In a cataclysm known as the Nightfall, the worlds were almost completely destroyed by a harrowing surge of darkness.
In the shadows of the ensuing chaos a new group has taken shape. Led by an Aegyl named Kalos, the 11th Hour touts an esoteric knowledge of how to combat the darkness and restore the worlds. They might be the worlds’ best chance at survival; but nobody really knows enough about them to confirm or deny their claims.
On the brink of collapse, the universe holds its breath in anticipation. Of restoration? Of destruction? It is up to individuals like yourself to decide.
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There aren't enough praises in the world I'd like to give to wonderful coders for the Proboards community. The following have contributed to World Destiny in some way: W3 Schools for countless how-tos and countless of other souls who have helped get WD up to where it is.
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Avari has little time to react to Jin's second swing and thus she instinctively brought her blade up and used her free hand on the blade to brace against the impact. She was forced back a couple steps and as her hand slid down the blade slightly she cringed, and a tiny bit of blood swelled from the cut. During her time with struggle battles back before the town got as bad as it was now, Avari had gone up against plenty of people who were more experienced than her; she knew when she was out of an opponent's league, but that didn't mean she couldn't surprise them. Of course, Avari had never fought with real weapons before and had never worried about anything more than a whack on the head. She never received anything other than bruises or sore muscles from a struggle battle, but Jin seemed to be pulling out all the stops for this sparring match.
Well if he was allowed to use magic, she didn't see why she couldn't, and really she needed as much help as she could get to even fight back against Jin. Avari quickly coming to her decision fired a fireball at Jin's feet, not wanting to actually try to hurt him, but enough to maybe catch him off guard as she came up with another swing of her sword, using whatever weight based magic that she had triggered the first time. She probably wasn't seeing this sparring match the same way Jin was. She didn't have any intent to hurt him behind her attacks, and she was falling back on her experience in struggle battles, which really couldn't compare to an actual battle. And sure, Avari had fought some heartless here and there, but never another human being before.
She was shaken, but if she gave up right now she was afraid Jin wouldn't give her another chance like this, and she wanted to learn. She wanted to become stronger. So she became a little more serious, her expression becoming more focused and intent on landing a hit on Jin. Once their swords clashed again, she didn't wait for his second attack this time, and instead shot another fireball underhanded directly at him. It took her a second longer this time to shift focus onto her sword, willing it to become weightless as she lifted it from the ground again. If she had the opportunity to put some distance between her and Jin in this moment, she would do so, hopping back a few spaces and bracing herself for the next attack.
Jin's sword came down, and Avari - unused to the dangers of fighting with live blades - blocked in what Jin recognized was a habitual action. She'd have to learn a better way of doing that if it was already that ingrained in her fighting style. It would be easier than telling her to stop blocking entirely.
He was still holding back quite a bit, even taking into account everything that Avari had seen him do. Still, she was being overwhelmed from a few combination attacks and some slightly complicated combinations. Sure, he'd been going at her with more strength and speed than anything she'd have seen in a fight with anyone who used that bat she used to.
Still, he was pushing her reflexes and that's what counted. If he could fight her at a level just far enough above her own that she was struggling to keep up, it meant that she'd get stronger faster. He needed to push her just hard enough that she felt overwhelmed without making her feel like she was in an impossible situation and crushing her will to fight.
He saw the clever spark in her eyes before she even had her materia in hand to launch the fireball, and his legs were quick to dip into the ground and shove off it. With his strength augmented by the electric charge that flowed through his muscles, Jin took off high enough in the air to avoid all but some scarce embers from touching the fabric of his pants before fizzing out.
"Good. Be aggressive," Jin commented, angling his landing so that he hit the ground in a low crouch, blocking with the flat of his sword against her downwards slash and making a large show of how he held the blunt side of the weapon pressed against his wrist - practically shoving it in her face as he pressed against the force of her blow with his legs and slashing out against the downward force of the gravity magic behind the blade in
Her second fireball caught him off guard, but not enough that he couldn't retaliate with a defense of his own.
Dropping the sword in the hand that wasn't holding the blade that had clashed against Avari's, Jin thrust his palm underneath the locked blades and let electricity crackle through the air before he intercepted the blast. The magic quivered in his hand, energy trying to advance only to be pushed back by lightning of equally potent force before both powers fizzled out harmlessly.
"I don't see that one too often. Nice thinking," Jin quipped.
