Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ War of valkyries: battle for Midgar ❯ chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Ch 1

 

Disclaimer: this story is an original story, I would like to thank final fantasy xi which is owned and licensed by square enix for the inspiration that inspired this story as well as supplying some of the names used in this story thank you.

 

 

 

 

Kou Uruzaki walked silently down the road. It seemed that with each step he took his stomach muscles tightened just a bit until he felt like throwing up from the feeling. Kou sighed; he had been walking for nearly a month now from his home village Lahnan toward the distant city of Nyzul, capital of the Askar Nation. Lahnan, thinking about it relieved some of the tension Kou felt in his stomach loosen just a little bit as he thought about his home village and the reason he left the village one month earlier.

 

Three Hundred miles from the capital away from Nyzul, beyond the borders of Askar lay a small fishing village next to the ocean. The village was small since it only spread out a few miles containing a few dozen wooden houses and a pier where numerous fishing boats were tied down until there next use. Near the southern part of the village, a lookout tower is stationed so the members of the local town guard could see people coming down the road. Up in the watch tower two guards stood watch, the men were dressed in their regular clothes that they would normally where around the village, the only reason they could be identified as guards were by the spears they carried. The two were chatting amongst themselves until they saw a caravan of wagons coming down the road.

 

The guards rung the bell the was hanging in the center of the tower, they rung the bell three times until someone shouted, “What's going on?” one of the guards looked over the railing and saw who he was looking for. At the bottom of the tower was a man standing six feet tall, the man possessed lean well-toned muscles, although he wore a red body suit it was hidden by the black trench coat, with the collar upwards covered half his face. He wore black leather boots, along with black leather glove that extended up to his elbow, strapped to his back of his waist was his specially forged katana. This man was Kou Uruzaki, leader of the local guard and the strongest warrior in the village of Lahnan. The guard pointed out on the road towards the caravan. Kou nodded and headed towards the caravan. When Kou got close to the wagon an elderly man came forward and said, “Hello Kou, were here for usual” Kou smiled, he turned around and headed back towards the village while the old man got the caravan moving again towards the village.

 

The day was merry as the caravan moved in to the center of town; they circled their wagons and set up a market for the people of Lahnan to come trade their goods. While the people were making there purchases Kou escorted the leader of the caravan to the town hall for a meeting with the council. Several hours later the great wooden doors opened and the leader stepped through stretching his sore back as much as he could, Kou immediately went to the mans side and began escorting him back to the caravan. The two walked for a few minutes before Kou began speaking, “So if I may ask, how did negotiations go?” The man shrugged and said, “They went well, even though your village doesn't have much money to spare it's just by sheer luck that I have an overstock of all the essential supplies your town needed so I was able to sell everything at a very good price.” Kou sighed, “I thank you for charity in helping our village during such a bad time.”

 

The old man laughed a bit realizing he had been caught, he love this village. The people here were good people and never turned away anyone who was in need of help. If there generosity of these people could use, as currency the old man was sure he would never come across a wealthier town than this. The two continued to walk when suddenly the man stopped; Kou turned and asked, “Is something wrong?” The man ran up to Kou and said, “How far would you go to help the people of your village, would even kill someone if it would help your village?” Kou thought about it for a second then responded, “As long as I'm not robbing, or killing the innocent then yes I would go as far as too kill for my village.” The man smiled then said, “Good, right now the nation of Nyzul is having a shortage of manpower, since there are no wars going on they can't just draft men, so in order to help stem the shortage they've allowed the establishment of a mercenary organization.” Kou looked at the man before saying, “Does it pay well?” The man shrugged and said, “I would imagine it would depend on the job, from my understanding besides ones from the government they do handle independent contracts from wealthy merchants, nobles, anyone who needs to hire a sword, I know it's a long shot but don't the benefits far out weigh the risks.” The two were forced to end their conversation as the man was called by one o the members of the caravan. That night while the town, celebrated Kou remained on duty in the tower watching the road. The old man idea although being risky was the best option for the village in order to survive. While they were able to make it through this time, next time the old man may not be able to cut them a deal. The next day Kou consulted the village council, after many hours of debate and attempts to deter him the council agreed to Kou's plan and later that day Kou bid farewell to the village to begin his journey to the far away capital of Askar. Due to the distance and having to make journey by foot it took Kou one month to reach the capital, when he got there he could not believe what lay before him.

 

A giant metal gate nearly three times his size, connected were giant stonewalls and ramparts that ran along the city forming a gigantic arc as the walls connected from coast to coast over the course of thirty miles. Along the wall were several towers lined with archers staffing the towers, draped over the walls purple with red soldiers sewn on it, the national flag of Nyzul. Connected to the walls were dozens of ramps that are being patrol by armored soldiers, through out the area were dozens of blacksmith shops, armory, stables for horses used by cavalry as well as barracks where the soldiers slept, and a giant tower like building with the Nyzul flag hanging on the building served as the army headquarter. Behind this area was a second set of wall identical to the ones outside of the city that protected the inner city, behind this second set of walls were hundreds of buildings scattered across several different districts that included, market for trading good, tradesman and craftsman, residential for commoners and a separate one for nobles. In the northern section of the city a small stadium was built where gladiators would compete for both gold and glory, in another section of the city were the local guilds and other businesses. This grand city, the capital of the Nyzul nation, this is Askar.

