Tale of Moon and Sun

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the FFX/X2 characters or the world of Spira, blah blah blah... the Auron and Seymour Nagas are a respectful shout-out to my friends, Maya and Amanda, who first drew them as the large, half-serpents. This comes from a dream I had featuring the nagas, so they are my muses, and as such, I have their permission to use their naga characters, as well as the M-preg Naga Seymour and the Auron/Seymour baby, Sion.

That being said, the Prologue:

Many people know what a myth is. They can give you little facts, such as "Persephone ate three pomegranate seeds while living in Tarturus with Hades... that's why we have three winter months;" or "Endymion was a beautiful shepard whom the lunar goddess Selene fell in love with. When she neglected her duties, Zeus gave the mortal a choice: Eternal life with eternal sleep, or death..." Many myths, however, lose detail and become vague. Godly powers become understated, opinions of the storytellers are mixed in, and current political standings blur or leave out some details altogether. This leaves us with only part of the story, maybe with a husk of an interesting tale, or a moral idea that is left to sit in our minds and roll around.

This story, however, concerns names and faces you may already know. Their details are as clear as daylight, and the story as rigid as ice. These people are characters from a play long rehearsed, and a story well known with global performances.

They are whole, together, individual.

They are the faces of the past.

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In Spira's time, many people and names crossed the great planet, though the known world was considerably smaller than a world known to it's modern inhabitants. Yet few in today's world realize their parts of the ancient play. In Spira's ancient history, before Sin, before the machina, before the war... there were gods. They were worshipped by the people as the only Fayth. Guado, Ronso, Humans and Al Bhed all worshipped the same deities and regarded them with respect their powers deserved.

On the island of Bikanel there was a great and golden city. This city was ruled by a wise king named Shiido - a hero to the Al Bhed as he reuinted their peoples and created a great home for them in the heart of Bikanel's sands. This city, Oasis, saw three children of the King rising as the new generation. Their names were Aniki - the oldest and strongest warrior of the king's army - Gippal, the middle child and cunning general as well as a charismatic diplomat, and Rikku, the youngest of the three, a noble girl of wisdom and light-heartedness. These people worshipped the Great King of Dragons, Bahamut, as their patron of survival, government and law, as well as paid omage to the silent sun-god of Solis, who oversaw their lives longer than any other people on Spira's surface. It was because of this piety and willingness to survive as a community that blessed the Al Bhed people with great prosperity and a military might rivaled by no one.

Zanarkand, however, was quite different from Bikanel and the diamond Oasis. This large city was once brimming with holy temples and schools, all dedicated to healing and magical arts. In this city, the insectoid Magus Sisters were revered as the Goddesses of magic, wisdom and intuition. No student was allowed into a school without being a proven worshipper of the Triple Goddesses. However, whoever did not study elemental magic may have been called upon by a higher power - the moon God Lunaris, ruler of the night, healing and who allowed such clergy to call upon the other gods for a moment of divine brevity but amazing battle prowess. This great city was ruled by a loving couple who were known to their allies as Emperor Shuyin and his Empress Lenne. Shuyin's younger brother, Tidus, also served the people as their voice in the Senate, making sure that the demands and needs of the republic were met.

Yet, the city of Bevelle was unlike any other. A farming community rather than industrial, their prosperity came to them at the behest of two large and powerful Naga Guardians. One, a cobra hailed only as Lord Shiimoa, was the patron of love, herbal healing, farming, art, music, family and water. This naga, bound by holy contract, was able to channel the powers of the Ice Goddess Shiva and the Wind Goddess Valefor to control and maintain the balance of winter and autumn, granting the land a wealth of new water and harvests during half the year. Shiimoa's lover, however, was deemed altogether more frightening for his command of fire. A large, red python, Auron was patron of commerce, strength, courage, war, justice and protection. Bound by divein providence to the Fire God Ifrit and the Thunder God Ixion, Auron was granted dominion over the hot months, thawing the grounds in spring and lighting the air in summer.

However, the people of Bevelle worshipped their guardians differently than praying daily in a temple. Auron and Shiimoa dwelt in a grand palace carved out of a living mountain, where both nagas would be comfortable with the fires below and the ice above. At this palace is where they received their monthly offerings for their continuous and laborious work at maintaining the very balance of nature. To do this, the offerings were to be brought to the guardians themselves, and the lone virgin who was assigned this task was rarely heard from again. No one had ever seen their patrons, only stone carvings of the lovers that were based on rumor and legend. Many feared the wrath of the great snakes, and it was more than a whisper that many believed the couple to devour the young virgin who was to deliver their gifts. Whether or not this was fact or fiction remains a mystery to this day. It was theorized that once upon a time the virgin was devoured as part of a ritual that maintained the nagas' immortality - until, in recent history, a Guado ally was sent into the service of the Naga lord Jyscal, Shiimoa's predecessor. As usual the servant vanished after the offering was made, but Jyscal perished after a long life of some five thousand (perhaps even more) years.

Death was always a part of Spira long before Sin, long before the pilgrimages and worshipped long before the gods became Aeons. It was this fact that death was not only change, but rebirth. Death was an end to suffering, a relief from pain. Many Spirans who were outcasted from society knew all too well the effects of death and pain - and were rewarded for their misery. Their goddess was called Anima. This cult, unlike the other religious groups, was always considered dark and very dangerous - the truth to this was unclear. However, as with many things misunderstood, they were villified as sadists , masochists and murderers. The Cult of Anima saw themselves very differently. They believed to be chosen by Anima to suffer in its twisted image, rather than allow such misery to plague the land. No one race chose or glorified themselves as keepers to Anima's faith - all breeds were accepted into Anima's chains. Those who hurt were found and "healed" by the bizzare understandings of Anima's teachings... and believed that those most faithful would become Avatars of Death once passed from the mortal coil.

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Now that you know the beginning of the story, the details become sharper and images more vivid than any other myth. Yet, this only touches on the facts of the culture surrounding our one story. The Tale of Moon and Sun is only a tiny shred of Spira's history, and many scholars still teach it to be a truth. Perhaps it was. Perhaps not. However, the following story is typical, yet different than most. Rather than glorify the morals, this version comes to you as it was, not as it has been retold. This is a story about love, sacrifices, differences and gods. This is the tale of a jeweler.