And I have learned the reason - that which made humans so short-lived was their pride, their desire for power, their utter lack of respect to anything that lives or breathes. If it stands in their way, they shall knock it down.
... It seems that the world was so idyllic back then, before the catastrophe. Our kind and their kind lived together in peace and freedom. We helped each other reach accomplishments in the field of magic - and gradually, the humans became able to manipulate the elements, the very powers of the world, to their slightest whims - as we could have.
Then, their natural desire for power struck again. They wanted more. The great nations of the world began to wage war upon each other. Some espers who never trusted the humans also joined in the fray. Sorcerers battled on each side, summoning many of our kind to aid them. Of course, many were slaughtered on both sides. It was terrible. The trust between humans and espers has been destroyed, and our kind created a world for our own, and a protected doorway to it - The Sealed Gate. Without us to help them, the humans' magic slowly faded into the shadow - the few remaining warrior magi escaped to the then-remote Crescent Island, and settled in a small town. Thamasa, I think it was called, though I really am not sure.
I remained behind. With the last of my powers, I escaped into a small cavern in a remote, frozen mountain range, into the greatest depths, and there I have sealed myself in ice. I have decided, on my own accord, to act an observer - a Historian, if you wish. If magic would once again awaken from its ruins, I would be the one to report to my kind.
But as the years progressed I have grown weary. The world has changed
greatly - iron and concrete now covered the countrysides, high technology
reigned, and a corrupt emperor governed over half the world by the power
of fire and steel.
And then it happened - the sealed gate has once again opened! While at
first, only a young woman entered it, most probably by accident... She
was soon followed by the emperor. He has captured several of my kind and
began extracting their essence. Their core of magic. What they were.
They were trapped in tubes, and slowly drained. I knew them all. Ifrit.
Shiva. Bismark. Unicorn. Carbuncle. Shoat. Maudin. Of all the espers,
never have I believed that the mighty Maudin would fall.
Why did they do that - what purpose was behind this torture - I did not know, until a new generation of warriors rose to power... They were the Magitek soldiers. They were infused with the magic of esper essence, and travelled in gigantic armored machines. A few were infused with greater amounts of power... Like that young woman named Celes, if I recall correctly, and the greatest murderer of all times... Lord Kefka Pallazo, he whose insatible hunger for power was the doom of this world.
Years have gone by, and the cave in which I lived was not so remote and abandoned anymore. It was now a part of a mine belonging to a small, neutral city by the name of Narshe. They did not support the empire, but they were not in open war with it either. Even so, I trusted them. Deep inside, I knew that I must, or I shall fall like my bretheren did.
A small Magitek unit was sent to retrieve me... Two young soldiers, and
one young woman - or at least, I think she was a woman - there
was much more to her than any other human I have ever seen. She was a
halfbreed - of human and esper blood. Daughter of Maudin and that young
woman who crossed the threshold into our world. She posessed true magic.
But something was unusual about her. Her mind was empty - she was being
controlled by one of the humans' technological interventions in nature
- A "Slave Crown". They were alone - their emperor must have
thought that they were more than a match for a small town and a weakened,
frozen esper such as myself. I could not see them, but I felt their presence.
The rumbling of their engines. I knew that I mustn't fall into their hands.
But eventually, they have reached me, in spite of the attempts of the
local militia to protect me.
Then she came nearer. Her very presence envigorated me enough
to try and communicate with her. But first, I was forced to remove the
other humans. Somehow, by magic, I have managed to bypass her slave crown,
and to converse with her - though no one but us could hear this conversation.
She was raised by the Empire, she said, but didn't know anything else
about her past... And what she knew she would rather not tell. Eventually,
the slave crown overpowered her once again, and she collapsed.
It was obvious that the people of Narshe would not trust her now, due
to her actions under the control of the slave crown, but I felt at least
one person would be interested in her curious ability to communicate with
our kindred. He was working undercover for the Returners, a resistance
movement against the empire. I have called out to him. He didn't know
it was me, of course, but he arrived at the scene. He has taken the girl
to his home and removed her slave crown.
That was the fall of the first pebble that started the avalanche.
It has been a while now... a long while. Many more of my kind were slaughtered. The world was taken out of balance, and was entirely remade by Kefka, who, by the power of the three statues of magic, became a living god. And yet I remained on that hilltop, where my icy tomb was relocated to when the empire assaulted Narshe, such a long while ago, it seems like eternity. Watching Kefka torment helpless villagers using his Light of Judgement. Waiting for her, the daughter of Maudin, To claim my last bit of strength and strike Kefka down once and for all.
Watching. Waiting. Sealed in Ice.