Final Fantasy: Chronicles of the Theotokos

[Krateroi]

Hey guys, you might not know me around the KHInsider Forums. I wrote a AU story revolving around Roxas and that didn't too hotly here, although I got six reviews so far (I'll update that soon!) So to pass the time, I decided to write a original FF-eseque story, it may have some influence from a certain Book. Please comment if you can.



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10 I.E. - Canaan countryside

Prologue: Birth of the Incarnate

Part I

Light had given up and gave way to the darkness as did the bright, hopeful day to the dark night of despair. The bright star Osiris whose rays had provided the foliage of the planet of Terra with sustenance had been replaced only by the darkness of the night sky, a small glimmer of yellow light shining from the luminous moon over the open plains of the countryside of Canaan, a beautiful sight in which all eyes from the provincial capital city of Yerushalayim on the other side of the mountains could see by just raising their heads to fully appreciate it.

Yosef let out a long sigh as his chocolate brown eyes shifted from the beautiful sight which was the luminous Terran moon towards the sleeping figure draped in simple, blue and white rags who was his wife Maryām, pregnant by nine months already and his child which dwelled within her was expecting any day of the week soon. Her body was shivering from the chilly, easterly winds from beyond the Great River where the Nomads dwelled; her bare feet were entrenched deeply into the wet, green grass. It was tied on a rope around the palm tree laid Yosef's white feathered chocobo Adonis.

A loud wind went in Yosef's position yet the brave ex-soldier, in his many experiences as a former commander of the Imperial Army leading his troops across different environments from open, arid plains such as these to the dense forests of the babble-mouth barbarians of Germania Magna, stood still at the edge of that cliff looking at his pregnant wife and the child that she was carrying, waiting to be born in a world of turmoil and chaos disguised by peace.

Yosef was thinking of the events that had lead him from becoming the greatest commander the Imperium had ever received since of the great hero Aeneas to being identified along with Maryām as the two most wanted criminals as official imperial decree by the Imperator himself, insurgents accused of going against the stability and order of the Imperium and now being chased down by a small cavalry-based detachment of the Imperium's finest troops from the Fifth Legion, orders by the Imperator to kill them on the spot.

He and Maryām were now able to see the triple set of tall, sandstone-composed walls that protected the citizens of Yerushalayim from the tribal savages from beyond the Great River that occasionally cross it to raid towns and villages for loot and prisoners. It would be there where they hoped to have a new life, where they would abandon their old pagan identities and become like the citizens of Yerushalayim.

Yerushalayim, a place where not even the Romani authorities could attempt to find them within the diverse array of Yavana, Romani, Grenadines and many hundreds of groups of people from across the Imperium lived. A new life for them and the unborn child for them to not worry, Yosef was thinking as his eyes shifted back to Yerushalayim, Maybe things were finally turning for the best. It was then something that Yosef hadn't done since he had first met Maryām those five years before, he smiled.

"Is something wrong, Yosef?" Maryām had asked, followed by letting out a loud yawn and rubbing of her eyes. "It's pretty late out; I thought you would be sleeping with me right now. I feel cold and lonely without you by my side."

"I'm sorry, Maryām." spoke Yosef, brushing his hand through his silky, straight black hair as he turned around, walking towards his wife. "I just been thinking of what we been through in this past year fleeing from the Army throughout Imperial territories. It's more than I had expected when we had planned to escape from the imperial prison colony at the Yavana city of Athenai."

"Yes...” Maryām giggled a bit, a strange look of confusion given off by Yosef, "We have been through a lot this year. Although all that happened is all going to be worth it since we're now officially a family, as long as we have faith in one another, no force in the Empire can break us apart."

"Agreed," Yosef nodded and offered his hand to help Maryām stand up. "We're almost there to Yerushalayim and-" Maryām's eyes immediately widened and she walked past Yosef to have a personal look at the city herself, "Maryām?"

Maryām's blue eyes began to fill with tears. "We're.......really almost there? It looks so beautiful looking from here. Is that really Yerushalay-" She felt arms envelop around her, Yosef kissed her cheek and the tip of their noses touched each other, a sign of their deep affection for each other. They didn't need to kiss like the others, their love is special.