 

Kou approached the open gate, when he crossed the threshold into the city he suddenly heard some one shout “Halt.” Kou turn to his right and saw three men coming towards him, the lead person was a tall man wearing a black under suit with a form fitting red-shouldered breastplate. Along his left arm was armor plate for blocking attacks, on his hands was a set of red gauntlets with gold straps. On the lower half of was a pair of leather that had red stripes on the side of his thighs and black with gold lines for decorations. On his feet were a pair of red knee high boots that had gold buckles and gold decorations; along his waist was black leather belt that held the mans sword which sheathed in a black scabbard. Flanking him were two men dressed in identical armor different from the man leading them. They each wore full body chain male underneath their bulky black n silver armor that also covered their necks all the way to their wrists, their heads we protected by helmets that protected the top half of their head and were allowed them to see through horizontal slits in. On their hands they wore black n silver gauntlets, their legs covered by black plated pants with silver designs on them, on their feet they wore black boots that were covered with black grieves that extended to just below their kneecaps. Around their waists were purple sashes, strapped to their backs were spears and in their left hand, they carried metal round shields.

 

The one in red walked up to Kou his left hand resting on the hilt of his sword as he said, “Hello, welcome to Askar sir, can you please state you business in the city.” Kou who had been feeling nervous now relaxed and said, “I heard there is a mercenary group looking to hire people, and do you know where I might be able to locate them?” The man thought for a minute then said, “Oh that's right you mean the Guardians, you would normally go to the army headquarters but since your not a member yet you'll need to go gate over their, and keep following the road.” Kou nodded his head in thanks as the three began to walk in the direction the soldier told him. After an hour of walking Kou began to notice the presence of bank and other businesses, he walk a little further before he came to a small brown two story brick building with a wooden sign that said `Guardians' on it. Kou entered the building through the wooden door; the lobby was plain save for a desk and man filing through paper work. Kou cleared his throat and was about to speak when the man just simply pointed to his left down the hall towards a single door. Kou walked up to the door, he lightly knocked on it, a minute later he heard a rough voice yell, “Come in.” Kou walked into the room, the room was a simple study containing filled bookshelves, a study desk with a lantern sitting in the corner, on the other side was a large double bladed axe, pushed into the desk was a comfortable looking chair. Standing behind the desk was a man in his late forties wearing gray plated armor with black copper trimming.

 

The man smiled at Kou before saying, “Hello young man my name is Arashi Minawaza, I am both the founder and commander of the Guardians mercenary group, and judging by your appearance and stance I'd say you're here looking for a job so why not tell me about yourself, and why you want the job.” Kou introduced himself and told Arashi a bit about his abilities. Kou then told Arashi about his home village, about the troubles of his village, and his hope that might save his village. When Kou was done Arashi stood their stroking his chin before saying, “Well that better reason then most who come here, if we allowed people to join based on just that you'd be on right now, but we don't so which leads me to the good news and bad news. The good news is that I have one opening left within my ranks due to one of my men just retiring, bad news is that there are others who want that spot as well, tomorrow I will decide who will be getting the position, so be here tomorrow at six am.” Kou bowed his head and left the mercenary headquarters, he traveled around the area for a bit before he arrived at a local inn, after having a bit to eat he got a room for the night. Since he had no other clothes he didn't have to worry about changing, instead he performed his nightly ritual of drawing his katana, after inspecting it he took out of his leather pouch a thick square piece of metal used to sharpen the blade, after spending several minutes of working the tool to the sword he inspected it once more. Satisfied he detaches the blades black scabbard and places the blade back in its scabbard. Kou place the sword next to him on the bed, he then closed his eyes and fell into a nervous sleep.

 

It was well before sunrise when Kou woke up the next day, after eating a light breakfast of eggs, ham, and milk Kou began his early morning routine of stretching and going for a brief few mile jog. By the time Kou finished, it was five-thirty am he knew he needed to head over to the Guardians headquarters. When Kou arrived, it was just about time and there was a dozen people including him. Kou examined the people, most of them looked like they had been apart of the military judging from what they wore, but there were a few that looked no different from bandits. A few minutes later, the balcony door flew open and Arashi emerged wearing the armor that Kou had seen him in the day before. Everyone immediately gave him their undivided attention as he began to speak, “Hello, I to thank you all for coming today, as you all know today I will select one of you to fill in the open slot I have left on my companies ranks. Now for those of you who don't make it please remember that a lot can happen, from within myths, people quitting, or even due to increase in demand of our services openings can happen at anytime so please keep that in mind. First things first, which ever one of you I choose must always keep this in mind, when you are on a job you represent not only yourself, nut this company and most of all you represent me. Your successes, you failures, all of it comes back to me, do well things will be good for you, you will earn money and you will become more respected both here in the city and outside of it. Do poorly and you will either end up unemployed or dead and dishonored. The outcome gentleman depends on you and you alone.” Arashi took a deep breath before continuing, “Now I had thought to put you all through a series of horrendous and humiliating for the dual purpose of seeing which of you would last and for my personal enjoyment.”

