare ability to control nature, that
transcends magic. The only times I've ever heard of a Geomancer being born
are when... well I don't particularly follow the religious view, but
Geomancers are supposed to be the champions of the Yggdrasil."

 "Yggdrasil?" Gray asked confusedly, rolling the strange word over his
tongue. He didn't think he'd ever heard a word with so many consonants and
so few vowels.

 "It's usually referred to as the World Tree," Arcanis explained. "Nobody
knows if it exists or not, but is supposedly the creator of all creation..."
Arcanis drew Gray to his feet. He felt pity when he saw the young Lithe's
terrified, but wondering, expression, but if the legends were true, the
world would have to be in alot of trouble for a Geomancer to be born. "Come
on, we'll see if the School has anything in it's libraries about
Geomancers..."

-------------------------

-Arcanis
---------
The Last Esper
Head of Development for FFML RPG
Co-webmaster and Chronicler for www.ffml.org
Master of Nonsensical Jokes and Inane Commentary
Author of Extremely Mediocre and Corny Literature