"It is exactly how Ioannes the Moogle from the prison had told us how it looked," said Yosef as his eyes were deeply mesmerized by the beauty of the Greco-Eastern architecture displayed by the buildings in Yerushalayim visible from the towering mountains. "I haven't seen a city so beautiful in my life since-"

Maryām cut him off, "Since Alexandria? Alexandria was beautiful too, I wonder if Her Majesty and Caesarion had found refuge since the city had fallen to the Romani immediately after we escaped in her personal ship led by the royal captain Al-Cid." She turned her head slightly so that her eyes could face his. "You think that they are safe? I'm worried that their prisoners of the Empire by now.."

Yosef rolled his eyes and let out a scoff, "Save that worry for us, Maryām." He tightened his hold around his wife. "I mean we're talking about the Seductress of the Eastern Part of the Nuestromar, she can easily handle herself when it comes to her being arrested by men."

Maryām let out a sad sigh, "I am now worried for the preservation of her soul once Judgment Time falls upon all the children of the Divine One. What will the Goddess think of her when that time falls upon her? She may have been Queen of Kemet, but will she stand with a straight face before the One, True Goddess of Terra?"

"You think too much of other people, Maryām," grinned Yosef as he laid his lips upon hers, granting her a kiss. His tight bear-like hold on her loosened, a frown appeared on her face. "Let the Goddess worry over what the Goddess has to worry about. We have to hurry up if we want to head to Yerushalayim in time."

Maryām let out another yawn and rubbed her left eye. "Are we really that much of a hurry? I don't think the Romani are nearby, we would have heard of troops from the locals when we entered out of the boat at the port of Tyre." She placed her hands on her hips, "Plus I'm tired from traveling so much."

"You're right, maybe we should take a break from-" His eyes immediately widened as he heard screaming and the sound of cold, hard steel hitting something from the direction of the west.

"Oh my god.........they're closer than we expected, those damn Imperial bastards." He stepped back a bit several paces, small bits of rock began to fall off the cliff. Maryām had a worried look in her face, her eyes filled with uncertainty of what had happened to cause fear to enter her husband's heart. She reached out a hand for him to hopefully grab.

She whimpered, "Husband.......I'm getting worried. What's going on?" The blonde haired woman saw her husband shake in fear and despite the lack of sound being emitted from his mouth, she could hear him mouth out the words.

"Look behind you."

Maryām had felt the feelings of fear and insecurity flood through the gates of her heart as she saw her husband like this. Something had to be wrong yet looking back would only probably hurt her more, yet for her husband, she reluctantly decided to look behind to see what he had seen with those beautiful brown eyes that were always filled with hope.

Her eyes widened with fear as the very thing just a mere few minutes ago had thought the two had avoided them was just a mere several....no just three miles away. The Fifth Imperial Legion of the Romani Army was right there marching through the farming village of Bethelheim was being engulfed in flames. Screams were heard from the villagers were immediately silenced by the sounds of the cold, hard steel of Romani-crafted swords.

Maryām's hands descended to her bulging stomach, where the unborn child, the physical manifestation of the Goddess within laid sleeping waiting for the Incarnation to occur. She felt the child kick around...causing immense pain to her body. It was now time.

"Yosef......the baby is coming," whimpered quietly Maryām, trying to hold back the tears from leaving her reddened eyes and the immense pain in her body. "Yosef!"

Yosef immediately took notice and placed his hand on her stomach attempting to perform Curaga to stop the pain. "Calm down, I'm right here by your side. We can't stay here anymore, we have to head to Yerushalayim and pray to the Goddess Apollina that there's a hospital."

He temporarily let go of his wife and ran to where his chocobo Adonis was and woke him up. He brought the white feathered chocobo to where Maryām was and placed her heavy body onto the saddle of the chocobo. "We'll make it, both of us and our child. Maryām? Maryām? Maryām???" Thunder roared in the distance, it was soon followed by a downpour of rain. Yosef rode on Adonis the chocobo and shouted out commands in native Alexandrian causing the white-feathered chocobo to squawk in response and begin to slowly move towards the city of Yerushalayim.

Her eyesight began to become blurry as streaks of lightning began to hit the ground causing the chocobo to squawk loudly in fear. She lost consciousness and fell on her husband Yosef's back, the heavy downpour of rain muted his worried shouts of her.


Chapter End
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Comment if you can

[PKKzelfar]

umm...yeah..kinda cool, ill be having nightmares about pregnancy tonight lol, just joking..it's pretty good, rating it for 7.5/10

[Krateroi]

Originally Posted by PKKzelfar

umm...yeah..kinda cool, ill be having nightmares about pregnancy tonight lol, just joking..it's pretty good, rating it for 7.5/10

Hey thanks for the comment!