 

The hopeful men began to whisper amongst themselves for a second before Arashi silenced them and continued to speak. “However there will be no need for that, I have already chosen which one of you will join our ranks.” Arashi paused ten said, “Kou Uruzaki step forward.” Kou could not believe it even as he stepped forward, Kou looked around at the other men. A couple were happy for him, others seemed sad that they didn't get picked, but a giant armored man carrying a giant war hammer stepped into Kou's path and said, “I can believe you picked this scrawny midget over me, don't you know who I am I-.” “Your Brutus the man crusher, said to have crushed the skulls of over two-hundred men with you bare hands” said Arashi. Brutus looked stunned for a second then said, “Fine I'll prove I'm better than this weakling” Brutus with surprising speed lifted his war hammer above his and was preparing for his downward swing- THUD- everyone gasped as Brutus giant war hammer was cut cleanly in half, the top half now on the ground. Behind Brutus Kou was calmly sheathing his sword, everyone down in the street was completely stunned not only by Kou's amazing speed, but the fact that he drew his sword without making a sound and was able to accurately destroy Brutus war hammer without hurting him at all. Brutus was humiliated; he looked at Kou and saw red as he charged Kou.

 

Kou saw Brutus coming as he turned to face the man, he allowed Brutus to get almost on top of him before his right fist shot forward hitting Brutus sternum hard driving the wind from the mans lungs. While Brutus collapsed to his knees coughing while tried to get the air back in his lungs Arashi smiled, to him this was more than enough evidence that he made the right decision, not because Kou defeated Brutus, but because he knew when to stop. The remaining people began to disperse leaving Brutus alone on the street as Kou entered the Guardians headquarters. Once inside Kou was directed by the secretary from the day before to go to the study and wait, the wait was not too long before Arashi came in. Arashi pulled out the chair from behind his desk, Arashi quickly explained how things worked, Kou would live for free in one of the many barracks near the outer wall, every morning at seven am he would report to their branch office in the outer wall where he would be assigned a mission. When he completed a mission, he would come back and see if the office had another one or not. If the mission ran two days or more he would be given a day to recuperate, Kou only had Sundays off and even then he was told that in the event of a high priority mission he may be called in. Salary was easy to understand, when he completed a mission whatever the customer paid the company would get half, he would get the other half, and in the event of multiple mercenaries they would split their half between them. Extra money could be earned by selling armor back to the company that goes in the companies' armory that everyone has access too. The thing that caught Kou eye was that Arashi paid in coins ranging from bronze the cheapest to platinum the highest, when Kou asked why he paid them like this Arashi simply said, “This is how the customers pay me, from the government to nobles I deal in real currency not the paper that varies from country to country. This way you guys can send it back to your families with no worries about it being worth less than what you earned.” The last thing Arashi said to Kou was that he should go to their armory and pick out a good set of armor for extremely dangerous missions.

 

Kou left headquarters feeling better than he had in a long time, right now he was on his way to the military headquarters where they would assign him a barracks. In his leather pouch he now carried a badge that was in the shape of a shield, the back was branded with Arashi personal symbol an axe indicating that the badge was authentic and he was a mercenary in the employment of the Guardians. Several hours later Kou flopped onto his bunk exhausted from the day, after learning which barracks he was assigned to Kou took Arashi advice and went to the armory. After a long, while of searching he picked out the red armor set he'd seen the guard wearing earlier, for a helmet it was the same that the other two guards but with spikes instead of being smooth. Along with two-dozen throwing knives, he also picked a dagger and belt to hold it that was for his thigh along with the knives. When he was leaving the armory the clerk handed Kou a leather case. When he opened it inside were twenty vials containing a clear liquid when he asked he clerk what they were he said, “One of the mercenaries is a talented alchemist, those vials contain a liquid that can cure all the but the most deadliest of poison. They tend to leave you feeling weak afterwards so be careful, also if you stop by their you can pick up other types potions, those you have to pay for, but these are free of charge.” Kou thanked the clerk and after having something to eat Kou headed back to his barracks. It wasn't bad; including his, there were thirty small single person bed each with a trunk where he stored his armor and equipment. After everything was stored away, Kou drew his sword and began its inspection, satisfied he would not need the sharpening block he return the blade to scabbard and placed in on the left side of his mattress. Kou lied down and closed his eyes tomorrow would be the start of a busy day and it was only Monday.

 

 

R & R tell me what you think even if its bad