Ahead of her was a mountain range. She walked unthinkingly toward it, for an hour. Finally it was too much for her to bear and she fell on the hard ground. The grass was itchy. She dragged herself on, crawling.

Halfway unconscious and nearly dead from heat and dehydration, she could hardly bear it. She pushed herself forward, and finally, putting her hand on more bit forward, she stopped.

Not thinking any intelligible thoughts, she felt her hand grow wet, nearly soaking. She opened her eyes barely, and looked forward. It was raining on her hand, but she was totally dry otherwise. She struggled to her feet, and realized what this meant.

'Zozo!' her mind registered. Here someone might help her. She walked into the glorious cold rainy and sunless valley, and sat for a few minutes, letting herself wake up a little more. Finally she looked forward, and saw the town was in ruins. She was still too weak to think about it though. On the ground was a small cup that must have fallen from somewhere, filled with rainwater. She picked it up and drank deeply of it. This woke her up more, and though she longed to drink all of it, she remembered she shouldn't. She continued to explore, and went into a place marked Cafe.

It was empty too. There was a little food on the remains of the table, so she ate what was there. There was a counter by the wall, and behind it was a small little resting area it seemed. There was a pillow and blanket, and someone left some clothes there. She peeled her sweaty, uncomfortable armor off and put these clothes on. This made her feel better. Then she sat on the small makeshift bed and began to think about why she was there. It wasn't all to her yet, but she remembered something about Edgar... He was evil. She... her name was Terra, she thought.

'Edgar must have done this.' Terra thought. 'Did the people escape? And why did he?' She wondered. Finally, she lay down to sleep so she could find a town. Jidoor was nearby, unless that was destroyed too. She would try there when she felt ready.

Outside, the downpour had lightened a little, so she went out to scout the village for armor and any type of weapon. She scoured the outside first, finding only a helmet. She went into an Inn, and found some armor and a sheild that had fallen on the floor by someone who had apparently been trying to open the clock door before whatever had hit this town had hit it. She put these on, and found that these seemed to fit pretty well. Now for a weapon..

High up in one of the buildings, where the poeple used to come check in regularly before... something happened. She searched over and found a stick with string attatched to one side. She picked at it, and found it very taut. She had never really seen anything like it before. Edgar had something similar. He said it was based on a..bow and arrows? She found a leather bag full of pointed sticks with sharp blades on one end and feathers on another. On a hunch, she nocked an arrow and fired it with fair accuracy at the wall. This seemed like it would be effective in battle. So she descended the tower and left Zozo, after taking a small bit of searching over to find any potions she could find. She picked up a canteen filled with water from the ground, just in case she needed water again.

She started out from the valley. The day was bright and cool. Everything seemed a lot clearer than it did yesterday. She walked for about two hours before she got clear of the mountains, and by this time the sun was beating down. She needed shade, fast. So she went under a small grove and sat.

"Coooc." She felt something peck lightly at her neck. She looked up and saw a chocobo standing over her. It was yellow in color, and bridled. She stood up, and it walked away. She followed it into the stable, where she bought it.

The trip was going much faster. The wind blew over her, cooling her off, and soon she was in sight of Jidoor. Then there was a loud squawk. She looked up, and saw a huge bird of prey swooping down. The chocobo reacted with skill, and dodged out of the way. The bird prepared for another attack, and that was when Terra realized the value of her arrows.

Nocking an arrow, she pulled it back and loosed it. The arrow hit the bird between its wings. It flew back with a large screech, and swooped down more vehemetly. Once again, the chocobo avoided certain digestion by charging away. Terra fired another arrow, hitting the bird between the eyes. It screeched loudly, stopping the chocobo. The bird saw its opportunity and swooped down. The chocobo ran, but not in time. Terra jumped off of the chocobo and landed on the bird's back. She nocked an arrow and fired it straight into the bird's head. The bird reared up and Terra fell off. She figured she was about to die, until she landed softly on the chocobo. She jumped up and fired another arrow into the bird's back. It swooped again, only to feel another arrow fly into it. This time the arrow was fatal. The bird soared into the ground.

Terra sat back down on the chocobo, and they continued their journey to Jidoor.

"Who is doing this?" she asked herself. Then she realized again. So she jumped off of the back and crawled by the newly built port. A ship was there, and looked like it was about to leave. Any way to get out of this island was fine by her. She leaped over the starboard and hid behind some cargo. Listening intently, she heard a whistle and felt the ship begin to move. Soon she fell asleep, relaxed by the gentle rolling of the ship.

Her dreams focused mainly on a strange ship in the middle of the ocean. She was standing on the port, and heard a noise. Whirling around, she saw General Leo standing there with silk flowers and a smile on his face. He moved foward and took Terra by the hand. Suddenly she was in the middle of a ball dancing with him. She felt lighter than air, then was grabbed by him. She looked up and saw Edgar. "What are you doing on the ship!?"

She woke up and looked into the eyes of a rough man who had found her stowing away.

Terra stared up into the strange man. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was.

"Well?" he asked again. Terra couldn't think of anything to say. So she cried.

"I, uhh, I... just had to..." she said slowly, trying not to cry too loudly. The man's face softened a little in concern.

"Alright. Look, come with me," he said. She followed him into the captain's room where he sat her on a chair and told her to wait. He soon came back with a small cup of soup. "I'm the captain of this ship. Sorry to scare you back there. We're headed for South Figaro. What are you doing here?" He asked.

Terra had some of the soup. "It's a long story. I was just doing... something. I can't remember most of it, but I was visiting a town and a storm hit. I got knocked into the ocean. I ended up around Zozo, went to Jidoor, and came here." She knew there was more to it, like why she was at the town, but she didn't feel like going into it at the time.

"Hmm. Well, we'll give you a lift to South Figaro, and you can pay us once you can," he said, and left. Terra slept for a while, then was woken up by someone coming into the room.

"Excuse me, miss? I wanted to give you this," the man said. He was short and pale. His hair was black. He held a turquoise pendant in his hands. "You'll want this."

"Umm, thanks." She took it and looked over it. It was teardrop-shaped. Not very large. It was made from some material she wasn't sure of. When she looked up, the man was gone.

************

The next day, Terra awoke and went up to the top deck. The sky looked dark. The crew was busy doing things, so she sat on one of the edges. She suddenly felt compelled to look at the pendant. It was beginning to glow with a rainbow glow. She suddenly felt a strangely familiar feeling. Suddenly, her body changed. She had changed - morphed!

She soared high into the air with one thought - Destroy! Kill the evil! But... a nagging feeling in the back of her mind. The morphing felt different... the thought faded. She soared through the air, toward Figaro.

Soon after, though, she began to descend. Her body was changing back too. Finally, she began to skid across the land. She began to roll, and soon stopped altogether. When she stood up, bruised and battered, she could see a town to the west. Sighing, she headed toward it.