[Kairy]

really good! F*** that womens diesel lol! shes running with her husband from an army while in the process of having a baby... this is good! 10/10 for me! your details are amazing too!

[Krateroi]

Hey thanks! Don't get attached to the heroine and hero! Because they're not

[PKKzelfar]

yeah dude, im gonna rate 10/10 someday, just keep it up, if no-one is replying i'll post to make this thread alive!

[MarluxiaNo11]

Very good =] Can't Wait for More =] 8/10

[madammina]

Good Job Anti! Beautiful details! I can't wait for some more.

[Krateroi]

Hey guys, thanks for the nice critiques, hopefully more people will come and read this. I'll make sure I'll make this as good as it can be. If I can finish this before summer's end, I might make this part of a Compilation of Fan Fics devoted to this somewhat original universe, Terra Chronicles, a timeline of Terra throughout the ages. This will take place during I.E. The Imperium Age or Imperial Age.

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10 I.E. - Yerushalayim, Canaan

Prologue: Birth of the Incarnate

Part II

This night was like many others for Lord Herōdes of Petra, more commonly known by the peoples whom he governed over as the King of the State of Canaan. This Wednesday night like the other preceding nights after the beginning ceremonial celebrations during last Sunday was part of some sort of local Yerushalayimite festival honoring the patron deity of the Canaanite capital. The locals of course worshipped a woman named Apollina who supposedly in the Yerushalayimite calendar this very time of night, send out through the Theotokos, the Incarnate one to bring on a new era of Canaanite prosperity, peace and freedom ending the almost two decades of Romani domination.

Naive, weak minded Yerushalayimite locals believing in such primitive beliefs as that of worshipping something that didn't exist. Even worse than that a mere woman thought Lord Herōdes as he stepped forward to take a peek at his subjects below and to occasionally steal a glance at the stars. The stars that decorated the night sky would prove to be a distraction from the seeds of rebellion that was beginning to show itself in Canaan seeded by the religious festival.

He was just nervous thinking about the events that had been occurring during the week of the festival. Thousands of people throughout the Canaanite lands and tens of thousands of Apollina cultists throughout the lands ruled by the Imperium up to beyond it as far as the land of the Skraeling tribesmen beyond the Great Occidental Sea increasing the population of Yerushalayim from a small population of just around 100,000 to around a bustling center of trade, religion and politics of 500,000 people crowded within the restrictive stone walls. A Romani force of 5,000 Yavanas was sent from the Governor of Syriania, a man by the name of Labienus in Antiochia on the Orontes to reinforce his local forces, although that didn't calm his worries of a possibility of a Canaanite rebellion, or worse being dethroned and killed by the locals.

The threat was very real in that Herōdes knew that he was despised heavily by the mostly Canaanite population of Yerushalayim due to his non-Canaanite ethnicity and him being of dubious birth, the product of a one night stand between his father, a Yavana officer working for the Romani from Konstantinopolis and a Aramaean belly dancer. Didn't help he gained the throne through murdering the true royal family, House of Matthias or known among political circles as the Hasmonean Dynasty...they were now dead and the people of Canaan hated him for it. This Theotokos legend was certainly a cause for him to become nervous, although the only man keeping him in power, Imperator Augustos will certainly replace him if he showed this. He let out a sigh and looked down through a window to the nearly empty streets of Yerushalayim, devoid of any civilians as they were celebrating their native Canaanite deity customs inside their homes.

"Hopefully this legend of the Theotokos nonsense of a woman being the God bearer is nothing but a folk story that these Canaanite locals just spew to their children due to their inferiority in the science and arts," said Lord Herōdes as he took out his golden, jewel-encrusted crown from his raven black-haired head to a nearby table by his bed. "This festival of theirs will be the death of me and my short reign as King of these savage non-Yavanized Canaanites....if only if-"

He was interrupted suddenly by the sound of doors being immediately slammed open, the force of the door slamming caused the hinges to loosen, twin doors falling onto the ground. "What in the name in all that is Roma is going on?" shouted Herōdes as his attention now was shifted to the entrance, seeing several dozen unknown figures at the doors, he put back his nightly robes to cover himself. His cheeks grew red with anger realizing it was the Yavana bodyguard that damaged the doors to his room. "What is this nonsense in this time of night? Can't you see I am in my private quarters? I order you to return to your garrison headquarters, bodyguards. Now!!"

