Paths of Angels: Introduction

:: Cover Art is a screencap from FFVII: Crisis Core. Copyright Square Enix. ::

 

I can’t even begin to explain how my dreams work, but I will tell you that I dreamed of a man long before I even knew of his existence. In fact, I dreamed a lot when I was younger, and I still do. Often I couldn’t tell the dream apart from reality when he was present- I could feel his touch, his energy...his warm breath on my skin. But there was always this feeling of power, a strength that might as well have been pulsing within him like his heart. Wary, but never exactly scared, I let these dreams be, assuming that they were just dreams after all, naive to my own mind’s mysteries. Months of dreaming went by, then years of relishing in the feeling of him haunting my dreams.

One night, it came to be that I awoke quite abruptly from one of these dreams to find this same man standing at the foot of my bed. Silver hair, green eyes...piercing eyes. Only then did it dawn on me that the man in my dreams all these years was the great Sephiroth. I thought back to the things I had written, the drawings I had made in dedication to this man, and only now I realized exactly WHO he was. Needless to say, I felt a little dumbfounded, and though I had never been before, I was frightened. The black strands of energy that practically seeped from him moved to me, tightening around my limbs. There was this harsh tugging feeling on the left of my heart, so harsh was it that I found myself fighting tears, and turned my gaze from my bindings back to him...or rather to the tip of the Masamune that was now being waved threateningly in front of my face. That trademark grin of his was plastered on his face, and those orbs of green that I had once found entrancing now glittered with malice.

Quickly, I tried to think of SOMETHING, but my mind drew only blanks, with only one thought echoing loudly- I’m going to die. Before I could react, he had descended on me, pushing me backwards with his right hand clenched about my throat. He pushed down with such force that, as my head sank into my pillow, I felt as though my neck was collapsing in his grasp. I tried in vain to catch some sort of breath, and dizziness set in from the lack of oxygen and blood to my brain. My world started to spin, and that combined with his intense energy had me teetering on the border of delirium.

Why, why are you doing this?, I screamed in my thoughts, and this provoked a response of an even tighter grip on me. He could read my thoughts, I realized, and since my physical voice was bound, I tried to use this new knowledge to my advantage. I wasn’t able to get any helpful ideas of exactly how to; the only thought I was able to muster before I began to slip into unconciousness was ‘please, don’t kill me’. My eyelids fluttered, and my world was fading into darkness as I heard a small chuckle emanate from him.

Darkness...all was darkness in my mind. Then, bluish-green. A surge of powerful energy jolted through my body, jarring me back into conciousness. This energy I allowed to envelope me, and I broke free from the strands of black that he had bound me with. Feeling strength lke I had never before, I used this to practically throw him from me, and I quickly got up from my bed to my feet. I felt betrayed, confused, and very, very angry. With a glare and a surge of energy, I dared him to try and overtake me again. He looked shocked for but a second, regained his composure and then with a strange smile, he took a step back and vanished.