The real danger here was the massive gap in experience between Jin and Avari. Even if he fought at a level she could keep up with, he'd been attacked by people trying to kill him far too many times. He knew just about every trick in the book, and he could react to them in the same instant he saw them. That was the point of this sparring match, though. If Avari could think of something, she could have it used against her as well. She needed to learn defense by watching how he dealt with her attacks as well as dealing with his, and in the same way she needed to learn how to attack.
Jin shook his free hand, the cinders from the flame coming loose and floating in the air before he held it out. His dropped flew to his hand in much the same way he disappeared when he used his high speed. He gripped down on the handle, the ropes tightening on it audibly as it rapidly came to rest.
She hopped backwards, retreating from him to try and bide time for preparation of his next strike. Jin smirked, wondering if he'd gotten her too riled up to attack again. If that was the case...
Jin twirled both swords between his fingers, standing to his full height and puffing out his chest as he faced her. His feet were at shoulder width and parallel to one another. He raised his eyebrows inquisitively, silently beckoning her to come at him.
If she was already feeling the affects of high adrenaline from the fight, she just might buy his ploy and finally cut loose.
Avari's chest rose and fell from the heavy breaths she was taking, but she could hardly feel exhausted this early into their match. The longer this went on, and with each encouraging comment Jin tossed to her, the more frustrated she became. He was assuring her that she was taking the right actions with each of her swings or casting of spells, but she still had yet to land a hit on him, causing his assurances to sound patronizing, even if he was only trying to teach her. If she was really being that effective, she would have landed a hit by now.
Whether she was intentionally trying to study his movements or not, she got an up close view of how he blocked her attack, which he then transitioned into knocking her back with a slash from his sword, counteracting the downward pull the gravity magic had on Avari's blade. She was still able to get off her fireball attack, but somehow he was ready to counter that as well by dispelling it with his electricity. She flinched as the remaining sparks zapped her hand, seemingly in a similar fashion as her fireball did to Jin's hand. It didn't phase him, of course. "Argh, will you stop zapping me?"
This wasn't unlike the way Avari learned how to play struggle matches. There really had been no other way to learn other than coming up against an opponent and catching on to their moves and improvising during each match. There was simply higher stakes with her and Jin using actual weapons and magic, and a much higher learning curve. And Avari hadn't become good at struggle matches on the first day either; she had to lose a ton of matched before she could reach the point where she was considered good at it. She was familiar with the grind that training was, and by the same token, this frustration she was feeling was not new to her.
Joining in the struggle battles at first had been a suggestion from the new friends she had made in Twilight Town, but in a way it ended up becoming more to her than just a way to pass the time. It had been one of the few positive outlets where she could vent her anger about all that had happened since Radiant Garden had been destroyed and she was separated from Kale. Perhaps she had fooled herself into thinking that she could get stronger by playing in the struggles, as if it could somehow equate to a real battle, such as against the heartless. And for a time it had at least made her feel better; she felt more productive when she entered the struggle competitions, and that helped her forget about her pain.
Avari's disposition had been different during her struggle matches. She shifted from her usual smiling carefree self to this serious and focused girl who stood before Jin now. She felt angry that she hadn't managed to break his defenses thus far, and she had the same mindset as she had back during those struggle matches: If she couldn't even do this, how could she save her brother? She still wasn't strong enough, but she didn't want to give up- she wanted to try harder.
Jin stood in front of her, twirling his swords in his fingers and facing her, like she was so little of a threat that he didn't need to take up a defensive stance. The sight of him taunting her brought her emotions to a boil, and her anger flared up like the fire she wielded. With one more exasperated breath, Avari lunged forward with her sword in a piercing fashion.
She threw strategy out the window as she just tried to strike him again and again, hoping to find some purchase. If he continued blocking, Avari would start to cast more fireballs in between swings. Her magic responded to her emotions, so as she raged on with her childish tantrum, the flames became more sporadic and stronger than usual. And with each swing of her sword, its gravity magic caused it to clang loudly against either Jin's swords or the ground with each missed swing, and each time it took more effort for her to pick the blade back up from where the it landed.
She was trying all she could to land a hit on him, but at the cost of being reckless, as well as tiring herself out at a much faster rate.