"I'm sure you will find out eventually that the bodyguard no longer abides by your orders anymore, Herōdes." said a voice filled with deepness and authority, followed by laughter. The bodyguard went into double file and a figure was right in the middle. A bald headed man with aquamarine-colored eyes wearing a white and purple tunic walked into the room, a sinister smile graced his lips. "After all, the Yavanas are famously known throughout the Empire for their unchanging loyalty, although they are more infamously known for being quite easy to bribe."

He let out another laugh as he padded the shoulder of a Yavana bodyguard. "Don't you think so, Herōdes?" Herōdes clenched his fists tightly hearing those words burn in hearing them from the man he hated so much being right in front of him. "Are you speechless in seeing me again after so many years?"

"My brother, what is the meaning of all this?" Herōdes asked of the bald headed man, receiving no answer in response. He asked again, "What has given you reason to leave the luxurious life of being the weak minded lap-dog to the Romani back at the city of Konstantinopolis, Pheroras?" Pheroras frowned angrily, that sinister smile replaced by a grave frown.

Pheroras walked up towards Herōdes. "Don't ever call me brother; my father was a fool when he slept with that barbarian Aramaean whore at Aleppo. He was happy with my mother, Julia Agrippina." He gave Herōdes a slight push in the chest causing him to lose balance for several seconds, Pheroras saw his stepbrother take out his dagger from its sheath.

"Oh, are you going to be stabbing me with that dagger of yours? Realize this that if you strike me down now Aramaean, I'm sure that His Imperial Majesty will be surely displeased with murdering someone on official Imperial business." The Canaanite King noticed that he was completely surrounded by his own bodyguards so he backed up a few steps towards the balcony with Pheroras and the Yavana bodyguard advancing towards him. "Plus I had bribed your entire Yavana bodyguard, if I wanted to right now...I would see you die before my very eyes...yet I'm afraid my attention has to be diverted to more important matters about now."

"There will be another time for that, I suppose then-" muttered Herōdes as he withdrew his dagger back into his sheath and threw the sheath onto the bed. He then shifted his eyes back to Pheroras. "So what is so important to me that His Imperial Majesty Augustos had to send my stepbrother to greet me before his presence? If it's with the religious festival, the garrison has stopped any foolish attempts by the barbarian Canaanites to rebel. Things I should I say are running smoothly, it will be enough to make my son Archaleus the heir of this Kingdom once I pass away to the Underworld."

Pheroras nodded in agreement, "You're partially correct in your guess, I guess some of my father's Yavana blood does run through your putrid veins after all." The bald headed man received a glare from his stepbrother, "But I digress-" He cleared his throat and began to speak again taking out a book out of nowhere, "-Have you heard of the legend of the Theotokos? It's quite a story passed down among these naive Canaanites, do you think so?" Pheroras gave him the book.

"Hmmm." Herōdes tilted his head and narrowed his eyes as he read the words from the page and immediately closed the book giving a grunt, "I have heard as well of the Legend of the Theotokos, simplified in its meaning as the God Bearer. Supposedly, one devoid of all darkness in their heart and completely pure of light will be chosen by Apollina to bear the Incarnate One which he or she will expel the influence of sin from the world bringing down the fall of tyrannical, imperialistic empires to a era of peace and prosperity for the believers while the infidels ." He gave back the book to Pheroras and let out a small laugh. "Those Canaanites at least can sure attempt to make a good legend, we can agree on that. Right stepbrother?"

Pheroras shook his head, "I'm afraid unlike the pagan Yavana gods of Mount Olympios, this Goddess Apollina and the legend of the Theotokos is quite real, Herōdes." He crossed his arms and let out a sigh. "Many people in the local governments throughout the Imperium from Albion to Kemet are worried over this...”

Lord Herōdes scoffed, "I doubt it. Name one person other than some measly governor such as yourself?"

