#bgro

The morning sun had begun to rise to vanquish the horrible night.  There was an eerie stillness about the Balamb region, disturbed hours ago by strange impacts that none could explain.  The viewer is treated to some brief flashes and the sound of muffled explosions, even as the camera shifts to a position farther away from said flashes.  Here, as the scenery is brought into focus by the light that was starting to spill over the horizon, a horrible sight would greet the viewer; a desolate plain, surrounded by rocks, sections of a building, and unintelligible scrawls that appeared to be man-made, but as stated, too small to be recognized.

[Ambience: The One Who Is Torn Apart]

It had been four days since the disaster that had befallen Balamb GARDEN at the hands of Kefka Palazzo's Light Of Judgment, and the inevitable finally began to take place.  Carrion beasts and scavengers would grapple among themselves, in search of sustenance and dominance, as the stench of death was heavy in the air.  The tearing of dead flesh could be heard, and in brief instances witnessed by the viewer, as human arms and legs were carried off from the rubble and carted away to their lairs.  Some of the scavengers could be seen in the jaws of creatures that the Balamb region had never seen before; things better left in the darkest places of the world.  However, even now, there were opportunists who would take this as a chance to uncover things even in the most destitute of places.  After all, the dead had no use for material possessions, which explained the two figures coming up in view now, seeking anything they could sell in Balamb from the wreckage of the GARDEN.

"Hey!  I think I got something here!"

"You sure it's not junk this time?  I hate to have to waste time like this Senel."

These two grave robbers were simply trying to scrounge up a living, though in terms of choice, one could say they were putting all of their eggs in one basket.  However, this too was not without significance, for it would prove the state of the world when someone inadvertantly opens fissures in the ground, allowing the evil that permeated the Balamb region to continue unabated.  The angle remained, however, on our two unsuspecting grave robbers, one chiseling away at a piece of debris trying to get to a body while the other seemed to be smoking.  Seconds would pass, and then a cut in where the smoker's mouth is suddenly held agape, then the cigarette itself drops to the ground.

"Hey...hand me another chisel Jansen."

Silence.

"Jansen, for Hyne's sake don't leave me hanging."

The silence continued long enough for the grave robber named Senel to turn around.  That was when he saw his partner Jansen standing there gasping, a cone-like appendage protruding from his waist that looked as if it belonged to a massive insect.  Then the body was promptly ripped asunder, as the screams that followed were both human, and inhuman.

* * *

At that precise moment, as the screams filled the region, the scene shifted while said screams were happening, as a commotion began to fill Balamb Town.  At the gates of the town a barricade was set up to prevent entry, though from what was soon made known.  The aforementioned scream transitioned to a voice with only one single command.

"Fire!"

Gunfire erupted from the town side as the bullets sailed past the barricade, colliding with all manner of creatures; Wendigos, Blobras, and Blood Souls to name a few.  There were worse things behind them, nameless creatures never seen before.  Though this battle would not end with the fiends as the victors, it did serve as a precursor for news editorials around the world.  The screen had a moment of static and the camera zoomed out, revealing a television and people watching it, though this was gradual and not without the message that accompanied it.

“...Reports of an attack on Balamb GARDEN have been confirmed. During an arranged gathering it seems a group of outsiders entered the GARDEN with intention to sabotage the party inside. It is unknown exactly what occurred but the GARDEN is now in ruins after a massive explosion. Many are wounded and missing, survivors are still being found and several guests of the party including the Commander were thought to still be inside during the incident…

"...The scene you see before you ladies and gentlemen is but one of many that have been happening since the event occurred, as monsters assault Balamb Town in great numbers.  It is all that the locals and volunteers from Fisherman's Horizon can do to stave off the attacks.  Relief efforts appear to be underway from Esthar and Galbadia but it is this reporter's belief that there might not be a town to save if this continues..."

* * *

As the scene fades to black and shifts back to the ruin that is Ground Zero, we find the carrion beasts carting off their latest kill, none other than the grave robbers that met their unfortunate end moments ago.  It is at this point the viewer sees with clarity the scrawling on the rocks; the Griever symbol, all but forgotten since its inception.  At last, the sun becomes a visible body, as the fifth day since the Light Of Judgment destroyed Balamb GARDEN graces the region.

For some, those five days had set in motion a conflict that would spread across this planet, and beyond.

Her voice had been the last she had heard, body spectral and unwilling to return to the friends uncaring of her destructive capabilities. Fear grips tight, Hikari's disappearance long and maddening to an otherwise pacified mind. 

The nursing of the injured has hardly made any difference to the growing count of bodies found under the Balamb GARDEN's rubble, vacant eyes etched eternally fearful, shock, and despair in their final moments. One face not among them alarms every muscle, entraps a single thought with frightening worry. 

Where is Hikari? 

Levitation, body exudes divine light, face a horrific emblem of rage and betrayal. Bodies count, screams heightened into a cacophony of Hell's many rings.

Thunderous laughter claws through endless wails like a knife, Kefka's murderous glee louder with every new death. Poison stains the air, a powerful hallucinogen which left the Burmecian a wrecked lover, believing her beloved a victim of Kefka's burning fires. 

Black engulfs her vision, and the world caverns in itself the collapse of harmony. 

She was awoken by Amarant temporarily blind from the poison, when rest and healing placed her back in aid of the injured left at the ruins of the celebration, the burial of the dead victim to a night promised of absolute bliss. Wound at last at the brink of insanity, the Burmecian runs amok, in search of the one general who knows the murderer best, as once a savior who had prevented the demise of her own world just as Zidane and the rest had in protection of Gaia.

Hey guys, quick hello and goodbye here.  I'm going to try to push a few things I have left behind, as well as breathe life into the side of BGRO pertaining to Squall and those not currently on the Hikari Path.  As well as dossiers, for obvious reasons.

Title: Area 7.

Series: Blaster Master.

Title: Act 3 - 2

Series: Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword Of Chaos.

Relevance: Nostalgic musical porn.