The girl's impending series of blows had been a long time coming, and it was honestly a refreshing thing to see. Avari was always so timid when she fought as far as Jin was concerned. She'd been barely grasping the importance of aggression at the start of their fight, and when she charged him while grunting and screaming as slices came at him, he finally saw what he had to work with.
Her head worked fast. She could keep up with quick opponents when she got lost in the fight, but it was a matter of keeping her cool at the same time that she needed to work on. Fortunately, the only way she could was if she got used to being like this. There was a balance you had to find between adrenaline and logic that let you think things through but also react in an acceptable amount of time.
The wild string of slashes, some empowered with the gravity magic and others not, slid gracefully across Jin's swords. He was defending at angles, turning Avari's force against her as the blade carried her out of proper form and exposed weak points to attack. This was aided by the force Jin applied in turn, flicking his wrists in such a way as to throw Avari even further off form.
Of course, even he made mistakes every now and again.
Whether it had been his own mistiming, an activation of her gravity crystal mid-swing that he hadn't accounted for, or something else, Avari's blade broke through Jin's guard and raked across his knuckles. Sparks shot through the air, and the trickle of blood against the ground slowed as the skin regrew at an unnatural rate. His eyes narrowed, pupils slitting from the stimulation before he swung the afflicted arm upwards with all his might, cutting through the fireball Avari had sent after the slash as well as the very air it occupied.
Electricity crackled through the air, and wind rushed from all sides to fill the vacuum that Jin's slice had created. He hadn't been aiming for the girl so much as the fireball, but with his strength augmented by the surge of lightning that had raced into his arm to heal the wound, he wouldn't be surprised if the intensity of it broke her from her adrenaline-fueled barrage.
"Good," Jin breathed. His eyes softened, and his pupils retracted with a long breath. "Find a way to channel that aggression of yours, and we might make a competent fighter out of you yet."
She struck again and again and again leaving the sound of metal clashing crying out through the streets, and with each strike Jin redirected her momentum away. She continued swinging her blade, but stumbled with each step she took in her rampage. It was by some stroke of luck that she landed a hit on the back of his hand. Though she had been trying her hardest to reach some form of accomplishment here, in reality she was shocked that she had broken through his defense. She stood, frozen, as she watched the sparks fly and the blood drip from his knuckles. He then abruptly threw his hand up in the air, slicing through her last fireball and dispersing it; Avari reflexively braced herself, but nothing happened. She had expected him to attack again, but their sparring match appeared to be done.
She had to look up at him for a moment and consider what he said. She wasn't sure she'd ever heard him say something that close to a compliment before. And to be told that she was doing well, when she felt quite the opposite about herself. The small sign of success sent a big grin spreading across her face, "Really? You think so?" She didn't wait for confirmation before throwing a fist into the air and a puff of smoke appeared as she let out a victory shout. "Yes! I'll be fighting off those tougher heartless in no time!" It apparently didn't take much to motivate her. With that, she put her sword back in her sheathe.
"Could you... spar with me again sometime?" She asked as she cupped her hands together in a pleading fashion, "If you teach me, I can get so much stronger, I'm sure of it! Please?"
Seeing the girl pump her fist in the air in excitement at her own small success, Jin sheathed his swords with a flick of his wrists. He brought his palm to the knuckles of his cut hand, wiping away the small bit of blood and brushing his hands together aggressively. The wound had already healed, meaning the mess of it was the most annoying part.
It had been true that Avari had worked her way through his guard, though she'd had quite the handicap in doing so. He'd purposely refused to throw any attacks during her - for lack of a better word - tantrum. He'd shown her that he was capable of creating all the openings he needed, but when she was so hopped up on adrenaline and anger she probably didn't notice how easy it would have been to slip an attack into the gaps between hers.
He'd bolstered her confidence in herself at least, but that was a mixed bag. Now she was talking about taking on the tougher Heartless. What did she mean by that? The stronger ones from down in the caverns beneath town, or the big, hulking thing looming ever closer to the wall that separated Twilight Town from the outside world? Either way, he'd have to nip any extreme aspirations in the bud.
"Look, kid," Jin started. This was something new to him; telling people that they shouldn't go fight. Back on Tamnia, there were plenty of people like him who had spent the better part of their lives tempering powers and abilities that - from what Jin had seen - blew most of what people could accomplish through this Materia stuff out of the water. A spike of earth or a fireball was one thing. Setting an entire battlefield aflame and creating earthquakes were entirely different.