"The Emperor, His Imperial Majesty Caesarius Augustos Octavianos." Pheroras answered, "He is quite worried of the situation back at Roma; this is no time for joking around. If the Theotokos gives birth, then we might as well announce the fall of this Imperium that millions of Romani, Yavana, Grenadines, Albiones, Parni, Pontics, Getae and many other people had been killed throughout the generations working to bring this Empire to rise. I will not allow some mere Amazon princess from a kingdom ruled by mere women destroy our efforts!!!!" He slammed his fists into a table breaking it in half causing a few gasps to be muttered from the Yavana bodyguard, Pheroras just turned his head around to face them. "All of you leave us two now." The bodyguard soldiers let out a grunt of assurance and quietly marched out of the room into the hallway, out of the Herodian palace back to their quarters. Pheroras began to walk around the room, his mind deep in thoughts of only the Theotokos.

Lord Herōdes said, "I don't know why you're being so worried over some woman. I'm sure than one of the Legions back from the conquest of Albion into the Imperium can kill just one pregnant woman. It's not like she's some divine, unstoppable freak of nature." He then asked his stepbrother, "So I'm going take a guess that you came here because the Romani Army is chasing her down within my allotted territories from the River Tigris down to the Nile. Am I right?"

"You're partially right-" Pheroras walked past Lord Herōdes and leaned his body against the wall, giving a nod, closing his eyes. "-but then again, you're partially wrong." Herōdes gave a confused look directed at his bald-headed stepbrother, not understanding what he meant by his words. "I see that you inherited some of that Aramaean simple-mindedness. The Theotokos is nine months pregnant and near due at any moment, she is attempting to head towards here just narrowly escaping from Bethelheim which is now subjugated under Romani steel from the reports given by me from some scouts."

Herōdes gave a disappointed, disgusted look towards his stepbrother, "Was it necessary to murder all those Canaanites? Never mind....I'll have to deal with that later...at least the Theotokos is alone. Is she alone in her traveling?" He then spoke again, although in a quieter tone, not wanting to imagine the thought. "Or is she receiving aid from anti-Romani elements within the Empire, perhaps a traitor from the Imperial government itself." Pheroras nodded in response. "Then who is the traitor?"

Pheroras spoke with harsh words, "It is a Romani commander by the name of Josephus Flavios, wielder of the mighty blade of the twelve tribes of Canaan the Gudomligtsvärd, had defected from our ranks and is branded a traitor against the Emperor by Augustos himself. He and the Theotokos must be murdered now before the Incarnation occurs."

His head raised itself a bit and his eyes glared directly at his half-Aramaean stepbrother, the living symbol of his father's betrayal of his mother with t. "If you fail to have both of them murdered, I will make sure that the Emperor Augustos himself along with the House of Caesarius and the entire Romani Senate will bring you in chains and see you be devoured by the pet Behemoth of his. And I'm sure you wouldn't want to be nothing more than food for a beast."

"If that is the reason why you have come, then I guess....it isn't a waste at all," said Herōdes struggling to say those final words in the sentence to the stepbrother he always hated and walked towards what used to be the door. "Tell whoever in the Romani Imperial government as well as His Imperial Majesty Augustos once you return to that backwater village full of sin that you call Konstantinopolis. I'll make sure things here in Yerushalayim will remain calm during the festival, no alleged Amazon Theotokos and Romani traitor is going to get by these walls except by confronting the Yavana soldiers I stationed all over the city. I have my intelligence sources which will inform me of any strangers."

"Hmm," Pheroras crossed his arms and glared at him, "Sources? I never knew you had the competence to have intelligence sources in a city as complex as this. Who are they anyways?" He began to tap his foot on the floor, waiting for an answer from his stepbrother. "Well?" Herōdes walked past him and left his room walking to the hallway. "Why don't you answer me? Who are they?"

"Simeon and Anna, the Viera High Priests of the Temple of Yerushalayim. They will certainly know." answered Herōdes with a grin on his face as he put on a purple robe. "THey will certainly know, the Theotokos will never reach here alive along with the traitor."

Chapter End
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What do you think

[madammina]

And I get my wish only a few minutes later. Still beautiful and very well thought out.

[Krateroi]

Rep to anyone if they know what I'm basing this out of?

[madammina]

The Bible? 25 characters needed

[Krateroi]

Congratulations Madammina, you win a weekend's worth of Rep Power

[madammina]

Wow. I'm guessing Genesis, but where exactly is it from?

[Krateroi]

Originally Posted by madammina

Wow. I'm guessing Genesis, but where exactly is it from?

To answer your question, the Infancy Narratives of the Gospel of Matthew. But no fear, this story will certainly diverge from its Gospel inspiration soon. I guess it was obvious that it was based on the Bible with the names, etc..