Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

1275 AW. Flynn was fifteen years old and it was a day like any other in the village. He had been spending the day with Claire, enjoying her company along with the warm summer weather, now sitting in the shade of a large tree. One of their favourite spots.

“I wish I could stay here forever, don’t you Flynn?” She looked over at him, smiling sweetly as she always did. Flynn looked back at her.

“As long as you’re here with me, yeah I think I’d like that.” He grinned back.

Claire shuffled closer to him and pecked him on the cheek. “You’re too sweet sometimes Flynn.” She giggled and rested her head against his shoulder as they gazed out across the land in front of them. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was casting a golden light across everything, perfectly still in the absence of any wind.
They had grown a lot closer since his accident three years ago, though neither of them really acknowledged it. Probably because they were already so close without knowing it. Flynn knew he would do anything for her without a second thought.

There was a long silence before Claire spoke again. “Flynn, can I ask you something? Have you ever wondered about the future? What you’re going to do with your life?”

Flynn was quiet for a moment before answering. “I’m not sure. I like things the way they are. Peaceful. I guess I would stay here and work in the village.” He paused and looked at Claire. “What about you? What would you do?”

“Well I suppose I would stay here too.” She smiled. “I’ve been learning more about techniques and while I’ve been able to learn how to control elements like heat and ice, I’ve mostly been learning about healing. I’ve become better at it since we were twelve. I think I might become a doctor too. But…”

“What is it?”

She hesitated before speaking again. “Well it’s just that I don’t know if I could stay here all my life. There are people out there who suffer everyday due to the Bio-Monsters roaming the land. I just don’t feel I can stay here while this happens and not use my powers to help those who need them.” She paused before continuing. “It’s just that…I can’t do it alone.” She looked over at Flynn. “Would you come with me if I went? I know you could look after me if I did.”

Flynn took a few moments to think. “Well I hardly know how to fight Bio-Monsters! But of course I will Claire. I’d never let you go into something like that on your own. You’re the only friend I have.”

She placed her head back on his shoulder and went back to gazing at the landscape.

“Thank you Flynn.”

He looked back towards the view as well, enjoying the peace with her. It was hard to imagine anything going wrong in the world when you were a child living in a place like this. A village surrounded by rolling hills, hemmed in by trees, the air filled with warmth and the sound of birdsong. Like Claire, he wished he could stay there forever.
“Maybe someday Claire. As long as you’re with me I won’t need a place like this. Just you.” He smiled to himself.

They returned to the village later that afternoon, Flynn leaving her at her house before he went back home. Even after all these years there was still no sign of anyone else in her home. He made his way into the village towards his own home. He stopped in the village square, his mind coming back to her offer to him earlier as he gazed into the small pool in the centre of the square. He sighed and ran a hand through his unkempt hair.

His train of thought was suddenly interrupted when he felt the ground trembling under his feet and he thought he was imagining things. The ground shook even more violently and he heard someone shouting it was an earthquake. It only got more violent and Flynn could see masonry falling from buildings around him as some threatened to give way. All around him, people were rushing into the square in panic. He only had one thought.

“Claire!”

He pushed past the people and bolted towards the edge of the village to her house, the sounds of people panicking as raced past them. He rounded a street corner and could see a crowd gathered ahead of him near the edge of the village. The quaking had already stopped but he could feel himself trembling. His stomach knotted and he ran faster. “No! No no no! This can’t be happening!”
He pushed past the crowd of onlookers and his heart sank.
Before him lay the ruin of Claire’s house. He ran straight into it, calling out her name as he began to claw his way through the rubble, heedless of the people telling him not to. He didn’t care if it was dangerous, he had to help her. He’d promised her he would protect her. He bloodied his hands as he tore them on the rubble, his vision blurred by the tears filling his eyes and streaming down his face. He called to her again and again but there was no reply.
Eventually a few people began to help him and more joined in with them as they searched for any signs of life in the debris, helping move the heavier pieces of rubble.

Hours later and they had found no sign of anyone in the rubble. It was as if the occupants had just vanished. Flynn stopped his efforts and sobbed, defeated. If she was alive she would have come to him by now. But there was no sign of her in the wreckage either.

“Where is she?”

He wept for days afterward, lost without his only friend. He wandered around the village outskirts looking for any sign of her but found none. She had meant the world to him and he had failed to protect her. But if she was dead they would have found her by now.
Flynn refused to accept she was dead and instead resolved to find her, even if it meant it took the rest of his life to do so. He had nothing else left except the memories.

A year later he joined the Motavian military.