Chapter 1: Inanimate

Here is some of my old writing from when I was a kid. It is a fanfic based on a video game I used to play (Final Fantasy XI.) Enjoy!


Chapter 1: Inanimate

Soft low hums of a man's deep voice, drifted across the stale air and dusty boxes in a small workshop, as people busily and briskly walked past the outside of the large window displaying the inside of the almost unnoticeable shop. The humming man was the shop's owner, he pulled a large dust-covered rectangular shaped box off of a shelf near the back of the store. As he brought the box to the front and set it on the counter next to the old register, the bell over the front door jingled. In walked a young man, tall and thin, with long pointed ears and blond hair in the style of a bowl-cut. The large bodied shop owner turned around and smiled at the man, his bearded face Galkan face made you feel warm and welcomed, a rare feeling when looking at the beastly race of men.

The Galkan shop owner, still smiling, said to the young Elvaan man, "I have exactly what you called for, right here. I'm sure it is exactly what you wanted." He turned around and opened the box he had brought to the counter before, and carefully lifted a lifeless puppet up, half of it still sat in the box. "Will it do?" the shop owner spoke with glee. The young man looked at the puppet, and then to the grinning Galka and said in a more-than-content voice, "As you said yourself, it is exactly what I wanted." The young man pulled his hand out of his jacket pocket and set three gold coins on the counter. The shop owner nodded to him and nudged the box forward slightly, with the puppet still sitting up in it. The young man laid the puppet back down, and set the cover back on the box before lifting it up and turning around. He took one step, stopped for a moment, hesitant to leave with the puppet... but suddenly continued out the door.

The young man walked down the road through town, passing the town square and then through the markets, finally arriving at the residential area. As he approached the door to his mog house, he thought to himself "The things I do... for a loved one." While he held the box with the puppet in it tightly in one hand, he reached out for his Mog House door with his free hand. Gently turning the knob and pushing the door open, he heard some strange sounds coming from inside... almost like... music? He stepped in to see what that noise was, and to his surprise, his Moogle was flapping its little wings to carry it through the air from shelf to shelf, dusting away without a care in the world. One can only assume, the racket that played was the work of the Moogle. 

The young man tried to call out to his Moogle, but the little pink furry mole creature seemed to not hear him. He called again, this time louder. Still no success. He got a tad frustrated at this poin. The young man walked over to the Moogle and grabbed it by the Pom-pom that protruded from its little head. The Moogle shouted with pain "Kupoooo!" Suddenly the noise faded and the Moogle looked up at the man with a guilty look on its face, and said to him "Master! You're home! Where have you been? I got so lonely without you here, I had to put on some Moogle Magic Music, kupo!" His master retorted "You call that music?" -- releasing the Moogle's maroon-colored Pom-pom before he walked over to the bed in the small one room Mog House.

The man sat down and set the box next to him, the Moogle seemed to magically appear behind his Master to peak over his shoulder. The man opened the box and lifted the puppet up. Holding the lifeless doll in front of him, he said out loud "Now, how does this thing work?" The Moogle appeared over the box and began digging in the soft paper that lined the bottom of it. "There's something else in here, kupo!" the Moogle pulled out what looked to be a remote control. His master snatched it from the ball of pink fur and set the puppet on the floor so that it sat up. He looked at the controller and noticed twelve buttons, but they only had symbols on them, no writing. Again aloud he spoke "What, no instructions for this thing?" The Moogle floated over the puppet and poked it on the head. It fell over, shocking the little Moogle.

The man, still staring at the buttons, decided to press one, just to see what would happen. He scanned over all of the different symbols, and saw one that resembled a blank white circle which stood out on the tan remote control, it was the most logical choice for a power button in the mans mind. He slid his finger over it and gently pressed it in. The Moogle popped up behind his master and said "I don't think anything happened, kupo." Looking disappointed, the man set the controller down and walked over to the fireplace. He placed one hand on the wall while he looked deep into the flames which sat almost quietly inside the brick covered steel furnace. He closed his eyes and thoughts filled his mind, "I am changing my life for you, beginning anew. I am going to keep my promise, no matter where it may lead me, or what it may do to me. I swear it."