"This Heartless fighting junk; I get it. You've got something or someone you want to find and some place or some time you want to go back to, but with where you're at right now..."
He hated to say there wasn't much room for growth, but it felt like he had to.
"A dozen of the small fries or a couple of the bigger, badder ones is just fine and dandy, but we're talking in terms of millions here. And not just the little ones. You've got to remember that they get a lot bigger."
His eyes shifted to the horizon in the direction the encroaching Darkside originated.
"Bigger than you might think."
He sighed.
"I'm not saying you can't get there. I'm just saying that you've got a lot of ground to cover before you're ready to start tearing into these things at a rate I'm comfortable letting you see any big fight. As for sparring or teaching, I'm not exactly the best instructor, and going up against a wall you can't reliably bust down isn't the best way to learn."
He flashed his uninjured knuckles at that, bringing notice to the lack of a wound. If she couldn't even see the wages for her labor, how was she suppose to feel like she was improving? They could fight for months and she may not ever get any tangible sign of progress. That might kill her drive, which is something Jin certainly didn't want to do.
"Give me a few days. I'll think of something. For now, two things. First, you've gotta get better with that fire of yours. Where you're at now, you're not going to do much more than singe some of the small fries or light a campfire. You definitely need to up the heat, and working on stamnia and blast radius is definitely a second priority."
Jin glanced around, his eyes landing on a convenient assortment of rubble. He flickered away from the girl in a burst of speed, reappearing in front of her with a large, metal I-beam sitting on his shoulders.
"This," he said with a hint of strain to his voice before he struck against the ground end-first with the steel. "Is your new best friend."
Soon after, a foundation of cement and wooden posts was formed around the beam and kept it pointing straight up in the air.
"I want you to come out here every day and put in a few hours trying to melt this down. Hit it with everything you've got for as long as you can, and don't stop until you're either spitting out cinders or you've got a puddle of molten metal on the ground. If you can do that, I might have to stop catching your fireballs.
And second, I don't want you getting in over your head. You're still raw, and that's dangerous. I don't like to see kids run headfirst into a losing battle. If I catch you getting overeager, we're done. Got it?"
This wasn't Tamnia, Jin reminded himself. These kids didn't grow up on a battlefield, and even if their worlds were gone they were still wet behind the ears. The Heartless had numbers on their side, and warzones weren't places for kids. Turning children into soldiers wasn't something that sat well with Jin, either. If Avari wanted to get stronger, she'd do so far and away from any sort of life and death battle so long as he had a say in it.
Avari grew quiet as Jin began speaking, essentially sobering her of any grandeur illusions that she could somehow take on tougher heartless. She knew their were heartless stronger than her out there, but that just meant she had to get strong too, right? Jin even so much as pointed out her reason for doing this- surely then, he would understand? The point he was getting at in any case, was that she shouldn't bite off more than she could chew. It was a little disheartening, but she gave a small nod nonetheless.
As he displayed the lack of any wounds on his hand, Avari's eyes widened and then she scratched the back of her head. She definitely wasn't anywhere near Jin's level, that much was clear. He all but told her as such when he explained that sparring with him wasn't the best way to learn. And it wasn't simply sword play he wanted her to focus on, she needed to get better with her magic as well, not to mention how to use this gravity magic the sword seemed to contain.
He then introduced Avari to her 'new best friend', though she didn't really get where he was going with this until he explained further, as seen by the confused expression on her face. Jin told her she needed to melt the metal beam he had propped up, and if she could do that, her fireballs would be hot enough to pack a real punch. But for several hours straight? She couldn't even heat up the metal for her sword, but if that's what it took to get stronger, Avari would find a way to do it. She had to.
Finally, he warned her not to go into any battles she can't win. She looked up at him as he said this, her expression falling as though she were about to argue, but then he threatened that he would stop training her if he caught her breaking this condition. Avari was quiet for a moment, mulling his statement over as she looked at her shoes. After a moment or two, she gave a nod before looking at him again. "Okay. I understand."
Avari was grateful to have someone like Jin around, someone who was willing to teach her how to fight back against the heartless. They stole her home, her brother, her friends away from her. She had to get stronger so she could get all that back, somehow. She wasn't sure what she'd do after she had the power she needed, but she knew she would be one step closer to saving her loved ones. "Just you wait, I'll have that metal beam melted before you know it!" She smirked.